The End
Today is our day to focus on Western schools and all the good things going on in Silver Eagle Country.
Joining us is District Administrator and 7 through 12 Principal Molly Casten.
Mariah Green is here.
We'll talk about all that she does.
She has a really big business card.
We'll talk about Western Homecoming.
Here we go, Molly.
This looks exciting.
You got a big poster there.
Yeah, it's a pretty exciting week.
Homecoming is, it's always a
It's a fun time to, you know, look to celebrate your kids and your high school, but also for West and this is our 70th anniversary.
And so we had to do something extra special this year to make sure to honor that.
And then also to provide a lot of opportunities for our high school students because homecoming is about also about your high school students.
It's a big part of the high school experience and making sure our kids have something that
they will remember for years to come.
Right.
I have you had a lot of contact with some of the classes that might be coming back.
An alumni, Mariah, perhaps?
We do, actually we have quite a few that are gonna be coming back.
We have a special event that's happening Saturday night, which is our Back to the Nest reunion, which is, we've invited our retired Weston staff and then our community and alumni to come back and see those people that were so important in their school years and get to visit with them.
So we're hoping for a very good turnout throughout the whole week, but also at the end of the week when we have the retired staff coming back.
Have you had good response to
that?
Yeah, I think right now Val Thompson and I are putting that event on together and she has done an amazing job at reaching out to retired staff.
They have socials throughout the whole year where they get together for lunch and I think right now we're about 15 to 20 that are coming back.
So we're pretty excited.
Could be a wild time.
Molly, what about some history?
Are you kind of getting into some of the 70 year history of Weston for that week?
I know Mariah's been putting some things out throughout and I haven't.
I know we, the class of 1956, correct?
We reached out to them.
We have, and I think you've done that, haven't you?
Yeah, we have, we've had a couple.
really vital alumni that have helped and brought things into the school so that we can showcase yearbooks.
We'll have all of our annuals out for people to go through.
We have some of our very old uniforms, baseball uniforms, football uniforms, and just a lot of different pictures and things that we're going to be sharing.
But we've had a couple alumni who have been really helpful in that aspect.
Wonderful.
Sounds like everything's in place for that.
Has it been a good start to the school year, Molly?
Yeah, it has.
We have a really good group of students in our high school and they've been working as well with Mariah because she's also not only our public relations,
She also is our new student council advisor.
So the student council has a big piece in the, in homecoming as well.
Because when you look at homecoming, there's, and this 70th anniversary, there's
there's the community piece but then there's also the high school piece that's for the high school students and you know there's dress-up days there's different activities that we do at the high school and that is led by the student council and so Mariah has done a really different approach this year with our student council and they have made some changes
And it's not just doing what we've always done, but looking at what kids really wanted to do.
And she made some changes there.
And so then there's that high school piece that's occurring.
And then we also, our junior high does some of their own separate things as well.
So really getting the students involved in some of the decision making.
And Mariah's been a really big piece of that with our high school student council.
Yeah.
I mentioned at the outset about your big business card, but let me see if I have this right.
Social media, community relations coordinator, high school administrative assistant, chair and palm advisor and student council.
Yeah.
Did I miss anything?
Mom to three boys, I don't know if
that.
How do you do all that?
It has its days, lots of coffee.
It does.
Well, take us through next week at Weston Homecoming, if you would, Mariah,
and
maybe kind of day by day what's going to be going
on.
Absolutely.
So starting the week on Monday, we are hosting, our student council is hosting a paint night for our community and students and families.
That is going to be with our art teacher, Laura Deemer, and local artist,
Justina I.D., so that will begin at 5.30 on Monday and you can bring shirts, jeans, we have hats, cowbells, all the fun stuff to get creative.
On Wednesday, we will have our traditional float building after school.
Ms.
Casten is hosting a cookout during float building and following.
And then we're bringing back one of the old traditions that kind of was reoccurring that I would see in your books, which is having a bonfire.
That will begin at dusk.
Then we have on Thursday the FFA pork feed.
That will be happening before our distinguished alumni plaque presentation and that's by the Weston Silver Eagle Foundation.
And then following the presentation will be our pink out the gym.
So that will be for breast cancer awareness month.
Our volleyball team does a great job and they work with Grace for that as well.
Friday is gonna be pretty jam-packed.
So we have obviously all of our in-school activities that we're doing.
Our homecoming parade begins at 2.30.
Then at 4.45, we have the Silver Eagle Foundation induction ceremony for the new inductees of this year.
Then at five o'clock, we are featuring Jacob Music.
and he will have basic age also with him.
So they will perform from five to 545 and that will be near the football field.
And then beginning at five, we have lots of vendors coming in.
We have food trucks, bounce houses, face painting for the kids, and six o'clock is kickoff for our football game.
And then following our football game, we have the Silver Eagle Foundation Alumni Social and that's at Hill Point Hideaway.
and kind of intermix through that whole week are lots of athletic events.
So it's going to be a lot, but it's going to be fun.
And then the dance on Saturday?
Yes, yep.
So on Saturday, the homecoming dance that grand march is at eight o'clock and then kind of circling back to the back to the Nestor Union that will be from one to five p.m.
So in community and all alumni are invited to attend.
My goodness, do we miss anything, Molly?
No, there's a lot, a lot going on.
And like Mariah talked about.
All of those different events and other thing, one tradition we have is hallway decorating is something our students do.
The nice part about having so many things occurring at the school is the kids do a really good job of that hallway decorating and that starts on Monday and we judge on Tuesday.
Having a lot of people in the building that can see some of the work that they do too because it looks really nice that the effort the kids put in throughout the week when they prepare for homecoming.
Your football co-op with Ithaca seems to be going quite well.
Yes, it does.
And it's a good start to last year when we started co-oping.
with softball, you know, that was new, kind of bridged that gap because I know the two schools had been rivals for so long in different areas.
And the success and the camaraderie of the kids, you know, that really helped to bridge that with softball.
And we're seeing that continue with football, you know, our kids, the kids, you know,
They know all the other kids.
It's not like it was.
We've talked about this before.
It's not like it was years ago when if you were friends with someone in a district other than your own, there was long distance to even call.
There is no long distance.
And so all these kids know each other.
And when you do have less people, which we all have less people in our schools, you do have friends that are outside of your immediate area because sometimes you
You have connections with people that have the same interests as you that aren't necessarily in your school.
So the kids have, it's been successful.
The kids are having fun, which is important.
They're competitive.
It's been, I think, a very good experience for all of our kids.
And you get to celebrate two homecomings because I think I had it in September and now
back at Weston this weekend or
next
weekend
yep that's right so having two homecoming so it's it's been you know that was that was enjoyable to get to go and see that game and and how Ithaca does their homecoming to a little bit you know that's different than ours and each of us keeping our own traditions and the way we do things but being able to experience the others that's that's been fun too
Very true.
Well, and then, of course, after homecoming, looking ahead, what are some other things going on this fall at Western schools?
Well, we have our annual Veterans Day Assembly on November 11th.
We'll have that.
We have our craft fair that's put on by our music department the end of November.
It's the weekend of Thanksgiving.
We also have October 28th, the blood drive coming up.
And then we also have, I know on October 30th, we don't have school that day.
Then October 29th and 30th, those are parent-teacher conferences because we're already at the end of the first quarter.
So we're 25% of the way through the school year.
That doesn't seem possible.
No, it does not.
Every year, every year it goes more quickly.
And it's hard to believe you wake up and we're in the middle of October already.
Are you kind of glad that homecoming is the latter part of the football season instead of right away to begin the school year?
Well, last year we had it early and there were some benefits to that.
I know Mariah and I were talking about that before.
One of the benefits when it was the first couple of weeks of school was we did a lot of
team building even though even though you think there doesn't need to be team building because these kids know each other and they've known each other forever you still have a lot of team building to do to be a productive team because in a small school if you aren't getting along with if there's someone you don't get along with historically and it's been an issue because that's human nature and
it's hard to sometimes work through that year after year.
And so we still have to be in classes with each other.
So we have to do some team building.
So the homecoming activities, that's what they are.
And so last year we had, we kind of focused on that at the beginning of the year.
And it really solidified some of our, you know, some of the relationships because of everything you do with homecoming.
So it does have some benefits to be early, but
One of the benefits of it being later is I've been able to see some of the issues other people and other districts have had during homecoming so that hopefully we can, you know, head off some of those issues based on what has been heard in other areas.
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
What about your cookout?
What's the what's the meal plan?
Well, the meal plan is I'm grilling hot dogs and brats.
and chips and some sodas and for the kids while they're building floats because we since the parade will be on highway us out by the school this year.
It's not in in a community.
We have and we've made that change for several reasons.
And so we have a place where the kids will be building floats.
Previously, they were building floats in different peoples.
at people's houses and so we are doing that at school.
And so the students will be able to during school on Wednesday from eight to 10, they're gonna start float building.
And then from six to eight, they will finish it.
And while they're finishing building their floats, I will be cooking and I'll be grilling up some hot dogs and brats so that I can feed them and then we will have our bonfire.
So I'm pretty excited about it when my own children were young,
I used to have all the kids at my house while they were doing different things with homecoming and it was always fun.
I always enjoyed having a house full and now I get the privilege of having a school full and having a whole, you know, even more kids, you know, that getting to, you know, take care of feed them dinner and enjoy some time with them.
So the parade will be on the road by the school.
So where do people watch the parade at?
So we have, and Mariah has sent out a lot of information on social media.
So the parade, the staging area is behind the school and will come out
and go out on S and come back and circle around in the parking lot and end back where it started.
And so we will have two separate parking locations.
One of our neighbors has been working with us to use his field.
So if anybody is coming from Highway 58, we will have a place for you to park in that section and we will have people guiding traffic.
If you're coming from the Lyme Ridge direction, there'll be another on the other side
of the school and other parking place for people.
And again, we'll have volunteers that are going to be out directing traffic.
And that way we can line up.
There's actually multiple sides of the road and spaces for people to be able to watch the parade.
I see.
They'll probably cut off traffic then for that time.
And we've been in communication with both counties, Riesland and Salk, before we even started this idea to have it.
you know, wanting to have it at the school, we have a beautiful campus and we wanted people to be able to come back and also having our students working, because float building is a school-sanctioned activity, it needs to be on school grounds and also with people, you know, that we, there are people that are supporting them that are people that
can be working with students.
So we felt that it was best to move that to be on school grounds.
And so it should be a lot of fun.
It's going to be new, and it's a little bit different.
But we want to bring people to the campus to celebrate the 70 years.
And then after the parade, there's a ton of activities going on.
People can tour the building.
It's always fun for me when people that have graduated or came in the past are able to go through the building and see what it looks like now.
So the building will be open and lots of activities there.
Wonderful.
It looks like the stage is set for a wonderful week.
What is the theme, Mariah, for this year's homecoming?
So the theme for this year is West End Through the Ages, celebrating 70 years.
some of our activities, um, hallway decorating one of them.
The classes were all picking different eras and we've had a lot.
There's going to be a lot of, um, unique ideas and I'm excited to see it all unfold.
So get your old letter jackets out.
Um,
cheerleading outfits or whatever the case might be.
I don't know if those would still fit, but you can bring them along
for a
showpiece or whatever.
We'll be back with more on the morning show today in just a moment.
We are spotlighting homecomings.
In fact, Riverdale is celebrating this week.
We had them on earlier this week during the morning show.
Richland Center homecoming next week and Weston as well.
We're in the studio talking with Molly Casten and Mariah Green about next week's festivities.
I think my forecast goes through Wednesday and it looks pretty good weather-wise, Molly, so we'll keep hoping that that holds out, right?
Yes, the forecast I'm looking at so far looks good.
All right, good deal.
Let's talk a little bit about some other things going on, the pork feed on Thursday night.
All right, so typically in years past we've had our pork feed after the parade and before the football game.
And this year we chose to move that Thursday night before the volleyball game.
And the reason for that is we needed to open up some time
on Friday because if we have the pork feet going on it takes a lot of people to man that and that takes a lot of people out of one being able to enjoy the parade, being able to be in the parade and so we tried to shift some of our activities.
So it also gives a way to highlight our female athletes before their volleyball game on Thursday night and then Friday
We have brought in some different vendors that Mariah is going to talk about, but we chose to do that because we have a limited number of people that we can, of staff, of community members, and for everybody to be able to somehow participate and enjoy instead of working through, you have to bring in some outside.
people to be able to man some of those things because otherwise.
Our staff is already busy with our students because we have students that whole day that we're responsible for.
And yes, some staff are doubling up because they're advisors and they're doing these things, but to have asking for a parent group to come in maybe to do some type of a food stand or something, it takes additional people, manpower, and that takes away from the people that would be attending.
and being able to participate as a spectator.
So we chose to go through this route because of that.
And sometimes you have to adjust what you do based on what you have.
And when you have less people, you have to find a way to put on a celebration
with the minimal people that you have and still be able to put on a great event.
And so we did have some community.
We had a community meeting.
We had a few people show up and we discussed how we were planning this and at the time that group thought that this was a good plan for the time.
So that's how we adjusted for this year.
Could you go over the vendors and who'll be there, Mariah?
Yeah, so we have, we're very fortunate to have a lot of businesses in our community that support our school through advertising and fundraising.
As a community relations coordinator, I felt it was really important to include those people as our vendors.
We have kind of a different mix this year, hopefully to please everyone.
We have five food trucks that are going to be coming.
That would be Big Reds, Dockside, Bay and Grill.
Hometown Hot Dogs out of Reedsburg.
We have Sweet Sips Soda Shop, which is really popular with all of the kids.
We have Jukebox Sips and Sweets, Thousand Mix Top,
which is an Asian cuisine food truck, and then Flavor Rescue, who has been really great.
They've worked with us on other events too.
As far as activities, one of the big people around here for bounce houses is TNT bounce house out of Reedsburg.
So they're gonna be bringing a couple of bounce houses for our kids.
And then we have a new vendor that hasn't been at the school before, but we've heard wonderful things from like the Laval celebration is Glitter Stitch.
And she does kind of creative art stuff, face painting, glitter hair extensions, all the fun things that the littles love now.
It's really going to be a good mix of people and I hope that everyone enjoys what we've come up with so far.
What is the timeline that the vendors will be there then?
Yeah, so they're going to be starting right about the same time as Jacob Music will be about five o'clock.
They'll be kind of setting up and ready to start serving at five and then they'll be there throughout the game as well.
Good.
And do any of the proceeds go back to the school then from the vendors?
They do not.
The proceeds are going to go to the businesses, but again, those are businesses that we've worked with for advertising and fundraising for a lot of our different groups at school.
And so this is kind of our way to say thank you, you know, have them come in and run their business and make the night a little bit, you know,
easier for everyone to enjoy because not only are we staff members, many of us are alumni.
I mean, my husband and I are alumni.
Our children are fourth generation Westonians.
So those are kind of the things we want to be able to enjoy too is getting to see these big celebrations and really celebrate.
our school and what makes it special.
Yeah.
You bring up a good point about the businesses because, um, you know, they support you, whether it's, uh, programs or yearbooks or whatever the case might be.
So
it's giving back
to them a little bit.
Do you know the Western school song or
not?
Um, probably by heart.
I won't sing it for you.
Molly might.
No, I had to do that, uh, at a, there was a class reunion that showed up.
They wanted a tour at the school.
And they're like, hey, we don't know the tune.
We need you to lead us.
And I, OK.
But luckily, they gave me the words because I
I still sometimes mess up the words on that, but Mariah knows them all.
Isn't it on the gym wall, or did I dream that?
Yeah,
in two locations.
In two
locations, yeah, I think it is.
So you just have to know the tune.
Well, it'll be sung a few times next week, that's for sure.
It's been sung quite a bit lately.
The kids are starting to know.
It's one of the things I think that is hard when you do have co-ops is schools, when I was in school, everybody knew the school song because it was played before every sporting event.
Well, now there are so many schools that have different co-ops.
I don't know if that's, I don't see it always happening at every, at every event because who's do you play?
And so.
It's good that we've been doing it more often at the beginning of the year and trying to get our kids to know that.
And so Mariah's been great because as cheer and palm, she makes sure at different times throughout the year when we have student assemblies that the cheerleaders or palm squad are coming in and doing that and getting it out there more often.
So the kids are starting to know it a little bit better.
Good.
And it looks like you have pretty good numbers for the cheer in Palm Squad,
right?
Yeah.
Last year, I think we ended up, for our Palm Squad, we had 15 girls.
And this year for football cheer, we have nine, which is actually a great number to work with.
And yeah, starting to kind of bring back more of that school spirit and
bringing some of those old traditions back.
For the cheer and palm squad, that's just Western students?
Yes, that one is just Western students.
Good numbers then.
Yeah, very good.
I was pretty fortunate the last two years now to have a good turnout for that.
But we have so many kids, so many girls, female athletes in our school, and so many of them are interested in dance and actually participate in dance and things.
So I just felt it was really important to kind of start pulling them into
this avenue of cheer and palms.
And I've been really, really lucky to have a lot of good girls in that group.
So
they've had a lot to cheer about during the football season.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's been, it's been a great run so far.
Absolutely.
And who do you play next week for homecoming?
Nesita.
Nesita.
Six o'clock kickoff time
at Western.
Great.
This week, I know they're at Royal on the road again.
They've been on the road quite a bit, it seems like.
Yeah.
So anything else you wanted to add today, Molly?
Well, we hope to see a lot of people come out who want to see alumni You know it's homecoming come home come back to Weston celebrate 70 years We appreciate over the years all the support of our communities and the alumni and we want to celebrate together So make sure to come and participate.
We want to see you all
And you have insight information on who the outstanding alumnus is going to be.
You probably can't say it on the radio
then.
Yeah, I do have insight information.
I don't think it's been announced yet.
I
don't believe so yet.
I can't get the exclusive.
I don't want to, if Maggie Lansinger hasn't told me I can announce it, I'm not going to announce it on radio.
No, that's all right.
I kind of knew the answer there.
But you do have a really active alumni group that has been a part of the school now for several years.
years.
Yes, it's I mean, it's amazing the things that they do and just the support that the school receives from them and that our community gives them as well.
So
good.
Well, thanks for coming in today, ladies.
Thank you for having us.
Yeah, here's to a happy homecoming week next week for Weston.
Molly Caston, District Administrator, Mariah Green, Social Media Community Relatives Relations Coordinator and High School Administrative Assistant, Chair and Prom Advisor, Student Council, Mother of Three.
Is that it?
I hope that's it.
Thanks for joining us on The Morning Show.