The CHIEF January 2019

JAN, 2019

The

PONTIAC TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL

MADRIGALS 2019 Read all about the success of this year's Madrigals performances!

UPPERCLASS ACTS

Check out which PTHS seniors are this month's Upperclass Acts!

table of contents

03 Letter from the Editors

04 Madrigal Dinner

05 NewTeacher Interview

06 Pontiac Holiday Tournament

07 Cop Shop

08 Upperclass Acts

11 Movie Review

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03

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The

CHIEF

www.pontiac90.org

Sometimes a schedule change can be nerve-wracking, but think of it as a way to meet new people and encounter new things with different classmates and teachers. During this semester, keep studying hard and have fun. (We ’ re half way done!) I wish everyone an exciting month! To new beginnings!

A NOTE FROM YOUR EDITOR

By Sunn y Ho l t

Hello, everyone, and Happy New Year! As we spring back into action following winter break, I hope everyone is prepared for a new and fresh start – it ’ s finally second semester! The beginning of a new semester entails new responsibilities and opportunities. Schedule changes and a brand new spread of grades occur; it can be an overwhelming experience.

If you are interested in writing for The CHIEF, please contact Mr. Soares, Mr. Blair, Joe Gilmor, or myself!

N O M A D I C |

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2018 MADRIGAL DINNER BY ALYSSA RODRIGUEZ

The 52nd annual Madrigal dinners took place on December 3rd through the 5th.The dinners included two instrument ensembles, the court singers, and the madrigal singers themselves. The show included a three course meal and a play done by the madrigals that followed fairly closely to A Christmas Carol. The performance included more than 16 songs prepared by the madrigal singers. Some of the songs that were sung were “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” and “A Great and Mighty Wonder.” The members of this group have worked hard for many months to make sure the show music was wonderful. The court singers performed around four songs and did phenomenal. This group of singers sang songs such as “A Merry Madrigal” and “A Star Carol.” While both groups performed mostly separately, they did collaborate on pieces such as “We’ll Dress the House” and “O Filii et Filiae.” Both of the instrument ensembles also worked and played many tunes between each big parts of the play and before the show started. Even though the audience only noticed a handful of students during the performance, many others helped prepare and worked throughout the nights of the dinners. While the show is now over, many of the groups start to work on other pieces rather than only Christmas songs.

Interview:

Mr. McElwee

By Joe Gilmor This year, PTHS welcomed one of its newest additions to the teaching staff: Mr. Thomas McElwee. Mr. McElwee graduated from Charleston (Illinois) High School, where he was involved with both the marching band and pep band, and was the editor for his school newspaper. After completing high school, Mr. McElwee pursued a Music Education degree at Eastern Illinois University. Yes, you read that right! After spending time studying abroad and meeting new people in college, Mr. McElwee taught high school band for several years before making the switch to English. So what caused him to make the switch? Well, according to Mr. McElwee, the answer is the students. Nothing puts a smile on Mr. McElwee’s face better than the joy of working with new writers. During our interview, he offered some sage advice for aspiring writers: “Read, read, then write about the reading, then write to write, then read about writing, then read your own writing, then cry about it, then edit it, then read again. Then repeat for seventy years.” Mr. McElwee loves watching his students develop throughout the years. He commented, “It’s so rewarding to be a teacher because the person we’re interacting with in their freshman year will often be radically different their senior year. Their interests and passions evolve, and teachers help spark that evolution. Knowing that we helped make that change is the best part of the job.” After spending a few years teaching at other schools in the area, Mr. McElwee arrived in Pontiac, where he has been influential both inside and outside of the classroom. Mr. McElwee is currently coaching the PTHS Scholastic Bowl team, and even stepped in to direct our school’s Symphonic Band when Mr. Schickel was unable to do so due to having surgery. Mr. McElwee says that he loves PTHS for its ability to provide all the opportunities that would often only be available at a much larger school while still maintaining the tight-knit community that is usually only found at much smaller schools. Needless to say, Mr. McElwee couldn’t be happier to teach at PTHS, and we students couldn’t be happier to have him!

88th Annual Pontiac Holiday Tournament

By Clay Miller

When December comes around in Pontiac Illinois, the buzz starts to build for many reasons: Christmas, the start of a new year, and of course the famed Holiday Tournament. As a varsity basketball player myself, it is safe to say that the start of the season is always a build up to prepare us to compete on the biggest stage of our lives. Nothing is more exciting than running out to the sound of music and the crowd roaring when 7:30 rolls around on opening night. This year, as every year, the Indians were against the odds. We were seeded to play #1 Bloom Township, a daunting challenge, but one we had been preparing for months. We came out with a spark, leading the game for the first few minutes. You could feel the excitement in the air. Unfortunately, Bloom is an extremely gifted team jam-packed with athleticism and over the course of the game they slowly pulled further and further away. We put up a fight the entire game however, and the city responded with a standing ovation after the clock hit 0 in the fourth quarter. Next up was Aurora West on the constellation side. Energy filled the building once again as we ran out to accept another challenge. The result however was more of the same. Another loss was handed for the Indians, ending my, and the rest of the senior’s, Holiday Tournament experience forever. Without a doubt, this tournament is a staple of Pontiac as a town and as a school. The memories made on that court will stick with audience and the players forever, and that’s what it’s all about.

Student Survey - "New Years Resolutions"

Eat healthier – Josie Noonan

Play with my dog more  –  Mackenzie Mies

Be less lazy –  Jack Fogarty

Stop being late  – Kelsie Huxtable

Hula Hoop more – Mazzy Vincent

Make this year better than last – Devin Long

Help Devin make this year better than last - Tyler Lanning

BY OFFICER ENDERLI

In the last several years, Law Enforcement has experienced a significant increase in a wide variety of cases, with one common denominator: social media. Technology, and social media, over the past decade, has made it so much easier to bully someone. Sometimes, people are getting bullied by people they have never seen before. The cyberbullying concept was not a term in my vocabulary when I was a student at PTHS. To put it in perspective, the coolest phone at the time I was a senio, was the Motorola Razor… Yes, a flip phone. So, you are probably asking yourself, “Why is he talking about this?” I feel it is important to talk to you about the issues arising from the misuse of social media, and give you some tips on how to protect yourself.

My first piece of advice is to those who may not have any social media accounts. If you do not have any, do not get any. I realize it is now more uncommon to not have any type of social media, but what are you really gaining from having it?

The most common problem arising from social media complaints is the “Susie said this about me on Facebook, and it’s not true.” Or the “If you don’t give me back my stuff, I’m calling the cops.” To start, neither one of those two statements are a violation of a law. Morally, they probably are things that should be left unsaid. What tends to happen is we get into a Facebook war and posting back and forth. Now both people are equally involved. If either of these are something you have experienced, are experiencing, or if you experience it in the future, remember these things. It is best to not respond to any posts made about you, because that will lead you to becoming more stressed about the entire situation. Think about who is seeing all of that, do you really want everyone seeing the nasty things you are saying back? I have always said, the stronger person in a fight is the one who walks away without throwing a punch. Same goes for social media. So what else can you do if ignoring it does not help? Consider blocking people or deleting your account all together. I understand the frustration with that as well, “Why should I delete my account, I shouldn’t have to delete mine?” I look at it like this: if Facebook, or whatever your chosen platform is, is causing you so much grief and anxiety, what is the harm in getting rid of it? Double check your privacy settings. Make sure only the people you want to see you are seeing you i.e. do not have your account set to public. You can find tutorials on YouTube and through general Google searches on changing these settings. An SRO in California started a program called “Pause Before You Post” which really sums up this next section. Once you put it out there in cyberspace, it is there to stay. Things can always be recovered, even after you think you deleted it. The most common problem is posting of nude pictures. Several issues arise from this. Employers are using social media to conduct background checks now. Do you really want someone who may hire you for your dream job turn you down because they found nude pictures of you from high school? Or pictures of you from a drinking party? Good luck getting hired with that company. Another issue is, if you are in possession of nude pictures and the subjects in the pictures are under the age of 18, you are now in possession of child pornography, a felony, and could face criminal charges. If you are not familiar with the Amanda Todd story, I want you to go to YouTube and search for “Amanda Todd” and watch the video as her story is told through flashcards. It is an emotional 9 minute video, but worth the time to understand what so many people have gone through, and are currently going through. Amanda became a victim of “sextortion,” a new term, which is a form of blackmail, where sexual images or information are used to extort for sexual favors from the victim. Amanda was 15 years old when she became so hurt from the ongoing bullying, she committed suicide. My goal with this was not to scare you, but to simply make you aware of what your decisions can lead to. Social media does not have to be a bad thing, but it can be a dangerous world if the wrong choices are made. I truly want to help as many people as I can, which is one of the main reasons I volunteered to be your School Resource Officer. If you know of someone who is being hurt like this, and not asking for help, or maybe you need some guidance, please come talk to me. If you are unable to find me in the building, send me an e-mail benderli@pontiac90.org.

Upperclass Acts

Kiara Price

NICKNAMES: Kiki

ROLE MODEL(S): Scot Schickel

MOST POSITIVE MOMENT: Becoming an All- State musician!

ACTIVITIES @ PTHS: Marching and Symphonic band, Tech club

PET PEEVES: Being interrupted, being ignored, people with attitudes.

FONDEST MEMORY OF HIGH SCHOOL SO FAR: My last Marching band competition at University of Illinois and receiving 3rd place.

WHAT MY FRIENDS WILL REMEMBER ABOUT ME: My smile, my goofy laugh and my optimism. HOW WOULD YOU SPEND $1,000,000? I want to create a scholarship in my name so that students also have an opportunity to succeed. Also to buy my parents a house. IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND, WHAT 3 ITEMS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU? My bassoon, my phone, some water LAST WORDS OF ADVICE: “All of those things you keep saying you can’t do, turn the can’t into I CAN and success will follow you!”

3 MAJOR AREAS OF INTEREST: Music, Networking, Movies

PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Major in Music Education, teach music to grades k-12.

FAVORITE MOVIE: The Lovely Bones

MOST INSPIRATIONAL SONG: “Make Me Proud” by Drake

FAVORITE TEACHER/CLASS: Mr. Masching - Computer Networking

FAVORITE AUTHOR/BOOK: The Catcher in The Rye by

Upperclass Acts

Becca True

Becca True

FAVORITE TEACHER/CLASS: Anatomy with Mr. Nollen and Art with Mr. Vogt

NICKNAMES: Reba, Becca False

FAVORITE AUTHOR/BOOK: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

ROLE MODEL(S): Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, and Emma Watson

MOST POSITIVE MOMENT: Getting accepted into Leroy’s high school cadaver lab this year.

ACTIVITIES @ PTHS: Newspaper Club, Poetry Club, Art Club

PET PEEVES: Talking over teachers’ lessons/being loud in class

FONDEST MEMORY OF HIGH SCHOOL SO FAR: The choir trip to New York City

WHAT MY FRIENDS WILL REMEMBER ABOUT ME: My love for cats and big words.

3 MAJOR AREAS OF INTEREST: Writing, anatomy, and politics

HOW WOULD YOU SPEND $1,000,000? I would pay off my family’s mortgages and invest the rest into helping impoverished women gain an education. IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND, WHAT 3 ITEMS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU? A bottomless bowl of pasta, water filter, and music player LAST WORDS OF ADVICE: “Try to do things on your own without your parents or teachers holding your hand. Being responsible is incredibly rewarding and beneficial.”

PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: I plan to attend college, probably in Chicago, to find a career path that incorporates all of my greatest passions. I’ll likely go on to law or medical school. I would like to have a minor in art, creative writing, or a foreign language to enjoy another passion.

FAVORITE MOVIE: The Godfather

MOST INSPIRATIONAL SONG: “Stayin’ Alive” by The Bee Gees

The Pontiac FFA Chapter have many things coming up! We have many Career Development Events or CDE’s going on as of now. Our Parliamentary Procedure practices have officially begun. Practice run on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 A.M. For anyone who is a current Greenhand, your Parliamentary Procedure practice happens on Wednesday’s afterschool. Next off is our Food Science and Vet Science CDE’s which happens on Wednesdays after school as well. All FFA members are encouraged to step out and participate in at least one CDE. Please don’t miss out on our FFA auction meetings as well. We need all the help and ideas that we can get. Don’t miss out on our January chapter meeting which will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Ag shop. The annual FFA week is coming up at the end of February so remember to sign up for Ag in the classroom as well. Thank you to all FFA members for working towards a better future for not only us but the future generations to come. “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to live, Living to Serve.” FFA By Lukas Morrissette

Cheerleading By: Emily Albrecht and Zoe Noles

The PTHS cheerleading competition team has had a rewarding season so far, placing at many of their competitions. They received first place at the Pontiac competition in the medium-varsity division. Then two weeks later they qualified for the ICCA Championships after they received third place out of eight teams at the Oswego East competition. During the next few weeks the cheerleaders will be hard at work practicing for the IHSA regionals in hopes to move on eventually to state. As they’re close to finishing out the season, they are hoping for a successful few more weeks at their last couple competitions.

Movie

Review

Movie Review:

Aquaman

By: Jasmine White

Aquaman is a terrific movie to go see if you like action, adventure, or DC movies. Even if you are not a fan of DC movies, Aquaman is a great movie to see. This movie is astounding and one of the best movies that DC had put out. Aquaman has awesome fight scenes, details, development, and storyline. For example, the scene where Aquaman and Mera entered Atlantis has lots of interesting details. An example of a great fight scene is when Aquaman battles the ocean pirates at the beginning of the movie. One last example of why the movie is great is that it keeps you hooked throughout and it is not easy to predict. Overall, Aquaman is worth watching in your spare time. So, with that all said, I rate this movie a 5 out of 5.

Music

Review

Music Review

By: Becca True

Today, rap dominates the top charts and incessantly defeats other genres for the highest spots. From recently released felon, Kodak Black, to alleged abuser, Sheck Wes, music is being overtaken by individuals who are horrible examples for younger listeners. The list goes on, with a majority of hit artists having criminal records or assault scandals. However, amongst all of the poor beats and repetitive, derogatory lyrics on the charts is an optimistic underlayer deriving from well-known stars such as Billie Eilish, Khalid, and Halsey. All three artists have natural talents that are rarely tampered with in their songs. They avoid degradin women, romanticizing drug use, and boasting about crimes. While rap music can be undeniably catchy, it’s important to recognize the messages artists are sending out and to identify what kind of person you’d like to support. Sometimes it is best to stray from the charts to find enjoyable music with healthy, encouraging messages that come from talented individuals.

Madrigals at Chamber of Commerce By Joe Gilmor

Just weeks ago, the PTHS Madrigals wrapped up this year’s Christmas festivities with one final concert, this time performed at the Elks Club for members of the Chamber of Commerce. The concert was a great success, and showcased some of everyone’s favorite Madrigal pieces, such as “Silent Night” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” While the singers were undoubtedly tired from the Madrigal Dinners, which took place only a week before the event, it certainly didn’t show in their tone. The singing was wonderful and a great way to end the holiday season. While the Madrigals were all ready to get some rest throughout Winter Break, they decided to end the year with a bang, and truly gave this one last concert their all. Now, the Madrigal singers are already hard at work learning their music for the Route 66 Choir, which they can’t wait to debut this spring.

Madrigals Tour Livingston County By: Gabe Travis

Recently, the PTHS Madrigal Performer Group took a trip throughout the Livingston county area, and performed for different schools and buildings. The Madrigals performed at schools such as Washington and Lincoln Elementary, Saunemin Elementary, and the Saint Mary’s school, The group also performed for the Bank of Pontiac and Evenglow Lodge. The Madrigal group consisted of the Madrigal Singers, the Court Singers, the Madrigal Brass, and the Madrigal Recorders. The Madrigal Singers sang classics such as “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells,” and the Court Singers sang songs such as “Shepherd’s Run.” The instrumentalist groups played songs with the Madrigal Recorders playing songs such as “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and the Madrigal Brass playing songs such as “Angels We Have Heard on High.” All in all, each of the groups came together to create a tremendous experience for the younger kids and the people of Livingston county by making wonderful music for everyone.

The Chief Staff Sunny Holt: Co Editor-in-Chief Joe Gilmor: Co Editor-in-Chief

1979 By: Sunshine Holt

i hope she makes you happy i hope she makes you smile the way you look into her eyes is the way you looked into mine when you fell in love with me one night, 1979.

Lily Lydigsen Clay Miller Luke Morrissette Jacob Orndorf Alyssa Rodriguez Becca True Hannah Wallace Jasmine White

Mr. Blair, Faculty Sponsor Mr. Soares, Faculty Sponsor

Attention all writers and appreciators of literature! This past month, PTHS brought a new club to the surface: a poetry club! The first meeting was during October but do not fret, the Wandering Poet is always open to new members. It is a club that consists of poetry reading and the study of poetry. If you are interested, contact Ms. Hatfield at ehatfield@pontiac90.org or Sunny Holt at 20sholt@pontiac90.org! We can’t wait to see you!

Enjoy creative writing? If you ever would ever like to see your creative pieces in The Chief , contact Mr. Soares or Mr. Blair!