![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)
![At 5:45 a.m. on April 19, a reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord took place at Old North Bridge in Concord. The reenactment was followed by a parade, where several dignitaries, including Gov. Maura Healey, gave speeches. "This is our generation's time, standing here in this place at this moment, we must commit ourselves to defending [freedom]," Healey said. "That's what I will do, and I encourage everyone who knows our history and values our freedom to do the same."](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/93EBB942-34BA-42D3-85A5-220D17FE7E44_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)
For April break, several students who take French and Latin will be travelling to France and Italy as part of the World Language Department field trips. These trips to countries where students are able to immerse themselves fully in the language they have been studying is a long-standing WHS tradition.
This year, 11 students who take a French class at WHS will be flying to Paris, France, while 19 students who study Latin will travel to Rome, Italy. The France and Italy trips take place every other year, the last trip being in 2023. Students who take Mandarin and Spanish also have the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and Spain, and these trips occurred last year.
“[The trips] have been part of our culture, here at Wayland, for over 20 years,” Spanish teacher Nicole Haghdoust said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, three trips were canceled in 2020. One of those trips was a six week long exchange program that sent WHS students to China. Additionally, the France and Spain trips used to also be exchange trips, where students would come from Spain and France to the U.S..
“Students go on these trips, and they have a wonderful time and then the word of mouth spreads,” Haghdoust said. “By pausing our trips for a few years, there’s less word of mouth. It does take a little bit of time to get the programs up and running again.”
The language trips didn’t make their return until 2023, when French students traveled to the South of France and Latin students traveled to Rome and Capri, along with other parts of Italy.
“When I went, there wasn’t a homestay because of COVID-19,” senior Rachel Goldstone, who was part of the Southern France trip in 2023, said. “We stayed in hotels. We had these pen pals that we had been communicating with throughout the year, and we got to meet up with them for a day in Montpelier.”
The language teachers organize the trips through a student travel company. The travel company, Xperatis, was used to plan this year’s trip to France.
Last year, the Spanish trip involved a homestay, where students were paired with a family to stay overnight with. This year’s France trip will also include a homestay, providing a more culturally immersive experience.
“Last time I went, we had 20 students, and I think part of that [increase] was maybe because there wasn’t a homestay component,” French teacher Sara Langelier said. “But honestly, the homestay is usually the best part of the trip.”
Since the trips are school sponsored, part of the planning process involves the teachers writing a proposal that is pitched to the WHS administration and school committee. About a year in advance, the trip itinerary and details are shared, and the teachers gauge student interest.
“We actually have had to cancel [next year’s] Panama trip,” Haghdoust said. “There were not enough students interested. We are currently in the process of deciding what to do next year.”
After her trip to France, Goldstone found that she returned home with better language skills and also a better understanding of French culture.
“It was really cool to be immersed in French culture,” Goldstone said. “Our tour guide spoke French to us the whole time, so it made me better at understanding French. I also learned certain expressions, and I got to learn slang words from my pen pals rather than just the formal words that you’re taught in school.”
Students on this year’s 10-day France trip departed from Boston Logan Airport on Monday, April 14, while students on the Latin trip will leave on Thursday, April 17.
“I feel like these trips have impacted kids enormously,” Langelier said. “I always get emails from students who graduated years ago, who tell me that they were in Paris or South of France, and met up with their pen pal. They will send me pictures together. It’s so moving for me to see that because these trips can lead to lifelong friendships.”
![On Tuesday April 1, Boston Globe journalist and Boston University professor David Abel answered questions about his award-winning film “Inundation District.” The film delved into the risks of extreme floods the Seaport region of Boston is facing amidst commercial development. Abel was inspired by his climate studies that revealed grave statistics. “I have covered report after report after report with projections about how our seas are likely to rise over the coming decades,” Abel said. “And it would seem, as I would get each new report, that the worst case projections would only get [more] dire. That left me feeling like this was a really significant story that needs to be told in ways that are hard to just tell in print.”](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-06-at-9.40.04 PM-e1743990080418-1200x800.png)
