001okay good afternoon we're gonna get started everybody welcome my name is kate kylie and my name is lindsay d'angelo and we are the faculty advisors for the dodd chapter of the national junior honor society on behalf of dad middle school we would like to welcome you to this afternoon's induction ceremony to start our ceremony we would like to introduce yulin do who will lead us in the pledge of allegiance would everyone please stand i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic from which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you we would like to begin this assembly by welcoming dr jeffrey solon cheshire public school superintendent baz assistant principal mr john pierocino and the njhs inventees please join me in
002welcoming mr woods our god principal for the opening remarks that's all i get is a golf class not even a bigger round of applause thanks guys well good afternoon it is with pride and honor that i congratulate all of you the 2021 inductees to the don middle school national junior honor society no one could have ever imagined our current situation from last spring until now this induction ceremony is the first of its kind and quite frankly hopefully the last to our parents i empathize as a father of two daughters the special moments in our child's life where we want to see their recognition live to take pictures or provide that hug at the end to our inductees this ceremony helps you avoid those embarrassing moments where your parents are taking photos and giving you hugs
003at the end of the ceremony please know that i'm working on a live promotion ceremony to make up i want to take a moment to thank our advisors ms deangelo and ms kylie for their collaborative work with our inductees a big thank you to ms braun for her work in organizing and supporting this event today without their hard work and dedication to all of you none of this would be possible [Applause] each year as i look over the characteristics of the national junior honor society i cannot help but reflect on how vital each of these characteristics are needed in today's society we are in the midst of an unprecedented time to say the least with a global pandemic and a social outcry for social and justice reforms today's inductees face many challenges ahead of them
004the years ahead are very uncertain but one can say let's make an impact and define what the end result is going to be through kindness and strong character this year's inductees have embodied the characteristics of scholarship service to others leadership citizenship and strong character these traits will prove valuable for you in life for the measurement of success is not a collection of material things but the manner in which we are remembered by others this ceremony is only one milestone on your path to success let this induction spark your drive to further develop the principles of the national junior honor society strive towards academic success in all environments whether that be in person or remote reach out to support others in times of need and listen to those who may just need to be heard demonstrate
005good character and citizenship by participating in conversations or taking action in your beliefs and use your talents to lead in a manner that brings people together and does not look to separate for any reason as you continue to develop to develop these traits there will be no limit to what you can achieve not only in school but in life congratulations again to all of our inductees and their families on this impressive accomplishment thank you and please welcome back our advisors miss lindsay angelo miss kate kyle thank you mr woods mr angelo and i would also like to say a few thank yous we want to extend our appreciation to the faculty and staff who were instrumental in the preparation and presentation of this ceremony this mrs laurie braun mrs nancy lee liebler mr dominguez rivas
006mr pat cruz and mr mike salamini and finally we welcome parents grandparents relatives and friends all giving virtually who are here to acknowledge the accomplishments of this year's inductees to the national junior honor society on behalf of the administration faculty and staff congratulations to you the inductees this afternoon's program is to recognize your scholastic and personal achievements the national honor association determines the qualifications and selection process of the national junior honor society the candidates need to earn a 4.0 gpa or higher after the four marking periods of seventh grade the list of candidates was reviewed by faculty panel for the qualities of leadership scholarship citizenship character and service each candidate provided a list of his or her community involvement various activities and service commitments from the past two years this year the members of the
007national junior honor society here at dad have participated in various community service projects both individually and in groups due to covin this was a bit of a challenge due to the number of restrictions we had the students had so many great ideas and persevered despite the limitations presented as a whole group the students chose three charities to support this year these were the cheshire animal control st juice children's hospital and png safe drinking water njhs members made flyers pitches that were read over the morning announcements and collected donations here at school totaling over 650 other students participated in projects that they coordinated on their own a couple of these groups volunteered to speak today and we'd like to welcome elizabeth schaffner and cameron lewis to discuss their service project so you can get a small
008glimpse of their success and hard work um hi hi i'm cam lewis hi i'm busy snapper for our service project we decided to do our project called cheat drive sheet drive is a project we created based on the fact that many women and girls struggle every day with lack of period products or supplies izzy shockner caleb fitzgerald molly bowman willie shaheen brenda zapakowski and i all decided as a group that women and girls missing school or work because of period poverty and the long time impact it has is something we changed we wanted to change and educate our community thus our project exam first we had to do a lot of planning research and brainstorming on how we were going to get the word out raise money for our products and where we were going
009to donate them to we ended up deciding that the best way to help our community was to donate the products to the treasure food pantry the best way for us to get the word out fast with social media we start an instagram account and views our parents facebook as well as the have a go fund me we made a video explaining myriad poverty and inheriting a call to action we also had an in-person drive on the farmington canal trail on february 20th with the money we raised we got together and bought supplies for all this we were able to get more than 3 200 products and raise 2 180 in addition we also made four first-time period kits which had heating pads fuzzy socks bath bombs an assortment of period supplies and a carrying case
010we went to the food pantry to drop off the products we got a tour and learned over 180 cheshire families depend on the pantry for weekly supplies at the food pantry they taught us about food stamps volunteering and how foods we take with granite like cheese and deli meat are on the wish list for many families each person is entitled to approximately 12 pounds of food each week and often they don't get to pick their exact groceries the pantry also does not accept any money from the state it is fully supported through donations hearing that made us feel good about our decision to donate to the cheshire food pantry and to help women and girls in this town overall our goal was to inform and teach about how period poverty affects a lot of women
011and girls around the world and hope that we can start solving a piece of that puzzle thank you next we welcome leah bassani savannah martelly and jillian falcone to discuss their project and what they've learned so i'm jillian and i'm savannah so for our project we decided to create our own fundraiser to represent not only leadership but also service our initial idea was to create care packages for the state vincent hall from the shelter and water bags as we began our first step was to locate one of the largest homeless shelters in canada i bring many different phone calls to multiple shelters around connecticut who finally ended up working over for local attention as we communicated with the shelter they gave the specific items that they primarily needed overall these included socks multiple different types
012of clothing toiletries and masks if we were finally be set up we begin to share the links throughout our family friends and facebook to spread the word about the fundraiser holdings the passing result of 500 years raised almost four thousand dollars our first mission was to gather all the specific needs for around 45 care packages we ended up having to take two different target trends in order to buy everything that was necessary overall we spent around one thousand five hundred dollars on all sizes below did the amount we had left over we decided to create different birthday bags for our local foods pantry and cheshire these 30 birthday bags including cake mix frosting sprinkles a car candles cupcake pants and confetti you're given the amazing opportunity to not only be able to tour but to
013learn how the food pantry came to be this service only ended up however costing us one thousand dollars leaving us with one thousand three hundred left to still donate we ended up putting this leftover money towards the saint vincent default suit kitchen that was connected to the homeless shelter we donated and to the safe payment of greater one grade for domestic violence with the remaining money of one thousand three hundred dollars we were able to donate 650 to each program throughout these experiences we were able to collaborate all of our different ideas in order to form an overall plan to complete these different service projects although it was difficult to coordinate our schedules through teamwork we stayed dedicated to our overall goal and accomplished more than we expected and intended throughout the weeks we worked
014on our project we found it extremely difficult to find days that everyone was available we made a point however to take time out of our personal lives to accomplish these acts of service these projects made a huge impact not only on our local community but to those in need in our neighboring towns we were completely honored to be able to take part in giving back to the community and knowing that we made a difference overall [Applause] so miss d'angelo and i were so impressed with everyone's hard work this year and we are really confident that this stellar group of students will continue to add to this list of services and accomplishments in the future so congratulations you guys thank you so much for all of your hard work we will now begin the candlelighting ceremony
015together knowledge and truth provide the initial spark for the five pillars of the national junior honor society scholarship leadership service citizenship and character margo leske will speak on scholarships and like the candela scholarship caitlyn matkin will speak on leadership and light the candle of leadership caitlyn finney and picky will speak on service and light the candle of service finley perselius will speak on citizenship and light the candle of citizenship conor mcshaw's will speak on character and like the candle of character [Music] a student who achieves scholarship 8th grader who has proven him or herself academically by maintaining a cumulative middle school grade point average of 4.00 the student who exercises leadership is resourceful in proposing new problems applying principles and making suggestions demonstrates leadership imposing school activities exercises influence on peers and upholding school ideals
016contributes ideas that improve the civic life in school is able to delegate responsibilities exemplifies a positive attitude inspires positive behavior in others demonstrates academic initiative successfully holds school office course positions of responsibility conducts business efficiently and effectively and is reliable and different throughout the product demonstrates leadership in the classroom and in school activities is thoroughly dependable in any responsibility accepted service the student who serves is willing to uphold scholarship and maintain a loyal school activity participate in some outside activity girl scouts boy scouts church groups volunteer services for the age or for disadvantaged family volunteer dependable and well-organized assistance and is widely available works well with others and is willing to take on difficult or inconspicuous responsibilities carefully and enthusiastically enthusiastically renders any requested steps in the school is willing to represent the class or
017school who enters class for an interscholistic competition thus committee and staff work uncomplainingly shows courtesy by assisting visitors teachers and students citizenship the student who demonstrates citizenship understands the importance of civic involvement has a high regard for freedom and justice and respects the american form of government demonstrates mature participation and responsibility through involvement such as activities as scouting community organizations and school clubs character the student of character takes criticism willingly and accepts recommendations graciously constantly constantly exemplifies desirable qualities of a personality cheerfulness friendliness stability upholds principles of morality and ethics cooperates by complying with school regulations and concerning property programs office halls etc demonstrates the highest standards of honesty and reliability it shows courtesy concern and respect for others observes instructions and rules and practices from actuality and faithfulness both inside and outside of the
018classroom as powers of concentration and sustained attention as shown by perseverance and application to studies manifest truthfulness and acknowledging obedience to rules avoiding cheating in written work and showing unwillingness to profit by the mistakes of others actively helps to rid the school of bad now that the five torches representing scholarship leadership service citizenship and character have been lit we would like to welcome dr solman mr woods and mr parasino for the distribution of our 2021 national junior honor society certificates and hints joseph ammo day brianna anders shreya banerjee emma vouch helen baxter grace ian molly balman james boyd carly cahill caitlin canavaro peter carson sienna cartera eva canelotto daniel danielle chamberlain elizabeth cohen chloe crespo eva curran peyton daniels jack to joseph rosa de joy sophia della porta john doyle yulin do daniel ann alsheva
019jillian falcone leah farrell kaelin fitzgerald finley corcelius lilly frank samantha garcia lydia galley alexandra gilson sarah goldstein allison grove sydney hale murray hall haley hannon grace harlow sophie harris aaron hirsch callie hearst sarah cooper isabella who eve hubble bank [Music] daniel irish gabrielle jerimillo reagan kappas sarah kareem riley knickerbocker ashley lentini cameron lewis maddie wilbeck emerson lilly connor lopez anthony mariani nathaniel markman savannah martelly caitlin maskin al mccauley claire mcmanus max mitchell empire narayanan mia neglio joseph norton james o'connor alexandra orland carlesha outlaw patel katarina pollock john luca petronio lia cassani jerry piscotelli matthew reed abigail rinaldi brian roche court elizabeth shafner lily shaheen alicia chatelaw sarah silverman nimish singh brianna ceniscalco ava stink ryan smith colin spence jeremy sisda lacy thoreau tanista fumari jacob tierney bailey vitanza paul labelle eliana woleski paige warburton kaden
020weinberg haley weissman betty weskey margot weskey ava wilson christina young brenna zipkowski maya sir hughson valerie zhang and teresa cirollo [Applause] congratulations to all of our inductees this year treya banerjee will now lead the industries in the honor society pledge will the industries please stand i pledge myself to uphold the high purpose of the national junior honor society to which i have been selected i will be true to the principles for which it stands i would be loyal to my school and i will maintain and encourage high standards of scholarship service leadership character and citizenship please welcome dr solon to the podium at this time good afternoon guys oh there we go you know i worked in the dodd cafeteria for seven years as an assistant principal and principal and i know that you can
021be much more vocal than you were so we'll try that one good afternoon guys this is a really joyous occasion so it's okay to to share a little energy today and as mr woods alluded uh we haven't done a lot of these in-person ceremonies where we get to celebrate our students much recently and i've got a lot of material this is going to be like the best 45 minutes of your career um and thankfully i'm just joking on that i do want to make some brief remarks and i'm really honored to have the opportunity to speak to you today i'm really humbled to be a small part of this special moment in your life it took talent commitment and character for our students to arrive here today and this year more than any other you've
022demonstrated flexibility and patience and perseverance beyond all of it the don middle school national junior honor society class of 2021 has earned entry into a very prestigious group that being said this ceremony is not the end of the journey today is a milestone in what will hopefully be a lifelong journey of scholarship leadership service character and citizenship i'm going to ask you our inductees to just reflect for a moment on an adult in your life who most inspires you think about that an adult whom you look up to and perhaps emulate somebody that you may want to be someday it could be a family member a friend somebody that maybe you know from afar mr paracino i'm glad you didn't laugh but my guess is that those individuals are people who have modeled scholarship leadership
023service character and citizenship for you i ask that you continue to learn and grow to lead through example to extend a hand to those who need it most to do what is right even when no one is looking into act with your civic responsibility in mind as members of the national junior honor society you owe that to yourself and to everybody else in this room in order to fulfill the pledge that you made today this is a celebration it's a milestone but it's something that continues throughout your life if you want to become the people that you look up to and today is a huge step in that journey and i'm so very proud of you and so proud to be here so on behalf of everybody in the treasure public schools i congratulate all
024of you and your families on your tremendous success we're very proud of you good luck on a safe and exciting close to the school year congratulations everybody [Applause] these students are a wonderful reflection of their family and we are delighted to honor them today congratulations to the inductees and thank you for attending this afternoon this concludes our ceremony