Teacher Spotlight:
English teacher Penny-Jo Morris recently dyed her hair bright pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“Last year, right before October started, I was feeling very much a victim of cancer. So I decided I didn’t want to be victim,” Morris said. “Since it was National Breast Cancer Awareness Month I decided to dye my hair pink to help myself feel less like a victim and more like I was in charge of my life. I enjoyed it last year and decided to do it again this year. It’s making a stand to say ‘Cancer does not define me and it’s not who I am’.”
Morris started at CHS three years ago and has been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
“I have breast cancer but it has metastasized into my bones and there is no way to get it out of the bones, that’s why it’s stage four,” Morris said. “I am just hoping for no spread and no growth."
Ms. Morris speaks openly about her illness and is determined to support her students in all walks of life.
“Having cancer has helped me refocus my life. I am determined to become to the best person I can be whether that’s a year or 10 years," Morris said. “I am determined to make a difference in as many lives as possible and to be the best person I can be.”
Student Spotlight:
Senior Ethan Botts is a member of the Chesterton High School Trojan Guard. The Trojan Guard is steadily heading towards their state finals. The state finals were set to take place October 20th, but were postponed until October 27th.
“Competition season started in September and ends this upcoming weekend, due to the postponement, unless we take first place,” Ethan Botts said. “If we take first place we play at Lucas Oil Stadium and perform an exhibition show.”
The month-long season has held many competitions and other ways for the team to bond and deal with their individual responsibilities.
“This season has been enjoyable and definitely different from past years," Botts said, “mostly because being a senior in the program comes with a lot of authority and responsibilities.”
The authorities a senior holds within Trojan Guard help other members of the team.
“When you’re a senior it’s your job to make sure that you pass down all the skills you’ve attained during your time in the program,” Botts said. “The underclassmen are your responsibility, you have to make sure they’re going to do well once we leave.”
With all the newfound responsibilities of being a senior, those responsibilities can prove to be difficult.
“I have a few newbies in my section that are hard to get through to and teach but we’ve gotten pretty far with them,” Botts said. “The season overall still has been enjoyable, though.”
After competition season ends, there are many things that seniors can look forward to for the rest of the year.
“I’m looking forward to graduating,” said Botts. “I’m also looking forward to my last bit of school and spending time with my close friends.”
What’s happened:
Chesterton High School Student Library Advisory Committee held a viewing of the movie Beetlejuice on Thursday, October 18th at 3pm.
“Basically we have as Student Library Advisory Committee and they decided a couple of years back that we would start the tradition of watching seasonal movies," said library media specialist Emily Wilt. “We always do a Halloween movie and we chose Beetlejuice. We provided snacks and the event was free of charge.”
“I’m looking forward to the Haunted Library and we are doing Needlework November for all of November. We will meet with students and staff to make a blanket,” Wilt said. “In December we will have our annual book fair and the theme is Spiderman, so I am pretty excited about that too.”
What is happening:
The Chesterton High School Student Government is holding its annual Trick Or Treat event on October 30th from 5-6:30pm.
“The Chesterton High School student government trick or treat is an opportunity for little ghosts and goblins sixth grade and under to attend an environmentally friendly and safe trick or treating experience while involving the school community as well,” said Student Government Advisor Jennifer Jendrzejczyk. “We are going to have groups, clubs and businesses from within the school and the surrounding areas to come and hand out candy and to do little spooky things.”
“We changed our approach this year, instead of going down the athletic hallway we are wrapping around the main buildings of the school and coming around the to the cafeteria so the flow of the people-traffic is better.The event just keeps getting bigger.”
“This year we are providing a meal,” said Jendrzejczyk. “We’ll have walking tacos and a pop or water for $5 or a hotdog, chips and a pop or water for $5. We’ll still provide cookies like we did last year.”
“There’s a $5 donation that we’re asking to get in,” said Jendrzejczyk. “A portion of the proceeds will go towards Filter of Hope, which is a charity that installs filters around the world to give people clean drinking water.”