Veronica Alvarez’s Essay appears below:

A Teacher Never Forgotten

Someone once said that, “to teach is to touch lives forever.” There are moments when in the blink of an eye weeks have gone by. There are moments when you turn to look around and you feel like you are just drowning in a glass of water, with all that is going on. It is in these moments in which people leave their footprints embedded in your life. I will never forget a very important set of footprints that have been embedded into my life. The most courageous man in the world left these set of footprints. My teacher. Mr. Matthew Hundley.

I have had Mr. Hundley as a teacher three times in my life. Each of those three times I have come to admire him more and more. Mr. Hundley has been a teacher who has taught me so much more then English, Speech, and Drama. He has taught me that in life you must stand up for what you believe, even if you are the only one standing alone. He has defended so many people in the world without any of them knowing it. He is the reason that I will never feel different and I will never feel like just because I am a different race and I speak a different language than 98% of everyone in my school, I am still special.

In my school people have often times said hurtful things simply out of ignorance. They have criticized groups of people that they have never even gotten to know. Every single time that someone has said an ignorant comment, every time that someone has made another person unknowingly feel bad in this world, Mr. Hundley has been there to defend that person no matter who they are, or what they look like.

Mr. Hundley makes teaching English into a journey of discovery. Mr. Hundley is always reminding people of the greatness they have within themselves. He looks at every student as a bright light in the tunnel of life. He has hopes and aspirations for each one of us. You can always expect to find Mr. Hundley standing outside of his classroom greeting every single person in the hallways with a smile. He will always be there every passing period. I actually have come to believe that Mr. Hundley is an energizer bunny that never stops smiling. I know that twenty years from now I will always remember high school as one of the greatest times of my life.

However, the most important thing that I will remember are the memories of Mr. Hundley defending me like no other teacher ever had before. He has touched my life in a way that no teacher ever has. His passion for his students and his positive outlook on life lead me to believe that people like Mr. Hundley are the ones that can be called special teachers who can change a student’s life forever.

Veronica Alvarez, Grade 12

The two lifts that the weight classes did were bench and power cling.

“I worked so hard all year long to reach my goal. It’s kind of fun because we have little competitions between people. In the end I think Barta was pleased with how much I lifted,” Amber Searles, 10, said.

Over 100 students participated in the lift-a-thon. Out of these, three boys competed to break the school record and to beat their own personal best.

“I was so happy when I actually broke the school record for bench. I ended up lifting about 315 pounds so it was also my personal best. I can’t wait to see how much more weight I can get up to next year,” Drake Ewing, 10, said.

For the senior class, this was their last time that they could reach their personal best. Some achieved this while other fell a little short.

“I wasn’t really upset that this was my last lift-a-thon. I ended up reaching my goal so I was pretty satisfied with how the night went,” Kelsey Helus, 12, said.

The freshmen through juniors can come back next year to continue improvement. Barta strives for teens to do the best that they can and that’s all he could ask for.

This leaves an opening in the Holton High School staff, which is going to be filled by Karen Beightel, who has been a secretary for school’s guidance counselors for the last six years.

As office secretary,. Beightel will take care of many of the students’ and administrators’ needs.  She will be behind the desk answering phone calls, keeping track of accounting books and paperwork and dealing with all the other behind- the- scenes work that can often go unnoticed.

Geometry students have been working with 3D objects and finding their volumes and surface areas under the direction of student teacher Lisa Wade.

Last Friday Wade gave her classes a handout saying that they must make a project having something to do with volume and surface area. Many people choose to draw objects or made shapes out of paper. Another option was to write a letter to a manufacturer and told them how to maximize the volume of their packages.  A lot of people really enjoyed doing something new and different.

“I loved making my project it was a hands on learning experience with surface area and volume formulas. I also enjoy Ms. Wade teaching the class. She has different ideas and I’m sure she will be a good teacher, “ Jennifer Hamlin, 10., said.

For extra credit , math students could present their projects to the class. Many chose this option in honors geometry Wednesday.

“I think that the projects were really creative and the more creative the kids were with their projects the more fun they had with it, I’m not done grading the projects that have already been presented but I’m looking forward to the others yet to come,” Wade said.

“Volunteering teaches people to appreciate things they have and what they can do for other people,” said Sheri Bartel, KAYS sponsor.

This month KAYS has done a shoe drive for underprivileged kids that don’t have good shoes to wear for the winter. Their next service project is to help with the Pregnancy Crisis Center and gather baby supplies for needy mothers.

There are many other students who volunteer on their own time too. Rachel Clancy, 10, has helped at the Kid’s Closet in her spare time.

“I wanted to help the community in a way I could, by donating and sorting as well,” Clancy said.

Another student, Haley Rhule, 11, has been volunteering her time at the Heart of Jackson Humane Society for about six years.

“Just being around the dogs and seeing how far they’ve come from being there is a great experience. You know that you have helped their change to be good dogs and get them adopted in a family that will care for them forever. Even if you are sad you are always happy to see them get a good home,” Rhule said.

Volunteer work isn’t just for students either, Susan Rhule, counselor, and Stacey Kramer, IRC, both volunteer their time to walk dogs at the Heart of Jackson Humane Society too.

“Donating your free time is important because it will show that you want to do something for the betterment of the community,” Rhule said.

All this work will pay of in the long run. Many scholarship committees out there look for students who donate their time. It also helps when you start getting real jobs in the future.

“Volunteering shows that you can handle managing your time and responsibility,” Susan Rhule.  She said there are a lot of scholarships that are based on community work.  The Rocky Fund Scholarship, for example, is mainly based on commitment and community service.

“You have to be consistent in whatever you are volunteering; Ten minutes doesn’t cut it,” Susan Rhule said.

Free time can be spent in many different ways, but for many students choosing to help people and their community will make a difference in the long run.

-       They are 2 ft. tall and live in Ireland

-       The best way to catch a leprechaun is to creep up on him when he is tying his shoes

-       They are mischevious creatures that like to cause rucus by playing tricks around the house

-       If you catch a leprechaun he must give you his pot of gold or grant you three wishes

-       No one has ever seen a female leprechaun

-       In order to protect their famous “leprechaun’s pot of gold” the fairies gave them magical powers to use if they were captured by humans.

-       They are great magicians and love to dance

-       Leprechauns are known for hypnotizing people so they let them go.

-       When found by humans, leprechauns are usually drunk.

-       They are skilled shoemakers

We all have gone through it. The whole “I hate parking so far away,” and “The upperclassmen don’t even use the end of the parking lot,” when we are underclassmen.  It really doesn’t matter if we use it though. It has been an issue probably for a lot of years, but most definitely since I have been in high school. It’s a respect issue.

Posting stuff on Twitter and Facebook just makes things worse. After stuco gave out 25 tickets one day this semester, there were probably 30 tweets or more of complaining about the tickets. If you have a problem with it, talk to the stuco president or someone else you think may be worth talking to. It only makes the upperclassmen angrier when you complain about it.

“I never parked in the senior/junior parking lot as an underclassmen,” said Alexa Kitrell, senior. “I just put myself in their shoes and realized that I will have my turn.” The only reason we get so mad is because we were in your shoes once and most of us tried our best to park in the gravel. There isn’t much room but come on, 25 parking tickets in one day? Now you see why we ticket.

I know that its hard to park in the gravel especially when its raining and muddy and you have the cement to park on right next to it but take into consideration that you will be an upperclassmen one day though and having to deal with underclassmen just like you.

Montserrat, Great Britain, and Ireland are the only countries to celebrate St. Patrick’s day Publicly

In Ireland there are no alcohol sales allowed and all Bars must close for the day

The original color of st. Patrick’s day was blue

In Chicago they dye the rivers green with 40 pounds of green vegetable dye

Saint Patrick wasn’t Irish he was Scottish

Over 34 million american’s have Irish Ancestry

9 of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence were of Irish origin

Many people wear green so they avoid being pinched

St. Patrick used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish Christians

This year it seems like the most popular trend is the “standing broom trick,” or “brooming,” as some people refer to it.  In brooming, a person gets a broom and places it on carpet, wood, or even on the sidewalk to try to see if it can stay there for a long amount of time.

“Brooming” has become a huge phenomenon on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Thousands of people have been  “brooming” for the past month, Holton High students included.

There are some theories on how a broom can stand frozen in a specific spot. One of the first theories is that it is able to stand on its own in a specific spot is because of the Equinox. During the Equinox the sun is located evenly among the northern and southern hemispheres.

Another theory is that since a broom is “light,” it’s able to balance and stay frozen anywhere you put it. Gravity would make it stay in a specific spot without anything besides mass pushing it over.

Both of those theories are false. The actual reason the broom can be balanced because of the bristles at the bottom of a broom. Brooms have flat bottoms and lots of bristles; they will stick to carpet pretty easily if someone finds a good surface to put the broom on.