James T. McLaughlin co-curricular award

Martha Perkins is the recipient of the 2023 James T. McLaughlin Co-Curricular Award for her work as the Cross-Country coach and the organizer of the Poetry Out Loud competition at WUHS.

On her coaching, Assistant Cross-Country Coach Abbie Castriotta said, “Martha cultivates a love of the sport so that it can become a life-long endeavor. She brings her athletes together in a way I can say firsthand, I have never seen before.”

Regarding her work organizing the Poetry Out Loud competition, School Librarian Susan Piccoli said, “She not only coaches students on how to run cross-country, but how to run their lines of poetry. Martha Perkins's work as the cross-country coach and the organizer of the Poetry Out Loud competitions embodies the meaning of the James T. McLaughlin co-curricular award. She does all of these things outside of the classroom in addition to her work as a dedicated teacher in the classroom.”

And, Danny Smith ’23 added, “I could not have asked for a better English teacher and cross country coach.”

Student Council, advised by Marie Anderson and Peggy Boylan, voted to honor Ms. Perkins with this recognition and Jim McLaughlin attended the last Best Day to present the award to Martha Perkins.