December 2021

VOLUME 54, ISSUE 1 222 Memorial Drive Berlin, WI 54923

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021

The

Red ‘n’ Green

A BERLIN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT OPEN FORUM SINCE 1924

Sources of Strength decorates tree for Lighting of the Park Lucy Smith Reporter A few students from Sources of Strength got the chance to see the tree they decorated light up along with other trees decorated by businesses and families from the community on Nov. 18.

During third and fourth hour, senior Mollie Gallert was head of organizing and planning the tree. Gallert went to Nathan Strong Park to decorate the tree with a few other classmates.

“I made the decorations and put them on the tree. I made the signs, and I picked out the tree,” Gallert said.

The club did not have a particular theme, but they wanted to incorporate the Sources of Strength wheel. One purpose of the tree was to get more people in the community informed about Sources of Strength and to learn what the club is all about.

“We can only hope the message is becoming more familiar in the community. The girls painted rocks and hid them around town as well, so the symbol of the wheel is hopefully becoming more recognizable,” Adviser and art teacher Angela Breunig said.

The club also had a little helper, Ensley Breunig, Breunig’s

Skylar Longsine

Photo: M. Gallert Photo: M. Gallert Sources of Strength decorated a tree at Nathan Strong Park for the Ensley Breunig, 4K, helps Lighting of the Park. The purpose was to get the word about Sources decorate the tree for Sources of of Strength out into the community. Sources of Strength was the only Strength.

BHS club to participate in the Lighting of the Park. daughter.

“Ensley loves Christmas.

She found a bird’s nest on the ground in the park and brought it over and hid it in the tree,” Breunig said.

The club worked hard to decorate the tree so it would catch the attention of the viewers, potentially helping to get the word of Sources of Strength out.

The trees will remain up in Nathan Strong Park until after Photo: M. Gallert Christmas.

Senior Delaney Erb puts tinsel on the tree for Sources of Strength.

Elf Extravaganza held for third year

Anna McCarthy

Reporter Usually the big day for shopping following Thanksgiving is Black Friday.

However, for Berlin it was Shop Small Saturday. For the past three years, a group of community members have been organizing an event called Elf Extravaganza. The purpose of this event was to encourage the public to get out and purchase items at local businesses. The event was organized by local community members with their slogan being “We Believe.”

“We want people to get into the businesses and actually see what Berlin has to offer. The majority of the group are just residents that live and work in Berlin,” event organizer Mary Kurczek said.

Within the event, participants are encouraged to “shop small” and explore businesses in Berlin that they may not otherwise shop at.

“I bought Christmas gifts for my family. I got a necklace from Hamilton’s and I bought paint by number kits from the Art Bar. I wouldn’t have gone and got

BHS embraces holiday spirit through dress-up days

these things without the event happening,” senior Kara Fritz said.

Prior to the event, bags were sold to the community to help advertise Elf Extravaganza.

“We sell 100 bags and get businesses to give away items in each bag. The bags encourage people to go into businesses they might not have otherwise Photo: M. Kurczek gone into. We have so many Berlin Senior Center Carolers spread holiday cheer with their wonderful small businesses in music at Elf Extravaganza.

This was the third year that Elf our town. We wanted to show Extravagnza was held. people what they have to offer,” Baked owner Christina Boeck available thanks to one of our those who sponsored our event sponsors, Farmers & Merchants in the past,” event organizer said.

Jan Gridel said. “In October we Besides shopping, Elf Bank.”

Even though this year’s event start advertising the event in Extravaganza also had other has concluded, organizers will the local paper, ordering bags activities taking place.

“Every year we have been already be getting together to and promotional postcards, trying to add something new, put together next year’s event and preparing ‘You’ve Been Elfed’ gift bags that we hand so everyone of every age can as early as January.

“Our group will start preparing out at the Christmas Parade to enjoy the day. This year we had a rock hunt. The group for next year by getting together promote the event.”

Overall, Elf Extravaganza was painted over 60 rocks and hid in January to evaluate the most them the morning of the event. recent event. In the spring we thought to be a great success Rock hunters had a chance will start booking our Santa by the event organizers. All to win a special raffle basket,” and the carriage ride so we are 100 bags that were made for Kurczek said. “We also had the sure to have them. In July we the event were sold before Elf Berlin Senior Center singers will start discussing advertising, Extravaganza started.

“It went well. We are always on the sidewalk caroling. For contacting local businesses and the second year in a row, we contacting other vendors who looking to improve and grow had horse drawn carriage rides rent space for the event as well as our event,” Kurczek said.

Reporter

Once the winter season emerges so does the student body of Berlin High School’s need for some school fun.

This need was embraced through participation in Student Council sponsored dress-up days and trivia that started on Dec. 15.

“The dress-up days were class day on Wednesday (white, green, red, anything), Thursday was a snow day, Friday was ugly sweater day, Monday was PJ day, and Tuesday was festive hat day,” Student Council Co-president Gabrielle Reiser said.

For students and faculty to become aware of the upcoming events, the dress up days were advertised throughout the school.

“We hope that this tradition continues to get people to participate. We put up posters, put announcements on social media and made reminders over the announcements,” Reiser said.

Student Council strived to make the week a more positive atmosphere by continuing to uphold their legacy.

“It’s a tradition that the Student Council sets up the dress up days. The week before break is hard so we tried to make it fun to help both staff and students get through the week,” Co-President Lauren Batley said.

Along with the dress-up days, Student Council put together a series of activities for students and staff to participate in.

“We tried to offer a variety of things for students to participate in such as movies, games and other competitive things,” Batley said.

For senior Riley Beulen, watching his peers embrace their school spirit was his most valued part of the dress-up days.

“My favorite part of the holiday dress-up days was getting to see everyone dressed up and full of excitement while being involved,” Beulen said.

In this

Issue

- The Reality of the Holidays pg. 2-3 - Holiday music events pg. 4

2

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021

Holiday Edition

The reality of

Teachers with families manage holidays

Mia Simon

Reporter when some of the Christmas

The holidays are known to be a stressful but fun time, from buying presents, to decorating, to seeing family and friends.

The holidays can get especially busy for families with kids. For some people that means traveling, like for science teacher Nick Kvam’s family.

“My wife and I are both from Minnesota, so during break we usually spend our time between her family and mine back in Minnesota,” Kvam said.

However, some people stay close to home like foods teacher Whitney Keyes.

“We always go to my mom’s house for Christmas and open presents with everybody. We eat a big meal on Christmas Eve and then go to our church’s candlelight service,” Keyes said.

Everyone’s family has different holiday traditions. Especially when parents are busy with kids, those traditions might change.

“As my kids are getting older the fact that they are expected to get more gifts makes me a little bit stressed, but as they get older I am also stressed

magic is not there for them anymore. Losing that fun and that tradition will be hard,” science teacher Paul Bell said.

Just because these teachers’ kids get older, does not mean that the traditions and fun have to stop.

“We have a tradition that my grandparents started. All of our trees have personalized ornaments on them. My mom and dad’s tree has 53 personalized ornaments (one for each child and grandchild). We also have those same ornaments to share with them as well,” English teacher Amy Wenig said.

Some parents start holiday traditions before the day of Christmas.

“I bought my daughter an advent calender this year that has a different color of Play-Doh each day,” Keyes said.

As the holidays get closer, the excitement starts to rise for many people, including Wenig.

“I have five siblings so the holidays are always really busy, but there’s a lot of food, and a lot of people and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Wenig said.

Photo: A. Wenig English teacher Amy Wenig and her family gather for a photo at their annual Christmas party. Each year they have a different dress-up-theme.

Photo: N. Kvam Science teacher Nick Kvam, his wife Dani, and son Haaken take a picture on Christmas morning. Kvam and his wife now have one more son, Soren.

Q&A

Exchange students celebrate first American holiday season Q: Red ‘n’ Green Reporter Gavin Batley A: Foreign exhange student Ruth Illa Medina

Q: Red ‘n’ Green Reporter Gavin Batley A: Foreign exchange student Sarah Becker

Q: What holidays do you celebrate back home?

Q: What is one of your favorite holiday traditions from back home?

A: “I celebrate Christmas, Three Kings, Caga Tió, and Castanya.”

Q: What are you looking forward to celebrating here in the U S?

A: “Christmas because here it seems bigger and more special, especially with the snow and how pretty it is.”

A: “Every Sunday in December until Christmas we burn a candle and have a large meal all together.”

Q: How do the holidays differ here from those at home?

Photo: W. Keyes Foods teacher Whitney Keyes' kids, Nora and Mabel, helped decorate their Christmas tree. Keyes includes her kids in their holiday traditions.

Voices in the Hall

What are your holiday traditions?

“Every Christmas Eve my dad takes me and my sister sledding, “ sophomore Macey Rilling said.

“Every year we do holiday charades as a family, “ senior Hunter Boegh said.

“My brothers and I have a snowball fight every year,“ freshman Ryder Beulen said.

“We have a Christmas scavenger hunt every year,“ junior Ann Schmitz said.

A: “Holidays here are longer than just one week, and on Dec. 6 we have Saint Nick.”

Photo Submitted Foreign exchange student Ruth Illa Medina as a young child celebrated Three Kings back in Spain with her father.

Text and photos by Kaylee Olson

Holiday Edition

f the holidays Student workers manage busy holidays

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021 3

How people decorate for the holidays

Emilee Wegner Reporter

The holidays are a hectic time in stores and student workers also feel this stress.

“It definitely gets much busier.

People come and go all day long and some people don’t even buy anything. I think most people just like to look around since Walmart decorated early for this time of year,” Walmart employee, junior Isaiah Krueger said.

Not only does this happen at Walmart, but at other places such as Kwik Trip where employees see an increase in holiday sales as well.

“It has not been too much busier, but guests seem to buy more, such as eggnog, lottery tickets and gift cards,” guest service worker, junior Robert Frank said.

In addition to retail workers, restaurant workers also feel the rush from the holiday season.

“During the holiday season, we have many more large groups. A lot of families get together and want to come out to eat. These groups take up a lot of our tables and can cause servers a lot of stress,” Christiano’s server, junior Madeline Maxson said.

Also at Walmart in the Online Grocery Pickup department, junior Darrell Nackers says it feels

Art Teacher Angela Breunig

Photo: E. Wegner Junior Darrell Nackers collected items for an online order he received. This is Nackers' first holiday season working at Walmart. “I can see the store getting busier and we have been receiving more pickup orders,” Nackers said. busier this time of year.

“As it’s getting closer to Christmas we have been getting more orders and it has been busier in the store as well,” Nackers said.

Although some students may have to work Christmas, some are able to request off.

“I plan to take off Christmas Eve. I also like to take off holidays because it’s the few times I get to see distant family members,” Krueger said.

“My grandma cross-stitched stockings for all her children and grandchildren,” Breunig said.

Freshman Tess Kujawa

“Every year my family and I go out and pick the biggest tree. We have to use a ladder to get to the top. It barely fits in our living room,” Kujawa said.

Art Teacher Lori Rademann

Food Services Teacher Whitney Keyes

“My grandfather made wooden sleighs and reindeer for families. I painted some of them and stained others. That Santa candle fit perfectly. Some years I have it filled with little wrapped boxes,” Rademann said.

“We put a pickle on the tree. The first person to find it gets to open a gift first. I also have antique vintage stockings from the 80’s,” Keyes said.

Created by E. Osterberg

Angel Tree makes another successful year Maddy Kresal Reporter

Every year, Berlin High School hosts an Angel Tree program for families that are in need during the holiday season. Names are placed on the tree in the shape of an angel. Staff and students are able to take an angel and buy what the families asked for.

“It ranges from bath towels to clothing, toys, cleaning supplies, just a wide variety of things,” Secretary Laura Sobieski said.

This program is held by Green Lake County every year along with many other businesses helping out. This program continues to strive and do good within the community. Math teacher Nicole King decided to pitch in and help out.

“I grabbed two angels. I try to donate to a few places. We have found angels at our church or a local grocery store or here at school. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the crazy business of the school year, so giving back is a great way to stay grounded and remind ourselves what life is really all about,” King said.

Picking a name off the tree not only helps families, but also makes the gifters feel good inside.

“I think it always feels good to be able to give back and donate. It’s also a great way to show our young people how to give back and help others.

This was sort of a last minute decision to do it as a homeroom. Mrs. Utecht mentioned in an email that there were still quite a few angels on the tree and she was going to do it as a homeroom. I thought it was a great idea,” King said.

As the Angel Tree program does good deeds in the community, Berlin is more than willing to help out.

“Berlin has been helping the Angel Tree program for about 15 years now.

It is wonderful that students and staff want to help out,” Sobieski said.

Photo: M. Kresal The Angel Tree is located by the front of the high school office doors so staff and students were welcome to grab an angel off the tree and help someone in need.

4

Holiday Edition

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021

Band puts on first concert since COVID

Photo Submitted Encore performs on Dec. 4 at the EAA Museum for "Christmas in the Air." Left to right: junior Ethan Brunke, senior Camdyn Rohde, senior Kara Fritz, senior Allie Borland, junior Anna Schumacher, senior Gabrielle Reiser and Choir Director Lisa Utecht.

Photo: C. Bruce-DeMuri The band waited to be seated as Director Ben Ruetten began the concert. This is the band’s first performance in over two years. “These students have a tremendous sense of pride in what they do. There may be a couple rocky spots, but overall I’m very proud of what they have put together,” Ruetten said.

Camdyn Rohde Editor-in-Chief The high school band performed a concert for the first time in two years on Monday, Dec. 13. Two grade levels that participated in the concert had never performed in high school before, making this performance both exciting and nerve-wracking.

“I personally felt a little anxious, but also excited. This is what performers do -- perform.

To be able to finally return feels great. We had been working on this for several weeks now, es-

pecially since the parade and Veteran’s Day had passed,” Band Director Ben Ruetten said.

Due to COVID-19 still affecting both sports and music events, some precautions were still in place when it came to the live performance. “(Something different about this year) would be the procedures we had to take for safety such as wearing our masks when we are not actively playing and having coverings on wind instruments,” senior Alaina Kapp said.

This year’s winter concert did not have a theme, with Ru-

etten simply wanting to let the students enjoy their first inperson concert in two years.

“I wanted to do some things that feel good, sound festive and also push the students a little bit,” Ruetten said.

Despite the long hiatus for many groups and organizations, including music, Drum Major Sophie Ryf still considered the concert a success.

“Overall, I think the concert went pretty well. It was a little nerve-wracking since half the band had never done this before. There were a lot of nerves,” Ryf said.

Movie Review: ‘Father Christmas is Back’ disappoints Emilee Wegner Reporter

“Father Christmas Is Back” is a movie that overall was a disapointment because of the lack of humor in this movie labeled as a comedy. It was released on Netflix on Nov. 7, 2021. This new holiday movie stars Elizabeth Hurley as Joanna Christmas, Nathalie Cox as Caroline Christmas-Hope, April Bowlby as Jackie, and Kelsey Grammer as James Christmas.

In the movie, Father Christmas (James Christmas), abandoned his wife and three daughters on Christmas when they were babies (at least that’s what they think).

He then crashed their family Christmas party 27 years later with his 22-year-old girlfriend.

All of the daughters were put off by the return of their father at first. Their reaction was very over done, considering Caroline fainted in shock.

He showed up after abandoning them all so long ago, just to bring his girlfriend along and ruin the connection he could have had with them. After he explained the reason he left and that he did things to check in on them

Photo: Netflix.com In what was the only interesting part of the movie, James Christmas arrives at the house on Christmas Eve after abandoning the family 27 years earlier. throughout the years, they started to warm up to him.

This scene could have been done a lot better, not even the actors could help this script.

The family all comes together on Christmas Eve for a dinner that makes them act like a family again, which was shocking based on how the rest of the movie went.

On Christmas morning, a scandal takes place which makes Caroline’s husband leave for the same reason her

father did, but he shortly returns after James goes to find him to set the record straight.

This movie has received very mixed reviews online.

Fans of the cringy Hallmark type movies and more dry humor may enjoy this.

Rating out of 5:

Encore performs at ‘Christmas in the Air’ Lola Jecevicus

the most talented and dedicated musicians I know, but we could do some incredible pieces Berlin High School Encore if we simply had more people,” traveled to the EAA Museum in junior Anna Schumacher said.

Oshkosh for the “Christmas in “I’m really hoping we gain a lot the Air” event on Saturday, Dec. of new members next year so 4. This was an event free to the we can perform at EAA again public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and take it to the next level.”

Due to the high providing all kinds school’s schedule of different enter“It is change within the tainment for the definitely past year, Encore’s visitors, besides the bittersweet, rehearsal times had museum itself. Enbut it is also to be reorganized. core provided their really “This year with own performance at comforting the change of the this event, caroling. to know how schedule and there Choir Director Lisa far we’ve come not being a CIA, we Utecht has been takand what we’ve have switched to ing Encore carolbuilt while Monday nights for ing for the holidays we’re here,” about 45 minutes to to different places senior Allie an hour, so it is really around the commuBorland said. just once a week,” nity for years. Utecht Utecht said. says doing this with Not only was this event imEncore yearly can make a big portant to Utecht and to Encore, impact on the community. but it was their first caroling “I know, and I think my singevent in almost two years. It was ers know it too, that there is just especially important to the sesomething about music. It is niors, this year being their last. just a universal language and it “It is definitely bittersweet, just touches everybody in a difbut it is also really comforting ferent way,” Utecht said.

This year the number of En- to know how far we’ve come core singers who traveled was and what we’ve built while much smaller than usual. Due we’re here,” senior Allie Borland to numerous reasons, only six said. “Everything good eventuof the nine members traveled ally comes to an end, but the to EAA. memories associated with those “Our members are some of things don’t have to.”

Reporter

‘The Red ‘n’ Green’ wishes you a safe and happy holiday season.