August Lee-Kovach, Harlem LAX Gear Drive, Apple Picking, Senior Aerial Photo

It is with pride and pleasure I share some interesting and inspiring information from CCHS.  

 August Lee-Kovach to publish NYT Crossword Puzzle*

August Lee-Kovach, of Prospect Street, a 14-year-old freshman at Concord-Carlisle High School, has had two of his crossword puzzles accepted by the New York Times, and the first will be published in the paper this Saturday, October 9. This is the result of over two years of perseverance developing his puzzling craft.

August started trying to solve crosswords when he was nine at Cape Cod with his parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. “Someone would read the clues,” he says, “and people would call out the answers. I thought of the right answer sometimes.” He also would solve crosswords with his dad. “More accurately, I would sit and watch him fill in the puzzle. But now I can solve Monday and Tuesday puzzles on my own.” (Puzzles get harder throughout the week from Monday to Saturday.)

August got the idea of making a crossword when he was ten. His dad told him that, many years ago, he had submitted a puzzle to the New York Times, but it was rejected. “Will [Shortz] wouldn’t accept made-up entries like ALSOS or LTD EDTN,” the reviewer had said. August convinced his dad that they should give it another try. They read “How to Make a Crossword Puzzle,” by the New York Times puzzle editors and constructors, and he was inspired.

At first, August and his dad collaborated on puzzles. At 11, August made his first solo crossword. “It was a ‘meh’ puzzle,” he says. But he made more, and with each one he got better. The rejections were hard. He submitted more than ten puzzles, some with his dad and some solo, and all were rejected. But the reviewers at the Times encouraged him and made helpful suggestions each time, and he took their advice.

Finally, in December 2020, he got an email saying that one of his solo puzzles was accepted. It was a themeless puzzle with a lot of long words and an open grid, usually the toughest kind to solve. They told him it would be published on a Saturday—as it turns out, this Saturday.

August continued submitting puzzles (there was time during the pandemic), and after seven more rejections, another of his solo puzzles was accepted. This time it was a themed puzzle, but a tricky one that will be published in the Times on a Thursday. 

It is hard for August to say his favorite part of making puzzles. There’s developing a theme: “Coming up with a theme can be grueling,” he says, “but once you have a good idea, it’s fun thinking up examples.” There’s filling in the words: “I like it that I can put in whatever words I want. That’s where you get to make the puzzle your own.” And there’s writing the clues: “A good clue has word-play. It misdirects the solver without making it obvious that it is a misdirect.”

What has he learned from all this? “Words, and how to play with words,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot of common knowledge . . . and not-so-common knowledge that nobody should ever need to learn because it’s so random—like Brian Eno or an etui (a small ornamental case).”∆

*This article first appeared in the Carlisle Mosquito

Harlem Lacrosse Gear Drive

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the Concord-Carlisle High School Community for its support of GEAR2GOALS, a student-led gear drive that is now in its 4th year of collecting gently used lacrosse gear and athletic clothing for student-athletes in the Harlem Lacrosse - Boston program.

Founded by Simon Cataldo, a CCHS grad, Harlem Lacrosse is a school-based nonprofit that is now established in five cities across the US. Harlem Lacrosse provides lacrosse instruction, academic support, mentoring, leadership, as well as college and career readiness training to its student-athletes. GEAR2GOALS grew out of the camaraderie among young people playing lacrosse together in Concord, Harlem, and now Dorchester, and its success would not be possible without the support of CCHS - its staff, coaches, students, athletes, parents, and also our youth lacrosse leagues. Many, many thanks for making this year’s drive a huge success! (www.gear2goals.com)

- GEAR2GOALS Volunteer Team

Team Willow Field Trip

Team Willow spent the day at Shelburne Farms in Stow, MA.  The team spent the day picking apples and pumpkins, hanging with the farm's animals, doing poetry, learning to throw golf discs, and sampling fresh cider doughnuts and apple cider.  It was the first time that the entire team was together and provided a nice opportunity for the team to get to know each other, without masks, on a beautiful fall day.

Here is the jam board they made for the Poetry proportion of the day.

Launch Field Trip to Carlson Orchards

Several Launch members visited Carlson Orchards to do some apple picking.  The weather could not have been more beautiful! They started off by enjoying some delicious pizza before showing off their apple picking skills. 

Other Launch members stayed on campus and watched Hocus Pocus.  What a fantastic Halloween movie!  

Once the crew returned from apple picking, everyone was able to sample some apple cider and enjoy an apple cider donut.

Class of 2022