June Edition 2024
Happy (Almost) Summer NHS!
You've made it to June and the dreaded finals week. We are so proud of all of you, especially our new Tapah Alumni! Shoutout to Julia and Lucy for being extraordinary Editors-in-Chief this past year and to the rest of our recently-graduated seniors. We will miss you! In the meantime, Emily, Lily, and Amelie look forward to summer and another great year on the Hilltopper! Clearly, ELA will be taking our love of English Language Arts very literally this year.
Stay strong, rockets! We've almost made it!
Signing on,
ELA!
Photo courtesy of Wiki Fandom
Anyone who knows me — from my friends to my family to my teachers — knows that recently, I’ve been delving back into my childhood favorites. With the JIRP/JRP turned in and AP tests done and over with, I’ve had a lot more contemplative and reminiscent time on my hands, and this is how I’ve been spending it.
Photo courtesy of Needham Athletics
Needham High School is a very sports-heavy school. The male, female, and co-ed teams have won a variety of state championships amongst many successful seasons. Despite this, the female teams and players are often represented in social media far less than their male counterparts.
Photo courtesy of Vitalii Barida
How many times has the phrase “Teamwork makes the dream work” let you down? Once, twice, maybe several times? The phrase preaches the idea that group teamwork makes work easier. Yet group work seems to create far more drama or work than independent work. Teammates get irritated with each other, colleagues avoid each other, and classmates gossip about the person that neglected to participate. So, does teamwork make the dream work, or is it the stuff of nightmares?
Photo courtesy of Amazon
Needham High School students, as brilliant, caring, and kind as they are, seem to be big fans of intimidating younger students. Here are some things that I wish my lovely-but-sometimes-terrifying junior friends had told me before I plunged into junior year:
Photo courtesy of Timothy Tomac
By Eva Andrews and Dylan Helfman
With the school year ending in a mere week, we thought it was appropriate to take a look back at some of the best athletic highlights of the year. We are so lucky to have over 50 amazing sports teams here at Needham High School through the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Though we are so proud of every Needham team, here are our top ten picks for the highlights of our athletic program during the 2023-2024 school year!
Photo courtesy of @needhamassassins24 on Instagram
Open Instagram on the phone of any NHS student from mid-April to May and you will scroll through dozens upon dozens of @needham2024futureplans and @needhamassassins24 posts. And, of course, while the college commitments are interesting, there is nothing more entertaining than the videos of our beloved soon-to-be-graduates being hunted down with water guns.
Photo courtesy of the New York Times
Connections. Strands. Wordle.
New York Times Games are often the most exhilarating and stimulating activity for our brains during the school day. However, they can also be our biggest distraction. Students are guilty of playing these rousing games every school day; whether it be during a boring lecture, quiet work time, or any other time period during the school day, we are all guilty of being off task. It is a natural flaw, but the New York Times Games certainly exacerbate distraction and make the school day that much harder to get through.
Photo courtesy of Adobe Photos
Especially in recent months, attendance amongst students and teachers alike has been sparse, with at least one student missing in each class on average. This epidemic of absences has not only infected the teens in our community, but recently, the number of teacher absences have been more than noticeable. But what is causing these mysterious disappearances and what are the structures in place to put an end to it?
Photo courtesy of Skylar Helfman
NHS Junior Skylar Helfman is an artsy, tiramisu-loving fashionista and a pleasure to interview. Keep reading for her angle on fashion!
Photo courtesy of @4girlsforchange_bills1990 on Instagram
By Clara Adams, Maddie Webb, Anna Spielmann, and Amelie Zosa
We are writing to inform about and ask for support of Bill S. 1990, which helps with language access and inclusion in Massachusetts. The problem is clear: There is a lack of efficient or effective language accessibility which harms multilingual learners' ability to have effective communication, civil participation, and obtain basic government services. This perpetuates a large injustice to people that are not fluent in the complexities of the English language and people who are deaf or hard of hearing.