TEWKSBURY — As part of its regular meeting on Dec. 6, Tewksbury School Committee chairperson Bridget Garabedian reconvened the meeting in the TMHS McGrath Auditorium to recognize students in the district for their academic achievements.
Recognitions for the 2023 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam (MCAS) top performing students, recipients of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, and National Merit Scholars were acknowledged by Superintendent of Schools Brenda Theriault-Regan and members of the school committee.
Theriault-Regan spoke to the audience, thanking families, School Committee members, principals and teachers for attending.
“This is such a proud night for us as Tewksbury educators,” said Theriault-Regan.
The MCAS is a nationally recognized assessment in Massachusetts. Students recognized exceeded expectations in two or more content areas or achieved a perfect score, or achieved a perfect score plus exceeded expectations in one or more MCAS areas.
Content areas include ELA, math, science, technology, and engineering, and biology. According to Theriault-Regan, the MCAS is regarded as one of the most rigorous and challenging assessments in the nation. Theriault-Regan congratulated students as being among the highest achievers in the nation. Students received a medal and assembled on the stage for each category of achievement.
Exceeding expectations in two subject areas by achieving a score of 530 or greater were Eleanor Bourn, Aisling Sheehan, Mason Tremblay, Kyla Blinn, Casey Campbell, Apollo Lopez, Jason Malone, Rose McGinnis, Alexia Bethoney, Daniel Buczynski, Chetan Madupu, Avani Tiwari, Sophia Campbell, Avitel Gaidukova, Joseph Kane, Justin Plamondon, Joseph Todd, Celeste Webb, Emma Delgado, Abigail Fowlie, Eric Frazer, Jake Gigante, James Keenan, Michael Parziale, Phenix Rizzuti, Lucia Alvarado, Christopher Arbogast, Keira Gaffney, Mason Gomes, David Lam, Gregory Mercado, Dante Moniz, Belen Poirier, and Rose Soe.
Exceeding expectations in three subject areas and achieving a score of 530 or greater were Isabella Lepordo, Joshua Olsen, Jeffrey Tucceri, Kevin Andriolo, and Zak Hajduk.
Students who achieved an MCAS perfect score of 560 were Mark Gaidukov, Keara-Ann Tumbarello, Kylee Squires, Jeffrey Wolfinger, Alan Dang, and Brooke Khourie.
Achieving an MCAS perfect score of 560 plus exceeding expectations in at least one other area were Ella Garagaliano, Kyle Chiu, Kevin Daigle, Cordelia Zwirek, Anya Cranston, Rania Elouahi, William Mullins, and Dylan Tian.
One student, Erin McCusker, achieved an MCAS perfect score of 560 plus exceeded expectations in two areas.
Theriault-Regan then recognized seniors who were recipients of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship. The scholarship is a merit-based program that provides a tuition credit for up to eight semesters of undergraduate education at a Massachusetts state college or university. The scholarship is granted to students whose combined score placed them in the top 25% of students in their district while meeting MCAS score requirements.
51 students met this criterion. The students recognized were Muhammad Abdul, Colby Flahive, Kimsan Nguyen, Lucas Adams, Anthony Freitas, Tea Nickerson, James Atherton, Whitney Gigante, Lauren Oppedisano, Tyler Barnes, Emma Giordano, Victor Pacheco, John Baron, Paxton Green, Drew Rennell, Rafael Bellucco, Alexander Grove, Jack Rennell, Ryan Benchater, Mackenzie Hickey, Cooper Robillard, Nathaniel Bone, Peter Impink, Mario Ruiz Perez, Heather Chase, Jeremy Insogna, Grace Russo, McKayla Conley, Owen Kinnon, Emma Ryan, Morgan Crowley, Nicolas Kitowicz, Junissa Sophon, Ryan Cura, Renuka Late, Zachary Sullivan, Nathan Cyr, Galil Levenson, Skye Bryana Tambi, Lana Dang, Dakota Malizia, Ava Trinh, Aislin Davis, Cullen Mangan, Alicia Veno, Avery Della Piana, Jason Morris, Connor Walazek, Haleigh Doiron, Ashwin Narayanan, and Jared Woodman.
The last set of recognitions were for National Merit Scholarship commended students, a program that selects top scorers of the PSAT, the preliminary scholastic assessment test, based on selected criteria in each state. The National Merit Scholarship council honors students with a letter of commendation.
According to the council, these students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success. While the students may not receive a scholarship from NMS, they may be eligible for other support through corporate sponsors. This year’s recipients Lana Dang, Alexander Grove, Anthony Freitas, and Ranuka Late were acknowledged with a declaration of recognition read by School Committee member Katelyn Biagioni-Smith.
