Sturgis Girls’ Tennis Team Finishes #1 in Division, Clinches States

By Kevin Agostinelli, staff reporter 

When being asked how Sturgis East tennis is doing, all one needs to do these days is point to the top of the divisional standings.
For the third season in a row, the Sturgis East Girls’ tennis team has clinched entry into the state tournament, but for the first time this year, the squad has finished first in the Cape & Islands League.
Led by the one-two punch of Olivia Sequin and Meghan Agostinelli, as well as the third singles newcomer Meredith Sullivan, the Storm boast an 8-2 record, and shattering previous win-loss records with two games still left to play. According to Coach Brian Hastings, skill is not the only winning ingredient for the team: “Since this year we don't have many new players, I'd say the chemistry has improved by the simple fact of having one year together already.”

Some of the more memorable matches this season have been the two grudge matches against Cape Cod Academy, where Meredith Sullivan went to three sets while Meghan Agostinelli finished off a dramatic come-from-behind victory in straight sets this past week. Not to be undone, Olivia Sequin’s victory against Sacred Heart’s first singles player was certainly one to watch.
“When Olivia & Meghan came to Sturgis Tennis as freshmen, the whole team improved,” Coach Hastings explains, “ Our successes can directly be attributed to their abilities and positive attitudes.”
The team naturally had high hopes going into this year, after reaching the 2011 state tournament only to crash out in the first round in a heartbreaking 3-2 loss against Dover Sherborn. When discussing his group’s overall chances in the tourney this season, Coach Hastings simply states, “As to how far we could go in state play, we'll take it one step at a time.”

Travel Blog: New York City for Model United Nations

by Meghan Agostinelli, staff reporter

Meredith Sullivan, sophomore, at the United Nations on March 10. Photo taken by Meghan Agostinelli.

MUN 2012 was an experience I will definitely never forget and has made wish that March 2013 wasn't such a long time from now! After a day-along bus ride from the Cape to New York City, I arrived in New York City excited to partake in the conference and to meet a lot of new people. 


That night, the Disarmament & National Security Committee for  Israel (Meredith Sullivan, Devin Low & myself) along with the DISEC delegates representing more than 200 other countries entered the room ready to simulate the actions of United Nations delegates. DISEC's first  task was to choose a topic to debate: either the security implications of nuclear weapons in the DPRK or state-sponsored terrorism. Israel hoped to debate state-sponsored terrorism, and fortunately, since many other countries such as Costa Rica also hoped to debate this issue, state-sponsored terrorism became the topic of discussion for the following days. 


The next day, countries joined together to draft 'working papers' which are basically documents which outline these countries' plans to combat the issue of state-sponsored terrorism. We decided to sponsor Working Paper 1.1 since we felt that the paper sufficiently addressed methods to help Israel in her struggle against state-sponsored terrorist groups such as those in Iran. Other countries chose to support Working Paper 1.2, 1.3, and/or 1.4 as they felt these papers better addressed their countries' needs. After writing these papers, supporters of Working Papers 1.1 and 1.2 realized the papers were very similar and thus chose to merge together. Supporters of Working Papers 1.3 and 1.4 also merged. With the merge of Working Papers 1.1 and 1.2, this paper became known as Resolution 1.1, and the merger of Working Papers 1.3 and 1.4 became known as Resolution 1.2. Since resolutions had already been created, countries drafted amendments for their papers in hopes that these amendments would help their resolutions to pass. 


On the third day of the conference, DISEC voted on both resolutions and each amendment. Both resolutions passed, and the majority of the amendments passed also. The final day, when we went to the United Nations, each country voted each of the five GA (General Assembly)'s Resolutions, and for DISEC, Resolution 1.1 passed but Resolution 1.2 did not. I was excited that the resolution Israel supported passed, and I loved the experience as a whole.

There was also a significant social aspect to the conference. Meredith & I became friends with a girl named Lindsey from outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who was a co-representative for Colombia. Through our conversations, I learned that she loves languages like I do and that she taught herself Arabic. 


I also met a girl who represented Hungary at the conference but was from Venezuela, whose culture is obviously very different from ours: I learned that her family owns a bulletproof car as shootings are common there and that people will just come up to you somewhere like the supermarket and force you to give him something (her mom was forced to give a man her watch), or he will kill you. She also mentioned that several of her friends have been kidnapped through the "Kidnap Express", a process in which someone stalks you (finding out what time you leave your house in the morning, what time you arrive home in the afternoon, etc.) and then kidnaps you for an hour before letting you go. This made me appreciate the American way of life so much more.


I also met an Italian named Carlo, and I learned about Italian culture and his personal experiences (such as traveling to India!). From him, I learned about how Italian teens often take advantage of their cross proximity to other countries in Western Europe and travel to nearby countries such as Holland. Another interesting fact I learn was that Italian schooling is different from American schooling; Italians go to high school for five years while we only attend for four years. 


Through MUN I learned so much more about Venezuelan culture, Italian culture, and how someone lives in another part of America. What a great experience & I cannot wait until next year!