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Boston Globe
02-08-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Sharpshooters light it up in A Shot for Life Challenge to raise money for cancer research
'Mentally, it's very challenging to keep going for two hours straight,' MacDonough said. 'All I kept saying to myself was, 'Positive mind-set, you got this, be confident.' I just kept my shot going.' Reigning champ Elyse MacDonough with a ridiculous streak of 24 straight. St. Bonaventure is getting an absolute sniper — Trevor Hass (@TrevorHass) MacDonough, a South Burlington, Vermont, resident and Worcester Academy graduate who will play at St. Bonaventure next year, shot a blistering 87.4 percent to defend her title as the best shooter in Massachusetts. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Rising junior Maddie Keough, also a Worcester Academy catalyst, placed second (72.9 percent), while Medfield junior Naya Annigeri took third (70.9) at the Starland Sportsplex. Advertisement On the boys' side, Lynn native, Phillips Academy standout, and Northeastern-bound guard Xavier Abreu won at 86.4 percent. Northeastern-bound Xavier Abreu has a great stroke in general, and a great stroke for this event. Very rhythmic and fluid shot — Trevor Hass (@TrevorHass) Abreu shot for his grandmother, Cristina Medrano, who beat breast cancer twice. He planned to call her afterward to savor the moment together. 'It meant everything,' Abreu said. 'I know she'd be proud of me regardless, but the fact that I could come out here and win it and dedicate it to her means a lot.' Lynn native Xavier Abreu won at the 2025 Shot for Life Challenge with his grandmother, Cristina Medrano, in mind. Trevor Hass/Globe Correspondent Archbishop Williams junior Jack Olinto earned second (83.3), and Roxbury Latin sophomore Jackson Perri was third (80.9 percent). Advertisement Archbishop Williams junior Jack Olinto took second place with some help from his father, John, and 83-year-old grandfather, also John — Trevor Hass (@TrevorHass) MacDonough thought of her grandfather, Paul LaBonte, who is currently dealing with a health scare that may be cancerous. She just learned that his situation took a turn for the worse earlier this week, which gave her even more incentive. 'I'm just trying to be as supportive of him as he's been for me,' MacDonough said. 'Doing this for him really meant the world to me.' John MacDonough credited his daughter for living in the gym and relentlessly chasing her dream. He works in digital pathology at Philips, and seeing his daughter play for a larger purpose with so much meaning feels like a full-circle moment. 'Her mind-set is what sets her apart,' John MacDonough said. 'When I miss one, I'm going to get the next one. Resilience is the biggest piece. She figures out how to win.' Alana Hogan, an Ursuline Academy graduate who will play at Kenyon College, honored her late aunt and godmother, Margaret Nelson, who died of a brain tumor three years ago. Kenyon College-bound Ursuline standout Alana Hogan is still competing with a medial femoral condyle fracture. Very impressive dedication — Trevor Hass (@TrevorHass) Hogan competed with a brace on her left leg while dealing with a medial femoral condyle fracture. She knows she may be a bit sore the next day, but it was well worth it to support her aunt. 'I play for her every day,' Hogan said. 'She wore 15, so now I wear 15. It's special to me to be able to represent her in that kind of way and make her proud.' The girls' division shooters surround winner Elyse MacDonough after the A Shot for Life Challenge Saturday. Trevor Hass/Globe Correspondent For many involved, raising money for cancer research has a personal feel. Mike Slonina, the CEO and founder of ASFL, is proud of how far the organization has come, and invigorated to see how much further it can go. Advertisement Amid a jam-packed week with two events, Slonina and his staff took time to meet with doctors at Mass General Cancer Center to see, specifically, where the money goes. Being in the lab, looking at the beakers, centrifuges, and tissue gave Slonina and Co. an additional sense of gratitude and purpose. 'What they do goes so far beyond a basketball court,' Slonina said of his players. 'There are real people getting treatment because they're here, and they should be really proud of that.' It was amazing today to visit the We certainly know this as an organization, but we hope that all in our community are aware of just how… — Mike Slonina (@Slo_24) Trevor Hass can be reached at
Telegraph
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
I didn't love my private school, but I detest Labour's evil war on them
Up till the age of 12, I went to the local state school in the small Waspy town in Massachusetts where my parents settled in 1984, the year I turned two. They picked this town because it appeared to be everything our previous home in crime-ridden Dollis Hill, north London, was not. It had the sea, woods, no crime, and thanks to the 45-minute drive south to Boston, where they had got jobs, it was commutable. They did not consider the school when they moved to the town. And boy was it awful: a brutal awakening for an English five-year-old. It was lorded over by nasty teachers who regularly insulted the pupils, sometimes siding with the schoolyard bullies. Though I was fierce and always had good friends, I was also bullied for having curly red hair and being 'different' – a code for Jewish, with European parents and a mum who worked hard and wasn't in a tennis club. I regularly – and unintentionally – used words that went beyond the teachers' vocabulary, earning me the mocking nickname from my third-grade teacher of 'the class dictionary,' as if that was a bad thing. At 12, I began the private-school chapter of my life; I went to a cut-price independent school in the next town. It was nothing like the state's famous prep schools – such as Phillips Academy, the alma mater of George W Bush. But you called the teachers by their first names, didn't have to learn maths in a traditional sense (this came back to bite me later), did lots of creative writing and sat round tables having discussions rather than at desks quietly making notes. It was friendly and relaxed, but too stifling and zany for my taste, and so for my next move, at 16, I went back to Blighty (my family stayed put in America) to do A-levels at a famous co-education boarding school in Hampshire: Bedales. This was pricey even back then, but there was a substantial violin scholarship that brought the cost down for me. Bedales – which is now £18,357 per term for boarders – is definitely the kind of school that Keir Starmer's Government thinks is fair game for a tax raid: an independent school that is the very definition of servicing the rich and privileged. I was there with the pop star Lily Allen, actor and musician turned heartthrob Johnny Flynn, Luke Pritchard of the indie rock band the Kooks, celebrity shoe designer Charlotte Dellal, actress Lydia Leonard (Cherie Blair in the most recent series of The Crown) – to name just a few that came from or became pop, rock, film, modelling and West End royalty. As for little old me, I mostly just worked hard as best I could, with some very erratic teaching. Not really partaking of the binge drinking or romantic economies of the school, I had plenty of energy and time to study, get all As, read widely (for pleasure) and go to Cambridge. Was private school the be-all-and-end-all for me? Did it assure my path to Oxbridge? I don't think so. As an experience, it wasn't transformative for me; it was just better than the very bad state school I began my educational life at, but which probably would have been OK too if I'd stuck it out. Does it then follow that because my own school experience was 'meh' that I think Starmer is right to attack private schools and the parents who send their children to them? That it doesn't matter if he does or doesn't force fees up by taking away business rates and charitable relief? Absolutely not. Sir Keir's whole operation reeks of pound-shop Marxism: an attempt at spiting the rich, of levelling down by punching up (though it's not actually punching up when it's children's daily lives). The chickens are only beginning to come home to roost; last week saw a High Court case brought against the Government by schools and parents who argued the VAT raid on private school amounts to an infringement of human rights; some children had been forced to leave their private school despite being there for religious and special educational reasons. A judge ruled against their case – as was widely anticipated – but this is the tip of a fast-melting iceberg. Starmer came to power promising to scythe private schools' tax exemptions and pour the new gains from this into state education. In spiting a few rich kids, figured Sir Keir, Britain would be made 'fairer'. Of course it hasn't worked out like that. The only beneficiaries are… nobody. As with all Sir Keir's two-tier ideas, there are only losers. As the costs of running private schools have suddenly soared thanks to the addition of VAT and the loss of business-rates relief, schools pass the costs on to parents. Some can't stay open; the Government itself expects 100 schools to close thanks to the raid, which will lead to 40,000 students being displaced and 11,000 jobs lost, according to the Independent Schools Council. And as Starmer must know, not all private-school parents are stinking rich; many are just hard-working folk. Recent figures suggest that two-thirds of fee-payers get help from family, friends or the schools themselves with costs. Eton spent £9.7 million on scholarships and bursaries in the past school year. My cleaner, a single mother from Poland, has a talented son who hopes to get a scholarship to a private sixth-form college for A-levels, and then to go to Imperial. So this is just an attack on aspiration, and the malignity is everywhere. In December, Rachel Reeves insisted: 'Every single penny of that [private-school tax] money will go into our state schools to ensure that every child gets the best start in life.' But last week Starmer said the revenues raised would be spent on an affordable housing scheme, which, as some pointed out, could mean just for general 'social' ends. This might possibly include housing for migrants. The £1 billion per year Starmer envisions harvesting for the state educational sector off the back of private-school pupils' parents might be put against the £15.3 bn of taxpayer money the National Audit Office now forecasts will be spent on housing asylum seekers over the next 10 years. Wouldn't a 'fairer' way of saving money be to allow in and then house fewer asylum seekers? It's certainly strange for the British Prime Minister to let his proletarianism out on children, and yet with the focus of a precision missile that is what Sir Keir has done. Consider the fact – previously reported in the Telegraph – that there are 170,000 charities registered in England and Wales, coupled with the fact that of the UK's roughly 2,400 independent schools, just about half have charitable status. This means that Labour is singling out just one per cent of all charities for his tax raid – and it happens to be one per cent that determines the lives of some children. To spite the rich one must stop their spawn. Listing the ways in which the droning Sir Keir is a two-tier kinda guy is becoming an ever-more Sisyphean task. Under his rule, we have seen Britain embrace, quite openly, a hypocritical, cherry-picked approach to matters ranging from policing and justice to education and the economy. And of course Israel, where its brave, world-saving actions against the Islamist monsters threatening us all are met only, in Sir Keir's court, with public insult, sanctioning and ostracism. With this and all else, Starmer is intent on cutting off Britain's nose to spite its face. It's for this reason that I deplore Labour's attack on private schools. Personally I could take or leave them. But that doesn't mean I think picking on them – whether the big public ones or small-time independents – is OK. It's just a deadening poke at dreary 'fairness' and makes everyone worse off in every way.
Chicago Tribune
21-03-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Bradshaw: Public school students increasingly competitive in top college admissions
Dear Mr. Bradshaw, I am a high school student. I have a question for you. Are top colleges partial to private school students over public school students in admissions? Sincerely, A public school student Dear Student, The short answer is yes — private schools have traditionally enjoyed certain advantages in college admissions, thanks in large part to longstanding networks and resources such as specialized college counseling. Historically, elite colleges have seen a disproportionately high number of applicants from prestigious private institutions — New York City prep schools and New England academies, for instance, have produced many admitted students. A Wall Street Journal study a few years back noted that Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, was a 'virtual factory' for sending students to Harvard, with 19 matriculating in 2007. These advantages often stem from enhanced academic preparation, dedicated college counselors with insider knowledge, and well-funded extracurricular programs. However, the landscape is evolving. Recent data indicates that while private school students still maintain some advantages, public school students are increasingly competitive — especially those from rigorous, specialized programs. Public institutions that emphasize math, science, and technology are now producing students with high standardized test scores and robust academic profiles. For example, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia shows an average SAT score of 1520. The average ACT score is around 35 and has seen several of its graduates admitted to elite institutions like Princeton. This shift is also aided by improved resources in public schools and a growing focus on STEM education. In addition, Artificial Intelligence has become an increasingly influential tool in college preparation, leveling the playing field further. AI-powered tutoring platforms and adaptive learning systems offer personalized instruction that helps students identify their strengths and areas needing improvement. Tools like ChatGPT are now commonly used for brainstorming essay ideas, refining writing drafts, and even managing time-consuming tasks such as grammar checking and organizing research. These platforms can provide students with quick feedback and allow them to experiment with different writing styles while still ensuring that the final product remains authentically their own. However, experts warn that overreliance on such tools may dilute a student's unique voice, so it's important to use AI as a supplement, not a substitute for genuine effort. AI is also playing a transformative role on the admissions side. Colleges are increasingly employing AI-driven systems to streamline application reviews, from scanning transcripts and recommendation letters to even flagging essays for authenticity. A recent survey indicated that around 50% of admissions offices now use AI in some part of their review process, with plans to expand its role in the coming years. This use of AI can help admissions officers manage large volumes of applications more efficiently, allowing them to focus on the qualitative aspects of each candidate's profile. While this development raises ethical questions and concerns about transparency, it also promises to reduce bias by standardizing the initial screening process. Beyond direct tutoring and application review, AI is also influencing test preparation. Adaptive learning systems powered by AI can tailor practice tests to a student's ability level, thereby improving their performance on standardized tests. With some systems reporting learning gains that effectively move students from the 50th to the 75th percentile, these tools can significantly boost a student's academic profile. Moreover, universities are beginning to incorporate AI literacy into their curricula, ensuring that students are not only consumers of these technologies but also understand their ethical use and limitations — a skill that is increasingly valuable in both academic and professional settings. It is clear that the role of AI in college preparation is multifaceted. For students, AI offers support in writing, test preparation, and personalized learning that can help level the competitive landscape between public and private school applicants. For admissions offices, it provides efficiency gains and a more consistent, if sometimes opaque, method of reviewing applications. Ultimately, while AI may confer additional advantages, it is most effective when used to complement a strong academic foundation, genuine personal effort, and effective guidance — qualities that no machine can replicate entirely. So, don't rule out public schools. If you attend a public institution that prioritizes academic rigor and incorporates innovative tools like AI tutoring and adaptive learning platforms, you can certainly compete with applicants from top private prep schools. Regardless of the type of high school you attend, what matters most is your individual performance, achievements, and the authentic expression of your personality and potential in your application.
