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It’s a Family Affair: Cobbs Connect
January 25th, 2011by Brian Prato
Staff Writer
How would you feel if your mother worked in the same school that you attended? Well, Brandon Cobb, a freshman here at WA, knows the answer to that question.
Cobb has his mother working in the same building where he goes to school. Mrs. Cobb is a teacher’s assistant here at WA. He describes it as, “kind of weird” and says it doesn’t bother him too much because she isn’t present in any of his classes.
Let’s face it. If your mother were working in the school, would you be fine with it? Didn’t think so. There are certain things that come as a plus when having your own mother in the school with you, and of course there are some negatives.
“I mean, it’s a little awkward having your mom in the same building as me every day, but she’s good about it. She doesn’t embarrass me at all. I kind of like having her in the building,” explains Cobb.
His mother enjoys having him in the school, and hopes he’s having a little fun with it as well has receiving her help with things.
“The way things worked out, I don’t see him that much unless he’s in the halls. He usually just tries not to notice me and I understand he’s a big boy now in high school,” says Mrs. Cobb with a chuckle.
However, in Cobb’s mind, it’s a huge plus. If he forgets homework at school or just forgets what his homework is, she occasionally has an extra copy, and knows what the homework is. Any questions he has about anything related to school, she has an answer to most of the time.
“Having her in school helps out a lot with my academics because if I forget my homework, she might have an extra copy, and if I for whatever reason forget what my homework was, she has it written down.”
“I like having Brandon in school,” says Mrs. Cobb, “I feel I’m a help to both him and of course the kids in the classes I help out in. I look forward to coming in every day.”
One of the only negatives you think of when thinking about having your mom in the school is being embarrassed. Typically, this would happen a whole lot if you were in Brandon’s position, but surprisingly, it happens at a minimum.
“I actually rarely see her during the day, and when I do, she’s good about being like that. Really the only time I see her is coming into school in the morning and at the end of the day going home,” said Cobb.
In this situation, it sounds like there are only positives. Helping out with academics and having her around if he needs an answer to a question is “perfect”. Overall, Brandon is very happy with having his mother in the school, and has had a fun time so far this year with her in the building.
“I do enjoy having my mom in the school it doesn’t really impact me or anything. It’s cool. It’s really a huge help,” said Cobb.
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Adopting a Playoff System in College Football
January 10th, 2011By Brian Prato
Staff Writer
For a few years now, the bowl system in college football has been repeatedly bashed, and some feel it’s time for a change. It’s time for a college football playoff system.
This year, the national championship is between Auburn and Oregon. Auburn being from the Southeastern Conference and Oregon from the PAC-10. The SEC has won the last 4 National Championships and will be going for their fifth straight. Typical college football placing a few powerhouse conferences in the title game.
LaMichael James of the Oregon Ducks
Too many fans, analysts, and even the coaches and players, have been saying that they feel the bowl games are an outrage. Games like the “KRAFT Fight Hunger Bowl”, “Capital One Bowl” and the “MAACO Las Vegas Bowl” are an utter joke to the majority of the country, and nobody in the country cares about these games except for the schools themselves participating in the bowl, and the students that attend the schools that are participating.
A playoff system would be the ideal way to handle this situation, but still nothing has been done.
This year there have been more than two teams that have done very well for themselves other than the teams actually participating in the BCS National Championship. The Texas Christian University Horned Frogs played in the Rose Bowl against the Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin Badgers. TCU, coming into the game 11-0, needed one win to complete a perfect season. They ended up prevailing over Wisconsin 21-19 and completed their season undefeated. Happy about the win, the players and coaches were still a little disappointed over the fact that they didn’t lose a game all year, but they couldn’t compete for the crown of top team in the nation.
Another very disappointing story is the season of the Boise State Broncos. 10-0 heading into the final game of the season, hoping to finish
TCU after their Rose Bowl victory against the Wisconsin Badgers
with an undefeated record and a possible bid to a prestigious BCS bowl game, they only had Nevada to beat. The game went to overtime, and their kicker was put in position to win the game not once, but twice. He missed both field goal attempts, and Nevada kicked a field goal shortly after the misses to win. That single flaw should not define a team’s season.
These kinds of things cost a team their whole season. In my mind this is a complete joke how small mistakes and a loss can take teams completely out of the equation when talking about best team in the country. Bowl games do not settle anything. The only positive they provide for the teams is finishing on a good note. Nobody else cares about the games.
Another thing about these bowl games, they are held at a neutral site. There is no home team, no advantage, not that same type of intensity that you feel when you watch a game in Michigan’s “Big House” or “The Swamp” in Florida. No feeling to the game is there.
In the entire nation, in all conferences, there were a total of 24 teams finishing with double digit wins. All of them except for two (Auburn, Oregon) will not get the opportunity to play on the biggest stage in college football. That’s 22 teams that played in pointless bowl games. Disappointing if you ask me.
In order to be fair to all the teams in college football, the NCAA needs to get on top of a playoff system as soon as possible. It would provide so much more fairness to all the teams in college football and would satisfy most casual fans. The thing is, a playoff system only brings positives to the table when talking about the schools themselves and the fans. The only thing that gets hurt is the advertising business and the sponsors of all the games.
"The Swamp" is the home of the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida
Home-field advantage is huge when talking about any sport. The NCAA has some of the most hostile environments in all of sports, and they are being kept out of the scene in bowl games. In a playoff, the games would be played at an actual stadium of one of the teams. Not an advertisement paradise, but a real game for the fans, players, and coaches. Now tell me, would you rather watch a playoff game between LSU and South Carolina at “Death Valley” in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, or the same game, but at a neutral site. Thought so.
If it were me running NCAA football, I would take the top 20 teams in the country, record wise, and put them in a bracket with the seeding at random. To divide the bracket into two, the teams would be placed in at random once again. This makes things interesting and it proposes that anything can happen. In this way, this system, a true winner would be found in the end of the day and everyone would be satisfied. Some people may have different opinions on how things should be handled if a playoff system were to sprout up, but I feel that’s the best way to come about it.
In the end, I am just a typical college football fan looking for the best talents in the country playing against each other. With a full fledged playoff system, the top team in the country will be found and it would stop the pain of having to watch pointless bowl games throughout December and January. Teams like TCU, Boise State, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Florida State, and several others should at least get a shot at taking home a national title. They have the oppertunity if changes were to be made to the highly disliked system.
In the end I see playoffs in college football being adopted by the NCAA over the next 5 years maximum.
Playoff college football. I like the sound of that.
Scollan predicts season of “constant improvement”
December 8th, 2010By Brian Prato
Staff Writer
It’s that time of year again, basketball season. For WA, it’s looking to be a solid year.
The varsity basketball team has six returning players including Mark Cornelius and Matt Ellis, who are both returning DCL All Stars. Coach Ed Scollan expects them to be two of the team’s most valuable players and leading point scorers.
Ryan Imbriaco, Ryan Jann, Mike Bibinski, and Alex Preckol are the other returning players for WA, and their experience will hopefully pay off in the long run and help develop the younger players in this season’s DCL run.
There are only two sophomores playing on the team this year. Justin Mount, a shooting guard, and Troy Faretra, a guard/forward, are the youth of Scollan’s program and are expected to mesh well with the upperclassmen.
“We are very athletic, and I expect that to be one of our advantages,” Scollan explains.
The new players being introduced to the varsity level of competition, other than Mount and Faretra of course, are Mike Burgomaster, Riley Cox, Tim Orton, Raunak Mahesh, and Doug Searl. They are all juniors here at WA.
Coach Scollan is confident that the team will gel quickly and play the kind of game he is used to playing, in winning fashion.
“I am looking for constant improvement throughout the season, and we need to kind of ‘mix’ the returning players with a solid group of first year players.” The team, in his mind, has the potential to go pretty far this season.
Coach Scollan also explains his competition, and how he feels they can put up a fight, day in, day out with his new 2010-2011 squad.
“The DCL is always a very competitive league. AB had a solid year last season and returns mostly everyone; they will be very good along with LS and NS in the large school. CC should be solid in the small school division.”
The WA varsity basketball team begins their season with a big game on December 17th against Concord Carlisle, at home, at 7 p.m.
Kanye Pieces Together Masterpiece
November 16th, 2010by Brian Prato
Staff Writer
Although hip hop was near abandoned by Kanye in 2008 with the auto-tune engulfed “808s & Heartbreak”, Yeezy has come crawling back into the game with the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which is already shaping up to be a classic.
Kanye West is back with his 5th studio album in his on-and-off career, and this one sounds like it’s going to be one to remember. There are thirteen tracks on the album, which feature many other well known artists, including Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Raekwon, Rick Ross, upcoming female rap sensation, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, and others.
There have been three singles released from the album, giving a solid level of anticipation from his fans.”Power”, released back in July, was a hit. The beat, the lyrics, and the chorus all sound like the old Kanye we know from the pre-808s & Heartbreak era. That swagger he brought to the table every time he picked up the mic back in the day was re-introduced here. Fans got excited and critics started saying “Kanye’s Back”.
After being performed at the MTV VMA’s, the second single was released a few weeks later. “Runaway” featuring Pusha T, which, in the public eye, was another hot track on Kanye’s resumé, had many believing this album could be some of his best work.
The third and final single released off the album was the one everybody was looking for. A 6 1/2-minute banger with many featured artists. This is exactly what West and his fans needed. “Monster” featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, and Bon Iver was an instant hit to the public. It ended up reaching #18 on the US Billboard’s Top 100.
Now lets get to the actual album.
The opening track, “Dark Fantasy”, sets the tone for the album with a soft chorus. But most importantly, Kanye goes hard on the mic, letting everyone know he’s back to the way things used to be in his Graduation days when every song was a hit.
Tracks two and three are sure hits in “Gorgeous” with Kid Cudi and Raekwon, and the previously released single, “Power”. These tracks keep the consistency with the opening track, but have a different feel with Kanye and Raekwon rapping in a distorted voice, as Cudi tears up the chorus- a nice touch to the song as a whole. Power, as it has been since its release back in July, kept up with the popularity and is still one of the most liked songs by consumers.
Track four and five are titled “All of the Lights (Interlude)” and “All of the Lights” with the interlude as a soft, yet haunting instrumental , trailing off into the actual song. “Monster”, the third single, is track six on the album and is also one of the most popular among fans.
“So Appalled” featuring Jay-Z, Pusha T, and Swizz Beatz is one of the most well put together songs on the album. Without a repeating chorus, it proves to be one of the most impressive songs off of the album. The hypnotizing beat and flow of these four talented artists forces the listener to hear all six and a half minutes of the song.
Although some may say the next track is “weak”, it still keeps a good pace with its surroundings. “Devil in a New Dress” featuring Rick Ross is just under six minutes. Kanye spends “Devil in a New Dress” talking about how women spend too much time on their looks and material items. Ross dishes out his fair share of rhymes in addition.
The next track, “Runaway”, which was the second single released, is still a hit and is also one of the top songs on the album popularity wise. It is nine minutes in length.
“Hell of a Life” and “Blame Game” are tracks ten and eleven on the thirteen song album and are both quite likable by many. Throughout “Hell of a Life”, Kanye states he doesn’t need drugs and alcohol to satisfy him, all he needs is the plenty of money (that he already has in the bank), his religion, and the women who love him the way he is.
In “Blame Game”, Kanye and John Legend put together a 7 1/2 minute piece that speaks of fights in relationships. Smack dab in the middle of it has an actual fight between a man and a woman, still keeping up with the consistent beat. It shows some of Kanye’s softer side, similar to the one he revealed back in 2008.
“Lost in the World” and “Who Will Survive in America” are the final two tracks on the album, and they sum the album up quite nicely. “Lost in the World” starts slow, but about a minute in, the beat is introduced and Kanye, as usual, kills it to the end.
The final track will be categorized as rap, when it is really a lesson taught. It is a voice telling of how America has turned into a greedy, money dictated country where everybody is either categorized as poor or rich. “America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey.”
Overall, this album is a masterpiece. Listening to the album from top to bottom, you cannot pick out one song that is “just a filler.” Every song is its own work of art and there is not much criticism that can be made.
Out of all five studio albums created by Mr. West, this proves to be one of,if not, the best he has put together. Some say this is one of the best hip hop albums ever released. The best part about it? Nine songs are a length of five minutes or more. Now that’s what I call dedication.
‘Ye is back.
Freshman, Ben Osgood, Juggles his Way into Starting Position
October 29th, 2010By Brian Prato
Staff Writer
It’s not every day you see a freshman starting on a varsity team. But today, Ben Osgood is proving that even though he is one of the youngest in the school, he can make an impact on one of WA’s top sports team.
Osgood is the starting attacking mid-fielder on the WA Varsity Soccer team and has a goal and three assists in the team’s seventeen games played, and is really enjoying the playing time and process in general.
“It’s pretty exciting, but intimidating at the same time because most of the other players are upperclassmen,” said Osgood.
He has adjusted to playing with upperclassmen.
“All of them are friendly and fun to hang around with. It’s easy to adjust to the competition, you just need to stay focused,” said Osgood.
Osgood has been impressed by his coaches for the team.
“Both coaches (Coach Dileo and Coach Wood) are simply great. It’s really easy to develop from them, but at the same time they make it exciting enough to have fun,” said Osgood.
Even as a freshman, Osgood is looking ahead to the rest of his high school soccer career. He plans on playing all four years in high school, and hopes to play college soccer.
The WA Varsity Soccer Team has a 9-6-2 record heading into the final game of the season tonight versus Waltham, and they’d like to end on a good note.
They plan on taking home the crown of state champions this November, and Osgood is really looking forward to it.
“Winning the tournament would be nice, and I am going to do everything I can to achieve that goal, and I know my teammates will as well,” said Osgood.
MCAS Scores To Be Proud Of
October 17th, 2010By Brian Prato
Staff Writer
Last year the MCAS scores for sophomores at Westford Academy ranked highly in the state of Massachusetts.
Principal Jim Antonelli is especially excited about this feat.
“It’s incredible, absolutely incredible. It just shows what hard work and determination can do as far as middle school teachers that have really given these students a really solid foundation. Then you come into the high school and we’ve got outstanding English teachers that really push our students to be exemplary in the classroom,” said Antonelli.
He also goes to say how the students in our school every year feel a “good kind of pressure”, which pushes the students to want to do well and succeed on these important assessments.
To show how well we really did, a little over twice as many students tested advanced than the state average. Also, 98.5% of the WA students who took the ELA MCAS in the tenth grade scored proficient or higher. This also holds true for the Math MCAS, where 97.7% of WA students scored proficient or higher.
Out of all the grades that took the MCAS, the tenth grade English and Math both only had three students in the “needs improvement” category.
“I’ve always believed that we have very strong curriculum leadership in the building. I believe that we have great teachers in the building and again, it’s based on really smart students that really care and take the time,” said Antonelli.
Curriculum Coordinator Anita Goldberg is also satisfied with this accomplishment.
“I’m very proud of them. I’m very proud of the department, proud of all the teachers, and proud of all the students. I think it’s a really terrific achievement,”said Goldberg.
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