THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, JUly 12, 2024 Page 11 Brynn Kavanagh, 2, won first place in the doll carriage competition. Children hopped in the potato sack race. Brian and MaryBeth Maes, who sang the National Anthem, provided entertainment on Wednesday night. Children participated in the costume competition. Olivia Hickman, 12, with her patriotic bike Children showed off their bicycles by riding around the basketball court. ASKS| FROM PAGE 9 east Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School, I did a lot of leg work there for the superintendent on various projects. They had no Advanced Placement Courses when I got there. Now there are 11. Before I started, we had limited choices for students in foreign languages; just Spanish for two years, depending upon what they could fit into their schedule. Now the kids are allowed to take three years of foreign language, and Italian has been added. I was really proud of that. When I was there, we added some new sports programs, particularly for the girls – girls field hockey and girls lacrosse. We added co-ed tennis and girls ice hockey, which is “cooped” with another school. We also added wrestling, which The Voke has had great success with. Another thing I’m really proud of during my time at The Voke – we got a Cummings Foundation Grant. The superintendent said Cummings offered this grant and he really wanted us to go after it. We got a four-year $100,000 grant. I wrote the grant for a program – allowing students from our 12 communities who did not come to The Voke to come on a SaturShown from left to right: Maria Leite, Crystal Cakounes and Leigh Gerow were decked out in red, white and blue streamers. day and get an introduction to career technical areas. It started small. Now it’s close to 200 students and it’s free. After four years were up, the Cummings Foundation encouraged us to apply for a 10 year grant, which I did. And we got $350,000 for over 10 years, so The Voke is using $35,000 a year to continue that program. Q: Are there any favorite stories in education over the years that you would like to share? A: I’m very fortunate that in my career I’ve had a number of students who I’ve made connections with in ASKS | SEE PAGE 19 Laura Eisener – shown with Paul Kenworthy – said that while growing up she decorated her bicycle with red, white and blue streamers in Fourth of July competitions. EAGER FOR THE START OF SCHOOL: Carla Scuzzarella said she is looking forward to Aug. 27 – the start of a new school year at Saugus Public Schools. She began her career in 1980 as a high school social studies teacher at Saugus High. This year, she returns as the school’s new Associate Principal. (Saugus Advocate photo by Mark E. Vogler)
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