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| News February 2002, Volume 5, No. 5 |
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Questions? Comments? Tell us what you think!
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Student to compete in dancing world championships
By Shannon P.
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| Seventh grader, Kaitlyn L., poses with her father in her performance costume. | |
Kaitlyn has been dancing since she was five. She started off at a dancing school called Mullane. Then she transferred to the famous Trinity Dance Academy, and she has been there ever since.
Kaitlyn usually practices twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Her practices last for two and a half hours. Sometimes, Katie also practices on Wednesdays for two and a half hours.
She commented, "I dance because I love dancing! I have a lot of fun doing it. I love talking to my friends, and I like to compete."
Kaitlyn has been in many dance competitions, so many in fact that she can't remember how many. She said that on average, she dances in seven to ten competitions a year.
At competitions in the past, Katie has received trophies, medals, Irish Crystals, ribbons, and awards.
Kaitlyn does many things at her practices. She explained, "first we first do warm-ups. Then we take turns performing in front of our teachers and we get graded on our progress and how well we perform.
Then we learn new steps. And after we get the hang of the new steps, we start performing them in front of mirrors so that we can see how well we perform."
Kaitlyn says she likes competitions a lot, but she sometimes gets "butterflies in her stomach" prior to her performance.
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“Competitions are very exciting, but they’re also very scary at times!” |
When you perform, you perform with another dancer, but you aren't doing the same dance. They just do that so the competition runs faster.
When you finish your routine, you get judged on how well you performed. Then after everyone has gone, if you performed well enough, you get a recall (which is a call back).
At the very end of the competition, the dancers get placed. Katie said, "Competitions are very exciting, but they're also very scary at times!"
Kaitlyn qualified for the World Championship at her big competition, called the Oireachtas, over Thanksgiving break. She placed fourth, which qualified her to attend the World Championships, which will be held on March 25.
She is flying to Dublin, Ireland, then on to dance in Scotland. Kaitlyn's friends and family will no doubt be cheering her on next month.
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New Spanish teacher hired
Mr. Mathelier has a passion for teaching and a love of soccer
By Steve G.
News editor
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| New Spanish and World Cultures teacher Mr. Mathelier works with eighth grade students, Bobby G., Nick T. and Dana D. | |
He earned his bachelor's degree in English at Bishop's University in Lenoxville, Québec, Canada.
When interviewed, Mr. Mathelier commented, "so far, from what I've seen, the town of Itasca is a very nice quaint town. The children here are fantastic thus far."
He has taught in two high schools and at St. Xavier University. Mr. Mathelier decided to teach at Peacock when he was looking on the Internet for foreign language teaching and found Peacock Middle School.
He said, "I became a teacher because I love school and the passion of learning. I want to communicate the same passion to the students at Peacock."
Mr. Mathelier wants his Spanish class to create a weather report in Spanish. He also wants to bring the world cultures class up to do a segment on Russia.
Outside of school, Mr. Mathelier has many interests. As for music, he really likes radio stations B96, Q101, and XRTbasically rock, rap, dance music, and hip-hop.
Mr. Mathelier is a big soccer fan. He even attended the World Cup matches in 1994! He plays soccer at the Odeum in Villa Park on the weekends.
A soccer player at St. Ignatius College Prep High School, Mr. Mathelier hopes to eventually start a soccer team here at Peacock.
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More than half the CDs are sold
By Lyndsey M.
Features editor
United We Stand CD sales are off to a very strong start. Overall, 800 out of 1500 CDs have been sold. About seven thousand dollars has been raised. This is much more than sixth grade math teacher Mr. Behrendt, who helped put together the CD, and the school board, who donated money to produce it, predicted.
Although the sales have been great, the school board still hopes to sell the remaining 600 CDs. If all the CDs are sold, the district will have raised $12,000 to donate.
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All the money will go to a fund that benefits children. |
All the money will go to a fund that benefits children. The school board isn't sure which children's fund yet.
One of the benefits of this decision is that children will be helping children and the students feel good that they are helping people their own age.
If you are interested in the CD, you should act fast. After those 600 are gone, no more will be produced.
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Students show their stuff at science fair
By Kaitlyn L.
If past years are any indication, many students and their families will attend the 2002 District Ten Science Fair tomorrow.
According to seventh and sixth grade science teachers, Mr. Larsen and Mr. Koenig, the Science Fair is where students who are interested in science have an opportunity to show their interests outside of school.
Mr. Larsen basically stated that it's a time to "show your stuff."
Mr. Koenig said that about thirty students will be entering the Science Fair this year at the middle school level.
Mr. Koenig admitted that there were not as many participants this year as there have been in previous years.
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Mr. Koenig admitted that there were not as many participants this year as there have been in previous years. |
Mr. Koenig explained, for example, that he sometimes supplies students with chemicals and equipment that they need to complete their experiments.
Seventh grader, Kelly P. will present an experiment on how to use action and reaction with rocket ships.
When asked, Kelly commented that she thought she could win the golden test tube because the judges sometime liked to see newer projects.
Kelly said that she was motivated to enter the fair because of the extra credit.
Earning extra credit also motivated Kelly's classmate, Kyle P. to participate.
Kyle's experiment involves frozen food. He wants to see if a food is frozen, will it being frozen affect the taste and affect whether people like it. He thinks that anyone could win the Science Fair.
The Science Fair will be held on February 9, 2002. Everyone is invited to attend.
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