Helen Martin, staff reporter
Helen Martin is a senior at McCallum, four-year veteran of the MacJ program and a third-year Shield staffer. Her favorite newspaper stories to write are profiles of all the interesting people at McCallum! In addition to newspaper, Martin is also on the Mac soccer team, a member of PALS and in Link Crew. In her free time, Martin enjoys playing with her dog, baking, reading and listening to music.
![PINK FOR PROM: Seniors Vaughn Vandegrift, Peter Wiseman, Max Yehaskel and Alex Gold sing and dance their hearts out at Saturday’s “Under the Knight Sky” prom. Yehaskel and Wiseman stood out in the sea of black and navy suits as the pair opted for bright pink with contrasting, yet coordinating, shirts and ties. While the style decision seemed big to onlookers, for Yehaskel it was a simple choice.
“I like pink, it’s a solid color,” he said. “It almost melted when I ironed it actually. It’s 100% polyester, and I got it from Kohl’s.”
Yehaskel enjoyed prom overall, except when it came to the royalty announcement.
“Someone stole prom queen from me,” he joked. “It was very tragic. But other than that, it was fun.”
As prom marks another milestone at the end of senior year, Yehaskel is ready to sit back, relax and enjoy his last few weeks as a Knight.
“My grades don’t matter anymore [and] after AP tests I’m done,” Yehaskel said. “I’m going to go nuts, and I’m going to start cooking more.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/g_m_0458_52847345379_o-900x600.jpg)
![ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES: Seniors Mira Wagner and Tyler Mankinen duke it out during the first moments of the final round at the Cap City Marching Competition. The 2022 marching show “Seeing Stars” gets its name from its boxing theme, and according to Wagner, who represents the woodwinds section, the early fight scene “definitely sets the tone.”
“Right off the bat you see two people fighting so you know that this show is full of energy,” Wagner said.” “Even throughout the show the woodwinds and brass are ‘competing’ against each other which goes with the boxing theme.”
Mankinen, who represents the brass section, believes the fight scene is a crucial element in the marching show.
“[The fight scene] usually gets the crowd pumped up and draws the attention of the audience into the show,” Mankinen said. “The show is super unique and seeing the crowd react to an unconventional element of a marching show is really exciting.”
Caption and photo by Morgan Eye.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_5736_52385662511_o-900x600.jpg)
![FIVE-STAR CAPTAIN: In One Night Only, the opening number of the spring show on Saturday night, Blue Brigade captain Charli Cevallos is front and center setting the mood and tempo for the number and entire show. Cevallos said the opening number of the spring show is always upbeat and fun and this year’s edition was no exception. Cevallos said she remembers the moment as one of pure adrenaline. “Since opener is the first dance, the excitement is running high and it’s such a great feeling to be performing our hard work for an audience.” As the photo suggests, the team was able to perform the number in sync even though it was a new dance choreographed exclusively for the spring show by first lieutenant Annabel Winter (left) and senior lieutenant Emily Garza. “Opener was our first spring show dance we learned,” Cevallos said, “and it came together super well. … [It was] definitely a team favorite.” Cevallos said her favorite part of the number was the very beginning when Winter (left) woke her up stage left from a deep sleep to start the show. “It’s so fun,” she said, “and the audience loved it.” For the first time in three years, that audience was in the MAC and at full capacity without pandemic restrictions.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/dsc04748_52025488192_o-900x600.jpg)
![Sophomore Gabi Alfarache (left) mid-bout. Having a good coach is important to success, and Alfrache has just that. Coming from Yale University to central Texas, Michael Kim became another father figure for Alfarache, “My ultimate role model is my coach [Kim]. He came from Korea to the United States when he was a teenager, and didn’t start fencing until college. He’s coached world champions, olympians, and even left his coaching position at Yale University to come coach in Texas. I really do think of him as my second father.”](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/586587E8-F4BE-4135-9BAA-0FD8F0205275-1-e1638232353826-900x550.jpeg)
