Long Journey to State
Last summer the boys baseball team ended their season with a bang. They went to semi-state and ended up losing however WT was very proud of how far they went. This year’s season has just begun. Let’s see if these boys will fight for the state title...
“The reason that I play baseball is because it is the sport I love most. You do not have to be super tall or super strong to play well”, says Kyle.
Sophomore Kyle Guenther has been on varsity for two years now.
He says, “My favorite part about baseball is how close you get with your teammates. We are with each other six days out of the week and become very close over the duration of the season."
Kyle played on the team that went to semistate last year. He says that that was his favorite year playing baseball so far. However, Kyle thinks that this year's team can make it just as far. He thinks that this year’s team is much closer and has better chemistry than the year before. He also says that the talent on the team this year has so much talent.
It is only the beginning of the season so the boys have a long way to go. Hopefully, they will end their journey with a win at state.
PBLs Will Be the Death of Us
Every year the whole month of April has everyone in high school English stressed. Why is that you ask? Well after spring break every day of English class is taken up to work on PBLs. PBL stands for project-based learning. Each grade level gets into groups and has a real world problem that they have to solve. At the end of April, presentations start. Students have to create a ten-minute speech along with a powerpoint about their product or solution.
This year is Olivia Follis’ first year doing PBLs. All they have left to do is their script. For the freshmen, the topic is to find something in Porter County’s past and connect that event with the present day. Olivia says she is very nervous because she doesn’t like talking in front of people, which is a common fear.
“The only advice I have to the incoming eighth graders is that when you get the assignments pertaining to the PBL get them done as soon as possible and ask a lot of questions!," says Olivia. She will definitely be glad when this week is over, however, she has to look forward to three more years of this month of stress.
Mrs. Walla is Always Busy
At the end of this month is a very exciting day. Prom! On April 30th Washington Township will be throwing a Chicago-themed prom. The day is very exciting but the month of April is very stressful for art teacher Sandy Walla. Not a lot of people know how hard it is to plan a whole prom. Mrs. Walla has been a prom advisor for more than ten years.
When Mrs. Walla came to Washington Township she was hired to be a prom advisor. She says there is more to just planning when it comes to being an advisor. She has to plan fundraising, make orders, and keep everything running smoothly. Mrs. Walla works all year round to plan for prom. Once one is over, she is starting the next.
Knowing that the month of prom is the busiest, Mrs. Walla has been extremely booked, however, she doesn’t really have a least favorite part. Her favorite part is getting to work with everyone and being able to help. She says out of all the year’s she has been a prom advisor her favorite theme would be the Oriental theme from last year. She liked all of the elements that came together such as the blossom trees and the fans.
Even though prom is on Saturday, Mrs. Walla will still be busy all year long. The planning never ends!
Michael Funk Goes to China
Students in Chinese I, II or III received the opportunity of a lifetime. They got the chance to actually visit China for a week during the school year. This is the first time Chinese students at Washington Township has had this option.
Freshman Michael Funk is in Chinese 2 this year. He decided to do Chinese in 7th grade because he thought it was very interesting. Michael loves the class because it is interesting to him to learn a new language.
On the trip, Michael says, “My favorite part of the trip was going to see the Great Wall. This showed me how much time that the ancient Chinese citizens put into building structures and how well they preserved them."
He was very impressed at how well every structure looked even though they were made thousands of years ago. He says overall the trip was amazing.
Michael went to China to see a different country and how different the culture is from America. He definitely got to see a lot of new things while he was there.