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‘A Sense of Unity’: New Canaan High School Senior, ABC Student Rajon Mitchell Reflects on His Experience

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New Canaan High School senior Rajon Mitchell recalls his freshman-year self as a “much quieter, shyer version” of the young man he is today. An ABC House of New Canaan student from a tough neighborhood in the Bronx, N.Y., Mitchell had distinguished himself as a student in the city by leaning into his instincts as an introvert, keeping to himself and going his own way. “While that’s nice and that brought me success before, in my time prior to coming to New Canaan, having the ability and having the skills to connect with others, make relationships, it’s just so much better,” a smiling Mitchell said on a recent afternoon standing outside Town Hall, where he’s interning during his final month as an NCHS student in the Inland Wetlands Department. “And being able to have a team to go further and quicker.”

They’re life lessons that Mitchell—an organizer for an ABC fundraising car wash to be held 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Saxe Middle School—will take to Northeastern University in Boston this fall. Bright, authentic, naturally curious and engaging, Mitchell in four years as a New Canaan student not only has come into his own as a person, according to those who have tracked his progress here, but also intellectually, feeding a genuine thirst for new ideas and experiences.

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‘The Security Measures in Place Work’: Superintendent Addresses Unusual Incident at New Canaan High School

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Addressing concerns following an incident this week where a 22-year-old man on New Canaan High School’s campus attempted to enter the school’s cafeteria through an exterior door, the district’s superintendent offered reassurance to parents and the wider community about the facility’s security. New Canaan Police on Monday arrested a New Jersey man who inexplicably approached the building at an exterior door to the cafeteria around noon and then, when confronted, falsely claimed that he was a 17-year-old transfer to NCHS. Asked about the incident, Dr. Bryan Luizzi said that New Canaan Public Schools “makes the safety of its students a priority at all times.”

“All doors at New Canaan High School are locked,” Luizzi told NewCanaanite.com. “The main entrance doors are monitored by the district’s campus monitors, as are all front doors in all the district’s schools. Visitors need to show identification, sign in and sign out, and are given a name badge to wear during their visit.

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‘He Is an Exemplary Model’: NCHS Educator Jim Zambarano Named ‘Teacher of the Year’ by Tech Ed Association

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While serving as New Canaan High School principal, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi recalled Monday night, the district saw a rise in interest among students for computer science and coding. NCHS offered no specific class to address those interests, Luizzi recalled, though Jim Zambarano—for many years now, the chair of the school’s Career & Technical Education program—“had talked about what might be needed to try and do that,” according to Luizzi. “I looked him in the eye and said, ‘Well we don’t have anybody to teach that,’ ” Luizzi recalled at a Board of Education meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. “And he looked at me right back and said, ‘I can,’ and jumped right in.”

Thanks largely to Zambarano, the program swiftly was put together. “We talk often about ‘Project Lead the Way,’ our goals and STEM education and engineering, and we are very proud of our Project Lead the Way program.

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New Canaan High School’s Most Popular Cars

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New Canaan High School’s parking lot is many things—bustling with activity to the point where safety measures have been installed for students crossing its main access road, and configured such that vehicles often back up all the way down to Route 106 during the morning “rush.”

It offers a snapshot of car popularity and preferences among New Canaan teens:

 

This summer, we looked at the most popular autos in town overall, with Chevrolet distinguishing itself as the only manufacturer to earn top-5 rankings in both make (#2) and model (#4). NCHS administrators keep a registry of student cars (381 total this academic year) in order to ensure security and to make it easy to identify and contact the vehicles’ owners in case there’s a problem with parking or something else. To get our arms around what cars are most popular among high school students, we put in a formal request for a list of makes and models on file with the district (not names or anything else that would serve as an identifier). As anyone who has glanced at the NCHS parking lot could guess, Jeep topped the list of most popular cars, and the manufacturer’s Wrangler and Grand Cherokee ended up 1-2 among makes:

 

Officials with My Way Motor Sports and Auto Body, a body shop with locations in both Greenwich and Stamford, say they’ve seen a major year-over-year increase in the number of people—particularly young drivers—customizing their vehicles. “The Jeep Wrangler has been by far the most popular truck we’ve done,” said My Way owner T.J. Bivona, echoing what the NCHS data is showing.

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New Canaan Police Officer Geoffrey Lambert To Take on School Resource Role at NCHS

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A 27-year New Canaan Police Department officer. U.S. Marines veteran and father of three will serve as the next officer assigned to New Canaan High School, officials said Thursday. Officer Geoffrey Lambert will start Nov. 7 in the School Resource Officer role, according to a press release issued by Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. “During his career he has received many letters of appreciation, awards and commendations for exceptional performance,” Krolikowski said.