Commentaty Changes to the Schedule Page 2
Atlas vs. the Mazeika: Your punch line wins a prize! Page 2
Arts Kooks’ Album is “Junk” Page 4
Features New Student Demographics Page 6
Sports V. Field Hockey Profiled Page 7
Wilbraham & Monson Academy
TLAS
A
Volume IV, Issue 1
The Global School ®
October 6, 2011
Wilbraham, MA 01095
WMA Remembers 9/11 with 3K Candles
By STEPHANIE REEVES ‘12 Staff Writer
thousand candles (the number of people who died). The ceremony itself was Where were you on Sepbrief, but the preparation took altember 11, 2001? Were you in elmost two hours: people spent their ementary school, just getting your evenings setting up candles around snack out of your lunch box? Were the field so that others could light you in Boston at a conference for them once the sun went down. work? Were you across the world? As the sun set, a multitude In Korea? Germany? Italy? Or of people arrived at WMA: not were you right there in New York, only students from WMA, but also in your apartment building, watch- members of the surrounding Wiling the scene unfold before your braham community. Soon a hush eyes? Were you afraid? Did you fell over the area; the entire space understand what it meant? Could was illuminated with a warm glow. you guess what would happen In the middle of it all was a peace next? Could any of us? sign with “9/11” on it. The attacks on 9/11 marked People milled about, lightone of the most tragic incidents ing candles and speaking in quiet of the 21st century. Around the tones. 8’o’clock drew nearer and world, people felt the after-effects: Ms. Norman called everyone to families were broken, New York stand by the flag, which was flown City was literally and figuratively respectfully at half-mast. scarred, and the USA soon declared Speaking only a few words, war. The rest is history. she told us about Ryan Murphy, an To commemorate such alum of the class of ’84, who died an awful event nearly a decade in the midst of the attacks. His later, the entire WMA community stone remains near Smith Hall; it’s gathered by the flag to light threea little mossy, but all things consid-
ered, lies unharmed. A few moments later, Mosaic Harmony performed a few verses of “Amazing Grace.” The crowd attempted to sing along and continued humming when they didn’t know the words. People swayed to the music; there might have even been a few teardrops. The voices coalesced with one final note and then ended as a final moment of silence surrounded us. The hum of nearby cars echoed in the stillness. Maybe they were able to catch a glimpse of our ceremony; maybe they were driving to one themselves. It was a
perfectly clear night. If you looked up at the sky, you could see the stars- the bright drops contrasting nicely with the dark background. The crowd dispersed minutes later, and people continued on their ways: some kept walking through the lights and others went home. The glow became dimmer and dimmer as lights were blown out. The evening came to a close and everyone returned to his or her respective places. The world continued on, but we knew that 9/11 would
willing to speak out against bullying. WMA’s new marketing director Ms. Rothschild, set the plan in motion by pointing out that WMA had everything the crew was looking for: a scenic campus, flexible class schedules, and cooperative students. According to Ms. Rothschild, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Wilbraham & Monson Academy because of our beautiful campus and diverse, talented student body. This was a once in a lifetime experience for our students and we couldn’t be happier with how it played out.” The main event of the day came when Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s special musical guest, Cody Simpson performed a set for students of
WMA and St. Michaels school in the campus gym. Cody Simpson was chosen for the event because of his affiliation with the Defeat The Label movement. Defeat the Label is working to promote an inclusive, judgment-free society, void of social labels and stereotypes. Informally known as ‘The Australian Justin Beiber’, Simpson played a few of his hit songs and voiced his opinions on bullying. Bullying has been a major concern in America for the past few years. One in every seven kids has either been a bully or a victim of bullying. Even though bullying may seem like a distant problem to many of us, the effects of this epidemic can be found in our own back yard. In April of 2009, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover took his own life on the third floor of his family’s Springfield home as a result of bullying. Since then, the family could not bear to be on that floor of
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Cody Simpson Rocks the House (Extremely) By NICOLE ROBITAILLE ‘12 Staff Writer On December 2, 2011 on ABC, Wilbraham & Monson Academy students will have the unique opportunity to watch themselves on national television. This fall, the cameras were rolling when Extreme Makeover: Home Edition chose the WMA campus to shoot scenes for an upcoming episode. On Monday, September 12, students flooded the front steps of Rich Hall. Some were star struck, some were confused, and some were just excited to get out of their E block class. But the bottom line was everyone was excited to witness the filming of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. As their first task, the show’s crew filmed a short skit, with the participation of a number of WMA students. The main character of the skit was a nerdy kid who was leaving Rich Hall, when classmates bullied him physically and via cyber bullying. At the end
of the scene WMA students stood together with Ty Pennington and the home makeover team to put an end to bullying. So how did WMA get the opportunity to be involved in the shows anti-bullying episode? It all started with Ms. Norman, who attended the Extreme Makeover kick off party with the WMA Prefects at Springfield College this August. According to Steven Ragnauth, “The kick off event was a moving discussion about bullying and its consequences” The crew was in search of a school with students
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