Revere Notes

Bath Elementary fourth-grader Gwenn Kelly was recognized by the Revere board of education for teaching sign language to her fellow students.

Kelly, the only deaf student at Bath Elementary, is adept at signing, as she demonstrated to the board by having a conversation with Rachel Vitez, who is charged with making certain that hearing impaired students aren’t left in isolation because of their disability.

“Rachel has made it her mission to teach sign language to as many fourth-graders as possible, so that they can communicate with their new best friend,” said Bath Principal Dan Fry. “Gwenn comes to school every day with a huge smile on her face and an amazing positive attitude, a mindset that she is truly going to take over the world.”

There about 215 Bath students who have been exposed to signing, according to Vitez, who added that Bath has a signing club which has had as many as 72 students at meetings.

The board honored the work of Torina White, who collects and distributes clothing and food to needy district children and performs other services for students in Bath and Richfield.

“I think Macy’s has less clothing than Torina,” said Bonnie Simonelli, the at-risk coordinator for Revere schools. “Torina doesn’t know how to say ‘no, I can’t do that’ or ‘this isn’t going to work.’ She makes it work.”

Richfield Elementary students Layla Venditti and Desmond Slusarz were recognized by the board for their qualities of leadership and friendship.

“Layla is my ultimate classroom helper,” said first-grade teacher Sandy Kahoe. “She’s my second pair of hands and she always remembers little things that might slip my mind.”

Of Slusarz, second-grade teacher Samer Rinehart said, “You can always count on him to make good choices. He’s a great role model to all his classmates.”

Revere Middle School students Henry Frederick, Myles Kelly and Jack Sturm were lauded for solving a problem.

Sunlight floods one side of the cafeteria, making the room uncomfortably warm for those in study hall. Frederick, Kelly and Sturm are addressing the problem by installing tints on 27 windows at a cost of $840.

Revere High School students Kayla Kucharski, Parisa Nosrati and Zak Streidl were singled out for their work on the Lantern, the high school online newspaper.

“I think we have a very special group this year,” said journalism teacher Alan Silvidi.

“This is an opportunity to show their world through their lens,” said Principal Andrew Peltz. ∞