DESIGN BY AVA MCGUIRE
STUDENTS, STAFF REMARK ON TRENDS OF MOTIVATION FOR SCHOOL IN THE POSTPANDEMIC ENVIRONMENT.
READ ON TO PAGES 14-17.
Tacos Just Got Closer
Students give accounts of car crashes, thefts
Freshman celebrates St. Patrick’s Day through step dancing display
New Taco Bell plans to open on 159th and Metcalf in 2023
Students detail excuses for evading class
Senior shares opinion on skip day tradition
Katie Kennedy
Brynn
Isaac Hudson
Ava McGuire
Rhylan Stern
Michelle Huss
“The Tiger Print” is an official publication of Blue Valley High School, an open forum distributed to all students six times a year. This publication may contain controversial material. Kansas law prohibits the suppression of a student publication solely because it may contain controversial matter. Blue Valley Unified School District No. 229 and its board members, officers and employees may disclaim any responsibility for the content of this publication; it is not an expression of school policy. Student authors and editors are solely responsible for the content of this publication.
Gaby Ayres
Ashling
Bahadursingh
Jackie Chang
Aspen Gallenine
Harris Jones
Ella Lim
Emma McAtee
Ava McNiel
Ava Poland
Andrew Sharber
Kylee Thompson Letters
Awareness
Student covers why Celiac Disease should be taken seriously
Fund the Arts
Schools need to reprioritize spending
@bvtigernews bvtigernews.com @bvtigernews
The Student Council constitution is something seldom discussed until this year when the members decided it was in need of a revamp.
Sophomore class president Omar Hamarshi and student body president Amber Briere discuss the changes to the school constitution.
The constitution amendments were prompted by an issue with Homecoming royalty and non-anonymous voting during student council meetings.
“Someone not in [Student Council] came in to pitch the idea that we should consider redesigning the Homecoming royalty system to be more inclusive of those who might not fit into the defined gender categories,” Hamarshi said. “The issue with the proposition was how people were worried with how it might change the voting system for royalty. Many of these people who would have voted no on the change were afraid of the repercussions of saying that in a non-anonymous environment, skewing the results of the vote.”
From this incident, Student Council realized a change in the voting process was needed.
“We decided we were going to not only revote but also redo all of the process that was set before so that we had strict boundaries that would affect this vote and future votes,” Briere said.
Furthermore, Student Council members had the realization that the constitution required changes in multiple gray areas.
“The end goal of the mandate of the student council constitution was to create more guidance within the rules,” Briere said. “The rules we had before were very vague and could be taken in many different ways. We tried to put more specifics and
the parts that we didn’t have rules on, create rules.”
The tardiness and absences of Student Council members has long been an issue, but the amendments now include regulations against that.
“People miss a lot of Student Council meetings, and that wasn’t really being tracked,” Hamarshi said. “We now have a system in place.”
After making changes to the constitution, Student Council feels confident that for the foreseeable future, no more changes will be made.
“I hope they continue to use this in future years and they don’t have to amend it again,” Briere said. “We put a lot of hard work into it and made some significant changes.”
harris jones | staff writer
In early 2023, Blue Valley’s Latin Club members plan to go to the “Between Myth and Reality” traveling exhibit at the Nelson Atkins museum, an exhibit featuring nearly 40 vases from ancient Greece.
When picking the exhibit for his students, Latin teacher Jordan Dillon spoke of how often these vases were made more for use than beauty. This sometimes makes the artwork difficult to connect the subjects being taught in the class.
“The problem with vases, a lot of the time, is some of them are sort of bland, and it’s just more, ‘Hey, look at this vase we stored olive oil in,’” he said. “But this exhibit is really cool because almost every piece has a story on it or has motifs or myths.”
This aspect of the exhibit pairs very well with what some Latin students have been studying this year.
“My Latin 1s have been studying the battle between Hercules and the Amazonian,” Dillon said. “These things that have just been stories actually appear on these vases.”
Despite the main focus of this field trip being the traveling exhibit, that is not all that the Latin Club members are planning to view.
“While I was there scoping it out, there are permanent exhibits including ones with Roman and Greek time periods,” Dillon said. “I envisioned that while our main focus will be this exhibit, we would also circuit the museum and check out those as well.”
Some of the artwork in the permenant exhibit featuring ancient Greek and Roman artwork include the statues Funerary Portrait of a Woman from 120-130 C.E., Portrait of a Roman Youth from the mid-second century C.E., and Lion from 325 B.C.E. Dillon has one goal for the exhibit experience.
“I want my students to make the learning that we do in the classroom feel more tangible — with a subject so far removed like Latin, it’s easy to think of it purely in the academic sense,” he said. “It’s just language, worksheets and problems, but we can see the sort of stuff we’re learning about in real form — a vase right in front of you that the people who we’re talking about actually made 2,000 years ago makes it come alive.”
charley thomas |editor in chief
Before walking the stage at graduation, nearly every student at BV has taken either an art or a history course. Whether it’s through painting or government class, the two subjects are staples in high schools across the nation, but the same cannot necessarily be said for their culmination as art history.
Senior Lauren Miller, along with eight fellow students, decided to take advantage of the class’ return to BV this year.
“I had a lot of open space in my schedule,” she said. “I do like history, and I do like art, so I thought, ‘Why not? This is something that could be fun.’”
Under the direction of Mark Mosier, the course focused on analysis and finding deeper meanings beyond brush strokes or color palettes.
“We read the chapter and then we go through a presentation that has all of the artworks,” Miller said. “We discuss what contributed to them — the history, where they are now, culture, religion, etc.”
With aspirations to go into architecture, Miller values the skills and classroom experience with which art history has provided her.
“A lot of what we’re learning is how to analyze something and get different perspectives,” she said. “Being in a class with people who have a lot of opinions, collaborating with other ideas and listening to other
people’s thoughts [will help me going forward].”
In addition to engaging with each other through discussion, art history students had the opportunity to engage with works themselves last November on a field trip to the Nelson Atkins Museum.
“It’s nice to get outside the classroom — especially with a class that’s dealing with physical things,” Miller said. “You see a tiny little picture on a textbook page in class, and then you see it in person at 3 feet tall or 8 feet tall, and it really puts it into perspective.”
Even the concept of artistry itself, Miller explained, comes into question during class. For instance, the group has debated whether something as simple as a red square merits classification as a work of art.
“It’s cool to see how subjective art can be,” Miller said. “You can start a conversation with anyone and it’s going to be a different answer.”
|PHOTO SUBMITTED BY LAUREN MILLER |PHOTO SUBMITTED BY LAUREN MILLER |PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINEMuch like the famed movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” students at Blue Valley have also faced some adversaries in regard to their vehicles. Whether that’s concerning unfortunate crashes or unanticipated thefts, the movie most certainly relates to the high school experience — especially for juniors Alex Diaz and Mae Briggs and senior Kaylee Stephens
Though Homecoming weekend is already eventful enough, Diaz and Briggs went through another big ordeal as well on the day before the dance.
“I was driving Alex’s car because he got sick of driving,”
Briggs said. “I was the only legal person to drive in the car because we were driving around a bunch of freshmen.”
Distracted by the talking in the backseat and pulling out of the parking lot they went into to switch drivers, Briggs accelerated into the car in front of her in the middle of an intersection.
“I rolled into the car in front of us, which just happened to be a Ranger Rover — which is great,” Briggs said.
Although everyone was unharmed from the accident, the vehicle sustained some impairment.
“Since the cars were so close, I didn’t think she did too much damage,” Diaz said. “ I was surprised when the lady ended up calling the cops [and] we found out it was a lot of damage [on the back bumper].”
Already owing the lady $2,000 due to the accident, Briggs felt that the situation was even worse than just a car crash.
“I literally knew the lady whose car it was because she has two kids that go to our school,” Briggs said. “I’ve known her [for a long time] because I used to be friends with them, and they were my friend’s neighbors. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I used to jump on your trampoline!’”
Fortunately, the crash ended without any other
complications.
“[The lady] was nice about it, Alex was nice about it — I just felt really bad,” Briggs said. “Now I just owe her money.”
Diaz was sympathetic to the situation.
“She was really apologetic and she felt bad — it was nothing on her part, [but] she was really sweet about it,” Diaz said. “It’s kind of funny, actually. I’m really happy that she’s dealing with the lady and not making me deal with it.”
Similarly, Stephens also went through another eventful day when she woke up one morning to her car missing from her garage.
“My mom left the garage door open, and I left my keys and my wallet in the car,” she said. “My dad ran upstairs [in the morning] and he said, ‘Your car’s stolen.’”
Though Stephens didn’t believe her father at first, she soon realized it was stolen overnight.
“I was shocked, freaking out and really mad,” Stephens said. “My mom felt really bad, and my dad was pissed.”
Fortunately, Stephens had a solution that helped her locate her car.
“I have a tracker on my phone that actually tracks my car,” she said.
However, occurring during a big snowstorm in February, the cops weren’t able to go to where the car was located.
“My dad actually went and found my car and then called the police to come meet him,” she said.
Able to get her car back, Stephens strongly recommends being careful with your belongings, especially in regards to your vehicle.
“Definitely don’t leave your garage door open, and put your wallet and keys inside your house,” Stephens said.
The painful silence within a classroom after a teacher proposes a question, trying to engage in an academic conversation is a classic and unique rite of passage every high school student must experience.
Though it seems these long, drawn out silences are becoming more common due to various reasons, junior Molly James believes it could be how younger classes were affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.
“Coming back from online learning was different [because] you didn’t have to participate when you were on Zoom,” James said. “Especially my class, we didn’t start off high school knowing how to participate normally in class.”
James tries her best to stay present in class but admits it can be extremely difficult when her classmates refuse to engage in activities.
“There’s some classes that I’m like, ‘Man, it’d be nice if more people would talk. [It] would make this a lot less painful,’” James said. “A way we could encourage other people is having more collective and collaborative learning. I feel like sometimes everyone feels like they’re on their own to learn, but working together and talking stuff out more would definitely be helpful.”
Though James is continuously annoyed by the lack of class involvement from her peers, she feels disappointed for the teachers who have taken the time to create exciting lesson plans, only for nobody wanting to partake in the activity.
“A teacher is up there [and] they want somebody to talk to — they want someone to answer their questions. I definitely feel bad if you just sit there and don’t do anything,” James said. “They obviously want you to interact with them because that’s kind of how learning works.”
Furthermore, speech and debate teacher Chris Riffer admits it’s more difficult to get students to engage
in discussions now than it was before the lockdown.
“That period of time with Covid — we were just ourselves, we were away from people it became very easy to get into a bad rut of not being around people or not conforming to another schedule,” Riffer said, “That’s not a universally bad thing, but it does tend to pull us away from engaging in the community at large — some people just haven’t gotten out of those habits.”
Though student participation won’t increase drastically any time soon, Riffer believes everyone is making progress by inserting themselves back into social environments.
“As human beings, we need to engage with each other — not virtually, but face to face, person to person,” Riffer said. “It’s not only important for our mental health, but it’s true for our societal health that the more we engage with each other, the more we invest in our society and in each other, [valuing] our shared fates.”
Student, teacher evaluate how participation has decreased within BV
The more we engage with each other, the more we invest in our society and in each other.
chris riffer speech and debate teacher
It was a dark and stormy night. The lights shined bright inside the house as senior Alec Marinov flipped through the pages of a script, figuring out the schematics of a murder scene.
Marinov started working in October on writing and directing a short film called “A Yearning” for his CAPS fall semester final.
“I’ve always liked filmmaking and the process of making a movie,” he said. “So I decided to put that to use and actually do something with it.”
His movie, a horror-thriller, centers around a man who reaches a breaking point due to childhood trauma and commits several murders. He picked senior Cannon Simpson to play this leading character.
“I knew for the main roles I needed people who were in the theater department because I needed people with range and people who could act,” Marinov said. “I needed a male character who I know has great dynamic range and great expression of emotion. Cannon fit that role perfectly.”
Simpson, playing the role of Sam, was asked to be a part of the film.
“He’s kind of a creepy guy — he kills people,” Simpson said.
“It’s really fun to play him because I think playing creepy characters is more challenging — I like a little challenge
sometimes.”
For both the director and the leading actor, this experience provides brand-new obstacles.
“Editing is hard, but I would say overall the most difficult thing would be acting directions because that’s not something I’m used to,” Marinov said. “The idea I have in my head [is sometimes] hard to voice to the actors. It’s hard to turn what I have in my head into the actual film because I have a very specific picture in mind when I shoot my scenes.”
Consequently, Simpson is still getting used to the aspect of filming.
“It’s weird doing scenes with the camera in your face and people watching you,” he said. “It’s kind of difficult. It [was] awkward at first but once [we] started doing more of it, it just kind of happened.”
Simpson didn’t focus too much on preparation before filming but started to crack down on it when the process began.
“I was asked [to do it] maybe late October,” Simpson said. “I had some stuff going on, but once the ball started rolling and we started filming, I started actually looking at it.”
Another student in the movie is senior Audrey Karn, who plays a therapist for Simpson’s character.
“I basically guide the main character around his hostile emotions he has toward others,” she said. “I enjoy it because she is a very stationary character. I find myself in situations personally giving advice to others, so to have that in common with my character is enjoyable.”
Karn said her favorite part of partaking in the movie is being able to do something fun and different with her peers.
“I love doing a fun project with a lot of close friends in the comfort of my home, and having the ability to have a final result to look back on and show others,” Karn said.
Although enthusiastic during filming, Karn said there is difficulty sometimes while working with friends.
“The hardest part is definitely staying focused,” she said. “Everyone in the cast and crew is great friends, so the
I have always liked filmmaking and the process of making a movie
banter can make set time last hours.”
Additionally, Karn has a large part in the filming process by allowing it to take place at her house, which made her even more excited to be involved.
“Around early October I had shot a short film with [senior] Henry Duckworth and Alec Marinov,” she said. “After hearing about his project, Henry and I were immediately wanting to be on it because of how much fun we had.”
Duckworth has a different job on set. In addition to playing a minor character role, he helps with the sound and setup of scenes.
“I play Troy, a friend of the main character, Sam,” he said. “I also run around a lot for the movie.”
movie with his classmates.
“I find it so fun to hang out with my friends and overall just working toward something and seeing events of the film unfold is definitely my favorite part,” Duckworth said.
Marinov hopes to continue working on his film in order to make it a full-length movie by the end of the school year.
“With the script I have written, it’s roughly 30-40 minutes, but the end goal is around an hour and a half to two hours,” he said. “The main goal is releasing it on AMC and having a professional-looking movie.”
While the project has had its ups and downs, Marinov enjoys multiple aspects of the filming process.
“[My favorite part is] getting to play around with all the equipment with all of my friends,” he said. “Filming the movie and coming up with the plot has been a lot of fun. [I’ve loved] watching something I made being played out and coming to life.”
Students work with cameras, a boom mic, and other film supplies during an evening film session. |PHOTOS BY
KYLEE THOMPSONChicago, Illinois is one of the most populated cities in the country — known for its architecture, food and tourist attractions.
Sophomores Zaida Awan and Ranger Kesarapalli visited Chicago last year. Kesarapalli traveled there in May and wanted to explore the city and the prestigious art colleges in the area. As an artist herself, Kesarapalli enjoyed visiting the Art Institute of Chicago.
“The art institute was very minimalist and honestly kind of plain for an art-centered place,” Kesarapalli said,
In her spare time, Kesarapalli visited Willis Tower, one of the largest skyscrapers in the world. This monument can also be seen in the movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” when Bueller and his friends reminisced over their senior year and what they will do in the future.
“Willis Tower is a large building and there’s basically a shopping mall under it and a pretty large food court,” Kesarapalli said.
As there are a lot of tourist attractions in Chicago, the city also hosts a multitude of concerts for popular musicians and aspiring artists.
Known for his famous song “Stick Season,” musician Noah Kahan held a concert in Chicago during early November. When Awan found out about his concert, it didn’t take much persuading before her mom agreed to travel to see her favorite artist live.
“My mom was convinced,” Awan said. “We were like, ‘OK, [in] three days we’re going to Chicago.’”
Although Awan was unable to witness or experience many of the iconic monuments the city has to offer, she was able to see one of her favorite musicans while visiting. Even though the line to get into the venue was long, it was worth it when Awan got to see Noah Kahan.
“When we were waiting and got near his tour bus, he literally came out, got something from his bus, went back in and I just looked at him in shock,” Awan said. “I was so excited. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life.”
|PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ZAIDA AWAN
Ferris Bueller only got one day to shine in a parade, but freshman Amelia Hooper has starred in multiple. But unlike Ferris, who entertained the crowd with his singing, Hooper is an Irish dancer and charmed the crowd as she intricately step-danced.
“It’s really fun getting people all excited for [the parade],” she said. “It was good to work with some of my friends too.”
Hooper has been in many different St. Patrick’s Day parades, showcasing her Irish dancing.
“I was in the Brookeside parade, Shawnee Mission parade and then I didn’t do it this year, but I’ve been in the Kansas City parade,” she said. “During the Brookside parade, we did a performance. It was one of the dances they do in ‘Riverdance,’ so it is pretty fun.”
She participated in the parades through her dance studio, Driscoll School of Irish Dance, which treats these St. Patrick’s celebrations as a tradition.
“Our Irish dancers went to the parades to perform and give some spirit for them,” she said. “My dance studio [does] it every year, except for Covid, [which] we were really sad that it was canceled.”
Though the type of dance seems jolly, Hooper shared the dancer’s perspective and said it can be tiring.
“We take a few breaks in between steps but not very many, so it’s basically just all Irish dancing,” she said. “It’s very tiring. Your feet hurt at the end.
I’d say the parade was like an hour and a half. We did a performance in the middle, so it was even more tiring.”
The work put into the performance was physically draining, but the overall experience was enjoyable.
“It’s really fun,” she said. “It’s really good to spread cheer around St. Patrick’s Day.”
Hooper has been dancing since she was 4 years old and participates in the parades annually, so this activity is very close to her.
“I love Irish dancing,” she said. “It’s something that helps me when I’m stressed out.”
From both Jeanie Bueller and Ferris Bueller to junior Henry Monahan and freshman Andrew Monahan, learning to co-exist peacefully is something that many siblings have had to go through.
However, for the Monahans, peacefulness and harmony between them both was something that they might have simply been gifted with. The real secret goes between the amount of time that they actually spend together, their sense of personality, and the sense of humor that both brothers share.
“Me and Andrew both share a room, so that means that none of us can claim a certain space as our ‘own space’ and just live there,” Henry said. “I know a lot of people will go to their rooms and just stay there by themselves, but the fact that we share a room means that we are forced to spend time together.”
While it sure wouldn’t be nice to share a room with someone, it might just be what some brothers and sisters need.
“I think siblings are some of the people you’ll have relationships with your whole life — whether you’d like to or not, you’re connected to them,” Henry said. “Having a good relationship with your sibling makes it very nice to have someone who I can just talk to if I want to.”
Nonetheless, their humor and personality is what holds
them together.
“We tell pretty much the exact same jokes and we even kind of sound the same,” Henry said.
Truthfully, though, the bond that the brothers share is something that benefits both of them in the long-run.
“It does come in handy,” Andrew said. “During really long family vacations, we do get sick of each other if we are in the car, but we get sick of each other a lot less easily than some families, making trips way more fun.”
However, this sibling dynamic might not serve them very well in the future.
“I think a lot of good has come from things in my life simply because Henry did them first,” Andrew said. “It’s not very independent, I will admit, but it has led me to some things that I do also enjoy because we share a lot of common interests. Maybe we share a common interest because I only do the things he does, but that’s not true. I also enjoy them despite what he might say.”
While they have learned to grow past their differences and reflect on what they share in common, they inadvertently learn to get along and live with it.
“Most siblings hate each other’s guts and they wish the other would die and go off to college,” Andrew said. “But me and Henry — we’re not like those kinds of siblings.”
Most siblings hate each other’s guts and they wish the other would die and go off to college. But me and Henry we’re not like those kinds of siblings. andrew monahan, 9
|PHOTO SUBMITTED BY HENRY MONAHAN
Every decade has followed a certain pattern — it has a specific style and originality to it. Lately, fashion trends of the past have resurfaced, with teenagers following trends or lots of styles.
Senior Cindy Ntembe is one of many teens influenced by a certain style, with her fashion being inspired by the ‘80s, but also connecting with who she is as a person.
“[My personality] can be super comfortable and outgoing because I do wear a lot of colors,” she said. “I just started my job, and there are specific colors you can wear and black is one of the colors. I’m having a problem with that because most of the clothing that I wear is bright, colorful and mature, but I think that’s fine right now. I’m only 17, so I can be more fun with my style.”
Her inspiration comes from all over, but her biggest influence is her mom.
“My mom used to read a lot of magazines, so she has some magazines that she [had] before she moved from Cameroon,” she said. “It was so interesting seeing fashion from around the world — I was really inspired by that.”
Ntembe also finds her style with the help of the current culture of content creators.
“I like how now you can find an influencer who’s kind of like you,” Ntembe said.
“That’s more personal than some celebrity that has like a billion dollars,
you could find some other 17-year-old who likes the same things you do.”
Other than inspiration from actress Diahann Carroll, one icon of the ‘80s particularly stands out to Ntembe.
“Princess Diana would wear biker shorts and sweatshirts,” she said. “Whenever I’m out or around my house and I want to feel productive or even go workout, that’s usually what I wear. I think a lot of sneakers are inspired by ‘80s fashion — a lot of workout wear is.”
Accessories are an additional, yet important part of fashion to Ntembe.
“[Gold hoops] just add a little emphasis to your outfit, and I have a lot of pairs,” she said. “If you need to be more professional, you can still wear gold hoops, or if it’s something like a dance or a party — it’s perfect for everything.”
Because of her style choices, confidence is a big part of how Ntembe’s able to go through with bolder outfit options, with help from her mom’s inspiration.
“When we first moved to the U.S., [my mom] was really happy to try out American fashion, but she was still wearing traditional clothing every single day,” she said. “There’s something in Cameroon called a Kaba — it’s this really long and colorful dress, but she wears it casually and feels confident. That’s what I’ve really liked and it’s been a way I’ve found confidence. Most people say you’re born with [confidence] or you’re not, and that’s definitely not true.
In recent years, students seem to have steadily decreasing levels of motivation. Though it has been speculated that the Covid-19 pandemic caused this problem, it has been going on for longer than that. Students and teachers gave their perspectives on why this is and how schools can solve it.
*ding*
By: Ashling Bahadursingh, Regan Byrnes, Jackie Chang, Isaac Hudson, Ava McNiel & Ava PolandSince the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and even before then, teachers have observed a growing apathy in students toward their schoolwork.
“I wonder if the pandemic years made it tough to get in the school vibe,” social studies teacher Kim Thompson said. “The pandemic years of schooling were pretty lean on academic and behavioral expectations. I imagine we’ll see motivations for that increase over time as people get more used to school again.”
Thompson also acknowledged that Covid wasn’t the only reason students lack drive to do their coursework.
“Some are overwhelmed,” Thompson said. “They’re busy people and are motivated in other arenas in their lives, so it just drains them.”
She also shed light on how a lack in student motivation can affect teachers’ attitudes.
“Luckily, I really like what I teach — I love when students learn anything, even if it’s not everything. My job is for them to leave having learned something, even if it’s just about themselves, so that’s kept me motivated,” Thompson said. “The days were starting to feel real long there at the end of our pandemic school years, so that made me scale back a little bit, which might appear unmotivated.”
For Thompson, the most important aspect of her job is utilizing the time she gets with her students well.
“I can only do what I [teach] for the 90 minutes that are in here. Those 90 minutes are 100% my responsibility; however, there are still 22.5 hours in a day when they’re not with me, so part of this falls on students themselves, especially as they get older. And a lot of it’s on families to say, ‘Are we really motivating kids at home? Or are we pressuring them?’”
Thompson said. “There’s some happy medium where the three of us can triangulate: teachers, parents and students find a way to make school, for some kids, tolerable. For others, they want it to be exciting and challenging. There are 1600 kids here — 1600 different paths and literally 100 staff to try to navigate all 1600 paths.
Ultimately, the solution to the problem will likely come piece by piece, not all at once.
“Maybe the solution we could solve here at school is [to] celebrate the little victories — we don’t have to be perfect at everything,” Thompson said. “Maybe that would motivate kids to try if they didn’t feel so scared of failing. If it was a lot harder to fail, we might feel more motivated to give something a try.”
The idea of a decrease in student motivation is not a surprise to staff and students alike, especially following Covid-19.
Though not exclusively responsible, drops in student productivity have been seen after Covid-19 and the return to traditional schooling.
“Students went from school as they have known it to an environment where you could be wherever you wanted to Zoom for classes, have the ability to not engage in conversations and to do other things while Zooming for class,” Assistant Principal Mollie McNally said. “Then, we finally came back and [the] full-time and old structure was back in place. For some, it was exhausting to ‘do school’ again — [for] teachers as well. This year has felt like we are finally seeing students coming out of the Covid fog and really getting back to the routine of how we do in-person school.”
Sometimes, a supporting factor in a lack of motivation is caused by parents’ tolerance for their student to slack off.
“Last year, many students shared with me that if they
didn’t want to come to school, their parents would just let them stay home,” McNally said. “Many of them were academically successful students who said their ability to stay home made it difficult to build up motivation. They would come out on top with their grades in the end, but the motivation was difficult.”
Despite the setback, McNally noted the staff and administration are progressing toward previous academic standards in the Blue Valley community.
“We are moving in a positive direction. Our teachers are top-notch — they are innovative, creative and most of all, they care about students and focus on building positive relationships,” McNally said. “Those things, coupled with continuing to provide learning opportunities that engage their students and connect them to the world around them, will continue to motivate students. Students have to continue to identify their ‘why’ and find their motivation as well. The responsibility for learning is not just on teachers. Students must also be accountable for engaging in their learning.”
Procrastinating in the school environment is common, and sophomores Luke Buglewicz and Reese Keller are just two of many who fall into the abyss of homework that builds up over time.
To Buglewicz, missing school is the main cause of his lack of motivation.
“If you get behind and miss one day, you miss so much because you have several classes in one day,” Buglewicz said. “It just adds up, and so I lose motivation.”
Oftentimes, not being at school means a loss of work time, help and lectures, which easily makes students fall behind on their work. This produces a lack of willingness and energy for completing it.
Buglewicz finds an internal struggle between wanting to
have the drive to complete the workload, “but you just don’t [feel motivated. I see] I have missing homework but I just go to bed.”
Buglewicz is not alone in pushing work aside. Keller feels the same when she feels the lack of encouragement to finish her schoolwork.
“[I go into the] mindset of, ‘I can do this later, or, this is too much for me to do right now,’” Keller said.
She believes her loss of determination is much contributed to by Covid, when school on Zoom was fairly easy.
“[Online] was kind of a hard thing for students to come back from,” Keller said. “We could have [been] a little bit better [prepared].”
Math teacher Kate Baker has been teaching long enough to recognize when there is a shift in energy at Blue Valley. However, Baker believes not all classes and students have been impacted by this unusual change.
“I haven’t seen [a decrease in motivation] as much in the honors classes,” Baker said. “But in the regular classes, I feel like it’s just very different from many years ago.”
A possible cause for the discrepancy between on-level and advanced classes could be the reward of improving one’s grade point average or earning college credit.
“The higher level classes seem to have a little more motivation because they have that college credit option,” Baker said. “But otherwise, the motivation, I definitely feel, is a little less.”
Baker presumes the drop in effort stems from the forgiving environment created in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“When Covid hit, I feel like we were just trying to be as accommodating as possible, which lowered expectations because we just wanted to get something out of the students,” Baker said. “I feel like that is kind of where they’re staying — that’s what they were used to, so it’s harder to bring them up.”
The change in schedule organization also impacted Baker’s teaching style and how she organizes her lesson plans.
“The block scheduling has changed it, too,” Baker said. “I feel like we were able to teach sections of content; now we’re trying to combine sections together or spread them out.”
This takes a toll on students’ motivation as well because of the extended time they spend in class.
“They don’t have as much homework as they used to, so
they don’t do as much outside practice,” Baker said. “They have so many opportunities to finish work in class, that if they’re assigned something outside of class, they won’t do it.”
Baker suggests that preparing students for college-level coursework is necessary to incite motivation.
“[I have to] remind them what our goal is: next year, you’re taking a college-level class,” she said. “We need to ramp it up so you’re prepared for that.”
Staying motivated and consistent plays a big role in junior Jenae Lee’s daily life in order to combat stress during the school year.
Lee visits the gym often to help improve her mental health, giving her a better focus on schoolwork.
“I always workout after school to help my mentality before I start studying,” Lee said.
She finds having something she’s passionate about helps her health and staying focused in school. Lee recommends finding a hobby you truly enjoy out of school for anyone struggling with motivation.
“Have passions outside of school,” Lee said. “Remember your future [to] motivate yourself.”
Low grades are a common stress factor for students that
may feel extremely heavy.
“I have had moments of unmotivation,” Lee said. “Usually how I cope with that is once I see the grades start dropping, that kind of freaks me out, so I communicate with teachers for help.”
Another way of staying driven in school for Lee is thinking back to all the effort and work she has put into her high school years. This keeps her focused on her schoolwork.
This type of mindset keeps Lee determined for her future and prevents her from falling off of assignments.
“I have motivation to keep going and not ruin my GPA from slacking,” Lee said.
98% of students think that teaching style affects student motivation|106 STUDENTS SURVEYED design by ava mcguire, ella lim & emma mcatee
Not many people really enjoy school — it’s stressful, has time limits, deadlines and a lot of work. All those factors lead to students freaking out, prompting outbursts and misbehavior in class. Of course the students experience this, but no one really focuses on the teachers’ viewpoints of them.
“My first year [teaching] was rough; I had a class of 28, and 25 of them were boys, a tenth of them being on the football team,” social studies teacher Molly CowanJohnson said. “It was 7th hour, and was a U.S. History course — they were a handful. They set the room on fire once.”
While Cowan has dealt with classes that are all over the place, she has not directly been yelled at by a student, but she sees and hears a lot of it around school.
“I enter the discipline referrals, so I’ve seen there have been kids who’ve told teachers to ‘f off’ or something,” Cowan said. “I’ve never gotten that response, which is preferable.”
With those teachers who have experienced being cursed at though, a detention given to the student would be assumed.
“We can write kids up and fill out a discipline referral, but that conversation goes up to the admin,” she said. “I haven’t written kids up for anything worse than disrupting class or throwing scissors around a crowded room. You can’t do that — it’s weird.”
With the discipline referral, a student can be written up for a multitude of reasons.
“There are different categories of bad [behavior] — if you’re skipping class, that’s one thing, but if you’re cursing at a teacher, that’s a whole other ballgame,” Cowan said. “I guess it depends on how hard you cussed them out, [though].”
The most common form of misbehavior is ignoring staff members.
“If today’s not your day, I’m assuming something
worse is going on than just schoolwork,” she said. “I’m probably going to be like ‘OK, fine, we still have to do [the work] later.’ I’m not really willing to fight it [during class].”
Many students have outbursts caused by mental health, something the school has tried to emphasize the importance of but hasn’t given resources to help.
“Our kids need coping mechanisms,” she said. “Most kids take seven different classes, [and] especially postCovid, their social anxiety is there. It’s like a crush of ‘Oh my god I have all this stuff to get done’ but then we don’t have any sort of coping mechanisms.”
With so much work and no way to manage, some students end up feeling like they’re drowning.
“[I think the reason so many kids freak out is] the overwhelming-ness of it,” she said. “I have a lot of kids who get behind [and] then they’re like, ‘I don’t want to come to school.’ Then it snowballs and snowballs, and they don’t see a way out. The level of anxiety in our students gets to a point where they just want to scream.”
At the end of the day, both teachers and students get stressed out with late and overdue work.
“In the spring a bunch of seniors don’t want to do anything, then they’re like ‘Oh shoot, I’m failing. Hey, it’s the last day of the semester — here’s everything I’ve done,’” Cowan said. “I don’t like to play that game, [and] I think a lot of the teachers need to think about that.”
In the past when Cowan has dealt with students getting behind, she asks them “What’s the worst that can happen?” She said if a teacher is mad, they’ll get over it eventually.
“I try to be pretty chill with kids,” Cowan said. “We all have deadlines — teachers have deadlines, kids obviously have a deadline — but if it doesn’t happen today, what’s the worst possible thing?”
ayesha khan |editor in chief
Between illnesses and doctors appointments, absences are inevitable. An issue, however, arises when the number of absences hinders daily learning practices. Recently, a number of teachers have experienced the implications that this attendance deficit has on their planned content and teaching styles.
“It’s especially challenging when there tends to be — not even on a daily basis but an hourly basis — an inconsistency with absences, so teachers may have one class that maybe nobody’s absent, and then the next class, we’ve got six absences,” English teacher Casey Engel said. “That can really challenge some of our plans where we want as many students to be [present] because we’re discussing [and] explaining things that are impossible to put in a neat Canvas document.”
For math teacher Kate Baker, these absences are especially impeding when group work is involved.
“It is hard when you plan an activity and you get kids into groups, and then they’re not here,” Baker said. “You’ve got these groups and [when] five people are gone, whether they’re sick or not, you have to [rearrange] because you pick your groups for a reason.”
When attendance numbers are questionable, Engel said she evaluates which plans will ensure both the health of the unit and the wellbeing of her students.
“I know for a bunch of us at certain points last year, especially with illnesses, there’d be days where we’d have literally half or more of the class missing,” she said. “In that case, most teachers have to think, ‘OK, well, there’s no way that we can really go on collectively until more people return.’”
This pattern of repeated absences is only a small part of the grander issue at hand.
“I do see more of a consequential ripple effect where students aren’t getting work made up or there’s a discussion that needs to happen, and it just doesn’t happen,” Engel said. “I think sometimes we have to make the executive decision [of] ‘this is where I need to be, this is where I need to move on
to,’ regardless of how many people are gone.”
Test makeup is Baker’s “biggest headache” when dealing with this ripple effect of absences.
“I had a student last year who missed our first two tests, and I tried to get her to make it up — she just never did,” Baker said. “Our third test she wasn’t ready for [either because] she was absent beforehand so she never made up those tests and didn’t pass the class, but I’m like, ‘You’ve got to get that made up, you’ve got to make it a priority,’ and if you put it off, it makes it so challenging.”
Since the pandemic, Engel has found many students do not approach school the same way they once did. Consequently, she feels it is on teachers to find new ways to make class engaging.
“Unfortunately, for some students, school’s become more of a suggestion than a requirement — that’s something we need to work to reverse on the students’ part, but also, what can teachers do to improve our practices so that students look forward to coming to school,” Engel said. “One of the questions we’ve been trying to tend to all year is how do we get students to want to be here?”
Engel does what she can on her end to make class time valuable and appealing, but reminds students a lack of this should not be reason enough to give up on school entirely.
“Throughout life, you have to attend meetings you may not want to attend,” Engel said. “You may have to do work that you don’t want to do. Learning isn’t necessarily about being entertained, but growing our awareness of our world and our place in it, and that takes hard work. Hard work isn’t always fun, but it’s necessary.”
Unfortunately, for some students, school’s become more of a suggestion than a requirement. casey engel english teacher
What makes this person your hallway crush? “I have a crush on every person in nursing CAPS because they wear scrubs, and that’s cool.”
Do you change your route to see your hallway crush? “No, there’s so many of them.”
Would you date your hallway crush? “I would because they look hot in scrubs.”
What is your favorite thing about your hallway crush? “[My favorite thing is] that they wear scrubs.”
Eddy Jiang, 11
What makes this person your hallway crush?
“Lindsay H. Cho introduced me to them at the beginning of this year. Their face is actually the most gorgeous thing in the world.”
Do you change your route to see your hallway crush? “Yes — I have their whole entire schedule memorized, including the routes they take and how quickly I have to pace myself to intersect them.”
Would you date your hallway crush? “A thousand times yes. Everything about them is literal perfection.”
What is your favorite thing about your hallway crush? “My favorite thing about them is the way they look at me—it makes me feel like I’m the ‘only girl in the world’ (Rihanna).”
What makes this person your hallway crush? “I see him all the time and he’s just cute.”
Do you change your route to see your hallway crush? “Sometimes. Depends on the day.”
Would you date your hallway crush?
“Absolutely. He’s a nice guy.”
What is your favorite thing about your hallway crush? “He’s really nice, and probably his hair.”
What makes this person your hallway crush?“Their appearance and of course their amazing personality.”
Do you change your route to see your hallway crush? “For one or two of them, yes. For the rest, no.”
Would you date your hallway crush?
“Yes, for sure. He’s interesting, in a good way, and he is hot.”
What is your favorite thing about your hallway crush? “They make me laugh.”
Drew Schimmel, 11 Kaylee Yepez, 11 Irene Berlini, 12Dana Zari, 9:
“[On Oct. 28] I texted my dad that the fire was really bad, even though it wasn’t even that big of a deal. I was like ‘Dad, we might die, come get us!’ and he asked what was wrong. I said ‘I’ll explain in the car. Get over here right now.’ I made him leave work to come pick up me and my friend.”
“I went to a swim meet at Olathe West, and someone took a pretty fat dump in the pool. The whole team got norovirus. [The whole team] woke up in sync, throwing up, but it didn’t hit me until I got to school, so I got to leave.”
“I was sick but showed up to school anyway. But then I went to the doors by the junior lot, and they were locked. Once I tried to open the door, I realized this is my sign to go home, so I left.”
“One day, it was going to be the first time being on time to APUSH in about two weeks, but when I tried to turn on my car, it started going crazy, and it didn’t turn on. It was flashing on and off really fast. The motor was — I don’t know, I’m not a car guy. I ended up taking my dad’s car and being late to APUSH again.”
Amalia Garcia, 10:
“I lied to my dad that I had signed up for the bus transportation thing, and that the bus would take me to school, so he wouldn’t have to drop me off on the way to work. That’s how I got away with staying home for the rest of that week. My dad would text me and ask why I missed school and I’d say ‘oh the bus never showed up’ or something like that. Eventually I had to tell him the truth, and he was OK with it.”
“My senioritis was so bad. A month into school my brother went home sick and I got jealous because I wanted to skip school too, and for my mom to call me out I needed an excuse, so I texted her and said I had the same illness as my brother, so she called me out. My brother continued to feel sick and I had to keep pretending to be sick to play along with my lie. But my brother ended up going to the ER because his appendix burst and needed emergency surgery.”
“I believe I’m like Ferris Bueller because in the movie, Ferris is a witty trouble maker, and that explains me perfectly. In the movie, Bueller skips school — which is something I find very agreeable — and he goes out for a day of misadventure. I feel if I was put in Bueller’s spot I would do a lot of the same shenanigan activity he pursues. He takes his friend’s car and goes on a cruise, which sounds lovely to me, and he’s got his friends right next to his side. While he is a little narcissistic, so am I, and his youthful defiance is a trait I’d use for myself. Even through his series of defiance, he still gets away with it, and when faced with any challenge he is able to figure out a way around it. His final quote is genius, and so am I.”
“Personally, I think Cameron [is] my favorite character., he’s a cool guy. He objectively looks better than Ferris Bueller, and although he doesn’t have a girl in that movie, it doesn’t matter because he knows in his heart that he’s the more important character. I feel like he has this humbleness and this power to him that I just really feel like I connect with.”
“I fit the Ferris characteristics. I’m relatively outgoing and I’ve got a very broad and outspoken personality. It’s not to say that [Charlie’s] not an outgoing person, he’s just definitely more of a reserved person [and] isn’t necessarily as vocal.”
“I’m more like Cameron since I am cautious and methodical, the type of person to try to talk Pikey out of taking the Ferrari for a joyride. I think our friendship works really well because we balance each other out and highlight the others’ determining qualities. Although I can be skeptical of Pikey’s ideas at first, they always turn out fun and I have a great time, just like Cameron did in the movie.”
“I’m kind of known for being really impulsive and not making good decisions whenever I don’t think about them. I’m very, ‘Oh, let’s do this, this sounds fun, let’s go’ right off the bat.”
“[I’m] probably a Cameron — I care too much about what people think of me. Katie Kennedy does whatever she wants.”
For many students, traveling across their hometown is more exciting and more accessible than traveling across the country. Luckily, Kansas City is host to a plethora of fun activities and interesting places to visit.
“I like to go to Union Station and the Nelson Atkins Museum if I'm feeling energetic and want to do something. If I’m tired I'll go to Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden and maybe shop at Made In KC. I like to go to these places because it’s something that never gets old. My favorite thing to do is to get coffee with my friends or family and enjoy the scenery and relax and unwind. I go there whenever I want a day out or whenever I’m free and have money to spend on gas.”
“Urban Mining is a fun place with an amazing layout and so many weird things you can find. I love to just sit on every couch there. [I was introduced to it by] my friends John and Isaac Hudson.”
- Preston Baker,11
“I really like the River Market because it’s a place to just walk around and support small businesses like local farmers and artists. It’s really nice in the summer to walk through the stands and look at the different products being sold. It’s also [in] a really beautiful area with a lot of places to go surrounding it. My dad told me that his grandma used to sell vegetables in the market a long time ago, and he showed me the parking space they would use for their stand!”
-Ava Viscek, 11
“I love being in nature and Weston Bend State Park has really cool views and trails. It’s right over the border in Missouri. I always bring my dog and take her on the trails. There is also a lookout that has really good views of the sunset over the Missouri River. I’ve been going there for a really long time, probably since I was 7 or 8. I usually go at least a few times every year.”
-Leah Martin, 11
|PHOTO SUBMITTED BY LEAH MARTIN
Every year the divide widens between supporting senior skip day and wanting to discard it.
Teachers and students often have severely differing opinions on whether students should be allowed to have a senior skip day or not.
Students deserve a senior skip day because it is a tradition passed down from decades prior.
Despite standing as an unofficial tradition, students across the United States have continued to pass it along.
The movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” broadcasts the idea of a student skip day; and since then, it has become a shared experience for students across the nation.
Although I didn’t go to Chicago in my dad’s stolen convertible, I did participate in this tradition. I went out to eat, hung out with friends, and also completed my schoolwork. What makes a senior skip day is not dependent upon what the senior chooses to do or not to do.
Although teachers attribute that the number of skip days has become out of hand, missing schoolwork for a day or maybe two does not mean the whole senior class will fall behind or that it would greatly affect their schoolwork.
With the bulk of information existing online, students have the ability to access all their schoolwork, staying caught up in class whether it’s the agenda, assignments or schedule.
Teachers should acknowledge that senior skip day is a tradition and not just a way to disregard their classes for a day.
A considerable amount of teachers also participated in their own senior skip day when they were students themselves.
A variety of teachers claim seniors lack the foresight to coordinate the next senior skip day. Although this may be true for a select few students, this is not accurate for all.
The majority of the 2023 senior class at BV is involved in the grade-wide group chat where the skip day was decided upon and coordinated. The day was agreed upon and executed by the students who wanted to participate, including myself.
Although this was supposed to be a fun, carefree day, the amount of guilt I felt for missing school was extreme from teachers, regardless of my parents being completely in favor of my participation in this tradition.
The whole point of a skip day was to give hard-working seniors a break from school in order to relax or if they choose, go do something with their peers.
If the senior skip day count exceeds two days, it is understandable teachers would get frustrated because this was not the original intention of a skip day. However, this does not make it any less of a skip day than it was back in the 1930s, when it originated.
Nevertheless, students skipping one day of school, or even two, is not the end of the world and does not mean they will be unsuccessful or it will drastically change their future.
Students deserve a day off to have fun with their peers — just maybe don’t pull a Ferris Bueller.
design by kylee thompson
The world we live in moves very quickly, constantly spinning and orbiting around us, almost to a dizzying degree.
People are often told to “live life to the fullest” and to “stop and smell the roses,” and though this is supposed to be viewed as encouraging, it can make someone feel like they aren’t doing enough and make them believe they are missing out on important things in their life.
This expectation is usually felt during the teenage years because of societal pressure — teens are expected to maintain exemplary grades but have an abundant social life that keeps them busy every weekend with no time to relax.
This can produce stress, anxiety, depression and burnout, which ultimately lead to the feeling of missing out even more. Time Magazine addresses the problem with the fear of missing out (FOMO) and explains that “When you’re so tuned in to the ‘other,’ or the ‘better’ (in your mind), you lose your authentic sense of self.” Time said, “This constant fear of missing out means you are not participating as a real person in your own world.”
Though it is understandable people feel this way because of society’s depiction of the perfect high school experience within the media, when you think about it, society knows nothing.
There’s no exact way or instruction manual of how to go through high school or life itself, but the most exciting way I’ve found is to not care about what other people think.
Once you start to not be bothered with what others believe or say, you begin to slowly, unconsciously shift your mindset from constantly worrying about everything you’re missing out on to enjoying the place you are in at that moment.
So never let someone pressure or guilt trip you into believing you are wasting away the “best years of your life” because your mental health is more important than dragging yourself to a party and staying out til 2 a.m.
1. Realize you might not actually be missing out. “A lot of what we do on social media is exaggerated to make our lives seem a lot better,” John Grohol said. Social media is not a direct reflection of our lives — it’s not realistic, so we shouldn’t feel bad for not living up to it.
2. Avoid over-using social media. Because social media shows a distorted view of our lives, it can often be the root of FOMO. Staying off social media can help a lot in letting you focus on what you’re doing instead of the glamorized life of people on Instagram.
3. Don’t be so hard on yourself for staying in. All of us need a break sometimes — time to recharge our social batteries and accomplish other tasks. You shouldn’t feel bad turning down an invitation or feel obligated to go out with your friends just out of fear of missing out.
4. Host a party or plan a group outing. Organizing the event ensures you will be in on the fun, but it also means you can prioritize spending time with your friends and making sure they have fun, too.
5. Be OK with not being able to do it all. There are only 24 hours in a day, so there is never going to be enough time to do everything. It’s important to prioritize what you are able to do and what you have time for, and not worry about what doesn’t fit into your schedule.
From being both a twin and the youngest of my household (by just 14 minutes), I find that being a sibling is often both a blessing and a curse; because while I might disagree with them on certain things I also know that I wouldn’t be where I am without having their help from problems that they have already been through.
One stigma that’s in many households is how older siblings get more discipline from parents while the younger are seen as more freewilled with fewer punishments overall.
Yet, I find that the question is similar to comparing apples to oranges in the sense that they don’t know what the family dynamic is, what the age gap between siblings is, the gender of the siblings or even if the parents of the house get along or possibly live separately.
These factors play entirely into the family’s social dynamic and most importantly how well each person acts and gets along within the household.
So here is an idea: Say you are the younger sibling who currently has an older sibling. Who do
you think would get away with more and be more successful in life? The younger or older?
Notice how everything depends entirely on those principles? Because truthfully, while the younger might get away with more, it could also be the idea of parental burnout.
From New Port Academy, “Parents have been experiencing stress and burnout for decades, maybe even centuries. But Belgian psychology researchers Isabelle Roskam and Moïra Mikolajczak were the first to put a name to parental burnout, in the early 1980s” and “described as ‘an exhaustion syndrome.’”
Parental burnout not only affects how the parents of the household feel and act but how they manage to find themselves being “emotionally distanced from their children” and “a sense of ineffectiveness as a parent.”
While this is extreme, according to The New York Post, most parents “spend 5 hours and 18 minutes a day worrying about their kids” with “59 percent of parents admitting that sometimes the worry is so great it leads to a loss of sleep.”
So while parents are worried about what the oldest might do for the future, it only directly helps the child who needs to be prepared when they first go to college, get a job and figure out what they want to do in life.
Truthfully, birth order doesn’t impact who you are as a person and what you might achieve within life.
Birth order doesn’t directly matter between how smart and successful you can be in life compared to your siblings
andrew sharber |staff writer
Students face a constant amount of pressure from society, expecting teenagers to live their high school career like they are in a ‘Coming of Age’ movie.
Though it’s common knowledge for students that once they enter high school, their entire life will not magically turn into “High School Musical” — instead teens are faced with the exhausting stress of having homework done on time, maintaining friendships, spending time with family and then making sure they eat and sleep enough.
While most parents make the effort to support their children, understanding they have a lot to manage — other parents choose to negatively influence their child’s mental health by constantly
hovering over or demanding them to have all A’s in their classes.
These parents are unaffectionately called helicopter parents and can be seen when a caregiver becomes extremely overprotective and rarely allows their children the independence and freedom they need to learn responsibility.
This is not to claim that teens don’t want support from their parents, but the constant checking of grades, managing their kid’s schedule and being grounded for getting a low ‘B’ is not helpful and will only make teenagers feel forever insecure about their academic performance.
What students truly desire is emotional support and the need to rant
to their caregiver about their stress, and not be lectured or given advice on how to fix the problem. More often than not, students only want someone to listen to them and the problems they are facing — not to be reprimanded about how to fix an issue they are currently trying to solve.
The high school experience is meant to challenge students and teach them how to problem solve and manage their time accordingly — this can’t be done if their parents are breathing down their necks.
Students need to make mistakes and learn from them. The only way they can grow is to let them have some space and establish the motivation to do well in school by themselves.
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february 2023
“She’s gorgeous and everything, but I think the only reason people think we look alike is because I have curly hair and she has curly hair.” -McLain
“I do think I look like Ferris Bueller. I mean, he’s a very attractive man and I’m glad to be in the same category as him — I think he’s still way above me but it’s good to be recognized.” -Murphy
“I feel targeted because I look nothing like this individual. The only similarity is that we are both redheads and that’s even slightly — I’m not really that much of a redhead.” -Randall
“I think we look pretty similar. We both have dark features and brown hair, and I think our eyes are kind of the same. I never realized that we look alike, but I can see it.” -Occhipinto
“It’s very exciting [being voted a Cameron lookalike], but I didn’t expect it at all. [I think I look] a little bit like him.” -Moore
|CHARACTER PHOTOS FROM ferrisbueller.fandom.com/ quora.com etsy.com
|PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY callan mclain sophia occhipinto nick
|BASED ON A POLL OF 106 STUDENTS
murphy
design & words by ava mcguire
Jeanie Bueller
Callan McLain
Sloane Peterson
Sophia Occhipinto
Mr. Rooney
Mr. Randall
Nick Murphy
Auggie Moore
Cameron Frye
Ferris Bueller
