TEACHER SPOTLIGHT:
With a heart full of passion, endurance, and ambition to push not only himself, but also others around him, Mr. Da Silva has earned a deep spot in our hearts here at East Chicago Central High School. Taking over the place as the new environmental science teacher at the school, he has also taken the liberty to coach the boys soccer team and swimming. The beloved former boys soccer coach had transferred to another school around the Northwest Indiana region, and it was a type of new stepdad situation for the boys on the team.
“I thought I was going to hate Da Silva. He had such a gullible look on his face when he first introduced himself to us. He looked like he had very little knowledge about soccer. I felt like he only played Fifa prior to taking up the coaching position,” admitted Pedro Bonilla, the team’s midfielder. “And then with just within a week of practicing, he blows us all away with his moves, and they’re not ordinary moves. They’re moves that you see professional soccer players perfecting.”
Da Silva is of Brazilian and African heritage, and his love for soccer stems from his father who played professionally in Brazil, Mexico, and here in the United States. The soccer fan himself has played club level here in Chicago and East Chicago.
Along with soccer, Da Silva also has a passion for the sport of swimming. He and his daughter both inspire and push each other to get better at it, and he is the backbone of the swimming team.
“It is a great cardiovascular workout with the added benefit of removing the stress of pressure on joints,” said Da Silva. He sees the potential his swimmers possess, and he couldn’t be more proud that one of them broke a school record at their very first swim meet.
“While we are a young team, I anticipate great things from them.”
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:
East Chicago Central High School’s very own senior Angela Barcenas is taking the school by storm. The 18-year-old was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society for her love of medical sciences and forensic science, possessing a deep desire to be a forensic crime scene technician. Her passion is to aid the criminal justice department by doing such things as collecting evidence from a crime scene, dusting for fingerprints, analyzing evidence, and coming up with a possible link between the suspects and the crime scene.
Angela also wants a future career as an emergency medical technician, which is a first responder in the event of a medical emergency. Mrs. Cheryl Garwick, who has worked at Central High School for six years but retired this 2016-2017 year, is Angela’s mentor for the EMT career field. Garwick worked as an EMT for more than forty years and now teaches the first responder class, an introductory class to the field, and emergency medical technician class at hospitals surrounding the Northwest Indiana region, something Anglea aspires to do when she gets older.
Angela is also CPR certified and volunteers at the Gary Methodist Hospital, where she assists nurses in the emergency room and helps take blood pressure, administer urine tests, and many more things for patients.
“I know it’s cliche to say this, but I really love the idea of helping people. It’s a nice feeling to know that you’re needed somewhere out there in this world,” said Angela.
WHAT’S COMING UP:
The East Chicago Central High School Senior Class of 2017 is uberly excited about their upcoming turnabout dance, a dance that breaks the stereotypical gender rules of when the guy asks the girl. This is only the second year that we’re administering it, seeing as the senior class fundraised more than enough to host it. Ms. Katrina Alexander, the class of 2017 sponsor, informs that this is the most involved senior class she has seen in all her years of being a senior class sponsor. More and more students are attending the meetings held every Tuesday and Wednesday of the week and voicing their opinion on matters such as t-shirt designs, yearbook designs, fundraising for prom, spirit week days, and other things like the turnabout theme! It was a tough decision, seeing as there were many great theme ideas like Hollywood, The Great Gatsby, Candyland and various other fun themes. The one they’ve chosen upon is A Night in Paris.
The students have been getting artsy in Ms. Alexander’s room after school every day of the week, preparing for the dance. Senior class president Terion Collins is in charge of what decorations they are making and buying.
Collins said, “These students are working in a fun environment and encouraging each other to make the decorations. It’s always a good thing to encourage each other because negative things can slow things down and ruin it. If we didn’t have all these wonderful students helping and donating supplies and money, this turnabout dance wouldn’t be able to be a thing.”
Da Silva is warming everyone’s hearts.
WHAT’S HAPPENING:
This year, the East Chicago Central High School has been in the kind and caring mood and been generous by donating all year round. To kick off the 2016 school year, administration and faculty held their annual Back to School Fair, where they administer physicals to students, give out school supplies and school uniforms such as polos, and navy and khaki pants, and host live performances such as dancing and singing. The turnout gets bigger each school year, and the community couldn’t be happier about it.
Along with the school fairs, there has been a food drive going on every month. It started in early November in preparations to help aid the families of the students in need. They have been accepting non-perishables, and the class that collects the most non-perishables gets a pizza party. It’s a nice incentive for the students to give back.
The giving back doesn’t stop there. This year the school’s freshman biology teacher Mrs. Rivera helped the humanitarian aid organization Samaritan's Purse with their annual project Operation Christmas Child. Her students, and anyone else who wanted to join, got a box assigned to a boy or girl and filled it with necessities like toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and toys. They went to children in need around Christmas time.
Character Plus is a hourly segment taught every Wednesday to the students to enhance their mannerisms and characteristics. The Character Plus team decided to help homeless veterans by having the students collect things like wash clothes, hats, gloves, soap, and other necessities. The turnout was so great, they collected over 200 bags for the veterans!