By Claire Reinthaler
For the Clemmons Courier

With the warm weather and Valentine’s Day this past week, West Forsyth students were certainly full of excitement. Titan athletics dominated the week, with many competitive spring sports teams finishing their tryouts and setting their rosters for the season. Some winter sports headed into their postseasons as well. The boys varsity basketball team lost a close game 67-64 on the road to R.J. Reynolds on Feb. 13, but will be back to play in the first round of the NCHSAA 4A state tournament against A.C. Reynolds on the road on Feb. 21. The girls varsity basketball team came home triumphantly with the Central Piedmont 4A Conference Championship on Feb. 17 after a 33-30 win against their arch-rivals, the Reagan Raiders, and will play the first game of their state championships against Asheville High School on the road on Feb. 21.
The annual Titan Talent Showcase was held on Feb. 16, featuring many talented performers, ranging from vocal performances to dance to martial arts. At the end, the audience voted on their favorite performances of the night, with first place winning a $50 gift card and second and third place winning $25 gift cards. Addison Nix’s vocal performance took third prize, Zaren Saddler’s drumming performance secured second, and Yahir Montero’s vocal and guitar performance took the win.
With registration upon us, deciding on classes to take can be difficult. Even though students were asked to submit an idea of what classes they might want to take to prepare for their private sessions with their guidance counselor, from experience, many students don’t actually know what they want to take until then, and oftentimes end up changing classes after. Electives in particular are hard to choose, and with the requirement of a second year of P.E. and a fourth science class being dropped for next year, that opens more spots in many students’ schedules. As a rising senior, here are my two recommendations for narrowing down your choices.
Performing and visual arts: Here’s the best advice I can give: take an arts class every year. From theater to chorus to dance to art, there is something for everyone. We truly have a fantastic arts department at West and the teachers are some of the best you’ll ever have. It’s also great to have a fun class to break up your school day.
Double up on a subject you’re interested in: Whether you know what you want to study in college, you’re undecided or you don’t want to go to college at all, finding the subject areas you’re interested in will make your high school career and beyond so much more fulfilling. Doubling up on classes from a core subject like English, science, math or social studies will give you the opportunity to dig deeper into what you enjoy.
The next few weeks are busy ones, so let’s keep up the good work, Titans.

Claire Reinthaler is this year’s Titan Tattler.