The ADM community celebrated homecoming September 5-10. According to social media and The Perry News, ADM students ran “amok in VEISHA-like antics.” Here’s the full story.

Tigerfest

This year ADM took a different route regarding community activities. Last year, the parade and activities were earlier in the day, making it challenging for parents to get out of work and have fun with their kids.

For this year, though, the school decided to hold these events on Thursday evening. This way many families throughout the

community could join in on all the activities, as well as getting a bigger crowd for the Powderpuff game and the coronation. Some of the activities at the Tigerfest this year included student organizations, businesses, and community organizations that had games, bags, dunk tanks, mini golf, bounce houses, and a cake walk. Overall, there were twenty-four businesses that came out to support and put on some acti

vities.

Matt Lohman, assistant high school principal, said that he would really like to see an expansion next year of businesses and possibly more food options, as well as a growth of participation in the community. There was a great amount of positive community feedback, so he is optimistic about growth in the future.

Lohman said that even though this year there were some negative activities, it doesn’t alter how he views ADM students, because “ADM students are wonderful and you can not let other students bring ADM down.”

A New Chapter of Success

Tigerfest provided another avenue to let the community know about FFA through a cookout, which had a very big turnout. FFA (Future Farmers of America) is in their second year as an AD

M Chapter.

“One of our focuses this year is community outreach,” said FFA Advisor McKenzie Gettler, “Just so they know that yes, we have this new chapter, and yes, we are doing all of these awesome things.”

All of the money they raised from Tigerfest will go towards all of the conventions, contests and trips FFA takes together to establish and grow their chapter. They hope to one day add a greenhouse on school grounds and let the community know how much their contributions help FFA give a group of students hands-on agricultural experiences.

The Shade Hall Incident

Shade Hall is an ADM senior, living the average life of a seventeen-year-old boy in a small town. However, Hall lives with Cystic Fibrosis. In the last several months he has spent a large amou

nt of time in Denver, Colorado, receiving specific medical attention. Just one day before his senior year began, Hall returned to Adel and woke up the next day to go to school. He was feeling generally healthy and well for several weeks until the night of the homecoming parade and Powderpuff football game.

Hall watched the parade as it winded down Tiger Drive, then walked toward his car to return home. On his way, several boys in ADM football jerseys walked past, examining his shirt from a past ADM musical (Little Shop of Horrors), which read ‘FEED ME.’

The students responded, “I’ll feed you!” a

nd threw a full bottle of water at Hall. The bottle hit Hall in a port connected to his heart that was installed two months earlier. The chest port is designed as a sort of tubing system so that in the event of infections, antibiotics and other medicines can be applied directly to Hall’s heart.

The impact of the water bottle caused a minor malfunction that took Hall’s breath away and sent several ‘shocks’ through his body. This caused him to fall to the ground immediately, without any help from the boys who threw the bottle, who fled the scene.

“I remember thinking, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, when it hit me,” said Hall.

While what happened to Shade Hall after the homecoming parade was tragic and unacceptable, the students involved are not an accurate representation of how Hall views the ADM student body. Hall said that this event does not make him feel unsafe in his town or high school.

“This could happen to anyone,” said Hall. “I’ve had a lot of support.”

Having attended the same school most of his life, his peers in his graduating class are well aware of his condition. He appreciates the way his classmates have reacted with support in a way that does not dramatize the situation even more than it already has been.

“I’m glad they’re not treating it like a huge deal,” said Hall.

Hall is currently battling chest pain and sporadic fevers but has hope that in time his health will return to where it was before that night. Overall, he and his family appreciate support and encouragement from others but ultimately would like the dramatizing and radical publicity to come to an end, but that night, after notifying his parents of the situation, Hall was taken to the hospital.

Seniors Set To Win Powderpuff

The girls took the field, as everyone moved from TigerFest to the new stadium.  The seniors took on the juniors for the annual Powderpuff football game. The final score was 12 to 8, with the seniors edging out the juniors, continuing the four-year winning streak.

Cris Goodale, math teacher, has been announcing this game for five years.

“I really enjoy picking on the girls out there as they play,” said Goodale. “It adds fuel to their fire.”

Many of the juniors believe the outcome of the game is determined long before the game ever starts.  

“I’ve never noticed it being rigged,” Goodale said. “I just go with what the refs say.  Also, it is hard to verify calls when we are not able to use instant replay.”

In a hard fought game by both teams, it ended in a lot of sweat and tears and even a little blood. The seniors cheered and screamed sounds of joy all throughout the stadium, and at the end of the night, they showed sportsmanship and went over to take lots of pictures and talk about the game with the juniors.

One thing we will never know is if the game was actually set for the seniors to win. For the juniors, there is always next year.

TP-ing Continues

According to an anonymous survey that was sent out to the high school, only 34.5% actually TP-ed on Thursday night.  The other 65.5% did not TP at all. And, out of that 34.5% who did TP, only 6.5% used something other than toilet paper.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night ADM high school football team took the “W” homecoming night against Winterset in very wet conditions. This was the first time the seniors have won against Winterset since 2011.

As a senior football player Cody Bargman said, “It was a heartwarming and emotional experience, beating a team we have never beat before, and on homecoming. It was unforgettable.”

The football players were excited to play their second home game on the new turf field.

Kade Overton and Kade Barcus both said, “It was a great and spectacular experience.”

Logan Shield said, “It was great seeing our team come together and click in a way we’ve never clicked before.”

The football team, as well as the students, are looking forward to many more great memories and victories on the new field this year.

A Principal’s Perspective

Lee Griebel, high school principal, described everything concerning TigerFest, the school and parade as “fantastic.” Other events not functioned by the school like TP and vandalism were not positive things.

Stories, particularly from The Perry News, have made ADM homecoming seem comparable to Iowa State University’s VEISHEA.

But Griebel said differently, “Actions of some do not define the whole.  It is incredibly horrible what happened to Shade.”

He does not know exactly who did it but believes the boys who did must feel very remorseful.

Griebel said, “Our kids have character.”

Some students involved in negative activities on Thursday night have apologized. 

Griebel stated, “I respect all of my students… I love all of my students, even the ones who may have made bad choices last week.” His opinion of ADM students has not changed.

Griebel said past homecoming weeks have always included TPing activities done by students, and, on the bright side, 2016’s homecoming “brought TigerFest and we want to focus on that positive.”

“There’s never been so many people at the Powderpuff game and coronation,” said Griebel.

Griebel said, “It’s great that there was more attendance for the parade so people from the community could see the students involved in all the activities. Usually, the spectators at the parade include teachers and students from the elementary and a scarce amount of individuals from the community.”

Griebel said that in the future he will “help students not to make poor choices,” possibly by talking to students and putting emphasis on consequences that can come from these kind of actions.

Teacher Reactions

Lacy Jennings and Cris Goodale, both high school teachers, have opinions about the week’s events.

Jennings claimed that this year, in particular, was a little overboard but historically, ADM has always been responsible and nothing bad has happened.

In response to what had happened to Shade Hall on Thursday night, Jennings responded,  “The actions of a few don’t exemplify all.  Unless it is a pattern, it can’t even exemplify a single.”

Jennings also commented about The Perry Newspaper and said that the way homecoming was covered and the headline had not even gotten close to what had happened and was completely over-exaggerated.

Goodale said that homecoming is a necessity for all students to be able to feel involved and come together as a whole. Goodale believes that students do harmless activities and he enjoys the homecoming spirits, but occasionally a small group can cross the line.

Goodale also agreed that what happened to Shade Hall cannot taint our reputation as a school. Goodale has been goofing around with students trying to TP him over the years and says that they all have a good time. He also said that The Perry News missed the mark on what really happened.

Student Council–Past and Present Advisors

The brains behind homecoming mainly come from the students, but two advisors in the last few years have helped organize and execute the week. Tammie Smith, the current Student Council Advisor has strong views regarding homecoming.  

Smith’s views of ADM students have not changed given the events of last week.

“Students of ADM are students of character. A few bad decisions do not represent our students. An example of this character is the hero’s balloons release.  Every student was grateful and very welcoming of Adel’s local hero’s,” Smith said.

Smith, like other teachers at ADM, read The Perry News article concerning events at homecoming.

“It’s one-sided. The Perry article is only reporting on one side of the story, while ADM keeps its students’ consequences confidential. The school took care of the situations while protecting its students,” Smith said.  

Overall Smith was very pleased with how Homecoming turned out. With a total enrollment of 504 students at ADM High School, 366 ADM students attended the dance Saturday night. That’s 73% of the high school.

Former StuCo advisor Charity Miller had the same reaction to homecoming. She felt very sad about what happened to Shade Hall, but said, you can’t classify the entire ADM student body in a bad way, because of a few students who made a stupid decision.

She felt that the first year advisor did a great job with the new idea of Tiger Fest, which has been praised by many as a huge success, but she went on to say she would like to see more student involvement.

Miller went to Lincoln High School, which allows all of its students to TP the school on a set night during the Homecoming week. At the end of the week a group of parents who sign up come and clean it up. TPing the school is very much frowned upon at ADM, but some argue it’s a harmless tradition. She did not say if she would like to see the same things that happen at Lincoln happen at ADM.

Both the former and present advisors have strong feelings for getting students involved during the week of homecoming.

In the past, we took off homecoming Friday from classes and held competitions and many assemblies throughout the day.  This year we changed it up a little.

Chloe Spoonemore, our student body president, was in charge of many activities including Ironman Volleyball, the actual homecoming dance on Saturday and activities during homecoming week: door decorating, assemblies and Friday’s schedule of events.

Overall, “Homecoming week went really great, even though Friday we still had classes, but we were able to incorporate many fun things instead,” Spoonemore said the week after the activities came to an end. “The school seemed to bring more school spirit than past years, boosting up students and making this homecoming so much better.”

Like many other students, Spoonemore doesn’t believe homecoming ever got out of hand.

“I don’t think it did because it’s understandable for students to want to go out and have fun during homecoming week. There will always be people who take their activities too far, but this was not necessarily Homecoming’s fault,” Spoonemore said.

Overall, Spoonemore said her views of ADM students have not changed after Homecoming this year. She thinks they are hardworking and responsible, and some of the most respectful students she has ever been around.

“There may be some bad apples because there always will be, but here at ADM I feel that there aren’t as many as other schools,” Spoonemore said.

She wishes that next year’s student body president can boost the spirits of ADM even more, to get them to participate more and to get kids to want to come to school more.

Student Reactions

Sarah Reis, a freshman, may be in the youngest class in the high school, but was not unaware of the events on the Thursday night of Homecoming. Reis said, “They probably started out thinking it would be fun and cool and kept going because they enjoyed the rush of being rebellious.” Her idea for next year is to make sure people get consequences for what they do in hope that it will eliminate bad choices.

Maya Griebel, a sophomore and member of several school clubs and sports, said, “ADM seems to have one of the closest student bodies. We all know each other, talk to each other, and that, to me, makes it so much better.”

While several students have definitely made questionable decisions, Griebel does not believe this accurately portrays the student body.

“You can’t judge a whole by only a couple incidents,” said Griebel.

“I think it’s a couple kids that got out of hand… Things just got crazy,” said junior Kim Lockard after the events of last week’s homecoming craze. ADM’s homecoming traditions, like TPing houses of students and teachers, have come under fire recently for getting out of hand. Should the usually light-hearted tradition have to end because of the actions of a few?

“I feel like it would be a good idea to say we can’t TP, but I don’t feel like that’s going to stop anything,” Lockard said.

Senior Jared Sapp, though, felt like the overall night was positive.

“School spirit was up and I think this gave energy to the football team on Friday night,” said Sapp. “Also, the activities gave me something to look forward to throughout the week.”

Sapp believes the situation with Shade Hall was “blown out of proportion because the middle schoolers didn’t know about his condition.” He also believes that ADM’s homecoming week as a whole was a success and that the Shade Hall incident was one of the few dark spots in a week of fun, engaging activities put on by the school.