Mary Kate Shanahan poses in front of the Unite bulletin board. Unite will host Step Up Day this Tuesday. Photo by Adrian Emrick

By Adrian Emrick
Another year goes by, and the cycle repeats.  Seniors graduate, juniors replace them, and all of the other grades move up in the world.  With this comes the replacement of freshman with the current eighth graders.

Entering high school can be a daunting task. Its a new building with new rules, new teachers, and new classmates.  Many struggle with the first few weeks, but all eventually come to love high school for the freedom and independence it offers. Unite and the school faculty aim to aid in this awkward transition by holding their annual “Step Up Day”.

It is a day set aside for the up-and-coming freshman to get a tour of the school, and to meet some of the teachers they will inevitably have over the next four years. It is a day meant to alleviate some of the pressures that enter what will be a new school for them.

“The Unite mentors are there to guide the freshmen, and to provide support and answer any questions freshman might have,” says unite mentor Mary Kate Shanahan.

Step Up Day this year is Tuesday June 15th. It will occur after finals, so that the high school is emptied of the majority of its occupants. Shanahan said, “Step up day is meant to give the students a look at the high school before it gets filled with 1000 people they don’t know.”

Close to 100 of next year’s juniors and seniors in Unite will be welcoming the 300 incoming freshman to our lovely school, greeting them and doing activities and showing them around.  These mentors, in groups of four, will be assigned to a group of 14-15 freshman that they will visit in advisory all next year.

Vice Principal Evan Bishop stops for a picture with Hank the Hiller before school on Friday June 11th. Photo by hhspress staff

By Adrian Emrick

There was a feeling of excitement in the air around HHS as students were cheerfully greeted by the schools new mascot.  After a rocky start, the public response was positive, with Hank the Hiller, whose name was chosen by students in a poll, receiving many high fives, hugs and pictures.  The faculty ecstatic about the mascot, and were pleased with the students surprised response to his debut.

Mrs. Geary, high school principal, said of the new mascot, “Im so excited about our new mascot. we’ve been talking about this for a long time, and this is basically the realization of a long term dream for me”

Getting endorsements from many teachers and administration members, Hank was quite the sensation this morning.  At first, students were skeptical of him, but as the morning went on, he was greeted warmly, with many stopping to take pictures with the big green hill.  A few students even gave Hank hugs, and he received many many high fives.  Everyone noticed him, many chuckled when they saw him, as they tried to figure out what he was all about.

“Hank has a bright future ahead of him, with a planned appearance at next year’s pep rally and possibly sports events”, says a source close to the project, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Judging from the response this morning, Hopkinton High School seems to have finally found their mascot.

Sophie Doherty collects recycling. Photo by Adrian Emrick.

by Adrian Emrick
This past April, an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and badly damaged an oil pipe, sending millions of gallons of crude oil spewing into the sea.  At present, this oil spill is the largest in U.S. history and continues to flow. It has triggered outrage and action, including a response from Hopkinton High School’s Environmental Club.

British Petroleum, the company leasing the rig, has responded poorly to the spill by most account, as it has taken over six weeks to just slow the leak, which they finally have done. BP’s most positive estimates for the time necessary to clean up this mess is well into next fall.

The many millions of gallons of oil that has spilled has wreaked havoc and is continuing to threaten all the wildlife in a wide area that extends across four states.

There are, however plenty of environmentalists devoted to saving as much of nature as they can. Hopkinton High School’s Environmental Club wants to play their part in cleaning up the oil.

This week they will be stationed at lunch collecting money that is going towards oil clean-up efforts.

Gwen Burnham-Fey, active member of the club, says “We are committed to saving the animals and the environment however we can.” She adding “Even though its only one high school, and only so much money can be donated, the school has to do its part in hopes that people everywhere are following suit and this disaster will be no more in a no time at all.”

Hopkinton's Pete Racenis battles a Pentucket player for a loose ball. Racenis was selected a Tri-Valley League 2nd Team All-Star. Photo by hhspress.org

By Kelsey Krapf
The Hopkinton boys varsity lacrosse advanced to the second game of the playoffs after breaking their recent falters in the first round, losing to Beverly 15-13.

In the first playoff game on June 3rd, Hopkinton took the field against the Pentucket Sachems (9-8). The Hillers (14-5) were bent on winning and going on to the next round of the Eastern Massachusetts Tournament.

Hopkinton attacked Sachems’ defense, throwing a quick 4 points onto the scoreboard. The offensive play was crisp and the defense was alert but there were some costly errors that kept Pentucket in the game. By the end of the first half the score stood at 7-3, Hopkinton in the lead.

Senior captain Jesse Kutz gave advice to his players during halftime, “We need to talk on defense, guys! Yes, we’re winning but we should be crushing this team.”

Fellow senior captain Samuel MacDonald offered a piece of his mind to his teammates, “Boys, there’s no reason for that team to have points on the board. If you don’t know how to slide with your body then just stay on the sideline. We are winning this game, boys, and we are moving deeper into the tournament.”

Hopkinton came out of halftime sending another four goals into the net and only letting in one goal. Calvin Lee, Peteris Racenis, Matt Manzella and Jonathan Lee all scored goals. The final score of the game was 11-4, Hopkinton, and the “one and done” habit was finally broken. Hopkinton moved forward to the second round of the playoffs, a meeting with Beverley High School in their sights.

The Hillers loaded up their bus last Saturday and departed towards Beverley for a 4:00 PM match up on Beverly’s home field.

The game was physical from the start, the difference never being more than three points. The game was action packed with a large audience, big hits, and some great plays. Both teams were were evenly matched.

The game went back and forth, with goals being exchanged frequently. Jonathan Lee, Peteris Racenis, Calvin Lee, Matt Manzella and Conor O’Brien targeted the corners of the goal and put points up on the scoreboard for Hopkinton. Hopkinton’s Will Ballantyne added four goals and earning two assists.

Hopkinton’s season ended on Beverly’s field. The seniors had just played their last game, never again to put on a Hiller uniform. It was a close game, though, a competitive match and a tremendous effort, as senior Samuel MacDonald put it, “You can’t point fingers for this loss, there’s no point. We all played our hardest through the heat and the sweat and the fatigue. I’ve played for Hopkinton all my life and I’ve fallen in love with the sport while playing here. I’m not sure how I feel about this just yet, but I know I’m truly going to miss this program and these guys.”

Six Hillers will all be continuing their lacrosse careers into college. Lee is headed to Colby College, MacDonald to Saint Anselm College, Kutz and O’Brien at Plymouth State College, Tate at Roger Williams, and Racenis at Denver University.

Jeremy Gram, senior captain of the Hillers, said, “This team has really gelled together after this season, it’s the closest knit group this program has ever seen. Everyone is a friend off the field and everyone accepts one another’s criticisms and advice. We’re truly a family.”

This team may have been the close-knit group but it could be the most talented as well. This year’s team received the most Tri-Valley League awards in the school’s history for the sport. They were awarded as follows:

Tri-Valley League Honorable Mention: Jeremy Gram, Matt Manzella

Tri- Valley League 2nd Team All-Stars: Jesse Kutz, Max Robidoux, Jonathan Lee and Peteris Racenis

Tri-Valley League 1st Team All-Stars: Will Ballantyne, Calvin Lee and Samuel MacDonald

Tri-Valley League Defensive Player of the Year: Samuel MacDonald

'Journalism for the 21st Century' teachers Mr. Haas and Mr. Worrell pose with Editor in Chief Jenn Tate. Photo by unknown.

An Editorial by Jenn Tate
Since becoming Editor-in-Training of the Newspaper Club last year and becoming Editor-in-Chief this year, I, along with the members of the Newspaper Club, have faced one consistent challenge: to bring attention to the school newspaper so people will want to read it.

Despite the challenge, being proud of the paper’s transformation has made the job easier. Originally a printed paper called “The Voice”, the school newspaper first went online to a site that allowed it to have articles and photos. More recently, the paper moved to WordPress and became what it is today, HHS Press. Now with articles, photos, slideshows, videos, a comment feature, and a professional look, the site is great, in my opinion. Plus, in a world where computers are used so frequently, the paper couldn’t be more convenient to view.

Layout isn’t the only change to have happened to the paper; this year is the first year that a journalism course, named “Journalism for the 21^st Century”, is offered at HHS. Now, a full class of students has been added to the paper’s staff, which has significantly increased the amount of content on the site. “The fact that we have a nice looking paper with a lot of content for the viewers is what I’m most proud of,” says Newspaper Club advisor and co-teacher of the journalism class Mr. Sterling Worrell, “It finally feels like we have a real paper.”

Of course, HHS Press isn’t perfect. “We need to work on speeding up the time between the event and the post date,” Mr. Worrell explains, “It’s not like the old [Newspaper] Club days when a student once started to write a movie review on its opening day only to finish the review when the movie was released on DVD, but we still need to work on the turn-around time.” Despite this one area for improvement, I still think the site has become quite impressive.

So why aren’t more students at Hopkinton High checking out the paper? It seems that part of the reason may be that they don’t even know of the paper’s existence. The Newspaper Club and I have worked hard to address this issue. We built quite an email list at Club Fair, held a scavenger hunt contest, that was not very successful, and we continued throughout the year to make announcements, put up posters around school, send out Facebook messages to the paper’s group, and more. Nicole Rumrill, a previous Assistant Editor, and I also were interviewed by HopNews in an attempt to spread awareness about the paper. Since the Editor of HopNews, Mr. Robert Falcione, was kind enough to post a link to HHS Press on that site and now posts some sports articles from our site on HopNews as well, we have been getting more hits, but the number of page views per day is still only in the low hundreds.

I will be graduating on June 4, 2010. As of now, Mr. Worrell, the Newspaper Club’s advisor, and I have not found someone interested in taking my place as Editor in Chief next year. It seems that bringing attention to the paper will also be the challenge of that next Editor. However, you can help. Leave any comments you may have about other ways for us to make improvements to the site and draw more attention to the paper. Since you’re reading this, you’ve seen the site and the cool features it has. Spread the word to all your friends that we do, first of all, have a school newspaper, and secondly that it is worth viewing!

This holiday has been recognized in Hopkinton for many years, and it’s festivities are well attended by the residents of the town. Veterans are very appreciative to see the number of both children and adults who attend this ceremony.

“For the senior citizens, it gives them comfort to know that their service is appreciated,” said Michael Whalen, a veteran of Hopkinton. He also stated, “For the younger generation, it is an important part of history that they should be aware of”.

The day started off with a gathering at the Evergreen Cemetery in Woodville at 9:45 AM. The ceremony consisted of a few readings, and the placing of a wreath by veteran John Cahill accompanied by a few Boy Scouts.

Andrew Litavis read “The Gettysburg Address”.  Litavis has been reciting “The Gettysburg Address” for two years, making this his third. He is a freshman at George Washington University in DC. The morning gathering ends with echoed playing of taps by Jason DeVeuve and Daniel Cunningham, who will be graduating HHS this June.

The ceremony then proceeded to move uptown to Mayhew Street, to begin the parade. Boy scouts, Girl Scouts, Veterans, parents, children, grandparents, and any others who choose to walk, head to the St. Johns cemetery after a prayer and a wreath placing at the King Memorial flagpole.

Another wreath was placed at the St. Johns cemetery, where there were readings, and another playing of taps, following a gun salute.

The Mount Auburn cemetery was the next stop.  In this area, prayers were read by Pastor Robert Cloutier, Senior Associate Pastor at the First Congregational Church, and Reverend Leigh Dry, Associate Pastor of the Grace United Methodist Church. Andrew Litavis also recited “The Gettysburg Address” for the second, out of three times, of the day.

The final stop of the parade was the Town Common. Master of ceremonies, Suzanne Whalen, led and announced speakers and other events that occured throughout the day. This is Suzanne’s third year as master of ceremonies at the Memorial Day celebration in Hopkinton. She is a freshman at Boston College and has enjoyed being able to participate in this ceremony every year. Wreath placings, readings, prayers and an invocation from Richard Brault took place. The Hopkinton High School band, directed by Steve Yavarow, also played “America the Beautiful”.

The amount of people viewing these ceremonies was very impressive.  All age groups were encouraged to come and learn a bit of history and recognize the Veterans who sacrificed their lives for this country. Michael Whalen gave his strong opinion on Memorial Day, “Memorial day is a day to honor those Veterans who gave their lives in defense of this country and it’s important to include all generations in the celebration of this day”.

It is true, over the past few months countless hours have been put in by both faculty, and students. After the new mascot was approved by the administration, the suggestions for a name for the mascot were voted on by students through an integrated, interactive poll on the student run HHSpress.org website. Hank the Hiller was chosen to be the new school mascot’s name.

Principal Geary said “As an administration, we have welcomed the idea, it has been great that we can finally have a mascot that does not promote the use of substances, and that is a face of the school for the student body to bond over,” and “My hope is that the student body, will embrace the idea of being a Hiller through their new mascot.”

In the meantime, seniors will be finishing up their classes and participating in end of the year festivities.“It came so fast,” stated Senior Meghan Melina about graduation, “When I was a freshman, three years sounded so far away. It almost seems unrealistic that my time has come to graduate.”

Students will be able to take advantage of hanging out with their friends before leaving next year, during the school-sponsored end of the year festivities. These festivities include the Senior-Parent Dinner Dance, Senior Picnic, and the Senior Boat Cruise, which all take place before graduation.

“I’ve looked forward to them [senior activities] all high school, however, these activities are the last things I can do with my class as a whole,”stated Melina.

Once seniors cross the stage on June 4^th in the Athletic Center, they will no longer have to live by the rules of Hopkinton High School. They will move on to new things like attending college and working.

Melina commented on how she feels HHS has prepared her for college by saying, “Some classes seemed unbearable, but I know that the skills will help me next year.”

No matter what any senior is doing next year, June 4^th is a time to congratulate and honor the senior class as a whole on their hard work and a job well done.