Student Spotlight
One of the many stellar students at Kouts Middle/High School is sophomore Aubrey Lundquist. Lundquist has a 3.96 GPA and has been on the straight-A honor roll every year of her elementary, middle, and high school careers. Not only are her grades phenomenal, but so is the amount of extracurricular activities she has been involved with.
Lundquist has been in both the English and Social Studies Academic Super Bowls. Additionally, she is a member of the Kouts Singers, student council, and head of the spirit committee this year. She also is the class president of the class of 2023.
Lundquist participates in sports, too. She’s participated in varsity cheer and soccer. Lundquist also has over eight years of dance training.
Some of Lundquist’s hobbies include exercising, watching Criminal Minds, and crocheting. Additionally, two of her passions are mental health awareness and treating everyone with kindness and respect.
After high school, Lundquist is prepared for her bright future.
“I plan to attend Purdue University after graduation to pursue psychology and then go on to graduate school to become a psychologist. My dream is to be able to help teenagers experiencing depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.”
Teacher spotlight
One teacher at Kouts that has goals for after her teaching career is Andrea Clinkenbeard. Clinkenbeard, called “Clink” by her students, teaches Chemistry, Bio I, and AP Bio at the high school.
Clinkenbeard grew up in Alexandria, Indiana, which is a small town near Muncie and Anderson. After graduating from high school, she went on to earn her Bachelor of Science at Indiana University Bloomington, with the goal of becoming a pediatrician.
After deciding she needed a break before completing medical school, she earned her teaching certificate and began to teach at Merrillville High School. There, she met her husband, who was also teaching biology. Clinkenbeard is very grateful for the opportunity she had to teach at Merrillville, as it was then that decided she wanted to continue to teach rather than become a pediatrician.
Clinkenbeard then moved to Kouts and took part in a workshop where she met teachers who taught at Kouts Middle/High School. Hearing about what Kouts was like from those teachers made her want to work there. The position she wanted was already filled at the time, but a few years later, she was able to claim that position and started teaching at Kouts.
With her great love for science, specifically DNA and genetics, Clinkenbeard would like to work in a science lab after the end of her teaching career. She is currently exploring classes she can take and skills she can develop to be able to work in a lab and loves telling her students about her plans.
What’s recently happened?
As the end of winter sports at Kouts is arriving soon, the high school is recognizing their seniors during senior night. The senior night for the Kouts High School pep band, poms dance team, cheer team, and color guard was on Friday, February 19. The seniors of these teams and the band had their achievements in high school and their plans for afterward read aloud as they and their parents walked across the gym floor in front of the crowd. They also received gifts from other team or band members.
Seniors in the Kouts Middle/High School pep band include Saurian Logan, Mady Collins, Rebecca Boswell, and Cassidy Paulk. They are pictured in the gallery above. As for the poms dance team, the seniors include Lorelei Dzomba, Kaylynn Gregory, Makenzie Martin, and Madi Cadwell. The only senior in the cheer team was Zoe Sherer, and the only senior in the color guard was Cassidy Paulk.
Both the poms and the color guard centered their routines around their seniors. The poms routine was about remembering good memories and wishing the seniors well on their next adventures in life. The color guard routine was about having fun, and Paulk got a say in the routine’s theme, which ended up being Star Wars. It included a fight scene with Paulk dressed up as Darth Vader. The cheer team did something a little special as well: they flew their senior, Zoe Sherer. And finally, the pep band made sure all of their seniors were at the basketball game and played some of their favorite songs.
The senior night for the Kouts Middle/High School boys’ basketball team is on February 26, when they play against LaCrosse. The seniors that will be recognized include Cole and Cale Wireman, Hunter and Parker Kneifel, Cooper Schoon, Noah Young, and Jeremy Ryan. Support the seniors by tuning in via the livestream.
What’s coming up?
The spring season is getting closer by the week, which means winter sports are coming to an end and spring sports are starting up.
Since the 2020-2021 basketball season is finishing out soon, that means that sectionals are coming up for the Kouts High School boys’ basketball team. Sectionals this year are during the first week of March. Support the Mustangs by watching the game being streamed by Regional Radio Sports Network.
As for spring sports, the Kouts High School track team has already been practicing. Their first meet is an invitational on March 4 and will be held at Hanover Central. The Kouts High School softball and baseball teams have been practicing hard to prepare for their upcoming season as well.