By CONNIE NOLEN / Community Columnist

Pelham High School has a jam-packed week every spring when our students experience their prom, senior luncheon, cap and gown photos and PHS Awards’ Night.

As an added challenge, my writing classes are completing their creation of 20 children’s books, which we will deliver to first-graders before the week is out. The literary magazine staff is putting their publication to bed, and my daughter and many other area dancers are preparing for recital. Several of our spring sports’ teams are still competing—and winning.

In spite of the craziness, this is my favorite week of the year. Seniors are simmering like popcorn about to pop and juniors are morphing into seniors. This spring, I’ve taken to calling the class of 2014, “JuSes,” my created term for students who, although still juniors, are working on senior schedules and senior student government offices blurring the line between the juniors they are today and the seniors that they are about to become. Soon I’ll meet with my “SophJunes” — sophomores about to become juniors as they satisfy entry requirements for their AP and honors classes for the coming year.

This is also the last week of vocabulary in my junior classes and brouhaha is one of our vocabulary words. Brouhaha is my favorite vocabulary word. Brouhaha means an uproar or excited public interest. I love the idea that the end of school is such a loud celebration that it generates community excitement and interest.

At Awards’ Night, Senior Counselor Laura Cochran announced that the PHS Class of 2013 has earned more than $5 million in scholarship money. Five million dollars certainly generates brouhaha. Celebration and change are in the air.

Equipped with scholarships for academics, ACT scores, band, performance, athletics, career pursuits, and most importantly, our memorial scholarships allowing our students to proudly carry names into the future, Pelham High School Seniors are gathering all the resources they need to begin their own brouhaha in the world of higher education.

In the meantime, if we were to get a new coffee house in Pelham, wouldn’t Brouhaha be a terrific name?