NOCTILUCA June 2016

Appleton, Wisconsin

June 2016

Vol. XXI

Issue III

Farewell Class of 2016

‘Construction’, a poem by Senior Molly Biskupic

This school is not just made of brick and steel

The halls we walked, the rooms we talked

Held up by something real.

Our voices secured the bolts in the desks, greased the hinges of the doors.

Our footsteps shaped the staircases, sealed the tile to the

oors.

We were just dreams when they

rst broke this ground,

Unforged tools, undrawn plans, our purpose not yet found,

But we’ve spent four years building this school,

Mixing mortar with our hands, testing every rule.

We’ve rolled up our sleeves, the long and the short,

Scratched our story into bathroom walls, made graf

ti a sport.

You couldn’t scrape our laughter from these walls if you tried,

It’s a plaster of memories, haphazardly applied.

We shook the walls of these rooms with music we played,

From this house to the world, voices strong, unafraid.

And we were just dreams when they

rst broke this ground,

Unforged tools, undrawn plans, our purpose not yet found.

Before we could navigate the maze of these halls,

We were changing the

oor plan through all our pitfalls.

We’ve polished these tiles with our sweat and our tears,

Thanks to us the calc

oor will shine brightly for years.

Our stands will reach taller from cheers we de

ned,

’Cause the WIAA can’t stop echoes left behind,

We reshaped our lockers with slams, kicks and punches

Filled cracks with lost papers and remnants of lunches.

We’ve sanded these wood boards level and neat,

With sneakers-kicks-high-heels, our dirty bare feet.

And we were just dreams when they

rst broke this ground,

Unforged tools, undrawn plans, our purpose not yet found.

Now we’ve drawn up our plans with graphite and ink,

Made heavy lines, sure signs, as bold as we think.

We’ve forged our futures deep in this building’s core,

Made adults from children like steel from ore.

Now the time to hang up our hard hats has come,

Pass on this place, this construction site, this concrete kingdom.

We’ve left one giant hand print on the facade of this place

Now it’s time to use our

ngerprints to mark out our space,

So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain

But even more depends on each of us and our places, our domains.

And if I’m starting to sound like Dr. Seuss, believe me I know

But I honestly can’t wait to see the places we’ll go.

And even though Mr Lightning won’t be leading the chant

We’ll keep cheering you on with each landing you plant.

We’ll follow the shape of your

ngers, the curve of your nails,

Your voice shaking theatres, your feet blazing trails.

You’ll be the name in the paper, the face on a screen,

The hands to cure sickness, the force to intervene.

I’ll

nd my blue yearbook on the dusty old shelf,

Gather my family around and show them myself,

“See I knew them,” I’ll say proudly, “though long ago,

We built tomorrows together, made bright plans in the snow,

And now the tools that we forged are always at hand.

The presents we live are the futures we planned.

We are more than our dreams, stand on unbroken ground,

Because of the people we loved and the purpose we found.”

Megha Uberoi

The 2015-2016 year was

lled with newsworthy mo-

ments. Star Wars Episode

VII came out breaking box

ce records (surprising

no one), the musical and

visual album Lemonade

dropped and Beyoncé ef-

fectively stopped the world

(for a second time), Donald

Trump became the Repub-

lican party candidate for

the 2016 election (surpris-

ing mostly everyone), and

Appleton North’s class of

2016 is graduating (we

made it!). Okay so maybe

our graduation is not global

news, but the class of 2016

is de

nitely newsworthy in

its own way.

At the beginning of the

year the senior class attend-

ed a presentation by Eddie

Slowikowski who remind-

Related

articles

Editorial: All

students need

to step up as

seniors say

farewell, pg. 3

Commencement

speakers

comment on

their speeches,

pg. 5

Seniors’ plans

for next year,

pgs. 6 and 7

As we go on:

Four must-

listen graduation

songs, pg. 9

ed us to have con

dence

and believe in our abilities.

It would be lying if I said

we approached everything

with this unrelenting opti-

mism, but I can say we def-

initely approached the year

with zeal and ambition for

the future. Whether it was

cheering on the Appleton

United boys’ hockey team

to state or participating in

some powder puff T-shirt

drama we added our own

brand of passion to every-

thing we participated in.

This graduating class in-

cludes national merit schol-

ars, state athletics champi-

ons, critically acclaimed

theatre participants,

scholars, and of

cially

committed collegiate ath-

letes. In addition to these

achievements at the Salute

to Seniors last Wednesday

night North seniors were

recognized for their in-

volvement in a wide range

of clubs and activities.

And this is just the tip

of the iceberg. We are truly

accomplished, leaving a

legacy of excellence in ev-

ery discipline. Congratu-

lations Class of 2016! We

left our mark at North and

now it’s time to focus on

the future.

ection

on senior

class legacy

Molly Biskupic

Photos by Alex Neumann and Olivia Molter