www.wildcattales.com
The Wildcat Tales volume lxvi
May 24, 2012
Senior Tribute
Plano Senior High School
Plano, TX, USA
gearing us towards a successful future
I finally know who I am
The end Defining myself It’s been a long, hard ride pep rallies Bleed maroon ohana has definitely defined me as a person it just feels like a family bittersweet a year thata really bad case of senioritis awesome people, awesome teachers, awesome friends start a new life
Changing for the better
Hats off to you
seniors 2012
we have the super studious students, but we also have the people running around with guitars and ukuleles
showing what you’re made of
Stay Day
basketball games
memories
orchestra
ready for the next step
lasting friendships
it went by too quickly
traditions
freedom to find your identity
we should use our opportunities to make positive changes in the world
Responsibility
Friday night football
Paws
Prom Saying goodbye
community service
clinical rotations
stressful
you can not only grow academically, but as a person know who we are
A Year in Review
May 24, 2012
A year in review - Introduction
The Wildcat Tales brainstormed major events throughout the school year that have impacted the student body, among which are events of national scope as well as schoolspecific traditions. This is not an inclusive list, but we tried to cover events that would pertain to all students. As we look back upon the school year we hope that you always remember these moments and more as we continue with our lives. The college map located on pages 4 and 5 is not a complete list of students, and if your name was not included we appologize. However this map does show the diversity of our senior class and the locations of their post-secondary education or service. We congradulate the senior class of 2012 and wish them good luck in the future.
September 11 - Commemorative ceremony
2011 marked the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America. Students and faculty reflected on the attacks during a commemorative dedication.
October 6 - Stay Day
Each semester, an annual Stay Day promotes environmental awareness, keeping students on campus for lunch, instead of driving and polluting the air.
August 22 - School Begins
Photo by Madison McDaniel
August
September
October
October 15 - Homecoming
The tradition of the Homecoming dance has always been a highlight of the school year. Put on by Student Council, the theme for this years dance was Night at the Oscars.
August 17- Cat Camp
Before school starts each year, an informational day to welcome the incoming juniors prepares them for academics, clubs and traditions.
Photo by Alyssa Matesic
Photo by Sarah Varnu
Photo by Kelsey Young
September 6 - School board discusses options to balance district
Members of the school board, parents, community members and school faculty congregated at the Sockwell Center, sharing their thoughts and views over a realignment proposal on Sept. 6. The board committee discussed a realignment option of turning Jasper High School into Plano North Senior High School to decrease the amount of students at Plano West. This comes year and a half after realigning the district because of the addition of a sixth High School. “For people saying bigger is better, and get more choices, I don’t agree with that,” resident Julie Anderson said. “My daughter sits in a class where there are over 40 students, and there are not enough seats for everyone. The teacher does not have time to go around and answer questions. My daughter walks in a cramped classroom and there are not enough lockers for every student. I can’t imagine what it will be like when she enters Plano West, and it’s the biggest class.” It would cost $38 million to convert Jasper into a senior high school which many argued the district can’t afford. “This is money we don’t need to spend when we our experiencing an economic recession,” resident Bill Snyder said. “I don’t max out my credit cards unless I absolutely necessarily have to. Why spend money we don’t have to spend for a problem that is not a major problem?” Contribution by Haley Bunnell
Page Six
A Year in Review
May 24, 2012
November 3 - Doyle Dean Peforming Arts Center
Photo by Kelsey Young
October 28 - Pink Out Game
The Planoettes held the second annual “Pink Out” football game on Oct. 28, 2011 at Clark Stadium. This year Plano teamed up with Plano East to sell “Pink Out” shirts and raise awareness for National Breast Cancer Awareness month. “We chose to do this [event] because we figured that there would be a lot of people who would want to participate,” Planoette director Lindsay Placke said. “We are not getting any profit from this. We are donating everything we make to the Susan G. Komen foundation.” The football team, cheerleaders, and Planoettes all supported the cause by wearing pink.
Building D is renamed the Doyle Dean Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Nov. 3. At the dedication, the Symphony Orchestra and the Grand Chorus collaborated to perform a tribute to Dr. Dean. Outside, the maroon letters of the building’s new name were illuminated. Dr. Dean joined the district in 1964 and became principal In 1986 he became principal of Plano. He held the position until he retired in June 2010. Having served for 45 years, he is the district’s longest-serving employee. Dr. Dean was Photo by Kimberly Mei “very honored” that Plano decided to name a building after him. “Of course, I love Plano Senior High School,” Dr. Dean said. “I would tell [future Wildcats] the same thing that I have told them throughout my career. Work hard in school, but you also balance that by having other interests, not just academics, but do other things. Be involved in music, like band, or athletics, or scouting, but do something other than academics.” Contribution by Kimberly Mei
November 15 - District joins lawsuit against the state
After much research, conferencing and discussions, the decision comes unanimously amongst the school board members at the Nov. 15 meeting. PISD is joining Highland Park and Lewisville in a lawsuit against the state for failing to adequately fund its public education systems. The districts claim that Texas is violating constitutional education requirements and that recent budget cuts have sunk school finances too far for them to operate smoothly. “I think [suing] may be about the only option we have at this point,” principal Sarah Watkins said. “Lawsuits are ways that have been used before; [the district has] gone this route before. It’s reasonable to take this as the next step.” If the district wins this suit, programs and staff that were previously cut may be renewed.
Contribution by Stephanie Jabri
Contribution by Alyssa Matesic
November
December
Change is in the air Senior Lauren Burgess prepares for graduation and college By Meital Boim Cheerleading has been senior Lauren Burgess’ life. Since the fifth grade, she’s spent afternoons and weekends practicing with her squad, cheering at football and basketball games and preparing for competitions. That all ends next year. Although Burgess has been cheering for eight years, she didn’t get one of the two freshman spots on the Texas Christian University cheerleading squad. While her mom wants her to keep cheering, Burgess isn’t sure it’s right for her. “I’ve done it all my life and she wants me to do something, and she’s always so into it, and she’s so sad that I’m not going to have anything anymore. But I’m not going to do it forever, and I want to start focusing on school. I tried, and if I had
made it, it would have been great, but I didn’t, so I just want to move on.” Without cheer practices, Burgess will have more freedom and leeway to choose her own schedule. “We’ve been doing this routine for 12 years,” Burgess said. “Get up. Go to school. It’s going to be so different in college. You don’t come home. You’re always there.” Although Burgess anticipates having to work during the summer and to take out student loans to help out with her tuition, she may have to pay all of the $35,000 tuition during her junior and senior years. “It sounds really stressful,” Burgess said. “It’s a lot of money, and I don’t know how I’m going to pay that. Hopefully when I get there I’ll know what to do.”
Page Seven
Seniors 2012 1. Abilene Christian Univ. Brooks Alexander, Andrew Alexander, Matthew Hoard, Kinsey Lee
May 24, 2012
Congratulations
2. Air Force Academy Melissa Leonhardt 3. American Univ.Trevor Wright 4. Amherst College Pablo Morales 5. Auburn Univ. Rachael Pickles 6. Austin Community College Presley Hernandez, Amelia Leidy, Katelyn Warshaw 7. Arizona State Univ. Hanah Al-Rashed, Joel Sands
8. Bacone College Alex Hicks 9. Bard College. Alexandra Michaud 10. Baylor Univ. Michael Bain, Charlie Blake, Drew Bresnahan, Sean Browning, Victor Bui, Bonney Dennis, Louis De Torcy, Amalia Dongo, Nicole Dyson, Amanda Edinger, Grace Glendinning, Jill Holub, Yeazee Kim, Jacob Lofman, David Mangum, Amanda Marable, Amy McMahan, Zach Nail, Shantha Nithiananda, Maelyn Schramm, Travis Warman, Justin Wicker, Stephanie Wright 11. Belmont Univ. Bailey Jehl, Brett Arnold 12. Berklee College of Music Corey Hrbacek 13. Blinn College David Hardage, Shelby Kittrell 14. Brigham Young Univ. Dani Bush 15. Brigham Young Univ.-Idaho Daniel Johnstun, Kohl Rast 16. Brown Univ. Adwa Habtu, Jack Du, Reid McDuff 17. California Institute of the ArtsKeegan Latham 18. California Institute of Technology Daniel Gomez 19. Centenary College of Louisiana Douglas O’Laughlin 20. Central Arkansas Univ. Kenny Stice 21. Coast Guard Academy Ashley Ezell 22. Collin College Fatimah Al-Baki, Ridha Ahmad, Mikayla Allen, Cristian Arevalo, Anthony Barr, Savanna Bauman, Brenda Benavides, Arthur Bennett, Peyton Berry, Ashlie Blalock, Brighton Boots, Yussuf Boublih, Jessica Bowen, Jeremy Brooks, Sean Brown, Dylan Buckner, Paul Burnham, Keaton Burns, Megan Carroll, Heather Chambers, Jennifer Chen, Kylie Christian, Rachel Contreras, Jacob Cornett, Alexander Coulter, Carson Coulter, Amanda Creel, Samuel Crowley, Krishna Divyeshwar, Jocelyn Drennan, Pearl Enwere, Michelle Escalante, Brie Estes, Cody Fentem, Mailea Finley, Lydia Flores, Aimee Foster, Penny Fun, Matthew Ganness, Jessica Garay, Kiara Garcia, Vanesa Garcia, Morgan Gates, Kian Ghanbarnejad, Rozen Gilerman, Jared Greer, Kalsom, Hamouden, Adam Harris, Ian Harmon, Katherine Hensley, Joseph Holmes, Chris Huggins, Marisa Hunter, Adam Jamsheedi, Jacqueline Jewison, Aubrey Janik, Taylor Jindra, Ryan Jones, Kelly Kraatz, Amit Kudtarkar, Isaac Kuhn, Lauren Landau, Anissa Leyva, Nathaniel Litz, Kathryn Livingston, Jonathan Kaczmarek, Alicia Kralik, Daniel Koo, Benjamin Martinez, Steffi Mathew, Kevin May, Samuel May, John McCoy, Amy McLerran, Kandice Millette, Dakota Mitchell, Nawaal Momin, Luciana Morales, Michael Moreno, Steven Murray Jr, Dane Osborne, Morgan Owens, Brian Pasha, Keyur Patel, Stacy Parker, Pedro Paz, Cindy Quintero, Ryan Reginelli, Wajiha Rehman, Kelsey Remington, Ronald Romesberg, Helena Ross, Marcus Sadafsaz, Lauren Rubarts, Colleen Sanders, Alex Schwartz, Thomas Shows, Richard Stayman, Cody Stevens, Hayley Swinton, Bryce
Page Four
Taylor, Hannah Taylor, Kristina Tidwell, Jourdan TheriaultWood, Katherine Thurmond, Dean Thomson, Jamie Trout, Jazmine Tubbs, Kaamil Veerjee, Monique Villalobos, Jocelyn Villela, Joy Watson, Luke Watson, Emily Wilcox, Brandon Wilson, Megan Zachary 23. Colorado State Univ. Elizabeth Watson 24. Cornell Univ. Joseph Yeh, Justin Ying 25. Costal Carolina Univ. Joseph Saad
42. Iowa State Univ. Rebecca Netherton
26. Creighton Univ. Austin Fenton
43. Juniata College David Wouch
27. Dartmouth College Kayla Bu, Martin Moon
44. John Brown Univ. Kelsey Young
28. Drexel Univ. Allison Gaughan, Tina Sharma
45. Kansas State Univ. Austin Long, Quinte Mann
59. New York Univ. Peyton Kennedy, Courtney Mayden, Sofia Toohey
46. Kansas Wesleyan Univ. LJ Ausama
60. Northeastern Univ. Lindsey Carver
30. Evangel Univ. Darron D Shannon
47. Lake Forest College Spencer Michaud
61. Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Elizabeth Macconnell
31. Fairleigh Dickerson Univ. Allison Butler, Brittani Feledichuk
48. Lamar Univ. Ashley McDowell
62. Northern Arizona Univ. Danah Taylor
49. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts - Austin Hunter Seis
63. Northern Illinois Univ. Zully Romo
50. Lehigh Univ. Mackenzie Velasquez
64. Northwestern State Univ. Amanda Kunz
69. Oral Roberts Univ. Mitchell Day, Madison McDaniel
65. Northwestern Univ. Sean Oliver
70. The Ohio State Univ. Drew Hill
66. Odessa College Max Negoslawski
71. Ouachita Baptist Univ. Jacqueline
29. Emporia State Univ. Daphne Evans
32. Florida A&M Univ. Mykala Taylor 33. Fordham Univ. Celina Lam 34. Fort Lewis College Shannon Quay 35. Furman Univ. Carolyn Hartung 36. Grayson County Junior College Matthew McLean 37. Harvard Univ. Susan Bin 38. Hendrix College Katherine Friesen, Sarah
51. Long Island Univ. Emma Barishman, 52. Louisiana State Univ. Courtnee O’Connell, Ethan Robins, Christopher Nittolo 53. Louisiana Tech Univ. Kristen Miles, Randall Methe 54. Loyola Univ. Leila Belknap
Varnau,
55. Midwestern Univ. Katherine Batey, Andrew Dockrill, Kelsey Jones
39. Hill College Justin Arrington
56. Mississippi State Univ. Megan Heaton
40. Hofstra Univ. Rachel Traxler
57. Naval Academy Daniel McCaffrey
41. Indiana Univ. Tony Qian
58. New Mexico Institute of Technology Ryan Hutchison
67. Oklahoma Christian Univ. Rachael McGowan 68. Oklahoma State Univ. Alexis Allen, Madison Bahe, Jennifer Bardgett, Andria Rae Belmares, Jenna Broderick Alexis Cadaret, Amanda Cockrell, Alex Farrell, Rebecca Finley, Tyler Grant, Kelsey Hudspeth, Mallory Knutson, Kevin Leamy, Alexis Macaluso, Cole McReynolds, Taylor Meagher, Madison Morgan, Kyle Nethers, Lindsey Nicks, Megan Nolte, Jackson Pate, Connor Pond, Chris Puchala, Brian Schattle, Brian Seale, Greg Tabanian, Andrew Tompkins, Will Vasil, Taylor Watkins, Matt Wucher
Adams,
75. Penn State Univ. Hannah Hoenshell 73. Prairie View A&M Univ. Davaughn Steele 74. Princeton Univ. Lawrence Liu 75. Redlands Community College Shawn James 76. Rice Univ. Emily Higgs 77. Richland College Karinna Gallegos
Seniors 2012
May 24, 2012
117. Univ. of Pennsylvania Sarah Hassan, Sheryl Li, Kelvin Wang, Jessie Zhou
s Class of 2012
118. Univ. of San Diego Dani Meyers 119. Univ. of South Carolina Erin Ames 120. Univ. of South Florida Shane Kendrick 121. Univ. of Southern California Brandon Barber, Naseoul Lee
37 60 12 97 16 51 40 59 33 Halverson, Chris Hennessy, Zach Ismond, Anthony Izzi, Kelly McCarthy, Taylor McCool, Meredith Mitchell, Alex Ozlowski, Connor Pitts, Meaghan Pulliam, Travis Robbins, Eliza Roderer, Javier Rodriguez, Erin Saunders, Jackie Sniffen, Barron Stephenson, Eilie Strecker, Alex Stiles, Jeremy Temme, Courtney Weisell, Chance Weith, Brent Wise, Brandon Wodka
109. Univ. of Kentucky Sara Sligar
125. Univ. of Texas El Paso Lisa Jany
110. Univ. of Massachusetts – Amherst Daniel Nguyen
126. Univ. of Texas San Antonio Kevin Chang, Whitney Fein, Paula Marzullo,
111. Univ. of Mississippi Kelley Dwyer
127. Univ. of Tulsa Anthony D’Amore, Kelsey Erwin
103. Univ. of Chicago Richard Hanson, Eric Kim, Angela Xin 104. Univ. of Denver Hunter Gore 105. Univ. of Hawaii Edward Hunt
78. Rochester Institute of Technology Leele Girma, Karissa Mirus 79. Sam Houston State Univ. Tyler Davidson, Travis Kendrick, AlyssaYarrow 80. Santa Fe Univ. of Art and Desgin Sean Canon 81. Snow Junior College Sam Morell 82. Southern Illinois Univ. Trey Cesak 83. Southern Methodist Univ. Sohit Dave, Danielle Deraleau, Kathryn Hart, Jessica Jan, Chris Pawlowski 84. Southwestern College Sheridan Keller 85. Southwestern Univ. Samuel Kim, Matthew Zagurski,
Jessica Pfohl, Amanda Raley, Connor Reed, Clarissa Reeves, Amber Robinson, Ruhi Trehan, Sarah Scarborough, Danielle Schuttenhelm, Melissa Smoot, Kelly Swaggerty, Brecken Wellborn 88. St. Olaf College Kaylar Fullington 89. Tarleton State Univ. Haley Archer 90. Texas A&M Univ.- College Station
Michael Akomer, Jessica Bearden, Lauren Bell, Abigail Buffington, Andrew Chepey, Preston Duncan, Cole Eckeberger, David Heggland, Katherine Imwalle, Kayla Kehlmann, Madeline Kinnaird, Rachel Knapp, Thomas Langford, Leon Lin, Mitchell Le, Nicolas Matos, Spenser Meredith, Cameron Meyers, Katharina Moeller, Olivia Olvera, Austan Palmer, Michaela Pancake, Akshob Rao, Eric Rice, Lanie Robinson, Daniela Salhuana, Melissa Santos, Grant Schauer, John Schomburger, Deanna Sessions, Anna Strakele, Ben Stumpf, Matthew Theodore, Molly Thompson,GrantTollette, Esmeralda Valdez, Scott Wagner, Cameron Weinert, Samuel Yong
95. Texas Tech Univ. Natalie Butler, Hannah Daniels, Joseph Cockrell, Brandon Davis, Jeffrey Doucette, Mallory Hayes, Valerie Hurtado, Janice Im, Katie Kohl, Steve Munoz, Smrithi Kurucherlapati, Victoria Lien, Martin McZeal, Erin Milligan,Steve Munoz, Alli Murphy, Hannah Plott, Carly Reps, Rachel Ruhman, Ryan Schmieg, Carl Swanson, Sarah Talley, Ashlee Trotter, Elizabeth Worley, Rufaro Zengeni, Aoqig Zhang, 96. Texas Woman’s Univ. Tiffany Alexander, Megan Cornelison, Ron’Eshia Edmond, Luxi Jebanesan, Khamile Marsh, Micheli Soong, Jordan Switzer, Tyler Junior College Xavier Harbert, D’Wayne Hicks Jr, James Jackson, 97. Tufts Univ. Josh Grelle 98. Univ. of Alabama Katherine Coe, Kyle
Johnson, Abby Mott
86. State Univ. of New York - Plattsburg Jennifer Scott
91. Texas A&M Coprus Christi Jordan Baird
99. Univ. of Arizona Emma Davis, Mustafa Nasib, Andrea Scheck, Kyle Virdin,
92. Texas A&M Galveston Colin Buckley,
100. Univ. of Arkansas Ena Abadzic,
87. Stephen F Austin State Univ. Carrie Anthony, Ryan Brown-Moreno, Sydney Dickerson, Aaron Hooper, Amber Lakhani, JoJwan McLeod, Elizabeth Owens, Eric Pacheco, Josh Pingenot, Ryan Pingenot,
Parker Volpe
93. Texas Christian Univ. Lauren Burgess, Kate Everett, Austin Mitchell, Hunter Raley, Caitlyn Rhoden
Zachary Bergenholtz, Stephen Bingaman, Brittany Brunson, Rachel Byers, Cristy Davaloz, Alayna Dority, Sarah Ellis, Shelby Franz, Madelyn Gallant, Alec Gerber, Alex Gonzalez, Jake Graf, Eric
Betz, Andrew Kick, Ian Leung, Logan Martin, Rakan Stanbouly, Jordan Tucker
108. Univ. of Kansas Katelyn Johnson, Maxwell Bagby, Chloe Hosid, Ann Macken
102. Univ. of California - Los Angeles Kaili Yang
Bunnell, Holly Ratcliff, Emily Reas, Amanda Williams,
123. Univ. of Texas – Arlington Audrey
124. Univ. of Texas – Dallas Tahera Abdulali, Tania Almonte, Stefan Babick, Samantha Belson, Sambridhi Bhujel, Nikitha Bommisetty, Sara Bosak-Barani, Logan Bowers, Victor Bui, Sara Bynum, Stephen Chang, ChengLing Chi, Sheena Chokshi, Adib Chowdhury, Regina Chowdhury, Brooks Conner, Irina Denisova, Nicolette Doan, Priya Dhudshia, Daniel Duncan, Chisom Ekweani, Jarek Guevara, Angel Gill, Stephen Gill, Kamran Hamid, Colin Haney, Daniel Heskett II, David Hernandez, Waley Hua, Aroob Kamal, Khwaja Kamran, Ekaterina Kouznetsova, Ellen Lardner, Yihan Liang, Emily Lin, Michael Lee Jr, Jason Levy, Sarah Lovell, Cali-Michelle Martin, Daniel Martin, Connor McCaffrey, Sebastian Mejia, Gabriella Mitchell, Natasha Murty, Chris Ngoh, Vivian Nguyen, Isabel Ong, Kyle Parrott, Alan Patel, Shivam Patel, Srija Peruka,Amin Pirani, Maaz Razi, Steven Reese, Dennis Ryazanov, Siddharth Sant, Stephen Phillips, Antonio San Pedro, Chelsea Sartor, Sushen Sehgal, Hemali Sheth, Laura Su, Ali Tejani, Mallory Thompson, Reed Thompson, Michelle Tovar-Vega, Andy Tran, Kevin Tsai, Zachary Van Duyne, Jonathan Wang, Bethany Werner, Ariel Zhai,
101. Univ. of California-Berkley Yu-Chun Lin
94. Texas State Univ.-San Marcos Haley
122. Univ. of Texas – Austin Danielle Adix, Landon Baker, Farah Balsara, Joshua Bergman, Meital Boim, Ann Cai, Revian Chang, Caroline Chen, Stephanie Chu, Danielle Coffey, Caleb Cook, Paulami Das, Carissa Dickerson, Laura Gammon, Dayna Gettel, Robert Golshan, Diva Gulati, Joe Heike, Bryna Herskowitz, Kelsey Hildebrandt, Miles Hutson, Gerard Issac, Samy Janzarli, Lindsey Kehlmann, Ted Kim, Sara Kingman, Milan Kodali, Joshua Leu, Joel Liou, Mark Lu, David Ma, Rana Madkour, Angela Meng, Melissa Meyer, Samantha Meyer, Joy Mong, Manjari Subramanian, Andrew Miculka, Jiyoung Min, Shayan Mohanty, Deepti Nathan, Prashant Narayan, Melanie Nguyen, Mohit Patel, Jonathan Pattie, Connor Peska, Emily Podnieks, Ashwin Ramakrishnan, Manideep Ravi, Karthik Ravikumar, Rebecca Rigby, Matthew Rindelaub, Victoria Roberson, Katie Russell, Jacob Schnitzer, Holden Smith, Vishnupriya Somisetty, Nikki Thrikutam, Valerie Villacampa, Olivia Weinberg, Kelly Widder, Brian Zeff, Alexander Zhang,
106. Univ. of Houston Zane Colaric, Modupe Dina, Robin Pham, Eugene Soh, 107. Univ. of the Incarnate Word Erin Lowell
112. Univ. of Missouri-Columbia Grant Pieper, Dani Sureck, Taylor Newroth, Abbey Roderman,
128. Vanderbilt Univ. Benjamin Cook, Rebecca Feronti
113. Univ. of New Hampshire Haley Breedlove
129. Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Kirsten Stanley
114. Univ. of North Texas James Bishop II,
130. Washington State Univ. Sofie Kyhnel
Miriam Botero, Olivia Butler, Alexander Bui, Gabriel Caldwell, Joshua Cantrell, Paige Collom, Jeremy Deutsch, Kurt Doty, Kyle Gallardo, Bobby Geibler, Alyssa Holiman, Keoni Holoman, Kathryn Ligon, Katherine Kallas, Amanda McAdams, Josh Marino, Aqil Mohdzahir, Daniel Nation, Kami Noyce, Angeline Park, Liza Parsons, Kelsey Richards, Sarah Rund, Chris Ritter, Eric Salas, Kaylia Schunemann, Victoria Smith, Mary Walton, Cory Wright, Matt Wood
115. Univ. of Miami Tara Brown 116. Univ. of Oklahoma Kristin Bittick, Alexander Berger, Kristen Clement, Justice Connery, Taylor Crews, Jake Dinucci, Hannah Donnelli, Katherine Finley, Anna Fischer, Lauren Fowler, Brian Hawkins, Daniel Hinson, Hughes Trey, Blake Hutzler, Stephen Lowry, Kylee Krusemark, Connor Millican, Ava Nelson, Sam Parks, Rebecca Sipes, Audrey Spurlock, Hannah Stark, Laura Terhune
Note: This is not a complete list of the senior class. We apologize if your name is not included
131. Washington Univ. at St Louis Patricia Chen 132. Wayland Baptist Univ. Stephanie Afunugo, Stephen Collins II, Kevin Merrill, 133. West Point Academy Shannon Rogers 134. Yale Univ. Darien Lee Armed Forces Army Kyle Archibeque, Jasmine Jones Air Force Chyna Smith Marine Corps Matthew Dickinson, Michael Gale, Jackson Harwell, Abraham Yun Letourneau Unviersity Collin Cunningham
Page Five
A Year in Review
May 24, 2012
March 2 - Plano's Got Talent
January 12-14 - Chicago
The theater department puts on its production of Chicago selling out all three nights.
Senior Jeremy Deutsch and junior Mason Bourgeois win the 13th annual Plano's Got Talent show. The duo performed an original song featuring Deutsch on drums and Bourgeois on piano.
February 3 - Mr. Plano
Senior Kurt Doty is crowned Mr. Plano during the 13th annual Mr. Plano pageant Feb. 3. “I am truly humbled and thankful for receiving this prestigious award,” Doty said. “I believe 100% that Mr. Plano could have gone to a number of the contestants considering how strong this year’s ballot was. I don’t really know what the judges’ criterion was, but I guess I fit it well enough.”
Photo by Daniel Hinson
Contribution by Daniel Hinson
Photos by Daniel Hinson
Photo by Reyna Hernandez
January 28 - 500 wins
Boys soccer head coach Bob Weir receives his 500th win Jan. 28 against Richardson High School. A series of games that ended as ties kept Weir from reaching that 500 mark. “I was stuck on 499 for a while,” Weir said. “It felt like I was one short for a long time, and I just couldn’t wait to get there. The boys really wanted to win it for me. I was impressed with them.” The following Monday night, Weir receives his 501st victory, by defeating McKinney Boyd. “Now that we moved past 500, I hope we can keep going strong this season,” Weir said.
March 27 - Boys soccer
The boys soccer team ends the season 15-3-7 in first place. Their playoff run ends in the semifinal game against El Paso Bel Air High School on April 13.
February 18-20 - Debate team
Selected speech and debate students compete at the annual Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament on Feb. 18-20.
Contribution by Erin Ball
January
February
March
January 31 - Dr Otto Retires
Marking the end of 17 years, Dr. Otto ends his tenure of superintendent on Jan. 31. Since his childhood in rural Illinois, where teachers were the role models, Otto knew he wanted to be an educator. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business education from Illinois State University, he taught business education at a high school and later became a principal in Taylor Photo by Daniel Hinson Ridge, Illinois, where in 1981 he got his first superintendent position. Since his arrival to the district, Otto has seen it grow to its current 55,000 student enrollment. “I have had other offers, but when you look at them, I’d be leaving the best for something less than that,” Otto said. “We have great teachers and principals. The public has always been supportive of the school district. I don’t know where I would go.” Otto Middle School opened in 2009 on the district’s east side. Otto said there is no greater honor to a man than to have a school named after him. “It makes me glad that I stayed so long,” Otto said. “It makes me glad that I have been involved in the community. I know it doesn’t happen to many people, so I am eternally grateful, and to think that I can continue to live in this community, and visit a school that has my name on it. It has been a wonderful tribute." After Otto retires he wants to spend more time with his family. He hopes to continue in the education field and become a part time professor. “I’ve added it up, and I have gone to over a thousand school board meetings,” Otto said. “I am anxious to find out what is on television on Tuesday nights.” Contribution by Daniel Hinson
Page Six
March 28 - Stay Day
Students, teachers and local businesses sell food, jewelry and more at the March 28 Stay Day, raising money for profit and for charity.
Photo by Terry Quinn
February 24, 25 - Athletes compete at state
During the state competitions on Feb. 24-25, the girls swim team received ninth place while senior Danny McCaffrey took fifth place in wrestling. Senior Ashley Ezell believes the girls swim team accomplished what they wanted to this season. “We had someone who had never made it out of districts make it to state this year,” Ezell said. “That was exciting. And Molly Zhang, a newcomer to the team as a junior, made it to state on the relay, so that was good.” The wrestling team’s new coach Clay Goodloe lead the first winning season in years. The team took second at districts and placed in the top 10 at regionals. “He did a great job and I’m sure our winning meant a lot to him,” McCaffrey said. McCaffrey said that all his hard work over these four years have been worth it. “It was my life going through high school,” McCaffrey said. “I would be practicing two times a day during season and I just got really close with my team and that group of guys so it sucks that it’s all over now. It feels great though because basically all that work paid off eventually and it was just great to see it with them.” Contribution by Eilie Strecker and Daniel Hinson
Photo by Meital Boim
Photo by Terry Quinn
May 24, 2012
April 17 - Senior orchestra tribute
A Year in Review
“I remember last year watching the seniors and it was very emotional for me, so I mean just being able to do that this year is a nice way to end my senior year and like not really say goodbye but blow out the candle and signify my ending here,” senior Adelina Sun said.
May 10 - Mr. Arp named teacher of the year
Theater teacher Greg Arp is named secondary teacher of the year at an honorary gala. “This is a huge honor, to be nominated not only just for your school but also for the whole district, it’s a pretty amazing accomplishment and feeling to know that you’re respected by your peers so well,” Arp said. “I absolutely did not see this coming, when you work with 6000, to be chosen is pretty amazing.”
“It was very emotional. I didn’t expect to be sad, I expected the piece to be more nostalgic and sentimental than sad. But when I went to blow out the candle it all kind of hit me; that in a couple of months I would never play with those people again, or in my case probably never play again. Orchestra had come to be a big part in my life and in that moment I felt like I was having to say goodbye,” senior Ryan Brown-Moreno said.
May 10, 11 - Spettacolo April 3 - Tornado locks down district
Photo by Meital Boim
April 27 - Relay for Life
Students, faculty, and staff had to duck and cover for a tornado that put the district in lock down from 2:25 until 4:00p.m. on April 3. “As unpredictable as such conditions can be, I am ultimately relieved that all students were safe as we observed severe weather procedures,” interim superintendent Richard Matkin said.
To raise awareness and funds for cancer research, students participated at Relay for Life, an annual overnight community event. Custer’s Last Band, featuring social studies teachers Matt Cone, Scott Fenney, Jeff Brooks, Joe Snider and Jason Barton, performed on stage until nearly midnight.
April
The Plano Percussion performs Elyssium in its annual Spettacolo show. Drummers from the central cluster perform different selections in their ensembles.
May
June June 4 - Graduation
April 13 - One-act play
The senior class of 2012 graduates at the Dallas Convention Center at 7:30 p.m.
The One-act play The Cripple of Innishman advances to area UIL after competing at the regional and district levels. “When we perform it over again and again, we discover new things about our character that we didn’t know before,” senior Kat Imwalle said. “This makes them more like new people. It progresses in that way and becomes more complex because you get all of your character quirks.”
May 3-4 - Sing 2012
“Sing is always a big show, it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of fun after you finish stuff like that, you start working as a team and start picking each other up. You really need that family connection for it to work out, and I feel like it worked out this year. I feel like we had a great year, it’s really emotional when you get down to the last night, and it’s a lot of fun to hear everybody screaming and going crazy, different chants and stuff like that. It’s a lot of fun smiling back stage and messing around, having a good time and watching other people enjoy the show you worked so hard to put together,” Senior Reid McDuff said.
April 12-14 - Planoette Spring Show
The Planoette Spring Show is a three-night show featuring dances that portrays different forms of entertainment. "Planoettes were such a great experience. I met so many amazing people and learned so much. I am glad I got to be a part of the team and will never forget my senior year," captain senior Maddeline Kinnaird said. "Planoettes have given so many opportunities for our whole team to not only grow in our dancing, but our friendship as well. As a class, all the senior Planoettes have grown so close and have shared memories like the super bowl and two national championships. Our spring show was really special because it was our last time dancing together," senior lieutenant senior Courtney Weisell said.
April 21 - Prom
Prom is held at South Fork Ranch April 21. The senior class selected an enchanted forest theme.
May 25 - Blood drive
The annual Carter blood drive takes place Friday, May 25 in the gymnasium. In order to encourage adults to attend, adults have priority in line. Door prizes donated by local businesses are meant to encourage students to donate. “It’s important for people to participate because hospitals and clinics always are in need of blood,” senior Farah Balsara said. “As healthy individuals we should do whatever possible to help those in need. Donating blood is an easy way to help others tremendously.” Contribution by Stephanie Jabri
Photo by Kelsey Young
April 17-20 - DECA International Conference
Seven seniors attend and compete in the DECA International Career and Development Conference (ICDC) in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Wildcat Tales
May 24, 2012
Volume LXVI Senior Tribute
Editors-in-Chief
Online Editors-in-Chief
Copy Editor
Editorial Editor
Layout Editor
Business Manager
Adviser
Daniel Hinson Eilie Strecker
Diva Gulati Madison McDaniel
Meital Boim
Maelyn Schramm
Meaghan Pulliam
Amber Robinson
Terry Quinn
Mission Statement: The Wildcat Tales is a student produced publication that serves to educate, inform and entertain the student body in a professional manner which will provoke thought while upholding the principles of a free press. The publication is a forum for the students of Plano Senior High School. Any opinions expressed in The Wildcat Tales is the opinion of the writer and of the writer only.
The Wildcat Tales is the official student publication of Plano Senior High School 2200 Independence Pkwy Plano, Tx 75075 469.752.9300
Page Seven
Advertisers
May 24, 2012
Senior Tribute
Plano Senior High School
Plano, TX, USA