Issue 12

The Speech Team wrapped up its season at the IHSFA State Tournament. The team finished second in Class AA behind Munster and 4th overall behind Munster, Fishers, and Chesterton. Bridget Schafer placed the team with a second place finish in Original Oratory. Jacob Moreno tacked on a sixth place in Humor. Twenty-five PHS entries advanced to the top 24 in the state in their respective events. The Speech and Debate Team has yet to set their goals for next year’s season. Although, if it’s typical, their goals will be to find individual improvement and allow that to lead to TEAM success.

Mr. McKenzie said, “Because we don't believe in small goals, I guess you could say we fell short. Our ultimate goal is always winning the State Championship. If you can't envision that level of success, it can't be achieved. However, just because you don't reach your goal, it doesn't mean you are a failure! We finished second in our class and fourth overall (regardless of school size). There are numerous teams that would trade places with us in an instant.”

Freshman Austin Kizer is on his fourth year of participating in Speech and Debate. This may be his first year participating in high school, although, he has participated in sixth grade and throughout junior high.

Kizer said, “Participating in Speech and Debate is a blast. You have practice once a week for 30-45 minutes long, everyone encourages 45 minutes, then you have a meet pretty much every weekend. At these meets there are normally four rounds that are made up of two preliminary rounds, one semifinal, and one final round. Before this meet you will have chosen an event to participate in and you will have a piece prepared, unless you're in some special events, and they post all of the events with what room you're supposed to go to and who you're up against. Then you go to the room at the posted time, present or perform your piece depending on what you're in, then you leave and repeat. In the room you'll be judged by some sort of volunteer. The semi is made up of the top 12 people in your event and the final is the top six. After everything is over, they normally take a while to calculate everyone's position, then we have awards for those who placed, followed by the distributing of trophies for schools that did well, and we go home. During these tournaments you normally meet a lot of people you share interests with, you bond with the team over the long hours you spend together, and you just have a lot of fun.”

After competing in Sectionals and Nationals, the PHS Speech Team is fortunate to have 27 students who have advanced to the IHSFA State Speech Tournament. On Thursday, March 8 these 27 students traveled to Fishers High School where they competed in the weekend long IHSFA Speech Tournament.

Sophomore Fernanda Cortes said, “I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with my teammates and having a great ending to this year's speech season. Although, I am most nervous about forgetting something important such as my speech! Like any other high-intensity competition, when the nerves come in, anything can happen.”

Freshman Ana Baca has participated in speech and debate since third grade, with this being her 3rd year.

Baca said, “Going to state I am looking forward to improving my skills as a performer and public speaker. Though, I am also nervous about competing with upperclassmen around the state of Indiana because they have so much more experience.

Junior Levi Crawford has participated in speech and debate for all three years while being in high school, in addition, he has also participated for one year at the junior high.

Crawford said, “In regards to state, I am most looking forward to staying at the hotel with some of my closest friends, as well as giving my absolute best on Saturday and showing Indiana what the Plymouth Speech and Debate team has to offer”

Speech and Debate members have many speeches although, they have their favorites. Junior Olyvia Clark has participated in Speech and Debate for four years.

Clark said,” My favorite speech was the tournament where I almost pushed my partner off the stage when we won first place. I got too excited when I went to hug her.”

Kizer said, “My favorite Speech that I've given this season is probably "Clique Clique Boom," because while I love my Humor piece "Three Step Method," by Scott Auguston, I just had a blast writing and performing this piece with my partner, Noah Bishop, and our coach.”

Senior Claire Peters has participated in Speech and Debate for two years.

Peters said, “One of our topics was about Elon Musk’s company, Spacex, and the privatization of space travel. It sounds really boring, but in the context of the round, it was really fun to talk about it with these people I had gotten to know throughout all of our different competitions. It was also very fun to debate this legislation about reforming the election system during debate season because people in that chamber got really heated about it.”

Speech and Debate coach Mr. David McKenzie, was hired to coach here at PHS in 2000. He had started coaching in college back in the fall of 1979. He coached at Wabash, Oak Hill, and Northfield prior to coming to Plymouth.

This year, the theatre arts department is remaking the “Father of the Bride.” For the people who do not know, “Father of the Bride” is a 1991 film (originally a 1950 film) starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams, George Newbern, Martin Short, B. D. Wong, and Kieran Culkin. The plot of the story is that George, the father, is nervous for his little girl, Annie, to leave the nest. She tells the family of the man she is marrying, Bryan and her father is hesitant on the matter and dislikes him but as time goes on he learns to accept Bryan for the happiness of his daughter. But the theatre department is putting on a little different spin to the classic. They have changed it to be in modern times and they also changed Annie to Kay and Bryan to Buckley.

Senior Maggie Nate is playing Mrs. Banks in this year’s show.

Nate said Mrs. Banks is “an absolute joy to portray because she has the sweetness of a mother, but also firmness and complexity from managing a crazy household of five children and a stubborn husband.”

Nate has been a part of the theatre department since her freshman year and really enjoys putting on the shows.

Nate said, “This is my last show on the PHS stage, and while I'll miss acting with all of my heart, I can not think of a better way to end. ‘Father of the Bride’ is a comedy for all ages, extremely relatable, and full of exciting moments throughout! Aside from the content, the people are what make this show incredible. I am truly grateful to my fellow actors, the stage crew, and our directors, Ms. Faulstich and Miss Warren, for working hard to make this show happen. We come from different backgrounds, but we definitely are one big family!”

Junior Levi Crawford plays Mr. Banks in this year’s winter show.

Crawford said, “He’s the actual father of the bride. He is constantly worrying and stressing about the wedding, his daughter, the groom, and everything financially.”

The theatre department puts on three shows a year.

Ms. Jane Faulstich, who is the head of the theatre department said, “We try to always pick a play that matches with the number and chemistry of the Acting Class that particular semester.”

The play will be performed in the auditorium on March 16 and 17 at 7:00.

Last Friday, PHS Multicultural Club members and nonmembers traveled to Indiana University South Bend to attend the IUSB Multicultural Day on campus. Throughout the day, the students were taught the process for applying to college, given an idea of what to expect once on campus, and were given the chance to interact with current students.

Senior Yohoni Martin Torres said, "I learned that there's a lot of places I can go get help if I'm ever struggling with school work or if I'm not feeling the greatest emotionally.”

Torres will be attending IUSB in the fall and will also be running for the college’s cross country team.

Sophomore Jennifer Torres said, “The trip was a great experience. I learned a lot about being involved in my community and standing up for what you think is right and also how much one person can make a difference.”

The students were exposed many activists their community and ventured into issues in today’s society. One the the major topics discussed was the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, which was an American immigration policy, that provided individuals who either entered the country or remained in it illegally as minors to receive a renewable deferred action from deportation.

Aiza Flores said “I learned a lot about DACA recipients and recent breakthroughs that have occurred for Dreamers. There have been many peaceful protests in Washington D.C. fighting for the rights of DACA recipients and I was shocked to learn that there were people locally in South Bend who were a part of an organization named ‘Dreamers in Action’.”

During lunch, many of the speakers talked with the students about their work and their views on important issues.

Flores said “It was amazing to know that there are other people out there like me that feel the need to address these really important issues that tend to be put aside because they are "too sensitive."

The students had a chance to explore the diversity of the community and learn about helping their community.

Sophomore Jessika Cuatlacuatl said, “I personally felt inspired by one of the local activist who talked about her work done in the community.”

After the trip came to a close, the students felt an impact from the trip.

Torres said, “The trip was great, I greatly enjoyed it and I met some new people. This trip made me love the school more for the fact that it's diverse and that I know I have many people to go to if I ever need to.”

Flores said, “I feel so empowered to use my voice and to be grateful for the voice I have, because there are some people who are not able to use their voice and speak their minds when they might have so much to say. This trip really made me want to be the voice for those who can't use theirs for whatever circumstance.”

Besides this trip, Mrs. Ippel also is planning on a possible trip in the spring in where seven colleges get together and do a similar culture gathering experience. Mrs. Ippel plans on taking students if testing dates allow it.

Mrs. Ippel said, “We try to do it [IUSB trip] every year, there are two trips. The IUSB trip and another one later in the spring.

Next year if you would like to take part in this trip or in the upcoming trip in the spring make sure to contact Mrs. Ippel.

Junior Luke Walters and junior Mitchell Rose participated in the 2018 Bridge Bust and received second place for presentation out of 17 schools. Bridge Bust is an extracurricular club that is run by Mrs. Lori McClellan. Bridge Bust involves students building bridges and competing with other schools in the Indiana, and Illinois area on the amount of weight the bridge can withstand. Every year the competition is held at Purdue University in West Lafayette.

The students who participated in making a bridge include junior Luke Walters, junior Mitchell Rose, junior Olyvia Clark, senior Trevor Pletcher, junior Jesus Baca Jimenez, sophomore Sydney Cochran, sophomore Meghan Ankney, sophomore Madilynn Morris, freshman Jacob Mathews, junior Corey Bannow, senior Cristina Olvera, and freshmen Kameron Kopetski.

The first club meeting for Bridge Bust was held in November. This meeting is to get an idea of who is participating and inform the students of future meetings. Once everyone is signed up students can either create a bridge on their own or be in a group maximum of two people.

Morris said, “I signed up because it seemed like a cool club, something interesting to do.”

From September to January, students have time to look up the bridges they are going to create. When November comes along, the students participating have a chance to raise money for the bus being used to transport them to Purdue and a way to get rid of some of the fees that Bridge Bust requires. They do this by selling items out of a catalogue called Nature's Vision. By January, the students should already have a bridge design in mind.

Morris said, “It was fun figuring out the bridge design.”

To prepare for building the bridge, the students gather six graphing papers. Three papers are taped together and another set of three papers are taped together. These papers are there to draw the design of the top and bottom of the bridge. Once the papers are taped the students put one of the sets on a piece of cardboard and start measuring and designing the bridge. Once the bridges are drawn, the students are ready to build. They put wax paper over the written design and cardboard to prevent the glue from sticking on the paper. In order to build the bridges, students are provided with balsa wood and wood glue. For the bridge to be qualified for competition, it must have a length minimum of 26 inches and a maximum length of 30 inches. The bridge also must be a maximum height of eight inches. When the students are finished with their bridges, they are not done just yet; they have to create a presentation with a poster board on why they chose the bridge, why they think the bridge is sturdy, and they also have to provide pictures of the bridge they built.

Ankney said, “What I like best about building a bridge is learning new ways to build the bridges.”

When students arrive to Bridge Bust they check in and get their bridges examined to see if the bridge is qualified for competition. When everything is ready to go, the students have to present their poster boards. Then, the bridges are put on a platform. A metal bar sits between an opening in the middle of the bridge that every bridge design has. Connected to the metal bar is a bucket where it is filled up with sand until the bridge breaks to know how much weight the bridge can withstand.

By February, the students have their bridges finished. This year's competition was held on February 23.

Due to the flooding, the other ten students participating in Bridge Bust were not allowed to travel to Purdue. Walters and Rose were able to travel there themselves and represent PHS. They ended in second place for presentation and won a $50 monetary scholarship.

Rose said, “Getting second, I was elected. It took forever to build and put everything together to make a cohesive project. Seeing the time payoff was great.”

Walters said, “It was really fun, and unexpected.”

Though the ten students were not able to participate in the Bridge Bust competition, there is another way students will be able to show and talk about their bridges to the school board which will be sometime in April or May.