Serendipity

Senior Theo Downey

Loud and Proud: This band was ready to rock your world, and boy, did they. Serendipity is an all-girl band from the Chicagoland area that has been traveling together and performing at various venues. They played a variety of music with a rock twist and strong vocals that had everyone singing along and jumping to their feet. Overall, the band was truly amazing. All of the performers were very lively and kind. The music that they performed was soulful and beautiful, despite the songs being covers. The passion that each of the ladies had for their careers and for music was evident on the stage. “They had a lot of energy and it made the performance a lot more fun,” senior Liam Tipple said. Everyone in the crowd seemed to truly enjoy their time with the band, as everyone was very engaged with the band and cheered their hearts out after each song. Serendipity will hopefully be a returning act in the near future.

Edible Car Contest

Janelle Nordtvedt’s Engineering class and Chase Riva’s Foods I class travelled to IVCC for the 18th annual edible car contest. Students in both classes designed and built cars entirely from food edible to humans. Students then traveled to IVCC to watch their cars race down a track and be entered into several other categories for judging. A total of 38 entries were received by IVCC from middle school, high school and college students.

OHS entered 10 cars and won many prizes. They hope to participate again next year. “It was a fun, challenging and overall interesting experience. I hope the classes next year get to experience it,” senior Christian Ramirez said. Ramirez won first overall in the contest along with senior Noah Underhill.

Athlete of the Month

Senior Molly Etscheid

Senior Ryley Jett has a lot on her plate. She has been a center defender and center midfielder for the Girls Varsity Soccer Team since her freshman year, a member of the DoChange mentoring program since her sophomore year and was selected for the Ottawa Honor Society this year.

Jett started playing soccer in elementary school and got the chance to play club soccer the summer before her junior year. One of her favorite memories is when she was at soccer practice: “There was a track meet going on, and one of the teams thought the plastic coyote was a real dog.”

In her free time Jett likes to hang out with friends, go shopping, go hiking and work. She has worked at B.A.S.H. for about a year and half. Right now, she only works on weekends because of her schedule, but when she is there, she is a food runner, host or busser.

Her hard work does not go unnoticed. Coach Sean Porter had a lot of amazing things to say about her. “Ryley has been a great team captain and a leader on and off the field. She consistently works hard at practice and leads by example.” Porter says Jett’s greatest strength is her toughness. In a game during her sophomore year, she broke her collar bone. She stayed in the game and continued playing until halftime. When she came off the field, she mentioned her shoulder hurt, turns out she had broken her collar bone.

Jett lives by the motto, “Everything happens for a reason.” In the fall she plans to attend the University of Iowa to study psychology.

Artist of the Month

Senior

Theo Downey

Sometimes, there’s inspiration in the little things. For senior Carter Snook and sophmore Jack Stanek, there’s inspiration in just about anything. They began a rap career together using a microphone and Snook’s laptop. They first started creating music together about two months ago. They are able to spend time on this outside of school and before jazz band rehearsal. They use original lyrics and rap about everyday things, from a fan to a watermelon. “The watermelon rap was simply our bridge into the industry,” Snook said.

They are also able to use this medium for school projects, especially in speech class. Snook has made good use of it for a recent project in which he and his group recorded a video about the Ottawa Community Food Basket. Senior Liam Tipple was a part of this group, and he commented, “I think it’s altogether hilarious and also really cool that they’re able to create the things that have. And it comes in handy for school projects when we need to be creative. They just have fun, and that's cool.” Stanek and Snook have clearly made an impact with their tunes, even though they might not be the most serious. The lightheartedness of their creativity is what makes it worth it. They have had an impact on the people around them that aren’t in classes with them, too. Quite a few band members have actually been privy to their creative process, as a lot of jazz band members wait at the school with Snook and Stanek. Senior Lauren Podman is one of such people. “I am always way too excited when they say that they made a new song, it’s amazing,” Podman said regarding their music. Stanek and Snook’s raps have become something that a lot of people know, especially within the music hall at school. They are creating something that people enjoy, but most importantly, something that they both enjoy too.

Snook intends to go to college at the University of Iowa to study computer science. He is involved in the band, jazz band, Operation Snowflake, Chem Club and Earth Club. Stanek has said that he hopes to go into music education in the future. He is involved in the band and the jazz band. Stanek and Snook have also collaborated on a podcast together, which you can check out at @BirdsArentRealPodcastOfficial on YouTube.