Olympia Art Students Working on New projects

 

By True Ledford, Torch Reporter

Olympia high school offers for different art classes, photography class and art 1 are currently working on new creative projects.

In photography, students learn to use a lot of different skills and techniques. They use Adobe Photoshop to alter and edit the photos. They use this program to design or edit their photo depending on the project.

The current project that the OHS photography classes working on is graphic design. Students took photos, using techniques they've learned in class, and then used those photos in Photoshop to design something new.

“ What I love about my photography class is that it's a very laid back, I can be as creative as I want,” said Sara Rathbun, OHS Photography student. According to Sara, her favorite project was when they took a picture outside and made it black and white, they then added color of their choice.

In Art 1, the current project is installation. With installation, the students fill empty space to create art. According to Mrs. Pitcher, the OHS art teacher, the students are using Olympia lockers for this project.

“It's a very fun and interesting process, the students have a lot of freedom and I'm excited to see what they create” said Mrs. Pitcher. The students are working in groups within each locker to create installation art.

 

“I love the freedom of this project, it lets me express myself however I want to,” said Sami Pierce, Art 1 student. According to Pierce, she is excited for this project because it gets the students a chance to get outside of the classroom and be imaginative. The students will be working unlockers for a few days.

According to pierce, her group is going to use clouds for their project, they plan on covering the locker in light blue and grey clouds, on the inside the house dark clouds in clouds hanging from the top colored with pastels.

 

One thing most of the art students agree about their new projects is how much they enjoy the freedom. They enjoyed being able to be as creative as they want to with their projects, and working with fellow students to get ideas and inspiration.

OHS Student Council Attends Cenois Workshop

by Shannon Morr, OHS Torch reporter

Student Councils from around the district held their annual meeting last Wednesday, Oct. 21, to discuss area needs, state convention, and future meetings. Around 70 students attended from the three active schools. Afterwards, the students completed team building activities and had a fun afternoon of bowling and ice cream.

FFA Knows that Farmers Gotta Eat Too

 

by Carson Goff, OHS Torch reporter

On Friday, October 2,  the Olympia FFA chapter provided a free lunches to farmers across the district for the annual “Feedin the Farmers” event to thank farmers for all they do for the world.

With harvest in full swing, the Olympia FFA Chapter scheduled the annual Feedin the Farmers event and donated over 200 lunches to area farmers. The lunches included a pork burger, donated by Springer pork farms, chips, water and a cookie donated by Gina Schaffer, of Danvers.

Senior Karl Fasse said, “I enjoyed the day as well as getting to personally thank all the farmers who support the Olympia FFA. I also think that all students should eat 6 pork burgers that day like i did”

The annual event was previously held at Minier elevator as a supper, but this year was expanded to serve the Stanford and Danvers elevator's lunch. Chapter Officers had the opportunity to serve the farmers and received many generous donations to the chapter to fund their upcoming trip the National FFA Convention in Louisville, KY.

Ag advisor Mr. Hoffman said the day was a success and plans to continue in the future."I would like to hit more elevators to reach out to more farmers in the district.”

Other area elevators include, Minier, Atlanta, Armington, Waynesville. The Olympia FFA plans to reach out the these elevators in the future. 

Oly South Students Get Ear Full About Corn

By Carson Goff, OHS Torch reporter

On Friday, October 23, Olympia Agriculture class students visited Olympia South elementary school to present during the Harvest day celebration; the students taught the kids about corn’s life cycle and many uses.

The high school agriculture students presented to twelve groups of children throughout the day. They taught the kids about the many uses of corn, such as providing food for animals and people along with providing fuel for children.

“I thought it was a really great learning experience for the kids,” said senior Genna VanWye, a presenter from the ag class. “I believe that all the kids learned a lot and it was interesting for us as well, we had to adapt to the age of the students and it was really fun watching the little kids faces change when we said that corn was in the tootsie roll they just ate.”

The harvest day celebration is a time for kids to learn about what is going on during the fall and what the farmers do to provide for them. In past years, the Oly Ag classes have presented on tractor and farm safety.

“I feel that teaching kids about corn is more beneficial to them, rather than teaching about farm safety,” said Senior Kelsey Slager, who has presented in past years. “Not every kid gets to be around farm equipment all the time, so by teaching about corn I think that the kids could relate more because it affects them more.”
​

The kids were shown diagrams of growing corn plants, as well as actual stalks from the field. Every student got the chance to hold and inspect their own ear of dent corn. Also kids were given tootsie rolls and asked to keep the wrapper; the first ingredient is corn syrup. By having a real life application. the kids were able to realize that not everything corn is in looks like corn.

“I am pleased with how the agriculture students adapted to the different ages of kids,” said Ag teacher Mr. Hoffman, “That can be one thing we work on for the future, as I plan on taking students to present as the need arises.

“I also feel that by presenting to the kids in different ways the ag students are learning the material better too, things that presenters didn't know much about previously know they know,” said Hoffman.

National Education Week Recognized By OHS Student Council

By Shannon Morr, OHS Torch Reporter

During the week of November 16-20, Olympia High School Student Council will be acknowledging National Education Week by providing the high school teachers and administration with goodies throughout the week.

Junior Natalie Stone said, “We want to show how much we appreciate them.”

This week allows Americans to honor individuals who are making a difference and helping every child receive a quality education. This year’s theme is “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility”.

Each day the Student Council will be providing a different treat for the teachers and administrators including breakfast, lunch, snacks or gifts.

“We use this week as a thank you. The teachers really love the food days and we make the week more positive for them,” said Student Council Sponsor Brandi Cooper.

Teacher Rebecca Meissner said, “I’m wildly excited if I don’t have to pack a lunch. I love free lunch!”

The first observance of American Education Week occurred in 1921. It is always celebrated the week before thanksgiving.
​

“The teachers do so much for us, it’s nice for us to do something for them in return,” said Junior Reagan Brown.

Spartans Offense Leads Way to Victory

By Justin Slager

Friday night at Olympia High School, the Spartans ran past the visiting Rantoul Eagles 58-32; Triston Ballinger led the way for the Spartans rushing for 137 yards and three scores.

 

The Olympia Spartans (3-6,1-6) finished their season Oct. 23 with a non-conference victory over the Rantoul Eagles. The Spartans ran the football up and down the field as the rain played a factor in the passing game.

 

“With it being Senior night everyone was a little more pumped up knowing that this was our last game together,” said Senior Triston Ballinger.

                        

The Spartans run game was led by the group of linemen up front for the Spartans who knew they would have to work hard with the rain coming down Friday night. Seniors Triston Ballinger, Collin Miller, and Justin Slager rushed for 137, 112, and 90 yards, respectively.

The Spartans jumped out on the Eagles 12-0 and saw the lead grow to 28-12 at the half. The third quarter saw lots of big plays for both side as the teams combined for 30 points. Olympia led the Eagles 46-24 entering the fourth quarter.

 

“The offense played well. I thought we played very fast and were efficient with our run game,” said Senior Nick Barclay.

The Spartans totaled 58 points in the game which is the most they have scored over the past two seasons. The offense explosion created some excitement for the coaches, fans, and players as the head into the offseason.

 

Finishing the season 3-6 was a slight setback for the program but with winning the last two games of the season the Spartans are hoping for some momentum entering next year. Next year the Spartans will look to rebound with lots of new faces entering the lineup as 15 seniors are graduating from the team.

Spartans Football Wraps Up Season

By Justin Slager

The Olympia Spartans finished the season at 3-6 winning games against St. Thomas Moore, Illinois Valley Central High School, and Rantoul; the Spartans finished 6th in the Corn Belt Conference.

The Spartans started off the year facing the high expectations that come with making the playoffs a season before. Their march to defend this title started strongly with a 40-12 win on the road against St. Thomas Moore.

The next two weeks saw the Spartans fall to Prairie Central, 47-6 and Mahomet 47-14. The Spartans now 1-2 were looking to turn the season around with a home matchup against state ranked Central Catholic in week 4.

The game was pushed back to Saturday evening as thunderstorms swept throughout Central Illinois. The Spartans played the best game of their season against Central Catholic but in the end saw two big plays go the Saints way as they fell 21-6.

“I truly believe we would have beaten them if the game had been played Friday night, I have never seen this team that fired up,” said head Coach Mike Rathbun.

The next week saw the Spartans fall against Eureka 24-21 in crushing fashion. The Spartans had lead 21-6 at the half before watching Eureka score and go ahead with 2:30 seconds to play. The Spartans marched down the field and had two attempts to score but were stopped short falling to 1-4 on the season.

When week eight rolled around, the Spartans had lost straight games and were facing a road contest against Illinois Valley Central High School (IVC). The Spartans fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter before outscoring IVC 25-3 over the next three quarters to pull off the come from behind victory 25-24.

Finishing the season on a high note was the only goal for the Spartans as they played Rantoul for their last game. The Spartans ran to victory 58-32, the most points Olympia has scored over the last two seasons.

“Overall we would have liked to win a few more games and have a shot at the playoffs but in all I wouldn’t have traded this season for anything,” said Senior Collin Leoffler.