The WRSC has made very important changes to the process of their upcoming class Olympics.

Originally the WRSC planned on having trials after school  for the six events they are sponsoring: trivia tournament, art contest, math bee, free throw contest, Jenga contest and spelling bee.  The top competitors from each grade would then compete in the finials of the  Olympics during the last week of May.

Now all events for the Olympics will be held after school during the last week of May. There will no longer be trials for the events, just finals. At these finals one competitor will be crowned the winner in each event.

On Tuesday May 28th the Trivia contest will be held in the Auditorium and all art work for the art contest should be submitted to the WRSC. On Wednesday May 29th the free throw contest will be held in the Gymnasium and the Math bee will be held in the auditorium. On May 30th the Jenga contest will be held in the Gym and the spelling bee will be in the auditorium. The annual WRSC ice cream social will be held on Friday May 31st, where Olympic champions will be honored.  Woodlandstock, where bands and solo artists will preform,   will be held after school that day as well.

“By combining trials and finals the Olympics will be much more efficient and faster,” said Senator Mary Vlamis, who is co-running the event with Senator Lindsay Rodorigo.

There are slots still available in some of the Olympic events. If you are still interested in participating in the games stop by the WRSC office located on the second floor next to room 235.

Video By: Jesse Erickson

Senior projects are a requirement for graduation at Woodland, but junior Casey Stevens is getting a head start by holding her senior project this year. Her project, Woodland’s Got Talent, is an attempt to engage students and to bring together the whole community.

With permission from Principal Arnold Frank, Stevens was able to begin working on the event.

The idea came about from Prospect Youth Services (PYS), where Stevens volunteers. PYS holds two or three events each week for students attending Algonquin School and Long River Middle School. Each year a talent show is held for these younger students.

Stevens has been hoping to find a way to get Woodland more involved and to bring the students together. With the PYS, Stevens began to plan a talent show for Woodland students. After viewing all the work that Stevens had already put into the event, the PYS suggested that Stevens use the talent show as her senior project.

After getting approval from the senior project committee and filling out the appropriate paperwork, Stevens was prepared for the task.

“I want this to be a way to bring Prospect and Beacon Falls together,” said Stevens.

Woodland’s Got Talent will have four judges—representatives from Prospect Youth Services, Prospect Parks and Recreation, Prospect Public Library, and the director of PYS.

“They are the ones helping me run the event,” said Stevens. “They are in full support of the project and want to be a part of it.”

In addition, Matthew Gregis, Woodland senior, will serve as the DJ for the event.

One of Steven’s goals is not only to bring Prospect and Beacon Falls together, but also to allow the school to get involved.

“Although there’s sports, choir, fine arts night, and ways to get involved, there isn’t another opportunity for Woodland students to show off their talents,” said Stevens. “Now kids can show off their talents if they so wish.”

Also, Stevens has consulted with Woodland’s culinary classes, who will be making and selling food items at the concession stand the night of the show.

Along with the concession stand, there will also be gift baskets being raffled off. All of the money brought in from the event will be donated to a charity called Stamp Out Childhood Hunger.

“The great thing about this organization and the funds I collect is that I can specify the location of where the funds will go,” said Stevens.

Stevens plans on donating half of the money raised to Beacon Falls and the other half to Prospect in order to help people having a difficult time.

“This is pretty cool because usually you just hand off the money to most charities,” said Stevens, “but this gives you the opportunity to see where the money has gone.”

Students performing in the talent show will attend the registration date on May 28^th, and the actual event will take place on June 10^th.

Months preparing all for one day, all for one exam, and all for one exemption—at least students hope.

AP classes are a great way for high school students to receive college credit for work done while they are still in high school.

No matter what AP class a student takes, it takes a great deal of perseverance and self-motivation to get to that May exam day.

After months preparing and late nights studying students await for the exam day with excitement for the fact that all the work will soon be over, and hopefully will pay off.

In celebration of the hard journey the students have endured AP teachers at Woodland often have an AP breakfast the morning before the exam.

The breakfast is intended as one last stress relief before the exam and also to make sure the students all have energy before a rigorous three hours.

However, AP breakfasts are not the only tradition at Woodland when comes to AP classes.

A tradition that seems to have lasted just as long as the AP breakfast is the AP class shirts.

AP Lit shirt 2012-2013

At Woodland it has become a tradition over the years that AP classes design a shirt every year to then wear the day of their exam.

AP Lit shirt 2012-2013

“I think the tradition of AP shirts started as a way to celebrate the accomplishment of working through a very rigorous curriculum,”   said Lisa Olivere, AP Psych teacher at Woodland, “[It also] show[s] unity—that the students were in it together.”

Just like the classes and the students change yearly, so do the shirts colors, ideas, and designs. Olivere teaches three sections of AP Psych and each class designs their own separate shirt.

This year her E Block class used the quote, feel the fear and do it anyway on their shirts. Her F Block class also used a quote on their shirt that said: it’s not a spring it’s a marathon, in order to reflect the rigor of an AP class. And Olivere’s B Block class choose something different by designing an ink blot on the front of their shirt, because that is something psychoanalysts use as a test.

AP Psych F Block shirt 2011-2012

While some classes like Olivere’s do something different every year some classes keep the basics and sometimes will add something else to it. AP World History is one that keeps it similar every year.

“The AP World shirts are purple and on the front it has the golden wreath with AP World History and the year in roman numerals,” said AP World teacher, Chris Tomlin. “On the back it has our motto: 10,000 years in 80 days and this year we added underneath, Veni Vidi Vici, which is Latin for I came, I saw, I conquered—which is what Julius Caesar said.”

Shirts ranged from inside class jokes like the AP Lang shirts this year with I’m pathetic to kiss my ethos, all the way to the AP Biology shirts that depict a picture of a virus because students were intrigued with learning about that chapter. AP Lit made an allusion on their shirts to a  J. Alfred Prufrock poem by quoting Dare to disturb the universe, and then the students names on the back surrounding a peach to allude to when he writes Dare to eat a peach. 

“I think [AP shirts] is one way that they [students] get to be acknowledged and recognized for their hard work,” said Olivere. “It’s kind of life wearing a team uniform. It takes a lot of hard work to make a varsity team, well it takes a lot of hard work to be in an AP course, and not just enroll in it but survive it. It’s a sense of pride and honor.”

AP US History shirt 2011-2012

Blankets for Kids

Each year the Interact club makes blankets for different organizations that help with kids. The Interact club gets all the volunteers together and makes tie blankets. “The tie blankets are a relatively easy craft that warms the hearts of the children we donate them to,” said  member, Casey Stevens. Casey and her mom have been the leaders of this club putting many hours in. The club is a community service based group,  that does all types of  service in order to help others.

The tradition of the creating blankets came from the woodland alumni, Rachel Conti. As a senior in the interact club they have to come up with a new community service idea for the club to do. Rachel’s original idea was to make and bring the blankets to the Ronald McDonald house. The Interact club continues to make the blankets each year but changes the location and organization at which they are donated to. Giving other children in different situations a chance for a moment of happiness.

This event has turned into one of the bigger community service activities they do, drawing in other students who are not normally involved in the club to help.

Stevens said,  ”Giving the kids the blankets puts the biggest smile on [our] face.”

Each November in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, the Woodland Regional Student Council holds their biggest events of the    year–Spirit Week and Homecoming.

After that week, the WRSC usually focuses on more service based activities and less on school spirit. However, this year that is about to change.

“The WRSC has been looking for a good way to continue  spirit activities throughout the year,” said WRSC advisor, Chris Tomlin.

In hopes to do this class of 2016 Senators, Mary Vlamis and Lindsay Rodorigo decided to hold a Class Olympics competition.

“Students from all grade levels will compete in trial rounds for six different competitions,” said Vlamis. “They have a choice of a Jenga competition, a free throw contest, a math contest, a spelling bee, a trivia contest and a visual art expression contest.”

After all the trials are completed the top boy and girl from each grade, and  in each category, will compete against each other during the last week of May.

“The finals will be held during advisory on May 28, 29 and 30^th,” said Rodrigo. “The top boy and girl in each category will be honored with a medal and recognized at the annual ice cream social held in June.”

The WRSC hopes that the Olympics will be a good event to bring the student body together at the end of the school year and Tomlin said, “I’m hoping that the Olympics will become a new school tradition that encourages school spirit.”

On Monday May 20th at 6:30 the Prospect Public Library will be hosting guest speaker Matthew Bartlett. Bartlett is an area resident who is considered to be an expert on the Battle of Gettysburg. Through his studies he noticed a part of the war that seemed to be unexplored by many authors and decided to take it upon himself to approach the subject. Bartlett will visit the library to discuss female spies in the Civil War and the role they played.

The Knitting and Crochet Clubs for adults and kids will start back up in May. Girls and Boys ages 8 to 15 will meet on Wednesday’s at 3:30 p.m. Adults will meet Thursdays at 6:45. Kids will meet May 1st, May 15th, May 22nd, and May 29th. Adults will meet May 23rd.

The Friends of the Prospect Library is having a drawing for a summer picnic basket. The basket includes all picnic necessities along with Gift certificates from Oliver’s and Hometown Pizza. The tickets are one for a dollar, of three for $5. The drawing will be held on May 24th. Stop by to purchase a ticket.

Spring Story Time sessions will start on May 15th and run through June 19th. Ages 3 1/2 to 5 meet on Wednesdays at 10:30 until 11:10. Ages 2 to 3 1/2 will meet on Wednesdays as well, but from 11:30 to noon.

On May 21st the library is hosting “An Evening of Cartoon Fun” at 6:30 p.m. This program is for all ages and will allow people to work on drawing cartoons.

Therapy Reading Dogs are still visiting the library and more signups are available. Future dates include May 16th, June 6th, and June 20th.

For more information about any of the above programs or to register, please stop by the Prospect Library or call 203-758-3001.