7W Trashion Show celebrates Earth Day

By Eric Qu

Team 7West celebrated Earth Day this year with a "Trashion Show" project. 7West students had to think of ways to take recyclable items, such as paper bags, cardboard, and more to create works of art or clothes to put into a Trashion show! One of the featured creations included Amu Tawawalla's and top hat, made of newspaper, with pennies glued to it.

Crew group helps out around Wood Hill

Students in Miss Menesale's Crew group helped out around the school picking up trash to help celebrate Earth Day and give back to the Wood Hill community.

The History of Earth Day

By Vincent Candela

Earth Day is a day where the earth is recognized and we try think of ways to not wreck our planet. It is celebrated on April 22. It was first celebrated in April 22, 1970 and it was the start of the environmental movement. At that time factories dumped whatever they wanted in rivers, factories could also burn whatever they felt like burning and they could do it anywhere. Companies also made many dumps with toxic materials sometimes in the middle of watersheds and people drove around cars with leaded gas.

The basis of the modern environmental movement began when Rachel Carson published a book called Silent Spring in 1962. It was where she took on the chemical industry. She exposed information about many dangerous chemicals that different companies were using. Before this book was published, the word “environment” was never really used except for in spelling bees. This book raised awareness for the environment.

The founder of Earth Day was Gaylord Nelson a senator from Wisconsin who was worried about the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He thought that if he could get the energy from the anti-Vietnam movement to the environmental movement then there could be actual change for the environment. He persuaded Pete McCloskey another congressman to be his co-chair for his environmental movement. He also hired Denis Hayes as the national coordinator for the movement. Hayes hired about 80 people as his staff. Since many people then realized a lot of environmental problems they staged many protests.

On Earth Day 1970 almost all politicians (except for industry politicians) agreed on national environment reform. The following laws congress enacted were staggering. The laws were the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. They also created the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) which protected the environment and managed superfund sites. Superfund sites are places where there are a lot toxic chemicals. The main agency is the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.).

POLL: Kids vs Pets

By Rohini Josh

These are the results of a 3 week survey we did:

13 out 30 kids have 2 children in their house

11 out of 30 have 3 children in their house

2 out of 15 have 1 child in their house

The last two had 4 kids and 6 kids living in their house

½ of the kids we surveyed had 0 pets

4 out of 30 had 1 pet

1/10 of the kids we surveyed had 2 pets

1/10 of the kids we surveyed had 3 pets

The rest had immense amounts like 50, 20, and 4

8 out of 30 had dogs

1/15 of the kids surveyed have cats

1/5 of the kids surveyed have fish

½ had no pets at all

1 kid had turtles

1 kid had a bunny

1 kid had shrimp

1 kid had a bird

How this compares to the whole US

2 kids per house

At least one dog resides in 36.5 percent of households, while 30.4 percent of households have at least one cat.

Camp Kieve: What is it?

By Eric Qu

As we all know (or most of us), the annual visit to Camp Kieve is upon us! Be ready for a whole entire week of sleeping in cabins and having a fun time outdoors on thing like the tree-top adventures and other things, like solo, which is thinking by yourself.

Since 1981, The Leadership School at Kieve has been developing leaders and strengthening communities by challenging students, teachers, and parents to take positive risks, set meaningful goals, make healthy decisions, all while being supportive team members and strong leaders. Adolescents still face a world of challenging choices and conflicting messages: our approach to supporting them as they face the challenges of growing up remains the same, states the Kieve website.

Traditionally students visit for three to five days at one of the two Kieve-Wavus campuses on the shores of Damariscotta Lake in Maine. The day begins early and “student activities and classes focus on providing opportunities for students to make healthy decisions, practice positive risk taking, form and maintain healthy relationships, raise aspirations, and create physically and emotionally safer school climates,” according to the Kieve website.

Classes cover topics like communication skills, relationships, developing self, decision making, adventures, teambuilding and environmental stewardship.

A typical day starts early at 7:30 a.m. and includes a variety of activities during the day and evening. It’s lights out at 9:15 p.m. for seventh graders. Students sleep in cabins. Each has its own unique character and up to 16 bunks. Choice time every afternoon allows students to play sports, do arts & crafts, go on nature walks or explore the ropes courses.

Q: What do I bring? Personal items: toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, towel, etc. Sleeping bag and pillow ( or sheets and blankets). Bring in a plastic bag to keep them clean and dry. Rain gear: unless there is thunder and lightening, we DO go outside. Cold weather gear: Gloves, hats, scarves, winter boots, etc Socks, socks, socks: It sounds silly, but if you get wet or cold, you are going to want warm feet. Clothing that can be layered. Sweatshirts, long sleeve shirts. It is easier to take off extra layers than to wish you had brought more! Closed toed shoes: This is a requirement to climb on our Ropes Course. Miscellaneous Gear: Sunscreen, Chapstick, water bottle, bug spray, cameras are allowed but not in the classroom, flashlights. You can leave your school books, pencils and rulers behind. But, you may want to bring reading material for at night. Medications must be in the original bottle, with the label indicating name and dose. All medications will go to the infirmary upon arrival and be divided into cabins for your cabin staff to distribute accordingly. Our nurse will be checking all medications and dosage instructions when you arrive. Also, she will be on duty to help out during the week. You might not want to bring electronics, they may get lost. If you need music to fall asleep you may bring an ipod or portable cd player with headphones, but they must be kept in the cabin.

Pi Day

By Billy Nicolakakis

On Friday March 13, Wood Hill celebrated Pi Day. Pi is a mathematical symbol that you can find the circumference of a circle, and it represents 3.14. The numbers are infinite and people are finding more numbers everyday. But in Wood Hill team 7 West celebrated by making hats related to pi and had contests of the best hat and who could recite the most digits of pi . At the end of the day every one in the school got mini apple pies.

Fiddler hits the stage!

By Abby Chou

On the night of Feb. 7, the WHMS Drama Club produced a stunning performance of Fiddler on The Roof. Shyann Koul as Tevya, Natalie Caffrey as Golde, Madison Quill as Yente, Belle Haslam as Tzietel, Michael Makiej as Motel, Catherine Bravo as Chava, Griffin Viera as Perchik, and many others helped to make this play a success whether they were in the cast, on tech crew, or on stage crew.

Fiddler on the Roof is about a poor Russian Jewish family and their struggle against prosecution by the Russians and changes that are tearing the family apart. It very well known for the song “If I were a rich man,” “Matchmaker” and “Tradition” all performed beautifully by the cast and chorus.

Special thanks to Mrs. Rey, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Sullivan and the student directors for managing the cast, pit band, stage crew, and tech crew.