Every high school girl’s dream is to be asked to Homecoming in a creative way by their crush. Whether you buy her a simple bouquet of flowers or surprise her in front of the school, she will be impressed with your effort.

Students came from Marquette, Petoskey, Detroit, and many more in order to compete in Poetry Out Loud. One participant in this event, however, arrived in Lansing on Mar. 13 from the halls of the Howell High School Freshman Campus. Her name? Anna Stocker.

This past Monday, March 23, the song “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie began echoing through the hallways in between every passing time throughout the day. This isn’t the school just trying to promote positive vibes, it is a fundraiser put on by the Freshmen Class Student Council, to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation. The freshmen are asking the freshman campus to donate $500 and the 10/12 building to donate $1,500 in order to “Make the Music Stop”, meaning in order for the song to stop playing the student body needs to raise that much money, if not the song will continue to play until the end of the school year.

Creative and spontaneous problem solving, teamwork, and regional, state, and world competition are what some of this years class of freshmen expected when they entered into Odyssey of the Mind. According to the website, Odyssey of the Mind “is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college.” Thousands of teams throughout the US and 25 other countries participate.

Poems were recited by 17 freshmen at the first annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation contest. Armed with only a microphone and their chosen poems, students competed for the chance to move on to compete in the state finals in East Lansing for a prize of $200, an all expense paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete in national finals, and a $500 stipend for their school to spend on books.

Link Crew Mentoring is a group that takes individual freshman and tries to guide them through their first year. This program has 160 mentors. It is led by the Leadership teacher, Aaron Metz and is generally considered a successful program to help freshman students throughout the year. By Staff Writer: Evan Webster