The Children’s Literacy Foundation is offering “community-building” grants to Vermont and New Hampshire elementary schools, clubs and other nonprofit groups that serve poor, at-risk and rural kids.
Oct. 30 is the deadline to apply for grants, which are aimed at using writing and reading projects to connect students with members of their communities. Programs for which grant money is available include Reading Buddies with Seniors, the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten contest, the My Community Story initiative and a songwriting workshop.
To apply for a grant and learn more, visit clifonline.org and click on Literacy Programs.
Symphony Haul
Hanover High School students Justin Zhou, Iroha Shirai and Maya Lynn recently won seats in the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra for 2018-2019.
The orchestra will perform three concerts at Boston’s Symphony Hall and one at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre before touring Brazil in June.
Zhou, a junior, plays cello. He performed with the Vermont Youth Orchestra during the 2013-14 season, and subsequently with the New England Conservatory (NEC) Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Hampshire All-State Orchestra, the New England Music Festival Orchestra and the Curtis Summerfest Orchestra.
Shirai and Lynn, both seniors, perform on the violin. Lynn is playing with the BPYO for the second time, and also qualified for one of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Vermont Youth Symphony Orchestra. Shirai heads onto the BPYO after playing with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and the New England Conservatory Preparatory Orchestras. She has also been part of the National Association for Music Educators All-National Honors Ensemble Symphony Orchestra and the New Hampshire All-State Orchestra.
At Hanover High, Zhou, Shirai and Lynn have formed a chamber quartet with violist Hannah Chipman, with guidance from music teacher Hannah Rommer. The foursome will play at retirement centers, hospitals and other institutions.
Scholarship-Shape
Eighteen Upper Valley high school seniors are in the running for some of the 7,500 National Merit Scholarships up for grabs in the coming year.
Area students among the 16,000 semifinalists who emerged from a pack of 1.6 million competitors are, by school:
Lebanon High School — Skye Gulledge and William J. Tanski.
Thetford Academy — Jacob Slaughter.
Hanover High School — Phoebe Altman, Emily Bregou, Abigail Feyrer, Wright Frost, Bryn Kable, William Laycock, Yajie Lou, Frans Luttmer, Glen Passow, Kai Renshaw, Maia Reynolds, Samuel Seelig, Emmy Tysinger and Claire Yegian.
Newport High School — Alia Gonzalez.
Semifinalists were chosen based on their scores, during their junior year, on the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. To become finalists, the semifinalists and their high schools must submit applications documenting their academic records, their community and school activities, honors and awards, employment and leadership skills.
■Hanover resident Alex Zitzewitz will attend the high school of his choice tuition-free, under a scholarship recently awarded by the Institute for Educational Advancement.
Zitzewitz, who attends the Proof School in San Francisco for gifted math students, is one of 30 middle-schoolers nationwide and one of two New Englanders to win a 2018 Caroline D. Bradley scholarship from the IEA, through the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. He is the fourth Hanover resident in the last nine years to receive the scholarship.
Students apply for the scholarship as seventh-graders, submitting essays, transcripts and faculty recommendations. They also must achieve grades at or above the 97th percentile on national standardized tests and score competitively with high school seniors on the SAT reasoning exam or the ACT test.
Zitzewitz in the process of exploring which secondary schools to attend.
To learn more about the IEA’s Caroline D. Bradley Scholars program, and to find an application, visit educationaladvancement.org.
Collegiate Recognition
Claremont resident Joshua Lambert made the dean’s list at Southern New Hampshire University for his academic performance during the summer 2018 semester.
■Five Upper Valley residents earned spots on the roster of dean’s award recipients following the spring 2018 semester at Colgate University, in Hamilton, N.Y.
Awards with distinction went to Hanover resident Nathan Roth (now a senior majoring in economics); Lebanon’s Audrey Swift (senior, anthropology); Eleanor Frost, of Tunbridge (sophomore, political science); and Wilder resident Ana Peltzer (senior, political science).
Hanover resident Griffin Johnson, a senior majoring in math, was honored with an award for academic excellence.
■Union College, in Schenectady, N.Y., named Woodstock resident Kallan Piconi and Hanover’s Julia Wilson to its dean’s list. Piconi recently began her junior year majoring in math, while Wilson is a senior majoring in political science and gender, sexuality and women’s studies.
■ Orford resident Megan Landgraf was named to the dean’s list at Marist College, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
■Gettysburg College, in Pennsylvania, named Charlestown resident Grace Bushway to its dean’s honor list, and conferred dean’s commendation list honors to Hanover’s Connor Stafford.
■Wilder resident Alessandro Vecchi was named to the dean’s list at Ithaca (N.Y.) College.
■ Lehigh University conferred dean’s list honors on Hanover resident David Stocken.
■Hanover residents Marie Pillsbury and Seamus Good made the grade for the dean’s list at Muhlenberg College, in Allenstown, Pa.
■ Clemson University awarded dean’s list honors to Hanover resident Nicholas D’Orsi, for maintaining high grades in mechanical engineering studies.
■Fifteen Upper Valley residents earned places on the dean’s list at Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology.
Students earning academic honors, by hometown, follow:
Hartford — Gina Kersey, Christine Miller and James Abrams.
Lebanon — Stasha Blank and Nate Herndon.
Lyme — Leon Kuhne.
Barnard — Tessa Mellinger.
Fairlee — Zachary Lichvar and Aquene Sausville.
Piermont — Daniel Jones.
Claremont — Stephen Bosonac and Joshua Strobel.
Sunapee — Phillip Ridley and Conor McKee.
Charlestown — Signe Tarmey.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Education news also can be sent to schoolnotes@vnews.com.