Newton South’s annual Senior Award Ceremony is as old as the school itself. According to Vice Principal Jason Williams, although the awards have adapted over time, they have always had one main purpose.
“The goal of the awards is to celebrate seniors for their amazing accomplishments throughout their four years of high school,” said Williams.
The awards not only highlight academic achievement but other accomplishments as well. Thus, a student can be nominated for an award by a teacher, but also by counselors, administrators, and peers.
One of the major awards announced during the Senior Award Ceremony is the Van Seashole’s Principal Award. According to guidance counselor Christina Brown, the principal typically chooses one or two seniors with leadership roles and strong academic achievements.
“[She chose students] who have taken a major leadership role in the school and…have done a lot to support students and staff,” said Brown.
This year, two students received the Principal Award: Nathaniel Scharf and Nora Linssen. Ms. Brown, the guidance counselor of both students, provided several insights into why these students are so deserving of the honor.
Nathaniel Scharf:
Brown said Scharf is kind and always wants to help others.
“In so many of our conversations he would come in and talk about wanting to help his friends and also wanting to be his best self,” said Brown.
Scharf has made a tremendous impact on the music community at South. He is a member of many jazz ensembles and a director of the Newtones chorus group.
In addition to his contributions to music, Scharf was a student representative on the school council, which mainly consisted of adults from the school committee and administration team. He worked to improve the safety of the school, which included advocacy for more bike lanes in the city.
“He’s doing a ton of stuff that’s just making South a better place,” Ms. Brown said. “[He is] a merger of the administration and the community as a whole.”
Nora Linssen:
Brown said that Linssen’s ambition is evident through the internships she has taken on, including working for a judge over the summer and being the personal intern of Newton Public Schools’ superintendent.
“[She is] just the biggest go-getter,” Brown said. “She takes on any challenge and runs with it.”
As an intern for the superintendent, Linssen spearheaded a podcast and managed social media tasks for both the superintendent and Principal Stras.
Brown said Nora is not only ambitious, but kind and open.
“When I met her, she was having an issue with a teacher,” Brown said. “She was so thoughtful and caring about the whole process of having to talk to the teacher and the department chair and figuring things out. I feel like that shows this crucial piece of who she is, where she really leads with empathy and care.”
Congratulations to Scharf, Linssen, and all other senior award winners! We wish them the best in their years to come!
Here are all of this year’s senior awards:
Newton Rotary Club Anthony J. Bibbo Scholarships: Fabricio Gonzalez Estrella
Principal Award: Nora Linssen, Nathaniel Scharf
Senior Cup: Raina Bornstein, Kevin Yang
Superintendent’s Academic Excellence Awards: Taban Malihi, Suvi Talvitie
House Awards
Dean’s Award: Suvi Talvitie (C), Ethan Cheng (K), Leah Vashevko (G), Avianna Kuperman (W)
Choose Kindness Award: Kevin Butler (C), Allison Wu (K), Ameer Almedhychy (G), Owen Serra (W)
Listen First Award: Theresa Pinto (C), Lara Karsligil (K), Fabricio Gonzalez Estrella (G), Aniyah Vega-Hines (W)
Show Respect Award: Benjamin Miner (C), Nathaniel Arguello (K), Eduardo Chirco (G), Jacob Tomaneng (W)
Take Responsibility Award: Liam Sakakeeny (C), Amirah Pitts (K), Kaveri Krishnamoorthy (G), Michael Chang (W)
C=Cutler, K=Goldrick, G=Goodwin, W=Wheeler
School-Wide Awards
Irene Bickelman Award: Jett O’Connor, Cory Williams
Philip Leibovich Memorial Award: Chelize Foster
The Margy Segal-Rozett Memorial Awards: Elijah Skehan
Kevin Clancy Memorial Award: Porter Yanhs
National Speech & Debate Association Academic All American: Phoebe Anthony, Michael Chang, Ethan Cheng, Kaveri Krishnamoorthy, Taban Malihi, Claire Ruan, Abby Shin, Andrea Tang, Neena Tarafdar, Jonathan Wei, Marcus Ye, Mathew Zeng, Emma Zhang
Legacy Scholars: Adam Rotberg, Amirah Pitts, Anastasia Cassidy, Aniyah Vega-Hines, Barak Clemons, Betina Alves, Chelize Foster, Courtney Martin, Diego Mobarak, Elias King, Graciella Santos, Grace Sousa, Imani Laird, Jada Green, Maelyn Leacock, Lana Mello, Marcelo Villafuerte, Nicholas Cogan
Seal of Biliteracy: Lea Afonkin, Phoebe Anthony*, Elena Baskakova, Dicter Berger Oyola*/**, Raina Bornstein, Ian Brenner, Grace Cai, Michael Chang, Wei Bo Chen, Zekai Chen, Lexi Cooke, Catelyn Corkery, Chanel DiLoreto, Aviad Elyashiv, Servio Garcia, Renee Gilman, Juliana Gómez Reynoso*, Fabricio Gonzalez Estrella*, Max Harthorne**, Margaret Henson, Elliot Heywood, Basil Hooper*, Shir Ivanier*/**, Grace Johnson**, Lara Karsligil, June Kim, Anna Kladova, Youngrah Kwon, Claire Lee**, Ryan Leonard, Gabriel Lieberman, Aaron Lu, Asker Maehlisen*, Taban Malihi*/**, Lana Mello**, Benjamin Miner*, Jan Montesinos Navarra, Joshua Moshes, Freya Munishi*/**, Alessandra Nagarajan, Benjamin Nakash-Kadener, Elizabeth Odikadze, Lisa Ofir, Alex Ottmer, Dimitry Pianykh, John Robertson**, Adam Rotberg, Claire Ruan*, Mia Shahal-Schiffer, Eleanor Skabeev**, Hailey Smith, Sophie Song, Suvi Talvitie, Andrea Tang, Angelina Tang*, Neena Tarafdar*/***, Preslava Tchesnovsky, Aleksandra Tolparova, Sara Tomas, Hannah Valiente-Verhulst, Max Vallmitjana Agullo, Yvana Valtchinov*, Leah Vashevko*, Marcelo Villafuerte, Ella Viti, Jared Wang, Michael Weiner*, Marley Wiener*, Michael Welch, Greer Wheeler, Isabella Wilson, Kevin Yang, Jiang Yuang, Xianze Zeng*/**, Emma Zhang*, Katelyn Zhao*, Yilin Zou
*denotes with distinction
**denotes 2 languages
