Eleven graduating seniors from Lyme-Old Lyme High School were honored by the Old Lyme Open Space Commission on April 19th for their volunteer work on town conserved land.
   Each student lent a hand on town stewardship projects over their four years at LOLHS, from their freshman through senior year, via the school’s Environmental/Community Service Club.
  The students received certificates signed by First Selectman Tim Griswold and Asst. Principal Jeanne Manfredi, as well as Open Space T-shirts.
The Commission also recognized Environmental Club advisor and faculty member Heather Fried who supervised the students’ site work.
    Nine students, Ms. Fried and Open Space Commission members are shown in the photo.
  Student volunteers recognized were Elsie Arafeh-Hudson, Callie Bass, Livie Bass, Jaimie Bucior, William Danes, Alexis Fenton, Willa Hoerauf, Monique Lavoie, Madeleine Morgado, Lyla Powers and Samantha Tan.
 The club’s work included clearing invasive plant growth, building bridges along trails, spreading mulch around the Barbizon Oak, and clearing sites in Ames Open Space for two viewing areas. The latter were created along a section of the Black Hall River [also called Bucky Brook] so hikers might spend time watching beavers, herons, egrets, wood ducks and other animals while in the nature.
   Other young volunteers assisting the Open Space Commission included college interns who spent last summer working on the town’s Ferry Landing Wildlife Refuge, and high school students who worked with raw wildlife video footage to edit and fashion videos now posted on the town YouTube channel.
   The Commission expects to employ a college intern again this summer and a high school student to complete additional video editing.
   All the students’ contributions are sincerely appreciated by the Commission. As important, the Open Space Commission hopes that these young citizens will find their time spent working in nature to be an inspiration leading to their future involvement as stewards responsible for protecting and preserving Old Lyme’s natural beauty and heritage.

Mary Surprenant and Billy Barry were awarded the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents’ (CAPSS) Superintendent/Student Recognition Award for leadership and service to the school, academic prowess, and service to others in the community. The ceremony held on Monday April 25th at Water's Edge Resort.

A big thumbs up was given by the Accounting class to Ms. Macione's class on their new entrepreneurial venture which will be open 2 more times, 8:30-9 a.m., Period 1, Friday May 5 and 19, to LOLHS staff.  The Accounting class went to check out their process and found The Morning Grind is doing everything by the books and doing a splendid job. Kudos to The Morning Grind 

Cars make their way around the track during the Electrathon car competition at Lime Rock Park in Salisbury Friday. The statewide competition is for high school students, who have to build a small electric-powered race car from scratch, keeping to certain size and battery restrictions, and then compete against each other to see who can go the longest around a race track at Lime Rock in an hour. To see more images of the day and a video of the race, select the image above.

Wednesday morning, the Rotary Club honored our two students representing World Languages and Fine Arts. Willa Hoerauf and Grace Phaneuf from LOLHS, along with students from Old Saybrook and Westbrook, were commended for their excellence in their respective subjects. Congratulations once again to Willa and Grace for their outstanding efforts.

Thursday evening was the opening day for the 37th Annual LYSB Youth Art Show featuring work from all of the artists form our district! It is quite an impressive collection. Every year I meander through and am so impressed with what I see.  This year, once again, I am reminded of what makes Lyme-Old Lyme such a special district. There is a wealth of talent in our schools and we are so fortunate to have a faculty who has been building these artistic skills of your youth. And to top it off,  the incredible support from the community at large! A special thanks to LYSB and the The Lyme Art Academy.

If you have not had a chance to visit, the display will be available this Saturday and next from 10am to 4pm. It is worth a visit!

​LOLHS Unified Sports Team participated in a pottery class this week at Earth and Fire in Old Saybrook! Athletes used molds to create, stencil, and stamp their own pieces of pottery. Huge shoutout to Julie Bonilla and her assistant Robin for helping us create such beautiful pieces! If you are interested in joining Unified Sports - please see Ms Corah in room 128. The team meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-3:30 through the month of May!

The following students were recognized on Wednesday morning during the Community Service and Environmental Club meeting to commend them for their volunteer work on the Old Lyme Open Space from 2019 to 2023.

The video below was created by Mr. Eckhart in an effort to share how co-curricular activities impact a student's life... especially students who are new to our district. The video is an interview of sorts with four students who have moved from out of state or are currently here for a year with an exchange program.  Take a look... really great unsolicited feedback about LOLHS.

Mrs. Lefevre, Mrs. Burke and Mr. Allik  led a group of students through France and Germany. They returned safe and sound on Friday. Take a look at the photos...looks like they had a wonderful trip!

On Wednesday evening at the BOE Meeting, Sarah Hylas introduced many members of the LOLHS Mock Trial team who won the State Competition and who will be participating in the National Mock Trial  Competition in mid-May. Mrs. Hylas explained that they will be competing along with 48 other state teams. The case the will be learning and presenting: A murder trial - murder at a BOE meeting.

Wednesday was a busy day for our some of our LOLHS students. In the morning at 9 am, the National Honor Society inducted 45 new members. Then at 7 pm, the induction ceremonies continued as the Spanish National Honor Society welcomed in 44 new members. 

By Anna Davis, Captain of Robotics Team 236​
At the most recent robotics competition at Hartford Public High School, the Techno Ticks ranked 18/40 teams and the team was selected to play in the finals. We were eliminated in the semi finals after our alliance partner's robot broke. Our robot was able to carry the alliance to victory in the quarterfinals but unfortunately, we needed all three robots functional to win the next match, leading to our elimination in the semifinals. Below is the video of our successful finals match.
We also won the team spirit award which can be seen in the pictures, largely thanks to the work of Quinn Williams who put together an amazing pit for our competition and was an excellent ambassador for the team. Sadly, our 25th season has now concluded as we did not qualify for the next level, but the team had a ton of fun along the way and we will have a dinner celebration soon where we will invite alumni to return to celebrate with us.