Elkhart Memorial High School - Monolith Yearbook (Elkhart, IN)

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Student Government members Jill Reedy, Kristin Vander Hey, Ann Vahala, and Brian Stamper share a laugh while observing Hatem Tolba’s hilarious presentation. To show the importance of communicating with others, Amy Roth dictates to Hatem Tolba how to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich—without looking at him!

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Looke Wave of ideas hits Student Government Think Student Government. What comes to mind? Boring lectures, speeches, and promises of change for the school sometime before the year 2000? Well, throw those no- tions aside. Student Government 1986-87 was nothing of the sort. Try to imagine Student Government ser- ving gummi worms to five blindfold- ed members, who think they have just been handed a snake or something similar. Imagine a Stu- dent Government member crawling around on the floor barking, mooing, meowing, and squawking. Find that hard to believe? That was the plight of the members of the Student Government this year. No one could believe it except for Governor Matt Ronzone, who brought on all of this confusion. Matt, along with the presidents of each class and the officers of the Government, attended a workshop in East Noble early in the year. The workshop included Student Govern- ments from other schools and dealt with leadership and things the Government could do for their par- ticular school. Building on the momentum of the conference, Matt and the other officers threw out the old Government format . . . literally! At the first meeting following the East Noble conference, he tore up the format for former meetings and began anew, with a radical, more relaxed attitude for the Student Government. That's when the members knew that something was up. Wasn’t a Government meeting for sleeping? Not this year. One of Ronzone’s wonderfully original ideas was a lock-in. “A what?” the Government said. After the idea was explained to them, the idea was approved instantly. Matt set the date, Vice-President Drew Peterson found the location (Winding Waters Brethren Church), and the members helped in deciding an agenda. On Jan. 16, approximately 25 members arrived at their destina- tion, pillows in hand. No one knew what to expect. This was a new idea, and no Student Government at Memorial had ever attended a lock-in before. Would it be a bomb, or the most fun any Government had ever experienced together? Fortunately, after the evening was over, everyone agreed on the latter. Games like ‘‘Get-to-know-you”’ broke the ice. In ‘‘Get-to-know-you, ” each person had to memorize the name of every other person who was present using word association Leaping Laura, Begging Brian, etc.). he game that members seemed to enjoy the most was the game in which the members were divided in- to four groups (cat, chicken, cow, and dog) and had to bark, meow, squawk, and moo their way back to the rest of their group while blind- folded. The purpose of the game was to relate to other people and com- municate. Senior Hatem Tolba stated, “The game was fun, but no one really got the point.” -o- After the get-acquainted games, members were divided into groups, alternating between presentations by Ronzone and Tolba. Jeff Shrock assisted Ronzone in the “Mutt and Jeff show’’—a presentation about advertising in order to promote the Government to the student body. Tolba emphasized the fact that com- munication with others is very im- portant, and used a peanut-butter- and-jelly sandwich to get the point across. First he asked one person to sit facing the wall and requested him to explain explicitly how to make the sandwich. The result was two very flat slices of bread (‘‘Put the bread flat on the table.”), with the jar of peanut butter on one slice and the jar of jelly on the other (‘Put the peanut butter and the jelly on the bread.’’). Many of the members were laughing so hard they were crying by the end. All ‘business’ completed, the members were free to do as they pleased (more or less), from basket- ball to chess. As the night wore on, some weary souls took out their beaten up sleeping bags and retired—especially those on the Speech Team who had a meet the following morning. A few of the truly party-hardy (or just crazy) stayed -awake for a few games of dodge football and reggae music. When morning broke, members awoke to discover that every car in the parking lot had been soaped over the course of the night! No one had any idea who did it, at first. The only clue they had was the phrase “My Sharona’’ written on Brian Stamper’s van. The fugitive(s) remained at large until the next day. ‘The Government will get its revenge,’ promised sophomore Jill Reedy. After finishing off the cold leftover pizza from the night before, the members de- soaped their vehicles and slowly trickled homeward. Would they do it again? ‘‘Definite- ly,” said Tolba. “Other groups can follow our example and have a lock- in of their own, as well.” Said Ronzone (jokingly), ‘‘It was the most enriching learning ex- perience | have ever had.” May Stu- dent Government never be boring again. Hopefully, this newly-found legacy can be repeated in years to come. -o- While blindfolded, members divide into four or (dog, chicken, cat, and cow) and then ind the other animals of their kind by mak- ing the sound of that animal.

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Kaleidoscope groups ‘click’ Kaleidoscope, in the material sense of the word, is a multitude of colors to delight the eye. Kaleidoscope '87 fits that description to a T. Billed as ‘a performance spectacular,’’ Kaleidoscope’s pro- ram included the Memorial Jazz and, Studio Orchestra, Drill Team, and Gold Rush. Each group practiced months before the show, and a week of intense rehearsals preceded open- ing night. A wide selection of tunes, from “Kyrie,” a contemporary piece recorded by Mr. Mister in 1986, to “Hooked on Classics,’ a popular tune including classical favorites, gave the show its variety. Mr. Donald Litherland, one of the show’s direc- tors, was positively rapturous about the Kaleidoscope '87. “Some people tell me that this year’s show is going to be twice as good as last year’s,” he informed the cast two weeks before the show, “‘but | don’t agree. It's going to be FOUR times as good!” Practices for the show were very successful. Litherland said that they really “clicked” the first time the groups practiced together. Each group depended on another for most of the numbers in the show, not in- Cluding the jazz features and a few of the Gold Rush numbers. Gold Rush was accompanied by Mrs. Nancy Lerner on the piano and Matt Miller on the drums. Soloists had their chances to ex- hibit talent throughout the show. Gold Rush member Beth Neidhamer sang a solo; Mike Moreno and Tracy Smith sang a duet, and Shannon Huneryager, Alyson Darsie, and Jeremy Fair performed a trio. The Studio Orchestra featured freshman violinists Lin Yip and Billy Wu in “Bach Double.” “Bach Double” was originally a composition written by J.S. Bach, but the Kaleidoscope ver- sion added a drumbeat that would have, according to the announcer, “made Bach turn over in his grave.”’ Jazz soloists were featured in numbers such as ‘‘Dixieland Jam’ and “Flashback.” A lot of changes were initiated into the format of Kaleidoscope ’87. One change, unpopular with Gold Rush, was that all the dancing was left to the Drill Team. According to one singer, the directors felt that the au- dience would grow tired of dancing if both groups danced during their numbers. No show seems to go off without a hitch, and the cast got a little ner- vous when the main curtain fell dur- ing the pre-show run-through. The singers also experienced some trou- ble with the sound system during the performance. Kaleidoscope is predicted to be even better next year, as each year the show is touted more. “‘Last year | almost fell asleep during the show,’ said one member of the audience. “This year, Kaleidoscope was really exciting.”” Apparently, the rest of the audience agreed, because Kaleidoscope '8 received a standing ovation as the last number was ending. Kaleidoscope was performed Jan. 17 to an almost full house. -o- At his post directing the pit orchestra, Mr. Donald Litherland has a perfect view of the show he organized with Mr. Michael Wade, Mr. Wayne Stubbs, and Mrs. Roberta Litherland. The beginning of the hit “Hooked on) Classics” displayed Memorial's entire Drill Team. The girls soon split into groups of three to perform “solo” dances. |