The Highlander
1
THE HIGHLANDER • August 31, 2023
September 25 . 2023 - Vol. 1. Issue 5
SPIRITUAL
CAMPUS LIFE
Week of spiritual emphasis Pg.4
MENTAL HEALTH
Lumberjack week comes to an end Pg.2
Mental health coping strategies Pg.3
HIGHLAND FALL PICNIC IS A SUCCESS! Maggie Carlson
Once a year, Indian Creek Camp hosts an event specifically for Highland Academy called Fall Picnic. Every class competes against each other in water games. Memories are made each year that students participate. Even though it is a required school day, it does not feel like one. Days before, each class had practiced synchronized swimming whenever they had the opportunity. They would ask their teachers and sponsors if they could skip a class to practice, which paid off. This year’s judges were: Mr. Wade, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, Mr. Schmidt, and Mr. Reading. Freshmen started the competitions this year with the song “How Far I’ll Go” by Auli’i Cravalho from “Moana.” They had no time to practice, so there was no synchronization, which earned a two from every judge, putting them in last place Sophomores went next, starting with the song “Dance the Night Away” by Dua Lipa. However, what got the audience riled up was when the boys broke into song singing “I Am Ken” by Ryan Gosling from the movie “Barbie.” It was such a performance that they got a 24 out of 26, which earned them second place. Next up was the Juniors. They waded into the pool with face masks designed to look like characters from Mario that went with their music “Bowser Battle” from “Super Mario Bros,” “Mario’s Victory Theme” from “Super Smash Bros,”
and “Dire, Dire Docks” from “Super Mario 64 Guide”. Their performance was “The closest thing to actual synchronized swimming that I have seen,” says Saniya Livingston. Ultimately, they got third place. Seniors blew everyone out of the water. It started with the song “Go the Distance” by Roger Bart from “Hercules.” This included Connor Cheney diving into the water and coming up and singing the song while three other guys jumped. The next song was “Part of Your World,” sung by Halle Bailey from “The Little Mermaid,” with Alexandria Reid acting as Ariel. Once they finished that song, they played “I’ve Got a Dream” by Mandy Moore and Brad Garrett from “Tangled.” Acting as Rapunzel, Abigail Hosler sat on Cheney’s shoulders, singing the song. Transitioning to the song “A Whole New World” by Lea Salonga and Brad Kane from “Aladdin.” Three guys carried Victor Castillo and Izzy Laneville, acting as Aladdin and Jasmine, around the pool. The
second to last song was seniors the win. We were “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” all on edge to see who by Donny Osmond from would win. “Mulan,” with Rachel Liu The girl’s swimming acting as Mulan and Suhjin relay was next, starting Yoon acting as General, with a backstroke and turning into a fight scene. then a breaststroke from The last song was “Heigh the deep end. It then led Ho” from “Snow White.” As to a butterfly stroke in it played, all the seniors the shallow end, which in the pool walked up the was funny watching steps and out of the water people do it, and the to where it ended. No one last relay was a freestyle doubted them getting first swim. Freshmen lost, place; they earned it. Sophomores got third, The next competition was the turtle race, which included a turtle float. The students competing had to lie on the float and swim to the other side. Once they reached the other side, their teammate would swap places with them and swim back to the shallow end. Juniors received last place, Freshmen got third place, Sophomores placed second, and Seniors arrived first. The next competition was the football throw. Sophomores and Juniors tied for third place; freshmen would have won if Diomedes Suarez had messed up his throw instead of giving the
and Juniors arrived in second, which leaves Seniors with first place. They were all very impressive swimmers, and all deserved first place. The relay used a lot of teamwork to get first place because they were not the only ones swimming; they did not want to let their classmates down, making them all swim harder and faster. Continued on pg. 6