the pony express - Silver Lake Public Schools

THE PONY EXPRESS
VOLUME XXX
ISSUE III
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SILVER LAKE JOURNALISM CLASS OF 2014-2015
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the Spanish students spent a
On Wednesday, October 29,
the Spanish students at Silver
Lake High School traveled to
Holdrege to attend a Spanish
concert. Justo Lamas Group
put on the concert. The mission of the Justo Lamas group
is to help student understand
and learn Spanish better and
easier while showing them
that leanring can be fun
and excuting. The students
learned more Spanish from
going to the concert as well
as learning what the program
can do for people in countries
with needs. Prior to attending the concert
few days learning the lyrics to
Ennio Emmanuel’s songs so
they could sing along at the
program.
Spanish teacher Ms. Minnick
commented on the day. “The
Justo Lamas Group concerts
are a great way to promote the
Spanish language. The students really enjoy this event
and look forward to it. It’s a
great way to get them producing Spanish in a fun interactive way, while also teaching
them about life and not giving
up on their dreams. Music is
a great way to commit language to memory and many
of the students sing and listen
the songs from the concert
in their free
time, which
is my ulti-
THE PONY EXPRESS
4th Grade Attend Fitness Day
Silver Lake 4th Grade students
and carrots. Students had plenty
attended the Nebraska Kids Fitness of time for their food to settle and
and Nutrition day at Hastings College relax before they were off to the
on Tuesday, October 7th 2014.
Astroturf to start their physical
activity stations.
The students participated in a
wonderful opening ceremony and
Lloyd Wilson Field where the
moved into the recreational gym to Hastings Broncos play their home
attend the nutrition stations.
football games. On the field the
students participated in physical acAt the Nutrition stations the kids
tivity stations. The physical activity
learned about the benefit of finding stations were Parachute, Fitness
healthy snacks. The presenters really Bands, Big Ball Chase, Ultimate
stressed the importance of comCatch, Jump Rope, Softball Drills,
bining food from two or more food Step Aerobics, Soccer Passing,
groups for your snacks. Students
Soccer Shots, Fitness Stability
also learned the importance of unBalls, Line Tag, Relay Races, Tag
derstanding serving sizes and read- Games, and Basketball Drills.
ing food labels. They learned about The kids really enjoyed the
washing their hands and food safety. physical activity stations and
They were taught the importance
got a great workout in.
of washing their hands well and not
spreading germs from one student to All of the kids who attendanother.
ed enjoyed the trip a great
deal. It was a fun day and
The favorite nutrition station was
the kids were able to learn
where students were given the option a lot about living safe and
of an apple, a slim jim, or a candy
healthy lifestyles. They were tired
bar for a snack. Kids that chose the at the end of the day but all stuapple had to run continuously for 3 dents agreed the day and the trip
minutes to burn the calories from the was a great success!
apple. Kids choosing the slim jim ran
for 5 minutes, while the students who
chose candy ran for 6 minutes.
The students were served a healthy
lunch consisting of a juice box, Baked
Lays, an Arby’s roast beef sandwich
Page 2
Pumpkin
Patch
On a beautiful Autumn day 14
very excited Kindergartners
went to Helgoth’s Pumpkin
Patch. They experienced slides,
swings, bouncy pillow, bouncy
pumpkins, train ride, petting
animals and of course riding out
the the pumpkin patch and picking out their very own pumpkin
to take home.
Page 3
THE PONY EXPRESS
Dia de los M
uertos - Day of the Dead
Silver Lake’s Spanish students held their own Dia de los Muertos celebrastion. The student created alters,
decorated the classroom and brought food in celebration of the Latin American holiday “Day of the Dead”.
Spanish teacher Ms. Minnick said, “I believe that part of learning a language needs to be immersing yourself
in the culture involved with it. Día de los Muertos is a very big holiday for the Latin America culture and I
think it is important for the students to see how it is celebrated. The students built their own altars and decorated sugar skulls. The altars are an old tradition for honoring and remembering loved ones. They include
favorite foods, candles, and pictures of the deceased.”
THE PONY EXPRESS
Page 4
Blood Drive surpasses expectations!!
On Wednesday, October 15th the Silver Lake FBLA and FFA organizations hosted a Blood Drive. The
event started at 11:30 when people willingly came in to donate blood to possibly save another person’s
life. After all day with members of the FBLA and FFA organizations volunteering to work, the day was
over. FBLA President Josie Parr said this about the Blood Drive, “I was nervous that we wouldn’t meet
our number of donors goal due to harvest. At first, we didn’t have many people on our appointment
schedule, but lots of walk-in committed people made it in to give blood. I was ecstatic about our turnout
- about 15 more donations than our goal and the most we have had in the past four years I have been
involved with the Silver Lake Blood Drive. I would like to thank everyone who donated for taking time
out of your day to come!”
FFA members finding their path..
On October 1st the Silver Lake FFA chapter took a field trip to the
Pathways to Careers Conference. At the conference, students were able
to experience and witness some of the jobs and careers they can pursue for their future. The Animal Science group was able to visit with a
dog trainer, veterinarian, animal control officer, and a hog production
manager. Power systems attendees where able to see presentations
about how John Deere is changing their technology and how they are
exploring more alternative
resources. The Agribusiness students got to see presentations about
Farm credit services and they talked with Aurora coop employees
about getting the best market prices for crops and using formulas to
help get the best price. Students learned a lot and are looking forward
to attending the Pathways to Careers Conference next year.
Page 5
THE PONY EXPRESS
Pumpkin Juding
The winners of the FBLA
Elementary Pumpkin
Decorating Contest were
as follows:
Pre-K
1st - Libby Soucek
2nd - Zach Engelhardt
3rd - Colby Menke
Kindergarten 1st - Cooper WEngler
2nd - Brody Knehans
3rd - Zander Journey
First 1 - Sophie Schmidt
Hayrack Ride
2nd - Camille Karr
3 - Beau Bonifas
On Monday October 27, the Silver Lake FBLA and
FFA chapter members went on a hayrack ride. Around Second 6:30 the members loaded up on a bus and headed out 1 - Addie Schmidt
to the Grabil’s house. From there we loaded onto the 2 - McKenna Pankoke
3 - Emma Strampher
back of a trailer and cruised around sitting on hay
bails. After our lovely ride, we went back to the Grabil’s house to have supper and ended our night eating
s’mores.
Third 1 - Braden Hemberger
2 - Lana Swanson
3 - Tanner McPherson
Fourth 1st - Jake Knehans
2nd - Lexi Wengler
3 - Samantha Bonifas
Fifth 1st - Jill Parr
2 - Cierra Stuart
3 - Amanda Ehrman
Sixth
1st - Trenton Schmidt
2nd - Jenna Strampher
3rd - Lane Parr
THE PONY EXPRESS
Page 6
OCTOBER VOLLEYBALL RECAP
October was a big month for the
Silver Lake volleyball team. Playing
in the McCool Junction, Deshler,
and Harvard Triangular, hosting
their own four team tournament,
having two regular games, and
competing in the Twin Valley Conference tournament, the Mustangs
ended October with a 19-9 record.
The Mustangs finished top in each
triangular, never losing a match,
and took second at both their own
MUSTANGS TAKE 2ND AT TVC
The annual Twin Valley Conference
Tournament for the 2014 volleyball
season was held in Kenesaw. Starting on Saturday, October 18th, the
Mustangs first played the Franklin
Flyers. Silver Lake easily beat the
Flyers in three sets to advance onto
the second round of the day. The
next game the Mustangs met up
with the Blue Hill Bobcats, who
they had previously played in the
season and won in a tough 3-2
match. The Mustangs eager to beat
them again came out and also beat
the Bobcats in three sets, sending
them into the final round.
On October 20th, the Mustangs
played in the Championship match
against the Lawrence-Nelson
Raiders. The first set, the Mustangs
came out a little rocky and lost 259, but came back and gave the Raiders a game in the second set. Third
set favored the Mustangs giving
Silver Lake another chance to grab
the Twin Valley Conference title,
but unfortunately Lawrence-Nelson came out tough and beat Silver
Lake in the fourth set 25-11, ending
the game with Silver Lake as the
TVC Runner-up.
On October 30th, the Silver Lake
Mustangs hosted their annual fourteam volleyball invite. The three
other teams that attended were
the Deshler Dragons, Heartland
Lutheran Hornets, and the Axtell
Wildcats. Silver Lake played the
first game against the Lady Hornets. The first set was in favor of
the Mustangs as they came out
right away and beat the Lady Hornets 25-15. The second set, though,
Heartland Lutheran fought back
hard sending the match into a third
set. Silver Lake was able to end the
match with a close win and head on
to the championship match. The
second match was between Deshler
and Axtell, with Axtell winning the
game two sets to one.
The championship match featured
the Silver Lake Mustangs and the
Axtell Wildcats. It was a tough
match with Axtell winning the first
set, and Silver Lake coming back
and beating them to tie the match
one set to one. The last set was a
tough one. Neither team would
back down, sending the match a
couple extra points over. Unfortunately Axtell came out on top with
a final 26-24 victory in the third set
to take 1st place at the invite.
MUSTANGS TAKE 2ND AT HOME INVITE
Invite, and the Twin Valley Conference tournament.
Page 7
THE PONY EXPRESS
OCTOBER FOOTBALL RECAP
October was a month of cheers and
tears for the Silver Lake football
team, ending the month and the
season with a 7-2 record. Throughout October the Mustangs played
the Wilcox-Hildreth Falcons, Wauneta Palisade Broncos, Maywood
Tigers, and the Hayes Center Cardinals. The Mustangs also played
the Riverside Chargers in the first
round of state playoffs on October
31st.
Scores for each game are posted at
the end of this article.
October 17th marked the Silver
Lake football seniors last home
game in the 2014 season. The Mustangs took on the Maywood Tigers
for the night, and like usual Silver
Lake came out hard, and strong
quickly getting on the scoreboard
from a 6-yard touchdown run from
Quentin Journey. The Mustangs
defense then forced the Tigers to
punt, and once again the Mustangs
rushed down the field, and once
again Quentin Journey ran it in
for another touchdown tallying
the score up 16-0. The next few
defensive possessions, the Mustangs forced the Tigers to punt, and
after a couple of plays had scored,
ringing up the score as the clock
ticked down to halftime. Coming
out of halftime the score was 55-6,
and because of the point difference, the second half started with
a running clock. The second half
though was a time for the Mustangs
second team to shine. Playing the
whole second half, the Mustangs
second team proved just as capable
of running the normal offense and
keeping ahead of the tigers. Their
first series of the second half the
Mustangs second team offense
moved the ball 70yards in five plays
to score on a Skyler Ericsson to
Corey Conway pass. The rest of the
game went as such, with the Tigers
scoring only 20 points, and ending
with a final score of 80-20 for a
Mustang senior night win.
MUSTANGS WIN BIG ON SENIOR NIGHT
Playoffs: Chargers Out Race the Mustangs
This first round playoff football
game looked more like a track
meet with the Riverside Chargers
beating the Mustangs at the finish
line by a nose! Silver Lake started
the scoring on the first play from
scrimmages as Seyler Monroe
swept left for a 48-yard touchdown.
Extra point no good. The Chargers wasted no time returning the
kickoff to the Mustang 8-yard line
and scoring on the next play and
adding the extra point to go up 8-6.
The rest of the game went back and
forth as each team traded touch-
downs. Both teams combined for
17 touchdowns and 1,020 yards of
offense and final score of Riverside
70, Silver Lake 60.
Coach Arntt stated, “It was a
barnburner! We actually scored
one more time than they did, but
it came down to the extra points,
They made 8 of 9 and we made 1 of
6 kick attempts. Being out scored
16-2 on the extra points is what
killed us in the end! We are disappointed at the outcome of the game,
but the boys still had a good season
and have nothing to hang their
heads about! We lose some very
good seniors this year, but expect
to be very competitive next year
and in the hunt at the end of the
season.”
Coach Bauer added, “On the season
I am proud of the way our defense
performed. For the Riverside game
we were just a step behind and
didn’t find that attack mode on
defense that we had throughout the
season. It was a great year and I
am extremely proud of all of these
young men!”