`Bravo' to Burncoat choristers.

COLUMN: Neighbors

Quadrivium, the Burncoat High School select chorus, was rated "Excellent" during its appearance at the recent Festival Disney in Orlando, Fla., by an adjudication panel of college-level choral educators and Disney Entertainment professionals.

Participating in the festival, along with many other choruses, bands, orchestras and marching bands from across the United States, gave the group the opportunity of bringing its talents to a national stage and work with some of the nation's choral-education leaders.

"I am very proud of these kids; their hard work and their dedication," said Burncoat Choral Music Director Dave Twiss. "They have worked very, very hard to learn the music, sing as an ensemble and raise the money they needed for this event. They truly are an excellent group of young men and women."

Included in Quadrivium are Juan Alvites, James Alers, Courtney Barbieri, Rebecca Jane Batchelder, Adam Bullock, Bethany Coderre, Gabby Daniels, Beverly Darling-Slater, Alexis Fontanez, Rebecca Friedline, Camille Gagnon-Fors, Margo Gelardi, Kylee Gosler, Monique Graves, Frank Iaquinta, Tiana Justiniano, Sarah Kary, Dan Lee, William Mann, Ashley McGeachie, Driscoll McKenney-Lydick, Joseph Moynihan, Antoine Murphy, Lina Nguyen, Niah Pridgeon, Amanda Ruderman, Khrystina Snell and Lukas Therien.

For the second year in a row, Bay State Savings Bank's Scrabble team took first place in the Literacy Volunteers of Greater Worcester's Annual Scrabble Tournament on March 31. They faced some stiff competition but emerged the champions once again, with a final score of 5,127 points for three rounds of play.

"Although our team takes the competition seriously, the real winner in this event is Literacy Volunteers of Greater Worcester," said Diane Giampa, senior vice president for human resources and marketing at Bay State. "We are very pleased to support this organization, which does so much good for so many individuals in our community."

Between the Scrabble Tournament entry fee and the money raised through "dress down days" at the bank in advance of the event, Bay State's team donated $420 to Literacy Volunteers of Worcester, a community nonprofit supported by more than 100 trained volunteers who provide confidential, free and individualized year-round tutoring in either basic reading or English for speakers of other languages.

Commerce Bank recently honored the following Worcester residents with service awards for their years of service as...