What's recently happened?
With school fully in swing, the Michigan City High School (MCHS) Wolves have met the 2024-2025 year at full force.
By this time, most fall sports are finding themselves halfway through their respective seasons.
Wolves Football represented MCHS with a conference win against Chesterton High School this past week.
Wolves Boys Tennis took home first place at the annual New Prairie High School Tennis Invitational. MCHS had individual first place medalists in all three of their singles. Viktor Ducey led at singles-one, followed by Riley Emshwiller-Sowards at singles-two and Jacob Hazel at singles-three.
Wolves Girls Golf closed its home schedule with two wins against La Lumiere School and Westville High School. Shooting a 47, the Wolves’ own first-card, Natalie White, took the title of overall individual medalist.
Wolves Volleyball took a five set win against the Merrillville High School Pirates this past week. Junior Abby Harring was also recognized as a 2024 Player 2 Watch by the Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association.
The MCHS Marching Band Pride recently scored a silver at the Hobart High School Marching Band Invitational.
The MCHS Student Government hosted its first annual Student Parking Palooza this month. They invited students to come out to the student parking lot to purchase parking passes and paint their parking spaces. Students came out to do some painting and pick up some baked goods from the bake sale.
What's coming up?
MCHS looks forward to Homecoming, this year taking place on October 11. Homecoming festivities will include a week's worth of spirit dress days, a pep rally, and a Homecoming parade. All of this takes place before the very anticipated football game where the Wolves will face off against the La Porte High School Slicers.
MCHS will also host its first ever Girls Flag Football game at Ames Field on September 14 at 12:30 p.m .(EST). The Lady Wolves will face off against Illiana Christian High School in its second season game.
The MCHS Drama Club will present “Beetlejuice the Musical” this November in the MCHS auditorium. Show dates include November 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, and 24.
Staff spotlight:
Tyler Evans is fueled partially by a love for coffee and noodles, and partially by a love for his community. He can often be found wandering around MCHS grading essays or corralling runners.
Evans is a dual-credit English teacher at MCHS who has been with the district since 2017. A job he described initially as a one year gig has turned into an eight year journey.
“It was supposed to be a one year stop for my wife and myself, but we really liked it, so we stayed. I like that we’re close to the beach, but the cost of living is really reasonable," Evans said. “I also like the diversity of our community – that’s what makes it awesome.”
In addition to his roles within the MCHS English department, Evans boasts an extracurricular resume as impressive as any one of his students.
Evans serves as a coach of the MCHS Cross Country Team. He has recently stepped away from the role as the head coach of the MCHS Track Team after many years of service. He also serves as one of the MCHS teacher representatives to the Michigan City Education Association.
These roles combined with his effusive love for the community have placed him in the hearts of many citizens. This collection could lead some to incorrectly assume that Evans is a Michigan City native. Not only is Evans not native to Michigan City, he has hung his hat in many different places before he, and his hat, settled in Michigan City.
While Kalamazoo, Michigan was where Evans was born, Michigan City gets to be the place he now calls home.
“I was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In grade two, my family moved to Wisconsin to a very small town called Medford for three years. Then we moved back to Kalamazoo. I attended middle school and high school there after that.”
It was in high school that Evans had his first experience with running. He ran track and cross country for his high school, qualifying and participating in State each year.
Evans stayed in the Kalamazoo area for his undergrad, attending Western Michigan University (WMU) on a double full-ride scholarship.
“I did my undergrad at WMU, which was great because it was five minutes from home. I had a double major in Journalism and Creative Writing with a Spanish minor.”
Although he stayed close to home for college, Evans is a big fan of traveling and has visited around 30 different countries so far in his life. He hopes to visit even more now that he and his wife are feeling more rooted.
“I did my first master's at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, Washington. I did a summer writing program in Prague.” Evans said. “I visited Vienna and spent a summer in Costa Rica. After grad school, I moved to Saudi Arabia. I taught English there for a year. After that, I moved to Taiwan, where I taught for four years at a university and a Buxiban.”
It was during this stint in Taiwan that Evans met his now wife. They hit it off and moved back to the United States together.
After returning to the U.S., Evans received his master's in education from Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) and started teaching at MCHS. The rest, as they say, is history.
Evans and his wife live with their two dogs Marlo and Zeke, and their two cats Zoe and Dante.
"We go out a lot. We like to travel, and we love taking the dogs on hikes,” Evans said.
After a long time of constant movement, Evans has finally allowed the dust to settle, and MCHS looks forward to having him as long as he stays.
Student spotlight:
A junior at MCHS, Madelyn Parry is a force on the course.
Parry serves as both the co-captain of the MCHS Girls’ Cross Country Team and a captain of the MCHS Track Team.
Despite leading both teams in distance times, Parry reports that the reason she returns year after year is largely due to her teammates.
“My favorite part of cross country is literally everything but the running. I like being silly with my team, meeting runners from other schools – I just like the people,” Parry said.
Don’t be fooled by Parry’s enjoyment of the sillier moments - the varsity runner can also be found embracing the competition of the sport and racing her hardest.
Recently Parry placed 14th at the annual Hobart Cross Country Invite.
Parry’s athleticism is not limited to running. She is also a swimmer on the MCHS Swim Team. Her knack for distance transfers to the water, too. She often swims the 200 meter individual medley or the 500 meter butterfly.
When Parry isn’t competing for her school, she can be found dazzling crowds with her theater company.
Parry has been performing since she was a little girl, and loves to be on the stage.
“My favorite role was when I got to play Ben from Descendants with Centerstage. I feel like I am very similar to that character,” Parry said.
Parry’s love of musicals translates over to a general love for music as well. An enthusiastic fan of many modern and former bands, Parry finds a lot of joy in listening to music and attending concerts.
“I recently saw Weezer in concert, and I saw Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks over the summer. For other music, I love David Bowie. I really like Buddy Holly - the song, and the guy.”
Parry is known around MCHS for her sense of fashion, whether it be for a Spirit Week event or just on her regular outfit rotation. Drawing inspiration from vintage looks and artists she admires, Parry has advice for those looking to stand out.
“To be cringe is to be free. Don’t be afraid to be weird. Don’t be afraid to be cringe. Everyone should just be themselves and not care what everyone thinks. Literally, just do what you want. Listen to weird music and be loud,” Parry said.
Parry plans on taking her energy and outfits to West Lafayette for college to be a Purdue University Boilermaker. A legacy at Purdue, Parry wants to pursue a career in engineering and follow in her parents' and grandparents’ footsteps.
