By Sydney Rechtenbaugh and Libby Goertel

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo By Sydney Rechtenbaugh

Spring brings a time nearing the end of the school year when students begin to get lazy, but four students show how their hard work is still being recognized by teachers.

Senior Shannon Miller received April student of the month. Miller is involved in many activities including National Honor Society, FFA, soccer, and much more. Miller’s advice to other students is work hard, but have fun.

Junior student of the month Aubrie Odegaard is a very outgoing student. Odegaard is involved in cross country, basketball and National Honor Society. Aubrie thinks she excels in certain skills. “I’m a pretty good texter. I also like to think I’m good at math and technology.” Her advice to students is to work hard and get work done. It also helps to become best friends with a teacher like Mr. Tirrel.

Sophomore Ali Lacey is a respectful student. She is involved in volleyball and basketball. Lacey’s advice is to be nice to others, respect teachers, be willing to help peers, and get homework done on time.

Freshman student of the month Sara Waldner is involved in soccer, gymnastics and FFA. Waldner is athletic, determined, responsible and kind. All these traits contributed to her becoming student of the month. Waldner thinks something else other than grades contributed to her earning student of the month. “I get good grades and everything, but the other reason would be that I usually am smiling.”

By Libby Goertel

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo Courtesy of:

Elvis has left the building! If you missed West Central’s performance of All Shook Up, you missed a great show. The musical is based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with an Elvis twist. It’s about a dreary town where Chad, a hip-swiveling, guitar playing roustabout, comes to town and brings life through music. People then start falling hopelessly in love left and right, but not necessarily with the right person.

Joe Schartz, who played Chad, said, “It was a ballet of emotions, and it was very exciting.” Alex Qualm, who played Dean, agreed with him wholeheartedly. “I was falling off of my chair laughing!” exclaimed Allie Macdonald. When asked about the musical, Andrew Kapperman replied, “It was one of the best shows we’ve ever done! We are going to miss Alex Qualm, Dusty Kleba and all of the other seniors. I say Alex and Dusty because they taught me everything I know.” Brooklyn Ketcham absolutely loved it, and she wants to watch it again. Overall, the musical was a huge success at West Central High School.

By Brandon Pennock, Libby Goertel and Riley Schraeder

Trojan Tribune Staff

On November 6, 2012, there will be an election to either reinstate our current president, Barrack Obama, or assign a new President of the United States. From the Republican party, there are four remaining candidates.The two candidates in the lead are Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. The other two candidates are Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. The Democratic party has one candidate remaining, the current President of the United States: Barrack Obama.

All kids hear debates about politics in some form at home. It might be from the television, their parents, or on the Internet. Some people get very offended when it comes to politics, but most students don’t pay attention to politics. It’s always wise to be informed of how your government works and who is running it. Ask your friends and see how many even know who the candidates are. More than likely, most of them have no idea. Being involved in and informed of your government is very important when you get older. Would it be a smart decision to go out on Election Day and vote for someone you know nothing about?

There are some students who like to be informed and are ready to be a part of the election process. When a citizen turns 18, under normal circumstances, he/she has the right to vote. Senior Joe Schartz is voting for the candidate that presents the best plan for saving the economy. “The candidate I would choose right now is Mitt Romney because he wants to lower taxes,” Schartz says. “I expect that no one will want Obama to be president again.”

Should the self-ascribed “bipartisan” members of Congress, who have to this point opposed many of the potentially beneficial suggestions of the Democratic Party, ever decide to be truly thoughtful of these suggestions rather than constantly looking for ways to undermine the current administration, this country might actually see some progress.  Until our elected leaders can put aside their petty griping (on both sides, mind you) and power struggling, the backbone workers of this country are going to continue to struggle:  economically, socially, globally.  I long for a day when it doesn’t matter which corporate conglomerate paid my representative the most money for his/her campaign; and instead my representative takes into consideration what is best for the constituency (that’s us, the “Joe Schmoes” of America).  I also long for a day when America is about “red white and blue” rather than red or blue.