1991-1992


 * 1991-1992: An Overview **

Administrative Assistant: Doug Dahm Superintendent: Dr. John R. Dosier Business Manager: Gene Sawalich

Principal: Jerry Turner Assistant Principals: Joe Chmeleck, Judy Duncan, Bob Petri

Ed Burris (President), Rob Nebgen, Wes Krummrich, Gary Hemmer, Dan Wolford, Gary Lawrence, Rick Reed
 * Board of Education**

Registrar: Robin Dronen Principal’s Secretary: Gloria Rose, Helen Phillips Switchboard Operator: Diney Strayhorn
 * Main Office Secretaries**

Sandy Schewe, Lynn Schwoebel, Jean McDonald
 * Assistant Principal’s Secretaries**

Sandy King, Marlene Wright, Joyce Guebert, Jamye Ritzel, Debbie Alesaski, Ann House
 * Central Office Secretaries**

Bookstore Manager: Marion Sanford School Nurse: Betty Bolt
 * Support Staff**

Tom Dailey (chair), Jennette Simkins, Marty Haas, Donna Norbet, Dennis Butts, Hank Hayes
 * Counseling Department**

Juanita Wallen (chair), Dell Savala, Marjorie Shelley, Jo Ann Wehmeier, Barb Imber
 * Instructional Materials Center (Library) Staff**

Doug Eskra (chair), George Gasparich
 * Art**

Ralph Schlesinger (chair), Sharon Carter
 * Music**

Gary Twesten (chair), Bonnie Gessford, Bryan Mitchell, Sheryl Deets, Tim Buchanan, Ken Guest
 * Biological Science**

Dennis Schutzenhofer (chair), Mike Rogier, Gary Shepek, Trudy Schmidt, Connie Odle
 * Physical Science**

Dwight Friemann (chair), Glenn Philpott, Gerogianne Hewitt, Dean Merritt, Paul James, Pete Kowalski, John Sims, Norm Patton, Dick Hood, Sandy Tinney, Larry Obenchain, Tammie Hettenhausen, Tom Ninnis, Betty Ninnis
 * Business/Industrial Education**

John Reed (chair), Gary Weshinskey, Ken Guest, Jane Sperry, Jim Brueggeman, Bruce Addison
 * Driver Education Department**

Dr. George Shea (chair), Sue Sharp, Nancy Smith, Nina Bono, Jane Mueth, Donna Morris, Grace Gerren, Jo Lynda Manion, Karen Palmer, Charles Rodman, Betty Mueller, Pat Matysik, Roger Mueller, Charles Hasenstab, Susan Campbell, Dr. Bill Hart, Alan Sanders, Mary Ellen Struze, Dr. Richard Hunsaker, Janet Kuehn, Susan Jernigan
 * English Department**

Farren Stover (chair), Marianne Chmeleck, Fran Etter, Catherine Kreher, Lynn Koehler, John LeCuyer, Merle Wilder, Angeles Moran
 * Foreign Language Department**

Keith Lawrence (chair), Gary Weshinskey, Steve Garland, Gene Maurer, Pete Hensel, Phillip Highsmith, Karen Reid, Jane Sperry, Mary Besse, Lee Meyer, Larry Betz
 * Health/Physical Education**

Cole Shannon (chair), Pam Clark, Karen Altman, Mary Boron, Jeanne Aguirre, Mona Scheibel, Dawn Sanders, Bill Evans, Karen Tiberend, Jean Canale, Bob Keefe, Cheryl Maguire, Betty Witter, Pat Watkins, Jim Wiesen, Bill Houck, Denise Douglas
 * Individualized Education**

John Wehmeier (chair), Jeff Boyles, Bob Kaiser, Rich Mertens, Connie Odle, Dian Thom, Rich Friederich, Marilyn Hughes, Melody Maksudian, Dave Bobzin, Julie Leposky, Bob Yagge, Scott Hesse, Mark Lanxon, Jim Brueggeman
 * Math Department**

Robert Hanson (chair), Bill Gushleff, Laurel Heddens, Dr. David Snowden, Vincent Torigian, Bruce Addison, Ken Besse, Larry Obenchain, Linda Heape, Dan Nollman, Jeff Freker, Bill Schmidt
 * Social Studies Department**

Roger Siekmann, Marty Baudino, Bob Veath, Bob Vahlkamp, Keith Bicklein, Jim Hettenhausen, Edna Quirin, Mary Ann Klingelhoefer, Steve Woods, Larry Wilhelm, Darrin Weatherford, Brad Wissehr
 * Custodians**


 * __Major School Events__**

After 24 years as Belleville West School Principal, Mr. Jerry Turner retired at the end of the 1991 to 1992 school year. Turner came to West in 1959 as a history and government teacher as well as an assistant baseball coach and head basketball coach. He became principal in 1968 and has held that position up until his retirement at the end of 1992. During his time as principal he received many different awards including the 1989 Illinois State Board of Education’s Award of Excellence which was only given to two high school principals in Illinois that year. Turner was also responsible for establishing the Belleville West Memorial and Endowment Scholarship Fund. During his 33 years at West, Mr. Turner was a great leader and driving force behind West’s success.
 * Principal Retirement**

One of the biggest changes added at West for the ’91-’92 school year was the addition of activity fees and parking fees. The fees were introduced as a way to generate income for the financially troubled school district. Students participating in extra-curricular activities had to pay a five dollar fee for each activity they participated in meaning fees could add up to more than twenty-five dollars. Many student saw the addition of the fees as a punishment for participating in certain extra-curriculars as not all groups had to pay the fee. Students were encouraged to continue to participate and be involved as the decision was a district mandate rather than an administrated decision allowing teachers to do nothing against it. A parking fee was also added during the 1992 school year. Students had previously been allowed to park for free in the school lots. Now students were required to pay ten dollars for a parking sticker or risk being towed without one.
 * Activity and Parking Fees**

During the 1992 school year, Belleville West was visited by representatives from the North Central Association, a regional accrediting association, who evaluated all aspects of the school. The representatives were on campus from October 28-30 exploring every inch of the school. In order to prepare for this on site visitation a self-study was completed to evaluate compliance with NCA standards and to encourage the school to focus on continued improvement. This self-study is completed once every seven years. In the NCA summary report West was given a generally positive rating with a small variety of concerns about the school as well. Some of the main issues the NCA found were that large class sizes, no new equipment, and reduction in staff were all having a negative impact on the school. However, because of major budget cuts and financial woes, these were all things that could not be corrected. In the report praise was given for West’s curriculum, auxiliary services, and drive for excellence. West’s activity program was also commended as 62 percent of the Belleville West student body was reported to participate in one or more activities.
 * Evaluation**

For many Belleville West students, imbalanced classes regularly caused problems during the school year. During some class periods there would be thirty-six students in a classroom meant for twenty-five and a classroom that could hold twenty-five with only thirteen students. The balance problems mainly occurred among freshman and students enrolled in the honors program. Honors students had fewer schedule options than regular students which caused conflicts. Study halls also faced major overcrowding during the year after the passage of a new law that required students to be in classes for at least 300 minutes during the day. This caused a large amount of students to have to take a study hall class to meet the total. A variety of different course combinations mixed with the new 300 minute law made the ’91 to ’92 school year more crowded than usual with more troubles to work out than normal.
 * Scheduling Trouble**


 * __Special Events__**

The 63rd annual spirit week included car decorating, float building, hall decorating, and various student dress-up days. The theme of this year’s spirit week was “Fruits and Vegetables.” The winner of the car decorating contest was Heather Wise who turned her red Escort into a gigantic tomato on wheels. Concert choir received first place in the hall decorating contest with the cheerleaders coming in second and the Spanish club in third place. Senior Tim Penock was the student dress up contest winner as Grizzly Adams and Mrs. Sharon Carter was the faculty dress up winner as “Herbicider,” a WWF wrestler. The float building contest was won by the senior class for the third year running with a float entitled, “Lettuce Squash the Pirates.” The other float themes included the juniors, “We Artichoke the Pirates,” the sophomores, “Berry the Pirates,” and the freshman, “Mash the Pirates.” The seniors also dominated for the third year in a row in the tug-of-war by defeating the juniors. The dress up days during spirit week included rival school day on Tuesday, Mr. Rodgers Day on Thursday, and class distinction day on Friday with the seniors dressing as doctors, juniors dressing generic, sophomores dressing as homies, and freshmen dressing as Steve Erkle.
 * Spirit Week**

The Hobo Day festivities were dominated by the seniors who won the tug-of-war, arm wrestling, student dress up contest, and float building contest. Miss Maroon court members presiding over the festivities included Susan Kraus, Miranda Niles, Lisa Weshinskey, Mandy Theiss, and Marnie Triefenbach. Miranda Niles was crowned the 1991 Miss Maroon. The day ended with a disappointing loss to Pattonville in the Hobo Day football game.
 * Hobo Day**

The third annual West Wellness Week, or WWW III, was held in conjunction with Red Ribbon Week October 21-25. WWW III included the annual Fun-a-thon, an assembly during which Lt. Bud Halsey spoke to students, and multiple mini-presentations in the commons. WWW III is a tradition that allows students to improve both their mental and physical well being through a variety of special activities.
 * West Wellness Week**

The Foreign Language Department tried something new this year when they hosted the first Foreign Language Christmas Party and called it Winter Fest 1991. The party, which was held on December 12, was attended by approximately 150 students. The idea for Winter Fest came from the fact that the Mardi Gras celebration second semester had been so popular. The Foreign Language Department decided to have some kind of party first semester as well. One activity at the winter fest was when students decorated a large Christmas tree with ornaments that were made by students from foreign language clubs during their monthly club meetings. Students also brought in various types of food; however dessert was the main menu item. During the celebration a contest was held to see which class could make the longest chain out of paper strips in a certain amount of time. The sophomore class was crowned the chain contest winner.
 * Winter Fest**

For the second year in a row the girl’s volleyball team became state champions when they won the Class AA title. On November 15, the team took on Stevenson during the first round of competition in the Redbird Arena at Illinois State University winning easily with a score of 15-2, 15-8. The next day their streak continued with a win over Lockport 15-7, 15-7. The Championship match occurred that evening during which the lady maroons took on Crystal Lake South in their first show at the state tournament. West was triumphant and became State Champions for the second year in a row with a score of 15-6, 15-1. The team also broke the record for least amount of points given up in a Championship match. A parade and pep assembly was held in their honor the day after competition.
 * Girls Volleyball State Champions**

Some of the most popular clothing trends during the school year included ripped jeans and baggy college sweatshirts, tennis shoes and sweatsuits, and stirrup pants and baggy jackets. Girls were also seen wearing baseball caps more often and into wearing tights under shorts with sweaters in the winter. In a survey taken of West students a large majority agreed that their favorite clothing store was The Gap. Shoes also went through some major trends during the school year with boots being a very popular item. Everything from Eastland leather boots to ankle high cowboy boots to combat boots could be seen around campus. Black shoes became more popular with black tennis shoes becoming a top-selling item in stores. Trends seen in hairstyle included perms, layers, straightening, highlighting, and coloring for girls and perming or coloring for boys. While both girls and boys were seen with perms, it was more popular among girls than boys. Other trends during the school year included an interest in country music fueled by the discovery of Garth Brooks, an increase in the viewing of action-packed thriller movies with the release of //The Silence of the Lambs// and //Terminator 2//, and a love for Taco Bell, specifically the Burrito Supremes and Cheesaritos. Elvis style sideburns became more popular as well due to the popularity of the television show, Beverly Hills 90210. Students also found wearing borrowed clothes to be somewhat trendy this year with brothers and sisters sharing clothes. Some students even admitting to wearing parents clothes, according to a yearbook survey at West, because the styles of the time allowed anyone to wear just about anything in any size.
 * Fads and Trends of the 1991-92 School Year**


 * __Activities__**

Bellevilettes and Maroon Majic, West’s show choir, performed nine concerts at school and ten within the community during the ’91-’92 school year. Under the direction of Mrs. Sharon Carter, the two groups performed 15 to 20 songs per concert. The Orchestra and Stage Band also performed several concerts during the year under the direction of Mr. Ralph Schleslesinger. Volunteers from various groups made up the pep band which played at varsity boys basketball games. Other performances were seen during the year by Chorus I and II and Concert Band.
 * Vocal and Instrumental Groups**

For the first time ever, the entire Bellevinois yearbook was done on the computer. The layout was first designed by editors and put on to the computer as templates. Headlines, stories, and captions were then put into individual page layouts. The finished designs with boxes marked for pictures were printed and submitted to the publisher with disks. The computers made correcting and adding to the stories much easier than in the past. In order to produce the pages of the yearbook the staff used MacWrite II, Pagemaker, and FreeHand. Six Mac SE’s were shared by the Bellevinois and Hy News publications.
 * Bellevinois**

The Hy News staff was busy throughout the year in a constant race to meet deadlines for all twelve issues published. Staff began preparing each issue with a brainstorming session to come up with article ideas for each section of the paper; news, campus, editorial, feature, and sports. After discussion, stories were selected and assigned. Reporters had one to two weeks to write their articles while others took pictures or conducted polls. Editors copyedited stories and began production of the pages on the Mac Computers. Miniature pages were printed and proofed by editors before final pages were printed out and sent on their way to the printer. On distribution day staff members were responsible for handing out papers before the whole process began again for the next issue.
 * Hy News**

Lifesavers met once a month to discuss things such as relationships, suicides, divorce, alcoholics, and depression. They held a retreat in the spring and fall attended by two staff members from West, Althoff, and East and ten students from each school who were chosen to participate. Besides retreats, Lifesavers were involved in activities such as a hayride in the fall, a Christmas party, a pizza party, and a trip to Six Flags in the spring. They also sponsored car washes, collected can goods, donated turkeys to families on Thanksgiving, and gave presents to children in need on Christmas.
 * Lifesavers**

Camp Success was a group that met weekly and was very similar to Lifesavers except that it dealt with school, study skills, writing skills, reading and memory aids. The group also tried to promote a healthy lifestyle. There goals were accomplished through two camps they hosted where they taught with skits, instead of lectures. Thirty staff members were taken on each retreat with around fifty to seventy participants.
 * Camp Success**

The 1992 debate squad ended their winning season by capturing the junior varsity and novice championships in the Illinois Speech and Theater Association state contest. During the season, the squad managed to win a trophy at all nineteen tournaments they competed in. The topic of debate for the season was homeless people. To be on the debate team it is important to have good communication and persuasion skills, as well as being able to learn about and clarify current social problems. To prepare for each competition, students gather evidence to support their opinions on the topic. From there evidence they must then form a good argument without losing control of emotions when confronting members from another team arguing against them. The team was coached by Dr. Richard Hunsaker.
 * Debate Squad**

Before the 1991-92 school year the flag and pom pon squad had always been one. Openings made by non-returning members of the flag squad used to be filled by pom pon members. Because the two squads were no longer one, the openings were filled by a voluntary try-out. The idea of the split was to benefit the Pom pon squad, flag squad, and marching band. It allowed each group to focus more on their individual squad rather than both at the same time. The pom pon squad was able to spend more time training for performances and dancing at basketball games as well as entering competition. The flag squad benefited because only girls that really wanted to work hard and be on the squad tried out. The flag squad performed with the Marching Maroons at parades, football half-time shows, and competitions. The flag squad was coached by Mrs. Robin Gaa and the marching band was directed by Mr. Ralph Schlesinger.
 * Flag and Pom pon Squad**

Another new group at West this year was the Winter Guard which was made up of sixteen members of the flag squad who wanted a new challenge when the marching season ended. The squad gave the girls a chance to perform in from of a different audience and perform to more modern music. Their routines consisted of many different tricks and tosses. The squad performed at the junior varsity basketball games during half time. On March 14 the Winter Guard squad traveled to St. Charles where they placed fourth overall in their first competition ever.
 * Winter Guard**

Little theatre was a good way for students interested in acting or the technical aspect of theatre to get involved. They performed five shows during the year. The One-Acts were //The Lottery//, //Murder Is Fun,// and //The Little Red Schoolhouse//. Other shows included the fall play, //Don’t Drink the Water//, the children’s play, //The Emperor’s New Clothes//, and the spring musical, //Fiddler on the Roof.//
 * Little Theatre**

The Belleville West Speech Team had a very successful season including a second place win at the Regional Tournament which was hosted by Belleville West. During the season the team competed in sixteen tournaments. Ten team members were then selected for the Regional Team. In order to win their second place finish, the team placed first in Dramatic Duet Acting, Humorous Interpretation, Original Comedy, and Original Oratory. They also placed second in Humorous Duet Acting and fourth in Radio and Verse. The team didn’t do as well at the sectional competition in Charleston, as no one qualified for the state competition. The team was coached by Mr. Alan Sanders.
 * Individual Events Speech Team**

Three foreign exchange students could be seen around campus during the school year. Two students were from Germany and one was from France. The two German students were Bozana Curic from Dullman, Germany and Astrid Behrens from Luebeck, Germany. The French student was Geraldine Dupui from Ger, France.
 * Foreign Exchange Students**

The math team competes with schools in the region in various competitions throughout the school year as part of the Southwestern Math Conference. During the fall and early winter they competed in a few smaller events or had practice competitions. The final squad was then chosen for the main contests held in the spring. The math team was coached by Mr. Jeff Boyles.
 * Math Team**

The Junior Engineering Technical Society, or JETS, competes in a wide variety of categories including English, biology, physics, and chemistry. The JETS team competed in the regional competition at Belleville Area Collage in February where they finished fourth out of twenty-three schools. Senior team members Jacob Baltz, Scott Hummel, and Mark Goodwin advanced to sectionals which were held at SIUE.
 * Junior Engineering Technical Society**

Over sixty students are involved were involved in history club competitions where they completed projects such as artwork or research projects. The club continued its tradition of excellence in competition at SIU Carbondale for the annual spring contest. They also excelled by having articles published in //Illinois History// magazine. Both sophomore Lori Torigan and junior Andy Johnson had articles published in the magazine during the year.
 * History Club**

The 1991-92 the varsity squad was made up of seven seniors, four juniors, and three sophomores. The girls soon began practicing for cheerleading camp. West’s squad headed to Southeast Missouri State University for 4 days. They ranked in the top 5 from the squads that attended camp. West doubled its win total from the 1990 season improving from 2-7 and 4-5. The Maroons started the season with two impressive wins over CBC and the Cahokia Comanches, 22-0 and 21-12. Standing undefeated at 2-0, West suffered a tough 16-23 loss to the play-off bound Granite City Warriors. In the end west trampled Alton 40-0 to finish 4-5. They ended the season 38-1 tying the 90 team for the best record in school history. In the Rich East tournament Belleville West defeated Mother McCauley for a win. They came in 5th place at the Block Sports Wear Challenge. The Lady Maroons also won the Maine West tournament for the first time. They were awarded the City Championship and the Southwestern Conference. They ended with a record 9-8-1, which gave them a finish over .500 for the 1st time in 8 years In their first game of the season the beat waterloo 4-0. In the end of the season they played Granite City and lost only by 1-0. Some players were honored with other awards. Weilbacher received the Joe Dressler Award and was voted Most Inspirational Player. In the regionals, they failed to place high enough to advance as a team but Donna Auer did go on. Auer led the team to an overall second place finish at the Conference Meet. The coach hoped the squad would win its fourth Conference Championship in a row since they had only one lost only to graduation. They boys cross country team returned only 8 runners from last year. The boys also finished 5t h out of 17 teams. There was only two seniors, a handful of juniors and the rest underclassman has to step and help. Senior Mike Schlueter, with a 47 average and Brian Hill with a average 47.75 average. One player really played well towards the end of the season was captain Beason. He managed to reach State finals where he placed 42nd of 68. They ended the season with a 10-0 season making it there 3rd season undefeated. In the past 4 years the girls won 40 matches in a row. The squad got 1st place at te Belleville West Invitational and they placed 2nd place by 1 point in the Bloomington Invitational. They won to east at the Belleville East Initational. They ended The season with a 16-11 and got a 3rd place finish at the Conference. They played against Lincoln and lost 56-62. Monte Dover was named as Honorable Mention All-State and to the First Team All-Conference. Senior Matt Osborn was named Honorable Mention All- Conference and received the Boots Budde Competitive Spirit Award. The girls started the season with 1-6. They finished with a 15-14 record. The records include a high fifth place finish in the Mascoutah Tournament, a second place Conference finish, and a Regional Championship. Shelly Juenger, Rena Zenarosa, Allison McQuaid, Sara Reichert, and Amy Wondolowski all led the team into victories
 * __ Sports __**
 * Cheerleading ** (Coach Sheryl Deets)
 * Football ** (Coach Richard Hood)
 * Volleyball ** (Coach Charles Rodman)
 * Soccer ** (Coach Bill Houck)
 * Cross Country ** (Coach Gary Wesingskey )
 * Golf ** (Coach Gene Meurer)
 * Tennis ** (Bob Keefe)
 * Basketball ** (Boys & Girls) (Bill Schmidt) (Larry Betz)

**__1992: A History in Pictures__**

1991: Social studies teacher, Mr. Vince Torigian dresses up for Mr. Rogers Day during Spirit Week.

1991: Freshman, Jessica Seib, dresses as the King of Hearts for Halloween

1991: The marching bands drum line consisting of 12 members.

1992: Senior Jason Swope gives blood while faking a look of terrible pain.

1992: A teacher rescues a student struggling under a few books.

1992: Parking permits in the form of stickers now cost $10 instead of being free as in past years.

1992: Budget cuts force students to use “ancient” microscopes all the way from the 1960’s.

1992: Seniors Rick Preston and Amy Wetherbe show off their egg “babies.” Students had to take care of the eggs for ten days in order to learn responsible parenting skills.

1992: Senior LaSandra Gee uses the computer in her Office Occupations class. Students preferred to use the advanced computers over the typewriters.