Life is a big deal. I know you think you’ve been living it all this time but you really haven’t. You’ve been living with the training wheels of life and the idea that those wheels are stripped off the second you throw that cap in the air is horrifying. The idea of the Credit for Life Fair is to lessen the fear of that blow known as graduation and make things feel a bit more manageable.  Real life is still going to be tough, there’s no doubt about it. But from someone whose view on the world and his career afterward has been less than cheery lately, I feel a fraction better after attending the fair.

About 75 juniors and seniors from HHS took part in the third-annual fair, held March 16 at Cardinal Cushing School. Students imagine we are about 24 years old and have to manage our money on our own. Each student is given a portfolio and a career, plus the average salary for that career. (I was an actor, making $40,520 a year — this is before I become a big  star, of course). We also receive a savings account, credit score, and some student loan or credit card debt. Since all of this varies from student to student, some start out in better financial shape than others, which is unfortunate but also realistic. (I had $2,200 in savings and a student loan payment of $150 a month.) You then go to booths for various things such as transportation, clothing, nutrition, housing and other things of the sort. At each booth, business people from the community give realistic options for us to choose from, such as purchasing a flashy Mustang or a basic Honda, or a no-frills cell phone versus the latest smartphone. You can also get a part-time job which will increase your income and ability to spend on other assets, or a roommate to split expenses with. Isn’t life fun!!!?? Sigh. Spending money from a credit card is also another option but I always stay away from those.

At one booth, we had to go through a professional job interview. At another book we got a “reality check.” By spinning the wheel of chance, students might get a winning lottery ticket or big inheritance. But other things they can get are straight garbage, like a flat tire or medical expense, adding more costs to an already tight budget. I got hit with a $50 doctor bill.

Once you went to all the booths and picked all your choices, you got to sit down with a counselor who would tally up all your expenses and see if you broke even. If you didn’t, you’d have to look back on all of your choices and make changes, over and over again if necessary, until your budget wasn’t a bust. Luckily I broke even on the first try with $86 to spare.

“The fair was really eye-opening because I realized I’m probably going to be broke,” said junior Emma Riley.  “Thanks S Bank.”

Junior Angela Mirasola said the fair was very informative and “a great opportunity for all students.” The one thing she would change is the how deals were given. During the fair, a cowbell was rung for limited time offers, but people would rush to the booth and it would get chaotic.

Overall, the Credit For Life Fair was pretty realistic. There were some expenses we were required to pay that I wouldn’t have chosen in real life, such as a gym membership. And some students chose roommates that they readily admit they’d never live with in real life. But going through the process of making a budget and weighing expenses was extremely informative and very helpful.

The fair is organized each year by Mrs. Pereira, who teaches Accounting, Marketing, and Internship, and Mrs. Hansen, who teaches Internship, School-to-Work and Microsoft Office. Mrs. Pereira felt the fair was a fantastic interactive learning experience and she enjoyed how many students gained insight into adult expenses. She noted that many were shocked at how expensive everything was. Mrs. P loves the collaboration from both the community and school.

The musical ensembles here at Hanover High School participated in the adjudicated MICCA Festival March 27-28. The MICCA Festival is an opportunity for groups to perform in front of a panel of judges to receive feedback from a source other than their director. The judges are usually professors in prominent college music departments and they all have a great deal of musical aptitude and intelligence. In fact, after the performance, one of the judges will host a clinic with the group and give them tips on how to improve to the next level of play. In addition to a live clinic from one the judges, directors receive the taped commentary of the three judges along with any notes they took. As far scoring and medal placement is concerned, it is done against a standardized rubric used by all the judges and not in comparison to the other groups in attendance at that particular venue. The possible awards a group can earn include the Medal of Merit, Bronze Medal, Silver Medal, and the Gold Medal.

Symphonic Band competed Friday night at Foxboro High School. They performed the same three songs they did at the HHS Spring Concert and ones they have been working on since the beginning of January. First was the march Fairest of the Fair by John Phillip Sousa, next up was Loch Lomond by Frank Ticheli, and concluding the set was Themes from Green Bushes by Percy Grainger. One of the requirements of the MICCA Festival is to have a variety of different genres represented in your band’s repertoire which is something the Symphonic Band definitely accomplished. Ultimately, the months of effort put in was rewarded by the Band receiving a Silver Medal. The Band has not received Silver since 2009, in Mr. Ketchen’s second year as Band Director. It’s even more of an accomplishment considering the fact the Band has a new director this year, Mr. Harden.

Concert Chorus and Vox competed on Saturday afternoon at Norwood High School. Concert Chorus performed At The River by Aaron Copland; Danny Boy, a traditional folk song arranged by Julie Knowles; and Sing and We Chant It by Thomas Morley. Vox, the audition-based elite women’s choir of HHS, performed Didn’ My Lord Deliver Daniel, arranged by Jennifer Alsup King, Ave Maria by Franz Biebel, and Ching a Ring Chaw by Aaron Copland. During Ave Maria, senior Jaime Savage, junior Melanie Armstrong, and sophomore Katie Scott all soloed. Similar to the Band, Vox and Concert Chorus have been rehearsing their songs since January. Ultimately, Concert Chorus got a Bronze Medal, and Vox got a Silver Medal. The Choruses show much promise under the leadership of their new director Mr. Schnelle and we can only expect even better results in the future.

The next performance of Symphonic Band, Concert Chorus, and Vox will be at the Williamsburg (Va.) festival April 16-19. It’s the first weekend of April Vacation and is the Music Department’s biennial trip. It’s another adjudicated festival and the groups will be busy at work for the next two weeks polishing their repertoires to get ready for the competition.

On Saturday, March 28, the Hanover High School Robotics team participated in both the Botball Tournament and Botfest Exhibition at UMass Lowell.  Seniors David Raab and Nick Ricciarelli and freshman Spencer Kubicki represented the team at the Botball tournament.  At Botfest, a robotics exhibition, sophomore Matt Blanchard displayed his prototype for a high- speed Rubik’s cube solver with the help of Nao, Hanover School District’s humanoid robot.

 Botball Tournament

The theme of this year’s tournament was mining minerals in the Southwestern United States.  The goal was to design, build, and program two autonomous robots to collect randomly scattered ‘minerals’, bring them to specific areas of the board, and sort them by color. The items were at different heights and they were various sizes, shapes and colors.  Each match lasted two minutes.  David, who will attend Rensselaer in the fall and Nick, who will attend RIT, were in the pit.  The team was able to make it through the seeding rounds and enter the double elimination match.  In the first match, Hanover’s robot “Arnie” started too soon and lost to Chelmsford High.  In the second match, Hanover defeated Innovation Academy.  The third match was lost to Veazie High School after Hanover’s robot “Maria” got thrown off course by a bump in the arena floor.

It was great to see the engineering design process at work.  Each match led to design adjustments, refining of code, and improved performance.  David and Nick quickly analyzed each situation and reacted swiftly to fix any problems and increase their chances of success.     

The final results have not been posted, but the team clearly improved since last year’s first try at Botball.  Last year, the team was eliminated after the second game and this year they weren’t eliminated until after the third game.  Most importantly, the students gained valuable skills in design, programming, engineering, time management, teamwork, refining, diagramming, strategizing and project management.  Hanover High School was also able to acquire two new robot platforms and hundreds of sensors and motors that can be used by Engineering Classes as well as the robotics team.  The software is installed in the Engineering lab for any student with an interest.  Hanover High also received complete standards- based curriculum resources to use with all engineering students.

Botfest Exhibition

Last year, for the Botfest Exhibition, Matt Blanchard created a Lego robot that could solve a Rubik’s cube.  Matt continued his quest this year and began online communication with David Gilday, the principal engineer at ARM in Cambridge, England.  Gilday is the co-creator of the world’s fastest Rubik’s cube-solving robot, “Cubestormer III.”  The “Cubestormer III” can solve the Rubik’s cube in 3.253 seconds. 

The Rubik’s cube solution is an algorithm; therefore, a robot can be programmed to follow a specific pattern of movements to solve the cube after scanning each side and determining the original positions of the colors.  Matt began work on a prototype for his own high-speed Rubik’s cube-solving robot which he displayed at this year’s exhibition.  Matt hopes to create the fastest one in North America by the time he is a senior in high school.  Incidentally, Matt himself is also a competitive Rubik’s Cube solver; he can solve the puzzle in 18.68 seconds. 

Special Thanks

• For the second year in a row, the team received a grant from NASA and UMass Lowell’s Community Partnership Program that covered $1,700 of the fee for Botball ($2,200 total).  The fee covers all materials, robots, and tournament expenses.
• Grants from the Hanover Foundation for Educational Enrichment ($1,800) and Walmart ($500) allowed the purchase of seven EV3 Lego robots that were used to build a prototype for a high-speed Rubik’s cube-solver for the exhibition.  The EV3 robots will be also be used in engineering courses at the high school.
• The humanoid robot, Nao, which assisted Matt at Botfest, was purchased for the district by the PTO.

Let’s get one thing clear: I like picking out new clothes and looking nice just as much as the next person, but high fashion is definitely not my forte. So when I signed up to walk as a model in the Fashion Club’s yearly show, I was a bit apprehensive. Anyone who knows seniors Haley Martin and Bruna Dacosta (or even sees them in the halls, for that matter) is well aware that they are a fashion force to be reckoned with. Haley was awarded Most Unique Stye and Bruna claimed Best Dressed in this year’s senior superlatives. No surprise there, these girls founded Hanover High School’s Fashion Club their junior year and already had one wildly successful fashion show under their belt. I had no doubt that they would pull off another fantastic show . . . my only worry was making it down the runway in one piece!

As I prepared for the show Saturday, I quickly learned that the models came in a  wide range of age and experience. Some girls, along with many of the hair and makeup experts, hailed from Hanover’s Fashion Focus program. Fashion Focus is a modeling and finishing agency owned by the emcee of the show, Maria Wood. Some of us weren’t so seasoned in the fashion show life, however, and some of these faces may look more familiar to

the average HHS student. Mr. Perry, Mr. Hopkins, Mrs. Curley, Ms. Fay, Mrs. Abban, Mrs. Gately, Mrs. Boyle, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Sousa, Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Fraser and Mrs. Gallagher from guidance agreed to strut their stuff for the catwalk. Mr. Paquette and Mr. Galligan stole the show, and we even got to meet mini Emersons, Coates, Pereiras, Dhomees, Abbans, Curtises, McHugh and Paquettes (that’s right . . . who knew Mr. Paquette had such adorable kids?!).  Haley and Bruna managed to show off all of the clothing and accessories that had been donated for the night by local boutiques, including Olivia Rose and No Rest for Bridget for children, Habit and Ku De Ta for juniors, and Tuxedo Time and Lyn Evans for the adults.

The doors opened at 5:00 pm sharp for pop-up shopping with the boutiques which were represented in the show, mocktails, and cupcakes. As viewers were happily chatting away, the real excitement was going on backstage. Models had been at the school for hours, prepping for their minute-long debut. The first stop was to pick up the outfit we would actually be wearing and cross our fingers as we tried it on for size. Back into real clothes for hair and makeup, which took place in the band and fitness rooms, respectively. Hair was done by a mix of professionals and students alike, but every person who left the room was completely transformed. The theme of the show was bohemian, so styles included braids, long curls, and messy up-dos. Makeup artists similarly went with an artistic approach and tried to match outfit and face. Finally, outfits and finishing touches were pulled together and the show was ready to begin at 6 pm.

The younger kids took the catwalk first, navigating the series of

twists, turns, and poses much better than myself. Juniors were next, and went in categories by store. I loved seeing the skill everyone had and watching them come to life when the lights were turned on them! The adults were probably the funniest to watch. I never expected to see the man who teaches me poetry strutting down the runway in a bright orange cheetah tie! Anyone who has been listening to the announcements lately is probably dying to hear about the Ms. Fay versus Mrs. Abban style

showdown. Both ladies looked absolutely amazing and fully embraced their time to shine. However, although Mrs. Abban walked with the poise and grace of a true model, I’ve got to give this one to Ms. Fay. From her posing in the Egyptian at the beginning to her sassy moves on the platform, no one could compete with the ‘tude she pulled off.  Other highlights included Mr. Perry with a salmon pocket hanky, two hockey players walking out their coach’s son, and Ms. (soon to be Mrs.) Pavao and fiance ending the show as a boho bride and groom.

All proceeds from the show went to a scholarship for girls just like Haley and Bruna who love fashion and want to pursue it as a career. After being a part of their show and witnessing them in action, I know that after graduating this year Haley and Bruna will no doubt find success. An when they do, I know I’ll be in the front row of their fashion shows!