Tag: Behind-the-Scenes

Deep Dive

Junior Clara Theriault uses discipline to balance swimming and academics

by Lorelei Bingham

With each stroke, junior Clara Theriault makes her way across the pool.

Students might see Theriault in the hallway and assume she’s just like any other student. However, that’s not quite the full picture.

“Being a student-athlete is more challenging mentally than physically. You have to balance everything. You have to have time to swim and time to work. If you can’t find the time, you have to make it,” said Theriault

Despite the challenges of being a student-athlete, Theriault continues to stay motivated.

“Just knowing how hard the practice is on paper, I know I’m going to get something out of it. We can always laugh about it later,” she shared. “The girls on the swim team also help me stay motivated. The environment the team has is just so positive.”

Beyond her dedication to swimming, Theriault is also known for her personality.

Theriault’s former teammate and 2026 graduate Adelaide Bingham describes her as “encouraging, cheerful, inclusive, and always looking out for others.” 

Her kindness also has a positive impact on those around her.

“Clara makes me feel like I don’t have to worry about anything. She also taught me to look out for others,” stated freshman Bristol Cain.

Outside of the pool, Theriault faces another important responsibility being a student ambassador.

“I’m a student ambassador because I believe every school should have representation. Having students who are considered some of the best at Jeff shows that we aren’t just a fight school. Yes, there are fights, but having a group of leaders to really show what JHS stands for is important.”

Theriault uses her leadership skills in and out of school. She positively impacts all of her teammates’ lives.

Bingham stated, “Clara has taught me to look out for others and show empathy. She also taught me to be selfless and help others when they are in need. When you are kind to Clara, she never fails to pass it on to another person. She’s like a bubble of joy.”

Theriault’s dedication to her team reflects the life lessons she has learned through swimming, which extend far beyond the pool.

“Swimming has taught me lots of discipline,” said Theriault. “No matter how hard something looks, you can always beat the challenge. It’s just a mental game and stepping out of your comfort zone.”

Through swimming, leadership, and her relationship with others, Theriault is someone who strives to make a positive difference both in and out of the pool.

Graphic by Lorelei Bingham.

Persistence and personality helps freshman swimmer Lily Eaves adjust to high school

by Evangeline Hertweck

As the buzzer goes off, freshman Lily Eaves dives into the pool confidently.

“I love swimming because of how weightless I feel in the water,” Eaves said.

Eaves is ready to jump from the diving board. She looks persistent. She looks excited. She looks ready. She is used to this; however, there are new swimmers at the pool.

“Start slow and practice a lot. You need practice to perfect your moves,” she advised.

Eaves swims through the water effortlessly, making it look easy to beginners. Everyone cheers, but the swimmer’s mother’s voice cuts through the crowd.

“My mom is my biggest supporter because I can talk to her about anything, and she cheers me on the most,” Eaves stated.

Even though Eaves isn’t new to swimming, she is definitely new to JHS. Freshmen must get used to a drastically new schedule, making new friends, and showing up to class on time. For Eaves, this is a change.

“There is definitely a difference in maturity, as people connect in unique ways at different life stages. Maturity influences how we communicate and support one another, affecting the quality of our relationships,” she said.

As the school days go by, Eaves starts to see that JHS isn’t all that different from Parkview Middle School. The familiar dynamics of friendships and social groups make her feel more at ease as she adjusts to this new environment.

“High school made me realize that no one really cares what you do. Be your own person; a good one,” she said.

Graphic by Evangeline Hertweck.

Eaves enjoys high school, especially social studies. The subject’s focus on history and cultures makes learning exciting and fun.

“I love social studies because if you have a good teacher, they make learning more interesting and more fun.”

Freshman Carlee Solomon is one of Eaves’ closest and best friends. 

“Lily has always been an amazing friend to me; we’ve been close since we met in first grade,” Solomon said, looking back on their long friendship.

Even on her tough days, Eaves has a special way of making everyone smile. Her cheerful laugh and friendly personality brighten the mood in any room, making people feel welcome.

“Lily is a really good person and a sweet friend. She knows how to make me happy, especially when I’m feeling sad,” Solomon said.

The two friends have shared many laughs and great times together, both at school and outside of it.

“I remember one night I went to her house. We baked a big batch of cookies, and afterward, we danced and sang our favorite songs in her kitchen. It was such a fun night, and it’s a memory I’ll always hold dear,” Solomon recalled.

Eaves has plenty of friends, in and outside of school. She participates in several different activities like Girl Scouts, swimming, and just being outside in general, helping her connect with others who share the same interests, including with freshman Lorelei Bingham.

“I know Lily from school and swim. I don’t have any classes with her, but I would still consider her a good friend,” said Bingham.

Reflecting on Eaves’ influence, Bingham said she has the ability to uplift everyone around her. It’s like she carries a little sunshine with her wherever she goes.

“Lily brings positivity. She will always make you feel better if you’re sad. She will always be your little cheerleader.”

by jhshyphen

Columns: The Devil’s in the Details

Behind-the-scenes look reveals the challenge of performing and competing in marching band

Editor’s Note: Check out pages 12 and 13 of the December, 2025 print Hyphen for a photo essay on the marching band season.

by Cherish Brown

“You’re just walking, it’s not that hard.”

This is what I hear when I try to express that marching band is just as hard as a sport. I wouldn’t be too upset if people told basketball players that “you’re just throwing a ball in a hole,” or told baseball players that “you’re just hitting a ball with a stick.” But no. Instead, they get praised for their hard work, while people overlook ours. So here’s what actually goes into the halftime show that you see at football games.

The first lesson we had to learn was how to march correctly. It might look like walking to some, but it’s a little bit more than that. There’s a specific technique that we have to use going forwards and backwards. To go forwards we had to learn to walk while keeping our legs straight, and also roll stepping. Roll stepping is rolling off your foot into the next step to make it look smooth instead of robotic.

Now for backwards. We have to walk on our tippy toes, while keeping our legs straight, and we can’t look backwards. If we don’t march on our tippy toes when we go fast, we will fall.

Now that we know how to go forwards and backwards, we now have to learn how to go sideways. The weird part about it is, we can’t have our shoulders facing anywhere but forward unless we are told otherwise. So, to march sideways, our bottom half has to face sideways, but our top half is facing forwards. The only people who don’t do that are the drumline, who crabwalk, and the battery, who don’t move.

“So no, we’re not just walking. We’re working hard, competing, and most of all, performing.”

We can’t just have you watch us march, though; that would be too boring. We had to learn how to play the music. To be honest, it’s really hard music. In the first piece we all have to play 16th notes, which is four notes per beat, which means you have to be quick with the notes, even at a slow tempo. And the second piece is at 160 beats per minute, which is double the speed of the second piece. And all that is hard enough while sitting down and looking at it, but when we’re marching, we have to play off of memory.

Now, we have to learn where we’re going, and how the music relates to how we march. The thing is, we aren’t just marching to random places. If you’re high enough in the stands, you can see that we make shapes with where we’re standing. We have to march to specific places, which are called our sets. And we have to learn the entire song while only marching before we can even grab our instruments.

Then we start playing. We have to go by each set (or spot we’re marching to) and learn which part of the music goes where. It takes a long time, especially because there are three different pieces we have to put together. So, we take many days of practice just learning how the music and our sets relate to each other, when we’re supposed to get where, and how big or small of steps that we have to take to make it on time.

Then, we have to make it look cool. We add what we call our choreography. It’s not actually dancing, like the color guard does with their flags. We do different things. Our choreography includes lunges, pliés, and forced arches. And we usually do those while we’re not moving, so we don’t look like we’re just awkwardly standing there. We also do these while we’re playing our music, so it has to match up with what’s happening musically.

Now we take all of this, that we started learning before school even started, and put it together for everyone’s entertainment. But there is something we do that many people don’t get to see.

We perform and represent the Jeffersonville Red Devils at our own competitions. We competitively perform in front of judges, against many bands in our district. This season our hard work led to an appearance at the state finals, where we placed 15th.

Our hard work got us there — work done over many months, and for some of us, years. I hope this season we’ve made everyone proud, especially the seniors, who have helped us all throughout this season.

So no, we’re not just walking. We’re working hard, competing, and most of all, performing.

Marching band performs its show The Devils in the Details. The Red Devils placed 15th in ISSMA state finals competition this season. Photo by Cherish Brown.

Marching band is clearly a sport

by Caitlyn Brock

Marching is a sport.

I’ve done my first season now in drumline, and it was some work. We had to learn how to march, and we stood for hours on end and didn’t get many breaks. During a typical school week, we practice for 8 1/2 hours of just practice alone, not counting all of band camp and competition days, with some Saturday rehearsals We went to scholastic prelims to qualify for finals and ended up getting 6/7 bands and went to scholastic finals, which took place in October.

Marching band is obviously a sport. First off, it requires physical exertion and skill, just like football or soccer. Next, we compete against other marching bands for a score which also can lead to finals, which other sports have, such as basketball.  Finally, it’s done for entertainment, especially because of all the visuals and drill.

Initially, people would think that marching bands are laid back and easy, that all the instruments are not that big and don’t weigh that much, but that is wrong. 

Drums can go from being 16 pounds all the way up to 70 pounds with gravity, which can be super difficult. Sousaphones weigh about 50 pounds, and all of those weights can be difficult depending on the person and size, with also having the marching around for 6-9 minutes (depending on the show length) while hitting all of the visuals and drill spots and playing all of the music by memory. That is a lot of expectations for high school musicians.

“Marching band is obviously a sport. First off, it requires physical exertion and skill, just like football or soccer. Next, we compete against other marching bands for a score which also can lead to finals, which other sports have, such as basketball.  Finally, it’s done for entertainment, especially because of all the visuals and drill.”

Nobody talks about the demand for marching bands. We’re expected to learn music and hit the drill fairly quickly, given the limited time available, as rehearsals are often lengthy. Some days we are expected to start rehearsal as early as 6:30 a.m., going as late as 5 p.m., and marching in the heat is a whole different story.

We compete just like other sports. We have scholastic prelims — which would be called sectionals for other sports — and scholastic finals, which we get to go to. But we compete against other bands at different schools and get a score. Our scoring may be different than other sports, but we still compete.

Others may say that we don’t run around and throw around a ball or even have the same scoring as other sports, and we don’t do it for any entertainment, and that’s where they are wrong.

That comes to my final reason. Doing all of this work for one show is all for entertainment. We make the whole show look good just for the eyes of the judges and the people watching. We play music that people know for their enjoyment, too.

So that brings us back to one question. Is a marching band a sport? Yes, it is. We dedicate a lot time to it, and we march and play music for hours on end and compete for a score.

And we obviously do it for entertainment, because that is what it is all for in the end.

by jhshyphen

Culinary classes offer creative atmosphere to learn confidence, employment skills

by Ameerah Gbadamosi

The culinary class is not just a place of baking, it’s a place where students can feel free to fully express their creativity on the treats and desserts they make. 

 “Cooking makes me feel good, it puts me in a state of peace,” senior Coryon Cornet said.

Senior Jasmine McLeod scoops and bags Snickerdoodle cookies for the homecoming dance as part of her culinary class. Photo by Liliana Castellanos.

Some people choose culinary class in order to learn more about cooking and increase their culinary skills.

“I chose this pathway to learn more about cooking and the hospitality, I wanted to learn more about the backstory of cooking,” senior Liliana Castellanos said.

According to culinary teacher Amy Whitaker, the culinary class is also a place for her students to express their confidence through cooking.

“I really enjoy seeing the growth and confidence my students gain through cooking,” Whitaker said.

“I’m preparing students for a future in the hospitality industry while developing soft skills for employment.”

Culinary Arts Teacher Amy Whitaker

Whitaker makes sure that her students understand the process of cooking; she makes sure that she explains each step of cooking carefully and makes her class fun while also making sure that her students learn.

Castellanos said,  “My favorite part of this class is the teacher because she is always willing to help you if you need it.”

The culinary class is more of a hands-on learning experience; it allows students to know more about cooking by making the treats themselves, so students can learn from their mistakes.

Senior Timothy Brown makes 100 fruit sticks for the homecoming dance As part of the homecoming preparations, the Jeff chefs prepared over 800 treats for the dance. Photo by Liliana Castellanos.

“The class itself is fun and entertaining, and it’s very hands-on learning. The teacher is very understanding about getting your work and making mistakes,” senior Jasmine Mcleod said.

She ensures that she expands her students’ cooking knowledge in order to prepare for the outside world.

“I make sure to build upon and improve each student’s culinary skill,” Whitaker said.

She makes sure to teach and prepare her students about cooking and what they can do or who they can become once they fully know all about cooking.

“I’m preparing students for a future in the hospitality industry while developing soft skills for employment,”  Whitaker said.

by jhshyphen

Tea Club provides a stress-free, relaxed atmosphere to socialize

by Rain Gresham

Everyday life is filled with stress, whether that be school, work, or responsibilities. A place to be yourself is desirable, a place like say, Tea Club.  

Tea Club was founded in 2019 by dedicated student September Kaugchak when people were in most need of a relaxing social club — a place where people could come together, talk, and relax over their shared love of tea without the stress of the real world. 

Stepping inside students could feel the difference, the stress of bustling hallways during school hours melting away as they stepped into the surreal welcomeness of Tea Club. 

Tea Club members gather during their after-school meeting in the Media Center. Photo by Rain Gresham.

“Everybody talks to each other,” said German teacher and sponsor Lisa Stumler. She makes sure that everyone stays safe and has fun. 

From the Blackberry citrus to Darjeeling, Tea Club is full of all kinds of tea fitted for all types of different students to come together and enjoy the simplicity. 

“I realized being a part of something that can help students develop their social skills is one of the key elements to them being successful adults,” stated French teacher and sponsor Dana Schenk.

Everybody has their own ways of falling into the things they love, whether that be a friend, a student, or even just stumbling upon it. 

“Ms Schenk, the French teacher, she mentioned she was asked to be the teacher sponsor and she thought it’d be great if we could be teacher sponsors together, and I thought it’d be a great idea as well,” said Stumler.

“I fell into it because one of my students (current president and senior Toby Wilder) asked me if I can sponsor it and I assisted to some of those last year,” Schenk shared. 

“I saw them on eighth grade night;  they had tea bags and rainbow flags together. I thought it was cute and welcoming,” reminisced Wilder, the current co-president of Tea Club. She takes care of the fundings. 

“I joined the club because my friends invited me and I thought it was cool,” stated senior Marianna Bush, the other co-president. She plans events.

Tea Club is a social club and a successful one at that, as they rake in about 40-50 people at the beginning of each quarter.  “First weeks of the quarter always have a lot more,” emphasized Wilder

First time Tea Club goer Lilly Wright thought that it was “pretty chill. I liked the snacks and tea.”

Visitors walking into the Media Center after school on an average Friday would be met with the sight of Wilder and Bush setting up the tea and snacks. 

Making way to one of the tables, you could interact with any of the people in the club. 

Once everyone has gathered and they have finished setting up the tables, Bush and Wilder come around telling people they could now go up to grab  tea and snacks.

The selection of tea for members in the Media Center after school. Photo by Rain Gresham.

The selection of tea bags to choose from varies drastically, from sweet to savory to earthy. 

Wilder and Bush make sure of that. The two cherish the club and think of it as home, away from home a place where they can relax from the stress of the week. 

The club has been a big part of their life for the past four years and even after they graduate from high school, it will hold a place in their hearts. 

 “I want it to continue, as it was found as a safe space for people,” said Wilder.

by jhshyphen