HLA Today - Issue 3 (11-12)

October 7, 2011Volume 18, Issue 3

HLA Today

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy’s Bi-weekly News

Visit the HLA Website ffhillcrest.org

HLA Today is produced

bi-weekly by the Journalism class.

HLA Today Staff

Clayton BothunHeidi Christofferson

Brooke FerenczyShawnie HestenesMorgan JennenRonnie Johnson

Grant MalmstromNisius McAllister-Powell

Zach NerstenKatie Thorkildsen

Gene Twedt

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Ho mec o ming Hillcrest StyleHomecoming week is crazy, here’s what you need to know in order to survive Homecoming at HLA. by Katie Thorkildsen

Homecoming is a time of the year known across the country in high schools and colleges alike. It takes place in the fall semester during football season and traditionally is a time when graduates of the previous years return to enjoy the week’s special festivities, which could include anything from a home football game, a concert, or maybe the passing of the crowns to the incoming Home-coming King and Queen. Most schools celebrate for a week; however, some go more all-out than others…

Here at HLA, Homecoming is a pretty big deal. There are dress up days all week, various class competitions, an iron man volleyball game, powder-puff football, and more. Because of Hillcrest’s unique-ness, being a small boarding school, Homecoming is a little different than most other schools. There are some things you should know in order to sur-vive Homecoming at HLA.Step 1: Nerds, Pirates, Hippies, Oh my!

There is an endless amount of possible dress up days that could occur during

Today

Poster collage by Shawndelle Hestenes

Homecoming, so be sure you know exactly what day is which theme. And though it may be obvious, make sure you dress appropriately for each day (for example, you wouldn’t want to get caught in a nerd costume on Ninja Day!). Don’t be afraid to be creative. The more all-out you go the better; after all, it is Spirit week! Group costumes are fun, but be confident enough to rock a solo costume. “My favorite dress up day was Character Day because a bunch of us got to dress up like Star Wars and fight all day,” said junior Josh Tonnesen. Also, remember this is a competition, so dress up every day to help your class. Step 2: Iron Man Volleyball

As much as they may resist, the boys on each team should practice at least a little beforehand. The girl volleyball players in each grade are to be the coaches. Mascots are welcome, cheerleaders encouraged, and photographers accepted. Warn-ing: Don’t get too serious; remem-ber it’s only a game. Team uniforms are also encouraged, whether it be your coaches’ jerseys, cutoffs, or short shorts. Don’t expect to make it to the championship game unless you are a senior or on the faculty team, but continue to play for fun and go all out!Step 3: Don’t forget you’re still in class.

There still is school this week, even with all the distractions.

Class won’t slow down just be-cause its Homecoming week. You might have one less memory verse or delay your vocab test, but slacking will not be accepted.

Step 4: Pepfest

Pepfest is, in a way, the official opening ceremony of Home-coming week. It is where all the elements of the week come together. Posters are judged, games are played, and teams are introduced. The main part of the pep fest is the class skits. Be sure that your skits are organized, have a storyline, and are well rehearsed (Tip: stress class skit practice, make sure your whole class comes, knows what to do, and does their part). Winning the skit competition doesn’t neces-sarily equal winning the entire Homecoming week competition but it certainly does help. Seniors almost always win it all at the pep fest, however all grades are still encouraged to do their best and attempt an upset (though your chances are slim). Pep fest is meant to be a time of enjoyment and fun for students. It pumps up the spirit and brings everyone together.

“I see Homecoming as a time where we all finally come to-gether as Comets,” said Coach Brue at the pep fest. “You’re no longer whatever you were at your old school; now you’re a Comet.” Step 5: Powder-Puff Football

After Pep fest, the highly an-ticipated powder puff games are played. Four powder puff teams are created for each grade. This year they were a little different consisting of a senior team, ju-nior team, Norwegian team, and combined freshmen/sophomore team (aka freshmores). Match-ups for the first games were seniors vs. Norwegians, juniors vs. fresh-mores, and an exhibition match between two Jr.High teams. The second round of games includes a consolation match and the championship game. This year the championship took place Friday night, under the lights during half-time of the Homecoming game. The ultimate goal, of course, is to win the championship, which most likely includes either beating the seniors, or in the senior’s case, just to win. The game this year was also live-streamed to parents and fans over the internet. Each year the winners of the powder puff game walk away with glory

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and bragging rights, along with clinching the Homecoming week competition. Step 6: Sports! Sports! Sports!

Sports are a major aspect of Homecoming. Each sport has at least one home game in which everyone is encouraged to attend. Everyone goes to the football game on Friday, but other sports would like attention as well. Vol-leyball games are fun to watch, but be prepared. If the game is planned to be a whiteout, fans are expected to dress in all white! Soccer games are also fun to watch. Sit up on the hillside and hang out with family, friends, and alumni while watching an intense game.

Step 7: Returning Alumni

This is where the term ‘Home-coming’ gets its name. Graduates from the previous year, and some older alumni with strong connec-tions (ex: live in town, siblings in the school) return to Hillcrest, most of the time in the latter half of the week for the football game and Saturday night concert. It is a good time to reconnect with old classmates, fill them in on all the changes and enjoy each other’s company.

Step 8: ConcertsThe Homecoming concert is

the last event of the week. It acts as a closing ceremony in a way. It is a good time for parents to

witness the musical talents of their students as well as alumni to appreciate their old classmates’ abilities. Even if you have no one to watch in the band or choir it is still an entertaining night and is a perfect way to close a busy week.

This is how you will survive

an HLA Homecoming. Above all enjoy the week, have fun, be friendly and thank the Lord for the opportunity of fellowship be-tween students, alumni, parents, siblings and friends.

Chaos in the CosmosImagination soared during the 2011 Homecoming week Dress-up Days.by Morgan Jennen

The insanity all started on Monday with Back to the Future Day. The halls were filled with lab coats and ‘80s citizens wear-ing wigs, and goggles and yelling about the Flux Capacitor.

The next day, it seemed like those who wished for time travel wished too hard: Tuesday was Senior Citizen Day! The afro wigs were swapped with gray hair and the school was filled with constant thuds from canes and walkers.

As Wednesday came, the wrin-kles were packed away and replaced with black eyes, broken bones and safety gear; Fake an Injury/Un-necessary Safety Equipment Day seemed like the aftermath of cham-pionship football game! Students learned to stay in the classrooms or be run over by racing wheelchairs.

Thursday was, by far, the most bizarre day that week; Character Day reigned as well-known charac-ters such as Super Woman, Batman and Darth Maul roamed the halls. One had to be careful throughout the day lest they be caught up in a lightsaber dual between Jedi Master Yoda and Darth Vader!

But as the sun rose on Friday over the dewed grass, enemies were once again friends as all prepared for the final Homecoming Dress-up day…Spirit Day! Capes and jerseys, which the girls had asked for from the guys for the past few

weeks, were donned. Red, white and black clothing and face paint defined the day all the way through till the victory of the Homecoming football game against Ashby.

Pep-FestStudents prepared to cheer on the team.by Shawndelle Hestenes

The sound of excitement filled the gym as students cheered on their classmates in the games dur-ing the Pep Fest on Friday after-noon. All the games chosen were minute to win it games and each grade would encourage whoever they thought should play to go out and win their class a good title.

While these games were being played one grade would go and get ready for their class skit. For skits the senior class received third place, junior-high received second place, and sophomores received the highly respected first place.

Senior Katie Thorkildsen de-scribed what she thought of each skit as follows: “The freshman and sophomore skits were organized while the junior’s skit was chaotic and the dancing was pretty out there. The junior high had bright colors and it was really cool. The senior’s skit was good, but you just can’t top what we did last year!”

Skits were not the only thing

that received scores, each class made a poster to hang on the wall in the new gym for a poster con-test. The ranking for the posters were no surprise to most, as the juniors received third place, soph-omores got second place and the seniors won with first place. “Ev-ery class did a good job coming together to make a poster” said Ronnie Johnson “They were all very ‘outta of this world’ and all in all they did a pretty good job.”

During pep fest all of the sports are introduced with their team members. Each team mem-ber was introduced then cheered for, for playing on the team.

As people talked about pep-fest things that were mentioned were how well it went, and how it was a great tradition. This will be a tradition to be carried on for the years to come.

Down, Set, Hike !Hillcrest girls participate in Powder Puff football during Homecoming week.by Ronnie Johnson

Hillcrest Lutheran Academy’s Homecoming week was nothing less then entertaining. The week was full of girls and boys dressing up, practicing skits, and making posters. With competition in the air, the girls of Hillcrest were pre-paring for the Friday, September 30, 2011 Powder Puff games.

Around 2:30 p.m. the four teams geared up for the games. The freshmen/sophomore team was coached by Quincey Circo and Jacob Isaac. For the first time ever, there was a Norwegian team with coaches Theodore Taylor and Jared Kugler. Dalton Tosten-son and Samuel Martens coached

the junior team. Then there was a senior team with coaches Gene Twedt, Mark Undseth, Ronnie Johnson, and Matthew Fox. Each team played a total of two games.

For first time Norwegian play-ers, playing was at times confusing. “I didn’t really understand what I was doing, but it was still fun,” said Norwegian Rita Haugsær.

The winners of the afternoon games advanced to the champi-onship game, which was played during halftime at the Home-coming football game. The junior and senior team had the chance to play under the lights and be streamed live on the Hillcrest

website. “The girls put on a very enter-

taining halftime show,” said Ni-sius Mcallister. Even though the game resulted in a 6-6 tie, the girls smiled and took photos together after the game.

“Overall, I think it was really fun to play with the Norwegians since it was their first time ever. It was especially sweet and in-tense playing under the lights at halftime during the Homecoming game,” said senior Gracia Larson.

The Powder Puff tradition at Hillcrest lived on another great year with the girls from the 2011-2012 school year to lead it.

Competing for the PrizeHillcrest boys competed in a volleyball tournament during Homecoming Week.by Brooke Ferenczy

Determination. Strength. In-tensity. These are the qualities that describe the boys volleyball teams at Hillcrest Lutheran Academy. With all hoping to win their way to the top and claim the championship, the teams com-peted against one another dur-ing last Monday’s Homecoming Tournament.

The boys were divided into eight teams: a freshman team, a sopho-more team, a junior team, a senior “A” team, a senior “B” team, a Norwegian team, a Korean team, as well as a faculty team. Each team had at least one coach from their class who plays on Hillcrest’s girls volleyball team. The coaches had the opportunity to organize practices with their teams where they could work on drills and play scrimmages in order to improve the skills of their players.

The sophomore team did not have an official coach, but the boys practiced for about an hour on Sat-urday, Sept. 24. The boys played against the Norwegian team first in the tournament, and their hopes rose when they came out victori-ous. Even though the team did not win any more games, Daniel Ner-sten, the captain of the sophomore team, said, “We did pretty well as a team. Everyone got some good playing time. But I did expect to

win at least one more game because we had a good practice on Saturday and everyone was on the ball. I’m very proud of our team and all of our hard work, though.”

The senior “A” team, coached by Brittany Christenson, Heidi Christ-offerson, Hannah Juliot, Emily Pellegrino, Katie Thorkildsen, and Alyssa Wolderich, had two prac-tices, both lasting an hour. Dillon O’Sullivan said, “I expected us to win because we’re seniors; seniors

always expect to win.” The team won game after

game, advancing all the way to the championship, when they played against the faculty team. “I think we did pretty well as a team,” said Dillon. “Some people on our team started getting mad, so we stopped having fun, and that’s when we started to lose.” The score was close, but in the end, the faculty team walked away the ultimate winners.

Endi ng A Se as on of Succe s sSoccer girls prove what they’re made of as the season comes to an end.by Heidi Christofferson

A new year means a new team, which means new talent, which means a new record. This is most definitely true for the Lady Comets soccer team this season. From day one of practice, the girls have brought potential to the field, more than Hillcrest has seen

in a while. The team is optimistic as they approach playoffs that are coming up soon. This week is their last week of regular season, and the girls are hoping the next two games go well, boosting their record.

The girls soccer team’s record is currently 4-7. The next two games they will be playing are against De-troit Lakes and Walker.

Senior Gracia Larson said, “Our game on Tuesday against Detroit Lakes will be tough. We will be ‘seeking redemption,’ since when we played previously, we lost pretty bad.”

However, they are looking for-ward to playing Walker again. On Thursday, Sept. 30, the Comets beat Walker 6-0 (Abbe Monacelli scoring 3 and Hannah Haegeland with the other 3). Yesterday they met Walker on the field again and they won 3-2.

“I think we definitely have a shot at winning some playoff games this year,” said senior Kris-tie Thorkildsen, “We have better potential this year and our record has gone up.”

The girls soccer team is going stronger than they have been in previous years, and according to the girls, have developed better teamwork and have made prog-ress throughout the season.

B ringing Their A-GameThe volleyball team enjoys their first win of the season.By Grant Malmstrom

Everyone has participated in or watched a game where the team just cannot pull it together, and no matter what happens they just can’t get the points on the board. For some reason, the players can’t work as a team to win. On the other hand we have all experienced the games where everything seems to happen in your teams favor, making the team seem-ingly unstoppable. Hillcrest had one of these great games against Rothsay.

The Hillcrest volleyball team’s hard work paid off on Sept. 22, when they pulled off their first win of the season against the Rothsay Tigers. The win was a much needed boost

for the Lady Comets consider-ing their record before the win was 0-12. Team captain Emily Pellegrino said, “We played re-ally well and our overall inten-sity on the court was good. Out of Laura Tungseth’s 27 serves, 25 were good and of those, 10 were aces. We’re hoping for another win on Senior Night.”

Katie Thorkildsen said, “I thought we played really well; we put up our blocks correctly, attacked the ball and communi-cated well, which was probably the key to our success.”

Alyssa Wolderich said, “It was the first time collectively that we played as a team instead of just for ourselves.”

Deja vuBy Gene Twedt

…The Hillcrest Comets have been dominating the game as they take on the Underwood Rockets. The undefeated Rockets seem to stand no chance against the Hillcrest running game. So the Comets will take the Homecom-ing victory 48-14…

That was Homecoming 2010. That was last year’s Comet foot-ball team. The Comets don’t have Twedt, Taylor or Tungseth any-more. They are a new team with new strengths. Having different excuses for different circumstanc-es, like the fact that crucial player Sam Martens will not be playing, is something that our players cannot afford. They are a new football team and it is their time to leave a legacy. And on Friday night, they were ready to do just that by tak-ing it to the Ashby Arrows.

The game for the players began at the beginning of the week with the preparation on the practice

field. The Arrows this year have proven to be a well-conditioned team, so the Hillcrest team knew that they would have to be more conditioned to stick with them. The team also needed to be smart. So far, the Comets have been struggling with penalties each game and that would have to change if they expected to win. All the preparation proved itself to be enough when the team played Friday night, especially when they left the field with only one penalty the whole game.

The Comets dominated both sides of the field and took the vic-tory 41-24. Theo Taylor rushed for five touchdowns on offense while Mark Undseth owned the sky with two interceptions. But they aren’t the only players who came to play. The Hillcrest defense was all over the place on Homecoming night. Jason Fox and Mark Undseth each had 15 tackles, Jared Kugler had

13, Matt Fox had 10 and Gene Twedt had 8.

“It was super fun,” said running back Theo Taylor. “The line really opened things up so it was really easy to find the holes.”

Hillcrest will be traveling to Underwood to face the Rockets at their homecoming. After the loss to them in the Fargodome last year, the Comets are eager to get revenge this coming Friday.

TIDBITSCompiled by Clay BothunAllison Battillo was tackled on the sideline during the Monday, Sept. 26 JV football game. Mr. Jahr started a fire on the science classroom’s ceiling. Jason Frustol gave a high-five to a road construction worker by Wal-Mart. Stephen Schultz, Clay Bothun and Erik Vestol stayed up until 4:00 a.m. on Sunday playing cards. Ellen Nielsen scored a touchdown for the wrong team during the Powder Puff game. The boys dorm went to Fargo on Sunday. Nick Demarest drinks two Monster energy drinks a day. Katie Thorkildsen got a bruise the size of a tennis ball on her arm from Powder Puff football. Ye Jun Cho got a new hat at West Acres in Fargo.

Team of DiversityThe Comet boys soccer squad develops team trust within different ethnicities. by Zach Nersten

English might not be the domi-nant language spoken on the soc-cer field at Hillcrest. The Hillcrest varsity boys soccer team is full of different ethnic backgrounds. Al-though they have played in differ-ent countries, it has not hindered their team’s focus and playing ability.

Again, the Comets have a winning season with a record of 9-4. What is even more of an accomplishment is the team’s bond within different cultural backgrounds. Unfortunately, the team lost all of their Korean players from last year, but the re-turn of Americans, Mexicans(all from Pelican Rapids, except for Jose Stender), and a new group of Norwegians have formed to-gether well. Also added into the

mix is the lone Ecuadorian, Josue Gomezcoello.

What would you think if you were an opposing player hearing three different languages spoken on the field? Hillcrest boys soccer definitely seems to have the edge on communicating to one anoth-er, one would think, since they all can speak English as well as their primary language. Apparently, this is not the case, according to Norwegian soccer player Byron Varner. “It’s fun, but sometimes it can be hard to communicate to each other.” Varner’s statement does seem to be true. After all, three languages being spoken at once might get a little confusing.

During Homecoming week, the team was proudly named the Team of the Week by Craig Olson. Their week consisted of three games, all in which they were able to shut out their opponents. In those games, the team scored

a total of twenty-three goals. The team’s variety of ethnicity seems to be bonding remarkably well late in the season.

Dillon O’Sullivan said, “Our team has been playing well this year. Even though we have four nationalities on the team, we move the ball around well as a team. Sometimes we even have three different languages being spoken on the field at once. We all are having a blast playing soc-cer together.”

The Comets have had two three-game win streaks , and with receiving the Team of the Week, they couldn’t be in a better posi-tion. If their defense can keep the ball out of the net, which they have by only letting up ten goals in thirteen games, they will be in good shape for playoffs. They have one shot this season, one shot of a lifetime, one shot as the team of diversity.

Minot? Why Not?Minot Mission Tripby Nisius Mcallister-Powell

The bell rings and all that is heard is talk about the upcoming mission trip to Minot. On June 24, 2011 a record-breaking flood stormed through the city of Minot, rushing over the levees and forcing itself through the barricades built to pro-tect the city. After school Friday, Sept.23, a group of students from Hillcrest Academy went to Minot, ND to help out those affected by the flood.

When the group got to Minot, they slept at Our Redeemer’s church. The next morning they ate and went to work. The group

broke off into three different teams. One team pulled all the nails and wires out of the houses to prepare them to be cleaned, another group gutted out two houses, and the third group did carpentry work to help rebuild one of the damaged houses.

There are multiple houses dam-aged and many people who are still in need of a helping hand. Bethel church will be having a trip to Minot from Oct. 20-23. For those who are interested, contact Bethel at 218-736-5654 or on www.bethellbc.org.

SportsVolleyball

Tue, Sep 27Hillcrest.....................................0Parkers Prairie ...........................3

Thu, Sep 29Hillcrest.....................................0Battle Lake ................................3

Tue, Oct 4Hillcrest.....................................2Ashby .......................................3

Thu, Oct 6Hillcrest.....................................0Underwood ...............................3

Girls SoccerTue, Sep 27

Hillcrest.....................................3Crookston .................................1

Thu, Sep 29Walker-Hackensack-Akeley .........0Hillcrest.....................................6

Sat, Oct 1East Grand Forks .......................5Hillcrest.....................................2

Tue, Oct 4Hillcrest.....................................2Detroit Lakes .............................6

Thu, Oct 6Hillcrest.....................................3Walker ......................................2

Boys SoccerTue, Sep 27

Hillcrest.....................................6Crookston .................................0

Thu, Sep 29Walker-Hackensack-Akeley .........4Hillcrest.....................................8

Sat, Oct 1East Grand Forks .......................4Hillcrest.....................................9

Tue, Oct 4Hillcrest.....................................1St. John’s Prep .....................OT 2

Thu, Oct 6Hillcrest.....................................2Detroit Lakes ...................... OT 3

FootballFri, Sep 23

Hillcrest................................... 27Verndale ................................. 14

Fri, Sep 30Hillcrest................................... 41Ashby ..................................... 24

HLA Today - Issue 3 (11-12)

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