What’s recently happened?
Fall sports have begun to wrap up at Munster High School, with Boys Tennis winning Conference and gaining its 44th consecutive Sectional title.
“There was a lot of adjusting to do since the previous three years were pretty much identical routine and schedule wise, but Coach Morris truly showed that he cared about each individual on Varsity and Junior Varsity (JV),” Senior Aaryan Patel said. “As a senior, it felt motivating that I am a role model to the younger kids and I need to help lead the team.”
Girls Soccer has finished off their season with the title of conference champs, but fell short against Crown Point High School at the Sectional finals match on Oct. 12.
The Boys Soccer season continued on into the fall after winning Conference and becoming Sectional champs, beating Lake Central High School and Hammond Central High School (HCHS) in the final match 4-1. Its next match is the Regionals on Oct. 17 against Valparaiso High School.
“It feels great that I’ve shared this with my teammates,” Niki Dimitrijevic, senior and captain, said. “We’ve been working so hard for this. It is a long lasting rivalry that is so sweet to win.”
Girls Volleyball regular season has come to an end, and the first Sectionals match will be held on Oct. 19 against HCHS.
The football team has one more regular season game, senior night, which is Oct. 18 against Kankakee Valley High School. The team beat Highland High School in the Battle of the Bridge 41-21 on Oct. 4, securing the trophy for the first time in about six years. After the regular season is over, the team will play Hammond Morton High School in its first Sectionals game on Nov. 1.
What’s coming up?
Munster High School will be hosting Halloween Halls, an event where student organizations, clubs and sports give out candy to Munster community members and their children on Oct. 25.
Members of the “Crier” and “Paragon,” Munster’s newspaper and yearbook, will be taking a trip to Philadelphia to participate in the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism convention Nov. 7-10 and will also be participating in competitions such as logo design, feature photography and news writing. Last year, the publications went to Boston for the convention, and the “Paragon” and “Crier” both received awards.
The media center is also holding a mock presidential election, with voting taking place Oct. 28 until Nov. 1. Librarian Kelly Hladek has sent out information on both the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as the presidential candidates, that the students can read in order to become more informed about the candidates and be able to cast their votes in the mock election.
Staff spotlight:
Steve Lopez, AP U.S. History (APUSH) and US History teacher, has known that he wanted to teach since the fifth grade.
“I had a feeling way back in fifth grade when I had one of the best teachers ever,” Lopez said. “He showed me how fun it was to teach and literally said he never felt like it was work because he enjoyed it so much. I did get side tracked a bit freshman year in college with business and also with work at UPS, but I never gave up on my dream to teach.”
Lopez has taught U.S. History his entire teaching career, but started teaching APUSH during the 2007 school year.
“I have always enjoyed history,” Lopez said. “When it is taught like a narrative, it helps to make connecting content easier and much more interesting.”
Along with teaching history, Lopez has coached a number of sports.
“I began coaching freshman Girls Softball my first year and then coached freshman Boys Basketball for four years,” Lopez said. “I coached Boys Track for eight years and then coached Boys Tennis for 16 years and Girls Tennis for three years.”
Other than softball, Lopez coached all of these sports because he had previously played them in high school, along with going on to play tennis in college.
As students go through high school, U.S. history is a required course to take, so many of the students have the chance to have Lopez as a teacher.
“Make the most of every day, no matter how hard it may seem – there is always something or someone you can find joy in that helps to make your day a bit brighter,” Lopez said. “This approach can be used really for the rest of your life. Whether a friend, family, or nature itself- there is beauty and joy out there. Find it.”
Student spotlight:
Two seniors at Munster High School, Asha Patel and Jude Jimenez, have begun their own business endeavors. They have created a program called Sprout, which they made in order to provide economic and financial information to teenagers.
“During my sophomore year, I was scheduling my classes for junior year,” Patel said. “I requested to take AP Microeconomics and AP U.S. Government and Politics, but my guidance counselor informed me that those classes were only for seniors.”
Patel realized that many of the courses dedicated to economics and politics were meant for seniors only, and younger kids with those interests might find it hard to find resources, just like she had.
“It’s easy to go online and get cold, hard information,” Patel said. “It’s a lot harder to have academic discussions with the people at the top of their field. With this in mind, I created Sprout.”
Sprout is an online program that allows students to hear from professionals about topics such as retirement accounts, inflation and public finance.
“At first, it was just my own personal pursuit, but then I realized that sharing it would be beneficial to others,” Patel said.
The pair started out by building their website and then emailing the experts in hopes of scheduling interviews. After interviewing the professionals, Patel transcribed their interviews into English and Jimenez transcribed them into Spanish in order to broaden the reach of their program.
“Regardless of if you plan on pursuing a career in economics or finance, it’s important to know how to financially prepare for the future,” Patel said. “Even at a young age, it’s vital that people know how to invest and properly save their money.”
Patel and Jimenez have reached over 10,000 students in over 10 high schools across Northwest Indiana. They have also gained the status of a nonprofit organization, meaning they can apply for financial grants, and they are currently trying to provide free Wall Street Journal subscriptions to high school students.
“Sprout aims to give students a nonpartisan outlook on the economy, allowing them to be more informed voters,” Patel said.
