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Graduates
WORCESTER — Three local students received a degree from Clark University on May 24, 2020: Christina Mary Kopacz of N. Grosvenordale, graduated cum laude with bachelor’s in biology; David J. Naumec, of Scotland, Ph.D in history; Dylan Allen Horn of Sterling, magna cum laude with bachelor’s in management.

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Meunier: The next step
Jordyn Meunier’s leg was tapping under the table incessantly on the evening of Nov. 11. She sat on stage in Putnam Science Academy’s auditorium, ready to take that next step in her basketball career — and life — and she felt the moment.
“I was very nervous,” said Meunier, a PSA senior, of her decision to sign her National Letter of Intent to play basketball next year at American University. “Not nervous about ‘did I choose the right school’ because I know American is the right place for me.  “But just that this was a big moment in my life. I’m growing up and things are getting serious. It was definitely more than I was anticipating.”
American, located in Washington, D.C., went 13-17 last year, 8-10 in the Patriot League.
Meunier, who has yet to play at PSA because the pandemic has led to cancellation of games in the first part of the season. But she’s a shooter, and will fill that role nicely for the Mustangs when the season starts up, and with the Eagles next year. She has knocked down five 3-pointers in both scrimmages the team has played as her skilled teammates can find her in the right spots for her shots.
“I was looking for a school that had a good balance of education and athletics,” said Meunier, who is from Easthampton, Mass. “It’s in a nice location. And I trusted the coaches from the start. I felt comfortable with them right away, without hesitation. I can’t wait to get down there and get started next year.”
Meunier has only been playing basketball seriously since she was a sophomore. Before that, her focus was on lacrosse. She had played a little bit of AAU hoops along the way, but not to the point where a Division I scholarship was a serious thought.
“Honestly, girls’ lacrosse isn’t very physical and I wanted something with more contact,” she said. “I’m drawn to this game now.”
 When asked to describe herself as a player and if she considers herself physical, she laughed and replied “Ehh, well, kinda sorta, I guess.”
But, said PSA coach Devin Hill, “She’s tough. She’s a shooter, so you don’t always associate that with being physical. She’s got physical toughness … conditioning, sprints, things like that, Jordyn is usually first.
“But she is a shooter. She can knock it down off the dribble, she can make it off the catch-and-shoot, she has good size and can get it over the top of smaller guards. She has confidence and can shoot it from deep. She’s what you think of when you think of a shooter. American is getting a good one for sure.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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There are often daily experiences in life which can, when you really think about it, find relevance and applicability in more meaningful social issues.
For example, one of my favorite moisturizing lotions comes in a larger pump bottle, with a rather wide-mouthed opening, comparatively speaking, to other moisturizing pump bottles.  I like the wider opening because it dispenses more lotion onto my hand, requiring fewer pumps when I use it.  What I don’t like about the pump is that the wider opening often leaves behind a small clump of lotion which builds up and becomes hard and sticky, often mixing in with the fresh lotion I pump out, hours later,  on the next application.  For anyone who uses a pump dispenser, you know exactly what I am referring to in this description of the frequent, excess, dried-up lotion glob.  Unfortunately, I have not yet found the best way in which to deal with this lotion dispensing issue…
Initially, I tried to recycle this glob and reuse it, working hard to appropriately smush and schmeer it onto my skin or hands.  Sometimes, the glob would be just soft enough to effectively mix in with the other creamy lotion, but most times, I would either have to really press or rub hard, causing a potential bruise, or I would inadvertently miss the location of the glob and think that I blended it appropriately only to discover it later at a very inopportune time.  It can be slightly embarrassing when someone points out something growing on your forearm and you have to apologize saying “Oh no. I’m fine, that’s just my lotion glob that I didn’t rub in enough.”  More frequently, however, I try to carefully remove the glob and discard it, but using (or wasting) an entire tissue to place the glob in, seems doubly wasteful, so I’ve started schmeering it onto the back of the bottle until it really hardens and then I can flick it into the trash.  Of course, this makes my lotion bottle look somewhat gross so now I just schmeer it into the trash, hoping that I can find a clean edge of a dirty tissue.  All of this effort in dealing with the extra glob of lotion is starting to stress me out as I wish I could go back to a simpler time of just pumping fresh lotion whenever I need it, effectively and efficiently getting the job of moisturizing done without a wasteful residual.  
In the end, my fatigue in trying to find use for or discard this excremental glob, forced me to seriously consider switching lotion brands; which I did; to one that is slightly more expensive but has a smaller opening; causing me to pump a bit more frequently, but, overall, use less.
Win! Win!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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Bailey: Hard work wins
Ciara Bailey wasn’t sure that signing a National Letter of Intent was actually going to happen for her. She had problems with her grades in high school and came to Putnam Science Academy as a postgrad student to pick them back up. If she didn’t, there would be no scholarship, no signing on the dotted line.
But Bailey worked hard on and off the court through the first three-plus months of the school year and raised her grades to the point where she would be qualified to play in college next year.
So when she did sign her NLI on the night of Nov. 11, officially and fully committing to Towson University of the CAA, Bailey felt a tremendous sense of pride.
“I went through a lot to get to this point,” Bailey said. “I honestly didn’t know if I would be able to get my grades to where they needed to be and if I would be able to continue playing.
“To do that, to get my grades up…when I signed that letter, it was a very big deal. Very big deal. I’m happy, I’m proud, I’m excited. I’m motivated to keep going forward with my life.”
The Tigers, who went 14-15 last year (9-9 in the CAA) and are coached by Diane Richardson, will be thrilled to have Bailey with them next year.
“Ciara is really athletic, really long, really versatile,” said PSA coach Devin Hill. “What makes her potentially special at the next level is defensively. She can guard a lot of different positions, she’s all over the court, flying all over the place. She’s a really good shot blocker, she gets in passing lanes. She’s really an impact kid just as far as physically.”
Said Bailey: “I’m an energetic player. I love to run the floor and play defense. That’s my big thing.”
She added that she chose Townson because she has a longstanding relationship with the coaching staff, which started recruiting her about a year ago.
“They were great and made me feel at home right away,” she said. “Everyone there was very welcoming. I fell in love with it, honestly. I felt like I was where I belonged. I worked for this, and now I can’t wait to get started with them.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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