What’s recently happened?
On Friday, Dec. 6, the Munster High School (MHS) and Wilbur Wright Middle School (WWMS) Book Clubs took a field trip to watch the movie “Wicked.” After reading and summarizing the original “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, the clubs met up to watch the movie.
Student Government’s annual charity volleyball tournament was held on Tuesday, Dec. 10. In order to participate in the tournament, students had to form a team and donate one toy to the toy drive per person. The “Mistletoe Merchants,” seniors Esther Graham, Maddy Marlowe, Milania Munoz, Jose Foster, Cole Eplawy, Ruben Napules and Sam Landmesser won the tournament.
Along with the toy drive and tournament, the Mustang Toy Roundup included a Munster Volunteer Project (MVP) trip to target to purchase toys together.
What’s coming up?
Club picture day will be held on Monday, Dec. 16. Each club will give out permission slips and students will report to the gym at their designated time, where MHS publications will take over from there and take the pictures for each club.
Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 16 and 17, will be “dead days” at MHS where students are able to review for their finals, which will start on Wed. and go through Fri.
Boys’ Basketball will play away at East Chicago Central High School (ECCHS) on Friday, Dec. 13, and away at Lake Central High School on Tues. Dec. 17. This year, returning varsity players include Seniors Blake Trilli and Tyler Fuller, and Junior Josh Malloy.
“This season has been going good so far, especially with how many new varsity players we have,” Danny Schassburger, junior, said. “The captains play a big part with all the new players adapting to varsity.”
Girls’ Basketball will play home against Lowell High School (LHS) on Friday, Dec. 13 and away against Illiana Christian High School (ICHS) on Mon. Dec. 16.
Girls’ and Boys’ Swim are both in season and will have their next meet, a tri dual against Hobart High School (HHS) and LHS, on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
Staff spotlight:
Leigh Ann Westland, English teacher, starts each class on Monday with “Mindfulness Monday” practices. This involves sharing resources, ideas and tools to help students become happier.
“I am grateful that I teach a subject that involves human experiences and emotions that I can relate to social issues and students' lives,” Westland said. “I believe in the power of breathing, living in the present, having self-compassion, and practicing gratitude and loving kindness daily and enjoy sharing with students.”
Education has always been important to Westland and her family – her parents were both teachers at one point – and she also noted she had extraordinary teachers during a pivotal time in her life. She decided to become an English teacher specifically because she has always loved expression, specifically reading and writing.
“I enjoy being a part of students growth both in the English classrooms and outside the classroom,” Westland said. “High school can be hard, and students need to know someone is on their side and supports them.”
As student mental health becomes a more prominent topic in schools, teacher mental health should also be considered in the classroom.
“Students can understand how their actions and choices affect others and the classroom environment as a whole,” Westland said. “For example, they don’t complete the work outside of class, they come unprepared which affects what teachers are trying to accomplish.”
English language and literature involves human experiences, as well as human emotions. This gives Westland an opportunity to relate learning to students’ lives and make it more penetrable.
“Over the years, I have figured out that we all share common feelings and experiences,” Westland said. “Texts written by others communicate those experiences and feelings so that students, in turn, can learn how to create their own texts expressing and sharing in ways that others will understand.”
Student spotlight:
For Tilly Kirk, sophomore at MHS, music has always been part of her life. Performing in MHS’s Chorale during school keeps her busy: field trips, winter caroling activities, and concerts are some of the activities the Choir participates in during the school year.
“My favorite part about Choir is the people,” Kirk said. “I’ve met a lot of my favorite people through choir.”
This winter, the Choir went on a series of concerts to the Jewish Federation of Northwest Indiana, St. Paul Catholic Church, and St. Thomas More Catholic Church.
“We were told we made a first grader cry because it was ‘so beautiful’ so I think I really enjoy performing and impacting others,” Kirk said.
Along with participating in Chorale through MHS, Kirk also takes singing lessons. This year Kirk was selected for the 2025 American Choral Directors Association National SSAA Honors Choir. The selection process involved sending in recordings of a scale, a clip of a preselected song, and a chosen solo song.
Now that she has been selected, she and Layla Roos, sophomore, will perform in Dallas, TX as part of a 300 person choir consisting of students who auditioned from all 50 states.
“I was super excited to be selected,” Kirk said. “Waiting for results was nerve racking so it was really nice to get positive results.”
