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Gymnastics girls flip through successful season

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By Lindsey Houck

The gymnastics girls, with a record of 4-1, hoped to push through sectionals and finish their season on a strong note. The team has received the highest score this year since the beginning of last year.

The team as a whole placed seventh out of eighteen teams at sectionals; however, they did not place high enough to take them to the next level of districts.

Individually, senior Hannah Scheilder placed tenth on the floor overall, which is taking her to districts for the individual competition.

“Our team had a very good season. We give a lot of credit to our coaches for bringing us as far as they did this season,” sophomore Gabi Odak said.

Overall, individually and as a team, the girls had an incredible season. Scheilder finished the season scoring highest overall on the team in bars, beam and floor. During the off season club in which Scheilder participates, she is a level 9 out of 10. Sophomore Sara Kasper followed behind her being a level 8 out of 10, scoring highest as an All-Around, meaning she performs all events: vault, bars, beam and floor.

Junior Abby Wagner and senior Jen Rinaldi consistently scored high on the beams as their best event. Odak placed highest overall on the beams against rival Cuyahoga Falls. Odak and Rinaldi both also placed high on the bars throughout the season behind Kasper and Scheilder. The third scoring on vault was senior Emily Hudia. The highest scoring on the floor was between junior Abby Wagner and senior Erin Kolke with Kolke being more advanced in tumbling, while Wagner was more graceful and advanced dance wise.

“Overall, we had a great season and we definitely got a lot closer.  We bonded a lot with each other and over ice cream,” sophomore Maria Cistone said.

Sports

Athlete of the Month

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Some students excel in more than just academics, even though academics are the main focus of high school. Athletics play a huge role in high schools and many student lives.

Each month,  the high school chooses two players: one boy and one girl. Their coaches choose them to be featured in “The Player of the Month” column.

This month, a member of the girls bowling and the boys basketball team will be featured.

This month’s male player is junior Nathan Bower-Malone, who leads the bulldogs with 252 points.

“Nathan is a remarkable player and an even better teammate,” coach Andrew O’Keefe said.

Bower-Malone is the team’s best scorer on any given night. He is an excellent student, an active member of student council and is also involved at the Stow Campus of Christ Community Chapel.

Bower-Malone will be recognized with numerous awards at the end of the season as the leading scorer on the team. He is currently tied for first place in the conference.

“We are fortunate as a school and as a basketball program that Nathan still has his senior year and season ahead of him,” O’Keefe said.

This month’s female player is senior Sarah may (Katie) Schlea, from the girls bowling team. She has had high series in two of their tournaments. Schlea bowled a 544 in the G-Men Classic and a 528 in the Black Tiger Tournament.

“Katie is our only left handed bowler and has improved her average to a 171,” coach Paula Duncan said.

Duncan said, “Katie does not give up, and can turn a game around after a slow start. She always has a smile and encourages the other players to do better. Katie got to anchor the last tournament because of her high series.”

Editorials

Schools pressure students into tougher classes

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Multicolored Microsoft Excel spreadsheets detailing every class available at the high school circulated the halls. These schedules found them- selves crushed at the bottom of backpacks, scattered around school like the lingering dead leaves in fall, and the schedules found themselves being pulled out during class periods to be compared with other schedules. While this time is filled with the excitement that comes with planning for the next school year, this exhilarating haze is causing very smart students to make very unintelligent decisions.

A frequent topic of conversa- tion between underclassmen and future seniors is scheduling, and as they compare their plans for next year, it almost turns into a competition for who is taking more AP or honors classes. It feels good to put a check mark in a box for an AP or honors class and have a teacher from that respective subject initial it, but this is a seriously dangerous game. Seeing an upper-level class on a sheet of paper is deceiving.

When the title of an AP or honors course is typed out in 10 pt. font squished together with the rest of the school’s curricu- lum, it seems doable; however, some students fail to understand the depth that those 10pt. font words have. Students fail to evaluate not only the difficulty of the class and how multiple AP and honors classes’ work- loads will interact with each other but also the emotional and physical toll these classes take on a person. The emotional/ physical stress should be one factor students consider.

Students should be honest with themselves about their abilities, not over schedule themselves and learn to leave room for college applications, after-school activities, social events and other unplanned events.

The fact that students are scheduling too many honors and AP classes may be attributed
to the appeal that these higher level classes have to colleges and universities. With rising competition among students
for acceptance into colleges, an excessive number of higher-lev- el classes almost seems neces- sary for students to get into the college or university of their dreams.

This looming pressure placed on students to take many honors and AP classes not only can be blamed on colleges but also the high school. Many high school personnel encourages students to take high level classes but often times cross the line and harass students to add more stress to their daily lives.

At times, when these classes become too much for the wrong students, many take way to the ever-growing problem of cheating. From copying simple homework sheets to peering over another’s shoulder, all sorts of cheating are wrong. Someone who does not actual- ly do any work but scribbling down someone else’s work may receive a good grade or an even better grade than someone in the class who truly working their hardest. It becomes ridiculous when all of this pressure piles up on a student and forces them to take credit for something they never did.

Honors and AP classes are for a select group of students who are able to balance the hard work and effort with the rest
of their life. It may be difficult for us to decide if we are “good enough” for this sort of class, but the whole idea that regular classes are supposedly frowned upon should not persuade those to take a class that they might not actually be able to balance or handle.

News

PARCC testing update

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By Jurnee Starks

Approximately 460 freshman gathered in the auditorium to hear about the upcoming PARCC test on Feb. 18.

Principal Chris Dimauro explained to students the importance of the PARCC Test as it will determine if students will graduate.

Testing began February 23 and originally was to be completed this week; however, with the closure of school on Tuesday, testing days and times now have been modified.

Freshmen completed the second section of English testing today, and tomorrow they will now be taking two tests: English and math. The change in testing allows for all freshmen to still complete all requirements by the end of the week.

Test one will still take place in the morning during periods 1-3, and the second test will begin at 1 p.m.

The second week of testing will still take place during OGT week.  The physical science test will take place on Monday, an American history test on Tuesday and a government test on Wednesday.

Anyone who is currently taking biology will not take the physical science test.

English and math will be taken in the Main and Lower Gym. Last names beginning with A-O will report to the Main Gym and last names beginning with P-Z will report to the Lower Gym.

Anyone in Math I will report to the Main Gym and anyone in Math II will report to the Lower Gym.

Physical science and American history will be taken in homeroom.

Cell phones and any other electronic devices are prohibited and should be in lockers. Purses and book bags are also prohibited.

English, math and physical science are paper and pencil assessments. The history test will be taken online.

Mechanical pencils are not allowed for testing. Graphing calculators are allowed during testing and will be provided if students do not have one.

All freshmen students will report to their first period class for attendance and will then be released by a PA announcement.