HOLLIS/BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL

'Hollis/Brookline High School' is a public four-year comprehensive school covering grades nine through twelve located in Hollis, New Hampshire, serving both Hollis and Brookline, New Hampshire. It is one of the only co-operative high schools in the country and is administered by New Hampshire School Administration Unit (SAU) 41, which encompasses both Hollis and Brookline.
The Hollis/Brookline Mission Statement is:
''We believe that our mission is to inspire lifelong learning and achievement.''
''We will provide a broad range of experiences which will encourage students to strive for their maximum intellectual, artistic, emotional, social and physical development.''
''We value the individuality of each member of the community and believe that an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect is essential to the educational process.''

Contents

History

Academics

NHEIAP

ThunderDome

Athletics

Performing Arts

Traditions

Senior Lounge

Spirit Week and Pep Rally

Field Day

Senior Trip

Senior Prank

Student Government

Advisory Council

Student Council

Clubs and Organizations

The Cavalier Chronicle

Cavazine

FIRST Robotics

Trivia

External links

History

The current high school building on Cavalier Court opened in 1997. A multi-million dollar addition was opened in the fall of 2001. The former high school building on Main Street is now the Hollis/Brookline Cooperative Middle School.

Academics

Hollis/Brookline is one of the strongest mid-size high schools in the state and offers an abundance of classes in all areas of interest. There are accelerated courses in all departments, including English, science, mathematics, the arts, and social studies. Some of the highlights include:

★ 'Western Humanities' is -level class that covers Western history, philosophy, and art. Emphasis is placed on group projects and credit is given for both social studies and English courses.

★ 'American Studies' located in the ThunderDome, is sometimes regarded as the junior-year followup to Western Humanities, but with a shift of focus to American history and culture. Topics include American art and architecture, religion, the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, US Constitution, and World War II. As in Western Humanities, group projects are essential and both history and English credit is awarded. Sometimes, field trips are arranged, such as to Boston.
There is also an advanced placement (AP) program at Hollis/Brookline. AP courses include:

★ 'AP English - Literature and Composition' is a course that "teaches to the test" and beyond, seeking to provide students with the ability to read, analyze, and write about great works of literature. Examples of books read in class include ''Jane Eyre'', ''Pride and Prejudice'', ''Heart of Darkness'', ''Hamlet'', and numerous other masterpieces.

★ 'AP Calculus AB' covers the first part of the AP curriculum, introducing students to calculus and rigorously going through advanced differentiation and integration techniques.

★ 'AP US History' is the only junior-level AP course and serves as an accelerated option over the otherwise mandatory US History course.

★ 'AP Biology' is the newest addition to the school's selection of AP courses and is intended for students with strong interest and ability in the subject of biology.
Hollis/Brookline is also proud of its selection of technical resources available. There are four classroom-size computer labs located around the building as well as a traveling computer lab, which includes thirty labtops that teachers can request to use in their classrooms. Along with these computers, students can use the computers available in the school's library. In addition to several vocational courses held in neighboring towns such as Hudson and Nashua, the technical offerings at Hollis/Brookline include:

★ 'Principles of Engineering' (formerly Introduction to Engineering and Design or "IED") teaches students to solve problems using concepts and principles associated with science and engineering. Emphasis is placed on design techniques such as CAD.

★ 'Robotics' is a separate entity from the FIRST team, but there are often crossovers. The class, however, introduces students to the basics of robotics, electrical design, and mechanical design.

★ 'Video Production' is a class wherein students plan, produce, and edit their own videos using digital video cameras and editing software.

★ Numerous programming classes, including classes on Visual Basic, C++, and Java.

NHEIAP

During the 2002-2003 school year, the class of 2005 achieved astonishingly high marks the tenth grade NHEIAP standardized testing. The school achieved one of the highest rankings in the state and dominated all other schools in its is class. Prior to the tests, the students had been promised a reward and, after many months, were eventually taken to see ''Kiss Me, Kate'' at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts. Many students were of the opinion that the reward did not live up to the promise given, fueling tensions between the students and administration. Classes since have done well on the NHEIAP testing, but never as well as in 2003; that is, until the Class of 2008. As sophomores they successfully gained a 1st in the state for English and a 2nd in the state for mathematics.

ThunderDome

The ThunderDome is the largest room in all the lands, made up of Lunch, Class, and even Chillax time. It is also known to have been used by the elementary units after school is out, this information has been attained by the fine and talented custodial staff. Located near the Cafeteria, this multi-use room fits the need of every student, faculty member, and visitor around the premises. The Dome has also been known as the “mini-caff,” but this phrase has been abandoned for many days. The ThunderDome has presently been claimed by the 38 Juniors of the American Studies class, and hopefully for many generations to come. The term the ThunderDome was originally coined by Andrew Charles Doyle of the class of 2009. It was first heard on the first day of the '07-'08 school year when Doyle told Given and Melim (the teachers of American Studies), "Welcome to the ThunderDome...ladies."

Athletics

Hollis/Brookline is a member of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Class I schools. Athletic teams include soccer, field hockey, skiing,cheerleading/spirit squad, which despite new formation has placed 1st,2nd, and 3rd at several major competions basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and a newly-created football team. The school is perhaps best known for its track and field program and, to a lesser extent, cross-country. For more than forty years, the track and cross-country programs were run by Lou Korcoulis, known to the school and communities simply as "Coach." Coach Korcoulis died in 2006, having earned twenty-six state championships.
The school has three baseball fields, as many as four multi-use (primarily soccer) fields, and a brand-new track complex named in Coach's honor that was the site of the Class I State Championships in 2005 and 2006.

'Fall Interscholastic Sports' ★ Cross Country ★ Field Hockey ★ Football ★ Volleyball ★ Soccer ★ Golf ★ Cheerleading/Spirit Squad

'Winter Interscholastic Sports' ★ Basketball ★ Swimming ★ Indoor Track ★ Wrestling ★ Skiing ★ Gymnastics ★ Cheerleading/Spirit Squad

'Spring Interscholastic Sports' ★ Track and field ★ Baseball ★ Softball ★ Lacrosse ★ Tennis

Performing Arts

Hollis/Brookline is also home to the Hollis/Brookline Community Auditorium. It is host throughout the year to plays, performances, and several award presentation ceremonies. The Drama Club has put on many plays, including adaptations of ''Annie Get Your Gun'', ''Anything Goes'', and many more. Several rock concerts also took place in the auditorium, including a 9/11 relief show, a ''"Rock 4 Charity"'' show, and multiple incarnations of ''"Night of the Living Guitars"'', perhaps the most popular show of them all.

Traditions

Hollis/Brookline has many traditions and events throughout the year.

Senior Lounge

Until the fall 2006, there was an extraneous room next to the overflow cafeteria (more commonly known as the "mini-caf") used by the senior class as a "Senior Lounge." The Lounge was a place of gathering and socializing for seniors during lunch and free periods. Prior to the 2004-2005 school year, the use of the Lounge was almost discontinued as administrators remarked that few seniors ever used it. The Class of 2004, however, outfitted the Lounge with several couches, televisions, video game consoles, air hockey and foosball tables, and even a keyboard, guitar, and amp.
The Lounge was more than just a recreational facility for seniors, however. As the population crunch continued, the administration required that all seniors eat in the Lounge, resulting in overcrowding. Indeed, the misperception of the Lounge led certain community members to advocate the assimilation of the Lounge into the classroom structure and defeat a cafeteria expansion bill. As a result, the Lounge no longer exists as of fall 2006.

Spirit Week and Pep Rally

Spirit Week and the concluding Winter Pep Rally are some of the highlights of the year. Beginning on Monday, each day of the week is given a them such as Twin Day, Hero/Villain Day, Hippie Day, etc. During the lunch period, participating students must check in with teachers and student council members to get ''points'' for their class, which are added up to determine the winning class. Friday is always Blue-and-White Day and culminates with the Pep Rally.
The basic premise of the Pep Rally involves all four classes coming up with a theme and a skit proving their class has the most class spirit and involves a few weeks of preparation. In addition to the skit, each class is given a corner of the gymnasium, which they then decorate with dozens of gigantic painted murals relevant to their theme and their class. The senior class is allowed to construct a large prop in their corner as part of the skit and the decorations. On Friday, the gym is a flurry of activity as students feverishly finish murals and post them on the walls. Teachers often allow students to mill around the gym instead of staying in class as the excitement builds. When the time comes for the rally itself, the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are called up to the gym while the Pep Band plays. Finally, the senior class enters in some manner as to intimidate the other classes, such as dressing in identical "SENIOR PRIDE" tee-shirts.
Once everyone has quieted down, the winter sports teams are recognized, interspersed with performances by the Spirit Squad and Pep Band. Finally, the skits are performed. Each class is given ten minutes to perform their skit, beginning with the freshmen and concluding with the seniors. Each skit must include a dance number, which has resulted in some classes being disqualified due to risque skits. After the skits conclude, there is usually a student vs. faculty basketball game. As with the other activities of Spirit Week, each class is awarded a number of points for their skit, which is added to the total. On the following Monday, the winning class is announced to the entire school.
More recently, the school has also begun a Fall Pep Rally tradition. This pep rally is based less on competition between the classes and more on a competition between the fall sports teams and clubs as they compete in the gym in different events such as the mummy wrap, the doughnut-eating contest, performances by the cheerleading squad, and the wheelbarrow race. The highlight of the pep rally is musical chairs, where the articipants are many of the students' favorite teachers and administrators. The competition is fierce between the participants and, as the student body cheers on, more than a few have had their share of bruises and stolen chairs.

Field Day

Field Day is a day in the spring set aside for a series of inter-class competition. There are dozens of activities, including chess, street hockey, ultimate, football, cricket, a mini-track meet, pottery, baking, and a talent show. One of the most popular activities is "Name That Tune." Yearbooks are also made available for the first time on Field Day. This fun tradition may soon be ending as student interest dwindles. Many, especially seniors, view Field Day as a day to skip, especially due to the relative closeness of the event to the end of the year and the good weather which is necessary to have such an event. The administration is rumored to cancel Field Day in 2007 after the low attendance of Field Day 2006.
However once Field Day 2007 rolled around the administration decided that the Field Day should be a half day causing slight anger from many accel bio students who still had to go to a massive test that day. But half day Field Day was amazing and ended with the funniest juggling show ever in which Charlie Costa got called a fattie and this bitty freshman went up on the shoulders of a 40 year old man while he juggled machetes. This other guy also flipped off all the students (causing a lot of laughing) but the adminstration and teachers were all super shocked. Because of the jugglers we probably won't have Field Day '08.

Senior Trip

Each year, the senior class goes on a trip of their choosing in the week before graduation. A popular choice is Cape Cod, where students spend time shopping or simply hanging out on the beach. Some classes, however, turn it up a notch and go whitewater rafting. The classes that choose to go rafting go to Caratunk, Maine to raft on the Kennebec River. Other possible choices in the past have included New York City, but Cape Cod or rafting seem to be the predominant choices.

Senior Prank

Prior to graduation, the senior class is charged with carrying out a prank against the school. The prank must not be harmful to students nor destructive in nature, but it must be memorable to succeed. Legend has it that the first senior prank was performed while the high school consisted of only the Farley Building, now a historical landmark in Hollis. According to the legend, not long after its construction in 1877, the seniors managed to get a cow onto the roof of the building, presumably by leading it up the stairs. Officials, unable to remove the cow from the roof, killed it on the roof and the meat was returned to a local farmer. Another more famous senior prank that gained media attention involved a Volkswagen Beetle. Students of one class managed to get a crane and during the night lifted the car onto the roof of the building (at what is now Hollis/Brookline Middle School). Not to be outdone, the next year's class disassembled a car during the night and reassembled it inside the school building.
The class of 2005 turned their prank into a political statement when, after a year of continual disagreement with the administration, members of the class targeted the school's prized Mission Statement. The Mission Statement was an abstract declaration of the administration's goals framed and mounted in three strategic locations around the school (immediately prior to the arrival an accreditation committee). The Mission Statements were removed from their frames and replaced with strikingly-similar looking facsimiles with key words changed. Upon discovering the forgeries, the administration promptly removed them. Other more violent and illegal senior pranks have been attempted, sometimes involving disruption of the school bus system, but those individuals committing felonies have faced criminal charges. Those less playful pranks are severely frowned upon by the town and school system.

Student Government

Hollis/Brookline's system of student government is similar to that of many schools around the country, consisting of a Student Council, Advisory Council, and Student Body President.

Advisory Council

The purpose of the Advisory Council is to actively participate in decision-making regarding school policy and act as a liaison between the students, the administration and the teachers. Issues that have come up with the Advisory Council in the past include the use of headphones during study periods, exhaust fumes entering the building, and the overcrowding of the student parking lot. Due to a new principal and a change in administration objectives, as well as overwhelming student disinterest, the Council is likely to be disbanded in fall 2006. This comes in the wake of the school's accreditation in which one strong critique of the school from the accreditation committee was the lack of communication between the students and administration, as well as between teachers and administration

Student Council

The Student Council is charged with arranging events for the school, such as dances and fundraisers, primarily for the senior trip and for prom. Each class has a class president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary in addition to four representatives. All positions are voted on in the spring prior to the following year, when they actually hold the positions. There is a Student Body President who participates in the Council meetings and acts as a liaison between the student body and administration.

Clubs and Organizations

★ Advisory Council ★ Amnesty International ★ Art Club ★ AWOD ★ ''The Cavalier Chronicle'' ★ ''Cavazine'' ★ Chess Club ★ Community of Caring ★ Crochet Club ★ Debate Team ★ Film Club ★ FIRST Robotics

★ French Club / Bistro ★ Future Business Leaders Of America (FBLA) ★ ''Granite State Challenge'' ★ Green Group ★ Honors Chorus ★ Interact ★ Investment Club ★ Jazz, Concert, Pep Band ★ Live Poets' Society ★ Math Team ★ Mock Trial ★ National Honor Society ★ Outing Club

★ Peer Outreach ★ Photo Club ★ SADD ★ SCATE ★ Snowboard Club ★ Spanish Club ★ Student Council ★ Theatre Department ★ Tri-M ★ Ultimate Frisbee Club ★ Writers' Club ★ Yearbook ★ Yoga Club

The Cavalier Chronicle

''The Cavalier Chronicle'' is a student-run newspaper that first went into publication in the spring of 2004 with one issue published before the summer recess. Publication took off in the fall of 2004 and has been continuing ever since. The newspaper is available online.

★ '2004:' Teacher Kelly Sewell began the newspaper by recruiting senior Brian Gray to be the editor for a single month pilot issue for June, 2004.

★ '2004-2005:' Ms. Sewell continued to lead the newspaper as senior Chris Peterson assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief, with sophomore Dara Fisher serving as Production Editor. This triumvirate was responsible for culling news, articles from students in the Journalism classes, editing them, and arranging them for the monthly newspaper.

★ '2005-2006:' Dara Fisher became Editor-in-Chief for the first year of a two-year tenure at the position. She organized a formidable staff, although the bulk of work on the paper was still done by Fisher and Sewell. At the end of the year, Sewell announced her decision to return to a publishing career.

Cavazine

The ''Cavazine'' is an online magazine devoted to students' original writing, including essays, stories, and poetry, as well as student-made artwork and photography.

FIRST Robotics

Hollis/Brookline's FIRST Robotics Team 1073, also known as Team FORCE, was established in 2002 and has had four successful seasons. A full biography of the team can be found here.
Along with numerous technical courses, the FIRST team makes its home in a pair of classrooms known as the Tech Center. The one of the two classrooms is full of computers for the students and the second classroom is a modest but well-equipped machine shop.

Trivia

★ Former history teacher Jon Cannon is now a member of the Clue Crew on the popular game show ''Jeopardy''. Because Mr. Cannon was unable to speak at the 2005 graduation ceremony, he sent a video message to the class of 2005 with a personal introduction from Alex Trebek.

★ Five snow days are included in the schedule and are almost always used.

★ There was an annual Homecoming dance for many years prior to the creation of a football team.

★ By a vote, the Cavalier was chosen as the mascot of Hollis/Brookline over the cardinal in the 1950s when the co-op was created and Hollis High School (home to the yellow and black Hollis Hornets) ceased to exist.

★ On graduates' diploma holders, there is a pencil illustration of the high school opposite the diploma itself that shows the school before its 2001 addition, meaning the illustration is no longer accurate.

External links

★ Official website

★ SAU 41

★ The Cavalier Chronicle online'

★ The Cavazine

★ Statistics

★ News story about Coach