The LHS PTO funds mini-grants that are proposed by innovative LHS educators (from across all subjects and all departments) to enhance the education and general well-being of students. These funds are made possible through YOUR generous donations during the LHS PTO membership drive when you select to make an optional donation to the “Teacher Grants”. We sincerely appreciate your generosity and extra effort to make a positive impact for teachers and students.

“I would like to express our warm gratitude to the LHS PTO for funding and helping to purchase a large set of equipment for our physics labs and demonstrations. We now have several large and small metal buckets for our Bungee Jump lab and circular motion demonstrations, a set of new metal chains for our Heavy Rope Atwood machine lab, 22 new Nerf guns with extra refill darts for the Muzzle Velocity lab, and several additional balancing birds for center of mass demonstrations. “

Valya Sountsova

Physics Teacher at LHS

Samantha Lowe was awarded $1000 to purchase 35mm SLR cameras to allow for equitable access to her photography courses.  This way students’ families aren’t burdened with the purchase of a camera just for the class, and they can all work on class projects at the same time.  The seniors recently participated in their annual art show reception, and were proud to showcase their developing photography skills!

Jessica Khamarji used their $700 mini-grant award to purchase paint and supplies for collaborative mural projects for the Mural Crew Club, both beautifying the school campus and fostering friendship and creativity through this group art opportunity.   Just one of these murals takes several hundred total 'person hours', spread out over a few weeks of painting multiple days a week, and that’s after the collective brainstorming, designing, revising and voting just to decide what to paint.  They would like to thank the PTO for their support of the Mural Crew, adding “while most visual art is done alone, it is an incredible experience to contribute to a creative feat greater than yourself.”  You can see more of their work on their club Instagram account, @lhsmuralcrew. The first mural of a seascape with octopus was designed by freshman, Katie Yang, and painted in December in the LHS science building.   The second mural was designed by sophomore, Shreya Kanaujia, upstairs in the science building, and it features a collision of different aspects of science taught there. 

Becca Malouf, DLP teacher, and Jen Wolcott, Transition Counselor, worked together to develop a new collaborative iblock, called “Collaborative Recreation”, to foster relationships between students receiving special education services and their general education peers.  It is designed to allow for exploration of leisure and recreational skills related to sports, arts and music.  This PTO $450 mini-grant was used to purchase musical instruments for students to use, including a keyboard, multiple ukuleles, hand drums, tambourines, maracas, drumsticks and storage tubs. 

Jessica Welch and Thomas Buckley requested and were granted two annual subscriptions for Study.com ($650) for access to curriculum support for their resource students.  They plan to utilize what they learn on this platform as information to share during their PLC team collaboration time.  So far, the 10th grade liaisons have been using Study.com to supplement their understanding of biology in order to better break down concepts to students when they complete their Biology Study Guides and Reading Guides. Many liaisons have also taken the Study.com courses on supporting Executive Functioning needs and have shared information with general education teachers about how to make changes in the general education classroom to best support EF needs. Additionally, new knowledge from Study.com videos on Similar Triangles and Triangle proofs have helped a group of students study for an exam on Similar Triangles, and two of the students received their highest math exam score so far this year!

Josh Sideman, a Physical Education and Adapted Physical Education teacher, was awarded $500 to fund a field trip for his Collaborative PE class to Kimball Farms.  This will allow 40 students 10 students from ILP 3/DLP and 30 peer assistants to play 18 holes of mini-golf and get a kiddie ice cream cone.  Mr. Sideman’s Collaborative PE is a course that provides students with varying ability levels and backgrounds an opportunity to work cooperatively to participate in games, sports, leadership, fitness and wellness activities. This class emphasizes the cognitive, affective and psychomotor growth of all participants. Engaging in physical activities alongside peers with and without different abilities helps foster relationships and create an inclusive environment.  This year we have practiced playing golf a few times and plan to apply our skills to a setting outside of the gymnasium. 

Ms. Legge from the science department is getting great use from the wireless digital microscopes the PTO funded in the fall of 2021 through our mini-grants program. The photos are of LHS students using them as a part of a flower dissection project in AP Biology. Grant was for $450

PTO funded Ms. West a set of textbooks available for students to use in school for the Contemporary Applied Math class. Contemporary Applied Math is a 12th grade elective math class offered at the CP and Honors level. The grant was for $350.

PTO funded White Cyclorama for Stage at LHS auditorium. According to Mr. Cassedy “the Cyc (white transparent background drop cloth) we currently have at LHS is dirty, stained, ripped, and doesn’t have a pipe channel along the bottom. The new one would hang properly and having already upgraded our strip lighting (which illuminates the cyc), we should have proper fabric hanging to show off those lights for our productions as well as school events and presentations.” The grant was for $1560. Here are some pictures of it from the musical! Mr. Diperna said “It feels wonderful to finally have one that is wrinkle free with no rips or stains!”

PTO funded $250 to Ms. Liu in the mandarin program. Goal of this grant is to give the students in the mandarin program a hands' on experience on making some traditional food items that have been used in holidays for thousands of years. She plans to use the materials next year during her class sessions.

Ms. Nicholes received a grant for $1000 to provide community service opportunities to students. Projects would be completed during I block and other free periods. To date they have completed: 

Camp Wildflower: They provided 150 cards to the campers at Camp Wildflower. Camp Wildflower caters to kids who have lost a parent. The LHS students created cards for the campers which were included in the campers’ welcome bags. LHS students also donated sunscreen, bug spray and flashlights to be included in the bags.

Meals on Wheels: They have 150 placemats ready to be shipped to Meals on Wheels in Waltham. Meals on Wheels distributes the placemats to their 150 clients a day. For most clients, this is the only hot meal and the only human contact they get per day. 

Freshman Class Seminars: They are ready to get started on prepping for freshman class (YOG 2026) seminars which begin in the Fall of 2022.  

Graduating seniors: As of May 31, 2022: Of the 572 students graduating from LHS, 542 completed a minimum of 40 hours of community service.   The remaining students' service was waived for extenuating circumstances. 

Mr. Perrotti and Mr. Salgado received a grant for $ 580 for therapy dog training! After seeing the success with Flynn, they would like to certify their dogs as therapy dogs so they can be available at LHS in counseling/dean pod consistently. Here is a picture of Pico who is training to be a therapy dog.

Ms. Borges received a small grant for $32 to purchase a Section 504 Guidance/Best Practice Book.