Interview by Maile Biehl

The Falconer:  How's your first full year teaching here so far? 
Mr. Ouimet: So far, my first year teaching has been going pretty well. The fact that I got to substitute here and work as a paraprofessional here for the last three years leading up to this has helped a lot with transitioning.  I knew most if not all of my students already before the year started so I did not have to worry quite as much about fitting into the culture here and I have just been able to focus on the academic side of things and lesson planning and all that.  

The Falconer:  What drew you to teaching here rather than somewhere else?
Mr. O:  I think, just the experiences I had substitute teaching the first two years I was here led to me really wanting to stay in Mashpee.  It was just a great community overall. Before working in Mashpee, I was in Wareham substituting for a year at the middle school. I enjoyed it a lot.  That’s kinda where the interest in teaching for me was sparked but it was much crazier, a crazier building and a just, very different atmosphere. So Mashpee was a nice change of pace and I really liked how things are run, how administration handled things and just in general, the student body is just made up of just great kids and great people, just the whole package.  It’s just a good place. 

By Paul Menke
The start of the 2019 school year marked a heightened agenda for Mashpee Middle High School: Eliminating vaping from its grounds. Two powerful anti-vaping messages were delivered by Dr. Jeffrey Spillane and Johnathon Thompson on Sports Night, signifying the start Mashpee Public School’s full-fledged commitment to eradicate student vaping.

The school’s new initiative is in line with efforts by Governor Charlie Baker, who recently signed into law a temporary ban for the sale of all vaping products.

But what steps need to be taken to fulfill the school’s promise? You may have noticed the desks and teachers stationed outside of hall bathrooms during class time recently, but it turns out that they are not recent at all. 

The Falconer: What was your biggest inspiration in becoming a teacher?
Ms. Deborah Vaughn: After being personally involved with the events of 9/11 in my former career, I wanted to do whatever I could to make the world a better place. That’s when I decided that teaching was the career that I could reach and make a difference in many young adults lives so they, in turn, could make a positive impact on the future for all of us.

TF: What was the most enriching class you got to teach throughout your career?
DV: I absolutely loved all of my classes, but if I had to choose one course that I truly loved, it would be AP Language and Composition. It was always like magic to watch students learn to specifically focus on empowering their “voices”, realizing the power of words, and using language in their writing and conversation to have those “voices” heard.

By Peyton Dauley

By Conor Baron
​The Audio Visual Club, also known as the AV Club is a new after school club that has recently been brought back to Mashpee by Mr. Chiuppi. The club meets weekly to work on a variety of different projects involving videos and podcasts.

“The AV Club was brought up by myself, but really it was originally something that happened at Mashpee in the years prior,” Mr. Chiuppi, known as Mr. QP, added. When this club was first created a few years back, it allowed students to do newsreels, video clips, and other projects that allowed students to have access to the kind of technology and opportunities that involve that club. Unfortunately as technology upgraded, the originally equipment was out of date.

So when, Mr. QP brought the club back up, soon after, it was decided that a new studio could be built up in the library. Mr. Looney helped by allowing the club to have more new up to date equipment. From that, the present AV club is back here now.

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.”