Principal Cron confirms Carchedi and Palana are Co-Valedictorians for the Class of 2013
Veritas reporters Joe Rizzotto and Georgia Panagiotidis contributed to this report.
In an announcement this afternoon, RHS principal Alan Cron, confirmed that the Class of 2013 would have two valedictorians this year! They are Christopher James Carchedi and Joseph Buckley Palana.
Chris Carchedi
Joe Palana
In addition to their academic success, both young men participate in many clubs and activities at RHS. Carchedi and Palana are both members of the Theater Guild. Palana also plays in the band and the jazz band and runs for the cross country team. He participates on the math team and the mock trial team. Carchedi plays hockey and is President of the SGC. He also is a member of the RHS band. He made it all the way to the State Finals in the Poetry Out Loud competition this year.
Palana and Carchedi also participated in the Mr. Rockland competition and the Spellman Oratorical Contest this year and are members of the National Honor Society at RHS.
Both scholars were accepted to Harvard University; Palana will attend Harvard and major in Biology or Psychology. Carchedi was also accepted to Brown University where he will major in Geology.
Congratulations to Chris and Joe!
Student Government gives out awards at annual banquet
On Wednesday night, May 7, the Rockland High School Student Government Council held its annual awards banquet. Many awards were given out to deserving students for their “outstanding work for their class, their school, and their community.”
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Senior Alexis Hogan was selected to the SGC Hall of Fame and received two of the most prestigious awards: MOST DEDICATED (The Dan Guarracino award) and SGC BEST OVERALL! Congratulations to Alexis!
The other awards were given to the following:
UNSUNG HERO (The Ed Damon Award) to Shannon Gray
SPIRIT AWARD (The Marianne Long Award) to Madalyn Maloney
MOST DEPENDABLE (The Patrick Rice Award) to Tim Lorgeree
BEST COMMITTEE CHAIR ( The Krystal Cowing Award ) to Ashley Hemeon
INNOVATION AWARD (The Elizabeth DuRoss Award) to Haley Macray
COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD ( The Pat Fanning Award) to Devin Gilmore
SEMASC AWARD ( The Renee Ceurvels Award) to Patrick Butler
MASC AWARD (The Kelsey Lewis Award) to Christopher Catania
BEST REPRESENTATIVE (The Aleksa Cieri Award) to Chris Carchedi
BEST HEAD REPRESENTATIVE (The Casey Regan Award) to Kelsey Joyce
BEST CLASS PRESIDENT ( The Joshua May Award) to Molly Garrity
BEST SENIOR to Brianna Novio
BEST JUNIOR to Jackie Carlson
BEST SOPHOMORE to PJ Butler
BEST FRESHMAN to Matt Kirslis
Chris Carchedi, Alexis Hogan, Tim Lorgeree, Brianna Novio and Shannon Gray at the SGC banquet.
Congratulations to all the award winners!
The SGC also voted to name one of the scholarships given to seniors by the SGC in honor of Mr. James Flanagan, advisor and social studies teacher who will be retiring this June.
The Veritas Receives Silver Medal in All-New England Contest
By Joelle Bowman, Veritas Staff
Devin Gilmore, Dawn Bille, Leah O’Bryan, Georgia Panagiotidis, Molly Hurley, Meghan Lee and Mrs. Lannin-Cotton at BU last Friday.
A handful of Rockland High School’s journalism students, Dawn Bille, Devin Gilmore, Molly Hurley, Leah O’Bryan, Georgia Panagiotidis, and Meghan Lee, attended the New England Scholastic Press Association’s 65th annual conference on Friday, May, 3. They spent the day attending workshops at Boston University. Some of the classes they attended were Tips and Tricks for Photoshop and InDesign, TV news, and What it is like to study journalism in college. Mrs. Lannin-Cotton, accompanied by her twin sister, Joanne Lannin, presented a workshop at the conference called Developing websites with wordpress, and other platforms.
At the end of the conference All-New England awards were presented to school newspapers, yearbooks, and literary magazines in various classes depending on school size. Our very own school newspaper, The Veritas, won second place in Class III in the All-New England competition. The Veritas was entered in the contest for both its print and on/line newspapers.
Devin Gilmore and Georgia Panagiotidis received Special Achievement Awards for their photography posted on the Veritas Website. Both also report for the Veritas print edition.
Two junior girls won Special Achievement awards for their photos displayed on the Veritas website. Devin Gilmore won her award for her slide show, Fiddler on the Roof and Georgia Panagiotidis won for her photos of MASC, Day One.
Rockland High School has made everyone proud at how well they did at the conference and the students who attended the field trip represented Rockland very well.
Juniors selected for Boys State, Girls State
Kyle Scheim, Joseph Rizzotto, Georgia Panagiotidis and Kaitlyn Sullivan will attend Boys and Girls State this year. Congratulations to these students of the Class of 2014.
photo by Sydney Bissonnette
Juniors Kyle Scheim, Joseph Rizzotto, Georgia Panagiotidis and Kaitlyn Sullivan have been chosen to attend Boys and Girls State to be held at Stonehill College from June 15th – June 21st, 2013.
Sponsored by the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary, Boys State and Girls State are programs that teach how government works. The programs also encourage students to develop leadership skills and an appreciation for a citizen’s rights.
As participants in Boys and Girls State, these students can run for office, learn and practice public speaking, create and enforce laws and actively participate in all phases of creating and running a working government. They will work with students from schools across the state.
For more information on Girls and Boys State follow this link to an article written by a participant from Woburn High School last year.
Copter’s Last Day
Exchange student, Saharath Phaetrangsee, more commonly known as Copter, said goodbye to RHS on Monday, April 30th to return to his home in Thailand. We wish him a fond farewell and hope that he enjoyed his time at Rockland High School! You can follow this link to see our story about Copter which appeared in the Veritas.
Copter, exchange student from Thailand, has made many friends at RHS including Andrew Scheim, Ethan Rooney and Kenny DeWolfe
Senior and junior proms just around the corner
Alex Mejia and Danielle Oliver were king and queen of last year’s junior prom.
Proms for juniors and seniors are just around the corner. The Junior Prom is May 16, 2013 at The Red Lion Inn in Cohasset, Massachusetts and should be on sale next week. The prices for the Junior Prom tickets are eighty dollars each.
The Senior Prom is May 29, 2013 at Indian Pond in Kingston, Massachusetts. Tickets are going to be on sale all this week at all three lunches. It is sixty five dollars for one ticket and one hundred and thirty dollars a couple. Sign ups also include a chance to pick your tables for the prom. It is eight couples per table. For the seniors it is their last chance to have a great dance together as a class and celebrate before graduation which is on May 31, 2013 at 7:00 pm under the “Friday Night Lights” at the Rockland High School Football Stadium.
Conley Sharland, Ryan Totte, Leshon Crawford, Jon Lindahl and Sean Dinien at Harmon Golf Club before last year’s junior prom
For juniors, it is their first big dance to dress up and have a good time. For both the seniors and the juniors they all have many exciting things to look forward to as their school year comes to an end. Seniors and Juniors: Be sure to buy your tickets when the time comes! You don’t want to miss out on your prom!
Amy Warner awarded first place in Spellman Oratorical
Spellman Oratorical Contestants included left to right: Joe Palana, Shannon Doyle, Amy Warner, Dan Phipps, Lydia Guerrero, Kevin Bailey, Chris Carchedi and Alexis Hogan. Faculty are Ms. Cahill and Ms. McDonough
Amy Warner’s speech was judged best last night at the annual Spellman Oratorical Contest held in the Lecture Hall as part of the Rockland Public Schools’ Arts Festival. Amy was the recipient of $1100 as the first place winner.
The topic for this year’s Spellman Oratorical Contest was Blood is Thicker than Water: Family as an Exploration of the Human Story. Eight seniors competed for $2750 in prize money. This year’s speeches were articulate, original, provocative, and even a little bit humorous. Prize money was awarded from a trust established by the late Francis Cardinal Spellman of Whitman in memory of his mother, Ellen Conway Spellman.
English Department chair, Ms. Cahill, said that Amy did a wonderful job as did all of the eight seniors who took part in the cont
Joe Palana came in second, winning $700; third place went to Shannon Doyle who won $500; Dan Phipps came in fourth winning $200; Lydia Guerrero was fifth and won $100; and Kevin Bailey, Chris Carchedi, and Alexis Hogan tied for honorable mention, each winning $50. Congratulations to these senior students and good luck to them in their future scholastic endeavors!
Dodgeball is a “hit” at RHS
Mr. Cron, Mrs. McGonnigal, Mr. MacAllister, Mr. Johnson, and Mrs. Linehan had a great game of dodgeball.
Jonathan Lindahl, Veritas Staff
The student team, the Purple Cobras, wearing custom made purple t-shirts, won Rockland’s High’s 1st Annual Dodgeball Tournament. The tournament, a fundraiser for the Stephen P. Sangster Scholarship Fund, was held on Thursday night, March 28th at 7 pm in the gym.
The Purple Cobras, made up of Sean Roche, Jonathan Turner, Matt Nicholson, Alex Mejia, Angelica Calderon and Brittany Starkey cruised through the tournament until coming up against the Rockland Middle School teachers’ Dangerous Dodgers team. The Dangerous Dodgers featured Mr. Chuck McDonald, Ms. Diana Mitchell, Mr. Ronnie Ricciarelli, Mr. Steven Capone, Ms. Lawrie Donovan and Mr. Ryan Austin.
Rockland High students were clearly excited to throw some balls at some of their favorite teachers, or even their not so favorite teachers. “I can’t wait to throw balls at teachers,” said senior Sean Roche, who is known throughout the school for his strong throwing arm.
For the full story on the participants in the tournament follow this link.
For more info on the tournament and some great pictures, check out The Veritas print edition on sale April 11th during lunches and at the Arts Festival. We also have more pictures in our Photo Gallery.
Gibson named Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year!
Tyler Gibson, one of Rockland’s finest basketball players, on the parquet at the Garden!
By Conley Sharland
After an exciting season of basketball, annual post season awards are handed out to those who rightfully deserve them. Rockland, who won the South Shore League title also had individual players who received some awards. Bryan Tavares, Matt Nicholson, and Tyler Gibson each brought home All Scholastic Honors.
Gibson, however, who will play Division I college basketball at UMass Lowell next year, received handfuls of awards including South Shore League MVP, Enterprise All-Scholastic, Boston Herald Hot Shot, and Boston Herald Dream Team. He also was named a Boston Globe All Scholastic, a member of the Boston Globe Super Team, the ESPN Boston All-Defensive Team, and the ESPN Boston Super Team.
Of all the awards the most prestigious is the most recent, the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year. This award has been won by current NBA stars in their respective states, including the likes of Dwight Howard and Paul Pierce.
“He was this scrawny kid as a sophomore,” said Rockland coach Fred Damon. “He never gave up and through a lot of hard work, two years later he’s the Gatorade Player of the Year. When you’re facing double and triple teams but still average almost 22 points and 16 rebounds a game, you can really understand how dominant he was.’’
When asked how he feels on taking home this award Gibson said, “It’s an awesome feeling to be the first student-athlete ever in Rockland history to win this award.” Gibson, who is happy with his choice to return to Rockland for his senior year instead of attending prep school is overall happy with his success as well as the team’s.
When being interview by ESPN Boston after the Wareham playoff game he was asked if it was all worth it. He answered, “It’s all worth it; there’s no place like Rockland, and I’m serious when I say this, there is no place like Rockland.”
While Tyler is happy he came back, as a fan of his and of the Bulldog team, I am glad he came back too.
Here is a video of a memorable season and player, we will not soon forget.
Don’t miss Theater Guild production, “Almost, Maine,” Friday and Saturday night at RHS
By Mikaela Dion, Veritas Staff
The RHS Theater Guild’s last production of the year is called “Almost, Maine.” It will be performed on Friday and Saturday nights, May 3rd and 4th at 7 pm in the RHS auditorium. Ticket prices are $6 prior to the show and $8 at the door.
Chris Carchedi in a scene at dress rehearsal of “Almost, Maine” photo by Georgia Panagiotidis
Mrs. Armstrong, advisor of the Theater Guild, talked about the show. “Almost, Maine written by John Cariani is the number one produced play in high school theater. The play is a number of small vignettes that take place in northern Maine. Each story is taking place at the same time in different locations,(9pm on a Friday night) They are all stories of relationships each having their own twist, some happy ending, some sad.”
One thing that makes this play different, according to Mrs. Armstrong, is that they have “several student directors (Lydia Guerrero, Molly McLellan and Jace Williams) each directing their own vignette.”
Charis Nelson and Chris Catania in one of the vignettes from “Almost, Maine.” photo by Georgia Panagiotidis
She also explained that Jackie Carlson and Brian Leonard were masterminds behind incorporating some new lighting and set design techniques and that they also have original music written for the show, Justin Ferrullo wrote and produced all of the music that will be heard throughout the show.
Click here to go to Showtix where you can purchase tickets to the show.
Last Days in Spain!
A total of 45 students and teachers from Rockland High School traveled overseas to Spain and Morocco during April Vacation. Georgia Panagiotidis, Veritas Staff Photographer, shared her pictures with us. The photo gallery will be on a separate page.
