May 31, 2023
Dear Shrewsbury Families, Colleagues, & Community Members,
On this last day of May, we are in the midst of celebrating the SHS Class of 2023. Last evening, our senior class participated in the Commemoration ceremony at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, where the class officers led a terrific program focused on the class's experiences over the past four years, featuring music, speeches, the class video, dedication of the yearbook, and the class history. Tomorrow evening the Graduation ceremony for the SHS Class of 2023 will take place at 7pm on David J. Adams Memorial Field at Central One Federal Credit Union Stadium on the SHS campus. This is a ticketed event, but you can watch the event live on SELCO Channels 29 and 329 or live streamed on the Shrewsbury Media Connection's website here.
We are getting our first dose of hot weather tomorrow as well, although fortunately it will be dry. We take a variety of steps to mitigate the heat in our buildings that are not climate controlled, such as venting buildings overnight and drawing in cool air early in the morning, ensuring students are hydrating, limiting physical activity as appropriate, and monitoring classroom temperatures and moving classes to cooler spaces where feasible. Please note that if I determine that heat conditions become too extreme sometime in June, it may be necessary between now and the end of the school year to hold an early release day or a no school day. Hopefully this will not be necessary.
I am also pleased to pass along information regarding student successes:
• The SHS Spring Musical, Babes in Arms, was nominated for several prestigious High School Musical Theatre Awards presented by the Theatre at the Mount at Mount Wachusett Community College (known as the TAMY Awards). Congratulations to all of the cast and crew members, directors, and everyone who worked on the production on earning the following nominations:
Best Overall Production
Best Performance in a Leading Role - Elaine Stameris '23
Best Performance in a Leading Role - Grace Kasten '23
Best Performance in a Supporting Role - Mary Jane Pratt '23
Best Performance in a Featured Role - Anthony Aicardi '23
Best Chorus Nomination
Best Stage Crew Nomination
Technical Excellence Lighting Nomination
Technical Excellence Sound Nomination
Visual Excellence Nomination
Not Your Average Chorus Member - Arjun Warrier '23
I am pleased to report that from these nominations, TAMY awards were earned for Best Stage Crew, Best Sound, and Visual Excellence, while Grace Kasten was awarded the Gold Medal for Best Performance in a Leading Role and Arjun Warrier received the Not-Your-Average-Chorus Member medal. Bravo!
• At last week's School Committee meeting we continued the tradition of honoring our Senior Scholars, who are the ten students in the senior class with the highest grade point averages. You can read short bios of each scholar here (where you will see that they are involved in many co-curricular activities and community service), and watch the video of their brief remarks at the meeting here (where, in addition to thanking their families, they made mention of many educators who made a positive impact on them throughout their years in our schools). The Senior Scholars for the Class of 2023 are, in alphabetical order:
Nicole Aredes '23
Sohani Curtis '23
Aditi Dosi '23
Alia Haytham '23
Elena Li '23
Jamie Li '23
Charles Prince '23
John Qiu '23
Carlos Reyes '23
William Wu '23
Congratulations to these students on all of their academic accomplishments!
In closing, I want to note that tomorrow is the first day of Pride Month. Our district's core values call us to "honor each person’s individuality, celebrate our community’s diversity, and support school cultures of mutual acceptance and respect," and so on this occasion I want to recognize the importance of our schools' unconditional acceptance of and support for all of our students, families, and colleagues who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, with best wishes for a happy Pride Month!
Respectfully,
Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools
P.S. Please note the following correction from the previous Update: Varun Nannuri '23 earned 3rd place in the state for Speech and Debate in Extemporaneous Speaking. My apologies for the typographical error that resulted in Varun's name being spelled incorrectly.