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Newtonite ◆ Wednesday, June 9, 2010 • Volume 89, Issue 8

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Newton North High School, 360 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass. 02460

Class of 2010 graduates C MARENA COLE elebrating the end of its high school years, the Class of 2010 graduated tonight in Boston College’s Conte Forum.

To begin the program, the Family Singers performed “America the Beautiful” by Katherine Lee Bates, a member of the Class of 1876.

Then senior Ryan Vona sang the National Anthem and senior Nneamaka Mordi interpreted it.

Principal Jennifer Price welcomed students, parents and faculty. Graduating EDCO and English Language Learning students gave greetings in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Lugandan and American Sign Language.

Next, Mayor Setti Warren, superintendent V. James Marini, School Committee member Matt Hills, and Aldermen Stephen Linsky and Ted Hess-Mahan spoke to the graduates.

Then, senior Eliana Eskinazi, the class president, gave the senior tribute to Riley housemaster Mark Aronson and Riley house secretary Maura Roberts.

Senior Alison Safran gave a special tribute for the Class of 2010, and senior Camilla Jackson spoke for the Class of 2010.

English teacher Inez Dover, a retiree, then spoke for the faculty.

Next, Price presented the Principal’s Plaque to Mayor David B. Cohen.

This plaque is for a person or group of people in the Newton community who has made outstanding contributions to the students, faculty and programs at this school.

Seniors then presented awards to their classmates.

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Avia Bui presented Nathan Harris with the Charles Dana Meserve Fund Award. The award is for an outstanding scholar who has made great contributions to the school.

Harris was a runner up for the Kennedy Prize for best junior thesis and scored in the 99th percentile in the National Spanish Exam. He also played piano for Spontaneous Generation and tutored middle school students weekly through the Tutors in Action program.

The Senior Cup honors students who best represent the ideal Newton North student in terms of character, personality, scholarship and involvement in the community.

Rian Murphy presented the Boys’ Senior Cup to Rocco Donohue. A Class of ’10 vice president all four years, Donohue was captain of boys’ lacrosse this year.

He is also a Peer Mentor leader and a Peer Tutor, and he volunteered at Christmas in the City, a Christmas party for the homeless in Boston.

Greg Kelley presented the Girls’ Senior Cup to Eskinazi.

Eskinazi was class president all four years of high school, a member of the French Club, a PAWS mediator and a peer mentor. She also participated annually in the Charles River Cleanup efforts and volunteered at a local assisted-living complex.

Andre Donegan presented the Phi Beta Kappa award for academic excellence to Naomi Genuth. Genuth received perfect scores in the National Latin Examination and the National French Contest, and she was nominated for the Kennedy Prize for best junior thesis. She was a ◆ continued on page 3

Teddy Wenneker

Senior countdown: Seniors Cameron Tabatabaie, Andrew Blouin and Bohan Leng count down to graduation Friday, June 4 in the cafeteria.

New homerooms teachers to be assigned by grade HILARY BRUMBERG o preserve class identity in the new school, the Admin Team decided to make changes in the way homerooms, lockers and houses are organized.

The Admin Team, comprised of principal Jennifer Price, the assistant principals, housemasters and department heads, were concerned that each grade will not easily have its own space in the new building, as lockers will not be on Main Street, according to a survey the Admin Team sent to staff.

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“Think: where do you decorate for spirit week?” it said. “Where can housemasters find kids? The challenge is what to do about trying to honor the student culture at North, and assign homerooms and lockers appropriately.”

According to an email housemasters sent to staff, the Admin Team decided to make the following changes for next year: ◆Assign most members of each grade homerooms and lockers in the same area of the school.

The homerooms and lockers of students in Barry House will be on the second floor. Beals House

members will have homerooms and lockers on the third floor.

Adams House homerooms and lockers will be on the third and fourth floors. On the fourth floor, there will be Riley House homerooms and lockers. ◆Assign new homeroom teachers to most existing homerooms.

If homeroom teachers kept their same homerooms, they would have to travel from where they teach to their homerooms and back 10 minutes later. ◆Assign most staff houses by floor/department. In general, members of the five main depart-

ments will have classrooms in the same area as each other. In most cases, they will also be in the same house as their teaching area, and therefore their department.

The Housemasters understand the disappointment for students and staff who will change homerooms, they wrote in an email.

But they think it’s important for “students to feel bonded with their classmates,” Beals housemaster Michelle Stauss said.

In the Admin Team’s survey, it wrote that assigning staff houses by department will encourage a

“stronger connection between a house and a department, which will be particularly helpful given that house secretaries next year will be asked to take on some departmental duties.”

Stauss said she thinks that “no matter how things unfold next year, many of our plans will need to be reviewed over the course of the year because we’ll be in the new building and we’ll need to work out any and all glitches.

“We’re going to give this a whirl, and if this doesn’t work, we’re going back to the drawing board.”

Two teachers awarded in honor of past educators HILARY BRUMBERG ath teacher Elena Graceffa was awarded with the Paul E. Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching and English teacher Janice Miller was awarded with the first Brenda Keegan Teaching Prize.

They were awarded because they understand and inspire students, according to nomination letters by students.

“They are the best!” said French teach Alieu Jobe, Elicker Committee chair.

The Elicker Award is pre-

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sented to teachers who display a deep knowledge of his or her subject matter, teaching that stretches the mind of students and standards for performance that inspire excellence.

The Keegan Prize is awarded to a teacher who excels at inspiring students to think broadly and deeply about their studies and their lives.

Graceffa said she is shocked that she won the Elicker Award.

“Especially when I look at the list of the teachers that’ve won before,” she said. “I’ve had a number of those teachers on that list.

It’s amazing to be on the same list as those giants of the profession in my mind.

“I always lit up when learning—it was the thing that made me spark.

“Nothing prepared me for how much I would love my students and my classes.”

Graceffa graduated in 1999 from this school, where she participated in theater, Family Singers and Orchestra.

Graceffa majored in English and took math classes at Yale, where she graduated in 2003.

Graceffa has taught here since

2007.

Math teacher Tracey Stewart said she thinks Graceffa is very deserving of the Elicker Award.

“She is a master of mathematics and is constantly working to build her craft as a teacher,” Stewart said.

Miller said that her students helped her win the award. “The students I have this year are really out of this world,” she said.

“They’re so strong—it helps me be strong.”

Former English department head Brenda Keegan and former English teachers Peter Capodi-

lupo and Tom DePeter inspired Miller as a teacher, she said.

“If Cappy was the heart and Keegan was rigor, then DePeter was the creatitivity,” Miller said.

She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1988.

She achieved her masters degree in English from the University of Virginia in 2001. There, she taught Shakespeare, introduction to Literary Studies and poetry seminars.

From 2001 to 2002, Miller taught eighth grade English at Marblehead Middle School. She has taught here since 2002.

opinion

2 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Danger under the influence Dear Newtonite, I want to thank those students and parents who attended the evening presentation of SMASHED: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol on Tuesday, May 18th. In thinking about the film and its message, I want to share some information for your consideration.

As the film poignantly illustrates, one person’s actions affects many others: family members, friends, those s/he may not even know.

guest column One young woman has permanent brain injury from getting into a car with someone she had just met and didn’t realize how much he had been drinking. Her short-term memory is gone—she can’t enjoy movies, nor can she finish high school. Another young man whose temperament is now aggressive as a result of a brain injury is in jail.

Driving while under the influence of marijuana and other illegal/illict substances can be just as dangerous as drinking and driving. Toxicology tests are regularly used with breathalyzers.

Marijuana impacts perception and is not conducive with multitasking, which is exactly what driving requires. Using other illegal and illicit substances (misusing prescription and/or over the counter medications) also create driving hazards. Additionally, I know many people think you can text while driving, and I’ll like to publicly and strongly disagree.

Driving is fun and freeing and wonderful. Along with that privilege comes responsibility.

Please take care and remember that what you choose to do has far reaching consequences that impact more than just yourself.

Thank you and have a safe and restful summer.

—ALISON MALKIN PREVENTION/INTERVENTION COUNSELOR

Kate Lewis

At Senior Breakfast: Seniors Nik Klebanov and Dan Friedman sign yearbooks to celebrate the end of the school Wednesday.

Remember the old, but build anew Since opening its doors in 1973, this building has played host to an entire generation of Newton North students and faculty. On Monday, June 21, this school will open its doors to students for the last time.

In September, the new building will open next door with state-of-the-art facilities and the latest in educational technologies.

This issue of the Newtonite—the last to be published while we occupy the old building—provides a forum to reflect on 37 years of Newton North history. The building’s idiosyncracies are the first point to reflect on: they give the bricks and mortar a personality.

Newtonite The Newtonite, founded in 1922, is the newspaper of Newton North High School, 360 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass. 02460.

Editors in chief — Marena Cole, Eli Davidow Managing editor — Teddy Wenneker News editor — Hilary Brumberg Sports editors — Jay Feinstein, Jacob Schwartz Arts editors — Kate Lewis, Perrin Stein Features editors — Jacob Brunell, Fatema Zaidi On campus editor — Meredith Abrams News analysis editor — Steven Michael Photography editors — Gaby Perez-Dietz, Ivan McGovern Production managers — Katrina Barry, Ben Hills Advertising managers — Emily Gulotta, Tiphaine Kugener Business manager — Dan Salvucci Circulation managers — Alison Berkowitz, Caleb Gannon Adviser — Kate Shaughnessy

Production advisers — Sue Brooks, Tom Donnellan News staff — Malini Gandhi, Ilana Greenstein, Rebecca Harris, Kayla Shore Features staff — Emmett Greenberg, Gavi Kaplan Sports staff — Evan Clements, Nicole Curhan, Jeremy Gurvits Arts staff — Audrey Derobert, Becky Kalish News analysis staff — Kellynette Gomez Art staff — Anna Kaertner, Maddie MacWilliams, D’Jaidah Wynn Photography staff — Karen Brier, Ryne Duffy, Anna Gargas, Gabe Dreyer, Jaryd Justice-Moote, Ramzy Kahhale, Edan Laniado, Isabel Meigs, Matt Victor Circulation staff — Spencer Alton, Stoddard Meigs, Omar Pinkhasov, Michela Salvucci, Stephanie Vitone Production staff — Gabe Dreyer, Peter Taber-Simonian

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 617-559-6274. Yearly subscriptions cost $20. Readers can also reach us at thenewtonite@gmail.com.

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

editorial Main Street, the corridor that runs the length of the building, is this school’s central artery. During lunch blocks, students congregate along the hallway to eat, and between classes, students stop to chat. Main Street will be maintained as the central area in the new high school.

If you travel up staircase one, there is the infamous “Freshman Trap” in between the second and third floors.

According to lore, the “Freshman Trap” received its name because freshmen were unable to exit through the now locked door.

Another urban legend, that Newton North’s architect designed prisons (accounting for the sparse windows) has been disproven.

The fourth floor is truncated into three segments by the Tigers’ Loft’s student-run restaurant and the art room, making it impossible to travel from side to side. In order to cross the fourth floor, one needs to descend to the third floor and take a different staircase to the fourth floor twice.

Then there is the coming of age milestone, the senior tree reserved exclusively for the reigning senior class.

The senior tree symbolizes the maturity accumulated

over years at North and their role as leaders of the school.

At the new school, trees will be exclusively outside of the building.

Nonetheless, it is necessary for a new building due to the poor condition of the current school. The floors show the wear of thousands of feet of students who have walked these halls. In order to find a functioning water fountain, one must search the entire school.

As we move into a new school, we leave a generation of memories and landmarks behind. In the new school, the next generation of students has the opportunity to shape the environment.

A special tribute to senior class There is a lot to be said of a safe environment. Despite its falling ceilings and frequently overheated rooms, Newton North is the safest place I know. This is due in part to the nurturing nature of its teachers, in part to the caring staff, and largely in part to who Newton North students are as individuals. In a world of earthquakes and oil spills, North stands out as a safe haven, even though it may not appear as such.

Newton North is truly a home away from home. It is here that we have found a family of our own choosing, composed of teachers, friends, and in my case, the boy I peer tutored for two years.

Newtonian North gives everyone a Ali Safran chance to find his or her niche within the larger community. I have known for a long time that I want to study psychology. Having worked with kids for a lot of my life, I decided to take on a role as a peer tutor while I was a junior at North.

Without training, I immersed myself in a class of students in North’s special education program and essentially taught them what my teachers have taught me: how to adapt to a community.

The knowledge that my teachers and students have offered me has become my support system in times of instability.

With the guidance of my North family, I have been allowed the privilege to discover exactly how to help myself in tough situations and how to become a stronger person because of them.

As students attending classes in an environment in transition, we have come together in spite of the noisy disruptions that come with the construction of the majestic building next door.

Our class has taken advantage of what North has to offer and has worked it in our favor. Through attending class with a leaking ceiling, we have learned to adapt and come together as a group.

We’ve shown our Tiger Pride at sports games, in the halls of North, and at class fundraising events. The class of ’10 has risen above while the building has fallen apart. We have truly proven that it’s not asbestos, it’s how you manage the asbestos.

We leave North knowing we can handle anything. In life, it is inevitable that our ceilings will crumble and pipes will burst. The Class of 2010 is well-equipped to handle all of life’s difficulties by using the knowledge we’ve gained here as a metaphorical power tool.

We leave North with a renewed strength as a group, knowing that our collective love of learning will be useful in life’s good times, too.

It is not the crumbling ceilings that make North or its students who we are. It is who we are in the face of them.

Congratulations, Class of 2010.

We did it!

—ALI SAFRAN ’10

Letters Readers are invited to submit 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.

news

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 3

2010 graduates ◆ continued from page 1 member of the Science Team and Environmental Club and managed varsity cross country.

Donohue presented Sam Shames with the Dickinson Memorial Award. The award is for a senior boy who demonstrates great improvement in athletic competition, sportsmanship, character and skill. Shames was a co-captain of varsity wrestling for two years, and was a Massachusetts All-State Champion and an All-American. He also worked as a Graphic Communications work study student.

Harris presented the Gary Elliott Prize for the Performing Arts to Vona. As an active member of Theatre Ink, Vona has been involved in performances here since his freshman year. He also performed with Newton Summer Stage and Theatre Ink on Wheels, a performance troupe that travels to nursing homes to perform.

Leah Cepko presented the Helene Breivogel Award for citizenship, sportsmanship and improvement to Hannah Jellinek.

A captain of varsity ice hockey her senior year, Jellinek also participated in soccer, lacrosse and outdoor track, all at the varsity level. She was also a member of the Leadership class and a career center aide, and she traveled to New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Kristie Grimes-Mallard presented Jackson with the Margaret South Award for courtesy, courage and unselfish enthusiasm.

Jackson was a member of the

Student Faculty Administration and Mentors in Violence Prevention and was a PAWS mediator and a Peer Tutor.

She was also on the alpine skiing team and was a captain of varsity outdoor track and varsity soccer.

Scott Giusti presented the Rotary Club William Rockwell Memorial Award to Alicia Dow. Dow is an Early Education and Care major, and has been involved with the program since her freshman year. She is also a youth leader at her church and was a teacher’s assistant in a freshman math class.

Caeden Brynie presented Kate Gallagher with the Wendell R. Bauckman Award.

This year, Gallagher helped organize a benefit concert to fundraise for a local family. She was a member of the Jubilee and Family Singers and was a teacher’s assistant in a chemistry class.

Kim Gilles presented the Lenny Zakim/PTSO Human Rights Award to Cepko and Jackie Assar.

Assar was a founding member of Minga, a youth non-profit organization that speads awareness about the child sex trade. She is also a head delegate in Model United Nations and a mentor in Newton’s Big Brother/Big Sister organization.

Cepko was a member of the Student Faculty Administration and was a Peer Mentor and a Guidance Aide. She was a president of the Microcredit Club and volunteered as an English as a Second Language tutor.

in brief Envirothon concludes Science Team’s year KAYLA SHORE Ending the season on a good note, the Science Team competed in the Massachusetts Envirothon Thursday, May 13, according to science teacher Ann Dannenberg, adviser of the team with science teachers Barbara Gibson and Peter Hamel.

This school’s team did not place overall out of the 40 teams from around the state at the Envirothon. However, it received fourth places in the Environmental Issues presentation and Wildlife Field Station elements of the competition.

Dannenberg said she is “particularly pleased” with the presentation that focused on groundwater in Newton. “The students had lots of intelligent things to say. All the information they had collected was seamlessly integrated into a pursuasive whole.”

The Envirothon is an annual competition aimed to test students’ knowledge of wildlife, forestry, soils, water and current environmental issues. Each team designates one of the five team members to be an expert on a particular topic.

Dannenberg attributed some of the team’s success to the learning experience it had last year, when it placed second overall in the Envirothon.

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Ligerbots end season with informal event Teddy Wenneker

Go Tigers!: Senior Ryan Vona cheers on boys’ lacrosse in the DePeter Cup Wednesday, May 26.

Former addicts explain perils of drugs PERRIN STEIN Using a variety of skits, the Improbable Players, a group of recovering addicts from Boston, educated students about drugs and alcohol B-block, Tuesday, June 1.

To begin the presentation, Chris, an alcoholic who has been in recovery for 12 years, dressed up as a stereotypical drunk. She put on a ragged coat and gloves and explained why she was wearing each piece in a drunken voice.

After her brief introduction, Chris, Adam, and Robin ’97

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on campus introduced themselves. “If you thought that was what an alcoholic or an addict looks like, you would be wrong because we’re all alcoholics,” Chris said as she took off her costume.

One of the skits the Improbable Players presented showed the cycle alcoholics go through, which make it very difficult for them to quit. Robin and Chris took turns miming the part of Charlie, a drunk, and Adam interpreted their actions for the audience.

At first, Charlie recognized that he had a drinking problem because it was interfering with his work. He promised to quit, but this promise proved too difficult.

He decided that he would take one drink because “one drink never really hurt anyone.”

As soon as Charlie had one drink, he realized that he wanted more and eventually he became drunk. In fact, he became so drunk that he blacked out.

After getting sick from being so drunk, Charlie promises that he won’t drink anymore because it was interfering with his life.

Later on in the presentation, Robin and Chris did a scene showing that people have trouble recognizing addiction in themselves, and they find ways to rationalize their behavior.

Robin was sitting on a bench smoking marijuana when Chris sat down next to her and began to drink beer. Each one tells the other that they will turn out to be a junkie and their discussion progressed into a fight.

“You’re going to end up homeless and sitting in a filthy ally shooting up all the time,” Chris said.

’09 graduates speak about experiences STEVEN MICHAEL To describe their experiences after graduating from high school, members of the Class of 2009 spoke to current students at the 15th annual First Year Forum.

The Wednesday, May 12 presentation featured a panel discussion with Gwendolyn Campero, Brian Heffernan, Hannah Jernstedt, David Manopoli, Genevieve Moss-Hawkins, Francis MullenNeem and Lillie Rundlett—all ’09.

The panelists began by dis-

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cussing how college life differs from life at Newton North. Audience members were encouraged to write their questions for the alumni on a slip of paper.

“The typical course load is four per semester,” said Manopoli, who attends Emmanuel College.

“If you take five courses per semester, you’re braver than I.” Jernstedt, who attends Boston University, lived in a “huge” dorm with all freshmen, she said.

“When you’re older, you can live in a smaller place. I had a roommate—we weren’t best friends,

on campus but we got along.”

When asked about how they chose which college to attend, the panelists cited location. All of the alumni present attend schools in the Boston metro area.

“I was one of those people who had no idea what I wanted to do. B.U. has so much,” Jernstedt said.

In general, the panelists said they were able to maintain friendships from high school in college.

“With today’s technology, it’s easy to stay in touch,” said Mullen-Neem, who attends Boston University. “It’s very possible.”

Moss-Hawkins deferred her acceptance to Brown University to take a gap year with the Thinking Beyond Borders program.

“The best part of gap year for me was the new experiences. I couldn’t imagine going to school for four more years. I feel I have a lot more passion and direction.”

She said she recommends applying to college before leaving for a gap year.

MALINI GANDHI To end its season, the Ligerbots participated in the Beantown Blitz, an informal robotics competition, Saturday, May 22, according to freshman Evan Nitkin.

The Ligerbots came in 33rd out of the 36 teams. But the team’s goal was to “have fun, Nitkin said. “In that aspect, we performed great.”

Like the other robotics competitions the Ligerbots have participated in this year, robots competed in Breakaway, which is similar to soccer because the robots try to score as many points as possible in two and a half minutes. In the Beantown Blitz, however, a golden soccer ball was added to the game play, which was worth twice the normal amount of points when scored, according to Nitkin.

The Beantown Blitz allowed newer Ligerbots members to gain experience in a more relaxed atmosphere, he said. As many students had not driven the robot in past competitions, the Blitz allowed “everyone on the team a chance to be on the drive team,” according to Nitkin.

Though the robot will not compete in any further events, the team’s work is far from over, according to Newton South robotics teacher Jennifer Stephens, a coach.

The remainder of the year will consist primarily of various fundraising events and working on the business side of the team, she said.

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Students elect next year’s officers after assembly HILARY BRUMBERG Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors elected class officers for the 2010-2011 school year last month.

Molly Doris-Pierce, a former vice president, will be the Class of 2011 president. The vice presidents will be returning officers Kevin Barisano, Emily Cetlin and Amy Ren, with Tiffany Chen.

Student Faculty Administration representatives will be Jared

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Kalow, Emma Leader and Dylan Wolff, with Ana Mijailovic as the alternate.

The Class of 2012 elected Jon Paul Roby as its class president, with Stephanie Brown, Bernard McSally, Diana Sapashnik, Brooke Stearns and Hansen Yang as vice presidents.

There was a tie for the fourth spot, so there will be five vice presidents, instead of the usual four.

Shelton Cochran and Allison Wu will return as SFA representatives with Caleb Bromberg.

Joanna Saikali will be next year’s alternate.

The Class of 2013 re-elected Carl Whitham as its president and reelected Ivan McGovern, Caroline Nunberg and Justin Piselli as its vice presidents.

It also elected Shelly Altman and Mike Safran as vice presidents. Like for the Class of 2012,

the rising sophomore class will have five vice presidents due to a tie for the fourth spot.

SFA members will be Jordan Ecker, Felege Gebru and Winston Huang, with Ryne Duffy as the alternate.

Junior Remi Torracinta will return as this school’s School Committee representative.

The School Council representatives will be junior Doris Vincent and sophomores Mad-

eline Cetlin, Rosie Sokolov and Allison Wu. This year, the speeches for the class elections were of a very high standard, according to math teacher Cheryll-Anne Lane, who organizes the elections with math teacher Tracey Stewart.

“I don’t know if it’s the new school or what it is, but there seems to be a renewed interest, especially in the current sophomore class,” Lane said.

arts

4 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Festival displays student work

Troupe presents ‘Shine’

KATE LEWIS Ten-minute plays written, directed and performed entirely by students were presented in the third annual Playwrights’ Festival, May 27 and 29 in the little theatre.

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PERRIN STEIN Cabaret Troupe presented its second concert of the year, “Shine,” in Lasker Auditorium Friday, May 14.

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review Together, 18 students performed songs from musicals written after 1995, because “contemporary and new musical theatre relates more to the young adult audience,” according to senior Hayley Travers, junior Kelly McIntyre and sophomore Jon Paul Roby, the directors.

The troupe also performed a concert in January and sang a musical theatre medley in “Kiss the Stage” Friday, June 4.

To open the show, the entire troupe sang “Coasting” from the musical “Edges.” Students alternated singing parts of the piece as solos and duets. During the chorus, everyone joined together in a loud, energetic harmony.

As the piece concluded, the harmony broke into a round, repeating different phrases from the chorus.

Next, sophomore Emily Paley performed “Oh Henry” by Michael Kooman and Christopher Diamond. This piece was hilarious, and Paley’s sweet, clear voice and funny gestures caused the audience to laugh throughout her performance.

At the beginning of the piece, it seemed like Paley was singing about the end of a romantic relationship. As the piece continued, it became clear that she was actually singing about choosing a candy bar from a vending machine.

To conclude the piece, she mimed hitting the vending machine as if the candy was stuck.

She then left the stage on the verge of tears because, despite her dramatic ode about her love and need for a candy bar, she never received what she wanted.

For the second to last piece of the show, all the seniors came on stage to perform “Bring Me to Light” from the musical “Violet.”

Ryan Vona began the song with a hopeful, questioning voice asking “Will you bring me to the light?”

During Vona’s solo, Travers began subtly humming in the background. The other seniors followed Travers’ lead, and the humming drowned out Vona as he concluded his solo.

For the rest of the piece, they all sang together and gestured to liven up the song.

As the song concluded, the rest of the cast joined them on stage for the final piece “Light” from “Next to Normal,” which formed a cohesive transition with the preceding number.

Freshman Madeline Murphy took the center of the stage and sang the first part of this song.

Instead of asking for light, as Vona did, Murphy’s assured voice made statements such as, “We need some light.”

The cast then alternated between a soloist and the entire group singing portions of the song. As the piece progressed, the troupe became louder and more forceful. Everyone blended together repeating the final line “there will be light” until all the stage lights abruptly brightened, giving the cast the light they sang about.

Overall, Cabaret Troupe’s second performance was filled with fun and energetic songs.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

review

Gaby Perez-Dietz

“Carousel”: Junior Justin Phillips, playing a college professor, implores his students to understand the meaning of life.

The first play, “Home” by senior Nathan Harris, told the story of William, an idealistic American solider, and Ana, a young woman attached to her home in Poland.

As the couple prepares to move to America, William tries to make her happy with their new life together.

“The Incident with the Margarine” by junior Skylar Fox was funny and quirky, and centered on a meeting between two mothers, Patrice and Joanna, in the aftermath of an allergic reaction borne from Joanna’s cupcakes.

As Patrice, senior Laura Swager was nervous, tidy to a fault and prone to outrageous panic and overreaction, while sophomore Emma Weisberg portrayed a contrasting Joanna.

Next was “Carousel” by senior Louis Loftus, which featured junior Justin Phillips as a college professor and freshman Greta Schindler as Ellie, a student.

This play touched deeply on themes of life and its meaning, as the professor desperately tried to affect Ellie with his philosophies

Nitrous Oxide delivers laughs KATE LEWIS Zombies, superheroes and offbeat sketches were all part and parcel of “Nitrous Oxide,” Theatre Ink’s sketch comedy troupe, which performed May 26 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the little theatre.

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review The troupe of 10 actors, including seniors Chris Annas-Lee, Jordan Ascher and Seth Simons, who directed the troupe, put on a delightfully energetic show, comprised entirely of student-written sketches that kept audiences laughing throughout.

One recurring sketch followed the adventures of TurboLass, a “vanquisher of foulness” played by senior Ingrid Rudie, and her morose sidekick, Larry, played by sophomore Graham Techler.

Throughout the show, TurboLass and Larry appeared to assist a woman, portrayed by senior Melissa Lozada-Oliva, with several simple tasks.

Although TurboLass proved

to be a rather useless superhero, Rudie still portrayed her as an energetic character, excited to fight off evil. In contrast, Techler portrayed a mopey and depressed sidekick as Larry.

Many sketches began as ordinary scenes, but then took bizarre and hilarious turns that added to the show’s absurd nature.

For example, in one sketch, senior Jen Diamond and junior Derek Butterton played lost lovers who meet for dinner to catch up on life, but the scene took a turn for the absurd as they began violently munching on a corpse left on their dinner table.

In another such sketch, Butterton was warned that a hitman was after him. After fearing for his life, the hitman, played by Techler, gave Butterton a light smack and let him off with a warning—a literal “hit man.”

Such ridiculous twists demonstrated the creativity of the sketch writers and kept the audience expecting the unexpected as the evening went on.

In another scene, which involved four tough guys showing off their muscles, the word “over-

compensation” was projected on the wall in small print.

Many other sketches were accentuated by music that added to the mood of the scene.

In one sketch, senior Nathan Harris played an ominous tune on the piano as Louis Loftus, also a senior, cracked under pressure and confessed shady activities to a cuddly teddy bear. The piano music heightened the comic intensity of the scene.

Another musical sketch featured Ascher at the piano, as he and Loftus sang a duet about bequeathing all of the world’s problems to their children, in hopes that “maybe our children won’t be quite as lazy.”

The final scene was also a song, as the actors mockstruggled to find an adequate ending to the show and decided to perform a whole-group musical number entitled “Deus Sketch Machina.”

Altogether, “Nitrous Oxide” was a hilarious evening of comedy and a tribute to the creativity and imaginative ideas of hardworking students.

and urged to her to make a connection between his lessons and the world around her.

In “The Antique Shop” by senior Chris Annas-Lee, a mysterious story kept the audience enthralled by a bizarre antique shop where Leo, played by Loftus, has been doomed to spend the rest of his days.

In the play, three characters from various times and places in the world entered the shop and left with a letter from the trapped Leo to his family.

The last visitor, Marc, played by junior John MacGaffey, had collected Leo’s letters.

Unlike his predecessors, he knew the mysterious nature of the shop.

He urged Leo to let him stay in hopes of reuniting with his lost lover.

MacGaffey’s desperate pleas wrenched at the hearts of the audience. Leo watched helplessly as Marc, like other visitors to the shop, was torn away and sent back to his own time.

“Karman Line” by senior Seth Simons dealt with a scenario in which the world is ended by a scientific plan to destroy the sun.

The play switched between different characters preparing to live underground, including a photographer and librarian, a couple of scientists, an elderly woman and a scholarly man.

The next play, “Salvation” by junior Derek Butterton, intermingled a comedic plot about genetically altered petting-zoo animals taking over the world with a dramatic story of tensions between a father and daughter.

“The Good News/Pastoral” by senior Jordan Ascher also involved the theme of familial tension as well as the supernatural, as a young man was greeted by his mother and grandfather from beyond the grave.

Senior Joella Tepper played the young man’s mother as casual, quick-witted and lighthearted, but her mood turned dark when she encouraged her son to take his own life and move on from the world to be with her in heaven.

The last play, “The Curator” by senior Jen Diamond, told the story of Hugo and May, two recent divorcees having trouble moving on from married life.

When the show was over, the eight playwrights took the stage for a brief question-and-answer period, in which they discussed their inspirations, the writing and editing process and the evolution of their plays.

The Playwrights’ Festival was truly a wonderful way to showcase the hard work and dedication of students as their plays went from the page to the stage.

Pops Night commemorates year’s end KATE LEWIS Pops Night, which took place Thursday, May 20 in the cafeteria, was a fun and exciting evening to celebrate a successful year in the music department.

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review After sharing a delicious potluck dinner with friends and family, over 200 musicians in various groups gave a delightful performance.

These groups included Brass Ensemble, Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Jubilee

Singers, Jazz Ensemble, Family Singers and Concert Choir.

Highlights of the evening included a medley of songs from the musicial “Wicked,” performed

by Orchestra, and tunes from The Lion King and The Incredibles, which the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band played.

The familiar music was enjoyable to the audience and was played adeptly by the musicians.

Another highlight was the Jubilee Singers’ rendition of Amanda Franklin and Sheldon

Reid’s “Around You,” in which junior Kelly McIntyre sang a solo.

McIntyre belted her impressive high notes and the audience was floored by her strong and beautiful voice.

Preceding the final act, Orchestra director Adam Grossman said a few worlds acknowledging the tremendous career of Richard Travers, the director of Family Singers and Concert Choir, who is retiring this year.

Then, Family Singers and Concert Choir combined to sing several songs from the musi-

cal “In the Heights.” Soloists included seniors Bohan Leng, Elliot Raff, Laura Swager, Joella Tepper, Ryan Vona and junior Victoria Mirrer.

Their performance, which featured rapping and singing in Spanish, was incredibly energetic and a fitting tribute to Travers’ many years as a music teacher at this school.

Altogether, Pops Night was a great way to wrap up a year of wonderful music at Newton North, and the evening was thoroughly enjoyed by many.

on campus

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 5

56th Heintzelman Award honors creative writing HILARY BRUMBERG To honor creative student work, the English Department and the Heintzelman Trustees presented Newton North junior Mercer Gary and Newton South senior Alice Lee with the 56th annual M. Roland Heintzelman Memorial Awards, according to English department head Tom Fabian.

Monday, May 20, the winners read their pieces in the film lecture hall. “This is a very great day,” Fabian said. “It is one of the rare occasions when we get together cross-town.”

The award is given in memory of M. Roland Heintzelman, who taught at this school and died in his early thirties, said Fabian.

According to Fabian, approximately 100 pieces of creative writing were submitted for the award. These were narrowed down to 23 finalists.

The Heintzelman Trustees Committee met and picked the first and second place winners, Fabian said.

Gary’s work, titled “Sunday,”a short story told in three parts, was awarded second prize.

The first section, “Chance of Rain,” tells the story of a young woman who went to church with her family for the whole beginning of her life. “They had driven in that manner every Sunday, to

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her first communion, her confirmation, and it had always been assumed that one day the family would drive this road together to her wedding,” Gary wrote.

When her mother passed away and her father moved into a nursing home, the main character and her siblings stopped going to church. She still drove to church every Sunday, but never went inside because “actually sitting in a pew alone seemed impossible,” Gary wrote.

One Sunday, the main character vowed that she would go inside the church. She noticed the bride in the wedding that was taking place looked startlingly like herself and her mother.

In the end, the main character could not bring herself to go inside the church.

The second part, titled “Third Time’s a Charm,” tells about a man, Hal, who walked out on his family when his daughter was five. He is trying to decide whether to attend his daughter Liza’s wedding, but feels it will cause drama and upset his exwife Margie.

“As soon as he walked through those doors, it would stop being Liza’s happiest day and start being a careful tracking and analysis of Hal’s presence.”

Gary wrote. “He would be airing the dirty laundry of the past in

public, and though most of their friends had already seen it, to watch them seeing it hanging on the clothesline would be too much for Margie.

“Liza would miss him, and he knew his absence would be noted, but perhaps not going was the lesser of two evils.”

Like the main character in the first part, Hal decided not to go into the church.

The main character of the final section, titled “Something,” is a young priest who tried to revive a dying congregation.

His efforts did not pay off, and after a year a church employee shut down the congregation.

“He was tired,” Gary wrote.

“Physically depleted from all the care he had given his congregation of ten over the past twelve months. His faith was beginning to dwindle, his light was tarnished. He hardly recognized the shell of a face he saw in the mirror, hollow without his hopeful soul behind it.”

Fabian said that Gary’s story has an “incredible nature and is incredibly subtle in what it is trying to do, but it’s still effective,” Fabian said.

The first place winner, Lee, read her work, which is untitled.

It tells the narrative of a day in the life of a confused high school student.

file photo

Creativity: Junior Mercer Gary was awarded second place in the 56th annual Heintzelman Awards.

French students raise awareness for Burkina Faso HILARY BRUMBERG To raise awareness about the poverty of Burkina Faso and money to build a well in the village of Yako, students from the Honors French literature class presented during Burkina Faso Day Thursday, May 27, in the film lecture hall, said senior Will Zhang.

The people of Burkina Faso need the new well because “about 75 percent of the working popu-

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lation work in agriculture,” senior Ingrid Rudie said.

“It’s very important, but it’s very difficult because it’s landlocked,” she said.

“The people of Burkina Faso really rely on the help of other countries.”

According to senior Camilla Shearman, 50 percent of the people in Burkina Faso live below the poverty line. “It’s barely livable,” she said.

“The crops that you can grow because of the climate, you can’t eat. So they’re not self-sufficient.”

To give students a better visual sense of the poverty, senior Naomi Genuth showed pictures of a school in Burkina Faso.

“If you think Newton North is bad, imagine going to school in that,.” she said.

In Burkina Faso, 25 percent of the population is literate, accord-

ing to senior Remy LaFlamme.

Primary school, which includes ages seven to 12, is mandatory.

Only about 10 percent of those students continue on to secondary school, she said.

Less than one percent of all youth attend a university, most of whom have to drop out because they do not have the funds to continue, according to LaFlamme.

Honors French literature students write letters in French to

students at a school in Burkina Faso, who write back, according to senior Lucy Abbot. “It’s really cool,” she said.

“What we are doing will hopefully increase the literacy rate and help them get better jobs.”

Senior Nik Klebanov urged attendants to donate money that would go towards building the well by saying, “The important thing is that for us, $1 isn’t very much. But for them, it’s a lot.”

SurvivetheDrive teaches teen drivers HILARY BRUMBERG To educate inexperienced teenage drivers about the effects of inattentive driving, SurvivetheDrive presented to students in the film lecture hall Monday, May 24.

SurvivetheDrive has addressed over 65,000 high school students about driver safety awareness, according to president Bob Green.

“When beginning their ‘lifetime’ of driving, youthful drivers are vulnerable,” Green said.

“Beyond passing the driver’s test, our kids, novice drivers, need to know how easy it is to wreck a car, how much trouble it is, how bad it can be and be given some strategies to stay out of trouble.

“This isn’t self-explanatory.

These students are vulnerable and need to understand the hazards,” Green said.

“Every crash event that ever happened was ‘all of a sudden’ and tremendously violent.

“These are all good kids. No one needs this violence. We have to deal in facts.

“What you hit or what hits you is more than a car crashing. Cars aren’t smart enough to

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file photo

Car crash: This wrecked car was on display in 2007 outside the building to show students the dangers of drinking and driving.

crash themselves. Even modern cars are not all that protective,” Green said.

People call car crashes “accidents” because there is no conscious wrongdoing, he said.

The crashers and friends say it wasn’t their fault.

However, the forensic investigations show there is always an error that caused the collision, according to Green.

“Of all the bad things we would hope would not affect our children—drugs, alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, discrimination, war, crime, violence and abuse— car crashes are statistically and kinetically the most dangerous,” he said.

“We hope that this hour out of this school day will make a useful impression.”

In the United States, there are approximately six million car crashes each year, leading to three million emergency room visits and over 40,000 deaths, according to Green.

“Statistics aren’t numbers, they are people,” he said.

The program was sponsored by the Northeast Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

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6 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

retirements

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 7

Inez Dover says she loves students’ energy JAY KRIEGER “Teaching doesn’t always happen in the classroom and doesn’t always involve reading or writing, but making connections with students and understanding and respecting students’ needs,” said English teacher Inez Dover.

Dover grew up in Chicago, Illinois and attended John Marshall Harlan High School, graduating in 1969. After high school she attended Boston University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Science and graduate degrees in theater arts, speech and education.

“I originally wanted to be an actress, but people told me that I would end up waiting tables and go hungry. I liked teaching, that’s why I double majored in education,” she said.

Dover started teaching at Newton North in 1973, in time for the opening of the current building. Mary Lanigan, the department head, as well as principal Richard Mechem hired her.

“My first day of teaching was scary and exciting at the same time; I thought ‘what am I getting myself into here?’” she said.

In 1975, Dover helped to start the first girls’ track team at Newton North, and soon pursued her love of theatre by directing plays.

Dover later went on to teach every curriculum level and several electives including Mechanics of Writing, Propaganda Techniques, Creative Writing, Harlem Renaissance, Speech, Leadership and Theatre Arts.

“I love teaching the freshmen and seniors because the freshmen are impressionable and energetic, while the seniors are more laid back, but still willing to learn about life.

“There is a nice contrast in maturity between the freshmen and seniors,” Dover said.

Dover said the welcoming community of Newton North helped her to fit in and find a place when she first started teaching.

“When I first came to North I didn’t have a lot of experience other than student teaching. I was welcomed into a very caring community. My department felt like a real family,” she said.

English department head Tom Fabian said, “Ms. Dover is in many ways not only a good teacher, but also brings a voice to this school and in many ways acts as our conscience as a faculty member.

“She came here in 1973—we lived in a very different country and world then,” he said. “I think if you look over the passage of a 37-year career, she’s been a presence in this building that has helped us to better understand ourselves and the world we live in.”

Former English department head Brenda Keegan knows Dover as a “brilliant, highly energetic and creative person.”

“She brings a special insight to literature both from the sense of how drama works on stage and from the sense of living in different cultures,” Keegan said.

Dover was “tremendously kind” and helped Keegan on a personal level, she said.

“When this club had to shut down for repair, my daughter couldn’t hold her bridal shower there, but Dover offered to do it in her backyard, and it was better there than anywhere else,” Keegan said.

“She has taken care of so many people in the school and community, and she has been a remarkable force in making people rethink their ideas,” she said.

English Teacher Nancy Kranes said Dover’s many qualities will be missed at Newton North.

“The energy that she has brought to make this school vibrant, the laughter she brings to spread joy, and the love in which she embraces her students, faculty and staff are all what make her such an amazing person,” Kranes said.

A moment that defined teaching for Dover was when a student came back to visit after graduating.

“This student gave me a hard time in class, though when she came back, she told me that I was her favorite teacher.

After that visit, I realized that students may not understand until later in life that teachers have a profound impact on their life,” she said.

Another student who Dover coached 30

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years ago recently contacted her to update her on her life and to let her know that she had impacted her life.

“There are little things that you do with students that you may never know the impact until later in life,” Dover said.

All three of Dover’s children graduated North as well as nephews and close personal friends.

The lowest point in education for Dover was when the school experienced a number of cuts. “We couldn’t hire new teachers, cutting back on resources. It felt as though the community felt that educators weren’t important, and I feel that we make the community,” she said.

Dover took a three-year leave of absence in 1989. She worked at the Efficacy Institute as an Educational Consultant.

Dover’s position as director of human and civil rights was reduced, and she said it felt as though the school didn’t feel that human and civil rights were important.

Dover said she hopes that students will enjoy learning, rather than just seeking good grades out of competition, as our motto says that “learning sustains the human spirit.”

“The competitiveness to get into colleges and universities really has taken the joy out of learning,” she said. “I think that students have also lost respect for teachers, and they are more about ‘me, myself and I.’ “What I love about teaching is the students’ energy, the bonds and relationships I have made at North, and the wonderful feeling of having students who didn’t start the year enjoying school, but now do. I love teaching young adults—I often wonder how elementary teachers teach the little kids. I guess they wonder how we deal with the older ones,” she said.

Dover has had a large impact on the theater program at North as well, having directed over 30 plays. More recent productions include “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “A View from a Bridge,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” and “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.”

According to Adam Brown, director of Theatre Ink, “what makes Dover’s shows special is she is such a giving director. She gives students opportunities and freedoms to own their work as artists and guide themselves with that,” Brown said.

“She can bring them together and let them rise to higher levels and pushes them to reach their full potential.”

Her honesty as an artist is what they need, and she really cares about people— her team, her cast and her crew, he said.

In addition to teaching English and directing, Dover was director of civil rights, which entailed her working with students and teachers on matters of human and civil rights.

“I developed the Human Rights Board and the Black Leadership Advisory Council,” Dover said.

“I organized public speakers and resources to come and speak to students as well as dealing with problems between students and faculty,” she said.

The development of the Leadership class helped Dover see that Newton North is a unique and diverse environment, she said.

“It’s a class that only some colleges have that deals with gender, class, race, sexual orientation—all topics that society doesn’t like to discuss. It’s the most rewarding part of working at North,” she said.

English teacher Peter Goddard teaches Leadership with Dover, and said he believes that her contributions to Leadership class “are exceptional,” and describes Dover as “warm, giving and someone who has a big heart.”

He said that she is an extraordinary teacher because of her “willingness to go into ideological and personal areas that others would not be willing to go into” and because of her “fearlessness in teaching and directing,” said Goddard.

“She is very strong in spontaneous moments. One of the things that class brings up are hot-button topics—she can be in the moment and make them feel uncomfortable in a good way and then bring them out of the moment comfortably,” he said.

Goddard has gone to New Orleans with Dover and their Leadership students and has spent many valuable moments with

Teddy Wenneker

“I’ll miss the kids and I’ll miss getting to see them inside and outside of school,” says English teacher Inez Dover. her, he said.

“I remember the first time we went to New Orleans and we were staying with college kids in the AmeriCorps, and they were not the friendliest folks. One of the things we had to do was meal duty, and the kids had pathetic offerings,” Goddard said.

“One day Ms. Dover had enough, so she got up early in the morning with a few other students and made exceptional waffles, eggs, biscuits and bacon,” he said, adding with a laugh, “The college kids were a lot nicer afterwards.

“She is definitely someone that I will miss,” Goddard said.

Graphics teacher Tom Donnellan said he is “thankful to be able to call her my friend.”

“She has always been a go-to person when I was in time of need,” he said.

“As a young teacher, I was lucky enough to work with Inez in a summer program.

Inez taught me the essentials of working with students on a personal level,” said Donnellan.

After her first year of retirement, Dover plans to teach at a junior college, start the Legacy Black Scholars Program, which deals with the achievement of African American students, continue to direct plays at North and teach a course in education.

“I’ll miss the kids and relationships that I have made with students, and I’ll miss getting to see them inside and outside of school,” she said.

retirements

8 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Carol Seitz keeps students engaged in class PERRIN STEIN “I loved languages from the first moment I took Latin as a freshman in high school,” said Spanish teacher Carol Seitz, who has taught Spanish for 40 years and taught French for 25 years.

Having grown up in Wheeling, West Virginia, Seitz didn’t have a chance to begin taking languages until she started Triadelphia High School in 1962.

She went on to attend West Virginia University because her grandfather was a professor there. Seitz majored in French, but began taking Spanish as a sophomore. She continued to study both of these subjects until her graduation in 1970.

Right before graduation, Seitz went on a French exchange program with a few other students.

“It was the first exchange that West Virginia University went on, and it changed my life. I realized there was a lot to see in the world, and I wasn’t going to end up staying in West Virginia for the rest of my life—I had to go see the world,” Seitz said.

This was a somewhat radical decision because most people in West Virginia in the ’70s didn’t travel much or move very far from where they grew up, according to Seitz.

Because she wanted to see the world, Seitz decided to move to Boston with her college roommate, Joyce Plotkin.

Seitz moved to Boston with the hopes of going into publishing, but she went into teaching instead.

She was hired by Bigelow principal Robert Frost in 1970.

“Despite my lack of experience, I was hired because I could teach both French and Spanish,” Seitz said. “I had to develop the Spanish curriculum at Bigelow, and I wasn’t even given a classroom,

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Teddy Wenneker

“I like students to be involved,” says Spanish teacher Carol Seitz. “Just sitting and listening to the teacher is boring,” so I had to conduct my classes in the typing room.”

One day during Seitz’s first year of teaching, she decided to go see a publishing house with her friend who had an interview there. “The publishing house had a lot of people sitting around in offices working. It looked really boring, and I realized that I would rather be in my classroom ‘playing’ with my kids. This made me realize I was meant to be a teacher,” Seitz recalled.

Due to declining enrollment, Seitz was moved to Newton North in 1984. Bigelow was about to close, and the Newton Public School system was moving

around a lot of teachers including Seitz, she said.

As she became better at French and Spanish and began to teach at higher levels, Seitz decided to concentrate on Spanish because she often confused the two languages.

“I realized that if I wanted to keep getting better at languages, and if I wanted to be best able to help my students, I would have to give up one of the languages I taught. I gave up French with regret, but in the end, it was the right decision.”

During her time at this school, Seitz has led the Spanish exchange twice. “I had been to

Spain in 1974, but I really wanted to go back because it’s important to have a connection with the country you are teaching about,” Seitz said. She went to Madrid in 1992 and Burgos in 2006.

In 1996, several years after leading the Spanish exchange to Madrid, Seitz received the Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching, which teachers win for having a deep appreciation and knowledge of a subject matter, teaching that stretches the mind of students and standards for performance that inspire excellence, according to the criteria for the award.

“It was wonderful to hear all these nice things people had to say about me. It showed me that people really do care about my teaching,” Seitz said.

Seitz said she breaks her class into five or six parts: music of the week (a pop song Seitz plays at the beginning of each class), grammar, vocabulary, reading and a hands-on activity.

“I like students to be involved.

Just sitting and listening to the teacher is boring, so I’ve tried to keep adapting things to make them more interesting and hopefully, easier for students to understand,” Seitz said.

Seitz has remained interested in teaching by adapting her curriculum over time, she said. She focuses on using technology as a learning tool. To do this, Seitz has created Powerpoint presentations to explain complicated grammar ideas, developed a Moodle project in her junior class and taken a course on design, so she can make worksheets look more inviting. “I try to remember that if I’m bored, my students will be bored,” Seitz said.

Over the years, Seitz has worked with other members of the Spanish department on

grants, which will help them make their classes more interesting, she said. Spanish teacher Juanita O’Neill has worked with Seitz on grants that utilize music in the classroom.

“Sra. Seitz is always looking for new ways to engage her students, and she found music to be one of these ways,” O’Neill said.

World language department head Nancy Marrinucci met Seitz when Marrinucci began teaching at this school 10 years ago.

“I will really miss her enthusiasm and presence in the world language department,” said Marrinucci.

Spanish teacher Marla Glaskin fondly recalls meeting Seitz eight years ago when Glaskin began teaching at this school.

“She told me that we would be sharing a classroom and that we could decorate it together. For me, this was a warm welcome into the world language department,” Glaskin recalled.

Because they taught the same Spanish II class for many years, Glaskin said she has come to know Seitz well. “She’s very unique,” Glaskin said. “Let’s face it—how often do you meet someone who knits her own sweaters and designs websites? Never, except for Sra. Seitz.”

Even though she is leaving a lot behind, Seitz said she has many plans for her retirement.

She will be taking care of her grandchildren on Fridays, taking a more active role as chair of the Woburn Historical Commission and as a trustee of the Woburn Public Library, singing in the women’s Cantilina Chorale in Arlington and being the president of her knitting guild.

As Marrinucci said, “the faculty at North will miss Sra. Seitz both as a friend and as a colleague.”

John Rob Stark makes students feel good about school KATE LEWIS “The way I see it, the good teachers are those who, no matter what happens during the day, they come back the next day to try it again,” said history teacher John Rob Stark.

For over 20 years, Stark has been coming back the next day to teach history at Newton North, bringing his extensive knowledge of the subject to countless students.

According to Stark, he has taught “every single history class there is,” excluding a few senior electives, in his time at North, including AP European History, Caribbean Civilizations and U.S. History.

A graduate of Boston English High School and the University of New Hampshire, Stark originally worked in New Hampshire as a carpenter, until his wife convinced him to pursue a career in education.

They moved to Massachusetts, where Stark taught carpentry and history at Meadowbrook and F.A. Day junior high schools.

When Day became a middle school, he switched to Newton North and became a full-time history teacher. “History has always been my hobby, my love,” he said.

“On my first day at Newton North, I taught three sections of Curriculum I U.S. History and two sections of Curriculum II,” he said. “In those days, students were much more free to create their own curriculum and their own view of how to present history.

“I vividly remember that kids weren’t quite so stressed. Today,

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kids are more concerned with grades, testing, where they’re going to school.

“My philosophy of life is that if you do well and as best you can today, tomorrow takes care of itself.

“Back then, 20 kids would come back during X-block to talk about what was going on in the classroom. Now kids only come by to ask about a grade or make up a test,” Stark said. “I miss that.”

Additionally, Stark said he thinks there is now a tendency for courses to be too standardized.

“There is a tendency in education now for everything to be standardized,” Stark said.

“Everybody needs to be on the same page, teaching the same curriculum. If that continues, Newton North will become the best mediocre school in the country.”

Stark cites the most defining moments of his career as the ones when his teaching was able to make a student apply history to current events and make them think about the world around them.

One of these moments came after President George H.W. Bush declared war on Iraq. Said Stark, “A senior came into my room and yelled out, ‘Damn you, Mr. Stark!

Before your class I would have been gung-ho for the war, but after your class, I have to think about whether we should be in Iraq or not.’”

Fellow history teacher Anthony Patelis said he has found working with Stark to be both a learning experience and an enjoyable one.

Jacob Schwartz

“History has always been my hobby, my love,” says history teacher John Rob Stark.

“On numerous occasions throughout my career, he has stuck his head into my class and made disparaging remarks about me, resulting in the kids becoming hysterical,” Patelis said.

“Obviously, I had to respond in a similar fashion.”

“When he is talking to one of his students in his office, I usually console the student and remind them that next year, maybe they will get a history teacher who actually knows what he is talking about,” Patelis said. “That always bring a smile to Mr. Stark’s face.”

All jokes aside, many of Stark’s fellow teachers have come to respect Stark’s knowledge, teaching ability and strong character.

“He’s intelligent, well-read and

politically aware,” said Patelis.

“Intentionally or not, he became a mentor to many people in our department, myself included.”

Patelis said that he has Stark to thank for launching his own teaching career.

“I was hired because Mr. Stark stuck his neck out for me,” he said. “The last 11 years have been the best years of my life here at Newton North, and I owe it all to Mr. Stark.”

Jonathan Bassett, the history department head, has known Stark since Bassett started at Newton North as a teacher in 1986.

“Mr. Stark has an ability to ‘read’ the class, and he is able to make all different kinds of students feel good about school,”

Bassett said. “Watching him teach is just a pleasure.”

“He is one of those teachers that students come back and visit.

I have been told by parents how much their kids love his class,” he said.

After retiring from Newton North, Stark plans to write a historical fiction novel about Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, in addition to traveling, spending time with his family and supervising student teachers at Boston College, he said.

“I say this to young people getting into the teaching profession who are nervous before class,” Stark said. “After 34 years of teaching, that never changes.”

—JACOB BRUNELL CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE.

retirements

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 9

Richard Travers cites importance of music FATEMA ZAIDI Richard Travers can play a jazz solo on the piano and have a friendly conversation all at the same time, according to Todd Young, fine and performing arts department head.

“We were playing together at a party, and he is playing the piano and just tearing it up,” Young said. “The bass player looks at me and nods at Mr. Travers, and then I looked at Mr. Travers and he was having a conversation with a parent. It looks so easy,” said Young.

Travers is retiring after teaching music in Newton for 34 years.

It took a lot of hard work for Travers to reach this point.

Travers grew up in West Roxbury and started playing piano at the age of four, playing professionally at the age of 12, he said.

He went to Catholic Memorial High School, graduating in 1971.

After graduation, he wasn’t sure what to do with his background of music and coaching sports.

“My friend Dick Twomey said to me, ‘Trav, why don’t you be a music teacher?’” Travers said.

His formal music education started when he was accepted to Berklee College of Music in 1971, but it did not stop there. Travers earned his master’s degree in choral conducting from Boston Conservatory and began teaching at Weeks Junior High in 1976 after being hired by Socrates Lagios.

Travers began to teach at Newton North in 1983 and found his first day extraordinary, he said.

“I sat at the piano and was playing parts for the singers,” said Travers. “Ray Smith came over and slapped my hand and

BY

closed the piano lid in front of the class.”

“I thought to myself ‘how dare you!’ but Smith said, ‘How are they going to learn to sing if you play all their notes?’” said Travers. “It was the wisest thing I learned; Ray Smith taught me how to teach high school singers.”

Through the years, Travers has taught Family Singers, Concert Choir, Popular Music Since 1945, the Sisters, Vocal Ensemble, Tiger BeBop and Jubilee Singers.

Some of these classes, such as Tiger BeBop and Pop Music, are of Travers’ own creation, and every class has an aspect that is excellent, he said.

“Preparing for a concert in class is enjoyable because we have a goal and there’s a prescribed way to get there,” Travers said.

Music teacher Sheldon Reid, who currently directs Jubilee, said he learned a wealth of information from Travers.

“Mr. Travers is easy-going and fun to be around, but serious,” Reid said. “He has lots of creative ideas to give students new opportunities and always has them thinking of ways to step up their abilities.”

Reid said he knows Travers as an incredibly humble man, who also has a great depth of experience.

According to Reid, Travers is on the job all the time, not only during school weeks, but also on the weekends when other teachers are relaxing at home.

“Whether he’s at extra rehearsals or singing for the veterans, Mr. Travers is always making sure North is represented

Teddy Wenneker

“I’ve tried to share the joys that I have experienced in music with my students,” says music teacher Richard Travers. positively,” said Reid.

Young said he is also astounded by how undeniably dedicated Travers is to his students.

“First and foremost is the care and compassion he shows to all students,” Young said. “In music, you have four years, so you can build a strong relationship with students. It is amazing how he has thousands of students who

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care about him.”

According to Young, Travers is a “phenomenal musician, and he has got an interesting and varied skill base.”

Travers’ skills were recognized when he won the Elicker award in 1991. He was the inaugural recipient of the prestigious teaching award.

He felt honored to be voted on by parents, students and faculty for a brand new award, but he said he was mainly in shock because receiving that award meant he had earned his place at “the round table” with the elite of Newton North.

Additionally, English teacher Inez Dover honored Travers with the Human Rights award for his efforts to incorporate students of all different ethnicities, races and creeds in the music department.

Travers cites special performances of Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert as the defining moments of his career. “‘Carmina Burana’ combined Newton Community Chorus and orchestra with Family Singers and Concert Choir to a sold-out Sanders Theatre,” Travers said.

In 1998, with a combined choir of 140 singers and a full jazz band, Newton North students performed Ellington’s Sacred Concert, conducted by Herb Pomeroy, who played trumpet in Ellington’s orchestra. According to Travers, the concert was cited by a Boston Globe critic as one of the top 10 jazz concerts of the year.

Another defining moment was earlier this year, when over 100 North students played with Travers at a memorial concert for Ray Smith. “Every different style of kid you’d want was there, and we got up and sang the Mozart Requiem,” said Travers. “It represents the diversity we have at Newton North.”

Tom Leonard, retired music department head, describes Travers’ concerts to be vibrant and full of energy.

“Every single concert that was done, was done with superb preparation and always was successful on stage,” said Leonard.

Travers had the opportunity to travel to Europe 14 times with the Music Travel Club over the

years, visiting places such as Prague, London, Dublin, Madrid and Paris with his students.

“The idea is that when they return to a country later in life, all these wonderful memories will come back: not only were they there, they performed there.”

Another defining moment for Travers was the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast dedicated to Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein was a personal friend of Henry Lasker, for whom Lasker Auditorium is named, he said.

Travers conducted several pieces at the event, and he received a letter from Bernstein’s brother Burton saying, “Thank you, Mr. Travers. Rarely have I heard my brother’s music sung so beautifully.”

Travers has spent 34 valuable years with his students and often marvels at how students have changed.

“I think that they’re more aware of the importance of communicating with each other and being aware of other people who are less fortunate,” said Travers.

“However, the general spirit of students has not changed—they want to be challenged, and they want to study with someone who has a deep love for the subject they’re teaching,” said Travers.

“I’ve tried to share the joys that I have experienced in music with my students,” said Travers.

“I want them to truly feel and understand the incredible power of music.”

With a laugh, Travers added, “After all, where else can you get over 100 teenage students to all agree on the same thing?”

“What I’ll miss most about North is the City of Newton and its citizens. It’s an extraordinary city, and it’s filled with so many different people.”

After retirement, Travers plans to continue conducting the Newton Community Chorus and the Fine Arts Chorale in Weymouth.

He has also opened a private studio in his home, and will continue to teach piano and voice. He said he will also be a guest conductor for different festivals throughout New England.

“I will get a chance to enjoy not as hectic a pace as I have had, but when it comes to music, I’m in it forever,” said Travers.

retirements

10 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Burton Weiner says everyone can succeed JACOB BRUNELL English teacher and director of student teaching Burton Weiner said he enjoys teaching Curriculum II classes the most.

“It is gratifying to help kids for whom success is difficult,” Weiner said.

“Even more than that, when a kid who doesn’t enjoy school comes up to you with a big smile and says ‘I actually liked this book,’ you know you have been doing your job well,” Weiner continued.

“It is a great feeling when you get a call from a student years later saying, ‘I’ve become a professional actor, singer or a teacher, and you gave me the confidence to do it.’”

Born in Boston, Weiner graduated from Newton South High School in 1970 and went on to graduate from Boston University as an English major and history minor.

Later, Weiner earned his masters degree and doctorate, both from BU. At the same time as he was earning his masters, Weiner began at Newton North as a substitute teacher in 1975.

“That year, I actually didn’t know I was working at North until two days before school began,” he said.

Weiner said he was hired “at the last moment by Helen Ryan, a housemaster,” he said.

Weiner said that his first year teaching was the most challenging one.

“It was a 24-hour job to get prepared for the next day of classes. At the time, there really wasn’t a lot of structure at the school, so you created your own,” he continued.

However, teaching at North was and still is also incredibly exciting, Weiner said.

“You get a lot of independence, and you have the opportunity to work with great people. No two days are ever the same,” said Weiner.

“I can honestly say I’ve never had a bad year here. At the same time, I never thought I would be here as long as I have,” he said.

According to Weiner, it is the people at the school that make North unique and have kept him coming back all of these

BY

Ivan McGovern

“I have made good connections with a lot of students and other teachers throughout my years of working at North,” says English teacher Burton Weiner. “I look forward to coming to work each day.” years.

“I have made good connections with a lot of students and other teachers throughout my years of working at North. I look forward to coming to work each day,” Weiner said.

At Newton North, you can be an indi-

Mike, We always knew you would make a Big Splash!

CONGRATULATIONS! Love, Dad, Mom, Megan, & Lizzie

vidual, and it is extremely easy to make friends, explained Weiner.

Weiner said that one of the most enjoyable parts of every school year for him is watching seniors present their Senior English projects.

“It is incredibly rewarding, as you can see their growth as students and pride for their work,” said Weiner.

In addition to teaching at Newton North, Weiner has also held many other positions throughout his career.

He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, as well as the Board of Directors of the Newton Teacher Residency program, and has been a visiting professor at Bridgewater State College for the past 11 years.

Weiner has also taught classes at Boston College and his alma mater, BU, and was involved with the Newton Teachers Association as the head of the teacher negotiating team for 15 years.

“The most frustrating thing about teaching is the endless battle to attain sufficient resources to do our jobs. It’s not only a Newton problem, but also a state problem and a federal problem. That is why I got involved with the teachers’ union,” explained Weiner.

Learning a variety of different teaching strategies is essential for reaching different types of students, said Weiner.

Weiner also said he thinks it is essential to connect students’ class work with their out-of-school lives.

“Every kid can be successful, and it is our job to find the most effective way to reach them,” he said.

English teacher Annie Blais said she has enjoyed working with Weiner because of his often humorous and dramatic teaching

style, as well as his great ability to communicate with both teachers and students in an effective manner.

“He has a great perspective on what is essential to teach and what is not. He is always able to keep his larger perspective on life in the back of his mind, and he helps others to do the same in school,” explained Blais.

Blais also said that Weiner is a great storyteller and knows how to get kids interested in a text.

According to Weiner, much has changed since he began at North more than 30 years ago.

“Most noticeably, kids are better behaved now than when I first started,” he said.

“The school holds students to a higher standard, and parents are far more involved in students’ academic careers.”

Although officially retiring, Weiner will still teach part time at Newton North next year.

“The main reason why I am coming back next year is because Ms. Price promised me an office with an actual window in the new school. I had to come back for the window,” Weiner said with a laugh.

Adams housemaster James D’Orazio said that Weiner is a great teacher and a great friend.

“He is a student of the teaching profession and a mentor as well. If you feel like you are in trouble, or you are seeking advice, you can go to him no matter what the problem is,” D’Orazio said.

Weiner said that he initially considered going into law, but ultimately chose education.

“In becoming a teacher, I know I made the right choice,” finished Weiner.

retirements

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 11

Jeanne White says awareness is important KAYLA SHORE Since 1983, Jeanne White has brought a little piece of the rest of the world into this school.

As the on campus coordinator and head of the PAWS mediation program, White has brightened student life here in many ways.

“She saw the importance of community and family at Newton North, and that’s what she strove for,” said English teacher and friend Inez Dover.

After 27 years here, White is retiring.

White, born and raised in Dorchester, attended UMass Boston (then State College at Boston) for a teacher’s degree, graduating in 1958.

The first woman in her family to attend college, she was enthusiastic about entering the profession. She immediately began teaching at Horace Mann Elementary School in Newton.

She had always known that she wanted to be a teacher. “Since I was four,” she said, “my favorite game was to pretend I was a teacher.”

Her passion for teaching has remained throughout her many years as an educator, said neighbor and friend Barbara Molé, now an administrative assistant for the career and tech. ed. department.

In 1962, White took a break from teaching to focus on her family before returning in 1983.

All of her four children came through the Newton schools, and she had been involved in the PTSO here before being asked to interview for the on campus position.

White’s job as on campus coordinator means she brings in presenters and speakers and organizes in-house programs for the school. “It’s very important that students be aware of the world,” she said, something her job allows her to take care of.

Since White began, she has dramatically changed the on campus program.

At first, she said that “it was difficult because there was no example. We had to tread carefully.”

She wanted to keep attendance voluntary, so students would be able to enjoy coming as opposed to feeling like they were forced to be there.

She initially tried to show old Hollywood films, “but I gradually changed it to be something that was beyond the classroom or that could augment what happened in the classroom,” she said.

“The faculty has been so impressive, wonderful and supportive,” said a characteristically warm White. “I thoroughly appreciated them being willing to take time” to bring their classes to the programs, she said.

Without teachers who were willing to do this, the program would not have flourished the way it has, White said.

The PTSO was also very supportive and generous, she said, in funding some of the programs she brought in.

Enriching student life this way, White has brought in everything from African cultural presentBY

ers to the historian and anti-war activist Howard Zinn. “It was very controversial, but quite important,” she said of the speaker brought in November 2001 for the first of a series of four forums about 9/11.

She wanted to give students a balance of views on what had happened so that they could understand, and stirred up quite a controversy in the process.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for the classroom teachers to bring the discussion back to the class, where it belonged,” she said.

The programs she has brought in have reflected and drawn on the community which is “wonderful and so rich in resources and personalities,” White said.

“I felt I was contributing to school culture in a positive way,” she said.

White has also worked with Theatre Ink, organizing performances of scenes from different school plays during the day, and following up with a discussion with the actors both in and out of character, seeing how their perspectives changed.

She did this with plays such as “The Laramie Project” and “Twilight: Los Angeles 1992,” which both offer social commentary.

White was also very involved with the Human Rights Committee with Dover.

Dover said that White was one of the most involved members and was instrumental in creating the anti-racism and ethnic and cultural awareness programs.

“We’ve done so much work with human rights,” White said.

Dover also nominated White for the City of Newton’s Human Rights award, which she won in 1998.

Out of the Human Rights Committee grew the PAWS peer mediation program, started by White in 1987.

White said that this program, formed in an effort to improve student life, has been the most fulfilling part of her job.

PAWS is a neutral way to mediate conflicts with no punitive aspect. White said, “It has been wonderful making students’ lives here positive, safe and giving them tools” to solve their problems.

“It makes it all worthwhile when students have come back and talked about how experiences here have changed their perspectives and lives,” said White.

White also began and developed the S.P.A.R.C. curriculum in 1984, a program that allows second semester seniors to have internships.

Involved in the PTSO, community and Our Lady’s Help of Christian Parish, White has always been “a pillar of the community,” Molé said.

Whenever there were meetings to represent the interests of the neighborhoods around the school concerning decisions about the new building, White, who lives around the corner, would go “faithfully,” said Molé.

“What I love best about her is

Good Luck Greg, We are very proud of you!

Love Mom, Dad, Brad, and Caroline.

Jacob Schwartz

“It’s very important that students be aware of the world,” says on campus coordinator Jeanne White. her sense of humor,” said Molé.

“She laughs easily. She’s a wonderful neighbor, the one I would go to if I wanted a cup of sugar,” added Molé, but also one whom she knew would look out for her, she said.

Dover praised White as “a real lady. She is very caring, thoughtful, sensitive, gracious.”

In the 30 years that they have known each other, White has not once missed Dover’s birthday, a testament to her devotion and caring.

“She would always give me a children’s book that had reflected something she had read that year,” Dover said.

Now that White is leaving the school, her legacy here may be a project at the new building with Bob “Sidewalk Sam” Guillemin, a local artist, she said. It would be something that would last in the new building and would be “a wonderful welcome” and “a way to bring the community together,” she said.

White has also been involved

with the Lillian Radlo Committee, which worked with Newton South to bring in notable speakers, and she has worked on the Huntington Lecture Series.

Once White retires, she looks forward to “looking for new challenges,” spending more time with her family and going to concerts, theater and church, she said.

White says she will miss the school very much, but looking back at her years at this school, she said that “this has been a tremendous learning experience.”

Congratulations to Matthew and to all the graduating seniors from Newtonite Volume 88!

Good luck in your new adventures!

Many thanks to Helen Smith and Kate Shaughnessy.

12 â—† Newtonite, Newton North

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Graduation Special

Senior Section

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 13

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

To a great class It’s been a pleasure to be your principal for four years Class of 2010. It has been a real pleasure to be your principal for the last four years. You are a great class that has truly left North a better place than you found it.

I know that is has been both exciting and challenging to be the last class out of the old North.

On the one hand, you have dealt with burning univents, toilets not working, door knobs falling off and more leaks than the Titanic.

On the other hand, you have gotten to lead the efforts to “Bring Down the House.”

You are a class that will always be remembered as the last to hang at the Riley tree.

Thank you so much for all you have given to North. Although we may move across the field, your spirit will continue to contribute to what is the most important part

file photo

Jennifer Price of North—our culture, our pride and our collective history.

Best of luck for all that lies ahead. I am confident that you are well prepared for the journey that awaits.

—JENNIFER PRICE PRINCIPAL

Feel pride in your school Congratulations to the Class of 2010!

It’s amazing how fast four years goes by.

I hope Newton North has served you well, that you were challenged and supported to grow both academically and personally, that you made some good friends and that in your own way, you contributed to the life of the school.

I hope that the good times far outnumber the bad, that you had some fun at school and that your memories are filled with personal accomplishments and private successes.

As you reflect on your high school experience, I hope you will feel a strong sense of pride at hav-

Teddy Wenneker

’010 all day: Seniors Monet Lowe and Alejandro Theodosiou celebrate at the DePeter Cup Wednesday, May 26.

Shira Bleicher

V. James Marini ing attended a terrific high school with a large and very interesting student body, with teachers who believe in the abilities of their students.

You are Newton’s treasure and a source of great pride for this community.

I wish you the very best in the future.

—V. JAMES MARINI SUPERINTENDENT

Your lives are like canvasses to design Class of 2010: Whatever you choose to be, or do, or achieve—remember it’s not just about making a living, it’s about making a life: yours.

So grab your diploma with one hand, and an empty canvass with the other. However you choose to design your canvass from there—remember that it can also extend beyond the borders. More canvasses.

Live your life by feeling it all; both the good and the bad— there are no mistakes—only opportunities!

My life has been enriched by each one of you over these four years (and yes, including the good and the bad!) and now it’s time for you to move on.

But, before you do, please know that I love this class and

Kate Lewis

Senior Breakfast: Seniors Kaeleigh Dreschel and Waheed Syed sign yearbooks Wednesday.

After this building, legacy will remain file photo

Maura Roberts I will really miss you!

Be good; do good.

“Bye Lov...”

—MAURA ROBERTS RILEY HOUSE SECRETARY

To the Class of 2010: The Class of 2010 is a special class for many reasons, among them being that you are the last class to graduate from this building.

While this building (thankfully) will no longer remain, your legacy will always be a part of Newton North.

You have distinguished your-

selves individually and collectively these past four years.

Your spirit, “Tiger Pride,” has been unequaled in my time here at Newton North. I wish each and every one the best in your future and thank you all for a great four years.

—MARK ARONSON RILEY HOUSEMASTER

file photo

Mark Aronson

parent statements

14 ◆ Newton North, Newtonite

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Life is unpredictable; be open to good and bad Culminating 34-year career as a teacher, coach

family photo

Margaret Hannah

family photo

Janet Porcaro

You brought spirit, ‘lifted up the house’ We are proud of you, your values Dear Class of 2010, We are honored to join the chorus of those wishing you success as you continue on your journey to adulthood.

You are the class that is “bringing down the house.” Yet, we have repeatedly heard that you have been the class that has “lifted up the house”—not only for Newton North, but for the community at large.

You have shown great school

spirit, held the values of respect and caring for others close and remained strong through the challenges your tenure at Newton North High School might have given you.

You have made us, and the parents we represent, proud.

Congratulations!

—MARGARET HANNAH AND JANET PORCARO, CO-PRESIDENTS, NEWTON NORTH HIGH SCHOOL PTSO

Graduation is the start of new chapter Congratulations!

After years of hard work, you can enjoy this fantastic moment—and begin your wonderful and often unpredictable journey into the future.

Your graduation from Newton North is the end of one chapter, but it is also the beginning of a lifetime of exciting opportunities and the freedom to choose your path.

Regardless of what you are doing next year, your next step is only your first of many that you can take in your life.

Don’t be afraid to try new things, and don’t be paralyzed by the fear of mistakes.

Your Newton education has given you a great start, so embrace the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

On behalf of Newton’s School Committee, congratulations on

Congratulations to the Graduates of 2010—you did it, and I am very proud of your accomplishments on the field, in the classroom, in the surrounding communities and many parts of the world.

The most important advice I can ever give to you is to be yourself, “learn and burn” and make a difference in this world.

I have had a teaching career in Newton with many wonderful adventures that I did not dream of when I graduated from high school.

I am forever grateful to Socrates Lagios and the City of Newton for taking a chance on me 34 years ago.

When I was in high school, I played football and enjoyed playing music.

I loved coaching Little League and Parkway Youth Football and had the unique opportunity to coach both a Super Bowl Champion and a Stanley Cup Champion (DeOssie and Nilan) when they were 12 years old.

I truly enjoyed coaching and bringing a bunch of people together and making them think as “one,” but as far as a job, I figured I’d work for the phone company after high school graduation like my dad or work at some other municipal job for the City of Boston.

I didn’t apply to college, as there really wasn’t any precedent

Teddy Wenneker

Richard Travers for me as the oldest of five; my dad went to high school and my mother went to the eighth grade.

They had to work to supply extra money for their families as most young people did before the teen-age buying power of the ’50s changed everything.

After my mother declared that “you are going to college” in the middle of July after my high school graduation, I tried in vain to “get into” any college by calling colleges on the phone. It seems as silly as a bucket of hammers now, with the amount of preparation students and parents put into college applications today.

My friend said to me “Trav,

you like coaching and you like music—why don’t you go to Berklee and be a music teacher?”

I went to an audition August 28 and was accepted September 3 and 38 years later, here I am “graduating” with you to my new adventure.

I tell my personal story to underline that life is very unpredictable—many of you have no clue of what you are going to “do” in life, as I felt many years ago.

Wonderful things will happen to you in life, and enjoy and share these accomplishments with everyone you can, such as today after this graduation exercise.

When you hit the tough times in life, stay on course, no matter how tough it can be. Reach out to your family and close friends for comfort.

Sometimes life is so strange; my sister was buried a week before my marriage and my son was born one day after my mother died.

If I didn’t reach out to others, I’m not sure where I would be today.

Technology has brought the world closer than ever, but remember: we humans don’t survive very well alone—human contact is what life’s journey is all about. Hayley—Mom and Dad are very proud of you!

—RICHARD TRAVERS MUSIC TEACHER

ICE CREAM & RESTAURANT family photo

Matt Hills this milestone and best wishes for continued success and happiness.

—MATT HILLS, NEWTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER

Congratulations to the graduating Class of 2010!

You were the Class to “bring down the house!”

Best of luck to you all.

743 Washington Street, Newtonville, MA 02460 617-964-9200 www.cabots.com

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

city statements

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 15

This is an exciting time You are equipped to deal with the world Dear Members of the Class of 2010, What an exciting time this is for you.

You have achieved a great and significant milestone: graduation from Newton North High School.

This is no small feat. Newton North High School can be formidable: it is a large, bustling school; parents, teachers and students set extraordinarily high standards, and the rigors and emotional demands of high school can be daunting.

You have experienced the ups and downs of high school and you made it. Congratulations!

And here’s more good news: having maneuvered your way through, you are stronger, wiser and well-equipped to deal with the challenges of a dynamic, everchanging world.

You have had the privilege of going through a school system that values, above all, excellence, innovation, respect and responsibility.

You have experienced top quality teaching and have learned the value and rewards of hard work and achievement.

You have a principal and teachers who dare to try new things, to take risks, to stumble and persevere. Let them continue to serve as role models as you venture into the world, find your passions and forge your own unique path.

As you embrace the future, remember your Newton values. Carry them forward, as they are gifts to help guide you and for you to share with others.

—CLAIRE SOKOLOFF SCHOOL COMMITTEE CHAIR

School prepared you for what’s coming ahead Class of 2010: Congratulations on your graduation from Newton North.

Education is the bedrock of our community, and we all take pride in your contributions and achievements at Newton North.

I am certain that your education will serve you well in all your future endeavors.

Newton North graduates have gone on to be successful in a large variety of fields, from the sciences to the arts, writing to government and in businesses of all types.

Regardless of what path you choose to pursue next, I know you will be better prepared by your experience at Newton North.

I have confidence in all of you and wish you all great success.

Best Wishes and Congratulations, —SETTI WARREN ’88 MAYOR

The Newtonite wishes everyone a good summer!

courtesy Claire Sokoloff

Claire Sokoloff

Congratulations, Meredith!

We love you!

Mom and Dad Jessica, Ben, and Amanda

Nice job Eddie!

We are so proud of you!

Prateek Allapur

Setti Warren

Love, Mom, Andrew, and Ollie

feature

16 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Remembering the strike of 1970 Alumni recount protest of Vietnam War, Kent State shootings PAUL C. MISHLER ’71 GERRIE CASEY ’70 orty years is a long time, and yet it seems so present in my life and the life of the country. We came of age during the late 1960s and early 1970s. For some of us, those days have become episodes in the memory of our younger days; some of us have tried to integrate the feelings and the ideas of that era into our less-than-youthful lives; and some of us are acutely aware that the issues and problems we were concerned with then are still with us, still demanding attention, and remain activists.

Young people, Americans and those we are fighting, are still dying in wars that began with governmental deception and have no clearly defined end.

The economic conditions facing many Americans are getting worse, especially for those already in trouble, such African Americans. Our educational system is in disarray beset by economic crisis and a loss in democratic hope and vision for what schools and education could be.

This is a good time to reflect on a moment when young people throughout the country said, “Stop!” Stop to the war in Vietnam, and stop to everything we saw that caused that war and prevented us from looking at the ways that war was being carried out.

I arrived at Newton High School in the fall of 1968. Newton was different then, and the high school was different. First, the city was far more economically diverse.

There was a working class Newtonian in Newton, and Gerrie there even were Casey still factories.

There was an old, established African American community, and there was a large immigrant population, mostly Italian.

These communities have faded as housing prices have increased exponentially over the last 40 years.

During the 1950s, Newton began to put special emphasis on its public school system. This, in turn, attracted faculty from the expanding colleges in the Boston area.

As concern over the war in Vietnam spread throughout the college communities, many of us were connected through our families to what was going on in the college campuses.

BY

AND

F

The Peace Movement And then there was the draft.

Every young man as we entered high school knew that in a few short years, we would face the draft board and the possibility of going to war.

We had to think about it. I now think that, even in a cultural context where there was much upheaval and experimentation, we had to be more serious.

Newton had an adult peace movement that was quite significant, often based among Quakers and other church people, Civil Rights sympathizers and university faculty. They were very supportive of those of us who were younger, and we were often their children.

The student movement was al-

Newtonian

In 1970: A student holds a sign urging the U.S. government to withdraw soldiers from Vietnam (above left). A car painted with a pro-war slogan and decorated with American flags (above). A banner supporting peace in Vietnam is lifted as part of a student protest (bottom right). Students gather in front of Newton City Hall (bottom left).

Newtonian

Newtonian

ready active when I came to NHS. There was a Human Rights Club and other networks of students who either politically or culturally (it was the 1960s) were in a rebellious mood. By the fall of 1968, students from NHS were participating in the growing antiwar movement.

Groups of us attended demonstrations in Boston, and we organized buses of high school students to attend the even larger demonstrations in Washington, D.C. This activity was constant and attracting greater support over 1968 through 1969.

The immediate steps that led to the high school strike began with the invasion of Cambodia ordered by President Nixon on April 29, 1970. Protests and demonstrations spread, especially on campuses throughout the country.

On May 4, at a demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio, National Guardsmen opened fire on a student demonstration, killing four students. These killings led to a call for a national student strike.

Then one week later, two more students at Jackson State College, a historically black college in Mississippi, were killed during a demonstration, again by the National Guard.

The Strike Begins Students at Newton High School began our efforts to join the strike in this context.

Those of us who had been active called a meeting in the evening on the front lawn of a student in Newton Centre. About

Newtonian

guest column 25-40 students showed up. It was more than had ever attended a meeting previously.

We argued and planned. Some of us wanted to include all the demands of the National Strike, which included support for the Black Panther Party. Some wanted to keep focused on the war. We agreed to focus on the war. And we elected NHS senior Gerrie Casey to be the Strike spokesperson and coordinator.

The next day, as students gathered between the old buildings, Gerrie spoke from the balcony and called the students to support the strike. And it was on!

With the support of the administration (this shows how deep the alienation from the war went), we had an office and a phone.

The strike was so effective that soon final exams were cancelled.

Our high school was one of the only ones—in contrast to Newton South and Brookline, comparable high schools whose strike was open-ended. We were not going to end it.

We began to organize the two forms of activism that came to characterize this period.

First, students began community outreach, walking though Newton neighborhoods with petitions against the war and campaigning for Father Drinin, who was running for Congress on an anti-war platform.

In the evening, we kept the school open for meetings and

presentations about the war and its impact here and in Vietnam.

We continued to bring students to demonstrations and protests in Boston and elsewhere, including a civil disobedience action in Concord at a corporation involved in military contracts.

The Opposition There was opposition to the strike from those students supporting the war and President Nixon.

One of the most interesting aspects of this opposition was that some of it reflected the social class distinctions always present among the high school students.

Some students believed that the strike reflected the privilege of the college-bound students from more well-off families.

They resented that we could stop school and not suffer any consequences, when they were under far more intense discipline.

(They were also the most likely to be drafted.)

When we called a protest at the high school, which would be joined by feeder marches from the junior high schools (led by some of our younger siblings), this came to a head.

We heard that the opposition was going to attack the protesters. Gerrie and Paul arranged to meet with those opposing our anti-war activities to try to avoid violence.

We both understood that some of the antagonism was based in class anger, not simply the war.

We were successful in convincing them not to hurt the young students, but we also saw that the best way of dealing with this issue in the long run was to help them create their own organization. Thus, we worked with those who opposed us to create an “Anti-Strike Committee.”

As the school year was coming to an end, the announced speaker for graduation, Senator Ted Kennedy (still sitting on the fence regarding the war) pulled out. We were asked to find a replacement.

A group of us decided to ask Auburndale resident and already prominent anti-war figure Howard Zinn to speak. He agreed, and in June, Zinn gave the commencement address.

While some seniors had pasted peace symbols and strike fists on their graduation gowns, others had attached American flags.

During Zinn’s speech, some parents tried to interrupt him by singing the national anthem, and the people running the sound system kept turning it off.

Zinn recently came to prominence again as author of The People’s History of the United States.

His recent death is mourned by many who still believe in the possibility and necessity of peace and justice, here and abroad.

Many of the activists in the strike graduated and went on to the next part of their lives.

Some of us who had more time left continued our activities at the high school, often less dramatic, the next year. But that is another story.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

faculty statements

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 17

Keep old friends, Always stay true to yourself This is your time to discover who you are meet new ones “Make new friends but keep the old, One is silver and the other is gold.”

This old camp song is stuck in my head; perhaps it is stuck somewhere in your head, too.

As you leave Newton North, I hope you can hold its message with you as you move through your life.

My hope is that you leave here with some old friends: kids you started kindergarten with or met in middle school or competed on a team with here at North.

You share all kinds of memories: the funny thing your second grade teacher did, where you were when you heard about 9/11, the excitement of moving on to middle school, the fear you had when you first reached Newton North.

I hope that you feel a bond with these friends through shared experiences and shared conversations (or at least important text messages). These friends are gold; you can’t make any more childhood friends.

Each of you is moving on to your own future. You have imagined what it might look like, but, of course, can’t be sure what it will bring.

One thing I can assure you is that you will meet many new people. I hope that many of them have had different experiences than you and meeting them helps to expand your view of the world.

I can remember that as I left for college I was excited to meet people from different parts of the country. I really enjoyed visiting them at their homes and getting an insider’s view of New Orleans and Idaho.

I know it can be a little scary, but make new friends. As your

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Elisse Ghitelman world expands, let the circle of your friends grow.

Be willing to try new activities, go to new places and get to know the people you find there. They can’t all be friends, but give each one of them time to share their world with you.

You will find new people to connect with, new people who you want to be friends with.

These people are silver; they are also valuable to you.

In this super-connected world, it is easy to keep the old friends.

Their cell numbers are still in your phone; you can text them whenever you’d like.

I have reconnected with my high school classmates (Class of 1973) through Facebook and kept track of other classmates by googling them.

To make new friends, I can find places to go on the internet, but I really have to GO and make the effort to meet new people and get to know them. Go out and find those new friends; learn how other people see the world. Your future is what you make it!

—ELISSE GHITELMAN MATH

Dear Class of 2010, When students come back to visit me after their first, or second, or third year of after high school, what I hear they value most in their new lives is the freedom and the responsibility to live on their own terms.

What advice do I offer you?

Be there for that.

Don’t let college, or gap year, or your first job be something you do to get to the next step. Be there.

Those are the moments when you get to craft yourself

into the person you want to be.

Don’t let them be mere stages on the way to something else: graduate school, a career, marriage.

Don’t give them over to anyone else’s expectations of you.

This is your chance to find your own expectations for yourself.

You’ve all heard the expression “Be true to yourself.”

I would say: this is your time to discover who you are, to decide to whom it is you are going to be true.

I’m excited for you.

—MIKE ZILLES ENGLISH AND WORLD LANGUAGE

Newtonian

Mike Zilles

Be proactive, kind to others Hope you are all blessed with many riches in life Dear Newton North Class of 2010, I offer my sincerest congratulations to each and every one of you. This is an important time.

And so my congratulations come to you less for the achievement of actually graduating and far more for becoming who you’ve become.

You are young men and women, artists, athletes, scientists, historians and humanitarians.

You are the caregivers of tomorrow. For this, we should all be enormously proud.

In trying to come up with my typical array of remotely witty things to say, I have fallen short here. I simply offer—I hope that you will enjoy your life and live it to the fullest.

I hope that you experience a life filled with the many riches that have blessed my own. That

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Todd Young being said, it is no simple task to accomplish this. To find joy, you must be proactive.

You must continue to listen with open ears, study with reason, and work hard for the things

you care about.

To quote my own father, “Know everything you can about the human experience.

“Go to movies. Go to plays.

Have the widest circle of acquaintances you can possibly have without running the risk that you will be indicted.”

For in the end, it is all about people. It’s about caring for one another. It’s about being kind.

I am constantly humbled by my own inability to succeed in providing this unadulterated kindness.

Perhaps this is why I have such great faith in you...each and every one of you.

Do good things. Always. Congratulations.

—TODD YOUNG FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT HEAD

You have tools to be successful in life You did it! You made a big decision. You decided what to do after high school.

Whatever decision you made, have confidence in the fact that you made the best possible decision you could.

I saw you work the process, gather information, use the Career Center, visit, talk to adults,

talk to peers, apply and, ultimately, make a choice—really, you did everything in your power to make the best possible decision.

Now, as you start living that decision, please remember that you definitely have the tools, skills and smarts to be successful no matter what you chose to do after high school.

Whether it’s work, college, the military or some combination of these options, I must remind you of a phrase I heard a wise parent once say, “The only time it matters where you go to college is when you are in high school.”

Though you and I are leaving the current Newton North—the doors of the new Newton North

will always be open to you. And remember, this next episode of your life is just another chapter in the book of your life.

So, if you need some information or support, the staff of Newton North High School will always be there to help you.

—MICHELE KENNEDY COUNSELING file photo

Michele Kennedy

Wish you the best Class of 2010, congratulations on crossing the finish line. Your journey now begins, and you are in control of where and when you reach your destination.

Remember the many lessons you have learned, good and bad, that have led you up to this point.

Continue with the good and learn from your mistakes.

Enhance your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.

Advertise in the Newtonite!

Call Emily Gulotta at 617-559-6274

It has been great working with you and seeing you through this year. I wish you all the best of luck!

“You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own.

And you know what you know.

You are the person who’ll decide where to go.” —Dr. Seuss —JERRY ETIENNE COUNSELING

To Chris Welch, Congratulations on your graduation!

Shira Bleicher

Jerry Etienne

YOU did it, Joe! Congratulations from your biggest fans Dad, Mom, Nicole, David, & Michelle

Love, M and P

Bethany, it has been a joy watching your journey from preschool through high school. We are so proud of the young woman you have developed into and look foward to your further endeavours.

Love, your big family

18 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

A

Abbot, Lucy—U. Pennsylvania Abbott, Alexandra—U. Vermont Abdallah, Ali— American University of Beirut Abramson, Shomari—UMass Dartmouth Agafonova, Victoria Akers, John—year off Albano, Stephen—Framingham State Aleksanyan, Samuel—year off Alekseyev, Andrey—Boston University Al-Jadaani, Danyah— U. Colorado at Boulder Allapur, Prateek—travel Alpert, Samantha— Rhode Island School of Design Alpert, Samantha— Virginia Military Institute Al-Shwauva, Sarah—UMass Amherst Alves, Liam Amaro, Emily Anderson, Melissa—Colby Annas-Lee, Christopher— U. North Carolina School of the Arts Artusa, Patricio—UMass Boston Ascher, Jordan—Yale Assar, Jacqueline—Sarah Lawrence Atocha, Vanessa—Penn. State Azadzoi, Semira—UMass Boston

B

Baia, Christopher—work Bajwa, Tania—Smith Bakan, Joshua—Rutgers Barake, Rose— Worcester Polytechnic Institute Barrera, Frank Barter, Daniel—Carleton Batchelor, Paul—Berklee College of Music Batchelor, William—Guilford Bazile, Castera—Sacred Heart Beatrice, MacKenzie—year off Beeders, Jacob—U. Washington Belamarich, Julia—Colorado College Bell, Sophia—college Bellerose, Katherine—Colby Benner, Robert Bernstein, Alexander—Brandeis Bernstein, Brooke— U. Colorado at Boulder Bernstein, Eleanor—U. Pittsburg Bernstein, Samuel— U. Wisconsin at Madison Bethune, Michaela—George Washington Biancuzzo, Brittany—Worcester State Birnbaum, Nathan—American Bleicher, Shira—Wellesley Blenis, Nickolas Blouin, Andrew—U. Pittsburgh Bolden, Zachary Bopp, Shaun—career education Boudreau, Kevin—UMass Dartmouth Boyko, Diana—Boston University Bradley, Michelle—UMass Amherst Breen, Aidan—Northeastern Bressler, Jonathan—U. Illinois Brophy, Emily—Johnson and Wales Brown, Arielle—year off Bryant, Nicholas Brynie, Caeden—Wellesley Bueno, Lana—Worcester State Bui, Avia—Boston University Bulgakova, Valentina Burdan, Lyudmila—Babson Burgay, Benjamin—work Buzby, Ian—college

C

Caccia, Laurel—U. Connecticut Camerato, Chelsey Campana, Edward—Johnson and Wales Carpenter, Emily Cassidy, Tyler Castillo, Alejandro Castillo, Humberto—UMass Dartmouth Catrambone, Rae—work Cepko, Leah Cestari, Craig—Purdue Chan, Carissa—NYU Chan, Chun—Boston College Chandler, Cameron Chau, David Chen, Ye Cheung, Christopher—UMass Boston Clendenning, Sara— Loyola Marymount U. Cochran, Bryson— Hobart and William Smith Cohen, Ezra—McGill Cohen, Marisa—Connecticut College Cohen, Refael—military Crosbie, Anna—Mount Holyoke Connors, Joseph—U. Vermont Copan, Rae-Marie— Saint Joseph’s College of Maine Correia, Brian—Salem State

Wednesday Coscione, Natalie—Regis Couch, Katie—Salem State Cox, Tyler—college Cronin, Emily—Boston University

D

D’Alleva, Julia—U. Connecticut Daly, John—Mass. Bay Daniels, Jordan— Rochester Institute of Technology DeGregoris, Jonathan— Wyotech Institute at Daytona Demarest, William—travel Denaro, Angela—Boston College Deng, Sherrie—Barnard Denn, Emily—Vassar DePasquale, Vanessa— U. Colorado at Boulder Destin, Ketya Deutsch-Hedenberg, Todd— Westminster College Diamond, Jennifer—Johns Hopkins DiMambro, Antonia—PrattMWP DiPerrio, Lydia DiRoma, Michael DiStefano, Giulia Dixon, Spencer—Humbolt State Domin, Hayley—Regis Donahe, Joseph Donalds, Melissa—Framingham State Donato, James—Bentley Donegan, Andre—Penn. State Donahue, Aleah—Mass. Bay Donohue, Christian Rocco— Boston University Dornfeld, Micah—Bryn Mawr Dow, Alicia—Wheelock Drechsel, Kaeleigh— U. Colorado at Boulder Dudkin, Olga—Bentley Duncan-Brown, Jamie—Clark Duong, Dustin—Clark Dziambo, Julia—Springfield

E

Ebbs, Charles—Northeastern Efstratoudakis, Constantinos— Boston University Eskinazi, Eliana—Washington U.

F

Fahey, Alexandra—Quinnipiac Fathy, Maxwell—Tufts Feinberg, Alexander—Bowdoin Ferguson, Erin— Southern New Hampshire U. Finelli, Sarah—Roger Williams Finkelstein, Ben—post-grad Fitzgerald, Caileigh Fogel, Samuel—U. Pittsburgh Foley, Teresa—Mass. Bay Foo, Kevin—Boston University Ford, Eleanor—Santa Clara Ford, Thomas— Loyola University New Orleans Forster, Melissa Foster, Blake—UMass Amherst Foust, David Friedman, Daniel—Oberlin Fugazzotto, Jessica—Merrimack

G

Gallagher, Kate—Sacred Heart Galvagno, Angela—Regis Gannon, Francis—Chaminade Garcia, Gabriel—UMass Amherst Garvin, Kelsey—Mass. Bay Gately, Bethany—UMass Amherst Gaudes, Sydney—Mass. Bay Gaulin, Elizabeth—U. Connecticut Gault, Matthew—Trinity Gautam, Anuj—U. Connecticut Genuth, Naomi—Harvard Gerekht, Maximillian—college Ghosh, Puloma—Tufts Gillies, Kimberly—Tufts Gillis, Dougal— Rochester Institute of Technology Gitzen, Lucas—Wheaton Giusti, Scott—Plymouth State Gleason, Jake—UMass Lowell Gleason, Susannah—UMass Amherst Glennon, Olivia— Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Gluck, Samantha—Middlebury Goldberg, Emily—U. Vermont Goldenberg, Michael—college Goldstein, Ethan—Clark Golomb-Leavitt, Amalia Gordon, Alyshia Grant, Jasmine Grau, Aaron—college Greene, Shayna—college Grimes-Mallard, Kristie—Howard Gross, Benjamin—U. Vermont

By the Riley Tree: Seniors hang out in their last days of high school. In the fron Atocha, Kourtney Wornum-Parker, Brian Correia, Troy Peterson and Ben Kaloupe

Congratula Class o Guariglia, Kevin—Mass. Bay Gurvis, Aaron—UMass Amherst Guttman, Maya—Goucher Guzman, Vivian—U. Long Island

H

Hackney, Sarah—U. Texas at Austin Hall, Kewon Halloumi, Ali Halwitz, Emma—Marlboro Han, Kevin—MIT Handler, Jeffrey—Brown Hannah, John—Villanova Hanrahan, Michaela—college Haq, Muhammad—Mass. Bay Harris, Connor— Southern New Hampshire U. Harris, Nathan—U. Chicago Hashimoto, Gary—Hofstra Hathaway, Brendan—Boston University Hathaway, John Hemler, Elena—Tufts Henriquez, Adrianna Herscott, Michael— U. Colorado at Boulder Hess-Mahan, Bridget—Emerson Hiller, Charles Hills, Meredith— U. Maryland at College Park Ho, Alexander—McGill Holm, Cecilie—High Point Horne, Atiera—Elms College Horwitz, Jacob—Endicott Howard, Andrew

Howard, Eric—Lasell Howcroft, Hannah—U. Chicago Howe, Timothy— Georgia Institute of Technology Huber, Katrina

J

Jablon, Katherine—U. Connecticut Jackson, Camilla—Beloit Jackson, Dakota—Bryn Mawr Jackson, Kofi—UMass Dartmouth Jacobs, Shaquan Jacobson, Rani—Ithaca Jaillet, Brittany— Slippery Rock U. of Pennsylvania Jasset, Philip—post-grad Jellinek, Hannah— Philips Exeter Academy Jereza, Rachelle—Muhlenberg Jessen, Frederick—college abroad Jessico, Matthew Jones Berasaluce, Borja—Guilford Joseph, Lucia—Tufts

K

Kadambi, Aditya—Riverview School Kalish, Matthew—George Washington Kaloupek, Benjamin—Northeastern Kantar, Rebecca—Harvard Kapiga, Murrata Kaufman, Molly—Bryn Mawr Kayhart, Julia—Castleton State Keefe, Christopher—Temple

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 19

y, June 9, 2010 Marcus, Arital Margolin, Olivia—U. Colorado at Boulder Martin, Alexander—military Martin, Rachel Martinez-Tran, Dilio—UMass Boston Mashal, James—U. Wisconsin at Madison Massing-Schaffer, Sydney— U. Colorado at Boulder Mayanja, Faisal—UMass Dartmouth McAuliffe, Edward—year off McCabe, Kendra McCabe, Kendra—Pace McCarthy, Tara—Bethany College McInerney, Dru—George Mason McKay, Alison—NYU Metallides, Harry—Framingham State Milione, Lauren—Ithaca Miller, Benjamin—NYU Mitchell, Kayonna—undecided Mordi, Nneamaka Moskowitz, Esme— U. Maryland at College Park Mullin, Jenny—Tulane Murphy, Rian—UMass Amherst Myhill, Jake— Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

N

Naugler, Mary—UMass Amherst Newton, Brittney Ng, Michelle— Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Nicolazzo, Nicholas—college Norton, Ashley Notopoulos, Margaret—Skidmore Nsubuga, Yunus

O

O’Neil, Conor—UMass Amherst Oran, Rebecca—Kenyon Ortiz, Lydia

P

Jacob Schwartz

nt are C.J. Bazile, Humberto Castillo and Gabo Garcia. Behind them are Vanessa ek.

ations to the of 2010 Kelley, Gregory—Yale Keltchev, Moustafa Kenslea, Michael—U. Rhode Island Kiddie, Joseph—vocational school Kiley, Benjamin—Suffield Academy Kiley, Samuel—year off Kim, Hannah—NYU King, David—U. Rochester King, Henry—college Kirschner, Philip—Binghamton Klebanov, Nikolai—Tufts Kobe, Julia—MIT Koumantzelis, Sara—year off Krieger, Jay—Fitchburg State Krushal, Shoshana—Wheaton Kugener, Guillaume—McGill Kwak, Grace—Boston College Kwak, Peter—Northwestern Kwak, Sung-Hee Kwan, Ryan—Boston University

L

Labadie, Daimen Lafko, Michael—military LaFlamme, Remy—NYU LaFleche, Adam—college Lamm, Michael— Center for Digital Imaging Arts at B.U. Landers, Kenneth—Davidson Landsberg, Arielle—Bentley Lasell, Katherine—Barnard Lasell, Robert—Tufts Lau, Amanda—Johnson and Wales Lee, Kevin—UMass Amherst

Lee, Matthew—UMass Amherst Lee, Roscoe Lemieux, Emily—Bryn Mawr Leng, Bohan—NYU Leone, Simona—Regis Lerner, Anna Sofia—Boston Ballet Levine, Adele—college Levine, Jonathan—U. Michigan Levoy, Maia—Oberlin Lewis-McNeil, Eve—U. Washington Li, Rui—Mass. Bay Li, Zhaolong Linsky, Ethan— U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Liu, Jennifer—MIT Liu, Stephen—Mass. Bay Loftus, Louis—NYU Long, Jacob—year off Lou, Tiffany Lowe, Monet—Dean Lozada-Oliva, Melissa—Simmons Lu, Broderick—Wentworth Lucken, Alexander—Cornell Luke, Leanne—Simmons Luong, Jeffery—McGill Lurie, Aliza—Emory Ly, Henry—UMass Amherst Lyman, Maxx— Culinary Institute of America

M

Mandel-Folly, Julia—Skidmore March, Nathan—Mass. Bay Marchi-Frazier, Lucas

Pacheco, Monique—Lasell Pang, Edward—Ithaca Paola, Sonia—Simmons Parra, Kimberly Parrish, Thad Parsons, Jeffery— New England Institute of Art Pawska-Orzolek, Abigail— UMass Amherst Payne, Harrison—Syracuse Pearson, William—Mass. Bay Pendergast, Lynn Pepper-Cunningham, Zoe—McGill Peterfreund, Matthew—Hamilton Peterson, Grace—College of Charleston Peterson, Troy—JOBCORP Petry, William—Towson Polgar, Zita—Boston University Portney, Alexandra—Tufts Pourghasemi, Abraham— UMass Dartmouth Preciado, Luis Precopio, Leanne—Bryant

R

Raff, Elliot—Temple Rahall, Mark—work Ravech, Steven— U. Maryland at College Park Ray, Aliza—Bard Reddick, Diamond—Clark Atlanta Reichenbach, Edward Remy, McArthur Ren, Bushi Resnick, Alexis—college Richards, William—Tufts Richardson, Gilberto Robins, Corey— U. Maryland at College Park Robinson, Krystal Rochkind, Jennifer Rogers, Meghan—work Rolfe, Samuel—NYU Rooney, Thomas—work Rosen Weil, Rebecca—U. Arizona Ross, Courtney—Worcester State Rossinow, Samuel—Colby-Sawyer Roth, Nathaniel—Stanford Rothwell, Rosalind—Skidmore Rudie, Ingrid—McGill

S

Safran, Alison—Boston University Sagan, Brett—NYU Saikali, John Paul—Wentworth Samaha, Yasmina—Boston University Saminsky, Michael—college Sangiolo, John—college Sargsyan, Viktoria Sarkisian, Ellen—Boston University

Sauro, Benjamin—Hebron Academy Schaffer, Adam—Emerson Scott, Alexander Shahin, Farrah—Valparaiso U. Shames, Samuel—college Shankar, Shweta—Babson Shapiro, Bernard—Becker Shaw, Jonathan—U. Rhode Island Shearman, Camilla—U. Toronto Shemesh, Tal—travel Sherman, Aaron—UNH Shulman, Daniel Sienkiewicz, Andrew—college Silverman, Eliot—U. Michigan Sim, Sehee—Berklee College of Music Simon, Daniel—Northeastern Simons, Seth—NYU Skelic, Aida—UNH Smalls, Latifah—Livingstone Smith, Daniel—Northeastern Smith, Joey Soran, Alon—NYU Stamboliev, Kroum Stanton, Graham—Northeastern Stearns, Olivia—Syracuse Stein, Daniel—Clark Stein, Jared—year off Stern, Molly—Wesleyan Stern, Zoe—Vassar Still, Nandi—Brandeis Stinehart, Gregory—Mass. Bay Su, Austin—Boston University Sullivan, Teraja—Florida A&M U. Swager, Laura—college Swetschinski, Lucien—Kenyon Syed, Waheed—Boston University Syeda, Haniya—Boston University Sylvester, Jibrie—college Synnott, John— Worcester Polytechnic Institute Szeto, Wang— Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology

T

Tabatabaie, Ariana— U. Maryland at College Park Tabatabaie, Cameron—U. Vermont Talishinsky, Alexander— U. Southern California Talkin, Zoe—UMass Amherst Tanasijevic, Sandra—Boston University Tang, Cindy—Lesley Tene, Ryan Tepper, Joella— Central School of Speech and Drama Terrio, Christina—Wheelock Theodosiou, Alejandro—UMass Boston Thomas, Avery— foundation year at Northeastern Travers, Hayley—Pace Tripathi, Jaya—Amherst College Tsang, Andy—Fitchburg State Tucker, Wynn—Harvard

V

Vaglica, Michael—Hartwick Valley, Laura—UMass Boston Van, Andrew Vega, Chiara Venezia, Carl—UMass Amherst Ventouris, Sophia—Long Island U. Virgilio, Derek—U. Arizona Vona, Ryan—Penn. State

W

Wadsworth, Coleman—year off Walker, Eliana—year off Walter, Grace—Hobart and William Smith Wang, Shen—Lehigh Wasson, Tyler—Champlain Weinfeld, Michael—Northwestern Weisberger, Abigail—Emory Welch, Christopher—George Washington Wells, Parker—U. Connecticut Westlund, Alexander—U. Connecticut Whitehead, Nolan—Hofstra Wittrup, Audrey—U. Michigan Wolyniec, Alyssa—SUNY/Stony Brook Wornum-Parker, Kourtney—college Wu, Hao-Kai—Northwestern

Y

Yang, YiJun—UMass Amherst Young, Maicen—Boston University Yule, Sean—Bridgton Academy

Z

Zeqo, Greta—UMass Boston Zhang, William—Skidmore Zhao, Alicia—Cornell Zhelezarova, Martina— Mass. College of Liberal Arts

COORDINATED BY HILARY BRUMBERG, MARENA COLE, JAY FEINSTEIN AND CALEB GANNON.

awards

20 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Senior prizes, scholarship recipients Margherita Acchione Scholarships Nicholas Nicolazzo Leanne Precopio Diane Antonellis Childcare Scholarship Jennifer Rochkind Celia Arovas English Award Micah Dornfeld Jeffrey M. Banks Memorial Scholarship Kofi Jackson David Barboza Memorial Scholarship Broderick Lu Ron Barndt Scholarship Nathaniel Roth Carlos Barrera Memorial Scholarship Frank Barrera Sandy Bartzak Award Kourtney Wornum-Parker Edward Beatty Book Awards Semira Azadzoi Benjamin Burgay Celia Betts Award Troy Peterson Stephen Bottomley-Murray Road Annex Award Brendan Hathaway Stephen Bottomley Photography Award Rebecca Daniels Robert Braceland Memorial Award Hayley Travers Charles E. Brown Scholarship Awards Caeden Brynie Gregory Kelley Lt. Stafford Leighton Brown Memorial Scholarships Graham Stanton Austin Su Peter Kwak Marjorie Byers Scholarship Julia Mandel-Folly Cambridge Savings Chari-

table Foundation Scholarship Jasmine Grant David Casavant Culinary Arts Scholarship Awards Amanda Lau Edward McAuliffe Alex J. Castoldi Memorial Scholarship: Career and Technical Education Amanda Lau Alex J. Castoldi Memorial Scholarship: Theatre Arts Christopher Annas-Lee Chaffin Educational Fund Scholarship Awards Sarah Al-Shwauva MacKenzie Beatrice Diana Boyko Ian Buzby Humberto Castillo David Chau Natalie Coscione Alicia Dow Dustin Duong Teresa Foley Kate Gallagher Jasmine Grant Vivian Guzman Bridget Hess-Mahan Ateria Horne Grace Kwak Peter Kwak Bohan Leng Adele Levine Eve Lewis-McNeil Zhaolong Li Tiffany Lou Maxx Lyman Kayonna Mitchell Rian Murphy Jake Myhill Nicholas Nicolazzo Lydia Ortiz Sonia Paola Kimberly Parra Diamond Reddick Jonathan Shaw Graham Stanton

Austin Su Teraja Sullivan Waheed Syed Haniya Syeda Wang Szeto Martina Zhelezarova Greg Chan Scholarships Hayley Travers Jonathan DeGregoris Robert Chernis Drama Awards Jordan Ascher Jennifer Diamond David Costanzo Award Samuel Shames Caroline Costello Scholarship Naomi Genuth Theresa L. Cram Scholarship Brittney Newton Seth Daigle Memorial/PTSO Scholarship Alicia Zhao Andrew Dealy Memorial Scholarship Sean Yule Tom DePeter Memorial Scholarship Ariana Tabatabaie Edward Pang Robert Dephoure English Memorial Scholarships Seth Simons Dollars for Scholars Community Volunteer Service Award Matthew Lee Bobby Donahue Scholarship Fund Award Humberto Castillo Dover Girls’ Scholarship Kristie Grimes-Mallard Robert Faulkner Career and Technical Student of the Year Scholarship Tal Shemesh Frank Federico, Jr. Memorial Award Thad Parrish W. Eugene Ferguson Math

Award Shoshana Kruskal Howard Ferguson Memorial Scholarships Michelle Bradley Hao-Kai Wu Peg Festinger Memorial Award Camilla Jackson Margaret Flaherty English Award Rian Murphy Haskell C. Freedman/NTA Scholarship Fund Simona Leone John Fuller/Second Church of Newton Scholarships Rocco Donohue Adele Levine Meredith Ghattas Scholarship Lyudmila Burdan Mary G. Gianferante Awards for Citizenship Kimberly Gillies Faisal Mayanja Golden Hammer Award Broderick Lu Rev. Haywood Scholarship Kofi Jackson Kathleen Henighan Child Studies Achievement Award Alicia Dow Horlick Educational Fund/ ESL Award Zhaolong Lu Charlotte Howard/Claflin School Scholarship Cindy Tang International Club Awards Chun Hin Chan Peter Kwak Elizabeth Jewett World Language Scholarship Camilla Shearman Barbara Killion Awards Michael Lamm Christina Terrio

P

Max Kolb Memorial Award Maxx Lyman Mary Lanigan English Award Nathan Harris Edward Lareau Scholarship Achievement Awards Emily Brophy Avia Bui Henry Lasker Memorial Music Award Paul Batchelor A . Peter Lear y Memorial Scholarship Zita Polgar Deborah E. Lebovidge Scholarship Vanessa Atocha Thomas Leonard Music Scholarships Daniel Friedman Amalia Golomb-Leavitt Baron Hugo Lira Memorial Music Scholarship Nikolai Klebanov Beverley Logan Scholarships Diamond Reddick Martina Zhelzarova Barbara Sulkin Lourie Memorial Scholarships Jake Gleason Susannah Gleason Avery Thomas Richard H. Lovell Scholarships John Daly Theresa Foley Sydney Gaudes Ryan Tene Donna Mandatori Memorial Scholarship Awards Aida Skelic Daniel Smith V. James Marini Scholarships Samantha Alpert Benjamin Gross

SAT Prep in Newton

Are you ready?

Prepare for the May SAT!

Prepare for the June SAT!

Course: #090500069 February 28-April 26, 2009 Weekends Only, 12:00pm-3:00pm

Course: #090600001 March 1 - May 31, 2009 Sundays Only, 2pm-5pm

Location: Princeton Review Office, 1340 Centre St, Newton, MA These are just two of our many schedules. Check out www.PrincetonReview.com for a full listing of our upcoming SAT schedules.

SENATOR CYNTHIA STONE CREEM CONGRATULATES NEWTON NORTH HIGH SCHOOL’S

Should you take the SAT or ACT? Find out by taking a Free PRA Practice Test!

Saturday, March 21, 2009 9:00 AM-1:00 PM In this diagnostic exam, students take a crack at both SAT and ACT questions in one test-taking experience. After taking the PRA, you’ll be able to see projected results for both exams!

To register, visit princetonreview.com/events.

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Enroll in a Princeton Review SAT or ACT prep course between January 10th and March 31st, 2009 and you'll be invited to our webinar, Unlock the Secrets of Paying for College.

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CLASS OF 2010!

* No purchase required. A purchase will not increase your chance of winning. Void where prohibited by law. Must be 13 years of age or older as of start date to enter. Open to legal residents who are students in the contiguous United States and D.C. (excluding Rhode Island), as of the start date set forth in the official rules. Automatic entry occurs with a course purchase however a free mail-in means of entry is available. Sweepstakes starts 01/10/09 and ends 03/31/09. Odds of winning will vary depending on number of eligible entries received.

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awards

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 21

Senior prizes, scholarship recipients Thurgood Marshall Award Vanessa Atocha Massachusetts Elks Scholarships John Daly Alexander Westlund Richard Mechem Award Nikolai Klebanov Miriam Meyer Award Ellen Sarkisian Robert Mitchell Scholarship Naomi Genuth Mitchell Nathanson Memorial Award Wynn Tucker National Achievement Scholarship Program Certificate of Achievement Sarah Hackney National Merit Scholarships Naomi Genuth Nathaniel Roth National Merit Northwestern University Scholarship Michael Weinfeld National Merit Tufts University Scholarship Nikolai Klebanov Newton Aldermen Award Benjamin Miller Newton Educational Secretaries Scholarship Stephen Albano Newton Firefighters Association Scholarship Kendra McCabe Newton High School Scholarship Joseph Connors Newton METCO Academic Achievement Awards Jasmine Grant Ateria Horne Diamond Reddick Latifah Smalls Andre Donegan Newton METCO Academic Excellence Award Kristie Grimes-Mallard Newton METCO Helen and George Bresnahan Award Kristie Grimes-Mallard Newton METCO Pacita D.A. Hayes Memorial Leadership Award Jasmine Grant Newton North High School Honor Roll Scholarship Naomi Genuth Newton North High School Photography Award Edward Pang Newton North Television Production Award Adam Schaffer Newton Police Memorial Scholarship Harry Metallides Newton Rotary Community Scholarships Andre Donegan Rebecca Kantar Newton Rotary Scholarship and Tool Award Humberto Castillo Newton Centre Women’s Club Scholarships Jordan Ascher Emily Denn Newtonian Award Anna Crosbie Newtonite/Helen Smith Scholarship Award Alicia Zhao Dorothy Novack Memorial Scholarships Rae Catrambone Ethan Goldstein Oak Hill/Nonantum Children’s Memorial Scholarships Ryan Kwan Matthew Lee William O’Brien Scholarship Fund Melissa Anderson Phil Ochs/Alan MacDougall Awards Vanessa DePasquale Kate Gallagher Orr Foundation Awards Jordan Ascher Maxwell Fathy John Paul Saikali Michael Saminsky Samuel Shames

Ivan McGovern

Recognition: Graphics teacher Tom Donnellan speaks with senior Scott Giusti at the Career and Technical Vocational Awards Thursday, May 20.

David Outerbridge English Award Theresa Foley Vicki Patterson Memorial Scholarship Naomi Genuth Peltier History Prizes Maxwell Fathy Benjamin Miller Perkins History Prize Arielle Landsberg Rosanne Perlmutter Scholarship Ladan Assar David Phelan World Language Award Benjamin Gross Christopher Polci Memorial Scholarship Edward Pang Ellen Raphael Awards Brittany Biancuzzo Constantinos Efstratoudakis Nathan Alden Robinson Memorial Math Award Jordan Ascher Nathan Alden Robinson Memorial Music Award Xingyu Deng Rockland Charitable Trust Foundation Scholarship Rian Murphy Susan Rosenzweig Scholarship Christina Terrio Giovanni and Louisa Rossi Scholarship Fund John Synnott Martin Rossman Scholarship Nathan Harris Helen M. Ryan Awards Joella Tepper

Kate Gallagher Chuck Sakakini Scholarship Award Scott Giusti Mary Sapienza Award Nathan Harris Tom Schaefer Award Joella Tepper Michael Scheller Memorial Scholarship Sung-Hee Kwak Clinton H. Scovell Fund Scholarships Vanessa Atocha Julia Belamarich Sophia Bell Michelle Bradley Avia Bui Ketya Destin Andre Donegan Rocco Donohue Olivia Glennon Jacob Hortwitz Sung-Hee Kwak Simona Leone Julia Mandel-Folly Lynn Pendergast Courtney Ross Latifah Smalls Andy Tsang Michael Vaglica Ryan Vona Jim Shea Memorial Fund Ezra Cohen David Shoul Memorial Scholarship Castera Bazile Ellen Silk Scholarship Alexander Talishinsky Frank Simmons Award Susannah Gleason Raymond Smith Music Awards

Samantha Gluck Hayley Travers Reginald E. Smith Memorial Award Benjamin Sauro Social Science Club Award Alicia Dow Society of Women Engineers Certificates of Merit Naomi Genuth Adele Levine Jennifer Lu Gail Stein Scholarship Courtney Ross Saul Stern Music Award

Liam Alves Robert B. Swett, Jr. Fund Awards Marisa Cohen Bethany Gately Rani Jacobson Monique Pacheco John Temperley Graphic Arts Award Caileigh Fitzgerald Thornton S. Thomas Poetry Award Puloma Ghosh Richard Thompson EDCO Award Gilberto Richardson True Value English Scholarship Michael Vaglica Daniel Uberti Memorial Scholarship Scott Giusti Maria Libera Vallone Italian Cultural Scholarship Angela Galvagno The Village Bank Auburndale Community Charitable Foundation Scholarships Rebecca Kantar Joella Tepper Waban Improvement Society Student Scholarship Naomi Genuth Alice M. Warren Scholarship Awards Diana Boyko Theresa Foley Grace Kwak Kara Warren Memorial Scholarship Julia Mandel-Folly Vollin B. Wells Business Scholarships Andrew Blouin Leanne Precopio Cameron Tabatabaie Edwin H. Wiest Memorial Scholarship Faisal Mayanja P h i l i p J . Wo l f T h e a t r e Awards Seth Simons Laura Swager Women’s Club of Newton Highlands Scholarships Emily Denn John Paul Saikali Theatre Ink Awards of Special Recognition/Certificates Robert Benner Michaela Bethune Aidan Breen Caeden Brynie Rae Catrambone Kristie Grimes-Mallard Samuel Kiley Nikolai Klebanov Evie Lewis-McNeil Louis Loftus Julia Mandel-Folly Edward McAuliffe Elliot Raff McArthur Remy Corey Robins Ingrid Rudie Hayley Travers Ryan Vona

Go Wynn!

With love and pride from Mom, Zoe, and Charlie

22 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

feature

Congratulations Hannah!

We are all so proud of you and all youʼve accomplished every semester and every season!

With love from your whole family.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Agricultural business has long-reaching effects LEAH CEPKO, KRITSTIE GRIMES-MALLARD AND CAMILLA JACKSON The effect of the American agricultural business on the environment does not stop when the produce leaves the farm.

The packaging, transportation and preservation of food items are equally detrimental to the Earth. Much of the harmful impact on the environment related to the food industry is due to the enormous quantity of dangerous chemicals, namely CO2, emitted.

BY

guest column In terms of global emissions, agriculture is believed to be responsible for 25 percent of the CO2, 65 percent of the methane and 90 percent of the nitrous oxide emitted into the atmosphere, resulting in the greenhouse effect.

Modern processes such as the use of machinery over man and animal power, global trading and pesticides have already made agriculture an energy-intensive process in the developed world.

Over-consumption by the American population has led to what is now a thriving multibillion-dollar business.

The success of this industry is derived from companies satisfying the customers at the expense of the ecosystem. For example, the average American consumes roughly 200 pounds of meat a year.

Another cause of the damaging effects of the environment is due to the far distance food travels from producer to consumer. The average food item travels 1,500 miles to get to the mouth of the consumer.

These transport vehicles additionally contribute to this negative process as 21,000,000 diesel trucks transport food every day.

This means that more gas is released just to compensate for keeping the inside

of the truck from destroying the integrity of the product. This emission is significant in its quantity.

The origin of our food does not always impact people’s decisions to buy them; however, as the global community becomes more conscious of the detrimental impact of CO2 emissions on the environment, the methods by which the food is grown have changed.

Growing one’s own food or buying from local producers is superior because the distance traveled is less and one has the opportunity to discuss and know the growing process of his or her food.

For other items that cannot be easily cultivated, consumers can turn to markets that have generally environmentally superior products, such as the Harvest Co-ops.

Harvest tries to buy local as much as possible, but the struggle is that often the small, cute, family-owned farms nearby cannot accommodate the demand of customers.

Also, there is no ink, plastic or cardboard wasted on advertising for the product, which is good for the environment.

Unlike the normal grocery store, the products and signs at Harvest are very clearly labeled organic, natural, vegan, vegetarian, dairy free, gluten free and whether it contains milk or meat.

How and where we get our food affects not only our bodies but also our environment.

As the world becomes more green and more information is provided about the multi-billion dollar industry, we hope that American consumers will begin to make more conscius decisions regarding their food purchases.

For more information regarding the food industry and consumer choices, please consult the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the movie Food, Inc. Happy eating!

Habits for a Lifetime of Health Newton-Wellesley Hospital encourages you to develop healthy habits.

Eat a balanced diet • Keep active • Stay smoke free

www.nwh.org

Senior Statements Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 23

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Finding a home in high school My life has been characterized by a series of constant and sometimes abrupt changes.

I was born in Hyderabad, India. However, since the age of six, I have been moving around the world with my family.

We have lived in London, Sydney, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Hyderabad and finally here in Newton.

All these moves were wonderful opportunities for me to see the world and experience different cultures, and these are lessons and memories that I will forever cherish.

I have had to join new schools in each city, make new friends and get acclimated to different situations. At times this was difficult, especially whenever I had to pick up my bags and leave my friends.

I remember the day my parents informed me that we were moving from Chicago to Hyderabad, my birthplace in India. I was only 10 years old, and after having made many close friends during my time in Chicago, I was immediately devastated by the thought of having to leave them and start my life over in another city, once again.

I locked myself in the walk-in closet and refused to come out until my parents promised me

that we wouldn’t have to move once again, and that we could continue living in Chicago.

Eventually, my parents were able to placate me and the next two years in India were some of the best in my life.

Looking back on my time at this school, I’m struck by the changes that I have undergone and the ways in which I have been shaped, both socially and intellectually.

I have done things that I had never had the opportunity to do before I got to North, and at the same time, I have learned to deal with both my successes and failures with my head held high.

Now, when I look back on my life, there is one period of time that sticks out in my mind. The five years that I have lived in Newton have been a much-needed point of stability for me.

I have been able to grow into a better person because of my experience at Newton North and all the support I have gotten from the people I have met here.

Newton North provided me with a safe, secure and welcoming atmosphere to grow as a person and experiment with my interests. It allowed me to flourish as a student and as a teenager.

All the teachers I have interacted with, the various clubs

Newtonian

Prateek Allapur I have been a member of, the school trips I have gone on and most of my peers have been defining features of my time at North.

I am grateful for all the great experiences I have had at North, as well as the supporting nature of all the people in this school.

Next year will be a big leap for me, leaving my comfort zone at North and venturing out into the world. However, I get comfort in knowing that Newton North has prepared me well, making me a confident individual.

—PRATEEK ALLAPUR

North worth a thousand words My time at Newton North has been at times: abashed, abhorrent, abnormal, abrasive, absorbing, absurd, acceptable, adaptable, adventurous, afraid, aggressive, agonizing, agreeable, amazing, ambitious, angry, annoying, anxious, apathetic, arrogant, ashamed, astonishing, attractive, auspicious, available, average, awake, aware, awesome, awful, bad, barbarous, bashful, bawdy, beautiful, befitting, beneficial, berserk, bewildered, bitter, bored, brief, bright, bustling, busy, calculating, callous, calm, capable, capricious, careful, careless, caring, cautious, ceaseless, certain, changeable, cloistered, cloudy, closed, cluttered, cold, colorful, colossal, combative, comfortable, common, complex, concerned, confused, conscious, cool, cooperative, courageous, cowardly, crabby, creepy, crowded, cruel, cuddly, cultured, cumbersome, curious, daily, damaging, damp, dangerous, dashing, dazzling, dead, deafening, dear, defective, defiant, delicate, delicious, delightful, delirious, depressed, deranged, descriptive, determined, different, difficult, diligent, direful, dirty, disagreeable, disastrous, disgusted, dis-

Gabe Dreyer

Ezra Cohen gusting, dispensable, distinct, disturbed, domineering, doubtful, drab, dreary, dry, dull, dusty, efficacious, eminent, empty, enchanting, encouraging, endurable, energetic, enormous, entertaining, enthusiastic, erratic, ethereal, evanescent, excellent, excited, exciting, exclusive, fabulous, faint, fair, fallacious, false, familiar, fantastic, faulty, fearful, feeble, frantic, free, frequent, fresh, fretful, friendly, frightening, full, fumbling, glorious,

good, goofy, groovy, grotesque, grouchy, gruesome, grumpy, guarded, habitual, hallowed, harsh, hateful, healthy, heavenly, heavy, hellish, helpless, hesitant, hideous, high, hilarious, hollow, immense, imminent, imperfect, impolite, important, impossible, incandescent, inconclusive, industrious, incredible, jumbled, juvenile, labored, lackadaisical, lacking, lewd, likeable, literate, lonely, long, loud, maddening, magnificent, majestic, mature, mean, moldy, momentous, muddled, mundane, mysterious, necessary, needless, nervous, noisy, normal, obnoxious, obscene, observant, odd, old, optimal, ordinary, organic, outrageous, painful, pathetic, peaceful, penitent, periodic, permissible, perpetual, pleasant, pointless, productive, profuse, psychotic, public, puzzling, quarrelsome, questionable, quick, quiet, quirky, quixotic, quizzical, racial, ragged, rainy, rambunctious, rampant, real, sad, safe, satisfying, scary, scattered, scintillating, shallow, shocking, short, shrill, silly, simplistic, sincere, smart, smelly, smiling, spiteful, splendid, steady, stereotyped, sticky, stimulating, strange, stupendous, stupid, superficial, su-

Incredible memories made here

Fight the machine To quote a wise man: “Sometimes a man gets to feeling like a machine, and that ain’t no way to feel.”

We’ve all felt this way at one time or another. The fact is, in just four years, we’ve evolved from dumb, short children into conscious, slightly taller adults.

It has been a remarkable transformation, but not an easy one. If you’ll recall: high school is difficult. Our lives have been consumed by the rigors of intense academics, a myriad of extracurriculars, and our boring and stupid social lives.

College has demeaned us; it has tempted us to believe that each of our accomplishments has meaning only in the words used to describe it.

Worst of all, we’ve had to get up at six in the morning. I mean, come on.

High school, in spite of its many virtues, has forced us to compromise for real. And now that we have conquered the place, the time has come to reject the compromise!

Your humanity transcends the various criteria people use to judge it, and it transcends anything high school has to offer. Understanding this is cathartic. But part of this catharsis comes in realizing that you can choose what to take away from your years in high school.

We’ve each experienced both failure and success in our time here. In this lil’ corner of the universe obsessed with ranking and judgment, we have inevitably suffered a disappointment or two (or five) for every achievement.

But we can choose whether we want to remember the five classes that tried us, or the one that made us see the world differently. We can choose to remember those rare and exciting moments when we experienced our own transition from childhood to adulthood.

In the end, we have to let the setbacks inform our experience of the successes rather than overwhelm it. preme, swanky, tasteful, tasteless, tasty, tedious, telling, temporary, tense, tenuous, terrible, terrific, tested, therapeutic, thoughtless, threatening, tremendous, tricky, unaccountable, unbecoming, uncovered, understood, undesirable, unhealthy, uninterested, unique, unkempt, unknown, un-

Teddy Wenneker

Jordan Ascher I could go on for whole sentences about all the parts of high school I’ve found unpleasant. Sentences, by god!

But I can also point to a few moments that have really made me who I am: the first time my band played a show, opening night of the play I co-directed.

Even on a simpler level: the series of songs I wrote about my favorite foods, that one horrible film I’ve watched nine times.

These memories are truly my own. These are joys that cannot possibly be overwhelmed.

The fact is that for some, high school was a gift; for others, a burden. But if we dwell on the disappointments and fail to remember what has made this singular time of our lives special, then we’re basically calling the past four years a loss.

At some point in the future, the things that made high school seem arduous and unpleasant—grades, scores, and such—won’t matter nearly as much as the things that made it remarkable—that one great book, that one cool thing that happened that one time, and yes: your boring and stupid social life.

We must allow these to color our memory. So go forth, youth, and don’t let anyone make you feel like a machine.

—JORDAN ASCHER ruly, unsightly, unsuitable, untidy, unusual, valuable, various, vast, victorious, vigorous, volatile, voracious, vulgar, waiting, whimsical, white, wise, wistful, witty, worried, worthless, wrathful, wretched, zany, zealous, zesty, zippy and zonked.

—EZRA COHEN

A word of advice to my freshman self A letter to my freshman year self: Do not even open your assigned locker in red. It’s pretty gross. Just go forth and adopt one in blue.

Always remember to carry Chapstick and a scrunchie— you’ll need them.

Remember that upperclassmen (even if they have beards) are not that scary and that you shouldn’t try to avoid them at all costs. Know that they often have driver’s licenses—that’s cool.

Try to keep in contact with the people you are friends with now, but don’t be heartbroken if

it doesn’t work out. You’re about to meet a bunch of new people, and just remember that friendships change—four years is a long time.

Overall, don’t worry so much or try so hard to plan. Newton North is going to be really awesome if you chill out and go with the flow. If you make too many definite roadmaps you are going to miss out on a lot of the things that will simply come to you.

If you are ever confronted by a wolf, make yourself look bigger and don’t show it that you’re afraid. In the same vein, learn the skill of projecting courage. It will

definitely come in handy.

Pretend you’re not afraid when you audition for your first show.

Pretend you’re not afraid when you take that math test that you completely forgot to study for.

Pretend you’re not afraid when your friends give you a look when you tell them that you love something weird—they’ll come around eventually.

Confidence, even if it’s a facade, will take you a long way.

Make sure that you always have a sweatshirt in your locker.

Laugh when you hear something funny. Gather a collection of interesting stories that you can dole

out when you have nothing else to say. Please, get better at carrying on conversations.

Above all, don’t be afraid to care about things. Have passion.

Life is so much more exciting when you find something that you love. It may take you a while to find the thing that clicks, but it’s worth searching for.

So, have a fun four years, try to experience everything you can, and remember that it’s okay, even exciting, to be a little overwhelmed sometimes. And remember the thing about the wolves. You never know.

—JENNIFER DIAMOND

family photo

Jennifer Diamond

24 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

senior statements

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Words of wisdom for the underclassmen I have enjoyed the last four years of my life at Newton North.

It may seem cliché, but every day I would wake up happy to be at Newton North because I loved the community that makes this place so special.

Now as a graduate with the Class of 2010, I would like to share some advice with the future Newton North graduates.

Class of 2013, not being a freshman anymore may make you feel like you run the building.

Sorry guys, you are still underclassmen and therefore you don’t run anything.

Your time will come, but embrace that you are no longer the youngest in the building.

I know you have already heard it a thousand times before, but get involved because it will make your time at North a much better experience.

Class of 2012, all I can really preach to you is to not procrastinate. Get everything done in a timely manner because it will come back to bite you. The junior thesis may seem like a dreadful and tedious task, but if you do everything on time, you’ll be fine.

Juniors, you will think the se-

niors force everything that they do. Let them enjoy their time in this school. They have been here for four years and it is their time to shine. Your day will come too; let the seniors enjoy their last year at North.

Class of 2011, the Havahds of North, congratulations! You now run the school. You have been in the school for the past four years and you have earned it. To have the best senior year, come together as a class because this is the last year that you will all have together.

You guys are a great class,

Four years may seem like a long time when you are a freshman, but it’s not. With only a few weeks left before graduation, there are so many things I wish I had done, so many people I could have known had I had more time.

I would have loved to do more with theatre, learn another language, work with TV production, but you cannot do it all. Pick a few things and embrace them.

These are not regrets, but simply realities.

My personal adventure included student government, athletics, clubs and an amazing exchange trip to Paris. It was through these experiences that I learned how to take responsibility, plan events and value friendships. I count among these friends athletes, actors, singers, dancers, filmmakers and intellectuals.

Each day I am amazed by the talent around me.

More important than specific talents, I see people that exhibit humility, grace under pressure and compassion. I think that the welcoming environment at North had something to do with developing these incredible personalities.

All of the statements on these pages came from the heart. Everyone gives different advice, because we all had different experiences. Here are some of mine: Be true to yourself—Don’t give into the system and succumb to the status quo. Feel free to disagree.

Make it your own North— Wear that extravagant costume for Spirit Week. Decorate your

Teddy Wenneker

Rocco Donohue

Tiger Pride is key

Get involved, believe in yourself Yell “’010 All Day! Whash Good?!” and receive an overwhelming and always positive response (unless you’re around those silly juniors).

Throw up ‘10’ on your fingers in a picture, and see multiple ‘likes’ on Facebook a few hours later.

Mention that you will be bringing down the house, that your high school class is legendary, that you had open campus as a sophomore, and make a friend.

Everything will be different next year. If you say “’010 all day” you will get strange looks. If you come back to visit North, you will see a pile of dirt. Will all of our memories be erased with the destruction of a building?

No, of course not. You will still have two important pillars: a strong education and an everlasting support system. Whether or not you dreaded going to class or pulling all nighters just to finish that English paper on Huckleberry Finn, that chemistry problem set, or that Candide PowerPoint, North has, believe it or not prepared us well for “the real world.”

Everyone who stands on that podium in a few weeks has the ability to hold an intellectual discussion, to start a business, to make a change. Everyone will make their dreams and goals come true. There is a world of opportunity out there, so don’t be afraid to try something because you think you may fail. We have all thought we were not goodlooking enough, smart enough, or popular enough.

Get over it. Believe in yourself.

but please work on your dance planning, the “Club Banga” was terrible. Leave your mark on the school. Live everyday as a senior to the fullest: it will be over before you know it. Enjoy your senior year, you have earned it!

Class of 2010, we came in as little freshmen who didn’t know where we fit in, and we exit leaving our mark on Newton North history by being the last class to graduate from this building.

Thank you for making the last four years the greatest years of my life.

—ROCCO DONOHUE

It will be tough to let North go

family photo

Eliana Eskinazi friend’s locker on his/her birthday.

Don’t wait—Carpe Diem, seriously. I can’t stress enough that four years goes by very quickly.

Arrive an empty slate—Be open to new opportunities, new adventures. Take risks. Get involved!

See people for who they are— You probably looked at the center spread of colleges a few minutes ago. Look not at the university name, but at the person. Maybe they gave you a ride home that rainy day, or lent you a sweatshirt.

Smile—This simple gesture can seriously turn someone’s day around. High-fives and hugs are great as well. Oh, and dance parties.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you do in the future.

I hope you find the same spirit and the same sense of family that you have had here at North.

Take each challenge head on, embrace it, and own it. Take that Tiger Pride with you. And, don’t stop believing in yourself. Keep in touch!

—ELIANA ESKINAZI

Looking back on these last four years at North, it will be tough to let it go. Newton North has been a part of my life since I was little.

I grew up running around the halls, going to all the games, and just falling in love with the walls that have surrounded me the past four years.

I remember freshman year football, meeting all the boys and just getting to become a Newton North Tiger, then fast-forwarding all the way to this past winter where I led the sixth-man section during each basketball game.

I have had experiences that I will remember for a lifetime. I can truly say that I never got lost in the freshman trap or wandered my way up to fifth floor yellow. I strut my way down Main Street high-fiving kids I didn’t know freshman year.

I believe I got the most out of my experiences. I truly loved bleeding black and orange. I worked hard every moment I stepped on those fields, whether it was practice or games. I loved the time I had to be a Tiger.

At times, over-emotion was a problem, but that is what a Tiger is; you got to have passion for what you do, and I had that.

I have loved being a Tiger and showing my Tiger Pride. Sometimes I wish I had been on girls’ teams just for the team spirit.

One of the most memorable moments would have to be this year, during the basketball playoffs. It was a home game versus Catholic Memorial, a true competitor but the sixth-man was there for our team.

Just looking up at the sea of orange and black about to do the rollercoaster was amazing.

Teddy Wenneker

Scott Giusti At the ending moments of the game my boy gkels (Greg Kelley) looked up and pointed at us, and you knew that as a group, Tiger Nation had won the game. And as we stormed the court, I think I was actually as sweaty as some of the players on the court to be completely honest with you.

North has really helped me become the person I am today.

I couldn’t have asked for better teachers. I developed a connection with each of them, and for that I thank them for helping me succeed academically.

Newton North has a history that my classmates and I have now become a part of, and will most definitely not be forgotten.

The Class of 2010 has really become a family during our tenure, and it will be sad leaving our home and memories in the ruble that is soon to be the old Newton North. ’010 all time naw whash good?

—SCOTT GIUSTI

High school experience is like a ride in an elevator I once wrote a song about an elevator. To an elevator, actually.

It was not my best work—if a Newtonite editor had seen it, I would not have been allowed to write this piece—but I recently remembered what made me write this song in the first place.

It’s the fact that elevators are strange and fascinating pieces.

They are little social pressurecookers, suspended between floors, that force you into momentary intimacy with complete strangers then spit you back out into the world.

You step into an elevator and immediately you form relationships with the people inside.

The man with the Snoopy tie and the toupee holds the door for you and becomes, briefly, your best friend; the woman with the apple-cider smell and the faint moustache steps on your toe and becomes your worst enemy. Maybe you laugh at a joke, maybe you blush at accidental

eye contact, maybe you find your true love only to lose her on the seventh floor.

Then you come to your destination and step back onto solid ground. Maybe you toss a goodbye over your shoulder, if you are a Midwesterner or an exceptionally friendly New Englander. It’s a unique experience.

Or maybe not. I remembered my fascination with elevators (and the resulting ill-fated song) just recently, as I was contemplating the strange feeling that comes with finding yourself at the very end of high school—a mixture of regret, relief and contentment.

I realized that I recognized this feeling. It was the feeling of stepping off an elevator after a minute or so of forced closeness with anonymous people—the split second when you are still thinking about the Snoopy tie or the woman’s moustache, taking stock of the relationships you hastily formed.

Jacob Schwartz

Nathan Harris Now, at the end of high school, I take stock of the past four years.

What happened here? Surely it’s a question worth asking.

Of course, there are many answers, but I’ll offer one: for four years, we crammed ourselves

into a (relatively) tiny space and achieved a kind of wonderful chance intimacy that I believe is very rare outside of high schools and elevators.

Every time we answered each other’s questions in class, waved to each other in the hallway, passed a basketball in gym class, or shared our French fries at lunch, we added to the thick web of relationships that bind us together and help give our lives shape and color and nuance.

It remains to be seen which of these relationships will dissolve with time and which will stick around.

But I hope everyone can appreciate this bizarre and thoroughly groovy thing that has happened to us these past four years—this unusual closeness that we’ve attained in this big brick elevator.

Newton North quietly and humbly bears the mark of every interaction that has taken place within its walls, long after those

interactions have been forgotten by the people involved.

It has received and relinquished us and witnessed our flurry of relationships. I would thank it in a song, but that did not work out well the first time.

Here it is, without music. First, thank you to the building that manages to contain a great mass of students and the endlessly multiplying connections between them.

Second, and more important, thanks to the teachers.

I’ll put the extended elevator metaphor to rest (it’s time, don’t you think?) so that I can express as clearly as possible the tremendous gratitude I have towards every single teacher I have had. I am honored that you consider it a worthwhile pursuit to spend your lives feeding the hungry brains of my generation.

To my classmates: good luck out there. It’s been a good time.

—NATHAN HARRIS

senior statements

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 25

Guide to a successful graduation from high school The basics: 900 pencils + 24 binders (depending on their quality and amount of wear) + 5,821 sheets of printer paper + 3 toner cartridges + 76 one-pound bags of whole bean coffee + 172 staples + 2 sets of colorful binder dividers + 8 black Sharpies + 38 notebooks + 3 rolls of hole reenforcers (not actually useful) + 2 calculators + 5 highlighters + 19 poster boards + 2 GB of word documents + 100 credits + $35.00 for a Cap and Gown = 1 Newton North Diploma.

Sleeping is key—in the long run, it is absolutely worth it to leave something unfinished and go to bed. With five or more academic classes, sometimes it is just not possible to do everything.

Good food is important, especially if you are under stress. Try the pastrami sub at Newtonville Pizza, the General Gao’s Chicken Luncheon Special at Lobster Wok, and definitely the Barbeque Cheddar Chicken Panini at Great Harvest.

Try to find a study location.

In the new school, explore. Find yourself a couch that you can nap on, or where you can read or finish homework.

Don’t fear the library. In the past year it has become a more popular place than Main Street.

Do not underestimate Sporcle—it is just as much a part of your education as your classes are.

Find a cool teacher to TA for.

I think everyone needs to experience the difficulty of grading a test. It makes you appreciate the amount of work your teachers really do.

Few words of caution: Use coins in vending machines. They have a voracious appetite for bills and a reluctance to give you what you want in return.

Do not rely on the library computers to successfully print documents or to open PDF files.

Along the same lines, don’t forget to log out of your accounts when you leave.

Check to see if the doors open both ways before exiting in nonconventional locations: being

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Nik Klebanov locked out is not fun.

Applying to college: make friends with your guidance counselor. Pay attention to deadlines.

Do not worry about the SAT exams for admissions. There is really no difference between a 2130 and a 2350. Do not stock up on

Finding your place at North Very early in the morning, the building is quiet. I used to go in early mornings sophomore year for a.m. swim and as I walked up the randomly-staggered stairs that lead up to Main Street I’d see the brick floor vanish almost to a point and wonder at its unusual emptiness.

Most of the times, Main Street is filled with jostling people, yells echoing off the brightly painted ductwork. Students course up onto Main Street, flow through, angle off towards back hallways, stairways, bathrooms, lockers, boyfriends, girlfriends, fights, the whole of the school summarized in that flow.

But there are divisions. Where people stop is sharply defined.

There is an almost liminal tension that one feels between the split of the groups—the ‘red people’ and ‘green people’ and ‘blue people’—and the cohesion that the very setup forces.

The red people and the yellow people have to be orange for a little bit if they want to go to the library.

Newtonian

Ben Miller The theater kids outside the little theatre and the ‘artsy’ people in green are right up next to the athletes in blue. Miss a mark and you’ll be gently directed back to where you belong. But proximity breeds coalition, or at least an ease and a general pleasantness.

It’s a conflict that is fascinating

to observe. A tension. An asymmetry. In our quirky overcrowded pulling-at-the-edges crazy-1970’s corner-cutting building, which now spits us out into a quirky overcrowded pulling-at-the-edges world, we embrace asymmetry of all kinds, or at least genuinely try to. Which is what makes North, in my opinion, special.

I believe that success here, quirky and interesting success, strongly correlates to success in the future. What makes me happy to leave and look back on my four years here with faintly sentimental pride (with the requisite splotches of embarrassment) is that I’ve accomplished something. Most everyone in the Class of 2010 has.

To everyone reading this who still has time left: make the choice to do something interesting and not just something you think you should do. It works better here, and, increasingly, out there as well. Step out of the color and into the flow. Do something interesting. It’s better that way...

—BEN MILLER

bricks from the Princeton Review or Kaplan: the huge preparation books are not nearly as helpful as your own vocab flash cards.

Write all of your essay drafts over the summer. Ask at least five people to read them; two should be English teachers. Ask teachers to write recommendations in advance, and remind them often.

They appreciate the heads-up.

Don’t do clubs just to put the name on your resume. A long term hobby or interest is better than lots of small things just to impress the admissions staff.

Get good grades, but don’t kill yourself over your GPA. Seventy percent is the luck of the draw.

To do before you graduate: Make friends with a custodian.

Get to the Theatre Ink couch during lunch early to claim your spot. Sign a music stand with your name.

Complete a Sporcle quiz with 100%. Buy lunch in Newtonville and eat in Washington Park. Organize a game of Assassin. Go to science team buzzing practice on

a Friday night.

Ask a housemaster to let you use the walkie-talkie. Find the room where Wednesday announcements are broadcast.

Read a book for pleasure.

Drive to school very early to get an elite parking space. Find all the spots with good cell phone coverage. Write a letter to yourself and plan to open it twenty years later. Manipulate your frees so that E block is yours. Play Guitar Hero with Mr. Hamel. Visit your middle school. Hear Casey Scheurell play “September” on the drums.

To the class of 2010: I could become nostalgic, bittersweet and lofty, talking about how we are about to venture into new horizons and branch out into our own separate paths to success with no way to turn back.

I would like to reassure you that even when we leave for our separate jobs and colleges, our friendships will last.

Remember: ’010 ALL DAY. —NIK KLEBANOV

Good luck to you Look forward to creating world for generations to follow My time at Newton North High School has been interesting.

Not interesting in a bad way, but interesting in the best of ways.

I have known some of the class of 2010 since kindergarten, and some since before that.

I have enjoyed growing up here, and we must all move on to grow and learn in other places.

I look forward to the world we will create for our future generations; hopefully, it will be a good one.

Good luck, and don’t grow down.

—BRENDAN MICHAEL HATHAWAY

Newtonian

Brendan Hathaway

Reflecting on experiences, regrets at Newton North All of the things forgotten, never done, discovered after four years at this school I heard that at North: ◆ There’s great athletics! ◆ There’s great theatre! ◆ There’s lots of opportunity. ◆ There’s pressure. ◆ There’s fungus.

After four years I found out: ◆ It’s all pretty true.

As a freshman: ◆ I thought all of the upperclassmen were ridiculously beautiful, talented, smart and sure of themselves. ◆ I was incredibly insecure, clumsy, awkward and unsure of myself. ◆ My favorite book was Catcher in the Rye because Holden knew what was up.

Over the past four years I have: ◆Been to an athletic event once. ◆ Been in the pool twice. ◆ Turned a third of all my assignments in late. ◆ Opened my locker approximately 735 times. ◆ Eaten approximately 435 free slices of bread from Great Harvest. ◆ Been late to A-block approximately 212 times. ◆ Done 32 gym make-ups. ◆ Been witness to four bomb

threats. ◆ Been in one movie about an underground high school cheating ring.

I never: ◆ Learned how to drive. ◆ Went on an exchange. ◆ Took an AP. ◆ Climbed the rock wall in the SOA. ◆ Went to fifth-floor Yellow. ◆ Went on the roof. ◆ Got a Sixth Man shirt (’cause I didn’t know about the Facebook group.) ◆ Got any sort of Tiger Pride apparel (’cause I’m lazy.) ◆ Streaked Main Street.

Throughout high school, I wish I spent less time: ◆ On Facebook. ◆ Worrying about what other people think. ◆ Worrying about my future. ◆ Over thinking things. ◆ Trying to impress people. ◆ Procrastinating. ◆ Being negative —it never helps.

I want to forget: ◆ Getting pantsed in the middle of Main Street (Thank you, Ryan Tene).

I’ve already forgotten: ◆ How to do homework.

◆ How to put thoughts together in an essay (you get this now?). ◆ How to get up on time. ◆ Where I’ve put my creative writing assignment.

So long, farewell to: ◆ The not-so -magnificent paintings that decorate the school. ◆ The water fountain in third floor purple. So crisp and delicious! ◆ The staircase that tells me I’ve reached the final level and that I’ve gained some amount of points. ◆ The trophy case on the third floor that has that really convenient mirror behind it where I slyly (or not so slyly) check myself out. ◆ Main Street. ◆ The little theatre. ◆ The TV studio. ◆ Room 311—the best homeroom. ◆ Production weeks. ◆The couch in the photo room. ◆ Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from the Tiger’s Loft. ◆ X-block. ◆ The N-rule. ◆ The elevator I use without

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Melissa Lozada-Oliva permission. (That’s riiiiiight) ◆ Sleeping between library shelves. ◆ Eating outside on the grass with the company of friends, stray food trays, cigarette butts, and construction. ◆ Adolescence (Peace out, Holden). ◆ This building—my stinky, grimy, decaying home and friend.

Howdy, Hello to: ◆ The negative (finding a job, debt, money, taxes, survival).

◆ The positive (independence, new people, new places, new experiences.)

As a senior, I am: ◆ Less insecure, less awkward, and a little more sure of myself. ◆ Still pretty clumsy. ◆ Ready to dip. ◆ A little lost. ◆ Lazy as hell. ◆ Not as nostalgic or sad as I thought I would feel. ◆ Happy about the last four years and excited about the next four.

The class of ’10 is: ◆ Lazy as hell (just ‘cause we Senyuhz) ◆ Ready to move on. ◆ Out here all day! ◆ Whash Good! ◆BRINGIN’ DOWN DIS HOUSE. ◆ Ridiculously beautiful, talented, smart and sure of themselves at least in the eyes of the underclassmen. ◆ Going to do great things. ◆ Going to miss each other. ◆ Going to see each other soon. ◆ Going to be fine.

Congratulations, class of 2010.

—MELISSA LOZADA-OLIVA

26 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

senior statements

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tiger Football taught maturity, teamwork I grew up in the uptown part of New Orleans, Lousiana. It was a tough place to live. In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded my neighborhood.

After Katrina, I was shipped to Newton and went to Bigelow.

I met a lot of good people and joined the football and track teams.

My freshman year was kind of fun. My friends were in most of my classes, and if they weren’t in there I always made new friends because that’s always good to do.

Football was fun too freshman year, because once again I met new people and the coaches were pushing us hard to have a good season, and we did.

I had a small problem after one of our games where I cursed out the head coach because I had anger problems too. To this day, I still regret cursing him out in front of lots of people. So I could not play the only game we had under the lights.

I felt so bad because I felt like I let my team down that day.

Then I told the whole team I was sorry that I let them down and the coaches.

After that it was indoor track season.

Indoor was very hard freshman year because I felt like I wasn’t in shape to keep up with all of the varsity players.

I made try-outs the first week and made it on the varsity team, I was so proud of myself because I thought I wasn’t going to make it.

I learned that whenever I needed help with something, I knew I could go to a staff member. This was important freshman year because the school was big and I didn’t know where I was going.

My sophomore year was okay.

It was preseason for football, and I came back from New Orleans too late, so the coaches really didn’t notice me.

I was thinking about quitting because I thought I was going to make the varsity team. It was time to go to school and everybody was talking about how only

Make new friends While at Newton North, I have had the opportunity to make friends with all different kinds of people.

From playing on the volleyball team to debating at Model UN or skiing uphill, I have been exposed to many different kinds of people.

Newtonian

Zoe Pepper-Cunningham

The variety in the people I meet and am able to have conversations with and spend time with has been vital to my Newton North experience.

The diversity in friends enriches my own perspective on life by seeing different point of views and perceptions.

These friends have taught me different things from where to find the best Indian restaurant in Boston, to all I ever wanted to know about Lil’ Wayne, the wonders of classical music and the pure joy in sitting at home with your friends watching a romantic comedy and eating Thai food.

The most important lesson I have taken away from my experience at North is that you have everything to gain and nothing to lose from maybe going outside your comfort zone and making friends not with who you think you should be friends with, but who interests and inspires you.

—ZOE PEPPER-CUNNINGHAM

Newtonian

Troy Peterson some people made varsity and I didn’t make it, so I was upset because everybody was asking why I didn’t make it because I was supposed to be so good at football.

But the coaches found out that JV was too easy for me. So the

one awkward conversation followed by another as I navigated my way from one side of the party to the other, barely remembering anyone who came up to me asking for a hug.

My brother and I stayed close, trying to save each other from the one particular mom who scared the heck out of us. Scenes from my childhood came crashing back to me, as I remembered getting my first Pokemon card and playing in my basement with my first best friend, while other parts of those ancient years remained hazy.

I met my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Beaty, for the first time in 10 years and she still remembered me, even though the person in her 1997 class picture didn’t remotely resemble the six foot two senior standing in front of her. By the end of the night, I knew a few more names, even though many of my best childhood friends were there. As the party faded to an end, it struck me.

I felt a connection to these strangers I had spent the night trying to avoid. I had not thought about many of these people for years, but I realized that they are a large part of who I am today.

We went to school together, learned many of life’s impor-

football games because I hurt my ankle.

I felt like I wasn’t a part of my team, and it really hurt me deep down inside. My classes, teachers and fellow students were great during senior year.

Looking back at freshman year really shows how much I have changed, grown up and matured.

I learned that my ninth grade behavior was unnecessary, and that I need to think before I speak. I wish I knew then what I know now.

I noticed that when I go home to New Orleans; for the break, I would come back frustrated.

I love New Orleans but when I come back to Newton North I often have problems with anger.

However after spending time in Newton for a while, I become myself again.

Newton North brings out the best in me. It was a fun ride all four years and it will be hard to say goodbye. Newton North is a good school with good people.

—TROY PETERSON

Memories of North will last When I was a freshman, I felt nervous about coming to Newton North High School. I was worried about having a lot of homework and working hard in order to stay here at Newton North.

I took a positive attitude because I wanted to do well. I tried many different classes like EDCO self-contained English and history classes, mainstream math and science classes, and voc-tech classes like graphic arts and word processing.

This experience gave me many great memories.

Acting in plays for classes, hanging out and chatting in the yellow area with my deaf friends, playing EDCO basketball, sophomore sleepover, taking field trips to places like bowling and Fenway Park, junior prom, presenting at Deaf Culture Day and many other

People make us who we are For most of us, this old, crummy, falling apart building was just that; a place we were told to come for the last four years.

In my case, I never felt any love towards this building.

That barely changed from the first day I walked into Newton North, a puny freshman, to the days I walked around this place as a grown up, rocking-a-beard senior.

Some of us love this place, some of us not so much, but wherever we fall, we have done something amazing together.

After four roller-coaster years, we are about to leave this school together. Even as we leave Newton North behind, this school will always be a part of who we are, whether we like it or not.

I recently went to my Mason-Rice Elementary School reunion (even though I moved on to bigger and better things at Ward Elementary school after second grade) and reintroduced myself to the first classmates I ever had. I had been looking forward to this reunion for weeks ever since my family received the invitation.

The night was filled with

third game of the season, they finally put me in at running back for the varsity team, and I did so well that I made it in the papers the next day.

Everybody was so proud of me because they knew that I was going to make the varsity team.

So as a sophomore on varsity, I helped the team finish off with a good season and beat Brookline.

Junior year was my most difficult year.

Biology was difficult because I did not understand it.

Luckily I had a good teacher that kept me motivated and pushed me to do well.

Junior year football was great.

The players and the coaches all stuck together.

I learned to always stick together during hard times. We completed one of our goals during the football season, which was to beat Brookline.

Coming into senior year, I came back from New Orleans with a better attitude. However, I only got to play two and a half

family photo

Jared Stein tant lessons together and will always by bound by the photographs and distant memories we share.

As we leave this school, we might not realize how much that teacher who went out of their way for us, or the club that we loved, or the sports team we committed countless hours to played a part in our lives. If we don’t feel connected to this building and the people at this school now, we will.

As cliché as it sounds, we will always be Tigers.

Thank you Newton North.

—JARED STEIN

Newtonian

Kayonna Mitchell memories will stay with me as I move on.

I have waited a long time to be a senior, and now that I am, it is hard to believe I made it, but I worked hard and never

gave up.

After graduation, I will be going to college at either Gallaudet University or RIT/NTID (Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technology Institute of the Deaf) to major in either Graphic Arts or Art. I would not have been able to do this without the help of Dr. Edward Mulligan, the EDCO Program Director.

He worked hard to make sure I had interpreters in my classes, even coming himself if there was no one else available, and planned a lot of activities for us.

Because of him and this school, I learned a lot here and had a great time doing it!

I leave here in hopes that the future graduating classes will continue going to class, doing well and trying their best.

—KAYONNA MITCHELL

Managing freedoms Greetings, classmates. This is the next step. It seems huge now, but one must remember that going from high school to post-secondary education, work, or wherever you are going, is one step of many. The changes in each of us along the way have been marked.

If I were exposed during ninth grade to the same opportunities I have been recently, I would no doubt have shied away. Now I have embraced many of those opportunities, all of which add to my life in ways I would not have imagined in ninth grade.

I have no doubt that the great environment in Newton North has changed us all in much the same way.

One way it changed me came during the FIRST World Championship in Atlanta. In Atlanta, the Ligerbots were competing in the world championships of FIRST Robotics. As thrilling as that was, I found that it was also thrilling to be able to make decisions about where I went and what I ate.

If I wanted to go get ice cream at 8 p.m., I was allowed to go down to the lobby and buy ice cream. If I wanted to stay up late with friends playing video games, I did. I had finally found why so many people my age wanted to

Newtonian

Daniel Smith have so much say in their lives.

But despite my desire to make my own decisions, the idea of leaving my protected existence and taking on nearly total personal responsibility is somewhat off-putting.

When you make your personal decisions, there is no one else to blame when something goes wrong. By staying up late to play video games, I had difficulty getting up in time to go to the morning meetings for the team to prepare. Choices have consequences, both good and bad.

So go forth. But don’t forget those who helped you get this far.

In closing, congratulations for what we have all accomplished.

—DANIEL SMITH

senior statements

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 27

Make efforts to respect your classmates One thing that I feel has been getting lost in our generation is respect. At this school, the respect for one another is not as strong as it may seem, and more specifically, on the athletic side of things.

Not to say that Newton North is not one of the best schools to be in, but from my experiences in high school sports, most of our student population is lacking respect.

North has had a strong athletic program for decades, and we have good reason for our Tiger Pride. But it seems lately that that Tiger Pride only extends to the boys’ side of the athletics.

The fall seasons seemed to pass by without a word of protest against the lack of support. Even with the off site games, the football team still had more fans than

the girls’ soccer or field hockey teams. They could have used some extra strength throughout their season.

Maybe their records would have benefited from a confidence boost that comes with hearing classmates behind them, cheering them on.

In the spring, the softball and lacrosse teams have been dominating their conference and blowing away unworthy opponents, like beating Brookline 27-0 in softball and Natick 18-5 in lacrosse.

Where is their support? I understand that fans have to travel even for home games, but how far did people drive to go see the boys’ basketball team play?

These girls are extremely talented and work hard every day to show other schools what it means

to face the Tigers. It is wrong that their efforts should go unnoticed and unappreciated.

I may be biased, but I feel like the difference is clearest in the winter. For boys’ basketball games, our Sixth Man section has been called one of the best in the state. We are strong and loud and clearly show other schools what it looks like to have school pride.

But what about the girls?

Some people can blame it on the fact that most of the games are at the same time in opposite places (one team is at home and one is away), but why not come to all of the home games?

It was one of the hardest things to face when the Amazing NNHS Sixth Man, and some of my friends, walked out before we even began warming up.

I felt my heart sink when I

Pop songs discuss life values Look at life with a certain sense of irony, humility A few nights ago, I was driving alone on Comm. Ave, robotically scanning through the radio. On my third or fourth loop around FM1, I happened upon a satisfactory tune.

It was pop superstar Ke$ha’s club-banging masterpiece “Tik Tok.” As I drove, humming along (singing loudly) with the few verses that I knew (every word), I started to think about the song’s place in our culture.

Ke$ha, like any other influential voice of a generation (Bob Dylan comes to mind), has created a body of work, which by its very popularity, says something about the culture and times in which it was created.

By placing “Tik Tok” at number one on the charts for however many weeks it was there, we as a people made a statement, not only about our generation’s taste, but also about its values.

Now, at first that may seem horrifying, living by the teachings of Ke$ha and other popular artists such as Lil’ Wayne or Lady Gaga.

However, beneath their often superficial, self-aggrandizing, sexual and violent lyrics is a subtle message—don’t take yourself too seriously.

Most of today’s pop music consists of a singer or rapper listing reasons why he or she is the best. Lines such as “don’t compare me ’cause there ain’t nobody near me” is Lil’ Wayne being modest.

One might think that the pub-

Teddy Wenneker

Louis Loftus lic might reject such arrogant and egotistical artists, but the opposite has happened.

We have embraced these artists because we know that their immodesty is an act; they’re not really as good as they say they are, their lives aren’t really going as well as they say they’re going, life isn’t really as wonderful as they say it is, and they know it.

To every good hip-hop, electronica or pop song, there is a genuine sense of irony. Was there really that much difference between when Lil’ Wayne featured T-Pain on “Got Money” and Andy Samberg doing it for SNL on “I’m On a Boat”? Even the artists’ names are funny: Ke$ha, Lil’, Gaga—all hilarious!

From wars to recessions, there’s not all that much to be genuinely happy about these days. It is because we, as a coun-

try and a generation, are further from the glamorous, champagnesoaked, diamond-encrusted, young-money lifestyles we see on MTV than ever before, and we flock to them.

Not only are we escaping our grim reality, we are living large in spite of it.

We are not the first ones to do this. In the face of the 1929 stock market crash, Irving Berlin wrote “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

When Berlin talks about having “lots of dollars, spending every dime, for a wonderful time,” one can almost hear T-Pain singing back “take it out your pocket and show it then throw it!”

Through our years in high school, pop culture and the world in general have conditioned us, and in my mind for the better, to view life with a certain sense of irony.

It’s not that we don’t take anything seriously (I, for one, take saving the whales very seriously, and as of last month have ceased using the oil from their blubber to light my house), we just know that there is nothing important enough to become self-important over.

I hope as we, the class of ’10, (all day! See, there it is again!) move on from Newton North, that humility continues.

If not, we may just wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy, really brush our teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniels and really regret it.

—LOUIS LOFTUS

personally begged people to stay and all they did was put their heads down and walked away.

This moment was the physical demonstration of what is constantly done to the girls’ athletics at our school.

The lack of respect that has remained in students’ minds about sports based on gender breaks my heart. If people try to say that sexism is not a factor in our society anymore, just look at Newton North students’ view of girls’ athletics, and look at the support they get versus the support they deserve, and then I would like to watch them try to make an argument.

My advice to Newton North students: don’t turn your back to your classmates. Give them the respect they deserve.

—SAMMY ALPERT

Newtonian

Sammy Alpert

It’s the little things that count in life Having attended Newton North for the last few years, I can honestly say it has been a privilege to do so. The school offers up excellent academics along with a wealth of extra curricular opportunities too numerous for me to list.

All these aspects of the school are already pretty well known. So instead of discussing them, I thought I would reflect on the smaller, peculiar details which make North so unique for me.

For example, every time corn is served with a cafeteria lunch, someone at my table will mention how corn has no nutritional value.

An equally essential part of my life at North is the jokes that come attached to every tea bag sold at the snack bar. (Q: On what holiday do obstetricians have to work? A: Labor Day) I have had a teacher who for the past four years has always had a bottle of chocolate milk resting on his desk.

I have learned that there is a small group of kids who always have gum, know who they are and are willing to share.

Whenever it rains, I know I will find trashcans strategically placed under leaks in my Italian room.

There is a T.V. in my history room that is named Eugene, for reasons unknown to me.

Newtonian

Nat Roth The water fountain directly next to my homeroom has never worked, but I still try it once or twice a week.

None of these things are as entertaining as watching a basketball game or attending the musical, and probably won’t prepare me for college like my math or English classes do.

Still, I guess what I’m trying to say is that while I have benefited in really important ways from everything North has to offer, these trivial things are what come to mind when I think about the school.

They have cumulatively made this place a home for the last four years, and I’ll miss them.

—NAT ROTH

Happy here, but most of life is coming ahead What did senior year mean to me? Let’s be honest: who cares about what I think? Sounds like an exercise in ego-boosting and clichés for me. But since you’re reading this, I might as well give it a shot anyway.

So what did it all mean to me?

This may disappoint you, but I really have no clue. Sure, I’ve met failure time and time again

(Thanksgiving and that loss in track still hurt), and I’ve learned a great deal about myself in the process.

But as the pain of these memories fades away, who knows what I’ll remember for good and what I’ll forget?

I’ve found success and happiness too in my senior year. I’ve found friends I don’t deserve,

family photo

Hao-Kai Wu teachers whom (yes, whom; thank my English teachers) I could never repay, and ambitions to forever drive me.

But most of my life still lies

ahead. New people and new experiences await me around every corner, through every door and at the end of every avenue.

I guess the best I could do is tell you what senior year meant to me in a few years, when I can look back upon my time here with a little perspective.

This is all a great comfort to you, I’m sure, since you probably won’t be anywhere near Newton North in a few years.

Yes, you may think this is a sad excuse for a senior statement, where we’re all supposed to share the great and amazing things that we’ve learned as seniors, but I’d like to think that this lack of perspective is universal.

In many ways, we’re all just charging forward into a dimly lit darkness as the streetlights come on a few feet behind us.

So to all those who know

exactly what they are fighting for, to those who only think that they know, and to those who have no idea, take heart. The only certainty in this world is uncertainty, so take risks, reach out and leave that overrated comfort zone behind.

You may find your direction, but you won’t know your true calling until you look for it.

As for me, I know exactly what I’m going to do when I graduate.

I’m going to marry Megan Fox, make trillions of dollars and kick some butt in the process (I’m serious! I swear!).

But though my future seems pretty clear to me right now, I know I’ll never stop reevaluating my goals and ambitions. Because hey, maybe marrying Megan Fox might not be worth the trouble after all.

—HAO-KAI WU

28 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

editors’ columns

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Take advantage of teachers at North Spending the nine years of my life previous to high school in a tiny Jewish private school, entering North was quite the culture shock for me.

My class size suddenly jumped from 31 kids (only 12 boys) to around 450 kids. I can’t really say it was a shock to me, because I knew perfectly well the size difference, but it’s hard to really picture until you actually experience it.

I remember that step-up day in early June of 2006, seeing ev-

eryone in the auditorium, where I just went “wow.”

I am not a nervous type of person, but I was very unsure of what to expect when starting the school year, and freshman year I did somewhat struggle academically, especially when it came to finals.

I had never in my life had “finals” before, and I didn’t really know what to expect. I learned from my mistake, and my sophomore year I really took advantage of what North really

had to offer.

I joined the ultimate frisbee team, became immersed in the Newtonite, and most importantly, took advantage of the great teachers at North, going to them when I had problems and asking for their advice on certain assignments.

The kids here also helped me really become a part of North.

Coming in not knowing anybody, everyone was just always friendly, helpful and encouraging.

Going into college, I will re-

member my transition from Rashi to North, and learn from my experiences and always take advantage of all the help that the teachers will have to offer.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the teachers will try their very best to help you as long as you put in the effort, and I am very glad that the teachers at North have put in that extra effort for me to help me along my path.

—MATT KALISH

Newtonian

Matt Kalish

Bring the same Tiger spirit into the new building It’s been a long four years.

In the space of these four years at this high school, I’ve changed more than I ever thought I would.

I’ve started to figure out who I might want to be someday.

I have, of course, learned new things.

At the same time, though, it seems pretty much impossible that those four years are gone.

It’s easy to look back and think about them, and it doesn’t take long, but the fact is, four years is a long time, and right now, as I’m looking back on my high school experience, the only thing I’m wondering is where they went.

It seems impossible that for four years, we have all come to this building at horrible hours of the morning, walked the carpeted halls, watched unidentified substances leak from the ceilings in the stairwells and on Main Street, gotten lost on the first floor, or second, or third, gone up the wrong staircase (because yes, there is a “wrong staircase”) to get to the fourth floor.

What seems even worse is that it’s the last time anyone will do

Newtonian

Ellen Sarkisian it. Newton North as we know it will be replaced by a shiny new place where, if you can imagine such a thing, there will be no questionable stains on any of the furniture, the doors, the floors, the walls or the windows.

For the first few months, at least.

The underclassmen who will

be going into this new building to continue their last, second to last, second or first year won’t have the complete set of war stories that comes to every North student, it’s true.

But North isn’t just the building. It’s the exceptionally talented people that go about their daily business here, learning, teaching, making friends, making the school and community a better place.

So, to the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors: don’t feel displaced.

You may be in an unfamiliar environment, but the spirit will be the same. There will still be approximately 40,000 clubs to join, with new ones springing up every year.

There’ll still be amazing theatre and sports programs, a wealth of great classes, an awardwinning newspaper, everything that gets Newton North the recognition it deserves, because I can honestly say that with all the things here, there will be something that’ll call to you.

You can come out of this place

pretty much anything.

I’m pretty sure that, just because you no longer have to actively avoid falling debris from the ceiling, being a Tiger

will mean being the same thing; talented, dedicated and energetic, no matter what you decide to do with your time here.

—ELLEN SARKISIAN

This may not seem very important, I know. But it is.

So Iʼm bothering telling you so.

-Dr. Seuss

Congratulations to Daniel and The Class of 2010!

Love, Mom, Dad, and Emily

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 29

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Talk of the

Tiger

Critic’s Corner Erykah Badu— New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh

Word Search:

Graduation Edition

MGMT— Congratulations

Erykah Badu definitely has found her own sound is New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, but that doesn’t mean that all her songs sound the same; in fact, that’s far from the truth.

At times combining jazz, soul and hip-hop, Badu uses strange effects with slow beats to create tracks such as “Love” and “Incense.”

Spoken word at the beginning of “Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” provides a different perspective than can be found in the singing. “Gone Baby Don’t Be Long” is possibly the best song on the album because of well-placed guitar riffs and creative lyrics that make it unique. Some of the songs are repetitive, but this is mostly a positive, because songs seem to get better as they go along.

Key tracks “Turn Me Away (Get Munny),” “Gone Baby Don’t Be Long” and “Window Seat” Grade: A-

Justin Beiber— My World 2.0

In Oracular Spectacular, MGMT had to make catchy tracks in order to be marketable and popular, and they succeeded.

Because they had more power, they had more freedom in their music, which was a major factor in Congratulations. While lacking in catchiness compared to Spectacular, Congratulations has interesting melodies with complicated chord progressions. The title track is a good example of the changes the band has undergone. At the start, the song features a very well-played, highly reverberated guitar solo, which was a perfect fit with the rest of the song. In “Someone’s Missing,” the organ and rhythm guitar play well together, and although the falsetto singing throughout is a bit strange, it works. The song has a fantastic climactic chorus, where the song seems to completely change moods because of different vocals.

Key tracks: “Congratulations,” “Someone’s Missing” and “Song For Dan Treacy” Grade: B+

While a 16-year-old like Justin Beiber may not know a great deal about love, this has nothing to do with his musical talent, which Beiber displays in My World 2.0. Beiber’s outstanding range is shown off in the song “Stuck in the Moment.” While Beiber hits the high notes with ease, a synth riff plays in the backround. Without a doubt, all the songs on the album are very catchy. However, the lyrics are a bit weak at times, and the rhymes can be unimpressive. While it has nice range, Beiber’s voice seems to have a whining quality throughout many of the songs.

On the other hand, the beats are clever and add to the quality and catchiness of the music. Putting lyrics aside, Beiber’s impressive vocals make the album a bit more enjoyable.

Key tracks: “Never Let You Go,” “Stuck in the Moment” and “Baby” Grade: B

Graduation Diploma Conte Forum Celebrate Gown Party Tassel Flowers

Speeches Grads Award Ceremony Rehearsal Commencement Cap

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—JACOB SCHWARTZ

Teachers’ Picks: Retiring Teachers Edition

Ms. Dover

Ms. Seitz

Mr. Stark

Mr. Travers

Dr. Weiner

Ms. White

Favorite Artists

Favorite Artists

Favorite Artists

Favorite Artists

Favorite Artists

Favorite Artists

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Kurt Carr CeCe Winans Hezekiah Walker India.Arie Patti LaBelle

Favorite Movie ◆ Remember the Titans

Favorite Show ◆ Criminal Minds

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The Beatles Peter, Paul and Mary Simon and Garfunkel Crosby, Stills and Nash The Mamas and the Papas

Favorite Movie ◆ The Sound of Music

Favorite Show ◆ CSI

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Nana Mouskouri Lyle Lovett Bach Bob Dylan Dave Brubeck

Favorite Movie

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Chic Corea Duke Ellington Vladimir Horowitz Ella Fitzgerald Rebecca Parris

Favorite Movie ◆ Schindler’s List

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Favorite Show ◆ As Time Goes By

Favorite Show ◆ Kitchen Nightmares

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The Who Green Day U2 Mozart Meat Loaf

Favorite Movie ◆ Cool Hand Luke

Favorite Show ◆ Mi-5

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The Metropolitan Opera Yo-Yo Ma Boston Symphony Boston Philharmonic World Music

Favorite Movie ◆ Milk

Favorite Show ◆ Masterpiece Theatre

1973-2010...R.I.P.

Maddie MacWilliams

sports

30 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Fall teams develop throughout season still a solid season,” he said.

Viscomi said a highlight of the season was the last game against Dedham when the the team scored four goals.

“It was a great victory to score four goals against that team,” Viscomi said.

A strength of the team was defense, Viscomi said. “Even though we weren’t as good at attacking, defensively we were very strong.”

Viscomi was named a Bay State Conference all-star.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

Athletic Director Tom Giusti said that throughout the fall season, he saw teams and individuals constantly improve and develop.

“What I hope our athletes realize is that winning is not a score, but an attitude,” he said.

The Tigers had a record of 58-60-10 with a winning percentage of .453 in the regular season.

Six out of 10 teams made it to the postseason.

—JACOB SCHWARTZ

Cheerleading wins Bay State tournament

Girls’ soccer adapts to change JOSH BAKAN In every game, girls’ soccer, 2-11-4 in the regular season, played with passion, said senior Kim Gillies, a captain with seniors Lee Ford and Camilla Jackson.

“With every game, you could see improvement from the effort we were putting into practice,” Gillies said.

Communication was a challenge, she said. “It caused some goals to be scored against us that we shouldn’t have let up.”

Coach James Hamblin, in his first year of coaching the Tigers, said, “The players adjusted well to a new coach.

“We graduated 12 seniors, but in the end, they got better. They never gave up.

They were committed to their games. They worked hard regardless of the score.”

Highlights of the season were the Tigers’ victory 3-1 at Newton South November 2 and win over Walpole 2-1 here September 18.

Gillies received a Bay State Conference honorable mention.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

BY

JULIA GOLDMAN Cheerleading accomplished a major goal this season, according to senior Courtney Ross, a captain with seniors Rian Murphy and Michelle Ng. “Our major accomplishment from our 2009 season was winning Bay States,” Ross said. “Braintree had taken the title from us at the Bay State cheerleading competition in 2004, and it felt great to take it back.

“We were a strong team in many ways.

Our skill level was much higher than last year.”

After winning the Bay State title, the team moved on to the Regionals. Amanda Costa, the assistant coach with Adriane Callahan said, “The team members, the coaches and even the parents worked hard to find time to work extra hard that week before the competition. Other groups of girls may have given up.”

According to Costa, “The girls know they can all depend on each other and all have one common goal. No one on this team is selfish—everyone works toward what is best for the team. That in itself is a huge accomplishment.”

Next year’s captains will be juniors Corrine Beatrice and Taylor Sweeney.

BY

Girls’ swimming and diving stays enthusiastic

Boys’ cross country has good mentality JAY FEINSTEIN Boys’ cross country, 10-1 in the regular season, had a “pretty good season,” according to senior Mike Goldenberg, a captain with senior Jake Gleason.

“Our loss to Brookline and some unfortunate injuries stopped us from doing our best, but we bonded as a team and had a good mentality,” he said.

According to coach Jim Blackburn, “every meet was a highlight.” Even the loss to Brookline was a close meet, he said.

Gleason and juniors Ezra Lichtman and Dan Ranti were named Bay State Conference all-stars.

Lichtman and Ranti will be next year’s captains.

BY

Girls’ cross country grows, does well in postseason MALINI GANDHI After a strong 8-2 season in 2008, girls’ cross country, 5-6 in the regular season, focused on rebuilding and growing stronger as a team this year, said coach Peter Martin.

“This was definitely a rebuilding year, but we had a good group of young kids that we were able to teach how to do the sport,” he said.

Martin said he saw constant improvement as the season progressed. The Tigers were able to beat two teams in the postseason that they had previously lost to, he said.

The last home meet against Brookline was definitely the high point in the season, according to senior Shoshana Kruskal, a captain along with seniors Julia Belamarich, Susannah Gleason and Adele Levine.

“Either team could have won, but we had a lot of spirit and pulled it together to beat them,” she said.

Gleason and junior Margo Gillis were Bay State Conference all-stars. Gillis was also a Boston Globe and Boston Herald all-scholastic.

Next year’s captains will be Gillis, junior Devika Banerjee and sophomore Melissa Weikart.

BY

Field hockey a stronger team MEREDITH ABRAMS With talent and hard work, field hockey, 2-10-2 in the regular season, accomplished its goal of becoming a better team, said senior Leanne Luke, a captain with senior

BY

KAYLA SHORE Girls’ swimming and diving, 5-5-1 in the regular season, saw its times improve during an exciting season, said coach Kirsten Tuohy.

Tuohy cited “the phenomenal job that our girls did in maintaining their intensity in both enthusiasm and hard work” as key to their success. The team finished 20th at Sectionals and 18th at States.

Tuohy said the team achieved its goals of working together, supporting each other and pushing themselves.

“We had the closest team,” said senior Caeden Brynie, a captain with seniors Carissa Chan and Zoe Talkin. “We all had a sense of focus and a common drive.”

“Our real strong suit lay in our depth,” she said. Tuohy said the Tigers had many people who could swim in different events.

The highlight of the season was the team’s 100-81 win against Brookline October 13, Brynie said. “We were all really proud of the way we swam.”

Sophomore divers Stephanie Brown and Hunter Hedenberg were Bay State Conference all-stars.

Next year’s captains will be juniors Daryl Choa and Rebecca Harris.

BY

Teddy Wenneker

Girls’ volleyball: Senior Kate Bellerose keeps the point alive.

Tal Shemesh.

“We just aimed to do better as a team and end the season without regrets,” Luke said.

“It would have been better to win more games,” she said. “But we brought tradition and pride back to Newton North field hockey, and we built a foundation for next year.”

The season record did not reflect how hard the team worked, Luke said. “We did a good job, and by the end of the season we really came together.

Luke was named a Bay State Conference all-star.

Next year’s captains will be juniors Andrea Marzilli, Ali Pappas and Marissa Troy.

Football, 5-6, demonstrates good work ethic MEREDITH ABRAMS Despite a Thanksgiving Day loss to Brookline, football, 5-6, had a strong season, said senior Conor O’Neil, a captain with seniors Humberto Castillo, Faisal Mayanja and Eddie Pang.

“It was a good season,” O’Neil said. “It started out tough, but we hung together and had a lot of fun.”

A highlight of the season was the 34-12 win against Braintree October 23.

“Beating Braintree after we’d lost four games in a row was a great rebound,” O’Neil said.

A strength of the team was its work ethic, he said. “We all worked really hard, and we had a lot of leadership,” O’Neil said.

Coach Peter Capodilupo said, “we had a mixture of vetrans and inexperienced players, and by the end of the season, we had come together as a team.”

Next year’s captains will be juniors Kevin Barisano, Ben Clark and Isaiah Penn.

BY

Talent leads golf, 9-7 MEREDITH ABRAMS Fighting strong competition in a tough league, golf, 9-7 in the regular season, still had a good season, said coach Bob MacDougall.

“We have some golfers who played excellently, but it was a very strong league in general,” MacDougall said.

“We had a lot of talented golfers,” he said. “We just didn’t have that one guy with outstanding skill.”

MacDougall said a highlight of the season was the September 22 defeat of Needham at home. The Tigers won 60.5-47.5.

“They are one of the strongest teams in the league, so we had to play very well,” he said.

Junior T.J. Ryan, a captain with senior Ben Sauro, said the team had a good season. “It was a pretty good season, but not a great one,” Ryan said. “We had the potential to be a lot better.”

“It was a fun team,” he added. “We should be very strong next year.”

Ryan was named a Bay State Conference all-star.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

BY

Boys’ soccer progresses throughout season MEREDITH ABRAMS Despite a 3-15 record in the regular season, boys’ soccer improved every day for a successful season, said junior Gianluca Viscomi, a captain with senior Ben Gross and junior Gabe Paul.

“We didn’t win as many games as we would have liked, but we got a lot better as the season progressed, so it was a success in that way,” Viscomi said.

According to Viscomi, one of the team’s goals was to qualify for the State Tournament.

“We didn’t make that goal, but it was

BY

Girls’ volleyball wins Hall of Fame Tournament JOSH BAKAN Finishing 18-2 overall, girls’ volleyball accomplished its goals of making the State Tournament and winning the Hall of Fame Tournament in Holyoke, said senior Kate Bellerose, a captain.

“The Hall of Fame Tournament gave us a chance to succeed against teams outside our league,” she said.

In the State Tournament, the Tigers made it to the Central/East Sectional semifinals, where they were eliminated by Newton South November 12.

Coach Richard Barton said the team “was fourtunate to be lead by outstanding seniors who have a strong legacy for next fall.”

Bellerose’s highlights of the season were beating Brookline 3-0, Sep. 25, and Natick 3-0, Oct. 6. “It came as a big surprise that we could pull together and beat our two biggest competitors,” she said.

Bellerose, seniors Ellie Bernstein and Zoe Pepper-Cunningham and juniors Tatiana Froehlich and Melissa Jewitt were Bay State Conference all-stars.

Next year’s captains are Froehlich, Jewitt, and juniors Nensi Cukalla, Emily Hutchinson and Ella Scheuerell.

BY

sports

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 31

Winter teams work with a sense of pride a Bay State Conference all-star in this event.

According to Richard, Breen also tried a new event, the 200 individual medley, in which he qualified for Sectionals.

Breen said, “we had a slow start, but by the end of the season we brought it together and started doing better.”

Next year’s captains will be juniors Ramzy Kahhale, Jamie Lew and Jeremy Markson.

In the winter season, the Tigers “played hard, played fair and were dedicated to being the best they possibly could be,” Athletic Director Tom Giusti said.

“Our athletes played with pride. They had a sense of pride that included a passion and love for the game,” he said. “They developed a bond with their teammates that will last a lifetime.”

The Tigers had a record of 80-50-3 with a winning percentage of .602 in the regular season.

Five out of 12 teams made it to the postseason.

—JACOB SCHWARTZ

Boys’ indoor track stays undefeated at 6-0

Boys’ basketball shows talent ELI DAVIDOW En route to its sixth straight Bay State Conference title, boys’ basketball, 20-4 overall, had a hard-working and talented group of players, coach Paul Connolly said.

The Tigers made it to the South Sectional semifinals in the tournament, losing to Mansfield 67-63.

“We had great senior leadership with a good blend of upper- and lowerclassmen,” Connolly said.

Highlights for the team were playing in the Hoop Hall Classic in Springfield and beating Catholic Memorial 77-61 in the last basketball game ever to be played in the Reginald E. Smith Gymnasium, Connolly said.

Senior Greg Kelley, a captain with senior Wynn Tucker, also became the Tigers’ second leading scorer of all time with over 1,500 points.

Kelly said that “the team bonded really well. Our success off the court is what I’d really like to remember.”

The Bay State Conference named Kelley Most Valuable Player, senior Kourtney Wornum-Parker and sophomore Michael Thorpe First Team All-League, and sophomore Luke Westman an All-League honorable mention. Kelley was also named one of the Boston Globe’s Athletes of the Year and was included in Boston Herald’s Dream Team.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

BY

Girls’ basketball succeeds with strong teamwork, unity MALINI GANDHI Overall team chemistry and unity let girls’ basketball, 19-4 overall, complete a successful season and win many key games, according to coach Hank DeSantis.

The team progressed to the South Sectional semifinals in the postseason, beating Franklin at home by 24 points and went on to beat Whitman-Hanson. The Tigers ultimately lost to Durfee, DeSantis said.

Despite this loss, the season was one full of accomplishments, according to DeSantis.

The highlight of the season was the team’s victory against undefeated Wellesley to end the regular season, according to senior Sammy Alpert, a captain with seniors Lucy Abbot and Monet Lowe and junior Briana Hunt.

Hunt and junior Djaidah Wynn were Bay State Conference all-stars and junior Ella Scheuerell was an honorable mention. Hunt was also voted to the Fox 25 all-star team.

Next year’s captains will be Hunt, Wynn and Scheuerell.

BY

Boys’ gymnastics gains experience JACOB SCHWARTZ Senior Justice Hedenburg, a captain with senior Buzz Cochran, said he was proud of the fact that by the end of the season all of his teammates on boys’ gymnastics, 1-6, had routines in at least two events.

At the start of the season, many of the gymnasts were fairly new to the sport, he said. “The new kids made up for the veterans we lost,” said Hedenberg, Hedenberg said “every kid who was a part of the team never gave up, and all the kids tried equally hard.”

Coach Steve Chan said the highlight of the season was a close loss to Lowell by .2 points Tuesday, Jan. 26.

The final score was 132.4-132.2, one of the highest scores in years. “It wasn’t a win, but we still had a very good match,”

BY

MALINI GANDHI Boy’s indoor track, 6-0, completed its 12th consecutive undefeated season thanks to its strong distance and throwing squad, according to senior Conor Ebbs, a captain with seniors Jake Gleason and Hao-Kai Wu. “It was just a really great season,” Ebbs said. “Our goal was to stay undefeated, and we did that, helped by our strong distance and throwing.”

Coach Jim Blackburn cited the team’s continued effort to work hard during every meet as a key factor.

Ebbs and Gleason qualified for the States in shot put and the two-mile, respectively. Ebbs, Gleason, senior Ben Kiley and juniors Ryan Donovan, Ezra Lichtman and Isaiah Penn were all Bay State all-stars.

Next years’ captains will be Donovan, Lichtman and junior Ben Clark.

BY

Teddy Wenneker

Boys’ basketball: Senior Greg Kelley drives to the hoop. said Chan.

Hedenberg was named a Boston Herald All-Scholastic.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

Girls’ gymnastics works hard BECKY KALISH With a season of hard work and good leadership, girls’ gymnastics, 8-2, broke many school records.

“This year was better than the last,” said coach Jim Chin.

“We had a really good group of girls, and they worked super hard together.”

According to senior Rani Jacobson, a captain with junior Andrea Marzilli, the Tigers “won against Walpole again, which was a very hard meet.”

“It was a very young team,” Jacobson said. “underclassmen really performed well.”

Jacobson went to Nationals with the Massachusetts team Thursday, May 20.

The team placed third.

Jacobson and junior Victoria Mirrer were named Bay State Conference All Stars.

Next year’s captains will be Marzilli and Mirrer.

BY

Boys’ hockey achieves goals JACOB SCHWARTZ Boys’ hockey, 3-16-1 in the regular season, achieved one of its major season goals by beating Brookline twice, according to coach Tom Ryan.

Ryan said the season highlight was when the team defeated Brookline February 12, on senior night. The Tigers won in a close game, 3-2.

Senior Ben Sauro, the captain, said the team “had trouble being tough, blocking shots and creating scoring chances,” but also said the team gained success in moving the puck up the ice.

Junior T.J. Ryan was named a First Team Bay State Conference all-star and Sauro was a Bay State Conference honorable mention.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

BY

Girls’ hockey battles injuries, has positive mindset JACOB SCHWARTZ Senior Hannah Jellinek, a captain with senior Kim Gillies, was impressed throughout the season by girls’ hockey’s attitude, she said.

“We started the season 0-5,” said Jellinek, “but we always kept a good outlook and didn’t give up. Everyone was always trying to improve and get better.”

The team, 6-13-2 overall, was unlucky with injuries and illnesses, according to coach Bob MacDougall. However, he said he was glad to see girls step it up on defense.

MacDougall said a highlight of the season was the 1-0 win at Milton January 9. “That was a game where every girl contributed,” he said. “The girls put forth a tremendous effort against a team that appeared on paper to be much better than us.”

Gillies and Jellinek were selected as Bay State Conference all-stars.

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Next year’s captains will be juniors Marissa Troy and Michele Troy, and sophomores Katie Caruso and Stephanie Vitone.

Alpine gains commitment JACOB SCHWARTZ Senior Corey Robbins, a captain, said alpine skiing had a great season and was “also lucky to have a really solid group,” he said.

“Especially since most of the team isn’t very competitive and doesn’t race outside of the team, we made it a priority to have a lot of fun,” Robbins said.

The highlight of the season, for Robbins, was in one of the earlier meets of the year when the whole team cheered on a descending racer from the top of the hill. “We came together as a team at that point, and it was a great moment of unity,” he said.

The team achieved a major goal of participating in Mass. Bay East Ski League meet, in which the Tigers placed fifth.

Robbins said the team had trouble with attendance at the start of the season, but “young players stepped it up, which helped us a lot.”

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

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Nordic skiing rebuilds, learns techniques JAY FEINSTEIN Nordic skiing had a “rebuilding year,” according to coach Sarah Holton. “We’ve had a lot of fun, but we were mainly learning techniques,” she said.

Although this year’s team had 37 participants, the Tigers are hoping to grow because there were only 7 boys on the team, Holton said.

According to senior Mike Goldenberg, a captain with seniors Rob Lasell, Guillaume Kugener and Zoe Pepper-Cunningham, the Tigers “took the little experience we had and made the best of it.”

Captains next year will be juniors Ellen Goldberg and Amy Lu and sophomore Stoddard Meigs.

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Boys’ swim overcomes loss of swimmers PERRIN STEIN Boys’ swimming and diving “worked hard throughout the season,” according to coach Amy Richard.

The team finished 2-3 in the conference, and 3-4 overall.

The season highlight was the Tigers’ win against Xavarian, Richard said.

“It showed that we could take on the Bay State Conference even though many talented swimmers had graduated.”

Senior Sam Rolfe, a captain with senior Aiden Breen, was one of the team’s top swimmers, according to Richard.

He was a Bay State Conference all-star in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle.

Senior Nick Blenis qualified for the Sectionals in the 50 and 100 freestyle, according to Richard. He was a top finisher at States. For diving, he became a Bay State Conference all-star.

Breen qualified for Sectionals and States in the 100 backstroke and became

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Girls’ indoor track, 6-0, meets goal, wins States JACOB SCHWARTZ Girls’ track, 6-0, achieved its goal of beating Weymouth in a meet.

“The past two years, they beat us,” senior Jaya Tripathi, a captain with senior Sam Gluck, said, “but this year we turned it around.” The Tigers beat Braintree 46-40 on the road January 28.

Tripathi said winning the State Relays was a major turning point in the season.

“It was our first win, and we really had to fight for every point.”

A highlight for Tripathi was when the team won the State Championship with 32 points.

In another major highlight of the season for Tripathi, freshman Carla Forbes won the triple jump and freshman Madison Nadeau came in seventh place for the Freshman 400 at Nationals.

Tripathi said she was proud of the team because “the underclassmen got better as the season went along. Also, the seniors were great leaders.”

Coach Joe Tranchita said, “Members got better day-by-day, week-by-week and month-by-month. Their chemistry was fantastic and they believed in their abilities.”

Forbes and junior Margo Gillis were both Boston Herald all-scholastics and Boston Globe all-scholastics.

Tranchita was named Boston Globe Coach of the Year.

Forbes, Gillis, senior Ariana Tabatabaie, juniors Emily Hutchinson and Amy Ren, sophomore Kayla Wong were named Bay State Conference all-stars.

Next year’s captains will be Ren and junior Katie Brandl.

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Persistence a strength for wrestling, 15-5 JAY FEINSTEIN Determination helped wrestling, 15-5 in the regular season, finish its season well, according to coach John Staulo.

“This has been an outstanding season with outstanding performances from everybody,” he said.

This year’s seniors were very important to the team, Staulo said.

According to Sam Shames, a captain with Alex Westlund, beating Framingham and Newton South were highlights of the season.

Another highlight includes the second place win in the Sectionals.

“We did well throughout the season and did everything we needed to do for the season,” Shames said.

Shames was named a Bay State Conference all-star, a Boston Globe all-scholastic and a Boston Herald all-scholastic.He also received an All-American when he placed eighth in the Nationals.

Next year’s captains are to be decided.

BY

sports

32 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Girls’ track has competitive, strong season

BY IVAN

MCGOVERN Girls’outdoor track, 7-0 in the regular season, has had a very successful season and hopes for that to continue into the postseason, according to senior Ariana Tabatabaie, a captain with senior Camilla Jackson.

“We have a really strong season behind us, and I think our success will fuel us to do well in the postseason,” Tabatabaie said.

Coach Joe Tranchita said he hoped for his team to be competitive at the State Finals which was to have taken place Saturday.

“We hope that all of our members do well in their events and that all three of our relays will be top scorers,” Tranchita said before the meet.

At the meet, senior Monet Lowe participated in shot put, junior Margo Gillis ran the 800, sophomore Stephanie Brown pole-vaulted and freshman Carla Forbes jumped for triple jump and long jump, Tabatabaie said.

“The team headed into the State Meet with some very competitive individuals as well as relay teams,” Tabatabaie said.

The Tigers participated in the Division I States Friday, May 28.

Most notably at that meet, Gillis placed second in the 800, junior Djaidah Wynn placed sixth in the 200 and Lowe placed fifth in the shot put.

Saturday May 22, the team traveled to Norwell High School to compete at the South Shore Principals meet. Tranchita said he was very pleased with the team’s performance.

“We won the team title for the fifth year in a row with 140 points,” said Tranchita.

“We had 15 personal records, two school records and two new state qualifying performances, while improving upon 11 state performances from earlier in the season.”

Wednesday, May 19, the Tigers competed at the Bay State Conference meet. “The meet was held on a cold, windy, rainy day, so we chose not to compete some members. Those that did compete did fairly well, considering the type of day,” Tranchita said.

Tranchita said that the State Relays that took place Saturday, May 15 was “one of our school’s all-time best performances at a state relay competition.”

The team won the meet with 81 points and the second place team only scored 58 points.

courtesy Ezra Lichtman

4x4 team: Junior Isaiah Penn, seniors Ryan Kwan and Hao-Kai Wu and junior Ezra Lichtman pose after placing third in the Weston Twilight Invitational in the 4x4 relay.

Boys’ track runs in States JAY FEINSTEIN Boys’ outdoor track, 6-1, “did very well” during its season so far, according to coach Jim Blackburn. “We’re not as good as we were in the past, but we are still good,” he said.

According to senior Mike Goldenberg, a captain with seniors Conor Ebbs, Jake Gleason and Hao-Kai Wu, the Tigers would have had a better season if they had a track. “It’s very difficult to improve in some events without one,” he said.

Saturday, Ebbs and juniors Ezra Lichtman and Isaiah Penn were to have participated in the State Finals. Ebbs predicted that BC High and Gloucester would

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’13 has solid pitching ELI DAVIDOW With the common aspiration to improve, freshman baseball pulled together a plus .500 winning percentage with a 10-8 record, said coach Rob Greenfield.

“We worked extremely hard to get better,” he said. “The kids were coachable and always looking to improve as the season went on.”

In particular, the pitching performances were solid for the Tigers, Greenfield said, as “they threw strikes and put pressure on the opposing teams.”

Two players who stood out for the Tigers were outfielder Robert Anderson and catcher Ethan Feldman, Greenfield said.

“Robert improved drastically at the plate and in the outfield,” he said. “He also brought a great attitude to the team and was extremely coachable.

“Then Ethan was someone who listened very well to the coaching and improved a lot as a catcher and hitter. He got better at calling the game over the course of the season.”

The highlight of the season was the 10-9 victory over Catholic Memorial April 23, when the Tigers came back from a 9-3 deficit, Greenfield said.

“That game was a testament to the kids not getting themselves down or allowing themselves to be beat by that score,” he said.

Feldman also added that the team’s chemistry was “great and wonderful.”

“On the team, we all got pretty close and pretty tight,” he said.

be their main competition.

According to Ebbs, if the Tigers placed fifth or better, they would be able to go to Regionals or Nationals.

The Tigers went to the Division 1 States Friday, May 28 in Somerville. “Our performance was nothing to complain about, but we could do better,” Ebbs said.

Ebbs placed fourth in the shot put. In the discus, Ebbs placed second and sophomore Swardiq Mayanja placed sixth. Penn placed second in the 400 and Lichtman placed fifth in the mile.

In the South Shore Principals meet at Norwell, Saturday, May 22, Ebbs and Mayanja finished

second and fourth in the discus, and placed second and third in the shot put.

The Bay State Conference meet was Thursday, May 19. According to Goldenberg, the meet wasn’t scored. “If it was scored, we would have won,” he said.

Junior Dan Ranti won the 2mile and Ebbs won the shot put and discus.

Saturday, May 15, the Tigers participated in the State Relays at Durfee High School. Wu, Lichtman, Penn and freshman Ryan Lucken placed first in the sprint medley. The Tigers also placed first in the shot put relay. “Overall, we had good performances,” Goldenberg said.

Baseball displays effort and attitude JACOB SCHWARTZ Coach Joe Siciliano said that team morale for baseball, 5-15, increased as the season came to a close, because the team began to win more games.

“Everyone has had a good attitude and is showing good effort,” he said. “It takes time, experience and repetitions to get better at baseball, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Senior Eric Howard, a captain with senior Borja Jones Berasaluce and junior Jack McLaughlin, said, “We had a lot of one-run losses earlier on, but when we won, we really wanted to keep on winning.”

According to Howard, defense was an issue for the Tigers in a 9-4 loss against Waltham here Friday, May 28. He said that because metal bats were allowed, making plays was harder than usual.

A lightning strike that caused a 30-minute delay may have taken away momentum from the Tigers in a 7-6 loss at Needham Wednesday, May 26, Howard said.

He said the team was up 6-5 in the top of the ninth when the lightning struck, but Needham came back after the delay.

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BY

Teddy Wenneker

Baseball: Senior Eric Howard pitches a ball Friday, May 14 against Braintree.

“It was one of the toughest losses,” Howard said.

The Tigers defeated Brookline 3-1 here Monday, May 24. Siciliano said the team was losing 1-0 early on, but a rally began with a big hit by junior Kyle Krasker to give the Tigers the lead.

In 13 innings, the Tigers beat Weymouth at home 3-2 Saturday, May 22, Siciliano said. Krasker hit a walkoff single in the bottom of the 13th to seal the victory.

Siciliano also noted that outstanding pitching by sophomore Jeff Howard and freshman Hector Coscione kept the Tigers in the game.

In another close game, the Tigers lost to Wellesley at home Thursday, May 20, 7-6. Siciliano said it might have been a win had there not been as many defensive errors.

Facing a pitcher who kept the Tigers off balance, the Tigers lost 3-0 here against Dedham Monday, May 17, Siciliano said.

At Braintree, the Tigers lost 15-5 Friday, May 14, Siciliano said.

“They just hit the ball really well, and there wasn’t much we could do about it,” he said.

JV players improve hitting and defense MEREDITH ABRAMS JV baseball, 9-11, demonstrated strong improvement towards the second half of the season, said assistant coach Artie Kadehjian.

“We played a much better second half of the season,” Kadehjian said. “The hitting was better, the defense was better, the pitching was better.”

A strength of the team was commitment, he said. “Through-

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out the season, the kids put in the hard work and the effort. “ We wanted to play good baseball and put in 100 percent effort, and we did all the time,” Kadehjian said.

He said the team did not have one contributer player.

“Baseball is really a team sport,” Kadehjian said. “Everybody contributed, and everyone was a key player.”

The Tigers defeated Waltham 6-5 Friday, May 28 in the final game of the season.

“We had a good game,” said junior Andrew Liebendorfer.

“It went back and forth all game, but we won in the last inning with a walkoff single.”

At Needham Wednesday, May 26, the Tigers lost 5-4. “Our pitching was a little off, and we had some mistakes in the outfield,”

Liebendorfer said.

The Tigers defeated Brookline 15-7 Monday, May 24 in a back and forth game, he said.

“We went into extra innings, and in the last innings we went up by a lot,” he said.

Liebendorfer said the team was able to pull together at the end of the season. “We started out rough, but slowly we put all the pieces together,” he said.

sports

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 33

Tigers lose in tourney Friday ELI DAVIDOW In the first round of the South Sectionals, girls’ tennis, 11-6 overall, ended its season, losing to Barnstable 4-1 last Friday.

The Tigers were seeded 12th in the tournament, while the Red Raiders were seeded fifth.

“We put up a great fight against them,” said coach John Gautschi.

“It’s too bad that it’s all over, but I saw great promise in our players out there. Today just was not our day.”

Gautschi cited junior Emily Kelly at first singles and freshmen Danielle Handler and Sage Vallah at first doubles as the top performers for the Tigers.

Kelly, a captain with senior Lexi Abbott, won her game 6-0, 6-4, while Handler and Vallah lost 3-6, 0-6.

“Emily has truly grown into that position at first singles,” Gautschi said. “Then Danielle and Sage were playing against one of the toughest doubles teams in the state, which reached the South Sectional final in the individual tournament. They’re young, and they put in a great effort in that loss.”

Despite the disappointing loss, Gautschi expressed optimism for the future of the team.

“I hope we bring the energy and passion that we had today as we move forward,” he said.

Before the match, Gautschi said that a clear mindset would determine the outcome of the Barnstable contest.

“Barnstable’s coach will try to intimidate you all,” he said at a team meeting Thursday prior to the match. “He’s going to act super intense and in-your-face.

But as long as we’re coming off the bus ready and calm, that’s half the battle.”

Gautschi also noted that the competitive Red Raiders are not quite the type of team the Tigers see often.

“We don’t usually face programs with that reputation to be very intense about their athletics,” he said.

Wednesday, the Tigers played against South in the Garden City Cup with the boys’ team. Although the Lions won, Gautschi said that the score was not as significant as the event’s meaning.

“The Garden City Cup honors a very special woman named Linda Zucker, who was South’s assistant coach for 11 years,” Gautschi said.

“She passed away suddenly eight years ago, and we have had this going since,” Gautschi said.

Then in the last match of the regular season Wednesday, May 19, the Tigers beat Brookline 4-1.

The absence of the Warriors’ stand-out first singles player, sophomore Marie Fleming, contributed tremendously to the victory, Kelly said.

Monday, May 17, Needham edged the Tigers 3-2.

The Rockets shut out the Tigers 5-0 in the first match against them, but according to senior Micah Dornfeld, a member of the second doubles team, the Tigers played Needham “this time with a stronger mindset.”

BY

Ivan McGovern

At Warren: Senior Scott Guisti, a captain with senior Rocco Donohue, cradles the ball and runs around a defender.

Boys’ lacrosse unites, meets season goals JAY FEINSTEIN Improving in many areas, boys’ lacrosse finished its season 9-11, according to coach Bussy Adam. “Our skills have improved enormously throughout the season,” he said.

According to Adam, despite being “young and inexperienced” and “struggling at times all season,” the Tigers met all of their goals and improved every week.

“Most importantly, we came together as a team this season,” he said. “That was our main goal.”

In the DePeter Cup Classic Wednesday, May 26 at Albemarle, the Tigers defeated Newton South, 12-6. The DePeter Cup Classic, which is the last game of the season, was named after a teacher who taught at both North

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and South.

“We played well,” Adam said.

“We dominated ground balls and seven different people scored,” he said.

Even though they lost 10-8, the Tigers had an excellent game at Needham Monday, May 24, according to Adam. “It was our most complete game,” he said.

The Tigers had an even balance of offense and defense, according to Adam. “It was great how we were able to both shoot well and protect the ball,” he said.

The Tigers were winning, 6-3, at halftime, but then Needham caught up, Adam said.

At home Friday, May 21, in “one of the best games of the season,” the Tigers beat Brookline, 12-7, avenging their previous

loss, according to Adam. “Our aggressive offense was important to this game,” Adam said. “We really controlled the ball.”

In a close game Wednesday, May 19 at home, the Tigers lost to Wellesley, 10-3. According to Adam, the Tigers were doing well at the beginning of the game, but the game “fell apart at the end.”

“We really need to work on minimizing turnovers,” Adam said. The Tigers had 25 turnovers during the Wellesley game.

The team beat Weymouth, 11-5, at home, in “one of the best games of the season” Monday, May 17, according to senior Rocco Donohue, a captain with seniors Scott Giusti and Mike Vaglica.

“We lost to them earlier in the season, so we wanted to get

revenge,” he said. “The team did great as a whole.”

Saturday, May 15, the Tigers lost 12-3 at Lincon-Sudbury, which is one of the Tigers’ main rivals, according to Donohue.

“We didn’t give up. We tried our best to upset one of the top teams in the state.”

The Tigers played a weak Dedham team Thursday, May 13 at home, winning 16-0, according to Donohue.

Junior Adam Londan, a goalie, achieved his first shut-out of the season.

“Since Dedham wasn’t a good team, we were able to practice and work on things that needed improvement for upcoming games during the game,” Donohue said.

JV boys, 12-5-1, produce steady season PERRIN STEIN Throughout the season, JV boys’ lacrosse, 12-5-1, “has practiced and played hard,” according to Stephen Feiss, a coach with Nick Capodilupo.

In practice, the Tigers worked on “ball position and an ability to read the game situation in the flow of play,” Feiss said.

During the season, freshman Nick Raso “was very strong and steady,” Feiss said. On the offensive side, junior Taylor McDade and sophomore Patrick Bryson scored many goals for the Tigers,

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Feiss said.

This season, the Tigers had the most difficulty in the game at Weymouth Tuesday, April 27.

Later in the season, Monday, May 17, the Tigers played the Wildcats again, winning 19-6.

“It was a great comeback,” Feiss said.

Each year, the Tigers work hard in preparation for the game against Needham, Feiss said.

“They are very skilled and are at a comparable level to us, so how we fair against them is a good test of how our season is going,”

he said.

In this year’s Needham game, Wednesday, May 5, the Tigers focused on maintaining possession of the ball, and being selective about when they shot, Feiss said.

He also said the defense remained patient and consistent.

Despite their hard work, the Tigers lost, Feiss said.

Sophomore Jon Schwartz said, as a team, “we had great chemistry because we’re good friends, and we know how to work well together.”

In practice, they focused on stick skills, throwing and catching, and what do to with the ball, Schwartz said. “These things take experience and time to get good at, and we really need to focus on these basics more,” he said.

If people practice in the off seasons, when lacrosse begins in the spring, the Tigers won’t have to focus on these basics as much, Schwartz said.

“This will allow us to focus on winning, and hopefully, have a more successful season,” he said.

Freshmen show talent, are competitive MALINI GANDHI Throughout its season, freshman boys’ lacrosse, 7-8, continued to “be competitive, compete at the highest level, improve and represent Newton North’s proud lacrosse tradition in the best light possible,” according to coach David Curnick.

Curnick cited the competitive midfield line consisting of Andrew Kinsella, T.J. McNicholas and Marcus Richardson as a key part of the team. Significant im-

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provement by Adam DelVecchio, Mike Kaye and Mike Kurson on the other line and Anders Helgason leading the offense was also shown.

The team’s weakness, however, was the “defense’s failure to communicate,” a problem that the team worked on throughout the season, according to Curnick. “The coaching staff breaks down game situations and goes over them in practice, always emphasizing the best strategies,”

Curnick said.

According to McNicholas, the captain, the Tigers struggled in their two last games. They lost against Needham 14-2 Tuesday, May 25 and South 7-5 Thursday, May 27.

Friday, May 21, the Tigers visited Walpole, losing 12-2. “We did not compete against Walpole and they took it to us,” Curnick said.

According to McNicholas, Walpole was “tough and athletic.”

“Our offense was really weak

that game, and we just couldn’t score goals,” McNicholas said.

Despite the loss, both Curnick and McNicholas said goalie John Hogan performed particularly well, with a total of 17 saves.

“Hogan is one of the best ninth grade goalies I have seen in a while,” Curnick said.

Hosting Weymouth Tuesday, May 18, the Tigers pulled off a 127 victory. “We let them get back in the game at first, but we were able to win,” Curnick said.

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34 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

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sports

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 35

Boys’ tennis, 10-6, meets season goals JAY FEINSTEIN After doing well in the regular season, boys’ tennis, 10-6 overall, made the tournament, according to coach Phil Goldberg.

The Tigers were eliminated, though, when they were defeated

by Barnstable last Friday, 3-2, Goldberg said. They won first singles, but didn’t do the best in doubles, he said.

“We haven’t seen them in a while, so we didn’t know what to expect,” he said.

Despite the loss to Barnstable, the Tigers’ strengths have led to success in the regular season, Goldberg said.

“Our strength has been singles, but our doubles has continued to improve all year,” he said.

“We were playing our best by far at the end of the regular season.”

According to senior Dan Stein, the captain, the Tigers are also doing better than they were doing

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last year. “We met all of our goals this year, and we beat all of the teams that we were supposed to beat,” he said.

In the Garden City Cup last Wednesday, Newton South defeated the Tigers. “It was a fun event that we enjoy every year,” Goldberg said.

At home Wednesday, May 19, in the last match of the regular season, Needham beat the Tigers, 5-0. “They beat us handily,” Goldberg said.

In a home match Monday, May 17, the Tigers defeated Brookline, 4-1.

According to Goldberg, this win was especially exciting because the Tigers lost to Brookline the first time around.

Thursday, May 13, the Tigers visited a strong Wellesley team, losing 5-0.

According to Goldberg, Wellesley won easily because of their “superior talent.”

Athletes celebrate spring season

Gabe Dreyer

Running start: Senior Dan Stein executes a forehand.

Girls’ lacrosse works to better intensity JACOB SCHWARTZ Although the season has ended for girls’ lacrosse, 9-9-1, senior Leanne Luke, a captain with seniors Kim Gillies and Brittany Jaillet, said she was proud that the team achieved its goal of making the State Tournament.

Mental mistakes held back the Tigers from doing well at Needham Wednesday, June 2, in their first and last playoff game of the season, according to Luke. Needham defeated the Tigers 18-8.

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“In an attempt to adjust to Needham’s strong play, we had fouls that also set us back a lot,” she said.

Luke said she believes the team has been very inconsistent throughout the season. “We had some days where we were very into the game and others where intensity wasn’t as high,” Luke said.

To combat the issue of inconsistency and to permanently raise intensity of play in all games, the

team plans to become more serious during practice next season, Luke said.

Coach Kim Hamilton said she was proud of Jaillet, who was named a first team Bay State Conference all-star, and was also the leading goal scorer on the team with 80 goals. “Both of these are major accomplishments,” Hamilton said. “The whole team was amazing as well.”

At Newton South, the Tigers defeated the Lions 18-6 Wednes-

day, May 26.

Needham defeated the Tigers here Monday, May 24, 15-7.

On the road, the Tigers defeated Brookline 18-5 Friday, May 21.

Not able to hold a 3-1 lead early on the game, the Tigers lost at Wellesley, 18-5 Wednesday, May 19.

The Tigers’ practice on transitions paid off when they defeated Weymouth 22-7 on the road Monday, May 17, Luke said.

Young JV team improves skills PERRIN STEIN JV girls’ lacrosse, 9-8-1, “has good speed and a positive attitude, but our biggest disadvantage is our experience playing and knowing the game,” according to coach Celeste Myers.

Throughout the season, the Tigers have improved cradling, throwing and catching skills, and basic strategies. “These things are really important at the varsity level. These improvements are reflective of each player’s goal to eventually play for the varsity team,” Myers said.

Junior Evelyn Hurwitz, junior Ashley Luce and sophomore Danielle Wasson have really improved throughout the season, Myers said. “They are extremely coachable, and they make an effort to apply what they learned in practice in games,” she said.

The tie against Needham, Wednesday, May 5, “was the first

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game that the team got into a rhythm,” Myers said. This game marked “the first time they saw themselves as a team, and not as a bunch of individuals,” Myers said.

According to Wasson, the Needham game was “very intimidating after watching the varsity team lose by about five points.”

In the first half, the Tigers were losing badly, but the in the last few minutes of the game, they made a comeback and scored four goals to tie it up, Wasson said. “This was really gratifying.”

The Tigers’ success in the Needham game was due to their communication, skill and endurance, Wasson said.

Next year, “I hope that we continue to develop our skills and put everything we learn in practice together in order to win more games,” she said.

’13 team is positive MALINI GANDHI Despite a lack of experience, girls’ freshman lacrosse, 3-8-1, has improved significantly since the beginning of the season, coach Katie Lee said.

The team has gained a much greater knowledge of the game, according to Lee. Lee cites the team’s coachability and eagerness to learn as strengths.

“Many of these freshmen came in without knowing much about lacrosse or without ever having played before,” Lee said, “Their ability to stick with it, to continue to learn and be competitive, is great.

“We’ve worked on basics all

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Ivan McGovern

On offense: Senior Julia Dziamba looks up the field.

PERRIN STEIN Students and coaches were recognized for their hard work and achievement during the season at Spring Awards Night, Thursday, May 27.

Athletic director Tom Giusti began the event by thanking everyone for supporting this school’s athletics.

“We especially want to thank those individuals who’ve done well for their school through their hard work,” he said.

At the end of his brief speech, Giusti invited mayor Setti Warren ’88 to say a few words.

“The City of Newton is proud of you,” Warren said.

“I want to congratulate you on your hard work. I very much appreciate your contributions to Newton North,” he said.

Principal Jennifer Price then came forward to say a few words.

She also presented sportsmanship awards throughout the evening.

Each varsity team came forward to talk about their season’s highlights and the hard work they accomplished during the last few months.

The coaches and captains each spoke briefly before handing out varsity letters to each athlete on the team.

Some of these athletes were given various awards and scholarships.

The Simon Surabian Awards for outstanding freshman athletes went to Carla Forbes, the national indoor triple jump champion, and Nick Mariano for leading by example.

Senior Matthew Peterfreund won the Pete Calabro Scholarship Award for his outdoor track performance.

Seniors Hao-Kai Wu and Michelle Bradley won the Howard Ferguson Scholarship Award.

The Frank Zimmerman Scholarship went to senior Susannah Gleason.

Senior Kourtney WornumParker won the Sandy Bartzak Scholarship.

Senior Ben Sauro won the Reginald E. Smith Scholarship.

The Chuck Sakakini Scholarship was given to senior Scott Giusti.

Seniors who received seven or more varsity letters during high school were given plaques to honor their athletic achievements.

Plaques were given to: ◆Emily Denn ◆Kimberly Gilles ◆Scott Giusti ◆Samantha Gluck ◆Jake Gleason ◆Susannah Gleason ◆Michael Goldenberg ◆Elena Hemler ◆Camilla Jackson ◆Brittany Jaillet ◆Hannah Jellinek ◆Shoshana Kruskal ◆Adele Levine ◆Jen Liu ◆Monet Lowe ◆Leanne Luke ◆Zita Polgar ◆Ben Sauro ◆Ariana Tabatabaie ◆Jaya Tripathi ◆Mike Vaglica ◆Michael Weinfeld ◆Hao-Kai Wu ◆Sean Yule

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season, and it is showing,” Lee said.

According to Lee, the team’s record is not an accurate reflection of “how much the team has learned and how far they have come.”

Freshman Jenny Lewis, the goalie, said she noted “a lot of improvement from everyone.

“Getting used to new players from different schools and battling many injuries wasn’t easy, but we have improved and grown as a team,” Lewis said.

Thursday, May 20, the Tigers hosted Walpole, losing 14-7.

“We were being really aggressive, and ended up with too many yellow cards,” Lewis said.

sports

36 ◆ Newtonite, Newton North

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Volleyball, 14-5 overall, loses to South in tourney JACOB SCHWARTZ The season came to a close for the Tigers, 14-5 overall, at Natick High School Tuesday, June 1 in the Division 1 South Sectional Finals, the team’s third playoff match of the season.

Newton South defeated the Tigers 3-0, in what coach Richard Barton described as a perfect match for South. “We played really well, but South did even better.

“They had a perfect serving game and did everything well,” Barton said.

“However, we also were playing well, and it was a powerful State-level match. I wish we could’ve played them later in the postseason, after playing easier teams.”

Senior Chris Keefe said he believes the score didn’t show how the team played.

“It was a very close game, and

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it showed how we improved this year,” he said.

“If the team we had in April played the team South has now, they would have totally destroyed us.

“We improved from the first game until we played South at the very end.

“New players on varsity stepped it up big time and helped us get to where got in the tournament.”

In order to face South, the Tigers overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat first seeded Barnstable, 3-2 Thursday, May 27, on the road. Barton said, “We won in a powerful fashion.”

The Tigers out-blocked and out-spiked Barnstable, according to Barton.

For the first round of the playoffs, the Tigers won 3-0 at Durfee. Barton said both teams were expecting a win, making

the game more intense.

In the final varsity sports match in the history of the Reginald E. Smith Gymnasium, the team swept Weymouth 3-0 Monday, May 17 on Senior Night, according to Barton.

“We had a tough first game,” Barton said, with a score of 2624. “The rest of the match was a slaughter.”

At the final away game of the regular season, the Tigers lost 30 to the Needham Rockets Friday, May 14.

“Even though it was a loss, it was an exciting game,” Barton said.

“We know more about Needham for when we play them next year. “ We know where we can attack them successfully, and we also know we need to work on our receives against their serves.”

Teddy Wenneker

Power: Senior Chris Keefe works on serves at practice.

Softball continues tournament JACOB SCHWARTZ Softball, 18-3, won its first tournament game by defeating North Andover 8-4 at home Friday, coach Lauren Baugher said.

Baugher said one of the highlights of the game was senior Rae Copan pitching 10 strikeouts.

Copan said in order to reach this achievement, she had to “just stay focused.”

“I always took it one pitch at a time and tried hard not to get too ahead of myself,” she said.

As well as having an outstanding pitching performance, Copan also helped out the offense by hitting a two RBI double, Baugher said.

North Andover took a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Tigers pulled ahead in the bottom of the inning and held their lead for the rest of the game.

“We played well,” Baugher said. “Everyone contributed, and we hit the ball very well.”

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The Tigers had a total of 11 hits. Strong communication along with good fundamentals will definitely be a necessity for the rest of the tournament, Baugher said.

In preperation for the rest of the postseason, the team has been drilling specific game situations in practice to ensure that players always know when and where the ball should be thrown.

Sophomore Katie Caruso said that recently the team has been energized and ready to play, which has been a strength.

She also said team members “always have each others’ backs, and the team has very good chemistry.”

Continuing their win streak, the Tigers shut out the Needham Rockets 12-0 at home Wednesday, May 26.

The team hosted LincolnSudbury Tuesday, May 25, and won 6-3.

Brookline was demolished on their own turf by the Tigers Monday, May 24, 22-1.

While clinching first place in the Carey Division for the first time since 2002, the Tigers defeated Weymouth 7-2 at home Saturday, May 22.

The Tigers shut out Wellesley 9-0 on the road Thursday, May 20.

The offense struggled when the team traveled to Dedham Monday, May 17, according to Caruso.

“We won 2-1, but we hit the ball right to them,” she said.

“We have to get better at placing the ball where the other team is not.”

In a close game, the Tigers beat Braintree 2-0 at home Friday, May 14, Caruso said.

The Tigers were to have played against either Lexington or Boston Latin Monday, depending on who won in the first round Saturday.

JV players support each other BECKY KALISH JACOB SCHWARTZ With defense and hitting as their strong points, JV softball, 14-4-1, has had a strong season through discipline and hard work, Mark Wadness, an assistant coach with coach Laurie Arcovio said.

“We are a young team with a lot of freshmen,” Wadness said.

“It’s great to see them grow and learn the game, but at the same time you can see we are lacking some maturity.”

Sophmores Clare Doolin and Bethany Schubert are strong pitchers, and sophomore Christina Caira led the team in hitting,

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AND

Ivan McGovern

Intensity: Senior Rae Copan winds up to pitch the ball.

according to Wadness. Freshman Zoe Cassidy proved to be a strong hitter as well, Wadness said.

One specific highlight in the season was the game Wednesday, May 12, against Natick, where the Tigers scored two runs in the last inning to tie the game.

Although they did not end up winning “it was a very exciting game, and both teams had an almost perfect game,” Wadness said.

“The players have a good knowledge of the game—who’s covering what and awareness of those around them,” Wadness said.

Sophomore Courtney Leahy, a

captain with sophomore Melissa Ruttan, said, “We played really well together and got along really well. We were one of the better JV teams because we had chemistry, which not all sports teams have,” she said.

According to Leahy, the team kept in mind the motto “attitude, effort and intensity” to make sure they were playing up to standards.

Leahy said the team will be putting more focus next year into its fundamentals and its baserunning.

“On top of this, we’ll need to make plays more cleanly,” she said.

Determination helps ’13 complete focused season

BY IVAN

MCGOVERN Freshman softball, 5-6, has achieved many goals this season according to coach Kate Hurd.

“Our focus coming into the season was to improve our softball fundamentals and increase our softball IQ,” she said.

“Each player has improved immensely since the start of the season, and the team as a whole is now playing consistently sound softball.”

The Tigers defeated Wellesley 19-9 on May 20 in an all-around well-played game, according to Hurd.

“Every player contributed to the win and we overcame adversity to come out on top.

“After losing our lead in the fifth inning, we immediately responded by scoring 10 runs and never looked back.”

Thursday, May 18, the team fell short to Weymouth by a score

of 11-8.

Hurd was impressed with her team’s effort despite having been defeated by a large margin at the hands of the Wildcats earlier in the season.

Hurd pointed out some players who made a huge impact on the team this season.

“Ellie Wenneker carried our team this year with her consistent pitching and impressive hitting.

She pitched almost every inning

this season, and also made a huge impact at the plate by hitting almost .600 in the third spot in our order.

“Bridget McLaughlin was a spark plug as our leadoff hitter by getting on base in almost 70 percent of her at bats. Bridget also led the team in steals and continues to be a leader at the shortstop position.”

“Katie Wu kept our team focused and motivated in her cap-

tain role and showed her unselfishness by being willing to play any position in the field.”

Wu, a captain with McLaughlin, believes that the team can’t be judged by their record.

“Although we had our ups and downs, the most important thing was that throughout our season, we stayed focused and we had a feeling of determination and intensity that many of our opponents lacked,” she said.