I skipped my middle school graduation for my first showcase when I was 14 years old. I did not know what to expect at the showcase. It was very nerve-wracking for me when I saw how many colleges were there scouting and evaluating players when I arrived at Don Bosco High School. I remember thinking...

Reel Talk is a new segment on The Smoke Signal created by Jake Lutz, Matt Ricciardi, and Erik Mannino. There will  be new videos every week in which Lutz and Ricciardi review new films....

Throughout the past few weeks, the efforts of many different people went into achieving the success of Pascack Valley’s new organic garden, located in the courtyard. Next year, the food produced will be used in PV’s culinary classes. While it was a team effort, the original idea came from PV culin...

The fire burning inside of the heart of Elisabeth Ralph stems from one motive — to keep winning. She may have just scored her 100th career goal as an Indian, but her true desire comes from the feeling of victory. From the time she was in fourth grade, Ralph played midfield, but when she got to Pa...

Many PV seniors have the opportunity to see the classroom from a different viewpoint- as a teacher’s assistant. PV computer science teacher Nancy Ricca thinks teachers’ assistants benefit immensely by taking on this role in the classroom. “By helping other people, they [the teachers’ a...

Ms. Angie DeLima laid in a hospital bed facing her husband, holding their newborn son, Thomas, on an August afternoon in 2011. After pausing for a moment, her husband finally popped the question: Do you want to move to Dubai? DeLima recalls being in a state of shock. But she agreed. DeLima, now ...

The River Vale Baseball and Softball Association is forming a new recreational baseball league for high schoolers. The league is open to PV students of all grades, as long as they are not part of the high school baseball team here at Pascack Valley. Sign-ups close later this week, and the fee to join...

As we sat in class, less than two months away from graduation, my classmates that I have known since kindergarten were discussing roommates, jobs, and getting apartments. I began tearing up. I suddenly felt uneasy that I was in the same boat as them and did not want to accept the fact that I w...

Editor's Note: The story was corrected from Ridgewood YMCA to the YMCA Synchro Stars in Ridgewood. The team also practices in the pools at YMCA Bergen County. In the beginning of her freshman year, current Pascack Valley junior, Sophie Altman, heard a rumor that there would be a synchronized swimmi...

This past April, I took part in the International March of the Living. I, along with 15,000 other Jewish teens marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a walk that was an actual death march only 70 years ago. I marched to bear witness so that we will never ever forget the atrocities that took place during the Holo...