Panthers Pause staff members pictured, from left to right, are, Lexi Murray, Grace Koenig, Livvy Bellas, Marissa Fornadel, Ayden Adams, Gracie Tomblin, Michaela Writesel and Kate White.
(Photo submitted)
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AP Biology
By Kate White
As the school year is winding down and both students and teachers are preparing for exams, the AP Biology class is having fun with some sweet labs. Most recently, Mrs. Crystal Tebbe and her AP class completely a botany unit, learning about different types of plants, including fruits. As a way to reward her hard working seniors as they are nearing the end of high school, Mrs. Tebbe brought in different fruits to show where the seeds lay and what types of fruit they are. Examples of the fruits include kiwi, strawberries, and pomegranates. The seniors much appreciated the break from traditional class work and enjoyed trying the different types of fruit.
Fairbanks in Uptown Marysville
By: Grace Koenig
Fairbanks band is performing in Marysville, bringing music to all audiences. On Friday from 5:30-6 p.m. Fairbanks Panthers band will be performing at the Memorial Health Pavilion, outside for all to enjoy. Some music that will be featured at this up-beat event will be songs like The Star Spangled Banner, The Thunderer by John Philip Sousa, and even songs from Black Panther by Ludwig Goransson. During this event seniors will be recognized throughout the performance. Mr. Keller and the band are thrilled and can’t wait to perform!
National Honor Society News
By: Marissa Fornadel
Spring is always the busiest season for students at Fairbanks but the members of NHS still went out into the community and helped where they could. They could be seen passing out programs for The Sound of Music, baseball concessions, and always at the local nursing homes: Brookdale and Gables. The torches have been passed to the new officers and the new members are adjusting well. National Honor Society’s last event for this school year is graduation. Congratulations to all the new members, officers, and graduating seniors! NHS will return in the fall to continue helping out around the surrounding community.
Fairbanks FCCLA Qualifies for National Competition
By Livvy Bellas
On April 25 and 26, 12 Fairbanks FCCLA members competed at the state competition at the Ohio Expo center in Columbus. The students arrived at the competition at 7:30 a.m., dressed in FCCLA official dress and ready to present their projects. Students from all over the state participated in the competition and there were more than 100 different high schools represented. Fairbanks had projects in the Life Event Planning, Leadership, Promote and Publicize, and Environmental Ambassadors categories. Each student presented to a panel of judges, explaining their project and its impact on the community. Over the school year, the members had created and initiated projects in the community that helped people or spread awareness in some way. Competing is a way to showcase all of the accomplishments of these FCCLA members, usually with a visual aid and oral presentation. Fairbanks is proud to have so many outstanding students who want to make a positive impact on the community through FCCLA.
On the second day of competition, awards were announced and each member went on stage to receive them. Ten Fairbanks students received either first or second place, qualifying them for national competition in Anaheim, California. This competition takes place in July, and includes FCCLA members from around the nation.
The students are excited to take their projects abroad, and hope to represent Fairbanks well at national competition. Those who advanced to nationals are Maddie Weisburn (first in state – Life Event Planning); Savannah Walls and Livvy Bellas (first in state – Promote and Publicize FCCLA); Elizabeth White (first in state – Career Investigation); Kate White (second in state – Leadership); Sarah LaPointe, Kaidie Carstensen and Lexi Murray (second in state – Environmental Ambassador); and Shelby Jones and Sam Picklesimer (second in state – Focus on Children). We are proud of them and wish them the best of luck in California.
FFA News
By Ayden Adams
The 2019 FFA banquet was held on April 20 in the Fairbanks High School gym. Many people received awards throughout the night starting with Montana Burns and Brice Phelps received the star greenhand award. Autumn Scheiderer was awarded the agri-placement award for the work she does on her steer farm. Ayden Adams was awarded the agri-business award for the work he does on his swine farm. Travis Dellinger was awarded the star farmer award for the work he does in the fields and on his lamb farm. The outstanding leadership award was given to Savannah Walls, Linsey Eddy, and Abby Underhill for the continuous growth in making the FFA chapter the best it can be. Kaleb Boyd was awarded outstanding sophomore and Keagan Nicol was awarded outstanding Junior. The banquet had a guest speaker who is the Assistant Director or the Department of Agriculture, Tim Derickson. The FFA would like to thank all the parents, guest, and members who made the FFA a smooth sailing year. In the judging area, Autumn Scheiderer placed sixth in the preliminaries for state general livestock judging and advanced to finals on April 26. Autumn had to judge four classes consisting of steers, goats, lambs, and swine. She also had to do reasonings stating why she placed the animals how she did. Autumn received sixth in the finals as well and received a plaque at state convention. Autumn is the first person in Fairbanks history to make it this far in the state general livestock judging competition.
Senior Panther Pause Writers
By Livvy Bellas
This year, the Panther Pause staff is saying goodbye to four of their senior writers: Gracie Tomblin, Kate White, Marissa Fornadel, and Ayden Adams.
Gracie Tomblin who started writing for Panther Pause this year was inspired by her love for writing. She was grateful to be a part of the staff and enjoyed writing articles throughout the year. Through the Panther Pause program, Gracie has learned how to better communicate with people, especially in an interview setting about topics that they are passionate about. She also says that Panther Pause has helped improve her grammar, an important skill for future college courses. Gracie plans to attend Marion Technical college after graduation, and major in Occupational Therapy.
Kate White has been a part of the Panther Pause team since Freshman year, writing articles throughout all of her four years in High School. She began writing for Panther Pause after Mrs. Reed, the school secretary, reached out to her and asked her if she was interested. Her experience in Panther Pause has exposed her to new forms of writing outside of what she was used to doing in English class, teaching her new, useful skills. Once she graduates, Kate will go to the University of Kentucky and pursue a degree in Social Work.
Marisa Fornadel was offered her position on the Panther Pause staff through National Honor Society, which she served as the reporter for. Over this past school year, she has been able to better connect with her community through this program, meeting new people and staying up to date with the school’s activities. She says that writing these articles every month has given her a chance to reflect on her last school year and cherish her last moments as a senior. After graduation, Marissa will attend Miami University in Oxford and study biochemistry.
Aydem Adams joined Panther Pause in order to spread community knowledge of FFA. He has been in FFA all throughout high school and felt that writing for this Panther Pause would be a good opportunity to inform people of the Fairbanks FFA’s accomplishments during the year. By writing an article each month, he has learned how to manage his time more efficiently and be a more productive writer. He has also been able to strengthen his formal writing skills, learning how to write in an article format. This fall, he will attend the University of Findlay and major in Animal Science// pre-vet.
The Panther Pause staff is sad to see such a great group of seniors leave, but wishes them the best of luck in their future careers. We would also like to thank them for writing throughout the year and for showing such a strong commitment to the school through this program. They are wonderful students and will amount to great things after graduation.
Foreign Exchange Students Prepare to Return Home
By Lexi Murray
This year Fairbanks had three new additions to the Fairbanks family, Senior Gabriel Fridlund from Sweden, Junior Anders Rege from Norway, and Sophomore Emily Kidmose from Germany. During his stay here, Gabriel fell in love with the United States. He wishes to return in the future to become a U.S. citizen and live the American dream. Gabriel says that even though he is a thousand miles away from where he grew up and missed his family, he really felt at home here and like he belonged. Gabriel will be returning home to Sweden after the Fourth of July and will be dearly missed. Anders Rege’s experience in American was everything he hoped it would be. His favorite parts about his stay was his friendships, football, and Thanksgiving. Norway does not celebrate Thanksgiving and was a wonderful experience for Anders. This year counts as Anders junior year so he will be graduating in 2020. He unfortunately has a little bit to catch up on with history and Norwegian when he gets back. He fully intends on coming back to visit and wants to express that he learned a lot by just living on the other side of the world. He is so grateful for Fairbanks letting him be a part of all! Emily Kidmose views her stay in America as the best year of her life. She was very surprised by how open-minded Americans are, especially with exchange students. Emily says that everyone was really patient with her, especially in the beginning when she didn’t know anyone and was very insecure about her English. Emily’s English has always been alright, but it was hard to get used to only speaking English and that was very exhausting for her in the beginning. Emily is going back to school in July for a month and next school year she will have to retake her sophomore year because this year didn’t count for her. But she considers it very worth it. She will be returning home June 17 and is very excited to see her friends and family again.