TMI Rises in the Arts and Athletics
By The TMI Journalism Club
Last month was filled with great successes from our panthers–from the cross country team doing great in the state championship to our theater program and the recent performance of Hamlet. In this issue, enjoy additional cooking recipes, Kevin’s Kolumn, and our student and faculty spotlight.
Panthers Finish With an Undefeated Regular Season
For the first time in recent TMI history, the football team finished their regular season undefeated. The guys put in a lot of hard work and dedication to get to where they are, with the help of Head Football Coach, Ray Purifoy (Coach P). Team captain, Jaylen Gardner ’23, said, “Overall, our season was great and, of course, some work needs to be done, but this was just the start of what TMI has potential to be and next year will be even better.”
Cross Country Team


This season, the boys’ cross country team finished a strong season, winning the TAPPS 5A State Championship. The girls’ team also finished in the top 10. Their hard practice every day after school really paid off for the cross country team. Assistant Coach, Patrick Brawley, said that he was always able to count on the team and he was surrounded by a good group of kids. Alexis Block ’24 shared that “This season was really good, we all improved a lot and I am so excited to see the growth for next year!”
TMI Theater Produces Hamlet
TMI’s opening night production of Hamlet proved to be an intensely entertaining event. The minimalist set, with the optimal use of light and fog to enhance the mood, provided the perfect backdrop to let the actors’ talents shine–and all the actors were amazing. Chance Walker’s ’22 performance as Hamlet kept us on the edge of our seats with anticipation while Kailey Kessler’s ’22 depiction of Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, was moving. Ali Candler’s ’25 take on the crazy witch was so complete, she transported the audience to the eerie graveyard. We spoke with a cast member, Master Sergeant (Ret.) Gooding, who stated that “the actors were all very supportive… We were constantly appreciating and applauding everyone’s performance and it was a great atmosphere in which to practice and rehearse and become a family.” Mr. Clark Stevens, Theater Director, did a fantastic job directing this exciting play! The TMI Journalism Club highly recommends seeing this production.
Cooking With Vichi, Georgia, and Kevin

Looking for easy holiday recipes to try out this season? Check out these recipes created by our three Journalism Club members.
Holiday Lemonade
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups of white sugar
8 cups of water
1 ½ cups of lemon juice
Steps
- In a saucepan, mix sugar and 1 cup of water. Boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate.
- Stir together sugar water mixture, lemon juice, and 7 cups of water.
- Put ice in it to taste better
Apple Pie
Ingredients
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 to 7 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples
Steps
- Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll one half of dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. In a small bowl, combine sugars, flour and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar mixture; toss to coat. Add filling; dot with butter.
- Roll remaining dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle. Place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edge. Cut slits in top. Beat egg white until foamy; brush over crust. If desired, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and ground cinnamon. Cover edge loosely with foil.
- Bake 25 minutes. Remove foil; bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 20-25 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack. If desired, serve with ice cream and caramel sauce.
Banana Bread
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
- Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.
- Spread slices with honey or serve with ice cream.
BREAKING NEWS
Dress-Down Days Canceled for the Rest of the Calendar Year
Many students were disappointed to hear that dress-down days are now canceled for the rest of this calendar year, including spirit days that were planned for clubs and attire for student-athletes on game days. But, there is a reason why these heavily-anticipated dress-down days were canceled.
Dr. Fletcher, Dean of Students, shared that this ban on dress-down days is the consequence of students taking advantage of their dress-down privilege. Having these days is a reward for students, but since the guidelines have not been followed on some occasions, this privilege is now revoked. Dr. Fletcher stated in chapel that the administration will reevaluate in December, but for the time being, we will have to stick to our daily dress and Wednesday dress uniforms.
Going forward, the dress code is not something we should take lightly as students. Adhering to dress-code standards, both on regular-dress and spirit-dress days will prevent a ban like this from happening again. As a student body, let’s work together and make sure we look over the guidelines and double-check what is approved to wear for free dress when the privilege is reinstated.
Kevin’s Kolumn
Hello, I am Kevin Kessler ’25 and this article is dedicated to experiences that I have had at TMI, any fun topics that you guys want me to discuss, or me answering any questions that you guys have. Feel free to DM the TMI Journalism Instagram account (@tmijournalismclub) to ask questions that you have for me. In fact, I encourage everybody that sees this to ask questions. Ask anything you want!
Today, we will talk about lunch. Recently in November, TMI unexpectedly ran out of hard taco shells at lunch. It was a tragedy. I was a little sad because crispy tacos are one of my favorite foods.
Closer to the end of lunch, I went to get two more tacos. When I got to the line, I saw that the ground beef had been replaced with brisket! TMI ran out of ground beef! I was disappointed that there was no more ground beef, but after I tasted the brisket tacos, they were really good! Thank you SAGE Dining for giving me two brisket tacos.
See the picture of the taco below:
Student Spotlight: Eshaan Sanka
Eshaan Sanka ‘27 is a TMI middle schooler who stood out to us this month. He works behind the scenes of the TMI Pickleball club, which he said is “really hard” as a young middle schooler. Shoutout to Eshaan for his hard work in his club and his courage to speak to the school during chapel announcements!
Faculty Spotlight: Mr. Stevens, Theater Director
Mr. Stevens is an amazing director and produced an amazing play, Hamlet. He worked with talented students to create an astonishing performance for the TMI community in November. Freshmen Mina Swarovoski interviewed Mr. Stevens. He shared with our TMI Panthers how Hamlet is a perfect opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s tragedy. Thank you to Mr. Stevens for this stunning production.
Follow us on IG! (@tmijournalismclub)
Questions? Email gitber04@tmi-sa.org or d.lewitzke@tmi-sa.org
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