sights of wonder and amazement

PAGE 2: rEVIEWS PAGE 3: Editorials PAGEs 4-5: New Teachers

COvington Catholic

AUG/SEPT

2017

VOlUME XXX - ISSUE 2

Blue Print

Colonels Caught Looking UpJustin Colvin On August 21, 2017, everyone in the Unit-ed States seemed to be doing the same thing: looking up. The reason was the solar eclipse that is estimated to happen once every 3 years for a matter of minutes. One may occur every 3 years, but it may only be seen in few parts of the world. The best place to see the most recent eclipse passed through Hopkinsville,

Kentucky, which is exactly where a group of Colonels, led by Mr. Lind, went. In an interview with Bob Lind he described the moments before the total eclipse, “There was an eerie glow and also shadow bands, re-sembling small snakes, which fluttered across light colored objects.” During the total eclipse Mr. Lind said that he could look at the sun for

around 2.5 minutes as a crown of light illumi-nated the sky, and as the moon went in front of the sun he could also see a bright light in the shape of a diamond (known as the diamond ring). Also, when the total eclipse occurred, a 360 degree sunset was spread around the sky. The 360 degree sunset was the favorite part of both Mr. Lind and many of the 8 other Colonels that joined him on the trip. During the eclipse (back in Park Hills), the whole student body and faculty migrated to the brand new football field bleachers for approxi-mately 15-20 minutes. Each person was given a “solar viewer” card or a protective pair of glass-

es that had the same effect (both of which were approved by NASA). All solar viewer glasses were purchased by Mr. Lind through a com-pany called Thousand Oaks Optical. The es-timated price was $350.00 for the 1,000 pairs of solar viewers ordered. The solar eclipse at CCH was only a 91% eclipse, but it was still a sight to behold. The view from CCH was interesting for a short amount of time, but in Hopkinsville the view seemed to be a once in a lifetime experi-ence (even though it was not). Do not worry if you missed the 100% eclipse, because another one will be showing up on April 8, 2024.

Bright Minds, Bright Future: Football Stadium Dedication

Nick Dinkens Friday, August 18th at 5:00pm at Cov-ington Catholic High School a newly developed stadium that had taken many months to build was finally dedicated to one of the school’s ma-jor donors, Dennis Griffin. To plan such a night took about 6 months because of how the school wanted to make sure everything was perfect. The concept of the theme for the night was “Bright Minds, Bright Future, Bright Lights,” since this was the first year that the school had installed permanent lights for the stadium’s us-age. Many people attended the dedication

such as Bishop Roger Foys, Bob Rowe, fac-ulty, staff, and many donors and alumni; nearly 300 hundred people attended, and it was open to almost everyone in the community. Most people who were there said that the atmo-sphere was exciting and exuded positive vibes for the rest of the school year to come. Several people shared comments about the new addi-tion to CCH. Mrs. Joyce Griffin gave a rous-ing speech about what it means to her family and her late husband to be a part of the Colonel family. She knew Dennis (Mr. Griffin) would

Tim Belton wears his “solar-viewer” card, given to all students before the eclipse.

be proud of the stadium. A few people were asked their opinion on why the stadium had been dedicated to such a great man like Dennis Griffin; they said, “because he is a very gener-ous person and sponsor who loves the Colonel community.” Without the school’s major spon-sors the field and stadium renovation would not be there today, but thanks to such an amazing donor like the Griffin family, it came true. The stadium/field took about 2.6 mil-lion dollars to complete, and a whopping 7.6 million goal to help with the new Yung Family Tennis Complex, and our new STEM technol-ogy wing that is in the process of being built. Prior to the dedication there was a buffet dinner and the first game of the football season after-wards. To incorporate school spirit each student was given a free t-shirt and glow sticks to reit-erate the new concept of the bright theme. The night was a success; everyone has an amazing time with a great victory against Ryle High School’s football team.

Mr. Lind takes his students on a field trip.

Photo by Paul Allison

mOVIES AND MUSIC

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Mason KinsellaDead Poets Society is by far one of my favorite movies of all time due to the presence of

renowned actor Robin Williams. Williams is most known for appearing in comedies, but this movie takes on serious matters of teenage problems in an all-male preparatory school.

Created in 1989, Williams plays a new English teacher by the name of John Keating whose teaching methods are a little unorthodox. He encourages his students to look at life from different perspectives, all while the students face pressure from their parents and other teachers. Neil Perry and Todd Anderson learn to pursue their dreams and be who they want to be with Keating’s help. Neil and Todd learn to seize the day, but not every movie has a happy ending.

Dead Poets Society has an 86% overall rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is “Certified Fresh.” Now freshmen beware, this movie is rated PG, so consult your parents before you watch it.

Personally, I would give this movie 100%. The music throughout the entire movie perfectly captures each moment of screen time, and the cinematography is wonderful. This movie really hits home with me because this made me finalize what I want to major as in college, Secondary Educa-tion for English. Overall, I highly recommend this movie to all high school teenagers, as it isn’t just a movie, it’s a learning experience.

Grant Lawler 1-800-273-8255 by Logic ft. Alessia Cara and Khalid is nothing less than a song for the lost and alone. Throughout the song, Logic puts forth a struggling story of suicide.

The first verse takes a struggling tone saying, “All this other s*** I’m talkin’ ‘bout they think they know it I’ve been pray-ing for somebody to save me, no one’s heroic and my life don’t even matter I know it I know it I know I’m hurting deep down but can’t show it. I never had a place to call my own I never had a home. Ain’t nobody callin’ my phone. Where you been? Where you at? What’s on your mind? They say every life precious but nobody care about mine.” Logic then uses the chorus to bring an opposing response to that by saying, “I want you to be alive. Now lemme tell ya why.” This verse and chorus help to convey the realism Logic is trying to portray. Alessia Cara adds a soothing and com-

Joshua Struck 2017 has been one of the biggest years in rap music. From Kodak Black going in and out of jail, to the explosion of various artists’ albums like Lil Uzi Vert’s Luv Is Rage 2 and Kendrick Lamar’s album Damn. However, one artist that seemed to have come out of nowhere in 2017 is XXXTENTACION. With his hit song “look at me” he climbed to the top of the rap charts. Recently, on August 25, 2017, he released his second studio album, 17. This album took the world by shock as it shied away from his normal “trap” style of music and instead is slow and se-rious. XXXTENTACION says that the album is his “collection of nightmares, thoughts, and real life situations he’s lived.” He also states that, “by listening to this album, you are literally entering my mind and if you are not willing to accept my emotion and hear my words fully, do not listen.”

XXXTENTACION has been criticized by many people for making this album. Their argument is that it is too serious. However that is the exact reason for why it is my favorite album of 2017. Instead of rapping about the stereotypical money, girls, and drugs, XXXTENTACION raps about his real life depression and suicidal thoughts. Through this album XXXTENTACION hopes to “help cure or at least numb your depres-sion.” I believe that he does a great job of this as it shows the listener that someone who may look like they have it all on the outside can be going through just the same struggles as a normal per-son on the inside.

A Classic For all to see

1-800-273-8255

Look at me

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forting tone in the second verse by giving exam-ples of beautiful experiences that are well worth living, such as “When you’re there chest to chest with a lover. It’s holding on, though the road’s long and seeing light in the darkest things and when you stare at your reflection finally know-

ing who it is.” Alessia is the only woman featured in this song, which puts more emphasis on the mes-sage she is trying to relay to the listener. She meets this challenge and overcomes it by not only touching one person, but every person who listens to the song. The final verse of the song, sung by Khalid, is the strength that comes af-ter the struggle. “The lane I travel feels alone, but I’m moving ‘til my legs give out.” This line is sung with such strength and comfort

that it allows the listener to feel the sense of tri-umph over such a draining struggle. This is a song for people for our time, as suicide is prevalent in the world.

OPINIONS/EDITORIALSIN THE WORLD. . .

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Nick Dinkens The Covington Catholic 2017- 2018 school year started with a to-tally new concept on how students learn by using Acer tablets on a One to One program. There are many advantages to using them, but some disadvantages as well. It was required for every stu-dent to purchase one except seniors who got away with not purchasing the new technological advances. Some advantages include, saving the environment by going paperless or having less huge, heavy books to carry around all day. Also, if an assignment is forgotten at school, there’s no need to worry because the homework would most likely be online. With new technology, how-ever, comes some disadvantages from the tablets and network. The tablets have disadvantages such as a bad battery life. Another disad-vantage would include slow inter-net connection, that not only affects students, but teachers as well. Both teachers and students were asked to take a short survey about the new technology and there are mixed feelings on them. Those teachers include English teachers Ms. Neubauer and Ms. McDonald. When both were asked the first im-pression of them, Ms. Neubauer said that she thinks it is nice to be able to use technology and likes it. Ms. McDonald’s thoughts on them were that the devices become too much of a discipline issue. Ms. Neubauer’s class has been affected by saving paper and doing activities online, while Ms. McDon-ald’s says it affects by helping with research for papers. Both teachers prefer pen and paper over tablets. Lastly, they both think we switched to the tablets to keep up with tech-nology and modern times, but also to help show families of incoming classes on how advanced the school has become. A few students who were also interviewed said similar things to the teachers; all students like the technology, just not as much if it were an IPad. The problems with them were that they are slow, have a terrible battery, and cannot print from the school. On the plus side, everyone likes that the school fi-nally agreed to let devices in each classroom, creating less books for students to carry around. All togeth-er as a whole school everyone loves using technology, so this One to One has a positive effect for years to come.

1:1 or one to None? Logan Beagle

With over 63 deaths and thousands of people injured, one would expect Texas to be going through a minor epidemic. How-ever, the cause of all this trauma is actually a tropical cyclone that over night turned into a level four hurricane. Starting along the Afri-can coast in early August, Harvey touched ground in mainland USA on August 25th. Harvey wasted no time and within the first day, three deaths were reported and flash floods began to happen left and right. Houston, which was the epi-center of the hurricane, had reached flood levels of up to four and a half feet in some places.

With this being the worst hurricane/flood in America since

Shields The 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse was awesome to put it simply. Something about being able to witness something happen in space from down here on Earth is just insane. But what do you know about this solar eclipse? Everyone will say that lineup of the Sun, the Moon, and Earth will make the earth go darker for a period of time. But there are also some facts that you most likely know about.1. This was the first total solar eclipse in the United States in 38 years. The last one was on February 26, 1979. Unfortunately, not many people saw it because it clipped just five states in the Northwest and the weather was not the best. Luckily, this eclipse clipped all of the U.S., but only a few were able to witness totality. 2. The first contact was in Or-egon. If you wanted to be the first person to experience totality in the continental U.S., you wanted to be on the waterfront at Government Point, Oregon3. To go off on the last sentence of fact 1, totality lasts a maximum of 2 minutes and 40.2 seconds. To experience this, you would have needed to be slightly south of Car-bondale, Illinois, in Giant City State Park.4. Totality is safe to look at. During the time the Moon’s disk covers that of the Sun, it is safe to look at the eclipse. In fact, to ex-perience the awesomeness of the event, viewers must look at the sun without a filter during totality. You will not be able to directly look at the eclipse unless you are in the ar-eas where you can see totality.5. Nature will take heed. De-pending on your surroundings, as totality nears you may experience strange things. Look. You will no-tice a resemblance to the onset of night, though not exactly. Areas much lighter than the sky near the sun lie all around the horizon. Shad-ows look different. Listen. Usually, any breeze will dissipate and birds will stop chirping. Hopefully, you would have been able to witness this spectacu-lar event. Next time this spectacular astronomical event will happen is in April 8, 2024.

Source: Michael E. Bakich | Published: Monday, June 27, 2016. “25 Facts about the 2017 Solar Eclipse.” Astronomy.com, www.astronomy.com/great-american-eclipse-2017/articles/2016/06/25-facts-about-the-2017-solar-eclipse.

Eclipse Facts

Hurricane Harvey

North KoreaNorth Korea has been a nui-

sance since its formation. For years, rumors of a missile strike power-ful enough to hit the western world was thought to be that, just a rumor. In the past couple of years, more successfully missile testings have caused international concerns, nota-bly 2013 and 2016. However, none of these compare to the missile test-ing July 4, 2017, on which North Korea had its first successful testing for an intercontinental ballistic mis-sile. Hwasong-14 has the capability to reach the United States, a fear-ful development. President Donald Trump had previously promised fire and fury, but with today’s technol-ogy, is war the best answer?

To nuke North Korea into oblivion is perhaps the easiest of a list of tough options, but to kill an entire population cannot be justi-fied. Morality aside, what of other nations? Would not the countries of the world be shocked at such an act

Julian Chapman

Katrina in 2005, professional ath-letes from all over are helping with the relief efforts. Houston’s very own JJ Watt, star defensive lineman, helped raise over seventeen million dollars within a week to donate to families who have lost everything. Relief efforts have recently started across Houston with families head-ing back to their homes to see the devastation that their houses and property have undergone. After all was said and done, reporters are saying there will be tens of billions of dollars of damage that will need to be fixed. President Trump has urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling so that the government can do whatever they can to help out with Houston relief efforts.

of aggression? If the United States were to bomb North Korea, the last ounce of trust in America would be gone from the rest of the world. Na-tional pride and patriotism would leave the hearts of Americans and be replaced with sorrow and fear. If a country can decimate another without hesitation, what stops it from destroying others?

Frankly, the North Korea situation is tough. Diplomacy will fail, and war would be catastrophic for both sides. No one wants to put in the effort to find a compromise, and with today’s polarized soci-ety compromise is rare. Learning of this situation, I have read many articles of war being the answer. Even those who call for diplomatic peace have not given a viable alter-native to war. The future is murky, but I see a glimmer of light in the distance. I just hope to God it isn’t from radiation.

STUDENT LIFE: TEACHERS

Jack Pelletier This year Covington Catholic is welcom-ing six new teachers. While it is hard to accli-mate to a new environment, Mrs. Guard is trying her best to figure out the Cov Cath ways. Theresa Guard is a long time teacher of 25 years. She attended Bishop Brossart High School before attending Thomas More College for her Bachelors Degree in mathematics and the University of Cincinnati for her Masters Degree in mathematics. After college, her first teaching job was at her own high school, Bishop Bros-sart. After many years at Brossart, Guard moved to Georgia with her family and taught at a high

school for 5 years. Upon moving back from Georgia Guard became a teacher at St. Henry before moving to CCH where she is a math teacher! When asked about the atmosphere at Coving-ton Catholic she simply re-

sponded with, “I love the atmosphere! The boys are great, the other teachers are very helpful, and Mr. Rowe is a great leader!” After just the first month at CCH, Guard has aspirations to become the assistant principal and hopefully co-coach a sport! Outside of school, Guard enjoys spend-ing time with her family, golfing, and coaching her sixth grade daughter, Anna, in volleyball. She has been married to Jason, her husband, for 25 years and together they have 6 kids... Brady (4th grade) and Cooper (1st grade) both plan on attending CCH! It is great to have new teachers like Mrs. Guard, so enthusiastic about teaching at CCH.... Welcome to the Colonel Family, Mrs. Guard!

Drew Hummel Ms. Emily Neubauer had a taste of the Covington Catholic atmo-sphere after student-teaching last year, but now she has come back as a full time teacher ready to contribute to our community. This Xavier grad and die-hard Muskies fan will be teaching junior English for the first semester until Ms. Baulch returns from leave after winter break. Even during her student-teaching days, she enjoyed and em-braced the Cov Cath community. It was a stark contrast from her all-girls high school: Mt. Notre Dame, where Cov Cath connections between stu-dents do not appear. According to her, the junior Colonels have been easy-

going, and she has felt welcomed here. Student teaching can barely compare to the real deal. Ms. Neubauer has been able to be “more creative in class, [and] more herself in class” than last year. She has particularly enjoyed teaching the summer novel In Cold Blood to her juniors. But before she was attending Xavier aspiring to teach, she had dreams of being a sports journal-ist. She wrote for her school paper and loved the writing process. Her passion for writing led her to want to help others appreciate and cultivate the dying art. As an English teacher, she could show others how to enjoy writing as much as she does. She sees herself continuing to teach in the future but plans to go into counseling eventually.

Nate DinkensCovington Catholic High School has re-

cently hired many new teachers, and Mr.Verst is one of the many new teachers. This is his first year ever teaching, and he is teaching six periods of freshman religion.

Mr. Verst retired from his former job, in which he was a fed-eral postal inspector. He joined Covington Catho-lic because he was look-ing for an opportunity to teach. He wanted to give back to the community and make a difference in students’ lives. Mr. Verst

went to Thomas More for college and double majored in business and administration. He has been married for 29 years and has four children and one grandson. Outside of the classroom, Mr. Verst owns a small farm in Campbell County that has cows and a few dogs. He is also a baseball coach for Bishop Brossart High School. With the use of new technology in the classroom Mr. Verst says it was challenging at first. He is get-ting used to it, but he is more of a pen and paper type of person.

Mr. Verst is enjoying Covington Catholic so far, but is still trying to figure out a routine to get organized for the year. His goals for the stu-dents he is teaching is that they learn to grow in their faith and mature from young boys to young men. He is looking forward to an exciting school year and to have fun while still learning.

Kyle RichardsBeing a new teacher at Covington Catho-

lic may sound intimidating, but Mr. Tom Rowe says he is excited for the new challenge. Cur-rently tripling as a special machine designer at Alexander & Associates, a robotics coach for St. Mary’s, and now a STEM teacher at Covington Catholic, Mr. Rowe is always ready for a new adventure.

Adventure is some-thing close to Mr. Rowe. His favorite movie is The Last of the Mohicans, because of the beautiful nature scenes, and in some of his off days he spends his time on his boat at Lake Cumberland,

or with his 7 grandchildren. Among some other of Mr. Rowe’s favorite things include robotics, watching his students learn and develop ideas. He describes himself as competitive, yet com-passionate. Having always been around technol-ogy since his early years, Mr. Rowe has grown a passion for it, which has culminated in him being hired at Covington Catholic. Previously an avid backpacker as well, there is no doubt Mr. Rowe will be able to find his way as a new teacher at Covington Catholic.

In Mr. T. Rowe’s class, called Engineer-ing Design and Development, students select problems and search for solutions to them, while learning the design process, researching patents and products, and building and testing proto-types. Mr. T. Rowe only teaches during 7th pe-riod, but throughout the day he coaches robotics and works at his other job (which he will be retir-ing from at the end of 2017 after 34 years).

So far, Mr. Rowe says he is having a great time at Covington Catholic. He is specifi-cally struck by the comradery between students. He believes he will have a great year, and he says he couldn’t be happier to be here.

Julian ChapmanAfter graduating Dixie Heights, Mr. Jor-

dan Landrum attended Thomas More and re-ceived a Masters in Education and a Busi-ness Degree in Sales and Marketing. He then began working at St. Henry District High School teaching sales, but then he de-ployed the one-to-one program and became the IT Coordinator. Although he had no prior schooling, he taught himself while in close contact with Global Busi-ness Solutions. After 5 years, he accepted the po-sition at Covington Catholic as IT Director.

Mr. Landrum was fascinated by the CCH school spirit. “I was blown away by the lunch before the game; their spirit and leadership was amazing.” He was especially impressed by the signs put up around the school. Mr. Landrum is also interested in the students in his fifth period study hall; he enjoys getting to know them and asking about their plans for the future, and ev-eryday he reads them a recipe from the Roadkill Cook Book. Remember to turn off your phones, Landrum always has a way to find them.

Pg4New Math Blood

The Neubauer is Back!

More STEMFormer

Federal Agent

NEW I.T. Man in the HOuse

STUDENT LIFE: CHURCHPG5

Matthew Dietz Covington Catholic is welcoming many new faces to the staff this year, and one of those faces is new custodian Mr. Gary Louderback. Mr. Louderback had an interesting childhood, as his father was a member of the Air Force. Gary was originally born in Massachusetts, but for the first 12 years of his life, he traveled around the country due to the constant shifting of houses in-volved with being raised in a military family. Mr. Louderback eventually settled in Ohio, where he currently lives, roughly 15 minutes from Cov-ington Catholic in Western Hills. Mr. Louderback is enjoying the daily jobs

and tasks that help keep our school looking clean and pre-sentable. Some of those jobs include finishing up the final details on our new football stadium, monitoring the after-school Work Study program, and doing daily maintenance around the school, starting around seven in the morning. At home, Mr. Louderback has

five kids, three of whom are now in their twen-ties. The other two are 17 and 12. He has four daughters and one son. When Mr. Louderback is not taking care of and spending time with his children, he likes to relax, watch television, and read the news of what is going on in the United States and around the world. Mr. Louderback is also in the process of restoring an old motorcycle back at his house. We, at Covington Catholic, are lucky to have such a hard-working individual on our staff for the 2017-18 school year and will be able to witness firsthand how good Mr. Louderback is at his job throughout the coming months.

Blake Shields Covington Catholic has gotten a few new employees this year. One of these newcomers is Mr. Jake Kleier. When asked how he was enjoy-ing the first few weeks of his intern job, he said, “I love it.” Mr. Kleier is currently a senior at Northern Kentucky University in pursuit of a marketing degree. Mr. Kleier is working in Marketing and Communications here as an intern. He works with social media, press releases, and web up-dates. When asked how he got the job, he said he got an email from NKU that said that Cov Cath was looking for someone as an intern in market-ing. He then applied and got the job. Kleier hopes to gain “a deeper understanding of the marketing world.” You won’t only see Mr. Kleier in the market-ing office, however. He is also vol-unteering as a coach for the cross country team and baseball team. When asked what he was go-ing to do with his degree, he said he would “try and work with anyone who offers him a job.” After this interview, it is easy to infer that Kleier is a simple man that is eager to work hard and show companies everywhere that he is the marketer that they need. Don’t worry folks, Mr. Kleier is here all year, but will most likely be moving onto bigger things in the marketing world.

LOuderback takes the Reins

Nate DinkensOn August 25th the students and staff of

Covington Catholic High School walked up to St. Agnes grade school to attend the first All School Mass. Father Hennigen, Covington Catholic’s new Chaplain, experienced his first all school

mass with Cov-ington Catholic. Bishop Foys led the first mass for a great start of the school year.

The Mass was set up by Mr.

Bill Snyder, an alumnus and part of the staff at Covington Catholic. The students wore proper

Opening School Mass

Senior Mass

Logan Beagle As the 2017-2018 school year begins, one of the first things the new sophomores in Coach Andolina’s religion class can do is accompany Coach A in the religious movie night. Every year Coach Andolina hosts these movie nights in hopes that the young Colonels will be able to bond with each other as well as find something out about their spiritual life. This month’s movie night showed the movie Eddie the Eagle. This movie embodies the journey of a British skier, Michael “Eddie” Edwards, who got cut from the British Olym-pic ski team, but still felt as if he had something to prove. Eddie, in fact, did have something to prove and former ski jumper, Bronson Deary, was willing to train Eddie so that Eddie could showcase his talents. With no support from his

Coach a movie Night

Jayden ParksThis year’s annual Diocesan Senior Mass

at the Cathedral was one to remember. With the great homily from The Most Reverend Bishop Roger J. Foys, the celebrant, the Mass truly was eye-opening for the Class of 2018. Not to men-tion that Bishop Foys gave all seniors in the Dio-cese the day off on Monday, September 18th!

Upon entering the beautiful Cathedral, one was simply struck with awe. The amazing stained-glass windows and intricate architecture of the building made for the best setting for a collective Senior Mass. Greeted by seniors from Holy Cross, the Colonels took their seats, seem-ingly one of the largest classes of seniors in the Cathedral. All 9 of the Diocesan High Schools were present: Bishop Brossart, Covington Cath-olic, Saint Henry District, Holy Cross, Villa Ma-donna, Newport Central Catholic, Notre Dame, Covington Latin, and Saint Patrick’s. Each school’s administrators, pastoral administrators, and chaplains were in attendance, along with Superintendent Mr. Michael Clines and most priests in the Diocese.

Among the seniors that spoke during the Mass were our own Tyler MacKnight and Drew Danneman, Class President. Tyler was the sec-

Grad Returns

country and his whole family doubting him, Ed-die and Deary grinded and finally made it to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. Some would say this movie does a great job exemplifying Covington Catholic itself. The way Eddie deals with his adversity shows his true character, just like how our students at CCH strive through even the hardest time. As our motto states with a spirit that will not die. CCH’s very own moviegoer, Tony Li expressed to me his feelings of the movie. “ I really liked the movie; it did a great job showing Edwards’ spirit of not giving up, I learned that everything is possible if I work hard for it and never give up.” This statement right here is exactly what Coach A wants his students to get out of these movie nights, providing information that can help inspire students to be great.

attire, which included a white button-up shirt and their blue and white tie. As mass started, the new face of the Chamber Choir sung with emotion and power, led by Mr. Jim Wolfe. The solos were sung by Tim Belton, a senior at Cov-ington Catholic. As the community and brother-hood gathered together, Bishop Foys talked in his homily about St. Louis the 9th putting God before everything. He expanded the teaching by challenging everyone to put God before every-thing else in life.

Towards the end, Bishop Foys granted the students a day off in celebration of a new school year. Getting the day off from the first mass is one of the newer traditions Covington Catholic has. Go Colonels!

ond speaker for the introduction to the liturgy and Drew read the first reading of the Mass. Sev-en members of the CCH Chamber Choir were among the 30 plus select senior vocalists from across the Diocese. Those CCH seniors were Tim Belton, Harris Disken, Alex Kennedy, Ma-son Kinsella, Casey Nowak, Joel Schneider, and Patrick Seibert. Also, our own Mr. Wolfe was one of the Mass music coordinators and did a good job. Another “musical note” made on the day was the perfectly done cantor by Anna Wolfe of Bishop Brossart.

The Mass ended with serious and fun words from Bishop Foys and the president of Thomas More College. While preparing to leave I managed to look at the inside cover of the pam-phlet given to the attendees when entering the Cathedral. On the page was a quote from Bishop Foys himself stating, “ There maybe alternatives for Catholic Schools, but there is no substitute.” These words are true, and all of the Class of 2018 should be cherishing the fact that we are extremely blessed to have such wise parents to place us in Catholic schools. We are also blessed and grateful to have received Monday 9-18 off. Hooray for Seniors and Go Colonels!

JD Smith Freshman

The Freshman Soccer Colonels began their Covington Catholic career with a success-ful season, each player forming new bonds with teammates and also having a memorable season on the field. The team put a cap on the season with a regional title over archrival Highlands with a last second goal and a 2-1 victory. This season the Colonels had a variety of very im-pressive victories including wins over Trinity, Highlands, and others. Standout Jaden Siemer led the team in goals as a striker. The team be-gan practice immediately after the dead period and continued to perfect their craft with practice everyday after school. The hard work of all team members and leadership of head coach Derek Smith, proved worthwhile with a variety of wins and the highest honor for a high school fresh-man team, a regional championship. Center Midfielder #4 Charlie Hubert was pleased with how the team bonded together and how they per-formed as a group over the season. “It was a really good experience to be a member of this team, and the team as a whole had great effort through the year.” The highlight of the season, according to Charlie, was a late game free kick by Aaron Muth to lift the Colonels over High-lands in the regional title game. “Aaron got a free kick right at the end of the game and hit it to win the region.” Charlie and a few other freshmen have shown the coaching staff enough ability to be moved up to junior varsity where they will con-tinue to grow and prepare for future years. The team looks to use the momentum they built this season and an offseason of improvement to pre-pare for next year and their bright future as up-perclassmen.

Harris DiskenVarsity Football

A sports season is not measured on how a team starts, but more importantly on how they can finish. This is the message that Coach Ed-die Eviston has been feeding his players since the beginning of this, so far successful, season. Varsity football has started well in the first five games by going undefeated, beating some of Northern Kentucky’s premiere talent including Ryle, Cooper and the Beechwood Tigers! The Colonels steam-rolled the Ryle squad that had a ton of preseason hype 49-17. The next NKY matchup the Colonels had to face were the Coo-per Jaguars. Cooper, coming off a hot 2016 sea-son, had every intention to come into our house and take the dub. The Colonels had other plans. We destroyed Cooper 41-0 on that rainy Friday night showcasing our talent. Next on CovCath’s track was Beechwood. Pregame smack talk did not help the Tigers who were handed their first L of the season 45-9. Colonel Quarterback AJ Mayer was asked what he thinks of his team now and how he thinks they will progress through the end of the seasons and into the playoffs. AJ said, “We are really excited with the group we have this year. We need to stay humble and focused because the season is only going to get more difficult.” The Colonels will face Indianapolis Bishop Chatard Friday at home for their biggest chal-lenge so far this year. Good luck to our football squad as we follow their ride to the state cham-pionship!

Varsity, JV, & Freshman FootballTanner Bayer

Junior Varsity Football The junior varsity team is off to a great start and are undefeated at 4-0. The star wide- receiver, Luke Summe, said that his team is “putting in that work everyday, and we are here to make the varsity better.” JV plans to work as hard as they can to make next year’s varsity a force with which to be reckoned. They traveled to Cooper and played hard to get the easy win. They also played Beechwood, and they almost scored the exact amount that the varsity scored. The junior varsity is excited for the next seasons. The juniors that are playing are excited to see what they can do next season. Starting Oline men Brennan Etler said, “He can’t wait to play under the lights with a huge crowd on Friday nights next year.” The defense is looking forward to all the opportunities they have gotten this season. They are looking forward to finish their season undefeated and beat our rival, the Bluebirds.

Chad GerdingFreshman Football

The Colonels have started out to a great season of 4-1. I interviewed the quarterback of the team Caleb Jacob, and he said, “They are off to a great start and they should have won the game against Campbell County but they will get them later on in the season” He also said, “The grind never stops.” They have been playing well and have started to work together as a team and you can see the brotherhood when they play and how they act. They have been really excited to play under the lights and to experience the new stadium.

They got to feel a little bit of what it was like playing Beechwood and whoop up on them. They are waiting to battle against rivals the Bluebirds. The quarterback of the team will be dressing varsity once the freshman season is over. The team and the new stadium have been bringing in big crowds.

Varsity, JV, & Freshman Soccer

Matthew DietzJV Soccer

The Covington Catholic Junior Varsity Soccer Team has had many successful seasons in the past, and after narrowly losing in last sea-son’s Regional Championship game to High-lands, the 2017 team looks determined to avenge that loss. The Colonels this season have a nice mix of classes, combining four freshmen with 16 sophomores, to assemble the best roster possible to dominate the region. The Colonels got off to a resounding start to the season on August 8th in Crestwood, KY, beating the pesky South Oldham Dragons 1-0. The Colonels then went on to defeat the rival St. Henry Crusaders 4-1, before obliterating the Si-mon Kenton Pioneers 7-0 on enemy soil in Inde-pendence. One thing that there is never a shortage of on the Junior Varsity Soccer team at Coving-ton Catholic is talent and promise. Besides the aforementioned Strange and Gallus, the Colo-nels also feature two of the region’s most prolific defenders in sophomores Patrick Thelen and Jo-seph Kiely. Fellow sophomores Chris Stegman and Matthew Weil provide most of the passing and assists, setting up the trio of top scorers in Strange, Gallus, and sophomore Jack Jordahl. Sophomore Austin Foust and freshman Bret Holt split time as the primary goalkeepers for the Col-onels, limiting the opposition to just seven goals the entire season. The Colonels have just five regular sea-son games remaining on the schedule, before the real fun begins in the Postseason. At 6-2-2, Covington Catholic appears strong and ready to dominate the lower half of the region, while also prepared to battle the top-tier of the region in Highlands and Ryle. Coach Matthew Hans-man is particularly optimistic about the end of the season as well, saying “I have a good group of kids that work hard, and we have a set of high expectations and goals that we want to reach.” Good Luck to Coach Hansman and the Colonels as they look to bring the hardware back to Park Hills.

Justin ColvinVarsity Soccer

The Colonels’ varsity soccer team had a rocky start: in the first 8 games having a 4-2-2 record. According to Outside Mid Luke Ventre, the tough schedule will lead them to being prepared for the postseason. The Colonels are expecting big things out of seniors Dominic Russo and Ja-cob Blom after both of them having terrific sea-sons last year, barely falling short of the champi-onship to Daviess High School in PK’s. Senior goalie Thomas Cody commented on the rocky start saying, “The talent is there. We just need to build team chemistry.” Thomas also said that they had the same problem early on last season, and they still ended up in the state finals. He said that mental mistakes have been made, but as the season progresses expectations for performance (both physical and mental) will increase. Now after 13 games into the new season, the Colonels have improved. Their record is now 8-2-3, and mental mistakes seem to be decreas-ing every game. The team chemistry is building, and the Colonels seem to be ready for the post-season. After asking about what the team could improve on, Thomas said that he is confident in the team’s ability right now, but improving in any or every aspect of the game would not hurt. Coach Hansman stated that “the team’s suc-cess is dependent on players being self-moti-vated and team inspired” (instead of needing the coaches to inspire them). He believes that Coach Robertson will have them prepared and ready to repeat as regional champions. He also said that the individual players were trying to do too much at first, but now they are trusting each other to make plays. The team’s success overall is a result of their chemistry and if they are self-motivated to win.

SPORTS PG6

SPORTS PG7Kyle Richards As a new season rolls in, the Cross Coun-try Colonels believe they are ready to teach other Northern Kentucky teams how to lose. Coaches Tom Arnold, Tony Barczak, Steve Proffitt, and Jake Kleier say they are ex-cited for this season. There is something about this team that has not been seen at Covington Catholic in years. With 8 returning varsity run-

ners, team chemistry is off the charts. An air of high expectations hangs around the team. After their 6th place finish at state last year, the Colonels are poised for another big sea-son. But first, they must get past region. Playing tug-of-war with Cooper for the top spot in the re-gion, Cov Cath’s first goal is to beat the Jaguars. They did just that in the opening meet, Tiger Run

in Louisville on August 26th, beating Cooper by over 100 points. The Colonels finished 3rd place in the varsity race, a very good finish considering the team’s present. The varsity team was led by Owen Piatt (12) at 16:24 in 15th, Will Tate (11) at 16:33 in 19th, and Nick Eten (12) at 17:19 in 53rd. The junior varsity team finished 2nd, led by Jacob Schulte (10) at 18:02 in 7th, Jonah Wagner (10) at

18:03 in 8th, and Anthony Brose (11) at 18:04 in 10th place. On September 2nd, the Colonels competed in the cold and muddy Grant County Invi-tational, again running against Cooper. However, missing Nick Eten due to an illness, the var-sity team could not defeat the Jaguars, losing to them by 5 points. Varsity was led to a 3rd place finish again by Owen Piatt in 8th at 17:24, Will Tate in 13th at 17:52, and Will Akin (12) in 14th at 17:56. Junior varsity had another strong showing, with Jonah Wagner in 4th at 19:02,

Truman Pierson (10) in 5th at 19:23, and Jacob Schulte in 7th at 19:23. Yet, the JV team could not defeat Oldham County and finished in 2nd place. On September 9, the shorthanded Colo-nels took on other regional teams just across the street at the Panda Classic. While their class-mates and a few of their teammates were in the school building taking the ACT, Colonel runners Will Tate and Nick Eten, finished 1st and 2nd at

Owen Piatt is in the lead!

CC Team: Chemistry oFF THE CHARTS

17:45 and 18:18, respectively. Casey Wolnitzek (11) finished closely behind them, coming in 4th at 18:53. In a combined Varsity/JV race, the Col-onels easily won 1st place overall. To follow up their win, on September 16, the Colonels again took home the gold in both Varsity and JV at the Franklin County Invitational at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The Varsity Colonels defeat-ed some of the higher ranked teams in the state, led by Owen Piatt in 4th at 16:30, Nick Eten in 25th at 17:35, and Will Tate in 26th at 17:38. The JV Colonels laid a beating on the other JV teams, with Aiden Smith (11) in 3rd at 18:10, Ben Ja-cobs (11) in 5th at 18:21, and Mikey Krebs (11) at 18:26. Seniors Owen Piatt, Nick Eten, and Will Akin will look to lead the team to a high finish in every race. And with over 20 seniors on the team, there is no shortage of leadership. The team is stronger than in years past and looks pre-pared to take on the top teams in the state. There is no telling how high this team can go, but each coach and runner will tell you the sky is the limit. The Cross Country Colonels have something special this season, and it is only a matter of time until the state sees what they are really made of. To keep up with the team, follow @colo-nelsxc on Twitter.

Joshua Struck 2017 has been the start of a new era in Covington Catholic golf history with the chang-ing of head coach Robb Schneeman to Alex Am-merman. Coach Ammerman is a 2010 Coving-ton Catholic graduate who played golf for the Colonels all four of his years. The varsity squad for the Colonels is filled with experience from six seniors who have all had prior varsity experi-ence. Coach Ammerman and the varsity squad got their first victory in only the second tourna-ment of the year, the Oldham County Invitation-al held at Oldham County Country Club. The Colonels shot a combined score of 302, led by junior Lincoln Hammond’s 1 under par round of 71. More recently the varsity golf squad competed at the annual conference tournament held at The Willows Golf Course. The Colonels finished 2nd only by two strokes to Ryle High School. The Colonels now have their sights set on bringing home another Regional and State Tournament Championship. The Re-gion and State team will feature seniors, Josh-ua Struck, Ben Pieper, Paul Thelen, Tyler Chandler, and lone junior Patrick Kennedy.

Joshua Struck gets ready to golf!

New season/New Coach The BluePrint Staff

Advisor: Mrs. Diane RuthEditor: Julian Chapman

Assistant Editor: Alex SchoborgReporters: Tanner Bayer, Justin Colvin,

Jack DeFraites, Matthew Dietz, Nate Din-kens, Nick Dinkens, Harris Disken, Noah Gastright, Chad Gerding, Drew Hummel,

Mason Kinsella, Grant Lawler, Jayden Parks, Jack Pelletier, Nick Raisbeck, Kyle Richards, Alex Schneider, Blake Shields, JD Smith, Blake Stiens, Josh Struck, Luke

Thelen, Jake WalterAccounting: Harris Disken/Alex Schneider

Photography: Diane Ruth, Justin Col-vin, Paul Allison, Mason Kinsella, Alex

Schoborg, Joshua Struck, Lifetouch

Editorials are the opinions of the reporters, not the CCH Administration/School.

Covington Catholic High School1600 Dixie Hwy Park Hills, KY 41011

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