WHS senior scavenger hunt to blanket Wellesley

April 10, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Don’t be alarmed if you see small packs of Wellesley High students snooping around town early next week: They’re probably among the dozens taking part in a senior scavenger hunt that will net members of the winning team $50 gift certificates to a local business of their choice.

While the contest will involve 25 teams of 7-to-10 seniors (about half of the class has registered to participate), organizers have taken precautions to ensure the activity is done in a safe way over the span of April 12-15. The school, police, Health Department, and local businesses have approved the event.

Teams will have staggered start times departing from the high school, and all clues will be within walking distance of the school.

Wellesley has been divvied up into 5 color-coded zones, each featuring 20-30 clues associated with landmarks, businesses, etc., and that are accessible via QR codes (those at businesses do not require students to enter the establishments). Students will be scavenging for clues from Wellesley Square to Linden Square to Town hall and beyond.

Wellesley sports catch-up: WHS football not letting anyone else score; Mites win Bavis hockey tourney; Babson tennis wants you to watch

March 22, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

We don’t have an official sports reporting staff, so we admittedly cover the topic in a catch-as-catch-can way. But we’ve had a number of things sent our way of late, so here you go:

WHS football not letting anyone else score

The Raiders crushed usual Thanksgiving rival Needham High School 34-0 on Friday for Wellesley’s second straight shutout to start the season. Among the strong performances for the Raiders was Anthony Perez running back an interception 32 yards for a touchdown and also catching a 33-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 28 from quarterback Vincent Ferrara.

Mites win Bavis hockey tourney

The Wellesley rookie mite team coached by Halsey Coughlin won the Mark Bavis Memorial hockey tournament hosted by Hyde Park Youth Hockey over the weekend. Congrats to these first and second graders, who got the finals with an exciting shoot0out victory in the semis.

wellesley mites hockey — Photo courtesy of Rick Bellew

Babson tennis wants you to watch

We received email earlier this month from Babson College senior and varsity tennis player Mary Kille, who was excited to learn that the tennis team will be having a season despite the pandemic. The season was canceled last year. She says the team (which includes Wellesley’s Ashley Avery) would love to connect more with people in town, even though right now the campus is closed to the public.

As a senior on the Babson Women’s Tennis Team, I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to play a competitive season this Spring. With last year’s season canceled, we are incredibly grateful for our college’s efforts to keep everyone safe while granting us the ability to play during these times. In addition to practicing and playing matches with masks on, we also get tested twice a week to ensure we’re all safe and healthy. This year, more so than ever, as we’re living in a rather virtual world, we want to remain connected with our community.

Our team partnered with the Hebrew Senior Life Home of Dedham to participate in virtual sessions to work with some of their patients. In the future, when it’s safe to do so, we hope to participate in ACEing Autism, a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization. We absolutely love the support of our greater community and we hope to provide some stellar tennis matches this spring.

Coming up, our first match is at Babson College on Saturday, April 3 at 10:30 am EST. Be sure to tune into the live-stream, we hope you enjoy it and we thank you in advance for your support! #GoBabo #DefendTheDam

Keep an eye on Babson Athletics social media for streaming info.

babson tennis — Photo by Temi Bajulaiye, Babson Athletics’ Marketing & New Media Specialist

Wellesley police taking part at forum on anti-Asian racism; Wellesley High hosts healing space for Asian, Asian American students; WPS speaks out

March 18, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

The Norfolk District Attorney’s office is promoting a forum on anti-Asian racism that will include DA Michael Morrissey, Rep. Tackey Chan, QARI CEO Philip Chong, local activists and local police chiefs on Tuesday, March 23, from 7-8:15pm. Wellesley Police Chief Jack Pilecki will be joined by chiefs from Brookline, Needham, Dover, and Quincy.

Current Assistant District Attorney Peter Tilley and former chief of civil rights prosecution for Norfolk County Grace Lee, a Brookline activist and board member of the Asian American Task Force on Domestic Violence, will be making short presentations prior to a question-and-answer period.

The event will be simulcast on the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office Facebook page and YouTube channel, NORFOLKDATV.

To obtain the Zoom link, submit questions in any language, or request simultaneous translation to a specific language, send an email to Quincy Asian Resources at [email protected].

“The presentations from the hosts, the chiefs, and speakers will be very brief,” District Attorney Morrissey said. “Our central objective here is to listen, to learn, and to reassure the Asian American community that we recognize what is happening and we want to help.”

Separately, Wellesley High School’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is hosting a healing space on March 18 for Asian and Asian American students seeking to process recent events.

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A post shared by Wellesley High School Library (@wellesleyhslibrary)

Wellesley Public Schools Supt. Dr. David Lussier issued this statement in the wake of the killings in Georgia:

In light of the recent increase in violence directed toward Asian-Americans in this country, punctuated by this week’s horrific murders in Georgia, the Wellesley Public Schools wants to unequivocally denounce this violence and affirm its strong support for our Asian-American community. Diversity is a strength of our country and our community, despite recent nativist trends, particularly those associated with and fueled by rhetoric associated with the pandemic.

As a result of these events, it remains critical for us to stand as one school district and one community, pushing back on those forces aimed at dividing us. We hope our entire community will stand together as we reflect a shared commitment to our Core Values and the concept of “One Wellesley.”

Dr. David Lussier
Superintendent of Schools

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Word is out on Wellesley High teacher’s crossword puzzle claim to fame

March 13, 2021 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

I came across Wellesley High School chemistry teacher Tap van Geel’s crossword puzzle claim to fame while researching a post for our Natick Report on why “Natick is infamous in crossword puzzle circles” (van Geel and his family live in Natick). Wellesley High students have come to learn of his crossword puzzle expertise during Seminar Day sessions the past two years.

Van Geel earned the honor of having a crossword puzzle of his design published in the New York Times about two years ago (it also wound up in an American Airlines in-flight magazine, apparently through an agreement with the newspaper). He’s also had two puzzles published in the Wall Street Journal.

A review of van Geel’s New York Times puzzle gushed: “Audacious gridwork for a debut and a lot of it is snazzy.”

swellesley puzzle — Weak puzzle example by Mr. Swellesley

A van Geel bio I came across on the Wellesley High website mentions cooking, martial arts, and drums as outside interests, but no reference to crosswords. “That bio is 15 years old now. I think I got interested in constructing about 10 years ago.”

The WHS teacher, whose grandmother introduced him to crossword solving, fills in the New York Times puzzle daily. He describes himself as “a good solver,” but not in the same class as those who compete in solving competitions. “They can do a 15×15 puzzle in something like two minutes. My fastest (on a Monday, the easiest day) is a little under five,” he says.

I might have guessed van Geel was a language or lit teacher when I first discovered his crossword achievements, so asked him what advantage if any he thinks being a science teacher might give him in solving or constructing crosswords.

“That’s a good question! I don’t think there’s any advantage to teaching science. Maybe English teachers are sick of words by the end of the day?”

Van Geel says it takes a long time to build a puzzle, maybe 4-5 hours if he’s really lucky. “But I have others in the works that are probably at 25 hours and counting. You get stuck and frustrated and need to put it down for a few days (or months),” says van Geel, who thanks his family for being tolerant of him at those times.

Most puzzles have a theme, and that’s his starting point. “Coming up with a theme that’s worth the investment of time is tough. It’s hard to come up with themes that haven’t been done before. And then filling in the grid is often what takes the most time,” van Geel says.

Like most constructors, he uses software. “But it can still take hours of tweaking to find a set of entries that make for an interesting solving experience,” he says.

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Wellesley schools round-up: WPS reopening plan; Black Lives Matter flag comes to WHS cafe; MassBay courses for high schoolers

March 7, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Our round-up of the latest Wellesley, Mass. school news:

Public schools updates reopening plan

Wellesley Public Schools Supt. Dr. David Lussier issued an update on Friday about the latest school reopening plans in light of the state’s increasingly strong push to get kids back in classrooms near the start of April and new efforts to get teachers and staff immunized against COVID-19. Lussier and other school leaders have been frustrated with the state’s inconsistent messaging around school plans throughout the pandemic.

K-2 students are already back in classrooms four days a week. To smooth the expansion of in-class school for grades 3-5, students in those grades will be rolled into the district’s weekly viral testing program. All district staff are already part of this testing program.

WPS will aim to maintain six feet of social distancing where possible, but that could scale down to three feet in certain situations.

WPS is working with the Wellesley Teachers Association to get students in grades K-5 all back to in-classroom learning five days a week (half days on Wednesdays) by the week of April 5.

Remote Learning School students will be allowed to stay in that program throughout the rest of the school year.

WPS will be hosting a webinar on Thursday, March 11 from 7-8:30PM to share more details, and Board of Health and medical experts will be on hand to answer questions. Wellesley’s Board of Health plans to meet with school leadership on Monday, March 8, to discuss its position on safe in-class learning.

As for grades 6-12, questions remain, Lussier says.

“[We] know that our community is equally interested in next steps for Grades 6-12. The state has provided fewer details at this point on the timing of expanded, in-person learning expectations at the secondary level. Recognizing the challenge of significantly larger student populations at WMS and WHS, along with more restrictive spaces, our team is continuing to work through the many logistical issues that must be solved before phasing in a full return, which we hope to accomplish later this spring.”

Black Lives Matter flag comes to WHS cafe

Wellesley High School Principal Dr. Jamie Chisum has informed the high school community that has raised a Black Lives Matter flag in the cafeteria, following a decision by Wellesley Middle School to add such a flag. The WHS flag comes courtesy of Tinea Rochelle and family, who contacted Chisum to let him know they wanted to donate one.

blm whs — Black Lives Matter flag at WHS

Chisum wrote:

Tinea is the proud mother of two graduates of Wellesley High School who continues to support us in our diversity work. As one of my faculty members eloquently stated, “Black people are asking us to care.” So, this week we put up the donated flag in our cafeteria. We believe in black lives matter and that is what this flag represents. Our flag does not advocate for any political position or agenda. It does not mean only black lives matter, but that black lives matter as well. The raising of this flag breathes life into all four of our Core Values: Respect for Human Differences, Cooperative and Caring Relationships, Commitment to Community, and Academic Excellence. We clearly must do more than simply hang a flag to truly honor all of these values for our black students, staff, and visitors, but we believe this is a lasting symbol to remind us of the need to continue our work towards equity.

I’ll leave you with a short story one of our black students told me in the past few weeks. She said that she remembers a day when she was walking by a store that had a Black Lives Matter flag in the window. She said she couldn’t quite explain it, but when she saw that flag she felt safe to go into that store. She felt comfortable because someone deliberately raised that symbol. We would love it if raising this flag could have that effect for our black students, staff, and any other visitors to our building.

In a few weeks we will have an advisory lesson for our students so we can talk through the reasons we decided to hang the Black Lives Matter flag. At that time I will also send home some information about ways you might choose to have conversations about the flag and its inclusion at Wellesley High School.

blm wms — Black Lives Matter flag at WMS

School Committee, Permanent Building Committee to discuss Hardy and Hunnewell

The Wellesley School Committee reconvenes on Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30pm.

The agenda includes updates on the Hardy and Hunnewell elementary schools, approval for an art trip to Spain and France, plus updates on COVID-19, wellness, and climate change.

Separately, the Permanent Building Committee at its March 11 meeting at 7:30m will also be discussing Hardy and Hunnewell building plans, as well as have Middle School updates.

Wellesley PTSO seeks more contributions

The Wellesley PTSO says 13% of families have contributed to its annual appeal but that donations are well below the usual levels. “We fully appreciate that this is an unusual year, but your financial support is more critical now than ever to support students and teachers in their work both this spring through their return to school in the fall.”

MassBay invites high school students to take summer courses

Registration is now open for seven online and remote summer courses exclusively for high school students at MassBay Community College. The six-week courses start on July 6, and include Entrepreneurship, Principles of Management, General Biology I with a Lab, Creative Writing, Drugs and Society, Medical Terminology, and Security Awareness. High school students can also enroll in other MassBay courses this summer and study alongside college-aged students.

For more information, contact MassBay’s Admissions office at 781-239-2500 or [email protected].

Anti-semitic chat comment mars Wellesley High Seminar Day

March 3, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley High School Principal Dr. Jamie Chisum informed families late on Wednesday afternoon of an anti-semitic incident that took place during the school’s Seminar Day, an annual event during which students, staff and other community members their talents and knowledge on subjects from offbeat to serious. This year, due to the pandemic, the event was online-only and limited to student- and staff-run seminars.

The incident comes at a time when Wellesley is doubling down on anti-racism and anti-bias, with the Select Board recently issuing a formal statement on this subject, and working with the police department on a rapid-response team to address discriminatory actions.

Here’s the memo sent to the Wellesley High community:

Dear Families,

As I hope all of you know today was our annual Seminar Day at Wellesley High School. Each year we suspend regular classes for our half day at the start of March and run seminars on topics of interest for our students. Today we had seminars on topics ranging from meditation, to Texas hold ‘em Poker (no actual gambling), to redesigning the State flag of Massachusetts, to cookie baking. Students get to choose their seminars and this year they were all run digitally by other students with staff support or by staff themselves. It is often a day that students highlight as one of their favorite events all year.

Unfortunately, during our very popular Improv troupe seminar, there was a chat feature enabled so participants could interact with the presenters. In that chat one of the participants wrote the following bias based, anti-semitic speech, “Heil Hitler”. There was a group of student moderators for the session who noticed the comment and stopped it from going out to the whole group, so the statement was only read by the moderators. The student then notified the teacher in charge of the session and after the session was completed, an administrator was notified. I am thankful to those moderators for acting quickly and appropriately in this moment.

The Wellesley Public Schools, and Wellesley High school in this particular case, vehemently denounce this speech as hateful, hurtful, and anti-semitic. The “Heil Hitler” salute was historically a salute toward the creation of a society that eliminated Jews, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized groups. This is not speech that reflects our core values and we do not expect any members of our community to stand by and let it go unchallenged.

Given that this was a large seminar with over 100 participants, we are still investigating to find out who typed this statement. We will be taking this investigation and the findings of it seriously as is our policy in matters like this. According to district policy, we have also logged this incident with our district’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, using our bias-based incident reporting protocol. Additionally, and also in accordance with our district policy, we have notified the Wellesley Police Department and the Anti-Defamation League to alert them about what happened.

I am disturbed that the incident happened at all; and that it would happen on what is often one of our happiest days of the year here is also disappointing. If there is more information to share as we move forward we certainly will do that. If you have any further questions, concerns, or information you think we don’t have, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Jamie

Wellesley High Climate Action Club fundraiser aims to revive gardens

March 3, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley High School Climate Action Club, which now has dozens of members, is hosting a fundraiser March 6-7 to raise money to restore the school’s gardens.

You’re invited to sign up to run, walk, or bike, and find sponsors for each mile, or if you can’t do any of those activities, you can still donate.

Separately, the club has reached out to the School Committee to propose installation of solar panels over the High School parking lot, as can be seen at parking lots at other area schools.

In their letter, they wrote:

The addition of solar panels to our school would contribute to meeting our town’s goal of lowering carbon emissions. Furthermore, the addition of solar energy would help to reduce future damage to our health, the planet, and inspire others to become more eco-friendly.

Numerous local school systems, such as Wayland, Natick, Lincoln Sudbury, Needham, and Newton*, have successfully added solar panels to multiple school buildings and solar canopies over their parking lots. These districts are proud to capture solar energy and turn it into electricity. The solar panels allow their students to learn about the importance of sustainable energy and practices while inspiring townspeople to follow their lead.

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