Teens give from the heart to other teens by Jordan Schorr and Maria Shively

Dec. 20, 2013 became a day to remember at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS). It’s the day when students and faculty at OHCHS raised $1000 in just a few hours for Christmas for Teens. Leanna Wielki and Elizabeth Gillespie, both juniors at OHCHS and members of the Varsity Cheering Team, first came up with the idea to create a hat day for students and staff at OHCHS. The only catch was each person would be asked to donate a dollar or more to wear a Santa hat or any  other of their choice

“It was the day before Christmas vacation, and I thought it'd be fun to spread some Christmas cheer and wear Santa hats,” said Wielki.

Later on she and her friend Gillespie decided to take their idea to the school principal, Ted Moccia.

“We chose Christmas for Teens because everyone deserves help during the holidays. The holidays are not only about receiving, but also [about] giving,” explained Gillespie and Wielki.

“Mr. Moccia is  an easy person to talk to and he takes our ideas into account,” Gillespie explained.

After a few hours, OHCHS students and faculty had earned a total of $1000.

“It was a great feeling seeing how many people donated just to donate, and to wear hats, because it was great to see the community and school come together like that to help each other out,” said Wielki.

Christmas for Teens is a non-profit organization which helps teens and their families in the Oxford Hills area during the holiday season. It is run by five people: Jean Delamater, Pam Colby, Carlene Treadwell, Kathy Bean, and Rhonda Maher. The check fo $1000 was presented to the organization soon after the money was collected. When Delameter came to pick up the donation, she was overcome with emotion.

“It’s a huge contribution to the charity and we appreciate it. We’re especially happy because it’s teens helping teens, and it says a lot about the community,” explained Delameter.

Christmas for Teens accepts donations from anyone. They are a non-profit organization. They have drop off bins in multiple locations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Hannaford, New balance and Ken and Thoms Flooring, along with a post office box #726 in Norway. Everything asked for by the over 200 families and teens they help tend to be items they need, rather than want. Christmas for Teens only accepts new items because they feel this is the one time a year their teens should get new items.

Delameter and the rest of the group members plan on keeping this charity going for as long as possible. 

“We don’t say no,” said Delameter, ““and we will never turn anyone down.”

Oxford Hills welcomes three new guidance counselors by Rebekah Fleck and Maria Shively

Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS), welcomes not only one, but three new guidance counselors to the 2013-2014 school year: Kevin O’Reilly, Rachel Paddock, and Stephanie Goss. 

Even though they may be new to OHCHS, counseling is nothing new to them. They each have experience working with students.  

Paddock attended UMaine Farmington where her undergrad was in psychology. She attended got her masters in school counseling at the University of Southern Maine. Says Paddock, “I have always wanted to be a guidance counselor, pretty much since high school.” She enjoys being a guidance counselor because she “likes working with kids and helping them with career development.” Paddock says, “I like working with kids on a short term basis, rather than therapists who have clients for 5 or 6 years.”

Stephanie Goss is the one person out of three who has experience working at OHCHS  Ten years ago she was a guidance counselor at the high school. Before that taught preschool, elementary school, and even was a camp counselor. She worked in Gray, Maine for 7 years as a counselor, and then moved on to Gorham. Goss says, “I really wanted to come back so when the position opened I applied.”

A guidance counselor for 19 years, Kevin O'Reilly graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School. He got his counseling degree from UMaine, but his undergraduate was at UMaine Farmington in Social Studies. He originally wanted to be a Social Studies teacher. O'Reilly says, "Basically I've always wanted to work with kids and I was originally going to be a teacher, but that didn't work out. A family friend suggested counseling, so that's what I got in to. So that's how I started." 

OHCHS is by far the biggest school O'Reilly has worked in. He says, "The other schools I've been in have been very small, so I think the largest school I worked at had about 350 kids. I haven't worked with other counselors in a job before so this is kind of a first.  Other places I've worked at . . . sometimes the environment isn't very friendly, but I find the people here and the kids here are pretty friendly." 

Nancy McClean, who is the head of the Guidance Department, says, "During the hiring process you could see they really wanted to help the students and be a part of the school community."

"I'm excited, Principal Ted Moccia, says, " I think the three new counselors that we have are all extremely talented and are very committed to helping kids. They are knowledgeable, they know their role but they also understand the college process and help kids. It's just a really good group down there right now. They are just awesome and they are doing a great job."

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Replacing three members of a community can be a hard thing to do, but the people who stepped up to take on the responsibility are nothing but eager to follow in the previous counselors’ footsteps.

So perfectly Maine by Jasmine Roy

What do you think of when you hear the word “Maine?” After asking this of several different teachers at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS), we have some results.

Brewster Burns, an English teacher, said the first things that come to mind are, “Trees, lobsters, rugged coastlines, granite, waves, skiing, foliage, Fryeburg Fair, and lakes.”

“I think of woods, lakes, mountains, and of home,” reported Science teacher Mark Soehren.

Donna Marcotte-Bell, also a teacher, was the only person interviewed who included a negative side to Maine. In her words, “Beautiful, outdoor activities, vacation land, authentic people, and poverty.”

Other teachers said things like cold, snow, hunting, scenic, family, ocean, outdoors, pine-trees, and wildlife.

Burns gave us a longer story. “A memory I have from childhood is when my parents had an old Volkswagen Beetle, and we lived in Waterford. The road turned to a dirt road just beyond our house and no one lived on the road. It was always quiet and [there were] no cars. Before we had our licenses, well before, my brother and I would drive the Volkswagen Bug up and down the dirt road. My favorite thing to do was to bomb down the dirt road, then cut down to a logging road and drive up deep into the woods. It’s something you can’t do if you lived other places. It’s so perfectly Waterford. But it’s also so perfectly Maine too. Even though it’s technically breaking the law, if you live in Maine it’s part of what you do; it’s part of what makes us Mainer’s.”

Clearly all the people that were asked had something to say of the state of Maine, but maybe it's not the words that are important when you think of Maine. Maybe it's the experiences.

Teacher's Face Finally Sees the "Light of Day" by Jordan Schorr

Every year at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS), the students involved in National Honor Society (NHS) select a charity to support. They conduct a fundraiser and then make a large donation at the end of the year.

Last year, NHS raised $3,000 and donated it to Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. Continuing with the efforts to raise money, this year, NHS decided it would be a good idea to donate to that cause again. One of the fundraisers that they have been doing for nine years is “No Shave November.”

The way that this fundraiser works is a group of male teachers from the high school are asked to participate. Once they have a decent amount of teachers, there are jars put out on a table that have the names of the teachers on each one. Students, staff, and even alumni can come and put money into a specific teachers jar or in the overall donations basket. For every $2.00 that is put into the teachers jar, they cannot shave for one day.

There was a little change in plans this year though. One staff member at OHCHS, Jeff Norton, was willing to shave off his beard, that is had had for 32 years, if NHS raised over $600.00.

Although this option for Norton to shave his beard had been proposed to him before, the amount of money was never raised.

But this year, NHS raised over that goal of $600.00 and Norton had to get rid of the beard.

“It gave everyone a little incentive,” stated Norton. “It’s just hair, it'll grow back. My wife wasn’t a big fan, that’s safe to say.”

Even though the big goal for the students was to get that beard off of Norton’s face, the money wasn’t just raised by him. Many other teachers helped raise the money for Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.

“It wasn’t just me who raised the money, other teachers earned the money too. And little to say, they went a little crazy with the donations to shave my beard though,” said Norton. 

In spite of the fact that Norton is now beardless, he and the other teachers know that they did a good thing for Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital and plan to continue this fundraiser again next year.

Photo by Kristi Bancroft

BEARDLESS - Mr. Norton grins after shaving his beard for No Shave November, a fundraiser to support Barbara Bush Children's Hospital. A GOOD CAUSE - OHCHS teacher Jeff Norton sports a full-grown beard he hasn't shaved in more than three decades. That all ended after he agreed to part with his facial hair if students were able to raise a certain amount of money during a recent fundraiser. The students won.

Table tennis backspins its way around OHCHS by Riley Chickering

If you walked past the OHCHS gym on Friday, Nov. 15, the sights and sounds were different than that of a normal afternoon. Oxford Hills senior Ty Martin worked for more than a week setting up a ping pong tournament that resulted in more than 25 students and two teachers competing for the "Golden Paddle" on Friday afternoon.

It was a very intense atmosphere. There was a lot of competition, but there was also a lot of fun and every match ended in smiles. The tournament was capped off by two great matches between runner-up Cam Letourneau and victor Matt Beauchesne. 

Over the past couple weeks, ping pong has quickly become a very popular activity at the school. Students are grabbing every chance to play - before school, skipping lunch and signing out of study halls to go play a quick pick-up game.

When physical education teacher Cindy Goddard was asked about the new trend she said, “I found it quite remarkable that students would ask to come play ping pong and do it without interrupting the PE class. The students were able to be active in the game and did not need direct supervision,” Goddard said.

The impressive part of Friday's event was that it was organized and run entirely by students. Putting on an event at the high school is no easy task but they did a great job as evidenced by the turnout. After the tournament, Ty Martin said, “I had a lot of fun, and I think everybody involved had a lot of fun. I can’t wait to do it again sometime."

Photo by Brewster Burns
READY TO RETURN - Crystal West competes in a match against Luke Davidson.

Photo by Brewster Burns
EYES ON BALL - Nick Bowie gets ready to return a ball during a game of table tennis at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. Students have taken a sudden interest in the game recently.

Photo by Brewster Burns

Taking photos is a snapshot of his dedication by Jake Allen, Riley Chickering and Shannon Kriger

11/21/13

Passion and dedication are two traits that Brewster Burns possesses.

Burns has been a teacher at OHCHS for 25 years. He has been head of the English department for the past 16, and he photographs school events, including sports and dances. 

How does an individual who is the head of a department, a teacher, and a completely booked photographer manage to do all that is required of them in a day?  

Says Burns, “[photography is] ..a full bore hobby. I contain it... barely.” 

Burns, who has been taking photos for a total of 16 years, describes how this interest began. 

“I remember when Scott Tiner was the tech guy here back in 1997 when the building first opened up. I remembered he had a digital camera, and I got to try it out for a weekend.”  This was Burns first experience with such a high powered camera and his love for taking photographs has grown exponentially since that one weekend years ago.  

When asked if there was one specific photograph that sparked this love, Burns turned around to his desk and retrieved a photo off the wall. 

“This photo right here, it’s a photo I took the weekend I borrowed the camera, my first digital picture.” The photo is of his daughter on that weekend. Burns will take his photography to the next level this year. He is one of the three lucky teachers to receive an Aspirations Grant. The Aspiration Grants were given by the Oxford Hills Scholarship Foundation. According to SAD 17 superintendent Rick Colpitts it is meant to “provide seed money for teachers to motivate them for professional or personal growth.” 

The Oxford Hills Scholarship Foundation hopes to give away close to $300,000 in scholarships this year to graduating seniors. The staff awards went to three teachers this past year. The number of applicants for scholarships next year and the scholarship funds ability to pay will determine how many recepients there will be in 2014, potentially translating into more or larger aspiration grants for teachers. Burns knew just what he would do with the grant. He used the money to purchase two professional grade camera lenses he had wanted to get. The two lenses, one being for portrait shots and the other for moving frames, exceeded the given amount of the $4,000 grant. 

When asked about what qualities contribute to his being able to be a successful photographer, Burns replied, “I love to create, you have to love to create. My weakness isn’t my attention to detail. It’s my ability to focus. You never know where the shot is going be. You just never know.”

Burns explained that if he spots something, and he can envision a photograph of it, then he’s thinking like a photographer.  

Another big part of his motivation has to do with where he falls on the Myers Briggs scale. 

"I’m a strong ENFP (extrovert, intuitive, feeling, perceptive), which means I like things that are creative and open ended. Photography is kind of the perfect thing to create and make." 

Though he is clearly passionate about taking photos, he declared that his ultimate goal is to follow a group of children from kindergarten to the end of their high school experience and record them with photos and interviews. Mr. Burns passion for this project is conspicuous, and he already feels committed to these students who he has yet to meet. 

Brewster Burns has had a lot of interests in his life. Now it’s photography. "This is probably the longest I've been passionate about the same thing in my life,” he observed. “I'll keep doing it until the next shiny object comes up.” 

Brewster Burns

Books Feed Readers and the OHCHS Library by Jake Allen

11/21/13

Beginning Nov. 18, the OHCHS library will be having a book fair to raise money for the library. The fair will be open to the public. All that is required is a quick sign in at the kiosk located at the main entrance of the school. 

The books come from the warehouse at Scholastic. The books have a total retail value of between $15,000 and $17,000. This is the first year that the library is trying this,

“This is kind of a trial run. If it goes well, we’ll do it again next year," says assistant librarianJennifer Grover.

The books range from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"  to Simpsons' Special Edition Comics to books such as "The Fear and Lockdown." There is something for just about anyone of any age who wants a good book to keep them company during the coming cold months.

  Assistant Librarian Jennifer Grover says in regards to there being no set money goal, “I really don’t since it’s the first one, but enough to get some more books for the library.” 

There will be between $15-000 and $17,000 worth of books. That gets you a lot of different options to choose from. Take advantage of this variety from Monday through Friday Nov. 18- 22, and help OHCHS at the same time.

BOOK SALE - Books ready for the book fair at OHCHS. 

Acclaimed author shares stories of Africa by Jake Allen

11/14/13

On Friday Nov. 8, at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS), published author Terry Farish came to talk about some of the places that we otherwise wouldn’t hear about on the news. The Norway Memorial Library sponsored Farish to come to OHCHS to talk about her experiences in places such as Vietnam, Esabalu, Nyrobi and the Kakuma refugee camp in Africa. and to teach a writing workshop.

After Teen Librarian Cynthia Riley finished her introduction, Farish describied her first job. She worked with the Red Cross during the Vietnam war.

“I was so young,” remembered Farish. "I was very eager to work hard. I went with a lot of commitment to the job, and it affected me for the rest of my life.”

Having been a writer since the young age of 10, Farish began writing about her experiences. These writings have become novels and nonfiction pieces about refugees. Her latest book, “A Good Braider,” recently won the Lupine Award for Young Adult Readers. It is a story about a Sudanese girl named Viola and her journey to the United States.

Using a mixture of slides, video, stories, and excerpts from her book, Farish spoke to around 125 students and a few staff members. Farish wanted to motivate kids to be more active in events in the world. Many said afterward they didn’t know anything about what has been going on in these countries.

Said Farish, “I think I’m telling [the students] things that take a long time to place in their lives, maybe things they haven’t considered before. Americans don’t know what it likes to be in war [on their own continent].”

Some students were genuinely moved by the presentation. Some people just didn’t understand. One individual in the audience started talking about how [the refugees] should “just go home,” after learning that Portland is as an official Refugee Resettlement City.

Whether Farish heard this or not is unclear not, but a few moments later she said, “These people are desperately homesick.” She went on to explain that people who are refugees would not be in the United States if not for war and wanting to give their children the opportunity to go to school, have friends and be safe.

When asked why she has been focusing her attention on educating high school students about the horrific wars and conditions in many countries, Farish said, “It’s because I can still relate to my teenage self.”

Farish followed up the presentation with an afternoon writing workshop for around 25 creative writing students. Her goal was to give the students new ways to think about writing their own stories. She plans to work with them over the next month or two via email so they can finish their pieces.

The Norway Memorial Library will host a public reading on Jan. 16, when Farish will speak about her experiences and read excerpts from her book, “The Good Braider.” Students who worked with her at OHCHS will have an opportunity to read their own work, which began with a few slides, some talking, a video and a slice of story from Africa.

Photo by Pamela Chodosh
(From left to right) OHCHS Creative Writing teacher, Pamela Chodosh; Author Terry Farish; Teen Librarian at Norway Memorial Library, Cynthia Riley.

Students plan Becca Mason Benefit Supper by Kirsten Corey

In January of 2012 Becca Mason of West Paris was killed in a tragic car accident. The death of this young girl left many people devastated. Two of those people, Ryan Samson and Shelby Guilford, close friends of Becca’s, would like to have her memorialized with pages in the OHCHS school yearbook. They feel very strongly that she deserves these pages because she would’ve graduated this year.  
Because the high school does not have the funds needed to help with this project, Guilford and Samson are hosting a dinner in honor of Becca.   
The dinner is at the South Paris Fire Hall on Nov. 10, from 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. The entrance fee will be $6, and $2 for veterans. All additional donations will aid in getting Becca commemorated in the yearbook.
In addition to the dinner, there will also be a place to write, as if you were really writing, in Becca’s yearbook. These commemorative pages will go into the yearbook as well.
If you had any connection to Becca or want to support Guilford and Samson's efforts in this difficult task, come to the South Paris Fire Hall on Nov. 10.

Aspirations Lab: The Man Behind It by Rebekah Fleck and Jasmine Roy

11/7/13

“This is a great opportunity not only for the students, but for me as well,” Sean Merz Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School’s current Aspirations Lab coordinator says, “It’s good to be back home and helping students the way I was helped."

Merz is the first person to work at the Aspirations Lab who is a graduate of OHCHS. This is Merz’s first year experiencing the job and he isn’t afraid to admit that he’s a little overwhelmed. Merz said, “I am definitely out of my comfort zone, but I am excited to help all of the students.” 

Not too long ago, Merz was a student himself. He graduated from OHCHS in 2009, having been born in Norway and living in South Paris for the rest of his childhood years. Merz attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he majored in Mathematics and minored in Economics. Merz says that his hope is to help seniors with applications for a 2 or 4 year college, the military, or just plans to be successful after high school. 

There wasn’t an Aspirations Lab when Merz attended Oxford Hills, so the idea of it is new for him. Being fresh out of college, Merz isn’t necessarily sure where he’s going to be in the next  5 or 10 years, so as he is doing this job he is also using it to help himself find out what he wants to do. He says, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do in High School, and I still don’t, so I am using this opportunity to help figure out what my next steps are.”  

Maureen Howard, who is the the Director of the Oxford Hills Community Education Exchange, started the Aspirations Lab. After the first year, Howard wrote grants to FAME (Financial Authority of Maine). FAME funds a person to be there five days a week. This is FAME’s last year of funding the program, so they are going to have to find someone else to fund it for next year. 

There have been 4 workers in the Aspirations Lab so far, all of which have been younger men and women, who graduated from college not too long ago. The whole purpose behind hiring younger people is because they are more familiar with the current financial aid situations and with choosing colleges. Howard said, “We are so lucky we’ve had such bright young men and women. They are all really bright and caring.”

The Aspirations Lab is open to any student at OHCHS, and is quite popular amongst seniors. Merz feels that it is a great place for students to evaluate what their post-secondary plans are, along with students being able to prepare for future-based exams such as the SAT’s and FAFSA. 

To promote the Aspirations Lab, Merz will be attending English classes throughout the school and explaining what he does and what the Aspirations Lab is. Guidance counselors have been very helpful as well with sending students to the Aspirations Lab. Also, he says that students are welcome to just walk in. 

When asked how he got this job, Merz explained that he had received a phone call from Howard asking him if he would be interested in applying for the job. She thought he would be a good candidate. After receiving the job offer, Merz didn’t really know all that much about the Aspirations Lab, but after looking into it and seeing what he would be doing, he decided to apply, and of course got the job. Howard commented on Merz’s work so far saying, “Sean is doing such a good job and is so conscientious."

Lacey Ryder, a member of the OHCHS Graduating Class of 2013 said, “I went to the Aspirations Lab a ton of times my Junior and Senior years. My Junior year I participated in a very helpful SAT prep course that was offered through the Aspiration Lab. My Senior year I went to the Aspiration Lab for help with choosing which schools to apply to, college applications, FAFSA info. and applications, scholarship applications, etc. Not only did I get a lot of help in the Aspirations Lab with writing essays for my college and scholarship applications, I was also able to get assistance with creating a resume and doing practice interviews before I applied for my summer job.”

Howard looks forward to the success of the Aspirations Lab; for both students and staff, and she encourages and welcomes all students to take advantage of this great opportunity.

Sean Merz, South Paris native and the new Aspirations Lab Coordinator