2024-25 High School Confidential: Week 10

Want to purchase todays print edition? Heres a map of single-copy locations.

To subscribe, click here.

Sign up for our High School Confidential newsletter here .

Welcome to Year 9 of High School Confidential, powered by Danville Area Community College.

It's an award-winning project made possible by aspiring student journalists from every corner of our circulation area.

Each Thursday through April, theyll tell us whats happening in their hallways at news-gazette.com .

At least once a week, well also hand over our Snapchat account (News-Gazette) to our correspondents for behind-the-scenes tours.

Feedback? Email N-G/VP Jim Rossow at [email protected] .

On to this week's report ...

Students have been working on their independent studies for the end-of-semester showcase.

Some examples of topics picked: dog emotion and cognition, introduction to psychology, and personal finance management.

Students look forward to these showcases as their hard work can be presented to faculty and their families.

Also, Academy High and Heritage have partnered in girls basketball, the team winning their first two games.

Maegan Frye Last Wednesday, Spanish Club students hosted a bilingual night for elementary students, offering an opportunity for cultural and language exchange.

Spanish Club members set up various stations for the participants to explore.

From reading bilingual books to creating their own headpieces, the evening highlighted the importance of being bilingual.

It was a wonderful way for students to share their culture and language while fostering appreciation for diversity.

Photos courtesy Daniela Coombe.

Stephanie Garza Girls basketball season kicked off as the Bombers beat St.

Thomas More 51-23 at the Maroa-Forsyth tournament last week.

Pictured: Brooke Schall, Kharma Giles and Gracie Painter.

Dominating players included Pyper Jones, Gracie Manning and Gracie Painter.

Gabby Laskowski Ahead of basketball season, the Armstrong-Potomac Trojans team attended Media Day at Danville Area Community College in preparation for the Vermilion County tournament in January.

The Trojans began their season Tuesday against Lexington.

Pictured: seniors Cole Bailey and Bowen Hesterberg.

Tierney Moran Math Club hosted a mini catapult building activity at lunch.

Students were supplied with popsicle sticks, rubber bands and spoons, and were set free to build their own mini catapults.

Additionally, small candy such as marshmallows and Whoppers were available for students to launch to test their contraptions.

Pictured: Freshman Emmalyn Ewers and Emilee Strack, sophomores Leila Hood and Cooper Winkelman, and math teacher and Math Club sponsor Marika Rosenberger.

Gabby Block In the spirit of Halloween, students showed their creativity and originality through their outfits.

Throughout the day, students could participate in activities such as advisory games and costume contests.

Costumes of all varieties were shown and ultimately reflected the personalities of each student.

In addition, senior students Emma Pasquale and Cole Crawley were granted the honor of accepting the Sons of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award.

Sydney Creason At a Thanksgiving lunch made possible by the Lunch Ladies elementary students had the chance to bring their grandparents.

Served was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with bacon, stuffing, rolls and cranberry jelly.

Carsyn Stiger Theatre performed the play "Testing Testing" on Thursday through Sunday.

The FLS class cooked a Thanksgiving meal for their friends and families on Friday.

The Asian American Association enjoyed each other's favorite foods at their potluck as well.

Allison Hemming On Nov.

15, the girls and boys basketball scrimmages were held ahead of the teams season openers.

Peyton Lents In the week before Thanksgiving, Central's African American Club and Asian American & Pacific Islander Association collaborated to host their first Friendsgiving.

AAPIA club officers Bella Ondevilla, Adelaide Kota, Ben Tang, Caroline Yu and Kenji Hayakawa joined forces with AAC officers Nevaeh Bickerstaff and Taylor Henderson to decorate and provide food for over 30 attendees.

Each guest either brought a dish, many choosing cultural foods made with family recipes or a small entry fee, and the evening was filled with music and excited conversation.

Though this was the first collaboration between the two clubs, both reported they intend to plan more in the future.

Charlotte Heads Students took a trip Champaigns Elevate Trampoline Park on Friday.

It was an incentive trip for students to improve academically.

Afterward, students had the choice of eating at Panda Express, Raising Canes or Chick-fil-A.

Julia Edelman The Talent Show, hosted by Tayvion Diltz and Ginysia Vander-Austin, included beautiful singing from people like Bryce Martin and Alissa Ross, snappy dancing and even surprising performances from teachers.

The Talent Show truly brightened the schools spirit and marvelously ended the week.

Nadia Gamble Teachers had a secret Spirit Week.

Each day, theyd dress according to a different theme without telling the students.

The themes were all black, tacky day, anything but a water bottle day, college day and Christmas.

Emma Westray The dairy food team finished first at the Section 18 competition that included 16 teams and 88 individuals.

Hunter Meeker finished first place overall, Madeline Nevels was second and Sophia Loucks was third.

Pictured, front to back and left to right: Cheyenne Orr, Maddy Willis, Sophia Loucks,Madeline Nevels, Hunter Meeker, Sawyer Willis, Austin Grider, Crislyn Arnold, Jordyn Brooks and Mackenzie Williams.

Jaiden Stelzer The Future Business Leaders of America organization volunteered on Saturday at the Light Up Christmas Parade.

Members collected coats for a coat drive and helped kids play various games and crafts.

The girls basketball team won Fishers annual tip-off tournament for the second year in a row.

The GCMS Red Army was there with high spirits ready to support.

Anna Warren FCCLA, FFA, NHS and Student Council teamed up for a hurricane relief fundraiser, aiming to collect 1,000 items.

Thanks to the students' efforts, the goal was met.

As a reward, they will receive an all-day movie day to celebrate their success and generosity.

Madi Wilson Last Wednesday, I visited Shawn Swartzentruber's tool shed class.

He has had a big impact on the school as he started teaching in 1994.

Ironically, he is teaching his previous students' children now.

The tool shed class started in 1996 and has been a hit since.

Many students, like tool shed President Rasiah Jones and Vice President Parker Watson, enjoy the classes because of "how fun they are and the hands-on work." The tool shed is a formal cooperation where money is exchanged and profit is made among the students as people buy products like clocks, tabletop trees, wooden snowmen and more.

Another popular item is something called the "Spirit Stick." It is a pole with the iconic Jerky that customers can customize and put symbols on.

The symbols range from all school activities and sports including putting a name plate on it.

Students learn how to work with different tools and machines as they put together these products.

They are all creative and have a high level of expertise as they are always busy learning and building things.

Pictured: (front row, left to right): Christian Nicholls, Jeo Avitia, Zach Davis, Rasiah Jones, Parker Watson, Owen Garrett, Eli Hastings - The two in the back left to right: Brayden Walder and Nick Brown (not pictured: Charlie Flores); Christian Nicholls sanding a charcuterie board; Zach Davis and Jeo Avita working together using the wood planer; Rasiah Jones showing off a spirit stick; and Nick Brown painting and putting the finishing touches on products Macy Warner Last Friday, the junior class went on a fun field trip to Chicago, stopping at the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Shedd Aquarium.

Spanish teacher Maestra Haegele and Biology teacher Debra Herche worked together to give the students a great mix of learning and adventure.

The students had a blast exploring Spanish culture and checking out the amazing sea animals, making it a day to remember.

Photos courtesy Haegele and Avoni Kelly.

Maggie Newell Abby Redenius and Aimee Chandlers math team competed at the Beecher Math Competition.

The Freshmen/Sophomore Triangle Competition team earned a second-place ribbon.

Congratulations to Whyatt Maisonneuve, Wes Connor, Madi Clark, Bryce Rogers and Milla Martinez on their finish.

Traeh Kissack FFA members went to Bloomingtons Interstate Center to help with the annual Festival of Trees.

Festival of Trees parnters with "The Baby Fold" organization, a non-profit in Normal that offers special education programs, foster care, early childhood support and adoption processes throughout central Illinois.

Money received during the Festival of Trees is donated to The Baby Fold organization.

Molly Scheuer Art 1 class and Art Club collaborated with the preschool for their Monster project.

The art students had the preschool class draw pictures of monsters that they will turn into real life.

They will take the drawings and sew them to give back to the preschoolers as Christmas gifts.

Kami Muehling The Sages are headed to state after an eventful win against Unity and will face Montini at Hancock Stadium in Normal.

The Monticello student section the Sage Cage stormed the field to congratulate the team after Saturdays win and is ready to cheer on the Sages as they take on the Broncos in their final game of the season.

Megan Allen FCCLA hosted a food drive for Thanksgiving.

Each year, students have the opportunity to get extra credit by donating cans to the FCCLA club so families in the community can have a Thanksgiving meal.

FCCLA students work the week before Thanksgiving break bagging food, organizing and getting recipients for the donations.

This years success was able to feed more than 20 families in the Oakland community.

Carleigh Clifton Saturday kicks off the start of the annual Comet Classic, put on by the girls basketball team and coach Stephanie Marsh.

Since 1987, Oakwood has hosted various teams to play in this tournament and it is something the school looks forward to.

Taylor Smoot The speech team had its first competition at Olympia High School.

The team includes Grace Hughes, Bren Henry, Sam Hewerdine, Paityn Badgley and Lucious Babbs.

Hughes finished third in JV Radio Speaking and Henry finished eighth in JV Radio Speaking.

The next competition is at Bloomington High on Dec.

7.

Charley Ulrich At Fridays Meet the Eagles, the freshman, JV and varsity teams all had separate scrimmages and the dance team, pep band, basketball team, cheer team and wrestling team were all introduced.

Cooper Anderson At the annual Senior Citizens Thanksgiving Meal last Thursday, FFA members helped guests in the building, served them and cleared tables afterward.

While senior citizens enjoyed their meals made by Salt Fork lunch ladies, the Salt Fork North fifth-graders and high school chorus members performed a few songs.

Alexa Jamison On Nov.

11-15, mathematics teacher Tim Hendershot had students create toothpick bridges.

The Technical Math class learned how to use real-world problem solving skills as weights were placed on the bridges to discover the amount of mass it would take to withstand the objects.

Pictured, left to right: Juniors Hennessey White and Maggie Milburn.

Lydia Richardson The Scholastic Bowl team had its first practice as both JV and varsity attended.

They were coached by Leah Fleming and, during practice, watched a live SpaceX launch.

Isabel Donovan A total of 27 students were selected to participate in the ILMEA District 3 Music Festival across band, choir and orchestra events.

This year, more Uni students participated than have for several years.

Ivy Pullen-Heuman On Saturday, the Unity FFA Chapter competed at the Illinois State Ag Sales competition at Lincoln Land Community College.

Put on by the Illinois Association FFA, the competition is comprised of four parts; team preparation, team presentation, individual sales call and a test.

Members included Avery Watson, Ginna Stierwalt, Leah Watson and Molly Baxley.

This year, the product they were selling was Kubota skid steers and attachments.

The team placed fourth in the state.

Pictured, left to right: Owen Torrance (Illinois FFA State secretary), Avery Watson, Ginna Stierwalt, Leah Watson and Molly Baxley.

Avery Watson Students took a field trip to Local 149 Plummer and Pipefitters Open House on Nov.

20 where they got to work with power tools, learn about different piping and much more.

Danyla Nash Spanish III and IV classes went to the La Casa Cultural Latina and State Farm Center on the University of Illinois campus.

Students were able to engage and connect with La Casa students and leadership members.

They also listened to a presentation on La Casa, toured La Casa and discussed with the leadership panel.

The students got to experience what college student life looks like on a college campus.

After that.

they attended a college basketball game.

Kirstyn Jones In Elizabeth McTaggart's floral design class, students had the unique opportunity to learn from local florist Marilyn Conger.

During her visit, Conger shared her expertise and guided the class in creating their own flower arrangements.

Students enhanced their skills while creating centerpieces to bring back home for Thanksgiving break.

Maya Machev On Nov.

12, student council put on the yearly Scavenger Hunt.

After dinner, students left the school to start the hunt, driving around town and collecting canned goods from houses.

In total, the student council collected 372 canned goods as well as toiletries that will be donated to the Westville High School Food Pantry.

Olivia Troglia.

This article has been shared from the original article on newsgazette, here is the link to the original article.