by Valeria Camino & Sienna Mello

As we get settled into the new year, check out what’s in and what’s out for 2024 at High Tech…

Ins:

• Bringing a charger to school

• Cleaning up after lunch

• Ordering your sandwiches online

• Drinking more water

• Judo 

• Attending school performances 

• The Lasercat mascot 

• Reusable water bottles 

• To Do lists

• More sleep!

• Senior Advisory

• Checking emails

Outs:

• Wearing pajamas or slides to school 

• Taking other people's lunch tables 

• PDA at school

• Slow walkers in the halls

• Bathroom TikToks 

• Comparing yourself to others 

• Loitering in the hallway 

• Cutting class

• Mass emails from students 

• Cutting people in the lunch line

by Davin Abraham

Deck the doors with bows of holly, but only if you can beat Mr. DePierro, who has been Door Decorating Champion for, not one, but TWO years in a row and is aiming to have an unstoppable 3-year winning streak this year. The Door Decorating Contest is a yearly contest taking place at High Tech High School, where participating teachers decorate their doors with festive creations. The winner is selected for having the best door decorations and crowned the door decoration winner of the year. 

I interviewed reigning champ Mr. DePierro to check in on what he was planning to do this year and to try to learn what his secret was to winning two years in a row. 

“It’s a very scientific method. I kind of asked the students and they tell me,” said Mr. DePierro. He went on to explain, “The first time we did it we went with a Polar Express theme, featuring a train exiting the door, snowy elements, and a bus schedule display. I did a voiceover announcing bus arrivals. The following year, we went with a Grinch theme, using cutouts, wreaths, and a video of the Grinch. It all came together successfully.” 

Mr. DePierro then told us what he’s planning to do this year. “We’re doing Charlie Brown Christmas. We knocked around a couple of themes. And I think this one really hit home and we're excited about that. We already have the art department cutting out shapes and sizes and coloring and a few things they've already done. It already looks fantastic. Top notch.”

Mr. DePierro also wanted to thank his students for helping him out as he believed they were the true creative minds of the class, while also thanking the administration for letting him and his class be as creative as possible. “Overall, the class is very engaging. Teachers and administrators are hands-off, allowing students the freedom to pursue their interests. Despite concerns about the decorations being excessive, there were no complaints. The second-floor wing, adorned with hanging items, looked impressive. And the whole floor was decorated really well. Our whole wing, at least on the second floor, looked really good. I mean, just walking down a hallway was kind of an adventure. You turn to your right and left and you know, each teacher had something going on with their door.”

And so with this, we can only wish the best of luck for Mr. DePierro and his creative class. The contest will end after Christmas break, so tune in for the Follow Up!

The grass is greener on all sides of our school’s garden, thanks to the assistance of HTHS Supervisor and Environmental Science teacher, Mrs. Doria and her interns Shannon Anderson, Mason Castillo, and Alexandra Panfilov. They support Mrs. Doria's compost initiative, addressing the cafeteria's growing food waste problem. Initially, High Tech introduced green compost bins, but as waste accumulated, collaboration with a specialized company became necessary. Mrs. Doria stated, “We didn't separate waste before, but now we have separate bins for food waste, trash, and recyclables in the cafeteria thanks to our initiative and the rocket composter. However, the rocket composter can only handle about 20 pounds of food waste per day, while our school generates around 300 pounds.” To address this, High Tech High School has partnered with a local female-owned business, Community Compost Company, in Hudson County that collects food waste from local businesses and converts it into composted soil to sell. Furthermore, Mrs. Doria, an environmental scientist, initiated a compost program employing her interns. Through their contributions, we can observe students' involvement, the positive environmental impact of this initiative, and its vital role in our community.

Every day during 4th period the interns devote their time to a significant cause."I rarely get the opportunity to contribute to my community or school economically, but now I can, and it also provides me with a break from school-related stress, allowing me to focus solely on my internship," said Mason as he explained how his involvement in participating in the initiative has positively affected him by allowing him to contribute to this cause. Not only has the interns' participation allowed them that great feeling of giving back, but it has also allowed them to learn something more about themselves. “I think it's important because it teaches us to be involved in something. It teaches how to work and communicate with people. And I think it's just a good experience overall, especially when going out into the real world. And going into college as well since you can have this in your background,” Shannon stated as she expressed how this initiative has shaped her views on the world along with the other interns such as Alexandra.

Alexandra stated, “It feels great, knowing that we're kind of helping back and helping the environment, it's better than knowing that the food waste is just getting thrown away on top of more waste. And it feels good to know that I'm part of that initiative to kind of help out.” With this, we can see that thanks to Mrs. Doria, she not only helped create a big contribution to our environment but also helped her interns in having positive viewpoints on the environmental status of the world. 

Mrs. Doria as she explained how this initiative has been helping our school environment: “I think as a whole, students, you know, from my experience, they were always questioning, are we recycling? What impact are we making? And you know, we weren't doing enough here. So I think students are happier that we're actually making an environmental impact by diverting that food waste, and also, we're recycling more paper and plastics, so that's helpful.” 

Moreover, through this investigation, I learned that, thanks to the initiative, they were able to help the department/facilities and the school as a whole to save money since they’re able to not throw away food waste, reducing our dumpster pickups from once a week to now only once a month. It goes to show that no matter how insufferable or ridiculous the world may seem, there’s always people who want to help, and because of that, they’re able to spread hope to many others. With the help of just a few hands, this initiative is able to reveal just how impactful something can be and how much of a difference it can make on the environment.