DECO celebrates students’ achievements
October 6, 2017
High school can be one of the most stressful and challenging times of people’s lives. To be able to succeed in it requires immense dedication and drive, both of which seven students showcase everyday.
These students — juniors Francis Sanchez, Alex Sanchez, Ian Robinson, and Michael Campisi, and seniors Veronica Becker, Katherine Naulaguari and Charis Nyarko — are members of the Danbury Early College Opportunity (DECO) program.
The district this week held a ceremony at DHS to celebrate its third anniversary running DECO, and to honor the seven students for their achievements.
DECO, headed by Sarah Roy, lets students take college courses throughout high school so that by graduation they can walk with an associate’s degree from Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC) and a high school diploma.
This allows students to have an upper edge on others while saving money as they already earned a degree without attending an expensive college.
Superintendent Sal Pascarella, at the ceremony, said that this college degree is a student’s “key to success,” which is why DECO was implemented at DHS.
“Our responsibility is to challenge you,” Pascarella said, “which is why this program was intended to get more students involved in college work.”
Through DECO, students are encouraged to place an emphasis on high achievement on their school work, which is why the seven were honored in the Tutoring Center fourth period on Wednesday, Oct. 4, for their impressive academic accomplishments.
The group was joined by NVCC president Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Pascarella, Roy, Principal Dan Donovan and various other administrators and faculty members to celebrate their success.
The ceremony began with a speech by Filippis congratulating the students and acknowledging their preparedness for what is to come in the future.
“You should have full confidence that you can succeed,” Filippis tolds them after sharing an anecdote of some of her college students’ doubt that they had the ability to succeed following high school.
She emphasized the advantage DECO students have in college since the program gets the student comfortable with the amount of hard work it takes to prosper.
This hard work appeared to be ingrained in the honored students as before the celebration officially commenced they could be seen studying together to figure out homework problems — all while they were on a free period.
Pascarella continued in his speech, declaring the necessity of funding and improvement to the DECO program as it has helped students greatly.
He invited the seven to address the Board of Education in a future meeting to testify about the validity of the program and the effect it has had on each student’s life, as well as to come back in the future and help him adjust and better the DECO program.
“I need help selling this program,” he said to the group. The program costs about $250,000 a year, which makes benefactors extremely important for the continuation of it.
To end the celebration — before festive cupcakes and donuts were served, of course — the seven were honored with certificates for their achievements.
Alex and Francis Sanchez, Robinson, and Campisi were given the “Outstanding Academic Achievement Award.” This recognized the students’ incredible ability to gain above a 3.5 GPA in their college courses while earning more than 21 college credits.
The remainder of the group — Becker, Naulaguari, and Nyarko — were awarded with the title, “High Drive Achievers.” These students have been able to skip a full year of high school and instead of graduating in the typical four years, will remarkably graduate in only three.
“We’re really proud of you,” Pascarella said about the students. “Remember that what you are doing is important and it matters.”
