October Donor Spotlight: 2021 Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni, Titus Plomaritis |
|
Football Star. War Veteran. Teacher. Coach. Doctor of Chiropractic. Lowell High Hall of Famer. Author. And soon to be 2021 Distinguished Lowell High Alum. Over the course of his 92 years, Dr. Titus Plomaritis has had no shortage of titles and accolades.
While Titus Plomaritis may not be a name that you hear every day, it probably should be! This summer, recent Lowell High graduate, Jaeda Turner, got a chance to sit down with fellow LHS alumni and Lowell’s very own living legend for a conversation about his experience growing up on the South Common and how he became one of the city’s most famous residents.
Born and raised by parents who arrived in Lowell from Greece, Titus often found himself being pushed harder than his fellow classmates -- by his father and himself alike. When he wasn’t busy with school or taking care of the family’s cows and chickens, Titus was on the football field. From games on the South Common to a championship match against Lawrence High on Thanksgiving Day, football was a constant in Titus’ life.
Dr. Plomaritis has continued to keep the importance of education at the forefront of his mind. Recently, his foundation, the Plomaritis Family Foundation, has focused on awarding scholarships to Lowell High and Pelham High students. Since its establishment, the Plomaritis Family Foundation has awarded over $100,000 in scholarships to students.
This year, Dr. Plomaritis has been nominated for Lowell High School's 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award, which honors LHS graduates who have continually given back to the Lowell community throughout their lives. Congratulations to you, Titus! Project LEARN is truly honored to partner with such an amazing leader to support the students of Lowell.
Read more about Dr. Plomaritis' achievements on our website!
|
|
 |
Dr. Plomaritis on the golf course with his sons, Titus Jr. & Stephen. |
|
|
|
From left to right, Project LEARN's Alumni & Programs Coordinator Madelaine Hamilton; Project LEARN's Executive Director, LZ Nunn; Dr. Titus Plomaritis; Titus' daughter, Lyn Plomaritis; and Project LEARN's Board Chair, Brian Martin at the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Event on October 20th. |
|
|
|
Congratulations to All of The
2021 Distinguished Alumni Honorees
|
|
Congratulations to this year's Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni Honorees, Helen Augusta Whittier, James Rodgers, Dorthy LeRiche Keville, Stephen Conant, and of course, Titus Plomaritis!
These individuals are being recognized for going above and beyond in both their personal and professional lives and for continually making our community a priority since their time at Lowell High School. Thank you for all of the work that you do to support current and future students, and
congratulations again on receiving such a
prestigious award!
Read more about the 2021 Honorees and the
Distinguished Alumni Event in the Lowell Sun HERE.
|
|
Applying to college can be a real challenge and is often a major point of stress for high school students as they begin to plan their futures. To help LHS students as they gear up for what's next, Project LEARN and Lowell High are hosting a College Day Workshop on Veterans Day, November 11th, to give students an opportunity to ask questions and get prepared!
During our 3 part workshop series, students will learn more about the college admissions process & timeline, be able to articulate their work-related skills & academic achievements, and will work on crafting effective and polished personal statements and college essays.
To sign up you or your Lowell High student up for one or more of these workshops, click HERE!
|
|
New Murals Make A Splash In Downtown! |
|
David Zayas is a Puerto Rican fine artist & activist who has exhibited artwork and painted murals globally. His mural (above) is located at 207 Market St., and overlooks the Athenian Corner parking lot. Zayas is honored to represent Lowell's vibrant Puerto Rican community, the city’s largest Latinx population with over 12,000 residents. His mural is dedicated to the strength and resilience of women worldwide who have endured hardship during the course of the 2020-2021 Pandemic. Traditional Puerto Rican symbols, such as the rooster, which represents strength, are often depicted in his murals. Society is the central theme of his work, which he portrays through images of children, women, and animals. He received his Bachelor’s in Painting from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico in 2003 and is currently a professor at Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, where he teaches the only Urban Art course offered in Puerto Rico. |
|
Angurria is a Dominican fine artist, graphic designer, and activist with more than 20 years of experience in the advertising industry. His mural (right) can be found in the Gates Block Garden located at 167 Dutton St., which is home to Community Teamwork's Youth Opportunity Center. This mural honors the history of Mechanic's Hall, an abolitionist site recently recognized by the National Park Service. Angurria has taught courses for the School of Arts of Chavón, APEC University, Brothers, Centro Leon and Creative Box. He currently lives in Los Alcarrizos, a municipality of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic, with his spouse and family. |
|
|
You can read more about this awesome collaboration between Project LEARN and Beyond Walls Lynn in the Lowell Sun HERE.
|
|
Doña Patria: Honoring Lowell's Untold History |
|
|
|
Angurria's Mural Honors Site Recognized by National Park Service |
Barbershops and hair salons have historically served as safe spaces for BIPOC and marginalized immigrant communities. Angurria's Dutton St. mural honors the legacy of a Black-owned barbershop that functioned as a meeting place for abolitionists during the 1850s (left.) |
|
In 1850, Nathaniel Booth, an escaped slave from Virginia, opened a barbershop on the first floor of Mechanic’s Hall on 141 Dutton St., which became a center for abolitionist activity.
Angurria's Dutton St mural belongs to an ongoing series titled, Doña Patria: Dominican Beauty, which reclaims the cultural legacy of the Black and Afro-Latinx peoples who once occupied this space. The series celebrates the everyday beauty of Dominican and Afro-Latinx women and honors his mother, who owned a hair salon in the DR where he grew up. Preparing your hair in rollers is something that many Dominican women do in private, which Angurria reveals to the rest of the world.
Communal spaces like hair salons and barbershops can be life-affirming for BIPOC and immigrant communities, even today. Safe spaces aren’t always about literal, physical safety from violence; they are necessary for settings where the social-emotional well-being of marginalized groups is not prioritized by dominant social structures.
Mechanic’s Hall and other sites recognized by the National Park Service network were announced during a presentation led by Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, and Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland.
This site joins nearly 700 other sites, programs, and facilities in the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom program, which preserves and promotes the history of Black resistance to enslavement throughout the U.S.
|
|
ArtUp Meets C2C: LHS Commencement to Career Interns Bring Muralists to Lowell Community |
|
|
(left to right) Project LEARN C2C interns Sophia Mirabel and Anisett Bonnet with Madelaine Hamilton speaking on behalf of the ArtUp Lowell Mural Initiative at the Lowell Historic Board Meeting, Lowell City Hall, September 13th, 2021 |
|
|
|
Bonnet (left) and Mirabel (right) posing in front of Angurria's mural in the Gates Block Garden on Dutton St, October 1st, 2021 |
|
|
|
This past summer, Lowell High students Anisett Bonnet and Sophia Mirabel (Class of 2022) worked hard to develop research to bring Angurria and David Zayas to the Lowell community. As C2C interns, they had the unique opportunity to work alongside community leaders to scout mural locations, conduct GIS property research, and develop a student-led, community survey to inform artist recruitment at the local level.
Bonnet and Mirabel attended the Lowell Historic Board (LHB) Meeting to speak on behalf of the Mural Initiative in mid-September, which received unanimous approval from LHB and CASE (Cultural Affairs and Special Events Office.) ArtUp Lowell's mission is to equip young people with the hands-on skills, knowledge, and mindset for life after graduation.
Bonnet and Mirabel currently attend and instruct classes at Refuge Lowell, a local non-profit youth arts organization, and plan to pursue careers in the arts post-graduation.
|
|
On-Site Artist Q&A: Mural Tours with Lowell Youth |
|
|
|
Lowell students had the opportunity to visit Zayas' and Angurria's mural installations. Students from the Boys and Girls Club, Lowell High School, and Community Teamwork's YouthBuild group visited the mural sites to meet the artists. For Spanish-speaking ELL and bilingual youth, these tours presented a meaningful opportunity for them to participate in Visual Thinking Strategies and engage with the artists in their first language. |
|
Getting to Know the Artists: Friday Night Mural Stroll |
Earlier this month, Lowell community members had the chance to stop by to tour mural sites and chat with the artists during our Friday Night Mural Stroll. Thanks to the support of our amazing local businesses, guests were able to grab a bite to eat at the Athenian Corner Restaurant or Warp and Weft while viewing the newly installed murals.
|
|
LHS Educator Nominated for
$1 Million Global Teaching Prize!
|
|
Congratulations to Lowell High School's very own Jessica Lander for being named one of the 50 finalists for the Varkey Foundation's $1 Million Global Teaching Prize!
Jessica Lander has been teaching history to, primarily, recent immigrant and refugee students at LHS since 2015 and was selected for the award from a group of over 8,000 nominees in 121 countries. Jessica has made it her life's work to amplify the voices of immigrant students through their writing with projects such as complied books, We Are America and We Are America Too, publications in The Lowell Sun, and the foundation of the We Are America Project, whose mission is to begin conversations about American identity in classrooms across the country. Lowell High is so lucky to have such a dedicated and inspiring educator on its team.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
ABOUT US
From mentors, advisors, guest speakers, tutors and more, Lowell High Alumni are valuable resources for current students. The Lowell High Alumni Association, funded in part from the Cummings Foundation, is a collaboration between Project LEARN, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation 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 LHS 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
