How to become a National Merit Semifinalist

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October 6, 2015

2022 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists Carmel, IN - Carmel Clay Schools congratulates the 56 Carmel High School students named 2022 National Merit Scholarship Corporation Semifinalists. These outstanding seniors have the opportunity to compete for 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million. Carmel Clay…
With increased crime rates, true-crime coverage, students, teachers examine effect serial killers, violence in… After Private investigators announced a new potential culprit for the crimes committed by the Zodiac Killer, junior Paige Walker said she noticed an increase in true crime coverage across newspapers, TV shows, movies and social media. According to Walker, who…
On eve of National Public Lands Day, students volunteer to help protect public lands in Carmel National Public Lands Day is this Saturday, and volunteering for public lands lends more attention to environmental groups at this school. CHS has a variety of opportunities for students to get involved with public lands and ecological maintenance. Because of…
Quiz Bowl outlines goals, plans for upcoming competitions Quiz Bowl prepared for the start of another year of the tournament by hosting a call-out meeting on Aug. 30 at club sponsor James Hambley’s room, H213, and attending the CHS Club Fair. Quiz Bowl, described by Hambley as resembling…
Quiz Bowl outlines goals, plans for upcoming competitions Quiz Bowl prepared for the start of another year of the tournament by hosting a call-out meeting on Aug. 30 in James Hambley’s room H213, and attending the CHS Club Fair. Quiz Bowl was described by Hambley as resembling team…
Teachers explain importance of asking questions, understanding students National Ask A Stupid Question Day on Sept. 28 was created to encourage students to ask questions they were previously afraid to ask. Carl Sagan, scientist and educator, coined the phrase, “there is no such thing as a dumb question.”…

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November 2021

November 12, 2021

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Photo of the Day

FINISHING TOUCHES: Madie Fleisher, Ceramics 2 student and freshman, smoothes the edges on her most recent piece during class on Wednesday, Feb. 3. The Ceramics 2 students had most recently worked on geometric pots that required a variety of sculpting and smoothing techniques.
Maddie Kosc
PHYSICS PREP: Senior Mackenzie Misterka studies for her AP Physics C final. Misterka said, “Even though physics is hard, I still find it very interesting. It’s probably my favorite class this semester.”
Emily Sandy
Air Time: #70 Bucklin Robins and Justin Pickett jump for a chest bump after a touchdown in the November 13 football game against the Ben Davis Giants. The game ended up with a 27-21 loss for the Greyhounds, knocking them out of the state championship.
Nick Beckman
Winter Wonderland: Dominic James, radio teacher, wears Christmas pajamas on the Carmel Cohort’s last day before Christmas break 2020. Teachers got an email about a staff spirit week during finals week to lift the spirits of students.
COUNCIL CONNECTIONS: GKOM council members and seniors, Molly Kosiba (left) and Lea Johnson (right) create a slideshow for the upcoming GKOM connection session during SRT on Jan. 7. The next GKOM connection session will take place during SRT on Jan. 20 for the Carmel cohort and Jan. 21 for the Greyhound cohort.
Maddie Kosc
RESEARCH REPORTS: Olivia Lafferty, AP research student and senior, records data from her study results in SRT on Jan. 14. This was Lafferty’s third day of conducting research experiments for her study comprised of many CHS students.
Olivia McKee
BUSY BEE: Senior Anna Lai studies for a statistics quiz in her AP Research class on Jan. 12. Lai said the material is not too difficult as it builds on what they learned last semester.
Shruthi Ravichandran
ARITHMETIC ASSIGNMENTS: Senior Mitchell Taylor works on calculus survey homework at the media center. Taylor said taking both calculus survey and AP Statistics in the same year was difficult, but being in the Transition to College Program gave him more time to study for his classes.
Ray Mo
REQUIRED REVIEW: Senior Ryan Yauger takes notes during his Government class on Jan. 25, 2021. The class discussed the difference between state and federal government, using the recent executive orders as a real-world example. Government or AP Government are required classes for graduation at Carmel High School.
Chenyao Liu
FUNDRAISER FUN: On Jan. 27, seniors Audra Marchese (left) and Elizabeth Price (right) teach senior boys competing for the title of Mr. Carmel a dance they will perform at the Champions Together annual fundraiser. The rehearsal included bonding activities between the participants in Mr. Carmel, followed by rehearsing their group dance.
Marissa Finney
ELECTRIC EXPERIMENTS: Seniors Robbie Welp (left) and Adam Said (right) map out an electric field diagram during an AP Physics C class on Feb. 2. “The lab helped me better visualize the direction of current in an electric field,” Welp said.
Ray Mo
DEVELOPING PICTURES: Junior Rak Loop develops his film using a fixer chemical in his dark room photography class on Dec. 8. In photography students are given a roll of film to shoot, once shot they bring it back to school to develop it in the dark room.
Luke Miller
PASSING PERIOD PASTIME: Lizzie Maurer, Algebra II student and junior, opens her locker to get a textbook before class on Feb. 12. Maurer said she enjoys Algebra II as it is a good balance between a hard and fun class.
Olivia McKee
PRINT PERFECTION: Annie Salter, dark room photography student and junior, works with Mr. Daly on spot toning her work on March 1. Spot toning is a dark room technique where one takes a water based dye and paints it on their print to touch up any spots. “Spot toning is a tough technique to master so having Mr. Daly there to help me work through it helps me create a better print,” Salter said.
Luke Miller
FINAL CUT: Senior Curt Masengale edits his collaborative film project in his IB Film class on March 3. “I enjoyed editing the film because I got to see 30 hours of production condense into 12 minutes of screen time,” Masengale said.
Ray Mo
HELPING HANDS: Special Education instructor Andie Olson aides senior Megan Hennesey in her math class on March 3. Hennesey worked on developing division skills and giving counting exact change with Mrs. Olson.
Emily Sandy
FINISHING TOUCHES: Freshman Sanya Gopalani adds color to her art project on Feb. 24. The Drawing 2 class had most recently been creating colored pencil drawings of candy, and Gopalani had chosen to draw Reese’s Cups.
Marissa Finney
STATEHOUSE STRIKE: Juniors Sage Mehta (left) and Lisa Venckus (middle) hold up a banner at a climate strike on March 19, 2021. At the strike, students across the state declared a climate emergency and requested a meeting with Gov. Holcomb to discuss Indiana’s role in climate action.
Chenyao Liu
SUPER SANITATION Graham Seaver, AP seminar student and junior, cleans his desk prior to the start of class on March 11. Seaver said he cleans his desk before and after class to ensure that everything is safe for him to use.
Olivia McKee
STEM SRT: Nimish Bhat, biomedical innovations student and senior, works on her independent research project during SRT on Thursday, March 4. Biomedical innovations students spend the second semester of the year working on independent projects. Bhat described her independent project as entering an innovation competition as a continuation of her prior DECA project.
Maddie Kosc
STUDENT TEACHERS: Sophomore Jacqueline Roth, left, and sophomore Brooke Ye, right, lean over a laptop during the TASSEL meeting in Greyhound Station on Oct. 26. TASSEL provides free English education to Cambodian children. Members of the club teach virtual lessons, edit essays, and raise money to help support TASSEL’s humanitarian causes.
Chenyao Liu
Sarah Kennedy, fiber arts student and junior, practices needle felting during class on Sept. 11. Kennedy described felting as using loose wool and yarn to create a piece of felt. In this case, Kennedy created the design of a daisy with her loose fibers.
Maddie Kosc
SOCIALLY DISTANT STRETCHING: Sage Moore, women’s cross country runner and junior, stretches after her run on Sept. 16. Moore will compete in the JV North Central Invite on Friday Sept. 18 at North Central High School.
Olivia McKee
MORE THAN A STATEMENT: Morgan Blakey, senior and co-president of the Black Student Alliance, talks at the club meeting on September 24th to discuss the administration’s statement in response to racism at Carmel High. The Black Student Alliance and the Advancement of Asian Americans in Arts and Athletics (A5) met for an hour while Dr. Harmas and other teachers listened to the student body’s encounters with racism. The school plans on developing an equity and inclusion advisory committee to create Identity Safe classrooms at Carmel High.
Chenyao Liu
CRAZY COLORS: Students in the Carmel cohort at CHS wore tie dye to school on Sept. 29 for homecoming spirit week. The homecoming football game will be on Friday, October 2nd against the Ben Davis Giants.
Nick Beckman
ARGUING IN MASKS: Lincoln-Douglas lead Jasmine Hsu welcomes new debaters into debate club on Sept. 29. Students in debate were preparing for an upcoming Big Questions tournament.
Marissa Finney
DEBATE DEBRIEF: Sophomore members of the CHS Debate team, Claire Swigart (Left) and Ainsley Strothkamp (Right) meet after school and prepare for an impromptu round in World Schools on Oct. 1. Swigart said that impromptu rounds were her favorite as they don’t put much pressure on the members to have a solid case against the opposition.
Sadie Penix
Eli Sushka, a freshman drumline member, puts all his focus on the drum for his solo in the drumlines performance during school on Oct. 2nd. The drumline members put on a show every passing period on Friday to get people pumped up for Homecoming. This is one of many things CHS did to get people excited for Homecoming this year.
Luke Miller
MACHINE MANAGEMENT: Senior and TechHOUNDS team lead Drew Sanchez reviews the club roster during the callout meeting on Oct. 8. The meeting involved an introductory session for each club division in which the robot ops, programming and electrical, construction, and PR divisions each broke out into small groups to discuss guidelines and expectations for the 2020-21 season.
Ray Mo
PRE-CLASS CHATS: Gillian Thompson, AP Seminar student and junior, talks to a friend before class on Oct. 14. Thompson said that she enjoys catching up with friends during passing period because she can’t talk to them during class.
Olivia McKee
TURNING A NEW PAGE: Terri Ramos, department chairperson for media and communications, gives an orientation tour of the media center to honors English 9 students. Ramos said the tour was important for freshmen to familiarize themselves with the media center’s various resources.
Ray Mo
Ethan Trent, sophomore chemistry student, sparks a flame in the steel wool with a battery during Classon Nov. 3rd. Chemistry students are currently studying matter through experiments like the one shown in the picture. Trent said Chemistry has been one of his favorite classes this year because they get to do a lot of cool labs.
Luke Miller
PREPARING FOR PERFORMANCE: Theater cast members rehearse for their upcoming production “Murder in Focus” on November 2. The cast continued with rehearsals despite Covid restrictions and they plan to perform during the week of November 12th.
Sadie Penix
COZY IN THE CAFE: Junior Chloe Boyd prepares chocolate chip cookies in the oven for students at the Carmel Cafe on Nov. 10. The Carmel Cafe is open for business during the school day and sells spirit apparel.
Marissa Finney
HALLWAY HOMEWORK: Ian Peasley. AP seminar student and junior, works on a research paper assigned as homework during class on Nov. 13. Peasley said that he likes to get a head start on homework if given work time in class as he has extracurricular activities after school.
Olivia McKee
READY TO KICK: A member of the intramural kickball team runs up to the ball, starting the game on Nov. 23 at Murray Stadium. The CHS intramural team meets every Monday, from October to December.
Chenyao Liu
PHOTO MAGIC: Junior Olivia Dashiell edits photos in her Digital Photography class on Dec. 1. Olivia was working on her Double Exposure Album for the class and combined two images in Photoshop.
Marissa Finney
Students of WJHE learn the ropes of the editing software from senior Ethan Meneghini. Due to the schoolwide quarantine back in March, students weren’t able to learn the software, so Meneghini decided to teach the lowerclassmen.
Emily Sandy
COUNSELOR WORK: Carmel High School students work in the counseling office to check in students visiting their counselor. They schedule appointments and meetings.
Sadie Penix

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