When Steven Wanas, 7, of 9 Avon Court in Wakefield saw bright orange flames leaping from his neighbor's front porch on August 22, he knew just what to do."I told my mom and grandmother to call 9-1-1,"  he said. The family had been watching TV together around 5 p.m. on Monday when Steven, a 3rd grader at Woodville Elementary School took a cursory glance out the window. And what he saw next door at 7 Avon Court took him by complete surprise. "It was the last thing I expected," he said. "I looked on that side and I saw flames burning against the window. I was so scared." Steven's family called 9…

A Woodville Elementary School third grader went above and beyond the call of duty last month in his school's recycling fundraiser. Ian Schermerhorn, 8, scoured his own attic and went door-to-door in his neighborhood to collect 1,175 recyclable magazines, 63% of his entire school's total. Each month, the company empties the recycling bin and Woodville School gets a donation based on how heavy the load is.  The money goes to the PTO to support programming for Woodville students.   "We did this month-long event to test the waters," said Principal Brian Middleton-Cox. "We didn't have a specific …

A lesson about running a mini-business turned philanthropic earlier this month, when Summer Milsky, 6, and Noah Greif, 8, students at the Greenwood School, and Luke Greif, 4, of Wakefield built and operated a lemonade and raised a total of $500, which they then donated to the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. The lemonade stand was part of National Lemonade Day, a national event which teaches children about entepreneurship and business. The Greif and Milsky families decided to take the lesson one step further and donate the profits, naming it the Lemon-Aid Day. "Before we did the lemonade …

Selling someone a box of Girl Scout cookies isn’t a big deal. After all, nearly everyone loves Girl Scout Cookies. But what if it wasn’t a box? What if it was hundreds of boxes? Well, then you’d be talking about Amanda Lanzarone. Lanzarone, a 14-year-old sales phenom from Wakefield’s Girl Scout Troop 77310, has sold 534 boxes of Girl Scout cookies since her troop began their yearly sales drive in December. The mark was the most from any Girl Scout in Wakefield this year, shattering Lanzarone’s own personal record of more than 400 boxes sold last year and adding to her overall total of …

Abby Dunn is an 8-year-old Wakefield resident who has dedicated herself to the sport of gymnastics at an early age. At her last meet at the USA girls level four state championship, she finished 1st place on the floor, second on the beam, and 3rd place all-around, which earned her a star on the Wall of Champions at the Reading Gymnastics Academy. The team, comprised of several other Wakefield gymnasts - Natasha Lupien, Lola Barrett, and Elise Rich, finished 6th overall in the state competition. Abby started participating in gymnastics at age three and a half. Last year, in September, she …

The 1986 Celtics, the 2001 Patriots, the 2004 Red Sox. The mere mention of these teams conjures up images of greatness in the minds of any New England sports fan.  And as this year’s basketball season comes to an end, Wakefield can now say it has produced one of those teams as well: The 2010-2011 Goldfish. Unlike those other legends in the pantheon of New England sports greatness, the Goldfish might not have won a championship, but the group of seven and eight-year old girls won the hearts of countless parents in town with their unexpected advance to the second round of Wakefield Basketball …

Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week.  Wakefield Patch's Whiz Kid of the Week for April 1: Name: Wakefield High Math Team Age: 15-18 School: Grades 9 -12, Wakefield High School  Why they are Whiz Kids: The Wakefield High School Math team won the Division III State Championship two weeks ago. Wakefield went undefeated on the season, most recently beating out Billerica, Burlington, Hamilton-Wenham, Lynnfield, Masconomet, North Andover, and Swampscott at Lynnfield High. Teacher advisor Mary Ellen Zaremba said during a recognition ceremony in front of the school committee…

Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week.  This week, we chose Girl Scout Troop 77322, a troop of 9 and 10 year olds, for their energy-saving campaign at the Greenwood School.  Why they are Whiz Kids: Girl Scout Troop 77322 members Amanda Lee, Emily Berinato, Jenny Summers, Harini Mohan, Rachel King, Rachel Janellis, Madison Woods, Madison Power, Lydia Rascher, Anna Clark and Eadeen Beck have been making it their mission all month to inspire their classmates to find small ways to save energy every day that will collectively make a difference. The girls are working towards…

Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week.  This week, we chose the Wakefield High Jazz Band, which took first place at the the Berklee Jazz Festival for the second year in a row.  Why they are Whiz Kids:The Wakefield High School Jazz Band beat out 15 other bands from five other states in the large ensemble, class 4 division of the 43rd Berklee Jazz Festival.  The competition,held on March 5 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, featured 3,000 students and 200 bands competing for $175,000 in scholarships to Berklee summer programs. Wakefield's prize is four half-…

UPDATED at 12:45 p.m. Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week. This week we chose Wakefield Memorial High School senior and budding writer Sarah Ford, who penned the play “Dr. Shakespeare” which got performed by the WMHS Drama Club. Why she's a Whiz Kid: 'Dr. Shakespeare" was entered in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Festival preliminaries last weekend. Sarah's idea was ingeniously post-modern: she took three couples from Shakespeare plays and set them all in a joint therapy session with Shakespeare himself sitting in. She says the idea came to her as the …

Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week.  This week, we chose Nicholas Parrella, a Greenwood School student who won the rights to serve as principal of his school for the day of March 2.  Wakefield Patch's Whiz Kid of the Week for Feb. 16: Name: Nicholas Parrella Age: 6 School: 1st grade, Greenwood Elementary  Why he's a Whiz Kid: Just call him Principal Parrella. As the second-highest fundraiser in the Greenwood School's Tone Up for Technology Fundraiser, Nicholas earned the rights to take charge of his school for the week. He started off his day by reading a story to …

Know a great kid or youth group volunteering their time to improve the community? They may be our next Whiz Kid honoree. Every week, Wakefield Patch will seek suggestions from readers for individual kids, youth groups, teens and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about these amazing children and teens. Submit your nomination information to sara.jacobi@patch.com. Be sure to include all of the following information: Nominator's name Nominator's email Whiz Kid's name Whiz Kid's age Whiz Kid's school Whiz Kid's accomplishment Whiz Kid's contact information, …

Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week.  This week, we chose Mila Frohlichstein, a Galvin Middle School student who organized her own coin drive to support her local food pantry.   Wakefield Patch's Whiz Kid of the Week for Feb. 16: Name: Mila Frohlichstein Age: 10 School: 4th grade, Dolbeare School in Wakefield, MA.  Why she's a Whiz Kid:  After seeing a friend from another school conduct a coin fundraiser, Mila was inspired to do the same at her elementary school, the Dolbeare School.  Mila partnered with Gathering Change, Inc., a non-profit charitable organization …

Each week, Wakefield Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week. This week, we chose Sabatino Rosetti, an 8-year-old Wakefield resident who attends Our Lady of Assumption in Lynnfield.  Wakefield Patch's Whiz Kid of the Week for Feb. 9: Name: Sabatino Rossetti Age: 8 Address: 4 Garden Lane in Wakefield, MA. School: 3rd grade, Our Lady Assumption School in Lynnfield, MA. Why he's a Whiz Kid:Last week Sabatino earned the designation of "Young Hero" by the State Fire Marshall's office for his quick thinking in relation to a fire that started in his family's oven back in November of 2010. "My son, …