By:  Chasen Shao ‘15, Editor-in-Chief and Justin Gick ‘16, Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Looking forward into the year, Dr. Morton stated that he wished, as usual, all the best for students to achieve their greatest potential for the school year. During our conversation, Dr. Morton also spoke of the new additions to our school. He spoke of the new Fields Building near the football stadium behind our school. In particular, he spoke of the renovations to the building in terms of new flooring and locker rooms, as well as a renewed café area in the Fields room.
Outside of actual renovations, Dr. Morton also talked about a new “renovation”, but not in terms of any new addition to our school building. This time, when he was talking of innovations, Dr. Morton was talking about the HSPA – PARCC transition. PARCC has filled up the void of an absence of state testing from the end of NJASK testing to the now obsolete HSPA exams. There has been much talk about many aspects of this exam, especially due to the fact of the computerizing of the exam. In fact, from the start of the school year, there has been consistent buzz around the school about the itinerary for the PARCC exams, but outside of the computerized nature of this new “high school proficiency exam”, Dr. Morton did not confirm any other aspect of exam. At this point, the alternating Day 5/Day 6 schedule for the March and early April isn’t even definite. The schedule is still up in the air, with the district still in debate of the scheduling. The only other aspect of the PARCC exam that Dr. Morton also confirmed was that each grade other than the seniors would alternate in periods of two weeks to test.
These new additions to our high school may seem sufficient for any school year, but this year West has brought even more variety to the table. After numerous retirements at the end of the school year, the school appointed many new teachers and administrators for the 2014-2015 school year.  Last year, an astounding 4 teachers retired from the West faculty, opening up vacancies for other teachers to fill. As a result, the World Language Department hired two additional teachers for this school year: Mrs. Schneider and Mr. Erat. In the absence of veteran Physics teacher Mrs. Millili as well as Biology teacher Mr. Semar, the science department added two additional science teachers Mrs. Soto and Mrs. Urban.
Additionally, Dr. Morton looks for more distribution of our school-wide newspaper, especially to the elementary schools in the area. This would be perfect to benefit the lower grade schools in the region, such as Kilmer Elementary School and Barton Elementary School, to name a few. This will allow the newspaper to reach a much broader audience and heighten the interest to participate in such a wonderful organization.
Additionally, Dr. Morton said that he wants students to strive and achieve their academic goals and he wants to encourage students to participate in the AP test and SAT test. He told us about how last year was a great year because there was a lot of health and wellness going on throughout the building which means a lot of students were involved in sports and activities. When asked about renovations to the school, Dr. Morton said that West got a new boiler system and the field house at the stadium was completely renovated and he added that he wants to get our TV studio up and running because now we have $7,000 for new equipment.
All these new additions to improve the school should encourage increased academic success among the student body.In order for the success here at Cherry Hill West to continue, students need to strive for the better and reach higher. This, along with all these advancements, will lead to a spectacular school year—the best year by far.