The Student Prints Volume 96 Issue #3

Student Council brings back Holiday Spirit into the school

co-editor-in-chief

Student Council put on some fun events this year to get students excited about the upcoming holi days. Two of the things they decided to do were holiday spirit days and decorating the halls for multiple different winter holidays.

Ally Parker Gillenwater and Coakley’s plan was to decorate each hall with a different holiday. “Even if it’s more than one holiday per hallway, our goal is to cover all that we can,” Coakley said.

The project of decorating the hallways was called “Celebrate You”, according to STUCO Spirit Com mittee head, senior Lexie Gillenwa ter. STUCO and the student body helped decorate the halls the three weeks leading up to winter break.

“We are featuring Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Year’s, Chinese New Year, Mawlid, and Yule,” second STUCO Spirit Com mittee head, senior Meghan Coak ley said. “If more are brought up, we will totally include them.”

They painted signs and bought different decorations that related to each holiday. Along with the signs and decorations, they got streamers and cut outs, according to Coakley.

“I believe this will definitely help students feel more includ ed throughout Northview making them feel as though their holiday is honored by everyone,” Gillenwater said. “I hope this can help NV in a positive way, creating a healthy envi ronment and helping the communi ty come together to celebrate each other.”

STUCO’s goal with this project is to help everyone feel involved, according to Coakley. “We want

to make NV more alive again and make people happy to be included,” Coakley said. “We hope that this will make people of different religions feel like they aren’t left out.”

Another thing STUCO did for the holidays was having winter themed spirit days leading up to winter break.

“A group of STUCO officers col laborated to come up with the spirit days to bring more school spirit out at NV,” senior STUCO President Anna Burnard said.

The first spirit day was Stockin’ Sockin on November 19. Students and staff could wear their favor ite Holiday Socks. They also had a spirit sock hunt to get more people involved. There was a student from each grade, and one teacher, wear ing the same pair of dinosaur hol iday socks. The first five people to spot one of these students, or the

teacher, got a prize from STUCO adviser Tami Blue. These prizes in cluded fun pieces of candy and oth er snacks, according to Mrs. Blue.

Cabin Fever was their next spir it day on November 23. Students could wear their best ski suit, ski lodge attire, or even just a warm cozy sweater to get into the holiday spirit.

December 3 hosted their next festive day. Students could wear their best Ugly Holiday Sweater. “I am most excited for Ugly Holiday Sweater day because I have a very ugly sweater that I can wear,” Bur nard said.

The last spirit day before winter break, December 10, was to dress up as your favorite holiday character. “I can’t wait for character day,” Mrs. Blue said. “Luna has a Max outfit, the Grinch’s dog, and we are going to match.”

Student Council members. sophomore AJ Simile and freshman Hutch Saggese are hanging up a Kwanzaa sign for the “Celebrate You” project. Many festive decorations are hung up throughout all of the halls. “We don’t want Northview to be viewed strictly as one thing. We want to show our diversity and that we are proud of it,” STUCO Spirit Committee head Meghan Coakley said. “We want the students to be proud of who they are.” STUCO members painted signs along with buying fun posters, banners, and streamers to put up around the school. I think that the decorations were a nice idea. They helped spread holiday cheer to students and staff throughout the building,” senior Lexi Kieffer said. “I think that they should include more holidays if they decide to do it again.”

Shooting at Oxford High School

staff writer Sarah Gross

In the early afternoon, on No vember 30, there was a school shoot ing at Oxford High School in Mich igan, a suburb of Detroit.

The suspect is a 15-year old male sophomore apprehended at the scene.

At exactly 12:51 p.m. police were flooded with phone calls from the school. Twenty shots were fired hitting 11 people, killing four and injuring seven.

Students evacuated to the near by Meijer and soon reunited with their families. The suspect is now being held in a local juvenile deten tion facility.

The gun used was a 9mm Sig Sauer handgun purchased by the suspect’s father on November 26.

The suspect was recorded by students pretending to be a sheriff to get more students out of a locked classroom.

Three victims died on Novem ber 30 in Oxford High School, the

fourth died December 1 and the other six victims are in critical con dition and one left the hospital on November 30.

The first three victims included 14 year old Hana St. Juliana, 17 yearold Madisyn Baldwin, and 16 year old Tate Myre, who tried to disarm the shooter.

The fourth victim was 17 year old Justin Shilling, who died after letting a freshman escape.

“This tragedy is very heartbreak ing for the people involved,” senior Mia Swartz said.

The shooter fired at least a doz en shots before being taken into custody.

“The shooting in Oxford that occurred makes me feel scared as a student. Everytime the news comes on and discusses a shooting we nev er really think it could be us,” junior Kennedy Grohnke said.

The next day, the suspect was charged with one count of terrorism causing death and four counts of first-degree murder, which may lead

to a life sentence if he is convicted.

Evidence has been recovered including a detailed journal in the suspect’s backpack saying how he wanted to shoot students, according to CNN.

A teacher also witnessed the sus pect searching for ammunition on a school computer on November 29, this caused a phone call home to his parents by administration, it went unanswered, according to CNN.

The next day another teach er saw a disturbing picture he was drawing on his desk of a gun, blood, and the words, “my life is useless” the world is dead” according to Kar en McDonald, the Oakland County Prosecutor.

The school responded by call ing his parents in for a meeting and while the suspect was at the meeting, unknown to everyone at the time, the gun was in his back pack. His parents were told to take him home and get him counseling within 48 hours.

They resisted the idea of taking him home and so he

stayed at school, according to CNN.

The suspect’s parents have been charged with involuntary man slaughter.

Tate Myre’s was a football player at Oxford, there has been a petition going around to change Oxford’s stadium in his memory. The peti tion had a goal of collecting 75,000 signatures, and more than 54,580 people have signed the petition in the short amount of time.

Pictures were taken outside of the McLaren Oakland Hospital, where hundreds of people were gathered supporting the family of Justin Shilling.

The 17 year-old was an organ donor and as his body was moved to surgery, the family looked down and saw the crowd wave.

“I could not imagine this dev astation that has happened to these poor, innocent students,” junior El lena Edinger said.

This shooting marks to be the deadliest this year out of the 28 shootings in 2021.

CLARK CLARK

AP Psychology competes in Brain Fair

to apply these life skills outside the classroom.

The Brain Fair, an interactive project showcase highlighting the different parts of the brain, took place in the cafeteria November 29.

The Brain Fair is a collection of projects made by AP Psychology students. The objective was not only to make a creative 3D model of the brain but also to show how a part of the brain works in mechanical form.

“I wanted to incorporate the ideas of science, technology, and engineering and get students to demonstrate knowledge about parts of the brain in a unique, forward thinking way,” AP Psychology teach er Sarah Rhine said.

Students could work individ ually or in groups of up to four to help with the big workload over the course of eight weeks.

At the Brain Fair, students pre sented their projects to “celebrity judges” who actually consisted of members of the community like superintendent Veronica Motley, Principal Mark Pugh, School Board Member Tammy Lavalette, and more.

They were judged based on pre determined criteria and prizes were awarded from first to sixth place. Mrs. Rhine believes this further in centivized students to do well be cause of the added “friendly” com petitive aspect. The winners were Jifu Tsou, Nico Sarontou, and Victor Ford.

CLARK

“I like giving them opportu nities to do a big project because there are skills involved like team work, cooperative learning, distrib uting tasks, and working toward a large goal,” Mrs. Rhine said. Mrs. Rhine hopes students will be able

“My favorite part was getting together with my group members and painting,” junior Sophie Smith ers said. “I also learned a lot more about parts of the brain and where they’re located.”

Even if not all students got a prize at the Brain Fair, they walked away from the cafeteria with a new understanding of the brain and the lifelong skill of teamwork.

NYE in NYC returning to grand ball drop

Do you watch the ball drop in New York City on New Year’s Eve? For many families, this is an unspoken tradition all across the nation. There are even people from other countries that tune in to watch concerts and shows that happen before the ball drops at midnight.

Although sadly, like every

thing else in the world, this has changed.

Going into 2021, Times Square was void of the thousands of lively voices that cluttered the streets, as the event was canceled entirely. The New York City Po lice Department ensured that even locals would not be present in the square for the event and like everything else of 2020 there was online streaming of the usu

al concerts, talk shows, etc. that would have normally occurred in person.

The public has been ensured that going into 2022 there will be the traditional ball dropping ceremony this New Year’s Eve, al though it will be limited to fully vaccinated attendants only.

According to the official Times Square website, “Times Square NYE, 2022 will safely

invite revelers back to Times Square to watch the Ball Drop in person, with proof of full vacci nation and valid photo identifi cation.”

This year, you can definitely expect to watch the thousands of people crowded in the streets of Times Square on your television screen this winter.

Building off of the way last year’s event proceeded, there

will also be a virtual multimedia experience, according to Times Square officials.

So, if it has been your life long dream of attending the ball-dropping ceremony in New York City, the only requirements are full vaccination status and photo identification, or you can watch from the comfort of your own couch surrounded by your loved ones like much of the na tion.

Construction class builds beds for kids

Students, staff, volunteers work together with Let’s Build Beds

staff writer Alex Passero

The Sylvania Schools Con struction Trades has partnered with nonprofit organization Let’s Build Beds to bring beds to chil dren in need within the greater Toledo area.

“There are people in Sylva nia who can’t afford an actual bed for their kids,” senior Domi nick Yglesias said.

The two organizations ac complished this by holding a bed-building volunteer event on December 4.

In this area, there are a great number of children in need of a bed, and therefore a long wait list.

“It has been as high as 1100 children on the waitlist,” Let’s Build Beds supervisor Dan Pelliz zari said.

This long waitlist, coupled with the fact that only “80-100 beds a month” can be given away (according to Pellizzari) creates a need for volunteers.

“This is why we need the help of volunteers to not only help build the bed components but also help deliver them,” Pelliz zari said. The beds are built out of wood, and assembled by stu dents and volunteers.

They are made from “premade wood parts,” according to Yglesias, with the wood be ing “supplied by Southview,” ac cording to senior Ben Stoffel. The beds are kept in the natural wood look.

Bed-building experiences are useful to the volunteers, as well as their beneficiaries.

“These events allow for com munity fellowship and an oppor tunity for people to learn how to

use hand tools,” Pellizzari said.

Once the beds have been built, they are shipped to the children in need. Reactions from the children are overwhelmingly

positive.

“Many smile. We love watch ing the children jump up and down with excitement when they receive their bed,” Pellizzari said.

Participating students are also enthusiastic about the beds.

“I think it’s really cool that we get to give back to people,” senior Charley Rambo said.

Even though the event took place on December 4, anyone can nominate a family in need or sign up to volunteer their time at LetsBuild.org.

staff writer Lucy Heartz

online editor

Taylor Hartland

AP Psychology students taking on the Brain Fair in the main cafeteria. Judges walked around to judge the displays and presentations and awarded those in which they thought had the bet presentation. From left to right, junior students Zoe Williams, Jade Good, Lexi Liehr, and Grace Garcia are seen at their demonstration.

Volunteers of all ages from all over Sylvania and Toledo, including cur rent construction students, graduates, teachers, families, and friends helped build beds. Northview 2020 construction graduates Drew Sellers and Collin Ghesquiere volunteer to do the heavy lifting and to work on the miter saw to keep other volunteers safe and away from the more dangerous equipment.

Photos courtesy of Ric Roach

NHS inducts 10 new senior members

The National Honors Society (NHS) has recently done its sec ond round of induction to seniors who qualify for the NHS require ments. This tradition is somewhat unknown, however, it is a regular practice. After the first semester of one’s junior year, if you are eligible for NHS, you will receive a letter of recommendation. However, if you didn’t fulfill the NHS requirements after the first semester of junior year, be that due to your GPA not being at least a 3.6 cumulative, num ber of volunteer hours or something wrong with your character, they now have a chance after the end of the first quarter during their senior year to be inducted into the NHS group. This brings a couple new people to the Northview NHS family building a stronger group.

NHS will be inducting ten

more members on December 1 in the library, adding to its already large group of 87 members, making the total up to 97 members. “This is the biggest group I have ever had,” Darla Omey, the Northview librari an and NHS coordinator, said.

Allowing new NHS members to join will not only help with the char acter and leadership of the seniors at our school, but “it will help build their resumes for college a lot stron ger,” Frank Lee, a senior and secre tary of NHS, said.

Many know that being a part of NHS looks great on a college ap plication, but getting rejected can be hard. Having another round of invitations for NHS gives a sense of comfort that you can bring your GPA up or fix any problems the counsel might have seen. This is a regular practice, so know that if you don’t get accepted during your ju nior year, you can still get in during your senior year.

Substitute and bus driver shortage rises

Covid has really made an impact with the school’s staff shortages for both substitutes and transportation. Both have been working extra hard this year to fill in certain spots to make the school year run as smooth as possible.

This has been a recent problem for schools all over the county. The substitute shortage is not just a Syl vania problem.

“All school districts are having problems finding quality candi dates to fill these open positions,” Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning Gracy Lloyd said.

There are 90 buses used for every school in Sylvania. The bus drivers have been working hard this year even with the daily lack of driv ers. “I don’t feel they are working too hard, however, they are definite

ly overworked. They are giving it 100% each and every day,” Interim Director of Sylvania Schools Trans portation Debrah Nisch said.

Covid caused many drivers to reassess how safe they feel at work.

“I believe one of the causes is Covid. We have several senior driv ers who do not want to risk the potential of being sick or bringing it home to their loved one,” Nisch said.

The transportation for Sylva nia Schools has also had to try out something new this year due to the scarcity of drivers. “If we can’t safe ly add students to other busses, we let parents know that we will not be transporting a particular route,” Technology Director Sheryl O’Shea said.

“This is new to us this year and we hope to keep it to a minimum and to eradicate this option as soon as possible.”

When a bus driver cannot go into work, it has gotten harder and harder to find another bus driver to take their place due to covid, retire ment, or the driver’s future.

“Each time we have hired a sub driver, they become daily drivers due to the high number of people retiring, moving out of the area, or finding another job quickly. This leaves us with no sub drivers. The first thing we do is call our licensed custodians to ask them to drive. Once we run through that list, we ask our transportation routers and office workers,” O’Shea said.

Becoming a bus driver can also be a little bit challenging. The bus driver has a ton of responsibility when they are behind the wheel. They have to always be alert and careful in neighborhoods or on the busy roads. The driver has to drive a lot of children with a big vehicle that isn’t easy to maneuver.

“A bus driver must have a spe cial driver’s license called a CDL with Class B, or a Commercial Driv er’s License. The other concern for some people are the hours you work as a bus driver, for example, 6 AM to 9 AM and then back again from 2 PM to 5 PM. The gap in the middle is not something everyone finds ad vantageous,” O’Shea said.

Schools throughout the state of Ohio and Sylvania have been doing everything they can to get rid of the problem.

“

This is a systemic, nationwide issue that won’t be corrected over night. We are going to continue to do our best to hire qualified drivers to meet the needs of our communi ty,” O’Shea said.

This year, substitute teachers have had to work twice as hard. Many substitutes have chosen to stay home due to the covid out break. “Northview typically averag

es around 25-30 absences per day which includes teachers, parapro fessionals, custodians, and cafeteria workers. We have been averaging 7-10 unfilled positions per day,” Lloyd said.

Due to having substitutes work ing almost everyday, teachers have had to come and sub during their free periods. “Teachers are helping cover classes on their planning peri ods and lunch periods. Administra tors and guidance counselors have also been utilized to cover classes this school year due to the short age,” Lloyd said.

Just like with the drivers, short age of staffing has not just been a Sylvania School problem, it has been progressing during covid. “The substitute shortage is not just a Sylvania problem. All school dis tricts are having problems finding quality candidates to fill these open positions,” Lloyd said.

SciOly brings in 1200 students to compete

Alex Passero

staff writer

In its return to in-person com petition events this year, the Science Olympiad team has invited over 1200 students from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to its annual Northview Invitational. “We have teams from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana,” Sci

ence Olympiad Coach Andrew Roth said. This has been the first hosted competition since 2019.

“I think all Northview Science Olympiad members are excited to host people from all around the state in our school and to welcome everybody here,” senior member Haroon Lughmani said. This year,

all teams are within a 180-mile ra dius of Northview, but teams have been flown in from Philadelphia and Florida in years past.

“In past years, we got teams from Pennsylvania and Florida to come,” Mr. Roth said. The event typ ically lasts for over fourteen hours, so concessions have been provided,

with profits being used to fund Sci ence Olympiad.

Science Olympiad is an aca demic club whose purpose is to “explore the world of science,” ac cording to its website. Members of Science Olympiad compete in doz ens of subject-based events, such as ornithology (the study of birds) and

detector building, in which partici pants build devices measuring water salinity.

“My favorite event is ornitholo gy,” sophomore member Nacho Or tega said. “Mine is detector,” soph omore member Tristan Swangstu said. Other events include protein modeling, which ties closely to ge netics.

“For the past three years, I have been studying protein model ing which discusses CRISPR CAS9 proteins and their gene-editing abilities, which I think is very inter esting,” Lughmani said. Students typically compete in anywhere from two to five events individually. “This year, I honestly like all my events,” Lughmani said.

Students have been drawn to Science Olympiad for a plethora of reasons, such as the subject matter.

“I enjoy working with others, and I enjoy the subject,” Swangstu said. Others attended to make friends and see them succeed.

“It’s amazing to see how moti vated and driven your peers are, and how hardworking they are. That’s the greatest part of Science Olympi ad to me,” Lughmani said.

Mr. Roth coaches Science Olym piad because “it’s awesome; the best club in all of Northview.” A general consensus among Science Olym piad members is that they receive a great deal of education from Sci ence Olympiad.

“I think students get a great ed ucation; I learned a great deal about biology and chemistry through Sci ence Olympiad that really aided my curriculum in school but also pushed forward my knowledge in these subjects,” Lughmani said. From Science Olympiad, students learn “a further love of science, some more problem solving skills, and to just enjoy science for what it is,” said Mr. Roth.

staff writer

Srestha Chattopadhyay

staff writer Elizabeth Whiteaker

Photo Courtesy of Mrs. Omey

The second round National Honors Society inductees pose for a group shot. These 10 students were inducted in the library and heard speeches from the president, secretary, and vice president of NHS.

Staying in or Going out for this Winter

Snuggling up by the fireplace on a cold winter night with a hot bever age in hand has got to be one of the best parts of the wintertime. Whether it is with a loved one or by yourself, such a peaceful and relaxing time cannot go unnoticed.

“Sitting in my bed under the cov ers drinking hot cocoa and watching movies is hands down my favorite thing,” junior Sabrina Eyow said. A time for self-care or cramming for ex ams, no one can deny the cozy feeling of a warm blanket and hot chocolate in the wintertime. This is a time of relaxation as parents aren’t pushing their children to go outside when it’s below freezing.

Family movie nights can even be big during the wintertime. No matter your age, Christmas movies seem to never get old, so whether they are new releases or classics these movies are always a must for the holiday sea son. “Watching the movie Elf is defi nitely my favorite part of winter,” said junior Kylie Villegas.

Sure there is much to do outside, however, I feel that the older one becomes, the less interesting things such as, sledding, building snowmen, and having snowball fights becomes almost childish. Being in high school, as we all are now, going outside can be more of a burden than it’s worth. Leaving the house requires long waits for our cars to defrost, as well as heat ing up and bundle up in several layers to ensure our limbs don’t freeze off.

“I like to look outside my window and watch the snowfall onto all the dead trees as I sit indoors by the fire place,” Associate Band Director Carter Adams said. Of course many would ar gue that the snow can be a gorgeous

sight and I agree this is definitely true looking at it through the windows of our well-heated homes. Right as the snow touches one’s skin there is a tin gling sensation almost as if we were not supposed to play in it.

There are so many better things to do from the comfort of the in doors, in fact, it is a tradition in many families to dedicate a day or even an entire weekend to baking and deco rat ing cookies.

Smell ing the sweet aromas that fill up the kitchen, along with making such memories with family and friends is such a great way to spend a cold winter day. Even if you’re not into baking you can put together a gingerbread house.

“I like building ginger bread houses, they’re pretty fun,” sophomore Claire Neeley said.

If you do muster up the strength to go out there are many great indoor activi ties outside of our homes.

“Ice skating is pretty nice, as long as I don’t fall,” said se nior Jon Bushrow. There are also many sports games like Basketball and Hockey that are enjoyable to watch from heated indoor stadiums.

Of course, there are even local teams here at Northview that all students are welcome to watch, whether here

Winter is coming soon and the best place to spend it is outside. We have to take advantage of the crisp weather, the falling snow, and the many seasonal activities that happen in the winter.

Spending time outside in the winter is easier and more fun than people think. The possibilities are endless.

“While outside, I like shopping, going out to eat, and playing in the snow,” sophomore Leena Ahmed said. “I like enjoying the winter atmosphere.”

While the winter season might not be the most fun by itself, due to exams, freezing weath er, and sicknesses going around, it can be made into the most memora ble season by taking advantage of every thing it provides.

Some fun ac tivities you can do outside include ice skating, seeing Christmas lights, sled ding, snow boarding, ski ing, and so much more. Even if you’re not travel ing somewhere fan cy for winter break, there are great local op tions to have the most fun during the two week down time.

You don’t have to travel far to spend time outside. Close to us in

Toledo, the Lights Before Christmas show at the Toledo Zoo is available until the end of the year to enjoy. Tam O’Shanter is perfect for ice skat ing, and the Northview hill is great for sledding. You’ll be able to have fun outside and save time.

Enjoying the winter atmosphere outside also ensures that you won’t get bored during the long months, which is frequent when holing away in your house. With so much to do in Sylvania and Toledo this winter, you’ll maximize your winter break. Going out is clearly the most fun and mem orable choice to make the most of the winter season.

On the other hand, some still pre fer to admire the winter season from inside the comfort of their homes.

“I like staying in during the winter because I’m not a big fan of the cold,” senior Lily Grossman said. However, this fear of freezing can be remedied by bundling up in a coat, gloves, a scarf, and more before going out.

Winter is also arguably the most beautiful season. Why not enjoy it to its fullest?

Some make the argument that staying inside is more enjoyable than spending your time outdoors.

“I’d rather stay inside, drink hot chocolate, and watch a movie than go out,” Grossman said. Although movies and hot chocolate are exciting, they can be enjoyed all year round, while the glittering snow, twinkling lights on trees, and snowball fights with friends are limited to the winter sea son.

Winter’s beauty simply can’t be properly appreciated from behind your kitchen window. Going outside during the long winter months is the best way to prevent boredom and make happy memories.

Traveling for the Holidays?

staff writer Noah Andres

As Thanksgiving passes on and Christmas and Hanukkah rise over the horizon, many students and families go and travel during the breaks given by the Sylvania Schools.

Some students and their fami lies are choosing to leave the Ohio weather, and go to a place closer to the equator as do many families. “My family and I love spending time at the beach and going out to restaurants.

We will also be meeting up with some of our friends and family down there as well! It’s truly just a fun time and we always have a good time togeth er,” Freshmen Lauren Studley saids.

Lots of students leave to go visit fami ly or to just escape the cold. She elab orated that she was going to Florida which is a popular climate to get away from the winter cold.

Other students have decided to embrace the holiday season and stay home to bond with friends and family. “Because all of our immediate

family lives in town and this year we decided on having a very low key Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Soph omore Macy Roberts said. A holiday with just your family is preferable for people who wish to escape the stress created by school. The break comes as a big relief.

”Because we only really go to our family’s house, which is here in Toledo, and families from other states come here,”Freshman Morgan Watson said, ``Many students who appreciate the winter and choose to stay because

they are fans of the season or they have family in the immediate vicinity.

For others, the holidays are steeped in tradition and the snow is just another part of that pattern.

My personal preference is that traveling in the winter is not worth it. The Pandemic has pioneered new ways to talk like Zoom or Skype. Some people may not prefer it but it undoubtedly works. There is also the threat of the icy roads that cause so many car accidents. According to 2CoolTrafficSchool, In Ohio every

winter, there are 76,000 accidents that cause injury and 900 that cause death. Finally the spread of illness, not just Covid, is dangerous and could be brought to grandparents. In all I feel that there is no reason to take risks during the holiday season

Whether you are leaving the state for the holiday or hunkering down from the cold, the holidays are really about spending time with family no matter where you are.

What are the teachers doing for the holidays?

online editor

Taylor Hartland

staff writer

Lucy Heartzin the gym or elsewhere. “One of my favorite parts of winter is perform ing in the pep band at the basketball games,” Bushrow said.

Mr. Roth

“During winter break I’m spend ing the holidays with family and visiting my son in college.”

Mrs. O’Shea

going to enjoy my time sleeping during winter break.”

Mr. Wachowiak “I’m not traveling for the holidays; the farthest I’ll go is Cincinnati for New Year’s to visit family.”

The Holiday debate: real or fake trees?

Whether you do it towards the beginning of November, end of November, or a couple days before Christmas, decorating the tree is a tradition that can be found all over the world.

As you start getting into the tra dition you have to ask yourself, will you have an artificial tree or start a new tradition of getting a real tree every year?

According to Dalvin Brown at USA Today, ”Sales of fake Christmas trees are rising in the U.S. while real tree sales have been largely stag nant.”

There is still a select group of people who go to Christmas tree farms every year, but it seems as though more and more people get artificial trees.

Although I’ve had an artificial tree most of my life, personally I en joy the presence of a real tree in the house and the experiences you get to have with your friends and family picking it out.

Even though making traditions with your family is important, many people argue that artificial trees are more environmentally friendly be cause you can reuse them year after year.

With real trees you have to wa ter them, even if you are just going

to eventually throw them out shortly after the holidays.

Yet, real trees are entirely biode gradable and I believe that having the responsibility of taking care of anything, whether that be a tree or not, gives one a little sense of self worth.

The smell and feel of the tree also gives off a spirit that definitely gets you ready for the holiday sea son.

From the fresh, pine fragrance to the towering height a tree can have, a decorated Christmas tree is definitely a sight to behold.

These are sights you cannot get from an artificial tree because it seems as though real trees appear to be more appealing.

Even as the debate goes on, the least people can agree on is decorat ing Christmas trees.

I don’t know of anyone who has just a plain, undecorated tree in their home. Every year I get to hang memories in the form of ornaments on the Christmas tree while I listen to holiday music and get in the fes tive spirit.

Just like the tree, decorating and putting up ornaments is a key tradition that a lot of people take part in around the holiday season. - Grey Lehman

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

“Merry Christmas” is a common phrase heard a lot during this time of the year.

Many different holidays besides Christmas are celebrated during these months of the year, and more recognition is deserved for those holidays.

“I like to learn the history of different holidays and I totally think they deserve more recognition,” sophomore Nacho Ortega said.

Knowing about all the holidays people celebrate is simply great on its own.

You can connect with more people because of that. Even if you don’t celebrate it, you can still wish them a happy holiday.

So many different holidays hap pen around this time, such as Ha nukkah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, and Soyal. Each of these holidays are cel ebrated in different ways but show the amazing differences between what people commemorate.

“All cultures and religions have holidays that many people don’t know or talk about,” sophomore Leena Ahmed said.

There are things we can do as a school to better understand all the holidays celebrated during this time of the year, like a simple discussion about those holidays.

Our school has already taken the initiative to engage in more hol idays that happen throughout the year.

For example, the Student Coun cil decorated each hallway to spread cheer for all the holidays celebrated.

“It creates a light hearted atmo sphere and lets people enjoy parts of other cultures around them,”

notions in motion

head of the MVP Committee soph omore Ayah Ifetiha said.

Holidays are meant for coming together to celebrate different tradi tions.

It can be useful to learn about other holidays and what their tradi tions are like.

Christmas is usually the most recognized holiday discussed and celebrated during this time of the year. The other holidays don’t re ceive nearly as much recognition as they deserve.

Other holidays are not even

near talked about as much as Christ mas is. They deserve to be seen just as much as any other holiday.

We shouldn’t only recognize the holidays celebrated around the winter time as well. All holidays throughout the year should be ap preciated, and learning about them all is not only beneficial but fun.

Wanting more recognition for other holidays doesn’t mean that Christmas should have any less.

There’s room for all holidays during this time of the year to be celebrated and recognized.

- Anthony Nassar

What is your favorite winter activity?

Mackenzie Morgan, senior “My favorite winter activity is baking and then decorating cookies with my family.”

Kaden Decker, junior “My favorite winter activity is most definitely sledding.”

Claire Neely, sophomore “I really like skiing. My family and I like to go to a resort in Michigan.”

Michael Kudro, freshman “I really like sledding at the NV hill.”

Is it better to give or to receive?

Giving shows how much you care about someone

Receiving floods us with love and appreciation

staff writer Anthony Nassar staff writer Natalie Pfahl

During the holiday season, people give and receive gifts to show their ap preciation for the people around them. Giving gifts makes both you and the per son you’re giving gifts to feel special, and holds higher meaning than receiving gifts.

“The moment you see their face light up from your gift makes it all worth it,” sophomore Elizabeth Sorg said. A lot of people use gifts to show that they care about someone, and that they are thankful for them be ing in their life.

No matter if the gift is homemade or bought, it was a decision made with careful thought. What would make someone feel better than knowing that someone thought of them enough to buy them something?

“When someone gets you a gift, it’s what they think matches who you are and how you act in general,” sopho more Ludaina Elfadol said.

Gifts are a prominent as pect during the winter season. If you were to be receiving and giving gifts, you would remember the giving part more than the receiving. Seeing the happiness on their face as they open their gifts is more memorable than trying to remember what someone gave you a while ago.

Many people love both the aspects of giving and receiving gifts. “It’s more about listening and being a part of someone else’s life, like a sibling or a good friend. It’s about being there for them when they, or you, need it the most,” sophomore Brenna Johnson said.

Although giving gifts is more memo rable, receiving gifts is just as nice during the holiday season. It is nice to know

someone appreciates you enough to buy or make you a gift.

It is not as memorable as giving some one a gift, as you may get a lot of gifts and not know the true special meaning of each. When giving someone a gift, you can remember picking it out, wrapping it, and the smile on that spe cial person’s face when they

While giving gifts may offer you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, re ceiving gifts is secretly more enjoyed by most.

You may receive them many times throughout the year whether it is your birth day, Christmas or maybe just a gift from out of the

do enjoy receiving gifts because I love the surprise of them,” sophomore Macie Swartz said.

Receiving a gift makes you feel cared for and the fact that someone took their time and effort to find and give you some thing they know you like is heartwarming.

Picking out a gift that matches what the person likes to the best of your abil ity is quite difficult but that just makes it even more special to open.

Receiving gifts from anyone is always nice, but especially when it is from some one who you love and trust, it makes it even more meaningful.

Additionally, there is a difference be tween receiving a gift from just someone rather than a family member.

To: Natalie From: Anthony

open it.

Everyone loves gifts, and not only because they are something you want.

They have a deeper meaning of showing how people care about who is in their life.

Giving gifts is a way people can ex press their gratitude for the people around them. It represents how people care for one another, especially when a lot of thought is put into those gifts.

Controversial

blue. The feel ing of ap preci ation and love that comes from re ceiving a meaningful gift is unbeatable.

Many people love giving gifts to others. It makes you feel good about yourself and when you see someone’s face light up as they open their gifts, it is a wonderful feeling.

Even though that is very important, receiving a gift is just as crucial. Gifts are often given to make someone feel special and everyone deserves to get something that makes them feel loved and valued.

We all love the excitement that comes from opening an unknown package. “I

“When the stranger would show ap preciation, it would be more as a thank you for being a person I know, rather than from a loved one that is dear to the heart,” junior Lili Crane said. A person can give you a gift just because, what makes it special is that it comes from the heart.

People can sometimes just buy a pres ent just because they feel forced to. Such as on your birthday or Christmas.

If they don’t know you too well, and are unsure what to get you, they could get a gift card or something small like that, something without a lot of thought put into it. You would still feel appreciative that they took a bit of time to at least give you something, but it would not be as spe cial.

Then there are gifts that are well thought out and are often given to you by those who are close to you or maybe relatives. These gifts come from the heart and therefore are more meaningful; You value it more.

Receiving gifts is a very special way to remind you how much others care about you and the gratitude they feel for you.

Gifts are a representation of love and care for a person, especially when they are well thought out, and time and effort is used.

“It would be easier to get it done with and not have to worry about it over break.”

Audrey Watson, freshman

Sign language would be great class addition

While many languages must be heard, American Sign Language is a very unique way of communicating and a very good skill to have.

“Just like knowing how to speak Spanish or French, learning ASL can help students talk with many different people and include other students with hearing loss in conversations that they normally wouldn’t be able to take part in,” freshman Markus Bur nett said.

Many students think that not only the school, but society would benefit from hav ing more ASL classes in high school.

A lot of students would prefer to take a sign language class over a world language. Having an ASL class would encourage more students to take a language class for their own benefit and not just for a language credit.

“First off, I think everyone should know ASL. It’s a big thing in jobs that require you to talk to peo

ple, which is almost every job. Second, I know a lot of students who don’t want to take Spanish or French. I think sign lan guage would moti

the opportunity to. I think if North view were to give an ASL class it would benefit a lot of students,” sophomore Taytum Brewer said.

Since American Sign Language is considered a world language in Ohio, Sylvania Schools would have to go through a couple of steps to add an ASL class.

“If there is sub stantial student in terest (60 students at NV and 60 students at SV) in an American Sign Language program in Sylva nia, we would need to submit a course proposal at the district lev el (takes place in October each year) in order to get approval from district administration to offer this class for students at both high schools,” Assistant Principal Gracy Hinojosa-Lloyd said.

January exams?

As many students know, exams for a long time have always taken place the week before the ending school se mester. Whether it be December 1416, (give or take a day) or May 25-27, exams have always fallen in these time periods.

While the second semester exam dates are pretty static, you may not have known that first semester exams occurred after winter break many years ago. Any student who has been here long enough for a first semester exam knows the feeling. You come back from Thanksgiving break and with 11 school days you are expected to study for eight or possibly less ex ams, all while still taking the time to review new material.

There is no guarantee that teach ers will take class periods to review for the exam, as some teachers may not have the time to go backward in class material. So why not go back to exams after winter break?

dents to be able to review for each of their exams, as reviewing every night is much better than cramming the night before. Teachers could even hold on line review sessions or conferences during the breaks to allow for students to come in with their questions or of fer study sessions that don’t have to fall under their curriculum teachings.

The one problem that may occur due to this is that teachers would have to grade their exams in a faster fashion, especially if it’s not a scantron test or it can’t be graded in seconds. With hun dreds of students, this can be an issue especially as they don’t have a break to fall back on as a grading period.

Keeping exams the way they are could just introduce more stress for students especially if they can’t ded icate a lot of time to school whether it be due to sports or extracurricular activities.

vate students to take a lan guage. Lastly, I personally have always wanted to learn sign, but haven’t had

An ASL class would be a great, and uncommon addition to the already broad list of languages here at Sylvania Schools.

-Alyssa Bernhard

Sure, this long break may not be ideal as we are taking two weeks off of school, and the large learning retention expected is never going to happen. But it gives more time for stu

Moving exams back to their origi nal date after winter break could bring exam grades up and possibly make it easier on students as well as teachers, getting rid of that stress that students already have enough of.

-Corbin Przymierski

Snow days: thing of the past with Zoom?

Let’s face it, we’ve all sat eager ly by our phones with our fingers crossed in hopes that we get notice of a cancellation due to snow. COVID and Zoom, how ever, may be making snow days a thing of the past, but students still need to have snow days off.

With all that happened with COVID last year, Zooms have become a very popular way to have school at home. Many students have been discussing whether or not teach ers should be doing Zooms for snow days.

“Snow days are a fun tradition that everyone looks forward to. In addi tion, we go to school more hours than required by the state, and snow days

are accounted for in our schedule. Snow days are always a great sur prise and seeing kids get out and play in the snow is so fun to see,” English teacher Beth Ann Seifert said.

From a poll of 145 students, over 90% of them said we shouldn’t have Zoom classes or work to do on snow days. All of the students had very strong opin ions on this.

“It creates more stress for teach ers to have to create work for kids and put it online, when you can make up

the work at school and have a stress free day off,” sophomore Hunter Lehman said.

Mental health is a very important thing and having a break is needed every once in a while. If we get snow days taken away from us there will be no breaks besides a few hol idays.

“Snow days only happen once in a while, we should have those days to relax and have a day off,” sopho more Noah Davis said.

There is a reason that there is a snow day, if the weather is bad, some

students may not be able to even get on their Chrome book. This will cause stress for many stu dents and may cause anxiety. Some teach ers feel a differ ent way about this though. No one has said that Zooms are a good idea, but some believe that some work would be beneficial.

“Blizzard bags are good to do on days off, having an assignment on a snow

day keeps kids engaged, when we do digital work at home it helps kids pre pare for what they will be doing in the future because companies now are doing more online and virtual meet ings instead now,” art teacher Ryan Creech said.

Whether we are discussing work or play, it all comes down to balance. Continuing to have unex pected days off goes a long way in helping students feel that sense of balance especially af ter such a long stretch of stress and uncertain ties. So, bring on the snow!

-Kiera Lang

thestudentprints

Co-Editors-In-Chief: Tyson Bernath & Ally Parker

Adviser: Sarah Huey

News Editor: Corbin Przymierski

Features/Graphics Editor: Maggie Schmitt

Photo Editor: Alexis Clark

Sports Editors: Abby Clark

Online Editor: Taylor Hartland

Staff Writers: Noah Andres, Alyssa Bernhard, Taleen Boman, Serena Carter, Srestha Chattopadhyay, Bella Elmore, Sarah Gross, Lucy Heartz, Kiera Lang, Grey Lehman, Anthony Nassar, Alex Passero, Natalie Pfahl, Ben Riter, Jack Szymanski, Elizabeth Whiteaker

The Student Prints is the official student-produced newspaper of Sylvania Northview High School. It is distributed monthly at no charge to serve the purpose of informing students, faculty, staff, administration and the Sylvania community of current issues. The main goal of The Prints is to present coverage of events in an unbiased and accurate manner. The paper also respects the opinions and ideas of the entire NV community. Signed letters to the editors are encouraged and should be no longer than 300 words. All letters can be turned into the publications room, E-6. The Prints reserves the right to edit letters that contain grammatical errors, accuracy and profane or libelous com ments. The newspaper staff is entirely responsible for the content of the paper and sup ports the First Amendment to the Constitution. Unsigned editorials published in The Prints are written by staff members, and agreed upon by a majority vote of the editorial board. The Prints is carefully examined by its staff and adviser prior to publication to prevent incorrect or libelous information. The newspaper staff does not endorse adver tisements published in The Prints. Advertising specifications may be obtained by calling (419) 824-8708. The newspaper follows the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook guidelines for punctuation and grammar. The Prints is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and Quill and Scroll.

Does a student section affect games?

Packed student sections and consistent support from people at various games can significantly impact the play ers/teams.

“The team will definitely be boosted by the adrenaline the students and fans bring,” sophomore football player Landen Martinez said.

When playing a sport, student sections might be the most significant supporters out there. Seeing a student section cheering for you can mean so much to certain players.

“It feels like there’s a lot of people behind you and backing you up throughout the whole entire game. It’s not just a one-sided thing,” sophomore hockey player Keegan Draper said.

It’s essential to have peo ple around to support you for a successful game. Student sections are so much fun and such a great way to make memories with friends.

While having a good time, you get to support your school and the players. There is so much joy when there are bleachers filled with students cheering loudly for every ac tion.

Being in the student sec tion and cheering for your school is a fantastic experi ence. Sometimes, when the game is not going in the win ning direction, it’s essential to have people there to pick you up. They can change the way the players feel.

Student sections can also intimidate the other teams

and lead us to victory. “I feel like [when other student sec tions] do the smallest thing, it can throw you off,” Draper said.

It’s crazy that something

like student sections might seem small to some people, but it does leave such a mas sive impact on the team. See ing the perspective of how the athlete feels when the stu

dent section is cheering them on is great. “There is no bet ter feeling than hearing the loud roar in a crowd,” Marti nez said.

It’s important for fans to

support their favorite team, be it hockey, bowling, swim ming, softball, or even non sports teams like Quiz Bowl or Speech and Debate to name just some of NV’s many

teams.

Don’t just go where the crowds are big, support the teams where they don’t pull in the big crowds - that team will appreciate their fans all the more.

Sports should count as a gym credit

staff writer Alyssa Bernhard

Imagine being a threesport student-athlete and still being required to take gym. Many schools in the Sylvania and Toledo area use sports as gym credits. So why doesn’t Northview?

“Sylvania City Schools does not have a physical edu cation waiver policy in place,”

Assistant Principal Gracy Hi nojosa-Lloyd said. “There are some staff members who are opposed to the idea of imple menting a PE Waiver for Syl vania.”Some students argue that we should get a waiver, it would be more practical and student-athletes being required to take gym is un necessary.

“The purpose of gym

credits is to get students into a physically active routine and to teach them that it is important and beneficial. Students in sports already understand the effects of a physically active routine and are more committed to it, effort-wise and time-wise,” sophomore Mohamed Musa said.

“Taking PE while already

College sports or no?

As a kid I dreamed of one day playing football for The Ohio State Buckeyes and win ning a National Championship under coach Urban Meyer. I very clearly did not understand the amount of work that goes into becoming a Division I, Power 5 college athlete. If you didn’t know, the Buckeyes are good at football and that is for one reason; they recruit only the best of the very best.

To even be mentioned in the same sentence as some of these athletes is considered a great honor and the dream of millions of kids across the na tion.

But we’re not kids anymore and I for one have not played football since the 7th grade, so, when it all boils down, is be ing a college athlete all that it’s hyped up to be?

Northview is home to many great athletes. Students who are dedicated to their craft of ten go on to play at the next lev el, whatever that may be. As you get older you learn that there is more than just the teams that Ohio State and Michigan play. Our Country is filled with uni versities. Many have athletics

ranging from NCAA Divisions I, II, III, NAIA, and CCAA. All of which have many different things to offer to possible fu ture college athletes.

NCAA Division I & II sports can offer athletic schol arships and a highly competi tive competition level. NCAA Division III, NAIA, and CCAA cannot offer scholarships, but they can offer a smaller play ing field if that suits you more.

Some athletes don’t want to sign any papers that require them to stay on a university’s team for a set amount of time.

“I think I want to run Di vision III because the com petition is still good, but I am also going to be very busy with school, so that way if I decide it’s too much for me, then it’s not an issue,” senior Mor gan Aloi, a member of the NV Track team, said.

People want to become college athletes for all kinds of reasons. Some people can’t imagine doing anything else, while others were just handed an offer they couldn’t refuse. Whatever the case is, every athlete has their reason. For senior Trey Szykowny, it’s his dad.

“Growing up my dad in

fluenced me to play football from a young age and he played college ball. I always wanted to make him proud so I was deter mined to make it,” Szykowny said.

Szykowny is committed to play football for the Univer sity of Toledo next year. The Rockets are an NCAA Divi sion I school and play in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

“I really like running and I think that the college expe rience will be a lot of fun and make me a lot faster,” senior Andrew Ferradino, who plans to run Cross Country at Ce darville University, said. Ce darville is an NCAA Division II team that plays in the Great Midwest American Conference (GMAC).

When it comes down to it the decision to be a college ath lete it comes down to each in dividual and their circumstanc es. For some who are heavy on their focus to make it to the big leagues, their best path of in terest may be D1 and beyond. But for those who want a more laid back approach and still keep that same passion for the sport, it may be better to go for those lower levels.

in a sport does more harm since the benefits and pur pose of the class are insignif icant compared to the sports they do, but they still suffer from losing an entire class, exhaustion in other classes, and more stress from it. If students can take PE over the summer, then it shouldn’t be necessary for those who have sports,” Musa said.

Others add that not hav ing to take gym would free up periods to do other things and sports are more demand ing than PE classes.

“I play soccer for NV and I remember my freshman and sophomore year wanting to take more classes, but gym was a requirement. Also, high school training is vigorous enough and gym was just an

other thing to worry about,” junior Emma Wainscott said. Allowing students to use their sports as gym credits would be helpful for stu dent-athletes by giving them time in their schedules. This would allow them to take more classes or possibly open up time for a study hall for them to complete homework before practices.

co-editor-in-chief

Tyson Bernath

BOMAN

Students are cheering at the Northview vs. Southview football game as the Wildcats dominate the Cougars. The Wildcat win ended with a final score of 24-3 with the help of their active student section.

Swimming & Diving into the season

smoother.

The swim and dive teams had a strong start to their seasons with a win at their first meet on November 30. The team finished first, beating Springfield, Central Catholic, and Ot tawa Hills in a four way dual meet.

Senior diver Mia Swartz finished first in the meet. “I didn’t really per form as best I could, but I’m hoping that since it’s only the first meet I will continue to improve my time,” Swartz said. “I hope to do my best at NLL’s and qualify past districts.”

Now that Head Coach Hollis Wil liams has gotten a year under her belt she is ready for the season to get un derway.

“One of the things I’m so excit ed for is seeing my team develop and get faster while supporting each other and rising to occasion and succeed,” Coach Williams said.

Coach Williams also feels more prepared for how to do things here at NV and thinks things are running a lot

“I’ve figured out how to do a lot more things, I can order busses and get our team apparel without too much stress,” Coach Williams said.

Time with teammates seems to be what many swimmers and divers enjoy about the season.

“I am most looking forward to spending time with my teammates because usually practice is one of the only times I get to see them,” Swartz said.

“I’m so excited for time in the pool and going to meets with my friends and teammates,” junior Will Boyer said. Boyer performs best in the 100 meter backstroke with his best time being 1:00, his goal this season is to “break the double O’s” referring to getting under one minute.

Swimmers have been training in and out of the pool, every morning they’re in the pool at 5a.m. before school and Tuesdays and Thursdays after school they’re in the gym work ing on strength along with their daily after school practices.

Wrestling team nearly doubles in size

The Wrestling team’s first meet was December 3 for varsi ty, where they competed against Northwood, and December 4 for freshmen at Maumee.

They have 13 more invitation als that they are getting ready for, running until February.

The wrestling team has about

30 students who have had about three weeks of conditioning in the gym and practicing in the new wres tling room.

In addition, they also had a pre-season prep, before November 12 which was when the wrestling season officially began.

They are starting their main season practices, where they will be doing practice matches amongst the team wrestlers.

Hockey plays Cold Turkey Tourney

staff writer Grey Lehman

Varsity Hockey was getting ready to shatter the ice at Sylva nia’s Tam-O-Shanter in the Cold Turkey Tournament towards the end of November.

The Cold Turkey Tourna ment is an annual competition that includes teams as close as To ledo to the depths of Toronto.

The Cold Turkey Tour nament always falls the Friday through Sunday after Thanksgiv ing, so this year it took place on November 26-28.

Overall, Varsity went 1-2-1 in their first tournament of the 2021-2022 season. Unfortunately, they lost to St. Andrew’s Prepara tory school from Ontario with a score of 2-4 and St. Edward’s Pri vate school from Lakewood, Ohio with a score of 0-2.

“St. Andrew’s was probably our most difficult team in the tournament because in that game, in the first five minutes, we went up 2-0 and scored. But then, they came back and scored twice real ly quickly on us and then we just shut down the rest of the game,” junior defenseman Conor Huff man said.

The one game the Boys’ Varsity team won was against the

Wildcats from Newark, Ohio with a score of 6-1.

“I think as a team we have some work to do, and some ad justments to make. In little time though I think we are going to be a hard team to play against and have a chance to compete with every team we play,” junior goalie Austin Nowak said.

Despite the poor perfor mance of the Varsity squad, the boys still remain hopeful.

“I think we could’ve done better than we did. I don’t think we did too great, but I definitely think there’s room for improve ment and it’s all going to start with practice and preparation for the games,” Huffman said.

Unfortunately in last year’s tournament, the Varsity team only got to play one of the typical four games.

Three of their games were canceled in last year’s tourna ment and they ended up losing their one game to the Gilmour Academy.

So, at least they had the op portunity to play all four games this year.

Varsity’s next game is sched uled for tonight at the Hancock Recreation Center.

They will hit the ice at 7 pm to face off against the Trojans of Findlay High School.

Wrestling has been a growing sport recently, shown by the num ber of students on the wrestling team last year versus this year, 19 vs 30 wrestlers, close to doubling their number of wrestlers.

“Doubling the number of wres tlers means that the team now has a full line up, which can help our sea son,” sophomore and junior varsity wrestler Evan Kehres said.

Overall, the wrestling team has

been practicing and conditioning to start the season with a big win against Northwood.

“My favorite part is knowing that when you win a match, it’s all your own doing,” junior and varsity wrestler Victor Ford said.

The team has four dedicated coaches: Head Coach Keith Hartba rger, and coaches Trevor Hartbarg er, Chad Henderly, and Steve Sny der. They all work hard to help the

wrestlers reach their potential and help make them better wrestlers.

“As always seeing the kids grow in a sport I love and respect, along with seeing them mature as a per son as they prepare for becoming an adult (is the best part of being a coach),” Coach Hartbarger, said.

The next wrestling meet is to morrow, December 11 at the Bill Urban Memorial Titan invitation al.

Hockey is heating up

work on throughout more practice and connection with each other.

The Varsity Hockey season is starting off slow with their first league game a hard loss to Findlay, 3-1.

“The seasons got off to a slow start, but nothing for us to be wor ried about at all,” junior defensem en Riley Ames said.

Even with a loss, the team is confident they will bounce back and make it far throughout the season, eyeing the state finals. “I feel the fu ture parts of the season will be very fun and rewarding for us,” Ames said, “we are a hard working team that will play whistle to whistle, and we can surprise a lot of people this year.”

Unfortunately, after the Cold Turkey tournament the weekend of Thanksgiving, half of the varsi ty lineup came up sick, and fear of COVID exposure pressed them to postpone their games against St. John’s and Perrysburg.

The players who weren’t sick used the week of the forfeits to get a little ahead, and continue prac ticing. “We’re doing all kinds of drills, just working hard and getting through so we can be the best we can be,” junior forward Benny Seals said.

All teams have their strengths and weaknesses, and the boys are doing everything they can for the good to outweigh the bad. “We’ve got a strong goalie, so we’re always pretty good in the net,” Seals said.

However, they do have things to

“We can become a great team this year by creating a lot more offensive opportunities for our teams, as we have struggled with that early on,” Ames said.

In the end, their main goal is to make it down the road to Columbus for states. Perseverance and dedi cation from every team member is what makes it possible for a team to make it that far, and that is exactly

what they have in plan.

“I do believe we will make a run at going to states this year, that’s what we’ve set as goals for this team, and we want the challenge of being the underdog of this whole thing,” Ames said.

Hockey is one of the top sports at Northview for competition and their student section is always thrill ing.

Their next game is tonight at The Cube against Findlay.

staff writer

Srestha Chattopadhyay

A Northview swimmer works on one of his many laps for the 400 meter freestyle at their first meet of the season. The 400 is a distance event in which swimmers must swim 16 laps of the pool.

sports editor Abby Clark

Hayden Symbolik, Tucker Ludwig, Mikey Burton, Noah Cheavalier, and Tyler Shoffer (L-R) line up together at their first jersey try-on. They prac tice and play at Sylvania Tam-O-Shanter.

COOK

BURTON

JOHN CRISMAN

Indoor Track season begins Kats Krew vs LadyKats

A sports “team” that many may not know about helps the Girls’ Basketball team during a few days of the practices. This team consists of your normal stu dents at Northview, but they have an impact on the basketball team and they go by the name of Kat Krew.

Kat Krew is a group of five senior students and one of the Girls’ Assistant Coaches. Specif ically seniors Ryan O’Donnell, Mason Mauk, Parker Robinson, Logan Thor, Jack Cannon, as well as Assistant Coach Marty.

All of whom come after school from 3pm to 4pm to help the girls’ team practice against some form of other competition be sides themselves, or scrimmaging other teams. Although the team has only existed for around four weeks, their impact on the girls’ team has been substantial.

“The aid has been really huge, we’re more competitive and more detailed,” Head Coach Patrick Sayre said. This team is only due in part to the roster size of the Girls’ Varsity team, as they can’t effectively play against one another in practices with the smaller size.

“We’ve had groups do this in the past, but this is one of the better ones,” Coach Sayre said. “It’s been something fresh and we’re playing a lot better.”

Kat Krew has been a thing

that popped up in previous years, but probably not to the effect that this year has had. Players have a better chance develop their team chem istry as they aren’t playing against each other, instead they’re playing with each other.

“As soon as we heard the opportunity to play and help the girls’ team to get better, we jumped right on it,” senior Parker Robin son said. These students heard from Coach Sayre about be ing participants and anyone that would like to help out in participat ing.

“It’s great as there isn’t any pressure to be perfect, we just know we are contributing to something greater, specifi cally the school,” Robinson said.

There aren’t any requirements to play

for Kat Krew such as being on the team or having played be fore, but prior bas ketball experience surely helps.

This pro gram has been shown as a pos itive from both sides, as the girls’ team has shown benefit. Play ing against a boys’ team has some differences from playing against other girls teams.

“They play at a high er intensity than the oth er girls team do, which al lows us to be more prepared for opponents,” senior Alayna Pedro said.

The Kat Krew will con tinue to be at practices for the remain der of the season, as well as the possibili ty of Kat Krew sticking around for years to come.

staff writer Taleen Boman

Many people recognize track as a spring sport, but some of Northview’s track athletes are already preparing for their season by competing in indoor events, working to get ahead of the competition.

The athletes are participat ing in indoor meets, hoping to get stronger and faster before the beginning of the outdoor season.

The indoor season is most ly for individual events and it is based completely off of indi vidual choice. The majority of the indoor season is short dis tance events and very little field events. This does not count as the school track season, but runners will go and train for their specific events and then participate in meets around the area. NV’s actual track season does not begin until March, but some runners want to gain more competitive experience before then.

“Indoor season is more of a training season where we run more of a variety of races for fun and to mainly help us get into shape and work on form and technique for outdoor sea son,” senior 400 meter runner Morgan Aloi said.

Brodey Acres

NCAA

Signing Day at NV

The athletes have high hopes for the upcoming season, having two runners qualify for the indoor state meet last year, they are hoping to qualify more this year. But, these achieve ments are all individual and not through the school. Even though runners will qualify for meets and events, it only counts towards their own personal re cords and not NV.

“Indoor track is a prepara tion time for the outdoor sea son. The outdoor season is so short that all the training and conditioning you can get in be fore the season is beneficial,” Boys’ Track Coach Doug Down ing said.

Track coaches like Coach Downing will encourage run ners to participate in the indoor season just to gain more experi ence with competition. Also, it gives runners the opportunity to participate in more compet itive meets than they might see during the normal school sea son.

The indoor track season is a great way for track athletes to prepare for the spring and hopefully continue to learn and gain competitive experience that will help them as they be gin the start of the school sea son in a few months.

Sean

Lyza

Garrett

11sports

Boys bball start the Winter season hot

Tyson Bernath

opener everyone was waiting for when they took on the Clay Eagles.

co-editor-in-chief

The Wildcat Basketball team is off to a hot start, undefeated through five games so far.

The Cats started their season with back to back to back away games. The first game was played against the Scott Bulldogs. The Bull dogs have found their way since the loss though, defeating St. Francis De Sales and Waite High School.

Then, the team traveled to Ash land where Northview took care of the Arrows 75-69. Ashland is cur rently 2-3 and has really struggled in non-conference play.

Rounding out their away game tour was the Woodward Polar Bears.

The cats devastated the then unde feated Polar Bears 91-45. Woodward had a promising start to their season defeating Hilltop 104-67.

The Wildcats then got the home

Clay is a team that the Wildcats will start to get familiar with as they look to join the NLL in the league’s expansion in the years to come. NV and the home crowd would prove to be way too much for the Eagles, though, who lost 81-48.

NV then hit the road once again for a visit with the Anthony Wayne Generals. The Cats clawed through the Generals and won the game 6643. NV

“Anthony Wayne played one good game, but at halftime Coach laid out what he wanted us to do in the second half. He wanted us to get out on transition and really hoan in defensively and we came out and executed on exactly what he said,” said former Northern Lakes League Player of the Year, senior Sean Craig off of his third 30 point game of the season.

The Wildcats’ next game is at home tonight with a 7:15 tipoff against the Bowl ing Green Bobcats.

The Bobcats have had a challenging start with losses to Tiffin Columbian and Sylvania Southview. Hopes are high for NV as they were the preseason favorites in the NLL and have looked like it so far this sea son.

The team is looking to defend their NLL and Sectional ti tles from last season. The team lost some key contributors in the likes of Justin Noe, Brendon Sharp, and Isaac Miklovic. That hasn’t stopped this year’s seniors from stepping up and giving it their all to defend their title.

“We can go as far as we want as long as we believe in each other and have trust in Coach,” said Craig.

LadyKats killing it on the court

The LadyKats are off to a solid start this season. The girls have won five of their first six games.

Northview played their first game against the Brookside Cardi nals. NV demolished the still winless Cardinals 64-21.

The squad then traveled to Ver milion, Ohio to take on the Vermil ion Sailors. The Sailors put up more of a fight than the Cardinals, but still proved to be no match for the LadyKats, losing 50-22.

The LadyKats’ next match up

was a highly anticipated one. NV would be traveling to Perrysburg for a business trip with the Yellow Jack ets.

“We call them Perfectsburg be cause they think they’re better than everyone else and that there’s noth ing wrong with them,” senior Alyana Pedro said. NV would take the lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back, defeating Perrys burg 44-34.

After their roadtrip of away games the LadyKats would finally get to play in front of their home crowd on November 27 against the

St. Ursula Arrows. With the home crowd and the game in their favor the LadyKats came out on top of the Arrows 49-24. This game never felt like losing was a possibility as at half time NV had only allowed 3 points.

The LadyKats would hit the road once again as they traveled to play the Napoleon Wildcats. This game felt very different from the games prior as it was close through out. The Wildcats would hand the girls their first loss of the season as they fell just short of Napoleon 3541.

This was no reason to panic

feature athlete Carly Maple

4 years Varsity

though as the girls quickly put them selves back together for their match against the Maumee Panthers. Mau mee finished last in the Northern Lakes League last season, so the girls knew they were ready to take them on once again this year. The Panthers fell to the LadyKats 69-17.

NV’s next game is scheduled for January 7 against their crosstown ri val the Southview Cougars.

The Cougars are looking to turn things around as they current ly sit at 1-3 on the season, while NV looks to take care of business against their rival.

Senior Carly Maple is a Captain of the Girls’ Basketball team. She has played for the team all four years of high school and has recently committed to the University of Tiffin. How long have you been playing basketball? I’ve been playing basketball since I was three years old.

What is your favorite part of being on the NV basketball team? I love all the players, we´re all super close, we are all basically a huge family.

What has been the highlight of this season so far for you? The highlight is just being with my teammates all the time and going through the tough practices together.

What work went into preparing for this season? A lot of conditioning and a lot of running went into training for this sea

What does your senior season mean to you? It means a lot, I have been playing with them since elementary school, it’s really fun finishing my high school experience with them. We are hoping we end the season very well.

What is your favorite basketball memory? When we won district semi finals, that was definitely the highlight.

What are your plans for playing in college? I am planning on going to Tiffin University to play basketball, and study

Kiera Lang

co-editor-in-chief

Tyson Bernath

Visiting the Lights Before Christmas

With the upcoming Christmas holiday, one of Toledo’s most popu lar traditions has come back for the season and high schoolers are tak ing full advantage.

For many years, the Toledo Zoo has been home to some of the best Christmas lights around this area.

Along with having an extravagant display of lights, the zoo offers visi tors an ice slide, music, and plenty of chances to see the animals.

There are so many things that people can do when trying to enjoy the zoo lights, but here are some of student’s favorites.

“Spending time with family, hot cocoa, and taking pictures by the big Christmas tree,” freshman Mor gan Watson said.

“Going around with my friends and family to see the lights with a nice cup of hot chocolate,” junior Logan Ostrowski said.

“The trees with the animated lights,” senior Kyrstin Patton said.

From the responses, it is easy to see that the lights at the Toledo Zoo offer visitors much more than just pretty colors and scenery.

For many, it is a tradition to visit the lights with family and enjoy the time spent together there.

Along with the lights, there is also food that is being served nightly from a nice heated tent that allows visitors a quick break from the cold.

The Toledo Zoo lights are get ting lots of attention, not only from locals, but also on a national scale. This year, the zoo has been nominat ed for USA Today’s 10 Best’s 2021 Holiday Reader’s Choice award for best zoo lights.

The lights will be available to enjoy until December 31 from 3-8 p.m.

- Taleen Boman

What’s the history of giving Holiday gifts

Every year, gifts have always been an important part of Christmas. Imag ine going to a Christmas party and there aren’t any presents.

We might not like to admit it, but we all love receiving presents. Amer ican families can spend over a $1000 on Christmas gifts every year. We spend more money on gifts for Christ mas than any other holiday.

Giving and receiving presents for Christmas has been around thousands of years before Christ was born. The Romans would give gifts to one anoth er as good fortune.

They would give twigs from sa cred trees, nuts, or coins to one an other. During the celebration of Sat urnalia, where Saturn was the god of agriculture and time, the holiday ran through the 17-23rd of December.

This is when gift giving became more of a popular tradition. Everyone would stop working and get togeth er to bring a wide variety of different presents such as joke gifts, combs, gambling objects like dice, tokens with their gods imprinted on, and more.

The Romans also used the Chris tian tale of the Three Wise Men giving Jesus gifts at his birth. The Wise Men gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (these are resins from a tree and used for religious ceremonies). This led to the Romans giving gifts to each other on New Year's day. Today, gift giving is a way to build bonds and keep religious traditions alive.

During the late 1850s, the Vic torians used to put their small gifts such as nuts, fruits, desserts, sweets, and small gifts onto the trees at parties for the children to take off of the tree.

This soon led to presents being put under the Christmas tree.

Store owners and retailers abso

lutely love the holiday season. This is the time of year where they make the most money.

In the early 1800s, authors and il lustrators such as Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Nast really brought back the popularity of Christmas, and showed what it was all

Checklist for shopping

Platform Converse

Dior Lip Oil UGG Slippers Puffer Coats Airpods

about.

Gifts were still mostly hand-made during this time, but food was pur chased regularly. Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol,” the classic story about a man named Scrooge, who was a cheapskate when it came to Christ mas and spending money. He used

many references to buying gifts from stores throughout the story.

In the 18th century, the Indus trial Revolution really started the idea of buying gifts. More cities began to increase in the north and more goods were being manufactured.

Advertisements for Christmas shopping exploded, and more and more people began to spend their money on presents in December than ever before.

However, laborers and children were being overworked during Christ mas, and pushed for consumers to shop for Christmas earlier than the week of December 25.

A children’s rights activist named Florence Kelly wrote about children’s working conditions during the holiday season. She described how horrific it was for them.

This led to President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushing Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of the month, instead of the second to last Thursday. Shopping was absolutely chaotic after Thanksgiving was over, and this led to the idea of Black Friday in the early 1950’s.

As the years passed, technolo gy prospered, Christmas grew, and the population increased, Christmas shopping began online. Many stores started to catalog their deals and new est items for the people to buy. This is easier for consumers to get deals and shop from the comfort of their home.

- Elizabeth Whiteaker

Trendy stores

Aritzia-

This store has become more popular recently, and is definite ly geared towards chic women in business. They also have some more basic/staple pieces of clothing. There isn’t a store near us, the closest one is in Troy Michigan. You can find these clothes on line. This store gets a five out five if not more, their clothes are very expensive.

Pacsun-

This store has always been popular amongst teens. It has more of a beachy aesthetic. The store was originally from California, so it makes sense for it to have more beachy/edgy clothes. You can shop this store locally, at the Franklin Park Mall. On a scale of one to five, with five being the most expensive, I would rate this store a three. They have some expensive items, but nothing that is too overpriced.

Urban Outfitters-

Urban Outfitters literally has an urban aesthetic, with a little hipster vibe too. This store is definitely aimed more towards street wear esque fashion. The clothes remind me of something trendy influencers in big cities would wear. The closest Urban Outfitters is in Ann Arbor. You can shop for these clothes online. On the scale of expensiveness, I would give it a solid four because it is a little more on the expensive side.

Junior Jenna Carr with her mom and their friend at the Toledo Zoo Lights.

CARR

5 Tips for

It’s celebration time

Always keep extra supplies in the trunk of your car in case of emergency. Whether your car runs out of gas or you get stuck in a snowstorm, staying warm in the winter is a #1 priority

-Blanket or sleeping bag, extra coat, gloves, boots, and hat are all going to keep you warm in the winter air.

-Flashlights are a necessity if you are stuck in the dark. -Protein bars or trail mix is great to have in case you get hungry.

2.

Keep a snow brush/ice scraper in your car. If it snows, your windshield and mirrors will be covered in snow and sometimes ice. Having a brush in your car makes it easier to clean off your car so you can have a clear and visible path before hitting the road

3.

Safe Driving 1. 4. 5.

When budgeting your time, always allow time for your car windows to defrost. Depending on the temperature, level of snow, and amount of moisture in the air, this can take upwards of 10 to 15 minutes. By giving yourself ex tra time for the windows to defrost you are saving yourself from the stress of running late and driving without a clear view.

Out your car in four-wheel drive. Many newer cars have the option to switch from 2-wheel drive to 4-wheel drive. On slippery, icy roads, the more traction you have, the less likely you are to spin out and get into an accident.

Always have plenty of gas in your tank. Due to cold temperatures in Ohio, you can get fuel-freeze up. Moisture from the air enters your gas tank and freezes, causing clogs to form in the gas line. To prevent this, Ohio.gov advises that all cars should stay above half full during the winter.

-Maggie Schmitt

With the year coming to a close, many are scrambling to prepare for the holiday season by buying gifts, baking treats, and of course, decorating their homes. These sorts of activities typically help define the end of the year, with one tradition marking the true end: New Year’s Eve!

New Year’s Eve is celebrated in numerous countries around the world, each having its own tradi tions and customs observed by its citizens. Celebrations typically last well through the night, waiting for midnight to see the final minutes of the year. Here in the United States, millions nationwide tune in to watch the Times Square ball drop, a unique and iconic way to execute the countdown.

New Year’s parties typically consist of confetti, party horns, sparkling cider, and of course, fireworks. Once the clock reaches zero, yells and cheers can be heard from house to

house, as people prepare to make the most of the coming year.

Many take this new year as a fresh opportunity to better themselves, making the coming year better than the last. New Year’s Resolutions are a popular activity undertaken by people who want good things from the year, maybe working out more or eating more healthy or even being kinder to others.

It doesn’t matter what your goal is, as long as you work to achieve it. Overall, New Year’s Eve cele brates the fact that despite all of

the troubles of the past year (and we all know there have been a lot), we have once again made it through and came out on the other side looking to make this next year the best it can be. And that’s something to be proud of.

- Jack Szymanski

Winter weather watch out

For new and experienced driv ers alike snow, ice, and other wintery conditions pose many challenges on the road. Navigating these challeng es can be difficult in the moment, so it’s important to prepare before get ting behind the wheel.

In Ohio alone, over 1000 fatal weather-related crashes occurred in 2019, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra tion.

Icy roads, poor visibility, and precipitation are contributing fac tors to the high crash rate.

“There’s just a lot less friction on the road, and visibility too. It’s harder, because it’s a lot harder to stop and see what’s in front of you,” senior Dylan McLaughlin said.

One way to increase visibility is by removing accumulated ice from

your car, according to teacher Rita Getz. “Get up earlier to scrape every window and light,” Mrs. Getz said, “you need to have a clear vision.”

One of the most important pre cautionary measures you can take is reducing your speed. “Most fatal icy road crashes happen at highway speeds,” Dan Robinson, founder of Icy Road Safety said. Driving slower allows you to notice potential hazards, like hidden patches of ice, that could prevent an accident. Stopping, turn ing, and even accelerating quickly in icy conditions could cause you to lose control of your vehicle.

When driving in harsh conditions, staying aware of your surroundings is

more important than ever. Loud mu sic, passenger conversations, and cell phones distract you from what really matters— getting home safe.

“All in all the best way to be pre pared for driving during the winter is to stay relaxed and put your own safe ty first,” senior Sammy Mason said. “You just need to take more precau tions and be more mindful of who else is driving.”

-Alexis Clark

Focusing on winter holidays

While Christmas may be the most prominent and celebrated holiday in December. There are many hidden holidays in cluding Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Omisoka and Saint Nicholas Day. They might not be the most well known, but they are still celebrated by many.

Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish Holiday that was originally celebrated in commemora tion to the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The celebration extends from December 12 through the 20. The most well known tradition is lighting the Menorah. This is where you light one candle on the Menorah every day for eight days, saying a prayer be forehand and singing a traditional song after.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 to celebrate Afri can-American heritage. Many believe it was created as a substitute for Christmas even though it isn’t a religious holiday. It is celebrated from December 26 through January 1 every year. Each of the days of the celebration is dedicated to one of the seven princi ples of Kwanzaa. The family comes together to light one of the candles in the kinara, or candleholder, each day and on December 31, families come to gether for a communal feast called Karamu.

2021

Las Posadas is a Mexican hol iday that takes place between De cember 16 and December 24. It is celebrated in honor of Joseph and Mary as they made their jour ney from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The festival consists of a young child dressed as an angel who leads many children around hous es, seeking a place for Joseph and Mary to stay. At each house, they sing a song and end at Mass where they break open a piñata full of candy and toys.

Omisoka is the Japanese New Year that is celebrated on December 31. They host parties called Bonenkai par ties where they celebrate with friends and family. They make rice cakes and decorate their homes with a sacred Shinto straw rope.

Nicholas Day is celebrated on De cember 6 and is to honor the Christian Saint who works so hard on Christmas Eve. People will leave small treats, coins and gifts in shoes for friends, family and young children. The atten dance of Mass is also very common and a common food often eaten that day is Sinterklaas Cookies; spicy gin ger cookies.

- Natalie Pfahl

Tampa Bay Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV.

Trump supporters storm the United States Capitol.

Biden overturns restric tions on transgender people serving in the armed forces.

UK Covid variant becomes the dominant strain in the U.S.

Authorization of the Pfizer vaccine to 12-to-15-year-olds.

Juneteeth becomes a federal holiday.

Simone Biles withdraws from the women’s gymnastics team final at the Olympics.

The Biden Administration announces that there will be an increase in govern ment-issued food assistance.

Texas law banning most abortions after six weeks goes into effect.

Las Vegas Raiders head coach, Jon Gruden, steps down after email is leaked of him saying homophobic and misogynistic things.

January February March April May June July August September October November

Biden transfers pow ers to Kamala Harris temporarily.

Covid Omicron vari ant arrives in the U.S.

How to #1: bake Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

48 Hershey Kisses

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 Tbsps milk of choice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

How to #2: Wrap Presents

- by Maggie Schmitt

1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling (additional)

1/2 tsp salt

Yields: 48 cookies

Helpful Tips

Helpful hand: Unwrap chocolate kisses while the cookies bake in the oven so you aren’t rushing once they are starting to cool.

Once you have removed the hot cookies from the tray, place onto a new cookie sheet and set in the fridge to help the chocolate harden, allowing the cookies to retain their perfect kiss shape.

Not a fan of chocolate? When cookies come out of the oven, use the back of a spoon to create a small divet in the center of each cookie. Once cooled, fill the divet with strawberry jam for a sweet take on a PB&J classic

Using premade peanut butter cookie dough or a cookie dough mix from the store can help save time in a crunch!

How to #3:

Decorate a Christmas Tree

Step by Step:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Beat together peanut butter and shortening, then beat inboth your brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy.

Next, beat your eggs, milk and vanilla into the sugar mixture.

Finally, combine your flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl andslowing add it into the sugar mixture.

3. Roll dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter then roll inyour granulated sugar and place onto a baking sheet. Placeinto oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brownon the edges.

4. As soon as the trays come out of the oven, place a chocolatekiss into the center of each cookie, slightly pressing down sothat the cookie spreads out.

5. Let cool and enjoy

- by Maggie Schmitt

Do you want to decorate your Christmas tree like a professional designer?

Decorating expert Brad Schmidt shares his tips on making a Christmas tree look spectacular. He has been working with Balsam Hill since 2013. Balsam Hill is a company that has started with a simple goal to create the finest artisan Christ mas trees. Brad creates jaw-dropping floral decor for many companies all over the world. He uses fresh and artificial products in his designs.

First, you want to build a theme. For a Christmas tree to look professionally decorated, it needs an element that ties everything together. Base it on a partic ular color scheme, an ornament collection, or one of your interests.

“We have a family tree that the Christmas presents go under, and then there is a wintery kind of theme to our trees,” junior Ria Schinharl said.

Start with the classic ornaments of your choice. Choose ornaments in a clas sic color scheme that match well, like red, white, silver, and gold.

“We just put ornaments on, we do the same thing every year and we use a star,” senior Charley Rambo said.

Second, shape the tree by fluffing, which is an essential aspect of the dec orating process. String the lights; make sure your lights work before stringing them. Start from the bottom and circle upwards.

Then, divide the tree into sections to decorate like a professional and have a

- by Bella Elmore

balanced look; there should be three sections in the tree: top, middle, and bot tom. You want to hang the ornaments strategically. Experts tend to begin with more oversized ornaments and tuck them deeper within the tree to add depth. As you do this, it will add a beautiful, layered look to the tree. Also by hanging smaller ornaments on the tips of the branches will achieve a drape effect. Brad suggests combining different sizes for a bold statement.

Style with ribbons; use Christmas tree ribbons as ornaments. Schmidt rec ommends using wired ribbons because they are more accessible to shape and style.

“We use garland and usually put whatever ornaments we can find in our house. We use these little dried cookies that we have and little dolls that are knitted. We also have family pictures on the tree,” Schinharl said.

Finally, add a tree topper to polish off your design tree to complete your theme. Decorate the tree like a professional by improvising. For example, Brad ties ornaments together using floral wire, then adds picks to create drama for his tree topper. Custom toppers add personality to your tree. Dress the tree up with a skirt or collar. Set up the perfect backdrop for presents with an elegant skirt that matches your theme.

That’s all the steps to have the perfect professional Christmas tree.

Performing Arts 10 year anniversary

by, the Orchestra room, and the Black Box Theater.

One of Northview’s most antic ipated events is happening soon, the NV Performing Arts Center 10th An niversary Concert.

The NV PAC is the epicenter of the Music and Acting Art, hosting band, orchestra, choir, and Theater for10 years. But current students have known only the modern PAC,the Lob

The music and drama department only had a choir and band room (one story), along with the Little Theater (where orchestra practiced).

The concert will consist of every music student in the building, all Or chestras, Choirs, and Bands will be there.

“The last time we got to do this dedication, it was great to work as a

whole department,” Orchestra teach er Pamela Theil said.

Many of the Performing Arts departments work separately on dif ferent projects like concerts, travel ing shows, and playing at NV related events. It is rare that all the instrumen tal classes work together in the same performance.

“Performances from every music group at NV high school: three bands, four choirs, three orchestras, two jazz

bands, a vocal jazz group, electric or chestra, and a combined selection with nearly 400 students performing,” Band Director Nathan Heath said. Many are excited to play with their musical counterparts.

The PAC is the heart of NV’s per forming art departments and many people have fond memories of the ad dition.

”My fondest memory would have to be the production of My Fair Lady,

the relationships we all built were re ally something,” sophomore Matthew Klacik said.

The PAC means a lot to many groups especially the thespians who use it. The PAC stands as a comfort place for many and celebrating..

The fact is the PAC extension is home to many different groups and classes and serves as a place for many NV students’ musical and theatrical experiences.

Fun activities for Winter Break

Lucas County Holiday Light Show:

There is a brand new drive through light show at the Lucas County Rec Center. This event started on November 19 and goes until the end of December. This light show is approximately 20-25 minutes long. Tickets are sold per vehicle. General admission tickets are $23 and VIP tickets are $35. General admission tickets make you pick a certain date and time, while VIP tickets allow you to show up whenever you want to, as long as they are open. To buy tickets go to this website: holidaylightshow.com/toledoticketcard

The Nutcracker:

This classic show is performed by the Toledo Ballet, other ballet studios, and the Toledo Symphony. This year will be their 81st production of The Nutcracker The show will be held at the Stranahan Theatre from December 10-12. You can either buy tickets for Orchestra seats or Balcony/Loge. Orchestra seats range from $29-$47, depending on which section of the main floor you pick. Loge tickets are $54, while the lower balcony is $32 and the upper balcony is $23. To buy tickets go to this website: toledosymphony.com/events/2021/12/10/special-events/the-nutcracker/

Holidays at the Manor House:

This year will be the 46th annual Holidays at the Manor House. Tours of all of the holiday fun will be from December 4-12. The home, that once belonged to the Stranahan’s, is decked out in tons of fun decorations. The tour is free of cost, but you do have to register. Registration is required this year to minimize the amount of people in the house at certain times. Masks are also required. To register go to this website: metroparkstoledo.com/discover/special-events-andprograms/holidays-at-the-manor-house/

Entertainment at the Valentine Theatre:

Go to the Valentine Theatre to see the Silver Screen Classic Film: It’s a Wonderful Life. This classic is streaming on December 17 at 7:30 pm and then again on December 19 at 2pm. Masks are mandatory at this event. The ticket price is $5 per person with a $2.50 fee. To buy tickets go to this website: valentinetheatre. com/events.html and click on the date you would like to see the show.

Lights Before Christmas:

This one is a classic event to do during the winter season. Walking around and looking at the lights at the Toledo Zoo is a very popular event. The lightshow started November 19 and goes until December 31. You can see the lights anywhere from 3-8pm. Ticket prices for adult non-members are $23 while kids (2-11) and seniors (60+) are only $20. Members just need to reserve their tickets and can visit as many times as they want. To buy or reserve tickets go to this website: connect.toledozoo.org/lbc Ally Parker

Clarinet instrument

What’s your favorite piece you’re playing right now?

“My favorite to play at the moment is probably Lauda Ani ma.”

How are you involved in music outside of school?

“I play for the Jazz Cats after school.”

What is your favorite part of band?

feature musician Nemeh Hawamdeh Wind Ensemble Years Played

“My favorite part has to be the people. I’ve made so many friends through band, you just get to meet so many dif ferent people.”

How was your experience playing in Pit?

“It was a big commitment, but I really en joyed it. All of the music from My Fair Lady was really fun to play. It’s definitely some thing I’d do again given the time.” How was your marching band experience this year?

“Since we didn’t have a marching season last year, it felt great to get back to normal and play at the games. It’s a really unique experience and I’m glad I was able to do it again.”

- Jack Szymanski