THE CRESTWOOD CHRONICLE
TO SHARE AND PROMOTE STUDENT LIFE AT CRESTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2016
Welcome, Spring!
Wishing you joy in the sunshine,
The Chronicle Staff
Welcome, Spring!
Ways to Avoid Boredom this Spring Break
Many students have planned trips to warmer states, presenting opportunities to enjoy warm water and sandy beaches. But, what if you're stuck here in Ohio? What if the weather happens to take a turn for the worst? Well, then do we have a list of activities for you.
The Cleveland Art Museum is just over forty minutes away from Mantua. For anyone interested in art or special exhibits, a day at the art museum is a great way to spend time indoors. Also located in this area is the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Great Lakes Science Center. Three aspects of interest in one area--what a win!
Near to the museum is the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. The Big Spring event will begin on Friday, March 18 and will continue through April 1, 2016. For a list of more detailed events, both organizations have easy to access websites.
The IX Center will also be hosting the Autorama Car Show from March 18-20, opening Friday at 3:00 and ending the show Sunday at 10:00. Followed by the car show is the IX Indoor Amusement Park, opening March 25, 2016.
To find more events around Cleveland, www.thisiscleveland.com/events presents many free events around the city. Looking for good food? Visit Tremont or Little Italy.
If you're staying around town, gather friends for a game night, or plan a dinner date at the local restaurant. Take a trip to the local park and take a walk, or ride your bike. Get outdoors when possible, because this is Ohio, and who knows how long this enjoyable weather might last.
Written by: Ms. Kuchta
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Saint Patrick’s Day is known for all things Irish; everything from the color green to shamrocks and good drinks. But what is the history of Saint Patrick’s Day? Saint Patrick was a man from England who was kidnapped as a young boy to be a slave in Ireland. He claimed that God had spoke to him, telling him to escape, which he did and went to Britain and France to study at a monastery. Patrick became a bishop and had dreams of being called back to Ireland. With the Pope’s blessing, Patrick was able to baptize the Irish people, starting their new lives of Christian faith.
This is why Patrick became known as Saint Patrick, but you might be wondering “Well… What does the color green, shamrocks, leprechauns, gold, or the blarney stone have to do with Saint Patrick’s Day?” The three leaves on a shamrock were used by Saint Patrick to explain the trinity, the father, son, and holy ghost. The green represents the terrain of the island. The leprechauns and gold pot at the end of the rainbow have nothing to do with Saint Patrick’s Day, however the leprechaun is an Irish fairy tail that was often told on Saint Patrick’s Day to children.
The Blarney Stone is known for being given a powerful, persuasive speaking if you kiss the stone. The stone is in a wall of a castle and the legend says that after saving a woman from drowning, the woman cast a spell on the stone to give the persuasive speech when kissed. Today people celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day by drinking, cooking traditional irish feasts and going to the Saint Patrick’s Day parade. Sophia Cobb, Sophomore at CHS commented about her family traditions on March 17th by saying, “My family gets together and has a big dinner; like Thanksgiving in March but with Irish food and there's green everywhere.”
Common traditions are feasts, parades, and family gatherings. Also, attending church in honor of Saint Patrick is honorable in Ireland. In Ireland and even the United States, Saint Patrick’s Day is a widely celebrated event to honor the Irish heritage and pass down ancient family traditions.
Written by: Caleb Gula
Spring Cleaning
Spring is right around the corner and that means it’s time to clean the mess that the pesky winter weather created. Spring cleaning is a thorough cleaning of a house or room, typically undertaken in spring. With the weather clearing up and temperature rising, it allows us to get outside and recover from the winter.
High School French teacher, Mrs. Ersing stated, “I usually start on the first day that feels like spring and it means taking my Christmas tree down.”
Get outside this spring to enjoy the upcoming weather; prepare the house and yard for the summer. It is the time to be outside soaking in the sun instead of staying inside the dark, miserable house. Start cleaning up the house now so you get the maximum amount of time appreciating the temperature outside because this is Ohio and the cozy weather won't last long.
Written by: Kurt Bokesch
Hiking into Spring
Spring time in Portage Parks brings hiking weather to all who enjoy wandering the trails. Portage Parks has several trails and parks perfect for exploring nature in the great outdoors. There are several activities and programs offered all throughout the trails and parks surrounding Portage that are entertaining, experiential, and relaxing. The parks offer a variety of educational activities, outdoor adventures, races, and walks for all ages to enjoy. Some activities include the astronomy event at Morgan Preserve in Shalersville. Spending time outside is a great way to bond with family, and friends. However, if you prefer to be alone, it is also a place to relax and let the world fall away as you step into nature’s asylum.
Several researches have studied the effects of hiking and enjoying the environment. Admiring your surroundings can be known to help reduce anger, fear, and stress, while also increasing pleasant feelings. Exposure to outdoors not only makes you feel better emotionally, it also contributes to your physical well being by reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones according to The University of Minnesota.
With the warming temperatures and melting snow, spring brings not only rain, but a chance to get out in nature and calm your nerves.
Written by: Alyssa Blake
Now Featuring...
New Movies Spring into Theaters
Among the excited movie fanatics, junior Olivia Brady said, “I saw Deadpool this weekend and it was super action-packed and I loved every bit of it. I loved how funny it was too!” Deadpool is the first of several Marvel movies being released this spring.
Superhero films in general are especially hot, from both DC and Marvel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Captain America: Civil War are just a few highly-anticipated installments in the superhero franchise. Several children’s movies are also scheduled to come out this spring. Among these are Zootopia and The Little Prince, both animated films rated PG.
Written by: Melina Edic
Allergy Season Blows In
Allergies occur when the immune system reacts to foreign substances. The immune system produces antibodies which identify the allergen as something harmful that needs to be combatted; this is the reason for the irritations that people experience when their body comes in contact with an allergen.
Allergic reactions are caused by many different substances such as food, insects, or drugs. The most common allergies are to airborne pollen or mold spores. Spring is a common time for allergies to become a problem due to the freshly blooming plants releasing pollen. Typically, seasonal allergies begin in February and end in the early months of summer. However, because snow is still falling this February, no pollen is being released.
When asked when allergies tend to be the worst, Nurse Joyce responded, “It varies with each person, one could find that their allergies are worse in the spring or the fall but it depends on what they are allergic to. If the person is allergic to a certain tree pollen, their reaction would be when that tree blooms. If the person is allergic to an animal, they’re allergic to the dander in that animal, which is there year round, so it is much harder to control those symptoms”
Nurse Joyce informs us that, “It is possible to relieve yourself from the symptoms. Some people take medication everyday to help prevent the symptoms. Once you come into contact with whatever you’re allergic to, that is when you get the runny nose, scratchy eyes or you might have some difficulty breathing. You can take Benadryl or any other antihistamine to help relieve your symptoms. You can take medication to make your body not respond as bad in the first place, such as Claritin and Zyrtec.”
So with allergy season rapidly arriving, be considerate to those struggling with symptoms.
Written by: Melody Bencie
French Students Travel to Canada
Crestwood’s French Club took a trip to Canada from February 11th to the 16th. They visited the cities of Montreal and Quebec. The bus ride was eleven hours long until they reached their destination.
First, the group spent two days visiting Montreal. When asked what his favorite part of Montreal was, junior Jake Kollman said, “My favorite part was seeing Notre-Dame, the basilica.” He also added, “It was nothing like the Notre-Dame church in Paris.” Some of the other stops in Montreal were an archaeological site, the old city of Montreal, a hip-hop dance class, and a graffiti workshop where the kids designed their own hats.
Next, the students headed back to the bus for a three hour drive to Quebec. The first night they ate dinner at the Sugar Shack, a maple syrup factory. The following day a tour of the city took place where the group also made a stop at the Ice Hotel, a building made completely made of ice and snow. The trip concluded walking around ‘old Quebec’. An interactive presentation discussed the Seven Years War.
When asked about Quebec, Brianna Kimball commented, “My favorite part was the dinner at the Sugar Shack.” After a long trip, the group got to relax and sleep on their fourteen hour ride back to Crestwood.
The whole group seemed very pleased with the chance the visit to these two French-Canadian cities where they got hands-on experience with the language they’ve been learning at school.
Written by: Jacob Whitman
**The Chronicle would like to apologize for missing accents in any pictorial caption.
Success at the Father Daughter Dance
On February 27th the Crestwood High School Leadership class put on their fourth annual Father-Daughter Dance. The dance is a fundraiser for the classes Leadership Retreat which is held in May. The Father-Daughter Dance had many snacks as well as activities for the young daughters. Some of the snacks were sand cups and goldfish and graham cracker scenes. The sand cups consisted of crushed nilla wafers under and above vanilla pudding mixed with cool whip topped with a sea creature gummy. The scenic crackers with graham crackers topped with blue icing topped with two goldfish treats. Some activities were treasure box decorating and clothes pin mermaid constructing.
“I think it was a great chance for fathers and daughters to connect, as well as getting a change for high schoolers to interact with younger kids. I danced with a lot of younger children and had a blast, I also had the privilege to serve the kids snacks.” says leadership student, Kaylyn Cox.
Mrs. Jones, one of the leadership teachers said, “This was our fourth year doing the dance. It went very well and as with everything, we are going to make some changes for next year. We are going to make some procedural changes for next year to make the dance even better.”
The Father-Daughter Dance was a huge success thanks to everyone who came out and supported. Next year the Father-Daughter Dance will be extended an extra half of an hour to accommodate for all of the activities the leadership class is planning. Hope to see you next year!
Written by: Mike Snodgrass
Winter One Acts Spring Review
On February 20th and 21st, Crestwood High Drama Club performed their annual Winter One Acts. The Winter One Acts are short student directed skits, even sometimes student written. This year there were ten different acts with a brief intermission in the middle. CHDC gave two performances each day at 2PM and 7PM.
Ms. Miller was in charge of supervising the students during rehearsals and the productions. Junior Nolan Morgenstern, an officer in CHDC, said that, “ It was a great experience for all those involved, especially for the many newcomers who have yet to experience drama club to its full potential.”
Compared to other years, senior Emily Baker, drama president, stated, “ It was definitely a closer bunch and more of a family feel than previous years. It was more put together. We definitely have more dedicated actors and officers.”
Written by: Nathaniel DeHoff
Sports
March Madness
A tradition every year among students at Crestwood High School is to gather teams of 6-8 students or faculty to play tournament games of volleyball.
There are only allowed to be two students from the school’s volleyball team on each March Madness team. An entrance fee of $5.00 per player is required to enter the bracket. The tournament will begin February 22nd is completed by March 18th. Games will be played in the high school gym before school begins.
“I am so excited to play volleyball with all my friends! We created a team this year of band kids called The Volleyball Team--very original; a classic. We believe we will play well, even though we only have backyard volleyball experience-it still counts. We are also all very close to one another, so we will always get along and play well together. We hope to go far in the tournament,” junior Karli Bigler exclaimed.
The winners of each game will advance in the bracket. The losers of the game will go into the loser bracket and continue to play the other losing teams. The last two teams of the winner's bracket will play each other at a pep assembly, with a student audience, to determine the champion of 2016 March Madness.
Written by: Amanda Lerchbacher
Varsity Bowlers Fight for Strikes at States
The Crestwood Varsity Bowling Teams went to Roseland Lanes on Saturday, February 20th to compete in the Northeast District Tournament for a spot at the 2016 Division II State Championships.
After three games and six bakers, the Girls’ Varsity team placed 3rd with a total of 3,301 pins, coming behind Norton (1st) with a total of 3,306 and Fairport Harding (2nd) with 3,302. Behind them was Garfield (4th) with a total of 3,135 and Hubbard (5th) with 3,131.
Junior Emma Dockery placed 6th for high individual series of 529 and 14th for high individual game of 182. Ashley Wieclaw placed 19th for a high individual series of 481. The Boys’ Varsity team placed 6th with 3,589 pins, coming behind Struthers (1st), Woodridge (2nd), Triway (3rd), Champion (4th), and Coventry (5th).
Senior Bradley Woodrum placed 3rd for a high individual game of 233 and 8th for high individual series of 583. Junior Nick Toke placed 13th for high individual series with a total of 571.
To qualify for the State Championships, a team must place in the top 5, or qualify individually. The girls finished 3rd giving them a spot at States, but the boys barely missed qualifying. Yet, with their high individual series, Woodrum placed 4th and Toke took 5th individually, advancing them to States.
The District II State Championship was held the week after Districts. The boys’ championships were held on Friday, February 26 and the girls’ championships were Saturday, February 27.
The bowlers practiced everyday to prepare for the tournament. The boys fought hard; Toke rolled games of 178, 164, and 172, finishing 79th and Woodrum rolled games of 236, 264, and 219 with a series of 719. Bradley finished 3rd overall, earning First Team All-Ohio honors. The girls’ team, after three games and three bakers, finished 10th overall with a score of 3,000 pins, missing the championship round by 59 pins. Leading the team was Dockery who had placed 19th individually with a series of 576.
Written by: Megan Wilfong
Competition Cheer Attend State
Written by: Noah Worron, Nathan DeHoff & Joey Donat
Swimmers Dive into Districts
Due to racing well at Akron University sectional meet, junior Blaine Sorrick and senior Colson Faust qualified for the district swim meet at Cleveland State University.
Sorrick qualified at sectionals with 10th place in the 200 yard freestyle, and 9th in the 500 yard freestyle. Faust qualified at sectionals with 15th in the 100 yard breast. Even after being combined with the other sectional meet, both swimmers were still in the top 30 of their events, which sent them to districts. This is the first time that Sorrick and Faust have had the opportunity to compete in the district meet.
At Cleveland State, Sorrick placed 27th in the 200 meter freestyle and 24th in the 500 meter freestyle. Faust placed 28th in the 100 meter breast. Unfortunately, only top 16 out of all of the districts qualify for the state meet. As Sorrick was getting ready to race his first race (the 200 meter freestyle) he explained that, “It was nerve-racking because there was a lot of good competition and I had never been there before but exciting because I knew I was racing with people that would be good enough to swim at the state meet and that was really cool.” Crestwood’s swim program is on the rise, and hopes to make an even larger splash at the district meet next year.
Written by: Morgan Chesla
Track Season Begins
The beginning of a new spring season hit the ground running on Monday, March 7th. It’s a fresh start for the upcoming track team and Crestwood Middle School science teacher, Coach Kerst, is awaiting the season.
“Crestwood is hosting the 2016 PTC County/Metro tournaments May 11th and May 13th,” an excited Coach Kerst exclaimed. This holds a big weight for the team this year because they will be getting the “home advantage,” as stated by Mr. Kerst. The program is hopeful for many new faces and determined, young athletes to add to the depth of the team.
In addition to all of the great things expected for the 2016 runners, Coach Kerst advises, “The key to every successful season, is health.” As suggested by Mr. Kerst, runners must maintain a good diet along with plenty of hydration in order to compete successfully.
Written by: Noah Worron
Softball Season Makes it way Home
Tryouts began on February 22nd and ended the week of February 29th. Twenty-eights ladies will pay to participate at the fee of $200.00/child.
Practices will be held Monday through Saturday at varied times in the gym until season permits otherwise. Kent State University is allowing the team to use the field house for three practices throughout the season. This will allow the team to have more room to practice infield and outfield specifics as well as batting. The pitchers for this year are Senior, Bailey Lamb, Junior, Megan Cymanski, Sophomore, Mikayla Campbell, and Freshman, Corrie Mchone.
Varsity’s first home game will be held April 1st at 4:00pm at Crestwood Middle School against Berkshire. Junior Varsity’s first home game will be held April 5th at 4:30pm against Garrettsville. Varsity’s first away game will be on April 5th at Garfield at 4:30pm. Junior Varsity’s first away game will be held at North Royalton on April 1st at 4:30pm.
The varsity coach of four years is Luke Darrah from Ravenna and his assistant of two years is Cheryl Goggin from Crestwood. Junior Varsity’s head coach of three years is Victoria Sanchez from Aurora. Volunteer coaches include Paul Campbell (two years), Chris Semety (two years), Terry Mchone (first year), and Joe Soukenik (first year).
Senior night activities will be held on May 10th beginning at 4:30 on the home field. The varsity team will immediately begin after.
“The future of the program looks bright,” says Goggin. “We have many young, talented athletes. This year we are looking to make a run for districts and to be able to go even further in the upcoming years.”
Written by: Adrianna Scopilliti
Fast Pitch into Baseball
The end of winter means the beginning of spring. Spring is the start of high school baseball season at Crestwood High School. This upcoming year will be an exciting one because the Red Devils come off of a 16-13 season.
The Devils will be lead by the 6 seniors: Nate Lind, Ryan Erway, Zach Sefcik who are returning and Matt Thompson, London Salisbury, Aaron Czerny who are not returning. The baseball team switched conferences from the PTC Metro to the PTC County.
Head Coach, John Bakalar, said, “We still have to go out and play baseball; games are not won on paper because we are now one of the biggest schools. We cannot afford to overlook anyone.”
Bakalar said that his expectations for this season were to “practice and play hard every single day, be fundamentally sound and carry ourselves in a way that makes ourselves, family, school and community proud of the baseball program.”
The season kicks off on Friday, March 18th with the varsity scrimmaging at home against St. Vincent St. Mary.
Written by: Ryan Erway