Whittier tech

Whittier Students Attend Above the Influence Presentation on Substance Abuse

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Maureen Lynch, Superintendent
115 Amesbury Line Road
Haverhill, MA 01830

For Immediate Release

Monday, Nov. 5, 2018

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Whittier Students Attend Above the Influence Presentation on Substance Abuse

Left to right: Whittier School Resource Officer Jamey Landry, Jean Walker, domestic violence advocate, Lea Forster, mental health counselor, emergency medical technician Kirk Brigham and Colin LePage. (Courtesy Photo Whittier)

HAVERHILL — As part of Whittier’s ongoing efforts to curb drug and alcohol abuse, students attended a special Above the Influence presentation last week to hear from people directly affected by substance abuse.

The Above the Influence campaign is made up of advisers from both Whittier and Haverhill High School and brings programs and activities to students to educate them on the harmful effects of drug and alcohol and the importance of making healthy decisions.

On Monday, Oct. 29, students in grades nine through 12 attended a presentation in Whittier’s auditorium to listen to a community impact panel made up of first responders and community members who have experience with substance abuse.

The panel included Jean Walker, who supports victims of domestic violence; Colin LePage, whose son died from a drug overdose three years ago; emergency medical technician Kirk Brigham; Lea Forster, a mental health counselor who helps youth affected by substance use disorders; and Haverhill Police Officer Jamey Landry, Whittier’s School Resource Officer.

Panel members touched on a number of topics, and explained that when teens use substances, it often leads to a lifetime of struggle with addiction. Forster added that those who turn to drugs to cope with stressful situations should look into alternatives, like listening to music, talking to a friend or trusted adult and even interacting with a pet.

“Everyone in this room has a lot to offer,” Forster said. “Substances cloud over that. You matter very much to your friends and family and you aren’t able to fully show up in your life if you are using drugs or alcohol.”

Walker also touched on how many domestic violence calls stem from drug or alcohol abuse, while LePage shared a heart wrenching account of his son’s struggle with addiction, which eventually took his life.

“Listening to the father who lost his son made me think it’s important to get help and not take anyone for granted,” said freshman Madison Griffin, of Haverhill.

Twice a day in Haverhill, EMTs are called to revive a person who has overdosed, and more than 30 people die each year from drug use in the city, Brigham explained. Programs like Whittier’s Above the Influence are working to curtail these numbers by assisting those at risk of struggling with addiction early on.

“The research shows that getting help in the teen years has the best outcome,” Forster added. “Changes in the brain caused by addictive substances can make it more difficult to stop later in life.”

At the end of the presentation, students were asked to seek help for themselves and friends who need it. Some students were visibly moved by the information presented and said it made them think about family members or friends who are suffering from a substance use disorder.

“It was a touching presentation,” said freshman Travis Lane, of Merrimac. “It’s hard to watch people I care about make mistakes. I can’t imagine losing someone.”

Whittier’s Above the Influence program is run by Physical Education and Health Instructor Roxanne Grover, English Teacher Katy Parsons, math teacher Elizabeth Teixeira and history teacher Stephanie Hatchell. It is paid for through the Shannon Community Safety Initiative, a state-wide program to address gang and youth violence.

Brigham and LePage are also members of The Haverhill Overdose Prevention and Education (HOPE) Task Force.

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Whittier Tech Students Double As Monsters During Haunting Hours at Canobie Lake Park

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Maureen Lynch, Superintendent
115 Amesbury Line Road
Haverhill, MA 01830

For Immediate Release

Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Whittier Tech Students Double As Monsters During Haunting Hours at Canobie Lake Park

HAVERHILL — During the day, Whittier Tech seniors Jada Wood and Brittany Chaput are engaged in classroom and shop activities, but at night, they are monsters who will gleefully terrify you in the dark.

For the second year in a row, the two have seasonal jobs as actors at Canobie Lake Park’s Halloween attraction, Screemfest.

About 100 actors, most of them in high school, work in the park’s five haunted houses, which are linked together with a walking path and attract thousands of patrons each year. The house sets are built among the amusement park rides, which are open during the haunted event.

Chaput, of Haverhill, is stationed in one of five houses known as Facility 235, where she wears a lab coat and others are in Hazmat suits and gas masks suffering from the fallout of a nuclear explosion. The unluckier ones have chemical burns, their mottled skin melting down their faces.

“The best part is when you scare someone so badly they run out of the complex and you have this great feeling like you did your job well,” Chaput said. “It’s so much fun.”

Wood, of Haverhill, is part of The Culling. Her creepy character has joined the cult and she enjoys staring at people with monstrous, dark eyes.

“If guests talk to me, I speak in a slow, monotone voice as if I don’t have a soul,” she said. “Sometimes I giggle because I’m unstable. I freak them out.”

Guests also walk through the Carnivus House, the carnival that came to town and never left, and the clowns ate the customers; The Canobie Lake Hotel, which has been abandoned since the early 1900s because its guests were never seen nor heard from again; and The Village, where horrific mining accidents have occurred.

During dress rehearsals, the actors are given some direction by house leaders, but much of their character interpretation is up to them. Both Wood and Chaput have performed in school plays at Whittier and have fond memories of attending Screemfest as children.

“We make a lot of great friends among our eccentric personalities,” Wood said. “We’re all creatively morbid.”

Screemfest actors report to a makeup trailer 15 to 30 minutes before the show to have fake blood, gelatin, latex, and even horns applied to their faces. Their appearances are so creepy, sometimes, they scare each other. During a dress rehearsal, Wood freaked when she saw girl lying in a pool of blood in a bathtub.

“It takes something special to excel at this kind of work,” Chaput said. “We’re all a little weird. We love Halloween.”

Screemfest runs Friday through Sunday through Oct. 27. Admission is $35 on Fridays, $42 on Saturdays and $34 on Sundays and includes all rides and shows by tribute bands. The houses are open from 6-11p.m. on Friday and Saturdays, and Sunday from 6-9 p.m. Outdoor haunts open at nightfall.

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Whittier Tech Students Place in National SkillsUSA Competition

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Maureen Lynch, Superintendent
115 Amesbury Line Road
Haverhill, MA 01830

For Immediate Release

Friday, July 6, 2018

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Whittier Tech Students Place in National SkillsUSA Competition

HAVERHILL — Superintendent Maureen Lynch is pleased to announce that two Whittier Tech teams earned bronze medals at the SkillsUSA national competition last week.

Students who earned gold at the SkillsUSA state competition in April moved onto the national round on June 25-30 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Whittier Tech rising seniors Larissa Havey, of Amesbury, Emily Shal, of Amesbury, and Allasandra Thompson, of Haverhill, earned bronze for their career pathways showcase in health occupations for their “Music and Memory” program, which benefits patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in nursing homes.

“I have never felt so much joy in my life, not only being able to represent my school, but being able to care for these residents. We put so much time and effort in trying to improve their quality of life,” said Havey. “Overall, Kentucky wasn’t about winning. It was about getting to experience this joy and memories with the people.”

Graduating seniors Tyler Paolucci, of Georgetown, Jacklyn Verrette, of Haverhill, and Mackenzie Maguire, of Merrimac, also earned bronze in the career pathways showcase in the industrial and engineering technology cluster for their CAD design of Whittier’s new Allied Health Center.

“I am beyond happy to have placed. When I heard that our team earned bronze, I felt like I was going to the moon I jumped so high,” Paolucci said. “This was a six-month long project and the outcome is amazing. We love Whittier so much and as seniors we wanted to leave our mark on the school somehow, so this new Allied Health Center really has our spin on it.”

During the competition, students presented their projects to a panel of judges and were judged in a number of areas, including speaking skills, community impact, demonstration of technical skills and integration of business and industry.

“The six students who placed in the national competition demonstrated unbelievable teamwork, commitment and passion throughout their projects and over the last several months participating in SkillsUSA,” said Whittier’s SkillsUSA Co-adviser Jane Moskevitz. “Our teams had some stiff competition from 40 other teams and for them to place is reflective of the superb work they completed. They should be proud, and know that they have the academic and technical skills to excel outside of Whittier.”

Rising seniors Kaitlyn Cook, Ethan Rousseau and Adam Bellville — all of Haverhill — also have reason to be proud of their work in the chapter display category. This season marked the first time in 16 years that Whittier entered a team in this section of the competition, with the three earning seventh place out of 44 teams. Projects had to represent this year’s theme — “Job-Ready Day One.”

“Just to make it to nationals is an accomplishment, and these students should be so proud of their hard work,” Moskevitz said. “We’ve learned so much this year just seeing what other teams produced and we’re confident we’ll be back next year.”

SkillsUSA is a partnership of vocational-technical and career students, teachers and industry leaders who work together to promote and ensure a skilled workforce in the U.S. More than 395,000 middle school, high school and college students and professional members are enrolled in training programs in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.

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U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Visits Whittier Tech for Memorial Day Presentation

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Maureen Lynch, Superintendent
115 Amesbury Line Road
Haverhill, MA 01830

For Immediate Release

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Visits Whittier Tech for Memorial Day Presentation

HAVERHILL — As Whittier Tech students prepare for Memorial Day weekend, they were reminded of the significance of the holiday at a presentation this week led by retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Mike Devin — a speaker for the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes program.

A nonprofit organization, Massachusetts Fallen Heroes honors soldiers from the state who have been killed in combat and supports their Gold Star families. Since 9/11, 286 soldiers from Massachusetts have lost their lives, including five from Haverhill and one graduate from Whittier Tech, Evan O’Neill, who died at age 19 in 2003, fighting in Afghanistan.

Principal Chris Laganas welcomed students and staff to the assembly in the gymnasium on Monday, May 21. Whittier’s chorus sang, “The Star Spangled Banner” and a moving video leading up to Devin’s speech showed Gold Star family members talking about their loved ones and the recognition they deserve.

“Amid the barbecues, take a moment to reflect upon those who sacrificed their lives for our country,” Devin told students. “Take a moment to look up and think about Pvt. First Class Evan O’Neill who sat in this same gym.”

Gathered together on the bleachers, more than half of Whittier’s 1,300 students raised their hands when asked if they had a family member who has served in the military. “If your family member made it home, they were lucky,” Devin said.

As part of his presentation to Whittier, Devin shared how he enlisted in the Marine Corps after college when he saw members honor his dad at his funeral.

“It was a sense of camaraderie I wanted to be part of,” he said.

The day before he shipped out to Afghanistan he received news that one of his close friends had stepped on a roadside bomb and lost both of his legs. He was dispatched to the same location, and eventually stepped on an improvised explosive device himself, but luckily it did not detonate.

He spent a year in Afghanistan training Afghan soldiers, followed by four years in Mexico where he trained infantry to fight the drug cartels.

After the assembly, students said they appreciated the overall message and several approached Devin to shake his hand.

“I thought it was nice the way he mentioned Evan O’Neill, and how he told us to enjoy the day, but thank everyone we see who served, to just say thank you for their service,” said freshman Keily Martinez, of Haverhill. “I also liked hearing how the Gold Star families support each other.”

Members of Whittier’s Student Government, led by advisers James Donahue, Jr. and Andrew Cherouvis, brought the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes program to Whittier.

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