The sixth annual Peabody Education Foundation Career Day on April 13 gave Peabody Veterans Memorial High School sophomores an opportunity to visit with 45 local businesses to learn about potential careers.  Students are required to complete a worksheet reflecting their interactions.

A sign of the event’s continued success is the high percentage of  presenters who are PVMHS alumni, now returned to share with current students.

More than half of the presenters attended the city’s high schools.  Bob Haefner, a  1996 PVMHS Vocational student, spoke with interested sophomores about his job with Analogic Corporation as an electrical design engineer involved with hardware and software designs for MRIs. Other alumni represented careers in public service, insurance, publishing, small assorted small businesses, engineering, banking, retail and consulting; they are:

Attorney – Beverley Ann Griffin Dunne (1976)
Eastern Bank – Ashley Leveroni (2005)
Embroider Me – Sarkis Sarkaisian (2006)
City of Peabody Health Department – Debbie Compiano
Gravoc Associates – Cathy Gravel (1975)
Gravoc Associates – Connie Leaver (1972)
HCPro – Katrina Gravel (2006)
Mary Kay – Nancy Martins (1988)
Northshore Mall – Laura Magarian (2003)
Peabody Fire Department – Joe DiFranco (1979)
Peabody Fire Department – Tom Desmond (1979)
Peabody Fire Department – Chris Dowling (1990)
Peabody Police – Jim Thibosean (1975)
Peabody Police – Diane Sawyer (1977)
Peabody Police – Sheila McDaid (1982)
People’s United Bank – Vanessa Boga Bettencourt (2004)
Peabody YMCA – Greg Griffin 1979
Phil Richard Insurance – Kathryn Coggeshall  (2006)
Phil Richard Insurance – Christina Tully (2007)
Tupperware – Jodie Malatzky (1978)
Weston & Sampson – Jaime Lennon Stelmat (1996)

Career Day also featured the following businesses:
Analogic Corporation – Sam Jonathan
Atlantic Ambulance Service – Bob Dionne
Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan – Carolyn Delossantos
Burtons Grill – Ryan Dion
City of Peabody/Building Inspector Kevin Goggin
City of Peabody/Health Dept.
Peabody High Cosmetology, Electronics, and Culinary
Eastern Bank-Ann D’Anjou
Eastern Bank-Ashley Leveroni
Eastern Bank-Ed Lomasney
EmbroidMe North Shore & Sarkisian
Sporting Goods – Sarkis N. Sarkisian
Evans Flowers-Dennis Feld
Fire Department-Chris Dowling
Gainsboro Studio-Carl Sweetser
Healthy Peabody Collaborative-Sandi Drover
Lahey Clinic Northshore -Pam Picariello
Metro Credit Union – Vanessa Silveira
New York Life – Dan Collins & Steve Shea
Nurse Practioner – Lorrainne Murphy
Ocean States Investigative Group, LLC – Ed Spicer
Peabody Patch – John Castelluccio
Peabody Access Telecommunications, Inc. – Don Murphy
Peabody Access Telecommunications, Inc. – Jim Palmer
Peabody Council on Aging – Carolyn Wynn
Peabody District Court – Michael O’Shea & Rich Deangelis
Peabody Marriott Hotel – Karim Perez
Peabody Public Schools – Jessica DiGianfelice/chem teacher
Peabody Public Schools Athletic Trainer
People’s United Bank – Peggy Pedro
Police Department – Vinny Patermo
PVMHS – Jodi Hernandez
TD Bank – David Bonilla
TD Bank – Donna Hastings
TD Bank – Jugmi Rao
TD Bank – Megan Shea
Tupperware – Joanne Malatzky
US Army National Guard – Sgt. Toohey
Weston & Sampson – Jaime Stelmat
Whenever Wigs – Polly Vitagliano
Torigian Y
Northshore Mall
Gravoc Associates
Johnny C’s Barbershop

Career Mentoring is another PEF program that introduces students to various occupations. High school juniors are paired with mentors from local businesses and get hands-on experience in careers that interest them. Students and their mentors meet throughout the spring so that students can observe the daily operations and gain a greater understanding of careers they might be considering.

Guest Readers have been visiting Peabody’s elementary school classrooms since January. Each week, volunteers from the community spend 20-30 minutes reading to students and sharing the pleasures of reading with the kids.

The PEF awarded 47 Best Bet grants in November, many of which went towards funding spring field trips and programs in Peabody’s schools. So far, some Peabody students have travelled to the Peabody Essex Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, while others have had visits from mathematician Greg Tang and author Yoko Kawashima Watkins. Best Bet programs will continue through the end of the school year.

For more information on these programs, be sure to check out the “What We Do” section of our website!

First place in the Spelling Bee went to Ashley Royer, a member of the Grade 7 Bears cluster. She received a $2,000 scholarship to Sylvan Learning Center, a watch from Precision Time and a $50 Simon gift card.

The second and third place finishers went one-on-one for four rounds before Grade 8 Aquarian Claudia Lanes, placed second and Spencer May, a seventh grader from the Broncos cluster, took third. Each contestant received a $50 Simon gift card and a watch from Precision Time.

After more than two hours of competition there were eight contestants remaining. “Tie Breaker” words, such as epistrophe, opsimath, autochthonous, and linguipotence, were used to narrow the field.

Thirty pieces of student art were auctioned off to benefit the Peabody Education Foundation. The frames for the artwork were provided by GraVoc Associates. The three artists whose work brought in the highest bids were also recognized with a $50 Simon gift card from Mark Whiting. The artists are: Camryn Caruso, Bernard Perisie and Nicole Malvarose.

Attendees took part in the silent auction and raffle to benefit the Peabody Education Foundation’s Partners in Education program. Items for the auction were donated by PEF members, community residents, and local businesses.

The Peabody Education Foundation would like to thank the following businesses who made the event a success through donations of resources and raffle prizes: Northshore Mall, Regina’s Pizzeria, Treadwell’s Ice Cream, Burton’s Grill, Build-A-Bear, Jamba Juice, Sephora, The Body Shop, Precision Time, Chick-Fil-A, and Village Silversmith. Thank you to those individuals who donated their time and efforts to ensure that the event ran smoothly, and special thanks to Sudi Smoller for coordinating all efforts and training the top spellers at the Higgins!

The Higgins Middle School’s top 30 spellers celebrated with their families and friends at a potluck dinner on January 26th. The event, held in the Higgins Library, served as an additional practice for the spellers, who will compete at the second annual Spelling Bee at the Northshore Mall. Also attending the potluck dinner was guest “Beemaster” Tom Gould of Treadwell’s Ice Cream, who is also a member of the Peabody City Council and a member of the Peabody Education Foundation.

The students gained their top 30 speller status by proving themselves the best spellers among their respective clusters; there are 10 students from each grade represented. The spellers have just over two weeks to study and prepare for the main event. The Spelling Bee will start at 6:00 PM on Thursday, February 16, and will feature a raffle and a silent auction in addition to the competition itself. Included among the auction prizes are 30 framed art pieces created by Higgins students. Funds raised from the raffle and silen auction will benefit the Peabody Education Foundation, particularly its Partners in Education program.

Some of Peabody’s students will be traveling to new and exciting places thanks to Best Bet funding: approved grants included trips to the Peabody Essex Museum, the Lowell National Historical Park, the Museum of Science Planetarium, the Ipswich Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Arts of the Americas Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts. Other students will experience in-school presentations such as Holocaust Legacy Partners, author Yoko Kawashima Watkins, and Indonesian Gamelan & Puppet Theater. Best Bet grants will also provide learning materials that will complement the existing resources in Peabody’s classrooms, including News-2-You weekly news publications, Kids Discover Magazines, and Literature Circles. The diversity and originality of this year’s Best Bet applications made it very difficult for the Committee to decide which programs to fund, but it’s clear that each of the programs chosen will have a positive impact on students.

Teachers have been notified of their grants, with programs anticipated to start as early as December and continue through the remainder of the school year. The winner of the Peter A. Torigian Best Bet Award, given to the most innovative program each year, will be announced in May 2012. For a complete list of funded 2011-2012 Best Bet programs, please click here. Congratulations to all the teachers who received a Best Bet grant!

Sudi Smoller, a PEF member and the Higgins Librarian/Media Specialist, gave a brief overview of the carts before introducing Mike Bowler,  a 6^th grade math teacher for the Penguins cluster. Mr. Bowler demonstrated how he uses the technology on the carts – such as the document camera and the laptop – in his lessons. Students from one of his math classes assisted with the presentation by projecting their work via the Elmo brand document camera. Mr. Bowler also showed how an iPad can be connected to the cart’s projector to display its applications and programs to an entire class. Following Mr. Bowler’s demonstration, Mrs. Smoller further illustrated the uses of the document camera and PEF member Katrina Gravel showed off the wireless tablet, which can be used to control the computer and “write” on the screen from anywhere within the computer’s range. Interim Superintendent Dr. Herbert Levine, Higgins principal Todd Bucey, and City Councilor/PEF Chairperson Dave Gravel addressed the audience as well, thanking both the PEF and the Smart Cart donors for making a positive and valuable contribution to the school.

The Peabody Education Foundation would like to thank Lyon-Waugh Auto Group, Northeast Massachusetts Development Corporation, Su-Chang’s Restaurant, and Analogic Corporation for making the purchase of these Smart Carts possible. The PEF truly appreciates the efforts of these business leaders to improve the schools and provide Peabody’s students with technology to help them succeed.

The Best Bet Committee will meet in the coming weeks to review all applications and make decisions awarding grants. All applicants will be notified by the end of the month whether or not their application will be funded.

“Smart Carts” are made possible through the PEF’s Partners in Education program that raises funds to provide technology for Peabody schools.

The Best Bet program is open to all teachers in the Peabody public school system. Past grants have funded programs such as a trip to the library, Holocaust Legacy Partners Visit the Higgins, Plimoth Plantation trips, and Bullying Prevention through Puppetry, and have provided educational materials such as Discovery Education Streaming, Kindergarten Thematic Learning Centers, and Mastering Multiplication in 10 and 10. The Peabody Education Foundation and the Best Bet Committee encourage teachers to think outside the box and support creative application concepts; the committee awards the Peter A. Torigian Best Bet award to the most innovative grant each year.

Good luck to all those applying for a Best Bet grant this year, and thank you for your support!