We are thrilled to announce that Patricia Mone won third place in the Humor category and Sabrina Lin secured second place in the Short Story category at the annual SHED Writing Awards! Both stories were created in the ECE Creative Writing class. This marks the fifth consecutive year that a student from our school has placed in the Short Story category.

Additionally, Lucian DePino (not pictured) achieved second place in Analysis for his insightful essay from Mr. Ford’s ECE Time & Place in Literature class.

We are also proud to share that Leah Pinette’s artwork was featured on the program cover!

A big congratulations to Ms. Dodds and Mr. Ford for their exceptional guidance and support!

Congratulations to North Branford Public Schools Teachers of the Year for 2024.

Lauren Palaski - District Teacher of the Year and North Branford High School Teacher of the Year.

Todd Baldassaro - North Branford Intermediate School Teacher of the Year.

Samantha Daniele - Totoket Valley Elementary School Teacher of the Year.

Lauren Miller - Jerome Harrison Elementary School Teacher of the Year.

Kiley Mullins - Valedictorian (pictured center)

Kiley is a very accomplished and involved senior at North Branford High School. She is a member of the National Honor Society and is taking several challenging courses, including UCONN ECE: Seminar in Academic Writing, SCSU ECE: Creative Writing, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Spanish and AP Psychology. During her junior year and prior, Kiley excelled in several demanding courses, including AP US History, AP Language and Composition, AP US Government, and several honors-level courses. As an accomplished student-athlete, she has been a member of the NBHS Indoor Track and Softball teams. She has also been a member of the Art Club and the Unified Circle Organization. She has volunteered in the community at several summer camps while working with intellectually disabled children. Kiley has also served as coach at the USA Elite North Branford summer clinic (softball) working with students ages 7-12. Kiley will be attending the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania as a nursing major and will be a member of the Varsity Softball Team.

Christiana Carusone - Salutatorian (pictured right)

Christiana is a very accomplished and involved senior at North Branford High School. She is a member of the National Honor Society and is taking several challenging courses, including AP Calculus, UCONN/ECE Seminar in Academic Writing, SCSU ECE: Creative Writing, Art Honors/AP, Human Anatomy and Physiology Honors, and Advanced TV/Video Production. During her junior year and prior, Christiana excelled in several demanding courses, including AP Language and Composition and several honors-level courses. She is a member of the NBHS Spanish Honor Society and has been involved with many school sponsored clubs and community organizations. Christiana is a member of the NBHS Dream Team and has provided presentations at NBIS along with volunteering for events at JHS and TVES. She is a member of the GSA, the Sign Language Club and the Student Union. Christiana has volunteered during food drives, bulk pick up and for youth spo1is events in the town of North Branford. Christiana plans on majoring in the field of education and will be attending Southern Ct State University this fall.

Sienna Brigance - Essayist (pictured left)

Sienna is a very accomplished senior at North Branford High School. She is the Treasurer of the NBHS National Honor Society and is currently taking several challenging courses including, AP Biology, AP Statistics, UCONN/ECE Seminar in Academic Writing and SCSU ECE: Time and Place in Literature. During her junior year and prior, she successfully completed AP History and several honors level courses in all disciplines. Sienna was a member of the NBHS Field Hockey Team during 2023 and volunteered at local food drives. She is an avid dancer and has performed with several dance companies. Sienna will likely attend UCONN this fall and plans on majoring in the sciences as a pre-med major.

*Each year, students are selected in recognition of their outstanding community service, academic Achievement and leadership in the school community.   This year the award winners are: *

*Totoket Valley Elementary School *

*McKayla Forsyth & Anderson Melillo *

*North Branford Intermediate School *

*Natalie Luangsay & Joshua Walston *

*North Branford High School *

*Sabrina Lin & Aidan Chittenden *

Congratulations to these outstanding students!

The North Branford Board of Education and Jerome Harrison Elementary will be presenting a virtual informational session introducing the North Branford Public Schools Preschool Program and the Family Resource Center Preschool for the school year 2024-2025. The program will be held on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 6 p.m.

In an effort to offer flexibility with challenging schedules and maximize attendance, this informational session will be offered via Google Meet*. The session will be hosted by Beth Parker, Principal, Jerome Harrison Elementary School, Sara Alberti, Director of Special Services and Ann-Marie McCarthy, Supervisor of the Family Resource Center.

If you are interested in participating, please email Lisa Biestek at lbiestek@northbranfordschools.org to register and receive the Google meet link.

The online preschool application will be made available to all in attendance at the close of the session and then will be made available to the public on Friday, January 19th, on the North Branford Board of Education Preschool webpage. Note that you must be a resident of North Branford/Northford to be eligible.

For more information about the program and to access the application, after publication, visit: http://bit.ly/jhs-preschool

All Smart Start requirements and restrictions as noted on the website apply. Applicants must be a resident of North Branford/Northford. *Google Meet is a free digital video conferencing platform.

When North Branford native Marc Daddio wasn’t playing high school sports, there’s a good chance he was drawing. Now as an adult, Daddio has made these two hobbies into a career.

Marc Daddio graduated from North Branford High School many years ago and now has his own graphic design business called Alpha Designz.

Daddio has over 400 clients, many of which are from the NFL. These include Dallas Cowboys star Ceedee Lamb and Cowboys tight end Luke Schoonmaker, who is a childhood friend from their time at Xavier High School.

The players use Alpha Designz for their social media and equipment. Daddio visited North Branford High School on Monday where he said his passion for art was born.

“Just seeing the name on the door, drawing was such an outlet for me growing up and she gave me that outlet and gave me the chance to express myself in the classroom,” Daddio said. “She knew I had really the talent. It meant everything Ms Maghini.”

Just as impressive as Daddio’s creativity and talent is his desire to give back.