The Common GroundVolume 15, Issue 1Monday, September 15, 2008

Burris Laboratory School2201 W. University Ave. Muncie, IN 47306-1062765-285-1131

Kelli Anderson

Staff WriterSometimes supporting your school

means cheering in the student section, but to a few of the guys in the Owl’s Nest, it’s a lot more.

They get ready to intimidate the opponents by ranting and raving, having sequenced pyramids, and wearing the most ridiculous things they can find in their closets.

“We try to look as ridiculous as we can without being fully naked,” said Senior Will Pollard.

The Owl’s Nest was jam-packed in Ball Gym on Thursday night for the game against Cathedral.

Tyler Bauchert reflected, “The

game was exciting, but it was extremely difficult to watch Muncie’s pride of the west side lose in a grueling battle in the tie breaker.”

These students go to every Burris volleyball home game.

“I’m really looking forward to the Muncie Central game,” says Junior Daniel Cheesman. “They are our biggest rival. They talk so much about how good they are and they are trash.”

The game against Muncie Central takes place in Bearcat territory this year, at the Field House. Everyone’s invited to join the Nest. Wear some school colors and come pumped full of school spirit!

CG Photo/Kelli Anderson

The Owl’s Nest cheering on the Burris Volleyball team in the match against Cathedral.

Owl’s Nest making a HOOT

Tabl

e of

Cont

ents Page Two-PTSO picnic/HIllgrove-Summer travel/Hillgrove

Page Three-AP Classes available/Zeiler-New Counselors/Zeiler

Page Four-New Students/Zook-IA Shadow Day/Miers

PTSO picnic provides many welcoming activitiesJohanna HillgroveStaff Writer

The PTSO Back to School Picnic was held in the Burris side-yard on August 20.

The event ran from 5-7 p.m. and included games and ac-tivities such as a Bounce House, a Bungee Run, and a dunk tank where students had the oppor-tunity to soak Burris faculty. The dunk tank seemed to be the most popular activity for the older

students, as they aimed to dunk principal Jay McGee, assistant principal Lisa Berry, Boys/Girls tennis coach Alex Newman, and teacher Mike Dodrill.

“Getting to see the teach-ers get dunked in the tank was my favorite part,” said junior Bryce Rector.

The most popular attrac-tion for the younger students ap-peared to be the Bounce House. Kids lined up across the yard to

have their turn to enter the enor-mous inflatable bouncer.

Academy junior Emma Rhoads was one student in charge of collecting tickets for the Bounce House.

“I got assigned to the moon bounce after working at the dunk tank. There were so many little ones and I was afraid one was going to get hurt, so I ended up climbing in there to observe.”

Rhoads is part of the Bur-

ris/Academy Cheerleading team, who were helping to raise funds for the Booster club.

All proceeds from the pic-nic went to the Athletic Boost-ers to help in the purchasing of equipment for all of the sports teams. Coaches were able to make specific equipment re-quests.

The cross county team plans to use the Booster funds to pay for a tent for their meets.

CG Photo/ Johanna Hillgrove

Dr. McGee waits patiently as Burris students attempt to see him plunge into the dunk tank.

CG Photo/ Johanna Hillgrove

Burris elementary students enjoyed the Bounce House throughout the picnic.

Johanna HillgroveStaff Writer

Summer vacation was filled with many diverse activi-ties for Burris students.

Numerous students went on trips to locations both nation-al and international.

Burris senior Colin Airriess travelled to Brazil for a month, and was able to visit several dif-ferent cities.

“My favorite part of Brazil is that everyone is so nice and warm,” Airriess says.” They have a really laid back culture.”

Airriess spent one month in Porto Alegre where he attend-ed school, played soccer, and went to parties with previous Burris exchange student Lucas Patusco.

Another common activ-

ity among s t u d e n t s was visit-ing various c o l l e g e s t h r o u g h -out the country. S e n i o r S a n d h y a R a j a g o -pal made a few trips to colleges she was interested in. “I visited Indiana University, Duke and University of Chicago,” Rajagopal said, “ My favorite was the University of Chicago and seeing the cam-pus helped me narrow down my choices.”

Quite a few students spent their summer working. Junior

D a n i e l Cheesman worked at his father’s company, Paragent, m a k i n g calls to small com-puter busi-nesses. “I didn’t en-

joy making calls over the sum-mer,” Cheesman says, “but it puts bread on the table.”

Among other jobs, Acade-my junior Jillian Miers was a Girl Scout counselor for Camp Ada. “Being a counselor for younger children helped me develop skills as a teacher, and helped me become more patient with

Summer offers opportunities for students

AIRRIESS CHEESMAN

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OwLS NESt t-ShiRtS

Shirts on sale until

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See Erica Zook

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seller for details.

2 The Common Ground Issue 1

other adults” she stated.