The Tiger Print — October 2014

the

TIGER PRINT newspaper

Blue Valley High School — Vol. 45 — Issue 3 — October 2014 — Overland Park, Kansas

C A P

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Different building, different learning: Varying programs result in hands-on experiences, real-life Photo illustration by Sally Cochran. projects, Pages 16-19.

2 inthenews October 2014

inside this issue NEWS 2

OCTOBER IN REVIEW Photos capture notable school events

page 4

OPINION 7 THE NEW F-WORD Feminism unjustly assigned negative reputation

page 7

FEATURES 11

COMING OUT Gay student reflects on accepting his sexuality

page 14

ENTERTAINMENT 20 HAPPY HAUNTINGS Halloween ideas, stories and food for any spooky day page 22

SPORTS 27 BLACK BELT BOSS Student works toward competing in the Olympics

page 27

Visit bvtigernews.com for extra stories, pictures and more

national news explained

GAY MARRIAGE DECISION

Monday Oct. 6, the Supreme Court declared they would no longer hear appeals regarding same-sex marriage. Five states — Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin — now have to leave their lower-court rulings intact, which declare bans on gay marriage unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court decision immediately ended delays on same-sex couples obtaining marriage licenses, and same-sex marriage is now fully legal in those states.

Six more states within the fourth and tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals — which deal with overturning rulings — removed bans since they had ruled previously in favor of the legalization of gay marriage. These states, including Kansas, are working out details of legalizing gay marriage.

Why is this a big deal?

By not acting on this issue, the Supreme Court has made their view on the issue clear. With 31 states as of Oct. 21 having

FREE TUITION IN GERMANY

Universities in Germany now offer free tuition to every student — domestic or foreign. While Germany had never had high tuitions, the country’s legislature deemed it unjust to make students pay and thought it discouraged families with lower income to send students to college. For international students, a fluent knowledge of the language is required to comprehend classes.

Why is this a big deal?

With the average student debt of $50,000 for an American coming out of college, the idea of not paying for higher-level

PUMPKIN FESTIVAL RIOT

An annual pumpkinfest got out of control in Keene, New Hampshire, on Oct. 16 when crowds exhibited unruly and moblike behavior at the neighborhood event.

More than 30 people went to the hospital, and the police made nearly 45 arrests, the majority of which were college students.

After the crowd of 6,000 cleared out, officials stated it would take almost a week to clean the streets and to repair damages.

fully legal gay marriages, the LGBTQ community is rejoicing at the victory for couples and the many benefits that accompany marriage. States where the Supreme Court decision did not affect the marriage laws may see an increase in appeals to remove bans and provide union for same-sex couples. Some questioned whether or not the Supreme Court would ever uphold another ban or make gay marriage illegal, thus declaring other previously officiated unions null. This is not a likely scenario, and laws regarding marriage will probably be contained to the state level.

So what happened in Kansas?

The Johnson County court system overturned bans on gay marriage previously in place, but since that was only within Johnson County, all marriage licenses have been put on hold until the courts can make a state-wide decision.

education is a promising one. However, for any student considering attending college in Germany, several factors need to be taken into account. For one, the student life is nonexistent, and there are no academic advisers to aid with graduation.

Virtually no classes are taught completely in English thus requiring an extensive knowledge of German. Those wanting a tuition-free college education here must take into account the taxes to support such a system. Germans taxes are 43 percent of their incomes, which would be declared socialist here.

Why is this a big deal?

College students attending the festival were outraged by the force police used against crowds, rioting or not. Tear gas, rubber bullets and batons were all employed to get the group under control. This further shows the unnecessary force police departments use toward civilians as earlier demonstrated in cases such as Ferguson, Missouri.

Page designed and stories by Sheila Gregory.

October 2014 inthenews 3

A+ POSITIVE

Which Witch Is Which?

IMPACT

Play performance includes more participants than in years past ifrahsayyada staff writer

This year’s annual fall play is a rendition of “The Crucible.”

The play will be performed at 7 p.m.

Nov. 6-8 in the PAC. Tickets cost $8 for adults and $6 for students.

“The Crucible” takes place during the colonial times. The play was originally written to parallel the Red Scare and communism occurring in America.

The play is about the residents of Salem claiming to have information about those involved with witchcraft. They bring the situation to John Proctor, the main character of “The Crucible,” who now has to handle the trials while believing them

to be a lie.

Director Jeff Yarnell said he picked “The Crucible” for this year’s fall play because he loves how there are many interesting roles for both genders.

The play stars senior Jefferson Harwood as John Proctor, senior Lindsey Taulbee as Elizabeth Proctor and senior Brina DeWeese as Abigail Williams.

“I’ve been in this program for four years, and I’ve always wanted to do something more dramatic,” Harwood said. “My strengths lie in comedy and in improv. But, drama has always appealed to me because drama really hits at why playwrights write — to impact an audience and to change them for better — and this play really has given me the opportunity to do that.”

New Hilltop Campus opens, offers preschool experience, resources for students ifrahsayyada staff writer A new program was added to the Blue Valley family to help preschool students starting school in August.

Hilltop Campus is an early childhood program which replaced preschools from all the BV elementary schools and combined them in one building.

According to the Hilltop Campus website, it provides the resources needed to help the districts’ children grow mentally in their early years of developmental stages.

“Any child in the district, between the ages of 3 and the year they’re kindergarten-eligible can enroll,” Hilltop Campus principal Kendall Burr said. “Our children, who are typically developing, come from the community and just sign up. About half of our students have some kind of a special need that we are working on.”

Students who enroll have to be able to

speak fluent English, be restroom independent and meet the age requirements.

The building has two programs for the students enrolling. One includes students who have speech and language difficulties.

The other is peer model, applying to all other developmental areas.

“About half of the kids here have an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP),” Burr said.

Burr said most of the classrooms in the building are multi-categorical, which means they accept anyone who walks into the building.

The cost for IEP students are the current district requirements — $100 with a $15 technology fee — while peer model students have to pay $12 per day.

“It was a little bit of a change, and in some ways it’s not,” Burr said. “Half of our preschools are in this building. We actually have 26 classrooms in the district, and 15 of them are here. The big change overall has been having more classrooms together, and that’s been really exciting.”

Semi-annual blood drive offers opportunity to give back to community rachellock entertainment editor On Nov. 11, Blue Valley will host a blood drive.

Anyone who is at least 16 years old, weighs 115 pounds or more and is in good health may participate with a parent or guardian’s permission.

Student council sponsor Mark Mosier said he thinks donating blood is a positive way to give back to the community.

“By this selfless act, people can save multiple other lives throughout their lives, which, to me, seems like a pretty easy way to help people,” he said. “For many students, this is the first time they are old enough to donate. We hope to continue to sustain the community, and [at BV] we can provide a safe, lower-stress environment.”

Senior Allison Gliesman said despite her experience with last year’s blood drive, she would still encourage people to donate.

“I was really excited to donate, and I was getting a little nervous because I have a fear of blood that I wanted to get over,” she said. “But when I went to get my finger pricked, I just lost it and passed out, which was scary because I’ve never passed out before. It was a pretty weird experience, but I think the anticipation was way worse than the actual donation would have been.”

Mosier said unless participants don’t follow the instructions given by the Community Blood Center, there isn’t much risk in donating.

“We have students who don’t eat breakfast then attempt to donate blood. We have students who don’t hydrate and then attempt to give blood. Those issues would happen for adults as well as students,” he said. “The good of what is generated — the outcome — is much greater than any personal sacrifice that people make.”

For more information, visit: www.savealifenow.org

Photo by Sophia Ragomo. Page designed by Ifrah Sayyada.

4 inthenews October 2014

news in photos 2.

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1. Junior Lauren Barash dances with a cheer clinic participant. “The little girls cheer clinic is a great experience every year for both the cheerleaders and the little girls,” Barash said. Photo by Alyssa Hess.

2. Waving an American flag, junior Paul Feighner leads the float for DECA. “It went really well for our first year in the parade, and everybody in DECA had a lot of fun,” he said. Photo by Sophia Ragomo.

3. Senior Sam Virgillito strums a guitar on the senior class float.

“I liked the 70s theme and music a lot,” Virgillito said. Photo by Sophia Ragomo.

4. Showing junior cheerleaders a routine, senior Jordan Chalker claps her hands. “It’s cool to see them where I was when I was little, knowing they’re looking up to you,” Chalker said. Photo by Alyssa Hess.

5. The marching band performs their 2014 ensemble, “In the Spotlight.” “Everyone is working to put together the best show we can,” sophomore Noah Patton said.

“We’ve definitely done that this year.”

6. Junior Olivia Carter and senior

Lindsey Taulbee perform in “The Odd Couple” for Rep Theatre. “I got to play a part that was completely different from who I am, so that was a good challenge,” Taulbee said.

Photo by Molly Johnson.

7. While performing in the District Marching Festival, freshman Natalie Kemmer leaps with her flag.

“I’m really enjoying my first year on Tigerettes with my amazing team and coaches,” Kemmer said. Photo

by Isabelle Allen.

8. Junior Branden Bienz plays his drum. Bienz has been in marching band for two years. “I started [playing drums] in sixth grade,” Bienz said. Photo by Isabelle Allen.

9. Freshman Sydney Osterlund waves her flag while the band plays.

The Tigerettes performed on Sept.

29 at the DAC. “Dance team this year has been really fun, but there have been a lot of challenges, too,” Osterlund said. Photo by Isabelle Allen.

10. Sophomore Kailey Meacham delivers her line to the audience for a laugh. “I really feel like we all banded together and became a family of sorts.” Meacham said. Photo

by Sophia Ragomo.

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October 2014 inthenews 5

Notable events of past weeks include Homecoming Parade, Cheer Clinic, District Marching Festival and Rep Theater Shows

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Page designed by Alyssa Hess.

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October 2014 outloud 7

Feminism is the New Black Congressional decision indicates needed progress on gender equality sheilagregory news editor “It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals,” actress and United Nations Ambassador Emma Watson said in regards to feminism.

This eloquent statement so perfectly embodies the ongoing battle for equality.

Some mistakenly think this fight is over.

Unfortunately, there is recent proof of how resistant to modern thinking our lawmakers are.

A recent bill set in place to mandate equal pay for women did not pass in Congress. Every single Republican member involved voted no.

Voted no on equality.

Voted no on a basic right.

Voted no on progress.

I didn’t know we still lived in a society where skirts are not allowed above the ankle and where my place is in the kitchen.

My place is wherever I choose it to be and for the same pay as my male counterpart — thank you very much.

The kind of medieval thinking about a “woman’s place” is exactly why there is still a gender equality battle. The idea of one person not being worth as much as another has never, nor will it ever, have any merit.

With this specific fight, there’s an underwhelming amount of advocates. Not many people, especially men, identify as feminists.

Feminists are not man-hating, pant-suitwearing, bra-burning beings intent on destroying every gender role that has ever existed.

Feminists believe a man and a woman are equal and deserve to be treated as such.

I’m sure if that was the widely distributed definition, many more would identify with it.

The negative connotation of the word, and,

I’m sure, several uncomfortable encounters with so-called feminists, have deterred the vast majority of people from joining ranks and making a difference in the fight for equal pay.

While equal pay doesn’t have much of an effect on high school students, it will in a few short years.

For right now, it’s the same thing as being in a group project, doing the exact same — if not more — work as everyone else, finishing with no errors and getting a 78 percent while the rest of the group gets a 100. Which, incidentally, is the percentage of money women made in 2013 in comparison to men in the same jobs according to The Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

I would be furious.

So, the fact that women in our workforce deal with that on a daily basis is unacceptable.

But how can we expect things to be different when according to the Huffington Post, only 23 percent of women identify as feminists and actually work for change?

How will our predominantly male lawmakers view this should-be common goal as a priority with so little support?

If we are really going to combat this inequality on practices belonging to the middle ages, we need a voice.

A strong one, too.

One that isn’t afraid to label herself — and hopefully himself — as a feminist.

One where we stop seeing women as a gender, but as people, capable of whatever they desire.

So rise up, make our voices heard and let’s get the right we all deserve.

Let’s be feminists.

Page designed by Sheila Gregory. Photo illustration by Sophia Ragomo.

8 outloud October 2014

staffeditorial TIGER PRINT newspaper the

editor-in-chief Sally Cochran

adviser Michelle Huss

managing editor Gennifer Geer

photographers Isabelle Allen Alyssa Hess Sophia Ragomo

photo editor Molly Johnson news editor Sheila Gregory opinion editor Riley Miller Cartoon by Mandy Novicoff.

Election season prompts critical evaluation of uninformed political statements staff editorial

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agree

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disagree

In high school, you’ll often come across your friends and peers arguing over political issues.

Generally, and quite unfortunately, high schoolers tend to get into these arguments via social media.

Yes, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites are how our generation communicates with one another.

When a high school student aggressively spews uneducated political statements on social media, controversy strikes.

Not only do these arguments, which tend to go

in circles, give high school students a bad reputation, but more and more peers will begin siding with those who are misinformed.

As high schoolers, we can have political discussions and arguments with one another.

But, it does us no good to dispute something when none of the members involved actually know what they’re talking about.

The fact of the matter is you simply cannot call yourself a Democrat or a Republican unless you have educated yourself on what those words mean and then decided what you stand for.

Believe it or not, it is OK to go against what your parents believe in.

Not all Republicans are bigoted racists who believe in working for their money and carrying a gun in the grocery store.

Not all Democrats are

free-spirited vegans who work at Urban Outfitters and want to give everyone’s money but their own to substance abusers living on the street.

Sometimes, stereotypes aren’t true.

Do some research.

Use your trusty friend Google, instead of Twitter, for once.

Talk to your social studies teachers — crazy concept, right?

After that, shout your views and beliefs from the rooftops if you want to, but don’t conform to your parents’ ideas and internet misconceptions just because they’re all you know.

Being informed about politics is important every day of every year, not just November every four years.

After all, the goal is to vote for someone who will actually do good for our country.

features editor Maddie Davis entertainment editor Rachel Lock sports editor Matt Antonic

cartoonists Mandy Novicoff Christine Rice staff writers Chloe Breau Hope Brown Courtney Carpenter Megan Hegarty Makayla Nicholis Cassie Nichols Charlotte Rooney Ifrah Sayyada Meredith Strickland

The Tiger Print, published seven times a year, 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 are encouraged for publication. The Tiger Print reserves the right to edit all submissions for both language and content. Letters should be submitted to room 450, emailed to thetigerprint@yahoo.com or mailed to: The Tiger Print c/o Blue Valley High School 6001 W. 159th Street Overland Park, KS 66085

Page designed by Sally Cochran.

October 2014 outloud 9

for the

Fighting First

First amendment fails to protect high school publications in all states

sallycochran editor-in-chief For those unfamiliar with history, the First Amendment to the Constitution grants personal rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Unfortunately, the First Amendment only protects from government suppression, not from censorship by a school’s administration, according to the Student Press Law Center.

On Sept. 17, the Journalism Education Association published a report on the censorship at Neshaminy High School in Pennsylvania.

After a year-long fight over the use of the word “Redskins,” the school’s mascot, the editors of Neshaminy’s newspaper “The Playwickian” decided to not publish a submission laden with that word.

The school pulled funding from the publication, suspended adviser Tara Huber for two days and suspended editor-in-chief Gillian McGoldrick from working on the publication for the rest of the month.

Although the removal of a racially insensitive term from a student publication is a noble cause, the big issue here is the censorship put in place by their school.

By the time students are in high school, they — with the guidance of their adviser — know what they should and should not print in a high school paper.

Yet, in modern-day America, only nine states have complete freedom of the press for students.

Kansas is one.

It’s important to note granting students freedom of the press doesn’t let them print anything and everything without any responsi-

bility for their words — ever heard of libel?

It’s the written form of slander, and student journalists in states who grant freedom of the press to high school publications can be sued as adults for it.

Granting high school students First Amendment rights will not result in the printing of rumors, gossip or straight-up lies — after a basic journalism class, students know and stay within their rights.

The specific nature of the word “Redskins” is somewhat impartial to the violation of their rights.

When it comes down to it, if “The Playwickian” decided the word “cupcake” was too offensive to print, it’s a student newspaper. It should be the staff ’s choice.

“The Tiger Print” has chosen not to print certain content several times during my experience on staff because we felt it was unethical.

There was significant thought that went into those decisions, and often they were made after reading through a story once or twice already.

If it was so simple to decide to not print something after two or three reads, how much thought would have gone into the choice to not print the name of their school mascot — a word they hear daily?

Besides, the piece in question was a letter to the editor.

If you flip to page 8 of this issue, you’ll notice that our policy regarding letters to the editor includes the right to edit all submissions.

The staff of “The Playwickian” attempted to compromise with administration by printing “R-------” instead, but they were told to print the word in its entirety.

Despite censorship of a student newspaper being immoral everywhere, it is actually illegal in Kansas.

I’m thankful to live where I can print what I want without the threat of censorship or punishment from school administration.

Unfortunately, there are many student journalists who unfairly don’t have this right.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Page designed and photo illustration by Sally Cochran.

Me, Myself

10 outloud October 2014

I and

Generation deemed selfish, needs to consider others

hopebrown staff writer

There’s always one person you never go to for advice.

Instead of listening to you, they will drone on for hours about how insignificant your situation is compared to theirs.

ME The problem is, they don’t even realize what they’re doing.

Today, our generation ME has the mentality that we ME are more important than those around us.

ME We are so obsessed with ourselves that we fail ME ME to consider the feelings of others.

ME Instead of stopping to ask a crying stranger in the hallway if she’s OK, we gossip about her ME at lunch.

Rather than apologizing first, we ME assume others are at fault.

Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is like ME this.

But have you ever stopped to think about the amount of time you spend talking about yourself?

Your fashion emergency is more important than your friend’s AP U.S. History test.

The amount of likes you get on your Instagram post is more bothersome than the number of hours your chemistry partner slept last night.

Rather than ask your locker ME ME neighbor about his Spanish presentation, you complain ME about your homework load.

The selfishness of our ME generation is astonishing.

ME This continual emphaME sis on ourselves creates a ME feeling of insignificance in ME our companions.

Jump off the pedestal you’ve placed yourself on.

Being unselfish doesn’t mean you don’t value yourself.

ME It just means you devote time to making others feel worthy, too.

ME ME It’s OK to talk about your drama once in a while, but don’t forget to listen to ME your friends.

You’ll be surprised how refreshing it is to consider something besides yourself.

If you start caring about others, others will begin to care about you.

MEME ME ME ME MEME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME

ME

ME ME ME

Do you think our generation is selfish?

Vance

“In some ways, yes.

But in other ways, no, because we’re really connected through social media.”

— junior Alexis Vance

Page designed by Hope Brown.

Andersen

“Yes, we always think about ourself instead of others.

We’re always on technology.”

— freshman Emma Andersen

“Honestly, yes, because we tend to think of ourselves more than others.”

— senior Connie Galindo

Galindo

October 2014 upclose 11

Gone with the Wheat

Allergies change student’s lifestyle

meganhegarty staff writer Gluten allergies are becoming increasingly common in the United States. Due to recent research and awareness about the being gluten-free, more and more people are realizing that’s the cause of their constant stomach pain.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. With gluten allergies, the stomach can’t process the protein, causing pain and stomach aches.

Celiac, a form of gluten allergy, is an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the small intestine and keeps the body from absorbing nutrients from food. Gluten-sensitive people are just intolerant to the protein, so they have similar symptoms to those with celiac but no permanent damage.

Junior Claire Nameth was diagnosed with celiac the summer before her freshman year. She also has a disease that causes other food allergies. “[The doctors] weren’t sure what food allergies I actually had, so they took me off the top eight allergens,” Nameth said.

She said she was on the elimination diet until halfway through her

freshman year.

Her doctor then began gradually reintroducing the allergens and found her body couldn’t process dairy or gluten.

She can, however, still eat dairy when cooked because the protein she’s allergic to cooks out, unlike gluten.

“It’s helped me feel a lot better,” Nameth said. “I used to be really sick and have constant stomach pain, so it’s really helped improve that.”

She said her side effects after eating gluten are severe.

“I get really nauseous,” Nameth said. “I normally vomit and don’t feel [well] for a couple days — and that’s just when I just have cross-contamination like having fries in the same frier as onion rings.”

Nameth said being gluten-free has changed her lifestyle.

“I definitely have to be a lot more careful when I go to a restaurant,” she said. “I just double check and make sure [the food is gluten-free]. It’s made me not trust things as much because I’m always nervous there might be cross-contamination.”

The hardest part of being gluten-free is not being able to eat all the food her friends can, Nameth said.

“Despite the difficulties and inconveniences, going gluten-free is the best decision I’ve ever made,” Nameth said.

Gluten-Free Substitutes The Original: Totino’s Party Pizza is found at any grocery store and costs $1.39.

The Original: American Beauty spaghetti is found at any grocery store and costs $1.29.

The Original: Gold Medal all-purpose flour is found at any grocery store and costs $2.50.

The Replacement: Udi’s gluten-free pizza is found at Price Chopper or HyVee and costs $7.99.

The Replacement: Thai Kitchen stir-fry rice noodles are found at any grocery store and cost $2.50.

The Replacement: Cup 4 Cup gluten-free flour is found at HyVee and costs $19.95.

Page designed and photos by Megan Hegarty.

12 upclose October 2014

Teacher Q: What are your teaching strategies?

A: “Give purpose, and then get out of the way. Let people have autonomy. Let kids figure out things on their own. Make them struggle.”

Q: How do you connect with your students?

A: “Honesty. I think kids like honesty and respect honesty. I would say this — I try to put no pretense up. Just be honest.”

Q: How do you handle difficult students?

A: “I’ve been here eight years now, and I can only think of like two kids who’ve been really difficult. How I deal with it? By

Q: What are your teaching strategies?

A: “The most important teaching strategy is building connections with your students. I care about my students and their learning, and I need to show them that every class. There are lots of other strategies, but they aren’t effective if you aren’t engaging your students and being engaged by them.”

Q: How do you connect with your students?

A: “I connect with students by letting them know about my life and trying to get to know theirs. I don’t want to be intrusive, but I want to encourage them in their activities or interests. I want each student to know that I am their fan, and I really do find them interesting.”

Q: How do you handle difficult students?

A: “I have had difficult students, and I haven’t always done the best job in those

Spotlight

giving autonomy. If a kid makes a decision, go, ‘OK, cool, man.

There’s consequences to your decision, but that’s your choice.’

I don’t have problems because kids can respect that. They make the decisions they want to make.”

Q: What has been your best teaching moment so far?

A: “Every summer, I go out to lunch with like four or five former students. They keep coming back and asking to meet.

That’s the best part — kids want to come back and share what they’re doing, so I feel like then I’ve made a difference in some life to where they want to keep me updated.”

situations. I think the best possible way to ‘deal’ with them is to find a personal connection or to take an interest in what they care about, whether it is an activity or a book or a game.

Once you show them that you are interested in them and you respect them, it makes it more palatable for them to show you the same courtesy. You can find a connection to anyone if you want to.”

Q: What has been your best teaching moment so far?

A: “I don’t have one best teaching moment. I have a million little moments where I made someone laugh or saw someone finally get something they had been struggling over or see a student really proud of a personal accomplishment.

I’ve had a number of personal achievements and recognitions, but seeing my students succeed is the thing that keeps me coming back each day.”

Page designed and story by Chloe Breau. Photos by Alyssa Hess.

Brian Mowry: Social Studies

John Holloway: Science

October 2014 upclose 13 Q: What are your teaching strategies?

A: “I’d say my general approach is to keep kids busy. As much variety and activity as I can do is important.

Also, anything that is student-centered to me is more productive than anything that is teacher-centered.

So, I like to come up with activities where [students] are working on stuff, and I’m not up in front of the room lecturing — unfortunately, except for grammar Tuesday.”

Q: How do you connect with your students?

A: “I feel like teaching is kind of a calling. That’s what my mother always said. She said it’s like the priesthood — you just know. I had a great high school experience, and I just feel a connection to high-school age kids and people who work with them. It’s just a different world — when you’re in it, you’re just comfortable. It’s what you know.”

Q: How do you handle difficult

students?

A: “Probably one of the hardest things I’ve learned in being a teacher is that you can’t make everyone happy. I think that’s kind of true for life also. So, I just do the best I can, try to focus on the positive and just do my best to teach what I need to teach and then move past kids that I’ve struggled with.”

Q: What has been your best teaching moment so far?

A:“Honestly, there are so many good moments. I think this year’s been really exciting because we got new textbooks, and I think a part of what I love about my job is that you never know what to expect. We never know when all the lights are going to go out or when kids are going to have a good day or kids are going to have a bad day. So now, with new textbooks, new curriculum, that just shakes it up even more. So, this year’s been exciting for that reason.”

Q: What are your teaching strategies?

A: “In AP Calculus AB, my primary teaching strategy is the flipped classroom. Students watch a lesson at home and take notes over the video and come to school to work on problems. I love this method because I can be present when students are actually doing their learning. You learn math by doing math, so being there and being able to catch mistakes while students are doing math is tremendously cool to me.”

Q: How do you connect with your students?

A: “For me, the key to working with students is an atmosphere of high expectations and respect. I do like to joke with classes, and I do definitely have some sarcastic tendencies, but showing students that I want them to learn is truly key. Every new school year, I feel that if students know that I care about them and that I care about their learning, I’ll have a great year.”

Q: How do you handle difficult students?

A: “I have had some really difficult students, and every single student needs

to be handled differently. With really difficult students, the best approach is to collect as much information from other teachers as possible, so I know as much about that student as I can.

From there, just having a plan to help that student is critical. Again, I think if the student has a positive relationship with the teacher, issues should be minimized.”

Q: What has been your best teaching moment so far?

A: “There have been many spectacular moments in my teaching career that I’m really proud of. I love getting emails from college freshmen telling me my class prepared them greatly for college. I love getting notes and letters from students at the end of each semester describing how they feel I’ve helped them. I have enjoyed being the Scholars’ Bowl coach and winning four consecutive State championships. It’s been tremendously rewarding sponsoring Relay For Life for the last six years and watching our students at BVHS raise over a quarter of a million dollars for cancer research.”

Kelsey Bakalar: ELA, AVID

Adam Wade: Mathematics

14 upclose October 2014

Facing the Truth rileymiller opinion editor During May of this year, junior Ian Curry’s mother was the first to find out he’s gay.

Curry said he was extremely nervous when he told her. “[I was nervous] not because she was against it, but because I had never admitted it to anyone,” he said.

When Curry’s friends, other family members and peers began to find out, he said they treated him better than they had before, and he wishes he would have come out earlier because of it.

“I would’ve been hurt a lot less,” he said. “People stopped whispering about me being gay and instead were happy for me. It was weird.”

Curry said there was one person in particular who helped him accept his sexuality.

“A friend helped me,” he said. “I saw how happy he was with being out, and it helped me

Student discusses being openly gay in high school realize things about myself. But I think I only came out because I was ready, and I accepted it.”

Curry said it upsets him to hear that others usually feel nervous when telling their loved ones they’re gay.

“It makes me sad, especially because the main reason most people don’t come out is because their parents aren’t OK with it,” he said. “They go through all this suffering because of the people who are supposed to be their caretakers. It’s awful.”

Curry said giving advice to those who are considering coming out isn’t easy or consistent because it depends on the person.

“I always recommend coming out to a friend or someone you know [who] will love you no matter what,” he said. “If you are super comfortable with yourself and being gay, coming out will be the best thing ever. If you still are nervous and unsure about your sexuality, it is always smart

to get help from those you trust, and hopefully those people are your family.”

Curry said society often categorizes everyone who is gay into the same group.

“A common misconception would have to be that gay guys are all the same — super flaming, hair done, stuff like that,” he said.

“Really, we are just like every other guy. There are gay guys I know that people would assume are straight just by looking at them. There are so many different kinds of gay people that we can’t always be grouped into a category. Just because we are gay doesn’t mean it changes our personality.”

When people use gay slurs, Curry said whether or not he takes it offensively depends on the context. “[The words] don’t really bother me, but if someone is using them hurtfully toward me or others, it does,” he said.

Curry said he thinks homo-

phobes are usually flawed in their reasoning.

“Most people seem to be homophobic just because they don’t understand how it works and how anyone could ever be ‘not straight,’” he said. “Now, everyone has a right to their opinion, but just because a book made way too many years ago said it was wrong doesn’t mean it can apply to this time.”

As far as the possibility of eventually getting married to another male goes, Curry said he’s not too concerned, but anti-gay policies still upset him.

“I feel like the [United States] looks at me as less of a person than a straight one,” he said.

However, overall, Curry said coming out has only brought good things.

“I love it,” he said. “My quality of life since I came out improved 110 percent. I have so many loving friends, and I know how much I get supported. It’s just amazing.”

Page designed by Riley Miller.

October 2014 upclose 15

$

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Raking it in $ $

$

$

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Students share unique work experiences

Micah Slagle: Soccer Ref Running up the field, he keeps pace with the ball. He notes where all the players are — who’s about to score, who’s about to go out of bounds. Meanwhile, he’s keeping one eye on the clock. At all times, he knows everything that’s happening in the game.

Once a soccer player himself, sophomore Micah Slagle works as a soccer referee for the Blue Valley Soccer Club at the Overland Park Soccer Complex. Slagle said he pursued reffing once he stopped playing.

Under ideal conditions, Slagle said he enjoys working on the field.

“Most of the time, it’s in nice weather,” Slagle said. “Occasionally, you will be in a downpour, and it’s not that fun. When it’s really hot outside, it’s better because they give you water breaks, and the games go by quicker. They also shorten games, so when it’s really hot, it’s no

big problem. It’s worse when it’s cold.”

Soccer referees usually work in teams of three with one on each side of the field and one in the center. Though Slagle works all positions, he said his favorite memory is the first time he reffed center.

“It’s kind of a nerve-wracking experience because that’s where all the punishment goes from the parents,” he said. “They never get angry at the assistant referees. It’s always the one in the middle.”

Slagle makes regular soccer calls such as fouls, throw-ins and corner kicks, and he said the players don’t usually argue with him.

“It’s more of the parents who do that,” he said. “You know, the typical soccer mom in the lawn chair who yells at every single call you make. Other than that, the kids are fantastic. Normally, it’s just comments from parents — none of which I can repeat.”

Erin Schaper: Kiddie Kollege While most teenagers find it strenuous to babysit one family’s children, she’s watching an entire class. Children riled up from school turn to her guidance and direction. Not to mention, there’s at least 15 of them.

Senior Erin Schaper’s aunt, assistant director of Kiddie Kollege, introduced her to working at the daycare.

“I work with the school-age kids,” she said. “I help them with homework, get snacks ready, then I vacuum and take out the trash.”

Kiddie Kollege cares for a range of ages from babies to fifth graders, but Schaper said her favorite age group is kindergarten.

“It’s definitely a stress reliever,” Schaper said. “After school, if I’m super worn out, then the kids always cheer me up.”

Schaper works after school on weekdays until Kiddie Kollege clos-

es at 6 p.m., but she works longer hours over the summer.

“My favorite memory was this summer when my boss did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in front of everybody, and all the kids watched,” she said.

Along with the good times, Schaper said unfortunate things happen at work, too.

“One time this kid defecated all over the toys, so I had to clean all of those,” she said. “It was just a mess. It was disgusting.”

Schaper works with her family, including her cousin junior Marie Hornung, and she said she’s grateful for the opportunity.

“It’s kind of a family business,” she said. “I love my aunt, and we’ve gotten way closer from just seeing each other every day. It’s super relaxed.”

Hampton Williams: Nelson Atkins Teen Advisory Group The iconic shuttlecock stands in the distance, greeting visitors and art lovers, but junior Hampton Williams approaches it with a different purpose in mind. It takes the average person 40 minutes to reach the museum, but, with her shortcuts, she’s there in 20 — no use in being late for work.

Williams has been a member of the Nelson-Atkins Teen Advisory Group (TAG) since her freshman year, coordinating teen-centered events.

“It’s the perfect way to get teens more involved in art,” she said.

“It’s teens planning events for other teens, so we know what would be interesting. It’s not some 40-year-old woman planning an event that would be really lame.”

Though she is now paid, Williams began working at the museum

as a volunteer.

Williams said her work at TAG immerses her in her passion — art.

“You get surrounded by art, and you get way more knowledgeable about it,” she said. “You’re always surrounded by creative people.”

She said working at the Nelson-Atkins gave her experiences she otherwise wouldn’t have had.

“You get to meet a lot of cool people,” she said. “It’s really cool to be involved in the art scene at a young age.”

Williams meets with other TAG members once a week to discuss upcoming events, including a monthly open mic night.

“I really like open mic nights,” she said. “Everyone gets to come out and do their own thing. It’s an adult job for a teenager. You actually get to have say in what a huge establishment like the Nelson-Atkins Museum does.”

Story and page designed by Gennifer Geer.

October 2014 indepth 17

ough the building team was himh Manbeck and his father, other em. p from some of the health-related an aspect of ‘Is the hand going ubs up against her arm a certain were thinking ahead and [thought d make it more comfortable and obstacles while constructing the

ommunicating with one of the r prosthetics,” he said. “I didn’t weeks and weeks of not hearing ound out he [had] been in Russia had a meeting, and he didn’t show

ough others have used 3D printing cs, the project was still one-of-a-

you have to put it together yourust printing it out and [getting] o try several times because the s frustrating. Sometimes, plastic g it to fit her arm specifically [was]

thetic hand has impacted how his

king at her and staring at her not ng, ‘That’s weird,’ they see her with a mechanical hand and think that it’s really cool,” he said.

“That’s a big thing for her in how people that don’t already know her view her.”

Adam Houghton — The CAPS Junior

Junior Adam Houghton said he had to make sacrifices to take CAPS. “As a junior, it is hard to be in CAPS,” he said.

“I couldn’t go to the Homecoming parade and some other after-school activities or take all of the classes at Blue Valley that I wanted to, but other than that, it’s not a super big deal. After fourth hour, I feel kind of burnt out, so CAPS is really relieving. I have no idea how I’m going to deal with seven hours next year. It’s going to be hard.”

Houghton is currently in the Veterinary Medicine strand.

“In this course, we do three full weeks of shadowing at vet clinics, and we also visit a lot of farms and ranches,” he said. “Sometimes we bring in our own animals. I brought kittens into school once, and my teacher has brought in dogs.”

He said although he has completed many different activities at CAPS and has liked all of them, he definitely has a favorite.

“I brought a litter of four kittens in and gave a presentation about them,” he said. “They were in a little play area, and I had people come and

practice vet techniques on them.”

Houghton said decisions about his future have been influenced by CAPS. “I haven’t finished the class yet, so I don’t know what all of it entails, but I have a pretty good idea of what being a vet looks like, and that’s really important to me,” he said. “We’ve also done college research [at CAPS], so it’s helped me narrow down a list of college choices.”

After researching colleges with Veterinary Medicine programs, Houghton said his dream school is Cornell University.

“I would love to go to Cornell, but that’s an Ivy League school with the best vet program in the nation,” he said. “So, it would definitely be hard to get in.”

Houghton shared tips for students interested in potentially taking Veterinary Medicine at CAPS. “If you’re going to take Veterinary Medicine, be prepared to touch dirty animals and not get grossed out by it,” he said. “Just learn a lot, and take in all the information that you can to see if it’s the right career path for you.”

Close left photo courtesy of “Blue Valley Today.” Far left photo by Gennifer Geer. Above photo by Molly Johnson.

Stories by Sally Cochran and Maddie Davis. Page designed by Sally Cochran and Gennifer Geer.

18 indepth October 2014

Connor Mohar — The Foodie Senior Connor Mohar said he chose the CAPS Global Food Industries program because the class combines his multiple interests.

“It puts together food, business and science — all good things,” Mohar said. “I entered it focusing more on the business side of it because I was in the Global Business class last year. Of course, I love food — who doesn’t? It kind of put three things together that I really enjoyed.”

The Global Food Industries class works with food in varying forms.

“It’s a food survey class that hits topics from marketing to distribution,” Mohar said. “Basically from farm to fork — that’s how we describe it. Everything in between. We learn properties of food — sometimes food from the molecular level. [On] food safety, we work with specific people who are in that business.”

The class starts with structural learning, then fills the rest of the week with focus on real world applications, including cooking or baking. This year, the class is writing a paper on food security and attempting to create a new food product.

“We’re researching trends and, specifically, breakfast foods because they’re very popular,” Mohar said.

“We’re trying to market that and figure out what we’re [going] to create.”

Mohar is the only Blue Valley student in his class, with one student being home-schooled and the remaining three students attending different high schools. However, he said he enjoys his diverse classmates.

“It’s a great experience to be put in an environment where you’re working with kids who have different personalities,” he said. “We all add a certain key factor to the project, so we have different opinions to make it better.”

Mohar said learning about food impacted how he approached food in his own life.

“I really eat anything,” Mohar said. “But when we talked to multiple nutritionists, it definitely did open my eyes to focusing on how health really affects you.”

Mohar said he chose CAPS due to the atmosphere.

“I did CAPS last year, and it’s an amazing program,” he said. “There’s nothing like it. lt’s not like sitting in a classroom all day being lectured by teachers with [students] sitting behind you messing around.

You’re surrounded by [students] who have a passion for what you have a passion for, and you’re set in an environment where you’re going to succeed no matter what.”

The real-world experience was another contributing factor for Mohar, he said.

“It helped me narrow down what I want to do, being in a business class,” he said. “[I] definitely [wanted to] get my name out there because you do a lot with people who actually work in the real world. It’s very nice to have that type of experience because it helps you figure out what you want to do.”

Story and photo by Gennifer Geer. Page designed by Sally Cochran and Gennifer Geer.

October 2014 indepth 19

Chloe Ortbals — The Double-Science CAPS Student Senior Chloe Ortbals said taking CAPS her junior and senior years was her plan since freshman year.

“It just seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up because I learned of these types of things that [students] were doing, and I said ‘I want to do that,’” she said. “And, I knew I wanted to kind of get out of the regular high school classroom.”

Ortbals was in the Bioscience program last year and is currently in the Foundations of Medicine program.

“Basically, they’re two different types of health science,” she said. “Last year was a lot more on the molecular level. This year is more [about] human health.”

She said taking two different CAPS programs has given her a more balanced science background for a future career in pharmaceutical medicine.

“Now, I know biology on both sides of the spectrum,” Ortbals said. “I think that can only help me.”

Ortbals is currently working on a capstone project that will be completed by the end of the semester.

“The flyer [I’m making] will inform people about the dangers of expired medications in their homes, how to dispose of them [and] where to dispose of them,” she said.

“I’m going to try and contact all five Blue Valley high schools and ask them if they could put it in their weekly newsletter to parents to get the information out.”

After studying the protein LKB1 throughout last year, Ortbals went to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s annual conference in San Diego, California. “[My group] created an abstract, which is basically a little summary about the protein,” she said. “Then, we created a poster about this protein. We had to include the function, the structure and basically how it affects our lives. We presented our poster to graduate students [and] to researchers. It was a great way to get our name out there.”

Through her work at CAPS last year, Ortbals interned at KU Medical Center last semester and over the summer.

“At my internship, one of my favorite experiments we did was a drug resistance assay,” she said. “I worked with colon cancer, and we wanted to see if bitter melon could help get rid of colon cancer. We put the colon cancer cells in petri dishes and tested to see if the bitter melon could actually affect it. You have to do the experiment multiple times to see if it works. My mentor did it the first time, and he let me do it three more times after that.

The process to it was very neat.”

Ortbals said she enjoys the structure of CAPS. “The project-based learning is very beneficial,” she said.

“You learn how to work as a team and come up with some really good projects. They make you think rather than just sitting and taking notes.”

Left photo submitted by Chloe Ortbals.

Above photo by Molly Johnson.

Page designed by Sally Cochran and Gennifer Geer.

Story by Sally Cochran.

20 centerstage October 2014

iOS 8: The biggest disappointment since iOS 7 Apple misses mark on newest software update

The new update for some iPhones is out and more advanced than ever before with many new features for the Apple user to explore. As long as you have one of the newer Apple products (sorry, iPhone 4),

are willing to delete at least six gigabytes of space on your device and are able to survive two to three hours without sending a text while the update downloads and installs, iOS 8 is ready for you.

Messages iOS 8 takes texting to a whole new level with the updated Messages app. Group messages can be named now! Hate that one guy who always sends kitty pictures at random times? Simply delete him from the conversation — it won’t hurt his feelings at all. And now, you can add your voice to the conversation by sending recordings of yourself instead of having to type out your text — which basically renders the actual “phone” part of “iPhone” completely useless.

Photos Who needs Nikon or Canon when you can put a filter over your ugly face right when you take a picture on your phone? Not me. And you just go right ahead and delete all those photo-editing apps because the updated camera allows you to crop anyone you want out of your pictures without the hassle of Aviary or Axiem Systems. Plus, you can now search for those over-edited photos with simple keywords — as long as you take the time to name every single picture you take and remember what you called it.

Quicktype Like a psychic reads your palm to predict your future, Apple reads your texts to anticipate your next message. As you type, the Messages app familiarizes itself with the way you talk and reminds you what you are likely to say — in case you forgot. Simply click on the word, and keep right on going.

K

U J

P L

iCloud Drive Also known as the biggest mystery of our generation, the venerable Cloud is a great way to share things with the world you never wanted to share. Nobody’s sure how it works, but you can sometimes listen to songs in the music app that aren’t downloaded onto your phone, which is cool. Plus, if one of your many Apple devices crashes, all of the information you may have otherwise lost will be safely stored on another device. If you don’t have another Apple device, Apple does not acknowledge you or your problems.

Health There’s this white square on my phone with a heart in it… I don’t know what it is, but it scares me.

Family Sharing Now your parents have immediate access to everything you do on your phone at all times. Hooray.

When users set up a family plan, people included can immediately access each other’s music, photos, apps, TV shows and more. Payments are all made on the same credit card, and members have the right to veto any purchases they don’t approve of. Parenting has never been so easy.

Page designed and story by Makayla Nicholis.

October 2014 centerstage 21

Thursday Morning Hot Spots Local businesses offer late-start breakfast options for students isabelleallen staff writer & photographer Thursdays. The day everyone looks forward to for sleeping in and eating something other than cereal. With school conveniently starting at 9 a.m., students have the time to get breakfast with friends at their favorite locations.

QuikTrip Although it’s a gas station, QuikTrip provides a fast and easy breakfast for students on Thursday mornings. The variety of food includes donuts, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos and other pre-packaged choices. Along with having many options, QuikTrip is very affordable with meals priced at around $3. Located on West 151st Street, QuikTrip is a convenient spot for students to grab a quick bite to eat.

First Watch If you tend to have more time for meals and like a filling breakfast, First Watch satisfies. You can find the crowded First Watch on West 151st Street near Price Chopper. First Watch offers the usual breakfast favorites along with other unique choices, like the Killer Cajun Omelet — white-meat chicken, mushrooms, onions and cheese — and the Chikenchanga Burrito — avocado, whipped eggs, white-meat chicken, sausage and cheese rolled up in a flour tortilla. The prices tend to be more expensive with meals ranging from $6 to $14.

Price Chopper Since its reconstruction, Price Chopper provides a breakfast buffet along with made-to-order menu items. You can dine in the seating area or take it to go. Menu items include the typical breakfast entrées, including my personal favorite, the classic bacon and biscuits. Plan to spend $6 to $12 for an average meal when eating here for a wholesome yet snappy breakfast. Located on the corner of Metcalf and 151st Street, Price Chopper is another great way to start Thursday mornings off right.

Take Five Coffee Bar As an alternative to Starbucks, Take Five Coffee Bar exhibits quality breakfasts, lunches and dinners as well as a variety of tea and coffee drinks. Expect to pay around $4.50 for a coffee drink and $8 for a meal. My favorite drink is their Frozen Hot Chocolate, and their cinnamon rolls are amazing. A favorite study spot for teens, the one and only Take Five Coffee Bar is a quick eat, and the local vibe is great. Take Five Coffee Bar is now located in Corbin Park at 135th and Metcalf.

Page designed by Isabelle Allen.

22 centerstage October 2014

How to have a SPOOKtacular Halloween Fill in the Blanks One

day at Blue Valley High School, 159th Street was

(adjective)

riding his/her

toward the band hall when suddenly a strange,

(mode of transportation)

was standing over

(teacher 1)

toward

(student 1)

(emotion) (adjective)

and

(adjective)

away.

(past-tense action verb)

chase ensued through the

“

After

with a/an

(freshman)

(adjective)

,” exclaimed

at defeating zombies? The end.

Ingredients: Chocolate cake, prepared Chocolate frosting 2 boxes white or bittersweet chocolate Cake pop sticks Optional: Black gel frosting Candy eyes Food-grade paraffin wax Styrofoam block

•Add about half of a prepared cake to a large bowl and crumble into fine crumbs.

•Add in frosting a spoonful at a time until cake is moist and can hold a ball shape, yet is still slightly crumbly (approximately 2 large spoonfuls of frosting). Use your hands to mix it.

•Scoop out about 1½ tablespoons of mixture and roll into a tight ball.

•Repeat until all the cake mixture has been rolled into balls — this makes about 13-19 treats.

•Melt 2-4 ounces chocolate in the microwave.

•Dip the tip of the cake pop sticks into

when out jumped

(kitchen utensil)

(teacher 2)

(student 1) (color)

(teacher 2)

(student 1)

was

caught his/her attention.

look on his/her face.

had turned into a/an

(location in the school)

defeated the zombie with a

Trick or Treat?

(emotion)

(animal noise)

laugh and began chasing him/her. (teacher 1)

(heroic battle cry) (teacher 2)

with a/an

empty.

(adverb)

turned

(teacher 1)

uttered a cry of zombie! A/an on a/an

, attacking the zombified

, the day was saved. Who knew

.

(mythical creature)

(teacher 2)

(teacher 1)

.

was so

Story by Gennifer Geer, Sheila Gregory and Rachel Lock.

Recipe for Ghost and Monster Cake Pops the chocolate and insert into the cake balls about halfway.

•Freeze for about 20 minutes.

•Meanwhile, melt the remaining chocolate in a large cup or bowl with a small chunk of paraffin wax to make the chocolate thinner and to give it a shiny finish.

•Remove cake balls from freezer, and roll them carefully in the chocolate until completely covered.

•Let the excess chocolate drip off. Swirl and tap gently if needed.

•Stick the cake pop into a styrofoam block or set on wax paper to finish setting.

•Place in the freezer to speed up setting time if needed.

•If you used white chocolate, use the gel icing to make a mouth and to stick on the candy eyes. Push the eyes gently to make the icing form a slight black ring around the candy.

•If you used bittersweet chocolate, do the same for the eyes and mouth and use the icing to add monster ears above the eyes.

Photo by Sophia Ragomo.

Instructions adapted from Divas Can Cook.

October 2014 centerstage 23

Somewhere to go, nothing to wear?

Simple outfits to fit Halloween costume needs

Got invited to a Halloween party? Forgot to buy a costume? Here are some quick and easy ideas that can be used to make a last-minute Halloween costume.

TOP MESSAGE

Place Head Here

BOTTOM MESSAGE

Meme

Supplies: Poster board, markers, tape, scissors Instructions: 1. Cut poster board for background to desired size.

2. Cut smaller rectangular piece of construction paper for front.

3. Write first part of desired message on top of large piece.

4. Write second part on the small rectangle.

5. Tape larger piece behind head to back.

6. Tape smaller piece to front below neck.

Stick Figure

Supplies: Matching shirt and pants in a solid color, solid-colored duct tape (different color than shirt and pants), white Paper Plate, one Popsicle Stick, black Marker Instructions: 1. Make torso, arm, and leg lines on shirt and pants with duct tape.

2. Glue popsicle stick onto plate for handle.

3. Draw stick figure face on plate with marker.

iPhone

Supplies: Black shirt, paper, tape or fabric glue, scissors Instructions: 1. Print off or draw iPhone home screen icons on paper.

2. Cut out each app icon with scissors.

3. Attach desired icons to shirt with tape or fabric glue.

If all else fails‌ Use a sheet to make a ghost costume and add your favorite accessories!

Photos and Story by Sophia Ragomo.

Pages designed by Rachel Lock and Sophia Ragomo.

24 centerstage October 2014

Haunted Happenings

Blue Valley students share their own spooky encounters

Stories collected by Makayla Nicholis.

“My friend’s sister would feel pulling on her while she slept. Also, one time her mom was upstairs and she heard her sister’s voice calling for mom. Her mom replied, but no one answered. So, the sister walked in and said ‘hi’ to the mom, and when the mom asked her about the calling the sister told her she had just gotten home and wasn’t there.

Her dad hears footsteps above him at night, too.”

— senior Jamie Southerland

“[My volleyball coach’s] friend’s dad died from cancer a few years ago, and he was really into ghosts and supernatural things. So one day, her friend went into a room by herself and recorded herself saying, ‘Hey dad, it’s me. I love you so much and I miss you. If you’re there, please say something.’ She said she didn’t hear anything while she said it, but when she played it back, she could hear her dad saying, ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you’ in the background.”

— junior Lauren Heusers

Sweet Scents

Reviews by Courtney Carpenter.

With the new fall season comes new fall candles. Here are some of this year’s favorites: Bourbon Butterscotch: Bath and Body Works

Warm Caramel Cider: White Barn

Marshmallow Fireside: White Barn

You simply cannot go wrong with butterscotch. Sugary, bold and rich, this candle will have the room smelling like a caramel candy factory.

The aroma is almost as delicious as grandma’s homemade butterscotch blondies.

Almost.

Smells like a sweet and savory fresh caramel apple. Best used while you’re wrapped up in wool blankets next to a fireplace and, of course, with a hot cup of spicy apple cider in hand. Don’t forget to bring a friend, sibling or pet to snuggle with.

Similar to a gooey marshmallow tinted with the faint smell of charcoaled wood.

Accompanied best with a scary story, a fire pit and chocolate on graham crackers. Disclaimer: Cannot use this candle for actual campfire.

Photos by Molly Johnson.

October 2014 centerstage 25

National Art Honor Society hosts fall-themed social event gennifergeer managing editor

we were putting our name on SWITCH, but it wasn’t very [well attended]. This can be something everyone will enjoy. Before it was just freshmen being curious, but hopefully all grades will come.”

The dance will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, with $5 admission. Because it’s held around the Halloween holiday, attendees are encouraged to wear costumes.

“I think fall’s a good time because we wanted to incorporate some activities that we can do,” Saper said. “Also, we feel like fall’s a happy, good time to dance.”

Though the event was originally named Hagcoming, Saper said administration was wary of the name. She said it was named Hagcoming to interest students.

“It’s something different,” she said. “It’s funny and kind of intriguing.”

Most upperclassmen are accustomed to seeing the neon signs and glow sticks that accompany National Art Honor Society’s SWITCH Dance, but this year, NAHS is trying something new: a “Hagcoming” theme.

“It’s where a bunch of bands will come and play,” junior Sam Saper said. “We’ll have fun activities around, like a photo booth. I don’t want to give away all the surprises yet.”

Saper said the event will have a concert atmosphere, which she said NAHS planned to attract more students.

“Hopefully, we can get more people to come,” she said.

“We needed a better activity for NAHS to have because

Featured Bands: Your Friends, Oil, Motion Picture

What do you think of the change?

“I’ve never been to Switch, but maybe I’ll give this new dance a shot.”

— junior Aubrey Gilchrist

Gilchrist

Mantyka

“I normally don’t even go to Switch in the first place. But [I’d probably consider going]. That would be a little bit better than Switch.”

— senior Colton Mantyka

“I think it’s a good idea, and I like that they’re doing something different.” ­­— junior Ana Welch

Welch

Blue Valley’s Favorite Scents Pumpkin Cupcake: 31% Bourbon Butterscotch: 26%

Warm Caramel Cider: 18% Marshmallow Fireside: 16%

Leaves: 9% Based on a poll of 165 students.

Pumpkin Cupcake: Bath and Body Works

Leaves: Bath and Body Works

If you could taste a scent, this would be the one to pick. Thick, strong pumpkin swirls in the background of the aroma with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar overlying. Pair it with your favorite vanilla or coffee-based drink for the complete pumpkin sensory experience.

Crunchy, fresh and musky, this candle can flash you back to younger years — jumping in leaf piles­your dad just raked, gazing up at the tree branches and enjoying the changing colors of fall. Best used while looking out the window on a rainy day.

Pages designed by Rachel Lock and Courtney Carpenter.

26 tigerturf October 2014

Pushing the Limit

Athletes put in extra hours for personal, team success

Student athletes spend hours every day practicing and getting stronger so they can hit harder, run faster and play better. These competitors win games and meets for Blue Valley, but how much work do they put in so they can be the best? Seniors Ryan Edmonds, Alexis Nouhan, Joe Gorthy and junior Demond Glynn weigh in.

Ryan Edmonds – Soccer

Alexis Nouhan – Volleyball

Senior Ryan Edmonds has played on the soccer team for three years. Since his sophomore year, he said the program has changed.

“I just want to be an example for the younger players,” he said.

“Whether we do well as a team or not, I want the [rest of the team] to be able to lead next year, so we want to set them right.”

Edmonds participates in club soccer during the spring and also goes to a personal trainer in the off-season.

“Any of the players that are really involved [should] go to a personal trainer or have sets of workouts that they go to,” Edmonds said.

The BV varsity soccer team’s record is 7-7-2 as of Oct. 26.

“Every time we win a game, it feels great because it shows that we know what we’re doing,” Edmonds said.

“The team comes together, and we feel like we’re doing something right. It’s just motivation, really.”

Playoffs start: Thursday, Oct. 30.

Senior Alexis Nouhan plays on the varsity volleyball team. In previous years, she played on club teams as well as other high school teams.

Nouhan said before games, the volleyball players have team dinners, which usually include carbs, but she said she eats healthy food regularly anyway.

“I try to stay away from fast food,” Nouhan said.

“I eat a lot of fruit, sandwiches and vegetables, but every once in a while, the team will go to QuikTrip together and get something.”

This is Nouhan’s first year at BV. As of Oct. 22, BV varsity volleyball’s record is 24-10, and Nouhan said every time the team wins a game, they become closer.

“I think [playing] feels different this year because it’s my senior year,” she said. “I’m cherishing more of the wins. The closer we get to State, the more fun it is to play with everyone.”

If volleyball qualifies at Sub-State, the State game is Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Senior Joe Gorthy runs most days on his own before school in addition to regular after-school team practices.

Gorthy said he’s become accustomed to the workouts and the amount of training he has to do.

“Twice a week, we have tempo runs, which are harder,” Gorthy said. “Other days, we do intervals, which are mainly for speed, and between those days, we do easy runs.”

The cross country team typically has team pasta dinners before meets and is encouraged to stay hydrated.

“On my own, I like to eat really healthy — a lot of fruits and vegetables and have a lot of carbs to keep my energy up,” he said.

Gorthy has placed first in the first three meets of the season, and at Rim Rock Farms, the largest meet in the Midwest, he placed eighth. “[Winning] makes me feel really good because all the hard work I put in during the summer and so far this season is paying off,” Gorthy said. “What I really like is when our team does well because I know we’re all working really hard together.”

State meet: today, Oct. 31.

Junior Demond Glynn has played football since he was in eighth grade. He, along with the other football players, attends after-school practice.

Glynn said he also trains outside of school practices.

“On my own, I’ll go lift weights if I can,” Glynn said. “I don’t really worry about working out by myself until the off-season so I can stay in shape.”

BV varsity football was 7-1 as of Oct. 26, and Glynn said winning games gets the team motivated to play better.

Glynn is on the JV team but sometimes plays up during varsity games.

“I got to play during the Southwest game, and it was really fun,” Glynn said. “It gets me really excited to play next year, and I know the team is playing really well.”

The next game is tonight, Oct. 31 against Blue Valley Northwest.

Joe Gorthy – Cross Country

Demond Glynn – Football

Page designed and stories by Charlotte Rooney. Photos by Isabelle Allen, Sally Cochran Alyssa Hess.

Kickin’ It

October 2014 tigerturf 27

Senior wins first in nation, harbors Olympic aspirations

Ranked first in the nation, senior Brandon Fordiani is a second-degree black belt. Fordiani has been training at Ko’s Black Belt Academy since fifth grade. He said he will be satisfied once he reaches his goal of making the Senior National Team and going to the Olympics.

Question: When and how did you get started?

Answer: “I got started in fifth grade when my friend was getting his black belt, so I thought I would try it out.”

Q: How did you reach this rank?

A: “I just trained a lot — I go six days a week. I’ve been doing this for about seven years.”

Q: Are you planning on going to the Olympics? And how do you qualify?

A: “I am trying to. You have to get world ranking points and rank top 32 in the world. And once you are in the top 32, you get invited to [a] tournament called the Grand Prix — there is one in each continent. You go there and fight and score points. If you become top eight in the world, you basically get to go to the Olympics. But usually it’s the [top] 16 who go to the Olympics.”

Q: Is there a lot of pressure on you? From where?

A: “It’s self [pressure] and kind of from my coach. When I won nationals, I felt like [winning] was what I was supposed to do. I didn’t feel great because I felt, ‘All right, this is what I need to do.’ It was like, ‘This is what I’m expected to do.’”

Q: What are your goals?

A: “I made the Junior National Team, and now I want to make the Senior National Team. The Junior [National] Team is just [ages] 15 to 17, and seniors are [ages] 18 to 32. So, I would like to make the senior team, go to [the] Worlds [tournament] and go to the Olympics.”

Q: Do you have to travel and how often? Where do you travel?

A: “Nationals was just in San Jose, California, and it will be in Virginia next year. The U.S. Open is in Las Vegas every year, but that might be moved to Florida. I went to Colombia, South America. I [recently] got back from Costa Rica. The Pan American Taekwondo Championships were going to be in Mexico, but they are going to be in Oregon, and then I’m going to Canada in February as well.”

Q: What is your usual schedule?

A: “I train Monday through Thursday and Saturday. I also work out on my own six days a week with some days off.”

Q: What was it like to win first in the nation?

A: “Looking back on it, it was really cool. But then at that moment it was, ‘All right, I did it.’ I felt like I just checked it off. It wasn’t a big exciting moment.”

Q: Did you ever expect to be first in the United States?

A: “No, when I started, I just thought a black belt could just [beat] everyone. I didn’t know there was a competitive Olympics side.”

Q: How does it affect your lifestyle right now?

A: “My whole life revolves around [taekwondo]. [For the Olympics] I’d like to be training more. Currently, I need to lose weight to go down [to] a lower division. Right now, I weigh about 168 pounds, and the weight class [I would compete in] is under 149.9 pounds.”

Q: How will it affect your future?

A: “I’m going to college based on where national team coaches are, so I might stay here at KU. I might go to [Texas Christian University], [Southern Methodist University], Oklahoma University or University of Central Oklahoma. My future is all about taekwondo because you peak around [age] 22 to 26.”

Q: How do you know that you can improve from where you are right now?

A: “Because if I was at the top, I would already be in the Olympics. I still have a lot left to go before I’m there. I still lose some matches at international events. So, I’m on the top in the country but not the world.”

Q: Do you know what you would like to major in?

A: “I don’t know yet, but my coach, head instructor of the studio, said after college, I could come back and make a good amount of money by just teaching taekwondo or marketing for the studio.”

Q: How do tournaments and fighting work?

A: “In tournaments, there’s your division and a bracket for each division where you fight and move on. [For scoring,] if you kick to the body, you get one point, but if you kick to the head, it’s three points. And if you spin, it adds one more point with the kick. You wear chest gear and special foot pads that have magnets in them. The magnets hit the electronic chest gear, which signals a point.”

Page designed by Maddie Davis and Meredith Strickland.

Story by Meredith Strickland.

28 tigerturf October 2014

eXCeeding expectations Cross country coach, captain have high hopes for season, State mattantonic sports editor Each day, the cross country team can be seen running throughout the area, taking designated routes from the school and back.

Rain or shine, more than 100 runners spill sweat on the sidewalks, building fitness and endurance with the goal of becoming the best cross country program in the state of Kansas.

Coach Diana Huber said this year’s boys and girls teams make up one of her best ever varsity lineups.

“This is, for the boys and the girls, probably the strongest team that I have had,” Huber said. “I have had individuals that have been strong before but never a solid five people [on each team].”

Huber said returning the majority of last year’s teams has led to a truly special season.

“We didn’t really lose anybody from last year, so they used the summer to work hard, knowing that they could be the best teams that we’ve had in school history,” Huber said.

The team didn’t get to this point overnight. Summer runs and rigorous practices helped build a team ready to win, senior Blake Berger said. Most runners on the C-team and junior varsity can average around six miles per day. But for the varsity team, the number goes even higher.

“I would say the varsity could average seven to ten miles a day, and we’ve built up to that point,” Huber said.

Last season, the boys varsity placed second in the EKL and the Shawnee Mission Regional, qualifying the team for a place at State. The team concluded the season with a seventh place finish.

The girls varsity also placed second in the EKL and finished third in the regional competition, taking the final Shawnee Regional position at State. The season finished in Lawrence with a tenth place result.

Berger is a returning member of the boy’s varsity team, his second year at the highest level. As a captain this season, Berger said he is excited for the opportunity to lead and takes his job seriously.

“I keep everyone in control and make them try to do their best,” he said. “If they need someone to talk to, I’m always there.”

With a strong returning contingent of last year’s team returning this season, Berger said the team had a very high goal for the season.

“We want to come out and win State and bring the plaque home,” he said.

Berger said the team’s hard work since the summer gave it a chance to become champions.

“We’ve worked hard throughout since the summer,” he said. “We put over 50 miles in every week, and I think we can do it.”

Meet Recap: EKL

Meet Recap: Regionals

Both the boys and girls squads made a leap of success at the EKL meet on Oct. 16 at Bishop Miege High School.

All eight EKL teams began their quest toward a State championship. The boys team made its mark on school history in dramatic fashion, taking first place and winning EKL for the first time ever.

Seniors Joe Gorthy and Jake Mikuls and junior Joey Wiederholt took All-EKL Honors in the race.

The girls team also found success at the meet, taking fourth place overall.

Sophomore Kelsey Kinkade brought All-EKL recognition as well.

Page designed by Matt Antonic and Sally Cochran.

On Oct. 25, the boys and girls teams set off for the Regional competition, held at Shawnee Mission Park.

Needing to secure a spot in the top three to qualify for State, the runners faced a daunting task. However, the teams displayed tremendous poise and found successful results.

The boys team continues its run of dominance, taking first place overall, clinching a berth in the State finals. The girls team also managed to keep its season alive, taking the third and final Regional place at State.

The members of both teams will head to Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kansas, today, looking to make their mark and become the best teams in school history.

October 2014 tigerturf 29 Girls Results: Paola Invitational — 2nd Bonner Springs — 4th Prairie View Invitational — 4th Rim Rock — 5th Metro Invitational — 10th Mill Valley Cat Classic — 5th EKL — 4th Regionals — 3rd

Boys Results: Paola Invitational — 1st Bonner Springs — 1st Prairie View Invitational — 2nd Rim Rock — 5th Metro Invitational — 2nd Mill Valley Cat Classic — 1st EKL — 1st Regionals — 1st

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1. Sophomore Kelsey Kinkade taps her wrist asking for her time while turning the corner.

The EKL meet was Oct. 16 at Bishop Miege high school. “We are looking forward to State this year,” Kinkade said, “To place second at State would be good — I know we can do it.”

2. Sprinting at the end of the race, senior Jake Mikuls passes a Blue Valley North opponent.

The boys cross country team placed first overall at the EKL meet. “We’re going to win State.”

Mikuls said.

3. Senior Joe Gorthy crosses the finish line. Individually, Gorthy finished second at EKL. “[My favorite part about cross country is] the family concept of having a team — everyone is there for each other.” Gorthy said.

4. Senior Gabby Gunnerson runs to a 16th place overall finish. She said her favorite part about cross country is the team. “We have a pretty good chance of going to State and doing well,” Gunnerson said. “Before, we have gone but ended up [not doing very well.]”

Photos by Alyssa Hess.

30 tigerturf October 2014 Fütbol Club Eatery & Tap

The smell of freshly prepared food emanates from the kitchen.

Glasses clink. People chatter and laugh happily.

The excitement in the air is contagious — it’s game day.

The TVs are turned up to full volume, blaring fast-paced sports commentary to the fans filling the booths and tables.

The walls surrounding the many TVs are filled with soccer memorabilia from local and international teams.

On the screen, the goalkeeper taps a ball over the crossbar, making a critical save in the last few minutes of the first half to preserve his team’s 1-0 lead.

A collective gasp fills the room, everyone realizing how close the other team was to scoring.

Looking closer at the restaurant guests, many are wearing their favorite soccer team’s jersey.

Although the description of this scene seems to belong to a soccer-crazed English pub, it belongs to the Fütbol Club Eatery & Tap, located right here in Overland Park, Kansas.

According to their website, the Fütbol Club is America’s first

soccer-themed restaurant and bar.

In addition to being home of the official watch parties of the FC Kansas City Blues, the women’s professional team, and the Kansas City Comets, the indoor professional men’s team, they donate one percent of sales back to youth soccer clubs.

If you crave more exotic soccer games, the Fütbol Club opens at 8 a.m. on weekends for Barclay’s Premier League Games and a hearty breakfast.

Soccer fanatics will get a laugh out of the names of items on the menu, such as “Mia’s Hamm and Cheese,” “Julio Cesar’s Caesar Salad,” “The Besler Burger,” “Rooney’s Battered Fish and Chips, and for breakfast, “Neymar’s Flop Jacks.”

The Fütbol Club makes it easier to catch your favorite “fütbol” match on the big screen without having to ask the bartender to change the channel to a soccer game — therefore offending everyone else in the restaurant who was watching American football.

All in all, the Fütbol Club is a must-visit destination for all soccer fans, young and old.

A L O : G

KC Blooms as soccer capital of the nation Sporting Visits the White House

Flashback to December.

Courageous soccer fans braved freezing weather at Sporting Park.

Sporting KC rewarded them in that final game as their team would become the 2013 MLS Cup champions after defeating Real Salt Lake 7-6 in an unforgettable penalty-kick shootout following a 1-1 draw in regulation and overtime.

Nearly 10 months after snagging the MLS Cup Trophy, Sporting traditionally followed previous winners by visiting the White House.

Sporting KC conducted a one-hour soccer clinic for children on the South Lawn in support of President Barack Obama’s United We Serve campaign and as a way of actively showing the club’s commitment to programs for undeserved and at-risk children through The Victory Project. President Obama recognized the team for their successes in the community and on the field.

“This is an incredible honor for all of us,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes told the Commander in Chief. “Hopefully we can do it again, and we can show up here and see you again in a year.”

Stories by Maddie Davis and Cassie Nichols.

FCKC

The fire of Kansas City athletics has been building lately with all the success stories happening at the professional level.

But one team of females deserves more credit than they have received.

Our women’s professional soccer team, FC Kansas City, recently won the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

The team had a solid season overall with a 12-7-5 record.

These results gave them the final push to the 2014 NWSL Championship.

FC Kansas City forward Amy Rodriguez scored two goals on two assists from midfielder Lauren Holiday as FC Kansas City upset Seattle Reign FC with a 2-1 victory in front of 4,252 fans at Starfire Stadium in Seattle.

Holiday’s play-making efforts would earn her the honor of being named 2014 NWSL Championship MVP. FCKC’s championship title only adds to the long list of Kansas City’s soccer legends, including Sporting KC’s Major League Soccer Cup Championship title and Missouri Comets’ 2014 Major Indoor Soccer League Champion title.

Page designed by Maddie Davis.

Map courtesy of Google Maps.

TIGER

TURF BV SPORTS

October 2014 tigerturf 31 1. Senior Matthew Jarnevic dribbles the ball in practice. He said the team has a strong defense. “[Soccer is] not necessarily about individual skill, but how you play as a team,” he said. Photo by Molly Johnson.

2. Running down the field, sophomore Will Evans attempts a touchdown. The team beat Gardner-Edgerton 70-20. “[When] the team comes together, everyone will play well,” Evans said. “It will be a fun experience.” Photo by Isabelle Allen.

3. Senior Madison Hoy prepares to hit the ball.

The golf team competed at Lawrence Country Club on Oct. 6. “You’re competing against a team but are also playing for yourself,” Hoy said. Photo submitted by Madison Hoy. 4. Sprinting to the finish line, senior Chiranth

Honnur competes at EKL. The cross country team faced seven other teams. “It’s a tough sport, but if you stick with it, you will have success,” Honnur said. Photo by Alyssa Hess.

5. Junior Lizzy Meinzenbach hits the ball to her partner during practice. The varsity team finished fourth out of 21 teams at the 6A State Championships. “[I like playing tennis] because it’s a fast-moving sport with cute outfits,” Meinzenbach said. Photo by Sophia Ragomo.

6. Jumping, junior Liz Allen serves the ball. The State tournament is today at the Kansas Expo Centre in Topeka. “Our team has really good chemistry,” Allen said. “I’m going to miss the seniors since they helped me develop into the person and player I am.” Photo by Isabelle Allen.

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Page designed by Molly Johnson.

32 snapshot October 2014

pink out game

Tigers win annual breast cancer awareness game 70-20

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1. Sophomore Emma Creamer cheers with participants of the Little Girls Cheer Clinic. The clinic performed at the Pink Out game on Oct 17. “I had a lot of fun teaching the little girls the cheers,” Creamer said. “It’s cool to be role models for them.” Photo by Isabelle Allen.

2. Supported by her teammates, senior Alyssa Thomas smiles at the crowd.

Thomas is a flyer. “What I like most about being a flyer is my amazing stunt group beneath me,” she said. Photo by Sally Cochran.

3. Celebrating senior Dylan Smith’s play, senior Daniel Carroll jumps in the air. Although the team won 5A State last year, they are now in the 6A division.

“We are working hard every day to prepare ourselves [for 6A State],” Carroll said. Photo by Sally Cochran.

4. Senior Jackson Maase stands on the sideline. He injured himself at the game against Bishop Miege. “I have to keep being a leader off the field instead of on it,” Maase said. Photo by Sally Cochran.

5. Along with the mascot, the cheerleaders fire up the crowd at the Pink Out football game. To participate in the little girls cheer clinic, they had to be in the kindergarten to eighth grade age range. “I loved cheering at the Pink Out game with the little girls — they made [cheering] so much fun,” junior Sophie Woltkamp said. Photo by Isabelle Allen.

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