NFA World: Cheering squads form; Girl Scouts cook healthy
Special education teacher and NFA varsity cheerleading team coach Diane Leone has announced the 2010-11 winter varsity and junior varsity cheerleading teams. The season runs from the week after Thanksgiving to mid-March. On the varsity squad are seniors Nikki Beatrice, Catariny Depina, Michael Jones, Kathryn Maruzo and Lakeisha Rucker; uppers Cassandra Arpin, Alexis Ballirano, Desirae Barrett, Jessica Charette, Emily Depina, Hannah Knight, Alexis Luft, Josh Peters, Gitann Scully, Nicholas Tague and Savannah Wells; lowers Jamie Gartley, Jillian Provost and Tiara Dunn-Sullivan; and junior Alexa Strickland.
The junior varsity squad includes uppers Kaila Bartha and Abagail Postler; lowers Nicole Castagna Longo, Allison Craven, Kaila Jessing, Alysha Kalinowski, Emily Lamontagne, Amber McNally, Cheyenne Michelli, Amanda Osowski and Brianna Sawchuk; juniors Mikaella Dombrowski, Yazmine Hardy, Kiari Johnson-Claudio, Melonie Merise, Moyat (Tia) Olatunmbi and Madeline Sawchuk.
Creative cooking
On Dec. 3, culinary arts teacher Janel O’Neil hosted Preston Girl Scout Troop 63099 in the professional kitchen of the Brick View Inn to help them work on their creative cooking merit badge. They made brownies, oatmeal cookies and pumpkin muffins, substituting healthier options for traditional ingredients. Participating were troop members and seniors Morgan Fleming, Kendall Kobelski, Abigail Mattern, Margaret O’Connor and Victoria Schultz; upper Samantha Majcher; and juniors Melinda Converse, Chloe Marien, Juliet Morales and Victoria Majcher.
Computer contest
On Dec. 8, mathematics teacher Kevin Clendennin took six students, two three-member teams, to Fitchburg State University to compete with 30 other high school teams in a computer programming contest, Teams had to solve as many as 10 problems in the shortest amount of time. Both teams solved seven of the 10, and placed third and fifth. Placing third were senior Anthony Sciola and uppers Jesse Babbitt and Allen Kong. Fifth-place winners were uppers Yilun Chen, Aaron Evrett and Dang Vo Tran.
Winter Choral Concert
NFA’s Winter Choral Concert was Dec. 16, directed by Tonya Laymon, director of vocal music. Performing with the Chamber Singers were seniors Quinn Becker, Jacob Brisson, Wahnetah Carty, Antoinisha Damas, Marissa Depina, Michael Jones, Rachel Overturf, Kassandra Plourde, Zacgart Rubin, Cristian Vazquez and Zachary Winakor; uppers Ashlyn Bapst, Theresa Claudio, Bowen Coburn, Courtney Danieluk, Xlyecia Gentry, Daniel Hensch, Evan Jambor, Rachel Lord, Ryan Massey and Lloyd Schramm; and lowers Jaron Cotton, Michelene Dupuis, Persephone Marien, Erin Moebus, Carissa Sanbour and Bethany Telgarsky.
Concert Choir singers were seniors Genesis Guzman, Brittany Knowles, Kayla Land, Sophonie Medena, Lyndee Paquet, Christopher Poettgen, Kailyn Smith, Katrina Walczyk; uppers Richard Barbara, Kendra Lumadue, Melessa Morris, Ulyssa Sanchez, Andrew Santos and Alexis Sienkowski; lowers Elizabeth Aichele, Daniela Cardillo, Emily Coon, Alyssa Jackson, Melina Jicha, Stephanie Menders, Andrianna Mendoza, Brenna Phillips, Caterina Poletti, Iris Savaria, Jordan Thorp, Mikaela Trzesniowski and Mackenzie Williams; juniors Laura Ander, Victoria Burgess, Jamie Carrell, Amani Charles, Janiece Grimes, Sarah Hillyer, Nicholas Houle, Ahndria Hurlbert, Natalie Kaplan, Hannah Mcshane, Jocelyn Mendoza, Kelsey Reader, Brittany Taylor and Alexandra Tio.
The Women’s Chorus featured uppers Bessie Fong, Motyat Olatunmbi, Hannah Perkins and Dominique Pizzo; lowers Allison Craven, Jasmine Michel, Iesha Preston and Erica Richardson; and juniors Annastacia Dozier, Tatyanna Fernandez, Amy Fontaine, Olivia Ouellet and Nicole Yackovetsky.
The Ambassadors included seniors Jacob Brisson, Michael Jones, Hayley Overturf, Cristian Vazquez and Zachary Winakor; uppers Ashlyn Bapst, Bowen Coburn, Antoinsha Damas, Bessie Fong, Evan Jambor and Rachel Lord; and lowers Bryon Harris, Persephone Marien, Erin Moebus, Carissa Sanborn and Lloyd Schramm.
Early dismissal
Students will be dismissed at noon Thursday. School is not in session Friday through Jan. 2. Classes resume Jan. 3. Special activities will take place as scheduled. Slater Memorial Museum will continue to be closed to the public because of construction. Land Library will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 29 and 30.
Final thought
Eva Logue says, “A holiday candle is a lovely thing; It makes no noise at all, But softly gives itself away; While quite unselfish, it grows small.”
Geoff Serra is head of the English Department at Norwich Free Academy. Reach him at serrag@norwichfreeacademy.com