![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)
On Sunday, May 4, Wayland High School (WHS) will host “W Day,” a youth lacrosse event from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. Grades kindergarten through 8th grade are invited to this event. There will be a number of games youth players can participate in along with different activities such as a bouncy house, an arts and crafts station, “Challenge” stations, a merch table and a raffle. The “Challenge” stations will include games such as wall ball, target practice, speed shot and “crease crusade.”
“I think W Day always brings our community together, specifically the youth lacrosse community,” girls varsity lacrosse player and junior Sofia DiCarlo said. “It’s a really great way to meet high schoolers in the program.”
At the end of the event, 7th and 8th graders will play their “Switch Sticks” game, where the boys and girls teams switch their lacrosse sticks and play a lacrosse game. At times, players will also play without cleats or turf shoes to make the game faster. This annual game alternates between a draw, which is the starting play for women’s lacrosse, and a face off, the starting play for men’s lacrosse. Occasionally there are WHS lacrosse players who volunteer to help run these activities.
“It really helps bring the lacrosse community together and helps the youth program a lot,” boys freshman lacrosse player Ethan Rojas said.
