Bon Voyage

 By Audrey K

On April 2^nd, students from High School East and West will be going to Paris. The PEACE program was started in 1989 and since 1996 Shen has been paired with Cité Scolaire Maurice Genevoix, a combined junior and senior high school, in France. Students will be staying with their French hosts, some of who came over to America in October.

While in France, students will be partaking in numerous activities. Some include visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Catacombs, and Versailles. Students will also be visiting Normandy, which is famous for its large scale invasion on D-Day during World War II. While at Normandy, the students will be visiting Arromanches, where the landing first began. They will also be walking on the Omaha beach.

On the way back from Normandy, students will be stopping at Giverny, the location of Claude Monet’s garden and home. Monet’s famous paintings of water lilies  and Japanese bridge’s were inspired by Giverny. They will also visit the Beauborg Museum of Modern Art and the Landing Beach Museum in Normandy.

Students will also have the chance to practice their French to improve their speaking and listening skills. Although it’s hard to be away from home, the students going will get to experience a different way of life for two whole weeks.  After a long trip the students will return on April 16^th .The students who go will experience a new culture, try new foods, and see unforgettable places.

Anything Goes review

by Katie G

Shenenehowa’s high school drama club performed the musical, Anything Goes on Thursday, March 18th; Wednesday, March 19th; and Friday March 20th.

The show, in which most of the leads were seniors, had some mistakes throughout and the actors fumbled a little, but they fixed their mistakes so well that it was hard to notice.

Newbie Kevin Orlando seemed to fumble the most. However his mistakes were easy to forgive and forget because of the hilarious performance he put on. Kevin’s character Moonface Martin had some of the funniest lines in the show and he performed them with a charm that seemed to excite the entire audience.

Brynna Pawlows played Erma, Moonface’s assistant. While her singing voice was pitchy, her performance was funny and it gave some of the dramatic scenes some comic relief.

Megan Flaim played Hope Harthrow. While her performance was sweet, it was not very memorable.

Leads, Kym Zlogar and Alex Woodruff, had amazing performances. Alex’s sweet songs and funny performance made the show entertaining to watch. Kym’s high voice and large songs seemed to suit her perfectly.

The dance numbers throughout the show were amazing. Between the tap dancing, partner dancing, and partner tap dancing, the show soared high.

Months of hard work paid off, and the Shen drama club put on another wonderful performance.

Moscow terrorist attack

by Chris S

Two female suicide bombers exploded bombs on the busy metro of Moscow this morning.  The first bomb went off at 8 a.m. and the second was set off forty five minutes later.  At the current count, 37 people are dead with dozens more wounded.

Romeo and Juliet

by Kellie G

On March 24th, Shenendehowa High School West students will be traveling to Troy, NY to see Romeo and Juliet. Even though some students have not read Shakespeare’s tragedy yet due to the book rotation, teachers hope that seeing the show will allow the students to have a better understanding of the book.

High School West English teacher, Mrs. Myers, has played a huge part in helping plan the upcoming trip. Last year the students made the same trip, only they went to see Of Mice and Men, another book students in the ninth grade read. Mrs. Myers said, “The trip was so successful that we decided to try it again, since this year they were performing Romeo and Juliet.”

NYSTI (New York State Theatre Institute) has many goals that revolve around trying to interest students in the arts. Their website, http://www.nysti.org, shares how they hope to “use theatre beyond the stage into the classroom, motivating students to find new interest in their daily subjects.”

Mrs. Myers feels that this trip is an excellent one to take, for many reasons. She said, “I feel that it supports our curriculum and helps students grow to respect the arts.”

The production West students are going to be seeing is a new interpretation of the classic, Romeo and Juliet. The storyline takes place in modern day Iraq, and instead of children from two feuding families falling in love, it’s the story of two children from arguing religious groups, the Shi’a and the Sunni.

Students, as well as educators, are excited to be able to see this new interpretation of the classic we all have read, or soon will be reading. According to Mrs. Myers, “It brings to life what they have been studying in the classroom.”

New coach, new season

by Chris S

The 2010 Shenendehowa Boys Outdoor Track season has begun with new coaches, a new track, and an excited spirit among the team.  The new track has given the team the ability to practice a number of new ways.  The eight lanes and increased infield space help ease the overcrowding that would have occurred with the old six lane track.  The turf field is beneficial to already injured athletes that are still able to train because of the light impact that the turf has when they run.

Currently, the team numbers are over 170 athletes from grades seven to twelve.  The team is directed by returning jumps coach Brian Clawson, new coaches Jim Zimmons, Nick Jones, and Steve Emler.  All of these coaches are under the lead of new head coach Ryan Fenton.

Coach Fenton has been around the sport since his time in high school. In high school, Coach Fenton said that he was, “average at best.” However, he prided himself in his work ethic and came to practice every day with a strong dedication to make sure that, “there wasn’t a single person working harder than me.”

As a coach, Coach Fenton worked at Broadalbin-Perth High School for four years from 2000 to 2004 where he helped lead their outdoor track team to two sectional titles.  He has also worked as a volunteer for the Shenendehowa Girls Track Team from 2005 to 2006.

In regards to this season, Coach Fenton has high hopes.  When talking about the sectional championship, to be held on May 27^th at Shenendehowa, Coach Fenton said, “I want us to win, for the athlete’s sake, not for mine.  Parents and coaches get the greatest joy out of watching their athletes achieve what they’ve worked so hard to do.” Continuing, Coach Fenton stated that, “the  joy of the athletes is the greatest reward of coaching.”

LOTE Fest continues to please audiences at East

by Owen Jarem         

Year after year the Foreign Language Department at Shenendehowa puts together  LOTE Fest, which celebrates other cultures and languages, and every year they out do themselves. This year, in comparison to last year, seemed to be much more relaxed and sincere than in years past mainly because many classes were not forced to do a project by their teacher. This year many performance were done by one or two students without any help or influence from their foreign language teacher. Different youtube videos’ spreading the word of cultural and world peace and that is the true message of LOTE Fest. “As a whole, it was very entertaining but gave a good message throughout” said junior Nick H.

Some highlights of the festival were a youtube video of different performers around the world singing Stand by Me. This video really struck a chord with the whole audience because people from many different areas and countries knew the song with a lot of emotion. Another highlight was an interpretive dance by Brian P and Matt M to a French song. “We just really wanted to show the school our moves and what we were made of,” said junior dancer Brian P.

This year, the Shen students really got a taste of many different cultures all in forty minutes. The festival reminds us that we need to accept one another in order to succeed in our world today and the message could not have come at a better time for young adults.

LOTE Fest at West

by Kyle M and Audrey K

It is March so that means another LOTE Fest is coming. This year LOTE Fest will happen on March 19^th. It occurs in March because March is National Foreign Language Month.  LOTE Fest was started around 2000 when High School West became a ninth grade building. Before it was housing for junior high school students. LOTE Fest is considered Shen’s way of celebrating the richness of the many cultures and languages around the world. 

Every student who currently studies a language takes part in LOTE Fest. The preparations for LOTE Fest begin weeks before the actual event. Students have the opportunity to submit a t-shirt design for the special day. A panel of seniors selects three final designs and then the students pick the winner.  Also students decide what project they want to do for LOTE Fest. It can be a performance, a project, or making a food dish from a different culture or country.  Not only do students have fun, but the faculty and staff join in the fun too with fun activities through out the day.

At High School West the day is filled with excitement. Students start the day with the morning announcements,but it is not the typical daily announcements. Students introduce the announcements in their native languages. This year at West there will be students speaking Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Dutch, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Farsi and French. Also during the four lunch periods, students eat a themed lunch all week long and on the day of LOTE Fest they eat and go to Room 70 for sample foods that students made and are treated to performances in the library for their fellow students. “It’s a great day, and no one misses class.” said French teacher Carla Gordon.

This is the sixth LOTE Fest and it is Shen’s way of participating in National Foreign Language month. LOTE Fest was also created to celebrate the diversity of languages and cultures throughout the world. No matter what school you’re in LOTE Fest is sure to be a fun way to discover new cultures.

Once a Meanie Always a Meanie?

by Brittany K

Many people have wondered if one day programs, such as Rachel’s Challenge are actually affective, or if it only further softens up the hearts of those whom are already kind to people. Those who think it is effective, are probably one of few. Mr. Silverman, Shenendehowa school intervention psychologist, said, “One day programs generally show very little in positive change. It seems as though only in consistent situations that programs such as Rachel’s Challenge are productive.”

A program such as Peer Mentoring is an example of how long-term programs have a positive effect. If the Friends of Rachel Club ends up taking off, it could mean great success with the Rachel’s Challenge Program. The Friends of Rachel Club is a group of students who chose to be trained additionally after viewing Rachel’s Challenge on ways to be kind to their peers.

The reason that these long-term programs seem to be so successful is because of the repetition. According to Mr. Silverman, studies show that the brain keeps growing for the duration of your entire life. This idea has been floating around for about twenty-five years, but has been accepted and proven since about five years ago.

Many other one-day programs can sometimes have negative effects. If a former drug addict comes in and talks to a bunch of kids about not starting drugs because of the how hard it is to break the habit, those students may gain the attitude of, “well, that drug addict made it, and he seems to be okay, so maybe if I do drugs I will end up like him and break the habit.”

Teens also have a tendency to have “selective hearing”, so they only hear what they want to hear, and that can be detrimental when they want a way to prove that what they are doing is okay.

Whether or not Rachel’s Challenge was effective is slightly irrelevant, because the follow-through program of the Friends of Rachel Club will have an effect on most teenage brains and change their line of thinking.

Da Chen comes to Shen

by Sara M

On Friday March 12, Da Chen, A New York Times best-selling author, came to speak to students in the Little Theater. Chen grew up in “the belly button of China,” during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The books he writes are about his experiences in China during a time of violence and cruelty. His main focus was not to talk about his books, and although he talked a good amount about his life in China, the meaning of his presentation was a much deeper one.

He started off by introducing his flute, which he played after a bit of speaking. While telling his story Chen said, “I asked my father, ‘Will you buy me a musical instrument?’ My father didn’t have much money, but that day he smiles and said ‘Yes, I am going to buy you a musical instrument.” His father taught him how to play the flute, which he played for everyone, and it also became evident that he also has a deep love for music as well as writing.

After playing the flute he talked about how he knew he wanted to be a writer, he said, “ There is a point in everyone’s life, that you will find out later on, that will destine you to be who you are. It is important to find out who you are, and it took me a while.”

Throughout the presentation he made it very clear that he believes the United States to be the greatest nation; and it was also very clear that he has a very good sense of humor. He showed both of these things when  he said, “This is the greatest nation and it has a great heart; don’t let anyone tell you any different-especially not the French. When people tell me that America is not the best I say shut up.”

He then went in to more serious matters. He told about when he was nine and saw a man being hung by his thumbs on the ceiling of a church with men beating him; and that man was his father. “I was a coward, I didn’t defend him. I wish I did now; I wish I was Spiderman and could have gone in there and kicked those guys’ butts.”

It would be comforting to think things like this in China have ended completely, but according to Chen they have not. He said “You think China is fine now, but don’t be fooled. If you say one word about overthrowing the government, or about communism being bad they will throw you in a jail tomorrow.”

Chen then talked about a subject relating completely to his audience, other teenager in China. He told about his niece who is only about fifteen and is already working full time at a Nike factory, but she is still extremely happy according to him. Now talking about American teenagers he said, “You guys are taken from your houses by a yellow bus that I call a limousine. You may moan and say it’s smelly, but you have it good.”

Chen told us  how good we all really do have it here, he said, “A great life is not defined by the money you make, but a great life is defined by doing what you do to help other people. Life is a great circle of harmony, if you reach out to the world, they will reach out to you.”

Shen is tweeting

by Kyle M

A popular and relatively new social networking website is Twitter. Twitter is where teenagers, celebrities, and many others “tweet” to say what they are doing. Shenendehowa recently got a Twitter page. Some things they tweet are school closings, delays, and activities that happen within the school district. This new resource can be very helpful to people wanting to know what is going on, but many opinions have come up about Shen tweeting.

 Many teenagers have Twitter to see what their friends are up to and what their favorite celebrities are doing. Jess W, a freshman at Shen, thinks that students will not follow Shen on Twitter; she said, “Why can’t you go on Shenet.org? Kids use Twitter because they want to follow celebrities.”

When asked why she doesn’t think kids will follow Shen, student Maria P said, “I think that Twitter was made for communication for teens. A way they could connect and tell each other what they are doing. Also more information can be found on the Shen website than Twitter.”

Both Maria and Jess agreed that another popular social networking site, Facebook, is more popular than Twitter and more people have them.

Everyday it is becoming more demanding that people keep up with new technology. Many use cell phone applications to look up numerous things such as weather, sports, and news. But perhaps Shen having a Twitter is too technological. Mrs. Tremblay, a computer lab aide at High School West,said, “No it is not, technology is a good thing.”

Having a Twitter is a great way for Shen to get into the 21^st century. Mrs. Tremblay thinks that the Twitter sensation is being used by young people and kids. Many adults don’t know how to use it; therefore, not many adults will use it.

Despite whether or not people use it, Shen’s Twitter page is very useful. It has information on short notice posts such as cancelations and delays. Mrs. Tremblay said, “It is very useful. It is another tool to get information for parents and students. Shen has to keep on top of it. I sometimes go on teacher’s websites and see that teachers have not updated it since 2007.” If Shen doesn’t update frequently they will lose people who check often.

So if Shen keeps updating their Twitter page, it can become more popular. Having this Twitter page is very helpful to people who use Twitter and want to know what is happening at Shen. Although some people might not use it, it is another great step into the 21^st century for Shenendehowa.