WELLS PRESS

by James Alderman and Jacob Bearbow

Wells Four-Seven celebrated Spirit Week 2024 the week of Sept. 23 in advance of Catoosa High School’s annual Homecoming football game Sept. 26.

“What I did is I tried to make our days similar to the high school days since high school had homecoming as well,” said Wells Counselor Luanne Guerrero, who came up with the ideas.

Monday's theme followed the high school's lead with “Dress like a cowboy," then brought "Color Wars" for Tuesday with each grade wearing its own color: red for fourth grade, blue for fifth, pink for sixth, and green for seventh. Teachers wore orange.

“I looked at -- for example, Monday with what the high school was doing,” Mrs. Guerrero said, “and they were doing western dress up. Then they were doing an '80s dress-up, then another kind of dress-up, and I thought it would be fun for us to do a western dress up.”

Wednesday was “Wear your favorite sports team gear,” followed by everyone's favorite team “Wear your Catoosa gear" for Thursday.

Catoosa sunset: Catoosa's Sept. 19 bonfire, among other things, served as an opportunity for middle school students to hang out with their friends. Pictured here are eighth graders Juan Madrigal, Emery Ward, Serenitie Ya, Jensyn Barnhart, and seventh grader Jocelyn Diaz.

[photo by Analia Rosales-Avelar]

by Tony Ya

Catoosa Public Schools football teams hosted a bonfire Sept. 19 behind Frank McNabb Stadium to celebrate Catoosa High School's first football game of 2024.

Besides the bonfire, the event featured food concessions, food trucks, a dunk tank, and booths for games or other attractions that helped raise money for high school and middle school student sports and organizations.

Head Coach Sal Guerrero publicly praised his players, and then called a huddle of all the Catoosa community who gathered for the bonfire.

“I liked the bonfire from last year,” said seventh grader Axel Avalos, “It was mostly crowded, but the snow cones was the best part, and I went to the bonfire to spend time with my friends.”

“The bonfire last year was better than this year’s bonfire,” said seventh grader Jocelyn Diaz. “The bonfire in my opinion was boring, but my friends made it better."

“I liked this year’s bonfire more in my opinion,” said seventh grader Trace Tucker. “My favorite part about the bonfire was meeting my friends and getting to hang out with them. I went to the bonfire because I just wanted to hang out with my friends.”

By Dakohtah Jordan and Alondra Gallegos

Catoosa NJHS, otherwise known as National Junior Honor Society, is an organization represented by high-achieving Catoosa students in grades 7 and 8. Students of NJHS have to demonstrate leadership, character, citizenship, service, and scholarship.

This year they are volunteering for “HalloZooween” at the Tulsa Zoo. They hope also to volunteer at food banks and at concession stands for Catoosa high school and junior high athletics.

“Volunteering is important because so many things go left unseen,” said NJHS advisor Jamie Phillips, “so many people need help to make things function. It brings people together and it's a wonderful way to connect with people outside of school, work, and home.

"Volunteering is a great way to put yourself out there, and it looks great on applications for jobs and scholarships,” Ms. Phillips said.

by Zyana Hosey and Ariana Cozart

The City of Catoosa will host the annual Hometown Halloween event Oct. 31 on Cherokee Street in the Catoosa Indians Activity Center parking lot.

There will be a lot of booths where kids and parents will be able to trick or treat or play games.

This is a traditional event that the community does every year and is safe and fun for families, said Catoosa City Clerk Vicky Sutton.

Wells seventh grader Quincy Bell said his favorite thing to do at Hometown Halloween is

“hang out with my friends and go trick or treating,” adding that he likes to eat “candy apples because they are sour and sweet at the same time.” He also said he is excited to go to

Hometown Halloween this year.

Wells sixth grader Aubrie Edwards said her favorite thing to eat at Hometown Halloween is funnel cake, adding that her favorite thing to do at Hometown Halloween is “go in the fire truck.” The fire truck is an escape room that is smoky, but safe. It is intended to make people think hard about how to escape.

How's the arm? Catoosa jr. high softball coach Tiffany Brown and pitcher Zyana Hosey huddle with teammates during a break in the action. [photo by Terri Uhl]

by Breanna Gonzalez

Catoosa jr. high softball competed in a two-day softball tournament Sept. 12 and 14 in Union, Okla. and got sixth place overall.

“The team did well on catching, hitting the best they’ve hit all year,” said Head Coach Skyler Ellis. “First day was good; trouble finishing on Saturday.”

Despite Coach Ellis’ praises for hitting, left fielder Danika David said her team did best at throwing, and not so well at batting. However, right fielder Lotus Troutman agreed with Coach Ellis that the team did bat well, but disagreed with David about the throwing.

Outfielder Anna Prickett said her teammates showed “good hustle to the ball, but bad throwing.”

Final down: Sixth grade football lined up one last time for a team photo. [photo by Addison Smith]

by Araya Cross and Harlee Fox

Sixth grade football, while not officially a school-sponsored sport, is still a part of Wells Four-Seven, and even plays on the high school football field like the middle school football teams do.

This season “we tried our all. Our defense was good,” said fullback Krouiz Hensley. But he also said part of the team’s success was the opponents “were just bad teams. We were better than them.”

“(Coach) Tim was at our last game, and we got a lot of really good passing plays,” Hensley said. Running back Quinton Cortez pointed out that the team did well this year at "not arguing that much."

Team members also recognized their weaknesses. "We were slow to the line; we need to work on that," Hensley said. "If we were down in the fourth quarter, we were sloppin' around being slow in our backfield."

Cortez and running back Hayden Love both criticized the team's blocking. "We couldn't even get the ball off," added quarterback Hunter Love.

Hensley was quick to praise the team's coaches. "Tristan -- he is my buddy; he's my favorite coach. Jason -- he gets us hyped up, and he's funny. And Tim -- he's really smart at making plays," Hensley said.

If inspiring toughness is a coach's job, then Hunter Love has praise for his coaches, too. "Jeffery -- he's mean. And Mad Tim is really mean," Hunter Love said.

Target practice: Fourth graders practice archery skills during physical education class.

[photo by Kynadi Carl]

by Lailanni Michaels and Kynadi Carl

The archery team at Wells Four-Seven of archers in all four of Wells’ grades has started preparing for competition again this school year.

“We don't have a set roster (yet),” said archery coach Craig Hampton as he watched his younger students work on their 10-meter shots. “I think it's fun to coach archery."

Last year’s fourth and fifth grade team won its second consecutive championship. The sixth and seventh grade team, started last year, won its first championship.

“I think it's fun because it's challenging, and I like competition.” said seventh grader John Perkins. “I hope to win this year.”

“I like archery because I get to miss school,” said seventh grader Jesse Saffa. “I hope to achieve success this year.”

“I like how fun it is, and the reason I do archery is for the experience and more that I get to learn,” said sixth grader Charles Pruett. “I would like to achieve being first or just being better.”

Wells Press staff: James Alderman, Jacob Bearbow, Erin Brown, Kynadi Carl, Ariana Cozart, Araya Cross, Izabell Duran, Harlee Fox, Alondra Gallegos, Brianna Gonzalez, Kenleigh Hanford-Plumlee, Zyana Hosey, Dakohtah Jordan, Yanely Olvera-Stephenson, Sadie Pierce, Analia Rosales-Avelar, Addison Smith, Jaydyn Woodruff, Tony Ya ... Send inquiries to kmcanany@catoosa.k12.ok.us