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Advisors choose voice for class of 2011
May 16th, 2011Ryan Creegan
Staff Writer
When the class of 2011 is listening to the speeches on June 3rd, it will surely seem to be an aggravating stall tactic between getting their diplomas and celebrating. As graduation quickly approaches many of the seniors wonder who will be the graduation speaker for the class.
The selection was not simple. Both class advisors, Sean O’Leary and Kristen Stamp, as well as Principal Jim Antonelli and Dean Robert Ware were on the committee to choose this important person.
At first anyone was allowed to show up with a speech but eventually it was narrowed down, first to six and then to three contenders. These three public speakers include Sarah Goode, Jillian Furcillo, and Mindy Zhang.
“Even whittling down to three was very difficult,” said O’Leary.
O’Leary and Stamp both emphasized how all the speakers demonstrated excellent skills and had interesting topics. In the agonizing decision making process that followed, the committee met 3 times in a week. In the end Jillian Furcillo was chosen because she demonstrated a little more conviction and her message was a little more appealing overall.
Of course senior class president Christie Basinas will speak to her class, one that she has lead for three of their four high school years. She will speak on the dreams and ambition that will drive her class in the years to come.
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Seniors Have The Last Say
May 5th, 2011Ryan Creegan
Staff Writer
As the seniors prepare to leave and move on to the next stage of their lives, many wonder what will happen, where they will go, and what they may remember of Westford Academy’s people and the experiences they had here.
“I feel sad because I won’t be as close to some people as I am now,” said senior Ariana Viscione.
Senior Ariana Viscione
She worries how relationships with her friends will evolve as distance is put between them, especially people who aren’t graduating this year. Some people do not share Viscione’s sentiment about the emotions of leaving home behind.
“I feel indifferent, kind of. I have a feeling I‘m going to miss the place, or at least the people, but happy I’m going to college,” said senior Tyler Harrison.
Senior Tyler Harrison
A freshman in the Chemistry Department of University of Massachusetts Lowell next year, Harrison still worries how a different place will affect him. He is, however, excited to face the new challenges. Many have already faced challenges in their high school career, and those educators who helped them deserve more than many can give.
“She’s [special education teacher Andrea Heymann] been with me even before I entered high school, and when I was in high school with a different sped teacher, I would always go to her with my issues,” said Viscione.
Senior Ariana Viscione
Deeply emotional, Viscione remembered how Heymann had helped her through many troubles in this short time at WA. Perhaps Viscione will guide others in the same way Heymann helped her as she pursues a career as a child advocate.
For many seniors an inspiring teacher is just someone who made learning easier and even fun. Senior Sutton Murray had perhaps the clearest perspective when she named Russel Coward and Jason Humphrey as inspiring teachers who just “made their classes more interesting by being so enthusiastic.”
Senior Sutton Murray
As the seniors leave, some look back on the mistakes they made and wonder if there’s any advice we can give to the new students coming in or moving up.
“Don’t be afraid to commit to something, it may be sentimental but you really can’t substitute a passion for something,” said senior Adam Donovan.
Senior Adam Donovan
Donovan will be attending Johnson & Whales Culinary School, following his long time dream of being a chef and bringing people together with food, as he has since middle school.
It’s hard to predict what of so many memories the seniors will hold onto in coming years. One memory that will be on the mind of senior Evan Deschenes for a long time will be the pep rally. For those few moments as the seniors marched out of the gym down the halls and to the field “we all had the same mindset,” Deschenes said. This was before anyone went on internship, before they started dividing into the different schools they’d be going to, the last time they were “all together,” something that will stick in this and many seniors’ minds.
Senior Evan Deschenes
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Sucker Punch: The Victim’s Last Stand
April 7th, 2011
Ryan Creegan
Staff Writer
We’ve all seen the trailers and heard the buzz about the new movie Sucker Punch. Not all of these mumblings have been good.
The movie opens with the main character mourning the loss of her mother and protecting her sister from their abusive stepfather. When the father discovers he was not in his wife’s will he becomes enraged and kills the younger sister, despite the main character “Baby Doll’s” best efforts to protect her. Blamed for the murder, Baby Doll is sent to an insane asylum where her stepfather has arranged for her to be lobotomized. Clearly struck by the trauma she enters a delusional world where she fights for her survival and for the tools to escape her prison.
Directed by Zack Snyder, the same director of Watchmen and 300, moves his movies once again to a dark and devious angle leaving each frame of his new picture looking oddly painted. Co-written with Steve Shibuya, the story seems well thought out, but in many ways seems more of a high budget art film than the action thriller it was advertised as.
In truth, the movie seems to feed two very different needs for viewers, for raw and unchecked action, as well as deep symbolism on serious subjects, which creates an obvious clash. The main character, referred to only as “Baby Doll” played by Emily Browning, found usually in movies like Ghost Ship or A Series of Unfortunate Events, deals with her troubling past while fighting through hoards of monsters.
The special effects and costumes are top notch through all of the fight scenes, even if some seem borrowed from other movies. Entire scenes of World War II battlefields, castles defended by dragons, gremlins and futuristic cities on far away planets seem almost real as the main character and her companions fight for their survival.
The whole movie takes place over less than a week in what seems to be the 1950s. The main character faces the injustices of death and persecution placed on her by the men around her. She faces them and, in her own way, defeats them with the help of her four friends. These backup characters are played by such recognizable names as Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, and Jamie Chung. Eventually she rids her surrogate home of the injustice that put her there.
The one main complaint my companion Ariana Viscione had was, “Where did the title come from?” a question I am still unable to answer. Sucker Punch left us confused and a little depressed in the end. Though it definitely had the action to satisfy any warm blooded viewer, the serious and often uncomfortable situations would make this a movie to avoid seeing on a date, and for many just avoid seeing all together.
A Closer Look At Senior Internships
March 24th, 2011
Ryan Creegan
Staff Writer
This is the first of a three part series on the senior internships.
A few short years ago, junior job shadows were considered a strange and somewhat foreign concept here at Westford Academy. Now fully integrated into the school system, staff members are trying their hardest to do the same with the senior internship program.
A pet project of Principal Jim Antonelli, the senior internship program has grown rapidly in recent years from about 40 students to about 175 students last year. Even with recent limits and restrictions set forth by administration, there seems to be no drop off in the number of those who will be going on internship this year.
Though administration may be policing the internship more heavily this year, that does not mean they don’t wish it to succeed. In fact, Antonelli believes that within the next 5 years the entire senior class will be going out on internships, much like the junior job shadow program, which was only introduced a few years ago.
To many, this is of little concern, but many seniors still wonder why this year paid internships were cut from the program. Interestingly enough less than 10% of the 172 approved internships last year were paid. The reasons given why these few internships were eliminated were simply explained. The department of education mandated such to ensure the integrity of such programs; faculty and administration also wanted to see the internship be something that equaled class time.
“From the faculty’s perspective the change they want to see is that everything is as rigorous as being in class for 7 blocks at Westford Academy. It should be just as challenging,” said guidance counselor Wendy Pechacek.
It is understandable why administration and the guidance department want to add legitimacy to the program. Many in both offices see it as a stepping-stone to opportunities in the future.
“I believe strongly that the second half of the year, or at least the last quarter, that seniors can certainly handle going out and testing the waters in an occupation they may have some interest in,” said Antonelli.
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The Sophomore Piano Man
March 18th, 2011
Ryan Creegan
Staff Writer
When sophomore Matthew Warner was in the 8th grade he heard his mother play “Let It Be” on one of their home pianos, he approached the piano and began playing the song from memory. It was then that Matt discovered his amazing recall and playing ability with the piano.
Many people who know him are unaware of his talent. He walks around, in most ways the normal student and athlete, participating in such sports as JV basketball and volleyball. Put him in front of a piano though and it will become immediately apparent, as he plays the requests of the crowd, often from memory.
Matt can’t read music particularly well, claiming to have a “fifth grade reading level” when it comes to reading music, but that doesn’t stop him from duplicating and even improvising songs for crowds around him. Something he does 5 to 7 times a week.
Even Matt strives to be better though. One performer that he particular admires for his piano skill is Billy Joel, writer of the song “Piano Man.” It is this style of more conventional music that Matt prefers. It’s doubtful you’ll find any Lady Gaga on his iPod. He prefers the instrumentals found in a lot of older music, as well as the deeper meaning found in many of its lyrics.
Matt also describes how he uses the piano to relax. He says when he plays, “everything goes away and I’m just in this one zone where…It’s just an indescribable feeling and you lose concentration of everything else in the world.” It is certainly many people’s wish to feel this deep relationship with anything.
