Newtonite ◆ Wednesday, June 9, 2010 • Volume 89, Issue 8
Non-profit org. US postage paid Newton, Mass. Permit no. 55337
Newton North High School, 360 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
Class of 2010 graduates C MARENA COLE elebrating the end of its high school years, the Class of 2010 graduated tonight in Boston College’s Conte Forum. To begin the program, the Family Singers performed “America the Beautiful” by Katherine Lee Bates, a member of the Class of 1876. Then senior Ryan Vona sang the National Anthem and senior Nneamaka Mordi interpreted it. Principal Jennifer Price welcomed students, parents and faculty. Graduating EDCO and English Language Learning students gave greetings in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Lugandan and American Sign Language. Next, Mayor Setti Warren, superintendent V. James Marini, School Committee member Matt Hills, and Aldermen Stephen Linsky and Ted Hess-Mahan spoke to the graduates. Then, senior Eliana Eskinazi, the class president, gave the senior tribute to Riley housemaster Mark Aronson and Riley house secretary Maura Roberts. Senior Alison Safran gave a special tribute for the Class of 2010, and senior Camilla Jackson spoke for the Class of 2010. English teacher Inez Dover, a retiree, then spoke for the faculty. Next, Price presented the Principal’s Plaque to Mayor David B. Cohen. This plaque is for a person or group of people in the Newton community who has made outstanding contributions to the students, faculty and programs at this school. Seniors then presented awards to their classmates.
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Avia Bui presented Nathan Harris with the Charles Dana Meserve Fund Award. The award is for an outstanding scholar who has made great contributions to the school. Harris was a runner up for the Kennedy Prize for best junior thesis and scored in the 99th percentile in the National Spanish Exam. He also played piano for Spontaneous Generation and tutored middle school students weekly through the Tutors in Action program. The Senior Cup honors students who best represent the ideal Newton North student in terms of character, personality, scholarship and involvement in the community. Rian Murphy presented the Boys’ Senior Cup to Rocco Donohue. A Class of ’10 vice president all four years, Donohue was captain of boys’ lacrosse this year. He is also a Peer Mentor leader and a Peer Tutor, and he volunteered at Christmas in the City, a Christmas party for the homeless in Boston. Greg Kelley presented the Girls’ Senior Cup to Eskinazi. Eskinazi was class president all four years of high school, a member of the French Club, a PAWS mediator and a peer mentor. She also participated annually in the Charles River Cleanup efforts and volunteered at a local assisted-living complex. Andre Donegan presented the Phi Beta Kappa award for academic excellence to Naomi Genuth. Genuth received perfect scores in the National Latin Examination and the National French Contest, and she was nominated for the Kennedy Prize for best junior thesis. She was a ◆ continued on page 3
Teddy Wenneker
Senior countdown: Seniors Cameron Tabatabaie, Andrew Blouin and Bohan Leng count down to graduation Friday, June 4 in the cafeteria.
New homerooms teachers to be assigned by grade HILARY BRUMBERG o preserve class identity in the new school, the Admin Team decided to make changes in the way homerooms, lockers and houses are organized. The Admin Team, comprised of principal Jennifer Price, the assistant principals, housemasters and department heads, were concerned that each grade will not easily have its own space in the new building, as lockers will not be on Main Street, according to a survey the Admin Team sent to staff.
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“Think: where do you decorate for spirit week?” it said. “Where can housemasters find kids? The challenge is what to do about trying to honor the student culture at North, and assign homerooms and lockers appropriately.” According to an email housemasters sent to staff, the Admin Team decided to make the following changes for next year: ◆Assign most members of each grade homerooms and lockers in the same area of the school. The homerooms and lockers of students in Barry House will be on the second floor. Beals House
members will have homerooms and lockers on the third floor. Adams House homerooms and lockers will be on the third and fourth floors. On the fourth floor, there will be Riley House homerooms and lockers. ◆Assign new homeroom teachers to most existing homerooms. If homeroom teachers kept their same homerooms, they would have to travel from where they teach to their homerooms and back 10 minutes later. ◆Assign most staff houses by floor/department. In general, members of the five main depart-
ments will have classrooms in the same area as each other. In most cases, they will also be in the same house as their teaching area, and therefore their department. The Housemasters understand the disappointment for students and staff who will change homerooms, they wrote in an email. But they think it’s important for “students to feel bonded with their classmates,” Beals housemaster Michelle Stauss said. In the Admin Team’s survey, it wrote that assigning staff houses by department will encourage a
“stronger connection between a house and a department, which will be particularly helpful given that house secretaries next year will be asked to take on some departmental duties.” Stauss said she thinks that “no matter how things unfold next year, many of our plans will need to be reviewed over the course of the year because we’ll be in the new building and we’ll need to work out any and all glitches. “We’re going to give this a whirl, and if this doesn’t work, we’re going back to the drawing board.”
Two teachers awarded in honor of past educators HILARY BRUMBERG ath teacher Elena Graceffa was awarded with the Paul E. Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching and English teacher Janice Miller was awarded with the first Brenda Keegan Teaching Prize. They were awarded because they understand and inspire students, according to nomination letters by students. “They are the best!” said French teach Alieu Jobe, Elicker Committee chair. The Elicker Award is pre-
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sented to teachers who display a deep knowledge of his or her subject matter, teaching that stretches the mind of students and standards for performance that inspire excellence. The Keegan Prize is awarded to a teacher who excels at inspiring students to think broadly and deeply about their studies and their lives. Graceffa said she is shocked that she won the Elicker Award. “Especially when I look at the list of the teachers that’ve won before,” she said. “I’ve had a number of those teachers on that list.
It’s amazing to be on the same list as those giants of the profession in my mind. “I always lit up when learning—it was the thing that made me spark. “Nothing prepared me for how much I would love my students and my classes.” Graceffa graduated in 1999 from this school, where she participated in theater, Family Singers and Orchestra. Graceffa majored in English and took math classes at Yale, where she graduated in 2003. Graceffa has taught here since
2007. Math teacher Tracey Stewart said she thinks Graceffa is very deserving of the Elicker Award. “She is a master of mathematics and is constantly working to build her craft as a teacher,” Stewart said. Miller said that her students helped her win the award. “The students I have this year are really out of this world,” she said. “They’re so strong—it helps me be strong.” Former English department head Brenda Keegan and former English teachers Peter Capodi-
lupo and Tom DePeter inspired Miller as a teacher, she said. “If Cappy was the heart and Keegan was rigor, then DePeter was the creatitivity,” Miller said. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1988. She achieved her masters degree in English from the University of Virginia in 2001. There, she taught Shakespeare, introduction to Literary Studies and poetry seminars. From 2001 to 2002, Miller taught eighth grade English at Marblehead Middle School. She has taught here since 2002.