Orientation held for STEM Scholars

WATERBURY — STEM faculty and staff at Naugatuck Valley Community College hosted a week-long orientation event for the College’s new NViSION STEM Scholars. The first day of the week-long orientation was an on-campus meeting. Activities for the rest of the orientation week were conducted virtually.

The NViSION program at NVCC is an NSF-funded scholars/scholarship program to support promising STEM students graduate from NVCC and either transfer to a 4-year college in a STEM program or directly enter the STEM workforce. The purpose of the program is to provide programming, academic and social supports, and professional experiences to help students build increased motivation towards a STEM career, empower students to self-identify as a STEM professional, and to ensure STEM student self-efficacy, all while providing significant financial support in terms of scholarships to increase their likelihood of success.

Students accepted into the program receive access to multiple supports including $1,000-$5,000 per year for the first 2 years of their program; free virtual student orientation, free tutoring, all-expense paid university tours and STEM field trips; STEM workshops, advising, and counseling; and opportunities for undergraduate research, internships, and/or job shadowing

NVCC welcomed 19 scholars this year, 13 new scholars and sixof whom are returning from last semester. Five of the students are from W.F. Kaynor Technical High School, including Gabriel DeMelo, Brian Fredricksen, Omkar Newland, Aryanna Smith, and Joenlis Vale-Moran.

Students from other area regional high schools include Jhennifer Curipoma, Nonnewaug HS; Willy Andrade, Naugatuck HS; Jessica Perez, Waterbury Career Academy; Dennis Patino, Danbury HS; Samantha Reichardt, Seymour HS; Samantha Gaughan, Pomperang HS; Christean Crespo, Crosby HS; and Devin DuBois.

According to professor Rebecca Binney, Principal Investigator, CoDirector of the program, “Our first cohort started in the summer of 2019 and completed a 5-week summer bridge program whose main goals were to transition students to college while forming a strong cohort mentality and support system for the students. This cohort had a wonderful 1st year and are on track to graduate or transfer to a four-year college in the very near future. This project is funded for at least 5 years, and currently we are in our second year. This year due to the pandemic the College could not run the standard 5-week summer bridge program. Instead we ran a week-long summer orientation to begin building the cohort mentality with our scholars. The orientation provides essential information and training needed for students to transition most effectively and quickly to college and NVCC.”

HVRHS names commended student

FALLS VILLAGE — Ian Strever, principal of Housatonic Valley Regional High School, recently announced that student Charlotte P. Clulow has been named a Commended Student in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program. A letter of commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by the principal to this scholastically talented senior.

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2021 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2021 competition by taking the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

“Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success. These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success,” Strever said.

O’Keefe earns degree from Wilkes University

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Kelley O'Keefe of Woodbury received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Wilkes University. The degree was one of 270 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees awarded at a virtual degree conferral ceremony held by Wilkes on Sept. 12.

Hagymasi is eesmarts finalist

TORRINGTON — Torrington-area student Molly Hagymasi was recently honored as a finalist in the 15th annual eesmarts Student Contest.

Presented by Energize Connecticut sponsors, Eversource and United Illuminating, Southern Connecticut Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas, subsidiaries of Avangrid Inc., the eesmarts Student Contest invites Connecticut students in grades K-12 to create projects about energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainability.

In the Grade 7 category, participants could submit a persuasive poem or cartoon strip. Hagymasi won first place for her persuasive poem entitled “Pandemic Has Improved Our Environment. Let’s Keep Making Things Better”. “At their peak, CO2 emissions in individual countries have decreased by 20 percent on average, says nature.com,” according to Hagymasi.

The Energize Connecticut sponsors updated the contest this year to allow students to submit their projects through an online platform. More than 300 students from 76 schools in 49 Connecticut towns submitted their work for consideration. Thirty-five entries were selected as this year’s winners and each finalist received a certificate and Amazon gift card. For more information on the student contest and the eesmarts program, visit EnergizeCT.com/eesmarts-home

Forman School welcomes students back to campus

LITCHFIELD — The Forman School held its first day of classes for the new school year Sept. 7. Students returned to campus in small groups over the last two weeks in an orderly process designed to minimize the possible transmission of the COVID-19 virus. All students were tested upon arrival at campus before being allowed to move into their dorms.

“We have also completed our first round of re-testing with no positive results,” said Head of School Adam Man, in a statement. “We are in the second round right now.”

Forman closed its campus in March and moved to remote learning to finish last year.

“We have had to reimagine everything. There is no facet of the school that we have not had to rework,” said Man. “And of course, there was no blueprint because no one has had to do this before.”

Man and his staff started making reopening plans in April. “I’ve never seen a group of people work so hard over a summer. And it paid off,” Man said. “Registration and orientation both went well.” The changes were implemented with two basic goals; to prevent the transmission of the virus and to contain it if someone is found to be infectious.

Jaime Feinman, Forman’s Director of Admission, reported that Forman’s enrollment has remained steady with some new students coming on board over the year as families evaluate remote learning this fall. “Our students are very energized right now,” Feinman said. “Even though our first assembly was held outside on the Green, with everyone wearing masks and socially distanced, it was a great moment. The Forman family is back together again.”