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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.
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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 what 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. Before he was a teacher, he started college 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. By: Jake Peckrul 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.
By: Rachel Hall
As of November 21st, Mrs. Kotak, the nurse and secretaries of WHS have put up the traditional school giving tree.
Every year, these wonderful people take the time to decorate the office lobby with a holiday tree. This tree is decorated with ornaments that the WHS students have made on their own. On these cards is a name of a retail store along with an amount to donate. You grab the ornament and then hand in the gift card to the nurses. When December 15th rolls around, we hope that the tree is bare, and the stack of gift cards being sent to the social security department is overflowed. Last year, WHS earned over 1,000 dollars in gift cards. This is currently the school record, hoping we break it once again this year. By: Natalie Casertano  As president of the WHS GSA, I want to express the importance of attending WHS Drama’s production of “The Laramie Project on Friday, November 16th at 7:30, Saturday November 17th at 7:30, and Sunday November 18th at 3:30. It’s a difficult play and will be uncomfortable to watch, but it is imperative to start the uncomfortable conversation of homophobia and hate crimes in our country and community.
As the saying goes, change doesn’t come from staying in your comfort zone. Students in the play have put tremendous amounts of effort in order to accurately depict the atrocity that arose in Laramie, Wyoming. The GSA will display posters from the time period of Matthew Shepard’s death, current protests, and other articles relating to the topic; along with informational pamphlets, lanyards and ribbon pins will also be sold at the GSA table in order to fundraise for the club to attend True Colors in March. I strongly suggest that everyone come watch the play, because it will be a tragically beautiful, educational production from which every audience member can gain insight, and empathy. By: Ariana Bongiovanni
Trends are very important in the eyes of high schoolers, you can either wear Nikes, or Adidas, but another big one I’ve noticed in this school is our shoes. Converse vs. Vans. So I had decided to do an experiment on Thursday November 15th. Me and another classmate, Scotty Giannini, had walked down the halls at Wethersfield High School taking down people's statements on whether they had prefer converse over vans (visa versa) and why.
I had asked a group of girls why they choose a brand over the other, and majority of that group had picked Vans, due to the fact that it’s now the new trend going around at school, they are cute, and the fact that slip on vans are much easier to put on. Another student, Lauren McAlister, Senior, said, “I had worn them in middle school, and that phase had past, it’s gross to me now.” Another senior student, Mackenzie Scutari, said “I like Vans more, they are cuter, and they happen to be cheaper so if you mess them up, it’s okay, you can buy new ones.” Now I had asked more students, but in the end, I had gotten the same answer, Vans. If you have a preference, tell us below, and why. 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 fourteenth, 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 February.” 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. By: Amber Dawkins Wethersfield High School holds there annual bake sale on Wednesday November 19th. This event is hosted by the Italian National Honor Society. You can pick up baked goods by the pool entrance after school.
By: Emma Moore  November 29th’s Powder Puff game has been cancelled due to a conflict with a sports banquet. The new date is to be determined, please stay tune for updates.
By: Sam Orpita and Morgan Pacheco  We always see the ALS students walking around the halls with their helpers, waving at people and always having a smile on their face but seems to us that most ALS students aren’t as involved as they should be. So with that thought we had gone to the ALS room to interview the head teacher, Ms. Leslie Ledoux on what an ALS student does in their everyday school day. As we walked in the room it was filled with character, everywhere we looked had color. There wasn’t any space without it. While talking to Ms. Ledoux she had pointed out each of the kids schedule on the board, they’re just as busy as us. Ms. Ledoux personally customizes the students schedule herself to fit their “body schedule”. She had told us that there are some kids who tend to get tired towards the end of the day so they don’t focus on their academics as much as they would if they could finish it up in the morning and go to more elective classes towards the end of the day. I (Sam) had noticed that one of the kids from my gym class had been in the ALS classroom. I didn’t know nor did I notice that he was someone that had ALS. When I was in the room he was working on his academics and we have gym sixth period he seems like he enjoys his time in gym so the way Ms. Ledoux sets their schedule is very beneficial for the student. Each student has their own “job” as well to help them cope with everyday chores/activities. Some students clean the lint from the washing machine, others push in chairs after breakfast, and clean tables in the cafe, meeting rooms or just even in their own classroom. The ALS students doing these tasks are like us doing volunteer work, their schedule is quite similar to ours but the only difference is they enjoy doing it and we feel like it’s more so a burden. “This list right here is all of our helpers, our goal is 5 helpers is the most so couple periods we have more, but sometimes mores too many. So what happens is some of out kids, they go to regular ed classes. Everyone’s schedule is different according to the student.” By: Arelis Herrera and Conor McCarthy  The first Black Student Union was formed at the University of Washington in the late 1960’s. As said by University of Washington, “They led a militant struggle for minority rights and the results benefited not just African Americans but also Chicano, Asian American, and Native Americans.
Wethersfield started their own BSU [Brothers and Sisters United] thanks to senior Jordan Griffin for bringing the idea to Mrs. Duggins last year. They decided to change the name because a lot of students can identify in more than one area. So to better represent the students of color at Wethersfield High School it was changed to “Brothers and Sisters United”. That way it doesn’t take away from the mission and it fits. After school meetings are every other Tuesday in Mrs. Duggins room and there are no upcoming events but you should expect some later in the year! We were able to ask Jordan a few questions and here’s what he had to say. Q: What made you want to start BSU? A: What made me want to start BSU was that I’ve experienced many social injustices in and out of school and I wanted people to be able to feel comfortable talking about them and how to address them. Also I wanted kids to feel like they had a safe place in the school. Q: Do you think BSU has made a difference in WHS yet? A: Yes I do believe it has made a difference. Q: What do you want to accomplish with BSU and how? A: What I want to accomplish in this club is having safe place for students to voice their opinion and for people to become more aware of the various cultures in the school. I plan on accomplishing this by making people aware of what’s going on and also by hopefully in the future getting a segment in Blue Eagle [News] pertaining to the club. I want the club to leave a big impact on not just the school but the whole Wethersfield community. We’re so excited to see what BSU does this year at Wethersfield High School! By: Lindsey Clark Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash. That equates to 27 people every day. Someone is injured in a drunk driving incident every 120 seconds.
In this video you will learn just how quickly your life can change in the blink of an eye. Five Wethersfield High School students participated in a mock car accident. This demonstration was put on to show all High school students how quickly things can happen when you least expect it. My name is Lindsey Clark and I was a victim in this mock accident. This may have just been a mock car accident, but I can tell you right now I was scared. Just knowing that this really happens, and being in this situation whether it was real or not, I was terrified. At the very beginning, the Police arrived and opened the door. After making sure I was responsive he looked at me and said, “Why aren't you wearing your seat belt. I guarantee that if you had been wearing your seat belt you would be in a lot less pain right now.” Tears rolled down my face, as I was sitting in the car having the paramedics talking to me and putting the neck collar on me. It all felt so real and I was so overwhelmed with emotion. and That's when it hit me. These accidents happen on a daily. There is a teenager somewhere in this world just like me, today, who will make one simple mistake and change not only their life but the lives of everyone around them. I am a cadet Firefighter and I go on calls for car accidents very often. It's always a scary and heart breaking feeling seeing victims inside the car. Whether they are in pain or not, it's always hard to see a community member who I just saw walking around smiling yesterday, now crying in pain, trapped in a car. This mock car accident, had an ever lasting impact on all high school students that day. Seeing their classmates covered in blood in cars with windshields shattered, then being rolled away on stretchers, and loaded up into the back of an ambulance, It was an eye opening experience for all. This experience encourages others to make the right choices regarding drunk driving. There's no excuses. Nobody gets in a car and expects this to happen. Say no to drunk driving. Click it or ticket. Say no to texting and driving. https://youtu.be/OpOPYqfGL4g Brianna Dreger  Bike Club meets every Monday and Wednesday, advised by science teacher Thomas Brown. Bike Club does a few things for the community such as fixing bikes, riding out, and even racing. The members can choose what they want to do in the club and can even do more than one task. For example, a member can attend the meeting to go riding out and fix a bike another day during the week. So far, the present members of Bike Club prefer fixing bikes. Once Brown and the Bike Club members fix a bike, they find someone to give the bike to. They can fix any kind of bikes. Anyone don’t have to already know how to fix bikes. They can also learn how to. “We have been fixing the bike just this year, since September. I found it last year, someone threw it away. We just donated the bike yesterday.” Brown said. “We help people learn about their bikes, we can help with simple things like flat tires. We have one bike that was making a clinking noise and we were able to figure out what was wrong with it and fixed it. We have bikes that kids can borrow and we also have bikes that kids can fix up and keep if they want it.” Not only do members fix bicycles, they also ride. Trips can be as far out as Old Wethersfield, the Meadows, and Folly Brook, which they take when weather cooperates. The trip can be up to six miles, but their top ride was 25 miles! A particular highlight is when Bike Club members ride to the Creamery, where he buys everyone a cup of ice cream! Bike clubs members don’t only do activities using bikes, they attend events related to bikes such as a bike festival which is usually in June. There’s one event coming up this month. “There’s a bike pedestrian meeting on October 30th at the Pitkin Center at night. That’s a meeting the town does to help make the town better for bikers and walkers.” Brown said. Anyone is always welcome to join the Bike Club and I mean anyone. There’s a double seat bike so anyone who is blind or partially blind can ride out with the bike club members. The Bike Club is there for anyone who needs help fixing their bike. If you want to keep one, the club has plenty of extras collected. Experiment by trying out different kinds of bikes. If you want to race or have a relaxing ride, Brown will set up the date. You can borrow a bike anytime so you can ride out with friends. By: Rafael Valentin
Football 10/26 vs Windsor 11/2 vs Bristol Eastern @Windsor 7:00 Home 7:00 Senior Night Boys Soccer 10/26 vs Rocky Hill 10/29 vs Newington Home 3:45 Senior Night @Newington 6:00 Girls Soccer 10/25 vs Rocky Hill 10/29 vs Newington Home 6:00 @Newington 6:30 Boys CC 10/27 3:10 Girls CC 10/27 9:15AM Girls Volleyball 10/25 vs Newington @Newington 6:00 Field Hockey 10/25 vs East Catholic 10/30 vs Newington @East Catholic 3:45 Home 3:45 Senior Night Girls Swimming 10/26 vs East Lyme Home 5:00 Senior Nigh |
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Photos from shixart1985 (CC BY 2.0), verchmarco (CC BY 2.0), governortomwolf, Marianne Bevis, shixart1985, verchmarco, shixart1985
