The Bruin - November 2022

THANKSGIVING

NOT BE SKIPPED IN THE MEDIA

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As we enter the holiday season stores fill with holiday decorations, foods, and clothes. Businesses and media are so anxious to get their new inventory out that they forget holidays like Thanksgiving. Placed right between Halloween and Christmas, businesses do not cater to the Thanksgiving decorations and holiday festivities as much. The media is strongly focused on getting the decorations in and out of stores, starting at high prices and dropping the prices as soon as the holiday is over. Thanksgiving needs to be recognized just as much as the other holidays. Thanksgiving is a time of gathering and giving reasons as to why you are thankful and this is just as important as the other commercial holidays that get fully considered everywhere else. The way that this can be accomplished is by waiting to push products that are Christmas themed until Thanksgiving is over. There are so many complaints every year about how quickly the Christmas decorations come out at stores. We think that Christmas shopping should start on Black Friday– that way, stores will get even more business on that night, and Thanksgiving can have its own time.

Sincerely, The Bruin

Broad

OH

Chesbro & Carley Sorrent

by

students at Wadsworth High School. The Newspaper

class produces the

The

for

STAFF

Mallory Gershutz

Noelle Allen Olivia Benner Jade Wilcox Sydney Blake Bri Perkins

Katie Griffin

Katie Allen

SPORTS EDITOR Carson Bernard OPINION EDITOR Luke Houser FEATURES EDITOR

Basinger IN-DEPTH EDITOR Haley Reedy

EDITOR Brenden Barlett

On The Cover: Cake provided by Ann’s Pastries Cover photo by Lily Chesbro Featured on the cover are Bruin Staf Writers Joseph Davis (left), Grace Barrett (center), and Carson Bernard (right).

COMIC BY CARLEY SORRENT

THE BEARS’ BIRTHDAY BASH

WHS YEARBOOK STAFF TRAVELS TO ELYRIA HIGH SCHOOL

BY ALEX BANKS

On September 28, the Wadsworth High School yearbook staff went to Elyria High School for their first field trip since Autumn of 2019.

Every member of the staff had the opportunity to go on the trip if they had their field trip form signed and turned in. There are 13 members that are part of the staff this year and all of them were able to go on the trip.

They left school at the end of second period and returned to school in the middle of eighth period.

They order their yearbooks through Jostens and they have a program called Yearbook Avenue and Layout Pro, which is a workshop to show them things

that they might not normally be aware of in their yearbooks. While they were there, they got to do a variety of things to help them learn how to enhance Wadsworth’s future yearbooks, such as marketing and planning. They were also able to exchange ideas with other yearbooks and learn from each other.

“[The part that was most beneficial was] the ideas that we were able to get from other people and from the other yearbooks, when they were showing examples of really great pages, a lot of people had new ideas and we’re going to try and incorporate new page ideas so that we can get more inclusive coverage and include more people in the book than we have,” said Mrs. Laura Harig, advisor of the yearbook. “That’s our goal this year, to get more people in the book.”

To begin their time there, they listened to a presenter who taught them about different yearbook layouts. The staff

beneficial in drawing attention to a page instead of just having a lot of pictures.

“It is important to not have every page look alike, but still have a connecting theme throughout them, in order to help draw attention,” said Sienna Lucci, sophomore and member of the yearbook staff.

Then, they learned how to diversify their yearbooks. During this, they learned about how they should incorporate a more diverse group of people and how they should strive to represent everyone at Wadsworth High School.

“We want to make sure that every single person in the school is represented, and not just the typical people who you would see in the yearbook each year,” Lucci said.

Finally, they got to do a project where they learned how to pose people for photos in a way that would make them comfortable. To practice doing this, they got to take pictures of each other and while trying different poses.

“I think that my favorite part had to be when we tried out different poses on each because it was really funny to do with each other but overall still a really fun learning experience,” Lucci said.

Typically, the yearbook staff takes this trip every year but this was disrupted due to COVID-19. They normally go on the Jostens trip during the Fall and

then throughout the year a Jostens representative will come to them to answer their questions and help them out.

They are hoping to return next year and go back to their routine of going every Autumn for Jostens.

Ashley Weingart and Olivia Beldean pose outside of Elyria High School. Weingart is the Chief of the yearbook staff and Beldean is the Assistant Editor in Chief. Photo courtesy of Sienna Lucci.

The yearbook staff gathers outside the gates of Elyria High School. Photo courtesy of Sienna Lucci.

various events that the team makes available for students, those who are involved are able to freely express their creativity and engage in the often overlooked opportunities that the extracurricular offers.

Although many WHS activities require hard work and dedication, Speech and Debate operates as a full-scale commitment for participating students. Not only are students expected to fulfill high standards, but they are also encouraged to express their appreciation for the team.

Speech and Debate tournaments span three sports seasons, beginning in late October and ending in late March. However, those who excel throughout the school year are provided with the opportunity to attend Nationals, which occur in June. During the season, students compete every Saturday across Northeast Ohio at various schools, many of which are separated by speech events and debate events.

Tournaments usually begin early in the morning and last throughout the late afternoon. When at the tournament schools, students are designated specific numbers and receive messages on their phones that direct them to classrooms where they patiently wait for other competitors and judges to arrive. After the tournament has concluded, all participants join together in a large area, often an auditorium or gym, and rewards are given to the six highest-placing competitors in each event.

Students are required to dress formally, typically in suits and dresses that appropriately represent Wadsworth. Certain categories of the activity involve partner combinations where students wear attire that compliments and coincides with their partner’s outfit.

Speech and Debate covers a wide variety of presentation styles and events that focus on specific skill sets of students. Typically, competition events will fall under three distinct umbrellas: interpretation, debate, and public address.

GIVES STUDENTS A VOICEGIVES STUDENTS A VOICE

Photo courtesy of Drew Bowerman

Interpretation greatly contrasts with the factual structure of debate. In this category, students are encouraged to reveal their acting capabilities by performing various scripts that often deal with both funny and serious issues. This umbrella includes mostly 10 minute speech events that both require memorization and uniquely outline the theatrical portrayal of students.

Kianna McEwen, a senior at WHS and the Secretary of the Speech and Debate team, participates in duo interpretation with her partner, Zach Randles.

“The biggest part about interp is that it is about just pure acting; you cannot have props, you cannot have costumes, and, if you’re in duo, which is the only partner event for interp, then you cannot look at each other or touch each other,” McEwen said.

These requirements for interpretation make it a very competitive and entertaining category, according to McEwen. Certain events even require students to quickly change between characters, which is what

program oral interpretation focuses on.

“In POI, usually you have a book, that’s the one time where you get to use a prop, but you can’t read the things in it,” McEwen said. “You’re supposed to flip the pages every time you change character, and a lot of times you will work with poetry and prose.”

In addition to this event, humorous interpretation combines acting and comical features that allow for a hysterical piece to be presented.

“They try to be funny; a lot of the time they will try to do stand up or take a serious movie and try to make it more comical,” McEwen said. “They do different positions and they use different voices to show different characters.”

Similar to duo interpretation, dramatic interpretation often focuses on a single person presenting a piece in an emotional, theatrical light.

“You can do a script from anything you want, but you tell the story by yourself,” McEwen said.

All of these speeches take place in classroom settings in front of judges, where

supported and argued on behalf of the participants.

competitors are expected to sit and observe the speeches before they are announced to present.

“Some people do really funny things, some people do very dramatic things,” McEwen said. “They can sometimes do really heavy topics like losing a child or talking about school shootings, even sexual assault cases and mental disorders.”

Entertainment is a large factor of interpretation, according to McEwen.

In debate, students are tasked with developing arguments that properly weigh their claims on a particular issue. This category is largely evidence-based and involves four different event types of formats, three of which Wadsworth offers. Public Forum is a style of debate that requires two students to work together under a partnership. Ben Wilkinson, a senior at WHS and the Vice President of the Speech and Debate team, competes in this event with Colin Moore.

“There is generally a topic that comes out every month that you work on,” Wilkinson said.

Each topic, which covers a different political issue and ensures two specific sides, must be properly

INTERPRETATION DEBATE PUBLIC ADDRESS

Lastly, public address has the remaining options within Speech and Debate. The area of this activity that this form of speaking heavily weighs on is the art and skill of addressing an audience. Rather than acting or debating, public address utilizes more informative styles of presentation that are judged based upon the way competitors speak and display their topics.

Anna Wallace, a junior at WHS and the President of the Speech and Debate team, competes under informative speaking. Public address, however, also includes the events of declamation and original oratory.

“We write essays on each side of the topic and when you go into your debate round, you typically debate two-on-two,” Wilkinson said.

Round structures always require one first speaker and one second speaker for each partnership, and each competitor plays a different role in the duo. For public forum, the first speaker presents the essay and arguments, while the second speaker prepares rebuttals and refutations. However, both students engage in cross-fire debates with the opposition at varying points throughout the round.

Beyond this event, Wadsworth also offers Lincoln-Douglas debate, which is a philosophical and moral debate involving one person. Policy debate,

“The most basic one starts out with declamation, which is basically just reciting a speech given by someone else,” Wallace said. “So that includes commencement speeches, Ted Talks, celebrity interviews, whatever it may be where you didn’t write it, but you’re being judged on your performance of it.”

In addition to declamation, original oratory puts the content in the hands of the competitors by tasking them with developing their own ideas.

“Original oratory is basically the same thing as declamation, except the only difference is that you write your own speech,” Wallace said.

The final style of public address is the event known as informative speaking, which combines the written aspect of original oratory with other factors, such as props.

“It is a purely educational, informational speech,” Wallace said. “You do have an opinion on what you’re talking about, but you’re not trying to convince people why you’re right. It uses visual aids to help push the topic that you’re talking about.”

These events promote a more presentational tone in comparison to the

which Wadsworth does not provide, involves two students; however, it is structured and spoken much faster than public forum.

Congressional debate is unlike these debate events because it forces a solo competitor to debate in a chamber of “representatives” with regards to a docket.

“How Congress works, basically, is every competitor gets a docket every week that is voted upon, and then the docket is set with potential bills that students themselves write,” Wilkinson said. “They then go into a chamber, having written a three minute speech on each side of the topic, they simulate a congressional chamber debating pieces of legislation and voting upon them.”

Speeches within the debate category range from three minutes to eight minutes, some prewritten and others developed during rounds. Regardless, students are challenged with efficiently and quickly creating responses that both attack their opponent’s cases and support their own cases.

other umbrellas, which creates a different atmosphere for the audience that observes the rounds.

Two other events, United States extemporaneous speaking and international extemporaneous speaking, somewhat fall under this umbrella as well. Competitors do not collect prior research, but rather, develop a seven minute speech in 30 minutes after being presented with a new topic at the beginning of each round. Students are given three politically focused options to analyze, and they present their speeches one-on-one with a judge.

“WE WRITE ESSAYS ON EACH SIDE OF THE TOPIC AND WHEN YOU GO INTO YOUR DEBATE ROUND, YOU TYPICALLY DEBATE TWO-ON-TWO.”

- BEN WILKINSON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE SPEECH & DEBATE TEAM

Sam Zulia (coach), Cale Breuers (12), Evie Silliman (12), Isaac Machar (coach), Anna Wallace (11), and Leia Gonzales-Banaag (12) posed for a photo after receiving awards that advanced them to the national tournament this past school year.

Photo courtesy of Anna Wallace

Before the beginning of the 2022 season, the Speech and Debate team hosted a Halloween Party where all members came dressed in costumes and toasted to the upcoming tournament.

Photo courtesy of Anna Wallace

At the National Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, members visited many different local restaurants.

The National qualifying members prepared to leave for their five hour trip to the competition. Along the way, they stopped at the Cincinnati Zoo to observe some of their favorite animals.

Photo courtesy of Grace Barrett

GAS APP

A new app, Gas, is beginning to become popular amongst WHS students. The idea behind this app is that students from surrounding districts, including but not limited to, Norton, Copley, and Barberton School Districts, can vote for other students from these districts for “flames”. A flame is the category that a student wins. A randomized survey is sent out every hour asking questions to students and asking students to pick one of four options for that survey topic.

This is an example of what each survey may look like, all four options are students at WHS. Once a student votes, the person they voted for will be notified that they got a new flame.

NEW UK PRIME MINISTER

Liz Truss, former UK Prime Minister resigned after only 6 weeks in office. Truss has had the shortest term in the history of the UK’s Prime Ministers. Rishi Sunak is now the new Prime Minister, being the first Prime Minister of color in the history of the UK. Sunak is 42 years old and is a member of the conservative party. Sunak was born in Southhampton, United Kingdom.

SECURLY FILTER STOPS ‘WIFI-BLOCKS’

BY HALEY REEDY

Some student concerns have arisen at Wadsworth High School about the new “wifi-blocks”. These so called “wifi-blocks” make accessing Google and Safari on a cellular device next to impossible while being connected to the school’s wifi network. Although student opinion is that the wifi is blocked, in fact, it is not. All that students need to do is download the Securly filter and both search engines will work.

Accessing the school wifi has been an issue for some students dating back to the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. On Sunday, September 18 2022,

WHS principal, Dr. Vincent Suber, sent out instructions on how to access the wifi in his “WHS Weekly Update” email.

“Is the wifi ‘blocked’ or ‘broken’ or any of those things, no of course not,” said Phil Luthman, Director of Technology for the Wadsworth School District.

A document written by Luthman was sent out to all the students by both Luthman and Suber.

This explained all of the steps on how to access the schools wifi.

“There are two steps: first, connecting to [the] student [wifi] and second, installing the Securly certificate,” Luthman said.

Securly is the web filter used by Wadsworth City Schools in order to safely manage student searches while connected to the schools internet service.

“The Securly certificate lets our web filter see everything that you do when you’re here at school.” Luthman said. “Everything that you search in Google, the websites that you go to, it’s all filtered by user so it filters you by the policies that your account is under.”

Some students say that they do not want to connect to the schools wifi or accept the Seculry certificate because they do not want the filter to track them outside of school.

“Our school has three public IP addresses…our Securly certificate is only tied to those three, so when your web traffic

If students have any questions, Suber continues to put out the document written by Luthman along with Luthmans instructional video on how to connect to the wifi. This QR Code can be scanned to be taken directly to the ‘how-to’ video by Phil Luthman, the Director of Technology at Wadsworth, to be shown how to access the school wifi.

emerges from those 3 [IP] addresses, it is filtered,” Luthman said.

Luthman wishes to make it very clear that, when students are outside of the school building and not connected to any of the 3 IP addresses, that the school does not track what you do.

“I’ve tested this myself. I’ve left work while having the Securly certificate on my phone and done web searches with my work account and none of them show up in my web history,” Luthman said.

In order to connect to the school’s wifi, first students need to go to the settings app on their phone. Next, scroll and open ‘General’, once in ‘General’ students need to scroll until they find the ‘VPN & Device Management’ button. Click that button and follow the steps as followed.

WMS D.C. TRIP IS PERMANENTLY CANCELED

BY NOELLE ALLEN

The Wadsworth Middle School Administration has decided to permanently cancel the 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. The trip provided an opportunity for students to experience the nation’s capital firsthand and apply their knowledge of history and government. However, the negative aspects of the trip have brought about the decision to put an end to this tradition.

The D.C. trip was attended annually from 2014 until 2019. The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 forced the cancellation of the trip

that spring, and presented a number of difficulties for the following few years.

Due to increased complications, the administration decided to discuss adjustments for the future.

“The administrators thought very long and hard about this decision, and considered all of the various items that go into this trip,” said Amanda Gorden, President of the Wadsworth Board of Education.

KANYE WEST CANCELED FOR “ANTI-SEMETIC” TWEETS

On the week of October 10 Kanye West tweeted several ‘anti-semitic’ tweets and is receiving lots of backlash from across the United States. Twitter blocked the post and locked West’s account. This controversy is bringing up the larger issues about online censorship and how much a social media platform should be allowed to censor posts.

The decision for permanent cancellation was finalized over the summer. It was then publicly communicated at the beginning of August by Dr. Andrew Hill, Superintendent of Wadsworth City Schools.

There were a number of contributing factors involved in this discussion. For years, each student has been responsible for paying for the trip in full, as there were no extra funds or fundraisers to provide financial assistance to those who were not able to afford the full payment. Therefore, if a student or family did not have the means to pay, that student would unfortunately not be able to attend.

This 3-day overnight trip also required many staff members, parents, and administrators to take multiple days off of work and/or away from families. This was not always easy to do, especially for employees with a limited number of paid absences or family members who missed out on time at home.

Although COVID-19 was a main reason for the last few cancellations, Dr. Hill does not believe that the COVID-19 outbreak

should be blamed for this decision. The overall negative aspects of the trip had a much bigger impact on the cancellation. Dr. Hill believes this conclusion would have been made regardless of pandemic complications.

The community has handled this announcement in a positive and understanding way; however,some negative responses from students can be expected.

“There is disappointment with some of the kids and families because it was a trip that some were looking forward to doing,” said Gordon.

However, many are aware that it was a decision that needed to be made for the overall safety and well being of the students.

WMS students and staff are grateful for this opportunity to visit D.C. over the years.

“The middle school staff willingly gave their time for a number of years to be able to provide this opportunity to students,” Dr. Hill said, “I think a ‘thank you’ to them is well deserved.”

Screenshot by Haley Reedy

Rishi Sunak is the new prime minister of the UK, sucessing Liz Truss after her resignation after only 6 weeks in office.

Photo Courtesy of Fair Use

Screenshot of what the settings look like when accessing the Securly Certificate in order to connect to the schools wifi. Students are able to turn this filter on or off. Screenshot by Haley Reedy

The Lincoln Memorial is one of the main attractions for D.C. visitors. It was built in 1922 to honor the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, and is visited by nearly 7 million people every year.

Photo courtesy of Fair Use.

This flag symbolizes the city of Washington in the District of Columbia. Charles Dunn, the flag’s designer, based this design on the personal coat of arms of George Washington.

Photo Courtesy of Fair Use.

REBUILDING AFTER HURRICANE IAN HIT FLORIDA

BY LEZLIE TINNEY AND ALEX BANKS

Hurricane Ian hit Florida on September 28 as a category four hurricane. Hurricane Ian’s path traveled through Florida and further down south.

When Hurricane Ian hit, Alyssa Baxley had to evacuate. Now, a month later, her and others are attempting to recover from the disaster. Residents have been told that being back in their homes might take at least six months, but it is looking closer to a year.

Once the water receded, people were able to go back and see the state of their homes; however, some did not have much to go back to.

When Baxley was able to return, she had

to essentially, “throw her life away.”

“Cleaning it out was a very hollowing experience,” Baxley said. “Looking at all of your stuff in trash bags really, really, sucks. And throwing away so many things that I’ve had since I was a kid, that was really, really, difficult. I think the most difficult thing the entire time is people taking advantage of the situation by coming through to places that have to throw everything out and then taking things, and then selling them for profits.”

She and other residents have also been struggling with the increased risk of identity theft. In addition, they have been arguing with insurance companies about how and if damages will be recovered.

“A lot of people are trying to find personal documents to steal your identity in this situation, which is even worse,” Baxley said. “You would think it doesn’t get worse, but unfortunately, there are just not a lot of good people in this world, and they just love taking advantage of the situation.”

People are now faced with the question of when they will be able to move back into their homes, if they will even be able to do that, or if they are going to have to find a new place to live.

Dylan Joseph’s home was destroyed by the hurricane. He is a former WHS student who is now living in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Joseph had evacuated with his mom and was unable to come back to his

house for a few days. Once he returned they were able to see the full extent of the damages. Then, they got to work with cleaning up. Joseph’s whole house is going to need to be redone because of the damages.

“Right now we aren’t able to get out of our house and into a rental home because almost every home in my area is damaged,” Joseph said. “We just have to live with plywood covering where our roof was ripped off and the damaged doors and windows.”

The school that Joseph now attends has had to extend school two weeks into their summer break, and take a week off from their winter break. Currently they are working on rescheduling their missed events, and getting back into a normal routine. At their school they have emotional support resources available for students and staff.

“Everyone basically has nothing anymore, but we have each other and we are finding strength in that.” Joseph said.

The state of Ohio sent aid to help those in emergency services who had been working essentially non stop since the hurricane hit. Ohio’s team worked 12 hour shifts for 11 days straight to provide Florida with as much assistance as they could while they were there.

“The aim of sending the team down there was to let those dispatchers in Florida be able to catch their breath, check on their own family, friends, and homes, and to get

some rest,” said Mory Fuhrmann, co-chair of Ohio Telecommunications Emergency Response Taskforce.

When they arrived, they saw catastrophic damage to the outer island. Damage was severe further inland as well, but power had been restored to “the buildings who could handle it”.

“Many bridges to the mainland were severely damaged or destroyed,” Fuhrmann said. “They were essentially cut off.”

The storm surge was around six feet of water and many areas were under water for a day or two.

People are now faced with the question of when they will be able to move back into their homes, if they will even be able to do that, or if they are going to have to find a new place to live.

WHS VETERANS DAY ASSEMBLY COMES BACK

BY ANGEL JONES

November 11, 2022 will be Wadsworth High School’s first in-person Veterans Day Assembly since the pandemic. At the assembly, WHS will be recognizing all Veterans. Mr. Knapp is a WHS history teacher and his Advanced Placement (AP) students will be doing most of the assembly. Mr. Berlin, the assistant principal of Wadsworth High School, did the planning for the assembly for the past years.

“Mr. Knapp’s AP students do most of the hard work, I just make sure that everything goes smoothly,” Berlin said. “I also contact everyone, so they know when and where to come.”

This year, Mrs. Hampshire, the assistant principal, who looks over all the sophomores and juniors will be running the veterans assembly for the 2022-2023 school year.

“I am very excited to be able to help with this program this year,” Hampshire said.

On the morning of Veterans Day, at 8:00, WHS welcomes veterans to a breakfast made by the WHS kitchen staff, served by the Student Council until 8:45 in the morning. Then, at 9:50 AM the veterans will be lining up at the gym doors to be welcomed in by our WHS students.

With the assembly previously being virtual, Berlin believes that in-person is a better opportunity to showcase Wadsworth’s appreciation. He thinks that the “feeling of them walking in and having 1600 people clap for them” can not be replaced.

During the assembly, there will be AP U.S. History students reading speeches that they wrote on different topics about Veterans Day. Knapp has been involved with the Veterans Day Assembly for over twenty years.

There are usually three or four student speakers that Knapp will participate in the assembly.

“I have all of my students do a Veterans Day Project, and then I usually pick some that I think would be good for the assembly,” Knapp said.

This year, Connor Gaugler, Carson Bernard, Avery Nicholson, Eliana Wilson, Elle Baughman, and Emma Bush are involved in the assembly.

“It is almost solely studentled, so [Mr. Knapp and I] just facilitate it, we contact the people who need to be contacted, make sure the gym is set up properly, make sure the microphones work, and simple stuff like that,” Berlin said.

There will be a Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing In Action (MIA) ceremony this year during the assembly. One student will be laying different items on a table to display for everyone to see and another will be reading something they wrote explaining each item for the POWMIA. In addition, the WHS choir and band will be performing different songs and dances at the assembly.

“Veterans need to know that people care about them and appreciate what they do for us, because none of us can imagine what it is like to be fearful of your life every second of every day because you’re in battle,” Berlin said.

This issue is particularly important to Berlin because his son-in-law is in the military and has been deployed multiple times.

“Just make sure to say thank you,” Berlin said.

Veterans Day is important to many people in Wadsworth and everyone involved is hoping to show their appreciation for America’s veterans.

Mrs. Hampshire looks at her 2022-2023 Veterans Day assembly plans. WHS will be having Mrs. Hampshire take over for the assembly. Photo by Angel Jones.

Hurricane Ian left the streets flooded, and destroyed people’s vehicles. Because of this, some were unable to leave their homes once the flooding began.

Photo courtesy of Alyssa Baxley

Shown above is Joseph’s destroyed living room. He and his family had to rip all their flooring out and cover the exposed ceiling with plywood.

Photo courtesy of Dylan Joseph

“How hard is it to thank a veteran? How hard is it to stand and clap when they walk in the gym to show them that they are appreciated?”

-Rich Berlin, assistant principal at WHS

CELEBRATING THE 5 th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUR CITIES COMPACT

BARBERTON NORTON

BY HALEY REEDY

One of the many compacts that Barberton High School hosts is the Fire Safety/EMT compact. The teachers, Tim McCurry and Brandon Reedy, both have had long careers within the fire and EMT services.

FIRE/EMT ATHLETIC HEALTH SCIENCE AND WELLNESS

BY KATIE ALLEN

This compact is a twoyear program, that gives both juniors and seniors opportunities to pursue the Fire Safety/EMT career fields as well as many other fields. Students learn the basic skills of technology and communication, anatomy and physiology of the human body and medical terminology.

“I picked this compact because of the certifications you can come out of it with,” said senior at Wadsworth High School, Grace Swain. “If everything goes as planned I will be a firefighter 2 and EMT by the end of the year.”

The Fire Safety/EMT program gives their students lots of hands on experiences and learning skills, such as burn buildings.

Burn-buildings are exactly what they sound like, a building is lit on fire in a safe and controlled environment that allows firefighters and the compact students to be able to train and learn the proper way to put out a fire.

Hands on learning is a tool that a lot of the compacts do in order to give their students the best in-field advice and practice.

“My favorite part of the compact are the hands on days, it introduced us to more of

what we’ll be doing in the future,” Swain said. “Plus it’s fun.”

In fire-fighting, there is a lot of training and physicalness that goes into it. Students in the Fire Safety/EMT compact have to do a lot of community service in order to get their certification at the end of the year.

“We have to get 250 [hours], that’s a lot of hours to get in just one year,” Swain said.

There are also a lot of service projects that go into this compact. For example, last year students made food for people in their family.

“Food is such a big part of the community of the fire service. We made a meal and then presented about it in school,” Swain said.

Most fire stations work in shifts of three. There is typically an A shift, a B shift, and a C shift. All of these shifts are 24 hours and firefighters will live at their designated station for their shift. So food comes into affect, because when firefighters are at the station that is truly their second family, based on the amount of time that they spend with each other.

Taking place at Norton, the Athletic Health Science and Wellness program teaches students a broad base of skills that can be applied to sports medicine, any health care career and everyday life. This year, this program is entering both its 21st year of being a class within the Four Cities Compact, and its 19th year being taught by Susan Ward.

“Athletic Health Science and Wellness is a broad based program in which you can go into all kinds of athletic health and exercise science, athletic training, exercise physiology, physical therapy, and speech therapy careers,” Ward said. “I’ve also had students go into nursing, lobotomy, technician programs, and teaching.”

On a regular week, students will do classwork like notes and book work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The subjects studied during these days include, anatomy, physiology, rehabilitation techniques and procedures, and social aspects of the healthcare workforce.

On classwork days the class is split into three different courses. For juniors, these courses include Anatomy and Physiology, Exercise Science and Athletic Training and Fitness Assessment and Evaluation. For seniors the courses are Exercise Science/ Medical Terminology, Athletic Injury Prevention and Fitness and Evaluation II. Medical Terminology taken by seniors in the second semester is a college credit plus online course through Stark State college. This means that if students pass the exam, they can receive college credit

from this program.

Then, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students will participate in labs. Some of these lab activities include taping and bandaging, taking blood pressure and heart rate, measuring joint motion, designing an exercise program, measuring body composition and learning exercises using fitness equipment.

“Learning how to wrap and tape ankles is my favorite part so far,” said junior Stella Breuers. “I play soccer which means I can get hurt a lot, so it’s super helpful to be learning how to both treat and prevent those injuries.”

Throughout the two years in this program, students are given the opportunity to take part in observation and volunteer hours through schools, hospitals and community events. By the end of their senior year, students are expected to complete 250 hours of volunteer work.

This program is a great option for freshman and sophomores wanting to go into the medical field or just want to try something new.

Shown above, current seniors are taping each other’s wrists and ankles. The class regularly does class circuits which every student goes around to practice the skills on other students.

Photo courtesy of Susan Ward

Shown above, the current seniors practice boarding. Boarding is just one of the many skills students learn in the program.

Photo courtesy of Susan Ward

Fire Safety/EMT students stand outside of Barberton High School posing in their uniforms. After completing this compact, there are certifications that you can receive that make you an EMT, some of these students will graduate with and firefighter 2 and EMT certification. ghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghgPhoto courtesy of Brandon Reedy.

Instructor Brandon Reedy, stands on a wall with his students. The students can take the knowledge that they learn from this compact to many different feilds, besides just fire saftey/ EMT.

Photo courtesy of Grace Swain.

BY KATIE ALLEN, HALEY REEDY, AND LILY LOVE

The 2022-2023 school year brings around the 50th Anniversary of the Four Cities Compact. Offered to Barberton, CopleyFairlawn, Norton, and Wadsworth High School students, the compact offers numerous Career Tech Education programs. The compact helps to guide students toward career opportunities. Through the compact, students have many additional resources available to help them in their future careers. Some compacts are two year programs that require students to have joined their junior year in able to participate in the compact their senior year. However, there is a nursing program that is a senior-only compact. There are several new compacts to join the Four Cities within the past few years, including,the Pharmaceutical Science Program, the Veterinary Program, and Programing, Design, and Robotics Program.

WADSWORTH COPLEY-FAIRLAWN

ENGINEERING PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE

BY LILY LOVE

The engineering class at Wadsworth High School is led by Kip Shipley. This class is almost completely hands-on, allowing students to be involved with what they are learning in class.

Within the class students learn project management, soft skills, and technical aspects of engineering.

Students in the class have the opportunity to participate in co-ops and internships, allowing them to apply their knowledge from the classroom to work in the real world.

Mr. Shipley has been teaching the Engineering Design and Technology class at Wadsworth Four Cities Compact for the past seven years.

“This course is anywhere between 60% to 80% hands on all the time,” Shipley said. “Even if the lecture or the academics isn’t hands-on, then it is related to the hands-on activity.”

Students in this program are able to receive a total of nine CCP (College Credit Plus) credits for the University of Akron or Kent State, along with a C tag, which is three credits that can be used at any state university in Ohio.

The class and credits help students to advance in their post high school education or their post high school job, allowing them to learn multiple skills in their field of work within the school setting.

Many of the programs at the compact overlap each other, giving students from different programs to work with each other on a number of unique projects.

“Mr. Van Kirk, the Programming Design and Robotics teacher, and I do a joint project called soldering,” Shipley said. “Students use capacitors, resistors, and an integrated circuit board to solder those components onto a board, and it has to do a certain function.”

The class starts with small skills, in order

to build into bigger, sometimes joint projects with the other programs within the compact. Allowing students who are in the class to really grasp the concepts of the class, and work towards bigger goals at the same time.

“We usually do a Sea Perch Contest, which is underwater robotics,” said Shipley. “Usually we go at least once or twice a year for some competitions. After COVID-19 we are slowly getting back to it.”

Participating in competitions gives students the opportunity to showcase the skills that they have gained over their time in the class. Additionally, these competitions allow students to interact with others in similar fields or programs as them.

This class is available to juniors and seniors that attend one of the four schools in the Four Cities Compact; Barberton, Copley-Fairlawn, Norton, or Wadsworth. Juniors taking the class attend a two-period block during first and second period, Seniors taking the class attend a two-period block during seventh and eighth period.

“I think in general, if you’re interested your sophomore year, or even if you’re a freshman, start looking at the opportunities that we provide here.” Shipley said.

WHS junior Claire McNeil first became interested in the Engineering Design and Technology class after attending the sophomore field trip.

“I came in during the specific class [visiting] day,” McNeil said. “The welcoming environment and people made me want to join.”

In November, sophomores are able to go on a field trip to Barberton High School to learn a little bit more about all of the programs at the Four Cities Compact.

Soldering practice board. Engineering students use these boards to practice and model soldering skills. The board allows them to carry out set functions, and is done with the Programing Design and Robotics students in Mr. Van Kirk’s class. Photo courtesy of Mr. Shipley

Students even have the ability to use a number of specific days to travel to the different high schools and spend a day in the class that interests them.

BY HALEY REEDY

For students wanting to enter a medical field, the Four Cities Compact offers many medical based programs. If students are interested in a Pharmaceutical career path, then the Pharmaceutical Science program may be a good fit.

According to the Four Cities Compact website, “The Pharmaceutical Science program is designed for students who want to be a critical member of the healthcare team, essential to provide patients with safe and effective medication therapy.’’

Run by Katherine Amos and hosted at Copley-Fairlawn High School, the pharmaceutical science compact is a relatively new program to join the Four Cities Compact.

“I worked in retail pharmacy for 5 years and at the Barberton Summa Hospital for 12 years,” Amos said. “My bosses were involved in the conversation [of starting up the pharmaceutical science compact], my name was brought up and I accepted.”

In the pharmaceutical science compact, students learn about drug uses, how drugs affect the body, pharmacy law, and how to prepare medication.

“There is a lot of memorization that goes into all the different aspects of it [the pharmaceutical science program],”

said Daren Bailey-Bunner, Junior at Barberton High School that attends the pharmaceutical science program.

At the end of the program, the goal is, the get students their Pharmacy Technician Certification, which is a certification that is accepted nationally.

“You also gain a lot of inner personal skills that you can use for any job field,” Amos said.

Each compact has their own special thing that makes each compact enjoyable and personal for the students.

“We went to NEOMED, which is a pharmacy and medical school.” BaileyBunner said. “It was a really cool experience because I aspire to be a pharmacist when I’m older.”

Amos also enjoyed the NEOMED field trip and the way that it was able to show her students the university and get to talk to those in the field.

The pharmaceutical science compact, is partnered with PioneerRX Pharmacy Software, “which allows students to learn in a real world environment using the most installed software for independent pharmacies. Students will have an opportunity to enhance their clinical and functional skills by training in a pharmacy system that is innovative, robust and feature-rich,” according to the Four Cities Compact Website.

If students are interested in joining next year, pay attention to the upcoming messages from guidance about next years compact scheduling.

These are the students in the Pharmaceutical Science Compact during their NEOMED field trip. During this field trip the students got to do a ‘capsule creation lab’ where they were able to experiment with capsules. Photo courtesy of Katie Amos.

Four junior students (from left to right: Johnny Bullock, Rich Ebner, Daren Bailey-Bunner, and David Nichols) in the Pharmaceutical Science Compact. The students were doing a lab where they create a bath bomb. Photo courtesy of Katherine Amos.

Claire McNeil and other students work on a joint project with the Programming Design and Robotics class. They are learning how to solder different things to a circuit board to perform a set function. Photo courtesy of Mr. Shipley

At Wadsworth High School, a new classroom was added for the Engineering Program to share with the Programing, Design and Robotics Program. Students in this compact use lots of technology such as 3-D printers in their day to day life within the compact. Photo by Haley Reedy

THE BRUIN CELEBRATES th ANNIVERSARY

EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF STUDENT JOURNALISM AT WADSWORTH HIGH SCHOOL

BY MALLORY GERSCHUTZ, LIZZY EDWARDS, AND SYDNEY BLAKE

Wadsworth High School’s newspaper officially adopted the name The Bruin on October 19, 1967. 55 years later, it is now recognized as one of the most successful student-run newspapers in Ohio.

The Bruin has had a long journey to become what it is today. Behind all the awards and recognition is a history filled with secret underground papers, racing through snowstorms to meet deadlines, meetings with lawyers, and everything in between.

The earliest accounts of student journalism at WHS are found in the 1950s. According to WHS’s yearbook, The Whisperer, an official school newspaper was predated by a group of students who had formed what was known as the News and Views Club. They wrote updates about the different sports, clubs, and other activities going on in the school, which was published weekly in the local newspaper, Wadsworth News-Banner. The students’ work earned them a regular column in the paper. It was first named “W.H.S. Grizzette,” before being changed to “The Bear Facts.”

By the end of the 1950s, the News and Views Club had organized into a journalism class. The students continued writing columns for the Wadsworth News-Banner-this time in a more official setting. They also learned the skills needed to pursue a career in journalism.

The passion for journalism shared by these students culminated in the creation of the first official student newspaper at WHS. It was named Campus News, referencing the college campus-like layout of the recently built high school.

“The high school was laid out with several buildings in those days, hence a campus,” said Tom Joswick, a staff member who graduated in the class of 1969. “It was very cold and windy between the buildings, but we liked being on a “campus” despite that.” Campus News quickly became

an established part of WHS. It was a way for student journalists to showcase their talents to the public, as well as for the student body to stay informed about what was going on in their school. Even the name itself was an appeal; according to Joswick, many students felt pride in the design of their newly built school.

But less than a decade later, the name Campus News was all but erased from the vocabulary of WHS students. The content of the newspaper stayed the same. The layout style didn’t change. The stories were written the same as always. The only difference was the name at the top of the cover: The Bruin

According to John Gramuglia, the advisor for the newspaper from 1985 to 2016, this name was chosen because it was the winner of a school-wide contest. Yet for many students, it took a while to adjust to the new name. Ultimately, it was the aptness of the new name that made it stick.

“A bruin is a bear, which plays off the Grizzly mascot rather well,” Gramuglia said.

The new name became official in 1967

In the same year, an “underground” newspaper began to circulate. Known as the Bear Baiter, this paper was written and published by a Canadian foreign exchange student named Greg Warren, who was unaffiliated with The Bruin. While

However, limited access to the mimeograph on which the Bear Baiter was printed resulted in a limited number of copies. In the end, the paper was only around for one year.

Back in the journalism classroom, The Bruin was only growing. The most popular stories of the time were profiles of certain stand-out students. These stories provided an opportunity for high schoolers to get to know their peers, especially if the student being profiled was one that they wouldn’t

“You didn’t have social media…in those days. So it was a way to learn something about some of the other students that you didn’t know or didn’t have a class with,”

continued to grow and become more popular, the staff started to feel the effects of their limited resources. The classroom they worked in was equipped with only ten typewriters to be shared among the entire staff.

The publishing process provided another challenge. First, each article needed to be typed up on a typewriter. Next, they were sent to the printer, which printed the text out with sticky strips on the back side. From there, the strips

“murder” of Campus News

The Bruin staff during the 1967-68 school year. Editor Karen Aston and her staff made the decision to change the newspaper name from Campus News to The Bruin. Photo Courtesy of The Whisperer

The first paper with the name The Bruin was published on October 19, 1967. The cover of this issue featured a story called “Murder at WHS!” Since many students might not have been aware of the new name, this headline was designed to bring attention to the fact that Campus News had been “murdered” and replaced with The Bruin. Issue Scanned from The Bruin Archives

were stuck to a sheet to give a sense of how much space each article would take up.

“We literally would cut and paste the story on the layout,” Gramuglia said.

The process took so long that the staff was often hard-pressed to get their issue to the printing company in time. Retrieving the printed paper presented a whole new problem. One year, two Bruin students drove through a snowstorm to the Hartco Printing Company in order to pick up the December issue in time to sell before Christmas break.

It was not until the late 1990s that the newspaper finally started to resemble the modern Bruin. Everything changed with the arrival of computers at WHS. Initially, The Bruin class was given one computer to share.

“Every staff member was assigned a disc to save their article on. We had to rotate with a timer for each staffer to be able to use the computer,” Gramuglia said.

Still, the staff was thrilled with this new technology. The purchase of the Adobe Pagemaker program enabled them to lay out the paper on the computer and print it themselves. This saved valuable time, allowing the students to focus more on their stories.

Then, in 2000, principal Mr. Ron Jones announced that a 25 seat computer lab was being built for The Bruin to work in. Each student had access to a computer and all the features that came with it.

“It felt like we died and went to heaven,” Gramuglia said.

The new, professional look of the paper attracted even more readers. However, the attention had its

downsides. Students were using the newspaper to raise their voice on a variety of topics, some more controversial than others. Stories criticizing school lunches, the dress code, and school spirit were always sure to incite contention. In one extreme situation, a student’s criticism of a local business necessitated the

style. This new style featured a front cover with a full-page image filling the background.

“Everything felt dated,” Youngblood said. ‘I knew we could do things that were new and cool.”

Youngblood’s idea was inspired after attending the Ohio Scholastic Media Association conference at Kent State University. The conference hosts hundreds of students from surrounding schools and teaches them skills in journalism that they can apply to their own newspapers. After seeing other schools that had designed more modern looking papers, Youngblood was determined to do the same for The Bruin

“I didn’t think the newspaper was as popular as it could have been, so I was excited to take a chance and see if I could change things and make it better for everyone,” Youngblood said.

Mike Kovack, who is now the Medina County Auditor, has taken many skills that he learned in his time on The Bruin and applies them to his job today.

“I learned some terrific writing skills, which still serve me well today,” Kovack said. “It also taught you how to work with people. There were always conflicting opinions of what should be in the paper or what should be covered and by whom, and you had to work it out to get to the finished product.”

Evan Dammarell, the Associate Editor in Chief from 2010-2011, is now pursuing a career as a professional journalist.

“I am my own editor now because I’m fully independent,” Dammarell said. “The stuff I learned from being an editor [for The Bruin] is really helpful.”

intervention of lawyers.

This inevitable controversy did little to weaken The Bruin’s growing momentum. In what would become the most popular story to date, the staff took on the responsibility of reporting on the story of 9/11.

“We did an amazing job getting through that day and covering the event afterwards in The Bruin,” Gramuglia said.

Other popular stories were about the new school being built, girls and boys basketball and wrestling winning the state championship, school levy passage and failure, and new administration.

In 2016, Gramuglia retired after 32 years of being the advisor for The Bruin. He was replaced by Eric Heffinger, who is currently still the advisor.

While Heffinger followed many of the precedents set by Gramuglia, he did initiate a major change: making the paper free for students.

Up until that point, students could only read The Bruin if they purchased it. The price was one dollar per issue, or five dollars to buy a subscription card for a year’s worth of issues. However, only a small percentage of the student body was buying papers. Gramuglia worked with Heffinger to find a way for all students to be able to read the paper for free.

“It was my goal to have everybody in the school get a newspaper. We felt like it’s really the kids’ school; it’s their newspaper,” Gramuglia said.

Before long, The Bruin went through another major change, this time in regards to the style of the paper.

Marraya Youngblood, editor-in-chief of The Bruin from 2018 to 2019, decided to switch paper from a newspaper to magazine

Youngblood proposed the idea to Heffinger at the end of her junior year. She created countless mock covers and revealed them to her staff. Heffinger and the staff loved the idea.

The first magazine-style cover featured an action shot of volleyball player Kacie Evans. This aligned with Youngblood’s goal for the paper to start taking more quality pictures, especially from sporting events.

Although Youngblood was nervous about how such a significant change might be received, she was pleased with how it turned out in the end. Throughout the rest of her time in The Bruin, she had the opportunity to help design a number of other covers in the magazine format.

“It’s really nice to know that I made an impact on the paper,” Youngblood said.

The experience of being part of The Bruin has had lasting effects on many students.

Dammarell works in sports journalism, specializing in basketball. He now works with the Cleveland Cavaliers to write stories covering their season. Last year, Dammarell brought Julia Swain, the sports editor from 2021-2022, with him to a Cavs game to give her an experience of working in a professional journalism setting.

“The Bruin sparked my interest in journalism…My first story for The Bruin was about the Cavs, so it’s kind of funny how it came full circle,” Dammarell said.

The change Youngblood made--along with the changes made by Gramuglia, Heffinger, and others over the years--have shaped The Bruin into what it is today. But if there is one thing that has remained the same all these years, it’s the unique environment of different students working together to achieve the same goal.

“Every part of the school was represented,” Gramuglia said. “All the different kids were represented, and they got to know each other on a different level; the cliques were broken down. That’s what I like about it.”

The Bruin’s 55th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate the dedication, commitment, and hard work of generations of Wadsworth High School students--and more to come.

Writers from the 1999-2000 school year work on their new computers. This was the first year The Bruin had a full set of 25 computers. Photo Courtesy of The Whisperer

Scan the QR code with your phone camera to read all past issues of The Bruin dating back to the 1960s.

THOMAS LOWE TAKES ON SCOOTER CHAMPIONSHIP

BY LUKE HOUSER

Thomas Lowe, sophomore at Wadsworth High School, is competing in the World Skate Games Championships, which began the week of October 24 and continued throughout the rest of the week in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“I’ve just been doing it since I was young; I’d just do it with my friends for fun,” Lowe said.

Lowe began practicing scootering at Valley View Park five years ago. There he spent his time learning from friends about all the nuances and tricks that could be performed with a scooter. Lowe has been practicing his skills for around five years now, originally beginning with a Razor scooter he bought from Walmart. He eventually started going to Chenga World skate park in Cleveland as he improved.

“I just started learning new tricks and just made it more fun… kinda kept progressing from then,” Lowe said. What had started off as just a fun hobby was quickly transforming into

something Lowe would be passionate about and something he would be able to compete in.

“I got better and started competing,” Lowe said.

Lowe states that he started competing when a friend of his recommended him to a competition through Instagram. Staying dedicated to learning new tricks such as tail-whips, bar-spins, jumps down stairs, and grinding handrails, he began to compete with the skills he had learned.

“How I got recommended is through Instagram, one of my friends who’s pro recommended me to the World Skate,” Lowe said.

Gaining enough skill and experience to compete did not come out of nowhere, though. Lowe said that his usual practice times include going to the skate park for about three to four hours a day, four to five times a week. Having done this for around five years now, it is obvious that Lowe has put a lot of effort into his skating.

“I just ride and try to learn new tricks like every time I go to the skate park,”

Lowe said.

After enough competitions, Lowe was recognized by World Skate. World Skate was founded in 1924 and is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee. They are the only governing body in the world that handles all sports that are performed on skating wheels. This means they deal with roller skating, skateboarding, and in Lowe’s case, scooters. They host competitions each year in different countries all around the world. Last year’s competition was in Barcelona, where they had scootering competitors from across the globe. This is Lowe’s first World Skate Games event and he will play in their Junior Street competitions.

Scootering is a newer addition to the realm of the World Skate Games. The organization plans to continue to develop the sport into its organizations, and this year’s world championship will be a big part of that. Scootering only joined the organization a couple of years ago, but it has grown a lot since then. Rewards will be offered to the winners, and Lowe hopes to take one of those rewards home. To prepare for this big event, Lowe has kept up the practice in order to continue to improve.

After having competed for a few years and outdoing many of those around him, Lowe was invited to the World Skate Games competition. He and a few others will represent the U.S. in the Junior Street League, which includes anyone under 18. He will compete against several other countries from around the world who also partake in the games. Junior ‘street’ is the specific style of scootering he will be performing.

“I’m competing in Junior Street,” Lowe said. “But there [are] professional [competitions], which is older, like 18 and above.”

Lowe states that he hopes to keep competing as an adult. He sees it as an enjoyable hobby that can always be improved upon. If he does well at the World Skate Games, he plans to attend bigger competitions in the future.

WHS TRANSFORMS THE 1400 ELL INTO PUBLICATIONS ROOM

BY KATIE BASINGER

At the end of the 2021-22 school year, the Wadsworth Bruin was given permission to transition the 1400 hallway learning lab into a publications room.

In early 2022 Mr. Heffinger, the Bruin advisor, submitted a plan to Dr. Suber that would allow him to use the 1400 extended learning lab to house the equipment for a grant that he applied for. After finding out that the school had planned to close off the extended

learning labs, Heffinger submitted a plan to purchase equipment for an in-house photography studio that the Bruin would use in the 1400 hallway. In the spring, Heffinger was invited to a banquet where he found out that he won the grant money.

The addition has allowed the Bruin and the Yearbook staff to have access to a photography studio. The money from the grant allowed for the publication classes to purchase lighting, backdrops, cameras, and more.

The Bruin writing staff had sometime in the previous weeks to try out the new equipment before their first actual shoot.

With the new technology available to the Bruin, the staff was able to hold a cover shoot for the October Issue.

Two of the Bruins editors, Brenden Barlett and Carson Bernard, worked on preparing the studio the days leading up to the cover shoot. They set up the lighting and the backdrop to contrast with jerseys the football players that were being featured were wearing.

“On Thursday, when the players came in we had all the stuff set up for them, all they had to do was change. We had them try out different poses individually. We had to try to get all the lighting right and all the camera qualities right. For the most part it went really well,” Bernard said. “We knew the uniforms were going to be black and red so we had to set up numerous backdrops with people in this class

wearing different colors to see how it would look on camera. We even tried a green screen to see if we could put a football field in the background.”

The Bruin was also able to use the studio to assist with this months covers story, The Bruin’s 55th anniversary. Students set up the studio and posed with a cake featuring the Bruin logo.

The photography studio is a huge step for the growth of all the publication classes. The yearbook staff has also been able to take advantage of the new room.

Mrs. Harig, the advisor of the yearbook, says that they have benefited greatly from the extra space and the photography studio.

“We have a lot of times that we have

quotes and we need pictures of people and the gray bricks of the building get really boring,” Harig said. “We are going to look at all the football jerseys that football players are wearing, so we took individual pictures of just the jerseys so we could do cutouts of those.”

In the near future, Mrs. Harig would like to see the room equipped with bookshelves to hold all the yearbooks that are in the school’s possession. The room also will also be gaining curtains to help with the lighting during shoots.

Heffinger said that part of his goal is to make a small makeshift news desk television studio. He also wants to use the space to start a podcast studio and potentially work with the Media and Communications compact.

Students in the Bruin took pictures for the November issue of the paper. The students set up the Publications Room so that they could take photos of students holding a birthday cake for the cover story “The Bruin Celebrates 55th Anniversary.” Photo by Eric Heffinger.

Wadsworth football players pose for the cover of the October Issue. The Bruin chose to use the white background because it had the most contrast with the uniforms, which made future editing easier. Photo by Carson Bernard.

Lowe poses for photos during a skate meet in Cleveland. Consistent practice, especially with friends, has been key to Lowe’s success. Photo courtesy of Thomas Lowe.

GRIZZLY FALL SPORTS COME TO A CLOSE

BY LAUREN BALL

As November and winter sports seasons begin to roll around, with it comes the end of most of Wadsworth’s fall sports seasons. Many experienced success throughout their seasons, as well as in early round of playoffs. Congratulations to all of our athletes. For seniors of these sports, it was their final hurrah in their respective sports, and for their teammates, they will now begin preparing to tackle next season.

GIRLS TENNIS

FOOTBALL

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

During their season, Varsity volleyball defeated Twinsburg to earn a share of the Suburban League National Conference Championship and end the regular season 14-8 (9-3 Suburban League). As of October 26, they are still competing in postseason play and will take on Magnificat on October 27 for the district championship.

BOYS SOCCER

GIRLS SOCCER

CHEER

BOYS

Varsity cheer was responsible for not only cheering on WHS’s varsity football team, but also keeping the student section excited throughout all their games. Photo courtesy of Olivia Benner.

Varsity girls tennis earned a second place finish at the Medina Doubles Tournament during their season. Their overall record was 11-9 and 2-4 in Suburban League play.

Photo by Lauren Ball.

Photo courtesy of Reese Pluskota.

Varsity boys soccer huddles up at a game. Their end of season record was 5-1-1 in the Suburban League & 14-3-1 overall. They lost to Olmstead Falls 4-2 in the OHSAA Sectional Semifinal to end their season.

Photo courtesy of Michael Watson.

Varsity girls soccer celebrates after scoring a goal. They made it to the OHSAA Sectional Final before falling to Magnificat 7-2. They finished their season 6-12-1 overall.

Photo courtesy of MilliLee Photography.

Varsity boys golf placed second at the OHSAA Sectional Tournament to qualify for the District Tournament. They then placed tenth to conclude a very successful season. In the Suburban League National Conference Championship, they earned a third place finish.

Photo courtesy of Cortney Skidmore.

Varsity girls golf ended their season finishing eleventh at the OHSAA Sectional Tournament. At the Suburban League National Conference Championship, they placed fifth. Photo courtesy of Chloe Cliffel.

Varsity boys cross country circles up before a meet. They placed 15th out of 24 teams at the OHSAA District Meet at GlenOak High School to conclude their season.

Photo courtesy of Carson Bernard.

Varsity Girls Cross Country placed tenth out of 17 teams at the OHSAA District Meet at GlenOak High School. Two Grizzly athletes qualified as individuals for the Regional Meet on October 29.

Photo courtesy of Rowan King.

Seniors on the football team are photographed prior to senior night. The Varsity team finished the regular season 6-4 (4-2 in the Suburban League). On October 28, they will take on the Elyria Pioneers at home in the first round of the OHSAA Division 1 playoffs.

Photo courtesy of Olivia Benner.

BUCKEYES AND WOLVERINES LOOK FORWARD TO “THE GAME”

BY LAUREN BALL AND JOSEPH DAVIS

This is the moment football fans have been waiting for. Whether you are a die-hard fan or a casual spectator of football, chances are you have heard of the intense rivalry between the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes. “The Game,” as it has been appropriately titled, is drawing near, and with it comes the scrutiny of both teams’ seasons, predictions, and, of course, the opinions of some students

here at WHS.

Michigan emerged with a 42-26 victory last year over Ohio State after a ten year drought. The Wolverine win made both teams hungry to prove themselves again this year on November 26 in Columbus, where the Buckeyes will host.

Let’s start with this year’s home team: the Ohio State Buckeyes. As suspected, they are the team to root for here in Wadsworth due to the local affinity for Ohio’s biggest university. As of October 26, the Buckeyes are 7-0 (3-0 in conference play) and are placed second in the Big Ten East. They opened the season with a 2110 win over the fifth ranked team, Notre Dame, in week one. Since then, they have scored 45 points or more against their competition, albeit against all unranked

Averaging 543.7 yards per game, the Buckeyes’ offense has been strong right out of the gate. They also lead the nation in points per game so far with 48.8. These statistics have helped convince Ben Stuchal, sophomore at WHS, that the Buckeyes will win this year.

“I think it’s going to be an offensive game the whole time until the last minute,

and the defense will have to stop each other,” Stuchal said. “I think OSU will win because they have always had the better team and they will do anything to win.”

Stuchal believes that Ohio State is the best team in the nation and since the organization has a chip on their shoulder from last year’s loss, it will help propel them to a win.

“Because it’s the last game of the season, it will boost their momentum and they will definitely win, especially at their home stadium,” said Stuchal.

Now for their underdog opponent: the Michigan Wolverines. They, like their rival counterpart, are undefeated in both regular season and conference matchups (7-0, 4-0). The Wolverines are currently first in the Big Ten East. In week seven, their victory over then-ranked number ten Penn State solidified their standing as both a Big Ten and national powerhouse.

The Wolverines have posted a .737 offensive completion percentage under sophomore quarterback JJ McCarthy, second only to number twelve UCLA in the national rankings.

WHS sophomore Tahlie Loftin thinks that for these reasons, Michigan will

extend their one year win streak into at least two.

“I think Michigan will take the win,” Loftin said. “I think that the win from last year is going to push them to keep going and to keep on winning, like how Ohio State did that with Michigan [in the past].”

Loftin believes that the Wolverines will emerge victorious, but it will be a very close contest.

“There are things players have improved upon, and some players have come and go which is why the outcome will continue to be different,” Loftin said.

ESPN’s matchup predictor says that Ohio State has a 75% chance of winning, and they are also a 8.5 point favorite over Michigan according to Caesars Sportsbook. As of October 26, the moneyline and total over/under for the game has not been released.

Whatever the outcome of “The Game” is, it will no doubt be a hard fought battle and an entertaining contest for fans of both teams. Tune into Fox Sports on Saturday, November 26 at noon to catch both teams in action as they fight for the rivalry victory.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED: THE HISTORY OF THE RIVALRY

BY CARSON BERNARD

It is that time of the year again. College football is up in full swing and one of the biggest rivalries is just around the corner. The Ohio State Buckeyes are set to play the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, November 26.

This national rivalry between the two teams is not something new. The teams first played each other in 1897 with Michigan coming out with a 36-0 win. Little did the nation know that this win would start a fierce rivalry between the two teams that is still burning to this day.

Michigan, for twenty-two years, came out on top, winning 13 games and only tied twice with Ohio State. Michigan’s nine game winning streak from 19011909 is the longest winning streak held by both teams in rivalry history. Ohio State took home their first win against the Wolverines on October 25, 1919 with a score of 13-3.

The rivalry was just heating up. As of 1969, the Buckeyes had only 24 wins as compared to the Wolverines who had

a whopping 38 wins. The following and fan base for these two schools is so big this rivalry was earning national John Yaggi, a high school history teacher at Wadsworth High School and lifelong Ohio State fan, gave his thoughts on the fan base of both teams.

“OSU fans are more ruthless, but Michigan fans can be pretty ruthless too. I think this hatred is pretty equal,”

On November 22, 1969, Ohio State traveled to Ann Arbor for the honorary rivalry game. This game is one of the most notorious in rivalry history. Coach Woody Hays, longtime Ohio State coach, lost his former player and short term staff member Bo Schembechler. Ohio native, Schembechler being from Barberton, was hired by Michigan and offered the head coaching job for their football program. This era of the rivalry is known in the college football world as the Ten Year War.

“Woody Hays came there in 51. He made that game a huge rivalry. Then you have the ten year war with Woody and Bo. That ten year span for most of the 70s. Woody coached with Bo and

Bo was from Barberton so it made the already intense rivalry a lot more,” Yaggi commented.

Going into the game Ohio State had the number one spot in the rankings and was looking really strong. Schembechler ended up taking home the win for the Wolverines. Michigan’s huge upset set a precedent for the next ten years. For the next ten years the rivalry game would end up determining who would represent the Big 10 in the Rose Bowl. From 1969 to 1977 the two teams either shared or won every single Big 10 championship.

Today the rivalry is still as big as it was in the 70’s. Yaggi, having gone to Ohio State in the 90’s, gave his opinion on the

wanting to talk about football, but then we won the next week and everyone was energetic again.”

This year the Wolverines will play the Buckeyes on November 26 in Columbus. The hype is already here all over the media and both teams are looking really solid this year. Ohio State looks to avenge their loss to the Wolverines in their 2021 matchup, when last year the Buckeyes lost 27-42 which ended their ten year win streak.

Last Twenty Years

undefeated, and we lost 13-9 to Michigan. That took us out of the championship that year,” Yaggi said. “The next week, everyone was pretty bummed out, not really

2002-Ohio State, 14-9 2003-Michigan, 35-21 2004-Ohio State, 37-21 2005-Ohio State, 25-21 2006-Ohio State, 42-39 2007-Ohio State, 14-3 2008-Ohio State, 42-7 2009-Ohio State, 21-10 2010-Ohio State, 37-7 2011-Michigan, 40-34 2012-Ohio State, 26-21 2013-Ohio State, 42-41 2014-Ohio State, 42-28 2015-Ohio State, 42-13 2016-Ohio State, 30-27 2017-Ohio State, 31-20 2018-Ohio State, 62-39 2019-Ohio State, 56-27 2020-canceled season 2021-Michigan, 45-27

THE WADSWORTH HIGH SCHOOL BAND DIRECTORS CONTINUE TO RIVAL OVER WHO WILL WIN OHIO VS MICHIGAN FOOTBALL GAME

BY JADE WILCOX

Mr. Piehl applied to Bowling Green, Akron, Kent, and Ohio State.

“[I] wanted to major in music education and those were the four schools I felt had good music ed programs.” Mr. Piehl said. He had full rides to every college except for Ohio State, but he insisted he wanted to go there.

“I wanted to grow more,” Piehl said. “I didn’t want to be ‘the king’ [first chair] right away, [therefore] I went to Ohio State because it seemed like the most elite place, it seemed like the place that I was going to struggle a little bit, and I was going to have to grow more.”

From there he joined the OSU Marching Band. It was imperative that the members of the band payed attention to the game. Each play on the football field cued the band to play songs

that affectionately became known as “stand tunes.”

“If you didn’t come in [as] an Ohio State fan... they [would] kind of teach you, and over time I just got pretty obsessed [with the sport].” Mr. Piehl noted.

After he graduated from Ohio State, he continued to watch the Ohio State games with his friends. Even though they never had any specific foods or celebrations before or after the game, they were always quite content to watch the event.

The rivalry between Mr. Piehl and Mrs. Hire is relatively friendly. Throughout the week they will jokingly show off their team pride.

“It’s only for that week, and it’s usually a short week. I bring out my spirit wear and she brings out hers... Michigan pumps and jewelry and, well everything,” Piehl said. “Let’s hang a 100 on ‘em and Go Bucks!”

When Mrs. Hire decided to tell her parents that she was going to the University of Michigan, it did not go as planned.

“‘I got into grad school, I’m going back to college,’” Mrs. Hire told her mother and father, who happened to both be on the line at the same time. “I said, ‘I’m going to Michigan’ and they hung up on me!”

It turned out to all be a joke, her parents were quite proud of her.

“Oh, we’re just kidding, that’s awesome,” Hire’s parents told her. She got a full ride, so it was not going to cost them anything. The rivalry did not just stop with her mother and father.

“My sister was at Ohio State at the time…we’ll rib each other, [and] send texts back and forth,” Hire said. Even her husband had been

a massive Ohio State fan at that time.

“My husband is a huge Ohio State fan, and we always watched ‘The Game’ together…They [still] cheer for Ohio State,” Hire said.

She lived in Toledo, OH while she was attending the university, so each football game was a trek to get to. It was a 45 minute drive to the events, yet she always watched the big game with her husband and friends.

Even though she is the only one in her family that roots for Michigan, she still has fun watching the game and lightly “ribbing” everyone around her.

“We save it, and then that week we’ll only joke about it…when we’re professionally ribbing each other.” Hire says. “I’ll wear maize and blue throughout the week… he’ll wear scarlet and gray, and it’s just all for fun.”

PIEHL AND THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MRS. HIRE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Mrs. Hire and Mr. Piehl are dressed in their football spirit wear. Hire directs the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble and Piehl directs the Jazz and Symphonic Bands. Photo by Mr. Piehl.

WHS AFTER PROM MOVES TO KALAHARI

OPINION BY OLIVIA BENNER

Wadsworth High School has moved After Prom to Kalahari for the 2023 Senior dance.

This decision was made by the PTO board that is in charge of after prom with the intent of doing something more memorable for the students. While the WHS after prom is usually held at the middle school, it has been more comparable to an activity night. Traditionally consisting of inflatables, carnival style games, and large raffle prizes. This year students will have the opportunity to visit America’s largest indoor water park, Kalahari, located in Sandusky, Ohio. While a number of students think that this will be a great opportunity to do something memorable and fun for after prom, there are reasons to believe this is going to cause more negative than positive.

The class of 2023 has been guinea pigs all throughout their time at WHS.

From the

effects of online learning during freshman year, to new principals and all the different policies that have been implemented, it is not too much to ask to have a ‘normal’ After Prom. Many of the students in the Senior class have watched the grades above attend prom and then move back to the middle school for inflatables, food, and prizes. These activities have essentially become a Wadsworth tradition in students’ eyes. Why is the class of 2023 continuously robbed of the same experiences that were available to people who were once their peers?

Senior, Sammi Voitko thinks that this new Kalahari trip is unfair to those who do not want to spend their entire night and early morning driving to and from the park.

“I think it’s unfair because some people don’t want to ride on a bus to Kalahari and their after prom gets taken away,” Voitko said.

Along with this, she believes that the money spent on Kalahari could be used elsewhere in making the actual prom a better experience.

“I think it’s ridiculous because the money could be spent somewhere else like prizes and better food at the actual prom: use the money from Kalahari, and move us somewhere nicer than the Galaxy,” Voitko said.

Along with the funding there are

many other smaller details that are being overlooked. It is a time push to allow the individuals at prom who wore dresses and paid hundreds of dollars for hair and makeup only 45 minutes to get out of the prom parking lot, go home to change, and get back to the high school all before the buses leave. People spend hundreds of dollars on dresses and suits just for them to be thrown off in a rush to get back to the school and hop on a charter bus. While the buses are better quality than initially anticipated, an hour long drive there and back will ensure students will not get there until very late in the night and will not get home until the early morning. The class of 2023’s ‘prom night’ is being dragged out into the early hours of the morning. While some students such as Senior Francisco Bejerano think it will be fun, others have the opposite idea.

“Some of the minor details like the bus ride don’t sound too good but everything else sounds great…It’s a really fun place to be in for after prom”

stated Bejerano.

Overall many of the seniors are angry about the fact of not being able to choose the location of their after prom. If this plan turns out nothing like expected, why is the class of 2023 always made to be the testers? Why do we have to risk our prom experience to figure out if something this large will even work? If the senior class is going to have such a drastically changed After Prom there should at least be a separate option for the majority of students that do not want to attend so that they are not missing out on a once in a lifetime experience. This is a bare minimum.

patrons.

Kalahari is the largest water park in the state of Ohio with 80,000 square feet of safari themes attractions. Students who choose to go to Kalahari for their after prom will not have access to the outdoor water park but instead the indoor water park and the other activities. Photo by Joseph Davis.

Mike Banks, The Griffin Family, Realtor Amanda Daily, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, Eddie’s Mimi and Papa, Ari Kaser, The Henderson Family, Kay & David Alley, Thomas & Nancy Peltier, Barlett Family, Michael Peltier, Grace Pantalone, Dave & Laurie Griffin, Tara Griffin & Kevin Anderson, Jon and Karen Edwards, Jim and Marilyn Edwards, The Perkins Family, The Williams Family, Alice Basile, Andrea Basile, The Tinney Family, Rose Petkunas, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Lysiak, Peggy Shiflett, Art and Cindy Reedy, The Reedys, Aunt Anne, Mary Cunningham, Jay and Patty Barrett, Lena Barrett, Marge Hevener, Maia Edwards, Anne Peltier, Vicky Chesbro, The Poling Family, Sra. Victoria Mateos, Roxann and James Young, The Love Family, The Sorrent Family, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Basinger, The Sieber Family, The Maxwell Family, Mr. Knapp, Annette Merle, Tim Short, Russ and Patsy Chesbro, Russ & Marj Allen, The Allen Family, Tina Allen Kolessar, The Valeri Family, The Long Family, Kevin and Lisa Tinney, Mary Ellen Cunningham, The Keifling Family, Jaime Bowerman, The Kundmueller Family, Cara and Bill Nolan, Lara and Marvin Shipley, Mrs. Love, The Love Family, Lisa Smith, Kaufman Family Farm, The Hendershot Family, Steve & Brittany Basinger, The Houser Family, Grandma and Grandpa Koontz, Gramma and Grampa Houser, The Estep Family, The Basinger Family, Steve and Karen Blankenship, Carol, The Bernard Family, Bailey Family, Ball Family, Joe & Lisa Hanna, Hilary & Rod Bowerman, Coach Hutchinson and Family, Mr. and Mrs. Steven Smeltzer, Kristy Nichol, The Serger Family, Dave and Nancy Porter, Alaina Zigler, Ken, Amanda, and Max Allen, Matt, Teresa, and Vada Porter, Rick and Marguerite Blake, The Dente Family, Karen & Dan Gerschutz, The Riddle Family, Gilbert Family, Jon and Jessica Allen, The Gorbach Family, Steven and Ruby Mallory, The Williford Family, Carol Mallory, Granny and Pappy Baker, Bill and Diane Blake, Russ and Melissa Chesbro, Mrs. Snyder, Ferguson Family, Mrs. Sheehan, Amanda Hutcheson, Fr. Patrick Schultz, Tony Yorlano, Candy Young, Theresa Petkunas, Pam Voss, Ann Hartman, The Osborn Family, Dan and Laurel Houck, The Gerschutz Family, Amanda Hutcheson, Daugherty Family, Megan Crawford & Dustin Likens, Aaron and Sue Dupont, The Moore Family, Bill & Milann Daugherty

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE WADSWORTH HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTIONS

BY JADE WILCOX

Most people will think of a production as actors performing a story onstage. They usually solely notice the singing and the dancing or the accents and the speakers. They do not, however, notice the behind the scenes of the performance such as the lights or the sound.

Any performance at Wadsworth High School has a strong production crew in order to add sound and lighting to the show. These crew members are known as “techs” or “techies” due to their job dealing with technological devices and issues. These technicians help the show run smoothly by dividing the behind-thescenes work amongst themselves.

“I did it, because my sister did it, and she was like ‘Oh, it’s fun,’ and I like to do

fun things, so I was like ‘I’ll do it too!’” said Abigail Kissinger, a junior that has been managing the spotlight for the Wadsworth High School production of Little Women.

The spotlights are on separate sides of the catwalk, which is a thin, metal hallway suspended above and around the stage and “In some spots, I am [afraid to fall off]. Behind where the spotlights are, there are these thin boards that you must walk across in order to change bulbs,” said Leyton Kuse, a senior spotlight tech.

“I’ve only done one show, [besides Little Women],” Casey Kirven, a sophomore light board tech, said. “It was a fun experience.” She has been getting assistance from Kissinger who has been a light board technician in the past. Kirven is fully excited to participate in Little Women as one of the lighting technicians.

The light board is located in a soundproof box near the top of the audience’s seating. There are a few problems with this setup. It is hard to hear through the soundproof box, and the stage is far away from the setup as well. Oftentimes during rehearsals there is someone directly outside the door of the box, however during the production nobody is there to relay commands to the box. They must know precisely when to turn on the lights that are suspended above the stage.

The light crew also has the task

of managing the star drop. This black, velvety backdrop is filled with over hundreds of tiny “stars” and located near the back of the stage. Each individual “star” is a programmable LED light that can project any color the directors desire. This backdrop is used for band and choir concerts, as well as plays like the WHS production of Anne of Green Gables in 2021.

Before the show begins, a “mic check” is completed. The actors are asked to walk across the stage repeatedly whilst talking continuously. The microphone sound crew double checks that the microphones are feeding their sound through the speakers with the right levels. This is to prevent any phasing, static, and other issues before the show. However, some problems still do occur during the show.

“With sound, you can’t do anything about it when they’re onstage. You can only fix it [a problem] either when they are off the stage or the next day. Those problems are really hard to fix, so you just kind of gotta deal with it and move on,” said Anna Wallace, a junior at WHS and a sound techie. “I play it cool…I wait for them to speak, finish their line, and then turn them on if I forget so it doesn’t sound like a mistake.”

The effects added to a theater production allow the scenes to come

“THRILLER” HAUNTS DOWNTOWN WADSWORTH

BY GRACE BARRETT

Recently, downtown Wadsworth was haunted by the community’s annual performance of “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. The event was held during Scare on the Square, which began at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 20. Zombies, played by participants from all over Northeast Ohio, lay “dead” around the Downtown area. At 7 p.m., these zombies came to life and gathered around the Strand Theater, preparing to dance to the iconic song.

Dr. Alex and Lori McIlvaine, who are very active members of the community, have organized and choreographed this event for many years.

Lori explained how she was inspired to create this performance after participating in a similar show while living in Lexington, Kentucky.

The perfect opportunity for the McIlvaines to create their own version of the performance arose as the city of Wadsworth had announced that they were looking for events to celebrate the upcoming bicentennial in 2014.

“We did a mini flash mob version,” Lori said. “We had some zombies just come out as a surprise, did a flash mob, and lurked away.”

This flash mob quickly grew in popularity, and the McIlvaines found themselves leading and organizing a yearly event. According to Lori, the group of people who participated in the dance grew from just friends and family to around 200 strangers eager to be a part of the fun.

Adrianne Patrick, the executive director of the non-profit organization Main Street Wadsworth, has worked closely with the McIlvaines in producing “Thriller.”

“Alex was the first friend that I made when I moved to Wadsworth because we both attended Young Professionals meetings together,” Patrick said. “That’s when I learned that he did the Wadsworth “Thriller” dance, and he asked me if I wanted to be involved.”

Alex plays Michael Jackson during the performances and Patrick typically plays Ola, his character’s girlfriend. The couple leads the rest of the zombies through the Downtown

area.

Unfortunately, “Thriller” hit a bump in the road in 2020, as COVID-19 prohibited many past members from rejoining the event.

“In 2020 the event was canceled,” Lori explained. ”Last year all of our practices were virtual so we didn’t have a lot of zombies. The crowd was a little smaller too.” However, the McIlvaines quickly bounced back. Thousands of people crowded Downtown for a chance to witness the nearly 200 zombies dance in the 2022 performance. The McIlvaines had even more to celebrate this year, as they got to dance with their newly adopted daughters. Lori even played Ola in order to showcase themselves as a family.

According to Alex, the family’s primary goal in putting on this show is to get people Downtown.

“We love our Downtown. We want to show people how awesome it really is,” Alex said.

According to Patrick, Wadsworth’s Scare on the Square is different from most other events hosted by the city, as it focuses purely on fun.

“People from all walks of life in Wadsworth participate in it,” Patrick said. “I think it is a really cool celebration of just coming together as a community to create something special.”

According to the McIlvaines, witnessing multi-generational families being able to participate together is one of the most rewarding aspects of organizing “Thriller.”

to life. These elements help with scene changes throughout the dramas and musicals, as well as assisting the actors with being seen, heard, and what to do on the stage. Behind every effect and every device, there is a person performing their duty. Even with a few hiccups, they help the shows run smoothly.

“You definitely have a responsibility and a role in the cast just like everybody else,” Anna Wallace said “The show can’t go on without us.”

“We have grandparents dance with their teenage grandkids,” Lori said. “What other event can they enjoy together?”

Beyond this, “Thriller” has immensely helped Wadsworth’s small Downtown businesses.

“It has created such an economic impact,” Patrick said. “We have over 100 small businesses Downtown, and every time we do [it], those merchants and restaurants see hundreds of people come through their doors.”

To become a zombie, you are required to attend two practices that will teach you the dance step by step, as well as one mandatory practice.

“We hold practices for a total of about six or seven hours,” Alex said. “You only have to go to three practices, so it’s about a three hour commitment.”

If you are interested in becoming a part of this performance, whether it be as a zombie or in the zombie patrol, please email wadsworththriller@gmail.com.

Zombies posing in Downtown Wadsworth before dancing. These participants can be spotted all around the square for visitors to see.

Photos courtesy of Adrianne Patrick

“WE LOVE OUR DOWNTOWN. WE WANT TO SHOW PEOPLE HOW AWESOME IT REALLY IS,” - DR. ALEX MCILVAINE, LEADER OF “THRILLER”

Alex McIlvaine as Michael Jackson and Adrianne Patrick as Ola during a performance. The pair have impersonated the infamous couple almost every year.

[From left to right] Leyton Kuse (12), Casey Kirven (10), Anna Wallace (11), and Abigail Kissinger (11) are techies for the Wadsworth High School production of Little Women. They run everything from spotlight to soundboard and keep the production running as smoothly as they can. Photo by Jade Wilcox.

Light board used by WHS Drama Department Techies during shows that take place in the PAC. This is used to control the lighting in multiple different areas of the auditorium, including the stage.

Photo by Carley Sorrent

OFF BROAD STREET PLAYERS TAKE THE STAGE; PRESENTING “CHICAGO” THE MUSICAL

BY LILY CHESBRO

As the students at Wadsworth High near another show, there is a lot of preparation and behind the scenes action that takes place that helps this show to be able to happen. “Chicago” will be taking place on November 10, 11, and 12 at 7 PM in the PAC.

With being in a musical and taking part comes the responsibility of knowing your lines as well as the songs and choreography that goes with those songs.

Two of the leads consist of Billy Flynn and Velma Kelly played by Erik Schnell and Chloe Leavitt. They shared their insight on rehearsals, behind the scenes memorizing the music and lines, as well as working in an ensemble to take the show from broken up blocked rehearsals to an onstage production.

“I play Billy Flynn, a famous lawyer in the show. He’s a slick, greasy man, who corrupts the judicial system for his own benefit. Billy is a theatrical character; he’s all about putting on a performance for his audience in court”, Schnell said.

This being the lead character of the show Schnell has come up with a couple different ways that he will go about performing this character to be the most accurate it can be.

“I get inspiration on how to play my characters by watching other performers. I watched Richard Gere, who played Billy Flynn in the “Chicago” film, to get a sense

of my character. I also watched people like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin for their showmanship, gestures, and singing techniques. All this helped me feel more comfortable with my character,” Schnell said.

As Chloe Leavitt prepares for her part as Velma Kelly, who is one of the two famous people in the town, she prepares a little differently.

“Practice, practice, practice. For me personally I break my lines up into sections based off of the different conversations I have throughout the show,” Leavitt said.

Both of these cast members discuss that working with other cast members to figure out their lines and working cohesively with other characters is helpful to memorizing their lines.

Mrs. Csaky and Mrs. Davis are the directors of the show. Each of them takes part a little differently in the putting together of the show.

“[Mrs. Davis] takes the role of teaching us all our music and our singing parts. She doesn’t exclusively teach the numbers for the ensemble but takes time to have one-

on-one sessions with the students in major roles with solos too,” Schnell said.

In addition to the music side of things choreography is put to each of the pieces to make the show come to life.

“She often oversees our choreography and will make sure that it looks its best and makes slight changes if needed. She also handles the positions for choreography,” Schnell said.

Mrs. Csaky has a little bit of a different role in codirecting the show.

“Mrs. Csaky handles a lot of the acting side to the performance. She makes sure that lines are said perfectly with the correct emphasis on certain words. She assists people in their delivery of lines and how they act in scenes,” Schnell said.

The cast of “Chicago” is required to attend rehearsals between five and six days a week. If necessary, the cast has rehearsals on the weekend when it gets

closer to the time of the show.

“After attendance is taken we start from a scene. It could be where we left off yesterday or from the beginning of the show or from a place that we need to improve upon,” Schnell said. “When individual performers aren’t in a scene, they can often be found practicing their choreography, singing their parts, or taking time to memorize lines; although, this is entirely up to each individual.”

Each individual is responsible for working on their lines, choreography, and songs both inside and outside of rehearsals.

As the show nears the cast is working to make sure everyone knows everything they need to in order to make the show run as smoothly as possible.

LITTLE WOMEN GETS READY TO DEBUT

BY BRI PERKINS

Students of WHS join together with teachers to put on the play “Little Women” in the PAC on December 1, 2, and 3. The school puts a play together every year to help support the drama department. The play is an extracurricular activity that students can participate in by trying out and being selected for a role. This year, for auditions, everyone trying out had to read a page they selected from “Little Women”. The directors then evaluate all of the tryouts and select the best person fit for each role. Other than actors, there are many other people who are important to the production such as the stage hands and the lighting

crew. These people run the behind the scenes, of the production to make sure it runs smoothly. One of the directors of the play, Brianne Pernod, has put a lot of time into making this play reach its full potential. In the process of choosing the play the directors wanted something that would relate to the time period that the show would be premiering in, and is appropriate for all families. They wanted something that the entire Wadsworth community could come together and watch.

“Little Women has a lot of draw because of the movie that came out a few years ago, ‘’ Pernod said. ‘’So we are hoping to pull from that popularity to help support the program.”

The directors decided on Little Women partly because of the interest that a popular name play brings to the audience, shown by the success of “Anne of Green Gables “last year. Pernod finds that working with students outside of the classroom helps build different connections with her students. Watching them succeed

is really rewarding for her after spending so much time putting together the show. Her main goal as a director is not only to put on a good show, but to build self confidence and life skills in her actors in any way possible

The actors in this play began rehearsals in September in preparation for their play in December. Camryn Henderson, a junior at WHS, is playing Josephine who is one of the four sisters in Little Women. Henderson has been doing theater since she was 8 years old and has participated in five theater productions at the high school.

“I love being on stage and performing”, Henderson said. “It’s

rewarding to get to perform something we worked so hard on.”

The hard work of all of the participants in the play is what drives the theater program. Tickets for “Little Women” are $8.00 a piece and available at the door or online. All of the ticket money raised on show nights goes back into the theater fund, to help put on the next show. The support of the community is what drives the productions of these plays for the students. For this reason Pernod says, “Come see the show!”

1. Part of the cast of “Little Women” gather around a sofa as Josephine(Camryn Henderson) reads a letter she received in the mail. The cast just visited Hale Farm and Village to better understand the time period and people of the 1800s to better improve their performance.

Photo by Bri Perkins.

2. Eleanor Kopfstein recites her lines in rehearsal to start off the scene. Kopfstein is playing the narrator in the play, which is Josephine’s voice.

Photo by Bri Perkins.

3. Chessa Homan and Camryn Henderson reunite in the play with a celebratory spin. In the play Henderson and Homan play sisters. Homan is a Senior at WHS and this will be her last production with the program.

Photo by Bri Perkins.

The cast of “Chicago” rehearses on the stage. Chloe Leavitt front and center performing as Velma Kelly. Photo courtesy of Pamela Csaky.

Erik Schnell and Kara Moore are rehearsing a scene together. Schnell interacts with most of the cast throughout the show being the lead character. Photo courtesy of Pamela Csaky.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON WORKS AND THE RINGS OF POWER FALLS SHORT

OPINION BY BRENDEN BARLETT

After watching both Amazon Prime’s The Rings of Power (Rings) and HBO Max’s the House of the Dragon (Dragons) and even re-watching their opening episodes for good measure, it is safe to say Dragons is more worthy of viewers’ attention.

If one compared both shows, episode by episode, Dragons would overshadow Rings in every case. Its writing is crisp, its dialogue feels natural, there are consequences and true risk, and the show knows what it wants to be–which is a dark fantasy series with political intrigue and war sprinkled throughout. It is a story that follows the family of House Targaryen, and the writers make that clear at the beginning of episode one when Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the protagonist, voices over the prologue.

“Jaehaerys called the great council to prevent a war being fought over his succession,” Rhaenyra said. “For he knew the cold truth-the only thing that could tear down the House of the Dragon was itself.”

Just two minutes into Dragons, viewers can already determine if it is a show that interests them, as the writers have made a promise that it is a story about a family that’s only weakness is quarrels from within. Rings, however, begins with a promise of a looming dark lord (Sauron) and the expectation that its protagonist, a young elf-warrior, Galadriel, will continue to hunt for him because he killed her unnamed brother. The problem is that her brother’s death is treated merely as a plot device and has little impact on the show since the audience spent around a minute getting to know him.

“My current biggest issue is how they expected us to care about this character we met in the first four minutes, and he died, and then like we have to be like ‘yeah do it for her brother!’” Said Ian Clark-Kelley, a senior who initially began watching Rings with a lot of optimism. “Like we have no emotional connection towards him at all.”

Achieving an emotional connection is a problem Rings struggles with throughout the

entire show. Even the majority of its main characters- Galadriel, Halbrand, Arondir, Nori, and more, invoke so little emotion that it is difficult to recall a single moment where the show fleshed them out, let alone made it worth caring about them or their goals. There is no development beyond their one-dimensional stereotypes, such as being a rogue, a warrior, or a soldier. In fact, despite the nearly ten hours the audience spends with these characters, many may be hard-pressed to remember their names aside from household characters such as Galadriel and Elrond, who have the benefit of having been in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which by the way has no connection to Rings although it is evident that Jackson’s films set a standard Rings tried and failed to reach.

“There’s no character development in The Rings of Power,” said Jacob Forester, a junior who has not watched Lord of the Rings trilogy or Game of Thrones. “Galadriel kind of just stays the same throughout the show even though she’s the main character.”

If Rings managed to strongly develop just several of the characters in its lengthy cast, it would have been easier to look past the show’s weakest points (plot, pacing, costume design, and over reliance on a suspension of disbelief) and enjoy it for what it is. Not to mention, the show likely would have been a lot less boring. Sadly, it does not, and in comparison of its characters to Dragons, the difference is astounding.

In Dragons, the main cast and a bulk of the supporting cast have identifiable human character flaws and motivations that help the audience appreciate their presence and, depending, either like or hate them.

“In Rings of Power, they have too many characters and don’t really explain very well who they are, so you don’t really get attached to them,” Forester said. “But in House of the Dragon, it’s a smaller cast of characters, explained well, so you actually understand the characters, how they act, and who they are.”

A perfect example of a well-developed

character in Dragons is Prince Daemon Targaryen, who, at the start of episode one, is the younger brother of the King and the heir to the Iron Throne. The audience quickly learns that while Daemon loves his brother and has a soft spot for his niece, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, he is ambitious and wants to be King. However, while he wants to rule, he does not care for the politics, scheming, or the responsibilities that it requires, and instead, he prefers to drink, fight in tournaments, and perform other “unbecoming” acts that make him a very undesirable future king in the eyes of other characters which creates tension and a series of conflicts that help further the plot and deepen character relationships and rivalries.

“This dude, Prince Daemon needs to be stopped, bro!” said Bryden Barlett, a junior and the only one of the three viewers who read some of Tolkien’s works. “He is actually a menace to society, and he controls the scene whenever he’s in it.”

Moving away from how both shows treat characters and set up conflicts, it is worth mentioning that the biggest weakness of both shows is pacing. Rings has too many point-ofviews throughout the show, all spread out in different locations in the world. While it could have worked if they focused on world-building, they did not, so it made for a clunky juxtaposition of various boring stories (aside from Elrond and the Dwarves, their story was interesting). Meanwhile, while Dragon’s pacing is also weak, it serves the purpose of passing time to reach important events within the Targaryen family’s history, and it drives the story forward as tensions rise and a civil war nears.

At the end of the day, neither show is perfect, but there is definitely a stark difference in the passion and quality of writing put in by each show’s writers and show runners. Dragons is great, and so far, it has redeemed the weak ending of HBO’s Game of Thrones; Rings, on the other hand, may satisfy some, but overall it feels shallow and as if the writers did not know what direction they wanted to take it or what their target audience would be as it mixes serious and gory moments with very childish scenes such as the majority of the Harfoot’s.

”Rings of Power, painful watch. The second episode was about the only good one because it has the dwarves in it, and they have actually good designs but most of the designs in The Rings of Power are pretty bad. The clothing and armor designs in House of the Dragon, on the other hand, are about fifty times better, and they actually make sense to the social classes of the world.”

Jacob Forester’s (11) Rating: Dragons 9.1/10 ; Rings 3.1/10

“House of the Dragons was incredible. The politics and gore is what’s expected in a Game of Thrones-type show. The show lived up to the hype despite its weird time jumps throughout. Rings of Power, however, was a complete letdown and honestly a waste of a billion dollars.“

Ian Clark-Kelley’s (12) Rating: Dragons 9.3/10 ; Rings 4.3/10

Dragons excelled in essentially every aspect-from visuals to the fundamentals of storytelling to its memorable and likable characters (Daemon, Rhaenyra, Viserys I, and many others). While its time skips can sacrifice character moments worth watching and weaken the pacing, Dragons still feels incredible. It is a treat to watch House Targaryen’s story unfold in this dark, beautiful atmosphere the House of the Dragon team created, and it is no surprise many viewers are already excited for season two. Season one of House of the Dragon is rated MA and can be watched on HBO Max.

Rings is disappointing. It has the largest budget in TV history, Amazon at its backing, and it calls itself The Lord of the Rings. Honestly, it is concerning how poorly written and boring it is. It should not have aired in the state it is in, and that is not meant as an insult. Even Game of Thrones went back to the drawing board after its initial (unaired) pilot episode. Nevertheless, if Rings takes feedback, improves its pacing (it is not a video game, characters should not teleport across the world), and learns to actually develop its characters and raise the stakes (feeling worried for characters during conflicts would be a welcome change) then maybe season two will be worth watching. Until then, season one of rings is TV-14 and can be found on Amazon Prime.

“The House of the Dragon is a banger. I want to watch it again. It’s very good; It’s very brutal--10/10 But with Rings of Power, bro, honestly I zoned out and stared at the ceiling for like eight minutes.”

Bryden Barlett’s (11) Rating: Dragons 8.63/10 ; Rings 2.95/10

The Definitive Rating: Dragons 9.19/10 ; Rings 3.45/10

THE RINGS OF POWER TO ME, FEELS LIKE IT HAS NO SOUL. THERE’S NO IDENTITY. BUT IN HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, YOU KNOW THAT IT’S “GAME OF THRONES.”

-Ian Clark-Kelley, Senior.

The Audience’s Final Words-

Photo courtesy of fair use.

Photo courtesy of fair use.

Closing Words:

BY LILY LOVE & CARLEY SORRENT

October 21, 2022, marks the release of Taylor Swift’s new album. Announced during her VMA (Video Music Awards) Video of the Year Acceptance speech, on August 28, 2022, at the MTV Music Awards, the new album takes the title of Midnights

Midnights is Swift’s tenth studio released album, and the first studio album since the release of Evermore in December of 2021, and two rerecorded albums in April and November of 2021.

Despite having released twelve albums in total, only 10 of them count towards Swift’s studio album count. This is because 21 of the 27 tracks on Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and 22 of the 30 tracks on Red (Taylor’s Version)

released once before. This means that regardless of the Vault tracks that have been added, the majority of the album is not new material, so it does not count as a new studio album.

Midnights has not been previously released, so the new album will go towards Swift’s studio album count. It consists of 13 tracks total, and features Lana Del Rey, known for

album for the fans, it also delves into what goes on behind the scenes in people’s life. In the initial Instagram announcement post, Swift shared that, “this is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.”

WHS sophomore Izaro Negueruela is excited for the album’s release.

“I think we’ll see an album with the same style as August, with more “sad” songs,” Negueruela said. “I’m really excited for her collaboration with Lana Del Rey.”

Leading up to the release on October 21, Swift began sharing Instagram videos, giving background to some of the tracks on the album. Three songs that she initially gave background on are Tracks one, three, and four.

the popular song “Summertime Sadness”, on track four, titled “Snow on the Beach.”

WHS Student Maggie Katafiasz has been a fan of Swift’s music since the release of Reputation in 2017.

“She always creates very personal, cool music that relates to her life, her experiences, and her reflection on who she is now as an artist and as a person,” Katafiasz said. “I’m excited to hear what she has in store in her next album.”

Not only is Midnights meant to be a relatable

Track one is titled “Lavender Haze”, and Swift shared that it is inspired by her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn. Lavender Haze is a term used in the 50’s to describe being in love. This track is about being in love with someone, and not letting other people weigh in on the relationship.

Track three takes the title of “AntiHero,” and Swift has shared that this track is “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.” This song delves into her own insecurities, and what she likes, and dislikes about herself.

“I like this song a lot because I think it is really honest,” Swift said in a recent Instagram post.

Track four is titled “Snow on the Beach”, and features singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. Swift shares that this track is about “falling in love with someone at the same time that they are falling in love with you.”

Midnights dropped on Friday October 21 and has broken Spotify’s record for most streamed album in a single day.

A clip from Swift’s recent Instagram videos. The video showcased multiple clips of upcoming Midnights music videos. So far, Swift has released videos for AntiHero and Bejeweled. Photo courtesy of fair use.

The Midnights album cover. Leading up to the release of the album, Swift released seven different editions of the album with multiple bonus tracks and remixes. Each cover is a different photo, and includes a different colored disc and lyric booklet inside. Photo courtesy of fair use.