2.15 Acumen

Behind the Scenes

Vol. 10 Issue 3 Feb. 15, 2013

Contact information Mailing Address: 520 E. Main St., Carmel, IN 46032 Phone: (317) 846-7721, Ext. 7143

BehindtheScenes issue

Website: www.hilite.org Email: Staff members of the HiLite may be contacted via email by using their first initial and their last name appending @hilite.org. For example, Victor Xu will receive mail sent to vxu@hilite.org.

Purpose

Acumen is an issue-based publication serving to supplement the HiLite.

Acumen is distributed to the students, faculty and staff of Carmel High School. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily representative of those held by CHS, the Carmel Clay system faculty, staff or administration.

Staff Acumen Editors

Dhruti Patel Julie Xu

Reporters

Madison Adzema Miriam Hu Nida Khan Helena Ma Kevin Mi Maham Nadeem Lindsey Walker Cynthia Wu Anni Zhang Photographers Crystal Chen Gavin Colavito Scott Liu Amira Malcom Hailey Meyer Sam Patterson Graphic Artists James Benedict Connie Chu Anthony Ko Melinda Song Tony Tan Liane Yue HiLite Editor in Chief Victor Xu HiLite Managing Natalie Maier Editors Melinda Song Tony Tan Ryan Zukerman Principal Superintendent

John Williams Jeff Swensson

CHECK OUT THIS QR CODE

TO WATCH THE TEACHER BAND TEN DAYS PENDING PERFORM (SEE PG. 4) GAVIN COLAVITO, LIANE YUE / NAMEPLATE HAILEY MEYER / COVER PHOTO Page 2

Letter from the editors:

Dear readers, We often see coverage on Dance Marathon, football games and other popular events at Carmel. So, this month, we bring you the Behind The Scenes Issue of the Acumen, in which we shed some light on the stories that are not commonly known. Throughout this issue, we reveal the unknown stories about teachers that we see everyday from the German foreign language teacher who grew up in Berlin during the Cold War to a strength and conditioning coach here who previously competed in the Olympics. These are the hidden stories of our school. Enjoy!

Your Acumen editors, Dhruti Patel and Julie Xu

Counseling

Q & A: COUNSELOR MARIA COTTONE

By Cynthia Wu cwu@hilite.org Q: What do counselors do that many people aren’t aware of?

A: We are involved with a lot of day to day planning. We are involved with testing, and we all have special duties. We do social-emotional counseling, so we have students who come in that have issues, and it can range anywhere from family issues, boyfriend-girlfriend problems to addictions, suicide, cutting and more serious illnesses. We also work with doctors and counselors for the benefit of the student. We’re not involved with discipline per se, but we’re involved with the aftermath of that. We work closely with special ed. Most students know that we do schedules, and along with that comes the responsibility of making sure students meet graduation requirements.

College applications, recommendation letters and scholarships are a large part of our responsibilities. We are often asked to facilitate meetings with teachers or principals for students for various reasons.

Q: What have you learned from being a counselor?

A: I think (I’ve learned) the ability to be flexible, multi-task and the ability to assess needs quickly. Communication is key because everybody in the school is your client. The

student is primary, but we also work with the student’s parents and teachers, so the ability to communicate to all different people and meet so many different needs and demands is vital.

Q: What are the challenges to being a counselor?

A: I think unfortunately, the demands are getting higher for people who work in education in that there are some parents who leave a lot of things to the school to do.

(The biggest challenge) is meeting everybody’s expectations.

Q: What are the benefits to being a counselor?

A: I love working with the students. There are days that I go home that are tough because everybody’s going through highs and lows in life. But even when I am working with someone who is going through a rough time, I feel good that I’m walking through it with them. When I get a thank you, that reminds me that I helped someone along the way. I have one note written on a sticky note that I have kept that says, “You helped me more than you realized,” and another one that says, “You’ll never know what you have done for me.” So, truly, what can be better than that?

Q: Why did you decide to become a counselor?

A: I always wanted to work with students but started a career in the corporate world. Then different circumstances in life made it possible

SAM PATTERSON / PHOTO

for me to return to school and make working with kids possible, so I’ve been kind of blessed.

Q: What advice would you give to students?

A: One of the things that I would love the students to realize is that we are here to help you through any of the bumps in the road because high school’s full of bumps. I believe that some students think that the reason why we’re here is for scheduling and college apps, and we’re definitely here for guidance on that. But sometimes you need somebody else to talk to or confide in, and we’re here for that as well.

ACUMEN

Math

In 1947, the original design of the building had the third story extending in front of the part without windows at all. The math and science departments were to share office space, which is why A308, A332, A330 and A309 are slightly larger than others. Also, the current department office was meant to be part of the hallway, which is why there are bathrooms in the math office.

- Math Department Chairperson Jacinda Sohalski

Third floor Second floor

Social Studies

pg. 7

The historic classroom was originally a part of Old North, a different school that was at this location.

When builders constructed CHS, they decided to keep one Old North classroom to retain the culture previously there and thought the classroom would be useful for CHS history students.

- Social Studies teacher Matthew Dillon

Art

pg. 7

Foreign language teachers not only teach foreign languages but also have lived abroad: • French teacher Andrea Yocum lived in Africa for a year.

• French teacher Leslie McCarty lived in France for the summer of 2011.

• Last summer, Spanish teacher Trapkus-Harris hiked 500 miles in Spain and spent 5 days in Barcelona.

-World Language Department Chairperson Angelika Becher

pg.6

Cafeteria

First floor

Media Center

Just 15 years ago, the space where the library is now was a courtyard that connected the two separate buildings here.

There were two libraries at the time: one in the studio theater called Media Main and one where the activities office is now, called AV Media West.

- Communications Department Chairperson Bonnie Grimble

pg. 8

Special Services pg. 8 Industrial Technology •

•

Activities pg. 6

Five houses are being built in the construction classroom right now.

The TechHounds robotics team is designing and building a robot that launches Frisbees to compete in regional and national competitions.

The manufacturing class is starting an assembly line project in which they will build Adirondack chairs.

- Industrial Technology Department Chairperson John Coghlan

Feb. 15, 2013

The new fitness center will include: • A weight room • Cardio fitness room • Wrestling room • Two gyms (above the new weight room) with a suspended running track.

- Physical Education Department Chairperson Kim TenBrink

Foreign Language pg. 5

The art department is creating an outdoor classroom, the CHS ArtsGarden, which will be located in the freshmen center behind Room H115. It is a hidden courtyard that few people know about and is going to be converted into a beautiful, serene outdoor space filled with art, perennials, butterflies and water features. This project will hopefully be completed by May 2013.

-Art Department Chairperson Jen Bubp

•

Athletics pg. 8

The Hot Dog Guy or “the creepy guy holding the hot dog” previously located in the Activities Office case was created to make a statue that looked like a long-time Greyhound fan. He has appeared in various poses (sitting, standing, etc.) and also in several different outfits. For example, he once wore a plaid farmers shirt and overalls.

-Assistant Athletic Director Bruce Wolf

Performing Arts pg. 4

The Hidden Parts of CHS

Find out what you may not already know about our school.

JULIE XU, TONY TAN, MELINDA SONG / GRAPHIC Page 3

Special Services

(Students raise awareness for visually impaired) Romano, instructor for students who have low vision, who tells him to try again. Edwards re-reads the dots, but with the same result. When Romano touches the Junior Sean Edwards reaches up and runs his finger dots on the sign, he quickly realizes the problem: across the bumpy Braille lettering. His eyes masked pieces of the Braille had rubbed off. with a blindfold, he calls off the room number to Dave Since that moment, Edwards and fellow junior Benjamin “Ben” Callaway, who both have low vision, began crusading the school hallways in order to fix the misleading Braille letters. They checked every doorway sign and marked down ones that were incorrect, compiling a list for administration to fix.

“This isn’t just a personal thing,” Callaway said. “I’m not just doing this for me. I’m not just doing it for Sean. I’m doing it for anyone who may need it.”

According to the Little JULIE XU / Rock Foundation, which is an PHOTO organization composed of parents who have children with WITHOUT SIGHT: Junior Morgan Howard, Blind Stuff Club member, and visual impairment, blindness and club sponsor Dave Romano play goalball. According to founder Sean Edwards, other disabilities, “anyone” would

By Lindsey Walker lwalker@hilite.org

goalball is a Paralympic sport designed for athletes with low vision.

cover the ten million blind and visually impaired Americans. Their project, which was completed in November 2012, also helps bring awareness to students who have low vision or are blind. According to Romano, there are two blind students and four low vision students here.

Beyond the project, Callaway and Edwards have started the Blind Stuff Club, which includes two students with low vision and five fully-sighted students.

“With this club we hope to teach the general population more about what blind people are able to do and how they do it,” Romano, who is also the sponsor of this club, said.

During first semester, the students in the club participated in a Paralympic sport designed for athletes with low vision, called goalball. The game, which Edwards describes as “a combination of soccer and bowling,” requires all members of the team to wear blacked-out goggles.

“The club and the sign fixing are examples of self-advocacy by these two students,” Romano said.

“It’s good for other students at this school to be aware of how our students with low vision may do things differently but still have a lot in common with their peers.”

Performing Arts

Teacher band prepares for more events

By Anni Zhang azhang@hilite.org With five CHS faculty members currently involved, Ten Days Pending is a rock band that plays almost all genres of music.

“It began with just (Ten Days Pending) playing before Houndstock for students, and then it got to a point where people asked us to play at their weddings and their events, so it kind of spun off on that,” Amy SkeensBenton, lead singer and Assistant Principal, said.

Ten Days Pending not only performs requested genres of music, but its members also write original pieces.

Two years ago the band received a grant that allowed the members to record music.

“We meant to put our (music) on iTunes and all of this, but we recorded it but haven’t really released it yet,” she said.

Skeens-Benton said lately work and school have been very busy, so finding time to rehearse has often been a challenge.

“The people involved in the band

are also really involved in Carmel High School,” she said. “When we get a break, we don’t have time to go home, so we just go meet and practice for an hour or two and go back to whatever else we’re doing because our jobs are pretty much 24/7.”

This year, Skeens-Benton said she hopes to perform at many events for family and friends and wants to try out new song choices and genres of music.

“We practice everything,” she said.

“But we don’t play polka. We do not play polka. But I’m sure if someone requested it, we’d play it too.”

SOO HAN / SUBMITTED PHOTO

JAMMIN’ TO THE BEAT: Ten Days Pending, a band composed of CHS faculty, performs a concert. According to Amy Skeens-Benton, lead singer and Assistant Principal, the band plays at weddings and other events.

Meet the Band Keyboard Soo Han Orchestra director

Lead singer Amy Skeens- Benton Assistant Principal

Guitar Phil Hobson School Officer

Bass John Terrell Technician

Drums Mark Wien English teacher

JULIE XU / PHOTOS, JOHN TERRELL / SUBMITTED PHOTO Page 4

ACUMEN

Language Department

Living on the Border

World language teachers say being bicultural broadens perspectives

By Miriam Hu mhu@hilite.org

B

esides teaching world languages at this school, German teacher Angelika Becker and Spanish teacher Norma Schehl have something else in common: They both grew up speaking a language other than English in small towns not within the United States.

“I think that growing up in one country and then living in another country is one of the most lifechanging experiences,” Becker said.

As a result, both Schehl and Becker may be better off. According to a 2007 study by the University of California, being bicultural has many benefits, including better psychological adaptation and intercultural sensitivity, that are vital for success in international business.

Schehl said she lived for 23 years in a town called Nogales, AZ right on the border of the United States and Mexico.

“There was literally a fence that separated us. It was almost like having two different lives,” Schehl said.

“Going to school, before bilingual education, was all GERMAN HERITAGE: German teacher Angelika Becker, who grew up in West Germany during the Cold War, shows off her German culture through all the items she owns.

According to a 2011 American Community Survey by the U.S. Cenus Bureau, the percentage of Americans 5 years and older who speak a language other than English at home has increased by 140 percent since 1980.

Feb. 15, 2013

CRYSTAL CHEN / PHOTOS

in English, but my home life was in Spanish.”

People in her community, according to Schehl, were fluent in both English and Spanish. She described the town as unido, which means “united” in Spanish.

“Everyone, even though we were separated by a border, was still very close. It was a very closeknit community. There was no distinction between Hispanic and American,” she said.

Becker said her life in West Germany during the Cold War was simultaneously different from and similar to life in the United States.

“The biggest difference between the two countries, even today, is that Germans are not outwardly patriotic,” Becker said. “In Germany, you don’t see flags flying. You don’t see people stand up and pledge allegiance to the flag.”

However, according to Becker, teenagers’ activities in Germany were much the same as they are in the United States today.

“I’d hang out with friends,” she said. “We’d go on long walks. Or we would sit in the park at the main road, watch the cars go by and make up stories about the people in the cars.”

Becker said she learned life lessons growing up in Germany that she wouldn’t have known otherwise.

“Good work ethic really helps you succeed. That was Germany after World War II, in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, and people didn’t have much,” Becker said. “They worked hard to better themselves, and it was successful. That’s

what I took away from Germany in that era.”

Becker and Schehl said they agreed that their bicultural roots give them wider perspectives and a different view of the world.

“Having lived in two different cultures,” Becker said.

“You see your own culture from a different perspective.

You’re more tolerant; you accept people the way they are, not the way sometimes they are viewed by just one culture. It really broadens your acceptance, and you learn a lot about yourself.”

By the Numbers Immigrants by Region Mexico: 29.4%

Other: 22.4%

Central America: 7.5%

Caribbean: 9.4%

East Asia: 19.0%

Europe:12.3%

USA

USA

USA

One out of every four individuals in the United States has lived in another country CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES / SOURCE JULIE XU, CONNIE CHU / GRAPHICS Page 5

Industrial Technology

Behind the Bots

While developing technical skills, TechHOUNDS members also learn valuable life lessons

By Jason Klein jklein@hilite.org

Entering his fourth year on TechHOUNDS Robotics Team 868, Akash Shankar, team leader and senior, said he’s feeling just as excited as ever to begin competitions.

“We’re going to be strong this year, we have a great team, one of the best teams that I remember,” he said.

As the team leader, Shankar is responsible for supervising the TechHOUNDS’ goal of building a viable robot.

“I just kind of oversee all of the divisions,

AMIRA MALCOM/ PHOTOS

LEARN BY DOING: TechHOUNDS team members work together to build their robot for competition.

According to Akash Shankar, team leader and senior, members learn both technical and general life skills while preparing for competition.

and I make sure everything’s running smoothly,” he said. “I make sure what competitions we want to go to. If there’s any problems I make sure I take care of that.”

Shankar, along with approximately 80 other members of TechHOUNDS, meet every day after school for three hours, according to George Giltner, head coach of the TechHOUNDS Robotics Team 868.

“Each year we get a new game to play and we have to design, build, test, prototype a robot,” he said. Giltner added that the team has six weeks to complete its job.

This year, the assignment is to pick up a Frisbee and shoot it into goals of differing heights. To help accomplish this task, TechHOUNDS splits into six divisions: Robot Operations, Construction, Electrical and Programming, Public Relations, Animation and Website Senior Stephen Thompson works in the Robot Operations division.

“What we’re doing right now is we’re taking these wheels and we’re mounting them to these small motors,” he said. “(The motors) are going to spin really fast and they’re going to shoot the Frisbees once individually through this channel and that’s going to hopefully hit the target.”

According to Giltner, members like Thompson commit much of their free time to perfecting the project. “(TechHOUNDS) is under the club category, but to me a club might meet once

a month or once a week type of thing. This is a full-time commitment,” he said. “You need to commit time as if you would commit time to a marching band or a football team.”

However, Shankar said the valuable lessons he’s taken from TechHOUNDS have made the time spent worth it.

“You get to talk to people, you learn how to manage things, manage time, manage school work with your TechHOUNDS,” he said.

The same holds true for sophomore Agustina Salusso, who works in the Public Relations division. “(I’ve learned) how to communicate with people mostly because you have to really have to get through to them,” he said.

When the robot is complete, TechHOUNDS will compete in competitions at Purdue University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, as well as in St. Louis.

“Our goal is to win,” Shankar said. “But you also got to keep in mind that (TechHOUNDS) is just a club, and you want to really have fun and enjoy it.”

However, Shankar went on to say that after four years of competition, the club has become a passion for him.

Giltner agreed.

“It’s absolutely amazing that students can come up with an idea in their head and then actually build it in six weeks,” Giltner said. “It’s a very, very wonderful feeling.”

Art Department

CHS art department plans to build new ArtsGarden

By Helena Ma, hma@hilite.org According to art teacher Jennifer Bubp, the art department is creating the ArtsGarden in the freshman center courtyard located behind Room H115.

“We wanted to transform this very unused, empty courtyard space into a beautiful, aesthetics, inspiring outdoor classroom setting,” Bubp said. “It could be a space for students to create artwork; for the English classes to do writing activities; for performing arts to use to do small performances; for special education students to go out when they need to go outside.”

The ArtsGarden will include flowers, artwork and a Page 6

hanging arbor and will feature a mural that celebrates the history of Carmel and the Art and Design District. The industrial technology department has also collaborated with the art department to create seating to accommodate 40 people.

“While we hope that the garden will always be changing and growing, we hope to be done in May in order to have an opening celebration at the end of the year,” Bubp said.

She said that this project has been something she wanted to do for a number of years.

“I wanted to create a collaborative experience where students, faculty, departments, where we all come together to create something beautiful. I want this to be something that brings the community together,” Bubp said.

Benefits of Art Education Studies from Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of California have identified multiple benefits of an arts education. Here are a few: 1. Develop the ability to envision solutions 2. Become persistent 3. Learn to have fun and learn from mistakes 4. Learn how to make critical judgements and justify these judgements 5. Improve standardized test scores 6. Develop better visual and verbal skills NEW YORK TIMES / SOURCE ACUMEN

English/Social Studies Departments

Social studies teacher Peter O’Hara teaches from experience in Army

By Madison Adzema madzema@hilite.org

S

ocial studies teacher Peter O’Hara has lived the history he teaches first hand. He said the skills he has acquired in 23 years of service for the Army have substantially influenced his career in the classroom and as head freshman football coach.

O’Hara, a lieutenant colonel, fought in the first Persian Gulf War as an artillery man and part of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Part of his job description was training young soldiers.

“Training 18-, 19-year-olds for combat is a lot like teaching and coaching kids not much younger,” O’Hara said. “Knowing how to form a training objective has helped me learn how to create a learning objective.”

According to O’Hara, he had to move around often for the job; he lived in Europe for four years where he said he especially enjoyed the history and culture.

“I’ve lived in more countries than most people have visited states. The experiences I have had are remarkable,” O’Hara said.

He attended Ohio State University on a Reserve Officer’s Training Corp (ROTC) scholarship, majoring in education.

O’Hara said he owed the army only four years of service.

“I liked it, and I was good at it. So I stayed,” O’Hara said.

“Leadership skills, administrative skills, management skills were the things that I have carried with me to the classroom and (football) field.”

He said he thinks the skills carry over as a teacher and coach equally. O’Hara also said that while being a veteran is mostly relevant in his U.S. History classes, although it can also be beneficial in his International Relations and IB psychology classes.

“Overall the skills I learned have made me the teacher I am today, so (the skills) carry over in all aspects of my career,” he said.

O’Hara said students normally react very positively to him being a veteran and enjoy the stories and experiences he shares.

“I get a lot of respect, especially in this school. Students truly respect the service,” he said.

After O’Hara announced his retirement, he said he was offered a job as a civilian contractor for the Army.

“I would have made twice the money I make now, but when it comes down to it, this is what I love doing. Teaching and coaching were what I wanted my whole life,” he said.

O’Hara returned to the classroom while he was still technically on active duty in August of 2000.

“I just could not wait to get in the classroom and start applying everything I had learned to teaching,” he said.

O’Hara said having the opportunity to live in so many places he now teaches about makes the history come to life and hopes students will feel the same.

“When I teach about D-Day, I’ve been to the beaches at Normandy. I hope the stories I tell the kids make the history more interesting,” O’Hara said. “The places I’ve been, the things I’ve seen have made me a better teacher.”

A World of Knowledge Peter O’Hara was stationed in seven countries over 23 years of service in the Army.

4 6

1

5 Chronological Order

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5 3 Feb. 15, 2013

8

2

1: South Korea 1978-1979 2: Ft. Bragg, NC 1979-1979 3: Ft. Sill, OK 1982-1983 4: Fulda Gap Germany 1983-1987 5: Ft. Riley, KS 1987-1991 Assigned to Honduras 1987-1988 6: Saudia Arabia/Kuwait/Iraq 1990-1991 7: Ft. Harrison, IN 1992-1995, 1997-2000 8: Pentagon 1995-1997 JAMES BENEDICT / GRAPHIC

Check it out: CHS Greenhouse “When the sun shines, the temperature gets as high as 130 degrees...it was so hot that it even killed the cactus.”

Science teacher Tom Maxam

HAILEY MEYER / PHOTO

By Maham Nadeem mnadeem@hilite.org When taking a close look around room A300, eventually one would notice a hidden door, leading to a green plant that overflows from its pot. Beside that plant dangles a huge stuffed animal snake, light brown and darkly spotted.

Not known to many students, this door leads to a greenhouse that was used until around five years ago.

This greenhouse was part of the original blueprint of the new building and the school planned it to be fully functional. However, according to science teacher Tom Maxam, it wasn’t designed properly; there are upper vents but no lower vents so the hot air cannot escape, leaving the greenhouse useless.

“When the sun shines, the temperature gets as high as 130 degrees. Well, that kills plants.

It was so hot that it even killed the cactus,” Maxam said.

Maxam said his botany classes tried to use the greenhouse for a couple of years, even putting a misting fan in to cool it down, but eventually gave up on it.

“It’s just a plant killer,” Maxam said.

Although not used for its intended purpose, the greenhouse now serves as an aesthetically pleasing area, according to math teacher Paige Wehr. Wehr said the greenhouse helps brighten her room, contrasting it with many of the windowless classrooms around the school.

Wehr said, “When I was in my last classroom, it had no windows, so now having this greenhouse now allows sunlight to come in and the room looks lively.”

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Athletics Department

Going for Gold

Strength and conditioning coach Aaron Bosket applies his skills as Olympic-style weightlifter and college trainer to coaching here

By Helena Ma hma@hilite.org

Nervous but determined, Aaron Bosket, former graduate assistant at the University of Nebraska and now CHS strength and conditioning coach, steps onto the platform and prepares to do a lift, called a snatch, at his first Olympic-style weightlifting competition. Taking a wide grip, he picks up the bar and catches it overhead, right behind his ears. Careful to lock his elbows, he holds his breath. Three white lights flash at him, and he sighs in relief. He has cleared his first lift.

“I remember being nervous. You get three attempts at each lift and your chances are several minutes apart,” Bosket said. “I just remember saying, ‘I don’t want to miss all of them today, I want to make them all.’ I made all six lifts so I was happy.”

Bosket said while being a graduate assistant strengthening coach for University of Nebraska, one of his colleagues approached him and wanted to start a club to train weightlifters for Olympic-style competitions. There are two main lifting styles, Olympic and powerlifting, both of which focus on explosive power and strength.

According to Bosket, competitors must perform

two types of lifts, the snatch and the clean-and-jerk. A competitor is allowed three attempts at each lift.

“There are three judges that judge you and each has a light. If you get a white light, that’s a good lift. If you get a red light, that’s a no lift. You have to get at least two white lights out of three to be cleared,” Bosket said.

Along with his experience at CHS, Bosket has coached for a number of universities, including University of Nebraska, Oregon State University, IUPUI and Butler University, which has helped him improve his coaching at this school .

“You meet a lot of people,” he said. “In that way, you see a lot of different personalities. Sometimes by trial and error, you have to try to find what works for different people. What works for one person and how to motivate them may not work for another.”

Throughout his competition exposure and various coaching settings, Bosket said he saw the universality of will-power. “(I’ve learned) that no matter how talented you are, there’s always going to be someone out there that’s better than you and you have to keep an edge about you all the time. I saw that stays the same across all levels,” he said. “Enjoy the grime.”

PASS IT ON: Aaron Bosket, CHS strength and conditioning coach, advises a student in the weightroom. As a former Olympicstyle weightlifter, Bosket said he has knowledge in proper lifting styles.

HAILEY MEYER / PHOTO

Main Cafeteria

Breaking Bread

CHS food service employee starts New Connections church

The congregation Mileski and her husband are starting is called the Connection Church. They are renting space Although on a typical day, food service employee from the Carmel French Church on Saturday nights.

Shannon Mileski can be found in main cafeteria, in her free According to Mileski, she sees each day as“God’s day”rather time, it would not be unusual to see her working with her than her own day, and she sees each new opportunity as husband on developing a Baptist congregation. an opportunity God has given her.

“When you start a church obviously you don’t have a building and you don’t KEEP FAITH: have people yet so you have to get Food service employee everything.

We are very fortunate that Shannon Mileski works they are letting us rent their building,” in the CHS cafeteria, Mileski said. while also establishing Mileski has been preparing to a new church with her establish a church for seven years. husband. Mileski said Mileski and her husband were part of a she encourages people church unit in Cleveland for a year. Then to join the new church. her husband was a pastor for two years, SCOTT LIU / PHOTO

By Nida Khan nkhan@hilite.org

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which allowed him to gain experience in teaching and ministering the congregation. “It’s a misunderstanding of what it means when you are starting a church,” Mileski said. “I mean you start with nothing so the concept of that is hard to grasp because everybody thinks church is an established building with programs and all churches have started with nothing. .”

The greatest struggle for Mileski while establishing the church is that since the organization does not have programs already in place, it’s hard to get people to be part of it. According to Mileski, people feel like it’s not reputable, causing them to be reluctant to join her new church.

“Don’t be scared to try to be part of a church that’s just starting from the ground up,” Mileski said. “Everything starts from scratch somewhere, and I would just say don’t shy away just because there is work to be done.”

ACUMEN