#1StudentNWI: Lowell Welcomes Spring

#1StudentNWI: Lowell Welcomes Spring

Student Spotlight:

With baseball season in full swing, there’s a new lineup of varsity players ready to step-up for their team. Since it’s early in the season, the players are still working to find their niche as a unit. Still, there’s already been a stand-out player, junior Logan Missal.

Logan is a pitcher and an impressive hitter as well. He has a very experienced background, starting his baseball career at the age of six. With his experience throwing perfect games and no hitters, going to nationals, hitting countless home runs, and playing for Team Indiana twice, Logan will definitely be making an important impact on this team.

Logan was able to gain hero status in the first game of the season this year. Lowell was in extra innings against Mishawaka Marian, and Logan was up to bat. With a man on third and a 3-1 count, he knew he would swing only if it was a pitch he really liked. He got the desired pitch, and the ball felt perfect off the bat. The ball soared out bringing in two runs to give The Devils the lead, and ultimately the win.

With such a promising start, Logan has a few goals for the season. He hopes that he can get either 1st or 2nd team all conference, and be top 5 for ERA.

As for the team, he doesn’t want them to be overlooked. He wants competitors to know “We’re better than everyone thinks, our pitching and defense are solid and we have a really strong lineup 1-9.”

The school is looking forward to what the team will accomplish!

Staff Spotlight:

Mrs. Lump attended Lowell as a student and has now returned to teach multiple biology courses. She’s an avid animal lover, and has worked with them in multiple environments. She uses this experience to help her career of teaching.

She is a registered veterinary technician and worked in clinical practice for 10 years. The majority of that time was spent in a small animal emergency clinic and an animal physical therapy clinic. She also has experience working with farm animals and pets of her own. At school, she has a corn snake (Orange Julius), painted turtle (Cornelius), a crayfish, and several fish. At home she has a dog, two cats, two rabbits, a rat, and two laying hens for eggs. She also manages a small herd of angora goats, which she shears twice a year to harvest the mohair. This spring she had two sets of twins born.

Mrs. Lump believes that she benefits greatly from using animals in the classroom for learning experiences. Not only does watching the fish swim around their tanks or feeding the turtle allow for a break from class, but can be used to teach lessons. The animals provide a living model inside the classroom of most of the topics that are taught in biology. She often relates the concepts that she teaches to the pets that she has.

“I think biology is easier to understand when you can see it happening in real life, rather than reading about it in a book,” Mrs. Lump explained.

Not only does Mrs. Lump care for animals, but the environment as well. She is a sponsor for the Environmental Club, which is a student-driven organization made up of individuals who want to be good stewards of the Earth, both on a local and a national scale. The students decide what environmental issues impact the school community, and what action steps can be taken as a club.

What’s Going On:

Shrek the Musical took place from the 8th through the 11th of March, and was extremely successful. The show sold out on both the Friday and Saturday showings. It received much of praise due to the hilarious and heartwarming story portrayed so well by the cast and crew.

The Radio and TV program attended the IASB state contest. A group of students attended the event hoping to compete well against the many other schools and career centers. Seniors Lauren Ritter and Dan McGannon received a 1st place title in the sound design category.

Lowell is focusing on going green, and has implemented over 6,000 solar panels at all five school locations. This will reduce electric consumption by at least 80% and will minimize their carbon footprint. Everyone was invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for each school’s solar arrays on April 4.

On April 5th from 6-8pm, there was an open house for the new trade building after months of construction. The community was welcomed to visit the state of the art facility for Automotive, Technology, Machining, and Welding.

What’s Coming Up:

SAT testing takes place on April 10, and juniors are doing their last minute cramming to achieve their desired score. Competition for getting into colleges is high and an impressive SAT score can be the difference between being admitted or not.

Coming up this month is the annual Special Needs prom sponsored by the Red Devil Mentor Program. Special needs students from around the area get the opportunity to have the fun experience of attending prom. This year’s theme is 'Under the Sea.'

After facing some poor running conditions, multiple track meets have been canceled. The upcoming meet for both the boy’s and girl’s teams is April 10, against Highland at home. This will be the first outdoor meet that they will compete in after all of the cancellations.