The Standard - Volume 8 Issue 2

Mental Matters staff and students speak out about mental disorders

feature pages 20-24

standard the

blue valley southwest | volume 8 | issue 2

2 | contents / the standard / sept. 2017

contents feature

04 | toy story 08 | a clearer perspective 23 | mental matters

sports 06 | catching a new character

news 10 | searching for spirit 12 | usa versus north korea 14 | restricted access

opinion 16 | united we stand, divided we fall 18 | hollywood mistake 20 |

on the cover

fictional stories, real problems

discussion and accurate portrayal of mental illness is necessary. photo illustration by jonah mccormick

volume 8 / issue 2 www.bvswnews.com

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editor’s note

As a senior, the past few weeks I’ve been trying to get a jump on my applications, so I’ve spent even more time than usual staring at a computer screen, answering endless questions and trying to concoct perfect essays. When working on these, I realized how much of my life — my dreams, my aspirations, my future — depend on numbers. My GPA, my ACT score, the hours I spent on community service, my AP scores: these are the numbers that determine whether or not I’m even worth considering as a potential student.

Throughout high school, these numbers we let define us can seem to be all that matter. We need the best grades, the best scores, the most hours, the most sports and most AP classes to matter in the eyes of colleges and our peers.

We need the most followers on Twitter and most likes on an Instagram post. It feels like that’s the only way to stand out from the other 1,200 students who surround us from 7:45 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. five days a week.

But these numbers are not who we are. We’re not just statistics or test scores or GPAs. We’re students, yes, but first and foremost, we’re individuals. Some of us go to Kenya and provide sight for those in poverty. Some of us set the example for those to come that you don’t have to conform to unspoken rules about gender in certain activities. Some have to fight every single day just to make it though the day, and they persevere. Some have strong political opinions while others have a strong need for Wi-Fi. None of these things are wrong; they are pieces of the complex people we are. When we choose what to cover, we seek to find the things that truly make us who we are, as students, staff and a community. We hope that in this issue, and others, you’ll find the stories that piece together who we are as a community and how we can stand together as one.

| writing coach

the standard editor-in-chief arielle singer online editor emma olinger writing coaches megan flood summer lyon social media manager elianna oliver staff writers samrina acharya aubrey birk brooklyn macdonald victoria palmer isha patel lauren urschel justin wingerter graphic designers jonah mccormick isaiah tarwater adviser rachel chushuk

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.

The Standard 17600 Quivira Road Overland Park, KS 66221 Website: bvswnews.com Email: bvswnews@gmail.com

4 | feature / the standard / sept. 2017

toy stor students and staff reminisce about their childhood toys

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childhood, for some, consists of two profound things: toys and an imagination.

With each toy comes a story — a world of creativity waiting to be explored. Whether it’s dressing up Barbies or playing with action figures in front of the TV, many remember the times they had minds full of imagination when playing with their favorite toys.

| summerlyon

Feeling nostalgic, freshman Awni Alazzeh pulls his wrestling action figures out of his backpack, looking back on playing with them while watching wrestling on TV. “My favorite toys were action figures,” Alazzeh said. “I liked them because I always have had a good imagination. They were wrestlers. Nobody wanted to play with them, so I usually didn’t have to share.”

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ry

Thinking back on past episodes of “Hannah Montana” and cups of Cheerios, junior Celina Chapel remembers the time she spent as a child playing with her Barbies.

“I really liked Hannah Montana because she was a secret pop star and there’s nothing cooler than that,” Chapel said. “I really liked Barbies, especially my ‘Hannah Montana’ Barbies. They would sing ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ [to me] and it would make me really happy.”

As she stares at her Skipper doll, librarian Elizabeth Chopp adjusts her doll’s gown and remembers dressing it up as a child.

“My favorite toy was my Barbie ... I liked pretending and playing make-believe,” Chopp said. “My friends were all really mean — they’re still my friends — they would tear the heads off all my Barbies. [I’m] still sore about it.

You can’t reattach Barbie heads.”

6 | sports / the standard / sept. 2017

Catching a new character colorguard welcomes first male member

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xcitement fills the air as the marching band walks out onto the field at the first football game of the year. Amidst the sea of black marching band uniforms, the blue and white colorguard uniforms stand out. All eyes are drawn to the colorful display of the spinning bright purple flags in perfect time.

Among the colorguard is freshman Liam Olinger, the first male to join in the history of the school. Olinger discovered his passion for colorguard during the middle school recruitment demonstration.

“It was one time in gym class, the guard showed up,” Olinger said. “I started with the rifles with Kendra.”

Despite Olinger’s immediate attraction to guard, the other members needed some time to adjust to this change. For some, like sophomore Lexi Crain, adjusting wasn’t as difficult as expected. “[A male joining] always was a possibility, it’s just no one else showed interest until this year,” Crain said.

For others, like senior guard captain Cassie Schmidt, the change was something that allowed the guard to progress in ways they didn’t know they could.

“At first the guard was a little unsure just because it was something new,” Schmidt said. “It was something new, but as we’ve grown over the past few months. It’s been a great change for us.”

With Olinger’s presence, the guard has more opportunities to include different skills in their performances, said colorguard director Katie Lesando.

“We can put in decorative lifts and stuff like that, so hopefully we make it a little bit more diverse,” Lesando said. “It’s a whole other element that they’ve never seen before and he’s never seen before and it’s actually melded really, really nicely.”

Although Lesando said guard will benefit from its newest member, the work that goes into practices and performances will remain just as demanding.

“It’s not just waving silks around and dancing on the field,” Lesando said. “It’s actually a lot of hard work and very athletic.”

Both Schmidt and Crain described guard as a very team-oriented sport that requires commitment.

“We all make one big picture, and if there’s someone not there, it destroys the picture,” Olinger said. “You can’t really see it.”

Olinger’s joining colorguard isn’t the first event of this kind to happen at this school. For example, the cheer squad had its first male member join last year.

“Some things shouldn’t be dominated by certain genders,” Olinger said. “Most guards around the world already have guys in them. I guess we just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Schmidt said the environment of guard is very welcoming and supporting of each other, regardless of who they happen to be.

“I think it shows that you can totally step outside of your comfort zone and go into anything that you want to do,” Crain said.

“No one should hold you back.”

| aubreybirk | samrinaacharya

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Waving their flags, junior Jada Harper and freshman Liam Olinger perform their color guard routine.

Awaiting the start of the halftime show, freshman Liam Olinger stands alongside member of marching band.

Catching his flag, freshman Liam Olinger performs at the football game on Sept. 1.

8 | feature / the standard / sept. 2017

A clearer perspective senior Ahmed Shabbir travels to Kenya to construct glasses for locals

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n a country populated with about 44 million people, according to unicef.org, nearly 50 percent of Kenyans live below the poverty line. Living below this line generally alludes to life without “health care, education, clean water and sanitation.”

Senior Ahmed Shabbir grew up within a religion and household that values volunteering and helping others. Ahmed has devoted tremendous amounts of time to the medical community and hospitals throughout the KC metro area, including University of Kansas Medical Center, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Truman Medical Center. The hours have added up over the years to nearly 500 or more, all of which Ahmed credits to his ever-growing passion to have a career in the medical field. However, with the amount of time spent in Kansas, Ahmed said he wanted something more.

“I’ve grown in my passion of helping other people and medicine to where I’m wanting more than just what’s offered in the Kansas City area,” Ahmed said.

To appease his desires to influence the world outside of the Kansas City area, Ahmed traveled to Kenya over the summer with a not-for-profit organization. The organization’s aim is to gift people, lacking the means or knowledge of eye care or protection, with custom-made glasses.

“A friend of ours has this not-for-profit organization where they create these eye testing kits and eyeglass kits to test people [with], and to build their frame with custom-prescription glasses, for near sight and far sight,” Ahmed said.

In order to carry out the eye testing process with a language barrier, Ahmed said the actual tests focus on the direction of a letter, rather than different letters. The rest of the process is similar to one carried out by an optometrist but shortened down and faster.

“Once we found out what the prescription was we would hand make [the glasses],” Ahmed said. “The frame was a one-size-fits-all frame, and the lenses varied by prescription. Once we compiled it all together, we just popped in the lenses, secured them, wiped them to make sure there was no dust and whatnot, and gave it to the person the next day.”

In the village, Ahmed and his team were able to test around 270 people and they gave away around 70 glasses.

“I was able to help about 270 people learn about eye protection, eyeglass wear [and] eye vision correction, because in Kenya, unfortunately, they don’t have that type of health care knowledge regarding eyesight,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed was accompanied on his trip by his mother, Mahnaz Shabbir. Both Mahnaz and Ahmed commented on the impact the glasses left on the community and its individuals.

“It was the first time these people had their eyes tested,” Mahnaz said. “It was amazing to see their smiles when they could see so much better with the eyeglasses.”

Not only did the glasses improve the villagers sight, but Mahnaz said the glasses brought along joy and happiness to the people as well. “[Ahmed] saw children reading books with smiles and just being happy; that’s priceless,” Mahnaz said.

Children were not the only recipients of the eye care provided

by Ahmed, he also tested and gave away glasses to the elderly. One 84-year-old man, in particular, stood out to Ahmed.

“There was an elderly man who I got to know pretty well,” Ahmed said. “He was 84 years old and he was still sticking around.

For Kenya that’s pretty impressive. Unfortunately, they don’t have the healthcare system that we do, and for 84 in Kenya is pretty

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astounding. He came over, walking, and he sat down. His eyes were really, really bad. He couldn’t see to the second line which is like 20/70, and he needed some pretty big glasses to correct his vision.

Once we figured it out, then he put on the glasses and he said that he felt young again.”

With routine, in-school eye checkups, Ahmed said students often overlook how good they have it, and how lucky they are to have something as “minute” as glasses. Ahmed’s friend, senior Saketh Bhavanasi, said that glasses are revolutionary and lifechanging for some people.

“He wants to help people and I think it was cool how he was able to help the less fortunate, who couldn’t afford glasses, and didn’t even know what they were,” Bhavanasi said.

Although the intent of his trip was to give back and lend a helping hand to those in need, Ahmed said his actions did not come without reward.

“When you give them the opportunity to literally see from a different point of view, then it feels like nothing else you feel,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed’s trip to Kenya did not only reward him with an in-themoment take away, but Bhavanasi said that the trip taught Ahmed a lesson he began to apply to his everyday life.

“He came back and he talked about how he wouldn’t take anything for granted anymore, and how it gave him a whole different view on life,” Bhavanasi said.

Close friends and family weren’t the only ones to notice Ahmed’s change of heart. History teacher Kathryn Pinto said she believes volunteer trips often aid in the volunteer’s personal growth.

“I think we have a lot of students who do these kinds of selfless acts where they get out and they see another part of the world and

it changes them,” Pinto said.

Ahmed’s helping hand did not dissipate after his trip to Kenya; his drive to volunteer continued.

“I feel Ahmed became even more determined in his desire to become a physician,” Mahnaz said. “He didn’t skip a beat when he returned home, because the day after we returned, he was volunteering his time at the Alzheimer’s research program at KU Medical Center, volunteering at Truman Medical Center and volunteering his time at the UMKC Medical School as a research assistant for one of the associate deans — that was his summer.

Ahmed has always had a kind heart.”

Ahmed said his trip to Kenya was an important turning point in his life. He said the trip showed him the world outside of the Kansas City area, and the amount of resources and items he has in Johnson County that he should be grateful for.

“When you connect with organizations that do this kind of work it shows you the greater good and basically gives you real world experience of how you can make an impact,” Pinto said.

Although his trip to Kenya was short, Ahmed said he will take the lessons he learned and the moments that changed his perspective on with him later in life and into his career. Ahmed said his trip to Kenya showed him that he is meant to help others and solidified his passion in the medical field.

“As children grow and become teenagers, I think the opportunity to do projects — like a medical trip, volunteer at Harvesters or a local hospital — helps teenagers grow and develop so, when they graduate from high school, they have experiences of helping others and will continue to do so as adults,” Mahnaz said.

| eliannaoliver

10 | news / the standard / sept. 2017

Searching For Spirit wolfpack crew aims to increase school spirit

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istening to the roar of the crowd as they scream the school chant, senior Caroline Streb and junior Grace Kim understand exactly why they decided to join Wolfpack Crew (WPC).

“I joined Wolfpack Crew because I wanted to get more involved in school,” Streb said. “I wanted to be a part of something that makes other high schoolers’ experience really exciting and unique.”

UP, up, on your feet T-wolves, let me hear you scream!

South, southwest! south south southwest South, southwest! south south southwest

Working the technology at an assembly, juniors Grace Kim and Ally Martin and senior Lauren Drimmel watch the video they prepared.

Wolfpack Crew is a club that encourages school spirit. It’s open to juniors and seniors, and is run by math teacher Margaret Davidson and social studies teacher Mike Hardin.

“So, essentially, WPC, headed

by Ms. Davidson and myself, is concerned with raising school spirit,” Hardin said. “We want to create a tie in with the school and all of our great activities, and all the awesome things we do here that make us Timberwolves. We want to help foster that sense of community that’s so great about high school.”

After the 2015-2016 Upperclassmen Spirit War, school administration put a stop to spirit chants, and left the students wondering exactly how spirit could stay in the school.

“It was definitely an issue, and there were a lot of complaints from students about it,” Streb said. “But we understood that the administrators wanted us to do this in a positive way. It was a decision that was out of our hands, but we worked hard with everyone in order to create a solution that worked.”

Wolfpack Crew is dedicated to getting students excited about going

EVERYBODY SOUTHWEST EVERYBODY SOUTHWEST

DO THE RUMBLE! DO THE RUMBLE!

to events and going to school without degrading one another, while still maintaining the typical “high school spirit” and competitive nature.

“Wolfpack Crew promotes all of the spirit events that go on,” Kim said. “People get to know about them ahead of time instead of not knowing about them at all. We promote getting involved in school and going to all the events that you can.”

Streb says that Wolfpack Crew aims to bring spirit back into the student body and create a dynamic of Southwest that wouldn’t normally be there.

“We want to help fuel the student body with spirit,” Streb said. “If we didn’t have a club that was so devoted to projecting that atmosphere, I don’t think that we would have the same feeling that we do now. It makes going to school here really special.”

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In addition to promoting the Event of the Week, Wolfpack Crew runs almost all of the school assemblies on their own.

“We do pretty much everything during the assemblies,” Streb said.

“We do all the sound systems, do the graphics for the screen and pick the music. We plan who talks on the floor, write the scripts, plan games and talk to the students about getting involved. Almost anything you can think of, we’re the ones that are behind it.”

Though Streb said the people on the floor are the ones that come to mind when one thinks of Wolfpack Crew, every member does their

STOP, WHAT? DROP, WHAT? AND RUMBLE

own thing.

“Everyone is completely different.” Streb said. “We have people who just want to work with technology, and we have people who want to be out there on the floor and getting everyone excited.”

However, Hardin said all the members are driven toward one common goal: spirit.

“Every single one of our students are so success driven and so Southwest-centered, and it’s awesome,” Hardin said. “They work really well together, they work really hard, and it’s just really impressive to watch them develop their leadership skills, to watch them be these people who help push the Timberwolf community forward, and come up with new inventive and innovative ways to engage students in all of the things that we do here.”

Both Kim and Streb said that WPC has helped in shaping their

HEAR US SHOUT! HEAR US ROAR! WE re the class you can t ignore!!

SENIORS, SENIORS! SENIORS, SENIORS!

'

'

personalities, and that they don’t regret joining the club in the slightest.

“I’m a lot more confident than I was last year,” Kim said. “I’m reaching out to a lot of people that I usually wouldn’t reach out to, and I’m trying to get other students involved and excited about Southwest.” | victoriapalmer

Hyping up the crowd, seniors Joseph Heinen and Cameron Townsend tell the crowd about the next assembly event.

12 | feature / the standard / sept. 2017

USA versus north korea The classic 13-star flag, representing Trump’s campaign slogan, “make America great again” made many question when America stopped being great, according to Indy Week.

Fascinating fact: The United States Department of Defense uses over 4,600,000,000 gallons of fuel yearly. If the Department of Defense was a country, it would rank 34th in the world for fuel consumption.

North Korean Nuclear Developments Information from: The Register and CNN

Oct. 9, 2006

May 25, 2009

North Korea takes credit for its first nuclear test. The test was detected as a 4.2 magnitude tremor.

North Korea carries out a powerful underground nuclear test, confirmed by South Korean officials.

a

y

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tensions arise as North Korea develops their nuclear missle program

Fascinating fact: The border between North and South Korea is one of the most militarized regions in the world.

North Korea has around 1.2 million active military while South Korea has 680,000 along with support from 23,000 American soldiers.

| isaiahtarwater

According to the Department of Defense, the engines used

by North Korea on their InterContinental ballistic missiles are believed to be the same design used by Ukraine on their missiles, stolen by North Korean spies.

To The US fro A m n. k.

Feb.12, 2013

Sept. 9, 2016

North Korea successfully detonated a miniature nuclear missile from a testing facility resulting in heightened sanctions.

North Korea completes a larger atomic test resulting in a 5.3 magnitude tremor.

This came after an American military exercise near the border.

Sept. 3, 2017 North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb resulting in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake.

14 | news / the standard / sept. 2017

Restricted Access students explain the difficulties of blocked wifi

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oor cellular connection, restricted wifi and buffering are features of the social media block students face at school.

Students connecting to the schools wifi encounter restrictions through their access to social media accounts during the school day.

However, a recent unblocking could mean the freedom to use social media whenever and wherever students want.

Aware of the problem of social media being blocked last year, freshman Mason Behrens said he receives “none, almost zero” cellular connection in school but still uses the school’s wifi. Behrens said blocking Social media doesn’t make it hard to communicate with teachers, but is difficult when connecting to Canvas.

“It doesn’t really affect me because I don’t need to be on my social media during class or anything, and passing period is about five minutes so there’s nothing I can really do,” Behrens said. “I’ve tried the VPN app but it didn’t really work so I just stopped.”

Similar to Behrens, social studies teacher Laura Williamson has access to social media accounts including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Williamson said she uses her cheer Twitter account to help promote events at the school, along with using her teacher Twitter account to tweet out reminders, assignments, links and rubrics for students in her class. “[As] teachers, we have a separate wifi that we access, and we don’t have as many filters for what we can and cannot see when we’re in the school building,” Williamson said.

Furthermore, she said Social media has been useful when it comes to assignments.

“I know that in my geography class last year, I had kids find pictures of a location they wanted to visit and actually tweet the pictures at me or submit them in a direct message from instagram because it was just easier for them to do it on their phones than to try and save the picture, attach it in an email and send it to me, when it would just send it right through,” Williamson said.

However, she said she is not in 100 percent agreement that the

school should unblock social media.

“I feel like when you’re in the school building, you should be here to learn,” Williamson said. “There’s so much other time in the day you can socialize, but I also understand that during Timber Time maybe some kids just need to relax and look at funny memes online or something to take their mind off of their test that’s coming up and sometimes that can be helpful. So it has its advantages when you use it during school, but there are also disadvantages. Because if we unblocked everything, I think we would lose a lot of kids in engagement because they would be into their phones more than normal.”

Unlike Williamson, junior Betsy Burress said unblocking social media is necessary because kids still find a way to get around the wifi to use it during the school day, and that unblocking social media would make things easier. As the owner of a Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter account, Burress said she disconnects her wifi and uses her data plan to check social media.

“It kind of annoyed me just because of the amount of data I went through every month just being at school,” Burress said. “I knew that [social media] was blocked, but I really like that it is unblocked now because it makes my data usage a lot less.”

In addition to Burress’s views on being able to use less data through unrestricted wifi, Brian Daley, chief information officer for the district, said students would see a change to unblock restrictions through the wifi access point students are using at school. Being new to the district this year, Daley said he came from a district with similar questions about the wifi not being “freed up enough to allow social media.”

“Our district is sending out communication for parents in our community and a lot of them are meant for students, but they are not able to access that content while in school because we had it blocked,” Daley said. “I went through an extensive process last spring to upgrade and overhaul part of our infrastructure that’s

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responsible for filtering ... We are replacing some antiquated equipment including our old web content filter and replacing it with what they call a ‘next generation’ web content filter. This allows us to have more flexibility.”

He said the district uses social media to send out messages to parents and students. Also, Daley said the problems students were facing with social media were due to old technology not allowing the district to create new policies. Another reason Daley said he wanted to open up social media to students is because teachers are using it to give instructions in class.

“How can we have teachers assign homework or projects based around social media or YouTube if we don’t allow students access to it, or say you can only do this once you go home?” Daley said. “As we reinvent and innovate and we change how we want to do instruction in the classroom and create more uses for digital tools we have to allow more openness with social media and websites to allow you to view content like YouTube.”

Daley said he believes if teachers are using social media instructionally, then students should be able to have access, too. He said he aims to eliminate restrictions on student-accessed wifi.

“Another reason we’re open to opening up social media ... is when it’s fully restricted, what happens is anybody at school will flip right over to their data and they’re accessing social media anyway, so if we restrict [it], they are going to go an alternate route,” Daley said. “If we open up, students are going to stay with us – stay on our network –where it’s safe and we allow social media in a safe platform. So you [should] start seeing things like YouTube, and social media incrementally opening up over the next couple of weeks, as we test and vet out our new filter, and then come to where everything’s on board and functioning, and then you’ll get the full result, which hopefully is a good one.”

| ishapatel Dr. Lauren Kyle

BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST

OFFICE HOURS: Mon - Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM Phone: 913.871.8221 Fax: 913.273.0337 BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com

Dr. Lauren Kyle

Dr.Lauren LaurenKyle Kyle Dr. OFFICE HOURS: BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST

NOW Mon SCHEDULING PATIENTS! - Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST

OFFICEKyle HOURS: Dr.Dr. Lauren Lauren Kyle OFFICE HOURS: Phone: 913.871.8221 Mon - Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM Mon - Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM CERTIFIED BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST Phone:DERMATOLOGIST 913.871.8221 Fax:BOARD 913.273.0337 Phone: 913.871.8221 Fax: 913.273.0337 ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE POLICIES Fax: 913.273.0337 Dr. Lauren Kyle scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com

Dr. Lauren BOARD CERTIFIEDKyle DERMATOLOGIST OFFICE HOURS: OFFICE HOURS: BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST Dr. Lauren Kyle

Mon Mon -SCHEDULING Fri: -7:30AM – 4:30PM Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM NOW PATIENTS! Dr. Lauren Kyle NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS! BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST Phone: 913.871.8221 Phone: OFFICE 913.871.8221 HOURS: OFFICE HOURS: BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST Fax: 913.273.0337 Fax: 913.273.0337 Mon - Fri: 7:30AM 7:30AM – 4:30PM Mon - Fri: – 4:30PM ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE POLICIES Phone: 913.871.8221 POLICIES ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com Phone: 913.871.8221 OFFICE HOURS:

NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS! Fax: 913.273.0337

OFFICE HOURS:

Fax: 913.273.0337 Mon - Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com 7840W 165TH ST, SUITEMon 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS 66223 - Fri: 7:30AM – 4:30PM scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com Phone: 913.871.8221 Phone: 913.871.8221 Fax: 913.273.0337 (Located at Shawnee Mission Health in BluHawk) NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS! NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS! ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE POLICIES Fax: 913.273.0337 scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS!

7840W 165TH ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS 66223 scheduling@bluevalleydermatology.com

7840W 165TH ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS 66223 NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS! (LocatedatatShawnee ShawneeMission MissionHealth HealthininBluHawk) BluHawk) (Located ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE POLICIES ACCEPTING INSURANCE POLICIES ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE POLICIES NOW ALL SCHEDULING PATIENTS! NOW SCHEDULING PATIENTS!

ACCEPTING ALL INSURANCE POLICIES

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7840W 165TH ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS 66223 7840W 165TH ST, ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS KS 66223 7840W 165TH SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, 66223 (Located at Shawnee Mission Health in BluHawk)

Dr. Barton W. Putnam DDS MSD Dr. Barton W. Putnam DDS MSD Number: 913-829-0060 PhonePhone Number: 913-829-0060

7840W 165TH ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS 66223 (Located at Shawnee Mission Health inPARK, BluHawk) 7840W 165TH ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND KS 66223 7840W 165TH ST, SUITE 260, OVERLAND PARK, KS 66223 (Located at Shawnee Mission Health in BluHawk) (Located at Shawnee Mission Health in BluHawk)

(Located at Shawnee Mission Health in BluHawk) (Located at Shawnee Mission Health in BluHawk)

16 | news / the standard / sept. 2017

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL protests in Charlottesville increase racial and political tensions

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s violence broke out during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, it seemed to many Americans that progress toward a unified nation was stopped in its tracks.

However, to many, the incident merely offered a more well-publicized take on the already-divisive political climate of the United States. Senior Sumaya Hussaini said she believes president Donald Trump should do more to calm this current political atmosphere.

“Donald Trump definitely is not doing enough right now,” Hussaini said. “He did not denounce white supremacy. I think his claim that many sides are at fault is not doing enough to recognize the problem, because instead of recognizing the fact that white supremacy is bad, he is just labeling all people as being violent, which isn’t true.”

Following the rally, Trump said that “both sides” were at fault, a controversial claim due to the delicate nature of the topic, with some Americans believing that the comment

simply served as a distraction from what they viewed as the central problem: white supremacy.

“Especially in the context of Charlottesville, Donald Trump needs to come out and address the side that is committing acts of terrorism and hate crimes instead of labeling everyone as dangerous,” Hussaini said.

Despite the expansive media coverage the event received, Hussaini said she believes Johnson County and the surrounding community remains far-removed from these issues.

“I think Johnson County is very sheltered from this issue,” Hussaini said.

“There’s literally no diversity at all and we live in a very privileged area, so I think a lot of students are blinded that events like Charlottesville and hate crimes are happening in less modernized areas of the United States.”

Senior Brooklyn Rutledge, however, said she believes focusing on the positive

aspects of the nation is critical to moving forward.

“I feel like we’re constantly hearing about stuff like Charlottesville, and everything seems so negative, but when we really look around, when we come to school, I don’t see that in everyday life,” Rutledge said. “I don’t see my friends being racist, I don’t think we would’ve had a black man as president if it was something so extreme, so when I look at what has happened in the past, it’s horrible, however I think a lot of things have changed.”

Despite all of the past problems the nation has had regarding race, religion and ethnicity, laws have been passed to amend these problems. Though debate remains over the effectiveness of such laws, Rutledge said she believes the fact that progress has occurred is important to realize.

“We can’t settle race tensions unless we move on from the past, start fresh, and realize we’ve made all these accomplishments,” Rutledge said. “If we’re still caught up in the past, things will never get better.”

| 17

Despite her view that Americans have come a long way, Rutledge said she is aware of the struggles minorities continue to face and believes that this understanding of these historical struggles is essential.

Though Rutledge is a Trump supporter, she said she understands why other Americans may not fully support the current president.

“I don’t think [Trump] is very sensitive to the fact that people still have hurt feelings,” Rutledge said. “People aren’t just going to overcome that … it’s something that matters and something that happened, so I don’t think Trump is doing a very good job of empathizing with the fact that these people are still hurt and have hurt feelings about that.”

Although Rutledge said she believes Trump is able to impact the political climate of the nation, senior Seth Bryant, a supporter of the president, said he believes there is a limitation to Trump’s power when it comes to nationwide rallies and protests, regardless of the political beliefs of those involved.

“He can’t really do anything better because of the first amendment, freedom of speech,” Bryant said. “They can protest all they want, so there’s not really much he can do. They can march and do whatever.”

Following the election of 2016, protesters across the nation turned violent while voicing their opposition to the results of the election, according to an article from usatoday.com. Bryant said it is key for protestors to “not be violent” when exercising their rights.

Though the idea of protesting remains controversial, sophomore Faris Bdair said he believes citizens should stand up for what they believe, regardless of the views

of the president.

“I think we should obviously speak up against this,” Bdair said. “But that’s easier said than done, and it’s hard to change what he believes.”

According to gallup.com, a poll website, Trump’s approval rating was approximately 45 percent at the beginning of his term, and has been trending downward. Yet despite the declining number of Trump supporters, Bdair said he believes Trump supporters

“We all have different backgrounds and our views all come from different places. When you understand people’s reasoning for things, it makes it a lot easier to understand them.” | seniorbrooklynrutledge will continue to “blindly listen to him and his views,” which Bdair does not think has been beneficial for minorities across the nation.

“I feel like as a minority in general, anywhere I go, I’ll be slightly discriminated against because I’m not white,” Bdair said.

“I don’t look white, and people can tell that.

As long as that’s the case, anyone who’s not white is going to get discriminated against in any environment.”

Rutledge shares some aspects of Bdair’s view and said that although racism does exist, calling out all white people for the actions of some is both unfair and unhelpful.

“There [are] always going to be racist people out there,” Rutledge said. “However,

that was not my generation who has caused that. Most of us look at that and think it’s horrible, but slavery is over, we have had a black guy as president, and I think we should spend more time focusing on the positives of what we have accomplished.”

Rutledge said she thinks understanding those who are different has helped improve relations among different groups of Americans.

“We all live differently,” Rutledge said.

“Some of us don’t have as much money.

Some of us are of different ethnicities. We all have different backgrounds and our views all come from different places. When you understand people’s reasoning for things, it makes it a lot easier to understand them.

So for me, just because I’m Republican doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with every Republican mindset.”

However, both Rutledge and Hussaini said differing political views do not need to cause division among community members, and being tactful when entering political discussions is crucial.

“Obviously people have different political views,” Hussaini said, “But if you’re going to rub it in people’s faces by doing chants or holding specific flags, it creates tension. You can have your own political views but not be open about it in a way that harms other people or makes them feel excluded. I think what’s driving us apart are people who think they’re better than others because of their skin color.”

| ariellesinger

18 | opinion / the standard / sept. 2017

M

ovies can be remade out of anything: beloved classics, foreign majesties, cult films and concepts that were good in theory but just couldn’t get their point across coherently. However, the real question is, should they? There have been accomplishments among well known and considerably good movies, like director Brian De Palma’s remake of the 1932 classic “Scarface.” But how long will it take until untouchable films like the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings franchises are remade?

The first remake ever made was “The Great Train Robbery” in 1903, which ushered the movie making business into films that used camera movement, unlike it’s original that was merely a series of photographs, according to IMDB.com.

After that, several movies have been improved upon or have made a mockery out of their original. Freshman Matthew Claar said he describes a Hollywood remake as something that is “hyped up and then hated on,” due to audience’s high hopes for a movie.

“They have to be up to par, and they have to be really good,” Claar said. “It’s like if they were to reboot Star Wars, they would have to spend so much money and they would have to do a great job or else people would just hate Star Wars. I think [director] George Lucas is being smart by just adding on to the timeline,

following the trend of just adding on more installments and telling character’s backstories.”

Being overly excited for a remade movie to come out is not an unfamiliar concept to most people. Movies that had better advertisements than their actual film have proven to fool audiences time and time again. Students like Claar have caught on with some tactics Hollywood directors have used when recreating movies, and he said these trends are easy to pick out.

“Hollywood makes so many remakes because they know it will profit them,” Claar said. “When people see movies they know about or recognize, they are automatically more likely to see them.

Especially if the movie they are remaking made a lot of money in the past. There are plenty of movies that are original, but I think that, over time, more and more movies are obvious money-grabbing corporate cash-outs. More companies are trying to make the most money they can, not the best movie they can.”

Remade films aren’t always bad, but have had more low points than high.

Psychology teacher Dustin Leochner said he has noticed the patterns of Hollywood’s search for the cheapest movie that will make them the most profit, and the concept of a remake is far from foreign to them.

“There’s a new spy type of movie coming out with Michael Keaton that’s

supposed to be like Jason Bourne, but I think it’s called ‘American Assassin,’” Leochner said. “So it’s not a remake, but it’s a rehash in the same theme, and Hollywood knows those movies always do well. Another example would be ‘Fast and Furious’ having eight sequels, that franchise is a part of a genre that always does well. I don’t think Hollywood has run out of ideas, I think they just stick to what works.”

Unoriginality and “sticking to what works” has left Hollywood’s pool of interesting movies nearly dry, as it seems to some that risk-taking days are over.

Remakes that are really out there are the ones that have been widely accepted by society, and most would agree that stepping outside of the box is much needed in today’s film industry. There are so many concepts that have been unexplored, and only going back to circle the same dead idea that has been beaten over and over again results in unhappy audiences.

“My least favorite Hollywood remake would probably be ‘Karate Kid’ – the kind of movies I really liked when I was a kid are the ones that I think should be left alone,” Leochner said. “I think when you try to recreate classic characters, like the Miyagi character, you know, there’s only one Mr. Miyagi. I think when you have an iconic movie that you’re trying to remake, or if the characters in thatmovie are iconic, I don’t think remaking those characters works.”

Hollywood should rethink their decision before remaking movies

Harald Zwart’s 2010 remake of “Karate Kid” was a movie that did less than the original. The original “Karate Kid” was coined iconic by many, using humor and being one of the first installments of classic martial arts movies in modern American culture, and when it was remade using non-expressive actors on a poorlywritten script that didn’t capture the heart of the original, audiences were furious.

Junior Nada Bayazid said she has also experienced a remake that she personally didn’t like.

“I’ve seen ‘Death Note’ recently, and I know that it got a lot of really bad reviews,” Bayazid said. “I mean, some part of it wasn’t exactly like the show which bothered me.

I was like, ‘why did they do that?’ They changed a lot of things in the movie that I didn’t really like, and it annoyed me. In the show, the main character didn’t tell anyone about the death note, and it was a big trait that defined his character; it showed the kind of person he was. In the movie, he told the girl he liked right away about it, which I thought was stupid and irresponsible; it took away from the whole point of that character.”

Despite some remakes being wildly incoherent, others have been adapted to better fit with the times. “‘Red Dawn’ is my favorite remake,” Claar said. “I think it’s because the first one wasn’t great, it was interesting, but it needed something more. The remake used better actors and had a better director. Of course, the graphics were much better.

It improved because the first movie was

about the Russians attacking, and the reboot was about North Korea attacking.

It took a concept that was cool but never fully explored and not only made [it] better but made [it] more timely.”

Although, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the original “Red Dawn” seemed to resonate more with audiences, it took a concept that would be unfamiliar to modern audiences and made it current.

According to some, a person’s opinion of a remake is invalid unless the person has seen the original, however, others beg to differ. A fresh perspective of a movie might just be Hollywood’s intention when creating a remake.

“I think you probably need to wait a few decades to make a remake and introduce the new concept to an unfamiliar audience,” Leochner said. “If you remake something 10 years later, everyone will remember the original, and if the original was bad, they aren’t gonna see the remake.

If the original was good, they’re gonna be thinking, ‘Why would you remake it?

What can they do to improve it?’ But if you wait for another generation of moviegoers to come out, your remake will probably do better.”

This idea has been demonstrated countless times and will probably continue into the future due to its one underlying factor: it works. Bayazid’s experience when viewing the recent “It” remake is a perfect example of that.

“I thought it was pretty good, kind of creepy, and I’m pretty sure it was quite different from the first movie,” Bayazid

CARRIE

said. “Like all the fictional characters they added. I always thought it was just the clown, but they added other things like the children’s fears represented by some weird looking creatures. I don’t think they had that in the first movie. I haven’t seen it, though.”

Though director Tommy Lee Wallace’s 1990 mini-series “It” instantly became a horror classic, based on a beloved Stephen King novel, some millennials have criticized the original for being “too boring,” as it focused on the adult versions of their betterremembered child counterparts. Director Andy Muschietti’s 2017 remake of the same name did remarkably well at the box office, scoring the Warner Bros 123 million dollars on opening weekend, according to cnn.com. He took the critism of the origninal into consideration and focused the story more on the children.

All-in-all, it’s hard to say whether or not Hollywood remakes are a good thing due to the innate diversity among them. In general, too many have been recently made and Hollywood needs to find something original to make up for this soon.

“A good rule of thumb is that if the first movie was good, don’t remake it,” Claar said. “If it was outstanding, build upon the story. There is room for it to grow, and that’s what Hollywood doesn’t understand, because we have developed this ideology of, ‘If it’s good, do it again.’

But in all honestly, sometimes these good movies should have concepts explored, backstories explained, etc. Not the whole

WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK OF THESE REMAKES? AND

CHARLIE THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

100 students surveyed ANNIE

FREAKY FRIDAY THE RING

20 | opinion / the standard / sept. 2017

Fictional stories, real problems media should cover real-life issues teenagers face

S

itting in her basement one summer night, senior Tyler Huffstuttler scrolls through Netflix for something to watch. She comes across a new movie with an actress she likes, Lily Collins, about a topic she’s never learned much about, called “To the Bone.” A Netflix original, “To the Bone” is one of few movies that deals with an issue not normally seen in mainstream media: eating disorders.

While mental disorders are not new as plot devices in movies or TV shows, recent portrayal of these issues in a very honest and blunt manner — something that has been lacking in everyday media — has raised some controversy.

“To the Bone” and “13 Reasons Why” are primary examples of popular media that has broadcasted sensitive issues such as eating disorders, depression and suicide to a wider audience, effectively starting much-needed conversations on the topics. Huffstuttler said she enjoyed both programs due to the fact that they

dealt with ideas she didn’t know much about.

“It’s kind of depressing topics, and makes other people uncomfortable, I think, and they don’t like it, but I thought it was good to get people thinking about it,” Huffstuttler said.

“People think ‘Oh, this is actually a thing,’ instead of ‘Oh, it’s not that big of a deal.’ So it accentuates on the facts that those issues are actually a reality for people.”

Similar to Huffstuttler, sophomore Sarauvi Shankar said that while she first started watching “13 Reasons Why” because it was so popular, she was also intrigued by the uncommon theme of the show. Due to its popularity, she said she was surprised to discover how indepth it was.

“I didn’t expect shows to be that revealing; they didn’t really hold anything back,” Shankar said. “They told the truth. I feel like ‘13 Reasons Why’ might have exaggerated the

truth a little. That doesn’t necessarily happen to everyone who has these kinds of thoughts and feelings, but it was definitely thought-provoking, and it opened people’s eyes to the truth that teenage people go through. It really struck me.”

In a survey of 100 students, six percent strongly agreed that the majority of high school students understand the signs and symptoms of mental illness.

Shankar said mental illness is starting to gain more attention due to the media, films and shows like “13 Reasons Why” and “To the Bone” being one source.

“Mental illness is usually tucked under the rug; honestly, people don’t really talk about it,” Shankar said. “I feel like mental illness is romanticized too, because people feel like it’s cool; it’s trendy. No, these people are suffering, and these types of shows show that; they show what people are going through.

They show them in gruesome ways, too.

They don’t hold back, and I think that’s

| 21

what people need to see — just how bad these things are — ­ and that they shouldn’t be taken lightly at all. Mental illness, honestly, is just as dangerous as physical illness if it’s not treated.”

The popularity and brutal honesty of these shows, however, has caused controversy as to whether this genre of media promotes self-harm. While these topics are sensitive and sometimes uncomfortable, it’s important to not hide them in the shadows while there are people going through it every single day.

“Any time that this stuff comes up, there will be one person who takes it too far and say ‘this is not acceptable’ because they don’t want to accept the fact that in reality, that is how some people are,” Huffstuttler said. “They just don’t want to come to terms with not everybody’s life is perfect. Not saying that their’s is, but they don’t deal with such severe things, so their solution is to just not talk about it at all. You can’t avoid reality; you can’t avoid the bad.

That’s not how life works, but some people think that they can control this.”

Since some people are more sensitive on the topic than others, Huffstuttler said her peers who struggle with similar issues depicted in these types of shows disagree on whether or not this genre is more helpful or harmful. Often those who attack it, though, are the people who don’t deal with these personally, so they cannot comprehend that this is some people’s reality, Huffstuttler said.

“Yes, it is awful, it’s kind of grotesque, it’s not fun to think about, but it is reality, so some people that attack it don’t really grasp the concept that this is life, this is what people actually go through,” Huffstuttler said. “If you saw these people, would you be attacking them because they have this, or would you try to treat them with a little more respect and concern and comfort?”

Criticism will always be present, however, so those who need to share their messages on these subjects should not avoid doing so, even if they might

face disapproval. Junior Arrington Ervin said it is the delivery of the message that can make a difference in how the audience perceives it.

“It’s difficult because when you make something like that, you’re definitely going to go through some criticism,” Ervin said. “[Some] people are definitely not going to like what you put out there but if people understand the message clearly enough, I think they’ll be OK.” Because of the powerful messages of these shows, Shankar said she would

act. In “13 Reasons Why,” however, Shankar said the story could have been more realistic if help had been more available to the main character.

“I feel like ‘13 Reasons Why’ could have done more to emphasize she was struggling with depression, because it didn’t really do that, it just jumped to the whole suicidal thing, and it didn’t talk about therapy or anything like that,” Shankar said. “It didn’t talk about what she could have done to get help, besides the counselor, and that usually doesn’t happen. Counselors are there to help you; they want to help you. They’re not going to shut you down or anything. I think that was bad because it made people feel like they couldn’t go to anybody to talk about these things and that suicide was their only option.”

In agreement with Shankar, Ervin said if the adults of the show were more involved, like he believed they would have been in real life, then the story’s outcome could have been different. While the story is saddening, it can also be thoughtprovoking for those experiencing similar issues, and a positive takeaway is still present.

“I feel like they would try and relate to it, but I would hope they would also learn from it, because if you [harm yourself], it can hurt so many people close to you that you |sophomoresauravishankar wouldn’t understand,” Ervin said.

“Just think about how the whole world would react to you not being like to see an expansion of this category there.” of media.

Another benefit of these shows is the “I would definitely watch more initiation of conversation about these stuff like this because I feel like it gives topics with peers and adults. Huffstuttler me a better understanding of what’s said she will discuss these issues with going on,” Shankar said. “These things her friends, but her experiences sharing are written by people who’ve had with adults has been more difficult. experiences with this stuff, especially “I feel comfortable talking about ‘To the Bone’ where they tell you that it with my friends, because I talk to it was written by people who suffered my friends about everything, but I through these things. You can tell that personally haven’t felt comfortable it’s real.” talking to adults about things like that, Since “To the Bone” was based off of just because of bad experiences of them real-life experiences, Shankar said she either judging me or basically saying, felt it was very accurate on how people ‘Don’t think that way,’” Huffstuttler with eating disorders would think and said. “My friends are more comforting

“You don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s life. You might be joking with your friend, but they might actually be going through these things, and they might take it really harshly. Even if they’re laughing and stuff, you don’t know what’s really going on inside someone, so you have to be careful about these things, because you never know if you could accidentally hurt someone.”

22 |

because they’re going through the same thing, and most adults either haven’t gone through it or haven’t gone through it in awhile.”

Ervin disagrees, and said he feels that he could go to his parents, coaches, teachers or counselor about anything and they would gladly listen and provide him help. Similar to Huffstuttler, though, he said this generation of high school students has a much different experience dealing with these issues than in the past.

“Now this generation is probably worse because we have more technology, and technology has more cyberbullying,” Ervin said. “We go on social media, just to talk to your friends or post a picture you think is cool, and it can easily get discriminated against, in a matter of seconds. Back then, they didn’t have any of that, they just hung

out with their friends, but now we have that along with any bullying they might receive verbally or physically at school.”

This combination of cyberbullying and mental illness can be dangerous for students experiencing both, making it even more important for it to be possible for students to be able to discuss their struggles with peers and not feel like they have to go through this alone. For those not experiencing these issues, it is easier to laugh or joke about it, but mental illness is a serious matter, and what they view as a joke could hurt someone else.

“You don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s life,” Shankar said. “You might be joking with your friend, but they might actually be going through these things, and they might take it really harshly. Even if they’re laughing and stuff, you don’t know what’s

really going on inside someone, so you have to be careful about these things, because you never know if you could accidentally hurt someone.”

The best way to combat this and make sure everyone receives the care and support they deserve, Shankar and Huffstuttler agreed, is to be there for one’s friends in times of need.

“Just be kind,” Huffstuttler said.

“Always let them know that you are there for them, even if they don’t believe you, which a lot of people have trouble with that. Just remind them that you are there for them no matter what, and then uphold that promise and if they need you, be there for them.”

| meganflood

In a survey of 100 students:

6%

strongly agreed the majority of high school students understand the signs and symptoms of mental illess

41% 12%

feel well-informed about events in the community relating to suicide and mental illnesses

37%

agreed TV shows/ movies accurately portray mental illness

agreed BVSW and the district do a good job educating students on mental illnesses

40%

agree they feel comfortable talking to a teacher or counselor about mental illness and related problems.

Mental matters

23 | feature / the standard /sept. 2017

staff and students speak out about mental disorders

M

ental illness: a term plastered all over social media and discussed extensively in the counselor’s office and among teachers. It affects hundreds of thousands of teens — 1.8 million to be exact, according to Mental Health America — and yet to some teenagers, it’s a foreign topic.

Counselor Kelli Baucom said she sees many students struggle with anxiety.

“There’s a lot of anxiety in kids in high school,” Baucom said. “Some of it is that healthy anxiety of ‘I want to do well in class, I want to get good grades’ but then some of it goes beyond that to worrying about anything and everything.

It becomes overwhelming. You’re so afraid of doing something wrong, or not doing well, that sometimes it gets students in a place where they can’t even begin.”

Junior Katherine Garrett is evidence of this. Garrett said anxiety is one of the most talked about disorders because it’s “such a common thing.”

“I have always had anxiety, and I’ve sometimes had depression,” Garrett said.

“Also so many of my friends have suffered from severe depression and it’s just hard.

So many people have it.”

According to Psychology Today, 62 percent of teens surveyed felt bad about themselves after being on social media.

Baucom said social media sometimes plays a role in increasing problems with an illness in a student.

“When I was a child, I could go home from school and leave school at school,” Baucom said. “And now it follows you wherever you go.”

In addition, Baucom said places like Instagram and Snapchat paired with “constant contact” with friends can fuel a disorder in different ways, some of which can be harmful.

“It can either feed it in a negative way of ‘I’m always feeling bad about myself and I go to social media to reinforce those negative things,’ [or] sometimes it becomes an over reliance on friends for positive things because you can’t get to them yourself,” Baucom said.

Along with social media, Baucom said

school plays a lead role in the reason why mental illness is so prominent in high school students. Garrett said sometimes the amount of homework she has makes her “have a horrible week or month.”

“It’s from getting a bad test grade that wasn’t exactly your fault, missing an assignment because you had too much other homework going on that it completely slipped out of your mind,” Garrett said. “Since you put so much pressure on yourself, it can affect you — your mental state — and you can think you’re not as good as what you actually are.”

While school is a “safe place” away from personal issues for some, Baucom said the competitive atmosphere can cause a mental illness such as anxiety to flare.

“There is pressure to do well,” Baucom said. “There are some students who don’t feel it from the teachers and from us. Some of them really get it from friends. There’s competition among friends for who can have the best GPA, who can have the

highest ACT score, and kids take a lot of that on internally. [I have] to talk to kids about ‘You are not a GPA, you are not an ACT score. You are a human being with all kinds of complex characteristics and that the world is going to look at that, not as the score. Let’s try to find a way to get through.’”

If students are struggling with a mental illness — whether is seems minor or major — Baucom said going to the counselor’s office is the first step.

“We would encourage them to come and talk to us in the counseling office, the four of us,” Baucom said. “We want to be able to help.”

In addition, Baucom said students should reach out to their parents, and that the counselors could aid them in doing so.

“I really encourage kids that are struggling to talk to their parents,” Baucom said. “Even if you’re concerned about what that’s going to look like, or it doesn’t go the way you want it to. You’re welcome to come and talk to us in the counseling office about it. Just say, ‘Hey, I’m really terrified about talking to my parents about this. Can you help me through that conversation?’”

Along with this, Baucom said friends are a good way to get help and can be a support system during an isolating time.

“Reach out to friends and other students because you often find mental illness has a way of making you think that you’re alone,” Baucom said. “You will be surprised to find that there are a lot more people dealing with what you’re dealing with than you know.”

In order to create a safe place where

“Reach out to friends and other students because you often find mental illness has a way of making you think that you’re alone.” | counselorkellibaucom

| 24

actually, legitimately suffer from these illnesses and it’s not just a joke,” Garrett said. “Just be nice to everyone on a dayto-day basis and never judge someone, or say cruel things to them, because you never actually know what’s going on inside of them. You could’ve just made their day 10 times worse and you wouldn’t even know.”

Similar to Garrett, Baucom said students should be understanding regarding others around them.

“Being supportive of each other, I think, is really huge,” Baucom said. “That one person’s victory doesn’t have to be another person’s defeat. That we should want all of us to do well, all of us to sort of lift each other up and celebrate what’s good about each and every one of us that’s here. I think that creates an area of protection. I think it’s being understanding ... when [you] notice something that doesn’t seem right, say something. We talk about that a lot with mental health; ‘When you see something, say something.’”

| laurenurschel

students can feel open to tell their peers about a mental illness they might be struggling with, Garrett said that there are some things students could do.

“Everyone needs to be aware that people

8.5 11.1 %

6 out of 10

the increase of mental illnesses in teens from 2011-2014

20%

teens don’t seek treatment for a mental illness

1.8 million

of teens have depression

the number of teens with mental illness

of teachers see mental illness in their students

93%

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness