HHS STUDENTS PROVIDE COVER

From the May issue of The Cover Page, published by White River Junction's Corps of Volunteers Effecting Repair and Reuse: This Spring COVER Home Repair was fortunate to participate in Hanover High School's March Intensive, four days of diverse course offerings outside the usual curriculum. Two energetic groups of juniors and seniors, ages 16-18, participated in work projects for COVER. One group traveled to Canaan, NH where they framed walls and installed sheet rock for a family. What started off an unfinished basement became living space for the grandparents. The other group traveled to Plainfield, NH and enclosed a porch, adding an all-season room to the home of an elderly couple. Many of the students were experiencing their first construction project. They learned quickly and worked diligently. Questions were asked, measurements were taken, and skills were shared. It is evident from the quality of their workmanship that the projects were highly successful. Bonding between the students and homeowners noticeably grew, along with a positive orientation toward work skills and an increased awareness of community needs.... Many thanks to Stan Crane and Eric Richardson, the HHS coordinators for the project, and to all the student participants.

COVER provides critically needed home repair to needy neighbors. Over its ten years of continuous operation COVER has completed 350 projects.

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WEST SIDE STORY: "GREAT ENERGY; A HUGE SUCCESS; SINGERS, MUSICIANS ADMIRABLE"

Leah Kohn, class of 2008, writes: HHS's production of "West Side Story" would have been impressive merely for the sheer athleticism of its 60-member cast. There was a great deal of ensemble dancing, well-choreographed and performed smoothly and confidently. Whether dancing or not, the actors clambered and swung with great energy around the metal bars representing the modern cityscape. Even the less stylized fight scenes were relatively convincing. During the knife fight between Riff and Bernardo I found myself growing nervous.

The intensity was remarkable, the energy was high, and the audience was carried along with it and became completely absorbed in the story. It flowed. Not all of the emotional high points came across successfully, but very many of them did, and in such a dark and dramatic musical, this was a triumph. And while the Puerto Rican accents weren't completely convincing, and HHS students may not be naturally suited to play New York gang members, I can say with absolute conviction that it was a huge success.
Overall, the singing was at a high level. Both lead singers did an admirable job with very strenuous roles. Rebecca Whittington had just the right combination of innocence, youthful flirtatiousness, and determination for the part of Maria, and her voice was remarkably pretty. I was especially impressed with her high notes, which lacked that slightly strained quality that plagues so many young singers. Max Redman as Tony had several long solos ("Something's Coming" and "Maria") in which he was the only one on stage, and he gave excellent and energetic performances, without showing any signs of fatigue. He and Becca sang well together in duets, had good romantic chemistry onstage, and in general made a very convincing portrait of teenage infatuation.

The other main roles were also well played. Mila Pinigin was sultry and captivating in the role of Anita. She shone in her solo in "Tonight," and I thought that her anger and sorrow in "A Boy Like That" was one of the emotional high points of the show. Another performance that caught my attention was the beginning of "Cool," sung by Mark Whittington (Riff). It was incredibly musical, edgy and exciting.

Without a doubt the number that got the most applause was "Gee, Officer Krupke", sung by the Jets. And deservedly so, because it was absolutely hilarious and the audience was roaring with laughter the entire time (but not so much as to drown out the singers).

I really did not notice any weak members of the cast. There were many smaller roles, which I have not mentioned, which were well acted and, in many cases, extremely funny. I can only imagine the amount of rehearsal and hard work which went into creating a production of this quality.


And of course, the unsung (and unsinging) heroes of the evening were the members of the pit orchestra (which included five HHS students as well as local professionals) and the production staff. In a cramped space to the side of the stage, the pit orchestra had to play Bernstein's challenging music constantly for nearly three hours. They did a wonderful job. And then there were the many students who have spent the past few months working on designs, sets, costumes, lighting, sound, makeup, props, and a hundred other completely essential tasks while struggling to adjust to a new performance space and the numerous challenges it brought. Also much deserving of recognition are the director, Alan Haehnel, the musical director, Jane Woods, and the choreographer, Denise Frawley.

I was not entirely convinced by the opening of the show. I'm not sure what the director intended by having gang paraphernalia descend from the sky to be plucked up by a few of the actors. Perhaps he meant that we are all the same, but are forced into different roles? The issue of common humanity lost in senseless rivalry is certainly central to West Side Story (and Romeo and Juliet), but I would much rather have had the story speak for itself, rather than be informed beforehand what the message was.

The same was true of the ending. All the gang members on both sides reacted to Tony's death and Maria's grief by pulling off their gang bandannas and leather wristbands and joining hands. This seemed a bit forced and over the top, at the end of a story so realistic in its terrifying and inevitable spiral into tragedy.

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong, class of 2009, adds: HHS has a long history of producing Shakespearean plays and adaptations. One feature that set this production apart was its size. In fact, at 60 cast members, it is the largest HHS Footlighters production ever, larger even than the 56-member 1987 production of The Sound of Music. This year’s cast and crew equals almost 10% of HHS’s student body. What this means is that almost every class in school had at least one person involved in "West Side Story."

Two instructors returned from the last Footlighters "West Side Story" in 1999. Mr. Bill returned as Footlighters Advisor and Technical Coordinator, while Mrs. Woods continued as choral, orchestral, and musical director. The director for this show, Alan Haehnel, has worked with Footlighters before. He closed the old auditorium with Footloose two years ago and opened the new one with "West Side Story."

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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE PIN

Anyone who has taught at HHS since 1961 can declare an international holiday any time he wants. Social Studies teacher Bill Murphy's thousands of students will remember his large collection of political pins showing candidates and causes of all varieties. He wears two or three different pins each day. An alert student captured International Pin Day 2008 in pictures with her cell phone.

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BRIAN GLENNEY, STAFF MEMBER OF THE MONTH FOR MAY

Council has voted Brian Glenney the Staff member of the Month for May. This is what was written on his nomination sheet: "Let me start by saying that I have never had Mr Glenney as a teacher, but he has been my Common Ground leader since freshman year. Mr Glenney, with his excellent sense of humor, makes Common Ground enjoyable and bearable. He is open to all new ideas. Judging by the posters and projects on the walls of his classroom it is clear that he puts effort into his teaching and gives his students a reason to do their best work. From friends I have learned that his teaching style enables students to master lesson easily. In Common Ground he leads us through serious discussions of the moral wrongs of cheating, the value of school lockdowns, and even an analysis of one of his favorite movies: 'Superbad.' Thanks, Mr Glenney!"

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BIOGAMETOGENESIS?!

Biology teacher Tom Hermanson writes: Honors Biology students practiced diagramming the process a cell undergoes to make reproductive cells called gametes. It is a process of "double cell division" called meiosis. This cellular dance involves a lot of highly ordered movement of chromosomes within the cell.

To help students wrap their heads around this concept, I asked them to draw it out in black and white on the slate surface of their desks, and then they walked their partners though the process. These simple models enabled them to quiz each other on chromosome number, internalize the steps, and visualize how chromosomes are passed on to offspring following certain observable patterns.

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INTENSIVE PAINTING: CHUCK CLOSE

During the week of special classes called March Intensive a group of students explored the life and work of one of America's icons of modern art, Chuck Close, with their community volunteer, Elisabeth Gordon. Ms. Gordon is the Arts Program Coordinator at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She writes:

"Close is best-known for his monumental portraits of himself and his friends that can be as large as 8 feet by 8 feet. His style has evolved from hyper-realism to more abstraction, based on the concept of pixilation. At the height of his artistic career, Close was stricken with a collapsed artery to his brain, which paralyzed much of his body. He has been able to overcome his disabilities and is still working and creating artwork despite being confined to a wheelchair.

"Students in the March Intensive class watched a video about his life and artistic process; visited the Hood Museum, where they studied two prints by Chuck Close; then worked with artist Kathy Parsonnet to paint their own portraits in Close's style. The results were extraordinary. The range of work includes realistic portraits and more abstract, pixilated versions, in black and white and in bold colors." The photos show two student paintings which were displayed in the HHS atrium.

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HOW HHS RENOVATION HELPED ART INSTRUCTION

Peter Lange of the Art Department describes how the extensive 2004-2007 renovation of Hanover High improved the way he, Elizabeth Green and Stephanie Gordon can teach all the different art courses that the school offers. The three teachers are shown in the center photo.

With the renovation, the art rooms moved into the original Richmond School gym, which had recently been a library and stage. The dropped ceiling was removed and the space was opened up into the rafters, creating an expansive feeling.

The added space and new equipment allow us to teach effectively using an open studio concept. Open studio teaching means the studios are always open for students to work when they have time, even if a class is in session. Students are required to do a combination of class group time and individual work in the studio. This makes them more self-reliant and creative, we hope. During their studio work time outside of their particular class, students need to be able to access the studio materials and equipment without interrupting other classes that may be in session. Students learn to work on their own to be more self-reliant, respectful and self-actualized in their learning.

The increase in space allows students to work in and around ongoing classes. Many of the student art projects involve ventilation. The new art facility has the ventilation motors on the roof. In the old rooms if someone wanted to spray-paint, silk-screen, fix a pastel drawing, solder stained glass or silver jewelry, and do other projects that needed ventilation, they had to wait because when the vent was turned on the noise from the motor in the room made teaching impossible. With the vent motors on the roof class can be taught at the same time that other students are working and using the vents.

The new renovated space is also designed to be more flexible in teaching different artistic media in the same spaces. This maximizes the use of space and the variety of artwork that can be done. The different rooms group compatible media. In the old art rooms Photo and Pottery shared the same space. Film development and pottery work were going on in the same area, which is not a good grouping. Now the photo processing is combined with graphics computers, the sculpture and pottery share a room, the jewelry and printmaking share a room, and painting and drawing classes share a room. Design classes float through all the rooms as they use the different media in their projects.

Safety and traffic patterns are much improved over the old art rooms. Glaze mixing is done in a vented closet instead of in the classroom. Students do not have to walk through the classroom to get to their class space as they did in the old facility. There are more stations at which students can solder, polish and grind. In the old area students would have to stand around and wait for a station to open up so they could do their work. In the old pottery studio the space was so tight we had to move the tables to use the wheels and move the wheels to use the tables. In the new space we can keep the wheels and tables out at the same time. In the painting/drawing area there is room to move easels to the side and use all the tables. Getting 20 easels out of the way is crucial when
Drivers' Training classes are taught in the drawing/painting studio on Tuesday and Thursday after school.

Another improvement that has made teaching visual arts classes more effective is having an integrated system for using technology to teach. This is also a prime reason that Drivers' Training uses an art room. The windows can be darkened, and permanently-mounted digital projectors are used for student or teacher presentations of material from computers, DVD, videotape, ipod or visualizer. This allows the teachers to concentrate on teaching and not on setting up, finding, fixing or waiting to use equipment.

The visualizer is piece of equipment that projects an object or operation with a fixed video camera. Student work is projected for critique, and small, hard-to-see operations such as carving clay or filing small silver stone settings can be easily seen on the screen by the whole class while the technique is being demonstrated. This is an incredible teaching advantage that can keep 20 students engaged because they all can see in clear detail what is being demonstrated.

Instead of having 20 students all waiting in line at a single sink at the end of class to clean paint brushes, hands, pottery tools, film graduates, etc, we now have two sinks in each classroom for clean up. Cleanup time has been cut in half, and we use the new free time for learning. This makes a big difference in the time available in the normal class period.

The new facility is much easier to keep clean and organized because we have good and secure storage. Supplies last longer when they do not have to be stored out in the room where they can be in the way of students working and room maintenance. Equipment, tools, materials and student artwork lasts longer. In the old art rooms we had to constantly move things many times a day as different classes came into the same space. The constant moving caused breakage and waste.

We have four times more wall space dedicated to display panels that is used for displaying student work for motivation and critiques.

We can get a whole photo class into the darkroom now instead of having only half the class go in at a time as we did in the old facility.

The art rooms also have the advantage of being across the hall from the library, the gym and the cafeteria in the new renovated space.

Thank you for the renovated spaces.

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ISABELLA LUBIN, STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Isabella Lubin from Norwich, VT is Hanover High's April Student of the Month.
Isabella has been an active contributor to the Broadside, our school newspaper, and a frequent volunteer at the Norwich Public Library. She is also an important member of the Math Team, her favorite activity. Outside of school, Isabella is an accomplished pastry chef, baking for her family, her weekly Common Ground meeting, and occasionally for the Woodstock Inn. Isabella is highly academic, very independent, mature, and easy-going. Yet she is not at all competitive and sincerely delights in her classmates' successes.

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STUDENT WINS SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDY IN GERMANY

HHS German teacher Uwe Goodall-Heising writes: Sophomore Jordan Hitchcock has won the Salem International Summer School Scholarship awarded by the American Association of Teachers of German for excellent results in the 2008 AATG National German Exam.

The Summer School will take place in Überlingen, a small town on Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The award donated by Schule Schloss Salem consists of two weeks of language courses, meals, accommodations and excursions. The AATG Endowed Scholarship Fund donates the air fare.

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SALLY HAIR, STAFF MEMBER OF THE MONTH

Council also named science teacher Dr. Sally Hair as Staff Member of the Month for April. The Council's administrative committee agreed with a recommendation that said: "I believe Dr. Hair deserves this recognition. Although I have never had the pleasure of being in her class, I believe Dr. Hair has shown admirable courage and leadership by voicing her concerns and offering a helping hand in regards to the incidents last June. I have yet to witness any other HHS staff member make an independent effort to reach out to the student body over this controversial issue in this way. So, Dr. Hair, thank you for your thoughts and good luck with the rest of the spring."

In June 2007 several students broke into school offices and stole final exams. Some students did not confess to their part in the cheating that followed. During a months-long public discussion Sally Hair wrote a letter to the school newspaper which said in part: "To those who were not involved in any sort of academic dishonesty, thank you for your hard work through all your years at Hanover High School. I am most worried about those of you who cheated but have not been honest about it. It may feel a lot easier to keep your mouth shut and hope no one notices you. This strategy may actually be successful in the short term.... You may get into the college you were hoping for. What worries me is the long term. I'm worried that you will go to college looking over your shoulder to see if anyone is watching you, as you may be doing now. You will not be able to forget what happened and you will always know.... Please know that adults in the school want to help you through this and no one wants to make it any harder than it already is... There will be short-term consequences and things may get worse before they get better. But they will get better."

The full letter is available from the Broadside newspaper at Hanover High. Council also named Bonnie Stebbins as Staff Member of the Month. Council is the elected body of students (the majority), staff and district residents which oversees school policy.

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