Renee Price

            Spring Fling is a cavalcade of all of  performance groups from grades five through twelve. Four jazz bands, two from the middle school and two from the high school, the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade bands, concert band, symphonic band, and the percussion ensemble played.

Student and teacher opinion finds Spring Fling as an overwhelming success.

“I think it went pretty good. Two of the songs we [the symphonic band] played got standing ovations. We play a lot of challenging songs and we made it work,” junior Carina Branson said.

“There were great items for auction, the Carrabba’s food is always good, and the bands played to their best ability. The Jazz Band sounded great at dinner. In my opinion, the symphonic band has never sounded better. My favorite piece we played was Mekong, a rendition of the Vietnam War,” junior Zac Patch said.

“It was a long performance,” junior Megan Wong said. “It was so far the band’s best performance. The song Mekong, conducted by Mr. Brightup, achieved a standing ovation.”

The silent auction, which funds the band program, brought in over $10,000.

“The concert was phenomenal. The students did an exceptional job,” Craig Gray, band director, said. “We sometimes play popular music, it’s not always serious, but we did a tribute to firefighters and the police force. We always want to improve our musicianship but the students did an outstanding job.”

Mr. Gray and the band students thank the Jaguar Band Booster Club for their help with Spring Fling.

            “It went well. I appreciate the staff taking time out of their third hour to come down. I thought the students rose to the occasion to talk about their plan without any difficulty.” Class sponsor Sherri Goforth said.

Jeff Doshier, sophomore, created a business plan for the establishment of a concert venue.

“I think it went very great, except for the few hecklers there were trying to cause trouble.” Doshier said.

Rachel Jacobson, senior, brought in cupcake sample for her plan for a cupcake bakery.

“I think it went really well. I previewed my display for everyone so it was a good experience. We get to have people come around and ask us about our plans which really helped my confidence.” Jacobson said.

“I thought it went very well,” Shane Pullman, a junior, said, “Class participation and effort played a key role to the success and so did having such a wonderful teacher as Mrs. Goforth.”

Best Marketing Flyers

1^st Place – Grant Duggan

2^nd Place – AnhThu Nguyen

3^rd Place – Roman Vallejo

Honorable Mentions

Austin Griffith – Best Board & Answers to Questions

Zac Gentzler – Best Table Decorations & Presentation

Alex List -Best Props & Board

Jaden Strobel – Best Table Decorations & Board

Best Props

Jeff Doshier

Best Table Decorations

Rachel Jacobson

Best Answers to Questions

Bay Huntley

Best Board

Jeff Sherman

Best Presentation

Grant Duggan

Valedictorians are students who obtain the highest GPA of the graduating class. Salutatorians have the next highest GPA. Cum Laude Graduates are students who ranked within the top ten percent of their class.

“It’s nice to get recognition for working hard and it was nice to see so many seniors there,” Valedictorian Meg Huelskamp said. “It’s very honoring to be called a valedictorian and I’m proud of all ten of us.”

Ben Gallman received ten awards.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said.

Students who excelled in mathematics and science were awarded the KSU College of Engineering honor. The Kansas State Scholars completed the Board of Regents Scholarship Curriculum and met the selection index that represents the top 30 percent of applicants.

Peyton Howard was chosen a Kansas State Scholar, among other things.

“It was pretty nice to be recognized for my hard work.” Howard said.

Students were awarded for making 30 and above on the ACT, or 32 and above. Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and an ACT score of 26 or higher receive the President’s Award for Academic Excellence. National Honor Society students and Exchange students were recognized as well.

Christine Ng received several awards including the 32 ACT, Kansas Scholar Curriculum Completer and Kansas State Scholar.

“I felt they were well deserved,” Christine Ng said.

“It was a wonderful ceremony, a great way to celebrate the end of the year,” sponsor Brett Randolph said.

Students in NHS enjoyed the ceremony. They held a candle lighting and spoke of the different aspects of NHS. An existing member introduces a new one then they all say the pledge together. They end the night with dessert.

“It was a really great feeling. It was neat to see all my hard work pay off. Meg Huelskamp is my best friend and it was really special for her to induct me,” inductee Katie Kretchmar said.

“I thought inductions went very well. We didn’t have any practice or anything, so it went pretty well for having no preparations,” club president Ali Self said.

As it is her last year, she sends goodbye wishes to the club.

“I just hope NHS keeps doing good things for the school,” she said.

“Before making it to state you must attend district competitions. This year I played a Mozart concerto solo on French horn. Learning this song has helped in expanding my range and technical ability, Williams said.” Although I was a little nervous, I made sure to prepare ahead of time so that everything went over smoothly.”

According to Williams, he was not the only one eager and anxious for scores.

“I am glad there were not a ton of people there compared to last year. Everybody was impatient in waiting for their scores however, they were also confident because of the encouragement from all of their friends and family members,” Williams said.

Also competing in district competitions was freshman Katie Collins.

“This year I participated in a percussion ensemble. Although I thought we should have practiced more, we made it to state performing an upbeat song called Sweet Rio,” said Collins.

Along with Collins, Junior Alex Menke participated in an ensemble.

“This year I participated in a trombone choir. We performed a song called pilgrims and although I thought we did okay, I could have played the eighth note triplets better,” I am proud of myself though, because unlike other competitors I was not nervous. I said to myself I GOT DIS!” Menke said.

District band auditions also offered a Full group competition. Competing from Central were the Symphonic, receiving a score of I, and Concert band, accepting a II.

“I am exceedingly pleased with our band. We have a good number of soloists and ensembles that qualified for state,” Williams said. “I am looking forward to participating next year because it is a wonderful chance to improve as a musician.”

“I thought we did pretty good as a team,” junior distance runner Zane Downing said. “Andale is a really good team and they beat us pretty good. But I’m glad we got second place. We still have some work to do as individuals but we will get where we want to be.”

Downing has run for the Jaguars for two years and attended state last track season.

“I was surprised we did as good as we did. A lot of our girls competed better than they have all season long,” sophomore Hadley Hanna said. “If we continue on this pace I think we will do really good in post season meets. I knew this was going to be a good season coming in to it and it has not disappointed. I’m pretty sure we finished second and I’m really proud of our girls for it.”

Hanna is currently in her second year of running distance races for the Jaguars.

“It made me realize that when I text someone they might be driving and I wouldn’t even know it. I would definitely try and be more careful when I text someone. Going two football fields in a few seconds is a big risk.” junior Hannah Sims said.

The next call Amanda would get wasn’t from her sister, but from her mom, letting her know Ashley had been sent to the emergency room. Ashley was only 19 and just found her place in the world, which made the situation even more tragic.  Ashley was in critical condition, and it didn’t seem to be improving. So the Umschied family made the decision to take her off the machines and let nature run its course. Ashley died 45 minutes later.

“In Amanda’s situation I would have freaked out, I don’t know how I could deal with being involved in someone’s death.” sophomore Brianna Klocek said.

Amanda said that she was angry with herself, although not directly her fault, she couldn’t help but blame herself. Now Amanda goes across the nation speaking to groups in hopes to stop people from texting and driving, the Umschied family doesn’t want Ashley’s death to be in vain.  The assembly lasted an hour, and left a lasting impression on some students.

“I thought it was a very touching story and message, and I will try not to text and drive in the future,” sophomore Collin Bruey said.

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After a three game streak of ties followed by a loss to the formidable Maize Eagles, the Jaguars were ready to bring home a win against the Newton Railers.  After keeping the score at 0-0 throughout the first half, the girls were ready to prove themselves as a tough team that would not tire.

Gabby Gentzler, sophomore, passed the ball to junior, Maddi Zimmer who received it near the eighteen.  After pulling a “fake-take” move on a Newton defender, Zimmer shot the ball.  The ball flew over the goalie’s head into the net as the crowd went wild.

“It was exciting because it was the second half and we were all really tired and were really looking for a win since we had tied the last couple of games,” Zimmer said.

Veronica Hernandez, junior, was excited to end the game after regular time instead of going into over-time.

“It was awesome because I didn’t have to play twenty more minutes of soccer,” Hernandez said.

The Jaguars were able to continue their win streak on Monday, April 22 when they faced the Goddard Lions.

The players and coaches were warned that there was a possibility of cancelling the game due to inclement weather.  Before the game, Head Coach Stephanie Garcia gave the girls a speech saying that they needed to score early because if the game was cancelled mid-play time, who ever was up would be the winner.

The girls did just that.  After only fifteen minutes, the Jaguars claimed their first goal, thanks to junior Caitlin Orgera.

“It was nice to get an early goal against a tough team,” Orgera said.

The Jags were able to keep the Lions from scoring for the remainder of the game, until the game was called with around fifteen minutes left due to lightning.

are many requirements one must possess in order to be initiated into Quill and Scroll.

One must be in the top third of their class, one has to have done outstanding work in an area of journalism, and you have to be approved by the Quill and Scroll Executive Director.

The Quill and Scroll Society 2013 Induction Ceremony was held Sunday April 14, in the commons, immediately following the ceremony the members of Quill and Scroll got to celebrate by having cake.

This year’s president of the Quill and Scroll was Ali Self, Vice President was Meg Huelskamp and Secretary was Leah Sitz. This years initiates were: seniors, Terra Flores, Elena Joseph, and Jordann Smith; juniors, Madison Henry, Juliana Karber, Sarah King, Delaney Owen, Daniel Saunders, Lexie Stowe, Katie Kretchmar, and Madison Zimmer; sophomores, Kaylee Gunzelman, Mackenzie Penny, Kailin Stinson, and Caley Wheeler.

Mackenize Allison returned to Quill and Scroll for a second year.

“The inductions went really smoothly and I’m glad to be a part of a group that’s so honorable,” she said.

Blair Pullman also returned for a second year of inductions.

“We had a lot of new initiates this year which was a cool experience, so I hope Quill and Scroll will keep growing” she said.

Kaylee Gunzelman, sophomore was initiated.

“I’m excited to be a part of Quill and Scroll because I enjoy journalism and I plan to be a part of it for the rest of my high school career” she  said.

Lauren Roman, sophomore, also joined Quill and Scroll.

“I’m glad to be a part of Quill and Scroll because I put a lot of work into my journalism writing and its nice to be honored for it,” she said.

            Going to musicals are normally the last thing on my agenda, but this year I was extremely excited to see what the students had put together. This year’s performance also blew me completely away.

The characters in Into The Woods were portrayed very well. They worked hard to make the performance flawless and it showed. I thought that all the characters had great chemistry. The whole thing was a hoot; the audience including myself was filled with laughter throughout the performance. I also enjoyed the music for the rest of the day I caught myself singing and humming some of the tunes.

My personal favorite character was Little Red Riding Hood played by Olivia Jacoby, her character was hilarious, and almost every scene that she appeared in she had people laughing.

Not knowing what Into The Woods was about I was very pleased to find out that it had all the characters I had grown to love and looked up to as a young child. I think it was a great choice for high school students because it’s something that they know about and can relate to.

Overall it was a great show, I thought it was flawless. I wish I had been able to come and watch it again over the weekend because I heard that it onlyimproved with every performance.