Above: Algonquin students won honors from outside institutions this spring for everything from musical theater to science olympiads.
School may be out for summer, but there’s still school news to share.
It’s not that more news is being made, just that I’m overdue in sharing. It has been months since I found time to share Algonquin students’ great academic & artistic achievements. But I decided, better late than never.
Principal Reports this spring shared too many student accomplishments to share them all. So, I’ll just highlight honors (from outside institutions) won by students:
Scholastic journalism
The Harbinger was recently awarded the “All New England” first place award for print/online newspaper at a large school from the New England Scholastic Press Association at Boston University. For the second year in a row, the paper tied with The Sagamore from Brookline High School. Riya Pujari, Jen Fox, Paige Morse, Cassidy Wang, Elissa Gorman, Darby Kim, Antonio Montilla, and Rachel Sheck were all recognized with individual special achievement awards in various writing and design categories. . .
Senior Carey Davis presented a session with our advisor on student polling and creating engaging online graphics.
Health Occupations leadership
20 members of HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) competed in the HOSA state virtual leadership conference on April 5th and 12 students placed in the top three in their events such as, CPR/First Aid, Biomedical Lab Science, Medical Math, Human Development, Nursing Assisting.
TAMY Awards for Mass high school musical theater
These students technically earned their honors in the fall. But they were acknowledged this spring:
This year’s Fall Musical “Anything Goes” garnered seven nominations including Best Actor; Connor Macchi, Best Actress; Christina Di Mare, Best Supporting Actor; Chris Martin, Best Featured Ensemble; Reno’s Angels, Best Choreographer; Michael McCarthy, Best Production Number; Blow, Gabriel, Blow, Best Stage Crew, and our nominee for “Not Your Average Chorus Member; Johnny Robbins.
Following up on the 2016-17 TAMY winners, I discovered that Algonquin didn’t win in any of the above categories. But they did win one of two special awards given out for a “Magic Moment”. That went to Connor Macchi and Christina DiMare for “Tap for Two” in Anything Goes. One “Not-Your-Average-Chorus-Member” was also named for each of the 23 productions entered in the awards competition. Johnny Robbins brought home the medal for Algonquin.
Best in (congressional) district art
The following students were recognized in this year’s Congressional Art Competition hosted by Congressman Jim McGovern: Photography: 1st place: Rachael Shek “Weekday”, 2nd Place: Rebecca Poretsky “Ignorance Isn’t Bliss”, Computer Art: 1st place: Sophia Cappello “Four Years Spent Conceptualizing Intersectionality Feels Like a Lifetime”, 3rd Place: Isabella Montuori “(Untitled) Symmetry”. Each year, members of the House of Representatives hold a student art contest, selecting one piece to hang in the Cannon Tunnel of the Capitol for a year. In addition to the work selected, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards are given in Painting, Drawing, Photography, Computer Art, and Collage/Mixed Media. The competition is open to the entire 2nd Congressional District.
Programming winners
Algonquin’s team finished first among the 28 schools in [Fitchburg State’s semi-annual] competition. [The student team was comprised of:] Thomas Hayden, Josh Gordon, Zach Youssef, and Grant Perkins.
More DECA honors
The Algonquin DECA Chapter trip to the west coast went very well and the students did well. Nick and Anthony Francalancia placed third in their category Financial Services Team Decision Making bringing home the coveted “glass”. . . There were close to 200 students in their category. Other notable performers from Algonquin include Andy Zhao (Class of 2019 first year member) receiving a medal for top role play in Principles of Hospitality; Joseph Zhang (Class of 2020 and first year member) receiving a medal for top role play in Business Services Marketing; and Sam Forbush (Class of 2019) and Josh Harmon (Class of 2019) receiving medals for reaching the final round of Virtual Business Sports.
MICCA ensemble awards
The ARHS Flute Trio (Anna Myakushina, Joyce Fang, and Won ji Shin) and the ARHS Brass Quintet (Will Donahue, Ahren Shreeve, Sydney Rosenthal, Maya Sagarin, Annemarie Wood) received GOLD medals at the MICCA Solo/Ensemble Festival on Saturday, May 6. These two groups were among the top three heard by their adjudicators, and were selected to perform in the Honors Concert on Saturday May 13th at Follen Community Church in Lexington.
Science Olympiad
ARHS placed 12th out of 55 teams at Framingham State University on March 18. This included top 10 in Anatomy, Circuit Lab, Electric Vehicle, Optics, Towers, and Write-it, Do it? Also top 15 in Invasive Species, Robot Arm, and Wind Power.
Writing contest honors
Several students are receiving recognition this year for the “Letters about Literature” contest, in which students write letters to authors about how the authors’ works influenced the student writers.
Giancarlo Coehlo, Grade 10, received Honors – Ten writers in MA received Honors in Level 3 this year. These writers are invited to the State House awards event! The following students were named as Semi-Finalists, with their letters making it through three rounds of judging, and representing the top 10% of the letters from high schools across Massachusetts: Zach Entwistle, Alexander Simon, Mariam Ibrahimi, Elaina Martin, and Joyce Fang. Maya Sagarin received Honorable Mention. – all from the Class of 2019.
New England Math League
Algonquin’s Math Team continues to move up in the standings for the NEML. Their most recent performance moved them into 20th place in New England (out of more than 100 participating public, private, and charter schools), and to 6th place among public high schools in Massachusetts.
For more details and news from the “May Principal’s Report” (source of most of the above honors) click here. Additional news and details are from the prior Principal’s Report included in the May APTO Newsletter.
(Anything Goes photo from Facebook; remaining pics from Principal Reports)
