FOCRLS CRLS Parents Welcome Party Tuesday, November 10th 7:00-8:00 PM Please R.S.V.P. with your name and your child’s grade to info@focrls.org Zoom info to follow
Dear CRLS Parents and Caregivers,
In these times when it is so hard to connect, this will be your chance to meet other CRLS parents and share experiences, joys, and concerns.
We’ll open with a Welcome Session and then have class-by-class Breakout Rooms, giving you an opportunity to connect with others.
We look forward to seeing you (on our computer screens)!
We hope you’ll read, enjoy, and be inspired by the content that we’ve collected in our new annual report to remind you that by donating to Friends of CRLS you’re investing in the future – not just these students’ futures, but in the future for all of us.
Highlights:
Photos and quotations from many of our Class of 2020 scholarship awardees who are now starting their first year in college. See their rosy faces and read their own words about their plans, how scholarships bring their goals closer, and their thanks for your support.
Thank You to Salman, our youth from the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP). He’s been gathering interviews with our 2020 scholarship awardees and Bash event sponsors. Being able to share the impact that college scholarships make in students’ lives and some of the reasons sponsors decide to support Friends of CRLS’s programs will help us raise funds for future College Scholarships, Faculty Innovation Grants, and Student Travel Fellowships.
Here’s a bit about him:
“My name is Salman, and I am a rising junior at the Belmont Hill School. My favorite sport is soccer and I have been playing competitively for about 10 years now. I am from Cambridge and attended VLUS for middle school and went to the Haggerty School for elementary school. I am very excited to be working with Friends of CRLS this summer!”
Enjoy the rest of summer, Salman, and have a great junior year!
Friends of Cambridge Rindge & Latin School (FOCRLS) would like to share with the community an appreciation of Christopher Saheed, who was a key collaborator in forming our organization. As the high school’s principal at the time, he provided invaluable advice and encouragement to Elaine Schear and Donna Spiegelman, the two CRLS parents who founded our non-profit in 2006 to support opportunities for students, graduates, and faculty. “Although we were brand new CRLS parents when we approached Dr. Saheed about starting a non-profit, he didn’t flinch. He even made sure FOCRLS had an office at the school,” said Dr. Schear. “We soon were offering grants to faculty for innovative projects – his idea for how to support a range of students and faculty and become visible at the school. This was Chris: purposeful, down-to-earth, supportive.” Since 2007, FOCRLS has awarded Faculty Innovation Grants, each up to $1,000, to hundreds of teachers, club advisers, counselors, librarians, social workers, and administrators for projects expanding the curriculum beyond the normal budget.
Dr. Saheed, who held degrees from Tufts University, Suffolk University, and Harvard University, retired from CRLS in 2011 and then moved to Florida. He succumbed to pancreatic cancer on June 25, 2020, after a three-year battle.
When FOCRLS reached out to James Maloney, Chief Operating Officer of the District (Cambridge Public Schools), for a memory about Dr. Saheed, he responded, “I had the good fortune of working closely with Chris during his years as the principal of CRLS on the renovation of the high school. I was struck by his calm, knowledgeable and caring demeanor. All of the buildings on the campus today reflect his vision for the school. In many ways the high school campus is a living memorial to his passion for the students of Cambridge. He was a tremendous leader.”
In honor of Dr. Saheed’s retirement and with the generosity of an anonymous benefactor, FOCRLS established a scholarship. Since 2012, FOCRLS has awarded these scholarships to ease college costs for academically and financially qualified CRLS seniors planning to pursue careers in the field of education.
Around the time of his diagnosis, Dr. Saheed contributed $5,000 to the fund, becoming the sponsor of the annual scholarship from 2018 through 2022. Several of Dr. Saheed’s friends donated in his memory, some providing moving tributes.
Ed Hashek and John Jors said, “Christopher and his husband Stephen Nonack have been our best friends for a number of years. He will be truly missed – such a generous, intelligent, and caring person.”
“Dr. Saheed was a gentle, inspiring educator, and an exceptional human being,” said friend Patrick Ladden, an educator and museum director. “It took many months before he disclosed his own background and education achievements, as he mostly was enthusiastic to talk about CRLS, not himself.”
Dr. Saheed shared 43 of his 67 years with Stephen Z. Nonack, who also studied at Tufts University ⎼ where the two met in 1973 before making their relationship permanent in 1977 ⎼ as well as Simmons University and UMass Boston, and built his career at the Boston Athenæum as an archivist and librarian. Before Mr. Nonack passed away in December 2024, he made financial arrangements for FOCRLS to be able to continue to present the scholarship for many years to come. In appreciation, FOCRLS renamed the scholarship, now called the Dr. Christopher Saheed & Stephen Z. Nonack Future Educators Scholarship.
To help carry on the Dr. Christopher Saheed & Stephen Z. Nonack Future Educators Scholarship, please visit this donation page>>.
Congratulations and Thank You to Jahmaya, our Class of 2020 awardee of the Patrick Ewing Scholarship!
“I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to you for making the Patrick Ewing Scholarship possible. I was thrilled to learn of my selection for this honor and I am deeply appreciative of your support.
The college I am attending is Allegheny College, where I will be majoring in criminal justice and minoring in political science. One day I hope to become a judge.
I would like to thank you once again for selecting me for the scholarship and I vow to make use of the money in college by maintaining good grades in college. By awarding me the Patrick Ewing Scholarship, you have lightened my financial burden which allows me to focus more on the most important aspect of school, learning. Your generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the community. I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.”
Congratulations and Thank You to Ralph, CRLS Class of 2020 awardee of the Mary Frances Monti Scholarship!
“Next school year I plan to pursue a Bachelor of Science in software engineering — at George Washington University — with emphasis on application development and artificial intelligence. With this education, I will be able to enter a profession that will continue to shape our society as the years go by. After I have enough on-the-job training and knowledge about the marketing aspects of a company, I plan on developing my own mobile application. My focus is to use my acquired knowledge of artificial intelligence and application development to create an app that uses augmented reality to improve the lives of others. I have a clear picture of where I will be in the next 10 years, and I know through higher education I will be better set up to get there.”
Congratulations and Thank You to Sabira, awardee of a CRLS Core Values Scholarship! Sabira exemplifies Opportunity, Diversity, Respect. She’s enrolled at Bates College, where she’ll be studying psychology and art. She’ll use one or both of her passions in a career to help young people overcome obstacles in their lives.
Sabira wrote to us, “I am incredibly grateful and honored to be a CRLS Core Values Scholarship recipient. Thank you for your belief in my abilities and recognition of my hard work. This scholarship has considerably lessened the financial burden in the pursuit of my higher education and will help ensure my success. I sincerely appreciate your support and cannot thank you enough.”
Congratulations and Thank You to Andy, our multitalented* Class of 2020 awardee of the “100 by 100” Cambridge Business Community STEAM Scholarship for the Arts!
*acting, singing, dancing, choreography, digital art, fashion and jewelry design, photography, and more
Andy wrote to us, “Thank you so much for the “100 by 100″ Cambridge Business Community STEAM Award for the Arts. I feel honored to be selected from the hundreds of students at CRLS and I cannot describe how grateful I am. This scholarship was essential to help finance my journey at Columbia College Chicago for graphic design and without your generous donation, it wouldn’t have been possible. I appreciate you taking time to read my essays and acknowledge all my work at CRLS. I cannot express how blessed I feel to have donors who appreciate my artistic work and wanna see me succeed in college and I will make sure I do exactly that.”
Congratulations and Thank You to Mattingly, an aspiring filmmaker and recent CRLS graduate to whom we’ve awarded a CRLS Core Values Scholarship for her exceptional representation of Opportunity, Diversity, Respect.
“I want to express a massive thank you for choosing me for the CRLS Core Values Scholarship. I am honored to be one of the four students chosen for this scholarship and I cannot thank you enough. You will help me fund my education at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and I am so incredibly thankful!”
Jose, nominated by his guidance counselor Stephanie Richards, is a CRLS Class of 2020 Charlene Holmes Memorial Awardee
Congratulations and Thank You to Jose, a CRLS Class of 2020 Charlene Holmes Memorial Awardee! Jose was nominated by his guidance counselor, Stephanie Richards, who summarized, “Compassionate and conscientious, Jose’s concern for the well-being of others transcends through all daily activities.”
We received a heartfelt thank you email from Jose — who will be starting at Union College in the fall — in which he wrote, “By awarding me with this scholarship not only have you lightened up some of my financial burdens but you have gone on to show me that treating others with care, respect, and generosity can go a long way no matter the setting or situation. I guarantee that I will continue to carry on the values that represent this award and that, hopefully, I spread this attitude and lifestyle to others.”
Charlene Holmes, a member of the CRLS Class of 2014, well-known and appreciated by peers and faculty alike, was killed by gunshot on a Cambridge street in June 2012. These awards are presented to graduating seniors nominated by CRLS faculty and staff members for exemplifying Charlene’s spirit of generosity and caring toward their fellow students, along with the pursuit of their own dreams of higher education and professional careers.
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