What’s Happening?
Christmas is the most turbulent time of the year for Andrean High School students. It is during this time that Andrean students band together the most, as the Andrean family. There are many ways that Andrean students show and spread their Christmas spirit.
December 4 was the Andrean Choir’s Christmas concert. It included songs of the season, and featured students in solos, duets, and trios. The concert ended with the song “Silent Night,” where the audience joined in.
December 10 is Ugly Christmas Sweater Day. Andrean students are allowed to break the uniform code in order to break out their ugliest red and green sweaters. Images of Christmas trees, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa and his elves float through the halls, inciting laughs and a break from the monotony of a uniform.
Andrean’s National Honor Society is in charge of the Adopt-a-Family charity. Nineteen families have been adopted. In adopt-a-family, classes receive children from underprivileged families whom they are “adopting.” Then they buy Christmas gifts and wrap them. Their goal is to brighten up the Christmases of people who otherwise could not afford to buy gifts.
Each hallway has been decorated with Christmas lights and decorations. Students walking under the lights feel as if they are walking through the stars. The aesthetically pleasing additions to the school hallway lift the dreariness that often comes at the end of a semester.
What’s Coming Up?
Next week is finals week at Andrean High School. Finals week is often one associated with stress, tears, and coffee. While these things do, unfortunately, exist at Andrean, something special happens when finals roll around. Students band together in order to survive the torturous ordeal. Quizlet usernames are swapped, study guides are emailed, notes are shared, and study groups gather.
Andrean students are never as united as they are before finals. Nothing quite makes you feel like a Fifty-Niner like sharing a look of understanding with the other students in your class during prayer before diving into an exam worth 25% of your final grade. In-class exams are Monday and Tuesday, and formal exams are Wednesday-Friday.
After finals week, students are rewarded with a two-week hiatus from school. Over the break, most students will celebrate Christmas and the New Year with their friends and families. Classes will resume on January 4, 2016, the first day of the second semester.
An entrance exam, required for all potentially incoming freshmen, is scheduled for January 16 at 8:00 a.m. Andrean’s second open house of the year will be Tuesday, January 12, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. These are two important events for future Fifty-Niners.
Teacher Feature
Mrs. Maldonado received the well-deserved teacher of the month award for December. It was announced during the all-school mass on December 8. At this announcement, the student body rose to its feet to give her a standing ovation. It was apparent that Mrs. Maldo is a well-respected, widely loved figure at Andrean High.
Mrs. Maldonado arrived at Andrean for the first time in August of 1989. She had sent a general application to the diocese of Gary, and Andrean called her with a job opening. Although she had lived in Whiting, Indiana all her life, she had never before heard of Andrean. However, throughout the years, Andrean became her home.
Her love for the Andrean family is indisputable.
“Andrean isn’t about the building, it’s about the people,” she said. “All of the wonderful people I’ve met have had such a big impact on my life.”
As the Andrean community has impacted her, Mrs. Maldonado has certainly impacted the Andrean community. Currently, she is the sophomore class moderator and the moderator for the Prayer Blanket Ministry. However, throughout her 27 years at Andrean, she has done a little bit of everything, including being a Ninerette coach, being a campus minister, moderators for the freshman, junior, and senior classes, and more.
Mrs. Maldo reaches most of the students by having them in class.
“My favorite part about teaching is the interaction with the students and being able to see them grow and develop academically and spiritually,” she said. Mrs. Maldonado is certainly a teacher that makes that happen.
Student Feature
Holes, the Andrean Theater Company’s winter play, premiered December 10. It will be performed December 10-12 at 7:00 p.m. and December 13 at 2:00 p.m. The play took place in the cafeteria. The stage is in the middle of the cafeteria, surrounded by chairs on all sides for an intimate theater in the round experience.
The play starred senior Brandon Bonta, who played the part of Stanley Yelnats, the protagonist. Bonta was surprised to discover that he had scored the lead in the play. This was only the second show that he had acted in, his first being last year’s winter play, Almost Maine. His role in Almost Maine was a small one, but he was able to demonstrate his theatrical abilities in Holes.
“Mr. Grabek [the director] put some faith in me, and it just happened,” Bonta said.
Although he may not be a highly experienced actor, Brandon seemed comfortable onstage. His performance was both heartwarming and humorous, putting smiles on the faces of everyone in the audience.
“For me, it’s not so much the idea about being someone else,” he said, “I just like to entertain. It’s a good feeling, being able to get onstage and make people laugh.”
Brandon Bonta is an involved student, participating in football, track, theater, and community service. He joined theater to try something new, and just happened to be great at it. We look forward to the possibility of seeing him star in future roles.