The Purple Quill - November 2021

Expansion Needed

Great Dig

Right fit for Elder

Jack Sheridan argues for improvements to the North Wing see Opinion - pg. 2

Robby Mathews profiles VB standout Dylan Samuels see Sports- pg. 10

Mrs. Cassidy fills a big void in the music department see Faculty features- pg. 14

Published by the Students of Elder High School

Volume 90 Number 3

November 30, 2021

Memorial Mass commemorates loved ones who have passed away including the Elder 11 Jack Sheridan ‘22 Co-Editor-in-Chief

Following its tradition of honoring the

Elder 11 and all of the soldiers who have fought for our country, Elder hosted its annual Memorial Mass on November 11th, commemorating the sacrifices that veterans and their families have made for the United States.

As Elder does each year following the Memorial Mass, which is traditionally held on Veterans Day, the school honored the Elder 11 with the “Changing of the Signs Ceremony.”

Each year since 2014, Elder celebrates the lives of two specific members of the Elder 11 by showcasing their names on signs that are part of the Elder High School Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway.

A tradition dating back now seven years, the creation of the Elder High School Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway took place in September of 2014, when then Ohio governor John Kasich signed Ohio Senate Bill 245 into

Mr. Ruffing gave a brief description of the story of Vogt’s final mission over the announcements, detailing the heroic act that sadly led to his death. I decided to do some digging, and I ended up finding a detailed account of the mission during which Vogt was killed.

It was September 18, 1965. Commander Vogt and a fellow soldier, Lt. Robert F. Barber, boarded their A6A Intruder that rested on the deck of the USS Independence. The plane would be leading a mission to strike the North Vietnamese Navy Swatow that would take place during nighttime. The island in which the enemy boats were situated was located in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Their plane took off from the deck of the ship, and once Vogt and Barber reached their target area, Vogt established contact with the Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center. Vogt and Barber were given instructions regarding the weather and mission and then were provided clearance to commence the mission.

With the way the mission was set up, a pilot in another Intruder would drop flares that lightened up the water so that Vogt and Barber would be able to bomb the enemy ships.

Two boats were spotted, but before Vogt and Barber were able to reach the target, the flares gave out. Nevertheless, Vogt continued on with his attacking the enemy boats, and he dropped his bombs.

Then, fellow pilots reported seeing a large fireball on the surface of the water, and later, in their mission debriefings, the pilots said that they believed it to be an Intruder, Vogt’s and Barber’s to be specific, crashing into the sea.

However, the cause of the crash, whether it being the plane getting shot down by anti-aircraft artillery fire or the plane flying into the sea out of pilot disorientation or instrument failure, was never definitively established.

MEMORIAL MASS Above: Students, faculty and guests sing the Elder Alma Mater.

Left: Honored guests file out after the ceremonial changing of the signs immediately after Mass.

The following year, Elder would lose another alum to the war.

Army Private First Class Michael Lee Faulkner was serving in the Kontum Province of South Vietnam, when, according to reports, he experienced a traumatic event and was killed in action.

The heroism of both men was recognized by the military, Vogt receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for his sustained heroism and extraordinary achievement and Faulkner receiving the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

Their pictures, along with the pictures

This chair, set aside for Elder’s Twelfth Man will remain empty at all sporting events to pay tribute to those still missing in action.

law, creating the highway on part, around a quarter of a mile, of State Route 264, better known as Glenway Ave. With this highway, Elder was granted permission to change the signs of the names of the Elder 11 each year as part of the Memorial Mass tradition, the Elder alums this year being Navy Commander Leonard Frederick Vogt Jr. ‘43 and Army Private First Class Michael Lee Faulkner ’66.

If you remember, earlier this month,

of the other members of the Elder 11, can be seen in the shadow boxes in the hallway leading into the North Wing, with a twelfth box reserved for Elder’s 12 Man, the Unknown Soldier.

The heroic actions of these men, who made the ultimate sacrifice, shall never be forgotten, and their memories will live on in the hearts of each and every member of the Elder community.

May each member of the Elder 11 rest in peace, and may their memories live on in honor.

Gentlemen, thank you for your service.

(Special thanks to USNA Virtual Memorial Hall & HonorStates.org for providing information about Vogt’s and Faulkner’s stories.)

Inside The Quill Opinion...........................................2,3 Faculty Features..........................4,5,6 Student Features..........................7,12 Sports.........................................8,9,10 From the Archives.....................11,13 Arts & Entertainment....................15 Back Page.........................................16 Private First Class Michael Lee Faulkner

Navy Commander Leonard Frederick Vogt Jr.

2

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Opinion

It is time to expand the North Wing bathroom Jack Sheridan ‘22 Co-Editor-in-Chief

There is one location on Elder’s campus where a line of students can constantly be seen.

No, I am not talking about the cafeteria nor the trainer’s office after school; I am talking about the North Wing bathroom.

Housing four urinals, three sinks (including the one in the stall), and a single stall, the bathroom is the site of constant frustration for Elder students. Whether they are stopping in the bathroom during class or between classes, it seems that getting stuck in a line to use the bathroom is always an issue.

For one, the time in between classes is when students are encouraged to use the restroom. Because of this, the large influx of people into the bathroom always causes issues because of the small number of available urinals and toilets in this bathroom.

The North Wing is home to 12 classrooms, most of which are occupied during every bell in a normal school day at Elder. Now, with this information, let me present a scenario.

Let us pretend that each classroom is occupied during a certain class period. Now, considering the varying class sizes, let us settle on a median class size of 20 students (of course, some classes may have less than 10 students, and some may have up to 30).

In this scenario, considering there are no absences in those classes, that puts 240 students in the North Wing during a single class period. Even if we were to drop the median number of students per class down to 15 per class, that number would reach 180 on a day free from absences.

Okay, now that we have this scenario, let us imagine that just a sixth of those 240 students needed to use the restroom in between a certain class period. Can you imagine 40 students trying to get into the North Wing bathroom at once?

If we were going with the 15 students per class scenario, and a sixth of those students had to use the restroom before class started, it would still be 30 students trying to use the North Wing bathroom at once.

I mean, it would be one thing if it were the second or third floor, where the bathrooms house three stalls and 12 urinals, but in the North Wing, where there are only four urinals and a single stall, the ability for each student to be able to use the bathroom in the five minutes allotted between classes, which also includes walking from your previous class which could be on the other side of the school’s campus, is totally unfeasible.

Yes, I will admit, this scenario is a bit of a stretch, as I do not think that I have ever seen 30-40 students in the North Wing bathroom at once, but even when it is 10-15 students in line for the bathroom it takes a while for everyone to get a chance to use the restroom.

However, this is not the most frustrating situation that revolves around the North Wing bathroom.

I think that it would be fair to say that most of Elder’s student body has had to wait to use the stall in the North Wing bathroom at least once during their time at the school.

No, I am not talking about waiting for just a few minutes to use the stall. I am talking about waiting for ten, sometimes 15, minutes to use the stall. I mean, I have had to wait to use a stall in the second and third floor bathrooms too, but never for that long. The reason why? There are three stalls that can be used, not just one.

Now, to be fair, the bathroom does not bear the entirety of the blame in this situation. Out of respect for other students who are waiting to use the stall in the North Wing, I think it is up to everyone to have some self-awareness when they use the stall in the North Wing.

I mean, a line is bound to form when someone takes his sweet time in the stall. When people are just trying to go to the bathroom and get back to class, do not be that one guy who is just sitting in the stall, holding everyone up, and forming a line because you feel the need to take your time.

My friends and I have had discussions about this a few times. One of them, David Maurer, has had some frustrating experiences with the lines to the bathroom stall. “I’ve almost been late to class several times because of the long lines in the bathroom. Mr. Weinheimer can attest,” Maurer said.

Going back to the bathroom itself, it is also not like there is another nearby restroom that is available for use if the North Wing bathroom is too full.

I think the nearest one is most likely the cafeteria bathroom, and by the time that students walk over there to use the restroom, they could have been in and out of the North Wing bathroom.

North wing bathroom can be the site of many long lines.

Now you may be asking yourself: what could possibly be the solution to these issues?

Honestly, I think that there is only one way to fix this entire mess: remodeling or expanding the bathroom.

The bathroom itself is pretty small, so in terms of remodeling it, the only change that I could see being feasible would be splitting the stall into two different stalls. Sure, it would be a tight squeeze to get into the stalls, but it would help with the flow of traffic in the bathroom.

The next solution would be to expand it. Now, I am not going to sit here and write this pretending that I know the first thing about construction, building structures, architectural design, or any subjects related to those. In reality, it may not be possible to expand the North Wing bathroom due to the structure of the building.

Additionally, I do not know the first thing about Elder’s budget either. I have absolutely zero idea how much an expansion of the North Wing bathroom, if even possible, would cost, so I must admit my ignorance surrounding the entire idea.

If it would be possible to expand the bathroom, I think it would be a good investment and a good renovation project.

I mean, think about it: it would benefit everyone. Students would not have to wait in never-ending lines, teachers would not have to deal with students being late to class or spending too much time in the bathroom because they are waiting to use the stall, and the flow of traffic around the bathroom would become much smoother.

All I am saying is that it seems that everyone would benefit in some way from an expansion of the North Wing bathroom. Waiting in lines to use the restroom is an annoyance to say the least, so to put an end to the countless issues surrounding the North Wing bathroom, a remodeling or expansion, if possible to do, should be done so that the bathroom is no longer a source of irritation to students and the faculty/staff.

The Purple Quill

The Purple Quill is published nine times per academic year by the students enrolled in the Journalism class at Elder High School. Content is determined by the staff and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Elder High School’s faculty, administration or student body. Signed editorials and columns reflect the views of the writer. Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged and must be signed, although anonymity can be granted on a case by case basis. The staff reviews letters to the editor, advertising and guest commentaries and reserves the right to edit and refuse material. Reasons can include length, clarity, libel, obscenity, material disruption of the educational process at Elder High School or violation of copyright laws.

“Give students the freedom of expression and soon everyone will want it.”

Co-Editors in Chief: Jack Sheridan ‘22, Seth Trischler ‘22 Faculty Adviser Mr. Gary Rogers

Features Editor Shawn Wyatt ‘22

Video Editor Phillip Hoffman ‘22

Sports Editor Robby Mathews ‘23

Webmaster/ Social Media Editor Joshua Huff ‘22

Graphics Editor Jacob Stamper ‘22

Staff Writers Ben Hambleton ‘22 Devyn Mullins ‘24 Kellen Sandhas ‘22 Josh Steinhaus ‘24 Bartley Thomas ‘22 Grady Wall ‘23

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Opinion 3

Army of Thieves engages after slow start Ben Hambleton ‘22 Staff Writer

As the holiday season approaches, there are many new movies coming out. Netflix

has been releasing a new group of new movies almost every other week. One of these new movies is Army of Thieves. This movie was made as a prequel of Army of the Dead that has also just come out. Last year during Covid, they released a movie called Den of Thieves, however in this movie most of the characters are not the same.

I had the chance to watch Army of Thieves just the other day. In Mr. Quatman’s film study class we are required to watch a movie over the weekend and give a film analysis on it. When we come to class on Monday’s we all share what movie we watched. My friend Nick Broxterman shared that he watched Army of Thieves and I was intrigued to watch it.

Overall, I thought this was an extremely solid movie. I really enjoyed the ending of it and the acting. At the start of the movie, it is extremely slow. Furthermore, I was close to turning it off and watching something else because of how slow it was.

In the first 30 minutes or so we are introduced to a German named Matthias Schweighöfer. He is a man who knows how to pick locks and is extremely smart and passionate. However, he lives an insanely boring life and does the same things each day.

Therefore, the first 30 minutes is a repeat of his boring life and what he does. Thankfully, I continued watching and was blown away.

A woman by the name of Gwen recruits Matthias to join her team. Her “team” consists of some of the topmost wanted criminals. A computer/ hacker genius named Korina, a strong man who is also a rebel named Brad Cage, a getaway driver named Rolph, and Gwen as a pick-pocketer (known to be able to steal anything). They needed Matthias to pick the locks in certain banks to get an extreme amount of money. This is where the movie picks up.

They go on a series of three burglaries, and all are planned out extremely well. They know exactly how everything is going to go each time and they get the job done. However, in the second one a lot happens. Also, there are detectives following there every move to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Their head guy named Delacroix takes this extremely seriously because he hates Brad Cage from past altercations. It begins to become extremely intense and puts you on the edge of your seat wondering if they will complete the mission. I won’t spoil it, but a lot happens in this time of the movie. The movie ends with sort of a cliffhanger that makes you wonder what will happen next.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I was constantly wondering what would happen next. This is a movie I would highly recommend to those who enjoy watching dramas.

Army of Thieves is loaded with crime and thrill-seeking scenes throughout the movie. I would rate it an 8.3/10. I’m looking forward to watching Army of the Dead as well since Army of Thieves is a prequel to it.

Don’t blame Travis Josh Huff ‘22 Staff Writer

Concerts are supposed to be an experience filled with fun, and good times. 99 per-

cent of the time, this is the case for most concertgoers. However, at Travis Scotts 2021 Astroworld festival, this was not the case. The festival, which was initially scheduled for November 5th through 7th, was cut short, when nine audience members were killed, and numerous more were injured, or put into cardiac arrest.

Details about the fatal concert unfold day after day. The victims which include, high schoolers, college students, and a nine-year-old have begun the process of funerals and bereavements. Currently, more than 280 concert goers have filed lawsuits against a number of defendants which include Scott himself, Apple Music, LiveNation, and more for negligence. As of right now, Travis Scott, along with other defendants face almost two billion dollars in potential lawsuits.

Here is the thing: Music festivals are common, but deaths on the other hand, are not.

Over 32 million people per year travel to music festivals all over the world. For some, going to music festivals is a lifestyle.

Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival was not just a concert, but a lifestyle for many concert goers. Rap concerts are known for the rowdy and rambunctious atmosphere that they often produce. In recent years, the idea of “moshpitting” has become ever more prevalent at rap concerts, with Scott being a leader in the push to make concerts even more energetic than they already are. It is not uncommon for Scott fans to jump on stage, fall on top of each other, and so on and so forth, in fact, Scott often eggs them on.

But, that is not the point here.

When done responsibly, this type of concert atmosphere can be fun and safe. So, before I attempt to allocate blame to all the parties involved, I think this needs to be looked at from a wider lens.

The concept of festival seating is not new, but it is dangerous.

Festival seating has unfortunately taken the lives of many over the Travis Scott at Astroworld years. One of the most tragic and remembered of these is the Who’s 1979 concert disaster in Cincinnati, where 11 people were killed in a similar incident due to festival style seating.

While I believe there may have been negligence from all parties involved, I also believe that festival style seating just spells out a recipe for disaster.

Many have accused Scott of completely disregarding fans passing out and being crushed. On the other hand, some fans who were present that night say that Scott made active attempts to call attention to those he could see were being hurt. There is also empirical evidence of Scott making attempts to help. So while I can understand Scott being targeted as an event organizer, the notion that he should be sued as a performer is just preposterous and uncalled for.

Still, whether Scott is to blame or not does not change the fact that ten people, aged 10 to 33 died that day. Concerts should never be a place where the thought of death even crosses your mind, especially death by trampling. This is an event that should never have happened, and I hope those responsible will be held accountable, however, I do not think that Travis as a performer can be held accountable, simply as an organizer.

4

Faculty Features

Coach Merkel endures a strength and conditioning coach at to get to Elder ing, Ohio State. His internship with Ohio State Kellen Sandhas ‘22 Staff Writer

It all started in Huntingburg, Indiana,

near Evansville, for Coach Alex Merkel.

Coach attended South Ridge High School where he was a four-year football player and a three-year wrestler for the Raiders. After college, Coach Merkel attended Anderson University where he played football for two years before transferring to Mount St. Joe University where he played football as well.

His journey to Elder started in the winter of 2017, when he started interning in January and continued this for four months. Coach unfortunately tore up his knee which caused him to move to Georgia with his father for two months following surgery. After this, Coach Merkel got in touch with Coach Down-

started in March of 2018 where he worked from 4:30 am – 6:30 pm. These long days has helped mold coach into the person he is now.

A reason why he always loved Elder is because of his relationship with Coach Rankin, which he said is very good. In 2018, Coach Merkel again needed a knee surgery and he found this out right after his interview with Ohio State.

Fast forward to the summer, he was once again interning with Ohio State football, and this was only for the summer and mostly just working with football.

After the summer, he went to school to finish getting his college degree. After accomplishing this goal to get his degree, he came back to Elder.

In the summer of 2019, Coach Merkel was working three jobs which were Elder Strength and Conditioning, Pro Force,

Coach Merkel as football player at Mount St. Joe. (Can you pick out Coach Merkel and spot an other Elder teacher/coach in this picture?)

which is a gym out in Milford, and lastly working at Papa Johns delivering pizzas.

He continued to work these three jobs up until February of 2020, when he became the first full time assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach here at Elder High School.

Coach said his goal is to help as many people as possible. Not only athletes, but students in general. Coach said he knows that athletes and regular students both go through struggles, and he would love to be able to help all aspects of students and athletes.

Coach Merkel has worked hard to get to where he is now, and said he loves it here at Elder. Through long days, surgeries, and working multiple jobs, there have been many common themes in Coach Alex Merkel’s life. The one that sticks out is hard work.

Coach always tells his athletes the importance of hard work and dedication and this does more than just help people in the weight room, but also helps them in the classroom, on the field, and in life when things aren’t easy.

Coach Merkle isn’t just a coach; he is a mentor and a great person as well.

Without struggle he wouldn’t be where he is today, but he lives his life for others and strives for the higher things as we should here at Elder High School.

Coach has made an impact on many students and athletes and is always working for the betterment of others. Being the first full time assistant coach in the weight room did not happen by accident. If you ask him he’ll tell you how hard work got him to his position, and there’s no sign of this train stopping. Coach Alex Merkel is ready for whatever is thrown his way in the future.

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Mr. Woeste becomes another great addition to Elder Jacob Stamper ‘22 Graphics Editor

Mr. Ben Woeste is one of Elder’s many

new faculty additions this year, and as someone who is taking one of his classes, I can say with confidence that he deserves to be featured here in The Purple Quill.

For those of you who do not know who Mr. Woeste is, he is from the Elder Class of 2011 and now resides in room 301, where he teaches Accounting. I hope that with this interview, people will get to know the Woest-man.

Mr. Woeste decided to transition to Elder High School from Seton, where he previously taught. “Probably the biggest thing was the number of students that were taking Accounting. Mostly, I was gonna be full time here, and I have five accounting classes, whereas over there, there were twelve people in accounting.”

Mr. Woeste wanted to “interact with as many students as [he] could.”

Next, Mr. Woeste described why it is important for people to take an accounting class. “Especially people who don’t know what they wanna do in college, I feel like taking Accounting I just a great way to kinda see fields that are available in business.” Business, economics, finance, accounting, they are all involved with one

Tuesday November 30, 2021

another and are all important to know; they will put you a step ahead.

Mr. Woeste has prior experience in the accounting field: “For one year, I worked at a company called Executive Jet Management. I basically did accounts payable for their international vendors, so what that means is, I basically called people all over the country to try to figure out where to send money and how to get them paid. So essentially, what that entailed was talking to a lot of people who spoke eight different languages, and English wasn’t their first language, so that was very difficult. And then after that, I worked in public accounting, and I was an auditor with a firm in Downtown Cincinnati for three years.” An accounting teacher should be experienced, and Mr. Woeste definitely is.

Mr. Ben Woeste, Elder Accounting teacher

Faculty Features 5 Now that Mr. Woeste has a few months of teaching at Elder under hit belt, he spoke about his experience so far: “It’s been awesome, I mean, it’s very weird coming back to where you went to high school and having a completely different perspective on it. When we have masses and stuff, and I sit outside, if I really think about it, just realizing I’m back here. I get chills…Seeing all my old teachers, old coaches, interacting with them…A lot of people stuck around, which is kind of one of the coolest parts of Elder; people stick around here for a long time.” He talks one of the best things about Elder: its community and brotherhood. People may change, but the spirit of Altiora! does not.

Furthermore, Mr. Woeste has gotten a chance to see Elder when he was a student and the Elder we have now. So, how has Elder changed over the years?

“The school seems pretty similar, I mean, having computers is very different…I try to picture being a student, how hard it would be to focus and pay attention with that thing there. But, other than that, the biggest things that’s changed is me and my perspective, and where I am in life compared to when I was here.”

What does Mr. Woeste hope to accomplish while at Elder? “Hopefully, I can just help some people, one, if they know they want to be accountant, give them some skills, especially Excel skills, which will come very much in handy for future accountants, whether they know it or not…Every accountant that I ever worked with said that they wish they learned Excel when they were in high school, so I’m just trying to bring in a lot of the real world stuff of accounting into the theory of the textbook. But for people who don’t know they want to be accountants, just

introduce them the basics of ‘here’s what accounting is, here’s why it matters.’ If you go into anything in business whatsoever, you’re going to deal with accounting in one way or another.”

Indeed, taking an accounting class exposes you to many fields that dominate almost every industry. This class and area of expertise are very important.

Outside of teaching and accounting, Mr. Woeste has a few hobbies and interests he shared with me: “Probably my two biggest, I mean, any kind of physical activity. Playing basketball, I shoot basketball pretty much every day after school, like I did in high school. I still coach; I coach at Seton, two different sports. I love video games…Got my Xbox Series S, big fan of that. Halo Infinite just surprise dropped for me. Big day yesterday.” A true gamer. Hopefully, Mr. Woeste will decide to enter or host a gaming tournament at ElderFest.

Next, it was time to discuss Mr. Woeste’s infamous blue Mustang: “I actually got it around this time of year my senior year of high school. My grandpa bought that for me right around Thanksgiving. Senior year of high school, and I’ve had it ever since…Bought it brand new for me. [Mr. Woeste’s grandpa] loved cars…he was very good at saving his money.” If you have not seen this 2011, blue beauty, please do yourself a favor, and go check it out.

Mr. Woeste then spoke more about

Mr. Woeste’s classic Mustang.

his grandfather: “Class of 1941 I think, at Elder. He passed away eight years ago or so now…He’s probably the one, when I come in here, he would be very, very happy. He was very involved with all the alumni stuff. He donated to Elder as part of his funeral memorial service. Army vet, just makes me proud walking in through the doors thinking about him every day.”

Well, Mr. Woeste, I can say with full confidence that you do make your grandpa proud. You are laidback, funny, a great teacher, knowledgeable, and you have reasonable expectations. If you are interested in accounting, his class is a must. If you are not sure whether you are interested, Mr. Woeste’s Accounting Class is a great way to find out.

He makes it interesting. And if you end up not liking it, at least you learned valuable information and got to spend time in Room 301’s great environment.

Every student loves being a part of Mr. Woeste’ class, and we all hope that he will continue to teach at Elder for many years to come.

6

Faculty Features

Mr. Schmidt is happy at Elder Bartley Thomas ‘22 Staff Writer

Mr. Mark Schmidt is a new teacher

here at Elder High School for the 2021 year and he is here to stay. Elder is big on welcoming people to our community, especially new teachers. To welcome Mr. Schmidt, I decided to interview him and ask him some questions to get to know more about him and his journey to Elder.

I first asked, “What city did you grow up in and how long did you live there?”

He answered, “I grew up in Findlay, Ohio.

I lived there until I went to college and then for a few years after college. Incidentally, I taught Ben Roethlisberger briefly when he was in the eighth grade.”

“What were your jobs growing up and where did you see yourself as a career.” Mr. Schmidt answered, “I had a paper route when I was young and loved it. I also worked as a technical writer after

college, writing instructional manuals; it was boring and I hated working in a cubicle all day!”

I continued, asking how he became an Economics teacher. He responded, “After teaching for ten years, I went back to graduate school. When I finished, I returned to teaching and was told that I could have my old job back as long as I taught one class of AP Economics. I taught AP Econ for 11 years before coming to Elder.”

I asked what was his dream job growing up and is it still the same today. He responded that growing up he wanted to be a lawyer. “Looking back, I think I would have loved law school, but hated being a lawyer. My parents were both teachers and I did not want to follow in their footsteps. After my writing job, however, I decided to substitute teach. I found that I liked it and was good at it, so I went back

to school to get my teaching license.”

I then asked Mr. Schmidt how he happened to come to Elder. He responded, “I had been looking at other jobs occasionally, and when I found the posting for the job at Elder, I applied. I had heard a lot of positive things about Elder from people like my friend, Kurtis Smith ‘01 grad as well as Mr. Schlomer, with whom I taught at my previous school.”

Finally, I asked Mr. Schmidt if he could see himself sticking with Elder until he retires. Mr. Schmidt concluded by saying that his experience at Elder has been extremely positive. “I cannot imagine teaching somewhere else before I retire.”

This concluded my interview, however, Mr. Schmidt is a great guy and a great teacher that I luckily get to have for my last year at Elder. Economics is a mandatory elective so being that we have to take it, it only makes the class better when we have a great teacher teaching it. I also feel Mr. Mark Schmidt has really fit well into the Elder environment.

Mr. Schaerer finds his home at Elder Seth Trischler ‘22 Co-Editor in Chief

A teacher is an important piece to a

school because they help students mature and grow and the most influential teachers use their own experiences to help students.

Experiences help a person learn from their mistakes and build upon their successes.

Mr. Schaerer uses his vast amount of experience every day in his religion classes to relate to his students. Mr. Schaerer was a graduate of Elder in 1990. He has four kids who all went to Visitation for grade school. Two currently attend Elder as a Senior (Nate) and Freshman (Jack).

He had multiple “first” jobs, he told me, “My first job was delivering the Door Store paper. It was ok, but I think my mom helped me out a lot. I really worked a lot of different jobs before I turned 16.

I worked as a farm helper, umpire, drive thru helper and a dishwasher at Skyline.

Skyline was a fun job!”

“I loved my time at Visitation because they took a chance on me and really taught me a lot! The reason I left was because I did my student teaching with Mr. Tierney and Elder was always the dream job and goal.”

-Mr. Scott Schaerer

Mr. Schaerer in his classroom.

Another job he had though was later after he came back from OSU. His cousin told him about it because he knew someone who was looking for people to hire. This person was none other than my dad. My grandpa owned a couple of Ameristops back in the day and my dad worked as a manager at one of them. This just goes to show how much of a small world we live in and how everyone on the westside is connected in some way. Mr. Schaerer told me about his time working there and said, “I would say my job at Ameristop was the most fun and really helped me learn a lot about how to talk to people.” He told me that they would even play baseball sometimes in the store!

Mr. Schaerer then later became a police officer. He said, “After the police officers Pope and Jeter were killed in the

line of duty, I started to think about it. I kept thinking about it for a while and decided that I would take the test. I was a police officer for six years and left when my twins were born.” For people who do not know, Officers Pope and Jeter were two Cincinnati cops that were shot and killed responding to a domestic violence call at 23 W. Hollister Street. He also told me that his time as a policeman was great, and he loved the camaraderie that he had with his fellow officers.

Although he loved working for the CPD, after those six years, he felt a call from God to become a teacher. He then taught at Our Lady of Visitation where all his kids attended. After a stint with Visitation, Mr. Schaerer felt another call to go somewhere else. This would be none other than Elder High School. I asked him why he chose to teach here, and he had this to say: “I loved my time at Visitation because they took a chance on me and really taught me a lot! The reason I left was because I did my student teaching with Mr. Tierney and Elder was always the dream job and goal.” A student teacher

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Elder Economics teacher Mr. Mark Schmidt

is a college student who is teaching under a certified teacher in order to qualify for a degree in education for those of you who do not know.

Mr. Schaerer currently teaches Freshman New Testament and Sophomore Church History/Ecclesiology. While he told me he was mad at himself for not getting more involved during his first time at Elder, he has not wasted time this go around to get involved. He is and has been a defensive backs coach for the Freshman football team for a few years now. For the future, Mr. Schaerer plans to take time to learn kayaking and to do a lot of it over the spring and summer while we are out of school.

A lot of people know instantly what they are called to do but for some people they go down several routes before they find their final calling. This is Mr. Schaerer and his journey to Elder has been a great one but it’s not how he got here that truly matters but what he did when he got here. Mr. Schaerer impacts many people every day whether it be in his religion classes or at home with his kids. He does this with helping students in the classroom and even just by saying hi to people in the hallways. There has not been one day in which Mr. Schaerer has seen me and not said hello. So, if you’re ever feeling down, help is not far away when you have someone like Mr. Schaerer in the building.

There are a lot of teachers that you get to know while at Elder and Mr. Schaerer has certainly been one that I am happy to have met.

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Student Featuress 7

Reuter endures long transfer journey to Elder Ben Hambleton ‘22 Staff Writer

As many know, transferring to one

school to another is a very hard thing to adapt to. In our day and age, this is a very common thing to see. Many people are transferring schools for several reasons.

Here at Elder we have a transfer student from Walnut Hills. His name is Jack Reuter. Jack is a member of the National Honor Society and the football team. He hasn’t even been here a year, but has made his presence felt already.

I had the chance to talk to Jack about his journey. I asked him how the transition from Walnut Hills has been from Elder. Jack thought long about his answer then said, “It’s been an adjustment, for sure. Completely different culture and overall feeling in the air. I love it, though.

I love everything about being at Elder: the tradition, the people, the facilities, the education itself, and of course, the sports.

I’m eternally grateful that I have the opportunity to be here. It’s a blessing.”

I then asked Jack what made him

When I came to shadow last November, the thing I paid attention to the most was how other kids treated each other.

I was astonished to see the mutual respect that students acted with towards both their peers and teachers.

decide on joining the panther community. He described that it was a bunch of different things that kept adding up. Jack is an extremely smart student and wanted a better education. He was unhappy with what he was receiving at Walnut.

Another huge problem he faced at Walnut was not having friends he could count on. He also wanted to take his spirituality more seriously and knew coming to Elder would help him do so. Jack then went on to tell me that immediately he has noticed his faith improve and his friendships have too. He also mentioned that he is getting a great education here at Elder which he is extremely grateful for. I was curious to know how the students acted towards Jack. Furthermore, I wanted to know how they first interacted with him and how they interact with him now. Therefore, I asked him and he said, “Everyone has been super friendly since the start. When I came to shadow last November, the thing I paid attention to the most was how other kids treated each other. I was astonished to see the mutual respect that students acted with towards both their peers and teachers. It made a very positive impression on me and separated Elder from other schools. Since then, everyone has continued to be very kind and I’ve made friends with practically every student and faculty member I’ve come across.” Clearly the students of Elder high have done a wonderful job of accepting Jack into our family. He is now one of our own.

Playing quarterback at Elder, I always knew Jack because he was the quarterback at Walnut Hills. He is a very talented

Jack Reuter during his sophomore season at Walnut, dropping back to make a downfield throw against Withrow.

athlete, so I wanted to get into how sports have been for him at Elder. Jack told me about how sports have been a big struggle for him. Furthermore, Jack actually got hurt his first game on the lacrosse team.

He messed up his knee and has still been recovering for it. Jack told me that it has been very challenging for him and also has been hard on his faith, but he knows this happened for a reason. Therefore, Jack has been training everyday to get better than ever before to come back a new player for the Panthers in football next fall. He went on to say that even though he hasn’t been able to play, Elder football has brought him such joy in being able to watch his teammates and best friends succeed. He described it saying that is what Elder football is all about and that is what Coach Ramsey has taught him: the importance of the team’s success.

Jack described it perfectly, Elder is all about the importance of their school’s suc-

cess. In just this short period of time Jack has learned a lot about himself and about Elder. It’s clear that he has enjoyed his time here so far. Therefore, I asked him what has been the best part about transferring to Elder. Jack told me, “The best part of coming to Elder for me has easily been meeting some of the kindest, most passionate, and most generous people in my life. I’ve made friends and met mentors that I will keep and cherish for the rest of my days. Elder is a truly special place, and coming here has made me realize that the people who have worked so hard to attain excellence throughout the generations are what make it special.” It’s safe to say Jack has learned a lot about Elder in his short time of being here. I know he will make the most of it with the time he has remaining.

8

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Sports

Elder Hockey faces off Josh Steinhaus ‘24 Staff Writer

Here we go. The start of hockey season

is racing forward. Will we have a repeat of last year?

Well, from the looks of the first weekend of games, we have two wins and zero losses.

Coach Sovern says, “This year is one of the highest years for new people, going from one newcomer last year to about nine guys this year.”

Yours truly is included in the newcomers this year. So, most of us probably know that last year was not the greatest, but this year is starting to look way better.

The first week is already better than last year.

Over the weekend of November 1314, Elder Hockey beat the St. X Bombers 3-1 and the Dayton Ice Hounds 2-0, with a shut out from our goalie Ben Brinker ’24 against the Ice Hounds. Shots landed from Charlie James ’22, Kyle Ficker ’22, Matthew Cleary ’22, and Greg Carlton ’23. There was an assist to Ficker, from a man down situation, due to a Panther in the penalty box.

During practice I talked to the team captains about their thoughts on how this season is hopefully going to go. I spoke to seniors Charlie James and Kyle Ficker, the Elder Hockey captains.

I asked them how long they have been playing Hockey. Charlie stated, “I’ve been playing for 10 years now.” Kyle stated, “I’ve been playing since Freshman year.” They both are great choices for

the Captain role; they are both working to make the team as good as they can, bringing the new guys like me up to the potential they have.

After asking them what they look forward to I had a couple good responses from them both. Charlie stated, “I’m looking forward to getting to know the guys a little better, we got a lot of incoming freshmen, looking forward to leading the team as a captain this year after being assistant captain junior year. Also looking forward to getting better throughout the season myself, scoring some goals and helping our team.”

The response I got from Kyle: “Looking forward to winning as many games as we can, and hopefully getting these freshmen into shape for the future years.

Both captains have big ambitions for the season.

Asking them both how they feel being team captain brought great gratitude.

Charlie stated, “It’s an honor moving up to the rank of Captain after being assistant especially being able to carry on the tradition from Captains before me.” Kyle responded with a very similar response just happy to be made captain.

I asked what Kyle thinks the highlight of the season will be. He said, “It is probably going to be the Winter Classic at the Heritage bank beating Mason.”

I had to ask their thoughts on the massive influx of new people this year.

Charlie said, “It’s great, it is the best thing we could have hoped for, our numbers were down across the bored last year this year it is beyond what we could have

Elder’s 2020-2021 goalie keeping the other team from scoring.

hoped for. We didn’t think it was going to happen. I hope that they stick with it and hope they realize how fun the game is, and I hope that they really attract some more people to fall in love with the game over on our side of town.”

Kyle had this as his response: “I think it is a good look for the future years of Elder Hockey and that the program is just going to keep going up and up.”

The final thing I asked them, of course, was how they felt about the first week results against St. X and The Dayton Ice hounds. Kyle said, “I think the first week went great we came off with two wins showed what we could do right off the start.”

Charlie was happy with the first week stating, “I think the first week was great, we played well, had some guys stepping up like Matthew Cleary ’22, Casey Sullivan ‘22, and Ben Brinker ’24 with the shutout. They played great, we had some second line guys and some third guy lines putting in their contributions.”

These are some great guys for the roles of Captain. Elder Hockey already off to a good first week. We also have a great influx of new people to grow the program.

Let’s make it a good season.

GO PANTHERS!

Johnson ready for the season Seniors make college choices Devyn Mullins ‘24 Staff Writer

I got the chance to sit down and talk to

Elder’s JV/Varsity sophomore standout basketball player, Tyler Johnson. Last year Tyler was one of the better players on the freshman team. He uses his slinky body to his advantage against everyone and gets to the basket with ease. He shoots lights out from anywhere on the court, almost Kevin Durant“esk”.

I first asked Tyler what his thoughts were on the upcoming season. He said “I feel like our varsity team has a lot of talent. We came off a very good season last year and have many returning players this year. I think that we have a huge chance to win the GCL. I also think that we have a chance at making a great run in the tournament, maybe winning state.”

He is very right, Elder came up just short of winning state as they made it to the regional final four and lost to eventual state champion Centerville, 52-43.

I followed that question up by asking how his first season went. He said, “I had a very fun season. Our team went 18-3 and finished 2nd in the GCL. However, there is still room for improvement.”

You can tell Tyler has very high expectations for this team. How does the team prepare for the season?

Johnson said, “To start off we do many things in the off-season. We lift three days a week with open gyms and shooting guns. Getting closer to the season we have moved into practice every day. Another thing that we have been doing is scrimmages pretty much every week.” The team is basically busy during the whole week in the off-season and they get even more busy and down to business when the season starts. They also get into heavier practices.

What are his personal goals for the season? TJ said that his personal goals are to lead his team to wins and help the team get better day in and day out on and off the court. He also said he wants to improve his scoring more to help the offense.

I think we can all tell that Tyler has high expectations for the team to do really well as I’m sure we all do. But Johnson seems to be ready for this season and the ones to come in his next two years at Elder.

TJ displays his picture perfect shooting form from freshman year dropping a three-pointer against Lakota West.

Phillip Hoffman ‘22 Video Editor

With the time of college applications

and final decisions of seniors upon us, three of our own athletes have signed to continue playing their sport at the next level at the colleges of their choice. We have one senior signing to play golf and two for Baseball. The three Seniors are Victor Caligari, Jeremy Ward, and Kellen Sandhas.

First up, Victor, an Elder golfer, has signed to attend Eastern Michigan. Here’s what he had to say on what that meant to him.

“Playing at the next level is important to me because all of the hard work is paying off for me, and I get four more years of doing what I love. It’s also a huge weight off my shoulders because I was accepted to EMU and the process was much easier than a student’s process. “ Although playing at the next level is exciting, Victor has mixed feelings about leaving Elder Golf behind. “It’s definitely sad because I’m going to miss my coach here and teammates. The memories I’ve made playing golf for Elder are unforgettable. However, I’m excited to meet my new teammates and build a bond with them like I had with my teammates here.

Elder has taught me many life skills and by having a great golf program, it put me in places I needed to be. Elder golf put me up against the best junior golfers in Ohio, and I’m glad I was able to play against them and represent Elder Golf in a good way.” Victor has been an incredible asset to Elder’s Golf program and played extremely well late in the season at the state tournament finishing only one stroke from medalist honors.

I asked him if he had any plans of playing pro. “Professional golf is definitely something I see myself trying to pursue.

It’s a long and stressful process to turn

pro, but I know I’m up for the challenge.

Playing D-1 college golf will help me prepare for professional golf tremendously.” Thank you, Victor, for everything you have given and put into Elder Golf.

Next, Jeremy Ward. Jeremy is an Elder Baseball player who committed to Thomas More University. He is excited to extend his athletic and academic career at the next level.

“It means a lot, knowing that this is something I have always wanted to do and how good Elder has prepared me for this situation.” But like all seniors, he is sad to be ending his time with Elder.

“It’s a weird feeling not being able to be around the same coaches and baseball guys almost every day. The past three years have been the best years of my life and I am excited to see what my senior year brings. Next year I will just be with a different group of guys. Elder has prepared me for this since Freshman year.

Just learning the basics of Elder baseball, doing all the little things right and everything else will come to you.” Jeremy still has his senior season ahead of him before

November 2021 National Signing Day in the

(left to right) Jeremy Ward, Thomas More - baseball. Vi Kellen Sandhas, Thomas More, baseball.

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Sports 9

Reds cut costs with offseason roster moves Grady Wall ‘23 Staff Writer

In case you have not figured it out al-

ready, the Cincinnati Reds are poor.

I understand not paying the $7.5 million to Tucker Barnhart with the emergence of the young phenom, Tyler Stephenson. However, how do you let a guy with a 3.37 ERA just walk out on waivers? The Reds really could not afford to pick up Wade Miley’s $10 million option? Even if you did not want Miley on the roster, can’t you still pick up the option and trade him to get something in return? Instead, Miley has been picked off waivers by division rivals the Chicago Cubs. Ouch.

It should come as no surprise that Nick Castellanos opted out of his contract.

He had an incredible season and is in line to make a lot of money. The optimistic side of me is saying that the Reds are cutting costs such as Barnhart and Miley to build up the funds to re-sign Castellanos.

But the other and more realistic side of me is preparing to watch Aristides Aquino start in right field every day. Another ouch. The Reds have given Castellanos the qualifying offer of 1 year/$18.4 million. He is going to sign for much more than that. Unfortunately, it feels a lot like the Trevor Bauer situation from last offseason. Castellanos will sign a huge contract in a large market city, and the going to college.

Lastly, we have Kellen Sandhas. Kellen will be joining his teammate Jeremy at Thomas More to extend his career in baseball.

Kellen sentiments are similar to the other signing seniors. “It’ll be sad not playing for Elder but I’m excited for the next four years and meeting new people and traveling to new places. It’ll be hard not wearing purple and white but I hope to make the most of my last year “repping” the Panthers. Elder has helped me with going to the next level because the coaching staff and lifting coaches have coached/trained us at the highest level so once we get to college we will have better college level experience than some others may have had.”

Kellen’s response to being asked about playing professionally was interesting. “If it was up to me I would love to play professionally but the chances of that are realistically not high. But after college I hopefully have a degree and can do something where I have a positive impact on others’ lives.” Kellen is a great player and an even better person.

We thank these seniors for what they have done and are still doing for Elder athletics, and best of luck to all other athletes soon to commit to the colleges of their choice.

e Donohoe Center:

ictor Caliguri, Eastern Michigan - golf.

Reds will collect the compensation pick in next year’s draft with the qualifying offer.

It’s that time of the year again. The annual Luis Castillo trade rumors are in full effect. Only this time it feels as if they will actually become true. Even though the Reds have team control over Castillo through the 2023 season, this is the time where they can get the most in return from a trade partner. I would not be opposed to a trade if the return was reasonable.

These are the moves small market clubs need to make to compete year in and year out. Trade the guys who are due for big contracts a year or two early and get the most bang for your buck. Sonny Gray trade rumors are also flowing this offseason. I don’t expect him to be dealt, but I wouldn’t be against it. I would like to imagine that prospects Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo will be ready for the 2022 season, so a few holes in the rotation will be able to be filled.

I know this has seemed kind of dark and negative for the future of our franchise. But I truly believe this club will continue to compete. There is too much talent for them not to. You know what you are getting with guys like Votto, India, Stephenson, Winker, and the list goes on.

David Bell is a very good manager that gets far too much hate.

With the cards he was dealt this season such as injuries to Votto, Castellanos,

and Winker plus the struggling bullpen, looking back I am shocked this team even had a winning record. Unlike most fans, I am glad that the Reds gave him a two-year extension.

But the success of the 2022 season will rely on resurgent campaigns from guys like Suarez, Moustakas, and Akiyama.

Your big money players must perform if the team is going to be successful. The biggest hole on this roster is still the bullpen. We have reliable guys such as Lucas Sims, Luis Cessa, Art Warren, and Tony Santillan. However, that is not enough to survive the grueling 162 game season. I don’t know what happened to the Amir Garrett that we were used to last season, and I believe Michael Lorenzen plus Mychal Givens will sign elsewhere in free agency. Losing Tejay Antone is the biggest blow that this pitching staff will have to recover from. But as I stated earlier, I believe there are several pitching prospects who are about big league ready to fill some of these holes.

As of now I still have playoff aspirations for the Reds’ 2022 season, but I must say that I am extremely biased.

Turkey Bowl scouting report Ben Hambleton ‘22 Staff Writer

As Thanksgiving is around the corner,

so are the festivities that go along with it.

One of the best traditions of Thanksgiving is playing football. Here at Elder High School the Turkey Bowl is a big deal.

Especially for the seniors, who may play against each other for the last time in the Turkey Bowl.

On the night of the Open House teams were picked. There were two coaches (Nicholas Paff and Chris Kammerer) and a commissioner, who was me. We all are unable to play because of injury from the football season.

However, last time the turkey bowl took place, a lot happened. A key player from this game was Nick Broxterman. He is known to be one of the biggest trash talkers at Elder High. He has been waiting to play in the bowl for a while, so I asked him about his trash talking abilities.

He said, “Yeah I am known for that.

I always get in people’s heads. I plan on dismantling each opponent through trash talking. I think I can get under the skin of Rich Heisel, Zane Klusman and Harp the most from experience.”

Broxt is extremely passionate about this game and will do just about anything to win. I asked him who some key players would be in this game. He told me that he would be the biggest playmaker. He says no one else can compare to what he brings to the table. Whether it be his play on the field physically or his mental games he plays. He describes himself as a person people need to worry about and account for. I think I would have to agree. I have seen Broxt get under people’s skin. To the point where it has gotten physical.

I then asked Nick what happened last time he played in the bowl. He said, “I lost, but I managed to get into Zane Klusman and Ben Hambleton’s head so bad that it got physical. I was so far into Zane’s head that he was a nonfactor.”

I then went to talk to the other team with Rich Heisel. Rich was named the MVP of the last Turkey Bowl. His performance was so dominant that the decision was unanimous. I think Rich accounted for at least seven touchdowns and was a big time playmaker as well. I asked Rich about him being one of the best players in the draft and he said, “I’m just one of the best. I have shown throughout the years I got the skills. I have decent speed and hands but what I lack in speed I make up with my quickness and juke skills. Also I’m a bit of an underrated defender. The thing is I’m honored that I’m considered one of the best but I feel like my teammates are being a bit underrated. Harp, Keller, Kellen, Schmitt, Chuck (Charlie James), and Kauffy (Michael Kauffman) are all dawgs also.”

I have to agree with this, Rich was dominant last game and it was obvious he had to be a top three pick. However, we can expect Broxterman to be guarding him this year and talking all the trash he can.

Therefore, I asked him if this will affect him or will not.

He told me that Broxt is good at playing mind games. However, he went on to say that Broxterman is not even a player to worry about this year. He is focused on his team and will deal with Broxt when the time comes. Personally, I cannot wait to watch this game. It has been highly anticipated for a long time and there will for sure be some great highlights. My prediction is that Nick Broxterman’s team (Team Kammerer) will win just because of how they drafted. They did a good job of getting height with Broxterman and Klusman. Then also drafting the best player in Drew Ramsey. However, their sleeper pick is Jeremy Ward who can do it all, but will be playing a lot of QB1 for them. Regardless, this game will be very competitive with a lot of trash talk. By the time this paper is out the result will be known but the game should still be very memorable.

Catcher Tucker Barnhart embraces Wade Miley after his no-hitter against the Indians.

Wrestlers prepare for 2021 season Shawn Wyatt ‘22 Features Editor

The winter sports

season is starting up once again, and one team that I feel doesn’t get enough recognition is the wrestling team. Wrestling is probably one of the tougher sports there is, yet it seems like it is not talked about much. These guys are out on the mats and in the weight room putting in work every day after school. I caught up with a few guys on the team to see how they are preparing for this season.

This year, there are four seniors on the team: Drew Magness, Brent Stahl, Cody Wolf, and Connor Woods. These guys have accepted the role of being leaders for the younger members of the team.

Over the past four years, they have been working together to improve not only individually, but as a team.

Wrestling is one of those sports that requires a lot outside of the gym, including drills such as carrying your teammates, Connor Woods says, “I had to carry Cody up to the third floor, he’s heavy”.

These drills are used in practice to help the team prepare for matches, as well as build strength and trust between teammates.

The team is looking strong this year, and the returning members hope to build from last year. Connor Woods says, “We are a really physical team, and we all work hard.” Woods says he wants to keep improving, hopefully enough to go to state. This is a goal that some of the top guys on the team, including Drew Magness, Brent Stahl, and Andrew Thamann, have been working for this year. Last year, Kody Kaimann went to state for the Panthers, and the team would like to send someone this year as well to keep the streak of going to state.

Cody Wolf is another member of the team who is looking to improve this year.

Wolf has described his years of wrestling for Elder as a great experience in which he has met many people, “It’s been great being part of a team and getting to know a lot of guys.”

Wolf also says he has started taking wrestling more seriously as the years have gone on. He says signing up for wrestling was one of the best choices he has ever made, and it has paid off for him. The younger guys on the team now see him as a leader and someone they can look up to, along with all the upperclassmen on the team.

10

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Sports

Samuels dominates volleyball court Robby Mathews ‘23 Sports Editor

Last spring, the Elder volleyball team

returned from a year-long absence due to the COVID-19 virus and returned as strong as ever. The team was led by seniors Ben Albers, Luke Link, Jake Vollmer, and manager Kyle Kramer. However, one student on the roster stood out in particular: Dylan Samuels.

Dylan was the only sophomore on last year’s team, but he made quite the difference. Starting at libero, Dylan led the team in digs (first contact of the ball after the opponent has returned it) for 20-28 of their games, including twenty digs in the state final game.

He began his career in the second grade at St. Jude and played there until his eighth grade year. In that time, Dylan began playing club volleyball in the sixth grade for “Cincinnati Attack”. And that’s when his dominance started. “There, I played up an age and was on the top team each year I played.”

Quickly rising up the ranks, Dylan made the USA High Performance team in the eighth grade and competed with the team that summer. He was scouted and chosen over thousands of other participants in the country, and takes great pride in his accomplishment.

The transition from club volleyball to Elder was not as difficult, however, as Dylan played up a grade level for three years, where he met some of his future teammates. Drew Maune, Sam Schwallie, Joey Bianco, and Andrew Zimmer were all on his club team and helped him develop into the player he is today.

As for this upcoming season, there

Samuels shows great form as he digs another ball for the Panthers.

are high hopes for the new team. Elder volleyball is looking very good this year with lots of returning players.The loss of some of the senior leaders last year should not hurt the Panthers at all, as the new seniors have the chance to step up and lead the team to another successful year.

As for how he prepares for every season, he says it is quite different.

“Club takes a lot more of getting to know each other and team bonding because you might not know the guys that well,

whereas for Elder we already all go to school together and are pretty familiar with each other.” The school environment seems to have a positive impact on the team, as offseason conditioning and lifting can give the guys a solid foundation for a great season.

Being the only sophomore on the team, Dylan had to adapt into the team’s mold, which can be very difficult for some. However, for Dylan, it was easy.

“Last year, preparing for the Elder season

was especially tough being the only sophomore on the team. The seniors were fantastic though and brought me into the group.” With the seniors’ help, Dylan’s transition was much simpler. “I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

This year, we should expect the same dominance from the Elder volleyball team, and the Panthers should plan for a trip to Columbus this summer and maybe even a new banner in the fieldhouse.

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Moderator’s Note:

Due to a printer’s error, this page 11, which was prepared for our October issue, was missing in the final edition. While preparing this November issue, I discovered the mistake. So here we present this story about a missing freshman from 1946, researched and found

by Robby Mathews last month (and continued to page 13). Immediately following on page 13, we feature the article found this month by co-editor Seth Trischler documenting a history of Elder football that appeared in the 1950s Quill. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Robby Mathews ‘23 Sports Editor

While looking back through the several volumes and editions of The Purple Quill in the library, I noticed a particularly interesting story that stretched over a few months in 1946.

The case of the missing freshman Tom Murphy ‘46

Chapter I

It started out as any other September and any other school year. With the upperclassmen strutting before the freshmen with bright yellow ties and bright red socks and the little freshmen, (God love ‘em), with their shoes on, sneaking around corridors trying to remember which steps to use, and fervently hoping that someone would tell them what this “jug” is everyone is talking about.

Now to get on with our story, the story of “Rigor Mortis Green,” a freshman at Elder High School, and I can truthfully say I am inquisitive. Rigor Mortis Green’s friends all called him “Rigor” and so shall we. It can, dare we say, without a doubt be said from early childhood Rigor developed an overwhelming desire for food, and it has been said that he lived merely for his next meal. Rigor’s marks were abnormally low. He was the dull, nonsensical type and in grade school he was help back for two years, one due to the measles and the other due to his absolute lack of knowledge. When he enrolled in high school his professors began praying for spiritual aid. After failing his freshman year completely, Rigor decided to put forth effort in his work so that he could pass it the following year. He was

From the Archives of The Quill 11 the envy of all of his classmates because of his ability to eat four or five regular plate lunches in succession.

It was on one of those rather anemic days when Rigor Mortis Green lazily strolled through the yawning portals of Elder High. He walked to his locker gaily conversing with his classmates as to what he had consumed for breakfast.

When about to enter his first class he was heard to mumble excitedly something to himself, turn on his feels and go scurrying down the hall. We regret to say that he has not been seen since. Did Rigor Mortis Green fall into an ink well? Did he accidentally lock himself in his locker? Did he get lost looking for the swimming pool under the gym? Perhaps he was ground up in the pencil sharpener? Some even ascertain that he was absconded by that heroic, legendary figure, Smoe the great.

Chapter II

I am grieved and despondent as I sit down to write this tale of woe. Perhaps you, too, will be sad when you hear what I have to relate to you. Yes, I’m afraid you’ve guessed it! Although we possess a few meager clue concerning his whereabouts, we are not certain where Rigor Mortis Green is. And we are sorry to say that his parents and his small brother, “Post Mortis Green,” are frantic with worry. I’m sure we can all imagine the sad, tragic scene which will prevail in Rigor’s house this Christmas if he does not soon return. The question which is uppermost in everyone’s mind is, “Where could Rigor be?” Some say that someone was playing Santa Claus at the “We-Have-Everything Dept. Store” that looked almost like Rigor Mortis Green. But, of course, we cannot be sure. Could it be possible that he was hung on a Christmas tree for an ornament by mistake? Could he be freezing to death in the snow somewhere?

Wait! What is that? Yes, the telephone.

Excuse me, dear readers, while I answer the phone.

That was Rigor Mortis Green on the phone folks! He never had time to say where he was or who he is with. He had time only to wish us all A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - and then the line went dead. Maybe Rigor was kidnapped. Of course, we are just supposing this, but the clues certainly point to this as the solution. If Rigor was abducted, what

was the motive behind such a dastardly action? Why would someone kidnap Rigor Mortis in the first place? If this theory is true, how will Rigor escape the sinister clutches of his fiendish captors?

So, dear readers, in the midst of your delicious Christmas dinners and your gay parties - stop. Yes, stop for a moment and remember your friend, your classmate, “Rigor Mortis Green,” is somewhere out there in the cold, penetrating weather and offer up a prayer for his safe return.

(To be continued in the next issue of the Purple Quill.)

Chapter III (The Tragic End of Rigor Mortis Green) We are abashed to say that the anecdote which we have to relate is not very pleasant, to say the least. No doubt you have read of the appalling and revolting death of RIGOR MORTIS GREEN, missing freshman at Elder High School, for the past few months in the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Cincinnati Enquirer, Post or Times Star. But we feel that it is our duty to carry the story anyway, since he was one of our most popular students here at Elder.

Now to get on with our story. As you remember in Chapter II, we received what we thought at that time was an important phone call from RIGOR. After much sleuthing we found out that the phone call was made by one of the pupils here at Elder.

Well, it seems that RIGOR dropped a “gum-drop” down one of the cesspools at Elder High School and since it was his last one (we all know what a gormandish epicure he was), he decided to follow the evasive tidbit.

The gum-drop must have been peregrinated quite a bit, because RIGOR pursued it through all the intertwining, underground, catacomb-like sewer pipes

in and around the vicinage of Elder High School. The gum-drop was trundling at a flabbergasting rate of celerity, but RIGOR finally managed to catch up with it between PIPE NO. 4 and PIPE NO. 5.

(This of course, would be approximately in the center of the football field.) After reaching a spot where the gum-drop had lodged, he found that he was stuck and unable to extricate himself. If only he had not always eaten so excessively in life maybe he would not have been so rotund in stature and therefore would have had somewhat of a chance to escape. Ah! but such is life!

Anyway this is the story given us by THE FACT FINDING COMMITTEE which we appointed to reach the solution of this trying situation. (Of course, Herlock Sholmes, Dary Krake, and Tick Dracy, who were called in on this case as an extra special assignment, were also instrumental in bringing to a reasonable solution this exigent problem. We felt that they should be given a special mention.)

First Clue

Our first clue was disclosed to us on an algid, bleak day when the band members were going through their routine under the proficient supervision of Fr. Kesting, out on the white striped terrain.

The earth at a certain spot began to heave and tremble slightly. No one noticed this unnatural phenomenon… that is, no one - save Earl Morgan, promising teenage drummer at Elder High School, who admonitorily skirled, “There’s a man down there! It’s RIGOR MORTIS, I tell you… It is! It is!”…But no! They heeded not his admonishing. Perhaps if they would have started digging then…

Oh, but why torment ourselves with these thoughts? Ah—then, Yes! But - now, No! It is much too late! It is indeed too bad that we did not hearken to Earl’s minatory Story continues on page 13

12

Student Features

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Academic Team ready for big season Devyn Mullins ‘24 Staff Writer

With Winter sports coming upon us

that means one of Elders less talked about teams, the Academic team’s season is coming up.

I got the chance to sit down with the coach, Mr. Rick Ceddia. The first question I asked him was who is eligible to join the team? He said everyone who wants to can join except for my students. I will not let them join because I did one year and it did not go so well.

I then asked him how they prepare for the season. He said, lots of repetition. We take old question sets from old matches and use those. “Will Meier also has a quizlet with sample questions on it.”

I then asked Mr. Ceddia when did he start coaching the Academic team. He said he started coaching when he got his job here in 2009.

“...it was the top two guys in the school, one from the senior class and one from the junior class. So only the best of the best could be on the team. It’s not like how it is today where you can just join.”

-Mr. Rick Ceddia

This year’s academic team, under the director of Mr. Rick Ceddia, will be following in the footsteps of these All-Stars from 2020-21.

The Academic team has a pretty long season. It goes from the end of September and possibly February or the end of the school year depending if they make the state tournament. He was then asked if he was on his high school’s (Roger Bacon) academic team? He said, “No I was not, it was the top two guys in the school, one from the senior class and one from the junior class.” So only the best of the best could be on the team. It’s not like how it is today where you can just join.

The next question that was asked is

if the team plays against co-ed teams or teams with just guys on it. He answered, “We play against co-ed and guys and sometimes even all girls.”

I then asked what his favorite memory ever coaching was. He said,“It was when they went to the state championship game and the team and their families all went up a day early and got a hotel and everyone just had fun at the pool for the night.”

Mr. Ceddia was then asked how many times the team has been to the state

championship game. He said only once but, “We are one of the three teams in the GCAL to have made it that far, Elder, St. Xavier and Moeller.” It is really hard to even make it that far because there are no separate leagues like every other sport.

It’s every high school in Ohio in one big league.

Mr. Ceddia ended the interview by saying, “I have faith in our young guys I think we can go far.”

Tuesday November 30, 2021

The case of the missing freshman continued from page 11

words instead of having him sent to the “CRAZEE-AZ-A-BUG” Asylum for the mentally inefficient.

Yes, we listened not to Earl’s premonotonous tidings then, but on Dec. 26, 1945, a group of workmen with a peremptory purpose in mind, began burrowing into the terrestrial adamant of Elder’s football field. Sweating, swearing, and straining, they laboriously dug, hour upon hour. Down, down, they went! - ten, twenty, thirty feet! Then they struck the sewer pipe! Yes, the sewer pipe which was destined to give forth RIGOR’S body.

Scientist Offers Theory When breaking open the sewer pipe a careless workman struck RIGOR MORTIS’ toe with a pick. Immediately RIGOR execrably blazoned an eerie, deathlike screech! (N.B. Our detectives and morphologists which we have called in on this case are still attempting to figure out how RIGOR, who was supposed to be lying dead for nigh into onto three months in his clammy receptacle, could have screamed.) A certain eminent scientist who we had working on the case and who asked that his name not be mentioned, said that under the exorbitant strain these men were subject to, perhaps they merely fancied that they heard RIGOR’S frantic call. Some even adjudicate that it was RIGOR’S spirit “crying out” so that the working men would find him by the next issue of the Purple Quill.

Gum-Drop Theory After an autopsy which was held on Jan. 7, 1946, a particle of food was found lodged between the third and fourth molar in RIGOR’S mouth. (Actually, this is the grounds for our “GUM-DROP THEORY.”) The examination was made by Drs. Lampe and Malony who said that, “It was the strangest case they ever came across in the annals of medical history.” The GUM-DROP THEORY was given by Drs. Fratz, Dr. Craig, and Dr. I. Killum Kuick, who said that they saw no other possible solution.

We here at Elder, who were so unfamiliar with RIGOR MORTIS, mournfully grieve his absence when we think of him lying in that damp, dank, and dingy sewer while we sit in a warm, comfortable classroom with not a care in the world.

Yes, dear reader, try to forget…you know they say that “time heals.” But will this adage be true in this case? In this case where we have lost one of our brothers?

Pray! Pray! Pray! And while you are praying, pray that RIGOR did not have to suffer too long in his prison.

THE END.

From the Archives (continued) 13

The history of the Quill - 1950s Seth Trischler ‘22 Co-Editor in Chief

This month The Quill is featuring an ar-

ticle from the early 50’s. This article took quite some time to choose since believe it or not, there were a lot of great stories in The Quill back then. One that caught my eye though was an article about the start of Elder’s football team in the November edition of 1950 and all the important events that happened from 1923-1950 for the preceding teams.

It opened my eyes up to a plethora of things that I did not know before including one that really struck me which was how big the rivalry between Elder and West High was. I knew they used to play back then but I did not know that it was to the level of today’s GCL rivalries. I also got to learn a lot of great facts about the many teams back then. I really enjoyed reading this article and getting a chance to see what was on the minds of people so long ago. It seems one thing that is so important now was still important back then and that would be none other than Elder football.

I hope you find this as an interesting read as I did!

School’s Football History Begins with Coach Grause’s 1923 Squad

By Jack Katenkamp ‘51The history of football at Elder goes back to the Fall of 1923. Coach Ben Grause asked for boys for a proposed football team. Elder, although co-ed and with a very low enrollment, had more than 50 hopeful boys report for practice. From these prospects, Coach Grause molded a top-notch team which represented Elder for the first time on the gridiron.

In the next 27 years, Elder was destined to earn for itself a very high spot on the gridirons of Cincinnati. In these years Elder teams have played 229 games, winning 115, losing 100, tying eighteen and scoring a total of 2,638 points while holding their opponents to 958 points. They have been held scoreless 53 times and have held their opponents scoreless 80 times. During all these years then Elder has an average of 11.8 points per game, while they held their opponents to an average of 4.2 points.

Elder’s Football Feats According to statistics, the 1924 team, which scored 165 points in seven games was the best offense Elder has had so far.

That same year Elder’s defensive record was established when they held their opponents to 14 points in seven games.

The 1945 Panthers scored the most points in one season: 177 for eight games and also handed out the worst licking, a 47-0 defeat against Portsmouth. Likewise, the worst defeat Elder ever suffered was a

50-0 walk-over at the hands of Covington Holmes in 1925.

According to the records, the “greatest” Elder eleven was the team of ’40, which rolled over their opponents in the eight games and were tied once.

One game won and nine lost was the best the 1938 machine could do. This was the worst licking suffered by any Elder team. The Panthers of 1934 were involved in the most tie games, battling five opponents to a draw. Elder has won ten Price Hill and four Catholic League championship in 27 years.

Elder-Western Hills Record In the 21 annual clashes with Maroons, Elder has won ten, lost ten, and tied one. These clashes have netted Elder a total of 197 points to Western Hills’ 138 points. The 1935 team beat West Hi the worst, 40-0, which incidentally, was the largest margin of victory ever attained by either team. Ten years later West Hi inflicted their worst beating on Elder, the score in that game being 25-6. The year 1938 was the last time Western Hills held Elder scoreless. The Panthers of 1934 saw the only tie in the series, a scoreless tie.

Elder Teams of the Past The 1949 squad chalked up a five won and five lost record, while in 1948 the Panthers had a five win, three lost, and one tie record. This team, however, upset Western Hills to the tune of 19 to 6.

The 1947 squad also turned over the apple cart on West Hi 7-0, while their record for the season was three games won and five lost.

In 1946, the Elderites fell apart at the seams after winning four and tying one, and ended up with five wins, three losses and the one tied.

The 1945 aggregation, while winning six and losing only two, along with an alltime scoring record, did an about face for the last game and suffered a 25-6 defeat at the hands of an underdog West Hi eleven.

In 1944 the squad was fair and ended up with but five wins as against three losses, but the high point in this year was the 12-0 whitewashing handed to West Hi. The 1943 Panthers were a very low-scoring team, racking up only 89 points. As a result, they won but three out of seven games. Six wins and two losses was the record by the 1942 team, along with the 20-0 waxing it gave West Hi. The 1941 eleven really brought home the bacon in the form of the Greater Cincinnati Catholic League title, but Elder lost to West Hi in that year 9-6. This Panther record reads six wins, two losses and one tied.

Only Undefeated Team The only undefeated team Elder had

was the 1940 squad. It had only one scoreless tie with Withrow, to mar its record.

This team was really the breadwinner, it not only won the Catholic League title but the city championship as well when it beat the Maroons 7-0. It also was one of Elder’s strongest defensive squads, allowing only eighteen points to the opponents throughout the season.

The 1939 eleven were victorious in six out of ten games. The 1938 team earned a title for itself, although it was not a very enviable one since it won only one game out of ten.

The year 1937 was another good season for the Panthers, as it won seven games and lost only two. High point of the season was the 31-7 loss handed to Western Hills.

The record of the 1936 aggregation stands at five won and two lost.

Although the 1935 team went scoreless in their first three games and won only four battles, they succeeded in winning the G.C.L. and the Price Hill championship.

They had a 4-2-2 record.

The Scoreless Tie The 1934 team, scoring only 19 points that season, were shut out seven times.

This team, the only one in history of Elder, failed to win a game, although the big game with West Hi resulted in a scoreless tie.

The 1933 eleven was not much better as it won but two out of eight games, while the 1932 was another lean year for the Panthers for they tasted victory only once in six starts. The 1931 had only a mediocre season, their record being three wins and six losses.

The 1930 squad also failed to win more than they lost, as they put a record of four wins, five losses and one tie on the books. The year 1929 marked the first annual Thanksgiving Day game between Elder and Western Hills, which Elder won 12-0. Their record for that season was five wins and three losses.

Last Alumni-Varsity Game The last of the annual alumni-varsity games was held in 1928, won by the old grads 13-0, while the varsity’s record for this season was two won, four lost and two tied. The 1927 eleven brought Elder its first Catholic Loop title, and their record reads three wins, one loss and one tie for the season. In 1926 the Panthers’ record was but three wins as against five defeats.

The 1925 squad’s record was two wins, three losses and two ties. The mighty Elder team of 1924 scored 165 points while holding their opponents to fourteen, while compiling a record of five wins, one loss and one tie. The 1923 squad, which ushered in football at Elder, started them off on the right foot by winning five out of six games.

14

Tuesday November 30, 2021

More Faculty Features

Cassidy conducts greatness Robby Mathews ‘23 Sports Editor

A gigantic hole in the Elder staff

opened up after the departure of long-time band director Jack Anderson, and Elder scrambled to fix it as soon as they could.

Luckily for us, they found an excellent replacement.

Mrs. Susan Cassidy started working in music many years ago for various high school bands, so this year’s marching band is not her first experience. However, it was her first experience at a school as closely-knit and with a community as supportive as Elder. “It has been great this year. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed teaching here.”

After working with the Elder band, she quickly came to realize that this group was vastly different than any other band she’s worked with. “If I could have done anything differently, I would have made the music much harder. These guys learned it very quickly and I was very impressed with the work they were putting in.”

When asked about the “Elder draw” and why she came, it was simple: it was

too convenient for her to pass on the opportunity. “(Timing) was a huge part of it. The year before, LaSalle needed a new band director, a friend of mine called me and I said ‘HAH’, there’s no way. I can’t do high school band right now. Fast forward a year, and Mr. Bill texted me on Easter to tell me about the job. I love high school marching band, so I think I can do it. Plus, my son Will is in the eighth grade and will be joining me here next year.”

The timing lined up just perfectly, and her love for high school band returned just in time to grab the job.

As some may be able to notice, the Elder band this year has not been nearly as strong in numbers as previous years.

Mrs. Cassidy hopes to reverse this trend through a number of new band recruiting tactics, including establishing more grade school bands and spreading the Elder band’s influence. “The biggest thing is, we should be able to grow reasonably fast just by keeping the people in the band every year. My focus is that the people in it right now are getting a solid music education and having fun, in the hopes that they all continue on for next year. And then the more that they look like they’re having

Mrs. Cassidy overseeing the grade school honor band rehearsal in the band room.

fun and sound good in public, that hopefully will draw more people to us.”

As for the future, Mrs. Cassidy says that building the band is the thing she wants to do most. The process of building a program up gives her great joy, and she’s ready for the challenge. “We should be at least a one-hundred person band, and I think having us match that Elder brand with that size and that level of playing

Kandra transitions from student to teacher Josh Steinhaus ‘24 Staff Writer

it gets you to were you are, one because you get the grades you need to get in but two you also have that knowledge to be able to push yourself further. One other thing I wish I did was joined more clubs while I was here because I only really went to football and basketball games, but I wish I went to all the other sports as well because all those different sports have great programs. Looking back on it I wish I would have done it because it would be fun because we have a lot of outstanding programs.”

He also brought this up, he knows his class went to state for volleyball and at the time he brushed it off, but now when he talks to his friends, he wishes that’s something he did was going to more games.

I talked to one of our new teachers, Mr.

Kandra about his time as a student here and what he plans to pass on as a teacher.

He was great interview and had some great things to share with everyone. He seemed excited to tell his experience when I contact him about two weeks prior. He answered me back almost immediately and was very easy to schedule a good time to interview. Without further ado let’s get into the questions and some things he wanted to share on the topics.

I started off with a baseline question.

I asked him, what his career as a student here was like? Here is some insight to his student career he wanted to share, “I felt my career as an Elder student was what I would say normal, I attended classes, and I played four years of football so I would either go to the weight room as most guys do or I would go out to practices and games, during the off season I worked so I had a part time job, go home after school do as much homework as quickly as possible, so I can be a kid and hang out and do whatever I want.”

Next, I stepped it up a little on the questions. I asked him, what did he wish he did here as a student? He wanted to

Mr. Spencer Kandra

say, “One thing I wish I did, and I tell my students all the time is I wish I tried harder, I feel like looking back on it I could have been and honor student, but I didn’t really apply myself, and I hear conversations of students saying, ‘I could try harder myself’ and that’s actually one thing I did was I wish I tried harder academically because realizing it now academics means everything, that gets you into collage, that gets you into different trade schools,

“Basically I want to kind of pass on the Elder Tradition, obviously wanting to pass on the regrets I had as a student and trying to get guys to do what I didn’t do, but also giving back to Elder.”

- Mr. Spencer Kandra

should be pretty awesome.”

Speaking from personal experience and being a member of the concert and jazz bands, I can say that she’s done a great job. It is the most entertaining and also educational music class I’ve ever been a part of, and I can’t wait to keep working and perform our concert music.

Next up, I asked him about things he wants to pass on as a teacher here at Elder? He explained, “Basically I want to kind of pass on the Elder Tradition, obviously wanting to pass on the regrets I had as a student and trying to get guys to do what I didn’t do, but also giving back to Elder. You know Elder gave me such a great experience that I felt like I can’t give it back any other way outside of being a teacher, now seeing others donations is great, but I feel being a teacher is one of the best ways to give back to the school, because I not only get to share my experience but I get to also help watch guys grow in their own experiences.”

His final message to us all is, “GO PANTHERS.” Now I don’t know about you all, but I think this bit of insight shows us what good things we can get out of our short time here at Elder. We can learn what we should do, what we can do to make this a great time. Now I encourage you and I think Mr. Kandra and most likely the entirety of the staff wants you to go out there and do what every you can to make you happy and your time here at Elder. In the wise words of Mr. Kandra, GO PANTHERS.

Tuesday November 30, 2021

Arts & Entertainment 15

Eternals hits theaters Grady Wall ‘23 Staff Writer

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has

been going strong since Iron Man dropped in 2008. Eternals is the latest MCU film to release, and it is very hard to explain how we got to this point. Directed by Chloé Zhao, Eternals explores a team of ageless warriors that is tasked with protecting Earth from the “Deviants”, to put it simply. Was this movie good? Debatable. Is it worth the trip to movie theaters? Only if you do not want to be confused for the next upcoming films. The truth is, I was fighting back sleep through the first 90 minutes of it. The back end was not all that bad, however. The main characters were not interesting at all either, so I give this movie a 5/10.

Note: Spoilers Ahead

I was thrown off when the movie began in Mesopotamia in 5000 BC. The Eternals first arrive on Earth when the first civilization developed. This is when we see the first Deviant, who bites the head off a prehistoric human. We later find out that Deviants were sent by the celestial, Arishem, to kill all of the wildlife that would harm intelligent life. However, they evolved and began killing the intelligent humans too. That is why Arishem created the Eternals, to protect the humans from the Deviants and help them make technological advancements until the human population grew large enough to generate the power to birth another celestial (This would kill all of life on Earth). Arishem’s plan was a secret to all of the Eternals except for their leader, Ajak and Ikaris.

Their mission is compromised when some of the Eternals question why they are not allowed to interfere in human conflict.

Ajak then allows them to separate and go live their own lives among the humans to forget about all the terror that they have witnessed.

A few hundred years pass and the destruction of Earth for the birth of a celestial is imminent. But the only people that know that are Ajak and Ikaris. But after half of life was wiped out across the univers by Thanos five years prior and humans were the ones to bring everyone back, Ajak had a change of heart and wanted to rebel against Arishem to save Earth. Ikaris pretends to agree, as he leads Ajak to a flock of Deviants that he found in Alaska that had just killed several oil workers. Ikaris pushes Ajak down a cliff and feeds her to them. One of the Deviants kills her and absorbs her abilities, which is to heal rapidly. Ajak was the only one who could speak with Arishem, but once she died, she gave that ability to another

Eternal, Sersi. Sersi’s power is that she can change objects into other objects. Ikaris was the clear choice to replace her, but after Ajak found out what his true intentions were, she gave it to Sersi so that she could find out Arishem’s plan and finish what she started.

That is exactly what happens when Sersi speaks with Arishem. She wants to save Earth just as Ajak did, so she tells the rest of the Eternals about their situation.

They all have different opinions about saving Earth or not. Ikaris and Sprite want to help Arishem create another celestial.

The rest, except for Kingo, help Sersi on her mission to save Earth. Kingo totally just leaves the movie before the conflict begins. He says he wants no part then disappears until the last minute of the film.

This may have been the most disappointing aspect of the movie because Kingo was such an important character for a larger part of the film. Anyway, they find the location where the new celestial will arise and are met there by Ikaris and Sprite.

Sersi’s plan is to use the “Uni-mind” which connects all of the Eternal’s power.

She is going to use it to conjure up the strength to turn the newborn celestial into stone before it can destroy Earth. That is exactly what they do while fighting off Ikaris and Sprite at the same time. Ikaris, ashamed of how he abandoned his friends, kills himself by flying into the sun. Sprite, wanting to live life as an aging human, receives that gift from Sersi.

At the end, Arishem returns to Earth when he finds out what the Eternals have done. He is displeased with their actions but says something about how Earth’s people are special. So, he claims that he will be watching from afar and come back for judgment at a later time. This film also introduces Dane Whitman, a human who has a love interest with Sersi. Dane is the character known as Black Knight, but nobody knows that yet except himself. The ending with Arishem and Dane Whitman sets up future films for the Marvel Cinematic Universe just as these kinds of movies usually do.

Let’s be honest. Who cares about this movie? Spider-Man No Way Home comes out December 17.

Inside Job surprises with similar vibe to Rick and Morty Shawn Wyatt ‘22 Features Editor

The latest Netflix animated series, Inside

Job, combines sci-fi, workplace comedy, and a bit of mystery. It slightly reminds me of Rick and Morty with all the swear words, cartoon violence, and adult humor.

I first heard about this show from a friend of mine who recommended it. This is not a friend who I would normally listen to, but I took his advice and checked it out.

This show follows the employees of Cognito Inc, a secret company that is in control of the government, as well as being behind several conspiracies. The company is also watched by a mysterious “shadow council” of powerful people. The show’s main character, Reagan Ridley, is hoping to lead the company in the right direction with her team of miscellaneous characters.

The characters in this show vary in size, shape, and species. The characters are great to keep the audience engaged in the show. Some of my personal favorites are Magic Myc, a talking mushroom with a very dirty mind, and Glenn Dolphman, who is half-man, half-dolphin.

There are so many jokes and swear words in this show, which is what first pulled me in. I love animated shows like this, and this is definitely one I will be returning to because of the humor. Some of the funniest characters are Magic Myc, Reagan, and Rand, Raegan’s father Part one of the series contains 10 episodes, most of which have some pretty interesting ideas. Some of these episodes explore well-known conspiracy theories and put their own spin on them. The epi-

sodes are all pretty enjoyable, but they all feel slightly different.

One of the funniest episodes of the show is the final episode, in which Reagan goes inside her own mind in order to access a password and see her old memories.

Another episode I really enjoyed was the second episode, in which Reagan and her co-leader Brett have to decide who should be fired from the company.

I went in not knowing what to expect because I had not heard anything about what this show really was. I thought at first that it was a series of true stories, but animated. I quickly found out this was not the case. I finished the first season wanting more, wanting to see where the story would go next. Rumors about part two of the series have been spreading since its release, but as of right now, a release date is not confirmed. However, the initial series, which was pitched in 2019, contained 20 episodes, so it is assumed that a second part will be eventually coming.

Rick and Morty is the show I have seen Inside Job compared to the most.

This is because they have some similar ideas, character designs, and humor.

When comparing the two, both are great, but Rick and Morty is by far the superior series. Some critics online have called this show an attempt to be just like Rick and Morty. I don’t feel the exact same way, but I get where they are coming from.

Overall though, I don’t think this show is an attempt to be anything else. It is pretty unique with its story and some of its ideas, and it is not fair to compare it to other shows with similar concepts.

Inside Job stars Alex Hirsch, who has previously worked with Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty.

16

Back Page

Christmas in Cincinnati

A collection of needless trivia based on this month’s holiday by your loyal and trusty staff members.

Jacob Stamper ‘22 Graphics Editor

The Christmas season is just around the corner. With many of the issues we currently

face, including the tail-end of a pandemic, hopefully Christmas will continue to be a time where people can sit back by the campfire, relax with a cup of hot cocoa in-hand, and enjoy the cheery month of December.

In order to enjoy the Christmas season, you should know what is happening around our hometown, Cincinnati. There are many popular events that continue to thrive, as well as some lesser-known events that I hope you will be able to enjoy.

Perhaps the most infamous event during the season is Coney Island’s Light Show.

For just $7 per person, you can enjoy a two-and-a-half-mile drive through an incredible display of Christmas lights: all synchronized with Christmas music on a specific radio station. This is a must-see spectacle as it presents the excitement of Christmas. Ages three and under get in for free to see these more than a million lights. If you have never been, prepare yourself to be amazed. If you have already been, each year has something new and exciting to enjoy.

Another incredible lightshow is featured at the Cincinnati Zoo. With an astonishing four million LED lights, this show may bring tears to your eyes. There will be twenty-seven animal lanterns scattered throughout. People can also ride the North Pole Express, enjoy the Swan Lake’s Wild Lights show, and munch on some treats at S’mores-nMore. Furthermore, you can participate in the exciting scavenger hunt. General admission is $15-$20.50 per adult (ages 13-61), $9-$14.50 per child (ages 2-12) and per senior (ages 62+). There are also different tickets with varying prices you can buy depending on the attractions you want to enjoy, such as the train ride.

Each year there is a plethora of train/town displays, all of which are beautiful and

Tuesday November 30, 2021

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three-day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted three days. It is believed by historians that only five women were present.

Coincidentally, turkey is believed to not have been eaten at the first Thanksgiving. Instead, other birds were most likely served: geese, ducks, and swans.

The infamous song “Jingle Bells” was originally written by James Pierpont in 1857 to be a Thanksgiving Day song. Its original name, “One Horse Open Sleigh”, was changed in 1859 after becoming a popular Christmas song.

More than 54 million Americans are expected to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday this year.

That’s up 4.8% from last year.

More people travel to Orlando, Florida than anywhere else on Thanksgiving Day. The most popular place to travel to for Thanksgiving is Orlando, Florida.

intriguing. They allow you to see the history of Cincinnati. The humongous Duke Energy Holiday Junction at the Cincinnati Museum will once again take place. This is an incredible display of Cincinnati’s past and current state, with trains constantly moving about.

Additionally, the world’s largest indoor train display will be featured at EnterTRAINment Junction. While enjoying this winter wonderland, guests will get to meet Mrs. Claus, be a part of Christmas activities, and have a virtual meeting with Santa from the North Pole where he is hard at work preparing for his Christmas Eve journey. Furthermore, the Holiday Show at the Krohn Conservatory will feature a breathtaking display of trains mixed with beautiful foliage, bright flowers, trees, and adorable miniature homes. A great display of holiday tradition.

Speaking of trains, the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad’s North Pole Express allows you to go on a 45-minute train ride through Lebanon and over Turtle Creek. This train is beautiful on the outside and cozy on the inside; an elf will be sharing stories about the North Pole as well as crafting holiday balloons, all while you sit in a nice, heated train. Following the train ride, you will be taken to visit Santa Claus, where you can drop off your letters to him. After talking and getting a picture with Saint Nick, one of his elves with gift you a holiday bell and a tasty holiday cookie. Tickets are $25-$30 for adults, $20-$25 for children and seniors, and $5 for infants; a minimum of four tickets must be bought.

Fountain Square will feature an ice rink, music, lights, and for the first time ever, bumper cars. Now, if Christmas bumper cars does not sound like a blast, I do not know what does. Furthermore, the excitement will also be provided by an incredible fireworks display and a “flying Santa”, with Santa Claus rappelling from the skywalk bridge. Who would not want to see Saint Nick fly?

Another great performance will be performed, this time by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. They will showcase all our favorite Christmas plays in just one hundred minutes (plus a fifteen-minute intermission). It begins as A Christmas Carol, but then turns into classics such as Frosty, Charlie Brown, Rudolph, and It’s a Wonderful Life. This will certainly be lots of fun as it is a spin on the traditional Christmas play. Tickets span from $14-$60, so you can enjoy the show in any way you would like.

Finally, for the event that I am most excited for, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, aka the kings of Christmas-lights-sync music, will be playing at Heritage Bank Center on December 2. Although this is a more expensive event, I feel the payoff is well worth it. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra produces Christmas rock hits such as Carol of the Bells, Wizards in Winter, and Christmas Canon. The instruments, singing, incredible guitar skills, and light show provide a one in a lifetime opportunity. Seriously, go listen to one of the songs I listed and tell me you do not want to attend the concert. It will be incredible!

Indeed, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. I hope that you choose to go to at least one, hopefully a few, maybe even all the events I listed.

However, these events are not what should be your main focus this Christmas. Make an effort to be with your family, to relax, to enjoy the holiday, and to forget about the countless troubles going on in your own life and around the world.

Christmas is a time for celebration and happiness, and I hope each and every one of you are able to find that. If you are like me, a senior in high school, you know this could be your last Christmas as a kid. No matter your circumstance, make this Christmas, and every Christmas, a time to be remembered.

Macy’s has held a Thanksgiving parade every year since 1924 The balloons from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade used to just be released when the event was over.

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924 featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo. Sixty percent of Americans would rather do anything than think about what they’re thankful for on Thanksgiving.

The tradition of football on Thanksgiving began in 1876 with a game between Yale and Princeton. The first NFL games were played on Thanksgiving in 1920.

Americans eat over 704 million pounds of turkey every Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for plumbers Minnesota raises the most turkeys in the US There are four towns in the United States named “Turkey.”

They can be found in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

Thanksgiving the President Pardons a Turkey.