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Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy announces scholarship recipients

June 24, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy last week announced the recipients of the community group’s two annual scholarships—the Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy, Scholarship Award and the Cristofori Scholarship Award. The awards, for which any area student is eligible, were established in 1926 to recognize academic and community accomplishments.

Natick Sons and Daughters of Italy, scholarship recipients

A total of 10 students—nine from Natick High School, and one from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Boylston—were each awarded $1,000, with a total of $10,000 in scholarship funds granted. Congratulations to the following students:

Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy Scholarship Award

Alana Bownes-Ciccarelli—UMass Amherst
Talia Gitlin—Union College, Scholars Program, political science
Sofia DeLuca—UMass Amherst, business management

Francis J. Cristofori Scholarship Award

Leah Goldman—Stonehill College, psychology
Cody Jones—Bryant University, data science
McKenzie McDonald—Verto Education and University of New Haven, Costa Rica and Seville, Spain. Sophomore year Arizona State University, Criminal Justice, Peace Corps
Jeffrey Meisner—Central Maine Community College, conservation law enforcement
Annalouisa Souza—UMass Boston, pre-med
Christopher Savoie (graduate of Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Boylston) —University of New England, marine biology

Sarah Amabilie (award divided equally between the Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy Scholarship Award and the Francis J. Cristofori Scholarship Award)—Salem State University, nursing

A shout out the Scholarship Committee members (Chair Alexa Lombardo, Megan Belliveau, Anthony Isgo, and Judy Parant) for their many hours of work in completing the difficult task of selecting scholarship recipients from the applicants, all deserving students.

Interested in applying for the next round of awards? Keep an eye on the Natick Sons & Daughters of Italy website. The updated application will be available soon. The deadline for the next application submission is March 31, 2023.

More scholarships information

Greater Framingham Running Club scholarships

Mathworks scholarships

Natick Rotary Club scholarships

Natick Girl Scouts scholarship

Natick Historical Society scholarship

Additional resources

Don’t see your scholarship mentioned here? Contact us at natickreport@gmail.com for inclusion.

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Community, Education, Schools



Natick Police investigate cutting down of trees honoring late Ben-Hem teacher

June 10, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Ben-Hem Elementary School community in Natick has been saddened by the cutting down of trees on school grounds that were dedicated to teacher Catie O’Brien, who died in 2019.

Local TV news stations are reporting that police are investigating the incident and that friends and neighbors plan to fund the planting of new trees (our inquiry to Natick Police in late May, after receiving a tip on this from a reader,  went unanswered).

More from Boston 25 News and WBZ Boston.

Filed Under: Education, Police & crime

Johnson School Principal Hoffman hopping border for job in Wellesley

June 8, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Jordan Hoffman, principal at Natick’s Johnson Elementary School, will take over as principal of Wellesley’s Schofield Elementary School come July. She’s been with the Natick Public Schools system for 20-plus years, including as Johnson’s principal since 2016 and as a 4th grade teacher for the first chunk of her career here.

Hoffman had been one of two finalists for Natick’s Memorial Elementary School principalship, but wasn’t selected. Natick is closing Johnson’s Elementary School within the next few years in light of falling enrollment and the town’s efforts to consolidate investment in renovating or rebuilding aging schools.

Schofield Elementary School

Hoffman should plan to stick around at the Schofield job. She follows a series of principals at Schofield who have all lasted at least 11 years there. Her predecessor, Gerardo Martinez, has taken a job in Lexington after recently being in the running for a handful of superintendent and school administration positions.

Wellesley Public Schools Supt. Dr. David Lussier started off the June 7 School Committee meeting by introducing Hoffman and other new administrators. Schofield Elementary School is one of seven elementary schools in Wellesley, though that number is being reduced to six—and Schofield will be among them.

Meanwhile, Natick has posted a job listing for an interim principal at Johnson Elementary School for the 2022-2023 school year. (Update 6/19/22: Natick has named John Jordan, most recently a principal in the Newton Public Schools system, as the interim principal.)

Also, Supt. Dr. Anna Nolin has named Dr. Shelby Marscher the interim principal at Lilja Elementary School for the 2022-23 school year. Jovanne Buckmire is the new vice-principal at Lilja.


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Filed Under: Education

Hat’s off to Natick High School Class of 2022

June 4, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Congratulations to the Natick High School Class of 2022 and their families. That was easy, huh?

Best of luck in whatever you do next (Natick Pegasus recording of ceremony at bottom of post.)

Hat's off to the #Natick High School class of 2022 pic.twitter.com/zgLixGVwPG

— Natick Report (@NatickReport) June 4, 2022

Natick High School Class of 22 graduation

Natick High School Class of 22 graduation

Thanks to AT/DT for sharing photos and video.


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Filed Under: Education

Natick seeks to fight COVID fatigue as numbers head in wrong direction

May 11, 2022 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Natick Public Health Director Michael Boudreau ticked off a list of COVID-19 numbers at the Board of Health meeting on Wednesday that confirmed what many of us know personally or anecdotally: The virus is making yet another comeback.

Natick’s rate of new cases per 100,00 people over 14 days is up to 40.7, above the state’s rate of 32.5, and positivity percentage rate for PCR tests in Natick is up to 7.96%, also well above the state average.

At the Natick Public Schools, COVID numbers are up as much as 50% at some schools, and not at all in others, Supt. Dr. Anna Nolin told the Board of Health. There has been no confirmed school-based transmission of late, according to a slide presented by Boudreau.

nps covid data

Fortunately, rising case counts and positivity rates aren’t translating into troubling hospitalization or death data in town.

But rising numbers will result in Natick Public Schools turning to its flex mask policy and strongly encouraging its community to return to masks until the current surge subsides, Nolin said. “I think people are waiting to hear from us on that, and so we would like to recommend that again,” she said, noting that home tests are still being sent home with kids and are being used.

Nolin said she feared things might actually be worse by now with COVID in the schools. “There’s a fatigue with the isolation and people are fully committing back to social events,” she said.

The personal responsibility of school community members will be tested, Nolin said, as students will be forced to make decisions to attend important events like prom based on their health. The school system is coaching its community on what personal responsibility means in this context, from monitoring systems to following protocols if infected.

As for the town, Boudreau’s plan is to refresh messaging within the community to ensure people don’t dismiss posters and other materials that they might assume has been up there for months. The town will work with its own departments as well as local businesses to spread the message, and pledges to reach out to those who need the latest information on protocols to follow if sick.

Boudreau started the meeting by pointing to relatively low vaccine booster levels in town (57%) vs. fully vaccinated residents (87%). His department is exploring possibly hosting or co-hosting clinics to encourage more residents to get boosted, though acknowledged intelligence from nearby communities that have done booster clinics is that participation has been low. With those age 12 and up now eligible for boosters, though, Boudreau said he’s optimistic booster numbers will rise.

The community needs to face the fact that “COVID is not going to be eradicated…It’s going to be here, we’re still going to see mutations,” he said.

natick covid and booster data


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Filed Under: COVID-19, Education

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