Things were a little different at Woodland this morning as little kids could be seen walking down the hallways. The preschool class in room 114 held their annual preschool party this morning.

During this party children between the ages of 2 and 5 were invited to come and spend time doing different activities with the students enrolled in the preschool class.

Prior to the event, students in the class had to take time to plan things for the children to do. One student, Heather Eustace, came up with the idea for a craft which included coffee filters,a spray bottle with water, pipe cleaners, and markers. When put together these items created flowers.

The students each had to take one coffee filter and color on it with a variety of different colors in any way they liked. Once the child was happy with the amount of color on the coffee filter they had to spray water onto the coffee filter. Using the water allowed for the colors to spread and blend together.

Students and children then had to set the coffee filters aside and wait for them to dry before completing the actual flowers. While the students were waiting for the filters to dry a lot of different activities were going on.

Some students were building with blocks, some were doing puzzles, and others were more interested in reading books. While the students had planned to bring the children outside and have a scavenger hunt they were unable to do so because of the rainy weather outside. Since the weather was not cooperating students had to come up with other tasks to keep the children busy.

Rather than have the children go outside and look for items in nature, the preschool teacher Mrs. Laurie Warfield, brought in plastic easter eggs and put a sour gummy worm inside each one. Each of the children then had the ability to search for an egg and then eat the gummy worm inside of the egg.

Children who attended the party all had different levels of ability and different personality types. Although, the children may have been varied their was something for everyone to do that was able to keep them happy and occupied while learning. Both the students and children had fun and once again the preschool party was a success.

Music is a passion and an interest for both freshman Zachary Crowell, and junior Jeffrey Lauck.

When Crowell and Lauck heard of the idea of Woodlandstock from student council advisor, Christopher Tomlin, they thought it was the perfect way for them to combine their love for music and their involvement in the Woodland Student Council (WRSC).

Tomlin explained that this event originated back in 2007 and that the WRSC has been looking at expanding their events this year. Because both Crowell and Lauck are musically driven, they thought it would be something fun to bring back.

This event gathers student and teacher bands and gives them an opportunity to perform in front of the community.

Woodlandstock will take place on May 31^st at 5 pm in Woodland’s courtyard. In case of rain it will be held in the auditorium.

Crowell admits that a lot of planning has gone into this event over the last couple months, “We have contacted many students who have musical talent to perform, along with the preparation of posters and advertising the event.” Crowell also mentions the process of getting it approved by administration and securing the location and the date.

Tickets will be sold in advance for three dollars during lunch waves. Another piece that Crowell and Lauck decided to bring in was the idea that all money raised would be donated to veterans.

Tomlin is looking forward to the event and said, “I loved that the membership wanted to bring the event back, we originally ran it for two years and then handed it off to tri-m which was in a good position to run the event.”

Lauck mentioned that his biggest goal for this event is, “publicity for local bands and [to raise] more awareness for the talent that the Woodland Community has.”

Crowell is hoping that they will be able to get at least 50 people from the communities to attend this event. Crowell and Lauck are still taking bands or groups interested in performing and people can stop by the student council room to sign up.

Tomlin seemed to agree and said, “I would like to see this event return to our regular repertoire, if we get a good crowd and some good bands I think it will be a success.”

Early in May, Newsweek released the list of the top 2,000 schools in the nation. Out of 5,000 schools that were invited to submit their information approximately 2,500 of these schools did. Out of the schools that did submit their information Woodland was ranked 1,429th.

Aside from the national ranking of 1,429th, Woodland was also ranked as the 28th high school in Connecticut. The top high school in Connecticut was Darien High School, which was ranked national number 217. A list of the top high schools in Connecticut can be found at usnews.com.

There were five factors that contributed to the ranking of the high schools.Four year on-time graduation, percent of 2011 graduates who were accepted in college, and AP/IB/AICE tests per student each made up 25% of the weighting. The average SAT and/or ACT score and Average AP/IB/AICE exams score each made up 10% of the weighting while the percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course made up 5%.

According to thedailybeast.com Woodland’s 2011 graduation rate was 94%, and the percentage of the students attending college was 82%. The average SAT score at Woodland was a 1474 and average AP test score was a 3.3. The overall score Newsweek gave to Woodland was a 2.81, along with 17 other high schools who received the same score.

“I think one of the things that makes this a special place is that we were able to hire teachers to help build all of our programs, because of that we have teachers who feel ownership in their programs and the school,” said Woodland Principal, Dr. Arnold Frank

Previously the website had ranked schools based on the number of courses offered, which according to the website, “is limited even for the most ambitious high school curricula.” The website also mentioned that all of the data analyzed was self-reported between the 2011-2012 school year.

At Woodland 13 AP classes are offered to students. These courses include AP U.S. History, AP World History, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science and a number of other rigorous courses, which helped increase Woodland’s rank.

All of the teachers and students who attend Woodland were proud of the accomplishment.

“I am thrilled and proud of this accomplishment”, said Frank. ” So many people have worked hard for the past 12 years to make this happen.”

While he is extremely proud of what Woodland has accomplished in the future, Frank hopes to see Woodland continue to improve.

“I think we can still improve our graduation rate, hoping the alternative school will help in that area.  I also would like to see our SAT scores improve,” said Frank. ” But, I do put test scores in perspective and realize that they are not the most important thing.  I continue to strive to encourage every student to be connected to some aspect of Woodland.”

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.”