2004-2005
				The title of the 2004-2005 yearbook was Bustin’ Out, and that is just what Perry Meridian High School did that year. From new clubs to an election year to National Merit Scholars to a camera-coordinated Falcon to setting new records, state appearances and even state champions, the Falcons proved they were really bustin’ out. Several fall athletes made it passed the qualifying rounds of their sports and competed in sectional, regional, and semi-state competitions. The girls’ cross country team finished fourteenth out of twenty teams at semi-state. Runners for the Falcons were Hannah Bennett, Kristin Raker, and Brittany Moore (Shaver “Runners wrap it up.” 7). The boys’ cross country team proved to be extremely fit, and Alan Nordholt represented the Falcon runners at the semi-state cross-country meet. He placed eighty-first out of 156 competitors (“Nordholt runs with elite” 6). Junior Sarah Matthews did great at Regionals for golf and obtained fifth place out of ten competitors, but unfortunately, she failed to make it to semi-state (Shelton 7). The boys’ soccer team finished its season with a 12-3-4 record, but lost in the sectional (Keckhaver “Fútbol finishes 1-2-3-4.” 6). Senior Andy Allen was mentioned in the Indianapolis Star for winning the bench press portion of the Special Olympics. He put up 175 pounds for the win. Andy has been in a wheel chair since he was seven due to spina bifida; he’s had it since birth (Kinney “Senior receives star recognition.” 6). The Falcon football team ended its season with a 5-7 record and lost to Ben Davis in the sectional with a score of 30-0 (Margason 6). Perry Township schools would be feeling the loss of students because of bus desegregation. Desegregation for Perry schools began in the fall of 2004. Perry North students, beginning with kindergarten, will no longer be bused to Perry schools. All students from the northside that are already in Perry Township schools will continue in Perry Township schools (“Busing’s phase out this fall begins with kindergarteners” 1A). Several lives were lost due to a flu vaccine shortage. Federal officials announced on October 5, 2004 that the U. S. would have a shortage of the influenza vaccine for the 2004-2005 season due to the closing of a factory in Liverpool, England. The British found some early vaccines contained a type of bacteria that could threaten the sick or elderly, or the people that needed the vaccine the most (“Flu Vaccine Shortage Predicted, October 5, 2004. ” <http://galenet.galegroup.com>). Luckily, the flu vaccine shortage didn’t affect PMHS epidemically, and events went on as usual. The 2004 Homecoming Dance theme was “Falcons’ Night on the Town.” The theme days for Homecoming week were 80’s Day, Mismatch Day, Dress Like Your Favorite Celebrity Day, Dress Like Your Favorite Teacher Day, and Spirit Day. SRO, Then and Now, and the Jazz Band performed on Thursday night. The Falcons unfortunately lost the football game that Friday night to the Lawrence Central Bears with a score of 0-28. Homecoming King and Queen were Josh Cobb and Felicia Kiesel (Passages XXXII 11, 13). Other events for Perry included certain updates and new possibilities. 500 new computers were installed at Perry. They have a Pentium 4, 2.5-gigahertz processors. Every computer has a CD burner and a DVD-ROM drive, but they don’t have floppy drive; this left several unhappy Falcons in the dust because the new computers were upgraded and used USB drives instead of floppy drives(Brenneman 1). Hamlet by Shakespeare was the fall play and was the first time director Stephanie Davis directed Shakespeare (Passages XXXII 19). The Veteran’s Day program was a huge success (Passages XXXII 21). Collin Fultz remembered the Veteran’s Day program and thought it was pretty cool because his class received an award from the Military Order of the Purple Heart (Fultz Personal Interview). Matt Repass was chosen to be on posters funded by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, IHSAA, and the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. Repass was chosen by PM’s music directors. He had to be musically talented and drug-free. The posters were for an anti-drug and alcohol campaign (Like 2). An advance for the United States was the grand reopening of the Statue of Liberty. The monument was reopened for visitors on August 3, 2004. It had been closed since September 11, 2001, and some parts of the statue were still closed to the public. It was updated with new security equipment, and security officers were present (“Statue of Liberty Reopens, August 3, 2004.” <http://galenet.galegroup.com>). A new club starting this year was the Blue Crew. It had several members: over 500! Blue Crew was a spirit group to cheer on sports teams, plays, and other events. The Falconettes were another new group to Perry for the 2000’s. The Falconettes were a branch of the Blue Crew (Passages XXXII 27). The Perry Dance Team, or the Falconettes, returned to PMHS from when the school first opened. The thirteen-member squad is a part of Blue Crew and will perform during the basketball halftime show. Mrs. Connie Walters was the group’s sponsor (Gill “Falconettes to reappear after several years.” 1). The elections of 2004 were blue as well. Republican George Bush was elected president for a second term on November 2, 2004. His democratic opponent John Kerry received 59 million popular and 252 electoral votes when Bush received 62 million popular and 286 electoral votes (“George W. Bush Reelected, November 2, 2004.” <http://galenet.galegroup.com>). Governor Joe Kernan’s journey as interim-governor ended with republican Mitch Daniels taking his place. Kernan made history by appointing Katy Davis as the state’s first female lieutenant governor, he implemented Saturday hours at the BMV, he passed the expansion of full-day kindergarten, and he saved the life of Darnell Williams by reviewing DNA and taking him off death row (McNeil B01). Both of these elections got a hold of Perry students, and the high school held its own elections. In the mock elections, Bush received 1046 votes and Kerry received 500 votes. Daniels received 1011 votes and Kernan received 468 votes. Several students such as Anna Cox remembered these elections (Cox Personal Interview). Several students worked the polls and passed out fliers for the elections (Passages XXXII 126, 127). The Winter Dance theme was “The Snowball.” The King and Queen of the dance were Daniel Green and Leah Meyers (Passages XXXII 21, 23). Other winter events included the Prelude Awards, the musical, the Turnabout Dance, and continued success for the speech team. Brandon Welch, Sean Seager, and Colleen Welch all danced to the final round of the Prelude Awards. Only four dancers made it to the finals. First place receives $2,500 scholarship, and the runner up receives $500 scholarship (Summers “Perry Prevails at Prelude.” 1). Sean Seager won the Prelude Award for dance and won the $2,500 scholarship. He had danced for a long time at The Dance Company. He planned to use the money to help pay tuition at the University of San Diego (Wiles “Seager cashes in with Prelude win.” 1). “Guys and Dolls” was performed on the PMHS stage for a third time. It was packed with great singing, dancing, and music (Nord “Guys and Dolls Rocks.” 1). The Turnabout Dance was a huge success. It had more students attend than the Neon Lights Dance. The King was Ben Coe (Gill “Turnabout draws crowd.” 1). The Speech Team finished fourth out of twenty-four teams at the McCutcheon Invitational. Kyle Culmann, Dustin Davidson, and Kelli Reason advanced to semi-finals at District (Shaver “Speakers speak the speech at McCutcheon.” 3). Perry had a great winter sport season. The girls’ basketball team defeated Southport 58-39 and Franklin Community 54-42 but lost to Franklin central all in sectional play. The season ended 12-10 (Gill “Girls’ b-ball sectional runner-up.” 11). The boys’ basketball team finished the season 8-12 with a sectional loss to Decatur Central 57-50 (Shaver “B-ball stumped in sectionals.” 10). Dominique John was named All-County and All-Conference for basketball (Passages XXXII 93). The girls’ swim team advanced past the first round of sectionals. Ashley Alvey got a fourth place finish that ended up being the highest place for the Falcons (Kinney “Swimmers finish 4th at sectionals.” 7). The boys’ swim team was undefeated, won conference, and went to state (Passages XXXII 107). Four advanced to state, and the team placed fourth overall (Hurrle 10). The wrestling team lost Regionals, but Nick Walpole won the title at 140 pounds, Eric Aue placed sixth at 145 pounds, and Johnny Urich got third at 103 pounds (Passages XXXII 111). Perry gymnasts earned a score a 103.475 to get third place at regionals. Barbie Blevins got second place on vault and advanced to state. That’s the first time a Falcon has gone to state since 1993 when Nicole Richards went to state. The team finished 11-3 for the season (Keckhaver “Blevins flips to state.” 7). Barbie Blevens got eleventh place out of fifty gymnasts on vault at State. She received a 9.45, and a 9.5 would have gotten her eighth place (Keckhaver “Blevins vaults to 11th at State.” 7). Matt Hart benched 435 pounds and broke the bench press record (Wright 6). The boys’ bowling team finished their season with a 4-6 record. The team finished eighth in the county and eleventh at sectionals (Culmann “Bowlers finish final frame.” 6). The girls’ bowling team finished third at sectionals. Individual winners were Jennifer Thompson, Courtney Costello, and Heather Vaughn (Culmann “Bowler fall short at Regionals.” 11). The success continued all over Perry Township. The Perry Meridian and Southport Sixth Grade Academies had received great reviews since the new dress code was implemented in August of 2004. The success caught the attention of the school board, and the school board discussed implementing the dress code into seventh and eighth grades (Brown 1,8). More success for Perry was on the way as well. Blake Brenneman and Zack Kiel paired up and claimed one of ten spots as Project XL State Finalists (Summers “Two PM juniors excel at Project XL.” 1). Blake Brenneman will also be one of eighteen workers on Student-Produced Week for Channel One. There were a total of 1,000 applicants. He traveled and stayed in California for eight days, and he worked as a cameraman (Nord “Junior Blake Brenneman will lend his camera skills to Channel One.” 2). Senior Brittany Wagoner placed first in Job Skills Demo A at the State competition at Warren Central High School. She showed the judges how to carve a swan out of a melon. Her first place wins placed her at the 2005 National Skills Competition in Missouri this summer. Wagoner received a $6,000 scholarship to Ivy Tech and a $5,000 scholarship to Kendall College for her win (Terlep 2). The spring play was Rosencrantz and Guildnstern are Dead. The Perry actors and actresses had less than five weeks to put on the show due to Spring Break (Sweeney “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren’t dead yet.” 1). Another spring event was mostly for the administrators. Teachers, administrators, parents, and students gathered at the State House protesting Mitch Daniels by shouting, “Save our schools!” A current plan would take care of some of the state’s debt by cutting spending money for schools. Perry Township expected a 250-student growth (Summers “SOS-education in danger.” 1).” As the end of the year came around, so did Prom. The 2005 Prom theme was “Hollywood: Remember When.” It was held at Primo Banquet Hall, and the King and Queen were Lemar Brown and Dana Slater. After Prom was, again, held at Expo Bowl (Passages XXXII 164). As graduation came nearer, several seniors were honored for their contributions and outstanding work and citizenship. Several teachers were recognized for their outstanding efforts at the Academic Banquet and at miscellaneous award banquets throughout the year. The valedictorian was Bethany Disch with a 4.4658 GPA, and the salutatorian was Billy Bennett with a 4.4613 GPA (Summers “Valedictorian, salutatorian set.” 1). Dana Slater won the Daughters of the American Revolution, or DAR, Good Citizen Award. She was chosen over Andrea Summers and Billy Bennett by her fellow classmates (Wiles “Slater wins DAR Good Citizen award.”3). Seniors Chris Casey, Andrea Summers, and Ryan Wright were finalists in the National Merit Scholarship program. Each performed extremely well on the National Merit Scholastic Qualification Exam (Kinney “National Merit Scholars named.” 2). Staffer of the Year was Anna Cox. Editor of the Year was Natalie Wilson (Passages XXXII 224). Erik Shaver was the recipient of the James Head Academic Scholarship (James Head Academic Scholarship Plaque). Alise Perry won the Eugene Echols Award (Eugene Echols Award plaque). The Something Extra Award went to Dana Slater (Something Extra Award plaque). The Indiana Association of School Principal’s Indiana Department of Education chose Billy Bennett as one of forty Academic All-Stars. The Indianapolis Star presented him with this prestigious award on April 13, 2005 (Indianapolis All-Star plaque). Ms. Carey and Mr. Tonte were coaches of the year in boys swimming and wrestling, respectively (Sweeney “Tonte and Carey: All –Star coaches.” 7). Mr. Roland Abraham was the Teacher of the Year (Outstanding Teacher Award plaque). The seniors that left the Falcon flock after the 2004-2005 school year were really bustin’ out. Perry would have its name in the record books for more than one event, and all of the morale boosts would hopefully give Perry its best years to come. However, the Falcons had yet to face their biggest event in the following year. “It drew so much unnecessary public attention (Wherry Personal Interview).” However, the bustin’ Falcons had only one way to go: up. Works Cited Brenneman, Blake. "Incoming-new computers." Focus. 8 October 2004:1. Brown, Keith. "Community comments on extension of dress code." The Spotlight. 13 Apr 2005: 1,8. "Busing's phase out this fall begins with kindergarteners." The Spotlight. 3 Mar. 2004:1A. Cox, Anna. Student. 2002-2006. Personal Interview, 9 Apr. 2007. Culmann, Kyle. "Bowler fall short at Regionals." Focus. 4 Mar 2005: Girls' Sports: 11. Culmann, Kyle. "Bowlers finish final frame." Focus. 11 Feb 2005: Boys' Sports: 6. Eugene Echols Award plaque. 23 Apr. 2007. "Flu Vaccine Shortage Predicted, October 5, 2004." Historic U.S. Events. 2004. 7 Mar. 2007. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/>. Fultz, Collin. Student. 2000-2004. Personal Interview, 9 Apr. 2007. Gill, Lora. "Falconettes to reappear after several years." Focus. 24 Sept. 2004: 1. Gill, Lora. "Girls' b-ball sectional runner-up." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005: Girls' Sports: 11. Gill, Lora. "Turnabout draws crowd." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005 : 1. "George W. Bush Reelected, November 2, 2004." Historic U.S> Events. 2004. 7 Mar. 2007. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/>. Hurrle, Abigail. "Swimmers splash at State." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005: Boys' Sports: 10. Indianapolis All-Star plaque. 23 Apr. 2007. James Head Academic Scholarship plaque. 23 Apr. 2007. Keckhaver, Jessi. "Blevins flips to state." Focus. 18 Mar. 2005: Girls' Sports:7. Keckhaver, Jessi. "Blevins vaults to 11th at State." Focus. 8 Apr 2005: Girls' Sports: 7. Keckhaver, Jessi. "Fútbol finishes 1-2-3-4." Focus. 22 Oct 2004: Boys' Sports: 6. Kinney, Ashley. "National Merit Scholars named." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005: News: 2. Kinney, Ashley. "Senior receives star recognition." Focus. 19 Nov. 2004: Boys' Sports: 6. Kinney, Ashley. "Swimmers finish 4th at sectionals." Focus. 11 Feb. 2005: Girls' Sports: 7. Like, Michelle. "Repass knows the score: buckle up!" Focus. 8 Oct. 2004: News: 2. Margason, Krissy. "Ben Davis ends football's late season success." Focus. 19 Nov. 2004: Boys' Sports: 6. McNeil, Michelle. "Kernan ready to move on." The Indianapolis Star. 6 Jan. 2005: City State: B01. Nord, Christina. "Guys and Dolls Rocks." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005:1. Nord, Christina. "Junior Blake Brenneman will lend his camera skills to Channel One." Focus. 8 Apr. 2005: News: 2. "Nordholt runs with elite." Focus. 5 Nov. 2004: Boys' Sports: 6. Outstanding Teacher Award plaque. 23 Apr. 2007. Passages XXXII: Bustin' Out. Marreline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 2005. Shaver, Erik. "B-ball stumped in sectionals." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005: Boys' Sports: 10. Shaver, Erik. "Runners wrap it up." Focus. 5 Nov. 2004: Girls' Sports: 7. Shaver, Erik. "Speakers speak the speech at McCutcheon." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005: News: 3. Shelton, Mackenzie. "Matthews falls just short of state." Focus. 8 Oct. 2004: Girls' Sports: 7. Something Extra Award plaque. 23 Apr. 2007. "Statue of Liberty Reopens, August 3, 2004." Historic U.S. Events. 2004. 7 Mar. 2007. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/>. Summers, Andrea. "Perry Prevails at Prelude." Focus. 11 Feb. 2005: 1. Summers, Andrea. "SOS-education in danger." Focus. 22 Apr. 2005: 1. Summers, Andrea. "Two PM juniors excel at Project XL." Focus. 8 Apr. 2005: 1. Summers, Andrea. "Valedictorian, salutatorian set." Focus. 18 Mar. 2005: 1. Sweeney, Mary-Margaret. "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren't dead yet." Focus. 22 Apr. 2005: 1. Sweeney, Mary-Margaret. "Tonte and Carey: All -Star coaches." Focus. 22 Apr 2005: Girls' Sports: 7. Terlep, Rachel. "Job skills earn Wagoner trip to national competition." Focus. 6 May 2005: News: 2. Wherry, Steve. Teacher. 1999-2007. Personal Interview, 31 Mar. 2007. Wiles, Jamie. "Seager cashes in with Prelude win." Focus. 4 Mar. 2005: 1. Wiles, Jamie. "Slater wins DAR Good Citizen award." Focus. 19 Nov. 2004: News: 3. Wright, Ryan. "Hart breaks bench record." Focus. 8 Apr. 2005: Boys' Sports: 6.