Election 2021

School Committee Chairman Will Not Seek Re-election in November

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School Committee chair John Portz will not be seeking re-election in 2021. After 16 years on the Watertown School Committee, John Portz announced he will not be running for another term. The current School Committee chair announced his decision at Monday’s School Committee meeting. “As my term ends this year I will not be running for a new term,” Portz said. “It has been a privilege to serve on the committee, and to support our efforts, and build and maintain the best possible school system.”

Schools

Minuteman High School Holds In-Person Graduation, See the Watertown Students

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Minuteman High SchoolMembers of the Minuteman High School Class of 2021 celebrate after graduation at the Lowell Auditorium. The following piece was provided by Minuteman High School:

On June 4, 138 students from the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Lexington graduated in an in-person ceremony at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, allowing an unlimited number of family members and friends to view the milestone event after the state lifted most COVID-19 gathering restrictions about a week ago. The ceremony was broadcast live on LexMedia; a video will be posted to the YouTube channels of LexMedia and Minuteman High School. The seniors of the Minuteman Class of 2021 have accomplished a lot despite a difficult year and a half – marked by remote and hybrid learning, and a loss of many activities. Thirteen students were named to the National Honor Society (denoted with an asterisks), which recognizes students in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership and character. Additionally, 94 seniors have received scholarships from Minuteman through various organizations and individual donors.

Election 2021

LETTER: Candidate Declares Her Run for Watertown School Committee

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Rachel Kay is running for Watertown School Committee. The following announcement was provided by Rachel Kay:

Over the past year, we have all experienced great challenges. Those of us caring for school-aged children have watched them struggle with isolation, academic losses and for too many students even harm to their mental health and well-being. As I have watched Watertown Public Schools grapple with the difficult decisions they had to make this year, I have felt obligated to advocate for the needs of all our children, as well as for working families. I learned that I have a unique perspective to share, and that I will add to discussions including the critical challenge our schools now face in overcoming the educational debt our students have sustained over what was for some of them a lost year.

Schools

Congrats to the Watertown High School Class of 2021! See the List of Graduates

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Charlie BreitroseA 2021 Watertown High School senior waves toward the stands at Victory Field before Saturday’s graduation ceremony. Watertown High School seniors celebrated their graduation on Saturday at Victory Field. Honors:

+ Cum Laude Society

^ National Honor Sociey

* Seal of Biliteracy

# Seal of Biliteracy with Distinction

Watertown High School Class of 2021

Pargol Akbari *

Miar Amleh

Elaine Andrade ^

Leticia Andrade

Zainab Attar ^*

Emily Azevedo ^*

Christopher Baba

Zakary Babali

Leah Bailey +^

Jesse Bartolozzi

Cody Begg ^

Shabnam Begum

Morgan Beirne

Ahmed Bekdash ^

Jazmine Blaine-LaSanta

Louis Blaine-LaSanta

Dyanne Bonyuet +^*#

Jack Bunnell

Benjamin Burns-Shipps

Alexandra Calix

Kenan Canca ^

Kelly Caravantes

Wender Carlos *

Cavan Catalano

Nicholas Cavarretta

Gabriel Cinar

Kapriel Cinar

Madison Colon

Poppe Constable

Sebastian Correa

Paulo Costa

Jenna Cotter

Aidan Curry +^

Leah D’Amico ^

Grace Darmody ^

Sergey Davtyan

Kaylan De Sousa

Ana Vittoria DeFaria *

Nicole Delgado ^*#

Theodore DeRocher

Anthony Diallo

Nicholas DiPace

William Dolan

Kayleigh Dore ^

Seamas Doyle ^

Zoe Doyle ^*

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Watertown News (@watertownmanews)

Kimberly Ellis

Audrey Ferguson

Tessa Ferrandi

Natalie Finton ^*#

Cole Fitzgerald

Allison Fitzpatrick ^*#

Iona Fleming ^

Rebecca Folse

Emma Forde

Dylan Francione

Christopher Gagnon

Lisandro Galdamez

Declan Gallagher

Lavender Gasciogne

Mario Greco

Damian Guanumen Parra ^

Stephanie Guler

Carolyn Gulley +^*

Rita Hackett +^

Angelina Halibian

Allend Hassan

Eva Henry *#

Bryan Hernandez

Jeremy Herrera

Adam Houjazy

Arman Hovhannisyan *

Dominick Howe

Joseph Ignacio *

Shakel Inniss

Lea Rena Jorekjian ^*

Shamaelle Joseph

Theresa Jumba

Amad Kabir *

Irene Kandilas ^

Miriam Karachi

Alicia Karunaratne ^

Tanya Kaya ^

Lauren Kempton

Shant Keshishian

Ahmed Khan

Fizza Khan

Waqas Khan

Sudais Khan

Caiden Kiani +^

Jonathan Kimera

David Kinnear

Raffi Lachinian

Christopher Lanni

Kaue Leal

Emily LeBlanc

Jaqueline Leitner

Ryan Leonard +^

George Lithotomos

Sean Loughran

Roberto Maguire

Justine Makisimu

Leyla Mandel +^

David Manoukian +^

Pablo Marques

Nelson Marquez

Nicole Matevosian

Lukas Matton

Danilsh McKoy

Enid McLawrence Toribio *

James Meehan

Karina Melkonian

Deborah Mendez-Capello

Arthur Metzker *

Katrin Mikaelyan

Teodora Misic +^*#

Suren Mkrtchyan *

Eva Morrissey

Javier Mota Lopez

Hannah Moylan

MaryKate Munroe

Niamh Murphy ^

Mira Musallam

Charlie BreitroseA member of the Watertown High School Class of 2021 gives an elbow bump after receiving his diploma. Harriet Neeley +^*

Maud Neeley +^*

Jamal Nelson

Julie Ngan

Jack Nicolas

Patricia Nsubuga

Matthew Oliveira De Mattos

Nicolas Oteri

Katelynn Palmer

Gleb Partensky

Atin Patel

Alexander Peters

Cooper Petrie ^

Jenna Petrie +^

Patricio Pino +^*#

Patcharaporn Pochaithong

Thomas Powderly +^

Sana Rafiq

Hina Rahman ^*

Jeffrey Ramirez

Giovanni Reyes

Juliana Reyes

Liana Rice ^*

John Riley

Matheus Rocha

Douglas Rodas Gonzalez

Giulia Salvucci +^*

Leticia Santos *

Rene Sargsyan

Oliver Schatzle

Caden Schultz

Lydia Seki

Nathan Sergi

Sabreena Shah

Maxim Sharapov

Sophie Shepard

Arlette Shirinian

Colin Simpson

Marcos Soares

Luis Solano Ramos

Olivia Sorensen

Gabriely Souza Nunes

Gabriel Spinelli

Daniel Stefano *

Bridget Sullivan

Anastasia Symonenko *

Wesley Szeto +^

Sarah Tabbara

Lana Taffel +^

Isabella Tancredo +^

Parsa Tehrani

Salar Tehrani

Janoah Thomas

Hrachya Tonyan ^

Nathan Valstyn

Suwapich Virojanadul *#

Gavia Vosbigian +^*#

Calvin Walter

Ryan Webber

Haley Wolff

Henry Yusem +^*

Christina Zouein ^

Schools

Watertown High School Class of 2021 Celebrates Graduation After a Very Challenging Year

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Charlie BreitroseA Watertown High School senior celebrates after receiving his diploma at the 2021 graduation ceremony. A celebration for the 2021 Watertown High School senior class was a long time coming, having endured the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning and wearing masks in class. The grads had to wait an extra day due to weather concerns, but the delay did not dampen their spirits during Saturday morning’s graduation ceremony at Victory Field. WHS Class of 2021 Valedictorian Caiden Kiani, who also served as senior class president, said he has seen a lot of what goes on behind the scenes to make WHS run. He thanked a variety of people, including administrators, parents, counselors and others, but wanted to give some special thanks: the nursing staff, “who have helped us feel safe during the pandemic,” and the custodial staff, “who has worked extra hard to keep every room COVID free.”

Homepage Featured

Watertown High School Design Approved, Will Use Moxley Field for Temporary Location

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Ai3 ArchitectsA rendering of what the new Watertown High School could look like. The view is from Common Street. {Updated June 4, 2021 at 9 a.m. The name of the temporary high school was corrected to the PFC Richard Moxley Watertown High School.}

The proposal to build a new high school on the current Watertown High School location was approved Wednesday night, along with using Moxley Field as the temporary site for WHS during construction. School Building Committee members also supported naming the temporary campus for the Marine for whom the field is dedicated. The Committee unanimously approved what is called plan 1H, which would create a single school building on the property between Common and Columbia streets.

Homepage Featured

Watertown Students Receive Awards at Minuteman High School Ceremony

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The following announcement was provided by Minuteman High School:

Minuteman High School has announced the student recipients of annual scholarships and awards for the graduating Class of 2021. The awards recognize outstanding student achievement and support both college and career pursuits. A video of the award presentations is on youtube.com/minutemanhighschool. Minuteman’s graduation ceremony will be held in-person at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on Friday, June 4, at 2:00 PM. Valedictorian and Salutatorian

The Class of 2021 Valedictorian is Hannah Bardei, an Engineering student from Arlington.

Letters

LETTER: Parents Urge School Building Committee to Approve Plan for New High School

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To the Editor of Watertown News:

We are writing to express our strong support for moving forward with plans to build a new high school in Watertown — including a temporary high school on Moxley Field while the new high school is under construction. We are in dire need of a new high school—parts of the current building were constructed in 1925 and 1950! The old age and dated design of the building significantly restricts the educational programs available to our students. In 2016, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the school accreditation agency, put Watertown on warning because of the poor conditions of our high school. It is imperative that we get a new high school built and in use as soon as possible for the benefit of our students.