WINGSPAN

By Wingspan Staff

By order of the Commissioner of Education and the Governor of Massachusetts, Overlook Middle School will be reopening its doors for all students this coming April 26th. This marks over a year since the school has had all students in the building at once. It will be vital that everyone maintain safety protocols to ensure a happy and healthy end of the school year.

By Wingspan Staff

We celebrate Women's History Month to remind ourselves of the accomplishments of women throughout the years to our culture and society. From science to politics, it's is a chance to reflect on the trailblazing women who lead the way for change.

By Josh LeGrand

Did you know that the Irish have been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day for more than 1000 years, or that the original color St. Patrick’s Day was associated with was blue? It’s true! This article will run through the history of this holiday to show that St. Patrick’s Day shamROCKS!

Let’s start with the history of the man the holiday is named after and the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick! Did you know that he actually wasn’t Irish? St. Patrick was born around the 5th century A.D. in Britain, which was a Roman colony at the time. When he was 16, he was kidnapped and enslaved by Irish raiders for six years. He managed to escape. He converted to Christianity soon after and returned to Ireland to spread the Word of God. He was forgotten after he died on March 17, 461, but soon myths and legends about him grew until he was recognized as the patron Saint of Ireland. Two hundred years later, Ireland had been fully christianized. One legend says that he “drove all the snakes from Ireland''. It symbolizes Patrick getting rid of Paganism on the island. There’s a slight problem, though: there were no snakes in Ireland! Another legend says he used the shamrock and its three leaves to help people understand the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and in the 18th century in Ireland started wearing shamrocks and green clothing on March 17 to show their Irish-Christian pride. Shamrocks don’t exist in real life, but today we know them as many different three-leaf plants like wood sorrel or white and yellow clover.

You might not know this, but the tradition of parades on St. Patrick’s Day actually started in America! Let me explain. The first ever St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York wasn’t exactly a parade. In 1762, some Irish soldiers who were serving with the British marched a few blocks to a nearby tavern. The tradition began to grow in popularity in the 1840s, when the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland. The Great Potato Famine happened when a fungus known as P. infestans infected one-third of all the potato crops in Ireland, and about one million people died. When the Great Potato Famine first hit, several hundred thousand Irish people flocked to New York and other cities in the United States. Today, New York’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is the longest and largest in the United States, with about 200,000 participants and 3,000,000 spectators each year!

There are many traditions for St. Patrick’s Day, such as the parade tradition I just mentioned above. Irish music is a very important part of St. Patrick’s Day. When Ireland was being occupied by the British, they weren’t allowed to speak their own language, so they turned to music instead. However it galvanized (to shock or excite someone into taking action) the people, and music was outlawed, with Queen Elizabeth even having all artists and pipers hanged. Today, Irish bands like The Chieftains and the Clancy Brothers are gaining worldwide fame. Many cities in the United States have traditions for St. Patrick’s Day, but for me, Chicago has the most interesting one: dying the Chicago River green! This wasn’t originally a St. Patrick’s Day tradition. In 1962, the river was dyed green to detect pollution. The bright color of the dye inspired the idea to dye the river green for their St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

That’s the history of St. Patrick’s Day, why we celebrate it, and the traditions that cities practice! We covered the life of St. Patrick, from how he was kidnapped from his home to how he christianized all of Ireland, and why the parade tradition is so popular today. What do you like to do on St. Patrick’s Day?

By Wingspan Staff

Spring has sprung (with a few cold days and nights mixed in) across the region. Many days are now seeing 50-60 degree average temperatures and the days are getting longer. Take some time out of your day to enjoy the changing season and all of the magic nature provides. In no time we will be saying goodbye to another school year and preparing for summer heat!

By:Stella Deschenes

This month we are focusing on Kindness Counts at Overlook. Several ways to show kindness will be available through the efforts of students and staff. Kindness Counts talks about being kind to others. Perhaps give a compliment to someone... it might make their day. Or just try to be more positive. Also be sure to help erase any bullying going on. Kindness is really important. It can bring us together.We live in a divided world because of lack of kindness.

It doesn’t matter your skin color, where you come from, or who you love, all that matters is that we all treat each other equally. It doesn’t matter what your background is. We all need to be considerate of what other people are going through.

In conclusion just be kind to others around you because you have no idea what they might have going on in their lives. As always thank you for reading!

By Karl Sargent

Chapter IX

Thomas stepped through the entrance to the base, and ran down the steel hallway. He walked through the door, into Bates’s office. “General, I killed Harvey,” Thomas said.

“That’s great! He was one of our targets for a long time,” Bates responded.

“Yes. I’ve uncovered another Eonian leader, sir. Someone called ‘The Hammer’. I should head to Denmark to continue.”

“My troops had had run-ins with this person before. Ther’ye called The Hammer because they come down on their enemies quick and with strength, just like a hammer. We’ve discovered something of our own. Through a note found at a base, we found the system that Theodoro has for his main group of leaders. Each continent on earth, with the exectpion of Antarctica, has it’s own branch. Each branch has a number of members, and a branch head. These heads, 6 of them, all answer only to Theodoro. These people call themselves ‘The Shadow Army.’ My theory is that if we eliminate all of the membersin a branch, the leader for that branch will be extremely vulnerable. By killing the branch leaders, Theodoro will be open to attack. Almost no one knows of this group of people besides the members involved. Even Harvey was’nt a member. These people are the reason that the Empire is so strong, and they need to be stopped. Go and kill The Hammer, Thomas. That’s an order.”

Thomas nodded, and stepped out of the room. He turned on his Time-Jumper, clicked a few buttons, and a doorway appeared. He walked through the doorway, into Copenhagen.

Thomas emerged from the doorway in an apartment building, which appeared to be a Reisitance outpost within the city. To his right, inside of the wall was a set of stairs, leading downwards to a locked door. Maps lined the walls, circling possible hiding places for The Hammer. The building had windows, but they were covered by boards. An unlit fireplace was on the wall adjacent from the windows. Thomas took all of his weapons off besides his phasepistol, so as to not alarm any of the citizens. The aparment had a hallway on the opposite side of the wall with the stairs, with a wooden ladder at the end of it, and a bowl with sets of keys. The hallway had one door that said “Dressing Room.” He peeked in the room to find sets of clothing, to appear as a citizen of Copenhagen. He put on a dirty white linen shirt, and scruffy gray pants. He stepped out of the room, and looked up the ladder. There was a trapdoor, locked, that led to the roof of the building. He took a key from the bowl, climbed up the ladder, and unlocked it.

Thomas opened up the trapdoor and stepped out, into Copenhagen. He gazed apon the city, and saw buildings to his west, east, and south, to his north, he saw the harbor, numerous ships came in and out of the wooden docks, and several people walked about the busy area. Thomas looked down, and saw that the roofs of the buildings were made out of slate tiles. He held on tightly to the chimney for stability, but as he slowly took his hands off of the chimney, he realized that it was safe.

After jumping across buildings, Thomas jumped down to a balcony next to the harbor. He jumped down to the ground, about a 10-foot drop, and bruised his leg, but he could still walk. “Ouch,” he said as he got up from his fall. He got strange looks from people as he ran into the western side of the harbor. The harbor was made out of stone, but the docks that jutted out of the harbor had been constructed of wood. He noticed a person standing in the shadow over a small shack, and he slowly walked towards the mysterious figure. When he reached the person, he said, “Australia,” in a quiet voice.

“Follow me,” The person said. They moved away from the harbor, and into a dark alley. “I am Sergei, I work for Sean Harvey. Who are you?”

“I’m just a contact. But The Hammer, my employer, would rather not reveal their identity, although we are both in the Empire,” Thomas said.

“Ok, contact. I’ll bring you to one of our secret bases. It’s in Italy. My boss sent his operatives to bring some of The Hammer’s agents there. We have some information to give you. Follow me.” He pressed a few buttons on his Time Jumper, and a blue doorway appeared. Thomas walked through, closely behind Sergei.

They emerged from the doorway in a small empty wooden shack, with no windows. “Is this it?” Thomas asked.

“No. Follow me,” Sergei answered. He pushed on the wooden door, and it creaked open. They walked out of the shack into a vast field, with a large house at medium distance. A car was at the beginning of a road leading from the shack to the house. “This is Italy. Tuscany, in fact.”

“Wow,” Thomas exclaimed, stunned. The beauty of the area shocked him. To the west he could see an outline of a city, and to the east lay another huge field. He looked further to the east and he could barely see a few mountains.

“It is amazing. Well, let’s get going.” Sergei and Thomas sat in the car, and Sergei started it up. They drove down the road for a short amount of time, and reached the house.

“Who’s house is this?”

“The Empire bought it a while ago, it’s used as a base of operations now.” Sergei took a key out of his pocket and moved towards the front door. He unlocked it and went inside, with Thomas close behind him. They entered what was a living room. They walked towards the basement door, stepped in it, and walked down a set of stone stairs. In the basement there was computers, with people working at them. Sergei walked towards another room, but recieved a call on his radio. He stopped moving, and answered it. “Ok.” He said, to the person on the other line, and hung up. He looked at Thomas. “My boss has been killed,” He explained.

“I’m so sorry.” Thomas feared inside that Sergei knew that he killed him.

“Some Resistance fool.”

“Yeah. They’re terrible.” Thomas said, trying to sound legitamite. He moved to Sergei to comfort him, but Sergei shook his head. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I really didn't talk to him much. We should go to the breifing room.” They stepped through the door at the far end of the wall.

There were four other people within the room, and a projector lit the wall of the room with a satellite map. Thomas sat down in one of the foldable metal chairs. Sergei walked to the other side of the room. “Here is a Resistance outpost we found through satellite footage in the Carpathian Mountains. We estimate there to be a small force of troops wihthin the area. This place is very secluded, but if we sent paratroopers from our planes and helicopters we should be able to neutralize the Resistance forces. Your orders are to go to The Hammer’s outpost outside of Bucharest, Romania, and inform them of the outpost. They will send a group of soldiers to stop those treasonous fools.”

Thomas nodded. “This cannot happen,” He thought to himself. They all sat up, and one of them turned on her Time-Jumper. Thomas, along with the four others, walked through the wormhole.

They arrived in the large city of Bucharest, walking through a long street. “So are you new to this?” asked the woman who led them through the wormhole.

“Yes,” Thomas responded. “I’ve been in the military for a long time, but I got an offer recently and said yes.” Thomas hoped that they believed him.

“What’s your name?”

“Jacob.” He quickly thought of the name, and decided to use it. “So who is The Hammer, anyway?”

“Her name is Inge. She’s from Norway.”

Thomas nodded. He finally knew the identity of The Hammer, and he was one step closer to eliminating her.

“The base is right up this way,” another soldier said. Foolishly, Thomas took this time to attack. He quickly grabbed his phasepistol and shot two of them, and they faded to dust. He shot the third, and then the fourth.

“HEY!” Thomas looked behind him to see another Eonian guard, rushing towards him. The guard tackled him, and knocked him out.

ANY IDEAS FOR FUTURE ISSUES ?

Please contact bduncan@awrsd.org if you have any ideas you would like us to include in future Wingspans

Interested in joining Wingspan? Contact bduncan@awrsd.org for more information

Email: bduncan@awrsd.org
Website: oms.awrsd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1761296&type=d&pREC_ID=2077881
Location: 10 Oakmont Drive, Ashburnham, MA, USA
Phone: 978-827-1425