Athletic Hall of Fame inducts first class

By Meghan Pennell

This school year, Northwest plans to induct its inaugural class into the Athletic Hall of Fame. In early June, a committee, headed by Athletic Booster Club President Kevin Fries, was created to honor those who have demonstrated excellence in Northwest athletics.

Located in the trophy case in the main hall, the Athletic Hall of Fame will have large boards with nameplates, similar to other honors around the school. The Hall of Fame is designed to recognize recipients long-term, as nameplates will stay on each board permanently.

Next to the Hall of Fame will be a screen allowing viewers to read autobiographies of each inductee, including their achievements in Northwest athletics and their time afterward.

“The goal is to honor people who’ve had great athletic careers at Northwest High School,” said Assistant Principal PJ Smith. “This can be anyone, including contributors, managers, former directors and secretaries.”

The hall of fame committee plans to induct one team, six athletes, one coach, one contributor and one special award each year. Anyone can be nominated through a Google Form that will soon be available on the Northwest website. Then, the committee will consider each nominee.

Inductees will be honored at different athletic events throughout the year. This year’s class will be inducted at halftime during the football game on October 23 and at the Dave Gee Track Invite later this spring. Inductees include athletes Kirk Berggren, Melissa (Rauert) Cromer, Russ Harvey, Mike Leaman, Todd Olson and Rick Shwieger. Track Coach Dave Gee (1980-2014) will also be honored, as well as the undefeated 1985 football team and Kate Marron for her service to Northwest athletics.

“Everyone has a chance to be recognized and honored for their impact on the Northwest community,” Smith said.

Controllers are the new basketballs

By Madeline Stratman

Within Northwest High School, there are many varieties of clubs and organizations to join, one being eSports or electronic sports.

“Anybody can join,” said coach Matt Hinkel. “There’s new kids that come in, and have never played the games before. There’s kids that come back every year to play during the season and enjoy it, and competitive kids that put hours into games. It’s definitely a range of skill levels and people.”

Practice is every Tuesday and Thursday in Hinkel’s room and business teacher Ann Purdy’s room. On some of those days, students are competing virtually.

“We have five different games within the year.” Hinkel said. “The first semester is Rocket League, Overwatch and Starcraft. In second semester, we play Super Smash Ultimate and League of Legends.”

“I’ve always been interested in gaming, and I thought joining was a good way to meet new friends,” said Sarah Clark, a sophomore that enjoys playing Rocket League.

“Competitions have been good.” Hinkel said. “We have students that are getting better every day. I would say that we have the top one or two Rocket League teams in the state right now.” After winning a championship last year for Rocket League, they’re hoping for another.

There are many ways to be involved in eSports. “One thing we’ve done is stream on Twitch, which is a gaming streaming service,” said Hinkel. “We’ve been trying to promote our competitions on social media, so there’s kids making graphics.” If students don’t want to compete, they still have options to be involved with eSports, and there may be future benefits for joining.

“The last couple years, kids got scholarships to different colleges,” said Hinkel. “Many colleges in the state are offering scholarships.”

Clark’s best moments in eSports are the practices they have and
being able to mess around and have fun with everyone in the activity.

Hinkel’s decision to coach eSports was simple. Even though he might not know the games as well as the eSport members, he’s has always enjoyed playing video games.

“I definitely recommend eSports for anybody, whether you’re good at gaming or not,” said Clark. “It’s always a lot of fun and the people there are friendly.”

Overall, eSports is always open for new players, and is always trying to have fun while competing and playing games.

It’s a pageant thing-you wouldn’t understand

By Areya Starke

Kennedy Brown is a sophomore, crowns and sashes is her language, and she does pageants and it’s not like the stereotypical Toddler and Tiaras television perceives it as.

“I started doing pageantry because I got a letter in the mail inviting me to do National American three years ago.”

Crowns and sashes are sophomore Kennedy Brown’s language, as she competes in pageantry and it’s nothing like the stereotypes.

The typical season for state pageants is during the summertime. Then, they have nationals in November in California, Florida or New York.

“I’ve been competing for about three years now,” said Brown. “I’ve done three pageants, two in Nebraska and one in Iowa.”

Last year, Brown got second place for top model, and has also received the Heart of Service award for helping in the community. She’s also been a top ten finalist, and can compete in nationals as an all American.

“I’m usually shy, so it was hard to get at first to get out there and talk to different girls,” said Brown.“There’s this one part of the competition interview, that’s pretty difficult. The judges save you some of the hardest questions like…. “If you’re a magnet what would you attract?” I did not know what to say.”you just brag about yourself basically.”

Competitions can be nerve-wrecking, so Brown always rehearses in her head, tries practicing to make sure she’s ready.

“Only in bigger competitions do they ask questions about politics and bettering the world mostly,” said Brown, regarding the sterotype of contestants answering questions falsey. “For Nationals you really need to be
prepared for anything the judges throw at you.” A big part of pageantry is confidence, keeping the converstaion going.

“Make sure you know what you’re going to say and if you mess up just keep on going. They aren’t gonna judge you if you mess up, judges watch you on how you fix it.” said Brown. One sterotype Brown confirms to be true is how important posture is.

“I like the stage and how they take pictures of you in your outfits That’s probably my favorite part competitions. It’s so much fun.” said Brown.

Northwest may not have a lot of students who are aware of pageantry, but Brown said that she would be more than happy to help with anyone interested in competing. Some people may take a different approach to what they think of pageantry, knowing from a first hand experience, perspective might have changed. Pageantry has taught Brown lessons
she never expected to learn.

*Photo Courtesy of Kennedy Brown

Getting to know: Jeremy Otto

By Gabriel Lorenzo

What is your position at Northwest?
“I teach in the special education department with Mrs. Coates, Mrs. Molling and Ms. Beins.”

Have you taught before?
“No, this is my first year teaching and my first job.”

What brought you to Northwest?
“[It’s] just home feeling, comfortable, basically family-oriented, and I have had relatives that go here.”

Is there anything you want your students to know about you?
“I’m a friendly person, I don’t bite and if you are friendly, I will be friendly with you. I like to get along with others!”

Are you involved in anything outside of school?
“As of right now, no, but I would like to. I just want to focus on teaching.”

What is an interesting fact about you?
“I am the oldest out of six children, and I have little holes in my [left] ear.”

*Photo Courtesy of Jeremy Otto

Getting to know: Katie Hornung

By Madeline Stratman

What is your position at Northwest?
“I am the agricultural education teacher here at Northwest, as well as the FFA adviser.”

Have you taught before?
“Yes, I have a couple of years of experience at a school called Diller-Odell, which is south of Beatrice.”

What brought you to Northwest?
“I graduated from Northwest in 2012 and got married in September. So my husband was living in Hastings, and going back here was the only option that I wanted to do.”

Is there anything you want your students to know about you?
“I grew up living on a farm in Chapman and showing cattle and horses. I was part of the musical and FFA in high school.”

Are you involved in anything outside of school?
“FFA Alumni Association, which is on state level. My husband is in it, so I’m active in it as well, along with showing in the summer.”

What is an interesting fact about you?
“I’m double-jointed in my elbow, which allows me to bend it backwards and pop it out.”

*Photo Courtesy of Tally Creative

Northwest’s 18-21 student program

By Danyka Galvan

Not many people know about the 18-21 program at Northwest or what they do. Even though they are often overlooked, they are still hard at work helping around our school with things like emptying recycling bins and keeping our school clean, making it a place that students want to be.

“The 18-21 program provides services for a student in special education who needs support in independent living skills before the age of 21,” said Kenzie Mollring.

Mollring is the special services teacher for Northwest. Working alongside her is Paraeducator Jon Linden.

“To me, this is a life skill program where we teach life skills (How to cook, stay organized, use transporation and social media) for kids who need a little extra help and reinforcement,” Linden said.

The program gives these students an extra stepping stone into their indepent futures. In order to achieve this independence, their schedule is a little different than our everyday eight-period day.

“Throughout the day, we try to help them look for certain things that they didn’t even know were out there in the world to help them out,” Linden said.

Students also work on “budgeting, cooking, safety around the home, general safety pieces with technology and all the pieces that you need to learn along the way,” Mollring said. “These skills are taught to help them learn how to maintain a job. We give them feedback on their job performance so that they can improve and become more independent.”

In his journey to gain independence, Josh DeMuth is learning many skills not only in but also outside of the high school.
“I go to 1R school to help with the cafeteria, serving kids and cleaning up. I then help in the cafeteria at Northwest when I get back,” DeMuth said.

These students do a lot more for our school than what one might expect. This year they are starting to help out in the agricultural classes in the greenhouse.

In the greenhouse, another 18-21 student, Jared Fredericks helps water the plants.

Students in the 18-21 program will then get to take these skills that they learn and implement them in their future jobs. DeMuth said he wants to work at a motel.

“I really like to keep things neat,” DeMuth said. “I think that it would be really cool to clean rooms.”

This year, with COVID-19 affecting everyone’s day-to-day routine, these students have a busy schedule helping out the school by filling sanitizer bottles, filling water jugs and making sure to frequently sanitize around the school, especially the major touchpoints, such as doors, faucets and tables.

By learning and being prepared for their futures these students are really looking forward to becoming independent and getting into the world, increasing their excitement for the future.

“I am a friendly, dedicated person,” DeMuth said. “I can’t wait until I get a real job. I know that I would be a great employee because I don’t argue and I do my job.”
Each of these students puts in hard work to help in around the school and to prepare for their futures. We thank these students for all that they do.

*Photo Courtesy of Kenzie Mollring

Student business: Sydney’s Scrunchies

By Danyka Galvan

Teen-owned businesses have been a lot more popular in Gen Z. At Northwest, there are a few student-owned businesses. “Sydney’s Scrunchies” is a small business owned by Junior Sydney Fisher. As the name suggests, one item Sydney sells is hair scrunchies. However, as demand grew, she also began to sell headbands and hair scarves.

“Ever since I was little, I wanted to start my own business, mostly because I like being creative,” Sydney said. “My brother, Mitch, actually owned his own business when he was a lot younger, and I look up to him.”

Running a business alone is not easy, so Sydney often turns to Mitch for advice.

“Sydney is able to take in the advice and make
it her own,” Mitch said. “I would say the biggest area where I’ve helped her is with social media. I kind of told her to get on Instagram
and TikTok.”

Sydney hand-makes all of her products and leaves heartfelt notes
with each purchase.

“If I went on Amazon and bought them (hair products), I defi-
nitely would not get a note,” said Junior Saylir Paulson. “Sydney’s love for the customers makes me want to buy more.”

By making customers feel valued, Sydney gains a wider range of shoppers. With growing sales, running a business can become very stressful, especially with school in session again.

“It gets stressful when I’m very busy with every other activity,” Sydney said. “On top of homework and being in cross country, it gets tough sometimes. When school started, I definitely figured out how much I needed to plan ahead with time.”

Sydney’s scrunchies can be as cheap as $1.99. Hair scarves are priced at $5.99 and her headbands are $6.99. Sydney has a variety of prints to choose from. These can be purchased on Sydney’s website sydney132.wixsite.com/sydneys-scrunchies. Her website can be found in the bio of her Instagram: @sydneysscrunchiesco.

The icing on top: How a cupcake pulled a class together

By Emelia Richling

On some arbitrary day in the fall of 2019, a funfetti cupcake with white icing and pink roses found its way to Chip Bahe’s desk after a birthday party held in his advisement. During his second period Careers class, the cupcake was left on a filing cabinet. Over the course of six days, it would remain unnoticed.

“Honestly, I just set it up there and forgot about it,” said Bahe, Careers and Introduction to Business teacher.

After about a week, when the second period class noticed the cupcake, it instantly became a class sensation.

“We just started to wonder what it would look like after a month and then two months,” Bahe said.

As the weeks passed, it became a source of amusement for the class in addition to an experiment.

“Students used to go up there every couple weeks to see what it looked like,” said Dani Matrisciano, junior and former Careers student. “It became so hard that you could just hit it on the table, but it always looked the same way it did on the first day.”

Throughout those cold fall months that faded into snowy winter days, the cupcake experiment began to unite the class

“We had a lot of kids in that class who participated in different activities,” Bahe said. “It was a neat way to bring people together.”

Nearly a year later, the cupcake still sits on the same filing cabinet in mint condition, a subtle reminder that friendships can be derived from the unlikeliest of situations and that they never grow old.

Students continue to ask about it, even though they haven’t been in Bahe’s classes for months. During summer weights, on the first day of school and over the several weeks that school has been in session, the cupcake has still been a topic of conversation, an experiment and a way to mold a group of students together, although the cupcake has remained free of mold.

“And who would have thought that you could do it with a cupcake?” Bahe said.

*Photo Courtesy by Emily Krupicka

Being basic isn’t basic

By Emily Krupicka

If you enjoy Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks, wear Lulu- lemon leggings, eat avocado toast and own a Fjallraven Kanken bag, I regret to inform you that society has categorized you as one demeaning word: basic.

Beginning at the ripe age of six, I actively differentiated myself from “most girls” by straying away from the classic female archetype. As a child, I avoided being “basic” before the modern definition was even coined.

Instead of playing with dollhouses or princess dolls, I spent my recesses racing Hot Wheels cars and rambling about my love for Minecraft (a game I’d never actually played). While there is nothing wrong with different genders straying away from binary-based marketing, there is a fundamental issue with girls who have similar interests—in completely normal and common things—feeling ashamed.

The term basic has simplified an entire gender and associated those holding the title with having superficial values. However, enjoying a seasonal spiced coffee and debating politics are not mutually exclusive activities. Being basic itself is not a bad thing, but its use from others almost always comes with a negative connotation of unconscious, internalized misogyny.

If things traditionally deemed popular with females are basic, what makes an obsession with football, sports cars and hockey games so complex? Conflating genders with biased phrasing is dangerous and creates subliminal messaging of superiority and inferiority.

So, with fall, the “season of basic,” underway, I can guarantee that Instagram feeds will be filled with girls in Ugg boots at the pumpkin patch, captioning their post with #basic. These same girls are students who are involved in numerous extracurriculars, take rigorous AP courses and create positive changes within their communities.

Although the word basic implies a sense of ordinariness, I would argue that women described as basic are anything but.

*Photo Courtesy of best-clipart

Northwest installs new security system

By Areya Starke and Madeline Stratman

Something new came to Northwest this year to help the students and staff feel safer at school.The fingerprint scanner is the newest part of the high school security system. With the new changes, students have formulated opinions, and staff members have answered some questions students may have.

Senior Alaura Favazza said that student IDs in the past have been used for those entering and exiting the building, especially seniors during lunch. Because of this, some students think scanning IDs to enter the building would be a better alternative to fingerprinting.

“It would probably be easier and more sanitary,” Favazza said.

There are concerns about the dangers of sharing germs and spreading the coronavirus since everyone would be touching the same fingerprint sensor. The administration would like to remind students that it’s a good idea to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer after being fingerprinted to enter the building.

While there are a number of pros to implementing the new fingerprinting system, it has had a few glitches. For example, warm weather can cause the scanner to malfunction. It is unknown how the winter weather will impact it.

Principal Tim Krupicka gives background information on the decision to implement the new fingerprinting scanners.

“The fingerprinting scan was the decision made last year in the spring before the pandemic started,” Krupicka said. “We’ve been talking about this for several years, and Dr. Edwards, our superintendent, decided to move this forward.”
In addition to providing some back story, Krupicka also mentioned the benefits and drawbacks.

“The pros are that it is not used for legal purposes or anything like that,” Krupicka said. “It’s just a scan of different points of your finger. It is not to be used against anybody for any purpose other than getting into the building. Another pro is the fact that we can put students in the different groups, like seniors who go off campus for college classes.”

Even though there are a few kinks yet to work out, this newest addition to Northwest’s security system will keep students, staff and visitors safe.