
Industrial Technology teacher Dave Holloway writes: Students from Hanover, Thetford and Windsor joined together for a field trip to Pinkerton Academy in Derry, NH last week to see world-renowned wood turners. The symposium, which was sponsored by the New Hampshire Guild of Woodworkers (www.gnhw.org), allowed the students to see various products being turned (the term used when a lathe is used to make the product). We saw bowls, candelabras, spinning tops of all sizes, and handles of all sorts being made by the experts. Among the 24 craftsmen demonstrating were Al Stirt,
whose work has been exhibited at the American Craft Museum and the White House Permanent Collection, and Mark St. Leger, currently on the faculty of art schools in Tennessee, North Carolina and New Jersey. The Guild organized a youth symposium for high-school students.
Since we have returned one student has made a white oak candelabra and is starting her second. The students from Hanover were Jordan Call, Kristian Grant, Kyle Castillo, Ines Kruger, Chris Washburn, Gabe Lambie, Gus Griffin and Tom Slater.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
STUDENTS MEET THE MASTER WOOD TURNERS
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Wednesday, June 3, 2009
IN THE ATRIUM: DESIGN, DRAWING, PAINTING, PRINTMAKING, SCULPTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY


During the Megaconcert on May 27, art students in grades 9-12 displayed their work from classes in Design, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture and Photography 1 and 2.
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"OH! FOR A PEN OF IRON!"

"Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! Oh, that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock forever!" (Book of Job 19:23-24)
The 2009 Pen of Iron is out. Hanover High's literary magazine carries poems, stories, essays, drawings and photographs by 13 students and two teachers. It's available in the atrium Fridays during activity period, and in Room 214. The cost is $5.00.
Cover photo by Nick Sinnott-Armstrong.
POEMS FROM "PEN OF IRON"
by Clara Lipfert, class of 2012
lift
fingers press keys music flutters
wrong notes like broken china right notes broken chords
docile
familiar then
difficult
foreign right
hand
plays alone simple melody stumbling like cold sweet plums
i lift my left hand
i am
swimming music stream against
the current low notes rocks resist
the current
my breath is the press of
the pedal limber
legs limbs white keys fingers half notes click
chest heaves heart pounds
simple melody
i lift my left hand
= = = = = = = = = =
In the Dining Hall Before Dinner
by Anna Schults, class of 2009
This is the best way
to listen to classical music,
In this room with
a few people chatting,
the clink of setting tables,
and the late afternoon light
coming in the windows just so
across the old piano.
Not in a stuffy concert hall
sitting stiff next to strangers
sweating in uncomfortable suits,
so far from the musicians,
minuscule up on stage.
No, this is the way to listen,
leaning against the wall
looking out across the mountains
feeling the vibrations through the hand
I’ve placed so carelessly
on the scarred top
of the piano.
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Monday, June 1, 2009
SENIOR BRIDGES INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECT: PLAN NOW FOR 2009-2010
Faculty Advisor Andrea Alsup writes: The Senior Bridges Interdisciplinary Project is an opportunity for second semester seniors to work on an intensive project of their own choosing. Seniors are invited to engage in independent study projects in any subject area(s) extending beyond the boundaries of our current curriculum. Although projects can be in any area of student interest, each will require that the student research the topic, work with a community mentor, write a substantial amount, create a tangible project illustrating what was learned/accomplished, and prepare a presentation about the topic for a class or panel of community members, students, and teachers. Credit areas and course hour commitments will be determined on an individual basis, depending upon the scope of the project as defined by students in their application forms.
Please call Andrea Alsup, English teacher and Bridges advisor:
at Hanover High: 603-643-3431 x2201
at home: 802-222-3372
Email: andrea.alsup@dresden.us
Click "read more" for the details.
The process:
Senior Bridges Project at Hanover High involves three phases and many skills:
The Paper: Acquisition of knowledge. The student learns about a topic by observing, researching, interviewing and writing.
The Project: Application of knowledge. With the help of a community mentor and a teacher-advisor, the student participates in a project—resulting in a tangible product or an experience, or both.
The Presentation: Synthesis of knowledge. The student presents findings to an HHS class or to a panel consisting of the community members, teachers, and students.
Why do it?
Senior Bridges offers graduating seniors several educational possibilities:
1. An opportunity to design and pursue their own courses of study for a range of 1-5 semester credits.
2. An opportunity to practice independent study—scheduling and time management-with an advisor.
3. An opportunity to work with a community mentor/expert.
What else?
As well as allowing students to design what, where, when and how they study in the last semester of their senior years, Bridges allows students to demonstrate mastery of the skills a graduating senior should have:
1. To gather and analyze information
2. To speak and write clearly
3. To make connections among past, present, and future events
4. To solve problems
5. To work cooperatively
6. To transfer skills between one discipline and another
Name:________________________
Email address:__________________
SENIOR BRIDGES STUDENT PROPOSAL GUIDELINES
RESEARCH AND WRITING:
1. What is your topic? Try to define it in a few sentences.
2. Have you identified a potential community mentor? If so, who? Have you met?
3. In what ways might your project be connected to career possibilities for you?
4. What do you already know about the topic? How will it constitute new learning for you?
5. What are the primary questions you hope to answer? (What do you want to learn?)
6. What kinds of research (people, media, print) will you need?
(Bibliography here)
7. What kind of writing would result from your research? For example:
*A traditional research paper proving a thesis: “The Abstract artists of the fifties owe more to scientific breakthroughs of the 19th century than to the artistic ones.” OR
*A report with graphics and annotated bibliography” “The design and building of the Ledyard Bridge.” OR
*A reflective account of your project: what happened, what you learned, what new questions are now raised for you: “A month working with terminally ill children.” OR
*Another form designed by you, to fit your needs.
8. What is your project? Try to define what you hope to achieve in a few sentences.
9. How are writing and project related?
10. Will it cost money? How much? (If community service is involved, some scholarship funding may be available).
11. Will your project involve other students? If so, how?
PRESENTATION:
12. What preliminary ideas do you have for your final presentation?
CREDIT:
13. Topics and projects will be considered on an individual basis, but if you are requesting a semester credit, bear in mind that one hundred and twenty hours of instructional time are necessary for a one semester course, and plan research, writing, and project accordingly. How much time do you estimate you will spend on each segment?
14. How much (e.g. .5 fine arts or .5 English) and what kind of credit are you requesting?
15. Are you requesting release time from classes? Explain:
Please answer these questions and then review them with A. Alsup. Thanks.
Bridges Timeline:
A. September-end Oct: meetings with Ms. Alsup in Room 103 to discuss your project ideas, write and revise proposals.
B. December 15: A written proposal following guidelines given you by Ms. Alsup will be due. You should have a community mentor at this time. Mentor agreement form due.
C. Before holiday break: Your proposal will be reviewed by a representative of each department.
D. January after finals: Begin assembling resources (written, living, electronic).
E. End of January: Party/meetings with community mentors and oral presentation panel members.
F. February: Research/project conferences with Ms. Alsup. Must have calendars and documentation from mentor.
G. March: Research/project conferences with Ms. Alsup. Must have calendars and documentation from mentor.
H. April 1: Q3 Mentor and self-evaluations due, project checkpoint due.
I. May 13: Drafts of papers due. Continue meetings.
J. May 20: Projects complete. Continue meetings.
K. May 23-27: Oral presentation practice with Ms. Alsup and other seniors in project. Continue meetings.
L. May 31: Senior Bridges portfolio (documentation of project, log, final paper, mentor evals. photos, notebooks) due. Continue meetings.
M. May 31-June 3: Oral presentations (20 min. present, 10 min. questions) to school and/or community audience; review of portfolios by Steering Committee.
Deadlines and all meetings are critical. You must meet them or lose credit.
HANOVER HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR BRIDGES PROJECT
The role of the mentor:
Because every student proposal is different, the role of each mentor will be different.
We do ask that you all observe a few guidelines:
1. Have an initial meeting with your student to review proposals and suggest resources for independent study: people, places, and media.
2. Plan a minimum of four meetings between February and mid-May to answer questions, review papers and projects, and discuss progress in general. Andrea Alsup will be the in-school advisor for the student; we will plan meetings to alternate with mentor meetings.
3. Attend the student’s final presentation (about one half hour, in a class or after school during the week after Memorial Day). If it isn’t possible for you to attend your student’s final presentation, please let your student know as soon as possible. We will ask you to help evaluate the presentation with others- -students, teachers, and community members.
4. Write a mid-semester progress report by April 1 and a final evaluation after the oral presentation.
Please see evaluation forms in the Senior Bridges project handbook. Your student will provide you with stamped, addressed envelopes for mailing.
If you have problems or questions, please call Andrea Alsup:
at Hanover High: 603-643-3431 x2201
at home: 802-222-3372
Email: andrea.alsup@dresden.us
Thank you very much for your interest in our students.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST


BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
The school was transfixed for four nights by the Footlighters' all-singing, all-dancing production of the musical Beauty and the Beast. A cast of 45 romped through the two-and-a-half hour Broadway show, backed by a 10-piece orchestra. Whirling 24-student choruses of enchanted flatware in the Beast's spellbound castle supported the speaking-singing roles. The show sold out two nights and almost sold out the other two.
Among the many stars were Molly Shimko as Belle, Tony Salvatoriello as the Beast, Marc Whittington as Gaston and Eric Meade as Lumiere. The director was English teacher Alan Haehnel. Jane Woods led the orchestra and Denise Frawley choreographed. In the 13-student production crew, Nick Sinnott-Armstrong designed the sound and Taylor Hornig designed the lighting.
Photos by Nick Sinnott-Armstrong.
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Monday, May 18, 2009
STUDENT OF THE MONTH: NATALIE DONNELLY
Senior Natalie Donnelly from Norwich, VT is Hanover High's May Student of the Month. Natalie is an honest, open student who speaks her mind. As editor of the Inde she has spent the last eight months utterly devoted to creating the yearbook for her classmates. Natalie is a visible leader who sets high standards for everyone. She excels in foreign languages and is captain of the tennis team. Natalie is infectiously cheerful, works hard and always supports her classmates.
Read more!
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Sunday, May 17, 2009
THE BRISIAD: THE EPIC STORY OF FAIR BRISEIS

Libby Tolman, class of 2011, wrote this poem in Ms. Alsup's Greek Mythology class. In Homer's Iliad, Briseis was a woman taken by Achilles as a prize of war, then later seized by Achilles's commander, King Agamemnon.
Sing, goddess, the rage of Briseis
Snatched from her safe-hearthed home.
Sing of a rage forbidden, a rage constricted
Confined to a turbulent mind in a cage of beauty.
Sing of a rage that never broke its chains,
A rage that threw only itself to the House of Death.
Begin, Muse, when she first left her island and father,
When the will of Zeus had not yet begun.
What god drove her to such a fury?
Eros, son of Venus who drove men to desire
When the Black Achean ships hit the island shore.
Picture a thousand ants alighting on sugary fruit.
So were the camp-weary Achean soldiers
Voracious, devouring. Nothing they left in peace.
The men tore the island apart for gold, women, and food.
Godlike runner Achilles got the best,
That his powerful build and commander status might be honored.
Bright Briseis Achilles tore from father Briseus’ loving arms.
Picture a starving beggar’s grasping attack on nourishing bread.
So was Achilles’ attack on innocent, beautiful Briseis.
And she thrilled at heart, afraid, unknowing, unsure of her destiny.
But hostile Ares made godlike Achilles end her confusion
As Briseis watched her father killed on the son of Thetis’ spear.
And the rage…
The rage that pounded on her mind
As the foam-capped breakers pounded on Achean ships
Cutting through the storm-tossed seas to foreign Illium.
The rage that lasted as the swift runner Achilles led her to his tents, not running now.
The rage that lasted through that night and the next in Achilles’ lodge,
Making her yearn for a spear to bury in the godlike hero’s chest.
But Thetis dove down from lofty Olympus,
Looking for all the world like another of Achilles’ prizes,
But Briseis knew her at once.
“Child!” White-armed Thetis cried. “Take heed of the all-powerful goddesses!
Obey our words. Do not harm brilliant Achilles.
Do not tempt Olympus’ deathlike wrath!”Picture a snarling, drooling dog held back from the kill,
How it frets and starts, only to be held by a chain,
Until it calms, resigned never to see the dark blood of its prey.
So was Briseis’ rage calmed by god-given acceptance and duty.
Sing, Muse, how then she wept and prayed to Thetis by the turquoise salty waters.
Tell of how Thetis did not rise for her as for godlike Achilles,
But let fair Briseis cry until her dog-like rage died,
Parched by the empty Trojan surf, replaced by carcass-like despair
Sing now of Thetis’ rage.
Up now Thetis flew to mighty Apollo and held his knees.
“Apollo, powerful Apollo!
Look how defiant Briseis disrespects swift runner Achilles!
Show her how lucky she is to have Achilles!”
And Apollo took these words and held them close to his heart.
He turned them over, wondering how to bring them to effect.
When lord of men Agamemnon, most unkind and abusive man alive,
Grew to a height of fury, great Apollo saw a way.
He placed the name Briseis in grasping Agamemnon’s mind.
Picture how a small, smooth dandelion seed grows,
Becoming a large, wicked garden weed.
So “Briseis” lodged in furious Agamemnon’s mind
And grew to the idea to take her of all Achilles’ prizes.
The cruel-to-women lord of men Agamemnon raged at questioning Achilles,
“I will be there in person at your tents
To take Briseis in all her beauty, your own prize—
So you can learn just how much greater I am than you
and the next man up may shrink from matching words with me.”
And Apollo knew that Briseis would see so much more—
She would shrink to think she had raged at kind Achilles,
Achilles gentler than great Agamemnon.
So Agamemnon sent loyal Talthybius and Eurybates along the beach,
Where towering waves drag sun-baked sand to stormy seas,
To fetch fair, clear-minded Briseis.
Achilles offered her forth resignedly,
But Briseis’ mind was full of worry.
Picture a black-grey storm cloud coalescing on an already-cloudy day.
So was Briseis’ unease,
For she had heard of ruthless Agamemnon,
Agamemnon crueler than great Achilles.
Patroclus obeyed his great friend [Achilles’] command.
He led Briseis in all her beauty from the lodge
And handed her over to the men to take away.
And the two walked back along the Argive ships
While she trailed on behind, reluctant, every step.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
HHS FOOTNOTES SING AT NOTRE DAME AND IN JOIGNY


Chorus Director Jane Woods writes: Over April vacation the HHS Footnotes completed a fabulous weeklong vocal-performance tour in France. We were based in Joigny, Burgundy, a twin city with Hanover, and we stayed with local families. Twenty-eight sophomores, juniors and seniors were accompanied by four chaperones.
We performed several different types of concerts: first, a cafe evening in Joigny featuring our solos, duets and trios; second, a concert-hall performance in Joigny including classical, multi-cultural, Broadway and jazz tunes; and third, cathedral concerts of sacred and classical acappella music in Joigny; in Auxerre; and in Paris at Notre-Dame de Paris (definitely a wonderful experience!) Our songs at Notre Dame ranged from 13th-century polyphony through contemporary pieces. We also had permission to sing informally in two other cathedrals just for fun, to try out the acoustics.
We received overwhelming enthusiasm for all our performances. The students had a great time singing in places with such historical significance and amazing acoustics.
The photos show a sacred-acappella performance at Notre Dame; the weekly Saturday market in Joigny; and Bekah Schweitzer, Rebecca Whittington and Marc Whittington rehearsing their acappella trio in Pontigny Abbey.
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Monday, May 11, 2009
HHS WOODSHOP: TWO SOPHOMORES SHOW THEIR WORK

Aaron White and David Waste, class of 2011, have been working with Mr Holloway in the Industrial Technology shop on their first high-school wood projects. Aaron's table has a maple top and a pine body. Check out the grain and the cool icon. David made his left-handed electric guitar with an ash body, a steel-reinforced maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard. In four months he designed and turned the wood himself, seated the frets and fret-markers, and applied the finish to the body.
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Monday, May 4, 2009
SENIOR CASSANDRA HAMEL: PARLIAMENTARIAN, COMPETITOR, FUTURE TEACHER

Senior Cassandra Hamel, parliamentarian of her local chapter of Future Business Leaders of America, won prizes at the organization's spring state competition in Burlington in April. She took second place in Desktop Publishing for a digitally-made poster and other materials, and for her performance on a test about desktop publishing. In the Business Ethics competition, Cassandra and a partner explained what they would do on the job if a co-worker said that he had falsified his resume. (Their decision: make sure of the details, then tell the co-worker that if he didn't tell the manager, they would.)
Future Business Leaders of America is a Virginia-based nonprofit association whose high-school members are preparing for business and business-related careers. Its National Awards Program recognizes and rewards excellence in its state competitions.
At Hanover's joint program with Hartford High School, Cassandra chairs the Community Service Committee which helps retirees at the Brookside Nursing Home at the holidays. On the Human Services Committee she introduces younger students to computers while showing them how to make birthday cards. Cassandra will go to Community College of Vermont next year and plans to major in elementary education. She is shown here with HHS educational assistant Teresa Drelick.
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