Spirit stick holder Luke Deffenbaugh (12) leads the U-Crew through the roller coaster during the varsity boys basketball game against Central Catholic on January 25, 2025. The game ended in a win 57-55.

The student section at the varsity girls basketball game against Ottawa on February 4, 2025. The game ended with a loss for the Lady Pioneers 30-37.

“This photo is one of my favorites that I captured, because it was a high intense playoff game when they were up by a lot,” Zacharias said. “I was able to capture a moment when one of the top players truly felt pride in his work.”

“My favorite photo I’ve taken so fair is of my best friends during our first wilderness adventure hike. It symbolizes us stepping into our final year together,” Deffenbaugh said.

“I love this photo because I think it captures, both my photography skills and the skills of the person being photographed. Every time I look at it, it makes me feel so proud of my improvements, and I can’t help but smile,” Naasz said.

“I believe [this is] some of my best works because I took my time finding the right angle to capture the beauty of [this] animal,” Rios (9) said.

Hailey Watson (10) uses a single leg defense against her Lincoln opponent at the January 16th home meet.

Evoto

Annotations by Sarah Jacobs

Annotations by Sarah Jacobs

Annotations by Mariana Sanchez

Annotations by Mariana Sanchez

Pickleball has rapidly grown in popularity amongst UHS students and the nation, and senior Gabe Floyd was eager to try his hand at a competition.

“Principal Duvall (Angel Garcia) reported all the girls to the auditorium for questioning regarding the Burn Book, a book that has harsh comments about students from the school,” junior Benedicta Johnson, who was in the ensemble, said. “Right now, we are sitting down, and Regina George (Catherine Steider) stands up to claim her innocence in writing the burn book.”

“My character, Cady, throws a party to get back at Regina and to make a move on her crush, Regina’s ex boyfriend, in order to make herself queen B,” freshman Addilyn Waddell said. Waddell played Cady Heron, the new student from Kenya.

“This is from the ‘Whose House is This’ song which is about a typical high school rager,” junior Percy Morgan said. “My character Kevin, who is a nerdy mathlete is there to kinda show how out of hand the party is and how everyone questions why he’s there.”

“This song is called ‘Stop!’ is all about how Cady is wrapped up in social media and boys,” freshman Tanner Grisinger said. Grisinger played Damian, friend to Janis and Cady. “She’s new to it all, so she doesn’t exactly know how to respond. Damian, my character, has gone through this before, and nobody was there to tell him stop. Janis and Damian are Cady’s lookouts, so he is warning her, and urging her to ‘stop’ before she makes a mess!”

“This picture is the final song in act one called ‘Fearless’. It’s about not being afraid to be yourself,” senior Laila Jones said. “The Plastics hierarchy is overthrown by Cady, and Regina is no longer Queen B. Gretchen finally gets her chance to dance and show that she no longer feels like she needs to follow Regina’s rules.”

“I played the character Karen Smith in this year’s musical ‘Mean Girls.’ Karen is one of The Plastics, which is like the popular girl group led by Regina George,” junior Brecken Meiners said. “in order to sit at the lunch table and hang out with them (The Plastics), the girls have to follow certain rules. For example, they can only wear sweats on Fridays, only have their hair up once a week, can’t wear vests (or anything deemed ugly), can’t wear tank tops two days in a row, and (of course) wear pink on Wednesdays. These rules are just to keep up their public appearance, and are taken really seriously.”

“This picture is from the iconic talent show,” senior Catherine Steider said. “There’s a rip in my skirt on purpose for the show. It was so fun to play this character and try new things. I even had to wear a fake butt on stage.”

“In this photo, we are towards the beginning of the song ‘Revenge Party’ where Damian, Cady, and Janis are planning how to get back at Regina,” sophomore Ellis Zimmerman said. Zimmerman plays Janis, one of Cady’s first friends when she arrives at her new school. “This is a portion of the dialogue in the song where I (Janis) detail how I have always wanted to get revenge on Regina, but I never had an ‘inside man’ to help me get back at her.”

Photo courtesy of Richa Shukla

“The photograph is during our media day photo shoot for cheer. That is my husband and I and our daughter Everly. I was still pregnant with my son then, who we named Emmett,” said Natalie Montoney. The photo was taken by @isuredbirds by @nickolasparramedia

Senior RJ Alvarado

Moderating a scholastic bowl round was just one of the extracurriculars principal Andrea Markert participated in on Thursday, Feb 15.

Senior Sophia Whiteaker plays in a tournament in Chicago against the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals.

BSU at the MLK Cultural Dinner