#1StudentNWI: Boone Grove’s Dance Success and Mr. BGHS

#1StudentNWI: Boone Grove’s Dance Success and Mr. BGHS

Current Events

This past week the Boone Grove Dance Team had PCC at Washington Township. PCC was held over the course of 2 days (4 teams performed each day), making a total of 8 teams. Each school had their own theme and their routine, costumes, and music all had to be related to it. Boone’s theme was western rodeo.

They performed their hearts out Wednesday night. Though their music cut out halfway through their performance, the Co-captains Cheyanne Montozzi and Emily Walker began counting out loud so the girls wouldn’t lose their place. Soon after everyone in the cheer block was counting with them and cheering them to keep going.

“I was so worried that they were gonna dock us points for the music, but then everybody started to cheer us on to keep going. We were all a little panicky at first, but we were able to pull through,” said Co-captain Cheyanne Montozzi.

The Boone Grove Girls tied for 1st place for PCC with Washington Township. Everyone is so proud and the captains couldn’t believe the the support of everyone when their music cut out. They even won 1st place for Cheer and for Cheer Block for their great support.

Future Events

1Student-BooneGrove-Feb-2018-05Each year Boone Grove holds a male beauty pageant called Mr. BGHS. It is a fundraiser run by NHS. Mr. BGHS is where senior guys compete with each other in different events like swimwear, formal wear, casual, talent, and are asked interview questions. They are judged by last years winner and five other faculty members. Boone Grove has been doing this pageant as far back as any of the faculty can remember. Mr. BGHS was taken over from the student council about 10+ years ago.

The preparation for the pageant is already underway. The date is set for April 6th. They have just decided on committees early this week and everybody has to be apart of something from people working on ads, to stage crew, to someone finding and taking care of the contestants.

NHS President, Alex Reed said, “The preparation is going to be a slow process, but it’s all going to be worth it in the end.”

Mr. Snow, the adviser of NHS, says, “This is the largest group of kids to be in NHS this year. That shows that there are a lot of hard working students with strong leadership skills at Boone Grove.”

Student Spotlight

1Student-BooneGrove-Feb-2018-06Emily Walker is a senior at Boone Grove High School. She is the co-captain of the Dance Team after six years of dedication and President of GSA after sticking with the club during its two years. She's extremely passionate about helping animals, art, and dancing. Something interesting about Emily is that she’s been vegan for three years now, and she loves educating people about it. Emily enjoys making new vegan recipes and sharing what she makes with her friends. She has such a big heart and a deep love for animals that she is planning on volunteering at a rescued farm animal sanctuary as soon as possible! She is waiting for a response back from IU Bloomington. Though Emily is not sure what she wants to study in the future she is very interested in english and journalism!

Staff Spotlight

1Student-BooneGrove-Feb-2018-01Kelly Johnson is a counselor here at Boone Grove High School. She graduated from Bethel College in Mishawaka, IN with a B.A. in Sociology and minor in Psychology. She also graduated from Indiana University South Bend in 2009 with an M.S. in Education and is licensed in K-12 School Counseling. Johnson never thought of being a school counselor. She originally wanted to be a TV journalist, but one summer working as a bus aide for a school corporation, she realized that she wanted to work with kids. This caused her to changed her major from telecommunications to sociology after graduating with a B.A.

Johnson chose Boone Grove because after moving to Northwest Indiana in 2014 from Elkhart County, a colleague had emailed her about the opportunity. Needing a job, she applied right away. She was called in the next day and was quickly hired. Johnson was very afraid to work with high schoolers at first, working as an elementary counselor for the first 5 years of her career was easy. Teenagers are a whole different playing field, but now she loves it.

“Working with my students and watching them grow is such an honor,” Johnson said.

Johnson was the 2016 Indiana High School Counselor of the Year, and will be president of the Indiana School Counselor Association in 2020. An interesting fact about Mrs. Johnson is that she is a Beachbody coach in her spare time and loves to exercise. She is certified to teach PiYo.

“Being a school counselor has been the privilege of my life and has shaped me in so many ways. Nine years in, I'm still passionate about helping students realize their full potential in whatever makes them feel worthwhile in contributing to this world,” Johnson said.