Football postseason: Scenes from Wellesley High Raiders’ 14-7 win over Bishop Feehan

November 17, 2024 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Raiders’ fifth-ranked football team topped #4 Bishop Feehan on the road in Attleboro on Friday, Nov. 15 by a 14-7 score.

Junior Tennyson Charney came up big on offense and defense, catching the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and later making a big stop on defense to give Wellesley the ball back to secure the win (see more in the Globe, subscription may be required). Quarterback Lukas Prock connected in the first quarter for a long touchdown pass to Will Zalosh to go up 7-0.

The Raiders play in the semi-finals on Friday, Nov. 22 (6pm) vs. #1 ranked Catholic Memorial at Weston High School. The winner will advance to the Division 2 super bowl game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough in early December.

Here are photos from the Nov. 15 game vs. Bishop Feehan courtesy of Darren Bovie.

2024 11-15 WHS v Bishop Feehan Boys Varsity Football 135 — Photos by Darren Bovie

We welcome photos and other information on Wellesley sports: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

The night belonged to the kids at the Wellesley Education Foundation Spelling Bee

November 15, 2024 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Middle School spelling team had a score to settle during Wednesday night’s Wellesley Education Foundation Spelling Bee. Back in 2022, the youngest members in the competition came close to winning it all, but got knocked out very late in the final round. Not this time. The 8th graders’ names and faces were different, but the determination was the same. This team came to win. Game faces, check. No costumes. No silly team name. Aniruddh Arun, Eafan Sher, and Tyler Pollack simply called themselves, “Wellesley Middle School 8th graders.” That’s all.

In the end, the kids spelled “nucivorous” for the win, taking down the highly competitive Bates Basilisk team. The word refers to animals that seek out acorns and the like as a food source. Their was nothing nutty about this win—Team 8th graders came prepared.

Wellesley Education Foundation Spelling Bee 2024 — Team Wellesley Middle School 8th Graders celebrate their win. From left, Tyler Pollack, Eafan Sher, Aniruddh Arun.

Busy Bee

During the annual fundraiser put on by WEF, 35 teams, each made up of three members, competed in a round. There were five rounds of seven teams, with the winning team of each round competing for the championship. The winners took home the Ruth Humphries Bee trophy to keep for their reigning year. A plaque listing all the winners also hangs in the Wellesley Free Library.

All teams in a round spelled words simultaneously. Emcee Mike Dowling, there for his 30th Bee, announced the word and the three team members collaborated on the spelling of a word before writing down their answer on the white board provided. Teams had 25 seconds to come up with a spelling, and then displayed their answer. Teams that correctly spelled the word continued on to the next word, until one team won the round.

Just don’t tell them they can’t do it

The Bee really was big night for students. Wellesley Evolutions Team 2, due to a last-minute cancellation, was down a member. No big deal, the show must go on, and all that. Duo Chase Murphy and Tommy Moretti apparently don’t like to waste time. They dispensed with six other teams by out-spelling them on the very first word— “rime.” Take that, Team WHS Assistant Principals, and all the rest.

“Everybody hates on us and said we couldn’t win. We wanted to show them,” Murphy said.

It was on to the finals for Team Evolutions. And although they didn’t prevail, Dowling reminded them that they would always have the bragging rights of making it this far.

We think we spelled everything correctly in this story. Subscribe to Swellesley’s daily email to copyedit us regularly.

School news: METCO Showcase; It’s Wellesley Spelling Bee Wednesday; Raiders football team scores for breast cancer patients

November 10, 2024 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The latest Wellesley Public Schools news:

METCO Showcase

Wellesley was well represented at the recent METCO Showcase in Dorchester, where hundreds of Boston families learned about educational opportunities at suburban school districts such as Wellesley. Stephanie Holland, METCO director for Wellesley Public Schools, and Superintendent David Lussier were among those at the event.

Wellesley began its relationship with the METCO program in 1966 as one of the original seven founding districts.

The first METCO application lottery cycle closes on Nov 30.

Wellesley METCO photo — Wellesley School Supt. David Lussier put to rest any rumors that he might be moonlighting as Wally the Green Monster. Shown here with Stephanie Holland, METCO director, Wellesley Public Schools, and the Red Sox mascots Wally and Tessie. (Photo by METCO HQ)

Wellesley Spelling Bee on Wednesday, Nov. 13

The Wellesley Education Foundation’s 35th Wellesley Spelling Bee is slated for Wednesday, Nov. 13 (7pm) at the high school, and the public is welcome to attend and cheer on the dozens of teams. Proceeds from the event fund grants to local educators.

A team from the Wellesley Mothers Forum won in 2023.

Raiders football team supports breast cancer patients

This past October in honor of Breast Cancer Month, the Wellesley High School Football team raised over $2,300 for the Ellie Fund, a local organization that provides support services for breast cancer patients.

This is the second year the Raiders have raised money for the Ellie Fund, and the plan is to make this an annual effort.

They raised money by selling bracelets and hats.

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Wellesley business buzz: BaboBot catches on at Babson; Goddard School celebrates 1 year in town

November 6, 2024 by Bob Brown

The latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:

BaboBot catches on at Babson. Now will businesses bite?

The students behind BaboBot—a free instant messaging tool that hundreds of Babson College students and others at the school check daily to get cafeteria menus—have bigger plans for the technology they launched three years ago.

BaboBot is the brainchild of juniors Axel Petochi and Mauricio Szajman, who started together at Babson and remain roommates off-campus (Szajman has transferred to Boston University to study computer science).

They created the BaboBot webscraper as freshmen. “Our original inspiration was just making our lives simpler as students, going to the cafe quite often before and after workouts,” says Petochi, a business student in his junior year.

The messaging tool caught on initially by word of mouth, then the creators started promoting it via flyers and posters, which attracted hundreds. BaboBot now has close to 700 users and is growing 10% month over month. “We have about 25% of the community on the platform,” Petochi says.

Now that they’ve got the Babson community’s attention, they are using BaboBot as well for marketing some school events from student organizations. They’ve also begun speaking with Wellesley businesses to help them reach the college crowd.

Beyond that, the students are looking to introduce BaboBot to more schools (it’s already at United Nations International School), and to develop a full-fledged app that could be used by students and parents to easily access all sorts of information, including athletic schedules. That web app is slated to be ready by the first semester of the next academic year.

Looking ahead, Petochi says both students plan to head to New York after graduating and pursue a business involving their technology.

“We’re applying our entrepreneurial education to real-world applications,” Petochi says.

Contact the BaboBot team.

BaboBot co-founders Axel Petochi & Mauricio Szajman

Know of businesses coming or going? Don’t keep it to yourself: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Goddard School celebrates 1 year in town

The Goddard School of Wellesley (141 Linden St.), which specializes in early childhood development, on Nov. 2 celebrated its first anniversary in town. That flew by, just like the way the kids who attend grow up.

The event featured a petting zoo, face painting, a visit from cartoon characters, and more.

Goddard School anniversary — Courtesy photos

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Wellesley speaker event—”The State of the Charles River”

November 5, 2024 by admin

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, speaker

Wellesley School Committee to vote on 2025-26 school year calendar changes Nov. 19

November 5, 2024 by Deborah Brown

The School Committee on Nov. 19 will take a vote on the Academic Calendar Task Force‘s recommendations regarding the observance of religious and cultural holidays within the Wellesley Public Schools Academic Calendar.

The School Committee will deliberate during public Zoom meetings on Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, and there will be opportunities for public comment. Feedback can also be communicated via email to school_committee@wellesleyps.org

The recommendations

The Academic Task Force recommends that starting with the 2025-26 school year, four static holidays should be included as days off. The envisioned breakdown is that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur should be retained as holidays, while Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr (or Eid Al-Adha, depending on the year) should be added. The removal of Diwali and Good Friday is recommended.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday have been included as days off since the 1990s, ending the previous policy of keeping schools open during religious and cultural holidays. Diwali made its first appearance on the school calendar for the 2024-25 school year. If the School Committee votes to accept the Task Force’s recommendations, Lunar New Year and Eid will be added for the first time, reflecting not only an increase in diversity in Wellesley, but the school community’s desire that all religious and cultural communities feel valued and represented.

Although Good Friday is celebrated by far more survey respondents than any other holiday listed, a memo from task force leaders and School Committee members asserted: “Survey results indicated less consensus around the need for a no-school holiday for Good Friday, especially among parents/caregivers and teachers/staff.”

The 25-member Academic Calendar Task Force, which has held about a dozen public meetings since April 2024, is headed up by School Committee chair Linda Chow and vice chair Niki Ofenlach. Rounding out the group are Wellesley Public Schools parents and caregivers, including former School Committee member Leda Eizenberg, who serves as the Task Force secretary; Wellesley public schools staff members and leaders, including Supt. David Lussier; and four WHS students.

Survey says…

Results from 6,700 surveys sent out to teachers/staff, parents/caregivers and students (8th – 12th grades) in mid-September reflected that high-importance holiday-related issues included maximizing summer break. Seems the emotional end to the school year is now officially June 19 (Juneteenth), a federal holiday since 2021, and thus a day off. The motivation to head back to school after that day in order to get in the requisite 180 days is pretty much nonexistent. Also, a lack of air conditioning in some school buildings has become a hot-button issue over the past few years. Minimizing child care needs during the school year, as well as ensuring all religious and cultural communities feel valued and represented on the academic calendar were also strong themes that emerged from the survey results.

Out of the 2,607 surveys that were filled out (a 39% response rate), Wellesley Middle School’s 8th graders deserve a shout-out for their high level of engagement—84% of them chimed in, representing 262 total responses. Since we brought this up, the rest of the survey participation results broke down as follows:

Teachers & Staff: 468 responses (42%)
Parents/Caregivers: 1,333 responses (approx. 33%)
WMS Students (8th grade only): 262 responses (84%)
WHS Students: 560 responses (44%)
Note: Teachers/staff members who are also parents are represented in both categories.

Celebrants and observers

The survey results reflect the number of respondents that celebrate/observe holidays listed in the survey break down as follows:

Rosh Hashanah 307
Yom Kippur: 298
Good Friday: 803
Diwali: 78
Lunar New Year: 293
Eid al-Fitr: 97
None of these: 1,114

Write-in holidays with 15+ responses, a category that could indicate where future discussions on holidays could go, included:

Eastern Orthodox Easter (21)
Eastern Orthodox Good Friday (23)
Eid al-Adha (65)
Mid-Autumn Festival (21)
Eastern Orthodox Christmas (15)
Passover (18)

Attend the next meetings

Nov. 12—School Committee meeting (Zoom link to be provided soon)

Nov. 19—School Committee meeting (Zoom link to be provided soon)
Vote will be taken on Academic Task Force’s recommendations for the 2025-26 school calendar

Announcements from the Wellesley Public Schools

Nov. 1, 2024–Dear Members of the WPS Community,

As you know, Tuesday is Election Day. This year, only one of our schools, Sprague, serves as a polling site. In collaboration with the Town Clerk’s Office and Wellesley Police Department, we will manage the flow of voters through the side entrance near the gym to ensure that both voting and our school operations can occur as seamlessly and safely as possible.

I recognize that our country remains deeply divided as we approach the election and that members of our community likely have strong opinions and potentially heightened anxieties going into next week. Democracy is an inherently messy endeavor and it’s important to remember that our ability to disagree–even vehemently–is a protected right. However, I also ask the members of our school community to consider how we engage with one another and with our students next week, regardless of the outcome of the election.

At school, elections are teachable moments and some classes have already been fully engaged in critically analyzing the platforms and campaigns of the respective political parties and candidates. Next week, more conversations will be occurring within classrooms and throughout our schools. In these moments, I am asking our educators to reinforce expectations of mutual respect and inclusive dialogue, which will allow our students to not only share their opinions, but to also listen and seek to understand the opinions of those with whom they may disagree.

At home, please engage with your children and check in on how they are feeling, as well as share how you are feeling. There is no such thing as perfection in these moments. It’s more important to be authentic, ask questions, and offer encouragement. Together, we can each play a role in helping our students feel safe and supported and to model for them how to respectfully engage on challenging topics.

Finally, if anyone is struggling next week or knows of someone who is, please reach out to a member of our staff so that we can intervene and provide support. We often say that no one should worry alone and that is certainly true next week. Civil discourse may not feel like the norm right now, but it has likely never been more important.

Thank you in advance for your consideration and for your support of our students and our school community in the days ahead.

Best regards,
Dr. David Lussier
Superintendent of Schools