Good News
The Good News is read at every Board of Education Business Meeting, highlighting news from across our district.
2024-2025 School Year
September 2024
- IHS Chorale members Emme Bateman, Olivia Croll, Owen Democko, Mason Gohringer and Elisa Pacyga sang the national anthem at the Town of Irondequoit’s 9/11 ceremony.
- Helmer Nature Center’s Butterfly Release, a new event held for the folks who run our “outdoor classroom,” was a huge hit on September 12th. Not only did more than 80 people attend, but children were engaged with crafts and by learning about why butterflies travel south.
- Staff members Chris Shellard, Mark Hertlein, Jake Shirley, Nick DiMartino, Keyana Session and Laura Wambach were all interviewed live by 13WHAM-TV and Fox Rochester as part of the opening day of school. IHS seniors Aliyah Bozkurt and Bailey Connor, as well as Superintendent Johnson, also were featured.
- Iroquois Middle School’s “Gottfried Crew,” led by fourth-grade teacher Jennifer Gottfried held its first annual “Beach Cleanup” at Durand Eastman over the summer. It was part of their “Stand-Up” class project and it was featured by WROCTV, Channel 8.
- Senior Grace Taberski spent a week in Chicago over the summer representing IHS as a student ambassador at the Hugh O’Brian World Leadership Congress. She was joined by student ambassadors from all 50 states and 12-plus countries, learning about leadership and how to become a more empowered global citizen.
- The West Irondequoit Foundation hosted three class reunion tours at IHS over the summer and next Friday hosts its fifth annual Cornhole Tournament at the Irondequoit Sports Center. The event is expected to push the five-year total raised by Cornhole to more than $70,000.
October 2024
- For the second straight time, Irondequoit High School has received a special honor as a National Banner Unified Champion School by New York Special Olympics. IHS is one of only 22 schools in the state to receive this distinction.
- Listwood Special Education teacher, Maggie Vay, was featured by WHEC-TV Channel 10 for being the first graduate of the “Pathways to Teaching” class at IHS to become a full-time educator back in our district! Miss Vay is a 2019 graduate of IHS. Mrs. Alissa-Anne George, who teaches the class now, was also interviewed for the piece.
- Next week, Briarwood elementary school teacher, Bernadette D’Amato, will be featured on WROC-TV Channel 8 as the latest Golden Apple Award winner from our district!
- Superintendent Aaron Johnson and Director of Humanities Ms. Kim Cristal were part of a Haudenosaunee flag raising ceremony at Town Hall on Friday, Oct. 11th. Each spoke about our 2022 Land Acknowledgement and curriculum used to teach about our Indigenous roots.
- The West Irondequoit Foundation recently honored longtime IHS cleaner Kerry Nealon and former West Irondequoit cleaner Dave Miller for their continued support of Alumni Tours of IHS during class reunion weekends. The Foundation also raised $16,422 at its annual Cornhole Tournament. That’s a record total for the fifth-year event!
November 2024
- WROC-TV Meteorologist James Gilbert recently visited with fourth-graders at Iroquois Middle School. They were riveted by his presentation and information! Their group picture was also featured on Channel 8!
- Ben Loomis and Isaac Nielsen qualified for the 2025 DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando! They finished first in the state, second in the North Atlantic Region and 17th in the country in a Virtual Business Challenge. The IHS juniors also were featured on WROC-TV, Channel 8.
- Senior Jane Simon was selected for the Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra, the highest-level youth orchestra in Hochstein’s four-tier program. Jane plays the flute
- On Veterans’ Day, senior Abby Myshak and freshman Evan Spatola played Taps at the town’s annual ceremony. Irondequoit DECA Club Leaders also did fall cleanup at The Sunset House and Tri-M Music Honor Society students made 16 lasagnas for the Open Door Mission.
- What a month for IHS Cross Country! The girls finished fifth in the state in Class A after capturing their first Section 5 Championship since 1982 and the Eagles also won the Monroe County crown. Senior Lizzy Tytler was the top Section 5 finisher in third. On the boys’ side, senior Luke Simon won the Section 5 Class A title and finished 24th at states. He also was named Section V’s Class A Sportsmanship winner at the state meet. Our girls runners were Katie Bauman, Kayla Holliday, Kira LaVeck, Mary Grace Roj, Aubrey Smith and Lizzy Tytler.
- Junior Brenna Scott repeated as Section 5 Class B diving champion and will compete in Friday’s state championships at the Webster Aquatic Center.
- Seven IHS student-athletes were honored at a ceremony and signed NCAA national letters of intent to play Division 1 & Division 2 athletics. Congratulations to lacrosse players Emmalynn Francis, Miles Leva, Andrew Scully and Celia Young; softball player, Abby Ras; soccer player, Casey Keller; and diver, George Ligozio.
- Seniors Ethan Rhodes, Aliyah Bozkurt and Jack Debes are among 34,000 students nationwide to earn the honor of being Commended Students in the National Merit Program for excellence on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
- Eighth-grader Madelyn Phillips and seventh-grader Eli Lineman along with Director, Mr. Rob Line, were on Fox Rochester’s morning show to promote the Dake Jr. High School musical, Frozen Jr., that nearly sold out three of its four shows.
December 2024
- Thirty-nine IHS business students qualified for the DECA State Conference in March after strong performances in the regional competition at RIT. More than 900 students from 12 area schools competed and, as usual, IHS students flourished.
- IHS is one of just 29 schools in the country to earn a Platinum Star School Award from WISE. Schools from 49 states participated. This is given for excellence in teaching Financial Literacy. Teachers Mr. Lou DiCesare and Mrs. LaVon Bucciarelli were honored as Gold Star teachers. It’s the 15th time Mr. DiCesare has earned that distinction.
- Four deserving West Irondequoit students – Abel and Mikey from Brookview, Evan from Southlawn and Dantessa from Colebrook – participated in the annual Shop with a Cop program at Target that was organized by Irondequoit Police and Rotary.
- The Amnesty International Club at IHS raised $528 for the Rochester Refugee Resettlement Service via its Change for Change fundraiser.
- Nine students and one coach earned All-Greater Rochester honors from the Democrat and Chronicle. Girls cross country earned four first-team selections – the most of any area school – and Aaron Nobles was selected Coach of the Year. The runners were: Katie Bauman, Kira LaVeck, Aubrey Smith and Lizzy Tytler. Boys cross country runner Luke Simon also made it along with boys soccer player Bailey Connor, field hockey goalie Marley Runciman and football players Cameron Freeman and Andrew Long.
- In addition, Marley was named Monroe County Division 2 Player of the Year and IHS coach Emily Payne was named Coach of the Year. Bailey was named D2 Player of the Year and tennis players Emma Jane Chalone and Anna Harbin were selected Doubles Team of the Year in Division 2.
- Finally, junior diver Brenna Scott finished 31st in the state championships and girls cross country was 5th in the Federation Championships.
- The first ever IHS All-Alumni Bash was held on November 30th at O’Loughlins. Organized by the West Irondequoit Foundation, more than 140 grads attended and $10,000 was raised for the annual Generations of Excellence scholarships.
January 2025
- Nearly 1,000 holiday trees were donated to Helmer Nature Center for its annual Trees for Trails event on January 18th. This tradition, which started in 1976, is used to fortify the nature center’s trails to fight erosion. Special thanks to High Falls Tree Service and Irondequoit Lawn & Landscape for donating their equipment, time and expertise.
- Margaret Burns, our district’s BOCES Board of Education representative, was named this year's Champion Award recipient by the Greater Rochester Parent Leadership Training Institute. She is a former West Irondequoit School Board member.
- The emerging IHS girls cheerleading squad took first place at the Wayland-Cohocton Tournament. The Eagles junior-varsity also won and modified was runner-up. Varsity and JV also took first place in their division at a competition in Penfield in December. Four years ago, IHS didn’t even field a varsity squad
- Under the direction of Music Teacher, Mr. Falcon, 17 members of the IHS Jazz Choir sang at the Monroe County Office Building as part of the County’s annual Holiday Concert Series. Out of 12 performances by area schools, our Choir was selected to perform last before holiday recess.