Isabella Synnestvedt, Mia McKennitt, Leadership Award, Climate of Freedom Award, Speech and Debate Award

 All,

We are but one week away from the 1st of April. The first day of April coincides with the last day of quarter 3. We are 3/4 of the way complete with one quarter before summer, even less for the Class of 2022. "The days are long but the years are short." Have a wonderful weekend. Please read on for news about our great students. 

Parking at CCHS

As a reminder, please refer to the March 22nd blog post regarding parking at CCHS. Only seniors are permitted to park on campus. 

Isabella Synnestvedt Competes in Junior National Championships

Congratulations to Isabella Synnestvedt.  She is among an elite group who competed in the U20 division in Minnesota, March 7 - 12th. She represented New England well, here are her results:

• Freestyle U20 - 13th
• Classic Sprints (she competed in 4 rounds - qualifier, quarter-final, semi-final, final) - 12th
• Classic Mass Start - 25th
• Freestyle mixed relay - 8th

New England won overall and took home the Alaska Cup! You can read all about the Junior National Championships here. Congratulations Isabella!

Mia McKennitt - '22 Boston Bruins-MIAA Sportsmanship Award Recipient

Congratulations to Mia McKennitt who is this year's MIAA Sportsmanship Award! This award is presented annually by the Boston Bruins and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) to one individual from each high school ice hockey league in the state who best exemplifies the highest standards of fair play and sportsmanship. Congratulations Mia!

Leadership Award Recipients

Nafeesa Hoda, Kristina Kane, and Madeleine Smack - are being recognized at State Representative Tami Gouveia's Unbossed event (Unbossed: Celebrating Bold Leadership, an awards ceremony and fundraiser event in support of her campaign for Lieutenant Governor). The virtual event is on March 20th at 4:00pm. Nafeesa, Kristina, and Madeleine lead the CYSJ group for Carlisle children ages 7 and up to learn about social justice. They've covered topics including activism, Women's rights, Black history month, privilege, and micro-aggressions with discussions, videos, games, and poetry. Congratulations Nafeesa, Kristina, and Madeleine!

Climate of Freedom Award

The Spectrum Club was awarded this year's Climate of Freedom Award by the Concord-Carlisle Human Rights Council along with the Middle School's Gender and Sexuality Alliance. Started over 30 years ago, the Human Rights Council continues to support human rights and respect for human differences. It is a volunteer group that coordinates its efforts with other local resources to overcome issues that divide and create misunderstanding and strife. The Spectrum Club will be accepting the award on April 3, 2022, at a ceremony to be held at CCHS. Congratulations to The Spectrum Club!

About the Spectrum Club: 

The Concord-Carlisle Spectrum Club began in the early 1990s as part of the statewide Safe Schools initiative.  It was founded by a group of students, teachers, and parents and has been going strong ever since.  

Spectrum is a club that welcomes all CCHS students, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a questioning person and/or ally. They promote interest in and tolerance of diversity, and work to support a positive and welcoming school climate for all. Meetings provide support and social space for students (and sometimes faculty and staff) who come and talk about their week and the challenges they are having as well as education about local, national and global trends in the area of LGBTQ rights. It is a judgment-free space where people can be themselves. 

Written by Faculty Member: Benjamin Kendall: 

We have hosted school-wide events like "socials" which are informal dances like during October (Halloween and Coming Out Month) and May - we have invited Gay Straight Alliances from surrounding schools as well- our attendance has usually numbered up to 30-40 students total.  In recent years, we have worked on reform issues within the school like expanding the number of Gender Neutral Bathrooms at the high school as our trans and gender non-conforming student body expands.  We have also met multiple times with Health and Fitness teachers to discuss ways to revise their Sexuality Curriculum to make it more inclusive of and sensitive to LGBTQ+ students.  We have applied for several grants with Student Government to expand on art around the school that would make the building more visually welcoming and inclusive as well as invite in a gender specialist who can talk with teachers and staff about how to make their classes more welcoming and inclusive of LGBTQ+ students.  And finally, at this year's professional development in service, which met over 4 early release days, we had a total of four Spectrum students participate as guest panelists on two of the days.  

I should mention that we have a tremendously supportive faculty and administration- Brian Miller encouraged our students to participate on the professional development panels.  Ray Pavlik of Student Government encouraged us to apply for the grants.  Michael Mastrullo has been very supportive of the gender-neutral bathroom issue and Andrew Nyamekye, our new Director of Diversity and Inclusion has met with us to hear our concerns.  

Speech and Debate Team Earns Charter Status

Congratulations to the Speech and Debate Team for earning Charter status in the National Speech and Debate Association! This significant achievement is the highest school membership honor. Charter status is earned by building a team that is heavily involved in the honor society, wherein they earn points and distinction through speech and debate competition, as well as community service, public speaking, and leadership activities. Earning a Charter is a remarkable achievement, placing the program among the best and most stable in the nation. This designation demonstrates that under the Debate Team leadership, not only is the team growing and competing at a high level, but the students uphold the highest standards of integrity, humility, respect, leadership, and service in our organization. For more information go to www.speechanddebate.org. Congratulations CCHS Speech and Debate!

Pictured: Ryan Valentine, Jack Peppercorn, Richard Li (Co-captain), Mr. Averill (Coach), Molly Branigan (Co-captain), Alex Li (Treasurer), Wilbur Moffit, Asher Sun, Eleanor Yoshida, Felicity Zhang,
Sarah Cherawala