The CHIEF May 2022

CHIEF PONTIAC TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL The

MAY, 2022

UPPERCLASS ACTS

FAREWELL FROM THE EDITOR PTHS Senior Ava Nollen says goodbye to the school year

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

Farewell from the Editor By: Ava Nollen

The weeks are counting down quickly before it’s time for seniors to graduate. My whole entire life I have loved to read and write, and The Chief was a perfect club to join in high school. It taught me many things and while I loved to write articles, by far my favorite part of the job is seeing what everyone on the staff had to offer, with new perspectives and ideas I had never thought of before. This high school experience will stay with me for a long time afterwards, and I will always look back on it with fond memories. It was my honor to be able to have the position of editor of this school paper.

Fine Arts Visual Arts Awards

Add On April 25, PTHS students demonstrated their art skills at the Illinois Prairie Conference 2022 Arts Awards. Tovah Schertz was recognized as Best in Show. According to Art teacher Nick Vogt, “It's always difficult to come away with any awards at art shows because despite clear guidance, we all have our own biases. In any case, last night's show was filled with outstanding work throughout the conference, and we were lucky enough to have some award winners. I am pretty biased myself, and I think I would have chosen several of our pieces for top prize, but any recognition was nice too.” Look below to see the PTHS who received Fine and Visual Arts awards and congratulate the winners!

Best in Show Tovah Schertz

B&W Drawing 1- Tovah Schertz 2- Grace Mathus

Color Drawing 3- Hunter Trainor

Printmaking 2- Destiny Smith

Painting 1- Olivia Schickel

Ceramics 2- Ethan Gray

Pen & Inks 2- Ali Barton 3- Lillian Logan

Girls Track Update By Rebekah Hendershott

Track and Field for the girls have been a major success. With the conference meet just getting over, we scored fourth out of eleven teams and only being five points down from the two teams tied for third. Maria Long took the win in long jump and our relay team for the 4x2, Aaliyah Daily, Payton Semmens, Sienna Metz, and Maria Long, took the win at the conference. The amount of PRs and improvements within our whole team have made this year great. Our year has been a rollercoaster with never catching a break from the weather, but we have become closer as a team and created some great memories despite the obstacles. Track with Mr.Campbell and Mr.Lucas will be something I will never forget and will have the honor to enjoy one last year.

Senior Survey 2022 "The day after graduation, I will..."

Play a golf tournament - Dani Grace Schrock

Watch anime - Jasmine White

Take the FATTEST nap of all time - Devyn Wolf

Learn how to parallel park - Rylee Zimmerman

Get Dunkin with Emma - Zoe Noles

Get Dunkin with Zoe - Emma O'Lone

Liquify all assets and flee the state - Callie Dalton

Sleep in and watch old Disney films - Olivia Schickel

Buy a train. Choo! Choo! - Nolan Verdun Listen to BTS and wait for their new album to release on June 10 - Ava Nollen

Get Dunkin with Emma and Zoe - Sam Kelly Finally rest for the first time in years - Conrad Skrzypiec

Thank You, Cafeteria Staff! By Vanessa Kapper

PTHS is lucky to have such a great cafeteria service that it has. I was pretty surprised when our school started offering free breakfast and lunch this school year, and I feel like it deserves more appreciation. Also, our lunch ladies put in much effort to make our meals and regularly spend extra time making desserts. Along with this, they are all very kind and always greet me with a smile and a “thank you.”

Cafeteria staff, your efforts do not go unnoticed!

Light Beyond the Shadow

The Pontiac Township High School Choral Program proudly presented its Spring Choral Concert “Light Beyond Shadow” on Sunday April 24th in the PTHS Auditorium. Listeners enjoyed selections from the Concert Choir, two women’s ensembles Bel Canto and Cantabile, and Men’s Choir. Jazz Choir’s “Route 66!” was also heard featuring several soloists. The music was directed by Mr. Durbin and celebrated life and the human spirit.

Upperclass Acts

Lydia Grampp

NAME: Lydia Grampp

FAVORITE AUTHOR/BOOK: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

NICKNAMES: Lyd, Mayor

ROLE MODEL(S): My parents and Sadie Roberston

MOST POSITIVE MOMENT: The feeling of walking off the U of I field as a drum major whose band just literally crushed it! So bittersweet!

ACTIVITIES @ PTHS: Band, Choir, Yearbook, NHS, The Chief, Madrigals, Jazz Choir, Student Tutor, Student Council, Key Club, Tri M, Scholastic Bowl, Musical/Play, and Key Club FONDEST MEMORY OF HIGH SCHOOL SO FAR: Spending an insane amount of time with the arts, whether it was sweating in Marching Band camp to screaming onstage in Bye Bye Birdie.

PET PEEVES: People chewing loudly in a quiet setting.

WHAT MY FRIENDS WILL REMEMBER ABOUT ME: My sense of humor and how helpful I am.

HOW WOULD YOU SPEND $1,000,000? I would buy a personal Chipotle chef and donate the rest of the money to a research facility studying food allergies. IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND, WHAT 3 ITEMS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU? My Chacos, Chipotle, and a sunglasses

3 MAJOR AREAS OF INTEREST: Flowers, Biology, and Baking

PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Attend Illinois State University majoring in Biological Plant Sciences to get a degree in Botany and work as a biotechnician.

FAVORITE MOVIE: Mr. Holland’s Opus

MOST INSPIRATIONAL SONG: “Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver

LAST WORDS OF ADVICE: “You’ll never regret being kind and just keep going.”

FAVORITE TEACHER/CLASS: Mr. McElwee’s Rhet III

Upperclass Acts

Peyton Cheek

NAME: Peyton Cheek

FAVORITE AUTHOR/BOOK: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

NICKNAMES: Pdawg

ROLE MODEL(S): My father, my grandfather

MOST POSITIVE MOMENT: When I made it to the State tournament for golf this year.

ACTIVITIES @ PTHS: Golf, Basketball, Baseball, Unified Basketball, and Madrigals

PET PEEVES: Being late

FONDEST MEMORY OF HIGH SCHOOL SO FAR: Making friends in all of the activities I have done here.

WHAT MY FRIENDS WILL REMEMBER ABOUT ME: Height, hair, humor

3 MAJOR AREAS OF INTEREST: Becoming a golf coach, professional golfer, and a P.E. teacher

HOW WOULD YOU SPEND $1,000,000? I would travel the world and play golf. Then I would buy a huge mansion for my family and me. IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND, WHAT 3 ITEMS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU? Phone, sword, and a safety kit LAST WORDS OF ADVICE: “Do as much as you can in High school because time flies and you can’t go back and try again.”

PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL: Going to ICC to play golf for two years and go to a four year college to finish my education and golf career.

FAVORITE MOVIE: The Benchwarmers

MOST INSPIRATIONAL SONG: “Imma Be” by the Black Eyed Peas

FAVORITE TEACHER/CLASS: Mrs. Hoss/ Sociology

Choosing Music

By Aubreigh Carmack

Choosing Music

Music is a big thing in everyone's life. Some rely on music for comfort, work, focus, and more. My personal preference of music is Alternative Rock. I like the way the drums and guitar sound together. Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arctic Monkeys, and Machine Gun Kelly are my “go to’s”. Some people may prefer Rap or Hip- Hop; Country or Pop. It all just is based on what you like and what you grew up around. If you grew up listening to country music, it’s not going to be very likely you are going to like Speed Metal. It could happen, but most likely you’ll stay with what you know.

Literature Review

By Jasmine White

FrostBlood by Elly Blake

FrostBlood by Elly Blake is a book for fantasy lovers. The book takes place in a world where FrostBlood people are the ruling class over everyone in the continent. As the name says, they can create ice and frost. The protagonist hides her power as a Fireblood to keep safe from the cruel ruling class. A tragic event happened to her which leads to her joining the rebellion. During the book, we get to follow the protagonist in seeing how she helps the rebellion and at the same time discover her true identity and strength. In addition to fantasy, it has a tinge of romance throughout the book. We get to see the struggles of the protagonist’s relationship while she is on an adventure. I love how the book was written and the details of the characters. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.

Student Sonnets By Rhet I Students

Hayden Mies

Is it deserved that our dreams should fade? is it that goals are fueled by partial greed Will better dreams come or is it an immoral trade all dreams do vanish untouched by any plead for flighty, fickle spirits are dreams whom run in and out of many souls escaping each by drastic means undoing ultimate plans as presents and tolls the winds of time move our dreams from reach their arms tinkering with them as they die our lives start to become dangerously bleak but then our eyes begin to see those dreams fly

they soar above and in to the mind of a friend we realize that those dreams will never truly end

Harsh Patel

Why do I want to scrutinize the earth? To entertain my meddling head and mind To solve enigmas yet to be unearth. To portion knowledge labeled undefined Or to roam the calm seas, and raging skies. To learn of cultures and traditions Which may also come as a pleasant surprise, Or learn governments, and their politicians. To traverse forests inside of mother nature To hear the mellow chirps of birds at dawn Angelic animals are as vast as an acre Oh, the beauty of the earth, makes me fawn.

On journeys to explore the world, I seek all of these things Through expeditions, see what nature brings.

Flower of the Month By: Lydia Grampp

Ava Nollen: Editor-in-Chief The Chief Staff

Aubreigh Carmack Mason Christianson Jack Demopoulos Brieaunna Duck Lydia Grampp Vanessa Kapper Sam Kelly Zoe Noles Emma O'Lone Paige Olson Olivia Schickel Conrad Skryzpiec Jasmine White

You and I both know the saying “April showers bring May flowers.” May’s flower of the month is Lily of the Valley. These gorgeous flowers have distinct bell-shaped petals. Sadly, Lilies of the Valley cannot survive in the heat, so that is why they prefer the earlier and cooler spring months. They are Finland's national flower and are used to make sweet smelling perfumes. Lily of the Valley is very popular in royal wedding bouquets and the flowers are said to bring luck in love. Keep on the lookout to spot this dainty flower of the month!

Mr. Blair, Faculty Sponsor Dr. Soares, Faculty Sponsor The CHIEF logos designed by Abbi Schott

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