Jill Canillas Daley of Plainfield Elementary School recently was named school librarian of the year by the New Hampshire School Library Media Association.
In addition to citing “her groundbreaking work in developing a successful Genius Hour program at her school,” the association described Canillas Daley as “a leader in the school library community” who “has inspired and motivated many of her fellow librarians. Her blogs and Twitter feed are a source of ideas and motivation for many librarians in New Hampshire and across the nation.”
Canillas Daley also was recognized at the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Awards last weekend. And earlier this school year, Canillas Daley, who also coaches the school’s drama club and teaches a class in stage make-up, received the National Life Group’s Life Changer of the Year Award.
Megan Graber and Abigail LeBlanc each performed more than 200 hours of community service during the 2015-2016 school year, tops among the nearly 30 Thetford Academy students who volunteered for a wide variety of after-school and community projects and initiatives.
According to Diane Ferriter, coordinator of community service for the school, Graber devoted her 236 hours to operating lights during stage productions of the Parish Players acting company at the Eclipse Grange and during school plays.
During her 201¼ hours of volunteer work, LeBlanc served as a Thetford Academy ambassador, chipped in when the school hosted the Woods Trail Run and the Vermont high school cross-country running championships, raised money for the Prouty ride for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and for a local swim group and helped with an anti-bullying website.
Other Thetford students contributing 100 or more hours of community service were Ellen Farrell-Starr, Nicholas Slaughter, Reshman Rampersaud, Ababel Reining and Hannah Harkins.
Students who volunteered for 50 or more hours were Hannah Davis, Jennifer Ulz, Jaime Harkins, Allyson Perry, William Anderson, Haley Hathorn and Eli Kaliski.
Performing at least 20 hours of community service were Hannah Young, Jordan Mousley, Ethan Steingas, Samara Spelman, Isabel Kotlowitz, Hannah Waterbury, Raphael Orleck-Jetter, Ian Spelman, Ryan Pepe, Grace Veracka, William Bosco and Isabelle Rule-Becker.
Thetford Academy seventh-graders in teacher Rose Dedam’s science class this spring helped the Thetford Conservation Commission with its fight to eliminate invasive plants around town.
In addition to pulling and disposing of garlic mustard plants along Academy Road, the students made signs for volunteers to post along town roads identifying where they found infestations of the plant.
Twenty-five Upper Valley residents received degrees during commencement ceremonies at Johnson State College in Johnson, Vt., on May 14.
Bachelor’s degree recipients, by town, were:
Barnard — Tammie Johnson, liberal arts
Bradford, Vt. — Shelby Salomaa, psychology
Bridgewater — Alex Goudreau, English
Brownsville — Nathaniel Williams, wellness and alternative medicine
Corinth — Kayla Ricker, professional studies
East Thetford — Michelle Stanley, psychology
Hartford — Gwen Williams, professional studies
Killington — Matthew Prencipe, professional studies
Pittsfield — Jason Hayden, professional studies
Randolph — Nasser Abdel-Fatah, environmental science
Royalton — Alesia Williams, business
Sharon — Alijah Gauthier, theater and drama
Springfield, Vt. — Stacy Gariadealba, professional studies; Jenna Paul, business
Strafford — Joseph Silovich, business
Topsham — Ellen Hood, English
West Topsham — Blythe Keane, interdisciplinary studies
White River Junction — Jennifer Brown, interdisciplinary studies
Wilder — Elizabeth Dion, professional studies; Jacob Rogenski, political science
Master’s degree recipients, by town, were:
Chelsea — Errol Hinton, education
Hartford — Thomas Loudon, counseling
Associate’s degrees:
Windsor — Rachael Garnjost, technical theater
Patrick Fullam of South Woodstock received a master’s degree in accounting from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, during Tulane’s commencement ceremonies on May 14.
Seven Upper Valley residents earned certification as principals from the Upper Valley Educators Institute this month, and 16 made the grade as teachers.
Graduates of the principal’s program are Bradford residents Brian Emerson and Joseph Donarum, and Kristen Downey of Thetford Center, Kathleen Ryan of Windsor, Sarah Attwood of Newport, Elizabeth Harty of Springfield, Vt., and Mary Guggenberger of Killington.
Earning certification as teachers, by town, were:
New London: Eric Braun
Norwich: Christy Edgren, Emma Hadden, Hannah Levinger and Rachel McConnell.
Canaan: Dawn Frenzel
Hanover: Ralph Hoehn
Thetford Center: Meagan Leddy-Cecere
North Pomfret: David Levine
Lebanon: Aric Moen and Mary Peters
Newport: Isaiah Pinilla, Sophia Schissel and Katherine Wood
West Lebanon: Jonathan Warren
Hartland: Kelly Willis
Jamison Dunne of Hartland graduated from Northfield-Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts on May 22. The commencement speaker was Northfield-Mount Hermon graduate Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama.
During its Horace Mann Spirit of Service Awards on May 24, Antioch University of New England in Keene, N.H., conferred its staff/faculty award on Michael H. Simpson, of Norwich, chairman of the university’s environmental studies department.
Simpson co-founded and directs Antioch’s Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience and consults around the world on climate change, wetlands ecology, management of watersheds and sustainability. He leads his department’s Resource Management and Conservation program and its concentration program in sustainable development and climate change.
The University of Vermont named Joshua Goodrich, of Norwich, to its dean’s list, for maintaining a grade-point average of 3.73 out of a possible 4.0 during the spring 2016 semester. Majoring in mechanical engineering, Goodrich recently completed his first year in the honors college at UVM.
Hanover High School senior Emily Calandrella, of Norwch, and Woodstock Union High School senior Brian R. Townley have received scholarships of between $500 and $2,000 a year from the colleges they will attend starting this fall, as part of the National Merit Scholarship program. Calandrella will pursue engineering studies at Tufts University in Boston and Townley will study business management at Northwestern University in Chicago. Calandrella and Townley were among the five Vermont residents who emerged from among more than 1.5 million high school juniors nationwide who took the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as juniors in the fall of 2014.
The Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst recently awarded its Frank M. West Scholarship to Rebecca D. Holdowsky, of Grantham. The award goes to students majoring in forest ecology and conservation who “have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and leadership ability.” A 2014 graduate of Lebanon High School, Holdowsky recently completed her sophomore year.
Virginia Drye, of Plainfield, is among about 100 New Hampshire girls of high school age eligible to represent the state in Washington, D.C., during the Girls Nation gathering over the summer.
Drye, who is home-schooled, was chosen by the auxiliary of the American Legion’s Guyer-Carignan Unit No. 22 to attend the Granite Girls State gathering at St. Anselm College in Goffstown between between June 26 and July 1.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Education-related news and items also can be sent to schoolnotes@vnews.com.