![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
Knowing your best friend and platonic soulmate was taken from you is the hardest thing to ever get through. It’s as if a piece of you is ripped out and there’s nothing you can do to get it back. Alum and former varsity girls lacrosse coach Colleen Klipstein lost a piece of her life when her long time best friend died due to domestic violence, evidently affecting her life from that point on. Klipstein was friends with Abby Bieber from birth and they were inseparable ever since.
“We spent all of our summers together, through highschool when I was at WJ. Even though she was a year younger than me in school, we were just good friends all the time, hanging out, making bad decisions together… In college we then lived together for three years but she was always my go to person when I needed anything,” Klipstein said.
Klipstein and Bieber both played for the varsity girls lacrosse team together when they were in high school.
“She and I had an unbelievable connection that I did not have with other people and I think it naturally came from our playing together and being friends,” Klipstein said.
Abby Bieber was a police officer in Florida who graduated from WJ in 2009. She died by the means of a murder-suicide committed by a detective, who was also her boyfriend at the time. Klipstein was hit hard with the news of Bieber’s death, and it continues to haunt her wherever she goes.
Klipstein’s friend and former coworker Ashley Herdman, the current girls JV lacrosse coach, mentioned that Bieber was someone who made a good impression on people as soon as they met.
“She was super nice, and I knew she graduated from here, and I worked with her mom, so I was like, well if you’re Sarah’s daughter and you’re friends with Colleen, you have to be someone cool,” Herdman said.
The varsity lacrosse team held a tribute game in honor of Bieber. Klipstein was unaware of the arrangement, so the experience was a shock.
“Looking into the stands, into the most crowded game I can remember, was so amazing and healing to see how many people she impacted … The way the team rallied around me to honor someone so special to our community was humbling and inspiring,” Klipstein said.
The topic of domestic violence isn’t something people are usually aware of, so when it does come up, they’re startled. There’s often no evidence, in the victim or the abuser, pointing toward any red flags, leading to a tragic end.
“There was no moment of her allowing herself to be abused or hurt. She did the opposite, and that’s kind of why it led to this point. She didn’t accept him trying to control her. She was ending the relationship which is why he killed her,” Klipstein said.
Klipstein’s pregnancy has prompted her to resign from the varsity lacrosse position, but she continues to keep WJ lacrosse and the memory of her best friend in her life by honoring her in a special way.
“[My baby is] going to be named after Abby, so it’ll give us a new brightness to look forward to,” Klipstein said.
This story was originally published on The Pitch Online on February 27, 2023.
