The Cascade High School Knowledge Bowl team came home with the large first place trophy from state after some fierce competition. On Friday, March 18, 2022, Coach Dayle Massey and the team headed to Richland, and by Saturday they had first place. According to Coach Massey, "The team never lost a round, but had to come from behind and win a tiebreaker to get in the championship room, where again they came from behind to win by 1 point."
During the 2019 Covid Pandemic, many of our schools’ clubs were shut down or moved online. This year, however, they are back in business with many exciting events that students have looked forward to and worked extremely hard on.
The Speech and Debate Club, overseen by Mandi Wickline, recently sent some students to state competition in a variety of categories. “I went to state for an original oratory on felon voting as a ten-minute persuasive speech. This concludes the season unless we go to nationals,” said freshman Mia Dreis. They also sent another student to state in a different category. “I went to state for humorous interpretation. Others were dramatic interpretation, debate, and original oratory. What I love about speech and debate is being dramatic and being able to debate freely without anyone judging your opinion, and hanging out with people with similar interests,” explained sophomore Breanna Loomis.
The Sustainability Club has been going on for about 3 years and has grown significantly in that time. Now they are working on waste audits to help Waste Loop collect data and hopefully implement a stable system of recycling and composting by next year. Throughout the years they have participated in multiple climate marches to raise awareness. Senior Chase Runions, co-president of the club, said, “I hope that the projects and the club will span multiple generations and make a lasting impact on the school.” During meetings, they talk about current events relating to the climate and sustainable energy research. “What I love about Sustainability Club is that it is full of people that are passionate about the environment,” said senior Jade Marks, Vice President of the club.
ASB (Associated Student Body) is an essential part of our school. They plan events, vote on prominent issues, and are the voice of the student body. For the last few years, they have been restricted due to Covid-19. However, senior Madi Gillespi, ASB President, said, “Now that Covid restrictions are lifting you can be looking forward to more school activities.” They are planning a spirit week, Euphoria themed Tolo dance, spirit assembly, and more. Senior Carly Ostrem, Vice-President, said, “We are looking at creating a parliamentarian or parliament council.” ASB is always working on new and exciting plans to make the school a better place.
Publications is a club as well as a class. They oversee creating the yearbook and writing articles for the school newspaper, as well as occasional articles in the Leavenworth Echo. This club is a unique experience for its members. Junior Editor, Elise Almeida said, “It is the only class that I have that feels like we are a team, and we rely on each other. Everyone is nice and funny, and it has brought me closer to a lot of people.” The staff must rely and work with each other to get all the work done well and on time. Senior Ruthie Biebesheimer, Editor in Chief, explained that what she likes about Pub is “that it is more of a self-paced class, and everyone has to do their part.”
30MinutetoWinit is a club developed recently as a way for upper classmen to help guide and advise the freshman class. Advisor Roselyn Robison said that her hope for the future of this club is “that it will help freshmen have social and academic success and will help the upper classmen develop leadership skills.” The freshmen advisory classes continue to meet with their leaders once a month, Monday at flex, and have been learning about social skills, kindness to yourself and others, and how to register for next year's classes. “I hope that in the future 30 Min to Win will continue to evolve and become a resource even more useful to freshman,” said leader, senior Britini Harris. The goal is to create a resource that everyone can use to develop essential skills.
Drama coach Mandi Wickline has been with the CHS drama club for 11 years, but she is moving into a new chapter of her life and away from CHS. “I hope that the person who takes over for me lets people be themselves and appreciates everyone's individuality. I hope they realize that everyone has different ways of learning lines, developing characters, and dealing with stress, and that theater needs to be fun for it to be rewarding. I hope they choose plays that fit the needs of the actors and the department and highlight the strengths of our musicians, stage crew, and performers. What I really hope for the future of Cascade Drama is that people keep coming to see our shows because we challenge ourselves; we do shows like Les Misérables and Into the Woods because we know we have the talent and tenacity to pull them off, and to be proud of ourselves for doing productions that pushed us outside of our comfort zones and helped us grow as people, not just performers. I hope people learn to be more comfortable and confident being themselves because they did Drama at Cascade High,” she commented. Recently the drama club put on a production of Peter Pan Jr. and included younger actors from Icicle River Middle School. Mandi’s last performance will be Shakesplosion! with actor's grades 3-8. Long time drama member, Senior Olivia Cappellini, remarked, “I love the group of people that I work with and getting to express myself, learning new things and doing something special for the community.”
FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), is a great club to help students prepare for life after high school. This year, they will be sending multiple students to state competition. “April 20 to 23 is the state conference. I love how many different events there are including team and individual. There are many different events that you are able to learn and educate yourself on about topics that you wouldn’t normally in everyday life. And it teaches you how to act in business or professional scenarios,” said Avette Demoor, FBLA President. They have sent people to state and beyond before, and this is another exciting time. The advisor of the club, Tammy Murphy, said, “Six students are going to state in Spokane this year. All of them placed in the top 6 at regionals, and everyone is looking forward to traveling.”
Sports Medicine is the newest edition of Cascade High’s clubs. The advisor, Jon Betz, explained, “In a month, April 21, there is the state competition in Tacoma. Competing there are 5 students in different events including practical tests, taking an exam over 2 days, etc. Everyone has been working and studying for a while.” Students that are interested in the medical field can join this club to learn more about current medical procedures, sports medicine, and more. Senior Ty Week, Sports Med Vice-President, said, “I find it really interesting and hands on. I needed something hands on, and sports med is that. I also needed to learn how to fix myself when I was hurt.” This club was exactly what some students needed, and it has an exciting future.
Knowledge Bowl is a fun way to learn about a wide range of subjects and compete against other schools at competitions. The advisor, Dayle Massey, said, “This year the team going to state is Haakon Scheibler, Chase Runions, Quinton Farrell, Olivia Cappellini, Price Schubert, and Evan Butruille. We go to state almost every year, but it is back in person this year.” They brought back the first-place ribbon and a very large trophy as a great way to start back in person. Junior Haakon Scheibler, one of the competitors that went to state, commented, “We were feeling very confident after the mornings competition and were excited to get on with the day.” They were very excited to do so well at state competitions, but this concludes this year’s Knowledge Bowl season.
MECHA is another CHS club working hard to make a difference in the community. Advisor Malia Renner-Singer said, “What’s coming up is that the club will be doing all of the concessions for boys' soccer this season.” This group of students really cares about each other and the community. Senior Rosita Cruz said, “The money will go to next year for field trips and other things. I love that we are willing to help when needed and it is just a fun club to be in.”
Interact Club is a great way to get in contact with other students that care about prevalent issues in the world today. Senior Jess Donoghue, President of the club, said that the future plans are “organizing a blood drive and trying to get a bingo fundraiser going for Ukraine.” This club is also a good way to earn scholarships for college applications. “I hope that the younger kids will be able to step up and be enthusiastic about the club,” said senior Hunter Rodgers. This is an important club that makes a difference by caring about issues and taking action to help or resolve them.
TSA is a diverse and engaging club that went to state again this year. Junior Quentin Farrell has participated in TSA since middle school and has gone to state and national's multiple times in the past. “One of the highlights of my year is going to conference with all my friends. People can compete in events like board game design, children's book, fashion design, vex robotics, music production, coding, video game design, software design, and more. Some are on demand, and some are as a prepared event. If you do well enough, you can even go to nationals,” he said. This club has attracted the attention of many students at CHS and is a great way for like-minded students to connect with each other. Freshman Danielle Totman, a first year TSA participant, said, “It was really fun to meet other kids and inspiring to see kids my age excelling in such big stem-based competitions.”
From Sports Med to Knowledge Bowl, Cascade High School offers a wide range of clubs and activities for students with all different interests. Find a club that you would be interested in joining or make your own!
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