Athletic fields, facilities desperately need updating
A student-athlete lays on the grime-covered weight room floor. She is confined to the weight room because she is barred from practicing with her lacrosse team due to the fact that she fell to...
Women soccer champs deserve fair pay
At the U.S. Women’s Soccer World Cup Victory Parade in New York City on July 10, 2019, United States Soccer Federation (USSF) President Carlos Cordeiro was interrupted during his speech as loud “Equal Pay”...
Jones excited to lead ARHS
New principal Gene Jones said that his first two months at the helm have been “very smooth” and that he’s excited about what the remainder of his first year will bring. “I am honored....
Senior class dominates School Spirit Week
The week of September 23 to 28 was a flame of a Spirit Week for a usually much quieter ARHS. Students from every class arrived to school decked out in their school spirit, but...
A historic, undefeated season
A storm was brewing in Western Mass. this fall, and it wasn’t anything Pioneer Valley pigskin fans expected. The Amherst Regional High School football team came for all the Massachusetts Division 5 hardware, and...
Many relieved: IMP gone, college preparatory math curriculum in its place
The ever controversial Integrated Math Program (IMP) curriculum is gone from ARHS classrooms. It is replaced by College Preparatory Mathematics (CPM). The new curriculum is guided by similar principles as IMP but has many...
Students rally in Boston for Climate Strike
On Friday, September 20, starting in Australia and spreading from the Pacific islands all the way across Europe, and then to 800 U.S. cities, young people and their allies kicked off a Global Climate...
It’s electric: district weighing expansion of e-buses
The Amherst Town Council and school system have an impending choice to make that will determine how much closer our district can come to the full implementation of electric school buses in its fleet. ...
Hurricane Joe: PIP program delivers coffee, joy to staff
As the A-period bell rings, the Hurricane Joe coffee cart is preparing for motion. In room 167, home to the Pathways to Independence program for students with developmental disabilities, the bean grinding and brewing...
ARHS opens doors for Open House
On October 3, 2019, before 6 p.m., the doors of ARHS opened wide to an array of parents eager to experience an abbreviated version of a “day in the life” of their children at...
Amherst Block Party draws large crowds, fun had by all
The smell of different restaurants and the sound of dance music combined to fill the air above East Pleasant Street in downtown Amherst. People of all ages walked around, little kids most entranced by...
People celebrate their heritage on Puerto Rico Day
This year’s Puerto Rico Day was held on Monday September 23 instead of past year’s date November 19; the September date linked up with the 151 year anniversary of Grito de Lares, the revolt...
Let’s talk impeachment
On July 25, President Donald Trump called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss U.S. military aid in Ukraine. A memo later released by the White House hinted at a “favor” Trump had asked of...
Lovers of language: Lit Club and Minks Mag merge
Have you ever wanted to join a writing club? Or work with a group of students who enjoy discussing literature? Two clubs at Amherst Regional High School, The Minks literary magazine and the Literary...
Outing Club newly headed by Dorsey
“I love getting folks outside for an adventure,” said Sara Dorsey, a science teacher at ARHS and new advisor to the Outing Club. “I believe that outdoor experiences can have an incredible, positive impact...
Fort River’s Spanish-English kindergarten a hit
On October 1, a rainy Tuesday, while sitting in English class, a group of kindergarteners burst into song. However, they were all singing in Spanish, with smiles on their faces. Fort River Elementary School...
Poet Jay Ritchie: teaching poetry the way he wishes it were taught to him
From September 19-22, 2019, local poet Jay Ritchie ran poetry workshops in many sophomore English classes at ARHS, in conjunction with the Emily Dickinson Museum, which coordinated the event. For the past six years,...
ARHS grad opens banh-mi restaurant
Omi Omy, a great new Vietnamese restaurant currently in the Big Y plaza in Amherst Massachusetts, is run by ARHS grad (class of 2000) and father Chuong Son, who hails from Vietnam. Son described...
Drag your friends to theater auditions; the risk is worth the fun you’ll have
If you’ve ever paid attention to the morning announcements or stared at the wall on your way to class, you’ll have noticed that the ARHS theater department puts on multiple productions each year. These...
Chef Jamil cooking up goodness, innovation in cafeteria
The new Executive Chef at Amherst College, Jamil Asad-Ubinas, has plans to help ARHS and other public schools in the area. He hopes to offer students more choices than they are accustomed to seeing...
Giving guidance: Phila Son
ARHS grad Phila Son decided to come back to the high school–to work. He was hired this summer as one of the school’s new adjustment counselors. “I decided I wanted to be a school...
Bringing love to the AAC
Chantelle Brigham-McMillan, new to ARHS last year, is an always-friendly face in the Academic Achievement Center. Brigham-McMillan, who lives in Northfield and drives an hour to work every day, is an Americorps/Dial Self employee...
Athletic Director Victoria Stewart
This summer, Rich Ferro resigned as the ARHS and ARMS athletic director, a position he’d held since 2012, and took on his former role as a science teacher at ARMS. Luckily, ARHS, UMass Amherst,...
Deidre Cuffee-Gray brings a new vision
Myra Ross left big shoes to fill when she retired after 20 years of college counseling, but ARHS lucked out with a vibrant, experienced, and multi-talented new college and career advisor, Deidre Cuffee-Gray. Cuffee-Gray...
Chemistry: cooler as you go
Evan Mahnken is enjoying his new home in Amherst. “I like it out here, I really do,” said Mahnken. “I like the idea of living where my commute to work could be ten minutes.” ...
Suzanne Bowes, ray of mathematical sunshine
“My students inspire me every day,” said Suzanne Bowes, a new math teacher at ARHS.“I always welcome and try to get feedback from my students, and I use that to reflect on how I...
Azrilyan honored to teach here
Between finding her Intentional Living community in Shutesbury, being close to her friends and family in Boston and New York City, and landing her brand new ELL teaching job at ARHS, Alla Azrilyan gushed...
Lopez bringing youth together
There’s a new ELL teacher at ARHS this year, Ms. Stephani Lopez. “I love being an ELL teacher at ARHS because the students in my classes come from so many different countries,” said Lopez. ...
Welcome, Mr. Grandin!
Philip Grandin, also known as Mr. Grandin to his students, is a new math teacher at ARHS. He teaches Algebra to mostly ninth and tenth graders and geometry to a mix of 9-11 graders....
Hall monitor Darius Collins loves job, feels ‘free and open’
You may have seen a friendly new face outside the cafeteria or meandering through the halls of ARHS: new hall monitor Darius Collins. Collins likes a lot about his job so far, from “the...
