Names: Lauren Mercier, age 12 and Gabby Weilding, age 10. Accomplishment:  Lauren and Gabby are two of the children that volunteer and raise money for the Sharon Timlin Memorial 5k. Lauren helps out at the family fun day where she runs the entrance booth; she also helps set up for and clean up after the day's events. Gabby created a website where has raised over $1,200 in three years. Gabby also runs in the children's race each year and has won her age group for the past three years. Motivation: The girls are motivated by the suffering people with ALS go through. “It’s really fun and it feels…

Name: Olivia Canestrari School:  Hopkinton High Accomplishment:  As a part of Canestrari's ceramic art class she created a double drape mold sculpture. Canestrari's sculpture was submitted to the state Scholastic Art Awards where she won gold key recognation. After that the sculpture was submitted to the natioanl Scholast Art Awards where she won a silver medal. Canestrari's piece is on display at the Massachusetts State Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza in Boston, and will be on display with other national award winners in New York City this summer. Motivation: For Canestrari this …

Submitted by Hopkinton High School The Hopkinton High School Model United Nations club has attended two very prestigious conferences this spring at MIT and UMass. MITMUNC is an international Model UN conference with over 500 students from South Korea, Russia, China, India, and across the United States. UMassMUN is one of the most highly regarded conferences in the region. The quality of preparation, enthusiasm and level of debate from the Hopkinton students at each these conferences were incredible. Based on individual performances, nine Hopkinton students were recognized for excellence by …

Names: Dan Genkin, Emily Jannery, Elizabeth Jannery (among 20 others) School:  Hopkinton High Accomplishment: The mock trial competition is organized by the Massachusetts Bar Association, each year a group of students from Hopkinton participates. This year Dan Genkin was one of the three captains. Next year the Jannery sisters will be two of the three students leading the group. Motivation: Different students chose to join the group for various reasons. According to the club's advisor Shari Meyer some students enjoy the performance aspect of it while others enjoy the way it allows them to …

Accomplishment: Drew Dawson, a senior at Hopkinton High School, built two foot bridges on the local Lake Whitehall trail, located at Parker Point Cove in Hopkinton. He raised over $2000 dollars by calling and writing letters to community members. Drew then built the bridges spending over 400 hours all told. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout for his accomplishment. The bridges are built to DCR standards and even survived Hurricane Irene. Motivation:  Drew wanted to help his community.  He saw a need and decided to do something about it.  “They are built to last,” Drew said “so please get down …

Accomplishment:  Fourth grade student, Timothy Fargiano, achieved a perfect score in the first meet of the WordMasters competition in December.  Out of approximately 220,000 students only 62 were awarded this high honor in the entire country.  Other runners up in Hopkinton included fourth graders Nick DePatie and Aidan Stewart, and fifth graders Alex Guerra, Rahul Krishnan, Claudia Stedt, and Rebecca Wood. Students were asked to learn new and well above grade level words and then used to use them in analogies and logic relationships.  It helps students to learn analytical and metaphorical …

Whiz Kid Dan Liberta, Hopkinton Senior Accomplishment:  Dan single handedly raised the funds and built a bocce court for the Hopkinton Senior Center.  The project was completed in October of 2010.  He then went in front of a Board of Review for the Scouts where he earned the distinguished rank of Eagle Scout.  Dan was recently recognized at a Board of Selectmen meeting for his accomplishments. Motivation:  As Dan said, “I wanted to give to this community.”  When he called several local organizations hoping to help, the Senior Center responded.  As a Scout since the first grade, and a …

Whiz Kids of the Week: Accomplishment: Best Buddies is a social club that meets bi-weekly after school.  It pairs special needs students with peers of the same age for activities and community projects. It includes all grades in the Middle School.  The program has grown from 10 students five years ago to 30-40 members currently. Motivation: “Students enjoy the program because of its fun, casual, social atmosphere,” Jim Casey, Best Buddies program leader, said. “It's a way to connect with friends, participate in fun activities and help the community.”

Accomplishment: Communiteen, Best Buddies and Student Council have joined with Project Just Because to create a toy drive at the Middle School to help bring toys to other Middle School aged students. While many drives bring toys to younger students, older children who are in need frequently go without.  The organizers of the drive hope to gather at least 100 toys for kids.   Motivation: The representatives from each group cited a multitude of reasons for participating in such a worthy cause. “There is a record high need,” Drew Mokler said. “We’re kids and we like toys and want to help other …

  Accomplishment:  The Wee Deliver team systematically sorts, organizes, and then delivers letters sent by families and fellow students to the Elmwood School community.  In the process, the Wee Deliver team is learning some valuable lessons about sorting and organizing mail. The team's responsibilities include stamping letters to show that they have been processed and organizing each letter by classroom. Motivation:  The students of Wee Deliver were unanimous in their motivation for participating in the program. “It is fun,” said Riley Walsh. Ava Bauman also shared, “My sister did it last …

Patch Whiz Kids of the Week: Achievement:  Last year, the Hopkinton High Robotics Team came in first in the regional robotics competition and also received the highest single round score ever achieved in the First Robotics World Championship. This year, the team is competing again with a robot that will pick up and lift a basket of raquetballs. The goal is for the robot to lift the balls as high as it can. Motivation:  “When you do something you love, you do it," said Ian Randall, a member of the team. "We are way ahead of schedule from last year and the forklift design is much livelier." To …

Names: Jennifer Lynds and Connor Zanini School:  Hopkinton High Accomplishment:  As co-chairmen for the Relay For Life event on May 11; Connor and Jennifer are working to raise awareness about cancer. The duo coordinates with a representative from the American Cancer Society and run meetings for the event that will help the Relay For Life to be as successful as possible. Motivation: Both Jennifer and Connor want to help their community. As Jennifer said, “Hearing people’s stories, including both the struggles and the triumphs, strengthened my dedication to such an important event.”

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Name, Age: Victoria Munger, 18 School: Hopkinton High Accomplishment:  As part of her duties as Student Council president, Victoria attends regular School Committee meetings. The goal of having her and four other students attend the meetings is to keep the community and the School Committee informed about what is happening in the high school. It adds a student perspective to the meetings. Motivation: Her classmates. According to Victoria, “I would love to see everyone in the school happy and excited about something that I had a part in organizing. During all of the…

Name and age:  Max Vumbaca, 17.                                         Accomplishment:  Senior Max Vumbaca was the only Hopkinton High student who qualified as a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program for 2012. Of the 1.5 million entrants throughout the country, only about 50,000 with the highest PSAT scores qualify for recognition in the program.  Of these, only 16,000 become semifinalists who can apply for finalist standing. “I was talking to my guidance counselor about college applications and found out,” says Vumbaca.  “I hadn’t been thinking about this as the test was so…

Name and age:  Hopkinton Boy Scout Troop 4, Ages 11-18.           Accomplishment:  Members of Troop 4 constructed a 25 foot long signal tower made out of wood and rope in the town common to show the community what scouting is all about. Many people think of scouting as camping, hiking and being outdoors.  Although that is a big part of it, there are other skills that Boy Scouts learn.  “In scouting, we use knots and lashings to construct something even as big as a tower,” Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 4 Andrew Hayes said. The scouts used trees of various sizes and about 85 lashings.  There …

Name and age:  Alyssa Souza, 8 and Maura Souza, 6        Accomplishment:  Inspired by their Irish heritage, Alyssa and Maura Souza have been Irish step dancing for the past three years. After a few years of ballet classes, the girls knew they enjoyed dancing, but wanted to do something where they could jump and skip more with their feet.  Inspired by having watched other girls perform Irish step dancing, they wanted to learn to do the same. The sisters have since been attending classes once a week at McInerney School of Irish Step Dance in Hopedale. “I like going to classes because you move …

Name and age:  Jill Kellett, 14 and Katie Litchfield, 13 Accomplishment:  Using their creative talents, Jill Kellett and Katie Litchfield started a business making handmade cards for all occasions about three years ago. Litchfield grew up exposed to art.  She took painting lessons and learned to paint beautiful life-like landscapes. “Then I started making cards with my mom’s stamping supplies,” Litchfield said. Kellett did not have formal lessons, but she also was exposed to art early on. “My dad likes to draw and paint," Kellett said. " When I was little, I would look at a picture and paint …

Name and age:  Marshall Cavallo, 12 Accomplishment:  As part of the Boston Bulldogs baseball team, Marshall Cavallo competed against teams from around the country at Cooperstown Dreams Park in a week long tournament. Using Major League rules and playing on larger fields, he was happy to be participating at a level up from Little League.  Some of the teams he faced were from as far away as Texas and California.  “Playing in Cooperstown was so exciting and I was looking forward to moving to the bigger fields,” says Cavallo. Although Cavallo was nervous at first about playing in Cooperstown, …

Name and age:  Gabrielle Boyce, 14, Maddy Boyce, 14, Anna Charteris, 14 and Olivia Charteris, 14 Accomplishment:  Gabrielle and Maddy Boyce and Anna and Olivia Charteris earned their second degree black belts in karate. They are now all teaching younger kids at Center and Elmwood Schools. The Boyces’ mom signed them up for an after school program at Center School and the Charteris girls wanted to join their friends.  Although they weren’t sure they wanted to do a sport which they thought was for boys, after a few lessons, all the girls really enjoyed karate.  A karate student first earns a …

Name and age:  Kim Cardillo, Sydney Dawson and Savannah Schultz, 14-years-old. Accomplishment: These three friends are the only freshmen who made the cheerleading team at the high school this year.  Since they were all much younger, the girls have been part of competitive cheerleading teams at Pro Athletics in Leominster and Metro West Gymnastics in Marlborough.  They have competed in All-Star competitions locally and outside the state. Key to Awesomeness: “I love cheerleading,” says Schultz.  “I want to become friends with the upper classmen.” “I want to be part of the school system and do …