Housatonic seniors reach for the stars and earn spots at elite institutions

FALLS VILLAGE — Having Princeton as your backup school when applying to college is an indication of the caliber of students graduating from Housatonic Valley Regional High School next month.

Such is the case with Elinor Wolgemuth of Salisbury, who was accepted at the New Jersey Ivy League university, but decided to go with her first choice of the Brown University/Rhode Island School of Design Dual Program in Providence. A very select group, which numbers 15 out of the 900 applicants nationwide, are given a combined five years of studying art at RISD and an academic major at Brown. Wolgemuth will be enrolled in illustration and anthropology.

Gaining early acceptance at Princeton in November and the dual program in March, Wolgemuth explained students need to be admitted to both Brown and RISD before their application is reviewed for the program by a separate committee. “It has been described as one of the most difficult programs to get into in the world. While it was a challenging decision to make, I ended up choosing it when I attended the admitted students day in April. I realized I felt more at home in Providence and that I needed to be among a range of artistic and intellectual people.”

Sitting down with Principal Ian Strever to go over the list of college destinations, the school leader said what jumped out at him was the diversity of locations the schools represent. Some are the standard choices that are often the destination of graduates, such as the University of Vermont, UConn, University of New Hampshire and state schools, but this year the teens are headed out to such institutions of higher learning as University of Hawaii, Santa Clara University, Missouri State University and University of North Carolina, among many others. The focus on combining two interests without having to prioritize one over the other was what drew me to the curriculum.

Strever said this year’s class is made up of highly motivated students. “There is a culture of academics and aspirations,” he said. “They spur each other on without being overly competitive. And they’re some of the nicest kids.”

Strever added that many of them are civic minded and enjoy participating in activities that benefit others. They also had the benefit of smooth high school years, since the restrictions imposed by COVID were over when they were freshmen.

Strever commented on the legacy found in the small high school. “One of the first questions I ask each year is who has parents or grandparents who attended this school and there’s always at least one hand raised.”

Tess Marks of Salisbury will be attending Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where she will major in the theater, dance and performance studies. The class salutatorian, she has performed in all the school’s musical productions during her time at Housatonic. She said she was drawn to the Tufts program by seeing its professors are working actors themselves and there are a variety of shows that are both professor- and student-directed.

“The welcoming and positive attitudes of the student body were examples of the overall atmosphere of the institution,” Marks said. “I can clearly visualize myself thriving in the community, taking advantage of all that the location, programs, and people have to offer.”

Lola Moerschell of Kent will be heading to Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, this fall. She chose the school for its strong STEM program, undergraduate research opportunities and inclusive environment, “all of which are aspects of college that are important to me,” Moerschell said. “I believe the tight-knit and supportive community at Housy has taught me about the importance of time management, hard work and the value of learning from your peers.” She will be majoring in biology, pre-health track.

Following in the footsteps of two of his siblings, Manasseh Matsudaira of Cornwall will be enrolling in Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at summer’s end to pursue studies in energy economics. He said he appreciated the diversity of the student body and the teachers “who prepared me to be appropriately ready for the next step.”

Among the other colleges and universities Housatonic students will be attending in the fall are: Cornell University, New York University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Savannah College of Art and Design, Syracuse University and George Washington University.

Strever also talked about the five students who graduated in January and immediately stepped into jobs. “We’re not just preparing everyone for college,” he said, “but for entrepreneurship as well. Some students have had internships, getting to dabble in different fields to see whether there is something they really want as a career or for parttime activity.” Several others will be attending two-year programs at community colleges, which gives them the opportunity to discover their future plans.

Both Wolgemuth and Marks said they believe Housatonic prepared them well for the future.

“The biggest was by letting students take on multiple activities and responsibilities at once,” Wolgemuth said. “I feel so lucky to have had these opportunities and I encourage other rural students to apply to ‘reach’ schools, since coming from a small town can give you an advantage.”

Marks said, “I think that the variety of options and classes at Housy, especially the option to take AP and ECE classes, prepared me for the college level curriculum to come. It pushed me while simulating what I might find in my studies next year. The ability to be involved in many different extracurriculars at Housy, from theater, to robotics, academic bowl, and sports, allowed me to find different communities, interact with a wide range of personalities, and figure out how I wanted to move forward in my studies.”

She continued. “In addition, the teachers at Housy have been incredibly helpful in not only preparing me academically for college, but also in preparing me to be an individual, a confident community member and a constructive critic. I think that the teachers are the strongest part of Housy. They support you, help mold you into a better learner and person, and genuinely care about your future and wellbeing. I am very appreciative of Housy and how it has helped me grow into the person I am today, ready to begin my next chapter of life in college.”

“This group represents what I want the future to be,” Strever said. “I would love for them to come back and enrich the community. The Athenian Oath all graduates recite at commencement is what it’s all about; making a place greater, better and more beautiful than when you found it.”

HVRHS graduation is Friday, June 13, at 6 p.m.