2011 december

POWDER PUFF page 12

HEART Volume 29

INDEX

HOLIDAY TRADITIONS page 6

December 20, 2011

News......................................3 Features..................................5 Arts & Entertainment.............9 Profiles.................................10 Opinion.................................11 Sports...................................12

BEAT Number 3

What you didn’t know about

BY KATE JAMISON Staff Writer In light of our recent presentation from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) about bullying, which had a focus on cyber-bullying and Facebook privacy settings, students may have certain misconceptions about what happens with the information that they put on this popular social networking site.

Especially after MARC‘s presentation, many students believe that Facebook owns their photos. That isn’t actually true. Facebook states in section two of its terms and conditions that “you own all of the content and information you post on Facebook.”

They go on to say “you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License).” This means that Facebook reserves the right to use anything covered by intellectual property law (which includes your photos and videos) however they want to as long as it is on your page. According to the terms and conditions, once you delete something they can’t use it anymore, unless your friend still has it on her page.

Graphic Courtesy of Kameron Murphy

Investigating the terms & conditions Then it is fair game.

School Librarian Ms. Karen Arnold warned that Facebook presents privacy issues.

“Facebook can manipulate your information to make money off of you,” she said.

Also, section two includes the following; “removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time.”

Facebook keeps a copy of whatever you post for an undefined amount of time. This information is, however, only available to Facebook.

Teachers aren’t shy about occupy movement

BY RYAN THOMAS Staff Writer In the preceding months viewers of major television networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC may have seen the networks’ coverage of the Occupy Movement. The movement started to make headlines with the mass gathering of protestors in Zuccotti Park, New York City on September 17, 2011. The location seemed to be symbolic as Zuccotti Park is located in the heart of New York’s Wall Street financial district. The common theme permeating the movement appears to be the economic inequality in the country. Moral implications of corporate greed and government corruption also seem to be common themes within the movement.

History teacher Mr. Gerard Golden views the movement in a positive light, “I think they have raised good issues that need to be dealt with by the government.”

Golden went on to add, “We have the biggest disparity of wealth in the country since the Gilded Age.” English teacher Mrs. Winifred Dick disagreed, “Some of these protestors are kids who made some bad decisions for

college majors and need to repay their loans.”

Dick pointed out specific cases in which students interfered with private business, “I thought it was ironic that construction workers who were working on Liberty Tower couldn’t have their lunch in the park. These were productive citizens who were inconvenienced by a movement that claims to be standing up for people on the lower end of the economic spectrum.”

Dick went on to add, “They don’t have any permits to be there in the first place and they are hurting small businesses.

Other people can’t use the park.”

Asked whether he had any complaints about the movement, Golden reiterated that he had no issue with the movement’s message but emphasized, “There is not enough people out there protesting the unequal economic distribution in this country.”

Dick emphasized that the protestors overlooked their own financial responsibility, “Okay, if you don’t support the government bailing out the banks that’s fine, but then using that logic why should the government bail out student loans.”

OCCUPY WALL STREET Con�nued on page 2

In addition to sharing your photos with your friends and Facebook’s servers, any third party application that you use also has access to your information and intellectual property. Just something to think about.

Third party applications come into question with a new feature on Facebook that allows sites and services to automatically share your activity with your Facebook friends. Frictionless sharing is an “opt-in” feature, meaning that you have to authorize a website to share to your Face-

book page before it can do so. There was an “opt-out” sharing feature on Facebook in 2007 called Beacon which landed the company in hot water because, by definition, the opt-out sharing feature had to be manually disabled to stop websites from sharing information with your friends This is important to note because Facebook users can avoid sharing what they are doing simply by denying access to their pages to the apps that request it. Unlike Beacon, which would, for example, tell your friends which movie tickets you bought at Fandango.com without asking you, frictionless sharing must ask for permission.

One Facebook app that uses frictionless sharing is The Washington Post’s new “Social Reader.” Once authorized, the Social Reader lets your friends see what you are reading. Frictionless sharing isn’t just for the news, however. It can be used to share music through Spotify, videos through Hulu and Netflix, and fitness through Nike+.

With the constant changes in Facebook’s features, it is important for users to stay on top of the privacy concerns that the applications raise. “[Facebook] is definitely a privacy issue,” Arnold said.

Sacred Heart welcomes Bergt

BY MEAGAN ANTONELLIS Staff Writer Following Principal John Enos’ departure in mid-November, Sr. Marilynn Bergt was introduced to the Sacred Heart School community as President of the Board of Directors.. Coming from a position of leadership within the Sisters of Divine Providence, Bergt expressed a considerable amount of enthusiasm Staff Photo by Patricia Zibelli at the prospect of her continued time working with the Sacred Heart com- Sr. Marilynn Bergt hard at work in her office.

She has recently stepped in as the President munity. of the Board of Directors “I’m really impressed with the school,” Bergt said. “All schools of Sacred Heart are of a very good qualboth at a high school and university level, ity, and the staff is excellent.” she developed a great deal of respect for Bergt said that she arrived at Sacred the teaching profession. She continued on Heart fully aware of the amount of respon- to take administrative positions, including sibility that would be required of her as that of college Dean for a period of three Board President, as well as the responsi- years, before serving on Sacred Heart’s bilities that were already being carried out leadership council for the last five years. by others.

Bergt stated that her main goal in work“I have an extensive background in edu- ing with Sacred Heart is to unify the varication, so I understand the hard work that ous schools within the community. everyone puts into it,” Bergt said.

SR. MARILYNN BERGT Bergt said that her educational experiCpn�nued on page 2 ence up to this point has mainly centered on the subject of biology. Teaching biology

THE HEART BEAT

2

December 20, 2011

OCCUPY WALL STREET Con�nued from page 1

The movement has grown in scale as occupiers have filled the streets of other cities such as Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. The movement’s unofficial website WWW.OccupyWallst.org states that the movement, “Is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.”

According to the movement’s website the Occupy protestors are a global movement protesting the notion that the richest 1% of people make decisions concerning the entire global economy. In addition to over 100 U.S. cities being occupied the movement shares solidarity with over 1,500 occupy assemblies worldwide.

A common complaint by critics of the movement is that Occupy lacks a focus on specific issues.

Golden states it was the group’s acceptance of all ideas that confuses its message, “That is a problem because they are so respectful of everybody’s opinion that they cannot reach a specific decision on what to protest.”

Dick reasoned, “They don’t have a consistent message. There is certainly no written agenda that I have seen.”

Attempts to clarify the movement’s message have been made. After an occupy rally in Phoenix, Arizona students of Arizona State University and the University of Arizona collected all the signs that were left in the park and analyzed them for content. In all there were 220 signs that were gathered over a span of two days. The results identified the distribution of wealth to be the main concern of protestors which was followed closely by concern over the moral structure of society and lack of benevolence in the federal government.

Social networking has played a large role in both the spread of the movement’s message and its news coverage. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have played a huge role in organizing protest

times and locations.

With the sharing of ideas among friends through group pages, the popularity of the Occupy cause has grown exponentially.

Regardless of their initial success, the protestors have met their fair share of challenges. Winter weather is arriving and protestors in many cities will be devoid of shelter from the harsh elements.

Golden thinks this will have a negative effect on participation in the movement, “I think the cold weather will reduce the number of people who go out into Occupants of Wall Street stand firm. the parks and protest.”

Dick stated, “I think Dick was more critical of the protestors everyone’s fatigued with the whole thing. pointing out, “These protestors are occuI think it’s the combination of cold weath- pying public parks and filling up the area er, and the expense it’s costing tax- payers so they are infringing on the right of other that will disband it.” people who want to go to the park. Small The expense to taxpayers Dick refer- business vendors are also having difficulty enced was highlighted in specific cases selling their food with all these people taksuch as Occupy Austin. The Austin, Texas ing up their space and driving potential Public Safety Commission announced customers away. Many have noted the that the Austin Police Department would comparison between Occupy and the Tea eventually spend 1,000,000 of taxpayer’s Party Movement. money for police overtime caused by ocGolden acknowledged the similarity becupiers. tween the two ideologies, “Both are proWith occupants taking up public areas testing the government and show anger there has been predictable trepidation on with the government.” the part of city officials as there is fear that Golden specified that, “Occupy is adprotestors will damage public property vocating more federal intervention in the along with disrupting private business. economy. They are angry at the govern“These fears remain unfounded,” said ment for allowing the economic collapse.

Golden. “Everything the protestors have The Tea Party is protesting for a smaller done has been within the city regula- federal government.” tions.”

The occupy movements are taking place in major cities SR. MARILYNN BERGT Con�nued from page 1 all across the country...

Where do YOU stand on this movement?

We want to know.

Email your opinions to

newspaperSH@hotmail.com

Thank You, The Heart Beat Staff

Photo courtasty of Sr. Donna Gribschaw

Sr. Marilynn Bergt smiles for her professional bio photograph.

Photo courtesy of Associated Press

Dick also noted a distinct difference between the two movements, “The Tea Party pushed for reduced federal regulation, repealing of President Obama’s health care package.”

Both Dick and Golden pointed to the need for a clear message by protest movements. It remains to be seen how long Occupy will last and the effect it will have on government policy.

What is clear is that to evolve and prosper Occupy, as well as other newly formed political movements, must have a clear message.

Golden reiterated the importance of a clear message to maintain support, “It has to have some attainable accomplishment or goal to point to and if you don’t then people will lose interest.”

“For the past five years, the leadership council has met regularly every month to plan how to come together as one school,” Bergt said. “There has been a lot of behindthe-scenes work, and we’re trying to get a constituency developed. Right now, I’m serving as a facilitator in the process of uniting the schools.”

Bergt has been introduced to the Sacred Heart community in part to serve as another, objective set of eyes in order to benefit the progress of the school.

“We often take weaknesses for granted,” Bergt said. “I’d like to draw from Maria Reiner Rilke; ‘I pray that we can live through the questions to the answers.’ And right now, we’re trying to do that. It will take a while to happen, and it will be a stepby-step process, taking one thing at a time, but we are definitely in the process.”

Bergt also said that Sacred Heart is full of its strengths as well.

“There’s a great sense of community here,” Bergt said. “There’s a strong school spirit and a strong sense of mission. We always have to take a Catholic point of view and ask ourselves, ‘what does Providence mean for our mission?’”

Bergt will continue to stay on as President of the Board of Directors in order to assist the process of finding and hiring a new school principal.

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December 20, 2011

THE HEART BEAT

“Wanna hear a joke about a bagel?”

BY GREG HABEEB Staff Writer

Staff photo by Hannah MacInnis

Freshmen Winny Wang and Jin Rong Lee perform at the coffee house sponsered by the Creative Writing club.

And thus, the annual Sacred Heart Coffee House began. The event, which allows Sacred Heart students to perform anything from acoustic music to poetry to stand-up comedy in front of their peers, was held on November 9th in the Student Activity Center’s Blue Room.

This year, the Coffee House featured a variety of performers from different grades and countries. The hosts, seniors Ian Kirkwood and Melanie Odell, kicked off the proceedings with the aforementioned bagel joke, before giving way to the night’s first performers: freshman exchange students Winny Wing and Jin Rong Lee. They performed an instrumental duet featuring a violin and piano. They were followed by senior Miranda Boyles, who read a short story of her own composition, “Sound of Hope.”

Sophomores Griffin Ostrowski and Hannah Wisnewski then performed a duet of The Fray’s “Never Say Never” with Ostrowski on guitar and Wisnewski on piano (Ostrowski would return later in the show solo to give an acoustic cover of Tonic’s “If You Could Only See.”) After they left the stage, Nicole Henderson read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.”

Junior exchange students Mengjun Duan and Tanglong Yuwen earned a standing ovation for their Chinese rap and beatboxing skills, and senior Jackie Lee read a poem she had composed called “A Riddle.” Senior Erin Cardey also read an autobiographical poem about how quickly the years pass by.

Members of the Speech and Debate team used the Coffee House as a practice for some of their competition pieces. Juniors LeighAnn D’Andrea and Lauren Price, and hosts Odell and Kirkwood all represented their speech and debate team, touting pieces with serious weight, such as what being beautiful truly

means, wrongful birth and the death of loved ones.

Junior Jeff Millman brightened the mood with his standup comedy act, a real hit with the audience, and senior BriAnna Habeeb brought out a ukulele and sang a cover of the Tom Petty classic “Free Fallin’”.

One act of the show wasn’t even performed by a current Sacred Heart student. Sacred Heart alumnus Willie Dinardo made a return to the Coffee House and performed for the first time on campus since last year’s teacher rap medley in the Variety Show. Although Dinardo is an aspiring musician who is a well seasoned performer, he said he still was vulnerable to the jitters.

“I was nervous, believe it or not,” Dinardo said. “It was my first performance since the Variety Show when [former teacher Scott] Dalton came up on the stage, and I didn’t think there was anything I could do to top that performance in my mind.”

Dinardo’s first performance was one of his own songs, one “written in the eighth grade” as he elaborated on, called “Hate to See Her Go.” When Dinardo returned to the stage as the show’s second to last act, it was not to perform a song, but to read off a Lettermanesque list of his “Top 10 Sacred Heart Accomplishments.” The list detailed Dinardo’s greatest feats, from passing sophomore geometry (by a decimal point) to falling through the ceiling in the boys’ locker room. Each story elicited loud laughter from the audience.

“I came up with the stuff like half and hour before the Coffee House and kind of just winged it from there,” Dinardo said.

Dinardo didn’t rule out another return to Sacred Heart.

“I would come back in a heartbeat,” he said. “This place means a lot to me. It made me the person I am today, and I am very proud of that.”

Sr. Donna says, “See you later.”

BY PATRICIA ZIBELLI Staff Writer

W

ith nearly four years of Sacred Heart ministry coming to a close, Sr. Donna Gribschaw begins to say her final good-byes to the community that she said has become her family.

Born and raised in Pittsburg, PA Gribschaw said she sensed that she wanted to become a Sister of Divine Providence in the second grade.

“Back in those days, you usually went to the religious community where you were raised,” Gribschaw said, “My Aunt was a member [of the SOPD] up here in New England, and we were very close.”

Emphasizing this, Gribschaw told of her childhood summers, where she and her friends would anxiously await August 15, the day when all of the Sisters would return from the Mother House.

“It was the care and hospitality of the Sisters that drew me to become one of

us,” Gribschaw said. “They were mentors to me.”

Leaving her previous job as grant writer for the Office of Promotion and Human Development, Inc. in Puerto Rico, Gribschaw made her way to Kingston, MA to take on the role of Campus Minister at Sacred Heart. The Campus Minister needs to be available to the faculty and students, strengthening the faith life of the Sacred Heart community and provide opportunities for community service. In this, Gribschaw has continued to sponsor five all-school community projects in collaboration with others, such as Cradles 2 Crayons with Mrs. Nancy Swanson and the Junior National Honors Society, the Coffee House with Ms. Carey Zigouras, the Living Stations with Mrs. Elin Slavin and the Peer Ministers, and other projects like the Souper Bowl, the bi-annual Peru Trip and Friday night bingo.

Regarding her first days working at Sacred Heart, Gribschaw says that, upon entering the building, it felt like she was coming home.

“I was here in 1966, when my Aunt took her final vows, and though I had never worked here before, in that moment, it felt like I was coming home,” Gribschaw said.

Elected to serve at a leadership capacity

“It’s difficult to leave the friends you’ve made, especially among my professional peers and the students who have volunteered so much of their time. ”

- Sr. Donna

on the Provincial Council of her community for the Sisters of Divine Providence, Gribschaw was presented with the challenge of balancing both worlds these past

few months. In preparation for her new position, Sr. Donna has been commuting between Kingston, MA and Pittsburg, PA for several months now.

Although her ministry at Sacred Heart is coming to an end, Sr. Donna will continue to be a large part of the school community.

With meetings bringing her back this way throughout the coming years, she says that students can expect to see her friendly face in the hallways from time to time.

“It’s difficult to leave the friends you’ve made, especially among my professional peers and the students who have volunteered so much of their time helping in the office for so many various things,” Gribschaw said. “I’ve been blessed with so many wonderful people, especially Sr. Ida Mary, who I’ve lived with these past four years. She truly is a gift, and though I’m leaving, I’m not really saying, ‘goodbye.’

I’m just saying, ‘see you later.’”

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December 20, 2011

Staff photo by Kate Jamison

Seniors Jackie Schrieber and Tommy Viscariello enjoy the dance on November 18th.

Staff photo by Kate Jamison

Senior Mike Hanna gets down at semi while Senior Hannah MacInnis looks on with a smile.

Harvest Semi-Formal puts students in the holiday spirit

Staff photo by Kate Jamison

Sophomores Kellie Goodell, Courtney Burt, Kelly Rathje, and Jen Habeeb stop to smile for the camera.

Staff photo Kate Jamison

Approximately 200 students attended the Harvest Semi Formal.

Staff photo by Kate Jamison

Senior Kenzie Sullivan wins a raffle and receives a prize from senior Caragh Fane-Harvey.

DJ Brian Bruni was in charge of music for the event.

Staff photo by Kate Jamison

F

EATURES

5 December 20, 2011

Shedding some light on the Tanning Trend

THE HEART BEAT

Students get schooled in Driver’s Ed

BY MADDI HALEY Staff Writer The warm weather months are coming to a close, but who says the bronze skin that comes with them has to leave, also? Even with the lack of an 80 degree beach day, whether a girl is using a tanning booth, professional spray tan, or one of the many self-tanning lotions or creams on the market today, there is no doubt that the sunless tanning industry is on the rise.

It’s common to hear of girls going tanning before a prom or semi-formal dance, but as the trend becomes more fashionable, the orange glow of a false skin-tone is becoming present year round. Senior Stephanie McSherry tans every so often.

“I don’t go that often, like once every couple of weeks maybe,” McSherry said.

“It just makes me feel good and look as if I have a normal skin tone”.

When asked about her knowledge of any long-term effects McSherry added, “It’s probably not good for me in the long run, but I’m not too worried because like I said, I don’t go every day”.

McSherry stated that she will probably tan for the rest of her life unless something “goes horribly wrong.”

Sacred Heart Nurse Jane Tilden weighed in on the issue.

“In my opinion, they’re aging, they’re bad for your skin, they can cause cancer and they’re not very sanitary,” Tilden said. “Most salons rely on their clients to clean their own beds. The users can easily get fungal infections like staph.”

Many people think that using a tanning bed is, in fact, safer than tanning in the sun, which Tilden said “is a myth”. She explained that tanning beds simply take the harmful UV rays and compact them into a booth, and one isn’t getting the Vitamin D that they would get from the sun. This gives the user a huge risk of skin cancer.

“The younger you tan and the younger you burn, the higher the risk of developing skin cancer,” Tilden declares. “If girls find the need to get that bronzed look, there are much safer alternatives even including high quality self-tanning lotions that are streak-free”.

Junior Jen Rathje also noted the risks of tanning beds.

“It’s so bad for your skin, especially if skin cancer runs in your family,” Rathje said. “Although it may be relaxing, there are alternatives like spray tans.”

Senior Katie Presutti said that although tanning is relaxing, she doesn’t want to end up “looking like a shriveled prune” when she is older.

“You do need to get your necessary dose of Vitamin D though,” added Presutti, “but just wear sunscreen; it will be worth it in the end.”

Mrs. Tilden urges that Sacred Heart should consider a challenge from the Melanoma Foundation of New England. If 75% of girls can sign off on a contract promising not to tan before Prom, the school will be awarded a small scholarship. “We should give it a try. It’d be interesting to see if we could do it,” Tilden said.

The world may never know why girls strive to hold a glow all year round, but Tilden believes that, overall, tanning just isn’t necessary.

“Girls don’t need to be bronze to be beautiful,” Tilden concluded.

Staff Photo by Hannah MacInnis

Tanning booths such as this one are used to concentrate UV rays and give people a quicker tan. Sacred Heart students have begun getting bronzer and bronzer as they plunge into winter.

Staff Photo by Nick Murphy

The Blue Driving Academy opens its doors to teenagers daily, educating the masses on how to drive. The Academy started a class at Sacred Heart earlier this year.

BY EVAN NOLAN Staff Writer Last year, Massachusetts State Police officer Dan Eaton opened a driver’s education course through the Blue Driving Academy. The Academy is taught only by personnel who have extensive law enforcement backgrounds and only teach students using Jeep Grand Cherokees instead of the typical small sedans such as the Toyota Corolla. Classes are held at their location in Duxbury, MA and, now, at Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, MA. In order to complete the Registry standard of 30 classroom hours, the Academy’s course is broken down into 10 different 3 hour blocks through-out a 5 week period. Accelerated courses are offered during the Christmas, February, and April vacations. Each consists of 30 classroom hours over 5 days. Normal class hours are from 5:45-9:00 but for classes held at Sacred Heart, hours are 3:00-6:00.

Blue Driving Academy also has a more extensive training where students are taught by active or retired police officers only. For driving time, students are picked up and dropped off at home or at school at every 2 hour session. For those who live far away, teachers and students meet at a halfway point for their lessons. The academy practices in all sorts of road conditions including rainy and snowy surfaces. They also make sure that drivers experience both day-time and night-time driving conditions as well. Drivers are also brought to locations such as Boston, Downtown Plymouth, and Derby Street Shops to learn how to deal with pedestrian and vehicular congestion.

The Academy’s Jeeps are peculiar simply because they break away from the stereotypical training car which is small and easily maneuverable. Another aspect of the Academy is their private track for their Confidence Course. This allows students to attempt texting and driving through cones to simulate the difficulty and risk texting brings in real world situations.

Blue Driving Academy encompasses all aspects of driving through their extensive training process. Before drivers operate school vehicles, they spend time in a classroom with teachers who have experience in law enforcement and extensive driving experience. Whereas some driving schools only have their students drive around local back roads, Blue takes them to crowded and congested areas so students experience these kinds of situations before they start driving alone.

In the end, the Blue Driving Academy attempts to make the roads safer for everyone.

6

HEART BEAT

December 20, 2011

‘Tis

T

BY ANGELA MELAN Staff

Staff photo by Nick Murphy

The Christmas tree is a popular symbol for the Christmas holiday. This one is located at Fanueil Hall in Boston.

As the weather become turn up their car heaters road with a newly cut pi roof of their car. They cru bright lights with familiar ca the radio. It won’t be difficult f around the corner.

Pine trees, Christmas lights, and h Christmas is celebrated many differe country and religion, like Catholicism celebrated each year. Some of these dif by a few of Sacred Heart’s own students.

Eighth grader Ben Novak celebrates a var partly Jewish family.

“My mom grew up Protestant so we celebr the usual traditions of Christmas like the tre and Christmas Mass,” he said. “My family i go to the synagogue one of the nights for a bi Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that is celebrate Hanukkah means “dedication” and the holiday Temple in Jeruslem“We use a Hanukkah or Me

that is bigger than all the rest,” Novak said. “We ligh the second, and so on.”

Along with the usual Catholic religious traditions that they have created throughout the years.

Freshmen Adam Tomasi discussed his personal traditions “In the past I’ve gotten an amount of presents equivalent to my said Tomasi. “It was just something my mom started doing.”

History teacher George Rose recalled his childhood Christmas m “When I was growing up, we always had big family get-togethe school with when they couldn’t see their families,” said Rose. “N always light Advent candles and say the prayer that goes with th Although they are now a well-known tradition for many Cathol to celebrate Christmas. In Scandinavia during the wintertime, ca to lengthen the days and bring back the warm weather. It wasn’ as a preparation for Christmas.

In Italy, Christmas is celebrated in a slightly different fashion.

Italy.

“My family has a big dinner on Christmas Eve and we sing C On Christmas, we go to my grandmother’s house with all of Although most Sacred Heart students have been experiencin “Christmas has gotten popular in China in the past 5 years, “Mostly people decorate stores and malls, but not their celebrate Christmas Eve until very late at n

December 20, 2011

The

HEART BEATT

7

Season

A D’AMELIO AND NIE ODELL Writers

es colder, many people s as they drive down the ine tree strapped to the uise by houses strung with arols streaming softly from for most to see that Christmas is

holiday music have become tradition. ent ways throughout the world. Every m, has created their own traditions that are fferent religious traditions are even celebrated . riety of holidays with his partly Protestant and

rate Christmas at one of my uncle’s houses. We have ee and the stockings, but without the Bible readings is Jewish, though, so we also celebrate Hanukkah. We ig dinner and a candle lighting ceremony.” ed for 8 days and nights in late December. In Hebrew, y is given this name to commemorate the re-dedication of the enorah, which is an eight candled candelabra with a taller candle

ht candles every night progressively. One on the first night, two on

s of Christmas, some student’s families have other secular traditions

s. y age, plus one. The additional present is supposedly for good luck.”

memories and the traditions his family took part in every year. ers, and we would always invite over international students that I went to Now that my parents are grandparents, we still do the same routine: We hem.” lic families at Christmas time, Advent wreaths were not originally created andles were lit and placed around a wheel as an offering to the god of light ’t until the Middle Ages that the Christians adapted this custom and used it

. Senior Martin Rabanser describes his Christmas traditions back home in

Christmas songs by the tree,” said Rabanser. “After that, we open presents. my cousins and open more presents.” ng Christmas since they were young, for some Christmas is a new practice. and it’s mostly celebrated by teenagers,” said junior Dafei Lu. r houses. The teens gather and eat together, and then gather downtown to night. Christmas is not really traditional to Chinese culture.”

Staff photo by Nick Murphy

Boston is a big Christmas shopping center and many take advantage of the numerous shops in the city.

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EATURES

8

December 20, 2011

THE HEART BEAT

Membean ‘Mazes the Junior Class

BY SARAH KAMP Staff Writer This year there is a conspicuous absence in the junior class. The little orange vocabulary books that every student used to carry around have been replaced by an online program called “Membean.”

This year the junior class is testing a new method of learning vocabulary, an interactive website that thrives off of innovation. Each student is required to spend a certain amount of time each week on Membean homework. A clock marks the progress.

When students first log in they are tested to determine their skill level, allowing the website to track their progress. By the end of the year, students can be 1,700 words smarter.

Ms. Carey Zigouras, the English Teacher currently experimenting with Membean, discussed the program.

“This program should prepare students for college and the SATs,” Zigouras said.

“The teachers can make sure students are spending time on the website, and grade them based on that.”

Zigouras cited advantages to the program: “It’s interactive, it has a larger selection of words for the SATs, and it’s more fun and less tedious.”

Other features include an audio version of the words so that students learn the correct pronunciation. Students learn etymology-common prefixes, suffixes and roots of words using interactive word trees. Membean also includes memory hooks and numerous examples of the word in context. For instance, the word “malevolent”, has a YouTube style video clip of a Jeff Dunham sketch in the “Word Theater” feature.

Junior Jay Meyer approves of the new program.

“I like Membean because it’s fun and it’s productive,” Meyer said. “I know that these words will help me on the SATs and in the future.”

Junior LeighAnn D’Andrea agreed, enjoying the website’s ease of access.

“Membean is so much easier for me than the orange books[last year’s vocabulary]. It’s on my schedule and goes at my own pace,” D’Andrea said. “I really like how it makes me spell out all the words after I see them.”

“There are no tests or quizzes in class,” Zigouras said of the way the class is graded.

“Since the review and quizzes are online, the program is for the benefit of the students and at the end of the year Membean gives them a final test.”

Students have actually been enjoying vocabulary this year because of Membean, and it’s showing. “I’m excited because the students are excited,” Zigorous said.

Why are students excited? Well, according to Membean’s website, “It’s addictive.

You’ll keep coming back for more — because you want to.”

Staff Graphic by Patricia Zibelli

Sacred Heart Volunteers to Serve Our Country

BY ALEX BIANCO Staff Writer As a rough estimate, only about ten percent of the United States population serves in the military. Very few hear the call or feel the need to serve their country. For those brave, dedicated few who feel compelled to serve, the call is too strong to be ignored. The desire to be a member of something bigger and more important than themselves drives the soldiers from all branches of the armed forces to defend their homeland.

There have only been a select number of graduates and faculty of Sacred Heart High School to serve under the American flag.

Sacred Heart English teacher Eugene Boyles and History/Psychology teacher Gerard Golden have both served in the armed forces.

Along with faculty, Sacred Heart has had a few students join the military. The school has also had several graduates enroll in military academies in the past few years.

Alumnus Simon Ostrowski was accepted into the prestigious United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Graduate Evan Cary is currently at Norwich University in Vermont. Norwich was the first private military college and the birthplace of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which several other alumni have been a part of at other colleges and universities.

With such a small percent of United States residents serving in the military, there is a high demand for educated, young men and women to join the service after high school.

Whether it be enlisted or commissioned, each branch offers many incentives and great opportunities.

Many high school graduates are eligible for one type of ROTC scholarship or another.

These scholarships range from a few thousand dollars to full tuition and a monthly allowance. Along with the possibility of a scholarship, these students graduate as commissioned officers with a guaranteed job doing something to which they are committed.

The United States Military is not for everyone, but for those who join, it is not something to be taken lightheartedly. It is a commitment, an honor, and a way of life.

Staff Graphic by Patricia Zibelli

SHHS has sent a handful of students to military academies all over the country.

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October 31, 2011

December 20, 2011

THE HEART BEAT

MW3: Are You Game?

BY: IAN KIRKWOOD Staff Writer During November, I received an email that truly confused me. It began “Dear Lisa…” and continued on to describe an account that I allegedly had set up on callofduty.com that allowed me to get some great ingame benefits.

The only problem was that I did not know what this email was talking about. When interrogated to extreme lengths about the mystery correspondence, my little brother fessed up and explained he had done it and used my email. My brother, who usually doesn’t touch a computer to check anything but YouTube or Facebook, had done this all for a videogame.

“The game has the uncanny ability to bring people together.”

-Ian Kirkwood So, I realized it was high time that I personally check out that game. My family has a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for the PS3. After popping the game into the console and booting up to the home screen, I was met with the option of choosing from three modes: Special Ops, Campaign and Multiplayer. I made the initial selection of starting with the Multiplayer. Since that decision, I have been thoroughly dragged into the world of Modern Warfare 3, and honestly, I don’t plan on leaving any time soon.

Before I get to the actual content, I must divulge a brief history of my own personal “gaming” habits.

I have played (and loved) other games in the Call of Duty series, but mostly, I tend to find the one-hit wonders like Black Ops and World at War to be the best.

Generally, I stick to games that have long single player

Photo Courtesy of Activision

campaigns and good stories. Modern Warfare 3 was not something that I was eagerly anticipating.

From what I understand, the campaign of MW3 lasts a total of 5 hours. This is a short duration for a regular video game, but about average for the Modern Warfare series. It contains some “shocking” plot points, as these games have been doing as of late, but in whole, it is lackluster.

Like the other games in the series, MW3 contains violent terrorism and controversial topics like the death of innocent people for the greater good, but right from the get-go, it’s very clear that the single player aspect of Modern Warfare 3 was not the focus of the production.

The parts of MW3 that can be enjoyed with others— both the Special Ops and the Multiplayer options—are the absolute best part. The geniuses at Infinity Ward

(the game’s publishers) have successfully created an internet community that is growing, full of things to do, and constantly throwing new surprises at the player population. Somehow, the multiplayer manages to be just the right balance of harsh, unforgiving punishment and outstanding reward. The end result is addictive, to say the least.

Most players will begin their MW3 experience at level 1. They have a basic set of weapons and tactics they can employ, but what the experience point system will come down to, initially, is their basic skills: response time, accuracy and strategy.

As players level up, they receive bonuses in the form of new guns, customizable plaques and player cards, all part of this “dangling carrot” reward system that has swept the nation.

In the end, the game has truly connected people.

Even within the Sacred Heart community, a freshman from Scituate could be playing with a senior from Wareham, connecting the two over a common interest. The game has the uncanny ability to bring people together, and even if the content gets, at times, explicit, it is achieving its purpose of uniting friends.

So, after my first few rounds of playing, my little brother sat down with me, grabbed a controller, logged into his account, and showed me how it was done. We leveled up together. We fought with each other, against each other and against everyone else in free-for-all mode. Somehow, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 managed to unite us all.

Vampires aren’t the only things that bite BY: CHELSEY TAHAN Staff Writer

W

hen most people think of the wedding of the century, their minds instantly turn to the extraordinary wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, which was watched by two billion of the world’s population, but for Twilight fans, the wedding of the century was on November 18th when Edward Cullen and Bella Swan tied the knot in Breaking Dawn, Part One. Fans have been waiting for the movie to be released ever since the book on which the movie is based was published in August 2008 and fans were not disappointed. While the movie has an appeal towards fans of the series, it lacked the ability to draw in any new blood to the Twilight cult.

Breaking Dawn, Part One starts with everyone’s favorite masochistic heroine, Isabella Swan, nervously awaiting her wedding day as her (spoiler alert!) vampire family sets up for the most extravagant back yard wedding rivaling even that of Kim Kardashian.

As Bella and Edward exchange a few awkward lines and uncomfortable, “subtle” innuendos on the night before the wedding, she assures her husband-to-be that tomorrow, she will be “the one wearing white,” just in case he didn’t know.

The wedding itself is quite beautiful; weeping willow trees cascade over the aisle as Bella, clad in a breathtaking dress, glides to meet her fiancé. The entire movie is full of excellent costume design and the sets are absolutely spectacular. Like a cheap date, however, the movie is all about the looks and has no true essence.

Even after working together for three movies, the chemistry between the actors was nonexistent.

After Isabella Swan officially becomes Isabella Cullen, she and Edward enjoy a secluded honeymoon on Isle Esme, an island off the coast of Brazil that Edward’s father gave as a gift to Edward’s mother. Who wouldn’t want their own tropical island?

Unfortunately, amidst the gorgeous pan over shots of the island and ostentatious interior design of the island mansion, tragedy strikes. Bella finds herself pregnant with what can only be described as a “demon fetus” (as it is referred to in the movie).

Edward swiftly takes her back to their home state of Washington, and the rest of the movie involves werewolf brouhahas, family conflicts and a birth scene that will have kids apologizing to mothers everywhere.

When the book Breaking Dawn came out in August 2008, many fans were not too pleased with the outcome of the series.

An internet movement named “bringing back Dawn” started in an attempt to protest the book. Fans who were disappointed with the author’s choice of ending the story promptly returned the book to bookstores only days after the book was released.

Since then, Breaking Dawn has been thought of as the most controversial of the Twilight series. It’s not a surprise that the movie was not much different.

The movie had its ups and downs. It scored a 27% on the infamous movie critic site, “Rotten Tomatoes,” where reviewers stated that the movie was “slow, joyless, and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments”.

There were definitely some parts that would make one seeing the movie think that it could be a decent film. Other moments were so painfully absurd that even the craziest Twilight fangirl would cringe.

Acting: D

Wardrobe: A-

Writing: D-

Scenery: B+

Overall: D+

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

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December 20, 2011

THE HEART BEAT

You know I.T.

BY KATIE BELDEN Staff Writer

Have you ever experienced technical difficulties either in Computer Lab A or “I have always had the interest to work with technology and computers. It is somethe library? The answer is that most students at Sacred Heart High School, at some point, thing I have been doing with my friends since about eighth grade,” Pitch said. have had to deal with the hassle of slow computers, log-on issues, curser problems, etc.

Penn and Wilbur work for Minot Technology of Hanover, MA. Before working at MiAll of these technological difficulties can be aggravating for both students and teachers. not, Penn worked as a computer engineer in Western Mass. He wanted to move to Cape This is why Sacred Heart has recently asked Minot Technology Group to help fix and Cod, so he decided to apply to Minot Technology. Penn now finds himself at Sacred improve our school’s technology. Minot may be working behind the scenes at SHS but Heart. they are improving a very important aspect in all our lives –technology.

Pitch explained the usual tasks that he and his partner must accomplish.

The owner of Minot Associates is Christopher Wilbur. He has approximately 10 years “Usually when we come in, there is a checklist of jobs for us to accomplish. For of experience in the IT profession. Wilbur explained that although he has many years of example; library databases, infrastructure, wireless connection, mail server, etc. We involvement in IT, this was not his schedule our time period for each day first profession. depending on our list of priorities,” Pitch “I went to Umass Amherst and got explained. my degree in Business with a focus He also explained that whenever they on Hotel Restaurant Management. I complete a project, they make sure to worked in the restaurant business for stop in the following day to make sure three years as a director of a company the program is properly working, and out of Boston and decided it was time everyone is aware of the new update. for a change. I did not feel fulfilled Wilbur and Penn have been supporting in this profession and wanted to do the IT system at Sacred Heart Elemensomething I found more rewarding tary School and the Early Childhood and challenging,” Wilbur said.

Center for many years both with a forHe went on to explain that he mer company and now with Minot Techdecided to go back to school and nology Group. The company took over received a Masters Certificate in IT the job of supporting the high school in Systems from Clark University in September, 2011.

Worcester, MA. “It has been a lot of fun and also a lot “I had always had an interest of work. The IT systems needed a bit in this field and knew that the fast of a facelift and we have been workpaced, always changing, and always ing along with Sister Alice Marie and challenging world of IT was a great the new President, Pamela Desmarais, fit,” Wilbur said. to make it a more technology driven Wilbur started the company school,” Wilbur proclaimed.

Staff photo by: Nick Murphy Minot Technology Group, LLC in He also explained that since Septem2009 with his two partners: Matthew Christopher Wilbur inspects the computer’s tower to be repaired. Wilbur began working for ber, they have implemented a new wireSacred Heart High Schoool last August.

Reardon and Steve Richards. less system throughout the high school, “Matt, Steve and I had been working together for about nine years, and decided it digital displays in the lobby, cafeteria, Student Activity Center, and have replaced all of was time to go out on our own. Our company’s client list has been growing rapidly, and the outdated systems in the classrooms. because of this we had to bring on some talent,” Wilbur said.

Wilbur said that the biggest challenge for both Penn and himself has been the balancIn September, 2011 Minot hired Pich Penn who had been in the IT business for about ing act of helping the faculty and staff on the current systems, while simultaneously 10 years. Wilbur said Penn has hit the ground running and brings a wealth of knowledge upgrading the old systems. Both men, however, are thrilled with their SHS experience. and experience to the team.

“We try to get to everyone’s issues as fast as we can so everyone can stay connected “He is great with people, which is a skill that is a must for everyone at Minot Technol- and productive. The faculty and staff have been great giving us both the input and unogy. We try to break the stereotype of IT guys being grumpy geeks!” Wilbur explained. derstanding we need to make the IT systems more efficient. Overall our experience has Pich Penn is 37 years old, and 15 of those years have been dedicated to computer been great. It has been fun to be part of the school and we look forward to many years to networking. He attended a tech-school for computers and electronics. come,” Wilbur said.

Maintenance Staff : Keepin’ it clean

BY PATRICK MCDONALD Staff Writer The school community constantly has events that are going on. From bingo to pancake breakfasts and back again, the Sacred Heart students are all active. But as more and more events happen, people need to set and clean them up. That modest job goes to the maintenence staff.

The maintenance staff is comprised of eleven hardworking members. Their shifts last from 6 am-2 pm and from 3 pm-11 pm, making them the first to arrive at school and the last to leave.

Eighth grader Ian Fillion talked about his personal experience regarding the maintenance staff.

“A month ago, I arrived at school for one of my early morning soccer practices, so I decided to stay in the SAC for a while. I was surprised to find the maintenance staff cleaning the gym. I wasn’t aware that they worked that early in the morning,” Fillion said.

Much of the fabric of Sacred Heart dates back to 1952.

Almost all of the original doors, desks, and other furniture are still in near-perfect condition mostly due to the work of the maintenance staff. Day in and day out they make sure the doors are properly varnished, that desks are clean and sturdy, and that the carpets are free of gum.

The staff clean and vacuum each classroom as well as the lunchroom, clear the snow during the winter and mow the fields during the spring and fall. If something is broken, they do their best to fix and repair it. Some of the daily

tasks for the staff include re-welding broken chair legs and re-painting walls. Even during the summer they take time out of their schedules to make sure every classroom, every light, and every chair is completely prepared for the next school year.

The maintenance crew, along with their daily responsibilities, also orchestrates staff events, such as this year’s Alice In Wonderland- themed Halloween costumes and the crew’s Secret Santa gift-giving.

English teacher Winifred Dick shared her thoughts about taking part in this year’s giftgiving.

“It was a lot of fun because of the broad participation from faculty, maintenance, and administration. We didn’t spend a lot of money on the gifts, but the thoughtfulness and ingenuity that people demonstrated was a real morale booster,” Dick said.

English teacher Carey Zigouras also talked about the crew’s Secret Santa.

“I didn’t partake this year, but I regret not doing so because it sounded like it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed listening to all the clues they made for their gifts. Next year I Staff photo by: Patricia Zibelli will definitely be a part of the Secret Santa,” Kathy Norris cleans the glass door panels in the lobby of the Zigouras said. school.

The maintenance staff is an integral part of community without asking for any recognition or thanks.

Sacred Heart, and takes on a multitude of jobs and tasks every day to make sure that this school can keep They are the unsung heroes of Sacred Heart operating smoothly. The crew contributes much to our

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11 December 20, 2011

He Said, She Said: Twitter

BY MEAGAN ANTONELLIS AND IAN KIRKWOOD Staff Writers

He Said

Although my adversary will surely disregard this statement, the “Tweet” has become something of an art form. In only 150 characters, including spaces, the author of the particular fragment of thought must condense his or her saying into the most concise, impactful words possible. The addition of the “hashtag” only adds another layer of subtle humor or tragedy. In a sense, Twitter has promoted the average American into Emily Dickinson.

The critics of twitter are simply those who misunderstand it.

They see the incoherent ramblings of one obnoxious celebrity and swear off the website forever.

She Said

Just when I believed that social networking could sink no further, Twitter became an unfortunate phenomenon. With “hashtags” appearing outside the context of the website and “tweets” becoming increasingly popular conversation topics, it is clear that this epidemic is going nowhere anytime soon. This is unfortunate, as the website serves no other purpose than to facilitate virtual stalking and/or oversharing and to promote a demeaning worldwide popularity contest among users.

Perhaps the main component of Twitter that continually attracts users is the allure of obtaining as many “followers” as possible, as if high school students really needed another tool with which to exclude

The biggest problem with Twitter is the people who use it. They don’t seem to understand that just because one has an audience and the capabilities to say something, it doesn’t mean they should.

Of course, the beauty of twitter is that one doesn’t need to follow everyone they know. Is there an

Unfollow him. Then you won’t have to worry about it. Instead, follow the smart, witty friends you know.

In a sense, the company that runs Twitter has set up a system of reward and punishment that is slowly pruning the population to a group of witty thinkers able to express themselves in minimal terms. If someone is a bad tweeter, then they won’t have many followers, whereas somebody with outstanding tweets will get more and more followers, thus nipping and pruning their own style and building each tweet into perfection.

One of my favorite twitter accounts is Voldemort, who posts snarky comments about the world today. Back in June, a Hurricane Irene twitter came out, putting shame on the east coast as a whole and generally making people laugh around the country. I am also partial to the variGraphic courtesy of Hannah Wennerberg ous “problem” twitters, such as “prep school problems” annoying friend in the social group and “speech problems.” that won’t shut up on the internet?

their peers. The security that people tend to feel about attacking one another over the internet, on or off of Twitter, presents a great danger here. With one simple click, anyone with a Twitter account has the ability to unfollow any one of his or her peers, effectively sending the message that the person excluded is not funny, clever, or interesting enough to be followed. This system of followers furthers the already problematic social hierarchy of the modern young adult.

Supporters of the website are obviously those who possess a Twitter account themselves, and much of their support is derived from the desire to gain followers and share

what they have to say with the rest of the world…but think about it.

If you spend your time displaying your most brilliant thoughts on Twitter, who is really going to take them seriously? Twitter is nothing more than momentary entertainment; a tweet is simply something to smile at and forget about within the next ten minutes. Like so many other social networking sites before it, Twitter has become a mindless procrastination tool, preventing users from putting any valuable ideas they might have to good use, and is quite simply not worth the detriment it has caused.

How to change the world in thirteen weeks No written demands, no established leader, and a massive global following: this is Occupy Wall Street.

It continues to baffle us that a movement with no clear purpose has gained such a following. There are Occupy movements on every continent and thousands of people have participated.

Occupy protesters claim to seek an equal distribution of wealth, address grievances concerning societal values, express concern for the future and various other generalities. A clear and specific purpose remains unknown.

While the vague intended end results have been continuously communicated, Occupy movements appear to have no specific goals to be achieved along the way.

What Occupy Wall Street needs to focus on right now is specifics and methods. It is clear that they want to minimize the effect of corporations on the democratic process. We know that they are looking to gain an equal

distribution of wealth. How do they plan on achieving this? In order for a movement to effectively bring about change, the members of that movement must be very clear about what they want and how they intend to

Editorial get it. In order to do so, the Occupiers need more than numbers to get their point across. They must contact elected officials, draw up more specific goals in their cities, and keep getting their names.

We respect and support the protestors in their quest for change. We at The Heart Beat believe that taking a stand and doing something is always better than doing nothing. In addition to drawing attention to the prevalent issues of the 99%, the Occupy Wall Street movement has proved that there are some who refuse to be apathetic.

What Occupy Wall Street has done is drawn national attention to increasingly prevalent issues such as the ever widening gap separating the economic classes. The exceedingly large number of participants involved in the movement is extremely difficult to ignore or to overlook. The Occupy efforts have caught our attention. It is clear, however, that these efforts need to be improved upon now that this has been accomplished.

While the Occupy movement is a commendable effort and a necessary call for change, the protestors’ goals must be specified and plans for initiating this change must be, at the very least, elaborated. We believe Occupy Wall Street to have a notable destination without any real means of getting there. In short, the movement is an ends without a means, and this unfinished project simply needs to be seen through to completion.

THE HEART BEAT Editors-in-Chief: Meagan Antonellis Kate Jamison Front Page Editors: Alexander Bianco Angela D’Amelio Features Editor: Ian Kirkwood Double Truck Editor: Chelsey Tahan A&E Editors: Kendall Fisher Melanie Odell Opinion Editor: Evan Nolan Profiles Editor: Ka�e Belden Sports Editors: Gregory Habeeb Michael Hanna Ryan Thomas Photo Editors: Hannah MacInnis Nicholas Murphy Patricia Zibelli Copy Editor: Mercedes McGarry Staff Writers: Maddi Haley Sara Kamp Patrick MacDonald Staff advisor: Mr. Vincent Boccalini

THE HEART BEAT is the student newspaper of Sacred Heart High School, located at 399 Bishops Highway, Kingston, MA 02364. The views expressed herein are those of the staff. Responsible le�ers should be addressed to the Editorial Staff c/o Mr. Boccalini or via e-mail at vboccalini@sacredheartkingston.com. THE HEART BEAT welcomes readers’ opinions on all topics. Le�ers must be signed. The editors reserve the right to reject, edit, or shorten letters. THE HEART BEAT is printed by Graphic Developments, Inc.

Mission Statement The Heart Beat is Sacred Heart High School’s newspaper. As the present custodians of this long-standing and award-winning publica�on, we pledge ourselves to the following threefold purpose: To inspire and foster a sense of passion and love for journalism, journalis�c ethics and the integrity of the wri�en word; To create and develop an atmosphere of responsible leadership, commitment to truth and dedica�on to the highest standards of journalis�c principles; To recognize that in all we do, we are in the service of our Provident God who has blessed us with the oppurtunity to minister to the Sacred Heart community.

-Vincent Boccalini Moderator

Press affilia�ons Columbia Scholas�c Press Associa�on (CSPA) New England Scholas�c Press Associa�on (NESPA) American Scholas�c Press Associa�on (ASPA)

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December 20, 2011

THE HEART BEAT

Dual threat

Sacred Heart and Carver High School team up once again for hockey, gymnastics.

BY GREG HABEEB Staff Writer

Being a small school, Sacred Heart doesn’t have the population to support certain sports teams. Due to this lack of numbers, the school has paired with Carver High School in a joint effort for two sports, varsity hockey and varsity gymnastics.

The 2011-2012 Sacred Heart-Carver Fighting Crusaders are looking to rebound from a difficult campaign that saw them post a 3-17 record on the ice last season. The team struggled to score goals on a consistent basis, and the sparse goal support often submarined any effort the team put forward.

Senior Ryan Arsenault, a captain both last year and this year, was one of the few consistent scoring threats, leading the Fighting Crusaders in points last season. Looking ahead to the season at hand, Arsenault had nothing but positive feedback to give about his team in anticipation of the upcoming year.

“We’ve lost a couple seniors but I think the younger kids have a lot of experience under their belts and with our new coach things are looking good,” Arsenault said.

Despite last year’s struggle, the Fighting Crusaders were still fast. What Sacred Heart-Carver lacks in size and brute force, they attempt to make up for with quickness and agility.

“We’ve got a lot of speed,” Arsenault said. “While other teams seem to be a bit more physical, we kind of use the speed to beat them on the outside and throw the puck on the net.”

Staff photo by Mike Hanna

Junior Devlin Flaherty glides across the ice at practice.

Speed is where the Fighting Crusaders will need to thrive in their games and parlay scoring opportunities into goals instead of leaving them as missed chances as they did so regularly last year.

Arsenault was reluctant to give any bold predictions, but did predict improvement for the hockey team.

“I expect we’ll have a much better season than last,” Arsenault said.

As for the gymnastics team, the girls will be building off a successful 2010-2011. Despite losing three talented gymnasts to graduation, Sacred Heart-Carver will not be going without new talent. This season, the duo will become a trio, as Duxbury High School will be contributing gymnasts to the team.

Senior captain Diane Heidke is looking forward to the new additions to show what they can do.

“I haven’t met any of [the new Duxbury gymnasts] yet, and I’m going to miss the small team atmosphere, but hopefully they bring a lot energy and something new,” Heidke said.

Sacred Heart-Carver wins their meets, not because of individual abilities, but due to a total team effort, where the team’s personal capabilities complement one another.

“We’re pretty good at everything, with the exception of bars a.k.a. vault floor beam,” Heidke said. “Different people have strengths in different areas but the only place we really lack is on bars.”

Heidke has opted not to set lofty goals for the team; rather, she has chosen to focus on more intangibles.

“I want us to become closer as a team most of all and to do our best. Hopefully, if we do that, then we’ll get some girls to states,” she said.

Victorious!

Class of 2013 staves off a late senior charge to win Powder Puff title 24-12. good fashion. The game was not played last year so the senior class was only able to play in one Powder Puff game.

The juniors went up early and stayed there for The historic high school Powder Puff game was played the duration of the game. The seniors started to at Sacred Heart on Thursday November 17, 2011. Powder make a comeback in the fourth quarter, but just Puff is a game of flag football played between the junior ran out of time.

Junior quarterback Erin Bracken led her team and senior girls. The teams are coached by boys from their respective grades. The junior class won the game and in to victory; she scored most of the team’s points.

She also suffered a dislocated finger late in the game. As the fourth quarter started, the seniors were down 18-0 when Jackie Schreiber stepped up to play quarterback.

With Schreiber leading the way, the senior girls closed the gap to 18-12 late in the fourth quarter, but the juniors returned the ensuing kickoff to the house to put them back up 24-12.

The seniors got the ball back and were making a drive, but time ran out, and the game ended with the juniors victorious 24-12.

Staff photo by Nick Murphy “We fought back hard at the end, but we The two teams switch sides after a change of possession. Decame up just short of the victory, and that was spite a late-game surge, the class of 2012 was unable to oversad,” senior Jackie Schreiber said. come early offensive struggles.

Schreiber, who stepped up late and led the charge at quarterback, talked about how the game was fun and wished that they got to play The game was not the cleanest, as there were more inas juniors. terceptions thrown than touchdowns, and in the end those “The fact is we only got one chance at it, and it didn’t cost the seniors the win. happen for us, but the game was fun, and that is all that “We played really well for most of the game, but we mattered,” Schreiber said. still got the win which is all that mattered to us, besides Because of their two early touchdowns, it appeared as looking the best out there, of course,” junior Erin Bracken Staff photo by Nick Murphy if the juniors were going to rout the seniors. At first, it said.

The seniors attempted to steal the trophy, but the juniors The seniors huddle up with coach Matt Ohrenberger to looked like the juniors were not going to let up and that the seniors weren’t going to get any better. The tables protected it, brought it back to the field and celebrated toadjust their plan of attack. started to turn in the second half, and it became an excit- gether. ing game.

BY MIKE HANNA Staff writer