Key Club and Pass it Along Volunteer Opportunites

 By: Hayley Lane

Sparta High School’s Key Club and Pass it Along have special volunteer opportunities planned for this Thanksgiving. Key Club is partnering with a local group in Sparta donating 1,300 personal Thanksgiving meals! Participants write notes and cards to go into these meals as an extra surprise for the families. Additionally, Key Club is hosting a fundraiser with Color Street nails until December 11 . All the proceeds will be used to run other fundraising events and will be donated to groups in need.

Pass it Along is hosting its annual Family Volunteer Season, where members in grade levels adopt families and donate Thanksgiving food items and cleaning supplies to them. People interested in volunteerism are encouraged to join these clubs, as different opportunities are posted weekly!

Contact Mrs. Kopp for Key Club, and Mrs. Deluccia and/or Ms. Lucas for Pass it Along.

SHS Junior Takes Spartan Logo to a New Level

 By: Emma McNamara

Last year, Sparta High School developed a new logo. Inspired by this, SHS junior Charlotte Rogoff has taken the logo to a new level, personalizing our Spartan for many SHS clubs. 

When Sparta Music Boosters hosted a Logo contest, Charlotte began to brainstorm. Mixing a treble clef, a keyboard, and the new Spartan logo, she created the winning submission for the contest!

Since then, Charlotte has come up with ways to personalize logos for other activities, like GSA and The Oracle.

“My inspiration for these logos were my personal experiences throughout high school since I have been [here]. These are all things that I have become immensely devoted to.” When asked about her creative process, Rogoff shares that a logo can take her “a couple hours to come up with”, but “then takes a couple days to put it on paper and finalize details.”

Charlotte has taken her love for this school and it’s programs, along with her artistic talent, to keep our school looking fun and new!

Humans of Sparta: Ms. Bach

 By Hayley Lane

If you’ve taken orchestra, or have been to an orchestra or even choir concert, you’ve definitely seen Ms. Bach! Ms. Bach is the subject of today’s Humans of Sparta! She is Sparta High School’s orchestra teacher, and has been teaching for 29 years! She has a daughter who also plays violin and sings, and has three cats named Midnight, Star, and Cupcake. One of her most exciting teaching experiences was when the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra visited our orchestra. Students sat side by side with a member of the orchestra and watched them play. Besides teaching, another dream job of hers is playing cello for the broadway show Dear Evan Hansen. “It has a beautiful cello part!”, she says. Her favorite part of hybrid learning is seeing the students play together. Her most difficult part of hybrid learning is not seeing all of her students at once, having to miss out on last year’s senior pin ceremony, and not being able to perform. She looks forward to the day when her orchestra can finally perform together in a concert! 

Ms. Bach conducts students at SafeStock 2019 (photo by Mikayla Bivona)

We Love Ms. Lucas!

By: Liv Canova and Emma McNamara

 If you've taken part in any Sparta High School event, or any Sparta event really, you've probably met Paige Lucas. She is not only involved in everything she can be in this town, but she gives so much to the community behind the scenes. Ms. Lucas can be found fixing chromebooks in the MRC, choreographing the Spring Musical, running events with the Sparta Education Foundation, taking part in Pass it Along, teaching at Elisa Girlando Studios, Co-directing the middle school's show, and so much more. This Sparta Alumna has shown her love for this school and this town by giving back every day. 

“Paige cares more about you than you care about yourself, She will devote hours and hours to the happiness of other people. The smartest thing I ever did was to get her working at the studio”. - Elisa Girlando (owner of Elisa Girlando Studios)

“Since I met her and started performing, [she] has been my number one supporter” - Jenna Halkyard (junior)

“She gives the best advice and she’s really easy to talk to” - Natalie Demuth (freshman)

“Whether it’s pushing me with singing or talking about Broadway with me, or even just hanging out at the studio together, I enjoy every minute” - Megan Armstrong (freshman)

“Without her I would never be able to get up on a stage and do all these crazy silly things” - Tessa Gori (senior)

“I don’t know what I’d do without Ms. Lucas. She’s one of the most hard-working, kind, inventive and inspirational people I know. Whether it’s the school musical or the annual Turkey Trot, [she] is always happy to help people all over Sparta.” - Scott Riley (senior)

“Ms. Lucas has always been an incredibly kind and helpful person. Her devotion to selflessness is clear through her consistent support of the SHS Pass It Along club and the Sparta Education Foundation.” - Kyle Neuwirth (senior)

“Every time I see her she’s working on a project. She deserves way more recognition for the extra hours she spends making something perfect. You can definitely tell when something was put together by Ms. Lucas” - Emma McNamara (senior)

"Ms. Lucas is one of the most fun-loving, caring and inspirational people I have ever met” - Charlotte Rogoff (junior)

 "Her presence just makes everything better. She's so fun and great- honestly, I would've loved my time in the musicals a whole lot less if she wasn't there" - Alex Fontes (senior)

"I love Ms. Lucas because she pushes us to work harder while still making things fun for us. She always makes our time enjoyable and she just does so much for the Sparta community. Ms. Lucas has changed so many lives and we all love her so much!" - Suvaani Ranasinghe (senior)

“Ms. Lucas is the best. She is always there to offer encouragement, to have a laugh, or to help you with anything” - Liv Canova (senior)

Thank you so much Ms. Lucas for everything you do for the school and the Sparta community. We love you!

SHS Seniors Decorate Parking Spots

 By: Liv Canova

This week, Sparta High School began their first two days of hybrid in-person schooling and the senior class of 2021 was able to show off their Spartan Pride by decorating their parking spots! Students in cohort A (last names A-K) were allowed to decorate their spots on Monday and cohort B (last names L-Z) decorated theirs on Wednesday. 

Take a look at some of the coolest designs!

Girls Varsity Tennis Takes Home a Regional Championship!

By: Liv Canova

 

This Monday the SHS girls Varsity tennis team beat out Hanover Park for a Northwest B Regional Championship win! The team is comprised of Alexa Matkiwsky (first singles), Reagan Rech (second singles), Jenna Bargfrede (third singles), Jordan Bucenec and Gabby Canzoniero (first doubles), and Sarah Bargfrede and Isabella Sportelli (second doubles). For their win, the team won third singles, and both doubles matches. Congrats varsity girls tennis!

Sparta Choirs Dedicate Songs to Veterans for Veterans Day

 By Hayley Lane 

As Veterans Day approaches, Sparta High School choirs are coming together to celebrate by creating a video commemorating our veterans. The video will include all students across many different choirs singing “Homeland,” along with pictures displayed of veterans from Sparta, or family and friend veterans from around the world! Those in and out of choir are welcomed to email photos of veterans they know for a chance to be a part of this project! Photos can be emailed to Mrs. Lopez. As part of a different video, Blue Night’s choir will be recording “A Tribute to the Armed Services." Sparta choirs are so excited to share these projects with the rest of town!