Words From a Clown

by Editor In Chief Marisa Kaplita

Ryan Cosgrove, also known as Wally the Clown, has added another name to the list: Santa Claus.  Ryan started dressing as Santa to entertain all the children of Branford and bring a little Christmas to the town.

Ryan started volunteering as a Clown for church events back when he was twelve, and over the years he has watched his business transform into a full time job.  Now the Branford High School Senior has a budding entertainment business – he entertains at parties and events year round making balloon animals and kids laugh.  He has even brought his talents to the children in the child development area.

“I have always been a clown at heart,” Ryan said. “And  just recently I started putting on the costume and makeup to make it a career.”

This year was his first time dressing as Santa and is planning on bringing out the costume for years to come.  Ryan liked being Santa Claus because he says, “The kids loved me when I played the role as Santa.  I’m used to kids being excited with the clown act but when I was Santa they all came swarming over to say ‘Hi!’ and tell me what they wanted [for Christmas].”

Thinking Outside the “Unit Circle”

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Mrs. Craig has made new use of the after Christmas clearance sales, but what use is tinsel to a Precalc class?  The class had created a HUMAN UNIT CIRCLE; a unit circle is basically a circle split by different degrees to create right triangles.  They used this arrangement of Christmas left overs to review their material for the midterm and practice working out different problems.  This was only one of different activities the Preclac classes were involved in to get themselves ready to take the two hour test.  This just goes to show that anything can help you study, and the more creative the better!

Photo Credit: Jess Rodi and Danielle Craig

Branford Goes Green

by Vinny Roca

You may have noticed that there have been some changes to the lights in the commons and on senior balcony. Since the construction of the commons incandescent bulbs have been wasting energy, inefficiently lighting the common, but recently these light have been replaced with energy efficient LED lights.

So why the sudden change? Mr. Panagoulias responded by saying that the, “The change was not mandatory but part of an energy saving initiative in Branford Public Schools.” He also noted that the changes in the light bulbs are just the beginning of a long line in changes made on all Branford Schools to save energy.