December 2015

A BERLIN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT OPEN FORUM SINCE 1924

The

Red ‘n’ Green

222 Memorial Drive Berlin, WI 54923

VOLUME 48, ISSUE 4

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015

Human Spirit class speaker breaks stereotypes by

Issue

-Nesbit Memorial pg. 3 -Twitter Feed pg. 6 -Boys Swim pg. 8

Newsbriefs Pranks in girls’ locker room minor, no theft

Brittney Meyer

First trimester’s Human Spirit class received a visit from Ahmed Khan, who is a Muslim. Khan is part of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and spoke to the class about his religion and beliefs. “(Islam) literally means peace. It promotes universal human rights, especially womens’. It supports separation of church and state. It promotes individual spirituality through a concept of a relationship with a personal god,” Khan said.

Muslims are frequently stereotyped, recently more than ever with the newest group, ISIS, as spreading terror throughout the world.

“Stereotypes are created in two ways, one is ignorance and the second one is the people who are stereotyped do certain things to further enhance them,” Khan said. “The Holy Quran does not support or have any specific verse that supports death for apostasy (desertion of one’s religion).”

Another stereotype that is placed on Muslims is how they treat women in their society.

“They run their own infrastructure with no oversight by any man. They have to report to the Khalifa just like the men do on an equal basis,” Khan said. “They are equally involved.”

These stereotypes, typically ones which students have in their minds, are hard to break, especially because of the lack of knowledge.

“People think all Muslims are terrorists,” junior Clinton Ottman said.

“People think this because they are narcissistic and unknowledgeable.”

English teacher Amy Wenig, who co-teaches Human Spirit, hoped Khan helped break these stereotypes that students may have had.

in This

Guest speaker Ahmed Khan speaks to first trimester’s Human Spirit class. Khan is a Ahmadiyya Muslim, and is a follower at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community located in Oshkosh. Khan spoke to the class about his religion and the stereotypes that are placed on Muslims, who he says are peace-seeking people, unlike how many currently view them.

Photo: A. Evans “People often fear what they don’t understand. Hopefully, Mr. Khan showed our students that Muslims are more than the extreme radicals that are in the news. They are human beings with families leading productive lives and contributing to our society,” Wenig said.

The recent Paris attacks have also played a role in how people view Muslims.

“Attacks done by ISIS have once again heightened the stereotypes and perceptions that already exist,” Wenig said.

People who do not know about this religion blame Muslims for all of the recent attacks. Khan defends himself and his community, attempting to set the facts straight.

“They were barbaric and against what Islam stands for and what humanity stands for,” Khan said. “ISIS needs to be defeated by the Arab nations themselves. More Muslims have

been killed by ISIS in the nearby Arab nations than any others.”

Even though many may see Muslims as harsh people, connecting them to ISIS, Khan wishes to send a message about how people should be viewing his community.

“I think everyone, regardless of who they are, should view our community as a membership of peaceful, lawabiding American citizens,” Khan said. “We are part and parcel of this country and we are loyal to it just like every other American who loves it.”

Wenig hopes that with Khan coming into class, students may extend their knowledge about the Islamic religion, and no longer view them as bad people.

“I would hope as a society we would view Muslims the same way we view Christians, Buddhists, blacks, whites, Asians...and that is as human beings.

Each individual should be defined by his or her own actions,” Wenig said.

Khan’s Key Points: • •

• • •

Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding American citizens Terrorism and violence have no place in Islam or their community Anyone can be a Muslim The Holy Quran does not support death for apostasy It promotes universal human rights, especially womens’

In the girls’ sports locker room, people’s items have been moved around or hidden.

Sophomore Isabelle Heinz said she locks her locker and no one knows her combination, but her stuff still got moved around.

“My letter jacket was hanging on the bathroom stall and my spandex were just laying there,” Heinz said.

Nothing has been stolen yet this year, but things were stolen last year.

“I haven’t really made Mr. Brandl or anyone else aware,” Heinz said. “So as of now, nothing is going to be done about it.”

Key Club hosts blood drive

The BHS Key Club hosted a blood drive on Dec. 9. A total of 47 people tried to donate, but with people getting turned away, only 34 pints were collected. This much blood can save 102 lives.

This was junior Whitney Wojtowicz’s first time donating, and she wanted to do it so she can save lives.

One pint of blood can save about three people.

“If I were in need, I would want someone to do it for me,” Wojtowicz said.

There will be another blood drive hosted by Student Council in May.

School slowly transtitions to standards-based grading by

Sophomore students in Pat Arndt’s Biology class retake their first test of the trimester during CIA on Thursday, Dec. 11. They will continue to take this test until they score a C or better.

Photo: E. Beltran

Emily Beltran

Standards-based grading, also known as assessment-based grading, is the future of Berlin High School and eventually the entire school district.

Standards-based grading is a grading system based on assessments according to the state standards. It is based only on test scores. Students will earn either an A, B, C, or a ‘not yet’ on an exam. If they receive a ‘not yet’ they must retake the test until they earn a C or better.

“We are hoping to have standardsbased grading fully implemented district wide by 2020, but we have a lot of steps to go through,” Director of Curriculum and Instruction Jodi Becker said.

A few teachers have already started switching to standards-based grading including biology teacher Pat

Arndt, who has attended two conferences on standards-based grading.

“The system is working great. I like it a lot,” Arndt said. “It gets to be a bit of work, though, because you have to rewrite all of the retake tests.”

During the first trimester of this year, Arndt’s students’ final exam scores went up 22% from last year.

Sophomore Steven Klika who just took first trimester Biology with Arndt said that it was nice being able to retake tests, but the final could not be retaken which could have brought down his grade.

“Homework didn’t count, so I didn’t have to stress about getting that done, but there was a lot more pressure to get an A on a test because it affects your grade so much,” Klika said.

Standards-based grading is much different than the traditional grading system. Becker said there is more student goal setting because students

know what their expectations are.

“The main reason to go to assessment-based grading is to know what students are learning and if they are understanding the skills to be successful,” Becker said.

Spanish teacher Melissa Daubner has started transitioning to standards-based grading. She no longer grades homework in her Spanish 4 or Spanish 2b classes.

“This way grades are based on if they know the material, not just homework completion,” Daubner said.

Daubner is not yet using the actual standards-based grading scale of A, B, C, Not yet because the Spanish department, like many departments, will have to align their curriculum to the standards.

“I am worried that if I don’t make homework mandatory for the younger kids they wouldn’t do it, then come assessmemt time won’t do well,” Daubner said.

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Opinion

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Editorial Fear allowed, but not correct

Bar judice

Pre

rier

Created by Brittney Meyer

It’s come to our attention... words of the trimester is a pointless system by

Alyssa Thiel & Emily Beltran

From the word around school, we have come to find out how much students dislike the words of the trimester system.

These quizzes are not taken seriously by students. Knowing that they are supposed to show improvement, students will put forth poor effort on the first quiz to ensure they will do better on the final quiz at the end of the trimester.

Scoring for these quizzes has also been inconsistent. Students were given a score of one out of three for not using complete sentences when defining words, even though the directions did not specify to do so.

We do not spend enough time working with the words to actually learn them thoroughly. Two words are announced at the beginning of every week and then we do not hear them again for the rest of the trimester.

It is understandable why freshmen and sophomores would need to learn these words, but for juniors and seniors who will soon be graduating, these words do not matter to them.

Seniors and a number of juniors have already taken the ACT, which is what these words are intended to help with. Having already taken the ACT, upperclassmen do not find these words challenging enough to

The current status of American security is damaged. We seem to be under attack from the world outside and ourselves on a weekly basis. The severity seems to increase with every incident.

When a terrorist group from all the way across the world can attack us on our own soil, it is frightening.

When they can persuade our people to turn against their nation and their fellow citizens, it is terrifying.

This current period of insecurity started with the formation of ISIS, a radical Islamic terrorist group based in Iraq, and has started to spread into nearby Syria.

In turn, Syrians fear for their lives and flee their own country, creating a refugee crisis across the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

The United States has agreed to take in a number of refugees. The problem that many states have with this is that we cannot be sure what kind of people we are allowing in. It has become a debate over screening techniques.

The events in San Bernadino and Paris have only escalated tensions.

The worst case scenario being thrown around is that we would be allowing terrorists in by letting in any refugees at all.

This is a very understandable assumption, although not correct.

Not all (if any) refugees are terrorists. Many have said they simply want to go home.

The fear we have comes from the

fact that we just do not know if they are terrorists or not.

Since the Department of Homeland Security has started their “See Something, Say Something” campaign, which promotes alerting authorities to anything suspicious, it would seem that even the government does not have the confidence or means to protect us.

This is not necessarily true either, because our fear is repairable.

We simply must not give in.

Much like England during the Battle of Britain, we have to weather the hard times by the skin of our teeth. If we begin to fall apart from the actions of a few extremists on the other side of the globe, they will have won.

We cannot let fear control us in any manner or magnitude. We cannot go around accusing each other of suspicious activities because the right to individual privacy and personal beliefs is a basic American right.

We cannot change our judgments based on threats. If we challenge our own judgment every day, our freedom is crippled.

The United States is at war again.

Not with boots on the ground, but with our own subconscious assumptions and prejudices against another group. Humans, just like us.

At the same time, we cannot put down our guard completely. We still have to protect ourselves, but we cannot show fear.

We have to remain strong, or else we fall to a group of bomb-builders in the desert.

Letter to the

Editor

Photo: E. Schmidt make a difference.

Instead of taking time out of class to take these quizzes during the last week of the trimester, students could have been studying for their finals.

An easy solution for making these words of the trimester more useful is to give each grade their own words that are each set at a different difficulty level. Also, teachers could incorporate these words into their classes and have weekly quizzes.

This way students will have more practice with them and actually learn them. Words from previous trimesters should be included on quizzes to maintain what we have learned.

In addition to that solution, students should be given an actual grade on the final quiz. This will make students care about improving their knowledge of the words, instead of just taking the quiz knowing the outcome will not affect them.

The words of the trimester system either has to undergo a major transformation or has to go.

Dear Editor, I was recently informed that the last day before Christmas break is not a half day. This seems extremely pointless to me because the teachers don’t do anything on this day anyway. Teachers tend to tie off chapters or sections before the break, and they know people skip on the last day before break. They do no want to deal with people missing a test from two weeks ago when they get back from break so it is very rare you’ll actually see them doing anything important on this day. Having a full day just inflates class lengths where you do nothing. It is extremely boring and pointless.

Sincerely, Jethro Schoppenhorst

Dear Editor, As many of the girls in the varsity locker room are aware of, the first stall of the bathroom has no door on it. The locker room is always packed after school, and everyone is always rushing. There isn’t much time to wait in line for the bathroom, so every stall counts. It wasn’t a big deal at first and we all patiently awaited its replacement. But months have gone by and there is still no door. For a few brave girls, no door is no problem. But for the most of us, a door is in desperate need.

The Red ‘n’ Green The Red ‘n’ Green is printed monthly by Berlin High School and circulated free to students.

The purpose of the Red ‘n’ Green is to be an open public forum for our staff, students and readers. We want to create close ties between the administration, faculty, students and the Berlin community. We will give readers the opportunity to voice opinions. The Red ‘n’ Green will accept only signed letters to the editor, although names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to return letters for corrections before publishing. The staff will not print any material that is libelous, obscene or malicious.

Editorials are unsigned as they reflect the majority opinion of the staff. Editorial topics will be covered in a fair manner. However, controversial topics will be covered.

Subscriptions are available. Please contact the business manager at the below email address or phone number.

Editor-in-Chief: Emily Beltran

Business Manager: Alyssa Thiel

Reporters:

Allison Marks Brittney Meyer Bria Osterberg Tyler Ostrowski Hazel Reck Emily Schmidt Julia Silloway

Adviser:

Shannon Kuehmichel

The Red ‘n’ Green Berlin High School 222 Memorial Drive Berlin, WI 54923 920.361.2000

Editor-in-Chief: Emily Beltran emily.beltran@berlin.k12. wi.us Business Manager: Alyssa Thiel alyssa.thiel@berlin.k12. wi.us

We want to hear what you have to say....

Submit a Letter to the Editor to any Red ‘n’ Green staff member.

Sincerely, BHS Female Athlete

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@bhsrng

Feature

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

In Memory of Jasmine Nesbit Jasmine was very kind and didn’t break her promises, and she always found a way to make you feel better. She was also great at basketball. She and her mom will always be with us.

Jasmine and her mom were unsure of what school Jasmine should attend. I am so happy that I recommended Berlin High School. My favorite thing about her was her smile. Even if she was having a stressful day, she was always smiling.

-Cassandra DeMaster, freshman

-Andrea Briese, junior I remember Jasmine and Robin coming early to my first hour class each day. They were both new to our school district this year and formed a special friendship. It was a great way to start the day. I miss her.

Forever in our hearts, and forever on the court.

Rest in peace Jasmine! You will be missed #4!

-Kasandra Masten #3, freshman

She was always my lab partner in Foods for Living in Mrs. Bell’s room. Every time I would try to taste what we were making, she would slap my hand and say, “Naughty! Don’t do that!” Then we would laugh about it. She could always make my day better.

She was one of my best friends.

-BethAnn Vaubel, Math teacher On the the first day of school she was sitting Jasmine Nesbit was a really loving girl. I really never got time alone, so I asked if she wanted to come sit by to talk to her, but the one time I my friends and me. did was the best. She always had a smile on her face. It’s so sad that We had a conversation someone as sweet and nice as her with her and she was so had to leave us, but I know she is sweet. a beautiful angel watching over -Alexandria McClelland, everyone. She is always in my sophomore prayers and in my heart.

-Tara Trotter, sophomore

-Savannah Yancy, freshman I will always remember her as what she dressed up as for Halloween this year. She was a sweet angel with a silver glitter halo and a silver dress. She kept her jacket on most of the day because she wasn’t confident about her outfit, but underneath her jacket she was a sweet angel and she showed me.

That is the picture of Jasmine that I will keep in my mind.

Created by Bria Osterberg

-Kay Rossow, Math teacher

How to tell the Krueger twins apart Mitchell Krueger #32

Garrett Krueger #42 • Wears red shoes • Looks younger (but is actually the older one) • Seven minutes older • Shy • Favorite color: blue • Runs long distance in track • Favorite food: pizza • Plays percussion

• Wears blue shoes • Looks older (but is actually the younger one) • Talkative • Favorite color: green • Runs short distance in track • Favorite food: tacos • Plays the trombone • • • • • •

Sing in choir • Play an instrument in band Same eye color Same exact height • Curly blond hair • Run track

Similarities

Favorite football team: Green Bay Packers Favorite subject: science Play basketball

• •

• Both had braces Play same twice and got position in them on and off football at the same time Want to play football in Created by Emily Schmidt college

School Grounds Flavor of the Month: Peppermint Coffee Room A100 Open Daily 7:45-10:15

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Students of the Month by

Bria Osterberg

With a positive attitude and a push to be successful, Emily Beltran is leaving her mark everywhere she goes. She is in National Honors Society, Academic Decathlon, KIND Committee, LINC Crew, Red ‘n’ Green, Science Club, cross country and track and field.

“I’ve been reassured that hard work pays off,” Beltran said. “I’ve been accepted into St. Norbert to major in biology and go pre-medicine.”

Beltran has had help along the way from a few teachers.

“Mrs. Vaubel pushed me to do my best and was always there when I needed help,” Beltran said.

Beltran has learned not to give up easily, especially in academics.

“Emily believes in herself,” math teacher BethAnn Vaubel said.

“She works until she understands because she knows she can do it.”

In athletics, Beltran has also had some help from coaches.

“Mr. Mercer always puts a smile

Mitchell Kramer

Photo: Catrina’s Creation Photography Mitchell Kramer has a strong presence everywhere he goes and is very well known in school, the community and in sports.

“Mitchell is a leader in school and on the field,” senior Ryan Wenig said. “He leads by example.”

Kramer is involved in football, wrestling, Student Council, KIND Committee, National Honors Society and he is the senior class secretary.

Emily Beltran

Photo: Eagle Studios on my face and makes me laugh,” Beltran said. “He is always supportive of me.”

As a result, Beltran has been very successful in her sports career. She made it to state this year in cross country and contributed to her team greatly at the state meet.

“Emily has overcome many obstacles to get better,” Mercer said.

“She brings everything to the table and strives to be the best athlete, student and teammate she can be.”

“Mitchell has great pride in his performance,” Head Football Coach Joe Stellmacher said. “Whether it be in the classroom, sports field or community.”

In the community Kramer referees Bulldog games, does National Honors Society projects, and serves food at All Saints fundraisers.

“It feels great to be chosen as student of the month,” Kramer said.

“The teachers chose me, and they know I am a good student.”

Kramer has had a lot of role models throughout his high school career.

“My sister was also Student of the Month,” Kramer said. “It is cool to follow in her footsteps.”

Kramer impacts many people with his kind demeanor, just like his sister did.

“Mitchell is one of a kind and he respects other people,” Wenig said.

In the long run, his kindness and hard work will help Kramer reach his goals of studying exercise science at the university level.

“He drives to be successful and sets high goals for himself,” Stellmacher said.

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In-depth series

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

A World o

Tang celebrates simplified holiday by

Tyler Ostrowski

The holidays treat everyone differently. This is especially true for sophomore Xianghong Tang.

“I would say that the holiday season here is much shorter than at home,” Tang said. Tang moved to Berlin three months ago from Fujzhou, China. “We spend almost a month celebrating the New Year.”

The Chinese New Year is a 15day period celebrated every January. Nearly each day has a different event, with different rules and individual beliefs.

“Every day is almost a complete feast,” Tang said. “It can be hard to keep up.”

Almost every day ends in a firework display, a tradition that was not easily transferable to the United States.

“Fireworks are illegal this time of year here,” Tang said. “It may not seem like much, but it means a large part of the holiday is gone.”

Many of the days are specialized toward a certain god, goddess or belief. For example, the 13th day is dedicated to the Chinese God of War, General Guan Yu. “We would have a big dinner every year, with my grandparents and relatives back home,” Tang said. “I am a bit sad that I will not see them this year.”

Food is a huge part of the New Year’s festivities. Many days have special rules as to what foods can be eaten on that day.

“I especially enjoy the rice dumplings,” Tang said.

Chinese New Year is also different in how gifts are given.

“Back home, instead of giving objects as gifts, we give money,” Tang said. “The older people will give money in red envelopes to young family members.”

The red envelopes signify blessings. Red is a common theme during Chinese New Year, as it means “favorable.”

“Before the season begins, families hang red signs outside their

front doors as a welcome sign for good fortune in the new year,” Tang said. “On these signs, they will write words that mean good fortune.”

The Chinese New Year is celebrated much longer than the Western holiday season.

“In China, we would get a month off for New Years,” Tang said. “That is much longer than the week we get here.”

Tang expects to celebrate the New Year on a small scale with his family.

“I hope we will eat a big feast,” Tang said. “I also hung red lanterns for good luck in the next year.”

A common sight to see during Chinese New Year festivities, especially in the United States, is the Dragon Dance Parade, where a team of dancers operates a dragon costume. The bright colors and the loud sounds coming from the dragon dance are meant to scare away bad luck.

“I plan to watch the Chinese New Year celebrations back home online,” Tang said. “With technology, I never get fully homesick.”

Students make Angel Tree successful This program gives thousands of children the opportunity to open gifts on Christmas

Created by Allison Marks

Angels were claimed faster this year than they were in past years

Total number of angels claimed: 34

A

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The prog o Salva

Exchange student celebrates first American Christmas by

Hazel Reck

Christmas trees, twinkling lights, presents and a lot of food is how many Americans spend their holiday season. After Dec. 25 all of that slowly starts to die down, but for some, the holidays have only just begun.

Foreign exchange student from Armenia, Lilit Dallakyan, celebrates Christmas on Jan. 6, but the festivities start on New Year’s Eve. “It is weird that all of you guys celebrate on the 25th,” Dallakyan said.

“But, even though it is not a six-day celebration like in my country, I am sure it will be great.”

Dallakyan will be having her first American Christmas with her host family, the Markses.

“Lilit is always a good sport about trying new things and is excited to see how we do things,” host mother

Brenda Marks said.

Not only is Dallakyan excited to see how the Marks family does things for the holidays, but Dallakyan will be bringing some of her traditions into this season.

“She has been talking about some kind of cake she makes back home, so I think she’s going to make it,” Marks said.

In Armenia Dallakyan says that they only have small Christmas trees so she was amazed by all of the lights and the size of the tree. She even has one in her room.

“Besides trees, gifts and all the food, we have other traditions,” Dallakyan said. “In the beginning of the new year in my country we open our windows to let the new year in.”

There are other things that she does in her country that are a little different than in America. When

Ho m de ema sse de rts !

ily ! a D ials c Spe

Redgranite, WI 920-566-2900

For her first American Christmas, foreign exchange student Lilit Dallakyan decorates the Marks’s Christmas tree.

Photo: A. Marks Armenians celebrate Christmas, ble, they will be serving some spethey make way more food than the cial dishes. average American dinner. They “One tradition for us is to make make every dish that they can and hemmal futter,” Marks said. “It’s a if guests do not eat at someone else’s German dessert that my grandma home, it is considered rude. always made at Christmas. I’m very Even though the Markses might anxious to see what Lilit will think not have every food out on the ta- of it.”

Mop Shop LB Hair & Tootsies

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Even though there might be no snow outside, Shawn Erb’s fifth hour Applied class is bringing some snow into their rating.

“Our theme is Frozen,” Erb said. “We been working very hard, and my kids been doing most of the work.”

Erb and her class came up with a ma equation based off of the movie “Froze “You+Me=BFF.”

In-depth series

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

5

of Celebration

A different way to view the holidays: Jehovah’s Witnesses

Anyone can pick up an angel, wrap a present, nd put it under the tree to be delivered to a child

More students claimed angels than teachers did

e angel tree gram is put on by the ation Army

w d Math deco-

have s have

ath en”

by

Alyssa Thiel

Not everyone celebrates Christmas, or any holiday for that matter. This is the case for siblings freshman William and junior Mariana Segura who practice the Jehovah’s Witness religion.

“We believe nothing else should be worshipped other than the Jehovah’s Witness god,” William said. “During the holidays you are putting something ahead of God, so we don’t celebrate them.”

For those unfamiliar with the religion, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in the Jehovah god and in the Bible, which they try to incorporate in their everyday life.

“We try to follow the Bible as much as we can, but we know that not everyone is perfect,” Mariana said.

While the rest of the world is shopping for gifts or baking cookies, the Segura family spends this time differently.

“We take advantage of the free time to spend with the family and do various recreational activities with friends,” William and Mariana’s mother Sandra Segura said.

The family also refrains from having a holiday tree

and giving presents.

“If someone sees a tree in our house they will think that we are celebrating Christmas so we steer away from having one,” Mariana said. “Instead of giving out gifts during the holidays, we like to give gifts to people at any random time of the year to be kind.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses like to give gifts for different occasions like anniversaries, graduations or personal achievements. Not receiving any gifts during the holidays can be hard for the youngest member of the Segura family.

“It is hard for Abraham, who is six,” Mariana said.

“It’s hard for him to understand why we don’t celebrate Christmas and don’t get gifts like others.”

When asked to attend a holiday party, the Seguras choose to say no.

“I mention kindly that I appreciate the invitation, but because of my beliefs and my Bible-trained conscience, it is not possible for me to attend,” Sandra said.

There is one tradition that the Segura family and the rest of the Jehovah’s Witness religion celebrates and that is during the Easter season.

“We have a memorial for Jesus’ death,” William said.

“We gather as a congregation and watch the sunset on the day of his death, which is written in the Bible.”

Which classroom will win?

Nicole LeDioyt’s fifth hour class has to all work as a team to tie together their ideas without help from LeDioyt.

“The kids are doing everything 100 percent,” LeDioyt said. “They brought and did everthing.”

One of their kind ideas is, as pictured in the upper left corner, all the tiles with kind sayings in them. *This graphic is not an indication of who will win the contest* Text and photos by Hazel Reck

Joining in last minute is Nick Kvam’s fifth hour Honors Chemistry class for the classroom decorating contest.

“To tie in our kind theme, we took ornaments and made them very kind related,” Kvam said.

“It was a last minute idea, but we are excited and ready.”

They have presents wrapped all over their walls and their Christmas tree is a combination of chemistry and kindness.

Kay Rossow’s fifth hour Computer Science 2 class had an early start to their decorating.

“Our theme is the “Kindness Express,” and each present is a kind gesture someone has to do,” Rossow said.

The “Kindness Express” is based on a moving train the class has in the room that pulls everything together.

The class has four students, and was the first class to finish their decorating.

Menu for Thursday, January 7: Sloppy Joes

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Arts & Entertainment You tweet it, we repeat it ‘Zoo’ thrills audience Tuesday, December 22, 2015

by

Senior Destiny Krebs @DestineyKrebs

I wish it wasn’t weird to wear pajama pants to school.

Senior Kylee Murkley @Kylee_Murkley

Already saw six people in flannels and it’s not even Friday.

Flight Elite @flightelitebb ‘16 Julia Silloway--Winona State commit-scored her 1,000th point, put up 27 AND hit the game winner all in one night.

Senior Alesha Guenther @Aleshaguenther Me during every other part of the year: Slay Me during December: Sleigh

Sophomore Alivia Murkley @alivia_murkley

Nothing like finishing a paper 5 seconds before class starts.

Who s w o n K

Bria Osterberg

“Zoo” is an exciting and mysterious 2015 TV show. Only the first season is out, but it makes everyone want to keep watching.

This show is about a scary future when animals finally have had enough of humans being in control. Animals have started acting differently and attacking humans.

It is cool how the animals actually look and sound realistic.

Jackson, Abraham, Chloe, Mitch and Jamie are the main characters and they have teamed up to solve the problem of why the animals are revolting. They do an amazing job of adding actual scientific reasons as to why the animals do this.

It makes the show more interesting when there is logic behind it.

It is fascinating how Jackson and his team figured out that the animals are acting this way because of a defiant pupil in their eye.

They get it from the “mother cell,” which is a cell that makes the animals mutate and become smarter and stronger.

There always has to be a bad guy in every exciting adventure, and Reiden Global is the source of all the animal destruction. They are

Senior Jesse Haase The Boyfriend

Senior Alyssa Ponto The Subject

a big corporation that sells animal food. Their main ingredient is the mother cell and all the animals of the world have access to it.

The whole show is a big mystery to find out how to stop Reiden from dispersing the mother cell.

Every episode leaves the audience at a cliff hanger, making them watch the next episode.

People have to run for their lives against any and every animal there is. The animals attacking the humans and the way they mutate makes this show action-packed.

Jackson and his team need to figure out how to stop this pandemic before the animals completely take over. The next season is not out yet, but it surely will be just as thrilling as the first one.

At the end of the last episode of the first season Jamie goes missing after a plane crash. After the crash, the rest of the team gives up trying to figure out the animal crisis because they lost the mother cell, which was the key to their success.

It was very sad to see them give up when they all thought that Jamie had died.

It was such a relief when Mitch got a call from Jamie saying she is alive and she still has the mother cell. The rest of the team gets to-

At the end of the first season of “Zoo” Jackson and his team get charged by the animals.

Photo: B. Osterberg

gether right away and goes to save Jamie. When they are in the car they turn a corner and hundreds of animals are there. They have a face off and then all the animals start charging the car. That is the cliff hanger at the end of the season. Who will prevail?

The first season is so amazing it makes everyone anxious to know what excitement happens next.

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Sports

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

“What is your favorite cheer in the student section during a sporting event?”

“Give me a ‘B’! Give me a ‘B’!

Give me a ‘B’! What’s that spell?!

Blpblpblpblp!!” senior Eric Roehl said.

“We are the Berlin Indians, we live in a hut, and if you don’t believe us just watch us kick your butt,” freshman Paige Krause said.

“Strawberry Shortcake, banana split. We make your team look like--shift to the left, shift to the right. Stand up, sit down, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT,” junior Ethan Becker said.

“Form potato, form form potato. Peel potato, peel peel potato.

Mash potatoes, mash mash potatoes! Mash potatoes, mash mash potatoes,” sophomore Bethany Thoma said.

Text and photos by Emily Schmidt

7

Johnson creates strong bonds by

Julia Silloway

Athletic trainer Melissa Johnson, also known as MJ, is a one of a kind athletic trainer that has been here for 14 years and counting. Johnson, the only athletic trainer, sees all the athletes when they are hurt or feeling any given pain, which means her athlete-trainer bond with students is very strong.

“She has a very unique, bubbly personality, and is always smiling and willing to help anyone out,” senior Mitchell Yonke said.

Seeing 20-25 athletes on an average day and doubling that to 45 athletes on game day, Johnson tends to a lot of injuries.

“The most frequent injuries I get are ankle sprains, knee pain, and during the cross country season, a lot of hip pain,” Johnson said. “Other than that, I just do a lot of taping, like for football games, or help athletes out with rehab and show them what exercises to do.”

Since some athletes need to see Johnson on a day-to-day basis, they

Athletic Trainer Melissa Johnson cares for senior Mitchell Yonke during CIA. “I feel very comfortable talking to MJ,” Yonke said. “She treats me more like a friend than a patient.” Photo: E. Beltran start to build up a bond.

“When I had turf toe, MJ helped me out with that and gave me exercises to do,” junior Jack Werch said.

“She came in for me on weekends and also bought a special brace that I needed.”

For athletes like Werch who share a close bond with Johnson, there is a lot more to it than just the injuries during the training session.

“When I meet with athletes we talk a lot and sometimes not even

about the injury. I get to know them personally including family, interests and the classes that they have,” Johnson said.

Athletes recognize all the hard work that Johnson has done and continues to do.

“After games I have athletes come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for everything’ or ‘Thank you for coming,’ even the athletes that I don’t treat,” Johnson said. “They are very respectful.”

Girls basketball players named Varsity and Rookie Athletes for December Allison Marks & Kaytlynne Null

by

Her great work ethic and profound knowledge for the game of basketball are only some of the reasons senior Julia Silloway was nominated for varsity athlete of the month.

Silloway, who is only the second girl in BHS history to have 1,000 career points, is the best scorer on the team.

“She is the leader of our team,” Head Coach Joe Brandl said. “She does anything that is asked of her and she always works hard.”

Silloway began playing basketball in third grade. Aside from school basketball, she participated in the Back Court Club throughout middle school and has done AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) since seventh grade. Silloway says that basketball is her getaway.

“When I play basketball I don’t think about anything else,” Silloway said. “It helps clear my head when I’m stressed out or upset.”

Freshman Mari Beltran was nominated for this month’s rookie athlete not only because she is the only freshman on varsity, but also because of her knowledge of basketball.

Beltran is a strong ball handler, willing to learn and is always lightening the mood.

“She has already improved,” Head Coach Joe Brandl said. “I can tell she already feels more comfortable being the only freshman on varsity.”

Beltran also takes time to work on her basketball skills outside of school.

“Going to open gym in the summer and working with Brandl and upperclassmen has helped me improve,” Beltran said. “I also go to a gym to practice on the weekends.”

Off the court, Beltran is said to be a jokester and a good dancer, but on the court, her knowledge of basketball shows.

“She has been putting herself into positions to make plays,” Brandl said.

Beltran says basketball has been her favorite sport since she was a little

Senior Julia Silloway takes a shot during a home game against Winneconne which Berlin won 51-49.

Photo: B. Meyer She has also improved her game throughout the past few years.

“She has gotten stronger by getting in the weight room,” Brandl said. “She has also worked on her shooting and has done a lot of dribbling drills.”

All of Silloway’s practice rewarded her with the chance to play for Winona State.

“It has been my dream to play in college, so it feels great to accomplish that goal,” Silloway said.

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kid. She played her first real game in fourth grade and hopes to keep playing throughout high school.

“I see her doing big things for us,” Brandl said. “She is going to be one of our main contributors in the future.”

This year, Beltran hopes to have more experience playing varsity for the years to come.

“This year I want to gain confidence in myself as a player, whether it’s shooting, ball handling or defense,” Beltran said.

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Freshman Mari Beltran squares up for a free throw at a game against Kewaskum losing 55-35.

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8

Sports

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Team size not affecting overall performance by

Sports Briefs

Julia Silloway

Only having five people on their roster could be a problem for the boys swim team in competing for a team title.

“Knowing that our team is small and we probably will not win a team title, we have to look at it individually and focus on our relays,” freshman Sam Ryf said.

Although having a small team affects the team as a whole for team titles, it does not take away from any of the swimmers’ main focus for the season.

“My main focus this season is to improve each meet and get better every day. I am motivated and my goal is to try to beat Sam because he is the best swimmer on the team,” Captain Connor Nelson said. “As for our team goals, we would like to try to make it to state in any of our relays.”

Having a small team may affect later meets due to team scores and limited numbers of events that can be participated in by each team member.

“Each person can do up to four

Krall returns to gymanstics Sophomore gymnast Cassidy Krall returned to her Oshkosh Gymnastic Center team five weeks ago after being out with a back injury for eight months.

“I had a stress fracture on my spine and had to get cortizone shots to help it heal and to take away the pain,” Krall said.

Krall is now attending gymnastics three times a week for four hours each practice.

“Right now the only event I can do is bars, because everything else is too hard on my back,” Krall said. “I probably won’t tumble anytime soon, but I hope to vault eventually.”

Krall’s team will have their first competition on Dec. 30, but Krall will not be able to perform until a meet at the end of January.

Captain Connor Nelson dives off the block as his teammate below him touches the wall in their relay.

Photo: EDGE Photography events, relays and individual events combined,” Nelson said.

“In later meets, we know we will not win as a team.”

Even with a small team, the boys are able to have fun in their group.

“I like the smaller team feel because it’s easier for us to become close with only four guys and make it more of a family,” junior Ethan Becker said. “If our team were big it would be harder to get to know each other really well.”

The boys had a meet Dec. 15 at

Oshkosh West. Oshkosh West had 37 guys competing against Berlin’s five. But, winning is not always the best part about swimming for Nelson.

“Even though we may not win a team title, that does not affect me,” Nelson said, “We are just all hyped to be there and look forward to dominating the competition individually and through our relays.”

The team is always cheering each other on when they are competing

in individual events.

“The most exciting part of the meet was watching and cheering for Sam as he won the 50 free and the 100 fly,” Becker said.

Swimming is not all about winning according to Becker, either.

It’s about the team and showing improvement.

“I am trash at swimming, but I will still try and do my best,” Becker said.

The boys’ next meet is tonight at Fond Du Lac at 5:30 p.m.

Individual wrestlers excel

Indians drop close game against rival Tigers by

Emily Beltran

The boys basketball team dropped a home game against rivals, the Ripon Tigers, on Thursday, Dec. 17.

Ripon has the number one ranked team in the state for Division III so the indians knew what to expect.

“We prepared for the game by going over film on them and by doing that developed a game plan to limit their offense,” guard Brady Polk said.

The Indians came out strong scoring the first eight points of the game. They held off the Tigers for seven minutes into the first half until Ripon standout, 6’7” junior Bennett Vander Plas came out with a basket.

Offensively for Ripon, Vander Plas and other junior standout 6’3” Edward Muench made defense an important aspect during the game.

“We face guarded them and tried not to let them touch the ball,” Polk said. “We were making other guys shoot and getting Ben (Vander Plas) and Eddie (Muench) to pass the ball.”

Defensively, Berlin performed very well, but offensively their

Junior Brady Polk shoots a free throw during the second half of the Thursday, Dec. 17 home game against Ripon. The Indians lost 53-42 Photo: E. Beltran to the number one state ranked Tigers. shots were not falling as much as they had hoped. Ripon lead with a score of 20-10 going into the seond half.

“In the first half our offense really struggled, and it dug us a hole that was hard to get out of,” Captain Noah Pomplun said.

Coming into the second half, post Peter Bruce-Allington was first to score with a three for the Indians.

The Indians were down 3922 with eight minutes left in the half when Captain Ryan Wenig drained a crowd rousing three to

With a record of 0-2 in dual meets the wrestlers are trying to work with their extremely small team of 15.

“We don’t have nearly enough kids out for the wrestling team,” Head Coach Scott Wagner said.

“It is going to be hard to win dual meets because we are behind by 24 points before each dual starts because of the forfeits we have to give up.”

Although they are not able to win many meets as a team, Wagner says a few individuals have been succeeding, those being senior Mitchell Kramer (15-3), junior Zach Wilson (144), and freshman Austin Schrei (11-6).

“I have been working a lot on takedowns and trying to get away from the larger 285 weight class wrestlers,” Wilson said.

Wilson plans to make the 220 weight class within the next couple meets because right now he weighs 225.

“I have been working hard at practice and putting in extra time in the weight room,” Wilson said.

The varsity team will compete Tuesday, Dec. 29 at UW-Oshkosh.

shrink the deficit to 14 points.

“My thought was that our student section was quiet the previous few minutes and we needed to get loud because we were facing our rival,” Wenig said.

Even after exciting the crowd, the Indians could not stop Ripon who went on to win with a final score of 53-42. Vander Plas lead the Tigers with 13 points while Bruce-Allington lead Berlin with 12.

Although this was a tough loss to a rival, many of the team members say they gained confidence from the loss to the number one ranked team in the state.

“We now know that we can compete with anyone,” Pomplun said. “It helped us gain back our confidence because Ripon is a really good team and we stuck with them.”

The Indians will see the Tigers again in the season and hope to come back with an even closer game, or a win.

“Our goal in every game is to finish out on top. We are going to do what ever it takes to win,” Wenig said.

The boys play tonight at home against Waupaca. Tip off is at 7:15 p.m.

Up Next in Winter Sports Tuesday, Dec. 29 • •

Varsity Wrestling Invitational @ Kolf Sports Center Field House Boys BB tournament @ Westfield

Wednesday, Dec. 30 Thursday, Dec. 31 • •

Varsity Wrestling Invitational @ Kolf Sports Center Field House Boys BB tournament @ Westfield

New Year’s Eve!

Friday, Jan 1

Saturday, Jan. 2 •

Boys Varsity Swimming Invitational @ Cedarburg

Created by Alyssa Thiel