Pies for the Paper: Ms. Doyle Takes Part in Fundraiser

By Chris Acampora

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.

Midterm Elections: A Political Stalemate

By Matthew O’Hara

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.”

College Basketball Off to an Exciting Start

By Joe Clinton

College basketball has proven to be the sport to watch so far this winter. Whether it’s due to the crazy hype surrounding the new top recruits or the high-paced and high-scoring style of play, the NCAA has granted us the privilege of watching what amounts to a  prime time game every night.

The talk of the season has been the phenom freshmen at Duke – Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish – who are projected to be the top picks in the next NBA draft. Duke has generated an enormous amount of hype, with Barrett averaging 22.7 PPG, Williamson with 21.3 PPG and 9 RPG, and Reddish with 15.3 PPG. This team seemed unstoppable, until they lost to Gonzaga 89-87.

What I think has made this season so fun to watch is that every night there seem to be at least two or three top-25 ranked matchups going on.  We already have had a 1 vs 3 matchup in Gonzaga vs Duke, a 2 vs 4 contest when Duke destroyed Kentucky on opening night, and  a 2 vs 5 pairing as Kansas topped Tennessee in overtime. Plenty of other must watch-games have been decided in the final seconds.

I was sitting on my couch on Wednesday night and just clicked on the TV to see what was on and there they were: four must-watch games . . . on a random Wednesday night. There is no other sport like this that gives the fans these kind of games on an everyday basis. The early games featured an unranked but very strong Syracuse team defeating 16th-ranked Ohio State, 72-62, and a no. 4 Virginia team who withstood 24th-ranked Maryland in a back and forth game that ended 76-71. During the late games, no. 15 Florida State beat 19th-ranked Purdue, 73-72, on a final second shot, and 7th-ranked Michigan completely stomped over no. 11 UNC, 84-67. All of these games occurred on just your typical Wednesday night and this continues to happen every night. The competition amongst college teams every night is what makes this sport so special, and why everyone should look forward to the rest of the season.

HHS Senior Becomes Published Author

By Lexi Rynning

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.

Film Exposes Secret Research Study on Twins Separated at Birth

The documentary Three Identical Strangers starts off as a happy reunion of three young men who find out they’re long-lost brothers. But it doesn’t take long for the viewer to realize the whole thing is not going to end well. When the brothers find out they were separated at birth for a secret research experiment, their joy turns to devastation. And as I watched, so did mine.

Available via streaming services including Comcast’s On Demand, the movie chronicles the lives of Eddy Galland, Robert Shafran and David Kellman. When 19-year-old Robert arrives at a small community college in 1980 and is greeted by strangers as a an old friend, he is mystified. He soon meets a classmate who introduces him to Eddy, who shares his looks, birthday and adoption story. The brothers become a media sensation, profiled in newspapers and on talk shows nationwide. The publicity leads David to realize he’s actually the third of the separated siblings.  The boys go viral before going viral was even a thing, embracing  their fame with a bachelor pad and club hopping, an appearance in a Madonna movie, and even a Manhattan restaurant named Triplets. Everyone marvels about their shared interests and mannerisms, even though they were raised in very different families. It’s a very 1980s phenomenon, and I couldn’t help but get swept up in the fun they were having.

The first sign I had that something was not right was when I realized that the documentary, filmed some 30 years after the reunion, only has interviews with two of the brothers. Where was the third?

In the film, joy soon leads to confusion and anger. The families confront the New York City adoption agency that placed the boys, demanding to know why they were never told the siblings existed. The adoption agency claimed it would have been too hard to place all three children in one home. But soon an author writing a book about twins learns there was a much darker reason. The boys, and other sets of twins from this same adoption agency, were separated so researchers could study how different parenting styles would impact children who were genetically similar. You may have heard of the debate over nature versus nurture: is it our DNA or our surroundings that has a greater influence? The study, led by the late psychologist Peter Neubauer, followed the boys into their teens with questionnaires and observation. Its existence was a closely guarded secret – the parents were told it was a study about adoption – and its results were never published.

Discovery of the study devastated the brothers. They felt robbed of their childhood and manipulated as lab rats. While they dealt with this revelation, they also struggled with the realization that the similarities so obvious upon their first meeting masked some very significant differences. As the brothers grew older, started families,  and went into business together, they saw that their upbringings had instilled different work ethics, values and beliefs. Disagreements developed, and they were no longer the carefree trio. They also saw signs of mental illness, which they later suspected might be another reason their family was targeted for the study.

The movie entertained, but also made me think —  not a bad combination for a lazy Friday after Thanksgiving. It inspired some serious discussion about nature versus nurture, the ethics of research and the effects of overnight celebrity. We never get answers about whether the study learned anything worthwhile. To me, it was just a glaring example of the scientists’ arrogance at playing God. I felt terrible for the two adult brothers still living today. When we finally learned what happened to the third, it was heartbreaking. Growing up with four siblings, there have, of course, been times when I wished they didn’t exist. But I also can’t imagine never knowing them. While the brothers reunited at 19, the years they spent apart – and the knowledge of why they were split up – haunted their entire lives.

 

 

Pats Back on Track with Win

By Andrew Carroll

After a bye week and a loss, the New England Patriots got back on track with a 27-13 win over the New York Jets on Sunday. The Pats had a long time to prepare for the 3-7 Jets. The big news of the game was the return of All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski. The Pats had been without Gronk for three straight weeks and many were starting to question his health. But Gronk came ready to play on Sunday, making three catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. Gronk caught his TD on a third down and 12 to go. Brady threw a perfect pass 34 yards to hit Gronk in stride and it looked like vintage Brady to Gronk.

The game was tied 10-10 at the half, but the Pats came out in the third quarter and outscored the Jets 10-3. They got the running game going with rookie running back Sony Michel leading the charge. He rushed for 133 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. James White also had a great day on the ground with 73 yards on nine carries. Julian Edelman was back to his usual self with four catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.

The win over the Jets helped the Patriots improve to 8-3 and second place in the AFC behind the 9-2 Kansas City Chiefs. This Sunday, the Patriots have a huge matchup with the Minnesota Vikings at 4:25 pm in Foxboro. The Patriots will have to play a great game in the secondary and on offense to battle the great wide receivers and defense of the 6-4 Vikings.

Photo credit: 

https://www.patspulpit.com/2017/10/15/16479308/week-6-new-england-patriots-new-york-jets-recap-victory-24-21-nfl-afc-east

What is Hanover High Thankful for this Year?

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.

 

Robotics Club: Your New Extracurricular?

By Tim Sullivan

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!

Photo from Hanover Mariner 

Students Driven to Distraction with Simulator

By Lexi Rynning

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: Dedicated Teacher, Coach & Athlete

By Matthew O’Hara

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.