2023-24 High School Confidential: Week 17

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Welcome to Year 8 of High School Confidential, powered by Danville Area Community College. It's an award-winning project made possible by aspiring student journalists from every corner of our circulation area. Each Thursday through April, they'll tell us what's happening in their hallways at news-gazette.com.

At least once a week, we'll also hand over our Snapchat account (News-Gazette) to our correspondents for behind-the-scenes tours.

Feedback? Email N-G/VP Jim Rossow at jrossow@news-gazette.com.

On to this week's report ...

Academy High

The girls' basketball team has been preparing for Senior Night and the regional tournament. The Owls are seeded ninth and are excited to play 10th-seed Amstrong on Saturday. At Thursday's Senior Night, they are playing Cornerstone Christian and celebrating Eleanor Laufenberg and Sophia Libman.

— Eleanor Laufenberg

Arcola

Kelsey Moore and Jacey Kessler were recognized during last week's girls' basketball Senior Night. Additionally, students have begun going through Teen Mental Health First Aid classes. Once a week, students will now learn how to cope and help others with mental health during their P.E. classes.

Armstrong

The cheer squad put together the first Barbie AP Cheer Clinic. Cheerleaders and coaches Alison Bartlow and Cami Howie worked hard to make the clinic happen as well over 60 kids showed up to cheer. The theme was Barbie and the kids learned a dance from the movie. The community showed up in support for the clinic as the showcase was performed during half times of the junior varsity and varsity boys' basketball games last Tuesday.

— Eli Kennel

Bement

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America students collected items for birthday bags throughout January. Among these items were cake mixes, frosting, sprinkles, candles, party hats and various other decorations, which will all be donated to the local food pantry. Pictured, left to right, are club officers: Caroline Hill (president), Skye Tieman (vice president), Erin Rogers (secretary), Katherine Quick (treasurer) and Gabby Block (president of community service).

— Quinn Flavin

BHRA

The Blue Devils held their annual Cancer Night against Milford last Friday. Students participated in dressup days throughout the week leading up to the big game. On Wednesday, both students and staff went all out with the day's theme: Students dress as teachers and teachers dress as students. Before and during the game, cheerleaders and student council offered face paint, hair tinsel and baked goods for $1. Several raffle baskets were donated by different classrooms and organizations and put on display. Each ticket was also $1. Temporary cancer tattoos were free and those who purchased cancer night shirts were able to color in the cancer ribbons on the back of their shirts. Fans of both teams participated in case dashes between the third and fourth quarter of both the junior varsity and varisty games. All proceeds were donated to the Danville Cancer Center. It was a great night to be a Blue Devil.

Pictured, left to right:

— (top row) Ava Robinson, Ella Rangel, Ryleigh Whitney, Blaike Monson, Addisyn Thomas and Amber-Christine Reed; (bottom row) Emma Pasquale, Lexie Hall and Hannah Howe.

— Jennifer Guminski and Amber-Christine Reed.

— James Hasty and Maddox Reynolds.

— Cyrus Murray and Kyan Jones.

— Lahna Benjamin, Mark Dodd and Lillian Spalding.

— Macey Gernand, Morgan Potter, Jennifer Guminski, Kami Russell, Emma Pasquale and Elaine Pierotti.

— Krislynn Kizer

Blue Ridge

Cullen Scurlock's Physics of Energy class spent time designing, building and testing their egg drop projects. Every one worked successfully without breaking a single egg. Brea Flannell, Caden Kimball and Ty Meeker alll tested their models for their groups. Pictured: Dylan Pritchett, Marcene Salmi, Caden Kimball, Ty Meeker, Jackson Hawn, Brea Flannell, Chelsea Lyle and Sydney Beckman; and Peyton Roy on the floor.

— Addison Warsaw

Centennial

Congratulations to the All State students as they performed at the Peoria Civic Center on Jan. 27. They worked very hard in preparing for this amazing opportunity: J Thompson on oboe, Kayleigh Grone on basson, Andrew Gonzalez on oboe and Natalie Caughlin in choir.

— Lydia Shaw

Champaign Central

Last weekend, students of Future Business Leaders of America participated in the One Winter Night Challenge in downtown Champaign. Eleven students, along with sponsor Farah Tuttle, braved the cold from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to raise awareness and funds for C-U at Home to support individuals experiencing homelessness. The team raised $3,000 in donations. Pictured: (top) Aidan Warner, Shalin Joshi, Joshua Kim, Ellie Kim, Farah Tuttle, Jake Crawmer, Janey Thomas and Samaira Sandil; (bottom) Samhita Gubba, Sophia Cowan, Soren Schrag and Angela Nguyen.

— Samaira Sandil

Cissna Park

Spanish IV class filmed and edited a short movie based off of a Spanish mystery they read. They dressed up in costumes and used props and effects to make it wonderful. The movie was shown to all the Spanish classes afterward — who loved it. The movie was created by Joel Yergler, Katie Hylbert and Brooklyn Stadeli.

— Brooklyn Stadeli

Chrisman

Homecoming was celebrated last week with the theme Out of This World. The festivities began on Friday at school and ended with the dance on Saturday. Since Chrisman does not have a football team, homecoming is celebrated in correlation with the boys' basketball season. Chrisman beat Westville 56-45 as the bleachers were packed with fans from both sides. Likewise, the high school's Battle of the Classes — put on by student council — was intense. The competition is scored based on student's efforts in things like hallway decorating, themed poster drawing, dress-up participation and relay game dedication. This year, the juniors won it all (pictured:Ashlynn Razmus, Layken Hovis, Asa Hoult and Brianna Barna bask in the win). To cap off Friday, the homecoming royalty was crowned. The court consisted of freshmen Lyndsi Smith and Breyden Butler, sophomores Bailey Presslor and Gavin McCord, juniors Sophia Biddle and Bradley Beck, and seniors Ivie Sayer and Brodie Haton, who were crowned queen and king. On Saturday, student council converted the gym and cafeteria into a whole new world. Later that evening, students dressed their best and danced the night away.

— Grayson Strange

Danville

On Friday, show choirs performed at Dick Van Dyke Auditorium for their annual Prima Vista ("first look") performance. Danville Contemporaires, Executives and Delegation, directed by Jeff Thomas, performed "Classic Barbie," "Goonies," and "Punk Princess." The high school choirs were joined by the North Ridge Redcoats performing their show, "Struggles of the Preteen Heart." The Contemporaires, Executives and Delegation will compete at Manteno, El Paso, Peotone and Avon, closing their season back at DHS for their annual Cabaret performance on April 4.

— Isaiah Easton

DeLand-Weldon

Students in Anne Anderson's popular literature class have started a unit on sci-fi books. They have a choice between three options: Cinder, Ender's Game and Ready Player One. The book that the most students like will be chosen to be read by the class.

— Emma Westray

Fisher

Students in the anatomy and physiology class worked in groups to dissect brains of sheep. This helped them to learn about the different functions, and where each part of the brain is in relation to the human brain. Pictured:(left to right) Savannah Wiese, Alyssa Jackson and Eve Detweiler; Emma Jent, Ella Hazzard and Emily Lone; Lizbeth Ramos; and

— Jenna Clemmons

Georgetown-Ridge Farm

The Scholastic Bowl team — a competitive bunch coached by Chesslyn Kelly — defeated Westville last week.

— Ashlyn Spesard

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley

Congratulations to Lucas Clinton and teacher Amanda Broaddus, who attended the Illinois Music Education Association's all state band and choral concert — another example of an outstanding student doing something great in the real world.

— Rylie Huls

Heritage

Student council put on their annual WinterFest. The week consisted of dressup days, a school-wide dodgeball and hockey game, and a hoedown throwdown-themed dance. Pictured, left to right: Juniors Olivia Wallace, Gracie Tate, Madi Wilson, Loran Tate and Bailee Lubben in their Western attire.

— Lillian Montgomery

Hoopeston Area

At the annual Pack the Place Night for boys' basketball, the Cornjerkers won the close game against Armstrong with the support of all the fans and the Blue Rush section. It was also a special night as the Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductees were inducted.

— Emmalee Bruens

Judah Christian

At Judah Discover Night, new and prospective families attended an open house to determine if the school was right fit for them. Provided were snacks, water and plenty of conversation with the over 20 families that attended. Students and teachers enjoyed talking to potential classmates about their school. Pictured: Grant Ipsen and Michael Himick in front of their newsroom poster board.

— Hannah Jackson

LeRoy

An eventful week included FFA's Jasper Tarr taking part in the Section 9 Public Speaking competition and advancing to the district competition in May. Peyton Ford and Claire Kuipers also competed in the FFA Creed Speaking Contest. Also for FFA, Kuipers, Ford, John O'Brien, and Tyler Codding spent the day at Western Illinois to learn about leadership at the Ground Zero Conference. Softball coach Doug Hageman — the reigning N-G Coach of the Year — was selected as the sectional coach of the year by the Illinois Softball Coaches Association. To wrap up the week, the elementary school had its final performance of Shrek Jr. in front of a sold-out crowd.

— Emily Bogema

Mahomet-Seymour

Interact Club is a community service-based organization that works closely with Rotary. On Friday, the club met after school to work with Rotary members to make reusable menstrual products for adolescent girls in developing countries. They cut out all of the materials, pinned them together and learned how the process works. They will get together with this same group to continue this project in the upcoming weeks. At those meetings, they will sew the materials together and complete several products. Photos courtesy Ava Henderson.

— Maddie Grindley

Milford

All four senior girls' basketball players were honored alongside family members: Madyson Bennett, Jasmin Cullum, Hunter Mowrey and Cadence Schaubert.

— Hunter Mowrey

Monticello

Students Who Advocate Group (SWAG) meets monthly with Principal Travis Courson to go over events within the school. SWAG is a group with members from all grade levels. The main goal is to inform Courson of anything happening at the student level and give input on any ideas brought to the group to create a better environment for everyone.

— Tynley Jackson

Oakland

At Friday's community coffee of the month students talked about what it was like to be an athlete in Oakland. They discussed their futures and what it was like being in a three-school co-op. Photos courtesy Kendall Huffman.

— Lucy Krabel

Oakwood

Brendan Watson had his chemistry class conduct flame-testing experiments during class, creating different colors of flames.

— Lily Chesnut

Paxton-Buckley-Loda

On Jan. 29, the seniors on coach Jeff Sinn's girls' basketball team were celebrated: Mackenzie Swan, Aubree Gooden, Bailey Luebchow and Leah Eyre. The girls have all played basketball together since junior high and continued on through their years. On Feb. 13, boys' basketball and cheerleader seniors will be recognized.

— Becca Lackey

Rantoul

Fellowship of Christian Athlete students had a fun opportunity to talk to Grace Lyons, who led the huddle on Friday morning. She gave her testimony and answered questions from members, proving to be an inspiration to the group. Also, the Screamin' Eagles Jazz band finished first place in the Class B at the EIU Jazz Band Festival. Finally, wrestler Darius Williams qualified for sectionals.

— Ashlee Freeman

St. Joseph-Ogden

The Scholastic Bowl team worked toward regionals one question at a time. Senior Brody Hausman's friends — Brody Weaver, Hayden Williams and Caleb Ochs — showed support with motivational signs. Pictured: (front row) Kaleb Peoples, Luke Ditchfield, Hausman, Lauren Harris and Rachel Harris; and (back row) Weaver, Williams and Ochs.

— Mya Bott

St. Thomas More

Last week, students engaged in a House Competition using cans for a food drive to construct various wonders of the world. Pictured (couresy Sophia Hill): Dylan Hill, Thomas Corapi, Wilson Kirby, Isabel Jimenez and Jack McMahon.

— Suhani Garg

Salt Fork

Senior Amelia Birge was joined by family and coaches at a signing ceremony in the gym. She plans to continue her golfing career at Olivet Nazarene University.

— Macie Russell

Schlarman

During Catholic Schools Week, students enjoyed enrichment classes and other fun events, including yoga and roping. Also, the girls' basketball and Scholastic Bowl teams also enjoyed wins last week.

— Anna Lehmann

Shiloh

Student council hosted a '70s Disco-themed homecoming last week. The organization created dressup days such as Barbie vs. Ken and Generation Day and also let students from each grade participate in competitive games. Junior high was also allowed to participate in certain portions of the activities. The students also were invited to a walk-in and dance on Saturday. Pictured: the sophomore class spirit section; juniors (left to right)Erin Knofsky, Hailey Hollingsworth,Allison Garretson, Carson Hepburn, Donavan Loveall-Levandoski and Jimmy Dillon; and senior and student council co-president Emily Milburn, dressed up as a senior citizen for Generation Day.

— Lydia Richardson

Tuscola

Among the many renovations taking place: the new and relocated cafeteria. Construction taking place at the previous cafeteria will turn it into an auditorium that can house nearly 300 people.

— Brayden Gough

Uni High

The annual Spirit Week included multiple events and dressup days like Dress Like Your Favorite Teacher Day, Pajama Day and Class Color Day leading up to the all-school spirit assembly. Pictured: Junior Isaak Kumar with Andrew Wilson; seniors Aryan Sachdev, Walter Kraatz, Luca Zepeda-Flores, Kelby Svendsen and Harsh Patel; and seniors competing in the spirit assembly tug-of-war competition.

— Knox Mynatt

Unity

Student council once again showed love to local senior citizens with their annual Sweetheart Cookie Delivery. The council wrote personal Valentine's, baked homemade cookies and delivered them over the weekend to 164 sweet senior citizens.

— Tatum Meyer

Villa Grove

On Saturday, the Villa Grove Devilettes hosted a home competition that turned out fantastic. They placed first in hip hop and qualified for state. Senior Mackenzie Ewing placed first with her solo that also qualified for state, and senior Dakota Messer placed fifth in her solo to make state.

— Alexandria Brown