Spirit Skatepark History

The Spirit Skatepark was built in memory of two Hopkinton high school graduates that died in March 2000. The two victims enjoyed skateboarding, therefore the Spirit Skatepark was dedicated by the Shumway and Carr families. Both families raised over $300,000 in materials, donations, and volunteer labor, the skate park has no cost to the town. Deb Nicholson of the skateboard park committee, donated $5,000 to to the town for future maintenance.

People from all over New Hampshire travel to the Spirit Skate Park because it's one of the nicer parks in the area. The park has been open for years attracting little kids on tricycles to professional BMXers and skateboarders.

By:Anastasia Anderson and Shannah Kimball

Ground Zero

by Katy White

For those of you who do not already know, Ground Zero is an all ages music venue located in Suncook, NH. Ground Zero was organized for teens and bands that want a place to perform or listen to good music. Ground Zero is funded by its owners, and it is not associated with any other organization. The facility itself is 4,000 sq. ft.

As a kid, the owner of Ground Zero was heavily influenced by “negative rock music,” which promotes violence and hatred. This lead him to shoplifting and getting kicked out of public school before he turned 13. He said, “My rebellion was primarily based around the messages I was feeding my young mind at the time, through music I was pumping into myself. Music played a huge role in the hurting teen I had become, and at age 15 I was turned onto Christian rock. It changed my outlook about everything.”

Which brings us to the reason Ground Zero was formed. Ground Zero was started in 1996. It is unique because it does not invite bands to perform whose lyrics promote suicide, drug use, or violence. It’s main objective is to be a place where kids can come to find hope.

Despite the fact that most teens DO listen to music that promotes violence, drugs, and sex, Ground Zero is actually a very fun place to go. The music is very good. The bands are typically very loud; sometimes there are “screamo” bands who perform. The music is usually so good that the lyrics are completely ignored.

I would strongly suggest to anyone who sits at home on a Friday or Saturday night, to go to Ground Zero and check it out. Admission is $10, which may seem like a lot, but once you get there and you hear how good the music is, $10 for a couple of hours of great music won’t seem like a lot. Shows at Ground Zero start at 8:00 pm, and usually go until 10:30 or 11:00. Aside from being a good place to hear upcoming bands, it’s also a great place to meet people and make new friends.

Goal Setting and Responsibility

by Kayti Komisarek

“We can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world – and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put it to hard work it takes to succeed. That’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.” This is a paragraph from the speech Obama gave Tuesday September 8^th, 2009 at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, directed to all students, from kindergarten to 12^th grade. Obama’s speech was about goal setting, responsibility and staying in school, because if you don’t stay in school, you are giving up on your dreams and your future. Obama’s speech was very influential and he made a lot of good points. Goal setting can be very important and benefit everyone. Completing your goals and staying on task can help build responsibility.

No one should ever give up on a hopes or dreams, no one should ever quit school. You may think you have a tough life, and have so many decisions to make, but there will always be someone with more troubles then you. Setting a goal can help you stay on task and make good decisions, even if it is a small goal. Say you set a goal for this school year, like to never get any lower then a C+ in all of your classes. That is a goal that can keep you on track, so when all of your friends ask you to go out to the movies or the mall, you would choose to stay home and do your homework first, because staying committed to a goal is important. At the end of the year when you look at your grades you will feel good about yourself because you stayed committed to that goal. It is also nice to have motivational people around you. You never know what you are capable of until you try and you want to learn from your teachers and parents and possibly other students around you who may know more then you.

“The is being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject that you study. You won’t click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. J.K. Rowling’s – who wrote Harry Potter – her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordon was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed.”’ Obama brought this up because it is true; these people are famous and successful because they never took no for an answer. They believe in themselves. Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean that you never will. If you are having trouble there will always be someone there that is more then willing to help you, whether it is a best friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, parent, aunt or uncle, guidance counselor, anyone who truly cares about you and wants to see you succeed will be there. Remember you are the future of America and how you learn will affect the country one day.

Sierra Leone: Schools in Need of Help

by Katelyn Komisarek


In 2002 Sierra Leone ended an eleven yearlong civil war. In 1991 the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) started the war under the command of Foday Sankoh, Abu Ahmaed, and Pashid Mansaray. Before this many students, including Sankoh, Ahmed and Mansaray, were expelled from the country, not listing a reason why. Sankoh, Ahmaed and Mansaray fled to Ghana then Libya where they attended a military training facility, recruiting people along the way. Control of Sierra Leone’s diamond industry was a main objective in the war. In 1998 Sierra Leone was ranked the poorest country in the world, and as of 2008 they only have a per capita GDP of seven hundred dollars, that means on average a working person will make seven hundred dollars a year. Diamond mining is their main export, so they easily opened up to the trafficking of firearms and ammunition, and soon following that drugs.


The nation took a huge hit from all of this and is now struggling to get back up on their feet. Kids in this nation need a good education. Teachers from rundown public schools are leaving to go to private schools where they get paid better and on time most of the time. Private schools offer, by far, a better education. On most occasions, kids that graduate from a private school can afford to be sent out west for further education, usually in England or the United States, but most of these kids will return to help their country.


Even though public school is free a lot of families struggle to by books, supplies, and the uniforms needed for school. Luckily a lot of countries support struggling nations like Sierra Leone and send them backpacks and supplies so it can cut down the families expenses and what they have to buy. In a recent count 375,000 kids are out of school, mostly girls. These kids will get jobs to help their families and some girls will get married young with no idea how this will affect them later in life.

The current President Ernest Bai Koroma, who was once for a short period of time a teacher himself, finds disappointment in the nation’s failing school system. He has made many recommendations to help the school system but so far nothing has been done. The nation showed very poor results in two public tests given competing against other schools in West Africa, the President found these results unacceptable. The nation may be seeing a turn around and a lot of help from natives and other countries. Former child soldier Ishmael Beah built a school in his village through his foundation, he also donated $22,000 to help fight illiteracy and make a good education accessible and available, especially to the mentally and physically challenged kids and orphans.

Boys Varsity soccer

Hopkinton boys Varsity shuts out a Stevens Bird Pack 2-0

Hopkinton remains 6-1-1 after traveling up to Stevens to play the Cardinals. The game was mostly controlled by the Hawks who swarmed the net throughout the entire first half coming up empty handed with the score 0-0 at the end of the half. The Hawks saw a faint gleam of light 5 minutes into the second half as Carter Rouleau scored to put the Hawks on the board.

With time passing the Hawks looked for another goal Brooks Wood and Robby Keileg combined their efforts setting up Tim Glanville to deliver a go ahead goal putting the Hawks up by two. they went on to win comfortably 2-0 clinching a second place spot in the League standings.

Would You Ever WWOOF?

by Christina Hurley

Traveling has become so expensive and most of time very complicated, especially when you are a young adult and want to travel the world. You may want to travel alone, and experience it all for yourself, or maybe you would like to go with a few friends. Well there is an easy way to travel inexpensively and get a cultural experience without worrying about where you are staying or how you're getting your next meal.

WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is the best kind of trade-off you will ever get. All you do is pay for your flight, and they provide you with a warm home, food and company. In return, you give them a few hours of work each day on the farm, and you have weekends off. There is no certain length your stay needs to be, or how many people can go; and no limit on how much fun you can have. There really is no limit to where in the world you can go.

All you have to do is go on their website, and choose a country. Once you have picked a place, you read through the list of families and what they have to offer you. There is a huge range of things you can do, working in a gallery selling pottery, building a chicken coop, caring for the family kids, milking cows, collecting chicken eggs, making family meals or building stone walls. The possibilities are endless. Usually the families provide the WWOOFers with transportation so you can explore the surrounding cities or towns. Being a WWOOFer is one of the best ways to discover yourself, where you might want to live, or maybe what you want to do for the rest of your life. You never know, you might just find peace and serenity living on your own organic farm.

End of Prohibition

Colin Amoth

“The ‘War on Drugs’ is a disastrous policy that achieves none of its aims and inflicts huge damage on global security and governance wherever it is prosecuted.”

This has now become the voice of many elder statesmen, senior law enforcement officers, intellectuals, and philanthropists all over the globe.

Now places such as Vancouver B.C., Ciudad Juarez, and The Helmand Province in Afghanistan are speaking out for the end of what they believe to be a horrible waste of government money, the prohibition of narcotics. There arguments include that a government-regulated market would bring in huge tax revenues and would take them out of the hands of not-so-friendly suppliers such as the mafia or gangs.

Even in the United States organizations such as LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) are speaking up the war on drugs. They state that they don’t like the idea of putting millions of dollars into the hands of dangerous drug cartels and the even Taliban.

Yes, even the Taliban is profiting from the prohibition. One of their main sources of funding is the dealing and selling of opium products, which now has an inflated cost thanks to the war on drugs.