![After Massachusetts voted to remove the MCAS graduation requirement, policy makers are reshaping graduation standards. "The top-line understanding is that we’ve moved away from a system that we’ve known for about 24 years, which is one where every school district in Massachusetts had wide latitude to decide what their graduation requirements were in terms of coursework or other experiences, but every single student, in order to earn a diploma, needed to pass the MCAS in one English, one math and one science assessment," Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler said. "We’ve moved away from that now, by virtue of the outcome of [the MCAS] ballot question in November, to a place where communities can still decide what their graduation requirements are, but there’s no requirement for students to pass the MCAS.”](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/img_3067_720.png)
![Troy Hoyt finishes the Boston Marathon, running for the Hoyt Foundation. T. Hoyt is the son of Hoyt Foundation CEO Russ Hoyt.
“[Running a marathon] might seem like a big thing, when it’s presented to you at first, but if you break it up and just keep telling yourself, “Yes, you can,” you can start chipping away at it. And before you know it, you’ll be running the whole 26 miles, and you won’t even think twice about it.” T. Hoyt said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/C36E8761-1CBB-452E-9DF2-543EF7B1095E_1_105_c.jpeg)
![From left to right, junior Ben Pyhtila, sophomores Aadith Charry and Owen Chislett play their cello instruments. Junior Jubin Kim also plays the cello and has been playing the instrument since third grade. "I think that [the cello] is a good balance between a high instrument versus a low instrument, and I just really like the rich sound that it makes," Kim said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_6540-1200x800.jpg)
Director, actor, and class of ’09 graduate Andy Rakich (Tears of God, Boot Hill, Northman) returned to the WHS Black Box Theater on Friday, December 18th, to reveal his latest film: Dracula.
The film is based on the 1897 horror novel Dracula by Irish author Bram Stoker, which tells the tale of the infamous Count Dracula. The story begins with a simple salesman, Jonathan Harker, played by junior Seth Lifland. Harker is traveling in the hopes of selling real estate to the Count, played by Rakich. Harker soon finds himself trapped in the Count’s castle with the two brides of Dracula, played by junior Cato Crumbley, and Sherry Ng (WHS class of ’08).
Harker barely escapes the Count’s Transylvanian castle, but his situation only seems to worsen when he returns to England to discover that his fiancée, Mina, played by senior Danielle Barrett, is being hunted by the Count. The witty Professor Van Helsing and cautious Dr. Seward (Alex Romania and Justin Billing respectively) fight at Harker’s side as they try and defeat the swift and powerful Count Dracula.
[adrotate group="2"]
Viewers applauded the cast, crew and Andy Rakich for another entertaining and exciting film; it received top reviews.“I thought it was very well scripted and acted, and I really enjoyed it,” said senior Alie Perkus.
“It was really weird to look at your own work afterwards and be like ‘ah!’ I did that,” said Barrett. “ There were a lot more people than I expected here, but I’m so glad a lot of people got to come and see it!”
