Southwest frontier
Youth 2011 Local church band travels nationally, performing for thousands Vol. 2, Issue 1
Overland Park, Kansas
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02 kirsten hughes a&e editor
1. How do you
envision ABMS and BVSW working together?
R: “Very closely. We have
a unique opportunity in the next few years because we have a single middle school feeding us. I was talking to Mrs. Tate the other day, and every president of a club at Southwest has already contacted her saying they want to be a part of Aubry Bend, which talks a lot about the kids we have at this school. There is a misconception that all high school kids care about is themselves, and that hasn’t been the case here at all. We plan to really work vertically academically and be able to talk between the two schools. I think there is a lot of power there because for students, between the time they are in 6th grade and the time they are in 12th grade there really is a vertical experience there... Plus, just how close they [ABMS]are to our school really gives us a unique opportunity to make the kids there feel like they are a part of us from early on.”
T: “Mr. Halfmann e-
mailed me at the end of June and had a list ready to roll of kids who wanted to do some tutoring or be mentors. I’ve got a couple teachers here who would like to get a mentoring program going. I also have a whole list of student organizations from Southwest who have said ‘hey let us come over’. I would Online at love to see www. Southbvswnews. west’s com student
See the full Q &A
NEWSnews council come and mentor our student council as they get going. We would like to see the diversity club really catch hold here because I think that could really address our issues and concerns with Blue Valley’s strategic plan of the well-being of the child, of the whole child, that it’s about being healthy socially, emotionally and physically. Of course, the sports teams tend to be natural transitions, but not everybody is into sports. There are kids who may want to be involved in the library, or in a book club or robotics club, and I can really see the high school students coming over and being an integral part of that.”
2. Why did you choose the path of being principal of SW/ABMS? R: “It kind of was a dream job for me. I wanted to be a high school principal. I had applied for some other jobs, I didn’t get them–I wasn’t the right match for that position. But in the back of my mind this was always kind of a dream job for me. I was on the original design team when it was a blank sheet of paper. So for me, to be the principal here was really just a dream come true. It sounds like a hyperbole, but it really was.” T: “Probably the number one reason is that it really marries the two communities that I love. I loved being the principal of Pleasant Ridge, that community is amazing to me, and I grew up and live in the Stilwell community. So when I saw it was going to bring at least half of the Pleasant Ridge community and combine them, I kind of felt that it was a job description written for me. I really wanted to go for it. And you know, we don’t open middle schools very often. It’s not an oppor-
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tunity I’ve had in my educational life, and I just thought it would be challenging, fun and exciting.”
3. What are your emotions as 20112012 approaches? R: “Excitement. I was so nervous last year, and I’m not nervous this year because I feel so confident about the kids and the teachers and the parents and everything that we’re doing here. I just feel like we had a really strong mission and vision and we’re going Blue Valley Southwest Principal to continue that. We had a Prior to being principal of Southwest, Scott Roberts worked on the team designing the building for really strong first year and two years. “Outside of my family, I’m probably more connected to this building then anything in my life,” we’re going to build on that. Roberts said. Photo By Kayla Yi So I’m just very excited.”
Scott Roberts
T: “I’m just thrilled. I’m
excited and anxious for it to be here. On one hand I’m so excited it’s already Aug. 1, and on the other hand I’m kind of scared that it’s already Aug. 1. I feel like I have a lot to do, but that has always been a motivator for me. Deadlines are good for me because I tend to thrive under pressure.”
Principles
Blue Valley Southwest and Aubry Bend principals discuss what is in store for the “6 through 12” campus
4. If you weren’t the principal of a new school, what would you be doing? R: “If
I weren’t a teacher, I would probably be a chef. I love to cook, it’s my hobby, it’s why I grill outside. I don’t know if I could be a nine-to-five corporate – I just don’t think it fits my personality very well.”
T: “Well, I’ll tell you what, I really love teaching ... I’m also a pretty good cook and I used to decorate cakes. My daughter is in college right now getting a bakery science degree. So I guess if I were completely out of education Aubry Bend Principal and I had to dream a job, The vision for Southwest and Aubry Bend is to be cooperative, not competitive.“I would like for our I might work for her in her kids to feel comfortable enough to be at the high school so that it’s not a huge transition and nothing is bakery.” scary about going ... ” Tate said. “I want them to be so used to it ... ” Photo By Kayla Yi
Diana Tate
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OPINION
03
Don’t
out Photo Illustration by Anna Glennon.
Tools to help deal with the anxiety of a new school year sarah fifield managing editor Stress. It isn’t fun, and it isn’t easy to deal with. Stress tends to harbor within the lives of teenagers. As it feasts on the ever-present frustrations of high school, stress levels multiply and continue to pester individuals until the point of breaking. Stress isn’t a pretty sight, yet learning how to deal with it is vital to success in high school. Friday night, and instead of spending the night having a movie marathon with pizza and candy galore, you are sitting in your room. Surrounded by textbooks, worksheets and assignments,
your weekend is looking more drab than fab. As your stress level rises, so does your frustration. Although a normal amount of stress in your day-to-day life will cause you no harm, the more you stress, the more you suffer. Combining the stress of keeping up with school, juggling a job, as well as the overwhelming want of a social life can lead any high school student to feel at the point of breaking. Stress is a difficult feeling to handle, and too much can drive a person ‘crazy’. In some cases, students can become stressed to the point of having a breakdown, panic attack, or even suicidal thoughts and feelings.
The Southwest Frontier
editor-in-chief haley hansel
managing editor sarah fifield web editor ellie stewart news editor malissa liu photo editor
danielle st. louis
kirsten hughes
features editor caroline wells
staff writers maddi parr
opinion editor meg huwe sports editor ellie stewart arts & entertainment editor
march 2011 2011 AUGUST
photographers anna glennon kayla yi adviser heather lawrenz
Stress can be scary, so know how to handle it. There are some simple ways to deal with the overwhelming emotions: 1. When you begin to feel overwhelmed from school or work, take a break. 2. Getting outside and taking a walk will allow you to clear your head, helping you to refocus without feeling absolutely defeated.
necessary, start at 200. 4. Take a few seconds out of your day to walk into the counselor’s office and schedule an appointment. The counselors are there to help you with your problems, and they can help you make a plan to keep your stress level down while accomplishing your work. Although stress is, well, stressful, knowing how to handle it in a way that works for you will keep you sane, as well as safe, during the school year.
3. Try counting backwards from 100. Focus on counting, and push the stressful thoughts from your mind. If
More stress tips 1. Decide to make a change in how you manage your stress. 2. Identify your stress triggers. 3. Seek help and support from family and friends. www.mayoclinic.com
www.bvswnews.com The Southwest Frontier is published ten 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 administrations of Blue Valley Unified School District #229. Letters to the editor and reader responses are encouraged for publication. The Southwest Frontier 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. Let-
ters should be submitted to room 118, emailed to bvswnews@gmail.com or mailed to: The Southwest Frontier c/o Blue Valley Southwest High School 17600 Quivira Overland Park, KS 66085 The Southwest Frontier also encourages guest photography. Photos should be submitted to room 118 with information pertaining to the photo.
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05 More Info To find more information about the Youth 2011 conference visit www. youth 2011.org On left: Kozacek and Johnson lead the conference in the worship song “How He Loves.” The group practiced up to three hours a day leading up to the event. Above: In front of thousands of students, Johnson shares her love for music and God. She has been singing for eight years. Photos submitted by Emily Kozacek
Changing lives through music Rezlife Band leads powerful worship at a major youth conference meg huwe opinion editor For three years, senior Sam Johnson has been a member of the youth band at Church of the Resurrection. For three years, she has participated in Wednesday night worship at Rezlife. And for three years she has been blessed with beautiful friendships and the opportunity to grow closer to God through music. The seven band members: seniors Emily Kozacek and Johnson, junior Hunter Moseley, worship leaders Cutter Gage and Cory Ryan, in addition to members from other schools Jennifer Lowe, Matt Chipman and Kyle Goebel have played at a few churches around the area and led worship at Rezlife youth group. However, during summer of 2010 a future opportunity
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was presented to them. This would allowed Johnson and the rest of Rezlife band to see what a positive impact their music truly had on others. “A little conference came to our church from the leadership institute,” Johnson said. “Our band led worship for that group and the ‘big wig’ saw our band and was like ‘we really want you to come lead worship’.” His offer was for them to lead worship at the Youth 2011 conference. Youth 2011 is an event that occurs once every four years. This year’s was held during the month of July at both Purdue University in Indiana and the convention center in Sacramento, Calif. Each lasted a total of three days. “Youth 2011 empowers kids to stand up and take charge and teaches them that they’re able to do anything,” Johnson said. “Youth is more than just a number and anybody can do more than the norm.”
The band found out that they would be leading this event about six months before it was scheduled to happen, although the worship leaders knew about it a year in advance. However the event remained in the back of their minds for most of that time. “We didn’t even really think about it until a month before,” she said. “That’s when we realized we were going to lead worship for 10,000 people. We didn’t know how big it was going to be, but we were excited to share our music.” Throughout the year the band practiced through leading worship, and then a month before they began to have daily practices some lasting for three hours. The night before they left they had a barbecue to celebrate their successes thus far and have a little bit of fun. On July 13, the band boarded their flight, paid for by Youth 2011, and made their way toward Purdue University in
Above: As Kozacek sings Ryan and Goebel accompany her on both guitar and bass, respectively. “We have all grown comfortable and our friendship grew so much, and we learned more about each other,” Johnson said. “You start to learn things you never expected to learn. We turned into a family over the summer and opened up. Our music soared we realized we could break that boundary and be open with our music. We have grown as people and as a family through these conferences.” Photo submitted by Emily Kozacek
Indiana. The conference started the following day. “On Thursday and Friday we sang at Bible study,” Moseley said. “On Saturday was when we led worship. It’s a really cool thing when you’re leading worship and you look into the crowd of thousands and make eye contact with just one person.” After performing, Rezlife band would sign autographs of the people who appreciated their music. “It’s like they thought we were famous, and we’re not,” Moseley said. “I guess we were to them though.” Due to the fact that they were so popular at this event, the band had to be escorted from destination to destination. “Purdue was a huge campus and we couldn’t walk anywhere without being bombarded,” Moseley said. “We got driven around on golf carts so we wouldn’t get stopped by fans. We also had golf cart races and that was pretty rad.” Aside from signing autographs the members also got to hear the stories of the students who they’d positively impacted because of their performance. “This boy had been wanting to start a youth band for so long and he was so inspired by us,” Johnson said. “He was talking to his pastor all week and now they’re jump starting a youth program at his church. It’s crazy how [our] band of 16 and 17 year-olds inspired these kids.”
“
Another kid took a different approach to show his appreciation for the band and all they’d done. “One boy painted a picture and gave it to Cutter and on the front of it, it had lyrics ‘in His ocean of love we all sink’ which was kind of a play on words,” Johnson said. “He also wrote a whole letter on the back saying the music we introduced to him changed his life and he sees God so much through us.” The trip not only impacted those who attended the conference, but it also impacted the band members. “The first trip was such a ridiculous experience I can’t even put words around it,” Johnson said. “It was so amazing to see kids all come together and worship God. Everybody was very open with their worship and they weren’t intimidated by us or anything like that. That was just really really fun. A great way to start off our mini tour.” With only a week between the two trips the band was more ready to relax than continue their daily practices. “For Sacramento we just prepared for one day but we didn’t really practice,” Moseley said. “We just talked through all of our sets.” On July 27, Rezlife band left for part two of the Youth 2011 conference in Sacramento. It was a completely different experience to the band. “The majority of the kids had never heard contemporary music,” Johnson said. “They all came from traditional worship. They just thought that we were some punk teen group
It’s crazy how [our] band of 16 and 17 year-olds inspired these kids.
Sam Johnson
Cover photo submitted by Emily Kozacek
with loud music. It was so different from what we experienced in Indiana.” However, it just took the youth in Sacramento a little bit of time to warm up to the idea. “On the last night they changed and were crazy just like the kids in Purdue,” Moseley said. “You could finally tell that they were there to worship too.” Unlike the trip in Purdue where all the band really had time to do was eat, sleep, sign autographs and lead worship, this trip allowed a little more free-time. “The boys became addicted to the game Risk on their iPhones & iPads,” she said. “They literally played it every waking moment. Hunter even made these girls come to him for an autograph because he was being a brat and playing Risk in the corner.” Despite the girls getting slightly irritated by the boys and their new found addiction, the experience was still a positive one. “It was really different but each was amazing in its own way,” Johnson said. “We were blessed to get to go. I think what we’ve done will never ever end and people will always know who we were.” Even though this is her last year as a part of Rezlife band this trip helped her realize that music and worship will always play a major role in her life. “I never am really going to grow out of the music career,” she said. “It’s my way of expressing how much I adore God. You worship through actions and words, music has always broken me out of my shell and made me more confident as a person. I feel like my music career is never going to end.”
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FEATURES staff editorial
$100 Dreams
A quick donation by Blue Valley Southwest secretary Margie Fisher results in an unexpected payoff caroline wells features editor Secretary Margie Fisher turned on the television one morning while taking a break from staining her deck. A special about a dream home contest was airing on NBC, and a young spokesperson brought tears to Fisher’s eyes as he explained his situation. After hearing his praise for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Fisher was moved to pick up the phone and make a donation. In this fundraiser, St. Jude Hospital raffles off tickets for a “dream home.” Each ticket is $100, and the Kansas City home alone raised $900,000 for St. Jude. All the work and materials were donated by local contractors, allowing for 100 percent of the ticket proceeds go back to St. Jude. As Fisher continued to watch the TV program, she had no idea that the donation she just made Please go to would make her the winner of this three-monthwww. stjude.org/ long contest. “I was just ironing donate while watching this pro-
To Give to St. Jude
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gram,” Fisher said. “Then the next thing I knew, they pulled my name out. I about died. I just couldn’t believe they’d called my name.” Fisher’s husband John was just as shocked as she was. “I was returning home from an early morning golf game,” John said. “Margie reached me on my cell phone. I remember something like ‘you won’t believe what happened!’ She then told me about the giveaway and that she had won it. It took a little while for the reality of it to sink in. It was a very surreal experience.” Fisher discovered soon after winning that she had made her donation in the last hour of the three-month contest. She believes that this occurrence was not only luck, but also an answered prayer. “As a Catholic, we believe in praying to saints for their intercession,” Fisher said. “When things were really tough in my life, I’d pray to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost and impossible causes, and everything always worked out.” St. Jude Hospital not only helped Fisher find a new dream home, but also helps save the lives of children every day. Many people don’t realize all the hospital does for its patients. Sophomore Jake Louis shared
how St. Jude helped him and his family during his battle with cancer. “I was diagnosed with Medullobastoma when I was 7 years old,” Louis said. “After surgery, my survival rate was about 50-55 percent, and the only hospital doing anything different was St. Jude in Memphis. They were getting an 80 percent survival rate.” St. Jude also created a comforting environment for Louis and his family. “It’s a kid-friendly place,” Louis said. “It doesn’t feel like a normal hospital. We never paid a cent for medical bills, St. Jude covered everything our insurance didn’t, no one gets turned away because they can’t pay.” Donors like Fisher help offset the cost for patients like Louis so they can be treated without the concern of medical costs. In fact, the boy that inspired Fisher to donate, the one giving his testimony on the TV program, was Louis. Fisher didn’t realize until after the fact that Louis was a student at BV Southwest. Although Fisher is not sure what her plans for the house are, she is excited about winning the dream home and the fact that St. Jude raised over $900,000. “It is because it costs more than $1 mil-
The dream home that Fisher won was built by Summit Custom Homes and is valued at $425,000. Photo submitted by Margie Fisher
lion a day to run the hospital that fundraising is so important,” Louis said. “St. Jude saved my life and I feel the least I can do to give back is to let people know about my story.”
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SPORTS
There is no such thing as an off-season Southwest student athletes spend their summers training for the upcoming sports seasons this fall ellie stewart web editor It’s 6 a.m. and senior football player Jacob Currence hits the snooze on his alarm clock. He has showered and eaten breakfast by 6:30 a.m. so he can be at Southwest by 7 a.m. for morning weights. This is the reality for six groups of student athletes who used their summers preparing for the upcoming seasons. Rather than spending his summers by the pool, Currence has been participating in summer workouts to prepare for the upcoming football season, as well as holding down a summer job. "I came home and just felt drained,” Currence said. “Working out all day also makes you really hungry. I came home and felt like I could eat a horse.” In addition to summer football workouts, Currence participated in a college wrestling camp at Fort Hays State University where the team worked out for six hours a day for five days. “I felt like crying,” Currence said. “It was exhausting and I was so happy to come home and sleep in my own bed after that. I was so tired of doing the same thing every day.”
Currence has spent a total of 21 days at five different camps, but he sees the advantage in such a strenuous schedule. “The workouts have helped me grow closer to my teammates since we had to spend so much time together at all the different camps and lifting every morning,” he said. “I also got a lot stronger and it helps you stay in shape to avoid injuries during the season.” The oppurtunity to prepare for the season before it even starts is yet another benefit of summer workouts. “I think it’s good because if the athletes play a lot and are in the weight room, they are getting stronger,” athletic director Gary Howard said. “If our team isn’t working out during the summer and the other schools are, the other teams will have the upper hand over us.” Junior Megan Becker also understands the advantages of working out during the summer. “Having open gym everyday in the summer will definitely help us get used to the schedule of practicing everyday after school,” Becker said. “I feel much more fit along with my skills improving.” Becker, who plays volleyball and swims, says
her summer schedule ended up being too much to handle. “I had to give up club swimming this summer because it was extremely hard going from swimming to volleyball to conditioning to work,” she said. “I wasn't wanting to give it up but I really had no choice, as it was just too much. I do miss it but I know that it was necessary.” Many athletes have to give up more than most would expect in order to train so much during the summer months. “I didn’t really get to hang out with my friends or go to many parties because of all the practices and camps that I had to go to,” Currence said. “I also didn’t get to go to the lake as often or take a long vacation. Some days, I was too tired to hang out with people after such a long day even if I had free time.” The main goal for the season is continual improvement. “I just hope that after last year, we keep making steps towards success,” Howard said. “Not just by wins and losses either. I am really proud of how the teams represented Southwest last year and I know they will do it again.”
Lifting a 45-pound weight, senior football player Jacob Currence participates in morning workouts. The team was at Southwest every morning at 7 a.m. for eight weeks to prepare for the upcoming season. Photo by Ellie Stewart
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PHOTO ESSAY
Hitting all the right notes
Clockwise from top: In an outdoor rehearsal, the band practices part two of their fall show, “Composition 4 Earth”. The show is based around the four elements water, earth wind and fire. Photo by Danielle St. Louis Freshman Annika Hedstrom plays through the school fight song on her flute in a woodwind sectional. New band members learn the school songs during camp in order to play them at pep assemblies. Photo by Danielle St. Louis Working on mastering new choreography, freshman Eliana Stein practices her flag routine along with the other Glitter Girls. The team performs with flags, rifles, and sabers throughout the show. Photo illustration by Danielle St. Louis The drumline warms up on the side of the field before performing with the rest of the band. Juniors Matt Tidwell and Hunter Sprong make up the drumline’s tenor section. Photo by Danielle St. Louis
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