The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/schools/page/41/)
For a week in early August, Suffield was the focus of a substantial party of international tourists. Fr. Mark Jette of Sacred Heart and St. Joseph advised the Observer that he had arranged for a team of young athletes from the town of Wicklow, in County Wicklow, Ireland, to come and visit.
The Suffield Public Schools has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).
The 1st annual Wildcats Run and Swim for Cancer will be held at Windsor Locks High School, where the boys and girls swim teams compete during their regular seasons.
Class advisor Tena Reiser leads the SHS graduating seniors on the annual senior walk through the corridors at Spaulding School, with high fives and greetings from faculty and students alike.
The Suffield Board of Education has selected Mrs. Diana Kelley to be the new Director of Special Services for the Suffield Public Schools. Diana comes to Suffield from the Glastonbury Public Schools where she has been a member of the Special Education department for the past eighteen years. She has served as their Director of Special Education since 2015. There were eleven applicants for the position, of whom four candidates were selected for interviews based on their previous work experiences. A search committee that consisted of Board of Education members, administrators, faculty, staff, and parents interviewed the candidates over a period of several weeks.
Each school year the Suffield High School Chick-fil-A Leader Academy is challenged with completing an “Impact Project” to benefit the community and to practice their leadership skills. This year the group, made up of 30 sophomores and juniors, decided to put on a Trivia Night to benefit the Dustin L. Doyon Memorial and the Brianna Mailloux Scholarship funds. It was an incredibly successful night. The Trivia Night was held Friday, May 17 at 6 p.m. on the Suffield High School grounds. Twenty-one teams of six to eight people each consisted of mostly high school students, their parents, and three teacher teams – one from Suffield High School, one from Suffield Middle School and one from McAlister Intermediate School.
On Tuesday, June 11, the 19th annual Suffield Film and Video Festival was held in the high school auditorium. This year featured an exceptionally wide range of movies, including comedies, dramas, news features, animation, public service announcements (PSA), portraits, and more. A distinct feature of this year’s festival was the abundant works by two of our graduating seniors, Olivia Dalfino and Emily Fabrizi, who are pursuing film production and animation in college. Among Olivia’s works were the award-winning non-dialogue short Unmasked, the comedic Finding Love, and the striking artistic statement Self Portrait. Emily produced many diverse projects, including the comedies Cyber Pig and Equus Guido, along with her exceptional animated shorts Caesar Doo Where are You?, Baby It’s Cold Outside, and the genuinely accomplished and moving piece Cumo.
Suffield Police Department intern Amanda Litvak, center, is pictured with Police Chief Richard Brown and First Selectmen Melissa Mack at the display she set up in the Suffield High School Commons.
Suffield High School’s 80th commencement exercise was a happy experience, with proud families and friends applauding on a perfect June 15 morning on Ted Beneski Field. Class President Anna Casinghino spoke briefly about the extraordinary skills of her classmates and urged them to keep their skills growing. John Richter of the Board of Education commented that the class had had a lot of help along the way so far, and he said “The power in you is limitless, but it’s up to you now to find that power.”
Salutatorian Rabi Zulfiquar, a top debater in the Connecticut Valley Debate League, quoted Kierkegaard as he asked, “How can we find meaning in Life?” and answered, “Live authentically!” Valedictorian Ziad Hassan, a fellow top debater, told his classmates “It’s been an honor to be here with you,” but he felt he really couldn’t give them advice, and that’s where he ended his talk. Principal James Blain thanked the two class advisors for the Class of ’19, Christena Reiser and Kyle Kibby, and thanked Paula Anderson for organizing the commencement. He thanked all the school staff and teachers for their help in this, his first year at SHS.
Suffield Students who graduated from Suffield Academy this year are pictured at the recently-discovered old well next to Memorial Hall.