NOCTILUCA December 2016

FEATURES Appleton, Wisconsin December 2016 Vol. XXII

Issue III

Page 8

Choir director plans to bring his new ideas to life

By Trinity Olson

father. The drums were also self taught, while he has two years of piano in elementary school, and learned and grew from there. For the future of North’s choir, Aumann plans to try new things and has many ideas. “We’ll see how this year goes. It’s been going really re- ally well, and I’m excited to implement some of my ideas.” As for now, Aumann is im- pressed and inspired by the group. “In our fall concert, North Choir has been singing this song, The Road Home, which is a beautiful, beautiful testament to how important a feeling of home is, as well as unity and community. They’ve been singing it as a tradition for many years. On stage, we are standing on risers, there are four rows of people. As the song starts, they spontane- ously started holding hands, I did not ask them too. They just did. It was really powerful and really cool.” Aumann, like many others, hopes that North’s Choirs con- tinue to succeed and grow. residents. Most of these ideas are not yet set in stone, as the club needs to get everything approved, but members of the “I really just want to be able to teach people an easy, fun instru- ment and get to know more people that enjoy the same things as me” -Madison Berlowski club are excited to see what op- portunities arise. The club next meets on Dec. 13, in Stidham-Gerbert’s room, 2353. “I am looking forward to see what we have to come,” Ber- lowski said.

Before leading Appleton North’s choir, Mr. Aumann, or Mr. A as he introduced himself, taught at Green Bay East High School. His transi- tion to North was to be closer to his wife. “My wife teaches at Kimberly High School, and she teaches English there; we wanted to be closer to each other.” Mr. Aumann didn’t enter college planning to become a teacher, and need a gentle push to break through the shell to realize what he really wanted to do. “There’s a couple dif- ferent moments, but I’ll just pinpoint one moment. I was in college, and I wasn’t an Ed. major, which means I wasn’t going to become a teacher, I was just a music major. Half- way through college, it was probably after the summer of my second year of college, I realized that I was fighting the urge to be a teacher the whole time. I was thinking like ‘This isn’t for me. I don’t want to do that.’ I had been told by a lot of people that ‘You don’t want Starting out in the recreation- al soccer program that every- one seemed to be in, Morgan Guest began her career in soc- cer at a young age. “I’ve been playing for about ten years, since I was four.” Now, Guest has been play- ing in a more serious aspect. “I play club soccer for FC Wis- consin Eclipse, it’s part of the Elite’s Club National League which is one of the top soc- cer leagues in the country for women.” Guest had been on the team since she was 12, and has gained many friendships out of it. “We’re really close, I’ve been on the team with a majority of the girls since I was 12. We’re good leaders, and we all have different person- alities. We each bring our own aspect to the game, so it’s really cool to get new players and to change it up.” Practice with this elite team occurs three to four times a week, adding to the already busy schedule of Guest. She travels two hours to Milwaukee to practice with her team, and she spends her drive “sleeping and doing homework.” Her home games are in Mil- waukee, usually on the week- ends, while the away games By Trinity Olson

Mr. Aumann has ideas for how to implement his plans into this school year. Photo by Olivia Molter

to do that.’ For whatever rea- sons be it money, or be it time, or whatever. I was resisting that. I had a really great men- tor that summer whom I had a conversation with, and he helped me realize ‘No, why are you fighting this. You’d be good at it, and you would love it.’ I haven’t looked back since.” Even before Appleton North, and Green Bay East, and even his time in college, Mr. Aumann was surrounded by music. “I’ve always been

polka band. My mom plays accordion. My dad plays sax- ophone and guitar. All my sib- lings were all so very involved with music. The one common thread was, in music, was that we all sang.” Being surrounded by music in his early years definitely in- fluenced his career and skills in music. “I play guitar, it’s my main instrument, more lately it’s the piano, and I also play some drums.” Aumann mainly self taught himself on the gui- tar, with some help from his me,” said Berlowski. A possible “Jam Night” is planned within the club where players of any instrument can come and play together. The night is still waiting for ap- proval. This club will likely be ex- tremely involved in the com- munity, as another activity the club is planning on doing this December is going “caroling” where they will be getting a group together to go door to door and play. They are also trying to put together a Kids Day, where all children would be welcome to come and learn the beginning steps of how to play the ukulele. On top of that, they want to go to nurs- ing homes to play music for the

a jack of all trades, ace of none type of person, so I was good at other subjects and other things, but I grew up in a family that on long car rides, we would sing in the car. In harmony, not just everyone singing along, we’re making a harmony. My dad was in a By Nolan Arnold From rugby to ultimate fris- bee, along with popular options like HOSA and DECA, Apple- ton North is home to many clubs, and students are always encouraged to start new ones. Recently created was the Ukulele Club. “Ukulele Club is fun, not competitive, and if you don’t own a ukulele then you can play a tennis racket,” said advisor Mrs. Stidham-Gerbert. Madison Berlowski, an origi- nal member and founder of the club, said the club started in May, when she was sitting in Stidham-Gerbert’s room. “One day we were talking about in- struments because if anyone knows SG, she really enjoys the harmonica and penny whis- tle. I brought up that I played the ukulele and that lead to the idea to make a ukulele band. At first it was just another one of our weird ideas, but after a cou- ple of days we finally thought, why not make a ukulele club?” A quick form was filled out and within a week, Appleton North had a ukulele club. The goal of the club is more focused on fun than anything else. “I re- ally just want to be able to teach people an easy, fun instrument and get to know more people that enjoy the same things as lately it’s the piano, and I also play some drums.” “I play guitar, it’s my main instrument, more

Human of Appleton North: Morgan Guest

Ukulele Club is open to all students

depend on the team. “Sometimes they are in Mi c h i g a n , some t imes they’re in St. Louis, some t imes they’re in Il-

Morgan Guest of FC Wiscon- sin Eclipse

linois. I went to Texas once in the previous year, and I’m go- ing to Florida this year.” The weekend of Nov. 11, Guest traveled to Phoenix, Arizona. “It was for a college showcase for the ECNL.” The trip consisted of Guest fly- ing out on Thursday, having a few hours of relaxation time, and then practicing. “I had an afternoon training, just to get the muscles going. Then I had games Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and I flew back after my game on Sunday.” Guest also had time to sneak in some fun, by going on a mountain hike and enjoying the scenery. “One win, one tie and one loss. We played the top team in the country, yet we lost five to zero. That’s actually not that bad because they usually leave games double digits. It’s pretty impressive for us.” See more Humans of North stories on northnoct.com

Mia Druckery, Madison Berlowski, and Kyle Scherzinger of the Ukulele Club are willing to play anywhere. Photo by Jordan Annis