Cy Siegert's Path to Warhawk Football

By Ethan Groom and Will Bierman

“Success isn’t owned, it is leased, and the rent is due every day”. That is a quote from the great JJ Watt, a four-time All-Pro, and three-time Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL, and he couldn’t be more correct. If you want to be successful in the athletic world, it is going to take work and a lot of commitment. There are a few athletes here at Potosi High school that plan on playing sports at the college level, and you can count on them to keep working hard to pay that rent every single day.

Cy Siegert, a senior football player from Potosi High School, has earned the right to play football at the college level, at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. If you don’t know, Whitewater is a very prestigious school in the division three level of the NCAA. They currently have multiple national championships, over thirty conference championships, and also once held a forty-five game football winning streak. Along with sports, Whitewater is also a very good academic school, especially in business. You can imagine the kind of work that it took for Cyrus to make it to this point in his life.

Cy has always dreamed of playing football at the college level; with great work ethic and commitment, his dream has become a reality. Cy has put in a tremendous amount of time in both the classroom and on the football field to get to where he is and achieve the success that he has. Three and a half hours worth of football was nothing during the football season for Cy, along with an eight hour school day. Even in his offseason, Cy spent at least an hour and a half of his day committed to football, whether that be on the field or in the weight room. You can imagine that balancing all this wasn’t easy. With a steady schedule and extreme work ethic, Cy was able to do it. Cy has sacrificed time with family and friends to be able to accomplish his goal, but when he achieves his goal it will all be worth it. It hasn’t been easy, but Cy has a very good supporting cast that has helped him through tough times.   

Among that support cast are the teachers and coaches that Cy has had at Potosi High School. Those teachers and coaches include many former college athletes, who have been able to help mentor Cyrus. One of those is Cy’s father Mark, who is the head football coach at Potosi High School. He also played college football, at Loras College, so he was able to give Cy plenty of great teachings and advice. With great advice from his father, Cy was able to be quite successful in his football career during his four years at Potosi. Cy accumulated over 400 tackles, multiple all-conference awards, and the school record in tackles in his four years at Potosi. With all of that said Cyrus had a great high school career, but college is a whole different animal and is going to require a lot more. Good thing for Cy he won’t be short on help.

Two more of Cyrus’s high school football coaches, Matthew Eastlick and Mike Uppena, played college sports and have a great amount of advice for him. They gave advice about managing your time and the best ways to do it. They also mentioned how much work it is going to take to be successful, and how to enjoy the process of playing college sports.

“In college, you are going to be spending five or more hours a day at your sport, compared to the two or three hours a day in high school”, said Mike Uppena who played college basketball for the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, and was also one of Cyrus’s football coaches. “I spent about 30 hours a week committed to football”, added Coach Matt Eastlick, who played college football at the University of Wisconsin - Platteville. “It’s almost like having a full-time job”, added Eastlick. That along with school is definitely going to be a challenge for Cyrus, so he is going to have to find a way to balance them while putting maximum effort into both of them.

Along with adjusting to the time commitment, Cy will also have to adjust to playing with a new team. Mr. Uppena said that leaving his high school team and trying to play with a new group of guys was one of the hardest things about the whole transition from high school to college. Although Cy is very good at football and was one of the best players at Potosi, there will be guys that are just as good or better at the college level. One of the first things Mr. Eastlick said when we asked him about college sports was, “I realized I wasn’t the best player anymore.” Cy might not be the best player on the team, but with a good work ethic and attitude, Cy can be successful.

With all the extra time and commitment it takes to play sports at the college level, some people would ask if it is even worth it to go out for sports.  Although it is a lot of work, there are many benefits, one of them being the memories that are made. Mr. Uppena won a Division Three National Championship while playing at Platteville and went on a few trips with the team that he will never forget. College sports will also help develop some good habits and character traits like communication, exercise, and relationships.

Two Takes on College Tuition and Student Loan Debt

By Maggie Schmitz and Elliot Haverland

            Maggie Schmitz

In today’s world, it is very hard to achieve success in the real world without first getting a college degree. Choosing a college can be one of the hardest decision that an 18-year-old has to make. Something that makes the already stressful process of choosing a college even harder is the scary high cost of college tuition. College expenses are what steer most students away from attending universities that they had always dreamed of attending, and have even caused students to turn away from colleges that they could benefit from attending.

One senior at Potosi High School planning to attend UW-Oshkosh next fall says, “The high cost of private universities held me back from going to one. Though the private school was nice and small, it was definitely not worth the cost.” Other seniors are planning on attending the University of Wisconsin-Platteville because of its low tuition and the fact that it is close to home. Some attending there are even planning to live at home to save money on food and living expenses. At the end of the day, no matter what college a student decides to attend, tuition is going to be costly anywhere.

The problem that most people end up running into is that they don’t save money. For a high schooler to save every possible cent they receive for college is highly unrealistic, but students seem to later regret not saving money prior to attending college. Even high school seniors are already starting to regret not financially preparing for college sooner. One student says, “If I were to give an underclassman a piece of advice, I’d tell them to start putting money aside for college as early as possible.”

Though there are many seniors who are currently very frantic about how they are going to afford college, there are some who feel very confident and prepared. Some students have been saving throughout high school and don’t feel fear about the high costs. Though saving money is hard for most, it isn’t hard for all. “Saving money is fairly easy for me. I am very committed to saving as I save every paycheck I receive and put it towards college,” says one high school senior who works as a CNA.

Seniors are already planning out what they will have to do in the future to pay for their college expenses. Most students plan to get jobs within the first two years of going to school. Some plan to wait until at least their sophomore year while others are planning to start working right away. Almost every senior is planning on taking out student loans to pay for their tuition. While some students are not fond of the idea of borrowing money, others don’t seem too worried about it. One student claims, “Student loans don’t scare me because many people are living with student debt and doing just fine. I plan to take out loans and hope to get a good job and pay them back as soon as I can.” Another student who is attending a private college with high tuition costs even states, “I don’t think they will become a problem. I plan to do some insane budgeting. I also don’t plan on becoming an extravagant person and I’ll make sure that I don’t live beyond my means.” One future college freshman even believes that loans will be very beneficial to him. Student loans can help take the stress off of having to think about money. He will use student loans so he can live and enjoy his life while paying off his college instead of being broke and bored.

Although student loans are a very beneficial resource, student debt can add up very quickly and can potentially be very dangerous if you end up not being able to pay it off. Other options such as financial aid and scholarships are helping to reduce the tuition cost for students. Applying for scholarships does take a lot of time and energy, but they can really help to bring down the high cost. “Apply for as many scholarships as possible. It does take time but it will benefit you when it’s all over,” states a high school senior.

At the end of all of the saving, financial aid, and scholarships, students are most likely still going to have a chunk of money left to pay. College can be scary when thinking about all of the money that is going towards your education. One student says, “You are now paying for your education; it’s no longer just given to you. There is a high price you have to pay whether you are succeeding or failing.” The high cost of college does seem ridiculous, but it really does help make students realize that they should take their college education seriously and the cost they pay motivates them to work harder.

The thought of paying for a college education can be a very terrifying thing, but almost every successful person goes through it and everyone has the ability to be successful.

Elliot Haverland
High school can be really hard on a person, and being a senior only adds to those struggles. Seniors have the same workload of a sophomore and junior, plus some. They need to worry about jobs, while also focusing on schooling and applying for colleges and scholarships. Scholarships and college preparations are a huge part of senior year, and it can all be really overwhelming. How can a newly minted young adult work on all of these things at once? Here are a few ways that this year's seniors are going about it.

Mariah Cull plans on going to Southwest Technical Institute to study in their criminal justice program. She wants to live in an on-campus apartment complex with a friend of hers who will also Southwest Tech. Before she started applying to college, she had no clue how she was going to pay for it. She wasn’t even thinking about college at that point, let alone having savings for it. Unfortunately, this is the case for most students.

Teenagers have a tendency to put things off until the last minute, and for college, it’s a major downfall. However, there are ways you can get out of this rut. First of all, If you are not a senior yet, there is still a chance to save money. A very helpful way of saving money as a teen is putting half of your earnings into a savings account and not spending a cent of it. I personally have done this starting senior year, and have already accumulated four hundred and fifty dollars. Other saving tips like these can be very effective in getting a little extra money for college. Even an extra hundred dollars can pay for a new text book or your next week's meals. Mariah’s main source of income for college, and most other seniors’ for that matter, is going to be loans and grants. She hasn’t gotten any yet, but has been working on them since she was accepted to Southwest Tech. She has also filled out her FAFSA.

The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that gives you loans and grants for college. Mariah is currently working on scholarships by bookmarking them, then working on them later. When she completes them, all she has to do is remove the bookmark on them. She gets most of her scholarships from her counselor or through a website that has lists of scholarships.  Mariah said “I don’t get worried about scholarships, and I don’t think other people should either. They give you a lot of time to do them and they aren't complicated.” She said that it’s hard for her to concentrate for long amounts of time on writing, but by taking breaks or only working on them for short periods, she is able to get them done. Mariah said “All you have to do is worry about deadlines, and when one passes, start working on the next one.  Sometimes you have to work on your own time, but it’s worth it. If you do the work, you at least have a chance for money.”

Jason Oyen is in a similar boat. His goal for the future is to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and study to become an architect. He explained that he wanted to study architecture because, “I like big buildings, the way that they can be so huge yet still be so stable.” He has already been accepted to Milwaukee and plans on living on campus in the dorms for the first year at least, then moving to an apartment close by with a few roommates. Jason has received some scholarships already, such as the Pell Grant and other loans from the FAFSA, as they are the main way most people pay for college. His school has offered him a few scholarships that he plans to take, but he hasn’t gotten around to filling them out yet. Jason's view on scholarships is that they give people the chance to go to college who wouldn’t otherwise get the chance. He has a little bit of savings for college but doesn’t plan on using any of it by applying for and receiving scholarships. He said, “Scholarships suck to write. The essays are really boring, but it's worth the time. It's better to do the work now and relax later on.”

Jason works on his scholarships during power hour and at his house. He usually works on them half an hour at a time and stops when he gets bored. He decides which scholarships to apply for based on whether he thinks he has a good chance to win them. He says that as long as you apply for scholarships and work while in college, you will be able to get through college without much debt and get a full education. Jason hopes to get out of college with no debt solely because of money from scholarships.

Even though college is very highly priced, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a chance you can get through it without being in debt for the rest of your life. Whether you have a large amount of money saved or not, there is almost always a way to eliminate the future debt if you are smart with your time. By keeping track of deadlines to college and scholarships, and keeping up on your high school work, anyone can get the money for college and get a great education with it.

College Freshmen Offer Advice to Class of 2019

By Jadyn Noonan

There's no doubt we seniors are all prepared to graduate, and May 26th can’t come soon enough, but have you ever wondered what it's going to be like going to a different school away from home?

I talked with some of the seniors that graduated last year to see how they were able to go from high school to college and what their biggest struggle was. I also asked what they would tell us to do to better prepare for the upcoming year.

Sophie Langkamp goes to the UW-Whitewater for criminal justice. Her classes are generally bigger compared to the ones she had in high school, some having 30 students. She also commented on how her classes are more interesting because she got to pick what classes she wanted that will help her for her future.

Sophie said that her biggest struggle going from high school to college was going from every teacher knowing you and making sure you understand everything and that you get your work done, to college professors where they teach with one style and they go on their pace and don’t care if you don’t get your work done or if you come to class or not. Sophie lives in a dorm on campus and only comes home every three to four weeks.

One thing that she wishes she would have done during high school to better prepare herself for college was to finish her homework and not procrastinate. While on the subject of homework, I asked Sophie how her grades were weighted and if she has more homework than tests or more tests and less homework. Her homework is around 10-15% of her grade, her quizzes are 20%, and her exams and papers are 70%. She said she normally has more quizzes and tests than she does homework, but each professor is different in how they like to teach.

I asked Sophie if she was scared to talk to her professors and if she has ever asked them for help; she responded that she was scared to talk to them and she hasn’t asked them for help yet, but that it’s all in her head because the professors tell her all the time to come to their office and she knows they would be more than happy to help her. The last thing I asked Sophie was what she would tell us seniors that are graduating this year that could help us next year, and she said “don’t be afraid to ask for help, everyone is struggling and stressing. Don’t procrastinate, learn how you study best, go out and have fun, and make a ton of friends”.

I was also able to talk with Rayne Wolf. Rayne attends the UW-Madison for industrial engineering. Rayne lives in a dorm on campus and comes home once every one to two months. Her classes are much bigger than the classes she attended in high school, and she says that her biggest struggle going from high school to college was changing from doing no homework after school hours, to doing seven hours of homework after class and studying for a week in advance for an exam that you still end up failing.

I asked Rayne if there was anything she wishes she would have done during high school to better prepare for college and her response was she wishes she went to a different high school in general, one that offers more transfer credits/ AP courses, and one that makes its courses more challenging for students. Rayne also made this comment when asked what she could have done to prepare herself:  “don't get me wrong I love Potosi, but I took so many courses through Southwest Tech and even those were a joke compared to the classes I’m in now”. Rayne doesn't think she could have done anything else to prepare because there was nothing else offered.

I talked with our school counselor, Mrs.Foote, about what has been done to improve the amount of AP courses available at Potosi. Her response was that every high school is trying to get more AP classes; here AP Literature, AP Calculus and AP Economics have been added. She also added that it is hard to duplicate the difficulty of college classes in a high school setting. Mrs. Foote’s advice for anyone that is going to a bigger college and going into a bigger major is to take every AP class and every challenging class you can to prepare. Another thing that she talked about was that some colleges have pre-college seminars that would give you a better idea what the courses you will be going through are like so you can prepare.

Rayne’s classes are more interesting to her now than they were in high school, and even though the professors are intimidating, she says their office hours help tremendously. Rayne’s grades are weighted differently for every class, but on average exams are 80%, quizzes are 10%, and 10% goes to group projects and homework.

Rayne’s advice to seniors graduating this year is to try not to go into college with an undecided major; everyone will tell you it’s okay to do, but really the college just wants you to pay more for classes you don’t need. She is not sure if this is true for every college, but at Madison you start taking classes specific to your major during your freshman year.

I grabbed some information about how Abby Kaiser transitioned from high school to college and the differences in athletics as she is playing basketball and going for accounting at UW-Oshkosh. Abby’s classes at Oshkosh are bigger than at Potosi, with some of her classes having over 200 people. Abby doesn’t seem to have a problem with the bigger classes, but says that her biggest struggle is trying to manage her time wisely with school and basketball.

I asked Abby what it was like playing a sport and doing college level homework, and she said that you definitely have to find time to balance the two throughout the day and make sure that you are always using your time wisely. Her classes are more interesting than they were in high school because she was able to take classes that relate to her major. Abby says that she is not scared to talk to her professors because she has biweekly check-ins with all of her professors for basketball. She says that this has allowed her to meet her professors so she isn’t afraid of talking to them and asking them for help.

Abby lives in a dorm on campus with a teammate and has only come home twice so far this year. I asked her what is one thing she wishes she would have done in high school to better prepare for college and she said she wishes she would have developed better study skills.

Freshmen Transition to High School

by Jaydon Pfab

Almost everyone in our country attends school from Kindergarten all the way through high school. In high school, kids might get nervous having to switch classes in a whole new building with all new teachers. It's a really big step and can be very overwhelming for students who aren’t ready for a large jump. Everyone finds a way to get through high school,  Let's see how one freshman student, Isaac Helminiak, deals with this large step in life.

         Isaac Helminiak is a new high school student this year but he already has experience with high school life. He is on the advanced course for math class and had algebra in the high school side of the building. Even so, he said that he was still quite nervous coming down to the high school side of the building permanently. He was nervous about having an all new locker with almost all new people in the halls with him. He said “It sucks being the smallest grade again. You get the lowest authority out of everyone.” He likes the classes; however, it was very jarring for him to have almost all brand new teachers for his classes. The only exception was his math teacher. He likes his new teachers, it is just really strange getting taught by all new people, he said.

          When I asked how high school compared to middle school in the difficulty sense, he said that it was generally the same. He said that he isn’t particularly worried about his finals this year because he already had a final for algebra in middle school. “The first final was a bit nerve racking I guess. It really wasn’t that bad,” he said. Isaac says that tests have always been easy for him, however. One thing he thinks is harder though is the self-drive. He said that in middle school, everything was due at a certain time and had a specific time it would be late. Now, he says, everything is due in a month or at the end of the semester. Nothing has a for sure due date and he can’t write things down like he used to. He said that it’s harder since you have to pay attention to due dates while also worrying about things that are coming up that week. The way he gets through this is by taking notes in his phone of all that is due. They remind him when things are coming close to being due so that he can hurry and get working on them.

          High school also brings in problems like stress. High school is considerably more stressful for people when they not only need to worry about school work, but also have to worry about clubs and upcoming events. Juniors have to worry about the ACT and seniors have to worry about scholarships. Most students get jobs to help pay for cars or even help with family expenses. Even though he is a freshman, Isaac still needs to worry about things like this for the future. He needs to decide what he wants to do when he grows up. For now, he says he wants to join the army and serve for a term while going through their college program. When he gets back from serving, he wants to join the workforce.

         I asked Isaac if he was nervous when he started high school and he said he wasn’t very stressed for most things. One thing he was stressed about was all of the new faces and being the smallest fish in the sea. He said that the way he got over it was by thinking that all of the people really aren’t new. He has seen them for a few years now, plus, he was friends with high schoolers even before he was one himself. He said that having friends in high school really helped to give him a view of what high school was like and how the workload compared to middle school. Isaac said, “It really gave me a look into high school. I guess I already kind of knew what high school was about because of my friends.” For new or upcoming freshman Isaac said, “high school really isn’t that different. Don’t stress because the only thing that is going to make high school hard is if you let it be hard. Just keep moving on and don’t let little things bother you.”

Potosi's Youtube Star

By Mariah Cull

From small-town graduate, to Youtube star, to professional photographer, this man has surprised us all with his ability to go from such a quiet student to someone who could stand in front of the camera and talk for hours.

He graduated from Potosi High School in 2011 and started his photography business, Saturn Photography, just a couple weeks before graduation. He has taken pictures for countless occasions such as weddings, engagements, graduations, and prom.

In 2012, Ryan Kuster started How Farms Work, a Youtube channel that specializes in everyday life on the Kuster farm and teaches viewers about what really goes on behind the scenes of big farming operations. Ryan’s brother and father occasionally star in videos that have to do with a big project on the farm.

When Ryan started his channel, these were his thoughts: “When I started, Youtube was a new and big thing and I noticed there weren’t many videos about farming, so I started doing informational videos around the farm.” Little did he know he was about to make a big difference in some people's lives.

After he graduated from Potosi, Ryan went on to UW-Platteville to study agribusiness. Farming is a huge passion for Ryan because he doesn’t feel pressured to do it. Some children who grew up on a farm feel the need to continue farming just because that is what their parents want them to do. This wasn’t the case with the Kuster family. They raised their children to know that their parents were not going to pressure them into doing anything they didn’t want to do.

Recently, Ryan published a video titled “My Town” which highlights our very own small town. He worked for almost a year to find the small things that make Potosi the great town that it is. The hard work and time he puts into his work really shows; he is very passionate about his channel and his career.

Ryan makes money from running his Youtube channel by having ads in his videos. It's called monetizing, which means that a company will pay an amount of money, depending on how long the ad is. You're not confined to having just one ad, you can put as many ads as you want in a video, you just have to make sure not to have so many that your viewers get bored. You can also have multiple ads from the same company or from different companies.

Here is Ryan’s advice to anyone who wants to start a Youtube channel sometime in the future: “I get this one a lot. I always tell people to find a subject that matters to them, and that is unique. If you like what the subject is about, it makes it easier to talk about. I recommend something that is unique because there may be others out there that are interested in it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3sJH3-xgB0

SADD Offers Students Opportunity to Make a Difference

By Lily Reynolds

There are so many ways to be involved in high school; clubs are a great way to get involved. Clubs are always looking for new members and ways to get people involved.

Students Against Destructive Decisions ( SADD ) puts on many events to get kids involved in positive actions. SADD organizes Red Cross blood drives to get the community involved in giving to people who need help. SADD also adopts a local family each holiday season to help provide for those in need.

“I got involved when my friends started going to the SADD meetings; I was curious about what it was all about,” says Alex Freese. Alex is a senior at Potosi High School who joined  SADD his junior year. “I enjoy seeing how we all come together to help other people; the feeling knowing that we are helping people is great.” Alex said the thing he most enjoys about SADD is the giving tree. The giving tree is where families who have limited resources apply to the county and people “adopt” a family for Christmas. The person who adopts the family provides some of their needs such as clothing, food, or toiletries.

“The other big event that SADD helps out with is hosting the Redcross blood drive.  I would definitely recommend this club to the younger classmen to start helping out,” says Alex.

“The reason I joined SADD was that I wanted to get involved in more clubs,” says Britany Horner. Brittany is a senior and has been involved in SADD since freshman year.  “I take away that just volunteering a couple times, it does make a difference, such as helping out at blood drives, seat belt check in the school parking lot, and the giving tree.”

SADD helps make kids realize what good actions can do to the community and how bad ones can affect them or families. “I think this club is for everyone and great for younger classman to join to show what negative actions affects have on your body and to encourage kids not to make bad decisions,” adds Brittany.

Andrew McKillip, a senior, has been in SADD for four years now. “I enjoy being a part of helping people in the community and throughout the country. My favorite event that we hold is probably the blood drive because it really feels like by helping, we are making a difference.”

“From SADD, you can take away that it does not take a huge amount of commitment to make a difference. We are able to make a big difference just by volunteering our time twice a year during each blood drive,” says Andrew.

Several members of SADD like giving back to the community. “It is not a lot of commitment, especially because the meetings are only once a month,” said Andrew. Helping out once in a while really does make the community look at the dedicated people,” says Alex Freese.