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WILDCAT NEWSDECEMBER 2012

by Christina Price

Whenever someone men-tions the date December 21, 2012, immediate fear overtakes some people while others think “oh, you mean four days before Christmas?” On December 21, 2012, the world is “supposed to end.” Thousands of years ago, the Mayan Calendar or the first calendar was created. It was composed of a solar calen-dar of a 365 day cycle. People all over the world are taking drastic measures because they will believe

by Lizzy Hill

Massachusetts joins four other states next September in establishing a longer school day in some schools in some districts. This may or may not include Wilm-ington, so don’t get too excited. Actually, maybe you should get ex-cited, because an extended school day, if implemented correctly, could seriously help our school. Think about how much more you could learn with one hour more of school every day—180 more hours of school. How much more time you could have to learn the material you usually do, and how much more material your teachers could cover. How much more comfortable you could be with everything you learn because you get extra time to learn it. How

much better you could do in each class if you got to take extra care learning everything, because time would not be a problem anymore. Plus how better you could prepare yourself for midyears, finals, and even A.P. tests if you got just a little more class time. Or, in the oppo-site interpretation of an extra hour

of school, and eighth period. For that extra class you always wanted to take. Or an extra Science since you want to take all of them but your schedule doesn’t have enough room. Schedule room would be less of an obstacle.Sure, maybe you get home at 3:30 instead of 2:30. Maybe you have practice from 3:30 to 6:30 instead of 2:30 to 5:30. Maybe you have to stay up until 11 to finish your homework instead of 10. These are really the only bad ways to look at a longer school day, and they’re not really that bad. You shouldn’t have six hours of homework in the first place, and if you do, you’re doing it wrong. You should still be able to use your time at home to get all of your homework done and have down time. You should still be able

THE END OF THE WORLD

A LONGER SCHOOL DAY

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anything they hear. On a T.V. show called “Doomsday Prepares”, it shows how individuals and families are stalk-piling food and water that they think they’ll need if the world ends. Some even have weapons they have created to survive. Our typical date is written out with three numbers: The month, the date of the month, and the year. The way the Mayan’s dates were written out consisted of five places: KIN which was one day, UINAL which was twenty days, TUN which was three-hundred and sixty days,

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people assume that since Julius Caesar took place during the ancient Greek times that each cast member would be wearing togas and have shining armor during battle scenes. Rather than doing traditional, the costumes for this production were more modern. Brutus wore all black including a leather jacket with a word painted on the shirt that represented each character. His conspirators wore

by Allie Carroll

Foreign Language Club meets once a month to discover the culture of a new country. In addi-tion to these meetings, they have added a new aspect to the club – the conversation group! The “con-vo group” acts as a place to chat with friends in French, Spanish, Italian, and even American Sign Language. It is a fun way to brush up on a language before a trip, or to speak freely in the language you study without the pressure of being graded. The conversation group meets one Wednesday a month in the Foreign Language Hallway.

by Christina Price

Friends, Romans, Coun-trymen; Wilmington High School Lamplighters Drama Guild pre-sented William Shakespeare’s’ Julius Caesar on November 24th, 30th, and December 1st. Julius Caesar is about loyalty, revolt, and tyranny. Marcus Brutus, played by sophomore Jimmy Lawrenson be-lieved that Caesar, played by soph-

different theories of how they think December 21. 2012 will go down. Some say the planets will align with the milky-way in space caus-ing the world to end. Others think there will be a solar flare destroy-ing everything. The only reason we

In addition to the “convo group”, Foreign Language Club will be hosting its annual teacher breakfast on Thursday, December 20th. Breakfast foods from all over the globe will be served as a “thank you” to the teachers of Wilmington High during this holi-day season. If you have a special ethnic recipe that you would like to make, feel free to bring it to the celebration!

Make sure to check out the For-eign Language Club twitter ac-count for even more updates! @WHS_FLC

omore Jeremy Frost, was a tyrant trying to take over Rome. Bru-tus thought that if he murdered Caesar, he and his conspirators would be praised by the people of Rome. After the murder of Caesar, the groups of men were the most hated in Rome. The followers of Caesar wanted Brutus dead after killing their beloved Caesar. In this Lamplighters production, a modern twist was added. Most

have to worry about the world end-ing is if that final Christmas pres-ent you want doesn’t go on sale!

THE END OF THE WORLD CONT.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLUB UPDATES

ENCORE

KATUN which was seven-thousand two-hundred days, and BAKTUN which was one hundred-forty-four-thousand days. This cycle was said to last 5,126.36 years known as the Great Cycle, which is also Decem-ber 21. 2012. Different people have

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by Christina Price

Each year, Lamplighters Drama Guild enters a play that is one act long in the Massachu-setts Educational Theatre Guild, or M.E.T.G drama festival. Each school in each district competes in performing one act plays to move up in a district. This year, Lamp-lighters are performing an origi-nal written by senior Katie Barry. Barry started theatre when she was 10 years old. Her first role was a young girl in the play Little Wom-en. She continued on to partici-pate in theatre throughout Middle

all black as well with a word on their shirts that represents their character. Caesar and his follow-ers wore all white. Jason Luciana, the director of this production, did a wonderful job in helping create this beautiful production. “When anyone watches Caesar, it can be very boring. This production was

School and into High School. She loves performing and interacting with other students who have a passion for the arts. What inspired Barry to write an original play is her fascination of the fashion, me-dia and outlook of life during the 1940s. She loves studying history of World War II which is the plot of the play. “Still Falls the Rain” is what her original play is called. “Still Falls the Rain” takes place in England when the Blitzkrieg of Germany is going on in World War II. With all the air-raid bombings are occurring, four adults and one child who do not know each other

always exciting to watch!” said a staff member at Wilmington High School. “This production is a production that I am going to miss directing” said Mr. L with a smile on his face.

STILL FALLS THE RAIN

ENCORE CONT.

A LONGER SCHOOL DAY CONT.to watch your favorite T.V. show on Wednesday nights after you finish your homework. Your time management should only need a slight adjustment, and you should be fine.Don’t worry yet—we’re not sure if

we’ll get a longer school day yet. Fall River is. Lawrence is. That doesn’t necessarily mean us. And even if it does, it will take a whole lot of figuring and working, so the teachers will be adjusting as you do. Nothing will happen at all be-

fore next September, except the an-nouncement of a longer school day if it happens, so until then, get as much done as you can this year so that in case we get a longer school day next year, you’ll be ready.

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port, did a raffle for the audience members. A five pound Hershey bar, a spa basket, a food and wine basket, and a gift related to Ireland (the destination of the next Strings trip), were raffled away as a fund-raiser for Strings Attached. After

must share a bomb shelter. While they are in this shelter, they learn the pasts of each other as well as learning things about themselves. The five strangers are Gloria who is a fourteen year old girl who is coping with a fatal disease, Vera, a young woman with a hidden strength inside of her, Diane, a wealthy woman who is quite confused about life, marriage, and total happiness, Charlie, a milk man who is coping with anger, and

by Lizzy Hill

Last week the once basket-baller Chris Herren honored Wilm-ington High School with an assem-bly on his life and battle with drug addiction. If it wasn’t his story that touched you, it was his main point: that one day this will be someone else’s reality, and perhaps it al-ready is. Chris’ unimaginably tragic story should have struck a chord with every listener, because not only can you picture Chris going through his life, you can picture yourself as Chris. Even if you were the kid sitting there saying that you would never do drugs, you still

by Allie Carroll

Strings Attached performed at their annual holiday concert on Tuesday, December 4th. The orchestra, featuring violins, violas, cellos, and basses, played a variety

Walter, who is a World War I vet-eran who cannot move on from his past. While each character is telling a memory, on top of the bomb shelter there are Grey People who are acting out what the character is telling. While performing this play, each cast member will get to learn some history about what was really going on during World War II. Good luck to the cast and crew who will be performing in the festival and thank you Katie for sharing

found yourself living Chris’ story as he was telling it. It felt real. And it could be your reality right now, or tomorrow, or in sixty years. Horrible, yes; unrealistic it is not. The fact is that drugs are increasingly available for teen-agers as more and more invest themselves in its sale and trade for either the money or the high (or both). Chris emphasized the other point, that the bigger the drug, the quicker the addiction, and the harder the fall in with-drawal. All of a sudden you’re trapped in the addiction and you don’t have a way out because you need the drug to get along. There’s

of songs including Sleigh Ride, A Country Memory, Tour of Califor-nia, Danny Boy, Dance of Iscariot, Try to Remember, Golden Fields, and Carol of the Bells. Halfway through the show the SAPS, or String Attached Parent’s Sup-

your amazing playwriting skills!

no other option but to continue, and unfortunately as you continue, you throw away your money, your family, your friends, and your life. The only true solution is to seek immediate help, but often this is unavailable or not compatible with your lifestyle. Chris’s’ story should have taught you that it’s more important to get your life together than to try and live with the addic-tion, because all the addiction does is tear your life apart. Chris’s story should have taught you not to get into drugs at all, because once you get in deep enough, it’s almost im-possible to get out. If Chris barely made it, who’s to say that you will?

STILL FALLS THE RAIN CONT.

DON’T DO DRUGS; STARRING CHRIS HERREN

STRINGS CONCERT

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by Allie Carroll

Kiss 108 sponsored their annual Jingle Ball on Thursday, December 6th. Nine artists gath-ered for this holiday show, includ-ing Timeflies, Bridget Mendler, Alex Clare, Ed Sheeran, Cher Lloyd, Karmin, The Wanted, Train, and Justin Bieber. The concert, which took place at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, was sold out. Fans from all ages crowded into the Garden to see some of music’s hottest acts. Timeflies and Bridget

Mendler had only about fifteen minutes each, but still managed to entertain the crowd. Next singer-song writer Ed Sheeran came on and the whole stadium sang along to his single, The A Team. Cher Lloyd, the British pop sensation, was next. She sang four songs including her two American singles Want U Back and Oath. Next, Karmin, the duo from Brookline, MA, sang their hit Brokenhearted along with a cover of Chris Brown’s Look at Me Now. The enthusiasm picked up once British boy band,

The Wanted, preformed. Then Train came on stage, and brought about fifteen fans with them. They sang their new hits Drive By and 50 Ways to Say Goodbye along with some old songs like Drops of Jupiter. The crowd really went wild once Justin Bieber came on. He sang one of his Christmas songs, Mistletoe, in addition to many of his other singles. The sold out show was a hit, judging by all the screaming fans at the Garden.

JINGLE BALL

STRINGS CONCERT CONT.this the seniors presented their gift to their teacher, Mr. Dilmore. They gave him a giant handmade Christ-mas card, with pictures of each senior from over the years. Also a small Christmas tree was presented to him, with handmade orna-ments from each senior. Finally a $170 donation was given to Strike a Chord Foundation, which gives musical instruments and lessons to less fortunate children. Strings Attached rapped up their winter concert with their theme song The Water is Wide.

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ots with their twelfth consecutive winning season in the division. Now, for the nineteenth time, the Pats are off to the playoffs which are set to begin on January 5, 2013. But they are not out of the woods yet. Even though they

by Vivian Le

On December 6th the Wilmington Middle School Band held their winter concert. The con-cert took place at the Wilmington High School auditorium from 7pm – 8pm and featured the woodwind ensemble (a.k.a. flarinets) from the high school band. Throughout the

by Amanda Bonnette-Kim

Beginning September 15, 2012 the National Hockey League declared a lockout on the members of the National Hockey League Player’s Association after an agree-ment could not be made before the deadline. The season, which was supposed to have begun on Oc-tober 11, 2012, has been canceled through December 12 of 2012 caus-ing the cancelation of 422 regular-season games. The main disagree-ment between the two parties is contract lengths. “The players,” says Brant Berglound who was the video coach for the Bruins for 8

by Amanda Bonnette-Kim

As winter rolls in, so does an important time for football fans: the playoffs. On December 2, 2012 the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins 23-16. This win

concert, some students, in groups of two or three or solo, played a short piece by themselves in front of the audience. They played holiday music to get everyone into the holiday spirit. As young kids, performing for a large crowd can be scary, but they did a wonderful job. The band was split into two groups: the 6th graders (with a few

over Miami gave the Patriots their fourteenth divisional title for the fourth time in a row. So far this season, the Patriots have been 9-3 with six consecutive wins under their belts, and this latest victory over Miami has secured the Patri-

7th & 8th graders) and the 7th and 8th graders.The 6th graders played a total of 5 songs including “To a New Beginning,” “El Pato Loco,” “Sax-sational,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Winter Wonderland”. Playing “To a New Beginning” is a tradition that has been done by the 6th grad-ers for many years. The song suits

PATRIOTS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS

WMS BAND CONCERT

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by Vivian Le

Ms. Efron is the new Span-ish teacher who is substituting for Mrs. Fazio while she is on a long-term maternity leave. With this interview. You may get to know a little more about Ms. Efron.

Q: Was there a specific reason you chose to teach at Wilmington High School?A: She decided to apply for a job at WHS because she had heard good things about the students and the foreign language department.

Q: How many years have you been teaching?A: She has been teaching for 5 years.

Q: Why did you choose to be a Spanish teacher?A: Ms. Efron had always liked languages. Spanish is her second language and she believes it is fun to learn about other parts of the world.

Q: Do you have a goal as a teacher?

A: She has multiple goals as a teacher, but one of them is to get everyone excited about the subject.

Q: Are you enjoying Wilmington High School so far?A: Yes. The students are pleasant to teach and the faculty is nice to work with.

WELCOME TO WHS MRS. EFRON

them because they are entering a new school. After the 6th graders played, the woodwind ensemble went next. They played “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” “Dance of the Mirlitons,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and “Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella.” The 7th and 8th graders played 6 songs: “Forward March”, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Dr. Rockenstein,” “Autumn Fanfare,” “The Abominable Snowman,” and “Tango Bells.”The concert was a great success and Band Director Ms. Mette was very proud of the students’ perfor-mances..

WMS BAND CONCERT CONT.

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years and now works with hockey teams through XOS Technologies, “want a shorter contract while the owners want a longer one to assure them of no more work stoppages.” In lockouts in previous years for the NFL and NBL, the players used decertification, which would no longer make them an official union, and players for the NHL have

trounced the team ranked number 1, Houston, 42-14 at Gillette Sta-dium on Monday night, December 10th, they still have several more weeks of regular season games be-

claimed to think about using this tactic. “It’s a threat that works. De-certification would bring in years of legal work; I don’t think it is a route anyone wants to go down. It gives the player’s leverage, but I do not think that they will.” Berglound says. But will an agreement be met soon? “I think they are very close

despite all the negativity and the roller coaster it has been the last few weeks.” Berglound said. “In a negotiation it ends when com-mon ground is found on both sides. At the end of the day it’s like an argument between friends, but on a larger scale. Both sides need to agree.”

fore the playoffs begin. Their last game of the season against Miami will be at home on Sunday, Decem-ber 30th. Let’s hope they end with a bang!

LOCKOUT CONT.

PATRIOTS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS CONT.

by Lizzy Hill

The last of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part II, has just hit theaters in time to break new records for Twilight. Although having a lot to live up to, because the first four movies set the bar higher and higher as they contin-ued, the fifth movie is a smash hit and probably the best one in the series. Contrary to popular cliché, it is not the boring story of two vampires in love. It is the story of what happens when someone misconstrues a piece of information to the author-

BREAKING DAWN PART II: THE BEST AND LAST TWLIGIT FILM

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COMIC RELIEF

cheering at the top of your lungs at the end of the movie. Being on Team Jacob won’t be any help in denying how perfect Edward and Bella are for each other, either. You just have to sit back and let it all sink in. After all, it’s just a story.For all the Twilight fans out there, I assure you this movie is worth seeing. Even if you’re not a Twi-

ity and how all the vampires and werewolves join up to combat the Volturi, for either their own per-sonal reason or by loyalty to the Cullens. Even if you have read all the books, you will not know what’s coming. There is a plot twist of momentous proportions that will leave you bawling your eyes out for your favorite character and then

light fan, the action should draw you in because it gets really good. Basically, everyone should go see this movie because it really is as amazing as I’m making it sound. No exaggerations. This is a great movie and it’s worth much more than your $10.50.

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by Katie Richardson

On Thursday November 29th, at the Tsongas Center , a rally was held to support “Stand Up” to bullying. With the major bullying epidemic infesting schools, almost every person can say that they were bullied one time or another. This meeting was to help enlighten and empower students to stand up to the bullies they see and make programs in their school to combat bullying. There were over 5,000 students from all over New Eng-land that attended. Many people

came to learn the message and to end bullying. I was invited to at-tend by the MIAA , Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Associa-tion. Part rock concert, motiva-tional speaking, and group caucus, the meeting allowed everyone to

make their voices heard. Students were able to write songs against bullying and be part of a Ballads VS Bullying contest where the audience texted to vote for the winners. There were also guest ap-pearances from singers like Jillian Jensen from the X factor, who was bullied for many years until the X factor gave her the chance to show her true success. One participant, a young boy in the 8th grade, who was both a motivational speaker and singer, gave his story of misery. Anthony Gargiula was on the bus one morn-ing sitting alone, doing absolutely nothing, when out of nowhere a boy comes and kicks him so hard in the chest that when he is seen by a Doctor 3 hours later, the marks from the boot is still per-fectly imprinted in his chest. But kicking him was not enough; he was also stabbed in the hand with a large roofing nail. When the bus driver turned around to see, he

looked him right in the face and said, “This is not my problem.” The 6th grade boy was left to fend for himself. Since then he has been on the “Ellen DeGeneres” Show and become a singer. He spoke to us about bullying and his experi-ence and how it has helped him grow and help others. The most motivational speaker, who had the entire crowd in tears, was Lizzie Velasquez. She is a woman who at age 23 is incapable of gaining weight. She has zero percent body fat, and in entire life was not weighed over 62 pounds. She must eat approxi-mately every 15 minutes to survive. Her disease is so rare that it is to this day undiagnosed. There are only 3 people in the world includ-ing Lizzie who have it. Now not gaining weight may seem fantastic to most people but to Lizzie it is what started her bullying. Part of Lizzie’s syndrome is that she is blind in one eye and that her skin

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STAND UP TO BULLYING 2012

ages much more rapidly than most of people. One day when Lizzie was on the computer she saw a YouTube video with a picture that looked familiar. She had been on a TV. show when she was younger to document her disease. This video was 8 seconds long and said “The Ugliest Girl in the World.” There were over 4 million views, and thousands of comments, not a single comment was nice. Lizzie knew this because she spent the time reading ever single com-ment from, “Burn that creature in Hell,” or “You should have aborted that monstrosity,” and that was only the beginning. She has been treated differently her entire life,

as if she is a creature with no ability to understand the comments made about her. But Lizzie does not let these comments hurt her, she used the quote that I felt was the most important during this whole meeting, “The only way to combat bullying is through success.” By retaliating back to the bullies you are only feeding the fire. Lizzie wanted to give every person who commented on that video a piece of her mind, but she decided not to sink down to their level. She would become the best person she could be, and prove every person wrong. She is a true inspiration and role model; everyone should aspire to have heart like Lizzie Velasquez,

who says she would never change who she is because she wouldn’t be able to help all the people she has without being able to overcome the experiences she has had in her life.

I am glad that I was able to go to the meeting and learn about these motivational people. They have really left me with life lessons and new outlooks on life. When I think of what Lizzie has had to go through in her life, I rethink my own and think how lucky I am. If everyone could be even a little like Lizzie then the world would be a better place.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!from the Wildcats News Staff!

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STAFF LIST

Co-Editors: Ali Carroll & Lizzy HillFeature Editor: Amanda Bonnette-KimAssistant Editors: Cristina Price & Vivian Le

Layout Editor: Vyctoria OliveiraCo-Art Editors: Sylvan Huynh & Tristan SmithArtists: Molly Fanikos

Jess Nardone Mary Rasphoumy

Faculty Advisors: Editorial: Mrs. Beckwith Art: Ms. Hinman

FELICES FIESTAS! JOYEUSES FETES!

BUONE FESTE! SALUTATIONES TEMPESTATIS!

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