Katherine “Katrina” Gootee is a great student. She’s responsible, organized, and participates in extracurriculars while maintaining excellent grades. She has many friends in the high school and is a very kind and respectable student.
How old are you?
“I am 16 years old”
What activities do you do in high school?
“I participate in Women’s Chorus, Girl’s Swimming and Diving, and Spell bowl.”
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
“I see myself pursuing a CSI major as a sophomore in an undergrad college; most likely ND or VU.”
What do you think of our high school?
“I think it has a lot of great opportunities. I see great things for VHS in the years ahead.”
What’s happened?
Everyone is back in school and students have settled into the routine of things; the classes, the lockers, and the lunch schedule. Of course, what goes with schools? Clubs! At VHS, there are plenty clubs from Academic Super-bowl to Key Club to Writer’s Block. The variety of clubs allows the students of VHS to learn valuable lessons like public speaking, how to garden, and how to make important decisions outside of the classroom environment.
Of course, clubs are only part of the excitement of the school, there are also sports too!
The high school has a bunch of sports for students to choose from including but not limited to: Volleyball, Baseball, Basketball, Tennis, Gymnastics, and of course, Football. The sports help students exercise, form friendships, and learn time management.
Lastly, the environment at VHS is welcoming to everyone, regardless of race, culture, or sex. In fact, these differences bring in unique experiences for students to engage and learn in a positive manner.
What’s going to happen?
Since it’s the beginning of the year, students at VHS are getting into routine of their classes. Even though the year is just getting started, October brings Homecoming week where the Students of VHS, their parents, and the rest of the community join together in the high school’s bleachers to watch The Valpo Vikings face-off with another team. The week also features the homecoming dance!
Homecoming week isn’t the only thing Valparaiso is doing in October, though. The Foreign language students will be having a Soccer tournament on October 10th. In their classes, they’ve talked about this soccer tournament. It’s $10 for Food, a T-shirt, and games of soccer with the other foreign languages. Each t-shirt will have the same design, but a different color depending on the foreign language the students are in.
All in all, the month of September has been a very busy month for the students of VHS, but all are ready for the fun in October!
Student Spotlight: Katherine Gootee
Teacher Spotlight: Carolyn Kamber
Mrs. Kamber is a well liked teacher at Valparaiso High school. She is kind and her teaching methods are interesting, but effective. All around, she is a great English teacher.
How long have you worked at Valparaiso High?
“This is my 14th year teaching at Valparaiso High School.”
What/whom persuaded you to become a teacher?
“It was actually my junior high school teacher at Chesterton High school that inspired me to become a teacher. I was just inspired by his teaching methods and how engaging he was. It was actually the first time I really was able to engage and experience literature from a new point of view and it was that year, when I was 17, that I decided to go to college to be an English Teacher.”
What is Valparaiso High School doing that is positive for the community?
“I think Valparaiso High school is doing a lot of amazing, positive things for the community. We have a lot of extracurriculars that students can be apart of. Lead is a great example of high school students that help other middle school and elementary school students along the way and help them find their paths. Then, you have programs like Key Club which are really involved in community service and going out and helping people who aren’t just students in the school, but actually are in the community as well. So those are at least two off the top of my head that I can think of that try and engage the school in the community as well”.