On this episode of “The Hall Hub: Those Guys!”, Tommy and Georgi take on scary movies just in time for Halloween!
The Hall Hub: Halloween Edition
Monthly Archives: October 2021
Eagles Begin Play for Postseason Glory
By Tori Kitchens
Swimming and Diving
Oak Hall’s swimming and diving team took to the pool yesterday for its district meet. Seven boys and 14-16 girls participated at the district competition. The athletes competed against Community Christian, Florida High, Maclay, North Bay Haven, St. Francis, PK Yonge, Rocky Bayou Christian, and Pensacola Catholic. Last season, the girls achieved a third-place finish in the district, while the boys placed fifth.
Having several goals this season, head coach Quinn Bohan’s main goal is not to win a title, but for each athlete to grow and have fun. “The mission of our team is to help our athletes fulfill their athletic goals while here at Oak Hall,” he emphasized.
Volleyball
Oak Hall’s volleyball team began its postseason run on Tuesday at Countryside Christian. As the district’s No. 1 seed, Oak Hall received a bye Monday night and defeated No. 4 seed Countryside Christian. Having beaten Countryside Christian in three sets at their gym, Coach Perry McDonald is confident in his team’s success. “Our hope is that we can win our District Championship because, if we do, we’re going to be able to come through and bring our fans at Oak Hall some really fun playoff volleyball,” he said.
The volleyball team has not been able to bring home a district title since 2010. The Lady Eagles have a tough task at hand, as most members don’t have much experience in postseason play. “This team is poised to do what no other team in the past probably eight to 10 years has done,” McDonald shared.
McDonald has high hopes for his team. Besides bringing Oak Hall another district championship, his main goal is to give the girls of the team experience in the post season to grow from in the upcoming years. “We’re very lucky to have three phenomenal seniors – Cate Cannon, Sophia Aulisio, and Emi Scorpio – that are really doing a sensational job on the court guiding this team and helping them be successful,” McDonald noted.
Golf
Both the boys and girls golf teams at Oak Hall have its district tournament at Ocala National Golf Club on Oct. 25 at 9 a.m. This tournament is an all-day 18-hole match that will be hosted by Trenton High School.
Oak Hall’s boys’ golf team is hoping to place in the top three in order to advance to the regional tournament. The competitors include St. Francis, Eastside, and Trenton to name a few. Boys’ captains Lucas Katz (OHS class of 2024) and Tanmay Chandra (OHS class of 2025) both have a similar goal in mind: a back-to-back district win for the first time since 2011. “We have the best win record, I believe, in close to 15 years, so it’s looking good,” Katz shared.
On the girls’ side, the Lady Eagles must place as one of the top two teams to qualify for regionals, which shouldn’t be difficult considering the team is looking to win its third district championship in a row. Although members of the team have been strong at the district level, none of the athletes have advanced to regional competition before. Senior co-captain Amanda Malnik is hoping the team plays its best in the postseason. “We need to work on our short game and putting in particular as a team,” Malnik noted.
Cross Country
Oak Hall’s cross country programs are hoping to bring home another district win at Alligator Lake in Lake City on Oct. 26. The girls are set to begin competition at 9 a.m. and the boys at 9:40 a.m. All teams are eligible to compete with up to 10 runners at districts. The top eight teams will qualify to the regional competition. “If we do our own jobs, we worry about ourselves, it’ll take care of itself,” Coach Edwin McTureous said.
McTureous is confident that he will see multiple Oak Hall runners place in the top 10 in both the girls’ and boys’ competitions. Senior Lauren Jones and junior Caden Montini are currently the top runners for Oak Hall, but McTureous expects that many other of the teams’ runners have a shot at an individual district title. “If one [opponent] has an off-day, I think we have several boys that [have] a chance to win,” McTureous noted.
Football
After a tough season plagued by injuries, Oak Hall’s football program is getting prepared to begin its playoff run on Oct. 29. Out of 24 teams, the Sunshine State Athletic Conference (SSAC) ranks the top eight teams to continue into the playoffs. “We are guaranteed two games, so if for some reason we lost the first round, we would still be able to play in a consolation game the next week, but then that would be it,” Head Coach RJ Fuhr explained.
Most of the Eagles’ injured players are set to return before the playoffs. Senior quarterback Georgi El-Semarani re-injured his ankle in his first game back during the regular season. Although El-Semarani does not have a set return date, he is hoping to play in the final regular season game against St. Francis. “[I am] aiming to try and be back fully by playoffs,” he said. Junior Eliah Bacchus is the only player that will not return for the playoffs, as he injured his femur.
The team’s experience at the State Championship game last year at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland gave the Eagles a beneficial experience that is being utilized during the postseason this year.
The Hall Hub: Those Guys!
On this episode of “The Hall Hub: Those Guys!”, Georgi and Tommy speak with retired Staff Sergeant Albert about his time in the army prior to, during, and after 9-11. With the recent anniversary of the devastating attacks on America, we felt it was important to interview someone with first-hand experience regarding the war that ended 20 years later this August. Having noted that, this interview is graphic at times, and certain inappropriate words have been censored. It was imperative that SSG Albert was able to speak candidly of his deployments during the interview, knowing we could edit it in post-production.
We thank SSG Albert for his service, for sharing his experiences, and for defending our country.
It’s Homecoming Week!
By Ryan McKinney
Oak Hall’s Upper School Student Government Association (SGA) has planned out all the activities and events happening this week for homecoming. This year’s homecoming week is Oct. 10 through Oct. 16 and includes dress up days for all divisions.
On Sunday, Upper School students came to campus to “Deck the Halls” in the overall theme “Hollywood at the Hall”.
On Monday, Oct. 11, the theme for the Upper School and Middle school is “Country vs. Country Club” which has students dressing up as one of the two themes country or country club, while the Lower School is participating in “Silly Sock Day”. At lunch, Upper School students will battle it out in the gym as they play dodgeball. Upper School students can choose their favorite cartoon character for Tuesday, while the Middle School students participate in “Decades Day” (sixth grade: babies; seventh grade: midlife; eighth grade: senior citizens) and the Lower School has “Tie Dye Tuesday”. The cartoon character theme carries over during lunch for the Upper School, as the Homecoming Court members will be slimed at the softball field.
The Upper School theme for Wednesday, Oct. 13 is “Decades Day” where each class will dress as a different generation:
Freshmen, Class of 2025: Babies/Toddlers
Sophomores, Class of 2024: Tweens
Juniors, Class of 2023: Mid-Life
Seniors, Class of 2022: Senior Citizens
On that same Wednesday the Middle School will be dressing as pairs of twins, while the Lower School will be participating in “Crazy Hat Day”. The Upper School boys will take to the volleyball courts in the gym during lunch to participate in Powder Buff; boys from each grade play volleyball and are coached by the girls volleyball team athletes.
Thursday’s theme for the Upper School is class color day where each class is assigned a color:
Freshmen, Class of 2025: White
Sophomores, Class of 2024: Grey
Juniors, Class of 2023: Gold
Seniors, Class of 2022: Red
The Middle School will be dressing as tropical or tacky tourists, while the Lower School students will be wearing their favorite players jersey as it is “Favorite Sports Team Jersey Day”. The Upper School ladies will show off their football skills during the annual Powder Puff football game during lunch at the stadium. Later that night, the JV and Varsity volleyball teams play St. Francis at 5:15 and 6:30 in the gym. This volleyball game is Senior Night and festivities begin at 6:15.
On Friday, the theme for all divisions is “Spirit Day” where students, faculty, and staff wear their best Oak Hall attire. During this Friday we will be on a special Homecoming bell schedule, as the Homecoming parade begins at 1:45. Family and friends are welcome to attend. Students will be dismissed from school after the Pep Rally which will be held after the parade at the stadium. There will be a Homecoming tailgate from 5-7 p.m. with the varsity football team plays at 7 p.m. At halftime, the Homecoming court will be presented, and the King and Queen will be crowned.
On Saturday, Oct. 16, Upper School students can let loose at the Homecoming dance from 7 – 10:30 p.m. Friendly reminder: no student will be allowed into the dance after 7:45 p.m.
Student Spotlight: Sofia Guico
OHS senior hopes to inspire others through music, athletics and leadership
By Tori Kitchens
Having been inspired by upperclassmen throughout high school, senior Arts Conservatory Program (ACP) member and student-athlete Sofia Guico now has the opportunity to pay it forward to younger members of the Oak Hall community. Being a lifer*, Guico has been part of multiple extracurricular activities including band, golf, Chinese Club, Honor Council, and Environmental Club. “I think the most important thing that a student-athlete should consider and work on is having a healthy balance,” Guico explained.
The senior has played violin for most of her life but did not join the Oak Hall music program until her eighth-grade year. Abbie Ringdahl (OHS class of 2018) convinced Guico to join the prestigious program. “She told me about all [of] these amazing opportunities I’d be given if I just kind of joined and talked to the music director, so I took a leap of faith,” Guico described. Once again, Guico was inspired by upperclassmen to join ACP going into the Upper School. “I just knew I wanted to be like them, so I tried to follow their path and do everything right,” she said.
Having played golf on and off for three years, Guico joined Oak Hall’s varsity girls golf team in sixth grade. As a senior, Guico is now the co-captain. She has enjoyed watching her teammates grow throughout her seven years in the program. “It’s really nice to see how we just kind of matured over the last couple [of] years,” Guico noted.
Since freshman year, Guico has been a representative of Oak Hall’s Honor Council (the group elected by their peers that represents the voice of the community when it comes to issues of academic integrity). “I got to see what hearings were like [freshman year] and help enforce and instill the Honor Code throughout the student body,” Guico stated. She was elected the sophomore class representative and Vice Chair in her junior year. As a senior, Guico is now the Honor Council Chair. “I was inspired by past seniors [and] past upperclassmen to run for Chair, so I did because I think there’s a lot of cool things you can do with that,” Guico mentioned.
She hopes younger students of OHS look up to her as she did to upperclassmen when she was younger and wants to ensure they feel welcomed and part of the OHS community. In addition, she wants them to pursue their passions while finding a healthy balance between activities and schoolwork. “While there are so many things you can pursue here, it’s so difficult to really find that perfect happy medium in everything,” Guico said.
* A “lifer” is an OHS student that began their educational adventure in kindergarten or prior, and consecutively stay through graduation.
A to Z with Sofia Guico
A – Advice you’d give your freshman self? Do what you love and pursue all the passions that you have.
B – Your best ACP moment? The one that I did online. I had to do all that basically by myself.
C – Career goals? I don’t know.
D – Favorite dessert? Ice cream.
E – Most entertaining class? Band, obviously.
F – Favorite high school moment? Today, being with you.
G – Goals for your senior year? To sleep a lot more than I have in the past.
H – Hoping to attend what college? It’s a surprise!
I – Interesting thing you do outside of arts and athletics? I really like to meditate.
J – Favorite joke? Knock knock. [Who’s there?] Me! Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
K – Keys to maintaining homework? Lock yourself in your room and don’t let your phone distract you.
L – Least favorite music style to play? Jazz.
M – Music you listen to? Jazz.
N – Netflix or Hulu? Netflix.
O – What other sport would you like to try? Water Polo.
P – Preparations for a big match or performance? For a big match, I have to eat Chic-Fil-A. For a big performance, doing my makeup really well.
Q – Question you’d ask your future self? Did you grow?
R – Most relaxing part of your day? My free period.
S – What would your senior superlative be? Worst driver!
T – Favorite TV show? Manifest.
U – Most underrated music genre? Lofi jazz.
V – Favorite vacation spot? My bed.
W – What does it mean to you to be an Eagle? To be honorable and to love what you’re doing.
X – Have you ever had an x-ray? No.
Y – Your impact to younger athletes and musicians? Try to find that really good balance.
Z – What is your zodiac sign? Virgo.