Senior Tilda Rieder Named Recipient of MASS Superintendent’s Award for Academic Excellence
SALEM (Oct. 23, 2023) – Tilda Rieder, a senior at Salem High School, was named the recipient of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS) Award for Academic Excellence, Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike announced Monday.
Ms. Rieder was presented a citation Monday night at the Salem School Committee meeting by Dr. Zrike and Mayor Dominick Pangallo. The honor is presented to the outstanding senior who exemplifies academic excellence, model character and leadership qualities and consistent pursuit of excellence.
“I feel very honored to receive this award,” Ms. Rieder said. “I feel like the Salem school district has supported me from elementary school and on. I’m really honored to feel that I’ve made an impact on the community and to be recognized for it.”
Ms. Rieder has maintained a 4.7 cumulative grade point average to rank among the top 5 percent of the senior class. With a genuine interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), she founded the Robotics Club at SHS (alongside junior Cora Dawson) at the end of her sophomore year and has since grown the club to 20 members.
“Tilda has been setting the standard at Salem High School in engineering and physics since her freshman year,” said William Warren, a science educator at SHS. “She is wonderfully organized, very positive and personable and highly capable. She’s one of the top three students I’ve known in my 26-year-long career.
“While I am the advisor of the robotics club, she’s the lead,” Mr. Warren added. “The club was founded at her request. She organizes everything, sets the agenda, recruits other students and then assists them with building and coding the robots. She helps set the standard in everything she’s involved in and the high school community has been the beneficiary of her abilities and efforts for nearly four years now.”
Additionally, Ms. Rieder is a member and officer in two national honor societies at SHS, serving as the co-president of the National Art Honor Society and the vice president of the NHS. She is also a four-year member of SHS Model UN Team as well as Student Mentors, for which she helps first-year high school students adapt to SHS.
“Tilda is an independent and critical thinker who has not only excelled academically but has applied her enthusiasm for STEM to build community and partnership at SHS,” said Dr. Zrike. “She frequently challenges herself and her classmates to broaden their vision, expand their views and to be open to new ideas and experiences.”
Outside of school, Ms. Rieder is a volunteer for Salem Sound Coastwatch, for which she takes part in beach cleanups and water quality testing. She also works at the Salem Public Library as a page in the children’s department.
Though undecided on a college, Ms. Rieder plans to study mechanical engineering. She is the daughter of Catherine and Kirt Rieder.
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are all passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens we view all of our work through. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff serve all of our students, regardless of ability or language. Salem Public Schools enrolls approximately 4,000 students across its eleven schools.
