Many seniors are thrilled that graduation is coming up and are ready to begin their new lives next fall. The graduation ceremonies will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 22, in the BJHS gymnasium.

“I’m very ready to be done with high school and move on with my life,” Mason Johnson said. “I can’t wait to go to KU next year and start working on my future.”

“I’m excited to get out on my own and learn more about the real world,” Charlotte Nelick said. “I’m going to be going to Johnson County to learn about phlebotomy.”

Along with the seniors, graduation is usually an exciting time for the staff as well.

“Graduation is generally a fun time for the staff,” assistant principal Bret Jones said. “It’s nice to see four years of hard work finally pay off.”

“It’s a rewarding time,” teacher Kit Harris said. “We get to see the culmination of students’ efforts to prepare themselves for all their future hopes and dreams.”

Others are excited for the future but will miss some of the aspects of Baldwin High School.

“I’ll really miss all the kids in our school because in this school it seems like you know everyone, which is nice,” Camdon Schwartz said. “Still, I’m excited to get to go to all the college games and be in the student sections because in high school I never really got to experience that.”

According to Jones, the school will miss the class of 2010 as well.

“I think this class has stood out from many others,” Jones said. “There are so many top quality students. There are some extremely bright kids, and some incredible leaders. Especially for as small as the class is, you don’t see the kind of talent that they have as a whole very often.”

“This is one of the smallest classes we’ve had in many years, but they still had a lot of success stories in academics and activities,” Harris said. “They have a lot to be proud of.”

Some seniors don’t have future plans set in stone, but are still excited for the conclusion of their high school career.

“I’m super stoked about graduation,” Megan Michael said. “I want to go to Hawaii University to be a marine biologist, but I think I’m going to start off with classes at Johnson County.”

After their last day of school on Tuesday, May 18, 34 boys and 45 girls will walk across the stage on Saturday, May 22.

The ushers will be Megan Hazelwood, Colby Soden, Ryan Ward, Nate Growcock, Colton Lowe, AnnWallsmith, Alison Howard and Heather Karlin. The two Processional Leaders are Chelsea Turk and Carson Barnes. These students were elected by the senior class.

The graduation speaker will be Dr. Amy Wintermantel, a current professor at Baker University. Wintermantel is a former teacher in the USD 348 school district, and is a graduate of Baldwin High School.

Speaking for the class will be Kaylin McCrary and Brian Lamoreux, and president Connor Twombly will present the class gift.

“I feel honored to be nominated by the senior class to lead their procession at graduation,” junior Chelsea Turk said.

Parking for graduation will be an even bigger hassle than normal, because 40 of the spots will be taken up for the building of the performing arts center. The district is going to attempt to set up a shuttle bus system, where people can park at the intermediate center, and then be shuttled over to the junior high for the ceremony.

Story by Brandon Kraus, BHS Journalism

Photo by Dan Cole, Lifetouch

It wll be slightly different this year. In years past, all students in grades 9-12 attended and were presented academic honors and recognitions by BHS staff members. However, due to the reduced school year, students in grades 9-11 will be taking finals at the time, so the assembly will only be for seniors and their families.

BHS counselor Melody Hoffsommer and principal Shaun Moseman will present academic awards and honors to seniors from the class of 2010.

Immediately following the assembly, the seniors will participate in the graduation rehearsal in preparation of the commencement ceremony to take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 22, in the BJHS gymnasium.

The topic for this year’s competition was “The Constitutional Limits of Search and Seizure in Public Schools: What Should They Be?” The essay had to be between 500 and 1,000 words. First place received $1,500, second earned $1,000, and third was awarded $500.

Bostwick was overwhelmed, but her hard work paid off.

“I didn’t know much about the subject of the essay so I had to do a lot of research,” she said. “I got $1,000 for winning second place, though, and I will be using it for books for college.”

A panel of lawyers judged the essays and the students authoring the top three essays were invited to attend the Law Day Luncheon.

Barnes was excited to see her results.

“It was a really cool experience getting to hang out and eat with some lawyers from Douglas County,” she said.

BHS teacher Kathleen Sigvaldson was the students’ sponsor for the essay. She was very pleased with their success in a difficult competition.

“I thought they did absolutely fantastic,” she said. “It’s a hard thing to do.”

Story by Myranda Behrens, BHS Journalism

(in photo, Molly Bostwick, above, and Lauren Barnes, below)

As the tournament would go on, it would lead to two Bulldogs playing each other with only the winner advancing to the state tournament. Moore and junior Chris Schrapel (an exchange student from Germany) battled for the sixth place title. Being one round short of qualifying last year, Moore was excited to come back and make it to state his senior year.

“It feels great to make it to state,” Moore said. “It would feel better if I didn’t have to play Chris to make it.”
Moore defeated Schrapel in a match that advanced into a tie breaker.

“Levi was the better player in the tie breaker,” Schrapel said. “It was tough being so close to qualifying then falling short, but I’m really happy for him.”

This will be the first state appearance for both doubles players.

“We still have a little bit to work on so hopefully the weather cooperates so we can get some good practices in before the tournament,” Brown said. “I think it’s awesome we made it to state, it’s a great opportunity.”

Because of weather, the team didn’t have practice Monday night.

“I’m somewhat happy it rained on Monday,” Moore said. “This way our bodies have an extra day of rest to get back to par. We can’t wait to get to state and bring back the title.”

The state tournament has been both an individual and team goal for the season.

“These guys have worked hard to get to this point,” head tennis coach Justin Hoffman said. “A trip to Pratt for the 4A State tournament will be a good experience for them. Levi is culminating his career and Tim and Tucker are going to have the opportunity to compete and prepare for the next season by seeing the level of competition at the State tournament.”

Story by Kenzie Flory, BHS Journalism

(in the photo, Tucker Brown)

Jansen was the top place-winner, earning second in News Writing. Kraus was third in Newspaper Sports Writing and Honorable Mention in Yearbook Sports Writing.

Overall, there were 1,150 entries submitted by 940 students from 109 schools.  Baldwin competed in the 3A/4A division and finished in a tie for 10th overall in Sweepstakes of all the schools in 3A/4A.

Baldwin also had entries in eight other categories that had qualified by placing at the Regional competition in February.

The other state partipants were: junior Ann Wallsmith (Feature Writing and Editing), junior Chelsea Turk (Editorial Writing and Advertising), senior Josh Hanson (Infographics), senior Julie Hill (Editorial Cartoon), senior Taylor Brown (Infographics), and Jansen also competed in Editorial Cartoon.

The journalism adviser is Kit Harris. The journalism class students make up the publication staffs for the Bulldog Bulletin online newspaper and the Pioneer, the school’s annual yearbook.

(in photo, Erin Jansen)

Moore was the only junior player on his team that was selected on his team and he has only been playing for two years.

The team finished 2-2 and ended the season ranked 13th in the nation.

“I did not get to play a lot but when I did, I shot pretty well and overall I had a good tournament,” Moore said.

His favorite part of the entire tournament was experiencing the national tournament for the first time.

He plans to play wheelchair basketball in college and is looking at attending Missouri University.

Story by John Grosdidier, BHS Journalism

Both the Honors World History and 20th Century Wars classes went to learn more about World War One at the nation’s official museum devoted to it.

Normally, the students and teachers would be accompanied by a guide who would take them through the museum, but due to the amount of visitors that day, the BHS group had a special experience.

“When we have gone there before, we have had a guide, but this time the director of the museum actually came and took us around,” 20th Century Wars teacher Bob Martin said. “One thing you lose without a guide is the stories that they tell, but we also had more time to explore on our own this way.”

Another special treatment that the BHS group got was the opportunity to tour the archives in the basement of the museum.

Usually closed off to the public, the archives house the artifacts not shown in the exhibits and various research materials.

“I think the students were very interested and enjoyed it a lot,” Martin said.

Story by Ann Wallsmith, BHS Journalism

“We all worked really hard this year to be successful in this play,” junior Stephanie Minor said. “I think it went really well.”

Spectators at the play agreed with Minor.

“The play started out kind of slow but it picked up and was very entertaining,” senior Jennifer Katzer said.

Director Catherine Lewis noticed the audience’s appreciation for the play and was pleased with her cast.

“Out audiences both nights were laughing and enjoying themselves which feels pretty great to the people on stage,” she said. “It was wonderful to see the cast and crew’s hard work and dedication rewarded by two successful performances.”

Story by Myranda Behrens, BHS Journalism

“Being a KSHSAA representative Ali will acquire more leadership and teamwork skills and most importantly she will be given a voice to represent the state,” athletic director Gary Stevanus said.

Ali will go to meetings two times a year and get to express opinion relative to KSHSAA activities, rules and policies.

“It is a great opportunity for Ali and for the school to be represented by her,” counselor Melody Hoffsommer said.

Ali’s father, Mike Berg, is a physical education teacher as well as the head football coach for BHS.

“I’m very proud of Ali. She spent a lot of time thinking about what to write for the essay part of her application. This is a huge honor for her and I know she will take her job seriously,” Mike said. “I hope this experience helps her understand what the Kansas High School Activities Association does for the students of Kansas. Alison needs to be the voice of the students of Kansas.”

Ali is excited about the experience ahead of her.

“It was a great honor to be elected to represent our school and state for the next two years,” Ali said.

Story by Kendra Hedges, BHS Journalism

First-place winners were seniors Josh Hanson (Infographics) and Brandon Kraus (Newspaper Sports Writing).

Second-place winners were Kraus (Yearbook Sports Writing) and juniors Ann Wallsmith (Editing and Feature Writing), Chelsea Turk (Advertising), and Erin Jansen (Editorial Cartoon).

Earning Honorable Mention were Jansen (News Writing), Turk (Editorial Writing), and seniors Taylor Brown (Infographics) and Julie Hill (Editorial Cartoon).

The placing entries in each category qualify for the State competition to be held in Lawrence at the University of Kansas on Saturday, May 1.

Baldwin ranked third out of all the 3A-4A schools participating. KC-Piper had the most, followed by Silver Lake.

The BHS Journalism adviser is Kit Harris.