The Torch
NEWS
3
April 17, 2008
SkillsUSA shines at state convention Rob Nielsen Staff Writer
In late March, after many months of fundraising and preparation, 21 students in the SkillsUSA organization finally got the chance to test their skills at the state competition in Columbus, Neb. The participants had the chance to compete in many competitions ranging from firefighting to photography, and they walked away with 13 medals and a greater respect for their respective talents. The conference began with the opening ceremonies. Among the highlights, PL South won the SkillsUSA Builder’s Award for expanding its club the most in the last year. After the ceremony ended, some of the leadership development competitions began with many of the state-only competitions as well as a few
of the national qualifiers. One of these contests was Quiz Bowl. The three-hour wait between the beginning of the competition and the South team’s first round started to take its toll on some of the participants. “It was very long and dramatic,” senior Kyle Hubenka said. “[I] didn’t want to compete for a while until we won the first round.” In the end, the Quiz Bowl team finished with a third place medal, winning three of its four rounds. It turned out to be the best conference in the school’s history. Adviser Roger Campbell cited the growing size of the group as the reason for the success. “It was the added numbers,” Campbell said. “We had twice the membership this year.” The bronze medalists included sophomore Chris
Young and seniors Robert Nielsen, Kyle Hubenka, Will Findlay and Eric Reid for Quiz Bowl, sophomore Will Heida for Electronics Technology and sophomore Kim Mueller for Pre-School Teaching. The silver medalists included senior David Furcini for Prepared Speech, sophomore Connor Smith for Customer Service, senior Eric Reid for Architectural Drafting, senior Jay Stutzman competing with Metro Community College for Diesel Equipment and senior Will Findlay for Pre-School Teaching. PLS had one gold medalist, the second in the school’s history. Junior Ben Wunderlich was named state champion for Automotive Finishing Technology. Wunderlich is now qualified to compete at nationals in Kansas City, Missouri, in June.
Robert Nielsen/ the torch
Junior Ben Wunderlich is all smiles as he receives his gold medal for Automotive Finishing Technology. Wunderlich was the only gold medalist at the SkillsUSA competition from PLS.
ProStart team members compete at State Emily Lynch Staff Writer
For most high school students, making dinner consists of placing a meal in the microwave or boiling some water for macaroni and calling it gourmet. However, “The Savage Chefs” in ProStart took their cooking skills to the next level by winning the regional ProStart competition in Lincoln on March 18 and moving on to the state competition in
Hastings on March 29. At State, The Savage Chefs team, which consisted of seniors Marissa Camacho, Tara Chandler, Kalani Griggs and Mary Sothan competed against 12 other teams. To do the best they could, they had to study the ProStart books for questions, quiz each other with random questions and consistently attempt to make their meal as best as they could. “We would practice by going through the same
meal we used in competition everyday,” Sothan said. During the competition, the girls had to produce a meal under the stress of several judges critiquing their cooking, sanitation, professionalism and knowledge of cooking. The team chose to prepare an Asian meal, which was composed of Chinese chicken lettuce wraps, Asian pork with vegetable noodles and banana and chocolate spring rolls.
District physical education program receives grant Funding aims to establish life-long exercise habits in students Ally Phillips Staff Writer From children in kindergarten to seniors in high school, students haven’t had many choices when it comes to physical education classes. However, the Papillion-La Vista School District recently received the Carol M. White PE Program Grant, which is provided through peforlife.com. The school district was awarded $355,626 to spend toward PE classes and equipment. “We have an individual that works with grants,” assistant principal Dr. Mark Weichel said. “They noticed a lot of schools have done it and had good results.” When the grant was researched, the school district decided to apply. The grant seemed almost perfect. “The PE needs met up with what the grant gave,” Weichel said. “We thought it was a good opportunity.” There is a committee of PE teachers from the school district that meet once a month to discuss what the money will go toward, which has not been decided upon yet. PL South would like the money to go toward different types of PE courses. “We are going to buy a lot of types of equipment to give more variety for PE,” PE teacher Gwen Egbert said. Other than having more diversity in PE classes, the grant has another initiative. Teachers would like to
“We chose our meal because Mary researched on the Internet to find a meal that we thought looked good,” Chandler said. “We got all of our recipes online.” They were graded in two categories, Culinary Assessment and Management Case and Quiz Bowl, to be able to move on to Nationals. Best of beef, best of pork, best of sanitation, best of professionalism, best of dessert and best of knife skills were other categories
in which the teams could receive awards. In the management category they had to answer several questions in a “Jeopardy” style quiz bowl. Being first years in ProStart, The Savage Chefs were at a disadvantage but managed to do well. Out of a possible 400 points they achieved 260. “The knowledge bowl was the hardest because there was a lot of stuff to know and we didn’t always know it, but we still did good,” Sothan said.
After preparing the meal and participating in the quiz bowl, the scores were compiled and the results were given out. The Savage Chefs walked away from the competition with a third place trophy in the Best of Professionalism category. “I was actually very excited they made it to State,” adviser Louise Dornbusch said. “I was very happy with their accomplishments on the culinary and the •continued on page 4
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ALLY PHILLIPS/ the torch
Students in weight lifting go through stations that test agility, footwork and endurance. The grant money will go toward new classes to keep students in good physical shape.
try to have students enjoy exercising so that it will be easier for them to maintain it throughout life. “We are setting up PE classes that students are able to incorporate to life,” Weichel said. Few students know about the grant, but those who do are excited. “I think it is a good thing and a great way to improve upon what we have,” sophomore Stephanie Burkholder said. “Other students will be pleased because there aren’t very many choices now.” During one of the monthly advisement periods, students took a survey on what additions they would like for the PE department. They
were also allowed to come up with their own ideas, whether realistic or not. “It would be sweet to get our own swimming pool or some interactive video games like ‘Dance Dance Revolution,’” Burkholder said. With the grant acting as an opportunity, it doesn’t have its ups and downs. “It’s a lot of money and we can get a lot more equipment that we normally couldn’t afford,” Egbert said. “The problem is finding a place to put it.” The grant’s money going toward PL South will go into effect during the 2009-2010 school year. This grant will help to offer a wider range of physical education classes.
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