What's recently happened?
The student body at Munster High School (MHS) has decided upon its leaders for the 2025-2026 academic year. Juniors Jovi Savaglio and Addy Biel have won student body president and vice president elections respectively for next year at MHS.
“Jovi and I knew we wanted to run together since sophomore year, and we started planning our ideas and campaign about a year ago,” Biel said. “We created a notes list to put any ideas we thought of, and by the time campaigning started, our list was over 20 ideas long. We made our campaign posts months in advance and we had planned to talk face to face to as many people as we could during campaigning week, which truly helped us so much.”
Their main plans include a drive-in movie night and a second semester Pep Rally.
Along with student body elections, the senior banquet was held on May 9, and superlatives were announced. The winners include:
- Heart of gold male: Paul Harkenrider
- Heart of gold female: Isabella Shin
- Best car male: Lukis Raymond
- Best car female: Nadia Pierre-Auguste
- Best style male: Jack Foreit
- Best style female: Daniella Lesina
- Best smile male: Kwaku Awuah
- Best smile female: Ava Adam & Nina Garner
- Best humor male: Greg Ramos & Owen Roberts
- Best humor female: Lilianna Rivera
- Most school spirited male: DJ Certa
- Most school spirited female: Annie Fuller
- Most likely to become the next Mozart male: Jack Sklar
- Most likely to become the next Mozart female: Josie Speckhard
- Most likely to win an Olympic gold medal male: Kwaku Awuah
- Most likely to win an Olympic gold medal female: Savannah Neutzel
- Most likely to be late to graduation male: Jude Jiminez
- Most likely to be late to graduation female: Nina Garner
- Most likely to win a Nobel Peace Prize male: Cavin McNulty
- Most likely to win a Nobel Peace Prize female: Claire Han
- Best male duo: Jack Foreit & Jackson Serbentes
- Best female duo: Brooklyn Kuna & Morgan Kindy
What's coming up?
In the midst of Advanced Placement (AP) testing, students are studying for their second week of testing. Finals are right around the corner for the MHS students as well. Senior Asha Patel is taking seven AP tests this testing season.
“I get blank printer paper, not loose leaf, and I go through review videos and redo all my notes on the blank paper,” Patel said. “I do lots of practice tests in the 'Princeton Review' book and the published College Board tests.”
In the middle of testing, there will be a pre finals spirit week from May 12- 16. The days include:
- Monday - Frat Day
- Tuesday - USA Day
- Wednesday - Pool Party
- Thursday - Dress Like Your 5th Grade Self
- Friday - White Lie Day
Staff spotlight:
English Teacher Amanda Holloway has been teaching for 13 years, with 12 of them being at MHS.
“It’s been a journey,” Holloway said. “I started my freshman year at Ball State University as a music education major, and I couldn’t even play the piano. I switched to advertising through the Journalism program. Following college, I worked in marketing as a product developer, copywriter, and editor in automotive marketing. It was interesting, but I did not feel I was making a difference. That’s when I decided to become a teacher.”
Holloway has always loved writing and literature, and now teaches English 9 and Language Arts Lab at MHS.
“In the journalism program and in my marketing position, I honed my skills and had a knack for finding grammatical mistakes,” Holloway said. “My passion for this subject led me to the teaching profession to pass along my knowledge to my students.”
Holloway enjoys projects in her classes that allow her students to utilize their creativity.
“There are quiet moments when I read a student’s writing and realize how they’ve grown, which makes it all worth it. I love those moments when I see students truly enjoying the process of learning. One of these took place when I had my students role play as lawyers from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Some of my quieter students were so passionate and confident about arguing their side. I remember getting goosebumps as the students shared evidence and tackled the argument with confidence.”
Student spotlight:
Next year, Isla Utterback will be a junior at MHS and take over for the school articles. At the publications banquet held on May 4, she was announced co-editor-in-chief along with Kenley Smith, who will also be a junior next year.
“I was so nervous about the editor-in-chief position before it was announced,” Utterback said. “I had worked so hard for it, but I also knew the other person who went out for it deserved it just as much. I remember wishing we could just both get the position. When we did, I was just so excited to be able to share my position with such a lovely, hardworking person. I was also relieved that next year, I'm not going to be managing over 20 kids alone.”
Utterback took the introductory Journalism 1 course over her first semester of sophomore year, and joined yearbook the next semester.
“I was trying to pick what electives to do my sophomore year, and my mom was certain I'd love journalism,” Utterback said. “Even though I wasn't convinced, I signed up and I ended up falling in love with it.”
Along with the process of writing an article, Utterback enjoys learning about new things through the writing process.
“When I first started, I felt like I knew nothing about hockey,” Utterback said. “After a lot of research and interviews, I learned a lot about it and have a newfound appreciation for the sport. Moments like that perfectly encapsulate what I love about writing.”
Utterback was in theater and Yearbook this semester, the latter which is known as “Paragon” at MHS. She plans to also join “The Crier” next year and work for the school newspaper.
“It was tricky to find time to go to rehearsals and builds, but luckily my teachers were very flexible and I was able to balance both,” Utterback said. “I also just try to not overwhelm myself. If I'm in tech week for a musical, I'd make sure to get ahead of the yearbook the week before so I wouldn't stress about it.”
As the next year rolls around, Utterback is looking forward to interacting with both the newspaper and yearbook staff on a day to day basis.
“When you're in one staff, you tend to get to know them more because you're around them all the time,” Utterback said. “Both the ‘Crier’ and ‘Paragon’ have such amazing people and I can't wait to connect with both of them. I'm also excited to be able to take on more serious topics in the 'Crier' while still enjoying the fun school events yearbook covers.”
With two years left of high school, Utterback is looking forward to her junior and senior year, despite the stress that may come with it. She also can’t wait for her internship at GreatNews.Life as a part of the Student Voices program, where she will write articles about MHS.
“I'm super excited to take on the co-editor-in-chief role,” Utterback said. “I look forward to taking it on and having journalism as my rock through the hard times.”
