January, 2019 Volume 8, Issue 4

The Paw PrintThere is a first time for everythingNana Sarfo-Bonsu

For the very first time, CCS parents of the junior class – Mrs. Graman, Mrs. Dungan, and Mrs. Hallbach – will be hosting an After-Prom event for students attending prom in hopes of making some happy memories and having loads of fun! The idea of having an after prom was brought about by Mrs.Graman, who wanted the students to do some-thing fun after prom in an area that

everyone knew – CCS. “Offering up a big space, some food, and some games to all prom attendees would be a nice addition to prom,” said Mrs. Graman. According to Mrs. Dungan, who is in charge of the activities, the moms have planned a number of things for the event: “a 95 ft inflatable Radical Run obstacle course, hose hockey, 10 ft inflatable dart board with soft soccer balls and softballs, giant connect four,

giant jenga, wacky trikes, skee ball, miniature golf, as well as a digital photo booth that will take 4x6 pictures and strip pictures free to take home in memory of the event.” The event will be taking place on May 3 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the gym and diner for those who are going to prom. Mrs. Dungan welcomes any junior or senior parent who would also like to help out with this special event. They can contact any of the organizers to help.

Winter formal postponed Winter Formal has been rescheduled because of weather. Instead of this Saturday, the semi-formal will at a date as yet to be determined. Whenever it happens, the winter semi-formal dance will be held in the chapel. . All CCS students in grades 9-12 will be allowed to attend. The dance will be from 7 to 10 p.m., and the theme remains “Celebrate the New Year!” even with the change of date. Three senior girls – Ashley Kochis, Kenzie Turner, and Emily Chapin – took it upon themselves to plan another

winter formal after last year’s first-ever winter dance. “I wanted CCS to have another winter formal because it is a great opportunity for the student body to get together and to have fun!” said Em-ily. Ashley said that she thought New Year’s would be a unique theme because it lets CCS students celebrate 2019 together.

Final deadline coming up for European Classroom 2019 The final deadline to sign up for European Classroom 2019 is Fri-day, Feb. 1. After that date, penalties will increase the cost. Miss Waltz and Mrs. Zaffiro are leading this summer’s European classroom trip to England (London, Canterbury, Dover), France (Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Chartres, Paris), and the Netherlands (Amsterdam). Please see or email either of them if you still want to sign up for the trip. Frau Schroeder is leading a trip to Germany and parts of France for European Classroom 2020 next June. Please contact Frau for details about that trip.

Days off during third quarter Third quarter has a surprising number of days off this quarter. Here’s the list for the rest of the quarter:

Monday, Jan. 21 – MLKTuesday, Jan. 22 – Teacher

in-serviceFriday, Feb. 15 – Teacher in-serviceMonday, Feb. 18 – Presidents DayWednesday, Feb. 20 – ACT testingFriday, March 8 – 7-12 at the play

(not in class part of the day)

The Paw PrintCincinnati Christian Schools

7474 Morris RoadFairfield, OH 45011

Editorial Policy The Paw Print is the student newspaper of Cincinnati Christian Schools. The Paw Print is an open forum for student expres-

sion which accepts letters to the editor. Let-ters to the editor may be edited for length

and can be emailed to susan.zaffiro@cincinnatichristian.org.

StaffEditor in Chief - Lindsey CarneyOpinions Editor - Mackenzie TurnerFeatures Editor - Nana Sarfu-Bonsu and Emily ChapinSports Editor - Cole MartinCopy Editors - Casey Anderson, Cody Anderson, and Zach SchlakeReporters - Aidan Boyd, Grace Custer, Col-lin Fritz, Kaitlyn Fritz, and Ashley KochisAdviser - Mrs. Susan Zaffiro

“I cleaned my room spotless yester-day!! Haha, I’m so OCD!” I’m sure this quote, or something similar to it, sounds familiar to every-one. That’s because within the last few years, society has turned mental

illness into something “relatable” or “quirky.” However, it’s important to know that only getting seven hours of sleep is not insomnia, and being sad because your goldfish died is not depression. Because it’s become a trend to say that you’re “triggered” every time something irks you a little, the stigma around mental illness does not seem to be going away anytime soon. Getting triggered, however, isn’t the fun little game some people seem to think it is. Being triggered by something, or someone, can induce flashbacks, pro-voke thoughts of self-harm or suicide, induce panic attacks, and a million other symptoms. Triggers are different and cause different things for everyone and is certainly not something that should be taken lightly.Along the same lines, it’s extremely important not to diagnose yourself! Mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, and others are very serious and should not be taken lightly. If you suspect you’re dealing with a mental illness of some sort, please

talk to your doctor! Get the help you need! Instead of just posting about it along with a black screen on Snapchat, please see a therapist. Instagram com-ments won’t give you the same help as a doctor. People who have mental illness don’t get to wake up and decide, “I think I’m gonna have depression today.” We don’t get to pick it out like a new outfit. Mental illness is some-thing we’re stuck with, whether we like it or not. It’s not a trendy hashtag. It’s not, “Netflix and pizza all day long.” It’s not a quote for your Tumblr. It’s sometimes forcing yourself to get out of bed, take a shower, brush your teeth, and get dressed. It’s sometimes being exhausted no matter how much sleep you get. It’s sometimes seeing a cliff or a tall building and wondering if it’s worth it. It’s sometimes smiling at people and trying to laugh and have fun even though you’re fatigued to the point of collapsing. It’s not fun, and it’s not funny. Please don’t make it a joke or a trend.

Opinion/Editorial Page 2

Chapel has undergone many changes since last year from seating to time frames. One of the biggest changes, howev-er, is the last chapel of every month. The last chapel of each month is used for team-building activities, but is this really a productive use of our time? On one hand, team-building is good! It’s fun to get to know those around you and play games in the process, and it helps people get closer to our peers and make new friends. On the other hand, however, it takes away from chapel time and takes our eyes off of God and puts them on the student body. Chapel is the time each week on Wednesdays where we get to take a break from the stress of schoolwork and classes and take an hour to focus on God and God only. Taking this time and trying to make it about whether it’s “fun” for the students takes away from the purpose of cha-pel altogether.

When we are playing these games and running about and laughing and chatting with our peers, sure, it’s fun, but the staff at Paw Print believes we could be doing something more glorifying to God- even if it was as simple as finding a way to connect these games to something bigger. The prize aspect is another issue. When the students are so determined to “win” these games, they forget what we’re here for. This also leads to being off-topic during the short amount of time at the end that we get with our community groups since many people tend to talk about the game or how excited they are about being in the lead. All-in-all, we believe that playing these games diverts our attention from chapel and off God to more secular activities, and that we should be using the hour we have on Wednesdays for praise and worship. Yes, these games can be fun, but ask yourself: is “fun” the point of chapel, or is it something else?

Is it an illness or hashtag?

Missing the true purpose of chapel?Paw Print Editorials

Page 3 The Paw Print Features

Emily Chapin

Junior high English teacher Miss Ploetz has started a new chapter in her life. She got mar-ried and is now Mrs. Kearney. She became engaged to her then boyfriend one winter after-noon as they were taking family pictures in the snow. It was on her 21st birthday in March 2017. “In the middle of the photo shoot, Derek got down on one knee and proposed. It was even more magical because it had snowed the night before and the park where he proposed looked like a Christmas card,” said the new Mrs. Kearney. They were married on Decem-ber 15 of 2018. Miss Ploetz said that she and Derek met right after she gradu-ated from CCS while training in Indiana to be camp counselors at SpringHill camp. They went back to Ohio and became better friends. Later when Miss Ploetz went to Anderson University, she and Derek became more than just friends.

The only thing standing in their way was the distance between their schools

since he attended college in Kentucky. She said, “I decided to take a leap of faith and try a long-distance relationship. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.” Mrs. Kearney said that they spent their first week of mar-ried life in Gatlinburg, after the wedding.

She also gives some advice for wedding planning that she found very valuable while she was planning her own wed-ding.

She said, “My advice is to decide which details matter the most to you. It is easy to spend thousands of hours and thou-sands of dollars on a wedding, so choose what really matters the most to you (flowers, cake, dress) and devote most of your energy and money to that. Ev-erything else will fall into place if you just have fun with it!” Mrs. Kearney said she and her new husband Derek are excited to start a new chapter in their

life together.

Say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Kearney!

Hello, Dolly cast list This year’s spring musical is Hello, Dolly. The cast is a full 40 students. The director of the play is Mrs. Perry.

Dolly Gallagher Levi | Olivia ReeseHorace Vandergelder | Parker Wilhelm Irene Molloy | Maggie BrownCornelius Hackl | Luke Schlake Minnie Fay | Merrick HeidBarnaby Tucker | Zachary Schlake Ernestina Money | Ashley Kochis

Rudolph Reisenweber | Jacob CarrollMrs. Rose | Emily Hesselgesser Judge | Samson Kitenda Ermengarde | Kenzie TurnerAmbrose Kemper | Drew Crane

Chorus: Mya Macon, Karli Head, Meghan Ramsey, Rowan Bollmer, Lily Hines, Katelyn Bell, Elizabeth Padilla, Emma Eshman, Sammie Marcum, Kaitlyn Weiss, Jessica Forn-shell, Briahna Bush, Mikayla Rasnick, Chloe Halsey, Jolie Percy.

Waiters/Dancers (also in Chorus): Abby Bowling, Garrett Hesselgesser, Jillian Miller, Hannah Marcum, Abby Marcum, Dani Linblad, Ben Fallat, Preston Rosenberg, Braden Moore, Chloe Sammond, Matthew Quarry, Cole Wilhelm, Saida Lewis, Terren Lewis.

The entire student body will be go-ing to see the spring show on Friday, March 1, at Parrish Auditorium at Miami Hamilton.

Junior high English teacher and CCS alumna Miss Ploetz got married right before Christmas break. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Kearney

Page 4 Sports The Paw Print

Grace Custer

The 2018-19 swim team is small, but they’ve been ac-complishing great things. This year, the high school swim team has junior Drew Crane and sophomore Casey Anderson; along will three junior highers: Courtney Snider, Aubrie Payne, and Caleb Vetter. The swim team has about seven meets for junior high and 15 for high school but will have more if they get past sectionals, said Aubrie. The season opened at Mason Invitational. Drew and Casey both qualified for the Canton Christmas Clas-sic where both of them broke the 50 freestyle record one after the other. They will also compete this weekend in the Southwest Coaches Classic, which is the biggest high school meet in the county, according to Casey. The swim team’s post-season tournament starts with the MVC championship at CCD’s newly renovated pool. After that are Sectionals, which is the first round of the state meet, at Mason High School. If the team does well there then they can qualify for Districts at Miami University. The top two in each event from each of the four districts will qualify for State, and then the top 16 from the rest of the state also qualify. This season, plans are to get better and stronger, and grow close with one another, said Aubrie. Courtney said, “I’m re-ally excited to get better at swimming, and get to know the other people on my team.” Casey said, “I think we’ll have a great season. Everyone

on the team gives 100%, one hundred percent of the time, and that’s a good recipe for success.” So far, the teams 100% effort has been crucial towards their early success this season. The swimmers have been perfecting their craft and setting records while doing so. Drew and Casey have both broken records. Drew broke the 50 freestyle while Casey has broken the 50 free, 200 Individual Medley (IM), and 100 butterfly.

Swim team grows strongerTop Photo: Drew Crane competes in the 50 butterfly at the Canton Christmas Classic. (photo courtesy of Mrs. Clark)Bottom Photo: Drew with Casey Anderson, the team powerhouse that is breaking multiple swim records this season. (photo courtesy of Mrs. Crane)