Written by Aidan Vavra | This year, some seniors have had the opportunity to do many activities and learn new things in the senior English class. This year's class is probably a little different for the seniors, as some other classmates chose to take English online through SCC instead. This allows seniors in the class to work with people they may not always get to work with, and learn new things. Lately, the seniors have been working on reading Macbeth. Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare, which follows Macbeth in his reign of power in modern-day Scotland. The play goes through the events that lead to Macbeth becoming king, and how the guilt follows him from his actions to get where he is. Earlier in the year, the seniors worked with their grammar books and the My Perspective Curriculum, as well as reading James Patterson's book Alex Cross's Trial. I had the opportunity to interview the teacher of the Senior's English class, Mrs. Perez. Mrs. Perez said that in the next few weeks, the seniors will be working with parts of speech, parts of sentences, and phrases. Next semester, they plan to do more My Perspective and grammar books, but also will be reading Mitch Albom's book Tuesdays with Morrie. When asked what the seniors have improved on throughout the year, Mrs. Perez said that they have improved on participating in class discussions. She stated, “This is a testament to the classroom environment they have created where students can voice their thoughts on various discussion topics.” Mrs. Perez commented that she has enjoyed seeing what the class remembers from the readings they’ve done, and what connections they are making. One of the students, Tyler Due, said he enjoyed being in the class because of his classmates, especially Josh. Tyler stated that this year he’s learned how the class is very diverse in opinions. Tyler's favorite project so far this year is the book Alex Cross's Trial. Overall, the senior English class has got to experience many new topics and learn new things along the way.     

Written by Kierra Papik | The art kids took a field trip to the UNL campus to tour an art museum, the campus, and learn about the architecture and interior design program. Mrs. Kanode and Kmila said that their favorite tour of the day was the Sheldon museum. They both stated that the tour guide had some very fun and interesting activities and that the sculpture they enjoyed the most was the Old Glory statue. Mrs. Kanode said, “It reminded me of the American flag and the Huskers since it is red.” Kmila said, “ The statue was really big and that it reminded her of the American flag too.” Mrs. Kanode also liked all the big scenic photos in the art museum. The kids were able to do an activity that started with picking partners. One partner was to close their eyes and draw what the other partner described. Kmila really enjoyed this activity because not only did it show that her and Liberty can work well together but she was able to describe something that she thought was very interesting and stole her attention. Mrs. Kanode stated, “ I think this field trip was very good for the kids considering most of them have never been to an art museum.” When Kmila was asked how this trip impacted her, her response was that it made her question what she wants to go to college for because she was really interested in all the architecture classes and opportunities. They were both excited to be on campus and thought it was a really cool experience and they wouldn’t mind seeing it again. 

Written by Aidan Vavra | Lately, the school has picked up a new hobby, ping pong. In the last few weeks, it seems like everyone is playing the game, with it becoming very popular. The game is very easy to learn and pick up, which has caused many of the students to play the game for the first time in their lives. Although we have had one table for over 16 years, and the other two since 2015, the game has just recently been picked up immensely. The school recently got new paddles from Amazon, which many students appreciate. I had the chance to interview Mr. Sheffield about the topic. When asked what he thinks of the new “craze” he stated he thought it’s awesome. He says that he enjoys playing the game and that he has “mad skills”. He thought that ping pong could benefit students in different ways, such as improving their hand-eye coordination and helping with team building. Along with Mr. Sheffield, I also went to interview Brett Kallhoff, a student you can often find at the tables. Brett just recently picked up the game, only playing for about a month. He stated that he enjoys ping pong because of his “incredible ability to play the game”, and he enjoys competing with fellow students, especially Mikey.  Brett said his strengths in ping pong were his spin, ability to save shots, and his impressive serve “hardly anybody can handle”. Brett thought that ping pong could benefit our school because of its competitiveness. Overall, with ping pong becoming more popular, many students are discovering a new hobby that could benefit them in many ways. 

Written by Trista Adams | Mr. Nicholas’ 6th period Biology has been doing many fun things this semester. They are currently learning about cellular membrane transport processes as well as diffusion and osmosis. Mr. Nicholas’s favorite activity in this class so far was the activity they did yesterday, they linked arms and were the “Cell Membrane” and then they let other students through the membrane in different ways. In this exercise they are demonstrating endocytosis and exocytosis. Mr. Nicholas enjoys teaching the chapter “Origins of Life", he said. “It’s so interesting how much we know but also how much we don’t know and it leads to wonderful discussions.” His favorite chapter in biology is the Theory of Evolution. He enjoys this chapter because he gets to teach students about where we came from as a species. He said that the most interesting chapter is Cell Structure, “There are so many little “machines'' in our cells that all perform different tasks to help our body function and it’s just very interesting how many there are and how much we know about them.” I interviewed one student, Carver Kanode, he said that his favorite chapter so far is the one they are working on now and that the reason for this is because there are so many interesting activities. When I asked him what the easiest chapter so far is Chapter 1, The Foundations of Biology. Carver stated that his favorite activity has easily been the cell membrane activity that they did yesterday. Each student in this class has an inquiry project. His project is about “What flavor of gum lasts the longest?” This relates to biology because taste buds and smell are sensing chemicals in the gum that the flavors give off. All in all it’s easy to say that the Biology class is a very big fan of the Chapter they are doing now along with the activities.  

Written by Troy Kallhoff | Mr. Marr’s Government class is a requirement for graduation, and all students take it in their Junior year of high school. Currently, in their class, they are covering political parties. When asked why this class is essential, he said, “When they [the students] may recognize that government is involved in almost every aspect of their life whether it be simple things such as voting… it has far-reaching implications, such as what rights you do and do not have.” His favorite part about teaching the class is shared with one of the students I interviewed, Emma Meyer. They both stated that they enjoyed learning and hearing about the differing opinions of all the students in the class and being able to discuss them with people who disagree. This difference in opinions also has surprised both Emma and Mr. Marr, with Mr. Marr mentioning that in this class, he has students this year who range from staunch conservatives to very liberal students. Since the government class is currently learning about political parties, Mr. Marr has a unique project for this chapter. Every year, the class splits into groups and creates its third party. These new parties then have to work together to campaign and persuade the student body to vote for them based on the political ideologies they adopted. Overall, the government class is vital to help students learn what goes on in their government. In the upcoming weeks, look out for posters put up by these new political parties. 

Written by Aidan Vavra | As a part of Red Ribbon Week this year, a guest speaker was invited to our school to teach us about conflict resolution. His name is Chris Scheufele. Chris taught music for over a decade before becoming a speaker. He travels the country to teach students, parents, and teachers the truth about social skills. Chris is also the host of the podcast “Chris in the Classroom” and is a #1 best-selling author. The speech was split into three age sections: elementary, middle, and high. Students from Friend were also invited to listen to the speech, with them taking buses to get there. In my interview with Mrs. Kroll, I asked her about the differences between the speeches and each age group. She responded that his examples differed, especially when he had students go up for demonstrations. Mrs. Kroll stated that this speaker was chosen because a friend highly recommended him. One thing Chris did well during his speech was interacting with the students. When Brett Kalhoff was asked what his favorite part of the speech was, he responded that he liked it when he brought students up for examples and demonstrations. Brett said that he learned many things from the speech, such as the word bullying is overused. He said he learned to build a wall around his heart and not let things get to him. Overall, the students enjoyed having Chris come to speak to them and learned many things that could apply to their lives.

Written by Troy Kallhoff  | The journalism class recently attended two field trips to improve various abilities that relate to journalism and learn about the potential for a future career in journalism. On Wednesday, the class attended the Class Intercom Content Generation Workshop. 15 schools attended the event in Lincoln, and several other schools from across the country joined in through a Zoom call. Dr. Jill Johnson, the deeply loved Class Intercom President, and the Class Intercom staff were responsible for the day's events. Those in attendance heard from several speakers, including Emmy-award-winning journalist Erin Sorensen. Erin spoke to the students about being a good digital citizen and sharing her experiences as a sports journalist. After every speaker, the attendees competed in a Quick Hit Challenge. These challenges get students to collaborate and work to create images and graphics in a short amount of time. The Exeter-Milligan journalism students got “third runner-up” for imitating Taylor Swift - The ERAS Tour poster. Draven Payne attended the event, and said, “I enjoyed the Quick Hit Challenges. They were really fun.” At lunch, the students heard a recruitment presentation from Alex Fernando, the Assistant Director of Recruitment at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Overall, everyone in attendance enjoyed this event, and they look forward to attending the Class Intercom Content Generation Workshop next year. 

Written by Troy Kallhoff  | The juniors and the upper-level science classes recently went to Cooper Nuclear Station, just south of Brownville, Nebraska. Mr. Nicholas says that this trip is very important to students because everyone uses electricity, but most people take their access to electricity for granted. He believes that by going to Cooper Nuclear Station, the students gain a greater appreciation for electricity and increase their desire to sustain their access to electricity. The group had to pass through high levels of security and pass a background check before entering the facility due to the importance of the nuclear station. At the power plant, they watched a short presentation before touring the facility. Kmila Benitez, a junior, attended the field trip. Kmila stated, “The most interesting part of our field trip was when our tour guide had to take his pants off because he came into contact with radiation, and then he had to wear paper pants for the rest of the tour.” The Cooper Nuclear Station produces enough energy for 385,000 homes. In an interview with Mr. Nicholas, he explained how a nuclear power plant produces energy. In brief, Uranium atoms split in a process called fission. This process produces energy; this energy is transported through water, creating steam, this steam flows through a turbine, turning the turbine and generating electricity. Field trips like these a very beneficial because they allow out-of-classroom experiences to show the students that what they are learning in class is also used in the real world. This helps to motivate students to learn in class and understand the purpose behind the lessons they are learning.