The Hawks legendary season last year of 19-0, was their first winning season ever and one for the books.

This year so far the Hawks have continued their winning streak and have 14 wins. But like every team does the Hawks lost.

Now the Hawks hold the total record of 33-1 over the past two seasons. In conference play (NVL) the Hawks are still technically undefeated, but in sate play it is where they have their loss.

Head coach Jim Amato has been the tennis coach for four years and was only 25-16 in his first two season, and neither of them where winning seasons. But the previous two years have been nothing but success.

Last year was the big one as Woodland won every single game they played, led by Captain Mike Krakowski. This year led, by Jimmy Tompkins and Kyle Beynor, the Hawks have kept their winning streak alive, until recently.

Going into the game Lewis Mills was also undefeated, so it was inevitable that someone go home disappointed. Unfortunately the Hawks streak was snapped and all they could do was reflect and try to re-focus on the rest of the season.

Now with the season almost over and the NVL tournament coming around the corner as well, it is up to the boys tennis team to get past this defeat and be mentally prepared for their next few games.

Hopefully, the Hawks will get the opportunity to play Lewis Mills again sometime in state play so they can try and even the score.

Now that the end of the season is coming up fast the Hawks are confident as they will soon begin NVL and state tournament play.

Also, in that boat is the girls Tennis team as they play Wolcott today.  The girl’s team, beat Ansonia recently, and today’s game will also decide if they have to win to get to states of if they will already qualify. The girls Tennis team have had and up and down season this year, but now they have the chance to end the season off right and go to the state tournament.  Also playing Wolcott tennis today is boys Tennis, and this will be a special game as Wolcott’s only loss was handed to them by the Hawks. And the Hawks only loss was by Lewis Mills, and out of conference team who was undefeated as well.

Today is do or die, kind of for these Woodland teams, if anything it’s time to get clutch.

Diseases caught from unclean water kill more people per year than all forms of violence, including war. 

With 98% of the world’s fresh water frozen in glaciers the world’s need for water is becoming greater than ever.

People all over the world are paying the price for unclean and unsafe water.   90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are of children under five years old. (www.charitywater.com)

Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren’t strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery, and other illnesses. Polluted water can contain harmful bacteria like E. coli, salmonella typhi, schistosoma, and Cholera vibrios.

This dirty water may also carry diseases like Hepatitis A, and without the proper water and medicine supply a disease like this may prove fatal (According to www.charitywater.org).

In some cases it is not even the water that is deadly but the trek to get water that can be fatal.

In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking many miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.

Most water tanks can weigh up to about forty pounds when full, and for a small child it can seem like much more.

Time spent walking and resulting diseases keep them from school, work and taking care of their families. (Also according to www.charitywater.com)

Also along their walk, they’re subjected to a greater risk of harassment and sexual assault. Hauling cans of water for long distances takes a toll on the spine and many women experience back pain early in life.

Woodland High School has taken a stand against unhygienic water, and is raising money to buy water filters for the unfortunate people in India.

The Interact club, a volunteer organization in Woodland is collecting money during the advisory period of the day to help pay for a water filter for one family in India who cannot afford or get clean water.

If an advisory can raise a mere thirty-two dollars then they can help provide clean water for a single family of twelve people.

To help motivate each advisory to raise as much money as possible, the advisory who raises the most money will receive a pizza party, at the end of the collection time.

While it may seem like a small amount of money, these sand filters will help out less fortunate people and help ensure that they have clean water to drink. It may seem normal to most people to have water whenever they want it, but water is extremely essential and unfortunately to many people running water is a rare luxury and clean water is necessary but unattainable.

Filled with plot twists and endless action this feature is one for the record books as it has already hit the one billion mark, and it is only been open since the fourth of May.

When earth is threatened by Loki, Thor’s evil, demi-god brother from the world of Asgard, he unleashes a foreign army on earth using the Tessarct, a blue cube that’s a portal between two worlds, the Avengers spring into action.

Trying to stop Loki is the elite team known as the Avengers; this team includes all the superheroes that MARVEL has made movies for already, including Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and most recently Captain America. And appearing for the first time is Hawkeye, also known as Agent Barton. He is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and has never been seen in a super hero movie. But reappearing is Agent Romanoff, or the black widow, who has been in Iron Man, and Iron Man 2.

Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) is the mastermind behind the Avengers initiative, the plan to bring together the ultimate fighting force for good.

During the battle between the Avengers and Loki and his army for the tesseract, the Avengers dialogue is filled with little bits of comedy and great one liners. When the Avengers come together at first they do not get along right away and the small friction between them is quite funny.  Since the movie is so action packed, and can get a little repetitive, I think that director did a good job, with the humor as he obviously tried to break up the non-stop action.

As far as super hero movies go, the plot was pretty solid, considering it was simply a movie which consisted mainly of bad guys getting beat up.

The ending of the movie was quite the suspenseful ending but again, as these movies go a little predictable.

Overall, the movie was good because it was funny and was filled with constant action, but then again it suffered in holding the attention of the older audience since the setting was limited, and it was, as my father put it “Two hours too long.”

Every Marvel fan knows that at the end of every movie, and after the primary credits, they give a sneak preview. Although, after seeing the preview clip I was a little disappointed as it seems they failed to bring a new element to the plot; I won’t give away what happened, but it seems like the Avengers 2 will be very similar to the original. But, you never know, what they will do next, especially with these super hero movies.

The preview wasn’t what I had in mind, but it still won’t discourage me from going and seeing what Stan Lee and MARVEL will do next.

The WRHS class of 2013 has been one of the most successful classes in fundraising and making money for the school as well as their own class. The juniors have raised a lot of money and it will make end of the year events such as prom and picnics, easier and more fun. But, behind all the money is someone who is charge of all of the money.

The treasurer of the junior class is Ian Chamenko. As treasurer, Chamenko’s job is to keep a running record of all the money in and out. He also needs to make decisions based on the well-being of the class.

Chamenko is a very personable. He can be trusted and handles money well.

“I bring a person to office  who is approachable and friendly,” says Chamenko.

“I am in charge of handling all of the funds, designing the senior year t-shirts as well as planning the junior picnic. I also have to keep prom in mind,” says Chamenko.

As treasurer and a class officer, Chamenko says there are many pros and cons of the job.

“I like being able to know what’s going on with the class and getting to directly plan the prom and the picnic. I dislike when people complain about the events that we run. You run for office!”

Chamenko originally wanted to join the board because he wanted to have a “solid leadership position” on his resume. However, now he enjoys being able to help the junior class have a fun junior and senior year.

Through almost three full years of high school the junior class is doing well as far as fundraising goes. Chamenko and fellow officers have been doing a great job for the class of 2013. The end of the year festivities are bound to be fun for the juniors.

Monday, May 7

8:00 a.m.- Enviromental Science

12:00 p.m.- Psychology

Tuesday, May 8

8:00 a.m.- Spanish Language

Wednesday, May 9

8:00 a.m.- Calculus

Thursday, May 10

8:00 a.m.- English Literature and Composition

Friday, May 11

8:00 a.m.- United States History

Monday, May 14

8:00 a.m.- Biology

Tuesday, May 15

12:00 p.m.- French Language and Culture

Wednesday, May 16

8:00 a.m.- English Language and Composition

12:00 p.m.- Statistics

Thursday. May 17

8:00 a.m.- World History

12:00 p.m.- Italian Language and Culture

By Jessica Crosby

The second week of May is here and Mother’s Day is right around the corner. It is a day to appreciate all that mothers, grandmothers, and aunts have done. Buying a gift for her is always a special way to show gratitude and acknowledge all that she  does for her children.

Flowers and a card is one simple gift for a mom. A little note inside the card written by the family will ensure a smile.

Mothers are girls and they may like to go shopping.

Kayleigh Dedomenico, freshman at Woodland says that “My family bought my mom a seventy-five dollar gift card to Victoria’s Secret.”

Another idea is to get her a free trip to the spa or salon. Let her get her nails and hair done.

Of course, all women are different and may not want a gift that is very feminine.

If your wife or mother is into sports then you could buy baseball or hockey tickets.

Sometimes money can’t buy a smile. Doing little things around the house can be helpful.

Cameron Caswell, an eighth grader at Long River Middle School says, “I’m cleaning the house and doing the laundry for my mom.”

Mother’s Day is a time for caring and loving the one that brought you into this world.

The Woodland Regional Student Council recently hosted a “Student Council Idea Swap” on April 28^th, which nine schools were invited to attend.

Luckily, Naugatuck High School was able to join the event, and sent some of their members to contribute to the conversation. Unfortunately, other schools were not able to attend.

Executive Board members, senators, and faculty advisor Chris Tomlin were among the people who represented the WRSC in the event. The swap consisted of four categories; social, service, fundraising, and internal operations.

Each Student Council spoke about the events they ran, their charities they contribute to, and their ideas for the future.

Naugatuck was so impressed by Woodland’s system and structure that they expressed interest in possibly implementing a similar system into their club.

This event was beneficial to both of the schools. The social and service ideas discussed were a great help to Woodland, and gave them new suggestions to consider for the coming school year.

“It was very beneficial to hear their ideas. Sometimes student councils get stuck in tradition, and the Idea Swap allowed us to see events in a different way,” said Tomlin. “It was good to hear a validation about the way that we run things.”

The attendees of the swap found that many of the events they run were similar, such as how both schools hold a Mock Car Crash.

The WRSC is happy with the way that the event went, and looks forward to hosting it again next year with a higher number of attendance.