The Wallkill Wire

Brooke Lundgren, Editor-in-Chief On Saturday, February 10th, the Lions Club hosted their 4th annual curling tournament at the Lions Club Pavilion in Wallkill to fundraise money to help the community. There were 36 teams, each of them made up of 5 individuals. Each team paid $175 in order to compete, so with team participation alone, the Lions Club fundraised about $6,300. The event was split into morning and afternoon sessions, going from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. To win a match, each team must push their "stones" on ice and get it closest to the target. Other members of the team can assist by using brooms to sweep the ice to help guide it. The opposing team is also allowed to try and sweep the stone away from the target to prevent that team from gaining points. Due to the expensive price of buying real curling stones, the Lions Clubs' own Andy Harcher had an inventive solution. The "stones" at this event were made of two stainless steel bowls with c...

Sophia Soler, Staff Writer At Camp Mariah over the weekend of February 9th-11th, United Martial Arts Centers (or UMAC for short) hosted their annual "Quest for Mastery" weekend retreat. Friday night kicked off the weekend with many teens leading the entire group of approximately 200 people in a warm-up to begin the night. Over the weekend, people gathered to watch people ages 15-17 not only complete amazing and taxing physical feats, but also watch them do something uncommon among teens, which was actively fill in leadership roles. This year's theme was a book written by two of the Masters called "You Have Infinite Power". This book focused on many qualities and techniques to improve our mind. The first technique was to remember that you choose your thoughts, not the other way around. You are in control of your own mind. The rest of the weekend focused on setting S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals and following through. This acronym stands for Spe...

Sarah Martin, Staff Writer On Saturday February 17th, the Section 9 Cheerleading Championship was held at the Sullivan County Community College. The Wallkill Senior High School Coed team came in fourth place out of five teams, putting forth a valiant effort. The team only had one stunt fall after adding various, harder, and higher scoring stunts to their routine. They were the last team to compete, closing out the competition around 3:00pm. Coach Kelly Dutka and Coach Roberta Tejada say the team gave all they had, and they were very proud of the performance produced by the team. Wallkill, Pine Bush, Highland, Goshen, and Middletown attended Sections in for the Co-ed division; Pine Bush placed first, with Goshen a mere .75 of a point behind placing 2nd. Highland came in 3rd, then Wallkill, and lastly Middletown placed fifth. Pine Bush represented Section 9 at States in the Co-ed division, where they placed fourth. The small varsity division included Fal...

Tamika Hill, Staff Writer With Valentine's Day behind us and the flowers and chocolates slowly diminishing, we are trying to recuperate from the financial hole we've dug ourselves into. However, Valentine's Day isn't about all the flowers, chocolates, or teddy bears that we've come to know and love. Even though the Valentine's Day we know today only has to do with love and romance, people are ignorant to the fact that Valentine's Day didn’t include romance until the early 1300s. In the beginning, Valentine's Day came from a Pagan feast called Lupercalia, in which men would sacrifice goats, lambs, and cows. This then progressed to the whipping of women with the hides of the previously mentioned animal. Weren't they so romantic? The Pagans believed, in layman's terms, that whippings and dead animals led to the miracle of fertility. I think you'll agree with me that chocolate and flowers are a better alternative. Even though Vale...