Volume XIII; Issue 2
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
cavchronline.com
A teacher, a leader, a legend
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Nellie Putur ‘15, Cheif Copy Editor
nglish has been a part of this man’s life for forty-five years. Why has the beloved Michael Fox stuck around HB so long? Simple: he loves to solve problems. We see Fox countless times throughout the day, whether in class, in the halls, or at lunch, but have any of us really gotten to know this revered English teacher? I’ve been at this school for over three years now, and I only just recently realized that I don’t know much about one of the greatest icons of our school. I decided to dive deeper into the history of the one and only Michael Fox, to find out more about his roots and how they led him to teach at HB for nearly 45 years. “I was born and raised in northern Maine and went to college at the University of Maine,” said Fox. “Then I taught in Canada for two years. When I came back to America, I found a Souhegan area brochure that had Hollis in it...I liked what I saw, and I’ve been here ever since.” See, how many of you knew any of that? I sure didn’t, which made me wonder: how much do we really know about the men and women who stand in front of us day in and day out deter-
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mined to further our learning with every passing year? The answer, I came to find, is not much.
Little did I know of Fox’s Maine roots, or of his graduate studies at Middlebury College, or that his favorite color is green. These teachers who dedicate so much time to our education are so easily overlooked in an age of ever-changing social movements. It perplexes me that some students don’t even know how to correctly pronounce their teacher’s name. Teachers do so much for us it makes me wonder if student-teacher relations would be better overall if we students did our part by trying to learn more about the person behind the I.D. One of Fox’s favorite things about teaching is the problem-solving. “Trying to figure things out has always fascinated me,” he said. “The more complicated a text is, the more interested I am in trying to figure it out.” Here’s a man who has put so many decades of effort and hard work into our school and I have never bothered to ask why he became a teacher in the first place until now. You only get four years at this school with these teachers, make those years count. As for Fox? Photo credit: Nellie Putur ‘15 “One of these days I’ll finally figure something out and then retire.”
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What’s your favorite teaching memory?
I tend to not look back, so my best teaching memory is the one that’s coming up next.
Volleyball honors Van Schoick Jack Shields ‘16, Chief Copy Editor The girls varsity volleyball team played in the third annual Kendall Van Schoick memorial volleyball game on Wednesday, October 8. For the past two years, the girls team donated all proceeds to the Kendall Van Schoick Fund. In the spring, the boys volleyball team participated as well. The game is a dedication to former student Kendall Van Schoick who tragically passed away in a car accident back in 2013. All proceeds, including concession and ticket sales, are donated to the Kendall Van Schoick Scolarship Fund. Head volleyball coach Rebecca Balfour said, “It’s really important for the players, and especially the family, to
remember Kendall and keep his memory alive. He was a special kid. He was the captain of the first men’s volleyball team and a great kid to coach and have in class.” The girls volley ball team won the memorial match, beating Londenderry 3-1. But chiefly, they played to honor a former student who had a passion for volleyball, but more importantly he had a love for life. The Kendall Van Schoick memorial volleyball game has always been much more than a game; it’s a celebration of a memorable life. All donations can be sent to “Kendall Van Schoick Fund,” PO Box 104 Brookline New Hampshire, 03033
Pictured is Kendall Van Schoick’s senior portrait. Van Schoick was a member of the class of 2011. Photo Courtesy of: Becky Balfour
This week’s sponsor
Past lives of teachers
Sports Calendar • • •
Wednesday -- Unified Soccer at Londonderry -- Volleyball hosts Nashua South Thursday -- JV Cross Country State Meet at Coe Brown Friday -- Boys soccer at Whindham -- Field Hockey at Milford -Girls Varsity Soccer at Manchester West -- Volleyball hosts Salem -- Varsity Fottball hosts ConVal
Book Nook: Reading Lolita
Fall for the autumn bucket list
Julie Christie ‘15, Editor-in-chief
Not everyone will agree to call it a love story because all instinct screams that Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is too wrong to be a tale of love. A twelve-year-old girl is not old enough, and a thirty-seven-year-old man is too old. The idea of such a relationship is reviled and universally considered disgusting. But not the way Nabokov writes it. He tells the whole story through the incarcerated memories of Humbert Humbert, the man obsessed with a child named Lolita. The novel begins with an exploration of HH (as he sometimes calls himself) and his first love, Annabel. Her sudden death creates a fixation in Humbert, and he cannot move past his love of girls who are just like his late Annabel, who had been the same age as Lolita. When HH moves to the east coast of America, he believes he has his desires under control, until he finds himself living in the same house as the most intoxicating nymphet he has ever seen - Lolita. Her mother eventually discovers Humbert’s secret, and then conveniently dies, presenting HH with the opportunity to become Lolita’s guardian. His obsession puts them both in immediate danger and poses a threat to every man and boy who so much as acknowledge the girl. Every simple summary will paint Humbert Humbert as a predator who has abused an innocent child, but the words say something completely different. Lolita does not first come to Humbert as a virginal child; he does not treat her any differently than a typical father might, although that quickly changes. Nabokov manages to make Humbert and Lolita both the protagonists and the antagonists. The self professed love is tangible, and the obsession begins to grip the reader. Lolita’s talents with manipulation paint Humbert as a victim, until the reader realizes the girl has no say in how this story is told and that all these words are coming from HH himself. It is then you realize that you are the one who has fallen into their intricate traps. Lolita will make the reader question the definitions and limits of love using obsession, manipulation, and some of the best writing put on a page. The Cavalier Chronicle is produced by Hollis Brookline High School students. The articles published represent the views of the staff and do not represent Hollis Brookline High School, HBHS faculty, or administration. As this publication is intended to be a tool for learning, please bring any concerns related to the newspaper to the attention Adviser Lin Illingworth. She can be reached at lin.illingworth@sau41.org
Photo Credit: Nicole Landry ‘15
Teacher feature: Sabin Olsen Nicole Landry ‘15, Contributor
Meet the new psychology and civics teacher, Sabin Olsen. After graduating from Keene State College, Olsen joined the HBHS staff in 2012 as a general substitute, until she filled in for Kimberly Coughlin during her maternity leave last spring. After filling in for Coughlin, she continued her teaching career as an activity coordinator at an art camp she used to attend as a child, as well as substituting for the only sociology teacher at Nashua High School North. NHSN offered her another semester of teaching her specialty: American History. She took the opportunity until returning to HBHS as a full-time teacher working with psychology and civics. As her previous students may know,
she is a fanatic when it comes to history, especially with U.S. presidents. Olsen said that her favorite American leader is, “Teddy Roosevelt,” even though “his imperialistic history may discourage me a little, but I love his spirit.”
In fact, she owns multiple Roosevelt accessories, including drawings of her and Roosevelt getting married, and a shirt with his face and quote: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” Olsen lives with her boyfriend, Jacob Lafontaine, and her beloved cat, Lucik, in Milford, where she attended high school growing up. “Lucik is a very vocal, black and white house kitty, and apparently he’s a good hunter as well--we didn’t even know we had mice until he found them,” Olsen said. She grew up with a 190-pound
Newfoundland/Great Dane Mix and says she may have raised Lucik the only way she knew how to raise a pet: like a dog.
Olsen enjoys art in her free time, and has attended art camps her whole life. Olsen has her very own jewelry studio at home, and rather than beading and braiding like most jewelers, she follows a passion welding and shaping metal to make rings, earrings and other accessories. She wears one of her rings to school, which she manipulated into the shape of NH. This year, Olson teaches every general psychology class at HB, which has given her the opportunity to change the course according to her standards. Unlike her previous position at HB, her role this year has allowed her to gain more freedom when creating course curricula.
Does high school prepare us for the real world?
Mark Thibeault ‘15
Humans of HB
Next week’s Question: Are high schoolers too old to Trick-or-treat? Answer at cavchronline.com What’s one of your biggest struggles right now? “All the colleges I want to get into, my SAT scores don’t match up but my GPA does. So like, I’m smart in school, but the second you put me outside of school I’m not smart.” - Erin Hattamer ‘15