By Alex Smith/Staff Writer

Photo Caption: JT Turner, music secretary, helps Jackson Martin, 12, read sheet music for band.

Music secretary Jeremy Turner, who has spent many hours helping marching band and drama students, said, “My favorite part of being the music secretary is the interactions I have with all the performing arts students.” 

Turner, who is also pursuing his bachelor’s degree in music education, talked about how he balances his work and home life in a department that hosts countless practices, concerts, and other performances. Turner said, “What home life? I go home and work, that is what I do. I wake up, I come back and I work more. It’s cool, man. I probably end up staying up a little bit later than I would most times.” 

Marching band director Chris Wing talked about his first impression of Turner. Wing said, “My first impression of JT was was that he was young and excited to teach kids.” Because of all the hours spent at practice and beyond, Wing and Turner know each other pretty well.  Wing said, “I like working with JT. Some days he drives me crazy but for the most part he does a really nice job and works hard. My least favorite part of working with JT is that he distracts me. We spend too much time together and we’re too good of friends. I get distracted from my work too easily.”

 Wing added, “My favorite thing about working with JT is that I laugh with him just about every day.” 

For his part, Turner said, “My mentor is Mr. Wing. I know it’s weird because he’s like one of my best friends and also my coworker and also my boss. I can’t think of anyone else that I could go to when I need guidance.” 

A.J. Springman, 10,  has known JT since 8th grade. Springman, who is in concert choir now but was in band previously, said, “My favorite thing about JT is his humor. His humor is unbelievable. I was in band in 8th grade and I was beat-boxing and he was joking about having me be a part of the front line just like sitting there with a mic being the drum line.”  Springman talked about what he is going to miss about JT when he switches schools next year. Springman said, “I can’t pinpoint one thing that I am going to miss about JT when I leave next year to go to my new school because JT is just an amazing person overall.” 

When the marching band won state in November at Lucas Oil Stadium, naturally almost everyone in the program was excited. Turner described the moment: “I felt really good for a number of different reasons. I don’t know if I can quite still say how cool it was, not necessarily for me, in particular, but for the program as a whole thinking about the journey we’ve been on from 2012 to now to the top of the pyramid. I think when they said second place, whoever it was, and we realized we won I felt all of that. I felt all of the times we came up just a little bit short and of all the times where things didn’t necessarily go the way we would have hoped. Of all the times that there were kids that were there that band was their safe place and they couldn’t necessarily go anywhere else. I felt all of that again. That was the cherry on top of all we’ve done so far.”  

Turner talked about what he wants the kids to get from the experience of being in performing arts. He said, “I want the kids to learn how to work with people. There are going to be people around that you don’t necessarily like. You have to learn how to work with them.”

by Maddy Wainscott/Staff Writer

Photo Caption: Bradley Key, social studies teacher and coach, finds a spare minute to work on paperwork in his classroom.

GC teacher and basketball coach Bradley Key has been teaching for over 10 years and has been coaching for many years as well. Key spends most of his time coaching with his team, especially currently since it’s basketball season, teaching his students and educating them on current events, and listening to pop-country music. He puts effort into those he cares for and puts his heart into what he loves, and what he truly loves is his job. “There are definitely some extreme highs, and extreme lows of teaching, especially freshmen… but it’s worth it. It’s good knowing my kids went home knowing something they maybe didn’t know before, and that’s the best part about it.” Key said, explaining the best and worst parts of his job. So what more should be known about Key? Who does he influence, and how? 

Duriing his entire life, he grew up raised and influenced in the presence of teachers, and sports. He’s always been into sports. “I was never the best of the best, you know? Never the best player on the team. But I was always kind of the leader of the team, always putting out ‘Go, team!’ if no one else would,” Key said. 

Teachers were always around him, even as family, he said. The life of educating people intrigued him, he said.  It made him think… “What can I do for the world? Who can I educate? Whose point of view could I change, how could I do that?”  So he put his game face on the same way he did in his sports career. He took his passion for shooting a ball and combined it with his passion for making a positive difference for young adults in the world. He was always a good student, always the one making the right decision, using his head, he said. That’s what got him to where he is now: an intelligent, educated, caring teacher, and a hard-working, team player, carefully blunt basketball coach.

Most of his students get along very well with him. He’s a fun, outgoing, opinionated man with a good sense of humor, some would say. One of his current students, Lindsey Kirby, 10, feels positively about him and his teaching. “He’s just a funny guy,” she explained, “in the beginning of class we discuss current events, funny stories, hot topics, stuff that everyone is really interested in and it gets everyone going, really. It’s his sense of humor that keeps the class alive and I think that’s his best feature.”

Kaitlyn Garner, 9, said, “He’s been a great teacher. He always goes over the most important things going on in the world and it’s a great thing that he gets everyone so involved in politics and the world.”  

Key truly wants the best for all the people in the building, especially for his students and team players, he said. “I think it’s good to talk politics into kids here, because you really never know what life is like at home. Everyone deserves to have their own point of view, so if they don’t talk about it at home, let’s talk about it in my room,” he said.

“Maybe mom and dad don’t talk about the news or stuff like that at home, or maybe mom or dad isn’t even around. It’s good seeing my students transform from completely uneducated… children, really, into informed citizens of our community, and of our country. It’s good to make everyone stronger and smarter one step at a time,” Key said, on why he discusses political views and current events with his students. 

by Abigail Castetter/Staff Writer

Photo Caption: Mrs. Sears states this painting to be her favorite. “Suffragette is an homage to quilts and the role they played in women gaining the right to vote in America,” (Lisa Sears 2017). 

“I love art and it’s just something I am happy to do everyday,” stated Lisa Sears, one of the art teachers at GC. Sears teaches many classes including AP Art History, AP Studio 2D Art, Painting, Drawing, and Photography. She also sponsors many clubs such as the National Art Honor Society, Sunshine Society, Fine Arts Club, and Bring Change 2 Mind. Many students gather around her and some, such as Kammi Anderson, describe her as an exciting and lively person who is always at work. Sears balances being a teacher and an artist outside of school.

Sears went to college at the Herron School of Art and Design. She has taught at other Indiana schools before GCHS. “I taught at a K-12 school which was intriguing, fun, and an easy job,” Sears said when talking about other places where she worked. She also talked about a rough elementary school where she had been the only art teacher, saying it made a difficult job.

When asked about how she balances time and inspiration to do the things she loves, like personal art, she said, “I paint every day for an hour. I find that you set aside a certain amount of time and you always try to stick to that time for whatever you’re passionate about.” Sears said from 9 to 10 p.m. you’ll almost always find her painting something. She mentioned preferring to do art with acrylic and to not waste paint. She does crafts with her scrap, dried paint. Eventually, with time, inspiration will snowball into her art.

Kammi Anderson, a freshman student who hangs out regularly in Sears classroom, talks about her often. “She’s a chill person, unlike me, and it’s always fun when we enter ranty conversations with everyone in the room. She keeps up a good conversation with someone of my pace,” Anderson stated. Many students hang out with Sears, whether it be for extra activities or just to spend time. Anderson also mentioned Sears being someone you don’t feel afraid to talk to about anything, weird or serious.

Another freshman student, Makenna Hansen, who has had her for class and often floats in and out of Sears’ room talks about Sears’ class. Hansen stated, “While she does expect her students to follow rules just like any other teacher, she’s very flexible when it comes to her students’ needs, as well as allowing them to genuinely enjoy their time in her room as it is a very relaxed environment.” She spoke more about the entertaining sarcasm Sears is never afraid to use and Sears’ relaxed attitude.

When asked about sharing artistic interest with students she stated, “kids love art and I love art so everyone’s happy.” Sears has gained respect from many students, like Anderson and Hansen, who share her classes or activities. Students gather around her for guidance and her personality. She chose to be a teacher for the students and enjoyment of sharing hers and others’ art. She has become a prominent figure in many students’ lives and students in her class state they feel welcomed, no matter their beliefs or backgrounds.

By Abby Morgan

photo caption: Kaitlyn Gardner, 9, studies while Ms. Erin Grimes, Dylan Moles, 9, and Nicole Civitarese  pose for a quick picture.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” said Miss Erin Grimes.

Grimes has been teaching Spanish I and II for a few years at the high school now. Before she was a teacher, she student taught for Mrs. Paula Perry, the head of the Spanish department. Ms. Sonja Jaggers, another Spanish teacher, said, “It’s nice to have a young teacher beside me. We throw ideas off of each other sometimes and it helps the both of us with lessons to teach our classes. She also helps me out with technology a lot when I need it, which is nice too.”

When she was little, Grimes would often play outside with her friends. When she got a little older, she picked up the skill to play piano and started to take lessons, she said. She also has an older brother; he is three and a half years older.  Grimes thinks her parents influenced her and made her a better person, having them always tell her what to do so she wasn’t ever lost. Growing up, Grimes always wanted to be a teacher. It was either math or Spanish, she said, but as time went on math got very difficult. Once she decided on that, Grimes started to actually study and pay attention in class. She thinks she did well, or at least she hopes so, she said.

One of Grimes’s favorite things to do is bond with her students. There is nothing better than getting to know them, it makes it easier to have a class with them, and also makes it easier to teach them, she said. She is proud of all of them, no matter how rambunctious they may be. Addie Coombs, 9, said “I like Miss Grimes because she’s closer to our generation rather than someone older because she understands how our brains work and sympathize with us a bit more rather than an older teacher. She’s a great Spanish teacher, she doesn’t get in student’s faces about learning quickly or pronouncing words correctly all the time. She lets us learn at our own pace and kindly guides us through the mistakes we might make.”

Grimes thinks all of the schooling was worth it; she gets to do what she loves almost every day and make lots of friends out of it as well. Jaggers said, “Grimes is very young, open, and honest. I’ve learned a lot from her just from the few years she has been teaching at the school.” Many students often go to Grimes’s room on their lunches, EB’s and in between passing periods often times to just say hello. She is almost like another student in a way, just by the way other kids talk and laugh with her. 

Grimes’s teaching career is still fresh, and she hopes there are many more years. She loves meeting new students and helping them learn another language, she said. Coombs said, “She is really good at making sure you get your work done or that we make sure we understand the material that she would give us. Grimes would make sure to check in every once in a while to show that we are okay and not too stressed out, as a good teacher should.”