Framingham teen wins the Easter Seals Team Hoyt Rising Star Award

At 4 1/2, however, a serious illness stole his ability to speak, and much of the use of his arms and legs. Now 16, he will be honored Thursday with the Easter Seals Team Hoyt Rising Star Award, citing his intelligence, determination, and potential as a future leader. The ceremony will be held at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge.

A freshman at Framingham High School, Sam uses a power wheelchair and DynaVox speech-generating technology to participate in classes and talk with friends. He loves sports, particularly baseball and football, and enjoys reading and learning about American history. His hero is Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in major-league baseball.

“People see people with disabilities as being weak and not intelligent. I want to prove them wrong, starting today,’’ Sam said. “My DynaVox computer allows me to interact more in class discussions and answering questions. Because I have a voice with the DynaVox, it puts me on an equal playing field with my peers and teachers.’’

The Team Hoyt Rising Star Award was created in honor of Dick and Rick Hoyt, who will be running their 28th Boston Marathon on April 19 to benefit Easter Seals and its services for people with disabilities.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD: Two years ago, David Nurenberg participated in a teacher exchange in Balkanabat, Turkmenistan, simply because he wasn’t familiar with the isolated Islamic country. Now he is sharing lessons in foreign diplomacy, learned through a recent State Department-sponsored trip to the country, with nine fellow teachers, including six of his colleagues at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School.

Nurenberg, who teaches English, and Concord-Carlisle teachers Susan Curtin, Thomas Curtin, Neil Lynch, Jane-Sarah MacFarlane, Sandra Haupt, and Alison Shawver were joined by Charlestown High teachers Steven Berbeco, Jessica Orlando, and Josette Teneus.

“Here I was, a Jewish guy from America going to a Muslim country in central Asia, but every fear I had was unfounded,’’ Nurenberg said. “The people we met were so kind and generous, and totally welcoming. They really wanted to reach out to their counterparts around the world.’’

During the trip, which was administered by American Councils for International Education, based in Washington, D.C., the Americans traveled to Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat, where they collaborated with local teachers, met with the directors of the country’s National Institute of Education, and laid the groundwork for future cooperation and exchanges. According to Nurenberg, it was more progress in US-Turkmenistan relations, which had been previously forged through a school-exchange program in which two Turkmen students have studied at Concord-Carlisle for a semester the last two years.

The long-term goal, according to Nurenberg, is for Concord-Carlisle students to have the opportunity to visit their sister school in Turkmenistan. Steps are being taken, he said, with a delegation of Turkmen teachers traveling to Concord-Carlisle in October.

“It’s good for the Turkmen students to see that not all Americans are white with blond hair and blue eyes, and for American kids to understand that not every Muslim is a member of the Taliban,’’ Nurenberg said. “By forging these ties, we’re paving the way for bigger things.’’

HIGH NOTE: Sammy Andonian , a 12-year-old from Lincoln, grew up in a musical family, with his mother playing the piano, his father singing, and his older brother playing the violin. He began playing the cello at age 4, but it wasn’t until a chance encounter with Yo-Yo Ma that he dedicated himself to the instrument.

He had been studying the cello for a year when his mother, Jennifer Garabedian Andonian, took him to a performance by Ma in Boston’s Symphony Hall.

Afterward, Sammy caught Ma’s attention in a crowd of autograph seekers.

“He got down on one knee, shook my hand, and signed my program,’’ Sammy said. “I told him that I played the cello and he asked how I liked it. I don’t even remember what I told him, but that’s what inspired me: His concert was so amazing, and he was so nice.’’

Sammy is the principal cellist of the Boston Youth Symphony’s Junior Repertory Orchestra, and a member of the New England Conservatory Youth Festival Orchestra and the Community Youth Orchestras of Boston.

After developing an interest in singing, he was accepted at age 9 into the Boston Children’s Chorus Concert Choir and soon advanced into its Premier Choir. Last year, the group traveled to Jordan at the invitation of King Abdullah II, and performed in several cities, including the capital, Amman.

On May 7 at 8 p.m., Sammy will perform Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms’’ as a soloist with the MIT Concert Choir in Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. As part of the concert, MIT sophomore Benjamin Steinhorn of Illinois will perform the Andante and Hungarian Rondo for Bassoon and Orchestra composed by Carl Maria von Weber with the MIT Symphony Orchestra.

Previously, Sammy has performed in the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall and Boston University’s Tsai Performance Center, but says his favorite venue is Symphony Hall.

“That’s the first place I saw Yo-Yo Ma,’’ said Sammy, who also plays the piano, violin, viola, and trumpet. “It always gives me a thrill to perform there.’’

Tickets for next month’s concert at MIT are $5. For more information, go online to web.mit.edu/mitso.

STORIES BEHIND SONGS: Like many songwriters, folk-rock musician John Colvert of Arlington draws inspiration from a variety of sources. He wrote “Ain’t Done No Wrong’’ about what would have happened if he hadn’t mended his once-strained relationship with his father. “Shame’’ is a fictional story about a man in the Midwest who leaves everything behind as he sinks into a downward spiral.

“I let my imagination go, thinking about what someone in a certain situation might do and say,’’ Colvert said. “Then I’ll clean it up afterward if it doesn’t make any sense.’’

Colvert is one of several musicians participating in the April Music Festival at the Arlington Center for the Arts next weekend. The three-part event will begin on Friday at 8 p.m. with the Songwriters’ Round Table Confessional featuring Colvert, Chris Brenne of Arlington, and Katie McD of South Boston, who will perform and discuss their music and songwriting processes.

On Saturday, a kid-friendly concert from 2 to 4 p.m. will feature the lyrical voice of McD and the world beat of Brenne and Parul Vakani of Arlington in Red Velvet Slide. Ages 12 and under get in free. The show at 7 that evening will feature the touch-tap guitar style of Amherst resident Jonathan Keezing, followed by Colvert and Red Velvet Slide.

Tickets are available at the door for $25 (three events) or $15 (one event) at the Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster St. For more information, call 781-648-6220 or go to www.acarts.org.

ACADEMIC NEWS: Jeremy Wilmer, an assistant professor of psychology at Wellesley College, led a facial-recognition study using Australian identical twins that was published in the February issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study found that the ability to recognize human faces is predominantly genetic, an inherited skill that is largely independent of the ability to recognize words or even paintings. A version of the study’s test can be taken at www.faceblind.org/facetests.

Items for the People column may be submitted to Cindy Cantrell at cantrell@globe.com.

Correction: Because of a reporting error, an item in last Sunday's Globe West People column gave the wrong hometown for 12-year-old cellist Sammy Andonian. He is from Lincoln.