GreatNews.Life Student Voices: Lake Central’s Culture of Ideas: Clubs, Computing and Self Improvement

What’s recently happened?

On September 10, students at Lake Central High School (LCHS) were excited to attend the annual Club Fair, where they could learn more about club options for this school year.

“There’s not a lot of rigidity, like when they call everybody down for a pep rally or if we do a junior-senior meeting,” Senior Jocelyne McNabney said. “Usually, everyone’s sitting down and then we’re watching something, but with the culture of Club Fair, you’re actually participating and choosing what you want to do instead of having somebody else say what you’re doing.”

Running a booth at Club Fair fuels improvement in many personal areas of a student’s academic and lifelong development, such as teaching students how to concisely convey information in a short time period.

“For most people, you don’t really get a chance to talk to them for more than 30 seconds; then, once those 30 seconds are up, it’s too late to get them interested, because they just want a quick glance at the club,” McNabney said.

Not only does Club Fair benefit the attending students, but it also piques interest and support for each club and each foundational purpose.

“One of the things we had at the table was something from the yearly April astronomy exhibit. It was a model of the solar system that someone had made previously. There’s an Astronomy Club exhibit in the library every year. We like to keep the stuff that people have made and showcase it,” McNabney said.

What’s coming up?

Troubleshooting for the future, the Science Olympiad team discusses potential uses of their personal website in the works.

“My goals were to get everyone that was in the club last year back together and get us hyped for the new season. I also wanted to go over all of the new things that we’re doing for this season, like our website, and what we’re going to do for our callout meeting, which is different from previous years. I wanted to discuss with seniors about upcoming competitions and which regional we would choose to go to,” Senior Keira Gordon said.

The Science Olympiad website was originally conceptualized to only help manage sponsorship deals with organizations like Mathnasium and Villa Cesare, however, the concept has grown.

“Aside from the fundraising and competition aspect, we are working on a plan for how the seniors will get the underclassmen involved with their events, so that people actually feel motivated to learn about and study a topic,” Senior Dhruva Magesh said.

The Science Olympiad is a great club for fostering both niche interests and unique relationships.

“The Science Olympiad gives me motivation to learn more about things that are not found in regular classes, and to meet people who have similar interests as me,” Gordon said. “It’s also just finding and helping to create a really good space for women in STEM.”

The club also allows for the consideration of a rainbow of perspectives, preparing students for complex roles in STEM, which often collide.

“I’m very curious. It gives me direction and purpose in exploring random things. For example, pursuing Materials Science last year made me realize that medicine might not be my passion. It was also building and understanding things from a fundamental perspective,” Magesh said.

Staff spotlight:

Cynthia Lale is a foreign languages teacher of Spanish II at LCHS. She recently took students on a trip to Spain and Italy, visiting cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Florence, and Rome.

“I like to look at churches and museums. I like taking students and seeing it all again from young, fresh eyes; seeing them see things for the first time. I enjoy helping other people see the world. It changes people, and it’s fun to watch that firsthand,” Lale said.

In terms of how teachers and students interact, teaching has become more complex than it once was, both from the perspective of a student and of a teacher.

“It’s a lot more work now than when I started in the late ’90s. There’s a lot more things that kids have to deal with in terms of school safety,” Lale said.

Lale’s current teaching experience differs greatly from her previous experiences in Michigan.

“Kids are different in some ways, not really in others. School is different. Those were kids that had been to a small Catholic school, so there were only 20-30 kids in a graduating class. There was a different way of approaching them, as there wasn’t much of a discipline issue. There weren’t many kids to get in trouble,” Lale said.

Learning is always possible, even when you yourself are the teacher.

“I’m always learning things. Whenever we get a new book, I learn. When you see a new little cultural fact in a textbook or things like that, it piques an interest in a new place, topic, or rabbit hole to go down,” Lale said.

Student spotlight:

Maya Parks is currently a senior at LCHS, with her main interests revolving around social studies, like economics and law.

“My AP math classes really challenge me and push me to be the best version of myself. You really have to show up for yourself in those classes and I think they pushed me to my absolute limit,” Parks said. “My AP macroeconomics and AP microeconomics classes have inspired me to major in economics when I’m older, so they’ve definitely shown me a real world view.”

Her greatest involvement at LCHS has been through her work and productions relating to Lake Central Television or Student Media Broadcast Honors.

“My biggest accomplishment in high school would definitely have to be being number one in the state for Student Media Broadcast Honors in Business Professionals of America. I was the chief director on the project for Business Professionals of America,” Parks said. “We competed in an event called Broadcast News Production and we won in our region. Then, we qualified for state and won in the state. Then, we qualified for nationals and placed eighth nationally.”

Her greatest advice to students who want to do their best academically is to be realistic about the exact parameters of their goals, including forgiveness for one’s own mistakes.

“My biggest struggle throughout high school has definitely been mental health and stress. I’ve struggled with mental health issues since I was little; anxiety and stress mainly, so I’ve definitely had to learn to calm my emotions and understand that I’m coming from a place of irrationality,” Parks said.

Parks also won the ‘25-26 season at regionals for the Girls Golf team, highlighting the wide range of her interests and accomplishments.

“Especially as high school students, we love to be able to recognize familiarity with the clubs we’re in or the groups of people we’re surrounding ourselves with: I think Lake Central does such a good job at that. The people at LCHS really helped me, because they’ve shown me what I’m interested in. They’ve helped me personally and academically,” Parks said.