After serious consideration about a later start time for Hanover High School, administrators have come to a decision. In the fall, the first bell will move from 7:25 am to 7:55 am, and dismissal will be 2:4 pm instead of 2:16 pm.

A few weeks ago, each grade was called down to have a discussion on the topic of start times. Mr. Paquette explained how waking up early has been scientifically proven to cause a multitude of problems for teenagers such as getting to school late, a decrease in grades, and even discipline issues. High schools across the country have adopted later start times, with elementary schools starting earlier because younger children naturally wake up early.

The most common argument students had was that a later start time, and therefore later dismissal time, would affect sports. But many schools in Massachusetts have start times as late as 8 am and their sports don’t interfere with schoolwork. The more controversial part of this new plan is how early release days may work. One proposal is to have half days start for students at 10am, and still end at the normal time. The teachers would go to meetings before the students come to school. Could this lead to weaker teacher performance on early release?

Whatever happens next year, remember The Indian will be here to keep you updated.

 by Chris Acampora and Kristen Plahn

Jeb Bush is now yesterday’s news, but nobody seems to have talked about what it took to get his presidential campaign off the ground. Bush, the former governor of Florida and brother of President George W. Bush, spent $58.8 million on his campaign (including super PACs and donations). That’s almost five times as much as Hillary Clinton has spent! Here’s a breakdown of what other things could have been bought with that $58.8 million . .  .

  
  
Hopefully this fun little comparison has made you realize how expensive — and potentially wasteful — a political campaign can be.

By Chris Acampora and Kristen Plahn

In December, students were given the gift of no homework assignments on Tuesdays. But, was this a rip-off? Tuesdays in December are limited and that makes homework-free days hard to come by. If the school system wishes to continue with “No Homework Tuesdays,” as they are dubbed, then they should consider having more than the two half days in December that we had this year. The combo of a half day with no homework almost creates a day off, a day that is free to do things with friends and family.

Superintendent Matthew Ferron started “No Homework Tuesdays” across the district this past December to give students “family time.” But the policy actually reduced it. Because of Tuesday’s lack of homework, many teachers gave homework on the weekend to make up for it. The weekends are prime time for being with family; a Tuesday, not so much. In addition, “No Homework Tuesdays” could actually be counterproductive, and increase student workload. If you look at the five Tuesdays we had in December, you might realize that Christmas break was one week and some teachers gave homework during the first week in the month which. That reduced our “No Homework Tuesdays” to a mere three days. Since Tuesdays are mid week, teachers who can’t assign homework that day just push plans back a day.  If there are five school days in a week, and only four days to give homework, where does the last one go? The weekend.

A possible solution to this dilemma is a “Work-free Weekend” policy in the month of December. This would benefit teachers as much as their students. Students are going to put more effort into homework on the weekday, rather than the weekend, where most homework can be rushed through late Sunday night or early Monday morning. This means teachers will have a higher success rate on homework, increasing test grades and students’ final grades. It’s truly a win-win for teachers, because it gives students and teachers more family time. Teachers also can move ahead with teaching with a full week available, rather than feeling they have to skip Tuesday nights.

We propose the idea that, in the 2016-2017 school year, “No Homework Tuesdays” are replaced with the “Work-free Weekends in the Month of December” policy. This idea will benefit students and teachers simultaneously, making the busy month of December better for all. We hope this idea is seriously considered by administration as a viable option for the student body next school year.

Every day at Hanover High, students are free to use the water fountains. I find the fountains we have here to be very clean, unlike many offered in other schools. But one time when I was about to fill up my water bottle, I noticed an (almost) empty chocolate milk bottle left on top. I thought to myself, “that’s disgusting,” as I tossed it into the trash can, located not even 10 feet from the fountain.

About a week later, I noticed a wrapper with crumpled up chocolate chip cookie pieces crushed inside it right on top of the same fountain. I shook my head in annoyance, thinking about the horrific fact that some students at my school don’t even have the consideration to throw away their trash where it belongs. They leave it right on top of something we should all be taking care of for the sake of its purpose, as we are lucky to have these high quality fountains.

One morning, I was minding my own business while going for a bathroom break in the middle of Digital Media class, and noticed something else lying on top of the water fountain — this time, it was two sharp nails most likely used for some kind of woodshop project. I was furious to see that a high schooler would have the ignorance to do something like that, probably thinking it’s funny and would not affect anyone. Someone could seriously get hurt accidentally touching those nails by not noticing them, as they blended in with the color of the fountain pretty well. Many people such as myself are against littering, and those same people are sure smart enough to respect the property they live on, or go to school or work in. Once you think about it, it isn’t that hard to do.

I strongly believe that it is important to recycle and throw away your trash when needed to do so, and also to keep your belongings used for whatever purpose in the appropriate places; tools aren’t to be left out on drinking fountains, HHS. After reading this, hopefully more students will be aware of this problem I encountered, and
I won’t be seeing any crumpled bottles, wrappers or unusual belongings left on the fountains for quite some time. You can always make a difference by putting things in the right place.

By: Chris Acampora and Kristen Plahn

Trump was a Democrat?

According to CNN, in 2004 Donald Trump told them that, “In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat.” What is most shocking is his response to whether Hillary Clinton would do a good job in making a deal with Iran over their nuclear weapons program. “Hillary’s always surrounded herself with very good people. I think Hillary would do a good job,” he told CNN back then. It’s surprising to hear this especially when headlines like this come up: “Clinton, Trump trade insults as rhetoric heats up between front-runners.”

Trump’s Addiction to Twitter!

Donald Trump has recently been sending at least 40 tweets a day! Trump is definitely “high energy!” Jeb Bush, who Trump has considered, “low energy,” tweets less than 10 times a day.

Here are a few of Donald Trump’s recent memorable quotes!

October 26: Remember that Carson, Bush and Rubio are VERY weak on illegal immigration. They will do NOTHING to stop it. Our country will be overrun!

October 25: Ben Carson has never created a job in his life (well, maybe a nurse). I have created tens of thousands of jobs, it’s what I do.

October 24: @JebBush had a tiny 300 person crowd at Senator Tim Scott’s forum. I had thousands, and they had real passion!

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If Donald Trump cares so much about the people of America, then why does he want to eliminate vaccinations that keep thousands of people from getting sick? He says, “It happened to somebody that worked for me recently. I mean, they had this beautiful child, not a problem in the world, and all of the sudden they go in and they get this monster shot . . . they pump this into this little body and then all of the sudden the child is different a month later.” In reality, vaccinations, or, the ‘monster shot,’ save millions of people. Despite assurances from the CDC and research in scientific journals debunking any link between autism and vaccines, a movement opposed to existing vaccine protocols has taken root in the U.S., and Trump supports it.

But despite not wanting vaccinations in America, Trump still has been able to provide jobs to people who need them. Does that give you enough courage to vote for him though? We need a president who we can count on as a good and strong leader, not one who speaks of change for the better and the outcome is worse than before. Can we count on him?

Informal Poll: To Trump or Not to Trump

We asked some people around HHS if Donald Trump would make a good president if he won. Though our sample was small, the majority said that he would not be a good POTUS. Of the 12 students we surveyed, 10  said no, with one answering yes and one conceding “possibly.”

Of the 12, 10 said that they wouldn’t want Trump to win, one said yes to Trump, and one said possibly because, he “wanted to see how fast America will go downhill.”

A question for you is, who do you agree with? The yes group? The no group? Or, if you dare, the possibly group?

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Trump also has some good things going for him. He says what others candidates are afraid to say and speaks his mind. He also has lots of business experience that could boost the American economy. But what most voters need to realize is that the next president will affect Americans for the next 4-8 years! So maybe he’s fun to laugh at now, but American politics is no comedy! In the long run, a Trump presidency would likely turn our laughter to tears.

Have something you want to say, let your voice be heard in the comments below

Submitted anonymously by an HHS student

Growing up is a hard thing for many kids to do, especially when  life they seem to get everything handed to them. Moving to a new town showed me that no matter where you go, or no matter who you know, there are always going to be ignorant people.

All my life I’d lived in Marshfield, moving from house to house within the town. I always wished we would move out of the town, just to get a fresh start and not really know anyone. Unlike most teenagers, not knowing anyone and switching schools didn’t scare me or make me nervous. I saw it as okay. These people wouldn’t know me, I wouldn’t know them. I thought people would just mind their business and not really worry about me and what I’m doing. Well, I thought wrong.

Moving to Hanover, I figured people don’t know me or anything about me so they can’t really judge me or say anything that will offend me. Once again, I was very wrong.

I didn’t know until my first day of school that basically everyone drives to school or has friends/family to give them rides. I don’t have my license, I didn’t have friends here, and my mother works a 9­-5 job. So when the bell rings at 2:16, everyone’s running out to get in their cars and I’m starting my walk home. At the beginning, no one really taunted me about walking, but as time went on there would be the occasional beep of the horn at me, and people waving a d laughing. No matter who you are or what people know about you, it won’t protect you from some people. If making fun of you is what will make those people cool, then that’s what they are going to do.

Ignorance is lacking knowledge or awareness in general, being uneducated or unsophisticated. Just about all teenagers nowadays are very ignorant, especially ones who are not exposed to real world everyday struggles. I matured at a very young age, if I do say so myself. I get complimented very often about how mature I am for my age or just get mistaken for being much older than I really am. It’s not very hard for me to speak in an adult manner to people who are just the same age as me. I’ve had experiences that most teenagers are not exposed to, especially in seeing my family struggle. Now I’m not saying no one else has gone through these struggles, or no one else is mature. But from what I’ve been exposed to, not many teenagers are really aware of the things they say and do. I expect teenagers between the ages 16­ -18 to have matured past the age of 15. They should be aware of the effects they will have on people and their surroundings from the things they say and do.

The taunting became more frequent and a little bit more humorless. The first time when someone actually got to me and bothered me happened just a couple weeks ago. I was walking down the street on my way home minding my own business. One car drives by, then a couple more, but then one car didn’t just drive by. They had to slow down, stick their head out the sunroof, and scream “Nice ******* car” while beeping the horn and laughing.

Now I was more than ready to punch these kids in the face, but then I realized that would be just as ignorant as them yelling at me, even though they really deserved it. The rest of my walk home, I could not stop thinking about why they thought that was okay. Or did they think I wouldn’t recognize them when I saw them in school the next day? But I did, and it was very hard for me to not stoop to their level and confront them about it. But I wasn’t going to do it, I was the bigger person and just continued to mind my own business. Even though those kids don’t even know my first name, this was all an act to make their buddies laugh. Never did they think of why I was walking or anything in the general idea. To them it was funny, and it gave them a good laugh. That is pure ignorance, not being aware of the situation and continuing to laugh at and ridicule people. These boys are 17­-18 years old, and still find it funny that someone is WALKING. It blows my mind that seeing someone walking home is this significant to their life. Me walking down the street has no impact on their life, made no change in the road they drive on, nothing at all. These boys will one day run into the wrong person, and really learn their lesson. That may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen.

Even though you may have things other people don’t have, and that may make you think you’re better, you should always think before you speak. You never know what someone is going through, or the situation someone is in. You will never really grow up and mature unless you put yourself in someone else’s shoes.