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Lindsey Clark  On Saturday, December 1st, Over the span of 2 hours 40+ students at Wethersfield High School stepped up and made a difference. students worked together to package 3,000 meals.
1 in 6 people will face hunger over the holiday season. This can be a very discouraging time for anyone struggling with not enough money/food. Imagine waking up on a holiday, and having nothing to eat. How would you feel? Without a doubt being hungry at this time can ruin the holiday spirit. So why not try to lift the spirits?! That’s what these students did! Each meal had lentils, rice, veggies, and salt. All coming together to create a lentil casserole. These amazing meals packaged by students, will be handed out at soup kitchens, churches and food pantries! This was not only a moving experience but a fun and exciting time for all involved. As they listened to holiday music, each student whether they were shy or outgoing came together to create friendships like no other.
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Roan Moran Wethersfield High School basketball is looking to kick off their season with their home opener against Windsor at WHS. This matchup is gonna be a good one with both teams being talented. Wethersfield coming off of a huge season, making it to the state semifinals before getting knocked out by Sacred Heart. Windsor also getting knocked out by sacred heart last year in the semi finals. This game is going to be electric. Get there early to get a seat!
Craig Elliott Tonight, December 17 at 6:45 the boys basketball team will play Windsor. Wethersfield is 0-1 coming off a tough loss to Southington while Windsor is 1-0 after defeating Northwest Catholic. Both teams have a good history squaring off against each other. The Eagles last year made a playoff push but got eliminated by Glastonbury. They are looking to make another playoff run this year and tonight is a big game for them. Everybody go show support for the basketball team as they play one of their biggest games of the year.
Liam Flynn The deadline to take the AP Test is coming up soon. Many students are debating whether or not to spend the $94 on March 22nd to take the test or not. Like most standardized tests, the AP test causes a lot of unnecessary stress for students. Sometimes, the stress is worth it because colleges take the credit from that class and you don’t have to take that class in college. Sometimes the stress isn’t worth it, because colleges don’t take the credit, and want you to take that class under their curriculum.
AP courses also look great on a transcript for college applications, but for seniors, the deadline to register test comes after the majority of students have already sent their applications to colleges, and many have decided what school to go to. Since seniors have typically decided where they want to go, the decision to take the test becomes easier for them, because they’ll know whether the school will take the AP credit or not. For seniors, it’s all a matter of whether the school takes the credit or not. If the college will take the credit, then seniors should absolutely take it, but if they don’t, it’s up to whether or not they want to take it. Any student in an AP class who’s not a senior, should definitely take the test, because of how good an AP class looks on a college application. Of course, the test isn’t mandatory, and it doesn’t play as big of a role in the decision for a college to accept a student as a test like the SAT does, so don’t take it if you don’t want to. Arelis Herrera  Walking into Wethersfield High school freshman year was such a new experience because it was my first time attending school in Wethersfield.
On top of that I started going to Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts at the same time. I never had the typical “high school experience” and I don’t regret it one bit. I recommend going to GHAA if you are really passionate about music or any of the other departments there including dance, creative writing, musical theater, and more. I take my academic classes at Wethersfield in the morning and then take a bus to GHAA for my arts classes. Holden Hoon As us seniors approach our last holiday break of our high school career, the energy around our lunch tables can be described as pure excitement. We’ve been through this three times before. We have been through countless tests, quizzes, and projects. We are all ready for this week and a half off with our families and friends. Senior Kevin Rascuis said, “I am pretty tired from all the work and I am ready for a break heading into the home stretch of my senior year.” Everyone here in ready to bust out those doors at 12:12 next Friday.
Luke Kelleher The Eagles coming off a 6-4 season say goodbye to the seniors of the 2019 class and start all over again. Coach Campanello has the team back at it. These student athletes will lift every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now until the season starts in August of 2019.
Coach Camp takes pride in making sure that his team is well conditioned and strong enough to compete with all types of competition. Wethersfield has never been the biggest football team in the state or in their conference for that matter. This is the reason why they want to take lifting so seriously, they take pride on being the stronger man on those one on one battles and being able to compete in the fourth quarter. In late February the team will also compete in a lifting competition in New Britain, something that the team has taken part of for multiple years in a row. Because of their lifting in the winter the team is normally very successful in this competition normally coming in top 10 out of the 40 teams that show up. The Wethersfield Eagles are looking forward to another winning season, they have a lot of returning seniors and the junior class is also very talented. With a lot of hard work during this off season the team will have a lot of success in this upcoming season. Conor McCarthy When Mr. Rioux called me asking if I would be interested in being choir manager for my chorus class, I’m not gonna lie, I was fairly apprehensive at first.
The job outline seems fairly simple and in essence, it is. You have to do attendance every morning, help assign choir robes, give students music and announce songs at the choir concerts. But think about that. You have to remember 90 names, and assign 90 robes without having to mess up. You have to make sure every kid has their music and you have to go out in front of a couple hundred people at the concerts, with friends and family in attendance and announce the songs. Sometimes it's a bit nerve wracking. But I was more than glad to step up and do my part and help. While it took a bit to find my footing, it is rewarding to help out and make sure that the choir can run as smoothly as possible. Hannah Nardella We went around asking teachers how excited they are for the Christmas Break, we put it on a scale of one-ten and asked them to pick a number indicating their excitement. Out of the sixteen teachers we asked 90% said they were excited for Christmas, and a sad bunch of grinches (10%) said they were not excited for the holiday break. When asked their favorite part of break over 50% said it was seeing their family, how sweet! Fun Fact: four teachers said they were going to be traveling during break as well.
Samantha Orpita and Morgan Pacheco Every student who takes chorus knows that there are two days that really matter. The winter and spring concert. Kids work months and months to sound the best they can in the concerts, and for our school we never fail to impress.
The Wethersfield High School winter chorus concert took place at Wethersfield High School on December 13 at 7pm and like always everyone showed up ready to sing and leave the audience amazed. The concert started out with a performance by our school’s all girls choir who never fail to impress. Their voices sounded amazing together and the girls never failed to keep a smile on their faces the whole time, giving the audience a beautiful start for what well put together music this concert had to offer. Once the girls had finished their part of the show next up was the choralairs, the selected group of singers that could fool anyone for a professional choir. Impressing the audience more than they already were, the group sang the song they seem to be famous for We Wish You A Merry Christmas and many more. Leaving not one person shocked that this sound was coming from a group of teenagers. Kevin Rascius The Wethersfield basketball season is upon us, one of the student bodies favorite seasons. It’s a sport we all love to watch, and after last years seniors led them to a late playoff run, we’re all excited to see what they’ll do this year.
But with only a few seniors on their roster, no one knows what to expect of this years Wethersfield Basketball team. Will this young team surprise us all and make a deep playoff run? Or fold under the pressure? Only time will tell. Mackenzie Scutari and Maddy Johnson
The town of Wethersfield was recently informed that the two Cardio Express gyms will be closing. They will be open until December 31. All members are being automatically transferred to Planet Fitness on the Silas Deane Highway. Many students at WHS are not happy with this switch. Maddy Johnson and I went around the school interviewing senior students asking them how they feel about this. Senior Michael Manusos has been a member at Cardio for about 2 years. “Im pissed. The Silas Deane location was a nice place to go with all my friends and to work out. I would go a lot. I heard it was being “renovated” or I guess that wasn't true. They made us all go to the other one (Jordan Lane) which was even further away which was an inconvenience and they didn't have much equipment. It was a nice gym but it just didn't have enough stuff. Apparently the renovation was a lie and they're both shutting down so now I have to go to Planet Fitness (Silas Deane) or cancel all together". Senior Jake Peckrul has been a member for about a year. “I'm upset because it really was never crowded and I could get my pump in easily and quickly. Kinda got shredded not gonna lie. Now I have to go to an ugly purple and yellow gym and I don't want to see those colors while I'm working out. But whatever. It was very convenient for me but I guess I'll go to Planet.” Senior Valentino Fazio has been a member at Cardio for about two years. “I'm very mad about Cardio closing because months ago they promised me that they would be reopening the regular Cardio (Silas Deane) and renovating it but that never happened. So, I had to go to the bad Cardio in Hartford that sucks. You cant even get a good workout in and on top of that they are a bunch of criminals that made me pay for two memberships even though I could only go to one gym because the one in Wethersfield was closed. It was never going to reopen so they were just stealing my money. I am a member at Planet Fitness and I have been for two years. I can say I am not happy about these gyms closing. Planet isn't that big to begin with, so it certainly can't for people from three different gyms. I went the other day and I saw way more people than usual, and I didn't know most of them. The gym usually dies down at about eight . I was there at nine and it was very crowded. I think this will make everyone unhappy and they should put in a new gym at either of the old Cardio Express locations so Planet Fitness will be less crowded. Rafael Valentin
Picking what team you should root for can be chosen many different ways. You can like a team because your family does, because that team was good when you were little or cause you live there. I live in the middle of both New York and Boston. For me, I like the Celtics because when I was eight I saw the Celtics win the 07-08 championship with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. I went walking around my school to see what teachers and students said about who they liked and why. One of the answers I got was the Knicks and and when I asked why he said “When I was little I saw them win the 1970 and 1973 championships”. Another answer I got was the Celtics because his wife works for them. I asked some students too and they said because they also witnessed them won the '08 championship. I Found that people also the Celtics only because they were doing a lot better than the other team. There people that didn't like the sport and only went for a certain team because of friends and family. Chit Po and Edisa Cecunjanin As fall sports are coming to an end, winter sports are coming up. If you want to do a winter sport you can easily sign up online. An email was recently sent from Mr. Maltese. This email has all the information and sign ups for the sport of your choice.
https://registration.powerschool.com/family/gosnap.aspx?snapcode=spvsv94357kgjpt Winter sports include girls and boys basketball, ice hockey, wrestling, indoor track and boys swimming/diving. Athletes will need to pick up a yellow card before tryouts but before picking it up you need to scan the snap code, which can only be used once per person. If you have already registered for a sport, your most recent physical date will be noted in PowerSchool along with the expiration date. A physical is valid for 13 months. Parents can make payments to WPS Escrow. Tryout dates for the Girls Basketball, Ice Hockey and Wrestling tryouts/practices will begin on Monday, November 26th. All other Winter Sports (except Girls Basketball, Ice Hockey and Wrestling) will begin tryouts/practices on Thursday, November 29th. For more information about tryouts please email the head coach or view the practice schedule online (both can be found on WHS Athletic Website).  By Brianna Dreger and Lindsey Clark
Do you have a passion for arts, crafts and creativity? The National Art Honor Society (NAHS) is a club that will help young artists’ artistic and creative skills flourish. They use their creativity to make the Wethersfield community bright and colorful. The club is advised by Andrea Haas, an art teacher for Level III and AP art classes. The club meets every Wednesday after school for a get together to plan for upcoming projects or community service opportunities, and to build their present projects. At the last meeting, November 14, they continued to make simple, yet stylish jewelry that they will be selling in December. The members of NAHS recently had an event known as Paint Night which was on November first. It was an event where anyone can attend and paint, no matter what artistic skills you have. There were even snacks and drinks. The Paint Night was a huge success as eighty people attended the event. “Paint night was a huge success and 80 people were in attendance. This includes parents teachers and students! We are planning another Paint Night for January or Februar,.” Haas said. Paint Night is not the only event that has planning underway. There is a national exhibit where students of the NAHS can show off one piece of their artwork by submitting their piece by December fifth. “Students are invited to participate in a national exhibit where anyone from all over the country who is a member of NAHS submits one piece of artwork and writes a brief summary about their artwork.” Haas said. The members are even planning to have the Empty Bowls project which will take place in the spring and the NAHS will eventually culminate with a soup dinner event with all proceeds to benefit the food bank. The members of the NAHS are also thinking about volunteering at Highcrest and Charles Wright to help out by hanging and taking down exhibits. The NAHS members are working hard and bursting with ideas to help the community for this year and next year. Having the NAHS at Wethersfield High School allows artists to share their artistic qualities and uniqueness with the others while supporting the local community with different fun events and projects.  by: Jack Blaisdell
The Eagles Hockey season begins on Monday, November 26th. I have a discussion with captain starting goalie Jake Peckrul about the expectations, reality, and what the fans should be prepared for heading into the 2018-19 Hockey Season. Going into the season while thinking about the previous, what are the goals for the Eagles Hockey Team? “We definitely want to get off to a hot start. There are same big games early on that are must wins and would really prove that we are a top team in the state. The CIAC moved us up to Division 2 this year, but our goals of conference and state championships are the same.” What are your personal goals regarding your stats as the starting goaltender, and team captain? “I want to do everything I can in order to help my team come out on top. I definitely want to keep my goals allowed average below 2 since last year it was 1.8 and I am trying to build off that.” What is the most important game of the season? When should the Eagles Faithful pack the rink and why? “We have a couple big home games that we would love to see a lot of people at. The Newington Home game on 1/26 is a big one as well as the last home game against Conard on 2/16. These are huge games that we need the enthusiasm from the fans at.” How many guys from last year's team did you lose, and how many rookies are you gaining? What should the final roster size be and how will this affect your team’s performance throughout the season? “We lost only about 5 players last year, and we will be gaining a few good players to have around 31 players on the team, where only about 21 get dressed for Varsity so everyone will have to compete with the guy next to them every time they hit the ice.” Who are the players to watch this year? Any breakout seasons looming? “Trevor Piecewicz, Aaron Cholewa, Jack Healy to name a couple are going to have a huge impact on the season. Look for a breakout season from Riordan Mertens and Chase Millen.” What have you been doing in the offseason to stay in shape? “The team gets together 3 times a week to work out together during the off season. Not only that but I try to eat as well as possible and go to my personal gym. Not only that, but I went on the ice at least once a week to tune up my skills.” Scale of 1 to 10. How ready are you for the upcoming season. Its senior year, the final year of your high school athletics career. “An 11.” In conclusion, it is clear the expectations are high and Jake Peckrul is confident in his fellow teammates, as well as himself. To all Eagles fans, be ready! These guys are coming! Raul Rodriguez & Arber Karamanaj  Even though the deadline to sign up for Winter sports has already passed it doesn’t mean that it is too late to sign up. Mrs.Zurzola said, “Late sign ups are accepted, but make sure it is done ASAP.” In order to register check your or your parent’s email. There should be an email sent by the athletic office with a snapcode and a link. That link will send you to the registration website where you have to fill in your snapcode and information about yourself. Make sure to register as soon as possible.
After you register you have to get your yellow card from the athletic office. You can pick up your yellow card after November 19. If you have more than one F or do not have an up to date physical you can not get your yellow card until you give the athletic office your current physical or fix your grades. The prices of the sports vary, with cheerleading and dance costing $60, and other sports like basketball, track & field, boy’s swim & dive and wrestling cost $80. Gymnastics cost $90 and hockey is $400 but can be $90 due to limits. More information about the price is available at the following link. In terms of who can participate in what, there is a boys and girls basketball team, and though the swimming and diving team is listed as boys, girls may participate. Every other sport is co-ed, and according to Mrs.Zurzola, “There has never been a boy who participated in gymnastics, though it can happen”. For hockey, depending on the number of people they could split up the teams into a varsity and JV. Also the equipment for hockey only includes the jersey and helmet, meaning the skates and stick must be provided by the player. For more information about winter sports and athletic information in general, visit the following link to the school website. Morgan Pacheco and Sam Orpita The ALS program has been around for a while. It’s a way for kids to learn the same way as everyone else in a way that works the best for them. Most people have no idea what goes on in there… Believe it or not it’s more like a normal class than you think. Kids do work and kids learn, they learn to cook and clean along with the stuff that goes on in any other class. These students also have helpers, students may think that they don’t do anything. They just stay with one person for a whole period and that’s it. But in fact there is more.
These helpers don’t just sit with any kid. They get assigned a kid they stay with for that period and they act like support like any of the other teachers do in the classroom. They talk to the kids, and they even help the kids… Not by giving them answers, but by guiding them to getting the right answer so they end up learning something and not just having an answer given to them. They walk with kids to their classes whether it’s pool class, or another class like human relations, they have helper with them to get them through the period as well as they can. In other ways these helpers can be seen as friends, they spend periods with each other helping any way they can and eventually they get to know each other forming a friendship. They go from someone who just helps them whenever they need it to someone these kids realize they can count on, someone that these kids want around. There are a lot of things that people don’t realize about this classroom, they think it’s not like other classrooms or that nobody gets anything done in there. They don’t realize there are students like everyone else trying to learn, it’s a classroom like all of the other rooms. Even though it may run a little different it’s all the same as every other classroom. Maria Kelley and Afton Dyjak
With a pile of sticky notes on our table, and pens ready to write, we stared at the array of colors with curious anticipation. As we sat at our desk, we wondered what we could do with these slips of tiny paper. Our senior year has been far from easy, and we felt as though many seniors of Wethersfield High School have been emotionally and physically distressed.
We decided that with this pile of sticky notes we could do much more than just a quick reminder. Thinking of wanting to encourage positivity, we started writing positive affirmations on the sticky notes. There was apprehension while creating these enlightening statements, because we do not tend to see positivity throughout our day. At first we had to look up quotes and affirmations to say, because it was so difficult to thinking of something nice to say. Once we had our first quote, it was easy from there, and we wrote about 3 handfuls of sticky notes. Writing them was not only empowering, but it was refreshing having to be positive. Being positive for us, for our school, and for society. Going into this experiment, we expected the sticky notes to be taken down within 24 hours. But we were wrong. As we went back in and counted them all, lined up across the mirrors, we realized that there were so many- you could barely look at your own reflection. Girls had taken their own sticky notes and had written their own versions of what they thought positivity and kindness should look like. We wanted girls to pay kindness forward. Because kindness is contagious. Kindness inspires. By: Kevin Rascius Of all the Fall sports this year, soccer came the closest to a state title with a 3-2 loss in the semi-final game. Girls Swimming also did well in the state finals meet, and many fall teams have had a successful season.
But none of this years fall teams ended the season with a ring. Will we have a winter champion? Wethersfield High School’s best shot lies within the Eagles Boys Swim Team. In an interview with swimmer Holden Hoon he said, “We did very well last year and are returning a very strong core of swimmers and divers.” They are returning 2 All-State swimmers, another All-State diver, and are coming off of a 3rd place finish in states. This senior-heavy, talented squad is the team to keep an eye on this Winter.  By: Kelvyn Perez The blood drive is back! Wethersfield High School holds a blood drive every year and this year it is on December 21. If you love helping others and saving lives I recommend donating blood (If 17+). Here is a list of things you need to do to prepare:
By: Jack Blaisdell The Eagles Hockey season begins on Monday, November 26th. I have a discussion with captain starting goalie Jake Peckrul about the expectations, reality, and what the fans should be prepared for heading into the 2018-19 Hockey Season.
Going into the season while thinking about the previous, what are the goals for the Eagles Hockey Team? “We definitely want to get off to a hot start. There are same big games early on that are must wins and would really prove that we are a top team in the state. The CIAC moved us up to Division 2 this year, but our goals of conference and state championships are the same.” What are your personal goals regarding your stats as the starting goaltender, and team captain? “I want to do everything I can in order to help my team come out on top. I definitely want to keep my goals allowed average below 2 since last year it was 1.8 and I am trying to build off that.” What is the most important game of the season? When should the Eagles Faithful pack the rink and why? “We have a couple big home games that we would love to see a lot of people at. The Newington Home game on 1/26 is a big one as well as the last home game against Conard on 2/16. These are huge games that we need the enthusiasm from the fans at.” How many guys from last year's team did you lose, and how many rookies are you gaining? What should the final roster size be and how will this affect your team’s performance throughout the season? “We lost only about 5 players last year, and we will be gaining a few good players to have around 31 players on the team, where only about 21 get dressed for Varsity so everyone will have to compete with the guy next to them every time they hit the ice.” Who are the players to watch this year? Any breakout seasons looming? “Trevor Piecewicz, Aaron Cholewa, Jack Healy to name a couple are going to have a huge impact on the season. Look for a breakout season from Riordan Mertens and Chase Millen.” What have you been doing in the offseason to stay in shape? By: Holden Hoon With all Fall Sports winding down, I think it was to be considered a success by all sports. But here we will focus on the soccer team.
I for one, was very surprised by the unprecedented success by the Wethersfield Boys Soccer Team. They were able to roll through many of the teams in the playoffs and just barely lost to Hand in the semifinals. School spirit winner, John Schiavone said, “I have been at pretty much every soccer game for the last four years and I can say that is one of the most put together teams I have seen at WHS. They were very fun to watch this year.” Big Congrats to all the Fall sports, and good luck to all Winter Sports coming up. By: Hannah Nardella and Alyssa Prosperi  Mr. Bagdasarian is a gym teacher at WHS, more specifically a pool teacher. He has his office in the pool room along with another teacher Mr. Turner. Bags has 3 children, all boys and two of which attend this school. Coming up in a couple months he will have his 20 year marriage anniversary to his wife. For their honeymoon they went on a cruise to the Caribbean. When asked was his biggest fear was, he was quick to answer with “The ocean” and we asked why. He told us how much he hates seaweed and is afraid of sharks so when in the water he stays extremely close to the shore to “Stay safe.” Although he has a fear of the ocean his favorite vacation spot is The Bahamas and even better than that, Atlantis. He’s only been there once but hopes he can enjoy the islands features a couple more times before he’s too old. His favorite animal is one of the most basic, a dog, he has one, a goldendoodle named Bailey. Now for the less exciting stuff, his teaching history and college accomplishments. He started off at Uconn and went there for three years, playing baseball for two of them. Then he moved onto CCSU for two years studying education for his undergrad and later earning his masters in education leadership at Quinnipiac University. He has been a P.E teacher for 21 years, before coming to Wethersfield he worked in East Hartford and Guilford for around 6 years.
On Wednesday, November 21st at 6:00 pm, the Wethersfield High School Football team will travel to face their cross-town rivals. The Newington Indians come into the game with a record of 3-6, while the Eagles fly in to the game with a record of 6-3.
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