 by: Tyler Burgos
Susanne Brush, a teacher and mother in Wethersfield, Connecticut, has been selected as Wethersfield Public School’s Teacher of the Year for her great display of being what some may say is a hero. Mrs. Brush is a very outgoing person and loves her job of being a teacher. But, in this case she was more of a counselor for one student who needed help transitioning schools. Everyone knows transitioning between elementary to middle school can be extremely difficult for some students, but one student was lucky enough to have reached out to a person with a big and caring heart. Mrs. Brush, a second grade teacher from Highcrest Elementary, was contacted by a previous student to help them with transitioning into Silas Deane Middle School because the student was nervous about the new school and surroundings. The transition between 6th to 7th grade is difficult especially when it involves moving schools. It was clear in our conversation that, while Brush is an great teacher, she took on the role of “counselor” as well. Mrs. Brush said, “The 7th grade student had reached out to me saying he was having trouble acclimating to SDMS. so, when Ii had time I talked with his teacher about being able to meet with him during lunch.” On top of that, she continues her day of teaching her students and then coming home to her kids as well, always being open and willing to help her students and kids with any questions. However, Mrs. Brush is not just a teacher, she said she enjoys “walks, running, going to the gym and watching my girls’ sports events.” She is always actively involved with her family and is always willing to help another person succeed. “I also stay after school to tutor sometimes and help kids when they need help.” When wrapping up, Mrs Brush said, “I didn't really think it [helping this student with the school transition] was a big deal, I always try to make a point to be there for students whenever they need help. That also goes for middle school and high school as well.” You can truly say that Susanne Brush is the real life wonder woman, living every day with passion and her willingness to help others in need.
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 By: Cristin Blake
With summer quickly approaching, you tend to wonder how teachers will spend their time now that they don’t have to worry about students. You would think that the only things teachers do are grade papers and read books, but they know how to have some fun in the sun. Teachers at Wethersfield High School worry so much about what they are going to do for the next upcoming school year. However, Doris Duggins, a WHS social sciences teacher, also knows how to relax and enjoy her time off. Mrs. Duggins has an endless amount of trips planned for their summer vacation, with a splash of teaching for the fun of it. She says “I want to take time to go to the beach and visit my daughter in Florida, and then go to North Carolina to see my sister.” After all that traveling, she plans to come back to Wethersfield and teach a social justice class through a book to 7th and 8th graders. It seems she has a lot of things planned for the summer but I know she’ll get it all done. Sometimes teachers just need a break from their students and relieve some of the stress from the last school year. After all, teaching is their job. Brian Turner, a physical education and health teacher here at the high school, is going to try and figure out how he should spend his time this summer now that he is, as he puts it “unemployed.” He says “I’ll be spending a lot of time with my two girls, I have two and a four year old at home, hopefully playing a lot of golf, and just try to enjoy some time off.” It’s always good for teachers to enjoy some quality time with their family because they deserve it. After spending all that time with students, they deserve the break. However, this isn’t the case for every teacher at the high school. Michael Maltese, athletic director and assistant principal at WHS, has a lot of work that he has to do to prepare for the upcoming school year in the fall. He says “I will be working this summer here at the high school; we have our new principal Ms. O’Connor coming in and we get ready to welcome kids back to a full year.” While there is work that he still has to do, he’s still going to try to find some time to get out and spend time with his family. He hopes to spend lots of time with his two daughters, one age 9 and the other age 12, by taking them out to Six Flags, and hopefully head down to the Jersey Shore. Many teachers and staff members have so many fun things planned for their summer vacation. With a mixture of traveling and working, they’ll get to relax and enjoy their next couple months off before the school year rolls around again.  By Charles Hayes
In junior year of high school, “I was getting ready to make plans to visit colleges, talk to coaches about playing soccer and just getting a sense of where I wanted to go. That all came to an end in March when the pandemic hit. We went from the excitement of going to see what could be the next four years to absolutely nothing. What was the next step? Did all the hard work just go down the drain? After many hours of looking online waiting to see how colleges were preparing for the next step and how they were going to recruit. “Here are the lessons I have learned along the way.” I noticed first that so many colleges were sending not just the average flyer but packets of information with multiple photos to introduce themselves and what they had to offer. I mean it was way above the norm, I was receiving over 3-5 a week from all over the country. I asked a graduate of 2020, Jack Romagnoli about it. “To be honest I may have received 10 total over the course of the 2020 school year.” This is how I actually got first interested in my choice of school. I learned so much about how many schools are actually out there and believe it when I say there is a school for everyone. I just had to go up to Rivier just recently and got to ask Josh Ciarcia, my admissions counselor about how they dealt with the pandemic. “Well we definitely had to switch gears and come up with some ideas that would catch the eye of potential students, I think collectively as a team we did a great job. We implemented more videos of the campus and sent out emails with the link, also instead of just sending out our normal post card we sent out a much larger packet of information and we really saw results from that.” The next step for me was how any college soccer coaches were going to take a look. So we went to the website of NCSA, Next College Student Athlete founded back in 2000 in Chicago, IL. We sent an email and they hooked us up with a specialist there, Ken Marshall and then we set up a zoom meeting. Ken said, “NCSA too was dealing with tons of new students wanting to join because this was the best way for college coaches to look at athletes without being able to see them on the field. So we have taken steps to reach out to all of the colleges to ensure that our clients will get the best possible outcome in this crazy time.” So we went with the MVP program, they had given a huge discount to do Covid, so what would have been $225 a month was $125 a month for one year. This was to make sure that we could get what was needed out to these coaches and it worked. We started it in May and by August I had 5 different coaches scouting me. I did get to go see 4 out of the 5 schools, but when I was asked to come up to see Rivier, it all just fell into place. In the end, all the worries of what could not have happened went away due to all of the colleges, universities and NCSA stepping up for all the incoming freshmen around the U.S. I know how happy I was not only to find my university and get scouted for playing soccer but to do it and commit by December 15 so I could just focus on the rest of my senior year. By David Barajas
For some people, this may be their last year at Wethersfield High School and soon they will be off to college, where they will venture on into the adult world for the first time. Some people may have a difficult time adjusting to college due to it being different from high school. In college, you will have a much more flexible schedule as many classes can be taken in the afternoon or in the morning, depending on you and your choices. You will also have less classes than you did in high school and that means you will have more time to focus on important things or work. Some people may be nervous about going to college because it's something new and it is going to be a new experience for some students. By this time of the year, many students already know what college they will be attending and what they will study for their future career. What's more important now for incoming college freshmen is to prepare for college and its hardships. Some ways you can prepare for college is ask your counselor for advice on college and how it can help you. Another way you can prepare for college is to polish on your time management skills, You will have a lot of more free time which can be good for some people and bad for people who like to put aside work. A final way student can prepare for college is to get a job. Some college tuitions and fees cost alot of money and can put a lot of stress on people to get it paid. Getting a job can help pay some of it and take some of the stress off of you. I decided to ask Corey Malicki, A WHS student about what he was doing to prepare for college, he said “I've been looking online about the different types of majors and careers you can choose between.” I think one of the hardest things about college is choosing a major because there are so many to choose from, but the good thing is that you can always switch your major if you don't like it. How are you preparing for your after high school plans? Comment below! |
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Photos from shixart1985 (CC BY 2.0), verchmarco (CC BY 2.0), governortomwolf, Marianne Bevis, shixart1985, verchmarco, shixart1985
