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Xavier High SchoolNews2

The XpressBi-weeklyXavier High School 6300 42nd St. NE Cedar Rapids, IA 52411Volume 15 Issue 7

Editors-In-ChiefAnna Busse

Cassie BuschCopy Editor

Carolina VonKampenNews EditorDaniel Pape

News AssistantQuinlan Moran

News WritersCarolina VonKampen

Maria Efting

Nicholas Mlodzik

Opinion EditorBryan BanowetzOpinion Assistant

Peyton RosencrantsOpinion WritersHannah Gibbs

Brennan Graeve

CJ Lampe

Morgan Noonan

Gina Reiman

Chloe Streif

Ben Valentine

Student Life EditorJenna Fenske

Student Life AssistantColette Miller

Student Life WriterLauren Lutgens

Mini-Feature EditorAnna White

Mini-Feature AssistantAmeena Challenger

Mini-Feature WriterRachel Brady

Feature EditorMegan Lynch

Feature AssistantRobbie Thinnes

Feature WriterMary Esker

Health and Lifestyle EditorAnsley O’Brien

Health and Lifestyle AssistantHannah Chute

Health and Lifestyle WriterMolly Vipond

Arts and Entertainment EditorMaddie Smith

Arts and Entertainment AssistantEmma Hunt

Arts and Entertainment WritersLauren Van Hoeck

Payton Janney

Meghan Gerke

Ashley Pudil

Sports EditorJohn IngwersenSports Assistant

John RichardsonSports Writers

Alex Fox

Connor Collins

Shannon Mulcahey

Kyle D’mello

Lizzy McWhinney

Backpage EditorNicole Draker

Backpage AssistantMcKenzie Potter

BusinessHailey SojkaDistribution

Brennan Graeve

AccurateBookkeeping & PayrollService Computerized Accounting

Payroll Services

Phone: 393-8200Fax: 393-1089

3627 Center Point Rd. NECedar Rapids, IA 52402

Saints get into the spirit of giving The Xavier community is getting

into the Christmas spirit by giving back to others this holiday season.

Over the weeks leading up to Christmas break, the Saints participated in two separate service projects. The first was a Christmas Angel Tree. Students and faculty who participated took a tag off the tree and bought a gift according to what the tag specified. The gifts went to children at Tanager Place, an organization that provides an extensive array of programs to

provide social justice and outreach services to the metropolitan area.

Junior Claire Wenisch felt the need to donate to the food drive. “I took some things from my pantry and then I went to the store and bought more. It’s Christmas time; so I wanted to help others during the season of giving,” Wenisch said.

The Saints will continue to work on other service projects throughout the year as part of Xavier’s 15th Anniversary Celebration.

benefit children challenged with social and psychological problems. Xavier’s generosity allowed 200 children at Tanager to have a present under their tree this year.

The other service project students contributed to was a school-wide food drive, which ran through December 14. The drive was organized by juniors Mary Esker, Kelsi Fuller, and Grace Winker. Each classroom was assigned a food item or a common household good and students were told to bring items to their third period classes. Every classroom had a different goal of items to raise based on the number of students in the class and the type of item assigned.

As of Friday, December 14, Xavier collected 1,700 items. Mrs. Richmond’s 3rd hour class had the most items per student, and in turn won a pizza party. They will be joined by Mrs. Sullivan’s and Mrs. Wagner’s classes, who came in a close second. The items collected will be donated to Metro Catholic Outreach, which is an effort by the 11 Cedar Rapids area parishes to

Xavier seniors place their gifts for the children at Tanager Place under the tree. Cassie Busch Photo

Maria EftingNews Writer

Nicholas MlodzikNews Writer

Xpendables qualify for state competitionOn Saturday, December 1,

the Xavier robotics team, the Xpendables, qualified for the state competition. Each team was paired with another team in competition, and the total points of both teams were combined in the final score. Xavier and Solon Team 367 were the winning alliance and the Xpendables also received a third place Inspire Award for the overall design and competition score of their robot.

The Xpendables are coached by Xavier math teacher Mrs. Barb Miltner. Competing team members included seniors Alex Tietz, Matt Wardlaw and Elizabeth Woods, juniors Claire Felser and Zach Schnoebelen, and freshmen Peter Clark and Spencer Wille. Additional team members include seniors Noah Hagen, Stephen Swiderski and Chris Williams, juniors Josh Blanck and Jacob Schmitt, sophomores Joshua Ford and Lucy Liu, and freshman Kyle Skoumal.

FTC, or First Tech Challenge, sponsors the competition. Through FTC, teams construct actual robots and compete in challenges to score points. The theme of the 2012-2013 season is “Ring It Up.” Teams design robots that are able to hang rings on different pegs to score points. “It seems simple, but it is challenging to coordinate the placing, as a relatively

high level of precision is needed,” Tietz said. Tietz, who participated in the qualifying match, was impressed with the challenges provided and enjoyed the experience.

Prior to competition, the Xpendables created a robot out of electronics, known as Tetrix parts, and motors, Lego pieces, and other materials. The team meets two to three times per week, to practice programming and operating their robot and to prepare responses for

the judges’ interview. Williams, who helped design the robot, enjoyed the flexibility of the many options offered for robot design. “It’s cool that everyone can contribute to the design of our robot and how it’s going to complete the objective,” Williams said.

The actual competition consisted of two parts. The robot competition was first, followed by an interview with the judges about robot design and team spirit. The competition involved several tasks for the paired teams, including putting rings on PVC pipes and measuring how high each alliance could lift their robots.

The Xpendables and their Solon partners managed to lift their robot 27 inches into the air due to the lightweight design of Xavier’s robot. This score was the best of the competition and helped them qualify for state. Schnoebelen is optimistic about the Xpendables’ chance in the state tournament. “I am extremely excited about the prospect of going to state. I think our team is ready to work hard and take a good shot at it,” Schnoebelen said.

The Xpendables plan to compete without their Solon partners at state on February 23, 2013, at the University of Iowa.

Senior Noah Hagen and freshman Spencer Wille program their robot. Mrs. Miltner Photo

Juniors Grace Winker, Mary Esker, and Kelsi Fuller, organizers of the food drive, pose with the donated food. Nicole Thinge Photo