Students seeing one of their favorite teachers put her face in a pie is not the usual way to end lunch period in the caf. But that was the case Nov. 16 when Ms. Doyle performed her winning stunt for The Indian’s Dollars for Dares fundraiser. Students and staff submitted a dollar a vote to choose which teacher volunteer they wanted to perform a unique stunt. During the week of voting, competition was neck and neck between Ms. Doyle’s whip cream-filled stunt and a singing duet by Mr. Hegarty and Mr. Ciccolo. Other dares included Mrs. McHugh wearing an inflatable T-rex costume, Mrs. Curley roller skating through the halls, and Mr. Wilbur eating chocolate-covered crickets. Thanks to Hanover High’s daring teachers and generous students, The Indian raised $130 to fund future print issues of the paper. The stunt definitely made for an interesting way to end lunches on a Friday — thanks, Ms. Doyle!
The video report below was created by Mr. Wilbur and the HHS Broadcast Journalism class.
The midterm elections raged on for weeks after the November 6th election due to voter fraud controversies in North Carolina, machine failure in Florida, and extended deadlines to accommodate a runoff election in Mississippi.
The Facts:
Overall, the midterm elections presented wins and losses for the Republican and Democratic parties. While the Republican party remained in control of the Senate with a 53 to 47 seat majority, they lost their majority in the House of Representatives. The Democrats now hold the majority of House seats with 234, while the Republicans have 198. In both House and Senate races, there were many toss up seats that could have been won by either party. Winning these seats was crucial to each party, as it could give either party the upper hand. In most of these races, the winner was decided by only a small margin. For the Senate, these toss up seats were in Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Montana, West Virginia, North Dakota, and Tennessee. For the House, the toss up seats were in Florida, California, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. When the contested elections for the Senate concluded, the Republican party won the majority of the contested states 6-4 over the Democratic party. This minority in the contested states made the Democrats unable to regain the majority in the Senate, and thus remain the Senate minority. The contested elections for the House of Representatives were a very different story. The Democratic party gained 20 of the contested seats, with just seven going to the Republican party and one vote undecided. These wins allowed the Democratic party to regain control of the House of Representatives.
While this election is now coming to a close, it did not go as smoothly as most Americans had hoped. This election was racked with mechanical failures, voter fraud, and controversy throughout the country. In the state of Florida, multiple mechanical failures in the voting machines led to many votes going uncounted, forcing several counties in the state to conduct a recount lasting for weeks. There were also cases of suspected voter fraud in North Carolina, after the 9th district seat for the House of Representatives was called into question. An extremely high number of absentee ballots were never returned, and reports that people claiming to be state officials went door to door collecting absentee ballots from citizens are under investigation. The confusion and controversy in this year’s midterm elections was wide and varied. One example was when Florida Senate candidate Bill Nelson refused to concede to his opponent Rick Scott after Scott was shown to have slightly more votes than Nelson. Also, in the controversial Mississippi Senate election, when both candidates were unable to receive enough votes to declare an outright winner, they were forced to participate in a runoff election. This runoff election became even more heated with the release of a controversial comment by Republican candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith, who eventually won the seat by a comfortable margin.
My Opinion:
With each party controlling one of the two legislative offices, I fear that we will see a period of conflict and stagnation in the government. If each party only works to shut down the other, then legislation will stall and the country will suffer with useless stalemates. The conflict between parties is one of the issues that plagues America today. Elected officials are tasked with representing the people that elected them, not just their party and everything it stands for. This singular loyalty to party over people has led some politicians to outright reject many ideas that are not in line with their party narrative. This practice has led to a deep division in America. What America needs right now is for both parties to set aside their differences and become a bipartisan Senate and House of Representatives that works for the American people. If each party tries to respectfully communicate with their counterpart instead of fighting them on every issue, America will be productive. If both parties cannot put their wants aside for the betterment of America, the country will continue to be divided and conflicted. As Lincoln famously said, “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.”
Alex McFarland has always enjoyed burying his nose in a book. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Alex would be inspired to write one of his own. That book, started for a contest in middle school, has been published and is now available for purchase on Amazon.com.
A senior at HHS, Alex is a well-rounded student, participating in many after school activities including Lit Mag and Drama Club as well as excelling in his classes. Back in middle school, Alex entered a writing contest with his friends. They each wrote a story and uploaded it to a website to get other people’s perspectives. While Alex didn’t win, he decided to keep working on the story. Inspired by his favorite author, Chris D’Lacey, he wrote What Was Missing. The story follows Madeline, whose father has fallen into a coma after a mysterious archaeological dig releases the ‘Iss.’ In a world full of technology and dragons, Madeline joins other children in a mission to rescue their parents and save the world.
On his book, you won’t see Alex’s name. Instead, the author is listed as Draconis Solutus, which means” free dragon” in Latin. Alex originally created the pen name because of a website called Watt Pad which allows writers to express their creativity and ideas. He didn’t want his real name out on the Internet. From what I know, he plans to continue using this pen name on future books, which you can purchase from him or on Amazon for $15. Alex even did the cover art himself. He took a picture of a cardboard roll, like a paper towel roll, and used editing software to create the cool effect, then drew a dragon eye in the middle.
Alex is currently in the process of editing two more books, The Game of Tag, which is a sequel to What Was Missing, and Project Anchorak: The Buried City. I have already read his first published book and loved it. The characters were really cool, and the plot was well thought out. He is planning to release the second book in a month or two.
Alex used so much creativity to build the world portrayed in the book and imagine what everything could be. He credits his success to the support of his family, especially his younger brother, William, a freshman at HHS, his girlfriend Megan, and all of his friends.
Staff writers Juli Cocomazzi and Tim Sullivan asked some of their classmates to describe in a few words what they were thankful for this year. They got some pretty interesting responses! Read below.
Hope Thurston is thankful for everything! She’s getting a car really soon and is thankful that she won’t be paying for it. She has a really good relationship with her mom and her hair is really thick and healthy, she loves it.
Paige McKee is thankful for her good health and her friendships.
Alex Brennan is thankful for his friends and family, along with his house.
Peyton Curvels is thankful for her family and her good health.
Davis Dunphy is thankful for backwards, upside down visors, and that we won the Cold War.
Meghan Collett is thankful for just about everything in her life.
Jenna Healy is super thankful! She’s thankful for her friends and family, her health, and Thanksgiving dinner. Jules Dunderdale is thankful for her supportive family and for the troops! Join her brand new Students for Soldiers club if you feel the same way; she would be extra thankful for your support!
Braden Glynn is thankful for his family and friends.
Rori Jenkins is wicked thankful for her dog and her cat.
Lauren Cockey is thankful for all the wonderful teachers at Hanover High School.
Channing Miller is thankful for the Thanksgiving break and all the food that comes with Thanksgiving!
Lexi Rynning is thankful for her friends and family, and especially her dog.
Bella Craft is thankful for her amazing mom and her dog, Fifi.
Erin Halpin is thankful for her friends and family.
Ben Lee is thankful for his bestie, Aria Sweeney.
Mikayla Chabot is thankful for her dog, her friends and her family.
Caleigh McCloskey is thankful for her two beautiful dogs and wonderful teachers.
Kayla Mullane is super thankful for Student Council and her friends and family.
Sophie Picard is thankful for the great responses to the tasty baking treats she sells at HHS.
Anthony Pierotti is thankful for Hilliard’s Chocolate.
Olivia Reddish is thankful for RunKeeper, the exercise app, and for her gym power walks with her besties.
Alex Stacy is thankful for “Thank U, Next.”
Emily Tuzik is thankful for her awesome volleyball team.
Dom Cerone is thankful for Mrs. Martin. “She’s my favorite teacher because she always says hi to me in the halls.”
Ellie Hardman is thankful for the opportunities she’s been given her whole life.
Hanover High School offers many different extracurricular clubs to allow students to become more involved in the school community. I sat down with two long-time members of the Robotics club: juniors Adam Giordani and Nick Colaw (pictured above) to find out what this club is all about and what it means to them.
The Robotics club aims to create a “fun atmosphere that allows you to work on your problem-solving and team-building skills along with your friends,” Adam said. The club gets together twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday, after school in adviser Mrs. Borgeson’s room (116).
The whole year builds up to one big tournament in the spring called BotBall. Held at UMass Lowell, it’s a competition between schools and their robots. The majority of time spent at their meetings is used to build their course and program their robot for this competition. Last spring Hanover had its best performance at BotBall and the club is hoping to improve even more this year.
BotBall requires a lot of fundraising throughout the school year, Nick and Adam explained. Last month, the club had a very successful car wash outside of HHS. Mrs. Borgeson also applies for grants to help cover the costs of competing, which average around $4,000 when you consider entry fees, new robots and building materials. Keep a lookout for their next fundraiser: personalized holiday ornaments which will go on sale in the next month.
“Robotics gives me a chance to work with robots and that is something I believe is very prevalent in today’s society,” Nick said. “Some valuable life skills can be learned in this club with the age of technology that we are living in.”
If any of this sounds appealing, Robotics may be the new extra-curricular for you! Robotics always welcomes new members and no previous experience is required. Nick and Adam look forward to anyone who reads this article and feels inspired to join them!
Yesterday, I crashed four times and killed an innocent pedestrian walking in a crosswalk, all because I was distracted. It was only a simulation in which those dangerous events happened, but it could have been very real. And it was all because of distracted driving. I took part in Distractology, a program sponsored by Arbella Insurance to educate drivers about safety behind the wheel and brought to HHS by the Guidance Department. The simulation was very eye-opening to say the least. About 3,100 people are killed and 424,000 people injured from distracted driving accidents each year.
Before taking Distractology, I wasn’t aware of the number of possible hazards. Even without distractions — such as changing music, checking your phone, eating, or any number of other things we often do while driving — there are a lot of hidden hazards. I was confidently taking a left turn in the simulator, with no phone or music playing, and a car rammed into my side. A huge truck was in the way, so I took the turn without being aware of the oncoming traffic that had the right of way.
In another scenario in the simulator, I was on a highway with a speed limit of 55 mph, and I was changing my music. Most people don’t think of this as dangerous as they barely take their eyes off the road. But when I looked at my phone for just a second, I slowed down dramatically to about 45 mph and was no longer steering in a straight line. Then, a pickup truck changed lanes when I was looking at my phone. I looked up and saw him do it, but I didn’t have enough time to slow down. I slammed on my brake, but I didn’t have enough of a reaction time. I crashed into the back of the truck, and my windshield shattered. Something as seemingly harmless as skipping a song can drastically change your life.
This is a very real threat in our society today and, while people are aware of the risks, many have never experienced the consequences so they think it can’t happen to them. But I can promise you it does. Anything can happen while you are the road. People don’t always follow the rules of the road, blowing through stop signs or going when they don’t have the right of way. If you aren’t 100 percent focused on the road, you won’t have enough time to react. Before going into this, I had no idea how dangerous distractions really could be. I highly recommend taking this course to gain the experience of a car crash without actually getting into one. This was a very eye-opening experiment for me, and I can promise I will try my best to never get distracted while driving.
There are some perks you get for taking this course, which travels to schools around the state. I got a $15 gas card. You might also qualify for a discount on your insurance. I also have a shot of winning a $500 scholarship. If you do it for no other reason than to get the gas card, you will still learn something very important about distracted driving. I am very glad Hanover High School offered this program and I will be way more cautious when I am on the road.
Mr. Brown teaches World History and Global Studies to Juniors and Seniors at Hanover High School. While teaching, Mr. Brown uses his charisma to combine learning and fun so as to captivate his students and make them excited to learn. This also makes his class one of the most enjoyable to be in, as his easy-going and fun personality can relieve the stress of difficult assignments. This has made him one of the most well liked and renown teachers at HHS.
After graduating from Rockland High School in 1991, Mr. Brown attended Norwich University. Mr. Brown knew he had a passion for teaching, so he majored in Elementary Education because of his own fond memories of his kindergarten experiences. After college, he enlisted in the United States Army, an experience that would change his life and career path for years to come. Life in the army was different from life at home for Mr. Brown. Instead of helping his dad paint houses, he went into combat, and was forced to overcome his fear of heights many times when he was required to deploy mid-air from planes. While military life was difficult, Mr. Brown enjoyed the opportunity to serve as a mentor to new recruits. It was this experience that later convinced him to choose to teach high school instead of elementary school. After returning home from the military, Mr. Brown became a wrestling coach for Rockland High School, and later taught fitness classes at Park and Rec. He became a teacher at Hanover High School in 2002.
Outside of school, Mr. Brown is a devoted father who cares for his family and enjoys attending his three kids’ school- and sports-related events. He has a passion for exercise and fitness, renting out a building in Rockland to teach exercise classes and to train athletes. He serves as an instructor, as well as a student, at a Brazilian jiu jitsu gym in Weymouth. Mr. Brown enjoys learning under his jiu jitsu teacher Dedeco, as it gives him insight on how it feels for an athlete to practice under the mentorship of a coach. He then applies this knowledge in his own coaching. He also adheres to a 10:00 pm bedtime, so that he can get enough sleep every single night.
Mr. Brown has coached a variety of teams during his long and successful career at Hanover High School, including Lacrosse and Wrestling in his early years, and Track and Field and Cross Country today. As a coach, Mr. Brown most enjoys seeing his athletes improve each year, and has made it his mission to help every single one of his athletes achieve their personal best. During his tenure as a wrestling coach, Mr. Brown coached 10 wrestling state champions, 20 sectional champions, and one New England champion. Mr. Brown takes pride in the fact that two of his athletes have recently achieved the honor of League MVP, one for Cross Country and the other for Track and Field. Mr. Brown finds these many achievements astounding, and he is proud of his student-athletes’ hard work and dedication.
It’s evident that Mr. Brown is a hardworking and passionate teacher and coach who will do anything in his power to see his students and athletes succeed and achieve their best.
One of the most exciting parts of life is discovering what your passion is. Whether it be photography, painting, politics or working out, it all comes down to what makes you the happiest. Fortunately for Sophie Picard, a junior at HHS, she was not only able to discover one of her passions, but make a profit from it. Her passion? Baking.
The Baker’s Background
Sophie is a jack of all trades, finding expertise and talent in a wide range of hobbies. Her forte is undoubtedly in the arts, as she’s been an active member of the school music department since the fifth grade and has played the flute, bassoon and saxophone. She is gifted in drawing and is an avid reader/writer. Her talent even extends into the martial arts as she also practices karate. Sophie is a brilliant mind and a progressive thinker. You’ll never meet a more open-minded and accepting individual. Sophie’s love for baking started as a child when her grandmother taught her a couple of her recipes. Sophie says she instantly loved it and knew she wanted to keep going with it on her own.
Selling The Goods
Every time Sophie baked, she would share her goods with friends and family. It’s no surprise they were always a hit. Her close friends were actually the ones who gave her the idea to sell her treats after they tasted their potential. With an encouraging amount of confidence and support, Sophie was able kick-start her baking business last week. The first product on the chopping block was her show-stopping cheesecake brownie. For $2 a piece, she sold nearly all of them on the first day.
To make those first sales, Sophie relied mainly on word of mouth. Throughout that first day, she met people between classes and during lunch to collect their money and deliver their treats. Some satisfied customers approached her in class, sought her out during a lunch/ break period, or texted her in advance to meet in between periods. People were determined to get their hands on one of her delicious brownies.
“I didn’t expect it to go so well as it did, I thought I would only sell a couple and that was fine,” Sophie said. “It was harder to meet with people who wanted brownies during the school day than I thought it’d be. It’d probably be better to mostly sell them before or after school next time.”
With the positive feedback she received, she says she’s excited to try it again. From this first day of sales, she was able to see what went well and what could be improved upon in the future. For starters, she is going to make some more time in her schedule to prioritize her baked good endeavors and brainstorm ideas to make the selling process more efficient. She has an array of recipes she’s excited to try out. Some stellar treats she’s made in the past include snickerdoodle cupcakes, s’mores cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, banana bread and blueberry scones. With innovation and perseverance, she plans to perfect her craft and develop her business plan to meet its highest potential.
To reach a wider audience, she has begun posting announcements on her Instagram story, informing her followers of the available product and the pricing. Those who respond to her post are able to reserve the amount they desire. Otherwise, Sophie runs a first-come, first-served type of business. You can follow her at sophs_sweets17 to keep posted on her baked good drop dates.
When opportunity knocks, you answer, and that’s exactly what Sophie did. With her innate problem-solving, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills, she was able to reap the benefits of doing what she loves. She is a positive and inspiring role model for her peers and future high schoolers, and perhaps an inspiration for you to shine a new light on your own passions.
It’s fall—that means the leaves are changing, a new school year has begun, and, of course, new iPhones have been released. Last year, Apple gave us the iPhone X, a new, larger phone with an edge to edge screen that unlocks with facial recognition instead of scanning a fingerprint. It was also $1,000—which was the greatest takeaway for most people in the market for a new phone. Did Apple learn its lesson that people won’t pay $1,000 for a phone? Nope. This year’s iPhone XS still starts at $1,000, and is visually identical to its predecessor; meanwhile, its larger sibling, the iPhone XS Max, starts at a hundred dollars more.
The iPhone XS in gold at Apple’s announcement in September
What changed from the iPhone X to the iPhone XS, you might ask? If you have an iPhone X, there’s not so much different that would make it a worthy upgrade. But if you’re looking to upgrade from an older phone, the XS adds a few key things that might sweeten the deal. If you’re a photographer, you’ll love the new camera with Smart HDR that is able to combine multiple versions of the photo you’re taking so it’s not too bright or dark. If you’re a fan of larger phones, you’ll like that the XS Max fits an even bigger screen on a phone that’s the same size as previous Plus models. And if you’re clumsy, you’ll like the new glass that is harder and less likely to crack. Of course, there are also the typical yearly upgrades: it’s faster—with faster Face ID, camera and data speeds. It also has a longer-lasting battery. The most noticeable change, however, is the new gold color that sits alongside the typical white and black models.
The new iPhone XR in orange, red, blue, and yellow
Those who want more color, though, will like the iPhone XR, which comes in blue, yellow, orange, and red in addition to white and black—similar to the iPhone 5C back in 2013. This new iPhone, priced below the iPhone XS and XS Max at $750, falls in between the iPhone XS and XS Max size-wise. It still has most of the same features as the iPhone XS, like Face ID, a faster processor, and a better camera. But there are few compromises to reach that lower price tag. The iPhone XR doesn’t get the fancy high accuracy screen like the iPhone XS or a dual camera setup, and the sides of the phone are matte aluminum instead of the polished stainless steel of the iPhone XS. It’s also slightly thicker too, but that is what gives it the longest battery life of any iPhone, ever.
A size comparison of Apple’s new larger phones, the XS Max, XR. and XS
Overall, people in the market for a new iPhone have a lot of options when it comes to which phone to pick. Now there are different screen sizes, different price tiers, and different colors. While there’s the top of the line iPhone XS Max with 512gb of storage at a little under $1,500, there’s also the iPhone 7 still hanging around at $450, proving there’s a different iPhone for everyone.
Mrs. Pereira always knew she wanted to be a teacher. The hard part was figuring out what to teach and who to teach it to. She started her journey at UMass Dartmouth as a math major but then began to worry about what she would do with her major if she decided teaching wasn’t for her. She always wanted to have a backup plan, and so instead of majoring in math, she switched to accounting. If she didn’t like teaching, she thought, she could become an accountant. Lucky for us at Hanover High School, Mrs. P decided to teach older students because she knew she wanted kids of her own and thought it might be too much having little kids at home and at work. She is now in her 19th year at HHS, teaching business classes such as Marketing and Management and Accounting along with co-leading the Internship Program. Every year, Mrs. P also works hard to put on the “Credit for Life Fair” at HHS. This event helps students learn to make smart and safe decisions when saving, spending, and budgeting their money for the future.
Mrs. Pereira in High School
Competitive cheerleading took up most of Mrs. P’s time at Somerset High School. Her team was ranked ninth in the country and even made an appearance on ESPN! (Fun fact: Mr. Perry and Mr. Faria also went to Somerset High School.) In addition to cheerleading, Mrs. P was involved in gymnastics, “The Future Teachers of America Club,” and National Honor Society.
Mrs. P strives to create an environment in her classroom where her students not only master the content but also work toward becoming a good person. Mrs. P wants her students to know that she genuinely cares about them, and can relate, understand and sympathize with them because of her own experiences. As funny as it sounds, Mrs. P means it when she says, “When I’m at school, you guys are my kids.”
Mrs. P has a lot going on in her life, and, like many teachers, her life is a constant balancing act between being a Mom and a Teacher. Luckily, she loves being busy and hates to be bored. She has a long commute to work every day from Fall River, and that gives her a lot of time in the car. She loves the time in the morning to wake up but can’t stand the ride home; as a result, she does very little driving on the weekends. In the summer, Mrs. P enjoys camping with her husband and three children: Olivia, Lila, and Georgia. Camping definitely isn’t for everyone, but spending a week in the outdoors with her family is one of the most relaxing places for Mrs. P. When she isn’t pitching a tent in the wilderness, her favorite travel spot is Maui, Hawaii. As far as her favorite things, she loves to exercise and is working to make that a priority again in her busy life. Mrs. P loves music and how it can make you feel different emotions or bring you back to a certain time in your life. She doesn’t really have a favorite food, but would much rather have real food then some type of dessert or candy.
Over the course of growing up, becoming a mother and going through life’s experiences, Mrs. P has found inspiration in different places. When she was a teenager, she looked up to her cheer coach who had two small children, a career, a coaching job, and had also gone back to school. She admired her drive and her success. As she got older, she grew to admire her grandmother, who had a very difficult life and yet raised 10 children mostly on her own. She didn’t understand how remarkable that was until she was a mom herself. Now that she’s older, there are so many people Mrs. P admires.
“I admire my own daughter who made the change from a small private school to a larger public middle school,” she said. “Middle school is not an easy time to be the new kid. And yet she’s running for student government. I admire her courage. I admire so many of my students for all of their accomplishments, big or small. I love hearing from them after they graduate. I admire other parents who have raised amazing kids. I admire people who persevere through some of the most heartbreaking, unimaginable events. I admire people who work hard, whether to do their jobs well or to make important changes in their lives.”
Mrs. Pereira always has a smiling face in Room 205 and, as students, we all appreciate the energy and drive she brings to work every day. When asked to describe Mrs. P using only one word, some of her students responded with the words below:
Before taking Distractology, I wasn’t aware of the number of possible hazards. Even without distractions — such as changing music, checking your phone, eating, or any number of other things we often do while driving — there are a lot of hidden hazards. I was confidently taking a left turn in the simulator, with no phone or music playing, and a car rammed into my side. A huge truck was in the way, so I took the turn without being aware of the oncoming traffic that had the right of way. 
The Hawk 