Teacher Spotlight:
Fifth-grade teacher Dave Lashenik oversees numerous clubs at Liberty Intermediate School including flag football, trivia club, chess club, and intramural girls basketball.
Coaching flag football has been a joyous experience for Lashenik, and the club’s popularity continues to grow.
“In my opinion, we did a very good this year,” Lashenik said. “We have about 60 boys and girls and split them into about six teams. Every team won almost all of their games, so I am very proud of them, but they had fun which is more important.”
With this season coming to an end, the supervisor’s for the team can begin to look forward to the next season.
“I am really looking forward to when the fifth graders become sixth graders on the team because then they can become mentors to the younger kids as well as being role models for them,” Lashenik said.
With the school year well underway and students getting settled into their studies, teachers have begun setting goals for their students and are beginning to see them grow.
“I look forward to seeing my class become more responsible,” Lashenik said, “and I look forward to them becoming more independent throughout the entire year.”
What has happened:
Chesterton High School hosted a Financial Aid Night on October 10 from 7-9 p.m.
“The purpose of the night was to give parents and students info on financial aid and what schools have to offer, income, and how it affects financial aid,” College & Career Advisor Cayla Jansky said. “It gave info to parents who have never done it before, like when parents only have one child. This event helps them with the filing process because it isn’t easy.”
This event has been happening for the last eight years at CHS, drawing in big crowds of curious parents and students alike.
“I think it went very well,” Jansky said. “The representatives that came did a great job of explaining, and they kept it fun instead of pulling teeth.”
The event was a success, delivering lots of information to parents and students, making them feel a bit more at ease during a time of stressful college application trials.
“I really liked how it went. It was something that I never had the opportunity to go to high school,” Jansky said.
The College & Career center is open to any and all students who have questions about anything regarding their future outside of high school.
“Students are more than welcome to come see me any time,” Jansky said. “I've been doing this for the last five years, and I’m pretty helpful.”
Student Spotlight:
Student Spotlight:
Senior Julia Hunter is the lead singer for her band Fresh Fruit. Her band is planning to release an EP on Spotify within the next few weeks.
“We don’t have an official release date as of now,” Hunter said. “We are aiming for sometime in November. We have to submit it to Spotify so it can be distributed, reviewed, and then uploaded and those things take time. A rough guess of the release date is sometime around November 15-20.”
The band is made up of friends who all help contribute to the overall fun and groovy sound.
“We’re an indie-pop band, so a lot of our music is definitely something that you can dance to,” Hunter said. “While some of our lyrics are heartfelt and emotional, it’s set to music that you can still boogie to. We wanted people to have an emotional connection with the lyrics and be able to relate to it, while also being able to get down.”
The band Fresh Fruit has come out with a single called “Breathe” and plans to release a new single soon.
“Making an EP has brought me so much excitement,” Hunter said. “This is something that I have wanted for a really long time, and we’ve all been working really hard on. So while it’s stressful at times, hearing the end result it’s the coolest feeling”
Hunter is the main songwriter, and her bandmates help her bring her poetry to a beat so that it can be heard by their audience.
“My feelings towards the EP are feelings of pure happiness,” Hunter said. “I’ve worked so hard on the lyrics for all of the songs and having this end product is amazing. I plan on studying creative writing with a focus on poetry in college and being able to be apart of a band has opened a lot of doors for me, and has made me a better writer.”
With the excitement of an EP release, there are new goals set in place once the music can be heard by the entire community.
“I’m looking forward to eventually performing live,” Hunter said. “It’s something we all really want to do. We want to perform for people and see people dance to our music and have that connection with it.”
Besides singing for the band, Hunter also takes part in numerous extra and co-curricular activities.
“Right now I’m in newspaper at school as a features sub-editor and play for concert and jazz band playing alto saxophone,” Hunter said.
Besides the release of her EP and the expected positive reviews from the fans, there are other things to look forward to during her senior year.
“I’m just looking forward to finishing my senior year making music for people and being with my friends,” Hunter said, “The people I care about most.”
Check out “Fresh Fruit” on Spotify now!
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5WXmk1hd34EbYS36PHsHCk?si=qULkWSTDTzy7-r2lCsn0_A
What’s Coming up?
The annual Chesterton High School “Hall-o-ween Trick or Treat” is quickly approaching the community. This event will be held in the CHS hallways on October 30 from 5-6:30 p.m.
This event is organized and hosted by the student government. During the event, the extra and co-curricular clubs at CHS gather in the hallway and pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. Clubs set up their own table, decorate, and even some have group costumes. Members of the community are welcome to attend and may walk table-to-table, receiving candy from the clubs.
“I don’t have a costume planned,” said Mr. Starkey, new head organizer of the Student Government, “I am currently waiting on the Student Government to decide on a theme for our table so I can dress accordingly!”
“I enjoy seeing the students in their costumes,” added English teacher Mrs. Demuth, Head Organizer for the CHS Pride club and the Creative Writers Club. “It is interesting to see how students have thought ahead about what costume to wear.”
This year, with a new head organizer for student government, there was a bit of anticipation seeing what changes would be made to this CHS favorite.
“The only change will be for more decorations and hopefully some more clubs to participate,” Starkey continued. “As long as the children that come to trick-or-treat enjoy themselves, I will consider the event a success.”