Teacher Spotlight–Ms. Krieger by Donna Niosi
Quincy’s Air Raid by Nick Lepore and Curran Jorgensen
Boom, Reload! by Caity Lowry and Nicole Parry
Legal/Protective Services Pathway by Jessica Hurd
“reallyfamily” – QHS boys soccer, Phil Collins songs, and an amazing season by Michaela Walker
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Teacher Spotlight- Ms. Krieger
by Donna Niosi
What do Slim Jim beef jerky, a turtle named Cody, Spongebob, and biology all have in common? The answer is one special science teacher that always has her eye looking in a microscope: biology-crazed Ms. Krieger. She teaches an array of grades, but her classes are all connected to biology: marine biology, advanced biology and ELL biology. However, no matter what she is teaching, Ms. Krieger continuously brings that same sense of high energy and enthusiasm into her classroom.
A graduate of University of Washington and Harvard University, Ms. Krieger said she always had three career options growing up: a professional volleyball player, a doctor, or a biology teacher. Because she is less than 6 feet tall, becoming a professional volleyball player was out of the question.After some pre-med classes and a long talk with her dad, she realized that the ridiculous hours doctors dedicate and the long time away from family they experience meant that medicine would not be the best fit for her, either. Quincy High lucked out and is lucky enough to have her as an energetic, outgoing, and passionate biology teacher.
While she was in high school, Ms. Krieger was a three-sport athlete, playing volleyball, basketball and softball. Grades have always been a top priority in her eyes and she was also a member of the National Honors Society. As a teacher, Krieger has kept herself involved in extra curricular activities. Throughout the summer, she runs a special science program called Creek to Harbor, a hands-on, “awesome” program (her description) that gets invited students working with animals and the environment around them. She is also in charge of the Quincy High School Science Fair and is the JV head coach (and varsity assistant coach) of the successful girl’s volleyball team. In order to keep their grades high, which is ultimately the priority of student athletes, Ms. Krieger urges students to, “do homework while on the bus, get it done while you’re waiting for your game, and make sure to keep an agenda book!”
One of Ms. Krieger’s biggest influences was her sophomore English teacher, Mr. Hardin, who showed up to work every day in jeans and cowboy boots. She loved his passion for teaching. A passion she displays to her students today. One student, Henry Yipp, said, “She explains things and is energetic all the time. She makes everything easy to understand!” Ms. Krieger brings so much to the classroom and her students. She is constantly working hard to improve her classroom and make the educational experience more engaging for her students. Other students describe her as, “energetic and extremely helpful” and say that she is “driven and wants the best out of all her students, no matter who they are.”
“I’ve heard that people think I give too much homework,” Ms. Krieger said with a chuckle, “but what you do now does matter.” She advises graduating seniors to “take pride in whatever you do. Do a good job!”
Just as Mr. Hardin influenced her back in her sophomore English class, Ms. Krieger continues to motivate and inspire today’s Quincy High students.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Quincy’s Air Raid
by Nick Lepore and Curran Jorgensen
As they traveled to the annual Thanksgiving Day game at the prestigious Veterans Memorial Stadium this November 24th, many spectators discussed different ideas about how the high-powered Quincy offense was going to strike against the depleted defense of the North Quincy Red Raiders. Quincy was returning to the game with a three-headed monster of a backfield with three returning all-league starters from the previous year. The buzz around the streets of Quincy was that Quincy was going to put the ball on the ground and seize complete control of the clock, dominating the overall tempo of the game.
Instead of doing what was expected, however, the Presidents’ coach, Bill Reardon, had something else up his sleeve. He decided to put the ball in the air on Quincy’s first drive, attempting to catch North Quincy’s secondary sleeping. On the third play of the game, senior quarterback Curran Jorgensen put a nicely placed ball into the hands of striding running back Jaquan Harris, who continued down the field to score a 68-yard touchdown. This gave the Presidents the lead only a 1:10 seconds into the game. This was a tremendous start for the Presidents and things were looking bright on this beautiful Thursday morning.
The Presidents continued to enjoy success in the passing game with outstanding performances by Nick Lepore, Viet Doan and Alexander Heffernan. With the game tied and with only 30 seconds on the clock remaining in the first half, the Presidents tried to obtain the lead before the half with a deep pass intended for senior tight end Nick Lepore. However, the ball was tipped and was then completed to Viet Doan, which gave the Presidents great field position for a field goal. Jalen Green split the uprights to give the Presidents a 17-14 lead going into the half.
Coming out of half time, the Presidents showed promise on the ground. Senior all-league running back Reggie Ceasar lead the way down field and, in doing so, he reached a personal achievement of over 2000 career rushing yards as a Quincy High President. This achievement has only been accomplished by a select few. The Presidents continued to move the ball successfully down the throat of the Red Raider defense, but failed to capitalize on every opportunity. Despite a solid showing by senior all-league linebacker Danilo Lopes, who lead the team with 22 tackles, the Presidents fell short.
Even though the team will lose several graduating starters, the future looks promising for those who had the privilege to strap up on this year’s Turkey Day. With the return of four starting offensive linemen and the duo of quarterback Andrew Schaaf and wide receiver Alexander Heffernan, the Presidents like their chances going into the next year’s season.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Boom Re-load!
by Caitlyn Lowry and Nicole Parry
Quincy High School’s girls’ volleyball team has been one of the most successful programs in the school, going back to the 1980’s. The past four years have been no exception. This team has shown its talent to the entire state of Massachusetts. “Boom Reload” is a saying you can hear multiple times during any match, when someone makes a great kill. This mantra is a celebration of excellence and hard work.
This year’s squad really started back in 2008, when the newest additions to this great program began their careers. During the season of 2008, Quincy held a record of 10-10 and just made the tournament. In the following year, Quincy had an outstanding record of 20-1, the only loss occurring in the State Semi-Finals. They went on to be undefeated league champions. In the course of the season, Quincy beat North Quincy three times, twice in the regular season and once in tournament play, eliminating them from the brackets. This young team would then go on to win the Central/East Division 1 Championship. In 2010, Quincy split with North Quincy in the regular season, leading them to a shared league title. Bound to face off in the tournament again, they found each other in the Sectional finals, a flashback to 2007 when the teams had previously played for the title. This would not be an easy game. Battling for every point, there was no telling who would come out on top, in the end, North would win in the fifth game. As devastating as the loss was, this gave Quincy all the more incentive to come out strong in the following season.
In 2011, Quincy went an impressive 16-5, splitting with North in the regular season. They were set up to play each other again, except this time, Quincy needed to play Newton North, and the first-place seeded team in the tournament. After three hard-fought matches, the Tigers of Newton North would come out on top. North would end their season on the same night, from a loss to Brookline. QHS and NQHS would not play as expected. Quincy’s season had many excellent matches and many highlights, like the home game against North Quincy, and the Senior Night match against Canton.
Although the season did not seem as successful as years passed, the six seniors that are leaving the team have added to the great history of Quincy High Volleyball. Players such as Caity Lowry and Nicole Parry, who started as freshman, were with the team through every triumph and defeat. Also DJ Niosi, Erin Chiocchio, Kiley McDonald, and Sam Albanese have played key roles in the success of this team. The careers of these young athletes are surely not to be forgotten at Quincy for many years to come. With losing such great talent, comes the opportunity for the younger players to step up and fulfill their roles with the same determination as their previous leaders. A roster filled with juniors, sophomores and even freshman this year suggests that a promising future is on the horizon for the team. Certainly, they will work to continue to ensure that the Quincy High School volleyball team one of the most successful and respected teams this school has ever seen.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Legal/Protective Services Pathway
by Jessica Hurd
Here at Quincy High, we have so many “tech” programs that you might not even be able to keep count. The newest of these “tech” programs is the Legal/Protective Services pathway, taught by Mr. Welch. Growing up he watched his grandfather on the Boston police department, he’s been interested in law enforcement for as long as he can remember. He graduated from Westfield State University in 1999 with a degree in Criminal Justice. Mr. Welch was a security officer at Quincy High School for seven years until he was hired to start the new Legal/Protective Services program and become a teacher.
His years and knowledge in the subject made him a good fit for this class. Having only existed for four years as a pilot course, it’s still a fairly new major. Mr. Welch gets the most joy out of teaching when he sees that his students are using what they have learned in class to become successful when they graduate. Some of the graduates of the program have enlisted in several military branches, have become 9-1-1 dispatchers, and many have gone on to four-year colleges.
Mr. Welch says the most difficult thing about teaching this class is hearing and discussing all of the depressing stories and problems our society faces. Every year he opens with a section on the 9/11 tragedy and it is something he just cannot get used to.
His class has some very exciting and interesting projects and field trips during the three year program.Students have taken tours of the Quincy police station and the Quincy district court. The students go on ride-alongs with the Quincy police department on weekends. Last year, they visited the Norfolk County Jail in Dedham. The seniors also end their year with a boat trip on Boston Harbor with the Quincy Police Marine Unit. He says the most fun and exciting thing his class has done so far was watch his students investigate and solve a mock crime scene. Though most groups struggled their first time and only one group solved the crime scene, it was still a great experience for everyone.
Just like the students that have already graduated from this course, all of the 98 students currently enrolled in the course will be receiving knowledge of crimes and their consequences. They will also be receiving the qualifications for jobs and several certifications to help them become more equipped when they get into the workforce.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“reallyfamily” – QHS boys soccer, Phil Collins songs, and an amazing season
by Michaela Walker
In case you were living under a rock this fall, the Quincy High School boys soccer team made it to the state tournament for the first time in ten years. Now that we can be sure everyone is on the same page, let’s think about that for a second.
Now think about it for another second.
Think about it for another second you soulless individual – they deserve it.
What they accomplished was something special.
The team’s coach, Mr. Mark Spendlove, had nothing but good things to say about his team. About their stunning win streak that enabled the team to make the tournament, Coach Spendlove said, “It’d been coming all season. It was about self-belief. For so many years they’d been used to losing, they had to learn how to win. It was building over time and it happened at the right time.”
Tri-captain Dan Mongo echoed that sentiment albeit in a rather different tone. His comment about predicting the team’s success, “I could feel it in the air”, instantly transformed into his karaoke version of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.”
Tri-captain JevVaflor had a completely divergent opinion regarding the team’s prospects at the beginning of the season, claiming, “If someone told me we’d make it in the Tournament [at the start of the season], I would have laughed at them.”
Regarding the source of the team’s success, the three captains were in accordance, but they did not credit self-belief. As tri-captain Nick Dolan unabashedly phrased it, the team’s success was due to “our little kids […] they’re nasty, especially James O’Shea, Roy [Bandar], and Caique [Reginaldo].”
Regardless of the source of the success, there can be no doubt this season was different from anything the team had experienced before. As Nick Dolan put it, “It was pretty awesome.” It would seem fitting therefore that the game that finally put the team in the tournament for the first time in ten years would have been an exciting, memorable, Hollywood-worthy moment. The captains were quite adamant that it wasn’t. Nick’s words were, “It was freezing. Everyone was soaked. It was terrible.” Jev added, “The bus didn’t have a heater and broke down twice on the way home.”
But after their frozen adventure, the team still had to actually play the tournament game. Just as there were a variety of opinions within the team about the team’s prospects for the season, so, too, were there a variety of opinions regarding the looming Tournament game.
Jev stated he was “scared.”
Mongo provided a totally different opinion as he claimed, “I was surprisingly relaxed [heading into the Tournament game] because we’d accomplished way more than we expected so anything else was gravy.”
Nick sided with Jev and said, “I thought we were gonna get killed.” But he quickly qualified his statement saying that after several minutes of play against their opponent, King Philip, he began to realize, “These guys aren’t that good.”
The intense King Philip parents would take great offense to that, but everyone at the game saw that the two teams were very evenly matched. When King Philip scored a goal in the first half, it was quickly recalled due to a handball and spectacular celebration dances ensued. The game remained scoreless for all of regulation time and for two sudden-death overtimes. After a grueling battle, the game was decided by penalty kicks and (this is just for those people who were chilling under their rocks that I mentioned earlier) Quincy lost.
Coach Spendlove said that he was, “disappointed that [the team] didn’t get the result its performance deserved,” but he made it clear that “they poured their hearts out and played great.”
Nick Dolan said about the result, “It was sad, but it was all good because it was such a good game.” JevVafloradded, “Connor [Dane] really stepped up for the PK’s”. The sophomore goalkeeper took over for senior goalkeeper Kevin Mullin, who had played for all of regulation and both overtimes, for the penalty kicks. However, Connor was forced to leave the game after popping out his shoulder twice, once on a spectacular full-extension diving save, the second time when he remained for another shot after the first injury and landed on the shoulder again.All of the captains seemed to feel that recognizing Connor’s determination and skill was appropriate.
Coach Spendlove mentioned something that struck him at the beginning of the Tournament game as showing truly how much the team had improved. He said “the King Philip coach turned to me before the game and was shocked to see us there.” The team truly did take many of the teams they played by surprise, proving themselves to be formidable opponents and hopefully a force to be reckoned with again next year. Coach Spendlove admitted, “That is the hard part. I hope to continue, but we lost a good six or seven seniors and they’ll be hard to replace.” But he remains optimistic for next year’s team stating, “I’m hoping they’ve got a taste of what it’s like to be respected as a team and put the work in over the summer to get in shape.”
(cough – hint – hint – cough – cough)
Dan Mongo also brought up the theme of being respected as a team claiming that this season, “For the first time, we had the support and respect of our peers.” Nick immediately interjected, “That is such a lie.” Mongo conceded, “I know, but it sounds good.”
About the season overall, Mongo added, “I am so proud of my team and of what we accomplished throughout the season. We remained as a team and I guess the key word for this season, the way we could describe our team was,” (and so consumed by his fervent love of his teammates, he merged the final five syllables into one) “reallyfamily.” Nick was quick to add, “Got that? ‘reallyfamily’.”
Got it. The one word to describe the Quincy High School Boys’ Soccer team 2011: “reallyfamily”.
Coach Spendlove was not so sarcastic in his praise of the team. “I hope people recognize what a great accomplishment it is [making the Tournament].” As a final comment, he added, “I’m very, very proud of what the boys achieved and I’m very pleased with them.”
Hopefully others feel the same, because no team deserves it more.
