- Thanksgiving Break
Thanksgiving came early this year, and with it came 3 days off of school. The 22nd saw no students at school, because they were at home sleeping in. The 23rd was Turkey Day (Gobble Gobble) and had students and teachers stuffing their faces with turkey, stuffing, and all the fixings. The 24th saw many students out barreling their way through the masses at local shopping centers to pick up the best deals of the season on everything from clothing to electronics. The return to school on the 27th saw many kids, as they say, “stunting” on the rest of the students with their new pick-ups.
- Cross Country State Finals
Saturday the 3rd saw the annual Michigan Cross Country State Finals at Michigan International Speedway. The Squires XC dynasty sent another platoon of runners this year to run for All-State honors. In all, nine runners represented Calvin Christian this year. Congratulations to Zach Hoekstra, Kayce Rypma, and Sheila Witvliet for earning All-State honors individually. The Girls team took third place overall, adding another high finish to their impressive recent history. We look forward to seeing what the Cross Country team can accomplish in the upcoming years!
- Dr. McEvoy’s Training Day 1
During the week of November 13, Calvin Christian hosted a visitor in Dr. McEvoy, a behavioral psychologist. She presented two different presentations on school culture and peer mistreatment, with the first focusing on how to identify peer mistreatment. She distinguished bullying as a subset of peer mistreatment. This misses the point that the term “bullying” in popular culture means any form of mistreatment, thus there is no need to officially distinguish bullying from peer mistreatment. As you can see, I don’t fully understand this concept, but that is because I’m no behavioral psychologist.
- Winter Sports Kickoff
The month of November marks the kickoff of the many winter sports available at Calvin Christian, and this year was no different. The boys and girls basketball teams started conditioning and practicing this month. The boys wrestling season kicked off alongside boys swim and dive and boys bowling. The Squire Squad is getting ready to get loud on Tuesday and Friday nights to support our teams and hopefully lead them to victory. Here’s to a great winter sports season!
- Homecoming Votes
November 20th saw the release of the annual homecoming representative ballot. This provides students with the chance to voice their opinion on who they would like to represent their class. Each student is allowed to vote for three male and three female representatives, with the top three vote getters moving onto the next round of voting. Voting is a time honored tradition at Calvin, and the most deserving students always end up on top. Unfortunately, the “Vote Jimmy” campaign failed in the senior class, but there’s always next year for Jimmy. Congratulations to all the winners, and we all hope you represent your classes exceptionally well.
- The “Stop Vaping” announcement
On the 10th of the month, the students were graced with one of a powerful lunchtime announcement. Students were reminded that “all tobacco and nicotine products are banned on our campus” and that their first offense will be a “$25 fine and their second a $50 fine.” Also, the use of tobacco is in violation of our athletic code. So don’t smoke, it’s not a joke. The announcement ended with words of encouragement, telling all the students to “save their wallets and their health” by quitting vaping. With all of the money you save, consider tipping your favorite newspaper writer as he works so hard providing commentary on the most important events of the month.
- Dr. McEvoy’s Training Day 2
Friday the 17th saw the second and final day of school culture training. Day 2 focused on what to do as a bystander when you see any peer mistreatment happening. The majority of time was spent teaching students extremely useful phrases to respond to bullies with, such as, “That makes you look bad” and “You must be drinking the haterade.” My personal favorite phrase goes a little like this: *big fake smile* “Fail!” All of those phrases are word for word tactics which an actual behavioral psychologist recommended real high school students to use to combat bullying. However, the students did gain one thing from the presentations: many phrases to use to make their friends and classmates laugh.
- Olthoff Decorates his Room
The top event this month once again goes to local physics teacher Mr. Olthoff. On their return to school from Thanksgiving Break, students faces were literally glowing as they walked into room 103 to see Christmas lights strung all across the ceiling. This is not new for Mr. Olthoff as he decorates his room every year. This year the assortment of lights includes white, blue, and multicolor. Select strands of lights even have flashing capabilities. With the lights off it’s like walking into a seizure-inducing winter wonderland. Recently, nativity scenes and figurines have been added to “spice” up the room and provide even more spirit of the season. Olthoff has yet to add a full Christmas tree; however, this is understandable as a tree would provide indisputable proof to the ever-circulating theory that Mr. Olthoff lives in his classroom.
