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The Green Team is Back

January 25th, 2011

by Neil Sharma

Staff Writer

After last year’s disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at the NBA finals, the
Celtics look to win the NBA Finals this season. They lost to the Lakers in a seven game series that was very tight but in the end the Lakers won. If the Lakers win this season, the franchise will have won eighteen NBA Championships, the most won by any franchise in NBA history.
This year the Celtics are off to a solid start beating big teams such as the highly touted Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs- who have the best record in the NBA so far this season. Right now the Celtics are number one in the Eastern Conference. They will soon be facing their biggest rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers on January 30th.
The biggest challenge for this team as a whole is to stay healthy. The team is known for their veteran players such as Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Shaquielle and Jermaine O’Neal, who were both acquired over this off season. Being veterans, the players are more injury prone and could miss games this season. Kendrick Perkins has been out for the whole season so far because of an injury he had during game seven of last season’s NBA finals. Also key players such as Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett have been out with injuries this season.
Another challenge for the Celtics is avoiding the post-Christmas day slump. For the past two seasons, after the Christmas Day Game, the Celtics start to have some what of a slump and lose there dominance that they had in the first half of the season. Again, the age factor plays a role in this slump, many of the veteran players start to get tired and are worn done easily. But this season they have been able to maintain their dominance in the league with only a few losses so far. Their record so far is that they have 31 wins and 9 losses, which is a very good record to have at this point in the mid season.
If the Celtics are able to stay healthy throughout the rest of the season and avoid a slump, the Celtics could become a legitimate championship contender.

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Martel maintains the Model UN club

January 14th, 2011

by Neil Sharma
Staff Writer

(Edited by Anna) The Model UN is a great resume booster for any student at WA. It helps a person understand the aspects of the world at an international scale and international relations.

This year, history teacher Michael Martell will be the advisor of the Model UN and is helping to prepare to take part in some serious competitions.

“There are three major competitions that we do throughout the year. There are two competitions that we do every year,” Martell said, “the first one is Saint John’s Prep and at St. John’s Prep what we do is it’s like a learning experience. So it’s at the beginning of the year, and even the more experienced [members] still go to that, but it gives the less experience students an idea of what goes on in the Model United nations. And the harder ones to compete at is the Harvard, UMass Lowell, and the BC High ones. This year we are doing BC High and UMass Lowell and next year we will be doing the Harvard competition instead of the BC High. ” Said Mr. Martell.

When talking about researching countries, Mr. Martell says that each student should look at the international topics from the perspective of the country that they are researching.

“The research that goes into each of the debates is extreme.” he said. “I mean yeah, well each student is assigned a country, and they have to go and research everything that they can find out about that country, and that country’s specific point of view on a certain event that is happening.” Mr. Martell said.

There are many countries that the students must represent, and they organize committees to be in charge of what goes on in the club.

This year the Model UN is looking to win some competitions and hopefully take home some awards for the school.

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It’s a Family Affair: Beningsons Discuss Benefits to Relationship

January 6th, 2011

By Neil Sharma
Staff Writer

Nathan Beningson is the son of David Beningson, the physics and engineering teacher. This year Nathan Beningson is attending WA as a freshman. Now both father and son attend the school as teacher and student.

David Beningson thinks that is a good thing that his son, Nathan, is attending the school.

“Well, it’s pretty fun, I don’t get to see him very much during the day. We get to drive in the morning together during the day. We pretty much just ignore each other in the hall because I don’t want to get embarrassed by him, and he doesn’t want to get embarrassed by me. But then I see him at the end of the day, and he comes by at the end of the day so that’s good,” David Beningson said.
Nathan also liked going to the same place where his father went for work. He thinks that it is good for transportation seeing how he and his father go to the same place.

“It’s not that bad [having his father teach at the school]. Occasionally random upperclassmen come to me, and mention something about my dad being a teacher. Other than that though, it’s no that bad. I get a place to stay after school and transportation. It’s pretty easy so far,” Nathan Beningson said.

Because his father is a teacher, Nathan could have his father ask his teachers how he was doing in class. But, that would give him an unfair advantage over some of the students who attend the school and don’t have parents as teachers.

“No, in fact I didn’t do that at all [ask his son's teacher about how he was doing]. It took a couple teachers to figure out he was my son. When school started I didn’t want to get involved, I figured let him start like everyone else, unless there is problem, but you know then I would talk to him as a parent not a teacher,” David Beningson said.

Nathan agreed with what his father said and thinks that his dad is doing a good job by not interfering with his teachers.

“I think it’s good that it is sort of separate, I mean then the teacher doesn’t have the pressure to treat me differently,” Nathan Beningson.

Now that they both go to the same place in the morning it has made the schedule easier on both Nathan Beningson and his father.

“It’s easy in the morning because he just gets in the car with me, and we come to school just like I normally would. On the way home I sometimes had to wait for him to be done after soccer practice, and I would have go home and come back, and that’s kind of a pain. Or sometimes he is done just a little after, so I have to wait for him to be done. But it doesn’t change things that much,” David Beningson said.

Nathan feels a similar way.

He says, “It’s not really that different, in the beginning because I still have to wake up at the same time in the morning, I still have to get school. I do have some time at school before the school starts because he [David Beningson] has to be here. But otherwise it is not that bad.”

Even though they don’t try to acknowledge each other in the hall way in public, but they do have their own little way of acknowledging each other.

“Well it’s more like we will see each other, and then we will pretend to not make eye contact. It’s sort of more like a mental greeting. Like we will sort of look away but we know we are there,” Nathan Beningson said.

“It’s like I’m pretending to ignore them but he knows that I’m pretending to ignore him. So it works out it is like our little joke. We don’t really see each other that often, there is only block I see him,” David Beningson said.

When asked if Nathan is interested in what his father teaches, he said that he does have a little bit of interest in what his father teaches.

“Well science and math are some of my favorite subjects, and what I’ve seen of physics it looks somewhat interesting. And I do like to build things, and he teaches engineering, and I sort of am interested,” Nathan said.

Though they do go to the same place now, they don’t feel like their relationship has gotten any closer. This is because they said that they have gotten along pretty well even before coming to the school.

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Swim season begins, coach has high hopes

December 7th, 2010

by Neil Sharma
Staff Writer

This winter, the swim team will be starting the season with spectacular swimmers from all grades. About forty students tried out, and twelve of the forty swimmers on the team this year are freshmen.

“Many of [the freshmen] joined club programs as younger swimmers so they should be able to compete at the varsity level right away,” said head coach Caitlin Klick.

Klick, who has been head coach for seven seasons, has some big expectation for the swimmers trying out for the swim team. The swimmers should be able to be competitive in all four strokes [breast, freestyle, back stroke, butterfly] and also must be able to do challenging intervals for about one and a half hours.

This year the WA swim team will be competing in 14 dual meets: the DCL meet, the North sectional championships at MIT, and the state meet at Harvard. Klick says that WA’s team will have to be very competitive.

“We should be very competitive in both the DCL and in the state. We have 25 girls that will really raise the level of the team as a whole. There are only 15 boys this year, but many of them are top swimmers,” Klick said.

This season, WA has rivalries with teams such as Wayland, Weston, and Lincoln Sudbury. They also have a rivalry with Chelmsford in their non-league meet.

Swimmers this year are going to have to be determined, dedicated, and wanting to become better.

“The combination of hard work and dedication always seems to pay off for swimmers at the end of the season. The kids that put in the most work each day at practice always see the biggest results at our championships,” Klick said.

Of all of the goals this season, the most important is that the swimmers will become successful for the season.

“If each swimmer leaves the season with at least one personal best time the season has been successful. Last year we also had a state champion in Matt Tynan and individual school records set by Kelly Huber. We are hoping to add more state champions to the list and bring down a few more records,” Klick said.

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What it takes to be a Captain of Two Teams

October 29th, 2010

WA students have many responsibilities at our school. Whether it be maintaining a good GPA or being on a sports team, high school life is a lot of work. For seniors Jade Yang and Fred Yu, not only do they have the responsibility of being high school students, they also are the co-captains of both the math and science teams.

Yang joined the math team in her freshman year of high school and the science team in her sophomore year. She wanted to be the captain of both teams for a simple reason:

“The desire to make the teams more fun and more competitive in the state competitions they are involved in,” says Yang.

Yu joined each of teams because he too was adept in both subjects, math and science. And he wants to show to everybody that he can be a good leader and teach great things to people who have the same interests as him.

“Initially, I didn’t join Science Team because I heard that it was really freshman-unfriendly; sophomore year, I just did not participate, for whatever reason. Junior year, I finally decided to be smart, decided that science is awesome, and do Science Team. As for Math Team, I did it out of interest beginning my freshman year,” said Yu.

“Well, for one, I get to be challenged by some of the brightest students at WA. I get to see if I really understand something, like when I tried to teach complex numbers. I get to improve my teaching skills. And I really hope that I’ll inspire someone to love these subjects just as much as I do,” Yu says.

As captains of both the science and math teams both Yu and Yang have many responsibilities. Yang usually deals with the administrative parts of each team.

“For math team I have to make sure everyone gets practice packets, make copies of the qualifier, grade the qualifiers, send out reminders for due dates and events, and be at the meetings to help anybody with math problems,” Yang says.

For the science team Yang has many administrative responsibilities for multiple activities such as the Science Bowl Qualifiers and the Science Olympiad.

“For science team I organize what happens at every meeting. For Science Olympiad I have to choose who participates in which event and to make sure they are keeping up with their work. For Science Bowl I have to make sure everyone practices and keep track of what the team still needs to study. I’m responsible for most of the administrative stuff in general in science team. That involves collecting fees, organizing the [Holiday] bazaar, etc,” Yang said.

Though they are both captains of the team, Yang claims that that Yu doesn’t manage the team as much as she does.

“Fred isn’t much help because he claims he’s “bad at administrative tasks”. I usually have to remember everything for him,” says Yang.

Yu does admit to not being much of a help to the administrative part of the science and math, but makes up for it in his depth of knowledge.

“I know that I know my stuff, and I know that I can teach it effectively. I want to spread my passion to the school community, which is why I chose to take on these leadership positions,” said Yu

Even though Yang and Yu are both a part of each team and like both teams, they prefer one over the other. They also sometimes feel that one team is harder than the other to manage.

“I like science club better, since I like science as a subject more, and because science team has more free reign to do what it wants,” Yang said.

Yu shares the same opinion as his co-captain and feels that he likes science team is his favorite team but feels that since there are less people on math team it makes it easier to manage.

“Science Team is more in my element; however, I find that Math Team is just slightly more structured (less people equals less chaos) which I find much easier to deal with,” Yu commented.

But he also says that he likes the science team more than the math team, and that he has the same feelings when it comes to administrating the science team.

“[I like] Science Team, definitely. It’s so much bigger. Math Team, however, is an administrative headache,” Yu said.

Yang as well feels that the Math team is harder in administrative terms. This is mostly because it is not as well funded as the science team is.

“Math team is harder to manage because the club manager and advisers are very close sticklers to the rules. We have to adhere to strict deadlines. Plus, math team is always short on money for bus fees, and the school isn’t willing to fund us. Last year we managed by carpooling, but apparently carpooling is against the rules of the school,” Yang said.

For advice on being the captain on each team Yang says that a person must be good in both of the subjects [math and science].

“I would advise being very, very active in the club. It also helps to distinguish yourself in achievements regarding that club. For example, having the best scores in math meets helps. Placing high in Science Olympiad events also shows that you have the intelligence and achievements to lead the team,” Yang advises.

Yu’s advice for being captains of each the science and math team is that they should be hardworking and passionate.

“Be dedicated. Love what you’re doing. And make sure someone knows how to do paperwork if you don’t want to do it. Learn how to teach. Other than that, pretty much anything goes, I think,” Yu said.

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Band and orchestra go to Boston Symphony

October 12th, 2010

By Neil Sharma
Staff Writer

On October 7, 2010 Westford Academy Band and orchestra students took a trip to see the Boston Symphony at Symphony Hall rehearse. The conductor for this year’s reoccurring trip was James Levine. The object of this field trip was for the students to see how real musicians perform live.

“Well this is our big opportunity to see professionals in their own setting. It’s basically going to a job site and seeing them rehearse,” said orchestra teacher Ken Culver, “BSO is the top ten orchestra’s in the world, you know it is a world renowned orchestra, and symphony hall is one of the oldest auditoriums in the country. It is a place where we can see the best available, so students can see what they [the Boston Symphony] are doing. The students comment about how incredibly softly [the Boston Symphony] can play and the dynamic range that they have.”

For our WA musicians, it was an opportunity to observe their professional counterparts in action.

“I watched the percussionists; since I’m one, and saw them playing…it was a really fun experience,” said freshman band student Morgan Tansey.

Culver enjoyed this experience as much as his students.

“I love being in the live music, where you can hear the softest, the sound of the orchestra mixing in a big acoustic space. The difference between tang and fresh squeezed orange juice. You know there is nothing like seeing and hearing it [the concert] at the same time, live,” Culver said.

Many of the students, not only the teachers enjoyed the trip to the Boston Symphony. For many it helped give an idea how the professional work and how the conductor gives the musicians advice on how to play.

“It’s a really good experience to have, you get to see professionals doing their music and you get to see them rehearse which is interesting to see what errors the musicians made and how they fix those errors,” Tansey said.

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A brand new world for Matt Wong

September 28th, 2010

By Neil Sharma
Staff Writer

For some people moving to another town and going to a different school is hard enough. But imagine how hard it would be if someone had to move to a whole other country let alone a whole different school. That is exactly what happened for freshman student Matt Wong.

Wong, a citizen of Hong Kong came here to the U.S. and now lives in Westford and attends Westford Academy. Wong Previously came here two times on a visit. He had to come to the U.S. during the summer, all by himself without his parents and currently resides with his uncle and his aunt.

Even though he doesn’t live with his parents for the time being he still gets to call his parents so they can both keep in touch with each other.

Although Wong comes from Hong Kong he knows a good amount English because they teach a lot of it in Hong Kong. He also has been to the U.S. twice prior to coming here.