- Wachusett Regional High School (abbv. WRHS) is located in Holden, Massachusetts and services the Wachusett Regional School District founded in 1955. The WRSD comprises Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland, and Sterling. William Beando was appointed principal as of July 1, 2007, succeeding the one year interim service of long time principal Hal Lane, who had retired in 1993. The assistant principals are Catherine Knowles, Marissa Brisson, Peter McMorrow, James Pedone, and Drew Weymouth.
- Construction project
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As of September 2008 the school is officially complete. Even though the school was open the entire time of the construction, there was an official "re-opening" of the school on Sunday, September 21 2008, for parents, students, members of the community, faclity and alumni. There are still some minor adjustments to be made, like leaky pipes that made for a 3 hour delay, and the heat to be fixed, though it is now a fully functioning high school.
- Academics
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The school offers a wide range of courses in many subjects, chiefly of four difficulty levels. The AF level, Academic Foundations, is the basic class level. The Honors level is above AF. Below the AF level is the AE level (Academic Enrichment) for students who need a little extra help with their studies. The fourth main class level is AP, or Advanced Placement, a College Board program by which college credit can be awarded for excellent performance on year-end standardized exams. There are also "0" level courses, which are usually mandatory or non-academic, such as physical education, and several special education courses.
- School activities
- Music Department
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WRHS has a fairly large music department. For each of the past seven years, WRHS has received recognition from the Grammy Foundation for being one of the top 100 high school music programs in the United States. WRHS's music department also has a special partnership with the Boston Symphony Orchestra which permits the students to sit in on rare closed rehearsals of the orchestra. In the spring of 2005, WRHS performed admirably at an international music competition in Toronto, Ontario. At the Festival of Music, Wachusett received first place in the Jazz Band competition, receiving recognition for having several excellent musicians, soloists, and sections. Jazz Choir and Orchestra also took first place in their respective categories. Singers and Chamber Choir took first place in the Mixed Men's and Women's Choir section. String Orchestra received a first place award as well. Wind Ensemble received second place overall. In April 2003 and 2007, the Honors Music Program performed in Florida and visited Disney World, performing on various stages within the park and in Downtown Disney. Also in 2007 The Honors Choirs performed at Foxwoods with Kenny Rogers, and also in 2008 at Mohegan Sun.
- Extracurricular activities
- Massachusetts Club
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Formed during the 2005-2006 school year by students Megan O'Malley and Abby Cary, the Massachusetts Club takes group trips to historic places throughout the state, usually on weekends. Trips taken include a day spent in Rockport, several visits to Boston, and a trip to Salem.
- Sports
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Under the school colors of green and white, Wachusett fields many perennially competitive sports teams. These include lacrosse, American football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, ice hockey, track, cross country, lacrosse, volleyball, gymnastics, field hockey, golf, ribbon dancing and swimming. The girls cross-country team has won 13 consecutive league championships, and a number of consecutive district championships. Both girls and boys track teams are consistently among state's best. Wachusett's soccer teams have also won several championships. In 2004, the Boys Basketball team won the District Championship, supported by the enormous "Badlands" student rooting section. The school's football team went undefeated in the 2003 season and has won back-to-back Super Bowl Titles. In 2007, the girls gymnastics team was crowned Mid-Wach league champions following an undefeated season, and went on to place 6th overall in the state.
- Science Seminar and Science Fair
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Every year, Wachusett conducts a school science fair. Winners of the school competition advance to the Regional Science Fair. In order to help students develop high quality projects and to stimulate their interest in science, Wachusett holds Science Seminar meetings every Tuesday night. Interested students take an entrance examination in order to be admitted to Science Seminar. For the first hour of these meetings, a scientist from the community speaks to seminar members about his/her work. The second hour consists of meetings between students and their science project advisors for help and guidance in the process. In March, 2008, a student at Wachusett, Blake Melick, received a second award in the Mass State science fair at MIT. Many other students have also done well at the Regional Science Fair, State Science Fair, ISEF, and other fairs. Science Seminar is presided over by Carol Sullivan, a long time teacher at the school, as well as a variety of advisers who are current or retired scientists in the field. Every week a prominent figure in the field of science is brought in to give a one-hour lecture on their chosen subject (subjects range from forensic science to the latest solar panel technology to the size of the universe), and then students break into groups to meet with their adviser and discuss their year-long science project.
- Theater Arts
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Wachusett has performed in the MHSDG One Act Play festival under the direction of Doug Ingalls for over 10 years.In 2003 Wachusett had its first ticket to the final round in Boston with Beyond Tolerance.This was followed in 2004 with Tom Jones, in 2005 with Medea, in 2007 with For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls, and in 2008 with "The Magdalene Laundries," an original play written by Mr. Ingalls. Many awards and honors were achieved throughout the competitions.
- Wachusett's Film Directors Guild
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WFDG (often pronounced woofdige) is WRHS's filmmaking club. Club members participate in many exciting film related activities including, but not limited to, producing short films created with lightning speed. Group formation, plot creation, casting, and shooting must be completed using in camera editing during a single club meeting. The films are screened at the next club meeting. Additionally, many club members help organize the Wachusett Community Film Festival. Members of the Wachusett community may submit films to this exciting and extremely entertaining festival. All Wachusett students are encouraged to join WFDG whether or not they have any prior experience in the field. Members who have produced films are encouraged to share them with the group.
- Notable alumni
- Jay Cutler, professional bodybuilder and a Mr. Olympia titlist
- Brooke "Brookers" Brodack, believed to be the first performer discovered on YouTube and offered a contract by mainstream media
- Lewis Evangelidis, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
- External links
- Wachusett Regional High School website
- WRHS Alumni website
- Wachusett Regional School District website
- Notes
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- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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