Xavier High SchoolA & E12

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Mr. Roper

Mr. Roper: He is the substitute in place of Mrs. Schutt while she is on maternity leave, but have you met him yet?

Who’s in the hallway?

Maddie SmithA&E Editor

Although Mr. Roper is currently teaching at Xavier, he received his own education in Germany at Baumboldr High School. He lived in Germany for twelve years because his father was stationed there for the army.

Individual speech season begins

Children’s Theatre: Cinderella

Mr. Roper enjoys any type of meat he can get in America, but admits that his favorite food is schnitzel with gravy, a German delicacy consisting of a thin slice of meat (veal and pork being his favorite) coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

Mr. Roper is excited to be teaching at Xavier after student teaching under our very own Mr. Goldsmith. He enjoys teaching history because it was his favorite subject and hopes to pass this love onto some of his students. If you would like to learn more about Mr. Roper’s exciting life, head on over to room 210, Mr. Roper’s new home away from home.

Grammys: A night of celebrationIn the midst of celebrating the

music industry’s most talented, artists also mourned the tragic death of one of their own. Grammy host LL Cool J started off the night by leading all attendants in a prayer for the late Whitney Houston. Houston, 48, was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton hotel room just hours before Clive Davis, the very man who discovered her, hosted his annual pre-Grammy party at the same hotel. Houston was a trailblazer in the 1980s, giving gospel and soul a place on the pop-dominated charts of the time. With weeks occupying Billboard’s number one spot, and a stunning performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Super Bowl, Houston, or “The Queen of Pain,” continuously proved herself over the years.

The crown was passed on just hours later, as Adele won six Grammys for her soulful songs of pain and heartbreak. Additionally, the British singer gave her first performance since major surgery on her vocal chords, resulting in a standing ovation. Adele was not the only one sweeping the categories

Sunday, February 12 - Foo Fighters took home five awards, Kanye West four, and Skrillex three. While electronic and dance music was prevalent at the Grammys this year, big wins for Foo Fighters and Bon Iver proved sometimes the basics are better than mixed beats and fancy recording studios. As Foo frontman, Dave Grohl, mentioned in his speech, their album “Wasting Light” was recorded in his garage “with some microphones and a tape machine.” Justin Vernon, lead singer of Bon Iver, recorded the majority of his first album in a remote cabin in Wisconsin.

Despite protests over the number of categories being reduced from 109 to 78, ratings of the ceremony over the past few years have skyrocketed. This year was no exception- with 39.9 million viewers tuning in to performances by Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Jennifer Hudson (singing Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”), the Beach Boys and many more, it was the second highest-viewed Grammy in history.

Peyton RosencrantsOpinion Writer

Lauren Van HoeckA&E Writer

The 2012 speech season continues with individual speech. The district competition will be held on Saturday, February 25 in Tipton, Iowa. Individual speech has 14 events, including storytelling, radio news, poetry, and improvisation.

“I’m involved in individual improv and spontaneous speaking. I’m really excited for the competitions, but a little nervous because the judges scare me,” junior Bill Young said. “I love speech because the coaches are awesome and it’s fun to be able to entertain people.”

After districts, competitors who receive a Division I rating will compete again on Saturday, March 10 at the state competition in Clinton, Iowa. The all-state individual speech competition will be held on Monday, March 26 at the University

of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. “I really want to go to state

again and hopefully make it to all-state,” Young said.

For this year’s Children’s Theatre, Xavier drama teacher Mr. Cervantes chose the production Cinderella. “I picked Cinderella because it is my granddaughter’s favorite fairy tale at the time,” Cervantes said.

The drama department had a record turn out of 96 auditionees, the most any play or musical at Xavier has ever seen. Sophomores Morgan Noonan and Mary Esker were chosen to play Cinderella.

“My favorite part was interacting with all the children; their reactions are awesome,” Noonan said. During the Children’s Theatre productions, kids get the chance to interact with the cast, which is something no other production does. For many of the actors and actresses, interacting with the children is the most rewarding.

“The kids are definitely the best part, they’re just so cute,” sophomore Brennan Graeve, who played Prince Charming, said.

During the production, there were many unique outfits and costume changes. “My favorite costume was definitely the wedding

dress, it was so pretty,” Esker said.Sophomore Chad Airy played

the dog Reggie in the play. “My favorite part was working with the awesome cast; there are so many people that go into making such an awesome production, and the set was great too,” Airy said.

Many different students were incorporated in the making of this production.

“We had cheerleaders, poms, athletes, you name it we had it in our play. It was awesome to have such a new variety of students shine in new areas,” Cervantes said.

Lauren HunstadA&E Writer

iClipart

iClipart

Maddie Smith Photo

Junior Alexa Ramlo practices her public address for Saturday’s Individual Speech competition. Katy Karas Photo

Sophomore Mary Esker cleans her house as Cinderella. Cassie Busch Photo