GreatNews.Life Student Voices: Valpo ends winter break, rings in New Year

What’s recently happened? 

Valparaiso High School (VHS)’s winter break, which was from December 19 to January 4, recently ended. Though some classes assigned homework over the break, many didn’t, which gave students a chance to relax and recharge from a busy first semester. 

Leading up to winter break, students and staff were involved in many holiday-themed activities to prepare and unwind during finals, which took place in the week before break began. One of these events was the holiday door-decorating contest, where different clubs decorated classroom doors with different holiday themes. VHS’s Speech and Debate team won second place with a Grinch and Whoville-themed door, while the Vikettes Dance Team took first place with their gingerbread door.

“Door decorating was so much fun this year,” Sophomore Karina Trivedi said. “I’m so thankful to have been part of the winning Vikettes door and the runner-up Speech and Debate door. Decorating both came with lots of team bonding, fun memories, coordination, and overall success. It’s always so much fun to decorate the doors each year and add festivity to the hallways.”

Another annual holiday tradition at VHS is the Food Drive, where each first-hour class competes to bring in the most food for those in need this winter. This year’s winner was Journalism Teacher Susan Hoffman’s first-hour Yearbook class.

“It was really exciting to achieve that as a class, but it was more exciting to know that we were helping people,” Hoffman said.

To round out the festivities before winter break at VHS, a holiday-themed Spirit Week was organized to energize people during finals week. Along with holiday festivities, Drama Club also hosted two improv workshops before winter break to prepare students for Mocha Madness, VHS’s annual improv show, and auditions in early January.

What’s coming up?

Students at VHS recently began the second semester of the school year, which means a shift for many students’ schedules. As students and teachers get used to new schedules and routes to their classes, January can be an exciting time to ring in both the new year and new classes. 

While students and teachers just finished their winter break, many are still anxiously looking forward to Valparaiso Community Schools’ (VCS) next short break, which will take place on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day from January 17-19. MLK Day weekend is a great opportunity to relax after beginning the second semester and learn some history, which the VHS library usually facilitates by putting out reading and watching material about the Civil Rights movement.

As some students look forward to another small break, many students in athletics are busy preparing for upcoming games.

Girls Freshman Basketball will start the sporting week on Monday, January 12, playing an away game against Lake Central. On Tuesday, they will face Portage in another away game. Girls Varsity Basketball also plays on Tuesday, against McCutcheon High School at VHS.

On Wednesday, January 14, Boys’ Freshman Basketball will face the teams from Michigan City and Hobart, the same day that VHS’s Boys’ Wrestling team will be competing in Chesterton. 

Staff spotlight:

Despite teaching at Valparaiso for 11 years, Spanish Teacher Rebecca Rusnak has travelled far afield from Valparaiso, lending her experiences to help her students learn in the classroom. After graduating from VHS in 1997, Rusnak lived in Germany for four years, where she attended university and taught English. She later returned to Valpo to teach for three years, but then moved to Costa Rica, where she stayed for eight years before moving back to Valpo.

While Rusnak is someone who obviously enjoys travelling and experiencing new places, she also greatly enjoys being a part of VHS, because there is truly a sense of community and family. Being a former Viking also added a special benefit to returning. 

“I wanted to give back to the community I grew up in,” Rusnak said. “It has been really cool teaching alongside some of my former teachers who are also still here and learning from them.”

While Rusnak gives back to the community by teaching at VHS, she explains how her students also give back, making the job something new every day. 

“There is never a day or a class period that is the same,” Rusnak said. “It creates an interesting work environment that makes it pleasant to come back day after day. I love seeing the students grow and change as they move through their high school years.”

Rusnak has also had to navigate plenty of challenges as a teacher over the years.

“As students grow during high school, so has technology. It’s something that teachers around the world have to keep up with, because students are increasingly distracted. It is difficult to keep up with so many changes in technology, social media, and ChatGPT. I have to find ways to keep students engaged in a world where they are used to things changing every 20 seconds on their newsfeed, reels, or snaps, and they want to be on their phones constantly. This is always a challenge in class—keeping them on task and off their phones.”

For Rusnak, speaking Spanish and other languages was always interesting. While she began her foreign-language learning with German in high school, she quickly added Spanish and is now fluent in both of those languages in addition to English. Beyond being able to teach both Spanish and German, Rusnak also knows a bit of French, Russian, and Mandarin. 

“Learning languages brings so many benefits for students,” Rusnak said. “It allows them to cultivate greater cultural awareness, develop strong thinking skills and creativity, and increase their reading comprehension, just to name a few. These are all valuable skills that can help students in daily life. I think becoming a culturally aware person is of the utmost importance because it helps with communication and problem-solving with different cultures and groups of people.”

Student spotlight:

Through his extracurricular activities, VHS Junior Jorge Ramirez has learned to appreciate and get in touch with art, both visual art and performance art.

“Outside of school, I do a lot of performing in dance, acting, and singing,” Ramirez said. “I also sew a lot and have made pieces of clothing. All this shapes how I do things by learning to appreciate and understand the art and beauty of the world.”

On the performing aspect of his personality, Ramirez is an active member of VHS’s Drama Club. Throughout high school, he has been a part of the Drama Club, performing in Mocha Maddness and April Antics twice, “Beauty and the Beast,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” and “Trap.” He has been a member of the International Thespian Society since his freshman year, as one of four in his grade to be inducted into Valpo’s troupe.

Ramirez also finds other fun and interesting activities within school. His participation in VHS’s Speech and Debate Club inspired him to take a Law Education class this past semester. 

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Ramirez said. “We just recently did our final, where we did a mock trial over the Barnes v. Felix case. The class is great for learning basic law concepts, legal jargon, and everyone’s basic rights. I’m sad it’s only a semester course, because it’s been my favorite elective class so far.”

While Law Education was Ramirez’s favorite elective, he appreciates the wide variety of other classes that VHS offers. He also enjoys what the City of Valparaiso has to offer.

“High school has been really great to me,” Ramirez said. “I’ve been able to talk to so many new people and take such interesting classes. I also really enjoy being downtown and all the small bits of community that I don’t really experience often outside of Valpo.”

After high school, Ramirez wants to do something liberal-arts related, with his tentative plan being to major in economics and minor in theater arts.