Tag Archives: Staples High School

“Hell No, We Won’t Go!”

Posted on April 26, 2011 | 65 comments

A portion of the crowd -- primarily Staples students -- protesting the Viet Nam war in 1969. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

For nearly 10 years, America’s all-volunteer military has fought 2 costly, controversial wars.

Protests have been muted.  A few people stand on the Post Road bridge every Saturday morning.  Someone writes an occasional letter to the editor.

At Staples, high school students — few of whom even think of serving — scarcely give Iraq and Afghanistan a passing thought.

How different things were in 1969.  Vietnam was a quagmire — and Westport was up in arms, on both sides of the issue.  Loud anti-war protests took place at Town Hall every Saturday.  After 3 hours of raucous debate the RTM passed — 17-15 — a resolution asking immediate action to withdraw from Southeast Asia.

Many Staples students — though certainly not all — were fervently anti-war.  On October 15, 1200 students — joined by some from the 3 junior highs — celebrated a national Moratorium Day.

They — actually “we,” because I was among them — marched from the Staples tennis courts, down North Avenue and Long Lots Road, all the way to the steps of the YMCA.

The long line of marchers headed downtown. The A&P was near what is now the firehouse; the Esso gas station is now a Phillips 66. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

We carried American flags and wore buttons saying “Peace Now” and “Hell No, We Won’t Go.”  Along the way, other students threw eggs at us.

At the Y, we listened to speeches (including one by Iowa Senator Harold Hughes).   We waved our fingers in the peace sign.  We looked around, and were stunned at our numbers.

A year earlier, we had helped drive Lyndon Johnson from the presidency — but our new president was Richard Nixon.  Finally, in 1973, a peace treaty was signed.  Two years later the last Americans were evacuated from the U.S. Embassy roof.

In 1969, Adrian Hlynka was a Staples student.  A gifted photographer, he took dozens of shots on Moratorium Day.  Here is what it looked like to protest a war, more than 4 decades ago.

A portion of the crowd in front of the Y. The Fine Arts Theater (now Restoration Hardware) was showing "Alice's Restaurant" and "Medium Cool." Police stood on the roof next door. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

More of the enormous downtown crowd. The current Max's Art Supplies is on the extreme left; what is now Tiffany is at the far right. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

Rabbi Byron Rubenstein of Temple Israel addresses the crowd from the steps of the Y. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

The crowd was predominantly -- though not entirely -- made up of Staples students. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

A Staples student states his case. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

Junior high students joined Stapleites at the 1969 Moratorium rally. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)

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Posted in Local politics, Looking back, Politics, Staples HS, Teenagers, YMCA

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“We’re #1! And #2!”

Posted on April 12, 2011 | 2 comments

Things might have gotten a little tense around the Lubin house.  For 4 years — ever since entering Staples — twins Eric and Todd had the highest grades in the grade.

The lead went back and forth — one semester one had a .001 GPA lead, then the other would edge in front — and as graduation neared, it was clear that one Lubin would be valedictorian, the other salutatorian.

That could have made for tense moments not only at dinner, but on the math, robotics and track teams — activities the brothers share.

Fortunately, they’re too smart to let that happen.

The final results are in.  The top 2 spots — Staples does not announce ranks beyond those, and the end of first semester is the cutoff — go to Eric and Todd, in that order.

Eric Lubin, his phone and his myStaples app.

As valedictorian, Eric will speak on graduation day.  Salutatorian Todd will talk the night before, at baccalaureate.  In some ways, it’s better being runner-up:  the salutatorian’s speech is held in a more relaxed setting than the valedictorian’s.

Plus the auditorium is air-conditioned.  The fieldhouse is not.

Both young men will have plenty to talk about.  Since moving to Westport in 4th grade — and attending Green’s Farms Elementary School, Bedford Middle and now Staples — they have taken advantage of a wide range of opportunities.

And done very, very well in them.

Eric is president of the computer club, a captain of the math and robotics team (which competes for an international championship next month in St. Louis), and a state qualifier in hurdles for the track team.

He attributes his academic success to “a lot of late-night studying,” the fact that he enjoys his work, and his “ability to log off AIM.”

He’s a math-and-science guy.  “There’s always a right answer,” Eric explains.

AP classes like Chemistry, Calculus BC, Physics C and Multivariable Calculus are all “conceptual,” he says.  “There’s a lot of problem-solving.  It’s not memory.”

Eric liked AP Economics too — in part, because of the math.

“Staples definitely gave me the opportunity to challenge myself,” he says.  He appreciates too the “teacher connections.”  He could always meet instructors outside of class, to conference about papers or problems.

The valedictorian is perhaps best known for myStaples:  a wildly popular multipurpose app he created for smartphones.  It displays the daily schedule and all school announcements; helps organize homework; indicates time left in a class, and completes all assignments for every student.  Well, maybe not the last.

Todd — the salutatorian — is also a captain of the robotics and math teams, and a hurdler on the track team.  (He throws the javelin too.)

“We drive each other,” Todd says of the friendly rivalry with his twin.  “We push each other to succeed.”

Todd Lubin

It’s an unspoken competition.  And it includes not just schoolwork, but their many shared activities.

“Grades and school are important, but it’s also important to do other things,” Todd says.

“If you only do school, you’ll get too stressed out.  That’s not mentally healthy.”

Like his brother logging off AIM, Todd has a time management trick.  “If I have to miss a Yankee game and only get the box score, that’s okay,” he says.

Also like Eric, Todd favors math and science.  “They’re tangible for me,” he notes.  “I like finding the best way to approach a problem.  I think in a very logical way.

“I’ve never had a class at Staples I haven’t enjoyed.  And I’ve made connections with lots of teachers.”

As freshmen, Todd’s GPA was slightly higher than Eric’s.  Eric took the lead later.

“In the end we would have been exactly tied,” Todd says.  “But I had 2 extra A-level classes.”

In the high-stakes world of valedictorianism, A-level classes count a tad less than the higher-level Honors courses.  So the fact that Todd got A+ grades in A-level Latin ended up hurting his GPA overall.

Go figure.

Though they’ve been joined in many ways — from classes and activities and captaincies and friends to their GPAs, ever since sharing a womb — the twins may take separate paths next fall.

Eric is choosing between MIT, Harvard and Princeton.  Todd is deciding whether it’s Harvard, Yale or Princeton.

As with all things Lubin, it’s once again pick-’em.

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Posted in Education, People, Staples HS, Teenagers

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Mural, Mural On The Wall

Posted on March 27, 2011 | 10 comments

Mural painting has gotten a bad rap at Staples.  In comments on “06880” education-related posts, an art department course by that name became shorthand for frivolousness and wasted resources.

The semester-long course is over, and the results are in.

A professional-looking mural now enlivens the World Language Department wing.  In lively colors and eye-catching vistas, it portrays the various cultures underlying the many languages studied in the high school.

Developing the mural was not easy.  Students researched history and architecture, studied perspective, and delved into the chemistry of paint — all before beginning their 1st sketch.

Along the way they learned many lessons — including, but not limited to, teamwork and art.

One of the major criticisms of the new Staples building is that its long halls and institutional walls resemble (depending on your point of view) an office building, airline terminal, factory, hospital or prison.

The mural class plans to change that.  In semesters to come they hope to transform the music, science, math, English and social studies wings into warm, attractive places worthy of the students and teachers who spend every day there.

They might also spruce up the athletic department’s walls.  If they truly want a challenge, they might even attack the cavernous Staples fieldhouse.

Though da Vinci himself might have fled from that task.

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Posted in Arts, Education, Staples HS

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Senior Moments

Posted on March 16, 2011 | 3 comments

Daylight Savings means several things:  Time to turn the clocks ahead.

Time to change smoke detector batteries.

In Westport, time for Staples seniors to change those batteries for senior citizens, as a public service.

And — at least as importantly — time to make human connections between high school seniors and demographic seniors.

This year’s event — part of Staples’ Senior Cares community service project — was a huge success.  To see how seriously the high schoolers took it, understand that more than 2 dozen of them got up — on a Sunday — at the ungodly-for-teenagers hour of 9 a.m.  (Really, it was 8 a.m. — Daylight Savings started that day.  Duh.)

Adam Yormark helped organized Staples Cares...

They met at Staples, got their assignments (plus t-shirts and breakfast — thanks, PTA!), and moved into action.

The action included changing clocks as well as smoke detectors, and attending to other small  tasks.  But this was one time when actions did not speak louder than words.  The students spent quality time at each house — while working, and afterward — talking, listening and connecting.

Junior Bieling was one of the hosts.  Over the course of nearly an hour he talked about his own time at Staples, many years ago.  He spoke with pride of not having missed a high school football or basketball game since 1947 or so — until this year, when illness kept him away.

At another stop an artist talked about her career.  When it was time to leave she gave Adam Yormark — the Senior Cares founder — a copy of one of her watercolors.

Adam created the project last spring.  Spurred by principal John Dodig’s request that juniorsreach out to the community, he recalled a recent visit to his grandmother in Florida.

Adam had done the usual things — moving furniture, pulling weeds — but had an “aha!” moment when he reset and hung a clock high up on a wall.  It was easy for him — but something his grandmother could not even attempt.

Adam got names of senior citizens through Town Hall.  He gathered friends, made a trial run, then got rolling for real.  The reaction of a woman with Parkinson’s — who was overcoming her illness with tenacity and grace — convinced him he was on to something important.

...and Freja Andrews, Gwen Moyer and Jenna Chusid all joined in.

Staples English teacher Dan Geraghty got involved when Dodig described his goal for the Class of 2011:  to develop a “legacy project” that would begin a new tradition for all senior classes.

“Through public service, students truly apply all of the core lessons they’ve learned about being a member of a community,” Geraghty says.

“Staples students care about the world beyond the walls of the school.  I am amazed by the students here — they are kind, confident, and ready to have a positive impact on their world.”

Sunday was a great display of the willingness with which Staples students give back to their community.

But, Geraghty says, “I think the senior citizens gave the volunteers so much more.”

(Staples participants included Freja Andrews, Andreas Bub, Jay  Cawley, Jenna Chusid, Francisco Delgado, Ben Freeman, Sabrina Friend, Madeline Gelfand, Ross Gordon, Augustine Gradoux-Matt, Emily Harris, Kelly Harris, Madison Kashetta, Ksenia Krichevsky, Farrel Levenson, Mario Lisanti, Eryn Lorberbaum, Perry Lorberbaum, Britt Mooney, Gwen Moyer, Andrew Myers, Caroline Nantz, Molly Rudinger, Jack Smith, Alex Soderstrom, Briyana Theodore and Adam Yormark.)

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Posted in People, Staples HS, Teenagers

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Heartfelt Hugs

Posted on March 3, 2011 | 37 comments

Staples principal John Dodig is a graceful, insightful writer.  Each month in the PTA newsletter “For the Wreckord” he tackles real problems, raises crucial questions — but no one beyond the readership of high school parents ever sees his words.

Here is John Dodig’s March column — another challenging window into Westport, and the world.

I just finished reading a short article about Ricky Martin’s recent coming out and what it has done for Latinos who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The author feels that by doing so, Martin made it easier for young Puerto Rican and Latin American men and women to reveal their true identities and, in general, be happier people.

This article reminded me of a conversation I had about 6 years ago with 2 African American Staples freshmen who were feeling alone, angry, and frustrated by being in a school where there were only a few people who looked like they did.  Both happened to be Bridgeport residents who attended Westport schools via the Open Choices state program.

When I met them during a moment of anger and frustration, I asked if they would speak to about 40 Staples adults, all of whom were members of our Collaborative Team. They agreed, and did so.

John Dodig

These 2 young women opened up to us in a very passionate, emotional outpouring of feelings.  They shared with us that they thought each day about quitting while riding on the bus.  They felt that it would be easier to move back to their home school in Bridgeport, where they would blend in with the crowd.  It was only through the unwavering personal attention of the Staples social worker assigned to this program, their assistant principal, and their very caring Staples teachers that they stayed with us.

Over time, they began to feel that they were part of the school population and no longer outsiders.  They somehow learned to deal with comments from their friends back home who said that they were changing and becoming “uppity Westporters.”  That period of transition, where they felt that they didn’t belong in either setting, was probably the most difficult.

By the senior year, however, one girl became the Homecoming Queen.  She was presented with a huge bouquet of roses on our football field, to the cheers and applause of almost 3,000 people.  I overheard her tell her parents on the sideline: “They really like me!”

The other young woman was asked to be the student speaker at baccalaureate, just before graduation.  Her emotional speech left not a dry eye in the house.

About a month ago, those 2 young women returned to Staples to let us know how they are doing.  One is now in hairdressing school, living on her own with a car and paying her own bills.

The other received an associate degree from Norwalk Community College, and is now working on a bachelor’s degree in criminology at UConn.  She wants to be a policewoman.

Both returned to see and hug the people who helped them through their transition at Staples.  After my hug, one said to her former assistant principal: “Thank you for caring and for being so tough on us.  I now work with people of all nationalities.  I realize that how I am treated is totally dependent on how I treat others.”  More tears flowed.

Staples can sometimes seem like a sea of sameness. (Photo does not depict actual students.)

There is no getting around the fact that Staples has a minority population of about 6 percent.  The largest minority population of 2.8% is Asian.  The African American student population is only 1.4%, and would be much smaller if it were not for the Open Choice program and the ABC program.

The Hispanic population is about 1.9%, and has not changed over time.  I can’t imagine that this will change in the near future.

It is important to remember that others have taken the place of the 2 girls I wrote about in this article, and that some are feeling just as they did.  The best we can do is be aware of it, and try to help them come to the same realization at an earlier age.

Being different at this age is difficult. We all like to be with people who think like us, look like we do, and have the same cultural identity.

Would it have been easier for those 2 girls to have transferred to their home school, where almost everyone had the same color skin? Maybe. But they did not, and they believe it made them stronger, wiser, more adaptable adults.

If you have to pick anywhere on earth to be different than the majority of people around you, Staples is the place.  Yet there are so many people in our school and community who are attuned to this, and are involved in making minority students’ lives happier than just about anywhere else I can think of.

I am writing about this not because of any particular recent incident but rather to talk about something that everyone knows is true, in hopes that more of us will become involved in reaching out and making all kids feel “at home.”

Whether a Staples teen is gay, a Muslim, African American, Hispanic or so tall she or he has to bend over to get through a door, Staples has to remain a warm and welcoming place.

In this case, it does take a village to make this happen.  I urge you to talk about this at one of the organizations to which you belong.  It is important to all of us.

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Posted in Education, People, Staples HS, Teenagers

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Science Fairs Thrive In Westport

Posted on February 12, 2011 | 76 comments

In the 1950s, it was Sputnik.  In the 2010s, it’s science fairs.  Both are symbols of America losing its competitive edge.

Both President Obama and the New York Times have weighed in on the declining numbers of, and interest in, science fairs — those rites of education in which students devise experiments, create posters, and try to impress judges with their diligent work.

As so often happens, Westport is bucking the trend.

Science fairs — all of science education, really — is alive and well in a town that more often celebrates financial wizardry, artistic endeavors and sports.

A fair that began as a tiny gathering in the Staples library several years ago has mushroomed into an event that draws more than 300 student exhibitors from 4 schools, judges and guests.  Last week, science research students participated in what’s now called the Southern Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair — the gateway to an international competition.

Jackson Yang took behavioral science 1st place for his work on “The Effect of Volume of Background Music on Cognitive Task Performance.”  Yuri Lenskiy finished 1st in physical science for “Modeling an Optimal Receiver for a Binary Quantum Channel Using Information Theory.”

Other students received awards for projects like “The Effect of Over-Expression of E-Cadherin on Megakaryocyte Differentiation” (Isabel Baker); “Multicolored Quantum Dot-Based Light-Emitting Diodes Utilizing Highly Monodisperse CdSe/ZnS/Shell Nanocrystals” (Robert Mahieu) and (this one I understand) “Memory and Recollection of Goldfish” (Matt Smith).

Joseph Yang demonstrates a model of a Turing machine to Staples classmates Jack Rosenberg and Corey Werner at the 11th annual Southern Connecticut Invitational Science & Engineering Fair last weekend. (Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time)

Congressman Jim Hines addressed the student scientists.  He called America’s science and engineering standing “now deep in the pack.  We are junior varsity, and that must change.”

Staples already has a varsity, resembling the best that can be found on the soccer or football field.  A 3-year Science Research Program — led by Dr. Nick Morgan and Dr. Michele Morse — provides students with unparalleled opportunities to unearth a problem, find a mentor, hone research skills, and discover answers (or, perhaps, more questions).

Students in the rigorous course enter prestigious competitions, sponsored by the likes of Siemens and Intel.  (Staples has had international, $150,000 winners.)

There are also subject-specific contests, like those for Young Epidemiology Scholars.

After review and certification of the Science Research Program, Morgan and Morse are now adjunct professors at the University of Albany.  Their Staples students can earn up to 12 college credits through the college.

Middle school students also compete in science fairs.  A district-wide event was held last week at Coleytown.  Those students also plan to enter 2 upcoming competitions:  the Invention Convention, and the Siemens Environmental Challenge.

Dr. A.J. Scheetz, Westport science coordinator for grades 6-12, sees science fairs as part of the effort to expand STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — education throughout the district.  Other initiatives include the development of new computer programming courses at Staples, and reconfiguring the middle school science showcase.

The biggest hole, Scheetz says, is engineering.  A group of students excel in robotics — they’ve won international awards — but more can be done.  “We’d like to see experiences in engineering become normative experiences for all Westport students,” Scheetz says.

If so, perhaps one day a Staples grad will design the 21st-century version of Sputnik.

Then again, she may still be in high school when she does.

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Posted in Children, Education, Organizations, People, Staples HS

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Google Maps Goes Retro

Posted on February 4, 2011 | 23 comments

Who hasn’t used Google Maps to get a bird’s-eye view of his house?

But who knew the bird flew in 1934 too?

Alert “06880” reader Dick Lowenstein sent a link to an amazing website.  Part of the University of Connecticut Map and Geographic Information Center, it features a box to type in any Connecticut address.  (It says “locate an address in the Hartford area,” but that just proves how capital-centric they are upstate.)

Hit “enter” and 2 maps appear, side by side.  One shows the current, familiar Google Maps view of today.  The other shows the same view — from 1934.

I grew up on High Point Road, literally in the shadow of the Staples athletic fields.  Eighty years ago, my street didn’t exist — nor did Staples.  It was fields and forests — truly the outskirts of town.

And check out this view of the beach:

The Bradley Street neighborhood was already developed, and Old Mill too — but look at Bluewater Hill and Compo Hill.  There was nothing there — just open land.  Quick, let’s travel back in time and buy up some property!

The images are much sharper on the actual website than reproduced above.  Of course, the 1934 aerial photos are not Google-quality — and they’re black and white, not color.  Then again, nothing from 1934 is in color.  It was a very gray year.

But in their own way, the older maps are even more remarkable than their spy-satellite, 21st-century counterparts.

We know what we’re looking at today.  Now we can also see those same — yet very — different scenes from another, fast-receding century.

(Click here for the UConn Google Maps website.)

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Posted in Beach, Looking back, Places, Staples HS, technology

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Leaving The Nest

Posted on January 17, 2011 | 4 comments

John Dodig is one of Staples' -- and Staples students' -- biggest fans.

After 42 years in education, Staples principal John Dodig has a deep and perceptive understanding of teenagers — their minds, their moods, the rhythms of their lives.

He knows too how those rhythms affect those around them.

Last week, Dodig sent a note to the parents of Staples seniors.  His message was tailored for them, and for the next few months of the school year — but it deserves to be read by everyone.

He said:

One of the great joys of being a principal is watching young people enter the school as freshmen and seeing how they grow and mature into young adults over four years.  This senior class is one that will be remembered by adults in this building for many years to come.

From the moment they walked into Staples they have lived up to our expectations and, in many regards, exceeded what even we thought they could do.  We have reached the halfway point of the year, which means I am beginning to feel pangs of loss.  I don’t want to see them leave, but leave they must.

If you have never had a high school senior, I warn you that you will begin to feel “strange” in the near future.  Some of you won’t know what it is, and it will border on depression.  Not being a physician, I can only tell you from experience that it will be feelings of impending loss and not clinical depression.  Your wonderful child is growing up faster than you imagined, will soon live elsewhere, and will become whomever she/he is destined to be.

All of those trips delivering your child to sporting events, play rehearsals, and other extracurricular activities will come to an end.  You might even begin to wonder what you will do with your time when your child is gone?  My experience tells me that it all works out in the end, but the transition is always difficult.

Even if you have other children yet to reach senior year, hearing your senior child talk about Senior Prom, Baccalaureate Night, Awards Assembly, senior trip and graduation will take its toll on you.  I remind myself each year that if I am feeling a sense of loss, I can only imagine how you must feel.

Assistant principal Jim Farnen and I have been meeting with small groups of seniors since October.  We invite one homeroom at a time, and about half of the students show up each time.  These are kind of like exit interviews where I ask what we can do to make Staples even better than it already is.  I also take the opportunity to thank them for what they have contributed to making Staples the wonderful school that it is.

Students in all other grades take their cue from the senior class each year. Believe me from experience, if 1,800 students want to make life miserable for the 200 adults each day, they can.  We work hard to treat your children with kindness and respect and, in turn, we are treated the same way.  You have done a remarkable job raising your sons and daughters.  You should be proud of who they have become.  Your job will continue to change, but you will always be an important part of their lives.

The countdown to graduation has begun.  It is an exciting, challenging, introspective, frightening, joyful, overwhelming and invigorating time for students.  John Dodig, his staff, the parents of Westport — the entire community — share those emotions.  It’s all part of preparing the next generation, and ourselves, for the future.

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Posted in Education, People, Staples HS, Teenagers

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Channeling Jasper McLevy

Posted on January 13, 2011 | 3 comments

Jasper McLevy, the former mayor of Bridgeport, once famously responded to the question of snow removal:  “God put it there, let Him take it away.”

Well, He certainly has His work cut out for Him right now.

In related news, when principal John Dodig arrived at Staples at the crack of dawn today, he realized parking would be tough.  He immediately texted and emailed students:  Please don’t drive.

Amazingly, many heeded his call.  Today’s lots were almost empty.

Sure, plenty of teenage drivers hadn’t yet dug their cars out.  (Or had them dug out.)  Still, it’s the thought that counts.

Staples High School, 9 a.m. today.

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Posted in People, Staples HS, Teenagers, Weather

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Tear Down That Gate!

Posted on November 10, 2010 | 58 comments

As the Great North Avenue Paving Project progressed last week, many drivers waited patiently resignedly fumingly furiously for a single lane of traffic to move.

But some folks found a silver lining in the truckloads of asphalt spreading slowly on one of the major roads in town.

Staff and students heading to Staples cruised from Cross Highway through Wakeman Park, past the rarely-opened gate at the end of the Bedford Middle School lot, and into the high school campus near the swimming pool.

You can't usually get past Bedford, to Staples.

Gone were interminable waits at the not-quite-aligned North Avenue/Cross Highway intersection.  Forgotten was the half hour or so crawl a quarter mile to the Staples entrance, capped by a final obstacle and difficult moral dilemma:  allow entering traffic from Terhune Drive into your path, or stare straight ahead and pretend you don’t see it?

One teacher said his commute — normally 45 minutes — was slashed to 23, thanks to the Bedford cut-through.

So why isn’t the Bedford/Staples gate always open — not all day, mind you, but just during the morning rush hour (and at 2:15, to shunt homeward-bound traffic away from the only other outlet, North Avenue)?

Apparently, when Bedford was built, wise men and women understood there had to be an entrance/exit other than North Avenue.

But Cross Highway neighbors objected to what they feared would be increased traffic.  Hence, the Bedford/Staples gate.

The result inconveniences hundreds of drivers every day — including those with no connection at all to Staples.

We’ll save our rants about other “neighborly” issues for another time.  Like the 1 or 2 families on North Pasture who objected to the “noise” from noontime recess at Bedford, leading to the removal of outside basketball hoops.

Or the decades-old opposition — from a few High Point Road residents — to lights on the Staples football field.

We’ll discuss those stories later.  Right now we have to leave, to beat the traffic and get to school on time.

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Posted in Places, Staples HS, Westport life

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