Above: “ARHS Football Journey – extended version” (by Northborough Access Cable)
I finally have a quiet news day. Which makes it a good time to roundup some of the stories that fell through the cracks lately.
Inspired by the release of a new video (above), I’m starting with news out of Algonquin Regional High School.
ARHS Football Journey – Northborough Access Cable
The video (above) captures some inspirational moments from the team’s first winning season in 17 years.
She-Hawks soar for gender equality – The Algonquin Harbinger
Seniors Vikki Elliot, Elisabeth Waters, and Alice Donnelly created the [She-Hawks] club in an effort to combat false ideas about feminism as well as promote an environment that supports gender equality. . .
Waters explained that feminism does not consist of women that hate men, but it involves people from various backgrounds regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. . .
[Elliot said,] “Feminism benefits all genders.” . . .
[Advisor Monica] Grehoski hopes that the club will act as a catalyst for small cultural changes that promote gender equality, while having fun and celebrating gender in general. She also hopes to seek out guest speakers for the cause. (read more)
Girls Soccer Showdown: Her team vs. her school – The Algonquin Harbinger
This fall, Girls Soccer fell in the district finals to Nashoba. I was surprised to learn that for one member of the T-Hawks community, it was a big victory.
Prior to the match, a piece by the Harbinger focused on the competitor’s coach. Renee Moulton is an ARHS Social Studies teacher and was T-Hawks soccer assistant coach for seven years. She is also the current head coach for the Nashoba Chieftains.
The school paper ran a Q&A with Moulton before the big game. (click here to read it)
McMenemy swims at Youth Olympic Games – The Algonquin Harbinger
The ARHS swim season is already underway. One ace up their sleeve again this year is a two time Olympian:
Senior Dorian McMenemy swam for the Dominican Republic in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games this past August, competing in the 50 meter and 100 meter butterfly races. . .
Her 50 meter butterfly time was both a national and age group record for the Dominican Republic. McMenemy was also the first Dominican swimmer to qualify for the semi-finals in a major national swimming event. (read more)
Gonk goes green with new recycling – The Algonquin Harbinger
This year, the high school successfully invested in a new recycling program. It is the “culmination of a long and detailed process that had been in development for three years”.
The effort was led by the school’s Environmental Club and Facilities Manager. It started after a club visit to the school’s garbage and recycling plant:
“I feel like that was when we got serious [about recycling]: when we actually saw what happened to our trash,” said Environmental Club advisor Susan Halpin. . .
“It was being burned,” Halpin said. “So even though the energy from the burning is used for electricity, just the fact that it was being burned…things were not being made from what I was throwing away: it was going into the air. That really bothered me.”
In the weeks following, a representative from E.L. Harvey & Sons visited the school to examine options for recycling. . .
At the time, E.L. Harvey & Sons did not yet have its own Single Stream recycling program at the plant. Each environmentally-friendly solution [Facilities Manager Mike] Gorman explored seemed to fall short.
“There really wasn’t a better vehicle at that time,” Gorman said. “Everything else was too costly.”
After the “Single Stream” process became available through the plant, Environmental Club President Jillian Rizzitano convinced Gorman to implement it:
As a whole, those involved knew it would be more expensive. But even so, Gorman decided it was the right thing to do. (read more)
