Around Town

Mother Shares Her Mission of Ending the Cycle of Violence After Losing Her Son in a Shooting

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Tina Chéry shared the story of how she became dedicated to peace after her son was gunned down in his Boston neighborhood with an audience at Watertown Middle School. In the early 1990s, Tina Chéry thought she had found her place in the world as a stay-at-home mom and good citizen, as someone who attended church and donated to people in need, even if she felt removed from the problems that affected her Dorchester neighborhood. The mother of three and her husband had cut back on spending so she could be there when her 15-year-old son Louis Brown came home from school every day. Theirs was the family who welcomed in the neighborhood children, with hotdogs and hamburgers, and lemonade and popsicles in the summer. “That was my house.

Schools

Watertown Students Make MassBay’s Dean’s List

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MassBay Community College is pleased to announce its 2018 Fall Semester Dean’s List. Full-time students who have earned a 3.50 or higher grade point average (GPA) are included and acknowledged on the Dean’s List. This semester’s list includes 288 students. The students from Watertown on the 2018 Fall Semester’s Dean List are: 

Anastasia Maria Stavridi, Liz K. Cam, Michael A. Echavarria, and Shakti Singh Katheria

Schools

Girls Invited to STEM Camp During February Break at Minuteman

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The following information was provided by Minuteman High School:

Are you a seventh- or eighth-grade girl who likes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and wants to learn more about those subjects in a supportive, female-oriented environment? Do you enjoy doing projects that are both fun and educational? Are you interested in finding out about exciting career paths in STEM? Then register now for the Girls in STEM camp at Minuteman High School in Lexington that will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. during the week of February 19-22, 2019. Space is limited, so don’t wait!

Around Town

Teens for Trees Surveys 3K Trees, Educate Public on Importance of Street Trees

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Watertown High School students Dylan Hickey, right, and Joe Lessard examine a tree in East Watertown as part of their internship with Teens for Trees. Last summer, a dozen Watertown teens walked over 2 million steps, examined more than 3,000 trees, and shared their knowledge of trees with about 300 people. The teens were part of the second year of Trees for Watertown’s Teens for Trees (TFT) program. The TFT final report was recently released. The goal of this year’s TFT group was to update the town’s street tree index, which was created in 2008.

Schools

MassBay College Offers Several Online Degrees & Certificates

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The following information was provided by MassBay Community College:

MassBay Community College announces spring semester begins on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 and students have a robust selection of online courses to choose from, including Biology, Business Communications, Computer Programming, Law, Freshman English, U.S. History, Marketing, Spanish and more. MassBay currently offers seven associate degree programs and three certificate programs students can take online, as well as two certificate programs featuring hybrid courses – which replace some seat time with online activities, but have regular class meetings. 

The seven associate degree programs that are offered online include; Business Administration (Associate in Science), General Business (Associate in Science), General Studies (Associate in Arts), General Studies (Associate in Science), Liberal Arts (Associate of Arts), Liberal Arts: Psychology/Sociology/Anthropology (Associate in Arts), and Paralegal Studies (Associate in Science). The three online certificate programs available include; Marketing, Management, and Paralegal Studies. Certificates in computer-Aided Design and Cyber Security courses are available as hybrid format certificate programs. Most other programs are available at least partially online. “Online Education courses continue to grow in popularity as more and more busy professionals return to college to update new or retool existing professional skills,” said MassBay Director of Online Education Jim Grenier.

Schools

Boston Bruins Players Drop by Perkins School for to Try Out a Different Sport

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Boston Bruins players, from left, Zdeno Chara, Ryan Donato and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, shake hands with students from Perkins School for the Blind after playing goal ball in the gym at the Watertown-based school. Three members of the Boston Bruins took some time away from the ice to join students from Perkins School for the Blind for a game of goal ball on Monday afternoon. NHL players Zdeno Chara, Ryan Donato and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson donned the black and gold jerseys with the famous spoked “B,” while students came dressed in their blue jerseys with “Perkins” across the front. The Bruins were greeted by the school’s cheerleading team, which got the crowd in the Perkins gym warmed up with a few numbers. Then it was time to strap on the goggles and play some goal ball.

Charity

Watertown Middle School Students Collect Items for People Battling Opioid Addiction

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Eighth graders at Watertown Middle School collected cold weather items for people overcoming addiction at a program at Mass. General Hospital. This was the first activity for the group working to help those trying to overcome addiction. In their first effort to help patients trying to overcome addiction, a group of Watertown Middle School students collected clothes and other items to help homeless people in need. Before winter break, a group fo WMS students held an ugly sweater party, to which they were asked to bring a new, cold weather item for a homeless adult in need, such as backpack, new socks, mittens, knit hat, or scarves, according to Watertown School Committee member Amy Donohue.

Building for the Future

Residents Excited About Concepts for New Schools at 2 of 3 Watertown Elementary Sites

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The proposal to build a new building at Cunniff School would place the school on the side near the cemetery. On the right is a conceptual drawing of a floor plan for the second story. Wednesday night, the School Building Committee saw the first concepts for how new school buildings could fit onto two of the three Watertown elementary campuses, and the board and public, alike, responded enthusiastically. Project designers from Ai3 Architects presented the concepts they came up with for where a new school building would go on the Cunniff and Hosmer school sites, and showed what the planned renovation of Lowell School would look like. They were given the charge in December after the School Building Committee learned that the price difference for new schools would not be that much higher than doing wholesale renovations.