What’s recently happened?
Last week, the John Adams High School Student Government put on the first ever Winter Homecoming. Incorporating spirit days like Jersey Day, PJ Day, and Dynamic Duo Day, Adams Eagles took the win for the big game against the Jimtown Jimmies in Boys Basketball.
Many seniors at Adams have sealed the deal for their next four years, including student athletes have made their commitments to various schools around the U.S. Senior Dylan Longbrake recently signed his National Letter of Intent (NLI) to Marian University of Wisconsin to continue his academic and athletic career playing baseball. Pursuing a sports and exercise science degree, Longbrake chose Marian for the small school aesthetic and equally good education.
“I chose Marian so I am able to go to a small school to show off my skills and get a good education to pursue athletic training,” said Longbrake.
Senior Brady Lesher also signed her NLI to Glen Oaks Community College to continue her academic and athletic career playing softball.
“The reason I chose Glen Oaks was not only to be with my friends but to see myself in two years playing Division 1 at the University of Texas. Academically, I have not decided what to study, but I know I want to be in the medical field.”
What’s coming up?
The John Adams African Student Association (ASA) will be hosting a fake African wedding on February 24 in celebration of Black History Month. Pre-selling tickets for $2, students are asked to dress formally as the event will take the structure of real African weddings. The board and founders of the club, being all Adams students, are eager to show the community some African culture.
“I decided to host a fake African wedding here at Adams to give people the opportunity that they always wanted to experience, and in honor of Black History Month to show Black/African culture,” said Marfowa Antwi, president of ASA.
Starting ASA, Antwi wanted to create a safe space for Africans and African-Americans to indulge and enjoy fellowship with similar cultures.
Additionally, John Adams’ Drama Club presents its spring play, “Airness,” a twisty turn of an air guitar rookie trying to achieve airness. The club is in the process of casting members and beginning practices.
Staff spotlight:
Joshua Skube is the well-known Girls Swimming coach for the John Adams Eagles. Graduating from Chesterton High School, this is now Skube’s fifth year coaching at Adams. Skube’s love for coaching high school swimming, and his daughter's attendance at Adams, helped him settle down in coaching.
“I’ve always wanted to get back into high school coaching because I’ve always loved my experience with high school swimming,” Skube said.
Though his last five years have been at Adams, Skube noted he started coaching club swimming during his sophomore year of college at Ball State University. In his journey to coaching at Adams, Skube also spent two years assistant coaching at Bloomington North High School as well as fifteen years at Notre Dame University. As a full time academic counselor for student athletes at Notre Dame, Skube still dedicates time to coaching these girls. Through the years, as Skube’s eldest daughter, Ivy Skube, attended John Adams and swam for the team, coach Skube sought the opportunity to coach her team as the previous coach wasn’t able to carry out the role.
“Ivy’s sophomore year, the coach at the time was saying she wasn’t going to be able to coach the whole time and needed help, so I volunteered to help,” Skube said
Skube has had many goals and impacts in coaching. Much of what he advocates for is giving back. Coaching through Notre Dame specifically, Skube notes he has gained a lot of experience and plentiful knowledge that he didn’t want to waste.
“I’m a firm believer in giving back. You can’t die with what you've gained in life in your brain, that's just a horrible, selfish thing. Let's get back into coaching and help others benefit from what I’ve learned,” Skube said.
Through the past three years, Skube has had the opportunity to coach record-breaking girls: junior Adele Zyniewicz and freshman Addy Szakaly. During the 2020-2021 swim season, Zyniewicz broke five records all within the one season: 200m freestyle, 200m IM, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. During the current 2022-2023 swim season, Szakaly broke the 100 yard backstroke record during the Adams x Penn meet. Skube commented on his thoughts of both girls.
“It always feels great to have such talented swimmers come into your program because you know it makes you feel like they’re trusting of you to help them become a better swimmer,” said Skube.
Having the opportunity to coach Szakaly in specific this year, Skube notes her talent.
“Addy is a special athlete, I will say that. I’ve coached a lot of people in my life ranging from people learning how to swim to people setting American records. She is the type of kid who wants to be there everyday, trying to seek out things that will make her better. It's always fun to coach someone that is willing to soak up what you have to offer,” Skube said.
Student spotlight:
Addison Szakaly is a big-time record-breaking freshman at Adams.
Starting her swim career at seven years old, Szakaly swam for the South Bend Swim Club. At first, feeling no passion for swimming, Szakaly mentions often slacking off and messing around during practices. Once being threatened to get kicked off the team, Szakaly’s mental attitude towards the whole situation shifted as she began attentive and focused during practices. As she excelled in the water more and more, Szakaly won the USA Swimming State Championship at 13 years old. Now at 14, swimming on the John Adams Girls Swim team, Szakaly has broken the 100 backstroke swim record of 59.45 seconds in 2015.
Being new to Adams, Szakaly notes she chose Adams in hopes to branch out into other interests of hers besides swimming. Through swimming for the club, her team was heavily affiliated with Riley High School, a neighboring high school in the South Bend Community School Corporation.
“A few girls tried to convince me to swim for different teams,” Szakaly said.
Through numerous connections to other high schools with Olympic Trial athletes, Szakaly chose Adams and now is a part of the show choir, excelling in her many talents. Like this commentReply