By Peyton Dauley
Mashpee Public Schools are teaming up with local organizations to fight against vaping through a school-wide poster contest.

This competition, headed alongside the Mashpee Substance Abuse Task Force and the Kiwanis Club of Mashpee, offers students the chance to win a $100, $50, or $25 gift card by creating an original poster that “shares the harmful effects of vaping and how to resist peer pressure,” according to the contest flier.

Entries and forms must be submitted by March 22, all of which will be displayed on April 2 at the Drop-In Night at the Mashpee Community Health Center.

By Peyton Dauley
​In the past few weeks, we have experienced freezing rain and chilly conditions quickly followed by fifty-degree days and sunshine, an abnormality for February weather. While this may just be a strange pattern, we have experienced this phenomenon over the past few years, and now some are wondering whether it might be a sign of something more.

The country has become numb to the term “climate change,” as a result of its constant misuse in American politics. In spite of this, we must reassess whether this topic is purely political, as global changes are already taking place as a result of warmer climates all across the globe. They range from raging wildfires in California, intense hurricanes in Florida, to severe flooding throughout the world.  While these changes may seem far in distance and irrelevant to local life, scientists can measure exactly how close to home global warming has already started to hit.

By Conor Baron
Mrs. Assad is the long term substitute filling in for Mrs. Finn while she is away. Mrs. Assad is from Dublin, Ireland. She grew up there and got her education there as well. She has been a long-term substitute in Mashpee for many years. Before she worked in recruitment for administrators and also in accounting. She started with a business degree and background in corporate finance and online marketing. When she moved to America, she became a volunteer for the younger grade schools, until later coming to Mashpee High School. She is also a very proud mother of her two kids. I asked her a few more questions, just so the students can get to know her better.

Q: Why did you want to teach?
A: “So teaching wasn’t actually my background. When I went to college in Ireland, I got all my education in Ireland, I actually got a business degree. I worked in the corporate world for a number of years, before moving to America. When I first moved here, I actually started as volunteer here in Quashnet. And I taught a math enrichment program to fourth graders at the time. And I loved it. And it was at that point, volunteering at the school, that made me realize this is such a great place to be. I loved working with the students. And I kinda just pursued it from there.”

By Paul Menke
Tuesday night, Mashpee Middle High School kicked off its first ever Science and Engineering Fair, with entries varying to the effects of vaping to the effects of UV light on bread mold growth. The event was organized by Mrs. Soares, a science teacher here at Mashpee, and Mr. Hoppensteadt, the school’s Science Department Head.

Mr. Hoppensteadt had a few thoughts on the school’s new academic accomplishment: “The fair went along smoothly … was exciting, and I am very grateful for all of our entries and volunteers who helped make it a success. All of the entries were great and interesting in their own way.”

Mrs. O’Donnell is a new English teacher at Mashpee. She's been a teacher for a few years, and now at Mashpee she's enjoying the school, and the surroundings. She grew up at a farm in upstate New York and graduated from a school in North Carolina and became a teacher for two other schools before teaching at Mashpee High. I asked her a few questions to know a little bit more about her.

Q: What made you come to Mashpee schools?
A: “So I was looking for a school where I could be part of the community, and I good friend of mine was a math teacher here for a very long time. He’s retired a number of years ago, and he always had good things to say about Mashpee, he talked about it being a nice environment. I know people who’ve lived in Mashpee, and their kids have gone through the system, so it seemed like a good place to work. I also applied on the Cape because I have a lot of family on Cape, and it's really nice to be closer to family. So those two choices lead to me looking for a job here, and thankfully getting one.”

​Interview by Paige Cabral
The Falconer: Is this your first time as a teacher?
Ms. Lawson: It’s my first time as a full-time teacher. Last year I did my student teaching, so I taught two out of the three classes that my mentor teacher would normally have taught because it was a semester basis so the schedule was different than it is here. I taught almost full time last year, but I was taking classes full time as well so I was very busy last year. So this is my first time as a full-time teacher being one-hundred percent responsible for all my classes, and it's been awesome.

By Paul Menke
Every year, Veterans Day weekend is celebrated at Mashpee High Middle School and across the country. Most people see this great holiday as a day to remember and thank veterans that served our country, but what does Veterans Day really mean to Mashpee’s veterans?

Ms. Purdy, who served in the U.S. Air Force, gave insight on her time in the military. “Being a part of a team, and watching the ships in a V6 formation take off, not to do harm, but to send a message to Saddam Hussein that you cannot get away with this, was so remarkable for me...It was a symbol of our combined interests to do the right thing.” 

Interview by Adam Henschel
Cassidy Leigh O’Hara is the winner of the #WeAreMashpee outreach store's $1,000 essay contest about why it is great to be in Mashpee.

Cassidy, who graduated from Mashpee High School in 2017, came back to Mashpee from Johnson and Wales University, where she is a sophomore, to read her essay aloud at Mashpee Town Meeting in October. Her essay was selected from 32 submissions from current and former Mashpee students.

Cassidy responded to questions from The Falconer in writing after her selection was announced last month.

​Q: What made you decide to write this essay?
​At Johnson and Wales University I am a member of the lacrosse team. Before every game, the team passes around a sharpie. Each player of the team writes the names or numbers of the people that they play for on their wrist. From the very first game I played as a wildcat, I write people and teammates on my left wrist and every game I write “Mashpee,” on my right wrist. People have questioned why I consistently write my hometown on my wrist. The answer is simple, I play for the people who made me who I am. I play for the people who believed in me. I play for the people looking up to me and are inspired by me. Lastly, I play for my home. I apply this to all aspects of my life. I am motivated by all the effort and belief the Mashpee community has given me. This is why I decided to write this essay, I wanted to finally tell the community what it meant to me as a thank you. Without Mashpee, I would not be where I am today and for that I am grateful.

By Mia Morgado and Maryjane Donohoe
On Monday, October 29 around at about 9:50 AM at Mashpee Middle-High School, students faced a school weather shut down that is very rare for the area here in Mashpee.

An emergency tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service to every smartphone in the school leading to the entire school being called down to the gymnasium. The gym flooded with students from grades seven to twelve and the whole perimeter of the gym was lined with students sitting on the floor waiting to hear more about the situation.

By Paul Menke
In response to an email-based cyber attack that infiltrated the school, Mashpee School District Director of Technology Mr. Moroney is urging students and teachers to think before you click.

The virus caused many students’ and teachers’ accounts and computers to temporarily stop working. The school has addressed the problem, but many are still in the dark about the details of the cyber-attack. In an interview, Mr. Moroney shines light on the subject and what students and staff can do to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Q: What exactly happened in the “email crisis?
A: An email came to one of the teachers which was labeled in such a way that she thought it was from a company that she was working. It said “please update your information so we can finish the setup” - it was very clever, actually - so she did that, and part of it was entering her password, and once she did that it immediately gave it (the virus) access to her email username and password. So, what they did at that point, they went in an read her subject lines and her contacts. Once they had that it was a matter of resending messages based on her subject lines, which would look familiar to everyone in the school. Of course, then you’d get people that would see it was from somebody else in the school and then click on that link and then they would be compromised. Then, if she had sent something to a student, then it would push into the student population. It was more of a spam thing than a virus; although it did capture passwords, it didn’t really put any malicious code on anything.