Sophomore Aleena Jacob, president of the new Bollywood Dance Club, says one of her fondest memories is sitting in front of her television set as a doe-eyed toddler and watching the vibrant spectacle that is Bollywood Dance.

Last year, she participated in International Night, a cultural celebration for the diverse ethnicities present at DHS through music, dance, and a plethora of other festivities. Jacob saw many of her friends participate, proudly brandishing their heritage, and noticed, in particular, the appreciation for Indian culture in her favorite form, dance.

Jacob was inspired to create the Bollywood Dance Club after that night. Her goal is to allow students to work together as a team to create and choreograph Indian styled dances, citing the core of her club as “a fun way to dance and collaborate with others to form an amazing experience.” The style of dance is celebrated as a fusion between East and West music and dance.

It was that notion of the club’s potential that ultimately encouraged Jacob to legitimately form it in the fall. She contacted the ESL teachers and attracted the interest of Katie Jarvis–the current club advisor. “I thought it was a really cool and original idea, so I decided to help out,” Jarvis said. She hosted the club’s first informational meeting Dec. 14 and seeks to continue supporting the club and its dancing.

Jarvis, like many members of the club, which meets in C 335 every Friday, cites her experience as a source of attraction to the club. “When I was in college, I had taken a class in Indian style dancing,” she said. “I loved it, but I wasn’t really good at it.”

Hibba Qureshi, a sophomore club member, also has a background in Indian dance. “I have been a Bollywood dancer all my life. I’m self-taught, and am thrilled to see this club open. It gives me a chance to share my love for Bollywood dancing with others,” she said.

While a majority of the club members hold a background in dance, the biggest misconception of the club is the requirement of that ability.

“People do not need to be experienced in dance to join,” Jacob said. “They also do not need to dance. While we’re centered on dancing, we also need music and costumes. The club’s main purpose is to be proud of another culture and to share that joy with others.”

Qureshi agrees, resonating with the club’s message of inclusivity of the Indian culture. “I hope that by joining this club, I can spread new cultures and diversity to DHS when we perform later this year,” she said. The Bollywood Dance Club, she added, plans to put on numerous performances this year, with a major event being International Night.

Jacob said she hopes students are willing to at least try a new experience — whether familiar with Bollywood dancing or not.

“DHS is the land of opportunities,” she said. “Even though the club is just starting, I hope more people are willing to take part in the club and experience the joy of dance.”

After the change to block scheduling, students have only 30 minutes to navigate their way through the bustling cafeteria to wait in the long lunch line to get their food, and cafeteria workers have even less time to serve lunch to the hungry students in the allotted time.

“This is the first year we’ve had a change in the schedule,” cafeteria manager Alice Hawley said in reference to the change from a 45-minute lunch period.

Even with the shortened lunch periods, the workers have managed to minimize the lunch line waiting time. According to Hawley, students are in and out of the lunch line within 11 to 14 minutes, leaving them at least 15 minutes to eat.

A letter from Mark K. McQuillan, Commissioner of Education, to superintendents of schools mentions how the state “require[s] each school under its jurisdiction to offer all full day students a daily lunch period of not less than 20 minutes.”

While the new lunch waves pass this requirement, students generally favor the longer lunch periods from previous years.

Feona Jodin, senior, said she “misses the social part” of last year’s lunch period. “Lunch is so fast this year, we don’t have enough time to talk to each other about our day and our classwork.”

She also mentioned how she cannot get the food she wants if she arrives to lunch late.

“My class is on C5,” Jodin said. “So by the time I get down to the lunch room, I can’t get the food I want.”

Issues such as this have arisen with the student body, especially concerning the logistics of eating during a certain time of the day. Grace Rudick, sophomore, said her eating schedule is put off because she has different lunch waves each day.

“It’s so annoying to change when I eat,” Rudick said. She has lunch wave one on B days and four on A days, and said that she is really hungry by the time fourth wave starts.

Another sophomore, Lindsey Bieber, agreed, and suggested that “everyone have the same lunch wave everyday.”

Susanne Zencey, math teacher, suggests an extension on the lunch waves. “Since I’m a busy teacher, I don’t always start eating right away. It feels rushed,” Zencey said. State labor laws guarantee teachers a minimum of 30 minutes for lunch, so it’s been an adjustment for them, too.

Robin Pietz, Spanish teacher, expresses a similar opinion: “I think a little bit longer wouldn’t hurt.”

The lunch period may not have made a significant impact on the cafeteria staff, but some teachers and students think it is too short. Lengthening the lunch period by 10 minutes may be a good consideration to make in the future.

Despite some issues and backlash, other students enjoy the waves.

“I like the shorter waves,” sophomore Benjamin Laham said. He mentioned that the lunch period “gives you a little break from class to recollect everything and get you through the day.”

For students who have lunch waves 2 and 3, lunch is a break from a long block. Pietz, who has lunch wave 2, said that while “a few students tend to come back late [from lunch], they seem pretty focused and ready to go when they come back.”

In general, the students and staff have a few suggestions for the lunch period, but are habituating to the new schedule. Even the cafeteria staff has encountered issues that they have been able to solve.

Just last week, they were short of staff due to illnesses and transfers. As a result, Hawley said, “we shut down a station to accommodate for the low number of staff.”

Additionally, other problems have been reduced since the beginning of the schedule change, including disciplinary issues in the cafeteria. Hawley suspects that freshmen are the problem, but said that the issues eased a few weeks into the school once they “got used to the way things are run here.”

While there are still some issues that still need to be addressed in the next few years, the staff and students as a whole are adjusting to the new lunch schedule.

“Of course the first few weeks were a little hard, but we adapted well to the change,” Hawley said.

Administrators have opened the student bathrooms after a period of locking them because of the rising problem of vaping at school. It used to be cigarettes and joints, but now it’s a Juul and the privacy the bathrooms offer.

Locking the student bathrooms was an effort by Principal Dan Donovan to put an end to this epidemic.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 2018, more than 3.6 million U.S. middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days. That’s 21 percent of all high schoolers, 5 percent of all middle schoolers.

And although locking the bathrooms proved successful at the time, it also proved to be a major inconvenience for all those involved.

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“I didn’t have a solution, I wish I did,” Donovan said. “That was just a stopgap measure to identify the kids, and keep a better eye out for them, see if we could stop it. I didn’t like the solution, I just didn’t have anything else.”

The main complaint from numerous students was the lengthy trip when trying to find an open restroom. Senior Christina Syryla said, “Once I saw that the bathrooms were locked on D1, which is where my classroom is, and I had to go up to D2 only to find that those bathrooms were also locked, so I had to go all the way to D3 to use the bathroom.”

Steven Suarez, a sophomore, admits to having gotten extremely annoyed with the situation. He found it agitating that he had to walk so far “considering there is a bathroom right down the hall, and [he couldn’t] even use it.”

In both cases, the students missed class time, and although some teachers understood the situation, many believed their students were skipping or lollygagging in the halls and accused them of such.

Many female students had a another issue with the distance between their classroom and the bathroom for a more pressing reason, hygiene. Jenn Roos, a sophomore explained, “I had to walk to C4 to find an open bathroom, which was very problematic for myself, and I’m sure many other girls because of personal hygiene needs that, at the time, need to be handled quickly.”

Donovan recognized these complaints as inconveniences, but also pointed out that he “heard the complaint, ‘I don’t like walking into the bathrooms with 10 kids vaping.’ I was trying to stop that one. I figured if I got that one solved, the other one would go away.”

He continued to say, “I understand kids can vape at home, but in school, kids have to know that is not acceptable. Especially if they’re vaping a marijuana product. That, I can’t have for the safety of them and the others in this school.”

Students caught are issued two days of ISS, reduced to one day on the condition that they write an essay while in ISS on the dangers of vaping and share it with Donovan. If he believes the student did a solid job on the essay, the student doesn’t have to serve the second day.

Although many students believe that locking the bathrooms is unethical and an infringement on rights, safety advocate Sue Lamontagne refuted this. “We don’t lock all of them; we open bathrooms periodically, I do have staff that can supervise certain bathrooms at certain times.”

Donovan and Lamontagne both explained that they simply did not have the “manpower” to staff all of the bathrooms. “We cannot have safety advocates, assistant principals, whomever, standing at every bathroom. So by locking certain of them, we were forcing kids to go to the opened ones that we could monitor,” Donovan said.

Suarez disagreed with this logic: “Administration needs to understand that kids are never going to stop Juuling in the bathrooms, it’s just a habit.” Some students shared similar views, arguing that kids are going to vape regardless of what bathroom they’re in.

That being said, Donovan reported the practice to “have proved itself successful, in that [he has] stopped a bunch of kids. Since catching them, student vaping had gone down.”

This lead to him opening the bathrooms after returning from Christmas break. “I opened them because I felt that it got a message across, that this is not acceptable. I also didn’t like the practice and inconvenience it caused, so I unlocked them.”

“They are permanently open right now,” he continued. “We’ll see what happens. If I don’t find 15 kids in a bathroom on C5 vaping during a lunch wave, then the bathrooms can stay that way.”

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Lamontagne, however, said her staff is starting to see an increase again. “We did see a lot of decreased activity, but unfortunately we’ve reopened them. We still do not reopen them until after the first block begins, and we have noticed activity starting again,” she said.

Currently, the safety advocates are checking each bathroom throughout the day. “If you think about it, from the bathrooms throughout D-building, G, and C, that’s a lot of bathrooms for someone to to check, especially when we’re down a safety advocate. One is at the front desk, the parking lot;  they’re spread thin,” Donovan said.

If vaping becomes such a significant issue again, the chances for a solution other than locking the bathrooms is unlikely. Donovan explained, “We have looked into sensors, there is no video, but there is a sensor that detects vaping as well as an audio component. If the audio hits a certain level, it sends an alert.”

Sophomore Becca D’Ostilio believed that the whole process just upset the student body, and suggested a drug education class that would “show the dangers of Juuling.” (Health classes do provide such lessons). But, sophomore Isabella Peralta disagreed.

“A majority of the students could care less about their health and the repercussions that come with smoking and vaping,” Peralta explained.

Lamontagne is steadfast in the initial solution. “At this point, all I know is that locking certain bathrooms and only keeping some open, while supervising them throughout the day, that works the best.”

Editor’s note: This story is developing and will be updated. This version was published at 7:03 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23.

C4 will be reopened for science classes Thursday, Jan. 24, and the cafeteria will be back on line to serve lunch to students, Principal Dan Donovan reported to the DHS community late this afternoon. The more severely damaged C3, however, will remain closed as crews continue to clean and inspect.

But even that floor may reopen to teachers and students later Thursday, Donovan said. “The C-3 classrooms will remain closed for the start of school tomorrow,” he said in a message to parents, students and faculty. “We will be inspecting those rooms throughout the day and hopefully opening them as the day progresses.”

Meanwhile, he said, all students who have classes on C3 (business, English, and special education) should report Thursday to the auditorium until further notice. The school store, operated by business classes, also remains closed.

A few hours after dismissal Tuesday is when a water pipe in the C3 ceiling ruptured, sending torrents of water crashing through ceiling tiles and onto classrooms — several of them with desktop computers — below. The sprinkler system on C4 malfunctioned and flooded the floor. Water from C3 then found its way down to the cafeteria’s rafters, soaking and rupturing ceiling tiles there.

Administrators — including Donovan, Associate Principal Meghan Martins, and assistant principals Kris Davidson and John LaRosa — all reacted to a fire alarm on the C4 Tuesday afternoon. As they rushed to the wing, water was already everywhere.

Apparently, pipes in the rafters froze over the long weekend, Donovan explained to faculty and staff Wednesday morning, when students would later report to school at 10:20. The pipes ruptured, but because of the weekend’s freezing temperatures the leaking water froze and essentially capped the leak. But on Tuesday when school reopened and the building warmed up, the ruptures let loose by late afternoon.

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Shannon Ahearn
A balcony view of C3 and C4 classes convening today in the auditorium because of water damage in their classrooms caused by a ruptured pipe and malfunctioning sprinkler systems.

One of the first worries of administrators and teachers reacting was the yearbook office at the end of C3, where adviser Tom Porcelli and his student staff already have a good portion of this year’s annual laid out on their Macs. LaRosa and Davidson grabbed the electronics and moved them out of harm’s way.

Nearby, in the C-Wing workroom, bookroom and copying center, the newly leased copier machine was already beyond saving. In Diane Mohs’ computer lab — where she teaches AP Computer Science — the desktops were drenched in water. Water was still pooled Wednesday morning on the computer tables.

Thalia Albano, a junior in Mohs’ class, predicted it might be six months before insurance comes through for new computers, jeopardizing preparation for the AP exam in May.

As of this week, Mohs said she is going to have students do pencil and paper work. “In the short run, I can do it, but in the long run, I cannot,” she said. “In a couple of weeks, we’ll need the computers to prepare for the exam.”

Donovan had C3 and C4 classes moved to the auditorium, where he asked teachers to do their best delivering instruction.  Business teacher Dan Stryker conducted his personal finance class there.

“Being in the auditorium is making teaching tricky,” he said. “Fortunately we have Google Classroom so we’re doing a lot through that. The students are resilient and continuing to work.”

Stephen Kissel, a chemistry teacher, also had his class moved to auditorium. “We’re still getting work done,” he said. “We brought clipboards to do worksheets on.”

His student, sophomore Milena Caetano, was trying to make the best of the situation. “I don’t like not having a classroom to learn in,” she explained.

Alyssa Perez, a senior in Honors Marketing II, agreed. “It’s very overwhelming because there are so many people and there’s no set plan. I think they should be more organized about this,” she said.

Junior Roshni Vasudevan added, “I think that having us in the auditorium is very disorganized.”

Donovan said he understands their frustration but that the administration, affected faculty, custodians, city crews, the fire marshal, and the cleanup company, Waterbury-based JP Maguire Associates, all are doing yeoman’s work to get students back into their classrooms.

“I would like to thank all the students for making the best of a rough situation,” Donovan said in his Wednesday message.

This version was published at 12:21 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23

City crews, custodial staff and teachers today continued cleaning up from damage caused by yesterday’s frozen water pipe rupture and sprinkler system malfunction that turned C3 and C4 into a wading pool.

Classrooms on those two floors remain closed to students and staff as workers removed soiled and busted ceiling tiles that gave way under the weight of the rushing water. Meanwhile, teachers and students from those classrooms — business, English, special education, and science — gathered in the auditorium and tried to conduct some semblance of class.

Principal Dan Donovan said in a faculty meeting this morning that district officials are working on getting teachers and students back into C4 classrooms — where damage was minimal — as soon as possible. “C3 teachers, however, will be out of their rooms for a little while,” Donovan told the faculty.

C3 took the brunt of the rupture, which happened in piping between C3 and C4. Donovan said the pipe froze and burst over the weekend. The freezing temperatures kept the water frozen, but as the building and pipes warmed up Tuesday after the holiday weekend, the rupture quickly became apparent as torrents of water filled the C4 floor and crashed down to C3. A malfunctioning sprinkler system on C4 didn’t help matters, soaking the Science Department’s chemical storage area.

Teachers and administrators, including Donovan, who were still in the building rushed to pull as many electronics and other valuable items out of harm’s way. Still, the water quickly crashed down on Diane Mohs’ desktop computers in her computer lab and ruined a copier machine in the C3 teachers’ workroom. The machine was newly leased in the summer.

Overnight, Waterbury-based JP Maguire Associates sent crews to vacuum and pump out the standing water on the C3 and C4 floors, Donovan said. The crews then placed air movers and dehumidifiers inside the rooms and hallways to continue the drying process.

“We have a lot of people to thank, including JP Maguire, teachers, administrators and custodians,” Donovan said. “It was literally like trying to dry a river.”

Editor’s note: Staff Writers Erik Wallin, Kiara Kaltschnee, and Jenna Coladarci contributed to this report.

Students and staff have been abundant in their outpouring of love and support for Business and Peer Leadership teacher, Susan Schullery. In September, Schullery was diagnosed with stage four cancer after months of thinking that she was well and healthy.

Often, cancer can be difficult to identify and recognize. In Schullery’s case, “We don’t know what it is. It is unknown,” she explained.

Thus far, Schullery is being treated with general chemotherapy in hopes of keeping cancer cells from spreading, and to make her eligible for the procedure that she needs. It will only be after “four doses of chemo,” “four additional doses of chemo,” and a one-month break that Schullery will hopefully become a strong candidate for surgery.

Plans for the future regarding surgery, however, have been hard to make. “It’s like the stock market,” Schullery shared. “Once it goes down,” she will be qualified for surgery. However, once it “starts to tip up” again, she will no longer be eligible.

Cheryl Duva, a close friend of Schullery, started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising money to help with the extreme financial expenses. “I wasn’t aware that she had started it,” said Schullery. It was in the middle of the school day, when her phone began to go off and “one seat to the next seat, students were telling each other” about it, that she found out.

Initially, Schullery was hesitant to make a video asking for help on the GoFundMe. Fortunately, Duva convinced her, explaining that “I know it’s gonna be hard but I need you to put a video together.”

Since the GoFundMe was posted, the campaign has skyrocketed. In just a few days, the campaign has become the talk of the town and has even become trending on the official GoFundMe website. It has also raised more than her original goal of $25,000, now exceeding $52,600.

Schullery said that she “cannot put words together to describe the compassion” she has been receiving and is shocked by the amount of old friends that she has seen for the first time in years.

Not only have past friends from high school come in contact with the teacher, but so have many former students. Students have come in contact with her expressing their love and support after seeing the GoFundMe campaign online and hearing about her health struggles.

WestConn freshman Hayden Turk was one of several former students who visited with Schullery last week. She expressed her gratitude towards Schullery and the times that they have shared. “I had a difficult time but she was always there to assure me,” said Turk. She continued by sharing how she struggled dealing with college and high school at the same time during her senior year but Schullery “was always able to comfort [her].”

In addition to Turk, a few other former students were excited to share their love for their teacher. “She was always so much more to me than just a teacher,” expressed UConn student Nikki Ho.

Fairfield University student Caroline Magyar also shared how grateful she will forever be for having Schullery in her life. “She has done so much for me and we are better people now because of her,” said Maygar.

TeAva Mercado, a 2017 graduate, also spoke highly of her teacher/”inspiration” and had many kind things to say. The former student said that Schullery’s “selflessness and kindness” is what she truly loved most about her in high school. “She always took time out of her own day to help her students and she believed in every single one of us so why would we not fight for her,” Mercado said.

Mercado went on to share a few of her favorite moments that she has had with Schullery. She will always remember the time in her senior year when Schullery had her class do a community change project.

“Everyone had gotten partners except for me,” Mercado said, “but then I realized that she wanted me to do it all alone” and “she only did it to me because she believed in me so much.” The former student was then quick to say that “there was not just one special story or memory with Mrs. Schullery because everyday was a new one.”

Jay Danzy, another 2017 graduate, agreed that it was Schullery’s selflessness and kindness that impacted him so much. Danzy was lucky enough to have Schullery as “a great mentor” for “all four years” of his high school career and has learned many valuable lessons from her.

One influential memory of Schullery that Danzy will always remember is a time during his junior year in personal finance class. “She told us to always say ‘yes’ because whenever there is one opportunity, it always leads to another door that is opened,” Danzy said.

A current DHS Senior, Leah Dolan has also appreciated how Schullery “never failed to be there for [her] whenever [she] needed her help” and is immensely grateful for how Schullery “helped [her] become more outgoing” throughout her high school years and get her to “personally reach out to people that [she] doesn’t know”.

Dolan was also overjoyed to hear about Schullery’s big news involving the success of her GoFundMe campaign saying, “I remember checking the GoFundMe every hour [after hearing the news] and when [the campaign] reached the [initial] $10,000 goal, I thought that was absolutely insane and then I saw it reach $25,000 and I was shocked.”

Along with the rest of the Danbury community, Dolan is “extremely happy for [Schullery] and glad that she is now able to pay for the surgery that she needs and has so many supporters in her life.”

Not only are students from past generations immensely grateful for the time they have spent with Schullery, but she is as well. When asked from others about why she continues to attend work and get out of bed every day even when she is unwell, Schullery responds by telling them, “This is my life, this is me living” and “to not be here is telling me to stop living my life.”

Having her entire life revolving around students and work (outside of her home life), has made Schullery more hopeful. With the support that she has been receiving from all those she has touched coming from her workplace in general has shown Schullery that “[her students] listened, they got it,” and that her work has truly been recognized.

Not only have students come to lend a helping hand to Schullery over the past few weeks, but so have many of her colleagues.

One of her closest colleagues and English teacher, Tom Porcelli has been impressed with the way Schullery has continued to attend work as regularly as she can and has expressed how she is “a very strong person” and is impressed by how Schullery has managed to “appear normal” and let nothing phase her or stand in her way.

Another close colleague of Schullery’s, Business teacher Diane Mohs has also commented, saying that “Cancer is difficult for anyone and [she] can’t imagine what Mrs. Schullery is going through.” However, she does “admire her for her strength and perseverance in her resolve to get well” and strives to “support her and her family at this difficult time.”

Hundreds of donations have been made to the GoFundMe campaign that has been posted in hopes to make Schullery’s expenses much easier to deal with. Donations have been made for hundreds of dollars. However, Schullery says that “students [simply] donating 5 and 20 dollars is still so touching” and she would like to highlight the fact that “the expenses are [indeed] astronomical but the need for treatment begins at $25,000 and if wasn’t for all the support this surgery would not even be a consideration”.

     With leaps, flips, and bends, the girls’ gymnastics team is working hard this season. Despite the small number of members–only three–these girls demonstrate what it really means to be a Danbury Hatter.

     Since the last gymnast graduated in 2005, this is only the team’s second year as a revival program. As it’s such a new program, the team consists of a few, but hardworking girls: Paz Moran, a freshman, Grace Bennett, a freshman, and Bethany Palardy, a sophmore.

     Because there are only three girls in the gymnastics program, they are not a full team but rather three individual teams of one from the same school. They combine with the New Milford team to compete in the gymnastic meets and practice.

     The team is also coached by Bethany Mihaly, who has been the New Milford gymnastics coach for 30 years and Danbury coach for two. Prior to living in Connecticut, she also coached in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

     “You need at least four members to be a full team and the approval of the school board,” Mihaly says. “I enjoy coaching these girls though. The three of them are so fun and sweet and are very coachable. They are making steady improvements.”

     Palardy began the girls’ gymnastics team last year when she was a freshman. She was the only member on the team last year, but has recently been joined by Bennett and Moran for the current season.

     “It’s going pretty well, it’s a lot of fun,” Moran says. Palardy adds, “Our season is going really well, we have FCIACS coming up soon and I think we’re ready for it.”

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Mrs. Palardy
(Left to right) Danbury girls Grace Bennett, Paz Moran, and Bethany Palardy smile after a meet.

     Thus far, the Danbury girls have competed within New Milford’s county, not Danbury’s. However, in FCIACs, they’ll have to go head-to-head with new competitors that are more familiar to Danbury athletes. That being said, many other “teams” also consist of one to three girls, much like this year’s team.

     “When we compete we have the home team start in Olympic order” Palardy explains. “The four events goes vault, bars, beam, floor. The away team starts in a different order, such as bars, vault, floor, beam.”

     Coach Mihaly adds, “If they do all four they also get an all-around score. For teams, you can put six competitors on each event and the top four scores count. The Danbury girls are scored individually. They can use those individual scores to qualify for state open competition.”

     Given the relative newness of the team, students are eager to learn more about these girls and are impressed with their team. Sophomores Grace Dykeman and Grace Keefe have nothing but positive things to say about the team.

     “I think that it’s really cool that we have a gymnastics team and that there are people willing to commit to it,” Dykeman says. Keefe adds, “I think that takes a lot of confidence for a small quantity of girls that are participating and competing on the team to represent our school.”

Joanna Wenchell, senior, also expresses similar feelings towards the team. “Gymnastics team is a cool addition to the successful teams here at DHS. It’s nice to see such young girls taking on such a big role since there are only three of them and I’m excited to see what they are going to achieve.”

Viktoria Wulff-Andersen, sophomore, captivated her audience as she recited Caroline Bird’s “Megan Married Herself” at the finals of the Poetry Out Loud competition earlier this month. She was named the winner and will go on to compete at the Connecticut State Finals on March 9.

Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition that is run by the National Endowment for the Arts. High schools pick a representative to compete at the state competition and, from there, a representative is chosen to compete nationally at George Washington University in Washington D.C., from April 30-May 1 for a chance to win $20,000.

Since its introduction three years ago by English teacher Elise Tobin, the contest has been well-met at DHS.

“I think that it’s been successful because it is a unique program and gives students the opportunity to be themselves and put their own spin on something that is not their own writing,” said Tobin, herself a published poet.

The program has also garnered attention from another English teacher, Casey Hanrahan. This year, she has made participation a requirement for her Creative Writing I class; Tobin ran it as her Honors extension. Both had mini competitions in their classes and then invited their top performers to compete at the finals.

Between Hanrahan’s and Tobin’s classes, there were about 75 students overall with six final competitors. In addition to Wulff-Andersen, seniors Cassandra Lanson and Musa Masood, and sophomores Gianna Iaquinto, Grace Seibert, and Umama Mufti, placed.

The competitors were tasked with picking a published poem from the National Endowment for the Arts website and then reciting the poem from memory. They were then judged on a scale of 1-6 in their physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, and overall performance.

Wulff-Andersen scored the highest, and Mufti finished as runner-up with her recitation of “A Song in the Front Yard” by Gwendolyn Brooks.

Wulff-Andersen, who works for the Hatters’ Herald, the yearbook and the Nutmegger, was  excited to win the DHS finals. “Competing in the Connecticut State Finals presents me a unique opportunity to show off my theatrical and public speaking skills,” she said.

At the Connecticut State Finals she is going to perform her winning piece “Megan Married Herself,” Emily Dickinson’s  “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” and Arthur Rimbaud’s “The Seekers of Lice.”

Though Wulff-Andersen said her strengths while reciting poetry are clarity, annunciation, confident presence, and her ability to captivate her audience by varying volume, she thinks her weakness is physical presence. “I don’t know where to place my hands. I need to figure out when using my hands is necessary,” she said.

To prepare for the Connecticut State Finals she is going to use the same process she used the first time: “I’m going to memorize and read aloud the poems first. Then I am going to recite it in front of my family and friends and get comfortable with it. The more I practice the more comfortable I get.”

Editor’s note: Educator’s Corner is column space for DHS teachers, counselors, administrators and staff to submit pieces for publication. Just email rossth@danbury.k12.ct.us and make your pitch!

“Gosh, this seemed like such a good idea at the time.” This is what usually pops in my head whenever I find myself in the midst of some home improvement project. And I’m not talking about major projects, such as remodeling the kitchen or re-tiling the bathroom floor. I’m talking about projects that take the average person minutes to complete, but which take on a never-ending quality when I take them on.

Take for instance changing mini blinds. It might take the average person, what, maybe 30 minutes or so to replace? Not so when I’m involved!

While at mom’s house, I decided to replace the mini blinds in one of the spare bedrooms. How hard could it be? So I drove to my local home improvement store to purchase the new blinds.

I walked over to the window treatment aisle and asked one of the store reps for help in selecting the blinds. “Great,” he said. “What’s the width of the window?”

The width? It hadn’t dawned on me that window frames could come in different sizes. I had just assumed that window frames were a one-size fits-all kind of deal. So, with an “I’ll be back,” I turned around, got in my car, and drove back to mom’s to measure the window.

This of course, should have been a sign of things to come, but I was experiencing a Bob Vila moment and nothing was going to deter me from replacing those blinds.

I measured the width, drove back to the store, and bought the mini blinds destined for my impending home improvement project.

Back at mom’s, it quickly became apparent that whoever wrote the instructions for installing the mini blinds, a) might have benefited from a refresher course on English grammar, b) did not bother to submit the document through spell check, and c) must have flunked art.

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Soraya Bilbao

For as much as I tried, I couldn’t make heads or tails of the written instructions or the stick-figure drawings that were supposed to resemble the various assembly parts.

By step 1, I was hopelessly lost.

Finally, after more than an hour trying to decipher the hieroglyphics that were surely taken from some long lost civilization, I decided to call a home improvement expert, my sister.

Between my sister and I, she has always been the handier of the two.

As kids, she was the one who was completely captivated when our dad would call us over to teach us how to change the oil in the car. Me? I moaned and groaned and was an unwilling participant in such teachable moments.

She has even changed a flat tire. She mentioned this in passing several years back. “Oh, yesterday I went to get groceries, changed a flat tire, and took the boys to soccer practice.” Me? I couldn’t even begin to tell you how to use the thingamajig that came with my car and that was supposedly manufactured to aid in such a task.

So with this in mind, I called my sister for help.

Unfortunately, although she did happen to have experience replacing mini blinds, I found that following someone’s instructions over the phone was just as challenging as trying to follow the cryptogram manufacturers were trying to pass off as assembly instructions.

Therefore, I was left with no other alternative.

I repackaged the mini blinds into their original packaging and slid them under the bed where they stayed for several months collecting dust bunnies. Since I had already taken down the old mini blinds, the room sat blind-less for some time.

At some point, I finally did manage to hang the new blinds. I did so after some hammering of nails — mine, not the store-bought kind, some colorful remarks unsuitable for anyone under 21, and several leftover parts that originally came with the blinds, but that somehow did not make their way into the final product.

And as I admired my handiwork, I thought, “Mmm, I think the bathroom faucet needs replacing.”

— Soraya Bilbao is an ESL teacher at DHS and a frequent guest columnist.

First it was smoking, now it’s vaping. Regardless, nicotine usage in Danbury High School is on the rise. Our bathrooms are frequently locked to thwart the frequent nicotine usage. Our vocabulary now includes the words “juul” and “juice.” Our social media is flushed with an influx of vape conversations. In the wake of this issue, two DHS students are proposing a solution.

HOSA president Lauren Ifkovits, senior, and vice president Judith De Oliveira, sophomore, are seeking to raise the legal purchasing age of nicotine products from 18 to 21 in Connecticut in a campaign of their own initiative.

HOSA, or Health Occupations Students of America, represents future health professionals and as a part of it, students advocate and educate on personal health. “As future health professionals, we’re supposed to protect public health,” said De Oliveira. “We’re just trying to help our community with this advocacy.”

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Bathrooms reopen as admin tries to get vaping under control

For the activist pair, inspiration struck when they attended the HOSA Fall Leadership Conference on Jan. 4. Each year, the conference has a theme centering on an aspect of medical awareness; this year, it revolved around nicotine usage within the youth population.

“They advocated for us to help their campaign to raise awareness on nicotine usage and decrease it,” said Ifkovits. “They also talked about how in Hartford, they managed to raise the purchasing age to 21. From there, we knew we could help out Danbury by doing the same.”

Their plan to raise the legal age began with a survey they sent out to the DHS staff regarding their thoughts and knowledge on nicotine usage. The survey also asked for a “personal story to show how nicotine impacts lives.” In the more than  50 responses, 94 percent supported increasing the age of buying nicotine products to 21.

De Oliveira and Ifkovits plan to use the survey as a support mechanism towards their advocacy. “Right now, we’re collecting information on the school and public regarding their opinions on nicotine usage, and whether or not they’re willing to help us. The majority are,” explained Ifkovits. “At the conference, they told us to collect as much information as possible to support raising the legal age, and show that the public is backing us up.¨

Their next step sending off their survey information the Connecticut State HOSA. There, the state HOSA will work with the non-profit Tobacco-Free Kids, which successfully lobbied the Hartford City Council — and most recently the Bridgeport City Council — to raise the age to 21 through the Tobacco 21 Campaign, to pass a similar law within the state of Connecticut.

If they succeed in lobbying the state General Assembly, Connecticut will join the six states that have already acted to raise the age to 21: California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, and Maine.

The pair hope that by legitimizing their campaign, they can help impact the DHS community in a positive way. Ifkovits noted the devastating impacts of vaping. “While we’re in class, the bathrooms are locked due to this nicotine epidemic. Our own school can’t even trust us to be responsible,” she said.

De Oliveira agreed, and said she is hopeful for the changes their advocacy will bring. “While we know that vaping and smoking won’t completely stop, we hope that raising the age will prevent kids from from experimenting as much,” said De Oliveira.  

Camily Aguilar, sophomore and secretary of HOSA, supports the campaign. “A lot of high school kids get access to Juuls and other vape products from their senior friends or friends who recently graduated. By raising the age, it could help reduce the amount of students in our school who vape,” she said.

Similarly, Kathryn Tong, teacher and HOSA advisor, was one of the 94 percent  of staff members who agreed with raising the age. She’s been supporting and aiding in the girls’ efforts, described by the pair as “a motivated guiding hand throughout this whole process,” and is immensely proud of their student leadership.

“Their initiative is exactly what HOSA represents: students passionate about medicine seeking to help their community. These two have a bright future ahead of them,” said Tong.

Principal Dan Donovan is equally pleased with the pair, believing their efforts will help prevent youth from gaining access to tobacco products.

“I think students don’t understand the health consequences of what they’re doing,” said Donovan, who has been trying thwart vape usage through various tactics. “What these girls are doing, I believe, will help educate them and raise awareness. It truly is the solution to this persistent problem,” he said.

The Lady Hatters are dribbling towards a successful season co-captained by twins Susana and Sabrina Almeida, and Ty’Lynn Ith. With a streak of 11 consecutive wins, the girls and Coach Jackie Dinardo are only one game away from achieving her 500th career win, making this a remarkably special season for the team.

The team has a promising starting lineup consisting of captains Susana Almeida, Sabrina Almeida, senior Ty’Lynn Ith, and junior Tanisha Cunningham and sophomore Tianna Rogers. However, seniors Susana and Sabrina Almeida are at the forefront, as this is their last year playing as Hatters.

The sisters’ great leadership and skills are apparent during their games and can be credited to their long history with basketball.

The Almeida twins’ success began 11 years ago, during the second grade, when they first started playing in Dinardo’s in-house league at the P.A.L. “My first memory of basketball is when we didn’t have enough girls to sub everyone out. The other girls were tired so I kept playing because it was so fun; I didn’t even realize how tired I was,” says Sabrina.

Susana recalls her first memory involving basketball from when she was a cheerleader in the 4th grade. “We’d cheer for games and I’d just stand in the back, and do nothing but just watch the game. I think that’s when I realized I wanted to be out there.”

The two played in DiNardo’s league until 8th grade, despite transferring out of private school to Broadview Middle School in 7th.

Throughout those 11 years, the twins have grown together as athletes and formed a unique bond, both on and off the court. Susana explains this bond: “Over the years my sister and I have grown to anticipate each other’s next move. We have chemistry on the court that not many can find,”

“Our extremely close bond off the court leads to us trusting each other during the game. Being able to comfortably talk to her about the game and knowing she’s always there is heartwarming,” Susana continues.

Sabrina agrees, sharing a similar sentiment, “I’m so good on defense because she’s so good on offense. We push each other every day and I feel like being sisters, especially twins, is such an advantage.”

While the twins have shared many successes during their career, they have also faced various challenges.

“My high school career was definitely not easy, especially sophomore year,” Sabrina reveals. “Despite all the obstacles [putting pressure on me to quit], I stuck through it and became a starter all last year and this year.”

By pushing through these difficulties, the twins have emerged as better players, accomplishing many of their goals.

Susana started varsity point guard as a freshman. She went on to make All-FCIAC 2nd team her sophomore and junior year, and co-captain DHS’ team alongside her sister, Sabrina, those years, too.

Fast forward to now, the sisters reflect on their experience as not just a player, but as a captain, a position that both are honored to have.

“I have accomplished teaching the underclassmen the importance of responsibility and respect,” Susana says. “I’ve successfully helped create a ‘we can’t lose mindset’ for everyone around me.”

“I really pushed my teammates to be the best players they could be and it shows. I taught them that a good team has to have discipline to succeed,” Sabrina adds on. “I just hope they carry what I taught them throughout their future seasons and everyday life.”

Rogers, the sophomore starter, also shares her appreciation for the sisters. “I’ve known the twins since I started P.A.L., and they were always supportive on and off the court. They’ve pushed me to do better and have created an environment that I can grow in.”

Now, looking towards the future, the sisters have new goals and plans in mind.

“I can see my dream of reaching the FCIAC championship game and bringing home a banner, along with my lifetime goal of reaching 1,000 points.” Susana expresses.

In a recent game against Fairfield Warde, Susana scored a 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left to give Danbury a 37-35 win, and Dinardo her 499th win.

“She’s not afraid to put that pressure on top of herself. That’s her leadership and being a senior.” Dinardo said to GameTime CT, about Susana.

The sisters hope to drive forward and lead the girls to DiNardo’s 500th win next game, against Norwalk. The team’s current standing is 11-3 in the FCIAC.

Once their final season is over, the twins want to continue their career in college. “I plan on playing at the Division III level, but I’m not exactly sure where yet,” Susana states. Sabrina agrees, not having decided yet either.

Although they have yet to decide where they will be going, the sisters are determined to keep bettering themselves as players, together.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like not playing with Susana,” Sabrina says. “But I know at the end of the day we have to do what’s best for ourselves.”

An eclectic mix of albums from varying genres and stages of careers are set to be released throughout this year.

Music has continued to shift between old and new, with seven out of the top ten albums of 2018 being rap-based. In the past few years, pop music has been overshadowed by both rap and R&B. Sophomore Zach Christoforides is part of this new generation of rap-listeners. He said he’s looking forward to the day when Lil Uzi drops a new album. “He’s been hyping it up for a good amount of time now. Most of the snippets that he has reviewed have been good, and I’m just waiting on the full album,” he explained.

Despite the fact that rap music has taken the spotlight, many pop artists are also speculated to release albums later this year.

Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Adele, and Selena Gomez are rumored to release new music within the next twelve months. Critics even speculate that 2019 may be a comeback of sorts for pop music.

For instance, Ariana Grande, who released Sweetener in August, has already announced her new album Thank U, Next, set to be released February 8th. Three singles have been released from the album — the title track, Imagine and 7 rings.

One of the most surprising breakthrough artists, Cardi B, who released the now Grammy-nominated Invasion of Privacy in 2018, has also hinted at another album this year. Invasion of Privacy was the first female album to have all tracks certified at least Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, and the third album of the digital age to do so, after Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and Twenty-One Pilots’ Blurryface. She has been in the spotlight since 2017’s Bodak Yellow, which astounded music listeners and shot up to number one on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Migos is also set to release Culture Ⅲ in the early part of 2019, after being confirmed by member, Quavo. This will be their fourth studio album and the third installment in their Culture series. Culture Ⅱ was the 10th album on Billboard’s Top Albums of 2018 chart.

In addition, 17-year-old Billie Eilish is releasing her first full album on March 29, titled WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Ellish debuted on the scene in 2017 with her single Ocean Eyes, and has since dropped her EP Don’t Smile at Me, released later in 2017. She has since released multiple singles, including a collaboration with Khalid, and Apple named her “Next Up Artist” in October of 2017.

Eilish told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe: “The main thing we tried to do [with this album] was have every single song sound completely different than everything else. If you put 14 people in a room and plop WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? in front of them, I want every single person in that room to like at least one song.”

In addition to mainstream artists, many who have been out of the spotlight for a few years are set to release albums including Madonna and Rihanna. Madonna’s last album was 2015’s Rebel Heart while Rihanna’s last album, three-times platinum ANTI, was released in 2016.

Last year, Rihanna responded to a fan’s comment on Instagram asking about new music with just a plain “2019.” It is rumored that she is currently working on two albums, one with more radio-friendly hits and the other more personal and emotional.

In terms of expectations, Junior Luiz Ferrari said, “I hope Melanie Martinez releases some new songs, it has been a while for her.” Martinez’ released Cry Baby in 2015, after her appearance on NBC’s The Voice.

Sophomore Bethany Palardy has been looking for new Frank Ocean music. “I’ve been hoping that my guy is going to come back,” she said. The last album Ocean released was 2016’s Blonde an ambient R&B experience that is filled with luxurious wordplay and melodies. Ocean waited four years between Channel Orange and Blonde, so it is unclear if there will be a surprise drop this year or if the trend between albums will continue.

Gabby D’Ostilio, a senior, also is hoping for a new album from Ocean. “I miss him,” she simply said.

While 2019 is about to unleash a whole new lineup of albums and music, sophomore Becca D’Ostilio said “a lot of current music is lacking in certain aspects. Most artists today do not emphasize lyrics or musicality as much as past artists have. We will see what 2019 brings us, but I am hoping for a reconstruction of some sorts, where instruments are brought back into mainstream music.”