THE
K W A H r ] e b K m e v C o n n o A i t i BL E S [ e d TIM
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C ontents 2
3 Word in the Halls 4 Red Ribbon Week 5 Veteran Day/ New Staff 6 Blood Drive/ Career Fair 7 Black Hawk Crew 8-9 Go Grafton Go Pink 10 Testing/ Black Hawk Time 11 Fine Arts 12-19 Sports 20-21 Musical Preview 22-23 Holidays 24 Black Hawks of the Month
Marcus and Ben Bates!
-James Carpenter
Uhh, mashed potatoes.
Having a car.
-Rachel Rouna
-Nick Krummey
School of course.
-Charles Potter
The Broncos!
-Mrs. Wahl
Coffee!
-Rachel Weidner
My bed.
-Kelly Megan
Soccer.
-Micaela Brunnquell
The men and women who serve our country. -Luke Benzschawel
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Stand Up to Drugs and Alcohol Story by Abby Valerius and Danielle Lemke Red Ribbon Week happens once a year to inform kids and teenagers about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. This year it fell upon the days of October 2024th. This week reminds students to help prevent the use of drugs in the school and in their homes. Harriet Turk came to GHS to talk about having the confidence to be yourself and not changing to impress anyone. Harriet and her husband came up with a chant for their kids to remind them of this. “I am somebody special, if you don’t like me, TOUGH. Cause I am cool enough, smooth enough, and doggone it, I am hot enough to be who I want to be,” said Turk.
Turk was here to tell the students how alcohol affects people and a heartwarming story to warn the student body not to do drugs. GHS’s club LEAD does just that. LEAD promotes not to do drugs and teaches how to love life too much to ruin it by using. There are many resources for concerned friends to get help victims of drug and alcohol abuse. If you or a friend needs someone to talk to contact Mr. Chris Hanley in the Guidance Office. As Harriet Turk talked about, “You’re cool enough, smooth enough, and doggone it, you’re hot enough to be who you want to be.”
Shout It! Inspirational speaker Harriet Turk teaches the student body her “Life is Great!” cheer by punching her hands in the air and yelling “Life is Great!” for the Red Ribbon assembly on Monday October 20.
Freshman Callan Hanley ties a Red Ribbon band around a tree in front of the high school to remind the community that it’s Red Ribbon Week.
Dance like nobody’s watching! Brandon Steen, Brad Parsons, Lauren Brunquell, Mina Kozicki and Ben Weishan let loose and just strut their stuff on the stage.
Pictures by Abby Valerius 4
Veterans Day
1 The Rose-Harms post 355 American Legion group came to GHS for the assembly. Veterans come every year on Novemer 11, marking the end of Word War I and now Veterans Day, to tell their stories. 2 Veterans salute 1 2 the flag during the posting of the colors and the National Anthem. 3 Roman Monarski gives a speech about his experience in the Army. This speech is meant for students to appreciate everything the US Army does and maybe even inspire a few kids. 4 After every veteran was named off with his rank, the men saluted as the 3 students gave them a standing 4 ovation.
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2014 New Year, New Faces Story by Caroline Fossum & Rhylan Gosselin While some faculty For the 2014-2015 school year, twelve new was new, Mrs. Houck restaff members were hired in sumed her position in the various departments. The Communication Arts defaculty members began their partment after one year of new jobs on September 3rd, leave. “It feels like I never 2014, welcoming students left. The faculty, staff and and warming up to the unfa- students were all so welcommiliar atmosphere. ing,” said Houck. Mr. Welden came The Special Education and Interpreter Depart- up to the high school this ments gained seven of the year from GES. When asked twelve new members. The about the transition , Mr. other five new faculty were Welden joked, “These kids are just bigger, and have cell hired in Science, Physical Education, Communication phones.” Arts, Counseling, and the LMC.
Mrs. Stacy Houck, Comm. Arts
Mr. Mike Welden, Phy. Ed
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Story By Rob Bergman
Bleeding for a Cause
45 pints of success. As the fall blood drive came to a conclusion, it was clear that there was a great effort among the student body. With over 60 students volunteering their time and veins, GHS made a great contribution to the Bloodcenter of Wisconsin. Even though the numbers we achieved is something to be proud of, there are several improvements planned for next year in order to increase the number of successful participants. “The main thing we want to emphasize is the importance of a good breakfast,” said Mrs. Sandy Gulianai, who helped organize the event, explained. The drive may have captivated the hearts of the students, however many of them could not donate due to health reasons, the most common being an easy fix: eating breakfast.
“The problem was I didn’t eat enough, but I really wanted to donate, so I still tried,” senior Sara Dieringer explained. Next years’ drive will try to make information more available to students on how to prepare to donate blood. Another effort the blood drive team hopes to make next year is for the incorporation of planning with athletic events. Unfortunately this year, some hopeful donors were not able to contribute, due to having a major sporting event the same day as the drive. Ultimately, with some slight tweaks, next year should yield even greater results, saving many more lives.
Every three seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. There is no substitute. To find a donation site go to www.bcw.edu
Expand Your Horizons Story By Jimmy Otworth Many companies came out to the career fair as well as College programs from schools like Marquette and UW Milwaukee. This years career fair focused on manufacturing and healthcare specialty jobs. “The career fair provides opportunities for the kids here to see the career options in the Grafton area,” said Principal Ken McCormick. Not only was the career fair informative on the occupations, but the presenters also incorporated some fun aspects to keep students around their booths. Milwaukee Area Technical College allowed students to play chess and while they were playing the booth instructor would explain the basics of the jobs their company offers. Other booths such as the Marquette University Neu6
roscience lab allowed students to see an actual human brain. Waukesha Metal Products provided candy for students. Other booths had small toys to keep students around while they gave an explanation of the specifics of what their jobs require and what kind of schooling they had to go through to get there. Learning about the schooling and courses is also a big help to the students so they know what to focus on at a collegiate level. “The fair had a stand for the career I want to pursue after high school so it benefited me by being able to talk face to face with professionals in that field,” said senior Kaytie Lighthizer. The career fair has helped many students at Grafton get motivated to pursue their dream job, now its only a matter of time before they achieve it.
Black Hawk Crew
Black Hawk Crew has been in existence for a few years now, but this year it is rising to new heights. Created with the intent to gradually introduce incoming freshman to high school, it has been reworked to involve upperclassmen much more. Leaders Mr. Mike Kalina, Mr. Zach Gajewski, and Ms. Nikki Slagle are all helping make this year one to be remembered. “We wanted to help freshmen have a smoother transition into high school. We also would like to provide a positive atmosphere that can help stop bullying,” said Kalina. Mentors began to be recruited as early as the fourth quarter of the 2014 school year. They were assigned four to six freshman mentees that they were to contact and invite to their very first event, a tailgate before the home opener of the 2014-2015 football season. But, before the tailgate even occurred, mentors put in hours of preparation during their summer vacation. “I thought it was a pretty successful event, because more people showed up than we’ve ever had before. Not to mention, everybody was entertained and seemed to be having a great time,” said co-president Bradley Parsons. Once the school year began, mentors made sure to be there every step of the way, even coming in on the freshman only first day of school. The mentees were able to have all of their questions answered and if they had any confusion brought on by their schedule, a mentor was there to lead the way. A few team bonding activities throughout the day also made sure to ease any nerves brought on by the upcoming school year. “It was a better start for me, because it really helped prepare me for the next week or two ahead,” said freshman Sean Brennan.
In addition to being in contact during the week, mentors and mentees took advantage of the newly introduced Black Hawk Time to meet and discuss anything different. After their conversations, a cooperative game usually followed. “Meeting with my mentees really makes me feel like I have a better connection to them and it’s almost like they’re my siblings. It’s also a really rewarding feeling to have freshman look up to you. We make sure to talk about dealing with stress in high school, because I know that it can be overwhelming,” said Co-President Kaleigh Wallock. As the first quarter came to an end, it is safe to say that this year’s Black Hawk Crew is the most successful to date. With still so many projects to come the freshman have no doubt hit the ground running into high school.
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Go Grafton, G “I’ve seen how hard the battle can be, and I know how many people have to go through it. I wanted to make sure everyone is getting the support they need” -Maddie Schultz The color pink was everywhere around Grafton High School on Thursday, October 23. Not only was it displayed on posters in the hallways, but close to every student and staff member wore some shade of pink. Senior Brandon Steen said, “Seeing so much pink in the hallways created excitement because pink is a color that stands out amongst other colors. It makes people happy.” “Go Grafton, Go Great, Go Pink” was an organized day for GHS to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. The day was put into action by teacher Mrs. Kellen Wesson and the LEO Club with students Madeline Schultz, Monica Geiser, and Hailee Ziehr. To spread the word around school, teachers hung posters and Mrs. Wesson organized a 8
picture to be taken outside in the shape of the pink Breast Cancer ribbon. T-shirts and memorabilias for each student were sold to raise money for the American Cancer Association as well. “The awareness of Breast Cancer impacts people by allowing everyone involved to have hope. It also makes them more educated; the more they see it the more it makes them understand how hard diagnosed individual’s battles are to fight,” said sophomore TJ Stoltman. “It’s surprising how many students are affected directly by breast cancer. It’s a good cause to be aware of and we should appreciate the people in our life because we never know how much time we have left with them”, said Wesson. By: Molly Lutz
Go Great, Go PINK!
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Hot Spots
It’s Black Hawk Time! Story and Photos by Haley Bikman and Rachel Stein
Classrooms
Library Auditorium
Choir Room
Testing Dates
March
3rd : ACT Plus Writing 4th : ACT Work Keys
April
27th : ACT Aspire [Reading] 28th : ACT Aspire [Math] 30th : ACT Aspire [Science]
May
4th : ACT Aspire [Writing] *9th grade 5th : ACT Aspire [English] *9th grade
7th : ACT Aspire [Writing] *10th grade
8th : ACT Aspire [English] *10th grade
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A new addition to the Wednesday schedule was put into action this year and was given the name Black Hawk Time. This was set up by Mr. Ken McCormick as a time to let students get things done without having to sacrifice precious time in their normal schedules. It also allows teachers to get in touch with students who are struggling in their class. “This could be a B+ AP student looking to get an A or student who was failing looking to get a passing grade,” added McCormick. Students have had mixed reactions to this change. Many forget to signup for help and spend their time in the auditorium. Junior Monica Wenton said, “I really didn’t like it as first, I kind of thought it was a waste of time. After a few weeks I realized it was a useful time in the day to get something done productively.” It is also used as a time to meet with a whole grade without interrupting a class hour. “In the past, we would meet during 2nd hour, so students missed a good part of this class. Now, students miss a little of all classes, not a lot of a single hour,” said McCormick. Wednesdays were chosen for Black Hawk Time, because those periods were already shortened because of late start. “Teachers of lab classes (Science, Tech, FACE) asked that we not shorten periods on another day because labs can not be completed in shortened period” said McCormick. Many are wondering if the new schedule advancement is working. McCormick said, “It is too soon to tell if we are making a positive impact on student success in the classroom.”
Students Aspire to Boost Test Scores Story by Kaitlyn Larson and Rachael Place
As part of the state of Wisconsin’s new requirements for standardized testing, GHS will be partaking in a series of new tests administered by ACT. With these changes comes a new testing schedule for the 2014-15 school year. In October freshmen took the fall version of the ACT Aspire, a 250-minute computer-based test designed to assess current knowledge and provide data to teachers on students’ learning abilities. In addition to the fall test, freshmen will take a spring version of the ACT Aspire in late April and early May, as will the sophomores. The freshmen scores will be used to measure their growth from fall to spring, while sophomores’ scores will be used to measure growth from ninth to tenth grade. The test is also a predictor of future ACT scores. Adding to the changes, the ACT Plus Writing and ACT Work Keys tests will be introduced to all juniors. Both will be administered during the school day in March as part of Wisconsin’s vision for students to be both college and career ready. “I think it’s a good idea to have all the juniors take the ACT at school because that way everyone will have an equal chance of taking it,” junior Hailey Hacker said. The ACT Plus Writing consists of four multiple choice tests in English, Math, Reading and Science and a 30 minute essay. This test is intended to measure students general knowledge and their ability to complete some college-level work. The ACT Work Keys is a completely new form of testing that measures skills critical to job success. The areas tested are applied mathematics, locating information, and reading for information. The ACT Work Keys allows students to compare their skills to those that a real job requires. This test as well as the ACT Plus Writing is a pencil and paper assessment.
Raise Your Voice
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Story by Maureen Tomashek Photos by Adele Danner On Sunday, October 19, the Choral Department held its first concert of the year, a benefit for The Trevor Project. “It’s something Ms. Hemming did before I was here and I thought it was a great way to give back,” Mr. Adam Qutaishat, the choral director, explained. To choose an organization to donate to, Qutaishat opened up the floor for student ideas. Then, all of the choirs voted. The students decided to donate the $710 raised to The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ organization that helps to prevent suicide among young teens. Senior Brandon Schmidt contributed the idea of having the proceeds go to this charity because, “They helped me when I was coming out, so I
thought I’d give back.” Giving back to a charity such as The Trevor Project inspired many of the choir students. Junior Shelby Babl said, “It’s a lot more of a minority charity wise and it encourages LGBT teens to come out; It gives them a safe place to talk about it.” The choirs performed various styles of music, from pop to spiritual to contemporary classical. Seven choirs performed, including Chamber Singers, Neonotes, Camerata, Vocal Jazz, Chorale, Graftonics, and Concert Choir. The show-stopper was “The Road Home” by Stephen Paulus, performed by Chamber Singers. Qutaishat said, “I found out after the performance that Stephen Paulus passed away earlier that day,” making the song even more intriguing for him to conduct.
GHOSTs and Ghouls Story & pictures by Sofie Green
Right before a haunting Halloween weekend, the Grafton High Open Studio Time (GHOST) club sat back and enjoyed Monster cookies and caramel corn during their costume party. Students got in touch with their creative side with fake blood, face paint, and some home-made outfits. In attendance were none other than Life and Death, and The Little Mermaid. Amber Micoliczyk (top right) came decked out in full wig and sparkly scale leggings. Her Little Mermaid costume was complete with sea shells hot glued to a purple top and a stuffed fish from a resale store. “I saw the leggings and said, ‘That’s what I’m going as,’ so I started collecting materials,” said Micoliczyk. Anastasia Gouchina and Shelby Babl (bottom right) dressed as
Life and Death in a partnered costume idea. Gouchina dressed in white and green with a flower crown and antlers, while Babl sported all black everything, even lipstick. “We were going to be Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask [from the anime Sailor Moon], but we were too lazy. We just wanted to be cute and matching.” Gouchina explained. GHOST started off as a social gathering for artists, but have elected officers for this year, including President Karina Osipyan, Vice President Anastasia Gouchina, Treasurer Oleeyah Derzon, and Secretary Fiona Lawtin. This year they used their artistic talents to participate in volunteer work and fundraisers, and they even decorated pumpkins for Pumpkinfest.
Freshman Rose Lawton sports her spooky makeup done by her sister, junior Fiona Lawton.
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Finishing
Story by Emily Mueller
The Boys Cross Country team finished out a respectable season. There were many new faces on the team including nine new freshmen. “I joined cross country expecting a hard sport, but I got that but so much more, I’ve made some good friends with my entire team.” said Freshman Peter Danner. The team made their way from the first early season invite in August to the WIAA Sectionals in October. Meet MVPs included; Noah Vaculik at Shorewood, Gordy Thompson at West Allis, Ben Weishan at Menomonee Falls, McKenna Wolfe at Waukesha South, Joe Docter at Manitowoc, Pat Plier at Slinger, Max Jensen at the North Shore Conference, and Alec Weinhold at Sectionals. Although the whole team did not qualify for state two members did: senior Alec Weinhold and junior Max Jensen. They competed at the WIAA State meet at Wisconsin Rapids on November 1. Alec finishing 28th with a time of 16:41.2 and Max finished only two places behind in 30th with a time of 16:43.1
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Pictures by Angela Am
g Strong
y VIP and mundson
Story by Adele Danner
The Girls’ Cross Country team had another successful year, setting personal records and finishing the season strong. The highlight of the season was at the North Shore Conference meet at Concordia University. The day was dreary and cold, but every teammate who competed performed the best they had the whole season, each breaking their personal records. To get fired up before a race, the girls got into a huddle, tapped one another on the shoulders, and wished each other good luck. Each girl had a different mindset stepping up to the finish line. “Most of the time I’m really nervous. But it’s a good nervous,” said junior Jennifer Woolf who ran 21:39.77 at the Conference meet. For other members of the team it’s different. “It’s really weird. I’m standing at the line. I’m getting all nervous. And right when the ref yells 30, I feel a sense of calm. I’m ready to race,” said senior Rachel Ruona who ran 20:49.25 at the Conference meet. One thing is for sure. Every girl on the team has a deep love for running. “I feel amazing after a race. No matter how good or bad the race went I feel amazing when I’m done. It is like the best moment of my life, and makes up for my nerves before the race,” said junior Ella Aspenson.
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You Got Served! Photo by: Sydney Struck
Story by Morgan Weisflog Breannah Palubiski
Photo by: VIP
Photo by: Laura Parsons
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Losing a handful of seniors in the previous season, the girls tennis team came back stronger than ever. They advanced two sets of doubles teams to sectional finals, sending one more team than last year. The teams were sophomores Allison and Amanda Parsons, and juniors Abigail Benvenuto and Sydney Struck. “We improved a lot from last year so we have more potential coming into next year’s season,” said Struck. Benvenuto and Struck finished with a 7-5 record in conference and made it to sectional finals. This year, the girls varsity squad gained 4 new players. “Joining tennis this year was a great idea because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into and it turned out that I had a lot of fun,” said sophomore Gillian Waskiewicz. In terms of successes, the team took home first, playing the best they had all season, on Saturday September 6 at the Delavan - Darien Doubles Invite. These team improvements weren’t just a fluke. “We got better as a team because we actually worked in the offseason,” said junior Benvenuto. Placing sixth in conference the girls played an intense season overall. New players, #3 doubles team of seniors Kate Lennon and Katie Boyer finished 3-3 in conference. “Every time we were down, we reminded ourselves that we’re playing for fun and then we improved,” said Boyer.
Passing ns tatio c e p x E
rds
da n a t S Setting
the g n i l l i K tion i t e p Com
Story By Lexi Sutherland & Maureen Tomashek
The 2014 volleyball season had many ups and downs, yet the Hawks finished strong. Composed of one freshman, six sophomores, four juniors, and three seniors, the girls proved that even with such a young team, achieving victory was still possible. Their conference season ended in 3 wins and 4 losses. The Hawks took 8th place out of 32 teams at the Oshkosh Tournament on August 26 & 27. Following that tournament the Hawks took 2nd place out of 6 teams at both the Milwaukee Lutheran and Slinger Invitationals. All of the players agreed that winning their last conference game against Plymouth High School on their home court was the most memorable moment of the season. Junior Amber Amenda explained, “Beating Plymouth at their home game was most memorable because we’ve struggled playing them in the past and we finally proved we could beat them.” Adding onto this, senior Rachel Schmitz said, “When we beat Plymouth, we
had so much energy the whole time. It as so fun to beat such a tough team like that.” Head Coach Jarrod Luedtke said, “This is just the beginning. We have worked so hard to build up our volleyball program, and by next season we will take off. I’m very proud of the dedication these young ladies have shown and I can’t wait for them to show it on the court next season.” Although Luedtke has resigned from his head coach position, he will remain involved with the volleyball program through fundraising and supporting the girls at their games. Many awards were presented at the end of the year: Sophomore Kayla Tsui was nominated team MVP and recieved the individual award of being second place all-conference player. Senior Rachel Schmitz recieved the Leadership award for being able to carry the team as the only captain. Sophomore Maggie Proefrock took home the Most Improved award and senior Hannah Weber recieved the Sportsmanship award.
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Gridiron Glory
at quarterback during the team’s loss to Homestead, will now have five games of varsity experience going into next year. Junior lineman Luke Benzschawel led the team in tackles most games and was a major contribution to the offensive line. After senior linebacker and running back Matt Pfannerstill went down with an injury week one, it opened up playing time for junior running back Max Lerret and junior linebacker Drew Brandenburg. There were even three sophomore players who made major contributions on offense and defense. Jack Senczyszyn and Vincent Giorgi improved the team’s pass rush from the outside linebacker position, and Jaelan Turan contributed on the Photo by VIP Photography offensive and defensive lines. Their experience and others’ The week Grafton was to play out the season with a win vs The GHS Football program had something to prove com- Nicolet, the team played an Milwaukee Lutheran, beating will definitely help this team come next year. exhibition game against Mar- them 27-9. ing into the 2014 season as “I think we’ll get done what they were led by a new head quette High School from the The Varsity Reserve team also Upper Peninsula of Michigan. had a good year ending with a we need to. We have ten coach and only had seven to twelve returning varsity returning starters. What the Grafton lost at home, 32-20, 6-3 record. team lacked in experience but the loss was not counted in Head Coach Andrew Kolstad starters and we know the they made up for in effort as their season record. The Black arrived at Grafton in February system better. Next season Hawks went on to lose three they ended the year on a 5-4 and immediately unrolled his should go just fine,” says junior defensive end Daryl record, with two wins coming more games in a row against weight lifting program, “The Bagley. “We all appreciate Homestead, Whitefish Bay, from forfeitures. Grafton Grind”, in March. what the seniors did this The Black Hawks came out and Germantown, all confer“He brought a whole new of the gate swinging, crushing ence games. energy to the program,” senior year. I admire that they never gave up. Even when we were New Berlin West at home by a The Black Hawk’s homecom- Brandon Steen said. score of 34-12. ing game was against their After weight lifting all spring down, they always picked us “The first game was one of arch rivals, the Port Washand summer, the team hit the back up. They really did take on the leadership role for our the best games this year. Get- ington Pirates. The team had field on August 4 to preteam and it showed on the ting two sacks in that game pare for the upcoming year. arguably their best perforwas pretty great,” said senior mance of the year and defeated Kolstad had to bring in a new field.” lineman and fullback Brandon the Pirates by a score of 25-6. system, and a new coaching Steen. staff, and had to put it all “Homecoming and absoThey went on to lose their lutely manhandling Port were together and make it work by second game at Wauwatosa week one. the highlights of the season West, 35-15, however this loss for me. Nothing feels better “I think he did really well was later changed to a win by than beating Port. Especially for the first year,”said senior the WIAA after discovering since I’m related to half of the wideout Adam Cibulka, “We that Wauwatosa West had all had to get used to the new town,” said Brennen Streff, played an ineligible player. offense and his new way of a senior cornerback for the The team then started their Black Hawks. coaching and we still had a North Shore Conference winning record and we were Tom Rose, a half back for record with a win, thanks to a the Pirates also commentsuccessful.” Nicolet forfeiture. Nicolet was ed, “Both teams played well. Even with 16 seniors leaving forced to forfeit all of their this year, Grafton will have (Grafton) rallied and got the scheduled games, as a result some key pieces returning ‘W’ on their homecoming.” of not having the numbers for Grafton lost their next game next year. Junior Jarred a varsity team. Kettenhoven, who took over Photo by VIP Photography at Cedarburg, but finished Story by Seth Herlinger
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Boys Soccer
Story by Taylor Arnold and Axel Olivas
Photos by VIP
The Black Hawks had a memorable season and there is no clichĂŠ intended there. The team, coach, and individuals all broke school records that have been set by some of the most collegiate level athletes. Coach Don Arnold achieved his 600th win when the Hawks beat Slinger 5-3. They racked up 5 more wins by the end of the season setting his record at 605-347-97. The team only had 3 losses and that put them at 2nd best in all of Grafton boys Soccer history. Adding to their already long list of achievements, they scored 103 goals in a single season beating the record of 99 goals set in 2012!
Individually, center midfielder Jake Demerath had a phenomenal season, setting and breaking many records. As a junior, he is 2nd alltime in career points at 123, 1st in season points with a total of 67, and 1st in career assists with 37- not to forget that he is only a junior! His hard work was recognized in the conference by making first team all-conference as well as being ranked the second best player in the conference. Another individual to get his name in the books was sophomore Logan Block. As a center midfielder, he set a new record of 19 assists in a single season. He also received an
honorable mention from the conference. Senior captain Ben Lorge’s contributions didn’t go unrecognized. As a 4-year veteran he was consistently an important element in the Black Hawks defense and was ranked the 10 best player in the the North Shore Conference. In addition he was also named to first team all conference. Unfortunately the boys came up short in the sectional final against the Delavan Darien Comets, making it the last high school game for the 8 seniors. It was an exciting run and a huge achievement to simply make it to the sectional finals.
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Photo By Katherine Bordetskaya
Photo By Katherine Bordetskaya Photo By Gabrielle Kraus
Photo By Katherine Bordetskaya
Photo By Katherine Bordetskaya
A night of broken records:
Story By Katherine Bordetskaya With a strong team performance, the girls all contributed a final score of 290, just 36 points above Edgewood Swim Team. Sophomore Autumn Haebig and senior Samantha Senczyszyn each won both their events. Haebig broke her own record in the 100 butterfly from the previous year beating her record time of 55.81 with a 55.63. She also was the state champ her second year for the 500 freestyle. Senczyszyn was close to beating her record time in the 100 freestyle of 50.28 but ended up with a 50.95 and sophomore Mallory Fox came in 3rd a little behind 18 Senczyszyn with the time of 52.39. Senczyszyn
also won her even in the 50 freestyle. Senior diver Gabrielle Kraus came in 3rd place for the 3rd year in a row with a high score of 416.3 and had the swim team start off with 16 team points. The 200 yard freestyle relay team of sophomores Mallory Fox, Emma O’Brien, and seniors, Rachel Hauer and Senczyszyn took first. Also taking first, was the 400 yard freestyle relay team of Haebig, Fox, junior Natalie Keshemberg and Senczyszyn. The 400 yard freestyle team broke the state record of 3.29.26 with a time of 3.28.12. With all the hard work and dedication, the Swim and Dive team destroyed Division 2 state meet once again.
Another Year of Success Coming from an undefeated season and state champ title, the Girls Swim and Dive team lost 8 seniors, but also gained 13 new swimmers. The numbers were small for the North Shore Conference, but the depth is divine. The speed of the girls combined made up for the limited people. The team placed second in conference, second in small school state, and their dual meets ended in winning 5 meets and losing 2 meets in the season, slipping from their undefeated previous season. Senior Samantha Senczyszyn said, “Although we didn’t win all of our dual meets, we kept a positive outlook on the state meet.” As the girls come to some of their last practices of their 2014 season, they trained for two of the most important meets of the year: sectionals
and state. Diving took place at Cedarburg High School on November 7th and swimming took place at Plymouth High School the next day. The girls earned their second Sectional Championship this year winning first again. The state team included swimmers, Freshman Gabrielle Sparapani as an alternate, sophomores Mallory Fox, Emma O’Brien, and Autumn Haebig, junior Natalie Keshemberg, and seniors Samantha Senczyszyn, Rachel Hauer, and diver Gabrielle Kraus. With limited number of people, junior Natalie Keshemberg said, “We might not have had depth compared to other teams but, our top 6 swimmers could out swim any swimmer on the other teams. Although the other teams have more people, we still had the top speed which helped us overcome anything.”
Photo By Visual Image Photography
Photo By Visual Image Photography
Photo By Visual Image Photography Photo By Katherine Bordetskaya
Photo By Visual Image Photography
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GHS Presents...
The Secret Garden
Long nights, tiring practices, hard work and many other components all come down to only four preformances, about 2 hours each. All of this hard work is put together on November 20-23, the drama department will put on the classic musical The Secret Garden. The musical is a rendition of the 1911 novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The story is based in the early 20th century and follows the adventures of Mary Lennox (senior Katie Fischer), a young orphaned girl who was sent to live in England with her Uncle (senior Nick Pavelic) at the age of 11. While Mary is trying to discover herself, she discovers a neglected garden and brings it to life with the help of another young gardener, Dickon (junior Spencer Knier), in order to bring a bit of magic back into her life. Junior Molly Lutz said “I like the musical, It’s just very different from any of the other productions I’ve done because It’s more dramatic and sad, but the music is beautiful and the highlight of the show.” Lutz has been involved with the drama department throughout high school and is playing Martha, the head maid for Mary, in the performance. This years show puts an emphisis on the unique music. Senior Brandon Schmidt who is playing Ben Weatherstaff, the gardener, said “The music is very melancholy and I was very happy to get one of the leads.” With the elaborate set designs and costumes, the vibe of the overall show is deep and inspirational and will be sure to keep your full attention. You won’t want to miss this years musical filled with plenty of emotion, selfdiscovery, and talent from our students. By:Emily Welsh 20
November 20-22 @ 7:00pm November 23 @ 2:00pm Tickets: $9.00
Break A Leg!
Sophomore Megan Klos and Senior Katie Fisher strike a pose in one of the opening scenes .
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Juniors Abby Stanisch, Maddi Hill, and Maddie Schultz take a quick break on the set.
Mr. Qutaishat giving junior Molly Lutz some tips on how to improve .
Sophomore Erin Hogan studying her fellow cast mates’ preformances .
Seniors Nick Pavelic and Riley Luettgen practice their dance scene .
Mr. Qutaishat directing the opening song.
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A Haunted Night One day every year bumble-bees, super heroes and storm troopers fill the streets hunting for candy. Halloween is the time of year for pumpkins, apple picking and eating all of the candy in sight as people of all ages dress up as their favorite characters and trick or treat all night. Dressing up as a character and pretending to be a certain object for a whole day seems exciting for most people. Unfortunately, as time goes on and kids grow into teens and adults, costumes and dressing up become more scarce. Though this year the senior class decided to give Halloween one last chance by sporting costumes. Seniors Tori Alexander and Lauren Brunnquell organized an all-class dress-up day through social media. Alexander said “I have had the idea of being Barnacle Boy and Mermaid Man from Spongebob since last Halloween, so we wanted another place to wear our costumes and just to have another fun thing for the seniors to do.” Besides trick-or-treating and dressing up, haunted houses were a way for people to celebrate Halloween. Student Council held their annual haunted trail that revolved
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Story and photos by Juliana Galarza
around the theme of Zombies. “We decided to do a zombie theme this year so we could continue our Homecoming theme. We used less props this year than in past years and we used more actors from StuCo,” said senior Brandon Schmidt. Senior student council Vice President Emily Priddy as well as many others all watch the Walking Dead which inspired them to create this years theme for the Haunted Trail. The trail followed a format pertaining to a zombie apocalypse, “first we told our guests that a zombie apocalypse was occurring and we needed to make it out of the woods without being eaten by zombies in order to survive the epidemic. It was so much fun having the tour guides get ‘eaten’ throughout the trail, and a couple of decoy guests that pretended to run off halfway through the trail. It really freaked out the guests,” said senior Kaleigh Wallock. While trying to figure out the decorations, “we wanted to take a more minimal yet effective approach with barely any decorations but a lot of people,” said senior, Emily Priddy. The haunt-
ed trail ran for two nights and was a hit around the community of Grafton. The focus of a zombie apocalypse allowed
Let’s Talk Turkey Story by Emily Priddy
Established in the early times of 1863 to celebrate putting time aside to be with loved ones and family, Thanksgiving is the brainchild of who else but good Ol’ honest Abe. Many think that the “First Thanksgiving” was back in 1621, with the whole extremely-inaccurate-and-stereotypical Pilgrims dealio, but it was actually officialized by our 16th president, who proclaimed that the last Thursday of November was to be a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens”. Thanksgiving means a lot to our country, but it means different things to different people. For some it’s about comfort: “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year!” claimed the darling of GHS, Mike Maney, “I’ve known “Thanksgiving exactly what to expect is my favorite from that day since I was a mere four years old. holiday of the It’s so reliable: eat, sleep, year!” football. Eat, sleep, foot- quote from Mike Maney ball… and when I wake up, more eating and football await me. They are always there for we on that glorious day. I love Thanksgiving.” For others it’s about family: “I remember my dad choking on an excessive amount of gravy,” said freshman Lizbeth Huertas, retelling a cherished moment of Thanksgivings past. “That was hilarrrrious. He’s safe now.” There is also the momentous topic of coming of age: “Only this past year, I’ve been promoted to the coveted adult table after accomplishing the three golden tasks: mashing the mashed potatoes, stuffin’ the stuffin’, and slaying the turkey,” said senior Marci Klugewicz.
And, of course, who can forget the food: “My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the fact that once you’re done there is so much food still left over that you can feast for another week, easy,” said Senior Jimmy Otworth, “UUUGGHH, and those mashed potatoes… mmm.” “I absolutely HATE stuffing,” confesses senior Keely Lipke, “but those gelatinous cranberries in a tube are so amazing.” Thanksgiving’s meaning is unique; it can be a day of relaxation and hallmark moments or a day of hectic bustling with extended family. It can be a day of lazy dozing and falling asleep at eight at night, or it can be a day of coupon cutting and waiting in line at the local Target at two in the morning. It can be a day of serving yourself a proper meal, or it can be a day where you go to a shelter and serve others the proper meal that they deserve. The Family Sharing in Grafton isn’t just a resale shop, but also a food pantry in which forty-four percent of the food program recipients are under the age of eighteen. Thirty percent of the rest are sixty-five and older. People of all ages, near and far, benefit from the food banks and the kindness of others. So with that in mind, help where you can. It doesn’t have to be much; donate to a food drive, have the whole family put time aside to go help serve food at a shelter, give old clothes to those who need it. Do something you can be proud of. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” Who knows? Maybe the good you do will be the thing that someone is thankful for this year.
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Black Hawks
of the
Month
The student and faculty member chosen to be the Black Hawks of the Month were chosen at complete random to provide equal opportunity. Each student’s name was put into a database that randomly chose one. The same was done for every Grafton High School faculty member.
Benjamin Lorge
Stats:
Benjamin Lorge is known to most of the high school for his incredible soccer talent. As a three year varsity soccer team member, he has been a crucial component of both the offense and defense. Being a senior captain this year, Ben was forced to step up and take on the role of stopper. “Stopper is a great position for me because I get to distribute the ball to anyone on the field,” said Lorge. His leadership in this position helped the Black Hawks to go 18-3 on the season and win a Regional title. Apart from playing for the Black Hawks, Lorge has played for various other soccer clubs that have built him
Age: 18 Guilty Pleasure: Game of Thrones Favorite Candy: Kit-Kat Dream Job: Chemist
into the soccer player he is today. His early days were spent playing for the Grafton Rangers and now he is a member of the Bavarian Soccer Club. With college coming up next year, Lorge has hopes of becoming a Wisconsin Badger like his older brother and sisters. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he plans on continuing his soccer career in any way he can. “Hopefully I’ll play really well and have the possibility of trying out for the Varsity team as a walk on. That would be awesome,” said Lorge. If this does not work out, Ben intends on continuing to play the game he loves at the club level.
I Support... Manchester United Celebrity Crush: Shakira Favorite Meal: Bacon
Mrs. Shannon Measner
When students hear the name Shannon Measner, most think AP Economics, but Measner is more than your average Econ teacher. She balances kids, work, the occasional marathon, and a social life all in the short time it would take some of us to even say that all. “It is very difficult and my sacrifice with my personal life is getting here early. Doing this offers more time with family after.” Measner’s favorite things to do when growing up included: water skiing, skiing downhill, and anything to outdoors. After the fast pace life of a college student, Mrs. Measner wanted to settle down and get married. She chose to move to the lower part of Wisconsin to make a family of her own, after she received her
position here at our fabulous GHS. She is raising her two children, Conner and Logan, alongside her husband while she continues to run marathons and teach. “I’ve been here for almost twenty years, and have been through the changes of our mascot. This has been a part of my life for half of my life.” Measner is a legend among her AP Econ. students for her cookie baking. Years ago she and a AP Econ. student paired up to make a delicious concoction; they named this cookie the Greebe. This savory mix of everything good in this world has made economics students drool and strive to do well on the AP to receive a batch and the sought after recipe.
Favorite Books: The Harry Potter Series Favorite Candy: Reeses Peanutbut-
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Celebrity Crush: Orlando Bloom
Guilty Pleasure: The Walking Dead
Stats: Starbucks Order: Chai Latte
1 Wish: Kids to be Happy and Healtyhy