Spotlight on Student Achievements

Community Service Awards given to Greenwich Public School students

Several students were presented with Community Service Awards for participation in service activities that help improve both their school and community, in a ceremony Wednesday at .

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sidney A. Freund and Chairman Steven B. Anderson presented awards to the elementary, middle and high school student recipients.

Students are selected from each elementary school to accept the award on behalf of the entire school for service activities and projects that they have participated in throughout the year. Community Service Awards are presented to three middle school students, one from each school and five high school students, one from each house. A sixth high school student is also selected to receive the Fleishman Award.  Former Greenwich Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ernest Fleishman presents this award to a student who has made significant contributions to their school and community. All the students also received State Citations in recognition of their accomplishments.

The student award recipients and program participants included:

Elementary school award student representatives/recipients were Beth Williamson, Emily Delepine, Heather Walker, Rene Jameson, Ainsleigh Winget, Diana Finkel, Juan Fernandez, Erika Hauschild, Thomas Price, Caroline Conrod, Katherine Russack, Louisa Bjerke, Jesse Horowitz, Henry Ellison and Reilly Kennedy.

Middle school award recipients were Rachel Pennella, Elizabeth Cardini and Annika Bjerke.

High school award recipients were Daniel Silkman, Jordana Cepelewicz, Johanna Mattsson, Klara Zimmerman and Lucas Siegmund.

The Fleishman Service Award winner was John Cofer.

In addition to a reception, there was a program of piano selections performed by the Glenville first-grader Rio Ichiy; third-grader Lucas Gazianis and James Mera , a fifth-grader

Students headed to CT Geographic Bee on Friday

Three Greenwich students have advanced to the finals of the CT Geographic Bee that will be held Friday at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

Caroline Kulak, a sixth-grader at , and Michael Tang, an eighth-grader at , Michael Kural, an seventh-grader, will be competing in a field of 103 students from around the state.

The state winner will receive $100, the “Complete National Geographic on DVD”, and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Connecticut in the national finals at the National Geographic Society headquarters, May 24 - 25.  The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership in the Society and an all-expenses paid trip to the Galápagos Islands.

The national finals will be televised live and moderated by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

Award-winning creativity

They sure are pretty artistic and creative bunch in the Greenwich High School art program. More than a dozen students earned awards in the statewide Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition that attracted more than 1,700 entries from 147 Connecticut schools.

The students were recognized for their achievements in the competition held by the University of Hartford at the March 24 Board of Education meeting.

Not only did Wisse Kodde earn a gold key award for his photography portfolio, he also won a scholarship to attend the Hartford Art School.

The winners were:

Matthew White, honorable mention: sculpture; Diane Abercrombie, honorable mention: mixed media; Gerald Daclan, honorable mention: ceramics; Stephanie Lopez, honorable mention: ceramics; Alison Kwan, silver key: drawing; Samuel Finn, silver key: ceramics; Alexandra DiStefano, silver key: sculpture.

Also, Marilyn Ho-Yen, gold key: photography; Jacob Hladky, gold key:  photography portfolio; Guillermo Novella, gold key: photography portfolio; Emilly Barresi, gold key: photography portfolio; Gabrielle Streiff, gold key: photography portfolio, and Kohei Urakami, gold key: digital art and the CAEA/Arnini Best in Show in Digital Art.