Schools

We don’t just cover the Board of Education and issues affecting New Canaan Public Schools parents, including testing mandates and teacher evaluations, new hires in the district and programs in our schools—we also celebrate students and teacher achievements and spotlight outstanding work at all levels.

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Recent Articles

Reflections on Freshman Year: 5 Tips to New High School Graduates

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Spring is a blur of exciting events, one after another, for high school seniors: college decisions, prom, internships, and graduation. The possibilities for your future seem almost endless, and it is easy to get caught up in the whirlwind. But before you pack your car with all the things your parents insist are necessary for you to have (although you still don’t know how to iron and are quite certain you won’t touch that vacuum) and leave your hometown in the past, here are five tips for maximizing your college experience and making a smooth transition out of this stressful and exciting time. Don’t Trust Social Media

During the first few weeks or months, it is inevitable that you will become homesick or disillusioned by popular media’s portrayal of college life where you meet a group of 10 close friends and transform into the best version of yourself overnight. In reality, branching out is hard and almost no one loves college right away; however, everyone wants to make it seem that they do. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, Schools

NCHS To Live-Stream Sports Contests at Dunning, Gym with New System

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New Canaan High School Rams fans soon will have the ability to watch significantly more sports contests online, as district officials work with the broadcast arm of an Indianapolis-based organization that helps develop standards and rules for interscholastic activities nationwide. Starting no later than this fall, some 200 games and matches at Dunning Stadium and the NCHS gym will be streamed live, according to Athletic Director Jay Egan, through the High School Sports Network, a service of the National Federation of State High School Associations. “I think it’s an expectation that our parents have that this is a service we can provide for them and I think people are really excited thinking about being able to do this,” Egan told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held Monday night in the Wagner Room at NCHS. The service costs user a fee in the range of $25 to $50 per year, and involves installing camera equipment at the NCHS facilities, Egan said. The approximately $6,500 it costs to get up and running is being paid for by the Booster Club, he said. 

The coverage will complement and expand about 55 to 60 games already streamed online each year through an excellent student-operated NCTV 78 YouTube channel. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, Schools, Sports, Board of Education, Dr. Bryan Luizzi, Jay Egan, Jennifer Richardson

How Will Graduating NCHS Seniors Spend This Summer?

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Everyone who lives in New Canaan knows that in the summertime it becomes essentially a ghost town, with high-pitched middle school student screeches notably absent from Mackenzies and elsewhere. It begs the question: Where does our town’s youth venture off to in the summer? We asked some members of the New Canaan High School graduating class of 2018 to find out how students would be spending their few months off before college. What we learned was that most teens’ summers revolved around one of three categories—career, travel, or volunteer work. For senior Grace Brady, who will be attending Vanderbilt University in the fall, the spare time offered the opportunity to travel and help rural communities. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Local People, News, Schools, Catherine Levine, Clarisse Allehaut, Class of 2018, Dylan Wietfeldt, Grace Brady

‘Rays of Sunshine’: Norwalk, New Canaan Student-Athletes Earn Kelly Devine Awards

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College-bound seniors from Norwalk and New Canaan High Schools have earned awards created to honor the memory of a recently deceased teacher and swim coach beloved by both communities. Kelly Devine, Norwalk native and cherished New Canaan teacher, passed away unexpectedly after a brief illness in April 2016. She had graduated from Norwalk High School in 1997, where she was captain of the girls’ swim team and ranked fourth in her class. Kelly obtained her bachelor’s degree in English and education from the College of William and Mary. Always proud to be from Norwalk, she added a new element to her identity over the 13 years that followed: She became a teacher infinitely proud of her students and the work communities at Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Around Town, Local People, Schools, Caroline Sweeney, Christina Gehnrich, Kelly Devine, Kelly Devine Scholarship, New Canaan High School

‘The Two of Us Are a Team’: NCHS ’09 Grads Balance Marriage and Medicine

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James Laird and Mary Escherich became friends after they ended up in several classes together during their first three years at New Canaan High School. As juniors, James took Physics with Mary, and sat behind her in AP Calculus with Jennifer Lee. The NCHS ’09 classmates would engage in intellectually stimulating conversations. “We just ‘got’ each other,” James Laird recalled on a recent afternoon. A “best friend” after three years, James soon started to see Mary as more. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Around Town, News, Schools, James Laird, Mary Laird