Distraction or Education? By Daniela Zach

Schools across America, including our own, Brookfield High School, have given an iPad to every student. This new digital age has been forcing teachers’ teaching styles to evolve, but is this new evolution going to be beneficial to students and our upcoming generations? 

An iPad for every student sounds like a great idea. Some say it's convenient, current, cutting-edge and up to date. While textbook apps may be available within seconds, so are other things like games, and social networking; one big distraction right at your fingertips. So are iPads really providing students with an educational tool or another cell phone? It is not possible to entirely restrict the use of the iPads when we are providing students with this new technology, but it is the student’s decision to be using the iPad for anything but its intended purpose, other student’s use the iPads to their fullest advantage. IPads also provide students with a tool that suits to different learning types whether it's visual, auditory, or sensory. Not only they can suit to every individual student's needs, but it also allows for more in-class interaction and provides students with a computer that might not be availible in one's household. BHS science and World Launguage departments have classes that allow for well interaction using the iPads as other classes like math and literacy try to incorporate them into the learning process.

How often do you check your phone? Twice a day? Once every hour? Most likely not. According to statistics  collected by a screen lock app, the average user unlocks their phone around 110 times a day! People unlock thier phones by habit. The next time you check your phone, think about  how you could have unlocked your phone 50 times already without even realizing it. In a society where there are at least five electronic devices per American household, it is virtually impossible to not to be distracted every few minutes. Cell phones, and all electronics for that matter constantly give you reminders. An app that you may own will continue to send notifications. When these notifications are activated during class, students will constantly be obliged to check on their devices.

All in all, iPads really do evolve BHS digitally and interactively providing schools with a new, convenient way of learning. Even though iPads are all of these things,  they still have the potential to take students away from their algebra and fractions turning the iPad into one big distraction. iPads can be very educational if put in the right hands, and it just takes the user to know what's right and what's wrong.

Statistics in Baseball- Overused and Overrated By Max Cunha

It seems like every time you turn on a baseball game or listen to the radio, the announcers, analysts, or baseball personalities are talking about statistics.  Stats, stats, stats!  Well all I hear is blah, blah, blah!  Most of the people who use and talk about these stats don’t really even know what they mean or why they’re important. Well maybe that’s because these worshipped statistics aren’t really important at all.  

Statistics are becoming way overused in the game of baseball.  The old school of thought, about players and teams having life, energy, excitement, hunches, and being a single, fun-loving unit is disappearing  Now it’s all about how good Joe Shmo’s BABIP is (what the heck is BABIP? I don’t even know, but apparently its a statistic) or a team’s WX (win expectancy).  I see these stats and wonder: when would any of these stats actually matter to someone involved in the game?  And you guessed it, they don’t. They don’t matter.  Is a manager really going to look at his win expectancy (WX) during a game and go “oh no, this statistic favors the other team, we aren’t going to win today” because of a stupid stat? of course not! baseball is about fun, energy, and playing for your teammates, not sabermetrics and petty statistics.

A good amount of baseball analysts nowadays think they’re all that because they can read a player’s numbers off of a piece of paper and think they know all.  None of a player’s intangible attributes seem to matter to these guys, most analysts are all about the stats.  Maybe the player hit that homerun because of something non-statistical: he got pumped up by a handshake with a teammate, or said a prayer before his at bat, or wore his lucky batting gloves causing a placebo effect, or who knows what.  Think about it from a player’s point of view.  If you were about to step up to the plate, would you be thinking “gee, I think I’m going to get a hit, considering that I have a .299 batting average against right handed pitchers in the month of august”? Of course not!  It sounds ridiculous, but these are the kinds of statistics that analysts come up with, when in reality a player’ s performance is often completely circumstantial, not based on some mathematical trend or statistical analysis.  I guarantee you that most players about to bat would not thinking about stats, but rather, about how maybe they have a runner on third, and are going to win the game! About the adoring fans cheering in support!

Okay, so maybe not every player goes that deep in his thoughts before every at bat, but you get the picture.  The players aren’t that interested in stats, they’re interested in playing the game.

Unless, of course, that player is one of a growing number of players like former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes.  Unfortunately, stats are changing some players’ mindsets to be geared toward stats rather than the more important aspects of the game. What happened to being a team player, having fun, and being in it for the love of the game? What happened to the bigger values that players learn from baseball like respect and discipline?

Now don’t get me wrong, Jose Reyes is a great ballplayer, but statistics caused him to make a controversial decision that denied the spirit of baseball.  He was trying to win the title for best batting average for the season (which is a statistic in baseball), so to secure his statistic, during one of the season’s final games, he bunted for a single in the first inning and then SAT OUT the rest of the game!  He wasn’t there in the game for his teammates, for his organization, or anyone.  He wasn’t playing to have fun, he played that one at-bat, but for what?  Some number in a record book?

Now compare that situation to a parallel one from all-time great Ted Williams, whose prime years were in the 1940’s and 50’s.  Ted had the option to sit out of a double-header (two games in one day) and it would ensure that he won the batting average title.  His manager insisted that Ted should sit out to secure his batting average, to which  Ted famously responded,  “If I can’t hit .400 all the way, I don’t deserve it.”  He didn’t sit out for some statistic.  And oh, in case you were wondering, Mr. Williams got six hits including a homerun in that doubleheader.

The spirit that Ted Williams had is the kind of attitude and approach that baseball needs more of.  I’m simply suggesting that we try to focus on the relevant, non numerical aspects of baseball.  The baseball community needs to start to look at what is truly important and what REALLY causes players to perform how they do--the intangible side of the game.  Statistics cause misinformation, as people overlook circumstantial factors that play into a player’s or a team’s performance and they start to base their opinions solely off of numbers.  Even so, stats are overused in and around America’s greatest pastime.  Some players, too, are focusing on statistical accomplishments rather than the greater goal of team victory.   These petty numbers, statistics, whatever you want to call them (I call them annoyances), they mean nothing to anyone who truly knows what baseball is all about.  So stop looking at those obscure statistics, grab a hotdog and a big ol’ quart of soda, and go enjoy yourself a good ol’ ‘Merican ballgame.  Maybe you’ll pick up on some of the intangibles that really define baseball.

The Potential that Led to a Medal By Tommy Consalvo

According to the BHS Boys Cross Country Team, they are looking the best they have in years. With 8 of their top 10 returning from last year’s squad, they see potential to bring home a Class MM State Championship. 

“I’m excited, very excited.” Coach Butt said. “The team has put in the work and they are ready.”
      With the season underway Coach Butt has the boys lacing on the shoes and hitting the trails. BHS XC has also had the privilege of welcoming back one of the school’s all state runners, Taylor Phillips, a 2009 graduate. Coach Taylor is getting the team physically and mentally prepared having been in their shoes not too long ago. Tyler Mannion, one of the team’s captains and one of the team’s top runners has some words of his own.

“We are returning all of our top 7 except for 1 guy.” Tyler says. “We work hard, we play hard.” The camaraderie between the five seniors on the team is evident both on and off the trails.

The team got off to an outstanding start having beaten last year’s state open champion, New Milford. Also, it has been 20 years since Brookfield has defeated New Milford. Two of the team’s top runners, Parker Timmerman, an All State runner, and Cory Mccullough, are looking forward to a significant season as well.

“I love this team.” Parker says. “You need to hold the rope, you gotta want it.” The boys depend on each other to be the best competitors they can be.

Cory with motivational words of his own, “There is no off season. We got our miles in over the summer; we put the work in…Let’s go.”

The boys are hoping for a Class MM Championship this year as they have not won one in 26 years. This statistic doesn’t seem to stand in the way of the crew. Alex Smith (Smitty), one of the team’s top runners has some words of wisdom himself, “You could call us the dream team. We come to race, we come to win.” Each team member has a positive attitude and is full of confidence. A huge factor to the team’s success is their ability to push each other to their full potential.

This fall, BHS Cross Country will run their way to a state championship. With the team looking the best they have in years physically and mentally, a state trophy is within their sights.

Graduation Already? By Kelly Ryan

In 10 short months, the Brookfield High School class of 2014 will be turning the tassel to the other side of the graduation cap. High school students as a whole know that mixed emotions about their education are unavoidable, but a specific group of the student body is forced to identify and deal with these feelings come June. Students at Brookfield High School live a relatively sheltered life, but every year some of our baby birds are thrusted out of the nest. The question is: who will soar and who won’t.

Over time, graduating from high school has become almost inevitable, but being excited and ready is not. People usually hear about intense anticipation and elation of receiving the diploma and moving onto the “real world”, but in reality things are not that simple.

Nerves and anxiety often take over, about things such as college and making friends. The majority of the Brookfield High School class of 2014 has been attending school together since kindergarten. This seems normal to students here, but it’s not so common and it may make it harder to move onto a college where people haven’t known each other since they were seven.  Students complain about seeing the same people day after day year after year, but by the time twelfth grade comes around many start to realize that they’ll miss the comfort of familiarity. Seniors begin to realize that good friends may be lost or drift away due to going to different colleges and living in different cities.

Many graduating seniors are scared for a large portion of the year because they don’t yet know what the future holds. A large portion of the anxiety that is felt stems from college plans. Nicole Biondi, a senior at Brookfield high school, demonstrated this anxiety when she said “I am excited even though I don’t know what I want to do with my life”. There are students that feel that they’re completely alone in their inability to decide what they want to pursue in life, but just by walking through the halls of BHS it is easy to see that these students are anything but alone. There is a constant buzz of college talk, from “where do you want to go?” to “do you think I’ll get in?”. The guidance office of Brookfield High School starts off college talk the very first week of school, and sets up meetings within the first month. BHS counselors make sure that college guidance is just an email away.

Then, there are those students who truly cannot wait to escape the grips that high school has had on them for the past  four years of their lives. An abundant amount of seniors are highly anticipating college due to the glorified “college lifestyle”. Many television or film representations of college unrealistically portray college as one, big party. Real life cases of that being the reality for someone’s college experience often come along with failing grades and academic probation. It’s great to be excited to graduate and move on to the next chapter in life, but it should be for the right reason. Rachel Kovacs, a graduating senior at Brookfield High School, declares that she “cannot wait to leave and go somewhere else”. She has everything figured out, she wants to major in psychology and get a degree in school counseling. She is excited for college not because she can’t wait to party or be out all night, but because she gets to pursue her passion. Be excited, but be realistic.

When asked how he felt about graduating, class of 2014 senior Steve Delvalle responded with “I don’t want to grow up”. By graduation day, a typical student will have spent a large majority of their life attending school. In less than a year, high school seniors will lose a big part of their lives and it’s normal to be scared about that. Graduating signifies moving on. With a diploma comes real responsibilities and important decisions that influence one’s entire future. It’s not easy and recognizing that can be very beneficial.

Here at Brookfield High School, mixed feelings about graduation are truly unavoidable. Graduating and moving onto whatever may come next is bittersweet, but it’s important to keep in mind that there are hundreds of thousands of teenagers around the world that are feeling the exact same way.

Preposterous Parking Pass Prices By Rachel Kovacs

The new school year has begun here at Brookfield High School and everyone is getting back into the swing of things. The beginning of the year means homework, sleepless nights, and longing for the weekends. It also is the time where BHS students are required to pay $150.00 if they wish to drive and park on school grounds.

Brookfield’s parking pass is the most expensive out of all surrounding schools. Newtown High School students only pay $85 to park their car for the year while at Bethel High School, students are required to pay a mere $50. But, what’s even more interesting is that seniors at Danbury High School pay $35 for a parking pass: that’s a $115.00 difference from Brookfield.

So what happens if a car doesn’t have a parking pass? It’s said by administration that student’s cars will be towed, but that’s not necessarily true. The Brookfield High School hand book states, “A student’s vehicle may be towed (at the owner’s expense) for the following reasons: Parking in a fire lane or “no parking lane,” parking in a Disabled Person’s space, Parking in a travel lane/roadway/inappropriate space, OR failure to follow the parking rules and regulations after loss of privileges.” This means that they can’t tow our cars for simply not having a parking pass. They can only tow if the car is parked inappropriately, or has previously had its parking privileges revoked and continues to disobey the rules.

The parking permits at BHS are vinyl stickers that are to be placed in the bottom right hand corner of the windshield. How much can these vinyl stickers cost to make? A website called rydindecal.com makes the exact parking passes students received this year. Let’s say BHS orders 400 passes. The cost per pass would be 55 cents; 55 cents and students pay $150.00. There is a huge profit being made on these passes. But where does that money go?

When asked about his thoughts on parking permit prices, senior Matt Caruolo said “There used to be no such thing as parking permits. When my stepsister was a student here, BHS wanted to renovate the parking lot so they charged students for parking.” Well, it’s renovated, so why are we still paying?

Another reason for this sky high price could be the limited amount of space. The student parking lot has a total of 221 parking spots and three handicap spots. The senior class alone has 230 students. This would leave no room for juniors to park in the student lot. Limited spacing could be a problem, but if any students look around in the morning, we have a plethora of parking spots available because not everyone drives, and most kids car pool.

Unfortunately, there is no foreseeable change to this parking price anytime in the near future. Therefore, if students want to continue parking on school grounds be sure to save your money and purchase a $150.00 parking pass, or find another way to get to school.

Government Shut Down: How Would It Have Affected Us? By Daniella Zach

You all have, no doubt, heard of the recent government shutdown which might have brought this nation to financial ruin.  But, thankfully, it was averted by a last minute deal in Congress.  But what might have happened to us as students if the shutdown had continued onward? Now, the shutdown may not have affected us directly, since we are not employed in government jobs.  But it would have affected school funding, student loans for college-bound seniors, and, of course, our parents.

In the first week of the government shutdown, schools were funded by money given through a grant.  However, if the shutdown persisted longer than a week, we would no doubt see our teachers losing their jobs, perhaps no internet use in our school, and even school closures.  For those of you going to college, you would have found a tough time finding assistance with student loans, as workers connected with the program would be furloughed, or temporarily laid-off from work, leaving only a handful of people to handle loan applications.

Now, we would be mainly affected by the job situation of our parents in a prolonged government shutdown.  During the shutdown the stock market went down by 600 points, which was not good news for parents who invest in the stock market.  Now imagine if the shutdown was prolonged and the U.S. defaulted on its loans.  There would be panic on Wall Street and no doubt a complete stock market crash with many investors wiped out, some of whom may be our parents.  On the job scene, parents who are government workers would be furloughed or lose their jobs altogether.  We probably all understand that would mean cutting down on spending quite a bit and it would be extremely hard on families just making ends meet.  That would mean fewer trips to the mall to buy new shoes or clothes, perhaps a cancelation of phone service, or television, or anything that may save money.  In the extreme, social security benefits to the unemployed and elderly may be cut so the government can balance its budget.  Those unemployed, some who may be our parents, would not receive any income to just get by.

Evidently, it is a relief that Congress was finally able to set aside their political platforms and vote to prevent the shutdown from continuing further, and affecting our families as a nation.  But the question is, what is Congress going to do when we find ourselves in a similar situation down the road?  The government can’t keep borrowing money forever, and the consequences may be even more severe than those that I have mentioned.

TURN UP YOUR BHS SPIRIT By Grant Nygaard

The fresh scent of fall air, the crust of paint on your face, and the hoarse feeling of a lost voice. This can only mean one thing: The BHS Bomb Squad is back.
Anyone who has ever been in the high school should know about the notorious Bomb Squad. The dedicated, proud fans that brave the elements and cheer their hearts out until their vocal chords can bear no more. Most commonly seen at home football and basketball games, the rowdy fan section is looking to expand their horizons in the form of diversified attendance and added spirit during games in several forms. This year’s Senior Bomb Squad leaders, Dane Heckmann and Ricky Capossela, are very excited about the upcoming season.
“Whether it be Football, Basketball, or any sport here at Brookfield, our fans just make a difference. At BHS, home field advantage is real,” says Capossela, who is as excited as anyone to get the season underway. “With new chants and traditions we have planned, this should be the best year yet.” The senior leaders had much to say about all of the school-spirited plans.
“Because of how loud we are and how into the game our fans are, we are the unofficial 12th man on the field,” commented Heckmann, who, like Capossela, inherited the role of Bomb Squad leader by being chosen to receive the sacred “staff” from last year’s graduating class. Heckmann stated, “The amount of tradition we have is unparalleled, and the Bomb Squad is known throughout the state a a force to be reckoned with.” These leaders will do anything they can to boost school spirit.
However, the Bomb Squad was not always the cohesive unit it is today. In the past four years, attendance and participation at games has risen exponentially. By increasing their social media presence and becoming more creative in getting the student body involved, the leaders know the fan section is as strong as ever. “We made a Twitter account this year in order to get the word out easier and promote,” Heckmann stated. By naming the group and starting a Facebook page as well, students who participate feel part of something larger than themselves, and part of a group that has a purpose: to always support their peers on the field. Also, the leaders stated they have been making signs and have been decorating the bleachers in order to mark the student section territory.
Every good fan section has a signature chant, and the Bomb Squad’s chant is echoed throughout the school. The focal point of the Bomb Squad is the well-known “I Believe” chant, which is adopted from the Utah State University fans, and is loved by Capossela. “As far as ‘I Believe’ goes, it is what other towns know us for, and is the perfect mix of support for the team and fun for our fans.” Anyone who comes to football games knows this is where fans get most rowdy.
Freshman who have never seen the Bomb Squad in action or do not know the chants should have no fear, as the pep rally this year should feature a portion where the chants are taught to the upperclassmen so they can be passed on to the next generation. “ We are always looking for ways to get more people at games. It doesn’t matter who you are, as long as you are willing to support,” Capossela says. When it comes to getting loud, the more the merrier.
All in all, this year is shaping up as the best one yet for the BHS Bomb Squad. By raising attendance, coming up with creative ways to get fans involved, and always helping the team, our Bomb Squad is necessary to the spirit of our student body.Plays will be made, Staffs will be kissed, and the student body WILL believe that we will win