Schools

From the Principal: June Brought Accomplishments, Awards and a Serenity Garden

Principal Mead shares his monthly news from the high school.

The following information was written and submitted by Tom Mead, principal at Algonquin Regional High School 

Maddie Partridge (2014), the president of SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Morgan Kreiss (2014) were selected to serve on the 2013-2014 Massachusetts SADD Student Advisory Board (SAB).  Being on the SAB is a significant commitment that will last the whole school year, beginning in September.  They will be working with other student leaders across the state to implement programs relating to safe choices for their peers.

Dan Chang, Class of 2013, performed in a solo cello recital on June 12 in the Black Box  Theatre. Dan has played in the school Orchestras throughout middle and high school. He was selected to perform with the MMEA Central District Orchestra for the last 5 years.  Dan will be majoring in Cello Performance at Sonoma State University in California.

The Serenity Vegetable garden has been planted by members of the culinary classes and environmental club. Special thanks to Gillis Garden Center for donating the vegetable and herb plants and to Howie Stone for donating compost.  Over 10 pounds of Strawberries were already harvested by students and used to make strawberry gelato for the end of the year Italian dinner in the culinary classes.

Beginning in July, ARHS will host "Drop In" hours for volunteers from the Senior Center to work with students to tend the garden. Produce will be preserved when possible to use in the culinary classes. It will also be donated to the Northborough Food Pantry and the Northborough Senior Center.

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Students will also be working this summer with our facilities department on recycling initiatives such as collecting water bottles and soda cans after camps and scheduled events held at ARHS.

On June 5, sophomores at Algonquin attended the Reality Fair, a hands-on experience in practical financial management presented by the Northborough Rotary Club.

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NEF & SEF Grant Award Winners: The following teachers received grant support from the  Northborough and Southborough Education Foundations for 2013-2014:

From SEF:

Ken Wadman…12 BK Precision 2704C multimeters, manual ranging, with the ability to measure capacitance.
Dan Welty…1:1 Teaching Pilot/Flipped Classroom model
Jean Fedak…Cardio Punch Mitts

From NEF:
Marie Porteus…Smartpens to Enhance Writing
Christine Thompson…Vernier LabQuest and SpectroVis Absorbance Measuring Devices
Cheryl Lewis & Tricia Riley…One School, One Book Initiative

Nine NAHS students participated in the Memory Project this year, sending portraits to residents of a home for children in El Salvador.   The students are Jenna Lyons, Aly Church, Haley Lyons, Anushka Dasgupta, Shannon Xu, Julia Petrillo, Ryann Ramadan, Caroline Foster, and Allie Calabrese.  Michelle Sheppard directs this project.

On June 10, the Third Annual Rising Student Recognition Awards Night was held in the JFK Auditorium.  Nearly 200 students received academic awards for achievement and effort.

Also on June 10, The Third Annual Science Career Day was held at Algonquin. Thirteen Algonquin parents were organized into speaking pairs and presented to every science class in periods 1 thru 4. Lorrie Zanini is the Science Chair.

On June 13, at the Cyprian Keyes Golf Club, friends, family, and colleagues gathered to honor seven distinguished members of the Algonquin community ontheir retirement.  Honorees included Brian Nathan, Math Teacher; Paula Moore, Special Education Aide; Helene Lynch, Special Education Teacher; Fran Whitten, Athletic Director; Judy Fledderjohn, Adaptive Physical Education Teacher; Neil Burke, Physical Education Teacher; and Jean Fedak, Health and Physical Education Department Chair.


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