Speech & Debate Team Having Another Good Year by Ryan Szantyr

Poland Regional High School played host to a Speech and Debate tournament on earlier this month, and the event proved successful. Poland’s Speech and Debate team, coached by D’Arcy Robinson and captained by Elijah Breton, worked throughout the week to get the school ready for the tournament––the biggest of the season so far.

Ms. Robinson felt the tournament went smoothly.
“We placed fourth out of twenty-two schools, and given the expectations for us to put on the tournament, I think we did pretty well,” Robinson said.

Elijah Breton, who placed second for his event, had a bittersweet response to the tournament. Despite the tournament’s success from a hosting standpoint, Elijah was critical of the lack of support on the part of the school’s administration and faculty.

“To me, its hard to see administrators going to almost every home sporting event there is, but not go to one of the two Poland tournaments,” Breton said. “There isn't any reason why they can't come and support the team as well as Ms. Robinson's hard work. We have such a great team, and I enjoy what I do very much. But, sometimes I question why I get up almost every Saturday morning when I know there is no support.”

Although Ms. Robinson had similar sentiments, she acknowledged the support of co-curricular director Don King, who attended the tournament, as well as the Boosters.

“It’s always nice for people support the team and see how hard the kids work,” Robinson said. “There is some real value for the students.” Ms. Robinson also acknowledged the support from parents who helped set up for and facilitate the tournament.

The real success for the tournament, from Ms. Robinson’s standpoint, was that “we worked as a team. We did what we needed to do, and I’ve gotten several e-mails from the coaches of the schools that participated telling me how smoothly it went and how happy they were that we were able to finish on time and even early, which is quite an achievement for Speech and Debate.”

Another tournament -- speech-only -- was scheduled for Saturday the 17th at Mount Desert Island High School. If you see Speech members in the hallways and classrooms, be sure to check in and ask them how their team performed. They’re representing our school, they compete against the best in their field, and they need our support.

Book Bags, Safety & Two Sets of Rules By Alexandrea Savard

The school's new book bag rule generated a lot of debate early in the semester.  Sophomores seem to care the most, because they're supposed to leave their backpacks out of the classroom, while juniors and seniors can carry their bags everywhere. Sophomores are afraid they will be late for classes, miss a bus, or forget something in their locker. They want their bags with them.

Students seem to agree that backpacks on the floor create safety problems,  but they argue that it's  already difficult to get to class on time without a trip to the locker. It's just more convenient and efficient to have your bag with you in class. Teachers, of course, say students have plenty of time to go anywhere all day.

Safety is a huge issue with book bags. One issue students don't often consider is that nobody but you knows what's inside your bag. In countries where citizens face more national security issues than we do, leaving a book bag on the ground, unattended, is considered dangerous. There could be something inside the bag that can hurt people. Other safety issues are simpler – if the fire alarms go off people can trip over the book bags, making it more difficult to get out of the building on time. 

And then there are health issues.  Students go to the school nurse all the time with back pain. Could we reduce the traffic of students leaving class for the nurse's office if we reduce the weight on students' backs? Think about it.

Getting to class on time shouldn’t be an issue. The time between classes has been extended this year.

Unfortunately, there's a fair amount of circumstantial evidence that shows PRHS kids don't know how to operate a combination lock, a situation that will make some hesitant to stuff their backpack in the locker. 

“I think that if they are going to to make kids keep their bags in their lockers, they should have key locks on them or they should have no locks at all on them, because there are a lot of kids in the high school who can't use a combination lock,” said Kristopher Lugner, a PRHS senior.

And let's not forget the resentment that sophomores feel about different sets of rules for them and upperclassmen.

“I really don't like it at all, but I think that eventually we'll have to get used to it, “ sophomore Natasha Thoits said about the new book bag rule. “It's not that bad, we just need to adjust. But what I can't stand is that only freshmen and sophomores are the ones who have to follow this rule. Freshmen are used to using their binders and stuff, while sophomores are already adjusted to using their backpacks.  Juniors and seniors should have to follow this rule as well.” 

Which raises an obvious issue. If backpacks in the classroom are such a safety concern, why does this concern apply for only half the school?

Spirit Week: Penny War, Dress-Up Days, Community Service, The Works! By Stephanie Lafreniere

Spirit Week is a time of fun and friendly competition at PRHS. Each class is pitted against each other in the various activities of the week; whether it be dressing up to fit each day’s specific theme, or a war of pennies and collection of food. And of course, with every Spirit Week there must be a celebration!


The Penny War is one of our fundraisers during Spirit Week this time around, but not all the profits go to PRHS; we are donating revenue to heating assistance programs for needy families. Times are tough, people are losing jobs, so we decided to help out the community. 

A portion of the Penny War proceeds will go to the winning class, however. The basic concept of a penny war is to collect the most pennies for your class; each class is given a huge container to dump their pennies in. So if you ever have some spare pennies dump them into your classes container. But, everything else--dimes, quarters, nickels, dollars--is bad and the amount of money the silver coin stands for will be subtracted from your amount of pennies. So, if my class had ten pennies (10 Points) and one nickel (-5 Points) we’d be left with 5 Points. So don’t put anything other than pennies into your classes container! It’s a pretty simple game and it brings a lot of hype and excitement from the classes. 

We’re also going to be holding a food drive for anything non-perishable, such as canned goods, or basically anything packaged that won’t go bad. The food we collect is going to go to the food bank. How does this help us, though? Well, during our Spirit Week assembly each class will be given approximately 15 minutes to create a castle out of all the food their class brought in. Though it’s not set in stone yet, it’s been rumored that the best castle wins points that will go towards their Winter Carnival score. A couple extra points would be helpful, right? Might be just the edge to push a class to the top!

Each day of Spirit Week holds a special “meaning”; in other words, each day has a certain theme we’re asked to abide by. Our beloved Valentine’s Day comes early this year on Monday. How does one go about dressing up for Valentine’s Day? Other than wearing pink or red of course...maybe we’ll get some cupids. That would be hilarious. Tuesday we’ll need some of those ‘lil Freshman to put on some green hats and dance around, as it’s St. Patrick’s Day! Be sure to wear some green! Oh yeah, are fireworks legal now? Because Wednesday is the 4th of July for us; be sure to wear some red, white, and blue! (Seriously, don't bring fireworks.) Thursday we’re going back in time about two months to relive some yummy candy goodness; Halloween is back so be sure to bring in enough candy for everyone! And finally, we have Friday. Now you’re probably thinking, ‘oh, Friday must be Christmas or some other fantastic holiday!’. Well, I wish I could I entertain your enthusiasm, but it’s no other than Ugly Sweatshirt day. Don’t be embarrassed, dig out your most revolting sweatshirt and wear it to school! Maybe you can find an old Christmas sweater your aunt gave you to keep the holiday spirits going. 

If dressing up isn’t your thing, maybe you’ll enjoy a nice casual dance? We had hoped to have a dance on Ugly Sweatshirt day, but it turns out the Middle School already has a dance planned that night. But, there’s a possibility of a casual dance on the Wednesday before vacation that is probably going to help the Senior class raise money for their class trip in the spring. So everyone should attend to help see their favorite Seniors off!

Spirit Week is the perfect way to wind down that last, almost unbearable, full week of school before Christmas Vacation. Everyone gets out some holiday cheer with the competitions and we get to see our teachers embarrass themselves with their goofy themed outfits. We also get to spread some holiday joy to those in need with our fundraisers. Next week will be a good one!

Spirit Week is 12/12/11 – 12/16/11

Monday: Valentine's Day

Tuesday: St. Patrick's Day

Wednesday: Fourth of July

Thursday: Halloween

Friday: Ugly Sweatshirt Day

Are the kids in charge of PDA enforcement? By Caitlyn Currie

As we all have been reminded multiple times, PRHS policy limits public displays of affection (PDA) to "holding hands and brief, friendly hugs" and no further. Pretty simple, direct and straightforward. But for some reason, many students interpret this as:

"The rules to PDA are up to the discretion and morals of each individual student."

 In other words, "Rules? What rules?" What we all need to hear and realize is PDA affects everyone, including many of us who have no choice but to observe kids making out, groping and grinding in the hallways. 

Of course, many students witnessing PDA in the school say it doesn’t make them feel uncomfortable, or they just “don’t care.” Maybe that’s why we hear so many complaints about the rule. Maybe, just perhaps, that’s why we need the rule.

 Hear me out here. 

Is it possible we've become immune to PDA? I believe we’ve come to a point where we don’t notice the couple playing tonsil hockey in the middle of the hall. It’s just being ignored. If it’s getting to a point where it is that “regular” or “normal,” well,  that’s a sign it needs to stop. This is where the rules play in.

We don't make the rules, despite the fact that we like to believe we do. And the lack of enforcement by most teachers leads most of us to believe that we carry more than a little authority throughout the school. Personally, I have seen some of that same attitude carried out with some of the other school rules as well. Although the teenager inside me wants to rebel, well, just to rebel, the rules are the rules. But teachers don't do us any favors with selective enforcement.

I know we’ve all heard it before: “It’s a distraction to your learning.”  And, whether one would like to admit it or not, school is a work place. Here we are learning appropriate behavior for our future work places. And tell me, if you were at the office ten years from now, how unsettling would it be to have to dodge smooching couples on your way to the copier, or to have two people locking eyes like they’re straight out of “The Notebook,” standing right next to your cubicle while you’re trying to do your work? Or to sit in a meeting between two people who just had their hands on each other's butts before the boss walked in? Exactly.

So, you PDA newcomers, (those of you in a sparkly new relationship),  and you regular offenders, listen up: Your peers, teachers, and future co-workers would be very grateful if you could take it down a notch. Take a deep breath. Lower the heat.