Witches Brew: The Salem High School Newspaper

Witches Brew Edition 2, 2009

Student View

For One Day, SHS Unites and Witnesses History By Michaela Jordan

Salem, being a historic city in itself, decided to let the high school students witness history by streaming the inauguration of Barack Obama, the United States’ first African-American president, in the auditorium and IMC. Any teacher who wanted to bring their students was welcome to come. It all began with a request to administration from Mrs. Pamela Kessaris’ Journalism class. Students recognized that this was a moment that nobody should miss because it is one that will be remembered for the rest of their lives. Teachers had the option of watching it on the internet, but if the inauguration were to be streamed into classrooms by several teachers (say, at least 25), the internet system could crash and shut down, preventing anyone from watching the historic event. After discussion, the administration gave the OK to the idea, and set a time and place. When the clock struck noon on January 20, 2009 in Salem High School, teachers walked their classes down into the auditorium

where students took their seats and watched as the projector showed this ground breaing event. Then came the big moment; President Obama made his innaugural address. He discussed the economy, education, homes, business, money, programs, the past, the future and hope. He also brought up the fact that America has gone through many struggles and it’s now time to pick up the pieces and move forward. The auditorium roared with Salem Spirit - Senior girls go nerdy for dress as a class day during Spirit cheers, claps, even a few whistles. Week. For a recap of the annual fall and winter activities, see our special Some simply yelled “Yeah Obama!” pull out section starting on page 3. while others chanted the “ObamaObama-Obama” song that became famous over YouTube. What made “The Best of Both Worlds” the experience more meaningful was the amount of diversity. Not just of color, but of age, beliefs, and political views. The room was filled with many different people, but for a little while everyone became united. Maybe Salem High’s ability to come together as one can someday be adopted by the United States. This is one of President Barack Obama’s hopes. Let’s see how our historic leader can make it all happen.

In The Brew Editorial: Attitude Is Everything.....pg. 2 Spirit Week Pictures....pg. 4-5 Sports.....pg. 6, 7, & 8 Village Idiot: Spirit Week Brings Out the Best and the Worst In Class Competition....pg. 8

These Teachers Can Rock!

By Joe Smith The Teacher Band, some are calling them, made a as good impression on the faculty during the staff baby shower for the Warrens. The band is comprised of SPED teacher David Neville and English teachers Lou Wallach and Zev Garfall. Neville and Garfall had performed together before, both being members of a jazz band, the Basement Boys, and Wallach is part of a soul band called Mojo Slim. The baby shower, however, was the first time Wallach had played with Neville and Garfall. The next time the three joined forces was at a holiday party for the faculty before the winter break. They were joined by all members of the Basement Boys for that gig. Garfall played the guitar while Wallach covered bass. Neville

played both the alto sax and clarinet. When asked how the experience was playing with Wallach, Neville had to say that “he was an outstanding and accomplished guitarist.” Garfall agreed with Neville’s sentiment. Wallach said that he had a “blast” playing with Garfall and Neville. Wallach has played guitar and bass since he was 12 years old. He played his first show at 16 years old. Neville started playing in the fourth grade but stopped for a period of years. Five years ago, however, he picked it back up. Garfall has been playing since 12th grade. All of them agreed that while this was fun, they probably wouldn’t play for the faculty unless there was a special event. On the flip-side, when asked if they would play for the students, the consensus was yes. “It would be fun for the continued on page 2

Editorial

Accentuate the Positive By Erin Burke As we slowly climb the ropes of high school we, as students, often seem to find obstacles in our way. Whether we have loads of homework, or “friend confusion,” there seems to always be something there that we need to overcome in order to move forward. Sometimes this is hard and giving up or taking the easy way out is the most tempting way around our roadblocks. However, sometimes pushing through instead of going around is a much more satisfying accomplishment. It is during these times that staying positive is often most difficult, however it may also be the most helpful. As construction comes to a close and we are seeing the final pieces of renovation in place, there seems to be a new attitude in our high school. The positive does seem to be coming out. Many students do feel that this year is

more positive than last year. A member of the junior class, Fallon Fitzgerald, said, “It seems to be a more welcoming environment with the new appearance to the school. The bright colors of the renovations give a new energy that reaches out to the students.” However, a senior, Martin Ozoria-Polanco, said, “It’s gotten more strict over the years, which is not positive for the success of students at the high school level.” So there are mixed opinions here. However, there is an over whelming, sense of positive school spirit and desire to be involved, especially with the upcoming spring festivities. It’s not just the students that are feeling the positive change in the school. Teachers are also saying that the school has taken a change for the better. Ms. Katie Coleman, Ms. Amy Slovagio and Mr. Graeme Marcoux “mourned the death of bad attitudes” by wearing all black one day and celebrating the “rebirth

Baby Boom!

baby. He was born November 5 and he weighed in at 6lbs By India Cobb 13oz. Marshall has returned Oh baby! Well, obviously in from her maternity leave. the English department. Not one but two little ones were Olivia brought joyfulness to Christmas for the Warren born to English teachers! family. At 10:50am December , Kevin Richard the 16 she was born and weighed new born son of Mrs. Renee in at 7lbs 12 oz. Parker will Marshall, and Olivia Byrne, be returning to school in midthe new born daughter of Ms. March. Kim Parker and Mr. William Warren, will probably be extremely smart and know their Shakespeare with parents who are high school teachers.

In another department, Health teacher Ms. Lisa Mansfield welcomed 6lb 11oz Jacob Dylan on February 25.

Little Kevin was a Congrats to the families and Thansksgiving gift for the good luck to the PROUD NEW Marshall’s, being a November PARENTS!

Teacher Band, continued from page 1 students get to see their teachers in a different context” Neville said. However Garfall thinks although it would be fun, their style of music would not click with every student. When confronted with the idea of going full time Garfall turns it down. Neville, however, would consider it, but knows that it would be a very difficult life choice. “It takes a real star to make it full time,” he says. Wallach, on the other hand, has been a full time musician. Looking back on it he says, “It’s

way better to be a teacher and have music as a hobby. Then you can have the best of both worlds.” He goes on to say it was a fun and attractive lifestyle where you can make a lot of money. Neville also recognizes that he has the best of both worlds. “A lot of great musicians wait tables during the days,” he says. But for these three, they can teach during the days, rock at night, and occasionally, they can bring their music to other teachers and students at SHS.

of positive attitudes” the next day by wearing bright colors. Coleman said that the beginning of this year was hard and in order to “pull each other out of the slum that comes in the first few months ofp school, we started by acknowledging the negative attitude that had begun to take over.” This is a perfect example of keeping the positive in the forefront and not letting the negative take over. With the rebirth of the school’s positive attitude and the recent renovations there is nowhere to go but up. A.P. United States history teacher Mr. Craig Massey believes that “building a sense of school pride and spirit goes a long way towards making the building feel positive” in reference to the recent renovations. He also said, “There was definitely a sense of renewed pride.” Coleman believes that the schools aesthetic improvements have had a positive affect on the faculty and students. She said

“improvement is contagious” and that “the renovations help bring a positive outlook toward where the school as a whole is headed.” The majority of students and teachers alike believe that the school is going in the right direction; the positive renovations are infecting us all with positive attitudes and are giving us all the incentive to make ourselves better. “Anything that highlights the positive accomplishments of the students and staff helps to keep things positive, and needs to be done more,” said Massey. The most important thing to remember is that “people have control over their attitude.  It is a matter of choosing the attitude that will make your day worth while,” according to Coleman. All we can do is to keep bettering ourselves and keep the level of pride for our Salem High School. The only one who can control you is you and if you don’t like the negative attitudes, don’t let them get to you!

Senior Show March 12 & 13 in the auditorium Come watch this SHS tradition by the Class of 09! Witches’ Brew Staff Editor - Joe Smith Co-Editors - Shannon Ferguson and Jimmy Towey Staff - Erin Burke, India Cobb, Sonny Cooper, Franc Cormier, Christina Flessas, Michaela Jordan, Jessica Long, Madeline Lutts, Barabara Okeny, Paloma Sanabria, and Katie Wilkins

Spirit Week Review Special Edition

Senior Captain Proud To Play For Witches

By Joe Smith

By Katherine Wilkins Captain Melikke VanAlstyne has been with the Salem High School football team for four years. In these years VanAlstyne feels the team has helped him learn discipline, loyalty, and hard work. “Being a part of the team taught me about pushing through obstacles to reach my goals and find success,” he said. VanAlstyne noted that he was sad to know his years of playing in a Salem High School uniform were over but they “went out with a bang” and was proud of the teams performance during the Thanksgiving Game. VanAlstyne rushed 3,874 yards in his 3-year Varsity career and 1,724 during his senior season. Both are new school records. This NEC All-Star with 141 points plans to continue

VanAlstyne says playing for the Witches has taught him discipline, loyalty and hard work.

onto college and to play football. He is thankful for all the people who helped him throughout his high school career, including Coach Scott Connolly and his mom.

Girls’ Football Takes the Field By Paloma Sanabria

Go, team, Go! The annual SHS girls’ football game against the Beverly senior girls was held at Bertram Field on November 21st. The coaches were teachers Dan Ritchie, James Flynn, Graeme Marcoux and Katie Coleman. The leaders and captains of the team were Erica Mendez, Kerrie Vasquez, Grace Bennet, Louigina Rijo, Jill Robinson, and Madeleine Lutts. Monique Gallant was the kicker, scoring an extra point and Rijo was the quarterback for the team. “We were up 16 to 8 at half time and then they had a kick off return and then a long pass

Spirit Week Brings Nerds, Literature, and Ninjas

at fourth down,” said Ritchie about how close they were to winning the game. Ritchie continued to say, “Ashley White, running back, had a great game” “Jessica Ngo scored some touchdowns. Also, Julia Gauthier and Katie Wilkins had a great game as well,” he added. The final score was Salem, 16 and Beverly, 22. Overall, despite their loss, Ritchie credited the girls’ effort and spirit. “We had a really good team,” he said. “We all really worked hard. If we could have played them again, we definitely would have beaten them.”

School spirit is something every Salem High student has. Combine the student body with a week of class events and the result is Spirit Week. This year Spirit Week began on the 21st of November with the Powder Puff game. The Spirit Week competition continued with the annual Jar Wars event. The results this year were in 4th place the sophomores, in 3rd place the freshman, and in 2nd were the seniors, leaving the Juniors to take 1st place and the sum of their jar. The money raised in the remaining three jars will go to the Salem Public Schools. Dress As A Class Day is another activity during Spirit Week. This year, the freshman dressed “inside out and backwards.” Sophomores dressed as ninjas, and juniors acknowledged the AIDS awareness effort by wearing red and selling red ribbons. Seniors, on the other hand, chose to “nerd it up” and dress as geeks.

The highlight of the festivities is the Deck the Halls decorating contest. This year’s overall theme was Literature. The freshman on the 3rd floor did the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. On the 2nd floor with Doctor Seuss were the sophomores. The juniors decorated the 1st floor as the Wizard of OZ. In the main office hall, the seniors recreated literature through the ages, covering favorite stories from the Polar Express to Holes and the Great Gatsby. Spirit Week ends with the annual Pep Rally and School Colors Day, during which students dress in red, black, and white. The Pep Rally features the announcement of the Spirit Week results and the rallying of the school behind the football team going into their annual Thanksgiving Game against our rival, Beverly. The conclusion of the Pep Rally marks the beginning of the Thanksgiving break for the school as students get ready to enjoy their 4-day break!

Salem Upsets Beverly in Annual Game

By Madeline Lutts

spirits were lifted for the Witches when sophomore David Kendrick squeezed in to score on a third-andgoal, and Senior Ramon Rodriguez topped it off with a two point conversion on an end around. The Witches’ Offense (led by sophomore quarterback Brad Skeffington), and Defense equally prevailed in the second half. The Defense held Beverly to just 4 first downs and 16 rushing yards, allowing Van Alstyne to implement the onslaught with three second half touchdowns (runs of 4, 25, and 5 yards) and hold tight to the end. Beverly was forced to kick the ball 4 times in the second half. Despite a Salem fumble on a conversion

The Panthers hosted the Witches in Beverly on Thanksgiving this year, where Salem (4-7), pulled out everything they had left in them and left it all on the field, beating the Panthers 34-30 in the 110th annual match up. The senior Witches were victorious over Beverly for the first time since they beat them as freshmen in their very first game in high school. Not to mention, senior captain Melikke Van Alstyne made his final marks on both the Salem High and Thanksgiving Day record books. Van Alstyne rushed for 302 yards and scored four touchdowns, as the Witches together produced for 501 total yards. Down 22-8 in the second quarter due to turnovers, continued on page 6

Spirit Week Montage

Photography By: Cadi Dragonis, Joe Smith, Jimmy Towey, and Advisor Pamela Kessaris

Go, Salem, Go!

Sports

Annual Pep Rally Brings Spirit To Salem By Chirstina Flavas

As soon as November arrives, the only topic sweeping the hallways is Salem High School’s traditional Pep Rally. The school colors magically appear in everyone’s wardrobe and the excitement of who’s going to win Spirit Week, Jar Wars and the noise contest is everywhere. This year the rally began with the re-dedication of the Veteran’s Memorial Field House, which had just finished being renovated. Donated flags were unfurled in a moving ceremony that included veterans representing different branches of the Armed Forces. Following the ceremony, Mayor Kim Driscoll said a few words of thanks and Principal David Angeramo opened the Pep Rally activities. There were performances by the SHS Colorguard, Dance Team, cheerleaders, and band. The highlight of every Pep Rally at Salem High is the boy’s cheerleading routine. The

highly anticipated and spirited senior boys performed to a mix of songs, which included “Play That Funky Music White Boy” and a “dance off” among the groups of boys. Miguel Cruz electrified the crowd with his back flips and acrobatic moves. The Queen of 2008’s Pep Rally was Kaitlyn Christensen. Other speakers included the Cheerleading Captains, Powderpuff Captains, captain of the Football team Malikke VanAlstyne, and Athletic director and Football coach, Scott Connolly. The National Anthem was sung beautifully by Autumn De Lorenzo. The rally concluded with the shouting contest and the announcement of Spirit Week winners. The junior class swept both Spirit Week and jar wars. Seniors came in second place, with the freshman taking 3rd place in jar wars and fourth place overall. Sophomores placed 4th in jar wars and 3rd in spirit week. The Pep Rally ended with students going home for Thanksgiving break and the cheering of the football team for the upcoming Thanksgiving game.

Football Season Ends on a Win By Madeleine Lutts

The Salem football team ended with a 4-7 record, but the unity and determination on the team is clearly not reflected in their up and down season. “This year’s team had a very good combination of character and pride,” said Coach Scott Connolly. “Week in and week out, I was proud to be their coach.” The Witches started the season strong with three straight wins, got hit with some adversity in the middle of the season, only to end with a bang. Connolly had a lot to say in terms of the senior class. “This year’s team had one of the strongest senior classes I’ve ever coached. Not necessarily in terms of talent, but more that they were a very close group, and they didn’t let anything come between them,” Connolly said with pride. “They were all great role models for the underclassmen.” The key outstanding players on the team included Senior Captain Melikke Van Alstyne, who was a leader on and off the field. “Melikke had over 1700 yards and 20 touchdowns,” said Connolly. Connolly also credited other seniors, Zach Gilbert (“the wall”) on the line, saying “90% of the time we ran behind him,” and Chris Dunston on defense, from whom other offenses had to run away, Eugene Dela Cruz for his intensity and excitement, and Ben Henderson for his toughness. Also, sophomore Antonio Reyes made a significant impact on the team with his athleticism.

The goal for this year was to come together as a team. This was accomplished right away at the start of the season. “The rest of the season we took one game at a time,” said Connolly. The main obstacle for this team was losing 7 games in a row. But they never gave up, and they came out with a big win on Thanksgiving Day. Beverly was definitely Salem’s biggest opponent this season. It was great for them to redeem themselves with that win. “Other than the days my three sons were born, that was the best day of my life. Only because I was so happy for this senior class; they deserved a win that day. That win really turned this season into a positive one. Personally, I was just so happy for the seniors to end their careers on a positive note,” said Connolly. When asked about his overall thought on the season, Connolly once again spoke of the seniors. “I love this senior class. They were the best group of young men I have ever coached. They will be greatly missed next year.” Although the team is losing a lot of seniors, there is a lot of talent returning from the sophomore and junior classes, and Salem can look forward to having a fairly experienced team at the start of next season.

Experienced Field Hockey Makes Tournament By Michaela Jordan

Salem Upsets Beverly continued from page 3 that Beverly’s Rashad Sims ran back 94 yards for two, and a Beverly touchdown on a 4th -and -9 when quarterback Mark Hannable connected with Steve Dubois, the Witches hung on for the much deserved win. “Us seniors really needed this. It’s good that we get to go out with a bang,” Van Alstyne told the Salem News. Salem senior starters Zach Gilbert, Ben Henderson, Chris Dunston, Luis Montalvo, Eugene Dela Cruz, Van Alstyne,

and the rest of Salem’s strong senior backups had a lot to smile about after they played their final minutes of high school football. Whether it be how Gilbert wore number 68 in honor of his fellow senior teammate, Athan Fotopoulos, who was out all season with a knee injury, or how a team consisting of talented sophomores, juniors, and seniors came together to end a 5-year losing streak to the Panthers on Thanksgiving, this team has formed a bond in order to come out on top, making their 2008 season all the more memorable.

Walking onto the field hockey field four years ago as a freshman, senior Captain Cara Buckley always dreamed of making the tournament. Finally, this year, she and her fellow teammates made this dream come true. “It feels good to be part of the team,” said Buckley, who has been Varsity goalie for the past three years. “We worked really hard and it was probably the best feeling to not only make [tournament], but also to have the best record in Salem High in at least 20 years.” The varsity team itself started out strong, consisting of 15 seniors and a junior. Salem had the advantage of experienced players; Buckley

herself has been playing the sport for four years. Although there were a few obstacles at first, the team banded together and overcame the hardships in order to accomplish their goals, which included making the final tournament. Unfortunatey, the field hockey girls did not win the finals. After an intense and hard played game, Reading took the win with a final score of 3-0, but that didn’t leave Buckley discouraged. “We may have ended on a loss, but the past four seasons have been a win for the family.” Still a great season ending for a great team, who will be remembered for years.

Boys’ Soccer Is Girls’ Soccer Overcomes “Family” Inexperience By Christina Flessas

By Sonny Cooper This year the girls’ soccer team had to learn to work together after losing last year’s senior players. The Captains were Meghan Wilkins, Monique Gallant, and Melissa Ryan. The coaches were Jess Doyle, Renee Morin, and Maggie Somerset. This year’s key outstanding players included Jessica Ngo, Wilkins, Gallant, and Ryan. This year the girls’ team was better than last year’s team. The girls had more wins, their defense was excellent and their forward scored more goals. Their only weakness was that there were inexperienced new players.

The team did overcome their major obstacle; by working together and making it to the tournament, but they did end up losing in the first round. Their record was 9-7-2. The girls tied 1-1 at Senior Night at Bertrum Field against Beverly. Seniors on the team were Wilkins, Gallant, Ngo and Ryan. The team’s juniors were Caitlyn Murtagh, Janelle Gallant, Ashley Maccario, Sarah Felton, Audrey Wyke and Darcy Theriault. Lauren Schaejbe, Leslie Baez, Sarah Lambert, Jasmine Bryant, Desiree DeLeon and Amanda Wilkins were the sophomores on the team, and freshmen Holbrook Phelan, Jessica King and Emma Titus rounded off the roster.

1st Varsity Volleyball Team Strong and Competitive By Shannon Fergeson This year, Salem High School saw its first ever Varsity Volleyball season. Lead by coaches Mr. Craig Massey and Ms. Lori Marenda, the team progressed from a first year Junior-Varsity team, to a full-blown varsity program that participated in the Greater Boston League, and ended their season with a 6-11 record. The Witches Volleyball team finished 5th overall of the 7 teams in the GBL. In a recent interview with Massey, he spoke of his team, and his thoughts on the overall season. As a first year varsity group, Massey noted that their biggest weakness was the fact that they still had a lot to learn; both the players and the coaches. Aside from that, the team was strong and competitive, and Massey attributed that fact to the strong leadership the team had, in both captains, senior Jennifer Bedard and sophomore Sarah Mullarkey, along with countless others on the team. Key players, Massey noted, included Bedard, senior Lorianny Perez, junior Taylor Duncan, senior Stella Gutierrez, sophomore Devyn Ryan, and

Mullarkey, who was chosen for the Volleyball All-Star team of the North Shore. The team’s goal for the year was to be as competitive as possible. The Witches were out to prove that they could handle playing at a varsity level, and they managed it with flying colors. They opened the season with a win in their first ever varsity match. Massey called out Beverly and Cambridge as their toughest opponents. Though the team did lose to Cambridge, who finished first place in the GBL, they beat Beverly on every occasion that they played them; including the Panthers’ own Senior Night. Massey spoke of the team as a “great group of girls.” He explained that although at times frustrating, the Witches had an amazingly fun season, and he looks forward to next year’s season with high hopes. The 2008 Salem Witches consisted of seniors Lauren Arrington, Abby Buttner, Gutierrez, Ashley LeBonte, Erica Mendez, Kelley McCarthy, Perez, and Ishrat Raji. Juniors included Duncan, Elisa Nunez, and Johanna Rodriguez, and sophomores Mullarkey, Devyn Ryan, and Ana Ziolek.

“Family” was the theme of the night exemplified at Salem High School Boys’ Soccer banquet. Coach Michael D’Agostino was delighted to have coached the 22 boys sitting before him. “This season I will never forget… this tremendous season,” D’Agostino proudly stated as he closed the night, awarding all his players who shared the 10-6-3 record this season. He started his speech with the many achievements the Varsity boy’s soccer team earned, such as coming 14th out of 22 in Division One, being named 15th out of 20 “Best in State” within the Boston Globe and having 4 players named North East All Stars. The three Varsity Captains that led the team were Bradley Duhaime, Maxime Mondestin and Michael Steeves. All three focused on respect for each other, creating a family and striving to improve everyone’s soccer skills. Mondestin viewed his captain position as a leader, “as captains, we tried talking to the team, team talks, and solving the issues personally with the teammate. We’re like a family.” Steeves also addressed the team with “self control and determination.” The captains upheld a positive attitude throughout the season and left the rest

of the team with nothing but outstanding guidance. Salem faced their major opponent, Peabody, who won the NEC last year, and won with a 5-2 score. Mondestin recalls the game as “the best win of the season.” The boys faced strengths and weaknesses during this season and in the end they came out on top. They learned from their mistakes, and Mondestin, a senior, took a valued lesson from his team. “I am proud of every single one of my team mates, this team will stay with me forever. We are a family,” he said. Seniors on the team included Steve Bifsha, Jeffrey Iwanicki, Nick Jalbert and Lorjan Karagjozi. Also, Andy Cavanaugh, Michael Shea, Nuur Mahamed, Michael Collins and Cameron Lebrecque rounded out the juniors. The team was fulfilled with the sophomores Edwin Demoya, Danny McCarthy, Kyle Hardy, Kevin Hardy, Jhonatas Nunes and freshman Dimitri Flessas, Brion Likaj, Daniel Collins, Jake Theriault and Keane Hall.

Golf Team: NEC Champs By Barbara Okeny They were NEC North champs. They overcame obstacles and triumphed over all. Salem High is proud of their conference winning golf team. The team is made up of many outstanding players. There’s Captain Wesley Koen who was the number one player and MVP of not only the team but of the conference as well. Then there’s Captain Peter Cavallaro who’s the number two player and conference All Star. Lastly, there’s Scott Sadoway who held on to the spot of numberthree-player all year. In comparison, this year’s golf record was similar to last years. Unfortunately the team lost a few key players. “But many new players stepped up this year, filled old shoes,” says Coach Tom Doyle. There are obstacles that the team has faced. They lost four of their eight players due to graduation. Seeing who would step up to take their place was another challenge. Addressing these obstacles was difficult. The golf team practiced a lot. They worked very hard. They played golf; worked on improving skills. Winning conference and qualifying for state tournament was one of the teams many goals. Another was

becoming better golfers and more importantly better people. Danvers was a major opponent considering that they’re the best team in the league. Between Salem and Danvers there’s nothing but good clean rivalry. Doyle believes that the team had a great year, and that they were a great bunch of kids whom he’s proud of for winning the NEC North Conference. Seniors on the team are Cavallaro, Mike Doherty, Brandon Geary, Koen, Patrick Little, and Sadoway. Also on the roster are juniors Shane Ballou, David Karam, Eric Sargent, and James Kyle White-Sullivan. Then there are the sophomores Kurtis Banville, Sarah Chasse, Max Covitz, Meghan Debski, Shawn Emelian, Matthew Houde, and Tyler Madden. Lastly are the freshmen Matthew Cocozella, Cameron Darmody, Robert Duong, Kyle Gauthier, Joseph Malionek, and Sophie Wyke.

Village Idiot Looks At Spirit Week

Juniors’ Upset Over Seniors Brings Out Best and Worst In The Classes by Shannon Ferguson The “Senior Slide” is usually the term given to the lack of motivation and participation of 12th graders in the classroom. This year however, the seniors started their “Slide” during Spirit Week, effectively falling off the map when it came to the inter-class competition. This is the first senior class to lose in who-knows-how-many years, but guys, we did it in style. We can handle second place, 09, and walk away with our pride and paychecks intact. It’s hard to fault a class for coming in at number two when they showed as much school spirit as the class of 2009, but as seniors, that means we also can’t fault 2010 for going above and beyond the call of duty. Spirit Week is a chance for

the four classes to take part in some good old-fashioned competition, and no one said we couldn’t play dirty. We got shown up, 09, so smile, laugh, and keep moving forward. Jar Wars: we had the most money in our jar. It just so happens that a stealth plane came flying in from way out in left field, right under the radar, and dumped $140 dollars worth of negative points on our collective heads. But you know what, that’s what it takes. They pulled a fast one on us. They were more daring than we even thought to be, so shake their hands, its over now. Dress As A Class Day: Well, I’m certain the senior class didn’t win. Lo and behold, apparently quite a few people were afraid to join us mere mortals and geek it up for a whole 6 hours. Probably second place again, but be honest Salem High, who was the most fun to look at? We do nerdy well. Pat yourself on the suspenders,

Cross Country “Close Knit” Team By Franc Cormier This year’s Cross Country team had an amazing season. Lead by senior captains Steven Levesque, Patrick Swift, Erin Burke, Kayla Banville, and Nicole Maurice, the team went 3-4 in their season, and 3-2 in their conference. Levesque spoke about his views on the team and its year. Levesque said the team, along with coaches Mike Eon and Karen Giroux, really only had one goal this year: have a good season. They attained their goal. The team had some wins, and some losses. Levesque called out both Peabody and Beverly as being “running powerhouses,” and probably their best opponents. Levesque noted senior

Juan Carrasco, junior Stephen Trainor, and sophomore Kinnon Church as key players on the team. Burke noted Marissa Osgood, and was especially proud of Maurice, who obtained a new course record, even though Salem’s course was upped from 2.9 to 3.0 miles. The hard part about being captain of the Cross Country team, Levesque admits, is that it’s not a very popular sport here at Salem High School. Although the team turned out to be quite small, it was a lot easier to create a close-knit unit with the low numbers. Burke noted that, though there were only 6 girls on the female half of the team, the team was so close that they were able to pull together and hold their own against 30 to 40 member teams. Both Levesque and Burke were excited with the team’s turnout and proud of the season they ran.

Next In the Brew Winter Sports Wrap-Up The “Teacher Song” Two Exchange Students From Salem

From Student to Teacher: Teachers Who Attended SHS

Can’t wait for the next edition? It’s due out end of March!

09, we lost with class. Um, kind of. I will skip a long and tiresome rant about Deck The Halls, but I will say this: Both the freshman and sophomore classes chose great themes and did an awesome job. The junior class obviously won because they inherited the senior class’ rejected idea after we vetoed our own Wizard of OZ theme. Plus, they had the AP US History Guru himself, Mr. Craig Massey, who no doubt employed his AP clones in making the hallway educational. The poor Honors and College Prep kids must have been so lost. Munchkins = Average Man? Who knew? Ah, now we come to the touchy subject. Pep Rally. Well, as I am the officially sanctioned Idiot of Salem High School, I’m a little upset that so many people tried to steal my thunder! I am the only one allowed to say things that are so moronic that people are forced to

question my brainpower, but that’s exactly what I saw after Pep Rally. People insulting each other, saying nasty things, all in the name of school spirit. So let’s get this out there. Seniors; you were kind of sore losers, and juniors; you were kind of sore winners. Sophomores and freshmen, I commend you for your neutrality. Smart choice. Come on, 2009, we know we were the loudest, so lets forget the technicalities and move on. We dropped the ball, so what? Let the juniors pick it up and bounce it along for another year after we leave. It’ll be interesting to see how long 2010 can hold on to the crown, now that its been proven that the seniors aren’t always perfect. Let’s go 2011, give ‘em a taste of their own medicine, courtesy of 2009, will you?

I Wonder

(The Teacher Song) sung by Salem Children Written by a Salem Mom CD Now Available!

Students earn $1.00 for each CD they sell the month of March Proceeds go to Salem Public Schools http://www.iwonderteacherssong.org/

Featured on WCVB-5 News

Look for an interview with the song’s creator in upcoming editions!