What’s recently happened?
Whiting High School (WHS) celebrated Mexican Independence Day on Friday September 16 by hosting a fundraiser of a dress down day. Students were able to donate a dollar to the Spanish Club to raise money for future educational events.
Spanish Club is sponsored by Spanish Teacher Nohemi Saavedra and Educator Lifelong Learner and Researcher Lisa Mendoza. Both teachers inspire the Hispanic community within WHS to be proud of their heritage and embrace the language they speak.
The club consists of over 15 members and are hosting its second fundraiser Monday September 19 by selling Conchas and Mexican hot chocolate to students during lunch periods.
Spanish Club also has its respected senior officers; Erick Vazquez, Jose Torres, Alondra Rodriguez, and Miranda Casanova, who are all looking forward to future fundraisers and events for the club.
The club is looking forward to educating more students about their Hispanic culture and encouraging them to join.
What’s coming up?
WHS is preparing for its homecoming week September 19-24, and the theme this year is U.S cities. Each class voted on a city based on their suggestions from their class.
The senior class has Honolulu, Hawaii, juniors Nashville, Tennessee, sophomores Hollywood, California, and freshman New Orleans, Louisiana.
The spirit weekdays are as follows: Monday, Pajama Day, Tuesday, Holidays, Wednesday, Adam Sandler Day, Thursday, Class City Day, and Friday, Extreme Green and White Day.
Each day has a school activity where students will participate in hallway decorating for their class, float decorating for the parade, and a powderpuff kickball game at the WHS softball field as well as the pep rally during school.
Each class will be judged throughout the week by their class participation, decoration, float design, and overall spirit at the pep rally.
The pep rally will feature a variety of games and class participation and allow students to get excited about the dance on Saturday, as well as the football game that evening.
Staff spotlight:
Clamae Bullock is the business teacher for WHS, and she teaches digital responsibility and principles of business. Bullock prides herself in welcoming students into her classroom and educates her students with videos for them to watch highlighting different heritages, and languages.
This is Bullock’s second year teaching and fifth year in education, Bullock tries her best to show her students there is life outside of just the classroom and Northwest Indiana.
“I got into teaching because I wanted students to understand there is life outside of the region and I wanted to empower students to create the life they want and to be an example of that” Bullock said.
Bullock also wants to make learning and education as joyous as she experienced in school, so she tries her best to continue to maintain that environment within the classroom.
“I chose to work at WHS because I grew up in proximity to Whiting, and I have extended family here. I enjoy the small town aspect,” Bullock said.
Outside of the classroom Bullock is involved in various activist groups and hopes to become more involved in WHS clubs in the future.
Empowering students and guiding them to their future goals is something Bullock looks forward to doing every day in school.
“Look for yourself in everything, be in tune with your identities, and to apply that to every little bit of how you move and see the world.” Bullock said
Seeing the difference Bullock is able to make in her students lives is something that is truly heartwarming and dear to her heart “I can't do everything, all my students aren't going to master everything, but I can love all my students and make them feel loved which is extremely important”
Bullock enjoys sewing, dance, reading and much more and shows those aspects to her students, continuing to inspire them to speak their minds.
Student spotlight:
Senior Caden Burgeson is looking forward to all his senior activities this year and is ready to finish his last school year of high school strong.
Burgeson has been in wrestling and football for WHS in the past few years and recalls some of his favorite memories during those seasons.
“I loved my wrestling season last year, conditioning with all the guys and the long practices made getting up early on the weekend worth it,” Burgeson said.
Burgeson is looking forward to this year's homecoming and intends to participate in any activities he can to support his class and WHS.
“The pep rally is always the best part about spirit week, you can really bond with your class and be able to have fun dressing up with your friends,” Burgeson said.
Being his last year at WHS, Burgeson is ready to take on all the challenges this year may bring him and knows that in the end walking across that stage at commencement will make it all worth it.
“Keeping up with the work teachers give you and staying on top of it makes school so much easier, I try my best to be the best student I can and I hope more students try their best and not compare themselves to others,” Burgeson said.