The Newspaper of Watertown High School

CY

AN

MA

GEN

TAY

ELLOW

BLA

CK

SUP

PLEM

ENT

NA

ME

x&

x

Vol. 4, Issue 3 Friday,June 10,2011

WHS PromBy Vidhi Udeshi & Nikole Makuch

Watertown High School seniors cele-brated a special year with a posh and a veryelegant prom, which was held at the BlackRiver Valley Club on Saturday, May 21,2011. The prom theme was “Dancing inthe Moonlight,” and the venue truly repre-sented a moonlit night with white balloonarches, a lighted wall, twinkling lights andtwinkling stars. Ashley Kirch, a WHS sen-ior, said that the dance was “Everything Ithought it would be.” This was evident bythe wonderful turnout, and by the fun thatparticipants were having.

Everyone looked wonderful: the youngladies were breath-taking in their beautifulgowns and their elegant hair do’s, and ouryoung men did not disappoint. Each one ofthem looked quite dapper in his tuxedo. Re-freshments were provided by the Mr. CraigOrvis and his staff. Music for the night wasprovided by DJ Shamrock. Miriam Salas wasnamed the Prom Queen and Shawn Ossolawas the Prom King for the Class of 2011

A good time was had by all, and specialthanks must be given to our chaperones,our food service workers, and the staff ofthe Black River Valley Club. There is littledoubt that prom created wonderful mem-ories that will truly last a lifetime.

NIKOLE MAKUCH

Dancing in the moonlight.

NIKOLE MAKUCH

Prom King- Shawn Ossola & Prom Queen- Miriam Salas.NIKOLE MAKUCH

Prom court left to right: Danielle O’Brien, Katy Michael, Matt Altig, Alex Espinoza, WillBritt and Evan Heck.

Cychronicle 061011 6/8/11 12:54 PM Page 2

CYA

NM

AG

EN

TAY

ELL

OW

BLA

CK

SU

PP

LEM

EN

TN

AM

Ex&

x

Page 2 Cychronicle Friday,June 10,2011

Watertown Football Players: Can They Do It Again?By Mason Phillips

This past season, Watertown Cyclonesfootball players impressed many peoplefrom other towns and teams. The Cyclonesshowed what their made of. . . In August,

before going (6-4) in the season the teamset a difficult goal that would be extremelyhard to achieve: to win Sectional Finals.The team set this goal because it knew thatit had the talent, including captains, quar-

terbacks Tyler Augliano; center BrockWilliams; and wide receiver Caleb Bettis.The team pushed through an exciting sea-son, losing to a very good Indian Riverteam at Indian River during week 4 of theseason with a score of (50-32). The nextweek, the team played Carthage atCarthage. The final score was (40-20): Wa-tertown came out on top. For the first timein many years the Cyclones had finallywon the friendship cup back. The friend-ship cup is a trophy that is presented to thewinner of the Watertown vs. Carthage foot-ball game. The winning team gets theschool name and year that it won en-graved in the trophy.

The Cyclones got through the rest of theseason until Sectional Semi- finals duringwhich they met Indian River once again.The teams were playing on Carthage’s turf.They gave it their all and came up on top,with a score of (42-22). It was a birthdaypresent for Coach Williams, as the gamewas played on his birthday. Now the Cy-

clones were on their way to the SectionalFinals in the Syracuse Carrier Dome. Theywere playing against a sensational Whites-boro team. The Cyclones season endedwith a rough loss with a final score of (55-14).

After a great played season, there areseveral seniors leaving. As seniors leave,more and more shoes need to be filled atdifferent positions. Major positions beingleft empty include that of quarterback andrunning back. These positions will be filledby Mason Phillips at quarterback and Dia-mond Williams at running back. Both ofthese students will be juniors in the falland know each other very well, whichshould help them play well together.

There will be changes, but this new up-coming Cyclones football team is ready fornext year. The first step to getting preparedis by simply hitting the weight room hard-er and harder each and every day. AsCoach Williams says, “It all starts in theweight room.”

The Cychronicle

Marijuana: the Facts That People OverlookBy Taylor McCown

On April 20th of this year, (a day, whichapparently was known as “marijuanaday”) I was walking down the streets of Ot-tawa, Canada. I found myself walkingagainst a crowd of hundreds of people,who were marching in support of the le-galization of marijuana. Many people inthis crowd openly smoked weed, seeming-ly unaware of the consequences. As peoplewaved flags with the images of pot onthem, Canadian citizens ranted andscreamed in support of the legalization ofmarijuana. When fighting this crowd, itsuddenly occurred to me that pot usage isfar too high.

Based on the National Survey on DailyUse and Health, an average of 3,695 ado-lescents used marijuana for the first timethis year, and an average of 563,182 adoles-cents use the drug daily in America alone.The fact that this is a problem is seen in the

fact that there are substance abuse treat-ment programs for children ages 12-17and TEDS (Treatment Episodes Data Net)has reported that over half of the childrenin these programs were treated for mari-juana substance abuse.

With these statistics, it seems safe to as-sume that marijuana is a drug that affectsminors more so than other drugs. This is adangerous statistic because studies showthat heavy marijuana users are more likelythan non-users to be diagnosed withschizophrenia later in life. A recent studyfound that people, who had used marijua-na more than 50 times before the age of 18,had a threefold increased risk of develop-ing schizophrenia later in life.” (BritishMedical Journal, 325:1212-1213, 2002)

As if these statements are not disturbingenough, our very own city, Watertown,New York has alarming statistics as well. “Arecent study states that almost thirty-eight

percent of the local youths either are ad-dicted to drugs or have used a drug in thelast month”. The drug abuse statistics inWatertown have increased by leaps andbound over the last few years. In the recentyears, organized drug trafficking has takenhold in Watertown. The youths of the cityare thus finding it easy to procure drugs asthey are available almost everywhere atcheap rates.”

As a student in Watertown High School,I believe that pot usage is far too high. Itseems that students seem to ignore thedangers associated with this drug. In fact,a single joint contains four times as muchcancer-causing tar as a filtered cigarette.

Many people will argue the facts. It isbelieved that marijuana can help curecancer when in fact scientific research hasnot yet confirmed that marijuana benefitsthose with cancer, HIV/AIDS and otherdiseases. More research is still being done

on this topic.It is also believed that pot is less danger-

ous than smoking cigarettes. This is also afalsehood. Weed is much worse than ciga-rettes. One joint affects the lungs as muchas four cigarettes. Marijuana can also de-crease one’s sense of time and coordina-tion. In 1998, nearly 77,000 people wereadmitted to emergency rooms sufferingfrom marijuana-related problems, an in-crease of over 373% since 1991.

The longer these facts are ignored, themore people are putting themselves at riskof serious health problems. Parents shouldnot be afraid to talk about marijuana withtheir children. The longer they put off talk-ing about drugs, the greater chance theirchild has of becoming a user. If someone isin need of help or has questions, they cancall the National Clearing House for Alco-hol and Drug for information and referralsat (800)-729-6686.

Free 7-day archives - Paid archives dating back to 1988,only $2.95 per article - Packages available for further use.

For convenient Home Delivery of the Times call315-782-1012 or 1-800-724-1012.

Find news you need to know inThe Times online archives!

Go to


By Marianne LentineThis year’s senior trip was very much fun.

Hershey Park is a place for everyone with itswide variety of rides and entertainment.And with all of the roller coasters, waterrides, and chocolate world, there was plentyto do. There are aggressive thrill rides for theadrenaline junkies, as well as, moderate andmild rides for those who are not too fond ofcrazy roller coasters. I will admit that myfriends and I couldn’t resist going on some ofthe kiddy rides, like the merry-go-round,just for laughs. Personally, I love heights so Ithought going over 100 feet in the air on theSidewinder and Ferris wheel was great. Iwould have gone on the Fahrenheit coaster,

which goes up to 127 feet high, but the linewas ridiculously long. That was the onlydownside; quite a few of the rides had anhour and a half wait in line. The Great Bearmight give you a headache as it has youflipped upside down throughout the wholetime, and the line had an almost two hourwait, but it was well-worth it.

Don’t bother trying to stay dry in theBoardwalk area because even if you arejust walking around, you will get splashedwith water one way or another. The RollerSoaker ride allows each rider to dump upto four gallons of water, whenever theychoose, on the people walking below.However, the unsuspecting victims are

given a chance for revenge with severalbig water guns that can be directed back atthe riders. Needless to say, my friends andI had a lot of fun with that. The Boardwalkalso has one of the tallest splash-downrides in the world called the Tidal Force.Riders slowly ascend up to 100 feet, andare then dropped down to create a giantsplash that, as I personally found out, canreach nearby onlookers. My group didn’thave enough time to check out the zoo

section so we ended our trip with Choco-late World. Once inside, visitors can go ona free tour that illustrates how the choco-late is made. The tour ends at a gift shop,where you can buy gifts and souvenirs, in-cluding gigantic chocolate bars. On the sixhour bus ride back home, everyone waspretty much passed out with exhaustion. Ican definitely say though, that the trip toHershey Park gave the seniors who went alot of great memories to look back on.

CY

AN

MA

GEN

TAY

ELLOW

BLA

CK

SUP

PLEM

ENT

NA

ME

x&

x

Friday,June 10,2011 Cychronicle Page 3

This is a QR Code. It will takeyou directly to our website.

HOW?

Simply download a free QR Code Reader onyour Smartphone, and install. Open the app,hold it over the code and scan the QR Code.

“MORE THAN JUST SHIRTS…”

3 JAMES STREETALEXANDRIA BAY, NEW YORK 13607

www.nyshirtcompany.com

PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS

AND

MORE….

Specialty

Printing

Custom

Embroidery

Senior Trip: Excursion to Herhey Park

Editor – Nikole Makuch

Assistant Editor – Vidhi Udeshi

Treasurer: Vidhi Udeshi

Photographers – Sahkenya Pleasant

Daniel Mayer

Class Advisor – Mrs. Dee Shear

Cychronicle staff


By Brendan CooleyAlthough I had never really considered

the idea before, our recent Mock D.W.I.made me realize that underage alcohol con-sumption has more to do with a parent-child relationship that I could ever haveimagined. Parents definitely need to talkwith their teenagers about drinking andmust truly consider what they would do iftheir teenage son or daughter called homefor a ride after drinking. Would they simplygo and get their child and feel blessed thattheir child was safe or would they leave theirchild to fend for himself to teach him a les-son? The wrong answer could result in thescenario that Watertown High School jun-iors and seniors were exposed to on the daybefore prom.

On May 13, 2011, Watertown High Schooloffered students the opportunity to watch a“Mock D.W.I. Incident”. This was for juniorsand seniors to raise their awareness ofawareness of the dangers of drinking anddriving before the upcoming prom. Thisprogram was a re-enactment of a real liveD.W.I crime scene. The actors and actressesin this event were played by some of Water-town High’s own students: Katy Michael,Sarah Glover, Emily Kirch, Jack Wiley andMatt Cleaver. The event started with twocrashed cars full of bloody occupants. Po-lice, firefighters and emergency medicalpersonnel soon followed. After the scenewas thoroughly investigated, Matt Cleaver,who played as a victim in this event, waszipped up in a body bag and taken away byhearse. Although there had been chatterthroughout the presentation, this was abreathtaking moment for many of the stu-dents and teachers watching the event.There was no avoiding the fact that the endresult of this accident (and crime scene)could be death, and many students wereforced to open their eyes to this very real fact.

The Mock D.W.I. was followed by aslideshow, which was presented by ourSchool Resource Officer, Scott McIntyre.This slideshow further demonstrated to all

of the students present the true dangers ofdriving under the influence. It has beenproven that alcohol is the number one mostabused substance by high school students.Statistically about seventy percent of highschool students have consumed alcohol. Sowhat does that mean when young studentsare driving? Well, a D.W.I. is when your BloodAlcohol Concentration (BAC) goes above a.08. A DWAI is anything from a .05 to a .07. Al-though for teenagers under 21, the Zero Tol-erance Law is in effect. This law states thatany driver under twenty-one who is pulled

over with a BAC of .02 to .07 can be penal-ized. This penalty can result in a one hun-dred and twenty dollar fine and a suspen-sion of your license for six months. If pulledover a second time, penalties can result froma year suspension of your license of a sus-pension that continues until you reachtwenty-one years of age.

Drinking and driving is a hazard to any-one on the road, whether it’s the drunk driv-er, the people in the car, or other innocentdrivers out there. This risk is especially dou-bled when it is a teen in the car. It’s said

when teen drivers, who have the “invinci-ble” attitude, combine that attitude with al-cohol, there is sure to be a disaster. The bestthing anyone can do is to not drive drunk:stay where you are or call for a ride. And par-ents make sure to have that discussion withyour child. No one is advocating teenagedrinking; however, if your child is going todrink, he or she needs to know that it is ac-ceptable to call home. Remember, that calland the ride that follows, may save yourchild’s life and the lives of other innocentpeople.

Cychronicle Page 5

CYA

NM

AG

EN

TAY

ELL

OW

BLA

CK

SU

PP

LEM

EN

TN

AM

Ex&

x


Mock DWI: The Tragic Reality of Teen DrinkingBy Danica Kellar

It is summer time: the time for partying.Whether it is out in the open or not, there isgoing to be alcohol present at most parties.Many teenagers find drinking a cool thing todo; while in reality, it could be potentiallydangerous and could lead to big trouble.

Did you know that if someone under theage of twenty-one gets caught drinking anddriving, that individual will lose his or her li-cense for six months? That doesn’t seem likea great deal of fun, does it? Consider not be-ing able to drive for six months; that couldreally put a damper on your summer fun.Drinking and driving is also very dangerous.

Of all of the car accidents that involveteenagers, who have been drinking and havechosen to drive, fifteen percent fatal. How isthe knowledge that you caused someone toget hurt or to die fun? How much fun will itbe to sit in prison after you are convicted ofmanslaughter fun? This truly is somethingthat we must consider before choosing todrink.

We also have to imagine the damage thatalcohol can cause when an individual hasconsumed too much alcohol and has nocontrol over his actions. Imagine the possi-bility that someone might take advantageof that person because he or she is too

drunk to protect herself (or himself). Remember, that drinking lowers our abili-

ty to think and it also impairs our judgment.So, when we are drunk, we may not be ableto control our actions. For women, this maymean that although they may choose to goto a party alone, they may find that they areunable to protect themselves: after drinkingtoo much, they may find themselves goinghome with someone that they cannot trust.Twelve percent of all teenage girls say thatthey had unprotected sex after drinking al-cohol. That is definitely not a choice thatteenagers should be making.

Drinking alcohol may be more of a pain

than an enjoyable activity. Remember,drinking and driving may result in one’shaving no license for six months. Fatal caraccidents are also associated with drink-ing and driving, and these could result in aprison sentence. Unwanted intimacy andeven pregnancy could also be some of thelasting effects of drinking. So, the old ideaof alcohol being part of fun in the sundoesn’t always make sense. Teenagers canhave fun in the summer by getting a job,going to amusement parks, or going to thebeach. Parties can be held without alco-hol. Summer is the time to have fun and tobe safe.

AIDEN GNADT

Firemen deal with the victims of the mock DWI accident.

AIDEN GNADT

Firemen work to remove victims of the accident from the car.AIDEN GNADT

The body of the victim is covered.

The Phone Call That Might Save a Life

AIDEN GNADT

Jack Wiley, as the driver, is led away by police.


By Mason Phillips

Watertown High School had a verythrilling and electrifying year in sports.

Starting off the year in fall sports, thefootball team began the exciting year.Coached by Vince Williams, the footballteam had a very successful season. Witha rough regular season, the boys end uplosing to a sensational Whitesboro teamin the sectional finals. The team playedunbelievably strong, with talentedplayers like Tyler Augliano. After havinga great season, Tyler had tough choicebetween colleges.. After a lot ofthought, his final decision was to go toCortland.

Also, during the fall, the boy’s soccerteam did very well, having a regular sea-son record of (13-5). Coach Heckman do-ing an excellent job, bringing the boys toa first place finish in the Frontier LeaguePlayoffs. And the girls did equally well:Coach VanNostrand coached the girls toa Frontier League Tournament win. Thecross country team had a great season.Coach Burns is very proud of his runners.Girls’ tennis, coached by Coach Morri-son, had an exciting season. The team

had two underclassman make it to sec-tionals: sophomores Alex Smith and Tay-lor McKinney. Coached by Coach Peters,the girls’ swim team had an exciting year:thirteen hardworking girls made it to sec-tionals. To finish up fall sports, fieldhockey suffered a rough season with nowins

Winter was also a very interesting andexciting season in sports. Coach Ginger,coach of the undefeated Cyclone swim-mers, had several swimmers make sec-tionals. Only one made it to states:George Labarr, who put in the time andeffort to earn his place. Both Coach Gin-gerand his team were very proud of him.The boys were able to claim the title ofFrontier League Champions.

The volleyball team also had a magnif-icent season. Coached by Mrs. RobinBoomhower, the team ended with a sea-son record of (14-3), and won the Fron-tier League tournament. After having aslow start, the boys’ basketball team fin-ished strong. The boys just missed sec-tionals, and Coach Britton and the teamhope to improve next season. CoachAdams, coach of the wrestling team, is

very proud of his boys. Although the boysended the rugged season with a (3-22)record, they gave exceptional effort. Toend winter sports on a difficult note, wemust consider the girls’ basketball teamhad one win in the regular season. CoachLevine plans to make some changes andhopes to have a much better season nextyear.

Ending the year off on a great note, thegirls’ lacrosse team made sectional finalsby going head to head with Carthage forthe third time of the season. Unfortu-nately, they lost to the Carthage girls forthe first time this season. They all wantedto go to states and gave all they had tomake it there, especially, captains Mau-reen Keggins and Sophia Capone. Mau-reen got accepted at Albany Universityearly this school year. She had to choosebetween the University of Massachusettsand Albany University. She will be study-ing Criminal Justice at Albany and ofcourse, playing lacrosse. As for SophiaCapone, she will be attending Harvard toplay lacrosse. The Cyclones Golf Team,coached by Coach VanNostrand, hadseven boys make sectionals. Boys’ Track

and Field had eight boys make sectionalsthroughout the season, with CoachGaede in charge. As for the girls, ten girlsmake sectionals. Boys’ tennis had sevenboys make the first round of sectionals,and then only three advance to roundtwo. Boys’ Lacrosse had a better seasonthis year with new head coach, BrianNavarra. Coach Navarra played atNazareth College, and led the Cyclonesto sectional semi-finals. The Cycloneslost to an unbelievable Jamesville-Dewittteam (number one team in the state). Asfor boys baseball, Coach Covey led theteam to the sectionals, but they lost to agenuine West Genesee team in the sec-tional quarterfinals. To finalize the sea-son and year in sports, the girls’ softballteam was seeded last in the division.Coach Hynes and the team fought a hardseason with only one win (vs. Carthage).The girls lost in the Frontier League Play-offs against a number one seed IHCteam.

Congratulations to all Cyclones sportsteams! Also, A good luck to all senior ath-letes attending college and playing col-lege athletics!


Round Up: The Cyclone’s Year in Sports

Forever a Cyclone

Tri-County Art Show 2011By: Nikole Makuch

On May 19th 2011, students from schooldistricts all over Jefferson County School

competed at an art show held in theState Office Building. This included manydifferent types of art mediums, includingphotography, painting, drawing, andsculpture. Many students from WatertownHigh had the opportunity to display theirwork in the show and many of studentsearned honors. Among the winners wasKaitlyn Chase, whose photography portfo-lio placed third. Jake Ratigliano also placedthird in drawing and painting. ChristinaDeren and Amanda White received first

place for their individual photographypieces. Tiffany Holder, Logan Macy, KatieUlmen-Smith, Nicole Sheetz, and NikoleMakuch received second place for their in-dividual photographs. Foreign Exchangestudent Julie Peterson was also able tocompete and her piece placed third.

Each student participating in the artshow worked hard in order to be able tosubmit a piece for the art show. The Wa-tertown students are especially gratefulfor the assistance that they received fromtheir art teachers, including Mrs. Hay-den, Ms. Bucci, Mrs. Ellsworth, and Mr.Sovie.

Editor – Nikole Makuch

Assistant Editor – Vidhi Udeshi

Treasurer: Vidhi Udeshi

P


Friday,June 10,2011 Cychronicle Page 7

By Daniel MeyerMusic is a very important part of many

people’s lives. Singing, dancing and play-ing an instrument are all a part of theprocess of creating something trulyunique. In a way, producers do the samething, but all on their own. Without a con-ductor, an orchestra couldn’t play in uni-son and harmony; without a vocalist in aband, there would be no words to expressthe song.

The truth is, however, that with a com-puter and a few extra tools, anyone cancreate as elaborate a sound as the profes-sionals. One major positive to being a pro-ducer is that you don’t need anybody elsein the creation process. No band, no headboss, no sound engineers- - whatever youwant to make or create, you can just go for

it. A great example is Derek Vincent Smith,voted best producer of 2010, and who hasout four albums and five expanded playcollections (recordings too short to beconsidered albums, but too long for a sin-gle). His first album that came out “TakingUp Your Precious Time” was released forfree. In fact, every single song he has comeout with has been free and will continue tobe without charge. The reason why hedoes this is unclear, but people speculatethat Derek does it simply for the passion ofcreating music for people to hear, not justfor the money and fame.

With many new and improving tech-nologies, producers now have access tovery powerful and expensive sound equip-ment and mixers. Luckily, people havecome out with smaller, more affordable

mixers for people just starting out. One ex-ample is the Akai-Mpd 26. For the lowprice of 200 dollars, this device seriouslyboasts the cheapest, but most user- friend-ly equipment. There are also a number ofcomputer software and programs that arenow on the market. With such amazingtools and equipment for the music indus-try, it’s hard not to wonder where such cre-ativity and originality originates.

In fact, the ideas and customs of tradi-tional mainstream music industry are be-ing seen less and less every day. With the

demand for producers at a dangerouslyhigh rate, dance clubs, radio stations andsocial events are going to make some dra-matic changes or else their businesses andcompanies will not be able to supply thegeneral public’s wants and needs. So if youare looking for something to spice up yourday or maybe a chance to show some cre-ativity and development, just look to thefuture of music and all its glory: the pro-ducers! Get out there, get a mixer andyou’ll be making what only can be de-scribed as “pure nirvana.”

A Taste of My FutureBy Tevion Cappe

Recently, I had the opportunity to spenda weekend at Milford, which is the prepara-tory school that I will attend in the fall. I willnever forget this weekend because itopened my eyes to the fact that the footballthat I will be playing in preparation for Di-vision I Football is nothing like the gamethat I played in high school. It was a totallydifferent level of play. During my highschool years, I found that many studentsplayed football because it was somethingto do. At Milford, that is not the case. Eachplayer that will be on my team wants to fur-ther develop his skills and wants to play asmuch as possible to show off his talent.There is very little fooling around, andeveryone plays with a much higher intensi-ty than I have ever experienced.

My life at Milford will not be easy. Every-one rises at 6:30 a.m., eats breakfast, and

must be ready to practice at 8:30 in themorning. Those practices were not muchdifferent from what I experienced whileplaying football for Watertown Highschool; however, the daily schedule will bevery different as we will follow a Division Ischedule. I also realize that I will have toenter school in the fall in good conditionbecause there will be no time for me towork on conditioning alone once schooland regular practices begin.

One advantage of the weekend was thefact that on Monday after our introductoryweekend, college coaches from every Divi-sion I school were present to watch us doour drills and to see how we participated aspart of a team. The weekend was, there-fore, not only an opportunity for me to seewhat school will be like next year, but also aglimpse of what my future might be if Iwork hard and give my all.

America Needs Lessons in DiplomacyBy Aiden Gnadt

Ever since the Second World War’sarmistice, our nation has considered itselfthe lone protector of freedom and democ-racy. In the Cold War that followed, thisstatement may have had some truth. Eventhe invasion of Afghanistan was a justifi-able action, considering the events of 9-11.However, when does invading and inter-ceding in other country’s affairs start to be-come the problem and not the solution?

Our war on terror is not only personal, itis a global issue. Every time a foreign des-pot commits revolting and unethical ac-tions against his or her population, theU.S. feels the need to make things right.The sentiments of this feeling are under-standable, but there comes a time when itis not our place to interfere. The UnitedNations were established to tackle issues,such as evil totalitarian dictators, andsince we are a member we should leave thefinal decision up to them. It is not our

choice to invade places such as Iraq, with-out the full support of the U.N.

Speaking of which, The Iraq debacleshould never have happened. In Octoberof 2002, our Congress voted on a resolu-tion that granted George W. Bush” full mili-tary discretion in anything having to dowith Iraq”. This is explicitly unconstitu-tional. The war power clause in our Consti-tution clearly states that only Congress hasthe power to “Declare war, grant letters ofmarquee and reprisal, and make rulesconcerning captures on land and water”Giving the power to make war to one manbecause of some spur of the moment legis-lation does not erase the framework of ourConstitution.

The covert operation that resulted in thedeath of Osama Bin Laden is a prime ex-ample of how the United States can be tooforward, diplomatically speaking. We raid-ed Osama’s compound without explicitpermission from the Pakistani govern-

ment. We brought unauthorized armedsoldiers onto foreign soil because the endseemed to justify the means. Althoughasking permission would have undoubt-edly tipped off the people in the com-pound, barging in like we did seems to bealmost an act of war. Also, Bin Laden wasnot a soldier. He was a horrible man, but hewas a civilian and therefore protected bythe Geneva Convention. His death mayhave been just, but it was still a war crime.If the same incident were to occur onAmerican soil, there would be a massiveoutrage. Osama Bin Laden was a terribleman, and no doubt deserved what he re-ceived. The fact of the matter is it was notour place to give it to him.

This is far from the first time that theUnited States has violated the GenevaConvention. The Iraq bombings, the MyLai massacre in Vietnam, and the waterboarding incidents at Guantanamo areonly a few instances when the United

States Military blatantly ignored the arti-cles of this convention. The My Lai Mas-sacre may be the most notable stain onour track record because American sol-diers killed over three hundred civilians,most of whom were women and chil-dren. This event was utterly horrific andunforgivable. Can we declare war on ter-ror, and then use it whenever we enter adifficult situation? How does this makesense?

The United States has grown comfort-able being a world power, but being aworld power is not a license to wage warwith reckless abandonment. Additionally,when engaging another country in war, weare not above the standards to which wehold the rest of the world. Our countryshould proceed with more caution wheninterfering in foreign affairs, and use mili-tary force as a last resort. Truly, a lesson indiplomacy could prove itself useful to the“Home of the Brave.”

Remembering Our TeachersBy Armando Lopez

Recently, it seems like teachers acrossAmerica have come under fire. Althoughat one time, teachers were individuals tobe honored and respected, it seems thatthey are now the targets of critics every-where. The truth is that it may be time tore-think our opinions of these profession-als and stop all of the nonsense.

Let’s face it. We didn’t make it to wherewe are today based solely on our decisions.All of us have at least one person we canthank for bringing us to our current posi-tions in life. It could be a parent, a neigh-bor, a close friend, basically anyone.

Teachers are especially a great example.They teach us how to read and write, howto formulate mathematical, and scientificformulas, among other things. Withoutteachers, there would be no future doc-tors, scientists, or presidents (no smartones anyway). Teachers play a huge role inour lives, even if we don’t realize or appre-ciate it. They are pretty much giving us thetraits that we will take toward to our futurecareers. They help us to decide what wewant to do with our lives. With this beingsaid, we should all thank at least oneteacher we have for putting in the time tohelp us.

The Music Industry and How It Is Changing

k



Class of 2011 Valedictorian and SalutatorianBy Vidhi Udeshi

Although many of our seniors have lit-tle to worry about at this point in theschool year, two of our soon to be gradu-ates have an extra task with which to deal.These young ladies are planning andwriting two very special speeches be-cause these young ladies are, in fact, ourvaledictorian and our salutatorian. Brid-get Hovendon, the daughter of WalterHovendon and Teresa Leavery, has beennamed the WHS class of 2011 valedictori-an, while Sophia Capone, the daughter ofthe late Thomas Capone and DollieCapone is the WHS class of 2011 salutato-

rian. Both of them have exerted theirblood, sweat and tears to achieve successand are “very excited at see how thingshave turned out after four years,” saidMiss. Hovendon.

Bridget, the president of National Hon-or Society, Captain of the Varsity Tennisand Volleyball teams, member of Whizquiz, Key Club, Select, Math League andScience Olympiad, has an academic aver-age of 98.83 percent. Miss Hovendon is al-so an active member of Wind Ensemble,where she plays first chair trumpet. Andbelieve it or not, she volunteers throughher church. Sophia, president of Student

Council, Captain of Varsity Soccer andLacrosse and a member of National Hon-or Society, Key Club, Foreign LanguageClub and Book Club is not far behind withan academic average of 98.15 percent.Both of these young ladies indicated thatthe key ingredient to their success wastime management. “Look for what’s moreimportant and make sacrifices,” addsMiss. Capone.

Even though both the seniors are verythankful for the solid education base thatthey received at Watertown High Schooland will always consider Watertown theirhome, they are thrilled to start a new chap-

ter in their life by going off to college. MissHovendon will attend Gannon Universityin the fall. She will participate in the Physi-cian Assistant Program; a five year honorsprogram that combines one’s Bachelor’sdegree and Master’s degree. After graduat-ing, Bridget plans to practice health careand will travel to do humanitarian work.Miss Capone will attend Harvard Universi-ty in the fall. She has not yet decided onher area of study, but plans to explore thehumanities and social sciences. She willalso play lacrosse. Her long term goals in-clude attending graduate school and trav-eling abroad.

Ninth Grade Team Teaching benefits freshmenBy Michaela Castillo

Starting next September, a change istaking place at Watertown High School.The WHS administration has decided toteam several teachers together in order tobetter teach incoming ninth graders. Thisidea, which is similar to the one used atCase Middle School, will pair severalteachers from different departments to-gether. But unlike the plan used at CaseMiddle School, students will not begrouped together, only teachers. The rea-son for deciding to group only the teachersand not the student was so that ninthgrade students will be able to meet and in-teract with different people

As Mr. Lloyd Peck, Principal of Water-town High School, explained, “It would belike going back to elementary school, if wegrouped students together for the entireday. We want students to be able to meetnew people, not stay with the same peopleevery day.” It is almost important to notethat the new ninth graders will only haveteamed teachers during their freshmanyear. For the rest of their high school ca-reer, they will have teachers, who are notassociated with teaming.

The motivation behind this idea is to pro-vide a strong academic support structurefor all ninth grade students, and to ease thetransition between Case Middle School and

high school. Another motivation is to en-courage interdisciplinary teaching, and tohelp ninth graders earn all of their possiblecredits during their freshman year. Be-cause, as Mr. Peck also explained, ninthgrade is one of the hardest years for stu-dents, and it is when some students seem todecide that they want to drop out whenthey reach the age of sixteen.

The school administration was the onewho came up with the idea to team teach-ers together. Apparently the administra-tion asked several teachers if they wouldlike to be on teams to teach the incomingninth graders. These teachers volunteeredand decided with who they would like to

work. There are three teams: the purple, theyellow, and the white team. Mr. Peck saysthat letters or numbers were not chosen torepresent the teams because it might makestudents feel inferior to other teams. Forexample would you want to be on team Aorteam C? On the yellow team, there will beMr. Hopkins, Mrs. Akins, Ms. Reichart, Mrs.Shear, and Mr. Jones. On the white teamthere will be Mrs. Thurston, Mrs.Garrabrant, Mr. Vrooman,and Mrs. Har-rienger. The purple team will include Mrs.Lawrence and Mr. Bedard. The names ofthe other teachers, who will be movingfrom Case Middle School to the highschool, have not yet been announced.

Prom King- Shawn Ossola & Prom Queen- Miriam Salas.

By Nikole MakuchAfter making the transition from Eng-

lish teacher to assistant principal, Mrs.Leslie Atkinson admits that this year hasturned out even better than she could haveimagined it would be. Although she en-

tered this year with excitement, even shecould not have anticipated how much shewould experience and learn every day.Over the past year, Mrs. Atkinson has beenable to build relationships with studentswhom she never had the chance to teach

and to maintain the bonds that existed be-tween her former students and herself.She acknowledges the fact that she willmiss this year’s seniors deeply, but is look-ing forward to watching the juniors, soph-omores, and freshmen as they grow anddevelop.

One of the major differences betweenteaching and being an assistant principalinvolves the number of students withwhom Mrs. Atkinson has contact. Whileshe was teaching, she only encounteredabout one hundred and twenty studentsand had the opportunity to really get toknow those students on an individual ba-sis. As a principal, Mrs. Atkinson dealswith over one thousand students anddoesn’t really have as much opportunityto truly get to know these individualswell.

Upon reflection, Mrs. Atkinson felt thatthis year’s efforts to help freshman transi-tion from Case Middle to the high schoolwere very successful, and says that these

efforts will continue this in the comingyears. There will also be freshmen team-ing, to further help the freshmen have abetter high school experience. Mrs. Atkin-son hopes that these changes will lead toan increase in graduation rates and a de-crease in the number of students whochoose to drop out.

When I asked Mrs. Atkinson if shewould consider returning to the class-room, she told me” I miss teaching a lot,but being assistant principal has given methe opportunity of a lifetime. I, myself, ama product of Watertown High School, andmy time spent here as a student was in-valuable. I owe this district everything. Isee this as an opportunity to start repay-ing that debt.” She also told me that shewould consider moving to the position ofprincipal one day when she is completelyready. As for now, she advised me that shewas working with “a group of extremelytalented people who are very good atteaching me the things I need to know.”

Mrs. Atkinsons First Year as Assistant Principal


Documents

The Newspaper of Watertown High School