What's Happened Recently
The holiday season has finally arrived and the Westville community celebrated with the annual Christmas tree lighting at Praire Meadow Park. The community, all bundled up, drank hot cocoa while listening to some jolly Christmas tunes. The festive event was sponsored by the Westville Volunteer Fire Department and featured the Westville High School band and Poms team. Dazzling light décor abound that evening, such as a Christmas wreath donated by the Westville Lions. This is a new tradition for Westville that will hopefully be enjoyed for many years to come.
What's Coming Up
Starting off the month of December, the cheerful Leo’s club hosted its annual “Shop with a Lion,” a tradition started to help those in need. Each year, a Leo member chooses a child from the Westville community to shop for winter essentials. The blissful day was filled with lots of smiles and gratitude.
Westville Schools welcomes December
The first week of December brought the school’s beloved Homecoming Spirit Week. Spirit Week also consisted of the annual holiday food drive, hosted by the hardworking Student Council. The drive collected donations of non-perishable food items for those in need within the Westville community.
For each day of Spirit Week, students, teachers, and staff members dressed up according to a chosen theme. Some entertaining themes included Twin, Decades, Senior Citizen, Pajama, and Safari Day.
The homecoming varsity basketball game against Boone Grove will December 13. Following the game will be the homecoming dance with the spectacular theme of “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Student Spotlight
Meet Isabel Correa, a senior at Westville High school who has been attending Westville schools since the second grade. Correa is immersed in academic activities and clubs such as Leo’s Club, Academic Super Bowl, and Vet Up.
Vet Up is a program dedicated to helping students interested in veterinary careers. This organization is affiliated with Purdue’s veterinary school.
“My favorite thing about high school has been the friendships I’ve made along the way,” she said.
So far, Correa has been accepted into four Indiana colleges: Purdue University Northwest, Indiana State, Indiana University South Bend, and Indiana University Northwest. Correa hopes to attend Purdue University West Lafayette in the fall of 2020, majoring in Biology.
“I hope to become a veterinarian to be able to make a difference in the world,” she said.
Teacher Spotlight
Before teaching, Mr. LaVelle used to work in the manufacturing industry. He has been teaching for 17 years, 10 of those in Westville schools. Mr. LaVelle is a math and business teacher who graduated from Ball State University and also attended Calumet College.
“My inspiration for becoming a teacher was to encourage kids to understand the business world,” he said.
Mr. LaVelle’s favorite thing about Westville schools is its supportive and small community.
Outside of teaching, Mr. LaVelle enjoys activities like fishing, cooking, grilling, gardening and watching movies. His favorite movie is the Star Wars saga and his favorite book is The Hobbit.
In addition to teaching, Mr. LaVelle coaches track, cross country, and basketball.
His goals are to hopefully retire early and have another successful school year.