Staff member Carla Baker poses with her Canadian National Women’s World Cup team plaque, jersey, and Canadian flag. She played in the 25th Anniversary Tournament against France, Italy, and the US. (Calina He)
What prompted you to start playing soccer?
I started at the age of 12 and just played in the community. I just had some friends who liked the sport in the community, and I was always out and active, (so when) I was introduced to soccer, I was like, “You know what, let’s try this.”
What was the process to be able to play on a national soccer team like?
For me, growing up in the 80s, at that time, soccer was still pretty young in its development, so I played travel soccer in maybe high school, which is really late in today’s comparisons. After I did that, I had the opportunity to go to university and play in university in Canada, so it was just before I traveled to university that I made my first national team and had that opportunity.
Baker, far bottom left, poses with the Canada women’s national soccer team. They played in the Women’s World Cup in 1995.
How are you still involved in soccer now? Do you still play today?
I don’t play today because there were too many injuries along the way, but I’ve developed a passion for refereeing, so I referee at youth levels, so travel soccer (and) recreational soccer. It helps me stay fit and helps me get back to the game by helping young players that I referee understand the game and understand if they have a foul, or how to throw the ball in properly. At the coaching level, I coach high school at Park Tudor now, and we are the runner-ups for the state championships (for) 2020.
Baker’s daughter, senior Erin Baker, plays in a soccer game. She played in the same position as her mother, and allowed four goals with 45 saves during the 2018 season.
What led you to pursue a career in professional soccer?
I was a multi-sport athlete growing up, so I did track, ran cross country, played basketball, played volleyball, and I had all that exposure at the elementary level and at the middle school level. When I got to high school, I started playing travel soccer, (and) opportunities started to materialize to be able to play for the Ontario team, so I tried out and made (it).
Is there anything else you would like readers to know about?
My daughter played soccer at CHS, and she was a varsity player for four years. In 2018, I had an opportunity to be on her team that won the state championship with her (playing) as the starting goalkeeper, so that was very special to me. I was the assistant coach at the time.
To read a story on how Baker’s daughter, Erin, continues Baker’s legacy as a soccer player, click here.
Students discuss role of gender identity in sports, co-ed teams Note: Governor Eric Holcomb vetoed the bill on March 21, citing concerns about the scope and writing of the bill and stating he found "no evidence" to suggest that there was an issue with transgender athletes in sports that needed…
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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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
COUNSELOR WORK: Carmel High School students work in the counseling office to check in students visiting their counselor. They schedule appointments and meetings.
