Welcome! North Shore Harvard Club, MEFA and other Professionals share expertise with Lynn Classical students and launch innovative speakers program.

North Shore Harvard Club, MEFA and other Professionals to Share Expertise with Lynn Classical Students and Launch Innovative Speakers Program

Beginning this Friday (4/11), North Shore professionals are volunteering to share their real life experiences and career advice with students at Lynn Classical High School as part of a “Making the Curriculum Real” program sponsored by the Harvard Club of the North Shore.

With direction from Classical Principal Gene Constantino, guidance counselor Chris Hayward and the school’s faculty, the volunteers hope to make a positive difference in students’ lives by inspiring and motivating them about college and careers.

Experts in fields ranging from art to engineering will supplement the curriculum by making themselves available to teachers and students and speak in classes about their subject expertise and career experiences.  To date over 50 Harvard Alumni from throughout the North Shore have volunteered to speak at Lynn Classical.

This innovative program, which also features local alumni from a variety of colleges, is designed to motivate and inspire students to understand different higher education and career options available to them. It will serve as the national model for Harvard’s Early College Awareness Program with the goal of replicating it as a core public service activity to over 170 Harvard Cubs around the nation and the world.  

On Friday April 11th seven speakers will launch the program to an assembly of sophomore and junior students at Classical.  Speakers will be alumni from Boston College, Salem State University and Harvard College including two Lynn Classical and one Lynn English High School graduate. Schools working together to achieve similar goals.

 In addition, Martha Savery Director, Public Affairs and Communications, Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) will speak and review the financial aid process and discuss strategies to pay for College.

Peter Mazareas, a Classical graduate and President of the Harvard Club of the North Shore said,   “I applaud Principal Gene Constantino, guidance counselors and faculty for partnering with us on this exciting public service program. The fact that 57 North Shore Harvard Alumni volunteered to guest speak and help students at Classical is indeed   gratifying and will set an example for other Clubs and individuals to give back to their local high schools and communities.”

Lynn Classical has a rich and diverse multicultural student body including immigrants from over 24 countries. The overwhelming majority of students who graduate and attend college are first-generation college students.

The volunteers hope to inspire and energize students and show that a college is obtainable no matter a student’s financial circumstances or personal challenges and background.

Principal Gene Constantino has stated that students will be more engaged as they understand how the curriculum is used in every day affairs.  These speakers may inspire and inform students in a most productive way and hopefully have a positive impact on their future goals.

Contacts:      
Gene Constantino  - 781-477-7410
Peter Mazareas - 617 510 2108

"Making The Curriculum Real" - Biographies

Alex Watler, is an ex-LCHS football and basketball player who graduated in 2008. Alex went onto study at Harvard University where he received his liberal arts degree in History in 2012. Alex currently still resides in Lynn and works at a software development firm in Boston in addition to starting his own product development
company on the side.

Minela Gacanovic, was born in Bosnia and moved to the US at the age of 10 where she settled in MA with her family. She was the Valedictorian at Lynn Classical High School before attending Boston College and graduating from The Carroll School of Management in 2011 with a double concentration in Finance and Marketing. After graduation, Minela moved to NYC to pursue a role in Foreign Exchange Trading at Barclays Capital. She has recently moved back to Boston and is an Assistant Vice President in Foreign Exchange Trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She is currently pursuing her CFA and enjoys being back home with her family and friends.

Katherine Montero, is the founder and director of Global Deeds, a local nonprofit that works to empower low-income youth through innovative educational opportunities and employment. Katherine was born in the Dominican Republic, arriving in the US at the age of 13. Is an honors graduate of Salem State University. Her struggles as a teenager motivated her to become a high school biology and chemistry teacher at Salem High School in 2003, to later hold management positions at Harvard Medical School, where she conducted genomics research and represented a consortium of scientists at the NIH several times a year as coordinator of the Minority Action Plan (an initiative to provide research opportunities to under-represented students and post-doctoral candidates in the field of genomics). She then decided to focus her time and education to help grow Global Deeds and formulate a way to scale up its impact. In 2009 she obtained a management degree from Harvard, and shortly after, she conducted more activities abroad engaging young volunteers and a series of very well respected institutions in Global Deeds.

Philomena Asante, MD, MPH is currently a primary care pediatrician in Marblehead, MA. Born in Ghana, Dr. Asante moved to the US and became a citizen at the age of 8. She graduated from Harvard College, got her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and her Masters in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. In July Dr. Asante will start a new position as Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Health at the Boston Public Health Commission. There she will help to create programs that help to improve the health of children and adolescents in the city of Boston. Dr. Asante is very interested in issues of concern to disadvantaged and immigrant populations in the US and abroad. When not working, she enjoys cooking, shopping for clothes and treasure hunting for unique pieces of furniture from the 1950's and 1960's.

Mat Curtis, Matt is a graduate of Lynn English High School, class of 2005. He was born and raised in Lynn. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in Government in 2009 and received his CFA designation in 2013. He played football at Harvard being named to multiple All-Ivy and All-New England teams, as well as being named the 135th and sole captain. He currently is a Sr. Equity Analyst at a hedge fund, Alydar Capital inBoston, covering Internet and Media stocks. He lives in Lynnfield with his wife and two beautiful daughters.

Peter Mazareas, A graduate of Lynn Classical. Peter was born in Greece and immigrated to the United States. He graduated from Harvard as Government major and went on to earn a MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He served as Vice President of Salem State College, Deputy Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Director of Massachusetts Educational Finance Authority. He founded and is CEO of Strategic Advancement Group and is a co-founder of Invite Education. He helped establish “Alumni and Friends of Lynn Classical High School”

Martha Savery Director, Public Affairs and Communications MEFA, Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority