Coming Soon to Olympia - Music Appreciation Dual Credit To Be Offered

By Jon Crawford, OHS Torch Reporter

This coming fall, Olympia will offer a Music Appreciation class, if enough students register; this class will help students understand different cultures by getting in the minds of great music composers.

“I am hoping this class will help kids feel what it felt like to live during these different time periods,” said Mrs. Debbie Aurelius-Muir.

Mrs. AM, the soon to be teacher of this class, said she hopes this class will help students to “travel through time.” She hopes this class will open up new perspective of music for her students.

This course is designed to provide familiarity with the elements of music and with various music forms so students can listen and appreciate music from different time periods.

This class will mainly look at Western European classical music. For this class the only homework students will have is to listen to music.

“You’ll find out the history and become more open-minded about music,” is what potential student of this class, Josh Kaminski, an OHS junior, had to say about this class.

Josh hopes this class cover the history of the evolution of music. He also said he hopes this class covers more recent popular artists.

Music Appreciation is a dual - credit class and fulfills 3 of the 9 semester hours of credit in Humanities/ Fine Arts required of the A.A. and A.S. degree which should be transferable to any college. This class is for students not planning on taking a music major.

New Coach Brings Out New Attitudes On OHS Dance Team

By Jamie Hamblin, OHS Torch Reporter

Shelby Maurer, new OHS dance coach for the 2015 season, has brought the dance team different varieties of dancing, new friendships, and many laughs as the season comes to end.

There are twelve members of the dance team: Seniors, Savannah King, Lauren Hostetter, Jeris Eilts, Kenzie Helfrich, Anna Adams, Emily Risinger, and Jamie Hamblin. Junior,  Vittoria Cira, sophomore, Addie Ewalt. Freshman Hannah Thomas, Jordan Cummings, and Sydney Ledbetter. Jamie Hamblin, Emily Risinger, and Addie Ewalt are the captains.

Shelby Maurer, dance coach, said, “The group of girls I had were beyond exceptional. I really enjoyed collaborating with different groups to create such crowd pleasing performances. The guy/girl, teacher cheer, OMS dance team, and mini clinic dances were all fun, and some hilarious to watch during practices. I would not change one moment of this season.”

The Dance team performs for boy’s basketball for every home game during varsity half time. Plus, the Dance team performs at homecoming assemblies and other big assemblies.

Emily, dance team captain, said, “My favorite part about this season was performing the boy-girl routine. It was so much fun to make up, and I’ve never seen the audience laugh and smile so much in my entire dance career.I would have liked to have more girls on the team and more team bonding. “

OHS Dance Team participates in a Yankee Candle fundraiser at the beginning of the season to raise money for uniforms, tshirts throughout the year, and extras needed throughout the season. This year Olympia Dance Team added a new fundraiser to the mix by selling glow sticks at the OHS football games in the fall.

Addie Ewalt, sophomore captain, said, “I hope that we can get more people to come out and learn technique next season so that we can compete next year. If we don’t compete just keep taking steps until the team can compete.”

Team tryouts are still waiting to be announced, but captain tryouts begin on March 8. Dancers interested in being a captain have to choreograph their own routine, have teacher recommendations, and write an essay about what they can bring to the team.  

Sending Love in a Can--- Key Club Holds Fundraiser

by Ellie Martin, OHS Torch reporter

OHS’s Key Club sold Crush sodas during Valentine’s Day week as a fundraiser for a charity; students could send Crush soda to their friends for $1 and over 100 were sold.

Every year OHS celebrates Valentine’s Day week with Key Club’s signature Crush sale. Students can write a message on cans and deliver it to their friends at the end of the week.

Although the sale transpires around Valentine’s Day, it’s not exclusive to couples. Each soda flavor has its own meaning: orange signifies friendship, purple means crush, and pink represents sweetheart.

Many students look forward to the annual crush sale. Senior Sarah Marsiglio said, “I love the crush sale, it’s the next best thing to Key Club’s famous Oreo balls! It’s a really fun surprise when you get a soda delivered to you in class, even if most of mine have been orange.”

The funds raised from the event will be donated to help a selected Key Club charity. OHS’s club advisor Connie Schroeder said, “The success of the Crush sale has allowed us to accumulate enough money to help another service organization. The members will vote on the charity of choice at the March meeting.”

Key Club’s president Bekah Bauersfeld said, “We try to keep it affordable for high schoolers so students will be able to support service work through different organizations and have fun sending them to their friends at the same time. So far our plan has been very successful!”

This year’s Crush sales proved to be another success. Over $100 was raised to help support service within a charity organization that is yet to be decided.  

Key Club has also been involved in many other activities throughout the year. Members painted socks for children in St. Jude’s hospital so patients can run without slipping on the tile floors. In December, they volunteered their time by ringing bells for the Salvation Army, helping with the Minier Christmas Parade, and selling candy grams.  

Prom: A Beautiful Night Under the Stars

By Kiersten Robbins, OHS Torch Reporter

OHS’s Junior class board is working hard to make the 2016 prom a night to never forget - at the ISU Prairie Room on April 30, starting at 7:30pm.

“We hope to give the senior class a great prom for their final year at the school,” said Kendra Peifer, OHS Junior class board member.

The Junior class board members include Kendra Peifer, Cara Geurts, Nathan Schulz, Vittoria Cira, and Katie Adams with Mrs. Davis as an advisor. They all have been working hard to make this a prom enjoyable to everyone.

This year’s theme is titled “A Night Under the Stars.” The decorations will be sparkly, starry, and extravagant. There will be the same DJ appearance as last year, except, this year, during advisory there will be an opportunity for students to make a list of songs to be played at prom.

According to Mrs. Davis, this year's budget is slightly less than the year before, ranging between $6,000 and $7,000 dollars. Many of the profits were made at the football game concessions. The weather caused sales to be slightly less than expected.

The popular photo booth will be back this year as well as a photographer from Interstate Photo. Offering dessert is still being discussed, but the Junior class board is favoring having fast salty snacks that can be grabbed quickly ,so students can get back out on the dance floor. At the end of the night,there will be a surprise party favor.

“It’s my senior year and I have pretty high expectations for prom this year,” said Samantha Moore, senior student.

Prom tickets will go on sale starting April 11, ranging from $15 to $20 each. Nominations for prom king and queen will begin April 18, with final voting beginning on April 25, and the results announced during prom. The doors will open at 7pm and parking will be free at the Bone Student Center.

Students Who Care for Their Community---- Oly NHS Holds a Food Drive

By Genna VanWye, OHS Torch reporter

The Olympia High School National Honor Society held a canned and boxed goods food drive February 1-12 at the high school to collect for local food pantries within the district.

The NHS canned food drive committee organized a competition between the classes to bring in donated food items. Double lunch, a sought after prize, was awarded to the Junior class after bringing in the most canned food items.

The committee worked on this project for four weeks prior to the two week collection period. Committee members met during advisory to plan, create posters, decide on prizes, and count cans.

Maci Pfeffer, Junior and Committee member said, “I really enjoyed working with the people on the committee, we accomplished a lot and were able to throw several ideas around.”

This is one of the many community service projects done by the high school National Honor Society. The goal of this collection was to help those in need within the local community.

Delia Kerr- Dennhardt, Junior on the committee, said her favorite part was seeing all the collected items at the end of the two weeks. “Knowing that students are willing to help out members of their community in need is very heartwarming,” said Delia.

Over 100 items were collected in the drive. All these items will be taken to the Stanford Food Bank by Olympia’s Social Skills Class, on March 2nd. The group assists with carrying, sorting, and putting away food items for the Bank, monthly.

“The drive was overall a great way to get service hours and get the school involved in helping out the community,” said Delia, summarizing the event.

Attention Seniors, Pride Ads are Almost Due

By Jeris EIlts, OHS Torch Reporter

Olympia High School yearbook is contacting senior parents about pride ads being sold until April 1st; the ads will run in this year’s yearbook which will be released in September.

Pride ads are an ad about a senior student that their parents can put in the yearbook and say some things about them with a picture. Parents can put a small ad in or a bigger one.

“Parents get a chance to put in a baby picture and write a small message about their child,” said Mr. Brigham Yearbook Director.

Parents are contacted and asked if they would like to purchase an ad for their student. The ads are placed in the back pages in the yearbook that is handed out in the fall.

“I think it’s a cool idea to highlight the seniors to remember them before they go off to college or on with life after high school,” said Ellie Martin, Senior Yearbook Staffer.

You can get almost any size you want from a little corner one to a full page. The smallest one that yearbook sells is $50 and the biggest one is $500.

“It’s difficult and stressful to have to call and talk to every senior parent,” said Bekah Bauersfield, Senior Yearbook Staffer.

Bekah Bauersfield and Ellie Martin are two yearbook staffers you can talk to about the ads. You can also e-mail or go talk to Mr. Brigham if your parents are interested.

Olympia Blue Crew Student Section Competes

By Nick Barclay, OHS Torch Reporter

The Blue Crew student section cheers loudly at a lot of events at Olympia High School as their sports teams compete; rain or shine, girls or boys, they are there.

Earlier in the year, Olympia was crowned winner for the second year in a row of the Pantagraph Area Fan Frenzy competition. Voters went online to pick the best schools student section and Olympias proved victorious.

Just recently a video, made by OHS student Sarah Marsiglio, was entered into a competition online statewide, to see who has the most school spirit and sportsmanship. The videos are made up of images and short clips of schools student sections, the school with the most spirit win, the winners will be announced at the IHSA Boys State Basketball Tournament.

Below is a link to view the student section video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7rzIaUBlXw

Sarah said, “What makes our student section so good is the leadership shown by the seniors and that gives us a good chance to win.”

The student section is lead by a large group of seniors in the front rows, with captain Ethan Sebok starting the chants. To get the kids involved, chants and dances are screamed; popular ones include the banana dance and “Let's go Spartans”.

When asked if there are any surprises coming up this season, Ethan said, “It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you.”

Ethan and the rest of the seniors will be passing on the young traditions to next year's seniors. The traditions that make the student section pop include painting “SPARTANS” on 8 willing young men and of course being loud at athletic events.

Head of the Blue Crew is OHS teacher Mrs.Kirby; she is always looking for ideas from the student body to make the experience even better for the kids. If fans have ideas for something they would like to do, they can come to her and discuss them.