Story by Tighe Grigg

On March 26, 2024, five student athletes and Mr. Turner represented Alfred-Almond at the Section V Student Leadership Conference. The convention included athletes from schools all throughout Section V with over 100 participants.

The conference started with many activities that require communication and teamwork between the groups of athletes. Students separate from their school and work together with their teammates to complete challenges. This also serves as an icebreaker for the students as they interact with students from other schools. Junior Caleb Roberts, who attended the conference alongside fellow juniors Brogan Donlon, Ellora Enke, Grace Harris, Jackson Jusianiec, and Senior Tighe Grigg, said “the ice breakers helped with my nerves a bit and they were fun.”

Once finished the students have a short walk through the campus and up to the MacVittie College Union where they can sit with their school or other schools. Then starts a presentation on mindfulness from Ms. Erica Ebert, a mindfulness educator who also serves as a staff development trainer in social and emotional learning for Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES.

Ebert asks interesting and different questions like “have you ever practiced paying attention?” Donlon said he was definitely “intrigued” as to what she was leading into with the question. Ebert explained how it's a part of mindfulness and that paying attention is a skill that you can get better at. Donlon said “I have never thought about it before so I was a bit confused at first.” The others also noted that it was something you rarely think about.

Next after Ebert was the award ceremony for Section V athletes who showed exceptional sportsmanship in their season. Alfred-Almond had a winner this year: Senior Tighe Grigg was given the sportsmanship award for the Fall season for Boys Soccer. Grigg enjoyed the experience and appreciated the recognition.

The students then heard from Scott Fitch, the longtime Fairport boys basketball coach and SUNY Geneseo alumnus who was a two-time all-American in basketball during his college career with the Knights. 

Fitch gave a speech on sportsmanship and how he changed the culture of his sports teams and how you can as well. Fitch then did a test on the students and tricked them by saying, “I found some dirt on each of you through your social media.” Then he talked about how if you got scared there's something you should change about your digital footprint.

Roberts said, “I liked the social media aspect of coach Fitch’s speech; being aware of social media is definitely important.” 

The students all appreciated the chance to learn about mindfulness and sportsmanship at the Convention. Grigg was also happy to be back and receive the award again. Everyone hopes that Alfred-Almond continues to send students to have the same experience.

Story by Taylor Flaitz

On April 12, 13 seniors boarded a bus to Cleveland, Ohio for their senior trip. They enjoyed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an arcade, the Cleveland Zoo and aquarium, a baseball game, Splash Lagoon, and the time they spent together. 

7:45 AM

On the rainy Friday morning, the seniors reported to the parking lot up top at the sports fields to have their bags checked and board the bus. With not a lot of people on the bus, each person enjoyed their own seat where they relaxed and watched movies on the screens around the bus if they desired to. Many seniors may not remember much of the ride to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame due to the popular activity of napping on the bus. 

12:00 PM

After a few hours on the bus, the seniors arrived in Cleveland at their first stop, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They enjoyed walking around to each exhibit and looking at all of the famous wardrobes of musicians like Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and Sheryl Crow. The highlight for many students was the Power of Rock Experience. Students sat in a small auditorium like theater and watched a montage of clips of famous musicians playing on a screen in front of them with their own seats rumbling and a light show that coordinated with the beat of each music clip.

3:00 PM

After the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the students checked into their hotel room and unloaded their bags. Some students enjoyed the hotel pool, while others took a short nap. The most popular activity, though, was DoorDashing from Cleveland’s wide variety of restaurant options. Gracen Dusinberre talked about her wish to get Chipotle since she had boarded the bus. “I was literally foaming at the mouth ordering DoorDash,” she said, “and my experience was great.” Other orders from the weekend included food from McDonalds, Wendy’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Crumbl. Many students were anxiously waiting for their food to be delivered and were slightly disappointed when knocks on their doors were Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Bensley instead of their food delivery. 

5:30 PM

Scene 75, an arcade with laser tag, mini golf, go karts, a 3D motion ride, and food truck options kept the seniors busy for the rest of Friday night. Everyone enjoyed the arcade and Andrew Diestler and Ryan Wojtkowiak somehow found a way to “hack” one of the games and hit the jackpot multiple times. All of the seniors then joined in a game of laser tag. They played on a team together and also played on separate teams where they snuck up on their classmates. The highlight of the night was choosing their prizes. Many of them chose inflatable swords and hammers, which of course led to multiple attacks and duels. 

8:00 AM

The students woke up and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast at the hotel and got ready to leave for a busy day at the Cleveland Zoo and Aquarium. The most popular animal seemed to be the primate section due to the adorable baby gorilla and he students observed a baby gorilla with its parents. The students pet stingrays and saw multiple sharks in an overhead glass structure at the aquarium. 

5:00 PM

The Class of 2024 boarded the bus from the hotel and arrived at Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians MLB team. They enjoyed a peaceful game up until the 6th inning when the 13 students witnessed a physical altercation between a few Guardians and Yankees fans. Ryan Wojtkowiak stated “what the lady (the Yankees fan) wanted was reasonable but she went about it the wrong way but the kids (the Guardians fans) were obnoxious.” Kaylianna Clark recalled, “it added lots of entertainment to the night because I felt like I was really immersed in the situation and it was the highlight of the whole game.” After everything settled down, the students laughed about the whole experience and were partly in shock. After the game, most students went into the hot tub then settled down into bed. 

11:00 AM

After another tasty breakfast at the hotel, everyone packed up their bags and swimsuits on Sunday morning and boarded the bus to the indoor water park, Splash Lagoon in Erie, Pennsylvania. Almost everyone rode the lazy river together and hung on to each other's tubes, forming a chain. The most interesting ride included a body slide that took you into a toilet bowl shaped area and then dropped you into a 6 foot deep pool. Katie Claire rode this ride twice and had an entertaining experience. “That ride was actually crazy. I whipped around in a circle so fast and went into the pool head first and somehow scorpioned. When I got into the pool, I had no idea which way was up and where to get out.” Many other riders experienced this feeling and everyone had a good time watching their peers flip into the pool in unusual ways. 

3:00 PM

The seniors were exhausted from a busy weekend and were eager to board the bus and relax. The people that remained awake watched the Greatest Showman while others talked and reminisced about their weekend. They arrived back at school at around 5:00 PM.

The senior trip was an overall success and all of the students enjoyed their time with their peers. They all appreciate Mrs. Bensley and Mrs. Palmer’s effort and time they put into the trip and were also grateful for the bus driver and all of the parties that contributed to the making of this trip. 

Story by Quinn Palmer

On March 19, a number of students and staff members met in the highschool cafeteria for the annual literary festival. Many great literary works were read and they invoked a wide array of emotions. Some people were there to read what they had written. Some were there to listen and support their friends. Some were just there for the snacks, which is totally a valid reason as they were pretty good. No matter what someone’s reasons were, everyone had a great time.

Many of the literary works read were poems. Some of these were quite light hearted and a few were pretty humorous. Most of these were read closer to the beginning. Many of these writings had a happy nature and made those listening laugh and feel good.

Not everyone put happy thoughts to paper. A few wrote about more serious topics. Some wrote about internal struggles or the loss of someone they loved. Some reminisced about the past. Many people had sizable piles of tissues in front of them by the time everyone had finished reading.

Senior Samantha McCormick read a heartbreaking piece about losing her father that brought many to tears. McCormick stated, “I am happy that I did it.” Ms. Katy Mormino wrote about her fond memories of her grandfather and the pain of losing him.

After everyone had read their literary works, each table was asked to write one incredibly well constructed sentence, some of which ended up being pretty laughable.

Everyone who wrote a piece for the literary festival did a marvelous job. When asked about the literary works, senior Gwen Gagne said, “it seemed like everyone put a lot of time into them.” Each writing clearly had a lot of time and effort put into it and everyone’s hard work paid off.

Story by Joey Taggart

The 2024 Economics class held a rather successful food drive last month resulting in over a thousand food items being donated to local food pantries. This food drive was an opportunity for the economics class to see how much work goes into planning an event. 

The students planned everything from the dates to the announcements. The entire process began with assigning students different jobs. The purpose was to try and find people that excel in certain aspects so that they can be separated into different jobs. For example, some of the digital media BOCES students designed and printed off posters to hang around the school. Amidst this brainstorming session, Senior Nate Munson was tasked with coming up with an incentive to get students to donate to the drive. The idea he came up with was an afternoon of outdoor fun for the grade level that can donate the most food items. When asked what made him choose this incentive he said, “I figured an afternoon of fun was much more appealing to kids than anything else. Giving students a few mods to take a break from school is a big incentive, especially during this time of year.” 

When the food drive began it started off slow. However as more and more students caught wind of the potential prize, things started to speed up fast. All grades put in a good effort with 1,189 total food items donated, however one grade shined high above all others. The 9th grade class of 2027 was victorious, which donated 632 food items alone. The most notable donation was the mountain of mac and cheese boxes.

Story by Joey Taggart

The service learning class has set off on a project that gives easy access to literature for anyone who wants it. The class is building a “little library” in front of the Almond library. The little library is a  “take a book leave a book”  system filled with books that can be exchanged for others. If you want you can just leave a book, or if you don't have a book to exchange, take a book and leave it when you are done reading. Seniors Jack Deutsch, Chris Craft, Abby Hurd, and Tighe Grigg have been working hard on this project planning and designing the whole project. They gain experience working as a team and enjoy the process as well.  Senior Chris Craft commented, “doing the little library is personally fulfilling, it's nice to do something for the community.” The construction of the little library has begun and is being assembled in Mr. Levey’s workshop. “It's well on its way with production” says Chris, “seeing it all come together is very enriching.” The plan is to have it installed in front of the library before the beginning of May. The Little library will be constructed out of wood and placed in the front of the almond library, when finished it will be a matte Maroon color.

Story by Christopher Craft

Academic All Stars is a club run by Mr. Donlon where students from grades 9 through 12 can compete in a trivia competition based on academic and trivial knowledge. The Academic All Stars meet on Tuesday in Mr. Donlon's room during 7th mod. This year, Alfred Almond won the league championship for the second year in a row. Alfred Almond also took part in the Medium Small School Championships which were held in Bath Haverling and were victorious. 

We played against Canaseraga which had a very small team this year. They had a total of 3 players, with 1 person on their A team and 2 on their B team. The win was not unexpected as a board in the auditorium held an up-to-date score during the whole competition. Practices have been held during activity mod for much of the school year, so Alfred Almond was very well-prepared. After the win, the team posed together for pictures. Senior Taylor Flaitz who played for the 3-minute round on the A team during the championship said “I liked taking pictures with everybody and having the trophies.” This year many of the mainstay members of the All stars team will graduate and it will come down to the current juniors to win the championships for a 3rd year in a row. “It’s the best club and everyone should join because we are going to win the championship again next year” said Junior Gabe Fioretto.