Schools

No Tuition Increase for Coming Year at MassBay Community College

By |

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

By |

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

By |

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!

COVID Grant

Watertown Plans to Start Universal PreK With COVID Relief Grant

By |

Watertown School officials plan to use some of the money from the federal COVID school assistance grant to offer full-day PreK classes to more children in the City. The Watertown Public Schools will receive more than $2.86 million from the third round of the federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) grant, and Superintendent Dede Galdston told the School Committee she wants to use $370,000 of the funds to start the effort to create universal PreK. Other uses for the funds include expanding extended day and summer programs, credit recovery summer classes to help prevent dropouts, salaries for two assistant principals, and to create a teachers-in-residence program. The ESSER funds would be used to move the district toward universal PreK, Galdston said. The money would be used to pay for half the salary of PreK teachers and instructional assistants in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.

Schools

New Elementary Attendance Zones Approved by School Committee, Enrollment Rising

By |

Watertown Public SchoolsThe Watertown elementary school attendance zone option approved by the School Committee. The buffer zones are shaded with diagonal lines. New boundaries for Watertown’s elementary school attendance areas have been approved, and include buffer zones that would allow families to choose between two schools. The School Committee approved the option recommended by Superintendent Dede Galdston on Monday night. The new areas will only impact students new to the district, not those already attending Cunniff, Lowell, or Hosmer elementary schools.

Class of 2022

Watertown High Class of 2022’s Sprit & Kindness Celebrated at Graduation

By |

Charlie BreitroseWatertown High School Senior Leah Knipper-Davis hugs teacher David Mastro at the 2022 graduation ceremony. Many obstacles and challenges could have derailed Watertown High School’s Class of 2022, but the unstoppable group of students made the best of very difficult times to be an inspiration to themselves and the WHS faculty. Friday evening, the seniors received their diploma at the graduation ceremony at Victory Field. See the list of graduates by clicking here. Class Valedictorian Taylor Lambo said that she will look back on the times of joy, big and small, when she was “truly present,” and just enjoying the moment.

Anna Maria College

Watertown Student Part of Anna Maria College’s Class of 2022

By |

The following information was provided by Anna Maria College:

May 2022 marked a new chapter for Anna Maria College as the institution celebrated its 2022 Commencement Ceremony at the DCU Center in Worcester. The new and larger venue held nearly 300 graduates and 3,500 guests while still retaining Anna Maria’s sense of a tight-knit community. 

Watertown’s Michael C. MacNeil received his Master of Public Administration degree at the commencement on May 9, 2022. About Anna Maria College

Located just outside of Worcester in Paxton, Massachusetts, Anna Maria College is a 76-year-old private, co-educational institution inspired by the ideals of the Sisters of Saint Anne. We prepare our students to become ethical leaders by combining a values-based, service focused education with strong functional knowledge and the skills necessary to address the rapidly changing needs of their world. Anna Maria delivers undergraduate and graduate degrees along with certificate programs on campus and online.

Around Town

Congrats to the 2022 Watertown High School Graduates

By |

Members of the Watertown High School Class of 2022 throw their caps in the air. Congratulations to the 149 members of Watertown High School’s Class of 2022! The seniors graduated at Victory Field Friday evening. The Class of 2022

(+ Cum Laude Society, # National Honor Society, * Seal of Biliteracy, % Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction)

Millicent Anne Abboud

Marc Abizeid Daou

Jasmine Amani Affany

Kawish Ahmad

Mahera Ahmed

Mashaim Ahmed *

Alishba Amin #

Mason Benjamin Andrade #

Mary Anoush Ashbahian #*

Ariana Rose Aufiero

Gabriel Avedis Avakian #

Yaren Basboga

Bailey O’Connell Beirne

Livia Freire Brandao %

Theresa Elizabeth Cabral

Karys Elizabeth Cafua

Colin Vincent Campbell

Margaret Ann Cavanaugh #

Jesse Francis Cavarretta #

Philip Richard Centola +#*

Paula Cepeda-Taco *

William Cohen Connolly

Lara Catherine Cordeiro #

Michael Thomas Cormier-Luce

May Gelband Cort

Joseph Rocco Cottone

Madison Lee Cummings #

Sadie Elizabeth Currier-Brown

Maria Vitoria Lima DaSilva *

Gregory Aram Davidian

Edgardo Raul De La Cruz Chambergo *

Emanuel Filipe de Oliveira Carvalho

Marcelo Candido de Oliveira

Walef Emanuel Soares De Paula

Ali Abbas Dia

Devin Vinicio Diaz

Matthew Steven DiDucca

Brenden Sean Donovan

Zineb Drouzi *

Ana Ruth Duarte Cordero

William Edward Dyszczyk

Antonia Grace Erickson

Melissa Nicole Escamilla Flores

Catherine Rose Penczar Fabian +#

Claire Elizabeth Penczar Fabian +#

Emma Lindsey Fallon #

Sean Francis Finn

Sophia Raquel Garapetian

Audrey Ann Oliva Garland

Merideth Pauline Green +#

Manka Mehmedova Hadzhieva *

Joseph Patrick Haggerty

Daniella Andrea Hagopian

Anas Mohammed Haloui

Benjamin Harrison Heep

Fathema Heidari

Mona Ali Houjazy +#*

Noah John Houjazy

Viktorya Hovhannisyan %

Deion Howe

The WHS seniors enter Victory Field for Friday’s graduation ceremony. Eleni Sarah Hum +#

Dayra Yecenia Jimon

Jenna Julianna-Brussell Johnson

William Anthony Jokic *

Jack Christopher Jones +#

Catherine Sauda Namudu Jumba %

Alize Jatuporn Kamkaew

Lena Marie Karaguesian #

Hirusha Akalanka Karunaratne

Eva Carter Kelleher

Teju Kim

Leah Evelyn Knipper-Davis +#

David Khachek Kostikian

Niv Amelie Krasnow +#

Pierre Paul Frederick Labossiere

Taylor Allyn Lambo +#

Anthony James Lampasona

Devlynne Alexandra Loder

Bianca Romina Lopez Polanco *

Sabrina Siomara Lopez +#%

Carly Morgan MacCormack +#

Malcolm Thomas MacDonald

Michael Andersen MacNeill #

Alejandro Harry Maguire

Rio Joseph Maguire

Tobias Christopher Magzelci

Ameir Hasan Mahmoud

Gianna Rose Mariano

Nathan Eli Master

Sean Anthony James McCusker

Maressa De Oliveira Meireles *

Mercy Daliana Mejia Pocon %

Anna Maria Michaelidis

Ellie Marie Monahan

Luiz Henrique Dos Santos Mota

Ngaatendwe T.G Moyo

Aryaman Narendra Nagaraj

Caio Negreli *

Isabella Joy Nitschke

Jared Thomas Norton

Patrick Kizito Nsubuga

Giancarlo Nunez

Kara Ann O’Neil

Da’jon G’Vonni Offutt

Melissa Elizeth Orosco Barrios *

Colin Paul Owens

Zachary Hiro Paquette

Ronak Mukesh Patel

Adam Christopher Patterson

Andrea Elizabeth Penalis

Camndon James Reed

Lameh Abdulkader Rifai

Beatriz Oliveira Rocha

Lucas Negrini Rogge *

Cristina Isabel Romero

Neythanial Rosario

Patrick Joseph Rourke

Isaac Lambert Russo

Rey Enrique Sanchez Soto

Yunel Yunior Sanchez Soto

Ramon Marshall Sara

Sargis Sedrakyan #

Ivy Rose Williams Seek +#

Shivani Sharma #

Lucy A Simonian

Joseph Scott Spinelli

Aram Shant Stepanian

Ari Steve Stepanian

Laura Elizabeth Terry

Watertown’s seniors gathered for the last time to get their diplomas on Friday evening.