Homecoming Week The end of January brought the school's basketball homecoming week, starting on January 22 and running through January 26. This year's spirit week themes were: holiday day, meme day, and squad day, and Friday was completely devoted to cardinal and gold. The week ended with a basketball game against Chesterton on Saturday night.
Throughout homecoming week, the senior class picked nominations for the spirit court, a group of seniors who showed the most school spirit throughout the past four years. This year's queen nominees were Emma Clare, Hailey Bianco, Mariyana Magana, Ariana Nieves, and Desi Yanez. The king nominees were Alex Mosqueda, Ryan LaFollette, Javier Bugla, Chippy Silver, Garrett Brunker, and Jacob King. The nominees made their entrances at the pep rally on Friday and the spirit king and queen were announced Saturday night at varsity halftime.
At the end of the school day, the entire school went down to the gym for the annual pep rally. Students celebrated through the school's homecoming traditions: the class tug of war and the Ingot battle cry. Between all the craziness and cold weather was the girls' basketball senior night, which was postponed to Friday due to the cold weather.
On Saturday night, the men's basketball team met the Chesterton Trojans, surrounded by a packed house of Ingot basketball fans. At the conclusion of the junior varsity game, the basketball programs named their Mr. and Ms. Basketball, awarded to a senior basketball player who had displayed what it means to be an Ingot basketball player throughout the past four years. This year, the boys’ team awarded two 4-year letter winners as co-Mr. Baketball: Ryan LaFollette and Alex Mosqueda. The girls’ team named one 4-year letter winner, Abby Galligan, as Ms. Basketball.
At halftime, the spirit court was introduced once again before the king and queen were announced. Last year’s queen returned to pass down the crown. After all the votes were counted, Ryan LaFollette was named king and Ariana Nieves was named queen. However, Nieves decided to give up her crown and name Desi Yanez Ms. Ingot Spirit instead.
State Decathlon After a third-place finish at the state spell bowl, the academic team prepared for another shot at a state championship. This time, the academic decathlon team traveled to Purdue University to compete in the state finals. Academic decathlon consists of testing over seven academic subjects along with a speech and interview. Each category has a possibility of 1,000 points, and team scores are calculated by adding the two highest scoring students from each division, each division then being divided by the student's grade point average.
“This year's team has all the talent to be great, and our coaches have done all we could to prepare for this competition,” said head coach Jim Weitzel.
On February 7, the decathlon team departed from River Forest to make the trip downstate to Purdue University. They began competing the following day and wrapped up Saturday night. The first day of competition consisted of the speech and interview rounds, while all the academic tests were taken on Saturday. The last part of a student's score comes from the essay, which was written a week in advance. The competition ended Saturday night with the speech showcase, where the best speeches were presented to all participants in Purdue´s auditorium. The awards ceremony followed the showcase, where the new state champions were crowned.
River Forest placed 5th in the overall competition. Hailey Bianco won the state title for her speech and received runner-up for the essay component. Cody St. Pierre claimed state title in the science category. Congratulations, Ingots!
Student Spotlight Caitlynn Robinson is a senior at River Forest. She is very involved in the choir program, where she started off as a member of the mixed choir ensemble and soon became a part of the advanced girls' choir. She is also a member of the track team and ecology club.
“I really appreciate my friends and teachers because they always go above and beyond for me,” Robinson said.
After graduation in June, Robinson will be staying home to complete her first year of college at Ivy Tech. She then plans to relocate to Muncie and finish her psychology degree at Ball State University. She hopes to one day pursue a career as a therapist.
Teacher Spotlight Sophomore English teacher Mark Sopko has taught at River Forest for over 10 years. He has a love for coffee and rock music. He likes to express his inner rock star every Friday, beginning and ending each day by plugging in his MP3 player outside his classroom and dancing to a song as students are walking to class.
Before becoming a teacher, Sopko worked with a local newspaper for 15 years. However, a love for reading and writing would eventually inform his profession. His vibrant personality always brightens the day for his students, as you never know what to expect from him.
"My students are easily my favorite part of my job," Sopko said.
In his free time, Sopko keeps busy with his close friends and family, and always has a dog in his life. His favorite activities include reading and writing, exercising, and listening to music. Sopko is a well-known and loved member of the River Forest community.