StormWatch Staff Travels to Harvard Journalism Conference

By Katie Curran, staff reporter 
 
On Saturday, October 13th, members of the Sturgis East Stormwatch Newspaper along with advisor Mr. Hyer attended the Harvard Crimson Journalism Conference at Harvard University. I was lucky enough to have this amazing opportunity to learn about journalism.
    We arrived at the conference at 9:30 in the morning and were welcomed by members of the Harvard Crimson newspaper, the nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.
    Along with several classmates, I started off my day by attending a workshop called "Techniques for News Writers". During the workshop, we learned what it takes to be a good writer. The leader of our session then sent us outdoors on an assignment to ask people what they plan to do for Halloween. The other students and I talked to people from all over the world including the US, South Africa, and England. We learned a lot about the culture of each person during the interviews. Interviewing people taught us how to be sharp with our interview skills. It also allowed us to become more comfortable interviewing people. This was an extremely rewarding assignment and exercise that truly showed us how to use our reporting skills. After the interviews, we went back to the Harvard Crimson headquarters and wrote articles about Halloween as experienced by people from around the world.
    Later in the afternoon, we had two classes that were an hour each. I went to a class about writing for magazines and capturing the culture of campus life. I learned a lot about feature stories and how to improve my writing skills. It inspired me with some great ideas of what to write about at school. I also took a videography class. This class taught me what I could do to provide students with multimedia videos on our websites. Each Harvard student that taught classes during the day really inspired all of us.
    We also listened to keynote speaker David Abel who is a staff reporter for the Boston Globe. We heard his inspiring story of how he became a journalist and his experiences in the world of journalism. We also had the chance to ask him questions. He told each of us that we are extremely lucky to have this opportunity to attend the journalism conference at Harvard, and he wishes that he could have attended it when he was starting out as a journalism student.
    We had a great day in Cambridge and definitely learned a lot. I never would have had the opportunity to do anything like this if it wasn't for the Sturgis Stormwatch and the Harvard Crimson reaching out to us. It was an experience like no other, and I was so fortunate that I had this opportunity. I certainly hope to attend the conference again! From driving up to Cambridge with Mr. Hyer, eating lunch and dinner with Sturgis classmates, taking classes, and walking around Harvard, this experience was unforgettable.  

Sturgis East Sweeps West in Evening Showdown

By Kevin Agostinelli and Miguel Cruz, staff reporters

Sturgis East sports kicked off the week in emphatic fashion, beating Sturgis West in boys’ junior varsity and varsity soccer, girls’ varsity soccer, and field hockey on Monday night, October 22. All four games were important for the team as a whole but especially important for the seniors, having played in their final night games in their Sturgis sports careers. As expected from such high-stakes rivalry matchups, all the games were filled with intensity, non-stop action, and a lot of goals. 

The Sturgis girls’ field hockey team achieved a solid 1-0 win over Sturgis West on Monday afternoon. Although the Storm struggled to take hold of the game, senior captain Abbie Titcomb scored the only goal to lead her team to victory. “We didn’t have a good start but once we got into our ‘game mode’ we did really well,” sophomore Laurenn Dedecko explained, “Overall the game went well and we were able to get a positive result against our rivals Sturgis West.” Despite the win, the girls improved their record to just 2-10 after a trying season abundant with narrow losses and missed opportunities. They hope to keep up the momentum and sweeten their record against Nauset later this week. 

Meanwhile, the JV boys’ soccer team had a great game against West and won 5-2. With Aaron Nadler, Ahmad Akkawi and Taylor Scott contributing to the scoreline, the JV had a great match. “We worked hard for this win,” sophomore Aaron Nadler stated, “ We wanted it more than they did and I think that’s what put us in this position. Overall we beat them and contributed to the sweep.” In the game Aaron was a star player, scoring two goals and directing his team to victory. Freshman Ahmad Akkawi also scored two goals, while freshman Taylor Scott hit the back of the net successfully after many attempts. Although Sturgis West scored 2 goals, they failed to take advantage of their own opportunities and were essentially dominated by Sturgis East. 

At Old Townhouse Field, the Sturgis East girls’ soccer team became one step closer to the state tournament with a commanding 4-2 win over Sturgis West. Senior Hayara Cardoso and junior Brittany Gayton led the attack for the Storm, each scoring two goals to put the game beyond all doubt even with the West girls fighting back with two goals. Hayara was aided by assists from senior Sara Sweeten and junior April Schaefer, while the speedy forward also helped set up one of Brittany Gayton’s goals. “Playing against West is always fun, and it’s definitely a friendly rivalry but a rivalry nonetheless,” Hayara Cardoso remarked, “I feel like we gave them a good fight this year and proved that we deserved to come out on top.” The girls now have a record of 4 wins, 5 losses, and 2 draws, needing just six more points in their final few games to qualify for the state tournament. 

East’s boys soccer ended Monday night with a bang under the lights of Old Townhouse Field. With a final score of 2-0, the boys walked away with giant grins and giant hugs from the loud and supportive fans. Sturgis East seemed to dominate the first 15 minutes of the game with quick passes and good communication, but the score was 0-0 at halftime. However, within a few minutes after the start of the second half, junior midfielder Jonny Gomes scored off a pass from Dylan Steven. Sturgis West’s goalkeeper never stood a chance on the second goal scored by senior Aidan Fitzsimons, who hit a perfect volley off a cross from junior Alex Smith. Sturgis East celebrated after the game was over, and the rivalry series during the regular season was officially won by the Storm, two games to one.

A Wild Week for the Storm

By Jacob Tobey, staff reporter

On a cold Monday afternoon on October 15, the Sturgis Girls Varsity Soccer team felt good after a 4-1 win against CCA at Old Town House Field in Yarmouth, the home field for the Storm.  As usual, the offense, which is key to the Storm’s success, was a force scoring 4 goals in the first half.  Forward Brittany Gayton scored 2 goals, adding to her team leading 9 goals.  Hayara Cardoso then scored two more in the first half and at the half it was 4-0.  Monique Legault was near perfect in net, just letting in one goal half way through the second half.  She injured her hand when CCA scored.   She got taken out of the game, and is most likely done playing goalie for the Storm this season, but can still be an important piece to the puzzle on the field.   

Their next opponent was a team that always gives them trouble:  Nantucket.  The game was one Wednesday, October 17.  The last time the Storm played them, it was a blowout for Nantucket, winning 9-0, but this time, Sturgis’ defense was solid. The Storm lost 3-0, but the loss was a big improvement from the last time they played Nantucket.  “We played really well,” said defender Rowen McEnaney, who was one of the bright spots on defense for the Storm to keep the Nantucket offense to a minimum.
Their last game of the week was Friday the 21st.  With the state tournament looming, the Storm had to come out with either a tie or a win.  They ended up tying South Shore Christian Academy 0-0.  Again, this was a showcase game for the Storm’s defense.  Each and every game this season, it seems the defense has gotten better.  If this team can make the playoffs, watch out because their young defense can catch you off guard and the offense always a threat to score.