The Patriot Ledger's announces its first Student of the Week
The Patriot Ledger is happy to announce the winner of our first Student of the Week. Nominations come from high school staff members. But you, our readers, make the decision in our poll found at the bottom of this story. Look for our next poll Monday morning.
Without further ado: This week's winner is Chloe Wu. The senior collected over 55,000 (56%) to earn the honor. The North Quincy High School 18-year-old is ranked No. 1 in her class. Chloe not only won first place in the local Lions Club speech competition, which advances her to the next round of the competition, but "is kind, considerate, conscientious, diligent and helpful," according to her nomination. Congrats Chloe and keep up the good work − and just being you. Being a teen isn't easy, but you're clearly doing something right.
The other nominees, each amazing in different ways, were:
Veronica Fleming: This Hull High School senior, 17, has been accepted to Harvard University for next year. "Ronni" Fleming, nominated as a student with exemplar academic and civic excellence, "is kind, thoughtful, sincere, hard-working, detailed, zealous, and is extremely well liked and regarded by staff and peers," according to her nomination. Ronni is interested in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields, environmental science, history and law. She is a member of Key Club and has volunteered to promote mental health awareness within the school and outside community. She is an SAT tutor who runs track and plays soccer.
Alexia Tserelova: This Cohasset High School senior, 17, has been a critical member of Cohasset's Green Team for the past four years. This year she has coordinated the school's Bags to Benches program, in which high-density polyethylene plastics are collected to be turned into a plastic park bench. She has also organized and presented several schoolwide assemblies for Cohasset Middle School this year alone in trying to bolster the school's composting and recycling efforts. "Her commitment to the environment and to better our community is second to none," according to her nomination.
Ava DiCecca: This Marshfield High School senior, 17, is president of the Marshfield chapter of DECA, a program for students interested in business. She has helped plan several community events, including the first − and very successful − Shop Local event at Marshfield High School in December. She also played a pivotal role in helping Marshfield High School earn the Massachusetts DECA Chapter of Excellence State Recognition Award through her "insightful and detailed contributions throughout the application process," according to her nomination.
Julianna Lee: This Duxbury High School 11th grader, 16, was selected as one of two Massachusetts delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program, which will take place in March. Additionally, she serves as the president of A World of Difference. As the president of her school’s Model UN Club, Latin Club and International Awareness Club, she is involved with school initiatives concerning global politics, language, and diversity and inclusion. She is vice president of the Massachusetts Junior Classical League and has served as captain of her state’s certamen team, which is a classics quiz bowl competition, on the national level.
Votes are unlimited. Voting closes on Thursday, Jan. 25, at noon. Emailed votes will not be counted. Is your school interested in nominating someone? A school staff member should email studentoftheweek@patriotledger.com for more information.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Student of the Week for the South Shore for Jan. 22-25, 2024
