THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2013ENTERPRISENEWS.COM

NEWS & COMMENT

FROM THE  STUDENTS & 

STAFF OF BROCKTON

HIGH SCHOOL 

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BOXER roun upSpirit of giving thrives at BHSByRobert Perkins

 ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

 The spirit of helping and giving is alive and wellat Brockton HighSchool. During the cold 

weather and as the holiday sea-son approaches, the studentsand staff are anxious to give

 back to our community.Students, staff, parents and 

community members helped support and assist some of theneediest residents in Brockton

 by providing donations of food,clothing and toys for the holi-days. Several Brockton HighSchool clubs and groups havesponsored the opportunities for this spirit of giving to take

 place.The Halloween Hallway,

sponsored by the StudentCouncil, was an opportunity for all children in Brockton to ex-

 perience a friendly and scarytime. The children received candy, created crafts and wereentertained for nearly twohours. In exchange for thistime, families donated canned goods. The eight boxes of food collected were sent to TheCharity Guild for distribution.

The Schools on Wheels pro-gram, which benefits homeless

families in Brockton, received donations of school supplies.

The Medical Careers and Fu-ture Nurses Club solicited and collected the supplies. The stu-

dents worked hard in makingtheir mission known and were

successful in this endeavor.The Latin Club selected a

community service project tar-

geted at collecting socks for thehomeless in Brockton. Thegoal was to help provide some-

thing to help keep people warmduring the winter. Socks help

 protect people from the cold and frostbite and to receive aclean warm pair is truly mean-

ingful this time of year. Nearly100 pairs of socks were collect-

ed and given to the SalvationArmy for distribution.

The Senior Class Executive

Committee continued thetheme of helping the homeless

 by collecting clean winter coats. The students worked with Officer Rosie of the

Brockton Police Departmentand collected the coats for Pro-

 ject Guardian Angel. The coatsand three boxes of food were

collected and presented for dis-

tribution. It is the hope of the

students that those in need of a

good warm coat were able to

make use of these needed con-

tributions.

The culmination of this giv-

ing season was the Charlie

Brown Christmas Tree. This

 project, also led by the Senior 

Executive Committee, was

done in conjunction with the

Salvation Army. Christmas tags

with local children’s Christmas

wishes written on them were

 placed on a Christmas tree

where students and staff were

able to select them. Toys and 

clothes contributed by the

school community were col-

lected, and the seniors joyfully

delivered the gifts to the Salva-

tion Army. The gifts will be

given to needy and deserving

children in our community. Two

hundred tags adorned the

Christmas tree, and all requests

were fulfilled.

The Brockton High School

community is pleased to be

able to assist those in need in

our city. The students are proud 

that they are able to provide for 

those in need. Through the ac-

tions of several groups and the

compassion of many, there will

 be many happy recipients dur-

ing this cold and joyous season.

Community service is about

understanding the needs of oth-

ers and finding ways to support

them. The BHS students have

demonstrated true holiday spirit

through their commitment to

support our community.

BROCKTONHIGH SCHOOL

  Senior class advisers Nicole Otero and David Brophy and members of the Senior ExecutiveCommittee Linda Khang, Marhadoo Jones, Jonathan Shea, Grace Makonnen and Jahaira Semedopose with some of the toys collected in the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree project.

BROCKTONHIGH SCHOOL

 Author Meg Rosoff speaks to students in the Book Club and Writing Club on Nov. 26 in the Yellow library.

‘Write fiercely’Author gives aspiring student authors advice on writing

BySapphireHernandezCLASS OF 2017

Meg Rosoff, a Printz

Award-winning

writer, spoke to

members of both

the Book Club and Writing Club

on Nov. 26 after school in the Yel-

low library.

This highly acclaimed author 

that I wasn’t going to be good 

enough.”

Once those words parted her 

lips, one could feel the shock that

surfaced in the room. Rosoff con-

tinued, saying that as a child she

would read so many great books,

thinking and telling herself that if 

she wrote a story, it would never 

 be as good as the ones she’d read.

imitate her friend’s “very British”

accent while telling the plot of a

storyline. In that moment, I believe

the audience felt closer to Rosoff.

Meg Rosoff was able to answer 

each question with depth, while

giving great advice to the young

writers and readers who sat in the

audience. One of the most memo-

rable things she mentioned was

Students pushthrough tryoutsfor basketballByAniaDosReisCLASS OF 2016

As December approached,

 basketball players at the high

school couldn’t wait for the

arrival of tryouts. Most didn’t

know what to expect but they

knew they had to be mentally

and physically prepared for 

 just about anything.

On Dec. 3, anxiety struck 

Brockton High Schoolbasket-

 ball players as the day in

which they had so patiently

waited for had arrived.

Personally speaking, it

was extremely hard concen-

trating throughout the day on

schoolwork knowing tryouts

were only hours away. It is the

responsibility of a student-

athlete, however, to be able to

 balance both.

At 1:59 p.m. as the bell

rang and theplayers walkedto

their directed cafeterias, you

could almost feel the agitation

within each individual. Most

say it was a mixture of emo-

tions, both an exciting and 

nerve-racking feeling. Sitting

in those cafeteriasseemedlike

an everlasting task, almost as

if the clock was stuck. When

the coaches finally came to

get us we realized it was time

to work.

exactly howready they should 

have been in order to survive

the next three to four days of 

tryouts.

At first things seemed 

manageable, until our bodies

started aching. The coaches

were constantly shouting,

“Push! Push!” as a motivation

for us to continue hustling.

As Day 1 came to an end,

two more dreadful days were

ahead of us. Day 2 was a lot

less work compared to Day 1

 but, being so sore, easy things

suddenly felt so much more

complicated. By Day 3 all we

wanted was for these awful

tryouts to end. To our knowl-

edge Day 3 was officially the

last day. That was, of course,

until the end of tryouts in

which they informed us that

there was going to be a final

day, making Day 4 the last

day. This news was both

shocking and unfortunate

considering the fact that we

we’re all drained.

Day 4 had to be one of the

longest d ays ever. You could 

see the work effort slowly

dropping, but knowing that’s

what the coaches were look-

ing for most of us pulled 

through.

The next morning we

spoke to us all about her recent

 best-selling young adult novel,

“How I Live Now,” which has now

 been released as a movie in Eng-

land. She also discussed her career 

as an author and answered many

questions from the audience.

Their room’s atmosphere was

casual. Meg Rosoff spoke to us as

if we were her friends, not just ad-

mirers of her work. When asked 

why she started writing at 46, she

willingly confessed, “I was scared 

Those were surprising words to

hear from anyone, especially from

a published author.

Rosoff engaged with everyone,

even the teachers who sat on the

side lines. She told us amusing

stories of her past and friendships

she’s made along the way.

One of those stories stood out

from the rest. It was a story about

the time she had asked for advice

from a fellow author friend she’d 

made in England. Rosoff began to

rable things she mentioned was

that she had once taught aspiring

authors that none of them would 

ever be great until they wrote what

they felt, or in her words exactly,

“write fiercely.”

What I think she meant by this

is that writing what you feel is nec-

essary because, after all, it is your 

story. Whether writers or not, I

think everyone can learn some-

thing from Meg Rosoff: write your 

life story fiercely.

Preparation is key for students taking SAT testsByAnthonyDiIorioCLASS OF 2015

The SAT is one of the most impor-

tant tests to ever take in high school. It

is a test that students from across the

nation take. Preparing for the test can

 be challenging; however, without prop-

er preparation students might not do

well.

To prepare students for the SATs,

some of Brockton High’s guidance

counselors gave a presentation explain-

ing the test format and giving helpful

tips. The guidance counselors also

showed how much different the SATs

were than the MCAS.

For example, on the MCAS it is a

good idea to answer all questions, even

if you are not sure of your answer.

That’sunlikethe SATs,wherethe grad-

ing is different and they don’t take

 points off for unanswered questions.

The following week, Brockton

High gave out the PSATs for both ju-

niors and sophomores.

I found this test prep to be the most

helpful because it showed exactly how

the testwas and whatit would belike. It

was also nice to know that you are able

to bring your ownpencils anda calcula-

tor when taking the test. Overall,

though I am nervous about taking the

test, the preparation from my classes

and Brockton High itself made me

more confident of taking the SATs.

to work.

We also came to the real-

ization that everyone around 

us was competition. Coaches

were looking for those who

worked outduring theoff-sea-

son, who wanted it the most

and who was willing to f inish

regardless of how tired he or 

she was.

As we arrived at the gym,

everyone looked so focused 

and ready. Well, no one knew

The next morning we

found out whether we made

theteam. For some, hard work 

 paid off, but for others the

news wasn’t all that great.

For the girls, after four 

long days, they finally got

their teams together and were

ready to rock.

 Now the season officially

 begins for both the Lady Box-

ers and Boxers Basketball

teams.