What’s recently happened?
Time is flying at Michigan City High School (MCHS) as the end of the school year briskly approaches.
Most of the winter sports have wrapped up their seasons entirely. Boys Basketball, however, still has a ways ahead of them. At the final home game of the season, and Senior Night for cheer and basketball, the Michigan City Wolves defeated the New Prairie High School Cougars with a final score of 79-68. The game was full of nostalgia as the seniors played their last home game.
“The basketball game was great; being a senior and being at the last home game was fun but also sad as I will never be able to be in the den with my classmates again. However, being able to watch the team dominate at their last home game is always a fun time,” said Senior Tristan Sherwood.
As some things end, new things must begin. Play auditions were held for the upcoming spring show “You Can’t Take It with You,” and the show will be performed April 28-30. The previous winter production of “The Addams Family Musical” was a success, so the expectations are high for the upcoming show.
Prom is quickly approaching, meaning the process of planning this year's prom has begun. The junior class has their work cut out for them to make the night spectacular. To ensure proper funding, they have set up a chocolate fundraiser, distributed by the school, to raise money and the chance for a free prom ticket.
Currently, Rho Kappa is doing a donation drive for the local animal shelters. This acts as a great opportunity to help the community as shelter supplies are dwindling. Anything from treats to cleaning supplies is welcomed, and this wonderful opportunity will be offered at the school until April 14.
What’s coming up?
MCHS will be hosting a Friday Night Live event on February 24. The event will be sponsored by United Way of La Porte County and the Indiana Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. The event will include food and a video game truck; it will be a great opportunity for students to have a fun night.
Now that a majority of MCHS winter sports have ended, spring sports will begin practicing, and soon enough, there will be competitions and games for the student body to go enjoy. The first spring sport that will be held is a Girls Track meet on March 24.
Boys Basketball still has a ways to go until their season ends. The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Regional games are quickly approaching as well as IHSAA Semi-state games.
Staff spotlight:
The previous school year, MCHS introduced a news platform known as Michigan City High School Television, often referred to as MCTV. The program rapidly became a successful, engaging entertainment solution for students to enjoy. It included everything, from basic lunch information to eye-catching interviews. This program was started by Kelly Martin-Fargo, the public speaking, theater, and morning announcement teacher.
Martin-Fargo began her career in education in 1985, but she began teaching those around her far before that.
“I feel like I’ve been teaching since the day I was born. I really started my teaching career with my baby sister. I would come home from first grade and I’d literally, physically force her to sit down in a chair and make her play school with me,” said Martin-Fargo.
Since then, Martin-Fargo has taught many subjects like speech, English, and theater. Due to her expertise in a variety of subjects, she has also taught in many places, from MCHS to Coastal Carolina Community College to across the world in Japan. Aside from just landscape changes, Martin-Fargo has been a principal, assistant principal, and dean of students.
“Being a teacher in Japan definitely brought me around to the fact that kids are kids wherever they are. Students need to know that you care about them on a personal level. Everyone can learn, and everyone can behave themselves,” said Martin-Fargo.
Prior to MCTV there had never been any sort of news platform at MCHS, other than the occasional student on morning announcements. The idea was brought to Martin-Fargo to teach a morning announcements class, and she had the perfect group of students to help her.
Creating the vision for MCTV was a long process that took much dedication. Martin-Fargo and her students had to start from the ground up to create MCTV. The class takes a lot of hard work, but she offers the students a deeper experience of what journalism can be in today's day and age.
“It's so important to me that this class is something that they’re going to walk away from and say, ‘That was the most fun class I had at City and it developed me into a better adult,’” said Martin-Fargo.
Student spotlight:
MCTV would not be the success it is today without the dedicated crew members who run it. Audrey Marsh, a senior at MCHS as well as the director of MCTV, has put a tremendous amount of work and effort into the creation of the show.
Last year, Marsh spent plenty of time going to Martin-Fargo’s study hall. At this time, the MCTV crew would be at work creating the episodes. Marsh immediately bonded with the crew and soon enough was assisting them with whatever she could. At the end of the year, Marsh was officially offered the opportunity to be a part of the class, a high accomplishment considering you must be chosen for the class. She took that opportunity and hasn't looked back since.
Now, Marsh is the director of MCTV, which comes with many responsibilities.
“Being the director means leading our entire crew. I basically assist the producer, Frankie Skonieczny, with everything, and the two of us make any final decisions. A bit more context would include planning all of our segments, making sure scripts are written correctly and on time, setting up our studio and directing every recording, helping edit, and being included in every email sent out to any students or teachers we want to interview,” said Marsh.
Being director has offered Marsh knowledge beyond learning how to conduct a news crew. She’s learned so much about the importance of strong leadership and has further developed her communication skills.
Behind the scenes, much work is being done that would seem unintelligible to the unsuspecting students at MCHS. This timely process begins with lots of planning. Once the crew knows the plan for that week, they begin scheduling their interviews. They’ll send the questions they intend to ask to the interviewee so they are able to create a script for the episode. When they finally reach the day they plan on conducting the interview, they make sure to complete sound checks and ensure the recording space is overall comfortable. After recording, they move onto the editing process, the longest part of this whole situation. Once all the segments have been finalized the episode is ready to be aired to the students and staff.
This entire process and program has been a big eye opener for Marsh. MCTV has offered students first hand experience in backgrounds like producing, directing, and technology that you don’t frequently find at a high school level. Beyond that it has taught the crew members the fundamentals of working as a team.
“MCTV has shown me that I love directing and leading. I am definitely inspired to direct something of my own in the future, whether that be me being a media influencer, starting a small business like a clothing line, photography work, or more,” said Marsh.
After high school, Marsh plans on pursuing photography or media; she has an innate passion for traveling and wants to explore the world. Despite how difficult this may seem, she plans on working very hard to get there. By putting out her work and building clientele, she hopes to one day achieve this goal.
“Opportunity comes to those who stay consistent and never give up, so I plan to work as hard as I possibly can to fulfill this dream. Eventually, once I nail smaller work, I will continue to build up to more challenging and larger company bases,” said Marsh.
College is only an option in the scheme of things. Opportunities offered at MCHS like MCTV, yearbook, and the AK Smith Career Center help expose students to the variety of career options they are able to pursue.
“Depending on what you want to do, I want to express that it’s possible to do what you love, even if it’s different, even if it seems wrong to some. I’m super excited for the future and what awaits,” said Marsh.