#1StudentNWI: A Look at Westville High School Volleyball and English Teacher Mr. Webb

#1StudentNWI: A Look at Westville High School Volleyball and English Teacher Mr. Webb

Dig Pink
On October 4th, the Westville girls volleyball team competed against Culver Community High School in a regular season match. This game was unique because the Blackhawks didn’t wear their usual black and orange jerseys. October fourth’s game was dedicated to honoring people that have been affected by cancer.

Westville girls played in pink jerseys to recognize breast cancer awareness month. When each player was introduced at the beginning of the game, they presented a pink carnation to a family member or a friend that they were playing for who is battling, won, or lost their battle with cancer.

Multiple items were donated to put in the silent auction. Fans also donated baked goods to sell in the bake sale. Over $1,000.00 was raised during the Dig Pink game. All of the money raised was donated to a cancer research program called the Dig Pink Foundation.

The volleyball team also sold t-shirts to help raise money. When the company that designed the shirts heard about Westville’s Dig Pink volleyball game, they wanted to help. In addition to the money already raised, the company donated an additional $50.00.

The game also honored the volleyball team's seniors Madison McKibben and Britney Sparks. Both seniors have played on the varsity team all four years of their high school career.

McKibben, team captain and two year all-conference player, said, “having senior night combined with the Dig Pink game made it a game I will definitely never forget. I was proud to play my last game honoring a family friend.”

McKibben also added, “Dig Pink is one game I always look forward to hosting. Having both events in one night brought a bigger crowd which always helps the team get motivated.”

Senior night was a success. The team won in three sets against Culver Community High School. McKibben and Sparks will always remember playing their last game in pink and honoring family and friends. The team was proud to have won, but the biggest accomplishment of the event was the donations from the fans that allowed the school to be able to give to the Dig Pink Foundation.

The entire school community came together to help raise awareness, recognize people that have had cancer, and donate to an amazing foundation. Events like Dig Pink bring our small school together to do big things.

Being a part of this event as a student, player, spectator, or survivor made everyone proud to be a Blackhawk!

1studentnwi-westville-nov-2016-2Teacher Spotlight: Mr. Webb
When Westville’s former english teacher and yearbook advisor left after the 2015-2016 school year, there were some tremendously large shoes to fill. Hired eight days before the beginning of the school year, Mr. Jeffrey Webb began to fill those shoes.

Webb graduated from Portage High School in 2011. He then went onto Purdue University, where he graduated in 2015 with a degree in Communications. He had not originally intended to pursue a career in education; however, after several stops as a congressional staffer and news producer, Webb came to the conclusion that teaching was his preferable career plan.

His relative youth has helped brainstorm creative new ideas for the 2016-2017 Westville High School yearbook class. On September 27th, Webb took his class to Valparaiso University for a yearbook workshop hosted by Jostens. The workshop has been a conference students in the class have always attended.With a new yearbook staff this year, everyone was eager to see what it had to offer. The workshop taught students better layout techniques and photography skills for creating the best yearbook possible and students were anxious to bring what they had learned back to the classroom.

Webb has fit in extremely well as the new english teacher and yearbook advisor. When asked what has been his favorite part of teaching at Westville so far, he said, “I really enjoy how much the staff and students have embraced me, especially after replacing such a well-liked former teacher.”

Jacob, one of Webb’s English 10 students, said, “Mr. Webb has helped me advance my writing abilities tremendously already this year.”

Cassie, one of Webb’s yearbook staff students, explained, “Mr. Webb has drastically helped make our upcoming yearbook one of the best that I’ve ever seen.”

When talking about goals, Webb said, “I am currently focusing along with Mrs. Emily Wagner (English 9 teacher) and Mr. Barriball (English 11 teacher), to improve the writing of students to help prepare them for college.”

He continued to explain, “A lot of students come out of high school very unprepared for college in terms of the writing load and the types of things that are necessary of a student. I’m hoping the three of us can change that here at Westville.”

Webb is also sponsoring a new program Westville is starting called School Closet by Lotus Reach. The group collects donated clothes and then distributes them to those in need in the school.

Principal Mrs. Alissa Schnick came to Webb with the opportunity.

“I thought Mr. Webb would be a great sponsor for the program. The positive relationships he has built with students is evident. For a program like this, you need someone the students feel comfortable talking with and someone who they can trust. I look forward to his leadership skills with the implementation of this wonderful program. I know he and Mrs. Wagner will do great things,” said Schnick.

This is my first year being in yearbook class, and I am very thankful to have Mr. Webb mentoring and teaching me how to create an amazing yearbook.

We are very happy to welcome Mr. Webb and proud to call him a Blackhawk!