Schools

Waterford's Sixth-Graders of the Year

Katherine Welch, Michaela Green and Nicholas Poscich were honored Monday as the Waterford Rotary Club's sixth-graders of the year.

Monday, the Waterford Rotary recognized Waterford’s sixth-grade students of the year, with the group selecting three students from Waterford's Clark Lane Middle School.

A student from each sixth-grade team at the middle school was selected. Students were chosen for their leadership qualities and for their commitment to community service, according to Waterford Rotary Club Secretary Anne Ogden.

“This is great recognition by the community,” Superintendent Jerome Belair said, who is also a Rotarian. “This is a great honor, well-deserved.”

Michaela Green, Nicholas Poscich and Katherine Welch were selected as the sixth-grade students of the year. For each, a teacher from their team gave a speech about why they were chosen.

Michaela Green

When Green started sixth-grade, her hair was down to her waist. But one day she came into class and her hair was only down to her chin, according to her sixth-grade teacher, Beth Sheridan. Everyone just thought it was a regular haircut, Sheridan said.

But eventually, the teachers found out that Green had donated her hair to Locks of Love, for the second time, Sheridan said. And yet if it was up Green, no one would have found out, Sheridan said.

“You are a model student and human being,” Sheridan said to Green. “You are everything that is right with the world.”

Katherine Welch 

When family friends were going to visit Haiti to help out the nation after the devastating earthquake in 2010, they asked for donations. Welch, a longtime girls scout, decided to donate some of her clothes, according to her sixth-grade teacher, Christine Devito.

Devito said one of the things Welch donated was one of her favorite dresses. When the family friends came home, they showed Welch a picture of a young Haitian girl wearing that dress, and it “warmed her heart,” according to Devito.

“As Katie moves through middle school and beyond we know, as educators, that she will be someone to not only give of herself but to encourage others to do the same,” Devito said.

Nicholas Poscich

Poscich is active in many programs through Waterford Youth Services, according to his sixth-grade teacher, Ken Daniewicz. Poscich has helped out youth services with their adopt-a-family program, their sheep-to-shawl event and runs an afterschool program at youth services called snack rules, Daniewicz said.

“Nick obviously has gained leadership qualities at such a young age and Clark Lane Middle School is lucky to have a student like him,” Daniewicz said.


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