Formal Debate: Worthington Christian’s Newest Extracurricular Activity

Senior Marsalis Brown and junior Joe Combs have wanted our school to have a debate team for some time. This January, Mrs. Johnson and Mr. McIntosh agreed to collaborate with the students to form a high school debate team.

Since then, the debate team has grown to include several regularly attending members, all of whom are extremely excited that our school now has a debate team. Junior Conor Holland said “I really enjoy the opportunity to discuss and argue about current events.”

Since the beginning of January, the Debate team has been meeting every Thursday at 3:05 pm, to practice debating against each other. However, the students won’t be able to compete against other schools until next year because the 2009-2010 formal debate season is coming to an end.

The fact that the formal season is ending has not set the team back, however; the group is using this extra time to prepare for debating against other schools next year. “We would have been destroyed if we had gone right into debating other schools,” Mrs. Johnson said: “We’ve been using this time to practice debating against each other, so that we’ll be ready to debate other schools next season.”

The team is using the Lincoln-Douglas form of debate; this is a formal, 1 versus 1, value-based style that begins with both debaters presenting constructive arguments. Each debater also receives the opportunity to conduct a cross-examination: each fires questions at his opponent, with the intention of exposing flaws in his argument—before both debaters provide their rebuttal speeches.

The current topic that all high school debate teams have been examining, for the months of March and April, is “In the United States, the principle of jury nullification is a just check on government.” The students must argue affirmatively, thus agreeing with the statement—or negatively, thus opposing the statement. The National Forensics League chooses the topics that schools debate: this organization sets the standards for high school debating. Currently, the students are researching the topic and debating each other.

For the topic of jury nullification, the team members engaged in their first debate against each other on Wednesday, March 17^th. For this debate, Joe Combs argued for the affirmative and Conor Holland argued for the negative side.

Mrs. Johnson said “I strongly encourage anyone interested in debating to come on Thursday afternoons to experience it for yourself.” The team is still open to new members, and there’s no shortage of reason to join. Competitive debating is a great opportunity to become a more logical and analytical thinker. Involvement with a debate team also assists tremendously with becoming a spontaneous and confident speaker: all of which is highly desirable to college admission officers.

Although the debate team is off to a strong start, Mrs. Johnson and Mr. McIntosh would enthusiastically welcome additional members interested in developing their analytical skills. “This has been an extremely good experience for me” Joe said; and with strong preparation and practice, by next year, Worthington Christian High School’s debate team could stand out among the other great debate teams of central Ohio.

A Busy Choir is a Happy Choir

This spring, the Worthington Christian choir members have had the opportunity to showcase their talent in a variety of forms.

On February 13th, the entire choir and a select group of soloist had the unique opportunity to compete at the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA). According to Mrs. Klapheke, this competition is a “good experience for us to sing before judges who are educators in college,” and to “have someone else evaluate what we are doing.”

When competing at the OMEA, the ultimate goal of any performer is to get a Superior rating. Often times, a small school like Worthington Christian has many more obstacles to encounter in pursuit of the Superior rating. For instance, while many public schools have the time to schedule their entire choir to practice regularly, Worthington Christians mixed choir (a choir consisting of both guys and girls) try to stagger their lunches so that they can practice for 25min a couple of times a week.

Despite the obstacles that our choir faces when competing against other schools, our entire choir received a superior rating as well as many of our soloist at this years OMEA competition. A few examples of the soloist who received superior rating are senior Peter Leslie and junior Alli Butterworth.

Although Peter enjoys singing in the Worthington Christian choir, he recognizes that “no program is perfect.” Yet despite this, Peter is happy is to say, “Mrs. Klapheke is a very qualified teacher.” Under Mrs. Klapheke’s instruction, students such as Peter and Alli have received superior rankings at several events.
This spring, the choir has not only been busy competing in the OMEA competition, but they have also volunteered their talents at a variety of venues. These opportunities give the choir a chance to relax and share their love for singing with a diverse group of people.

One of the premier ensembles in the Worthington Christian choir is the “Choral.” The “Choral” consist of a 20-25 select upperclassmen that practice specialized songs together. On February 12, the “Choral” enjoyed singing at the Worthington Village Valentines Party.

Although only the “choral” got to enjoy singing at the Worthington Village Valentines Party, the entire choir had the amazing opportunity to sing at the Ohio Right to Life Rally. At this event, the choir was thrilled when they got to meet former Vice President Candidate, Sarah Palin.

One of the annual highlights for the Worthington Christian choir is when Dr. Raymond Wise comes to visit. Each year, Dr. Wise teaches the choir a few songs and then performs them with the choir at chapel later in the day.

Mrs. Klapheke invites Dr. Wise to come each year so that he can teach the choir the “nuances of how to sing gospel music.” Due to the fact that “Dr. Wise can sing every part” in a choir, he is able to skillfully teach the choir in just a few short hours by demonstrating what the choir is to imitate.

Teaching a choir the size of the Worthington Christian choir is no easy task; and for that Mrs. Klapheke should be commended. Due to her mastery of teaching, the Worthington Christian choir will continue to get better as they perform at many different venues in the coming years.

The Tennis Team Diligently Begins a New Season

Driving to downtown Columbus at 5:45 a.m. is not something that most students at Worthington Christian would prefer to do on Saturday morning. However, this is exactly what the members of this year’s tennis team and Coach Schmidt did almost every week, during January and February.

Even though the first official practice of the season wasn’t until March 8^th, in early January, the team began non-mandatory practices at the Olympic Indoor Tennis Center on Indianola Ave. Coach Schmidt is hoping that this pre-season preparation will have improved both the skills and the confidence of the players.

One of the tennis team’s best players, Tanner Singleton, said “The season doesn’t start for a while, but Coach Schmidt wants us to get a head start this year; I also think that it helps us get to know the other people on the team.” Coach Schmidt agreed with Tanner when he said “winter practices let us get to know the other players and to have fun, while also improving our skill.”

Once the official season begins, the team will have its first game on Thursday April 8^th, and the season continues until the last game on May 11^th. The tennis team will be playing teams from all over central Ohio. Most of these opponents will come from other Christian schools, but the players will also be competing against a number of public schools as well.

Even with the wide variety of teams that participated last year, Coach Schmidt said “We will be playing many teams that we have not has had an opportunity to compete with before.” The idea of competing against teams that they have no experience playing is exciting to many of the team’s members. “I’m looking forward to playing new teams this year,” added Tanner Singleton.

Coach Schmidt has many ambitious goals for the tennis team this year; he hopes to “double the team’s total wins.” He also mentioned that he will be “working with the players individually to help them meet their personal goals.” These goals can range from just “trying to improve your first serve” to “working to move up, in rank, on the team.”

18 boys are playing tennis this year, which is a large expansion from last year’s 10 members. A high school varsity tennis team is comprised of 3 single players and 2 sets of doubles; this means that the varsity team has only 7 positions—and everyone else will be playing on the “exhibition” (i.e., junior varsity) team.

The increased team size may cause some players concern about whether they’ll have sufficient playing time; but Coach Schmidt said “Even though we have a larger number of players, it will be a priority to make sure everyone gets a chance to play.”

Coach Schmidt and all the members of this year’s tennis team are looking forward to the start of a new season, and are confident that the large amount of preparation that they have done will help them win more matches, while still having fun as a team.

“Anybody Can Donate!”

The fundraising campaign for the 2010 senior class trip to the Dominican Republic is nearly over. However, in order for the seniors to reach their goal of raising $2000, additional work must still be done.

Senior class representative Madison Mikhail says the seniors have been working extremely hard to raise enough money in order to make an impact in the Dominican Republic. Although the trip is organized by Worthington Christian High School and SCORE International, each year the seniors themselves are expected to collect and distribute charitable funds.

“The money is going to the ‘Feed the Village Project,” Mikhail explained: “It will be used to feed a number of poor families for up to 10 days!”

The impact that Worthington Christian students are able to make on the people of the Dominican Republic each year is incredible. However, the senior leaders are discovering that fundraising comes with many challenges. The leaders include Mikhail, as well as seniors Gina Boucouras, Carrie Chodzin, Ally Krietemyer, and Cristina Mace.

The team has initiated several new and creative ideas for raising the funds this year. They have held multiple bake sales, Valentine’s Day carnation sales, and even organized a dollar jean day. “Dollar jean day raised a lot of money because everyone was able to participate in it,” senior Cristina Mace commented: “Not everyone wants a cupcake.”

The underclassmen’s responses to this year’s campaign have been mixed. Junior Josh Petrel said that “This year’s fundraising has been awesome,” while his fellow classmate, Jake Berlin, thinks that the advertising could have been better. Both agreed that if the events had been better advertised, the amount of money collected to this point would be greater.

Everyone seems to enjoy a different aspect of the campaign. Freshman Kari Inboden commented that the Valentine’s Day carination sale was very fun, while her fellow classmate Courtney Helmuth favored the bake sales and said that she “really liked the food the seniors made.” Although the underclassmen provided mixed reviews, comments by the senior class were fairly positive. “Dollar jean day was absolutely incredible,” senior Caleb Palumbo noted: “We should do it more often!”

“One major contribution to the significant amount of money raised is the generosity of the students,” said Mikhail. Without the support of WCS students, the efforts by these girls would be hindered. “Worthington Christian students have everything they need,” Chodzin stated: “they shouldn’t be self centered.” She believes that it is extremely important to give to the less fortunate.

Mikhail commented that “If we don’t raise enough money, it will break my heart to turn families away and not be able to give them food.” This thought alone should be enough to encourage young people to give to this great cause. None of the money raised will be used for the benefit of the senior class but instead will all go to the families who truly need it.

Recently, the senior girls organized additional events in which people were able to donate money for this significant cause. In the week preceding the trip, Mikhail and her team were involved in another bake sale, doughnut day, and cereal day, all of which were extremely successful. All the girls working on this project say that anybody can donate! There are people in need all over the world and the students of the Class of 2010 have the chance and ability to make an impact. No matter how miniscule their impact may seem, the seniors believe their duty is to rise to the occasion and help feed the Dominican people.

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Theatre director David O’Roark of Worthington Christian High School brought the comedy You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown to life Thursday, February 11th through Saturday the 13th.

This play has gone down in history as a classic, and Worthington Christian High School has done it justice. The cast and stage hands, as well as director David O’Roark, worked to make this performance a great one.

Prior to the play, the enthusiastic WC student body, as well as certain staff members, described their excitement about seeing what WC’s young actors and actresses can accomplish as a cast. Anticipating the play, one of WC’s freshmen, Rachel Parrish, stated “It’s going to be amazing!” Attending this play was a highlight of the winter quarter.

O’Roark said “The cast was great.” When asked if this was one of his favorite plays to direct, he responded, “I love how simple this play is. I love the songs and I love the style, which is pretty much a series of jokes linked together; but asking me if I liked this play more is like asking me which of my children I like best.”

Charlie Brown, played by Danny Nathan, proved to be a sensation. “Since the cast was small, we’ve gotten close,” Danny said. “It was a lot of fun and Mr. O’Roark is the best. Even though the script left out some trademark Charlie Brown things, it was still good.” The small cast performed remarkably well, working and fellowshipping together.

O’Roark observed that deciding to perform You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown was a major commitment in itself. “After you find a play that is worth doing,” he stated, “then you work on the concept, themes, set design, and all that stuff before the actors even know they are in the play.”

Crista Anderson played the role of Snoopy and had input on the play as well. “Phenomenal director,” she said: “he was awesome. What I love about the play is that I could be a dog; I could be fun and goofy and just something I’m . . . not!”

Senior Luke Condon served this play and Mr. O’Roark with the gift of time and commitment, as stage manager, by helping with sounds and lights. His contribution to the smooth sailing of the show did wonders. “Working as stage manager was just the most awesome thing ever!” Luke said.

Charlie Brown has a certain optimistic persona; a way of life that captures the attention of the audience. “I like this play because Charlie Brown always thinks each day going to be great,” said O’Roark.

With its simple staging, this play still made a positive impact on its viewers. Friday night’s turnout was remarkable; and though all the performances were good, Friday night was considered the most spectacular of all three nights. Senior Erin Szabo said that “The audience seemed to pump up the actors to do even better.”

In anticipating the play, Worthington Christian High School staff member Mr. Stoll said, “Every Charlie Brown play has been great, but I am excited about this one. Our kids will be awesome and it’ll be a great show.” His prediction was accurate: the play was a major success, and was one of WCHS’s best.

[Photos of the play courtesy of Chad Dutka]