MassBay Community College

MassBay College Receives $735K in Workforce Training Grants

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The following announcement was provided by MassBay Community College:

MassBay Community College is set to receive $735,000 as its share of a state-funded Workforce Training Grant. The funds are intended to create and expand training programs in high-demand industries, while helping populations who have traditionally experienced higher rates of unemployment and barriers to employment. “These funds are of tremendous benefit to us at MassBay,” said David Podell, President. “For more than six decades MassBay has been providing the education students of all ages and backgrounds need to fill the jobs of the emergent economy and to embark on sustainable careers. These funds come at a time when the industries of MetroWest need skilled workers more than ever, so the timing is impeccable.

Around Town

Council Approves $4 Million to Help Cover Rising Cost of High School Project

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Ai3 ArchitectsAn illustration of what the outside of the new Watertown High School will look like. The cost of constructing the new Watertown High School has risen since the budget was sent to state officials, and one of the steps to cover the gap of $14.47 million was taken Tuesday when the City Council approved transferring $4.175 million

City Council President Mark Sideris, who chairs the School Building Committee, said that the rising cost of construction was a major part of the increase in the project budget over the $138.6 million budget approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. “We on the School Building Committee have been working since 2018 on school projects. Our first set of projects went very well, and are still on, or slightly under, budget and came in earlier than expected,” Sideris said. “When we got to the high school COVID happened.

Around Town

Community Spirit Awards Return, Watertown Youth Coalition Holds In-Person Celebration

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Watertown Youth CoalitionThe Watertown Youth Peer Leaders pose with the staff from the Watertown Youth Coalition after the peer leaders received their awards at the 2022 Community Spirit Awards. For the first time since 2019, on June 8, the Watertown Youth Coalition along with Wayside Youth and Family Support Network hosted their yearly Community Spirit Awards ceremony and reception at Arsenal Park in Watertown. The event was put together by Watertown Youth Coalition (WYC) Peer Leadership Advisor, Zhane Goode, and WYC Program coordinator Stephanie Sunderland, who had to miss the ceremony due to unforeseen circumstances. Zhane, who has been working with all of the honored students for a few years, was very happy to finally be able to hold the awards in person and noted that the students were especially excited to get to celebrate together with their friends and family. For Zhane herself, she began her work at the WYC during the pandemic, so she said it was really nice to see everyone all together as a community. 

The event has not been held in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was attended by many members of the community, including the honorees, those who nominated them for spirit awards, and families, friends, and other Watertown citizens who came to celebrate their achievements.

Schools

Watertown Exploring Variety of Options for Vocational Education

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The group exploring vocational and technical education options for Watertown students has found a variety of possibilities, but the ad hoc committee has not come up with recommendations yet. Watertown could look to join a vocational high school district, join into an agreement with another community that has a vocational program, expand the number of offerings at WHS, or use a combination of those options, said School Committee member David Stokes, who chairs the Vocational Technical Ad Hoc Committee. “It seems like we haven’t gotten very far, but we have done a whole lot,” Stokes said. “We are farther along than a lot of people think, because we haven’t produced anything yet, but it is coming shortly.” The committee was formed after students seeking vocational or technical education programs struggled to get into Minuteman High School in Lexington.

Schools

No Tuition Increase for Coming Year at MassBay Community College

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The following information was provided by MassBay Community College:

MassBay Community College Board of Trustees approved a budget last week that will not require students to pay an increase in fees or tuition for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year. This is the third consecutive year MassBay has avoided charging students more for fees and tuition. “At MassBay we believe the access to higher education is a matter of social justice,” said MassBay President David Podell. “We remain accessible by keeping the cost to attend as low as possible for students, by offering scholarships and financial aid counseling, and by ensuring the investment students make in us pays off in the end with well-paying, rewarding careers. Kudos to our financial management team for enabling us once again to keep tuition and fees at current levels.”

MassBay is the lowest-cost college option in MetroWest.

Schools

Perkins School Teacher Participating in USA Blind Soccer Summit

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USABAA teacher from Perkins School for the Blind will take part in the inaugural USA Blind Soccer Coaching Education Summit. The following information was provided by the U.S. Association for Blind Athletes:

Kelsey Linsenbigler, an adapted physical education teacher at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, is among the 26 coaches and educators from across the United States attending the inaugural USA Blind Soccer Coaching Education Summit this week in Staunton, Virginia. 

The inaugural USA Blind Soccer Coaching Education Summit will take place June 22-23 at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind. The camp will host coaches from schools for the blind, parks departments, soccer clubs, adaptive sports groups and other organizations to learn about blind soccer and how to integrate it into their programs and their communities. The camp is a collaboration between the Clemson University Adaptive Soccer Program, Maryland School for the Blind, the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB), and U.S. Association for Blind Athletes (USABA). Blind soccer is in a grassroots phase of development as the USABA works to develop a national team for the L.A. 2028 games.

Schools

School Committee: See What Happened at the June 6 Meeting

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By Kendra Foley, Watertown School Committee Chair

The School Committee met on Monday, June 6, 2022. We started the meeting by celebrating and thanking our WPS retirees. As part of the teaching and learning showcase, members of the WHS Robotics Team, known as the KwarQs, demonstrated the robot they built for competitions this year (their most successful year to date!). The team is an extracurricular group that teaches engineering, teamwork, and leadership skills while spreading the interest of STEM education throughout the Watertown Community. Their robot was impressive and the students were full of joy and curiosity!