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News May 20, 2011
Walnut 24 Hour Walkathon:
A Huge Success
Mia Manavalan, ‘12
Managing Editor
The First Annual Walnut24
Walkathon took place on April 9th
and 10th and was a huge success,
raising $57,000. Students raced to
the football field early on Saturday
morning, only to find that
the field was soaked. After a few
hours of dismay while being held
in the school gym, Mr. Brokamp
finally let the students head back
to the field once the storm and the
rain had passed. By that time, the
party was rolling.
The Walkathon consisted of
music, dancing, face painting,
food, and even a moon bounce.
Student bands performed, including
Amanda & the Amoebas,
Eunoia, Flaccid Logic, and DJ
Shoe. Junior Alex Shoemaker (aka
DJ Shoe) says, “It was a stellar
night and it’s good to know that
Walnut kids know how to boogie.”
Students excitedly danced along to
their music or relaxed on the field
while rooting on their fellow Walnut
peers. Students also participated
in frisbee, Quidditch, Tug of
War, and Twister. Many students
also formed teams to raise money
for their particular club or sport.
The track team surely got in the
spirit of the Walkathon, wearing
their own t-shirts and putting up
a huge tent. “Walking on a team
was awesome because it gave me
a motive to stay there, friends
to hang out with, and best of all,
sweet matching t-shirts to wear.
When a walkathon is held next
year, I plan to get a team together
again!” says Junior Josh Mansfield.
Even those who weren’t on a
specific team bonded with others.
Junior Jessica Fan says, “I
made some new friends when I
Vol. CV, No. 6
The Chatterbox
hung out with the track team kids. It
was definitely a fun environment for
meeting people since you had a whole
bunch of people ranging from all the
grades there for the same reasons: to
walk, have fun and eat bananas!” The
Walkathon was headed up by Doug
Newberry to raise money for the 81
competitive sports teams, 60 clubs, the
marching band and the theater program.
The goal of the Walkathon was
to raise $110,000. Many students were
extremely energetic about fundraising,
including Junior Erin Heiser, who
raised $1000, and won herself a brand
new iPAD. Despite the outstanding
work of the students, only about 50%
of that goal was met.
The goal of this fundraiser was to
have each student raise $50. However,
out of 2100 WHHS students, approximately
1/3 of them participated.
About 1400 students and families still
have not made donations. “Gleam
[Walnut’s literary magazine] is definitely
suffering from the budget cuts.
Walnut needs funding to keep clubs
like Gleam, which has been around
for over a hundred years, up and
running,” says Gleam’s Senior Editor
Tanner Walters. Failure to reach the
fundraising goal means that many
programs will raise their fees or may
even be cut. This is common in other
school districts, but the adminstration
and parents of WHHS are trying their
best to avoid that. Cassanda Clement,
mother of Junior Sophia Melnyk, says,
“It was such a great time and the need
continues for funds... so the administration
and parents met and we will do
it all again on October 15 and 16, 2011
to raise money for the 2011-12 school
year student activities.”
The Renovation: A Senior’s
Perspective
Cody Tolbert, ‘11
Chatterbox Contributor
The class of 2011’s senior year is
rapidly coming to a close, with less
Walnut Hills High School
than six days left. And with that,
there comes both the joy and excitement
of a new adventure and the nostalgia
of letting go of our present one.
But one new aspect of Walnut that we
aren’t going to miss is the renovation.
Although we look forward to the unveiling
of a beautiful new Walnut, the
addition of “Eagle Village,” “Mod City,”
or whatever you may choose to call it
has really changed the feel and flow
of the school day. Even with the new
amenities the mods come equipped
with, I can confidently say we miss
our old classrooms. Whether it’s the
sound of a saw cutting in the background,
a hammer pounding along,
or a large piece equipment starting
up and clamoring around, the idea of
the school becoming an active construction
site is taking some getting
used to. One of the other changes for
SENIORS this year that came along
with the renovation was the doling out
of individual parking spaces, including
teachers being assigned spaces in the
SENIOR Parking Lot, once an enclave
for the seniors. However, this is not
to say things all things are bad. The
air conditioning and new bathrooms
have been a great improvement over
what was left behind, and I am sure
just by looking over the plans of the
renovation that once it is all done, the
pain will be well worth it. But for the
six days left for the class of 2011, the
current condition of the school will
just be a small glimpse of our six years
of memories before we will be setting
out for a college campus. There we
will look back and won’t remember
the inconvenience of the renovation,
but merely the people, the relationships,
and the both trying and amazing
times we had here at Walnut Hills
High School.
This is the final article in this
series for the school year. However, as
always, questions and comments can
be emailed to whhsrenovation@gmail.
com.
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