The First Two Months of School and… What the Heck Happened?

By Abby Boyle Ok, so first quarter is over, but what the heck happened in Branford High School in September and October? Every student knows that there has been some major events at Branford High to break up the routine of our everyday lives. And even though we all know the behavior at Branford High can showcase some of the worst in is, there is still plenty of good to be proud of. The First month It’s September and we all were dreading coming back to school because, well, it’s school. But we all sucked it up and end up coming back. And we all soon started getting used to our teachers and started to get into the flow of a new year. Fall sports, and clubs started and it finally started to feel like school again. But when it really started to feel like Branford High was when the first fight/fights occurred. And particularly this year there were fights that happened one after another and seemed to gather more attention than anything else. From the fight in the A-wing to the multiply ones in the cafeteria, and all the other fights that seem to happen, we were all talking about them (because we are teenagers and people broadcast everything). Yet, after the fights finally cooled down, the topic soon dwindled down and we all kept going through the motions of school. The Hurricanes And while we were living or normal lives as teenagers in high school, America was getting hit hard by two major hurricanes that devastated many areas including Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico. That’s when Branford High did something very inspiring – students started to help. Clubs, and sports all wanted to give back and give help to the victims of hurricane Harvey and Irma. And the way the whole community of Branford helped out was truly inspiring to see. Student Council, in particular, did a fundraiser where the study body could pay to vote on which teacher they would like to pie in the face. Teachers nominated were, Dr. Chen, Mr. Hinrichs, Ms. Loesche, and Mr. Watts. And with that array of teachers, everyone wanted to donate. The way that we all got involved in donating to the victims was something I personally thought that Branford High could not accomplish. But it was a very pleasing shock to see how Branford students wanted to give back. In the end, the Student Council raised over 100 dollars just in change given by students. And from that September was soon over and then we entered October. The Second Month It was officially Halloween season, but that also means quarter one ending on October 25(yikes). Which means more teachers trying to give in last minute tests, and students freaking out about their grades and begging the teacher for extra credit. It was crunch time in every class, and everyone stressed out to the max(aka me).Then someone how the beginning of October just flew by , and I saw my deadlines getting closer and closer and somehow October 25 came and the world didn’t end. Everything was ok. The Bomb Threat But then it was October 26 and it was technically the “first day” of second quarter and just like out of nowhere, there was a bomb threat. It came as a shock in period 3 when Mr. Panagoulias came on the loudspeaker and told us all to remain silent, walk single file down to the football field, and to NOT go to our lockers. We all knew nothing about the situation but we could tell that it was not a drill. You heard people saying through the halls a lot of unfounded theories – “It’s a shooter” “There was a bomb at East Haven” “He has a gun to his head.” But mostly kids were saying “Lol, who cares at least we get to leave this hell hole.” Then in a matter of 5 minutes the whole school was on the football field and scrambling around asking friends and teachers about what is going on. Soon after, Mr. Panagoulias came back on the loudspeaker and said: “Branford High has got a call from someone saying that they will bomb the school. So as a matter of precautions, we need to evacuate the building, and head to Walsh.”  Cue the screams of joy from the entire student body. And even though everyone was soo excited to leave school, the fact that someone threatened to bomb our school is an extremely terrifying thought. A situation like this has never happened to Branford High, and even though most bomb threats are a “joke” it still doesn’t mean that this one could have been serious. In the world we are living in today you don’t joke about situations like this, and no matter what your view is on the situation everyone knows that we live in a scary world, with terrible people in it. And even though everything ended up ok, no one knew what was going to happen in the moment. So not matter if you thought the situation was scary, or a complete joke I’m sure many students will not forget this memory. But the building was searched and we got the OK from the police that we could re-enter the building. Finally Halloween On October 27 we all had to come back to school and live our regular lives and somehow keep moving on. Which we did. Sports teams still met, teachers still gave out test, and we all had to keep going. Then on October 30 we all woke up to no school due to a wind storm that hit the East Coast the night before. It was a bittersweet feeling for most because we get a freebie from school, but we now are getting out on June 1st instead of May 31. As of now. But again Branford High had to keep going on the next day. It was Halloween and we didn’t let anything from keeping us from dressing up. And this year’s array of costumes were pretty interesting. We even got one sophomore dress up in a full T-Rex outfit. So that’s a win for Branford High right there. And Halloween was a very interesting day at Branford High, we had an array of costumes, teachers giving out candy, and…. another fight. Recap But that’s just Branford High, we have our ups, but we also have our downs. And just think that all of what was talked about was just in the first two months. Just think what is going to happen in the next two months, or the rest of the year. Let’s hope that we have more ups than downs for the rest of the year.