Teacher Spotlight: Kyle Kwasny
One of the most well known teachers at George Rogers Clark is Kyle Kwasny. Kwasny is the hall monitor outside the classroom but one of the most engaging teachers in the classroom. He is the teacher that high schoolers trust.
Mr. Kwasny is a person at Clark who wears a lot of hats in the building. Mr. Kwasny is a well rounded teacher, as he teaches World Civ, U.S. Government, and a college readiness program called Blueprint. Not only does he work in the classroom, but he also works with the boys football team as well as motivates the other sports to strive for victory.
In the classroom, Kwasny teaches in lecture type format, but still manages to make the classroom fun. Throughout lessons, he utilizes personal stories and experiences to further engage the students as well as make difficult concepts more easily understood. Even though he makes the classroom fun, he still remains serious about student grades and encourages the students to study and ask for help.
For the Blueprint class, he motivates the selected students to get early applications finished, aim for higher SAT or ACT scores, help organize and peer review personal statements, and overall get the group college ready. By having a teacher like this, students can focus on their academics and future without stressing!
Student Spotlight: Mario Quintana
Mario Quintana has always been the quiet guy at Clark High School. This year as a senior, he wanted to make his final year memorable, which is why he joined the soccer team.
Mario never thought he would get involved with a sport or club during high school.
He said, “I played partly during my sophomore year but stopped to focus on my grades, which were more important for my future at the time. I knew I wanted to go to college in my future, but I still didn’t have the correct balance between my grades and extracurriculars.”
After taking a break from the team, he decided to give it another shot after seeing the family-like bond between the players. Being able to enjoy the sport the entire season of his senior year, Mario says that he has learned to be a better person from the sport and also by the motivation of his teammates.
“I’ve learned to count on other people for support instead of always relying on myself, which is hard for a lot of kids. There is always a fear to ask people for help, or tell someone my ideas,” Mario stated “Being an only child plays a big role in that too.”
In his future he doesn't see himself playing soccer, but rather using the communication skills he has learned in his future career interests of engineering or in business. Mario knows whichever path he decides to take, he will continue to improve himself, like he did on the field.
We Will Lead at GRC
School spirit poured through the halls during George Rogers Clark’s homecoming week. As the students cat walked in their spirit week fashion, they were not afraid to express their creativity. Grades 9-12 jumped right out of bed into the halls for pajama day, swapped genders on gender bender day, created costumes with friends for dynamic duo day, strutted in character day attire, and showed spirit on the last day, the GRC classic, blue and white day.
As these festivities rolled through the week, the junior and senior girls were getting pumped to participate in the first Powderpuff game in years. On September 27th, the girls played that night with seniors taking the win. But the school spirit didn’t end there. After the girls game, crowds of students headed towards an area outside of the field to a bonfire to get the boys football team fired up for the Homecoming game that took place the 28th of September. The coaches spoke to the crowd about coming to support the boys to bring the GRC family together.
On the 28th, the boys took a harsh loss but still did not take that loss as a symbol of failure, but as a symbol of growth. The seniors will be leaving, but the underclassmen will continue to strive for a stronger team!
What’s Coming Up?
On October 27th, the Clark “Run for Your Life” 5k Run/Walk will be held at the Wolf Lake Pavilion in Whiting. The run has a Halloween themed name, and also has many Halloween related activities. At this event, the 5k run/walk will begin around 8:30 am and will follow with other activities, such as face painting and concessions that start at 9:00am. At around 10:00 am there will be a costume contests for the people who decided to dress up, which is not mandatory, but the creativity is always encouraged from the Clark staff!
To participate in the event, there is a small fee. All proceeds from this event benefit the Clark High School PTSA, which will help Clark hold more fun events and other activities that the students and parents will enjoy. Even though online registrations are closed, contacting Clark High School will determine if more participants can join in on the Halloween fun! Get to running!