Sterling

from SVM_Pride Magazine_2021-2022

West Carroll

Their moves are in a groove

SHS Chess Team learns the secrets to success

Over the last 12 years, I have been privileged to coach the Sterling High School Chess team. My name is Joel Penne and I started the chess program at Sterling when I arrived in 2009. My previous chess coaching job taught me that the first step to building a chess program was simply getting players interested in joining. We started as an after-school club and I shamelessly used food to draw players in, hoping that the game in front of them would be as tempting as the treats. The players who stayed helped Sterling Chess join the 128 other teams that were officially competing in the IHSA State Tournament that year. We finished 127th out of 128 teams. It is still unclear whether that 128th team stayed to finish the event or not. Needless to say, we had work to do. Ten years later, the same school that finished next to last was winning the 2A State title followed by a national title in the unrated division of the United States Chess Federation Tournament. This didn’t happen by chance and I feel there are “secrets” that have allowed us to reach this level of success. MOVES cont’d to page 38

MOVES cont’d from page 37

Secret No. 1: Team building

Early on, I believed that team chemistry is important, even in a game like chess where players compete as individuals. I strove to implement team-building activities whenever possible —and some turned into traditions that still stand today, such as our team BBQ and football game. In the fall we play the game Left Right Center with leftover Halloween candy. At the annual Pineapple Games we get together over winter break to play basketball, eat pizza and play video games. We even have a Secret Santa gift exchange. Our team goals include treat each other like family, improving, and learning to love chess. Winning is secondary but also a by-product if the team succeeds in those areas.

Secret No. 2: A feeder program

I knew that if we were going to keep improving and getting more players interested we had to reach them earlier than their freshman year. My assistant coach and I established the Challand Middle School chess team in 2015. With an outstanding success rate, the players who we meet in middle school will walk through our door to play chess as a high school student. Since 2015, we have consistently had over 40 players in our Chess Program from grades 6 to 12 each year. We also consistently have more players than any school in the Sauk Valley area, and most of the time we have more players than schools that are five times our enrollment.

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Secret No. 3: Mentoring

In 2018, we found ourselves with 26 players and six coaches. That year we discovered the power of mentoring, where older, more experienced players and coaches took younger players under their wing and taught them what they have discovered about chess. Mentoring has helped us to guarantee that younger players will be ready to succeed and fill the shoes of the mentors that are guiding them when the time comes.

I’m grateful for the way the chess program has grown through the years with the assistance of our chess graduates and coaches and am excited about where our program will go.

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Coping with Covid

By Anna Meltzer

Since the pandemic started, Sterling High School staff and students, like all others in education, have had to adapt to new guidelines. With a year of changes under their belt, the staff and students of S.H.S. have welcomed a year that is getting closer to resembling normal.

This year, students and staff attend school every day on a regular schedule from 8 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., with a full 30-minute lunch. Due to the inability to house students for lunches with the pandemic guidelines set in place by the state during the 2020-21 school year, students had a brief snack break with serving stations set up throughout the school. While necessary at the time, snack break wasn’t always a favorite of students.

Senior Hailey Garcia said, “It is better to have a full lunch because people who struggle at home are looking forward to lunch and need the food.”

With or without the vaccination, everyone is required to wear a mask inside of the building. COVID cont’d to page 41

COVID cont’d from page 40

Teachers are also adapting to the new Covid guidelines, modifying classroom rules and activities.

Science teacher Steve Johnson said, “The amount of group work that the students are asked to do is limited to their lab partner and the students around them.” During other years, students were allowed to move around the room and work with people they choose to.

AP Biology teacher Nicole Schlemmer said, “Being here every single day continuously has made it so much easier for my students, especially in AP Biology. We were so behind last year, by about a month, and now we are right on track!” Last year, AP testing was on a regular schedule, so students had to work twice as hard to stay on track to cover the criteria needed for the tests.

Homecoming is a school activity that happens every year. Last year, it took place in the spring and students put their names into different raffles. This year, however, there was an actual dance. The only rule change from prior years: everyone who attended had to wear a mask. Senior Samantha Feather said, “I appreciated being able to come together as a school again and put on the best dance we possibly could. It was so nice to return to some normalcy.” While there is still a pandemic going on, students and staff have adapted the best they could under the circumstances given. Sterling High School will continue to follow guidelines in hopes that in years following activities and classes will be back to normal.