This year’s senior class has had the pleasure of experiencing some exciting times for this school’s athletic programs, and hopefully it will only get better going forward.

Four years ago, us soon-to-be graduates were filing into a brand new Lazier Field for the first-ever Friday night football game in the new stadium. This has been a major part of the change here at ETHS, showing how the school has invested a lot in top-of-the-line facilities for its teams.

Nowadays, it seems amazing we ever got by without Lazier Field here. The turf field hosts multiple varsity teams’ home games throughout the year–not just football. Other programs come in and use the field, too. It has been huge for attendance, revenue, and promotion of Evanston athletics.

Along with the new field and a redesigned court in Beardsley Gym was the complete makeover the field house underwent last summer. The new blue ground also serves many school programs for both games and practices. All in all, the athletic facilities are in great shape here at ETHS and they are doing good things for the teams.

Of course, these facilities are best used if our teams are having success on them, and success is on the rise for Evanston’s sports teams.

Over the past couple years, we’ve seen new coaches come in for football, boys and girls basketball, girls soccer, and other sports, and these programs are vastly improving. In our time at ETHS, we’ve had some memorable runs.

The football program is back to being a contender, having made the playoffs the last couple seasons after a long drought. Last year, the boys basketball team made an electric playoff run before being bounced in the super-sectionals by juggernaut Simeon. This year, the female hoopers responded with a super-sectional run of their own in just the second season of coach Elliot Whitefield’s reign.

With strong feeder program ties, good coaching, and great facilities, things are looking good for Evanston sports. The past four years have been good, but the next four will be even better. It’s great to see these programs moving in the right direction, and hopefully some state championships are on the way before long. You wouldn’t catch me betting against it.

Evanston started their incredible season with a 15-game winning streak that was made possible through their defensive pressure and guard play from senior Erin Boothe and juniors Seara and Sierra Clayborn.

Over the Christmas break at the Dundee-Crown Tournament, they won their first two matchups and then dropped two in a row against Naperville Central (32-55) and Fenwick in a close game (71-75).

Evanston finished the regular season 8-1 in the conference standings, with their only defeat coming against Maine South. They opened up the post-season hosting Lincoln Park at Regionals in a landslide victory 75-34, as well as another blowout against Maine East. Evanston captured their first regional championship since 2008.

The battle-tested Kits were shooting lights out in the Maine South game, forcing their opponent to struggle defensively. Evanston won 54-42, and earned their first Sectional title in over a decade.

The team’s goal of a state tournament bid fell short as they lost to Rolling Meadows in a crushing 34-51 defeat in the super sectionals. However, the Kits continue to be recognized by our school and the Evanston community.

Whitefield was honored by the Illinois High School Coaches Association receiving the award for Coach of the Year. “It’s nice to be recognized and respected for the accomplishments.” he said.

Whether they’re at the movies, or the coach’s son’s bar mitzvah, the girls were more than a team: they had become a family. If they weren’t at practice running drills, they were spending time with each other.

Whitefield leaves this message for his seniors: “To Sierra, Khadean, Alecia, Gabby and Erin; it’s been an honor coaching you girls at Evanston. I will miss you all very much. No matter where you go and what you do, I’ll always be Coach Whitey to you.”

Flipping through the pages of the Aprill 22 issue of Sports Illustrated, you might have seen a familiar face.

The magazine featured senior Tiaira Scott in their “Faces in the Crowd” section after she wrestled her way to a title in the 198-pound junior class at the USAW Girls Folkstyle National Championship, a goal of Scott’s since freshman year.

“After the nationals in Michigan my freshman year, I took eighth,” said Scott. “I wasn’t satisfied, so I made a list of goals. I wrote national champ on the paper, so that I could see it when I woke up and never forget what my goal was.”

That being said, winning didn’t always come easy for Scott. Scott came to ETHS as an out of shape, 259 lb. freshman. She finished her freshman campaign going 6-8 on the year.

“I knew that there was a lot of room for improvement,” commented Scott.

And improve she did.

Scott worked her way to become a starter on the ETHS team, which truly set her apart from her female competition.

“Tiaira endured four years of wrestling with boys,” said coach Rudy Salinas. “This separated her from the girls she wrestled. I don’t know if any of those girls started over boys on their school’s team.”

Being a woman in a sport typically associated with men, Scott certainly faced tough gender discrimination in her years here at ETHS.

“I was selling tickets for nationals last summer,” explained Scott. “I went to this guy and he was like, ‘no, I don’t support women’s wrestling’ and closed the door. I went in the house and cried because that really hurt that certain people didn’t support me.”

Moving forward, Scott expects her wrestling career to continue. In fact, Scott hopes to hit the mats during the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

“I plan on wrestling in college. I’m still deciding on the school,” added Scott. “I can’t see my life without wrestling in the future.

He’s six and a half feet tall and weighs 220 pounds. Senior Nevin Cunningham has only been rowing for a little over a year, yet his talents have been impressive enough to allow him to continue the sport at Dartmouth College in the fall.

Though Cunningham’s talents as a rower were clear from an early point in his career, he was the one to contact Dartmouth’s coach in order to meet with him. After being invited to the team’s boathouse once, Cunningham would return to Dartmouth for an official visit in the fall of 2012, where he expressed his interest in joining the team and attending Dartmouth.

“I called the coach of Dartmouth and told him that Hanover, New Hampshire is where I want to call my home for the next four years,” said Cunningham.

“I’m most excited to meet new people both from Ecuador and the US. There will be other people from all over America on the trip with me that I’ll get to go through training with and see a few times throughout the year,” says Libby.

She leaves in August and comes back in April. Libby wants to make lasting relationships and become more fluent in Spanish. Her biggest fear is being away from her friends and family, but communication will relatively easy through Facebook and Skype.

“I’m also nervous for the unexpected,” says Libby. “There’s going to be tons of new and crazy things thrown at me everyday that there’s no way to prepare for.”

So the benefits outweigh the risks undoubtedly, she concludes, and she looks forward to next year.

Adam Rubman, senior, deferred his acceptance to Tulane University in order to travel to Central America and become fluent in Spanish. He is traveling with Koren Fowler and Ben Bleier, two other ETHS seniors, to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

In Nicaragua, their first destination, they will spend a month immersing themselves in Spanish language when they attend a Nicaraguan school. Then they will travel from hostel to hostel visiting the best sites Costa Rica has to offer. One thing Adam is most excited for is an ecolodge just over a mile from the base of the Arenal Volcano. This is the only hotel located in Arenal Volcano National Park.

After Costa Rica, they travel to Panama, where they will research primates and forest conservation in a sanctuary within the fractured Panama rain forest. This is the last leg of the trip for Adam, who will return home right before Christmas, but Ben and Koren will go on to South America.

The boys are exploring Central America and learning to travel on their own.  “I hope to return with more skills and a better drive to learn,” says Adam.

Jack McCarthy

Jack McCarthy will be taking his studies to

Germany in a yearlong study abroad program.

“Since I’ve been taking German for your years at the high school it just seemed like the natural

progression to fully immerse myself in the language.”

Shannon Ellis

Shannon Ellis will spend one semester

backpacking, canoeing, and rock-climbing through the Southwest, and a second semester working on an animal conservation farm in Thailand.

“I’m going to learn about all the rich history the states have to offer,” says Shannon. “The other part of what I’ll be doing is staying with animals, helping in the farms, and educating community members about the notorious mistreatment of animals.”

“I am leaving because this is an opportunity for me to test my philosophies about education in an environment that I can help create,” explained Blades.  He quickly added, “as opposed to having to patch things together in an already established environment.”

Blades’s position as a master teacher at Instrinsic Schools would be the equivalent to a department chair who teaches students.

“The school is starting from scratch and the goal of the school is to create more independent learners through project-based learning and technology,” he said.

The curriculum will be more of an integrated humanities curriculum. The classes will be composed of a large number of students where an English, Art and History teacher will accompany the students for two-hour block periods everyday.

English teacher Hilda Raisner said, “We are all excited that he is going off to a charter school where the curriculum is project based and all collaborative through group learning.”  Raisner also said Blades has been a mentor to her during her time at ETHS.

“I’ll miss how he has this dry sense of humor,” said Xena Becker, senior, who had Blades for 3 AP English. “He’s a really awesome person.”

Senior Molly Sevcik also had Blades for 3 AP English and felt the class, because of Blades’s teaching, was very rewarding.

“Mr. Blades’s personalized teaching style made me think about how much I could learn in one English class,” she said.

Becker really enjoyed Blades’s somewhat indirect style of teaching. “He taught us the value in looking at things in a non-traditional way,” she said.

“I will miss the community most as I have been a close member of the community for many years,” said Blades. “I will miss the stability that Evanston has given me.”

Thinking back on his many years at ETHS, Blades has had many great moments but he described one experience as being one that he’d miss the most.

“The feeling of returning here as a teacher after going to school here, and all the memories that got stirred up,” explained Blades. “It makes you feel like you’re part of a long history and tradition.”

Fodor helped improve the music department by expanding the band program and giving students opportunities like learning from guest artists. He has also helped by bringing in new technology for the band program with the school.

“The school wanted the music program to blossom,” says Fodor. “The administration has been supportive of growth and trying new things.”

At ETHS, Fodor has created a lot of memories. He remembers performing at Disney World and seeing the students experience performing for 25,000 people. He also has memories of the band playing in Switzerland at the Montreux concert and in Italy for the Umbria concert.

“Lately, every band moment has been a memorable moment. I’m trying to savor the memories,” he explains. “The experiences were wonderful. ETHS was and is a great place to teach.”

Fodor is a percussionist who started out early, and even though he explored other school activities, he found that band was what he enjoyed the most. His parents supported him in his endeavor to pursue music.

“One thing they said was, you really need to follow your passion,” he explains.  “My parents were helpful in that regard. My mother had a musical background.”

Fodor has known what he has wanted to do since he was a kid and has brought that enthusiasm to Evanston.

“I consider myself sort of unusual. I knew in eighth grade this was something I wanted to do,” says Fodor. “I knew I enjoyed it and I had great mentors.”

He received his first job at a grade school called Herscher.  “My first job was teaching five to 12 [grades] music. I ran my own grade school program and was an assistant at the high school,” says Fodor.

After Herscher, Fodor went to WIU for his degrees in percussion and was hired as Assistant Director for concert, marching, and jazz band.  After he completed his degree, he came to Evanston.

Fodor received a job at one of the local middle schools before ETHS.

“My wife and I were living in the area getting our PhD degrees,” says Fodor. “I was actually hired by Nichols Middle School, but then I got a call for an interview. It [ETHS] was a better fit for me.”

When he leaves, Matthew Bufis and Michael Lehman will be taking over. Even though Fodor is leaving, he will continue his music.

“I plan to continue being a conductor and definitely a performer. I want to get back to composing. I also have an idea for a book that I would like to write about teaching jazz. I’ll be visiting my grown boys more and will be spending more time with my wife,” says Fodor.

Many, including those whom he has taught and encouraged will miss Fodor.

“Dr. Fodor is probably the most hard working teacher at the school. I feel like I am always in the band room but when I think about it, he has to be there before and after all of us leave,” says Erin Reifler, senior, who is taught by Fodor. “He is also an inspiring musician and has done so much to expose us to all types of music. I couldn’t imagine a better musical experience than the one Dr. Fodor gave me, and he will definitely be missed next year.”

If you peaked in high school, I feel bad for you.

We all enjoyed the time we spent together in high school, but the upcoming years should be even better.

It’s important to look forward to that time when we can watch our children attend ETHS and enjoy adulthood.

Every moment should be gratifying, but no moment is worth exploiting to the extent that it will ruin our futures.

There is so much more to life than these short four years we have spent together. High school is only a transitional period between childhood and adulthood. It is a time to prepare for the future, and it definitely should not be the highlight of our lives.

Even college is not the time to peak. Of course there is nothing wrong with having fun in college, but if that fun gets in the way of being successful later in life, there is a problem. Drinking yourself to oblivion for four years is not worth flunking out of college and not getting a job.

There is no denying that, at times, it is necessary to live in the now and enjoy the moment. I am not going to pretend like I have never done something that might jeopardize my future just so I could have fun.

But in the end, we need to focus now to improve our future.

All of us need to focus on our education and studies and not just the fun of high school and college. We all need to develop the skill to balance our social lives and school lives.

If we do not care about jeopardizing our own futures, we should at least think of the people our actions might affect. Peaking in high school does not only hurt ourselves, but can hurt the people around us too.

For example, being caught drinking can jeopardize our sports teams ability to be successful.

This great adventure we call high school is coming to an end, but do not despair. The most important part of our lives is still ahead and things should only be getting better from here.

Life is a rising hill, and all we can do is enjoy the ride up and make sure not to fall down in the process.

Between 1997 and 2007, the cost of attending college grew an outstanding 80%. The average student accumulates $25,000 in debt by the time he or she graduates. This should not come as a shock, as many of the nation’s most prestigious schools cost over $50,000 per year, not including books, housing, and meal plans.

So why is college tuition so expensive now? The answer is simple: because we keep paying. Today, American society believes that if one wishes to be financially stable throughout life, a college degree is a must. This means that more people are applying to colleges than ever before, according to The New York Times. The demand for a higher education is enormous, and these institutions can charge ridiculous sums of money as a result.

In attempts to solve this problem, the American government has offered subsidies to low income students in the form of federal student loans. In fact, over the past three decades, financial aid has skyrocketed a whopping 438%.

Loans may seem like an appropriate solution to the issue, but ironically, these subsidies simply perpetuate the problem. With more and more low income students getting the opportunity to attend college, the demand for college education rises even more, allowing the institutions to raise their tuition further.

A large part of the problem can be attributed to reckless spending as well. It has now become necessary to have a state of the art training facility on campus, equipped with climbing walls, pools, spas, etc, if a college wants to remain competitive in attracting students. Irresponsible spending on these non-crucial aspects of college make it a nightmare for those low-income students who wish to receive a higher education.

A higher tuition cost might be a sacrifice we should be willing to make if more people were getting higher paying jobs, but that isn’t happening. According to the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, 48% of college graduates hold jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Having waves of college educated students drowning in debt, without jobs available to relieve them of that debt helps no one.

Many choose to view college tuition as an investment, a down payment of money and time that will eventually lead to further riches. Unfortunately, the rewards of this investment are waning while the cost increases. It is sad that our society views this risky “investment” as the only viable path to success. Four years of work experience could do more for you than four years of higher education when it comes to learning how to make money, and you would be getting paid for it.

In order to fix this problem, we have to realize that the cost of college is dependent on us. Right now, we put up with paying extreme prices for an education that many of us do not need. Not all of us are going to be doctors, lawyers, or CEOs and the skills we learn from college may not be worth the $25,000 in debt we would face.

If our society could learn to appreciate work experience, and care a bit less about the prestige of a college degree, we may see a generation of prepared workers who didn’t spend much to receive their training.

As an award winning school, we expect nothing less. As the year comes to a close, we would like to reflect on the, well, unique lessons that ETHS has taught us that aren’t in the curriculum.

1. Don’t miss more than eight days of anything. If you do, beware. All your work will become defunct. But be sure to miss exactly eight days; you wouldn’t want to let all of those pre-approved vacation days go to waste.

2. You can walk through a restricted area undisturbed. For those who have yet to discover the secret, we’ll give you a hint: walk tall with a purpose, make fearless eye contact, smile and, who are we kidding, it helps to be a white girl.

3. The only word that starts with “R” that is worth knowing is respect. Just look at the schools new mantra, the three Rs, “respect for self, respect for others, and respect for community.” Who needs synonyms or a dictionary? Vocabulary is so overrated anyway.

4. Anything you write should have three points and five paragraphs. Don’t worry. All of those essays have not been in vain because, as the Class of 2013 can tell you, by your senior year you will have learned that in the real world you need to have exactly three reasons -no more, no less- for believing each of your opinions.

We at the Evanstonian urge the Class of 2013, and everyone else, to appreciate the things ETHS has taught you, whether conventional or not. While which lessons you deem legitimate are up to you, we have had the blessing of receiving a uniquely E-town experience. It just goes to show that you can learn a lot more than you are taught.