2024-2025 ISSUE 3 : simplebooklet.com

Message Eden Duprey- AndersonGrease2024-25 Issue #3 There’s no doubt that spring brings the sun out from dormancy,greenery from hibernation, and positivity out from misery. Itwould be an understatement to say that the transition from thearmageddon of winter to the bliss of spring is enough to givesomeone whiplash. RampageW E S T H E M P S T E A DMindfulness…or Mind Fullness?Ibraheem Abdur- Rahman You truly missed out on anentertaining night out if you didn'tcome to see the show on March 15,16, or 17. The Secondary School puton their rendition of Grease TheMusical. I had the privilege of bothseeing and helping this show cometo life. Everything from the props tothe songs and dances, and mostdefinitely “Grease Lighting” wasphenomenal. Have an Ideafor a Story? Submit youridea/article to Ms. Reyesrreyes@whufsd.com,stop by the NorthLibrary, or speak toany Rampage staffmember.

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It delighted students with its fun and supportivespirit. Their presence added to the sense ofcommunity that defines WHSS. The night was extra memorable for two students,Lukas Santana (12th) and Kassie Fisher (11th).Toward the end of the event, Lukas presentedKassie with a heartfelt promposal! Lukas shared asmall message about Kassie and invited her to joinhim onstage. He presented her with a bouquet ofroses and a Frank Ocean-themed poster, with helpfrom Leo Varone (12th) and Jacob Lopez (12th).With the entire audience cheering, he asked if shewould be his date to prom. Kassie, clearly touchedby the gesture, said yes! Congratulations, and havefun at the prom together! The 2025 Senior Fashion Show was more than justa fashion event. It was a celebration of friendship,school pride, and the journey towards graduationin June. As the senior class looks ahead to prom,senior trips, and graduation, this night will beremembered as one of the best moments of theirhigh school experience. The West Hempstead SecondarySchool’s Senior Fashion Show 2025 was aspectacular evening filled with style,music, and excitement! Held in theschool auditorium, the event broughttogether students, faculty, and familiesto celebrate the senior class in a nightfull of glamour and fun. As seniors took center stage on therunway, they were dressed in stunningoutfits that showcased their uniquepersonalities and fashion choices. Fromelegant dresses to sharp suits, thestudents looked their best as theyconfidently walked the stage, cheered onby an enthusiastic audience. Ourannouncers for the night, Jackelyn Perez(12th) and Melanie Rodriguez (12th),introduced each group to the stage. Theshow served as both a celebration of theClass of 2025 and a fundraiser to supportany prom-related activities, ensuringthat every senior can enjoy their finalhigh school moments in style. The event featured an energetic playlist,keeping the excitement high as modelsstrutted down the stage. Popular songsplayed included YMCA and Pitbull! Ahighlight of the evening was theparticipation of our faculty members,who made an appearance on the stage.Faculty members include Mr. Pumo, Mr.Santoro, Mr. Mesidor, Ms. Maron, Mr.Johnsen, Señora Weinstein, Mrs.McCarthy, Mr. Crawford, and Mr. Killeen.Senior Fashion Show 2025Catherine Urquiza4

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This year, the starring leads were Ibraheem Abdur-Rahman as Danny Zukko and Sophia Ciminera asSandy Olsson. These two were meant to be stars onBroadway, I can't put into words how talented theywere when it came to singing and dancing. Theirchemistry made the show 10 times more enjoyableto watch. Anasha Abdur-Rahman and JoelGonzalez's performance of ¨”Mooning¨ was funny andan earworm for everyone. Victoria Hasan performedthe classic "Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee¨ and did notdisappoint; she was made for the role of Rizzo.Amenze Ikpia singing ¨Freddy My Love¨ had to be oneof the best parts of each night. Christopher Loriaperformed my favorite Grease song ¨GreaseLightning, ¨ and it has slowly become one of myRoman empires. Connor LaCombe devoured hissolos, "Beauty School Dropout¨ and ¨Those MagicChanges". The choreography for ¨Born To Hand Jive¨was the most fun-looking moves to grace thesecondary school stage. These are but a few of myhighlights. Performing a classic meant the drama club had a lotof weight on its shoulders, but in all honestly, it didnot disappoint. Each actor gave it their all and trulymade this play their own. As someone in the stagecrew, I loved every moment of it, even the extremelystressful bits. Who knew there were so manytalented people in such a small school, so manypeople with the potential to make it on Broadway?All three nights were a blast and had their surprises. The set design was done by the talented Ms. Romeo,who truly has a knack for stage design. Bothversatile and artistic, the set tied the show togetherperfectly. The show couldn´t have the show withoutMs. Benson, Ms. Brantley, and Ms. Antkowiak, whoare truly talented. Mr. DiPasquale, the composer,and the pit made the night even more magical.Grease Eden Duprey- Anderson5 And, of course, we can't forget about thedirector, Mr. Heckler, who is the reasonthe play even happened in the firstplace. A big thanks to everyone involvedin this production. With so many seniors leaving who werea part of either cast or crew, from all ofus at drama club, the stage will trulynever be the same. You all have madesuch a lasting impression, and we wishyou all the best of luck.

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On Valentine's Day, Feb 14, 2025 WestHempstead Secondary School hosted aChallenger Basketball game. The event wasorganized by the athletic department andspecial education department. The ChallengerBasketball game took place during the seventhperiod. All grades were invited, but not allclasses were there. This Challenger Basketballgame was centered around teamwork and fun.The event was mainly focused on workingtogether and having a good time rather thancompetition. To begin with, everyone had tostand up for the pledge. This year was the firstyear that West Hempstead Secondary Schoolhosted a Challenger basketball game. The twoteams, Haven and BOCES, were playingbasketball. The teams were split into twodifferent sides of the gym. Team Haven was onthe left side of the gym, while Team BOCES wason the right side of the gym. The players tookturns stepping to the free-throw lines and tryingto shoot basketballs in the hoop. In thebeginning, both teams were doing fantastic, andboth teams consecutively took turns shootingtheir shots. When both teams made their shots,the bleachers filled with supportive andencouraging classmates cheered to encouragethe players. During the second quarter of thegame, they switched sides and continued tomake their shots. As the end of the basketballgame was approaching, the final shots werebeing thrown, and by the very end of the game,the cheers were getting louder and louder fromthe excitement of the game. By the end of thegame, there was no winner or loser, just a gymfilled with enthusiasm, school spirit, teamwork,and love and pride for their school.Challenger Basketball GameMethmi Withanachchi6

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Where questions meet answers… Lemuelhelps West Hempstead solve their biggestproblems in this issue’s advice column.“How can I stay motivated?”Motivation can be fickle; some days you mayfeel up to a task, and other days you may feelas if you have no energy. What’s important isto remember that it’s okay to be drained orunmotivated every once in a while; there isabsolutely nothing wrong with havingenergy swings. However, that does not giveyou an excuse to give in to these feelings.Your goal, whatever it may be, to worktowards a career path or just to gethomework done, loses all importance ifyou’re not willing to work towards it throughyour lack of motivation. The value you giveyour goal should much overpower any lackof motivation, or else it wasn’t worthworking towards in the first place.“How do you prioritize tasks?”Getting your schedule in order and figuringout what’s most important is a very good lifeskill to have; it will most likely help lead youto success later on. What’s most importantfor me is getting urgent things done urgentlyand important things done mostimportantly. I can save that new TV show forlater if I have my homework done. I can goout with my friends if I make enoughprogress on the project I have due. What’smost important is making sure your actionsalways benefit you in the long run andkeeping your priorities towards success.Ask Lemuel! Lemuel Outlaw7

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TwilightBrief Overview:Mysterious. Hooking. Suspenseful. Twilight isa book you will struggle to put down. Movingto an oddly eerie town called Forks,Washington, to live with her father wasn’t asdull as Bella Swan thought it would be. Thisincluded a lot of adventure, meeting newpeople, and some that might not even bepeople… Will these “people” put her in dangeror change Bella’s life for the better?Why 5 Stars?I give this book five stars because of howdetailed the characters were, making youalways want to find out more about them inthe next chapter or next book. As always, myfive-star reads usually consist of good hooksand cliffhangers, which this thrilling bookhad too!Favorite character and why: My favorite character was Alice, a member ofEdward Cullen's family. This is because of herweird personality and mysterious past thatmakes me super curious about what she’sbeen through and what she thinks about.The next three books are on my TBR pile!1.The Naturals2.Diary of Anne Frank3.Jane EyreHana’s 5-Star Read of The Month: Hana Kollmeier8

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Did you know that in the United States ofAmerica, somebody needs blood every twoseconds (American Red Cross)? I know whatyou’re thinking, and neither did I! So manypeople perish because they didn’t have accessto their blood type or blood at all. Which isnecessary for surgeries, treatments, etc. So, toalleviate this issue, the West HempsteadSecondary School partnered with theAmerican Red Cross to have a Blood Drive onMarch 28, 2025. First, the people who extractyour blood determine whether you’re eligible;for instance, if your iron levels are adequate,then a portion of your blood will be extracted.Moreover, when interviewing some blooddonors from this event, we asked them, “Howdo you feel about the blood drive?”.WHSS Blood Drive with the AmericanRed CrossMichelle Cherian9 To which one of our physical educationteachers, Mr. Gewirtz, said, “It’s great, it’simportant, it saves three lives every time aperson gives blood”. All in all, with theestablishment of this blood drive in ourschool, so many lives will be saved! So, thankyou to everyone who donated blood; you’reso brave because you let a needle prick yourskin! Anyways, if you happened to miss theBlood Drive yet still want to donate blood,visit the American Red Cross athttps://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/find-drive

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Mindfulness…or Mind Fullness?Ibraheem Abdur- Rahman10 But the dark days are behind us now, and wecan finally be in the light! Life is notorious forkeeping all of its subjects wound tight in thename of the game, but some sunshine a daykeeps the depression away, or however thesaying goes. It’s become routine for me to usethe springtime to kiss as many of my troublesgoodbye as possible, but I wanted to be sure Iwasn’t the only one. I surveyed 30 of my peersto see if the nicer weather makes it easier forthem to block out their worries andresponsibilities, and a reassuring 88% of themseemed to be kissing their troubles goodbyeright alongside me! Freshman Jules Poirotnoted that she feels “more comfortable” in thewarmer weather, and Ava Loria added that the“Winter seasonal depression was hitting toohard”, so now she can “do more outdooractivities without having to worry aboutanything”. Fellow Freshman MaggieHaberstroh commented that the spring justhelps her to “relieve her stress”, all of whichcan be nothing but an indicator of the shifttowards turning those frowns upside down!The other 12% must be the remainder of thehuman population that sleeps with one eyeopen because I couldn't think of anotherreason as to why they would rather spend thewarmth worrying just as much as in the cold.Especially with at least 3 school events or tripsper week during these last few months of theschool year, it just becomes easier for all of usto just let everything happen. Carpe diem! For those not as affluent in their Latin as I am—that’s the only piece of the language I know—the infamous phrase demands that we seizethe day! Time is abundant every year whenthe only sensible thing to do is to worry andsink into the abyss of things that we need todo—the cold days. So, why not take what’s left and shove out theboring to make room for the fun? One of the only things about spring thathinders it from being the perfect season is itsoversaturation in pollen. Nothing smacks youin the face harder than itching to be outside inthe warmth just to be met with a barrage ofsneezes. I wish I was the fraction of thepopulation that is stronger than mere pollenallergies, but alas, that’s not my story. Everyyear, the springtime forces me to wake up withcrust sealing my eyes shut, mucus clogging mynose and throat, and countless othersymptoms. But this time around, I think Imight be able to weather that storm. I’ve cometo notice that with the sun deciding to stay outfor the warm seasons, people tend to followsuit and want to stay with each other in waysthey didn’t before. And whatever chemicalcombinations cause this reaction have seemedto float my way in the grand year of 2025!Without breaking the fourth wall with awrecking ball, I guess I can just leave theaudience with some blanks to fill in on theirown time.

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Mindfulness…or Mind Fullness?Ibraheem Abdur- Rahman11 But to see what was floating everyone else’sway, I asked my peers if around this time ofyear, they feel the love in the air, or if it's justpollen. An interesting 59% of them identifiedas the lovebirds and hopeless romantics of thegroup. Junior Naomi Preddie described that“everything is much prettier this time of year,and you’re so much more comfortable”. Withthe amount of hand-holding and googly eyesyou can see in the 4 minutes between eachperiod on a day-to-day basis, I’d honestlyexpect that group to be a little larger. Maybethat’s just the love in my own life fogging upmy glasses, though. For the 41% of mybrothers and sisters stuck in the ring fightingpollen, I give you my deepest regards. JuniorNaimah Burton made it clear that “pollen isalways here, but love isn’t”. Unfortunately forthem, I’m on to the days of fighting backagainst pollen and showing those allergieswhose body they’re trying to take down! Outof the (not enough) time we have each year tospend with the temperature being abovefreezing point (60°F), I simply can’t take anymore of the warmth going to waste. Whetherit's love in the air or a billion pollen atoms,during the spring, I plan on doing nothing butbreathing that air until I can’t anymore. Thereality is that spring is in our faces. In all of itspollinated, love-infested glory, spring ishappening as we speak. There is a marathonof school events going on, and summer is rightaround the corner. But as human as we all are,as soon as we get to one destination, ourminds tend to wonder about the next one. As aself-proclaimed overthinker and workaholicmyself, forget second nature, that’s firstnature to me. Especially now that I have to prepare to be inan entirely new level of education andenvironment in a matter of months, how am Isupposed to stay focused on the present? Thepeople around me itching for answers aboutmy next steps don’t keep my mind any moregrounded either. Seniors aside, I wanted toknow if all of the high schoolers could relate tothe springtime mind-wander. When I askedmy peers how much they are thinking aboutthe next chapters of their lives by spring break,only 27% of them stated that their thoughtswere pretty much entirely in the present asmuch as any other time of the year. JuniorHenry Ortiz believes that he isn’t “paid enoughto think about all of that”. It might be ratherhypocritical of me to not sympathize withthem after I was just preaching about “carpediem”, but who am I without some perplexingcomplexity? For the 73% of my peers that seemto share brain cells with me, kudos to you forbeing the more prepared and eager of thebunch. Junior Victoria Hasan said that “Todayis tomorrow, tomorrow is today, and yesterdayis a figment of your imagination”. Whateverthat means. Without any psychoanalysis of thesituation, I think it’s reassuring to let yourmind explore the possibilities of what iscoming next. The brain is an amazing place tobe, and my thoughts of the future have a warmand toasty home in my brain for sure. I’vegrown to avoid rushing away from the presenttoo much, though, because it’s almost asthough I went to bed the other day being 8years old and woke up 18. It's too late to wantto go back now, so all I can do is enjoy thewarmth while it lasts, hope the pollen isn’tlocked, loaded, and gunning for me yet again,and inhale all the love in the air. I am mindfulof how I’m floating along, all the while makingsure I’m not living with too much mindfulness.