Schools

Watertown Superintendent Gets High Marks from School Committee in Annual Evaluation

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Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston. Superintendent Dede Galdston received high marks from the School Committee, especially for handling the return of students to school in the pandemic, during her annual performance evaluation. The School Committee announced the results of the annual performance review for the head of the Watertown Public Schools on Aug. 2. Six of the seven members of the School Committee gave Galdston the highest rating in overall performance, and all seven gave her top marks on the reopening of schools after being closed for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schools

Art of Problem Solving Academy Hosting Open House at Nearby Center

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The following announcement was provided by AoPS Academy Lexington:

Is your advanced student looking to get ahead this year? AoPS Academy Lexington is opening the doors for in-person learning for the first time! AoPS Academy trains the innovative thinkers of tomorrow, combining a world-class math and language arts curriculum with small class sizes to help advanced students build critical problem-solving skills early. After successfully running online classes for a year, we can’t wait to meet our problem-solving community.  

To show off our learning center, we’re holding an open house event on Tuesday, August 31st from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm at 1088 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA 02451. During the event, families can meet the Director team, discuss our courses, and more! We require that all attendees please wear a mask and practice social distancing while indoors, as children under the age of 12 are still not able to be vaccinated at this time.   

Visit lexington.aopsacademy.org to see our course catalog and learn more. You can contact us with questions at 781-472-1200 or lexington@aopsacademy.org. 

Art

Minuteman Student from Watertown Wins Award in MWRA Poster Design Contest

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The poster designed by Watertown’s Ava Martin, which got an award in the MWRA Poster Contest. Two students from Minuteman High School, including one from Watertown, won awards in the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) poster contest. The annual poster contest asked for posters that publicize the work being done by the MWRA work. “Congratulations to first-place winner Damien Dolan, a rising sophomore from Stow, and third-place winner Ava Martin, a rising junior from Watertown,” said the announcement from Minuteman High School. Both Martin and Dolan are students in Minuteman’s Design and Visual Communications major.

Schools

Watertown Planning for Opening of School; Looking at Masks, Testing & In-Person Classes

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The beginning of the 2021-22 school year is just over a month away in Watertown, but some significant details remains uncertain due to the increased number of cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts, particularly the Delta Variant. Superintendent Dede Galdston told the School Committee Monday night that she plans for in-person learning for all students, but there could be some virus-related requirements such as regular testing and wearing of masks. The final decision will come later this month. “I think it is too fluid, with what’s going on with the virus,” Galdston said. “As we get to mid- to later in August I will make a recommendation based on feedback — from the Health Department, from our teachers, from our families — to determine what is going to be the safest options for our students as we return to school on Sept.

Schools

Perkins School Hosting First Walk/Move Event, Register in July to Have a Shot at Winning Red Sox Tickets

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Perkins School for the BlindThe Howe Building at Perkins School for the Blind. Perkins School for the Blind will host the first Everybody In Walk/Move for Perkins this fall. The event will take place on Oct. 2, 2021, and participants can join others on campus for the live event from 9:30-11 a.m. or take part virtually. Perkins has a goal of raising $250,000.

Schools

Watertown Student Makes UMaine’s Spring 2021 Dean’s List

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The University of Maine provided the following announcement:

The University of Maine recognized 3,670 students for achieving Dean’s List honors in the spring 2021 semester. Of the students who made the Dean’s List, 2,392 are from Maine, 1,195 are from 39 other states and 83 are from 35 countries other than the U.S.

Due to the unusual and challenging circumstances faced this semester amid the global pandemic, the university has modified its Dean’s List policy for the spring 2021 term. The requirement that students earn 12 calculable credits to be eligible for Dean’s List has been waived. Instead, students will be eligible if they earned a minimum of nine letter-graded (A–F on the transcript) credits for full-time students in addition to the criteria in the catalog. For part-time students to be eligible, they must have earned at least six letter-graded credits across the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, in addition to the criteria in the catalog for Part-time Dean’s List.

Homepage Featured

Former MassBay Student from Watertown Graduates from Northeastern, Pursuing Engineering PhD

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Watertown High and MassBay Community College alum Juan Mesa recently graduated from Northeastern. He is heading to Carnegie Mellon to get his Ph.D.

MassBay Community College provided the following piece:

Juan Mesa, a native of Colombia, was five years old when he moved with his family to Boston and then settled in Watertown, in 2005. After Juan graduated from Watertown High School in 2013, he enrolled in the automotive technology program at MassBay Community College to turn his passion for cars into a career. “I didn’t do that well in high school because, to be honest, I was headed down the wrong path,” said Juan. At MassBay, Juan turned things around and began focusing on his studies and planning his career path. He enjoyed his BMW classes and earned his Associate in Science degree in Automotive Technology in 2015.