PRHS Last Century: A Past We Should Remember By Stephanie LaFreniere

Poland Regional High School was established in 1999 with the understanding that high schools in the surrounding area would no longer accept kids from Minot, Mechanic Falls, and Poland due to overcrowding. As a new school, PRHS was drenched in chaos during its first few years.

Parents constantly argued with the school about the quality and style of teaching or just the general way the school was run, accusing the faculty of (among other things) openly promoting homosexuality.
So, what was this like for the students? It must have been difficult to switch from a school you were in, for possibly up to three years prior, to a new school that was up to so much criticism.

One man with a unique perspective was the first senior class president at PRHS,  Derek Drumtra.

“It was a new experience for everyone trying to get an innovative school with breakthrough ideas on the map in an old-school minded community,” said Drumtra in a recent interview that we conducted through email. “Some people embraced the ideas, others fought it every step of the way.”

Drumtra leaves no doubt about his feelings for PRHS, calling his one year here  “a great experience … everyone involved learned a lot.”

I talked to Mr. Drumtra about his experience here at Poland Regional to find out how he felt the school was run and kept. I figured he’d have a lot more inside information to judge the makeup of PRHS. He sounds like he has maintained the ideology of a student, with the additional wisdom that comes with age. He spoke of nothing but good memories and how much he enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of a new school, despite all the chaos.

“In the end it was good for everyone,” Drumtra said of the daily drama. “I think we all learned something. I loved everything about that time; the newness, chaos, everything, I liked being in the middle of it all. Being the first class president was an exciting time and I relished in every moment of it. It was an experience like none other and I would do it all over again. It was worth it.”

The only negative thing Derek had to say about PRHS was the unrealistic way it addressed life and certain aspects of school. When asked if he thought PRHS prepared one for college he answered, “I would say yes and no. More on the no side, Poland gives you too many chances in life and in college you don't get that many opportunities.”

I asked him to elaborate on this and he replied, “It gives you too many chances in ‘school.’ I mean, it's not realistic in real life. If you fail a test you make up an excuse and take it again. It's not like that in college or the real world.” Drumtra knows a thing or two about the real world. He is a real estate broker, and he owns two businesses – a construction company and a boat rental company.

I share similar opinions with Derek, in the sense that there are too many chances, but I feel as though this is true in any high school, not just Poland; our teachers want us to succeed, I believe, and would do anything to help us. In college, there might not be so much leeway.

Despite the chaos of a new high school forming--fights between students, teachers, parents; all the constant conflict--Derek managed to keep a positive outlook on his high school career (and achieved the rank of class president) that appears to have carried with him throughout his life. He should be an example to all of us – not letting tough times get us stuck, and to always strive for the best we can be.

“Besides getting married, and the birth of my baby girl, being class president and being involved in everything at the beginning was one of the greatest, most fun and rewarding times of my life,” he said. “Weird to think that a senior in high school thought being in high school was fun, but it was. I loved every minute of it. It's the greatest time in your life, enjoy every minute of it and don't let it pass you by!”

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.

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

We Came, We Defeated, We Partied.

Photo by Isabella Baker

The rest of the pictures can be found on our Facebook (please like us!). Who knows, maybe you might be in our stash. We'd love more writers! You get to be part of an awesome team, and even get a co-curricular credit.
Any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas, email or contact Lauren Harris (3lauren4@gmail.com), Stephanie LaFreniere (steph.lafreniere13@gmail.com), or Mr. Chutchian (kchutchian@rsu16.org). We'd love to hear from you!

Photo by Isabella Baker

Photo by Isabella Baker

Photo by Isabella Baker

Photo by Isabella Baker

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere

Photo by Stephanie LaFreniere