the conval current's "semester in review"

Page The ConVal Current Magazine Volume I

The ConVal Current

Inside This Issue:

Fall 2014Contoocook Valley Regional High School

Page 2: Message From the EditorsPage 3: EditorialPage 4: Fill the VoidPage 5: Spirit of Kindness WeekPage 6: A “Fresh” Look at Homecoming & Scottish Inde-

pendence Referendum 2014Page 7: Scare Trail Page 8: Student Essay: Stay KindPage 9: Fall Sports0: Austrian Exchange Program 2014


Greetings fellow members of the ConVal community. For those of you who don’t know, we are the editors of the school “newspaper”, the ConVal Current, and our names are Sarah Hurley, Sarah Kolk, and Haley Spitzfaden. In years past, the ConVal Current has looked very different. At the end of last year, we made a decision to move the paper online. With this change, it seemed like an opportune time to make other adjustments to this publication. To start off, we are now collaborating with Peterborough’s Ledger Transcript. Students from our staff will have oppor-tunities to be printed in the Transcript, and an editor from the Transcript will be attending meetings as a councilor for our projects. We have also made the decision to become a magazine so that we can publish news, personal es-says, and other creative content generated by ConVal students. If you are a ConVal student and have a personal essay, poem, or picture (we now have the ability to show pictures in color, both photographs and illustrations) and you would like to see your work in “print” then please send it on to [email protected]! We will also be accepting ar-ticles written by guest writers, as well as letters to the editors. We’d love to hear what you have to say, ConVal. Let your voices be heard in the new-and-im-proved ConVal Current. Happy November! Sincerely Haley, Sarah, and Sarah.

Message From the Editors2

Page The ConVal Current Magazine Volume I3

The ConVal CurrentSenior Editor: Sarah HurleyContent Editor: Haley SpitzfaddenLayout Editor: Sarah KolkStaff Writers: Lauren LeBritton, Emma Canty-Carrel, Josh Curran, Oliver Ward, Jason Frank, Annie Henry, Alisha Birk, Michelle Tourgee, Sam Worobey, Michael Zrzavy

Technical Advisor: Helfreid ZrzavyProduction Advisor: Amanda BastoniPublisher: ConVal High School Brian Pickering, Principal

The Current Wants YOU!

At the The Current, we are always looking for staff writ-ers. If you have an idea for a column or story you would be interested in writing let us know and join the team! We hold meetings every other Tuesday after school in the DLC.

Contact Info:[email protected]

EditorialI Hate Puns?

If you have spent anytime in the band room, chorus room, or LHT you’ve probably seen me running around. You have also probably heard of my no-torious reputation for my vehement disgust and hatred of puns. People I’ve

only spoken with once or twice find me in the hallways and proudly announce that they have something to tell me. A smile creeps along their face as they relate to me the dreadful play on words, snickering before the preposterous attempt at humor has even past their lips. A friend of mine even has a certain “pun voice” she slips into every time shes about to throw one my way. Most the time I groan and roll my eyes before she’s even finished her sentence. Do I really hate puns?I’ve been asked why I hate puns, and I honestly don’t have an answer to justify my abhorrence for them. They can be repetitive certainly, and often very silly. But does that justify such a strong negative reaction each time someone “puns” (Yes I made a noun a verb, just humor me here.). I don’t believe I hate puns, I dislike them certainly, but not enough to roll my eyes or groan or cover my ears, or jokingly run away each time one is uttered. No, these are reactions that have grown to be expected by my fellows, no longer a sincere reaction of my own. When somebody puns they look at me expectantly, as do those that are near. Friends of mine say puns in my presence all of the time and sometimes purpose-fully will invent them as a way to humor themselves and to a certain extent me. The reaction is automatic and the reaction is expected. Were I to lose my hear-ing I would still be able to know when a pun was made just based on the expres-sions of those around me and their expectant looks. This made me realize how many things I do just because I am expected to, reac-tions that are automatic. Expectations guide our actions and the actions of those around us more than we realize. Have high expectations, have good expectations and think twice before you react to a situation automatically. Oh, and if you have a good pun, do me a favor and keep it to yourself.

-Sarah Hurley

Photo of editors


Fill the VoidBy Emma Canty-Carrell

The empty space behind the Link at ConVal High School is long over-due for something new and excit-ing. On September 20th, students, teachers, and community members alike gathered in this area to cele-brate the up and coming visual and performing arts center that will be filling the void. More than 350 par-ticipants, supporters, and volun-teers attended this “Fill the Void” event.The event was a way for the com-munity to show their support for the new facility that will include a 500-seat auditorium. It will also in-clude an art exhibition space and instructional space for the commu-nity and the school. The new facili-ty will be built with local materials, and an effort will be made to use energy efficient technology.ConVal students Madeline Ciocci (Junior) and Marissa Lombardi (Ju-nior), along with many other stu-

dent performers from local dance companies, danced at the event along with groups helping raise

money for the project. Local bands, along with school chorus and band, performed with both community members and alumni.

Ciocci’s mom, Elizabeth Marble, was the head of the committee or-ganizing Fill the Void. Ciocci said that the event went amazingly and that they were able to “inspire a lot of interest in the campaign and what it is.” ConVal sophomore, Luke Wilson, also attended the event and said he had a great time and “everyone involved was really talented”.

“Everyone involved was

really talented.”


Spirit of Kindness WeekBy Oliver Ward

It’s hard being a high school stu-dent. Everyone knows it. The most notorious problem of all is bullying. For the past three years, ConVal has established a great thing in re-sponse: The spirit of kindness week. The idea of the week is to focus on being more kind in everyday life. With tables outside the cafeteria of-fering a raffle and candy, students were urged to fill out a small sign with a reason why they or a friend mattered. #reasonswhyyoumatter is a campaign connected with a pro-gram called 50 states against bully-ing. Author Jay Asher, who wrote Thirteen Reasons Why, about a girl who committed suicide because he was bullied, set up this program. Our German teacher, Frau Hodge-don, entered a contest to have him come and speak at our school. She won, allowing ConVal to listen to the great things he had to say. He graced our school with his presence at a fascinating assembly on Octo-ber 29th where he talked about his book and the 50 states program. The presentation, the raffle table, and the reasons why you matter signs, combined with Sarah Hurley (being heavily involved in the week: read-ing quotes about kindness over the morning announcements) made the week a huge success.


A “Fresh” Look at HomecomingBy Oliver Ward

You’ve seen it in just about every high school movie ever. Homecom-ing. The excitement of sports fol-lowed by the juicy gossip that always follows a dance. The one thing you never see in these high school mov-ies however, is how the freshmen handle it. After only a couple weeks of school it can be overwhelming for them to take part in such festivities.

ConVal certainly makes the whole weekend as fun as possible. The practically non stop string of sports games were exciting to watch. The

football game of course is what ev-eryone is most excited for. I person-ally have very little knowledge of football, but judging by the amount of cheering I would assume it was a great game. It felt great as a freshman to be united with older students in the common goal of supporting our team. The bonfire after the game just added to the sense of community as everyone united in the goal of get-ting 2nd feet of the massive flame.

The next day of course, was the fa-mous dance itself. Upon arriving it was overpowering, but the dance was everything dances should be:

dark, loud, and full of happy peo-ple. Of course there were plenty of people not into the whole dancing scene (me included) and I applaud the group who worked their way around that by bringing a monop-oly board and setting up in the hallway. To anyone who stays away from homecoming because of not wanting to dance: throw that notion aside and just come to socialize. The whole event is a great experience and should not be missed.

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Scottish Independence Referendum 2014

By Lauren LeBritton“A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to vote on particular proposal, this may result in the adoption of a new constitution , a constitutional amendment, or law.”

The Scottish Independence referen-dum was a referendum on Scottish Independence on September 18th,

2014. Basically, The referendum was a time when the citizens of Scot-land were able to vote on a specific question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?” It was sim-ply a yes or no answer. The no side won, with a 55.3% vote against In-dependence. A bill was put into act, called, The Scottish Independence Referendum Bill. The arrangements for this bill was passed by the Scot-tish Parliament In November 2013, following an agreement between the

Scottish and the United Kingdom governments. It was then enact-ed and officially called the Scottish Independence Act 2013. There was a total of 4.3 million citizens who were eligible to vote. Only Europe-an Union , (EU) or commonwealth citizens resident in Scotland aged 16 or over could vote.

“The dance was everything dances should be: dark, loud, and full of hap-

py people.”


Scare Trail By Lauren LeBritton

For the past two years, the Music Department has planned a spe-cial trip at the end of the year. Last years was a trip to Boston to see the Blue Man Group, the Boston Opera House, and eat at the famous Boston Hard Rock Cafe. The year before was a trip to New York City. However,

for these trips to be possible money must be raised. As a way to help raise this money, the band created a scare trail that took place on Friday, October 24th. The event be-gan at six and ended around nine. The first hour or so was meant for younger kids and families to enjoy, though as the night grew

dark the more haunting the trail became. The event was run by Mr. Wickham along with Patrick Sherlock and Meredith Dissinger. Mem-bers of the band dressed up in scary costume and

makeup, and attempted to scare their friends and fellow students. Many people showed up and at the end of the night. The event was a huge hit, allowing the band to make about $400 for the trip at the end of this school year.

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Stay KindBy Kaitlin Roberts

No one should let something awful ruin the way they view the world. The world in general is beautiful. Everything in it has beauty and takes one person to change the way someone views it. The way I see things, not everyone has beauty on the outside, it’s what is on the inside that counts. Humans can do awful, terrible things to one another. It happens. Sometimes they are hurt unintentionally, but sometimes they are hurt out of jealousy, anger or even pain. I personally have been bullied. I was made fun of, laughed at because of terrible rumors, been called nu-merous things, but its humanity. Things happen. I refuse to be bitter over it. Some people are a lot more cruel than others. A lot of people I know wouldn’t hurt a fly. For a lot of peo-ple, it takes only one bad experience to change someone’s view on everything. They become pessimists instead of optimists, and they tend to see the worst in every situation they’re put in. They don’t use life to its full potential. When humans hurt each other, they experience pain. They build up walls around themselves and don’t let anyone in. They don’t allow someone with good views change the way they see things back to what they previously saw, ruining a good perspective on life. “Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.” (Vonnegut ) This quote speaks to me on a personal level. Despite what others do to someone or what just happens, no one should let it change them unless its to better oneself as a person. The less hate there is in the world the better off humanity will be. Everything and everyone is beautiful and has potential no matter what story lies behind it or them. Its terrible to watch people change and see nothing good come out of the opportunities they’re faced with. No one deserves to go through bullying or should have to build up a wall to prevent others from getting in. Hu-mans should interact freely, but with compassion and good heartedness. Bullying definitely is an action that needs to be eradicated from every place on Earth. One bad experience with others led them to not take advantage of the challenges life threw at them. People tend to hide their emotions from others, making it harder to earn trust. Once someone earns trust but then loses it, hatred is typically what others feel. They feel pained that they were stabbed in the back and the pain led to hatred. When people come into this world, they are pure and kind until some influence changes the way they see something. This quote by Vonnegut should be an unspoken rule all around the world. If peo-ple weren’t so bitter all of the time, if everyone was kinder to one another, the world would be a better place and everyone would be able to see just how beautiful everything can be. Everyone needs to step back and admire things every once in awhile instead of putting all of their energy into building up the wall one surrounds them-selves with to make them feel comfortable with themselves.

Student Essay8


Fall SportsJoshua Curran

The school lies empty. Nothing more than a throughway of halls and rooms, for two months. Then, as the sun peeks over the nearby hills, a car find their way into the parking lot. A student septs out, and at first that person is alone. Then very quickly, there are ten people. Then twenty. Soon, almost a hundred crowd the fields and gym of ConVal High School. Running, drilling, and playing, ConVal fall sport athletes devoted the last two weeks of their summer to waking up early. They put down their junk food, and brought out the protein bars; sacrificing soda for water. The sports season has be-gun at ConVal High School.

Starting out the year with a win against Goffstown, the boys soc-cer team maintianed momentum throughout a season with an over-all record of 8-6-2. The team scored a total of 27 points in the season. For the girls soccer team, a 6-8-2

season prevailed after a opening of 0-3. Scoring a to-tal of 17 points, the girls team showed nothing more than a spectacular Cou-gar fighting spirit throughout their entire season.

The 2014 Volleyball season, though not going quite as may have been hoped for by many players, showed a lot of heart, win-ning one game against Manchester West on the 10th of October in a fantastic home game. Some key players throughout the season were Mandy Anderson (Senior), Aidan Dissinger (Sophomore), and Sam Worobey (Junior). Despite losing 9 varsity players last year, this years team stepped up, fighting with all they had.

The Spirit team has had a strong year as well. Training with late night practices, they have prepared to keep up the enthusiasm that em-bodies the Cougar Home Football games, and are no doubt ready for the upcoming basketball season.

Field Hockey, a team full of grow-ing players, put up very close games throughout the entire year winning one game agianst Conant midway through their season. Despite the tough games, no scoreboard can show the amazing work ethic and camaraderie that the team showed.

ConVal Cougar Football again came through a hard-fought season with little to show again in their win/loss record (1-7), but nobody doubts their growing potential. De-

spite going through their third var-sity coach in 4 years, they intend on working harder than ever to bring what they have to bear in the on-coming years.

The Cross Country Team featured a new coach this year, Lance Flami-no, who is also in his second year of teaching at ConVal High School. A new coach meant a new year, and much success. The boys team car-ried many key runners, including Joe Bernstein, Clay Williams, Liam Faverka, Oliver Ellercamp, and An-drew Hunt. Andrew Hunt was the only one to move on to States, plac-ing 23rd in Divisionals. The Girls team also fared well, with top plac-ers being Mei Brussell, Lucy Free-man, Kelsa Dunforth, Megan Bar-rett, and Sawyer Cawthern. Despite losing most of its seniors last year, the Girls Cross Country team grew greatly this year, and “We have great expectations for next year.” says Sophomore Lucy Freeman.

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Austrian Exchange Program 2014By Emma Canty-Carrel

Every two years ConVal plays host to students from Austria who decided as a class to come and visit the Unit-ed States, and our school. It is a big difference culturally, but every year the exchange students gain valuable experience and memories, as do their host families, new friends, and teachers. ConVal has been hosting exchange students from all around the world since 1996, and has of-fered the opportunity for ConVal students and exchange students to broaden their knowledge of foreign countries, culture, and language. This year, ConVal welcomed twen-ty Austrian exchange students with a large sign in the Link that said “Willkommen”, or “welcome.” They are all about sixteen years old and are staying until November 3 (two weeks). The twenty Austrians make up a class that decided to come to ConVal after another class of their grade decided not to. The grading system in Austria is different from that of the United States, but the

exchange students are the equiva-lent of Juniors in the U.S. In Austria they are in their 7th year out of eight years of highschool. Shirin El Nemr, one of the exchange students, is staying with ConVal Se-nior Genna Weidner and her family. She said that she had definitely had some preconceived ideas of the U.S., and that there were a few stereotypes that she had heard. When I asked what she thought of the stereotypes now, she responded with a laugh saying that “they are true.” She was surprised by the young age of stu-dents learning how to drive in the

U.S. (fifteen and a half) compared to the age of 17 in Austria. However, Austrian teens are allowed to drink at the age of sixteen, compared to the U.S. age limit of 21.

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the conval current's "semester in review"

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