If students are interested in donating, members of the NHS will be signing people up at lunches. In order to donate, you must meet a specific criteria – most prominently, you must be at least 16 years of age. Parental consent is also required if you are under 18.

A popular returning feature were the displays from the 10 AP  Art students that featured each student’s  final art portfolio. This year’s students are Madeline Gaffey, Katelyn Sarson-Malcom, Matt Robertson, Nicole Harter, Christel Welch, Shelby Watterworth, Emmalyn Sullivan, Jordan Firkey and Shea Libbey.

Unsurprisingly, many were impressed with the student talent. “The Art Show represents the acquired skill that our students are able to practice and incorporate into their art classes. It also gives us a public display and promotes our program. One reason the Art Show is so successful is the support of the community, and [it] gives one night for everyone to see the work,” said teacher Linda Varney. Art teacher Wes Coombs, added, “It was great. Best one ever. It gets better every year.”

WHTV’s Robert Smith and Nick Seta report on the high school’s technology situation.

Maloney, WHS class of 1982, was killed during last Thursday’s shooting in Greenland. Four others, including alumnus Eric Kullberg, were injured in the event.

According to Principal Bill McGowan, school officials were approached last Friday by Hampton Police officers about holding the service on campus. After a meeting between the officers, the administrators, and the facilities managers, the decision was made Saturday evening, and emails quickly went out to parents and faculty.

School will be cancelled for students and staff, and all are welcome to attend the service.

McGowan said that  “Chief Maloney was a graduate here and had many ties to the community. There will be a lot of people who will be here to say goodbye.”

Questions are focused on schedule changes: what’s the public’s opinion of the current trimester schedule, which classes should be full-year, what should the number of classes in a day be, etc. In addition, the five-minute survey includes a number of open-ended questions that allow individuals to elaborate on their answers.

The survey will be open until April 15 and the results will be viewed in a meeting by various committees to discuss the implementation of full-year classes. According to Marston, the committees consider the results “extremely important” and will weigh them heavily when they make their final recommendation.

The survey is open to anyone in Winnacunnet’s four sending towns, including students, teachers, alumni, parents and community members, with an emphasis that they want as many individual, opinions as possible, especially that of students “The student voice is extremely, extremely important – as important as any other data or voice,” Marston said, addingthat , “students, you have a voice and this is a way to express your opinions.”

Those interested in taking the survey, can find it  here or in the green box on the Winnacunnet homepage.

The Final Four teams consist of the # 4 seed of the West region, the Louisville Cardinals who will face # 1 overall seed of the tournament coming out the South region, the Kentucky Wildcats. This game features two teams from the Bluegrass state with their respective campuses only 90 minutes away from each other. Lousville, coached by Rick Pitino, led his Cardinals to a Big East Championship and will now look to pull the major upset over coach John Calipari’s Southeastern Conference runner-up Wildcats. Key players to watch in this game are Lousiville’s Peyton Siva and Kentucky’s Anthony Davis. Siva is a very talented point guard who can penetrate an offense live a knife splitting bread. Davis, however is a big man who leads Division I in block shots per game with 4.7. 

As for the right side of the bracket, the # 2 seeded Ohio State Buckeyes will represent the East region as they square up against the #2 seeded Kansas Jayhawks out of the Midwest Region. The Buckeyes, coached by Thad Motta, will look to feed their best player the ball the entire game, sophomore Jared Sullinger. Averaging 17.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, he is a candidate for the National Player of the Year in Division I hoops. Kansas, led by their National Player of the Year candidate Thomas Robinson, have many other weapons such as Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson. Both teams are semi-finalists in their respective Conference tournaments.

 The Final Four begins on Saturday, March 31 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kentucky and Lousiville followed by Ohio St. and Kansas after. All games for the rest of the tournament will be held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the same venue that hosted the NCAAF football championship. For all the supporters, the Madness dies down only for a few more days as there still is a lot more great basketball to be played.

The group from Genetix Fitness Gym, consisting of both trainers and athletes, joined Charles “Chucky” Rosa at Seabrook Beach for an ocean dip in 40 degree water to fundraise for Chucky’s Fight, an organization started by Rosa, dedicated to fighting substance abuse.  “I had butterflies when I was walking in.  I knew it was going to be cold,” Patrick Toomey, a Genetix athlete, said of the St. Patty’s Day dip. 

Genetix raised about  $300. “They’re not just good athletes, but good people,” Rosa said about these athletes and trainers who have supported him for several years now. 

Rosa has gone in the ocean everyday for five years since he lost two of his children, Dominic and Vincent, 9 years ago to drug overdoses.  “I never thought [drugs] could take my sons. It’s still like I’m in a dream,” Rosa said when asked about his sons.  He has enjoyed swimming in the ocean ever since he was young and used to go with all his kids. When his sons died, he set free their ashes into the ocean. He dips everyday to remind himself to stay clean and sober and to be with his sons.

All the money raised for Chucky’s Fight is used to buy novelty items (t-shirts and dog tag necklaces) to hand out at presentations and workshops. Rosa has been to many places to broadcast his cause and get kids to join him in fighting substance abuse, Winnacunnet being one of them.  He believes education gives people the edge to effectively fight drugs and alcohol. He is an inspiration to many because he has been through so much and yet keeps a great attitude.  “I try to focus on the positive and not to let the negative take over, [because] then I’d be in a bad place,” said Rosa.

Dennis Toomey, one of the athletes at Genetix, took the dip for the third time with his son, Patrick.  “He’s experienced substance abuse from a personal level.  It really comes from his heart.” Dennis said of Rosa.

Anyone can see the videos of all the people who dipped with Chucky or make a donation at his website www.chuckysfight.com.

The night started with all the musicians onstage playing John Philip Sousa’s “Manhattan Beach” under the direction of North Hampton’s music teacher Daniel Singer before moving onto the popular song “Thriller” directed by Matthew Woolley (Seabrook.) 

After the energetic opening, the concert moved quickly. Next to play was the Percussion Ensemble, performing “Stinkin’ Garbage” on trash cans, much to the audience’s enjoyment. Then the WHS Concert Band took the stage to play “Blue Ridge Saga” and “Foundry” before being joined by all of the 8^th grade students for the final piece, “Marche Militaire.”

“All the kids were great,” Woolley said. “My favorite [piece] was ‘Thriller.’ It was a lot of fun and everyone was excited about it. All the schools came together and created a great, syncopated piece.” The Michael Jackson hit proved to be popular with many others as well. “I loved ‘Thriller’ and how [the music] built up with every school playing a different section,” said Baylee Cox, a 7^th grade clarinet player from Seabrook.

Another popular group was the Percussion Ensemble. “I really liked the trashcans,” Singer said. “It was great to see different types of instruments and different ways of making music.”

Many of the students in this concert will be freshmen next year and a lot of them are looking to join the high school band. “I’d like to do band in high school,” said 8^th grade percussionist David Biggar. “I like the freedom [band] gives me.” Cox said, “Yes, I’d like to continue.” “I really hope the kids stay involved,” Singer said. “The high school has many different music opportunities for them, and the skills they get here are easily transferable to anything else they decide to do as well.”

In early October, the Sox declined to exercise manager Terry Francona’s 2012 option, parting ways with their manager of seven years who helped end the 86 year drought with a 2004 World Series Championship and winning another in 2007. General Manager Theo Epstein, who had been a part of the Red Sox organization since 2003, also left the team when he decided to resign on October 21, 2011 to become the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.

With the manager and general manager spots being vacant, the Red Sox owners John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino introduced Ben Cherington as the new general manager on October 25, 2011. About a month later, Cherington introduced former major league player and manager Bobby Valentine as the new coach to replace Francona. Valentine previously managed the Texas Rangers, New York Mets and a Japanese team called the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Trying to forget their epic collapse back in September, when the team lost 18 of their last 24 games and stirred much controversy over players drinking during the games, the Red Sox spent the money to build a new spring training stadium. Red Sox owners are hoping this stadium will give the Sox “a fresh start” with brand new baseball facilities. Known as jetBlue Park at Fenway South, the stadium is located in Fort Myers, Florida and is a replica of the original Fenway Park, including a 37-foot Green Monster in left field with seats on top of and behind the wall. The field dimensions are identical to Fenway Park as well.

As for the roster, the Red Sox will be without two of Boston’s most beloved players: Jason Varitek, the team’s catcher from 1997-2011, announced his retirement on March 1, 2012. He had been the captain for the Red Sox since December 2004, leaving the team’s captainship up for grabs this spring. After 19 seasons, knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield also announced his retirement on February 17, 2012. Both players were instrumental in the Red Sox’s two World Series Championships.

Unlike the 2010-2011 offseason which included major acquisitions such as left fielder Carl Crawford and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, the Red Sox have made insignificant changes to the roster this past winter. The team lost closer Jonathan Papelbon to free agency, who later ended up signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. In order to fulfill the position, the Red Sox traded young star and right fielder Josh Reddick, first baseman Miles Head, and relief pitcher Raul Alcantara, for young star relief pitcher Andrew Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney. Cherington then traded SS Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies and SS Jed Lowrie to the Houston Astros. This leaves the shortstop position wide open for a young player such as Jose Iglesias or Nick Punto to battle out for the starting job.

One of the biggest concerns for this team is its bullpen, which is still amongst the worst in the league. The bullpen is a major reason why the Sox blew their nine game lead to the Tampa Bay Rays last season. Of course, Carl Crawford was a huge disappointment for the amount of money he was paid. If he can pull out of his season-long slump, Crawford and 2011 American League runner-up Most Valuable Player Jacoby Ellsbury could be a lethal duo at the top of the lineup along with second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Look for the Sox offense to be highly productive with sluggers Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis as well. The Sox will open their season in Detroit on April 5 for a three game series with the Tigers. After that, the team will travel to Toronto for a three game series before heading home for their season opener on April 13 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

As with any election, there is a lot going on, both in and out of the polls. Here’s a breakdown on when, where, and how to vote as well as how to participate if you aren’t 18.

Poll Locations:

When:                March 13^th

Where:              Hampton –Winnacunnet High School (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.)

                              Hampton Falls – Town Hall (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.)

                              North Hampton – North Hampton Elementary School (8 a.m. 7 p.m.)

                               Seabrook –Seabrook Community Center (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.)

How to Register:

It’s easy. If you are 18 (or will be before March 13), bring a photo ID (i.e. driver’s license) to your town clerk’s office, located in every town’s respective town hall. The town clerk will have you sign a voter registration card and then you’re done.

Don’t have time to go to town hall? If you’re eligible to vote by March 13, you can show up at the polls as register as well. You will still need to bring a photo ID and sign the registration card.

How to get an Absentee Ballot:

For those who will be away at college or out of the area on voting day, you can still participate. Before you leave, go to your town hall and pick up an absentee request form (some towns have this available on their website). Fill out the form and mail, fax, or scan and email it back to the town hall (Important – it must have a valid signature) and they will send you an absentee ballot. Simply fill it out and send it back.

Another easy resource is the Community Support for Education website (http://communitysupportforeducation.wordpress.com/voter-information/absentee-voter/) They give all the steps in an easy-to-follow format, as well as PDFs of each town’s forms.

How to Participate:

Even if you aren’t old enough to vote in the March election, there are dozens of other ways to get involved. Is there a candidate whom you really support? Join their campaign and help them spread their message by addressing envelopes, attending events, and when Election Day comes, holding a sign in front of the polls.

You won’t get paid for your work, but you can get Community Service hours, and as people who’ve worked in past campaigns will tell you – the experience is a reward in itself.