Dear Readers,

By now students have trickled in from the far reaches of the globe (or finally gotten off their couches), and are back in school.

At the end of last year, many high school community members thought that the construction of a new school meant doom, destruction, disaster, devastation, and a full-blown melodrama fit for a Lifetime movie. Students were going to be piled four to a seat in the Commons, cars were going to be parked in trees and on floating rafts in the Sudbury River. Zip-lines would need to be built throughout Wayland to ferry kids to school on time. I won’t pretend, I subscribed to many of these scenarios, except maybe the zip-lines.

Well… don’t call the TV crews, at least not yet.

Students and teachers have made it to school on-time. Well, as on-time as they always have. Classes haven’t had cranes swinging concrete through the windows. Dump trucks haven’t run over freshman. Prison bars haven’t been erected over the windows. In fact, if I were only allowed a single word to describe this first week of school, that word would be normal. If I were allowed a whole phrase? Business as usual.

Walking around campus, it’s almost unnerving how quickly you forget there’s a crater-sized dirt field where there used to be parking lots. The construction is going to be inconvenient. There are going to be those days where you long not to be next to a construction zone. But…

Everything is going to be okay. All tradition will not be lost. The character of our school is not in jeopardy, and here’s how I know:

On the first day of school, I overheard two freshman talking.

“Wow… EVERYONE here has Dunkin’ Donuts….”

“Yeah dude they must be making a killing off this place!”

Dunkin’, a critical part of Wayland High School culture, is alive and well this school year. Dunkin’ dates back many years here at Wayland. A trip through old school newspapers shows a long, rewarding relationship with the bakery chain. Way back when, the Class of 2008 even made class clothing saying “WHS Runs on Dunkin’.”

Continuing the tradition, half the school still walks around with Dunkin’ in the morning. The tradition lives on.

The Commons is still overcrowded, but just as much as it always is. Freshman are still walking around asking where the Math building is (some mean upperclassman just sent them to the English building, which they’ve yet to learn is one and the same). The prediction of impending doom and gloom might have been premature.

Tonight is the first football game of the year. Traffic will naturally be awful, so get there early! Students are encouraged to check out STOMP from 9:30-11:30 afterward in the Field House. Admission is $5. Nothing, not even construction, can keep the Warriors and the Wayland fans from packing the stadium, and showing King Phillip what 100 years of Warrior pride looks like.

We’re just getting the newsroom up-and-running again here at WSPN. We’re training a new group of journalists, moving into a new home in the Arts building, and ramping up for what promises to be another great year at WHS. This is the last full year on this campus, and the Wayland student body is just beginning to write that last chapter. Stay tuned to waylandstudentpress.com  throughout the year for that story.

Welcome back!

Dave Ryan, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Wayland Student Press Network