Above and Beyond - June 2009
A quarterly listing of extraordinary and powerful accomplishments by the faculty, staff, students, and graduates of Lynn Classical High School
Compiled by Gayle Richardson
During the summer:
Lyle Henkenmeier, Forensics Teacher, will visit the golf course at Disney World as well as the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
Jen Mack and Chelsea Christian will attend AP summer camp in St. Johnsbury, VT perfecting skills for teaching AP Calculus.
Dave Winchester will be at the same camp as Classical will offer AP Environmental Science in the fall; he’ll also attend the World Chess Open in Philadelphia and resume his job at the New England Aquarium feeding the fishes.
Jerry Burke, Frank Grealish, Lyle Henkenmeier, and Gayle Richardson will attend a week-long seminar entitled American History in a Global Context, offered by UsingEssexHistory.
Using a Hardscrabble Grant from the Essex County Community Foundation, ESL teachers Jamie Jamieson, Brian Hellwig, Russ Waldron and Mark Ailshie are organizing a fun and motivating summer program for ESL students to help them keep their English alive.
Tom Stanley & family will take a 30-hour train ride to Disney World/Orlando; Cathy Ellis & family will take a 3-hour plane ride to the same destination.
The Classical friezes are being painstakingly restored by retired art teacher, Paulette Langone, Mr. Hazelton, husband of Mme Hazelton, and Mr. Cushing, husband of Julie Cushing.
Mark Johnston, Science Department Chair, received his Doctorate from UMass Boston. His dissertation topic was the Effects of Education Reform on Teacher Practices in Massachusetts.
Sochitta Men (class of 2008) received a General Electric Star Award, which included a stipend for a teacher of her choice. Sochitta nominated Steve Gravin, Social Studies Department Chair.
During Arts in Education Month, Art teacher Patty Klibansky worked with Social Studies teacher Toni Zavras to recreate Picasso’s “Guernica.” Music teacher Laura Weiss combined her class with Social Studies teacher Tom Stanley to study songs of conformity vs. individuality; she also joined classes with Science teacher Dave Winchester where they listened to music and acoustics in the sea, and compared what animals and humans use sound and music. They also compared different dialects of killer whale pod songs, how they look on a sonogram, and how different song genres also "look" different.
Brenda Eng (class of 2008) designed a bag for internationally renowned Coach Company, which can be purchased for a mere $228.
Classical is a good place to learn as well as teach; graduates teaching/working at Classical include Warren White, Dick Sakowich, Christine Lander, Jessica Toomey, Amy Dunn, Peter Spiliakos, Tom Stanley, Donna Doucette, Ellen Moriarty, Tim Phelps, Jay Alicudo, June Blake, Laura Durant, Channa Srey, Amy Cavanagh, Cathy Ellis, Patty Frey, Elaine O’Malley, Amad Polad, Bill Devin, Cathy Rosenthal, and Kevin Kennedy.
Fatima Lyle spent last week grading AP Spanish exams in fun-filled Cincinnati, Ohio.
An extraordinarily generous faculty continues to respond to requests for financial assistance from The Alumni Association, as well as a student who needed $100 in order to participate in MA All-State Choir and a senior who was facing eviction from the Lynn YMCA a week before graduation. Both of these students were fully funded within 24 hours of the faculty learning of these needs.
Heather Palmeri (class of 1995) will receive her PhD in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from Indiana University, after which she will pursue a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School studying ovarian cancer stem cells. She should talk to ESL teacher Andrew Creamer who attended Stem Cell Day at UMass Medical School and will participate in E-Science boot camp this summer.
Christopher Ellis (class of 2010) played the online Stock Market Game with his Economics class and earned over $35,000, ranking 24 out of 965 teams.
Science Teacher Peter Spiers studied Meterology at Harvard University Extension School last semester and will study Geophysics: The Earth and How it Works this summer.