Student Life
4,5 Construction Congestion
Hannah Markiewicz 26,27 Sport’s Scoreboard
Addison DeVore
6,7 Students Stand Up: America Decides
Lauren Kopitas
8,9 Inside the Huddle
Anthony Sutcliffe
10,11 BVN’s New Beat
Van Freeman
10,11 Swamped in Spending
Anjali Kambhampati
14-17 This is Not a Drill
Josie Jones
22,23 Study Groups: A Double Edged Sword?
Olivia Moore
Passion into Profits Lilly Copeland
Rockin’ the Stable Cash Durbin
Page 17 Security Resource Officers police cars sit in the visitors parking lot of the school. Read more about recent gun violence and school safety on pages 14-17. Photo by Josie Jones
A Look into the Issue...
Pg. 4,5 “I’ve noticed that it’s harder to find parking. I feel like this year, it’s just been a little bit more difficult to get out and get in,” Ziegenhorn said. “People are less efficient about it.”
Pg. 6,7 “This country’s politics should be built on readily verifiable truths, and it’s up to young people to ensure that this standard is made universal,” Smajda said.
The North Star Staff
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Addison DeVore
Madi Garrelts
STAFF WRITERS
Anthony Sutcliffe
Emily Hathaway
Olivia Moore
Van Freeman
Safa Al Ameer
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS
Hannah Markiewicz
Cash Durbin
DESIGN EDITOR
Anjali Kambhampati
WEB EDITORS
Paul Struby
Josie Jones
COPY EDITORS
Lauren Kopitas
Lilly Copeland Anjali Kambhampati
Construction Congestion
Students and staff at BVN discuss their experiences with the BVN parking lot.
By Hannah Markiewicz
Recently, traffic in the BVN parking lot has worsened with the addition of construction in what was previously student and staff parking spaces.
Current construction on the school has temporarily taken away 50 student parking spots and 20 staff parking spots, according to principal Tyson Ostroski. Senior Anna Ziegenhorn discussed her opinions and experiences with the BVN parking lot.
“I would say that it [traffic] is worse this year with the construction because everyone’s kind of displaced,” Ziegenhorn said. “I’ve noticed that it’s harder to find parking. I feel like this year, it’s just been a little bit more difficult to get out and get in. People are less efficient about it.”
With restricted parking, many students are parking in the staff lot, and with further construction continuing in the staff lot, this could pose problems.
School Resource Officer Tina Morse has concerns about the construction and its affects on parking availability
Design by Hannah Markiewicz
for staff.
“Right now, our biggest concern is the staff lot being overrun with students,” Morse said. “The most important thing is we clean that up, because when
“There’s a lot more traffic as far as students and parents, because the bus routes have been cut, so you have to live even further away to get free bus service. –Tina Morse
away the senior lot.”
The second phase of construction on BVN’s building will start during winter break, according to an email sent out by Ostroski. “‘In the next few weeks, our current bus loop is going to be shifted to the back side of our building meaning that buses will drop off students and will be lined up to take them home back where we used to have our mobile unit,” Orstroski said.
“
the second phase of construction starts, all of the counselors are going to lose all of that parking. I have to put them somewhere and I don’t want to take
“Unfortunately, this means that some staff parking will have to be removed to create a long sidewalk for students to get on buses.’” With the addition of construction in the staff lot and a greater amount of limited parking spaces, staff and students will continue to face problems with parking.
Although this construction is currently causing issues, it is being implemented to ease the traffic jams that the school is experiencing.
“‘…I will explain our plan of converting our current bus loop into a parent
drop off and pick up area,” Ostroski said. “This will help alleviate the congestion that we are currently experiencing at the front of our building due to our athletic wing construction.”
Accidents have been a common occurrence in the BVN parking lot in the past. As for the current crowding in the lot, BVN has already seen a couple of accidents. “We’ve had two [accidents this year],” Morse said. “I bet we average 12 -15 [accidents] a school year.”
Senior Wrigley Nolen also expressed her concerns when it came to the construction affecting the traffic flow.
“I think it has [traffic’s] just gotten worse with the construction and then also I’d say the parent pick up…” Nolen said. “I would say [I usually have the most problems] right where the
construction is… no one will stop for you so you have to wait ‘till the entire line’s gone before you can back out.”
While the construction may change the function of the parking lot, there may also be factors outside of that which cause more congestion. Nolen said the layout of the parking lot has affected the traffic as well.
“I’d say that the layout [of the parking lot] isn’t [safe] and I don’t think it maximizes space very well,” Nolen said. “And also, with us getting a new facility, especially being a senior, we have no senior parking. So I walk from the very end [of the parking lot] if I’m not here on time.”
Additionally, Nolen said the drivers in the BVN parking lot play a big role in the issues occurring.
“I don’t think freshmen should be allowed to drive, because the majority of accidents are freshmen,” Nolen said. “But I’d say we should be more careful and people just tend to race around the bends and it’s kind of dangerous.”
Ziegenhorn had a similar opinion. “I feel like it’s [the parking lot’s] not really a new environment that new drivers should be in,” Ziegenhorn said. “A lot of the kids who are driving in there are 15 or 16 and this is their first year driving and a lot of kids don’t know what to do. People want to get out, so their patience is not there and they’re not willing to help [new drivers], and it’s not a good environment to learn in.”
Have you had issues with the parking lot this year?
Percentages based on 252 people polled on @bvnnews on Instagram.
Construction in the BVN parking lot. Photos by Hannah Markiewicz.
AmericaDecides
How is BVN’s America Decides class inspiring constructive political discussion and greater youth civic involvement as the country approaches election season?
Policy promises, publicized conventions, discourse studded with lies — in today’s political landscape, many say it’s easier than ever to get lost amid torrents of opinion and misinformation. To counter the tension revolving around the upcoming presidential election, some BVN students have sought out an opportunity for political discussion in Jason Smajda’s America Decides class.
The class was first offered to Blue Valley students as a means to learn more about American elective processes, fiscal politics and proactive citizenship. This school year, BVN is the only Blue Valley school offering the class to students. It is taught by Smajda, who emphasizes its reliance on civic engagement.
“At the core of the curriculum is participation. A huge chunk of class assignments are about twelve tasks that include debate watch parties, working on campaigns and helping facilities that host national polls,” Smajda said. “In America Decides, kids learn about
Design by Lauren Kopitas
By Lauren Kopitas
how the community works, then extend a hand to help it.”
Smajda also said that the class’s curriculum advocates for analysis and reflection just as much as action.
“To be a responsible, politically active young adult in today’s America, you clearly have to make sure that your beliefs are rooted in factual evidence rather than gut feelings, no matter what core values those gut feelings might be informed by,” Smajda said. “This country’s politics should be built on readily verifiable truths, and it’s up to young people to ensure that this standard is made universal.”
Several of the class’s students chose to take the course to examine the 2024 presidential election in detail, while others signed up to find an informative outlet for their lifelong interest in domestic and international politics. Senior Rachel Bronson emphasized the benefits of reading about and evaluating political developments on a regular basis, regardless of students’ interest in government itself.
“Even if students aren’t interested in pursuing politics in the future, I think they’re obligated to understand how their country works just because they’re living in it,” Bronson said. “A lot of the hate and division that young people see online just makes them want to turn their backs on politics, but at the end of the day, decisions about your life are being made by politicians whether you like it or not. If you want to be a part of the decision-making, you have to get involved. It’s your right.”
Although America Decides is an available opportunity to explore the political procedures that govern students’ lives, few have chosen to take advantage of it. Junior Jonah Stein discussed students’ hesitance to have political discussions — whether opinionated or not — during election season.
“I think it’s such a mistake to shy away from these difficult topics just because we’re afraid of hard conversations and disagreements,”
Stein said. “If we stay in the political bubbles created for us by digital platforms and social circles, we’ll only become more ignorant.”
This school year, BVN’s administration prohibited the mock election routinely held in the school’s America Decides class. While this decision was made to limit political controversy and debate throughout the school, Smajda spoke to the practice’s unifying potential.
“While I definitely understand the choice not to allow this year’s mock election, I do disagree with it,” Smajda said. “Every year, we hold an election in class with the same structure as the most influential one in the country. I personally think it’s more pressing than ever to demonstrate this process and its importance as a cornerstone of Western democracy as we know it.”
Some students, like Stein, also feel that school should encourage objective evaluations of these electoral processes in a time where their validity is often questioned.
find opportunities for involvement in elections and other political procedures beyond the classroom. Bronson suggests that America Decides explains politics in equitable terms.
“Lots of high-profile politicians are able to use their money and power to protect themselves from the consequences of unfair actions. That makes politics feel like a question of money for many people,” Bronson said. “But you realize that it doesn’t
“We should be motivated by teachers and other kids to respectfully share our opinions and reach a common ground in these political classes. That’s how progress in made.
“In America Decides, we talk about how to apply our knowledge of government to the real world, and our school should always be a safe environment for these conversations,” Stein said. “We should be motivated by teachers and other kids to respectfully share our opinions and reach a common ground in these political classes. That’s how progress is made.”
Despite this change in the class’s curriculum, America Decides students
-JonahStein“
have to be if you just take a step forward and reach out at a local level.”
Stein further spoke to the potential of youth involvement in both municipal and national matters.
“If we create local changes, the effects will eventually be felt in the capitol,” he said. “Some of the leaders we have in certain offices right now are not the leaders we want. They’re
there for the clout and the spotlight, and we need to evaluate our local representatives to make sure that we have smart, educated people representing our interests in state capitals and D.C. That process can start here and now with any of us.”
On both local and national levels, however, students feel the effects of mounting political division surrounding the foundational American values of liberty, agency and equity on both sides of the aisle.
“These discussions about shared values can absolutely strengthen us as a country,” Jonah said. “But right now, both major parties claim that only they are fighting for those values and that the other side is trying to destroy them, which is such a destructive approach.”
Smajda further emphasized the unifying potential of the ongoing debate surrounding democratic sentiments.
“On one hand, our conversations about the meaning of these American ideals can become extremely divisive the less considerate we are towards different viewpoints. But on the other hand, we are one of few countries constantly striving — however clumsily — to define and implement those values in a changing world,” Smajda said. “In America, discussion is everything. The most important thing to remember here is that we lose our strength as a nation the moment we forget how to listen to others.”
Only about 50% of Americans aged 18-29
“definitely” plan to vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Senior Cal Hauser and Jack Hamilton discuss the Sept. 10 debate in America Decides. Photo by Lauren Kopitas. Data provided by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
Inside the Huddle
A look at BVN football and their new coach.
By Anthony Sutcliffe
The BVN Staff has seen a handful of changes to start the 2024–2025 school year, from a new band director to a TikTok-famous English teacher. The football team also received a change to its coaching staff with the addition of their new head coach, Coach Gene Wier.
The 2024 season will mark Coach Wier’s 35th season as a head coach. In that time, he has won nine state championships and a National High School Coach of the Year Award. Wier said a big reason he received this award was because of his consistency. During a stretch, before leaving Olathe North for a coaching job in Texas, Coach Wier had won 96 of his last 102 games.
“There is innate pressure with this job, period,” Wier said. “Any head coach, they’re under pressure. You’ve got a staff of 12 men that have their own minds. Fortunately, most of ours
Design by Anthony Sutcliffe
are pretty good. So that’s the number one challenge —getting your staff all in the right direction.”
Senior Ashton Morgan, a cornerback for the football team, shared how difficult it was to say goodbye to his former coaches, more specifically the former defensive coordinator, Coach Wilson.
year,” Watson said. “We talked a lot and we still talk to this day, actually.”
Morgan also understands that not everything lasts forever.
“Coaching changes happen all the time,” Morgan said. ”You can build a big relationship with a coach, but at the end of the day, it’s a business.”
“I would never quit on them. –Coach Wier
“Me and [Coach Wilson] were very very close,” Morgan said. “He was like a mentor to me, but it was really hard saying goodbye to him.”
Senior Gabe Watson, a linebacker on the football team’s defense shared what his relationship with Coach Wilson was like.
“I think I had a really good relationship with [him] my sophomore
“Coach Wier understands that it can be challenging to go from coach to coach.
“It [the new coaching position] was one of the most difficult situations I’ve come into,” Wier said. “The kids had lost faith. They were under the belief that nobody wanted to be their head coach, so I spent a good chunk of my initial time convincing them that wasn’t the case. I told them one day, they would have to drag me out. I would never quit on them.”
Frankie Tryban on the sideline. Photo by Addi DeVore.
This change in coaching has affected players in different amounts. Some players, including Watson, don’t notice much of a change at practice.
“I would say everything has kinda been the same,” Watson said.
On the other hand, players like Morgan are noticing differences in practice this year as opposed to years prior.
“Yeah, it [practice] changed,” Morgan said. “This year, we’re focusing on our conditioning, making sure our bodies are ready for them [games]. Last year, with Coach Hudgins, we did mostly more techniques.”
This season, Wier is ready to push prior expectations aside and create a positive outlook for the team.
“If you live in the past, you’ll stay in the past,” Wier said, “It just doesn’t happen overnight,”
Players like Morgan know what it’s going to take during practice to be the team that they want to be.
“Definitely tons of hard work,”
Morgan said. “Hard work and a whole lot of running.”
There is no telling what the future will hold for the football team, but there is one thing that Coach Wier is convinced fans will see this season.
“A disciplined football team,” Wier said. “Kids that are going to play as hard as they can play, and when that happens, you’ll eventually have your day in the sun.”
About Coach Wier:
-Coach Wier has been a head coach of highschool football for 35 years
-In Coach’s career, he has won 9 total State Championships -Coach Wier has a National High School Coach of the Year Award
Quarterback Lark Anderson rolling out of the pocket. Photo by Addi DeVore.
Coach Wier during a football practice. Photo by Anthony Sutcliffe.
BVN’s New Beat
Previous assistant band director Patrick McCarty has taken leadership as the new director of the BVN band.
By Van Freeman
On May 16, 2024, longtime band director Daniel Freeman announced that he would be leaving BVN, with his assistant director Patrick McCarty taking his place. Now, at the start of the 2024–2025 school year, McCarty has given some insight into how this change in leadership will effect the band.
McCarty started at North in 2022, making this his third year here.
“I’ve been [the] head director in a couple other schools before,” McCarty said.
When asked about whether or not this change in role had affected his teaching style, McCarty said it “hadn’t necessarily changed it.”
“I remain pretty consistent no matter which role I’m in,” McCarty said.
In terms of whether or not he would bring new changes to the band program, McCarty was unsure.
“Right now, it’s just a year of observing and kind of taking things in,” McCarty said.
“There’s not any specific changes at this point. As a staff, we’re kind of taking what’s been done before, living it, and starting to have those conversations of what directions we’d like to go in. It isn’t like rubber stamp changes right now, we’re just living in what the Blue Valley
North band program is.”
One major change this year is the new assistant band director Jason Reznicek.
“The historical part of it is super cool to me, and I’m really honored to be a part of that legacy. –PatrickMcCarty
“
Reznicek has been teaching band for seven years and recently finished his Master’s Degree before coming to BVN.
“There’s obviously a lot of evidence of really great teaching around here, and I think any band director’s goal is to build on that and continue to push the program forward,” Reznicek said.
Senior and Drum Major Dakota Raper also commented on Reznicek
Marching band on the field during morning practice. Photo by Van Freeman
“I know a lot of people are a little uneasy with a new director, and one that doesn’t have the same teaching style as previous years, but, objectively I think he’s a great addition to our band,” Raper said.
When asked about how the two work together, McCarty and Reznicek had similar points of view.
“One of the things about a good staff is finding places where I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, and having someone in a position to help with those weaknesses that I have and be able to Yin and Yang is super important,” McCarty said. “And that’s something that’s really cool about our staff; we have people who can take care of many facets but help each other out,”
Reznicek added, saying, “We’re getting to know each other, we’re figuring each other out [and our] strengths and weaknesses and how to support the kids the best way we can.”
When asked about challenges they were faced with, McCarty and Reznicek had much to share.
“We’ve had some lower numbers [of band members] than we’ve had in the past. Knowing Mr. Freeman, I kind of know the history quite a bit. So, we are looking at expanding our numbers, which is starting at the middle school level,” McCarty said. “One of my big efforts this year, still as [the] head director, is going to the middle schools and making connections with those
students, as well as our students here, like how can we make connections happen from BVN to LMS to OTMS.”
Reznicek added some of the other challenges the band has faced at the beginning of this year.
“We are in that lull period between band camp and that first public performance, where they are asked to rehearse a lot and are asked to strive for excellence and uphold really high standards, but they haven’t really gotten the opportunity to reap the rewards of their success yet,” Reznicek said. “For a motivational standpoint, this happens every year. There’s always this kind of this lull in performances, and so we’re kind of in that process of building towards a performance and continuing to motivate them [band members].”
Despite this “lull”, McCarty and Reznicek think that the band is currently doing well.
“Everyone is doing a great job of ponying up and taking care of business and creating a great product,” McCarty said.
Despite the challenges they are faced with, McCarty and Reznicek are hopeful for the future.
“I’m looking forward to obviously continuing to grow. You know, they’ve experienced a lot of growth already this season, and I think it’s important to remind them of the growth that they’re experiencing and allow them
opportunities to see that growth themselves,” Reznicek said.
Raper reflected on how the band is dealing with this year’s adjustments.
“[Freeman] was beloved by like, a lot of people in the band, and a lot of people look up to him. And him leaving definitely has an impact, and a lot of people miss him. It’s a hard adjustment, but, all in all, they’re taking it well I’d say,” Raper said.
“It is a family atmosphere, and we have really smart, fun, creative students. And that’s what I’m looking forward to most, just making sure we have a great human connection,” McCarty said about what he looked forward to out of the coming years, adding on what his main goal was for all of his students. “You know, the first and foremost thing I think is cool about performing arts or band in general is the social aspect of everything. I hope our students learn how to interact and create relationships with each other, because that’s first and foremost. Not only with student-tostudent, but also teacher and student and staff. We want to make sure we are creating great humans.”
Fun Fact: In all of BVN’s band history, there have only ever been three head directors of the band, with Patrick McCarty being the third.
The band classroom sign in the 600 Hallway. Photo by Freeman
The band practicing in class. Photo by Van Freeman
How do students feel about the patterns of these microtrends, and how do they contribute to the overconsumption issue?
By Anjali Kambhampati
From a new water bottle trend to yet another “10 Things You Need from Amazon” video on TikTok, there is a constant flow of trends contributing to people’s spending decisions.
Financial literacy teacher Mike Hilbert said that companies’ consumerism traps are “dangerous.”
“When you look at statistics, you realize that the average household in the United States has $10,000 on a credit card balance and they’re paying 20%, 24%, 30% interest on that balance,” Hilbert said. “I think that’s directly connected to businesses’ marketing campaigns that push to get people to buy their products. It definitely has a negative effect. I don’t necessarily blame the companies because they’re trying to make money. I just think it’s a combination of easy-accessed money, easy-accessed credit cards, social media and marketing promotions that make people either control or not want to control their spending, or feel compelled to buy the greatest, latest, newest next thing.”
marketing.
“[On] TikTok, being able to see what everyone else is buying and what everyone else is doing, makes you want to buy it [products],” Hess said. “Or Pinterest, I’ll just scroll through things that I want and just be like ‘add to cart,’ Social media has influenced a lot of my purchases.”
“In the society we live in, consumerism and overconsumption happens all the time, everywhere.
Hess also said that there was a certain category of products that she usually buys.
“Clothing, jewelry or makeup [are what I usually buy the most],” Hess said. “I’m a top-tier spender at Sephora so I get all the perks, but that also just means I’ve spent so much money there.”
When it comes to regretting purchases, Hess said that she sometimes feels this way.
Senior Addison Hess said that she has often found herself getting trapped in companies’ consumerism-based
Design by Anjali Kambhampati
–Mike Hilbert“
Hilbert also said that social media impacts consumerism and overconsumption.
“People have needs and wants and companies are selling goods and services and so they’ve really used social media to connect individuals to their products and really almost draw them in and cause them to buy their products more today than ever before,” Hilbert said.
“Sometimes when I don’t use it, it’s just unnecessary, it’s something that I’ll use once and then never use again or it’s just something dumb, I could’ve bought something else,” Hess said. “Or I could’ve just saved my money, so I regret not doing that sometimes.”
Before making purchases, Hess will sometimes think to herself “Do I really need this?”
“Most of the time I don’t really think about that [‘Do I really need this?’], but sometimes, if it’s something really stupid, I’ll be like ‘Maybe I should just put this back,’ Hess said. “But I feel like I buy it [products] more than I don’t.”
Like Hess, Junior Shruti Parthasarathy has asked herself the same question before spending money.
“That has stopped me from buying a lot of products before or just things in general, just thinking beforehand if I really need the product or if I already have something similar to it, ” Parthasarathy said. “I feel like everything I own now looks really similar, I think I’ve realized what exactly I need and what I don’t need by asking myself beforehand and going through reviews if it’s something new I want to try just to make sure I’ll actually use it.”
Contrary to Hess, Parthasarathy said that she used to consider herself a spender, but now she is a saver.
“I just realized that it probably got bad at one point,” Parthasarathy said. “Sometimes, I do regret making purchases, and I regretted it enough to make me realize that I should probably be saving more.”
Hess said that looking at her bank account is often what stops her from making purchases and helps her save money.
“Normally I go and look at my bank account and it’s not good, and I’ll realize that I need to save money, or I will look at it [product] and think about if I really like it enough,” Hess said. “I also do something where I don’t buy the product now, and then see if I want to buy it again in two weeks or if I forget about it. Most of the time I forget about it.”
When it comes to Generation Z’s spending habits, Hess said that this generation spends a lot.
“I feel like we, as a generation, consume a lot just because we have access to so many things, like social media and online shopping; that used to not be a thing,” Hess said. “I feel like it’s easier to spend money and see what other people are buying, and people could more easily influence you into buying things.”
Parthasarathy also agreed that Generation Z spends a lot of money.
“We have more free reign on what to buy because there are a lot more products now, or just new innovations and things that we can buy,” Parthasarathy said. “In the past it was more limited.”
Contrary to Hess and Parthasarathy, Hilbert believes that Generation Z is more “priceconscious.”
“If you’re still in high school, you don’t have a ton of money…
individuals that are in college or right out of college, I think because of the pandemic and where are economically right now, that generation might be a little more price-conscious and costconscious than people who are 35 to 40 or 35 to 50; they didn’t have to go through high school or college and have to face some of the inflationary pressures that we’re under right now,” Hilbert said. “I think younger people are a little more conscious because of the inflation. That’s just kind of my thought on it… it tends me to believe that because things are so expensive right now that that generation, particularly in high school or college right now, are like ‘I can’t just go out and spend.’”
Hess said that she has seen consumerism-based marketing on other apps besides TikTok and Pinterest.
“There’s a lot of targeted ads now,” Hess said. “On Instagram, your ads will be stuff that you’ve looked at. Sometimes I’ll look at them [ads] for a second, think that I want it and then go look it up, but I’ve never actually bought anything from those ads.”
Parthasarathy said that there is a lot of product promotion through certain apps.
“Especially on Instagram or TikTok, you see a lot of promotion,” Parthasarathy said. “I see TikTok Shop promoting a lot of things in general. I’ve bought some things based on Instagram promotion or just influencers going to certain clothing brands and doing try-on hauls and stuff like that. It helps me see if the quality of the products are good and helps me see if I want to shop there or not.”
Hess said that there are a lot of cycles within consumerism.
“There’s a lot of trends that happen,” Hess said. “Everyone’s wearing leopard print right now but in a few months, no one is going to wear it anymore. So we’re just buying things to wear for a few months and then throwing them out because it’s not trendy anymore.”
Parthasarathy agreed that many trends occur in cycles.
“If there’s a new launch or a product drop and a lot of influencers go ham on it and a lot of people gravitate towards it,” Parthasarathy said. “Now trends are really short-lived
and they change really frequently. When [a product] drops, it’s a huge thing, and then a month later no one remembers it.”
Hilbert said that consumerism and overconsumption is “consistent”
“In the society we live in, consumerism and overconsumption happens all the time, everywhere,” Hilbert said. “I think social media plays a huge part in that. It’s probably a combination of the ability for people to have access to easy credit… and just the social media presence of companies that are trying to get them [consumers] to buy their products. I think that consumerism and overconsumption exists in our society and I don’t think it’s necessarily in patterns, I think it just happens consistently. People are just trying to satisfy their needs and wants.”
Hilbert also said that it is important that teenagers learn about overspending troubles early on.
“I’m really glad that the state of Kansas, with the incoming ninth grade class, is requiring financial literacy because that’s a huge piece,” Hilbert said. That’s [overspending is] one of the things we talk about in financial literacy because you have to have a spending plan. You have a set amount of income and you have to stay within that because when you’re overspending and putting things on credit cards, that debt is robbing you of your future spending options.”
Hess shops on Sephora during AST.
Photo by Anjali Kambhampati
THIS IS NOT A D R I
Are you safe in school?
By Josie Jones
Design by Josie Jones
On Wednesday, Sept. 5, four died, and 9 more were injured going to school at Apalachee High School in Georgia. According to CNN, Colt Gray, an armed 14-year-old boy, entered the building and opened fire.
The Blue Valley School District has never had a school shooting. The district put in place advanced technology along with School Resource Officers (SROs) in the buildings to protect students and staff. SRO Tina Morse has been a officer with Overland Park Police Department for 20 years. She decided to become a SRO to try and help mend the relationship between juveniles and officers.
“There have been several periods of time throughout my career where people hate cops, people like cops, people hate cops,” Morse said. “It is a vicious cycle and I want to change that perception.”
With the increase of gun violence in schools, Officer Morse shares that throughout her career, the way that cops approach school shootings has changed.
“I can tell you, 20 years ago when I started, we would train and it would be the scenario of a school shooting, and the first officer gets [there] and we are watching the front door…We didn’t go in until we had four [officers],” Morse said. “We had to have a group of four to even go into that scenario. In today’s world, there is no waiting for someone else to come and get you, there is no waiting for me to have help.”
Officer Morse says that the goal of the officers in this situation is to stop the threat faster.
“You’re not gonna stop all of it, there are going to be casualties, people are gonna get hurt,” Morse said. “But the quicker we can eliminate that threat, that’s all our job is.”
SRO Tony Latas said as technology advances, so does the protection in schools. All BVN teachers have a Centegix badge with a button on the back that sends an alert for the SROs and admin if pressed. They even have the power to take the school into
lockdown in the case of an intruder or significant threat. Officer Latas shared that he believes that this is one of the best advances we have made. The same badge security that the BV school district has installed was why there wasn’t more casualties at the recent Apalachee shooting.
“If the button is pressed eight times, we go into a lock down.” Latas said. “There has never been a teacher at our school who has intentionally pressed that button eight times, because we have never had a situation
“It is just crazy to think that people can actually just bring guns into school, and end up using them, and there is nothing us students can do about it.
that’s threatening, needs to take that information to an adult in the building as soon as possible…Whether that’s during the school day or whether that is at 11 o’clock at night,”
Some students at North have concerns that the amount of security isn’t enough. Junior Sebbe Minderman shares his concerns about school safety.
“It is just crazy to think that people can actually just bring guns into school, and end up using them, and there is nothing us students can do about it,” Minderman said.
Senior Ava Vaupell also has similar concerns,
“I mean everybody now a days is a little nervous for school,” Vaupell says.
–Sebbe Minderman
in our school that would require us to be in a teacher-initiated lock downDan Carney is the Director of Safety and Security for the school district and safety pushes along plans and ideas.
Carney shares that when there is a recent school shooting, Blue Valley adapts as fast as possible. Although, they do have to wait some time for all the reports to come back, but they address it and learn from other schools.
“We try and learn from every one [shootings] of these that happens,” Carney says. “We try to learn something and then address it effectively.”
Carney shares that he believes that Blue Valley needs to be vigilant not paranoid.
“... And vigilance means that everybody in the school is kind of a security guard,” Carney said. “So anybody that sees something thats suspicious, that’s concerning,
“
“But I think that if there is a threat online they do take that seriously, and they’ll have police officers in the building, and they’ll will find out who did it, but i think there is always that worry that students will have that someone show up with a gun.”
Officer Justin Reeder, is a police officer and the parent of Malia Reeder, a junior at BVN. He is an officer for the Overland Park Police Department and has responded to school shootings, like the Olathe East one in 2023. He believes that society has become desensitized to gun violence and that this issue might have a direct connection to shooter video games, and movies.
“Not just gun violence, but violence in general, and getting people comfortable with killing people,” Reeder says. “And for some individuals, that’s their world, they play a lot of video games and watch a lot of movies that have violent scenes in them.”
As a parent and an officer, Reeder shares his thoughts when he hears about a school shooting.
“It absolutely scared me to death because school shootings are a real thing, it happens more than we want to admit,” Reeder says. “As a dad with a kid in the school, it absolutely makes
my blood run cold, to think that she would be injured or something like that happen in her school.”
Reeder also states that BVN security and staff does a great job of creating a safe environment.
understand it. But we try to identity issues as they come up, so we can stop them before they happen or deal with it when they happen.” Jonesboro
“You have to understand that each school is a little different,” Reeder said. “There are many many exits and entrances to the school, you can only control what you can control. I think with the camera systems in place as well as the SROs, and the police department that’s there, in addition to the Blue Valley officers that are assigned to each facility, I think they do a fine job.”
Reeder believes that there is an element to school safety that no one can control, but the district is doing the best it can.
“I think the Blue Valley school district does a really great job of not only training their officers, but the keeping of the teachers and the administrative staff informed about the potential threats that have come down, or trend that they are seeing,” Reeder said.
Reeder said that office departments in the Johnson County area strive to keep our community as safe as possible.
“Bad things are gonna happen, but limiting those bad things to far and few between is the ultimate goal,”
Reeder said. “We can’t put people in a bubble, we can’t put our community in a bubble. It’s just not reality, sometimes bad things happen, sometimes bad things happen to good people, we don’t
Total Number of School Shootings in Each Region of the U.S. as of Jan. 5, 2024.
West- 213 Midwest- 253
South- 484 Northeast- 169
front
Top graph: All of the large or recent school shooting in America.
Bottom graph: Number of school shooting in each region. Statistics provided by U.S. News.
Upper: Police car outside BVN. Photo by Josie Jones.
Lower: Sign located on the
enterance of BVN. Photo by Josie Jones.
Passions
Into Profits
How BVN students are embracing their entrepreneurial spirit.
By Lilly Copeland
Balancing school demands and dreams of success, BVN students pursue entrepreneurship outside the classroom. Various fields are being capitalized on, ranging from nail technicians to lawn care services. With the help of social media and creativity, teenagers are paving the way for a new generation of enterprises. The future of innovation is bright, with student-led efforts at the forefront of possibilities.
The entrepreneurship field has historically drawn people of various backgrounds and ages. Growing up with access to advanced technology, the young generation has adapted to the new digital world of social media platforms. This experience has helped them become tech-savvy in an industry where marketing is essential. By embracing platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, Gen Z has taken their commerce to the next level, setting themselves apart from seasoned professionals. This online presence has also aided in shaping worldly perspectives, with many valuing
Design by Lilly Copeland
sustainability and ethics. These factors have motivated young entrepreneurs to create businesses that align with sustainability. This adaptability and creativity have enabled Gen Z to become leaders in rapidly changing business landscapes.
“You have to lock in and you have to just go at it, work harder and harder every day. –TeddySayers
entrepreneurship, personal finance, sports and marketing, so that helped me. It prepared me well because I learned about word of mouth and [how] online reputation is very important nowadays,” Kochanowski said.
“
Students can often be inspired to pursue entrepreneurship by their school’s business classes. Having this foundation of education allowed senior Jackson Kochanowski to get serious about his lawn care business.
“I haven’t had any experience, but I did learn from Business Essentials,
Mentorship is another aspect that can guide a young entrepreneur to success. Kochanowski explained that his mentors, Tony Robbins and Andy Elliot, “focused on teaching me how to do sales, how to have good posture and how to talk to people with confidence. [Which] really helped me get this business going and get more clients.”
Junior Payton Stover sought guidance from her family regarding the sales aspect of her nail business, Polish by Payt.
“My mom helped me a lot, and my dad is a VP of a huge company. They’ve just always been teaching me about funding, finance, businesses, stuff like that,” Stover said.
Social media platforms have been crucial in establishing Stover’s trade, allowing her marketing to extend
Photo provided by Payton Stover.
beyond word of mouth.
“I first started by creating an Instagram post with times that people could book. Then, I just kept on getting message after message and eventually started my website. [It] blew up, so I started posting regularly on social media, and that’s how it got big from there,” Stover said.
While some may rely on personal interactions and relationships for client intake, Junior Teddy Sayers has extended his reach to consumers through drop shipping and Facebook Marketplace reselling.
“So the biggest thing is finding an item that will catch the audience’s eye and get them to buy it. And so if you sell one item to everyone in America that’s 300 million people,” Sayers said.
A new business also comes with new challenges, with competitors taking the forefront of concerns.
“Drop shipping, it’s really competitive right now because there are millions of videos on how to do it. There are hundreds of thousands of people trying to find that one item that catches peoples’ eyes,” Sayers said.
Community impact has been an essential part of these entrepreneurs’ business models, often receiving positive feedback from clients.
“When they look at teenagers starting a business, being active, they find it very inspiring and cool. Instead of sleeping in ‘till 12 [p.m. or] scrolling on TikTok, they [recognize] how we’re out here at eight in the morning landscaping,” Kochanowski said.
“A lot of girls that I’ve met really
love my prices the way they are. I try to be very fair about my prices. I love making people feel confident and beautiful just with a simple change, such as getting your nails done. With my affordable prices, I have hopes that anyone is able to have that feeling and have a comfortable and enjoyable experience,” Stover said.
When asked what advice these entrepreneurs would give to other students interested in commerce, they gave various answers.
“You have to lock in and you have to just go at it, work harder and harder every day,” Sayers said.
“You got to learn every day, whether you like it or not, you got to learn how to do sales, you got to learn how to expand the business, and you got to learn how to get clients and do a good job. If you don’t try and get better, then you’re just going to get farther away from a successful business,” Kochanowski said.
41%
52% of teens would consider starting a business as a career option according to Junior Achievement USA. of teens said they need “someone to invest” in their business to consider being an entrepreneur according to Junior Achievement USA.
1.6% of youth are more likely to want to start a business than adults according to Junior Achievement USA.
60% of people who start small businesses are between the ages of 40-60 according to Apollo Technical Engineered Talent Solutions.
Scan to see Jackson’s lawn care buisness.
Scan to see Polish By Payt.
Rockin’ the Stable
By Cash Durbin
Aphrase commonly heard in school student sections around the Eastern Kansas League is “we got spirit yes we do, we got spirit how ‘bout you?”. Through the guidance of counselor Mrs. Shoemaker, the Blue Valley North Spirit Squad plans game themes and strives to make sure all students attending games feel the hype and have good experiences throughout the year that makes them want to return to more games.
Senior Barrett Jennings is a firstyear Spirit Squad member who says that a good Spirit Squad has “good energy and smiles all around and never being negative.”
Jennings joined Spirit Squad this year after sending an application last year to Mrs. Shoemaker and being nominated by a friend who was on the squad last year. He has many ideas for improving the Spirit Squad this year and hopes to make a difference in how students enjoy the sporting events they attend this year.
“I just want to have everyone on their toes and smiling the whole time,” Jennings said.
Jennings is proud of the Spirit Squad last year and hopes to build off of their successes to make this year just as good.
Design by Cash Durbin Spirit Squad is a staple of the BVN community but what is their goal and what do they do?
Fellow Senior Alex Moynihan is also in his first year on Spirit Squad. He joined with a recommendation by a previous squad member because of Moynihan’s prior participation in the student section.
Moynihan’s idea of Spirit Squad is “bringing in school spirit for every sport, not just football and basketball, and to get people excited for lots of different games.”
As a soccer player at North, Moynihan experiences the effects of a good Spirit Squad. Moynihan enjoys seeing all the people cheering for the team, the fun posters and seeing
Cael Verzani and friends pose for a picture at the first football game against Blue Valley Northwest. Photo by Cash Durbin.
the theme being used. It creates an atmosphere at the game that makes high school sports unique.
Moynihan hopes to recreate the Spirit Squad of last year because he felt like they put in a lot of effort to make it to many games that weren’t the main sports that most students typically attend.
“I think [last years squad] got a lot of people out to the games, even for soccer, because, we had more more students there than ever last year.”
high.
“I just hope to make more people come, because I feel like our attendance has kind of fallen off, especially since COVID, and that’s not just [our] school, that’s every school,” Johnson said.
“If you’re not participating in it [school spirit], then you’re not really getting all you can out of the high school experience.
Moynihan feels he can positively influence the Spirit Squad this year because he is also a Mustang Mentor.
“I hope to engage with the freshmen, because I am a Mustang mentor, so I can be able to talk to them in AST,” Moynihan said.
Another senior, Tanner Johnson runs this year as Spirit Squad’s senior leader. Johnson earned this title by being the junior class leader of the Spirit Squad last year. He has a main goal for this year: keeping attendance
–Tanner Johnson
“
Johnson wants this year to not only have high attendance, but to have everyone be involved and excited to be apart of the student section as thats what makes a Spirit Squad successful in his eyes.
“Game and event
attendance is a huge part of what high school is all about and the experience that it brings in his perspective,” Johnson said. “If you’re not participating in it [school spirit], then you’re not really getting all you can out of high school experience.”
The requirements for Spirit Squad are being an upperclassman (junior or senior) and being nominated by a member of the previous Spirit Squad,
as well as sending an application to your counselor.
Top: Senior Ben Graverson holds back the student section after the first Mustang football win on Sept. 12.
Second: Jenna McClure and others cheer on the football team at the first game of the season on Sept. 6.
Third: Ben Graverson and others cheer on the soccer team at the White Out game on Aug. 30.
Bottom: Joshua Fendler and Carson Davilla cheer at the Gold Out football game on Sept. 12.
Photos by Addison DeVore.
Study Groups: A Double-Edged Sword?
PAn insight into the benefits and negatives of study groups.
By Olivia Moore
eers can be a wonderful academic resource, but can participating in study groups increase productivity and success during the school year? Based on the number of study groups found in school libraries, cafeterias and coffee shops, the answer seems like it would be an overwhelming “yes”, but is this accurate for all high school students?
Sophomore Emily Patterson is an advocate for study groups, claiming that studying with her friends has continuously proven to be helpful for her motivation throughout the school year. Patterson participates in informal study groups with her neighbors once to twice a week to motivate herself to complete her homework and study for her tests.
“It’s nice to know that there is someone there to tell me to do my work and not let me slack off,” Patterson said.
I am accountable for myself, so I am more likely to be on task,” Dalal said.
The boost in motivation and productivity that study groups provide comes with an increase in students’ grades since they are practicing their class’s content regularly with their friends and ensuring that they have completed and understood their homework. Sophomore Prisha Dalal has found studying in a group setting to be beneficial for her grades, especially during end-of-year finals and AP exams.
“When I was studying for the AP test with my friends, [study groups] definitely made me understand the content better and made me more motivated, which boosted my score,” Dalal said.
“It’s nice to know that there is someone there to tell me to do my work and not let me slack off.
–EmilyPatterson“
Sophomore Prisha Dalal has also discovered that she prefers to work in a group setting rather than alone.
“I feel more motivated and productive when working in a group because when there are other people,
Design
by Olivia Moore
Study groups can benefit students’ grades and test performances because they can gain a better understanding of their class’s content by asking their friends questions and hearing an explanation of the content through a new lens.
What do BVN students think?
48%
would rather study in a group
43%
would rather study alone
9%
have no preference
Of 243 people polled on @bvnnews on Instagram.
“I definitely utilize my peers to further understand a class’s content a lot because I understand it better when it’s coming from a friend who understands what it’s like to be a student and your knowledge of the topic versus a teacher who has already taught the class,” Dalal said.
Not only can friends provide each other with a perspective that is not
their own, but each student’s opinion is different and brings new knowledge to the table for others to benefit from. According to Patterson, studying in a group allows students to compare answers and gather unique perspectives on how to go about solving problems.
“I’d like to say that studying with my friends helps me understand it [content] better because when there’s a lot of us, we can all give our input and come to a conclusion,” Patterson said.
For this reason, high school students are more likely to ask their friends for help than their teachers.
“I feel more comfortable asking a friend [a question] rather than a teacher because I know them better and I know that they will walk me through it and help me,” Patterson said. “Sometimes when a teacher explains something, they will explain the problem but won’t answer my question.”
Study groups can benefit the productivity, motivation and academic success of high school students, but they also can hold students back and cause adverse outcomes. For example, study groups can often be distracting as they evolve into a social gathering. Senior Grace Waldron prefers to study independently for this very reason.
“It usually turns into a social gathering that limits productivity,” Waldron said. “Oftentimes, we get distracted because there are so many other things that are going on.”
A second way study groups can hold students back is due to high school students’ reliance on their friends to remember test dates and deadlines, which Waldron often experiences.
“They probably rely on me,” Waldron said. “I’m very organized in that way, so I usually remember everything.”
Additionally, some students utilize their friends to copy homework, which can cause them to perform worse on tests.
“For some students, if they don’t like the class, they will just copy the work,” Patterson said.
However, in Dalal’s experience, students are not likely to copy homework answers without doing the work for themselves.
“Especially when I study with my friends, I don’t think that we just copy answers because when we are studying for quizzes, we are just reviewing content, so everybody wants to make sure that they understand everything,” Dalal said.
Study groups are a useful resource for high school students, but they are not for everybody, and they take time to get used to because people have to learn how to balance the social aspects while still working efficiently.
Prisha Dalal works on chemistry homework during AST.
Photo by Olivia Moore.
Grace Waldron works on homework during AST in the Flex Space. Photo by Olivia Moore.
Need to Study?
Local study spots to fit your needs.
By Emily Hathaway
State-of-the-art vibrant coffee house, ecafé, creates the ultimate workplace. Amenities include fully equipped meeting rooms, high-speed internet, mailboxes, personal lockers, postal services and more. This space is clean, the rooms are spacious and sound-proof. Another pro is that it is right next to a Scooter’s Coffee where you can get a drink to fuel your studying. The only downside to this place is that after your first visit, it is no longer free.
10650 Roe Avenue, Overland Park
Outta the Blue Café
Outta the Blue is a beachy café featuring local coffee, breakfast sandwiches and cold-pressed juices. This place offers a variety of food and plenty of space to study with others or alone, and provides comfortable cushioned seating and large tables. This place stays relatively quiet and is an exceptional place to grab a bite to eat and study!
5291 West 116th Place, Leawood
Starbucks
Starbucks. We’ve all been there at least once...or twice. Starbucks is a decent study spot, it is spacious and has coffee, but it can get pretty loud. There also isn’t much table space, so you can’t efficiently study here with groups. If you have a hard time working with noise or if you enjoy working in a group, I would not recommend this study spot.
6585 West 119th Street, Overland Park
Johnson County Public Library
Whether you like to read or not, the Johnson County (JOCO) Public Library is one of the best study spots I’ve found. If you have a library card you can check out books to help with studies and even if you don’t, you can still grab a book and use it while in the building. This library offers quiet spacious rooms you can easily reserve through their website for free for you and your friends. If all the rooms are reserved, the library also offers flexible comfortable seating, vending machines and free public computers. Whether you want to study alone or in a group, JOCO Public Library is a great place to study or spend some free time.
4700 Town Center Drive, Leawood
Starbucks at The Fountains is conveniently close to North. Photo by Emily Hathaway.
Design by Emily Hathaway
The Leawood branch of the JOCO Community Library. Photo by Emily Hathaway.
Outta the Blue Café offers open spaces to study, indoors and out. Photo by Emily Hathaway.
PHOTO COLLAGE
Design by Addison DeVore
Photos taken by staff photographers from the recent events at BVN.
SPORTS SCOREBOARD
By Addison DeVore
SCOREBOARD
I SPY
By Addison DeVore and Madi Garrelts
Raffle ticket
Heart sunglasses
Dubble Bubble
Pencil sharpener
Upcoming Events
Oct. 4
Event: Football game versus Blue Valley High School Theme: Frat
Oct. 8
Event: Fall Choir Concert Oct. 11
Event: Football game versus St. James Academy Theme: U.S.A
Oct. 15
Event: Fall Orchestra Concert
Oct. 18-19
Event: Fall Play Play: The Outsiders
Photo by Cash Durbin.
Photo by Josie Jones.
Photo by Addison DeVore.
Photo by Madi Garrelts.
Photo by Hannah Markiewicz.
Design by Addison DeVore
CR SS W R D
Ring in the 2024-2025 school year with this crossword. Find clues throughout the school and this issue’s stories.
By Madi Garrelts and Addison DeVore
2. The color of the Mustang statue.
5. The new source of students’ problems in the school parking lot.
8. The new head band director.
10. The new head football coach.
11. First Friday night game of the year.
12. The school’s hype crew.
1. The class offered only during the election year.
3. The number of art teachers BVN has.
4. The new game on the North Star.
6. This is being built in the prarie for outdoor lessons.
7. One of the study spots mentioned in the “__” story.
9. Where students have to put their phones during class.
The North Star is the official high school news publication of Blue Valley North High School, an open forum distirbuted to all the students four times a year. This is the September issue of volume 39. This issue of The North Star is published digitally through ISSUU and in print by Valley Print Logistics. This is a student publication and may contain controversial matter. Blue Valley School District No. 229 and its board members, officers and employees disclaim any responsibility for the content of this student publication; it is not an expression of School District Policy. Students and editors are solely responsible for the content of this student publication.
Blue Valley School District #229
Blue Valley North High School
12200 Lamar Avenue
Overland Park, KS 66209
