The Covington Catholic Times Volume XXVII-Issue VFebruary 2015

1600 Dixie Highway, Park Hills, Kentucky 41011 (859) 491-2247

Page 2 Arts Page 4 Editorials Page 5 Clubs Page 8 Sports

Ben Zumdick

As the 2014 football sea-son came to an end both Coving-ton Catholic and Head Football Coach Dave Wirth felt it was time for a change. After six sea-sons Wirth decided to resign from the coaching position. Wirth was 49-27 in six seasons with the Colonels, including 8-5 this past year.

With no head coach and the offseason looming closer and closer, Cov Cath immediately started their search for a new head coach. After sorting through many credible applicants the ath-letic department announced Mr. Eddie Eviston as the new Head Football Coach.

Eviston comes to Coving-ton Catholic from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ken-tucky, where he has been the of-fensive coordinator for the past

two years. While there Georgetown averaged 506 all-purpose yards per game for the last two seasons and finished the 2014 season ranked 9th nationally in scoring of-fense.

Prior to George-town, Eviston was the head coach at Newport Central Catholic High School from 2010-2013. During his occupancy as the head coach at NCC, Eviston amassed a re-cord of 35-8 and led the Thoroughbreds to two 2A State Championships in 2010 and 2012.

Not only does Eviston have a success-ful coaching career, he was also a standout student-athlete at NCC, earning 2nd team All-

State honors in 1996 and winning the prestigious “That’s My Boy” Award from the National Foot-ball Foundation in 1997, the same award former student-athlete Sam Burchell received just a year ago.

As a player at Georgetown College, Eviston was a two-year team captain, 3-time NAIA Na-tional Player of the Year, a 3-Time All-American, and was a mem-ber of the 2000 and 2001 national championship teams. He compiled a 41-1 record as a starting quarter-back at Georgetown, and was also a National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete Award Finalist.

Eviston admits that leaving Georgetown was a hard decision for him, but shows nothing but ex-citement towards his future at Cov-ington Catholic.

NEW COACH TAKES THE HELM

Noah Helbling

The Covington Catholic Spaghetti Dinner and Fine Arts Festival was a success this year, once again.

M e m -bers of the Cov-i n g t o n Catholic c o m m u -nity were invited to attend the Spaghetti D i n n e r and Fine Arts Fes-tival held

on Sunday February, 22nd from 4:00-6:30. Tickets were offered in the school office on Thursday pre-ceding the event for the adult price

of $6.50 and the child price of $3.50, rather than $8.50 and $5.00 at the door.

The event is held annually to celebrate the many great art pro-grams that Covington Catholic has to offer. Attendees were able to en-joy a wonderful spaghetti course, offered with salad, bread, dessert,

and bever-age.

O u r award-win-ning Cham-ber Choir performed head l ined the event at 3:30 in the m u l t i p u r -pose room

and, as always did not disappoint. Following the Chamber Choir’s excellent performance was the

band at 4:00. The CCH band is often overshadowed by the Cham-

ber Choir, but has made brea th tak ing improvements in recent years and surprised its audience with an excep-tional show.

Mr. Had-ers’ art program and students were the finale of such a great event. Art students arranged their best pieces in the hallway of the first floor. What makes the art program of Covington Catholic so special is that Mr. Haders is always en-couraging his students to express themselves in their work, allowing students to get the best out of their experience as art students. The art-work was of a wide variety, rang-ing from sketches to sculptures,

none of which failed to turn the heads of all in attendance.

With yet another fantastic Spaghetti Dinner and Fine Arts Festival, Covington Catholic is now looking forward to next year’s

e v e n t , hoping to bring new ideas and c h a n g e s that will allow for an even b e t t e r e v e n t , knowing that this one will be hard to

surpass.

Spaghetti, Art, Music, and Fun

Coach Eddie Eviston and his wife, pic-tured above.

Page 2Arts/Entertainment

Bo Schuh

Rapper Drake just came out with a new album recently, entitled, If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late. This album is Drake’s first since 2013 when he released his success-ful Nothing Was the Same album. Yet, this new album by Drake has a new feel to it than ones in recent past. Drake has always been labeled as Mr. Sensitive in his songs for his lyrics and has been the object of many such jokes. Yet, in this album, he changes all of that.

Drake comes out in this album showing a darker, fiercer side than he has in the past. Many of the songs tell of his upbringing and childhood in Toronto, where he grew up with his mother, but his message is dark and brooding, let-ting everyone know he had a rough childhood. One of his bigger tracks on the album, “Know Yourself,”

talks of his roots in Canada and Ja-maica, as well as calling out all of

his childhood hometown friends.

Another major aspect of Drake’s new album is his demand for respect. In the music business, he is not given much respect due

to his Mr. Nice Guy personality. In this album, he does not ask for

the respect he deserves, but instead, he demands it. In song such as “6 God,” “Energy,” and “Legend,” Drake boasts of how successful he has been in the rap game and how far ahead he is than everyone

Noah Helbling

February 27th was an excit-ing day for Cincinnati because, not only was it Friday, but Elton John was in town for his concert at US Bank Arena.

Elton John was in town for his All the Hits Tour, making his first appearance in Cincinnati since 2005. In another, previous appear-ance in 2001, he performed with fellow superstar musician, Billy Joel, but this Elton John outing was highly regarded as the most antici-pated Elton John concert in Cincin-nati history.

I, personally understood the hype and excitement leading up to the concert and was online to purchase tickets the very sec-ond that they went on sale. Tickets for the event were of three differ-ent prices, $39 for upper deck, $79 for lower level, and $129 for floor seats. Unfortunately for many Elton John fans, several tickets had been purchased in advance, making up-per deck seats $100 or more, and some floor seats in the thousands, but because of his highly devoted fan base, the concert sold out in less than 3 days.

For me, being at the concert was an experience that I will never forget. Elton John has the kind of personality that is extremely like-able, whether one finds his music pleasing or not. He never has any-thing but a smile on his face, which is why I believe he is one of the most

popular and successful musicians in rock and pop history. His concerts are not typical or traditional: musi-cian play-ing, going t h r o u g h the mo-tions, and not bring-ing any ex-ci tement , rather, El-ton John brings his c r o w d s into the c o n c e r t , making it undeniably entertain-ing. Af-ter every song, he makes it a point to get out of his seat, pump up the crowd, and explain to them the meaning behind his next song and why it was either vital to his success, or why it was so amusing for those who listened to it.

Aside from the concert ex-perience with Elton John, his style of music veers off of the usual, mainstream path that musicians of his generation typically followed. Elton John, with his talented lyricist, Bernie Taupin, have made names for themselves by writing songs that truly connect with their listen-ers. The way that their partnership

works is Bernie Taupin writes lyrics and then gives them to Elton John, who writes the music to accompany

the lyrics. Unlike the majority of bands and duos of their generation, Taupin and Elton John have never separated or let the fame and for-tune get the best of them, which is one of the many reasons their music has remained so popular.

Being named All the Hits Tour, Elton John and his band per-formed the best of the songs that they have compiled over the course of their long history. Songs performed included “Your Song”, “Bennie and the Jets,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Levon,” and the ever popular “Rocket Man.” Dur-

ing the concert, Elton John took a short break to explain to the crowd that 2015 is the 40th anniversary of the release of the group’s ground-breaking album, Yellow Brick Road, an album that included a handful of their hits, such as “Bennie and the Jets,” “Candle in the Wind,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

One of Elton John’s less popular, but strongest and most meaningful songs, “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” was dedicated to a fan who was celebrating her 40th birthday on the night of the concert, coincidental with the 40th anniver-sary of the release of his album Yellow Brick Road. Following the completion of his performance, El-ton John pulled the woman out of the crowd and brought her on stage to take a picture with her and auto-graph the poster she had brought to the concert.

Elton John and his band left the stage for ten minutes before returning to the play their encore, “Crocodile Rock.” Upon hearing the song, the crowd erupted in ap-plause and cheer. The choice of song was certainly special and was very fitting for the finale of the con-cert.

This year’s concert that something is will stay with me forever and was a truly incredible experience. I anticipate the return of Elton John and his band, and I, along with everyone in attendance of this year’s concert, will be ecstat-ic to attend his next performance in the Queen City.

Elton John Returns to Cincinnati

Not Living Up to the Drake Styleelse. Yet, as in “No Tellin,’” Drake also contemplates the weight of his crown on him and how much pres-sure is on him daily to perform.

Although this new album by Drake has a different feel to it than albums in the past by him, the songs are just not as good as they usually are. There is a theory behind Drake coming out with this album though. Drake is signed to a four-album contract with Cash Money Records, and after a fourth album he is able to go out on his own and make albums solo. This new album is actually a collection of songs that never made it to a studio album. Originally sup-posed to be a mixtape, Drake instead took these “throw-away” songs and turned them into album, so he could get out of his record deal with Cash Money Records and then produce his highly anticipated+ upcoming album Views from the 6 on his own.

Page 3Arts/Entertainment

Jack Schrage

If anyone has not seen the movie Space Jam, they are really missing out. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Bill Murray really do a great job of acting throughout the movie. It is full of comedy created by Jordan and the Looney Tunes.

It starts with Michael Jordan as a young kid shooting outside in his backyard trying to become a bet-ter basketball player. After he makes constant free throws in a row, the movie kicks off. The introduction has a catchy tune to it showing all of Michael’s highlights. The movie touches on Michael Jordan’s aw-ful baseball career, but also shows how everyone loves him while he is striking out after every pitch---seems like he should have just stuck with basketball. Meanwhile, over in Looney Tuneland, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck challenge little aliens to

a basketball game.

Little did they know, the lit-

tle aliens took all of the great NBA talents’ skills. They grew to be Mon-stars leaving Bugs and the rest of the crew worried. The bet was that if the Tune Squad lost, they would have to move to the homeland of the aliens, Moron Mountain, to perform standup comedy for entertainment for the other aliens. So this leaves

Bugs with one choice, and that is to obtain the world’s greatest basket-ball player, Michael Jordan. As Mi-

chael is p l a y i n g golf with NBA leg-end Lar-ry Bird and com-edy actor Bill Mur-ray, Bugs a t t r a c t s Jordan’s shot into

the hole with a magnet, causing him to reach in the hole. As Jordan goes down to retrieve his hole in one shot, Bugs lassos him into the hole taking him to Looney Tune land to beat the Monstars. Leaving Michael with no choice, he joins the team. At halftime of the game, the Tune Squad is getting killed. Michael comes up with an idea to

Trevor Bowman

On February 1st of 2015 rapper Kid Ink released his third al-bum of his career, Full Speed.

With the success of his pre-vious album, My Own Lane, Kid Ink was expected to be on his game again. Full Speed was able to live up to the hype. Kid Ink is known for his great collaborations with hot artists, so when he paired up with Chris Brown and made the track “Hotel” it was no surprise. Kid Ink and Chris Brown have had success together with “Show Me” from Ink’s last album.

bring the Tune Squad back to life by giving them “secret stuff” which turned out to be just water. The Tune Squad ended up winning the game on a game-winning, half court dunk. His arm stretched all the way from half court to win!

Although it is a very old movie, the humor is top notch. Also, the NBA playoffs and March Madness are coming up so a bas-ketball movie right now would be awesome. And you cannot find a better basketball movie than Space Jam. Overall, Space Jam is one of the best kid friendly, comic mov-ies I have ever seen and definitely worth the hour and a half it takes to watch it.

An Oldie But a Goodie to See

Third Album Released

Tyler Micek

Over the first full weekend of February, the annual NDA and CCH Musical Showcase was once again a fantastically orchestrated performance. This year’s theme was a very big hit amongst both the actors and the audience: Fairy Tales! Despite most people’s pre-conceived notions that fairy tales are intended for children, stories like Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Red Riding Hood were enjoyed by everyone, even the adults.

Senior Zach Meyers was the star, and only actor, in the ren-dition of Jack and the Beastalk. Se-niors James Hummeldorf and Kurt Stegman were also notable for their

Kid Ink is known for his catchy hooks and his great choruses. But one of the messages in many of his songs, including “Every City We Go”, is that no mat-ter where you come from you can make it in whatever you put your mind to. Kid Ink has a history of making songs with this message but his most know song is “Hell & Back,” which was on his first album, Up & Away. Right now Kid Ink is on his way to the top of the rap

game. Having multiple songs in the

Billboard’s Top 100, Ink will soon be one of the major artists taking over the rap game.

Kid Ink is personally one of my favorite artists. Since his first al-bum in 2012 I have been a fan of his music. On my IPod I have ev-ery mixtape and every album he has released in his career. Kid Ink is someone that you can listen to as a pick me up because of the great beats and the party vibe his music has to it. If you have not given Ink a try, I would do it today.

Showmanship at the Showcasedynamic ability as actors; Hum-meldorf was a soloist in the Be Our Guest ensemble as well as the main and only character in a spin-off of Humpty Dumpty; Stegman was one of the seven dwarves in Snow White and also the Woods-man in Little Red Riding Hood. Mrs. Ruth saw the show and commented “that both NDA and CCH actors did a great job mak-ing the fast changes in between all those segments of fairy tales. I can see where the children loved the content and the random adult hu-mor as well.” All in all, the over-all composition, swiftness of the scene changes, and the charisma of the actors made the Showcase weekend one to remember. Above: Zach Meyers does his impression of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk.

Page 4Editorials/Robert Lilly

There was a some-what of an uproar among the students at Covington Catho-lic, when the news of the extra ten minutes added on the end of the day for the 2014-2015 school year, was announced. The added time was for an anticipated harsh winter, pos-sibly even more severe than last year. Also with added time at the end of the day, five set snow days were put in place to counteract days missed be-cause of weather. However, with the planning ahead by Covington Catholic’s admin-istration, criticism was soon to follow from students.

This school year’s winter has been a shadow of the winter that Northern Ken-tucky was hit with that year. Until recently. The week of February 16th through the 20th temperatures dropped be-low negative multiple times, and Colonels were called off school Tuesday and Wednes-day. With already having the five snow day put in, the ex-tra ten minutes seem point-less. Seniors are not typically worried about the amount of days off because of their early graduation, but the rest of the student body cannot complete-ly understand the reasoning.

With the amount of

snow and days called off we have received in the latter days of February and early weeks of March, the implemented five days seem to have made sense. With one extra snow day to spare, we have seemed to get through the winter unscathed. But what about the extra ten minutes? Some may ask, “why the over-preparation from the administration”?

The recent warmer weather and hope of a tough winter behind us, many have forgotten or just gotten used to added time at the end of the day. But I asked senior Ben Zumdick if he had any thoughts to time added and if

Joe Pieper

It is pretty crazy to think that the senior class only has a quarter left in their high school career. To think that your whole world will be again getting flipped upside down as you leave the comfort of CCH for an entirely new ex-perience is kind of scary. Most people get sad over the pass-ing of time, but for me I look at the new opportunities with excitement.

Going to college is one of the scariest transitions in your young life. It so much different than anything. Go-

ing from grade school to high school is another big transi-tion, but you still have your parents to support you. Col-lege is different, because you are all on your own and you have to fend for yourself and make your own decisions. Be-ing on your own can be scary, but it should also be exciting as well. You are finally break-ing from the mold of the shel-tered life by your parents. The decisions you make in college will shape you for the rest of your life. There are some com-mon things that happen when people go to college.

Responsibility is one

of those skills that people must learn. Learning responsibil-ity only has to be harsh if you make it that way. Yes, partying and late nights are a big thing in college, but so is studying and getting good grades. Getting your priorities straight is one of the hardest things to do on your own, because you won’t have any parents there to push you. In college you will have more free time than you have ever experienced. This can be good or bad depending on how wisely you use it. I am not at all saying that you should not have a good time in college I am saying it is up to you to make good decisions and do

not waste the money that you are spending to get an educa-tion.

Another thing that many people who go to col-lege also lose is their faith. Many of us will not be go-ing to private Catholic col-leges. This means that finding a church and going may be a little harder than usual. Just because it is harder though and we think that we do not have the time does not mean we shouldn’t find time to go. Like I said before, in college you have more free time than you have ever experienced, a little of that time should be given to

he thought it was ‘too much’ from the administration. “I guess I would say I’ve gotten used to the extra time, but in my opinion, five implemented snow days AND the extra time seems a bit much. Given we did have an unusually harsh winter last year you can under-stand the thinking of the ad-ministration, but I would think that most winters will not be as outrageous as what we had last year.” And I tend to agree with Ben. It would be interest-ing to know if there was any other reasoning behind the added ten minutes. One other possibility could be all the de-lays we have, assemblies, and events that go on at Covington

Catholic in a given week are beginning to take away from the mandatory amount of days the state requires for schools to complete each year.

Whatever the reason-ing may be, it is difficult to argue if many are still upset about the just ten minutes. With Spring right around the corner, I’m sure many would enjoy getting out of school earlier, but I would also be willing to bet, there are not many who go to a school as in-teresting, fun, and full of sur-prises as Covington Catholic has each and every day.

Has the Ten Minutes Been Worth It?

Make Good Use of Your Time in CollegeGod. Many times colleges will offer services to many differ-ent religions right on campus.

It is kind of a strange feeling to have when I think about it. To know that we only have around two and a half months left together as a class. Just remember that no matter what we are all still Colonels and if one of us falters we should try and pick him back up, because we are all brothers that have a the spirit of a Colo-nel and that it is one thing that will never die.

Robert Lilly

Varsity sports have become extremely competi-tive these days and standing out among highly talented teammates and competitors is difficult to say the least. Sports team at Covington Catholic have been competitive for decades and the players are held at a higher standard than most. Performing on the big-gest stages, in front of entire communities, and even the state, takes a leadership level of the highest degree. One person who encompasses all of these characteristics is se-nior at Covington Catholic, Bo Schuh.

Bo has been a four year varsity basketball player, and grown tremendously un-der the guidance of Coach Scott Ruthsatz. Playing bas-

ketball his entire life, Bo has played among the best in the state with his AAU and high school teams. Gaining re-spect throughout the state for tremendous hustle and heart, Bo began to receive critical varsity min-utes his sophomore year. But junior year, was one to remem-ber. Starting out, Bo and his teammates won the Suncoast Holiday Tourna-ment in Sarasota, Florida, the most no-table tournament in Covington Catholic basketball history. Going through the regular season 24-2, the Colonels rolled

into postseason, finish-ing it off with a State tournament run which ended with the school’s first ever state title.

Not only on the court does Bo excel, but in the classroom as well. Bo will finish he four years at Covingotn Catholic with a 3.8 GPA and cred-its in multiple advanced placement classes. Ad-vanced United States history, World History, Psychology, Calculus, Literature, and Litera-ture and Composition. With all the success Bo has achieved over his il-lustrious career was add-ed to on February 19th, 2015 when he became the twenty-second mem-ber of the 1000 point

club at Covington Catholic. Having had senior night and other games postponed due to weather, so Bo had to be pa-tient to achieve this momen-tous achievement.

Bo has had an illus-trious career at Covington Catholic and continues to ex-cel in the classroom. Bo plans to play basketball and major in Pre-med in college. As far as choosing which college to attend, Bo is undecided and waiting so see how his senior basketball season goes. Post-season play has been exciting, to say the least, so far the bas-ketball Colonels and Bo and the rest of seniors are looking to end their season nothing short of being crowned state champions.

Feature: Bo Schuh Talented on the Court and in the Classroom

Clubs Page 5

Bo Schuh

If you are an artistic stu-dent who loves his Instagram, then Photo Club is the club for you! This club meets two to three times a month, sharing picture and plan-ning certain spots and areas to go where they can capture beautiful pictures. Some of their photo spots include Spring Grove Cemetery, the campus of Covington Catholic, and different parks and nature spots all over Northern Kentucky. They hold a photo contest at the end of the year, where each member of the club may submit their best picture,

with the victor taking home a special prize. I caught up with senior Kurt Stegman, who is the club president, and asked him about the Photo Club. Kurt said even though the Photo Club is mainly for taking pictures, they do help out in other regards. Every month, when there is a Pancake Breakfast, the Photo

Robert Lilly

This month’s Culture Club outing saw the Colonels have a movie night-in watching the French animated film, “The Paint-ing”. The French cuisine gave the authentic everyone wants for each outing.

Despite the small turnout for this outing, there was no lack of enjoyment. “The Painting” to say the least, was different. Watch-ing “The Painting,” some may be reminded of the books and movies you loved from your own child-hood: The “Oz” and “Narnia” series, and “The Phantom Toll-booth.” Without getting overtly re-ligious, Laguionie brings a viewer gently up to the edge of some very large ideas and then, in a final scene that has the ability to lift the hairs on your head, brings Lola the seeker to a moment of revelation and light. And then it has the imagination to go beyond that. If one were to watch this with their children, there would be a few things to discuss on the car ride home.

Patrick Ballow, Nathan Ur-

ban, Miss Garrett, and Mrs. Ruth were the brave few who showed up for the mid-week feast. Brie cheese, French bread, croissants, and Mocha lattes were a perfect entre for the most entic-ing part of the evening, dessert. Ending the night with creampuffs and crème brullee was a right ending for a night in what some may have called Paris.

Cooper Theobald

Headed by Mr. Lubbers and Mr. Hartman, 24 of the finest stu-dents of Covington Catholic trav-elled to the University of Cincin-nati on Wednesday, February 25th to participate in the TEAMS com-petition. The TEAMS competition is an event where schools from all over the tristate bring some of their most intelligent students to compete against other schools in a series of math and science tests.

Seniors Adrian Neff, Erik Schutzman, and Chris Holthaus led the young Covington Catholic teams consisting primarily of ju-niors and sophomores going into the tests. Each school was split up into several teams based on age, and the Covington Catholic students were split up into three teams consisting of eight students each. Scholarship money can be received for excellent scores on the tests, so the students take the competition with utmost

seriousness. The students will re-ceive their scores in a few weeks to see how they fared against other schools and will be notified if any scholarship money will be reward-ed.

Since the event runs from seven o’clock in the morning to three o’clock in the afternoon, there is a break in between test-taking to enjoy delicious food and refresh-ing beverages. Senior Adrian Neff praised the Swiss rolls served at lunch and showed excitement in saying when asked about his expe-rience, “It was a genuinely fun time, and I had the chance to make a lot of friends.”

Overall the TEAMS com-petition was an enjoyable time for the students as they got a day off of school to show off their brain power against the best minds in the area in effort to win scholarship money for college.

Durham Shares with Photographers About LandscapeClub helps set up, make the food, and sell it and the drinks. When I asked Kurt about why he liked the Photo Club, he told me,

“I love taking pictures. Pictures are fun.”

Just earlier this month, the

club invited professional landscap-er photographer, our own Mr. Ron Durham to speak to the group about his work. He talked about the ba-sics of good landscaper photogra-phy and showed some of his work over the past ten years. Mr. Dur-ham no longer produces the work that he once did, but he is still a good source for photography.

So, if you love to capture great mo-ments in nature, a great sports play, or posing with a pal, then the Photo Club is the place to be!

Parlez-Vous Francais? TEAMS Fall Short

Thank you parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, school staff, and classmates

of Covington Catholic High School. You have helped grow a wonderful young man.

Cooper Theobald’s GrandparentsGreg and Ruth Woodham

Page 6Student LifeGrant Guenther

February 4th is a day com-monly known as college signing day for all sports. An athlete can verbally commit before this date, but once February 4th hits they can sign a paper saying they are coming to a certain college, and the scholar-ships cannot be taken away unless

certain circumstances occur. It is an exciting day with much anticipation over high profile athletes.

Our Covington Catholic community also had some signees on February 4th. We had two football players by the names of Jacob Roth and Sam Murrer who both signed to a college to play football there. Jacob Roth was the Center for our very own football team. He had a

fantastic season and career for Cov Cath and was rewarded with some colleges interested in him. He chose to go to Center College, a Division 3 college. Good Luck to Jacob Roth on his decision to continue being a student athlete.

Sam Murrer was the Left Guard for Covington Catholic. He

only played two seasons of foot-ball after juggling other sports his first two years, but he turned into a fantastic Left Guard. His hard work and dedication to the weight room has allowed him to receive many college offers. He chose to go to Mi-ami of Ohio on a large schol-arship. Congratulations on his signing to be a Red Hawk.

The ceremony took place after school on Thursday, February 4th where the two sat at a table with their families and signed the papers. It took place in the multi-purpose room where anyone who wished to come was welcome. The reaction of the athletes and their parents was amazing, knowing their hard work had finally paid off. Good luck to both of these young men in the fu-ture.

Benny Kindt

In February ,CovCath held the first ever pep rally for a new pro-gram that is getting started at CCH next year! The S.T.E.M. program is get-ting a lot of attention and should add a wide variety to our school in the fu-ture. The program is led by the great Mr. Lind who came back to CCH just this year after a long period where he taught in Ohio. S.T.E.M’s main focus is on the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Currently in the United States, STEM jobs are what needs the most filling, and there are going to be endless open jobs in the future for STEM students.

The pep rally showed just how fun and exciting STEM activities can be. The crowd was in constant awe and amazement of how fun and excit-ing all the activities seemed. The best part about STEM is that students’ jaws drop to the floor from fascination, yet at the same time are learning and taking in all of the information of these STEM activities.

After an amazing showing at the STEM pep rally, I am not sure if there will be enough STEM classes to accommodate all of the students that will for sure be taking any STEM classes next year. The future is bright for all STEM students, and I cannot wait to see how big the CCH STEM program under the leadership of Mr. Lind will go!

Roth and Murrer Sign in AthleticsJake Brueggeman

On February 6th, three stu-dents represented our school at the Leadership Conference in Spring-dale, Ohio. The students that went were juniors David Rice, Bren-dan Kamer, and sophomore Logan Franxman. Coach Zerhusen acted as the student’s small group leader. Collectively they did a fantastic job representing Covington Catholic.

The day kicked off with a keynote speaker who emphasized the importance of leaders in today’s society. He stressed how impor-

tant is to not conform to the wrong group behavior and rather act re-sponsibly and be a role model. Af-ter the speaker, everyone broke out in small groups. The students from various schools discussed the val-ues of leaders and the importance of them.

Covington Catholic sent three fine young men to this confer-ence to instill life values that will grow in these men as they mature. The day was a great experience for the young men as it will implant in-valuable life lessons into the gentle-men that went.

Students Attend Leadership Conference

STEM Rally Excites Interest

Benny Kindt

Mr. Gastenveld is a first year teach at Covcath and is already becom-ing the favorite teacher of many stu-dents who have him in class.

Mr. Gastenveld and his wife had their first baby on February 26th. This was great news for everybody who knows Gastenveld as he is such a great guy who deserves nothing but the best. Their daughter Iris Daniel Gastenveld was born at 7:55 am. She weighs 9 pounds and 6 ounces and is 21 inches long. So far everyone is healthy and happy!

Gastenveld Baby Arrives

Trevor Bowman

In February, Michael Pikar represented Covington Catholic in the yearly Shakespeare Competition. He competed against other students at Covington Catholic in late January to get the honor of representing Cov Cath in the competition.

Michael was one of 17 students to compete in the competition on February 28th. The 17 students were each from

different schools from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. This first round of 17 was held at the Play House in the Park where the students had the opportunity to perform on the stage. Each student performed one sonnet and one monologue in the first round. After all of the students performed 6 students were picked to go onto the next round: Michael was one of those 6. In the finals, the following weekend, Michael was asked to perform the same sonnet and monologue but also another cold piece--another monologue. In the finals Michael received 4th place.

Mrs. Ruth who was in charge of the Cov Cath competition was very proud of Michael for getting 4th. “I heard members of the ESU, the organization that sponsors the competi-tion, say that they thought Michaeael did a fabulous job,” said Mrs. Ruth. Michael is

only a junior at Cov Cath so next year he is expected to return to the com-petition.

Pikar Represents CCH in Shakespeare Finals

Page 7In the WorldGrant Guenther

Regional Youth Leadership is a series of meetings that take place monthly where different top-ics are discussed. The categories are criminal justice, diversity, health, law, local government, arts and cul-ture, and life success skills. Out of several hundred that applied, two of our very own Cov Cath Colonels made this prestigious group. Mitch MacKnight and Lucas Timmerman made this group and are pleased with the outcome. Mitch said, “I like it because it’s extremely inter-esting while at the same time makes it fun for the students.” There are 10 meetings and they take place monthly or sometimes bi-monthly. Students get to skip school on days where they have meetings.

At the end of August the orientation took place where the members learned more about the program as well as met the team. In early September, they had a retreat meeting where they learned about their skills as well as weaknesses. They learned how the skills will be

an asset in the future and how to fix their weaknesses. In the middle of September, the RYL program went to the Northern Kentucky Career Center where they learned about Criminal Justice. They learned about the role of cops in the Cincin-nati area and how they are leaders in our community. In October, the top-ic of discussion was diversity where they went to the Toyota Headquar-ters. Here they learned about racial rights and were encouraged to not discriminate in the work force. In November, the topic of discussion was Health which took place at Cin-cinnati Children’s Hospital where they learned about Healthcare.

In November, a Mock Law Trial was optional but strongly sug-gested where students learned up-front how to prepare and handle a trial, as well as got some speaking experience and practice. Next they were required to learn about law and what exactly lawyers do as well as the effect on society. They went to a courthouse (go-figure) for this meeting. Local government was then taught at the Campbell Coun-

ty Fiscal Court where the students learned to appreciate our govern-ment system more. Just a cou-ple weeks ago our two Youth Leaders learned about art and culture where they went to the School for Cre-ative and Per-forming Arts. At this exercise they were introduced to different arts as well as how art makes both the economy and the city bet-ter. Their Youth Leadership Jour-ney is almost done with just a life success skills meeting and then graduation.

Overall, this program is a huge success, and we are proud to have two students in the program.

They like the program because it is both informative and hands on.

Good luck to these men as they graduate in the next couple months. They have great careers ahead of them and will make a difference in the world.

Two Juniors Get Regional Youth Leadership Experience

Mitch MacKnight presents his propostion.

Cooper Theobald

Presidents’ Day is the federal holiday reserved for honoring the leading men of our country since the countries conception in 1776. This year’s Presidents’ Day fell on Monday February 16th and was created to honor our first president George Washington’s Birthday, which is Febru-ary 22nd. Now, we honor all 43 presidents on this day ever since the first Presidents’ Day in 1885.

In terms of financial institutions such as banks and the postal ser-vice, Presidents’ Day serves as a day off from business, but not all busi-nesses are off on this day. All schools are off on this day, and the general thought among students is that Presidents’ Day serves no real purpose oth-er than giving students a day off. As a country, we have shied away from the true meaning of Presidents’ Day, which is to honor our leaders of the past and present.

Jack Schrage

What is Ash Wednesday, Colonels? Ash Wednesday is the name given to the first day of the season of Lent, in which the Pastor applies ashes to the foreheads of Christians to signify a repentance. Although it is not a holy day of obligation, it is still highly recommended that you attend mass to receive ashes. The ash ceremony takes the place of the homily. The parishioners line up as if they were lining up for the Eucharist. The Priest

will make the sign of the cross on your forehead saying “Re-member, O man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return”.

It is also a day where consuming any type of meat is not al-lowed which also ties into the second part of this article, lent. Every year, people all around give up something that really does not mean much to them. I challenge anyone reading this article to take time and think of some-thing that would take

a lot of strength to give up, whether it’s fast food or soft drinks or alcohol and spend these 40 days of lent fasting. If what you are giving up is a bad habit, maybe the habit will be broken after fasting from it and you will not even want to return to doing that habit after Lent ends. You never know what could happen. Challenge yourself, Colonels.

Celebrate Presidents’ Day Ash Wednesday is Not Just Another Day

David M. BlankLaw Offices

36 West 5th StreetCovington, KY 41011

Wishes the Colonels a Good 2015

Page 8SportsCooper Theobald

With February coming to a close, the Colonel Varsity Basket-ball Team gave one last push going into the district and regional tour-naments. The Colonels finished the regular season out strong by win-ning 9 games in the month of Feb-ruary with one loss. The lone loss was at the hands of the Dixie Colo-nels and was an utter breakdown by the entire by Blue Colonels Basket-ball Team. The Dixie loss, although embarrassing, only strengthen the Colonels as a team as they needed to buckle down for the post season, stay focused, and keep their eye on the main prize – A State Champion-ship.

The Colonels went into post season play as the one seed in the district tournament and were matched up with the Beechwood Tigers in the first round, whom the Colonels had beaten once already. After handily defeating the Tigers, The Holmes Bulldogs were ready

to avenge their regular season loss to the Colonels in the District Fi-nals. From the moment the ball was tipped, the men in the blue and white controlled the tempo of the game and ended up blowing out the

bulldogs by a score of 80-53.

After defeating Holmes, the Colonels were squared off against the Newport Wildcats in the first

round of the Regional Tournament, yet another team the Colonels had defeated in the regular season. What should have been a non-competitive game was just the opposite and the Colonels found themselves at the

mercy of the point guard of Newport. With 2 seconds left on the clock and the Colonels up by one, the point guard of Newport went to the free throw line with a chance to win the game. After making the first free throw, the second free throw was a little strong and the game went into overtime where the Colonels prevailed. The very next game, the Colonels found them-selves in nearly the same position as they trailed to St. Henry at half by four.

Due to a fiery Coach Ruthsatz half time speech, the Colonels came out clicking on all cylinders and won the game against the Crusaders handily. CovCath was headed back

to the Regional Championship for the third consecutive year.

For the third year in a row, and the third time this season, Cov-ington Catholic would face the Bull-dogs of Holmes High School in the championship of the Regional Tour-nament to decide which team would get a chance to play in the State Tournament at Rupp Arena. After going down at half, the Colonels played team basketball in the second half and came out with a 45-37 vic-tory and punched their ticket to the Kentucky High School Basketball State Tournament. Bo Schuh, Coo-per Theobald, and Cole VonHandorf were named to the region and dis-trict all-tournament team with Cole being named MVP of both tourna-ments.

The CovCath team is primed and ready to make another deep run in the State Tournament in an effort to bring back another state title to Covington Catholic. Good luck Col-onels and bring home the hardware!

Varsity Basketball Finishes Strong in Regional Play

Jake Brueggeman

The Colonels’ Junior Var-sity Basketball fell short of a Re-gional Championship when losing to New Cath 65-50 in the finals. They struggled mightily and would love to have another shot at the Thoroughbreds. The team should be commended for their effort all season.

The season was far from a failure despite the unfortunate end-ing. The Colonels finished 17-5 with tough losses to Trinity, Louis-ville St. Xavier, Moeller, and New Cath twice. Both are powerhouses in the area. The team led by Coach Matthew Otte was young and tal-ented featuring two starting fresh-men, Aiden Ruthsatz and AJ Mayer. The two freshmen were standouts often leading the squad. Sopho-mores Gunnar Schuh, Max Bishop, and Ross Basford were also signifi-cant contributors.

The future of the Colonels’ JV squad is bright, as the freshman class is loaded with talent with their current team finishing 29-0. Watch out for big things from the JV Bas-ketball Colonels next season.

JV Squad’s Future Looks Bright

Ben Zumdick

After finishing the regular season a perfect 24-0 the Freshman Colonel Basketballers set their sights on the end of the year Jack Kaelin Freshman Invitational Tournament, and the tournament went just as their regular season. The colonels dominated every game of the tournament, easily winning the championship game.

The team started their run by beating Scott handily 50-14. Next was Boone County and the outcome was just like the last; the Colonels won big 52-19. Cov Cath met Newport Central Catholic in the semifinals and were able to win in closer than normal game 46-36. The team got right back to their streak of utter dominance by beat-ing Highlands 60-19 in the championship game.

The team finished the tournament as champions and won every game by an average of 27.5 points. Every single player on the team contributed to the championship run, but four players were named to the All-Tourna-ment Team. Those were Center Jake Walters, Forward Austin Lay, Forward C.J. Frederick and

Congratulations once again to the Freshman Colonels on a historic season. We are all looking forward to great things in the near future you.

Amazing Freshman Basketballers Finish 24-0 Season and Regional Champions

Page 9Sports

Robby Fields

Wresting in its second year as a program at CovCath has substan-tial potential to be a dynasty in the coming years. Mandatory conditioning starts in October and the season starts in November and goes through Feb-ruary.

With our first ever home wrestling match, the team is now ap-proaching the state championship meet. Unfortunately, no members were eligible to participate in the state competition. Senior Joe Marino is an alternate, who will attend the meet. He took 5th place in his division, but since only the first 4 can go to state, he will wait and hope someone will back out to prove his dominance and be the first state champion at Cov Cath.

David Dinn

As the swimming season comes to a thrilling close, it also comes to another disappointment. The Colonels once again fell to St. Xavier and got another state runner up. Getting second place four years in a row is heart-wrenching, but Coach Dickmann had some other things to say about that this year at a school assembly right after state competition.

With the swimming/diving team seated behind him, Coach Dick-mann explained how the swimming places work and showed how tal-

ented our Colonels are in the wa-ter. Everyone watched as about 20 swimmers stood up to show who made it to state. Out of 600 swim-

mers, every-one who stood up made it to the top 16 in state in their r e s p e c t e d events which is impressive.

But just because the Colonels got 2nd place does not mean that we did not suc-

ceed. Senior Louie Hunt got 1st in state in diving and set a state diving record for the most points in a div-

ing event. On top of that, the Colo-nels 400 meter relay (led by Junior Brendan Meyer and Seniors Todd Sheets, Mike Summe, and Rob Newman) won the event in a thrill-ing finish against the Champions St. Xavier. The time set a school and state record.

As we celebrate all we can do is work toward the future. Some of the Colonels who are not gradu-ating will be hitting the pool again soon in their respect clubs, as they look toward state next year. The goal is winning state, and this team is heading in the right direction.

Coming in 2nd is NOT Settling--We ARE Coming Back!

Joe Pieper

Every year before the track season begins the track team takes part in an indoor track league to try and warm up for the upcoming season. Although it is just a warmup, this year’s indoor track turned out to be a pretty special season.

The team this year attended three competition meets. Jake Erpenbeck this year turned in some very good performances. Jake broke a record in the 55 meters for the fastest time ever by a CCH runner. The team also took 3rd place in a meet in Ohio.

With the strong showing by the team this year indoor, hopefully that will spell for some good success when the spring time hits.

Track Team Prepares for Season Indoor Wrestling Ends 2nd Season at CCH

Senior wrestlers Joe Marino, Craig McGhee, and Alex Beckes are recognized at the first ever CCH home meet.

Staff Construction is soon to be completed on the new tennis courts, which are located behind the baseball field, but unfortunately it is not soon enough for Coach Al Hertsenberg. The deadline is April, but the Tennis Team will be well into their season by then, weather-permitting.

“We’re pretty excited to have our own facility on campus,” Coach Al Hertsenberg said. “It’s been in the works for five years.”

Coach Herts began coaching tennis in 1991, along with soccer. He retired from his soccer coaching in 2009 to put all his energy into getting the tennis courts at Covington Catholic. These past couple of springs have been wet seasons, pushing much of the play late into the season. No mat-ter, that did not stop the excellent play of the team. In 2010, the team was State Runner-Up. In 2009 and 2010, Jimmy Roebker was Individual State Champion. And in 2013, current senior Austin Hussey was Individual State Champion. Austin is looking for that again this season. Painting is what is left, along with sidewalks. “The court surface has to be a certain temperature before they’ll come and paint it,” Hertsen-berg said. “That first snow day in November, they were ready to come and paint it the next week. Once it’s warm enough, they’ll paint a blue playing surface with green outlines. It’ll probably be ready in April.” The Colonel Tennis Team is hoping for a possible 14th straight Ninth Region championship. We are all looking forward to a home match for these Tennis Colonels.

Tennis Courts Ready in April?

Page 10IntramuralsGrant Guenther

Senior year is a year in which people start to not care about grades any more and start to care about other things---things such as college and sports. Every week the anticipation is high for an IBL game. This year’s senior class takes IBL extremely competitively as ev-eryone wants to leave CCH as champions. So far this year there are some clear favor-ites to go far in the tourney, teams that have no chance, and some possible sleep-ers.

Team Micek 5-0 is unstoppable; their closest game was 7 points to Team Huber, but Team Micek looks very strong with Adam Wagner and Parker Kenney leading the team. Team

Schuh is also 5-0 with Alex Wagner and Karl Schmitter putting up huge performances. These two teams are the only teams undefeated and sadly are not scheduled to play each other during the regular season, but hope-

fully they can meet in the championship so we can see this clas-sic fight.

Team Ruwe is 3-2 with losses to both the undefeated teams. Both of the games were close, but Team Ruwe ended up on the bottom both times. They are a force to be reckoned with, and I believe they can come out on top. Their only weak-

ness is height, but they have plenty of sharp shooters. Team Foertsch led by Patrick Ballow and Luke Foertsch are 2-3, but have great re-bounding skills and have solid de-fense. Maybe they can get their act

together for the tournament. Team

Huber is also 2-3 and is struggling right now but has enough talent to pull an upset.

The two bad teams this year are Team Schmidt and Team Dinn. Team Schmidt has talent, but the ef-fort just is not there. They are 1-4

Bo Schuh

At Covington Catholic, there is a rich tradition of basketball in the gymnasium. Multiple district and regional championships, trips down to Rupp Arena for state tour-naments, and even the 2014 KH-SAA State Championship banner is hanging in our gym today. The intensity and willingness to win is there, whether you can see it in a Cooper Theobald technical foul or Coach Ruthsatz’s passion for win-ning on the sideline. Yet, only the students know the darkest secret of the basketball tradition at Coving-ton Catholic: the real basketball is played on Sunday nights in the IBL, the Mecca of high school basket-ball. Where no fouls are called and it’s a fight to the death for a win, IBL never disappoints.

The Junior IBL has been es-pecially promising this year. With games in action the past week, there was great basketball all around. Team Stegman and Team Ayres both continued their winning ways, as both improved to 4-1 on the sea-son; Nick Porras led Team Steg-man with 30 points to an 88-62 win over Romes, who falls to 3-2, while Ethan Sammons led Team Ayres to a 70-60 victory over Team Flynn, dropping them to an abysmal 1-4. In the final two games of the night, the crowd saw Team Haught get above .500 for the year, as they im-proved to 3-2 behind a 47-45 double overtime thriller over Team Shields, dropping them to a record of 1-3; Team Haught was led by Robert Young, who dropped 16 points in the win. Finally, Team Fagin im-proved to 2-3, while the defeated

Team Ward dropped to 0-4.

The night before these games offered an especially thrill-ing game. Two of the top teams in the league – Team Beck and Team Ziegler – had a showdown in the night cap, and it did not disappoint. In a barn burner, Team Ziegler pre-vailed with a tough win over Team Beck in an offensive-heavy game, with the final score being 90-84. Even behind Captain Kyle Beck’s career high 50 points, Team Beck could not pull out a win.

As the season is winding down, the tournament picture is coming into place. With both Team Stegman and Team Ayres sitting at 4-1, it seems that they would be the favorites. Yet, it is hard to count out Teams Beck and Ziegler after

the offensive performances they both put on. Or maybe, just maybe, could Team Ward shock the world (CovCath) and pull off a Cinderella run to the finals of the IBL Cham-pionship? We shall find out soon enough.

this year with their only win coming to Team Dinn. Team Dinn is a joke team. They have themed games and are just in it for fun, which is very respectable. They have no chance to win a game but everyone enjoys scoring mass points against them. The only question is what theme they will come in; it is a huge ex-citement.

One of the most exciting parts about senior year is getting to play the faculty team. The faculty team includes Coach B, Coach Ar-nold, Coach Hovan, Mr. Hansman, Mr. Lubbers, and Mr. Gastenveld. They are tall and good at rebound-ing. This team is undefeated and looks to stay that way with so much talent. Their scoring is usually pret-ty even, with Coach B leading most times. It is amazing how strong our faculty team has gotten over the years.

The finals are coming up fast, so get ready for the last excit-ing matchups.

Senior IBL Heading to Tournament Play at Full Speed

Junior IBL Reveals Top Players Going to Finals

Page 11Intramurals

Jake Brueggeman

Sophomore IBL is going strong with several teams sepa-rating themselves from the pack. Team Bayless started off hot begin-ning the season 2-0 with zero signs of slowing down. Let’s catch up to see what has happened in week 3 and 4 action.

In week 3 play, Team Bay-less crushed Team Dames 67-32.

Galvin was the high scorer for Bayless with 22. Team S c h a b e l l beat Team Mullen 52-20 in a nail-biter. Briede led Schabell

with 21. Team Boydston defeated Schulte 58-48 as captain Boydston dropped 20. In the final matchup of the week Curk obliter-ated Rohling 87-45. Rasheed Ameen had 25.

In week 4 play, Team Mullen forfeit-ed against Rohling. Team Schabell beat Curk 58-57 as Briede has 17 from Schabell. Team Dames beat Kennedy 53-52. Ben France had a great game with 21 points. Team Boydston remains undefeated beating Cronin 51-42.

A few teams are separating them-selves from the com-petition; however, can a team that has struggled thus far surprise people in the playoffs? We will find out soon with the playoffs kicking off in the second week of March.

Robert Lilly

Intramurals are always a way for freshmen to find new hob-bies, meet new people, and create memories that will be a staple in a high school experience. And sports can pave a path for those memories.

Intramural basketball has been a highlight for students at Covington Catholic year in and year out. But the anticipation fresh-men have over their first year of the Intramural Basketball League is something special. All the stories told from fathers, brothers, and rel-atives make for four years of com-petitive games, and lasting memo-ries. The process of choosing teams freshman year consists of pickers choosing the familiar players they played with in grade school and a few others they knew coming into their freshman year.

So far the freshmen have gotten off to the start they had all

hoped for. Four weeks into their season, only half of their fun is over. The freshman class has already proven how dominant their sports teams have been in the fall and winter, and intramural basketball is no drop off. Competitive games week in and week out makes it enjoyable to spectate, referee, or even just to come and watch your fellow classmates have fun.

Halfway through the IBL season the freshmen have put up impressive num-bers. Michael Schaefer, of team Richards, has averaged well over 20 points per game and Team Knollman dominated weeks 3 through 5. Week 4 saw the upset of Team Disken over Team Wulfek with a score of 63-53. Week 4 also saw a barn-burner be-tween Team Ward and Team Kennedy but ended up with Ward coming out on top 63-45 due to free throw shooting and not turn-ing the ball over.

The playoffs approaching, Team Knollman is looking to be the favorite; however, Team Richards, led by Michael Schaefer is a sleeper many may not be ex-pecting to make a deep run.

Covington Catholic Times

1600 Dixie HwyPark Hills, KY 41011

859-491-2247

Advisor:Mrs. Diane L. Ruth

Editors:Joe Pieper and Bo Schuh

Reporters:Trevor Bowman, Jacob

Brueggeman, David Dinn, Robert Fields, Grant Guenther, Noah Helbling, Paul

Huber, Austin Hussey, Ben Kindt, Robert Lilly, Tyler Micek, Jack

Schrage, Cooper Theobald, Ben Zumdick

Photographers:Mrs. Diane Ruth, Jacob kennedy,

Mrs. Franxman, Prestige, Mr. MacKnight, Mrs. Summe

Advertising: Grant Guenther

All opinions expressed here are the opinion of each individual student. These opinions do not express the opinions of the administration, the

staff, or the school as a whole.

Advertisements can be purchased for $3 per

column inch. Contact Grant Guenther or Mrs. Diane Ruth for informatiion about advertising

at 859-491-2247.

Undefeated, Team Boydston Moves to Final Action

Strong Start for Freshmen in IBL