Donations Needed!

 Blanket Donations are Needed! 

By Olivia Flanz

Key Club and National Honors Society are collecting blankets for Wish Upon a Child, a non-profit organization that provides holiday assistance to families and children experiencing financial hardship or in need of additional support. These blankets will be donated and given to kids in foster care. Last year Sparta High School was able to collect over 65 blankets! 

Blankets MUST be brand-new! If you have a blanket donation please bring it to room 415. One blanket donation will count towards one hour of community service. Since the blankets are going towards foster care, kids will be receiving them from all ages so feel free to grab any color or pattern! Donations will be open until November 30th if you are out shopping for your friends and family please think about purchasing a blanket for the donation! 

Der Weihnachtsmarkt

 Der Weihnachtsmarkt

The 2022 German Christmas Market 

By Rachael Berghahn

Get in the holiday spirit with the German Christmas Market! 

For the second year in a row, it is being held at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta. There you can get some of your Christmas shopping done, browse through vendors, grab some delicious food, and enjoy the holiday spirit. 

The market is open on the following dates:

• Friday, December 2nd, 2022 from 10am-9pm

• Saturday, December 3rd, 2022 from 10am-9pm

• Sunday, December 4th, 2022 from 10am-5pm

You can also come support Sparta High School’s German Classes who will be singing at 7pm on Saturday. 

For the first time, they will also be charging admission. Kids 12 and under as well as veterans have free admission. Adults and teens are $10 at the door and $8 online through 11/27. Seniors (65 and up) are $7. 

Buy your tickets at this link to save: https://tickets.njstatefair.org/tickets. 

Don't miss out on this holiday tradition!

Warming up for Winter Sports

 SHS Winter Sports

By Charlie Diamond

Winter sports are coming up and we’re very excited for them. SHS offers the following options for students interested in winter sports: 

• Basketball

• Bowling

• Ice Hockey

• Skiing

• Swimming

• Unified Basketball

• Winter Track

• Wrestling

High school students who play sports are less likely to drop out and their participation in sports results in a higher GPA. Former student athletes tend to earn higher incomes in the future and earn up to 40% higher on test scores. (source: https://www.atyourownrisk.org/benefits-of-sports#:~:text=Youth%20sports%20helps%20young%20athletes,school%20boy%20and%20girl%20athletes)

Many athletes treat a winter sport as their main sport and many participate as a form of a conditioning activity for spring or fall sports. Each team has a booster club and all of them need your help, so when you see them selling merchandise or having fundraisers, please contribute. Most need sponsors in order to pay for pricey equipment or travel expenses. 

I selected 3 sports to write about with a special mention to Unified Basketball and their head coach, Mrs. Schock who is not only an awesome coach but who was also recently recognized as the Teacher of the Month. Mrs. Schock’s dedication to Unified Sports allows students with disabilities to seriously compete and also have lots of fun.

Basketball: Sparta basketball is a hugely popular winter sport and Sparta is really great at it! Girls’ team is coached by Mrs. Wille and the Boys’ coach is Mr. Brennan. The SHS girls team were also 2022 NJAC American Division Champions.

Skiing: The Sparta Ski Team is an alpine racing team with Coaches Calafati and Moriarty. The team is a highly competitive race team open to skiers who are at least at intermediate level. They are awesome and they are winners. Check out their website: www.spartaski.com

Winter Track: This team is led by the wonderful coach Sierra Mitchell. The events are: distance, sprint, throwing, jumps,  hurdles, and other field events. They practice in the cold but most events are held indoors.

Just because it’s winter, it doesn’t mean you can chill. Participate in Winter Sports and don’t lose your groove.

AP GOV Students Create Site

Check out the “Sparta Votes” Website

By Kelly Groome

While many of us may be looking forward to making fun plans or having a relaxing day at home, next Tuesday, November 8th is not just a day off of school, but rather a vitally important day for the future of our country, county, and town. November 8th holds elections for the Congressional race, County Sheriff race, Sussex County Commissioner, Sparta Board of Education, and Sparta Town Council. 

To help us navigate through the numerous candidates and platforms being presented to us this election season, students enrolled in AP Government and Politics here at SHS recently created the “Sparta Votes'' website. The two class periods collaborated with one another to put together an easily accessible and maneuverable platform for any information regarding next Tuesday's elections. 

The project was brought to fruition by AP Government and Politics teacher Ms. Jozefczyk, who created a similar website during the 2020 presidential election. 

Due to all the positive feedback from 2020’s website, Jozefczyk said, “I knew that I wanted to replicate that type of project again this year to engage the students in the election process. This year I felt that creating an informational website would be beneficial since there were so many candidates running in the various races: and it would be a great way for the students to become knowledgeable on the positions within the local government, and the importance of all of these races.”

Within the website, accessible through Sparta.org, you will find information regarding each and every aspect of the election, where it is likely that all your questions will be answered.

First, you will find a General Information tab that details when to vote, how to vote, where to vote, different political parties, etc. Under the Congressional Race tab, you will find information regarding the candidates Tom Kean and Tom Malinowski, along with links to their campaign platforms. The County Races tab holds everything you need to know about the County Sheriff election as well as the Sussex County Commissioner election. Lastly, under town races, the Sparta Board of Education and Town Council candidates are listed along with their platforms.