Students Come Back — and Look Forward

After a wet summer in Pine Plains, school is starting again—ready or not! What are students returning to high school looking forward to this year? 

Nicholas Tornberg, 15, who worked at Peck’s Market this summer, will be a sophomore this year. He’s looking forward to sports, especially football and basketball. He’s enthusiastic about Ag Day, which takes place Oct. 6 this year—with fireworks. At Ag Day, “different classes compete with one another in the areas of sportsmanship and activities for prizes. One class gets first place, one gets second, one gets third,” he said. His favorite subject is math. 

Kaylei Murphy, 16, who volunteers at the Pine Plains library, will be a junior. She’s excited about participating in the Early Childhood Program at BOCES. “You learn about child development and how to talk and work with parents and staff in an educational setting. I know I want to work with kids and figured the program, which is open to 11th and 12th graders, would be a good learning experience.” She’s also looking forward to band, where she plays flute and piccolo, sometimes during football game halftimes. She plays tennis and is in Honors English. Kaylei intends to continue volunteering at the library during the rest of high school. “I love working in the library. Meeting new people around Pine Plains is really cool and the whole staff is awesome. It’s something I really enjoy doing.”

Max McBride, 16, will also be a junior, is particularly excited about a new class this year, “Character and Role Building,” a new Creative Arts class taught by Kaitlyn Niznic, who also teaches drawing, painting and middle school art classes. He is also in Greg Locker’s theatre class and has been cast as Dr. Zubritsky in the Stissing Theatre Guild’s fall play, Neil Simon’s Fools. Eliza Essery will play the female lead, Sophia. The play has an element of fantasy, as a Ukranian town has a curse on it that the new teacher in town has to cure by educating Sophia. “I’m looking forward to the role—I like being in new shows—I’m happy,” Max said. For the first time, McBride, who has previously participated in several plays and musicals at the school, may have a conflict between rehearsals and his seasonal job. “I’m a soccer referee on weekends in fall and spring in Red Hook and Rhinebeck—for young kids, 9 and 10.” Usually, rehearsals are after school, but there may be some weekend rehearsals for Fools. “I might have a conflict once or twice.” Areas McBride is considering pursuing in his future studies are writing, video games, and theatre.