During the Town Manager's report last night Dave Ziomek extolled the recent stand out performance of native son Michael Hixon who won an olympic silver medal, and the hearts and minds of many townies.
Amherst has the lowest median age in the state
Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer said the board had received a request to have a good old fashioned parade to congratulate Hixon, but she was concerned about such an undertaking -- especially at this time of year when the entire world seems to be on vacation.
Connie Kruger suggested a proclamation at least, with some sort of ceremony. Mr. Ziomek said he would contact Hixon's parents to see when he may be back from Rio and available.
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Its been a tough year in our little college town. Beloved Town Manager John Musante passed away suddenly on September 20, and our other top employee, School Superintendent Maria Geryk, is leaving under a toxic cloud of secrecy and suspicion.
Amherst, in spite of its independent spirit, is a company town and that company is higher education.
Michael Hixon represents everything that is right with our college aged youth. And even more, what is righteous about our country.
21 comments:
Congrats!
Might add add, however, that your drone addiction is alarming. You took a picture of Amherst Farmers Supply with it! Hahaha. Well.. whatever floats your boat (or perhaps flies your drone).
Maybe a quick resurrection of the July 4th parade committee is in order.
His other event (3M Springboard) is today-
Go Michael!
You can follow the live results here:
http://tinyurl.com/z2yd93t
His parents are not here. They are at the Olympics.
And, let's celebrate a high school (ARHS) that graduated a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (Annie Baker) and an Olympic medalist in a span of just a few years!
Silver is nothing to sneeze at! Well done Hix!
shtarker: it is up to (ONLY) Ms Baker and Mr Hixon to credit the HS with their success. It is their achievement- 100%. no need to go grabbing for any of their earned celebration (shame on you).
And, let's celebrate a high school (ARHS) that graduated a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (Annie Baker) and an Olympic medalist in a span of just a few years!
And in the same time period, ARHS had two students who became outliers in the opposite direction. If you want to evaluate a school on the basis of its two best students, you have to equally evaluate it on the basis of the four WORST.
All four are outliers, statistically irrelevant outliers -- none reflective of the average ARHS student.
And a point TSLC makes is the parents -- I somehow that both the Hixons & Bakers are exemplary parents with above average SES -- *all* children are homeschooled to some extent. (At what age did Hixon learn to swim and who taught him?)
A top mind or athlete (or both) will do well no matter where they go to school. Sometimes a challenging upbringing will inspire even greater heights! But usually not. That is why a lot of educators dumb things down to reach mediocre equality!
Dr Ed
Michael knew swimming/ diving before he was born- His Mom is a diving coach.
Basketball is in his blood as well. (Dad)
Thanks 7:26 -- it very clearly makes my point about outliers. The percentage of ARHS whose mom is a diving coach is going to be several standard deviations outside of the curve. To say he represents the "average" ARHS student is simply obtuse.
None of this takes away from his merit, his effort -- or his courage in diving into that green mucky morass that allegedly is a regulation Olympic pool.
And yes, a school system can destroy natural talent and abilities -- I've seen it done and argue that having above-average ability is every much a disability as having below average (ie SPED) and dumbing down the curriculum is child abuse.
Yes, he deserves recognition, and he is an ARHS grad. But how many high school students STATEWIDE have a mom who's a diving coach? This is the problem comparing the ARSD to other districts -- how many parents have DOCTORATES compared to how many parents in other districts never even went to college at all...
I agree, Ed. That's why I don't blame UMass for you failure. You are just the outlier.
Actually, 2:33 pm, Annie Baker identifies former ARHS drama teacher John Warthen as a "huge part" of her development:
Interview with Annie Baker
ARHS has an outstanding performing arts program with a very high level of participation. Maybe Larry can go to the musical this year and take some video. 1/6 of the student body participates in the musical. There are also lots of other great productions and concerts throughout the year.
This is where the district is really making a mistake with communication. They are letting other people tell their story, so all the focus is on the adult disputes. These disputes are, for the most part, very far from the classroom.
It's so important for people to get a picture of what is happening day to day at the school. I think if 6:17pm could see student work and watch a class discussion, things wouldn't look so "dumbed down." Teachers are working their asses off reading student work and giving students feedback to help them grow. There are schools in other districts where students never even read a novel or learn how to write a paper. ARHS students come back all the time to say how much they appreciate their preparation for college.
But no one is telling that story.
I would love to see us do something really nice for him when he returns. Making the Olympic team itself is a huge accomplishment and the fact that he got a medal is amazing. I hope that Amherst stands up and does the right thing!
"Maybe Larry can go to the musical this year and take some video."
One of the students in the audio/video classes can do this.
Both of my children are working in the field- thanks to the interest and experience gained at ARHS. (and years after they graduated, I sent an email to their ARHS teacher to say Thank You)
Don't even bother countering Ed's nonsense. He doesn't live here. Her doesn't know a thing about the great teachers Amherst has had and currently has. He's just a meddler.
Annie I totally agree with you we have great teachers in this District who are working, were working under very tough circumstances of constantly changing initiatives. The Middle School teachers especially were having a really tough time with new initiatives always being instituted and trying to balance that with the way they knew their children would learn best. I think that overall these adults disputes in the long run are going to turn out best for the teachers.
While Ed may be a meddler as you put it he does have a lot of valid points even if he brings them up in ways that seem radical. If you Wade through the inappropriate language, and filter out the axe to grind and has some very good points for parents that need guidance on what the law is and how to use it to help them in tough situations.
A doctorate of education does create a lawyer. Yes, he has a lot of knowledge but he is still a barroom advocate. Or basically another nutjob with an opinion.
Most teachers are below part and always were. I can count three good teachers in my educational experience through college.
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