Learning French in Spanish was something of a wonderfully confusing idea. Even the way it was phrased seemed a bit odd. Learning French in Spanish. Like, instead of having an English translation for French words, there is a Spanish translation. Thus was the idea my friend presented to me one afternoon. She had been wanting to learn French, and I had been wanting to learn Spanish, so we might as well try it. The theory was that if a person were to learn their third language in their second language, then the person would have a fuller grasp on the meaning of each word. It wasn’t purely memorization and translating, it just became, well, like understanding your own language.

This particular friend has a great talent for writing and with that, she has a great passion for knowledge. The proposal of learning French in Spanish did not surprise me just as her other pursued interests — learning to play the melodica, discovering the history of old paintings, and reading stories about the Romanov family — did not surprise me either.

She introduced me to this quote by the New York Times Bestselling author, John Green, that says, “Nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff — like jump-up-and-down-in-your-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. When people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘You like stuff,’ which is not a good insult at all. Like ‘You are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness.’”

Learning seems to have lost its appeal in our society. People may go to institutions for higher education, but, often, it only serves as a mean to an end.  Go to this school to get that job to make this amount of money to buy that stuff.

Personally, I know I’ve studied hard for a test just to get a good grade. Practically two days later, I may have easily forgotten all that I had “learned.”

Often, we complain about the classes that we know we won’t have use of in the field of work that we plan to go venture into. For me, I do not see myself heading into a career that utilizes advanced math and science. I even had a substitute teacher last year who told the class that we had already far surpassed the math that we would actually need. Algebra I was the extent of the applicable math. Ironically, it was a math teacher who told us that.  Because we don’t see ourselves using that information in the future, we don’t think it’s worth our while to sit through such a class.

It’s sad that our view of education has come to this. That if we don’t reap immediate benefits, then there’s no point in learning at all. And to be honest, I easily fall into that line of thinking from time to time. But education isn’t just processing new information as much as it’s acquiring discipline.

My science and math classes have been some of the most rigorous courses I’ve taken at Westminster, but because of those classes, I’ve become an independent learner, a better thinker, and a problem solver.

Yet, with discipline aside, we should pursue knowledge. Dare to be a nerd. John Green has quite a bit to say that subject: “Saying, ‘Hey, I notice that you’d rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you’d rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsay Lohan.’”

Shouldn’t we desire to have that? To be passionate about something as opposed to being apathetic to everything. People with passion take action. They’re the world changers. They are the ones who have a voice in society.

My definition of a sport is “an athletic activity that involves a defense.”  Under these criteria, activities such as football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and lacrosse definitely qualify as sports.  What is hard is defining those activities that lie in the in the gray area and those activities that are clearly not sports under my definition.

Wrestling

It could be argued that wrestling is not a sport under my definition because of the absence of a defense.  I disagree with this because in wrestling, both participants are both the offense and defense.  The same holds true for tennis.

Track and Field

While track has traditionally been considered a sport, it is clearly not one under my definition.  There is no defense to speak of.  Instead, runners race against each other but are not keeping each other from running fast, or in other words, being a defense.  Track falls under the umbrella of an “athletic activity,” which I define as “a competitive activity that requires some sort of physical skill and athleticism.”  Cross country, auto racing, and individual cycling also fall into this category.  Team cycling does not due to the fact that teammates defend against members of other teams by cutting them off so that one of their teammates can win the race.

Golf

While golf definitely requires physical skill and athleticism, it qualifies as an “athletic activity” due to its lack of a defense.  Despite this lack of defense, it is competitive and requires a lot of practice, which is what makes it an “athletic activity.”

Cheerleading and Dance

Both of these activities require a lot of athleticism and skill.  They are very competitive and require a lot of practice.  However, neither of these are sports, once again because the lack of the defense.  Instead, they too qualify as “athletic activities.”

Hunting and Fishing

These two activities do not even qualify as “athletic activities.”  While they do require skill, they also require a great deal of luck.  No one knows when the fish will be biting or whether there are deer in the area.  Thus, despite the skill and knowledge required, they simply qualify as activites.

At least that’s how I call it.

“This has been a crazy spring weather wise.  I don’t recall seeing a day where we had 12+ inches of snow during the spring sports season,” said Todd Zell, Athletic Director.

One of the most affected sports for the season is tennis with many matches being affected in many different ways.

Another sport that has been affected is baseball. The baseball  team came home from Florida to find 12 inches of snow on the ground, and the start of their season in doubt. So far only 20 games have been played on schedule, and the rest have been made up, sometimes weeks later than planned.

Ben Lovell, senior, jokingly added that the rain delays “cramps my style and takes away my “me time”. Lovell still has managed to keep his 24-1 pitching win-loss ratio, even in the rain.

Golf, surprisingly, hasn’t been hard hit by the storms, but it has made for some soggy play, and rough scores.

Soccer, has been moderately affected, but has had some help from the turf field. Plus, a drainage system under their field helps the water drain much faster than it would off of the baseball and lacrosse fields.

Lacrosse had also made good use of the turf fields, playing many games.

“The other problem it causes is the back up of rescheduled games at the end of the season.  Right now many of our teams will be playing 4 to 5 times a week the last 3 weeks of the season,” said Zell.

But not only have games been negatively affected, practices have been up the air given that so many teams needed indoor spaces. Some teams have not been given full practices, with baseball splitting their time between JV and Varsity.

Its been one of those seasons, where mother nature seems to always have the ball in her court, having an edge. But as the season continues and more and more games become affected, the players and fans will still be there, playing and cheering on their wildcats. Because in the end, its not about the rain, or snow. Its about the game, and thats what the fans, and players, will be focused on.

This year’s golf team is full of talented golfers who are also close friends. They have a group text where they plan get-togethers.

“We all get along well because we bond at Taco Bell after matches. This provides a great opportunity for us to become closer as a team,” said Jeremy Ebert, senior.

“My favorite part about the team this year is the relationship we have with each other. It feels like a big family,” said Ebert.

Brian Burkey has been the head of the varsity golf team for six seasons. He has had a successful career, including one state championship.

“My favorite part about the team this year is the group of players we have. Not only are they talented golfers, they are also a fun group of people to be around,” said Burkey.

The golfers love Mr. Burkey for his coaching skills and his cheerful personality.

“Oh stink! Mr. Burkey is a great coach because he encourages us and coaches us,” said Greg Fleissner, junior.

“I love Butkey and the whole team. It’s a great group of guys,” said Austin Benefield, junior.

This year, the golfers added a new part to the team: golf gals. Golf gals are dedicated golf fans who bring their golfer food and encourage them before matches.

“I love golf gals! They are so encouraging with their words and their yummy sweets!” said Fleissner.

“Being a golf gal is such fun! I love baking for my golfer and the sweatshirts are super cute,” said Emma Bailey, junior.

The JV golf team is also heading towards a great season. Rex Janssen, head coach of the JV team, has been coaching golf at WCA for eight years.

Tripp Worley, sophomore, has just begun his second year of playing golf at WCA.

“My favorite part about the golf team this year is the atmosphere. It is a really fun group of guys who love golf and love each other,” said Worley.

The JV team has played played seven matches and have five wins and two losses. They are hoping to finish the season with a winning record.

“My favorite part of the season is working with the guys on individual parts of their game and then seeing how they use what we worked on as they are playing in a match.  We talk a lot about using good course management and making good decisions on the golf course. Another example is the other day we worked on this putting drill practicing 3 foot, 6 foot, 9 foot, and 12 foot putts, and then the very next day seeing how many of these putts the guys had in their match and how it hopefully helped them and gave them more confidence when they had these putts in their match.” said Janssesn.

Overall, the golf team is heading in the right direction towards an outstanding season.

In the first round of the tournament, Westminster faced Rockbridge’s “B” team, which is made up of the back six on Rockbridge’s varsity line up.  While the back six of Rockbridge fought hard, they were no match for the top six of Westminster’s team.  The Wildcats ended up with a 7-2 victory with singles wins from Bailey Merkel, junior, Derek Bell, junior, Andrew Montgomery, freshman, Hunter Hughes, senior, and Nathan Arnold, senior.

“At the time we were happy to pull out a win over Rockbridge’s “B” team, but we were really looking forward to the next matchup against Lafayette and the possible matchup with the top six of Rockbridge,” said Montgomery.

The team had a quick turn around after their first match, but this did not affect their play against Lafayette.  The team rallied picking up some tough wins for another 7-2 victory.  The highlight of this match was Derek Bell’s come-from-behind win over a tough opponent in a ten-point tiebreaker.

“In my match against Lafayette, I lost the first set but I stayed focused and came out strong in the second set.  I was able to pull out the second set and win in a close tiebreaker.  It was nice to get a win for the team,” said Bell.

Bell’s presence on this team has been a huge advantage.  Bell missed the beginning of the season with a shoulder injury and without him the team went two and five.  Since his return Bell has not lost a singles match and the team’s record has been five and two.

“I am glad to be back in the lineup and I hope to improve my game and my shoulder as the season goes on,” said Bell.

Unfortunately, the Lafayette win was the last victory for the Wildcat’s over the weekend.  On Saturday, Westminster faced Rockbridge’s top 6 in the championship for a second year in a row.  Again, Bell was able to pull out a singles win and a doubles win with the help of Merkel, but these were Westminster’s only wins as the team fell 7-2.

“We were very upset with the loss to Rockbridge because the team had worked so hard to prepare for the match and we came up short after giving it our all,” said Merkel.

While the tennis team went to Columbia looking for a championship, they were not able to revenge their previous loss to the top six of Rockbridge. However, the team did come home with new experiences and more confidence that will help them improve as the regular season comes to a quick close and districts begin on May 6.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .

Lovell has started for Varsity since his Sophomore year, and has compiled quite the resume. In his three seasons on Varsity, he has never had an ERA above 2.00. He has struck out 157 hitters, and averages above 8 for every 7 innings. This year he broke the school record with his 24th career win, against one meager loss that he earned his sophomore year. He has lead the Wildcats to back to back state championships, and they are poised to contend for a third. He will be attending Belmont University.

Sadie Stipanovich:

Stipanovich has started for Varsity since her Sophomore year, and has dominated since she began. She scored a total of 1,242 points in her career. In her senior year, she averaged 14.8 points per game, along with 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. She made All-State, All-District, and All-Metro teams in both her Junior and Senior year, and was also named the player of the year her Senior year. Sadie was also a star volleyball player at Westminster. She will be attending Saint Louis University.

Erin Bognar:

Bognar was a four year starter for varsity volleyball. She is an outside hitter, and plays all the way around. In her senior year, she led the team with 310 kills, which was also 9th in state. She averaged 4.7 per game. She also chipped in a solid 37 blocks and 206 digs. Her performance helped lead Westminster to their first state championship in volleyball. She will be attending Samford.

Brooke Cusumano:

Cusumano was a terrific all-around athlete for Westminster. She was a star point guard for the basketball team, and averaged 9.9 points per game her senior year. But she really shone in golf. She led the team to state championships her junior and senior year by winning the individual championship both years. She shot an even par 73 at Eldon Country Club last fall. She was third in state with 31 birdies over her senior year. She will be playing golf at SIU Carbondale.

Sarah Barker:

Sarah Barker was a terrific diver for Westminster’s swim team. She holds the school record in both the 6 dive and 11 dive, and went to State two years in a row. This is espeically impressive because she only started diving when she turned 14. Her true passion is tumbling. Although she hasn’t competed in tumbling since she started diving, she placed second in state and regions in 2009. She will be tumbling at Baylor University.

Katie Matheny:

Matheny is following in her family’s history of talented athletes. She plays hockey for the Saint Louis AAA Blues, a local select team. She previously played for Team PIttsburgh Hockey for five years, and helped lead them to 2010 National Championship. She has been nominated to play on the USA hockey team three times. As a forward, she led her team in points in three consecutive seasons. She has dedicated her life to hockey, traveling as far as Canada with her nationally ranked teams. She will be attending Ohio State.

Mitch Penning:

Penning has been a four year letterman for the boys volleyball team. In his senior year, he has dominated. He averaged 4.81 kills per game, which adds up to a whopping 202 on the unfinished season. Penning also has a 90% serve percentage in 163 attempts. He has lead the Cats to a 13-6-3 record. In addition, he has starred on the USA junior national team. He will be attending Pepperdine in California.

López explained to Adams that his funding for this army was focused around one material: a natural gum known as chicle which grew on the sapodilla tree of Mexico. For centuries before, Mexicans had been chewing chicle, but López aimed to use it to create a rubber alternative. He believed it could be combined with current rubber in order to reduce its cost.

López had already been shipping chicle to the United States for his highly anticipated business venture,but needed a scientist to experiment with it. Giving up his day job as a photographer, Adams became López’s secretary and scientist.

Adams began experimenting on chicle in 1870. His mission was to experiment with chicle in order to create a rubber alternative for manufacturing toys, boots, tires, and shoes.

For over a year, he tried to make boots and tires, but there was no success. Then, just when Adams was ready to give up, he remembered how López’s hometown had chewed the material.

Adams made a batch of his own in his kitchen, and when he tested it, he realized that it differed tremendously from the current gum that was sold. Chicle gum was smooth and had much more pleasant texture than the sap-based gum being sold in his day.

Then, he began heating the chicle, adding licorice and other ingredients to improve flavor. His additions proved to be beneficial, and in little time, he started his own company: Adams Gum Company.

Adams distributed his product, “Adams New York Stretching and Snapping Gum”, in local stores. His invention was an instant success.

Orders became so rapid that Adams had to create the first factory for gum making.

In 1875, Adams put his newly conceived gum, known as “Black Jack”, on the market. “Black Jack” gum was the first chicle flavored gum. Also, it introduced gum that came in stick pieces.

In 1888, Adams Gum Company introduced the first ever vending machine in America.

Adams’ invention proved to be the basis of all modern gum. And, although most gums have artificial bases, some still use chicle. “Black Jack” gum is still on sale today.

“Personally, I’m kind of scared, we don’t really know how another war with North Korea is going to go, there has always been an immediate threat but as tensions rise I’m starting to get worried,” said Dongbin Lee, sophomore.

This immediate threat is primarily why South Korea has a mandatory military.

“They just need money, North Korea is known to have a really bad economy. A barking dog never bites, they are making threats with no actual commitment behind them. There will not be a war, they know that if they start trouble it is the end for them,” said Sang Hyuk Park, Sophomore.

Westminster students learn about North Korea as an immediate threat, for South Koreans it is completely different.

“When you are living in South Korea you don’t really think of North Korea as an immediate threat, you don’t really think about them until something happens,” said Peter Kim, Junior. It mildly resembles America’s relationship with terrorists, you don’t think about them until they attack.

”I definitely fear for my family back home. One time my mom sent me an e-mail full of the contacts of my cousins and uncles and aunts so I could call them if anything happened. It really shocked me into seeing the reality of the situation,” said Lee. Many of the South Korean Westminster students feel the same way.

“This crisis definitely makes me more worried about my family, I don’t want them getting hurt,” said Kim. Most South Korean Westminster students maintain frequent communication with their families.

“I am sort of worried, but not entirely. My brother is going into military service this summer so that worries me. That aside, I communicate with my family a lot and they always reassure me not to worry. I have lived in South Korea sixteen years, and during that time North Korea has always made threats like this, it happens a lot,” said Park. America is currently working towards sanctioning North Korea even further. America’s stance and progress on maintaining peace between these two countries is marked with mixed opinions amongst Americans and South Koreans alike.

“I think America is handling the Issue really well. I love that this country is our ally. This comes as a reassurance to me that if anything does happen, it will end quickly,” said Lee. America has not always handled this issue with as much urgency as they have done before.

“I think America is handling this issue much better than they have before,” said Kim. Amongst the issues caused by North Korea, Kim Jong Un seems to always be at the forefront. “He is like a dog, always being led around by others. It seems he can not even make his own decisions,” says Park. American students tend to treat this issue in a different light rather than how South Korean students are taught about this issue.

“This issue is not necessarily America’s problem, in this way American students are ignorant towards the very real threats that face our country,” said Lee.

What does this have to do with Westminster Christian Academy? Mr. Schutz’s story is a redemptive one for sure – his rise to CEO of Porsche has as much to do with the Porsche family’s desire to atone for the sins of their part in the Nazi’s plot to eradicate the world of Jews as it has to do with the desire to turnaround a great automotive company. As a Christian school, Westminster understands a redemption story.

But, there is more to this story. Mr. Schutz gave Porsche a hope and future because he understood a very simple and powerful analogy that holds equal relevance to Westminster: the power of understanding the complementary roles of the “front and back wheels” of an organization.

The metaphor went like this: every organization in the world operates like a bicycle. Porsche, for example, had a strong back wheel made up of engineers, number crunchers, factories, and suppliers that could push the company. What they didn’t have was a good front wheel: no leadership or value of the customer that could point the bicycle where it needed to go.

As a result, the company’s ‘bicycle’ could go as fast as it wanted but would never head in the direction necessary for success. Schutz, therefore, would spend his time fixing the front wheel through uniting his people and finding what his customers really wanted. He would eventually succeed in turning the company around and go down in history as the man that saved Porsche.

This analogy relates to Westminster. We have a great back wheel that is made up of a brand-new facility, excellent teachers, numerous courses, and good extra-curricular activities. The front wheel is also well-equipped and consists of great leaders like Mr. Marsh or Dr. Stoner that think in the long term and are directing Westminster towards many more decades of success.

As our new front wheel Dr. Stoner takes his place as the Head of Westminster, he be benefitted by thinking about the school’s long term goals and the identity of its customers.

I am sure that Dr. Stoner will be much more knowledgeable of our school’s customers, be they parents who send their children to school, the colleges that these students attend, the workforces that will employ them, the community that they will impact, the Lord that they will serve, or a mixture of all of these.

Dr. Stoner will also be concerned about sustaining Westminster’s mission statement while at the same time expanding the school, just as Mr. Marsh did.

The bicycle metaphor does not only relate leaders and workers of orgainizations, however. They could relate Westminster students as well. Another part of Schutz’s story is that he believed from a young age that he would be an engineer. Therefore, Schutz got a bachelor’s degree of science at the Illinois Institute of Technology and started his career as an engineer for Caterpillar.

Soon, he realized that engineering was not his calling, and he quickly quit his job for a leadership opportunity at Cummins Engine.

The point is that during one’s high school years a student probably doesn’t have a good idea of his future calling, just as Schutz didn’t. Therefore, it might be beneficial to keep all doors open and become well-rounded so that students are prepared for any route that their lives might take them.

Also, the stereotype that everyone is destined to lead is wrong. Resources and brilliant minds are equally important and necessary to leadership positions, and if one part of this equation is missing, a company will never be able to function. Both parts of the industry should be valued and pursued, and resultantly it is wise to have knowledge of each profession so that one can keep all doors open.

I felt normal in that situation, and I was ready to see the movie that I highly anticipated. The people in the theater munched on popcorn and exchanged a word or two before the curtain drew and the film began, and everyone watched as one.

The movie 42, about the career and signing of Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers, is an outstanding film that accurately depicts racial conflicts. The film follows the beginning of his career and the trials that came with it.

In one of the opening scenes of the movie Robinson, played by Chadwick Boseman, and his all-black baseball team stop at a gas station to refuel their bus.  Robinson asks to use the bathroom, and the man filling the gas tank reminds him that he is not allowed to use the rest room because it is for whites only. Robinson tells the team that they will get there 99 gallons of gas elsewhere, and the man then allows him to use the rest room. This is where Robinson’s courage and sheer guts is first seen.

The film does an outstanding job of showing Robinson’s character as a man, and his struggle to fight his urges to give into the pressure to fight those who provoked him.

Overall, the acting in the movie was fairly good,  but the real show stopper was Harrison Ford.  Well- known for his role as Indiana Jones, Ford did not let his past roll define him. He appeared to have gained a few pounds for the role of Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and spoke in a ridiculously deep voice the entire movie and never went out of character. Ford also had a few one liners that captured the show and brought a touch of light-hearted humor to the serious topic that the film depicts.

Another excellent aspect of the movie was the music. The scoring of the film not only fit the mood and era, but was perfectly timed, and it perfectly framed the mood of every scene.

One of the few drawbacks of the film was that it did not touch on Robinson’s faith. It was mentioned when Rickey was deciding which African-American player to bring onto the team, but that was the end of it. Robinson’s faith influenced his career, but the movie did a poor job of depicting it.

Some of the acting from minor characters was sub par, but it wasn’t terrible.

Overall, the film is worth seeing, despite frequent use of rude language. The language matches the era, and the film does not dumb that down. This movie is great not only for baseball fans, but also any other people who are interested in watching the film. It educates on an era that most teenagers are unaware of, and shows how far the world has come since then.