Summer reading

Summer Reading 2014

This summer, Quabbin Regional High School is changing what we are doing for summer reading. Attached, you will find a list of “high interest” books we would like for you to choose from for this summer. In some cases, your English teachers will be giving you writing assignments at the start of the year to assess your writing skills. These books would be perfect for writing about. In other cases, specific programs expect that you will read books from this list and be assessed on those works. Those programs will communicate these expectations directly to those students. Please make sure you do so. And, there will likely be discussions in your other classes and advisories related to summer reading.

For all of you, the best way to ensure that you maintain your skills and your analytic abilities is to read. If you read, you will stay sharper. You will broaden your perspectives. You will be a more interesting person. You will also be better prepared for reading in all your classes next year.

If Quabbin reads, Quabbin succeeds.

Suggested Book List

This is a partial list of all the books available to you. You can choose any of these or any other books by any of these authors. For a quick review of these each book go to: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/pleasure-reading Cut and paste the name of the book onto the search bar. .If you do not like any of these choices, feel free also to use most books on the goodreads site. Underlined  books are non-fiction.

Ender’s Game by Card         History Decoded by Meltzer              The Help by Stockett

Water for Elephants by Gruen                     The Book Thief by Zusak

The Notebook by Sparks       The Alchemist by Coelho

Harry Potter (any in Series) by Rowling     Life of Pi by Martel

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Chbosky        Divergent by Roth

The DaVinci Code by Brown           The Time Traveler’s Wife by Niffenegger

The Fault in Our Stars by Green      A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Brashares

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Adams   Gone Girl  by Flynn

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Foer       The Orphan Train by Kline

Twelve years a Slave by Northup     The Giver by Lowry

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Albom  Atlas Shrugged by Rand

Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder by Hawk

The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Freedman Angela’s Ashes by McCourt

And Still I Rise by Angelou   Into Thin Air by Krakauer    Dune by Herbert

The Perfect Storm by Junger            Siddhartha by Hesse

Unsolved Mysteries of History by Aaron     Tiger Woods by Durbin

A March to Madness by Feinstein    A Civil Action by Harr

The Joy Luck Club by Tan   The Hobbit by Tolkein           Shine by Myracle

Every Day by Leviathan        Unwind by Shusterman          Remember Me? by Kinsella 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Saenz

Eragon by Paolini      Farenheit 451 by Bradbury   Daughter of Fortune by Allende

The Shining by King The Seven Habits of Effective Teens by Covey

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Leavitt

The Glass Menagerie by Williams    The Silver Linings Playbook by Quick

Cloud Atlas by Mitchell         The Percy Jackson Series (any) by Riordan

The Big Thirst by Fishman    Night Circus by Morgenstern Circle of Friends by Binchy

Long Way Round  by McGregor and Boorman       The Silence of the Lambs by Harris

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Diamond

The Devil Wears Prada by Weisberger        Outliers: the Story of Success by Gladwell

A Whole New Mind by Pink             The Art of Racing in the Rain by Stein

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bryson The World is Flat by Friedman

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10  by Luttrell

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai               The Republic by Plato

Graduation Remarks

Here are my remarks from Graduation on Friday.

Dr. Marshall, Chairman Brophy, Members of the School Committee, QRSD teachers and Staff, Representative Gobi, Senator Brewer, Parents, Families, Friends, and the Quabbin Regional High School Class of 2014. Welcome.

Thank you to all the staff who have made tonight possible. Clare Barnes and the entire Buildings and Grounds Staff. Cathy Graham, Patty Stolz, Nita Bates and Jesslyn Lapati from the High School offices, Jess Bennett from the Superintendent’s Office, Donna Berlo, Rick Prouty and Sean Dubois. And Candy Ericson for the sound system at all these events.

Dr. Marshall, the Class of 2014 is a class that has learned to adapt and to persevere. They have lost a classmate. They have lost an assistant coach and they have lost a friend. They have faced the implementation of a trimester schedule, more courses per day, International Baccalaureate, Capstone requirements, Community Service requirements, changes to credit requirement, and multiple changes in staffing. Yet, they are here today, ready to move on and face the uncertainty of the future with the knowledge and skills necessary to handle almost anything. They have met the requirements for graduation.

The graduating class of 2014 is made up of 168 total students, including those who have met our standards for graduation in alternative settings. 79% of the Class of 2014 will continue their educations. 5% will join our military. 17% will be entering the work force. In all of these endeavors, the members of the Class of 2014 are prepared for what comes next. Colleges include most of our state colleges, universities and community colleges, as well as schools like Merrimack, Norwich, Quinnipiac, Northeastern, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Berklee College of Music, Lincoln Technical Institute, UNH, URI, Mount Holyoke, and Tufts to name a few. No matter their endeavor, we wish them well.

Class of 2014, please stand. Join hands, and bow your heads. Remember Jeremy, David and Patrick.

Heads up. Hands in clapping position. Please congratulate your classmates.

Thank your teachers.

Thank your parents.

Now, raise your right arms over your heads. Palms back. Pat yourselves on the back once for a job well done.

Be seated.

Class of 2014, last night the speakers mentioned time a lot, from when you finished 8^th grade up to today and graduation, you have had about  2 million minutes of high school. How have you spent all that time? Over one million of those minutes were off days or vacation. You have spent about 700,000 of those total minutes sleeping if you average 8 hours per day.  On school days, if you sleep 8 hours per night, you have had 420,000 waking minutes outside of classes. Therefore, what might seem like a lot of time has meant that you have spent about 238,000 of those minutes in classes. Not really that much for such a central part of your lives for the past 2 million minutes.

In that time, you have learned so much. Depending on who you are, you have learned to read, write and calculate at an adult and college level. You have learned the Periodic Table, and Music by incredible composers. You have learned the causes and effects of most of the major events in US History. You have learned what makes someone normal or abnormal in a psychiatric sense. You have learned to draw, paint and sculpt. You have a sense of the human anatomy and its marvels. You have learned how to drill, march and treat others with respect. You have learned World Language, Study Skills and Statistics. You have read many of the great works of literature. You know how to separate fact from opinion, how to analyze and how to synthesize your learning. Collectively, you have a staggering amount of knowledge. And that is just from in class. Think of all you have gained from outside of class in activities, trips, athletics, plays and performances. Congratulations on that.

My hope is that your next 2 Million Minutes are even more rewarding to you. As you leave us tonight, think of the possibilities at your disposal and the freedom you have to choose from those possibilities. Make your time count. Make each set of 2 million minutes you spend better that what came before them. I hope your high school years here at Quabbin have been rewarding. However, I hope they pale in comparison with what comes next.

Good luck as you move forward.  Expect more of the world, our society and yourselves, and you will do very well. You will be missed, and you are loved by Quabbin Regional High School.

Thank you.

Some Tough Mudder Photos

Here are some pictures from the course up at Mr Snow. The water is just above freezing and was replenished with ice every few minutes. The wires I am running through are electrified. Kind of like being tased. Still, a lot of fun.