On September 7, a celebration of Colonels brought Ledyard High School together for the first time this school year. Blue and White day organized by school administrators and staff recognizes students’ achievements, student leaders, different clubs, and athletic teams. This year there were many achievements that span from anything like a unique job opportunity or community service to academic achievements. One very impressive achievement by a fellow Colonel was by senior Zach Anderson, who earned a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the SAT. This means every answer on the math section was correct, which is extremely hard to do. Anderson felt “pretty comfortable during most of the SAT”, although, he was held up with a “few math questions that didn’t immediately click.” But Anderson was able to work through them. He did very well on the SAT overall and feels “quite proud of myself for getting a perfect score, but I wish I did better. I’m not a perfectionist, but when things are incredibly almost perfect, then I get a little mad. Still, one question wrong is nothing to complain about.”

Along with Zach Anderson, plenty of other Colonels did amazing things. For example, seniors Riley Colgan, Adam Crawford, and Cole DiRico, all are designated as AP Scholars for their performance on AP tests last spring. Seniors Cassidy Carroll and Bryce Gubbs were given six-week internships at Electric Boat, where they worked nearly 300 hours in their field. At opposite ends of the spectrum, senior Ben Vajdos and freshman Max Calhoun helped others, where Calhoun spent two weeks as a teen leader at 4-H camp, and Vajdos spent nine weeks at Camp Calumet in New Hampshire, working closely with both able-bodied and special needs campers, young and old. Seniors Abby Campbell, Brooke Carrender, and Kaitlyn Startz, all traveled to Pennsylvania this summer on a mission trip sponsored by Heroes Helping Heroes, where they worked to help improve housing for those less fortunate. Senior Katie Desormier spent the last three summers racking up over 200 volunteer hours at Backus Hospital in their Bridge Program. Senior Emma Calhoun, attended the National Student Leadership Conference for medicine in Washington, DC while senior Erin Healy participated in the week-long CONCORA Summer Festival. Also, sophomore Makayla O’Connor participated in the show All Shook Up with East Lyme Regional Theater. Senior Nadia Opalenik has been a member of the Sea Cadets for three years, and this summer she participated in their intensive summer course. Senior Mikayla Fors has spent much of the past decade working to earn her Gold Award, the highest honor in Girl Scouts. Senior Emma Chin represented LHS at the Connecticut HOBY Leadership Seminar and the Congress of Future Medical Leaders. Senior Sara Tomis and her sheep, Trinket won Champion Romney Ewe at the North Stonington Fair, and senior Rosie O’Gara took 1st place for Dairy Showmanship at the Lebanon Fair. Junior Salena McCloud is now the topped ranked junior handler in the entire country for her dog breed and is the #18 overall junior handler in the nation.

Keep up the great work, Colonels!

Cassidy Carroll, Co-Editor of the Colonel and Horizons

Senior Cassidy Carroll is a co-editor for the 2018-2019 Colonel newspaper and Horizons yearbook. She participates in varsity cross country, lacrosse, and track for LHS, while also being a member of NAHS. Outside of Ledyard, she’s often taking part in daring adventures…but she didn’t share any.