June Edition
Goood morning Needham High,
Remember us?? The seniors?? While we can only imagine how much our presence has been missed since our last day way back in May, we figured we’d pop in for a final goodbye message. First, some thank yous!
To the juniors: you’re welcome for us giving you the upper lot! You can take our place in the assistant principal’s office when you park in the first teacher spot in the upper upper (because it was that or going home because you had nowhere to park!). Best of luck with your senior year <3
To the sophomores: Hope the SOPs went well and buckle in for junior year! Don’t let everyone scare you about how terrible it is; you will make it just fine.
To the freshmen: congrats on surviving your first year of high school! Hope we were good role models (lol), have fun with NHD next year, and please stop eating lunch on the bathroom floor!
To The Hilltopper staff: thank you endlessly for your beautiful writing and dedication this year. You did a stellar job of following deadlines and pitches, only requiring *some* homeroom aggression from us. Can’t wait to read what you have in store next year. We’ll even miss you, back left corner. Maybe ;)
To Mr. Flaggert: our forever gratitude for your editing, guidance, and strength over these years! You humor us with our rants & push our publication to be stronger. We’ll miss your “heyy homeroom!”s & quiet X blocks <3
To anyone we’ve attacked in articles over the past four years: thanks for being our punching bags! We’re kinda mean, we know, and we’re maybe sorry — it depends. @NHSadmin xoxo
To our predecessors, MEN: thanks for setting up a brilliant format for this publication & trusting us to carry it on! You taught us all we know and trained us well <3
To the iconic RES trio: we are so excited to watch you three lead this publication next year. We have nothing but the utmost faith & trust that we’re leaving dear Hilly in good hands. Have fun working the Google Sites ;)
Well, Needham High., it’s been quite the journey up in room 726. Hundreds of hyperlinks, Zooms, X blocks, editing rounds, mean articles, funny articles, not funny articles trying to be funny articles, pitches, and four years later, we are bittersweet to come to our close with The Hilltopper. We are forever grateful to this paper for teaching us how to question and research our school’s policies, events, and issues, and use our words and writing to bring about change. And how to get a homeroom’s attention.
You already knew we weren’t leaving without some fiestiness, so here are our final takes we didn’t have the chance to write about: The NHS Schedule offers little flexibility or creativity, and students are funneled into classes that will look good on a transcript, not ones they’re genuinely interested in. National Honor Society feels incredibly performative and is borderline problematic. Student activism at NHS is both frustratingly diluted by policy & administration, and then showcased to the community by the same administration. The parking situation needs to be fixed once and for all. And finally, Ms. Ofer’s lifesavers are a godsend.
Okay, with that, we are (finally) signing off. Enjoy your summers & NHS careers, and carry on our legacy of yelling at anything & everything!
A final xoxo,
Talia Bloom, Alex Goodale, and Bayley Basson
Editors-in-Chief 2021-22
Courtesy of NHS's Yearbook circa 1982
By Sophia D'Amelio and Kathleen Grady
As requested by the student body through the amazing Hilltopper instagram (casual plug: @hilltoppernhs,) Kathleen Grady and Sophia D'Amelio set out to interview Mr. Ayache, one of the most well known teachers in the school. Seriously, if you go to Needham High School and do not know who Mr. Ayache is, what is up with that?
Courtesy of Hannah Kesselman
By Amelie Zosa
Hannah Keselman: a senior, an incredible artist, and a fashionista in black. I was so excited to interview her!
Courtesy of University Magazine
Okay first of all, the only reason why I know the finals schedule this year is because my Spanish teacher posted it on google classroom (shoutout profe por el calendario!!!) and I have to say, I am completely lost. If you all are as confused as I am, I’ve created a Q&A to answer any and all questions you may have.
Courtesy of Sophia D'Amelio
“It will all be over by Easter,” “The summer of freedom,” “By this Christmas, it will be a lot better.” These three quotes all have one thing in common: they are failed predictions about when the COVID pandemic will be over.
Courtesy of Turner Classic Movies
By Emily Flanagan and Emma Zhang
“We were young when I first saw youuu….” Romeo and Juliet? You’ve heard of it. A classic Shakespearean love story, made for production in the one, the only, the Globe Theatre.
Courtesy of Order Out of Chaos
By Amelie Zosa and Lily Katz
There was always something special in the air of elementary school playgrounds during the last few weeks of school. What. A. Time. Unfortunately, as we got older, the last weeks of school became a time for work to pile up.
Courtesy of Business Insider
As of present, Gen Z is enduringly maligned as lacking self-efficacy, grit, toughness, a growth-mindset, and adaptability. Studies have shown that Gen Zers have turned normal challenges of growing up into insurmountable obstacles: a testament to said lack of resilience.
Courtesy of Pitchfork
By Owen Woo
Welcome to the third and final album reviews of the school year! For this final edition I’m gonna do something a little bit different. I’ve decided for the final album reviews to commemorate this school year in music by breaking down my favorite albums that came out from September 2021- May 2022.
Courtesy of ACS Technologies
By Jack Stein
As a satire writer for the Hilltopper, I felt that my last article was a true goodbye. It perfectly encapsulated my career as a writer for this humble newspaper––a one year stint of satire. But now, I am being tasked with writing another goodbye, possibly something more genuine.
Courtesy of Kai Barnes
By Kai Barnes
Wreck it Ralph, the Oscar-nominated cinematic masterpiece and box office smash from Disney and Pixar studios, is a story that demonstrates how teamwork and cooperation lead to ultimate success.
Courtesy of Research!America
As we welcome the new class of students to the high school this upcoming fall, here some simple tips to get accustomed to classes and the workload a little bit faster!