Biology instructor Tom Hermanson writes: On a wintry afternoon in December, six HHS students briskly walked across the Dartmouth College campus weaving their way among snowbanks and buildings until they reached Remsen and the Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility. The biology students were met by Charles Daghlian and Louisa Howard of the microscope facility staff. The group divided into two rooms containing two different electron microscopes. One room housed a liquid nitrogen cooled Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) while the other contained a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The two tools use a beam of electrons to view biological samples, nano technologies, and even (top photo) individual flakes of snow!
The SEM tour started out with a look at mouse lung tissue (middle photo) including cells that contain small cellular structures called cilia. These structures looked like tiny tufts of hair, shag carpeting, or even sea anemone to some of us. These structures work to push mucus, bacteria, and dust up and out of the mouse's lungs. In the TEM room, the perspective changed and students were able to see the internal structures of the cell called organelles. Both tours finished up with a look at the pollen (bottom photo) that causes some to experience seasonal allergies. The spikes and rough exterior of different types of pollen evoked a "wow!"
This field trip is always an engaging, visual exploration into the microscopic world. We even had a new SEM visual perspective on snow as we made our way back to school along the snow-covered sidewalks.
Friday, December 18, 2009
THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD
Thursday, December 17, 2009
HHS NEAR THE TOP IN NATIONAL QUIZ CONTEST (VIDEO)
Quiz bowl coach and history teacher Bill Murphy writes: Greetings! The following are the results of the Fall Knowledge Master Open which tested school teams from across the country in the rapid recall of information. Each team used a single computer at its home school to answer 200 multiple-choice questions. Accuracy and quickness both earned points.
HHS finished 42nd out of 678 schools (top 6%) in the nation; 8th out of 150 schools (top 5%) with enrollment between 500 and 1,000; 4th out of 28 schools (top 14%) in New England; and 1st out of 3 teams in New Hampshire. HHS finished ahead of all participating schools in 23 states.
Now watch Ari Brown and Gabriel Brison-Trezise describe HHS's Quiz Bowl team.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
US NEWS MAGAZINE AGAIN PUTS HHS IN TOP 3% FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Hanover High has won a silver medal in U.S.News & World Report magazine's Best High School rankings. HHS also won this medal two years ago. The magazine says it analyzed academic and enrollment data from 18,743 public high schools "to find the very best across the country. These top schools were placed into gold, silver, bronze or honorable-mention categories." The magazine creates its own indices based on state testing, Advanced Placement exam results and other academic measures.
The magazine's gold-medal and silver-medal awards totaled 3% of the schools they surveyed. The results were published on December 9.
Other silver-medal winners from New Hampshire were Hollis-Brookline and Oyster River. Five schools in New Hampshire won bronze medals. The magazine awarded three silver medals to schools in Vermont (Montpelier, Mt. Abraham and Stowe) and five bronze medals.
Friday, December 11, 2009
GRYFFINDOR WINS!
Emily Nice writes: Seniors charged to victory in Hanover High's first-ever Quidditch Cup. This set of games is based on the Harry Potter books, and it's popular at colleges. Each grade was assigned a house: Gryffindor (Seniors), Slytherin (Juniors), Ravenclaw (Sophomores), and Hufflepuff (Freshmen). Team Gryffindor won, earning their class the most points towards Winter Carnival.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
STUDENTS ON STAGE: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Nick O'Leary writes: Students on Stage presented Little Shop of Horrors on
December 10th, 11th and 12th in the auditorium. Students on Stage is Hanover High's student-run theatre group. The show is directed, managed, teched and produced by students. This year's eight-person cast featured students from freshmen to seniors.
Seymour: Jeff Polidor -- Audrey: Molly Zegans
The Plant: Charlie Collison -- Mr. Mushnik: Connor O'Leary
Orin: Ethan Wilcox -- Ronnette: Julia Coulter
Crystal: Kelsie Hogue -- Chiffon: Olivia Zerphy
Plant Puppeteer: Ari Brown
Directed by Nick O'Leary and Eric Mead
Admission is free, but SOS will be accepting donations to support future productions.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
GAP YEAR OPPORTUNITIES FAIR
Elizabeth Keene of the HHS Guidance Department writes: Our Gap Year Fair drew over 150 families and 25 exhibitors to the atrium on November 19. Many who came were not HHS students, and some were from outside the Upper Valley.
What is a gap year? It's an opportunity of a lifetime... a year off between high school and college to gain real-life experiences through travel, language immersion, community service, conservation programs, outdoor adventure, and professional internships. It's a
post-secondary opportunity for self-exploration and personal growth which can lead to clearer direction and motivation for college studies. Many programs include travel, directed study, service, internship opportunities and more. Among the exhibitors were the Council on International Exchange; City Year; Gap Year South Africa; Global Routes; Oxford Advanced Studies; Rustic Pathways; MASA Israel Journey; all under the sponsorship of Dynamy Internship Year of Worcester, MA (www.internshipyear.org).
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
IF YOU'RE THE SORT OF PERSON WHO WONDERS WHY THIS WORLD JUST ISN'T ENOUGH ...
All Hanover High students and staff — Heroes and Sidekicks, Villains and Monsters, Tormented Spirits and Misunderstood Crazies — are invited to our first HHS Fantasy Film Festival on Saturday, November 21 from 8 AM until 10 PM in the high school auditorium. Admission is free.
We will be collecting donations for a very worthy and very local cause -- the Silver Lining Fund, which the high school is establishing to help HHS students and their families who are looking for some assistance with basic needs in these difficult economic times.
So if you're the sort of person who looks around and wonders why this world just isn't enough, join us this Saturday for a series of adventures beyond our borders and past all horizons. Come for one movie or come for them all. And bring a friend or two. Or a hundred. After all, one does not simply walk into Mordor. Especially on the big screen.
For details, please contact Mr. Glenney. And here is the rest of it.
SOME ASPECTS OF HHS'S PROFILE
Guidance Director John McCracking recently presented the updated School Profile to the school board, with data covering the class of 2009. The whole profile appears in the Guidance section of HHS's web site. Following are some numbers and highlights.
Hanover High School is a comprehensive public high school of approximately 740 students. The class of 2009 has 85% of its students now attending or scheduled to attend four-year colleges. Those 155 students applied to 289 different colleges and will attend 100 of those schools. Fourteen graduates deferred attending college for a year or took a gap year. In the National Merit Scholarship competition, the class had 15 semi-finalists, 12 finalists and 3 scholarship recipients.
The chart above compares the class's Scholastic Achievement Test scores on the math and writing tests to state and national scores.
Monday, November 16, 2009
FORREST MILLER, STUDENT OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER
Forrest Miller, from Norwich is Hanover High's November Student of the Month.
Forrest is a true team player whether in athletics or in the classroom. He plays baseball and is the captain of the hockey team. He has been a council member for four years and is this year's moderator. He has a wonderful sense of humor -- catch his rendition on YouTube of Hanover High's dance rules. Forrest is a natural leader who galvanizes people through his ability to listen to all points of view, pull it all together and get things done.
Friday, November 13, 2009
"TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" As the school day ended on November 9th the words of a certain US president from 22 years ago rang out over the HHS public-address system. Students and staff then tore down the ugly gray cardboard wall that had blocked their usual paths through the atrium all day. German teacher Uwe Goodall-Heising, himself born in the old East Germany, had taught three classes that day in front of HHS's wall. He writes: Students noticed the wall, felt some inconvenience, couldn't wait to tear it down, but also did not complain about it. It was a successful joint project between Dartmouth staff and Hanover High School faculty and students.
Monday, November 9, 2009
A PIE IN THE FACE FOR OPERATION DAY'S WORK; TEACHERS HELP RAISE MONEY (VIDEO)
Guidance counselor Laurie Harrington writes: Many thanks to teachers Greta Mills, Alan Haehnel and Eben Bein, and Dean of Students Ian Smith, for volunteering to take a pie in the face to support Partners in Health in Haiti. HHS students supporting Operation Day's Work raise money all year to support medical relief. We raised about $250 from pie-in-the-face, which will be donated to Partners in Health in Haiti. Thanks to everyone who helped make this event a success! Video by Nicholas Gick, class of 2010.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
THE SEARCH FOR THE COLLEGE OF YOUR CHOICE STARTS HERE
It's the season when colleges visit HHS for interviews with our seniors and juniors, and sometimes with especially-eager sophomores and freshmen. A total of 96 colleges have visited or are expected to visit this year, "a great turnout" says the Guidance Department. Here students talk with Colby College (above) and Williams. Photos by Dotty Cheever.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
STUDENTS SIGN UP FOR HOWE CARDS
Hanover's Howe Library visited school last week and registered 44 people for Howe Library cards. Fifteen were Hanover-resident students, fifteen were tuition students and fourteen were Dresden staff. Mary Lockhart (above) and former HHS librarian Mully Blight were the visitors.
Monday, October 26, 2009
WILKOMMEN, NEUSTADT AN DER WEINSTRASSE!
_m.jpg)
Students from the Kurfürst-Ruprecht-Gymnasium in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany visited Hanover High for two weeks in September and October. The 15 students stayed with local host families. HHS German teacher Uwe Goodall-Heising writes: German students had their own schedules and participated in Social Studies and English classes. Some even took tests and got them corrected. They also helped me in my German classes. These photos show German and American students in class and visiting Ben & Jerry's headquarters in Vermont. The German students attended a Hanover football game; the two in jerseys are Maren Klohr & Sophie Christman.
Hanover was among the first high schools to enroll in the German-American Partnership Program. The connection was later lost, but as of December 2008 HHS is an official member of the Program again. Students from both schools had visited each other in 2007/2008 under the Music Department's supervision. This fall students of both schools will visit each other under the umbrella of the Program for the first time. The GAPP is a non-profit high-school exchange program sponsored by the German Foreign Office and by the US Department of State.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
PICK YOUR ACTIVITIES AND JOIN UP!
Habitat for Humanity, Spanish Club, The Juggling Club, the Footlighters (drama), Quiz Bowl, Debate Club and -- captured here on video by junior Leo Murphy -- Dachords (acappella group) and Operation Day's Work (fundraising for underdeveloped countries). Plus a few dozen more. That was the Hanover High Activities Fair, 2009. Pick one or two and join up!
Monday, October 19, 2009
FOOTLIGHTERS TO PRESENT "OUR TOWN"
The dates for the Thornton Wilder play, directed by Bryan Smith, are November 5, 6 and 7 in the HHS auditorium at 7:30. The cast of 25 includes seniors Skyler Patton, Eleanor Reid, Eric Mead, Julia Coulter and Nick O'Leary. Adult tickets are $8.00, students and senior citizens $5.00.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
MR FALCONE, THE SINGING SCIENCE TEACHER (VIDEO)
Outside of school, science teacher Dan Falcone is the musical director of the North Country Chordsmen. In school he sings to his classes once a week. Here he's shown adding his talented fourth voice to a recording of the top hit of 1918, "After You've Gone." Video by Aurora Berger.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
ACOUSTIC CAFE OPENS
On Tuesdays during activity period a corner of the atrium belongs to the Acoustic Cafe. Everyone is welcome to bring acoustic instruments. Students, left to right, Nate Hanna, Tom Levin, Matt Caulo. Teachers, left to right, Mr Stallsmith, Mr Barker, Mr Daley. Photos by Dottie Cheever.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
OCTOBER'S STUDENT OF THE MONTH: CAROLINE KETCHAM
Caroline Ketcham from Hanover is a dependable, good-natured and good-hearted student who does high-quality work. She plays the violin in the HHS Orchestra and is a member of the crew and the swim team. Caroline's greatest quality is her sincerity and compassion for others. She is a leader of ODW (Operation Day's Work) which this year is raising money to help start a school in Haiti. She worked in the Summer Enrichment At Dartmouth program which hosts students from inner-city schools.
Monday, October 5, 2009
ALUMNI NOTES: NICK SINNOTT-ARMSTRONG A PRIZE-WINNER AT MONTREAL PROGRAMMING CONFERENCE
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong, class of 2009, co-authored the prize-winning paper in the first competition to focus on a new field of parallel computing called GPU processing. Nick and his two co-authors presented their paper in July at the 2009 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference in Montreal, where members of the audience voted on the overall winner.
Organizers described the competition as "focusing on the applications of genetic and evolutionary computation that can maximally exploit the parallelism provided by low-cost consumer graphical cards." It rewarded the best applications in terms of degree of parallelism obtained, overall speed-up and programming style.
The competition received 10 submissions, and the top three presented their work. Nick's winning entry was called “Using Evolutionary Computing on Consumer Graphics Hardware for Epistasis Analysis in Human Genetics.” For their work the trio received a Quadro FX 5800, a state-of-the-art graphics card made by the NVIDIA Corporation.
All papers can be found at the conference website: http://gpgpgpu.com/gecco2009/.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
STUDENTS FEEL THE HEAT
Dan Falcone, who teaches Methods in Science, writes: Here's our demonstration of how a Bunsen burner works. Works pretty well! We used a large model of a burner with a glass tube at the top, fed with propane from the bottom. Students could feed in more or less oxygen by changing the distance between the pipe which brings the propane and the glass tube which holds the fire.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR SEMI-FINALISTS
Eleven members of the class of 2010 have been named National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists. They took the Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test last fall and scored near the top of all high-school juniors. They are now offered the chance to submit personal high-school transcripts and essays which may eventually qualify them as National Merit Scholars. The scholarships are administered by the non-profit National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Hanover High's semi-finalists are: Connie Emerson, Ellen Irwin, Colby Jantzen, Caroline Ketcham, Forrest Miller, Julia Murdza, Nick O'Leary, Julia Perez, Lily Proom, Allison Schwartz, Aaron Watanabe.
Friday, September 25, 2009
PASSERBY, STOP AND LOOK AT THIS WALL
Athletic Director Mike Jackson with some of the 118 championship plaques HHS teams have won since 1968.
When the school reopened in 2006 after renovation it had a hall long enough to display the plaques together. The oldest one mounted is Boys' Soccer Champions from 1968. The oldest girls' plaque is Class A skiing in 1973. All were given to a division winner by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Athletic Directors included Mike Jackson and current teacher Glyn Reinders.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
HHS'S NEW OUTDOOR CLASSROOM
In the spring of 2009 eleven seniors in Ms. Kornfeld's Advanced Placement Environmental Science class changed the little-used lawn behind the Guidance Department into the school's first Outdoor Classroom. This year students and teachers are using the all-new stone walk, trees, archway and benches for the first time. The Gardening Club works on the raised perennial beds that border the classroom.
In an opening ceremony the classroom was dedicated to people at HHS who had passed away during recent years, including Industrial Arts teacher Dick Guyer and student James Holley. The class of 2008 left enough money for the stone, gravel, wooden ties, plants and furniture.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
HHS SUPER-HEROES RUN FOR CHAD
About 70 students and staff ran in the CHAD half-marathon on August 29, a few days after school re-opened. The race raised money for the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth. This year it was called the Hero Half-Marathon because the sponsors wanted to set a world record for the largest number of super-heroes gathered in one place. It was a cold, rainy day but the heroes toughed it out.
These photos show HHS students from the cross-country team, the girls' soccer team and three Batmen.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
4OTH ANNUAL BRIDGE-BUILDING AND RAT-TRAP CARS COMPETITION (PHYSICS CLASS)
Last June students in Dr. Mehrbach's physics class took part in the annual competition to see how far they can propel a car on the gym floor powered by the spring of a Victor rat trap. Other physics students built small bridges to exacting load-bearing standards proportional to their sizes.
For 40 years Dr. Mehrbach and his predecessors have sponsored these second-semester projects. Students building cars must measure the energy trapped in the spring in Joules, calculate the "gear ratios" of the wheel and the spring, determine the average acceleration, and interpret other readings. The all-time record-holder is Seth Dunten, class of 1994, whose rat-trap car traveled 363.9 feet.
This year saw the first remote-controlled car, built by Paul Thompson, class of 2010, pictured top right. Other pictures: bridges by Annie Cravero and Sarah Donahue; and by Will Russell and Danny Morganelli, all from the class of 2009.
The best results of spring term 2009:
Rat-trap car: Gunnar Shaw and Cory French: 186.5 feet
Bridge strength/weight ratio: Tyler Hagen, 5.44 pounds per gram.
Just before school ended, other physics students built working catapults and trebuchets.
The catapult built by Mike Balch and Jason Barry earned 1172.9 points for distance and conformance to standards. This was a NEW WORLD RECORD POINT SCORE.
The trebuchet built by Connie Emerson and Kelly Wood earned 947 points and threw its bullet 183.6 feet. These were NEW WORLD RECORDS.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
BANNERS HHS HANGS PROUDLY IN ITS GYM
Hanover High's gym is hung with many banners of championship teams, but these are among the ones the school is proudest of: the annual sportsmanship awards voted by the coaches and officials of the New Hampshire coaches' associations.
The NH Football Officials' Association defines its award: "After every varsity football game, the assigned crew completes an evaluation form focusing on three areas -- Sportsmanship, Game Administration, and Facilities. These evaluations are reviewed throughout the season to address any areas of concern. At the end of the season, all evaluations are tabulated and summary results are published. To recognize the schools that have demonstrated the highest standards of Sportsmanship, the Association presents a special banner to the highest-scoring school in each division."