Newtonite◆ Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 • Volume 89, Issue 13 Newton North High School, 457 Walnut Street., Newtonville, Mass. 02460

Non-profit org.US postage paidNewton, Mass.Permit no. 55337

Juniors record homework time

Proposal asks for lanes in cafby Rebecca HaRRis

To make cafeteria lines move faster, sophomore Winston Huang proposed at a Student Faculty Administration meeting Wednesday, Nov. 10, that a “fast lane” be created for those buy-ing lunch with PIN accounts.

“It is clearly apparent that the current system of paying for lunch is tedious and time-con-suming,” the proposal says.

“This process is exacerbated by the many students who pay cash. The five to 10 extra seconds it takes to hand back change quickly adds up in a high school with more than a thousand people.”

Huang said that he hoped the fast lane would both move

faster than the current lines and encourage students to switch to the PIN system.

Principal Jennifer Price ex-pressed support for the pro-posal, but wanted to make sure that a substantial number of students buy full-priced lunches with PIN accounts so that the fast lane doesn’t just become the free and reduced-price line.

She said she didn’t want stu-dents to see the line and think “that’s the line for kids who can’t afford to buy lunch,” and didn’t want to stigmatize or single out the students who receive free or reduced-price lunches.”

History and social sciences teacher Gregory Drake said that direct changes to cafeteria

policy were outside the SFA’s purview, but that the board could pass non-binding resolu-tions to suggest changes.

Also, the board elected Drake faculty co-chair and junior Al-lison Wu student co-chair.

At the board’s first meeting Wednesday, Nov. 3, Drake said that helping people settle into the new building will be a focus for the board this year.

Vice principal Deborah Hol-man said that “the old building was like the wild west,” citing student groups that met after school without faculty present.

Senior Jared Kalow said that the SFA should also discuss the policy against eating on Main Street in the new building.

City, State survey students to find health trends

by HilaRy bRumbeRg

To find out how much homework juniors are as-signed each week and what percentage of it they do, histo-ry department head Jonathan Bassett, math teacher Dennis Klem and science teacher Jo-Anne Purdy conducted a survey of the junior class last April, according to Klem.

He said they surveyed ju-niors—rather than seniors, sophomores, or freshmen—because “junior year is a more intense, busier year.”

Bassett, Klem and Purdy gave the survey to 30 total classes: two randomly se-lected math, English, science, history and world language classes from each curriculum level, according to the Power-Point presentation they made. No teacher was sampled twice in the same curriculum level, the presentation explained.

Students were asked to record the percentage of as-signed homework they usu-ally complete in a week.

According to the presen-tation, of the 532 students surveyed, 66 percent reported completing 90 percent or more of their homework each week. Eleven percent of stu-dents reported completing 50 percent or less of their home-work each week, which is “a relatively low percentage,” Purdy said.

In order to find out how much homework students with different course loads have, Bassett, Klem and Purdy chose five sample schedules:

◆ three honors/AP and two curriculum one

◆ one honors/AP and four curriculum one

◆ five curriculum one◆ four curriculum one and

one curriculum two◆ one curriculum one and

four curriculum twoFrom the surveys, Bassett,

Klem and Purdy calculated the median number of hours of homework per week students with each course reported having. See results below.

By dividing these numbers by five, Bassett, Klem and Purdy were able to find how many hours on average stu-dents spend on homework each night, according to the PowerPoint. They concluded that on average students with these sample schedules spend the following amount of time on homework per night:

◆ three honors/AP and two curriculum one: 3.55 hours

◆ one honors/AP and four curriculum one: 2.4 hours

◆ five curriculum one: 2.2 hours

◆ four curriculum one and one curriculum two: 1.8 hours

◆ one curriculum one and four curriculum two: 1.2 hours

According to Klem, the intent of the survey was just to gather data—not to draw conclusions.

“We don’t want to tell peo-ple what to think,” he said. “We are letting people come to conclusions themselves.

According to the Power-Point presentation, a parent asked Klem how much time he believes his students spend on average on each homework assignment. He posed the question at a faculty meeting, at which point Bassett pro-posed they conduct a survey.

Gabe Dreyer

On the Quidditch field: Freshman Karen Douglas and senior Dana Gooley fight for the Quaffle during practice. See story on page 3.

by gloRia li

Newton Public Schools mid-dle and high school students will take the Newton Youth Risk Behavior Survey (NYRBS) in November, according to Well-ness Curriculum coordinator Gwen Smith.

Smith said NYRBS is “an anonymous survey, based on the Massachusetts Youth Risk Be-havior Survey and developed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The Newton survey has slight modification

to target health trends that are specific to Newton.

“The results are used by the Newton Health Department and the Newton School Department to develop and provide better prevention and intervention programs and curricula that addresses the health needs of the Newton community as well as to encourage students to practice healthy lifestyles,” she said.

NYRBS encompasses a wide range of topics, including

“tobacco and other drug use; issues of safety, bullying and other violence; body image, nutrition and physical activ-ity; stress and connections and other general information,” ac-cording to Smith.

“In general, most all of the categories have improved slight-ly each year,” she said. “Those that did not improve are the red flags for us to put more effort and emphasis on with the com-munity programming such as parent educational opportuni-

ties and the K-12 health empha-sis in the curriculum.”

It is issued only to middle and high school students “because that is the age group where school aged children may be more exposed and need to fo-cus on more healthy decision making about behaviors that may compromise their health,” Smith said.

After the results are col-lected and tabulated by a re-search group called Social Sci-ence Research & Evaluation,

the district Wellness commit-tee analyzes the results of the data, Smith said. It discusses, plans and develops any neces-sary city wide educational and/or programmatic, preventative strategies.

The results of the survey are posted on the Newton Health Department website.

“This information can lend some understanding of the cur-rent trends in Newton to parents and community outreach and youth programs,” Smith said.

Sample Students vs. Hours Spent on HW per Week

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

A

(3,2,0)

B

(1,4,0)

C

(0,5,0)

D

(0,4,1)

E

(0,1,4)

Sample Students

Ho

urs S

pen

t o

n H

W p

er W

eek 17.75

9

1112

6

Jonathan Bassett, Dennis Klem and Jo-Anne Purdy

Average hours of homework students with different course loads have per week

Key: (X,Y,Z) X=number of honors/AP classes Y=number of curriculum one classes Z=number of curriculum two classes

Results of the Junior Homework Survey were made public at a faculty meeting Tuesday, Nov. 2. The survey, conducted last year, asked members of the junior class how many hours they spend on homework each week.

The survey revealed a high, if not surprising, bur-den of work for juniors.

The survey gives cre-dence to the claims of the overworked junior trying to juggle it all.

But the results imme-diately beg the question: What should be done with this data? What should be changed?

The committee of teachers who organized the survey sought to collect quantitative data concerning the amount of homework actually given to juniors.

The survey is significant in its goal of objectively assessing the homework load from the student per-spective. Teachers may not realize how long an assign-ment takes to complete or the volume of work from other teachers. In general, students take five or six academic classes, not one.

opinion Friday, Nov. 12, 20102 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

LettersReaders are invited to sub-mit guest articles and letters to the editor. Letters should be put in the Newtonite box in Beals House or emailed to thenewtonite@gmail.com. The Newtonite reserves the right to edit all letters, which must have the writer’s name, class and homeroom. The Newtonite serves as a forum for student opinion.

Too much homeworkcould be detrimental

Digital notes foster strong study habits

Gabe Dreyer

On Main Street: Students shuffle around aimlessly before A-block Monday.

No need to pout about buildingby gabe DReyeR

People may say that the new $197.5 million Newton North High School building was too “expensive,” the hallways are not wide enough, it is too long and the cafeteria is smaller than a studio apartment. Well, my response to these Negative Nancys and Downer Dans is this: these “drawbacks” of the new Newton North are nothing to pout about.

The concern of cost is a com-pletely unnecessary and selfish notion. There are about 60,000 taxpaying citizens in Newton. With a price tag of $197.5 mil-

lion, and the state’s contribution of approximately one quarter of the cost, individuals could only have paid about $2,500 each. What else can one really buy with that money? A vaca-tion? No one actually needs a vacation—in fact—with the new athletic facilities, includ-ing a pool and high-tech fitness center, hanging around Newton North during the winter holi-days would almost be a vacation in and of itself. You could even top it off with a lovely dining

experience in the Tiger’s Loft. I recommend the coffee cake. It’s quite delectable.

As for the cramped quarters, we will build and strengthen social connections, as students who may have never spoken to one another get tossed around in the hallways, bumping el-bows and tripping into lockers from the cramped corridors on the third floor. Students sit-ting on each other’s laps in the cafeteria on a rainy day will become closer to each other, as well as their lunches, which spill over backpacks, PB&Js flying in the air and apples rolling on the ground.

“The school’s too long,” one might quip. Well, my response to that is exercise. Childhood obesity is a growing concern of Americans today, and what is a better cure for that issue than running up four flights of stairs and down a question mark-shaped hallway in under five minutes, just so you can make it from B-block P.E. to C-block math in 466 on time?

Within the first month of be-ing a junior, I have personally seen much improvement in my hamstring and gluteus muscle regions, simply from trekking around the school.

In conclusion, the whiners and complainers of the troubles we have come across in the new building have provided reasons that are out of complete and utter jejunity. They are not stop-ping to realize both sides of the situation. Who really cares if we face significant overcrowding in the next few years? We can’t fret on these small problems because if we do, we will lose our wonderful sense of Tiger Pride. And without Tiger Pride, we cannot beat Brookline on Thanksgiving—the obvious reason that we constructed this expensive new school to begin with.

column

editorial

Parents may be unaware of the extent of work or what percentage of work students complete. Only students see the big picture.

Another piece of that pic-ture that only students really see is the time necessitated for extra-curricular activi-ties. Sports teams and orga-nizations like Theatre Ink involve students in highly demanding roles.

Athletes may practice 15 hours per week, and those involved in the theatre pro-gram often stay late every day after school to work on a production.

It is beneficial for this school to have these time-intensive programs, because programs such as these are what give the school life. Extracurriculars provide an opportunity for students to be engaged with their peers outside of a traditional class-room setting. However, it can be a struggle for these stu-dents to balance a full course load on top of a demanding extra-curricular schedule.

Students should not have to choose whether they want to take a rigorous course load or be involved in school activities. Workloads at this school should be adjusted to make sure students have the

free time to engage in other activities.

Additionally, the survey only quantified the amount of homework done by those in up to three honors or AP classes. However, there are many students in this school who take up to five honors or AP classes, or take other additional classes outside of school.

Students may not fully understand what they are committing to when signing up for courses the previous spring. This data has the invaluable potential to help council students in selecting courses that will not over-whelm them.

No matter what students want to participate in outside of their given coursework, their homework should not impede them. Also, students who wish to take demand-ing courses should weigh carefully the potential of overloading themselves.

The results of the survey will hopefully provoke an honest dialogue between stu-dents, teachers and parents about the role of homework in students’ lives.

This survey should be the starting point, not the end, of a serious discussion about homework.

by ben Hills

Many times, I have asked my teachers if I can take notes for class on my computer. The answer is just simply “no.” Frus-trated, I started to contemplate possible reasons as to why a teacher wouldn’t want his or her students to take notes on their electronic devices.

The first possibility is that the student wouldn’t actually be taking notes. Yes, it is true, the student could possibly be play-ing games or checking his or her e-mail while taking notes. But how is that any more distracting than said student hand writing notes while doodling, doing homework for another class or just gazing into space?

Maybe the teacher simply doesn’t trust that the notes won’t be “as good” as handwrit-ten notes. For me, I like to be organized, especially with my notes and papers. It is extremely difficult to organize handwritten notes.

When a teacher starts with one topic, then goes on a tan-gent to another topic, then back to the original topic, it is impossible to keep your notes organized by topic while hand writing your notes. On a com-puter, you could easily do this task.

Once, a teacher told me that

it’s scientifically been proven that when you write something, you absorb information better than just listening or typing. While this may be true, I never look at handwritten notes to study. I just don’t do it. Due to the extreme disorganization, and my illegible handwriting, I just can’t study from my notes.

I know that if my notes were typed up, I would study them prior to a test. I would be able to read them, could organize them in any way I wanted to, and could even create some sort of review sheet if need be.

So really, what is the down-side to letting us take notes on a computer versus handwritten notes? If students were allowed to take notes on computers, all it would do would allow us to stay more organized and study more efficiently.

satire

The Newtonite, founded in 1922, is the newspaper of Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460.

The Newtonite staff does all the reporting, production work and photography to produce 16 issues a year for a circulation of 2,000.

To place an ad in the Newtonite or contact us by phone, please call 617-559-6400, ext. 454443. Yearly subscriptions cost $20. Readers can also reach us at thenewtonite@gmail.com.

To find the Newtonite online go to www.thenewtonite.com.

Newtonite

Editors in chief — Marena Cole, Eli DavidowManaging editor — Teddy Wen-nekerNews editor — Hilary BrumbergSports editors — Jay Feinstein, Jacob SchwartzArts editors — Kate Lewis, Perrin SteinFeatures editors — Jacob Brunell, Fatema ZaidiFreelance editor — Meredith AbramsNews analysis editor — Steven MichaelTalk of the Tiger editor — Geor-gina TeasdalePhotography editor — Gaby Perez-DietzProduction managers — Gabe Dreyer, Ben HillsAdvertising managers — Emily Gulotta, Tiphaine KugenerBusiness manager — Dan Sal-vucciCirculation managers — Alison Berkowitz, Caleb Gannon

Adviser — Kate ShaughnessyProduction adviser — Tom Don-nellanNews staff — Malini Gandhi, Re-becca Harris, Kayla ShoreFeatures staff — Emmett Green-bergSports staff — Evan Clements, Jeremy GurvitsArts staff — Becky Kalish, Gloria LiNews analysis staff — Kellynette GomezArt staff — Catherine Chen, Marissa Goldman, Anna Kaertner, Maddie MacWilliams, Monica Reuman, D’Jaidah WynnPhotography staff — Karen Brier, Eric Halin, Jaryd Justice-Moote, Edan Laniado, Jenny Lewis, Ivan McGovern, Matt VictorCirculation staff — Spencer Alton, Stoddard Meigs, Omar Pinkhasov, Michela SalvucciProduction staff — Ross Swerling, Peter Taber-Simonian

newsFriday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 3

Koffman & DreyerAttorneys at Law85 Cabot Street Newton, MA617-965-9525 www.koffmandreyer.com

Joan A. Koffman Nancy R. Dreyer

Real Estate Matters house and condo purchases/sales condominium conversions ownership dispute resolution

Gabe Dreyer

Lead in goes here: Sophomore Ryne Duffy

Debaters participate in first tournamentby Julia oRan

Eight members of this school’s debate team partici-pated in its first tournament at Dighton-Rehoboth, according to junior Abby Holtzmann, a captain with sophomore Jordan Ecker.

The tournament, which was against Brookline High School, Needham High School and Sa-cred Heart, was held Saturday, Oct. 23.

It was comprised of two types of debate: public forum debate, which involves partners, and Lincoln-Douglas, which is done individually. The topic for public forum was NATO in Afghanistan and the subjects for Lincoln-Douglas were nuclear weapons and civil disobedience.

At tournaments, there are four rounds and finalists go onto a fifth round, she said.

Holtzman won a trophy for coming in second for varsity Lincoln-Douglas, which was a big deal for the underdog team, she said.

She said she thinks the de-bate was a good experience, especially for the students who had never competed in a debate before.

Although the team is “warm-ing up” and getting ready to take on more challenging teams, Holtzman said the team is still looking for a coach. Without a faculty member overseeing the team, it is not allowed to prac-tice in the building, according to school policy. Despite missing an adviser, Holtzman said, the debate team is preparing for its next tournament, which will be Saturday, Nov. 20

by malini ganDHi

Typical Quidditch Team practices seem almost iden-tical to those of any other sport, with breathless, rosy-cheeked students sprinting down the field and mesh bags filled with colorful balls strewn across the grass.

But there is one obvious difference—these students clutch broomsticks between their legs.

Like many aspects of the worldwide phenomenon of Harry Potter, Quidditch, the wizard sport played on broomstick, has been enthu-siastically adopted by the “non-magical” world.

According to senior Dana Gooley, a captain along with senior Spencer Alton, it was an opportunity North could not miss out on.

“The idea was sparked when I was walking home from school with Spencer, and we were talking about how other colleges and high schools had Quidditch teams,” Gooley said. “It seemed like such an appropriate thing, since there are so many Har-ry Potter fans here.”

Quidditch is a combination of soccer and rugby. Points are scored by a team’s three Chasers, who try to throw the Quaffle (a volleyball), into one of the other team’s three hoops situated at the end of the field, according to the International Quid-ditch Association Rulebook. Meanwhile, the Chasers must evade the Beaters, who at-tempt to temporarily knock players out of the game by throwing Bludgers (dodge balls) at them.

According to Gooley, one of the most exciting aspects of the game is the Gold-en Snitch, a neutral person who runs around trying to avoid capture by each team’s Seeker through any means, however crazy.

“The Golden Snitch basi-cally just does anything he can to embarrass and evade the Seekers,” Gooley said.

The game ends when the Snitch is caught by one of the Seekers, awarding that team an additional 30 points, ac-cording to the rulebook.

“Quidditch is a great sport—we’re really learn-ing while we’re teaching,” Gooley said.

“Our goal is to create an open, fun group environment so that kids who are not super athletic can still get the moti-vation and spirit that comes with being part of a team.”

Alton also stressed that the team is very “fun-oriented.”

“It’s good to be competi-tive, but we shouldn’t sacri-fice fun for competitiveness,” he said.

According to Alton, the team is looking for other high school Quidditch teams in the area in order to arrange a season of matches for the spring. But currently, the students are working on drills and scrimmaging during their practices Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, as well as organizing fundrais-ers, he said.

“The goal for this season is really to establish ourselves,” Alton said. “It’s an experi-mental year, and we are going to see how it pans out. People are really excited.”

Gabe Dreyer

Bludgers and Quaffles: Senior Rebecca Engelke and sophomore Ryne Duffy practice for the Quidditch Team. Two seniors began the team this year to play the sport based on a magical game from the Harry Potter series.

New club team bringsfantasy sport to life

Team prepares for Science Olympiad by Ryan conDon

After a slow start to this season, the science team is working hard to improve its performance, according to sci-ence teacher Barbara Gibson, the adviser.

Thursday, Oct. 14, the Tigers competed in a West Suburban Science League (WSSL) tourna-ment, placing 11th, Gibson said. These tournaments take place every month until February and cover all areas of science, in-cluding chemistry and biology.

According to Gibson, the re-sults weren’t “up to par,” but the Tigers are not too discouraged because WSSL tournaments aren’t the team’s main focus.

“They are really just an op-portunity for new members to experience a competition,” she said.

In March, the Tigers will compete in the Science Olym-piad with 40 other schools. The Olympiad is “part build ahead, part study ahead,” said Gibson, which means that sometimes competitors have to answer questions and sometimes they have to build projects. Last year the team came in second at the Olympiad.

The club’s president is senior Helen Gao, and the vice presi-dent is junior Young Guang. The team’s captains for WSSL are senior Patrick Triest for build aheads and Gao for study aheads.◆neD maRtenis contRibuteD to tHis aRticle.

in brief

Go Tigers! Beat Brookline!

arts Friday, Nov. 12, 20104 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

‘Skin of Our Teeth’ opens theatre season

Gaby Perez-Dietz

Protecting his daughter: In the opening scene, Gladys Antrobus, played by sophomore Eliza Burr, clings to her father, George Antrobus, played by junior Caleb Bromberg.

Gaby Perez-Dietz

Mother and son: Mrs. Antrobus, played by senior Linda Bard, comforts her son Henry, played by junior Sam Bell-Gurwitz, during the first act.

Gaby Perez-Dietz

“All sixes and sevens”: Sophomore Madeline Murphy, as Sabina, delivers a monologue to open the play.

Gaby Perez-Dietz

The news of the world: Freshman Will Champion, as the announcer, introduces the play’s characters.

by Kate lewis

“The Skin of Our Teeth” by Thornton Wilder opened Theatre Ink’s 2010-2011 season, playing Thursday, Nov. 4 through Saturday, Nov. 6 in the auditorium under the direction of seniors Aviva Galpert and Edan Laniado.

The play grappled with several themes, such as family values, gender roles and the nature of humanity. Humanity, in this case, was represented by the Antrobus family, whose members have not aged since the dawn of time.

At first, the Antrobuses appeared to be a typical American family. Yet, several in-consistencies over the course of the first act make it obvious that they are far from normal. Such inconsistencies include their pet dinosaur and pet mammoth and their historical houseguests, such as the Muses and the blind poet, Homer.

Furthermore, several allusions were made to compare Mr. and Mrs. Antro-bus, played respectively by junior Caleb Bromberg and senior Linda Bard, to the Biblical Adam and Eve. Their son Henry served as a parallel to Adam and Eve’s son, Cain.

Henry, played by junior Sam Bell-Gurwitz, appeared as a helpless child, loathed by his father and upstaged by his “perfect” sister, Gladys, played by sophomore Eliza Burr.

Henry’s desperation for approval and eventual isolation from his family would become a major conflict over the course of the show.

Early on, further conflict arose be-tween the family’s matriarch, Mrs. Antro-bus, and the housemaid, Sabina, played by Madeline Murphy, a sophomore.

Mrs. Antrobus, a plain yet fiercely dedicated housewife, and the dramatic and beautiful Sabina served as foils to each other, frequently arguing over what it truly means to be a woman.

In an early scene in Act I, Sabina chastised Mrs. Antrobus for sacrificing her femininity for her family.

“You are not a beautiful woman,” Sa-bina snapped at Mrs. Antrobus.

Though Sabina was clearly the more physically attractive of the two women, Mrs. Antrobus ended up being the driv-ing force of the scenes to come. Her character, though sometimes cold and angry, left a strong impression.

Towards the end of the second act, as a storm that would put an end to the world approached, Bard took center stage and delivered a powerful mono-logue, her intensity highlighted by dark lighting and ominous sounds of thunder and rain.

“We’re not what books and plays say we are. We’re not what advertisements say we are. We’re not in the movies, and we’re not on the radio,” she said, denouncing society’s superficial expecta-tions of women and justifying her domi-

neering nature over her family.Mrs. Antrobus’s character required an

adept actor willing to take on a difficult and multifaceted role, and Bard truly delivered in this aspect.

Another scene-stealer was sophomore Anna Nemetz, who played a fortune teller at the Atlantic City boardwalk. She strutted across the stage as she delivered a powerful soliloquoy, commenting on the action of the Antrobuses’ lives and foreseeing their future.

With a thick Polish accent and high energy, Nemetz commanded attention, even though she only appeared in the second act of the show.

Towards the end of her soliloquoy, when her mood became dark and she foresaw the coming of the storm, the audience understood that the end was near, a fact denied by the characters.

From the beginning, “The Skin of Our Teeth” was established as a play-within-a-play, with the actors sometimes break-ing character to voice their opinions on the show, giving it a satirical spin.

Though the intent was to separate the action of the play from reality and provide comic relief, the “play-within-a-play” moments often seemed out of place with the other scenes and tended to detract from the well-played intense moments.

For example, when Bell-Gurwitz en-tered in Act III, Henry had undergone a shocking evolution from a meek, de-spised child to a hardened war general and an enemy to the Antrobus family.

Bell-Gurwitz played this character with captivating energy, angrily reject-ing the family that once rejected him. In a particularly intense moment, he went head-to-head with the father who spurned him, ending in a physical con-frontation.

However, the re-introduction of the “play-within-a-play” changed the scene’s mood almost instantly and cast a light on the scene that almost negated this pow-erful performance. It felt almost wrong to laugh after watching such a dramatic moment.

Costumes, designed by senior Anna Gargas, junior Gabbi Morgenstern and freshman Sophie Sokolov, included simple outfits in the style of the 1940s and large earth-toned outfits for the dinosaur and mammoth.

The costume designers clearly used thoughtful color choice in their de-signs—the Antrobus family was typi-cally outfitted in blue and yellow, while outsiders, such as the conveners on the boardwalk and eventually Henry, wore black, gray and red.

Sabina also wore this color scheme, to especially highlight her isolation from and antagonism towards the Antrobus family unit.

The extravagant set, designed by sophomore Amalia Sweet, rotated be-tween acts from the Antrobuses’ home to the Atlantic City boardwalk and back again. This multidimensional set made the stage crew’s hard work evident.

Sophomore Phoebe Arteaga designed the lights, which were used skillfully during the second act to depict an im-pending storm. Throughout the act, the lights slowly dimmed to black, showing a severe storm.

To portray lightning, Arteaga decided to use a penetrating flashing light at the same time that thunder sounded. This made the storm feel incredibly close and realistic to the audience.

Altogether, strong performances from talented student actors and hard work on the part of stage crew made “The Skin of Our Teeth” a solid performance to inau-gurate the new building’s stage.

review

artsFriday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 5

Kara Cochran

On display: Senior Kara Cochran and junior Jackie Comstock are two of 15 students from this school with work on display at the Massachusetts Transportation Building photography exhibit. Over 25 schools are represented at the state-wide exhibit, which is open until Wednesday, Nov. 24.

Student work shown at photo exhibitionby PeRRin stein

Hanging on the walls of the Massachusetts Transportation Building are over 250 photo-graphs taken by high school students from this state.

The exhibit shows the breadth of techniques that students learn in photography classes and displays students’ talent. It began Monday, Oct. 25 and will continue until Wednesday, Nov. 24. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

For the past two years, the New England Art Education Conference (N.E.A.E.C) has organized this exhibit.

Along with running this ex-hibit, the N.E.A.E.C runs the Boston Scholastic Art Awards in the spring in order to “improve and sustain art education in Massachusetts and other New England states.”

One of the most interesting photos on display was senior Emma Hyde’s “Cognitive Disso-nance.” The photograph, which was manipulated digitally, dis-

plays a girl smoking.Only the girl’s face and scarf

are clearly visible because they are white, while everything around her is black, or not displayed in the photo. Hyde digitally altered the coloring in order to have an eerily surreal light coming off of the girl’s face. The smoke from the ciga-rette takes the form of a skull, and it’s bluish-green, which adds to the dreamlike quality of the photo.

The photo clearly shows cog-nitive dissonance, which is the sensation of holding conflicting ideas in one’s head simultane-ously. The girl appears peace-fully serene, while the skull represents death, which is not a serene thought.

Using an interesting camera angle, senior Kat Blyum brings attention to interesting aspects of a typical street in her photo “Streets of Gold.”

The camera is positioned on the ground looking up, so the pavement is in the foreground,

while the background shows electric wires and houses. This angle allows the viewer to see what can be seen from the middle of a street.

In the foreground, the cam-era’s proximity to the street highlights the pavement’s tex-ture and the median lines in the middle of the road. The items in the background appear much smaller than the median lines and pieces of gravel, even though they are obviously much larger in reality.

The photo is interesting be-cause Blyum focuses on median lines, something that people hardly ever think about. In fact, the things that people do think about, like houses and street signs, are so small that the view-er has to look carefully to see them. Through this photograph, Blyum skews the viewer’s idea of what’s important.

Junior Sam Schwamm has three photos on display under the title “Music, Dreams, Fam-ily.” Each one of his photos

alludes to one of these themes through clever digital manipu-lation.

The first photo shows only the black and white torso of a boy, who is sitting in a chair. Schwamm’s choice to frame the photo this way draws the viewer’s attention to the boy’s chest. On the boy’s chest is a col-lage of music albums, which all appear in full color. Each album is quite small, so the viewer has to look closely in order to tell what each album is.

It is very difficult to tell what is going on in the second photo, but after a close look, it becomes clear that the boy is lying on a bed. Once again, only his torso is visible. This time the photos superimposed on his chest are of otherworldly places, where dreams might take place. The idea of dreams is also reinforced by the fact that the boy is laying down on a bed.

For the theme of family, Schwamm placed the boy in the chair again, but this time he is

facing right instead of left. The images on his chest are of the same people at different ages and places. It can be presumed that these people are the boy’s relatives.

“Dylan at the Park” is a black and white photo taken by senior Ethan Ansel-Kelly. The photo is taken from the sidewalk across the street from Burr Park. It shows a boy skateboarding up the driveway of the park.

Because the photo is taken from far away, the boy is small, and it’s impossible to under-stand anything about him ex-cept that he is skateboarding. This allows the viewer to pay attention to other aspects of the photography such as the build-ing that displays the words Burr Park and the wrought iron fence on either side of the driveway.

Photography on display at the Massachusetts Transporta-tion Building exhibits a variety of interesting techniques, and it shows the talent of high school students throughout the state.

Six musical ensembles to perform in Harvestfests

Teddy Wenneker

Wind Ensemble: Senior Patrick Triest practices for Harvestfest, the first of three all-school concerts this year.

by gloRia li Six of this school’s musical

ensembles will participate in Harvestfest I and II Wednesday, Nov. 17 and Thursday, Nov. 18, according to fine and perform-ing arts department head Todd Young.

Jubilee Singers, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will perform Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. The other ensembles will perform Thurs-day.

According to director Shel-don Reid, Jubilee Singers will be performing Reid’s arrangements of traditional songs “Amazing Grace” and “Hold On,” as well as “Psalm 23,” a song performed by the group every year.

Reid chose “Amazing Grace” for this concert because “it’s rhythmically and harmonically complex and forces the singers to learn the fundamentals of singing together as a group,” he said.

Members of the group re-quested to perform “Hold On” after hearing a gospel choir from Harvard College, also directed by Reid, the Kuumba singers, perform it.

Symphonic Band will per-form three pieces, “Variation Overture” by Cliffton Williams, “Welsh Rhapsody” by James Currnow and “Kronos” by Robert W. Smith, said Richard Labedz, the director.

“Variation Overture” was

chosen to open the set because “it ends on an exciting note, of-fering many different moods,” Labedz said.

“Welsh Rhapsody,” on the other hand, “is a nice lyrical piece with more open and ex-posed, individualized playing parts and solos,” Labedz said.

Wind Ensemble, also directed by Labedz, will be performing three pieces as well: “Americans We” by Henry Fillmore, “Varia-tions On a Korean Folk Song” by John Barnes Chance and “Among the Clouds” by Brian Balmages.

According to Labedz, “Ameri-cans We” was chosen for Wind Ensemble because it honors traditional march music.

“Variations on a Korean Folk Song” will be the only piece performed by Wind Ensemble that is not of American origin. “It has different permutations of how the same melody can be treated and developed,” Labedz said.

“Among the Clouds” is “a contemporary piece that has the cutting edge literature of our band,” Labedz said.

At Harvestfest II the follow-ing evening, Concert Choir will sing “Down to the River to Pray” arranged by Sheldon Curry, “Ashokan Farewell” arranged by Carole Stephens, “The Storm is Passing Over” arranged by Barbara W. Baker, and finish up with “Good Night” by the

Beatles. Young chose “The Storm is

Passing Over” because “it con-sists of quality literature, and I feel that it is a good place to begin the year.”

This is Young’s first year directing Concert Choir. “It’s both challenging and reward-ing,” he said.

Family Singers will perform “Strike It Up” by Thomas Weel-kes, “Romances and Ballads” by John Anderson and Robert Schumann, “Caution” by Wil-liam Schuman and “O Praise the Lord, All the Nation” by Laudate Johoram Omnes Gentes, said director Adam Grossman.

The last piece will be a spo-ken piece called “Geographical Fugue” by Ernst Toch.

Orchestra will be perform-ing three instrumental pieces: “Overture and Dances” from George Handel’s “Theodora,” “Air” by Norman Dello Joio and Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104,” Grossman said.

A baroque piece, “Overture and Dances” will be performed first because it is “a lively piece that shows their abilities,” Grossman said.

According to Grossman, “Air” is a piece with “a slow, sustained melody” that contrasts with the Handel piece.

A suggested donation of $5 is asked for at the door, in order to benefit the fine and performing arts programs at this school.

Jackie Comstock

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featuresFriday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 7

Teachers express opinions on SparkNotes

Presentations on campus focus on gender identityby meReDitH abRams

To commemorate the victims of anti-transgender hate crimes, this school sponsored presenta-tions for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, said junior Mad-eleine Aquilina, an officer of the Gay/Straight Alliance.

Aquilina said the Gay/Straight Alliance sponsored the event Fri-day, Nov. 5, to honor the victims

of anti-transgender violence.“This year, especially in light

of all of the suicides by gay teens, it was a good opportunity for remembrance and education,” Aquilina said.

The B-block presentation in the film lecture hall showed parts of the HBO movie Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She.

“It examines how different cultures look at people of differ-ent gender identities,” Aquilina said. “It focuses on the stories

of a transgender man and two transgender women.

“It discussed transgender peo-ple, but also the gender spectrum, and how there’s lots of variation,” she said.

During the other presenta-tion, E-block in the little theatre, Jason Cameron Gordon ’10, and Liv Pangburn ’09, spoke about their experiences as transgender teens.

“I didn’t know what people were saying about me,” Pangburn

said. “Walking down Main Street was terrifying.

“But my friends were always really supportive,” he said. “I think I had a pretty good time of it.

“When I came out to my family about six months ago, my mom was really great about it—my family is very open-minded.”

Gordon said that when he came out to his family it was quite different. “Both my parents are deceased, so I was living with

my grandmother at the time,” he said.

“She kicked me out.” He was 16 at the time.

He said his friends, how-ever, were supportive. “I’m still friends with most of them.”

Of his experience in high school overall, Gordon said, “The easy thing to say is that it gets better, but I won’t say that because I don’t know. What I will say is that you will get stronger as a person.”

by Fatema ZaiDi

Crunched with time, the boy rushes to his computer and goes on the Internet.

Where is the student going? After hours of trying to

trek through a difficult book, he found it necessary to use SparkNotes to guide him.

But English teachers have a variety of different opinions about whether SparkNotes is a valuable tool for students.

Nick Grant said that he has no problem with kids using SparkNotes.

“When do kids need to use SparkNotes? For Shakespeare,” he said. “The language is diffi-cult and students need to know what the heck it means. All it gives is the plot narrative, char-acters and settings. That’s just a start. The real work is done in class.”

Grant said that when he was a boy, he used a book by Charles and Mary Lamb called Tales from Shakespeare.

“It was famous and they were prose versions of the plays. My teacher recommended we use it,” he said. “Then we could have some prior understanding and tackle the difficult bits. By difficult bits, I’m talking about the language, the choices char-acters make, and the meaning intended by the playwright.

“You’re not going to get that from SparkNotes or Lamb’s stories.

“It ’s a l l learning, but SparkNotes is just the begin-ning—it’s the tip of the ice-berg.”

According to Grant, students should first ask their parents as a resource when they don’t understand the book.

“I vividly remember when I was in 10th grade, we had to explain the meaning of “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. My dad taught me that poem, and I still remember mostly ev-erything he said. That learning experience was just as good as any learning experience I was going to get from my teacher,” Grant explained.

SparkNotes did not exist when Grant was younger, he said, but he used CliffNotes and Monarch Notes instead.

“And I must admit, I almost feel like a hypocrite saying ‘don’t use study guides’ because I did,” he added.

“I stress that we all learn from different things,” he said. “You can learn from Sunday Comics. I read a lot of book reviews in The Boston Globe or The New York Times and then I have an opinion on a book that I’ve never read before. Is it wrong for me to talk about a book or movie I know a bit about but haven’t read or seen? So I really have no problem with it.”

Alicia Carrillo said she be-lieves that SparkNotes has its advantages and its disadvan-tages.

Although it is a tempting resource, she knows that “stu-dents can come up with a lot

of the material they find on SparkNotes on their own if they try,” she said.

Carrillo said she also runs into problems from time-to-time with plagiarism and copying.

“Sometimes when I read papers, I see SparkNotes-like ideas from students,” she said.

“Turnitin.com allows for a greater monitoring of sites like SparkNotes if the students blatantly copy something, but it’s not 100 percent effective,” she said.

But she said that there are positive aspects to it as well.

“Students who have been out from school with a long term illness can use SparkNotes to catch up on reading,” said Carrillo.

“Also, students whose cogni-tive abilities are limited can use it to help them access a deep text like The Scarlet Letter.”

Mary Palisoul said she thinks that SparkNotes can be helpful in addition to the text, but it should not be relied on.

“In some cases, it can be helpful for a student who really struggles with language to use SparkNotes as a supplemental resource, rather than a substi-tute for actually reading a text,” Palisoul said.

According to Palisoul, once a student becomes dependent on SparkNotes, then a problem can arise.

“Relying on SparkNotes as a supplement can be disempow-ering for students—they may start to believe they can’t read or understand a text without SparkNotes,” she said.

“Understanding difficult lan-guage and texts can be a chal-lenge, but it is also an important skill students need to learn in order to prepare themselves for the ‘real world,’” Palisoul said.

Tom Fabian said he thinks

No

Yes

16%

84%

Not at All

In Addition to Reading a Text

Instead of Reading a Text16%

50%34%

that SparkNotes can be helpful, but the information the site con-tains is not what he is generally after as an English teacher.

“I’m interested in the ways that students understand and process language and how it is used,” Fabian said.

“I guess my first question would be what resource would you need other than the book? If a student doesn’t understand what’s going on, then there is a problem, and the student should go to the teacher,” he said.

In his opinion, teachers should give assignments that make SparkNotes beside the point.

“If I give an assignment that asked merely what happened, then SparkNotes gives that information, but I don’t give assignments like that,” Fabian said.

“For example, Romeo and Juliet is not just about what happened, it’s also about the language,” he said.

Jim Lallas said he would never recommend for students to go to SparkNotes.

“I would recommend going to Harold Bloom, a critic, rather than going to SparkNotes,” Lal-las said.

“For the principal reading, I actually suggest students to not go to SparkNotes because I believe them to be inaccurate and misleading,” he said.

Janice Miller has a similar opinion to Lallas.

“I hate SparkNotes,” Miller said. “I have two nieces in col-lege, but when they were in high school, I used to complain to them about it, and they told me it was helpful as a study guide for complicated books.

“But as a teacher, I see it as such a temptation for students to not read the book and use it as a replacement. And then

gling with a difficult book is part of being a good reader.

“Sometimes I pick up a new, challenging book and ask them to read it. Part of it is for them to learn to tell themselves that it is okay not to understand all of it,” she said.

It can also be dangerous be-cause then plagiarism becomes a problem, Miller said.

“SparkNotes comes up in students’ work and then I catch it,” she said. “And then they get punished for plagiarism.”

But SparkNotes can also be hurtful in a subtle way, she said.

“In the short run, it’s help-ful because they can answer questions in class, but in the long run, students don’t do well on essays because they need textual evidence, and if the students use SparkNotes, then they can’t find what they need,” Miller said.

She also said she believes students should consult each other with questions, rather than SparkNotes.

“I think they should bring their questions to class because other students are a big resource they overlook,” she said.

A c c o r d i n g t o M i l l e r, SparkNotes has become more available, and that availability has changed the habits of stu-dents.

“I don’t think the content of SparkNotes has changed over the years, but it is much easier to get to,” she said.◆ Jacob bRunell contRibuteD to tHis coveRage.

there are some students who read the book lightly and use SparkNotes afterwards, leading to a weak or flat understanding of the text.

“It hurts them because they can’t approach the book through their own imagination, so they don’t get any practice learning how to become strong read-ers.”

According to Miller, strug-

Catherine Chen

Some students believe they should be allowed to use SparkNotes as a reference tool.

180 students of all grades were surveyed last week about their use of SparkNotes or other reference websites.

on campus

How do you use SparkNotes?

Do you believe students should be allowed to use SparkNotes as a reference tool?

Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 98 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Four years have come and are now al-most gone. This senior class, in particular the 11 of us that have stuck it out for all four years, have truly seen it all.

Schools, fields and coaches have changed. Teammates and friends have been suspended, quit and returned. Others have been charged with a variety of crimes and one has tragically died.

We will never forget walking to Cabot every day (often in the rain) carrying 15 pounds of equipment and then being told to sprint and do up downs when we ar-rived.

It begs the question of why we subject ourselves to something so physically de-manding day in and day out.

Thirty-five kids played that first year, a number that has gradually decreased as time has passed. The “what-ifs” and “could-haves” are gone. What’s left are guys who care and respect each other enough to endure what we have gone through together.

Our perspective of each other goes beyond friendship or the team itself. It’s something that only those who have played football for their town can understand. It’s special. It’s real.

Without a win our first 10 games of freshman year, we were motivated to rise to the occasion for our last. The four cap-tains of varsity that year—Kyle Ross, E.J. Metallides, Giovanne Clayborne and Diya Berger—came into our locker room that week, and introduced us to the significance of the Brookline game.

We learned then, almost instantly, why we played football at Newton North. It was to beat Brookline, not only for ourselves, but for our families, our town and everyone who had worn that uniform before us.

Sophomore year, with the loss of key players, the varsity team struggled. As we joined the squad on the other side of Cabot field, many of us went through the grind of serving on the scout team and playing in junior varsity games. We found little

reward in a year that was so hard. It tested our commitment and our willingness to sacrifice. The losing hurt but the pain we felt together made us stronger. We finished 3-8, and watched from the sidelines as Troy Peterson and Derrick Vianna combined for 200 yards rushing in a thrilling triple overtime win in Brookline.

Last year we did not beat Brookline. At 5-5 we lost to an 0-10 Warriors team with no more than 30 players on the roster. To this day, kids come up to us and laugh at how we failed. It hurts us, of course, but our hearts ache for last year’s seniors. Many of us feel like we failed them, let down our families and embarrassed our town. It is a sickening feeling—one that will never go away.

We have had no time to feel bad for ourselves. Senior year has flown by. It seems like just a few days ago we were standing at the library window of the old school, staring in awe at the incomplete stadium. And now the season, and with it our careers, is coming to a close. We have one game left: Brookline.

We have been a part of tremendous joy and horrifying devastation in our careers here at Newton North. As we’ve grown ,we’ve began to realize that Brookline is our rival for a serious reason. It is our last game. The game we’ve been waiting for. Both teams push themselves as hard as they can simply because they know it will be their last time to strap on the pads. It all comes down to what Cappy has pounded into our heads: “How do you want to be remembered?”

Through the last three years, Coach Cappy has been a father-figure in guiding us through everything. He is part of us. Cappy, Carl Pockwinse and Chris Drakos, have been here longer than any of us have been alive. If nothing else, we have worked for four years to have a winning season for these people. When we win on Thanksgiving, it will be for Scott Giusti, Berto Castillo and the rest of the ’10 play-ers, for our entire coaching staff, for our town and for our families. We will win on Thanksgiving for them.—Kevin baRisano ’11 anD ben claRK ’11.

Four years of preparationleads up to one last game

courtesy Linda Barisano

Seniors Ben Clark, Kevin Barisano and Isaiah Penn, the captains.

Gabe Dreyer

Block: Junior Brendan Fagan, a guard, protects the quarterback from Natick’s defensive line.

Gabe Dreyer

Blitzing the quarterback: Sophomore Andrew James and junior Nate Menninger, both defensive ends, apply pressure to Natick’s offensive attack.

Gabe Dreyer

On the run: Senior Alex D’Agostino, playing quarterback, looks for an open receiver.

guest column

Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 98 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

by Rose laPlante bRooKline sagamoRe managing wRiting eDitoR

Brookline is eagerly anticipating the annual Thanksgiving Brookline-Newton North football game as a way to finish off their season strong.

The team currently holds a 1-8 record. Captain junior Jonah Morgenstern-Gaines said, “For our skill level, it’s been disap-pointing.” But, he added, “We’ve worked hard.”

This past season the team got a new coach, Kevin Mahoney. Morgenstern-Gaines said of Mahoney, “he really inspires the players.”

Despite having a losing record this year, Mahoney said that his goal for the team this year was to allow them to represent more than themselves when they are out on the field.

“We really need them to have pride that they are representing the town of Brook-line, all their peers and the blue and red,” he said.

The team is hoping to improve upon the season so far in today’s game against Weymouth and at the Thanksgiving rivalry game.

“We’re looking to get back on track with these last few games,” said senior Jack Livingston, a captain. The team can use last year’s game Thanksgiving game, which they won, for inspiration.

“We were really happy with last year’s result,” said Morgenstern-Gaines. “We came into the game with a goal that we were going to win no matter what it took.”

As for this year, Morgenstern-Gaines said, “I hope that our team will come in with the same mentality to win.”

Livingston thought BHS and Newton North were at similar levels going into the game, so a win for BHS is definitely possible.

Warriors working hard,inspired by ’09 victory

by Jacob scHwaRtZ

In pursuit of revenge and glory, the Tigers, 4-5, host Brookline, 1-8, on senior day in the annual Thanksgiving Game Thursday, Nov. 25, at 10 a.m.

Senior Ben Clark, a captain with seniors Kevin Barisano and Isaiah Penn, said the memory of last year’s Thanksgiving Game has stayed in his mind since the Tigers were defeated 18-6 at Brookline.

“We’ll never forget watching from the sidelines in disappointment as they cele-brated,” he said. “This year, they’re a small group. They don’t have much more than 30 kids, but they’re fast and athletic.”

Throughout its 117-year history, the Thanksgiving Game has been a meaningful event for both competing sides.

Clark recalled that when he was a little kid, he “always went to the Brookline game. I remember going to the old Dickin-son Stadium, covered in snow some years, and looking up to all those guys who were playing,” he said.

“And now, those guys are us.”Coach Peter Capodilupo said the game

“is one that transcends generations. It’s one of the oldest games in the state. Uncles, fathers and grandpas of players on the team have played in the same Thanks-giving Game over the years.”

“A lot of emotion goes into the game,” Capodilupo said, “because for 95 percent of the seniors playing, this is probably the last organized game of football they will

ever play. Many people remember experi-ences by how they end, so this game is very important to us.”

Although the Tigers have a better record than the Warriors this season, the records for the Thanksgiving Game are close. The Tigers are currently in the lead with 55 wins. Brookline is close behind, with 53 wins. There have been six ties.

“The cliché is that the record going into that game doesn’t matter,” Capodilupo said. “You don’t have to be better than a team for a year, a month, a day or even an hour. You just need to be better for 48 minutes, and then you can say you were better than them forever.”

Clark said, “Last year they were 0-10 and still beat us. Anything can happen.

“Hopefully we can win and start a trend this year.

“It’s definitely looking up this year. We’ve got so many underclassmen starting. Also, the Newton Pop-Warner team, which prepares players for high school football has gotten better in the past few years.”

The Tigers travel to Framingham to-night to face the Flyers under the lights.

“They throw the ball very well,” Ca-podilupo said. “The fact that it’s a night game and that they get a great turnout at their field will make it a challenge. Even Napoleon had some trouble winning on the road.”

Natick defeated the Tigers 48-6 Satur-day, Nov. 6 at Dickinson Stadium.

Football prepares for117th Brookline game

Gabe Dreyer

Blitzing the quarterback: Sophomore Andrew James and junior Nate Menninger, both defensive ends, apply pressure to Natick’s offensive attack.

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advertisement Friday, Nov. 12, 201010 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

EMBrACING LIFELONG LEArNING

Happy Thanksgiving

“Your past always influences your future”

MARY MCMANUS - Literary Specialist

McManus remembers that Mr. Mulvey, a biology teacher, often walked around with an embalmed and made science fun despite dissections of creatures such as worms. McManus said she “thinks about Mulvey when thinking about teaching,” as she most remembershis ability to make science labs fun.

LESLIE MEYER - Math Teacher

Meyer had an English teacher, Heidi Dawidoff, whom she said “didn’t give up on me,” and convinced a reluctant Meyer to actu-ally enjoy and look forward to English assignments by the end of the year. “She helped me understand that you have to put time into assignments to get the most out of them,” Meyer remem-bers. She recalls that despite being an unenthusiastic English student, she was able to improve at going through the process of writing analytical and creative pieces thanks to Dawidoff’s help and persistence.

MIKE BOWER - Physical Education Teacher

Mr. Hart, a science teacher of Bower’s at Day Middle School, enabled him to believe in himself and taught him that he could “do whatever he set his mind or heart to, despite growing up with learning disabilities,” he said. Bower said that Mr. Hart’s words stuck with him and helped him to understand that even though he learned differently, he could be as smart or as determined as anyone else.

DAN FABRIZIO - Spanish Teacher

Fabrizio said was influenced greatly by Brother Lyons, a teacher at his Catholic school. According to Fabrizio, Lyons was “the meanest, strictest, most particular teacher” he had ever had, but he made sure that his students’ vocabularies expanded expo-nentially by assigning numerous words and making sure that his students understood all the material. Fabrizio said that Brother Lyons enabled him to become good at Spanish and influenced him in becoming a teacher.

SUBHASRI GANGOPADHYAY - Biology Teacher

Growing up in India and attending a Catholic school, Gan-gopadhyay was thankful for the friendship of Sister Cicily, her principal and teacher with whom she is still in touch. Despite being in an environment where student-teacher relationships were supposed to be strictly about education, the Sister visited Gangopadhyay when she stayed home sick, and often talked to her outside of the classroom. Gangopadhyaysaid she is “very grateful for the Sister’s friendship and prayers,” and they still talk today.

Newton Teachers Association

sTrive for excellence

Emily Gulotta, Gaby Perez-Dietz & Teddy Wenneker

“Your past always influences your future”

sTrive for excellence

newsFriday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 11

Gabe Dreyer

Making Biodiesel: Junior Sonya Douglas and sophomore Owen Weitzman work with chief innovation officer Steve Chinosi in Greengineering.

Jacob Schwartz

robotics 3: Junior Jake Shearman builds a robot. Some of the robot’s funding is coming through the innovation lab.

by maRena cole

With some support from the innovation lab, students in the Robotics 3 class have been working to design a large-scale robot, according to technol-ogy/engineering teacher Scott Rosenhahn.

“We’ve done some rudimen-tary sketches so far,” Rosenhahn said. “Right now, one of the big-gest problems is funding.

“The motors themselves can cost hundreds of dollars,” Rosenhahn said. “Webcams, control feeds, the nuts and bots—it all adds up.”

Rosenhahn said students have been writing grants for funding, including to the PTSO, Raytheon and Toshiba.

Also, Rosenhahn said one plan is to have some funding come from PTC, a Needham-based software company, via the innovation lab.

“They support our robotics team, and also help to support our classes,” he said.

According to senior Adam Fisher, the robot will be a “sub-stitute student,” for when a stu-dent needs to stay home sick.

“The problem we were look-ing to solve is students not want-ing to stay home from school be-cause they’re afraid of missing so much work,” Fisher said.

According to Fisher, the robot the class is building is designed to help students who are sick keep up with schoolwork.

Senior Derek Goldstone said that if the class had unlimited resources and time, the ideal robot would be able to take notes and go to all of a student’s classes, and interact with other students and teachers.

But the students’ goal for the robot, he said, is to at least send and receive data from a remote location using the school’s WiFi.

“A student who is sick in the future could have the robot go to all his classes and not miss anything important,” Goldstone said.

“Right now we’re still in the planning stage, working with the prototype and learning how it’s going to be built and how we’ll use the software.

“It’s slow work, but we’re moving forward.”

Goldstone said the class has been working on the project since the first week of school, and began to build the prototype robot three weeks ago.

“It probably will take the entire year, but it’ll be fun,” he said. “It’s something all of us enjoy.”

The students have been split into three teams to work on the robot, according to Goldstone.

The mechanical team is work-ing to put together the robot and determine what structure works well, he said. The electrical team works with the control boards, motors, drive shafts and wiring, and the control team works with the software controlling the robot, he said.

“In the end, it all comes to-gether for the final product,” he said.

“We’re definitely going to do some test runs later on.

“This is a project that a com-pany might want to invest in, and in 10 to 20 years you might see these in every school.”

Workshop helps teachers to develop lab

Program launches 3-year pilotLab willhelp turnideas intoprogramsby HilaRy bRumbeRg

“Educate to innovate” has long been a popular maxim re-peated by teachers and admin-istrators in the Newton Public Schools and even by President Barack Obama in his “Education to Innovate” campaign.

However, the way schools are set up now, teachers must be willing to spend time beyond their teaching duties to turn their innovative ideas into real programs, according to chief in-novation officer Steve Chinosi.

“Ultimately that’s nice, but there’s never enough time, nev-er enough resources,” Chinosi said. “Curriculum development really requires extraordinary time from groups of teachers to get great ideas off the ground.” Getting a start

With this in mind, Chinosi helped develop Newton’s Lab, The Innovation Laboratory of the Newton Public Schools, more commonly known as the innovation lab, under the leadership of principal Jennifer Price, parents Chryse Gibson and Chris Pinney and members of the business community.

“Internally, among faculty, staff and students, the innova-tion lab will act as an incubator, partner, consultant, advocate, navigator, networking/resource manager, etc.,” Chinosi said.

The lab, which launched its three-year pilot project this month, will partner with any teacher in the NPS who has an idea that, if instituted, would “connect educators and students to the real-world challenges and the needs of the 21st century,” according to Gibson, the innova-tion lab’s project manager, in a memo from the innovation lab.

Chinosi said, “Lab ideas are ideas that will offer teachers and students new information to learn, new ways to deliver information and authentic ways to facilitate how our students ‘own’ the information.”

According to Chinosi, the innovation lab will connect

teachers to companies and uni-versity partners with resources so that they can put their ideas into action. Steps to take

A memo from the innovation lab explained how the lab works in four steps or the three-year pilot program, whichever comes first.

“Step one: Teacher A has an idea, does some research and asks some questions.

“Step two: Teacher A con-tacts Newton’s Lab and explains visions.

“Step three: Newton’s Lab swings into action and connects Teacher A and her idea with like-minded folk, new resources and time to work on it.

“Step four: Teacher A with the lab continues to research and develop, navigate the poli-tics of public education, test the curriculum and plan on imple-mentation.”

Chinosi said that from his ex-periences starting Greengineer-ing and Senior Year Project, he understands the importance of time, resources and connections to develop ideas.

However, when Chinosi start-ed the Greengineering program, he had to work on developing the curriculum in addition to all his responsibilities as a full time English teacher, he said.

“I would have loved a support team, like the innovation lab, to help me organize the process of creating Greengineering.

“Through the innovation lab and our powerfully creative teachers, students in the NPS will be given opportunities they would not otherwise have,” Chi-nosi said. Generous donations

For example, the innovation

lab’s “number one” partner, PTC, a Needham-based, world-wide engineering software firm, “generously donated” state-of-the-art industry software, according to Chinosi. The pro-grams, including Pro-Engineer and Wind-Chill, “are like Face-book for engineers,” and will be used in engineering, Greengi-neering, art and graphic design classes at this school, he said.

According to Chinosi, com-panies pay a few million dollars to use the software.

PTC also donated $50,000 to the lab, according to Price. Chinosi said PTC “has really stepped up with support, from the generous donation in fi-nancial support to the software support and training,” Chinosi said.

“Without them, there would be no lab right now.”What’s next

Chinosi explained that the innovation lab started when Pinney “showed up with a great idea to connect schools, the community and businesses in new and engaging ways.

“Immediately, Jen Price and her leadership team came together and started brain-storming.

What they created, with Gib-son and Pinney, was the innova-tion lab,” he said.

According to Chinosi, the next step for the innovation lab will be to create an action team of faculty, administrators and students from this school and Newton South.

“The lab’s action team will govern, manage and drive the lab,” he said. “It will facilitate a new era in a long tradition of educational excellence in Newton.”

Fundinggoes to Robotics

by HilaRy bRumbeRg

Five teachers from this school and Newton South participated in a workshop to brainstorm ideas about how the innova-tion lab should function, ac-cording to math teacher Elena Graceffa.

Synecticsworld, the “inno-vation power source for the world’s most admired compa-nies,” according to its website, facilitated the workshop Friday, Oct. 22 in Cambridge.

Graceffa, who attended the seminar with chief innova-tion officer Steve Chinosi, vice principal Deborah Holman and

Newton South teachers Rachel Becker and Jamie Rinaldi, said it was based on Synecticsworld’s nine-step process.

Graceffa said Chinosi came into the workshop with a spe-cific goal: to invent a model that connects businesses, public schools and innovation.

She said that in the beginning of the workshop, the teachers “threw out a lot of ideas—as many as we could” about the way the innovation lab could work.

“There were a lot of ideas,” she said. “Sure, some of them were good, some of them were

less helpful, some more on target, some less on target. The idea of Synecticsworld is to just let your mind wander, so you come up with ideas you other-wise wouldn’t have.

“The goal was not to criticize people—just to get anything out that was in our minds.”

Next, teachers narrowed down the ideas, according to Graceffa.

“We selected which seemed useful and followed Mr. Chino-si’s idea of what would be the next step,” she said.

“Then we talked about what would be obstacles to the next

step and discussed how we could overcome them.

“By the end, we walked away with a specific plan of action,” she said.

Graceffa said she came back to this school more excited about the innovation lab and how she could use it as a teacher.

“I left trying to think about how a class could involve math and connect to a world beyond school, putting aside all of my preconceptions about what a math class is,” she said.

“Mr. Chinosi has definitely done this to the extreme with a number of programs.”

advertisement Friday, Nov. 12, 201012 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Good luck to the Tigers

Beat Brookline!

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from the families of:courtesy Linda Barisano

Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 13

Talk of the TigerCritic’s Picks

Teacher’s Picks

Maddie MacWilliams

Did you know?

Bob MacDougall Tom O’Connor Kathleen Walsh

Favorite Show

Favorite Movie

Favorite Artists

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

The Lion King

Favorite Show

Favorite Movie

Favorite Artists

Family Guy

The Town

Favorite Show

Favorite Movie

Favorite Artists

Modern Family

The Godfather

This month in 1980...

Boys’ cross country The team finished the season 8-0, winning its league. The

Tigers recieved the Eastern Mass. Division 1 crown. Addition-ally, they placed fourth at the All-State Meet.

Girls’ cross countryFinishing its season 7-1, girls’ cross country went to States,

coming in second place. Additionally, the Tigers came in second in their league.

Girls’ swimming and divingIn the State Championship, two Newton North girls took

third place.

Main Street closedAfter juniors were rude during a class assembly, Main

Street was closed to students.

FootballIn the annual Thanksgiving Game, Brookline beat Newton

34-0.

Speech TeamThe Newton North Speech Team placed in a tournament,

receiving trophies.

Proposition 2 ½ passedThe school was forced to make significant budget cuts.

In addition to changes in class sizes, bus use was limited to students who lived at least two miles away.

Newtonian

Eric Clapton Buffalo Tom Nirvana The Allman Brothers Jane’s Addiction

The Rolling StonesThe WhoThe BeatlesLed ZeppelinThe Police

Louis Armstrong Amy Winehouse Hugh Masekela Gato Barbieri Edith Piaf

by geoRgina teasDale

Special education teach-ing assistant Loretta D’Amore graduated from Newton High School in 1968.

As a student, D’Amore volun-teered in both the social studies office and in the Beals House office.

Additionally, D’Amore par-ticipated in the sewing club after school.

D’Amore remembers that students weren’t allowed to be in the hallways during class. Instead, students would have to go to their common room. Students only had open cam-pus during second semester of senior year.

She also remembers that while the campus was beautiful and she loved being able to eat outside, and the five minutes passing time made it very dif-ficult to get across campus in

time for classes.On the student body, D’Amore

said, “It was a very closed soci-ety. You only knew other stu-dents who went here. But we made very close friends, and I still see my high school friends today.”

Fun Fact!

Far East Movement—Free Wired

While Far East Movement slams down some real catchy beats, along with terrific ef-fects, there isn’t much else to Free Wired. The majority of the songs are so repetitive that after one song ended and the next one started, I thought I had the player on repeat.

In other words, with the a few exceptions, the songs are basically identical. Among the exceptions is “Rocketeer,” in which the album seems to come up for air. The song displays exceptional vocals and decent lyrics. It’s worth a listen, but still doesn’t make the album worth the buy.

“If I Was You (O.M.G.)” is definintey a good example of the more thoughtless part of the album, featuring rhymes like “O.M.G., you so sexy.”

Overall, the majority of the music seems to fall into the thoughtless category more often than the thoughtful.

Key Tracks: “Like a G6,” “Rocketeer” and “So What”

Grade: C+

Taylor Swift—Speak Now

Speak Now is a well-pro-duced collection of quality tracks, and it should succeed fairly well in its attempt to ap-peal to pop fans.

Swift shows off her genuine voice throughout, not straining to hit the high notes. Through many of the lyrics, she seems to be having a conversation with the listener in the second per-son, helping the listener relate to the song.

However, while many songs, including “Mine” and “Speak Now” have great lyrics, they have awfully similar melodies. However, Swift’s lyrics are de-scriptive and colorful because she knows how to tell a story through her music. In Speak Now, Swift describes a wedding where the man she loves is mar-rying another woman.

The bottom line: Despite a lack of originality in the music, Swift tells interesting stories through her original lyrics.

Key Tracks: “Long Live,” “Mine” and “Speak Now”

Grade: B

Bruno Mars—Doo-Wops and Hooligans

One listening to the first two tracks of Bruno Mars’ Doo-Wops and Hooligans might be discouraged to continue listen-ing, believing the album is just 10 consecutive “Just the Way You Are” tracks. However, this would just be a misconception.

In fact, the album as a whole shows the artist’s versatility.

“Lazy Song” has a bit of the style of Mars’ “Billionaire,” but was different in that it didn’t seem like Mars was trying to make the track a number one hit. Instead, he’s simply trying make a unique song and capture his feelings of laziness.

“Runaway Baby” is a rock song with a nostalgic ring to it, which he accomplished well.

Throughout the album, Mars lets loose his wonderful—and at times very intense—voice, which meshes almost perfectly with the strong backing beats.

Key Tracks: “Lazy Song,” “Runaway Baby” and “The Other Side”

Grade: A-—Jacob scHwaRtZ

en Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey instead of a bald eagle.

trangely enough,

his favorite late-November meal was bald eagle with stuffing and

cranberry sauce!

sports Friday, Nov. 12, 201014 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Boys improve individually

Teddy Wenneker

running laps: Senior Ezra Lichtman rounds the track Tuesday, Nov. 2.

Cheerleaders hope to qualify for States

Gabe Dreyer

At Dickinson Stadium: Freshmen Kelsey Loughlin and Amanda Forster, and sophomore Kaitlin Lyons-Dunckel perform at halftime during the football game Saturday.

by malini ganDHi

With superior talent and very strong commitment, cheerlead-ing has a “good chance of ad-vancing to States,” according to Amanda Costa, the assistant coach.

“The girls are very put to-gether and dedicated, and they have a great work ethic,” Costa said.

“They have really changed the cheerleading culture at North.”

Though the cheerleading sea-son has just started, Costa said she has already seen “marked improvement.”

“Freshman Jen Davis came in knowing barely anything about cheerleading, and now she is looking like the seniors,” Costa said.

“The level of talent is defi-nitely the best we’ve seen in a long time.”

Sunday, the Tigers will com-pete in Regionals, where they hope to “hit a full-out routine,” according to senior Corinne Beatrice, a captain with senior Taylor Sweeney.

Sweeney noted that the team has strong opening stunts, but that “our weakness is definitely

our stamina,” she said.“We need to get a lot better

at handling situations where we are competing under pressure,” she said.

According to coach Adrianne Callahan, in the past, “little mistakes that resulted from cracking under pressure have cost us a lot.”

To continue to States, the Tigers must come away with at least 160 points at Regionals, according to Callahan.

Wednesday, Nov. 3, the Ti-gers competed in the Bay State Championship in Braintree.

Though the team placed high enough to advance to Region-als, “a little fluke on the mat at the beginning” resulted in its performance not going as well as previously hoped, according to Callahan.

A highlight of the competi-tion, however, was the “huge number of supporters,” accord-ing to Callahan.

“The dedication level has changed and cheerleading is really taken seriously now,” Callahan said.

“There’s been lots of support from the school, which has been great.”

Girls’ cross country shows persistenceDetermination, experience gained is key to successful postseason by PeRRin stein

Although girls’ cross coun-try, 6-5, began its season as an inexperienced team, it has improved, according to senior Devika Banerjee, a captain with senior Margo Gillis and junior Melissa Weikart.

“Everyone has improved drastically by pushing them-selves, which is really great to see,” Banerjee said.

“It’s also great because the team, as a whole, is better than last year.”

As the season draws to a close, the team is attempting harder runs and exercises in order to strengthen itself for the postseason, according to Banerjee.

“Our practices are much more intense now because we are gearing up for the division and state meets,” she said.

“We are strengthening our top seven runners by working together and running more as a pack.”

According to coach Peter Martin, the team is also working on pacing and conditioning in order to achieve the experience needed for the championship meets.

“Along with working hard in practice, the team has bonded. Everyone is really close, and they always help each other out by running in a pack,” Martin said.

This year the team has im-

proved, so next year the Tigers will be even stronger, he said. “We have the makings of a deep-er and, overall, better team.”

Tomorrow, the Tigers will participate in the Eastern Mass. Division I Championship at Frankin Park.

Everyone in the team’s di-vision is invited to run in the competition, he said.

The top four teams from each division meet will then continue on to the All State meet Saturday, Nov. 20, according to Martin.

“It would be a fantasy for us to qualify for All-States, but I think that we can be in the top eight of our division. Then again, you still never know be-

Girls adjustdiving for meet

by Jay Feinstein

Preparing for tomorrow’s Eastern Mass. Division I Cham-pionship at Franklin Park, boys’ cross country, 9-2, has been focusing on individual performances, according to coach Jim Blackburn.

“We have some really strong runners, and I hope they do well,” he said.

If the Tigers do well, they can qualify for All States, Blackburn said. “I think that we’ll qualify, but if we qualify, it won’t be as a team. It would just be individual runners.”

According to senior Dan Ranti, a captain with senior Ezra Litchman, the reason the Tigers don’t expect to qualify as a team is because qualifying as a team would require five outstanding runners.

“Our top three runners are solid, but the difference be-tween our fourth and fifth run-ners is too big for us to do well as a team.”

Saturday, the Tigers ran in the State Coaches Invitational meet in Wrentham.

The competition was divided into three races: the freshman 3k race, the sophomore 5k race

and the junior and senior 5k race, according to Ranti.

“It was the freshmen’s first time participating, and they did well,” he said. Mike Schli-chting placed 25th out of 250 runners in the freshman race with 10:59.

Jonny Long did well in the sophomore race, according to Ranti. Long placed 28th with 17:53.

In the junior and senior race, Ranti came in third with 16:17.47, Litchman came in fourth with 16:17.87 and junior Justin Keefe came in fifth with 16:19.

“We stayed together and created a wall of Newton North runners, which really helped to boost our energy,” said Ranti.

Saturday, Oct. 30, the Tigers ran in the Bay State Conference meet, according to Blackburn. The team scored 101 points, tying for third with Walpole. Brookline came in first with 50 points, and Weymouth came in second with 75 points.

Individually, Keefe fin-ished third with 16:30, Litch-man placed ninth with 16:46, and Ranti came in 11th with 16:51.

cause every race is different,” he said.

Saturday, the Tigers ran in the State Coaches Invitational meet in Wrentham.

The meet was separated into races by grade, and included students from all across the state.

Julia Schiantarelli came in 20th for the sophomore race.

At Franklin Park, the Tigers attended the Bay State Confer-ence meet Monday, Nov. 1. Ev-ery team in the conference was invited to participate, and this school placed third overall.

“We beat Braintree, which was really great because they are a strong team,” Martin said.

by Jay Feinstein

Girls’ swimming and diving, 6-5, has been preparing to visit MIT tomorrow for Sectionals, according to coach Kirsten Tuohy.

The Tigers qualified for ev-ery event in Sectionals, Tuohy said.

“We have many more people attending this year than we’ve had in previous years, which really reflects our strengths,” she said.

“We expect fast times for our swimmers in Sectionals, and we expect that our divers will dive well in the competition, too,” she said.

According to Tuohy, this meet is different from most meets be-cause there are 11 dives instead of six dives.

“That means that we need to prepare more dives to compete in,” she said.

“We need to figure out which dives are both strong enough to qualify in, yet are challeng-

ing enough to earn high scores in ,” she said.

“It requires a lot of strat-egizing.”

A c c o r d -ing to Tuohy, d iv ing and s w i m m i n g are complete-ly different

when it comes to competitions and scoring.

“When you’re scored for swimming, you get a time, and it’s exact. You can’t argue with it. Your score for diving is de-cided by judges, and it is more based on execution.”

According to Tuohy, the Ti-gers have qualified for most events for States, which will take place Sunday, Nov. 21 at Harvard.

“We look forward to compet-ing in States every year,” she said. “This year, we have a solid amount of people going.”

Events that are not yet quali-fied for can be qualified for at Sectionals, according to Tuohy.

Sunday, the Tigers partici-pated in the Bay State Confer-ence meet, placing eighth out of 10 teams.

“It was a long meet, but it was good,” Tuohy said.

“We had quite a few high-lights, and we’re happy with our results.”

Juniors Jackie Comstock and Christine Dube dropped times in the 500 freestyle, and freshman Helen Culici dropped her time in the 100 backstroke.

In addition, the members of the 400 freestyle relay improved by more than two seconds, ac-cording to Tuohy.

Most importantly, sophomore Katie Wu qualified for Section-als in the 100 breaststroke.

According to senior Rebecca Harris, a captain with senior Da-ryl Choa, the Tigers have been trying to qualify for breaststroke all season.

“We’re so happy that we qualified during this meet,” Harris said.

“Other than that, we did okay,” she said.

“A lot of people on our team didn’t like the pool that we swam in, but we did well con-sidering that we weren’t used to the pool.”

Newtonian

Kirsten Tuohy

sportsFriday, Nov. 12, 2010 Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 15

Teddy Wenneker

Against North Andover: Senior Emily Brown drills the ball upfield against the Knights in the preliminary round of the North Division 1 Sectional as junior Maggie Heffernan looks on. The Tigers defeated the Knights at South 2-0.

Subvarsity girls’ soccer teams improve steadily

Girls’ soccer falls to Peabody in State Tournament by Jay Feinstein

Towards the end of the sea-son, girls’ soccer, 10-9-1, be-came more aggressive, said senior Ellen Goldberg, a captain with senior Evelyn Hurwitz.

“We used to be intimidated by many of the teams we faced, but we’ve improved,” she said. “This attitude helped us make it to the postseason and win the first game of the tournament.”

The Tigers also improved at moving the ball, Goldberg said. “We’re excellent at controlling the ball on the ground, but we could have been better at con-trolling the ball in the air.”

In addition, the Tigers grew closer as a team. “Our team this year is similar to our team last year, and this season we’ve got-ten more comfortable with our teammates,” Goldberg said.

According to Goldberg, be-cause everyone was closer this season, the Tigers performed better than last year. Last year, the Tigers’ record was 2-11-4.

Although they were elimi-nated from the tournament, the Tigers still exceeded all of their expectations, according to coach James Hamblin.

“The girls should be proud

because they all played good quality soccer,” he said.

In a difficult postseason game Monday, the Tigers visited Pea-body, losing 5-2, Hamblin said. “Its is one of the best teams in the state, so we had trouble.”

According to Hamblin, the Tigers had difficulty because of Peabody’s speed of play and strong players. “They had an amazing forward who scored all of their goals,” he said.

Hamblin considers the game to be a success for the Tigers.

“We managed to score two goals, which is good, consider-ing that they were a hard team,” he said.

At South Saturday, the Tigers beat North Andover 2-0 for their first game in the tournament.

“Both our team and their team were at the same level, but luckily, we won,” he said.

Senior Emily Brown scored the first goal off a deflection, ac-cording to Hamblin. She scored the second goal from a free kick with a mere two seconds to go.

“Winning a game in the postseason is big for us. It re-ally means a lot,” Hamblin said. “This game was definitely one of our best games we’ve played.”

a positive attitude, according to coach Emily Hartz.

“Even though our record shows a lot of losses, we fought hard through every game,” she said. “The scores of our games don’t reflect how our games were.”

According to Hartz, the Ti-gers improved steadily as a team throughout the season. “Our defense improved the most.”

Katherine Alves, Rachel Brown, Gina Ferolito, Ying Gao and Casey Orlin stood out as

by Jay Feinstein Both JV and freshman girls’

soccer finished their seasons with good effort. In addition, both teams stayed strong with-out giving up.JV finishes season with team unity

JV girls’ soccer, 4-11-3, coached by Johanna Lynch, finished its season with team unity as a strength, according to sophomore Julia Bernstein.

“We were really tight-knit

and close as a team, and we knew everyone on the team well,” she said.

The Tigers could have been more mentally prepared for their games, Bernstein said.

“We should have been more serious and aggressive when we were competing,” she said.

Also, the Tigers could have started games better, Bernstein said. “It took a while to get used to every game we played.”

Bernstein also said it took the Tigers a while to gain momen-

tum for their season. “We didn’t do so well at the

beginning, but won most of our games at the end,” she said.

A highlight of the season was October 22 when the Tigers defeated Brookline, sophomore Radha Sharma said. “We won with a penalty kick, and we were really happy about it.” ’14 has enthusiasm

Despite struggling with scor-ing, freshman girls’ soccer, 0-15-1, finished its season with

excellent players, Hartz said. “Katherine played goalie all

season, and she was very resil-ient,” she said.

The highlight of the season was the Tigers’ 1-1 tie in Brook-line October 21. “We tried our hardest for this game, and it paid off,” Hartz said.

According to Michaela Smith, a captain with Alves and Bridget Struth, the Tigers were mentally strong. “We had great enthusi-asm despite our scores.”

Lincoln-Sudbury defeats field hockey in playoffs

Jacob Schwartz

Going upfield: Senior Michele Troy pushes the ball away from a North Andover defender while coach Celeste Myers looks on. The Tigers defeated the Knights in double overtime in the prelimary round of Sectionals 3-2.

JV exhibits flexibility, freshmen grow as players

by eli DaviDow

After concluding its best season in re-cent memory, field hockey, 8-5-3 overall, fell to Lincoln-Sudbury in the quarterfi-nals of the North Division 1 Sectionals.

“I think we did what we wanted to ac-complish,” coach Celeste Myers said. “We performed well in the playoffs and put together a pretty amazing season.”

Fourth-seeded Lincoln-Sudbury ended the 12th-seeded Tigers’ postseason with a close 2-1 victory Sunday.

“Lincoln-Sudbury had great passing and knew what they were doing,” said se-nior Marissa Troy, a captain with seniors Andrea Marzilli and Ali Pappas.

Junior Bobby Grimshaw tapped in the Tigers’ last goal of the season.

To qualify for the quarterfinals, the Tigers won 3-2 in dramatic fashion over North Andover Friday with a game-win-ning goal by Grimshaw.

The game in North Andover required two extra periods consisting of 15 minutes each to break the 2-2 tie. During these two overtime periods, the teams were only allowed seven players each.

“We played one of our best games,” Myers said. “We had key scoring.

“North Andover was excellent and had great speed and balance, but our determi-nation won the game for us.”

The Tigers set the pace early with two

quick goals by Grimshaw and senior Michele Troy, but the Knights retaliated with two goals, making the game 2-2.

From that point forward, the game turned into a defensive match-up. Both the Tigers and Knights kept each other at bay with key stops on corners, which continued until the end of regulation.

Then in the first overtime, both teams missed crucial opportunities to capitalize, which would have broken the deadlock tie and kept their playoff hopes alive. There were occasions when the Knights had superb chances to take advantage of the Tigers’ penalty tendency.

But senior Julia Cuccurullo, the goalie, was lights out, kicking the ball out of the box. Cuccurullo and Pappas were named Bay State Conference all-stars.

Grimshaw also had one particular opportunity in which the ball skidded inches from the goal. In reaction to the near game-winner, he slammed his stick in anger, which truly encompassed the game’s frustrating monotony.

But finally within three minutes of the second overtime, Grimshaw put the game to rest, as the Tigers charged onto the field in celebration. The North Ando-ver crowd fell silent.

The goal “felt like just another goal—except I knew that scoring meant I would have a good weekend,” Grimshaw said.

by eli DaviDow

While JV field hockey played with only seven players, the freshmen adjusted to an unfamiliar sport.JV finishes at 8-4-2

With only seven official players, JV field hockey exhibited flexibility that helped lead to a winning 8-4-2 record, said coach Kim Hamilton.

“We’d use varsity players who didn’t get as much playing time and also we’d bring up freshmen,” she said.

“Even though we didn’t have a full team, I thought we played well.”

The top players for the Tigers were juniors Ellie Abbott, a strong offensive player with nine goals, and Hannah Lloyd, a solid defender, Hamilton said. Both also contributed to varsity games.

Junior Hannah McGoldrick, a center forward, said that the small team estab-lished great chemistry.

The Tigers’ season opener September 14 at Walpole was a highlight despite

losing 2-0, Hamilton said. “Walpole has one of the strongest

programs in the state, and we didn’t let them control the game,” she said. Freshmen strengthen skills

Although the team was initially inex-perienced, freshman field hockey, 2-2-6, developed into a strong competitor this season, said coach Lauren Baugher.

“I think all the kids grew a lot as play-ers and as people,” she said.“They devel-oped a passion and love for the game.”

The team gave exposure to the oppor-tunities athletics offer, Baugher said.

“It was a great way for the players to start their first semester of high school,” she said.

According to Madi Raso, a forward and midfielder, the Tigers had an incom-parable cohesion.

“We’re like a family now,” she said. The highlight of the season was the

Tigers’ last game against Needham Oc-tober 27, tying 0-0, Baugher said.

sports Friday, Nov. 12, 201016 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Postseason hopesend for volleyballNorth Quincy defeats Tigers 3-1 at homeby Jacob scHwaRtZ

The Red Raiders jumped together in celebration, with grins on their faces as North Quincy knocked girls’ volleyball, 16-3 overall, out of the postseason.

North Quincy defeated the Tigers 3-1 in the Reginald E. Smith Gymnasium Wednesday, bringing an end to the Ti-gers’ season.

Coach Richard Barton had said focus would be important for the game, but that the Tigers were not completely focused until the third game, which was their only win Wednesday.

“In the first two games of the match, we were serving out, and some of our hits and serves were hit-ting the net a lot. The number of points they received from our errors is really extraordinary,” Bar-ton said.

In the third game, the Tigers held the lead for the major-ity and ended up winning over North Quincy 25-14.

Senior Tatiana Froehlich’s serving was a major improvement compared to the first two games, achieving two aces in a row during one rotation.

“Once they got warmed up, they just played volleyball,” Barton said. “They just started playing.”

North Quincy coach Kerry Ginty said the Tigers “played powerfully and quickly.

“They played a really good game,” she said. “They had aggressive serving, which forced us to have good passing, which, luckily, we did.”

The reason North Quincy won was its defense, Ginty said.

“We were picking up balls, and re-ally digging their aggressive serves. We were also in the right place at the right time.”

According to Barton, North Quincy’s athletic director told him after the match that “the Red Raiders played much better than they ever had before.”

A lesson that can be learned from

the loss, Barton said, is that “sports are hard.

“The biggest challenge in sports is working on having the strongest perfor-mance that you can, whenever you want to or need to.

“Most professional athletes have trouble with that, and most college ath-letes can’t always do that.”

In their first playoff appearance, the Tigers defeated Boston Latin Academy 3-0 Monday at home in the second round of the Sectional Quarterfinals.

The team set and spiked with pre-cision, executing well-placed hits that Boston Latin Acad-emy wasn’t able to recover from.

Senior Melissa Jewett, the setter, showed persistence and strong effort, diving all over the court to keep the ball alive.

The team also dis-played its practice on tipping, catch-ing Boston Latin off guard.

Serving was strong, with several players earning multiple aces in a single rotation.

These players included Froelich, seniors Emily Hutchinson and Megan Gentile, junior Meredith Abrams and freshman Alana King.

According to Hutchinson, the team implemented a new rotation which had positive effects.

“We were trying to change around dif-ferent people in the serve receive, and I think it definitely worked,” Hutchinson said.

Barton said, “Boston Latin wasn’t used to our speed, and when we’re playing a team like them, and we serve in, we will win. They just couldn’t keep up with us in ball control.”

On the regular season, Barton said, “We established ourselves in other tour-naments as one of the top 12 teams in Massachusetts, and that is a very strong performance that we should be proud of.”

Subvarsity boys teams work hard to improveby Jacob scHwaRtZ

While a confident JV boys’ soccer had one of its best sea-sons in years, the freshman team improved its communica-tion and skills.JV, 9-3-3, prepares players for varsity

JV boys’ soccer, 9-3-3, achieved its goal of preparing players for varsity and the next level of soccer, according to coach Peter Goddard.

“It was one of my most suc-cessful seasons in 11 years,” he said.

“Whenever we stepped on

the field, we knew that we had a chance to win. You don’t always feel that every year.”

Junior Carter Tiernan, a captain with junior Sam Davis, said he “really felt like the team was going to have a winning season.”

A memorable game for God-dard was when the Tigers tied Brookline here Friday, Sept. 24, 0-0.

“Brookline and us are the two best teams in the league, and I think we really showed it to each other that day,” he said.

The team also beat Wey-mouth twice, Goddard said.

Goddard said, “The team’s values were to always play hard, play together, to be supportive of each other and have fun.”

Sophomore Gilad Seckler said, “We wanted to have a good time and win games doing it.”

According to Tiernan, “When kids didn’t take things seriously in practice, they were aggravat-ed when things didn’t work out as well in games, and this taught them a really good lesson.”Freshmen developstrong communication

Coach Tom Barry said fresh-man boys’ soccer’s play im-

proved towards the end of the season.

“Our communication im-proved a lot,” Barry said. “We also became more aggressive.”

Barry said that the best game for the team, 2-10-4, was a 0-0 tie against Framingham at home Tuesday, Oct. 26.

“We probably should’ve won. Everyone who played in that game communicated well.

“It was great to see all the things we worked on in practice transfer to the game,” Barry said.

Defeating Braintree 5-0 at home in the first game of the

season Monday, Sept. 13, was also a strong game for the Ti-gers, Barry said.

Aaron Weinberg said a mem-orable moment for him during the season was when Philip Smith scored an unusual goal.

“He shot the ball directly off of his toe and it went right past the goalie,” Weinberg said.

“From that point on, we always called him ‘the Golden Toe.’”

The team showed strong passing and shooting through-out the season, Weinberg said.

“We also put forth a strong amount of effort,” he said.

by Jacob scHwaRtZ

Capitalizing on opportuni-ties will be key for boys’ soc-cer, 10-5-6 overall, today in the semifinals of the North Division 1 Sectionals in Woburn, said senior Gabe Paul, a captain with senior Jeremy Gurvits.

“In order to do well, we’ll need to switch up the field, cre-ate space and most of all, put away our opportunities,” Paul said.

According to Gurvits, the team has attempted to “learn everything we can about Lex-ington” in the last two days.

They beat Framington 3-1, and “we lost to Framingham, so we know it’ll be a tough match,” he said.

Wednesday, Nov. 10, the Tigers defeated Acton-Boxbor-ough on the road in the quar-terfinals of the North Division 1 Sectionals, 1-0 in penalty kicks.

“We saw a lot of opportuni-ties, but weren’t able to finish them,” Paul said.

“The same exact thing hap-pened to Acton-Boxborough.”

Against the Colonials, Paul said that the Tigers “had some

good moments. Our defense played pretty well. They put a lot of pressure on us.”

At the end of regulation, with the score tied, the teams faced off in a penalty kick shootout. According to Gurvits, after junior Tim Stanton scored the Tigers fourth penalty kick, an Acton-Boxborough player missed his team’s fifth kick, giv-ing the Tigers the win.

Gurvits said, “It was amaz-ing and exhilarating to win in penalty kicks.”

He said the team “went nuts” when they won and ran over to

senior Matt Dickey, the goalie, to celebrate.

“It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” Paul said.

In the first round of Sec-tionals, the team, seeded 19th, defeated third-seeded Mascono-met 1-0 in an upset Tuesday on the road.

Coach Roy Dow said, “They played well to start off, but we really put them under a lot of pressure. We had one big chance to score, and we did.”

Sophomore Mike Kaye scored the goal that, in the end, gave the Tigers the win.

Dow said he’s been “preach-ing to the team to always take advantage of its opportunities, and we did in Masconomet.”

Paul said it was a nice con-fidence boost for the team to upset Masconomet.

“Until the very end, we played really defensively,” Paul said. “When they had the ball in their half, we attacked quick and forced them into a lot of mistakes.”

The Tigers defeated Lynn 1-0 on the road in the prelimi-nary round of the tournament Sunday.

Boys’ soccer to play Lexington in semifinals today

coach richard Barton

“Sports are hard. The biggest challenge in sports is working on having the strongest

performance that you can, whenever you want to or need to.”

Teddy Wenneker

Against Boston Latin Acacdemy: Senior Melissa Jewett sets the ball in the Tigers’ preliminary round match. The Tigers won 3-0.