Theatre West held its winter musical, “Chicago,” Dec. 5-7 after performing their teaser Dec. 4. “Chicago” starred Ella Vakiner ’25 as Velma Kelly and Mary Danielle Gross ’25 as Roxie Hart, alongside Luke Reimer ’27 as Billy Flynn. 89 students were involved in the show’s technical crews, and 24 students performed in the band.

West girls and boys wrestling competed in the Dan Gable Donnybrook wrestling tournament at the Xtream Arena Dec. 6-7. Justin Avila ’25 and Alexander Pierce ’26 placed second overall in their respective weight classes. At the 165 weight class, Davey Garcia ’25 placed second in the silver A and Carl Christianson ’25 placed third in the silver B bracket.

The West High Symphony Orchestra and West High Choirs collaborated for their annual winter concert Dec. 10. The combined orchestra and choir performed Gospel Mass with professional soloists LeDejia Bittle and Devin Mercer. Alone, the orchestra performed pieces by Gershwin and Piazzolla.

To combat winter blood shortages, West’s Red Cross club hosted a winter blood drive Dec. 13, an addition to their usual one drive in the spring. The Red Cross held the drive in the West High dance room, which resulted in 42 successful donations, passing their goal of 39 donations.

The West Speech and Debate team competed at the Paradigm at Dowling Catholic Dec. 13-14. Public Forum debaters Eddie El-Fadil ’27 and Yasha Durnev ’27 made it to the semifinals, while Aahana Gupta ’27 and Evelyn Asay ’25 made it to the quarter-finals. In Congress, Endrit Ramku ’27 and Lincoln Beihl ’25 made it to the final chamber.

Illuminated by candlelight and tables set with black cloth, the West Cafeteria was set for Jazz Cafe, an annual fundraiser for the West High Bands program. This year, guest artist Justin Stanton accompanied the West High Jazz Bands. Originally set for Dec. 14, the event was moved to Dec. 15 due to an ice storm.

The boys and girls basketball teams competed in their doubleheader against City High at the West High gymnasium Dec. 20.The boys and girls won 57-53 and 63-46, respectively. As their last game of 2024, the boys and girls ended the year with records of 4-2 and 7-3, respectively.

The Trojan Bolt boys swim team competed in the Little Hawk Invite hosted by City High at Mercer Park Dec. 21, placing second with 379 points. Hayden Hakes ’25 placed first in the 100Y Freestyle and 100Y Backstroke and Winston Fan ‘26 placed first in the 200Y Individual Medley and second in the 100Y Breaststroke.

As the winter holiday celebrations come to an end, many reminisce about their respective traditions. To read more about how students celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Lunar New Year, read “‘Tis the Season.”
ICCSD’s new cell phone policy is set to go into effect across all middle and high schools Jan. 21. With this new policy, students are expected to keep phones and earbuds stored away during instructional time. High school students are allowed to use their personal devices during non-instructional time, such as lunch or AFT.
