Decatur Central High School - Hawkeye Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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tide ft Scic — Spell Bowl A new event Spell ' Whooping cough ' . Spell ' Raucous ' . On October 16, 1986, Decatur Central hosted a Spell Bowl Competition. This was the first year for D.C. to have a Spell Bowl team. The team members were Seniors Paula Raines, Cheryl Regan, Gary Farney, and Todd Smith; Juniors Lynne Raines, Dawna Clark, John Whitmore, Terry Obermeyer and Shelette Alex- ander; and Freshmen Nancy Saff and Desiree McKinney. Statewide, 120 schools par- ticipated; six of these schools competed at D.C. They were Decatur Central, Center Grove, Franklin Central, Greenwood, Perry Meridian, and Southport. The contest was sponsored by Academic Competition for Excellence. In the Spell Bowl Competi- tion, Perry Meridian won Class One division and Plainfield won the Class Two division. The highest score was achiev- ed by Plainfield, with 75 out of 80. Spell Bowl Team Row 1: Shelette Alexander, Paula Raines, Lynne Raines, Desiree McKinney, Row 2: Todd Smith, Dawna Clark, Terry Obermeyer, Cheryl Regan, Nancy Saff, Gary Farney, Mrs. Nancy Wilson, and John Whitmore. Students needing to do research can find Ms. Shelly Spears student teacher for reference books in the library in many Mrs. Ruark, lectures to a Junior English sections. class. English

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Junior Scott Farrar works diligently on his homework. Sophomores Letta Nealy and Dawn Krodel get things in order as Health class begins. Homework, Homework Give me a break!! Although homework seemed to be a dreaded part of everyone ' s school day, some classes were worse than others. Math students, for example, almost always had homework. When something new was learned, practice problems were assigned. Classes that especially required spending time with books (and big books too!) were advanced science courses, like Chemistry and Physics. Senior Kari Owens c om- mented, Carrying all the books makes you strong! It seems like I either have no homework or a bunch of homework. Even students taking business classes were required to do homework. Senior Julie Jackson said, We have assignments nearly every night in order to memorize our words. So, although most teachers assigned homework, some classes were more demanding. Academic divider 29

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An unabridged dictionary can easily be found in the D.C. library. Sophomore Kevin Settles uses his free time to do homework in the library study area. Immediately after the students spelled the word, the officials, seated next to the par- ticipant, checked it for accuracy. English: A Four Year Course The same thing year after year Even though each year in English essentially the same types of literature are studied, the depart- ment tried to vary what was read. Throughout the four-year English course students must read a few short stories, poems, and novels. Each year, though, students study a major work of literature. During the freshman year, students read and studied Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. A video tape of this was also seen. The sophomore English classes concentrated on Shakespeare ' s Julius Caesar. A video tape of this was seel anso. English can be fun, but there ' s some hard work especially b ook reports, term papers, and reading all the short stories, stated Sophomore David Jones. Junior English was a little dif- ferent. Students studied several kinds of writing from the Colonial era through the Realism era. This included reading several novels, an almanac, travel journals and poetry. Studying all the different eras is a change from studying just one certain time period, one stu- dent stated. Senior English is a different pro- gram. College Study and Writing Skills, each one semester, were of- fered to college-bound seniors in- terested in preparing for the future. Also offered were the nor- mal grammar and literature semesters. Although English sometimes seemed like the same old thing, there was a difference! Moby Dick Our Town The Jungle 1984 English 31