Attorney David Wolowitz of McLane Middleton, Professional Association recently presented the annual Harvard Prize Book Award on behalf of the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of New Hampshire to outstanding students from Seacoast high schools.
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 selected by their school’s administration.
This year’s winners are incoming seniors; Collin Else of Dover High School, Thomas Richards of Nute High School; Jenna Marston of Exeter High School, Melanie Carolan of Portsmouth High School; Kyle James of Newmarket Junior-Senior High School; Paisley Garland of Spaulding High School; and Daniel Judge of Oyster River High School. Each of the students received a copy of the book entitled, Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds.
About the Students:
Collin Else is entering his senior year at Dover High School as the president and a top ranked student of his class. In addition to the book prize, he was awarded the Bausch + Lomb Honorary Science Award and the Jae S. Lim Foundation Science Prize, both granted for excellence in high school science. Collin has dedicated countless hours to his school’s music department as the drum major of the marching band, and a member of the concert, jazz, and pit ensembles. He is an active member of his school’s National Honor Society, student ambassador program, and men’s tennis team. Over the summer, Collin completed an internship in the department of Molecular, Cellular, and Biomedical Sciences at UNH. He is also a volunteer in the emergency room at Frisbie Memorial Hospital. He hopes to pursue a career in medicine.
Thomas Richards of Nute High School is a member of National Honor Society and has served as a student Senate member for the past three years. Thomas has been a member of the Granite State Challenge team past three years and recently attended the NCAA Leadership Conference in Bretton Woods. He has been vice president of his class at Nute for two years. On the field, he has played Varsity soccer for three years, acting as team captain for the last two years. Like Collin, Thomas hopes to also pursue a career in medicine. As a volunteer at Frisbie Memorial Hospital, he shadows physicians. Currently, Thomas works at Poor People’s Pub in Sanbornville, is an active member of his church and youth group, and in his spare time, he enjoys exercising and traveling.
Jenna Marston is returning to Exeter High School in the top decile of her class. She participated in student senate her freshman and sophomore year of high school. She also participated in indoor track and field for two years and softball for all three years. She is a member of both the National Honors Society and the National Spanish Honors Society. At the end of her sophomore year, Jenna was awarded the only Social Studies Writing award available to sophomore students.
An avid horse lover, Jenna has been riding since the age of three, and she competes on the hunter/jumper circuit on a horse she trained herself. Jenna has represented New Hampshire 4-H at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Round-Up on the Quiz Bowl team and will be returning again this year on the Hippology team, demonstrating her breadth of knowledge and understanding of equine science and husbandry in a competitive environment.
Jenna is currently serving her third term as the president of her 4-H chapter, and will be representing NH in the National Conference of the Future Farmers of America this fall. The FFA is an intracurricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership.
Melanie Carolan of Portsmouth High School is one of the presidents of the school’s Environmental Change Organization. Her club recently won a $2,000 prize to build a living classroom. She also participated in the 2017 New Hampshire Social Venture Innovation Challenge.
Melanie is a member of Epitome Club, PHS’ literary magazine. She also recently joined PHS’ Science and Engineering Club, in hopes of studying solar flares, in addition to having tested the “5 Second Rule” using agar plates.
An avid musician, Melanie has played the violin since 2013. In 2015, she was chosen to perform “The Star Spangled Banner” at a Manchester Fisher Cats game. She also plays the harp, piano, ukulele, kit violin, and steel tongue drum. Also, an artist, Melanie was Copic Certified in April of 2017.
Kyle James served as president of the Junior class at Newmarket Junior-Senior High School. He plays on both the varsity soccer team and the varsity basketball team, and enjoys hiking and computer programming in his spare time. Kyle is taking part in Project SEARCH. He ranks at the top of his class academically and works part-time in the hospitality industry.
Paisley Garland and Daniel Judge were also awarded.
About the Award:
The national Harvard Prize Book Award program encourages Harvard alumni to conduct outreach to their local schools, to give students who may consider applying to Harvard a local contact and role model.
David Wolowitz, a Director at McLane Middleton’s Portsmouth Office, was the first to introduce the program to Seacoast schools, where he has been honoring students for more than thirty years.
“This award recognizes students not just for their academic accomplishments, but for their acts of responsible citizenship and positive contributions to their communities,” comments David Wolowitz.
Comprehensive information about Harvard admissions and financial aid may be found at http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu. The College website may be found at http://www.college.harvard.edu.