SHS Alumni have connected in so many ways!

Stay connected with other active alumni through our new LinkedIn group Shrewsbury Public Schools Community, on Twitter and Instagram.  You can find all archived newsletters on this site in the lefthand menu or here.

 

 

April 2022 - On April 14th, the first ever Career and Trades Fair was held at Shrewsbury High School to show parents and students that there are alternatives to going to a 4-year college after high school.  Featured alumni were Kathy (Curran) McSweeney '84, Lamacchia realtor, Rory Ahearn '04, firefighter, Gina Kennedy '08, dental hygienist who studied at Quinsig Community College for 2 years, Lauren Buckley '14 cosmetologist and graduate of Toni and Guy, Nate Bachelder '18 studying to be an electrician at The Prescot School and Matt Hull '18, studying to be an electrician through Porter and Chester Institute, 

   

           Lauren Buckley                                            Nate Bachelder (left), Matt Hull (right)

 

2021-2022 - Since classes were in-person this year, we once again asked our alumni to "come back to class" to speak with students about their careers and their passions.  We matched 29 alumni with 29 different classes, enriching experiences in grades across the district.  A few photos from the program are below (TV Production alumni visiting current TV students, alumni visiting other classrooms), and a full summary of this program, including photos and reactions from students, alumni and teachers, can be found here.

      

Melissa Cooke '13 and Declan Quinn '16.                          Nick, Kevin and Megan presenting in other classes.

 

March 2021 - The show must go on!  Our Telethon "For the Love of the Performing Arts" was held (virtually) to benefit the Theater and Music programs across the district.  This 2-night, 4 hour show was a collaborative effort between current and former theater and music students.  The show highlighted interviews and performances by Catherine Brunelle '93, Nick Silverio '13, Sophie Silverio '18, Louisa Ramirez Flynn '11, Sam Quinn '10, Jared and Kira (Cowan) Troilo '04.  Without the talents, energy, creativity and willingness of our alumni to participate in this telethon, we would not have been able to raise over $30,000 and provide a stunning showcase of our amazingly gifted students. If you missed the telethon when it first aired, you can still catch the show on line via Shrewsbury Media Connection’s video library at www.bit.ly/smcvideos, or click on Night 1 and Night 2 to view directly.

                                       

                                                Jared and Kira (Cowan) Troilo '08 with Preston Karp '21 (interviewer)

 

Fall 2020 - The success of the Zoom chats in April of 2020 led us to connect more alumni virtually with classrooms and teachers across the district, while classes were half virtual.  In the fall of 2020, we connected 30 alumni with 30 different teachers and classes, over a variety of different topics such as Graphic Design, Starting a Business, Environmental Science, Journalism, Music, Neuroscience, Music/Theater, Author/Illurstrator, Intro to Coding, Cultural Holidays, Engineer/3D Modeling, Police/Fire, Airline pilot, Architecture. The alumni brought excitement, hope and happiness to our classrooms, during a stressful and challenging time.  Amoung the alumni involved were: Martha Deering '64, Christine Noyes '79, Scott Sorochak '84, Christine (Johnson) Osik '87, Joe Ayoub '89, Anne Rocheleau '06, Katherine (Gillman) Ineson '08, Danielle (Erlichman) Voss '08, Nora Donoghue '09, Rachel Sarnie '14,  Madison Busick '15, Pavithra Devarajan '15, Kaleigh Keohane '15, Maddie Stewich '16, Tanner Walling '20, 

  April 2020 - Because most people are working and learning from home, SPS launched a new "Colonials Helping Colonials" program, connecting existing students with alumni through Zoom chats. Alumni who offered to be mentors or industry experts through our survey, were asked to provide topics that they would like to share with students.  Through Schoology, students were asked which topics they were interested in learning more about, and group chats were formed, based on the responses.  Zoom meeting invitations were sent out to presenters and students alike, for an active discussion on a variety of topics including Film/TV/Video, College Readiness, Finance,  Entrepreneurship, Real Estate, Teaching, Computer Science, Engineering, Medicine, Military duty, etc. Alumni inlcuded were: Patrick C. Collins '83, Kathy McSweeney '84, Keith Belanger '84, Scott Sorochak '84, Nidee Krishnan '01, Anne Rocheleau '06, Isabel Broer '06, Michael Sahl '07,  Jennifer Chen '07,  Krysten Barnhill '08, Yiqin Jiang '09, Caitlyn Burke '10, Holly Ouellette, '11, Kevin Chen '11, Julliard Del Rosario '11, Darius Corcoran '12, Katelyn Hanam '12, Liz Belden '14, Domitille Buricatu '14, Julia Noyes '14, Julia Shaughnessy '15, Marissa Hollyer '15,  Julianna Murray '15,  Kyle Vedder '15, Megan Downing '15, Danielle Kemp '15, Maddie Stewich '16, Aastha Gupta '18.  This type of program will be ongoing. If you would like to participate, please contact us at alumni@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us

January 2020 - Shrewsbury Public Schools launched a new alumni program aimed at reconnecting alumni with our schools.  We mailed over 8,000 postcards to graduates from 1969-1989 and 2004-2017.  Click here to view and share the postcard.  If you did not receive one or know a fellow alum who did not, please contact us at alumni@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us. 

     

November 2019 - This past November a chapter of United Sound, a school-based instrumental music program for students with special needs, and their typical peers, was established at Shrewsbury High School.  This new chapter was partially funded by Ruby Lee, '09.  This is just one example of many ways in which our alumni can help our current students!  For more information about United Sound, please see the full article here.

August 30, 2019 - On the opening day of the 2019-2020 school year, 14 alumni and students were invited back for the "Our Students, Our Legacy" presentation to Shrewsbury Public Schools administration and staff.  During each brief presentation, students or alumni shared their perspectives regarding ways in which their education in the Shrewsbury Public Schools influenced them, while providing insight into how our schools could strengthen student experiences. Their messages were processed by faculty during department meetings that followed. The alumni who joined us were: Jim Heald '89, David Chapin '02, Anthony Qualey '02, Ruby Lee '09, Sara Hopkins '10, Vinay Maliakal '12, Hannah Hopkins '14, Michael West '15, Sophia Peng '20, TJ Morgera '20, Jack Foley '20, John West '20, Jessica Peng '20, Marlie Atlabachew '18.  

Click here to watch the video presentation from that day or here to read the brochure that was distributed.