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- Scott Cruikshank shines in his senior picture from 2005, and then takes a moment out of his work time here in 2011.
DECA Aspires Higher
November 29th, 2011By Abby Cianciolo
Photograph Editor
Westford Academy’s DECA club is reaching new heights this year, which is consistent with its motto: “Aspire Higher with DECA”. With approximately 230 members, the club is at it’s largest numbers in its history, and possibly in the state.
In addition to their member growth, their yearly events are ready to be set into action. The first upcoming event is its showing at the annual holiday Bazaar this Saturday. At the fair, the club will sell Westford Academy maroon mugs.
But ho-ho-hold on. “Santa” will be making a special stop at the Bazaar to be available for pictures with anyone who wants one. This idea is new to this year, and the club is hoping it goes over well with the crowds.
The next weekend, the new DECA dance will be a first as well. Beauty and the Beast is the theme for this dichotomy dance that will be held December 10th. This encourages students to either dress up fancy to be a “beauty” or come in costume to be a “beast”.
Moving into the new year, January 16th will be the first DECA competition. This is the district level of competition where Westford Academy has been known to dominate in the past, much to the joy of students, officers, and advisors of the club.
“I think we have a lot of talented kids and officers in the club, so it’s going to be a great year,” says John Rogers, one of the DECA advisors.
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Rebecca Ingerslev: WA Round 2
June 16th, 2011By Abby Cianciolo
Staff Writer
Rebecca Ingerslev, an English teacher here at Westford Academy, did not venture far from her high school roots to start her teaching career. As a graduate of the class of 1992, Ingerslev found herself back at home teaching in the same high school she grew up in.
Well, almost the same high school. Since her years as a student, WA has undergone many significant changes. First of all, Ingerslev recalls changes in the size of the school.
From the almost 19 years since she was a student here, the school has doubled in size. This includes larger offices and more spaces. Additionally, the Performing Arts Center is a new addition since Ingerslev was a student here.
Other changes Ingerslev noticed were the higher caliber of student performance and the increase in diversity.
“The students have also changed. The top students are just amazing these days; far more impressive than I was. There is also much more diversity,” says Ingerslev.
One thing that hasn’t changed, according to Ingerslev, is the student participation and involvement, from the various clubs available. This is an area the English teacher is clearly aware of.
“I was in Student Council all 4 years, secretary my senior year. I was in Spanish Club all 4 years, President my senior year…I was in National Honor Society my sophomore year through senior year, and I was in the Art Club,” recalls Ingerslev.
Sports were another interest for Ingerslev during her four years at WA. She was on the JV Soccer team her freshman and sophomore years, advancing to varsity soccer her junior and senior years. Ingerslev was also a member of the cross-country ski team during its first year, when she was a junior.
Ingerslev is what most people would consider a well-rounded student, not only in sports and activities, but also in her school work.
“I was very hard-working, focused and involved in activities,” says Ingerslev.
And Ingerslev’s hard work wouldn’t have been possible without the help of her teachers. Some of these teachers are still educators at Westford Academy today. These include Donna Kavanagh, Cathy Coughlin, Joe Spadano, Anne Stowe, Stephanie Devlin, and Mark Lucey.
One teacher, Kavanagh, stood out from the rest for Ingerslev, as she added, ”Mrs. Kavanagh is one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher. The debate we did on Hamilton in AP US History was epic. She never did tell us who won; it was boys versus girls, and it got pretty heated.”
As do many students, Ingerslev had her own shining moment from her time at WA. This moment came at the end of her senior year when she was selected to deliver her class’ graduation speech.
“Back then, the top four students were the honors speakers, which was a nice way to recognize them publicly for their hard work. I cringe at the actual speech I gave, and no one from my class could hear me, since we were up on the stage at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium…but it was still a huge honor,” said Ingerslev.
After graduation, Ingerslev continued onto Duke University for her BA degree, and received her master’s degree at Stanford University. These universities are very far from Westford, but somehow Ingerslev found her way back to teach.
“I was working as a long-term substitute at Belmont High School and a former teacher at WA called me up and said, ‘Eva Brown is retiring, and she wants you to take her job.’ It was January of 2000, and I applied, and interviewed and was offered the job on the spot…it turned out I was very happy here, so I stayed,” says Ingerslev.
Now, some may say being a teacher here gives her an advantage, seeing as she was once in her students’ shoes. Ingerslev does not see it exactly this way, but rather more fun and exciting.
“I don’t know if it makes it any easier to teach here…but it is certainly fun to be able to say, ‘Mr. Haight was my biology teacher too, isn’t he an amazing artist?’” recalls Ingerslev.
Overall, being a student here a few years ago and now being a teacher at WA has been a great experience for the English teacher. Ingerslev says she does see herself working here in the future.
“I want to get a chair from the trustees for 25 years of service. My husband would love to move to California or Europe, though, so we will have to see what the future holds for us!” said Ingerslev.
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Social Dress-Working alive at WA
May 19th, 2011By Abby Cianciolo
Staff Writer
Prom is the social highlight of the year for seniors. Between finding a date, renting a limo, and hair appointments, this dance has become quite an extravagant function. However, nothing compares to the importance a prom dress has to women of this age.
Derived from debutante balls of the upper class, prom was introduced in the early 1900s. Debutante balls were a gathering of the rich citizens to show off their teenage daughters. When prom was first started, it was a quiet and modest affair for seniors about to graduate.
Girls would wear their “Sunday Best” to these dances and not the outrageous prom dresses we see today. During the 1980’s, prom dresses began to expand in designs, colors, and price.
However, during the early eras of prom, the phenomenon of dresses has never been as high as it is at this time period. Certainly, at that time there was no Facebook for girls to post their dresses, like there is now.
Recently, a group of seniors from Westford Academy have changed the prom dress realm to a new technological position, Facebook. The Facebook group entitled “WA Prom Dresses 2011,” has taken off with over 200 group members.
“I made the group so people could see each other’s dresses, so they wouldn’t get the same dress that somebody else had already,” says group founder and senior, Jackie Lawlor.
Girls who are attending the event join this group and upload pictures of the dresses they have either purchased or ordered. It gives other students a way to see what their friends and classmates are wearing.
It is also a way to make sure that two girls are not wearing the same dress. Regardless of what dress they purchase, a girl’s worst nightmare is walking into a prom and realizing someone else has the same one. This is a girl’s one night to really shine in their senior year, and having it upstaged by another’s dress starts to dim that light.
So far, there has not been too many issues with the site. Many have “liked” and “commented” on other girls’ dresses.
“I think it’s good to have it [the group] to prevent any girls from the devastation of having the same dress!” says WA senior, Gina Theodore. “The girls at WA are really sweet, too, because sometimes I’ll walk into school like in the hallways or in class and girls I don’t even talk to will say ‘Gina I saw your dress on Facebook and I love it, it’s gorgeous!’
However, as is typical in the world of women, sometimes the claws do come out when one girl buys the same dress as another, unknowingly.
“It is fun to be able to see what everyone is wearing, but it can sometimes get mean. The current one [group page] is actually the second one made because the first one had mean comments on it about dresses or if someone had the same dress. But it is very helpful so people don’t buy the same dress,” says WA senior Avery Langille.
Danielle Craig, also a senior attending prom, adds, “There have been some mishaps with the site. Some girls forget to check the page before going out to get their dress, and they get one someone already has, but that’s pretty much the reason we have it. Just to make sure no one’s upset because someone else has ‘their dress’.”
One of the cool things the girls mentioned was that it still leaves the surprise factor. Most girls post pictures with models wearing their dresses. This leaves the wow factor of the dress on the girls for prom night.
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A Conscious State of Wow!
April 11th, 2011By Abby Cianciolo
Staff Writer
Hypnosis, the state of consciousness where one loses total control over their mind and actions. Now, when most of us think of this term, it reminds us of crazy children’s shows we see on television, the ones with a crazy magician sending the characters into a transe and resulting in spinning eyes and causing them to go into crazy tasks.
Well maybe those kids’ shows weren’t all wrong. This past Wednesday, Westford Academy’s DECA club held a hypnotist show in the Performing Arts Center. The show was put on by Frank Santos. Twenty four students from the audience were selected. After a short test to determine each participant’s ability to respond to the hypnosis, twelve students remained on the stage and the show went into full swing.
Overall, the show was a huge success. Students laughed and were amazed by the talents of Frank Santos Jr., a highly skilled hypnotist, as he used hypnosis to make the students believe and do crazy activities. The students hypnotized were Sara Goode, Ryan Murphy, Matthew Warner, Richa Kaul, Nick Walsh, Sarah Oughton, Matt Higgins, Shannon Green, Pat O’Neil, Kaylie Boyd, Annie Hickey, and DECA Advisor Adam Gagne.
The first hypnosis activity consisted on hypnotizing the students to believe their arms were extremely stiff. Santos then went around to see if any of the students could bend their arms. However, under their hypnosis, none of the students could do so.
Following this activity, Santos hypnotized the students to believe that their tongues were glued to the outside of their lips. Most of the students looked extremely confused during this time, much to the audience’s amusement. Each student was then asked their name, which came out in a mumble of words the audience couldn’t decipher.
One scheme Santos put on was making some of the female students believe they were in need of going to the bathroom. However, once they reached halfway up the stairs, the urge was gone, but then returned as soon as they got back on the stage. For the boys, Santos hypnotized them into believing the same thing, but when they got into the bathrooms, they believed that their pants were glued to their backs.
The audience went crazy with applause for all of the pranks, and they were all executed very well by Santos. WA’s Performing Arts Center was full of students, families, and younger students who all were very impressed by Santos’s work as I could tell by the huge roar of applause and laughter in the crowd.
The show was put on to benefit the select students who made it past the state DECA competition and will be moving onto the International Career Development Conference. The competition will take place April 30th to May 3rd in Orlando, Florida. Each student who is going was given a set of tickets they were required to sell. Once they sold enough to break even to the cost of the event, all additional ticket sales would go towards paying for their $1000 trip, said John Rogers, a marketing teacher and a WA DECA advisor.
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Scott Cruikshank: Here and Back Again
March 30th, 2011Abby Cianciolo
Staff Writer
High school is the best four years of their lives for some people, and for others, they cringe at the memory. For Scott Cruikshank, high school must have been great as he returned for a teaching job here at Westford Academy.
After graduating from WA in 2005 alongside fellow teachers Chris Gosselin and Patrick Gendron, Scott Cruikshank went on to college at Duke University. He then returned to WA and is currently teaching in the social studies department.
When he was a student here, Cruikshank was involved with many clubs including National Honors Society, the theater arts program, and was a member of the chorus under the music department. Cruikshank stated that his favorite memory of high school took place with his involvement in the theater arts.
In his junior year, he scored a leading role in the school musical, Les Misérables. This was his defining moment in his theater career, seeing as it was his first real lead in a play.
“Scott was one of the reasons I was able to select and produce Les Miserables. Scott was a very established singer and an even more well respected young man in whom I knew I could count on. His performance at the audition clinched what we already knew to be true: he would be a brilliant Javert! And indeed he was. A spectacular performance,” says Westford Academy’s head of theater arts, Michael Towers.
Cruikshank described himself as a good student. He took many advanced placement and honors courses throughout high school, where he managed to maintain high grades. Some of Cruikshank’s teachers including Andy Norrander, Sandra Whittemore, Rebecca Ingerslev, and Karen St. George still teach at WA today.
Spending time away from Westford during college, Cruikshank was glad to return to a school with such high academic standards.
“I can’t think of a better place to start off an educational career,” Scott Cruikshank stated.
He added that a great thing about WA is its student involvement. There are a large number of clubs and programs that appeal to many different types of students. And if there is not a club for a particular student, another great thing is that students have the liberty to start their own clubs and activities said Cruikshank.
Cruikshank believes that having recently graduated gives him a different perspective on students. He understands the amount of extra activities and obligations students have, and takes that into consideration with his class work and assignments. Being in their shoes just a few years back, Cruikshank finds it easy to relate to his seniors in terms of college planning and preparation.
Recalling his years at WA, Cruikshank says that the school has not gone under tremendous changes, at least from his perspective. WA is still a very accepting place and environment full of friendly faces. One change he did notice was the increase in the number of clubs and activities offered to students.
When asked about teaching at Westford Academy for the long run, Cruikshank responded with, “Absolutely, absolutely.”
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MCAS is Underway
March 28th, 2011Abby Cianciolo
Staff Writer
This year’s MCAS testing has quickly approached Westford Academy students. Tenth grade students started off the testing by taking ELA sessions.
The ELA long composition section of the test took place on Tuesday March 22nd. During March 23-24, the students took three ELA sessions consisting of multiple choice, short answer and open response questions. Last year’s scores for these examinations were very high for the whole state. Westford Academy was tied for 4th out of the entire state with 98% out of 398 students scoring proficient or advanced.
The tenth grade English teachers came together a few summers ago to come up with ways to coordinate curriculum and preparation for MCAS. They compiled these new ideas and activities and have continued to work on these during the school year.
With the large amounts of snow, there was an increased number of snow days this year. These days significantly impacted the amount of preparation time for students and teachers.
English teacher Janet Fonden said that the amount of snow days would not directly affect the scores for this year. However, Fonden believes the snow days have cut into the preparation time the teachers were planning on. There was not as much time as she would have liked, but she believes that it was ample.
Even though it may be a challenge, she also believes the students have the ability to match last year’s high scores.
On May 17-18, there will be the math MCAS test for the sophomores. The math examination consists of five sections. These include number sense and operations, patterns relations and algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis statistics and probability.
Sophomores at WA are either taking geometry or Algebra 2. Those who are in geometry will be focusing on MCAS preparation in their classes. Those who are taking Algebra 2 will have MCAS preparation during long block classes. Students placed 11th out of state for Math MCAS with 97% out of 400 students scoring in the proficient or advanced category.
“I don’t think the snow is going to affect the math as much as it is going to affect the English. So I think with the math we have plenty of time to realize what the students know, and we can rearrange some of the topics to make sure we cover enough,” said math coordinator, Cathy Coughlin.
Coughlin added that she believes that this year’s scores will live up to those high ones of last year. She hopes that with a little more preparation with open-ended questions, more students will be able to earn full points to help those scores.
The freshman will finish off the testing with their science examination consisting of science, biology, technology, and engineering. Last year the freshman placed 9th out of the state for this test. This test is scheduled for June 1-2.
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