Soccer Highlights: The girls soccer team hosted Hammond Clark on September 16th and won 2-to-1. Joslyn Hemdal scored the first goal. When the game tied, Gracie Birmingham sent a cross to Gabby Rogers who won the game! The girls also versed Hanover Central and won 1 to zero. Kasey Cavinder scored the only goal. McKenna Magura had 3 saves that game and Tiffany Trater had 5. The Fillies were currently 6 and 6 for the season.
The boys soccer team also versed Hanover Central and won 4 to 0. Alex Brown scored the first 3 goals and Anthony Furdeck scored his first goal of the season. Sam Kropp, Jared Birky, and Doug Satoski all contributed an assist. Goalkeeper, Chase Farmer had 6 saves. The Mustangs are now 5-4-and 1. The Mustangs soccer team celebrated Senior night by beating Hobart 2 to 0. Anthony Furdeck scored on a PK and Doug Satoski scored with an assist from Alex Brown.
On October 6th, the boys entered the sectionals against Hebron and lost in penalty kicks. Down 1 to 0 in the first half, Jack Furdeck stormed the goalkeeper, allowing Doug Satoski to score, making the match tied. Defense played hard, and Goalkeeper, Chase Farmer, was amazing, having 12 saves. The team played for a total of 95 minutes. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication, guys! The girls play their soccer sectionals this weekend.
Cross Country Highlights: The Fillies and Mustangs cross country teams lost to Hebron, but defeated Westville in some PCC action on September 16th. The Fillies were led by Holly Kuebler in 1st, followed by Alexis DeMarco, Faith Robertson, Ryleigh Cadwell, Lauren Yager, and Alexis Balder.
The Mustangs were led by Grant Hamstra in 1st, following with Jay Heinold in 2nd, then came Waco Sebastian, Dakota Dick, Connor Gustafson, and Hunter Yager. The girls and boys cross country team traveled to the lake on September 26th, resulting in Holly Kuebler, Jay Heinold, Grant Hamstra, and Dakota Dick receiving individual medals. Good job, guys!
Sophomore Narratives: 10th and 12th Grade English Teacher, Elizabeth Chatwell, is teaching the sophomores about eternal glory. By giving an assignment of writing a speech about a moment that changed their life or impacted their life the most, it challenged kids to dig deeper than what the surface had to offer.
Once the speeches were finished, people who were grouped in four, chose whose speech they wanted their class to hear. Students were chosen from each group and read to the class. From there, the class decided who would read in front of the whole sophomore class from those chosen.
In the final stages, one person represented each class. Ryan Smutniak, Hanna Freeland, and Pierce Fisher all presented in the last stage where the whole sophomore class would decide who’s they liked more. Ryan’s speech began with a tension breaker, a laughable story about a time he’d tipped a port-a-potty, and barely escaped a police chase just to give himself up in the end, but never suffering the consequences of his actions as his mother failed to find out about this mishap.
Following Ryan was Hanna who hushed the class into silence as she poured her heart out depression and insecurities. Finally, Pierce Fischer took the stage and opened hearts as he talked about his close friend who committed suicide due to cyber bullying. With tears flowing, Pierce captured the crowd and gave a deeper meaning to Chatwell’s beginning assignment. When it was time to vote, the crowd roared for Pierce and Pierce had won.
Afterward, I had a chance to talk to Pierce. Intrigued, I asked him what made him decide to write about this.
“I didn’t choose this because it was the “greatest” story. I didn’t exactly think this was exactly the best, but rather the biggest story. I used to tell everyone that I knew to ‘go kill themselves’, and I would joke about suicide. After this incident, I couldn’t bring myself to tell someone to kill himself, because I felt as though that was inappropriate, because before I didn’t know the pain that came with it.”
Pierce, Hanna, and Ryan were very brave giving their hearts to their peers, and I want to just commend them for their bravery and hope maybe the weight on their shoulders are just a little lighter after accomplishing this assignment.
Spell Bowl Highlights: Starting off the season, the Spell Bowl team travels to East Noble for the first time and wins a third place trophy. Great spellers for the East Noble Invite were Maddie Garcia, Brooklynn MacDonald, Victoria Cross, Kailee Saulsgiver, and Grace Higbie. Shout-out to Grace Higbie who earned the most points at the Invite. She also was the only almost perfect speller, meaning she only missed one word out of nine.
Other people on the team are Cole Vick, Lauren Moser, Bailie Frazier, Nicole Fackelman, Cheyenne Wray, Kyer Kneifel, Stephen Carnell, Olivia Konchar, Hollie Schweller,Lauren Drang, Karl Wehner, Maddy Wigley, and Brianca Sutton.
At the Penn Invite, the Spell Bowl team earned, yet again, a third place trophy. At our Kouts Invitational, Kouts hosted 12 other schools including Lacrosse, Penn, East Noble, and many others. Although, the Spell Bowl didn’t earn third, they did earn 4th at the Kouts Invite. In addition to spelling words, the Kouts Spell Bowl team also helps at Purdue football games. This past weekend, several of the students worked the concessions at the last Purdue game and had a blast. The next Spell Bowl competition is this upcoming Monday at Benton Central.
College-Go Week: Every year there’s a week when we celebrate our future and where we hope to attend college at. One day there is favorite college day, where you support your favorite college apparel. Another day is your career day. You can dress up in scrubs (as seen in the picture), or even a police uniform. Another day represented the “study-all-night” nights while in showing up to school in pajamas. A lot of the students “bummed” it and a few took the initiative to dress up in the same pajamas. The students and I enjoyed the week very much and can’t wait for next years.
Kouts Singers: Although, famous, Sandi Birky, has said goodbye to the Kouts High School, Kouts Singers continues to thrive in her previous teachings of music. Newcomers into Kouts Singers include Alexis Riale, Amanda Gardin, Kyley Pittman, and Nicole Fackelman as Sopranos and 1st Sopranos.
Next is Randy Deemer-Morgan, Stephen Carnell, Seth Carnell, and Hannah Goff as Basses and Tenors. Finally, there is Kelley Hershberger, Julia LaPrad, Lauren Drang, and Holly Kuebler as Altos. Thrilled to entertain the upcoming Ham and Turkey Dinner in early November, the Kouts Singers are preparing solo pieces and also duets. In regards to the Fall Fling coming up, the Kouts Singers are preparing such pieces as The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Down to the River, and Stand By Me.
September Service Fair: As promised, Student Council held a “Service Fair” during 8th-hour SRT or Study Hall. Each Student Council member had a different project and as students walked along, the members would explain when and how each project will work. Such projects include Housing Opportunities and working at the Animal Shelter. Students signed up for one or two, more if they chose to, and the fair was all-in-all a great success.
October Puppy Playdates: During the month of October, as promised, the Student Council has set up time to volunteer at the Lakeshore Paws Animal Shelter in Valparaiso. Students will be filling chew toys, wash down kennels, and even exercising the dogs. Have fun, guys!
Teacher Shoutout: My teacher shout-out goes to my own Spell Bowl coach, Mrs. Evelyn Ames. When Academic Super Bowl first began it was 30 years ago. Thirty years ago only four coaches began and stayed for the next thirty years to come. One of those coaches was Mrs.Ames. Not only does she coach Academic Super Bowl, she also coaches Spell Bowl, and teaches.
With a busy life at home with seven grandchildren, a summer job where she sets bug traps all over the Northwest Indiana, and a monthly duty of making over 165 biscuits and 160 keish for her church community, I’m not surprised that Mrs. Ames is beat by the end of the day. This kind of dedication is why Mrs. Ames was awarded the Academic Super Bowl Above and Beyond Award. This award recognizes her 30th year of coaching Academic Super Bowl, but I personally want to give her a shout-out for her passion and dedication to Kouts, the students, and her profession.
Concentric Circles: Every year we do this event called Concentric Circles. Each grade gets to explore a different part of regions around us, and the older you get, the wider regions you cover. So, for example, freshmen got to spend the day within Kouts, checking out jobs at the local funeral home, the Steel mill, and even the Family Express corporation.
The sophomores traveled a little further and continued into Valparaiso and went to the Sheriff’s Department, Buchertech, and the Dunes Visitor and Nature Center. The Juniors, including myself, ventured a little further into the Merrillville region where we went to the Volkswagen dealership, saw the Pinnacle Hospital, and got a wonderful view of the stage in the Star Plaza Theatre. The Seniors went the furthest to Chicago where they visited the Art Museum, the Blackstone Hotel and other businesses around the region.
Student Shout-Outs: Senior year is the most exciting and also the most excruciating part for the graduating class, especially for the seniors dedicated to their sports. The seniors in both the closing soccer, volleyball, and cross country seasons are: Karl Wehner, Kaylee Heimberg, Tiffany Trater, Colton Flanigan, Jared Birky, Doug Satoski, Anthony Furdeck, Madison Clinton, Joslyn Hemdal, Kasey Cavinder, Corina Alvarez, Cassidy Brunicon, Sarah Cieslak, Torrey Bennett, Francesca Bianchi, Chase Farmer, and Paige Gurley, Grant Hamstra, and Connor Gustafson.
Sad about leaving a sport they love. But, they aren’t all sad, they know moving on means bigger and better things, and these seniors definitely have big plans.
Madison Clinton plans on going to college for occupational therapy at IUPUI and living on campus. Madison says volleyball has helped her see how far she’s come. In the beginning, she didn’t think her hard work would pay off, but she admits she was mistaken. Doug Satoski plans to attend Purdue University to major in Environmental Engineering. Doug says that being in both soccer and volleyball has helped him learn to manage his time better and learn to communicate effectively.
Karl Wehner plans to attend college at either the University of Chicago, Purdue University, Indiana University, Hanover college, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology or the University of Tulsa. After that, he plans to do geological research for the United States Geological Survey. Karl says soccer has really helped him grow. It’s made him realize that he has to work very hard if he wants something instead of just relying on natural ability.
Kaylee Heimberg plans to become a dental hygienist and is still looking into what college she hopes to attend. Although, she has been looking at colleges that have volleyball, or even co-ed, just for fun! Kaylee says that Volleyball was a huge part of her high school career and she loved every minute she played. But, when it comes to college, she’s looking for something beyond just an “everyday” team.
Finally, Tiffany Trater plans to go to college for early childhood special education. She plans on working with children frequently. Tiffany also says that soccer has not affected her decision when it comes to deciding where her path leads her but loves the fact that people on the team have supported her fully. These are just a few of the seniors who plan to change the world, and I wish them good luck after graduation!
Update: Kylie Kuebler is making leaps and bounds with her efforts to make the world today a better place. This Sunday, October 11th, is Kylie’s race with Team World Vision in Chicago. Kylie not only plans to run, but she’s almost reached her goal of $1400. So far, Kylie has raised $1100. Keep Going, Kylie!