McLane Law Firm Presents Seacoast Students with the
2011 Harvard Prize Book Award
September 20, 2011, Portsmouth, NH – Attorney David Wolowitz of the McLane Law Firm recently presented six outstanding area high school students with the annual Harvard Prize Book Award on behalf of the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of New Hampshire.
The Prize Book is awarded to students in the incoming senior class who combine excellence in scholarship, high character, and achievement in other fields. Students are nominated by their school’s administration.
This year’s winners are incoming seniors Devon Locke of Nute High School, Rachel Ameduri of Oyster River High School; Lydia Phoenix of Spaulding High School; Stephanie Brady of Newmarket Junior-Senior High School; Gregory Tsougranis of Portsmouth High School; and Joshua Bean of Dover High School. Tom LaBelle of Exeter High School, the seventh honoree was unable to attend the presentation. Each of the students received a copy of the book entitled, Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds.
About the Students:
Devon Locke of Nute High School is a member of the National Honors Society and National Technical Honor Society. He has participated in Nute’s drama club as both a stage tech and in one of their plays. He has participated in a vocational class at Dover High School from his sophomore through senior year, taking an engineering class. He participated in the Project SEARCH program at UNH his junior year. He attended the Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul’s School in Concord this summer, studying Artificial Intelligence. He has been a performing magician and escape artist for 15 years, performing throughout New England with his father and grandfather, and enjoys reading and playing the guitar.
Rachel Ameduri of Oyster River High School will return this fall as Secretary of the National Honor Society, as well as co captain of her cross country team. In addition to applying herself in academics, Rachel is a three season athlete, running cross country, indoor track and outdoor track since her freshmen year. Rachel is also a member of the National Spanish Honor Society and has been a co captain of her Relay for Life team, which she has participated in since her sophomore year. She has an interest in the Dentistry field and during her second semester this year she had the unique opportunity of partaking in an internship with Dentist Doctor Peterson of Dover NH. In her free time Rachel enjoys sculpting clay figurines, which she has sold in the past to raise money for the Heifer Organization, and loves to bike, hike, swim, and backpack.
Lydia Phoenix will return to Spaulding High School serving as Historian of Spaulding’s National Honor Society. She was Secretary of her Class Council and Spaulding’s Interact Club for her sophomore and junior years. She is a member of the French Honor Society, Project SEARCH, Student Senate, and Health Occupation Students of America. Lydia is a competitive gymnast at TriStar Gymnastics as well as a member of the Spaulding High School gymnastics team. She was a member of Spaulding’s spring Track and Field team and winter Cheering squad in her sophomore year. She has ranked number one in her class since freshman year. Lydia is a frequent volunteer for the Rochester Soup Kitchen and the Rochester Manor. She has traveled to Haiti twice to teach English and help at an orphanage. Her goal is to one day become a pediatric oncologist and she aspires to do mission work in her field.
Stephanie Brady of Newmarket Junior-Senior High School is a member of the National Honor Society, as well as the Vice President of her class. She is a member of the school’s Interact Club, Math Team and French Club. She has also been a member of the school band as a flautist since 4th grade. Stephanie was a recipient of the St. Michael’s Book Award, was selected as Best All-Around Junior Girl, and was recognized for excellence in Advanced Placement chemistry and Precalculus. She trains year round as a competitive figure skater with the Ice Skating Club of Exeter. This summer Stephanie also attended Granite Girls State.
Gregory Tsougranis of Portsmouth High School has served as class treasurer his sophomore through upcoming senior year. He is a Varsity Basketball player and helped his team make the state championship last year. He has also received the scholar athlete award all three years. This year, Gregory was chosen to be on the NHIAA academic honor roll. He is also on the executive board for both the Interact Community Service Club and the National Honors Society. He is involved in his school’s ‘Students 4 Students’ program in which he is a mentor to incoming freshmen. Last summer, Gregory attended a 2-week college credit program at Johns Hopkins University. He studied the history of the hospital. He has been volunteering at Portsmouth Regional Hospital since his sophomore year and he shadowed a surgeon this past summer. His experiences while volunteering at the hospital have ensured Gregory that he wants to become a doctor. He has been a member of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church for 15 years. He is also very involved with the St. Nicholas Greek School program. He has been a student for the last 13 years and he recently received the program’s academic excellence award. Gregory has been teaching Greek to younger students, and he is receiving extra foreign language credits for his commitment to the program. Gregory was also a French tutor last year at Portsmouth High School and a Math tutor at Little Harbor School. He has received many class awards for academic excellence some of which include: French 4, Psychology, Honors Precalculus, Honors Algebra 2 and French 3. In the future, Gregory would like to attend college in New England in hopes of studying Premedicine and possibly continuing his studies in foreign languages.
Joshua Bean of Dover High School has served as Class President his freshman through incoming senior year. He is an active member of the DHS Greenwave Marching Band and has been a member of the NH All-State Band for t