The Standard — August 2015

the

the standard blue valley southwest volume 5 | issue 7

standard

inside

spending summer in the sand sports: page 04 looking toward the future feature: page 06 runway to real life special section: page 15

Standardized Stress

today’s teenagers face surmounting pressures in a variety of fields opinion: page 10

contents www.bvswnews.com

cover photo illustration by kate bowling.

Features 04 12

06 | looking toward the future 12 | KC to NYC

sports 04 | spending summer in the sand

opinion 08

10 | standardized stress

special section 08 | summer events 06

15 | runway to real life

online exclusive visit bvswnews.com for upcoming online content.

the southwest standard editor-in-chief lexi tarter

Editor’s Note

T

his editor’s note itself is a first of many lasts for me. With the end of my four years approaching, I’ve come to a realization that now, more than ever, is the time to make all of the time I’ve spent here worth it. I’ve

realized that I want to leave a lasting impact on this school, as many of us strive to do. For me, this means putting my all into this publication.

The Standard staff is looking to make some significant changes to not only the publication and the website, but also to the amount of student interaction that goes into every page or post. We’re looking for deeper understanding in our stories and redefining what it means to be a part of this school. As this school year begins, I encourage everyone to start thinking with that mindset and start to find meaning in why you’re here ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­— seniors especially. This school has something special to offer to each of its students and this staff is ready as ever to give that insight to our readers.

I’ve become accustomed to the idea of change and that change is the only thing that stays constant; but, I’ve also realized that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As editor, I’m continuing a tradition of excellence that has been set forth by the editors before me. As I intend to maintain excellence, I’ve also realized that this is the last chance for me to make a change for this publication. By modernizing layout and design, our staff hopes to give The Standard a fresh start and an open window to success in the future. Although the end of high school is quickly approaching for some, our stories continue. With both new and veteran members on staff, the opportunities to inspire are endless and, amidst all of the change that we’ve been through, I know I’m exactly where I need to be.

| editor-in-chief

online editor-in-chief margo johnson associate editor michael magyar business manager nicole becker photo editor delaney oliver online photo editor donna armstrong social media editor blake gustafson writing coaches nicole becker michael magyar design coaches riley martin lillie hoffart staff writers kelyn lynch seth wingerter kelsey demel sydney swyers photographers lily smith kara torgler cheyenne greathouse graphic designers abby yi kate bowling The Southwest Standard is published seven times a year for students, faculty and surrounding community of Blue Valley Southwest. It is an open forum for student expression. Therefore, the opinions expressed within this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the administration of Blue Valley Unified School District #229.

Letters to the editor and reader responses are encouraged for publication. The Southwest Standard reserves the right to edit all submissions for both language and content and encourages letters to be no more than 350 words. All letters must be signed and names will be published.

spending summer IN the sand

(1) Returning the serve, junior Emma Rose passes the ball to a teammate. (2) Junior Halli Clark prepares to serve the ball. Clark’s team, Sandy Cheeks, forfeited the first game, won the second game 25-0 and won the last game 15-13. Overall, they won the match and ended their season with a 14-10 record. (3) Junior Kristen O’Keeffe digs the ball while teammate junior Noah Frederick stands by, ready to assist. (4) Rose bumps the ball to her teammates during their game on July 23 against a team from BV West. (5) Senior Zach Keeling celebrates a point won with his teammates. Keeling’s team won the first game 25-23, won the second game 25-21 and lost the last game 12-15. Overall, they won the match and ended the season with a 9-15 record. (6) Alumnus Megan Paule prepares to set the ball. Paule’s efforts led her team to a decisive 3-0 match score. This brought their record to 19-5.

| lexitarter photos by delaney oliver and cheyenne greathouse.

4 | aug. 2015 | southwest | www.bvswnews.com | photo essay

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LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

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future Southwest student raises awareness for vision loss

s children, the biggest battles most people fight are on the playground with imaginary enemies and weapons. However, some children don’t always have the luxury of battling make believe enemies. There are children out there who fight real life daily battles with courage much greater than can be found in any imaginary game.

One of these daily battles is being fought by a future Blue Valley Southwest student, Zoe Murrow.

Zoe is a fifth grader at Morse Elementary. She is a very busy fifth grader, and enjoys playing soccer, basketball, and cheering. Zoe also has Usher’s Syndrome, a disease that is taking away her vision and hearing over time.

Zoe was diagnosed with hearing loss when she was 4 years old, but she wasn’t diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) until she was 7. Combined, hearing loss and RP are a disease called Usher’s Syndrome.

RP is caused by

the breakdown of photo-receptor cells in the eye, which capture light coming in through the pupil. This breakdown can be indicated by a buildup of pigment in the back of the eye.

“The retina usually looks kind of reddish-orange and you see the optic nerve and the blood vessels,” Ophthalmologist Komal Desai said. “In RP, you see the outer part of the retina looks like if you take a black marker and draw a tree branch with crisscrossing designs all around. Then that gets more and more thick and gets to the central part of the retina.”

RP is a disease more commonly seen in people older than 40, but Zoe began to have symptoms earlier. Her parents first thought Zoe only needed glasses, but then realized there was something more when she was having difficulty seeing at night.

A symptom of RP is difficulty seeing in dim lighting or adjusting quickly to lighting changes. This is commonly called night blindness. RP also diminishes peripheral vision.

“Our retina, which is the inside of our eye, in humans is not made to see in the dark very well,” Desai said. “Ours are formulated more for day vision, so, we see at night, but everyone’s [eyesight] is just worse at night. In RP, [patients] get pigmentary changes that develop and as they start to get darkening pigment in their retina; they start to lose the retinal cells that are functioning. Most start out in the peripheral retina, so it is more of their pe-

6 | aug. 2015 | southwest | www.bvswnews.com | feature

ripheral vision that gets affected. But over time, it’s like a tunnel, it gradually gets smaller and smaller.”

Zoe doesn’t let her hearing or vision loss slow her down. At home, Zoe likes to ride her bike, visit her friends and play school and restaurant in her basement; she even has a name for her restaurant: “Zoe Peppers.” Even when put in an unfamiliar setting, she shows no fear in tackling new challenges and activities.

“She is not afraid to try things,” Zoe’s mother, Katie Murrow, said. ”She was at the lake this last week, and she skied, she wake boarded, tubed, knee-boarded. She may not be able to see the boat in front of her, but she knows all the signs for what she wants to do. She doesn’t let that hold her back.”

Zoe is also learning to play the piano.

It is easier for her to read white text on a dark background, so her parents said they would like to get her some specially printed sheet music for her to pursue that passion.

“Well since I want to be famous when I grow up, I like music … and I like to be teaching, I could be a famous music teacher,” Zoe said.

While it is possible that a person with RP can go completely blind, there are several treatment options that have been released or are in the making. Some of these options include placing a camera on the retina to capture more light, and the image is relayed to the brain.

However, Zoe is a younger patient. Therefore, doctors are trying to locate the genetic mutation and cure the disease, rather than only slowing it down.

“There are a few hundred known genes that cause RP,” Zoe’s father, Wayne Murrow, said. “They were able to test her against those and she didn’t match any of them. So they have to dive deeper to figure out what gene it is, and once they figure that out they can figure out what the missing protein is, and they can possibly do some kind of therapy.”

Besides gene therapy, there are other treatments being developed that could provide a more permanent solution.

“They took a skin graft from her arm, and what they are going to do is form stem cells from her skin cells and then turn those into retina cells,” Wayne said. “Hopefully one day they can implant into her retinae to help regenerate some of the cells that she’s losing and restore the vision that way.”

Even though she is only 10 years old, Zoe is actively spreading awareness about RP within the community. She presents to her school, Morse Elementary, every year.

“What we have seen with kids in her class, is that people don’t know how to treat her and the best thing to do is try to be nice to her,” Katie said. “Like, when you see a kid who is in a wheelchair, and you stare … that is something we are trying to keep away from her, because eventually she will walk through the school with a cane. She doesn’t do it very much now, because kids can look differently at her, and she knows that, but eventually that is something she is going to have to do. Her message should be, ‘It’s OK to ask me questions.’ She wants to share her story.”

In addition to spreading awareness at school, Zoe has also been the Youth Chair for the Kansas City VisionWalk for the past three years.

The Kansas City VisionWalk began in 2008, while the first VisionWalk in the country was held in 2006. It is held every summer. The 5K walk lasts several hours, with food, bouncy houses and other activities available, hosting events for walkers of all ages.

The Murrows have had a team for the VisionWalk since 2012, which has grown in size considerably. When it first began, Team Zoe had 12 walkers. However, this year, the team had a personal record number of 115 members, winning the award for the largest team at the 2015 walk.

The VisionWalk is partners with The Foundation Fighting Blindness, which handles funding research with the money

generated.

This benefits many people affected by eye diseases, including those affected by RP. “I think the important thing to remember too, then is that there are over 10 million Americans that are affected by blinding retinal diseases,” Katie said. “It doesn’t just have to be Retinitis Pigmentosa, there’s glaucoma, and as people get older, their vision can deteriorate for multiple reasons.”

A majority of the proceeds, 98 percent, go directly to the researchers who are studying eye diseases. The Murrows said they appreciate this strong connection with researchers, compared to the percentage of proceeds given from other similar events.

“A lot of other places where they have these walks or runs where they are raising donations, you see a lot of that money going elsewhere besides research,” Wayne said. With [the Kansas City VisionWalk], a lot of it goes straight to the doctors.”

Wayne can see this effort to fund research paying off in the near future.

“Right now I think we are so close [to finding the cure] that the people who are a part of this right now will be here someday and there will be a cure for what she has,” Wayne said. “I think that’s pretty exciting. You will be able to see a finalization for this someday.”

| kelseydemel | lilliehoffart | abbyyi

graphic | www.bvswnews.com | southwest | aug. 2015 | 7| 7

(1) Juniors Libbie Louis and Erin Thompson, senior Brea Clemmons and almunus Amanda Miller enjoy popsicles at Porchfest as they venture to the next porch to hear more music. (2) Juniors Butch Clemmons, Addy Emerson, Olivia Carney and Matt Nixon tolerated the heat in order to see Flo Rida perform at Red White and Boom.

(3) Juniors Olivia Swyers and Landon Smith celebrate at the finish line of The Color Run. Photos submitted by Maddie Lowry, Erin Thompson, Butch Clemmons and Addy Emerson.

s t n ve

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m m su students explore summer events throughout Kansas City

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ansas may not offer its residents a beach with an ocean view, but many students took advantage of the various events that Kansas City offered throughout the summer. From free concerts to 5K runs, the city was a home to events that anybody could enjoy. A small number of the events highlighted by students included First Fridays, Porchfest, Red White and Boom, The Color Run and Chipotle Cultivate Festival.

first fridays On the first Friday of every month, the sidewalks of the Crossroads District in downtown Kansas City sprout with residents and visitors for one of the city’s liveliest events. First Friday starts at 5 p.m. each month and features a variety of artists in art galleries, businesses or on the street. Likewise, many different food trucks provide food options and the sidewalks line with live entertainments ranging from musicians to aerial performances.

Senior Stephanie Kealy attended First Friday in June, and as an artist herself, she was inspired by the event. Kealy finds an “unsaid comfort” in the event as it “revives the passion.”

“On First Fridays, you are reminded that people do care about the creations you’ve made and that everyone’s art is important and inspiring to each of those who see it,” Kealy said. “It’s a night to embrace the artists.

The ones who said, ‘screw it, I might not make it wealthy, but I’ll make it happily.’ Those are the people who inspire me and remind the community that life isn’t just about the left side of the brain, [but] the relations made and impressions left are what make the greatest of differences.”

8 | aug. 2014 | southwest | www.bvswnews.com | special section

| sydneyswyers | lilysmith | nicolebecker

porchfest As they endured the soft rain, 104 bands sat on 34 different front porches of homes in the West Plaza neighborhood in Kansas City for Porchfest. Although there are many different Porchfests in other cities, Kansas City started participating in 2014. This year, the 1 bands came from 16 different genres, including country, rock, bluegrass and pop.

The free event lasted from noon to 5 p.m. and aimed to bring together the community and celebrate music. Many local bands performed at Porchfest, including high school musicians Gracie Schram, The Greeting Committee and Tall Tales. Junior Erin Thompson attended the event in order to watch Tall Tales and The Greeting Committee perform.

“I saw The Greeting Committee with maybe 30 or 40 people watching and I was just like ‘woah, just some high school kids are actually making a difference,’” Thompson said. “There were some kids that were around 12 years old who were singing along, and some older people were there, too. It was just so cool to see how the music really reached out.”

red white and boom Mix 93.3 hosts a summer music festival every year called Red White and Boom to showcase upcoming artists and attract fans of popular artists to the show. This 2 year’s lineup consisted of big name artists such as Tori Kelly, Flo Rida, MKTO, Tech N9ne, Cody Simpson and Andy Grammer. The Kansas City Star described it as “the weekend’s best music in KC.” The star-spangled fest attracted thousands of fans on June 27 at the Crickett Wireless Amphitheater, including juniors Butch Clemmons and Matt Nixon.

“This event represented how summer should feel every day,” Nixon said. “The excitement from the crowd and the energy of the performers made it a night to remember. Although it was a long and hot concert, the outstanding performances made the time fly by.”

The festival lasted approximately six hours and many who attended didn’t return home till 3 or 4 a.m.

“My phone died before the concert ended which threw my mom into a panic when I walked through the front door at 4:30 a.m.,” Clemmons said. “But once I told her about the concert and my experiences, she cooled down a little bit. One thing about that night I will never forget was when [Nixon] and I got to meet Flo Rida, a famous rapper. We were both huge fans and it felt like a dream come true talking with him. That experience definitely made up for the exhaustion that followed me the next day.”

the color run Founded in March 2011, The Color Run has significantly expanded its horizons to more than 300 events in over 50 different countries.

People from all over the world partake in this one-of-a-kind 3 run. What sets The Color Run apart from other 5ks is its ability to light up the world using color.

Since there is no age limit restricting people from participating in the race, communities of both young and old can come together and celebrate the magic. One of the younger participants included in Kansas City’s Color Run was junior Lilly Hall.

“It was a colorful mess,” Hall said. “Everyone was laughing and rolling in the colorful dust as we finished the race. I looked around and there was not one person without a huge smile on their face. It was one of those moments that I wish I could experience more often.”

Not only did teenagers have positive feedback about the run, but a story collection called “The Color Run: World’s most colorful 5K” published by CBS News also had a favorable review.

“The Color Run 5K marathon is less about competition and more about exercise and enjoying a color-infused day,” CBS News said.

“The event, which is being held in over 30 major cities, includes people of all different speeds, ages, shapes and sizes beginning at the starting line in a white shirt and getting pummeled with colorful dust at each kilometer. If you make it to the finish line, a final explosion of color powder awaits you. Though people can run for charities, this unique marathon encourages all walks of life to exercise.”

chipotle cultivate festival Chipotle started the Chipotle Cultivate festival in Chicago in 2011, and the event made its first debut in Kansas City at Penn Valley Park on July 18. This free event lasted from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and featured a combination of live music, art, fresh food and a variety of activities. According to Chipotle’s press release from Aug. 2011, the company began hosting Chipotle Cultivate with the “intent of getting people to think and talk about food and food issues.”

“This festival is a celebration of many of the things that Chipotle stands for,” Chipotle founder Steve Ells said in Chipotle’s press release. “We’re bringing together farmers, chefs, thought leaders, artisans and musicians on a journey that not only celebrates wholesome food, but that also champions the like-minded people who share our vision to create a better food supply and a more sustainable future.”

The event held two different stages: one that spotlighted different professional chefs giving demos and one that featured different musicians. The chef lineup included famous chefs

Tim Love, Graham Elliott and Amanda Freitag, and the music lineup included Portugal the Man, Smallpools and St. Lucia.

Chipotle also stationed exclusive featured eats based off of normal Chipotle menu items to purchase, which included barbacoa gorditas, sofritas tacos, chorizo tostadas and Shophouse rice bowls. Likewise, it included a tent of artisanal, regional foods for attendants to sample.

Senior Cole Nelson attended the event to take advantage of the free food and the free music, but as he got there, he realized that there was a lot more to the festival. Chipotle featured multiple areas where people could walk through and learn about the ingredients that Chipotle used in its food and compare it to other fast food restaurants. This included featured videos on how the animals are raised for Chipotle’s meats and displays of the artificial and natural ingredients that are used in fast foods. Nelson attended many of the information sessions, and he found them quite applicable to his life.

“I think the event brought people together by providing two things that everyone loves: free food and free music,” Nelson said. “But, once I got there, I immediately knew it was much more than that. I ended up learning important information regarding how natural foods are used in the restaurant industry and how we can choose to eat the right way. It definitely changed the way I perceive fast food and the way I eat as a whole.

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Standardized s t r e s s today’s teenagers face surmounting pressures in a variety of fields

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aybe there is a reason the 6-year-old games sponsored by the YMCA don’t keep score; maybe it’s to keep the children from perpetuating on the points that are being scored so they can carelessly enjoy playing the game. American society, however, has become preoccupied with scores.

Whether the average sports fan finds Aaron Rodgers throwing his 40th touchdown pass of the year on Sports Center’s Top 10, or the average student finds ACT scores on Harvard’s admissions website, society places high scores on a pedestal. Further, society has pushed a competitive and unrelenting emphasis on scoring upon American youth. Perhaps it’s time to return to the days of YMCA basketball and not to put so much focus on scores.

Although it may be well past the days of intramural first grade basketball, high school has been reduced to 40 yard dash times, bench press max outs, GPAs and SAT scores. However, senior Reed Bowling has conquered these conflicting aspects of high school, focusing to achieve the king of all scores: the 36 on the ACT. When Bowling found out, he was at swim practice coaching younger children, and he got an unexpected message from his mother.

“I got a text from my mom that said, ‘You better check your ACT score,’” Bowling said.

The rush of relief flooded to Bowling as he found out that his strive for perfection had been accomplished.

When a student wants to go to schools in which the 25th percentile of its application class has an ACT score of 33, every point on the ACT matters. Also, when applying to a school such as

10 | aug. 2015 | southwest | www.bvswnews.com | opinion

MIT, which has an acceptance rate of 7.9 percent, it helps to be one of the 2,000 who achieve perfection on the ACT. Yet it becomes much easier to strive for perfection when there is a perfect score. In many facets of life, there is no score, yet society has tried to place a numerical representation for it.

Whether it be measuring aptitude for college or measuring raw intelligence, some things are not naturally scored, but assigned scores nonetheless.

In addition, the more society progresses into the sports driven structure, the more emphasis it has placed on other scores.

Common knowledge has determined that no one can argue with numbers. Society’s trust has been placed in numbers, even though some of these scores, such as the SAT, would not represent a history scholar’s brilliance, or the creativity of a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Even with society’s recent number crunch, senior Adnan Islam remains calm, even as he pursues perfection on the ACT. “I realized that if you put in time and give it your best shot, then regardless of if you get the best score, you’ll walk out of it happy,” Islam said. “Testing, and in turn any aspect of life, has become too over competitive and stressful once one has forgotten why they’re doing it and what their goal was.”

Islam’s point of view has grown increasingly more uncommon, as stress begins to build inside of American teens’ minds.

Perfection has become the standard, and in a world where a difference of just one extra point on the ACT can mean thousands of dollars in scholarships, it has become easy to forget that life is more than a score.

This is not uncommon though, as in other scenarios, life has no longer become about enjoyment and learning. Instead, it has become about practicing relentlessly to perfect a nasty curve ball or satisfying any other unrelenting demands of an overly competitive parent.

The hypothetical overly competitive parent, for some, never seems to appear, but state champion swimmer Gabbi Miller sees it all too often.

“A lot of parents get really into it,” Miller said. “They become the second coach, as they say ‘You did all of this wrong’ and that ‘It’s ruining your future.’”

Not only is the competitive fervor in the parents, but the coaches also participate in screaming and overreactions to simple mistakes made by athletes. This has come with the transition of society, from the days where organized sports started in third grade, to skipping the days of YMCA and jumping to elaborate traveling sports teams that cost parents thousands. In combination with the increased marketability of professional athletes, parents and coaches expect their athlete to be the “next big thing.”

However, this over-competitiveness has flooded into society, taking personal enjoyment out of many aspects of life. The trend of over-competitiveness has shifted into education too, as parents are constantly pressuring teens to achieve highly. In a 2011 study conducted by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, over one third of students who were polled said getting into a good college was more important than being a good

person. Although that may not be completely parental pressure, of that same group, over half of the students said acceptance to a good college was more important to their parents than being a good person.

However, when societal and parental pressure combine to force a loss of focus in today’s youth, it is a true tragedy and must be fixed immediately.

“When there’s an activity that you used to enjoy, it becomes too competitive when you do it just to win,” Islam said. “It becomes overly competitive when you lose sight of why you’re doing an activity in favor of just trying to beat other people.”

In its simplest terms, winning in most competitions is defined by scoring more points than the opponent. Whether it is through sports, or through testing, the goal has always been to score as many points as possible so that one can win. However, in a scenario as complex and unpredictable as life, there is no winning and losing, and there is no purpose to an activity when it is simply to beat other people. Instead of attempting to count up meaningless points, there is something to be said for enjoying life and being the best overall person one can be, even though there might not be a score to measure how well one has done.

| sethwingerter | michaelmagyar photo by donna armstrong.

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12 | aug. 2015 | southwest | www.bvswnews.com | feature

senior bentlei benak attends a summer dance intensive

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enior Bentlei Benak waited anxiously in the wings to perform on one of the most famous stages of all time: Radio City Music Hall. She knew this moment was special, but did not fully understand the impact it would have on her future until she started the performance.

Benak began dancing at the age of 2 after her mother, Beth Kindig, opened up her own dance studio. Being able to grow up at a dance studio helped to inspire Benak to continue as a dancer as she progressed into her teenage years. While watching her older sister perform on stage as well, she wasn’t positive that dance was a part of her future until last summer.

“These past couple years my mom has been helping me to find some local auditions and smaller things to be a part of while I’m still young,” Benak said. “So when we heard about the Radio City Music Hall audition for the Rockettes summer intensive, we jumped aboard that opportunity really quickly.”

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In November, Benak decided to audition for the intensive after talking to some of her dance teachers who are former Rockettes. They told her that she should apply because they loved being involved in the program, and because they thought it would be a good fit for Benak.

A couple months later, she received an email that stated she and 59 other girls had been accepted into the intensive program that took place July 5-10.

“I was obviously very excited,” Benak said. “The whole week was just a dream for me. Just realizing that I was going to be a part of the program and learn from new experiences seemed unreal.”

Benak’s family was very supportive of her decision to attend the intensive. One of her biggest supporters, Kindig, has always thought that Benak would continue to dance after high school. After Benak was accepted into the program, it just proved that both of their hard work over the years was worth it.

“It ensured me I was doing what I needed to be doing [as her mother],” Kindig said. “That 15 years of my daughter’s dancing career weren’t just for fun, they meant something.

Bentlei and I both learned that this is what she wants to do with her future and I am right behind her in that decision.”

After finding out Benak had been accepted into the program, her dance

teachers offered to help prepare her in any way they could. During the months leading up to the intensive, two of Benak’s instructors helped four times a week teaching her how to dance in high heeled character shoes that the Rockettes wear. This was difficult for Benak at first because she had never worked in these types of shoes, but she picked it up quickly and was very comfortable in them by the time she left for New York.

In late June, Benak and Kindig flew to New York for the six-day intensive. The intensive took place in Manhattan in the same studio that the Rockettes train in. Each day, the girls worked closely with dance instructors and the Rockettes from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“At the beginning of the week I was super nervous because I knew that I wasn’t going to know anybody there, or that I wasn’t going to like it and that it might not be what I thought it was going to be,” Benak said. “But after even a couple minutes I had made friends and for the next week I had the time of my life doing what I love the most.”

Benak’s intensive classes included kick line, jazz and other areas that are needed in order to become a Rockette. Over the next couple days, the instructors taught the girls how to dance, kick, walk, do their hair, dress and live like a Rockette.

On the last day Benak said she was not ready for the intensive to be over.

14 | aug. 2015 | southwest | www.bvswnews.com | ads

The girls performed three dances that they learned while at the intensive for their parents on the same stage that the Rockettes perform for millions of people each year in Radio City Music Hall.

“I was nervous to perform in front of my mom cause I wanted her to feel like taking me [to New York] was worth it,” Benak said. “So I danced as big as I could and we just had a great time. I will never forget that performance or that week.”

Kindig, never missing one of Benak’s performances, was in the audience when she performed.

“I cry almost every time I watch Bentlei perform,” Kindig said. “She spends so many hours training a week and seeing her on stage is the moment it all pays off.”

After the week was over and Benak and Kindig flew back home, Benak knew her mindset had changed when she stepped back into the studio.

“I was no longer just dancing for myself, but also for the people around me,” Benak said. “So coming back to dance, I am dancing to be doing what I need to be going to get myself ready for the Rockettes. So now I actually know what I am training myself for and it is bigger than just going to class.” cont. to bvswnews.com.

| blakegustafson | karatorgler graphics by riley martin and abby yi. photo submitted by Bentlei Benak.

RU NW AY TO

Real Life

special section | www.bvswnews.com | southwest | aug. 2015 | 15

Runways across Europe are showing many trends for pre-fall. Keeping up with what’s in and what’s out can be stressful, but these helpful hints will help students incorporate European fashion trends into their back-to-school wardrobes.

H I P P I E C H I C Long maxi dresses with classic 70s prints (zigzags, retro, etc.) with full length kimono wraps layered on top are becoming extremely popular, as seen in the Anna Sui Fall 2015 runway. Tall lace-up boots and gladiator style sandals paired with long dresses are also becoming popular after being presented in Valentino’s 2015 Spring/Summer collection. This trend ignores the traditional style rule of tailoring clothes to the body — the flowy style is the main goal. “I like how it’s unique and not a lot of people would be able to put it together...I would probably add a couple bracelets and rings to make it my own,” senior Marissa Santacruz said.

WHAT TO REMEMBER: layer, layer, layer.

M O N O C H R O M A T I C S Pairing pieces of clothing together in monochromatic shades is a sharp way to look put-together effortlessly. All black or all white outfits are on trend, as well as playing with shades of the color (whites, grays, blacks). Neutral shades, such as khaki, are being layered together for a bold look that is effortless, as seen at the Bottega Veneta Pre-Fall 2015 show. Mixing neutral-colored pieces in various patterns is super easy as well, as long as the colors are within the same color family. “It’s different and it’s not something you see people wearing every day, but it’s still not completely out of the ordinary,” senior Erica Good said. WHAT TO REMEMBER: mix neutrals.

J U M P S U I T S Jumpsuits are just plain fun. From tailored to flowy legs, they can look like a maxi-dress from afar or a totally cool tailored one piece. All colors are being seen on the runways, especially neutral tones, but brightly colored graphic patterns are being played around with in the Summer 2015 Peter Pilotto and Balmain runways. “It’s something simple that I would wear, and I like that it’s plain and you can match any necklace or accessories that you want with it,” senior Heather Huesman said. WHAT TO REMEMBER: there are separate sections for your legs.

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S K I N N Y - J E A N S For guys, the jogger trousers are still in style, but the newest update all over runways is the skinny jean.

Skinny jeans do not all have to be uncomfortably tight — just close to the leg. As seen on the Saint Laurent Fall 2015 menswear runway, the skinny jean has become a staple in a guy’s wardrobe. They can be worn with anything — from oversized t-shirts to leather jackets. “I think that this outfit is super hipster which is pretty gnarly. I would wear this because it looks really fresh,” senior Luke Brown said. WHAT TO REMEMBER: close yet comfortable. | kelynlynch