For the first time in years, both Hudson High Boys’ and Girls’ basketball teams made it to the

sectionals. The boys, (coached by Shawn Briscoe, Tyrone Hedgepeth and Ellis Richardson Sr.), are 23-

0. They started sectionals at HVCC on Friday, February 19th and beat Voorheesville 65-60. The boys

then went on to play Mekeel Christian in Glens Falls on February 22nd. The game was a thriller from

start to finish. The boys were victorious after a basket made by Justin Oliveras, with only 14 seconds

left. Hudson won 56 to 54 and miraculously beat the number 1 seed; Hudson being number 4. The boys

will play Glens Falls at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Friday, February 26 at 6:30. We are asking that

everyone attend and give our boys the support they need! Team players include: Tyler Dellavechia,

Shamar Daniels, Mike Alert, Kimedrick Murphy, Daniel Folds, Zach Hedgepeth, Justin Oliveras, Ellis

Richardson, Kieaonie Ivey, Dante Garrido, Jeremy Ramirez and Matt Sweet.

The Girls also had an exciting season with a record of 21-0. They played for business and man-

aged to be the number 5 seed in Class B. They won the Patroon Conference title and with the help of

Coach Brice Ivery, they went to Hoosic Falls to play number 4, Voorheesville. After another nail biting

battle, the girls lost 57-48. We couldn’t be any prouder of our ladies who have a bright future for next

year! Team members include: Mariyah Ridley, Mykal Walters, Maya Alvarez, Selena Jones, Keshawna

Orr, Jasmyne Peck, Je’nya Salvatore, Natalya Clanton, Emily Clark and Katherine Jepsen.

The Owl

Hudson High School Basketball Teams Make It

To Sectionals

J a n u ar y/F e b r ua r y 2 0 1 6

On February 13th, at 3:00 pm, there was an exciting event at the Hudson Montgomery C.

Smith Intermediate School. The famous performance portrayed the Civil Rights story, Turning

15 On the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March, by Lynda Black-

mon Lowery. The director of the play was Ally Sheedy. You may know her from her role in the

movie “The Breakfast Club”. The Hudson High School choir sang at the performance as well.

They performed the song “Glory”, which was conducted by Mrs. Mastrianni. The suggested do-

nation to get in was $10 for adults and children under 12 were free. Seeing Ally Sheedy and

watching this performance was an opportunity of a lifetime! We are looking forward to more

events like this in the future.

Pictured: Markiah Gordon, Keesha Woods, Damion

Virgo, & Ally Sheedy.

Hudson Senior High School

sophomores had the privilege

of attending Colombia Greene

Community College career

day. Students hopped on the

busses and spent half their

day at CoGreene. Career day

consisted of many programs to

help give students ideas of

what they might major in.

Schools from all over attend-

ed, including Chatham, Cats-

kill and Tech Valley. Panels

for students included medical

professionals, Emergency

Medical Tech (EMT), creative

arts and many more repre-

sentatives.

Students were given the

opportunity to speak with pro-

fessors and ask questions

about the fields they partake

in. Columbia Greene Commu-

nity College was very welcom-

ing and even had their mascot,

the Viking, out to great peo-

ple! Serious topics were men-

tioned in these panels for stu-

dents who went to career day,

many not knowing what pro-

fession they wanted. Students

left CoGreene with so many

options. This experience was

wonderful and helped further

students’ knowledge of college

majors.

Career Day By Sharmin Akhter

Famous Play Comes To Hudson By Jenna Gregory

The Owl Page 2

things slowly fall into place.” She be-

lieves that sometimes students are

overwhelmed with school work, home-

work, sports, and other clubs and ac-

tivities. “Time management is very

important when it comes to being a

successful student.” She believes that

to be a good teacher, you must be flexi-

ble, have empathy, be fair, honest, and

open minded. She believes that inspir-

ing students helps them to dig deeper

and exposes them to ideas and possi-

ble career choices. Her advice to stu-

dents is that they should find what

interests them the most and follow

their hearts so that they are happy!

Mrs. Meghan Gavin Abitabile is a

former alumni of Hudson High

School. She graduated from Hud-

son High in 1998. She was a part

of Student Council, Yearbook ,

National Honor Society, Varsity

Club, Softball, Soccer, Swim

Team, and Basketball (JV). She

has been teaching for almost 12

years and enjoys it very much.

She teaches Sociology, Psycholo-

gy, and Government. She gradu-

ated from SUNY Geneseo with a

major in Communications and

then went on to receive her Mas-

ter’s at St. Rose University in

Education. She enjoys her job so

much that she wishes that she

had more time with students. It

seems as though time flies and

she wishes she had more “control

over time”. It is hard to check

everyone's attention so when she

is planning her lessons, she tries

hard to keep it interesting and

puts herself in the students’

shoes. She changes things up,

doesn’t assign pointless home-

work, and tries to make lessons

meaningful. She has seen Hud-

son High School become more

advanced over the years and be-

lieves that school spirit is the key

to the success of the school. “Once

school spirit has advanced, others

An Interview with Mrs. Abitabile By Farzana Akhter

Hudson High School Volleyball

Tournament By Saima Hannan

Come join the Hudson High School Volleyball Tournament on March 4th from 5PM-8PM at the High

School gym. Sign up a team with a Varsity Club member or just come to watch and have fun! The fee

is $1 (or a can of cat food) to help support AnimalKind. This fee includes a 50/50 raffle ticket as well.

The concession stand will be run by Class of 2018. For additional information, contact Mrs. Flint or a

Varsity Club member.

Page 3

On Sunday January 31st, there was a ceremony at the Shiloh Baptist Church. The cere-

mony held was hosted to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and all of his accomplish-

ments. The church holds the ceremony every year. There were many inspirational

speeches made by various guest speakers, including one from Hudson’s new mayor, Tif-

fany Martin Hamilton. Not only were there speeches, but there were performances from

the church choir. The choir was amazing. Everybody in the room was up out of their

seats, clapping along. The Hudson High School Choir performed as well. The choir sang

the song “Glory”, which was a perfect fit for the event. There was also a very special

scholarship given out to a senior from Hudson High. Daniel

Folds won a scholarship due to his active participation in both

the church and in basketball as well. Congrats to him!

One section of All County has start-

ed, the Jazz Band and Acapella sec-

tion, on February 5th at German-

town. Everyone has worked hard

and did entirely wonderful during

the performance.

Three junior students were chosen

for the Jazz Band selection-Noah

Wurster on trumpet , Jake Ebel on

bass guitar, and Anthony Guzzi on

alto saxophone. The three had

joined selected students from other

schools in our county to play “Leo”,

by Frank Mantooth, and “Basie-

Straight Ahead”, by Sammy Nesti-

co. “Leo” is a piece that has a

smooth flow and calm tone while

“Basie-Straight Ahead” is a con-

stant changing rhythm and has

more of a dancing feel.

As for the All County Acapella, five

students were chosen, Emily

Spateholts on soprano and a solo

on “I Wanna Dance with Some-

body”, Ian Vitellaro on tenor, An-

nette Sturdivant and Brianna

Tsitsera on alto, and Conner

McCagg on bass. Each part was

very specific and led the audience

to think that they were using in-

struments but only voices were

heard. The section has three

songs, “The Chain” ,arranged by

Corrine Byrne, “Change the

World”, arranged by S. Dillard ,

and “I Wanna Dance with Some-

body” arranged by Michael

Brignolo. “The Chain” has a soft

and heartfelt tone , while “I Wan-

na Dance with Somebody” has an

upbeat feel that made the audi-

ence want to dance. Lastly,

“Change the World” is a song that

leaves you wanting more with its

melody and warm back-

grounds. This concert was enter-

taining and thoroughly enjoyed

by those who were lucky enough

to attend!

All County Jazz and Acapella by Brianna Tsitsera

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ceremony By Jenna Gregory

The Owl Page 4

This year’s All-County is going to be a pleasure to watch. There will be performances from both

the band and choir. There will be a variety of songs to hear. The band will go first and they will

be followed by the choir. The schools that are participating are located in Columbia County.

They include: Germantown, Ichabod, Taconic Hills, New Lebanon, Chatham, and Hudson. Stu-

dents from all of these districts will be taking part in this performance. The performances will

be on March 2nd (rehearsal) and 4th (rehearsal & concert) at 7:30 P.M. This year’s event will be

hosted at Ichabod Crane High School. Some of the songs that concert- goers will hear are: Over-

ture For Winds by Charles Carter, Shenendoah arranged by Frank Techeli, Simper Fidelis by

John Philip Sousa and Southwest Summer by John W. Smith. These will be entertaining per-

formances to watch so make sure to attend!

All-County Concerts By Ahsraful Shamrat

The YES Program By Fahmida Choudhury

The Y.E.S program, (Youth Employment Services), is a program Hudson Senior High offers to its

student and is coordinated by Mrs. McSherry. This program is provided to educate young

students for the work force. The program runs for twelve weeks. Within the twelve weeks,

students learn how to prepare for their job interviews and how to conduct themselves

accordingly while on the job. There are certain demands the students must follow in order to

remain in the program. Students are not allowed to have any disciplinary referrals. Students

are expected to have perfect attendance and show responsibility. If students do not follow these

requirements, they are removed from the program. After the twelve weeks of job preparation,

the students are set up with an interview by Mrs. McSherry or other staff members. If the

interview goes well, the students get the job. Then they're required to complete a total of thirty-

six hours of community service. After completing their thirty-six hours, they receive a paycheck

and a certificate of completion. This is an amazing opportunity and we have had much success in

the past! Feel free to join YES next year and learn the skills needed to be successful in the

workforce.

Kindness Club Update By Ramisa Tasnim

The Kindness Club has been participating in the Special “MOVE” campaign, where each student

athlete sets a personal goal for a healthier lifestyle. The Kindness Club participants have set

about two or three goals each, including in the areas of nutrition and exercise. Azizul especially

has been doing well with his goal and has even joined Planet Fitness! The Kindness Club has

also done a commercial for the Albany Devils’ Hockey game. The commercial is on their facebook

page so check it out when you can! They have also been keeping up with visiting the farm and

doing fun activities such as sewing and continuing their fried dough Fridays!

Page 5

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-

Time Indian (2007), Sherman Alexie re-

counts the trials of a Native American

teenager, Arnold “Junior” Spirit, during

his first year in high school. Using hu-

mor to soften the sometimes difficult and

emotional story, Alexie creates a lovea-

ble, misfit protagonist whom readers

cannot help but root for. Junior lives on

the Spokane Indian Reservation, where

he discovers that alcohol is more im-

portant to most residents than an educa-

tion is. Junior decides to transfer from

his reservation school to Reardan High, a

white school that is more than twenty

miles away. Once he arrives, Junior finds

that he is the only Indian (besides the

school’s mascot) there. His best friend on

the reservation, Rowdy, stays behind and

vows never to speak to Junior the

“traitor” again. Junior also knows that

everyone else on the reservation thinks

he is an “apple”~ red on the outside but

white on the inside. Meanwhile, most of

the students at Reardan treat Junior as

an outcast as well. Although he is stimu-

lated by the intellectual challenges of

Reardon's advanced curriculum, Junior

must fight to improve his social standing

both on and off the reservation. He ac-

complishes this accidentally when he

goes out for Reardon's basketball team.

He surprises himself when, as a fresh-

man, he makes the varsity team and

eventually even becomes a starting player.

Junior’s biggest challenge comes when he

must play against his former basketball

team from the reservation, whose star play-

er is none other than Junior’s ex–best friend,

Rowdy. In the course of this young adult,

coming-of-age story, Alexie highlights both

the spiritual and psychological highs and

lows of living on a reservation a place of

stagnation as well as a place of strong family

roots and long-lasting love. This book is such

a great read that I have read it multiple

times. I thought it was going to be funny but

what I got was an amazingly written tale of

racism, homophobia, love, compassion, teen

life, life on reservations, and acceptance.

There are numerous sexual references but

mostly all are portrayed humorously. There

is also some strong language. There are

short fist fights ,a few sad deaths, and

strong alcoholic content but even with these,

I thought this book was informative but ob-

jectionable. I highly recommend it as a must

read!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

BOOK REVIEW By Ummeh Era

The Owl Page 6

Michaela Gomula, a Hudson High senior, recently won the Director’s Choice Award for her

acrylic painting, Cross Roads, at the 20th Annual Juried Art Show. The art show took

place at Columbia-Greene Community College and was a collection of twenty- eight sepa-

rate pieces of student artwork that came from fourteen different schools in the area.

Alongside Michaela Gomula, Omer Mufti had his colored pencil piece, A Rivalry Beyond

the Realm of Gods, displayed as well. The artwork that went to the competition was select-

ed by Hudson art teacher, Ms. Albino. The competition had a first, second, and third place

but the most prestigious award was the Director’s Choice Award. Upon winning the

award, Michaela was also bestowed a monetary prize of $150. Michaela is proud of her ac-

complishment and looks forward to painting another piece in the near future.

G.S.A. Valentine’s Day

Party

On February 11th, the Hudson

High School’s G.S.A. members had

a party to celebrate Valentine’s

Day. Students from grades 7-12

were invited to attend and enjoyed

one another’s company and snacks.

Arts Show Winner at

Hudson High By Danny Gelles

Editors:

Danny Gelles

Jenna Gregory

Contributors:

Farzana Akhter

Sharmin Akhter

Fahimda Choudhury

Ummeh Era

Saima Hannan

Ahsraful Shamrat

Ramisa Tasnim

Brianna Tsitsera

Advisors:

Ms. Cipollari & Mrs. Near

Page 7