The 2011-2012 school year at Uni has been full of highlights and exciting events. Gargoyle reporters Jonny Yockey and Kathryn Powell present the best and the worst of the year in the Cheers and Jeers end of school edition.

• New Agora Registration

  This year Uni used a new Agora Week class registration system. Instead of the usual online registration, students lined up at Kenney Gym to sign up for their Agora classes. Students generally approved of the new system, especially since they knew their schedules as soon as they signed up for classes.

• Animals Around Uni

  This year we have had an abundance of small animals around Uni. The family of rabbits that live under Hue House now have some adorable baby rabbits. Let us not forget the squirrels (especially when they are caught in the live-traps) who occasionally climb around in Kenney.

  To cap it all off, there have been multiple possum sightings this year. First it was in the trash can by the picnic tables. Later in the year, during winter finals, it was seen climbing the tree outside the west side of Uni. While not as cute as the baby bunnies, the opossum was still fun to watch. We would mention the resurgent population of cockroaches in Kenney Gym, but this is a cheer.

• IHSA Sports

  The 2011-2012 school year was one of the most successful Uni athletic years ever. Girls and boys soccer, girls and boys basketball, and girls volleyball all won at least one game during Regionals. Boys soccer and girls basketball moved on to play in Sectionals, where boys soccer won the championship, and moved on to Super Sectionals, and girls basketball advanced to the Sectional finals. Other sports have also performed well, with girls swimming and girls track sending people to state, and boys track and tennis hoping to do the same.

• The Twin Cities Twosome

  This year Uni had outstanding performances in the annual Twin Cities Twosome. Sophomore Arch Robison was the first overall finisher, breaking the record for fastest finish by a Uni student, with a time of 17:53. Three of the top five finishers were Uni students, and all of the top five female finishers were Uni students.

• Uni Period

  Uni Period offers extra time for studying, activities, or simply relaxing and having fun with friends. It is a nice break from a stressful day at school, and it allows us to spend more time homework-free at home as we have more time at school to complete our homework. There also have been fewer mandatory activities lately (no offense, Wabash Glee Club). Overall, the first trial year of the Uni Period schedule has been a success.

• Language Trips

  It is time again for the language trips this summer, and many students are anxiously counting down the days until they leave. It will be exciting to get to use these languages outside of class, and to be able to communicate with people in other countries. Whether the students are leaving for Spain, Germany, or France these trips are sure to be experiences of a lifetime. Hasta la vista, baby!

• Fitness testing

  No, we aren’t complaining about how we must run a mile, or do fifty crunches as a part of our fitness testing, but fitness testing has been more stressful this year for both the teachers and students. Whether it is that a student has to run a mile during Uni period, or the P.E. teachers have to collect the fitness testing results for over 300 students in just one week, the lack of time that we have had in the past week to complete the testing has everyone throwing a fit. Having to run the mile and 100-yard dash on new, strange courses (due to the construction of a nearby building) didn't help either.

• Uni Period

  Has the Uni Period schedule been used in the best possible way this year? Overall, students lounge around in the hallways and do not participate in many extracurricular activities. There has also been a lot of negative reactions to mandatory Uni Period activities. Also, Uni Period shortens our precious lunch to a measly thirty minutes. Although we have only lost five minutes, it feels like an eternity. Not to complain too much about Uni Period, we love it really, but there are still some problems with it.

• Kovacs's retirement

  Everyone can agree that nothing has been the same ever since Uni's assistant director Sue Kovacs retired. Even though it has been an entire semester since she retired, she is still in the back of all of our minds as we pass by her old office. What will happen when next year’s subbies won’t even know her name?

• Hiring Messes

  While we are glad that progress is finally being made to hire new administrators and teachers, we question the process. Making every single lunch and Uni Period an interview with candidates is overwhelming. We are happy that we students have input on these decisions, but students don't want to ditch their friends and spend all their time at interviews, especially during the last week of school. But maybe if free food were offered....

• Finals

  We know we're almost done with the school year, but that still doesn't make us feel any better about having to take finals. Studying is never fun, and is even less so when there is the pressure of an almost two-hour long exam hanging over you. At a lot of schools, students who have A's don't have to take finals. With all this talk of overstressed students at Uni, maybe this wouldn't be a bad idea. On the bright side, we won't have to spend hours watching movies in the classes we don't have finals in.

• Construction at Uni

  The North Attic was supposed to get a new air conditioning system but instead the school just got months of construction mess with no benefit at all. Construction seemed to go on forever, and in the end it seemed to be all for nothing as the project was called off early, the construction materials were dragged off site, and the metal fence was taken down. What did the construction leave us with in the end? A large spot of barren ground where a tree once stood and a brand new sidewalk. Yay.

Related:
Cheers and Jeers: End of the Year 2011 Edition