Grafton Globe Newspaper
Winter 2020 Edition
Devin Kelly: Salutatorian
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With just 4 games left in the season, the Grafton boy’s varsity basketball team has completed 15 of their 19 games, and they have been on a roll. They currently stand 2nd in the SWCL A, behind Tantasqua.
The Grafton Indians started off the season strong in December, as they won their first two games by a total of 62 points, including in a 38 point blowout against Quaboag, which has been their greatest margin of victory yet. They continued to dominate, as they closed out the year winning their next 3 games, starting off the season with a perfect 5-0 record. Their offense was running in high gear as they scored at least 62 points in all 5 games, and they were making an average of 6 3-pointers per game. Grafton didn’t open 2020 the way they wanted to, as they lost their next game on the road against Tantasqua. Tantasqua, who are currently standing atop of the SWCL, slowed down the red hot Grafton offense. Grafton only managed to score 26 points, which was a season-low by far. Drew Bergenholtz scored 18 points, but the rest of the team only combined for 8 points. The Indians were able to pick themselves back up as they rebounded against David Prouty, winning by a score of 62-52. They would win their next game in a similar fashion, as they took down Leicester by a score of 62-49. Standing at 7-1, the Indians’ already impressive offense was only going to get better. Their next game would be their hardest test of the season against Bartlett, who just like Grafton, only had one loss on their season. The Indians were down 11 points in the 3rd quarter, but they were able to overcome the deficit led by Amara Ouattara who scored 12 points in the 3rd quarter alone, and 24 overall. They forced the game into overtime but unfortunately weren’t able to capture the victory. Despite the loss, Grafton’s offense was better than ever, as they scored a season-high 82 points. Grafton didn’t let the loss carry over to their next games, as just like after losing to Tantasqua, they rebounded with a comfortable victory against Southbridge. Grafton faced a difficult task in their next game as they faced off against Auburn on the road, and they only held a two-point lead entering the 4th quarter. However, they were able to close out the game with an impressive 4th quarter giving them a 9 point victory. Amara Ouattara led the way with 28 points, which was a season-high for most points scored by a Grafton Indian. Their next 3 games would be against Northbridge, Uxbridge, and then Northbridge again. Grafton would go on to win all 3 of those games by double digits, continuing their dominant run. Grafton currently has a 13-2 record, which is the 2nd best record in the SWCL. Amara Ouattara is their leading scorer as he averages 16.6 PPG, as he leads Grafton’s 2nd highest-scoring offense in the SWCL. This has been one of Grafton’s best seasons in years, and a significant improvement from their previous season. Last year, Grafton won 11 games, while this year, they have been able to win 13 games with 4 games left in the season. With the way Grafton has been performing this season, there’s no doubt that they should be able to continue to dominate throughout the rest of their season. Their next game will be at home against Doherty, who currently stand at 7-5, on February 6th at 6:30 PM. Ricky Duran, one of the most notable alumni to have walked the halls of Grafton High School, has definitely given Grafton something to be proud of. Duran’s name has been prominent in Grafton High School’s updates for the past few months after he successfully passed the blind audition of NBC’s 17th season of “The Voice.” “Passing the audition” is quite an understatement for Duran’s performance. When he first auditioned for “The Voice” on its sixth season, Duran was unable to turn any judges around. However, this did not discourage Duran in pursuing his dreams of being a musician. Instead, Duran came back to “The Voice” stronger and better than ever. He didn’t get just one judge to turn their chair, but all four judges to turn their chairs, and, on top of that, a standing ovation. With all four judges fighting to be his coach, Duran chose Blake Shelton to mentor him throughout the competition because he believed that he would go far under Shelton’s guidance. To show their support, Grafton High held its first ever Turkey Tussle and dedicated the event to Duran. The entire school gathered on its football field to give a special shoutout to Duran in hopes that he would see just how proud and supportive Grafton High is of him after over a decade since his graduation. The support Duran gathered was not unfounded; Duran exhibited intense vocal talent and a natural way with a crowd from the beginning, making him stand out among the other contestants. In fact, Duran made it all the way through to the finals, ending the competition with what the judges described as his “best performance” throughout the show. Duran chose to sing a cover of Tom Petty’s “Running Down A Dream,” which was undoubtedly the right choice as it highlighted his amazing vocal skills and star quality. The final performances of the contestants left the judges with a difficult decision to make, which unfortunately was not in Duran’s favor. Despite not winning the competition, Duran’s journey was still an inspiration to all of his fans. The rising star maintained a positive outlook and continues to amaze fans with his work. Duran’s future looks bright and promising, making him an artist to look out for in the near future. Credit: @ChrisPattersonTG on Twitter
Upon the dawn of winter’s eve
Pow’dry flakes did softly slip Unto the face of Earth receive Peace throughout a frigid trip. If by nightfall glisters so Illuminating bitter gales Rest upon the fallen snow Sighted in few trodden trails And clouds sweet ling’ring low That alas, snowflakes turn sails Of ventured lands be off they go! Bitter is the fallen snow
Of summer’s rains reborn How Mother Nature mustn’t know Of its acquired scorn. Arrival by the dark of night An endeavor kept to eve But soon we meet that dreadful sight Of beauty we shan’t perceive. The sorrow in its deathlike chill Do we now disdain Its figure proves it now but ill That it shall not remain. This year's homecoming games had surprising outcome, with the seniors coming in second to the juniors. Here’s what some students of different grade levels around the school had to say about homecoming week and the games themselves:
How did you feel going into homecoming? Senior: I felt really good! I had heard that a lot of the people in our grade had practiced and that there were tryouts to make sure that everyone was good enough. I was also really excited about the homecoming dance coming back, even though it turned out bad in the end. I felt like out grade was good and that we would win the competitions that took place on Friday. Junior: I felt good, I know that it was rigged anyway, so the same outcome would end up happening each year. Sophomore: I felt fine. I wasn’t nervous or anything so I expected the same outcome as with what usually happens. What was your reaction to the dance coming back? Senior: I was overjoyed! I felt like we could make a better dance happen and that it would be lots of fun for each grade. I think it is cool that our grade got it back for everyone to enjoy. Junior: I was honestly really surprised that they were able to pull it off, seeing that the last one was not that good. and a lot of people got in trouble as well. Sophomore: The dance itself could have been better but it wasn’t awful for my first homecoming dance in high school. Do you feel like homecoming is rigged? Senior: I think a lot of people think it is. I always believed it was until this year. I feel like they announce all of the grades in order from least to first, starting in last with the freshman. But when they announced seniors as second place, I was crushed and so was everyone else. Junior: I feel like homecoming is rigged because every year the seniors seem to win somehow, even if there isn't full participation in the grade throughout the whole week. I still feel like even though us juniors won, that still may have been rigged in some way. Sophomore: Maybe not this year, but for the most part the seniors seem to win. It seems that there are some ways that seniors can rig the events themselves but this year that was not the case. Do you feel like many of the teachers miscount for participation? Senior: I think a lot of teachers do, which is unfortunate. I know in a lot of my classes the teachers were not good at remembering to do it, or would count kids twice because they didn't know what they were doing. Some of them even counted kids that came in late. Junior: I think so, in a lot of my classes the teachers seem to do it by themselves and not mention it, so I am hoping that they are doing it accurate. Sophomore: I think so because a lot of teachers seem to not count exactly. Senior Question: Are you upset about the outcome? I mean yes, it's our senior year and not winning the competitions kind of ruined it for me. Also the juniors kind of rubbed it in our faces which was unnecessary. Junior Question: Are you surprised about the outcome? I never thought that we would actually win that. It has been rigged for years, with the seniors winning every time, so it was really cool that we won and hopefully will next year. Sophomore Question: How did you feel about the outcome of the homecoming games? I wasn’t mad at the results or anything about the results with my grade losing. I’m kind of indifferent to the results of the homecoming games but it was interesting to see a different outcome than expected. Freshman Question: How was your first hoco experience? I think it was so fun! A lot more crazy and exciting than I thought it was going to be. I went into it thinking it was just a dance and a spirit week, but it was a lot more than that! The student parking lot has been a popular area of attention this school year, so I decided to sit down with Mr. Pignataro to talk about the situation. We talked about the details of the student parking lot and the process of how parking permits are given to the students.
So how exactly does the school add new parking sports? Well since the beginning of the year, no parking spaces were added physically, but spaces were still given out to students even after the parking lot was full. Mr. Pignataro explained this process: “Physically we didn’t add any more spaces, they were spaces that were already existent, so what we did is we recounted [the number of unoccupied parking spaces] because we have to make sure that the staff for both the middle school and high school all have a spot, and once we determine that number, then we work our way from there.” After a recounting of the parking spaces is done, they can add more parking spaces from there, as Mr. Pignataro explains: “We need to go out there for probably 3 or 4 days and see how many open spots are there over that period of time. If we find that that there are some spots that are always open, then we can add those spots in.” Mr. Pignataro plans on checking the parking lot during the week of Halloween to see if there are any open spots. And if there are some open spots, he will give those spots to the students that had requested a parking permit, but could not get one because the parking lot was full. Mr. Pignataro emphasized the importance of doing this by bringing up the fact that many juniors will now be starting to get their licenses soon, so there will be a large increase in students that need a parking permit. Another thing that I brought up was the pavement area behind the middle school cafeteria. That pavement area is currently completely open with a lot of space, and I wondered why the school couldn’t just build a parking lot there to add more space. I asked Mr. Pignataro about this and gave me 4 reasons why that couldn’t be done. He explained: “Reason number one is safety. If there was ever an issue at the middle school or high school, could a fire truck get around? If there are so many cars over there, it would just be a safety issue. The second issue is about deliveries. Trucks need to be getting in over there, so that’s why we can’t have people parking there. The third reason is for our special education vans that come in the afternoon, they were having a lot of difficulties getting back there because of the number of cars. The fourth one is that we have the buses going to the back of the building, so we need to have that area clear.” Mr. Pignataro made it very clear why a parking lot can’t be added there. Fire truck entrance, truck deliveries, special ed vans, and the new bus routes all stand in the way of a parking lot addition in that area. I talked to Mr. Pignataro about students parking in the parking lot without a parking permit, and he told me that since the beginning of the year, he has caught ten to twelve people parking without a permit. He anticipated that there could be a chance that number increases, as he will go out and check the parking lot again in the coming weeks. The penalties for parking without a permit are as follows: a warning on the first offense, a $10 fine on the second offense, and on the third offense, the car could get towed. He explained the main problem of kids parking without a permit, as he said, “The kids that paid for a spot get angry if someone else is parking there that didn’t pay for a spot.” I asked if a situation like that happened this year, and he told me that it hasn’t happened yet this year, however, it has happened in previous years. Mr. Pignataro gave me some great details about the parking situation this year, and he made the entire process a lot more clear. Students might expect an increase in parking spots soon because he will check the parking spot to see if there are any extra spots. So if you are a student that couldn’t get a parking permit, don’t lose hope because you may be getting one soon. |
Grafton Globe NewspaperStudent created articles in a student run digital newspaper. CategoriesArchives
February 2020
CategoriesHumans of Grafton High |