The Spartan Banner Volume 54
August 2015
Issue 1
Excellence periods explained By Elizabeth Goblirsch, Executive Editor After months of planning, Brookfield East’s new “Excellence Periods” will debut in the 2015-2016 school year. An Excellence Period is a 34 minute “study hall,” where students are provided with the opportunity to receive assistance from teachers on difficult subject matter, explore their interests through research projects, or help their community. Classes on regular days are shortened by about 7 minutes, and passing periods have been shortened from 8 to 6 minutes long on all school days. Excellence Periods will run daily, except on Thursdays, when the school will adhere to the same schedule it had in past years. During this period, students may go to whichever teacher they wish, unless requested to report to a specific place. Students may also be required to report to their “hub,” or homeroom, to check in or collaborate with an assigned teacher, in which event they will be notified. When in their “hubs,” students will work with their teacher to set new goals, reflect on old ones, build plans to meet goals, discuss grades
and course offerings, school safety needs etc. Mr. Farley explains that, “we want students to have the opportunity to set goals for their high school experience. Such goals will help them to not only achieve and improve academically but also aid their development as an individual”. Attendance is required during this time as well. Students can sign in at the room they select through entering their student ID number into the teachers computer. Students may not be able to sign into a teacher’s room if it is at its capacity. If one wants to study or work on homework during this time, the library will be open and available for use. “[Excellence Periods] will provide students with the ability to catch up on work. This will be especially helpful for students who have missed school due to illness or other factors,” Farley explains. A major issue all students face is having to miss lots of class due to sickness. A period of time allowing for work to be completed
during the school day, as well as shortened classes, can be a major improvement on the issues the old block schedule system caused. Farley describes that, “[In the old system], students have had to go to school with sickness because they could not afford to miss class. This may be able to alleviate that issue.” Thus, this new system has the potential to improve both the student body’s academic and physical well being. These periods are not only intended for study. There are other options for students to pursue outside the confines of the classroom. Such options entail “Passion Projects”, in which students are allowed to pursue a project or idea that interests them. Students have come up with a wide range of project ideas, such as discussing ideas for creating and building products in a business atmosphere, or even creating outreach programs for Children’s Hospital patients. Farley points out that with this new system, “There’s a lot of ideas and experiences we can offer
Spartan Banner interviews Mr. Farley regarding excellence periods. Photo credit: Elmbrook Schools to our student body that we may not have been able to provide before”. In allowing students extra time to explore such options, Excellence Periods may help students find their passions before they set out to study in college, which can make it far easier to plan for career paths and reach career-based educational requirements while still in high school. The implementation of Excellence periods has the potential to help our student body reach beyond the basic confines of the classroom and achieve more than we ever thought possible in a high school atmosphere.
High-end home development near completion
By Michelle Liu, Arts and Culture Editor Just south of Brookfield 12,000 to 13,000 are single-family efit to the city or brought up conEast, on the corner of Burleigh houses. cerns about the project’s potential Developed by Wired Prop- environmental effects, especially Road and Lilly Road, a high-end residential apartment complex erties and Phelan Development, that on the Elmbrook Nature Cenknown as Lilly Preserve is currently Lilly Preserve was first proposed in ter. One teacher noted that adding nearing the end of its construction. the summer of 2013 with the inten- fertilizer to the grass would impact The luxury apartment homes will tion of targeting the baby boomers the wetlands of the Nature Center, likely be finished within the next of Brookfield who want to sell their which would affect the future stuhouses but stay in the community, dents of Elmbrook Schools, but month. A few years ago, a change families in transition, and young- Dan Ertl responded that all of the in Brookfield’s comprehensive er professionals who move to the storm water will be contained on plan, initially created in 2010, al- Milwaukee area to major employ- site to minimize runoff and that lowed for increased flexibility in ers such as Kohl’s Corp. and GE the wetlands to the left will be proconsidering sites for apartments, Healthcare. The proposition elic- tected. in order to address the growing de- ited mixed opinions before it was The developers had hoped mand for housing. This resulted in eventually approved by the Brook- for construction to begin late spring several new propositions of apart- field Common Council—while some of the following year and take apment developments, including Lilly members spoke in favor of the proj- proximately a year to complete, but Preserve and Sutter Creek Resi- ect, others doubted its overall ben- because of various complications, dences, which is also located in Brookfield. These projects show the recent trend of rising multifamily housing, where multiple separate housing units for residents are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex, in the Milwaukee area suburbs. According to Brookfield’s director of community development, Dan Ertl, the city of Brookfield has approxiLilly Preserve as seen from Brookfield East mately 15,000 to 16,000 housing Photo Credits: Simran Khunger units within its borders, of which
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construction did not begin until October of the same year. The delayed beginning of construction resulted from the fact that the apartment development did not receive initial city approval until the spring of last year due to negative responses from nearby residents, who believed the proposal was too large and too dense and wished for the developers to scale the apartments down. The original proposition entailed a 96 unit apartment complex featuring three three-story buildings with one- and two- bedroom units and underground parking. Following the nearby residents’ expressions of concern, however, the apartment plan was redesigned to have 77 units, along with smaller buildings and greater setback from the street. The site plan, floor plan, and elevations can be found on the city of Brookfield’s webpage:www. ci.brookfield.wi.us. Since the construction was projected to take about one year, the completion date should be approaching soon, but as of now, a specific date for the completion of Lilly Preserve is not yet known.
Spartan Banner — August 2015
SPORTS
Spartan Football begins
By Anthony Kajuch, Staff Writer The 2015 football season officially kicked off when Brookfield East took on Pius in their season opener earlier in August. After a slow start the Spartans dominated the second half of the game and went on to win 34-20. This year they look to continue the streak of making it to the playoffs and they may have the talent to do so.
On the offensive side of the ball, the running game will be key. They have a triple threat with Sam Santiago-Lloyd, returning first team all-conference running back Mitch Mikulsky, and All-conference honorable mention quarterback T.C. Swittel. Each player has the capability to rush for over 1000 yards this year. They should have no trouble chewing up the yards as they run behind the massive offensive line of Max MacGillis, Max Aslin, Drew Rakers, Western Michigan commit Michael Caliendo, and either Adam Streich or Everett Cartier. In the pass game, look for receivers Nick Kruel and Will Schmidt, along with tight end Ben Wellman to make an impact. Receiver Drew Bullen will also be used slightly in the pass game but his main use will be running the ball on the outside to take advantage of his speed. East will no doubt be powerful on the ground as well as in the air. They also may be looking to change up the pace of the game by airing it out.
Defensively, the Spartans have a very solid lineup with several returning starters in key positions. Second team all conference defensive end Dominic Cartier is returning and looking to make a difference in stopping the run game and disrupting the pass game with his long arms. Another returning starter, Collin Rhoten, is looking to have a solid year now that he has had one full season under his belt. The D-Line is rounded out by Sophomores Caleb Wright, Ronald Edwards, and Senior Michael Caliendo. At linebacker, Jake Roy is the lone returning starter from a year ago and at his side are Patrick Zwicki, Brad Dati, Frank Mistrioty, and Sam Santiago-Lloyd, who will play defense when not in on offense. They will have a rotation between the five players for the three spots for the majority of the season. The Defensive Backs look to have a strong unit with two returning starters, Mitch Mikulsky at safety and Will Schmidt at corner. Lance Dismukes, Alex Plavsic, Nick Kruel, Skylar Rashid, and Jay VanErt will all be playing at either safety or corner this season. Overall, the Spartans have a lot of talent at the top and have great potential. Not long ago, the Brookfield East boys soccer team was hoisting the golden ball at Uihlein
Interview with Mr. Owen
By Niyaz Nurbhasha, Sports Editor Q: What is your volleyball back- playing division 1 volleyball in colground? lege next year, so we definitely have some spots to fill. Only one week I believe this is my eighth into practice, but the team has alyear coaching the varsity at Brook- ready made some nice strides. It field East. In terms of volleyball should be a lot of fun to coach this playing experience, I played all 4 years team. years of high school along with basketball, and tennis. I played basket- Q: What are your goals for the team ball in college at this season? UW-La Crosse. The goals are always the same: to maxiQ: What is your mize our pofavorite thing tential and beabout high come the best school volleyteam that we ball? are capable of becoming. From a The athletes coaching standchange, but point, it’s helpfrom a coaching East Volleyball Practice ing athletes standpoint, the Photo Credit: Mary Slavinsky reach their full goal remains potential and the same. We seeing them grow and improve, won’t have the preseason rankenjoying the process of seeing not ings of a year ago, but this group what currently is with each team, will make tremendous strides and but more so what can be. hopefully be playing their best volleyball at the end of the year. It is a fun group to coach that’s incredibly Q: How has the team changed from coachable, hard working, enjoys playing the game, and enjoys belast year? ing with each other, which is a nice We graduated seven seniors combination to have. Teams with and three of those seniors will be those intangibles usually are able to
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Soccer season looks bright By Vince Zimmerman, Staff Writer
Soccer Park signifying their 2014 Division 2 state title. While some of the memories may have faded, the feeling experienced and the sense of accomplishment of that championship will serve as a great reminder for the 2015 team and their quest for a repeat performance. A second straight Division crown will be even more difficult as the team will surely have a target on their backs and see the best from every opponent on their schedule. Despite the loss of a number of talented players from the 2014 squad, including Gatorade state player of the year Peter Raymonds, the team looks to be contenders for another state tournament run. East soccer will be led by coach Herbie Dundun and captains Ian Karcher, Stephen Andrusko, and Michael Montross. The key to the team’s success this year will be the ability for the returning starters to play seamlessly with a mix of returning reserves and new players. The Spartans will be counting on returning varsity players , including seniors Trey Goodnetter, Jacob Dwinell, Gabe Haupt, AJ Lesar, and Zach Breider and sophomores Ben Heydt and goalie Joey Hoff. They will expect immediate contributions from seniors Justin Allen, Calvin Osinga and Quinn Hyndiuk, juniors Roland Conway, Lucas D’Amato and Sam McTaggart and sophomore Morris Seton.
The Greater Metro conference is again projected to be the most difficult and competitive in the state this year, with perennial state power Marquette High, along with strong squads from Menomonee Falls, Sussex Hamilton, and Wauwatosa East. In addition, the Spartan schedule includes contests with highly ranked Middleton, Hartland, Arrowhead, and Waukesha West. Two highlights on the 2015 schedule include the annual Al Gusho tournament September 3 to September 5, which includes teams like Whitefish Bay, Beloit Memorial, Kettle Moraine and Waukesha West, and a trip to Hudson, WI in mid-September to play the host school Stillwater from Minnesota. The season started on a good note with a 2-0 win on the road against Homestead on August 26. The Spartans showed many bright spots with a lot of offensive pressure and excellent goal play, but identified a few areas of improvement as the new players continue to get used to each other. It promises to be another memorable year for Spartan soccer. All Brookfield East students should attend these great games.
Spartan Tennis starts
By David Horneffer, Staff Writer While the school year is son with a round of 16 appearance just beginning, the Brookfield East at the individual state tournament. Varsity Girls Tennis team has been The senior team of Hannah Lein working hard since early August for and Bella Auger will most likely this fall season. The Spartans have be playing the #1 doubles spot this high hopes for this year following year after building an impressive their successful 2014 campaign, resume in 2014, one that included a run which included a sectional a 26-4 record and a win in the state championtournament. ship and a Other returnquarterfiers include Carnals appearly Wolff, who ance at the played #1 douTeam State bles last season, ChampionAlison Brankle, ships. With who previously six returning played #3 sinstarters and gles, and Sabripromising na Zhong, who new memlast year held bers, the Girl’s Tennis Match the #3 doubles girls hope to Photo Credit: Elizabeth Goblirsch spot. be able to go The even further Lady Spartans in 2015. have had some very positive results The team contains mem- in their first few matches. In a 16bers from all grade levels, includ- team tournament in Green Bay, the ing four seniors, five juniors, two girls capped off the weekend with a sophomores, and one freshman. second place finish. The next week Although the lineup is not officially they had a dominating 7-0 perset at this point in the season, junior formance against Waukesha West Emma Corwin will be leading the before falling 3-4 to a tough and Spartans at #1 singles. Corwin had highly ranked Homestead team. a great year at #1 singles as a soph- Despite this loss, the team looks omore, capping a 26-3 regular sea- strong and set for a good year.
Spartan Banner — August 2015
aRTS & CULTURE
Latin Club attends NJCL
Relay for Life By Mary Slavinsky, Editor-in-chief
Cancer has affected all of our lives in some way. In fact, it is so deadly that only heart disease surpasses cancer in causes of death in America. In this year alone, doctors expect about 564,800 deaths from cancer in America alone-- and nearly fourteen million across the globe. As a result of these predictions, The American Cancer Society has set up an organization, Coaches versus Cancer, to unite teams and coaches against this fatal disease. Their goals are to increase awareness and to fundraise for the American Cancer Society. As an organization, they have raised over eighty seven million dollars. Under Mr Bilelo’s leadership, Brookfield East high school has already gotten involved. Over the summer, Brookfield East held a Relay For Life. This popular event is a part of Coaches versus Cancer that celebrates survivors and fundraises for the organization. Perhaps
By Simran Khunger, News Editor the most well known component of this is when survivors run on a track to celebrate, cheered on by their community. This year, the Relay for Life was a huge success; East not only met but surpassed their monetary goal. Abby Guenther, a junior and a student leader in the event commented, “there were about 30 people from our school who participated and they all had a great time.” Besides East students, many other community members also participated. Other than running, there were fun events “such as carnival games, face painting, Zumba, a DJ who played music all night, and lots of food!” The event is annual, so East plans on holding the it again next year. There are many ways to get involved. You can go to http:// www.cancer.org to find out ways to volunteer or donate.
East rates summer movies By Simran Khunger, News Editor
Many popular movies were released this summer 2015, but the Spartan Banner was interested in seeing the popularity of the movies as per teachers and students. Our teacher population seemed to mostly be in favor of “Trainwreck” and “Inside Out.” Ms. Guth and Mrs. Vraney described “Trainwreck” as funny and a mustwatch. On the other hand, “Inside Out” was described as an excellent movie by Mr. Farley, Mr. Bigler, and Mrs. Cosmider; as Mr. Farley said, it was “very well written and very creative.” Additionally, in response to “Ant Man,” Mrs Cosmider confirmed that “Paul Rudd is dreamy.” Our student population
supported a wider variety of movies. “Straight Outta Compton” was perhaps the most popular, but a close second was “Inside Out:” Sara Manjee said “Inside Out was super cute and tugged at your heart a little, I may have teared up.” Ant Man was strongly supported by Nick Nadon and Paul Weiskopf, while, surprisingly, Paper Towns disappointed a few of our East students. This fall, the much anticipated movies ‘The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’, ‘The Martian’, and ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2’ will be released. Keep your eyes peeled for these exciting releases!
Straight Outta Compton was the favorite movie in the student population, while the teachers vote leaned toward Inside Out. Photo credit: www.imdb.com www.insideout-games.com
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This past summer, Brookfield East took ten delegates to the NJCL, National Latin Convention, at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. The event, 6 days long, brings together high school Latin enthusiasts across the country to compete in a multitude of events, including sports (Ludi), Latin quiz bowl (Certamen), arts, spirit, and other academic contests. Along with the rest of WJCL’s delegates, our students moved mountains at Convention. Throughout the week, Brookfield East performed exceedingly well in Ludi, thanks to dedicated Spartans such as Lauren, Peter, and James Arndt, Avery Ulschmid, and Abby Guenther. On Thursday, the East students Lauren Arndt, James Arndt, and Wisconsin State Advanced Avery Ulschmid with WJCL delegates Photo credit: Lauren Arndt Certamen team powered through enough rounds to quette), Jason Tan, Ram Gollapudy make semifinals. The team con- (Brookfield Academy), and Eli sisted of Michael Kearney (Mar- Judge (Madison West), with East’s own Teddy Stavroupoulos as alternate. Past the academic part of Convention, our students shone brightly in the spirit competition as well. On each day, the Wisconsin delegation dressed up according to a theme and paraded towards the main auditorium. These themes included Wild Western Civilization, Lone-Star East delegates Abby Guenther, Lauren Arndt, and Avery struck by Latin, Ulshcmid with WJCL delegates in spirit costumes Photo credit: Lauren Arndt Throwb a c k Thursday, and the Tiber River Walk. Lastly, Michael Kearney from Marquette University High School was almost unanimously voted as vice president for the 2016 NJCL by all delegations! Good job to Brookfield East and WJCL! Next year, the NJCL will be held in Indiana. The WJCL is held in Madison anually in late winter. Finally, Paul Weiskopf strongly encourages students to attend Latin club. He says “Stick with Latin, and stick with Latin club...You don’t have to be a total Latin nerd to enjoy the language and the JCL community. We include everyone and anyone!” Latin Club meets on TuesPaul Weiskopf poses to show off days after school in Mr. Lubben’s his NJCL hand art room, #112. Photo credit: NJCL
Spartan Banner — August 2015
Editorial Spartan Banner Staff Mary Slavinsky Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Goblirsch Executive Editor Simran Khunger News Editor Niyaz Nurbhasha Sports Editor Michelle Liu Arts and Culture Editor Mark Maier Editorial Editor Mrs. Skatrud Staff Adviser David Horneffer Anthony Kajuch Vince Zimmerman Staff Writers
The Spartan Banner is the official news publication of Brookfield East High School, 3305 Lilly Road. The Spartan Banner is distributed during the last week of each month, September through May. The Banner’s average viewing count is 1,400 readers, including students, parents, staff members, and community members.
The Spartan Banner accepts “Letters to the Editor” from any party, if received by the 15 of each month. A writer may remain anonymous in print, provided he or she submits his or her name to the Editorial Editor, Editors-in-Chief, and Advisor. Letters may be subject to editing. Submit letters to the newspaper’s adviser.
“Excellence” Periods at a glance By Mary Slavinsky, Editor-in-Chief
Brookfield East is institut- time--an extra twenty minutes per ing a new Excellence Period be- day--almost the entire resource petween students’ first two blocks. It riod. Secondly, the main purpose is a ‘study hall’ period for work of resource periods was to have a time. Logistically, there are seven time when students could get extra minutes being reduced from each help inside the school day. Because of our periods (reduced from nine- this period does not have a specity-two minutes to eightyf i v e ) . At first glance, this difference s e e m s miniscule. But over a course of a week, there are twentyfive lost minutes; a month, an hour and forty minutes. The time adds up. This difference is especially New Schedule for the Excellence period Photo credit: Elizabeth Goblirsch important in classes with a deadline, such as AP and fied required place for students, the other college classes. These classes vast majority of students who need are already compacted because of help will not get it. The time will be the block schedule. The time differ- used as a study hall. If you have two ence will only worsen the already hours of homework and have the choice between a head-start study crunched timeline. One of two things will hap- hall or an extra review session, the pen due to the lost time. One, valu- vast majority of students will pick able information and learning will a study hall, if that. Many students have to be sacrificed because of the may use the time for talking or solost time. Or two, the time lost in cial media or video games. Time class will be piled on in homework wasters. The resource periods will
Meet the Editorial Staff Elizabeth Goblirsch: My name is Elizabeth. I’m going to be a junior this year. I’m Managing Editor/Assistant Editor in Chief of the Banner this year. I’m in forensics and debate, secretary of Best Buddies, and president of Chinese club. Simran Khunger: Hi, I’m Simran, and I’m a sophomore who will be serving as the Spartan Banner News Editor this year. As well as Spartan Banner, I will be a member of Latin Club, Math Club, and FIRST Robotics. In my free time, I enjoy math competitions, Ultimate Frisbee, programming, Certamen, and running.
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actually be counterproductive. Many believe that students will be able to attend club meetings during this time. But is the lost time really worth it? Will more clubs really be able to fit into students’ schedule? The answer is no. If students want to be in clubs, they will participate before or after school. I f the system has to stay in place, improvements can be made. T h e r e could be an opt i o n a l resource period during l u n c h so that teachers and students who have the same lunches could meet for review and homework help. Now students have to stay inside the cafeteria during lunch. But East could institute a policy that students going for help would be allowed to leave the cafeteria. Although the thought of giving students time in school for appointments and homework help is good, the logistics of the idea will prevent students from truly benefiting from the program.
Mark Maier: My name is Mark, and I will be the Banner’s Editorial Editor for the third year in a row. I am a
senior, as well as a member of the debate and forensics teams. Last year I said in my bio that my hero is Vermin Supreme--but now I have a new hero. AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA. Michelle Liu:
Niyaz Nurbhasha: I’m Niyaz, and I’m this year’s Sports Editor. I am involved in debate. I like having fun. Interstellar is my favorite movie. I love Banner so much, and I am so excited to be a part of it this year.
I’m Michelle. I am a junior and will be the Arts and Culture editor this year. I have participated in forensics, French Club and Chinese club activities in the past, and I enjoy playing badminton and photography. Mary Slavinsky: My name is Mary, and I will be the Editor-in-Chief of the Spartan Banner this year. In my final year at Brookfield East, I will also participate in NHS, Lean in, and Math club. My favorite subject is German, and in my free time I like to read.
Spartan Banner — August 2015