The Golden Gazette

• 3/5 - Lowell Police Dept. Animal Control guest speaker with Grade 5
• 3/6 - Enrollment Lottery for 2025-2026 @ 5:30 p.m.
• 3/9 - Daylight Savings (Turn clocks ahead 1 hour)
• 3/11 - March Board of Trustees Meeting @ 5:30 in Room 1223
• 3/14 - EARLY RELEASE, Staff PD Day (K-8 @ 12:30, 9-12 @ 11:30)
• 3/17 - Tryouts for Spring Sports begins (Boys' Volleyball and Track)

• 3/28 - Quarter 3 ENDS

Month-Long Events:

• Winter MAP testing continues for Grades K-10.

Planning Ahead:

• April 14th - College Fair for Grades 9-12 (10:30 - 12:00)
• April 18th - No School for Good Friday
• April 21st - April Vacation begins
• April 28th - School Resumes

The mandated school health screenings will be conducted starting this month. If you do not want your child to participate, please complete the attached form by 3/9/2025. If you have already completed an opt-out form in November 2024, no action is required.
As required by Massachusetts state guidelines, the following screenings will be conducted for students in designated grade levels:

• Vision Screening: Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 10th grades
• Hearing Screening: Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 10th grades
• Postural Screening (Scoliosis): 5th and 8th grades
• Height and Weight Screening: Required for all students in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10
• Body Mass Index (BMI): Will be calculated and included as part of the height and weight screening for grades 1, 4, 7, and 10
• SBIRT (Substance Use Prevention Screening): 7th and 10th grades

If you would like more information regarding these guidelines, you can access the state's website: https://www.mass.gov/lists/school-health-screening
If you have any questions for the School Nurse please call the Health Office: 978-458-1399 ext 1406

The Dental Mobile Clinic from the SMILES program will be visiting our school on April 29, 2025. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to receive dental care right at school, provided by licensed professionals.

In order for the mobile clinic to visit, we need a minimum of 25 children to sign up, so spread the word!
Please ensure that your child is signed up by March 14th. If you are interested in this opportunity, please click the link, search zip code 01851, select our school and complete the form: https://www.myschooldentist.com/

If you prefer to fill out a paper form, please see the front desk. You can find more information regarding the program through this link: https://mobiledentists.com/

Recently information was shared with all Seniors about the planned senior activities later this school year, including the senior dues needed to participate in these activities. Seniors were notified that senior dues would be $200 and would include their prom ticket (5/30), senior week field trips (6/2-6/4), their cap and gown for graduation (6/5), their yearbook, and their class of 2025 senior hoodie.

Various payment arrangements are available to spread out the cost of these activities. Students can begin payments today and pay a little each week/month or pay in full when ready. Parents should have received an email from My School Bucks This new platform will allow you to make payments online towards Senior Dues. Cash and credit card accepted. Students should see Mrs. Sokolski or Mr. Cameron to make payment.

UPDATE: Prom Ticket Price Increase

Purchase in February - $60

Purchase in March - $70

Purchase in April - $80

Purchase in May - $100

**Tickets for outside dates will remain $50. Deadline to purchase tickets for outside guests in Thursday, April 17th. Permission slip needed for ALL outside dates.

Senior Spotlight articles brought to you by Beatriz De Oliveira Valerio ('25) and Lara Vieira ('25)

Jayziel Amaury Gonzalez is a 17-year-old senior with a laid-back and easygoing personality. Originally from Puerto Rico, Jayziel has been a part of the school community since 7th grade. Over the years, he has made plenty of memories, but the ones that stand out the most involve spending time with student management and Mr. Diaz, as well as his favorite teacher, Ms. Bowen.

A dedicated basketball player, Jayziel enjoys both the game and the friendships that come with it. One of his most unforgettable basketball moments was the time he got subbed in for three minutes—only to take a hit to the nose, start bleeding, and immediately get taken out. When he's not on the court, Jayziel enjoys playing video games and keeping things low-key.

When it comes to school, Jayziel is honest classes aren’t exactly his favorite thing. However, he finds a way to get through them, sometimes by catching up on sleep, yet still managing to keep his grades up. No matter what, he’s making sure he walks across that graduation stage. As he continues figuring out his path in life, Jayziel keeps a simple mindset and lives by the saying: "Insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again, expecting stuff to change."

Medvira Kamara is a 17-year-old senior who has been a part of the CCSL community for most of her life. Originally from Sierra Leone, she has attended CCSL since the second grade, making countless memories along the way. One of her favorites was the excitement of stepping into the newly built school for the first time, as well as the energy and fun of the pep rallies. As graduation approaches, she knows she’ll miss seeing the teachers who have been part of her journey.

While Medvira doesn’t play any sports, she has a unique talent—she knows how to sew, a skill that sets her apart. Looking ahead, she plans to stay in Massachusetts for college, where she will pursue nursing, working toward a career dedicated to helping others.

When asked to describe the Class of 2025, Medvira does it in three ways: a movie—High School Musical (because, let’s be honest, high school is always a little dramatic), a song—Parado No Bailão, and a color—black, a timeless and bold choice that reflects the individuality and strength of her graduating class.

Mileena Bastien is a 17-year-old senior with a bright future ahead of her. A proud Haitian American, Mileena has been part of the CCSL community for the past five years. Looking back on her time here, she fondly remembers the pep rallies as some of her best moments. For her, they were more than just school events—they brought everyone together, creating fun memories and new friendships.

Outside of school, Mileena enjoys expressing her creativity through painting, diving into different worlds through books, and unwinding with video games. While she doesn’t play any sports, her passions lie elsewhere—specifically in her future career. She plans to attend college to pursue nursing and become a registered nurse. Though she’s not sure which school she’ll be attending yet, one thing is certain: she plans to leave Massachusetts behind and explore new places.

As she reflects on the Class of 2025, Mileena describes them as the color green—sometimes unpredictable, sometimes misunderstood, but always growing and finding ways to become better versions of themselves.

Adam El-Wakil is a 17-year-old senior with a strong presence both on and off the court. Proudly Egyptian, Adam has been a part of the CCSL community since 7th grade, making countless memories along the way. One of his favorites is the time spent joking around with his volleyball teammates, whether on van rides to games or in the locker room. As he prepares for graduation, he knows he’ll miss his friends the most—especially those who have come to him for advice and guidance over the years.

While Adam doesn’t claim a specific hobby, he enjoys anything related to self-care. Whether it’s physical activities or researching ways to improve himself, he’s always looking for ways to be the best version of himself. A fun fact about Adam? He’s a licensed model and might be traveling soon for a job opportunity.

When it comes to sports, Adam has played soccer, but volleyball is his main passion. This season, he’s looking forward to building strong team chemistry and hopes to take on a bigger leadership role as a potential team captain. One of his most unforgettable volleyball moments was either the final van ride of last season or the time he spiked the ball so hard that he accidentally sprained a teammate’s thumb.

Looking ahead, Adam plans to earn his master’s degree, though he’s undecided on where he’ll end up. While he’s open to moving, he doesn’t want to be too far from his friends. If he does leave Massachusetts, Connecticut seems like the most likely option—preferably somewhere with a warmer climate.

When describing the Class of 2025, Adam finds it hard to sum them up in just one word. Despite not being a huge class, the students are diverse, with many different groups and personalities. What stands out most to him is the presence of truly memorable individuals who have shaped the school’s social environment into what it is today.

And if there’s one thing Adam wants people to know? Despite often looking annoyed or serious, he promises he’s not mean—so if you ever want to say hi or get to know him, he’s a lot nicer than people might think.

By: Nicole Palmer, K-5 Math Curriculum Director (npalmer@collegiatelowell.org)

K-5 Teachers took it upon themselves to create super fun and engaging 100th Day of School Math Activities with their students. Please enjoy the following photos from various K-5 classes who took advantage of this:

ST Math K-5 has been very successful overall. This week, the overall percentage needed by 02/28 was 52% for a goal of 80% by the end of the year. Overall, K-5 is already at 61%, projected to be 97% by the end of the year! Grades K-5 students have completed an overall 7,396 Objectives, and 798,937 puzzles so far this year! It is really showing to be helping the overall math learning in the SAVVAS content, as teachers now have the option of making ST Math follow the curriculum to engage them more.

At least 90 students in K-5 have already completed their Puzzle-Goal Progress on ST Math and are now working on Enriching their math skills by either working on Bonus or Challenge ST Math problems or are even up to the next grade level to challenge them further.

Our current Challenge is MARCH MATHNESS! This will occur all of the month of March. Students will compete class-against-class, by completing the most puzzles each week to move up in the bracket! What a fun and exciting way to keep the students engaged in their math work! Good luck everyone! Stay tuned for the April Newsletter to see which class wins and their prize.

By: Dr. Katy Angelone, K-5 Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator

Grade 1:

Grade 1 has spent the beginning of Quarter 3 learning about the geography of their communities, states, country, continent, and the world. Students are learning the seven continents and the oceans. They are developing a deeper understanding of their place in their global, national, state and local communities, as well as who are the other people who work and live in these communities. First graders have begun to recognize different types of maps and the differences between a 2-dimensional map and a globe. Grade 1 also had a chance this quarter to collaborate with a fifth-grade buddy class to share their I Spy books written for their project about their community at the end of Quarter 2. The students from fifth and first grade were paired up and read their books to each other. Fifth graders read their children books about exploring to the first graders. This was their culminating project at the end of quarter 2 for ELA and Social Studies. It was a great chance to make new friends in other grades and to share their hard work!

Also in first grade: Ms. Kandrotas’ class celebrated Black History month with a research project on a famous Black American. Students researched their person, created a bag project where they filled their bag with artifacts about their person, and then presented their findings to their class. Students were proud to share their hard work and did a great job practicing their presentation skills!

Grade 3

Third graders have spent the majority of Quarter Three focusing on Native American life and early explorers. The third-grade team continues to use a variety of tools to access the curriculum, including projects, reading, and audio/visual tools. Teachers are focusing on sharing aspects of Native American life including shelter, food and traditions. Students created Native American tipis for the Plains Native Americans and learned about how tribes would have structured their villages for protection and community.

Grade 5

The Fifth Grade Social Studies teachers have bravely taken on the task of being the first grade to pilot a fully project-based curriculum unit for Quarters 3 and 4. Students will create a colonial character living in the early 18th century in the tumultuous time before the American Revolution as several Acts and Events occurred. Students will document this time from the perspective of this character as the character moves through each act or event (Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, etc.) and then as the character experiences a colony at war with Great Britain during the American Revolution. Students will examine the life of a soldier in the war, as well as the family of soldiers waiting at home. Finally, the students will write about the creation of a new country and a new government after the war from the eyes of the character. Student work will be documented throughout the quarter in a final Scrapbook written in journal entries from the character’s perspective. Throughout Quarters 3 and 4, students will participate in a number of mini projects as they demonstrate the characters change over time from a Loyalist to King George, to a Patriot, and finally to an American citizen, showing the conflicts that occurred in the colonies through this transition. Students will learn through multimedia and primary sources, including readings from first-hand accounts, examining artwork from this time period, through videos, songs and books. Each project will include a writing component as well as a hands-on component. This unit adheres to the Fifth Grade Massachusetts Frameworks for this time in history. Finally, students in fifth grade collaborated with first graders to share their children’s books about exploration that were the final project of Quarter 2 for ELA and Social Studies. This gave fifth graders a great chance to collaborate with their much younger peers (see photos above).

Congratulations to the classes that won the Black History Month Door Decorating Contest!

Ms. Kilmartin and Ms. Figueroa - 1C

Ms. Mangano and Ms. Otero - 2D

Ms. Miller - Guidance

Mr. Marchand and Ms. Perez-Flores - HS Special Ed

Each of the winning classes has won a popcorn party for their class and a gift card for the teacher. Check out the winning doors below.

By: Sahara N. ('26)

Q. What inspired you to take on a leadership role in the Environmental Alliance club?

My inspiration for this club was my passion and dedication to environmental sustainability. I realized after we left Sabis, we no longer had SLO specifically social responsibility. I then had the deep desire to take initiative and create my own club to give students the opportunity to get involved in the community and raise awareness about the environment.

Q. Can you share some successful work from the Environmental Alliance club?

Some very successful initiatives our club has worked on are partnering with Aaron’s Presents, a local nonprofit organization that helps students and fund students' ideas. We've had two very successful homeless drives where we've given food and winter special essentials back to our community. We've also teamed with the local LLK and National Park where we have helped clean at the points of lights festival cleanup last school year. We've also teamed with the national park and LLK again with our swamp locks clean up this October, where we've cleaned the river, we've cleaned areas around the river and homeless and really big homeless areas.

We've also helped set up with the school garden to get the high school involved within the school garden and we're very excited to create more and more future initiatives!

Q. How do you motivate and engage club members?

I motivate and engage club members through positivity, connection, responsibility, and engagement in meaningful events.

Q. What are the biggest environmental challenges you think our community faces?

The biggest environmental challenges I believe our community faces is the homeless community crisis and urban pollution. Through hosting local homeless drives, the Environmental Alliance was able to clean areas filled with pollution while giving back to our community. Fostering social responsibility within students creates a sense of humbleness and gratitude. Another big issue is the pollution within the Merrimack River. Earlier this year we were able to partner with the LLK and National Park Services where members were able to participate in the Swamp Locks Cleanup.

Q. What challenges have you faced running the club and how have you overcome them?

Some issues I've faced starting this club was getting members involved, but over time as awareness and engagement from our club grew, more and more members became very interested in this club. We started with around 12 members and now we're almost at 30. Students have been very passionate about getting volunteer hours and experience within the community to give back and to clean. And it creates a very ground sense of unity and humbleness within our school environment.

Q. Last question. What would you say to someone who was thinking about joining the Environmental Alliance Club, but they're not sure?

What I would say to a student who wants to join the Environmental Alliance but is unsure is to do it, is to put your mind to what you want and do it and give back to our community. Gain your volunteer hours. become connected and you will be proud of what you did. You will look back and be like ‘Wow!”

Please follow our Instagram!! @environmentalalliance.ccsl

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For a complete schedule of games - https://arbiterlive.com/Teams?entityId=53812