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Student and Staff Achievements
September 2015
2016 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists
Eight Stamford Public Schools students were recently named by the National Merit Scholarship
Corporation (NMSC), as National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists in the 61st annual National
Merit Scholarship Program. Academy of Information Technology & Engineering (AITE) seniors
Viraj Attre, Tanusri Balla, Daniel Berger, Ian Handler, Alex Hatzis, and Alice Schaumann;
Stamford High School senior Matthew Sieh; and Westhill High School senior Nicole Smina are
among the top 16,000 students nationwide who earned the honor of semifinalist. According to
NMSC, about 1.5 million students entered the 2016 program by taking the 2014 Preliminary
SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The semi-finalists comprise the highest scoring
entrants in each state and represent less than one percent of the top scoring U.S. high school
seniors. These academically talented students earned the opportunity to compete for some
7,400 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million to be offered next spring.
Exemplar Designation of “Coming to America: A Nation of Immigrants”
Earlier this year, Stamford Public Schools was presented with a grant to partner with Student
Achieve Partners and Achieve to adapt existing instructional materials to align more closely
with Connecticut Core Standards. Student Achieve Partners worked directly with the Central
Office team and Stillmeadow Elementary School principal and teachers to focus on specific
identified areas. An English language arts unit of study, “Coming to America: A Nation of
Immigrants,” was designated as Exemplar, by the peer review panel. Among their comments,
the panel stated, “This is a very strong unit that would engage students in deep learning about
immigration.”
Central Office
Natalie Elder, Director of School Improvement and Professional Development, Elementary
Dr. Lisa Armstrong, Curriculum Associate for Elementary Literacy
Karen Francis-Barnes, Curriculum Associate for Elementary Social Studies
Stillmeadow Elementary School
Dr. Michael Sanders, Principal
Lisa Cammarota
Pam Hall
Marcella DeCarlo
Ryan McNally
Cara Garzancich
Iuliana Roata
Jennifer Grant
Francesca Sikorski
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“Top-10 Teens” in Stamford magazine
Each year Stamford magazine features 10 Stamford teens who were nominated by their schools
for their accomplishments and potential. Though the magazine considers academic
achievement, they also feature other fields of excellence, such as athletics, philanthropy, art,
music, entrepreneurship, and drama, to name a few. This year, from among the many
submissions received from both Stamford public and private schools, the following five
Stamford Public Schools seniors were chosen and featured in the September/October issue of
the magazine.
AITE
Daniel Silverstein
Stamford High School
Erin Maher
Namrata Ramakrishna
Westhill High School
Casey Benzaken
Arya Bhalla
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