by Mike Masiarz
Staff Writer

The Media Center now owns 20 laptops that are available for students to use for free. Recently, a new program was introduced in which laptops are offered for weekly rentals, and students have already started taking advantage of this opportunity.

The laptops are not only allowed to be used in the Media Center, but they can also be brought home and used off of school grounds. The laptops include software such as Microsoft Office and are capable of connecting to the Internet. The Media Center asks that the laptops are only used for school assignments.

According to Media Center specialist Ms. Sherman a lot of students have already started borrowing laptops.

“It is a great investment and allows for each child to have an easier way of doing [his or her] school work,” she said.

Junior Jackie Abbott consoles with Head Media Center Specialist Mrs. Benedict about renting a laptop from the Media Center.

Freshman Chris Kober said, “It’s a good opportunity for kids who don’t have computers at home, and [it] could benefit Westhill in many ways But they must realize that this new project could turn bad if laptops begin missing.” According to Kober, he has daily access to a computer, but if his computer was broken he would ask to borrow one from the Media Center.

Although some students are worried that the laptops will get stolen or lost, Media Center Specialist Ms. Lopez is not too worried. “[The laptops] are locked in the back room in the Media Center and it would be hard to break in and steal them,” she said.

The Media Center has a very strict policy on returning these laptops on time. A waiver is signed by students before they rent the laptops that states that the students are responsible for them. If there are any damages or if the computers go missing, the school will no cover the cost. Waivers are available at the front desk in the Media Center and have to be signed by the students and his or her parent or guardian as well. Also, for every day the laptop is handed in late, the student is charged a fee of $1.

However, there are kids in school who still haven’t heard of this new program or gotten the chance to use the laptops.

“This is something completely new to me. I have never heard of this before, it hasn’t really been advocated in the Media Center or in school. However, I think it would benefit Westhill in that students who don’t have the opportunity to use such technologies at home will get a chance to and, as a result, [they can] improve their grades in school,” junior Kirsten Eirksen said.

The program has been around for over 12 years. Head Media Center Specialist Ms. Benedict said, “This program has been in existence for a while, but new Dell Mini’s were ordered recently–ten last year, ten this year. The Media Center was able to afford these laptops by using money from their Media Center budget.

Dr. Yael Sank, a certified psychotherapist trained to deal with trauma, was a guest speaker today at Westhill who gave a presentation to the Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology classes.

Sank talked about her experiences working with patients who deal with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative identity disorder (DID). She also discussed ways to treat these disorders, such as EMDR, a technique to battle traumatic childhood experiences and refocus how the brian deals with these events, and addressed common psychology questions, including the controversy over repression.

On Monday, June 7, Dr. Yael Sank, a psychotherapist and mother of a former Westhill and AP Psychology student, discussed her experiences working in the field with the AP Psychology students.

“I think [the presentation] was a good experience. We were able to meet someone who practices psychology and who applies what we learn in class to [her] job. [Dr. Sank] also discussed her experiences with her patients who had multiple personality disorder, and that is something that we cannot learn in the classroom,” junior Aarushi Jain said.

At the end of the presentation, the students and AP Psych teacher Mrs. Kousidis had the opportunity to ask questions.

—Brief compiled by Alana Kasindorf and Jaime Manela. Photo by Alana Kasindorf

On Thursday, June 3, Westhill hosted a Holocaust assembly for selected students. Speaking at the assembly was Andy Sarkany, a Holocaust survivor from World War II and current employee of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, who shared his experiences from the war and the concentration camps.

Various social studies classes, including Civics, Modern World, and US History, attended the assembly.

“I think it was a little different then a usual Holocaust speaker,” junior Kirsten Eriksen. “Usually, they have stories about death camps. [It was interesting to hear the speaker] discussed what it was like to be a child growing up in a death camp. Children were always worried about their [parents] getting taken away. It was just a different perspective because as children, they didn’t full understand what was going on. He said how as an adult, he has a greater appreciation for life [because of his experience],” she said.

—Brief compiled by Skyler Ross. Photo by Alana Kasindorf

by Danny Tehrani
Express Editor

On Friday, May 21, Westhill students Minou and Skyler Clark’s band FROGG won the BandJam concert at Darien High School. The Westword decided to sit down and talk to the brother-sister act aspiring new musicians.

The Westword: Recently you have won an award, what was it for?
Minou Clark: We won BandJam, it was held at Darien High School and we won first place. My brother and I received outstanding musician awards as well.

TW: You have you first major performance coming up. What will you be performing?
MC: It is called the New Haven Festival of Music and Ideas. We have a half hour set and will most likely perform five songs. We will be debuting an original song as well as a new and improved look. We definitely need to step it up since we [will] have an audience of 4,000.

The recently formed band FROGG has recently won the BandJam competition at Darien High School. The band will get the opportunity to play at the New Haven Music Festival on June 14.

TW: How is your new look different from your current one?
MC: We are trying to tighten up and get more serious. Now we have real fans, who missed junior prom to come see us play. I am really amazed. Skyler did a great job promoting our bad through Facebook and word of mouth.
Skyler Clark: Our image is not too generic. I would say we’re not just metal. We are a more simple and clean.

TW: What inspires you and your band?
MC: My brother finds a lot of inspiration from famous Finnish guitarist Alexi Laiho. We cover a lot of his music. Skyler loves metal, and although we do not listen to it, his passion inspires us.
SC: Tons of other Finnish and Japanese rock and medal bands inspire us. Specifically, Japanese band “Hellman.”

TW: How did your come up with your band name?
MC: We did not have a name until [Stamford High’s] New Band’s Night. They needed a name to put onto a flyer, so I came up with FROGG. At first we all laughed at it, but it really stuck.
SC: We did not want a generic metal band name that was too hard core.

TW: How would you describe your music?
SC: My music is always changing, I like to the of the band as progressive and extreme. As a soloist, I really strive to serve the song.

FROGG wins BandJam 2010 from The Westword on Vimeo.

by Stuart Farber
Online Content Editor

On Wednesday, June 2, the Weshill Varsity baseball team played in the first round of the CIAC State Tournament against Southington High School. The team hoped to recover from its loss in the FCIAC semifinals last week, but this would end up being its last game for the season, as the team lost 6-3.

“It’s rough to go out the way that we did, but at the end of the day I still had a great time with all my friends on the team,” senior captain Ryan Curto said. “We still had our fair share of accomplishments on the team.”

Southington began the game strong, ending the first inning 4-0. However, Westhill managed to fight back and started chipping away at Southington, getting in two runs by the end of the fourth. At the top of the seventh, Westhill gave their all to come out on top against a score of 6-2.

Excitement and promise grew when senior Tyler Rich hit a home run. Right after Rich’s home run, senior Sean Young hit a base hit, leaving the tying run to the on-deck circle.

In the end, though, Southington came out ahead. “We were all really depressed for the first 20 minutes on the bus ride back, but by the time we got home, we had all lightened up a lot,” senior Jake Brown said.

Despite their loss, no one can argue that Westhill kept the game interesting until the very end. “They were good, but on a different day we could’ve beaten them. Yesterday was just not our day,” Curto said.

by Keben Pérez
Viewpoint Editor

As the city of Stamford grows in size, it almost comes as no surprise that more and more movies are being filmed in the “city that works” (the State of Connecticut’s film tax credit sure does not hurt either). A movie currently in production titled We Need to Talk About Kevin is being filmed at what used to be the J.M. Wright Technical High School in Scalzi Park and in the area near the Springdale Shopping Center.

The movie is based on the book of the same name published in 2003 by Lionel Shriver. The story revolves around a fictional school massacre by a boy named Kevin. His mother narrates the story and describes her son as a sociopath who distances himself away from everyone in the world, including his family. She notes that he refuses to make relationships with others in order to avoid becoming attached to others.

The mother goes on to explain through the letters that she writes to her husband that at first Kevin committed “innocent” petty acts, such as spraying ink on a room that she had wallpapered. However, he goes on to commit murder as a way to give society the excitement that they secretly desire.

The movie will star Ezra Miller as Kevin, John C. Reilly as Kevin’s father, Franklin, and Tilda Swinton as Kevin’s mother, Eva.

Senior Sukriti Toteja said, “We Need to Talk About Kevin sounds like an interesting movie. I am eager to see how [Kevin's mother's letters to her husband] will play out in the movie and I also hope that the emotions of such a complicated situation are portrayed accurately.”

For many students, the filming of We Need to Talk About Kevin adds thrill and originality to the “city that works.”

“A lot of movies have been filmed in Stamford lately and it never stops surprising me,” junior Anna Stathopoulos said. “Normally I think of Stamford as a really boring city with nothing fun or interesting to do, but this is so exciting! The places we pass and visit every day are going to be shown on a big screen all over the country in a movie that has the potential to become a big blockbuster.The movie sounds very interesting and like something I would definitely want to see, so I’m very excited to see how it turns out on the big screen,” she said.

In addition to the excitement, according to Brendan McClincock, Manager of Black Bear Saloon Stamford, Reilly sang karaoke at the saloon. It was great to have a celebrity come to the Black Bear,” McClincock said. “He came and did some bits from Step Brothers. In all, it was a great night.”

Actor John C. Reilly sings karaoke at local Stamford bar Black Bear Saloon. Reilly is filming We Need to Talk About Kevin at various locations in Stamford.

Senior Lexa Eliades has even had the fortune of seeing Reilly in person. “I was babysitting and picking my kids up from Cloonan. We were driving home when all of a sudden, we saw this huge movie set on wheels. We looked in the window and [Reilly] was there. We didn’t know his name, but we recognized him from Step Brothers, so we looked him up later. It was really awesome,” she said.

Please stay tuned in order to hear more about any upcoming changes regarding the film that is still in production.

—Photo courtesy of “Stamford Talk: Eat, Think, Drive, Blog!”

This article is the correct version of an article that was run on page 7 of the May 2010 issue. The Westword unfairly and incompletely ran an edited version of this article that did not stay true to the facts or the nature of the original piece submitted by the author. This is the original article that was edited only to add information to make clear that the rumors regarding physics classes being offered this year were unsubstantiated.

Furthermore, the caption on the photograph was misleading and untrue. We will be rerunning the photo here on T.W.O. with an updated caption.-The Editors

by Madeline Elkins
Staff Writer

Recently, there have been rumors floating around about Westhill’s AP Physics classes. The most prominent of these rumors were that students who had valiantly applied to take AP Physics, one of the most challenging AP classes in the school, had been turned away from the class altogether. Students were supposedly picked at random for the sole sections of AP Physics. There were also rumors about Stamford High School students coming to Westhill to take the class alongside Westhill students.

Many students are outraged in hearing these rumors. Junior Amanda Barkin, was originally told she would not be allowed to take AP Physics B next year. She said, “My guidance counselor called me down a few weeks ago and told me that I needed to choose another class to take instead of AP Physics B. I was really frustrated, because many of the students who were allowed into AP Physics B had Bs and Cs in their physics classes this year, and I’ve gotten straight As in Honors Physics and I’m not allowed to take the class.”

However, the rumors miss several details. Students have only been told they cannot take AP Physics B. AP Physics C, which covers completely different material, has not had this issue with class size, and there were rumors of considering taking students from Stamford High School in the class. This rumor was not substantiated by Mr. Aibinder, Mr. Khaykin, or Ms. Tooher. Westhill’s section of AP Physics C is the only offering of the course in all of Stamford, or in any Project Opening Doors (POD) school in Connecticut.

“The issue is rarely that a student gets turned away from a class because the class won’t take them,” said Mrs. Tooher, a guidance counselor. “Often it’s the student’s schedule that causes conflicts between several classes that a student has signed up for. Until school starts again in September, schedules are never set in stone, and can change every single day.”

Science Department Head Dr. Shannon acknowledged that the problem exists, but refused to comment further.

When asked about the issue, Physics teachers Mr. Khaykin and Mr. Aibinder were concerned. On the topic of Stamford High Students coming to Westhill to take the class, Khaykin, who teaches AP Physics C, said about the rumor of Stamford High Students, “I don’t understand how this would be possible. Administratively, it would be very hard to coordinate. It would take at least a whole period for the Stamford High School kids to come from Stamford High School, so it would waste their time. There would also be a huge liability, because they would be driving.”

Mr. Aibinder, who teaches AP Physics B, understands the issue and students’ concerns, said, “Logistically, it would not be possible to have more than one section of AP Physics B. I don’t think there would be enough teachers to accommodate two sections of the class. On the topic of kicking kids out of the class, I’m not the one who decides. Until now, I didn’t know that students had been kicked out at all. But if we had had 27 people sign up for the class, we would have to tell three students they couldn’t take the class.”

As I talked to Mrs. Tooher, she doubted the fact that students like Amanda Barkin would be turned away from a class for the sole reason that there wasn’t enough room. As she checked Barkin’s schedule to show me that this could not be the case, AP Physics B appeared as a class on Barkin’s tentative schedule. It turns out she got in after all.

In the May 2010 issue of The Westword, Scatterbrain created its own riddles that have to do with Westhill.

The answers are as follows:

48 minutes in a period
1 main entrance to the school
25 of June equals last day of school
2 proms (junior and senior)
3 waves of lunch
4 languages taught at Westhill
4 buildings in Westhill (Finch, Freshman, Raynor, Agriscience
8 absences to fail a quarter
26 sports played
6 parking lots at Westhill
7 periods in a day
1 courtyard at Westhill
12 security guards at Westhill
52 clubs offered after school

On May 19, the girls’ Varsity softball team played in their last regular season home game. The girls defeated Norwalk High School, 5-0.

“We didn’t make any errors and we got the big hits when it mattered most. [Senior captain] Jen Joseph also pitched really well. We also scored with two outs, which is key,” junior second base player Brittany Horn said of her team’s victory over Norwalk.

5/19 vs. Norwalk:

The team went on to finish their regular season undefeated with a win over Harding on May 20, 8-0.

On Monday, the team, who holds the number one seed in the FCIAC tournament, faced cross-town rival Stamford High in the first round of the league tournament. Westhill won 8-0, making for the team’s 11th straight shutout.

Yesterday, the Vikings battled No. 4 Darien in the semi-final round at Sacred Heart University. Sophomore Allison Macari hit an RBI to allow Westhill to slip past Darien, 2-1.

“We played a great game against a great team. Everyone wants this third championship win so much that we are coming together as a team even more now. Hopefully all of the nerves are gone for the Trumbull game because its gonna be a close one,” senior captain Julianne Vincent said.

Westhill will face Trumbull tomorrow in the FCIAC championship at Sacred Heart University at 4:00 p.m.
Click here for directions.

—Brief compiled by Jaime Manela and Caitlin O’Brien. Photos courtesy of Allie Souza and by Elissa Miolene

Earlier today, the boys’ and girls’ Varsity track and field teams competed in the FCIAC tournament. Standout performances from Westhill students included:

Dillin Smith, ‘11: 1st Place – 200 m dash
Bobby Kober, ‘10: 5th Place – Pole vault
Ashley Daniel, ‘10: 5th Place – 100 m hurdles; 6th Place – 300 m hurdles
Maddie Elkins, ‘11: 5th Place – 3200 m

Also, last week on May 19, the boys’ Varsity track and field team competed in their final home meet against Stamford High, Fairfield Ludlowe, and Fairfield Warde. Westhill defeated all three teams:
Westhill 108, Stamford 42
W 86, Fairfield Ludlowe 64
W 93, Fairfield Warde 57

5/19: Westhill vs. Stamford, Fairfield Ludlowe, and Fairfield Warde

—Brief compiled by Caitlin O’Brien and Jaime Manela. Photos by Elissa Miolene