OK White All-Conference interview: Luke Majick
Luke Majick
OK White All-Conference
Grade: Junior
Position: Quarterback
Being a first year starter at QB, what kind of honor is it to earn AC in your first set of games this season?
It’s a great honor to be named one of the top quarterbacks in the OK white, but I wouldn’t have attained this accolade without my teammates and coaches. Coach Ebbert and the whole offensive staff does a great job of putting our team into a great position to execute plays and be successful. The whole offense did a great job executing their assignments all year long and I’m very humbled to receive this accolade.
What do you take away from this experience at quarterback into the offseason and next season for you to keep succeeding beyond just this year?
One thing I can take away from this season is staying level headed throughout the games and to stay calm in tough situations. As a team, bad things are going to happen. My goal is to forget about the past while focusing on the next drive and continue to fight until the end of the game.
How do you need to adjust yourself and your leadership heading into the semifinal game against a team with a couple big wins recently?
I don’t really think that I need to adjust anything I have been doing in the past except for being a great role model to my teammates and community. As we continue to play, the games are getting bigger and bigger. My teammates and I need to be aware of that and block out all distractions in order to achieve our main goal: winning the state championship.
Has there ever been any doubt in your mind that you couldn’t lead this team to the point where you are today?
I had no doubt that our team would make it this far. There is something special about this team. As a brotherhood, we fight to the death for each other because we all love each other. We just pour everything we have into that field in order to get us wins.
What is your favorite memory of the season so far?
My favorite memory has to be the West Ottawa game, because it showed how resilient we were as a team. We faced a lot of adversity that game and we were able to overcome those challenges and get the win as a team.
It Matters
A class that teaches entrepreneurship, leadership, creativity and making an impact; that’s Intro to Business. Senior Zoe Vanleeuwen had no idea what she signed up for when she chose to take Intro to Business after noticing she had a missing first hour.
“When I talked to others who took the class before, they said they just had to do a business plan,” Zoe said. “So when I heard we had to actually start a business, I was shocked.”
After the initial surprise, Zoe learned to enjoy the class. The class is unique; it engages students in “real-world” work.
“My favorite part of the class is that it is more hands-on and not book work,” Zoe said.
The hands-on work that Zoe refers to is starting and managing a business. The business project started with students hurdling into groups and brainstorming. Zoe’s group talked about multiple ideas before junior Hayley Gorski mentioned the idea of mental health.
“In our group, we figured that everyone knows at least one person who has struggled with a mental health issue,” Zoe said. ” We want to spread awareness about mental health because mental health is just as important or even more important than physical health.”
And thus, It Matters was born. The It Matters team then decided what product they would like to make, and they settled on the production of T-shirts. A portion of the profits will be donated to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, which is an organization that gives grants towards scientific research of mental illness.
The It Matters team is hard at work managing their business by themselves. Normally, each group has someone in charge of leadership, marketing, finance, sales, and supply chain. The It Matters team works in a “roundtable” way, with everyone pitching in where needed. The team will be releasing the T-Shirts soon, and they will be sold at all three lunches for fifteen dollars.
“We do have Junior Achievement, our helper Kelly, and Mr. Lowe offering advice on what to do,” Zoe said. “But, for the most part, it is up to us to run the business, and there are a lot of roadblocks along the way. So it is hard to find ways around those at times.”