The Wallkill Wire

Brooke Lundgren, Editor-in-Chief On Saturday, February 10th, the Lions Club hosted their 4th annual curling tournament at the Lions Club Pavilion in Wallkill to fundraise money to help the community. There were 36 teams, each of them made up of 5 individuals. Each team paid $175 in order to compete, so with team participation alone, the Lions Club fundraised about $6,300. The event was split into morning and afternoon sessions, going from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. To win a match, each team must push their "stones" on ice and get it closest to the target. Other members of the team can assist by using brooms to sweep the ice to help guide it. The opposing team is also allowed to try and sweep the stone away from the target to prevent that team from gaining points. Due to the expensive price of buying real curling stones, the Lions Clubs' own Andy Harcher had an inventive solution. The "stones" at this event were made of two stainless steel bowls with c...

Sophia Soler, Staff Writer At Camp Mariah over the weekend of February 9th-11th, United Martial Arts Centers (or UMAC for short) hosted their annual "Quest for Mastery" weekend retreat. Friday night kicked off the weekend with many teens leading the entire group of approximately 200 people in a warm-up to begin the night. Over the weekend, people gathered to watch people ages 15-17 not only complete amazing and taxing physical feats, but also watch them do something uncommon among teens, which was actively fill in leadership roles. This year's theme was a book written by two of the Masters called "You Have Infinite Power". This book focused on many qualities and techniques to improve our mind. The first technique was to remember that you choose your thoughts, not the other way around. You are in control of your own mind. The rest of the weekend focused on setting S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals and following through. This acronym stands for Spe...

Sarah Martin, Staff Writer On Saturday February 17th, the Section 9 Cheerleading Championship was held at the Sullivan County Community College. The Wallkill Senior High School Coed team came in fourth place out of five teams, putting forth a valiant effort. The team only had one stunt fall after adding various, harder, and higher scoring stunts to their routine. They were the last team to compete, closing out the competition around 3:00pm. Coach Kelly Dutka and Coach Roberta Tejada say the team gave all they had, and they were very proud of the performance produced by the team. Wallkill, Pine Bush, Highland, Goshen, and Middletown attended Sections in for the Co-ed division; Pine Bush placed first, with Goshen a mere .75 of a point behind placing 2nd. Highland came in 3rd, then Wallkill, and lastly Middletown placed fifth. Pine Bush represented Section 9 at States in the Co-ed division, where they placed fourth. The small varsity division included Fal...

Tamika Hill, Staff Writer With Valentine's Day behind us and the flowers and chocolates slowly diminishing, we are trying to recuperate from the financial hole we've dug ourselves into. However, Valentine's Day isn't about all the flowers, chocolates, or teddy bears that we've come to know and love. Even though the Valentine's Day we know today only has to do with love and romance, people are ignorant to the fact that Valentine's Day didn’t include romance until the early 1300s. In the beginning, Valentine's Day came from a Pagan feast called Lupercalia, in which men would sacrifice goats, lambs, and cows. This then progressed to the whipping of women with the hides of the previously mentioned animal. Weren't they so romantic? The Pagans believed, in layman's terms, that whippings and dead animals led to the miracle of fertility. I think you'll agree with me that chocolate and flowers are a better alternative. Even though Vale...

Fernanda Manzanares, Staff Writer HOBY, or Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership, is a program that was developed for high school sophomores where they can learn and develop leadership skills to become leaders in their community. Only three sophomores are selected out of the entire Wallkill school district to attend HOBY's annual seminar. The students who have been selected to represent Wallkill Senior High School this spring are Andrew Pelella, Alexis Faia, and Natalia Garcia. The leadership seminars will take place between May and June. Wallkill Senior High School is one of the only schools that selects three students, thanks to the sponsorship of our local Womens' Club and several clubs here at the high school; most other school districts only get to select one representative. The process for being selected includes writing an essay and getting interviewed by previous WSHS HOBY representatives. All the sophomores who are selected...

Alison Gerow, Staff Writer Mr. Brian Vegliando was approved at the December school board meeting to return as the head coach of our Wallkill Varsity Football Team after a losing season this past fall (0-5 league record). He replaced Mr. Shane Regan, who led the team through two consecutive losing seasons. Vegliando decided to return after almost 4 seasons of not being head coach, mainly for family reasons; "I took 3-4 seasons off so I [could] spend more time with my family. They were ready for me to go back to coaching, and if they are ready, I am ready." He and his wife have two sons, ages 11 and 8. Vegliando said that he is "excited to take the reins of the program again." He plans to use his experience to fix existing weaknesses and "modify the program to focus on what needs to be improved". Vegliando was the assistant coach this past season, so he knows firsthand that this past season was a "tough season as in they...

Dymond Walter, Staff Writer "Mr. Taylor"-Mrs. Murphy As many of you may know, we have hired a new Science teacher here in the high school.  Mr. Jordan Taylor, who will also be our JV lacrosse coach, joined the Wallkill staff in September. Mr. Taylor, who teaches Earth Science, is a local of the Hudson Valley; he grew up in Kingston and  graduated from Kingston High School.  From there, he attended SUNY New Paltz for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. One reason why Science is a good fit for Mr. Taylor is that he loves the outdoors and traveling. His favorite place he has gone is the Grand Escalescalante National Monument, which is located in Utah and is absolutely stunning. (He recommends you look it up!). Also, four years ago, he drove cross county with his brother, which he hopes to do again. "Science is everywhere. Understanding scientific principles is important. I have always been interested in Science, always asked questi...