Photo provided by Emily Moore

Cap decor adds to commencement preparation

By: Ella Hamilton

Graduation is coming up very quickly, which means many seniors are adding a personal touch to their graduation caps. Seniors decorating their caps has become increasingly more popular among high schools around the United States. Students will post their caps on various social medias, inspiring others to do the same, keeping the practice going. Through these cap decorations, students can express themselves and make tributes to future careers, personal interests, and even family members.  

The tradition of decorating your caps at Elcho started in 2016, and there was debate on whether or not this should be allowed, but students really enjoy it. When asked (insert what you asked) Elcho senior John Slowik said, “I think they definitely should allow it. Graduation is a time to recap our entire high school experience and I feel that giving us the permission to decorate our caps allows us to express the interests and things we value from that experience.” With an opposing opinion senior, Wil Kunze said, “Yes, but I don't feel it is necessary, which is why I said no. However, if we were/are allowed to, I might consider decorating. On the other hand, I think it would look less formal if everyone had different looking/themed caps and I think the formality is more important because of the event. It should be kept formal rather than creative.” 

Within the Elcho senior class, 47.6% of seniors are planning on decorating their caps, 23.8% have said maybe, and there is a variety of inspiring ideas. Within the senior class, the top three most popular ideas for their caps were personal interests, sports, and career/major. 

Graduation is set for 1:00 pm on May 27th in the Charlie Flood Field House. Spectators are sure to see some creative decor atop this year’s graduation class.

New game fads take Elcho students by storm

By: Ella Hamilton

Throughout the 2022-2023 school year, Elcho students have been playing games like Hay Day and Clash of Clans. These games are taking over the interest and attention of many students, which leads to the question, are these games having a bad effect? 

Video games can have harmful effects on teens across the world, resulting in behavioral problems, addictive behaviors, and more, but recent studies have also shown otherwise. The National Institutes of Health conducted a study on October 24, 2022, that showed teens who spend three or more hours a day playing video games showed higher brain activity in parts of the brain associated with attention and memory than those who do not play video games.

When asked if these video games have affected the students' ability to get their schoolwork done, senior Kailey Kupfer said, “Definitely not. I only play Hay Day if I have time after I get my schoolwork done.” Sharing a very similar view is  junior Jaxon Brendemuehl who said, “It never affected me personally, but when it first got popular I noticed it affected a lot of other people.” 

Students believe that their ability to get homework done is not affected by these video games, but do teachers feel the same way? Former math teacher and now substitute teacher CharlotteSchramke said, “Yes it does. Students have study halls so they can get their work done, but some students put video games before school work.”

Most of the high school students at Elcho play either Hay Day or Clash of Clans, many of them playing collectively. Sophomore Keigen Koeppel said about Clash of Clans, “My favorite part is all of the things you can do in the game. You get a lot of layouts you can build your base on and come up with strategies for the game.” Kupfer said her favorite part of Hay Day is, ”To decompress and relax after getting all of my work done. It also has friendly competition in a “derby” which is always fun with friends.” 

The Sanderson Sisters Return

By: Ella Hamilton

Hocus Pocus 2 is the new talk this October as fans have been waiting 29 years for the next movie. The film features the return of the Sanderson sisters, Sarah, Winifred, and Mary; acted by Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy. The movie focuses around two young teenagers, Becca and Izzy played by Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo, who accidentally bring back the Sanderson sisters to modern day Salem during their annual Halloween ritual. 

Throughout the night, the Sanderson sisters are causing nothing but trouble. Since they’ve been gone for 29 years, the movie shows their reactions to modern-day things like an Alexa, robot vacuums, and even Walgreens. There’s fighting, spells, and so much chaos that makes this such a fun movie. There's aspects in the sequel that are in the first Hocus Pocus that only people who have watched the first movie will understand. However, they included just enough of the original movie without being too repetitive or making it confusing to people who may not have watched the original. Overall, this is a great family friendly movie to watch this Halloween.

Drama Club reignites after year-long break

By: Feya Waddington 

As of the beginning of school this year, the Elcho School Drama Club has been restored and already has a production underway. The group was recently assigned their parts in the play, and began learning lines, choreographing movements, and deciding on costumes. Elcho teachers Mikaila Walker and Kim Gensler are both ecstatic about this year’s group. Gensler said “I am excited for this; I’m excited for the students that are involved; I’m just hoping to bring not just the surrounding area, I want other schools to come in and watch us, and to just have fun with it.”

When asked about how she first gained interest in the stage, Walker said “Minocqua had The Northern Lights Playhouse when I was a kid, and I spent every summer going to every single play and musical with my grandparents, and that was essentially what got me started. My most vivid memory of all of those, is the musical Cats, which everyone laughs at when I say that. But I loved it. I also loved it because I was the youngest kid there, sitting in the front seat, eyes wide open, and people moved for me so I could watch. The actor interacted with me, and it was the best day ever. Then you got to shake their hands when you left. Okay, maybe that’s why I got into drama. I think that is that sparking moment right there.”

Gensler explained her part in the revival of the Elcho drama club, and how she agreed to become the co-director. I explained to [Walker] that when I was in college; I took drama online, so I have experience in it, not a whole lot, but also my daughter is in drama. She’s been in drama for a long time, in a different school, and she was telling me that if we didn’t do it, it’d be shoved to the back, so I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ So, we got together, and here we are.” Gensler works with the students participating in drama in mediating problems and learning about teamwork and how to work as a cast.

The plans for drama this year are already in motion. Walker said “When I was given the opportunity to take this position, I was told that we needed to do a fall performance and a spring performance. The fall one is just supposed to be a one-act, and then the spring is the major production, so a four act play. [We thought] a dinner theater would be so much fun. It’d be like our relaunch back into Elcho [Drama]. We’re having food, we’re having dinner, we’re gonna show you what we can do. This first one is gonna be fun, but I think the next one might be more eye opening. Dramatic and teach them some sort of lesson, maybe. That’s sort of my plan.

The theater director for over thirty years, Katy Ralph-Moore, was willing to answer a few questions about the past, present, and future desires for the Elcho Drama Club. When asked about future hopes, she explained: “I hope that interest in the program will grow. We used to have a lot of students who were also involved in athletics and music and other activities. Drama training is useful for students no matter what they decide to do later in life. It is both a physical and intellectual pursuit.” Ralph-Moore looks back upon many plays she directed fondly, the list includes, but is not limited to: “Flowers for Algernon,” “Pomp and Circumstances,” “A Friend Like Artie,” “Addict,” “Larceny and Old Lace,” “Truckstop Chili” and more than two dozen others. “'Annie Play Will Do' and 'The Last Gladiators' were two of my favorite productions. They were both well acted and hilarious.” She included some parting words of wisdom: “For both actors and advisors: have fun, take chances, find new sides of yourselves, ask questions and discover new answers. Be willing to challenge and be challenged and to make mistakes and learn from them!”

The Drama Club’s first production will be November 18 and 19 at 7:00 pm. There will only be two shows because it is a dinner theater. More information about tickets will be available soon.

Hornet pride hits Elcho High 

By: Ella Hamilton

The week of September 12-17 , Elcho School hosted a football game, a dance, spirit days throughout the week, a pep rally, a parade, and a community picnic in order to celebrate its annual homecoming and to award one high school class, this year, the class of 2024, "The Spirit Stick."

This year, the Student Council chose the theme of “outer space,” which was intricately woven through the dress up days, floats, skits, and the dance. The dress up days are to show your school spirit and to have class participation. Elcho started off the week with “Meme Monday” followed by “Pajama Tuesday,” “Men in Black” day, “Throwback Thursday,” and finally “Spirit Day.” Throughout the week the Student Council counted the students who dressed up and the Seniors and Junior tied in spirit points for this event. 

The pep rally included a Powder Puff football game which the sophomore/junior combo team won, Chicken in the Hen House which was won by the seniors, Blind Makeovers, won again by the seniors, and the juniors won the next game, Chubby Bunny. 

The class skits were then performed and scored as follows: freshmen took 4th place with no skit, sophomores took 3rd place, juniors got 2nd place, and the seniors won 1st place. 

The last two games were Hungry Hungry Hippos, which was won by the seniors with the juniors at a close second and Tug of War where all of the students joined in to help out either side. 

Right after the pep rally was the Homecoming Picnic which brought the community together and helped raise money for the Student Council to continue hosting these homecoming events for years to come. 

The football game the following day was won 36-12 by the Wolverines. They worked very hard and it paid off with the win. 

“I really enjoyed it and I don’t watch football often. The atmosphere for this game was a lot different. I feel like everyone comes together for a football game. It’s not just the parents and students, it's the whole community, “said Elcho senior Emily Moore. Moore also played in the pep band at the game.

To end the 2022 Homecoming festivities, later that night was the dance also organized by the Elcho Student Council.

Student Council President Kailey Kupfer said, “With only 2 full weeks of school we’ve pulled off a lot and I’m proud of what we’ve done.”