A Breakfast at the President’s Cafe — Journalism Class

Homecoming 2009 — By Colleen Grady

Rally 2009 — By Kelvin Yang and Onur Zorteymur

Flock It Forward — By Julia Yee

And It Said, “Love Shouldn’t Hurt” — By Bianca Blakesley

Open Mic Night — By Emily Hajjar

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Breakfast at the Presidents Cafe

By Staff

Quincy residents enjoy dessert at the Presidents Cafe.

On the morning of October 22, our journalism class enjoyed a breakfast at the President’s Café. It was our job to rate the food prepared by fellow freshman and sophomore students enrolled in culinary. The student’s talent and the Presidents Café setting and surroundings far exceeded our expectations. The pre-ordered buffet style breakfast turned out to be an exceptional experience in school dining. As we waited outside the President Café, Mr. Kelly welcomed the class to enjoy a delicious breakfast buffet. He cheerfully invited us into the restaurant and to the specially prepared breakfast. We waited in line, eagerly examining the food before us. Our plates were piled high with eggs, bacon, pancakes, home fries and sausages.

The class favorite was the buttery, fluffy pancakes, which were topped with warm maple syrup. The interior of the café is warm and comfortable, with walls painted reddish pink. Tables are evenly spread out and are decorated with fresh potted flowers. In the middle of the rooms sits the President’s Seal rug. The restaurant imparts a calm, warm, and friendly atmosphere. Though the outside of the café is still under construction, students should be able to enjoy an outdoor café by spring. Overall, the food was rated “scrumdiddlyumptious” by the class. All decided that they would return in the future for more great food. Our trip to the President’s Café was a scrumptous experience. The journalism students and teachers recommend that all QHS students and staff try dining at the café. Our worthwhile trip to the café is a memory we will not forget anytime soon. ___________________________________________________________

QHS Homecoming 2009

By Colleen Grady

When the 2009 school year began Quincy High School was without a gym, a question lurked in the minds of many QHS students: “Where will homecoming be held?” Homecoming is the most popular dance of the year and the student council members were under pressure to put on an amazing event. They made list after list trying to find the best location and the best price. Student council president Olivia Berry worked closely with Mr. Santoro to try to meet the students’ expectations, from the size of the location, to the cost. After a month of searching and debating important factors, the student council members took a vote, resulting in a dance at Broad Meadows Middle School. During the construction and throughout the school year, Broad Meadows has helped QHS a great deal by allowing our girls’ volleyball team to hold home games in their gym. The gym was booked for Friday, November 20th 2009. Over 400 QHS students and their guests filed into the middle school gym, dressed to impress. With help from the QHS Parent Advisory Committee and parent volunteers, the halls were covered with refreshments and a place to cool down from the heat of the dance floor.

At nine o’clock, Mr. Santoro called for everyone’s attention. The Homecoming Court entered soon after, starting with Emily Hajjar and Kenny Nguyen. It continued with the rest of the court: Catarina Ferreira and Cedric Dybaud, Brianne Phelan and Collin McCarthy, and Julia Yee and Ngozi Aguguo. The winners of the night, Stephanie Annessi and Kevin Keith, happily smiled for the camera as their friends congratulated them for winning the titles of “Homecoming King and Queen”. The night’s final two hours ended, with great dance moves, hundreds of pictures, and more senior class memories. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

QHS Rally 2009

By Kelvin Yang and Onur Zorteymur

In previous years the Fall Sports Rally was housed in the Vo-Tech, which was destroyed earlier this year in order to build a new educational facility. The new plan was to have our school rally on Coddington Street in front of our school. The street would be blocked off to on-going traffic so the students could have more space to gather. Unfortunately this year the annual Quincy High School Rally was rained out. Principal Frank Santoro announced. that we would hold the rally in the auditorium which is too small to hold all grades at once. In order to have our whole school participate grades 9 and 10 and then 11 and 12th would split the time for attending the rally. Rallies at QHS have been a school tradition for years. It was interesting to see how the school worked to share this event under such circumstances. As usual Quincy High showed its flexibility and pulled off a grand finale of a rally! _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flock It Forward By Julia Yee

Don’t be surprised if you see a flock of 12 bright pink flamingos on your neighbor’s front yard this year. The Parent Advisory Committee will be moving four flocks of flamingos all over Quincy as a fundraiser to benefit Senior Night Out. No, you will not see live flamingos on your neighbor’s front yard, but you will see the plastic yard decorations gathered all over Quincy. This fundraiser will raise money to help give the senior class of 2010 a safe, drug and alcohol-free party after their prom. The fundraiser is quite simple; the flocks of 12 flamingos start out on four Quincy High families’ front lawns. The flamingos are accompanied with two signs that read “You’ve Been Flocked,” and on the back of the sign is an envelope containing a form with details about the flocking process. The fundraiser generates its money by allowing the person that has been flocked to “flock it forward” for a price of $20. You can flock anyone in the city of Quincy. If you decide not to pay, the flamingos will be taken off your lawn 24 hours later. However, don’t think that being flocked once will save you from being flocked again! The flamingos can visit your lawn multiple times, unless you are willing to dish out an additional $20 for “flocking insurance”. This insurance puts your name on the “Do not flock list,” which will keep the bright pink yard decorations off your yard.

Susan Wade, the treasurer of the PAC, said that, “the ‘girls’ will only be flocking on the weekdays, these birds are hot tickets and we don’t want any of them going missing.” The Flock It Forward fundraiser has already raised over $3,200 for Senior Night Out and it will continue until the ground freezes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Love Shouldn’t Hurt

By Bianca Blakesley

It isn’t uncommon to see purple bracelets inscribed with the words “Love shouldn’t hurt” on the wrists of many students in the school. But don’t worry, purple isn’t the new black. The bracelets mean that the wearer has signed a pledge against domestic violence. This is the kind of commitment and goal enforced by the Youth Speak and Dove programs, as well as the White Ribbon Campaign. On Friday, October 23, speakers Jim Quigley, District Attorney William Keating, and James Cooper delivered powerful messages on the subject of domestic violence to the senior class. James Cooper, nicknamed “Kupah”, was especially animated and engaging, but the essential messages of the speeches were the same: As a relative, partner, or friend, it is your responsibility to protect one another from violence in relationships. At the end, students were encouraged to sign a poster. A signature was meant as a pledge that the signer will refuse to be a part of domestic violence in any way. Youth Speak leaders Kenny Nguyen and Collin McCarthy also participated in the campaign by engaging the audience in an interactive demonstration. Olivia Berry, Stephanie Annessi, and Bianca Blakesley recited the poem “I Got Flowers Today” to reinforce the theme. At the end of the presentation students walked out of the auditorium, enthusiastic to receive one of the purple bracelets. The White Ribbon Campaign hopes that the anti-domestic violence trend will catch on.

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Open Mic Night

By Emily Hajjar

On Friday October 17th the QHS Choir sponsored their first annual Open
Mic Night organized by Mr. Nickelson, the choir teacher and conductor.
The evening started with the National Anthem sung by the A Capella
Chamber Choir. Even though there was only twelve students singing they
filled the rotunda will a boom of wonderful harmonies. The Horizon Choir proceeded to sing “Hush.” They were then joined by the Boston Choral Ensemble to sing the beautiful, “Red Red Rose.” The combination of the two
groups was refreshing and a delight to hear. Following QHS’s performance the BCE performed two pieces. Many of the adults in the audience were surprised to see Mr. Nickelson join them on the risers, but in fact he is a member and an assistant conductor for the Boston Choral Ensemble.

The “open mic” section in the program was held in Adams Hall around 8 o’clock. The hall was filled to the brim with people; there wasn’t one empty seat. This part of the night was filled with many diverse acts, Beckey Ramirez played “River Flows in You” on the piano, and Meghan Quinn sang “The Weakness in Me” and theband The Gosh Kaplen Experience sang “And I love Her, Get Back.” The night was filled with many great musical surprises and everyone seemed to enjoy the diversity of the evening. It was a lot of fun and a great success for the QHS choir and hopefully this becomes an annual event.