2024 SENIOR TRIP
By Bjoërg Skovgaard, sophomore, staff writer
The seniors at Panorama High School went to Kansas City for their senior trip. They stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge with a waterpark and lots of fun. But before that, there was a long drive with a quick stop at Starbucks to get the energy back on. The seniors had a great time going down exciting waterslides and swimming with friends. Luckily, the amazing chaperons had ordered pizza for lunch. What should have been a few hours to chill became a shopping trip at a mall close by before going to T-Shots to play golf and eat dinner. There was lots of laughter and lots of fun but, eventually, they had to sleep.
Waking up bright and early, they went to Dave and Buster’s for fun arcade games, great prizes, and good food followed by crazy escape rooms. The escape rooms all had different themes and difficulty levels. Only one group managed to get out before the timer went off. Later that day, it was time for ziplining. Everyone had a secret code name that was revealed when they went down the first zipline. They had fun choosing and hearing the names of their friends. Everyone had an amazing time ziplining, and even our principal Mr. Stanley joined in. The only thing left was a long ride back home. This will be a trip they won’t forget so easily.
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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: ASHTON HUTCHINS
By Maddy Carstens, junior, staff writer
Ashton Hutchins is a senior at Panorama High School. He has been involved in track and basketball in high school. Ashton’s favorite teachers and coaches are Mr. Dahlhauser and Mr. Miller. Mr. Dahlhauser pushed Ashton to work harder, no matter what the activity was. Mr. Miller was like a best friend to Ashton because he was always checking on Ashton’s grades and pushing him to do good things. Ashton’s plans after high school are to work in the trades. He describes his last four years as fun, challenging and successful. Three words that best describe him include funny, interesting and talented. His most challenging task as a senior was getting to school on time. When he looks back on this school year, he will remember all the times spent in the hallways the most. Ashton’s advice for underclassmen is to participate in every activity they can and to enjoy every minute they have while they are in school. He wants to be remembered as someone who never knew what was happening. His biggest challenge throughout his high school career is being in tough classes while being in a sport. An accomplishment that Ashton has is that he successfully didn’t fail any of his classes.
Ashton grew up between Linden and Panora on a small acreage. Something that people may not know about Ashton is that he plays guitar in a local family-based band. Speaking of which, some things that Ashton does in his free time include playing the guitar and hanging out with family and friends. Ashton looks up to his dad, friends and family. His favorite meal is steak and grilled hamburgers, and his favorite TV shows are “Duck Dynasty” and “Outer Banks.” Ashton’s go-to song includes anything by Koe Wetzel or Kody West. If he could go anywhere, Ashton would travel to Texas or Paris. If Ashton could go back and tell his younger self something, he would say to enjoy every moment you have with your family and friends. Give it up for Ashton Hutchins.
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SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: CAYDEN VAN MEER
By Miranda Laabs, sophomore, staff writer
Cayden Van Meer, a senior, grew up in Des Moines. Throughout high school, Cayden has participated in football and wrestling. He has described his last four years as “fun, long and easy.” In his free time, Van Meer lifts weights, wrestles and plays r6. Looking back on his high school years, Cayden will remember the time spent on the football field and wrestling mat with his teammates. His greatest accomplishment has been signing to wrestle at Iowa Central. If he could tell his younger self something, it would be that hard work beats talent. Coach Kirtley has impacted him the most due to his ability to push athletes to their full potential and make the sport fun.
Van Meer loves to hunt, and that’s why in 10 years he sees himself having his own archery business. Cayden will be going to Iowa Central Community College to continue his wrestling career. He will continue to work toward his goals.
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LYING ON THE INTERNET
By Holliday Mertens, freshman, staff writer
The internet was created for many reasons. One was to make finding information easier for people. However, lying occurs on the Internet all the time. These articles are made by humans, just like us, and humans are not perfect in anything, which is why you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the internet. However, there are many sources that are mostly reliable and helpful.
Most of the time, .gov and .edu websites are helpful, since .gov articles are made by the government, and .edu articles are made by schools. When it comes to articles that are not .gov or .edu, there are still some reliable websites. One is factcheck.org, where articles that go in-depth into politics in the United States are created. Other websites that are related to political facts are politifact.com and opensecrets.org, the latter specifically publishing articles about money in politics. The website www.snopes.com helps readers debunk a myth or lie on the internet. One last one is archive.org, which also fact-checks things online. Not only that, but a feature, known as the Wayback Machine, can take you to a certain date to show you how a certain website looked on that date. Be safe out there, students.
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SCHEDULE CHANGES FOR NEXT SCHOOL YEAR
By Addie Astley, sophomore, staff writer
Next year at Panorama High School, changes are being made to make the school a better place. Daily schedules are changing from six blocks per day to eight periods per day. This means there will be eight 45-minute periods each day. Other changes include early outs every Friday, for teacher PD days. School will start at 8:15 a.m. and end at 3:20 p.m. every day, except Fridays when school will end at 1:45 p.m.
Next year, school will start on Friday, Aug. 23. A fall break will occur Nov. 27-29. Dec. 23 is the first day of winter break and will continue for two weeks. Jan. 6, students will arrive back from winter break, and that week will be the end of Term 2. Next year, the administration will be adding a spring break that will go from March 17-21.
Panorama High School has made some great changes to the school. Hopefully, it will make a more positive change for the students and teachers.
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PANORAMA ELEMENTARY’S TRACK AND FIELD DAY
By Maddy Carstens, junior, staff writer
The Panorama Elementary is having its annual field day. This year, the elementary is having the event on May 3. Juniors and seniors are allowed to help coach and arrange kids. Kindergarten through second grade are at the event from 8:50-10:50 a.m. After a break, grades three through five are at the event from 12:45-2:45 p.m.
Panorama’s Track and Field Day is a fun day filled with athletic activities for kids to enjoy. It involves running events such as short meter races, along with field events with fun activities and objects. The event is held at Panorama’s turf field and track. Classes rotate throughout the day to different events. Teachers and coaches help the kids have a fun day outside of their classroom competing, hanging out and having fun.
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EARTH DAY
By Maggie McCarthy, sophomore, staff writer
Earth Day is an international holiday to honor the need to help the environment. On April 22, people will do activities to help the Earth. For instance, people usually go out and plant trees and flowers or take a walk and enjoy nature. They plant trees and plants because plants release oxygen and clean the air around them. Earth Day is an important holiday because it reminds us of the effects of climate change and how much it affects our lives. Climate change occurs due to the activities from multiple sources including factories that give off extra carbon dioxide, and the plants absorb some of that.
Before Earth Day became a holiday, many Americans were worried about how fast the country was advancing. They wanted the development to grow and preserve beautiful places of nature. This is when they started to make national and city parks such as Central Park in New York and Yellowstone National Park. However, they didn’t make the Earth Day holiday official until years later after they had discussed how pollution was damaging the Earth.
In conclusion, Earth Day is a holiday where we help nature.
Information was gathered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZZu5lKgOSU.
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DMACC CLASS OFFERINGS
By Addie Astley, sophomore, staff writer
Many students take DMACC classes whether it is online, in-person, or using virtual video calls. Some students take multiple classes to help with their careers and future. DMACC allows high school students to enroll in courses that give them opportunities to earn college credits. It also allows students to start looking into all the different career fields there are.
These courses help students start building their careers when they are in high school. If students are successful in a subject, they are able to start a more difficult class in that subject. For example, if students do well in English, they might want to start taking Comp (composition) 1. Not only does DMACC allow students to expand their knowledge, but it allows them to save money in the long run. The school pays for the students’ classes they are taking, so they are 100% free. Many students already take a variety of classes and should start taking DMACC classes.
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THE FUTURE OF ROBOTICS IN MEDICINE
By Peyton Walker, sophomore, staff writer
Technology in the medical field is becoming more advanced. There are many robotic parts to medicine already. For example, they have made a leg for people who have lost their legs to help them gain back a normal life by walking and running again. Many hospitals have access to robot help today. For example, they have a surgical assistant robot that makes the surgery minimally invasive. In 2019, a robot inserted a device into the brain of a Parkinson’s patient, as part of a remote surgery. There have been cases where surgeons have their patients swallow cameras to take pictures of their stomach to see what’s wrong with it. These are just a few things that have happened. Now it’s time to look at the future.
The future of technology in medicine is important. They want to do things humans can do but better and faster. For instance, they want to perform lab testing without any human input or help. They will eventually want to be able to talk to the patients about their help and their conditions by themselves. The robots also want to be able to give the patients reminders about their medicine or their appointments, and many other things like that. Those are just some of the things that the robots are planning to progress to in the following years.
In conclusion, these are just some of the things robots can do and want to be able to do.
Information was gathered from www.ahu.edu/blog/robotics-in-healthcare