#1StudentNWI: The Year Winds Down at Andrean High School

Andrean-HS-May-2016-1StudentNWI-1What’s Happening?
Prom, the last school dance of the year, took place this year on April 23. After a weekend of prepping clothes, hair, nails, and makeup, couples arrived at Andrean around 3 p.m. the day of prom for Grand March. In Grand March, couples’ names are announced and they walk across the stage and down a red carpet. Afterward, the couples can take pictures with each other and with other students, friends, and family members who are not attending the dance.

After Grand March, the attendees got on buses that took them to Chicago. Prom this year was held on the Odyssey at Navy Pier. Andrean’s prom got two floors of the boat, and students were also allowed to go out onto the observation decks outside. The view was absolutely breathtaking, because of both the sunset over the Chicago skyline and water and the amazing-looking prom attendees.

The DJ for the lower level of Andrean’s prom was a really good one because he played songs that the students could actually dance to, which is rare for school dances. Caity McQuillen and Nick Pole were crowned prom queen and king, and not a single person complained. They looked amazing in their crowns, and everyone was happy for them.

Around 10:00 pm, prom started to wind down. When the DJ announced that he was playing the last few songs, most students did not want the night to end. Fireworks lit up the sky, solidifying this night as one to always remember.

Andrean-HS-May-2016-1StudentNWI-2What’s Coming Up?
The class of 2016 is preparing to graduate at the beginning of next month, and the class of 2017 is gearing up to take their place. The senior banquet is to take place on May 20. For the senior banquet, seniors dress up and go eat breakfast. Senior superlatives are announced. May 27 is the last day of school, with May 24 being the last day of classes because the last few days of school are just formal finals. Seniors are getting ready to take their last tests of high school, and the rest of the school is just ready for summer to begin.

May 13 is Armageddon, which is a huge deal to any true Andrean student. Armageddon is like a glorified field day, and students look forward to it all year. It is a class versus class tradition. Each class wears a different color (camo green, light blue, white, and black, from freshmen to seniors) and take part in various activities, from chess to dodgeball to ping pong to quiz bowl to soccer. Traditionally, seniors win Armageddon, but the class of 2017 has bested the class of 2018 for the past two years, so it is up in the air. In previous years, seniors, although they technically lost, cheated to win, for the principle of the thing. This year, though, Mrs. Kucka is keeping score, and she promises the winner will be the true, deserved winner.

Andrean-HS-May-2016-1StudentNWI-3Teacher Shout-Out
Mr. Joe O’Neill teaches math classes at Andrean. A lot of students like him as a teacher because he engages them in his teaching, especially through his use of jokes and puns, which is widely known throughout Andrean, even by students who did not have him as a teacher.

Mr. O’Neill is an Andrean alum (class of 2007) who returned to teach. In college, he was originally an engineering major but found that he did not like physics enough to do that. He graduated from Purdue University and came back to Andrean, where he now teaches Pre-Calculus and Honors Algebra I.

Something Mr. O’Neill had to get used to after returning as a teacher was interacting with teachers that he himself had had in class. The dynamic from teacher-student to colleague-colleague is a very different one, and it was a challenge to even call former teachers by their first names.

Mr. O’Neill is not the only returning alum. Mr. Knazur, Mr. Blane, and Mr. Skinner all went to Andrean at the same time as Mr. O’Neill, but, ironically, they were all in different classes. Now the four are all good friends as well as colleagues, so it worked out well.

Andrean-HS-May-2016-1StudentNWI-4Student Shout-Out
Mark J. Judge is a senior at Andrean, and he is a phenomenal actor. He played the leading role of the Beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast that the Andrean Theatre Company put on last month.

Preparing for this role was something different than what Mark was used to because a lot of his past roles have been comedic ones, which he expresses may be his forte. The Beast is a more serious, emotional role.

“I tend to fall in love with every role I get,” Mark told me. “But this is something new for me, going to a deeper emotional level. It’s new, but it’s fun too.” His passion and dedication are clear to any audience member who sees him in a show, as can be seen by the fact that the audience gave the entire cast a standing ovation on opening night.

There was more than emotional preparation; there was physical preparation, too. Because the Beast was not a man, Mark didn’t want to act like one. He studied animal movements and practiced growling, stalking, and jumping. The final result was something of a cat-wolf hybrid.

To Mark, acting is not just a fun pastime or a casual extracurricular activity: it’s his future. After he graduates from Andrean next month, Mark is planning to attend Ball State University and major in acting. If his performance in Beauty and the Beast is any indication, Mark J. Judge is a rising star.