The year is at a close once again. Quickly these 180 days have passed full of fun, friends, family, and feelings for our future. Throughout the month of May, many of these themes played their strongest at each of the championships and field trips as the year winded down to a close.
On May 2, a select group of 40 students were able to attend a special showing of the official musical production of Hamilton. Through the EduHam program, each student did research on the founding era of America before writing a song or poem encapsulating a person, theme, or event they studied that they were most interested in. Each of the schools in attendance also selected one student to perform their written piece. Whiting sent up Senior Ashton Ray to perform his rap. He was met with initial doubt from the other schools given his selected genre, but the audience went wild when the beat hit and especially when he got to his lyrics.
On May 4, the Star Oilers took off to Chicago once again to celebrate their accomplishments by spending the day at Navy Pier. To qualify, the students included had spotless attendance and turned in all of their assignments throughout the year. Simple enough, but no easy feat for many busy students. Students had a great time riding the Ferris wheel, playing games, eating pizza and ice cream, and much more. There is a lot to look forward to for returning students. On May 8, students once again took part in a national walk to school day, where members of the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, and Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council helped walk younger students to school in the morning.
Whiting Baseball came to an end Monday, May 28, against Bishop Noll. It was a hard fought game, staying tied for much of it, but it concluded 3-2 with the Oilers coming up short. This was in contrast to their earlier 6-2 win against Noll on May 7. Oiler Baseball finished with a reported record of 9-17 overall with a conference record of 7-9. Whiting Softball finished a little sooner with an 11-1 loss against Andrean. This left the team with a reported 13-13 overall and 6-8 in conference. Tennis saw success in their season. On May 11, the Lady Oilers became Greater South Shore Conference Champions with a 4-1 win over Hanover Central. The Lady Oilers advanced into Sectionals and became Sectional Champs for the 7th consecutive year after their match at home. The season ended soon after at Regionals, playing at Highland on Tuesday May 22 against Crown Point. Golf Sectionals will be taking place at Palmira on June 1st. Other teams for fall and winter sports have been continuing their conditioning, and it has lead to school history this month. On May 24, Tom Davenport broke the school record for benching, having raised his max to 365, beating out the long-standing record of 360 set 27 years ago in 1991 by his father, Chris Davenport.
On May 20, there was an Honors Recital at 2pm in the Auditorium featuring band members Allen Johnson, Ethan Harbin, Brianna Irvine, Carmen De La Torre, Carlos Gonzalez and Josemiguel Haro as part of an honor band program. The next day on May 21, the whole band took to the stage for the year’s final concert. It honored the seniors and featured songs like Carry on Wayward Son and Learn to Fly as well as having Senior Marissa Baez conduct her own, How Does a Moment Last Forever from Beauty and the Beast. The night featured the high school choir, middle school band, and elementary school alongside the high school band that night. The music didn't stop there, though, as again the band and choir went to compete on May 26 in Illinois for the Music in the Parks event. The event was a major success, Whiting received each first place trophy- first in high school band, first in high school choir, and also the prestigious “Our Esprit de Corps” Award. The award “recognizes the participating organization that displays an exemplary attitude of positive support and outstanding personal behavior throughout the festival weekend.” The band and choir also performed the next day at graduation and then again on May 28 for the Memorial Day parade. The band will again play the anthem at the unveiling of the newly renovated veteran’s memorial monument on June 14.
Also during the month, Whiting hosted an awards ceremony to recognize students of each class for outstanding achievement in math, science, English, history, business, world language, athleticism, behavior, attendance and more. Seniors were also recognized for scholarships they had received and awarded medals if they were on track to receive academic and/or technical honors diplomas. This award ceremony was recorded on YouTube Live similarly to Pre-prom, thanks to teacher Mr. Reece. This wouldn’t be the last event recorded like this for the year, as graduation itself found its way onto the video platform. Graduation finally came for the Oilers on May 27 at 2 pm. The event took place in the memorial gymnasium with a reception in the cafeteria afterwards. During graduation, Amanda Bonchik was named recipient of the Dianne Jennings Scholarship as well as winning one of four “City of Whiting” scholarships. The other three were awarded to Valedictorian Julianna Scivinsky, National Honor Society President Rana Hamad, and myself, Timothy Lowe. Each of the four students will be eligible for $25,000 towards college over four years.
A teacher deserving of some attention before the end of the year is yet another new one to Whiting this year, the head of the art department, Mr. Brandon Fentress. It was tough to say goodbye to long-time art teacher Mrs. Mindas last year, but Fentress has done a fantastic job this year in revitalizing and revolutionizing the program, adding new flair to old projects and giving recognition to his skilled students through his social media presence on Twitter. Throughout the year, this newly-wed IU alum would share the fantastic works by his students online, including abstract art, surrealist art, self-portraits, and street art. Fentress is also an avid fan of music and has a diverse playlist running for his students during class and he even has experience as a DJ. This was on display best at the Senior Picnic where he himself set the speakers and mixed the music, leading to a stellar conclusion for our seniors. Thank you for your work Mr. Fentress, we look forward to seeing your future projects!