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The Grazing Ram: New Canaan High School to Offer SAT Tutoring with NCCF Grant

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[Leo Mikkola-Patel, author of ‘The Grazing Ram’ periodic opinion column, is a member of the New Canaan High School class of 2025.]

New Canaan High School is creating an SAT tutoring program available to all students. The program will be offered in classes at NCHS in partnership with Carnegie Prep, a leader in standardized test prep. The goal of this program is to better prepare NCHS students for college. This program will also level the playing field as all students who indicate a need for financial assistance will be funded by a generous grant from the New Canaan Community Foundation (NCCF) creating the Equal Access for SATs (EOS) program. Working in conjunction with Principal William Egan, Assistant Principal Kristi Carriero, Meg Soffen from NCCF and NCHS Director of the College and Career Susan Carroll, I feel satisfied that 0ur team has been able to make a big impact on the whole school community. In addition, the whole team is thankful for the support of the Community Foundation for this project. 

What will the format of the program be?

Around Town

New Canaanites Gather at Lakeview Cemetery To Honor Veterans 

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Dozens of New Canaanites gathered at Lakeview Cemetery on Saturday to plant more than 1,500 flags honoring every locally interred veteran who has served the United States in both combat and non-combat positions. Organized on behalf of VFW Post 653 by New Canaanites Chris and Frances Wilson, the community event saw residents come together on a beautiful May morning to honor our veterans. “This is one of the greatest events the town puts on,” Post 653 Commander Mike McGlinn said. “There are about 200 people and 20 community groups who come together to help out the VFW… It’s a tremendous thing for a small town like New Canaan to have this done.”

The New Canaan Fire Department, New Canaan Police Department, Boy Scout troops 45, 31 and 70, Cub Scout packs 70, 45 and 7, Girl Scouts of New Canaan, SLOBs, Democratic and Republican Town Committees, New Canaan YMCA, New Canaan Chapter of the National Charity League, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Hannah Benedict Carter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The gravestones with flags is the setting in which the annual Memorial Day observance ceremony is held.

Opinion

Op-Ed: New Canaan Needs to Better Prepare Students for SAT

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“Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not.” -Leila Janah 

Recently, I was speaking with a friend and he expressed frustration not only with his performance on the SAT but also his lack of access to test prep resources due to financial constraints. I believe this is unfair given that most students at NCHS can both afford and take for granted that private SAT classes are an essential part of their high school journey. 

We pride ourselves on our academic rigor and extremely strong school district rankings. However, we do very little to prepare all students for the one test that is incredibly important for every student’s future after graduation: the SAT. 

Our town needs to offer SAT prep classes to all students. This is particularly important given an overall decline in New Canaan’s SAT scores from the 2018-19 academic year to the last reportable year, 2022-23, according to state education data. (New Canaan’s scores did improve slightly year-over-year from 2021-22 to 2022-23 in both English-Language Arts and Math, the data say.). 

Why is the SAT so important?

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The Grazing Ram: Funding Bodies Voice Support for Public Cemetery Maintenance Plan 

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[Editor’s Note: Leo Mikkola-Patel is a junior at New Canaan High School. “The Grazing Ram” is his periodic column on New Canaanite.]

My previous article described a plan to encourage the town government to allocate funding for the appropriate maintenance of all public cemeteries. After writing that article, I saw the true power and beauty of town government. 

I reached out to many organizations and gathered the support of both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the VFW Post 653 . There was also broad community support for this project as evidenced by a petition with nearly 1,000 signatures. 

Working with the head of the Department of Public Works, Tiger Mann, administrative officer in the first selectman’s office, Tucker Murphy, VFW Post 653 Senior Commander Mike McGlinn and Danielle Edwards of the DAR, this month we presented to the Board of Finance and Town Council with the goal of garnering support and starting the process of creating an annual budget line for cemetery upkeep. 

McGlinn said during the Nov. 14 finance board meeting that “the VFW stands 100% behind this project” and that “one of the principles of the VFW is to honor and remember every veteran, alive or deceased.” 

The consensus was that this project is very possible but more work still needs to be done.

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The Grazing Ram: New Canaan Will Do More for Its Cemeteries, But We Need Your Help

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[Leo Mikkola-Patel is a New Canaan High School junior. He writes “The Grazing Ram” column for NewCanaanite.com.]

My last article covered the neglect of many small cemeteries around town. After writing that article, I had the opportunity to meet with Tucker Murphy, administrative officer in the first selectman’s office, and Tiger Mann, director of the Department of Public Works (DPW.) We discussed a plan of action to resolve the neglect and extreme overgrowth in many of our cemeteries, which I believe dishonors the veterans and everyone else buried in them. 

Our plan centers on requesting that the town government, specifically, the Board of Finance, establish an official budget line for the DPW to start the routine and appropriate maintenance of many of the public cemeteries. Based on my discussions with Ms. Murphy and Mr. Mann, the town should be able to accomplish this at de minimus cost. The next step would be for me to speak at the Nov.