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!

(Photo courtesy of Salman Yonis)

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, knowledgeableand 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 Athenaeum 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.

If you’d like to help carry on the Dr. Christopher Saheed & Stephen Z. Nonack Future Educators Scholarship, please visit this donation page>>.

The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) Class of 2020 graduated remotely with an online ceremony on Thursday, June 11.  For the 14^th consecutive year, Friends of CRLS sponsored the Faculty Distinction Awards, helping each graduating class honor four of the teachers and staff members who had the most meaningful influences on their high school years.  Awardees received their framed certificates, which recognized them for inspiring students, building relationships, exemplifying dedication and more, by mail earlier in the week.

Congratulations and Thank You to the 2020 Faculty Distinction Awardees:

Janira Arocho has been a biology teacher for 26 years, sixteen of which she spent teaching in Boston, at English High School, Boston International High School and the Winsor School.  She has taught at CRLS for ten years, where she currently teaches AP Biology and Sheltered English Instruction (SEI) Biology.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Wellesley College, where she double-majored in Biological Sciences and Spanish Literature, and also holds a Master’s Degree in Education with a concentration in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. In her class, Ms. Arocho strives to create an atmosphere where students are challenged yet receive support, learn how to cultivate analytical skills and make connections between seemingly unrelated topics. She is energized by her students’ love of science and finds inspiration in her students, especially those who show incredible resilience in the face of what may seem like insurmountable obstacles. 

Dionne Campbell is a Cambridge native.  She graduated from Ripon College in Wisconsin, receiving her Bachelor”‹ “‹of Arts Degree in History.  Mrs. Campbell completed a graduate degree at Tufts University, receiving a Master of Arts in Teaching.  Her teaching career began at the Longfellow Elementary School; and after one year, she accepted a position at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in the History Department.  Mrs. Campbell became a James Conant Fellowship recipient and earned her Ed.M. at Harvard Graduate School of Education. During her tenure, she has held positions as co-coach for the CRLS Basketball Cheerleading Team, co-advisor to the Junior class, advisor to the Senior class and advisor to the Black Student Union. Currently, she is the advisor to the K-Pop Club and volunteers at the Salvation Army. Mrs. Campbell has been married to Devon Campbell for 25 years, and they are parents to four children.

Christopher Montero has been teaching introductory and AP U.S. History courses at CRLS since 2017. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Vassar College in 2011 and a Master of Law in Criminal Justice and Human Rights from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2012. In 2019, he and other educators launched a pathway program for young people of color interested in a career in education through a new course and internship program called “Our Schools: Sites of Liberation or Oppression?” He is also a co-chair of the Latinx Educator Resource Group, the advisor to the student Latinx Club and a co-advisor to the #HerVote Club dedicated to expanding political participation among women.  Chris loves teaching in a diverse community with brilliant young people and learning about the great City of Cambridge through local history projects on housing and civic activism.  He wishes the Class of 2020 had been able to celebrate their accomplishments in grand style but has great faith that our world will be better for having them take another step forward in leading it through these historic times. 

Brendon Snyder decided that he was going to be an English teacher when he was 12 years old.  Following that path, he spent the bulk of the last 20 years teaching in different urban, suburban, and rural systems before finding his way to CRLS in the fall of 2016. Throughout his first four years at the high school, he has taught Sophomore English, Junior English, Psychology and Literature, Immersion Journalism and Examining the Works of Alfred Hitchcock. He fundamentally believes that teaching literature should facilitate the exchange of ideas, using the voices of different authors to push our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.  He hopes the study of literature will help his students find their own moral base as they learn about the nature of both society and the self.  He is very thankful to have had the pleasure to meet so many wonderful students throughout his time in the classroom.

Friends of CRLS is a 501c3 nonprofit that supports opportunities for students, graduates, and faculty of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.  Learn more about Friends of CRLS at focrls.org. 

Friends of CRLS is thrilled to welcome Alem, our media & research assistant this summer, courtesy of the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP). She has been researching ways we can energize our fundraising efforts and will be posting on our social media and website.

We asked Alem to tell us about herself:

“My name is Alem Abraham Cherinet and I am a rising sophomore at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. My favorite subject in school is math, because I just love solving problems especially the ones that have to do with numbers. I also play volleyball at the school and on my free time. When I grow up I want to become a Cardiovascular Nurse Practitioner, and my dream college is UMass Boston. I’m very delighted to have been picked to work with FOCRLS, and I have had a great experience so far!” 

Alem has already contributed to the smooth running of our organization, and we know she’ll boost our productivity.

Deadline for Proposals:  Monday, October 28, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.

Friends of CRLS is seeking proposals from teachers, administrators, librarians, guidance counselors, social workers, and advisers of CRLS/RSTA/HSEP classes, programs, and clubs for projects and experiences with an academic (including artistic and cultural) and/or social development focus.

Faculty Innovation Grants (up to $1,000 each) are ways to energize learning for students beyond the classroom curriculum by enhancing academic exploration, community building, social development, and appreciation of the many arts and cultures at CRLS/RSTA/HSEP.  Visits from accomplished guests, class field trips, special events, performances, group creations, and service learning are among the kinds of projects and experiences Faculty Innovation Grants can fund. 

Please see your CRLS Gmail or the DYK to get the link to the proposal Google Form. If you have difficulty with the form or have any questions about the grants or process, please contact us at info.focrls@gmail.com or 857-235-9290 (ext. 9290 within CRLS) or visit us in CRLS Room 2136.