And so it goes . . . Andy Childs

The school year continues to fly by, and we’re already on to second semester. Many of us in our psych-bio-stats groups presented successfully at the showcase recently, as every club and organization shared what they have been working on. While finishing our poster for that night, Dale Winter and I met Mr. Wick’s daughter for the first time, who found it hilarious to throw balls of aluminum foil at us while we worked.  As Terry would put it, “some people’s children…”. Overall the night was a great experience; we spoke with the incoming freshmen and their enthusiastic parents who wanted to know all about incentives and test performance.

I believe I have finally found a book in my AP lit class that I can easily read and understand. The Stranger by Albert Camus is able to properly ignore all irrelevant information that normal novels seem to accentuate, creating a simple read that gets to the point. As a person that doesn’t really enjoy the fluff of normal books, this has been a great experience. I would recommend it to anyone who spends more time playing video games than studying to claim that you actually read a book. Also it has some good morals or something. If the last book that you remember fully reading is Animal Farm your freshmen year (I speak from experience), check it out.

College preparations continue to be the highlight of this year, as my roommate and I begin to divide up the appliances we will need to bring. While we haven’t fully decided who is bringing what, it is very obvious that we will have the most technologically advanced room on the campus. With scholarship applications and deadlines to meet, seniors have been continuously bombarded with new tasks to work on. As senioritis takes its hold on the school population, we continue to push through our classes and try to enjoy the time we have left. 

Decision Time - Andy Childs

As acceptance letters begin to roll in, the decisions of the seniors continue to get harder. Many think the struggle is deciding where to apply, while in reality it is just as hard to do things like choose a roommate, housing, and meal plan. Fortunately I have already chosen to be a roommate with Marco Carini, a gentleman and a scholar. As we are finalizing our housing location, we have argued over the best places to stay in Madison. After a visit to the city, we have both decided that Lakeshore is where we belong. I’ve been told that this next semester is going to be the slowest one of High School, I certainly hope not.

As it continues to get colder out, it begins time for my tennis partner Collin Brault and me to move inside and start practicing for next season. In past years, we have played at 7 in the morning on Saturdays, so hopefully we can start that practicing up soon. Because this is our senior year and our last season playing together, we are going to work as hard as possible to be prepared for the season. Also, hopefully as our team continues to shrink we can recruit some new freshmen this year to pick up some of the slack. It’s a great sport and a more fun time with the team, so make sure to come out this spring.

Also, with winter break coming up, all of my teachers have for some reason decided to cram as many test in as they possibly can. While I understand that it’s nice to start a new unit as soon as we come back from break, studying for hours on end is not exactly what we want to be doing right before a two-week break. I understand the purpose… I just don’t need to be happy about it. I’m sure that Mr. Wick would have some witty retort for me right now.

In other news, my 6^th hour, Mrs. Danay’s A+ class, has just destroyed everyone else in the penny war, totaling over ninety dollars worth of pennies.  To all other classes, it was a valiant effort; we just love animals more I guess.  In reality, thanks to everyone that donated money it really is making a difference. Plus, it was a lot of fun to make penny angels and slow-mo videos in class with our fat stacks of cash.

In my AP literature class, Mrs. Parker is having us start the poetry unit. I’m having a “wonderful” time decoding the many messages of 17^th century literature. It’s a safe bet most of the time to assume the subject is beauty, religion, or nature. With Parker’s help, I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. We’re also doing something in my AP calculus class, but I never know what. I thought that was a foreign language class until half way through second quarter. Oh well.

Ozzy's Cafe -- Aaron Nytes

The Birdhouse is open! Last Monday,  y'all best believe our new Birdhouse, now known as Ozzy's Cafe, had its grand opening.  It shall now be open before school, during resource and after school. And who can you catch their two days a week? Yours truly. (Plus a shout out to my coworkers Annah and Katelynn, keep it real.) How does one get such a sweet job you ask?  All that it took to get the position at Ozzy's Cafe -- the school apparel and snack store -- was to volunteer. Normally there is an interview process, but OBVIOUSLY they took one look at me and knew I was an apt salesman, which I am.

Lately tons of people have complained, me included, about the lack of variety of sweets due to federal restrictions. But we, the Cafe Crew, have done a good job to bring some items into the cafe that maybe will make up for missing some of your favorites.  Some new items that seem to be popular are our yogurt parfaits and our new ice cream bars.  Stop by to visit the best writer on this website, or to purchase a smoothie or coffee. Either way, I'll see ya there!

One Quarter Down -- Aysiah Jaeke

            So far, freshman year has still been going great. I have made a lot on new friends in golf, musical, student council, and my classes. It is great to get to know someone better and being involved is one of the best ways to do that.

Although my homework is still taking up most of my time, I am now better at managing my priorities and making sure that school work always comes first. I was a cast member of the musical “The Wizard of Oz”, which was really fun because it is a classic, and I grew up watching the movie. Also, it was so cool to see the  little kids who came to the show because they were all so excited. The best thing about the musical was probably the people involved. Everyone in the cast was so welcoming, and I couldn't have asked for better people to be beside me on stage. I hope that the friends that I have made through the musical will last throughout high school. Being in the musical also came with lots of commitment. We rehearsed almost every night from the first rehearsal, to opening night. We actually had an 8 hour rehearsal one Saturday, which was long, but still fun.   

Student Council has also been going well, and I was recently elected as the Freshman Representative! Freshmen Rep in student council is the freshmen who is part of the executive board and helps to make sure that the freshmen are being included and agree with everything happening in council. So far as freshmen rep, I have lead a meeting with the freshmen in council to make sure that they agree with everything going on in council, and that they feel involved in everything that we do. I also get to sit in the front of the room during large meetings every Monday which is fun.  I am looking forward to the reindeer games for the teacher's kids because I am working the cupcake walk and the leadership seminar that we will be having. I am also looking forward to the winter trip! It sounds like a lot of fun.

I am so happy that I ran for the rep position and glad that I now can be even more involved than I already  am. My sister is also on the Executive Board, and I am excited to be joining her and the other amazing members.

One thing that I am very grateful for in high school is the reassessment policy. Every test I try my hardest, but sometimes I still don’t get the grade that I want. I can fix this now with reassessing. Although it takes a lot of work to relearn the material and fill out the reassessment form, it is worth it.

Freshmen year is going great, and I am very happy that I become involved with everything that I have. 

Life at HUHS- Andy Childs

As the year continues to progress, seniors, like me, are beginning to hear back from a few of the colleges we have applied to. Recently, I personally heard back from Whitewater and am very happy to be accepted. Many of my friends have heard back from UW system schools as well, such as Platteville and UWM.

On another note, Student Council held its first blood drive! We hung up many signs around school and we signed up about 150 donors.  Remember… it can easily get you out of that one class you hate. I would guess that a large amount of our students give blood simply to cut class. I think the real motto for the blood drive should be “Save a life: skip class today.” Pretend you’re dizzy and get a free Coke! Though truthfully, it is a great cause and is crucial to save the lives of others – the most helpful way to avoid school.  At the end of the day, we collected 149 pints of blood in a short, five hour period. Our next blood drive will be January 21, 2015.

As time goes on through the year and students begin to regret taking difficult classes, I have recently found my enjoyment for art class increasing. All of my friends and family would suggest that I am not the type of person to enjoy an art class due to my lack of skill, but I think I’ve finally started to shine in art fundamentals with Mrs. Mohagen. I haven’t decided what I find more fun, creating things in class or coming up with different last names for our teacher. While we work, Noah Fleuchaus and I spend much of the class deciding other ways to use “hagen” in an interesting name combination. (Don’t worry we still work while talking) I believe the most popular example so far has been “Mrs. Brohagen”. Fortunately she is a good sport and only gives us unsatisfactory when we deserve it. (All of the projects)

The Season is Almost Over -- Carlie DeBack

Saturday November 1^st was the varsity conference meet for Girls Swimming and weeks before that day, I knew it was going to be a tough battle. I had a fire fueled in me to win Conference for the 9^th year in a row, and I know that my teammates did too. This fire grew brighter and bigger after out JV team lost by one point  the previous Tuesday. We have worked too hard and too long in practice to want anything less than a win. Conference was held at Oconomowoc YMCA and the stands where packed, everyone was anticipating an exciting meet, but that didn't matter. We came in determined to win, but yet we could not quite grasp a hold of victory. We lost to West bend West by 70 points, but came home with some new records for the boards. We may have lost, but the season is not over yet, at least for the 15 of us that are going on to sectional (Nov. 8) and hopefully onto State (Nov. 15). Wish us luck in Cedarburg!

Editor's Note: The Swim Team set three new records on their way to state.  Carlie will be swimming in 4 events at the state meet on November 15th.  She will be swimming in the 50m free, Medley relay, the 200m free relay, and the 400m free relay. 

APUSH Dance Offs -- Aaron Nytes

As the quarter comes to an end, we all already looking forward to summer. However, with the cold setting in, as it always does in Wisconsin, summer becomes the utopia as we shiver through the inevitably cold winter and we yearn for some sort of warmth. One of my favorite activities thus far that will continue to instill warmth in my heart even through the winter is closing in is the famous "APUSH Dance Offs". It is used to solve debates, end ties, or just to shame someone for not knowing some of the material. Although I have not had the honor to participate in one yet, you can bet I'll be ready when I am granted that honor. I will begin with the spectacular "Napoleon-Dynamite" dance which will render my opponent star struck and my spectators amazed making me winner by default. Oh how I look forward to that day... The children will remember that day onward as "the day Aaron reestablished himself as the all time dancing king". Of course, I may then have to then proceed to brainwash the class, as a memory of my dancing may be detrimental to my presidential aspirations. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there?

Editor's Postscript:  In the time that Aaron submitted his blog and publishing date, he did have a chance to participate in a dance off.  Unfortunately, he froze and forgot about his amazing "Napoleon Dynamite" routine. He relied on some poorly executed Michael Jackson moves and was defeated.