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.