Home / News /Top Stories
.
January 28, 2010
Nicole Doan and Brian Jeon
ASB organized an assembly for ninth graders to bring the class together and to encourage students “give back to the school” by doing well in finals and STAR testing. The assembly also promoted the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance, Feb. 6, which the freshman ASB officers organized.
“We want you to succeed academically. We want you to succeed socially,” Small Learning Communities (SLC) coordinator Brynn Osicka said. “We want you to be number one.”
To strengthen the assembly’s message, ASB members and freshmen engaged the audience with two performances.
Freshman Fabian Gutierrez rapped about the Sadie Hawkins dance, while freshman Steve Gonzalez accompanied him by beat boxing. Freshman Ian Tambagahan break danced during their performance.
Freshman Nathan Trutner, seniors Kimberly Chatterjee, Sean Chadha and Seth Neumann performed a skit to inform freshmen about STAR testing.
Once again, the school has set a goal to reach at least 801 for the API score. If achieved, students will receive an Up Yours lunch, an extended lunch period in which ASB will provide food and various activities. In this case, “up yours” refers to increasing test scores. If students do not reach the goal, the school will be in danger of losing elective classes. In turn, administration may take away events such as dances.
“I really want to have a party. It sounds fun,” freshman Akshita Taneja said. “[The assembly] definitely motivated me.”
ASB increased involvement in encouraging the freshman to do well on their STAR testing. In reaction to the school’s unchanging API score in 2009, ASB decided to start the campaign much earlier in the school year than before. Due to schedule constraints, the freshman class officers are not enrolled in leadership class, but organizing the assembly helped them become a larger part in leadership activities.
Ninth graders were seated with their assigned “families.” The three families are K-9, Mad Dawgs and Alpha Pack.
The SLC program creates families so groups of freshmen can share the same schedules of English, science, and health or computer classes. These classes contain a smaller number of students to allow teachers to focus on more individual students. Teachers then communicate with each other more easily to reinforce integrated learning or a cross-curriculum teaching. In addition, teachers can discuss what they need to do to assist individual students.
The freshman assembly went smoothly without problems despite being the first of its kind.
According to ASB member senior Drew Jordan, ASB plans to hold similar assemblies for sophomores and juniors in the near future.
“We won’t be able to do them this semester but definitely the next,” Neumann said.
This article originally appeared in print on Jan. 26, 2010. It has been modified to correct grammatical and usage errors.
.
January 4, 2010
Do you think that the holidays have become too materialistic?
“I feel that the spirit of Christmas used to be more based around spending time with family,” sophomore Dylan Chatterjee said.
Photo Credit: Raphael Ghieuw Sien
.
December 19, 2009
Nicole Pham
Students packed the gym for the winter assembly Dec. 18, but the annual event was cut earlier than in previous years. Student activities director Helen Paris released students ten minutes before first period was scheduled to start, explaining the gesture as a type of holiday reward.
The assembly, though shortened, maintained its usual sequence of events. Athletics director Mike Tripp announced the $2,500 check awarded to the football team for their entry in a video contest. Balancing athletics with academics, vice principal Lance Miller acknowledged those with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
After the administrators’ announcements, the festivities began with senior Kimberly Chatterjee singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Sports team members and teachers appeared as Chatterjee sang about each “day”. English teacher Debi Pavlecic (pictured) was among the six teachers acting as the “geese a-laying”. Students played games with seasonal themes, competing within classes. The school band, conducted by senior Christopher Valdez and band teacher Duane Mitchell, played sets of holiday music between the various games.
.
December 14, 2009
Simrundeep Kaur
Lights dim and the upbeat music fades. The theme song reverberates from the speakers and the lights slowly increase in intensity. The stage is set and the actors perform.
Seniors Kimberly Chatterjee and Haley Wilks play the leads, Olive Madison and Florence Unger, respectively. The show is fueled with their comical verbal battles. Their different personalities clash; Olive is a slob while Florence is a neat freak.
Seniors Lorenzo Dominguez and Andre Vernot play the Costazuela brothers who exchange comedic turns. The supporting cast also includes senior Kim Dutrow, junior Sarah Kowalski, and senior Lindsay McCargar.
“Having a small cast was nice, because everyone was really dedicated and really talented,” Dutrow said.
Chatterjee admitted that the cast made a few mistakes during their opening night performance, but the cast members covered the flaws up. Chatterjee found the experience bittersweet; the cast members put in so much effort and time, even though there were only a six performances.
As for technical aspects, lighting is basic, but used effectively. There are no spotlights used so the focus is on all the actors on stage, not just a few. The recognizable “Odd Couple” theme song and some fun, pop music (ranging from Madonna to Journey) can be heard during scene transitions and intermission. All the actors successfully project their voices across the stage, despite the lack of microphone use.
The set is painted with pink walls and the floors are carpeted to complete the look of a comfortable apartment. The doorways cut out from the walls are realistic, giving the illusion of several rooms. Senior Nikita Gurnani painted the kitchen window and added a completely realistic apartment window view of the surroundings. The use of levels for the main doorway is also a creative way to showcase stairs.
Props are also impressively utilized. When Florence is cleaning the “apartment,” she used an actual vacuum cleaner with extension cord. Scattered clothes, two tables, a bookshelf attached to the wall, a couch and a coat rack mirror add authenticity to the apartment.
The Neil Simon play was originally written and performed with male lead characters, most memorably in the 1968 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Simon wrote the female version in 1985. However, the latter version is believed by director and WHS drama teacher, Matthew Ballin to be the funnier one. “The Odd Couple” is a play that should be seen by those that appreciate quality comedy and entertainment.
Photo Credit: Pro Image Studios
.
November 10, 2009
Alex Tyler
During halftime at the homecoming game, Nov. 6, after performances by the cheer team and the school band, an excited crowd waited with bated breath for senior Breana Meagher to announce this year’s homecoming queen. The 2009 homecoming queen is Kellie Ishisaki and the runner ups are Kimberly Chatterjee, Emily Khuc, Monique Pascual and Shay Mozzetti in second, third, fourth and fifth places, respectively. Erika Gerards, last year’s homecoming queen, returned to crown Kellie as queen. The court rode into the game in convertibles, escorted by their fathers, all of whom were ecstaticly proud of their daughters. All of the girls were happy for Kellie, and proud to be part of the homecoming court.
“I was really excited. I had been hoping that she would win because she has done a lot for the school throughout the year,” Chatterjee said.
The next night, at the homecoming dance, this year’s Mr. Husky was crowned. Brian McMahon, last year’s Mr. Husky, came back to crown Cedric Lousi as the winner of the title. The first, second, third and fourth runner ups were Austin Wong, Seth Neumann, Ben Rich and Jack Veronin, respectively. Halfway through the event, the lights were turned on, and everyone stopped dancing as the Mr. Husky nominees were led onto the stage by the homecoming queen nominees. There were smiles all around when Cedric was announced as winner, and he broke out into a huge grin while his mom came on stage to congratulate him.
“I was just excited and happy that I won,” Lousi said.
He definitely hoped to win and it came as a great surprise when his name was announced.
This article has been altered with the addition of corrected information.
