Monthly Archives: April 2019
Spanish and French Students Take a Trip to the MFA
Jasmin Morse, Veritas Editor-in-Chief and Web Editor
4-26-19
Level 4/5 French and Spanish students at the MFA, Boston.
On Wed. April 24, RHS seniors and juniors taking Spanish or French level 4/5 had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Here, students had the chance to view artworks from the Spanish and French artists they have recently been studying in class.
During the trip, students were split up in groups ranging from 8-10 kids with a total of five parent chaperones. In charge of planning this event was level 4/5 Spanish teacher, Melissa Shaughnessy with the help of French teacher, Julie Dore.
The museum had pieces from Spanish-speaking artists: Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Francisco De Goya, Diego Velazquez, and Pablo Picasso. Students taking French saw exhibits including: Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, and Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec.
During their visit, each group had assigned galleries that they had to visit during specific time slots. After visiting all necessary exhibits, the groups were allowed to roam and visit whichever galleries and artists they wanted to see.
Spellman Oratorical Results
Spellman contestants from left back row: Tyler Beatrice, Jacob Nunn, Fran Oliveira, Katie Houde, and Emmy Kelley. Front from left: Marissa Smith, Justin Sherlock and Caitlin Cameron. photo courtesy of Ms. Walsh.
Jasmin Morse, Editor-in-Chief and Web Editor
4-25-19
As part of Rockland tradition, last night on Wed., April 24 the RHS English Department had their annual Spellman Oratorical Contest. The contest is open to all seniors in the graduating class who may enter an essay/speech based on a stated prompt. Eight students are then chosen from the essay and speech entries to compete for $4,000 in scholarship money. The contestants are judged based on content, delivery, diction and poise. The prize money is made available from a trust established by the late Francis Cardinal Spellman of Whitman in memory of his mother, Ellen Conway Spellman, who resided in Rockland.
This year’s topic was Art as an Agent of Change. In the end Katie Houde took first place winning herself a total of $1,200. RHS English Dept. Head, Carol Cahill noted, that it was a “great night” and all the students “did a wonderful job.”
Below are the students and their awards:
1st Place: Katie Houde, $1,200
2nd Place: Emmy Kelley, $1,000
3rd Place: Francisco Oliveira, $700
4th Place: Marissa Smith, $500
5th Place: Justin Sherlock, $300
6th, 7th and 8th Places: Tyler Beatrice, $100, Caitlin Cameron, $100
and Jacob Nunn, $100
Judging the contest were: Karen Bonn, Sue Doherty, Steve Waisgerber, and Laura Whitaker. Bonn and Waisgerber are RHS graduates.
Congratulations to all the contestants.
RHS SGC Elects 2019-2020 President
Jasmin Morse, Veritas Editor-in-Chief and Web Editor
4-25-19
Committee chair, Katy Buckley posed with the junior class box.
As the 2018-2019 school year starts to wind down, so does senior Caitlin Cameron’s presidency of the RHS Student Government Council. Last night marked the SGC’s last meeting for this school year and here, the club elected their 2019-2020 president. They also nominated members for Big Five positions, including vice president, treasurer, and secretary.
At the meeting juniors, and best friends, Maddie Gear and Katy Buckley gave their candidate speeches; afterwards council members voted for whom they saw best fit for the role of president. After counting all the votes, in the end Katy Buckley won by a very close margin. After winning Buckley explained, “I am beyond happy; this has always been a dream of mine since freshman year!”
Current SGC president Cameron noted before going into the election, “I had no clue who would win, but knew the council would be in great hands either way.” After the vote, she explained her excitement to see what Katy has in store and what new elements she plans to bring to the council this upcoming year.
After the president election, council members nominated others for the positions of vice president, treasurer, and secretary. Elections for these positions will be held at the June meeting. the nominees for each position are:
Vice President
Maddie Gear
Lara Glennon
Treasurer
Tyler Gambon
Nicole Guidel
Secretary
Jacob Leahy
Lara Glennon
Miku Yoshioka
Emily Gaboriault
April Vacation: Time to Travel, Rest, Relax
April 12, 2019
April vacation will begin for RHS students today at 2:35 p.m. After a long March of cold, rainy weather, students are probably looking forward to getting some rest and relaxation and maybe even some sun on their nine days off.
Some students like junior Phil Pattison are heading south to get some sun. “I’m going down to Florida with my family,” he said. He will be visiting Disney World in Orlando.
Most however, will be staying relatively close to home and doing some things that they don’t get to do while going to school.
Our principal, Mr. Harrison says that he will be celebrating his daughter, Peyton’s first birthday! Happy Birthday to Peyton!
Sophomore Emily Gaboriault says she will be “chilling at home and doing some cleaning and painting.”
Senior Mercedez Johnson says that she will be “going to my aunt’s house, inviting some friends over, and sleeping.”
Senior Meaghan McDonough is going to take a short trip during the week. “I am going to be taking a road trip with my teammates to a soccer tournament in Connecticut.”
The RHS girls lacrosse team will be going to Bentley University in Waltham to watch the Bentley Falcons play against Merrimack.
The RHS baseball team is playing a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 16 against Hanover in Rockland. All the other teams will be getting back to playing games after vacation.
Some students will be using the extra time to catch up on school work as well as sleep.
Senior Rebecca Mullen says she’ll be “sleeping, working on psych essays, working a little, but mainly sleeping”.
Senior Jailene Escalera says she’ll be “doing psych and college essays, sleeping, and going to appointments.”
Sophomore Bella Seaton says she will be “going out with friends and just sleeping.”
Many RHS juniors and seniors along with three chaperones will be going with the Travel Club on their long-awaited trip to Europe. One of those is senior Bonnie Gasdia who is excited, she said, to visit Germany where her family is from.
Those RHS students like sophomore Becca Killion who say they are doing “nothing” might want to take an opportunity to get some community service hours at the annual Rockland Clean-Up Day to be held on Saturday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 12 at the Town Hall.
Some RHS teams like the lacrosse team participated last year but anyone can sign-up to do it.
Christine Flaherty of the REiMAGINE ROCKLAND organization explained how the Clean-Up Day works. “The clean up will begin at Rockland Town Hall, 242 Union Street, and will bring the community together to improve and beautify the Rail Trail, Union Street, and other areas in town. Refreshments will be available for volunteers to enjoy.”
You can sign up by contacting REiMAGINE ROCKLAND at reimaginerockland@gmail.com for information regarding volunteer opportunities. Details of the event are available online at www.rockland-ma.gov and www.facebook.com/REiMAGINEROCKLAND.
When seniors get back to school on April 22, they will have only 22 more school days to get through and the underclassmen won’t be far behind!
Travel Club Says “Hallo” to Europe
Jasmin Morse, Veritas Editor-in Chief and Web Editor
4-11-19
Ads hanging up in RHS cafeteria for past and future EF Tours sponsored RHS Travel Club trips. photo by Jasmin Morse
At the start of April vacation, 34 RHS juniors and seniors are venturing abroad with the RHS Travel Club. For most of the kids going, this trip has been 2-4 years in the making and after many payments and fundraisers has become a reality.
On Saturday, April 13 the students will be loading onto a bus with chaperones English teacher Kristen Walsh, science department head, Samantha Hoyo, and science teacher Julia DiCanzio. From there, they will ride the bus to Logan International Airport, make it through security, and spend nearly 14 hours in and out of airports and the air before they reach their first travel spot in Vienna, Austria.
In Vienna, some of the main attractions they’ll see through tours are the Hofsburg Palace and the Parliament Building. After two nights in Vienna they’ll travel by bus to Prague, Czech Republic.
Picture of the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.
In Prague, the group will visit St. Vitus Cathedral, the Charles Bridge, and other historic and cultural locations. After spending two nights in Prague, the group will wake up and travel by bus to Munich and Dachau, Germany.
In Germany, among the sites they will visit are the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, and the Munich Olympic Stadium. The students had the option to pay an additional fee to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle. On Day 8 of the trip, they will travel from Munich to Zurich, Switzerland.
Picture of the option Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany.
There, they’ll take a walking tour of Zurich’s Old Town and visit a local business. On Day 10, the group will head home.
View of Zurich’s Old Town in Switzerland.
Their exhausting return flight is scheduled to land in Boston’s Logan Airport at 9:03pm and all students and staff on the trip are required to report to school Tuesday, April 23 after their long, fun-filled April break.
For further information on the Travel Club’s itinerary, check out EF Tour’s page on the Central European Quartet. And to keep up to date on your child or friend’s trip follow advisor Walsh’s Travel Club pages on Instagram and Twitter @rhstravelwalsh
“Annie” Debuts at RHS
Mikayla Andre and Sadie at Saturday matinee performance of Annie. For more photos from the show, go to our Photo Gallery page.
Megan Diver, Veritas Staff
April 10, 2019
The Rockland High School Music Department’s production of the musical “Annie” debuted to a full house on Friday, April 5, in the RHS/RMS auditorium at 7 p.m. The play concluded with another large and enthusiastic audience on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The cast, made up of high school and middle school students (and one canine), lit up the stage with a wide arrangement of musical and dance numbers including favorites, “It’s a Hard Knock Life,” “Maybe,” “N.Y.C,” and “Easy Street.”
The director of the play, high school and middle school chorus director, Victoria McComb, and asst. director, RPS elementary music teacher, Michelle Booth, who choreographed the dance numbers and coached the singers, got the most out of their diverse and talented cast.
The cast included: Mikayla Andre (Annie); Jordan Cunningham (Warbucks); Emily Gaboriault (Miss Hannigan); Bonnie Gasdia (Grace Farrell); Olivia Janis (Lily, Lt. Ward)); Neleh Dunn (Rooster).
Also in the cast were Terell Wright (Bundles, Drake, Announcer), Leah Drago (Perkins, Apple Seller, Mrs. Pugh), Kerin Dalton (Dog Catcher, Morganthau, Boylan Sister), Julia Yeadon (Ickes, Asst. Dog Catcher, Boylan Sister, Star to Be), Leah Leonard (Annette, Kaltenborn, Boylan Sister), Jonah Pishkin (Roosevelt), Hannah Ivil (Homeless Person), Callie Gillan (Cecile, Orphan), Phil Pattison (Bert Healy), Morgan Wahlstrom (Judge), McKenna Maher (Pepper), Liliana Berquist/Kelly Hamilton (Tessie), Emily Gillooly (Molly), Anabelle MacDonald (July), Kyara Williams (Duffy), Emily Holbrook (Kate), Kelly Hamilton (Orphan) and the lovable, Sadie (Sandy).
The N.Y.C Ensemble included: Shylyn Boulter, Saige Clauss, Victoria Foley, Lindsay Gillan, Mary Kippenhan, Kaitlyn Kulikowski, Aleah Meade, Corinne Medford, Matthew Medford, Ngan Nguyen, Hailey O’Brien, Helana Plouffe, Rose Ripley, Ana Clara-Santos, Cailin Sullivan, Anya Voci and Morgan Wahlstrom.
Before the show, Rockland Music Department Head John Piazza thanked everyone for their part in pulling the show together, including parents, teachers and students who contributed behind the scenes, and including those who played in the orchestra.
Seniors involved in the musical, Bonnie Gasdia, Morgan Wahlstrom and Leah Drago, had two highly emotional nights as their last play concluded. They can all surely agree they ended their dramatic careers at RHS on a high note. Gasdia, who played Warbucks’ secretary, Grace Farrell, said that this was her favorite role.
Director Ms. McComb said, “The musical was a huge success- very well attended and extremely well performed. We are very grateful for and proud of everyone who was involved in putting this production together.”
From left: Bonnie Gasdia, Mikayla Andre, Emily Gaboriault, Emily Gillooly, Anabelle MacDonald and McKenna Maher. Veritas photo. For more photos see below or go to the Photo Gallery.
The Garden of Leadership is Blossoming at Spring SEMASC
Jasmin Morse, Veritas Editor-in-Chief and Web Editor
4-5-19
The final gathering of the 2018-2019 Student Council year took place as the 2019-2020 year was kicked off yesterday on Wednesday, April 3 at Pembroke High School.
Nine of Rockland’s Student Government Council attended the annual Spring SEMASC Conference. Here, the 2018-2019 year was put to bed while the 2019-2020 year was kicked off and celebrated. The upcoming year’s delegates, vice president, and secretary all presented speeches, were voted upon, and were announced. Workshops also took place and the seniors were given recognition of their graduation from 4 years of SEMASC.
Amongst the seven delegates one came from Rockland to better impact our region. Sophomore Greta Russo campaigned with her theme of “The Garden of Leadership” and after giving her speech was elected one out of the three delegate positions on the 2019-2020 SEMASC Executive Board.
SEMASC 2019-2020 Delegate Greta Russo campaigning before being elected
Along with celebrating Russo’s victory, SEMASC’s 2019-2020 president and Rockland’s own junior Jacob Leahy was passed the gavel yesterday marking the start of his time as SEMASC president.
SEMASC President Jacob Leahy on stage with the rest of SEMASC Executive Board
At the very end of the conference, seniors from across the 36 SEMASC-participating schools were acknowledged for their commitment to Student Council and their participation in these conferences for the past four years.
SEMASC Graduating Seniors:
Caitlin Cameron
Francisco Oliveira
Justin Sherlock
Jasmin Morse
John Ellard III
Tyler Beatrice
Marissa Smith
SEMASC graduates at annual MASC Conference this past March
THE VERITAS 