“It’s awesome!” David Afolabi used this signature phrase to describe almost all aspects of his life–from his unique sense of humor to his love of technology. David is known throughout the school for his style of dress.  “I love sweater vests and collared shirts,” he explains.  He says it’s more comfortable and easier to dress […]

For most, Thanksgiving means a delicious meal filled with family and fun, usually followed by a food-induced coma.  For some, however, the Thanksgiving meal is just fuel for the main event of the weekend: Black Friday.Black Friday is the culminating event of weeks of advertising on the part of the retail world, and days of […]

  In junior high and freshman P.E., each class is required to spend a unit swimming. Many complain: the water is too cold, changing is awkward, swimming is too hard. On the flip side, there are always those kids who feel comfortable in the water, and dive right in like they were born with flippers […]

     Video games are popular among West Side students.      Call of Duty. Half Life 2. Battlefield 3. What do all these things have in common? They are all first-person shooter video games and they all take up most of West Side’s male (and some female) population’s time. But why are these games and those […]

Incumbent John Dennis defeats John Polles in the West Lafayette mayoral race. Republican incumbent John Dennis won the West Lafayette mayoral race last week in a landslide victory, capturing over 70 percent of the vote. The voter turnout, however, was startlingly low–only 11,816 out of 45,067 registered voters (that’s 26.2%) showed up at the polls […]

  Kayla Jones perfecting her free throw during practice. By Abby Bien Dribble.Shoot.Swish. Coming off of a tough loss in the first round in sectionals last year, the girls’ basketball team is practicing hard to make sure that does not happen again. With more conditioning added to practices, the team’s goal according to junior Kayla […]

By Abby Bien Last year, before the junior high lockers were moved and replaced with the commons area, rows and rows of flags from different countries were displayed on the ceiling. Recently, many students have noticed their absence and were curious if and when they are coming back.   When the flags were added around […]

1. Thanksgiving is a holiday because… A) NO SCHOOL B) So we have an excuse to eat, A LOT C) To give thanks…? D) A reason to hunt turkeys in massive numbers 2. Why did the Native Americans help the Pilgrims? A)They were having an off day B) I don’t know, it’s not like I […]

     Buy The Book      In April of 2011 Borders bookstore officially closed its doors – leaving a large gap in the book selling business in West Lafayette. To solve this problem, independent book stores have been popping up left and right. Most notable is Buy the Book; an independently-owned book store in Lafayette.       […]

– I was born on July 6, 1965.   – I grew up in Kokomo, Indiana and have two younger sisters.   – I attended Purdue University and majored in education, but also considered a career in engineering.   – I have been teaching for 25 years.   – In my spare time, I enjoy […]

 Chauncey’s newest greasy spoon falls flat with mushy mixtures of beans, beef, and broth. If you haven’t heard of Dawson’s School House of Chili, you may be surprised to learn of their business model–all chili entrees. Now, I’m not the biggest chili fan out there, but I like a big steaming bowl every once in […]

                                              Type “Thanksgiving” into Google Images and you’ll uncover about 24,300,000 results–most of which are turkeys.  It isn’t surprising; after all, the turkey has evolved into the quintessential Thanksgiving trademark.  For the vegans and vegetarians of West Side, though, the turkey […]

“When she walks into the room, everyone around her smiles. It’s infectious.” This is how band director Mr. Conaway described this year’s drum major, Grace Harvey, who was ecstatic for the opportunity to lead the band this football season.   Grace has always enjoyed band since she began, in fifth grade. She started marching band […]

By Alyse Allred It’s the holiday season, that special time of year that people start noticing their neighbors again, and attempt giving awkward peace offerings of baked goods before promptly forgetting about them again for another year. The festivities at this time include annual sharing . . . where people hand off their sicknesses to […]

  Alyse Allred  Perhaps you’ve seen various AP Chemistry students hanging around the poolside throughout the week, toting briefcases containing odd-shaped lab equipment and mysterious powders. Perhaps you’ve even watched them sampling the water of our resident pool. But you probably haven’t noticed the changes. That’s because there aren’t any. Yet. Give it another year, […]

CLICK TO SEE THE ANSWERS! 1)      Heiser                      A) cross country, basketball, track, baseball.                        2)      Stearns                    B) ran track and hurtles   through the G.A.A. . 3)      Bentlage                 C) Swim team, Water Polo captain.          4)      Aufderhide            D) volleyball, track. 5)      Laydon                    E) competitive cheer and dance. 6)      Yoder                       F) football.   ANSWERS: 1) C 2) F […]

Halloween has come and gone, leaving us these scary specters to look back on.   [gpslideshow]

On Thursday, October 27th during the post lunch-hour lull, clumps of hair could be found lying on the floor of the Student Commons area.  These were not part of a scene from a horror movie, but instead the remnants of West Side’s REACH Club’s Red Ribbon Week fundraiser. During the past week, the REACH club […]

  – I was born on January 5th, 1980.   – I attended the University of Portland.   – I have been teaching for 12 years.   – In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, walking, traveling, and sleeping.   – My favorite movie is Hitch and my favorite TV show is the Big Bang […]

“It’s kind of cool to tell people that you are one of two people at your school with the same name,” says Thomas Kirk Fisher. “It was really weird at first, though.” Thomas K. was the first and only Thomas Fisher in the West Lafayette School district and in the class of 2012 until Thomas […]