Wednesday, June 17- Classes ABCDE, Exam G
Thursday, June 18- Exams A and B Friday, June 19- Exams C and D Monday, June 22- Exams E and F Tuesday, June 23- Make-up exams Have a wonderful summer! -The Panther Tracks Staff Marlborough High School already has a wide variety of extracurricular activities and clubs for students to join, ranging from sports to music groups to honor societies. Prospectively to join this list is the Ultimate Frisbee club, currently under construction by its creator, Zachary Mangsen.
The MHS junior has thought about starting an Ultimate Frisbee club since his freshman year. Mangsen developed a love for the game playing with an “unofficial club” started by his older brother. But Mangsen realized that his brother and his brother’s friends wouldn’t always be around for games as they got older, so he decided to “keep the legacy going” by starting a club at MHS. “I enjoy playing a friendly game of ultimate without having to be uber-concerned about the rules,” Mangsen says, adding that it is also a great form of exercise for the “sub-athletic.” He hopes that the club will have the same casual vibe next year. Ideally, the club will meet once or twice a week to play mock games. “Everybody’s welcome,” Mangsen says, “we’ll play with whoever shows up.” Depending upon club growth, it might play against similar clubs from other schools. In order for any of this to happen, Mangsen has to go through a mandatory approval process. Student Activities Director Shannon McNulty and Athletic Director Jeff Rudzinsky have been instrumental in helping Mangsen jump through all the hoops. In order for an MHS student to start a club, he or she must write a proposal, collect signatures from other students and find an advisor. “I had fifty signatures by lunch,” Mangsen said of the collection process. All that is left is for MHS principal, Dr. Wendy Jack, to review and sign off on the proposal. “I’ve already obtained support from the student body so I have faith that Dr. Jack will sign off on it,” he says. By: Jennie O’Leary -Staff Writer Bruce Bercume was a Military Police Officer during the Korean War. As a kid he grew up with an African American family in the early 1950s. He lived on a farm in Oxford, Massachusetts. This African American family had a huge house where 16 children lived and where they ran 3 cotton mills. Bruce put cloth in the machines to make cotton for clothes after school part time. They were extremely generous, kind, and one of the nicest families you could ever meet. Bruce was with them more than he was with his own family. He was between the ages of 15-16 when he was with them. After high school he joined the service to become a Military Policeman. Bruce was stationed in Washington D.C. He enjoyed going to see his girlfriend Mary (his current wife) on 15th street when he wasn’t busy. She lived 4 miles from his army post. In order to get to Mary’s he would grab a bus from his post to 14th street. He then walked from there onto 15th Street. In this day in age all the African Americans had to stand in the back of the bus, something Bruce didn’t understand. One day on his way back to his army post on the 14th Street bus, a pregnant African American women boarded the bus. Bruce claims she was a pleasant lady to talk to. He was sitting at the front of the bus when he approached the women and said “You can take my seat.” She was scared and unsure of taking his seat because there were many Caucasian people on the bus. African Americans at the time were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus. Bruce said to her, “Sit down. I will stay on the bus with you until you reach your destination, that way no one can hurt you.” She finally agreed and sat down. All the Caucasian people on the bus booed and yelled at him. He said, “I am in the Military Police, (even though he was in civilian clothes) and she has every right to sit where she wants. Her baby is almost due and she needs to sit down.” While Bruce was still stationed in Washington D.C. he enjoyed going to an African American barbershop. He found that the barber there gave nice haircuts. When he walked into the barbershop for the first time the guys sitting inside thought he was nuts. Bruce claims the African American barber listened patiently to how he wanted his hair cut which was military standards. Bruce eventually began talking to the other African American men inside and they enjoyed his company. They soon became his friends. Bruce feels that maybe if he hadn't grown up with an African American family back in Massachusetts, perhaps he would not have felt this way. He couldn't understand how coming from Massachusetts to Washington D.C. could have been so different. This man is my Grandfather. By: Steven Bonini -Staff Writer The students and staff of the Marlborough High School Music Department have been as busy as bees this spring, regardless of whether these little creatures have come out of hibernation themselves. MHS’s six performing ensembles worked through the dead of winter to learn, memorize and style their respective repertoire in time for a spring full of music festivals. Every year, the department enters its A Cappella Choir, Concert Band, Mixed Chorus, Orchestra and Wind Ensemble in the MICCA Festival. The festival, put on annually by the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors’ Association, is an opportunity for middle and high school performing groups from across the state to perform repertoire in front of a panel of nationally renowned conductors and music educators and to receive feedback on their performance. Regardless of the type of ensemble, each group performs three selections for the panel and is ranked 1-5 on its ability to execute 8 standards in each piece, standards such as Balance and Blend, Rhythm, and Expression. Participating groups are not placed (1st, 2nd, 3rd) based upon their scores, but are given a rating (Gold, Silver, Bronze) based upon the average of the judges’ scores. After the judges hear and score a group, one judge from the panel works with the group in a mini-clinic, introducing techniques that may help the group in areas where students struggled. This experience proves valuable for both teachers and students because a group will always receive constructive feedback no matter how high or low their scores. Marlborough has always done exceptionally well at MICCA due to the commitment and enthusiasm of the staff and students. This year, Mixed Chorus and Orchestra received Bronze ratings, A Cappella Choir and Wind Ensemble received Silver ratings, and Concert Band received a Gold rating. A Gold rating gave Concert Band the additional reward of performing at Mechanics Hall. The MHS Jazz Band also competed in its own festival put on by the Massachusetts Association of Jazz Educators. The group received a Gold rating at the festival, with alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, trumpeter Connor Bailey, and electric and string bassist Shawheen Fagan also receiving "Outstanding Musicianship" awards.
To supplement its annual participation in MICCA and MAJE, the department competes in national festivals bi-annually. This April, MHS traveled to Alexandria, VA to compete in the Festival of Music at Washington D.C. FOMDC was similar in set-up to MICCA, but on a much grander scale. The choral ensembles performed at Vienna Presbyterian Church and the instrumentalists performed at Schlesinger Concert Hall, a nationally acclaimed performance venue at Northern Virginia Community College. When the students were not singing, playing or receiving feedback from the adjudicators, they got the chance to watch ensembles from schools all over the east coast perform. The groups were awarded differently at FOMDC than at MICCA or MAJE. Each ensemble received a rating based upon the caliber of their performance (Excellent, Fair, Poor, etc), but they were also placed against other ensembles within their category. Again, Marlborough swept the festival. In their respective categories, Mixed Chorus and Concert Band took third place, Jazz Band took second place, and A Cappella Choir, Orchestra and Wind Ensemble took first place. A Cappella also won Best Overall Concert Choir, and Wind won Best Overall Concert Band. Sarah Hanahan took home a medal for an outstanding alto saxophone solo. After hectic months of preparation and rehearsal, the students and staff got to experience the sights and sounds of D.C., touring historic locations such as Mt. Vernon, visiting monuments, enjoying the National Symphony and a dinner cruise along the Potomac. The students arrived back home to Marlborough exhausted, but happy with their accomplishments and excited about using their feedback to better their next performance. To learn more about the MHS Music Community and to find out how music can enrich your child’s journey, feel free to contact any of Marlborough’s music educators whose contact information can be found at mps-edu.org. By: Jennie O’Leary -Staff Writer |
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June 2019
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