March 2020

School Closed Indefinitely

Thursday, March 19, 2020 - The senior hallway is vacant and lockers cleared out, following the state's decision to close all New Hampshire schools through Friday, April 3.

The date of April 3 appears to be quite optimistic, as state officials have indicated school closures would most likely extend beyond the original plan. Above shows the cafe transformed into a holding area for student belongings awaiting pick up. At-home learning began Monday, March 23.

COVID-19: Officially Pandemic

Austin Marquis ~ March 12, 2020

On March 11, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. It all started back in December of 2019 when a group of patients fell sick with unknown cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Weeks later, during January, the Chinese government discovered and announced the novel coronavirus. Now just two months later, the new virus named COVID-19 can be found in every continent except for Antarctica and has reportedly killed 4,585 people.

COVID-19 is a disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus originated from an animal located in or near Wuhan. It is thought to be spread mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets. These droplets are produced when an infected person sneezes or coughs. The symptoms of the coronavirus are coughing, high fevers, and or shortness of breath. It can take anywhere from two to fourteen days for these symptoms to show.

If you are sick, you should stay home unless you are getting medical help. You should try to avoid any public areas or transportation if possible. If you live with people or any animals, you should separate yourself from them and try to stay away from them as much as possible. You should also wear a mask if you are sick and make sure to wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

If you want to confirm that you have the disease, the World Health Organization states there are a couple of testing protocols. Currently, the human testing method is a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. This test can be done with either a nasopharyngeal swab or sputum sample. You can also use blood samples, but you have to take two separate ones two weeks apart, and by then, the results are not very accurate.

COVID-19 has infected over 125,000 people, and after WHO announced the pandemic, President Trump took action. On March 11, he blocked most visitors from continental Europe to the United States in hopes of keeping more people safe. Other organizations have been following his footsteps. The NBA suspended the rest of its season, and the NCAA Tournament announced that games would be played with no fans. Hopefully, more actions will be taken in order to keep everyone safe.

As of right now, there is no vaccine, but all over the world, doctors and scientists have been researching and developing a vaccine. They are using previous knowledge of the SARS-CoV because the two viruses are similar. There is also no medication that has been approved to treat the coronavirus. Chinese and Korean health authorities recommended using oseltamivir, lopinavir, ritonavir, ganciclovir, favipiravir, baloxavir marboxil, umifenovir, and interferon alfa for treatments, but there is no data to support the effectiveness of each.

Chinese scientists isolated a strain of the virus and published the genetic sequence so everyone could start working. Sadly a vaccine for COVID-19 will not be available for a while, 2021 being the earliest. Blood donations from people who have recovered could also be helpful. This little virus is becoming a huge problem worldwide. Ultimately the coronavirus is going to be around for a while, so it is good to know as much as possible about it.

Background on COVID-19

Parker Paradice ~ March 12, 2020

Since late 2019 the COVID-19 disease, better known as coronavirus, has been rapidly spreading and infecting people all around the world. Coronavirus surfaced in late December, 2019, originating in Chinese food markets on the streets of the city Wuhan. On December 31, there were many cases of an unknown disease in Wuhan. Days later researchers identified it to be a new virus.

And it didn't take long for corona to spread across the globe, as on January 20 the first cases of this new virus popped up all over in many different countries. From that point on, the infection got worse as the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on January 30. Now close to three months since the coronavirus was discovered, it shows no signs of slowing as the infected count is at 113,000 with 4,000 confirmed deaths worldwide.

The reason this virus is so deadly is due to how efficient it spreads through people. The disease mode of transmission is known to be through respiratory and touching an infected surface. Since the symptoms of corona can show up as late as 14 days after being exposed to the virus, many people who have contracted the disease travel around the world and spread it unknowingly to anyone in close quarters to them.

Someone who shows the symptoms of this virus is easily identifiable because the effects are the same as the common cold. An infected person will suffer coughs, a fever, and difficult or labored breathing, and in the worst cases, it can lead to pneumonia. The recovery of this disease relies on the strength of the individual's immune system, as a majority of the deaths have been people already in poor health. This leads to the most vulnerable people being the elderly and the very young as their immune systems will be weak due to their age.

Around the world, measures are being taken to try and contain and stop the spreading and the drastic effects of the coronavirus. Places like Korea, Italy, and China are going into full lockdown as all the citizens are being told to stay home and not come out for any reason. A few days ago, Italy announced it was going into a complete lockdown, with 60 million residents being under strict restrictions. But Italy isn't the only place that is under lockdown. Places like Hong Kong, China and places in Europe are now ghost towns with nobody on the streets. Universities and international universities around the world are even going as far as to close their schools down and having their students work online from their homes.

The U.S. has got the better of the disease, but recently it has been getting worse by the day. There have been around 1,000 known cases, with only 40 deaths across the country, with that number rising by the day. Scientists have predicted that approximately 46 percent of America's population will become infected. And with those recent statistics in the past days, America has been seen taking measures to try and contain the disease as its citizens gain a sense of panic. Around the country every store is being raided almost for every product available, it's almost like every day is Black Friday shopping. Stores are running so low on stock that tiny things like hand sanitizer packages are going for close to 100 dollars.

But the concern doesn't stop there as universities and high schools have been closing down left and right. More than 100 colleges have now closed and moved their education to an online workspace for the prevention of the virus on their campuses. Many high schools have followed the actions of the universities and have also closed their schools, some for a month and some for the rest of the school year. The safety of the students hasn't been the only focus around the country as more and more adults are being told to stay home and do their work in their houses.

On March 11, a lot of precautionary actions were taken by America regarding the coronavirus and preventing the spread of it. Firstly, President Trump announced that there would be a travel ban for people looking to fly over to Europe. This is because, in recent days, Europe has been getting hit very hard from the infection as places like Italy have placed 60 million citizens into full lockdown with their streets looking deserted. Then shortly after President Trump's announcement, many professional sports leagues declared that they would be postponed until further notice. The NBA was the first to delay its season as a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus. The NBA officials announced they would postpone their season for a month and then reevaluate after that time. Different sports then followed the NBAs decision and decided to take the same action with leagues like the NHL, MLB, MLS, and even the March Madness tournament closing down.

So we can see that this virus is sending a wave of fright and panic all around the world as things seem only to be getting worse as time goes on. Governments are taking as many actions as they can to slow down the number of cases, but nothing has seemed to work. And with no vaccine in sight, everyone around the world is left with the question of what the future holds for them and this coronavirus.

SAT Summarized

By Christian Shafer ~ March 10, 2020

(Ed. Note: This article was written and submitted for publication prior to the state-mandated shutdown of schools across New Hampshire. As of March 24, 2020, the College Board had cancelled all SAT exams through the end of May, 2020.)

The SAT or Scholastic Aptitude Test is said to be the single most important exam for high school students, but the assessment has changed. Whether it is for the better or worse is up to you to decide.

The SAT features a 65-minute reading test comprised of 52 multiple-choice questions. Another section is the writing and language test, which lasts 35 minutes and has 44 multiple-choice questions. An 80-minute math test that features 58 questions is also part of the SAT. Of the questions on the math section, 45 are multiple-choice while the other 13 require a student-produced response.

Scoring for the exam ranges from 400-1600, or 200-800 for both sections, and is graded by computer. Because of this, there are rules when you take the test, for instance you must be using a number two pencil. Also, the test will actually show you the right and wrong way to fill in the bubble for each question. They do this for assurance that each question is scored accurately.

With the exam, there are key features. From the College Board suite of assessment, these are listed below:

Command of Evidence

“The Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section and the SAT Essay ask you to interpret, synthesize, and use evidence found in a wide range of sources. These sources include informational graphics, such as tables, charts, and graphs, as well as multiparagraph passages in the areas of literature and literary nonfiction, the humanities, science, history and social studies, and on topics about work and career”

Essay Analyzing a Source

“The redesigned SAT Essay asks you to read a passage and explain how an author builds an argument to persuade an audience. This task closely mirrors college writing assignments because it is asking you to analyze how the author used evidence, reasoning, and stylistic and persuasive elements.”

Math that Matters Most

“The Math Test focuses in-depth on three essential areas of math: Problem Solving and Data Analysis, Heart of Algebra, and Passport to Advanced Math”

Problems Grounded in Real-World Context

“Throughout the SAT, you’ll be asked questions grounded in the real world, directly related to work performed in college and career.”

Analysis in Science and in History/Social Studies

“The redesigned SAT asks you to apply your reading, writing, language, and math knowledge and skills to answer questions in science, history, and social studies contexts. In this way, the assessments call on the same sorts of knowledge and skills that you’ll use in college, at work, and throughout your life to make sense of recent discoveries, political developments, global events, and health and environmental issues.”

U.S. Founding Documents and the Great Global Conversation

“When you take the SAT, you’ll be asked to read a passage from U.S. founding documents or the global conversation they inspired.”

Additionally there will be a new “adversity score” implemented into the scoring process. This measures a student’s “disadvantages”. These could include factors like, median household income, loss of a parent, parents that hold no college degree, and crime rates. This score ranges from 1-100 with 50 being the average level of adversity.

If you’re not sure how well you would perform on a test like this, take this for a bit of hope. In recent years colleges have begun to value GPA, essays, and extracurriculars, over SAT or ACT scores. Do not make the mistake of giving up if you come out with a bad score. If your dream requires a four year degree, this is still obtainable, even without a 1600 on the SAT.

March 5, 2020 ~ D-IV Player of the Year Parker Briggs goes to the basket during the quarter-finals playoff game versus Colebrook. The Crusaders prevailed 68-58 in a well-played game by both squads.

The NHIAA D4 Boys Playoffs

Josh Finkle ~ March 5, 2020

(Ed. note: This first part of this article was submitted prior to the cancellation of the D-IV championship basketball game. On Monday, March 23, the NHIAA declared Littleton and Newmarket “Co-Champions” of Division IV).

Every year in college basketball, the NCAA has March Madness. In high school, the NHIAA has its own version of March Madness. However, it does not have 68 teams in the tourney and it does not go to different cities to play each section of the tourney. I plan to write my experiences throughout our journey in the playoffs this year.

In Division 4, 15 teams make the playoffs, with one team earning a bye. This year the number one seed was my team, the Littleton Crusaders. We were 18-0 this season and earned the bye, which meant we didn't play for 13 straight days. Seeding is based on overall record, and if teams have the same record they decide the seeds based on victories against tournament teams. A few teams had the same record this year and tie-breakers were made of head-to-head matchups and records against tournament teams.

Two teams will play a prelim game, a quarter-final game, a semi-final game, and a championship team. Every team that makes it is guaranteed at least one game. The teams that made it are: 1 seed Littleton, 2 seed Newmarket 3 seed Groveton, 4 seed Sunapee, 5 seed Pittsfield, 6 seed Portsmouth Christian, 7 seed Woodsville, 8 seed Mount Royal, 9 seed Colebrook, 10 seed Derryfield, 11 seed Lin-Wood, 12 seed Lisbon, 13 seed Epping, 14 seed Farmington, and 15 seed Wilton.

The tournament starts Monday, March 2, 2020, and goes until Friday, March 13, 2020, with the last team standing on Friday night holding the plaque of champions, and they will cut down the nets. Newmarket and Littleton are the favorites to make it to the championship with coaches around the league thinking that will happen.

The following is from the Littleton Boys team:

Having thirteen days off before a playoff game can hurt us, but we just have to survive and advance every day. Colebrook is our opponent in the quarters and they have a very good coach who is hard to beat. We beat Colebrook by 35 earlier in the year, but playoff time is different.

This time, we won by 10 but did not play great, a coach said: “I saw some of the Littleton/Colebrook game and Littleton played like a team that knew there was no way they were going to lose to Colebrook.” Later, that coach went on to state that Newmarket seems to want it more than us and has a chip on their shoulder. Before we worry about that we have to make it to the finals to play them.

Round 2 is a different animal for us. Plymouth is a hard place to play at and a 6’9” center as an opponent can also hurt. Pittsfield is not as talented as some teams, but they do play very hard and they will battle the whole game. They have a massive center and guards who play good defense and get to the rim while going hard.

The game was all theirs until the second half. We shot 26.9 percent in the first half and they hung to a three-point lead 20-17. We played really good defense, just needed some offense and we would be fine. When we went to the basement at halftime we didn't talk for very long. We knew what we had to do and we did it. We kept the big man in check, he had 11 points with seven boards and we won by eight. “Survive and advance” was the motto. Todd finally got going with a big three late in the third, giving us some momentum to win the game. We now play Newmarket, a team we beat at NHTI earlier this year. They are playing very well right now but so are we, it will be a very good game with lots of people there.

We have three days of practice before Friday’s game at seven with Newmarket. They beat Groveton by 11 in the semis and did not play that well. Something they also do well is play hard and play very good man to man defense.

Practice on Tuesday was just a shoot-around because we played hard the night before. Wednesday and Thursday we will get after it and install a game plan to try to defeat Newmarket.

On Thursday afternoon, the NHIAA canceled all events that day and said we could play our game Friday (March 13) with fan limitations, defined as each rostered player receiving four tickets to give to family. At 10:15 a.m. that morning, the NHIAA suspended all tournament games until further notice. Our coach said it does not look good -- we do not know what is going to happen. All of our players are upset.

Friday night we had a team dinner and Sunday we practiced, just in case something were to change. Monday we got the news that the game would not be played and they would figure out how to determine champions in each division.

Such a sad ending to the season, especially for the seniors who will never play a high school game again. It sucks to work all season long to just have it taken away from you hours before tip-off. There is nothing we can do, we will just look forward to next year and try to get to the championship again.

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