North Attleboro High School Alumni Association

July 2012

The 3 A's at NAHS

Triathlon to Crush Cancer

Alumni News and Announcements

North Attleboro High School
Alumni Association
Summer 2012 Newsletter

Greetings Friends and Fellow Alumni,

I hope you are enjoying your summer and getting some quality time with your friends and family. On behalf of the Alumni Association, we wanted to send a summertime newsletter that informs all of the NAHS Alumni what the association has done throughout the year. We also wanted to inform you of upcoming activities that we are sponsoring to give everyone a chance to get involved.

In May we held our 6th annual Evening of Recognition and the cocktail format along with a deejay received great reviews. We plan to continue the tradition of honoring our alumni with this event and are looking forward to our next one in the Fall of 2013. We hope the new timing will allow for even further growth in attendance.

During our meeting in May we held our annual elections and I, Thomas Pirri, was nominated to serve as the President. Outgoing President, Keith Lapointe, has taken the position of Vice President. I'd like to thank Keith for his leadership, support and efforts over the last 5 years. In addition to Keith, I am joined on the Board by Sean Fisher, Treasurer; Katie Bloom (Feid), Secretary; Amanda Dean, Class Agent & Fundraising Chairwoman, and with Keith's continued Board service, Mitch MacDonald continues to serve as our Past President. Jack Johnson, Stacey Nassaney (Bliss), and Timmy Stuart are also active members of the association and their participation and support are crucial to our success. I would also like to thank Morgan Tower (Beith). Morgan has been an important contributor over the past several years and is our out-going Secretary. She has recently relocated to Texas and as a result has decided to step down.

As part of our Fundraising campaign, we have officially kicked off our second annual Patriots Raffle. We are currently raffling two tickets to the home opener, Patriots vs. Arizona Cardinals, on September 16, 2012 at 1pm. We are only selling 200 raffle tickets and the drawing will be held during Labor Day weekend. North Attleboro Alum Anthony Sherman is a member of the Cardinals and will be making his first trip home to play the Patriots. Through the fundraiser we expect to raise enough funds to purchase 5 wireless netbook computers for the NAHS media center, adding to the 13 netbooks we purchased 2 years ago. They are being utilized all day long and the staff who are tracking there use just notified us that they have been checked out 5,000 times. Please be sure to get your raffle tickets from one of our board members and show your support for this worthy cause.

I hope you enjoy this latest edition of the newsletter. We continue to try to spread the word about our mission and the deep needs we are trying to fill at the High School. Please forward this newsletter and be sure to check out our Facebook page.

All the best,

Thomas Pirri '02
NAHS Alumni Association President

Triathlon to Crush Cancer

THE FOLLOWING IS A MESSAGE FROM THE "Triathlon to Crush Cancer Committee"

We are excited to announce that plans for the first annual Triathlon to Crush Cancer are in full effect. This fantastic event is being hosted by "Soccer for Kids Sake" in an effort to raise money for local families that are dealing with the devastating diagnosis of Neuroblastoma. This year, this race will raise funds to support the families of three North Attleboro High School alumni – two of whom have children under 6 currently battling this horrific disease.

This short swim, bike, run competition will be held in North Attleboro on Sunday August 12, and is open to competitors of all ages and abilities. The First Annual Triathlon to Crush Cancer will also include Family friendly activities at the finish line, and this is where we need your help. We are currently looking for donations for a raffle that will be held at the conclusion of the race, as well as food and drinks for the participants. Food and drinks include: water, sports drinks, fruit, snacks, etc. Donations of any kind are greatly appreciated and must be received by August 2, 2012.

The post-race activities will also include a vendor fair for local businessesthat are looking to get the word out about their business. There is no fee for this; we simply ask that each business looking to participate donate an item of any kind to our raffle. If your business is unable to attend, but is interested in becoming a sponsor, your generosity would be greatly appreciated.

If you are interested in donating, participating in our vendor fair, or perhaps even volunteering at this worthwhile event, please contact Katie Fisher by phone at 508-353-2875 or by email at Katie@12occasions.com.

With thanks,

The Triathlon to Crush Cancer Committee
www.maliacrushescancer.com
Tax ID # 04-3480734

The 3 A's at NAHS

Academics: The NAHS Class of 2012 graduated on Friday, June 8, 2012, in the Pickering Gymnasium. Here is a list of the Top 10 graduates and the schools they plan to attend:

1. Meghan McHugh - Harvard University
2. Ty Sweeney - Boston University
3. Katelyn Mullen - Umass, Amherst
4. Samantha LaFratta - Northeastern University
5. Zoe LaClair - Cornell University
6. Michael Curley - Tufts University
7. Veronica Coyle - WPI
8. Brielle Albertini - Springfield College
9. James Connelly, IV - Colby College
10. Dana Brown - Umass, Amherst

To view a complete alphabetical list of the graduates, click here.

Arts: After the One Act Play Festival in January, the NAHS Theatre Company had a busy spring with rehearsals and the energetic presentation of the spring musical, "Lucky Stiff." Written by Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, the comedy was a "Weekend at Bernie's" with songs and dance numbers. It was a true fine arts collaboration (and a first) with Ms. Lisa Forsgard (theatre), Mr. TJ Rizzo (music) and Mr. Chris Flanagan (art) joining forces and our students to bring a variety of talented performers and artists together for a great show.

They also traveled to PPAC for the national tour of "Mary Poppins" and the lighting techies went crazy for the special effects and staging. In May they performed as part of the Fine Arts Festival and then inducted eight new members into Troupe #1088 of the International Thespian Society with a dessert party afterward.

May and June brought the revival of the North Improv group. Fifteen students, lead by Tom Pettengill and Nick Regan, began working as a group and plan to continue over the summer and during the next school year, with hopes of building up to performing for the school and community.

It was another incredibly successful year for the NAHS Music Department! Here are a few of their accomplishments:
- Our Chorus earned their third silver medal in the State MICCA Festival
- Our Concert Band earned their third consecutive gold medal in three years in the State MICCA Festival
- The Concert Band was invited to perform at beautiful Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA
- Our ensembles had an incredible showing in our competitions in Norfolk, VA, taking home first and second place trophies as well as gold and silver medals.
- Our Women’s Choir earned a Grand Champion Trophy in Norfolk, VA, beating all other choirs from around the country at the festival.
- Our Jazz Band earned a Silver Medal at the MAJE Jazz Band Festival
- 14 of our students were accepted into the Southeast Massachusetts Music Festival, our best showing.
- 4 of those students were accepted into the MMEA State Festival, also our best showing.
- Another one of our students was nominated to represent NAHS in the MENC All-Eastern Festival held in Hartford, CT.

Athletics: The Class of 2012 senior athletes were honored at the Fisher-Kelley Banquet in May. Ty Sweeney won the Dr. Grant Award, presented to the top scholar-athlete in the graduating class, and Zoe LaClair won the Dr. DeYoung Award, presented to the senior who has conducted him/herself with the same dignity and commitment to North Attleboro athletics as Dr. DeYoung did for so many years. The winners of the Hockomock League Scholar-Athlete Awards were Meghan McHugh and Michael Curley.

Here are the results from the Spring season: Baseball (13-7), Boys Lacrosse (8-10), Girls Lacrosse (2-15-1), Softball (16-5), Boys Tennis (12-8), Girls Tennis (18-2, League Champions), Boys Track (4-2) and Girls Track (6-0, League Champions).

To learn more about NAHS Athletics, visit http://sharepoint.naschools.net/highschool/Athletics/default.aspx.

Alumni News and Announcements

---1950s---

1959 - Susan (Gates) von Ranson lives in Wendell, MA with her husband Jonathan. They are at present designing an off-the-grid simple-living apartment in their barn which is taking a legislative turn in Boston, with a positive end in sight. They plan to then rent their house and settle back for their "twilight years" with visits from their "kids" and grandkids.

---1960s---

1962 - The Class of 1962 will be holding its 50th Reunion ("Against All Odd, Together Again") at the Holiday Inn in Taunton October 12, 13 & 14th. Activities include: Friday Night Gathering, Saturday AM tours and Saturday PM Dinner & Party! For more information please contact Barbara Bristol Paiton at bristpai44@gmail.com or Bruce Brockway at bbrockw62@comcast.net. To contribute to the Alumni Yearbook, please contact Monica West at mawest@tds.net.

---1970s---

1975 - Debbie Sherman Hipp earned a BA at Wheaton College. She moved to California for nine years, working in advertising and eventually got an MBA. She joined the government and did one tour overseas where she met her husband, a Diplomatic Security Agent. She married in 1991 and has been moving around ever since, serving in Washington DC, Rome, Lima, Tel Aviv, Barbados and now London. When she comes home to North Attleboro to visit her parents, who are still going strong (father Dick Sherman is an alum as well!). Debbie has one daughter, Katie, who considers North Attleboro her home town, since it is the place she always comes home to. Debbie is back on contract with the government now as a Special Investigator for the State Department. She has lived in London for the past 4 years, but will be heading back to the US for good after her final assignment. Katie starts university this year, and will be 'reading' English Literature at Oxford University. Her dream is to get an internship with the Boston Globe next summer, so if anyone knows anyone ... !

Stephen J. Haug, M.D. is an Ophthalmologist and shareholder at Queens-Long Island Medical Group, P.C. He is also the Vice President of the Physician's Proactive Protection RRG malpractice insurance company. Stephen is Living in Larchmont, NY with his wife Donna M. Siciliano, M.D. He has two sons; David age 23 and 2011 graduate of Ithaca College, working at Brightline TV and Russell age 19 currently a finance major at Westchester Community College.

---1990s---

1992 - Sherry (Gould) DaRocha and her husband own a company out of North Attleboro called A.R.S. Home Improvement- equipped to handle all phases of residential construction as well as new construction. They are celebrating their 8th Anniversary and just partnered with a granite fabrication company and have a kitchen design center on Rt. 6 in Seekonk, MA- Quality Kitchen Designs. Here are links to the two websites: http://www.arshomeimprov.com & http://www.qualitykitchendesigns.net

Jason Roy was promoted to the rank of Sergeant with the North Attleboro Police Dept. in February 2012

1995 - Katie (Feid) Bloom and her husband, Rory Bloom, welcomed their third child, Parker Lee on Feb 20, 2012 at 1:29pm. He was 7 lbs. 3 oz and 20 ¾ inches long. He joins his sister Madison (5) and big brother Griffen (3).

---2000s---

           2002 - Eric Higgens got married in September 2011 and enjoyed his honeymoon in Ireland. Eric is working as an account manager for a Healthcare IT company based out of Watertown, MA and in February 2012 took on the roll of helping open up a new office for the company in Georgia.

Darren Nixon is celebrating the birth of his daughter Sienna this year, the second child of the Nixon clan and recently moved to Mason, Ohio to take a new position as Manager of a health fitness club. Darren along with his girlfriend, Ashley Poole, are excited about their transition and their son Taylor is looking forward to Kindergarten.

           2005 - Erica Mac Donald received her Master of Arts Degree in Human Rights from Columbia University at the May 13 Commencement in New York City, NY

           2007 - Aimee Mac Donald received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Painting and Visual Arts from Bennington College at the June 2 Commencement in Bennington, VT

Andrew "Drew" Mac Donald received his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from The Catholic University of America at the May 12 Commencement in Washington, DC.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this newsletter!

To share news about your accomplishments, births, marriages, promotions, or anything else you feel is newsworthy, send your notes to katebloom7@gmail.com and we will publish them in our next e-newsletter.

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