Dear Everyone Learning at Amherst, Regional and Pelham Schools:
I'm sending this special Wednesday edition of Learning because we have several wonderful "good news" items to share about our exceptional students. The three news items below are only a sampling of the remarkable work being done by your children and our districts' teachers every day. You're sure to enjoy reading about the efforts of these ARMS and ARHS students as much as I did!
Thanks,
Jere Hochman
Superintendent
What 22 of our students did on their April vacation (a report from chaperone Betsy Mathews, ARHS Latin Teacher)
Twenty two students from Amherst Regional High School participated in a Hurricane Katrina Relief effort during spring break. The ARHS students and their chaperones were divided into two work crews and assigned to gut two houses that had been flooded: one to the ceilings and one to 4 feet.
In 90 degree weather the crews first cleared out all contents of the houses-the whole vast spectrum of personal possessions. Then wielding hammers,screw drivers, wire cutters, crow bars, sledge hammers, wheel barrows and brooms they removed the appliances, cabinetry and plumbing fixtures and heaped it all up in debris piles along the streets. Lastly they tore out walls, ceilings and flooring. As everything had lain untouched since the hurricane it was all rank with mold and much was rotten.
This was nasty work to do in nasty weather but they all worked like Trojans (saith the Latin teacher) in consistently high spirits and by week's end both homes were clear to the framing and ready to be bleached and restored. Our students were also good and sympathetic listeners to the massively moving stories of the home owners and neighbors who, despite their own enormous losses, were radiantly gracious and grateful. We were surrounded throughout the week by gratitude and generosity.
At a restaurant in the French Quarter, the hostess kindly introduced our group to the other patrons as a Katrina relief crew from a high school in Massachusetts. As we left later that evening the students were warmly applauded by both the band and the patrons. They certainly deserved it.
Betsy Mathews
JETS TEAMS
National JETS TEAMS scores were posted during spring break on the web site www.jets.org in the TEAMS program section. The 3 ARHS teams that advanced to national competition did well. In Division 7 (large public high schools) Varsity A placed 11th out of 57 teams competing nationally. In the JV division, Junior Varsity C placed 9th and will receive a national top ten plaque, and Junior Varsity A placed 18th out of 38 Division 7 teams selected to compete at the national level. Check out the web site if you would like to see names and rankings of other schools.
This year 1,338 teams from 670 different high schools participated at over 80 locations nationwide. Best of all, they had a lot of fun and are already looking forward to next year's competition!
More Good News from our Latin Students
Seventy-four Amherst Regional Middle and High School students were recognized for their achievement on this year's National Latin Exam, including 26 gold medals (summa cum laude), 28 silver medals (maxima cum laude), 12 magna cum laude certificates, and eight cum laude certificates.
Gold Medal (summa cum laude):
Latin 5: Thomas Benfey, Samuel Kanner, Margaret Woodbridge
Latin 4: Jennifer Lindsey and Denali Hussin
Latin 3: Liam Hynes and Tiffany Lee
Latin 2: Karl Grette, Ben Blier, and Arturo Spica
Latin 1: Marianne Wald, Emma Anderson, Elinor Hayden, Cameron Fay, Alyssa Kayser-Hirsh, Sonia Brown, Ryan DeGroot, Nicholas Baskin, Margaret Holladay, Vishal Shetty, Shayna Henckel-Miller, Mariah Servos, Andrew Plimpton, Daniel Lee, Afra Danai, and Jessica Fortin
Silver Medal (maxima cum laude):
Latin 5: Nicholas Smith and Mihir Desu
Latin 4: Varun Shetty, Hannah Rachootin, Marita Pickron, Timothy Lambert, Alicia Kane, Daniel Stubbs, and Matthew Hart
Latin 3: Lucy Atkins and David Goff
Latin 2: Eric Donnelly, Michelle Lemoine, Shiliu Wang, and Danya Rubin
Latin 1: Rachel Bisiewicz, Anshul Dhanker, Alex Karpinski, Hannah Tessler, William Hirschfeld, Spencer Diamond, Daniel Werner, Elena Watson, Ania Marczuk, Samantha Floyd, Chloe Zimmerman, Hannah Varner, and John Daniels
Magna cum laude:
Latin 5: Benjamin Kulp
Latin 4: Gihan Amarasiriwardena
Latin 3: Ankur Sheel
Latin 2: Keri Lambert
Latin 1: Sean Cunningham, Alex Lichtenstein, Catherine Morse, Elliott Warren, Laura Woodbridge, Eleanor Smith, Corrina Stokes, and Laura Aierstuck
Cum laude:
Latin 4: Masha Babyonyshev
Latin 3: Zachary Phillis, Mathew Bohl, Cole Caivano, and John Gao
Latin 2: Misha Herscu
Latin 1: Daniel Hegner and Gavin Nachbar
Thomas Benfey received a special citation for a perfect score on the exam, and Margaret Woodbridge and Samuel Kanner, as seniors earning gold medals, have the opportunity to apply for a $1000 scholarship to pursue the study of Classics in college. A ceremony to recognize all these students and for them to receive their medals and certificates will be held in May. Congratulations to all of the participants!
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