Sixth snow day puts April break in jeopardy

Claudia Chen and Sophia Hampton • February 14, 2014

After heavy snowfall and sleet left Westport’s roads icy and treacherous on Friday, Feb 14, the school district closed for the sixth time this year. This snow day extended February break by one day; however, it will do just the opposite to April break.

The policy is outlined in the Staples Student Handbook.

Elaine Whitney, Board of Education chair, confirmed this policy in an email and said that the new practice was established last January.

“Our expectation is that our clear and early notice of the potential impact on April break will result in strong attendance [on the make-up days],” she said.

Vice Principal Richard Franzis agreed that attendance shouldn’t be a problem considering that everyone knew that making up during April break was a possibility.

However, many students have already scheduled trips for April break and don’t plan to cut them short anytime soon. Annie Raifaisen ’14 and Jess Riniti ’14 both agreed that there will be a lower school attendance on the make-up day due to pre-planned vacations.

Students who participate in Builders Beyond Borders, a popular community service program, will travel to the Dominican Republic this Winter/Spring over school breaks. A few teams are scheduled to leave over April, which would conflict with the snow day policy.

Claire Smith ’15, a member of B3, said that she loves it so much that she wouldn’t reconsider going on the trip because of the makeup days.

“I’m going away in April, and that’s how it’s going to stay,” she said.

Even students who don’t have exotic vacations or community service programs to look forward to are still reluctant to let the five snow day rule reduce April break from five school days off to four.

Kyle Baer ’15 expects that many students won’t even show up for school.

“I probably won’t go on those days. Even if I did, I doubt my classes would do anything important with so many kids missing,” he said.

Raifaisen was frustrated about having a snow day for other reasons. She had a lot of tests and assignments due Friday that she worked on all Wednesday and Thursday but never got a chance to turn them in.

Some wished the snow day had not been called at all..

“I think for the most part the roads were ok, but it could have something to do with the school parking lots or side roads not being clear for a morning opening,” Scott Pecoriellio ’15, who runs the website Wild About Weather.

Pecoriellio said that it’s certainly possible for even more snow days to reduce further the upcoming April break.

“A warm-up will finally take over the region in the next few weeks, but after that, it’s possible the pattern flips colder and snowier once again,” he said.

Regardless of the long-term effect on April break and assignments, some students are simply happy to have another snow day.

“There isn’t a lot of value in a stand-alone half day right before vacation, so letting students just stay home was probably for the best,” Baer said. “It gives me some time to start my House of Cards binge-watching.”

Smith agreed, “I got out of 3 quizzes, so I’m also fine with that,” she said.

About the Contributors

Claudia Chen, Features Editor

From the time she could talk, Claudia Chen ’16 was always keeping herself busy whether it was scoring points on the tennis court or writing stories and poems. At a young age Chen ’16 knew she wanted to be a writer. She would write poems and stories on whatever she could get her hands on. She said, “One time I tried to write a novel and I was so excited”, Chen ’16 said while laughing, “70 pages into it and I swear it made zero sense.” This her second year writing for Inklings and she couldn’t be more excited to bring her love of writing to Inklings. She believes that Inklings is a great opportunity to practice her writing skills in a realistic sense. When Chen ’16 isn’t writing you can find her on a tennis court. She hasn’t played for Staples tennis but she’s hoping to in the spring. She likes to de-stress on the tennis court and have a good time. She sounds like your all-American girl but that’s not the case. Her parents were born in China resulting in Chen’s first language being Chinese. It doesn’t just end there; her grandparents come from Austria. She loves the idea that she comes from so many different cultures. As hard as Chen ’16 works, she wants to make the most of junior year and have a good time being an upper-classmen. As hard as she works on her serves in tennis and critiquing her writing skills she says what she hopes to get out of life is, “It sounds cheesy but I want to know that I made a difference in at least one person’s life.” That’s a goal we should all strive for. Claudia Chen ’16 could not be more excited for what her junior year holds.

Sophia Hampton, News Editor

Sophia Hampton ’15 can’t quite decide what she wants to do mainly because she wants to do everything. “I can’t tell you what I want to do,” she said, “Because it’s going to change.” Hampton described how, in the past, her varied ambitions ranged from being an editor of Vogue, to being owner of a restaurant, to even being a member of the Peace Corps. Now, however, she has become fixated on another career. After a five week journalism course at Northwestern University over the summer, Hampton decided to take the parts she loved best about journalism- connecting with people through interviews and talking about important issues- and use them it construct her new life plan. With lively passion, she detailed how she would love to be a lawyer. She discussed how she thinks it’s very similar to journalism, since they both would allow her to uncover the truth and “give a voice to the voiceless.” Of course, with Hampton’s ambition, she wastes no time getting started. When she wanted to own a restaurant, she became president of the culinary club. So when she wanted to become a lawyer, she took up a summer internship at a law firm right after her journalism program. But she playfully acknowledges that her dreams have changed before, and makes sure to add, “Right now I am so down to be a lawyer, but don’t be surprised if you find me in 30 years and I’m a marine biologist.”

Nate Rosen, Graphics Coordinator

When flipping through the pages of a freshly printed Inklings on a Friday morning at Staples, text, novelty-fonted headlines and especially graphics and pictures jump out to the Staples students and faculty. And a big applause is long overdue to senior Nate Rosen ’14, who is Graphics Editor in Chief this year and is the man behind a number of graphics in both the paper and web versions of Inklings.

“It’s a creative outlet for me,” said Rosen ’14 who can be called an artist for his graphics and photos but claims he cannot draw for his life.

Doing graphics for Inklings since freshman year he has created numerous different visuals. One of his favorites is the banner for an article about The Great Gatsby. With gold and metal like textures the banner closely resembles the logo for the 2013 movie.

“That graphic I actually did on my own time, it was more for me,” said Rosen ’14.

Rosen claims that graphics is really a hobby for him; he could be on the Adobe software creating new graphics all day long. However it is easier to have an assignment for a graphic instead of creating the idea on his own.

But no matter how he gets the creative spark or how he creates his artwork, Rosen’s graphics will be printed and posted proudly in Inklings throughout the year.

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Sixth snow day puts April break in jeopardy

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