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Memorial Middle School

Local notebook: Encarnacion goes out on a high note

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The list of accolades that have been bestowed upon recent Leominster High graduate Ricky Encarnacion continues to grow.

The University of New Haven-bound Blue Devil was recently named MIAA Student-Athlete of the Month for May after being nominated by LHS teacher Catherine Brow. The honor is given each month of the school year to a high school student who not only excels athletically, but outside of sports as well.

A three-sport athlete, Encarnacion’s exploits in football, basketball and track and field are well-documents, but he’s also busy in the community as a member of Leominster High’s Best Buddies Club, working with LifeSkills students and engaging with them at events. He’s also a volunteer referee and coach for Leominster NFL Flag Football, mentoring younger players.

In the classroom, Encarnacion has taken numerous honors and AP classes and is a member of the National Honor Society at Leominster High School.

Encarnacion starred on the gridiron last season, piling up over 1,600 all-purpose yard, including 952 receiving yards on 51 catches. He scored 20 touchdowns and made 43 tackles defensively, picking off four passes fot the Blue Devils.

He also was a starter on Leominster’s basketball team, playing a key role in the Blue Devils’ deep postseason run, and recently took first place in the triple jump at the Division 2 Championships.

“Ricky is a dedicated student and athlete and has been a pleasure to work with over the past four years,” Brow said in her nomination. “Throughout the course of his time as a high school student, Ricky has grown to be a strong, powerful leader. … Ricky truly shows the ability to balance a full schedule while also enrolling in challenging courses and maintaining a class rank in the top half of his class. He is dedicated to his studies, and puts a great deal of effort into being successful in the Honors and AP courses that he is enrolled in.

“In addition to his sports and his academics, he also holds a part-time job at a local establishment in the city and spends his weekends refereeing games for the Leominster Flag Football League. He is a phenomenal leader and sets good examples for his classmates and his teammates in everything he does.”

Great spring ends for Leominster girls lax

Though it didn’t end the way they wanted, the Leominster High girls lacrosse team’s season was one to remember this spring.

Leominster's Kailyn Cuddahy scores during a Division 2 playoff win over Oliver Ames. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)
Leominster’s Kailyn Cuddahy scores during a Division 2 playoff win over Oliver Ames. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

The fifth-seeded Blue Devils fell in the Division 2 quarterfinals Sunday night, dropping a 12-7 decision on the road to No. 1 East Longmeadow. The loss ends Leominster’s season with a 20-4 record.

An extremely entertaining group to watch, the Blue Devils had scoring depth that was arguably unmatched in Central Massachusetts. Whether it was Emma Miller Ayala, Gabby Santucci, Kiley Cuddahy, Kailyn Cuddahy or Ella Hersey, Leominster could attack from many angles and its defensive group wasn’t too shabby either.

Fitchburg middle schoolers cap season

Athletes from Memorial Middle School and Longsjo Middle School competed in the Division 2 Middle School State Meet on Sunday, with several students posting outstanding performances.

On the girls’ side, Longsjo sixth grader Lyla Kherallah won the 100m hurdles with a personal-best time of 17.53, while classmate Arianna Louissaint took 14th in the 200 with a personal-best time of 29.17. The 4×100 team (Louissaint, Brianna Santiago, Molly O’Dell, Kherallah) placed 20th in 1:00.29 and eighth grader Eliani Torres placed 73rd in the 100.

The Memorial girls 4×100 team (Maeve Magenis, Peyton LaVigueur, Mariah Figueroa, Addieson Ouellette) posted a 23rd-place showing in 1:02.94.

The Longsjo boys were led by eighth grader Jayden Jones who took third in the discus (101-08) and fifth in the shot put (36-01.75). Classmate Johnathan Mendez placed sixth in the high jump (5-02) and the 4×100 (Isaac Alicea, Julian Davis, Kyle Sulier, Jonathan Mendez) placed 11th with a time of 53.02.

Nico Gibson was 19th in the shot put and 24th in the discus, Kyle Sulier claimed 29th in the long jump,  William Barnor was 49th in the 400 and Julian Davis was 50th in the 100. Aiden Dionne added a 67th-place showing in the 200 and Isaac Alicea was 75th in the 100.

Memorial eighth grader Ethan Kimball placed fourth in the 200 in the 25.70 and the 4x100m relay (Labah Barack, Gabriel Crespo, Ismael Santiago, Kimball) was fifth (50.76).

Gabriel Crespo added a 14th-place finish in the 100, Labah Barack was 26th in the 100 and Kayden Yang claimed 25th in the discus and 37th in the shot put.

Dedication at its finest

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FITCHBURG — There’s no substitute for hard work, dedication and commitment.

At Memorial Middle School, that hard work in the classroom extends well beyond the class day.

Memorial formed a math team, dubbed “Mathletes” and practiced math skills after school every Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for the virtual chapter competition held in mid-February.

“After working all day in school, they come into my classroom where I present them with some pretty tough math concepts and problems,” said Memorial teacher and coach Liz Youtt, who co-teaches the team with Mary Lively.

“A good example is the practice where we worked on special right triangles (30-60-90 and 45-45-90). We talked about triangles and then I introduced them to why these triangles are special and how to calculate side lengths. This might seem easy but it required that they learned about Pythagorean theorem and all about radicals. It was a lot of information over the course of two hours, but they are so eager to learn, that they worked through all of the questions and went home and practiced some more. The level of dedication is so clear and commendable.”

Memorial’s nine-member team consists of Clarice Assis Monteiro Ribeiro, Kyle Barreira, Rory Cannon, Elijah Decene, Elizabeth Fey, Medjynn Jean, Jackson Leider, Rowen McGuane and Cristian Ramirez.

To get ready for this competition, students worked with advanced math concepts that challenged them to work at the high school level as middle schoolers.

Mathletes had two rounds of individual competition; the sprint round and the target round. There was also a team component where the top-four placing students are a team and competed with other chapter teams. The students were able to divide out the 10 questions however they wanted and have a time limit to get as much done as possible.

“The competition went well, although nobody placed for the state levels — the kids did a great job though and I am proud to say that they all placed in the top two-thirds. There were a total of 72 competitors in our chapter and our kids scored around 40th out of 72,” Youtt said.

“I think that we at Memorial are honored to have these students on our team, willing to compete on Fitchburg’s behalf with these other schools,” Youtt said. “The unfortunate part was that this chapter-level competition is virtual, so the mathletes did not have the opportunity to network with other students. That being said, being part of a national competitive platform was impressive, and they take this process very seriously and put many hours into preparing.”

Youtt said her team has “a true passion for math and for learning” and she sees that type of passion and commitment on a daily basis.

“A lot of time, because Fitchburg is discussed as an urban district, the conversations seem to be about learning gaps and poverty,” Youtt said. “These students are proving that all students are capable of doing math and that hard work does pay off. They also bring their enthusiasm to their respective classrooms.

“Probably one of my proudest moments to date was when our vice principal, Sean Walker, made an announcement over the PA system about the mathletes who had made it through to the next level (chapter level). You could hear cheering from every classroom in the seventh grade wing. It was one of the moments I will never forget,” Youtt said.

“I think it is important to make sure that we recognize academics as much as sports. To see the excitement that the peers of these mathletes had for them was heartwarming and made me realize that even though the news is all about the bad effects of COVID, I am living every day where I see good kids doing good things,” Youtt said.

Memorial Principal Brittney Lavoie says that she’s so proud of what this team has accomplished already.

“The kids have been incredible,” Lavoie said. “They’ve taken charge of their learning and have extended practice times and have been really pushing each other. Ms. Youtt is a great coach who demands students leave tired, knowing that they are working to their potential and growing from this experience. In our first year, the team knows what a challenge this will be and are ready to meet it. They understand that they are pioneering a legacy for Memorial — they are growing this program for the students that follow and showing all of Massachusetts that Fitchburg students are competitive in the STEM landscape.”

Garner is communications coordinator for the Fitchburg Public Schools.