Feminism alive at ARHS
“We are feminists! We are working to create equal rights for women and men. That does not mean we think women are better,” said Maya Sessions, co-leader of the ARHS Women’s Rights Club, referring...
Student Union builds community
Since 2011, the ARHS Student Union has been working to achieve a positive school environment and “improve the general social atmosphere of the school.” Previously, they have worked on creating the language of the...
Best Buddies Club takes off
Every Tuesday in the ARHS English hallway, the Best Buddies club meets in the Pathways to Independence Program (PIP) room. Best Buddies is an international organization that aims to promote friendship and social opportunities...
Students for a Free Tibet Club
The Buddhist mountainous region of Tibet has been governed by Communist China since 1959, after a failed uprising to gain its independence. Since then, many activists and dissidents have been arrested, tortured, or exiled...
POCU bigger than ever
POCU, or People Of Color United, is a club that has been at ARHS for decades. Interim Assistant Principal Mary Custard and health and physical education teacher Elizabeth Haygood co-advise the club. This year’s...
‘So close we’re like a cult’: Survival Living crew braves a weekend in woods
Everyone needs food and water to survive, but very often, just the basic physical needs aren’t enough for people. Humans also crave love, attention, and company, and stray away from loneliness. However, groups of...
Anti-Islamophobia club open to all
According to a 2010 ABC News and Washington Post poll, only 37 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of Islam, partly due to biased perceptions and misrepresentations of Muslims in politics, the media,...
Senegambian exchange ‘filled a gap of knowledge’
After three weeks of travel to Senegal and The Gambia, ARHS students felt like they not only experienced the culture, but learned a great deal. “For me, it filled a gap of knowledge that...
Plato, Nietzsche, and Rawls, oh my!
Tristan Whalen’s love of philosophy is no secret to those who know him best. In the past two years alone he has completed courses at Hampshire College in Plato’s Moral and Political Philosophy and...
International Students Club celebrates cultures
One of the many distinctive qualities we are exposed to by living in a town like Amherst is its international population. And at ARHS, we have the International Students Club to bring their energy...
Packed Consent Week planned
Consent Week has been a staple of ARHS’s social awareness campaigns since its debut in 2015. Now, in its fourth year, the week, which will take place between Monday, April 9 and Friday, April...
Stopping the haters: students, teachers talk homophobia at school
One day senior and SAGA (Sexuality and Gender Alliance) president Abigail Morris was walking through the math hallway at ARHS, when she heard someone say something along the lines of “That’s gay, bro, don’t...
Students gear up for Senegambian exchange
Interim vice principal Ericka Alschuler called the Senegambian Scholars exchange “a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience different African cultures and countries, meet new people and expand people’s worldview.” Ms. Alschuler is the...
Sene-Gambian Scholars Club enjoying field trips, preparing to host
Traveling to a different continent and learning about the culture of the people who live there can have life-changing impacts that few high school students get the opportunity to experience. The Sene-Gambian Scholars Exchange...
A ‘model’ conference, filled with debate
For many new members in the Model United Nations (MUN), the UMass MUN conference was their first experience with a formal conference. From Friday, March 10, to Sunday, March 12, “delegates” tested their skills...
LBGTQ+ Awareness Week educates all
After sponsoring a Transgender Awareness Week in March of 2015, ARHS’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance was ready for more. This year, they hosted an LBGTQ+ Awareness Week aimed at helping students in community feel...
Project A, MSAN-inspired
ARHS student members of the Minority Student Achievement Network have the opportunity to travel to a great conference each year, and then, afterward, make an action plan based on what they learned there to...
BLM group talks issues
Black Lives Matter is a very active club at ARHS, with about 10-12 core members. They meet after school on Mondays in Ms. Leopold’s room, 328. Anyone is free and welcome to join. Nia...
SAGA ready to kick off again
One month into the school year, the Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) was into full swing. Last year, SAGA put together a Transgender Awareness Week, where the club educated the school community about gender...
Best Buddies club has new advisor
The Best Buddies club gained an amazing advisor this year with new teacher, Justin Hoffman, 37, who works in the Pathways to Independence Program (PIP) for students with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities. Mr. Hoffman is...
Sene-Gambian Scholars Club off to great start, preparing for West African exchange
Kathy Wilkes, a paraprofessional and one of the advisors of the Sene-Gambian Scholars Exchange Club has been active with the group for 10 years. She and two retired ARHS teachers, special education teacher Momodou...
Marching band plays and “makes bucks”
At the beginning of the 2015-2016 year, the Amherst Marching band was only three members strong, and few knew who they were. Since then, their numbers swelled to nine, with the band now a...
Chess lovers spice up lunch
When Principal Mark Jackson pushed his way through a yelling crowd of ARHS seniors outside the cafeteria one spring afternoon, he found not a fight at the center of the circle as he had...
Volpone: “beautiful, weird”
Nick Hennessy, a frequent director on the ARHS stage, took on a new theatrical goliath with his April 28-30 mounting of Ben Jonson’s Volpone, this year’s Student Produced Play. A 17th century English satire...
Consent Week: permission is both necessary and sexy
After the success of ARHS’s first Consent Week, members of the Man Club, Women’s Right’s club, and Gender Sexuality Alliance continued the tradition this year with another week of activities aimed at raising student...
People of Color United members participate in revitalization project in Springfield
ARHS People of Color United members Iani Ferreira, Lanre Thomas, and Edward Cage joined 1,500 volunteers who took part in the #GreenNFit Block Rebuild in Springfield, Mass. on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The volunteers...
Best Buddies club: forming lasting friendships
ARHS’s Best Buddies club, is a local chapter of a global organization aimed at “ending the social, physical, and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” according to bestbuddies.org....
Latinos Unidos has fun
“There’s a great club atmosphere. It’s a good place to chill,” Parm Sasenarine said. “That’s the best part about Latinos Unidos.” Sasenarine is the president of Latinos Unidos, which meets on Tuesdays at 3...
Refugees in Distress club hosts assembly
On Friday, Feb. 12, ARHS student Lauren Phillips-Jackson hosted an assembly with the help of the new club Refugees in Distress. The purpose of the assembly was to bring awareness about Syrian refugees to...
Modeling success at a Dartmouth conference
On the weekend of February 27, 16 ARHS students headed to Dartmouth in New Hampshire to participate in the Model United Nations Conference. While Model United Nations is not really meant as a competition,...
