Honoring excellence in school theatre - The International Thespian Society, a division of the Educational Theatre Association honors Indian Valley High School drama program.

The International Thespian Society recently inducted 7 top students from the theatre arts program at Indian Valley High School!

Founded in 1929, ITS is the student honorary division of the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), the professional association for theatre education.  We serve over 3,900 schools around the world with an active student membership of more than 100, 000. The average Thespian inductee has completed over 100 hours of excellent work in theatre arts and related disciplines. Your inductees now join the ranks of nearly 2,000,000 Thespians and Thespian Alumni, including Dick Van Dyke, John Goodman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sharon Stone, and Tom Hanks.

Please join us in celebrating the hard work and achievements of your recent inductees, their troupe officers, and their troupe director, Maggie Seay.  The leadership of administrators like you is vital to the success of student artists and technicians.  Than you for your continued support of the theatre arts program and Troupe #5415 at Indian Valley High School.

Biology Trip

By Heather Adams

Indian Valley Student Journalist
 

Most of us don’t think about what is happening inside our bodies whenever we perform the simplest of tasks.  A child’s chasing a ball through a yard involves multiple muscles extending and contracting, allowing him to complete this most basic of motions.

If only our skin were transparent, the muscles would be visible, making it easier to understand the complexity of the simple act of running.

In the hope of gaining just such an in-depth understanding of the human body, 38 students from the Indian Valley Medical Careers Club, AP Biology and Biology II classes traveled Friday to the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg to visit Our Body: The Universe Within.

The work of Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the traveling exhibition arrived in Harrisburg this past summer and will remain there through Nov. 3. Owned by The Anatomical Sciences and Technologies Foundation (Hong Kong) Ltd., the full exhibition features 12 full bodies and 124 organ specimens. Because of Whitaker’s limited size, however, it is housing only a portion of the display. 

Hagens’ work is one of three such exhibitions traveling around the world; however, he is the scientist who developed the process, called plastination—also known as polymer preservation—through which the bodies are preserved. 

According to materials supplied by the Whitaker Center, polymer preservation involves replacing bodily fluids with liquid plastic, which is then hardened to create a solid, durable anatomic specimen that should last indefinitely.  Most impressively, this process leaves even the most delicate tissue structures virtually intact. 

Because the skin has been removed from most of the bodies, the muscles and internal structures are exposed to view. Constructed models designed by artists could never be as exact as this final product, the handout states.

The bodies Hagens prepared for the exhibition were provided to him by various accredited Chinese universities, medical schools, research centers and laboratories, all of which are dedicated members of The Chinese Society for Anatomical Science, the Whitaker handout states

Visiting the exhibition enhanced what the students are learning through their club and classes.    “To learn the anatomy, this was better than a diagram out of any book,” says Medical Careers Club adviser Mrs. Linda Wilson.  Biology teacher Mr. David Howe agrees.

Currently, the Biology II class is learning about the body and memorizing the various names and functions of each system, so this experience helped the visual learners to associate the actual images with the names.

Mr. Howe explains that such activities reinforce student interest in their field of study: “AP Biology needed to go on this trip in order to keep them interested in the biological field, and that way they can better society.”

Most of the students who attended the field trip enjoyed the exhibit.  Kayla Bulick reflects, “I liked the exhibit because it’s not every day that you get to see inside, yet alone a perfect visual, of a real human.” 

Kristi Potorti adds that if people are going to be doctors then this exhibit helps them get a feel for what they will be studying in college.

The experience provided Stephanie Zewe with a “new perspective of the body.”

Luncheon

By Jesse Crosson

Indian Valley High School Student Journalist

Folks from all walks of life gather in one place to break bread together.  Setting aside all differences, each person radiates with an ear-to-ear grin, passing laughs down the table along with plates of elegant cuisine.

Sounds like the recent Alfred E. Smith Memorial dinner attended by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, right?  Actually, this light-hearted scene could be found in Room 161 at Indian Valley High School on Friday.

            Lunch at IVHS on was quite a novelty f or teachers and staff across the school.  Instead of quickly eating a packed lunch on the go or briskly walking to the cafeteria for a bit of midday sustenance, teachers were served an elegant meal prepared and served by Culinary Arts students.

            Teachers were provided with a harvest meal of potato-carrot soup, squash-apple bisque, Greek salad, warm blue crab bruschetta, and fresh sweet tea.  For a small donation, guests sat down to an all-you-can-eat café meal.  Running through all three lunch periods, the meal served as a fundraiser for both the IV Business Club and Culinary Arts/Garden Club.

Friday’s luncheon, however, was not the first student-led event sponsored by Indian Valley’s Culinary Arts Department.  In mid September, the Culinary Arts students prepared yet another meal for teachers at IVHS.  September’s Back-to-School Night meal benefited all teachers not wanting to leave the building to grab a quick bite to eat before parents arrived for their annual run-through of their children’s class schedules and to meet the classroom teachers.  For this meal, students assembled a menu of pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and ham and beans, along with fresh corn and iced tea.  This meal, along with Friday’s luncheon, was prepared in part using vegetables and spices recently grown in and harvested from the school’s new market garden. 

By providing such meals for the staff and including students in the process, Mrs. Amy Houtz, Culinary Arts teacher, believes student-faculty relations can be improved and built upon.  “This is all part of the greater scheme of improving faculty-student relationships…as well as including all disciplines,” says Houtz. 

Houtz and other teachers at IVHS hope to institute similar events in the future. The next meal—a breakfast—is slated for Oct. 31. 
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