April, 2014
Volume 9, Issue #6
Senioritis
Inside this issue:
As I write this, I realize that this article is already past its due
date. Ooops. A good example of this terrible disease that is striking
seniors across the nation. In the Urban Dictionary, Senioritis is defined In Your School
2-4
as “a crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic
Head 2 Head
5
shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also, it features a
lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attiCreative
6-7
tude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.” I
Corner
couldn’t have said it any better. Over the past four years, I have often
heard seniors say “I have a bad case of senioritis”, and underclassmen, Political
8
myself included, would Analysis
say, “oh yeah, I’ve got
What’s That?
9
Senioritis (n.)
it already.” I was
I had no idea.
Letter from the
A crippling disease that strikes wrong.Over
the last
10
Editor
high school seniors.
four years, I tried in
school. I had motivation. I tried to look nice,
Symptoms:
present myself well, and got up in the morning
Laziness, an over-excessive wearing of with a smile. These last couple months have
been horrid. It’s hard to get up in the morning,
track pants and sweatshirts.
I have no motivation to do anything, homework
Lack of studying, repeated absences, often gets shrugged off, I do want to attend
school, and you know what? It’s a terrible feeland a dismissive attitude.
ing.
The only known cure is a phenomenon
Senioritis has come to most of the senknown as Graduation.
iors here at Denmark, and it is completely understandable. We have done our time in high
school. We got our high school experience,
but now we are ready to move on. We are ready for a fresh start, to start a new chapter in our
life. My words to underclassmen: You don’t have senioritis, and you don’t want it. Enjoy high
school, wake up every morning with a smile on your face and motivate yourself to do your very
best. It will benefit you greatly as you try to wrap up high school and prepare yourself for the
next chapter in your life. Have few regrets and live to fullest. Senioritis will hit you soon
enough, but always remember the memories you made in high school and never take it them
for granted.
~Ali Ashley
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
FFA Career Development Events 2014
Friday, April 4th proved to be a very
successful day for the Denmark FFA chapter
as eleven Career Development Event teams
judged their way to the
top. Career Development Events (CDEs),
offer opportunities involving today’s agriculture industry. The
events help students
develop the important
abilities to think critically, communicate
clearly, and perform
effectively for a future competitive job market. There are 24 CDEs, covering job skills
in everything from communications to mechanics. Some events allow students to compete as individuals, while others allow them
to compete in teams. All in all, every individual and team did exceptionally well, and
a few teams will be traveling to Madison on
April 25th for the State CDE judging events.
Congratulations to everyone who participated, as all results were quite impressive!
Keep up the hard work and good luck to the
following teams as they head to state: Dairy
Products, Agronomy, Poultry, and Nursery
Landscaping.
~Morgan Schweiner
All eleven teams consisted of:
Dairy Products (3rd place of 42 teams)
5- Sophie Stedl
13- Rachel Sipple
26- Morgan Schweiner
57- Allie Fels
Agronomy (6th place of 18 teams)
12- Luke Wavrunek
17- Marcus Kolarik
24- Cole VanOss
Dairy Cattle (24th place of 46 teams)
PAGE 2
38- Maddy Selner
77- Brennan Schweiner
107- Brian VanRite
Ag Mech (16th place of 22 teams)
46- Travis Binsfeld
69-Josh Kraynik
75- Sam Stedl
Farm Management (7th place of 9 teams)
18- Noah Brunner
24- Jake Kraynik
27- Joey Kozlovsky
Horse Evaluation (Individual of 170 participants)
9- Lacey Swetlik
Livestock Evaluation (30th place of 40 teams)
45- Sarah Calaway
96- Evan Kane
112- Michael Buresh
Nursery Landscaping (7th place of 7 teams)
10- Kyle McFall
26- Kyle Markvart
27- Dylan Brice
th
Poultry (11 place of 19 teams)
9-Amber Fels
46- Christina Umentum
61- Brittney Havlovitz
Small Animal (23rd place of 30 teams)
65- Amber Honnef
78- Breanna VanPay
83- Miranda Sevcik
th
Wildlife (13 place of 35 teams)
12- Jon Little
14- Hunter Tenor
17- Devon Conard
28- Jared Phillips
Endless Twilight – Prom 2014
With the music blaring, lights twinkling, and food baking, an environment that
no one could resist was created. Junior Prom
Continued on page 3.
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
PAGE 3
Prom 2014—Continued from page 2.
2014 was a blast but went by in a flash. Everyone looked gorgeous and handsome in
their dresses and
tuxes. Even though
the Wisconsin
Badgers lost, no
one lost their spirits
and continued to
have fun all night
and into the morning. After the game,
the Grand March
began. Court was
announced and so
were the king and queen. Aaron Mleziva was
named king and Lindsey Kropp as queen. As
post prom began a spread of soda, baked
goods, wings, noodles, pizza, ice cream, and
a chocolate fountain began to get devoured.
Most comments students had on prom were
about the food and how delicious it was! Another part of post prom was sumo wrestling
and jousting; everyone who participated had
a blast taking down their friends and challenging them to a dual. Students also had the
chance to place tickets received during the
week into raffle buckets for a number of
prizes. Britney Petersen and Jared Phillips
won the big prizes of the 32-inch television
and a 16-gigabyte iPad. The door prizes
were a big hit as the night came to a close.
Everyone seemed to have a great time and
that is what the junior class was shooting for!
Thank you to all the students who came and
for juniors who participated in planning,
decorating, and cleaning-up. A special
thank you goes out to businesses in our community that donated food and raffle items.
With everyone’s help it was a night to remember!
~Rachel Sipple
Congratulations to the
2014-15 FFA Officers!
Morgan Schweiner—President
Maddy Selner
Olivia Peters
Marcus Kolarik
Luke Wavrunek
Derek Schultz
Joey Kozlovsky
Cole VanOss
Sarah Calaway
Noah Brunner
Ask Any Girl
Join us for an evening of laughs, fashion flashbacks, and a little culture shock at the Spring
Play, Ask Any Girl, a comedy by Winifred
Wolfe.
Production dates are Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m. Tickets will soon be
available in the office or at the Denmark
State Bank for $8 in advance or $10 at the
door.
This year's play is set in the 1950's in
an all-girls' hotel in the heart of Manhattan.
Meg Wheeler, a small town girl with big
dreams, has a unique ability to invent plausible statistics. "According to statistics," she
used to tell her parents, "eighty-two point
four percent of girls over sixteen are allowed to stay out till midnight." However,
when Meg tries her homemade statistics on
the mathematically inclined Miles Doughton,
head of an advertising firm in New York
City, her system fails. Watching Meg's journey to happiness are an aspiring starlet and
a cast of secretaries and receptionists, all
soaking up the big-city life.
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
PAGE 4
Upcoming Events
Girl’s Soccer 2014
Contrary to the belief that winter would last
forever, spring has finally rolled around
once again. With it, a new girl’s soccer season has begun. So far the varsity team is 3-0
and the JV team is 1-1. The varsity is
coached by Greg Schultz and the JV is
coached by Jodi Devine. This year the varsity team has many of the same members,
since only one senior player graduated.
However the JV team is full of great new talent from the various freshman that joined
this year. Although it is still early, I feel a
great season is underway for both the JV and
varsity girl’s soccer teams.
Varsity Roster
JV Roster
Liz Kolarik
Hannah Brunner
Jenny Perez
Haley VanBeek
Tiffany Vogel
Kaitlyn Knuth
Taylor McMonagle
Addison Groehler
Sarah Otradovec
Alyson Rish
Katie Otradovec
Cassie Otradovec
Kristen Pribyl
Stephanie Pribyl
Lizzy Opperman
Brittany LaCourt
Allie Van Pay
Alaina Thompson
Olivia De Castro
Liz Bekkers
Lyndsey Bielinski
CeCe Kolarik
Danitza Perez
Ashley Laabs
Autumn Frerk
Meaghan Carney
Rachel Sipple
Nellie Deprey
Kayla Kudick
Sam Valenta
Leah Grygleski
Jennifer Nehls
Jennifer Hirt
~Olivia DeCastro
April 25
UW Marching Band Concert
Trip
April 25—27
School Play, Ask Any Girl
April 28
Jazz Concert, 7:30 pm
May 2
State Jazz/Show Choir Festival at West De Pere High
School
May 3
State Solo and Ensemble
Festival at UWGB
May 5
Spring Choral Concert, 7:30
pm
May 7
Conference Choral Festival
at Luxemburg-Casco
May 9
Wear Yellow Day
May 10
Sting Cancer Walk
May 12
Spring Band Concert, 8:00
pm
May 14
Solar Olympics
May 14
Senior Athletic Awards Banquet
May 21
Fine Arts Recognition Night,
7:00 pm, Eddie Whipp’s
May 26
No School!
May 28
Academic Awards Night,
7:00 pm, DHS Cafetorium
May 29—30
Senior Exams
May 30
Seniors’ Last Day
June 1
Graduation, 1:00 pm
June 6
Last Day of School, 11:35 am
release
All dates and times are subject to change.
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
PAGE 5
Summer, Good or Bad?
Sure, summer is great. For
many our age it means no school,
the beach, warm weather, etc. However, I could argue that it is not the
best season. I can, however, argue
that fall is the best season. Just think
about it: what do people usually do
for at least part of the summer? They
plan for their fall.
Fall usually brings to many new
beginnings for people, whether it is just
starting school, entering
a new school/grade level, starting college, beginning life in the workforce, etc. The summer
is a time to look forward
to fall, but fall is when so
many things happen. To
me, fall is full of new adventures, meeting
new people, and a fresh start to things . It is
always something to look forward to. Also,
fall is gorgeous. Sure, everything in summer
is green (and believe me, some green
would be great right about now), but that’s
so boring. In fall, everything is a different
color, pretty colors, reds, oranges, yellows,
and all the shades in between. You can’t
help be have your breath taken away by the
beauty nature creates. The weather is just
perfect. Sometimes short and t-shirt weather, and sometimes with something a little
warmer, but it’s comfortable to be working
and playing in. It’s not as wet as spring, and
it has the crisp leave smell in the air.
Summer is great and all, but
fall brings so many things to refresh people
every year, I don’t believe anything could
beat it!
~Ali Ashley
I’m going to say this right
now: Summer is my least favorite of
the four seasons. Many people might
call me crazy because they think
summer is just the greatest season,
but personally, I strongly dislike the
heat, sunburns, and the bugs. In
summer, the weather gets so hot, up
into the 80s and 90s, that it just becomes unbearable to be outside. Another bad thing
about summer is the sunburn. It is quite
painful to have sunburn, as anybody knows.
No one enjoys sunburn, and sunburn conveniently only happens in summer. Also,
one of the worst things about summer is the
bugs.
Once the warm weather of summer
hits, it seems like all sorts of bugs just materialize out of nowhere, and they just do not
leave until it gets
cold again in fall.
And because
there are all of
those annoying
little bugs like
flies and mosquitoes, you need to
use bug spray,
which is one more
problem on its
own. Bug spray usually does not work very
well, and, according to recent research, is
neither good for our bodies, nor the environment. Granted, summer does have decent weather at times, and it does have
baseball and summer vacation, but all of its
drawbacks do not make up for the few good
things that summer does offer. Bring on the
snow!
~Alex Sekora
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
Zelmont headed for higher ground.
His comrades had long since been lost in
the chaos of battle and the following thunderstorm. He did not trust that all would find
their way.
The battles consistently grew tougher.
Zelmont had once operated with the
utmost confidence. His band of loyal warriors had proved successful in all endeavors
since their meeting. However, now that they
were renowned throughout the land, challengers came from afar in search of them.
Stealthily, their luck ran thin.
Despite the raging rumors and stereotypes, Zelmont had not intended for his
band to become killers. They were simply
able-bodied warriors with enough strength
and skill to protect themselves from the
growing tensions in the land. They had not
wished to be involved.
Now, it was too late to go back.
Appreciatively, Zelmont tilted his
head back to let the rain wash several days
of dust and grime from his
face. He and his comrades had
been on the run for six days
before the enemy had caught
up. Not a bad run, all things
considered.
He sucked in a sharp,
wet breath, his entire body
tensing. Beneath the slapping
PAGE 6
of the rain against the
trees around him, he
could hear the faint
sounds of armor clinking.
The eerie, moaning wind
carried the hushed tones
of hurried conversation. Zelmont froze on
the spot.
Through the driving rain, he
glimpsed three enemy soldiers, quite easily
distinguishable in their bright yellow clothing. Zelmont ducked behind a large tree,
keeping out of their way as best as he could
manage. Once they had passed him by, he
would have the element of surprise on his
side.
As he watched, one leaned over, obviously wounded from the preceding battle.
Over his back, Zelmont could barely see another head. The first soldier recovered slowly, rising to full height once more. The other
two pushed someone along impatiently.
They made lethargic progress on the muddy
road, but eventually, they passed Zelmont’s
position. He craned his neck backwards,
trying to view the person
trapped between the three soldiers.
Dark blond hair, small
nose, large, dark eyes…curses!
It’s Harper!
Harper Storm was not
usually the one to end up in un-
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
forgiving situations. The boy had quickly
and quietly made a name for himself in the
group after his father, Forendir, had joined
some years ago. Generally, the boy kept to
himself and stayed out of trouble, though he
could bring down most people who got in
his way. Zelmont was unaccustomed to seeing him trudging along with his head down.
Zelmont moved into position, flying
from his hiding place the moment the soldiers were the correct distance away. He
warded one yellow-clad man off
with his sword while he ripped
Harper from the hands of the
other. “Excuse me, but I don’t
appreciate it when people take
things that don’t belong to
them.”
The soldiers scowled.
One tried to pounce on Harper
again, but Zelmont’s appearance seemed to
reawaken the boy. He unsheathed his
sword, which the foolish soldiers had not
confiscated. The boy squared off with one
man and disarmed him in an instant.
Zelmont dealt with the other two in a
similar manner. Knocking the sword out of
the hands of one, he grabbed the extra
sword and paired it with his own to rip the
third soldier’s weapon away. He held up
both swords, aimed at their throats, while
Harper held the other man still the same
way.
PAGE 7
“Let’s have ourselves an understanding,” Zelmont suggested after a moment of
deadened silence. “I’m taking this boy here,
and there’s nothin’ you three can do about
it. You got that? Absolutely nothing. So, either you comply and stand here until we’re
gone, or you don’t comply and I make your
life very painful. Understand?”
The soldiers said nothing.
Immediately, Zelmont bashed the
heads of his two soldiers with the pommels
of the swords in his possession. Dropping the one that
did not belong to him, Zelmont approached Harper. The
boy had already dispatched
his soldier. Zelmont spat to the
side, feeling the tracks of
raindrops down his face.
Suddenly, he pushed Harper
ahead of him, continuing along the path in
the direction he had been traveling. The
boy dug in his heels. “Where are we going?”
Zelmont paused, glaring fiercely into
Harper’s eyes. If I have at least one good
warrior left, make no mistake, I’ll fight for
him. I’ll keep him safe. “Higher ground, son.
Let’s move.”
~Emma Knickelbine
VOLUME 9 ISSE 6
PAGE 8
Scott Walker: President?
Scott Walker has just launched his re-election campaign for
governor, and many are speculating about whether he will run for
president or not in 2016. He seems to be doing everything that a potential presidential candidate usually does: he has released a book,
and he is traveling extensively out of state to fundraisers and events,
some of which are in Iowa, which is the site of the first primary in the
presidential election process. He has many things going for him, including leading the governor’s race in Wisconsin, and enduring
popularity among conservatives in Wisconsin, as well as the conservative base nationwide. But there are also many things that may
hurt him.
The ongoing John Doe investigation could potentially dig something up
that would tie him to illegal election activities, which would all but
ruin his electoral prospects. Also, he does not have the popularity
outside of Wisconsin that he does inside of Wisconsin. His book
has sold a mediocre 16,000 copies, which, when compared to a
nationwide bestseller such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which sold over 50 million copies, and Barack Obama’s two
books, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams From My Father, which
combined have sold almost five million copies, is pretty poor. His
poll numbers also reflect his small popularity, as in recent polls
he has stayed steady at about 5%.
But all of that does not seem to be stopping him, because he continues to travel out of
state, and build hype to seem like a likely presidential candidate. He has even gone so far as
to not commit to serving a full second term,
which many would assume means that he
wishes to run for president. He also recently
told Politico that he had not ruled out running for president, and did not answer
when asked if he would commit to serving a
full four year term as governor. Only time
will tell if Scott Walker chooses to make a
run for the White House.
~Alex Sekora
VOLUME 9 ISSUE 6
A Look at Regional Dialects
Is it soda, or pop? A bubbler, or a water fountain? Car-mel or carra-mel? These
are just a few of the many things that separate one region from another. Countless
things are pronounced or named differently
based on where you were raised. So, just
how special are we, the people of Northeastern Wisconsin? After doing a little digging, I
have looked at some of the most common
differences and have found we are special
in some areas, but not in others. Let’s take a
closer look.
Bubbler vs Water/Drinking Fountain
Here, most people ask, “Where’s the
bubbler?” That name, the bubbler, is very
rare in the rest of the United States. Only the
eastern border of Wisconsin and Rhode Island call it a “bubbler.” In the South and
along the East Coast it is called a “water
fountain,” while, along the West Coast, it is a
“drinking fountain.” We’re pretty special,
right? Well, why do we call it a bubbler? It
goes back to the first bubbler, produced
and sold by the Kohler Company, based in
Kohler, Wisconsin. Their product, The Bubbler, was a big hit and other companies took
the idea and sold it in their own market. But,
to protect the name, the Kohler Company
trademarked the name, forcing other companies to adopt their own names, which never stuck. But, The Bubbler did. So, here it is
called the bubbler, but in other places, they
used the common name for the devices, water or drinking fountains.
Soda vs Pop vs Coke
This one’s a bit more complex. A majority of people in Denmark would probably
PAGE 9
call it a soda, but pop is also pretty common.
The NE Wisconsin are falls in a gray area
between “soda” and “pop.” Head down to
Milwaukee, and it’s a soda. Go to Minneapolis, and it’s a pop. Travel to Texas, you’ll
get asked if you want a “Coke” (meaning
any kind of carbonated beverage). While
most of the Midwest calls it pop, Eastern
Wisconsin is the lone exception. Well, aren’t
we special!
Caramel and Pecan
How do you say caramel? Is it with
two syllables, car-mel, or with three, car-amel? While I use both interchangeably, most
of Wisconsin, and the entire Western half of
the United States uses two syllables, calling
it car-mel. Head to the East Coast, though,
and you’ll get asked if you want car-a-mel
on your sundae.
Another similar instance is with pecan? Is it “pi-KAHN,” “pee-KAHN,” or “PEEkan?” Wisconsinites use a mixture of the
three, with many using multiple pronunciations interchangeably. Some definitive areas
to note, though, include: the West Coast,
“pee-KAHN,” the South, “pi-KAHN,” and the
East Coast, “PEE-kan.”
So, that’s a quick look at regional dialect differences. One survey that was analyzed had over 120 different questions regarding pronunciation and names. A quick
Google search can show you how you fit into
the mix and see where you belong in the
United States based on your pronunciation.
(My results included Milwaukee, Madison,
and Reno!) See for yourself just where you fit
into this wide world.
~Brock Delebreau
VOLUME 9 ISSUE 6
PAGE 10
Happy April!
I can’t believe it’s almost May, can you? This month sure has flown by, especially with Easter smack-dab in the middle of the month. As it’s the last full issue of
The Voice for this year, I want to take a second and thank our two loyal seniors, Ali
Ashley and Brooke Kittell for their many contributions over the years. Having someone to always be there as support has been great and I look forward to seeing their
content each month. Best of luck from me!
Now onto me… It sure has been a busy month. First, there was the ACT a
couple of weeks ago. Yet another early morning to book into my schedule. But, that
night, the band got to perform at halftime of the Green Bay Blizzard game! That was
really exciting! Jazz is coming to a close, as next week is our concert and state festival. And, there’s those darn AP exams. My first one is in less than two weeks, while
the other is a week afterward. Trying to balance studying two full classes worth of
content (approximately 500 years of European history, and a butt-load amount of
calculus content) alongside my regular schoolwork, my job and other commitments
has been tough. I’m sure anyone else in my predicament feels the same way! It’s
time to make all that studying pay off. Hopefully we can all do spectacular on our
exams in May. Push forward, we’re almost done.
Best of luck,
Brock Delebreau
Student Editor:
Morgan Schweiner
Brock Delebreau
Alex Sekora
Rachel Sipple
Writers:
Ali Ashley
Photography:
Ashley Bernhardt
Brooke Kittell
Olivia DeCastro
Emma Knickelbine
Advisor:
Sierra Polzin
Ms. Latus
“What you
say is your
choice… Be
expressive,
and use
your voice!”
DISCLAIMER:
The Voice is a monthly publication of the Denmark High School at 450 N. Wall St., Denmark, WI, 54208. The newspaper is designed to
cover a broad range of topics in and around the area. The writings are based on research and opinion and are not meant to offend anyone. The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the beliefs of THE VOICE staff. THE VOICE encourages any letters to the editor. However, the editors reserve the right to exclude any letters considered inappropriate. All letters, questions, and
comments can be given to members of the Voice staff, emailed to [email protected], or brought to room 221.