Illiana Christian High School Dyer, Indiana

theEchoJanuary 29, 2021Volume 75 Issue 5

))) Students set to visit Colorado in summer- 2 • Meeting Mr. and Miss Illiana - 3 • Boys varsity basketball team has best season in three years- 4 • How do we grieve together? - 5 • Looking to support small, local businesses? Here are some ideas! - 6 •Who, beside King, helped lead the Civil Rights Movement?- 7

Photo by Jim KamphuisPastors Corey Buchanan and Anthony Bolkema teach Illiana students about the kaleidoscope of God’s kingdom and why diversity is necessary in glorifying God.

MLK celebration celebrates diversityRachel BultemaFeature Editor

For the first time, Illiana took the day on Jan. 20, to teach students about how to celebrate diversity and the im-portance of eliminating racism and bias. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration consisted of a viewing of the film “Remember the Titans”, lis-tening to speakers, and working on a student-made mosaic.

Students had the opportunity to take the day to learn about how racism has impacted many practices through-out the nation. “Our primary goal of the day,” said Mrs. Rachel Drost, “was to help students develop a Christian

vision that celebrates the diversity of God’s kingdom.”

The idea has been taking shape since the summer as racial tensions be-gan inflating across the nation. Mr. Jeff DeVries and Mrs. Rachel Drost began looking for material for the event in the summer, searching for material that was user friendly and fit with Christian views.

Though planning started roughly six months ago, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. DeVries recognizes the challenge talking about race poses, calling it “the third rail”; though, they persevered in their planning “because racial tensions can only get better if they’re addressed in constructive

ways”, one of the goals of the day.DeVries encouraged them to

“audit their lives for bias,” to look for aspects in their life affected by implicit bias. Drost taught racial disparity in prisons and sentencing. Pastor Antho-ny Bolkema and Associate Pastor Co-rey Buchanon, both of First Reformed Church of South Bend, addressed how racism is a sin. They used the image of a kaleidoscope, which resounded with numerous students across the school, to describe how the diversity of God’s kingdom works together to create a beautiful mosaic.

The students worked to create picture collages to describe themselves and their heritage. The collages will

be made into a mosaic, an idea from DeVries and Mr. Jim Kanphuis, which will be finished in mid-February and displayed both on campus and online.

“I had really low expectations for the day, coming into it,” said junior Kenny Pickard, “But it greatly sur-passed my expectations.”

Drost and DeVries received “overwhelmingly positive” student responses from the students at the end of the day as 70% of students reported having found the day helpful.

For senior Dee Smith, the day went above and beyond her expecta-tions. She wasn’t expecting a whole day dedicated to these issues, but was pleased. She hopes that minorities will feel more comfortable at Illiana after the Martin Luther King Day celebra-tion.

Not everyone left the building with a positive outlook. Sophomore Kayla Bosman says the day felt “forced” to her, and felt confused that students “had to be taught why not to be racist”. However, she liked that Illi-ana is making an effort, and hopes that it makes an impact.

Senior Damaris Dumont thought DeVries and Drost had done well plan-ning the day, and was pleased to know Illiana stands against racism. “All of us come together to make something beautiful,” said Dumont.

“We want the students of this school to be able to articulate a vision that celebrates the diversity of God’s kingdom. Whatever it takes to con-tinue to work towards that goal, we’re going to work towards as a school,” said Drost.

Right to life march persists in Indiana

#TeamMadison supports Illiana studentMadie CeponisNews Editor

On Thursday, Jan. 21 and Friday Jan. 22, a small group of Illiana stu-dents went to support the cause of pro-life. First on Thursday the group went to the Creation Museum in Kentucky to see the new prolife exhibit called “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”

and listened to Dr. David Menton speak about the changing anatomy of a developing baby.

“My favorite part was going around the Creation Museum and learning to appreciate God’s good creation of us and nature,” said junior Christine DeYoung.

On Friday, the students attended a pro-life rally in Indianapolis.

“At the rally we heard a testimo-

ny from a woman who had an abor-tion as a teenager and still suffered the consequences as an adult,” said junior Marisa Vasquez. “Her testimony was evidence that being pro-life is also be-ing pro-woman since abortion not only destroys the life of the child, but also the mother.” “It was such an amazing time fighting for what we believe in,” said junior Jane Peterson. “Pro-life for the win!”

#TeamMadison has been or-ganized by Madison Derks’s aunt, Jenni Hoeskstra, and her grandma, Sharon Derks.

Sharon Derks came up with the idea of tee shirts to sell in sup-port of Madison, and Hoekstra created the design. Members of the community ordered the shirts, 490 total, in the beginning of Janu-ary, and shirts were distributed on Wednesday, Jan. 20.

The tee shirts were not a fun-draiser, but were to show Madison love and support. The shirts broke even.

On Monday, Jan. 25 students and staff who ordered #TeamMad-ison shirts wore them to school

to give Madison and her family a visual show of their support and prayers. Others who didn’t have shirts wore yellow and grey to show their support for her.

Math teacher Kelly Aardsma said, “I have Madison at lunch, and I know some of her family, so I felt I should support her and her fam-ily. I think it is super encouraging to see people supporting you. I lost my dad to cancer and I was super appreciative to see people support-ing me and my family.”

The family has chosen a few Bible verses to encourage Madi-son along her journey, one being Joshua 1:9: “Have I not com-manded you? Be strong and cou-rageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Photo courtesy of Isabella Vander WoudeRight to life marchers pose together, advocating against abortions.

Hailey RossReporter

News2

Discovering importance of stopping to smell roses

I don’t often stop to “smell the roses.” I skip to the last page of the book before starting to read it. I also of-ten read the last book in a series first. I google spoilers for any new TV series I start watching. I watch a movie series by

jumping around rather than chronologically. I con-

stantly look forward to the next stage of my

life rather than fo-cus on where I am

at the moment. It’s one of

my more annoy-ing traits, to be honest. I’m al-ways in a rush

to do anything and every-

thing. I think I’ve always been like this.

When I was a young child, I would al-ways look forward with naïve eyes at my teen years, thinking how cool it would be to not be a kid anymore.

Well, I’m here now. I’m focusing more on my adult years, hoping and yearning for the time in my life when I’m not agonizing over choosing where I want to do with my life and what to do next. I long for when I have everything figured out. I look at the uncertainty of my future and feel a deep jealousy towards those who have already moved past this part of their life. Guilt about these feelings soon overtakes the jealousy.

I wasted a lot of my adolescence wishing it away and I don’t want to waste my final teenage years the same way. I’ve squandered so much time already because of my impatience, and I’m risking doing that again by looking too far forward in-stead of around me.

It’s difficult, though. People tell me these are the best years of my life. I’m supposed to be out with friends, making memories late at night. I’m supposed to forget my homework due the next day as I sit, laughing with a friend at coffee. I should be out on the weekends spending time with friends and living in the mo-ment. I should be living. I should be mak-ing mistakes and learning and crying and growing. I have to create stories to tell my children to convince them that their mom used to be cool.

Instead, what am I doing? Instead of going out, I lay on my floor, wondering if I’m supposed to be a teacher. I’ll for-get my homework because I’m so con-sumed with fear about college that it slips through the cracks. I don’t go to parties nor do I live in the moment. I’m terrified of making mistakes, however necessary they are, because I feel I’ve already made too many. I will have no stories.

So, I suppose this is a warning. If not to you, then at least to myself. As Fer-ris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Enjoy where you are right now, not just where you want to be. I hear roses smell won-derful.

Rachel BultemaFeature Editor

Photo courtesy of Doug GorterThe 2020 Colorado trip group poses together after hiking to a mountaintop.

2021 Colorado trip persists despite COVID-19Gracie JaniaReporter

This summer, Mr. Doug Gorter, his wife Tammy, and Mrs. Ra-chel Monroe are taking a group of Illiana students to Buena Vista, Colorado to participate in a variety of outdoor activities. This will consist of whitewa-ter rafting, climbing and hiking in the mountains, and touring a gold mine.

The group will be

whitewater rafting in the Arkansas River, which is what freshman Heidi Gorter and junior Marc Rozendal are both look-ing forward to the most. They are both planning on attending the trip for the first time.

“I have never done it before, but I’ve heard that it’s really fun,” Gort-er said.

The group also plans to hike along the conti-nental divide, a different

hike from the previous years.

“It’s always fun to see a different part of Colo-rado,” said Mr. Gorter.

Because the group didn’t have enough hik-ers originally, they de-cided to invite the current seniors that had signed up to come on the trip the previous year.

Mr. Gorter shared a highlight from the 2019 Colorado trip; while the group was whitewater

rafting, the water pushed a raft onto a rock and several students fell out. They were helped into the other rafts success-fully, but according to Mr. Gorter, “It was in-tense because we were in the middle of a rapids.”

“I wanted to go on this trip because I love being in God’s Creation, and I love seeing moun-tains, so I thought that I would enjoy this trip,” said Heidi Gorter.

Gracie JaniaReporter

The robotics team had been preparing for its tour-nament on Jan. 23 at Portage High School since the begin-ning of the school year. Prac-ticing every week, Illiana’s three competition teams were preparing to win.

At the competition, each schools’ team was divided into three smaller teams

based on grade levels. These teams spent their practices building a robot to perform specific tasks to earn points. The designated task required in the tournament was for each robot to organize differ-ent colored balls into hoops.

Members of the team also participated in league matches, which “definitely help us zero in our robot,” according to senior James VanDrunen. Coding helps the team to earn extra points

as well. Mr. Brent Vermeulen

pointed out that the teams were easily compared to Nascar racing. Like a Nascar auto, each robot has its own build team, driver, and pro-grammer.

Joshua Baker, a junior and member of the robotics team, said, “I’m a program-mer, and I love to see our team work through the prob-lems we encounter-- and we encounter a lot of problems.”

The team participated in a tournament with about ten to thirteen other schools. It wasn’t a walk in the park, according to senior Jenna Schutt.

“Winning is fun,” Schutt said. “It’s a lot of hard work and hours, so seeing some-thing you built work better than something else is really nice.”

Two of Illiana’s teams made it past the elimination round.

Robotics team fights it out in Portage tournamentJames VanDrunen, Sydnee Tuuk, and Joshua Baker, members of the Illiana robotics team gets ready to fight it out in the arena.

Photo by Brent Vermeulen

News 3

After struggling to host an in-person Preview Illiana event, the admissions and marketing departments decid-ed to create a series of infor-mational videos.

Traditional in-person Pre-view events kick off with a teacher speaking about Chris-tian education and a student about their experience at Illi-ana. Families choose four 15 minute sessions to attend. The goal is for families to see the school, get information, and meet teachers and staff. The night typically concludes with dessert, academic department displays in the gym, and a T-shirt giveaway.

In December, a planned

Olivia OostemaArts Editor

Admissions, marketing departments to create virtual Preview Illiana videos after struggle to hold in-person event

in-person Preview event was cancelled due to a 25-person limit on gatherings. Because of the coronavirus, admis-sions director Marie Limback was unable to host a Preview this whole academic year.

Limback instead came up with the idea to produce vid-eos aimed at providing pro-spective students and fami-lies with information. In the videos, students and faculty will share details about every-thing from Christian educa-tion to student clubs like Illi-ana Farms. In addition, there will be a virtual tour of the building created by a video company. The videos will be posted to the Illiana website and social media beginning February.

Due to the crowd size limitations that were the result of the COVID19 surge, Illiana’s homecoming festivi-ties took a different route this year. From the highly anticipated home-coming basketball game to the annual dance, the Friday, Jan. 23 festivities were a celebration like never before.

Despite the unusual circum-stance, homecoming spirit filled the halls of Illiana the week of the 19th, with students dressed up to fit the day’s themes such as pajama day, tourist day, and class color day. A pep rally took place on Thursday, includ-ing the normal 3-point competition and the homecoming court dance. Although these two activities made it past COVID guidelines, the seat-ing capacity was an issue. To limit the attendees, only juniors, seniors, and select staff were allowed in the gym, while the underclassmen homerooms and their teachers watched virtually from their classrooms.

On Friday, the gymnasium, which would usually be hosting thou-

Aubrey PorterReporter

Illiana celebrates homecoming from home

sands of students, parents, visitors, and staff, was instead set with cam-eras ready to broadcast the game to online viewers. Although many were left with no choice but to watch vir-tually, select students were allowed and each athlete was granted tick-

ets for two, which could be given to anyone of their choosing. Before the game commenced, the homecoming court took its place in the center of the gym, as both they and the audience anxiously awaited the announcement of Mr. and Miss Illiana. Simon Mo-

lenaar and Abby Mejan left that night with the coveted crown and a plaque. Next, both the jv and varsity boys bas-ketball teams played Bowman Acad-emy; the jv team took a victory with a final score of 61-32, and the varsity dropped a close game with a final

score of 45-52. Mrs. Jenna Dutton and Mr.

Lance Davids also tried to encour-age alumni to enjoy “Homecoming from Home.” Along with streaming the games and the ceremony, they set up various contests to encourage community involvement from home. They gave away gift cards for various awards such as pictures of the oldest alumnus watching, the best dressed group watching, or the youngest fu-ture Viking watching.

The night was a success for people involved in many ways, but was bittersweet for many students. Student council member junior Max Meter said, “Everyone as a whole did what they could to try to make it as normal as possible for everyone, but most importantly the seniors.”

From a different perspective, cheerleader Jillian Hoeksema said she and her team missed having the whole loud crowd there to cheer them on during their routine. She added, however, that “even though it wasn’t the same as the last few years, I would say it went very well considering the circumstances.”

Abby Mejan

Simon Molenaar

1. This question is always a tough one to answer because I’m not 100% sure. As of now, I plan to go to Purdue Northwest and major in something business. But God could change those plans at any point. All I can do is trust in Him.2. There have been too many to count. I would say one of my highlights of my time at Illiana would be the way God has grown and changed me into who I am. I have overcome a lot of insecurities and anxieties through high school. I would also say one of my highlights is the friendships I have made and the way I’ve learned to live more in the moment. The loud crowds were also so fun too!3. I know it sounds simple but be who God created you to be, be kind, and have fun by living in the moment! 4. A picture of me and Tavares, of course. 5. I would say some ways we could make Illiana a better place is by stopping judgment, spreading more kindness and opening up to new friendships.

1. I plan to major in chemistry and apply for medical school.2. Winning the Rivals Cup as a junior with the soccer team.3. These four years fly by, so try new things and enjoy your time here.4. My lock screen is a picture of Leighton Foster and I jersey swapping, and my wallpaper is a picture of a music festival I plan to attend in the future.5. I think we could better encourage students to showcase their talents. All of us have God-given gifts, but it can take some encouragement for them to be fully shown and fulfilled, especially during high school.

Get to know Mister, Miss Illiana 20211. What are your plans for after high school? 2. What was the highlight of your time at Illiana? 3. Advice for underclassmen? 4. What is your phone wallpaper? 5. What do you think we, as a school, can do to make Illiana a better place?

The homecoming court poses in front of a winter wonderland themed background. Photo courtesy of Emma Olthoff

Due to the change in the voucher system this year, many are left wondering if the seniors will be able to skip all of their second se-mester exams per usual.

Ms. Sara Johnson, Eng-lish teacher and coordinator of the service hours for the voucher, says that the sys-tem will work very similar to the past. Seniors must

Service hour requirement also changes senior voucher system

Aubrey PorterReporter

obtain 10 hours of commu-nity service in place of good attendance, and must have at least a B- in the classes they want to opt out of.

This system works great for both students and teach-ers. For students it serves as a motivation to get bet-ter grades and relieves the stress of taking these tests that can be so long and te-dious, and for teachers it gives them the free time in place of grading tests.

Feature4In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we remember King’s legacy of fighting for justice and his dream for an equal and harmonious world. Many people know something about Martin Luther King Jr.’s life but know little about these other. . .

of the Civil Rights Movement

John Lewis

John Lewis, former leader in the House of Representa-tives and civil rights activist, was and remains an impor-tant figure in the ongoing fight for equality in America.

Growing up under Jim Crow segregation caused Lew-is to become proactive in his strong urge to achieve jus-tice. Lewis participated in peaceful protests, marches, and boycotts in the 1950s and 1960s, all of which helped gain support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 1965, Lewis, trying to secure voting rights for Blacks in the Deep South, also led the peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery that became known as “Bloody Sunday” after Alabama state troopers viciously attacked marchers at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Lewis, who suf-fered a fractured skull, continued his work, rising to ever more prominent roles in the movement.

Eventually elected to the House of Representatives, Lewis fought for issues such as equal access to voting, education, and healthcare for all races. He lost his battle to cancer on July 17, 2020, but his legacy lives on.

Lewis famously said about his pursuit of justice, “There comes a time when you have to say something. You have to make a little noise. You have to move your feet. This is the time.”

Aubrey PorterReporter

A. Philip Randolph

Martin Luther King, Jr., once said of A. Philip Ran-dolph that he was “truly the dean of Negro leaders.”

Randolph was a journalist, labor activist, and civil rights leader. In 1917 he cofounded and edited “The Messenger,” a journal that a critic at the time called “one of the most brilliantly edited magazines in the his-tory of American Negro journalism.”

Randolph’s belief that the African American could never be politically free until he was economically se-cure led him to become the foremost supporter of the full integration of black workers into the American trade union movement. In 1925 he undertook the leadership of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), which would become the first African American union in the country. His leadership helped secure large pay raises, shorter workweeks, and overtime pay.

As a civil rights leader, Randolph continued to work for Blacks to have access to jobs and economic oppor-tunities, he was instrumental in integrating the armed forces, and he envisioned and planned the March on Washington at which King made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Hailey RossReporter

James Farmer

Whitney Young (1921-1971) was a social worker, WWII veteran, and civil rights leader. He is known as one of the “Big Six” because of his major role in the Civil Rights Movement.

As head of the National Urban League, he worked for equal opportunities for Blacks in industry and government service. He introduced new education policies and programs to push for non-discriminatory opportunities for jobs to those historically denied such opportunities. His advocacy against employment discrimi-nation, based on his personal experiences trying to find a job after WWII, inspired many federal poverty programs. He also supported

Roy Wilkins

Whitney YoungOlivia OostemaCo-Editor in Chief

Roy Wilkins was a black civil rights activ-ist from the 1930s through the 1970s. He

worked as an executive director of the National Association for the Ad-

vancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was a jour-nalist for Crisis, the official

magazine of the NAACP. He provided sup-

port to civil rights activ-ists in Mississippi who were being subjected to a “credit squeeze” by members of the White Citizens Council.

Wilkins made it possible for Black people to move

their money into the Tri-State Bank of Memphis to make it easier for African Ameri-cans to receive loans since the White banks were denying them.

The grandson of slaves, Wilkins once explained that he spent his life fighting against “a deep unreasoning, savagely cru-el refusal by too man white people to ac-cept a simple, inescapable truth- the only master race is the human race, and we are all, by the grace of God, members of it.”

Sophia ThompsonSports Editor

Gracie JaniaReporter

James Farmer, an American civil rights activist, accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. in his mission to stop segregation using peace-ful protests. In 1942 Farmer helped establish the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which emphasized nonviolent actions to fight dis-crimination. Farmer also was a principle organizer of the Freedom Rides in 1961 to desegregate buses. Farmer considered the Freedom Rides his “greatest achievement.”

The Freedom Riders resulted in attacks from white mobs and police officers arresting members of CORE, but the violence of Southern racism was put in the national spotlight.

Through non-violent direct action, Farmer helped change the face of America. Beneath a memorial bust of Farmer in Virginia are these words of his: “Freedom and equality are inherent rights

in the United States; therefore, I encourage young people to take on the task by standing up and speaking out on behalf of people denied these rights. We have not finished the job of making our country whole.”

self-help programs for housing and family rehabilitation. A NASW News tribute from 1971 remarked that Young did

“battle on the major issues and programs facing the association and the nation… with his usual aplomb-dapper, self-assured, ready to deal with the ‘power’ people to bring about change for the power-less.”

Today, Young is remembered for persuading corpo-rate America to aid (financially) the civil rights move-ment, thereby bridging the gap between Whites in lead-ership positions and poor (mainly urban) Blacks. He is celebrated for his work to crush segregation and inequal-ity. His call to work for s poverty reduction and race rec-onciliation is still heard by many today.

TiTans

The “Big Six” Civil Rights Leaders (L to R) John Lewis, Whitney Young Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer Jr., and Roy Wilkins.

Photo courtesy of Hulton Archive

Feature 5

Grieving together: explore communal griefCoping with grief healthily, for growth

In a time when things can easily begin to feel out of control, adding the loss of a loved one into the mix can make things even more complicated.

Grief is an upset to a normal routine. Not only does it have emotional ef-fects, but it can also take a toll on the body. Accord-ing to Dr. Marilyn A Men-doza, a psychiatrist writing for psychologytoday.com, grief can cause gastrointes-tinal issues, chest pain, in-creased blood pressure, or even a heart attack.

So, how is it pos-sible to grieve when the world’s been turned topsy-turvy? Though there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution

for discovering how to cope with grief, it is not impos-sible.

First and foremost, it is necessary to feel per-mitted to grieve. Anger, sadness, regret, and anxi-ety are all natural emotions to feel during the grieving process and are not feelings to be ashamed of. Writing down thoughts and feelings can help to process emo-tions when they feel over-whelming.

Though funerals and memorial services cannot currently allow the typi-cal gathering, some funeral homes have begun offering virtual services for extend-ed friends and family. This way, people can find com-fort from others, despite not being able to have the typical memorial services.

Karen Kern, Vice Pres-ident of Education and Training at the Penn Foun-dation, suggests joining an online support group with others who have experi-enced loss.

One example is the web-site GriefShare, a virtual support group where people who have lost a loved one gather weekly to watch a video addressing grief and discuss the topic with ex-perts.

Kern recommends stay-ing in contact with loved ones throughout the griev-ing. Disconnect can cause loneliness and further feel-ings of depression or sad-ness.

To honor a loved one’s memory, member of the As-sociation of Health Care Journalists Brian P. Dun-

leavy recommends a me-morial on the anniversary of the passing, rather than hosting one immediately after the passing.

Though, grief can be-come unmanageable; it is not uncommon, nor any-thing to be ashamed about. If unmanageable, one might need to seek professional help. Online therapy has also become a viable option if grief becomes unbear-able.

Grief is not a straight line; it is not the same for every person. The process takes time and can, for some, feel never-ending. It is important to understand that grief is not the same for everyone; it will not look the same, nor will it feel the same. it feel the same.

Grief during pandemic, admist uncertain timeRachel BultemaFeature Editor

Everyone grieves at some point, and it’s completely natural and healthy. But is there a way to grieve that is helpful-- one that will foster growth? Grieving with a growth mindset can take great strength, but it’s worthwhile.

The first step is to find support. Many people respond to grief by hiding their thoughts and emotions from others. Taking some quiet time for oneself can be helpful for a time but soon one has to come out and interact with others. Fami-ly, friends, therapists, teachers, and the church can be pillars of support for someone who is grieving.

If you have a friend who is grieving, simply helping them in daily tasks like making break-fast, encouraging them to attend church, listening to their struggles, or telling them funny stories to dis-tract from their pain can help.

Next, an individual who is grieving should think positive. As annoying as it sounds, doing our best to remain positive stops us from reinforcing our grief, said Kenneth J. Doka, Ph.D., a writer for Psychology Today. By remem-bering the good times, for ex-ample, by looking at pictures, one can remain positive. It’s important, however, not to obsess over the past and instead look at the pres-ent. What positive things are hap-pening right now? What can be learned or gained?

Now, look to the future. One can set small weekly goals like doing devotions or being kind to the person standing in front of her locker. Start small and grow. Real-ize that growing from grief doesn’t end once one resumes daily life.

Finally, understand that griev-ing is not a linear path. After a loss, an individual can feel almost nor-mal one day and trapped in grief the next. This often unexplainable spiraling pathway can be uncom-fortable. There are days to be alone and days to find friends.

Ultimately, facing one’s grief is necessary for peace and growth. Each individual chooses how to face grief each day. Jennifer Lar-son LaRue, a counselor writing for Mayo Clinic said, “If we can bring ourselves to face grief — to ride the wave of it and allow it into our lives — we may find that we are not swept away, but instead, are slowly given glimpses of light and peace.”

Rachel BultemaFeature Editor

Community grief can be defined simply as a commu-nity grieving together. This can take place if a natural disaster happens, a public figure, or even an unjust death in the community. Communal grief manifests in different ways and takes shape in places that may be unexpected.

Doctor Paul M. Martin, a psychiatrist who works for the Center for Grief Recov-

ery and Therapeutic Servic-es in Chicago, said the def-inition of communal grief is different from personal grief because, “Communal grieving offers something that we cannot get when we grieve by ourselves. Through acknowledgement, validation and witnessing, communal grieving allows us to experience a level of healing that is deeply and profoundly freeing.”

In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Or-leans, United States came together to grieve the loss-

es of their homes and peo-ple from the communities. They also came together to rebuild their homes and communities.

After Los Angeles Lak-ers player Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna Bryant tragically passed away in a helicopter crash, numer-ous candlelight vigils took place across the country. These are not uncommon when it comes to the death of a public figure. They al-low the community to gath-er to recall the impact the deceased had on his/her

life. Community grief be-

came a hot topic after the murder of George Floyd. Across the nation, protests turned into riots, violin vig-ils were wgrief manifested as outrage.

Communal grief can turn very easily into anger. The death of George Floyd was seen as a tipping point in the racial tensions. Com-munities came together to mourn the loss and promise to that his death would not be in vain, a perfect exam-ple of community grieving.

Olivia OostemaCo-Editor in Chief

Answering: what is community grief, what it looks likePhoto courtesy of businessinsider.comKobe Bryant mourners gather at a vigil together shortly after the passing his and his daughter’s passing.

Arts and Leisure6

Live or livestream, musical set for springOlivia OostemaArts Editor

The drama department will perform the musical “Schoolhouse Rock Live!” this spring.

Co-directors Mary La-gerwey Kathy Sliekers are “cautiously optimistic” about having l ive perfor-mances. Because health

department recommen-dations and precautions change with t ime, they se-cured the rights to do the musical in a variety of ways. Currently, they hope to have in-person perfor-mances and perhaps record or l ivestream the show for those who cannot see the show in person because of geography, health, or l im-its on audience size.

The musical, accord-

ing to Lagerwey, “bookends nicely with the fall play. This year’s fall play was a beautiful and classic drama reflecting a primarily black and white palette, and this spring’s musical is a fun and classic colorful com-edy.” She added that the show fits with the current talent at Illiana and is “a pandemic-friendly choice” because it works well with smaller groups of people.

Singers will wear masks, and instead of a large pit orchestra, the musical only calls for a three-person “jazzy ensemble,” said La-gerwey. The audience, if in-person, would be grouped by household and socially distanced.

The musical calls for many props but few sets. Art teacher Jim Kamphu-is said that plans for sets construction and painting

are still in progress due to a low number of students involved. Unless there’s a surge of applicants, the sets will include the 3-sided periactoids and not much else. Said Kamphuis, “If only a handful of students are interested, we’ll do our best with whatever we’ve got - just like every show we’ve ever done!”

The musical is sched-uled for March 4, 5, and 6.

Bennetts Pub & Play420 E Commercial Ave, Lowell

Bennet’s Pub and play opened less than a year ago in downtown Lowell. It features numerous sorts of video games like Fruit Ninja, Ms. Pac-Man, or Skee-Ball and other retro and mod-ern games. After paying an entrance fee of $20, patrons can play an unlim-

Top It Off Coffee & Smoothies

Rachel BultemaCo-Editor in Chief

Top It Off Coffee & Smoothies can be found at 13326 Lincoln Plaza Way, Ce-dar Lake; located just across the street from Hanover Cen-

Steamwhistle Coffee RoastersLooking for a cup of cof-

fee? Make your way over to 924 S Court St, Crown Point to visit Steamwhistle Coffee Roasters! Steamwhistle Cof-fee Roasters opened up shop in Crown Point just a few years ago when owners Tracee and Brett Jury made the deci-

sion to expand from selling their roasted coffee beans on-line and at farmers markets to owning a physical store. Not only does Steamwhistle sell roasted coffee beans, but they also sell coffee drinks, break-fast, lunch, and teas. Accord-ing to Jury, all of Steamwhis-Cafe Fresco

Located at1 N Court St, Crown Point Cafe Fresco, on the Crown Point square, doesn’t just serve food and drinks, but also the community; Cafe Fresco’s mission is to give back to the community. Their specialty coffee is sourced locally, but it’s not all the cafe of-

fers. Cafe Fresco offers a myriad of coffee and non-coffee drinks including smoothies, hot chocolate, and bubble tea. Cafe Fresco started Community Love 7 years ago, a community serving organization and tips put into the Community Love tip jar go to a person in need.

Shopping local business in time of pandemic2020 is the story of two economies. Some people have been largely unaffeccted economically, and some have suffered a great deal. Between shutdowns and seating restrictions, local restaurants have been hit particularly hard. We’ve compiled recommendations of a few places that we think deserve our support.

ited number of games, all of which are set to free play. Bennetts also, however, offers a few games not on free play including claw machine games and a Key Master Game. For the month of February, Bennetts is running a sale of “Buy one get one free” on Fridays; vis-it Bennetts and bring a friend for free.

tral High School, Top It Off Coffee & Smoothies offers a variety of treats, snacks, and beverages. Top It Off offers nu-merous keto-friendly breakfast

and lunch options. Their cafe features free wifi. On week-days, Top It Off opens bright and early at 7 am, and opens at 9 am on weekends.

tle’s regular offerings are Fair Trade and organic.

Pick up a coffee before or after; Steamwhistle ,dur-ing the week, opens at 6 am and closes at 4 pm. On the weekend, their hours shorten slightly, opening at 7 am and closing at 3 pm.

Sports

Male Athlete of the Month Female Athlete of the Month Senior wrestler Ben Ritzema has

competed for Illiana all four years of high school.

Teammate Marc Rozendal said, “Ben is definitely a force to be reckoned with. He is the well deserving conference champion this year. He shows admirable leadership and is consistently pushing everyone to do their best. He really led by example both in skill and in leader-ship. He brought such a calming yet de-manding presence to the mats. He really did push us all to do our best.”

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Junior Natalie Scott has played for Illiana’s girls basketball program all three years so far. She plays as as a point guard and wing for the varsity team this year.

Scott has also been noticed for her amazing teamwork and leadership skills.

Coach Erin Behn said, “Natalie has a calming presence when she’s on the floor. Her teammates can sense that too. She is someone who leads by example with an extremely hard work ethic.”

Teammate Marissa Dykstra said, “She is a good leader and brings the team together on the court and off the court. We can always count on her to lead us and encourage us even when we feel like quitting.”

Vikings basketball players enjoying best season in the last three years

Sports briefs

This 2020-21 boys bas-ketball teams records are 7-2 for varsity , 8-1 for ju-nior varsity, and 9-1 fresh-man.

This month the varsity team has played Morton , Wawsee , Boone Groove , and Bishop Noll.

After a long time off the Vikings defeated Morton by 10 points. Senior Logan VanEssen led with 39 points and Cody De Jong added 9. They also defeated Wa-wasee in a close game with a final score of 49-46. The victory landed them in the championship game against Garrett. And they defeated Garrett 66-42. After that game they played Boone Grove and defeated them

59-47 with Logan VanEs-sen scoring 27 points in the second half. They also defeated Bishop Noll 76-35 led by Logan VanEssen with 27 points and Ian Van Beek adding 17.

“Our season has been great this year, as you can see by the records,” said sophomore Kevin Corco-ran. “We are stepping up to the potential I know we all have.”

Junior Adam Gibson agreed, saying “The num-bers prove it. Our defense is better than other years easi-ly. The only thing bothering us is COVID-19 and having to be ready to adapt to can-cellations and quarantines. It puts a whole different mood onto the season, but so far, we’ve been pretty good at adapting to it.”

As wrestling wraps up their 2020-2021 season, the team looks back at how much it developed this challenging season.

Even with COVID restrictions, they never stopped pursuing a fulfill-ing season. “Our team did a good

Vanderlaan takes 5th in State

Girls basketball team’s early season struggles continue despite progress

This 2020-21 Girls basket-ball teams records so far are var-sity 5-14 and junior varsity 3-10.

The varsity girls played Donald E Gavit , Whiting , West Central and Heritage Christian.

They fell to Donald E Gavit by the score of 42-41 , beat Whit-ing 24-31, beat West Central 39-

36 and fell to Heritage Christian 41-30.

Mia Cruz said about the sea-son, “I would say so far that the season is going okay. We aren’t winning much but we are work-ing very hard as a team to suc-ceed and get better together. I would say that I am happy with the season, we are having fun just playing and working hard together.”

The girls junior varsity played Valpo, Lake Station, Don-ald E Gavit and Heritage Chris-

tian. They fell to Valpo 66-14 ,

fell to Lake Station 39-35 de-spite freshman Kelsee Smits’s teamleading 15 points. They beat Donald E Gavit 46-13 with Audra Davids scoring 12 points. And fell to Heritage Christian 42-29 despite Karina Mulder’s 11 points. They came close to beat-ing Heritage Christian, losing by only 4 points. They had issues with fouls and double bonuses that gave Heritage too many op-portunities at the free throw line.

job. It was a tough season since we couldn’t have any solo tournaments but we made it work,” said Senior Ben Ritzema.

The team ended their season with an overall record of 10-10.

One of the team members, ju-nior Faith Vanderlaan, advanced to compete in the State championship, where she took 5th place.

“Our Coaches did an amazing job setting up competitions for our

team as it was difficult to find teams that were not either cancelled or quarantined, and our team worked well together and enjoyed every second of the mat time we got this season. I’m excited to move on into sectionals and hope I make it far,” Vanderlaan said.

Bosman, the head coach of the team said, “The team did amaz-ing this year considering all of the obstacles we had to go through.”

Madie CeponisNews Editor

Madie Ceponis

News Editor

Sophia Thompson

Sports Editor

Photo by HR ImagingJunior Marc Rozendal takes the top position as he faces off his opponent from Whiting High School on Dec. 15.

Photo by HR ImagingSophomore Kaitlin Dykstra dribbles around her Marquette High School opponent.

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Editorials, unless otherwise stated, have been written by an editor and reflect the opinion of the majority of the Echo staff. Opinions expressed are not necessarily that of the administration, faculty, or student orga-nizations.

Letters to the editor can be submitted to the advisor or sent to the school. All let-ters must be signed and must not exceed 250 words. They will be printed provided there is enough room and content is not offensive to the general public.

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Opinion8

Echthe )))Rachel BultemaOlivia Oostema

Rachel Bultema

Have you ever told someone some-thing you are struggling with and they told you to pray about it, so you did, but you feel like God isn’t answering?

This happened to me a while ago, and I still haven’t received a response from God. I lay awake at night praying for any kind of sign of what I should do about college, but I feel like I get nothing from him. Slowly, I have had to re-alize that God won’t just answer my prayers right after I pray them, and just because I pray it doesn’t mean that what I pray for will happen.

I think God has four answers to our prayers. He might say “Yes” and give it to you right then, he might say “No, here is something better”, he might say, “No that’s not my plan for you,” and he might say “Yes, but not right now.”

These might not always be the answers we want to hear, but they are perfect for us. You might be in actual pain waiting for the answer of what to do next, but what if the next step is to just wait and enjoy the season you are in right now? God will never give intentional pain with no purpose for later. He hears every single prayer we say. I stumbled upon Psalm 66: 17-20 one day and it has given me a lot of encouragement: “I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me.”

I don’t want to leave out the verse that says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;” I was quite confused about this verse, so I first consulted Mr. Dykstra, and he helped me understand a little better. He explained it as praying for something, but in your waiting, living in sin. How can you be asking God for something, but going against him while you wait for your answer?

But then I began thinking about God’s an-swer and why I’m not hearing it. So I went to Mrs. Lagerwey and asked her how I can practice find-ing God’s answers. She explained it to me using a telephone analogy. Back before caller I.D, how did you know who the caller was? You recognized their voice. You will recognize someone’s voice if you talk to them often. So how can we expect to hear God’s answers if you don’t recognize his voice by talking to him every day?

For that reason, I started doing Bible journal-ing. Every night I sit down for only a few minutes, no distractions near me, and I randomly flip to a page in my Bible and read a verse. I then will doo-dle something beside it in my Bible while I just sit and talk to God. I thank him for everything he does for me, and I ask him to give me clarity and peace on the things I am struggling with. This is just my way of talking to God more. I encourage you to find one that helps you learn the patterns and sounds of God’s voice, and maybe you’ll find you hear it more often in answer to your prayers.

Sophie ThompsonSports Editor

When Goddoesn’t call youback: waiting on answers to prayers

Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021 was different from most school days at Illiana Christian. The commons lined with chairs, the gym-nasium set with a projec-tor, and the arc prepared for an audience, all indi-cated that the day would not be for students to learn their new semester sched-ules, but for them to en-gage in learning about the diversity of our kingdom that God has blessed us with and steps we could take toward growing uni-ty within the diversity.

The Illiana staff did an incredible job on Tuesday in its efforts to build on our community’s under-standing of issues that are going on not only in our school, but also through-out our country and the whole world. Through starting the day off with devotions, listening to speakers, and watching a movie that was both en-joyable and educational, students got to experience a day truly dedicated to-wards educating Illiana’s youth on the importance of treating everyone with

equity, kindness, and re-spect, of treating each other as fellow children of God.

Unfortunately, a num-ber of students believed that this day wasn’t im-portant enough to at-tend and in turn skipped school or came to school

late. One reason for this that we heard multiple times was that they “al-ready knew this.” But does that argument really hold weight? Do we stop going to church or doing devotions because we al-ready know the gospel? Do we stop practicing sports or musical instru-ments because we already know them? Of course

not. We always have room to grow, and it is so important to learn about each other and about how we can better make each other feel important and loved.

This experience was planned specifically to take place the day after

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which we had the chance to take off school. Many students simply saw it as a long weekend, but this day means so much more to others. The day offers us an opportu-nity to reflect on not only what still can be done to improve our perception of equality and justice, but also how far we have

come. We may already

know that racism is going on, and we may already know that it isn’t right, but there is so much we don’t know about how it affects people and about how to try to bring heal-ing. As a predominantly Caucasian school, many of us do not know what it feels like to be singled out. We do not know how it feels to be in an environment where not many people look like us. Taking a few hours out of our day to learn about and celebrate di-versity, more specifical-ly the diversity God cre-ated, is a step in the right direction that we can take as God’s children to improve our relation-ships in the all-colorful and unique kingdom that we call our home.

We applaud the day and want to thank all of those who planned it and led it. It was a good day, and a step toward all of us learning to live more faithfully as a community of believers.

We always have room to grow, and it is so important

to learn about each other and about how we can better

make each other feel important and loved.

MLK Day celebration deserves praise

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