NCHS Students Awarded at Annual Senior Recognition Assembly

Friday marked New Canaan High School’s annual Senior Recognition Ceremony, where emcee Assistant Principal Ari Rothman awarded outstanding Juniors and seniors for their various achievements. Congratulations to all— what follows is a brief description of awards and their corresponding recipients:

National Merit Finalist

Each year more than a million high school students participate in the National Merit Scholarship testing program. Of this group, only one-half of one percent in each state is recognized as “National Merit Finalists,” a designation that comes only as a result of a record of distinguished achievement and a high potential for continued academic accomplishment. CAROLINE CALLAHAN
LEIGH CHARLTON

National Hispanic Scholar

The National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) identifies academically outstanding Hispanic/Latino high school students. Each year, the NHRP honors nearly 5,000 of the highest-scoring students from the approximately 235,000 Hispanic/Latino juniors who take the PSAT/NMSQT

EVA PACE

Fairfield County Association of Secondary Schools Principal’s Scholar Leader Awards

CAROLINE CALLAHAN
LUKE STEWART

Connecticut Association of Boards of Education Student Leadership Award
An ability to recognize the needs of others, a willingness to take on difficult challenges and a capacity for making difficult decisions, ability to work with and direct others, and the ability to honor commitments – these are the attributes for which this award was established.

Record-High 94 Percent of NCHS Seniors To Enter Internship Program

This spring, 289 New Canaan High School seniors will participate in an increasingly popular internship program that sends the students to work for the last month of the academic year at local and area businesses and organizations. The figure represents about 94 percent of the Class of 2018—marking a high point in the history of a program that launched with just a dozen NCHS seniors in 2011. Heather Bianco, coordinator of the Senior Internship Program, attributed the rise in popularity of ‘SIP’ its many benefits for students. “It just gives them experience out of school in a work environment that they don’t get in school and a lot of them have not had a job before, so it just gives a professional environment where they can get a real-life work experience,” Bianco, who is in her second full year of overseeing the program, told NewCanaanite.com. Here’s a look at its growth (article continues below):

 

Bianco took the reins from Sue Carroll, who as coordinator of the College and Career Center at NCHS had overseen the development and first several years of SIP with help from a volunteer steering committee.

New Canaan High School Recognizes Accomplishments of Students at Annual Assembly

Hundreds of New Canaan High School parents, students and faculty members on Wednesday morning gathered in the auditorium to honor more than 130 seniors and juniors at the annual Recognition Assembly. A day to recognize the achievements of NCHS students—and to recall members of the school and wider community, some deceased, as several awards are named for them—the event marks “one of those days where these kids make us look very, very good,” said Vice Principal Ari Rothman, who emceed the ceremony. “We are all very proud of their accomplishments,” he said. This year marked the first-ever award named for beloved New Canaan Public Schools teacher Kelly Devine, who died suddenly April 7 at age 36. In a moment that earned a standing ovation from many of those in the crowd, her parents, Jay and Cathy, and two of her siblings, Kevin and Kim (she also is survived by brothers Robert and Daniel) handed out the award to recognize Kelly’s “work, her infectious spirit and her passion for literature and reading.”

What follows is a list of all awards, with descriptions where available, and recipients:

OVERALL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

National Merit Finalist: Each year more than a million high school students participate in the National Merit Scholarship testing program.