By Amber Georgenson, Current Staff
Local student Zoey Bruce never thought she’d be learning inside of a helicopter.
Continue readingTag Archives: Ralph Schlass
Juniors Still Waiting for Traditional High School Experience
By Caroline Peplinski, Current Staff
The coronavirus pandemic forever changed the lives of nearly every human on the planet. Current juniors at the West Bend High Schools, for example, have never had a normal year of high school.
Continue readingFiled under School News and Features
Exams Done, Advanced Placement Students Keep Learning
Students were surprised to learn of changes to exam week
By Elise Marlett, Editor in Chief
This year’s final exam week will look different for Advanced Placement students at the West Bend High Schools.
Continue readingFiled under School News and Features
A Towering Gift
By Norah Johnstone, Current Staff
This year the graduation committees of the West Bend East and West High Schools chose updating the tower stairwells and adding window decals as their gift to the school.
Continue readingFiled under School News and Features
‘Would You Make It By 4:30?’: Graduation Speaker Must Race to Muskego
By Elena Chamberlain, Current Staff
Directly after giving her graduation speech, Danielle Schumacher has to bolt.
Continue readingFiled under School News and Features
An Oldie But a Goodie
WBHS senior helps revive old baseball tune with local ties
By Megan Landvatter, Current Staff
As the baseball season starts up again, a lost piece of Brewers history has been found and restored.
Continue readingFiled under Community, Entertainment, School News and Features, Sports
The Courtyard: Past and Present
Students once were allowed to smoke in “the pit”
By Caroline Peplinski, Current Staff
Most days, the West Bend High Schools’ courtyard sits empty and silent. However, that wasn’t always the case.
Continue readingFiled under School News and Features
The West Library Is Back
By Amber Georgenson, Current Staff
After months of renovations, the West Bend West High School library is reopening for student and faculty usage. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Meet West Point Cadet James Miller
West senior heads to U.S. military academy in June
By Samantha Dietel, Editor in Chief
James Miller’s childhood dream of attending West Point is at long last becoming a reality. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Navigating a New Path
For students of the closed Pathways Charter School, the transition to WBHS has been an adjustment
By Megan Landvatter, Current Staff
In Jack Elliot’s first week transitioning to West Bend East High School, he had to drop two classes—his first time ever doing so. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Students Aren’t Mellow About Xello
Rollout of new career planning vehicle hasn’t been smooth
By Rachel Gergetz, Current Staff
The very tool meant to help students is causing them confusion. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
WBHS Implements New Safety Measures
Plans include a new district safety coordinator position
By Samantha Dietel, Editor in Chief
Improving campus security has now become a top priority at the West Bend High Schools. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Three of Six Administrators are New This Year
Twin Day: The administration of West Bend East and West High Schools dressed as triplets during homecoming week. From left to right: John Graf, Zachary Daniels, Tyler Wood, Michelle Marschel, Patrick O’Connor and Ralph Schlass. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Rausch.
By Noelle Mentch, Current Staff
They might be new to the school, but that doesn’t mean they are new to the game. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Rise Together to Prevent Addiction
Students give standing ovation to 13-year-old speaker
By Elise Marlett, Current Staff
Walking into the auditorium, students were expecting a drug and alcohol presentation like any other, but were pleasantly surprised. Continue reading
Filed under Community, School News and Features
Leftover Paint Sparks Cross-Hall Rivalry
By Lily Mottet, Current Staff
Painting a hallway wasn’t supposed to renew the rivalry between West Bend East and West High Schools. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
WBHS Athletic Directors are Pioneers
By Samantha Dietel, Editor in Chief
The West Bend High Schools are home to two of Wisconsin’s few female athletic directors.
Erin Felber and Molly Hengst have both recently joined WBHS to head the athletic programs. Felber took on the role of West athletic director at the start of the school year, while Hengst began serving as East High’s interim athletic director in December. The two women have entered positions that are typically held by men in Wisconsin. Continue reading
Filed under Sports
Music Department Surprised by Budget Changes
Officials say teachers should continue their programs as planned
By Samantha Dietel, Editor in Chief
By the time orchestra director Seth Matuszak learned what his budget was for the year, it was nearly spent. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Student Club Wants Martin Luther King Jr. Day Recognized
By Samantha Dietel, Editor in Chief
For Jhalia Evans, acknowledging Martin Luther King Jr. Day would mean that she matters. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Why Wasn’t 9/11 Memorialized This Year?
By Elise Marlett and Lauren Oppermann, Current Staff
September 11, 2018 seemed just like any other day for students at West Bend High Schools.
Many students and teachers were surprised when 9/11 was not given a schoolwide memorial last Tuesday. In previous years, an announcement was read over the PA system or articles retelling the devastating story were handed out to students. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Museum Brings Artifacts to World History Students
By Samantha Dietel, Editor in Chief
A visit from the Milwaukee Public Museum allowed some students at the West Bend High Schools to temporarily become archaeologists. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
‘We’re Unprepared’: Students and Staff Have Safety Concerns
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
How Have the High Schools Addressed Safety Since Parkland?
Community Q&A planned for March 22
By Samantha Dietel, Current Staff
“If you see or hear something, say something” is a phrase that has lately been given a great emphasis at the West Bend High Schools.
In light of the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., students, parents and other West Bend community members have wondered how the district is planning to respond to the calls for better safety in schools. Several steps to improve the safety of WBHS have already been taken since the attack, including plans for a community discussion about safety that will be held by the school board March 22. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
‘Our Students Are Very Safe’: WBHS Officials Discuss Campus Security
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
Senior Wants WBHS Volunteers Recognized at Graduation
By Caitlin Marsch, Current Staff
For Serenity Krueger, trying to make a change went beyond volunteering.
Last week the West Bend West High School senior created an online petition directed at the WBHS administration asking that students who have 100 or more documented volunteer hours be honored with cords of recognition at graduation. So far, the petition has garnered over 800 signatures and the online response has been overwhelmingly positive. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
The Hallway Brigade
Testing center closed to allow for more hallway supervision
By Lily Mottet and Lauren Chamberlain, Current Staff
Tiffany Gitter, a West English teacher, is optimistic about the closing of West Bend High Schools’ testing center.
On Dec. 7, WBHS administration officially closed the testing center to all students. Instead, the teachers who monitored the center now patrol the hallways in an attempt to quell the number of students wandering the halls. Gitter, for example, used to supervise the testing center during sixth period but now spends that time in the hallways. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
No Return for Exam Exemptions
By Jessica Steger, Editor in Chief
Exam exemptions will not be back this school year.
With the removal of Galileo testing, an opportunity arose to restore an old West Bend High Schools policy regarding semester exams. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Which Makes Thee Startle: A Story of Mice and Men
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
West Bend Teacher Invited to Symposium
By Bailey Schultz, Current Staff
Tanya Lohr is thrilled about her upcoming trip to New York.
Lohr, a West Bend West High School social studies teacher, leaves today for New York as part of an American Geographical Society fellowship. The event will take place Thursday and Friday, with Lohr returning home Saturday evening. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Two Principal Model Returns to WBHS
Students will experience unique school identities at East, West
By Jessica Steger, Editor in Chief
This year the West Bend High Schools welcome a new principal, but wait… there’s more! Attend school now, and you will get not one, but two principals. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Beloved Principals Honored
By Priyanka Trivedi, Current Staff
Two conference rooms at West Bend High Schools have been renamed after two former principals.
Mary Skalecki and Patrick Gardon were both honored by having conference rooms inside West Bend High Schools named after them in the fall of 2016. The Skalecki conference room is located outside the main office while the Gardon conference room is in the attendance area.
“The conference rooms dedicated are the two most visible conference rooms,” said Ralph Schlass, a current assistant principal who worked with both Gardon and Skalecki. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Crash Course
Every 15 Minutes program asks students to confront the dangers of drinking and driving
By Hannah Bensen, Editor in Chief
While hundreds of students looked on, West Bend East High School teacher Jeff Rondorf was taken away in an ambulance.
The Every 15 Minutes program took an unusual twist this year by including a faculty member in its plotline. Rondorf, a business education teacher, “died” on Friday due to injuries sustained in an accident caused by a drunk driver. The events were not real, but they simulated the graphic realities of such an incident. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Gaining Yards on 1989
East freshmen are ready to blitz the legend of the last undefeated West Bend varsity team
By Justin Scherzer, Current Staff
The East freshman football team has local fans excited about the future.
The freshman team completed an undefeated season in late October, finishing with a 7-0 record. The team averaged 48 points per game, and allowed an average of eight points per game. This is the first time since 1989 that any West Bend football team has had a perfect record. Continue reading
Filed under Sports
Uelmen Stays in West Bend
Assistant principals Dave Uelmen (right) and Ralph Schlass work together in the main office on Wednesday morning.
By Shelbie Proudfoot, Current Staff
Assistant principal Dave Uelmen is no longer leaving the West Bend School District. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
Students Confused About New Jobs Skills Assessment
Why were juniors required to take the ACT WorkKeys test?
By Beth Williams, Current Staff
On the morning of March 4, the hallways of the West Bend High Schools were void of their usual noises of scraping shoes and student chatter. Instead, the junior classes from both East and West sat down to take what they thought was just another standardized test.
This test, however, came with a twist: this was the first time that this specific test was being offered to WBHS students. Continue reading
Filed under School News and Features
The West Bend Current 