Friday December 20, 2019
Opinion 3
Merkel makes his return to Elder Senioritis already in full swing Carmine Domenicone ‘20
Co-Editor in Chief
Born in Huntingburg, Indiana, a small town of just over
6,000 residents is Elder assistant strength coach, Alex Merkel. After graduating from Southridge High School, Merkel continued his football career at Mount St. Joseph University where he played on the defensive line. His first taste of the Elder community came in the spring of 2017 where he interned for Coach Rankin. After he finished up his internship at Elder, he was offered an internship opportunity at The Ohio State University. But why did he come back to Elder after spending a year up at Ohio State? “First, I wanted to comeback and assist Coach Rankin with building the Strength and Conditioning department. Elder and Coach Rankin have done so much for me with my development as a coach and as a person that I wanted to help him in making this the best high school strength and conditioning department in the country,” Merkle said. “As I get older, it’s become very important to me that I finish what I start. Our senior guys this year were the first group of athletes I ever had the opportunity to coach back when I first started. That being said, we’ve spent a lot of time together and it was important for me to come back and see them finish their journey here at Elder.” Everybody has their own perspective of Elder once they’ve gone through and experienced it all, however, Coach Merkel as said before, did not attend Elder. With that being said, I asked him to describe his time here as a coach. “It’s been one of the best and most important experiences of my life. All the coaches and young men that I have had the privilege to work with every day, have shaped my foundation and the principles by which I live my life in a way that words will never be able to describe. I want to say thank you to all of them for the impact that they have made on my life,” said Merkel. Obviously working at Ohio State was a big step in his career, due to the fact that he was able to gain so much knowledge and experience from some of the best in the business, so I wanted to know what kind of things he was able to carry over to Elder. One of the biggest sayings Coach told me they use at Ohio State is, “find a way.” He went on to say, “No matter the circumstance, the disadvantages, or how impossible things may seem, it’s up to you to create a path or “find a way” to get the job done. I think that mentality has become a large part of who I am and something we try to instill in our guys every day. Since coming back to Elder, a lot of great things have happened both as a school and for athletics. Playing a big part in football’s offseason and in season training, Coach Merkel was thrilled about their memorable run to state. That being said, I asked him to describe one favorite memory in his time here at Elder. “Probably football beating Springfield in the state semi-finals. Really, that whole run against Colerain and St. X was something I’ll never forget. The thing that makes that my favorite moment was the resiliency of our guys. We had a lot of moments where other teams would quit, but they found a way and fought through that adversity every step of the way. The other part of that moment was seeing how much it meant to the rest of our guys that weren’t playing in the game, but that traveled every week to support their brothers every Friday night. To me, that defines Elder and how truly special it is.” He ended with this final message to all the students: “One of the biggest things I struggled with as a young man was failing to take ownership of my mistakes. As a kid, without a lot of experience, it’s easy to blame other things or people for the negative things that happen in your life. Regardless, you are in control of your life. At this moment, you are in a special place full of great people that will do anything to help you succeed if you decide that you want to succeed. However, this isn’t their life, it’s yours and with that comes a truth that you are responsible for in your life. You have an opportunity right now, every day to make whatever dreams or goals you have a reality; but that will only happen if you make it happen. You can accomplish almost anything in life with hard work and integrity. Hard work, accountability, discipline, integrity, and ownership are the qualities of all successful individuals. Don’t waste the opportunity that you have in front of you right now. Give it everything that you have because you will never NEVER have this opportunity again. Control what you can control and make the most out of your time here.”
Connor Magness ‘20 Staff Writer
Right around this time of year is when a condition overcomes our seniors. To some
it’s accepted, to others not. If you’re a senior right now, then you know what I’m talking about: Senioritis. I’m going to be honest, there are somedays when I get home that I don’t even want to do homework. To a lot of seniors they are telling themselves: “I’ve already sent in my transcripts, so I can afford to be a little lazy,” and I would be lying to you if I said I’ve never thought of that. Regardless, this time of year is when senioritis is easily at its full affect. I’m not going to lie, senior year has been super stressful for myself, and I guarantee for the entire grade. This entire first semester with applications, and deadlines, and on top of that maintaining your own grades has been super stressful. So, it’s understandable why people may be coming down with a case of senioritis. I mean it is the best time to kind of relax and get a little lazy for a second with everything submitted, and Christmas break coming up. One person that can testify to this claim is senior Grant Miller. “It’s so bad right now, I have absolutely zero motivation right now to do anything. Which, is bad considering exams are coming up,” Grant said. Grant also said that Mr. Weinheimer’s class is easily his hardest class right now, with his monster research paper due during exam week. Grant brought up his worst class, which is part of the reason that senioritis is hitting hard right around now. The homework and tests are piling up, with exams making things ten times worse. Jack Telles contributed a comment saying, “Everyone is so done with school, they all have their college plans figured out and what they are majoring in. So, they really aren’t thinking about the remainder of the year.” I thought this was very relevant, yeah, we have classes, but a lot of people are looking forward to college. People are looking forward to college and everything, but there are also people looking forward to the second semester and sort of relaxing and enjoying Elder for the last few months. I talked to senior Zach Dugan about what his plans were for the second semester. “I planned my classes on purpose for the second semester. They are some fairly easy electives that I signed up for,” Zach said. Many seniors have this plan. We want to take in everything on our way out, and enjoy our final months at Elder. Even though senioritis is hitting us seniors hard right now with everything, we have to push through and really appreciate what Elder has given us. It’s alright if you’ve decided to clock out and be done with school. But, just make sure that you’re taking in everything that you can as these past couple months are winding down at Elder, and to really pay attention because soon enough it’ll all be gone.
Food and Toy Drive
(continued from front page)
not even two minutes prior. When we got up to the fifth floor we took a left and were at our person’s door. Koopman knocked and then he said, “Did you say its open?” After he said that Ben and I started laughing, and asked why he said that. Koopman told us that he thought he heard someone say, “It’s open.” This time we knocked again and identified ourselves saying, “We’re from Elder High School, and we have some toys and food for you.” After saying that we heard the locks on the other side being unlocked and the door very slowly opened. A lady poked her head out and asked who we were again, so we said, “We’re from Elder High School, and we have some toys and food for you.” She didn’t really understand who or why we were there and was about to close the door until I gave her the piece of paper and asked if that was her last name. She nodded her head while mumbling the word “yes.” So, we transferred the bag of toys and the box of food to her and right before we walked away I saw a little baby hand on the bottom part of the door. We said our goodbyes and walked back to the elevator. On our way back to Elder, I realized that the drive help so many people that are in need in our area. The Food and Toy Drive really helps boost a family’s holiday and it increases their happiness. I really enjoyed giving back to our community and I will be partaking in this event next year.