Ugly Sweater Day

by: Dora Gomm

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” is an understatement. Holiday cheers are being spread throughout the whole month of December, and it's clear that the students of LCHS are excited for the winter break. One way the students spread holiday cheer is by wearing ugly sweaters. No one can deny that ugly sweaters are one of the best parts of the season. Let's take a look at some of the students who showed off their ugly or cute holiday sweaters.

 Ryan Jansen said that he loves wearing this sweater because it “Gets me in the Christmas spirit.”



 Madison Driessen loves her Minnie and Mickey happy holidays sweater because it’s warm and comfy.  



 Rachel Tessen just sang “O’ Christmas tree, O’ Christmas tree!”






“Have yourself a Merry little Christmas…. AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” ~Kendra Schumacher

And the winner of the best-dressed of the day goes to...

High School Principal Mr. Bird!

Winter Break Plans

by: Raechel Tessen

Winter Break Plans

So we all know that the holidays are just right around the corner, and this is the best time to sit and relax and enjoy the long week ahead of us not worrying about any school or homework to do.  Most of us here are going to go spend time with family, open presents, and celebrate the new year upon us! Some of us lucky ducks are doing something even more fun so I decided to ask some people what they will be doing over break and if they have any big plans going on that they are excited about.

Dora Gomm- “Snowboarding with my friends and drink coffee and cuddle and watch Christmas movies. And bake cookies, I love to make cookies over the break!”

Tristan O’Rourke- “I am going to Florida to Disneyland and can't wait to ride all of the rides. I am going to be gone for about 11 days!”

Peace Gorell- “Be with family from Arkansas; they are coming to Wisconsin. And working!”

Rachel Tessen- “I will be working off the money that I spent on Black Friday!”

Kendra Schumacher- “I’m gonna go see my grandma more, snuggle in bed and watch some Netflix, probably do some shopping, see my sister, and go to a work wedding on New Year's Eve!”

Logan Collison- “Eating lots of food, sledding, hanging out with the fam, and going to Illinois.”

Jackson Heiting- “I plan to spend time with family members I have not seen in awhile and hang out with my niece and nephew.”

Ali Torbeck- “You probably don't want to know.”

Courtney Schaefer- “um..Christmas?”

Overall, whatever you do over break, you will get to enjoy a few days off of school and some days to sleep in. Happy Holidays everyone and be safe with your winter break! See you all in 2017!

LC Gives Back

by: Jackson Heiting

Around the holiday season, many LCHS students step up to do what they can to give back to the community this holiday season.  With many clubs and students volunteering this holiday season, it’s important that we recognize a few of these people for their work and acts of kindness throughout this holiday season.

Many clubs take this time of year as an opportunity to help others in the community. Diversity club had their annual hygiene drive this year. They were able to break their record with over 2,000 items!  “Students went above and beyond!  I am very proud of the students that participated,” said Mrs. Schmalz, leader of the Diversity Club.  Items like lotion, soap, feminine hygiene products, pillows, flip flops, pajamas, or even garbage bags and washcloths were accepted and donated to Homeless Connections and Harbor House on December 1st.  As a reward for the student body’s hard work, the top three classes that brought in the most products to donate received a free breakfast from the Diversity Club.

FBLA and the Mustang Locker Room hosted a drive that collected un-opened gifts for a 20% coupon for local children by the Salvation Army and Marine Corps. Reserves.  “The true reward is the feeling that they will receive by giving a toy to a needy child this Christmas!” said Mr. Lavigne, the FBLA advisor.  This promotion was able to bring in many different and useful toys for toys for tots.  

Finally, 29 people signed up to give blood for this fall’s blood drive at LCHS.  Headed by Student Council, this event was able to collect 13 units of blood.  The efforts helped to save 39 lives throughout the Fox Valley community.  “Donating blood is awesome; you get free cookies,” said Ashley Smith, who was the chairperson of the drive this year.  The next blood drive for LCHS is February 15th. See Ashley to sign up!

Turkey Legs 2016 Honors Mrs. Stangel

by: Logan Van Handel

Thanksgiving is a time for being generous, and that’s just what the middle schoolers were. Every year Little Chute Middle School does a turkey legs event. The teachers all take pictures of their legs and post them on a billboard in the school. Then the students bring in canned food items and put them by the legs they think is the teacher that they want to be the turkey. At the end of the week the teacher with the most cans under their name wins and has to dress up as a turkey. Once the teacher is all dressed up they have to go and stand on the street corner dancing and getting honked at. Sounds like a fun time to me.

This year the students went above and beyond on how much they donated. The school collected over 1000 cans from all four grades. Seventh grade placed 4th in the rankings with 130 cans donated. Fifth grade surpassed them for 3rd place with 331 cans. In 2nd place came 6th grade with 354 canned food items. Barely finishing 1st and earning the Golden Can Award was 8th grade, bringing in 372 cans. All of the students did a great job donating this year.

This year Mrs. Stangel won the honor of being the turkey. I asked Mrs. Stangel how it felt to be the tukey; she said, “It was very embarrassing, but I think I was a pretty good sport.” Mrs. Stangel figured since it is her last year at Little Chute it would be fitting to be turkey legs this year. Over all turkey legs was a great event that happened this year. We hope to see years like this to come.

Holiday Traditions

by: Logan Collison

As Thanksgiving and Black Friday festivities come to a close, that means Christmas is right around the corner, and with Christmas comes Christmas traditions. I asked some students from different grades and our very own tech master Demetrios Green what their favorite holiday festivities are.

The first student I talked to, Matt Reynebeau, was asked what types of holiday traditions he and his family enjoy taking part in. One of his favorites is putting up a Christmas tree and decorating it with lots of ornaments and tinsel and putting on his ornament that he made in fourth grade. Baking sugar cookies with family and frosting them is another fam favorite, along with hanging lights outside the house, making it glow in the dark and frosty nights. I’ll leave you with this quote from Matt himself: “Christmas is about what you give, not what you receive.”

Taking it to the senior class, our very own Madison Driessen has a different spin on Christmas traditions. She and her family start off by going to her grandma’s house, and they enjoy spiral ham and other tasty dishes while opening presents. Staying on the food theme, Madison and her siblings enjoy their mom’s huge 16” pumpkin pie and eat it until they can’t eat anymore according to Maddie. Lastly, on Christmas Eve they all open one present before heading to bed to see what other goodies Santa brought them in the morning.

In our tech department Demetrios Green loves Christmas time for some of the seasonal food items that only come around this time of the year. Starting with a spiral ham covered in a pineapple glaze that his mom makes, and to wash it all down he enjoys what he calls an Orange Julius, which is eggnog with orange juice in it. After eating is over, he and his family pop on their ugly Christmas sweaters and exchange white elephants and see what useless fun items this year brings about.

Freshman Joe Scheeler loves putting up Christmas lights and hanging up homemade decorations made by our very Mrs. Scheeler, the master of the glitter and glue gun. Before heading to church on Christmas Eve, he and his family open up one present to curb some of that pre Christmas excitement. As they unwrap presents they enjoy the tasty holiday treat of homemade peanut butter balls.     

Little Chute Christmas Parade

by: Klaudia Lamers

Imagine going to the Little Chute Christmas parade and getting to see Santa. This year's theme of the parade was "Just Believe", and the floats did a great job of showing that theme. Tons of families and friends all line the street just waiting for Santa. As they wait, the crowds watch other floats go by and catch candy. The night is very magical as people wait for the big grand float that Santa rides on. There’s usually tons of candy that is thrown out to the little kids who giggle in amusement. Then there are people who have horse carriages to show in the parade. In the end they see Santa Claus coming down the street in a Piggly Wiggly buggy.

TV Throwbacks

by: Raechel Tessen

Mighty B, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Zoey 101, Drake and Josh, Lilo and Stitch..all some fan faves. This gave me a little throwback memory of my favorite tv shows that I would watch right when I came home after school. I would watch Zoey 101 or The Amanda Show whenever it was on. Because there were so many great shows that I've probably forgotten, I decided to go around the school and ask everyone what their favorite show was and why they loved it. I thought that this would be a good idea to hear everyone’s favorite show because we can all then reminisce in our childhood favorites.

Peace Gorell: “Spongebob, because it was on a lot and I liked Patrick.”

Jackson Heiting: ”Suite Life of Zack and Cody, it was fun and was a unique tv show.”

Anissa Beattie: “Rugrats, I really liked Angelica.”

Morgan Pluger: “Hannah Montana, because I could relate to her.”

Logan Collison: “Suite Life of Zack and Cody, because I always wanted to be them”

Dominic Johnson: “That's So Raven cause idk I was 7 years old who knows.”

Austin Downing: “Rugrats, because it is so funny.”

Gracie Woeflel: “That’s So Raven, it's funny.”

Post Homecoming Review

by: Klaudia Lamers

Our 2016 Homecoming week was a blast! The week kicked off with some whacky dress up days.  Monday was ‘Merica day, Tuesday was class color day, Wednesday was denim day, Thursday was Throwback Thursday, and Friday was Mustang Day. On Tuesday students were all excited about the powder puff game on that night, Junior girls against Senior girls, and the Senior girls won! Wednesday was Coronation Day, and the boys volleyball game, where Morgan Pluger and Logan Collison were crowned King and Queen and the Senior team easily beat the Faculty team.. Next, on Thursday night we had the Girls Varsity Volleyball game. Then on Friday, we had our pep assembly and the amazing Homecoming football game, against Clintonville, where the Mustangs won fifty two to fourteen. Finally, on  Saturday the dance arrived, where everyone danced the night away with their friends or even their date that they brought along with them.

 

Mustangs Gallop to the Finish Line in Cross Country

by: Jackson Heiting

Coming off of a successful year in Cross Country, LCHS runners aren’t looking to slow down anytime soon.The women’s team of nine scored a 13th place finish at their recent “Smiley Invite,” led by Sophomore Lindsey Grams who took second place in the event.  “Both the Men’s and Women’s teams have been working hard since June.  Many of the runners on both teams are very young,” said Rudy Botz, head coach for LCHS’s Cross Country teams.  This shows as sophomores Connor Christopherson, Noah Mueller, Sam Hietpas, and Matthew Sanderfoot compete for the varsity level for the boy’s team. Also the Girl’s team has young talent, with freshmen Elisha Wilson, as well as sophomores Lindsey Grams and Annie Flaherty competing at the varsity level.  

“We have a pretty strong team, but there is always room for improvement,” said Lindsie Devalk, senior for the cross country team.  Coach Botz continues, “Both the Men’s and Women’s teams have been working on running for each other and realizing that they’re competing as a unit rather than by themselves.”  It shows as you can see the team working together to improve. “I’m super proud of how far we’ve come as a team.  Not even just running, like at the beginning of the year. We didn’t all know each other that well, but now we’re all really good friends and we have a lot of fun with whatever we’re doing,” said senior Laura Hietpas.  “The cool thing about running is that literally every time you do it you get better.”  

As the cross country season begins to wrap up, Coach Botz stresses the importance to work as a team to succeed in conference competition and beyond.  “Working together and running as a team in cross country is vital.  In cross country, the top 5 runners score points for the team.  It takes a collective effort from each runner to score the least amount of points.  The runner in the front is hurting just as bad as the runner in the back, and all the runners need to realize that they have a responsibility to their teammates to give everything they have in every race.”

Watch for Little Chute as they make a “run” for state when they compete in Sectionals at Two
Rivers on Saturday, October 22nd, followed by the state competition at Ridges on Saturday, October

29th.

What People Do After School: Jobs

by: Natalie O'Brien

Every day all around Little Chute, many teens head to work. Some jobs will hire people at the youngest age of 14, but most jobs will hire someone at the age of 16.  The questions I asked these four people were,  “How would you describe this job?”, “What is the fun part about working at that job?”, “How long have you been working there?”, and “Is this job easy or difficult, and what is the age that they start hiring at?”  The four people I interviewed were pretty happy I took a minute out of their time to be asking these questions to them.

One day I decided to stop by Culvers to ask if one of the workers would like to be interviewed. I asked, and Hannah Robinson said that she was beyond excited to get interviewed by me. Her first answer was, “I would describe this job as the best job in the world, because I get to work with a great crew, meet new guests, and serve quality food to the community.”  She just loves working and making ice cream for little kids and making the kids smile.  Hannah has been working at Culver's since January 25, 2016. Hannah believes this job is easy for her and is always motivated to provide good food and a great environment for guests.   

The next job site I visited was Piggly Wiggly, where I interviewed Nicole Geiger. When I asked her the same four questions, she was beyond happy to get interviewed. When Nicole responded to my first question, she  said, “The job is  fast-paced and sometimes stressful because I have to bag for many people when we're busy.” Then Nicole also said, “The fun part about working at Piggly Wiggly is working and talking to the customers.” Nicole Geiger has only been working at Piggly Wiggly for a month and a half. Her final answer to my question was, “It can be stressful at times, but I keep my cool. Some customers are harder to please than others.  We sometimes run into problems, but we deal with them as best as we can; the age is 15 to start working there.”

My next stop was Mcdonalds, and the person I  asked to interview was Klaudia Lamers.  Now Klaudia was pretty happy when I asked her about these four simple questions. She said, “This job is fun, upbeat with the people, and can be stressful when you have too many in the drive thru, but this job is pretty decent.” She said,  “The part about working at Mcdonalds is getting to know your co-workers pretty well and meeting new people.” Klaudia Lamers has been working there for  three months. The age they start hiring is at fourteen, and this job can be easy at times but also difficult too. It’s not too bad, she says, but it can get tiring if it gets busy in there or if the workers start yelling at you. This job is fun, and she enjoys working there with her co-workers.

My final stop was at a place called Sky Zone. It is a trampoline park where you get to  enjoy jumping around with your friends and family. The person I had interviewed was Olivia Hughes. Olivia said, “This job is pretty fun and energetic and really cool.” Her favorite part about working at Sky Zone is meeting all the people or the workers, and she enjoys watching the kids jump and laugh with their friends or family. Olivia has been working there since December of 2015, and she said, “This job can be difficult at times. The reasons are that you need to deal with te parents a lot and their children too. The parents are the bigger deal because how they might get mad at something and you need to help them without getting that stress.” But she also included Sky Zone can be easy at times, if the people know what they are doing and if it’s not too crazy busy here.

Clowning Around

by: Chris Van Asten

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few weeks, you would know that there is a bit of a clown epidemic going on.  All across the United States, there have been countless sightings of people dressed as clowns trying to scare people in public places.  

Most of the sightings are not dangerous; however, there have been instances where the situation turned violent, but not in the way you would think.  There have been videos posted on social media showing people “clown hunting.” Groups of people have gone around looking for these clowns and assaulting them when they find one.  Police are trying to crack down on the issue by making the laws clear for people.  They are saying that anyone dressed up as a clown is not illegal unless they are making an effort to scare or threaten people.  On the other hand, it is illegal to use deadly force, or any force for that matter, against a clown unless acting in self defense.  At this point, it is becoming more dangerous for the clowns than the people they are trying to scare.  

This whole craze has the real clowns of America on edge.  They are upset because they are being depicted as dangerous and scary, when in reality, they are just trying to make a living.  It has gone as far as a “Clown Lives Matter” campaign.  A group of actual clowns is taking a stand in Tucson with a Clown Lives Matter march to protest these clown sightings.  

If you think we are safe from the clowns in the quiet Fox Valley, you are wrong.  This past week, there have been reports of clown sightings in Menasha, Appleton, and even in Sunset Park in Kimberly.  We caught up with Little Chute High School’s own Leighton Myers to talk about these clown sightings.  When asked what he thought about the clown craze he answered, “I think it’s funny. But people are overreacting and being a little too harsh to the clowns.” Next we asked him if he has ever seen a clown in person, and what would he do. He said, “No I have not seen one.  Attempted to, but the attempt failed.  If I saw one, I would probably take a snapchat picture or video then ask him if he needs a warm place to sleep tonight.”  Lastly we wanted Leighton to give a message to all of the clowns out there trying to scare him.  He replied, “I am the assistant karate leader at the local dojo, and I am highly trained in martial arts. Purple belt.”

Most importantly, we here at the Mustang Corral want to see all students at LCHS stay safe.  When going around looking for clowns, it is advised you stay in the vehicle.  If you insist on going outside, it is advised to carry some type of hand held weapon like a bat.  However, this is strictly for self defense and should not be used for assault.  

Drumming up Business

by: Ryan Romenesko

Little Chute High School’s very own Logan Collison helps run his family business outside of school. Recently, I was able to talk with him about their business called Out of the Drawer Percussion.

Q: What is Out of the Drawer Percussion?

A: The drum company started by me and my father when we first picked up a dresser curb side.

Q: How many products do you offer? What kinds of products?

A: Around 26, and everything from shakers to congas, and bongos to classic cajons.

Q: How long have you been working with Out of the Drawer Percussion?

A: The company was started around four years ago, and I have been helping out ever since.

Q:Tell me a little about how you make the drums?

A: Start off by finding any old dresser or drawer and knocking it apart. Then we prepare it by cutting out the different pieces and glue them together. We finish it off by sanding and staining.

Q: Who often purchases from you?

A: All sorts of different people from world famous musicians, to your everyday person. They are very versatile drums.

Q: Where did you get the idea for this company?

A: My dad made a classic box cajon just for fun and enjoyed making it. He decided to continue to make and sell them. 

Q: What is the busiest time of the year when it comes to making the drums?

A It really varies for us; I'd say during our Chicago drum show is very busy for us.

Their business is still fairly new as they are going on five years now. In order to save costs in their business, they are able to produce the drums from the comfort of their own home. Out of the Drawer Percussion makes most of their sales at various entertainment shows and takes orders through their very own website.       

Why Do People Take Art?

by: Peace Gorrell

As the new year started, I saw that I had Art 2 for my third block. As each day went by, I looked more and more forward to attending the class, which made sense because I took that class for my interest in art. On the other hand, as each day went by I saw others in class not as excited, not as interested in the different project we’re starting today, or the lessons we are being taught. So I started to wonder why. If I made a survey calculating why people take art classes, how many people would say they’re taking art just for the love of it, and how many take it just because they heard it was an easy class, or are there other reasons? With these questions I decided to do exactly that and make a survey.

I conducted a small survey to hopefully answer my question. My survey questioned what art class they’re in right now and the reason why they decided to take the art class. I didn’t supply options for the art class, but I did supply the options for the reasoning such as “generally interested in art and creating art”, “your other friends were taking it, you didn’t know what else to take”, or “you thought it was just an easy class.” I hypothesized that most of the results would show that people mostly took art just because it was an easy class or that they didn’t know what else to take. To my surprise the results were much different.

Out of my surveys, I found that about 77 percent of people were taking art because they are generally interested in art and creating it. Then about 15 percent said they just didn’t know what else to take, and lastly only about 8 percent said they wanted art because they thought it was just an easy class to take. I was mostly surprised by the results because I didn’t think so many people would be interested in art, and mostly people would just take it because it was an easy class. Overall, I am happy with the results, seeing how many people have a general love and appreciation for art like me and so many other people in our school and community do too.

Little Chute's Baseball Team

by: Brady Weigman

Little Chute’s Baseball team has had an interesting year so far. Their season is decent, with a record of 7-9. They also have three key Division 1 wins, and they were against Menasha, New London, and a team from Rolla, Missouri. In conference play the Mustangs are 3-6 and are in 7th place overall in the conference. The team also has only three seniors: Josh Ciske, Brady Weigman, and Brady Lonigro. The team did some pretty cool things over the season which include going to St. Louis, running a 5K, running a baseball camp, and running an Inspire baseball camp for kids with special needs. This has been a great experience for everyone on the team so far, and they hope to make a run during the playoffs.

Meet the New Principal

by: Seth Sherrer







With everyone anxious and excited about the seniors who will be graduating and leaving this school in three days, they may have forgotten a very special someone who is leaving the school as well. That very special person is principal Dan Valentyn. Valentyn has been a principal at Little Chute High School for the past twelve years. I can very well say that he was liked by everyone here at LCHS and will be very well missed. Now the big question that everyone asking is, “Who's going to be the new principal here at LCHS?” His name is Tony Bird. He was an assistant principal at Oshkosh Area School District. Previous to his assistant principal job, he served as the Dean of Students and Social Studies teacher. He lives with his wife Kristin and three children. They enjoy spending time together as a family and being outdoors.

Getting Well at LCHS

by: Kristina Aguilera

Diversity Club is one of many clubs here at LCHS. Their mission is to help spread awareness and education about mental health. Throughout the year they have many missions. These missions range from the Hygiene drive at the beginning of the year to the Mental Health Awareness week at the end of the year. This year Diversity Club teamed up with the Wellness Day committee and attempted to hold both events on the same day.

The Wellness/Mental Health day consisted of first the cookout and activity fair, and the wellness activities were to follow. The activity fair consisted of multiple business booths. Some of these businesses include NAMI, Planned Parenthood, Womankind, and many more. Alongside the activity fair the members of Diversity Club also hosted a cookout. They raised money and supplies from local businesses, and some of the members personally grilled the food. The club prepared burgers, brats, and hotdogs for the students and staff at LCHS. Sadly the weather was uncooperative for the day, and it started to sprinkle upon the cookout. Thankfully we were able to move inside and continue the rest of the activity fair, and  Wellness Day was rescheduled for the following Friday.

Wellness Day Take 2 was a blast! Many different activities were offered for students, such as kickball with Mr. Rankin and Mrs. Scheeler, and Dodgeball with Mr. Corrado and Mr. Botz. During wellness day each teacher/assorted staff member here at LCHS has two events or activities that students can participate in. These activities consist of different ways in which students and staff can keep their bodies and minds well, mentally and physically. Coloring for relaxation and ultimate frisbee are a few of the other popular activities that many chose to participate in on wellness day.  

Can I have Your Snapchat?

By: Allie Glaser

Snapchat has over 100 million users, and there are plenty of students at LCHS that use the app.  I went around school to find out what people like most about the popular app.  I asked:

• How often do you snapchat?
• What’s your favorite filter and why?

Allison Romenesko-”Every day.  I like the face swap the best because it's funny.”

Aly Myers-”Every day.  I also like the faceswap because it’s funny and fun.”

Kendra Huray-”Every day.  I like both the dog filter and the one that makes your eyes big because I think they are humorous.”

Brandon Hietpas-”Not often. I don’t have a favorite filter because I enjoy being natural.”

Lindsey Clark-”Every day.  I like the faceswap through camera roll because I like to pretend I'm Beyonce or Ke$ha; those are my favorite.”

Maya Weyenberg-Every day. I used to really enjoy the tomato, but since that is no longer on there I would have to say my favorite is the Hawaii one because it makes me feel like I’m on the set of Lilo and Stitch.”

Madison Driessen-”Every single day (I have a 400 day streak).  The one that turns your smile sideways because it makes me laugh.”

Randy Estevez-”Whenever I get a notification.  The face swap because it’s unique and special and you can make any face you want.”

Emma Pauls- “Every minute. My favorite is all of them because it depends on the lighting, but one of my favorites is the frowning one because it makes me look pale and that is in style.”

Mrs. Van De Yacht- “Only when I can pop into other students photos and make fun of them.  I like the angel one because it reminds me of myself.”

Elias Pirkey-”Often.  I like the faceswap because it’s hilarious.”