Tom Golden is the epitome of a true Lowellian. From growing up on Coburn Street to raising his daughters on Monroe Street less than a mile away, this city has always been his home. After graduating from Lowell High in 1989, Tom attended UMass Lowell, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Management and Marketing, and eventually his master’s degree in Business Administration. Currently, Tom holds the seat of State Representative of the 16th District, which serves the communities of Chelmsford and Lowell, and serves on the Board of multiple local nonprofits.

Throughout his life, Tom has used his leadership skills, businesses acumen, and all-around community mindset to help make Lowell the city it is today. When he’s not pushing for new projects like the Lowell Judicial Center, the UMass Lowell Student Recreation Center, or the Bellegarde BoatHouse/Rourke Boat Ramp, you’ll find Tom spending time with the three ladies in his life whom he calls his bosses, his wife Joane, and their two daughters, Abby and Lilly.

I kept hearing rumors that school was going to go on break for a few weeks, at least until things got better, but when week after week passed and the world remained home in quarantine, I was confused. What I thought was going to be a fun break turned into a frustrating, miserable, and isolating time in my life.

The first year of COVID-19 was very difficult. Life was so uncertain and constantly changing that it was hard to grasp on to and understand. When every aspect of your world gets disrupted, it feels like the rug was pulled from right underneath you. My whole life changed. School was different, visiting family was different, going to the grocery store was different, and especially the way I navigated through life was different. Before COVID, I never had to be afraid of someone coughing in public, or that a common cold was actually covid, and I sure didn’t have to worry about bringing a mask everywhere I went.

The Youth Innovation Space will provide college & career skills and connections to students that reinforce their transition into adulthood, such as Google Coursera certifications, paid internships with local businesses, and professional development workshops that provide insight on financial literacy, navigating the hiring process, and more! Y-Space, which is set to launch next month, will be open to students Monday through Friday and is within walking distance of Lowell High, Middlesex Community College, and UMass Lowell.

Students Making Change, our student-led after-school group at Lowell High, has been hard at work discovering ways to end racial discrimination and inequities across our city and in the schools.

Thanks to the dedication of amazing Lowell educators like Kendra Bauer, these students are going to be busy in 2022! Later this Winter, the cohort will host an antiracism dialogue training for Lowell High 9th graders, as well as another, much larger, version of the workshop for Lowell community members, as a catalyst for initiating deeper conversations about structural bias, prejudice, and discrimination in our school system and community. 

In the Spring, students will have the opportunity to work with local photographer, Henry Marte of Marte Media, in a documentary photo series that will capture images and first-person stories that represent and convey their lived experiences. The series will be exhibited in Project LEARN’s new Youth Innovation Space and as part of a citywide exhibit of student artwork in April 2022. 

Although it's no secret that the students at Lowell High are superheroes, Sam Stevquoah ('06), an award-winning graphic novelist and LHS alumn, took that idea to the next level with his new series, Mill City's Finest.

In his fifth and latest graphic novel, Welcome to Mill City, Stevquoah introduces Aundre Weah, a Lowell high student by day and crime-fighting superhero, Momolu, by dismissal time. In the series, readers will get to see some of their favorite Lowell landmarks as comic book illustrations, like the Lowell Sun building and the City Hall clock tower.

Last November, Stevquoah made a trip back to the halls of Lowell High to talk with students about his experiences as an artist, storyteller, and entrepreneur and to give them their very own signed copies of Lowell's first-ever comic series.

Get your own copy of Mill City's Finest at Pop Cultured, located in Mill No. 5, or download the e-book version of the series available on his site, MCFSeries.com.

Show your support for the June 2022 issue of MCF by pledging to the series' official Kickstarter Campaign.

Connect with Sam Stevquoah on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to get the latest updates on his series!

Check out this article from the Lowell Sun to learn more about Mill City's Finest.

Follow the LHS Alumni Association on Facebook to receive the latest news and updates!

Visit our website to learn more about Project LEARN and the Alumni Association.

From mentors, advisors, guest speakers, tutors and more, Lowell High Alumni are valuable resources for current students. The Lowell High Alumni Association is a collaboration between Project LEARN and the Lowell Public School district. The mission of the Alumni Association is to help alumni connect with each other, to engage with the school, community and to inspire future generations of Lowell High students through mentoring, advising and tutoring. We invite alumni to connect and find ways to work on new and existing programs within the schools to better the academics and the lives of all Lowell Public School students.