November 2016 3 no more long homeroom the voice 7 committed seniors Nebraska German Teacher of the Year goes to GHS German teacher, Ms. Deane after teaching German for 18 years, Ms Deane nominated for award by her peers by Colin Kitson rom 1998 teaching German to high schoolers know and work just as hard as you do,” Ms. Deane said. to 2016 winning the Nebraska German Ms. Deane was moved when reading all the things her Teacher of the Year award, German teacher students and peers said about her. Ms. Kellye Deane earned an award as the “It was only after reading the letters and seeing how I NebraskaF German Teacher of the Year. Her success can be have touched others lives that I felt more deriving of the seen through various trophies displayed in her classroom award,” Ms. Deane said. from past students. Deane had her name on a plaque that was given to Ms. Deane was voted by her peers in the state of her and she also received letters of recommendation from Nebraska. The award would be given out at a lunch. At peers and students. Her students scored high on their first, she was not going to go the lunch where they would National German exam they take each year and that is why be awarding the award. A retired colleague had to tell her she thinks this has something to do with why she received in advance that she won the award. the award. She also has other ideas about why she won “I found out about a week before the ceremony that I the award. was getting this award,” Ms. Deane said. She was shocked “I have a mentor to other German teachers in the district, and could not wait to go to the lunch. I have consistently high achieving students in the National On Saturday Oct. 8, she received the award from the German exam we take each year. I have also worked for Nebraska Association of Teachers of German; she was the Nebraska Student German Convention and hosted this honored and shocked to receive such an important award. convention in 2015. I also have had an exchange program “I was first a little shocked. It is hard sometimes for the past ten years with the Gymnasium Wellingdorf in to receive such an accolade from your peers when you Kiel, Germany, where I take students every two years for a know they worked just as hard as you did,” Ms. Deane month as well as prepare our students here to host German said. “I was shocked to hear I had won originally and had students for three weeks. I am an advocate for German German Teacher of the Year On Saturday, October 8th, not expected the award at all. I felt very honored to put teaching and learning,” Ms. Deane said. Ms Deane proudly accepted her award. This award is forth for this award by so many truly outstanding German Ms. Deane is honored to receive such a prestigious given annually and was given to her for this school year. teachers in the state. It is one thing to win an award but award. Her leadership and love for teaching German All of her many accomplishments are displayed through still another when the award comes from your peers who inspired her to go above and beyond. all of the trophies in her room. submitted photo GHS senior named National Merit Semifinalist after taking PSAT/NMSQT test his junior year, Ben Rhodes scored in the top 1% by Cassandra Kostal Going beyond becoming a National Merit Scholarship HS senior receives distinguished award: Finalist, 7,500 of the students will receive scholarships Ben Rhodes is named National Merit totaling $33 million. The funds for the scholarships are Semifinalist supported by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation GHS’s 2016-2017 senior class boasts (NMSC), as well as over 420 business organizations and just over 250 students. Of those students, only one has educational institutes dedicated to the pursuit of academic beenG given the honor of being named a Semifinalist in the excellence. 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. Senior Ben Scholarship winners are selected based on criteria Rhodes is the sole recipient of the prestigious title. such as their skills, accomplishments and potential success “I am honored and humbled to be named a in rigorous college environments. The NMSC issues these Semifinalist,” Rhodes said. scholarships without regard to gender, race, religious There are over 1.6 million students in 22,000 high preference or ethnic origin. Winners of the NMSC schools across the country that qualify for the National scholarships will be announced through four nationwide Merit Scholarship Program every year. Of those entrants, news releases between April and July. only 16,000 nationwide are selected as Semifinalists. Hoping to qualify for a NMSC scholarship, Rhodes The number of Semifinalists each year is proportionate has remained active throughout his four years of high to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating school. He is currently a part of the soccer, tennis and seniors. For the 2017 program, the state of Nebraska is quiz bowl teams and is the senior class secretary. Any credited with 94 of the 16,000 qualifying seniors. scholarship would go toward Rhodes’ college plans for In order to be considered as a National Merit the fall of 2017 following graduation. Semifinalist, students must qualify through an exam taken “I hope to attend a prestigious school on the East Coast during their junior year of high school. Only those with to major in Political Science and International Relations,” high enough scores are able to qualify. Rhodes said. “To qualify, I had to take the PSAT/NMSQT (practice The spring of 2017 marks the 62nd year of the SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) as a National Merit Scholarship Corporation. If selected to junior and achieve a score in the top 1% of test takers,” receive a scholarship, Rhodes will join more than 323,000 Rhodes said. others who have previously been awarded the title of After being named Semifinalists, qualifiers move on to Merit Scholar. the next step: becoming Finalists. Of the 16,000 students that qualified as Semifinalists, 90%, or approximately 14,500 students will reach this level, with the Finalists Left: being announced in February. Nationl Merit SemifinalistWhile now seen as a “The process for Semifinalist to become a finalist distinguished student based off of his PSAT/NMSQT test includes an essay, letters of recommendation, and a score, life and homework still go on as usual. Ben Rhodes is the only student at GHS to become a National Merit validating score on the real SAT,” Rhodes said. Semifinalist in the 2016-17 class. “To qualify, I had to take Working toward to goal of becoming a finalist, Rhodes the PSAT/NMSQT as a junior and achieve a score in the took the SAT exam on October 1. His score on the test will top 1% of test takers,” Ben Rhodes said. photos by Ben Bickle. help determine whether or not he will be named a finalist. 2 November 2016 News Volume 3 Issue 2 three years has passed since GHS History teacher learned of his heart condition checking in on Mr. Swanson’s current a-fib and well-known soda addiction by Amanda Minckler time. His drive to stay away from soda went away quickly n January of 2013, history instructor Mr. Jon and he gave in. Swanson felt his heart beating to a different “Now, I just drink Dr. Pepper,” Mr. Swanson said. “It rhythm. Since then, he has done his best to fix says doctor so it can’t be bad for me.” this problem and stay away from soda. Three Mr. Swanson is back to his old habit of drinking cans years later, it is time to see how Mr. Swanson is doing and upon cans of soda a day. He has a laid out schedule of how The Evidence Soda cans and bottles can be found all over Mr. rememberI what happened. much he drinks, and when he drinks his soda. Swanson’s room. After leaving Coca-Cola behind, his new “I went to bed one night and my heart was beating “I usually drink a bottle of Coke in the morning and favorite is Dr. Pepper. “It says doctor so it can’t be bad for me,” weird,” Mr. Swanson said. “Then I went to the school follow it up with two cans of pop in the afternoon and one said Mr. Swanson. above photos by Amanda Minckler, below photos by Sophie Anderson nurse before going to the doctor. I had an a-fib and they at night,” Mr. Swanson said. “So probably 50-60 ounces wanted to get it taken care of.” a day.” Taking care of a heart problem cannot be easy. Both of Mr. Swanson is thankful for his mostly fixed heart; the procedures that Mr. Swanson had done required him to however, after the interview concluded, Mr. Swanson be put under, and they do not always work. promptly got a can of soda, so it is easy to say that the “They shocked it back into rhythm and then it kicked only doctor’s orders he will follow is Dr. Pepper. back out,” Mr. Swanson said. “I had to go back and they decided to freeze parts of my heart.” Recovery has gone smoothly for Mr. Swanson over the past few years. There is no guaranteed fix to this problem, how many sodas does Mr. Swanson drink in a week? so he can always count on feeling the different beat.