Schools

School Committee Votes Against Seeking Membership to Minuteman Vocational District

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The Town of Watertown will not seek to join the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District, at least not this year. 

The School Committee voted last week to follow the recommendation of a subcommittee that looked into whether to join the regional district which runs the vocational high school in Lexington. Watertown has consistently sent more than 50 students to Minuteman each year over the past 10 years. This year there are 56 students, or more than 10 percent of the total enrollment (516) and sends more students than all but one community. Arlington, a member community, sends 119 students this year. There are 10 member towns, and students from those communities are accepted before the school looks at out-of-district applicants, Minuteman Superintendent Edward Bouquillon said at the joint Budget & Finance and Curriculum subcommittee meeting.

Schools

Minuteman High School Receives National Blue Ribbon School Award

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Representatives from Minuteman High School in Lexington accepted the school’s 2018 National Blue Ribbon School award at a ceremony held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 8. An audience of 1,300 people looked on in the hotel’s ballroom as dozens of outstanding schools nationwide were presented with the National Blue Ribbon School award by the Director of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Aba S. Kumi. “At no other time in Minuteman’s history that I can think of has our school had such a great stretch of news going on,” said Principal Jack Dillon, who has worked at Minuteman for the past 13 years. “This is a really proud moment to represent Minuteman.”

He attended the Washington event along with Lead Mathematics Teacher John Fusco and Lead English Teacher Greg Donovan.

Schools

Watertown Weighing Whether to Join Minuteman Vocational District, Parent Says More Urgency Needed

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Watertown Public School officials must decide whether it makes more sense for the town to join the Minuteman Vocational Technical High School District, continue to send children as a non-member, or find some other option for vocational education. At Monday’s School Committee meeting, Superintendent Dede Galdston said the district continues to research what will be best for the students of Watertown, but one parent advocate for joining Minuteman said the district is not moving fast enough. Watertown currently sends dozens of students to the vocational high school in Lexington. Last year, there were so many students that they more than filled a 53-student school bus. The Watertown Public Schools pay the tuition for the students to attend Minuteman.

Schools

Minuteman High School Students Win Medals at SkillsUSA Competition

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Students from Minuteman High School captured medals in a host of technical categories in a regional skills competition against their peers last month, including one from Watertown, the school announced. Minuteman students earned gold, silver and bronze medals in the SkillsUSA District III Competition held at Joseph P. Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham on February 28. SkillsUSA is a national organization that allows students in career and technical education to compete in rigorous technical and leadership competitions. The advisor of the Minuteman chapter of SkillsUSA is Engineering instructor Malcolm Paradise. The medalists from Minuteman were as follows:
Culinary Arts: Gold, Sam Zurlo ‘19, Lexington
Cosmetology Over 500 hours: Bronze, Madelyn Hedges ‘18, Arlington
Additive Manufacturing: Gold, Ben Tangora ‘20, Lexington and Brandon Bain ‘20, Lexington
Electrical Construction Wiring: Silver, Luke Scannell ‘20, Lexington
Mechatronics: Gold, Benjamin Leone ‘18, Lancaster and Dan Seriy ‘18, Needham, Silver, Alex Northup ‘19, Needham and Ethan Moore ‘19, Arlington
Web Design & Programming: Gold, Adam Powell ‘18, Arlington and Ethan Francis-Wright ‘18, Arlington
Mobile Robotics: Gold, Gaetano Taranto ‘19, Waltham and Jake Dionne ‘19, Concord, Bronze, Emmanuel Adey ‘20, Lexington
Robotics Automation Technology: Gold, Sam Harris ‘19, Lancaster and Sophia Li ‘19, Acton
Telecommunication Cabling: Gold, Sean O’Connor ‘18, Winchester
Industrial Baking, Silver, Thomas Merida ‘18, Watertown
Many of these students will compete at the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference held from April 26-28 in Marlborough. Minuteman is an award-winning regional high school that integrates robust academic and career & technical learning to deliver a revolutionary competitive advantage to its students, expanding their opportunities for college and career success.

Schools

Minuteman Student from Watertown Creating on Mural at Lexington Library

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The Cary Memorial Library’s Teen Space will soon have a new mural adorning the wall, thanks to two industrious students from Minuteman High School, school officials announced. Seniors Lucy Couet, of Arlington and Mariana Torres-Roman, of Watertown, are both in the Design and Visual Communications program at Minuteman. They are interning at the Library this fall to complete the mural which they designed, said their teacher, Maria Galante. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Minuteman High School students on this project,” said Jennifer Forgit, the Library’s Teen Services Manager. “From the outset of the Teen Room design project, we knew that it would be important to pay attention to the design and decor so that teens would feel at home.

Schools

Minuteman High School to be Featured on PBS Documentary This Week

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Minuteman High School is one of three vocational technical high schools in Massachusetts featured on “Job Centered Learning,” an upcoming, hour-long PBS television documentary about career and technical education by award-winning filmmaker Bob Gliner, the school announced. It is scheduled to be broadcast on PBS World stations in much of the nation. Locally, it will be shown on the WGBH World station on Thursday, October 12, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. and will be rebroadcast on October 14 and 16. Viewers can find the exact station number in their area by going to worldchannel.org and clicking on
“Select Station.”

The two other vocational technical high schools in this state that are showcased on the program are Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne and Greater Lowell Technical High School in Tyngsborough. “Job Centered Learning” demonstrates how the intensive career and technical education students receive at high schools like Minuteman helps to close the skills gap between the abilities and knowledge which job seekers possess and the credentials and experience that employers want in the people they hire.

Minuteman High School

Minuteman Readys for New School Year, Talking with Watertown About Joining District

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The upcoming school year is expected to be another banner one for Minuteman High School, according to its top administrators. “We’re really excited about the 2017-18 school year,” said Principal Jack Dillon. Orientation will be held for new students in grades 9, 10 and 11 on Monday, August 28 from 7:45 am to 12:15 pm. All students will attend on Tuesday, August 29, which will be a full school day. Last year, which Principal Dillon called “the most significant in Minuteman’s history,” was notable for major developments such as changing the school’s regional agreement to include ten towns in Minuteman’s district instead of sixteen.

Minuteman High School

Minuteman High School Coming to Watertown for Information Night

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NOTE: Due to the snow storm, the meeting has been rescheduled to March 21 at 7 p.m.

Find out about Minuteman Technical High School at an information night to be held in Watertown. Students, parents and others interested in learning about the vocational school can attend the event on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, from 7-8 p.m. at Watertown Middle School, 68 Waverley Ave., Watertown. Representatives will provide an overview on Minuteman’s technical programs, explain the benefits of attending the school and explain the process for applying for admission.