Levi Falkenberg - Senior Spotlight
Audrey: When and Where?
Levi: July 16, 2007, at the Mayo Hospital in Eau Claire.
A: What is your favorite memory of living in the dorms for the 1.5 years you did?
L: Singing Christmas songs with Vance in the shower after basketball practice, the 80 times I took Chris and Tyler to McDonalds, and the weird talks I had with Jesse during study hall sophomore year. We’ll just keep it to these three.
A: What was it like living in the dorms while your dad was a Dorm Supervisor?
L: Ooohh, thankfully he was never my dorm supervisor. It was fun to meet the high schoolers, besides Covid year. It was just him and me my 8th grade year, but all we ate were plain noodles and rice, or our takeout Thursdays.
A: What has been a favorite sports memory in high school?
L: Umm, maybe the time I hit a game winning buzzer beater against Mondovi my junior year; that was pretty fun. It was just a layup but it still counted.
A: If you were stranded on a deserted island and can bring one prof, one student, and one object. Who and what would it be?
L: I think I would go…. Hmmm…. I’ll bring Prof. Schierenbeck, he seems like he would be pretty smart. The object, probably a yacht to get off of the deserted island, and I would bring Caleb. That should work.
A: The potential of you being on death row is slim, but if it happened… what would your last meal be?
L: Probably, we’ll go with a 2L of Dr Pepper Zero, and three Hot Spot burgers from Kwik Trip, and Sweet Tart Ropes. Very balanced and healthy.
A: Where would your picture perfect day be, from the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to sleep?
L: Let’s see, I’d wake up at 10 o’clock and go out to eat for breakfast at Altoona Family Restaurant. After that I would probably go home, play video games (MLB The Show ‘25) for about three hours. Then at 3:00 pm I would pick up Caleb and Daniel from school. We would go to Panera, get our drinks, and play Clash Royale. Then we would watch some basketball somewhere, probably at the dorm. After that we’d go bowling, and then go to sleep. I would probably watch reels for about two hours before I fell asleep.
A: What advice would you give to a freshman?
L: Don’t be lazy and sit on your bum. Go out and do stuff with your friends. If you don’t have any friends, go out and make some. Or something like that.
A: What is your favorite childhood memory?
L: Probably the time I broke my finger in the door. I needed stitches. That was pretty fun. Now the nail on my right middle finger looks different than the left.
A: What are your plans to do after high school?
L: Go to UWEC to get my math degree; I don’t know after that. Hopefully move out after that.
A: What makes you get up in the morning
L: Not wanting to get tardies.
A: Where do you see Levi in ten years?
Ian: Probably in jail for speeding. His leg hasn’t fully recovered, so he can’t do physical activity so he can't run… but he’s not going to be doing that anyway, hehe.
Jesse: In jail for reckless driving, drinking Dr Pepper, living in a two bedroom apartment, and a bathroom that has a bidet.
Natalie: He probably has a whole bunch of speeding tickets. He still tries to go to Panera with Caleb every day after talking about it with him in POD.
Logan: He’s the dad at his kids' eerie game, and commentating every game, and also very smart.
Cheyenne: Probably like a super smart mathematician person, working as a sports analyst.
FAVORITES
Song: “Whiskey Sour” by Caden Brown
Animal: Giraffe
Color: Purple
Senior: Caleb, Daniel, Logan, Jesse
Junior: Dulton
Sophomore: Tanner Q, Tanner H, Jake, Sawyer, Savanna, Owen
Freshman: Derek
Prof: Dr. Dan
Hymn: 552 “Abide With Me”
Bible Verse: Proverbs 3:5-6
Hobby: Playing MLB the Show ‘25 or Pokemon card collecting
Tyler Gallaher - Senior Spotlight
S: When and Where?
T: Ok, it’s a town called Kaiserslautern, Germany, December 16, 2006.
S: How many different places have you lived? And, which one so far has been your favorite? I guess you can include the dorm…
T: Lemme think… 5, ummm Alaska
S: When did you live in Alaska?
T: 2014-2018, something like that. Like ages 6-11.
S: Advice for the Freshman?
T: Get out and do stuff.
S: Just stuff?
T: Like joining clubs and sports and stuff; I didn’t do anything my freshman year and I regretted it, even though people told me to do the exact same thing.
S: Favorite memory from each year here at ILC?
T: Oh, I’ll have to think about this… Freshman year? Ummm… I don’t know. Just like the soccer scrimmage at South Middle School; that was fun. Sophomore year, sophomore year… everything’s mixed up now, I gotta think. Oh, sophomore year, we biked to the mall and did an escape room. That was fun. And then last year, getting the school record for the 4x100 with Jesse, Sam, and Ian. Senior year? Oh, going to Culvers after volleyball games.
S: Favorite Sport?
T: Track
S: What are some of your hobbies?
T: Ummm, I like to cook and play sports. Do those count as hobbies? (yeah) I like art, ummm… piano? I’m trying to think of what else would be considered hobbies. I like to do a lot, but I don’t consider them hobbies.
S: Ok, what are some of the things you like to do that you wouldn’t necessarily consider hobbies?
T: Umm, I like finding new shows and movies to watch. Well, that’s a hobby. I play a lot of video games. I listen to music a lot.
S: What type of music?
T: Everything; it depends on the day. I like country, rock, and all sorts of stuff.
S: Plans for after high school?
T: Umm, as of right now, I’m just planning on going to a community college in Arizona, but that could change because I really don’t know.
S: Favorite food?
T: Oh, California rolls, like sushi.
S: Favorite thing about the dorm?
T: I just like how we’re all living together and being around my friends all the time. Showers. Showers are pretty good.
S:Why does everyone say that?
T: Because they’re just great!
S: What’s the perfect weather?
T: I would say kinda cloudy out, but not gray, and not rainy either. Warm enough that you don’t have to wear a jacket, but you can if you want to without getting sweaty.
S: If you were to commit a crime, what would it be?
T: Umm, Idk. What would I do?
S: I could see you getting arrested for espionage or something undercover.
T: Oh, yeah, that or stealing a car.
S: Now that you’re a senior, and much wiser than you were as a freshman or sophomore or junior, is there anything you’d change from a previous year?
T: I’d change my freshman year; I was way more introverted than I am now, and I’d stay in my room. I would talk to people more and build relationships with people better than I did.
FAVORITES:
Color: Green
Song: That’s a tough one. “Seven Summers” by Morgan Wallen
Sport to watch: Probably basketball or football; they’re tied.
Drink: In general, water. It hits different sometimes, and then Dr Pepper.
Bible Passage: Proverbs 3:5-6
Number: 7
Movie: I gotta think. I like the Oceans movies, like Oceans 11 and Oceans 12.
Class: Art
Prof: Lau
Smell: Smell? Yeah… I guess, like fire and smoke. Like a bonfire.
Senior: Senior… Probably Daniel or Caleb
Junior: Who are the juniors? Favorite junior? Umm.. Can I pick more than one? Yeah, I guess I’d say Grant and Ian.
Sophomore: I’ll just say all the ones in basketball.
Freshman: Same, all the ones in basketball… and cross country.
Here is an article about Immanuel’s track and field team. Track and field is a fun and competitive sport at Immanuel. The team participates in a variety of events, including both track and field disciplines. The track events at Immanuel include the 4 x 800m relay, 110m hurdles, 100m dash, 1600m run, 4 x 200m relay, 400m dash, 4 x 100m relay, 300m hurdles, 800m dash, 200m dash, 3200m run, and the 4 x 400m relay. The field events include discus, shot put, high jump, long jump, and triple jump.
There are about ten meets in one season for track and field. After these ten meets, the season continues with regionals, then sectionals, and finally the WIAA State Championship in LaCrosse. WIAA stands for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. Immanuel is part of the Dairyland Conference and competes in the smallest school division in the WIAA tournament. There are eleven schools in the Dairyland Conference: Alma-Pepin, Augusta, Blair-Taylor, Cochrane-Fountain City, Immanuel Lutheran, Eleva-Strum, Independence-Gilmanton, Alma-Center Lincoln, Melrose-Mindoro, Osseo-Fairchild, and Whitehall.
The coaches for the 2025 track and field season are Steve Sydow, Eve Naumann, Andrew (Andy) Plath, Titus Radichel, and Riley Naumann. Track and field is not a contact sport; rather, it is a sport that keeps you active and in shape.
Track practices typically start with a warm-up followed by event-specific training, a workout for the day, and finally, stretching. Practice is normally fun, but it also can be very complicated. Track practices last from one hour to two hours and thirty minutes. Most of the practices are one hour and thirty minutes long. Weekend practices can be two hours long or two hours and thirty minutes long. Weekend practices this year are at Eau Claire North High School. This is so the team can practice on an actual track, because at Immanuel there is no track. In previous seasons, the weekend practices were at Eau Claire Memorial High School, but Memorial is replacing their turf on their football field so we cannot use their track to practice.
Track and field meets are really fun and you can cheer on your friends when they do their events. The slow part of track meets are that they can last from three to six hours. Since all meets start at 4:00 pm or 4:15 pm on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays, they could last until late at night.
Track and field gives athletes the chance to compete in many different events, both on the track and in the field. The season includes a lot of meets, and if the team does well, they can advance to regionals, sectionals, and even the WIAA State Championship. With great coaches and a supportive team, track and field at Immanuel is a fun way to stay active, improve skills, and enjoy the sport. Whether you're running sprints, racing in relays, or competing in field events, it's a really fun and exciting sport. After every Saturday practice Steve brings his AWESOME chocolate chip muffins. That is one reason why I joined track and field this year. But there are many other reasons why I joined track and field. I hope you guys will get inspired by this article and join track and field.
Stefon Johnson
Tour Choir
Have you ever wondered what goes on in Tour Choir? Well, we're not gonna tell you. But we will share some of our favorite memories :). If these intrigue you, you better try out for Tour so you can come on some of our fun adventures.
Leah - All of Clarkston, WA (the people, the food, the view)
Logan - the food, singing with the congregation at the end of the service
Sophia - the girls night after Trinity’s engagement
Micah - Noah tripping over the guardrail
Katy - staying with Luecks
Cheyenne - singing in the cathedral
Natalie - playing with the kids in Clarkston
Audrey - talking about the Darion coop on the bus
Eli - Bleib
Michael - parading the shopping cart
Kenzie - the massage beds with Laura and Leah
Trinity - Probably ummmmm… getting engaged
Sam - when I got engaged. Probably.
Noah - seeing Darion
Sophia Carstensen - Senior Spotlight
E: Advice for the freshmen?
S: Try anything and everything. If you don't do it your first year, but you end up liking it later, you’ll regret not doing it sooner.
E: What are you doing next?
S: CVTC for ADN. I’ll probably do travel nursing or work in a maternity ward at a hospital.
E: If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would it be?
S: Iceland
E: Why?
S: (looks it up and shows me) beautiful views, amazing mountains.
E: If you had $1 MILLION dollars, what would you do with it?
S: Buy my own mini island and live with all my family.
E: You’re in the CLC…
S: So basically the whole CLC can come.
E: What color of the rainbow would you dye your hair if you had to choose?
S: What do you think I would look good in? Never mind. I think streaks of blue or sea green.
E: If you had to choose one person to fly to Antarctica and feed penguins with, who would it be?
S: Jesus. Wait, can I pick Jesus? I’d pick Jesus. For obvious reasons. And we’d jam out to worship music.
E: Choose one food to eat for the rest of your life.
S: Hamburgers. More specifically, cheeseburgers.
E: If you could time travel, when would you travel to?
S: Ancient Greece. I feel like that’d be really cool.
FAVORITES
Prof - Thurow, Weis, or the Schierenbeck brothers. Or Schaller. Actually, all of them.
Ice Cream - Cookie Dough
Freshman? - Who even are the freshmen?
Weather? - When it’s raining, but still sunny.
Drink - lemonade
Color - green or blue
Sport? - (gasps) OH, NOOOOO. Whichever I’m in at the moment. Basketball, but just by a little.
Shoe? - Slides:easy to get on and off.
Grace Larson - Senior Spotlight
S: When and where?
G: I was born in Lancing, MN, at 7:00 am at Mayo Clinic. It’s a very tiny town.
S: Advice for the Freshmen?
G: Hmm, be you. People’s opinions don’t matter, and it’s better to be different because then you’ll be remembered. Be original.
S: Favorite memories, one from each year?
G: Freshman year, softball with Coach Vave driving us home in the middle of the storm and we thought we were gonna die. Mr. Vaver had to move some trees off the road, and we all got home super late. Sophomore year…. What happened Sophomore year?? Can it be over the summer? (S:Yeah) I went to SC and saw my Fossum side of the family, and we got to see a lot of Army and Navy stuff, which was pretty cool. Junior year…. I would definitely say banquet. It was really fun; it was probably the best banquet I had. Senior Year…. Hmmm, oh, I don’t know… what even happened? (S: to be honest, I don’t know, it’s all going by so fast) OHH!! I liked going to State to watch the VB team, and watching you guys win State in my truck in a corn field, on my phone … while I was hunting. So much fun!
S: If you could go back and redo one thing from your high school experience, what would it be?
G: I don’t know. I would… I don’t know… I would choose to expand my friend group, and to try and make new friends the first couple years of high school.
S: Favorite Meal at ILC?
G: Oh that’s hard… I really, really liked country fried steak.
S: What are some of your hobbies?
G: Hunting, fishing, working on my truck, hanging out with my dog, softball, and shooting my bow. But not at people, targets.
S: Favorite food in general?
G: Venison steak. That’s top.
S: Favorite season and why?
G: Fall, because of deer hunting and football.
S: If you were a smell, what smell would you be and why?
G: I feel like I would be.. Idk, hopefully good. I feel like I would smell very outdoorsy, maybe piney?
S: Top three movies, go!
G: American Sniper, umm, Ten Things I Hate About You, and oh, Cars.
S: If you had one day left to live, what would you do?
G: Um, I would make sure I’d hug my dog goodbye. And of course my family, boyfriend, my friends, and my cats. And I would do burnouts in my truck.
Favorites
Prof: Weis
Class: English Junior: Grant
Sophomore: Emma, Evelyn, and Miley
Freshmen: Seth and Reagan
Hymn: “Consider How the Birds Above”
Artist: Tim McGraw, George Strait, Allen Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Metallica, Bon Jovi
Color: Ford Blue
Bible Passage: Philippians 4:18
Drink: White Monster
It’s Strange
It's strange how twenty dollars seems like such a large amount when you donate it to church, and such a small amount when you go shopping.
It's strange how two hours seems so long when you're at church and so short when you're watching a good movie.
It's strange that you can't find words to say when you're praying, but you have no trouble finding what to talk about with a friend.
It's strange how difficult it is to read one chapter of the Bible, but how easy it is to read a popular novel.
It's strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to a concert, but they want to sit in the last row at church.
It's strange how difficult it is to learn a fact about God and share it with others, but how easy it is to gossip.
It's strange how it can seem God holds you back from “fun,” when God says fun is holding you back from Him.
It's strange that it's so easy to share details of your life with people, but how hard it is to share the Gospel.
Ellie Daub
The Once Upon A Prom Experience
by Margaret Schaller
Once Upon A Prom is a unique program set up for girls in need of dresses and accessories for their school’s prom or banquet. Each of my sisters and their friends have participated every year of high school, and found gorgeous dresses every time!
To qualify for the Once Upon a Prom Experience you must do some kind of community service for six hours prior to your appointment. Some girls have used their work in Leave It Better, VBS, volunteering to correct papers, and volunteering to help their church as their six hours. Once you finish six hours, you must write a paragraph on what your volunteer hours were and other details on what you thought of the experience.
On the day of your appointment, you arrive at Banbury Place and walk through a moderately dumpy building to find an industrial elevator. The elevator looked like a horror movie.. but the dresses at the Once Upon A Prom level were so cute! When you enter the Once Upon A Prom level, you’re greeted by the volunteer employees at the front desk. They ask for your volunteer hours paragraph and have you sign some permission forms and your “receipt,” a paper with your name, dress size, color, and what accessories you took. Then they ask you to wait for the next group of girls to be taken on a tour.
On the tour they take you through the whole level of the building and explain the rules. To the right of the front desk is a long hallway with a couple boxes of purses and scarves, and ends in a mirror and a platform for girls to check out their dresses. The hallway branches left and right. To the right is another hallway with two rooms of dresses sizes 6-10 and 10+, as well as a large changing room. At the end of this hallway are the shoe options, which circle back to the front desk. To the left is a similar hallway with a dimly lit changing room that ends in the jewelry section and a dress room with sizes 0-6. This also circles back to the front desk.
When looking through the dresses, you’re allowed three dresses in the changing room at a time. If you like the dress, but want to keep on looking, they have hold racks where no one can take your dress away. If you don’t like the dress they have convenient put-away racks so you can get back to looking.
When it comes to the dresses, they have so many options! Bright colors to monochrome, ballroom dresses to sleek form fitting ones, short dresses and long ones, patterned dresses and one-colored. As long as the girl participating looks through her size dresses thoroughly, I think every girl can find a dress they love.
Here are some remarks from our ILC girls on Once Upon A Prom:
“The people there were really nice, and I love how many options I had.”
“Lowkey traumatizing because the building was really sketchy looking.”
“I loved being around all the other girls; they shared the same energy as me, and I had a really good time.”
“I thought trying on dresses I might never get a chance to try again was really fun; I might not plan on getting the dress, but they’re fun to try anyway.”
“I’ve gone all three years I could and I’ve loved it every time!”
Overall, Once Upon A Prom is a great place to find your dream dress and feel like a perfect princess at your school banquet, or for any other formal occasion. This program is so convenient and helpful, and I can’t wait to see all the gorgeous girls this May in their new dresses!
How to Get a Date for Banquet
The annual spring banquet at Immanuel takes place on Saturday, May 17. Some students look forward to this event every year. It is a night to dress in attire you would typically not wear. It is a night filled with food, speeches, senior awards, and camaraderie. Following the banquet, parents host the after-banquet party. The after-banquet party may be the better part of the evening. Do you have plans to go to the banquet? You can go alone (boring), with your male or female buddies (too safe), with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or ask someone to go. If you are faculty or staff, I highly recommend you take your spouse (That probably goes without saying). How does one go about finding a date for the banquet? Read on.
I think the first step that one must take to find a date is to draw up a list of potential dates. Then you should rank them based on the likelihood of them saying yes. This list should include all the people that you would like to go on a date with. Your criteria for picking that list is up to you. Once you have drawn up your list and ranked them in terms of likelihood, you can decide where to expend most of your energy.
Once you have narrowed down your list, the next step is to figure out how you are going to ask them. I was a teenager in the 1980s and we did not have cell phones, so the only way to get a date to the prom was by asking a girl in person. Today, you have a number of methods available to you. You can send them a direct text message (bad idea), you could send them a snap (bad idea), you could send them a tik tok video and use interpretive dance to ask them (I want to see that, but bad idea), you could hire a skywriter and have it written in the sky (too much money for a date to banquet), you could post messages on the bulletin boards around school (this would probably be frowned upon by the bulletin board police), or you could just be OG and ask them face to face.
You may be wondering about ways that you could persuade them to say yes. One way to sweeten the deal is to pay for their ticket. You could also throw in some flowers. Or if you are a girl asking a guy, you could get him a gift card to McDonald's, Culvers, Burger King, Taco Bell, Taco Johns, Chick-fil-A, Jersey Mikes, Subway, Jimmy Johns, Chipotle, or any other fast food joint in town. Perhaps small trinkets that express your appreciation could also be considered. Beyond that, your charm and charisma are going to need to be on point that day.
If you get shot down, don’t take any offense. Just move on to the next person on the list and repeat the steps above. You know asking someone to a banquet is not a betrothal. You are not asking them to be your boyfriend or girlfriend. You are not proposing marriage. You are just asking them to accompany you to a school function.
So be bold, be realistic, and finally, make sure you have enough money in the student bank to pay for the one who may someday turn out to be your spouse. But you need to ask first. Finally, if you know that the person you are interested in has a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you might want to avoid asking them, as it will only lead to turmoil and potentially a black eye (I am not promoting violence).