What’s recently happened?
Just last week, Griffith High School (GHS) celebrated its prom. Throughout the week, students dressed up with various different Spirit Week themes.
On Monday, students wore their pajamas for Pajama Day. Tuesday saw students choose to dress as a barbecue dad or a soccer mom, and this day was particularly funny due to the props like spatulas and aprons. On Wednesday, students matched with their best friends for Twin Day. On Thursday, the students wore either sky blue in support of the junior class or bright orange in favor of the senior class.
During seventh hour, all high school students came down to the main gym to watch the Seniors vs Juniors powderpuff volleyball game. This game was filled with fun; the seniors won the first set, the juniors won the second set, and the seniors won the tiebreaker to win the match.
GHS did not have school on Friday, and students used the day to prepare for prom which was later that night. The theme for this year’s prom was “Over The Moon” and was planned by the Junior Class Council. During the dance, previous Prom King Elijah Neal announced the new Prom King Braden Certa, while Reina Nava announced the new Prom Queen Sarah Issa. Prom week was an exciting week for all involved, and prom was the culmination of the fun.
What’s coming up?
As GHS looks ahead toward the tail end of school, spring sports and activities are coming to a close. Along with the end of these sports is the postseason for tennis, baseball, softball, and track and field. Many of these sports and individuals within them are expecting big performances from sectionals and regionals all the way up to the state championship.
After the conclusion of postseason play, these programs will hold banquets to commemorate their seasons. Sports that begin in the fall have also begun the start of their season with call-out meetings and conditionings as they attempt to prepare for the next season.
Switching the focus back to school, all students have final exams from May 26 to May 31. Seniors in particular have many different events going on this next month, including Senior Banquet at Halls of St George (May 16), Recognition Night (May 17), Senior Cookout, with photos and graduation rehearsal (June 1), and finally graduation on the football field (June 8).
As the year concludes, the seniors look ahead to their upcoming college life, juniors have one last go around, sophomores become upperclassmen, freshmen mature into sophomores, and GHS gains a new generation of students.
Staff spotlight:
Jim Graff, a teacher at GHS, has been at the school for a long time and teaches what many consider some of the most fun classes at the school. Graff received his diploma in 1987 from the same place he teaches at now. After his high school education, he attended Ball State University to get a degree in visual arts education, which is extremely fitting to his current teachings.
Present day at GHS, Graff teaches photography, ceramics, and 3-D art. Graff has ties to both photography and ceramics. He used to do photography at a very high level using film cameras. Ceramics holds a special place in Graff’s heart, and his love for it began right where he teaches it.
Graff credits his original ceramics teacher Bob Witt, who previously taught Graff at GHS, for his passion for pottery. In fact, Graff and Witt share a studio in which both of them do pottery. During the summer, Graff even has his own pottery business known as Coffee Creek Ceramics. His work features at Central Park in Griffith at various different art events. Graff even cited ceramics as his biggest aspect of life outside of teaching.
Along with this, Graff still occasionally does photography and fishes. Within the Griffith Theatre Company, Graff also directs the lights and sound for all events that occur in the auditorium. Graff is an exceptional teacher and person and has a huge impact on all of his students.
Student spotlight:
Conner Cervantes is a three sport athlete at GHS and is one of the hardest workers the school has ever seen. Cervantes’ three sports include football in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and baseball in the spring. Beginning at just 4 years old, Cervantes credited his environment to his early and current successes on the football field.
“At that young of age, you can’t really pick what you do, so I would credit my parents for getting me into the sport,” said Cervantes. “Football has always been so fun for me, the hitting, every aspect about it. I have also had great coaches throughout my whole life playing in Pop Warner and middle school, and a lot of those coaches stayed with me from Pop Warner and middle school to high school.”
Being as dominant as he is now, many may question if he always had been this good. Cervantes says yes.
“I think I was faster back then. I played running back and linebacker,” he said. “They would give me the ball and tell me to just run it down the middle.”
During this past fall, Cervantes earned himself a place on the IFCA 3A Senior All-State Team. Cervantes also played on both sides of the ball this season, both offense and defense, and earned his place on the All-State Team for defensive back while also playing incredibly well at running back. After the fall, Cervantes looked forward to wrestling in the winter. To no surprise, he also had done this since the age of 4.
“I’ve been around wrestling my whole life and traveled to many different clubs to compete and wrestle,” he said.
Another source of Cervantes’ success is his brother Cole, who impacted his life in a big way.
“We’ve obviously pushed each other a lot. Every chance he gets when he comes back from college, he tells me he’s better than me,” he said.
Cervantes was 38-0 in the regular season of the 2023 wrestling season and managed an incredible fourth place finish at the state championship in the 182lb weight class.
Last but not least, Cervantes is currently in his last baseball season. Cervantes started baseball a little later than wrestling and football, but that definitely didn’t hinder his ability to play.
“I started baseball in Griffith with a little league. After that, I began travel ball with the Playmakers and have been there since 12U.”
After he graduates on June 8, Cervantes will be heading to Valparaiso University to play football and major in sports marketing. The community will never see another like him, and Cervantes will be deeply missed at Griffith.