On February 8^th from five till eight5-8 p.m. at night, McDonald’s will have a few new employees. The sophomore class will beis putting on a Teacher Takeover at the McDonald’s in North Bend. A percentage of all the money made that McDonald’s makes in that three hour time frame will be donated to Mount Si.

This fundraiser was made to raisewill raise money for the sophomore classes’ budget.  A percentage of all the money made that McDonalds makes in that three hour time frame will be donated to Mount Si.

“We are going to go into the McDonald’s and the teachers are taking over making the food, taking drive- thru orders, and doing orders at the counter, while the sophomore class will be there to pull people in and maybe do an additional fundraiser on the side,”, said sophomore, Devon WattenburgerWattenbarger.

 “We will be wearing our PRIDE tee t-shirts and school colors,”, said social studies teacher, Trent Wieburg.

Mount Si has never done anything like this in the past.

“This is going to be the first year and our plan is to make this an annual fundraiser”, said Wattenburger.

ASBThe class board got the idea from other schools that have done it in the past and enjoyed it, including the previous school were Wieburg taught..

“They did this event at the previous high school I worked for down in Shelton”, said Wieburg.

When Mr. Wieburg went down to back to Shelton to see his former students, they were still talking about the great times they had doing thisat their event event. He looks forward to the interaction he will have with the Mount Si community.

“Working behind the counter, talking with the customers and thanking them for coming and see the kids will be fun,” said Wieburg.

However, This will not be Mr. Wieburg’s first time working in fast food; he is in fact a fast food veteran.

“I was the milkshake pro at the Silverdale Arby’s, which was my first job back in high school”, said Wieburg.

sSenior, Kayty Davenport has been working at the McDonald’s in North Bend for about a year now and thinks the teachers will have a tough time taking on the responsibility.

“I think it may be a bad idea because our customers are already really mean to us, and while this would be a fun thing to do, the customers are not going to be understanding if one of the teachers makes a mistake … it . [Working in fast food] is very stressful,”, said Davenportshe said.

This will not be Wieburg’s first time working in fast food, though; he is in fact a fast food veteran.

“I was the milkshake pro at the Silverdale Arby’s, which was my first job back in high school,” said Wieburg.

It remains to be seen how Mount Si’s administrators and staff will handle the transition from correcting worksheets and giving lectures to making fries and taking orders. The sophomore board hopes that the event will bring in a lot of curious students.Mr. Wieburg is most excited to get to get to interact with the people of Mount Si.

“Working behind the counter, talking with the customers and thanking them for coming and see the kids will be fun”, said Wieburg.

ASB asks people to come in and support their school.

“People should come because it involves everyone in the school and we get to joke about teachers working at McDonalds,”, said WattenburgerWattenbarger.

“I want to encourage everyone to come support your school, have a great, hang out with friends, and see your principal and teachers working at McDonalds”, said Wieburg.

            “The parent meeting was thought up by the students of the club to help start a network of community awareness and support for what the GSA is all about. There’s a lot of misconceptions out there surrounding why the GSA exists and what purpose it serves—this meeting was all about getting people together and getting the facts and the importance of the club out there into the Valley,” said teacher and GSA advisor Eric Goldhammer.

            The meeting consisted of GSA members and their families sharing pizza, and members explaining why GSA is a significant part of their lives and discussing the various ways parents can get involved. These included joining a local PFLAG chapter—for instance, the one in Bellevue, from which the representatives came—and standing up against the club’s opposition when necessary.

            “I was proud [of my daughter that night] and the meeting gave me good incentive as to what the club was doing,” said mother Kris Miller.

            The event was the GSA’s first-ever attempt at having a parent-centered meeting, and required many logistical measures and weeks of preparation.

            “We had to collect quotes from the students about why they are in GSA, contact PFLAG, and prepare things to say about the projects we have accomplished in the past two years. The student statements definitely had the most impact because the parents could see that their kids really cared about GSA and were surrounded by other kids who cared as well,” said senior Landon Edwards, a GSA officer.

            The meeting lasted two hours, with half of the time going to the PFLAG representatives, Jon and Wendy Wartes. They provided pamphlets and free literature for all of the attendees and explained the importance of PFLAG in the community, stating that it was often not enough to support their children’s rights in private—that it was sometimes necessary to show that support publicly.

            After the meeting, most of the GSA’s members have agreed it was a success and are hopeful that there will be more parent involvement in the future.

            “We had a great turn out and a great response from the friends and family that attended. For many parents, it was really the first time they got to experience the passion, significance, and need of the GSA first hand. I couldn’t be more proud of the students that pulled this together, got their parents to come, and spoke so eloquently in front of such a large crowd,” said Goldhammer.

Keely’s Final Article

Each year, many Mount Si students sign up to be contestants in Wildcat Idol and compete in three rounds of singing until a winner is chosen. This year Wildcat Idol began on Friday January 13 at 7 p.m. for round one. Ten singers were chosen to move on to round two on January 27 at 7 p.m., where they sang two songs each.

Tickets were sold at $5 each. The total of the proceeds was about $4,500. The money that was raised goes into the choir fund. This money will be used to help pay for the cost of choir trips along with festivals.

There were more contestants this year and the audience turnout was about the same as last year but this year’s audience was more enthusiastic.

“It’s fun, [because] we get people not just in choir that you didn’t know sang,” said senior Annalise Sansburn. “It’s also fun to see choir people do something other than just choir”.

Having so many contestants perform brought a lot of talent into the auditorium.

“I was really impressed with the number of students showing their talents as well as the depth of their talent,” said special services teacher Rachel Combs, who was a judge at Wildcat Idol.

Being on stage and performing in front of a live audience can be very stressful for some people. According to this year’s winner, junior Nikki Winters, it was the exact opposite.

 “I wasn’t nervous at all. I was very excited,” said Winters.

Performing and singing on stage is something that Winters enjoys doing. She has been singing since she was about four years old.

After the first performance, judges asked Winters to move around more and Winters did just that. She sang and danced her way through Barbra Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” which brought her a second standing ovation.

It took a lot of hard work for Winters to prepare before performing.

“It takes a lot of practice. It took me many days to memorize the songs,” said Winters. “I enjoy singing so much. I have been singing a lot lately.”

Winters hopes to be a contestant next year in Wildcat Idol and perform for her senior year. Nikki performed three songs but her favorite was “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”

In the end all of Winters’s hard work paid off.

“Nikki’s performance brought tears to everyone’s eyes,” said Sansburn. “Everyone was moved by her performance.”

After each performance, the judges gave constructive criticism to help each performer improve. Having to critique the contestants was not difficult for science teacher Jean-Jacques Tetu.

“I felt bad that I didn’t give them more criticism; you have to know what you’re doing wrong before you can get it right. Confidence has nothing to do with it – if you need to improve your skill, that doesn’t say anything bad about you as a person,” said Tetu.

Combs disagreed with Tetu.

“I believe it wasn’t my place to give criticism. Many students put themselves out there, [and] I wanted to focus on the positive aspects of their performance,” said Combs.

Even though they disagreed on how to give criticism they both agreed that they enjoyed their time as judges.

“It was an honest-to-dog high point of my year. It was seriously inspiring to see the amount of talent out there. It gave me a little hope for the future. My black, evil heart was melted just a little,” said Tetu.

Winters in particular impressed not only the audience but the judges as well.

 “She totally lost herself in her songs. Doing musical or show tunes right is very hard; you have to believe that you are the character you are playing. She did. She didn’t hold back. I respect her immensely for that. She was honest, even though she was “playing” someone with whom she had probably very little in common,” said Tetu.

Combs described Winters’s performance as “exuberant.”

This is not surprising, considering the passion that Winters has for singing.

“Holding a microphone, knowing that everyone is going to hear my voice is my favorite,” said Winters.

“It’s a good experience to be a part of a high school team because you create some quality friendships outside of the classroom,” said senior Madeline Gill, a gymnast.

Without question, there is a connection between the relationship of the team and the numbers on the scoreboard. Even in individual sports like gymnastics, individuals benefit from the support of their team. Gymnastics has proven this with their stellar record.

“My favorite memories of high school gymnastics would definitely be the team sleepovers. We have a couple every year and they really help build strong team unity which is important in gymnastics because even though we perform individually, we excel and work as a team,” said Gill.

Although many of the gymnasts started gymnastics before entering high school, not all of the new people to join the team are necessarily freshman. This year, four foreign exchange students joined the team and helped lead our gymnastics team to its victory.

“I would most definitely recommend gymnastics for others. It’s such a great experience and so fun to get to know everyone because we are all so welcoming to others. Also it’s a great workout,” said junior Hannah Richmond.

Wrestling has a whole line up of students who made accomplishments this season. Senior Josh Mitchell is a league champs for his second year in a row. Junior Mitch Rorem was able to obtain his first year of being a league champ as well.

“This is my fourth year [wrestling]. Freshman year was a struggle, [but] this [year] all my hard work show[ed],” said Mitchell.

Each girls’ basketball team had a unique season. Varsity had an even mix of wins and losses, but ended up losing their playoff game at KingCo, ending their post season. The JV team lost a few players toward the end of their season, and C-Team girls suffered from several injuries and teammates continually not showing up for games.

“We lost our KingCo playoff game last night [Monday, Feb. 6], so our season has finished. I’m very happy that we were able to be successful this year by making it to the playoffs, but disappointed we couldn’t continue. The girls played hard and were warriors last night… We just needed more time on the clock,” said girls’ varsity coach Megan Botulinski.

In his second year coaching at Mount Si, boys’ basketball coach Steve Helm failed to lead his team to victory fifteen times this season. Out of twenty games, the team won five games and did not make it to the playoffs. The team did, however, take a trip to Maui, Hawaii during their season.

“We started off playing a little bit selfish. It led to losing games, and as time went on we learned it’s all about the team and not ourselves. My shining moment was going to Maui, [Hawaii] and bonding with my teammates,” said senior Charlie Corriveau.

There are a couple of twists in the voting this year, however. For starters, students will be able to vote not only in person, but also via Facebook.

                Class of 2013 advisor and Language Arts teacher Toni Canady has said that the board of directors has been “working hard” to make sure that the dance gets all that it needs, from the decorations to the DJ.

                During the days leading up to Tolo this year, there will be less emphasis on girls asking boys to the dance and more emphasis on groups of friends coming together.

                “The Class of 2013 Board felt if the students were allowed to vote at school and or on Facebook, on this year’s theme, more would want to participate in the actual event,” said Class of 2013 Co-Advisor Ms. Toni Canady. “The traditional Tolo Dance, where a girl asks a guy is still an option, but we are encouraging groups of students to come together. Groups signed up having 3 or more will receive a discount.”

 Canady also encourages any students wishing to participate in the planning of decorations and festivities to join weekly meetings at 7:15 am on Wednesdays in Portable 5A.

                The themes that can be voted on are Masquerade, Mathletes vs. Athletes, Beach Party, Alice in Wonderland, or Animals. The committee says that their intentions with the theme is to transform the school into some place else.

                “Whenever you walk into the room, whatever theme it is going to be be, I want you to walk in and think it’s the theme,” said class of 2013 board member junior Dominick Canady. “I don’t want you to come in and think ‘This is the commons; this is the gym,’ I want you to think ‘This is the theme and [I’m going to] have a fun time with my friends.”

                Canady also believes that this is a time for students to have fun with the theme when they get dressed up.

                “You can be anything you want to be for the night,” he said.

                The Tolo committee hopes to get everybody in the school involved.

“It will be different in a good way this year,” said junior Paul Nelson, also a member of the 2013 class board.  “We want everybody to go. Not just one group of kids.”

Nelson hopes that this year’s themes will get everybody involved.  He also said that initial planning for Tolo began as early as the beginning of the year.

“Tolo is one of the big priorities of junior year. [The] goal is to have a good time for kids and also do some fundraising for Prom,” added Canady.

                Junior Liam Wright attended Tolo last year, and says that he might attend this year, if the right person asks.

 “I like chocolates, ladies,” he said.

“I think they will do great at the UCA Nationals. They have been working really hard at practice and they seem ready. They are excited and we all can’t wait to see how they do,” said junior cheerleader Jessica Canyock.

To qualify for nationals, the team had to attend UCA’s summer camp and perform well enough to receive a bid. This is the team’s first year attempting to qualify.

“I think [going to nationals] is going to be an amazing experience and I’m hoping that the team takes away a lot from what they see. Mount Si cheer is a small fish in a big pond in Orlando, but I’m hoping that this nationals experience will push our cheerleaders to become better and work to reach that next level,” said cheer coach Jessii Stevens.

Because the team has never attended the tournament and considers itself relatively-unknown in terms of national high school cheerleading, many are hoping for recognition, rather than winning the tournament.

“Our goal realistically this year is to make semi-finals. There are so many amazing teams in this country that we are just a small part of. The program wants to continue to grow into an even stronger squad and really become well-known across the country, eventually. This trip is just to get Mount Si on the board of nationally ranked squads to get the experience so that we can bring it back and pass it down to the girls who will be on the team in the future,” said senior and cheer captain Chloe Villanueva.

Despite the main focus in Orlando being the tournament, the team also has days set aside to enjoy the Disneyworld theme parks – including exclusive after-hours privileges and an after-party hosted by Disney. 

The commission consists of seven members: six adults with terms of four years and one youth member that will serve a term of one year. The youth term will end  August 31, 2012.                        

The commission works as an advisory that provides guidance and direction to meeting the needs of the city’s parks, recreational and beautifications it needs.

“Past youth appointees have usually has a passion for outdoor sports,” said Career Specialist Kellie Essig.                                     

The meetings typically occur once per month on Wednesday evenings.       

If you are interested and would like to apply you can go to the website at http://northbendwa.gov or contact the city clerk at 425-888-7627 for the application to be sent to you. The completed applications must be submitted by Friday February 17, 2012. They can be sent to P.O Box 896, North Bend, WA 98045 or email it to soppedal@northbendwa.gov.               

The application asks about the students’ interest in serving and previous community activities among other questions.

“The Parks Commission Youth Position is a wonderful opportunity for a youth to get involved in city government and to benefit the community,” said Essig.

The school has had two penny wars in the past, the last one being almost two years ago which had little success. However, NHS feels like their third war has been far more successful than their last attempt. “The seniors and the faculty really stepped up to the plate. The seniors and faculty almost doubled their contributions from the first week,” said chair Molly Madsen.

To ensure the success of the project, the chairs and co-chairs of the penny war decorated the penny-collection jugs with class colors. “The junior one kicks butt. It’s got really cool stickers on it,” said NHS member Carol Gardner.

By the end of the fundraiser, NHS helped raise a total of $818.01.