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Ke$ha releases the crazy yet catchy album: Cannibal
November 29th, 2010by Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
Possibly the dirtiest album to hit the shelves this year is Ke$ha’s newly released album Cannibal. Has she gone too far?
The nine songs reflect a similar sound to her last album, a catchy beat with an unforgettable chorus, along with a lot of unmistakable computer generated sound. Party songs from start to finish; some will make you dance, sing along, or just say “Wait, did she really just say that?”.
The album opens with song “Cannibal” which gives the album its title. Absolutely crazy lyrically, it plays into the immensely popular vampire craze seen across the nation, with lyrics like “Then when I’m thirsty, I drink their blood”. Lyrics aside, the album definitely starts out with a bang.
Hot and dangerous are just two words that opens up the next track called, “We R who we R”. This is the song that listeners are already familiar with as it has been played all over local radio stations before the album’s release.
Track three “Sleazy” was the biggest surprise on the album. This song is possibly the closest Ke$ha has got to rapping in her career as a recorded artist.
Even the title of the songs get dirty as the album continues on with track four, “Blow” and track seven, “Grow a Pear”. Maybe this would be frowned upon more if the songs weren’t so catchy?
Although this album was not meant to be released until December this year, it has still been a success for Ke$ha despite the online leak.
Harry Potter Seven Part One Review
November 23rd, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
by Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
In comparison to the prior Harry Potter movies, this one followed the book it was based off of best. From the beginning to the end of the movie, the book was followed to a tee.
The movie went beyond the greatest expectations a viewer could have; almost every detail from the first half of the book was covered. Ultimately the decision to make the last book into two movies was the best one to be made. The movie was a two thumbs up.
The movie was not without action, sadness, a bit of romance and [of course] comedy that J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had included originally.
As tensions grew high with the much feared Lord Voldemort’s return, the movie follows three familiar characters: The famous Gryffendor students Ron Weasley played by Rupert Grint, Hermione Granger played by Emma Watson, and of course Harry Potter played yet again by Daniel Radcliffe. The three go out to destroy Horcruxes, in hope of killing Voldermolt himself.
This is the first movie shot almost entirely outside of the Hogwarts setting as the adventures take place in far away lands in search of the Horcruxes. The setting was a big change and wonderful addition of breath-taking landscapes was included.
Although the cast has grown in age and size since the first movie, they still played the rolls extremely well and brought audiences to tears and laughs in the two hour and a half long movie.
Yet another great movie directed by David Yates, a British director, whom has been directing the Harry Potter Movies since Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The opening weekend profit reflected the high quality of the movie. It resulted in $330 million at the box office , according to the New York Times.
Given the fact this movie was only part one, it ended very well tying up loose ends while still leaving the audience wanting more and looking forward to the second part premiere in July 2011.
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Traffic Flow: Where do Seniors go?
November 16th, 2010by Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
It has been a few weeks since the new pick up and drop off routes have been in place, and students and parents have adapted well. But, why did we need this change, and if so will it last?
According to Paul Starratt, Westford Town Engineer, it was the police department that initiated the change in routes here at Westford Academy.
“The Police Department was concerned about the congestion on Patten Road and the vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. Cars were dropping off students in the roadway and then crossing into the oncoming lane to leave the area,” said Starratt.
The school has grown in size over the years, making the pick-up-drop-off system out dated and unaccustomed to the large size of the student body. According to Starratt, the increase in the number if kids being dropped off was a noticeable difference, and more students means more traffic.
“The enrollment has increased at WA and therefore more traffic is coming to the site each morning and afternoon,” said James Antonelli.
The increase in student body was a big cause of this change, and both the town engineer and Antonelli had been anticipating this. So naturally they have been working on the plan for a while. When asked about the work done on the school Antonelli said, “It was very collaborative.”
This collaborative effort in putting a new routing system in place has been a success in many ways.
“Vehicles are not backed up on Patten Road, students are not being dropped on in the roadway and traffic is flowing more smoothly,” said Starratt.
Some of the seniors disagree and complaints have been heard referencing the new traffic between the senior parking lot and the school. Traffic from the parents dropping off their students in back has been making crossing to get to the school harder.
The town engineer believes that this should not be a problem.
“Operators have a responsibility to drive at safe and reasonable speeds, especially in school zones and in parking areas where students are present,” said Starratt.
Although this change feels new to many of the students and faculty it actually isn’t.
“The current arrangement is actually the “old” way of doing things. The bus drop off and pick up was in front of the school years ago,” said Starratt.
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Market Basket System Malfunctions
November 11th, 2010Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
The front half of Market Basket was at a standstill at 5:43pm Wednesday night as the tower that transmits debit, credits, and checks failed. Every register was malfunctioning and the customers were stopped.
It was a strange scene, because at the Westford Market Basket there is always somebody moving around, cash registers are always making the beeping sound of something being rung up or carts squeaking through the checkout area.
This unworldly silence only lasted a few moments as the customers erupted with questions that seemingly nobody had answers to. It was then discovered that the extremely important tower that processed many methods of payment was down.
What this meant was that the registers could only handle the cash orders, a rarity these days, and all others would have to be processed manually.
As word of the cash being the only thing to process through the register spread, the line at the ATM grew extremely long, people lining up to pay an extra $2.00 at the ATM to withdraw money. Those who refused to get cash or too frustrated to deal with the situation all together walked out leaving their carts full of groceries behind.
“When I heard the credits went down, I got to stand around watching for about ten minutes because Ken and Paige were too busy to give me something to do,” said Chris Cook a Market Basket cashier.
While customers coped with news that the system was only working on cash, the front end manager, Ken Mercer, and assistant manager Paige Askins developed a manual and time consuming system to get those who only had the debit, credit cards or checks to be able to still pay.
Anybody who paid in cash would continue normally throughout checkout. If the customer had to pay with debit cards, credit cards or check they were rung up by a cashier who then had to flash their light [a universal signal for help by manager] and call over Paige who had to print a special receipt.
The customer would then go stand in line to see Ken with the receipt if paying with credit or debit. The same would happen with those wishing to make a purchase via check but they went to the courtesy booth to get processed.
“When I got [back] up front there was a line of people at the bus teller [where Ken was standing],” said Cook.
The lines grew longer and patience of customers got shorter.
“It’s funny how dependant people are on all this technology…” an elderly women in line for groceries laughed as she paid with cash on register 14.
At 6:15 pm there were signs hung outside that at this time we could only accept cash despite the newly developed system by the managers, in order to speed things up. Unfortunately this had little effect as many took no notice of the sign whatsoever.
“This is crazy,” said Askins.
Paige was running from register to register until around 7:00pm when the number of customers in the store dropped and the number of registers was down to six open registers.
Luckily at 7:14pm the tower was working again and everything could again be processed at the registers normally.
Apparently Market Basket was not the only store that relied on the tower
for debit and credit cards.
“I stopped at Tedeschi on the way home and they had their debits and credits down for an hour and a half too!” said Cook.
Anybody that paid in cash had no problem paying during this mini-crisis, but those that didn’t were left in a panic.
Bad Political Ads bring attention to election
November 2nd, 2010By Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
The elections. To teenagers, it’s just a bunch of bad commercials popping up everywhere. However, the commercials can make the campaigning more fun and interesting for us teens.
Today is election day, November 2nd, where the hilarious campaign ads will be played just one more time. This year the targets are the candidates for Massachusetts governor going up for election or re-election. When asked about the candidates, many students recited the advertisements that have been playing everywhere in the past couple weeks.
The candidates are Deval Patrick [our current governor], Charlie Baker, and Christy Mihos. What have the ads told us about Patrick? That he will raise taxes. The ad most known is the one that has been recently broadcasted on our local radio stations.
The advertisement sets up various situations and tells us that Baker will do something great for our state’s community, while Patrick will just raise taxes. Although this ad is unrealistic and obviously a ridiculously negative outlook on Patrick, the repetition within the ad makes it easy to remember.
Without all of these advertisements, many teens wouldn’t even know that he tends to raise taxes whatsoever.
Besides, it’s entertaining to make fun of the political ads.
What will Deval do? Raise taxes!
Another advertisement airing talks about a more serious subject in Jeff Perry’s past; he was a police chief and while on duty, officers hand searched some younger girls.
Following this event he resigned from his duties. This ad that tells this story of his “hidden past” is not funny, but it gives the teens an unforgettable image of who Jeff Perry has been in the past.
Mihos has lacked in advertisements in comparison to her rival candidates, and as a result many students don’t know who she is at all.
The ads are not a bad thing, although they can be incredibly nasty and negative. In a way they are bringing more attention to the election than anything else has.
Here at Westford Academy the mock elections results tell us that the student body thinks Deval Patrick should be re-elected as our governor, despite his notorious tax raise.
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NYC Photography Trip Proves to be a Treat
October 29th, 2010by Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
On Friday October 22, 2010 ten students and two teachers took a field trip to New York City for a day. Despite the fun the students and teachers had there, this trip almost didn’t happen.
Photo by: Lisa Bolotte
In order to make this trip a success photography teacher, Lisa Bolotte, had to open the trip up to more students. This event is usually only open to photography students taking Photography II or higher.
This year, however, students from all levels were invited to sign up in order to make the necessary ten student minimum count for the van to New York City.
Teachers, Bolotte and Brandon Eang chaperoned the trip, keeping students organized but still giving them enough freedom to really explore and take pictures.
The students started the trip arriving at the school for 6 am preparing for a full day in the Big Apple. Upon arrival in the city, the students got a chance to explore the International Center of Photography with the two exhibits, The Mexican Suitcase and Cuba in Revolution.
After spending an hour or so the students made their way to Times Square to take their own pictures of the city. The students took pictures of the sights and found familiarity in the somewhat foreign city atmosphere
“Look, that’s where the ball is dropped,” said senior AP photography student Randi Medley.
The 2010 lettering sits where the New Year’s Eve Ball dropped up in Time Square and it was a sight worth seeing.
Returning to the van to go get lunch at a pizza shop, The Two Bros, was in no way uneventful. Soon after getting off the van the students had a celebrity sighting of award winning actress Kate Hudson with her child.
Photo by: Leah Bowness
After lunch generously provided by Bolotte, students had some more free time to explore, shop and take pictures. The students appreciated all of this free time and almost all of them enjoyed a frozen yogurt from the popular frozen yogurt shop Pinkberry.
“This is so good!” exclaimed Phoebe Taffel, while eating her chocolate froyo.
The last event of the day was to spend a few hours in the Museum of Modern Art [MoMA]. Six floors of art to look at certainly kept the students busy.
Photo by: Leah Bowness
At MoMA a handful of students found a screaming exhibit to be a lot of fun. In the center of the museum there is an exhibit where a microphone is set up and people are encouraged to scream, as a piece of art on the wall encouraged them to do.
“That was way to much fun,” exclaimed Medley after taking her turn at the mic.
Unfortunately all great days must come to an end and the students left New York City at six o’ clock piling into the van from a long day in the Big Apple. Although the two museums plus the transportation to and from New York cost each student $110 this year, it was worth every penny.
WA Graduate to Librarian; Susan Harde
October 27th, 2010Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
In the library, the newest face is Westford Academy alumnus Susan Harde. She graduated from WA in 1986. In her high school career she saw tragedy, a different school and a terrible class.
Harde was most affected by the tragic explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. According to Harde she remembers viewing the event on a television in a WA classroom.
“I can vividly remember how shocked and horrified we all were,” said Harde.
This event took place at 9:37 a.m. right in the beginning of the school day. It was a day she has yet to forget. The tragedy did in no way define her high school career as she participated in yearbook, and according to Harde, she was “always busy.”
The difference she sees in the school is not a new location, like Ms. Stowe, but rather the impressive renovations that have taken place since her graduation.
One of the renovations she observes every school day is that the library has increased in size and more windows have been put in.
“The library is certainly more spacious and inviting,” said Harde.
Along with library renovations, there have been improvements to the PAC and major technological updates. According to Harde, the television broad-casted announcements and the online newspaper are new since she attended WA.
The fact that everybody enters high school with a great understanding of the keyboard is also new. Students now begin learning how to type as young as 4th grade. Back when she was here, there was a class offered called Typing 101.
“It was sheer torture for me,” admitted Harde.
Unfortunately, Harde was unwilling to release her maiden name, and finding a high school picture is impossible with the number of Susan’s in the class of 86’. It is evident from the yearbooks, available in the school library, that she graduated with Mr. James Antonelli and Michael Tower’s brother Daniel Towers.
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Parent editing: The student perspective
October 12th, 2010By Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
Students of Westford Academy can be divided into two groups, students with parents who edit their work before handing it in, and those that do not. Is this an unfair advantage for the students that do not have a parent available for revisions? Are their peers who have parents around to edit getting extra help?
Piers Bowness, the writers parent, editing Leah's Article. Photo by: Leah Bowness
Of the students who have parents there to edit many of them find themselves in honors classes, although it is still unclear whether or not parent editing is a direct correlation with students being in the higher level classes.
Westford Academy sophomore, Tasneem Bhindarwala, finds herself in an English honors class. She is lucky enough to have her parents available for editing assistance; whether this gives her an advantage is debatable.
“I have handed in a paper without my parents’ edits. The paper did not go badly, but I definitely saw an increase in grammatical mistakes and my paragraph lengths were very unruly,” said Bhindarwalda.
It is apparent that more mistakes occur without parent revisions, but these are mere details and are nearly not enough to determine a letter grade on a paper. Many students feel the real difference is between parents offering a “fresh pair of eyes” as opposed to basically rewriting and changing the ideas of what the student provided.
“I think if your parent is willing to help… that it is fine. As long as they don’t write the essay for you,” said Taylor Dean.
The students who do not have parents to help them edit their work do have other resources, as pointed out by many of the students interviewed. The students without parental help could always turn to their peers or teachers to edit their work before turning in an assignment.
“You could have anyone edit your paper, like a teacher or a friend,” said Phoebe Taffel, senior and CP1 English student.
Parent editing may not be the advantage that some students exaggerate it to be, although they have more years of experience in writing, sometimes these years work against them. According to senior, Elizabeth Agneta, parent editing can be helpful but sometimes parents have outdated writing styles.
“I don’t think it really has any advantage over peer editing,” said Agneta.
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WA Graduate to teacher: Ms. Stowe
October 1st, 2010This is the first of many features of teachers who have graduated from Westford Academy.
By Leah Bowness
Staff Writer
It has been forty years since Anne Stowe graduated from Westford Academy back in 1970. She attended WA for two years, her junior and senior years of high school.
Stowe had moved from a gigantic school in the Midwest with a 3,000 student population, where according to Stowe everybody was just a fact or figure, unlike her experience at Westford Academy.
“Westford Academy teachers really cared about you and it had a big impact on me because of the fact that I felt like somebody. I felt like people cared,” said Stowe.
Photo by: Darcy Gervais
In 1970 there were 600 students attending WA; today there are 1,637 students in attendance. This growth still leaves Westford Academy at almost half the population of Stowe’s high school, in Iowa.
Despite the growth in the school, according to Stowe the staff still displays a small school feel with the students.
“I still believe students are treated with the same care. I think it is harder, but WA has a tradition and a strong belief that this caring is important,” said Stowe.
Not only was the school population much smaller at Westford Academy than her old school, Deerfield High, but the fact that she could play sports as a girl in high school was new too.
“I was an athlete but in the school I went to they couldn’t, wouldn’t allow girls to participate in interscholastic sports,” said Stowe.
At the time in which she attended high school it was actually acceptable for laws to be in place to prevent girls from playing sports. According to Stowe, it was against the state law in her home state to allow girls to play sports at school. This made it impossible for Deerfield High to offer girls sports without losing academic accreditation.
Westford Academy was also in a different location than it is in now; it was in the Abbot Building near the center of town. It was not until 1973, three years after her graduation, when the school moved to where it is now on Patten Road.
As a senior in high school she did not think she would end up back here at WA.
It was in her senior year of college when she realized she would be teaching back in Westford as a math teacher. Not only was she becoming a teacher here, she was following in the career path of her favorite teacher, Cynthia Theriault, former math department head at Westford Academy.
Now that she is a teacher here looking back on what she wished she could do differently in her high school career, if she could change just one thing, what would she change?
“I wish I would have been able to have been here for four years and not just for two,” said Stowe.
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Courounis is currently the main event
September 14th, 2010By Leah Bowness & Darcy Gervais
Staff Writers</em>
Q: How long have you been teaching Current Events?
A: This is actually my second year teaching Current Affairs.
This is Westford Academy's newest Current Affairs teacher, Ms. Courounis.
Q: Why do you think it’s important for students to learn about the subject you teach?
A:I think it’s important so that they can form their political opinions early and maybe see the different sides that are out there besides just the sides they’ve come up with on their own.
Q: How is WA different from schools you use to teach at?
A: I think the expectations of WA students are a lot higher than my previous school and I like that they hold them to those standards and those expectations.
Q: Why did you choose to work here at WA?
A:I chose WA because I think it’s a really great school. I’ve heard nothing but great things about it and it has a stellar reputation.
Q: How was the transition so far switching from your old school to here?
A: It’s been really easy the students have made it really easy, the students have been really welcoming, the teachers have been really welcoming, asking me how I’m doing and they popped it a couple times, so that’s made the transition really easy.
Q: Is there any fun facts you would like to share that the student body doesn’t know about you already?
A: I played college soccer!
Q: What are you looking forward to most teaching at WA?
A: Really getting involved with the school besides just in the classroom. I just applied to be the ski club advisor, so hopefully I get that.
Q: What made you decide to be a teacher?
A: Actually one of my teachers influenced me to become a teacher and was a coach in the school, and was a really good history teacher and she made me want to do it.
Q: How many years have you been teaching?
A: This is my sixth year teaching.
Q: What do you like to do on your down team when you are not teaching?
A: I like coaching, playing sports, watching sports, hanging out with my friends and family.
Q: Where did you go to college and what was your major?
A: For my graduate I went to Fitchburg state for secondary ed history and I just got my masters in may from Emanuel college with school administration.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I am originally from New Hampshire.
Q: Was your high school anything like WA?
A: Not even close. I wish I had this type of a high school.
Here is a clip of the new teacher:
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