Student Spotlight: Colleen Johnston
Traveling to foreign countries is always exciting, especially when you get to go with other students. Colleen Johnston kicked off the summer before her senior year by going on the Spanish class’ trip to Spain and exploring.
“I started out my trip in Barcelona,” Johnston explained.
“From there, I traveled to Zaragoza, Madrid, Seville, Córdoba and Costa Del Sol. Then I took a ferry to Ceuta, Spain and drove over to Morocco for the daytime and returned back to Costa Del Sol. On the last day, I traveled to Málaga to fly home back to America.”
The schedule for a typical day on the trip was packed with activities.
“During a typical day, it would consist of touring the city, going to shops and restaurants for lunch/dinner and other important architecture. I traveled on a bus every other day to reach our destination that included stopping in a small town with an important building/ monument to reach the other major city.”
For Johnston, the most exciting part was the cuisine and the sights.
“The best part about my trip to Spain was trying all of the different foods. My favorite city that we visited was Barcelona,” Johnston said, “because of its architecture, access to the Mediterranean Sea and because it’s the capital of Spain. The most unexpected part of my trip was all of the different shops and restaurants in the old buildings.”
Johnston, who had always wanted to visit Spain, thought that the trip went even better than she anticipated.
“The idea of Spain has always appealed to me. I've always wanted to see the different culture, foods and architecture that Spain had to offer. Everything exceeded my expectations and more. Spain was everything that I thought it would be. If you ever have the chance to go to Spain, I would definitely recommend it!”
What’s Happening: Student Travels
Just because the school year has ended does not mean that Chesterton High School students have stopped learning. This year, students taking Spanish and German classes were able to visit their respective countries. Spanish students embarked on a ten day trip to Spain to enrich their cultural studies. They also spent a day in Morocco before returning home. On the trip, the group got to experience many new foods and adventures as well as test out their Spanish speaking skills. For the German students, the trip was a part of GAPP, the German American Partnership Program.
Many of the students who went on the trip are incoming seniors who just finished their German 4 class. As part of the program, the students are partnered up with a German student of the same grade level. The students from Germany come to visit America for a few weeks in the spring and stay with their American host family. Similarly, the American students visit their German partners in Germany for a few weeks. The students reunite with their host families and tour many different places in Germany while sharpening their German language fluency. (Spain photos provided by Colleen Johnston)
What's Coming Up: Summer Conditioning
Many of the student athletes involved in fall sports at CHS have been starting their summer conditioning. The past few weeks, soccer and football players have been waking up at the crack of dawn to get to the field and get their practice out of the way.
Beyond that, the fields and stadiums have been used for various sports camps for grade school students. The first session of the Trojan Football Skills Camp happened on June 19-21, but the second session is being held on July 10 through the 12 under CHS football Head Coach Mark Peterson. Out on the baseball diamond, the CHS Baseball program is hosting their baseball camp for boys in grades 3-8. The camp is offered July 10 through the 12.
Finally, back on the soccer field, Trojan Soccer camp is happening. From July 17- 20, students in all grades, kindergarten through eighth, are able to improve their soccer skills while getting to play on the high school’s field.
Community Spotlight: Karen Wixted
Karen Wixted is a member of the Chesterton chapter Alpha Rho of Delta Theta Tau, a philanthropic sorority. She has been an active member of Delta Theta Tau for 35 years, with the last three being a member of the Chesterton chapter. The main goal of the sorority is to give back to the community.
“We are a national women's philanthropic organization dedicated to helping others. It's a sisterhood really,” Wixted said. “I love the caring sisterhood found with these women, giving back to our towns and our neighbors, friends and those in need of help to ease their burdens with all the philanthropy we do.”
The group is very involved in donations throughout the community.
“Our focus is to give back to our community and the small areas around our town to better the area. We have supported so many organizations with donations from the money raised by our projects. We recently gave seven scholarships to high school seniors and a couple college students in May. We donate many hours to the Meals on Wheels of Chesterton for desserts several times throughout the year. We have made meals this past year for the fire department and police sheriff departments of Burns Harbor, Porter, and Chesterton. We continue to support and raise funds for Andrew Fant,, which is very dear to our chapter. We raise money for and give back to our community over $14,000 dollars each year to places like Frontline, Duneland Schools, the library, Porter County Animal Shelter, and many more.”
For current students looking for ways to continue giving back to their community, Wixted has a few tips.
“I would tell a younger person to stay connected to their community,” WIxted advised, “and to give back by volunteering with any group. Doing good to help others of all ages from every walk of life is rewarding to many.”