November Edition

Letter from the Editors:

This month has been hectic for everyone. Between sitting at home in pajamas during remote weeks, to having four long block classes in person, hybrid learning can be exhausting (Nicole has taken many naps), and a tad bit dull. We've also found it stressful, you never know when you're going to be blindsided by an assignment (just tonight, Eleanor realized she had forty pages of Pride and Prejudice to read for tomorrow). With this in mind, we, at The Hilltopper, want to share with you a few of the ways that life is different. These articles are not like anything we would've written a year ago (Maddie wrote about propane heaters), but (hopefully) they will resonate with you and maybe end up in the history books.

Your editors,

Nicole, Eleanor, and Maddie


Letter to the Principal

By Tommy Langford

"One-way hallways are just safer." But what if that perceived understanding is false? What if we take a minute to question the validity of that assumption: are we truly safer with one-way hallways?

Photo courtesy of Evelyn Lockwood-Mullaney

Life in the Red Cohort

By Owen Woo

Online school has some clear differences from in-person school, but overall it is a pretty similar education experience.

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Class Is Back In Session!

by Bayley Basson and Alex Goodale

Students entered the building for classes on Tuesday for the first time in over six months. However, the school looked very different from last March, the last time it hosted in-person classes.

Picture This: Remote vs. In-Person Learning

by Evie Lockwood-Mullaney and Sophia D'Amelio

Disposable Masks: Environmentally Friendly?

by Talia Bloom

When the pandemic hit, many of us transitioned to wearing disposable masks. But are they environmentally friendly?...

Photo from the New York Times

Movies in 2020

by Nick George

All of this has had a major impact on studios’ release schedules and box office results in 2020, but that’s nothing in comparison to what this pandemic means for the future of the cinema...

Advice from Hilly

By Hilly the Hilltopper

If this doesn’t work and you are still in love, we recommend a promposal in front of the entire school, no matter the time of year or circumstances of the pandemic...

Picture This: Back to School

by Emma Curry and Gwen Kwong

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Processed with VSCO with a4 preset

Fall Sports are Happening

by Lindsey Hess and Alex Goodale

While the new rules make the sports seem like entirely different games, Coach Magni says that “so much has been taken away from these athletes, [so] any opportunity to play is worth it.”

Best Purchases for Surviving Winter in a Pandemic

By Maddie Gerber

For those of you looking for ways to stay safe outside, here are five of the best purchases that will make facing the cold a little more bearable.

Photo courtesy of the Hometown Weekly.

Take Back The Night to Light Up Town Hall

By Alex Goodale and Bayley Basson

1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience some form of severe intimate partner physical violence in their life, but more than half of these cases go unreported...

Maddie Gerber for the Hilltopper

Halloween Movies

By Bayley Basson

For the people who want to watch a spooky movie but are not sure which ones are the best, here is the perfect list of the top five best Halloween movies.

What Floor of Needham High School Are You

A BuzzFeed quiz, courtesy of the Procrastination Station

Dover-Sherborn? More Like Covid-Airborne.

by Will Haney

Now, something as normal as a large illegal gathering of possibly intoxicated youth is a serious risk of spreading a plague the likes of which has never before touched the shores of our precious Bay State.