2 March 4, 2016

On Tuesday Feb. 2, Campus Editor An-drew Graham went to Seventh Grade Camp as a counselor, and for that week he kept a diary. Trapped in a cabin with 14 seventh graders for a week might sound like something out of Dante’s “Inferno”, but he knew he would have a good time with his two co-counselors, Stephen Beegle (12) and Danny Rhodes (11). For the sake of his campers privacy, they will be re-ferred to as “Melvin” in this story.Monday - Day 0: Departure tomorrow3:04 P.M: Just got home from school, departing tomorrow

morning. Time to start packing, schoolwork be damned! (To all my teachers: I kid, I kid)

5:43 P.M: Putting together a playlist to play in the cabin and you know, Joe Walsh is right, life has been good to me so far.

8:15 P.M: Just picked up a few last minute things from Meijer. I think I am ready, which means I am forgetting something vitally important. Danny is sick, might be com-ing up Wednesday. Just Stephen and I for now.

Tuesday - Day 1: Departure9:25 A.M: Sitting on the bus, my kids are mingling. Kyle

Billingslea (11) and his kids are making heroic noise.3:15 P.M: Just finished tubing and had a really fun time.

The kids are loving it. Seven Melvins forgot some article of winter clothing, much to Mr. Guggemos’ chagrin.

6:11 P.M: Dinner was pretty good. My kids really like chocolate milk.

9:17 P.M: Just showered in well water and nothing says clean like the aroma of eggs. Kids are rowdy—er, I mean—settling in for the night. Danny has pneumonia; he will not be joining us.

Wednesday - Day 29:19 A.M: Breakfast is done. Time to make the cabin military clean.

Okay, boarding school neatness. Nevermind. We’ll shoot for “tidy.”1:25 P.M: Preparing to attack the afternoon. Stephen and I are fueled

by adrenaline and cold temperatures.3:44 P.M: Just got back from cross country skiing, or more accurately,

advanced falling down.10:10 P.M: Kids just finished movie. Counselors got to blow off some

steam away from kids. Noah Romain (11) should be a stand up comedian.

Thursday - Day 36:22 A.M: Just woke up. Going to wake the kids in about an hour. Half

of them are already awake. No idea why, but they’re awake.6:46 P.M: Dance in an hour. Half of my boys are talking about girls;

other half doesn’t know they exist.9:47 P.M: The dance is winding down. It must be at least 100 degrees

in the gym. All the counselors have to keep taking breaks to cool off. The kids never get tired apparently.

12:00 A.M: Dance over. Kids in comas. I’m nothing more than a ge-latinous mass of protein at this point.

Photo by Kara Dokter

Although performers get the final bow in the theatre process, the men and women

in black are the ones who really run the show.

Stage crew is in charge of prop making, set up and tear down of plays, sports banquets and the homecoming dance along with sound, lighting and rigging for all of the plays.Unser Hashsham (10), a member of the crew, explains the process.

“Work on the plays begins several weeks prior to opening night, but things don’t start to come together until tech and dress week, around two weeks before the show,” Hashsham (10) said.

Ben Barker (12) is the student that most would say is in charge of stage crew. He has been on crew since his freshman year and currently manages and leads the

Misconcep-tion: Snow Days are big money savers for the Okemos

School District.Truth: “[The amount of money

saved] is not a significant amount by any means,” Dr. Catherine Ash, superintendent of Okemos Schools

said. Even with a high number of snow days like there was in the 2014-2015 school year, it barely affects the budget.

This above info may come as a shock to some people, but very few departments are affected money-wise by copious amounts of snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures. For example, the district spends ap-proximately $525 a day on fuel for school busses.

The big reason for this is that a large part of the district’s budget is directed toward the salaries of its employees. A large part of the

employee pool, like teachers, admin-istrative workers, bus drivers, day custodians and some food service employees are bargaining unit em-ployees. For the first six snow days, all of the employees in that category are paid as if they were regular school days.

The furnaces in the school build-ings are on a computerized system, so school day or not, they go on and off at a set time each day.

“The department that is affected the most is the food service, and that is both in revenue and expense,” Ash said.

Caroline SerkaianStaff Reporter

Andre Owczarzak (11), Josh Duren (12), Anders Staky (12) and Evan Jamieson (11), varsity soccer teammates, all pose for a picture after the camp dance on Thursday.

From left to right: Fiona Brewer (12), Kendall Bubolz (11), Andrew Graham (12), Chloe White (12), Nina McCalvey (12), Parth Redey (12), Hunter Hall (12), Stephen Beegle (12), Raywa Masti (11) pose for a picture on top of the tubing hill after a solid hour of tubing.

Diary of a Seventh Grade Camp Counselor

Snow days have no effect on district budget

majority of the activities.“The job that I get paid for at the

school is currently listed as the Assis-tant Technical Director,” Barker said.

Barker first got into stage crew when he was in middle school and slowly made his way up the ladder to the position he currently holds. When previous Technical Director, Brian Ugorowski, left OHS, Barker was the most experienced stage crew member left.

“When Brian left, I stepped up to fill in his position. Later on, Alan Demski was the one hired by the school to take the Technical Direc-tor’s position,” Barker said.

Students involved in stage crew see Barker as a leader who consis-tently maximizes productivity and always manages to have everything ready to go on time. The behind the scenes work that needs to go into putting on shows like Little Women and Shrek The Musical which require many people to devote their own personal time.

“Ben is an extremely hardwork-ing person. He’s been in the drama

program for quite a while, and not a lot could have gotten done this year without him,” Hashsham said.

Barker currently devotes around 20-29 hours a week to different behind the scenes work at the high school. These activities are not just limited to theater productions, leav-ing much work for Barker and the rest of the stage crew every week.

“Since my freshman year I have around 2700 hours logged in to vari-ous activities around the school,” Barker said.

Barker is compensated for the work he does throughout the school and is currently on the school’s pay-roll because of the sheer amount of hours he continues to put in towards school services.

Although most members are not paid, stage crew provides a fun way to meet new people and try some-thing you have not done before.

“Since the beginning of this year we have been shorthanded quite a bit. Stage crew always is open and welcome to new people who want to try it,” Hashsham said.

Harrison RamseyStaff Reporter

Photo by Audra Francis

From left to right: Ben Barker (12), Annie Barker (11), Jeehyun Byun (11) and Unser Hashsham (10) are all members of this years stage crew.

During down year for stage crew, expe-rienced member goes the extra mile

Schoonover - 2 months:1) What is your baby’s name?Ellen Marie Schoonover. We call

her Elly. She is named after my grandma whose name was Mary Ellen. I also wanted to spell Elly with a y to keep the pattern with me and my husband. My full name is Christina, but I go by Chrissy. My husband’s full name is Andrew, but he goes by Andy. So it made sense for Ellen to go by Elly. Also, all of the girls on my side of the family have a middle name Marie, so I chose to keep that tradition.

2) If you have other kids, how do they get along with the baby?

I don’t have any other human kids, but I have two beagles. Jeter and Cabby. They both have kind of kept their distance. They are try-ing to figure her out. One of them

Several teachers at OHS have little ones, or are due for their very own bundle of joy any day now. Staffer Haley Robins got to talk with them about their exciting months ahead and any funny stories they have about their kids.

brought her a dog toy the other day when she was lying on the floor. It seemed she wanted her to play.

Atkins - 13 months:1) Is this your first baby?No, he is my third. I have 2 other

daughters- Maddie is 4 and Lauren is 2.

2) If you have other kids, how do they get along with the baby?

Joe’s sisters are great with him! They love him and play with him all the time. It’s definitely easier now that he is one and can play with them. As a baby there were moments when he got all of the attention and his sisters wanted to send him back.

Sauer - 15 months:1) What was your baby’s first

word? “Mama.” Followed closely by

“buh bye” and “nigh night.” I feel so special.

2) Funniest story of your baby? He is a monster. Just kidding. (But

seriously, he’s kind of a monster.

A loveable monster.) He is un-like my other two in that he is into everything. He is not content just sitting and playing. He has to search and destroy. By far, the funniest (and most disgusting) thing he has done is take his diaper off in the middle of the night and hone his artistic skills. I went in to get him ready for daycare and saw the entire crib, including him, covered in poo. I screamed for my husband to “HELP!” and just stared at the situation for a hot second. Were he my first child, I probably would have called the hospital to see if we could do some sort of exchange for a cleaner baby. (Just kidding. I don’t think they allow that sort of thing.) Being that he is my third child, I’m pretty well-rehearsed in this kind of stuff, so this is just a regular Tues-day. I plopped him in the bath and scrubbed him raw.

Mrs. Harrod is expecting March 5 of this year.

Haley RobinsStaff Reporter

Photo courtesy Chrissy Schoonover Photo courtesy Laura Sauer Photo courtesy Katie Atkins

From left to right: Lindsay Harrod (CTE) and Chrissy Schoonover (Math) pose with their “baby bumps.” Laura Sauer (English) sits with her husband and three sons. Katie Atkins (Math) relaxes with her son outside. Harrod gave birth to Brogan Michael Harrod on March 3, 2016.

Several teachers welcome additions to families

March 4, 2016 3

Wednesday - Day 29:19 A.M: Breakfast is done. Time to make the cabin military clean.

Okay, boarding school neatness. Nevermind. We’ll shoot for “tidy.”1:25 P.M: Preparing to attack the afternoon. Stephen and I are fueled

by adrenaline and cold temperatures.3:44 P.M: Just got back from cross country skiing, or more accurately,

advanced falling down.10:10 P.M: Kids just finished movie. Counselors got to blow off some

steam away from kids. Noah Romain (11) should be a stand up comedian.

Thursday - Day 36:22 A.M: Just woke up. Going to wake the kids in about an hour. Half

of them are already awake. No idea why, but they’re awake.6:46 P.M: Dance in an hour. Half of my boys are talking about girls;

other half doesn’t know they exist.9:47 P.M: The dance is winding down. It must be at least 100 degrees

in the gym. All the counselors have to keep taking breaks to cool off. The kids never get tired apparently.

12:00 A.M: Dance over. Kids in comas. I’m nothing more than a ge-latinous mass of protein at this point.

Friday - Day 4: Back to Okemos7:17 A.M: Wake up and clean up. Dance ruined me. I

feel like an 86 year-old man. Kids had a blast.10:54 A.M: Kids are filling out memory books. I need

more caffeine. There is no more coffee. 11:56 A.M: Back on the bus and big surprise again,

Kyle Billingslea’s group is making astonishing noise once more. I am tired to the bone, so despite the cacoph-ony, I should have no trouble sleeping. My kids aren’t either.

1:56 P.M: Back in Okemos. Tired beyond belief. Would do it all again in a heartbeat because after all, who has it better than us? Nobody!

Photo by Kara Dokter

Photo by Kara Dokter

Photo courtesy Springhill Camps

Andrew GrahamCampus Editor

DOUGLAS J. HINTERMAN, DDS

4132 Hagadorn Road

Okemos, MI 48864

(517) 485-7123

www.hintermandental.com

C O S M E T I C & F A M I L Y D E N T I S T R Y

DougCardF.indd 1 3/5/15 4:54 PM

employee pool, like teachers, admin-istrative workers, bus drivers, day custodians and some food service employees are bargaining unit em-ployees. For the first six snow days, all of the employees in that category are paid as if they were regular school days.

The furnaces in the school build-ings are on a computerized system, so school day or not, they go on and off at a set time each day.

“The department that is affected the most is the food service, and that is both in revenue and expense,” Ash said.

There is no need to make any food on a day when there are no kids there to eat it. At the same time, there is also no revenue coming in on those days, although by law, the food budget is separate from the general fund.

“Anybody who contracts with a third party employer is not paid on a snow day, so there is some minor savings on those positions,” Ash said.

This includes some of the custo-dial staff that is hired by the district as well as noon-hour lunch supervi-sors at the elementary and middle

schools.“We are actually saving money

this year because of the mild win-ter,” Ash said.

According to Robert Clark, the district’s director of finance, to date the district has incurred $25,000 less in expenses this year than in the 2014-2015 school year.

Areas of saving include overtime fees for maintenance workers and the cost of fuel to heat all of the district’s buildings. With the low amounts of snowfall this winter, the district has not had to plow and salt the parking lots and sidewalks

as often as in years past. With the balmy or often spring-like tem-peratures, there has also not been as much need to vigorously heat the buildings.

The El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean is to blame for this unseasonably warm winter. In the 20 years that Dr. Ash has been around the Okemos School District, she has never seen a winter go by without at least one snow day. While the winter blues have been at bay for a large part of the season, school day blues are at a maximum for students across the board.

Campers and counselors danced the night away on the last night of camp.

From left to right: Fiona Brewer (12), Kendall Bubolz (11), Andrew Graham (12), Chloe White (12), Nina McCalvey (12), Parth Redey (12), Hunter Hall (12), Stephen Beegle (12), Raywa Masti (11) pose for a picture on top of the tubing hill after a solid hour of tubing.

All the counselors struck a silly pose after the dance in their costumes. Seniors were designated “jocks” while the juniors were the “nerds”

Diary of a Seventh Grade Camp Counselor

Snow days have no effect on district budget

Humans of OHSBrianna Muzzall

Business Manager

Andrew GrahamCampus Editor

Due to the recent snowy burial Okemos re-cieved, the district had snowdays on Thursday Feb. 25 and Friday Feb. 26. We asked several students what they did over the long weekend.

Owen Marr (12)

Olivia Hinterman (12)

Alex Soper (10)

Michael Buttery (10)

“I went to the Logic concert in Royal Oak. I thought it was pretty good, we got some good seats, got there early with a bunch of friends, hung out in line all day and saw the concert at night,”

“I went sledding with friends and went to the movies,”

“I watched T.V. and relaxed and ate a ton of food,”

“I played a lot of music at home. I played guitar and got to listen to a Deer Hunter album I had never heard before,”

Photos by Brianna Muzzall and Andrew Graham