Winter Sports Week fills students with school spirit

Alexis Ferguson and Brady Losure are crowned as Winter Sports Week Queen and King after the varsity basketball games on Jan. 13.

by Morgan Sanders 

Winter Sports Week this year began on Wednesday, Jan. 11. “Can’t Break This Chain” was the theme for the week. Down the halls, a paper chain created by students connected the elementary to the high school. 

The week started on Wednesday with dress up days. The first day was held on Wednesday  since students were unable to dress up Monday and Tuesday due to semester tests.  After two days of testing, students were encouraged to come to school in their pajamas on Wednesday. Thursday, students showed their true nerds for Nerd Day by dressing in items such as suspenders and fake glasses. Friday was Blue and White Day. 

During advisor time on Friday, high school students voted for Winter Sports King and Queen. This year, candidates were any seniors participating in an activity that takes place during the winter. These groups included basketball, wrestling, cheerleading, band, vocal,  yearbook and journalism, Speech and Drama, and FFA.

Before dismissal at 1:30 on Friday, the school gathered in the high school gym for a pep assembly at 1:00. The cheerleaders and band started the assembly with the school song and a cheer. 

Student council and cheerleadering sponsors then led seniors in a game of Name that Tune. 

After the cheerleaders led two more cheers, there was a surprise announcement. This year, students voted for a king, queen, prince and princess of the teachers.  Cheerleaders Morgan Sanders, Makayla Slings, Megan Facile and Tailor Snook then crowned the king and queen as Dale DeJong and Roxanne Goudy and prince and princess as David Brondyke and Leah Farrington. 

To finish the assembly, the cheerleaders led one last cheer, performed the school song and students and teachers were dismissed. 

The final event for the week took place after the basketball games on Friday night. Cheerleaders Arly Labahn and Makayla Slings and  crowned Brady Losure and Alexis Ferguson as Winter Sports King and Queen.

Teacher Talk: Abby Clark

by Rachel Ranfeld

Abby Clark brought her fun and creative personality to MHS in the fall of 2010. Since she was a senior in high school, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. She loved to learn, and she believed that school was the best place for that.

Clark enjoys getting to know all her students, creating interesting ways for them to learn and helping them shape their futures. She enjoys the students the most because “we have some very bright students with a lot of potential.”

Each semester, her classes are slightly different as she continuously discovers and shares new ideas with her students.

She graduated from Newton High School in Newton, Iowa in 2006, where she participated in swimming, golf, Speech improvisation, Big Brothers Big Sisters (pairing up with a younger student in need), marching band and the international club (a club that explores foreign languages).

She then advanced to Wartburg College to major in elementary education and student taught in second and fifth grades in Waverly, Iowa. At Wartburg College, she participated in Best Buddies (partnering with an adult with a disability), Wartburg Association of Student Educators, Adopt-A-Grandparent and Empty Bowls (a program she introduced to MHS last spring). In addition, she tutored other students and was a family’s nanny for four years. 

During her last semester there in 2010, she found MHS’s job listing online. Since it was close to her family, she didn’t hesitate in applying for the job.

While adapting into MHS’s atmosphere, she has brought new experiences to share with her students. First of all, she made a SPRINT class for the junior high and high school students to take for credit. 

Last spring, she orchestrated the Empty Bowls event where students glazed bowls to be sold for donations. The donation money was then given to the Montezuma Food Pantry. Clark plans to hold this event again this spring, and she predicts that the donation money will go another hunger organization. 

Also last spring, she took some of her junior and sophomore students on a visit to Wartburg College. 

Last fall, she had the entire student body participate in the Start Somewhere Walk with help from her SPRINT class students. 

In her free time, Clark likes to make beaded jewelry and hand out her masterpieces as gifts to her friends. She also loves to spend time with her family, visit her college friends, instruct Zumba fitness, travel, read interesting books and watch movies. 

One of the movies she likes watching is “When Harry Met Sally.” “It’s the ultimate romantic comedy,” Clark responded when asked why this was her favorite. Her students, however, would guess her favorite film is “2001: A Space Odyssey” since she talks to them about it all the time.

Montezuma holds annual JV basketball tournament

by Vincent Bushong

Montezuma hosted its annual JV basketball tournament on Saturday, Jan. 8. The tournament consisted of a girls’ and boys’ bracket, with each team playing two games. 

The Montezuma girls’ team won the first game versus Belle Plaine but lost the championship game to BGM. The boys’ JV team came out on top against Belle Plaine and HLV, winning their own tournament for the second year in a row.

The first boys’ game was clearly the Braves’ game in the first half, ending with a 16-point lead. In the second half, Belle Plaine outscored the Braves but not enough to close the gap. The Braves’ held their lead for a victory of 58-49. Bryant Sutfin led Montezuma for scoring with 17 points with Bryan Gregson taking second with nine points.

The second Braves’ game was a small victory every quarter. Per quarter, the Braves’ either scored more than or the same as HLV. This brought the game to a final score of 41-24 in the Braves’ favor. 

For scoring, Joseph Peck was on top with 10 points. Kane Barker and Siraj Thomasen followed with eight and six points, respectively. 

The first girls’ game was close the whole time. The Bravettes were behind at halftime with a deficit of four points, but they came out and outscored Belle Plaine in the second half for a close victory of 36-35. 

Leading the Bravettes for scoring was Abbi Nelson, with 10 points, followed by Clara Johnson with seven points and Paige Snook with six points.

In the second game, BGM’s defense gave enough pressure to strangle out many of Montezuma’s offensive opportunities. This gave BGM many good scoring opportunities, leading to a loss and a final score of 44-23.

Courtney Petersen led the Bravette’s scoring the second game with a total of eight points. Next was Katelyn Gregory with six points and Dakota Norris and Nelson, each with three points.

JH dominate North Mahaska

by Natalie Kirton

On Monday, Jan. 9, each junior high basketball team, both girls and boys, had very successful plays that resulted in wins against the North Mahaska Warriors. The Bravettes played at North Mahaska while the Braves played at home. 

The 7^th grade girls worked well as a team, completing a lot of passes that contributed to their final score of 18-6. 

The 8^th grade Bravettes stepped up their defense to beat the Warriors 25-13. 

“I was very proud of how well both teams played,” said Coach David Brondyke. “They came out focused and played with great vision and determination throughout the whole game.”

As for the boys, the 7^th graders got an early lead to the game. Carson Losure scored a total of 13 of the team’s points, with Grant Johnson pitching in six points. The 7^th grade boys defeated the Warriors 44-23.

“We got tons of steals and dominated the rebounds. It was a solid effort and everyone contributed,” said Coach Clayton Hjelmeland on the 7^th grader’s performance. 

The 8^th grade Braves won against the Warriors with a score of 44-12. Bobby McCulley and Brody McKeag brought the most points to the board, scoring 12 and 11 points respectively. Tyler Geiger contributed six steals as well as five points. 

“We got a quality production out of both the starters and backups, just about everyone scored. It was a very good team effort,” said Hjelmeland.