Mustang Monthly

Abby Giansiracusa Is Student of the Month   

Every month the Recognition Committee asks teachers for nominations for students of the month in a certain subject area.The committee uses a blind nomination process to make their final selection based on teachers' responses. For February, junior Abby Giansiracusa is Student of the Month for Fine Arts.

Abby’s teacher considers her a talented student who is “driven to excel by her interest in music, and who always accepts a challenge.” She embraces the challenges when given piano pieces that move her past her skill set, and is always happy to fill in and sing for students as needed. “By having the courage to accept challenges and come out of her comfort zone, Abby allows others to take  risks themselves. Because of the time and effort she puts into developing her voice, her beautiful voice has grown, and she sings at our monthly school Masses, basketball games, ice hockey games and at other events outside of the school to uplift the elderly in our community,” said her music teacher.  Because of her interest to promote music education in our school community, Abby was made an officer in the Tri-M Music Honor Society.

“I feel absolutely honored to be named Student of the Month, especially for a subject I am so deeply passionate about,” said Abby. “Ever since I was young, I have always had a passion for music and drama. My love for the fine arts is so great and I constantly try to share my love for it with others,” she noted.

Abby also loves being an Immaculate student, and she feels that the best things about being a student here is the close relationships students form with fellow students, the faculty and staff, as well as “the opportunities you are given to be able to do and share your passions.” “Because our school is not very large, I feel it is easier to form close relationships with the people around me. I also truly love being able to learn in a school with a Catholic foundation and being allowed to bring my faith into my everyday life,” she said.

Abby would tell students considering Immaculate High School to follow their hearts and don’t underestimate themselves. “If you want to try something new, go for it, don’t be scared to be yourself and try new things, because that is what high school is all about. Find your passion and shoot for the stars. The Immaculate High School community is so incredibly supportive and helps you strive to do your best and find yourself,” said Abby.

Besides being Co-President of Tri-M, Abby is also a High Honors student and member of the IHS National Honor Society and the Honors Concert Chorus and plays varsity field hockey. She has won several awards, including the American Citizenship Award (2019), the Chorus Award of Excellence (2019) and the Theater Arts Award (2019).

Abby also loves singing the National Anthem at Immaculate’s ice hockey games and whenever the opportunity presents itself.  She takes vocal lessons with former American Idol star Kimberley Locke, auditions for Broadway shows, and is currently in a production of "Les Miserables" through Open Hydrant Theater Company located in the Bronx, NY. When not singing, Abby works weekend shifts at Stew Leonard’s and trains off-season with an indoor field hockey club team. After she graduates, Abby hopes to go on to study vocal performance or Music Education and get a bachelor's in Fine Arts. “I want to be able to share the beauty of music and the arts with the world,” she said. 

Congratulations to the other nominees for Fine Arts Student of the Month: 

Freshman Anna Kopec, sophomores Caitlin Doherty and Ryan Tappan, junior Zachary Clark and senior Xiaoyu Selina Wang.

Mock Trial Team Advances to "Round of Eight" 

The IHS Mock Trial team won its two matches at the second round of the Civics First Mock Trial Competition on February 7 at the Hartford Court House (after winning the first round at the Danbury Courthouse in December), and now moves on to the “Round of Eight” on February 28 to gain eligibility for the State Competition -- the first time ever an IHS Mock Trial made it to this level!  

The team has been working on the trial of Taylor Roberts v. Kennedy Briar and Twain Academy.  It is a fictional case of a student-athlete who died from abusing EPO, a performance enhancing drug, and his parent who is suing the student’s coach of the track team and the school. The parent, Taylor Roberts, is claiming negligence on the part of the school and perhaps even a culture of PED use on the track team. The school is claiming assumption of risk by the student and contributory negligence on the part of the parent.

There are now only eight teams in the entire State left competing, and if the Immaculate Mock Trial team wins the next two rounds on February 28 they will go on to the State finals. The team is advised by Principal Wendy Neil, Social Studies Teacher Chris Houser, Senior States' Attorneys Stephen Sedensky and Kelly Masi, State Attorney Mary-Caitlin Harding and Alumni Mentor Frankie Chieffalo '19.

Mock Trial team members include: Nick Badinelli ‘22, Ryan McNerney ‘20, Ben Gasparrini ‘23, Allie Bellone ‘22, Chloe Bellone ‘22, Grace Garvey ‘21, Gabriella Amatulli ‘22, Ernst Koch ‘22, Gavin Zaletsky ‘20, Aiden Doolabh ‘23, Lucas Pereira ‘20, Zach Clark ‘21, Evan Walker ‘20, Calista Dudas ‘22, Meryl McKenna ‘21, Katerina Crowe ’22, Alyssa Campo ‘21 and Aimee Cirella ‘22 (not pictured).

Anna Kopec Wins Art Award    

Anna Kopec ‘23 won a Pearl Award for her art submission to the 2019 Ocean Awareness Contest sponsored by Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs. Her drawing “Beautiful,” which focused on plastic pollution’s impact on oceans, was selected from more than 3,500 entries and will be featured in Bow Seat’s Gallery that showcases student advocacy artwork. 

“Art has always been a big passion of mine, and I’ve always been interested in the environment,” said Anna. “One day, I read an article about how half of the Great Barrier Reef had died and it totally shocked me. I had never really heard about problems in the Great Barrier Reef, let alone problems of that scale.” This left an impact on her, so during the summer, as she researched artistic opportunities online, Anna found a climate change contest that specifically focused on problems in the ocean. “I immediately thought back to the problems that I had learned about before and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to do something. I decided to create a piece focused on spreading awareness about coral-bleaching and warning about the devastating effects it can have on ocean ecosystems,” she explained.

Anna entered her artwork, and the rest is history. “I was honored to find out that I had won the Pearl Award and I was happy that my artwork may contribute to showing at least one person the dangers our oceans are currently facing,” she said. 

Spencer Squitieri Wins Gold Key Scholastic Writing Award   

Spencer Squitieri ‘21 won a prestigious Gold Key from the regional Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards competition for his short story “First Loves Always Run Away.”  This was his first entry for a Scholastic contest. 

“In simplest terms, I would describe this short story as a contrast of two people in a relationship both going down similar and separate paths. Despite the fact that the two protagonists share a deep connection and care for one another, it is ultimately their reaction to internal conflicts that will be the driving factor in the future of their relationship,” said Spencer.

While Spencer did a lot of writing when he was younger, he said he didn’t take writing “seriously” until he attended the School of the New York Times during the summer between freshman and sophomore years. He also contends that it was his English teacher Mrs. Alexa Wild that inspired him: “I think that Mrs. Wild has been a huge help for me as a writer. Being part of her AP Literature class has been a great way to further learn about different types of writing and to explore the craft. Mrs. Wild has by far been my biggest supporter for my writing and has been helpful with every step of the journey towards the Scholastic award,” he explained. This past summer, Spencer spent seven weeks at Harvard University taking two courses for college credit, one specializing in short stories.

At Immaculate, Spencer is also a member of Braintrust, the Literary Magazine Club, the school newspaper Mustang Minutes, the National Honor Society, the Drama Club and the Student Council.  He will now advance to the national competition and attend the regional awards ceremony with his family and Mrs. Wild. 

Niall Reynolds Chosen to Represent Connecticut in NAfME Article   

Recently the National Association for Music Education - Council for Guitar Education interviewed our very own music and band teacher Niall Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds was chosen to represent Connecticut in their series “50 States of Guitar Classes,” what an honor!  Click the link https://nafme.org/guitar-class-constitution-state/ to read the great article and learn more about Mr. Reynolds and the Immaculate music program.  

FIRST SEMESTER HONOR ROLL STUDENTS

Congratulations to all students who made the Honor Roll for the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year, your hard work and dedication shows and makes us proud:

SENIORS

Distinguished Honors:

Kate Banks, Victoria Bono, Francesca Coppola, Molly Coyle, Michelle DeMotte, Keelan Doherty, Kieran Doolabh, Ian Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Flaherty, Brigid Gage, Douglas Goetz, Gregory Gruerio, Sean Guiry, Olivia Hynes, Hunter Kirkman, Ryan McNerney, Drew Mitchell, James Mok, Emma Mortara, James Nogueira, James O'Keefe, Mackenzie O'Rourke, Lauren Oskam, Lauren Petta, Michael Pinero, Ross Relator, Analiese Seaman, Madeline Suarez, Brendan Taylor, Camille Vail, Xiaoyu Wang, Xuanbing Zhang

High Honors:

Nathalie Andrade, Caroline Brown, Alissa Brugnatelli, Gillian Chapleau, Zhenyu Chen, Tristan DiNatale, John Doran, Abigail Gleissner, Alison Harco, Rachel Iannarelli, Patrick Iannetta, Peter Johnston, David Kallberg, Olivia Kent, Nicolas Lepore, Michael Malgieri, Gia Massoni, Arthur Michaelsen, Abigail Mill, Sandra Morquecho, Valerie Quish, Hans Reelick, Joseph Rios, Andrew Riotto, Gabrielle Rynne, Xiaofei Tan, Elizabeth Varda, Melissa Weiner

Honors:

Sarah Almeida, Amanda Bittner, Helen Bruce, Alexander Butera, Kelly Chieffalo, Christo Cianflone, Jr., Kevin Curry, Andrew Doering, Diego Echavarria, Madison Flamme, Bolong Hao, Olivia Heineken, Shuning Hong, Elisa Lifrieri, Yu Liu, Sophia Mingachos, Erica Penny Angelina Radeschi, Finnian Sawitsky, Stephen Sedensky, Alexa Villega, Evan Walker, Xinyi Wang, Alexander Werdann

JUNIORS:

Distinguished Honors:

Jack Benzing, Alexis Demko, Joseph DiMaria, Ailene Doherty, Caitlin Fanella, Adelina Fardella, Grace Garvey, Ethan Goodman, Elias Haddad, Quy Nguyen, Nicholas Iannetta, Nicole Kolitsas, Meryl McKenna, Zachary Meyerson, Alexa Pannese Kaitlyn Segreti, Spencer Squitieri, Brooke Squitieri

High Honors: 

Aleksandra Box, Abigail Calame, Alyssa Campo, Remy Chila, Jason Dennison, Thomas Fahey, Gianna Fanelli, Sarah Fields, Aidan Finnegan, Vincent Fontenelli, William Foye, Alexys Garden, Perry Ghosh, Abby Giansiracusa, Giulianna Goncalves, Emma Halas, Nicholas Lenz, Logan McAloon, Peyton McKenzie, Joao Pedro Miranda, Celia Preveza, Lauren Pruner, Mark Radigan, Siobhan Reidy, Stella Sabo, Alyssa Suarez, Andrew Talarico, Alexandra Terzis, Gavin Wainwright, Shelby Weed, Zijing Zhou

Honors:

Mia Arcario, Brianna Barnett, Ethan Beaulac, Madison Bidetti, Angelina Ciatto, Zachary Clark, Gianna Font, Jiaxiang Gao, Julia Goodwin, Lorena Jara, Alexis Johnson, Rhiannon Lauer, Chengze Li, Devin McGovern, Christopher Mezzetta, Kolbe Mosher, Matthew Riggs, Jackson Sahl, Nicole Solano, Thiago Teixeira, Grace Tirado, Jenna Vieux, Emma Walker, Yubo Zhang

SOPHOMORES

Distinguished Honors: 

Stephanie Antonios, Mairin Bremner, Katerina Crowe, Sarra Darby, Isabella Desintonio, Caitlin Doherty, William Doran, Anna Flaherty, Aidan Gage, Paulina Garcia, Jesse Hanniger, Carolyn Jandura, Hope Johnston, Qianhui Liao, Sara MacKinnon, Kiera McCoy, Kennedi Muller, Conor O'Keefe, Gabriela Ortiz, EliseQuartaro, SusanRadliff, Matthew Reeves, Laura Rettus, Lynn Sanchez, Thai Sapenter, Magdalena Swierczek, Caroline Tucker, Amanda Tureaud, Julong Williams, Jason Williams, Jake Windas, Zifeng Zhan

High Honors: 

Patrik Backus, Madison Bourque, Walter Brady, Chao Chiang, Diana DiVestea, Calista Dudas Jaclyn Durkin, Joseph Falcao, John Gibowicz, Jack Gunzy, John Christoper Karle, Ernst Koch, Richard Lawlor, Lauren Manning, Ryan Marici, Courtney-rae McCormack, Grace McLoughlin, Sadie Mellen, Caroline Merritt, Anish Nanda, Kayla Ondy, Mario Perez, Sophia Pertoso, Arianna Petta, Walker Previdi, Audrey Quish, Mia Romano, Christopher Suarez, Alexis Walsh, Joseph Wilson, Yajie Zhu

Honors:

Justin Acevedo, Tatiana Amaral, Nikolas Badinelli, Allie Bellone, Gavin Buttafuoco, David Chomiak Gabriella Cowf, Xingyan Da, Yuzhi Fan, Danielle Garcia, Nicholas Garcia, Chloe Gleissner, Jennifer Hanley, Frederick Hubbard, Wyatt Jarboe, Xinchen Liu, William Murphy, Ashley Nicoletti, Steven Reese, Giselle Rodriguez, Angelo Salazar, Caleb Salguero, Melanie Seaman, Ryan Tappan, Oona Tuccinardi, Nathanial Varda, Lilly Zuccala

FRESHMAN

Distinguished Honors:

Sofia Caballero, Julianna Chronakos, Julia Cirone, Caitlin Conley, Aiden Doolabh, Olivia Esposito, Alyssa Hartnett, Anna Kopec, Michaela Martin, Shaun McKenna, Kayla O'Marra, Angela Pacheco, Abbe Radigan, Connor Sahl, Olivia Sallaberry, Grace Soltis, James Toscano, Kerry Tuccinardi

High Honors:

Colleen Blackman, Keelin Bremner, Catherine Carboni, Dominic Chila, Carina Clark, Margaret Crowley, Angela Devine Chase Dietter, Jie Du Thomas Fanelli, Michael Fisher, Benjamin Gasparrini, Alexander Godino, Michael Green, Frances Hanley, Amanda Hoyt, Sadie Jarboe, Patrick McKenzie, Talia Pereira, Seamus Reidy, Cole Ross, Michael Spaziante, Sarina Steinerd, Sarah Tallaksen

Honors:

Julia Babcock, Tyler Bean-Crooker, Lucas Erikson, Mary Grace Fontana, Declan Foye, Daniel Goetz, Michael Iannetta, Kyle McGuinness Getzinger, Cooper Nieminen, Edison Ortiz, Luana Paulichi, Jeffrey Peterson, Anthony Reyes, Lily Sweeting, Jude Vail, Ava Viola, Sofia Vitarelli, Zhiyun Xie

(Distinguished Honors = 4.3 GPA and above; High Honors = 3.9-4.2 GPA; Honors = 3.5-3.8 GPA)