Staples High School Junior Matthew Silver has been named a 2011 Connecticut Governor’s Scholar. 
Staples junior Matthew Silver poses with his award flanked by Staples Principal John Dodig (l) and P.J. Washenko, a Staples guidance counselor. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Now in its 15th year, the Governor’s Scholar program recognizes academically talented high school students throughout the state and presents 30 of them for special recognition to the governor of Connecticut.

Connecticut high school principals are given the opportunity to nominate one junior ranked in the top 4 percent of his/her class, who are then asked to complete an essay on an assigned topic.

Members of the Governor’s Scholars Committee, professional educators from throughout Connecticut, judge the completed applications and assign a composite score to each rank in class, PSAT or SAT scores, CAPT scores for public school candidates, and the student essay.

Eric Brett Lubin (l) and Todd Andrew Lubin were named valedictorian and salutatorian respectively. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo
Two twins are the top scholars at Westport’s Staples High School.

The school announced today that the top two places in the Class of 2011 have been earned by twin brothers Eric and Todd Lubin.

As valedictorian, Eric Brett Lubin will speak at commencement ceremonies on Wednesday, June 22.  Salutatorian Todd Andrew Lubin will address the audience at baccalaureate the prior evening.

“Staples High School and the Westport Public Schools community at large congratulate Eric, Todd, and their family on this unique occasion,” a news release said.

Grant Sirlin shows off his award. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo
A seventh grader at Westport’s Coleytown Middle School has won the 2011 Connecticut Student Writers Contest sponsored by the Connecticut Writers Project at the University of Connecticut.

Grant Sirlin’s personal memoir “On the Edge” was selected from more than 1,000 entries and will be published in the 2011 Connecticut Student Writers Magazine, according to an announcement by the Westport schools’ office.

Grant and his fellow authors were honored at a reception for the writers, their families and their teachers on the UConn campus at Storrs on May 10, it said.

Paul Ferrante, Grant’s language arts teacher, said that his story, a recounting of his exploits at a recent skiing competition, was notable for its fast pacing and vivid description, and was a perfect example of techniques employed in the school’s seventh grade personal memoir unit.

Pennsylvania State University said today it has received a $100,000 donation from a Westport couple whose daughter graduated from the school in 2006.
Mary Ellen and Jim Marpe. Penn State photo

In a news release, the university said Jim and Mary Ellen Marpe, parents of Samantha Marpe, a 2006 graduate of the College of Communications, donated $100,000 to Penn State’s Division of Student Affairs.

The university said the gift will support the Roundtable Project, an initiative to bring together student leaders from across the University and encourage their engagement with each other, the surrounding community and the world.

“The Westport, Conn., couple said they were impressed with the opportunities the University offered their daughter inside and outside of the classroom,” the school said.

Westport’s Staples High School ranks No. 593 in a Washington Post compiled list of more than 1,900 U.S. public high schools on how effectively they prepare students for college.

The newspaper has ranked Washington-area public schools using its Challenge Index since 1998, but this is the first year it has expanded its research to high schools across the United States. In Connecticut, Staples was No. 6 in a list of 18.

The Washington Post said its formula for the index is simple: “divide the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other college-level tests a school gave in 2010 by the number of graduating seniors.”

It added: “While not a measure of the overall quality of the school, the rating can reveal the level of a high school’s commitment to preparing average students for college.”

Members of Westport’s Staples High School junior class posed for a group picture Saturday night before heading off to the junior prom at the school.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Martha Bonti for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon tonight presented the Board of Education with 20 line item recommended cuts totaling $250,000—the amount the Board of Finance cut from the school board’s 2011-12 proposed operating budget.
Staples High School junior and senior students attended tonight’s Westport Board of Education meeting as part of their government studies course. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The school board did not seek restoration, and last week the Representative Town Meeting finalized the budget at $98.1 million.

From postage and printing pullbacks to cutting summer hours for guidance counselors and psychologists to shifting furniture and art kilns from one school to another, all of the proposed cuts were designed to have the least impact on students, Landon said.

While most of the line items were in the $3,000 to $10,000 range, the biggest absorption came from taking $100,000 from the health insurance reserve, an amount made possible due to savings gained by switching from Anthem to Cigna, said Landon.

Westport Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon told the Sunrise Rotary Club today that he is neither a “positivist” nor an optimist about the ability of America’s educational system to compete with China and other growth cultures without significant changes. “In the end, we will be part of a global network,” he said, adding this will require a rethinking of the educational curricula. Landon said the United States can no longer rely on standardized tests with one right answer. “We must sort through multiple answers,” he said. He emphasized that the United States no longer is alone in the pursuit of the quality of education. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com