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Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
◆ Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 • Volume 90, Issue 2
Senior English restructured for 2011-2012 Samantha Libraty Jared Perlo Principal Jennifer Price presented changes to the structure of senior English classes during Wednesday’s Student Faculty Administration meeting. Price told the SFA that starting next year, seniors will take full-year English classes, as opposed to getting full senior English credit for taking two half-year electives that are open to various grades. As a result, the English department is also changing its elective program. English department head Melissa Dilworth said the change was necessary because “while all other years of English classes at this school have clear structures, themes and core texts, the senior year did not. We had what some deemed ‘regular’ English classes coupled with electives.” She proposed the changes to the Academic Standards Committee (ASC) earlier this year because the current structure did not answer the question, “What should seniors know, do and experience their final year of English at Newton North High School?” she said. The ASC approved the proposal, and then, recommended it to Price, who approved it Monday, Price said. by
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Gabe Dreyer
In rehearsal: Sophomores Jonny Cohen and Jonathan Kim practice for Winterfest.
According to the proposal, the majority of courses will have different concentrations, similar to those of the current electives. Seniors will register for one fullyear course from the selection in the 2011-2012 course catolog, which will become available after February vacation. The new structure will ensure that all seniors study Hamlet and practice personal essay writing first term. Second and third terms will focus on each course’s concentration, such as Shakespeare or The Short Story. According to Price, “kids will be doing an independent project” during fourth term. “It’s a big change, but I think it’s a good one,” she said. Dilworth explained that the new system provides a uniform learning experience for all seniors, while maintaining the element of choice students look forward to senior year. Regardless of which course seniors take, they will all “reflect on their growth as readers, writers and thinkers, especially in the senior portfolio,” Dilworth said. Chief innovation officer Steve Chinosi, a certified English teacher, said he believes it’s “a great direction for the department structure and freedom.”
New lunch provider restarts breakfast program Hilary Brumberg After the breakfast program was cut in the fall, Whitsons began offering breakfast again Monday, according to Whitsons’ Newton Public Schools food service director April Liles. The School Committee cut the breakfast program as one of a series of interim cuts it made in the fall, while it was in the process of hiring Whitsons and negotiating with the employee union, School Committee member Jonathan Yeo said. When Whitsons took over the Newton Public Schools’ lunch by
program Monday, Jan. 3, it decided to let its team acclimate with the Whitsons Signature Series lunch options during January, Liles said. Then, it could focus on learning how to prepare breakfast and serve it in February, according to Liles. She said that they offer at least five options daily, starting at 7:25 a.m., including hot breakfast sandwiches. Other options available include assorted cereals, low-fat muffins, whole wheat bagels with cream cheese, organic
yogurts, yogurt parfaits, fresh fruit and juices. Once breakfast gains popularity and “we get a better feel for what the students want,” Whitsons’ plans to offer a hot oatmeal bar in the winter, an egg/omelet station, pancakes, waffles and French toast, according to Liles. Whitsons has said that it needs to “take a strong position on the critical role breakfast plays in the learning process,” Liles said. “We believe every student deserves to start off his or her
learning day the right way by eating a healthy breakfast.” Liles, who is a registered dietitian, said that the benefits for serving breakfast at school are “endless.” She encourages student athletes to eat breakfast at school because proper nutrition is “key for successful athletic performance,” Liles said. “Fueling your body with the correct sources of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals is essential to perform at your maximum potential.”
Food handler Maria Mastroianni explained that “breakfast is the main meal” and eating it is “very important” because it improves students’ concentration and results in “a better day in class.” Junior Stephanie Serrata, who ate breakfast at school since she was a freshman, said she was “mad and upset” when they stopped offering it. “I never had time to eat breakfast at home, so I just didn’t eat breakfast,” she said. ◆ Samantha Libraty contributed to this story.
Conference honors alumna for nonprofit work Hilary Brumberg Henry DeGroot After the child sex trade came to the attention of Rebecca Kantar ’10 and her friends at South and Concord Academy, they started Minga, a nonprofit group that combats the global sex trade by harnessing the power of teens. Minga began as eight high school students sitting in a living room for three hours Sunday evenings, and it turned into a national nonprofit organization, according to Kantar, the CEO. Newtonian Kantar was selected to Rebecca take the stage Kantar November 13 at a Technology, Entertainment and Design platform, in the Youth Social Entrepreby
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neur (TEDxYSE) conference in Washington, D.C. TEDxYSE highlights the actions of youth leaders from around the world, according to its website. Kantar spoke about her and Minga’s accomplishments in “youth empowerment and leadership,” according to Kantar. “It was an incredible honor to be alongside some of the greatest young people in our world,” she said. Kantar won the Staples and Ashoka TEDxYSE grand prize for her work at TEDxYSE, which awarded Minga $5,000, she said. Kantar was named a student who has “created a sustainable community action project” and was awarded $2,000 for Minga through the “Do Something Bic4Good” grant, she said. Both awards will be put towards Minga’s Public Service Announcement Campaign, an
initiative to reach teens via media in order to empower them to speak out against the child sex trade, according to Kantar. Minga plans to involve 10,000 teens in petitioning airlines to screen in-flight film clips that deter potential exploiters from buying child sex, Kantar said. In her TEDxYSE speech, Kantar attributed her success to experiences, rather than traditional leadership education. “We give teens leadership awards, send them on leadership retreats and provide them with leadership classes,” she said in her speech. “But I want to make something very clear. I did not learn to be a leader at school. No one taught me how to be a leader—I learned to lead by leading. My passion was strong enough that I had to do something.” Kantar said she believes that “leading is a vital skill that young people can only learn by
doing. Youth should take whatever their passion is and transpire to do something beyond prescribed activities with it.” Junior Allison Wu, a Minga team member, said that Kantar has faced tough leadership and personal relations decisions, similar to those of most adult nonprofit CEOs. Kantar recently redesigned Minga’s Board of Directors and is “constantly involving new teens through Minga’s programs and has interns and new team members,” Wu said. Last summer, Kantar and her team began developing Minga’s new Strategic Plan, according to Kantar. Minga will focus on reaching teens where they already are: online and on their phones. Minga plans to complete its PSA this summer, according to Kantar. Wu, who has worked with Kantar since last summer, said
that she views Kantar as an “incredible leader.” “To have not only the determination but also the initiative as a high schooler to go out there and take on one of the world’s greatest injustices is inspiring,” Wu said. Kantar was a student in chief innovation officer Steve Chinosi’s Senior Year Project class last year. She explored cause marketing and potential opportunities for Minga. “SYP provided the structure for her to organize her vision, her intelligence, her insight and her hard work,” Chinosi said. He said he finds Kantar’s work with Minga “interesting” because she and her team are “not only working hard to educate people across the nation on a very unsettling and serious issue, but she is also responsible for leading and managing the organization that is behind such important work.”