Student focus-
Serena Shughoury is a senior at Valparaiso High School (VHS). Shughoury is actively involved in improving the world around her, both in and out of the school. One way that Shughoury positively impacts the world around her is by selling handmade jewelry and donating the proceeds to various organizations around the world.
“The charities that I donate to are the Zakat Foundation of America, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, the Navajo Water Project, the Ocean Cleanup, and the Black Immigrants Bail Fund,” Shughoury said. “Customers pick which organization they would like the money to go to when purchasing the jewelry.”
Shughoury is passionate about both global issues and making jewelry, and she realized that she could combine the two to make a positive change.
“I have always been interested in current global issues and I did not really know how I could contribute,” Shughoury said. “After discovering my passion in making jewelry, I realized I could sell the jewelry to raise money for various organizations as my personal contribution to helping the world.”
Along with her jewelry business, Shughoury is active in many clubs at the school.
“I am president of Earth Awareness Club and Future Medical Professionals Club, and secretary of UNICEF. I am also a part of Drama Club, Model UN, Team LEAD, Spanish Club, and Latin Club. Along with this, I compete in Discussion Speech,” Shughoury said.
Shughoury plans to continue on to college after high school, and plans to double major in Neuroscience and Biology, with a minor in Philosophy.
Teacher focus
Cindy Sabella is a cheer coach at Valparaiso High School, and a teacher to special needs students in the school system. Sabella has been a speech language pathologist for 23 years, and helps her students who struggle with communication to learn and improve.
“I love working with special needs students,” Sabella said. “It’s hard to explain why, but I just have a special place in my heart for them. They make me smile every day! When I was in high school, I volunteered in a preschool class for special needs kids- much like a peer tutor- and I enjoyed it so much I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
This year, Sabella is working with preschool students at Heavilin, elementary students at Central, and at VHS. As a speech therapist she helps them work on their speech- how they produce sounds but also vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and social aspects of communication.
“I have a wide range of students! They range in age from 3-21, and many are only working on speech,” she said. “But some have autism, hearing impairment, Down Syndrome, or other cognitive impairments.”
Along with teaching special needs students, she is a cheer coach at the high school. Sabella has been coaching cheer since 1997, and expressed her love for both the technical aspects of cheerleading, and the relationships that she builds with the students she coaches. Her daughter, sophomore Abby Sabella, is one of the students on the cheer team.
“I was a cheerleader in high school and my dad was a high school basketball coach, so supporting high school athletics has been a part of my life forever,” Sabella said. “When I was in college I applied for a coaching position at a local high school, because I missed being a part of athletics, and I have been coaching ever since! I also really love the sport of cheer.”
Along with her active participation in the high school, Sabella is very active in her church, which is Calvary Church in Valparaiso. At Calvary, she teaches Sunday school to special needs students.
What happened
The Valparaiso High School gymnastics team has had great success from the very beginning of their season. They began their season with a victory over Crown Point High School, with a score of 108.75 to 106.65. This score is currently the second highest score in the state, which is a major accomplishment for the team. Head coach Lorie Cook explained her thoughts on the meet.
“This was a great start to the season,” Cook said. “We added several new skills, and competed them successfully. The win helped us at the Viking Pairs meet, where we beat Lake Central High School, who was fourth at last year's state meet. I would say that the biggest factors were team unity and support for each other, a team first attitude, hard work and preparation, and the ability to focus despite setbacks and obstacles.”
One of the team members who came away with the highest achievement of the meet was junior Gabi Grisafi. At the meet, Grisafi won Vault, Uneven Bars, Floor, and All Around. Gabi also attributed the win, and her individual success at the meet, to her team.
“The support from my team drives my performance during competition. Knowing that they are there to back me up allows me to focus in and really perform at my best,” Grisafi said.