by Calvin Smith (he/him)

Masha Amani was killed by police for not wearing her Hijab “correctly.” These “Mortality Police" enforced the Iranian dress code. Women in Iran have been forced to wear hijabs since 1979, when the islamic revolution installed an islamic ruled government. This new government enforced a dress code that made all women (regardless of religion) wear hijabs. Since Masha’s death in police custody after being tortured, there have been riots and protests that speak out against the Iranian Government. More than 75 people have been killed in these riots by police and law enforcement and more than 1,200 people have been arrested. The government has shut off access to the internet in the country to prevent videos of protests from being shared.

More information can be found at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/27/how-death-kurdish-woman-galvanised-women-iran-mahsa-amini

by Calvin Smith (he/him)

Right before the death of the queen, former British prime minister Boris Johnson resigned from office. Liz Truss was elected as prime minister by a committee of mostly conservative politicians. Truss has been put in the spotlight for past comments on the LGBTQ+ community. In 2013, Liz Truss voted yes to the legalization of gay marriage. In September of 2020, Truss announced that she would not reform the Gender Recognition Act. This act would allow trans people to change their legal gender without having to be diagnosed with gender dysmorphia. Truss has also had the struggle of being compared to Margret Thatcher, as Theresa May did. Truss was elected at the worst time for energy in the U.K. The war in Russia has cut off Russian energy supplies to most European countries. This has caused Britain a major energy crisis that is very historic.

More information on the topic can be found at: https://www.openlynews.com/i/?id=1141444a-1f10-476b-a922-6473781e5a6e&utm_source=news-trust&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=context&utm_content=article

And: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/liz-truss

by Bristol Messer (she/her)

Do you have a job? It’s been expressed to me throughout most of my life that having a job is important, and making money to buy personal things is a crucial part of maturity. Students who work during high school, college, or even the summers learn some important life skills that contribute to building them into well-rounded individuals. They can efficiently distribute their time, potentially become more motivated to excel in academics, and even learn more about where their future career path will lead them. The opportunity students like yourself have already experienced is beyond beneficial to learn about workplace responsibilities and standards that will help throughout your life. I decided that reaching out to my fellow classmates to ask who had a job and what that job entailed would be the most beneficial to my interest in this subject. I ended up learning that many of the students at Kearsarge do work a job, even if it's just in the summertime and it was very intriguing to learn about these students' duties at their workplace and the stories that accompanied them.

Aiden Deegan, a junior at Kearsarge is one of the individuals I was talking with about employment. He started working at Spring Ledge Farm in late June of this past summer, he stated that he applied for the job in January 2022. Aiden was working half-days which are considered 5-hour days on the farm. He was making 10$ an hour last summer and said he wasn't necessarily happy with that hourly wage considering the labor-intensive work he was doing. Day after day on the farm Aiden would face new and exciting challenges with his co-workers. One employee on the farm was said to be lightly bullying Aiden for simply doing his job, this individual was described to me by multiple others as being “sexist” - and treating their fellow female co-workers less respectfully than their male co-workers. They moved here from Florida and have a particular tattoo that can be used to show time spent in prison. There is a much darker history to this tatoo than most people know, the tattoo was also used to symbolize white supremacy groups- linked on the elbows to express their loyalty to the group. Could this all just be a coincidence, or is there a darker history behind this mysterious person's life in Florida? (to be clear they are not a student at Kearsarge Regional High School).

I talked with many students who are employees at Spring Ledge similarly to Aiden. One individual works eight-hour days on the farm. Employees who work full days, consisting of eight hours, receive only one thirty-minute break for lunch. I was thankful for the opportunity to talk with this student because they helped me get another perspective on the “mystery worker” at the farm. “They're my homie” this individual stated, they were on friendly terms working together and although this student agrees that the sketchy employee can be harsh at times to their surrounding work-mates, they don't mean anything disrespectful or bad by it. Could others be misinterpreting this individual's behavior altogether, or is this person too understanding and overlooking the troubled worker right in front of them? I asked a group of Spring Ledge employees if they would recommend working at the farm to others, and most of them said that they would indeed recommend it if you were working with people that you got along with. Like anything, when you're with the right people even the most miserable work can go by in a flash. 

Transitioning to the grocery store environment is an individual at the High school who works at Market Basket in Warner, NH. They stated that the work environment is exceptionally toxic and they feel as if the majority of their fellow coworkers are extremely judgemental. They said that when an employee makes a small mistake, such as using the cash register or stocking shelves, they were ridiculed which was deemed unnecessary for the situation. This student claimed that some of the managers were also unkind. Throughout the summer they worked four days a week at Market Basket from (7 am-3 pm) sometimes longer and never in the extended time they have worked there have received benefits or employee discounts of any kind. Their hourly wage is $13.50, and when I asked this particular person if they would recommend their job to others, they were hesitant to respond to me. They did say that they wouldn't recommend it to just anybody, but if you had other friends working similar shifts or just needed the extra money, according to this student… The job could fit your needs.

Lastly, I interviewed my classmate Anna Cook. She is a junior this year at the high school and has recently started working at the Sweet Beet Market in Bradford, NH. Her starting wage is $10 an hour, and she works from 8:30AM-2:30PM on weekends. I asked her about the working environment at the market and Anna had only positive things to say about it. You can tell merely by her enthusiastic voice that she truly loves her job. She stated that all Sweet Beet’s employees are a pleasure to work alongside because of their passion for the Organic farming that the business is based behind. Due to the fact that the business is a non-profit, meaning that the whole purpose of Sweet Beet is to make a difference in the community and not to objectively benefit the owner, helps to filter out the real reason why people are working there. Anna not only gets the opportunity to work at the market, but is so captivated by Sweet Beet and what they do that she even started an ELO (extended learning opportunity) regarding regenerative farming through Kearsarge. She gets to volunteer at the farm, working in the greenhouse and with produce, all while receiving high school credits for the experience. Anna is learning about sustainability and environmental science. She talked with me about how Sweet Beet is an organic farm, which means they don't use chemicals on their crops and use minimum tilling, this is important because constant tilling can pull out beneficial nutrients from the soil. Anna Cook was a pleasure to consult with about her future interest in what Sweet Beet does and how it's driven and empowered a new interest that could potentially mold her life path.

Talking with all these students at Kearsarge Regional High school about their work has been an insightful experience. I've learned so much about many great businesses and their contrasting working environments. It was also cool to see the similarity between all the different hourly wages, the difference between who may enjoy their work, and the constant tie of enjoyment to good company. Despite each workplace and its contrasts, they all collectively help teach us so much about life. By working and learning how to do different jobs you're creating a sense of accomplishment for yourself that ultimately betters you as a person and can further prepare you for your future.

by Bonita Zorrilla (she/her)

At the beginning of each school year, high schools from across the country welcome back the students into the new year by having sports games, activities and a dance, otherwise known as homecoming. This year, Kearsarge’s homecoming went above and beyond the different activities and events.

The pep rally took place on Friday, September 23rd, while Homecoming took place on Saturday, September 24th. On Friday after school, the pep rally took place from about 6PM-7:30PM. At the pep rally, each of the teams that were set to play the next day took a group picture on the field. There was only a limited number of booths to choose from while waiting for the fireworks because much of the food was being saved for the games on Saturday. The fireworks took place after the group photo and lasted for about 10 minutes. Since I was at the pep rally, I got cookies and sat on the track with my friends to watch the fireworks. I loved all of the fireworks but the firework finale toward the end was my favorite part.

From 10AM-8:30PM, Homecoming took place all day Saturday. While watching the games, visitors could visit each of the different booths, separated by grade and/or group. Each grade had a booth with items available for purchase, as did the Robotics team, Volleyball, Student Council and SWOCO. This year, the freshman sold grilled cheese, tomato soup, baked goods and balloons. The sophomores sold meatballs, mac n cheese and baked goods. They also held a silent auction which included donations from many local businesses such as the Blue Loon Bakery, Tucker’s and Sugar River Bank. The junior class sold flatbread pizza, maple lattes and face paint while the seniors sold pork sandwiches, apple cider and baked goods. Additionally, student council sold tacos, Volleyball sold apple cider, apple donuts and glow sticks, robotics sold fidget cubes and SWOCO held a basket raffle.

While the games and booths were going on, there was also a yard sale from 12PM-4PM run by Ms. Tenney and Mrs. Schrader. They sold a variety of things such as toys, sneakers, pictures, dishes, mugs, books and furniture. All of the donations from the yard sale came from staff and community members. In total, about $400 was made from the yard sale! All of the proceeds are going towards the KRHS 2023 prom.

And of course, the main reason that everyone came to homecoming was to watch the games! This year, we played against Stevens High School from Claremont, NH. Although we don’t have all of the scores gathered from Homecoming, we do have some: Girls Varsity Volleyball vs. Conant: Loss 3-0; Varsity Field Hockey vs. Stevens: Loss 2-0; Varsity Boys Soccer vs. Stevens: Win 3-0; Varsity Girls Soccer vs. Stevens: Loss 2-0; Varsity Football vs. Stevens: Loss 34-0 and Cross Country race: 1st place. And great job to everyone that played! Towards the end of the night, before the football game, we also had chorus sing the “Star Spangled Banner”. While the game went on, the band played a number of songs and cheered for the players.

In the end, KRHS made about $10,000 dollars from the booths! Most of the money made will go towards bettering our school and supporting the staff and students here. This goes to show that we can have a fun time while also supporting our community and things important to our school. We’re also especially grateful to all of the volunteers and staff that helped make running the booths possible! Hopefully, we can have another homecoming as great as this one next year.