Let’s start with around the school. Do you remember all the way back at the beginning of the year? How about that first day of school? Anything different about the school? What about those weird rectangles on the ceiling? Yup, that’s right, the asbestos was removed over this summer and when we came back, the ceiling was actually white and had the sound-blocking rectangles all over. Also new at the beginning of the year was a couple of new faces, Ms. Ahlers, Mr. Lowe and Miss Wenzel!
What about some activities at the beginning of the year? Well, over the summer, we held our first football for moms’ seminar, and many moms got the chance to participate. Also starting over the summer, the Leadership Academy began and held its first meetings. Also at the beginning of the year, Ebola was what was happening in the world. The whole world was freaking out about it, and now it has just vanished.
Further on down the 2014-2015 road, we had finally made it to homecoming. With an “Out of This World” theme for this year, homecoming was a great success. The sophomores won the volleyball tournament and even won against the facility! In the pep assembly, Mrs. Lowe, Mrs. Tallon, and Mrs. Smallwood were the Women in Black and had a great time with the assembly. Juniors won the spirit events, and it was just a blast for everyone. Unfortunately, even though the pep assembly was a huge success, we still lost the homecoming game to Rushville-Industry with a 34-20 score. Also in October, the PHHS play was performed. The Odd Couple was a great success and a lot of fun for the people that did participate.
Late on in October, things started to get crazy in the world. ISIS came about and scared everyone. A volcano also erupted outside of Tokyo and killed nearly 50 people. Also in October, the NFL was just starting a great season and the MLB was wrapping up and the San Francisco Giants ended up taking the Trophy home from the World Series.
Back to the school, at the end of October it got really busy around here. Football came to an end after their last game with Elmwood-Brimfield. Volleyball and cross country came to an end as well with great seasons from both of them.
November was also a busy month for us here at the high school and even others here in Central Illinois. It was the one year anniversary of the Washington tornado, and progress has been made to fix Washington. Also in November was elections. We got a new Governor, Bruce Rauner, and we also reelected Aaron Shock. Back at the school, winter sport practices were starting up and so was MOJO. The fall blood drive was also in November and we had a great turnout for that.
Now on to December! In December, boys and girls basketball was in full swing and both teams were doing great! Also, the food drive tree was up in the office and the food drive was collecting many cans for local food pantries. Lastly, right before Christmas break the band had its Christmas concert to put that last bit of holiday cheer in before we left.
Once we got back, business as usual continued. The boys and girls basketball teams continued to play, scholastic bowl was starting up, and wrestling was too.
February was when it started to get busy again. It was finally Super Bowl time and after all that hype, New England rose over Seattle with a 28-24 score. Back at the school, the sophomore MOJO day was happening, and the sophomores had a great time with that. The WYSE team also went to ICC for regionals and won first in our division! Unfortunately, with the end of February came the end of our basketball season. They has a great season, but their last game was in February 24 against Brimfield.
Well, now we are finally getting close to the end of the year! In March, Baseball practices had just started up and it looked to be a great team this year. Track was also just starting also with a promising year. Also in March, WYSE and Scholastic Bowl came to an end after a great season for both teams. Letterman’s Club also got a chance to go to March Madness and had a blast there. Here at home we had our spring blood drive and collected 33 units of blood from it. After the blood drive, the Key Club officers took their trip up to the Key Club Convention and learned many valuable skills there.
After all that, it was finally time for spring break. Although it was a break from school, it was not a break for sports. Track and filed continued to practice every day during break and so did baseball. Both had a couple matched during break as well, so for them it was quite busy.
Once we got back, you could feel the excitement for the end of the year in the air. Prom was right around the corner and everyone was so excited. Even though prom was not that great, many still had a great time there.
Finally, May is here. Last month of the school year, and everyone was so ready for it to end. The Leadership Academy held their job fair at the beginning of the month and some people even had interviews at the fair! After the job fair, the year was finally coming to an end. Graduation was finally here for the seniors and the school year ending right around the corner.
Well, as you can see it has been quite the year. From Ebola to blood drives, its all happened. From all of us here in the journalism staff, we’d like to wish you a safe and fun summer, and see you again back in August!