WHAT’S INSIDE

THE MOUNTMOUNT MICHAEL BENEDICTINE SCHOOL 22520 MOUNT MICHAEL ROAD ELKHORN, NE 68022 VOLUME 17, ISSUE 5

Cooper Wilson | Staff Writer

Uwinganji Emerges as Wrestling Star

Mrs. Maier Improves Student Life

Corruption in the Olympics

In-Depth: The Selfi e Phenomenon

photo by Brian KimSenior David Uwinganji dominated in an early December meet, defeating a Creighton Prep wrestler.

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photo courtesy of www.theguardian.com

photo courtesy of www.twitter.com

He never would have guessed it. “I saw how hard wrestling was and I wanted to challenge myself,” senior David Uwinganji said. Throughout the past two years, Uwinganji has emerged as a leader for the Mount Michael wrestling team. Uwinganji now believes wrestling was the right fi t all along. When Uwinganji attended his fi rst wrestling meet, he was introduced to its aggressive nature while watching his best friend, senior Austin Ramaekers. “I saw Austin struggling on the mats. It made me feel so bad that I wanted to run down the bleachers and go help him out,” Uwinganji said. Although he’d never thought about joining the team before, something about wrestling made his curiosity grow. “It seemed really unfamiliar to me at fi rst, but I decided to give it a shot,” he said. Uwinganji’s interest was solidifi ed during a conversation with Ramaeker’s grandmother. “Austin’s grandmother was a big motivator in my decision. She urged me to help out the team, and I am so

happy with my decision,” Uwinganji said. A few days after his decision to join the team, he began to feel more confi dent about his choice. “I learned

martial arts back when I lived in Rwanda which gave me the basic concepts to wrestling. I just needed to learn how to use my size, fl exibility and strength in a different way,” Uwinganji said. However, success on the mats did not

come immediately. He found himself doubling his work ethic in order to prepare for the season. “I would wrestle Connor Spiegel, a senior at the time, in order to push myself to become a

better wrestler,” Uwinganji said. With the extra effort, Uwingaji soon found himself winning matches and becoming a threat to opponents. His fellow wrestlers appreciate his hard work. Senior teammate Austin Ramaekers says, “Wrestling with Uwinganji you know that he will never quit and he has a great work ethic. He always sets the tone at practice,” Ramaekers said. Unfortunately, Uwinganji suffered a setback in his fi rst season. During districts he injured his knee and was unable to complete the season. This only made him more motivated for next season. “After the injury,

I was disappointed. I wanted to fi nish the year strong but the injury made me want to come back as an overall better wrestler,” Uwinganji said. After a few months of rehab, he was ready to hit the weight room to regain his strength.

Young Joon Park | Features Editor

‘Selfletes’ Smackdown on Social Media Scene

photo by Brian Kim

The Sochi Winter Olympics are not the only Olympic Games to watch out for. Recently, the Selfi e Olympics has called on thousands of its selfl etes (like athletes) to compete in the global tournament with the motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger, Twitter.” With 42 million selfi e related hashtags on Twitter just in 2013, it is obvious: 2013 has been the year of selfi es. At the end of 2013, Oxford Dictionaries announced “selfi e” as their international word of the year. “The frequency of the word selfi e in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year,” Oxford Dictionaries said. A quick recap of the past year shows that the honor is well deserved. Selfi e notoriety began in late 2012. Since then, the trend struck English-speaking countries all over the world including the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and the Philippines.

In these countries, the front facing camera has rendered its brother on the other side obsolete. Instagram was a prime benefactor of this craze. At the end of 2013, Instagram announced that it had accrued 150 million users. The site, launched in late 2010, provides an enhanced photo sharing experience for its users. Today, it is known as one of the selfi e powerhouses of the world. The company’s database holds 14 billion selfi es, raking in hundreds of millions of likes per day. Snapchat was also jumped into the selfi e craze this year. The photo sharing service allows users to send photos that will self-erase after a set amount of time. Now installed in an estimated 22 percent of all iPhones in the United States and Britain, “Snap” selfi es have become popular. Armed with the beauty of self-erasing photos, Snapchat allows users to take selfi es that are more novel

and daring. A few selfi es rose to prominence over this past year’s bonanza. The so called “$1,500 selfi e” went viral when

Omahans Kayleigh, Emily, and Torrie Hill rushed onto the fi eld during the College World Series fi nals. Despite the $1,500 fi ne, they managed to capture

The “Selfi e Olympics” have taken over the Internet, with the most popular ones (seen above) spreading virally over social media.

photos courtesy of www.twitter.com

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January 2014

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6 THE MOUNTSPORTS

Picture this: You’ve been practicing for months. Through the two-a-days, hours of lifting, and rigorous studying of the playbook day in and day out, you’ve endured. It’s fi nally game day and you’re ready to make your school proud. After a good pep talk from the coach, you hit the fi eld. And it’s at this moment, as the Friday night lights hit your face, you realize that it’s great to be a Knight. It’s a feeling that some Knights have dreamt of for a long time, running on to their own home fi eld. Mount Michael has never been able to hold their own home football games at the school due to the lack of stands and lighting. For the past three decades, the home games have been played at Elkhorn Middle School. Also, the Mount has to pay a fee every season in order to play there. It’s nice that the middle school is decently close to the school, but it’s still an inconvenience. However, recently there have been rumors going around about the athletic

department getting money to have lights and stands installed at the fi eld on campus. On January 10, Athletic Director and football coach, Jon Borer, met with the booster club to explore the idea of putting in lights on the football and soccer fi eld. According to Borer the idea was well-received and there is a possibility that Mount Michael will be able to host its own fi rst home game next year. “There are many benefi ts to having your own fi eld,” says Borer. “We won’t have to pay rent to Elkhorn Middle School, concessions will bring in a ton of revenue, and overall there’s nothing like playing on your own home fi eld.” Many other students and faculty believe that bringing the home games home will increase popularity for the school and increase moral for the football team. “Anytime we improve our athletic facilities it will benefi t the school and the students,” says assistant football coach Matt Luettel. In addition to improving the fi eld, the

athletic department is already underway on a new weight room facility. This past fall, construction crews began work on a new garage for the monastic community so that the older garage could be converted into a bigger weight room. As of right now, the new garage is completed and the new weight room is fi lled with unassembled new equipment. “We have a ton of new machines that are laying in pieces in the new weight room. There’s about $200,000 of equipment that was donated.” The new weight room will be open to students when the weather starts getting warmer. Open times are still being discussed by the deans and coaches. Overall, this year can be summed up as the ‘Year of Athletics.’ The many advancements that have been done should help the Knights improve athletically. Perhaps in a few short years Mount Michael athletics will match its academic achievements.

In their fi rst season in the River Cities Conference (RCC), the sixth-seeded Knights looked to make a deep conference run. Though they faced conference foe Roncalli in the fi rst round the Knights had a big task at hand. In a rematch from three days prior, the Knights and Pride squared off at Roncalli. After knocking off the Crimson Pride on Friday, the Knights had a lot of confi dence. But Roncalli had other ideas, scoring 50 points in the second half and routing the Knights 67-33. Both teams started off slow, missing almost everything they took. With senior Spencer Connors and junior Ben Borsh having picked up two early fouls, putting the Knights in a tough situation from the get-go. With foul troubles hurting the knights head coach John Roshone sent in senior Bennett Bressman. This was not the answer as still nothing would go down for the Knights leading to their 34 point defeat. Following the loss to Roncalli the Knights got a shot to play the seventh seeded Gross Cougars. Another slow start for the Knights looked to be a long night for the team facing a 12-3 defi cit. The Knights did not let this get to them though, as Junior point guard Mohammed Elradi lead the team on a 22-9 run to end the half. Elradi was not done dropping 20 more in the second half, helping the Knights pull away from the Cougars in the fourth quarter. Junior forward Jake Batenhorst and junior guard Tommy Farhart also contributed with 11 points each allowing the Knights to play for fi fth place at Ralston the next night. Playing the Rams for the third time this season, the Knights hoped to take a 2-1 series lead on Ralston. Early on, it was all Ralston as the Rams always had an answer for the Knights and took a 10 point lead into half. The Knights were not done yet though, as Farhart and Elradi trim the lead down to three after making threes of their own. The Rams were too much for the Knights in the end as the Rams pulled away squeaking out a 57-53 win. What looked to be a great opportunity for the Knights was shot down by the Pride and Rams. Losing their fi rst and last game of the tourney the Knights took home sixth place out of seven only in front of Gross. Though it may not have ended in the way they wanted the Knights proved they can battle with the best.

As a result of his love for wrestling, Uwinganji has become a leader and shares his passion to those who are new to the sport. “Being a leader and a captain means a lot to me. It shows that kids who are new to something can make it one of their best skills. Sure, I’m not perfect, but I love to help the team in anyway I can,” Uwinganji said. Since the start of his third and fi nal season, Uwinganji’s main goal is making it to state. “With coach and others pushing me to do my best, I have state on my mind

every time I step onto the mats,” he said. Currently, Uwinganji is working hard to try and pursue his goal of becoming a state wrestler. He is confi dent that his hard work will pay off, “There is no doubt that I have what it takes to compete with the best wrestlers in Nebraska.” As he enters his fi nals months of wrestling, Uwinganji looks back at where his passion and love for the sport began. “It’s one of those sports that when you set your mind to it, you’re hooked.”

Leadership: The Road of Uwinganji

Knights Run Cut Short

Mount Michael Initiates Upgrade of Athletic Facilities

Evan Pink | Staff WriterOliver Jarosik | Staff Writer

Uwinganji prepares to take down an opponent at a wrestling meet.

photo by Brian Kim

Junior guard Mo Elradi scored 27 points as Knights beat Roncalli in O.T.

photo courtesy of Bro. Luke

rumors going around about the athletic In addition to improving the fi eld, the

Athletic Director Jon Borer presents ‘Home Field Advantage’, in a public meeting on Wednesday Jan 29 while the audience listens attentively.

Conceptual Drawing above, donated by John Sullivan, showes the completion of Phases II and III.

photos by Brian Kim