Although the winter season has many students at Lake Central hoping for cancellations, there is still a lot happening for them to look forward to as well. With winter sports heating up, pep rallies coming back, and much more, this next month at LC will be one to remember.
Last year, Lake Central held their first ever school-wide pep rally thanks to the new gymnasium that could hold the entire student body and staff. Following that pep rally was the first ever Veterans Day assembly only a few months later. This year, the school will be holding its third assembly of the school year with more potentially in the future. The next assembly will be the winter sports pep rally, hosted for the second time by senior Caleb Beasley. Beasley, who is the current editor-in-chief of “LCTV” brought humor to the fall sports pep rally which the administration and students enjoyed and decided to bring back.
The pep rally is well deserved for the girls basketball team who is stirring up some excitement in Lake Central athletics. The girls brought in head coach Joe Huppenthal earlier this year after former coach Marc Urban stepped down. It appeared after a 1-3 start that the girls were having some struggles getting accustomed to the new man in charge. Now, following a six game winning streak, it looks as if the team is working great together. After the team's defeat of Hobart on Tuesday, Dec. 6, Huppenthal went on to say that the key has been to just keep things simple, and he gives plenty of credit to the returning coaching staff that has known the girls a bit longer than he has.
In the coming week, Lake Central Publications will be releasing its second issue of the award-winning magazine Scout. The issue focus on problems surrounding teenage abuse of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Along with that are pieces on the Westlake basketball season and holiday volunteering. The publications staff is currently working on their next “bonus” issue that will come out following winter break. The issue will show top 10 lists from 2016. It is a different version of the magazine, but with the hard work of Editor-in-Chief Sofia Hay, it is already coming along very well.
Earlier in December, student council held their annual Angel Tree fundraiser. The purpose of the event was to raise money to purchase toys for children whose lives have been affected by AIDs. With the help of students, administration and staff all throughout the corporation, they were able to raise $14,600 which was mostly spent at Walmart purchasing these items. A small portion of the money was donated to Riley’s Children's Hospital. Last year it seemed as if the money donated was astonishing, considering it was also record-breaking, but student council was able to surprise everyone once again. Another holiday fundraiser occurring right now is the food drive led by History Club.
As finals week approaches, there is plenty of stress put on students. Not only do they have to study for tests that are worth upwards of 20 percent of their semester grade, but they also have to continue with their jobs and other extracurricular activities. To help release the burden put on students, the guidance office will be putting together another Destress Fest where numerous activities are set up for students to relax during lunch time. Last year’s activities were highlighted by a therapy dog that came in and was available for students to play with. The dogs will be returning again this year. The school is also in the processing of having a pig trained for therapy purposes. Also, Mrs. Melissa Rettig put up numerous post-its on a conference room window that gave students the option to “take what they need.”
Lake Central Television has continued their live stream of sporting events. What seemed to start off as an experiment last year has turned into a regular event for home sporting events such as football and basketball. The streams can be accessed on the LCTVNews YouTube page. Also, the links directly to the stream are tweeted out on the LCHSNews account about an hour prior to the start of the game. This has given members of the community an opportunity to watch games despite not being able to attend.
With so much happening at Lake Central, it is easy to miss something. With plenty of stress coming at students, administration has taken plenty of initiative to help students relax, whether it be through fun events such as the pep rally or through the destress fest run by guidance. Plenty more information on what is going on at Lake Central can be accessed through the corporation website (www.lcsc.us) or through the publications website (www.lakecentralnews.com). For news regarding the corporation as a whole, the public relations interns have continued their hard work, which also resulted in the first ever corporation-wide newsletter being sent out earlier this month.