January 20, the varsity girls’ ice hockey team drove all the way into Waltham to face the Waltham team after three consecutive wins against Wayland, CC and Newton-South.

“We have a lot of confidence going into this match,” sophomore Steph Arno said. “We know how Waltham plays and we have a good strategy and mindset going into it.”

The game started off strong with WA challenging the Waltham offense. Arno and senior Hannah Grisichuck had four shots on net combined.

Second period rolled in with Waltham showing who was boss. Right away Waltham was on the Ghost’s defense but despite strong defensive efforts from sophomore Katie Lowe and senior Lauren Brett , Waltham’s Michelle Hinley was able to blast the puck past Socolow assisted by fellow teammate Annabelle Rogers.

The third and final period rolled in with WA trying to get the puck past Waltham’s stacked defense, but despite tied efforts from everyone on the rink, Hinley was able to get another assist off of Annie Gagnon with 54 seconds left in the match leaving the Ghost’s with a 2-0 loss overall.

“Yeah, losing was disappointing but we learned how to play against them [for] next time and we know what to work on. It was a good match and we had fun,” said freshman Jen Grisichuck.

Some students of Westford Academy think that the school is ignorant towards the major holidays of other religions besides Christmas and that it instead overemphasizes Christmas and the Christian faith.

With Christmas Break coming up fast, WA is in a frenzy of excitement. There are in-class parties and carol sing-a-longs, Holiday Bazaars and Countdowns on the chalkboards. However, in all this holiday chaos, are some other religions being ignored? Or worse disrespected? The numerous other religious holidays celebrated by WA students – Hanukkah and Kwanzaa being two of the most popular – are being left unnoticed.

Mr. Goldberg, who is Jewish and “sensitive to the issue” himself, says that he has never witnessed any outright bigotry or prejudice regarding religion here at Westford Academy and thus believes there is no problem. In his opinion, WA is inclusive and aware of all holidays.

In contrast, Senior Rachel Socolow says that just the fact that Christmas gets a huge 11-day break while the major Jewish days of worship over the year get a mere night without homework.

“I mean…I think it’s a little unfair for the students who don’t celebrate Christmas.” For her, the problem is with administration and the calendar committee.

For others, though, peers are a large issue. Junior Shayna Silton never gets considerably offended, but says her peers make her feel weird about not celebrating Christmas.

“It’s not that I get teased or anything, but they’re just, like, ‘you’re Jewish, so wait, you don’t celebrate Christmas?’ and I’m like ‘nope!’”

Silton enjoys the holiday season, her favorite activities being singing Christmas carols and watching ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas on TV, but admits that some of her affection towards Christmas is because the equal holidays of her Jewish faith go completely ignored whereas Christmas culture is so pushed.

Meanwhile, Junior Sophia Lin has a shocking accusation of social ignorance. She claims that she is often approached by peers and fellow students who come up to her and ask whether or not she celebrates Christmas as a Buddhist, merely on the pretext that she is Asian.

“People always assume that I am Buddhist because I am Asian, but Asian people can be Christian too and Asians celebrate Christmas too!” says Lin.

So what seems to be the issue here at Westford Academy, which usually prides itself on its high levels of acceptance? The answer is simple to Senior Kelsey Stafstrom who says the reason behind WA favoring Christmas over other holidays is the “extreme lack of diversity!”

The boys varsity basketball team started off the season right with a big win over the Tyngsborough Tigers 97-51 at Wesford Academy on December 11th.

Captain TJ Jann takes a shot in the first quarter

After Westford Academy junior varsity boys basketball team had a solid win over Tyngsborough, more maroon clad fans started to fill the bleachers. Soon after the varsity team came out with energy to upbeat music and started their warm-up. Video Included 

Each of the starting players were introduced with enthusiasm and as the fans started cheering, “Let’s go Westford!” the Ghosts took a quick lead 6-0. Not even a minute and a half in the game the Tyngsborough coach, Ed Carey, called a time out. Despite Tyngsborough making an impressive three pointer at the last second of the first quarter Westford was still in the lead.

The 2nd quarter seemed to be more of the same with frequent fouls from Tyngsborough. They had seven fouls half way through the 2nd quarter which helped the Ghosts gain points when players like Ryan Jann made their free throw shots. There were also a couple more time outs called by Coach Carey.

Throughout this quarter it became obvious that #13 TJ Jann is a valuable player for Westford with plenty of successful shots and blocks.

By half time WA was in the lead by almost twenty points. After the pep squad did a couple cheers and the band played some songs the game picked up where it had left off.

Towards the end of the third quarter some people in the bleachers noticed that TJ Jann had been on the bench for quite some time, but they ended the third quarter solidly in the lead 49-30.

As WA’s lead gained strength the fans began to get more into it in the fourth quarter and started doing cheers in the bleachers, especially when one WA player stole the ball from Tyngsborough.

Even without their captain the Ghosts were able to maintain their lead and underclassmen like Matt Ellis and Ryan Jann scored some points for their team. As the time ran down and Tyngsborough’s hope of winning diminished with each second, WA’s head coach, Ed Scollan, called out “take your time, take your time” when WA had the ball.

Cheers erupted from the bleachers when the clock hit zero in the fourth quarter making WA’s win official at 97-51.

Next up the boys varsity basketball team will be facing Concord Carlisle in their first away game of their season on December 15th.

Westford Academy’s wrestling team is pumped for another great season this year. With last year’s record of 13-5. They have high hopes for the 2009-2010 season. Matt Tholander is the new coach for the team this year.

The wrestling season started November 30th, and for most members ends during February break. The first official meet took place December 12th away at Chelmsford. Depending on the last 3 tournaments, the team may place Sectionals, then go to States and Allstates, and then the lucky ones to New England.

Depending on a player’s weight they are put in a certain class. There are 14 weight classes. A player can switch classes by losing or gaining weight. Practice is held everyday and captains will be chosen in the beginning of the season.

During each match there are three periods lasting two minutes each. Wrestlers win by beating their opponent by 15 points, pinning them, or just by having the most points by the end of the match.

There are usually 14-17 meets in total. The toughest competitor according to team members is Chelmsford High School. Girls are also able to join wrestling though none have at WA.Team members look forward to a successful season because, as junior Mike Mizzoni says, “We work the hardest.”

By: Radhika Akhil
Staff Writer

It was impossible to make a decision about what to buy during the 39th annual Westford Academy Holiday Bazaar on Saturday December 4, 2009, run by the Westford Academy Student Council.

There were 250 vendors, 30 of which were after-school clubs, selling products varying from food to clothes. The International Club decided to do what it had always done every year: to have people pay to jail friends or family.

Looking around the school, it was obvious how much thought, preparation and hard work had been put into running the event smoothly. Student council members, after-school clubs and various stores contributed to the event, making Westford Academy look like an actual marketplace rather than a school.

For example, the Latin Club increased their sales by having a student wear a toga, advertising food, whereas the German Club had music ringing throughout the cafeteria.

Some vendors were New England farmers selling products such as fresh cheese and sweaters.

It was also evident that the customers were beyond satisfied. Many of them had come to shop for Christmas gifts and they certainly were not disappointed. They left with full bags of personalized gifts, including cookies, ornaments and various paraphernalia.

Student council members were present, making sure the event ran smoothly between customers and sellers.

Tyler Kalajian, vice president of student council, has been participating in the bazaar for all 4 years of high school, and has seen many changes throughout. One of the most prominent changes he has seen is the fact that the bazaar “…continues to grow more and more with an increase in crafters, clubs, organizations, and…parking.”

This being the last year of Westford Academy for him, he says, “All I ask for next year, is increasing growth in our bazaar, and those big grins on our customers’ faces with a look of satisfaction streaming across their eyes.”

Courtesy Photo

Sunday, November 22 was a day that some cheerleading teams in Massachusetts will remember as an okay day or maybe a bad day or maybe even an embarrassing day. A lot of girls fell, a lot were dropped, and one even was dropped then knocked down her supporting teammate on her way down.

For the Westford Academy Varsity Cheerleading team it was an excellent day. They won the Division One state championship,for the first time, with a score of 185.0 points. In 2007, when the current seniors were freshman, WA won the division two state title.
(video after the jump)

The competition was held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury. Westford Academy went on during the morning session, along with Division Four teams and the Co-Ed teams. Division two and three competed in the afternoon session.

The girls performed second to last. Although coach Josh Vadala said he doesn’t mind going on at the end.

“I really like going on at the end because you’re really fresh in the judges’ minds and typically, if you go on early, they hold back some of the scores and might not score you as high because they want to know what else is out there.”

During the day he would go back and check who the competition was, although he didn’t see all the division one teams because they were warming up for part of the competition.

Valada and Jaime Holmes have been coaching together for five years now. Although, Holmes has been coaching here for six years total. Together they have won six consecutive DCL titles and the division two state title in 2006 and 2007.

Going into the competition Vadala had a good idea that they were going to win. Their biggest competition was Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. Whitman-Hanson beat them by half a point last year.

The move into division one from division two was also a factor. Vadala said they didn’t know what to expect.

“In the beginning of the season we moved to division one, so we didn’t really know what to expect and it’s a much more competitive division than division two. We had the talent but the question was would we be able to come together as a team and perform at the level they needed too.”

But after winning the DCLs and the regional competition, Vadala and Holmes knew they could win the division one championship.

“The first two competitions were pretty tough and after that the team really buckled down. The week before the regional competition, they had the highest score in the state and we knew we had a chance and it was just a matter of putting it all together,” Vadala said.

The routine starts out with a tumbling section. Vadala describes this as the strongest part, where the girls worked on a lot individually over the summer. The next section is cheering, where Vadala always becomes a little nervous.

“When they get to the part with the cheer, that’s always a little nervous because that’s the part where they could make mistakes. So once they get to the cheer and they’re doing pyramid, that’s always my one nervous part,” Vadala said.

WA uses seven flyers instead of the usual five which is a risk but pays off. But once they get through the cheer, they perform the dance, where Vadala says they always do a good job and is the exciting and enjoyable part of the routine.

To create the song for the routine, they first must come up with a theme. This year WA’s theme was “I want you back/I miss you.” The joke among the team was “we miss being state champions and we want it back.” The songs used were songs that are popular or a little older that were about that theme.

He takes the girls’ input, and they help choose the songs. After the songs are chosen, he takes it to his friend who puts it all together. He is told the music, the theme, and what is in the routine.

There are eight judges and four categories that need to be judged, two per category. The judges need to obtain a judges certificate every year by attending a class in the specific category that they are assigned. The judges are usually ex-coaches or coaches that don’t have a team competing.

Vadala says the season had its struggles, “we definitely had some bumps in the road and some struggles and in the middle of the season. It’s always hard to get people motivated and with a group of twenty three girls its always a struggle, it’s like a family.”

But the girls kicked it up and worked hard and did “an exception job of bring it all together and it was so great because it was unexpected and at the beginning of the season no one was talking about us and it was great,” according to Vadala.

Junior Elissa Chao agrees, “this win was great and I hope we do the same next year!”

For next year, Vadala says that it is possible to win again if they stay focused and be the good leaders he knows they can be. They are losing eight seniors, some of whom are strong bases. They provided a strong leadership and helped the team come together. But returning are an extremely talented freshmen class, all four flyers, and strong tumblers.

For Vadala, “it was my most satisfying win as a coach and was really an enjoyable way to end to the season.”

WIT, Westford Improv Trope, held their first show in the Black Box Theater room 109 on Friday, November 20. It is a relatively new organization for Westford Academy; this is its fifth season running.The troupe was first directed by Emily Gosslin in the 2005-2006 school year. While WIT is a subset of The Westford Academy Theater Arts ( WATA), it is primarily run by students. This years presidents are juniors Rachel Weinstock and Mark Fingerhut.

The group practices their improv by playing games that exercise the ability to break down social filters. This skill can be practiced and developed. According to Weinstock, anyone can hone improvisational ability.

”There’s a whole physiological thing to it. When you were growing up you learn not to say certain things, and you developed a filter so when you have conversation your not a socially awkward person,” Weinstock explained.

The goal of these exercises is to rid yourself of this social barrier because without it, things are funnier. Funnier is especially important to take into consideration when delivering a good show.

According to Weinstock the exercises improve on the troupe’s ability to think more on their feet and come up with new creative ideas for scenes more quickly.

Made up of eleven students, the troupe meets once a week to practice these skills.

Christie Basinas, a junior, comments on Friday’s audience, saying, “ … the energy going back and forth is always a good thing.”

The audience that filled the blackbox at Fridays performance was kept laughing by the jokes made by the troupe. A big part of improv is audience participation and Friday afternoon’s audience was nothing close to shy.

Westford Academy Theatre Arts performed the hit musical “Chicago” the past two weekends. The play, directed by Larry Sousa, opened on November 6th, and was also performed on the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, and 14th.

The cast was a little different from night to night; the role of Roxie Hart was double casted, and was played by both Katie Wright and Liza Gosselin. The 1920’s set musical portrayed the mayhem occurring in society as the media is turning criminals into celebrities.
video after the jump.

The show included a lot of choreography and catchy jazz style music as it told the story of Roxie Hart. The play begins when Hart kills Fred Casely (played by Will Clark) who she had been having an affair with; she is then arrested, finds herself thrown into the limelight, and takes any chance she can get to stay in it.

Larry Sousa not only directed, but choreographed Chicago as well. Jordan Welch, the stage manager, recruited people to work on the various aspects within crew to make sure everything came together the way Mr. Sousa planned. Set construction, set manipulation, costume design, and lights are just some of the jobs members of the crew worked on to make the performance possible.

The musical was performed by an extensive and talented cast of WA students, and was put together by crew made up of students along with some WA graduates, and parents a well. The cast includes some familiar faces to the main stage, and some new ones as well. Krissy McCusker (Velma Kelly), Caleb Cedrone , and Katie Wright (Roxie Hart) are just some of the faces you’ll recognize from previous musicals such as Rent and Into The Woods. Other cast members have been in musicals before, but not in WA, such as Paul Perrone (Amos Hart) and Jillian Frankel.

After asking nearly 400 students to find Westford Academy’s favorite male teacher, Russ Coward emerged as the winner.

After the poll, various students were asked to comment on Coward. The questions posed to many of the students seen on the video were questions such as, “ Tell us something about Mr. Coward.”

A general census concluded that Coward’s teaching style is effective while also maintaining a light and humorous atmosphere in the classroom.

The interviews with the students seem to prove that Coward deserved winning WA’s Favorite Male Teacher for good reasons.

Janet Keirstead sarcastically said, “Russ Coward is the person in the department that I most look up to… Because he’s the tallest.”

corresponding video on main page.

The Keyes House is one of the oldest houses in Westford, which was said to be built in the mid 1650’s. It was built by Solomon Keyes, the first permanent settler of Westford. He is a celebrity in Westford history, being a notable farmer in the mid- 17th century. I set out to find more information on the Keyes House. Video Follows

I first interviewed Penny Lacroix, Westford Museum Director, and history buff. Lacroix has a vast knowledge of the Keyes House, and she believes that it might be the oldest house in Westford. There is a controversy regarding the year, which says 1656, but that may not be the most accuarate number. Lacroix has information on all of the historic houses in Westford, including the Keyes House. While it is definitely one of the older houses- it is not certain if it is the oldest.

Then, I went to the Keyes House for myself, to further investigate it. Right in front is a plaque that says “Keyes House 1656”, proudly displaying its age. It is a white house of about 2200 square feet, with two stories. As I walked throughout the first floor, the old wood floor creaked under me. The house has six fireplaces, which were utilized continuously when the house was much older. While the house is very neat and has some more modern amenities, it still retains its rustic feel.

I then talked to Abby and Bill Gilbert, owners of the house, to get a better feel for it. They display much pride for their home, and enjoy maintaining older houses. Their previous house was also an older house in Wayland that they took care of. Aside from a set of French doors and more modern decorations, the house maintains it’s original condition. According to Abby, they are very pleased they bought the house.