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May 2025
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Money behind the Music
Wyatt Steele-Contributing Writer
ISHPEMING- Some are probably wondering what the money from band concert admissions and donors' money goes towards. For those wondering, that's what this article is all about.
“The money we receive from admissions goes to cover the cost of new music purchases, new instrument purchases for elementary classes, middle and HS band (This year we purchased new marching percussion and a marimba), instrument repairs, sets/costumes/props for the VIM musical costs,” said Mr. Erickson.
On top of instruments, it helps those in the band or concert to offset prices for traveling to events within the musical department, such as Band Festival, Honors band, and choral events.
“A music program has many costs to be able to provide the opportunities for music students. The school district is only able to provide so much money to help cover these costs, so the money we receive from concert attendance helps to offset the music program’s expenses,” said Mr. Erickson. NICE Community's Music Department is incredibly lucky to have as many donors as they do because it helps them achieve their goals with new instruments and instrument repairs.
Becoming a donor helps support the music students at Westwood and Aspen Ridge. Most donations are given out of generosity towards the music students. Donors do get some perks, as they get a number of passes to concerts in the music department for the year, but it also depends on how much they donate.
To become a donor, there is an insert in every concert program. On the insert, there are names of donors, a list of donations, and instructions on how to become a donor. It also thanks everyone who is a donor for their generosity. For those who don't have the information, they can contact any of the NICE music teachers or the WHS office.
The donations affect all the music students in all parts of the school system, from pre-school to seniors. All donations and admissions go to supporting the music department and the music students in the school system.
April 2025
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Photo Caption: The 2024 Prom court, pictured at Wawonowin Golf Course
Photo Credit: Yearbook Staff
Westwood Prom 2025
By Hunter Nap
ISHPEMING - Westwood High School’s Prom is going to take place on April 26th in the school gymnasium. The school’s doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for students to get ready and then at 6:30 p.m. students who are participating in grand march will be lining up to walk through the Rose Garden themed prom at 7:00 p.m.
Mrs. Grout said, “They do the grand march in the gym, and that's before prom starts. And you walk in with either your friend or your date, and then you walk down the little aisle, and there's lights and flowers, and your family takes pictures of you, and you can stay after and take pictures with the set. And then after that, you go over to the location for prom, which this year is at Mather Inn.”
Prom king and queen will be decided at the Mather Inn on the day of prom. The prom court will be voted on during the meeting the day before prom.
After the grand march, at 7:45 p.m., students will start heading to the dance, which will be held at the Mather Inn, located in downtown Ishpeming. At the dance there will be a DJ playing music and a photo booth so students can get their pictures taken, there will also be raffle drawings and prizes. The dance will be catered by Border Grill so there will be food and different snacks for students to eat.
Prom tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased outside of the office every day at lunch. If you are a junior and would like to help set up for Prom, come to the meetings every Wednesday at lunch in Mrs. Grout’s room.
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March 2025
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NMU Culinary Class
By Nels Erickson, Contributing Writer
ISHPEMING - Westwood High School offers many amazing opportunities to enroll into NMU and start college classes. They’re all 100% free and a really good option to take in your final years of high school. One of these many options is the NMU culinary class.
A fellow senior, Robert Nelson, is currently enrolled in this class and is really enjoying it. He sees it as a future career and perhaps it should be something you should consider.
Many high schoolers are worried about taking a college class, but Robert’s experience shows there is nothing to fear. “It feels kinda cool the building is real nice along with all the equipment.” And because it is a cooking class, you get to eat food too!
Robert was asked what some of his favorite culinary creations have been so far. ”I’ve made tons of stuff but I’m really proud of the pie I made and the breakfast sandwich. I made both and they both tasted amazing.” He also made some really good fried chicken.
But many students still may wonder, what does the day-to-day process look like while taking a college class in high school? “On a kitchen day I start by changing into the north fork uniform then I go into the kitchen and wash my hands then I grab my buckets and set up my station. After that we start to do what we were assigned and such.”
Surely there must be some challenge to taking such an advanced class. Robert said, “It’s sometimes hard to do new stuff like for me baking is really challenging but Andrew always helps us through it and explains everything really thoroughly.” This class is a really good option if you have an interest in the culinary arts industry. And best of all, if you take it while still enrolled in Westwood, it’s free to take!
Photo Credit: Robert Nelson
January 2025
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Westwood High School's STEM club
By: Hunter Nap
A STEM club was recently created at Westwood High School and is available for all students to join. Mrs. Grout, a Westwood High School teacher, and Kaylin Doney, a student, created the STEM club this year because they feel like there aren't enough opportunities at Westwood or in the community for kids to learn more about science technology engineering and math. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
“We feel like there's not a lot of opportunities in the school for students who want to pursue additional research and additional community outreach in the areas that STEM is involved in. So there's not enough chances, I guess, to interact with it. And so we wanted to create more and earlier chances for kids to learn about science and technology, engineering, and math,” said Mrs. Grout.
Joining a club like the STEM club can help you get into different colleges and help find a career that you are more interested in. Mrs. Grout explained how STEM clubs can affect your future and help you all throughout your life. “Studies have shown that the sooner you expose children to those fields and let them do different kinds of experiments and build critical thinking skills, all of those things are built when you're young, like under the age of 10. So the sooner you can introduce those concepts to a child, the more likely they are to be interested in them as an adult and to be more comfortable with them when they have to take classes like biology, chemistry, all of the things, the math included. It will help if you are applying for colleges and you have that you've been part of a STEM club and you list those activities that you've done and the outreach to the community, yes, that will make you more attractive to the college.”
Mrs. Grout wants to work with local schools and help teach different topics through fun projects that get students engaged in learning. “We're working with Aspen Ridge and like few with teachers that have told us what they want to teach in the field, mostly of science and technology. So they asked us, I wrote them emails and said, what do you want us to help you teach? And then we're going to go there on set days and do activities with them. So I think the third graders want to learn more about plate tectonics. So we're going to go there and do an activity with them.”
The STEM club has some plans on events to do in the future to help and give back to the community. Mrs. Grout said, “Community outreach for our local schools is our first goal. And then the second goal is in the spring. We want to see if we can get some more going on with the hoop house that we have here. I know that Aspen Ridge does some stuff with it, but I think we want to try to start a more cohesive plan for growing things so that we could maybe even provide those things that we grow as a salad bar to the cafeteria. But that's maybe a longer term plan but that would be fun.”
STEM club is a great club to join because it has fun educational projects and it helps out the community, not to mention it looks good on college applications.
December 2024
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Caption: Raja cheering at a home football game
Photo credit Addison Burton
Meet The Exchange Students
By Addison Burton and Taylor Jackovich, Contributing writers
ISHPEMING - Raja Fara is Westwood’s 16 year old junior exchange student for the 2024-2025 school year. Raja is from Germany and is staying with Denise Platteborze while she is here.
Raja was on the cheer team for the fall season and plans to join the track team in the spring. In Germany all of the sports are club teams instead of school teams. “We don’t really have any extracurricular activities through school,” says Raja. In Germany Raja said she participated in competitive cheer and it was very different from the cheer team here.
The weather is also very different here compared to in Germany. Raja has seen snow and been skiing but this is the first time she will be living somewhere that gets snow and stays cold for so long. This is her first time in the U.S.
Raja is 16 and considered a junior here at Westwood but when she returns home she will have to complete an additional 3 years of high school. “I'm not used to having the same classes everyday, in Germany we take 10 different classes and have a different schedule every day,” said Raja. This year she is taking English, Spanish, Art, Biology, Advanced PE, Teen Cuisine, And History. Although she will complete a full year at Westwood when she goes back home she will have to retake the entire year.
Raja says it is not too much of an adjustment besides the amount of school work in Germany she has different classes every day and how many classes she has to take, as she is here she still talks to her parents on a weekly basis and most of her friends.
Raja said that Ishpeming is very small compared to her hometown but she likes it. She has never been fishing before so that is something she wants to try while she is here. She has also visited New York in her time here. Some activities she wants to try while staying here are fishing and outdoor activities.
Another big change for Raja was the snowy weather here in the winter, that Germany does not get the pleasure of seeing, Raja says “ it’s cold” and that it is, we have had a lot of snow this winter and it is just going to keep coming, and if that is not a welcome to the UP I don’t know what is.
November 15, 2024
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Key Club: Making a difference
By: Hunter Nap, Contributing Writer
ISHPEMING-Westwood High School’s Key club has a lot to offer for the students and the community. Key club raises money through fundraising for the community by hosting raffle baskets, bake sales, and movie nights for the elementary.
Abby Hinze has been in key club throughout all of highschool and spent 2 of those years as president of Key club.
“Key Club is a service organization and we work to hold fundraisers and service projects in our community to help better our community. And it's a really good opportunity for students to learn, like, volunteer skills and to get service hours for things like National Honor Society,” said Hinze.
Joining key club or any club that makes a difference in the community shows colleges and other admission committees that you are passionate about making a difference. Key club can help get you into the college that you want to go to. Colleges look for key club and other clubs because they show that you get involved with the things that are appening around you and you get involved and volunteer to trying to make a difference and better the community.
We have key club because the club raises money to better help the community through fundraisers. Key club donates the money they raise to different organizations such as Bay Cliff health camp, UPAWS, the cancer care of Marquette county and other places like that. The club raises on average $200 a month to give back to the community.
“We have our raffle baskets going on right now. We do bake sales quite often. We do Chuck-a-Ducks at the basketball games in the winter. We hold movie nights for the elementary school. Pretty much whatever ideas our club members come up with and want to execute is what we do,” said Hinze.
Most of the money goes to the community but parts of it go to helping to run the club and rewarding the volunteers with pizza and other treats at some of the meetings, and they also use the money for supplies for key club to use except when the fundraiser is labeled as “For the cause” then none of the money goes towards the club and all of it goes straight to the cause.
Key club has an average of 40-50 students that attend and participate in the meeting but throughout the year people start leaving the club. By the end of the year there is an average of 35 students still participating in the club.
Key club meets every Wednesday at lunch for all students who are interested in joining the club.
Photo Credit: Taylor Jackovich,
Photo Caption: Some of the Peer-to-peer students are all in line behind a desk smiling at the camera, the room is very festive for the halloween spirit.
Peer -to-Peer
By Aiden Rexford, Contributing Writer
ISHPEMING - Mrs. Moebius, located in room 108, teaches the peer-to-peer students and helps the special needs students and their aids. She does a great job running the peer-to-peer program here at Westwood.
Peer-to-peer is a class that helps with social skills and working with other students that have disabilities. Mrs. Moebius started the program here at Westwood. One of the things she talked about is how the peer to peer class and credit got started.
Mrs. Moebius said, “we started peer to peer probably at least 10 years ago.” The reason for starting peer to peer was, “I feel it's really beneficial for our students,” said Mrs. Moebius.
She also talked about how lucky she was having aids in the class and how much help they give to the students. “They're really good at helping our peer to peer students, like giving them ideas what to do with our students to kind of. You know, hang out, get along.”
Mrs. Moebius also said peer to peer helps both students and special needs students. “There research out there shows that being together helps both groups and helps socializing and communicating.” What inspired Mrs. Moebius to do peer-to-peer is clear.
“When I first started teaching I went to a teacher conference where a teacher in Gwinn was doing it there and so they had a program going there and they had their students there at the time. their peer to peer students came and talked about what they were doing and, how much they liked it,” said Mrs. Moebius.
“I was like oh, I want to do this but it was when I started teaching so, I didn't do it right away because I was still learning to be a teacher. A year or so later though, Mr. Longton, our special ed director came to me one day and was like, what do you think about doing this. And I was like, yep. I'll do it. Because I saw the presentation those years ago and I really left there, like, that's something I wanted to do someday,” said Mrs. Moebius.
In Mrs. Moebius' class she has a wipe board that gives the Peer-to peer students a partner too work with for the rest of the class. “ I kind of give them a peer. That's their partner that hour. So the get one on one time with a peer every day,” said Mrs. Moebius. To get the class in your schedule you can pick the elective in the office or with Mrs. Young or Ms. Moffett.
October 2024
Patriot Press October 2024 Publication.pdfOnline Exclusive Articles
2024 Election: a two sided coin
By: Gage Stone Senior writer
ISHPEMING- Voting is very important in the United States of America because you are choosing who gets to run the entire country for the next 4-8 years of your life. So whether you like Kamala Harris or Donald Trump you should get a true background of who you are voting for or supporting so you know what is going to happen to your country.
First we start with the debate. During the 2024 debate Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debated over the inflation rates, their immigration policies, and some of America's biggest problems that are going on today. They do this face to face in person in front of a big audience.
One of the ways Trump wants to end the illegal immigration rates is by closing the border and ending all migrant invasions. Trump also suggested that America could have a strong hold on trading and improving the economy as a whole.
Kamala Harris wishes to strengthen our health care and make it much more affordable. When Mrs. Harris was a senator she worked with the insurance companies and big pharma and got them to lower their prices. If Harris gets elected president she will make sure that healthcare is a privilege and not something you just earn. Mrs Harris has also announced that medical debt will be removed from all credit reports.
Donald Trump would also like to end inflation and make it affordable to live in America again. Some of the ways Donald Trump could stop inflation rates is by the Trumponomics. Trumponomics is higher tariffs and lower taxes, this could help by giving America more money and to tax people less than it is now.
Kamala Harris plans to take on inflation by using the landmark bill. The landmark bill is a bill to reduce medical bills, like the price of insulin being $35 a month. As well as medicare is allowed to negotiate lower prescription prices for a ton of Americans by saving the taxpayers billions of dollars.
Donald Trump is also planning on cutting taxes and making it so there is no tax on any tips, no matter what. Mr. Trump also plans to reduce the corporation tax for the domestic production by getting rid of various types of income by income tax, such as completely getting rid of all of the green energy tax credits and creating new tariffs.
Kamala Harris also plans to make sure parents are able to afford high quality child care and schooling for their children, by planning to strengthen the public education system. The way Harris is doing this is by providing nearly $170 billion into student debt for almost 5 million people.
There are multiple ways you could look at the presidential election. Whether you hate it and wish not to vote, or you love the election and you love the side that you support and you want to make it known. But the most important thing is to get out and go vote if you can. Our country gets a new president because we vote. Make your voice heard because your vote could truly make a difference.
October, 2024
Rally in the valley
By Mitchell Ford, Contributing Writer
ISHPEMING - As the fall tennis season kicks off, the Westwood Patriots Girls Tennis Team is embracing significant changes that promise to elevate their performance from last year. With a blend of dedicated seniors and promising newcomers, the team is shinning with optimism about their chances of winning the U.P. Championship title.
Senior Izzie Marta, the team’s number one doubles player, emphasized the strong bond among the players, “The team is very close this year. We have great chemistry, even with the freshmen and sophomores.”
This year has been a standout season for the team, with an impressive record of 14 out of 17 team first-place finishes. Doubles 1 has excelled even further, securing an outstanding 15 out of 17 first-place finishes. The team also proudly claimed second overall at the Mid Peninsula Conference, showcasing their talent and dedication. Marta's enthusiasm captures the spirit of the group, “We’ve been a really strong team this year, and if we maintain this momentum, I believe we can win UP’s.” With their hard work and dedecation, they could take it all they way.
On Thursday the 28th the Westwood girls went to battle on the court for the Mid Pennisula Conference. The whole meet Westwood and Negaunee were neck and neck for overall points, but with the final game of the meet Negaunee took the first place for there team making it 28-27 Negaunee. Westwood put up a great fight having 3 out of 8 positions getting first and the other 3 got second place. Morgan Schneider taking 1st Place as 4 Singles, Izzie Marta & Nolia Dawson taking 1st Place as 1 Doubles, Niila Nurmi & Emersyn Nelson also 1st Place as 3 Doubles, and Lexi Olson took 2nd Place as 1 Singles, Sami Ruby took 2nd Place at 2 Singles,
Hannah Niemi took 2nd Place at 3 Singles.
The teamwork was good during matches, where the players demonstrated their love for the sport and thrived in a supportive coaching environment. Coaches Mrs. Zindler and Mr. Jackson have been producing a good, supportive, and a hardworking team by their coaching this year and from the looks of it, the players are some of the best in the U.P.
With various fall sports competing for attention, I asked Marta why she and her teammates chose tennis over options like volleyball or cross country. She replied, “Tennis came easy to me, so it was an easy pick. Plus, the practices are really enjoyable.”
The Westwood tennis team is ready to take it all home this October 2nd when they go to Escanaba to compete in the U.P. Finals. Westwood had a great game came so close to taking home the team first place with all 8 flights making it to the semi finals and 6 of the 8 making it to the finals with #1 singles player Lexi Olsen and #4 singles player Morgan Schneider taking home the first place title. With Westwood having the team score second overall behind Negaunee.
Project shifts on lakeshore drive US/41, preventing traffic backups.
By Taylor Jackovich Contributing Writer
ISHPEMING - One of the many topics of conversations among Ishpeming citizens is about the future of the roadway in Ishpeming Township, US/41. The topic on most people’s minds these days, considering roadways, is the roundabout located on Lakeshore Drive on US/41. The idea was around for 10 years or more; the one at 2nd Street was built first to address serious crashes we’ve seen at that intersection. The plan for this roundabout started back in 2017 but began construction in 2023. Hebert Construction is the prime contractor, with plans to finish by the end of October this year.
A few of the obstacles that the construction crew ran into included weather-related delays. According to Joel Kauppila, Cost & Scheduling Engineer for MDOT-Ishpeming TSC, “working on this job site also involved a river which could be at flood stage while we were working.” Seasonal road restrictions can also be another obstacle when construction teams need to work so therefore planning ahead of time for a project because of weather was a big issue. Could also be delayed by snow storms, high water levels from rivers, wet roads. This season the team was able to start 3 weeks earlier than anticipated due to the mild winter.
There was a minor impact on business around the construction site, although business owners on the south side of the intersection did express some concerns in the beginning. Roundabouts steady traffic; this used to be a high-speed intersection with a high chance of injury.
“Roundabouts slow traffic and reduce serious crashes significantly, also improving the operation of intersections,” according to Joel Kauppila cost & scheduling Engineer MDOT-ishpeming TSC.
The people of the community expressed there inconveniences at the beginning when the detour were a shock to most, and when the traffic detours made access to US/41 and business to the north side difficult although state and construction workers worked with the city and fire department and emergency services during design to let civilians know of what to expect, and even made some last minute adjustments to reduce the impacts, unfortunately unable to keep access open at all times.
Clubs at Westwood
By Hunter Nap Contributing Writer
Westwood High School has a few different clubs that you can participate in. Mrs. Hamel is in charge of the chess club and the belonging club.
Westwood High School clubs were created either to help students or to get students involved in something they were interested in with other students
.
Mrs. Hamel from the belonging club wants to create another tree in the hallway with positive messages. Maybe add things they have done in the past.
Mrs. Hamel said, “Think of how fun it would be to make food from a different culture together! Basically, we want a place where people can come and be themselves and be supported in that.”
Mrs. Hamel redesigned the GSA club and turned it into the Belonging club. When asked what the club was she said, “showing unity for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion and to send a visible message that no child should ever experience bullying.”
Mrs. Hamel wants everyone to be a part of the belonging club in some way, even if you don't go to the meetings, she wants everyone to get along and create a culture of kindness.
Clubs are an option, not a commitment. Students aren't required to stay in clubs, so they should go to them and try them. If they enjoy it, they should stay in the club, and if they do not like the club, they can leave at any time.
The belonging club will host its first meeting on October 16th at lunch, and Mrs. Hamel encourages students to attend and learn more.
“We want to remove competition and the idea of being better than everyone” said Mrs. Hamel.
The belonging club is not the only option for students. Mrs. Hamel also has the chess club, which meets every Monday at lunch.
“Chess teaches a lot of problem solving skills and strategy that benefits the brain and helps transfer to other academics.” said Mrs. Hamel. Chess can be a fun way to work your brain and exercise critical thinking skills which can aid you anywhere in life.
Playing chess, especially at a younger age, helps develop your prefrontal cortex which will improve your decision making skills. As a young adult you have a ton of decisions to make and sometimes we don’t think and make bad decisions. Playing and learning the game of chess teaches you how to think ahead and how doing one thing can lead you down the wrong path in the future and learn the consequences of your actions which can relate to real life situations. Chess and life are alike because when you move one step you have to keep going and you can’t change your mind later on, so once you go down a path you can’t go back.
Clubs are a great option for students and everyone should be encouraged to join as many clubs as they can.
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