Jason Fleck, junior, lathering up the head of Alec Erny, senior, in preparation to completely shave it for Sectionals the next day.

They do not shave their legs consistently during the season, because the drags slows a swimmer down and creates a separation in timing at the end of the season with cleanly shaven legs.

The boys swim team takes it to a whole other level. The week of girls Sectionals they dye their hair the opposite of their natural hair color. Then, the day before Sectional Preliminaries, the entire boys team gathers at one teammate’s house and have a “shaving party.” They take turns shaving most of the hair off each other’s heads with a hair clipper and then go back with a razor to remove the rest. Nolan Henke, a senior who has been swimming for five years, has experienced this tradition a lot. “It’s more a mind thing, you think you can go faster,” said Henke.

It is not just the boys who have traditions either. Any girl from the team who moves on to State dyes a small strip of their hair in the back of their head. There isn’t a scientific reason behind it, they just do it for the memories.

Friday, February 23rd, Jason Fleck and Max Henke move on to the State prelims. Max is swimming in the 500 freestyle and Jason is swimming in the 100 butterfly.

“Oakland City exceeded all my expectations and proved to be the place that I wanted to go,” says Blessinger. Gillian toured Oakland City last fall and she fell in love with it, which led to her choosing to further her career there. 

College signing season has officially begun. Gillian Blessinger, senior, was the first to have their “official” signing. Gillian has been golfing for quite a long time. Over the four years she spent on the golf team, she improved exponentially. She spent the next three years as part of the top three on the team. She helped her team win two sectional titles in her time, as well as receiving the Jasper High School Golf Mental Attitude Award twice. “I have come along way from where I started, and I know that I have the best golf ahead of me,” says Blessinger.
Gillian is continuing her golfing career at Oakland City University in the fall.

Lucas Eby and Park Wurster, both seniors, shake hands with their opponents from Vincennes Lincoln. The Jasper boys tennis team ended up winning the Senior Night match against Vincennes Lincoln 5-1 and their only loss in the 3 singles spot.

This senior night match was Lucas’s first and last match of the year. When asked how he felt about being a senior, he replied, “[It] hasn’t hit me yet.” His doubles partner, Park Wurster, spoke about that subject as well. He said that it felt like they were just little freshman getting bossed around by the upperclassmen, and now it’s their turn. This was not the first time these two have played together. They played together back in their freshman and sophomore years. This match against Vincennes proved they still have chemistry together. Everyone in the JTennis “family” has chemistry together. “It does not matter if we are on Varsity or JV, we are still a team,” says Wurster, “No matter where we are, we can always hang out. We are brothers.”

Now, Eby is taking his return back to tennis slow. He does not want to re-injure his knee again. “I’m playing it smart because I can still injure my leg,” he says. Lucas will not get the chance to play in the IHSAA tournament his senior year of tennis, but he will be right along side of his teammates, cheering them on. So far, Jasper has won sectionals and just received a win against the Northeast Dubois Jeeps to claim the title of Regional Champs. They will play the Semi-State match on Saturday, October 7, at their home courts.

A 20 minute half-time gives some students the ability to show off their “class clown” skills. Grant Ahlbrand, junior, captivates the entire student section with a corny joke that he pulled out of his arsenal. Along with Grant, Jay Fritch and Austin Simmers, both seniors, took their turn to get a few laughs out of the crowd.

Friday nights in the fall are reserved for Varsity football games for most Jasper fans. Many of the students are equally as excited to cheer on the Cats no matter where they are. Just like a family has its traditions, Jasper has its own as well. It is a tradition for Jasper students to dress up in American themed clothing for the game against Southridge. Recently, a new “tradition” has came about during half time. When students sit down for the 20 minute period, the Team Tailgate leaders stand up and tell jokes. That is just enough time for some student to show off their skills. We are not talking physical skill. This is a game of humor. Brave students stand up in the middle of the entire student section and share their corny jokes. Grant Ahlbrand started out with a joke that went something like this: “Why do golfers carry two pairs of pants?” “Why?” “In case he gets a Hole-in-One”. The student section chuckled slightly. More students stood up in the crowd and shared their jokes, thus creating this “Semi” new tradition.