12
The Bear
CJU45 prepares for show choir season
Nora Ziehr
Staff Writer
As students get into semester
two, the show choir season is ready to
commence! This is CJU45’s 23rd show
choir season and Christopher Reed’s 24th
year as music director at West Branch.
“For this year's show, I wanted
to do something rugged and adventurous.
That got me thinking about a show based
on Indiana Jones movies. In speaking
with our choreographer, he suggested that
we base the show on a safari in the jun-
gles of Africa. I thought that sounded
great so we started designing a show with
that concept in mind.” said Chris Reed.
This year’s jungle-themed show
is very popular among the members of
CJU45. “I think that our theme this year
is definitely the best since I've been in
show choir. I think it's simple and cre-
ative at the same time, and we're able to
do so much fun jungle-y things to make
our show extra special.” said junior
Olivia Naber.
Many returning CJU45
members are very excited about the com-
petition season because of how much
progress they have made on this year’s
show, unlike previous years. “Compared
to last year, we are extremely ahead in
our season as far as the show goes. We
have our whole show down pat, and vo-
cals are getting their finishing touches.
We are in excellent shape for the
season ahead of us.” said junior Ashlynn
Nash.
Out of all the members of
Boys perform “Jungle Love” at SNJ.
Photo contributed by Jeff Waller
CJU45 performs “Welcome to the Jun-
gle.” Photo contributed by Tracy Schutte
NHS sells flowers for Valentine’s Day Newspaper Throwbacks
Miley Shields
Staff Writer
Leading up to February 14th
NHS fundraises for local charities by giv-
ing students the option to purchase
flowers for other students, staff, or for
people at home on Valentine's day. Each
flower was $2 and was handed out during
IS on the 14th of February.
NHS head, Kristen Westpheling
said, “There is a committee that puts to-
gether the event, but mostly we just reuse
things from year to year. It was nice that
we were able to work with the local flo-
rist this year. Most of the work is done
the day before/of Valentine's Day. We
have to print and write out notes for
every flower and then sort them into IS
groups before delivering the day of.”
After being asked about what all goes
into making it happen. Along with West-
pheling, there is a main committee that
consists of Katey Noble, Jade Gongora,
Robotics Iowa Regional Competition Preview
Keaton Norfleet
Staff Writer
On Wednesday, March 22,
2023, the West Branch FIRST Robotics
team, 5041 Cybear Robotics, will travel
to Cedar Falls and the University of
Northern Iowa for a three-day regional
competition.
The Cybears will leave a day
before the competition and set up their pit
in the UNI Dome. Afterward, the team
will check into a hotel.
The first day of the event will
hold opening ceremonies, a safety meet-
ing between all safety captains, robot in-
spection checks, and bumper checks. The
rest of the day will be practice matches
Michael V. Sexton, CLU,
ChFC, AFIS
112 W Main St, West Branch, IA
319.643.4128
agentmichaelsexton.com
Farm Bureau Property & Casualty Insurance Company,* Western Agricultural Insurance Company,* Farm Bureau Life
Insurance Company*/West Des Moines, IA. *Company providers of Farm Bureau Financial Services. PR-SM-A (9-22)
Clubs & Orgs.
February 16, 2023
CJU45 this year, almost 50% are brand the day roughly 3,000 people, between
new to show choir at the high school family members and show choir
level. Roughly 34% are freshmen. “I members, visited West Branch.
joined because I love listening to them
during performances and I've been told it have no idea how this building will hold
is really fun to be a
part of.” said fresh-
man Kellen Dyk-
stra. “I heard that it
was really fun and I
wanted to try some-
thing new. I abso-
lutely LOVE it. I
am most looking
forward to all our
performances.”
said senior ex-
change student Tess
Hammar.
Unlike
most show choirs
across the state,
CJU’s first compe-
tition of the season
was not one that
they got to perform
in, but one that they
hosted. Saturday
Night Jive is the an-
nual show choir
competition hosted Nolan Staker sings solo at SNJ. Photo con- total
by West Branch tributed by Tracy Schutte
and this year it was
bigger than ever.
With 11 total schools in attendance and sion, three were in the 3a division, two
14 total show choirs performing, the were in the 2a division, and three were in
place was packed. Over 1,000 show choir the prep division.
members were present and throughout
CJU45 performs opening song, “Destination
Unknown .” Photo contributed by Tracy Schutte
Diego Carrillo sings solo at SNJ. Photo
contributed by Tracy Schutte
and Philip Macgillivary.
NHS has decided to go to the
new Iris and Ivy as their florist this year,
a local flower shop. All of the flower or-
ders this year had to be submitted by Feb-
ruary 1st. NHS has been doing this for
three years now starting in 2021, in pre-
vious years they have raised a total of
$700 and sold 350 flowers they hope to
increase that number in time having this
fundraising opportunity.
Not just the people receiving
flowers have fun with it, main committee
member Katey Noble said “Yes, I enjoy
it. It can be a little stressful getting every-
thing done on time, but overall I'm glad
with the way things are going now and
I'm hopeful that everything goes to plan.”
the flowers are a fun way that students
and staff can show their appreciation for
each other and a great way to start the
new semester and bring everyone to-
gether.
to prepare teams for the following two
days.
In a robot match, six teams and
their robots will be put on the game field,
three teams will be put on the red alli-
ance, and the other three teams will be
put on the blue alliance. Teams will
change their robot’s bumpers according
to the alliance they are on.
When the match starts, for the
first fifteen seconds of the match, robots
are autonomous, meaning that pre-built
code will control the robot, without guid-
ance from the drive team. During the re-
maining two minutes and fifteen seconds,
robots are controlled by the drive team.
Many FRC teams also send out
their scouts, who are responsible for trav-
“I am scared to death because I
the number of
people attend-
ing SNJ this
year. Otherwise,
I believe every-
thing else, that
is in our control,
will go ex-
tremely well
due to the lead-
ership of Matt
Hills and all the
SNJ chairs as
well as the
months of plan-
ning that went
into hosting this
event. For that, I
feel extremely
thankful and
blessed to be
surrounded by
such amazing
people!”
Out of the 14
show
choirs that at-
tended, six were
in the 4a divi-
The choirs to make finals were:
Girls sing “Wild Things” at SNJ.
Photo contributed by Jeff Waller
CJU45performstheirclosingsong,“BacktoOur
Home.” Picture contributed by Tracy Schutte
Issue: Vol. 12 No. 6
Page: 2
Date: May 15, 2008
Story: Students angry over coach’s inap-
propriate posts about West Liberty girl’s
soccer team
From 2005-2008 the West Lib-
erty girls’ soccer team had not won a sin-
gle game and had become notorious for
it. The former head coach of the team,
Mike Ose, created a blog on
blogspot.com ranting about the current
state of his team. He was furious with
many of the girls on the team which in-
cluded several west branch high school
students. Ose went on to say that there
should be a record for most losses as the
team had lost 37 consecutive games and
3 winless seasons. Ose said, “ Doesn’t
that have to be some sort of record? want
some sort of recognition for this.” They
won their first game of the season under
the head coach against Mid-Prairie.
eling around to other pits and asking
questions about other teams’ robots. The
second day will start the qualification
matches, where teams will receive points
and placements for each round.
Teams will be given a schedule, and are
expected to queue before each match
they participate in.
Day two is also a day for teams
to work out any problems that may arise
throughout the day.
Day three holds the last of the
qualification matches before moving on
to team alliances. At this time, specifi-
cally chosen teams will ask other teams
if they want to join an alliance with them.
Afterward, finals will be held to deter-
mine the state champion.
The Ambassadors (Prairie High School),
1st place; Side One (Indianola High
School), 2nd place; New Creation (Mar-
ion High School) 3rd place; Limited
Edition (Tomah High School), In Step
(Linn-Mar High School), and 5th Avenue
(Western Dubuque High School).
On Monday, January 31, CJU45
traveled to Keota High School to partici-
pate in the State Show Choir Festival.
Unlike a regular show choir competition,
the show choirs aren’t competing against
other show choirs, but performing for a
rating (one being the best, five being the
worst). CJU45 received a superior I.
“Congratulations to CJU45 on
an outstanding day at Mt. Pleasant's
Show Choir Competition [on Feb. 4].
CJU45 kept their 4-year undefeated
streak alive of placing 1st in Class 2A. In
addition, they scored high enough to
make the cut of the top six show choirs
to perform and compete in the evening fi-
nals. To make the evening finals, they
had to beat four 4A show choirs, four 3A
show choirs, and the other two 2A show
choirs. In the evening finals, they placed
5th out of 6! CJU45 was competing
against schools that are up to 700%
bigger than WBHS. I'm so proud of all of
you!!” said Reed.
On the upcoming schedule for
CJU45 are four competitions. They will
travel to Pella on Feb. 18th, Marion on
Feb. 25th, and Fort Madison on March
4th.
Philip MacGillivray sings solo at SNJ.
Photo contributed by Tracy Schutte
CJU45 continues to perform “Destination Un-
known.” Photo contributed by Tracy Schutte
Issue: Vol 12. No. 6
Page: 4
Date: February 7, 2008
Story: Cheating prevalent among high
school students
With the rise of students having cell-
phones in 2008, the new technology
opened more than just talking to friends.
Over 97 percent of girls and 91 percent
of boys admitted to cheating. With the
rise of mobile phones, the teachers began
to realize how students were cheating,
and cell phones were not allowed in the
rooms at all. Realizing they couldn’t
cheat with cell phones during class, stu-
dents waited until they could leave the
classroom to look up the answers and re-
turn with them all memorized. Many stu-
dents completely did not go to class on
test days to avoid taking it. The students
would finally end up going to the class
after they were ready. There was also
conflict between students where students
who cheated refused others to cheat off
of them causing students to argue.
On Saturday, March 25th, the
Cybears will return to West Branch.
The team consists of an impressive
twenty-five members including freshmen
Logan Heick, Ryan Lukavsky, Carter He-
trick, Ewan Arlen, Aizlyn Marsh, Rey
Watt, and Wyatt Chapman. Sophomores
Zebulyn Brown, Keaton Norfleet, Seth
Cantrell, Caleb Reardon, William Hayes,
Elliot Hinkhouse, Zayden Waite, Katey
Lenoch, Eli Hansen, Dawn Johnson, and
Kayla Garrett. Junior Jade Gongora. Sen-
iors, Cole Cantrell, Lukas Guetzko,
Izaiah Hansen, Kyra Robinson, and
Hunter Niles. Along with honorary
member Eli Garrett, who is in seventh
grade.