Senior of the Month recognized
December’s senior of the month is Dakota Key.
Dakota is the son of Brad and Jennifer Key of Milford Center.
He is a four year member of the football team and has also participated in powerlifting.
He is employed as an umpire for Fairbanks summer baseball.
After graduation he plans to attend a 4 year college to study sports management.
When asked what advice he has for the underclassmen, he replied, “Do your work early and do not procrastinate. That way you won’t be stressed because you have a bunch of work due.”
Fairbanks High School acquires 3-D printer
By: Gage Garlinghouse
Over the summer break Fairbanks High school worked to maintain and update many of its facilities and utilities.
The school district even went as far as to procure new equipment for the district to utilize in their goals of engaging students in the classroom. The largest of these purchases was a new 3D printer.
The Printer was purchased by the technology department in August of 2018 and was procured this past August.
The funding for the large machine came directly from the technology department and was a large expenditure for them.
However this has not deterred the school from utilizing the printer in the classrooms.
The inaugural use of the 3D printer was by Mr. Fawcett, who used it to create aids for his stem class.
The Technology department has been encouraging teachers to do the same with their classes.
The Art classes took on their traditional perspective dream home project in a new way. While ordinarily they would draw the home, this year they were encouraged to create small scale models of it and present these to the class. The printer does this in an amazing way as it takes a digital blueprint or design and then layers molten plastic through a small and precise nozzle to the design of the blueprint.
The man in charge of the printer, Mr. BJ Thaman has openly invited any and all teachers to come and experience it as it can be a very useful tool.
The printer is able to create things in a 3D space that previously could have only been seen on the pages of a textbook.
The idea of a more physical and hands on experience in learning has taken off. The students and teachers who have had experience with the printer have all enjoyed and taken to it and the benefits it can bring.
But this does raise one question that the technology department is considering: will the printer continue to be as successful as it has been in the early stages? If so, is it worth the investment to purchase another one in the future to allow more availability once teachers understand the capabilities?
This is what the district is left to ponder, however it is clear that the printer will bring on more visual and personal experiences in the classroom.
Cutest pet contest held
By: Alexis Murray
Interact club at Fairbanks is back at it again with making a difference in Union County. This month, Interact held a cutest pet contest in which students would either donate an item or contribute five dollars to put their pet in the contest. On top of this, the class that accumulated the most donated items would receive cinnamon rolls. This way, if a student doesn’t have pets or simply don’t want to enter their pet, they can still donate to have the chance to win cinnamon rolls for their class. $60 dollars in cash and 50 donations which ranged from food, treats, toys, and other items the Humane Society requested were donated. Twenty students entered into the cutest pet contest and students voted during their lunch periods. Emma Bookwalter’s dog emerged victorious, earning Emma a $30 visa gift card provided by Interact.
Organizations join for Christmas caroling
By: Megan Stallings
On December 11th, NHS once again joined Fairbanks FCCLA and FFA for their annual Christmas caroling. Members of all three organizations met at the school to go to local nursing homes. The event had a great turn out as a total of thirty-three students participated this year, which tripled last year’s attendance. Students went to Prestige Gardens, Carriage Court, Gables, and Bluebird singing carols through the halls. Residents were eager to hear and commonly joined in singing. They would often come to their doorways singing, smiling, and wishing students a Merry Christmas. As they returned to the school, students were cheerful and glad to have made a difference in their community.
Sophomore students tour Tolles
By: Grace Koening
On November 14th, Tolles Career and Technical Center came to Fairbanks High School.
They brought vibrant and informative displays of each of their programs to show the student the careers that could be their future. Along with each display, two currently attending students came to present and talk to the sophomores about that specific career, what they might encounter, and about Tolles as a school altogether.
This display of programs was only a preview of what was to come for the sophomores.
Each sophomore, after visiting the displays, would then choose two careers that they found most interesting to them; they would later visit those two specific career classes during their field trip to Tolles.
On December 3rd, the sophomores took their field trip to Tolles, where the visited the two careers that they had chosen.
Some of these careers included culinary arts, criminal justice, welding, and cosmetology. Each career allowed the students to have an enjoyable, hands-on experience, like making and eating food in culinary arts or going through some of the training in criminal justice.
Though Tolles offers many different types of career studies, the ones found to be most popular were welding, culinary arts, nursing, veterinary tech, early childhood education, and auto technology. Of those six popular choices, welding, cosmetology, and nursing are the most competitive. They almost always have full programs.
The application period runs December 5th to January 20th. After this end date, applicants will be placed on a waiting list and may not be accepted into their desired classes. Students will know their acceptance into Tolles by mid-February, and scheduling will be done with the Tolles counselor in either March or April.
Panthers Pause for exams
By: Madeline Conroy
At Fairbanks High School on Friday December 13th, the school held an event called Panther Pause. On this day students and teachers were able to take a pause from schoolwork for an hour during a very stressful time for the students, which was right before midterm exams. This event was a moment that would allow teachers and students to connect doing activities of their choice.
The administration and department head teachers organized the event. They had each teacher pick an activity they really enjoyed and then had the English teachers hand out surveys during their classes with each of these activities listed. Then they had the students rank their top activity choices. The department heads sorted the students by those choices. Some of the activities that were held were puzzling, coloring, playing video games, cooking food, playing volleyball, board games, and discussion about books and movies, to name a few.
Many of the students enjoyed the break so they could just do an activity they liked and the teachers had a good time as well!
The Fairbanks administration is planning on doing another idea like this nearing finals week next semester. This would give the students a break to relax from such a stressful time.That is their plan for now, but they might try different ideas based on how well the first Panther Pause went. They might even try and experiment for other days if they do decide to hold another Panther Pause.
Overall, the Fairbanks administration and organizers think that it was a successful day.
plans on arranging another Panther Pause.
Two FFA teams headed to state competition
By: Linsey Eddy
The most wonderful time of the year is also one of the busiest times of the year for the Fairbanks FFA! Several Career Development Events are in full swing of competition season, and Fairbanks has been dominating. Both the Novice Parliamentary Procedure team (Elaina Lahmers, Christian Miller, Tatem Shoemaker, Drew Rausch, Wyatt Scheiderer, Kenzie Lester, Sam Johnson, Evan Blumenschein, and Elizabeth Reinhard) and Advanced Parliamentary Procedure team (Autumn Scheiderer, Abby Underhill, Keagan Nicol, Savannah Walls, Linsey Eddy, Bayleigh Miller, and Wyatt Rausch) placed first at the district competition, held December 3rd. Best of luck to those students as they move on to compete in the state contests on the 14th and 21st.
Marysville FFA members joined the Fairbanks chapter on December 4th for a county-wide Greenhand Ceremony. This event recognizes all first year members of the FFA, several of whom recited the FFA Creed in preparation for the upcoming CDE. The officer team would like to congratulate all of the members for a great job in memorizing and presenting the creed, and for facing any fears of public speaking they had. Along with advisors, officers, and parents, Ohio FFA secretary, Noah Smith, also attended the function, and encouraged members to achieve their own visions of success.
FFA fruit came in on December 9th, as expected. Thank-you to all who supported the Fairbanks FFA Chapter through this fundraiser. This month, the chapter will hold its annual holiday party, go Christmas caroling with FCCLA and NHS, and adopt a family. Happy holidays from the Fairbanks FFA!
FHS hosts Spanish exchange student
By: Livvy Bellas
This school year, Fairbanks is hosting Sophomore Enara from Spain. Speaking Basque, Spanish, and English, Enara is used to switching between languages. She decided to become a foreign exchange student because she wanted to experience American culture, learn about the way of life here and improve her use of English.
Despite being larger than her tiny hometown, Enara remarks on how welcoming everyone has been here in Milford Center. She says that she loves it here in America and has found everyone to be incredibly polite. She says that generally, people are very approachable here in America, and small talk is much more common.
So far she has really enjoyed her time at Fairbanks, and genuinely looks forward to class each day. She loves Spanish class and says that her Spanish teacher, Mrs. Holbrook, has been incredibly helpful, translating and explaining things here in America.
Overall, she really likes her teachers, saying that she feels that they are very approachable and willing to help her in class. So far this year, she has joined Cheerleading, Foreign Language Club, Science Club, and Drama Club.
She says that Cheerleading has been an amazing experience and she is looking forward to all of the other clubs starting up in the spring. Enara has had a great time so far in America, and is excited for the rest of the school year. Fairbanks is equally excited to have her for the rest of the year!