In spite of the highly intensive academics characteristic of Derry-field, many students have made an effort to work outside of the classroom. Entrepre-neurial pursuits have allowed students to make real world con-nections, apply life skills and plan for a future in a particular field.

One student, Arthur Krogman, an enterpris-ing Derryfield junior, doesn’t mind getting his

hands dirty when it comes to his egg sales business. Roughly four months ago, Arthur purchased twelve hens in order to provide his family with fresh eggs. It wasn’t long before he easily met the needs of his family and Arthur made the decision to sell the eggs at school. While Krogman’s busi-ness seems simple from the consumer’s point of view, raising chickens is an exacting commit-ment as he must clean the coop, feed the chickens, and gather

eggs daily, all while keeping up with the rigors of Derryfield academics.

Arthur looks on it op-timistically, however: “I’m having a great time so far,” he says. “I would definitely rather be [taking care of my chickens for two and a half hours a week] than watching a TV show or playing video games.” While the grassroots business has not proven highly lucrative, Krog-man finds himself rich

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Lamplighter

Student-Run Businesses Jesse Fortier

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The College Process: Juniors and Seniors Speak

Cait Gillett

As seniors continue to receive college decisions and juniors begin the pro-cess, some students reflect on the college process as a whole. Here are some quick facts: Elizabeth Al-iotta ’12 was one of the lucky seniors that only applied to one school. On the other hand Jamie Cor-dova ’12 applied to four-teen. Margaux Joselow ’12 also only applied to one school. Cordova and Jose-

low took both the SAT and the ACT and they participated in tutoring or a prep course. Aliotta took the ACT and used the as-sistance of a tutor. Both Joselow and Cordova had outstanding interviews and said it definitely helped them show the school that they are interested, and they got to ask any ques-tions they had too.

Cont p 3

Local/Environmental 2

Mock Trial 3

Chinese Play 4

ACTA/SOPA 5

Ms Josephson 6

Leap Year Fun Facts 7

Course Selection 8

Sports 10

Inside this issue:

Human Interest 11

Locavores and Environmentalists

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with satisfaction. Arthur pro-fesses that he’s “a lot more proud of the money made selling eggs than any other money that comes [his] way.” Krogman finds the connec-tions that he has forged far more valuable. “It definitely gives me connections to oth-er teachers… You get to know people personally and professionally.” A highlight included selling his first doz-en eggs to Dr. Pook, who spends his time whipping up gourmet food in the kitchen when outside of the class-room. Krogman hopes that his business will pave the way for a future in sustainable

“GreenTV,” is essentially a converter box that has made it possible for users to recycle old computer monitors and use them as television screens.

Saniya’s work undeniably offers a promising future to the disposal of technology. Saniya and her partner won the coveted International Gold Green Apple Award. This success did not come without much hard work and commitment, however. See-ing as the company is solely officiated by a pair of teens, “There is a significant time commitment,” Shah

Cont p 5

agriculture. “[I’d like to raise] not only chickens, but other livestock, and I want to get into growing my own food,” he says.

Another student, Saniya Shah ’12, has launched a fledgling business of her own. Her “Green Chilies” non-profit company dually takes a stand against child labor and serves the environment, as she takes a green approach to recycling technology. “Our mission is to provide green technolo-gies, prototypes and ideas to interested communities worldwide,” says Shah. Their first project, the patented

Many people talk about buy-ing local products and how it helps our economy. At the same time, people talk about how everyone should be en-vironmentally conscious. How exactly are the local movement and the environ-mental movement connect-ed? I wanted to see how peo-ple in the Derryfield commu-nity responded to this ques-tion, so I went on a hunt for the environmentally con-scious.

In many cases, buying locally can help the environment, but there can also be cases in which buying non-local prod-ucts is actually better for the environment. But what did

members of the Derryfield Community have to say about buying locally? Should we buy local to benefit the environment, or simply not think about where products come from?

The main reason that local products are better for the environment is because they are transported a much short-er distance; therefore they have a smaller carbon foot-print by the time they reach you. When it comes to food, Ms. Jipson says:

I like the idea of paying for the product rather than the transportation cost, and buy-ing local often equates to

food that is more sustainably raised. If I am a farmer who does not need to ship my tomatoes across the country, then I can raise varieties that are more tender, for example: fewer chemical additives to prolong shelf life, etc.

Ms. Jipson brings up two valid points: “Paying for the product rather than the trans-portation cost” is a great con-cept that most people don’t think about. So much of what we pay for every item we buy goes to cost of fuel for trans-

porting what we purchase. By procuring local items we can cut the amount we pay for the shipment of what we buy

Cont p 4

Student-Run Businesses continued

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“Spelunking is not Murder”: Mock Trial 2012

Madie White

As most students know, the Derryfield Mock Trial team had a meet in Nashua on the weekend of February nine-teenth. Although they did not leave with a win, there were many memorable moments.

The Derryfield team dealt with a murder case that in-volved an artist, environmen-tal activists, and a car compa-ny. The team was responsible for defending an artist named Banks. This artist, who was affiliated with a group of en-vironmental activists, had painted a mural in a car deal-

a car dealership. This car dealership sold Hummer-like cars: the cars that they sell are not environmentally friendly in the least. Apparently, the car dealership was burnt down, and unfortunately while it was being burnt, there was a hobo inside of it who died in the fire. The state immediately turned to the artist, Banks, accusing him of burning the gas-guzzling dealership down.

While facing Bishop Guer-tin’s mock trial team, there came some amusing com-ments that the Derryfield

team responded to quite well. Sophomore Max Smiley used the phrase, “Spelunking is not murder” after a member of the BG team suggested that the artist had used un-derground tunnels to get into the dealership. Another member asked senior Jake Smiley if he had a degree in arson, Jake responded with a negative and the BG team was said to have looked flus-tered.

Congratulations to the Derry-field Mock trial team for their astounding work!

When it came to parent in-volvement, Cordova and Al-iotta thought their parents were helpful. Aliotta said, “My mom helped because she is a math teacher for the math section. And she helped with scholarship apps.” In contrast, Joselow said they were “too involved; they wanted me to apply to other schools early and it added to the stress.” Finding the bal-ance for parents can be tricky; juniors should try to be patient with their parents, particularly if he or she is the oldest child. When reflecting on how the process helped the senior class bond, all the females agreed that after the letters started arriving, it was incredible how supportive the whole class was regardless of

Many seniors are still not sure and most schools won’t make students declare their major until sophomore year.

Cordova recommended that juniors start their applications and essays earlier, even over the summer. Joselow said, “I would spend less time stress-ing out and more time filling out the applications.” Juniors, please keep both of these suggestions in mind as you begin the college process. Thank you, seniors, for all of your hard work! Good luck juniors, remember that senior year will have fun times too!

the decisions that came. Cor-dova responded, “Yes, [it brought the seniors closer], because it was not a competi-tion, and everyone is very supportive of each other.”

The junior class has just be-gun the process. Erin Jackson ’13 said that she has fifteen schools on her list. She plans to take both the SAT and the ACT and do plenty of prep work. Many juniors are doing college visits this spring. Some, like Jackson, know their major (counseling psy-chology); others are still searching, using books about majors published by the Col-lege Board and the Princeton Review. Juniors should not concern themselves about knowing their exact major.

The College Process Continued

Ms. Jipson’s second point is that typically local food has less chemicals and preserva-tives in them because they get to the consumer much quick-er than exotic food. Not only are fewer chemicals healthier, but they are also better for the environment, because the excess chemicals are not run-ning off into local water sources.

Many times when purchasing food, there may be organic options, but not local op-tions, but which is actually better, local or organic? Mr. Bouton, who is an environ-mentally conscious locavore, says:

It depends on how pesticide treated it is. So for example, organic grapes are preferable to local ones (not that I know too many local growers). Taste still trumps, too, e.g., I prefer the taste of Equal Ex-change French Roast than my neighbor's locally roasted

Coffee. In general, we shop the farmers' markets locally, then go further afield for or-ganic like milk that is more dependable in terms of sup-ply.

For both local and nonlocal food organic is usually an option, especially when con-sidering nonlocal food organ-ic is a great and practical pos-sibility. If one has to be cho-sen over the other, however, that is a hard call. There are arguments and statistics that can lead in both directions.

Sometimes local may not be as environmentally friendly as nonlocal. When purchasing an apple from the grocery store, if it comes from Wash-ington State it has a larger carbon footprint than if it comes from Chile. When the apple comes from Washing-ton it travels on a single eighteen-wheeler truck from coast to coast to get to us at the supermarket. The apple

that comes from Chile travels on a large ship, which has hundreds of containers which all hold the same amount of apples that one truck holds. Then those containers make a short trip from an East Coast port to a supermarket near you.

It seems clear that whenever the term “environmentally friendly” is used, the term “local” cannot be far away. There are people in The Der-ryfield School community, both students and faculty, who have already grasped the concept of mixing being en-vironmentally friendly with being a locavore. This is not just a way of life, but also a skill that other members of the Derryfield community should look at and see. With only a small amount of effort, you too can be an environ-mental locavore.

Local-Environmental Movement Continued

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The Chinese Play

Roz Kennybirch

“I’ve never been in a play before, so I’m a bit nervous to be speaking on stage....especially in Chinese,” admits Arthur Krogman ’13 before the Chinese play, which occurred on February 20th at all-school assembly. Many of the Chinese students

admitted to similar worries; Patrick Hampson ’13 and Lizzie Krogman ’16 both admitted to being “nervous.”

Watching dress rehearsal that week, I saw many students on the stage that I had never before seen in a musical, play,

or talent show. While the students admitted to anxiety, this did not show at all during the rehearsal. Students changed into traditional, col-orful Chinese clothes, put on costumes such as the dragon (which was actually created

Cont p 7

In recent months, America has begun to see a pointed reaction to the preponder-ance of technology that has become so central to our ex-istence. The question of how this flow of information should be monitored lacks a definite answer, and attempts to formulate a plan of regula-tion in recent Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agree-ment (ACTA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) mark significant steps of ac-tion toward this end.

While ACTA is designed as a multinational treaty establish-ing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement and a legally binding treaty prohibiting the trade of counterfeit materials, it also proposed to create a new body to monitor the treaty’s implementation.

The more controversial of the two, SOPA, is designed to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copy-righted intellectual property. Yet this has met dogmatic opposition from many fields as opponents argue that the legislation undermines the first amendment.

Many members of our stu-dent body and faculty have passionate opinions sur-rounding these acts. While Ellie Lynch '12 remarks that she “respects that the govern-ment is making an effort to combat piracy,” many feel that the proposed legislature lies outside the authority of the government alone.

Many students feel very strongly about the issue; jun-ior Keegan Westbrook pro-claimed his belief that all the government wants is to

“make money and destroy people’s lives.”

Of course, not everyone has taken such an extreme stance on the issue—Senior Camer-on Campbell thoughtfully remarked: “I understand the need to balance social and personal interests, and I cer-tainly understand that the government needs to estab-lish a certain degree of con-trol over the industry, but I also feel that they’ve over-stepped their bounds by try-ing to restrict something as widespread as the internet.”

Taking a similarly moderate approach, Allison Lord '12 stated: “I feel like on paper it will stop a lot, but I feel like it will be a little like com-munism where people get wrapped up in their own power and take things too

Cont p 6

An Analysis of ACTA/SOPA

Meg Huckaby

might not be the business that she carries into adult-hood, Saniya feels that “it… has shown me the path I would like to take in life. I think there is a future in [the field of environmental engi-neering], and I would defi-nitely like to keep my work going in this field as I learn more in college.”

There is no doubt that work-ing during high school is in-credibly beneficial in planning for the future. From giving

one leg up on the college ap-plication process to offering aspirant entrepreneurs guid-ance in their first steps to-wards owning a business, work during high school illu-minates the path towards successful business manage-ment. Whether it’s selling organically raised eggs at school or engineering green technological alternatives, every effort counts.

confesses. “During the school year we have to work around our school schedules and have to work after school and on weekends, so that is really where the commitment lies.” While keeping up with the demands of entrepreneur-ship can be grueling, Saniya has found the experience immensely rewarding. “It has taught me so much about being independent and earn-ing something on my own,” she says. While Green Chilies

Student-Run Businesses Continued

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Announced early this winter, Ms. Josephson, Upper School English Teacher, will not be teaching at Derryfield during the spring of 2012. As Ms. Jo explained, she will be having heart surgery to recover from a health issue that she has had for her entire life. Ms. Fedder will be replacing Ms. Jo in American Literature and Composition, and Mr. Bou-ton will replace her by teach-ing Ninth Grade English. These substitutes were cho-sen by Dr. Carter and Ms. Shutz, English Department Chair.

According to Ms. Jo, the cur-riculum will continue as

planned. “Both Mr. Bouton and Ms. Fedder will be fol-lowing the texts and major assignments that are part of the course descriptions,” she stated. But, in her opinion, the teacher isn’t the one teaching when it comes to English. “I try always to have the texts be the teachers of the course. I believe good teaching is more about what a teacher coaxes from her students, rather than what a teacher can put into them.”

Ms. Jo’s surgery will require her to recover through the spring, which explains her short-term absence. When asked what she would miss

the most, she replied: “My students' good humor and deep creativity. You are a smart, loving bunch. Also, building your confidence, skill, power, and individuality is why I'm still teaching; I'll miss that!” Ms. Jo has said many times that the Derry-field community shouldn’t worry about her. “I’m not nervous [for the surgery], but I’ll miss my Derryfield friends and the energy here.”

Ms. Jo will be working through February 29th, and will “feel great in the fall” as she returns to Derryfield’s open arms.

While debate on the bills has quieted in recent weeks as discussion has been suspend-ed for the time being, it will certainly be interesting to see how various opinions mani-fest themselves in the coming presidential elections. Fur-thermore, if and when the acts do pass, we will have to

far.” She continued to point out that checks and balances might be crucial in making such a policy work. Yet see-ing as there have been 20 amendments proposed to water down the legislature, nothing significant has been ratified.

see how our economy re-sponds to people who have lost business due to enforced copyright laws.

Mr. Anthony certainly had an interesting take on the issue when he succinctly ques-tioned, “What is this? 1984?”

ACTA/SOPA Continued

Derryfield Temporarily Says Goodbye to a Beloved Teacher

Lindsay Pollock

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by a student, Lily Steiner ’14), while laughing, talking, and brushing up on their lines.

The play was performed pro-fessionally, complete with dialogue, songs (both sung and played by band mem-bers), and even directed with a stage manager (Everett Si-mon ’13). The main charac-ters, played by Jimmy O’Bri-en ’15, Patrick Hampson ’13, Saniya Shah ’12, Josh Camp-bell ’15, and Sierra Goodson ’14, were all newcomers to the Derryfield auditorium stage. It is inspiring how a cast with little previous expe-rience could come together

to not only deliver a crowd-pleasing play, but a play that was in a foreign language.

Spenser Hukill ’14, honestly says that after watching the play, he “would have been totally lost if it weren’t for the person translating. But they were there, so that was help-ful, [however] a little more prerequisite information would have been more help-ful to understand the story better. Otherwise I really en-joyed it!” Other audience members enjoyed the play as well; Jake Halverson ’14 said, “I thought it was good be-cause it showed a lot of infor-mation about Chinese New

Year.” Decorations in the connector in honor of Chi-nese New Year also brought attention to the play, but more importantly, the Chi-nese language and culture.

Krogman ’13 says, “I think [Mrs. Peterson] wanted to do the play to show how far the Chinese program at Derry-field has come.” The Derry-field “community” ideal shined through as the cast worked to their strengths to create an outstanding show.

Leap Year Fun Facts!

Molly Ferguson

On February 29th, Cory Greer '14 and I celebrated our fifth ever half birthday!

There are a couple tricks for figuring out which years are leap years. Years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2004, 2008, 2012, etc. qualify. However, years that are evenly divisible by 100 aren't necessarily “leap.” If they are evenly divisible by 100, they must also be divisible by 400 to be leap years. For instance, 1900 did not contain a leap year. The year 2000 did though, because it is evenly divisible by 400.

On the Gregorian calendar, February 29th is the 60th day in a leap year.

Famous people born on February 29th:

Herman Hollerith-1860, American statistician Dinah Shore-1916, American singer and actress Bart Stupak- 1952, American congressman Cullen Jones-1984, American freestyle sprint swimmer and Olympic gold medalist

The Chinese Play Continued

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Finally, we move into the last trimester of the year, spring is almost upon us, and we all look to summer. However, before we get too complacent, it would benefit us all to look at the process of choosing our classes for next year with added care, especially Juniors. Having a course list that fits your needs, keeps you from chronically staying up to 3 AM, and possibly even interests you is vital to making it through the school year. Junior year is probably the most challenging year at Derry-field, trying to balance college expectations, a leap in course difficulty, and extracurriculars all in the context of high school. This is the first year that Advanced Placement classes can be taken, as well as the first year where a student can really start to experiment with electives in a whole host of subjects.

Student Opinions on Classes

“I’m definitely glad I took regular history and didn’t overload myself with APUSH. I really enjoy it and still feel like I’m getting a lot out of it.” –Sarah Porat, Junior

“Take SHHS. It’s hard but it’s interesting and definitely worth it.” –Allison Lord, Senior

“If you really liked Chemistry, consider taking AP Chemistry when it’s still fresh in your mind.” –Meg Huckaby, Junior

“Don’t take Physics if you haven’t taken Algebra II.” –Cait Gillet, Senior

“If you like a teacher, take their classes.” –Anna Aboody, Junior

“If you take APLAC, feel free to take electives [senior year]. If you take electives [junior year], take AP Lit.” –Allison Lord, Senior

“Take enough AP's to be challenged, but not enough to be overwhelmed.” –Kelsey Cintorino, Senior

“The amount of knowledge in APUSH is so helpful.” –Ben Moll, Senior

Here are some of the general opinions that have been floating around regarding course choice:

SHHS, according to the senior class, is a class worth taking; it has much less reading than APUSH, but goes into some extraordinary material.

AP Calculus is very similar to regular Calculus, so if you're interested in it, take the AP credit.

There are a lot of unique science electives, including Organic Chemistry and Optics, which in-corporate a lot of intriguing labs.

Junior year English options (AP Lang and Comp, American Lit) have mixed reactions from stu-dents, so ask around before deciding which one to take.

APUSH is regarded to have a major influence on bringing someone’s writing to a college level (all while getting a 4 or a 5 on a AP).

There seems to be a difficulty gap between Regular, Honors, and AP Physics, so definitely make sure you know what you are getting into.

Junior year is a lot of work (actually); senior year is much easier by comparison (even if you take a moderately difficult course load)

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Course Selection: Scheduling Your Life Next Year

Ryan Stevenson

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Independent Studies

If there is something that you are really passionate about that Derryfield doesn’t offer, consider taking an independent study. An independent study, unlike an Independent Senior Project (ISP), is a yearlong or trimester-long course that you create with a faculty advisor, which takes the place of one of your classes. I asked Alex Camerino, a senior, about his Environmental Sustainability study, which he has worked on with Ms. Shutz and Ms. Moyer. Camerino had completed all of the Environmental Studies classes that Derryfield offered in his junior year, and with a gap in his schedule, decid-ed to delve deeper into the topic. In his scheduled block, he “discusses reading with [his] advisor, looks into new events, creates ideas for papers, and reads books of his own choice.” Camerino split his year into three chunks, two for a Histo-ry credit, one as an English (to qualify as a credit, he has to write a predetermined number of essays and complete other work). He finds that it has been a great opportunity to get involved in a passion, and he now regularly updates the Der-ryfield website’s conservation area, and works on presentations as well as Conservation club, of which he is a leader.

AP, Honors, or Regular?

One of the challenges of choosing courses is determining whether to take an AP, Honors, or regular course. AP’s are typically more difficult “college level” courses, where teachers can assign homework over drop days, and where there is the expectation that you take the AP test at the end (it is optional, and choosing whether to take the test is a conversa-tion for you and your teacher). Honors classes, embedded or separate, are seen as faster-paced, more rigorous courses that entail more work. Sometimes a teacher will teach only Honors, sometimes both—in any case be aware of all the details before making a decision. AP’s come with more work, and the consensus seems to be that while they are a great experience and show academic dedication, it is better to do well in a few AP’s than flounder in many – try to balance more difficult classes with regular sections of another subject.

The College Dimension

College is Damocles’ sword that hangs over every junior’s head, adding all sorts of stress to their already hectic lives. While some might discount the weight of your courses in lieu of tests and essays, virtually every college visit I went on stated that the most important aspect of your application is your transcript. I talked to Director of College Counseling Brennan Barnard to hear his view on this process. He says that students should challenge themselves as is appropriate for them, and that a transcript with lots of AP’s with low letter grades does not look good. Most schools that he com-municates with prefer to see a variety of subjects represented--do not leave out history just because you do not like his-tory, for example. Mr. Barnard said that the AP counts more than the grade on the test, but even so, a school will take your classes in the context of Derryfield’s reputation for having challenging courses to begin with.

While it might be tempting to dive into one subject and take loads of electives, Mr. Barnard cautions that schools typi-cally see year-long courses as more rigorous and indicative of more academic dedication--so when you choose courses, be sure to balance out electives (if you really want to take them) with a more difficult yearlong. In general, colleges seem to want to see a course track terminating in four years of a language (preferably the same one), calculus (if possible), three lab sciences (including physics), and other core classes. For rising juniors and seniors concerned about college ap-plication work, Mr. Barnard says, “College takes up as much time as you want it to.”

Scheduling and Credits

It is important to realize that even though you might have your dream class list, the scheduling could conflict—make sure to pay attention to the classes you put the emphasis on getting into, research back-up classes, and try to have an assortment of electives that you would find interesting. Katy Keefe-Hancock is the person to contact regarding schedul-ing concerns. As always, seek out the Department head or specific teacher if you have questions or concerns about course selection and look at the Derryfield Handbook, page 12.

Course Selections Continued

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In its first year as an offi-cial team, Derryfield’s equestrian squad is off to the races. Charlotte Weis-berg ’13 helped to formu-late the team as she real-ized that there are “quite a few other riders” in the community. Weisberg has always craved to “make riding a part of school life and a sports option” and now she and her peers fi-nally have the opportunity.

The team was excited to move from the frustrations of an independent sport to a partitioned, scheduled activity through the school. While the team remains more a collection of indi-vidual riders from fresh-men to seniors, they do try

to practice together as of-ten as possible. Weisberg notes that while each rider trains on his own “almost every day” and practices with a personal coach, they do have required team practices with Coach Jamie Large. In such a mental and individual sport, Large has been “great” for the team chemistry and per-sonal training.

While all the current mem-bers of the team have years of equine experience, Weisberg maintains that the team is open to “all disciplines and abilities” within competition. As the team’s qualification events draw near with shows in April and May, they must

prepare individually and collectively. Qualification does come down to the individual scores, but the team would obviously love to qualify as a whole. And moreover, the top three scores combined from all three of their events will reach the State Meet in May. Despite the team bas-ing itself on “having fun, testing the waters and see-ing how the program works,” Weisberg has great hopes for the team’s suc-cess in competition and encourages students to come and take pictures in their upcoming meets on April 14th, April 28th and May 5th.

And They’re Off!

Ben Moll

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Thanks to our Contributors! Editor in Chief: Maggie Cochrane Managing Editor: Rachel McCoy News Editor: Roz Kenny Birch Human Interest Editor: Jessa Fogel Sports Editor: Ben Moll Layout Editor: Lily Karlin Photography Editor: Raabia Malik Copy Editor: Molly Ferguson Senior Staff: Jesse Fortier, Adam Gray Staff: Cait Gillett, Alex Camerino, Madie White, Meg Huckaby, Lindsay Pollock, Ryan Stevenson, Steph Simonoff, Hannah Spierer, Zoe Morgan, Max Smiley

Got An Opinion?

We Want to Hear It!

Email 12mcochrane@derryfield.org or rmmcoy94@gmail.com

to have YOUR opinions published in Lamplighter!

The word “book” often ignites one of two very dis-tinct feelings: happiness or dread. For teenagers, the latter emotion is very com-mon. We associate the word book with literature, the word literature with school, school with home-work, and homework with boring. Homework also makes us think words like stress, tedious, and work, which of course is included in the terrible word. All of these negative words leave a negative impact of the very first word, book. With all the reading we are forced to do in school, who would want to read outside of school? Geeks like me, actually. I’d like to show you some great books that might spark your interest in hopes the word book in your mind might turn from a negative connotation to a positive one.

I’ll start off with something I’m an expert in: Chick Lit. If any guys are reading this still, walk away now. I can almost guarantee you

won’t be interested. I will admit it freely: I love girly chick books, romance books, all of that stuff! Laugh all you want. When I finish reading Shake-speare for English, I don’t want something very heavy to read; Chick Lit is mind-less entertainment. It’s chocolate: not good for you, but a guilty pleasure nonetheless. The only problem is the cover of these books. They’re pink, they have silly titles, and when my friends see them, they look at me like I’ve lost my mind. There’s no great solution for this problem, but mine was to buy a Kindle so no bright pink covers would ever be on display.

And now for the Chick Lit itself: Lauren Weisberger is a fantastic author who has written The Devil Wears Pra-da, which, as you may know, was made into a movie. She writes about women in their twenties and thirties, but her stories are meant for women six-teen to seventeen and up.

Her best novels include Chasing Harry Winston and Everybody Worth Knowing. Sophie Kinsella is another great author who has writ-ten the Shopaholic Series along with a number of other stories. She always writes in first person and shows the thought process of the main character in a humorous way. I would highly recommend her novel The Undomestic God-dess, about a former lawyer who, upon making an irre-versible mistake at her firm, gets a job as house-keeper in a very wealthy household. The only prob-lem is that she doesn’t know a thing about cook-ing or cleaning. For young readers, I suggest The Clique series by Lisi Harri-son, which I was obsessed with in seventh grade, and Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita, about a famous actress who dress-es in disguise in order to attend a normal high school.

Hope this helped!

Notes from a Bookworm – Chick Lit

Steph Simonoff

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Pisces (February 19 – March 20): As the new moon makes its way into your zone, your creative juices will begin to flow like never before. Take advantage of this opportunity, but don’t be-come too reliant on your imagination; reality is bound to set in sooner or later.

Aries (March 21 – April 19): If you’re feeling like the world has been set on slow motion, try not to let it bother you. Take this time to finish important projects or get ahead on big assign-ments.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20): You may feel inclined to say everything on your mind this week. Sharing your opinions and simply moving on will help you avoid a nasty debate.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20): Emotions of anger and frustration will lead you nowhere this week. Step back from the situation and approach it from a calm and rational point of view.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22): Dreams of getting away from this place may be the first thing on your mind. However, this mindset will only distract you and make you vulnerable to mistakes.

Leo (July 23 – August 22): Your strong aura of independence may come off as intimidating when working on a group project. Try to include everyone and let people help you along the way.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22): Lately, you’ve been feeling as though you cannot trust any-body these days. Give people a chance—they may surprise you.

Libra (September 23 – October 22): You may want to take on a healthier diet in the future. Fol-low your instincts, and don’t be afraid to try new things.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21): Pent-up social tensions may lead to an outburst today. Try to save yourself from a humiliating situation and take some time to think by yourself. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21): Keep your emotions to yourself today. Letting them out may create an awkward situation for yourself and those around you.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19): Someone else’s intentions may make you suspicious this week, but don’t get caught up in trying to decipher other people’s motives. Focus on your-self.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18): Financial worries may be bogging you down, but worry-ing will not solve the issue. Be proactive and fix the situation now before it’s too late.

March Horoscopes

Hannah Spierer

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Conservation Club will be hosting a clothing and sports equipment swap on Wednesday, April 25 from 2:20 - 6:00 p.m. Donate clothing and sports equipment that you no longer use and purchase items from the swap that another person may not need, but you do! Go through your closets and garage and bring in what you longer use. Items to consider:

That lacrosse stick you played with for one season

Those shoes in the back of your closet that you thought you loved

An old semi/prom dress

Any basketballs, tennis balls, or baseballs rolling around your garage

Don't ice skate any more? Bring them in.

Shirts, pants, and other clothes you out grew

But please, NO JUNK! The items you bring in for donation should be in good condition. Thank you!

Conservation Club is looking for donations! Please bring in what you can and enjoy purchasing new items from this sus-tainable swap. Donations can be brought in starting after March break. All profits will go toward a Conservation Club pro-ject to help enhance The Derryfield School sustainability mission statement. All leftover donations will be donated to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Good luck cleaning out!

Conservation Club Swap Tess Regan, DS E-News

Comic Zoe Morgan

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