By Jessica Steger, Editor in Chief
The memory of Christopher Dietel will be forever etched into the Silver Lining Arts Center.
The teachers and classmates of Christopher Dietel, a West Bend West High School sophomore who died by suicide last August, have raised funds to purchase a memorial seat in the auditorium. The plaque on seat L118 will read, “In Loving Memory of Christopher R. Dietel,” and will be installed Thursday. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
West Bend poet invited to Carnegie Hall to receive award
By Samantha Dietel, Current Staff
A talent for poetry has earned one local student national recognition and a plane ticket to New York. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
West assistant principal Patrick O’Connor monitors the West cafeteria during the first lunch period on Tuesday. Photo by Samantha Dietel, Current Staff.
By Samantha Dietel, Current Staff
Not everyone is satisfied with the safety of the West Bend High Schools.
After the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., both students and staff at WBHS have expressed their own concerns about the building’s safety. Some even believe that the school would be unprepared for an attack similar to what occurred in Parkland. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Recent changes were implemented prior to Parkland shooting
By Samantha Dietel, Current Staff
For students shifting from class to class at the West Bend High Schools, it’s easy to miss the numerous cameras that monitor each of the hallways.
In recent years, the West Bend School District has placed an increased focus on the security of its high schools to ensure the safety of the students and staff within the building. But after a gunman took the lives of 17 students and faculty last month at a high school in Parkland, Fla., there has been a heightened number of inquiries regarding the safety at WBHS. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
By Samantha Dietel, Current Staff
A typical classroom inventory contains plenty of paper, pens and dry erase markers, but now, some believe a gun should also be included.
Students and staff members of the West Bend High Schools have been left with many thoughts, questions and even some concerns due to recent proposals to allow teachers to possess a gun in the classroom. Such proposals began to circulate through the nation in the wake of the tragic shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Even Wis. Rep. Jesse Kremer proposed the arming of private school teachers in February. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Book-giving event is just one of many planned service projects
By Jessica Steger, Editor in Chief
For the West Bend West High School staff, the ‘giving season’ began before a single Christmas ornament was prematurely sold.
On Tuesday the West staff hosted a book-giving event in the West Library. Prior to the event the school ran a book drive lasting from October to November. During this time over 2,000 books were collected, which were then offered at the book-giving event. Local organizations Family Promise, Boys and Girls Club, Friends Incorporated, Youth Treatment Center, and the Youth and Family Project attended the event, with an open invitation to their clients. Continue reading
Filed under Community, School News and Features
WBHS takes steps to combat vermin after mice sightings
By Kaitlyn Von Behren and Gabrielle Diaz, Current Staff
The East Library has a new mascot: The Sun, a small mouse often seen scurrying for a crumb or in between book aisles.
Mice have been seen roaming the West Bend High Schools since early August, most commonly found in the West science area, the East Library and the Nifty Nibble, which is the student-run campus restaurant. The mice are sometimes dead and sometimes alive. The most recent sighting of mouse droppings was today in the West social studies area. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
The rumor mill was in full force following last week’s student-led protest march. The Current staff writers Kara Conley, Miranda Paikowski, and Mike Smale separate fact from fiction.
Rumor: The march was a success, as it led to the school returning to seniors the right to create a wall mural and attend the Every 15 Minutes program in spring.
Fact: The riot did not result in these decisions. The official decision to once again make both juniors and seniors the attending classes for the Every 15 Minutes program was made prior to the hall pass uproar. “I had been thinking of changing the participating grades from juniors and seniors to juniors and sophomores. This was simply a proposal, and I was already leaning towards keeping it the way it has been,” said Ralph Schlass, assistant principal, in an interview with Miranda Paikowski. According to Schlass, he had decided a few days before the riot to have seniors participate once again. This announcement, although made on Thursday, was not related to the march whatsoever. Continue reading
Filed under Community, School News and Features
Thursday’s protest march was an embarrassment, but perhaps now the school can have the right conversations
By Lauren Sorensen, Current Staff
What happened at school on Thursday morning was simply wrong. A step towards a positive environment with the ability to have dialogue about student issues was twisted into a public spectacle of immaturity, and that’s too bad.
The actions taken by a percentage of the student body on Thursday were disgusting. Watching the news and seeing one’s school being disparaged as “the students who rioted over lavatory passes” should make any student cringe. Savagely running through the halls and displaying such a blatant disregard for the privilege of public education is simply sad. Students calling for mature treatment yet spiraling into rage only proved the district’s logic in restricting freedoms. Immaturity will never be met with mature privileges. Continue reading
Filed under Community, School News and Features, Viewpoint
Today’s first period meeting between principal Bill Greymont and students angry about new hall pass procedures ended with a protest march that disrupted second period classes. West senior Andy Propper was there.
Walking into the East cafeteria I felt a massive wave of tension and excitement. I could look around and tell that everyone knew that with how many people showed up something would probably happen and it wouldn’t end well, but that was okay for some people because they hoped for a destructive and chaotic meeting.
The meeting itself was filled with boisterous and dismissive teenagers. I could see many who had showed up with constructive intentions to change things were drowned out by the outcries and jeers from those who had come to watch the carnage they assumed would unfold. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features, Viewpoint
The West Bend Current 