Every Wednesday after school you can find a wide variety of students walking their instruments over to Niles West’s Rock and Roll Club. Typically split up between two classrooms, students break themselves up between the acoustic and electric rooms. The acoustic room has a more relaxed vibe as opposed to the hard rock of the the electric room. Each has their own characteristics that appeals to every student in that room.

The goal of Rock and Roll Club is to provide a sort of community and outlet for Niles West’s own Rock n’ Rollers. Senior Paul Kundzicz, the club’s president, commented on the purpose behind their club.

“The goal behind the club is, at it’s core, to simply unite Rock and Roll players and enthusiasts to play, talk about, discuss, and perform rock music. In doing this, the Rock and Roll club fulfills another greater goal that is to give students today the opportunity the classic experience of being in a high school rock band,” he said.

Unlike in previous years, where all the members were in one classroom together, this year they’ve had to split themselves up due to all the new members that have accumulated. The club was initially started by Spanish teacher David Malatesta, but later on was passed down to the current sponsor and Spanish teacher Steven Lander. The club is now going into its seventh year and has made several improvements along the way.

“We’re in our seventh year and in that time we’ve purchased a drum set and a PA system so we’re able to put songs together,” Lander explained.

Members are able to bring new songs to the table, teach one another new techniques, and bring new music to the table. The club has undoubtedly become a welcoming outlet for many.

“I joined because I like to play music, and I don’t know a lot of people who also play music, so it’s good to know people who enjoy it as well,” freshman Peter Conenna said.

Rock and Roll club has become a community in its own throughout the years.

“Personally, the Rock and Roll club has influenced my high school career by helping me become more organized and reliable to others. Being a part of a band that depends on every one of its members for it’s success sort of forced me to be more dependable to others,” Kundzicz added.

Any and all interested students are welcome to join. Rock and Roll club meets every Wednesday at 3:30 in room 1605.

Ajete Kolari contributed to this article. 

Students from all different art classes at Niles West all come together to create at Art Club, where talented students make all kinds of masterpieces.

Using the seemingly limitless resources given to them, the artists in this club never fail to amaze. Between ceramics, painting, drawing, and more, Art Club is one of the best ways to be creative at Niles West.

“If you love art and you want to be inspired by other people then you should definitely join art club,” said An Luu, a sophomore and member of art club.

One of the biggest changes in art club is the amount of students who are drawing digitally using wacom tablets, a hi-tech drawing tool that lets users draw on the tablet using a stylus, and have the image being drawn show up on a computer monitor.

“There is a big group of kids in there who bring there labtops and their wacom tablets,” said Barbara Wismer, one of the art teachers and the sponsor for art club. “Technology is taking over.”

For the members of Art Club, the welcoming atmosphere is a great way to wind down After nine periods of tests and studying. Between the friendly faces and the resources available to make whatever you want, nothing beats art club for these students.

“You walk around and you see all these amazing drawings and all these artists. Everyone is really friendly, and you can work on whatever you want,” Luu said.

If you are interested in joining Art Club, you can find it every other Wednesday after school from 3:30 – 4:45 in room 1775.

Video by Austin Gonzalez

Every Tuesday the expressions club meet to discuss writing and artwork. It’s a small group of people that share a common interest: Expression through their creations.

“It’s a place for people with creative ideas to express themselves through art and writing, and be able to share it with everyone in the school,” said senior club member Riya Kamat.

Many benefits come with being in a club like this including acquisition of great writing skills. Types of writing practiced in the club range from a wide variety of genres, the most popular being fantasy.

Other activities that Expressions takes place in include organizing contests. They just recently finished up the six word memoir which consisted of students submitting six words that describe them or their life adequately. Plans for a club-run magazine are also taking place.

According to Michele Lewis, club sponsor and English teacher here at West, this club has been here for as long as she can remember. “It’s my 21st year teaching and it’s been here forever,” she said.

Lewis decided to take over the club because she wanted to encourage the arts and young people to express themselves artistically. Before Lewis, English teacher Lisa Denapoli was the sponsor, and before her fellow it was run by English teacher Christy Koulouris.

While Niles West has many clubs and groups that have placed high in competitions, the Robotics/Engineering club is one of the very few that has potential to make it far within the first year of its creation.

Spending as much time as they can on their robots before and after school, the Vex teams strive to build the best machine possible in order to participate in as high of a level of competition as they can.

“We have made it pretty far,” junior Timothy Petroulakis said. “We’ll have to see how we do at state to see if we advance any further.”

Engineering club became Robotics club after the outstanding success of the Niles North Vex Team. Tim Sullivan, the sponsor of the Robotics club, said the club was inspired to start working with vex machines when they heard Niles North made it all the way to nationals after winning state.

“It was a big success for North,” Sullivan explained. “They had a big turnaround this year with it, and it was a huge breakthrough for them. That’s when we realized we have to be doing vex.”

Trying to start on the right foot, the veterans of the club decided at the start of the year the best way to divide up the teams was to make sure each team had both good programmers and good builders, and tried to mix new and experienced members as well.

“The people who have been here for a few years kind of knew each other, but we decided we had to build our groups off our strengths so that we would be able to cover each other’s weaknesses,” Petroulakis added.

Once the teams were set, the members of the club were urged to work their absolute hardest, but also emphasized good sportsmanship.

“If you can get out there and form an alliance with another team going into the finals, you are gonna do so much better,” Sullivan explained. “A lot of that comes from your performance on the field. Not just how well you can perform, but what your sportsmanship is like.”

In school, students become very accustomed to accomplishing tasks on their own. However, while being able to complete an independent project is a great skill, it’s easy to forget how a good team can be faster, smarter, and stronger than an individual. The Niles West Auto Club is a perfect example of a good team, and one would expect nothing less from people who can build a working car from spare parts.

The goal of auto club is to put together the best car possible so that, by the end of the year, it is in good enough condition to race. Now that the competition is just over the horizon, the club is making sure they are as prepared as possible. Timothy Richmond, a teacher at Niles West and the sponsor of auto club, said the students will be working on the car until the minute it hits the tracks.

“We don’t know if everything is working right until we actually do the practice runs down at the track,” Richmond said. “Temperature of the air, the temperature of the track, the tire pressure–these are all things the students have to take into consideration,  and then have to make adjustments for.”

The cars auto club works on are completely student built. While Mr. Richmond does serve as a resource for questions, the club members are the ones who actually get to work on the vehicle.

“I don’t make decisions for them,” Richmond said. “They do all the collecting of data and they figure out what they want to do to try to get the car running.”

Over the years, auto club has become very good at being efficient with their time. This year, they were able to work on two cars rather than just one like in previous years. They have also won numerous competitions, and have even been mentioned in the magazine Popular Mechanics. Auto club grows bigger and stronger every year, and the lessons learned in the club don’t only apply in the classroom. Niles west alum John Wheeler was the president of auto club when they won the national championship, and he says his experience with the club helped him get a job in the field.

“It got me to where I am today,” Wheeler said. “Auto club showed me that if you commit to what you want to do, you’ll never fail.”

Overall, the members of auto club learn just as much as they work. The club will show you how to effectively work with others, as well as everything you need to know about cars. Senior Parsa Hassan said all of the hands on experience during auto club helped him start on his own project car.

“Not many other schools have a racing team,” Hassan said. “Everyone should at least give it a chance.”

Auto club meets after school Mondays and Tuesdays in room 1525. Students need no prior experience to join.

Auditions for Niles West’s a cappella groups are rapidly approaching: trebles and basses on Monday, Aug. 17 at 7:00-8:30 PM and altos and sopranos on Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 6:00-9:00 PM. Packets can be found on the home page of nileswestchoir.com!

If you haven’t heard any of the extracurricular groups perform yet, your ears have been missing out. Every fall, Amy Branahl, director of the choral department, and the directors of the three groups — Guys and Dolls, High Fidelity, and Echo Effect–hold auditions for coveted spots on the talented and welcoming ensembles.

Each group has a different voice arrangement: Echo Effect has basses and tenors, High Fidelity has sopranos and altos, and Guys and Dolls is a co-ed group with all voice parts.

In the past, Niles West a cappella groups have been successful in ICHSA (International Collegiate High School A Cappella) competitions and performed with Grammy-award winning artists, some of whom have been featured on the The Sing-Off, an a cappella competition on NBC.

For anyone looking for a supportive group of friends or a place to progress in musical excellence with others who share the same goals, the a cappella ensembles are arguably the closest-knit and hardest working groups at Niles West.

“It’s one diddly dang fun and amazing experience. You won’t regret all the cherished memories with your new fam,”  junior and member of Guys and Dolls, Jimbo Pestano, said.

As an added bonus, it’s a universally known fact that singing is attractive. “Girls like guy singers,” senior and member of Echo Effect, Brendan Tiongson, said.

Still nervous about auditioning? Every person in the audition room is probably feeling the exact same way. As junior and Guys and Dolls member Deborah Kim said, “It’s always worth a shot and there’s nothing to lose.”

For upperclassmen Deborah and Richmond, who have been in groups since their freshman years, growing up through the program has been life changing in more ways than one.

“Being in an a cappella group is an amazing experience that challenges you as a musician and helps form bonds with those who love to create music,” senior and member of Echo Effect, Richmond Landicho, said.

With her years of experience in music and the fine arts, Branahl has been around to witness scores of singers unlock true strength and confidence through the yearly cycles of a cappella groups. Her mantra that “anyone can learn music” remains ever-present in the encouraging talks she gives to students.

“It’s amazing to see how much work goes into creating one song of music with just all voices, and I think that’s why a freshman or someone brand new to the program should want to audition because it gives them an opportunity to try something new and to get involved in a really cool setting of people who are all working together to put on a great performance,” Branahl said.

For more information on auditions, e-mail Amy Branahl at amybra@d219.org or visit nileswestchoir.com.

NWN reporter Zubair Muhammad sat down with Engineer Club sponsors Brent Garner and Tim Sullivan, for an Q&A interview to gain more information on the club.

NWN: Could you start off telling us a little bit about engineering club?

Garner: The engineering club started about eight or nine years ago and it has since evolved from a club where we use to participate in a thing called “The Rube Goldberg competition,”which was held down at Navy Pier where the students had to go through so many different types of energy transitions to make like a turn on light switch, they would have to start off with a ball rolling and hitting a switch, a car that would ride along, that kind of thing. It evolved as Niles North went into robotics three years ago, we knew that was the direction we had to head. Last year was our first year of doing full robotics and given the fact we didn’t know what to expect we did alright with it. A lot of the credit also goes to Mr. Barton down at Niles North, because he spent a lot of time coaching us, and Mr.Sullivan and I developed the club.

NWN: What’s so special about this years engineering club? Isn’t it usually the same every year?

Sullivan: It’s actually the great thing about engineering club is that it’s different every year. The overall theme maybe the same, but like we’re working with VEX robotics, but that’s literally where the similarities start and end. Teams usually at the end decide that they maybe go their separate ways or form new teams the following year and the challenge is usually different each year. Last year we did a competition called Skyrise and this year we’re doing a competition called “Nothing but Net.”

Garner: VEX changes the nature of the competition every year like Mrs.Sullivan said, last year was Skyrise, this year is “Nothing but Net” and next year we have no idea what their going to do. So what the students have to do to be able to build an effective robot changes from year to year and that’s part of the challenge.

Sullivan: The robot has to be completely different, the programming has to be completely different.

NWN: Besides learning how to put together a robot, what else can be offered or taught to members?

Sullivan: Teamwork, that’s what I think is the number one thing that’s taught in all of this. There are the concrete things about this where you can look at it and say, “Yeah, okay, there’s teamwork, how to build a robot and it was effective and they learned how to program this robot in an effective way,” but then there’s also everything that goes on behind the scenes in a group that could function well and go through the design process and end up with an actual working robot at the end of the day. That’s incredibly important.

NWN: Do you think there are any life skills a student can learn from the club?

Garner: Oh definitely! I mean building a robot is a major challenge, it’s a trial-1 error thing. There are times you just have a great idea and you think it’s gonna work and you implement it and you find it doesn’t work and you were near as well as you thought, so you need to go either back to the drawing board or use the engineering process to go through and figure out what went wrong and how you can you correct it. You also have to work as a team together to come up with a consensus on which way you want to go, how you want to solve the problem.

NWN: What’s the number one reason you would recommend engineering club to a student whether they’re interested in joining or not?

Sullivan: I would say for the dynamic personalities and characteristics that make you successful as a team member in your group. Some people just come to this club and just say, “Oh you’re just building a robot”; it’s like “I don’t want to be building a robot.” There is the teamwork aspect of it, which makes it unique and I think the style of competition on how it’s set up, how you need to arrange alliances and get along with other teams, as well there’s a huge deal of sportsmanship that goes into this competition that I really think is unique and can bring students of any sort of background together.

Garner: There’s also the discipline part to it, because every team needs to have a notebook that they keep record of how they built the robot, and the ideas that went into it on how they need to present a competition, that’s part of their overall score. They learn a lot of different areas of engineering. Also like Mr.Sullivan said it’s about learning to get along with other people and come to your senses. We had two different teams last year that made an alliance and ended up getting to nationals together!

NWN: When does engineering club usually meet and for how long?

Sullivan: We usually meet Tuesdays and Thursday mornings before school and Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school. The morning meetings usually start at 7:15 right up until the bell rings and after school we usually stick around till 6:00.

NWN: Is it too late for a student to become a member of the club even though the first meeting was last week?

Sullivan: Nope. It’s better if they can get in here sooner, but if they still want to join we’re still welcome. There’s usually a team or two that has a spot available and their looking to pick someone up and see what they have to offer to the team.

NWN: Where does the club meet up?

Garner: The engineering lab in room 1520 here at Niles West.

NWN: Before we wrap things up, is their any last piece of information or student opportunities any of you two would like to include?

Garner: I think we covered it in most of the interview, but as Mr. Sullivan said, we’re always welcoming new students and it’s a really good opportunity for students to learn engineering and the problem solving process and it looks good on a college application!

Sullivan: Especially if you can get into some of the big tournaments and win some of those tournaments, I believe you get offered a scholarship when you do well there, and besides earning a scholarship it’s tons of fun!

Niles West is able to boast the fact that they offer over a hundred clubs and organizations to partake in during a student’s four years here. Popular clubs at West are organizations like Dance Marathon, Wolfpack, and Recycling Club. As Activities Fair continues this week, here’s a look at some of the smaller clubs to consider joining:

American Sign Language

What is it?: Want a silent way to communicate with your friends without your teacher knowing? Then ASL is the club for you! Learning this alternative language will make you a well-rounded individual that communicate with a whole new group of people!

Time/Place: Friday – 7:30 A.M. – Room 1225

Sponsor(s): Mrs. Gross

Archery Club

What is it?: Shoot arrows like Katniss and learn this prehistoric sport! Archery club is a good way to let off steam without too much commitment!

Time/Place: Thursday – 3:45 – Room 2316

Sponsor(s): Mrs. Rauf

Astronomy Club

What is it?: Bring out the inner-Galileo in you and come out to our Niles West’s observatory to see a constellation and maybe even Venus!

Time/Place: Friday – check their website for dates/location

Sponsor(s): Mrs. Ramseyer

Bass Fishing Team

What is it?: Want to show up your grandpa on your next fishing trip together? Join Bass Fishing Team and get practicing!

Time/Place: Thursday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 1410.

Sponsor(s): Mr. Campbell, Mr. Barnett, Mr. Pistorius

Chess Team

What is it?: Competitively play this medieval sport with other students. Checkmate.

Time/Place: Monday and Friday – 3:30 pm – Room 3400

Sponsor(s): Mr. Boll, Mr. Faso, and Mr. Prude

Feminism Club

What is it?: Learn how to be a decent human being and join this club that promotes equality of all genders.

Time/Place: Tuesday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 1210

Sponsor(s): Ms. Bills and Mrs. Weatherington

Gardening Club

What is it?: If you like flowers, eating carrots, or having conversations with good people, come join this club!

Time/Place: Thursday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 3330

Sponsor(s): Ms. Hettinger and Mrs. Foley

Mock Trial

What is it?: Lawyers and criminals. This club is a student-run Law and Order episode. You even compete at the state-level.

Time/Place: Monday and Wednesday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 3130

Sponsor(s): Mr. Stanford and Ms. Kanwischer

Model United Nations

What is it?: Represent countries you have never heard or cannot pronounce. Impress your family at the next dinner party with your knowledge on coal production in Sierra Leone.

Time/Place: Monday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 3110

Sponsor(s): Mr. Wiemer

Narwhals Club

What is it?: Friends of the forest and the sea, come clean up the school prairie and make some friends while saving the planet!

Time/Place: Tuesday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 2420

Sponsor(s): Mr. Jodelka

Scholastic Bowl

What is it?: Now you can prove to your parents that being a smart aleck isn’t always a bad thing– you can win awards for it!

Time/Place: Tuesday – 3:30 P.M. – Varsity Room 3220 – Junior Varsity Room 3230

Sponsor(s): Mr. Swider and Mrs. Sosa

Speech Team

What is it?: The number one fear in all Americans is public speaking. Conquer that fear and create beautiful, linguistic works of art!

Time/Place: Tuesdays and Fridays – 3:30 P.M. – Room 3005 & 3015

Sponsor(s): Mr. Metzler

W.H.O Club (West Helps Others)

What is it?: Mahatma Gandhi says, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Why would you question Gandhi? Join W.H.O Club!

Time/Place: Every other Tuesday – 3:30 P.M. – Room 1750

Sponsor(s): Mr. Andrew Johnson

Hopefully, you were able to find at least one club you haven’t heard of before. Make sure to attend one of their meetings– you can’t go wrong with any of them!

Niles West Theatre will present its first show of the year, “Songs for a New World”,  September 11 and 12 at 4:00 and 7:30 PM.

Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Niles West Theatre’s newest challenge features 16 different narratives with each story condensed into approximately 3 minutes. Within 2 acts, 8 different performers play a myriad of roles with no character repeated, only a song per story.

Rather than one major plotline, the musical branches off into the lives of several different characters, all of whom are captured through song at a moment of pivotal importance: a decision that totally affects the outcome of the character’s story.

“You don’t really have one specific character, so you have to find a different character within each piece. Finding a new individual within each song and trying to find out who they are and what they’ve been through in just one song will be a challenge,” junior and cast member Stephanie Gubin, said.

As always, the company wants the audience to leave the theater with a little piece of the show.

“The entire show is about the choices you make in life and how one choice can change everything about who you are and what you’re doing. Hopefully, after audience members see the show, they’ll reevaluate their own lives and own choices. Because there are so many story arcs within the musical, at least one will resonate with each person. That’s what I think is the best part of having so many different storylines in one show– it gives the audience so much more to connect with,” sophomore and cast member Sarah Zasso, said.

“Songs for a New World” is different from the conventional musical in more ways than one: in addition to its lack of a central story, most– if not all– of  the show will be performed through song. While theatrical in style, “Songs” abandons the archetypical dialogue/music combo and instead is “like a musical theatre concert,” as senior and sound lead Asha Lodhia, likes to call it.

But don’t let that put you off from seeing it; with the intricate harmonies and musical stylings of famed composer Jason Robert Brown, the sound of Niles West’s thespians on stage will be sure to play your heart’s strings. Sophomore and cast member Anthony Saldana wants the audience to “leave with a sense of ‘wow, what did I just watch? That was beautiful.’”

With the beauty of the show also comes the enormous responsibility that is given to the students involved. “Songs for a New World” is this year’s Thespian-exclusive production, meaning that the entire company is composed of members of Niles West’s Thespian Honor Society. All of the shows at Niles West are student-built, but Thespian shows take that principle to a whole new level by giving students the freedom to design every aspect of the show– from costumes, to lights, to sound, set, and some directing.

“I think [Thespian shows] are important because they allow our most dedicated students a chance to tackle difficult texts and more challenging positions…we should have some area where the creme of our department gets to showcase their talents in a difficult and challenging production,” director Andrew Sinclair said.

“Songs for a New World” has already been casted and will be showing starting early September, but if you are interested in being involved with the program, the next show will be “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with auditions on September 1st and callbacks on September 2nd.

The difference between a good school day and a bad school day oftentimes depends on the number of strung-together positive moments in between the average. Those moments might include a perfectly well-placed high-five from a friend before 4th period or an extra scoop of hash browns during the free breakfast before school. Susan Schram, teacher of AP environmental science (APES),  has been a positive moment in all of her students’ lives since she came to Niles West many eons ago.

“She sends us a lot of positive energy, making our mornings bright,” senior David Bittar said.

From her clever in-class jokes about babies (“alright, class, let’s make like a baby and head out!”) to her passion for the environment and all of its (non-invasive) species, Mrs. Schram makes her class an encouraging space where students learn beneficial knowledge about the world and their places in it.

“Mrs. Schram teaches in an intuitive and engaging way that makes for as little book work as possible and teaches us with labs that take advantage of the school’s prairie land,” senior Erik Johnson said.

However, like the process in inspecting how the Indiana Dunes has evolved over time through succession, one has to wonder if Mrs. Schram has always been so awesome.

“When I was a  little Padilla, I thought for sure I would be a scientist who cured cancer. That was second grade. I was also afraid of swimming in lakes because I had read a book about the deadly brain eating amoeba,  Naegleria fowleri. I thought for sure I would get this. Later, when I became a little more rational and stopped reading diagnostic manuals for childhood diseases, I had always wanted to become  some sort of doctor. Not a witch doctor or doctor of love, but a medical doctor, with the idea that I would find cures for cancer,” Schram said.

As a second-generation Filipino who was born in America, her family was one of the only Asian families in the neighborhood she grew up in– something that ignorant kids liked to add to their list of annoying comments. At one point, someone asked if her dad was Bruce Lee and she replied, “he’s actually my uncle, and he can kick your ass.” She didn’t hear from that kid again.

Growing up in that environment, Schram had to seek out knowledge of her habitat, herself.

“My parents weren’t exactly the model of recycling. I’m not sure we ever owned a recycling bin. I do remember returning glass Coca-Cola bottles.  My family camped and fished. I liked the outdoors. Before the development of more subdivisions (where every 3rd house was the same model) we had a large prairie-like field nearby that  friends and I  would play in.  I was also an avid rock collector and stole landscaping rocks from neighboring houses. That’s a pretty bad description of a future environmentalist. I guess you could say, growing up Padilla, we had a large ecological footprint. I think there were just bigger fish to fry like the whole avoiding a nuclear war time period.

That was my environmental experience at that point. Environment, sustainability, climate change…nobody ever talked about it,” Schram said.

At the end of her high school years filled with oboe rehearsal, softball, and student government, Schram took her glam to the University of Illinois.

“I was in a sorority: Alpha Phi. What happens at A-Phi, stays at A-Phi. Kidding of course. If anything, it was really just a big distraction to studying. But a fun distraction.  And a bunch of us played intramural sports. I played on a flag football team that won the campus  ‘championship’ and a bid to play in a tournament in New Orleans. We all road tripped there, and got demolished by a team from Mexico. I feel like we won though, because, well, hey, we were in New Orleans!” Schram said.

After changing her major three times, she finally came back to bio pre-med and later pursued a career as a teacher of the environmental sciences. Because of that decision, one of the loneliest hallways in Niles West has become a haven for all forms of life, be they the tenacious Marram Grass or the students studying them. In between the average sits Mrs. Schram, bursting into song over glacial movements and moving the people she teaches: one positive moment in the organic compound of a day.

Student Government would like to update you on what we have been doing this week. Thanks to everyone who voted, we have finalized our spirit days for the week of homecoming.

Today will be PJ day, Tuesday is Disney day, Wednesday is Breast Cancer Awareness (Wear Pink) day, Thursday is Sports day, and Friday is Red and white day. In addition to finalizing the spirit days, we will be selling Seroogy chocolate bars from 9/21 -10/3 for two dollars a bar! Better get them while they’re here!

On another note, Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday, October 29. Student Government will be volunteering to help. We encourage the student body to volunteer as well. The volunteer hours can count towards your ILP community service hours.

Finally, we will be meeting with the Principal and Vice Principal to discuss issues the students have. These meeting are monthly. Some of the topics we will be talking about are Religious holidays, Bus Tracker app, attendance, and budget cuts. If anyone has any problems with the school that they want fixed, please contact a student government representative, Mrs. Odell, or sponsors: Mr. Wiemer or Mr. Kucera for further assistance.

Have a great Homecoming week!