Student Snapshot: Gabie Knight

Singing It Loud

By: Abby Piert
             Gabie Knight is a sophomore at Madison High School and is 15 years old. She has been involved in choir since she was in 6th grade. She also started show choir at the start of her sophomore year, and was in concert choir her freshman year. Gabie has spent long hours practicing for show choir during and after school hours. This involves an 8 hour choreography on Sundays, practicing during her free period before show choir and also practicing at home.  She also is keeping track of all the hours of practice on google classrooms. She has performed in choir concerts and was able to have a solo her freshman year. She spends time singing the National Anthem at the boys' basketball games with other fellow choir students.  She also spends many hours a week for preparation, practicing and choosing songs to lead worship once a month at her church. 
            Gabie is proud to say she has been able to earn all A’s and B’s in school and also works hard to study and keep her grades up. While in high school Gabie would like to get good scores on her ACT and/or SAT. She would also like to be involved in show choir and choir for the rest of her high school career. She would like to meet more people and create new friends. In the future Gabie would like to attend college at Bowling Green University to be a 3rd or 4th grade teacher and also major in psychology.  
            Gabie's favorite part about high school is creating bonds with the other students in show choir and making life long friends with the show choir family. Gabie is happy to say she will be a part of this family bond they have created with all the choirs for a very long time. She loves the forever lasting bond she has made with the loving family of the show choir. Gabie's favorite classes throughout her high school career so far have been English with Mr. Smith her sophomore year and Social Studies with Mrs. Gilligan her freshman year. 
            Gabie's hobbies are doing makeup, painting her friends nails, and making and eating cupcakes. She loves her cats, bunny, and her 28 chickens. She also loves to spend time with her little sister and family. Gabie is also always ready to cheer and support Madison High School sports teams whenever she can!

Student Snapshot: Gabby Blackford

One Shot

        If you are only getting one shot at something, you had better make it count.  That is exactly what Gabby Blackford has done for MHS gymnastics during her high school career.  She is the only gymnast to take the floor in Madison's name, but that's all we've ever needed.  

        In the recent WRC tournament, Gabby shined in her vault performance and brought home 1st place for the Blue Streaks.  The area sectional tournament provided more competition and pressure, but Gabby still managed to tie for 3rd on the vault with her stellar performance.  Additionally, she was able to pull off a score of 8.9 in the bars competition which was enough to take 1st place.

        This success has only proven to fuel the fire.  Tomorrow, Gabby with travel to West Geauga for a district competition where she has found success in the past.  Her greatest high school memory is when she accomplished the amazing feat of placing at the state competition.  Having the large medal placed around neck was hugely satisfying, and it came with the knowledge that she would one day be placed on the Madison Wall of Fame.  Her goal this year is to make a return to the state competition and have her name called as a champion.

        Although she's Madison's only gymnastics performer, Gabby has not limited herself to excelling in one area.  Throughout high school, she has also been an integral member of the volleyball and softball teams.  After completing her gymnastic season last year, she took to the softball field and helped them to win the 2016 WRC title.

        Gabby also manages to keep a firm grasp on her academic career.  She current holds a 4.4 GPA and has no plans of seeing it slip.  After high school, she would like to attend Cleveland State University to become a physician's assistant.  If the present is any indication of the future, hers is very bright.

        Be sure to send words of encouragement Gabby's way and don't forget about the district competition this Saturday in West Geauga!

Student Snapshot: Grace Terelmes

Grace Terelmes is a varsity player for the Lady Blue Streaks basketball team. She has been on the varsity team since her freshman year. This year Grace was able to be in the starting line up for some of the Blue Streaks’ games. Grace is also a 2 year varsity starter for the Lady Blue Streaks soccer team. Grace is a determined player on and off the court and field. Not only is she an outstanding athlete, she is also holding a 4.0 GPA. She wants to hold this GPA for the rest of her high school career.

Dual Athlete
By: Kaitlyn Rohl

Before she graduates she wants to get noticed by her choice colleges for her athletic abilities. She wants to be looked at as a leader by teachers and staff. Her most memorable moment of high school was bonding with her teammates.

She says, "I love being a part of the Lady Blue Streaks soccer team, and having Mr. Butler as her coach and always pushing her to be her best.” She went one to she is always having fun on her soccer and basketball teams, in and out of practice.

For her future career she wants to be a physical therapist, or nurse practitioner. She wants to attend college at the University of Cincinnati and stay close to home, within the state. She would like to get scholarships to pursue her dream of playing college soccer.

Grace's favorite movie is Finding Dory. Her favorite subject is Spanish with Mrs. Edwards. Her favorite basketball team is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I like all of the Cleveland area sports teams, but not the Browns though.” Grace says. She enjoys hanging outside of school with her friends and playing with her dog.

Grace's most memorable game of the season was the game against Brush. She says that “She had a tight hold on her the whole game and every time she was guarding her she never scored.” Not only does Grace have her favorite basketball, but during her soccer season Grace has one amazing goal during her soccer season. She was very eager to get one and finally got it against Harvey from 35 yards away.
Grace is an all around amazing athlete and person. She wants to thank her parents and her grandparents for the constant love and support they bring her at every game rain or shine. She would also like to thank her coaches, and teachers for the person she has become today.

Valedictorian, Salutatorians Named

Paving the Road Ahead

By: Adrianna Hanzak

Four years with their noses in the books to make up high school, three years of turning in their class projects in middle school, six more years of paper mache and alphabet people in elementary and plenty of hard work in between. The average high school student in the United States has completed a minimum of thirteen years of education by the time they graduate from high school. The class of 2017 has achieved many useful commodities over their thirteen years, however three women, with their hard work and determination, excelled in their academics over theirs.

With her loving parents stressing the importance of school, Natalie Green has no doubt made them proud with her 4.625 GPA and adopting the name of valedictorian. Over the years of growing up with the knowledge of the importance of school, Natalie never felt the pressure of doing well but none the less acquired the skills needed to accel in her grades. However, in her freshman year, Natalie had decided she was going to strive to become the class of 2017’s valedictorian. Along the path of study breaks and lectures, she discovered she leaned more towards calculus and more away from English in her studies. With her high school career quickly coming to a close, Natalie has paved the path ahead of her, planning to attend Brigham Young University in the following fall of her graduation, and intends to serve an eighteen month mission for her church in close to a year. With her studies aside, Natalie dedicates her time to a variety of events, including cross country, reading, spending time with friends, and dancing interpretively.

With a GPA of 4.561, Arianna Farnsworth earns the title of one of the salutatorians of the class of 2017. Although she stresses the fact that her grades aren't much higher than everyone else's, she gives great advice for her underclassmen peers. “Care about your grades,” she says, “getting an A as a freshman in Unified Social Studies is just as important as getting an A as a junior in AP Calculus, but don't stress yourself out to the point that you ignore the things you genuinely love to do. Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted.” While maintaining a high grade point average is a great deal to many students, Arianna seems to have the system down to a science. She explained that being named a salutatorian hasn't affected her life all that greatly saying that her grades would be the same regardless of how many people were higher lower. She also explained that it wasn’t that big of a deal to her family due to her older brother being the valedictorian of his class. While she avoids seeing her grades as one of the high points of her class, she plans on furthering her education, majoring in biochemistry during undergrad and then plans on going to graduate school to become a dentist.

With Natalie’s and Arianna’s hard work paying off, Hannah McKillen doesn’t stray far behind, achieving a 4.560 GPA in her studies. While playing soccer, participating in Key Club, and co-founding the interpretive dance team, Hannah had a pretty good idea that she was going to graduate near the top of her class. She elaborated on this saying that she hated when she got questions wrong and got upset when she received a B as a grade, which helped her push herself to earn higher grades. With all the tears she shed over calculus, she feels that being named salutatorian real helps it pay off, making the time she spent studying and reading seem worth it. Being named salutatorian also affects her supporting family, making them feel proud and show excitement for her future as well. With her family being supportive, Hannah’s mother and father play a big role in influencing her life, as she looked up to her father and envied his intelligence as a scientist and her mother believing in her dream of becoming a doctor. Hannah plans on following her dream to the Ohio State University to study biology and eventually advance to medical school to become a cardiologist.

Behind the study breaks, AP tests, and the school essays, Madison High School proves to have students of great intelligence who push themselves to accel in their classwork. With the 2016-2017 school year coming near an end, the juniors are provided with three intelligent, hard working role models with a plan for their future.

BBK WRC Title Night

The Edge of Glory

By: Samantha Parmertor

Tonight the boys are away against Brush for the WRC title. Last time we played Brush we lost by 76-67, they fell apart in the third quarter and couldn’t pick themselves up from there. 

Dhel Duncan-Busby explains that last time they played Brush they didn’t follow the game plan, "We lost track, and we didn’t prepare correctly." For Friday’s game they have watched a lot of film, "We know what they do and what they are capable of." Being more prepared means that they can stop Brush from what they like doing best. 

"We can play like we know how to play and the way we need to play. It’s not going to come down to one player, if we win or lose it’s going to be the whole team, everybody is going to have to play the hardest they can, if they go in for 30 seconds or the whole game," said Busby of the upcoming match. 

With Brush being at their house with their crowd, Madison has to go all out as soon as the game starts.  The Blue Streaks are coming off of a big win, though. Wednesday night the boys varsity basketball team took down South 55-49. 

Busby had 11 points that game and said “It was a good team win. We could of limited there runs and our team should of sustained our runs.”  

In Dhel's opinion he believes the most improved player this year is Marcus Horton. He was the 6th man, he’s still growing into the role that he’s in.  He has became more confident with the ball, he was very timid at the beginning of the season but now he’s really coming into his own player.

Student Snapshot: Haley Turner

Auburn Accomplished

By: Gabby Cuyler and McKenzie Reihner

Haley Turner is an exceptional student at both Madison High School and the Auburn Career Center. She is an energetic and outgoing girl with big goals for her future that she continues to focus on daily in her life, never losing focus.

Her drive for her future not only shows in her good grades, positive attitude, and glowing personality,  but also in her awards. Haley has earned BLS (Basic Life Support) certification,  has done OSHA (Occupational Safety Health Administration) for 10hrs, and has completed both NIMS 100 (National Incident Management System) and NIMS 700.

When asked what her high school goals are, Haley said she would like to get EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) state boards, and she would like to earn Senior Superlative as class clown. Haley also says she would like to continue on after high school to become an EMT Parametric.

Haley said that Auburn has really helped open her eyes to these goals and she’s thankful to be involved in a program that will help her reach her goals. “Being at Auburn is one of my favorite things throughout the day, if i had to choose 2 of my favorite things during the school day it would be going to Auburn and gym!”

Haley’s also on the Varsity Basketball team and said her most memorable moment of high school has been playing basketball and soccer. Haley’s favorite TV show is Breaking Bad, and her favorite movie is The Heat. She’s also said her favorite basketball team is the Cavs!

Haley is an amazing student who is a very good representative of Madison high school. As Haley has always said, “The team is only as good as the water girl. By the way, I'm the water girl!” Haley is just one example of the unlimited amount of pure talent and ambition within Madison High School and Auburn Career center.

Student Snapshot: Ashlee Hathaway

Rising Star

By: Hannah Gabor

Ashlee Hathaway, one of the star players on the JV Lady Blue Streaks basketball team, has had many improvements throughout her season. Many of her improvements have been noticed. Her dribbling, passing and shot choice are some of the greatest improvements. With her dedication and hard work towards the team, she has worked hard during practice. Ashlee fights to get rebounds, and also tries her hardest to get back and defend the opposing team. Her aggressiveness shows throughout the games, and she fights till the very last minute.

Ashlee does many after school activities. She is part of the Girls Cross Country Team. She works her very hardest to beat her PR each and every meet. She was also part of the interpretive dance team, and is also the vice president of student council. She gets average grades and focuses hard for all of her classes.  Through her last two years of high school, she wants to accomplish being on all varsity teams of the sports she plays. She is working very hard to be able to remain a varsity athlete. Ashlee also wants to go to Lakeland next year. She hopes to continue getting good grades throughout the rest of high school with all that she has succeeded with. After high school, her plans are to go to college close to home. She then wants to get a degree and join a sorority.

Her most memorable moments in high school are making new friends and being apart of the Girls Cross Country team and the Lady Blue Streaks basketball team. Her favorite movie is Mcfarland USA because it is inspiring and it makes her motivated. Her favorite class is art, because she likes to draw and use her imagination. She also likes to learn about different techniques. Her favorite basketball player is Stephen Curry, because he is good looking and he shoots good three pointers. Her favorite XC runner is Steve Prefontaine, because he was determined to win and became the best runner that he can be. Her favorite food is chicken wings, preferably barbeque wings,and her favorite store is Forever 21

Student Snapshot: Joey Smith

Heading to Districts

By: Jordan Pasalaqua

Joey Smith and his relay partners, Collin Douglas, Zach Zembower and Hunter Wentz did so well at Spire on Saturday at Sectionals for their medley relay that they were able to move forward into the districts with a 1:45.81 time. They beat their previous time of 1:47.22.
The Boys swim team record is 13-1 with their only loss coming against Mayfield.  
On the Madison Boys Swim team there were also three more boys who made it to districts: Collin Douglas, Zach Zembower and Hunter Wentz.
Joey made it to Districts for the 200 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and the 100 breaststroke. For the 100 breaststroke Joey had an astounding 1:05.28.
Joey is the Team Captain along with Patrick Davis who is also the captain of the Madison Boys Swim team. Joey Smith and Patrick Davis are both hardworking and intense swimmers says Mr. Artz. Also both Joey and Patrick are both to inspired to meet their goals throughout the season. Joey says that the swim team has done really well this year by breaking records and other boys breaking their personal records.
Joey's good friend Hunter Wentz has broken many school records this year for the Madison Boys swim team and also has broken his personal records. Throughout the year Joey says that he has created an amazing bond with his high school coaches for swimming and baseball. He says he loves to swim because it pushes him really hard and really tests his abilities to swim. Joey also really wants to make it to states for swimming.
He is a Junior who swims and plays baseball at Madison High School. He is a three year varsity swimmer and is going to be a two year varsity baseball player. Joey would really like to win the Western Reserve Conference for baseball and wants to go far in the state tournament with the Madison Boys Baseball team.
Last month, Joey earned streak of the month for swimming. He also has earned his academic honors awards at the end of the year for his GPA.  Joey’s High School goals are to graduate High School and go off to college to further his academic and athletic baseball career. He has not decided what school or what he wants to go to school for yet. Joey’s favorite movie is “The Sandlot”, his favorite class is History and the Cleveland Indians are his favorite baseball team.  

Cheer: Regional Competition

The One that Counts

By: Allyson Fleischer

This past weekend the Madison High School Cheerleaders traveled to Alliance, Ohio to participate in the yearly Regionals competition. In this competition the teams don't compete for first, second, or third place, they compete for a title to go to States. Many teams partake in this competition, in many different divisions. Our cheerleaders competed against five other teams, one of which beat them last year at States which pushed them even harder to come out on top and qualify to States.

This is only the second time the MHS cheer team has participated in Regionals and both times have taken a spot to go to States. Out of the five teams in their division they were one of the three to qualify. Being one of the most important competitions out of the season to compete in, these girls worked very hard to make their performance the best it could be. Making it to States is something very special to these competitive cheerleaders, especially to this year's seniors who make up most of the squad.

This year's States competition will take place in March, at Worthington High School. It may be a far drive but take a trip down this year to cheer on the girls who are always cheering on every extracurricular activity.  If you see any of our MHS competition cheerleaders in the hallway make sure to congratulate them for making it to States, and wish them luck on their encounter at States and hopefully they will be bringing the first place trophy back home!

Swim Sectional Preview

Swim Teams Ready for Sectionals

By: Isabel Gnagy and Jordan Pasalaqua

This weekend the first division of Northeast Ohio’s swimming teams will meet up and face off at SPIRE in the first round of sectionals. Our Madison Swim Team will be facing off against Brush, Chardon, Euclid, Kenston, Mayfield, Mentor, North, Riverside and South.
The girls' swim team have a record of 9-4 and the boys' swim team record is 13-1. The girls will be going up against Chardon, Mayfield, North and Kenston, which they have previously lost to. On the other hand, the boys have lost to only Mayfield.
To win, everyone needs to get personal records, to be on top of the ball and do the best they possibly can while cheering on their teammates through the whole meet. The expectations for this meet are to have everyone focus and get at least three to four people to advance forward to districts. The team also wants the seniors to have a good and fun time at this meet seeing as it will be their last one.
The girls' team captains, Chloe Beach and Erika Coleno, will bring a cheerful and happy feeling to this meet. The two are always there for their teammates, and they always help everyone to work with each other. Zoe Fedele, the only freshman on the team, plans to complete the 100 fly in under a minute this weekend.
While the girls work together on trying to overcome their previous loses the boys are going to try and overcome their loss to Mayfield. The boys' team captains, Joey Smith and Patrick Davis, are both hardworking and and intense swimmers says Mr. Artz. They are both inspired to meet their goals this season. Joey Smith says this season has gone really well for the boys and girls swim team. He also says there were a couple records that have been broken by both the boys and girls swim teams. He expects to see some great and intense races for this Saturday's races, hopefully a lot of personal records and maybe some broken records. For this weeks sectionals Joey Smith, Hunter Wentz, Collin Douglas, and Zac Zembower have a good chance on making it all the way to districts.
All the boys and girls are expecting to do their best at the sectionals meet this week. Everyone is preparing to take some wins and to, hopefully not, take some loses. All in all the Madison High School swim team is hoping to work on themselves and to work as a team this weekend at SPIRE.

BBK JV v. Chardon

All do some. Some do it all.

By: Taylor Stevens

Coach Gustin rallies his team to give their all

Madison’s JV boys basketball team faced Chardon's JV team in a WRC conference game. Their next 6 games are also in the WRC conference. Coach Gustin’s goals for these next games is to win, to play well throughout the games, and to always keep improving the player's skills.

With five minutes left in the first quarter Brendon Snopel (22) went in for a shot and was blocked by Chardon player 34. Galavic (11) passed to Gortz(4) for a layup making the shot.

At the end of the 2nd quarter the team was down by 15, Alex Dragas came in and made a run by scoring 5 points which helped the team a lot. Dragas played hard throughout the entire game and was always attacking the basket.

The third quarter was the hardest for the entire team, but the fourth didn't end up much better. They ended up losing with the final score 54-68 making their record 6-10-0 and Chardon improved to 10-6-0.

Dragas led the team with a total of 15 points. Galavic was not far behind with 9 points, and Gortz added 4 to the team's total.

The team’s next game is an away game at Willoughby South, hoping for the win. In the game before Chardon they faced the Kenston Bombers losing by 12 points. Coach Gustin is preparing the team for the upcoming games so they can help get the varsity squad to sectionals and make it to the top. With all the challenges the team has had throughout the season the fans are excited to see how far they will go in sectionals.

GBK V v. Willoughby South

Conference Win Over South

By: Kaitlyn Rohl

There's nothing like a 3 pointer to start the game from Sophomore Grace Terelmes.
The Lady Blue Streaks defeated the South Rebels 54-43 on our home court, in a WRC rival match-up. The Blue Streaks fought a hard first half, with the ending score of the first half 24-16.
This isn't our first win over the Rebels. In the previous meeting, Madison beat them 50-43.
Mykayla Askew, Alyssa Rose, and Shyenne Ledford stood out the most during the Lady Blue Streaks conference win.  Alyssa Rose had a great scoring night with one of her new high records of 17 points, and Shyenne did not fall far behind with 11 points. Freshman Mykayla Askew, and Junior Alyssa Rose also had amazing passing combinations throughout the game.
Coach Smith said “It was nice to get a league win at home.” He also loves the great leadership from three of his starting juniors, Alyssa Rose, Aly Berry, and Shyenne Ledford.
Junior, Kalee Kless says that “She is proud of her team playing really hard to pull off the win. We played All in, All heart.”
The great comments weren't only coming from the coach and players, but also parent and fan, Mrs.Terelmes. She stated that, “She loves cheering for a hard working team. She loves that they never stop improving, and every game they start to work better together, and that the confidence goes up. They never give up!”
Come out and support you Lady Blue Streaks February 4th when they play their next conference game against Mayfield Wildcats,as they take their second attempt to try and beat the Mayfield wildcats!

Student Snapshot: Andy Cervelli

Showcasing All The Talents

By: Alyssa Caruthers

Andy Cervelli is a senior and has landed one of the lead roles in the high school musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  Andy is playing the role of J.B. Biggley.  Biggley is the president of Worldwide Wicket company who hires the protagonist J. Pierrepont Finch.  
The musical is the story of an ambitious young window washer named J. Pierrepont Finch who climbs the ladder of success rather quickly in a big time company. On his way up, he finds love and friendship in a lot of different ways and places.  
Andy says "Drama helps you step out of your comfort zone and allows you to work and meet with others you might not always get to see."  Andy also said having the knowledge of the process it takes to put on a play and the want to be a part of it, helped him get his part in the play.  
Along with being involved in the play Andy is an honors student who takes AP courses and has a 4.0 GPA.  He is also a member National Honors Society and the Tri-M Music Society.  At MHS, Andy participates in jazz, concert, and marching band.  He enjoys spending his free time time volunteering.  
Victoria Tromba says "Andy is such a character!  He never fails to become the part he plays.  Andy has a voice that  is very strong and leading in musical numbers.  There isn't is a time when he's not smiling or jumping around and having fun."  
Andy says the highlight of his high school career is performing in the halftime shows at the football games in the marching band. He says "The best feeling is the rush you get right before you go out to perform."  
Andy's goals while finishing out his last year of high school are to keep his grades up, stay on track in his classes, and maintain his 4.0 GPA.  After Andy is done with high school he plans to go to college where he intends to get a degree in Art and major in design.  Andy says one of the major reasons he got into art is because his father is into art and his grandfather was a freelance artist.  
According to Andy, the best part of the play is the feeling you get after you finish performing and hear the audience applaud.  While Andy has a lot on his plate with all his extra curricular activities, in the end, even the best of talents enjoy rest.   

SW Meet: Rewrite

Seniors’ Last home Meet

By: Izzy Gnagy

January 28, 2017 was the last at home swim meet for those seniors on the Madison Blue Streaks Swim Team. The last meet was at home against Geneva and North.
For the girls swim team it was a good last meet. Before the competition, members like Chloe Beach said that North is tough competition but she believed that they’d beat Geneva.
Coach Artz believed that the girls would win against both North and Geneva. For their last and final meet as a Blue Streak Swimmer, the senior girls’ put their hearts and souls into every event to take a win.
The swim meet, as always, went by in a watery and exciting flash. The girls took a win against north with the final scoring coming out as 84-47. The girls also won against Geneva with 90-64 as the final score.
As a swimmer most of the time swimming doesn’t have big rivalries. Swimming is more of a personal challenge no matter how many people you’re up against. Most of the time when you look up to the scoreboard you’re looking at your time. Did I gain time? Did I lose time? Did I beat my PR? How much time did i gain or lose? Even though swim is mostly an individual sport, your team is always there with you.
This last home meet for the senior girls is one they will hopefully remember for a long time. These girls have built a family within the four years they have swam for Madison. Good luck to all the senior girls on the swim team on their adventure into their future. Once a Madison Blue Streak, always a Madison Blue Streak.

Project Unify

Blue Streaks United

When Team Unify took the court yesterday, they did so under the weight of high expectations to take down the teachers' team playing the role of the visitors.  Team Unify has gone undefeated to all challengers the past three years, and the student body certainly wanted to make sure that streak did not end under their watch.
Thankfully, this Team Unify squad was more than up to the challenge.  After diligent preparation and under the thunderous support of their fellow students, Team Unify vanquished the teachers by a 34-24 scoreline.  Coaches Brittany Azbill and Hayley Corbett recognized the need to manage their players' anxiety and came more than prepared.  The night prior to the big game, the coaching staff decorated the players' classroom to highlight the excitement of the day and to emphasize what matters most: the fun.

Coaches Corbett and Azbill look on
to see their adjustments yield victory

The move paid off big time as Team Unify came out firing on all cylinders and built up a commanding 26-2 lead in the first half.  Among those that embodied this team spirit, was veteran player Jon Hewitt.  Hewitt always finds himself as a lead scorer on the stat sheet, but what he brings most is an infectious display of energy and motivation.
"He is very good at getting the crowd involved and laughing all the time!" said Coach Corbett.  She also acknowledged that this energy and positivity inspires her team on the court to give everything they have to get the win.
On the scoring end of the game, teammates Nick Risko and Tyler Watson combined for over half of the team's points and led the team in rebounding.  While Risko relied heavily on his accurate shooting, Watson played a game of patience.  Replays of the game repeatedly show Watson choosing his moment for a steal and a fast break for the easy two points.
The defensive pressure was noted by the opposition as well.
"We had a nice comeback working late in the game, but a few steals by their defense sealed the deal for the kids," Assistant Principal Bill Mayer lamented of the second half downfall.
Mayer was not exaggerating when he spoke of a comeback.  The teachers came out in the second half with a new fire and tallied twenty more points than they did in the first.

Student helper Shyenne Ledford poses
with Megan Beemiller

"When we noticed the teachers were scoring more, we told our players that they have to work together," Coach Corbett commented.
This message carried onto the court.  Megan Beemiller, Chloe Coolidge and Raquel "Rocky" Riestra were prime examples of working together as they orchestrated their teammates' movements and shouted words of encouragement as others took shots crucial to their team's win.  The three also weren't afraid to do the work themselves and combined for twelve points.
The win is an important one for Team Unify as it sets the stage for future success and holds strong to a long tradition of excellence.
"After this win, we all realized that keeping your head up and giving 100% all game long is important to be successful," Coach Azbill proudly commented of her team's hard work.
Despite the loss, there was nothing but pride and excitement from both ends of the court.  Whether it was on the court or in the stands, "unity" was the clear and dominant cause all day long.
"The culture at MHS is like no other that I've seen in five different schools in three different states," Principal Mayer stated. "The mindset and dynamic of the student body in regards to 'we are one unit/one team' was evident today.  Our students with special needs are rock stars at MHS just like any other student that shines at our school."
Project Unify, originally started by MHS graduate Haley Azbill, was organized by the joint efforts of Brittany Azbill, Hayley Corbett and Zach Guyer.  Their commitment truly unified not just the school, but the community as a whole.  Many local businesses pitched in to make the program a success, and it was attended by many local leaders including the school's superintendent, local media, and Madison Township trustees.  No other MHS event garners as much praise and excitement as the annual Team Unify performance.  It is a time to be proud and a time to be shared.

Event Snapshot: Project Unify

Unifying Madison High School

By: Adrianna Hanzak

In July of 1968, the United States and Canada took part in an event that would impact countries across the world. That year the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District acted in a joint venture to put together the first summer Special Olympics. The organizations gave those with intellectual disabilities a chance to shine and gain inspiration and hope, and inspired the start of Project Unify in schools every where.

It was in 2014-2015 that senior, at the time, Haley Azbill had a vision. Haley strove to help out, working with the MH unit at her high school; helping with Camp Sue Osborne, a camp dedicated to providing the individuals with special needs in Lake and Geauga county with everyday camping experiences; and was looking forward to pursuing a future career working with those she spends so much time with. In spite of all the great things she was dedicating herself to, she wanted to do more, which is when the idea of participating in Project Unify came to light.

Project Unify is based on the foundation of diversity, different individuals valuing each other regardless of skin, intellect, talents, or years. This helped provide a great way for teachers to get involved with the students, parents to engage, and the student body to join together and become more of a whole while showing support for their peers, impacting them greatly. Haley proposed the idea and took control. She organized the publicity of getting the word of the event out there and also the strategies to raise the funds, through “Go Fund Me”, spaghetti dinners held at the local Wagon Wheel, and student admission fees to assemblies held at school. All of the funds she raised went as a donation towards the Special Olympics, the fees needed to make shirts and purchase awards that are given at the end of the event.

The student assemblies gave the students with special needs an opportunity to participate in sporting events. In the 2014 school year, Haley had organized a volleyball game in which Fox 8 News had come to support. By 2015 Jessica McPeek took over Haley’s position her senior year after Haley had graduated and held a basketball game to get them involved once more. Now, during the 2016-2017 school year, Brittany Azbill, Haley’s younger sister, took on the event, organizing another basketball game in which Fox 8 News is attending for the second time since the start of the school’s participation.

This year, just like the years before it, the student body supports the event, purchasing t-shirts and admission tickets, while the varsity players use the buddy system, pairing with the special ed athletes, getting more involved and helping out. In honor of the event, many special guests are invited, including the parents, the superintendent, and the Board of Education. While everyone gets excited for game day, the star athletes put in 2-3 days of practice before the big game to prepare and are provided with lunch after the big action packed game along with the special guests. While the big game helps the special ed students feel involved, it also brings the student body together as one, allowing them to show support for one another creating a unified school.