Reawakening the Star Wars Force

by: Allie Glaser

After buying Star Wars from George Lucas for 4 billion dollars, Disney has created the new Star Wars movie that was released December 18th.  Fans could pre-order their tickets for Star Wars: The Force Awakens online, and the movie smashed ticket records with over $100 million in pre sales.  However, for Disney, the biggest income wasn’t from the ticket sales but instead was from the merchandise.  It is predicted that Star Wars merchandise will generate up to $3 billion in sales in 2015 and up to $5 billion in the next year.

Many true Star Wars fans were skeptical about the movie because of the new owners and directors.  They feared that the movie would stray too far from the originals.  Disney also did an excellent job of hiding any details of the movie in all of the trailers, leading to more anticipation.  However, following the movie’s big opening night, there were an overwhelming amount of positive reviews.  Blogs and articles across the web were raving about the movie, saying that it took many familiar elements of the original films and mixed them together with new elements, making it an outstanding movie.

There were a few students from Little Chute who saw the movie and were thrilled with the outcome.  Jack Delvaux and Tony Schultz rated the movie a “perfect 5/7,” which doesn’t make a lot of sense but we are hoping it is positive, and claimed that it was a must see.  But there are no spoilers here; if you want to discover what all the hype is about, go out and buy your ticket today to see the world’s most talked about film.         

LCHS Wish List

By: Kristina Aguilera

As the Christmas season descends upon us,  the students of Little Chute High School have started to fill out their wish lists.As you can imagine there is a wide variety of items on each list. Some of the students wished for Mustang Apparel, as well as gift cards to their favorite restaurants and bags of their favorite candy.

When filling out his Christmas List freshman Justin Job put items such as an Xbox One, Sweatpants, COD Black Ops 3 for Xbox One, and a basketball. Another freshman boy, Isaac Van Deurzen, has asked for Nike Elite Socks, a gift  card to Buffalo Wild Wings, and an iTunes gift card. Junior Kenia Gonzalez wants fuzzy socks, a gift card to Noodles & Company, and new phone cases.  Katie Lamers, a senior at LCHS, put very different items on hers. She listed things like a gift card to Bath and Body works, jeans from American Eagle, and sweatshirts from Jansport. Another senior girl Maya Weyenberg has asked for an orange Home Depot bucket, a clown fish (Nemo), and Hunter rain boots. Senior boy Adiel Trejo-Martinez has asked for a new TV, a PS4, and a new phone.

From the sound of these lists, it appears the North Pole is going to be working over-time. These students better remember to leave out milk and cookies for Santa and be extra nice to their parents.

The Giving Time of Year

by: Amanda Van De Yacht

Right now, I should be focusing on how excited I am to spend the long break with my family, but you see, as a teacher, I truly have two families: home and work, and as I prepare to spend some much needed time with my own kiddos, part of my heart is with the LCHS kids too.  So as we head off to break, I want to take a few minutes to reflect on how lucky I am to be working at Little Chute High School.  On a daily basis, I get to witness students doing amazing things, whether it be through their numerous talents or their compassionate hearts. Let me take a moment to highlight some of the best events happening around here.

Luke Sampson and Aly Myers learn how to
properly wrap gifts.

First of all, led by Hannah Dornfeld and Clare Hietpas, Student Council and FBLA paired up to "adopt" eighteen kids from the elementary school.  The idea for this project was inspired by Hannah herself, as she has been an integral part of collecting and packing up food for these same families each week.  First of all,  each elementary student was sent home with their own advent calendar.  Then for the next two weeks, high school students selected and shopped for each kid, with only a gender and grade in mind.  All names were kept anonymous, but our students took pride in knowing that they helped make a young child's holiday a little sweeter.  A special thank you to the Little Chute Gridiron Club for the LC wrapping paper!

Kendra Huray proudly displays the great gift she purchased.

Clare Hietpas and Chris Peeters pause for a quick picture.

Secondly, the Little Chute Diversity Club put together another successful hygiene drive.  According to member Patrick Joosten, "It was a record-breaker this year."  Little Chute students managed to collect over 1887.5 items.  All items are then delivered to Homeless Connections in Appleton.   Mr. Van Eperen's class of 13 managed to bring in the most items, with 237.5  They will be rewarded with a breakfast of their choice. 

As I mentioned earlier, this time of year, more than ever, reminds me of the students that stand out in other ways.  It is important to remember that our students come from very different backgrounds.  If I can make one final plea, it would be that the Little Chute community remembers others during this break.  While some of the students will run out the doors on Wednesday, December 23th, there are some kids, due to circumstances beyond their control,  that will amble their way out of these halls because the thought of being home for ten straight days is daunting.  Please take time to remember your fellow neighbors who may not look forward to this break; use these ten days as a time to make a difference.  

Winter Break Plans

by: Clare Hietpas

Students and faculty at LCHS are getting ready for the holiday break. Everyone is getting excited for the vacation days to come. I went around the school and talked to a few kids from each grade and some faculty members and asked them about their holiday break plans.

Aly Myers is a senior here at LCHS, and she has a few things planned for her holiday break. The first thing is spending time with her friends and family. She also plans to do a lot of shopping over the break, as well as drive around with friends to look at Christmas lights in the area.

Senior Mitch Vanden Heuvel plans on doing quite a few things over his holiday break. He plans to go skiing as well as hang out with friends. Also during his free time he plans to work on scholarships for college.

Junior Ellie Mueller has an exciting tradition to continue over the break. Mueller’s family, as well as a few other families, pick out ugly Christmas trees for each other every year. Over the break the families go around and see how they decorated their ugly tree for the season. Besides continuing a friend and family tradition, she plans to go ice skating with friends and spend time with her family.

Carson Mara, a junior at LCHS, plans to really enjoy the holiday break. He is going to visit his grandparents who live out of town and also spend a lot of time with his friends. Also during break he plans to eat a lot of Christmas cookies.

Sophomore Charlie Hietpas has a pretty relaxed break ahead of him. He plans to do the usual, eat and sleep a lot. Besides that he plans to attend a lot of Christmas parties over the break.

Sophomore Olivia Hermsen also has a pretty relaxed break ahead of her. Besides heading to basketball practice over the break she also plans to visit and spend time with her family. During her time off she plans to eat Christmas candy all the time.

Freshman Matthew Sanderfoot also has an eventful holiday break. He plans to hang out with his friends, as well as his family. Sanderfoot will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day surrounded by all of his family. Lastly, he plans to watch a lot of football with his time off. 

Kyra Hietpas, a freshman here at LCHS, has a few ideas in mind when it comes to the holiday break. The first thing is that she plans to spend time with her brothers since they are all going to be home for the holidays. She also plans to go sledding, as well as go to a Christmas party with her friends.

Mr. Krueger has a lot planned for his holiday break. He plans to spend a tremendous amount of time with friends and family. He also said that his son Kaden will keep him very busy with basketball, and they will also be trying to help their oldest son figure out which college he will attend. Krueger also said, “Exercising to make up for all of the joyous celebrations will also be on the docket.”

Mrs. King(Lawrence) also has quite an exciting holiday break planned. She plans to spend a lot of time with family: her mom, husband, kids, and her brother’s family who lives in Seattle. On Christmas Eve her family plans on going to a candle light service, out for Chinese food and then drive around looking at lights while listening to Christmas music along the way! Lastly, she plans to read two books and watch some Netflix with her free time.

Little Chute Holiday Dance Invitational

By Maya Weyenberg

The Little Chute Dance Team held their 12th annual Holiday Dance Invite on December 12, 2015. There were seventy-one teams and over 1,000 dancers in attendance throughout the entire day. Competitors came from all over the state, with the Hudson dance team traveling four hours to attend the competition. Teams began checking into the competition at 6:30 in the morning and continued throughout the day. The competition was split up into three sections; Middle School and Elementary, Varsity Pom, and Varsity Dance.

  The morning consisted of middle school age groups and under. There were both scholastic, studio, and all-star teams. The high school solos, small groups, and duet performances went on throughout the morning session in the auditorium. After the morning session was finished it was time for awards. The most important award given was the Highest Score of the Day, which was awarded to Dollhouse Dance Factory Elite Open team for their open hip hop routine.  

The pom session started in the afternoon at 1:00. The Varsity competition is split up into two sections because many teams compete in the pom competition but not in the dance divisions. This helps to keep the event a little more organized. During the pom competition middle school and elementary solos, small groups, and duets took place in the auditorium. At 4:00 the pom awards took place in the fieldhouse along with the morning solo, small groups, and duet awards. The highest score of the pom competition was awarded to Green Bay Southwest Troyettes for their division two pom routine. Immediately after, the high school dance session began. This was the last session of the day. It consisted of division one and two jazz, pom, kick, and hip hop routines. When it came to awards time the highest score of session three was given to a division one jazz routine from Bay Port.

There were many different exciting parts to the competition. The Little Chute team included a coffee and hot chocolate bar, which was set up and decorated by Laura Hietpas’ mom and grandma. Competition apparel was also sold throughout the day.

If you have ever met a dancer, you know that glitter and sparkles will always make them happy, so glitter letters were available for them to be heat pressed to the back of their apparel. They also had a candy bar. Dancers or their parents were able to fill up a bag with many different kinds of their favorite candy. The famous Dippin Dots company was also there to provide a cold treat for the dancers after they finished all of their performances. In addition to the normal concessions stand they also had Carnival Time Popcorn outside selling kettle corn throughout the day.

It was a very long, but fun and exciting day. Many teams left with multiple trophies and medals to remember all of their outstanding performances. The team members, parents, and other volunteers put in a lot of hard work and time to make the event such a success. Thank you to all of them for their long hours that day! They are already looking forward to The Little Chute Holiday Invite of 2016!   

A Toyland Christmas

A Toyland Christmas
By Katie Lamers

The Village of Little Chute was lined with spectators for the annual Christmas parade. The weather was chilly, but that didn’t stop the families from coming to see the decorated floats and community members. The parade has always brought excitement for the kids, seeing the intricate floats and getting candy tossed at you. It has always been a staple event in the community.

The parade was kicked off and organized by the Kiwanis Club; they introduced this year’s theme as “A Toyland Christmas.” From there the parade brought carolers that sang a classical Christmas tune. The floats rolled through catching everyone's eyes with the blinking lights and cool designs.The kids were enthralled when they got candy thrown towards them; the excitement was shown clearly on their faces.Everywhere you looked kids were running all over trying to get every last piece. The major float that will stick in people's minds is the big truck that carried Santa and Mrs.Claus; it captured everyone's attention with the bright lights and enormous star on the side. Another memorable float was the gingerbread house constructed by the Little Chute Career Pathway Academy.

Seniors Hannah Dornfeld and Tommy Mlodzik
were instrumental in organizing this float.

If you’ve never been to the parade, next year you might want to consider attending. It gives you a sense of belonging to the community and makes you appreciate the holidays and what they really stand for.