Johnston High School Yearbook 2013

2013·57.2 MB·English

by  Johnston High School

ASummer Sports (6-9)
ASummer (10-13)
AFall Sports (16-27)
ASeptember (28-35)
AOctober (36-41)
ANovember (42-47)
AWinter Sports (50-61)
ADecember (62-67)
AThe End of the World (68-69)
A. . .? (70-71)
A We 're alive! (72-73)
AJanuary (74-79)
AFebruary (80-85)
'/A
ASpring Sports (88-101)
AMarch (102-107)
A April (108-113)
AMay (114-121)
Mugs (122-175)
ASenior Ads (176-189)
ASupport Ads (192-195)
AIndex (195-221)
AAcademic, Organization, and Student Life pages
are located within each month.

2013 Dragon Volume 66
All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced 6501 NW 62nd Avenue
or transmitted in any form
Johnston, IA 50131
or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, re­ [phone]
cording, or otherwise, without Fax [phone]
the written permission of the
johnston.kl 2.ia.us
Johnston High School year­
book editors. 495 Sophomores
451 Juniors
For information on obtaining
413 Seniors
permission for reprints and
excerpts, contact the editors at 133 Staff
[email protected]

The term "bucket list" has a more intense mean­ Hopefully I'll have checked off more things as well.
ing to me because of past and present situations in In the fall, I'm going to attend the University
my life. When I was a freshman, my friend Casey of Iowa. Obviously, I'm going to college for many
Aschan-Cox, who was then a senior, passed away. reasons, but I like to think I'm accomplishing one
Like me, Casey had a form of muscular dystro­ of those things Casey never got to do. I see it as a
phy and was in a wheelchair. If you knew Casey, new beginning, a segway to freedom. The urgency
you would know that she was an incredibly fear­ I felt after Casey passed away has since abided for
less and outgoing girl. However, there were a lot of the most part, which I'm thankful for as it probably
things that Casey wanted to do in her life that she would have gotten me into trouble if I had been
never got to, no matter how hard she tried. under its spell for much longer. I still ask myself
For me, this was the most heart-breaking thing in times of strife, "What would Casey do?" which
of it all. It also scared me____less. I started to real­ besides making me smile, helps to put things in
ize for the first time in my life that I could die before perspective.
my friends without experiencing everything I had But if I constantly lived like I was going to die
always planned to. And I didn't even try as hard tomorrow, I'd go crazy. I've learned that life is a
as Casey. I decided that from that moment on, I constant balancing act. A balancing act between
would have to literally start living as if I would die the present and the past, the present and the future,
the next day. this world and the next. It sounds melodramatic,
I sat down with my friend over Skype and made but it's true. Obviously, I have no way of knowing
a bucket list of things I had to accomplish before I how others view their life, but if I had to hazard a
died. I would say that about 50% of them are not guess, I'd say that we're all a continuum of those
school appropriate, but a lot of them involve eleva­ that came before us. I've accepted this view, and if
tors. One involves food. Since then, I've worked I hadn't, I don't know what I'd be living for.
hard on chipping away at the list. When I was a When you believe that you are continuing
sophomore, I researched how to tattoo yourself, where others have left off, your life suddenly takes
and after buying India Ink from Hobby Lobby and on meaning. In some respects, my future is very
stealing a needle from my mom's sewing basket, shaky - the gradual weakening of my muscles is a
my friends and I skipped advisory to give each other constant reminder that I have no way of knowing
five little dots on each other's ankles. Other things what state my body will be in 10 years. But on the
have taken more time and planning, like riding a other hand, so is everyone's. And with that in mind,
roller-coaster. By the time you are reading this, I my future looks pretty darn good.
hope this is something I will have accomplished.
^Written by Hannah Soyer
dpeninpAtf/iinnaA
In the summer of 2012, construction began on 62nd Avenue. Four
roundabouts were created to improve the flow of traffic, photo by Bot
nie Le Page 11
^June. The start of something new and the ever, in ^Denver, CO, a gunman dressed up
end of something old. ^Seniors took to Sand- one of the characters opened fire and wounded
piper, at SaylorviIle Lake, while incoming sopho- 58 people and killed 12. As red, white, and blue
mores danced the night away at Pulse Night Ofiirreewwoork^sB burst in the sky, scientists ended the
Club, and juniors travelled the world and the US, most expensive and longest search in science. A
seeing places like Minnesota, India, and Norway. new subatomic particle was discovered ho
the key to understanding life and diversity in the
^LeBron James led his team, the Miami Heat,
universe.
to win their second NBA championship game
against the Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-106 in ^August. ^Hurricane Isacc hit Florida,
Came 5. The heat spread even more as wild fires and delayed the Republican National Conven­
raged through New Mexico and Colorado. :j , tion. .^Juniors rode the hurricane and splash
^ July. Summer jobs broke the boredom. around at Kocomo Cove at Adventureland
Amusement Park, whilst sophomores started buy­
^Corn was sold through Crimes Sweetcorn, life
ing school supplies, and seniors
guarding took over, and nannying brought energy
country from Texas to Illinois, to |
to our lives. Lines piled up as kids waited to see
colleges. I
the premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises". How-
\
East 8-10. AMarshalltown 6-1/13-3, Waukee 4-14, AWaterloo 10-0, Lincoln 5-7, ASE Polk 4-1/7-3, Dowling 3-4/1-3, Ankeny 0-3/6-7,
A Linn Man 10-0, Dowling Catholic 5-8/4-3, ARoosevelt 10-0/13-1, ASE Polk 1-4/3-2, ANorth 12-0, AAnkeny 11-7/0-5,
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Junior Hannah Berger takes a deep breath as during its first game against East, the defending
she grips her bat in both hands and walks to the state champion. "We were nervous because
batter's box. She takes a practice swing, and then it was East," junior centerfielder Stanzy Snyder
gets into position, moving her weight to her back said. We always get nervous when we play
foot. The East team's pitcher proceeds to wind up them, but we always play better when we
her pitch, and release the highlighter-yellow ball play better teams."
towards Berger. Swinging her bat to the same Every season, the team plays East to open
motion as her hips, she hears the loud cling of the season. Last year, they won the game 3-2.
the impact of the ball hitting the aluminum of "We had nothing to lose so we just gave
her bat. it our all," Snyder said. " We played with a lot ‘
During the season, the softball team racked of communication, and we were really excited*
up the highest batting average in school history. and pumped." Both teams batted well and the
The coaches focused on batting technique. score was tied at the end of regulation. East's bats
"We changed a few approaches, especially with stayed hot in the extra innings, earning the win
two-strike hitting," coach Todd Merical said. "We 8-10. East went on to place second in state. M
had a lot of off season work between the lifting The Dragons continued to bat well during the
and conditioning, and we had kids that are really season. Three players batted over .400 for the
into softball." season: .466, .415, and .409. Six other players
The work translated into the second highest had batting average of about .300 and above.
batting average in the CIML. "We spent half of "We had a lot of returning players that
the practice fielding and the other half hitting," knew what they were doing," Mericafsaid.
junior Maren Bettis said. "We spent another 30 Graduate Sammie Hildreth and Abbey Wilmes
minutes before and after practice where girls made first team all-state, and graduate Katie
could slap pitch." (Hitting for girls that are left Newberry made second team.
handed) As the ball whistles through the air, the crowd
The coaches put the girls through stations of around Berger becomes silent. The ball flies past
drills every practice so that the players would second base and lands just outside the fence.
become more comfortable and confident when "I just sprinted, I didn't realize that I had hit my
game time came around. "We spent a lot of time first home run until I was at second,"Berger said.
batting," junior Ellen Espeland said. Berger added yet another home run to the season
The team premiered this new hitting mentality total.
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COAL: STRIKOUT GOAL: BE A BETTER GOAL: MAKE IT TO
10 PEOPLE HITTER STATE
"During our game "1 made my goal and "We utilized the time
against Dowling what 1 did to improve in practice and worked
(Catholic) we were so it was doing drills and hard in the weight
dose to winning. All listening to coaches' room. We wanted to be
1 the bases were loaded, feedback." the best we could be at
1 we were tied and then the end of the season.
| we missed one run. Unfortunatly, we lost to
1 We lost, but it was still -fynr/ip/. r f / A n ‘ 14 Lincoln the first round
| a good game." ' * “ of the regonals."
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