On June 5th, Oyster River High School held their annual awards ceremony. This ceremony recognizes ORHS students who have excelled in academics, in athletics, and in their community. Many students won multiple awards in certain subject areas that they have focused on. Mouth of the River wanted to highlight a few of these exceptional students.
Moses Strout (‘17) is a well-known character at ORHS, especially because of his individual style and outgoing personality. He received several awards from the art and theater departments, as well as one for being on the championship diving team. Strout became very involved in the art department during his senior year. He described the involvement he had that led to these awards, saying, “for the art department, I would stay after school most days and clean or organize the rooms but also put away pieces left out or things that could have gotten ruined would be wrapped. I would load and unload the kilns mainly; it’s just what I enjoyed most.” He continued on to say, “ I would often see the janitors working but then see the messes that are left in the art room, so that was when I started doing a lot more cleaning.”
Strout also works with the shop department and Mike Troy. He said, “for the Craftsman Award from Mr. Troy, I just felt like there might have been someone else who could have gotten it because they were more dedicated to woodshop but I can see from what I did as a freshman and senior, working with the special education kids in class that I did earn it.” Strout has put in lots of hard work in the shop department throughout the last several years and received recognition for this on Monday.
Riley Chinburg (‘18) has always had a love for math. He received many awards from the math department as well as several colleges. He has been involved in math from an early age. He said, “I started to like math in 7th grade and I started reading books about math. By 8th grade, I had started studying calculus, and I took algebra at the school. Then I took geometry on VLACS over the summer and did A2-trig my freshman year. I studied pre-calc a bit over the summer before my sophomore year then tested out of it. My sophomore year I took AP Calculus AB and BC and AP stats.” He has also participated in Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, a well-reputed six-week math summer study program.
From the ORHS math department, Chinburg received the New Hampshire Teachers of Mathematics Award. He said, “I really didn’t expect to get it this year because I didn’t have any classes at the high school this year… I assumed the teachers had forgotten about me. It made me happy to get it because it showed that the teachers here still recognize how hard I’m working to do well in math.”
Chinburg also won awards from specific colleges, both the Clarkson University High School Achievement Award, a scholarship to Clarkson for $12,000 per year and the Rensselaer Medal Award, a scholarship to RPI for $25,000 a year. He said, “this also made me really happy because it shows that all the work I’ve done has paid off and colleges see how hard I have worked. Plus it’s really nice to have so much money off the tuition for these two great colleges.”
Rose Mroczka (‘17) has been playing hockey for many years. It has become a large part of her life, and she has worked hard to improve her skills. She has been playing for the Boston Shamrocks hockey organization for three years. Next year, Mroczka will take her talents to Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She said, “Amherst has an amazing reputation! Ever since middle school, my dream was to play college hockey and to get a great education. Amherst gives me the chance to do both, so once I went for a visit and was offered the chance to commit, it was a no-brainer.” She continued on to describe her favorite parts about Amherst, saying, “the commitment that the coaches and professors show towards their players/students is amazing. The moment I got on the campus, I felt like people were trying to get to know you and, they were genuinely nice people.”
Each year, ORHS gives out both a Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award. This year, the female winner was Mroczka. She said, “it was definitely great. I wasn’t expecting to get anything so it was a nice surprise to be recognized by my peers/the school administration.”
All of these students have excelled in their school subject area of choice, and are a sample space for the awards presented at the Awards Ceremony as a whole.