Big Event-Silent Night Basketball
On Friday, December 12, the LPHS gymnasium was completely silent. This was because of the Silent Night event during the girls' varsity basketball game against Merrillville. The audience stayed completely quiet until the girls scored their tenth point, which was then followed by enormous amounts of cheering. The audience was encouraged to come dressed in their best ugly sweaters and Christmas attire and to bring two canned goods in order to receive a discounted admittance price. At halftime, boxes of Della Nonna holiday cookies were awarded to the owners of the best sweater and the best costume.
Concerts
The LPHS music department does phenomenal work, and it showed through the choir, band, and orchestra concerts in December. Choir performed its annual two-night Holiday concert on December 10 and 11. Band had a winter concert on December 15, and Orchestra's concert was on December 17. All three groups performed fantastically and are now working toward their next events.
Academics
College Preparation-January is prime time for high school seniors to prepare themselves for college. Many are receiving their college acceptance letters and choosing where to attend, and some have been busy applying for scholarships. Meanwhile, juniors and seniors have been filling out applications for National Honor Society, and decisions will be made later in January or in early February.
Athletics
All of the winter athletic teams have been doing very well in their seasons so far. Most of the teams are very young; they are made up of many underclassmen, but it is difficult to tell while watching them play, because they are extremely talented and mix right in with the upperclassmen. There has been so much Slicer pride in the halls of LPHS so far this year, and these athletes are ready to continue that pride into their winter season.
Extracurricular Activities
Girl Reserves-Winter is a busy time for Girl Reserves. In December, the club hosted its annual fashion show; performed tons of community service, especially by bell ringing for the Salvation Army and helping out at local Christmas festivities; and shopped for the local Adopt-a-Family organization to give Christmas presents to twelve deserving families. They are now busy planning their annual GR dance coming up in February.
National Honor Society-NHS helped Girl Reserves by taking on the thirteenth Adopt-a-Family and purchasing gifts for them. Many National Honor Society Students have also been tutoring students on a weekly basis this school year.
Student Council-The Student Council traveled to a local county home for a Christmas party in December. The students brought gifts, ate snacks, and spent time with some of La Porte's senior citizens.
Holiday Celebrations-Many school clubs, like yearbook, newspaper, Spanish Club, French Club, and Finding Yourself in School, to name a few, celebrated the holiday season by having club Christmas parties complete with snacks and gifts for Secret Santa and White Elephant gift exchanges.
Upcoming Events
January is generally a slow month at LPHS, but our athletes are anything but slow. These teams have very important competitions coming up.
- Boys and girls basketball have been off to a great start. They both have some pretty tough games coming up, including the one at Lake Central on January 9. This double-header marks the DAC-opener for the boys and the most important DAC competition for the girls. Another important game is the double-header the teams will be playing at Michigan City on January 23. Anytime the DAC and county rivals compete against each other it is a big deal, and this evening will be no exception.
- Gymnastics will really be revving up their season this month.
- Wrestling has been doing great as well. They will be having their senior night match on January 27.
-The boys' and girls' swimming and diving teams have been performing remarkably, especially for a team made up of so many freshmen. Both teams will have their DAC meets this month: the girls on January 17 and the boys on January 31. Also, the girls' senior night will be on January 22, and the boys will have their senior night on January 27.
The annual basketball intramurals will begin in a few weeks, and there may or may not be a spirit week later in the month.
Student Shout Out
Matt Bartels, a senior at LPHS, is a passionate young man, both inside and outside of school. By day, he sits in his classes as an extremely intelligent young man. By night, he is a hockey all-star at the Ice Box in South Bend, IN. He has been playing hockey for thirteen years, and he travels to South Bend almost every night for practices and games. Aside from hockey, Bartels also enjoys school, especially his favorite subjects government and math. For college, he is looking at Harvard, to which he has already been accepted, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Princeton. Wherever he decides to go, he plans to major in something with government, science, and economics, and he hopes to eventually work with start-up companies and possibly venture into politics." He shared, "I like to dream big, and I hope to use my education for good things in this country and world abroad.†Through his dedication to hockey and school, Bartels has proven that he really is ready to accomplish great things."
Teacher Shout Out
Mrs. Putt has been an English teacher and Hi Times newspaper adviser at LPHS for the past nine years. She has been teaching for ten years, and she is positive, caring, and dedicated to her students. When she is not at school, she teaches Jazzercise classes, something she has been doing since 2006 and has a serious passion for. Unfortunately, she has had to cut down on her Jazzercise classes and will have to leave her teaching job for the remainder of the year, but her reason is a great one. She is expecting her first baby and is due on February 14. She plans to teach up until the day before her due date, unless Baby Putt decides to make an early appearance. She is thrilled to be able to spend time with her baby and watch it grow (and bring it in to school for visits), but she is also incredibly sad to be leaving her students for the last part of the school year because she loves them so much. She explained, "I truly mean it when I say teenagers are amazing people. Some get a bad reputation, but it's been my experience that they are loving, and ready to take on the challenges ahead of them. We have such great students at LPHS, and I feel lucky to be a part of that." Mrs. Putt is a great teacher and a phenomenal human being, and she will, no doubt, be an incredible mother as well.