Summer Fun and Fall Modifications
Along with the summer activities students are involved in before the summer ends, the upcoming 2015-2016 school year at Whiting holds numerous changes.
Upward Bound Students
A program through the U.S. Department of Education, Upward Bound provides students the chance for college preparation beginning their freshman year of high school and ending six years after high school in order to monitor their progress.
Whiting’s very own William Ramos (11), Brian Flores (11), Pablo Moore (11), Sebastian Macias (11), and Lupe Ruiz (11) are all participants. During the summer, incoming high school juniors take part in the Rising Junior Component. Whiting students have attended classes and resided in the dormitories at the Purdue West Lafayette campus to have a college experience
Through this program, students learn to interact with a wide range of diverse students from other high schools. The skills students learn not only in the classroom but also outside of it are as equally as important. Time management, prioritizing, responsibility, and communication are some of the valuable lessons Whiting attendees are learning through Upward Bound.
Congratulations to the Whiting students that represented Purdue Calumet for winning first place after a tiebreaker against Notre Dame’s team in the Upward Bound Academic Bowl!
Pierogi Fest
Each year, the sophomore and junior classes fundraiser at Pierogi Fest. In order to have a successful event, students and parents volunteer their time to cook and sell homemade Haluski. For the first two days, juniors sold Haluski while sophomores charged for parking at the football field lot. Juniors sold parking spots on the last day while sophomores sold Haluski.
The junior class sponsor, Ms. Aviance Cobb, estimated their goal at $6,000 or $7,000 to pay for prom in the spring; unfortunately, they plan to cut back spending on homecoming decorations.
Sophomore class sponsors, Ms. Kassie Markovich and Ms. Stephanie Andrade, projected their goal earnings at $4,000 based off of the previous year’s amount.
All of the sponsors wanted to emphasize student involvement and volunteering to their class to make the most of their high school years. Sophomore and junior class sponsors believe participation is key; through the help of their class officers, sponsors hope for student involvement to increase.
Meet the New Principal
Welcoming a new member to the Oiler family, Whiting High School has a new principal, Ms. Julie Fregien, whose goal is to technologically advance the school. However, Principal Fregien is not the only new addition to the Oiler family; four new teachers joining the Oiler family will teach in the subjects of Mathematics, Social Studies, English, and Special Education.
Ms. Fregien was born and raised in Milwaukee then furthered her education by attending Valparaiso University. She worked at Merrillville High School as a Mathematics teacher for 8 years then Hoosier Academy for 1 year as the assistant principal. Ms. Fregien is excited to be a part of Whiting High School.
Principal Fregien hopes to bring social media into the school by creating a WHS Twitter with the help from Ms.Santina Johnson, the Business teacher, and the Tech Department for students to share their posts. Plans to update the school website are also a work in progress. A long term goal of the principal is to enrich the learning environment by having more technology and lab carts available.
The alterations for this school year was further explained by Principal Fregien. Choice period, a required 30-minute class, will allow students to receive extra help or enrichments for any class. Choice period creates the opportunity for relationships to build and extend learning through labs and projects. Students in Cadet teaching during Choice period will be allowed to spend a half hour with a high school teacher to learn what it means to be a teacher; furthermore, another hour will be spent in the elementary or middle school for cadet teaching.
During the school day, Credit Recovery with Mr. Dennis Scott will be offered the last three periods of the day and 2 hours after school. Students will be allowed to meet all required classes during the regular school day along with recovering their credits.
A look into August
Summer is nearing a close as registration has already quickly come and gone. Oilers must make sure to mark their calendars for the following important dates.
Preview Day will be held August 6th at 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. National Honor Society students will be available to give guided tours of the school for freshmen and incoming students.
The first day of school for students is Thursday, August 13th with the football scrimmage against Bishop Noll to be held at home at 7 p.m.
August 22nd at 7 p.m. at home is the Oilers chance to take back the Battle of 119th trophy against Clark. Rudy Becerra (12), a member of the football team, represented the Oilers in the Pierogi Fest parade on July 24th alongside a Clark football player.
The Gavit Invite Cross Country meet will be held August 29th at Riverside Park at 9 a.m.
The Lady Oiler volleyball team places their first game at Westville at 5:30 p.m. on August 19th, but the first home game is August 20th against Hebron at 5:30 p.m.
Good luck to the Oilers in all of the upcoming athletic events!