“That might be the worst edit ever.” – Rocco Conrad

Have you ever flipped through a Where’s Waldo book? Trying to find the tiny red-and-white striped man in a crowded scene full of people may seem hard, but he can be found with some time and perseverance.  For those looking for a real challenge, try finding NBW staff member, Mr. Wanta, during the school day. The Norse Code Friday Feature staff has been searching every nook and cranny of the school looking for this elusive man, but they have turned up short-handed.

The search for Mr. Wanta began last Monday. The Norse Code Staff felt that he would provide an interesting topic for our Friday Feature due to his friendly demeanor and extensive coaching resume. You would be hard-pressed to find someone in the building more loved by the student population (unless he’s handing you a detention). The staff started by checking for Mr. Wanta’s email on the staff directory but came up empty-handed. This led to the staff adopting a more boots-on-the-ground approach to organizing an interview. 

On Monday of this week, journalism staff went on a search to find Mr. Wanta in the wild. They scoured every inch of ground within the New Berlin West campus but returned to the classroom with no sighting of Mr. Wanta. They searched all of Mr. Wanta’s typical outposts in the school: The cafeteria, office, library, and fieldhouse. He also did not find Mr. Wanta wandering through the hallowed halls of NBW. However, the staff received several tip-offs about Wanta’s potential location. During D period he might be seen manning the Field House during Mr. Ladwig’s lunch. The Office also provided details about his potential whereabouts, sharing that he can also be seen in the office after 1 PM. Unfortunately, these times did not line up with the staff’s schedule,  but they remained persistent. Over the following days, an anonymous source mentioned encountering Mr. Wanta several times. The anonymous individual even mentioned discussing the interview with Mr. Wanta in the flesh.

As Friday was rapidly approaching, The class became increasingly desperate for an interview with Mr. Wanta. The journalistic reputation of The Norse Code was on the line for this article. Desperate times called for desperate measures. So staff decided to take matters into their own hands and explored the school during D period. Rather inconveniently, staff member Graham McKenzie had a class during this time, but a journalist must do whatever they can for an article. McKenzie got out of class by faking an illness and began his hunt. He prowled all over to the school on my hunt for Mr. Wanta checking the fieldhouse but was disappointed to still see Mr. Ladwig. He returned to class bewildered as to how to talk to Mr. Wanta.

Friday morning, McKenzie entered his journalism class dejected; he had failed to achieve my main objective for the week. Not believing his trials and tribulations to find Mr. Wanta, Madison Artenian, Dan Tiwari, Moira Sullivan, and Graham McKenzie once again left class to find Mr. Wanta. [They left no stones unturned – classrooms were searched, halls were walked through, and dirty looks from teachers were received. Ultimately, they failed to find him. Tiwari described Mr. Wanta as an “Enigma who can’t be found”.

This begs the question, who is Mr. Wanta and where is he? Unfortunately, we may never know. Throughout this story, Some say he is not to be searched for, he is someone you simply have to encounter in the wild. Mr. Wanta was reached out to for comment on this article but was unable to be found