FCA MARCH MADNESS AND LARGE GROUP HUDDLE
By Maddy Carstens, junior, staff writer
On March 10, FCA hosted its own March Madness huddle in the Panorama High School gym. Kids from ages sixth grade through 12th grade could participate in this. There were a few competitions that took place, along with the event itself being an open gym for kids. A guest speaker, Hudson Fields, came to visit with the kids. Hudson is a coach for Drake University’s football team. With the basketball and speaker, a fun time with memories made took place in the high school gym that day.
On March 12, Panorama’s FCA group also hosted an FCA large group huddle. Three huddles have already happened this past 2023-2024 school year. The March huddle makes it the fourth huddle this year. Tell everyone you know to spread the word about the huddle and enlarge the crowd that shows up.
This past FCA huddle on the 12th was led by Maddy Lutz. Her message talked about pressure and how to focus on God. With a great devotion and ending prayer, Maddy started everyone’s morning right. The next large group FCA huddle is on April 16. The huddle is being led by FCA member Arilyan Steenblock. All students are welcome to attend the event.
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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: ALLIE OLESEN
By Addie Astley, sophomore, staff writer
Allie Olesen is a senior at Panorama High School. After high school, she is planning on getting her real estate license. Her goals for high school are to take real estate classes, work and have fun. Over her high school years, she is most proud of how she has grown and matured the past few years. Her biggest challenge through her years is balancing work with other things that make her life busy. Most challenging as a senior, this year has been accepting that she is a senior. She says it has been very surreal, and while she is ready, she also is not. She describes herself to be independent, stubborn and talkative.
Her favorite teacher is Ms. J. In her own words, she says, “She isn’t only a great teacher but a great person. I absolutely would not have made it through junior year without her.” One thing she will remember most is the senior sunrise. It was very fulfilling for her to watch the sunrise on the hill with her classmates whom she made many memories with. Lastly, her advice to underclassmen is to turn your homework in on time.
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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: HUNTER DISHMAN
By Miranda Laabs, sophomore, staff writer
Senior Hunter Dishman grew up in Linden. In his free time, he enjoys hunting, fishing and hanging out with friends. Throughout his high school career, the biggest challenges Hunter faced were doing his homework and having a good attitude. Advice he would give to underclassmen and his younger self would be to do your homework and don’t suck at school. Hunter was most impacted by his dad and Coach King because they both pushed him to be better. During high school, Hunter participated in football, baseball and fishing. One thing he will miss the most is being in the sports. He will be constantly working toward his goals after high school but hasn’t made a final decision on what he will be doing.
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TEACHER FEATURE: MRS. KYLEE BOETTCHER
By Miranda Laabs, sophomore, staff writer
Mrs. Kylee Boettcher has been teaching at Panorama for 17 years. Throughout her years, she has had many coaching jobs and opportunities. Places where she had been an assistant coach, or even head coach, were Guthrie Center High School, Buena Vista University, Albert City-Truesdale, Cherokee (Washington) High School, and Waukee Middle School. It wasn’t until 2007 when she started working at Panorama as the varsity head coach for softball, and then three more years from 2020-2023. In 2009, she then added girls junior high basketball coach to her schedule. After 10 years, she took on the head varsity girls basketball coaching position at Panorama. Boettcher balances her encouragement and pushing while coaching. The teams she coaches have a team mantra that are their main core values and goals. This team mantra isn’t just game expectations, but they are practice, classroom and within your community expectations. These values then create a bond within the team and everyone else around them. She builds her team to hold each other accountable for the values they set.
Mrs. Boettcher and the teams she coaches take each game one at a time. They start by watching film on each opponent, then they think about what the team needs to work on in preparation for that game. Then, as a coach, she designs drills to prepare the team members for their opponents. With drill work and regular practice routines, this allows the players to practice what they will be doing in game and build confidence as well.
This 2023-2024 season was special to Mrs. Boettcher for many reasons. This was her younger self’s dream, to play and coach the Panorama Girls Basketball team to a state championship. The team, student section and our community’s support made this even better for her. Tyme, her daughter, was able to share this season with her as an athlete on the court.
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EXTRACURRICULAR BENEFITS
By Addie Astley, sophomore, staff writer
Is doing extracurricular activities healthy for a high school student? Yes, doing extracurricular activities is important for a high school student. It has shown to increase academic performance and prepare students for college or their future. Performing in after-school activities can show students their interests and what they are good at. It helps students express themselves in a positive way to show people who they are.
Sports, performing arts or school clubs are great ways for students to be more included in the school community. Doing activities can help students find new friends, feel like they belong, and help them with skills they will need in the real world. Being involved in extracurricular can also help students attend school on a more regular schedule, as well as help them focus more in school and be more engaged. Engaging in these activities can improve a student’s behavior not only in school but out of school. Being involved in something is important, and every student should join something that interests them.
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OUTLOOK ON THE 2024 GIRLS TRACK SEASON
By Maddy Carstens, junior, staff writer
Track season is officially off to a start this 2024 school year. Coaches Greg Thompson and Rachel Osbahr were interviewed on their outlook on the season. Coach Thompson says, so far, the track season is going well. He says the weather has been good, and the athletes have been working hard. Thompson says the track team should have about 20 girls competing along with three managers. He hopes the track girls goal this year is to finish in the top three on the state podium. Both coaches express that the girls can compete in maybe all of the competitions at meets this year and head to state.
Coach Osbahr says her goal this season is not only to have multiple events qualify at state but also to have every athlete achieve a personal goal of getting her personal best in her events by the end of the season. Osbahr says the girls team has strong talent returning this year. She says there are also newcomers filling in for the team members who are no longer in track. Coach Osbahr says even though she might not always be at practices or meets with her new-coming baby, she will try to be at all of the meets and practices she can, cheering the girls on every step of the way. Meets are starting to come up in later dates of March, and practices have already begun. Let track season commence.
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STATE INDIVIDUAL SPEECH RESULTS
By Holliday Mertens, freshman, staff writer
Individual State Speech happened on Saturday, March 9 at ADM High School in Adel. Congratulations to Emme Hardsity, Anna Thompson, Taylin Woolheater, Riley Gibson and Avery Bahrenfuss for making it to State with their fantastic performances. Our students made it to State with Solo Musical Theater (Emme, Taylin), Story Telling (Anna, Avery), Acting (Riley), After Dinner Speaking (Anna) and Poetry (Riley, Taylin). Congrats, Panthers!
As for performances, Emme’s SMT performance got an overall rating of 2 (2-2-2), Anna’s Story Telling, Taylin’s SMT, Riley’s Acting, Avery’s Story Telling, and Riley’s Poetry all got a 1 (1-1-1). Anna’s After Dinner performance also got an overall score of 1, but with a full score of 1-1-2. Similar to Emme, Taylin’s Poetry got a 2-2-1, giving her an average score of 2. Finally, a huge congratulations to Avery Bahrenfuss for being selected to be a performer at All-State. Make sure to go cheer her on at UNI in Cedar Falls, Monday, March 25. Go, Panthers!
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SPRING SPORTS
By Miranda Laabs, sophomore, staff writer
Since spring is starting soon, Panorama Schools have been getting ready for this season’s sports, which consist of track, soccer, golf and trap shooting. Practices have gotten a kick-start this week. The Panthers will be working hard in their sports to reach their goals for this season. Trap shooting is a newer sport, available for those in sixth to 12th grade.
With more sports coming up, students are encouraged to try new things. Being involved in sports can be good ways to gain opportunities for yourself and learn valuable lessons. Athletes at Panorama are preparing for summer sports with softball and baseball open fields and throwing practices starting as well.
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HABITS OF SUCCESS
By Jadyn Lawrence, freshman, staff writer
What is the definition of success? According to the dictionary, it is “ the accomplishment of an aim or purpose,” but not everyone sees success similarly. Some people may define success as graduating from high school, and, to another person, it may be getting up out of bed.
Success can be a challenging, emotional and exciting topic for high school students. Difficult challenges will come up as students grow up and move on with their lives. Developing some of the following skills will allow teens to have a successful future and help them throughout their adulthood.
Firstly, communication is an important skill to help a person become successful. Communication will be used every day in life. Examples include telling your boss you will be late to work, presenting a presentation in college, talking to your friends, or making plans. However, communication does not always have to be through talking. It can also be through calling someone, sending an email, mailing a letter, or texting. All of these tasks will make achieving a person’s goals easier and accomplishing them faster. Communicating will also allow people to interact and build new relationships. Another example of communication is asking a teacher for help on something you need. Some are better than others, but learning how to communicate can also boost a student’s confidence. Every student uses different ways to communicate. Overall, communication is a key skill to achieve success.
Secondly, prioritizing is a key skill to lead to success. Prioritizing becomes important when it comes to getting things done. Some people make to-do lists of the goals they would like to accomplish before they have fun or do less important things. Many students in high school tend to struggle with this task. It is easy to get distracted by your phone or take a nap instead of doing your homework because you don’t feel like doing it. When this happens, most of the time the assignment or project ends up not getting done, being turned in late, or being quickly put on paper and turned in. Prioritizing is a huge skill to develop for success.
Lastly, a crucial habit for success is active listening. When you learn something from people, most of the time they know what they are teaching you. Teachers, friends and family are examples of active listeners. Success does not come naturally. For example, most D1 athletes were not naturally good at the sport. They put hours, days, months and years into practicing and learning new skills. These players used active listening when taking advice from coaches and other people on how to improve and become better. High school students will develop this skill. Some will develop it sooner than others, and that’s OK. Active listening will make achieving goals and accomplishments a lot less stressful.
In conclusion, everyone defines success differently. Even so, the same skills and hard work still have to be done to succeed. Communication, prioritizing and active listening are examples of skills that will lead a person to success. To get anywhere in life, hard work, dedication and success are the ways to get things accomplished. To sum it up, learning skills to be more successful will benefit you and help you become a better person.
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2024-25 MASTER CALENDAR
By Marlee Herring, eighth grader, staff writer
The school calendar for the 2024 – 2025 school year is now published. School next year will begin on Aug. 23. No-school days on the calendar include Labor Day weekend for the County Fair, fall break in November, and winter break, which runs Dec. 23 to Jan. 3. Several months also include a no-school day on a Friday for either teacher comp or staff professional development. As well as every Friday, there will be early outs. New this year is that Panorama students and staff will get a full week of spring break occurring March 17-21. The calendar can be found on the school website.
