The class of 2019 once walked and owned the halls of Kimpton Middle School, but now they have transitioned into a new atmosphere with nearly four times as many students in it. Before they made this huge transition, they had a day to themselves to prepare and become accustomed to what they would be dealing with for the next four years.
Their day started out along with all other new students to the high school by being divided into their homerooms, and from there, they broke into groups and did various tasks. Many included ice breaker games, a tour and advice sessions from current upperclassmen. Along with that, within their groups they made their way to the lower gym where many clubs and sports representatives tried to get the freshmen involved.
“I think it was mostly good,” freshman Josof Ruttig said. “I just wish there was more stuff set out at the activities thing to see everything that I could possibly be involved in.”
After rotations of the broken down groups, the freshmen and new students gathered together for a 30-minute lunch break. Shortly after lunch, they all got to have a quick run through of their schedule to meet their teachers and other students in their class.
“I liked how it was just the freshmen and how we had the mentors show us around and help us, instead of teachers. I didn’t like how no one told us where to go after lunch, so everyone was confused. Some people told us to go to homeroom, and some told us to go to our first period class,” freshman Hailee Slapnicker said.
Lasty, the most exciting part of the day was at the end of the day when everyone gathered together in the upper gym for their first pep rally. They learned the alma mater and received a free t-shirt. The t-shirt got them into the first varsity football game with a free ticket and free food voucher.
Overall, many freshmen seemed for the day alone to be helpful in the big transition from a smaller school to a much larger one. They are now ready to tackle the new year.
When two bulldogs square off under the lights of Bulldog Stadium, the top dog will always prove victorious, sending the puppy home, whimpering with its tail between its legs.
This held true on the night of Aug. 28, as the local Bulldogs opened their regular season at home against the Green Bulldogs.
After the kickoff, Stow’s defense contained the offense of Green, forcing them to punt early. From there it was Stow’s offense that took complete control of the first half. With 7:51 left to go in the first, it was a 14-yard end zone run from senior Jayson Gobble, followed by the completed extra point of senior Garrett Rigby that put Stow on top 7-0. While these were the only points of the first quarter by the either team, nothing could prepare Green for the eruption by Stow’s offense in the subsequent quarter.
Right from the gate, junior quarterback Kyle Vantrease connected with junior Logan Lindsay for a 48-yard touchdown. No sooner than five minutes later did Gobble find himself in the end zone again followed by Vantrease targeting Lindsay from 12 yards to put Stow up 28-0.
An obvious improvement in accuracy and confidence was noted from Vantrease, and it’s no fluke. His summer was spent working on his game.
“I went to 10 camps this year, 6 on a bus tour. Just being able to throw at a different tempo makes a huge difference,” Vantrease said.
Things looked grim for the Green Bulldogs. A glimmer of hope was found mid-second quarter as they punched in a one-yard touchdown to put the team on the scoreboard. Senior Nick Bovard took it into his hands to make sure they were put right back into their place. The ensuing kickoff resulted in Bovard returning it 90 yards for a touchdown pulling Stow’s lead to 35-7. The closing minutes of the half gave Gobble his third touchdown of the night on a 27-yard run. Stow held a strong 41-7 lead going into halftime.
The second half brought Green two touchdowns, but much more would be needed to crawl out of the deficit they fell into. A huge 88-yard run from Gobble resulted in a 2-yard push from Vantrease to finish the third quarter up 48-14 in favor of Stow.
Stow wrapped up the fourth quarter, going on to win the game 48-21. Gobble finished his night with 195 rushing yards and three touchdowns, followed by Vantrease with one rushing touchdown and two throwing. Lindsay finished the night with two receiving touchdowns along with one touchdown from Bovard.
Though it was a strong night for the Bulldogs, Vantrease sees there’s a lot to improve on. “I think tonight could have been better. We had two turnovers and a lot of mental mistakes. The offensive line is doing well though. The way coach Norri prepares them so well it just comes natural,” Vantrease said.
Stow made the switch from the Federal League to the Suburban League this year and are certainly in the minds of the upcoming teams on their schedule.
Lindsay said, “We looked great tonight. We’re going to do big things this season.”
As the school year came to a close, I was preparing for another learning experience. This time, however, there were not text books or worksheets but culture, new languages and places fresh to my eyes. I had packed my bags and was eagerly waiting for what would come.
A few teachers had organized a 12 day trip to Europe my freshmen year two years ago, and my parents and I decided this was an opportunity I could not miss. The trip would consist of five cities: London, Paris, Madrid, Toledo and Barcelona with breakfasts, dinners, tourist attractions and traveling included in the fee. The idea of monthly meetings can sometimes be dreadful, but the Europe meetings were ones I looked forward to going to because after all, it was not a normal occurrence to be going abroad.
When I finally woke up the morning of June 7, I glanced over at the passport sitting on my desk and wanted nothing more than to smile and cry in excitement over the year and a half wait finally ending. Of course, at the same time I was thrilled I was also terrified of being away from my family and normal communication for just about two weeks. I was always in constant contact with my parents and the thought of not having that was scary, but I always reminded myself nothing terrible would ever happen to me as I was raised to know how to take care of myself.
At what my history teacher, Lisa Heilmeier, called the final meeting, gathering in the high school parking lot and getting on to a bus, every student said their goodbyes and double checked their suitcases. We loaded on to the bus and headed to the airport and the experience was like no other.
I have only flown one other time back in March to Boston, Massachusetts which is only about an hour and a half plane ride. The flights I would be taking would be more complex as we had connecting flights from Cleveland to Minnesota and Minnesota to London which is a roughly seven hour flight. On our flight, I got to experience night flying, actual meals, sleeping masks, ear plugs, music and movies. However, even though we were flying during the middle of the night, I found sleeping to be impossible as my excitement kept me awake and going for a full 24 hours plus touring London the first day.
The Globe Theater on our first day in the city which still holds performances of a large amount of Shakespeare’s plays.
My group and I exited the plane in London’s airport and headed out to begin our life-changing tours and experiences. During our four day stay in the city, we spent the majority of the time on walking-tours. I saw everything I had ever wanted to see such as Big Ben, the Tower of London, the Parliament Building, the Tower of London Bridge, London Bridge, rode the London Eye, saw William Shakespeare’s second Globe Theatre, the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, the inside of the famous natural history museum, Trafalgar Square, the building in which the military decisions during the second World War were made and walked on the Millennium Bridge where a scene in the last Harry Potter movie was filmed. This was all just in the city itself.
Outside of the city, I saw and toured the inside of amazing castles: Windsor Castle, where the queen stays when not doing work, and Hampton Court, where Henry VIII lived and conquered hundreds of years ago. The castles I visited had extraordinary gardens and beautiful architecture and paintings on the inside and out. Everything surrounding me, no matter if I was in the city or on the outskirts, was absolutely glorious. London crept into my heart in those four days and to this day still has not left. I want nothing more than to go back and experience London all over again.
The morning we left London the group headed on to a famous train called the Eurostar to arrive in Paris. The Eurostar was supposed to be an interesting experience because during the journey you are actually underneath the English Channel, but all you really saw were dark, black tunnels and felt a lot of bumps. However, after the Eurostar ride, we exited and followed our tour director to begin our walking tour in Paris. The city itself is beautiful and elegant, but it was not one of my favorite places to be. Ironically though, the city was home to some of my favorite places to see and those I am eager to go back to.
The Louvre Museum is home to a plethora of glorious artwork I adored.
In Paris, our first stop was the popular Louvre museum which is home to the supposedly real Mona Lisa. The museum itself used to be a palace and is beautiful, but huge. There would almost be no way I could have seen everything I wanted to in the few hours we had to tour. With a few friends I knew on the trip, we made a point to see the Mona Lisa and a few other paintings and statues and then I headed down to the cafe to eat and rest a little knowing one day I will have to come back to see the entire museum. After the Louvre, over the course of two days, I saw the quaint and famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore, the Eiffel Tower, almost everything and anything built by Napoleon, the Arc de Triumph, the largest Louis Vuitton store along with an expensive shopping district, Notre Dame Cathedral, a really cool art district where I purchased a painting a man painted in front of a crowd, and my personal favorite, the Palace of Versailles.
The Palace was home to some of my favorite memories as well as one of the events in world history I actually concerned myself with. When inside I could understand why the peasants during the French Revolution wanted to revolt because of the massive amounts of marble, gold, remarkable architecture and paintings I just knew were a pretty penny to buy. The gardens and well-known reflection pool in the back of the palace were beautiful and the weather that day was gorgeous. If there was ever a picture perfect moment, the moment would have occurred while standing at the top of the stairs leading down to the garden and looking out on to at all.
A beautiful skyline view of the city of Toledo. This reminded me of something out of a fantasy type movie.
After Paris, the group and I flew to Spain where I would spend the remainder of my time abroad. Madrid, the current capital of Spain, was the first country we visited. Madrid was home to plenty of shopping around the Plaza del Sol, cathedrals, the Royal Palace of Madrid, flea markets and an opportunity for practice on my abilities to speak the beautiful Spanish language. I also had the chance to visit the glorious and famous Museo Nacional Del Prado, where I saw the works of Spain’s finest painters as well as ten paintings from Picasso. On our last and final night in Madrid, the group and I experienced the intensity of Flamenco dancing. Although the dancing was not my favorite and quickly lead to a headache, just being able to say I had the chance to witness the tradition, is absolutely amazing.
On the same day we saw Flamenco dancing, the group took a brief day trip to Spain’s old capital, Toledo, where we were graced with the beautiful architecture of the city. The streets were covered in cobblestone and the brick and stone of the buildings were something you would see in a movie. After touring an ancient synagogue and learning the history behind a very famous painting called The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, we received a plethora of free time to wander up and down the narrow alleys off of the main plaza and shop and take the city in ourselves where I was able to continue practicing my Spanish amongst the natives.
Our last day in Spain and in Europe was concluded after exiting a train in a station in Barcelona. Barcelona was stunning from the moment we stepped outside the train station to the moment we left for the United States. The entirety of our first day in the city was spent browsing around in the shops in the main plaza. We hopped on to the nearest public transportation train and ended up wandering the streets branched off of the plaza and soaking in the Barcelona sunshine. The group and I also faced the challenge of a new language as the natives speak Catalan, a mixture of Spanish and French, instead of just Spanish.
The Park Güell featuring the wonderful weather that day. This type of architecture was found throughout the whole park.
The last day in the city was actually our most eventful. In the morning, we visited a glorious private park called Park Güell, where we were graced with the presence of gorgeous architecture done by Antoni Gaudí. I remembered seeing pictures of the fancy tiles and benches in Art 1 my freshman year and I never thought in a million years I would stand right in front of something so amazing. From the distance of the park, I could see the waters of the Mediterranean Sea where we were to head to next. On the bus to the beach, we drove through the Olympic Park used by athletes and to host events during the Olympics in 1992 and also briefly visited the stunning Sagrada Familia. When we finally arrived to the beach, I was breathless. The view and the water were so beautiful and I knew I had to take it all in and wished I had more time than just the few hours we were given to inhale the Mediterranean and the atmosphere around it. The beach was home to some of my favorite memories I wish I could go back and experience all over again.
Leaving the European air felt sad and great all at once. I was eager to get back to my family, but I was disappointed I had to leave the cities behind. Each city, in their own way, discovered how to nestle themselves into my heart and have not budged an inch ever since. I will be forever grateful for being able to experience something so amazing at such a young age and I want nothing more than to return some day to see it all again.
The Stow High School Class of 2015 had their commencement ceremony on Jun. 4 at 7 p.m. The ceremony was held at the Kent State MAC Center in Kent, Ohio.
The Master of Ceremonies was Shane Riddle and the Mistress of Ceremonies was Marisa Hamilton. Speeches were given by three of the Top-Ten Honors Students: Sadie Norton, Ryan Aho and Ryan Shockling.
As the students received their diplomas, many cheers were heard throughout the arena. Some of the students smiled with pure joy and happiness, while it was evident that others were sad to see all of their friends together in one place for the last time.
With the singing of the Alma Mater and the changing of the tassels, hats were thrown in the air, and the students left the stage and took the first breath of a new chapter in their life.
The seniors will be missed by many students and teachers at the high school. Good luck class of 2015–you made it.
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