Schools

Watertown Student Named Semifinalist for Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship

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Jack Kent Cooke Foundation logo

The following information came from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation:

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation announced today that Yuanzhe Wang of Middlesex Community College  is among the semifinalists for its highly competitive Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The Foundation named 485 semifinalists for the scholarship, which supports the nation’s top community college students with financial need seeking to complete a bachelor’s degree at four-year colleges or universities. 

Selected from a pool of more than 1,300 applicants, this year’s semifinalists represent 224 community colleges across 37 states. Each was chosen through an evaluation process that assesses academic ability and achievement, perseverance, and leadership. 

The Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship enables recipients to complete their bachelor’s degrees debt-free at any accredited four-year college or university in the United States and provides last-dollar funding of up to $55,000 per year for two to three years. The award is designed to remove financial barriers so that high-achieving community college students can transfer to and thrive at the nation’s top institutions. 

“Through the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation works to ensure that exceptional community college students have the opportunities to reach their full academic potential,” said Executive Director Giuseppe “Seppy” Basili. “This year’s semifinalists reflect the remarkable talent and ambition found in community colleges nationwide.” 

The Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship provides comprehensive support that extends far beyond financial assistance, recognizing that admission and enrollment are only the beginning. Selected Cooke Transfer Scholars receive personalized educational advising from the Foundation’s Deans of Scholar Support, who guide them through the transition to a four-year institution and help prepare them for future careers.

Government

City Has $4M Left from Elementary School Projects, Which Will Go to High School & Middle School Projects

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Cunniff Elementary School is one of three elementary schools in Watertown to be rebuilt or renovated. The projects closed out with a combined surplus of $4 million. The new school opened in 2021. (Photo by Watertown Public Schools)

Watertown’s elementary school building projects finished with a surplus of more than $4 million, which will allow the high school construction project to stay on budget, and fund designs for a potential new middle school. On Tuesday night, the City Council approved transfers of the $4,052,660 left over from the construction of the new Cunniff and Hosmer elementary schools, and the renovation and expansion of Lowell Elementary School.

Government

Members of Congress Get a Look Inside Watertown’s School Lunch Program, School Farming Class

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Congresswoman Katherine Clark and Congressman Jim McGovern have lunch with Hosmer School second-graders Maya and Daphne. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

A pair of enthusiastic Hosmer Elementary School ambassadors showed two members of Congress around their school Wednesday, ending with a meal cooked up by the school cafeteria staff that featured produce grown in Watertown High School’s hydroponic farm. Congressman Jim McGovern and Congresswoman Katherine Clark visited Watertown as part of McGovern’s End Hunger Now Tour of Massachusetts, in support of the bill he filed on Capitol Hill to increase the amount of federal funding for school breakfasts and lunches. Hosmer second-graders Maya and Daphne guided the two members of Congress through the hallways, into classrooms, through the media center, up and down stairs, and finally through the lunch line in the cafeteria. Watertown City Council President Mark Sideris, left, speaks with Congresswoman Katherine Clark and Congressman Jim McGovern during their tour of Hosmer Elementary School, led by Maya and Daphne.

Schools

Watertown Students Make Dean’s List at Several Colleges During Fall Semester

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Students hailing from Watertown made the dean’s list at UMass Amherst, Holy Cross, Georgia Tech, St. Lawrence, Tufts, Simmons, St. Michael’s, and Emmanuel. See the announcements provided by the colleges and universities, below. Holy Cross

College of the Holy Cross congratulates the students named to the Fall 2025 Dean’s List for outstanding academic achievement during the spring semester of the 2025-26 academic year.

Entertainment

Watertown High School Presenting “Mamma Mia!” at Mosesian Center

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This year’s Watertown High School musical, “Mamma Mia!” will be performed at the Mosesian Center for the Arts on March 27-29. See more information from WHS, below. Get ready for our highly anticipated spring musical production of Mamma Mia! Please join us on Friday, March 27 or Saturday, March 28, at 7:00 PM or on Sunday, March 29, at 2:00 PM at the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts!

Schools

New Watertown High School Nearly Done, Remains on Budget

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The new Watertown High School is approaching completion, with teachers expected to move in after school ends in June. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Wednesday afternoon, School Committee members, City Councilors and others got to see the new classrooms, theater, gym, and media center that will be enjoyed by Watertown High School students starting in September. The school is taking shape, with the walls and floor covering completed on the upper floors of the four-story structure, and a fresh coat of varnish still drying on the floor of the gymnasium at the new Watertown High School. A view of the gym floor at the new Watertown High School. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Construction should be completed in the next few months, said Christy Murphy of owner project management firm Vertex.

Schools

WHS Medical Assistant Students Practiced What They Learned in Class in the Real World

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A Watertown High School student conducts medical tests during a community health clinic run by the school’s Medical Assisting Program. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

City employees had the opportunity to get free checkups from some aspiring medical professionals during a clinic run by the Watertown High School Medical Assisting Program. The students learned to take vitals, take a blood test, and other procedures as part of the program that was added a few years ago, said teacher Melissa Burke. “So these are our students who have committed to doing full three years on top of their regular high school curriculum, doing medical assisting training,” Burke said, adding that after they have completing the course the students can take the exam for national medical assisting certification. Workers for the Watertown Public Schools, as well as the Police and Fire, Public departments received invitations to get a free checkup.

Schools

LEGAL NOTICE: Watertown Public Schools to Hold Public Hearing on Fiscal Year 2027 Budget

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The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Public Schools:

Legal Notice

WATERTOWN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 30 COMMON STREET, WATERTOWN, MA 02472 – In accordance with provisions of Chapter 71, Section 38N, the Watertown School Committee will hold a Public Hearing on its proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Budget, on Monday, March 23, 2026, at 7:00 PM in the Learning Commons, Lowell Elementary School, 123 Lowell Avenue, Watertown, MA 02472, or via Zoom at https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/86275618951

A copy of the FY27 Proposed Budget will be available to the public in the Office of the Superintendent of Schools and on the Watertown Public Schools Website, www.watertown.k12.ma.us, forty-eight hours before the date of the public meeting.