What’s recently happened?
The month of December has been quite a busy one for the students at John Adams High School. They ended off on a relieving note with finals coming to a close.
Before all the testing, the John Adams music department worked very hard to perform its winter concerts. The orchestra and all of the bands played wonderfully.
Leading up to finals, the Student Government put out a list of prompts for Spirit Week, encouraging students to dress up and get into the holiday spirit. Spirit Week started off strong with “Merry Monday” where students could celebrate by wearing red and green, followed by “Family Picture Day” where students wear matching outfits with their friends. “Winter Wonderland Wednesday” was in the middle of the week and the color theme was blue and white. Thursday and Friday’s themes were students' favorites: Ugly Sweater Day and Pajama Day, respectively. There were a lot of people who participated in these festive prompts. Following finals and Spirit Week was Winter Break.
Specific students, such as the swim team, have been working hard as well. Every day, besides Sundays, Christmas Eve and Christmas, the team has been up bright and early at the school to train for upcoming meets. The John Adams Swim Team also participated in volunteering for a food drive.
What’s coming up?
As the new semester begins, a lot of events are starting to take place at John Adams.
First off, International Baccalaureate (IB) science students have to start their research for their internal assessments (IA). An IA is a research project all IB science students must complete to get credit for the course. Students choose a topic and then spend a couple of months gathering research to then type out a 1,200-2,200 word analysis on their findings.
Something else students are looking forward to working on is the upcoming Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) competition. ISSMA is an event where students can sign up as a solo or ensemble and perform the songs they practice for judges, being awarded either a Bronze, Silver or Gold ranking. The past two years, both the band and the orchestra have won Gold at State, so this year they are hoping to do the same.
Staff spotlight:
John Adams Orchestra Teacher Jaesung Lee plays many instruments. He specializes in violin and viola and is loved by his students. He works very hard to teach and find songs that everyone will enjoy while still being able to play. Recently at the winter orchestra concert, Lee had to improvise and stall so the person that was playing Santa would be able to get dressed. He picked up the microphone and started talking about the songs, making jokes, and overall letting the audience see how charismatic he is.
Besides being an orchestra teacher, Lee teaches general music at Jefferson Middle School as well as offering private lessons in viola and violin. He can be found at St. Mary’s College most weekends, either teaching said private lessons or helping his students out one on one to improve their skills and performance. He is very caring about each and every one of his students.
“You can always find me at the various orchestra performances where my students perform.” Lee said. “Hard work always pays off, so be patient and persistent where your passion lies.”
Student spotlight:
At John Adams, Jillian Kauffman is a part of Science Olympiad as one of the captains, cross country and track. Kauffman is an amazing runner, as she has been participating in track and cross country since she was in middle school.
For Science Olympiad, Kauffman participates in the maximum number of events that a student is allowed to do. She does Forensics, Air Trajectory, Experimental Design, Entomology and Ecology. The last two tie into what Kauffman wants to study – biology with a focus in environmental studies. She works very hard and is very passionate about her beliefs.
“I want to be a woman in a STEM field one day,” Kauffman said.
Following the science trend, Kauffman is in many science classes at the moment including biology, environmental sciences, chemistry and physics. She is very passionate.
“I build tiny spaceship models,” Kauffman said.
Even though her extracurricular activities take up a lot of her time, she still finds the space in her schedule to participate in very cool hobbies such as bird watching and spaceship model building.