What's recently happened:
Some intriguing changes are coming to Kouts High School (KHS). There are new after-school activities that have been added with the possibility of more to come.
A clay targeting club is in the works with a pre-callout meeting scheduled for next week, March 10.
Traditionally, clay targeting is a sport involving shooting a firearm at flying clay targets known as clay pigeons.
The club is open to middle school and high school students.
A badminton club is now possible at KHS after a form was given to all students to gauge interest last week, however, this is still in development.
Finally, Austin Atterbury, the student aide of Tim Schwartz, has set up a "Guitar Hero" meetup for high school students.
Atterbury realized that many of his students had an interest in video games, and his students found that their student-teacher had a youtube channel. News of this channel where Atterbury plays "Guitar Hero" spread like wildfire, sparking more interest in the game itself.
Atterbury has found a perfect avenue to connect with his students and have fun with them outside of the classroom.
The "Guitar Hero" meetup is on Mondays and Wednesdays after school until 4:45 p.m., and all skill levels are welcome.
Atterbury promised his beginners that by the time he leaves in April, they will have moved up two skill levels.
What's coming up:
Spring break is just around the corner, and students have been counting down the days left until their break begins.
The official spring break runs from March 21 to March 25. Spring break is the second-longest vacation during the school year, as winter break lasts about twice as long.
The week off gives the students a chance to decompress and relax before finishing out the year strong. When the students return, there will be only nine weeks left in the semester and in the year.
Some students already have plans on how they want to spend their free time that week. Kayla Harker, a junior at KHS, said that she wants to go to Michigan and see the spring sunrise over the lake at the beach, weather permitting of course. Harker is also hoping she will have plenty of time to hang out with her friends.
Kaitlynn Ready, a senior at KHS, doesn’t have any “concrete plans” but she’s looking forward to having time to relax and hang out with her cat, something she won’t have to worry about the weather for.
Nicholas "Cole" Brown, a junior at KHS, is looking forward to spending time with his friends as well. He is glad to have time for his hobby of sim racing. Brown has put a lot of time and money into sim racing, and it makes him happy.
Student Spotlight:
Aubrey Lundquist is a junior at KHS, and she is involved in many aspects of student life. She is class president of the class of 2023 and student body secretary.
Lundquist is an incredible athlete. She plays at the varsity level on both the soccer and cheer teams.
Academically, she is a member of both the English and history Academic Super Bowl teams, and she still finds time for helping others as a member of the National Honor Society.
Lundquist brings so much life and spirit into KHS when she walks into the building every day. She actively tries to make at least one person’s day better.
Lundquist says that she gets inspiration from her English teacher, Carol Flanigan.
“She really puts effort to apply life lessons to our English readings and to leave the students with lifelong wisdom than just memorized facts. She inspires me to be the best version of myself,” Lundquist said.
Any teacher would be proud to call Lundquist their student as students like her make schools like KHS special.
Lundquist has her own feelings on what KHS means to her.
“I love the closeness of the community. I like walking down the hall and knowing everyone’s names. I like having personal connections with the teachers, staff, and coaches because I feel it really enriches my educational experience,” she said.
Lundquist enriches the educational experience of those around her with positivity and her generosity to help those in need.
Staff Spotlight:
Tim Schwartz teaches algebra I and II as well as trigonometry, pre-calculus, and calculus at KHS.
He enjoys teaching many topics in math.
“It’s really the students that help make that content come alive,” said Schwartz.
While Schwartz loves his job now, he wasn’t always an educator. He started his career path as an engineer but has always loved working with youth whether that was through his church or coaching his son.
Schwartz later felt called to work as a teacher full-time. Though it's never easy changing careers, Schwartz feels he made the right choice.
“I took the plunge, made that switch, and have not regretted it ever since,” Schwartz said.
Some of the most rewarding parts of being a teacher for Schwartz is having students enjoy being in his class since not everyone enjoys math at the same level he does. He hopes that after taking his class, they won’t dislike math as much as they did before.
The most important thing that Schwartz wishes for students to take away from his class is the ability to solve problems.
“You’re going to be faced with many problems and challenges in life. Learning how to use your resources and analyze and access the problem and figure out strategies to solve the problems is really what I look for to teach the students,” Schwartz said.
If there were any advice that Schwartz would give students as they prepare to graduate from high school, it would be to find what they love doing, and find how to get paid for it. He also advises students to look for alternate ways to chase their dreams other than college. While college is fantastic, there are other ways to select career paths other than going to college.