What’s recently happened?
The Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) Swim Meet was held on Saturday, January 11. This is one of the two most important swim meets of the season, the other being Sectionals. Both Wheeler High School (WHS) swim teams, boys and girls, won the conference meets. This is the boys team’s 10th year in a row winning the conference.
“I was so happy we were able to keep our streak of winning up,” said Junior Titus Parrish.
Most of the team members are new to the sport, so this was an amazing feat.
The girls definitely put in a lot of work and effort to get to where they are now.

“I just started this year, but seeing all of the older girls working hard makes me want to,” said Freshman Jena Wotherspoon.
Many of the girls won first place or placed in the top six. Notable wins are team captain Senior Demi Tasicas taking first place in the 100 yard breaststroke and Sophomore Hailey Morrison winning the 200 yard freestyle.
“I’m so proud of all of the girls. We all worked hard this season to get this win,” said Tasicas.
The boys continuously placed in the top six as well. Team Captain Tommy Emery won every race he swam that day. He recently broke the school record for the 100 yard butterfly for a second time.
“Tommy Emery is just awe inspiring. I want to swim like him,” said Sophomore Ben Gutwein.
What’s coming up?

On February 12, the junior class officers are hosting an Iron Man Volleyball Tournament. This entails teams of boys from each grade going head to head to win the tournament. It begins with seniors versus sophomores and continues on to juniors versus freshmen. The winners play each other to determine the overall winning team.
“I played last year, and the current seniors beat us. I’m not letting that happen again,” said Junior Tyne Vettickal.
This is a fundraiser purely for this year’s prom, which will be held Friday, May 2 at County Line Orchard.
Last year, the current seniors won overall, so it is exciting to see who will win this year.
Staff spotlight:

Teri Anderson has been teaching for 37 years. She teaches Algebra II, Calculus I, and Calculus II. Anderson also leads the math academic team. Her favorite class to teach is Calculus II. She enjoys how the students become out-of-the-box thinkers and are able to apply knowledge from lots of different areas of math.
“I love finding out new ways to solve problems with students,” said Anderson.
Anderson consistently leads the math academic team to the state competition after participating in competitions at Purdue University Northwest and at Wheeler High School. She recruits her best thinkers and works with them to understand the new math required for the competition.
“It’s so fun to learn the new concepts and even have the students teach me sometimes,” said Anderson.

Her favorite part of teaching is pushing the students to learn how to learn and study how colleges work. She loves building relationships with her students and preparing them for the next stages of their lives.
“Students don’t realize what college will be like. Someone has to teach them,” said Anderson.
Away from school, Anderson is a horse girl at heart. She has a few horses, the two main ones being Bob and Gladys. She shows horses in fairs and competitions. She loves taking care of them and training them. She also has a cat named Reba.
“When Ms. Anderson starts talking about her horses, you know you’ll be there for a long time. She loves them so much,” said Senior Frederick Gaetz.
Student spotlight:

Lane Goodrich is a freshman at WHS. She participates in three sports, Key Club, and Spanish Club. Goodrich is in cross country, swim, and track and field.
During cross country, Goodrich performed well and made it all the way to the Regional meet as a freshman.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my best friend, but I’m proud of both of us for that season,” said Goodrich.
She has been running for sport since she was in sixth grade, but she has been swimming for a lot longer. She did club swimming for WHS until it merged with the Valpo Swim Club, and then she joined that club.
“I’ve been swimming so long that I don’t know how old I was when I started,” said Goodrich.
At the GSSC swim meet, Goodrich placed third in the 100 backstroke, second in the 200 freestyle relay, second in the 100 butterfly, and third in the 200 medley relay. Goodrich is a phenomenal swimmer, and will only continue to improve as she moves through high school.
Goodrich will begin track and field in a few weeks when the swim season is over. She performed very well in her middle school years, and after her amazing cross country season, it is evident that she will continue to succeed.
Key Club and Spanish Club are her extracurriculars outside of sports. She enjoys being a part of these clubs and thinks other kids should join.