#1StudentNWI: Excellent Academics at Andrean High School

#1StudentNWI: Excellent Academics at Andrean High School

What's Happening

Sunday, November 8, from noon to 3:00 p.m., Andrean opened its doors to the public for the first open house of the year. Andrean open houses are a big deal at Andrean. Our school depends on enrollment, so open houses are important for recruiting prospective incoming students.

Students and parents are given the chance to walk the halls, talk to the teachers, and get a feel for the environment. They are led around by Andrean Ambassadors, who help them complete a scavenger hunt that comes with a map of Andrean. Many students were there on Sunday to assist teachers by discussing student programs, such as Spanish National Honor Society and Interact Club members, or in demonstrations, especially in science courses like chemistry and physics.

Varsity, JV, and freshman athletes along with their families were invited to Fall Sports Awards Night. It took place on Monday, November 9. The sports that were recognized are golf, tennis, cross country, volleyball, and soccer. All teams met in the cafeteria for a special presentation, before breaking off into individual team award meetings. This gave students the opportunity to dress up and get together as a team for the last time this season. Teams bid their senior athletes farewell and looked back over great seasons.

What's Coming Up

As the middle of the school year approaches rapidly, extracurricular programs are just getting into the swing of things.

After winning first place in class three in the regional competition with 60 points, the spell bowl team is preparing for the state competition on Saturday, November 14. The competition will be held in Purdue University’s Loeb Playhouse.

Similarly, the theater troupe is preparing to perform the fall play, The 39 Steps, at the state competition after succeeding at the regional competition on November 7. Last year, theater did very well at state, and they plan to do the same this year.

Students began to receive their acceptance letters into National Honor Society this week. This is one of the most difficult programs at Andrean to get accepted to. Students with acceptable GPAs were invited to apply to NHS. Applicants were required to fill out a 5-page application and write an essay on why they felt they qualified to be an NHS member. Those accepted into the society and their immediate families are invited to the induction ceremony and prayer service on Thursday, November 19.

Quiz Bowl tryouts were last week, and practices will begin next week. The call-out meeting for academic super bowl will occur sometime this week or next. The selection of members for academic teams predict how well they will do at competitions in later months.

Teacher Feature

This school year, Andrean welcomed many new teachers into our walls. One of those new teachers is Mr. Scott Austin. He teaches world history, a required course for sophomores, and sociology, an elective available to juniors and seniors.

Having gone through public schools all his life, this job is the first experience Mr. Austin has had at a private school. He was unsure of what to expect and how it would be different from other experiences he had had.

“So far, I am completely happy,” he said. He is pleased with the closeness within the community, which people are always happy to refer to as the Andrean family.

He also said that he is impressed with the caliber of students at Andrean. It was interesting for him to learn how important fundraisers are to public schools and the programs they offer because fundraising often supports student program activities.

After graduating from Purdue West Lafayette last December, he worked as a substitute teacher from January, until getting hired this summer at Andrean.

One of Austin’s favorite things about teaching is getting to know his students and engaging them in the material. Parallel to that, his biggest challenge thus far is to make history interesting for students.

“I’m definitely glad that I chose this school,” he said.

Student Feature

Allison Biscocho is a junior at Andrean. She is part of the soccer team, the theater troupe, and Andrean Ambassadors. She recently received her acceptance into National Honor Society, and before that, she was elected president of French Club.

Allison is the kind of person who would never dream of hurting anyone else. She is down to earth and funny, and always available for advice or to vent about a calculus test gone wrong.

It is no surprise, then, that she received the most votes in the French Club elections. Most people think of Allison Biscocho and they think of someone who is kind, fun, and a little bit obsessed with musicals. Who wouldn’t want her to be your president?

Last year, she was secretary/treasurer of French Club.

“I didn’t actually think I would get it,” Allison said. “After I did, I decided to run again because I wanted to make big changes to the French Club.”

Her plans include schemes to increase the popularity of the French language at Andrean since it is often overshadowed by the much greater numbers of Spanish-takers. Biscocho has plans for service projects, in and out of school activities, French cuisine experiences, and other activities to embrace French culture.