Wildcat Review

Grace Harris is this week's outstanding senior at Guntersville High School. She is 17 years old and the daughter of Paul and Kim Harris. She is also the oldest of three; her siblings are Mary Bea and Hank Harris.

This year Grace has taken on the role of G-Squad leader alongside our other senior spotlight, Michael Raulerson. Together, they create student section themes for each sporting event and help our student section to be loud and proud. This is the perfect role for Grace, seeing as her favorite activity is supporting our Wildcats. Her other hobbies include traveling, hanging out with her best friends and spending time with her family and her cat.

Grace has gone to Guntersville since kindergarten and is excited to graduate alongside all of her friends. She has had some amazing teachers and classes. Her favorite teacher has been Mrs. Charles and her favorite class was this year's debate class with Coach Winkles. Her favorite memories during her time at GHS are from the many football games on our very own field, the beloved Chorba-Lee Stadium.

Beyond high school, Grace plans to attend college at the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School in New York City. Grace has been an amazing student at Guntersville and will continue to be at whichever college she chooses to attend. Grace has done well preparing for college, she already has experience under her belt from spending a summer at NYU, taking their classes and staying on campus.

Lastly, while interviewing Grace, we asked her two questions: Where she hoped to be in ten years and what her advice to incoming freshmen was.

“In ten years I hope to have a successful job,” she said. “To incoming freshmen, I would like to say, do not take your time in high school for granted; it goes by ten times faster than you think it will.”

Senior Spotlight: Michael Raulerson

By Maylia Gregg

Michael Raulerson is one of our Guntersville High School Senior Spotlights this week. At 17 years old, he is the youngest of his two siblings, Jacob and Lydia. They are the children of Aaron and Rebecca Raulerson.

Michael has attended Guntersville City Schools since the fourth grade. Since then, he has played a huge part in what goes into the spirit of the Guntersville Wildcats. Not only is Michael one of our fabulous G-Squad Leaders, but he was also voted by his classmates as having the “Most School Spirit.” When he isn’t cheering on the Wildcats, he enjoys tennis, vinyl collecting, hiking, spending time with friends and splitting wood.

His favorite memory of being a Wildcat is being a part of G-Squad during football games. His favorite teacher at Guntersville is Mr. Andrew Petty, as they share a similar taste in music.

After high school, he plans to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on a scholarship. During his time after high school, he aspires to do many things, but he especially wants to buy a car that is not a minivan.

When asked where he sees himself in ten years, or after his time in college, he responded that he hopes to be living in a little cabin up in the mountains. We hope that he not only makes his mark here at Guntersville but continues to do so on his journey, as well.

Staff Member of the Month: Lindsey Hornbuckle

By Miranda Valencia

Congratulations to Mrs. Lindsey Hornbuckle on winning Staff Member of the Month! When presented with the news, Mrs. Hornbuckle said she was, “humbled and honored above all. I love GHS and all of my GHS students. I was so excited when they came to tell me.”

Lindsey is married to Dustin Hornbuckle, and they have two children, Austin and Rae. Dustin works for Alfa Insurance, with his own agency, The Hornbuckle Agency, located on Hwy. 431. Mrs. Hornbuckle and her family love to travel, and their goal is to visit every MLB game at home before her son graduates high school. They also enjoy attending all of their kids' extracurricular activities.

Mrs. Hornbuckle was inspired to work in education because her mom was a teacher at Guntersville for over 35 years, and she fell in love with basketball, which eventually led to her pursuit of a degree in education. If she did not pursue her career as an educator, she would be a chef, because she loves cooking, food shopping, recipes and The Food Network. She said she wants to be just like Anthony Bourdain.

In the past, Mrs. Hornbuckle worked as an English teacher. This year she has taken on the new role of becoming the school’s assistant principal.

“There are so many areas of this role and I am constantly learning,” Mrs. Hornbuckle said. “But I love serving GHS in this role. I am a wildcat through and through. I am from Guntersville, graduated from Guntersville, and both of my kids are part of the system. I love being involved more and more in the overall day-to-day, and my prayer is that I help GHS be its best in all areas.”

The students of GHS had positive things to say about Mrs. Hornbuckle. Senior Antonio Spurgeon thinks Mrs. Hornbuckle deserves Staff Member of the Month because “she works hard and loves what she does.” His favorite thing about her is how she always puts a smile on the students’ and teachers' faces.

“She shows up at all the sporting events and all the students love her,” said junior Jackson Porch.

“Mrs. Hornbuckle deserves to be picked because she is one of the sweetest people I know,” said freshman Mya Fennell. “Mrs. Hornbuckle is beloved by many students at GHS.”

Celebrating CTE

By Marlie Kreger

One of the biggest reasons we go to high school is to have an education we can use later in life. Here at GHS, we not only focus on basic education, but we give students a chance to figure out their future career paths and begin training for it as early as 9th grade. We offer seven different Career and Technical Education (CTE) training programs including Family and Consumer Science, Manufacturing, Agriscience, Health Science, Business & Marketing, Engineering-Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and Education Training. These different classes give all students a chance to educate themselves on their interests and prepare for the future.

To further understand the amazing career tech education classes, we asked former principal and current Director of Career & Technical Education and Assessment, Roseanne Mabrey, some questions.

First, we asked her what CTE is and why it is such a great opportunity for the students of GHS:

“CTE courses are aligned to career-specific pathways and provide students an opportunity to develop career awareness, as well as explore and prepare for careers in pathways that align with their post-secondary goals. All students should graduate with a plan for their future career and CTE courses are key to developing their plans.”

We also asked her how our CTE programs prepare students for their future careers:

“By enabling students to explore a variety of career pathways through foundational courses offered at GHS, students can identify where their aptitude and interests align with high-wage, high-demand career opportunities. Concentrator CTE courses and Work-Based Learning solidify career goals and provide opportunities for students to gain real-world experiences, earn business/industry recognized Career Readiness Indicators and provide a platform to ensure that students are career-ready graduates.”

Lastly, we asked her, for students thinking about joining a CTE program, what would she tell them to encourage them to make the right decision?

“CTE courses provide students the opportunity to obtain real-world educational experiences that enable them to learn about careers they are interested in pursuing, as well as those that do not align with their interests and abilities. Identifying ‘likes’ as well as ‘dislikes’ before graduating from high school is vital to making post-secondary decisions. When a student graduates knowing what they want to do, it saves them time and money because they begin their career journey on the right track.”

To get a real feel for what it's like for students in our CTE programs, we asked some of our students enrolled in different programs to give us their thoughts:

“I’m in the Health Science internship program. My favorite part is getting to learn about the human body and creating helpful skills not only in the medical field but helpful life skills I could use as an adult in any field I choose,” said Jilli Pair, senior.

“Being in the Manufacturing program has been an amazing time. If you enjoy doing hands-on activities it's definitely a great option and I've learned so much. They teach you everything you need to know to get started and put you on a great path to learn more,” said Colin Gann, junior and Manufacturing student.

“I feel as though the class hits all of the points to prepare me for a job in the education field, as well as the ‘behind-the-scenes moments’. It showed me how to be professional and how to handle certain situations you may face in the classroom,” said Elle Yarbrough, sophomore and Education Training student.

Career Tech Education has most definitely helped many students narrow down their future careers and inspire them. It sets students up for success after they graduate high school, although some excel past expectations and use their skills before graduation. For example, Guntersville High School senior Shelby Boggus was a part of our Health Science CTE program. During Guntersville’s job fair last summer, she reached out to Marshall Medical Center in search of a job. She was hired soon after.

“At Guntersville, I was enrolled in two different health science programs,” Shelby said. “First, I was in Foundations of Health Science. This class gave me a brief understanding of the medical field and medical terminology. Then, I was part of a more in-depth anatomy program called HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Body. Through this, I was well trained in the anatomy of the human body that I use in my position now as a phlebotomist at Marshall Medical Centers. These two programs also helped me become well-rounded in patient care, medical ethics and how to handle different situations in the medical field. All in all, I feel I was pretty well prepared by Guntersville's program to be where I am now.”

We are very thankful for the opportunities Guntersville High School gives its students, and we're especially thankful for the people who keep it running smoothly. Most importantly the teachers who put these young minds to work: Melissa Reese, Family and Consumer Science; Angie Blanchard and Brad Lett, Business/Marketing; Kate White, Nahanna Dee and Tucker Davis, STEM/PLTW; Carla Fleming, Education and Training; Casey Smith and Ana Beasley, Agriscience; Tyler Howe, Modern Manufacturing; and Amber Harbison, Work Based Learning Coordinator.

Our newest member, Beth Nixon, who launched the HOSA program at Guntersville, will be returning to teach our Health Science programs and lead the HOSA interns. Without each and every one of these people, CTE wouldn’t be where it is today.

Top Three Students

By Carlyn Cox & Jennifer Gabriel

We want to congratulate Guntersville High School’s 2023 top three students. Evan Hill was named valedictorian for the 2023 class, Cale Dollar was named the Salutatorian and Annelise Bradshaw was named third in the class. We know these students will go on to do some amazing things. Here is some information about each student:

Valedictorian Evan Hill is the president of the Scholars Bowl team and also participates in ODK, TSA, Tech Team, Spanish Club, NHS, and NSHS. Evan says his favorite part of senior year so far has been spending time with his closest friends while participating in his favorite after school activity, Scholars Bowl. His favorite school memory from the past few years has been going to his first Scholars Bowl competition. After high school, he plans to go to college at either the University of Alabama or Furman University to major in computer science and Japanese.

“I want to try to live as fulfilling a life as I can,” Evan said. “A part of that starts with finding what I love to do and creating something meaningful from it. I study as hard as I can to ensure that wherever I am once my education is complete, I will be able to move forward without regrets.”

Salutatorian Cale Dollar is president of both SGA and NHS and participates in the Mayor's Youth Council, Interact, Junior Civitan, and FBLA. He is a Guntersville High School Marshal. Cale says his favorite part of senior year so far has been attending the Winter Formal. His favorite school memory from the past years has been winning the homecoming float competition two years in a row. After high school, he plans to attend Auburn University to obtain a degree in computer engineering. Cale says what motivates him is his family.

“None of us likes to lose so there is always a competition between us whether in school or not,” he said.

Number three in her class, Annelise Bradshaw said her favorite part of senior year so far has been her cross country and track seasons with her teammates.

“This year has been very special to me and I am happy to spend as much time as I can doing workouts at practice with my team,” she said. “I am extremely excited for our outdoor track season this year.”

Annelise’s favorite school memory from the past few years has been junior year homecoming when the juniors beat the seniors at floats. After high school, she plans to attend a university, but she is unsure of where yet.

“Since I was young, my parents have encouraged me to learn all I can,” she said. “My mother is a reading teacher, so I have always been someone that loves to read. This sort of attitude keeps me motivated to be a lifelong learner.”