Masks, Meet a Neuroscientist, Nordic Ski Team, Writing Contest Winners, Lauren Keilty, Debate Team, Boys Track, Girls Swim & Dive

All,

Tomorrow we arrive at CCHS with masks optional. It is hard to believe, but a sophomore in high school has yet to arrive at CCHS unmasked. We welcome the relaxing of COVID-19 measures, but we do so with empathy, compassion, and kindness to those who, for a myriad of reasons, cannot remove their mask. For those who welcome this change, I am glad you can remove your mask. To those who need to wear a mask, please show empathy and compassion.  

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. 

Meet a Neuroscientist, Tuesday, March 29th | 5:00 pm EST

Harvard Brain Initiative (HBI) is launching a new virtual event series called “Meet a Neuroscientist.” Click here to learn more and register for their first event on March 29th at 5 pm. 

The goal is for high school students and undergraduates across the nation to have a chance to chat with brain science researchers from the Harvard community. We will offer one-hour sessions in Zoom where students have a chance to meet two researchers from different areas of neuroscience. These researchers may be graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, professors, or staff members. Each speaker gives a short, informal talk about their research and educational background, and then opens up the conversation for Q&A. 

 Please reach out to parizad_bilimoria@hms.harvard.edu, if you have any questions.

Nordic Ski Team - Champions!

The girl's team beat Mt. Greylock for the State Championship in a very tight race. The course was 7km and the race was held at Prospect Mt. in Vermont.

Senior Isabella Synnestvedt was the overall winner for the girls with a split-second margin of victory.

Other top finishers: 5th - junior Finn Feist; 10th - sophomore Sarah Kirincich, in 20th - senior Grace Waldeck

The boys finished in 2nd place overall, far behind Mt. Greylock. Same course. 

Top finishers: In 6th place, sophomore Xander Scopinich-Burgel, in 12th - Senior
co-captain Bryce Lublin, in 14th - Junior Jonah Carter

Please see this article for the complete write-up.

Writing Contest Winners

The English Department would like to congratulate the winners of its annual writing contest: Isabelle Adourian and Mai Richmond.  We wish these two juniors good luck as they go on to compete in the national contest sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English.  

Lauren Keilty

Congratulations to Lauren Keilty '22 for competing in the US Equestrian Interscholastic Athlete Program. Lauren has committed hundreds of hours of training throughout her career. You can read Lauren's recognition letter here. Way to go Lauren!

About US Equestrian: This program was developed to provide recognition for the accomplishments of young equestrians and encourage their future involvement in equestrian sport. US Equestrian recognizes the dedication of equestrians preparing for competition through practice and training sessions as similar to other students in athletic programs and developed this program to honor individual achievements with a varsity letter in the student's chosen sport, regardless of the availability of an equestrian team or club through their school. 

CCHS Debate Team News

The CCHS Debate team participated in two tournaments on Saturday: The Lumos Debate held online and the Boston Catholic Forensic League’s national qualifier held in person at Shrewsbury HS. 

At Lumos Debate, in the Gold Division, our phenomenal team of Asher Sun and Felicity Zhang were undefeated and took 1st Place Team, after defeating Waring School’s top[ team of Mikaila Bennett & Eliza Proctor in the 4th round. As coach of both teams, I was happy to see both teams debate so well and to see Asher and Felicity’s hard work pay off. Judging for CCHS at this tournament was Hua Yang.

At the BCFL National Qualifier, CCHS was ably represented by Richard Li & Wilbur Moffitt. They had a superior showing, going undefeated in the first 3 rounds before qualifying for elimination rounds and earning the “second alternate” position for the National Debate Tournament in May. In addition, Wilbur became the first “Double Ruby” (508 NSDA points) at CCHS, a remarkable sign of his active participation in debate. Ling Liu also became our first judge to attend 20 tournaments in her judging career, a sign of deep commitment to the team!

This was our second IN-PERSON tournament of the year, and it was a joy to be with other debaters and actually be in the same room with our competition. Waring School’s Team leader, Cam Gimbrere, described the difference this way:

“One thing I love and missed the most about in-person debating is the strangely comforting and strange grounding technique I developed freshman year. Tournaments are terrifying, and between your horrendous nerves and attempts to avoid rival teams, there's not much quiet time. When I get in this space at in-person tournaments, I breathe and take a physical step back. What am I seeing? High schoolers. High schoolers dressed up in little suits for twelve hours a day, reading little research papers and pretending they're little politicians. Being once again in this environment of chatter and focus is invigorating. Being once again around people who are wandering the halls in socks because their shoes were hurting or those who are crying in the bathroom because they should not have lost that round (I have been in both of these situations) allows me to realize that I am not alone here. That it's okay if I don't get top place or break to finals. It's okay. We're just high schoolers.” 

In addition to agreeing with Cam’s philosophical observations on in-person debating, I found it refreshing to be in the same tabulation room with my lifelong colleagues from our regional leadership team, eating bad pizza and sharing our thoughts on the state of debate in New England. 

Debate Team Places at National Qualifier

CCHS’ novice “phenoms” Felicity Zhang & Eleanor Yoshida were dominant and earned a spot as 2nd alternates in the New England District Tournament of the National Speech and Debate Association’s qualifier for the National tournament to be held in Dallas in June. Debating the new February topic, “Resolved: On balance, Turkey’s Membership is Beneficial to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” they garnered a 3W-2L record against the top teams in New England. It was an awesome showing for a young team competing against the best varsity debaters in the league.

They gained valuable experience that CCHS will use for the next two weekends at the NCFL National Qualifier and the Harvard Tournament. Thanks to Felicity and Nora for being our “avant-garde” on the latest topic. Rui Ma served as the judge for CCHS and debate coach Tim Averill worked in the judge training for the tournament. 

CCHS Debaters Excel at Harvard

The CCHS Debate team was represented by 6 debaters at the Harvard National Debate Tournament, held online on Friday, February 18 - Monday, February 21. Debating in varsity debate were Molly Branigan & Richard Li, in J-V debate Wilbur Moffitt & Asher Sun, and in Novice Debate Felicity Zhang & Eleanor Yoshida. 

The tournament attracted over 2000 students from both the United States and International destinations - China, Canada, and Latin American nations. Felicity and Nora were undefeated and the top seed in preliminary debates (5W-0L) and won their first elimination round before losing to Regis HS of New York City in Double-Octofinals. In addition, Felicity was the ninth-place speaker in a field of 430 debaters in the novice division.

- Tim Averill, Debate Team Coach

Track Team

The boys 4x800 team from the Division 1 Championship. They broke the school record and were #1 in the state. L-R is Campbell MacDonald, Henry Reichle, Ray Pavlik, and Wes Kleiman. Congratulations!

Swim and Dive Team

Girls Swim and Dive Team, which finished 2nd in the D1 State Championship. Alana Leen broke a school record, while relay teams featuring Alana, Lindsey Mingolla, Arden Trudeau, Tess Ward, and Reese Phillips also set school records. Congratulations!