Daniel Olson has been a significant member of the La Porte High School staff since he started teaching here in 1994.

Olson went to college for his undergraduate degree in math at Purdue University and his master's degree in business at Indiana University.

He decided to go into math because he loves logic and deductive reasoning, which he displays daily in his teaching.

Olson has taught AP Calculus, AP PreCalculus, Probability and Statistics, Algebra 2, Algebra 1, and Geometry throughout his years at LPHS.

“I am very passionate about teaching! I mean, I'm not in it for the money!” Olson said.

He is dedicated to ensuring students learn and take away all that they can from his class.

“I hope that students learn how to learn. And by that, I mean they discover that "blue cow" is not learning at all!” Olson said.

The phrase “blue cow” is something that Olson uses frequently in his class to describe situations that his students may have been taught in math without any reasoning behind it. An example of this would be the area of a circle is r2. Students are just told this and never get explained why, but Olson likes to inform his students of the reasoning behind the formulas that they use.

Olson has been able to find a special connection between himself and his students through teaching.

“The fact that I haven't been fired for about 45% of my jokes is a testament to a special connection I have with students. We laugh all hour, and I sneak in some math too,” Olson said.

In Olson’s free time, he likes to golf, fish, walk, eat, and binge TV shows.

Every day that Olson teaches, he makes an impact on at least one of his students by making his classroom a fun but also enriching environment. He will definitely have a lasting impact on LPHS students.

LPHS is happy to welcome back Ms. Jennifer Mount after she took the first semester off this year due to a cancerous mass in her eye, but she is thankfully cancer free now.

Mount started teaching at LPHS in 1986, making this her 41st year teaching.

Mount graduated from Portage High School and then went to Ball State originally majoring in Music Therapy in Psychology. She changed her major five more times before deciding on mathematics education.

“The whole time from freshman to junior year, I was tutoring people in math, sometimes two-three people at a time, and enjoyed it. One semester I had no math class and felt lost. It was like God slapping upside the head telling me that's what I am supposed to due. I did have to go one extra semester to do my student teaching. Changing your major six times kind of puts you behind,” Mount said.

Mount still has a love for teaching, and she wants her students to learn the best they can from her class. Mount believes that everyone is capable of learning math as long as they decide to do it.

“I feel it is important to learn how to reason, think, and work through problems whether we are talking about math or not. I try to get kids not to memorize math but remember the process to get solutions,” Mount said.

In Mount’s free time she likes to hike, workout, play disc golf, spend time with her dogs, and play her viola in the La Porte County Symphony.

The halls of LPHS feel a bit more familiar and happier with this LPHS staple back in the classroom. Mount's resilience and impact cannot be understated.

Summer to most people is the happiest time of the year. The weather is hot, there’s no school, and the sun is always shining.

However, for Lana Del Rey, I’m not sure if she has a happy time of year. She somehow has made me learn that summer can be sad, too.

In her music, there are definitely songs where she showcases the happier sides of summer, but most of them show that the summer brings her a sense of longing for what she wishes she could have.

The first album that I associate with summer by Lana Del Rey is Lust for Life. This album is a very hopeful one. It talks about being young and in love when the world is in a crisis.

This is considered one of Lana Del Rey’s most political albums. Where she mentions some of the political struggles in the world in songs like “When the World was at War Before We Just Kept Dancing”.

My favorite songs in this album are “Lust for Life” and “Love”. Both of these songs talk about being young and in love and just enjoying life. I think that these are my favorite because they showcase the happy parts of summer.

There are also songs on this album that showcase the melancholy and longing that can also be felt in the summer like “13 Beaches” or “Heroin.”

The next album that I associate with the summer is Chemtrails over the Country Club. This is definitely a sadder summer album, which glamorizes the original American landscape that she referenced in some of her earlier albums.

My favorite songs from this album are “Chemtrails over the Country Club,” “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost,” and “Tulsa Jesus Freak.” The most popular song on this album is “Chemtrails over the Country Club.”

I think that both of these albums capture all of the emotions that can be felt during the summer time. I also think that they give the audience a glimpse of what the summer months mean to Lana Del Rey.

Spring is a more hopeful time of the year. The snow is melting, and nature starts to come alive again. I hear the birds, the leaves come back to the trees, and flowers start to bloom.

Spring can also be even more of a depressing time of year than winter though. Some days I think it’s almost summer, and then the next day it’s snowing. It’s almost a false sense of hope.

I think that Lana Del Rey perfectly captures the feeling of spring in a few of her albums.

The first album that I think of when it comes to spring is Blue Banisters. This album to me is the depressing parts of Spring.

Blue Banisters is considered by some to be one of Lana Del Rey’s saddest albums. The album showcases the hardship of the contrast between promise and reality, and there is also several mentions of spring in the album.

My favorite songs on this album are “Beautiful”, “Nectar of the Gods”, and “Thunder.” One of the more popular songs on this album is “Living Legend.”

Another album that I think could be associated with spring is Honeymoon. This album shows an exploration of doomed romance, and it also mentions a yearning for California.

My favorite songs on this album are “Honeymoon” and “Swan Song.” I don’t really think that any of the songs on this album are well known.

I think that melancholy style of Lana Del Rey’s music captures the sadder parts of spring that are hopeful but deceiving.

Lana Del Rey is an American singer and songwriter who started releasing music in 2010 but has become more popular in recent years.

Lana Del Rey’s songs are written in melancholic style. She glamorizes the experiences written in her songs with an old soul type of feel to them.

I think that Lana Del Rey’s music can be associated with different seasons. Each of her albums has a different type of story being told, but the overall style of her music remains the same.

Since it is the winter, I’ll start with the albums that resonate with me more in the winter. The first album I associate with the winter would be Ultraviolence. This album is heavily centered around a relationship that Del Rey was in where she felt that the man she was with wasn’t good for her, but she couldn’t leave him.

My favorite songs on this album are “Ultraviolence” and “Cruel World,” but a more popular well known song is “West Coast”.

The next album I associate with the winter but mostly around Christmas time is Born to Die: Paradise Edition. This album combines her Born to Die album and Paradise album.

These albums are two of her earlier albums. They include some of her first popular songs like Video Games and Summertime Sadness.

The association that I have with these albums in the winter may just be a personal one because when I first listened to them it was in the winter. My favorite songs from these albums are “Off to the Races”, “Blue Jeans”, “Carmen”, and “Gods and Monsters”.

This album has more of an old soul type of feel than her other albums. The sounds and styles that she uses in these albums mimics an early Americana type of feel. The vibe of this album almost reminds me of Frank Sinatra. I think that’s why it mostly reminds me of winter.

These are all the albums that I think could be associated with winter from Lana Del Rey.

LPHS Choir performed their annual winter concert on December 10th.

The Choirs that performed in the concert were the Beginning Treble Choir, Beginning Men's Choir, Treble Chorale, Chorale, and Show Choir.

The concert began with the choirs entering the PAC to a processional song, “O Come, O Come, Emanuel.”

Then the Beginning Men’s Choir and the guys from Chorale sang “Shepard’s Awake.” This is a song that the men in choir sing every year.

Next, the choirs started performing one by one. Each choir sang two songs. The Beginning Men’s Choir was first. Then, they were followed by Treble Chorale, who were followed by Chorale. Afterwards, Beginning Treble and Show Choir performed.

After all the choirs performed individually, everyone came back up to the stage to perform “Sleigh Ride.” This is another song that Tom Coe, the LPHS Choir Director, has the choirs sing annually.

“It’s very bittersweet that this was my last winter concert. This was definitely one of the best winter concerts that we’ve had since I’ve been in high school, but I will miss seeing all of the choirs improve,” Layna Hannon, senior LPHS choir student, said.

The LPHS Choir will perform again on February 11, 2026.

The La Porte Civic Auditorium held its annual Veterans Day Ceremony on November 11.

The ceremony began with the color guard putting up the American Flag. Then the La Porte High School Band played the national anthem.

After the “Star Bangled Banner,” Mayor Dermody introduced the first guest speaker, which was his father in law. Then, his father in law gave a short speech about his service.

After, the La Porte Middle School Choir performed a song that was focused on thanking the veterans for their service. Then another guest speaker gave a speech that was coincidentally also about saying thank you.

Following the speech the La Porte High School Choir performed “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Then, the band played a song for each branch of the military.

“It feels special to be able to be a part of such a meaningful tradition for the veterans in our community,” Layna Hannon, a fourth year LPHS Choir student, said.

Annually various LPCSC students attend the event along with the La Porte Band and Choir.

Then the color guard initiated the gun salute and retired the colors. After that, Taps was played.

Then the ceremony was closed with the names of the raffle winners being read.

LPHS choirs performed their first concert of the year on Wednesday, October 8th.

The choirs that performed in this concert were the eighth grade choir, Beginning Treble Choir, Beginning Men’s Choir, Treble Chorale Choir, Chorale Choir, and Show Choir.

The first choir to perform was the eighth grade choir. They sang two songs and were directed by Mrs. Davidson, the middle school choir teacher. The eighth graders always join LPHS for their fall concert.

All of the high school choirs sang two songs, and Show Choir sang a medley from Hades Town that featured Molly Cooper, Camryn Ruiz, Andrew Hayes, and Nick Oss.

After Show Choir performed, a promotional video for choir was played for the audience. The video featured some of the current seniors and LPHS Choir alums.

At the end of the concert, all of the high school choirs and the eighth grade choir sang "River in Judea" together.

“The students did an outstanding job of preparing for last night's concert and they performed their music with a high level of polish and professionalism! It was really fun to direct each choir and make the musical things happen in each song. I was really lucky to get to watch the audience's reaction during Show Choir, especially our special guest 8th grade students. They were loving the whole thing! I think we successfully convinced them to join choir at the high school next year!” Tom Coe, the LPHS choir director, said.

The next choir concert will be December 10th for their winter concert.