By: Alex Durante

For this edition of the student spotlight, The Squire has chosen someone who is not only a scholar, but also a community volunteer and an athlete. That is none other than senior, William Schwanke.

William has been a volunteer firefighter at the Russell Volunteer Fire Department for almost four years now. We asked him what made him interested in this activity and he said that his “dad has been a firefighter most of his life,” so Schwanke himself became very interested and realized that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. His favorite thing about it is, “being around other firefighters and having fun.”

Not only is William a smoke jumping, firefighting legend, but he is also a great student who works hard to earn good grades. Ever since his sophomore year, he has been taking honors math or English classes. He is currently in Honors English 12 and he gets some nice grades in there, as well as the rest of his classes this year.

He is always open to learning something new. That really shows in the advisory clubs he is currently taking, which are presidential elections, history of sports, home and interiors, and conspiracy theories. Coming up on the second semester this year, William plans to take knot tying club and another round of conspiracy theories as well.

Schwanke most certainly enjoys his time here at Eisenhower, but he is also excited about graduating. He told The Squire that he is, “ready to go and do my own thing,” and plans on going to Penn Tech for a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering. Since graduation is coming up, he is feeling a little nostalgic. Looking back, one of his favorite things about Eisenhower is Mr. Heffern’s dry humor, “and me making jokes that are ten times worse – ten times drier!”

Speaking of nostalgia, now we are taking it all the way back to Schwanke’s elementary school days, and we have learned that he has been playing football since the third grade. He never gave up, and continued to play throughout the rest of elementary school, then into middle school, and of course, high school. He recently finished his last season for the Eisenhower Knights and played defensive and tight end for the team.

When William’s not fighting fires, doing homework, or passing the pigskin, he just likes to kick back, relax, and play video games. His favorite video game is Red Dead Redemption 2. He also enjoys hanging out with his family, friends, and pets. He has two cats named Stewart and Rudy, and a dog named Sarah.

So, as you can clearly see, William Schwanke is an amazing athlete, a stupendous scholar, a fantastic firefighter, and just a humdinger of a guy. If you ever need help with your homework, he is the man to ask, and, if you’re interested in improving your athletic skills, he has years of experience up his sleeve. Also, if you see him in the halls of Eisenhower, don’t be shy, make sure to say hi, and maybe you’ll even get to hear some of those dry jokes that he comes up with!