FIRST UP on GMW is an occasional column that highlights shorter announcements or updates, and helps you get a quick start to the Wilton news of the day. Have a news tip, item or something you know people are chatting about? Email us at editor@goodmorningwilton.com.
Wilton Teen Named National Merit Scholar, Scholarship Winner
Wilton teen Ian Y. Chow was selected as a Merit Scholar and will also be awarded with a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Out of the more than 15,000 finalists in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program, only 46% will earn the “Merit Scholar” title. Chow, a student at Pierrepont School in Westport, is one of only 2,500 students who will also be awarded a National Merit Scholarship.
National Merit Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have
the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors. There were 31 Merit Scholarship winners in Connecticut.
Merit Scholars are selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high
school counselors who appraised a substantial amount of information for each candidate — academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied
and grades earned; PSAT scores; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay; and a recommendation written by a high school official.
This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2022 when then-high school juniors took the PSAT/NMSQT, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than 1% of the nation’s high school seniors, were named semifinalists on a state-representational basis. Of the more than 16,000 semifinalists, over 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2024 program, more than 6,870 finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and
received a total of nearly $26 million in college scholarships.
Wilton Students Named Winners in 17th Annual HRRA Recycling Billboard Contest
Several Wilton students were recently named winners in the 17th Annual Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority (HRRA) Recycling Billboard Contest.
Each year, HRRA picks a theme to help raise awareness around waste and recycling issues. This year, Wilton students were invited to once again participate in the contest and asked to design a billboard encouraging residents to “‘Keep It Loose!’ Don’t Bag or Bundle Your Recycling”.
The theme is meant to raise awareness that plastic bags of any kind are not acceptable in the region’s mixed recycling system because they bags clog waste-sorting machinery, endanger workers and can’t be collected effectively. Waste officials say that residents should not be bagging, bundling or boxing their recycling. Instead, recycling should remain clean, dry and loose in recycling bin.
Of the 94 K-12 Wilton student entries first judged locally, all 1st place Wilton winners then went on to Regional judging with the other 13 HRRA-member towns. For each grade level, winners at the regional level were named for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place as well as Honorable Mention.
Regional honorees were invited to the HRRA Regional Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 24 to received Regional placement awards: Honorable Mention winners received $10, 3rd place winners received $25, 2nd place winners received $50, and 1st place winners received $75. Grand Prize winners received $500.
This year, Wilton had seven Regional winners as well as a Regional Grand Prize winner.
Second-grader Chris Li was Wilton’s Grand Prize winner. Li’s artwork, along with the other Regional Grand Prize winners, will appear on the back of regional HartBuses starting the first week of May. All 1st place Regional winners were also featured in a two-page ad in a Danbury News Times Sunday edition.
Local Wilton winners will have a copy of their artwork displayed at Comstock Community Center in May.
The Annual HRRA Billboard Contest is open to all private, public and homeschooled students in all 14 HRRA towns. The 2025 Billboard Contest will kick off again in November. Wilton Go Green is the Wilton town coordinator and will be making future announcements about next year’s contest.
A video of the winners’ artwork is available on YouTube.
First Grade
1st — Leon Shih (Miller-Driscoll)
2nd — Imogen Bikel (Seven Acres Montessori)
3rd — Penny Grayson (Miller-Driscoll)
Second Grade
1st — Chris Li (Miller-Driscoll) and Regional Grand Prize Winner
2nd — Grace Ginsberg (Seven Acres Montessori)
3rd — Bella Ashley (Seven Acres Montessori)
Third Grade
1st — Wesley Elizabeth Robinson (Cider Mill) and Regional Honorable Mention
2nd — Alice Janhavi Kotwal (Cider Mill)
3rd — Emily Geng (Cider Mill)
Fourth Grade
1st — Sahana Kaushik (Cider Mill)
2nd — Amelie Lepke-Young (Seven Acres Montessori)
3rd — Disha Avadhani (Cider Mill)
Fifth Grade
1st — Carla Rinaldi (Cider Mill)
2nd — Jack Richardson (Cider Mill
Sixth Grade
1st — Ava DiDonato and Regional 3rd Place Winner
2nd — Penelope Kalon
3rd — Alisa Shatilo
Seventh Grade
1st — Alex Doughman
2nd — Lizzie McGuinness
3rd — Alexander Greene
Eighth Grade
1st — Sophie Zhang and Regional 2nd Place Winner
2nd — Alyssa Bi
3rd — Olivia Edwards
Ninth Grade
1st — Alexa Karanikis
2nd — Leighton Graves
3rd — Daniel Hickey
10th Grade
1st — Evan Miller and Regional 1st Place Winner
2nd — Boden Davi
3rd — Grace Gordon
11th Grade
1st — Gael Santos Lugo and Regional 3rd Place Winner
2nd — Liam Howell
3rd — Stefanos Cross
12th Grade
1st — Katie Reed and Regional Honorable Mention
2nd — Dillon Bhutani
3rd — Danielle Westgate
WHS Teacher Wins James Madison Memorial Fellowship
The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation in Virginia selected Wilton High School social studies teacher Meredith Ramsey as one of 53 James Madison Fellows for the 2024 annual fellowship competition. James Madison Fellowships support the graduate study of American history by aspiring and experienced secondary school teachers of American history, American government, and civics.
The award recognizes promising and distinguished teachers, to strengthen their knowledge of the origins and development of American constitutional government, and thus to expose the nation’s secondary school students to accurate knowledge of the nation’s Constitutional heritage.
Now in her seventh year teaching at WHS, Ramsey teaches honors- and standard-level US history, civics and the contemporary world, and world history.
The Fellowship is named in honor of America’s fourth president who is acknowledged as “the Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.” It funds up to $24,000 of each fellow’s course of study towards a master’s degree that must include a concentration on the history and principles of the United States Constitution.
Ramsey is currently in the middle of earning her second Master’s Degree in American History through Gettysburg College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (her first Master’s is in education). Ramsey said that the fellowship will support the remainder of her graduate classes, including her participation in a Washington, DC-based summer institute entitled “The Foundations of American Constitutionalism,” something that is required of the fellowship.
“I am eager to apply what I learn at the fellowship’s summer institute in my classes, both in terms of content and in what I learn from collaborating with the other fellows from around the country who are also history/social studies teachers,” Ramsey told GMW in an email. “I have already been able to adapt some of my learning from my graduate classes on American History into my classroom and the fellowship is helping me to continue to do that in new ways,” she said.
The 53 James Madison Fellows were selected in competition with applicants from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the nation’s island and trust territories. The fellowships are funded by income from a U.S. Treasury trust fund and additional private gifts, corporate contributions and foundation grants. Recipients are required to teach American history, American government, or civics in a secondary school for at least one year for each year of fellowship support.
Two Wilton Students Win National PTA Reflections Recognition
Awards have been announced for the national level of the PTA Reflections arts competition, and among them were two students from Wilton Public Schools.
Wilton High School senior Illeas Paschalidis received an Award of Excellence at the high school level for literature, and Cider Mill School student Sloka Attaluri received an Award of Excellence at the intermediate school level for literature as well.
For 55 years, the National PTA has sponsored Reflections to encourage students to use their creativity to make original art in response to a specific theme. The 2024 theme asked students to complete a statement of optimism: “I am hopeful because…”
Students were able to enter in wide-ranging categories, including visual arts, photography, literature, film production, dance choreography, music composition and special artist, which accommodates students with disabilities.
Competing first on the local school level, winning entries representing Wilton Public Schools were sent to the Connecticut State PTA for judging at the state level; winners there go on to compete with students from across the country.