QUIN TESS ENCE The Nostalgia Issue Volume 1 Issue 2
contributors
To the issue...
Editors-In-CHief: Hannah Klemme & Gabby Giesler STAFF: James keeley Kayley Anderson molly gubbels allison HEIthoff
Advisor: mr. elliott
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contributors
Nessa Woosley Peter Quinn Tom Hermanek Lily Yates
contents 3 Transformations 6 desserts down memory lane 9 timeless tracks 12 Cross-Grade Friendships 15 old yearbook photos 18 the past of omaha 21 board games 23 grade school memories 27 00’s kids’ fads 29 christmas list
from the editor...
t
ake yourself back to a simpler time in life. When it was socially acceptable to wear gouchos and crocs simultaneously, and when passing rocket math was equivilant to taking the ACT. Age might steal your innocence, but there are some things in life that remain unchangable regardless the number of candles accumulating on your birthday cake. With every year comes a new milestone, and with every milestone comes a new chapter of memories. To reflect on these past events is something we as humans just love to do. There’s a precise feeling that coinsides with telling an old story or cleaning out a worn box of childhood toys. Nostalgia is reminisence; it is a beautiful sadness and a heartfelt joy. It comes in waves of sounds and smells, in dated pictures and old objects. We hope this issue can provide a tangible journey back to the days when your imagination was beyond the limits of the sky and your worries were as small as a grain of sand. As much as we abide by the expectation to “live in the moment,” it never hurts to dwell on how life once used to be. We have already seen so many things during our short-lived time on earth, yet there’s still so much left for us, and that’s just the icing on the cake.
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like it was yesterday In loving memory of a simpler time By: Molly Gubbels
I remember constantly sprinting my way down the corridors of my humble abode absolutely
terrified for I was certain that the tickle monster would soon strike again. Breathless and exhausted I would let down my guard for just long enough for the beast to capture and, inevitably, tickle me to death. Now, of course, the tickle monster never comes out of hiding perhaps because he learned that I, similarly to the gingerbread man, would never be caught, but also perhaps because he realized that I was beginning to grow up. Life, I’ve found has a pretty odd sense of humor from its oh-so hilarious car insurance bills to its ability to throw me into the most cringe worthy of situations. I’ve come to understand that life as a dragon fighting, prince marrying, yet still overalls wearing young girl was a much simpler time. Now I’m fighting to stay awake, married to my job and always wearing my perpetually fashionable bleach stained sweatpants. However, I do still manage to make time for those nostalgic thoughts of the person I was when my imagination could run wild and my thoughts could paint the world.
kelli zavadil “I was always outside, I love the farm and I played house in a corn field. One time I watched Bear Grills, then next thing you know I was in a tree.”
trent hixson “My favorite childhood memory is visiting my grandparents’ farms to fish, ride ATVs and hang out with my family.”
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like it was yesterday
lukas and ava dreessen “There was one point where I knew how to climb out of my crib and Lukas didn’t, but I ended up teaching him how to and we both climbed out one night and got into a stash of baby powder and ended up being on the ground completely covered in it.”
kelly friend “When I was in grade school, I used to throw my food from lunch at the cafeteria walls and everyone thought it was funny.”
hans espiritu “When I was in kindergarten, I started watching Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino to be specific. I started getting more into dinosaurs , as well as power rangers. I began fighting a lot. With that said, I got in trouble so much in school for starting fights.”
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sarah devlin “In second grade my bangs were too long, so I decided to cut them...it was picture day the next day.”
cal strawhecker “When I was younger, so many of my uncles were named Bob that I assumed that, at a certain time, every man’s name was Bob. I used to walk around calling everybody Bob.”
ana and jimena dorador “We used to love to have lots of family over, put on a show and come around and charge them all a dollar.”
5 like it was yesterday
desserts down memory lane A visit to some of Omaha’s most memorable sweet shoppes
Scoring a certain amount of goals in micro soccer meant a reward. The bar would be set higher and higher each game, and with the goal count climbing, dessert shops around town were deemed essential. Tall, frothy rootbeer floats and generous scoops of ice cream ensured scoring against no goalie was worth it. Every kid begged for dessert as a reward, and these small shops around Omaha can remind us of that pride we felt when we sprinted up to our parents with our plastic gold medals screaming, “We won! Time for dessert, you promised!”
By Gabby Giesler Lunch at Spaghetti Works followed by a brisk walk down the street to Ted and Wally’s - a perfect afternoon. Mom grasped my hand tightly as we crossed the street to the petite ice cream shop that’s been around since 1984. The large barrels of salt were a mystery, who uses salt in ice cream? The counter was up so high, mom would lift me up to gawk at all the flavors. Seated at the bright green booths, enjoying a waffle cone filled with one of the many unique flavors, Ted and Wally’s was and continues to be one of Omaha’s greatest ice cream shops. Ted and Wally’s 1120 Jackson Street
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Springfield Drug 205 Main Street Soda past dinnertime? Really? My eyes were wide as I sat at the bar in Springfield Drug. “Two rootbeer floats, please.” Dad asked the waiter. A frothy float complete with sprinkles and a cherry was placed in front of me. The man who served me the float had a name tag that said “Keith,” but all I knew was this man could be Santa Claus with a shorter beard. After all, he put sprinkles on my rootbeer float, not anyone just does that. Antiques lined the walls of the drugstore-soda fountain. It was almost as if my grandma’s basement combined with my favorite shake shop, and I felt right at home.
7 Desserts
Ding-ding! Goes the bell as the grand, chestnut door opens up to a delicious wonderland of sweets galore. “Stay with me,” warns my mother as I yank on her hand towards the jelly bean machine. The vivid, artificial colors of stretchy taffy and huge lollipops catch my eye. Festive music hums in the background as the clerk stares down at me with a smile. “What’d you find, honey?” She asks as I hold up the small bag of assorted jelly beans for her to weigh. My mom pays for the treats selflessly as I sit on the bench by the door obediently waiting to leave. The door shuts with a ding-ding! as Hollywood Candy in the Old Market satisfies a sweet tooth yet again.
Hollywood Candy 1209 Jackson Street
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timeless tracks From our parents’ high school hits to our beloved radio disney classics, these songs can simply never be outgrown
w
By:Hannah Klemme
ith every era comes a new set of stars and icons. Our pasts can easily be defined by pop culture and what was “in” at the time. Looking back on the last few decades, we can see the stark differences between each generation’s media and music. It’s a never-ending and unpredictable evolution, but without it, we would lose the reminiscint nature of listening to an old song.
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Playlist-Timeless tracks
Black Magic Woman // Fleetwood mac wake up // Hillary Duff start all over // miley cyrus you may be right // billy joel sneaker night // vanessa hudgens New classic // selena gomez kids of the future // jonas brothers Back in black // ac/dc Walk this way // aerosmith 21 guns // green day never let you go // third eye blind Larger than life // backstreet boys toxic // britney spears right where you want me // jesse mcartney rich girl // gwen stafani the distance // cake all the small things // blink-182 the middle // jimmy eat world
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moving forward Navigating Friendships & Age Gaps by: Kayley Anderson
11 moving foward
High school moves fast. You come to school on your first day as a freshman and the next thing you know you’re one year away from graduation wondering where the time went. In the grand scheme of things four years is a small blimp on history but fortunately some things outlast the four year time period we have to work with. You come to school of course to learn, but gained knowledge isn’t the only take away. Experiences and friendships formed can last far longer than the four years we’ll spend in these halls. Friendships that can teach us a lot more about being a person in the real world than an average class might. These people might not even be in any of your classes or even in your grade, but nevertheless they become an intrical part of daily life. The trouble with these cross grade frienships is that eventually graduation comes and college rolls around to start new chapters that aren’t always faced together. Still the people we meet have a lasting impact whether it be a life-long friendship or even just a life long memory, here’s a look at some of those friendships that exist in our school today.
alli and Alyssa
“She’s kinda like my mom in someways like telling me to get enough sleep. I can tell her literally anything and she’ll help me because that’s the kind of person she is. I’m so happy to have a friend like her and I hope our friendship can continue even when she goes off to collge and I’m still here.” - Alli Schomers “Alli and I got really close this year, I think we have similar personalities so we work well togther. I’m happy we will be going to college 1 block apart so we’ll get to see each other when she graduates.” - Alyssa Woodman
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Sarah and allison
“We met in band 5 years ago and have been friends ever since. It’s nice to be able to do the thing you love the most with your best friend. We also learned that that 5 to 5s at 180 bpm can get you naywhere in no time. ” - Sarah Schrader and Allison Young
13 moving foward
“I literally have no idea what to say about him. I can’t explain it. I guess I’ll miss him because now I won’t have anyone to sing in the car with. ” - Adam Hanna “We have a love hate relationship, he hates me and I love him. I’m gonna miss him a lot. We’ve always done everything together so it’ll be very different wihtout him.” - Will Hanna
will and adam
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the good ol’ days skutt catholic before 2000 and now by Peter Quinn
R
endezvous has been a tradition for the junior history classes since Skutt Catholic opened. The students spend a day dressed as individuals from the 1800s. Along with this, the students build structures such as saloons or trading posts to spend the day in. This event has remained a favorite throughout the years.
15 The Good ol’ Days
sports V-I-C-t-o-r-y S ports at Skutt Catholic have
drastically improved over the years. The football team, specifally, went from losing nearly every game, to winning multiple state championships. As all the teams continue to strive to improve, they will have the support of the SkyHawks behind them.
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Skutt Catholic has always had taken their bumps and bruises. Nowadays, its issues with the iPads, but as displayed in the photo to the right pulled from the 1998-1999 yearbook, we see a student and teacher preparing for Y2K.
S kutt football has improved drastically over
the last 15 years. Going from winning no games to winning nearly every single one is a great achievement.
vs
2000
2015
SCOREBOARD
SCOREBOARD
Varsity Football (0-9)
Varsity Football (8-1)
W/L
Score
Opponent
Ralston Blair Pius X
L L
0-3 6-20
W W
L
7-21
Beatrice Gross Crete
W
49-10 50-7
Roncalli Gross AL S.C.C Beatrice
L L L L L
10-20 26-40 13-16 21-41
Roncalli Blair Pius X Gretna
W W W W
44-7 56-0 31-24 42-10
7-41
Elkhorn South L
23-28
3-43
Elkhorn
42-0
Opponent
RCC - Elkhorn L
W/L
W
Score 35-0
omaha’s old market
step into the streets of yesterday
1909 Tom Hermanek
then & now
10th & howard
1909
The building houses the ‘Howard Hotel,’ an establishment long since forgotten.
2015
The structure is now home to establishments such as Mr. Toad’s Pub, Havana Garage, and Amhad’s Persian Cuisine.
2015
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11th & howard
September 1971
In the 70s, the Old Market housed warehouses and business offices, a far cry from the shops and restaruants of today. In the building above, Central Supply Co. occupys the space now home to many small businesses.
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From the Omaha World-Herald/Robert Paskatch Photography Collection at The Durham Museum Photo Archive. Used with permission.
Omaha’s Old Market
November 2015
While remnants of Central Supply Co.’s sign can still be seen on at least one side of the building, a lot has changed about the area since 1971. Shops, restaurants and hotels now line the streets of the once industrial district.
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a blast from the past
What you did before you had an iphone By: Nessa Woosley
Remember when you had time to sit around the table and play a board game with a big bowl of Cheetos? You
could be transported to a whole different world but still never leave your kitchen or living room. Board games are a forgotten pastime most teenagers rarely return to anymore. This can be partially accredited to their possession of cell phones.
Pretty Pretty Princess
Teaching young girls, and high school boys, that obtaining a ring is the only thing that matters in life. “All I do is win,� Sam Wiegand, the ten time state champion at Pretty Pretty Princess. To win the game, be the first player to obtain a complete set of color coordinated jewelry.
Twister
A remaining favorite among Skutt Catholic students, the love for Twister will never fade. The game requires you to spin a colored wheel to determine which hand or foot is placed on each colored dot. If you lose your balance and come crashing down to earth, you lose.
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Jenga
All of your hopes and dreams could be crushed with one wrong move. Each player picks one block to remove from the tower each turn until it falls, if your block causes the fall then you lose.
Connect Four
Almost a mix of checkers and connect the dots, it’s been a minute since we’ve dug this classic game out of the woodwork. Alternating players, the first person to ‘Connect Four’ of their color of game pieces wins.
Operation
The only time anyone would allow a seven year old remove a funny bone. Operation is a classic game that requires concentration, patience and a steady hand. You use a pair of tweezers to remove plastic pieces from the patient. If you miss the piece and hit the patient without sucessful extraction, your turn is over.“The noises and vibrating when you missed always scared me,” Hunter Schwartzkopf commented.
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a glance to the past
A collection of debaucherous junior high memories
By: James Keeley Grade school was a magical part of almost every persons life. Constant candy, naps, and the feeling of warmth and security that came with going to school each day emerge in my brain as I begin to think of those years. There is a point, however, where something changes. Whether it is the school or the student I’m not sure, most likely it is a bit of both. The students become rebellious as they strive to create an identity for themselves, and the schools become more strict in order to keep the rebellious youth in line. From this dynamic comes an opportunity that is hard to find anywhere else in life. The opportunity for students to take part in unruly and belligerent behavior with only minor consequences. This dynamic also allows for the creation of many memorable stories, some of which I have collected and placed here for your reading pleasure.
“A
t St. Wenceslaus, a special form of senioritis infected almost all of the students in eighth grade. I was one of those affected. Me and Tom Kingston started to create a stash of candy in a small storage room and go there in between classes to munch a little bit. We got more and more cocky with our candy schemes until we eventually skipped an art class to sit in there, hang out, and eat some candy. I tweeted that I left art class and was eating candy in a small room with a picture of a pile of candy, and get this, someone snitched on me! So Mr. Huben, the principal, made his merry way down to the storage room and found the stash!.� - Kyle Dudzik
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“I
n eighth grade at Mary our Queen, one of the homerooms had a fish tank with a pet fish in it. One sad day, the fish happened to die. The kids in the class noticed the fish was dead before the teacher, and they all spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what to do with the poor dead fish. One of the kids took it upon himself to get the fish out of the tank, find a push pin, and pinned the fish to a bulliten board in the back of the classroom. The fish actually stayed pinned on the board all year; the teacher never noticed. Also, the same teacher had this hand vacuum that he truly adored, he would use it all the time and always keep it close to him. So one day when he was out running
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A Glance to the past
cross country, we had the bright idea of throwing the hand vacuum out the window. What we didn’t take into account, however, is that the cross country team runs around the school. I guess he stumbled upon it out in the grass, all alone, and when he walked back up to the classroom hand vacuum in hand, I can’t say he was in the best of moods. At least he never found the opened milk cartoon we left in a locker around the beginning of the year. Eighth grade was a great time.” - Grant Dennis and john paul rigatuso
“S
o there’s a thing at St. Stephen’s called lunch duty. For a day you you get out of the period before lunch and go down to the lunchroom to help the lunch ladies clean trays and do whatever else they need you to do. You eat lunch at your regular time but you go last. The thing about lunch duty though, is that you get all the leftover food from whatever was served that day. So you could have like, five cheeseburgers or twentry chicken nuggets. This one week was a particularly fire week for lunch, I’m talking chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, crispitos, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, it was nuts. I had lunch duty on Monday of that week, and I got a taste of the high life and I did not want to go back. So for the rest of the week, Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday, me and the other kid doing lunch duty would run around the school and tell the other kids that the schedule was messed up and that we had lunch duty. So for a week I got an unbelievable amount of food, the lunch ladies loved me because they thought it was hilarous, and I didn’t have to go to science class once. Lunch duty man.” - Nate Maher
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poetry of the past Wishing Out of My Ears But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? There was me And there was you And there was the jump rope. A rope that held the hopes of all girls that jumped over it, the hopes that they wouldn’t fall. It held our hopes now. The hopes of not failing in this friendship, The hopes that it would last forever. I remember: You helped me stand up on the playground Against the infamous graders of four Because they thought my sand tunnel was stupid. They thought my sand tunnel was perfect reflection of me. And it hurt. But you put on the Barbie band -aids and helped me get back up on my feet. I was afraid more than hurt. Afraid because I thought I would never be as strong as you were, Afraid that I would lose my backbone, The straps around my soul, The person I looked up to most, Afraid that I would lose you to poor choices you would make. I tried to be my own god. I started picking and choosing friends with stronger beliefs, Purging the bad with a flood of my emotions, While still trying to hold on to you even though you were reaching for temptation. I realize how much of a fool I was to have tried to fly out of the abyss With an iron ball chained to my foot. So I let go. And now I wish more than ever That we would still go to the top of the monkey bars and gaze down at the
poem by junior sarah schrader
Four foot high metropolis made entirely of white and navy blue buildings, Roaming around on the unsteady ground of wooden chips I needed more time from you, Time from you to learn How to paint the sky green and the grass blue Or how to squeeze myself through keyholes and into jelly jars. I remember how you could paint the night sky To illuminate the world and bath everything in gray light. Nothing is like that anymore, The night is too black and the day is too white, give me the gray again. Is it like that for you? Do you miss the gray? Do you need me like I need you? Or can you still paint the sky without me? You’re different now. Your eyes are like frost, Cold and hard, An adventure in a skin-wrapped package And I’ve missed it all. Because you decided that being bad was better for your reputation than the label “goody-two-shoes” Then I lost you, and the straps came loose on my soul, And the winds from the four corners ripped me apart And blew you along another path, And now all that’s left are two hollowed out humans, With nothing left to cling to but a piece of pizza and a Dr. Pepper. I miss you. I have lost you and it’s not my fault. But if you close your eyes... I need you to make a u-turn fast Because the wishes that have filled my brain since I left you Started to come out of my ears yesterday. Does it almost feel like nothing... I’m ready to help you be strong. Nothing... I wish that you were ready too. Nothing changed at all.
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take me back t
remnants of our glory days
by Lily Yates
he early 2000s, now long gone but certainly not forgotten, brought a myriad of memorable gifts to the modern world’s table. These glimmering years also, admittedly, birthed events, fads, and cultural icons from which we now may understandably feel the urge to turn our heads away politely. Nevertheless, they are a part of our history and an undeniably integral piece of the way that every teenager alive today views the world. From the monumentous rise (and in some cases plummet from grace) of pop stars like Britney Spears to the shocking new phenomenon that was the MP3 player, the double 0s ushered in a new, curious chapter in humanity’s textbook. Although the Internet today is filled with ‘90s kid pride,’ only high school students the world over share the unique brotherhood encouraged by the singular fact that a website like Webkinz could have consumed so unfathomably much of our free time.
FOOD
Among the most prominent and mouthwatering children of the ‘00s were the glorious array of foods. Candies, desserts, drinks: fodder for vivid childhood flashbacks to be sure. Whether enjoyed while surfing the cartoon channel or on the way to soccer practice, it’s practically a precept that candy sticks made you the coolest kid on the block. Now, when it came to apparel, the premier decade of the 21st century certainly held surprises as well as innovations. Let’s all just enjoy the memory and hope boot cut jeans never make a comeback, shall we?
fashion
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As well as foods and delectables, plus fashion and accessories, another influential and colorful side of this glamorous (loosely speaking) decade was the array of entertainment. Ranging from shows, books, & movies to new ways to consume media altogether, huge innovations seemed to make their way into each and every year. Ask a 2000s kid what they liked to watch on TV? The first channels they’ll gush about will almost infallibly be Nickolodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network. Many old-timers even still have the channel numbers memorized. The shows and movies brought about by these main sources were indubitably both a blessing and a curse, because anyone who was around for the glorious Suite Life of Zack and Cody era finds it hard to bear even glimpses of shows on Disney nowadays.
TV Shows
books
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letters to santa
A Reminiscence of our Childhood Wishes By: Allison Heithoff
I’m sure as kids we all remember the excitement and anticipation that came along with each passing Christmas: the flipping through ads looking at the hottest new toys and the reoccuring failure to fall asleep on Christmas Eve. However, nothing beat sprinting down the stairs Christmas morning to see the tree surrounded by presents and our minds immediately trying to decipher what was hidden behind the gifts covered in festive holiday wrapping paper. I’m sure none of us will forget those toys that we so desperately wished for. Some of us might even still have them tucked away somewhere to this day. So, in remembrance of those yearnful wishes, here is a letter to Santa, comprising several recurring wishes from our childhood that were shared by the Skutt Catholic student body.
Dear Santa, We promise we have been very good this year. We know you and your elves are very busy, but we hope you take time to consider these requests: “Webkinz were the greatest gifts I ever got. It always felt good getting a new one to add to my collection. In total I had over thirty, but my favorite was my first one, which was the chihuahua.”
1. Ripstick 2. FurReal Friends Puppy 3. Electric Scooter 4. Chevrolet Camaro 5. Barbie Dreamhouse -Sofia Ferrer 6. Hot Wheels 7. Webkinz 8. Legos Sincerely,
The Students of Skutt Catholic 29
letters to santa
USA 49 “I wanted an electric scooter so bad and finally one Christmas my neighbors and I all got one. We were so excited to ride them when spring came around, but after riding mine nonstop for one month, I lost the charger and never rode it again.”
-Tori Barclay
“The Barbie Dreamhouse was the biggest thing under my tree one year. It had three levels, a bunch of furniture, and was as tall as my third grade self. It still sits in my basement today.”
-Madisen Kanger
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