MOR 2024-25 Issue #4 by Mouth of the River

Mouth of the River Publication of Oyster River High School

Sports & Culture

pg.5 Records Broken

pg.9 Pickleball

pg.10 Spring Sports

Opinion

pg.28 Decision Day

pg.29 English Curriculum

pg.31 Working With Kids

pg.32 Lawsuit

Features

pg. 11 People Pleaser

pg. 14 Senior Assassin

pg. 15 Bullying

pg. 18 Coffee Review

pg. 19 DunKings

pg. 21 Senior Year

pg. 25 Childhood Books

pg. 27 Book Review

News

pg. 33 Ice Bucket/Musical

pg.34 Data Literacy

Mission Statement

Mouth of the River seeks to reliably inform the student body, as well as the surrounding community, of interesting and newsworthy content in a modern, compelling format. Our goal as a staff is to give voice to the students of Oyster River, and have it heard by all our students. The opinions expressed in Mouth of the River represent those of the writers and staff.

Mouth of the River

Dear readers,

For our final time as Editor in Chiefs, thank you for picking up another one of our issues.

Over the course of our two years as a part of this magazine, you guys have helped make all eight issues special. We appreciate you for every time you picked up an issue, scrolled through our website, or attended one of our Coffee Houses.

This issue is also a little more special as it’s the first since we’ve been crowned as New Hampshire Press Association’s first place winner for General Excellence for the second year in a row.

This cover was painted and crafted by ORHS senior Stella Pillet-Shore, with some help from Madeline Healey. It displays a younger kid in a graduation cap and gown. The back is a collage of their childhood artwork, a nod to the class of 2025’s growth as we exit high school.

For more reflection on this year, check out Olivia Andersen’s “Record Breakers” on pg. 5 to learn about every ORHS athlete who broke a school, division, or state record this fall and winter seasons. If you’d rather look to the future, read Paige Stehle’s “Data Literacy: More Than Just a New Class” on pg. 33.

If you’re looking for more reading on what’s going on around the community, feel free to check out the website, mor.news. Our website recently went through a full update and redesign thanks to our website manager Bella Jackman.

Thank you to our sponsors who make MOR possible! We are beyond grateful for your support, which allows us to cover the stories we care about.

Once again, thank you for helping make the last two years so great,

Amelia Rury and Kevin Kell

Meet the Staff

Curated by Annie Graff “Where will MOR staff be in 10 years?”

Byline Photos by Elise Bacon

Amelia Rury (she/her) (‘25)

Co-Editor in Chief Owns seven Mattress Firms and they are all fronts for money laundering.

Jahrie Houle (she/her) (‘26)

Opinion Editor

Becomes an investigative journalist and is responsible for uncovering a water-gate level scandal from our AI president in the year 2035.

Goldberg (she/her) (‘26)

Features Editor

She pretends to be a regular woman working a 9-5 but at night she puts on a mask and brings justice to Gotham.

Kevin Kell (he/him) (‘25)

Co-Editor in Chief Eating the runway rowrrrr.

Kai Nield

Marketing Director Dozens of felony charges.

Graff

Layout Editor

Lives in the middle of woods and only wears black. She doesn’t own a car, but she’ll show up to places with a broom stick and big cloak.

Klarov

Creative Director

Becomes an absolutely insane DJ. She’s cutting up raves and boiler room sets. Runs the underground scene and nobody knows her real identity.

Sadie

Hannah

(she/her) (‘25)

(he/him) (‘25)

Annie

(she/her) (‘26)

Accidentally uncovered a money laundering scheme and now lives in a different country under Witness Protection.

The guy that lurks around alleyways with a long trench coat and dramatically opens it with a bunch of little knick knacks that he’s selling to unsuspecting strangers.

Becomes a poet but only publishes under anon. Not because he has to--he just likes being mysterious.

In the exact same situation as Anne Hathaway in The Devil

Supreme ruler of a sovereign nation called Jackmanland.

The FBI agent that controls the pigeons in NYC and she really loves her job.

Elise Bacon (she/her) (‘26)

Social Media and Events Manager

Wears Prada.

Olivia Andersen (she/her) (‘25)

Multimedia Editor

Ian Hilfiker (he/him) (‘25)

Archive Manager

Bella Jackman (she/her) (‘26)

Website Manager

Paige Stehle (she/her) (‘25) News Editor

Ulysses Smith (he/him) (‘25)

Sports & Culture Editor

Record Breakers

A recap of all the teams and players at ORHS who broke records or reached milestones this year.

written by OLIVIA ANDERSEN

Five-hundred digs in 3 seasons, joining the 1000-point club senior year, and smashing the 1500m State Record: Oyster River High School (ORHS) athletes did it all this year.

Throughout the course of the 2024-2025 school year, many teams and athletes have smashed Oyster River and state records, and some have even broken individual milestones.

The fall sports started off strong with the girls’ volleyball team having two individuals passing volleyball milestones. When the winter season came around, both the boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams shattered multiple school and state records. The boys’ and girls’ basketball teams each netted 14 3-pointers in a tournament game, cementing them each in the NHIAA record books. Both the girls’ basketball and hockey teams had a player pass milestones as well. Below are detailed profiles of these teams and players who solidified their names in the Oyster River record books.

GracySpirito150acesandAubreyYoung150 acesand500digs(GirlsVolleyball)

This past fall season not one, but two players on the ORHS girls volleyball team reached milestones. Both Gracy Spirito (‘26) and Aubrey Young (‘26) passed the 150 aces milestone. In addition to this Young also reached 500 digs.

For Young these milestones weren’t on her radar until last year. “I wasn’t really focused on them sophomore year, but then my coach told me at the end of that year that I was really close to reaching them,” she says. In both the offseason and the regular season Young worked hard to reach these milestones. To get her 150 aces she spent time working on her passing and serving, and to get her 500 digs she focused on her defense. “I’ve been working more on my passing, serving, and I learned how to take more control on the court.”

All of this hard work that both Young and Spirito put into their sport has paid off. “I’m definitely proud of myself and it’s an accomplishment that I’ve always wanted,” says Young. “It was just pretty special when I got it.”

Boys Indoor Track School Record for the 4x160m,andthe4x200m

The boys indoor track sprint relay team was on fire this winter. They broke the school record for both the 4x200m and 4x160m relays and now get the privilege of having their names in the record books. The team consisted of Talon Ouellette (‘25), Casey Pirtle

ImagecourtesyofGabiSelig

(‘25), Micah Gedney (‘26), and Owen Mazza (‘27). At the beginning of this season they were unsure of how successful they would be in their events. “We didn’t know how fast we’d be, but at our first race we came very close to the 4x160m so we knew that we could beat it. It became our goal,” says Pirtle. As the season went on they kept practicing with this goal in mind. “We just practiced really hard with our handoffs, running as fast as we could and holding ourselves accountable,” continues Pirtle. Once they broke the 4x160m record with a time of 1:15.69, it became clear to them that they could break the next one. Pirtle says, “The 4x160m and 4x200m were set by the same kids, so we knew if we could beat the 4x160m then we could beat the 4x200.”

Sure enough they broke the 4x200m record too, setting a new school record with a time of 1:35.33. “It’s a hard record to beat, but it’s achievable,” says Pirtle. “It felt pretty good to leave something behind.”

Talon Ouellette 300m School Record (BoysIndoorTrack)

The 4x160m and 4x200m relay records weren’t the only ones that Ouellette broke this season. In addition to setting a school record with his team, Oullette also set the school’s indoor 300m record with a time of 35.00 seconds. This record was set by Ty Dorow (‘23) who Coach Nick Ricciardi says was “already an outstanding athlete.” Oullette put a lot of work into the offseason to help him get ready for his senior year. “His offseason focus on training and just getting stronger really helped him,” says Ricciardi. Oullette has become one of the best track athletes to walk the halls of Oyster River. Ricciardi says, “He’s probably the best sprinter we’ve ever had in our high school.”

Oullette’s 300m record counts for the school record and is also the unofficial state record. “In New Hampshire you have to break the record at the state meet for it to count as the state record,” explains Ricciardi. Unfortunately Oullette did not get a chance to participate in the state meet due to injury, but he is back for outdoor track and is looking to have a good season.

Mackenzie Cook 3000m School and DII Record(GirlsIndoorTrack)

At the Meet of Champions at Plymouth State, Mackenzie Cook (‘25) broke her own school record for the 3000m with a time of 9:57.73, beating her previous time by 2.27 seconds. In addition to this she also set the DII record for the 3000m. Going into this meet, Cooks’ goal was to break this record. “My record before was ten minutes flat, and I was so pissed off about not breaking ten minutes.” When the State Championship meet rolled around Cook was ready for her chance to break her record. Cook was elated when she finally broke ten.

HaleyKavanagh1500mSchool,DIIand StateRecord(GirlsIndoorTrack)

When the Indoor Track State Championship meet rolled around, Haley Kavanagh (‘25) had already broken the 1500m state record, but like Ricciardi explained, it didn’t count because it wasn’t at the state meet. Before the winter, one of Kavanagh’s goals was to break this record. “I came pretty close to breaking the record before, so going into this season it was definitely something that I was trying to do,” says Kavanagh. The 1500m isn’t one of Kavanagh’s normal events. She normally sticks to the 1600m or the 4 mile, but this year she got the opportunity to run in the 1500m race a couple of times before the state meet which helped her prepare. Kavanagh broke the previous state record by 3.48 seconds, ending her indoor track season with the school, DII and state record for the 1500m with a time of 4:33.31.

ElizaFarwell100points(GirlsHockey)

Passing the 100 points milestone has been a goal of Eliza Farwell’s (‘26) since her sister did it in her senior year in 2022, “Seeing my sister hit it, made me think ‘alright, this is definitely a goal for me.’” Farwell not only crushed this milestone, but she also reached it in her junior year. “Getting it as a junior was definitely special,” she says. Farwell and Kira Jacobs (‘25) are the only girls’ hock

ImagecourtesyofMadelynMarthouse

ImagecourtesyofJaySmith

Imagecourtesyof JaySmith

ey players who have reached this milestone as a junior in recent years.

The 100 point club is made up of both goals (worth two points) and assists (worth one point). Farwell is proud of this accomplishment not only because of the goals she scored but also because of the assists she had. When asked what helped her achieve this goal, Farwell emphasized the importance of not being a selfish player. “I don’t want to force shots during less intense games. I still want to be a team player.”

Farwell is proud of her accomplishment this year, and she looks forward to her senior season. “I’m hoping to have my assists number stay high, and with the seniors leaving I want to definitely take on more of a scoring role.”

Boys’BasketballTiedTournamentRecordfor Most Team 3 Pointers Made in a DII Tournament Game

When the 7th seed boys’ basketball team faced off against the 10th seed Merrimack Valley in the playoffs, it was bound to be a close game. “There was a lot of energy and excitement going into the game and [there were] a lot of nerves too,” says Brendan Kirby (‘25). This was the first time in years that the boys’ basketball team has had a home playoff game, which Kirby says gave the boys an advantage. “I think once we saw all the people that were there supporting us, [and that] the student section went all the way back to the top, it helped us get going and we didn’t stop from there.”

The Bobcats lost to Merrimack Valley in the regular season, but this game was different. There was nothing stopping the Bobcats that night, netting 14 3-pointers on the way to a 85-67 win. “Everyone got involved, it was a team effort,” says Kirby. Six of the Bobcats scored from behind the 3-point arc. Kirby himself had five triples, Owen Jacques (‘26) scored four, Cole Dulac (‘25) had two, while Tommy Aldrich (‘25), Mathew Jernigan (‘26), and Evan Clift (‘27) each had one. “We put in a lot of work to do that, the day before [the game] each person shot for five minutes straight multiple times. It was just really rewarding.” Kirby says.

The Bobcats tied the 3-point record for most field goals made in one tournament game. They are now tied with the 2002 Pembroke Spartans and the 2014 Goffstown Grizzles.

ImagecourtesyofJeremyGazowski

ImagecourtesyofKellyAndersen

ImagecourtesyofJeremyGazowski

ImagecourtesyofKellyAndersen

Girls’ Basketball Tournament Record for Most 3-Pointers Made in a DII Tournament Game

Just 24 hours after the boys basketball team tied their tournament record, the girls basketball team snapped their own. This is a record that I was privileged to be a part of. The 4th seeded Bobcats were set to face off against the 5th seeded Pembroke Spartans in the quarterfinal round at home. Going into the game the Bobcats were nervous as Pembroke was a team that they had lost to in the regular season. “We were definitely nervous going into the game, Pembroke was a good team and had beaten us before,” says Vivian O’Quinn (‘25).

The Bobcats were fresh off their first playoff win in years, and they were looking to keep it rolling. O’Quinn got the night started, netting her first 3-pointer in the Bobcats first possession of the game. After that there was nothing stopping the Bobcats as they rolled to a 66-47 win. O’Quinn finished the game with 26 points and six 3-pointers, Wren Horne (‘26) finished with four 3-pointers, Caitlin Klein (‘25) and myself each finished with two.

The Bobcats beat the record which was previously held by the 2003 Oyster River girls’ basketball team, finishing the night with 14 team 3-pointers.

VivianO’Quinn1000points(Girls’ Basketball)

On March 12th, Vivian O’Quinn achieved a basketball milestone that hasn’t been reached in 6 years since Joe Morrell (‘19) in 2019. Going into high school, O’Quinn didn’t think reaching this milestone was possible. “It felt like I wasn’t capable of doing it,” she says. As high school went on this goal was pushed further and further from her mind. “As the years went on I [thought] ‘oh this is really hard’ I didn’t think I would get it. Then my whole senior year I didn’t even count up my points because it didn’t seem necessary.” O’Quinn was shocked when her coach told her and her teammates rushed to celebrate after a Final Four win against the 1 seed Laconia. “I was honestly really confused in the moment, and I didn’t really believe it.”

Looking back on her past seasons, O’Quinn believes her consistent improvement is what helped her reach this milestone. “I improved a little bit each year. I averaged around 5 points my freshman year, 10 sophomore year, 15 junior year and then 20 senior year,” says O’Quinn. “so it was just staying consistent throughout the year and then improving each year.” This was a great achievement for O’Quinn “It definitely feels really cool. It was amazing.”

Congratulations to all of the Bobcat athletes that broke records and reached great milestones this year. At the time this article was written spring sports are just starting, but there are many athletes to look out for this spring!

ImagecourtesyofMindyMarcouillier

ImagecourtesyofDonDoyon

Pickle Talk

Does pickleball have an effect on just your physical health?

writing and visuals by BELLA JACKMAN

ach time I am at the court, I find myself either meeting a new person or playing so much that I can barely walk back to the car. The sport is benefiting me both socially and physically, but is that the same for other young players?

Playing pickleball for the first time I didn’t realize that it would not only affect me physically, but also socially. So, when things like clubs are brought into play are the effects the same for other high schoolers?

Pickleball was first created in 1965 and has a very interesting backstory to it. To read more about the background and rise of pickleball, check out ‘The Rise of Pickleball’ on the Mouth of the River website!

At the start of the school year, a pickle ball club was organized at Oyster River High School by Una Bleckmann (‘25). The club was set to meet every Friday after school, and the turnout was better than they could have hoped. “Our first day we had over 20 people and there were four courts, four people on each court and there were people still waiting to play,” said Bleckmann.

The turnout wasn’t just for the first meeting either it was every week they had a good crowd show up. Bleckmann states, “Most Fridays there were enough people to fill the four courts, which was nice.”

Having many people meet up after school can improve the social and physical aspects of their lives. Instead of sitting at home some kids were not only getting physical activity, they were getting opportunities to meet new people and socialize outside of school.

The idea for this club came up with her friends because they wanted to

continue to play throughout the school year and this was the perfect way to do so. “I started playing over the summer, and I thought it would be cool to start a club,” said Bleckmann. She took the fun activity that she did with her friends and made it so that other people could also benefit from the sport.

This past summer was a huge time for pickleball. Morgan Trela (‘26) would spend her summer nights playing pickleball at the Rochester pickleball courts. “I’ve met so many people, and I play with whoever is there and it’s so fun,” Trela says.

The sport is a great way to not only keep yourself active but it can also help you meet new people as well. Bringing that aspect into the school year with something like a club was a great idea that could benefit students both socially and physically.

But there is a chance that there will be years no one will take the initiative to run the club, so I asked both Bleckmann and Trela how they would feel about pickleball becoming a school sport.

Bleckmann said that she would not only be interested in pickleball continuing to be a club but it becoming a sport as well. “I think it would be cool, especially where they might put it into the Olympics, so it would be cool if we had it as a sport,” said Bleckmann. Trela echoed that saying, “I think that would be so fun as a winter sport.”

So, if you are looking for a new hobby that can help you not only become more physical but more social as well, pickleball is the sport for you. “Everyone is so nice, and it brings people together,” says Trela.

In Case You Missed It...

written by KEVIN KELL

written by KAI NIELD

People-Pleasing

Why we people please and how to stop.

written by SADIE GOLDBERG

visual by PAIGE STEHLE

s I stare at the little grey text message on my screen, my mind starts the all-too-familiar spiral. Yes, I could make time on Sunday morning, but that’s when I do my long run and everything shower. I could push it back until later, but then I’d have no time to domyhomework.Icouldtrytowake upearlybutI’msotiredandburntout fromschoolthisweek.I’dreallyrather notgo.

I type my response and hesitate, thinking over my decision one last

YouGov survey of 1,000 U.S. adult citizens, 49% of people self-identified as people pleasers. This was shocking to me at first, but after researching all of the reasons people might try to please others, it slowly started to become clearer why that number was so large.

While the personality type is typically caused by a trauma response, emotional dependency, or insecurity, it can be amplified by any number of reasons. Some of these reasons include being a student, a teenager, a woman,

(’26), a people pleaser herself, really summed up why when she told me, “Kindness is something you don’t have to think about. It doesn’t take much to have kindness.”

The way I’m starting to think about it, is that if I have to force myself to do something for someone else, then it automatically doesn’t count as kindness. I’m trying to remember that kindness includes being kind to yourself.

Part of what makes that line so hard to find and what makes people pleas-

Thelinebetweenpeoplepleasingandkindness,asIsuspected, isalittleblurred.

time. Isthistherightthingtodo? I hit send and read my message over once more before shutting my phone off.

“Yes, I’d love to!”

This is a prime example of people pleasing. This need to change my behavior and put others before myself, seriously impacts my life on the daily. While I’ve tried my fair share of ways to help myself adhere to this behavior

being on social media, or trying too hard to be kind. Now if you know me, you would have clocked that these are all things I have experience on. So I hope I can help you, reader, to get a big picture idea of people pleasing and maybe even help some fellow people pleasers to feel less alone.

I had a rocky start to my research as I attacked my original question. The line

ing so confusing to define, is that it’s not a mental health condition, but a behavioral style. An article by PsychCentral titled, The Psychology Behind People Pleasing is what really helped me understand when an action qualifies as people pleasing. The people pleasing mindset means relying fully on the other person to be happy, which is why I would do something for

SowhydoIfeelsuchaneedfortheotherpersontofeel happy?WhydoIfeelsuchaneedforvalidation?

less, I still find myself drifting back to it every once and a while.

I started this article to try and differentiate between people pleasing and kindness, but as I interviewed the people around me on the topic, I started to realize that there was much more interesting information on people pleasing than I originally thought. The need to please affects a lot of people. In a 2022

between people pleasing and kindness, as I suspected, is a little blurred. My kindness is one of my favorite things about myself, but I find myself drifting into people pleasing too often. I don’t want to lose that kindness, but I also don’t want to do anything “kind” while bringing myself down.

I think that above sentence in itself is a contradiction, and Riley Duggan

someone even if my own comfort was compromised. It’s all about the need for validation. Duggan said, “[I’m doing it because it will] make me feel like I made them happy, but it’s synthetic happiness.” Something else I’ve been trying lately has been thinking about how the other person would feel if they knew how much it took out of me to do that one thing for them.

So why do I feel such a need for the other person to feel happy? Why do I feel such a need for validation? From the personality standpoint, David Geschwendt, the Oyster River High School (ORHS) psychologist, said, “When I think about how personality develops, I think about early childhood… there’s also genetic predisposition and everything you’re getting from your environment.”

This really highlights why so many people become people pleasers. An article from The Berkeley Well-Being Institute titled, People Pleasing: Definition, Quotes, & Psychology states that having hard-to-please parents is one of the ways this personality could develop, but in terms of genetics, the trait could be passed down. While I unfortunately have no control over my genetics and my childhood is behind me, the only remaining root cause of people pleasing is the environment that is surrounding me in the present day.

And so I thought through my dayto-day life and the people I try to gain approval from the most, and my mind immediately drifted to my teachers. As I tried to pick apart why my teachers were some of the only people I still consistently try to please, I went back to what my research had taught me. I realized that I don’t want to stop because I feel like I have to gain their approval.

My grades feel so very important as a junior in high school thinking about college, and my teachers are the ones who have control over them. I find myself staying up an hour later just to make a project perfect and not disappoint my teachers because it feels like if

extra time into a project shouldn’t be to impress my teachers, but to do the best I can so I can feel proud of myself.

For anonymous source R, she doesn’t just feel the need to people please her teachers, but any and all adults in her

R told me a story that had just happened the night before I interviewed her at her job. Her story went like this: one of her coworkers had asked her to come along to talk to a mom about the behavior of her child who was consis-

IrealizedthatIdon’twanttostopbecauseIfeellikeIhave togaintheirapproval.

I do, they’ll like me less and my grades will drop.

This last semester, I started to realize that my reasoning for putting the

life. She said, “I’ll [people please] my friends sometimes but only really rarely because I’m so comfortable with them.”

tently hurting another child’s feelings. When they went over to her, R told me that her coworker started telling her that her child was mean, and the child’s

mom started to get upset. R stepped in to try and deescalate the situation by apologizing and telling them their kid was really improving on the team and that it was always a pleasure having the child on the team.

She seemed super upset as she was telling me this, because she went against her true thoughts and feelings to avoid conflict. In her words, “People being mad at me is just terrible. I hate knowing there are people that are upset at me.” According to an article by WebMD titled WhatIsaPeoplePleaser?, “apologizing for things that aren’t your fault” is one of the key behaviors

perfect as theirs. This then lends itself to people pleasing when I feel the need to do what I think others want to see, instead of what I really want to do just so I can fit in. Many of my female interviewees expressed that they also feel that pressure to be the most perfect version of themselves all the time.

Lucky Muppala (’26), a friend of mine who is also a people pleaser, told me she has recently been battling the way social media affects her people pleasing. What’s been the most harmful to her, are stereotypes that are portrayed on social media. She said, “You see the whole stereotype on so-

to two people. One, Bella Smith (’26) said, “I used to be [a people pleaser], but as I’ve seen more people around me be people pleasers I’ve realized it’s not necessarily a good thing…I’ve stopped and now I just focus on myself.” Her advice for overcoming people pleasing is to “look at yourself as an equal to [the people you’re trying to please]…they really don’t care. Just try to have the same mindset as them.”

The other was Caitlin Klein (’25), who has never been much of a people pleaser. She said, “If I don’t want to do something I’m not going to change my mind just because someone else wants

WhenI’msecureinmyself,peoplebeingunhappywithme can feel like less of a blow.

in people pleasing. That wanting to avoid conflict is driven by fear, which is the basis of many people pleasing behaviors.

In high school, with such a small community, that fear often comes up as a fear of rejection. To put that fear into perspective, Geschwendt gave me an example. “Maybe you get involved in a certain friend group as you’re going through school that you don’t share values with, but you feel like you need to make it look like you do.”

As it turns out, Geschwendt’s imaginary example almost exactly mirrored an experience that anonymous source G is having. She shared her experience with me about her friend group. She said, “I find myself putting myself aside so I can be the person I am when I’m with them.”

That need to belong is a part of human nature, and a desire to fit in goes right along with that. Not only are high schoolers of today affected by the ever-present pressures of high school but being in our generation also means being affected by social media. Comparing ourselves to others is now easier than ever. Seeing just the most ideal parts of the lives of others, makes me feel like I need to put up a front that shows that my life is just as

cial media that blondes are so pretty. We’re a majority white school so being someone who’s Indian and looks different [makes me] feel out of place. It’s definitely lead me to be less confident because I’m like ‘I don’t look anything like these other girls.’”

Her issue with social media is much different to mine, because hers is something she’s not able to change. For that reason, she told me, she feels like the need to please people because she feels she can’t please them with how she looks. Muppala said she is working on adopting the mindset of, “I’m sorry I can’t please you. It’s not my problem, nor is it my job.”

Muppala’s story is what helped me to figure out that one of my most important discoveries about people pleasing: it’s based in insecurity. That’s another way people pleasing is different than kindness. Kindness is based in confidence, while people pleasing is based on a lack of confidence. With this new mindset, I’m working on increasing my confidence to help with my people pleasing. I realized when I’m secure in myself, people being unhappy with me can feel like less of a blow.

To gain insight into how people have overcome people pleasing and the mindset it takes to beat it, I talked

to. Like I don’t really care that much.” Her advice was that it’s okay to choose to do what the other person wants to do, if it truly doesn’t affect you at all, but when it starts to affect you negatively, you should speak up. She said that it’s important to use your own judgment.

Geschwendt told me, “I believe people can change, especially if they have the intent to. People can identify certain characteristics or habits, and decide that it’s something they want to make different and they can work on it, like training a muscle.”

While I’ve spent a majority of this article talking about why people pleasing is so hard to get rid of, I hope that with this advice from Geschwendt and a newfound self-awareness, my fellow people pleasers can begin the journey of untangling old habits and becoming more confident.

Senior Assassin Vlog

filmed by OLIVIA ANDERSEN

Tune in to see my Senior Assassin expierence first hand.

Do You Notice It?

Bullying and exclusion of students who have intellectual and developmental disabilties is happening in our community.

writing and visuals by HANNAH KLAROV

and those who are not, and are building solid and genuine friendships.

Although many students pretend that this bullying doesn’t happen, it’s a common sighting in the lunchroom and in the senior core: a group of students invite someone who has an intellectual disability (ID) or a developmental disability (DD) to sit with them at lunch, and instead of talking and

A research paper titled, “The Role of Disability in the Relationship Between Mental Health and Bullying: A Focused, Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies” by Lilly Augustine, backs up how much of an impact bullying can have on the future of how those who are disabled build relationships with other people, and their mental health.

“Youhavetoaskyourself:‘WouldIdothisifitwereatypicalpeer?’ Iftheanswerisno,thenyoushouldnotbedoing itwithapeerwithadisability.”

-Amanda McLeod, ORHS paraprofessional

Sixty percent of students with disabilities report being bullied, compared to 25% of all students, according to Pacer.org, a country-wide organization for parents of disabled children. It may come as a surprise (or maybe not), that this exact same bullying is happening right here at Oyster River High School (ORHS).

Whether it’s right in front of people’s faces or not, bullying and making fun of disabled people happens frequently at ORHS. This is because many students fail to see that those who have an intellectual disability (ID) or developmental disability (DD) also deserve the same respect they give to everyone else. The act of exclusion and bullying towards those peers can have heavy effects on their present and future relationships and mindset towards making connections. However, school organizations like Unified Sports and Best Buddies are beginning to bridge the gap between those who are disabled

treating them like everyone else, they immediately start ignoring them, or even worse, make fun of what they say. Sometimes, this is done behind their back, but as sad as it is to say, most of the time it’s right in front of their faces.

The reason is that many students think that those who have IDs do not realize they are being bullied, and it makes them an easier and more entertaining target. Amanda McLeod, a paraprofessional at ORHS, who has been working with disabled students of all ages for over twenty years, knows that this bullying affects the students she works with deeply, both in their present and future lives.

She says, “When you feel others are accepted as they are, but you are teased and talked about behind your back, it makes building future relationships harder. If you know you are being bullied, it breaks you down, plain and simple. If you have an ID, you are still aware, and your feelings can be hurt.”

The paper states, “While a disability can be thought of as an impairment related to the individual, a fuller account of disability can be viewed as the impact of a disability that is created within the transactions between the indi

Let’s be friends! Yeah, we’re totally best friends, besties right now!

vidual and their environment.” In this case, people who have been coerced into a so-called “friendship” and then come to a realization that it was fake

a lot of traits with people with IDs.” Doherty concludes that the bullying and disrespect comes from a place where their peers don’t realize what an

“Makingfunofthe‘weird’kidshasbecomesonormalized.”

-Erinn Doherty (‘25)

may be more reluctant to trust others in the future who do actually want to be friends with them.

Eliza Sekera (‘26), vice president of Best Buddies, an in-school organization that helps those who have IDs and DDs, finds that some of these friendships are situational. “It is a very real part of high school life and a lot of times people will be inclusive in one situation but not in another, and so those kinds of discrepancies make it really hard for kids with ID or DDs to find out who their true friends are, who they can actually go to and who they can’t.”

Although these friendships on the outside look well-meaning, they could just be another way that students exclude those who are different to them. Erinn Doherty (‘25), president of Best Buddies, thinks that excluding and bullying those who are disabled starts with repeated bullying and exclusion in the classroom towards those who are considered “weird” which is then normalized as regular behavior.

ID could mean for someone and how it can affect their interactions and devel-

Mr we still sitting with that girl for lunch? yeah, lowk we should i feel kinda bad for her

ok but shes so annoying, i dont understand why we have to include her when she isnt even our friend

well

she says funny stu sometimes and we’re prob the closest ppl she has

What do you want to say next?

She says, “Making fun of the ‘weird’ kids has become so normalized, like just people who are in class and talk a little bit more or share fun facts. Those people get made fun of more, when more often than not they’re on the spectrum or have a history with something you may not know about. And I think that’s where it comes from, just making fun of the kids that share

opment in school.

McLeod emphasizes the importance of treating a peer with a disability with the same respect as anyone else, as it’s important for both them and the relationships that they make in the future. She recalls a moment in a second-grade classroom, where a student wanted to help another who had a dis-

ability take off their shoes, although the student could do that themselves, treating them like a younger child. She had to explain to the student that the disabled student could take off their shoes by themselves and that if they wanted to interact with the student that way, they could just give them a high-five or fist bump.

Although a task such as helping someone take off their shoes can seem simple and innocent, it can be invasive behavior if done to the wrong person, especially since this can increase into more touchy behavior such as holding hands or giving hugs. If someone who has ID/DD is, from childhood, taught that it’s okay to do behaviors like that to people that are not close to them, this can affect them as they get older.

McLeod says, “If this had continued, well-meaning as it was, it could have led to hugging inappropriately in high school. When students with ID are allowed to hug and be hugged, they do not always realize that some people should not be hugged and can lead to abuse in adult life. Holding hands is a similar situation, although people may think it is fun to do so. You have to ask yourself: ‘Would I do this if it were a typical peer?’ If the answer is no, then you should not be doing it with a peer with a disability.”

Ignorance can be a reason why people act like this towards their peers that have IDs, but Sekera emphasizes that this is not an excuse. She states, “I think a lot of it is a lack of education about people with disabilities.

MY BEST FRIEND FR <3

They don’t know how to interact with them necessarily, because it does require some more patience and maybe some more learning just to acknowledge what their needs are. I feel like a lot of it comes from a lack of exposure to people who are different than themselves.”

McLeod sees this in the lunchroom where students are more reluctant to include those who have IDs. She says, “Often students with IDs (Intellectual Disabilities) are sitting alone at tables or sitting with other students with IDs during lunch. Often there is a paraprofessional sitting at the table with them. I think that having an adult at the table can make people reluctant to sit with them because they don’t want to be monitored so closely and sometimes there is stigma for sitting there. Everyone wants to sit with people who are friendly and enjoy their company.”

Although it may take some extra effort, building genuine friendships and connections with those who have an ID/DD is rewarding to both parties, as seen in clubs such as Best Buddies and Unified Sports, where both those who have an ID/DD and those who do not, have an inclusive space to connect.

This welcoming space is made because both groups want to be there and are involved, and use this opportunity to interact with one another, according to Sekera. She says, “Within those spaces I find that everyone is super welcoming. Everyone is very calm

it’s going against what the majority of people think and do.

In McLeod’s experience, kindness goes a long way. “We need to be kind to each other and accept each other as we are. Best Buddies and Unified Sports are a great way to get to know

and able to regulate themselves and is aware of how their needs might be different from others and accommodating those needs.”

Alexa Gombar, a student that participates in Unified Sports and Best Buddies, has made connections with a lot of people in the clubs she is involved in that has changed the trajectory of her high school life. She says, “I’m going to miss it a lot. I love being here for friends and Unified Sports.” Gombar also uses Unified Sports to make others feel included as well.

Sekera adds on, “My goal with Best Buddies is to make genuine friends with them so that they can understand what a healthy friendship looks like because they deserve that as well. People just aren’t acknowledging that they’re real people too, and they also have feelings and are receptive.” She also highlights the importance of kindness towards those peers, even if

others of all abilities. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. My strength may help you with your weakness and vice versa. My mother used to say, ‘You don’t need to like everyone, but you do need to be kind.’”

“Peoplejustaren’t acknowledgingthat they’rerealpeople too,andtheyalso havefeelingsandare receptive.”

-Eliza Sekera

A Local Coffee Review

filmed by BELLA JACKMAN

IDunKINGs

Two bros on a journey across Dunkland.

written by KAI NIELD and KEVIN KELL

f the world were our kingdom, we believe Dunkin’ would be our palace. Dunkin’ has been an absolute staple of our lives, so much so that we’ve had the honor of being dubbed “DunKings”.

To fulfill our duty as kings, we sat on our thrones and carefully re-tasted every single hot food item that our castle has to offer. We annotated and observed everything from flame to flaws in an effort to create a power ranking. The most important things taken into consideration were taste and price, but we also noted other things like presentation and temperature. Here are our rankings from best to worst. Enjoy.

– The DunKings

This is the clear number one go-to sandwich of all time at Dunkin’. The Lebron James is what we like to call it. Just solid flavor and so much consistency all around: you just can’t go wrong with the BEC.

When done right, these crispy flavor bombs can go pound for pound with the BEC. Unfortunately, it’s just a little too common to end up with a bad batch, so they settle for the two seed. These are undoubtedly the king of fast-food hash browns.

Sweet Black Pepper Bacon Breakfast Sandwich, $5.39

1 3 5

The most flavorful sandwich at Dunkin’ has to be the Sweet Black Pepper Bacon. This very unique sandwich compared to the rest because of the flavored bacon has risen to the top of the rankings. This sandwich is a contender for the most improved player.

Wake Up Wrap, $3.29 Sausage, Egg and Cheese, $4.99

The Wake Up Wrap is a unique item on the Dunkin menu, the Swiss army knife or Brock Holt of the bunch. It can come with bacon, sausage, sweet bacon, turkey sausage, or just plain egg and cheese. A great option for a cheap price.

This sandwich has forever lived under the shadow of the bacon, egg and cheese. Similar to Michael Jordan who will be living under the shadow of Lebron forever. You can call this one the MJ.

Grilled Cheese, $4.49

This is an extremely underrated sandwich on the menu. Although the sandwich does not come with any meat, it’s full of flavor from the sourdough bread and the melty cheese. When served toasty warm, this sandwich is a real contender for the title.

6 Bacon, Egg and Cheese, $4.99 Hash Browns, $1.69

Bacon & Cheddar Omelet Bites, $5.59

We both agreed that these make for a very good bite. However, it’s the price tag of over $6 with tax that’s holding them back. In no world should two small omelet bites cost more than a bacon, egg and cheese. Because of this, they couldn’t fit in any higher.

Ham & Swiss Pretzel Sliders, $4.99

The pretzel sliders are a brand-new addition to the Dunkin’ menu. With the flavorful black forest ham, matched by the salty pretzel bread, the sliders look like a true rookie of the year candidate.

Snackin’ Bacon, $3.29

Just like the sausage, egg and cheese being in the shadow of the bacon egg and cheese, the Snackin’ Bacon is in the shadow of the hash browns. The hash browns have been the superior side when it comes to Dunkin, which means the Snackin’ Bacon hasn’t had any time to shine. While the bacon is flavorful and sweet, it is still not enough to overtake the glorious hash browns.

Turkey Sausage, Egg and Cheese, $4.99

Just a worse version of the original Sausage, Egg and Cheese. It lacks flavor and is very dry. Unless you’re watching calories, stay clear of this.

Egg and Cheese, $3.99

The only reason this sandwich should ever be purchased is if you refuse to eat any kind of meat. It does not have nearly enough flavor compared to the other sandwiches. This one is straight up trash.

Chicken Bacon Croissant Stuffers, $4.49

Very underwhelmed by the size of this thing; it is much smaller than advertised. The bacon and Colby Jack cheese provides decent flavor, but the soggy croissant and weird textured chicken completely ruin it. This item is limited time, so hopefully it won’t be around much longer.

Loaded Hash Browns, $3.39

They took the fantastic classic Dunkin’ Hash Brown, and loaded it with the saltiest cheese you’ll ever try. The bacon completely disappears, which really disappointed us. If it wasn’t for the hash browns themselves, this would have a case for dead last.

Avocado Toast, $3.59

The only word to describe the taste of this is “sour.” The avocado was very very tangy and was really all that you could taste here. We also tried this with bacon and similarly to the Loaded Hash, the bacon completely disappears. We had to put this down after just one or two bites because of how unpleasant the avocado tasted.

Chicken & Roasted Pepper Dunkin’ Wrap, $5.69

Eating this may have been the most unpleasant experience we’ve ever had at Dunkin’. Think about the food you’ve had with the least flavor, then give it less flavor. It was a completely different bite than either of us had ever had and we hope to never experience it again. The only hint of flavor it may have had was bad and it came from the cheese. It’s very clear that Dunkin’ needs to stay away from chicken.

10 9 11 12 13 14 15

We decided to take on this ranking for one reason only: we love Dunkin’. Throughout the school year we have gone on a Dunkjourney across Dunkland. Along with some insight from our fellow Dunkin’ savant, Jacob Baver, we wanted to go through and rate every hot food item on the menu. We have faced adversity with stale bagels, bad coffees, and conflict with our rival, Starbucks. The message we want to leave with you all is: choose DUNKIN’.

written by AMELIA RURY

Everything I’ll actually remember about senior year.

I have been called a dummkopf four times in the past five minutes. Sheldon Cooper, main character of CBS’s Young Sheldon, was the first to be called dummkopf.

For the past week or so, my friends and I have piled into Sarah’s car during every flex period to catch the next Young Sheldon episode. We started on the day the newest season was released on Netflix.

In this season, Sheldon and his mother are living in Germany, where Sheldon struggles with not being the smartest person in every room he walks in. As someone who’s never had that problem, I feel for him.

Kidding. I absolutely clown on that fool. All four of us do.

On the day we were set to watch episode 4, I walked into the senior core before checking out of the building for flex. Caitlin was already at the table, pulling out her calculus homework.

She told me that “you guys are wasting your senior year.” I called her a dummkopf.

In what world is watching Young Sheldon more of a waste of time than doing calculus homework?

IT’S

A GREAT YEAR TO BE A BOBCAT

It’s Nicholai’s job to feed the advisory fish. He’s in Sant’s flex more than all of the rest of us, and also likes fish more, so it just made sense.

He decided that would be his job when we got them. It’s been about a month now, and I think the appeal of a fish is wearing off. Now, Nicholai comes barreling into advisory looking like a stressed parent of hungry children who are crying for food. I’m not really sure what changed.

We were going to name all 5 fish “Chud” but Sant had some problem with that. Instead, each fish has a designated name in English from our advisory, and French from her students.

My personal favorite fish is named Xx_rafael_14.xX. It’s the brightest orange and skinniest fish out of the original 5.

We got the fish on a Tuesday. By the time the next advisory rolled around on Thursday of that same week, the first fish was dead. Half of our advisory circled the toilet in the faculty bathroom to watch it flush. That was Sant’s first time in her 4 years of teaching entering the faculty bathroom. I don’t know if she’s been back since.

Then, the long weekend killed off 2 more. We arrived to 3 fish remaining, one of which was looking ballooned and swimming slowly. It seemed as though our advisory just wasn’t the right environment for raising fish.

The fat one gave birth to 4 more fish. They went unnamed, because Nicholai said we shouldn’t get too attached to the fish at the rate they were dying.

Maybe the thoughts of impending fish death are what has been stressing him out lately.

Something I’ve learned over the past four years is (if there’s no real conflicts) to always take the field trips.

I honestly don’t even remember the boring field trips I went on. I do remember a couple that I expected to be boring and ended up genuinely enjoying myself. So, I suppose my advice would be something about keeping an open mind.

But you know it was a good field trip when you don’t remember a single academic moment.

I went for two years to the Youth Climate Leadership Academy workshop in Vermont with the ORHS sustainability club.

6 students arrived at ORHS to cram into Mr. Bromley’s minivan at 6 AM on Thursday morning. I was comfortably not one of them. Instead, I rode passenger to Ainsley the night before during reasonable driving hours.

It was the first weekend of December with absolutely no snowfall yet here in Durham. Fairlee, Vermont was a winter wonderland with a foot of fresh, clean snow. I wanted to stand quietly outside and stare at the snow globe scene in front of me.

Instead, I stood in a battlefield. After a holler from Luke, I turned my head to the side just in time for the fattest snowball I’ve ever seen to hit my nose straight on.

It had been a long time since I’d had the wind knocked out of me like that. I had to catch my breath, hands on my knees, while the snowflakes melted onto my skin until my face was red and dripping.

I don’t know how long it took me to open my eyes, but Luke was standing right in front of me with his jaw dropped. I think all I said was “woah” before he doubled over in laughter.

I swore to him that payback would

be coming. But I never had to follow up with another snowball fight.

The next day during icebreakers with groups from 20 or so other schools, he ripped his pants wide open.

I have a severe love-hate relationship with the parallel parking spots across from the front door.

I consider these spots to have every desirable quality. I haven’t tested this, but I think it’s probably 2 minutes closer to walk than being in any of the other parking lots. I can stay out longer on privilege during flex and arrive at 8:14 in the mornings without worry.

Depending on your confidence level about pulling into the flow of traffic, it could be a much faster escape at the end of the day. Personally, I wait until there’s just about to be a stall at the stop sign, throw my blinker on, and inch over the line until the next driver can’t physically pass me.

There hasn’t been a single day during my entire senior year that I haven’t parked in the parallel spots. At the beginning of the year, they were perfect. There seemed to be a usual crew parking in these spots, and we all understood the rules.

Now, way too many drivers have realized the allure of these spots. It was January the first time I was at the absolute end of the road because there was only one spot left. Every day since, I drove to school thinking that ‘this could be the day I don’t get to park parallel.’

I’m getting territorial about the spots. New parkers don’t understand the social rule about pulling up directly behind the last car so everyone else can drive in. When they leave open spots, traffic gets held up because it takes someone else 8 tries to get the parallel wheel maneuver down.

Some of them are absolutely awful at it too. It was worse with the huge snowbanks. A few people are always over the lines and have stopped making efforts to fix it.

Ainsley leaves notes on their car. It hasn’t really changed anyone’s parking habits. Almost every time, the sticky note falls off before we even walk into school, but I still think it makes her feel better.

I told my friends at the beginning of senior year that I’d take any bet they threw at me. Of course, I reserved the right to refuse but only if I had a good reason.

Just recently, I took the bet to eat a hot pepper while my friends were in their culinary class. The bag of dried peppers had a scale of spice level according to the color of each pepper.

They carefully searched through the bag to find the worst one they could and told me I had to eat the whole thing. I later found out before I got there, they had all eaten mild ones and only taken small bites.

Mr. Ricciardi, who I’m not even sure knows my name, has come up to me every day since and said he will tell the story of my reaction every single year he continues teaching. Upon seeing my uncontrollable sobbing, red face, and shaking hands, he gave me a spoonful of peanut butter, a pancake, a handful of shredded cheese, and offered to pour maple syrup in my mouth over the sink.

At this year’s girls’ basketball state championships, Sarah brought a small bottle of blue paint. It got passed around the student section until most everyone had blue stripes under their eyes or similar.

She turned to me with a stupidly large smile and asked if she could paint me entirely blue. I came up with no good reason why she couldn’t. While she was painting, Caitlin slapped a bright blue bob wig on my head.

For the rest of the game, not one of my friends could look at me and not start to laugh. My skin had never felt more uncomfortable, but their amusement was far worth it.

As someone who used to be way too hesitant, it brings me some kind of pride to be the person who will do anything to make my friends happy.

“It’s a GREAT day to be a Bobcat.”

I would guess Sarah has said this almost every single day of our senior year. She said it after we scored concert tickets sitting in my sociology class. She said it after Caitlin bought a new wig for spirit week. She said it after a fire drill cancelled her precalc pop quiz.

It’s not exactly that she thinks Oyster River is the best high school in the world. Part of me believes she’d do the same thing regardless of the school we went to.

“It’s a great day to be a Bobcat.”

I caught myself saying this to Sarah a few weeks ago. She walked into my advisory to examine our newest door decoration- a string of paper cutout flags with each of our college’s logo.

That might have been the first time the reflections of high school started to hit me. A collection of colleges hanging on a door. Four years earlier, our first door decoration had been pictures of us as freshmen, posing in a scene for Halloween.

“It’s a great day to be a Bobcat.”

I said, jokingly, standing outside the multipurpose room at 7:55 in the morning, loitering before my AP Spanish test. I thought about how for the entire year, I was waiting for this test. I had said all year that this test would be my last big assignment of senior year. I would say that once I took it, there was no substantial work left in high school.

Four painful hours later, I reached that moment. Not a single final left to study for, knowing that half of my classes would just be empty periods. With two school weeks remaining, I’d hit the inevitable senior year experience where I wanted to just stop coming in.

“It’s a great day to be a Bobcat.”

The rest of our friend group has adopted the phrase too. I hear it multiple times a day, in the final moments of our senior year.

I couldn’t describe much of what I’ve learned in any my classes this year. My memory is full of dumb moments or jokes or silly things people have said.

In the cheesiest way possible, I think that’s what we all mean. It’s great to be a Bobcat, when being a Bobcat means everything good about being a senior graduating from Oyster River High School.

It’s been a great year to be a Bobcat.

The Good Old Days of Reading

How the books we read as kids stick with us, no matter the lesson.

written by ELISE BACON

As children, we have little control over the things and decisions that affect us most. Everyone else seemed to have the answers. Everyone had an opinion on how we should go about our lives, from parents to teachers to authors. As young adults, we start to choose how we want to live our lives and the books we read are some of the first decisions we get to make. I spoke to these seniors to try and see what has stuck with them as they’ve begun learning what does and doesn’t work for them, and how they will use it going forward.

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

The book tells the story of a beautiful fish with iridescent scales. When other fish become jealous of her scales, she doesn’t hesitate to give them her scales, though without realizing it, gives them all away. Nonetheless, she was “The happiest fish in the sea” because she now had more friends than she could’ve ever hoped for.

Anika Pant (‘25) loved this book growing up but not because of the lesson it prompted, but rather because it reminded her that she couldn’t always make everyone happy. “I felt it was unfair to the fish always was giving their scales away... You can’t just always be giving, giving, giving. Sometimes you do have to keep yourself safe.”

The Tortoise and the Hare by Aesop

A classic whose message is told more than the story itself: “slow and steady wins the race,” but clichés are clichés for a reason. This book tells the story of a race between a tortoise and hare. The hare, knowing he had an advantage, bragged and stopped playing not even thinking about the tortoise. But, the tortoise took his time focused on the race, and won.

Ava Miller (‘25) grew up reading the story and other fables with her mom, and even through different versions of the story the message stayed the same; slow and steady wins the race. “She’s always said that to me and read that book to me when I was younger, and especially now that I’m older, my mom will always say, ‘oh, slow and steady wins the race’.”

MagicTreeHouse

by Mary Pope Osborne

The series follows Jack and Annie as they travel time and space in their tree house. Each chapter book saw the kids explore a different time and learn a lesson from someone they met along the way or from their own experiences throughout the adventure.

Emelia Chabot (‘25) remembers being encouraged by parents and teachers to find books that she could read on her own and finding that in the Magic Tree House books. For Chabot, the books were a gateway to a lifelong love of reading. “I liked the creativity of it all, in how the fictional stories kind of took you places other than here.”

With over 30,000 issues to date since 1939 these comics span time and space following thousands of different characters and story lines. The comics are littered with morals and messages, changing and contradicting between the characters. Axel Freund (’25) grew up reading and collecting comics with her father and especially loved the Spiderman comics.

Peter Parker was just another Brooklyn teenager until he was bitten by a radioactive spider that gave him incredible strength and spider-like abilities. Though, he liked that in the end Peter Parker was a regular teenager. “I’m not spiderman but at the end of the day I’m also a teen and I’m good at things like math and science, but that doesn’t do anything for me if I don’t use it.”

Marvel Comics

MOR’S Fresh Reads

A brief glance at the literature composed by MOR’s members in their childhood.

written by IAN HILFIKER images by AUTHORS OF BOOKS

This book is a fantastic feat of fictional innovation. Following the trials and tribulations of two adventurous sisters, ADayattheFairby Elise Bacon & Jahrie Houle is a timeless classic. In a heart wrenching turn of events, two young women discover the cost of their incompetence and learn the true value of their friendship. A Day at the Fair is a necessary read for enjoyers of a good hero’s journey, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or The Hunger Games trilogy.

Elaborate Choices by Jahrie Houle is one of the greatest philosophical texts of the twenty first century. The book tackles the philosophy of meaning incredibly well. It entails many metaphors for life and death and is slowly becoming a standard text among philosophy classes worldwide. If you are studying Kant or Plato, you may want to consider adding this to your reading list.

If you want something playful and lighthearted, consider The Cat by Ian Hilfiker. The Cat follows, you guessed it, a cat. But not just any old cat. This cat has a taste for mischief, and his antics will have you laughing out loud from start to finish. Fans of comedy books and movies- this one’s for you.

Decision Day 2025

recorded by HANNAH KLAROV

Follow along as Hannah interviews graduating ORHS seniors about their upcoming plans on Decision Day!

A Revised English Curriculum

Why we don’t have English APs and why we should have an English Honors program.

writing and visuals by ANNIE GRAFF

From the moment I started counting out syllables on my fingers and piecing together letters I have loved to read. In elementary school I used to pull all my favorite books from my shelf and put them in a pile by my bed. I would read them one by one until I fell asleep. By the fourth grade I had read the en tire Harry Potter se ries. Coming into high school I was excited to reach the next level of reading and writing, so you can imagine the shock I felt freshman year when I discovered there were no advanced English classes.

Oyster River High School (ORHS) is unique in its English department. There are no dedicated Advanced Placement (AP) class es, and no advanced or Honors English class es for underclassmen. There are a multitude of reasons why our cur riculum was set up this way. However, there is still a noticeable hole in the education of advanced readers and writers at ORHS. Without higher lev el programs, the school runs the risk of not pushing these students to their highest potential. I believe that ORHS would benefit from an honors program specifically for underclassman imple mented into the mandated underclass man English classes.

As of now, English classes are run on a basis of something called “heterogeneity.” Heterogeneity, when pertaining to education, is the concept that kids on all learning levels should be

tem that we currently have. “AP classes tend to dictate the schedule of other classes...people who want to take lots of AP classes tend to be pigeonholed into various times of the day which

possibility until last year when it was offhandedly mentioned by my advisor. If a student were to take an English AP test, they would have to find materials and resources on their own,

and study for it on their own time outside of class. Elena Pavlik (‘25) a senior who is planning on taking the test, shared her motivations and study tactics with me. “I have test book with

you’re ready to move on from something, but the rest of your class is not there yet.

“One of the things we’ve kicked around is the idea of having an asterisk

comments “It’s not something we’ve ironed out... extra reading, or supplemental materials... they might have to expand the depth of the work they’re doing. Something as simple as saying

“Wereallyvalueheterogeneity.” -TrevorGarman,ORHSEnglishteacher

practice tests and that sort of thing... I’ve also been listening to podcasts with AP Language vocab.” Pavlik has been preparing for this test completely on her own.

Pavlik’s opinion on the AP curric ulum was uncertain. “I have found it frustrating not taking an AP English class... I would’ve enjoyed it if I had the opportunity but also, I really like the English I’m in right now.”

Pavlik’s preparation for the AP Language test, although she is the type of student that has the discipline to study on her own, could have been supplemented by specific course work, either through a class or some other program. “I might as well try it. If I do well then great, I get to skip a [general education] class in college, and if I do badly then you know...”

Another issue with the lack of honors programs would be that un derclassman students writing and analyzing at a higher level are not being provided with material that is challenging enough to exercise their brain. When I was a freshman in Es sentials of English, I had Garman as my teacher. I remember after the first week of classes walking up to his desk and asking if there was an advanced class that I could be transferred into. His answer was no, but instead I should try to challenge myself with the assignments given.

In some cases, this could work. En glish is a subjective subject and some thing like a writing prompt can be completed in several different ways to a multitude of levels. However, it can be frustrating to be at a point when

for a class denoting it for someone who takes it at an honors level. They would be required to do more than the other kids. That way you would still have the

now it’s just a concept that the English Department is considering. Garman

‘Instead of writing a five-paragraph essay, I want you to write three pages.’ It could be instead of a run-of-the-mill essay question like; ‘Was George a friend of Lenny?’ [Of Mice and Men] it would be something more abstract like the overarching theme of loneliness and how it impacts the book.”

This coursework has the potential to look like many different things. The main aspects of foundational English classes such as Essentials of English are analyzing literature, grammar and spelling, and structured, cohesive writing. Advanced students would be held to higher standards of literacy comprehension. Some of examples of this could be spelling and grammar accuracy, understanding abstract analysis such as symbolism and overarching themes, and convincingly creating and supporting a thesis. “The balance would be that we don’t want to crush kids in that Honors program, but we want to make sure they’re properly challenged,” states Garman.

These higher standards implemented into the regular mandated English classes may help cultivate a student’s natural affinity for reading and writing. It would also continue with the English Departments structure of heterogeneity and ensure that no students are left with large gaps

Why You Should Work With Kids

How working with children has improved my life, and could improve everyone’s.

written by PAIGE STEHLE visual by JAHRIE HOULE

“You’re dead! You’re dead!” a fouryear-old yells at me as I sit on the small wooden table in the toy kitchen in the Community Church of Durham’s (CCD) nursery. He rummages through the plastic veterinarian’s toolbox and brandishes a syringe. “We have to do surgery!” He stabs me in the back a few times with the plastic toy and shows me what apparently was in my spine. It’s a giraffe puppet. “Okay, you’re alive now,” he says, pleased with his work.

I used to think that I’d never want to work with kids. I’m introverted, low energy, and easily overstimulated and overwhelmed—essentially the opposite of what one would think the perfect caregiver would be. When I got my job at the CCD at age fifteen, I realized that my belief that my personality would not suit working with children was not the case in the slightest. Through my experiences working with kids, whether it be through my job, babysitting kids in my neighborhood, or volunteering at family events, I’ve found that being around and interacting with children not only brightens my day, but also has made me a better and happier person—and my personality suits my work just fine. I believe now that anyone, regardless of personality, is suited to work with children—and that everyone at some point should have this experience.

thing [you need] when you’re working with kids,” says Michaela Downs (‘26). Downs has lots of experience in working with children: she’s done a CTE education class in which she worked with preschoolers, got a job at LittleTree education, and now has an internship at Moharimet Elementary school.

She continues, “You can have an entire lesson plan, or an idea for how things are gonna go. [But if] a kid has a behavioral issue, or isn’t interested, or is tired for whatever reason, the entire

don’t think this quality is a must-have if one wants to start working with children, because it’s built up the longer you work in a childcare setting. I’m going to be honest—I love a good concrete plan. But working with children has benefitted me in that it “forces” me to have more energy and be more spontaneous—which makes me grow as a person.

Neely Roy (‘26) has noticed how working with children has affected her at a deeper level as well. “I really like how excited they get about the little things. I think this just made me a more positive person overall and made me look at the little things more,” she says. Roy has worked with children through both volunteering at the Lee Library and her summer job at Live and Learn in Lee.

lesson can just go out the window. You have to be okay with change and adapt your plans to fit their needs.”

Not only does working with children affect me and many others at a deep level, but working with kids is just, well, fun! Whether it’s being told, in the middle of a playing-house scenario, that the child’s wife, Elemento, who works in retail, has just left him, or being asked whether I’d rather be stuck in the Backrooms or Squid Games (two things that I’m concerned an eight-year-old knows about), I find myself being entertained. Eisenhaure says, “There’s just humor in it. There’s a lightness when you work with kids.”

“I don’t think there’s any one specific type of person [who works best with children]. I actually think the more variety, the better,” says Diana Eisenhaure, Oyster River High School (ORHS)’s Preschool Education Program (PEP) coordinator and Child Development teacher.

There are many personality traits that help with working with kids. “I’m really adaptive, and I think that’s some-

The spontaneity of children can often be exhausting. There have been many times where I’ve come home after working with kids for just a few hours and I’m out-of-my-mind tired. Children can be loud, energetic, cry, throw fits, and get in fights with other children. All of this can be really hard for the person who’s supposed to be keeping them happy.

Luckily, Downs’ adaptability gives her some of the tools to help with the difficulties of working with children. I

Working with children has been more than just a job for me: it has bettered me as a person, made my days a little more fun, and built skills that I thought I could never have. For any student who is looking for a job, a volunteer opportunity, or just something to curb boredom, consider working with children. And who knows--maybe you’ll get to experience the miracle of a four-year old bringing you back from death by removing a giraffe from your spine.

ORCSD Fights for Educational Freedom

By joining this federal lawsuit, our school district is upholding its morals.

written by ULYSSES SMITH visuals by LILIGRACE DESMOND

Amid sweeping federal mandates that threaten to cut funding and control what students are allowed to learn, the Oyster River Cooperative School District (ORCSD) has taken a bold stand—joining a national lawsuit to defend the right to think, teach, and learn freely.

On April 10th, 2025, ORCSD joined the National Education Association’s (NEA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education (ED), challenging Project 2025—a sweeping federal initiative that threatens the foundations of public education. ORCSD’s move is more than a political gesture. It is a defense of educators’ and students’ rights to intellectual freedom, honest inquiry, and an education unbound by fear.

Project 2025, crafted by conservative operatives in anticipation of a second Trump administration and backed by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, is not a typical reform plan. It is an ideological campaign. Its 920-page policy blueprint, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, proposes dismantling the Department of Education, enforcing a sanitized model of “patriotic education,” and censoring discussions of race, gender, identity, and even climate change.

threatened to withhold funding from districts that do not comply with the initiative’s vague directives. As School Board Chair Matt Bacon notes, the ambiguity of these rules leaves districts uncertain about what content might be in violation. More troubling still, the plan seeks to replace local control with a rigid, ideologically driven curriculum—one that erases the diversity

ability of students to engage with challenging ideas, explore multiple viewpoints, and build the critical thinking skills that sustain democracy. When the federal government dictates what can and cannot be taught, it doesn’t protect students—it silences them.

and nuance essential to meaningful education.

By joining the lawsuit, ORCSD is not only defending its curriculum—it’s affirming its core values: intellectual freedom, open inquiry, and community-driven education. “The restrictions being imposed are vague and unclear regarding expectations around classroom discussion, school experiences, or teaching and learning,” says Bacon. “We believe this effort to override the local control of education directly conflicts with our mission and values as a district.” Classrooms should be space for discovery, not instruments of indoctrination.

This isn’t about improving schools, it’s about controlling them.

ORCSD leaders are right to be concerned. The federal government has

“You cannot name a single class in a high school that would not be affected by the policy,” says Alex Eustace, Oyster River High School (ORHS) English and theater teacher. “It is a total upheaval of our liberal society.” That upheaval targets not only the humanities but the entire framework of inclusive, inquiry-driven learning. From literature to economics to environmental science, no subject is immune to federal overreach.

What’s at stake isn’t just funding, it’s the soul of public education. It’s the

“We want the schools in the district to be a place where everyone is respected, valued, and appreciated,” Bacon adds. “We hope the choice to join this lawsuit will support a democratic, informed, and engaged community as we work together to protect our children’s future.”

At a time when political polarization reaches into every corner of public life, our schools must remain sanctuaries for reflection, growth, and questioning. With this legal action, ORCSD has drawn a line in the sand—and for the sake of students, teachers, and democracy itself, we should all stand with them.

written by JAHRIE HOULE

DData Literacy

uring my free periods and lunches, I tend to loiter in room C127, where Shawn Kelly, Oyster River High School (ORHS) English teacher and MOR advisor, teaches. One day, as I was playing Animal Crossing in the Adirondack chair in the corner or doing something else equally as unproductive, I noticed Kelly had printed something out, a lengthy essay of some sort.

Curious, I asked him what he’s holding, and he told me it’s his sabbatical application for next year to create a new class, and would you like to read it? Of course, I said yes, because I finally get to read the writing of the teacher who’s read and edited dozens of my articles, and how the tables have turned! I wanted to read what he’d written,

Data Literacy: More Than Just a New Class

Shawn Kelly’s creation of a data literacy class marks the beginning of what could be a new category of ORHS courses.

writing and images by PAIGE STEHLE

even if it is about what I th, at first, is the most boring concept for a class in the whole world: a data literacy class.

“Our students are naturally curious. We need to help them develop the critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to distinguish science from pseudo-science, and to understand that “a recent study found” is not enough to trust a source. Not only do I want to prevent our students from being bamboozled, but I also want them to positively contribute to this information age by effectively sharing their own quality research with our larger community.”

This is an excerpt from Kelly’s sabbatical application to create ORHS’s first interdisciplinary class since the American Studies elective that was dis-

continued in 2022. During the 202526 school year, Kelly will be creating a Data Literacy elective, which will fulfill upcoming Department of Education (DoE) graduation requirements and broaden ORHS’s course catalog by not being boxed into a single department. This is more than what I thought was a boring data analysis class.

“The class I am creating is going to make students competent in how statistics work, how data works, how to gather data, just the idea is to develop... the level of literacy,” says Kelly. The creation of a data literacy class is important now more than ever with the NH Department of Education’s (NHDoE) implementation of new graduation requirements starting in the 2026-27 school year. NHDoE states in Ed 300:

“Our students are naturally curious. We need to help them developthecriticalthinkingandanalyticalskillsnecessaryto distinguishsciencefrompseudo-science.” -Shawn Kelly

“Minimum Standards” that in order to graduate, every high school graduate must take three credits of math, including at least ½ a credit in statistics or data analysis.

I’m currently taking AP Statistics, ORHS’s only class currently that would fill this requirement. While I personally love AP Stats, these advanced-level courses aren’t ideal for every student. Without Kelly’s creation of a data literacy course, Kelly says, “The district would have to figure something out. Everyone would either have to take Stats or they would probably ask certain classes that have some elements of stats to beef it up so that it meets their standards.”

the class as somewhere in the middle of the English and Math departments, while maybe slightly closer to the math side of the spectrum.

“It would be a prototype for how we could continue to have more classes that [are interdisciplinary],” says Kelly. “There’s a lot of room for helping students to realize how important the humanities are, but in a way where it’s not like a competition, humanities versus STEM. It’s ideally breaking down departments in silos as different types of learning and helping students better

details his plan. It includes meeting with a student advisory group, meeting with different departments, teachers, and counseling, completing UNH’s Data Science graduate certificate program, and creating the course outline and syllabus.

“It would be a class for our students who aspiretobeinthe“topten”andourstudentswhofeelschoolisn’twherethey belong.” -Kelly

He confided in me that his sabbatical application was probably approved in large part because of the school’s need to fill this requirement. This class is more than that, though.

As an interdisciplinary course, Kelly hopes the class will allow students to earn credit in any department of their choosing, depending on their final project. For example, if a student were to do research on a certain topic in art that has data to interpret, they could earn art credit. Kelly also described

see the connections.”

The creation of a school’s interdisciplinary course would be a difficult endeavor for any teacher, but the creation of a math-heavy one requires much more work for an English teacher. Kelly’s plan during his sabbatical, and the reason he chose to take one instead of creating the class while he continues teaching, is to make himself more knowledgeable in data literacy.

In Kelly’s sabbatical application, he

The amount of collaboration with departments and teachers Kelly needs to do in order to create this class is a typical situation. “Anytime you’re creating interdisciplinary studies, if you’re at the high school level where credits are involved, there’s all kinds of things on the back end that we have to consider, but I don’t really look at them as being prohibitive. It just is an additional thing that we have to look at,” says Suzanne Phillipone, ORCSD’s assistant superintendent.

When I was reading Kelly’s sabbatical application, a certain line in the penultimate paragraph stood out to me: “It would be a class for our students who aspire to be in the “top ten” and our students who feel school isn’t where they belong.” I found myself surprised that something straightforward as a data literacy class could be the bridge not only between departments, but also students.

MOR 2024-25 Issue #4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sports & Culture

Meet the Staff

Record Breakers

Boys’BasketballTiedTournamentRecordfor Most Team 3 Pointers Made in a DII Tournament Game

Pickle Talk

Does pickleball have an effect on just your physical health?

In Case You Missed It...

People-Pleasing

Why we people please and how to stop.

Senior Assassin Vlog

Do You Notice It?

A Local Coffee Review

IDunKINGs

A GREAT YEAR TO BE A BOBCAT

The Good Old Days of Reading

MagicTreeHouse

MOR’S Fresh Reads

Decision Day 2025

A Revised English Curriculum

Why You Should Work With Kids

ORCSD Fights for Educational Freedom

DData Literacy

Data Literacy: More Than Just a New Class