What’s Recently Happened?
Griffith Jr./Sr. High School started the new year with its annual blood drive on Jan. 14.
The student council partnered with the American Red Cross and allowed juniors and seniors to donate a pint of their blood. It was the eighth blood drive at Griffith that Jenna Berzy, head of the student council, organized.
It was a successful event with 80 people showing up; 55 of them were able to donate their blood that day.
When people arrived at the main gym to donate, they had to show an ID to gain access to the event. American Red Cross rules state that only people above the age of 16 are eligible to donate blood. After that, the nurses asked everyone questions individually confirming personal information and past medical history.
There were also provided snacks and juice for all participants when they finished donating. This was a precaution to be sure that nobody would pass out from the blood loss.
Donating blood makes a big difference in the lives of others. Blood drives are organized around the world for the sake of helping sick and even dying patients in need of blood. It’s a cause that the student council at Griffith has been contributing to for years and will contribute to for many more.
What’s Coming Up?
The annual turnabout dance, organized by the sophomore class council, is quickly approaching on Jan. 21 from 7p.m. - 10p.m. at Wicker Park Social Center in Highland. Each ticket is $30 and the doors to the dance will open at 6p.m.
Throughout the night, students will be dancing to music played by a DJ, posing for professional pictures, and eating finger foods provided by the banquet hall.
The sophomore class council started planning the turnabout dance during the first week of January. Each meeting took around 35 minutes to complete. They chose ‘Best Part’’ by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R. as the slow song to accompany the theme of enchanted forest.
The sophomore class council took today’s popular songs, added them to a playlist they had made, and sent the list to the DJ. On Friday, the DJ will start the night by playing older songs from his usual playlist while adding the sophomore playlist into the mix.
At 8:45p.m., when it gets darker and the students finish dancing to the played music, the DJ will ask everyone to clear the floor for the announcement of the turnabout king and queen. Last year’s king and queen will hand over their crowns to this year's turnabout king and queen, as they celebrate being crowned by dancing to ‘Best Part’’ by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R.
Staff Spotlight
This is Elise Sintes’s first year working as a guidance counselor for grades 8-12 at Griffith Jr./Sr. High School, as she previously worked as a teacher for Morton High School before transferring over into the counseling profession.
At Morton, Sintes felt as if there were a lot of elements holding the school back that had nothing to do with the students. She realized that many of these issues could be fixed with the proper implementation from a guidance counselor, and that’s when she decided to then become a counselor at Morton.
Although she appreciated being a counselor at the same school that she taught in, Sintes now enjoys teaching concepts that are transferable after high school and working on issues such as time management and organization with the students at Griffith Jr./Sr. High School.
“I love being able to see the difference that we make as guidance counselors because teachers don’t always get to see where their students end up. Guiding high schoolers into their future career paths is like having adults in training, and I can treat all of my students as such,” said Sintes.
Sintes believes that building relationships with her students is important this year, especially since she’s never worked at Griffith before. In her case, the students have to get to know her and understand that she’s trying to help them before a real connection can develop.
With her arrival at Griffith, Sintes is excited to come up with more efficient ways to do things.
One of the concepts that she’s the proudest of is when the guidance department came together and decided to create a link on the Internet for each student to make an appointment to see their guidance counselor at any given time. This way, students are given a set date and time for them to visit the guidance office without any confusion.
“I remember there was this one time that I was trying to help a student at Morton graduate. I was one of his teachers his freshman year and then I became his guidance counselor for his senior year. He was not a very good student, but he wanted to graduate from high school. I helped him graduate by implementing a lot of efficient techniques that prepared him for the SAT, applying for college, etc. He ended up graduating and his mom called me in tears thanking me for helping him,” said Sintes.
Student Spotlight
Senior, performer, and lifelong Griffith resident, Abby Morrison, has been heavily devoted to being an actress ever since she was cast in the Griffith Theatre Company’s first-ever production of their annual Middle School Drama Night.
Since then, she has starred in several shows for the Griffith Theatre Company, done community theatre for Highland Parks & Recreation, and has been a Student Thespian Officer for the last couple of years. At Griffith, Morrison has acted in several productions such as “Radium Girls”, “I Remember Mama”, and “Honk!”.
Just this past year, Morrison starred as Mollie Ralston, a proprietor of Monkswell Manor and wife of Giles Ralston, in the Griffith Theatre Company’s fall production of Agatha Christie’s, “The Mousetrap”. Currently, Morrison has taken on a new leadership responsibility as the student co-director for the middle school production of “The Brunch Club” by Katelyn Beyke, debuting on Feb 4 at 7p.m.
She attended Peter J. Beiriger Elementary School and Griffith Middle School before transitioning to Griffith High School her freshman year.
“I love acting and being on stage because I have the opportunity to mold myself into the character I’m portraying,” Morrison said. “I feel like every kid struggles with finding out who they are, and since I’m in theatre, I’ve had the opportunity to be a million different people. I think that opportunity helped me find out who I am offstage. The way you feel when you step on stage into the light is indescribable. You feel so aware of your every facial expression and movement, you feel people watching you, waiting for your delivery. It is such a unique feeling that I’ve failed to find anywhere else
When not onstage, Morrison dedicates herself to being a student thespian officer for Griffith, along with Junior Julia Gonzalez. Their roles are to represent Indiana Thespians, the member troupes, student thespians, and adult leadership. They are the student leaders who help with advocacy of both Indiana Thespians, as well as planning, managing, and hosting theatre conferences on a statewide level.
“My favorite part about being a state thespian officer would be the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet. Since becoming an STO (student thespian officer), I have met people from all around my state, and many of them are long-lasting friendships that I know I’ll have forever,” said Morrison.
Some of her favorite hobbies include watching Netflix and playing video games, especially ones where she can analyze them as if they’re literary works. Morrison is also a part of the girls’ golf team at Griffith and is planning on attending Ball State University in the fall to major in theatre arts.