Fitchburg High Student Wins Essay Contest

By Elizabeth Dobbins, edobbins@sentinelandenterprise.com

FITCHBURG — March for Science Boston asked and 17-year-old Fitchburg resident Essence Perry answered.

Perry, an 11th grader at Fitchburg High School, won the high school division of the March for Science essay contest, which asked “Why should we stand up for science?”

“If we continue to disagree with science and we say it’s false then we won’t advance anymore,” she said.

She presented her essay during a five minute speech in front of hundreds at the Boston chapter of the nationwide rally promoting the study and public funding of science Saturday.

“I thought I would have been more nervous, but since science is so important to me the nerves just went away,” she said.

Perry said she saw the contest advertised on Twitter and thought it was a “long shot,” but entered anyway.

She was one of four people to win the essay contest and the only high school student. The award came with a certificate and $25 Barnes & Noble giftcard.

Perry, who wants to become a neurosurgeon, has been interested in science since she was young.

“I like how there’s always a solution,” she said, adding she believes science is a way to contribute to society.

Her speech includes digs at alternative facts and “a president” as well as quotes from renowned scientists.

“As Thomas Chamberlin said, ‘Falsity in intellectual action is intellectual immorality,'” she read at the rally.

Biography and Bioethics: 9th Graders Ask Questions about “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

“More than 7 years after the publication of the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and 65 years after Henrietta Lacks lived, 9th Graders in Ellen Gammel’s honors English class in Fitchburg, MA were burning with questions. After reading the first four pages of the book and studying the image of Henrietta from the front cover, students wanted to know:

Why is there no record of her life?
Why is it significant that she was a black woman?
Did her family get money for her cells?
Do you think she’d be happy with what was done with her cells?
Did they have permission to extract cells?
Why does she have three names?
What would have happened if doctors didn’t take her cells?
Was her story forgotten/ignored because she was black?”

http://rightquestion.org/blog/biography-and-bioethics-9th-graders-ask-questions-about-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks/

 

Local Rates of Discipline Declining

“Fitchburg reported a total of 72 students reprimanded for physical fights and attacks last year, equaling roughly 1 percent of Fitchburg’s 5,720 students. It was the lowest number of incidents in either category the district has seen in the four years data has been submitted to the state.

‘I would say that the incidents of occurrence has not increased, but what we’re doing about it, how we’re handling them, and how we’re reporting them has probably changed,’ Ravenelle said. ‘The offenses that we’re now reporting are more of your run of the mill offenses and not the high level ones.’

Local rates of discipline declining

Gala to Benefit Public Schools

 

 

 

 

 

Gala to benefit public schools

Central MA Science Festival at the Boys & Girls Club of Fitchburg and Leominster

Central MA Science Festival on Saturday in Leominster

Brooks Heading South to Play College Lacrosse

“Fitchburg senior Larissa Brooks was looking for a college in a warmer climate that would give her the opportunity to play women’s lacrosse, the sport she loves the most. Brooks made the next step in her career official on Wednesday afternoon when she signed her National Letter of Intent to play lacrosse at Division II Catawba College at a small ceremony with administrators, family, teammates and coaches in the Fitchburg High School library. “

Brooks heading south to play college lacrosse

Teammates always came first for former Fitchburg High star Thompson

“Although the 1959 Fitchburg High School baseball team was a little green in spots and did not have that elite billing, catcher Ronnie Thompson helped lead the Red Raiders to a successful campaign and a postseason championship appearance.

Thompson died at age 76 on March 24 in Perkins, Oklahoma, but he leaves a legacy that stretches all the way back to the Twin Cities. Thompson was a standout athlete at Fitchburg High School and even played his way into the Boston Red Sox organization.”

Teammates always came first for former Fitchburg High star Thompson

Fitchburg High School Dell Scholarship Recipients

“Fitchburg High School seniors Samary Guzman, Shekhinah Al-Aziz, Jillian Wolons and Shellaina Gordon are four of only 400 students nationwide selected by the Dell Scholars Program this year, which recognizes students who have overcome significant obstacles to pursue their education. Through the program each student receives a $20,000 scholarship, laptop, textbook credits and support services.”

Fitchburg High scholarship recipients have inspiring background stories to tell

General Excellence Award Wall Plaque

Fitchburg High School is excited to announce that a new wall plaque commemorating the school’s General Excellence Award recipients will be completed and displayed in the main foyer of FHS later this spring. The 4’x8’ plaque will highlight the history of FHS’s academic and civic excellence for over 100 years of this award’s history at the school. The FHS Class of 1967 has sponsored and fully funded this project which has been designed by Wass-Arthur Signs (20 Crawford Street, Fitchburg, MA). Each General Excellence member will have his or her name engraved on a brass plate with their respective year of graduation.

As we prepare to develop a fully completed list, we are seeking additional names due to the fact that the General Excellence Award is not listed in yearbooks or graduation programs because it has been announced as a surprise during the actual graduation ceremony. Currently, FHS has every General Excellence member from 1990 to 2017 and some other prior years, but we need more names to complete the 101+ year history of the GE Award.  If any FHS alumni or friends of FHS have information about General Excellence members, please contact Principal Jeremy Roche at (978)-345-3248 or rochej@fitchburg.k12.ma.us so we can appropriately recognize those deserving members.

Thanks and special thanks to the Class of 1967 and Wass-Arthur Signs for this amazing recognition of academic and civic excellence!

Pancakes were Served, Money was Raised at Fitchburg Events

“A pancake breakfast for a different cause was heating up across town at Reingold Elementary School, whose Parent Teacher Organization was raising money to send nearly 700 pre-kindergarten students through fourth-graders on field trips to places like Fenway Park, Davis Farmland and the Museum of Science.”

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/news/ci_30909994/pancakes-were-served-money-was-raised-at-fitchburg