PHS MEDIA NEWS

Junior and senior National Honor Society members will be heading to Nashville, Tennessee for the third time since 2005 as a part of the annual NHS trip. Students will be doing multiple activities in Nashville.

The day starts off at RCA Studio B, where students have the opportunity to professionally record a song and have it burned on a CD. They will then depart to Ryman Auditorium, a live performance venue.

After spending time in the Ryman Auditorium, students will walk to the Wildhorse Saloon for lunch, where they will also learn how to line dance. The venue will play the songs on the CDs students recorded at RCA Studio B to line dance to. Students will then depart to Fort Nashborough, a historical area where pioneers lead by James Robertson built shelter from Indian attacks in 1780.

After a quick photo, students will then walk to the Country Music Hall of Fame to learn more about the culture and history of the genre of music. Close in the area is the Hatch Show Print, where students can print their own design of something on a product of their choice, such as a t-shirt. Similarly to the Country Music Hall of Fame, students will be able to visit the Music City Walk of Fame Park. Engraved pavements of Nashville music legends reside there. Students will then eat at BB King’s Blues Club, a well known restaurant which serves southern specialities. Students will also be able to enjoy the musical acts which complete the country-loving Nashville atmosphere.

NHS sponsor Melissa Higgins enjoys this annual trip both for the NHS students and for herself. Higgins believes the students are most excited about recording a song and being able to line dance to it.

“It gives the kids that work hard all year long a chance to relax and unwind before finals,” said Higgins.

 

Story by Sara Kesterson

Officer Doug Soltwedel is often seen walking through the halls or even attending extra curricular activities managing the crowds. Beginning next school year, Soltwedel may be accompanied by some new faces.

These shadows will be the first members of Soltwedel’s Cadet Explorer program.

“I got the idea at the boys Sectional game at Crawford when I saw a couple kids with khaki pants and matching shirts walking with some of the officers. What really struck my attention was when I saw a little girl standing near an officer with ‘cadet’ on the back of her shirt,” said Soltwedel.

The girl turned to the officer to ask him a question about Soltwedel when he replied, “why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“Next thing I know, I feel someone tug on my pants and say ‘what’s your name?’ She took initiative after he gave her some motivation, and she came up to me prideful and confident,” said Soltwedel.

His hope is that through this program students are filled with a sense of confidence and leadership, much like the young girl.

“This program is really to help kids who may just need some guidance or a positive role model in their life and just to help them make it through with confidence,” said Soltwedel.

The program will be open from fifth grade all the way through high school seniors. Students will apply to be in the program and then will be selected by a committee. Twelve students will be welcomed into the program after the application process.

“We will go off of teacher recommendations on why they think they should be in the program, grades and some other discipline factors,” said Soltwedel.

Once a student is in the program, they will be shadowing Soltwedel and the other officers involved in the program. Students will accompany the officers to after school activities such as football games and other events.

“We may have them walk around, and if there are kids running around being unsafe, we may have them go talk to them and just overall show them how to approach people and accomplish a task,” said Soltwedel.

Soltwedel is very excited about the new program and can’t wait to get it up and running for next school year.

 

Story by Maggie Vincent

This past weekend, the high school agriculture department was selected as the winner of the 2019 Indiana Uplands STEM Innovation Award.

“We are honored that they have chosen to recognize us for the efforts that we are making to change the way we learn and teach. We are constantly changing, building and innovating ways for students to explore new ways to create food in an environment that they can learn from failure and be excited about their successes. It is nice to be recognized for the hard work and dedication that our staff and students put into their own learning,” said Agriculture Teacher Cory Scott.

The website for the awards states, “The Indiana Uplands Regional Innovation Awards provide an opportunity to recognize deserving people, organizations and projects that have made meaningful improvements to education, economic development and/or quality of place within the 11 counties of the Uplands region. This is our chance to highlight the amazing people and groups working to make the Indiana Uplands a terrific place to work, live, learn and play!”

On Thursday, April 18, students from the agriculture department traveled to the French Lick Resort for the award luncheon.

“I’m very happy we received this award. It shows that we are getting our program’s name out there, and people are learning about what we are doing here in the Paoli Agriculture Department,” said Senior Council Member Nick Padgett.

Students who attended the ceremony were Jayln Engleking, Elizabeth Workman, Myranda Hickman, Tony Lowe, Tara Robbins, Harley Bush, Baylee Crane, Nick Padgett.

 

Story by Michael Hannon

On Wednesday, April 10, PHS hosted the annual Speech Contest. For this contest, students presented a piece to judges. The categories include Classic Poetry, Contemporary Poetry, Humorous Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Dramatic Duo, Religious Reading, Humorous Duo, Dramatic Reading, Dramatic Monologue, Humorous Monologue or Inspirational Reading.  Any student has the opportunity to perform.

Different classrooms throughout the school were filled with contestants of the Speech Contest.   

To figure out who won in each category, all of the scores from the judges were added in together and averaged. The category winners were Mackenzie Robertson (Classic Poetry), Scott Caruso (Contemporary Poetry), Hunter Roach (Humorous Poetry), Jillian Keen (Narrative Poetry), Rachel Umpleby (Religious Reading), Alex Jones and Sean Willett (Dramatic Duo), Keaton Chastain and Joni Blackburn (Humorous Duo), Taylor Becht (Dramatic Reading), Libby Padgett (Dramatic Monologue), Isaiah Jones (Humorous Monologue), Ming Wang (Oratorical), Taylor Becht (Inspirational Reading)

The Grand Champion was Taylor Becht with an averaged score of 96.88.

“I really love doing the Speech Contests because I love to perform. You just have to have confidence. I had so much fun with it this year, and I cannot wait until next year,” said Becht.  

The Reserve Grand Champion was Libby Pageant with a score of 96.50.

“I had a great time with the speech contest this year. I enjoyed presenting my speeches and listening to everyone else’s. I thought everyone did a fantastic job, and I cannot wait until next year,” said Padgett.  

The category winners presented their pieces to the school on Friday, April 12.

 

Story by Corinne Magner

On Saturday, April 13, Paoli Softball will host PHS Softball Alumni Day at the softball field.

Softball Alumni Day is an event that allows all former PHS softball players to return to the field for a day. This will be hosted at 3 p.m., after the varsity and junior varsity games against Springs Valley.

Coach Neil Dittmer has invited all past players to come watch the current Lady Rams softball team play in a PLAC game against the Springs Valley Blackhawks. Dittmer, along with the softball players and other coaches, will host a cookout for former players to enjoy after the game as well.

 

Story by Makiya Russelburg