After an arduous trek to the D floor from the humanities hallway of JP, I come to room D115 to meet Mrs. Brumbach, a kindly middle-aged language arts teacher. She is standing outside her room already chatting with a student, so I head into her room and take a seat by her desk, on which is propped a light-up “Brumby Loves You” sign. Rachel Brumbach, … Continue reading Mrs. Brumbach Has the Best Job in the World
Shamani Norales is in her 12th grade year of high school at McCaskey, which comes with various challenges. “It’s not easy to try and balance everything all at once, especially having a life outside of school.” In her free time however, she’s found her escape from the stress of it all with fashion. “I really liked how unique clothes could be; it wasn’t anything you’d … Continue reading Shamani Norales: Passion for Fashion
During the holiday season McCaskey likes to donate to local organizations, embracing traditions new and old. For the first year, the Mitten Tree Project will be run in the JP and East IMCs by one of the school’s new librarians, Mrs. Cashdollar. She got the idea for a mitten tree in McCaskey from other libraries in Lancaster having one; it comes from the children’s book, … Continue reading The McCaskey Way of Giving Back
Image Credit: Gabrielle Mappone At the beginning of the school year, the McCaskey Performing Arts Department set out to put on a production of Murder on the Orient Express. About three weeks into the rehearsal process, however, McCaskey students were faced with the cancellation of the show due to issues with securing the rights to the script. Saddened, the cast and crew said goodbye to … Continue reading Murder on the McCaskey Mainstage: Fall Play Overview
In everyday life at McCaskey High School, students face a problem when it comes to a long-running system between J.P McCaskey and McCaskey East. An issue not only affecting their ability to learn, but their motivation to go to class on time and in general. At McCaskey, ‘traveling’ is the system where you leave four minutes before the bell and walk to another building to … Continue reading Student Traveling: Why Do We Deserve the Change?
Room A124 has, for a long time, been the place where students go to serve in-school suspensions. But it’s not called the ISS room anymore, and it’s got a new teacher: Frank Albrecht, more commonly known as Brother Albrecht. “I don’t think Dr. Reese was taking a gamble of putting me down here, but he was thinking outside of the box,” said Albrecht. His … Continue reading Reflection in Suspension: Brother Albrecht’s Impact on ISS at McCaskey
Image Credit: WMCC’s Hector Martinez Rewards are a big part of our lives. We go to work to get paid, we eat better to be healthy, and we keep up with hygiene to stay clean. In the same way, students are expected to go to school and learn in order to be successful. For some students, however, the natural reward of learning is not enough … Continue reading PBIS Points: Practical or Pointless?
This article was written by Vidette Staff member Ellery Cravey. Over the years, McCaskey has had a multitude of clubs that pertain to certain activities and hobbies. However, there’s a particular club that is relatively new, and has piqued the interest of many. It doesn’t revolve around fun activities; in fact, this club talks about scary, but very real, topics. It’s called the Sexual Assualt … Continue reading SAAY Club: Spreading Awareness of Sexual Assault
McCaskey High School currently has an attendance rate just above 90%. Of absences, most are unexcused. And over 50% of them come from freshmen, said Kathy Lutz, an Assistant Principal at the high school. “When ninth graders come in, they don’t understand that this is the real deal here,” said Thomas Toczek, a guidance counselor at East. “You have to get credits to move on … Continue reading McCaskey Has an Attendance Problem
One of the biggest challenges I have faced in this classroom, where I am now writing this article, is having to find a way to balance my own needs with the needs of the reader. This same issue of balancing personal teaching style with the needs of students is seen in many classrooms today and has been the cause of many of the miscommunications between … Continue reading Making Learning More Accessible for All Students
Early this year, Mrs. Brumbach, Mr. Coonan, and a rag tag group of students scrambled to get a poster up for the club fair, hoping to revive an old McCaskey magazine to its full potential. With nothing more than an idea of what they wanted, they tackled the task of creating a literary and art magazine from scratch. In a few days, Fig Industries and … Continue reading Burning Glass: A Word from the Editor
The idea to interview Rose Carlson came from a joke. “What if I interviewed my editor in chief? Could you believe it?” But the stranger the idea the more intrigued I became; I began to think that getting to know her might be a worthy endeavor for the both of us. One ten minute interview over and I had a new found respect for Carlson, … Continue reading All Hail the Chief! (An Interview with Rose Carlson)
Image credit: Rose Carlson For some, spending all day working in the library might be boring, but Ms. Blessing-Hartley, known to many simply as Ms. Blessing, loves her job. She is one of several friendly faces at the front desk of JP’s IMC. Although many initially assume that she is a librarian, Ms. Blessing describes her role as the library’s para-professional. “The librarians are the … Continue reading Melissa Blessing-Hartley, Caretaker of the JP IMC Safe Haven
Image credit: Tim Mercandetti When he was a senior at JP McCaskey High School, Angel Gonzalez made a promise to himself. “I said, ‘you know what, the goal is not to come back, it’s to go off to something else.’” Angel shared. “And then I came right back – and I think it was perfect.” Angel’s biggest dream in high school was to become a … Continue reading No Place Like Home: Angel Gonzalez’s Inevitable Return to McCaskey
For the longest time, I was adamant about not making any new friends, and keeping to myself. I don’t know what changed that, but it started with my interest in a person in my World Cultures class. I wasn’t really sure about how to approach this, so one day I just asked to sit next to them. Since that day, we’ve been friends ever since. … Continue reading Kai Rowe: The Power of Friendship and Food
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