What's Happening?
National Honor Society recently took a trip to Chicago’s Navy Pier to see a Shakespeare play and the sights around that area. The play this year was Romeo and Juliet abridged, which the Shakespeare Theatre Company put their own personal spins onto, such as having Benvolio, a friend of Romeo’s, be played by a girl, and having the scene where Romeo and Juliet meet feature intense modern music.
When the play was over, the classes got to explore Navy Pier. Most of them tried to stay inside, because outside, the Windy City earned it's name. Students ate at McDonald’s, or one of the other many restaurants populating the boardwalk, and talked with others about the play. When it was time to leave, almost everyone stopped at Ben and Jerry’s for some of that ice cream heaven.
Also recently, the La Crosse Academic Super Bowl teams made a trip out to Purdue Northwest’s new building for the first competition. The building was very beautiful and cube-shaped.
Each team gave it their all. The brilliance of every school and the wit and humor of the judges made the competition seem less like a hunt for a trophy, and more like a trivia game between friends. The team that came out in third place for La Crosse was math, who received loud whoops of appreciation. They are all looking forward to giving it their all and another shot at victory at the next upcoming competition.
Lewis Juday, Superbowl, and Shakespeare
Mr. Amor’s US History class has been learning about World War 2. While most topics they explore in the class usually only last the length of the powerpoint, a couple weeks at most, their study of World War II has taken a little more than a month. They’ve watched movies like Hacksaw Ridge, read books like Unbroken and studied powerpoints all in order to get them acquainted with this happening in history.
On Thursday, Mr. Amor gave his class a special treat; his father-in-law, 92-year-old Lewis Juday, came in to talk to the class. Juday was a marine for most of the war. He brought in some of his personal belongings and items he used during the war, besides his gun which he quipped, “probably wouldn’t have been allowed,".
He began his story with what he had been doing before the war, and how exactly he’d been roped into it in the first place. The story he told, despite being about war, was actually quite humorous at times.
“Never volunteer for anything,” he said to any prospective students looking to join the service.
“They were asking for volunteers to drive the truck, and one guy, he was a slacker, he said, ‘I’ll do it!’ He got in and he said to us, ‘You all get to walk.’ Well, next time we saw him, of course, he was shoveling dirt!”
The story ended with the dropping of the atomic bomb and the end of the war. Then the students were allowed to look at the items on the table. Juday had brought in his dress uniform, his combat gear, pictures of him at the time, and items he would have carried.
When he showed us the uniform, he said, “It looks brand-new, because the only time I got to wear it was on my 30 day’s leave.”
Even though the bell rang at the end of his speech, no one looked ready to leave. All of the students stayed and checked out the items. They lifted the two heavy helmets that they used to wear and to eat, opened and examined the contents of his food container, and felt the rough texture of the uniform and blanket that had carried Juday through the war. It was an interesting learning experience, one that they were sure they might never get again. Everyone was grateful that Mr. Juday could come and share some of his experiences. He is truly a patriotic American hero. Thank you, Lewis Juday.
Student Spotlight: Trisha Hollar
Trisha Hollar is a junior at La Crosse High School. She is one of the students that was with the school in it’s now discontinued elementary and middle school programs. While she was with the school during that time, she was pulled out in fifth grade and homeschooled for a while, until she returned to La Crosse her high school freshman year. Because of this, she didn’t really know anyone her freshman year, but she quickly adjusted and made new friends.
Trisha is working hard to keep her grades up and get into a good college. She hopes to go to college for art and writing. Of course, her favorite hobbies are drawing. She participates in National Novel Writing Month in November, as well as Drawtober in October. Despite wanting these goals, she says that her favorite class is Precalculus.
“It pushes me past my limits.” she said.
She loves helping students, and tries to give good advice to anyone that asks. When she’s not in school, she likes sleeping. She relishes her free time because she also likes to read. She is a student on the right path for success, with a hard-working attitude and courageous demeanor.
While Trisha is doing well in her studies currently, she knows that everyone is going to have moments where they want to give up.
To any new students or anyone just struggling to get by, she encourages them to “push through. You’ll get used to it eventually.”