Science Olympiad State

West’s Science Olympiad team traveled to Iowa State University for their state competition April 5. There, 29 students competed across 23 events and won 13 top-three placements, including gold medals in air trajectory, astronomy, bungee drop, ecology, entomology, material science and wind power. The team also took 15 students from Northwest Middle School to compete. These students took home top-three placements in disease detectives, potions and poisons, reach for the stars and write it do it. Both teams spent over seven hours competing before receiving awards and heading back to West.

Jazz Band Chicago Trip

West’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Collective bands took their annual trip to Chicago Feb. 28. The bands performed at the Coe College Jazz Summit before continuing to Chicago. Following their first performance, the ensemble went sightseeing across Chicago and visited a Jazz Showcase, which included performances from the Kyle Swan Quartet and other legendary musicians. The students then traveled to Rolling Meadows to perform at the Jazz in the Meadows festival, followed by a final performance at the university’s Voxman building. The jazz bands’ season concluded with the Jazz Ensemble’s performance at the Iowa Jazz Championships April 8.

Hollingsworth Relays

West hosted their annual Hollingsworth Relays March 29, inviting four schools to compete alongside West track and field athletes. The boys varsity team won the meet while the girls varsity team placed second with 222 and 116 points, respectively. During the meet, seniors from West’s boys team were celebrated during their senior night. West’s boys 400-meter relay team qualified for this year’s Drake Relays with a time of 43.41 seconds. Both teams will head to Drake on April 24-26 for their largest competitions of the year.

Sound of Music

For its spring musical, Theatre West performed its rendition of “The Sound of Music,” April 10-12. Rana Saba ’25 starred as Maria Rainer alongside Oliver Miller ’25 as Captain Von Trapp and Addison Cribbs ’25 as Mother Abbess. The show was supported by 43 musicians in the pit playing 18 songs, including “Edelweiss,” “Do-Re-Mi” and “The Sound of Music.” Behind the stage, there were 111 students involved in the production, from building the set to lighting the stage.

Orchestra Trip

51 members from West’s orchestra flew to New York City for their bi-annual trip March 28. After some sightseeing, the orchestra students headed to the DiMenna Center for Classical Music March 29 to learn from professional musicians. They then headed to a rehearsal at the Marriott Marquis followed by seeing a performance at the New York Philharmonic Concert. This weekend was wrapped up March 30 with a performance from West’s Symphony Strings at Carnegie Hall.

Soccer

West’s girls and boys soccer teams opened with games March 31 and April 4, respectively. The girls team played against Ankeny Centennial, falling 0-3. Four days later, the boys team played Ankeny Centennial and won with a final score of 2-1. Coming up, the boys team will head to Waukee Northwest April 19. The girls team return to their home field to play Bettendorf April 19. Both teams’ regular season continues until late May, with the state tournament beginning in June.