Another month gone on the road to graduation at WHS and schools around the country. Much hype is building as Whiting completes the final quarter, with less than 30 days to go.
Time is running low, but the rate of achieving are high. Finals are a day closer each day and so is graduation, but this month student’s eyes are still locked on Prom and hearts still out on the baseball field, softball field, and on the tennis courts.
At the end of March, Whiting Science Olympiad had a very unique fundraiser. Taking place on March 21st, the team worked with the local White Castle to raise money for next year’s season. Such an event is not unheard of, but what made it really stand out was having team coach and biology teacher, Dan Nichols, working behind the counter along other White Castle staff to fill the orders coming from the seemingly endless line of supporters and slider fanatics. The event was overwhelmingly successful and sparked major interest across the community.
On March 26th, the National Honor Society gathered students and parents in the high school auditorium to induct next year’s National Honor Society members. It was a tearful send off for this year’s seniors, but the incoming group was ecstatic to have the honor of joining. This year had 13 new members, 11 being current sophomores and 2 being current juniors. April 2nd, new and returning juniors of the National Honor Society helped serve the community at the pancake breakfast in the lower level hall St. John school, another major success in our city.
On March 27th, Whiting Band and Choir put on their annual Jazz concert. The show opened with the choir entering and singing Sweet Home Chicago from the Blues Brothers, complete with matching hats. Several songs proceeded with many solos from throughout the choir before passing over into the band portion of the night. The band featured traditional and more upbeat songs of jazz and featured many solos of their own, with one song even featuring more than three solos, with them all being purely improvised, in the spirit of jazz. The night concluded by mixing the band and choir together, having vocalists perform solos as the band plays the music for them. This section featured more modern and popular songs such as Adele’s “Hello”. The next and final concert of the school year is scheduled for May 22nd and will feature music chosen entirely by the senior members.
Whiting Baseball has been in pre-season training for months now, but on April 8th it was time to go to action against Lake Central, sadly with a 13-3 loss. The Oilers went on to lose twice more to Highland, but their most recent game luckily ended the streak with a 2-1 win against Hanover Central. They are scheduled to play against Morton on April 17th and Hobart on the 18th. Also after months of work and anticipation, the Oiler’s Softball began with a strong win against Calumet New Tech on April 4th. Since then, they have taken a 7-2 loss to rival Bishop Noll, a 6-0 shutout win against Lake Station, and a 10-9 loss after fighting hard against Hebron on the 11th, bringing their record to 2-2. On April 19th they will face off against River Forest.
Of course, another popular team in the spring is the girl’s Tennis team, and they have the record to show it. On April 11th, they had their first official meet of the season against River Forest and swept them winning each of the 5 matches. On April 13th, they continued their power sweep, winning all five matches yet again against HAST. However, on April 15th they only won 4 of the 5 matches against North Newton, but won the meet regardless.
The highlight of some student’s high school years comes only twice. A magical night dreamt of for years and planned for months, Prom. At Whiting, there is a program called “Safe Prom”. Safe Prom is a program where students write an essay over the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol. But why would students willingly write an essay? Writing that essay is used as a ticket into the Safe Prom event hosted by the Whiting Elks, and also counted as an entry into a raffle to have their prom bid paid, saving individuals and couples money to enter the dance, and even providing students a way to get a ticket if they could not afford it otherwise.
There were over 30 bids, all from generous donations from around the community, and each was raffled and awarded throughout the night, so most students attending left lucky. This year also had a little surprise in the name drawings. After winning a bid and a few names passing, Senior Andrew Filipek stood up and interrupted to ask friend and fellow Senior, Sydney Neyhart, to the dance. That was the first time in Whiting’s history in the program that it has happened. The dance is set for April 29th and will be out in Wicker Park, with a theme of a masquerade.