Boy VS. Snake, Chair Wins

Everybody at CCS knows Mr. Langdon’s pet snake, Armando Pepe Langdon. All the students love him and love to feed him from time to time after school. He is very interesting to have in the classroom to interact with.

Last Friday, during exam week, we had no school. But, some of the students came in to work on their posters and practice their lip syncs for Spirit Week.

After the freshman class had finished their work, Cory Greeno and sophomore Cameron Bricker visited Mr. Langdon’s classroom. They thought it would be a perfect time to feed Armando. Cory got Armando out of his cage, got the feeding box and one frozen mouse out to feed the little Langdon! Once the mouse morsel had thawed out, Cory gave it to Armando and watched him eat it. After Armando finished his tasty treat, Cory put Armando back in his cage.

Then it happened! While putting the snake back in his cage, the chair that Cory had been standing on flipped and Cory fell hard on the floor and snapped his arm breaking the bones right in two. He knew it was broken right away because it clearly looked deformed. Just ask C-Brick.

After quick action by Mr. Langdon, he contacted Cory’s parents and proceeded to take Cory to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, Cory was taken to the emergency room and had x-rays taken, the doctors then tried to set the bones in place properly, but soon found that was not possible because there was a muscle blocking the ulna and radius bones. Luckily for Cory he was unconscious while they performed the procedure. During further consultation, the doctors decided that surgery was necessary.

Cory had his scheduled surgery the following Monday and all went well. He had one long pin put in his arm to help it heal properly. In a few months, it will all be over with.

All in all, lessons were learned, the snake never actually attacked the student and Cory Greeno found out that chairs are for sitting in, not standing on!

            - Cory Greeno, Freshman

Spirit Week at CCS!!

It’s that time of year again. The high schoolers are gearing up for spirit week, which is coming up January 23^rd through the 27^th.

Sometimes it can be hard, figuring out what to wear for a costume each day, but this year, the themes are more widespread. The first day is Cowboys vs. Indians, the second Nerds vs. Jocks, the third Heroes vs. Villains, and Friday will be our traditional Blue-and-Gold Day.

What is also a lot of fun is planning for the high school lip syncs and posters, which will be revealed on Thursday, during the pep rally. All the classes have been really creative this year, and it will be exciting to see how everything turns out.  It’s not so much about who wins or loses the various contests; it’s about having spirit and helping get our school and our teams ready for the Homecoming game.

The Homecoming game this year is against Heritage Christian, whose mascot also happens to be the eagle. Our team has been really great this year, and both the boys and the girls varsity are now number one in their conference.

Another thing to look forward to is the Homecoming Banquet on Saturday, January 28^th. Going shopping, and getting our hair and makeup done is always very fun, at least for us girls. But what is even more fun is the event itself. This year we are going to Fricano’s in Muskegon for some pizza, and then to play some games and do some swing dancing later on.

I know that as a student, fan, and especially a cheerleader, I’m very excited for all the events to come. I like getting excited and festive with all my friends.

            - Anna Swanson, Sophomore

Perks of the Career Tech Center

Here at Calvary when you are a junior or senior you get the option to attend the Muskegon Area Career Tech Center for half the day (11:45-2:15). The Tech Center offers eighteen different hands on programs such as: Culinary, Computer Aided Design, Public Safety, Rehab Tech and many more.

 At the MACTC you have the opportunity to earn either direct or articulated college credit. Direct credit is transferable to almost any college but, articulated credit only transfers to a select few which is still an advantage. We have seven CCS students currently attending MACTC and I am one of them. I attend the Rehab Tech class.

In Rehab Tech we have the opportunity to compete in a national competition called HOSA. HOSA stands for Health Occupation Students of America. I am gearing up to participate as an Athletic Trainer in the area of Sports Medicine. I will be competing against about 30 or more students from the West Michigan area. If I can place at least third or fourth I will continue onto the State competition in Traverse City, MI. The competition is held at Baker College on January 21, 2012 .

I plan on representing for our school and hope to come home with a medal, maybe even a gold one if all goes well. For more info on the Tech Center contact Mrs. Collins our school counselor. It has truly been a privilege to be there and I encourage future students to check it out.

            - Shymari Harris, Junior

High School Semester Exams

This school year has been going by pretty fast.  We are already four and a half months done with school so far.  We are now studying for our upcoming semester exams.  We started reviewing in some of our classes on January 5^th through January 13^th.  We have studied as a class for about a week in advance for the exams but now the dates of the exams are getting closer and closer to arriving.  The exam dates start on January 17^th, January 18^th, and the last day of exams are January 19^th. 

      On Friday January 13^th we were supposed to review as a class for the last time before exam week.  But, that didn’t happen due to the first snow day of the school year.  While it is kind of disappointing that we didn’t have one more day to review as a class on Friday, it was still a blessing to have a day off and to study individually.  Studying individually is a smart thing to do, and also a not so smart thing to do.  It is a smart thing to do because only you know what you need to look over and what you know very well.  It’s not so smart to just study individually because you might have not written some information down that someone else has.

      I’m sure we are all nervous for this brutal upcoming semester exams.  We all get nervous because the semester exams are a big percentage of our overall grades.  Regardless, with good studying put in, I’m sure we will do a phenomenal job.  So study and be ready to face the semester exams with flying colors.    

            - David Everett, Junior

Girls Varsity Brings Down Calvary Holland

The Varsity Girls Basketball team is off to a great start this season with their season record of 6-1-0. On Monday, January 11, the Lady Eagles traveled down to the Civic Center in Holland to compete against the Crusaders. The team walked into the gym ready to leave it all on the floor. The girls knew it was going to be an obstacle only having 6 players to play this game. Megan Beals was still recovering from her knee injury and Natalie Kapanka recovering from Bronchitis that had put her out of school for the whole week. The girls did a pre-game pump up cheer that really boosted their energy and they came out ready to play. 

The Eagles got down to business with a 21-10 lead in the first quarter. After some good talking and good ball reversals, the Eagles finished the first half with a 35-17 lead. In practice they have been working a lot on getting good movement of the ball and being loud on defense. With the sound of the final buzzer, the score was 61-37 in this Alliance Conference win on Monday. This was the second win for the Lady Eagles against Calvary Holland this season.  

            “We’re not the fastest or most athletic team, but we’re going to use what we have and try to get up and down the floor,” Richards said.  “Tonight I had two girls sitting out (one with an illness, one with a knee injury). Normally we’d sub a little more and we can run a little better. We feel pretty good about this win," Eagles coach Brad Richards said. "We played good defense and were able to get out and run."

            The Holland Sentinel said, “While Taylor Richards and Hayley Mohr were scoring points, the Fruitport Calvary defense made sure Holland Calvary did not get their offense into gear.” The Eagles' Taylor Richards finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, Hayley Mohr added 23 points and Brianna Zehr had six assists.

            Captain Sydni Clark said, “We’re happy to have won this game and are striving to achieve more victories.” The Lady Eagles are excited as they approach these next few weeks that contain some very big games. 

            - Natalie Kapanka, Junior

¡Piñatas!

            Starting off the new year of 2012, students could be either excited, or it could also be a dread. Excitement fills up with the students because it means we’re getting that much closer to summer. But also it could be dreadful because it means exam week is right around the corner. What I think is much better than both of those though, is that in Spanish we are making our own piñatas!

Mrs. Saum’s Spanish classes, Spanish 2, Spanish 3, and Spanish 4, get to make piñatas to kick off the New Year. Every Friday so far we have worked on them. The first Friday we brought in balloons and put paper mache on them. After letting them dry for about a week, we will bring in all of the things we need to make the piñata look the way we want it to, like tissue paper, paint, hot glue guns and more! 

Each class came up with the idea of what the piñata should be, and between all of their ideas, they voted on the best one. Spanish 2 (sophomores) chose to do a snowman, Spanish 3 (juniors) chose to do a Spanish star, and Spanish 4 (seniors) chose to do an ice cream cone. On the last day of spirit week, Friday January 27, we will hang them up, break them, and then dive for the candy that will fall out. The juniors are debating on whether to actually break it that day, or at the end of the year to celebrate the end of the school year, and going into summer! 

Spirit week will be an eventful fun filled week! I am excited for dressing up, lunchroom competitions, basketball games, and then to end the week with cracking of the piñatas! It will be very exciting to see how the piñatas turn out, and then seeing them be destroyed! 

            - Megan Beals, Junior