Year In Review—

A Busy Year In Newtown Schools

By Laurie Borst

From Madrigal Singers to tire rolling to donating to worthy causes, Newtown’s schoolchildren have been very busy.

In January, a traditional Madrigal Feast was held at the Stony Hill Inn in Bethel. High school choral director John Harned organized the, hopefully annual, event. Cost to attend the event was $30 with all proceeds going to benefit the NHS Choral Parents Scholarship Fund and program development.

In March, NHS students Mike Rambone, Chris Nuelle, and Pete Oggeri met with phenomenal success when a fundraising event that the friends organized managed to break a world record. The three friends planned, organized, and marketed the event, which set the Guinness World Record for The Most People Simultaneously Rolling Tires.

The world record previously stood at 237 tires being rolled at the same time. Last spring’s event broke the record when 266 people showed up to participate. The event also raised $1,674, which was donated to cancer research.

As the flowers bloomed, thoughts turned to spring and, of course, the high school’s musical production. In April, local thespians staged How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

On May 13, Newtown High School’s IT Leadership Academy (ITLA) attended the Connecticut Innovation Challenge at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. Twenty schools from around the state competed in seven categories. NHS won Outstanding Web Design for the second year in a row.

The students on the team were AJ Mormando, Melissa King, David King, Jonathan Graham, Joe Lenzen, and Alex Lubinsky. Kristin Violette was their teacher. Steve Wilmarth of Education Connection served as their adviser.

This year’s challenge was to identify a problem and come up with solutions that would improve health, democracy, or quality of life. Requirements included creating a business white paper, a marketing strategy, a company website, and an exhibition booth. Students created a mock company including name, slogan, logo, and job descriptions. They performed patent searches. The students created marketing materials. Their solution had to incorporate three IT components: networks, devices, and services.

The problem chosen by the Newtown team focused on the problems faced by new bands. Finding members and getting their music heard can be difficult. The NHS group created a company called mediagrüppe with the slogan “…This is what Unity Sounds like…”

In May, Reed Intermediate School’s Assistant Principal Anthony Salvatore became Dr Salvatore when he received his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Hartford. Dr Salvatore adds the PhD to a long list of accomplishments as a teacher and administrator.

He wrote his dissertation on bullying. Dr Salvatore was interested in finding ways to successfully educate students on the problems of bullying. In many schools, one-time workshops were held with students which showed little effectiveness in curbing bullying behavior.

Other schools created a step programs taught over longer time periods that showed significant impact on reducing bullying. Dr Salvatore’s work supported the idea that the longer the duration, the better the outcome. Involving students and parents, “the community,” also strengthened the impact. “It was reassuring to see this, the data support it. You know it on a gut level,” he said.

The O’Neill Center at WCSU was the venue for celebration on June 20 as the NHS Class of 2006, along with family and the friends, gathered for graduation ceremonies. More than 380 students who had completed requirements for high school graduation came to celebrate this milestone in their lives. Valedictorian was Celia Song, co-salutatorians were Lillian Campbell and Claire Zukowski, and psychology teacher Robert McHugh delivered the commencement address, telling the graduates to “Do something nice for others. Learn to cook. Take responsibility for what you do or forget to do. Phone home. And remember, you can’t always get what you want. You can accept that, whine about it, or work to change it.”

Several local students had overseas adventures over the past year. Austen Bowes spent a semester at college on the east coast of Australia. Allie Clement visited Ghana this summer. And Vanessa Courchene-Roy enjoyed summer in Provence, France.

At the end of summer, Heidi Sikemsen and Rebecca Schuermann arrived from Nuuk, Greenland, and Lucerne, Switzerland, respectively, to study at NHS for the year.

While welcoming newcomers, Newtown schools said Good-Bye to some old friends. Retiring after, combined, 160-plus years of service were teachers Buni Kovacs, Karen Mann, Mary Thomas, Alice Privalsky, and Gail Seymour; social worker DeEtta Breitweister, and high school secretary Mary Ann Corbo.

The fifth anniversary of 9/11 was marked in a variety of ways by the schools. Food drives were held at several schools, while Reed students held a reception for Newtown and Sandy Hook firefighters with food and drinks and a short demonstration from the firefighters.

The high school’s marching band brought home two titles this fall. They were first crowned champions at the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) Connecticut State Championships on October 28 at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. The second title came on November 11 at the Musical Arts Conference championships at Central High School in Bridgeport.

The Nighthawks were almost undefeated in MAC competition this year. Their only loss this year was a third place finish at a USSBA competition in Pennsylvania.

The popular Scarecrow Sculpture Contest at Newtown Middle School was a hit once again in October. The event raised more than $850, which was donated to charities selected by the winners. The creators of the winning sculpture, The Headless Horseman, chose to donate their share, $448, to The Animal Center.

Newtownopoly, with cover art by David Merrill, was offered for sale to raise funds for the Newtown High School Orchestra. The orchestra honored the local artist during its winter concert for all his work and support. The orchestra’s tribute featured a slide show of his work including the murals in town hall, the flag on the trees in Dodgingtown, and the box cover of the board game Newtownopoly

Throughout the year, 25 Newtown students donated their hair to Locks of Love, an organization that provides wigs to children who have lost their hair to diseases.