In statewide competitions, several Newton students have received Gold Keys — the highest honors among Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, “the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens.” National awards will be determined in March. This year’s Massachusetts Gold Key winners from Newton are:
- Art:
- Newton North HS: June Chae, Crystal Li, Gabriel Kolodner (2 Gold Keys), Emily Nie (2 Gold Keys), Qiaorui Zhang (2 Gold Keys)
- Newton South HS: Jiaqi Peng, Angelina Tian, Yiwen Yan
- Newton Country Day School: Flora Colbert, Valier Luxieo (4 Gold Keys)
- Writing:
- Newton North HS: Kerri Huang, Annabelle Taghinia, Qiaorui Zhang (3 Gold Keys)
- Newton South HS: Chloe Carrano (2 Gold Keys), April Mei, Grace Yang (3 Gold Keys)
- Newton Country Day School: Eleanor Allen, Elsa Cressotti, Grace Grant, Jordan Rich, Ellie Schlichtmann, Jane Schwartz
Note: Newton South’s Grace Yang is a Fig City News intern, and two of her three Gold Keys were for FCN articles: Hunger in Newton and Newton churches and individual volunteers are key to Waltham community center.
Joe Prestejohn, former owner of Cabot’s Ice Cream and Restaurant, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of The Carroll Center for the Blind. He said, “Having witnessed the incredible work this organization does every day, I am continually inspired by the dedicated staff and their commitment to supporting individuals with vision loss. The impact they have on the lives of those they serve is truly remarkable.”
Mordecai SJ Choi is starring in the Broadway hit play Yellow Face at The Footlight Club in Jamaica Plain — the nation’s oldest continuously performing community theatre , founded in 1877. The play runs through February 22, and on the evening of February 21, tickets will be “pay what you wish” and there will be a pre-show reception at 7PM.
Oak Hill Middle School Mathcounts team (Allie Baskakova, Joshua Tang, Claire Yuan, and Natalie Qin) placed second in the Mathcounts MetroNorth Chapter Competition on Saturday, February 8. This represents Oak Hill’s historical best performance in this competition. The team will advance to the Mathcounts State Competition on March 1.
Newton students named to the Dean’s List for fall semester:
- The College of William & Mary: Luke Andrews, Ian Brenner, Sawyer Cohen, Marisa MacDonald, Sarah O’Reilly, Erik Shin, and Hannah Tarmy
- Dickinson College: Jonah Henderson
- Fairfield University: Angus Chen, Julia Conn, Anna DiSciullo, Alessia Falchuk, Dalia Kravets, and Lucy Vasil.
