What’s happened recently: Graduation
Congratulations to the the class of 2018! This year over 200 students received their Highland High School diploma on June 3rd. Some students sang and played their last songs on the Highland High School auditorium stage during the graduation, creating an air of achievement and nostalgia. The seniors in varsity choir sang “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey as the senior song before their final piece. The band and orchestra played three songs including “September” by Earth Wind and Fire.
There were many heart touching speeches given by both students and faculty at graduation. Even though tears were shed, there were also light-hearted moments. One of the funnier moments included a student doing a backflip on stage after receiving his diploma. During one of these speeches it was announced that the middle school's head principal will be retiring. The new head principal will be Mr. Justin Fronek.
While each and every one of the seniors received their diploma, other students cheered them on. After two hours of watching and waiting the seniors were finally able to turn their tassels and join the ranks as a high school graduate. Once tassels were turned, blue and gold confetti and beach balls were shot out to give the graduating seniors one last farewell.
What’s Coming Up: 4th of July Festival
Starting June 29th the annual Highland 4th of July Festival begins. The celebration will last from Friday June 29th until Wednesday July 4th. There will be live music, food, two parades, arts and crafts booths, and with fireworks.
The festival will be held at Main Square (3001 Ridge Rd. Highland, IN) along with the two parades that will end there. The Kiddy Parade will be first on July 1st for newborns to twelve year olds. This will start at 12:30 pm on Highway and Kennedy and will end at Main Square. The Twilight Parade will be on July 3rd starting at 6:30 pm. The parade will go from Kennedy and 45th to Main Square. The siren free zone will be on Kennedy Avenue.
For the rides at Main Square, wristbands will cost $25 from Saturday to Tuesday; on Wednesday they will drop down to $20. The times for wristbands are: Saturday and Sunday 1-5 pm, Monday 5-10 pm, Tuesday 5-11 pm, and Wednesday 6-9 pm. Each night the curfew laws will be in effect after closing the festivities. There will be over twenty different bands playing over the six day festival, along with a police K-9 demonstration on July 1st. On July 4th, to wrap up the festival, the fireworks show at Homestead Park will begin at 9pm. Enjoy the festivities!
Student Spotlight: The New Student Council President
This year Highland High School is welcoming Sarah Manning into the new Student Council President position. Manning has been in student council for three years now and joined because she wanted to play a bigger role in school events.
Manning plans to change the way student council runs their events. Instead of the usual in school fall pep rally there will be a community wide rally before the football game. Another change includes moving away from floats at homecoming and having each class make a playhouse that goes with the theme. These playhouses will be sold at an auction, after the auction the money raised will be donated to a charity that the student council chooses.
There will also be changes to the winter and spring pep rallies, though more details will be known when the dates are closer. One of Manning's major goals for this year is to get people “more excited to dress up for the spirit weeks and go to the spirit weeks and show some school spirit.” For this school year she wants the entire community to get involved with the Highland High School spirit.
Manning said that the word she wants to use to describe this year is enriched. She wants the students to know that their opinions are being heard and to make this a great year for extracurriculars. Manning thinks that for student council it is important that everyone is heard and that is what she plans to do as president.
Teacher Spotlight: New Head Principal
This upcoming school year, Highland High School’s Assistant Principal Justin Fronek will become the head principal at the Highland Middle School. This announcement was given at the 2018 graduation ceremony on June 3rd. He has worked at the high school for five years now.
Although he hasn’t seen a lot of changes there was one that he said was “a change for the better.” Fronek has been able to witness the major change in technology in which all students enrolled at Highland schools received iPads.
He said that working in the middle school will be different from the high school because of the pace, but he taught middle school for ten years before making the switch to high school. Fronek said that he thinks he is familiar with what will be need since he taught middle school for so long. He knows this is going to be a new and different challenge from just teaching. His experience in the high school will help him shape the middle schoolers on their path to the high school. But he also knows that it is a good career opportunity.
"There is a great staff and support staff and also office people along with a great assistant principal to help the process along,” said Fronek.
Coming into a school that is already doing well with a great staff was one thing he was excited to do. Overall this new school year will be a great new experience for our middle school faculty members.