Featured Seniors: Chelsea Sullivan
By Faith Engle
Chelsea Sullivan is a featured senior for November.
An active student at Marysville High School, she prides herself on being involved. Currently, she is the president of Leo Club, the secretary of student council, a member of the National Honor Society and a pianist for the Marysville Swingers Unlimited Show Choir.
When she isn’t attending her school activities, she is volunteering at Memorial Hospital or working as a supervisor at Whit’s Frozen Custard of Marysville. She is a self-proclaimed Netflix connoisseur and enjoys taking long naps after school when she has the time.
She said once she leaves MHS, she will miss the “chicken tender Tuesdays” and “monarch bowl Wednesdays” the most.
Her favorite memory involves her dressing up as a cow during hick night at football games and dancing with her friends during drumline.
After high school, she plans to attend college to major in fashion merchandising and design.
Featured Senior: Matt Chalmers
By Faith Engle
Matt Chalmers is Marysville Early College High School’s (MECHS) first featured senior.
He has achieved much while attending MECHS and has certainly set the bar for future students. He is the son of Chris and Sharee Godley.
He is very active at MECHS. During the school day, he helps tutor and has been a teacher’s assistant for biology courses. He is a member of the Marysville High School varsity lacrosse team, the leadership academy, Navin mentoring program and the National Honor Society, and has been the co-president of the MECHS student council for all of his four years.
He is also an active member of the Marysville Movie Knights, which raises money for Honor Flight Columbus. So far, they have raised $3,000. He was also named the first ever homecoming king of MECHS.
Outside of school, he helped coach for the MJFA Division I Orange football team and was able to win a championship with the boys. Over the summer, he attended the 2017 Buckeye Boys State (BBS) program, where he served as the adjutant general of the BBS National Guard. He plans on returning in 2018 to serve on the BBS staff.
In his free time, he enjoys playing sand volleyball and occasionally playing video games. He is also trying to get into golf and fishing.
His favorite memory occurred during his freshmen/ sophomore year.
“During my freshman/ sophomore year, a few friends and I would always go into what was known as the ‘forbidden stairwell’ in our media center,” he said. “It was just a normal, small stairway that was a shortcut from our cafeteria to our classes. No one was allowed to use it because of a rule set by Gail Jenkins.”
Chalmers said he and “the guys” would enter the “forbidden stairwell” and would make loud yet humorous sounds that the teacher could hear from her desk.
He said his teacher would make funny poems and posters about them, with each one of their names on a cutout of a dog to show she had put them “in the doghouse.”
He said he will miss visiting the “forbidden stairwell” with his friends. To him, the community was one of his favorite things at the school, which he will miss most. Due to the small classes, he said it’s easy to know everyone and befriend them. He said it’s very easy to get involved at MECHS.
After he graduates, he plans to attend Miami University, which is subject to change, to focus on pre-medical studies and eventually go to graduate school. From there, he will focus on earning a medical degree and becoming a surgeon.
Featured Senior: Madison Heflin
By Faith Engle
Madison Heflin, daughter of Lisa Wargo and Bryant Heflin, is a featured senior for November.
She is involved in an abundance of activities, such as being the vice president of student council and a peer collaborator with special needs students. She’s also a member of the National Honor Society, Leo Club and Pro Terra Nova.
She has performed in the school’s choir for seven years, as well as in the school’s show choir for six years.
When she isn’t participating in school activities, she co-leads her prayer group and participates in the youth band at Marysville Grace Church. She also enjoys playing sand volleyball, reading and traveling during her downtime.
She will greatly miss the connections and close relationships formed between people, and even other schools. She said Marysville High School (MHS) is known for its classiness at other show choir competitions and she will miss the reputation the show choir upheld.
“I am so thankful for the memories I have made at this amazing school,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade this environment or my friendships for the world.”
Her favorite memories involve the last football game of her senior year and singing random throwback songs with her fellow seniors.
Once she leaves MHS, she plans to attend Mount Vernon Nazarene University and study Spanish education. Her life goal is to teach and do mission work in other countries.
Varsity Mathletes
By Chase Cuteralli
A new sport has formed at Marysville High School (MHS), and it doesn’t involve a field or a gym, but rather involves a classroom, pencil and a knack for math.
The group is a competitive team that practices on Wednesdays before and after school. These meetings involve working on math problems, as well as “scrimmages,” where members work together to finish a timed worksheet. Sometimes, a specific topic may be covered, such as matrices.
While similar groups have existed at MHS in the past, the Varsity Mathletes is the first team to rise up in several years.
The group’s dedication is not just for fun, however. Each meeting is a trial for a statewide competition in the spring.
Every year since 1973, the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics holds a contest for high school students to promote interest in the field. The competition is an hour-long, individually completed, 40-question test.
While there are several testing centers across the state, the Marysville team will compete at The Ohio State University in Columbus on Feb. 24, 2018. Top placing students and teams may receive awards, scholarships and cash prizes.
This past October, senior Emma Rice initiated the self-declared Varsity Mathletes along with the high school mathematics department. Seniors Robin King, Parker Kuzma, Rebecca Mohr, Gianguido Beltrami and Rylee Cavins comprise the rest of the mathletes. The group is advised by math teachers Luanne Frysinger and Jennifer Wanamaker, as well as Luci Howard.
From MHS to Spain
By Maya Badhwar
In late September, students from a school in Segovia, Spain, came to stay with local families as part of the Spanish exchange program.
These students went on field trips and spent a day at Marysville High School (MHS) to see what life was like, as well as experience American culture.
For March, students from MHS will have a chance to go to Spain and learn about their culture as well. Students in Spanish 3 or higher were granted the chance to visit Spain and stay there for two weeks.
For the first week of their visit, they will be staying with host families from Spain, and on the second week, they will travel to a hotel, where they will stay for the rest of their visit.
FCCLA update
By Eliza Greer
The FCCLA program at Marysville High School (MHS) has been hard at work helping the Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.
FCCLA members cooked an MHS staff breakfast and all the proceeds went to the WIC program.
FCCLA also had a school food drive challenge for first period classes for the Union County Food Pantry. The challenge was whichever first period class brought in the most non-perishable food items would win a prize.
This year’s winner was Dawn Burns, as her accounting finance class brought in the most food.
War history shared
By Reyna Green
Scott Hamilton, a Marysville High School American history teacher, invited Bo Johnstone, a curator at the Union County Historical Society, to speak to his classes.
He brought World War I and World War II army uniforms for demonstration, which gave the students a new perspective on the wars. While giving insight into the role of the United States in each war, he also gave a reflection to students about soldiers of Union County and their contribution to each war. He not only spoke about the historical aspect of the wars, but he also discussed the way the soldiers lived, as well as how they kept in contact with their families.