New Students at PHS
Claudia Riggert New to PHS
by Autumn Lambrecht
One of Pierce High School’s new students is freshman Claudia Riggert. Attending Zion Lutheran School for most of her school years, including junior high, she is excited to become a Bluejay and experience the PHS high school life.
Riggert is the daughter of Travis and Gretchen Riggert. She has four siblings, Adrienne who is 12, Stella who is nine, Max who is seven, and Paige who is four.
Getting to attend and participate in all the new high school experiences is something Riggert is excited about. Along with attending school, she will be participating in volleyball as an outside and middle hitter, basketball, and track for her extracurricular activities.
Her favorite subject in school is strength and fitness.
Claudia is 14 years old and lives on the outside of Pierce.
Some of her hobbies include sleeping and TikTok. Her favorite show is Outerbanks and her favorite book is One Of Us Is Lying. For pets, Claudia has two dogs Remmy and Bailee, a hamster named Goldberg, and two cats, Smokey and Casey.
When asked about her favorite thing about PHS, she says, “I like how there are more class options.”
New Freshman at Pierce High
by Ciara Garcia
This fall, Pierce High welcomed former Zion Lutheran student Isaiah Yarde, who previously was a student at schools in Concordia, Minnesota, and Omaha before transferring to Zion in second grade and finally transferring to Pierce High as a freshman this year.
His favorite class right now is Spanish 1 with Mr. Lopez, and he’s excited to be a member of band with Mr. Sindt. He plans to participate in basketball, football, and track.
Yard has three siblings, two of which attend Zion Lutheran school. Simon Peekenschneider is in preschool, Clara Peekenschneider is in first grade, and Yarde has a ten-year-old brother who lives in Florida and is in fifth grade.
In his free time, Yarde likes to practice photography and art.
Yarde stated, “My favorite thing about Pierce so far is football and the teammates. I'm excited for this year's season.”
Getting to Know Scarlett Babl
by Autumn Lambrecht
Each year, Pierce High School has many new and old students enroll. This year, previously attending Zion Lutheran Schools, Scarlett Babl, will be attending PHS as a freshman.
Babl is 15 years old, and participates in volleyball as a setter and a right side hitter for her extracurricular activity.
Her parents are Ryan and Haylie Babl. She also has two siblings, Cecelia who is nine and Stetson who is seven.
Living on the outskirts of Norfolk, Babl lives on a farm and is able to have many horses and lots of kittens. In her free time she enjoys watching TikToks, spending time and hanging out with her friends and family, taking naps, cooking, and shopping. Her favorite show to watch is Outerbanks, and her favorite movie is All American. The Fault in Our Stars is Babl’s favorite book.
Something she is looking forward to this year is being able to attend the sporting events and cheer on the teams. Currently, her favorite subject is strength and fitness.
Babl says, “My favorite thing about PHS so far is there are many new people to meet and socialize with.”
New Freshman Joins Pierce High
by Ciara Garcia
New student Amelia Ahlers transfers from Zion Lutheran to Pierce High this fall.
Her favorite class so far is English with Mrs. Legate and is looking forward to taking art with Mr. Waldner and Spanish with Mr. Lopez. She plans on being a member of the band with Mr. Sindt this year. She is most excited to improve upon her art skills this year.
Ahlers transfers to Pierce High with younger brother Josiah, an eighth grader.
In her free time, she enjoys doing art, crocheting, writing, watching art videos, taking care of her leopard gecko, and playing her favorite instruments; flute, sax, kalimba, and piano.
Ahlers mentioned her favorite thing about Pierce is how nice the people are. She stated, “I like the classes and the students. The kids are really inviting and nice and the teachers are good at explaining topics during class.”
Pierce High Welcomes New Freshman
by Raegan Theisen
Pierce High has welcomed new freshman Natalie Kosch into our school. Kosch is the daughter of Chris and Jean Kosch and has one other sibling who still attends her old school. She has recently transferred here from Norfolk Catholic High School.
Kosch is excited to be participating in volleyball and basketball this year.
When she is outside of school, Kosch likes to go boating, camping, wakeboarding, and other things outside.
When asked how Pierce High has been so far she responded, “The people here have been super welcoming to me so far.” She also said, “It is great and I love it here!”
Pierce High Welcomes New Freshman
by Raegan Theisen
Pierce High School has welcomed new freshman Taydym Koch into our school. Koch is the daughter of Justin and Lorie Koch. She has an older brother and a younger sister. Koch’s brother is a junior who also attends Pierce High School. She previously was homeschooled before she started school at Pierce High.
Koch is participating in cross country this year and enjoys it a lot already. She enjoys all of her classes this year and says they are fun, but her favorite is art with Mr. Waldner. Koch has tons of animals like horses, dogs, chickens, goats, and more. In her free time she spends time with them, and she loves to ride her horses.
When she was asked how being a Pierce Bluejay has been for her, she responded, “It has been a very fun time!”
New Eighth Grader at Pierce Jr./Sr. High!
by Emma Risinger
At Pierce High, there is a new student, an eighth grader named Keara Olson.
She transferred here from Norfolk’s Christ Lutheran school. Her switch to Pierce is her first time ever switching schools and making that kind of a jump. However, things may not be so different, as Olson plans to continue her involvement in volleyball and basketball, two activities she really enjoys.
The classes she is taking this semester are math with Mr. Legate, English with Mr. Weber, American History taught by Mr. Adams, and health and PE instructed by Mr. Painter.
Olson’s main goal for this year largely ties into her classes, as she says, “I just want to keep my grades up this year,” a sentiment that many students can likely relate to.
With any luck, she will accomplish this in her time attending Pierce Jr./Sr. High School.
New Junior High Transfer Student
by Emma Risinger
Pierce Public is seeing another new student walking in the halls, Brianna Rundell, an eighth grader.
Prior to attending school in Pierce she went to Norfolk’s Christ Lutheran and after that, Norfolk Public. And while she might have switched schools, some things carried over. One of these things would be an interest in playing volleyball, which Rundell is participating in this fall season. She is also considering playing basketball later on in the year.
Activities aside, her classes include math with Mr. Legate, English taught by Mr. Weber, physical science with Mr. Piper, health and p.e. instructed by Mr. Painter, and junior high band directed by Mr. Sindt.
Rundell has noticed a couple differences between her previous schools and Pierce. The main one being the size of her new school, which is comparatively smaller than her former one.
But moving forward into this school year, Rundell seems to be keeping a positive attitude, and it shows. She said, “I just wanna do good and stick with it,” a great attitude to have going into a new academic year.
Student Returns to Pierce High
by Ciara Garcia
This fall, Cole Clausen returned to Pierce High after transferring to Wayne in elementary school due to his parent’s job. Clausen transfers back with older brother Tristan, a junior. Clausen’s favorite class so far is English with Mr. Weber and is looking forward to taking Spanish with Mr. Lopez in the future. He’s most excited to see old friends and make new ones as the year goes on.
Clausen plans on participating in football and baseball this year. His favorite thing about Pierce High so far is the sports program.
In his free time, Clausen enjoys racing and working out. Clausen states, “It's cool to see old friends again. I look forward to playing sports this year.”
New Eighth Grader at Pierce High
by Ciara Garcia
Pierce High gained Zion Lutheran transfer Neveah Koeppe this fall.
Koeppe’s favorite class so far is Spanish 1 with Mr. Lopez and she looks forward to taking Spanish 2 with Mr. Lopez later in her high school career. Koeppe is considering participating in one act this fall.
In her free time, Koeppe enjoys drawing and reading.
Koeppe has five siblings; Chad, Chris, Cassie, Donnie, and Christian. She mentioned that her favorite thing about Pierce High so far is the Spanish program held here with Mr. Lopez. Koeppe stated, “I enjoy the classes here. It's fun, but I feel like I'm still learning a lot. The people here are really nice too.”
