Hopkinton News : High School

Life’s challenges become Hopkinton senior’s strength

Bow Editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:22:00 GMT

As a child, Jonny Yocum asked his grandfather a delicate question.

“Grandpa,” he said. “Can I call you dad?”

Bruce Yocum paused, understanding the difficulty of the situation before answering.

“I wouldn’t let him,” he said. “I told him, Jon, you’re like a son to me, but you’re my grandson.”

Now a graduating senior at Hopkinton High School, Jonny Yocum, 18, has met with more challenges than many students face.

Having a father whose name he barely knows, seeing his mother once in recent memory and being raised by his grandparents, Jonny was forced to adapt.

When he was born, Jonny’s father was not ready for a child. He was abusive to his newborn son, and Jonny’s mother, Samantha, decided she wanted her son out of that situation.

So his mother brought Jonny to live with Bruce and Thongkum Yocum in Hopkinton, something that wasn’t always easy for the active youngster.

“It’s not been easy. It isn’t like they’re young or hip. They’re so much different,” Jonny said. “They’re used to quiet and being settled, and I just wanted to be a kid.”

Growing up without parents wasn’t the only obstacle Jonny had to overcome.

“Hopkinton is not a poor school, so it’s hard to fit in. I don’t have a lot of money around here, and I grew up with no parents. People gave me a hard time about a lot of things,” said Jonny. “It’s hard to make friends. Every day would be hell. I had to learn to deal with everything myself.”

Despite the difficulties, Jonny still became one of the more well-known faces in the hallways of Hopkinton High School.

“He’s a very social person. Everyone I know knows Jon because he’s such a social butterfly,” said Evan Morse, Jonny’s best friend since fourth grade. “He loves to be around people and loves to be the center of attention, and not in a bad way.”

Jonny’s mother now lives in Seattle, Wash., while his father has been in and out of jail. When asked what his father’s name is, Jonathan said, “This sounds bad, but I am not totally sure. I think it’s Ted or something.”

If he needs to, Jonny can still call and talk with his mother, though they have only seen each other once recently. Despite his father’s abuse, Jonny visited his father during one of his stints in prison.

“Even though he wasn’t the greatest to me, I still gave him the chance to make it right,” he said. “I believe everyone deserves a second chance. I decided to face it and see who he really was.”

Although Bruce Yocum said it was difficult at times raising his grandchild, it is in many ways the same as other parent-child relationships.

“It had its high and low points. In many ways it was typical. He was a child who was growing and learning and making mistakes, making you proud,” he said. “In many ways, it was just like a typical childhood, but the only difference is I was older and couldn’t keep up as fast.”

Jonny said he wasn’t always as comfortable talking about his past as he is now.

“It’s something I don’t mind talking about. It used to bother me,” he said. “I eventually started talking about it and learned to laugh at myself. It made me stronger instead of weaker.”

It was talking about it that Bruce Yocum said may have helped Jonny arrive to where he is now.

“Probably the hardest part was the fact that he just had a lot of difficulty, asking, ‘Why can’t I have a normal life?’ That was one of his big issues, his feeling of difference,” said Bruce. “The way we got through it was simply with lots and lots of talks.”

Morse said he has learned a great deal of independence since he became friends with Jonny, while talking over favorite video games and television shows in fourth grade.

“I’ve learned a lot about doing things on my own. I used to rely on my parents a lot and then after hanging out with him, I made my own path,” said Morse. “I planned out what I want to do in life and told them about it. They were impressed.”

After graduation, Jonny plans to attend Southern Maine Community College, where he wants to study communications. He looks forward to a new life, applying a lot of what he has learned throughout all of his experiences.

“I want to be kind of far away from here,” said Jonny. “It’s like the more things kept falling apart and breaking, the more I wanted to just get out of it. Instead of just sitting down and giving up, it motivated me to keep trying instead of letting myself give up. The more things went wrong, the more I wanted to make it right.”

Being 3,018 miles away from his mother and having an abusive father in and out of jail, Jonny has spent his entire life learning, and not just on school grounds.

“I’ve learned a lot. I learned that no matter how bad things are, there is always a way out. There’s always another answer,” said Jonny. “You don’t lose until you completely give up, you always have a chance to keep trying. I believe I’ll be OK no matter what happens.”

Hopkinton students go on the air to warn about drinking

Bow Editor — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:06:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

The words of four Hopkinton High School students will soon be heard across the airwaves of New Hampshire radio stations, cautioning youths of the dangers of underage drinking.

New Hampshire’s beer distributors sponsored the public service announcements, which had the students act out common scenarios high school students face.

The scripts, however, needed a little work before they could be taken to the recording studio.

“The scripts we got at first were kind of lame, so we rewrote them so they sounded like kids talking instead of older people. We changed the language a lot, and changed the scenarios,” said Emily Sinclair, one of the students who recorded the skits.

Student Noah Meister said changing the scripts was a necessary adjustment.

“If we wanted kids to take it seriously, it had to be something they could at least understand. A lot of advertisements are for teens, but they’re something they aren’t going to consider listening to,” he said.

Nancy Schaefer, who coordinates peer outreach at the school, worked with the students, along with Mimi Allen, a drama instructor at the school.

“Teens have a bigger effect on other teens than adults do. Part of what my job here is to train the students on peer-related topics. We want to give them the information so that they can make decisions on their own,” said Schaefer. “This is a big topic in our school, as it is with other schools.”

Before recording the skits in Windham, Allen said the group talked about the important of the PSAs.

“One of the conversations that we had was how they wanted to get across that if you make a mistake, the consequences, besides dying, can affect your scholarships, your athletic careers or your family,” said Allen. “They felt that was an important message to send to kids. There are consequences that are equally deadly in some cases.”

Although the students are nervous to hear themselves on the radio, they also feel the final product came out well. Schaefer said the producers of the project were pleasantly surprised at how easy the process was.

“They worked really hard with a lot of practice. When we got to the recording studio the technicians were impressed with how prepared they were,” Schaefer said.

Students Christine Fletcher and Josh Allen were also involved in the project, which will be eye-opening to radio listeners and the students who recorded them.

“We all thought it was a relevant issue in our society today. We all just wanted people to think about the implications of what they are doing before they do it,” said Meister. “I feel like that’s a good thing if I can help keep someone safe and out of a dangerous situation.”

Hopkinton High School joins robotics team

admin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:46:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Competition can bring out the worst in those involved. In FIRST robotics competitions, the opposite is often true.

Though members of the Hopkinton and John Stark high schools’ robotics team would like to come out victorious, they also realize there are other lessons to learn throughout the process.

“There’s no negative competition. In sports, you form rivalries and can be sour. In robotics you don’t walk away upset. You feel like you accomplished something,” said Hopkinton High School senior Mike Flynn.

The two schools combined forces to create the Oz-Ram team for the competition, which gives students across the globe the chance to build a robot and compete in the same game.

This year’s competition involves using the robot to pick up inflated balls as it walks around the designated area, getting points for performing a variety of tasks.

Although Oz-Ram competes against other schools, coach Will Renauld said there have been many occasions when his team has lost due to good sportsmanship.

“We’ve been at events where people gave us timeouts and we’ve beaten them, and the same thing has happened to us. They’re grateful we got the chance to compete at an even level,” he said. “It’s a tremendous air of competition with teams helping each other. We know it’s going to come back to us and someone will help us.”

Hopkinton senior Aric Brandt said the competition is different than that of a sporting event.

“It’s an interesting competition because you don’t have time to form heated rivalries. It’s more about having fun than the competition,” said Brandt, who will be dressed in costume to go with his team’s Wizard of Oz theme. “Competitions can be very intense. I just go around and talk to people. I’m going to be a flying monkey so it’s even better. How can I be self conscious?”

Alexandra Winzeler doesn’t have an interest in becoming an engineer in the future, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t learned anything from the team.

“The teamwork within the team and between the teams is great. You’re competing, but you demonstrate maturity,” said Winzeler, who does PR and writing tasks for the team. “Being on the team has given me a new perspective on what these people feel about science, and on life how people work together. It’s helped me see the world in a different light.”

Robotics skills have already helped senior Evan Morse in every day situations.

“I noticed a few months ago that I’ve been applying what I’ve learned. I was redesigning my room and wanted a specifically sized desk,” he said. “So I went through the same process we use in robotics to design it and build it.”

Renauld said he has calculated that when all is said and done, he commits to about 600 hours per year to the team, which meets six days a week. As the process gets closer to the competition date, teams need to ship their robot and the nights prior to deadline get later for the team.

“The night before we are working until 3 o’clock in the morning. All of the robots have to be shipped at a certain date,” said Renauld. “If we can finish it at 2 a.m. this year, we’ll be ahead of the game. It’s a hectic but rewarding time.”

This will be Hopkinton’s third year involved in the robotics program, and the team has already won multiple awards. In 2006, Oz-Ram won the Granite State Regional Rookie All-Star Award, which comes with a spot in the FIRST Robotics Competition in Atlanta, Ga.

“I think it’s great to be continuing to do this,” said Winzeler, in her second year with the team. “We’re more relaxed on the process this year, and have more time for creative thinking.”

Although winning isn't necessarily a top goal of the team, those involved in the competition are still passionate while cheering on Oz-Ram.

Following a competition two years ago, Renauld noticed that no one in the area of the robotics floor had much of a voice left. He turned to an engineer next to him and asked, “Have you ever cheered for anything so hard in your life?”

Hopkinton High School receives national recognition

Bow Editor — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:19:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Hopkinton High School was nationally recognized for its outstanding academic performance, given a silver ranking by U.S. News and World Report magazine.

Although no schools in the state were ranked in the nation’s top 100, Hopkinton was one of 405 schools to receive the honor out of 40 states. State test scores, level of preparation for college entrance and performance of disadvantaged students were the three factors when ranking the schools.

Of the 40 states, 18,790 schools were analyzed, leaving Hopkinton in select company.

Steve Chamberlin, principal of Hopkinton Middle/High School, passed the word around to his staff recently after hearing the news from a colleague.

“I hope we all appreciate the recognition. It’s wonderful to get recognized, and it’s an affirmation of our supportive staff and community. There’s no question that in the Hopkinton community education matters,” he said.

The school staff works hard to meet the needs of students, he said.

“It’s nice, because in day-today work you don’t reflect on good things. You look at the things to work on. There’s a lot of good stuff going on, and it’s not a bad way to be told that,” said Chamberlin.

He said he is privileged to be working with a great staff and live in a community that cares about education. There is also another group that contributed to the award.

“There is a culture of achievement where the kids want to succeed and do well in school.

When you have that and teachers who work hard to make things creative, it pays off,” said Chamberlin. “There are students who want to learn, talented faculty and a supportive community.

That’s the recipe for success in Hopkinton.”