Globe Newsmagazine, April 2018, Issue 7, Vol. 89

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issue 7, volume 89 Clayton High School. Clayton, MO. April 2018.

ME TOO

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contents april 2018 issue 7, volume 89

CHS Student Walkout Cover: The MeToo Movement Spring Sports Preview THE GLOOB April Satire Section

Senior Paige Holmes gives a speech during the #Enough National School Walkout on March 14th.

(Photo by Elizabeth Cordova)

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CONTENTS

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STAFF

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EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

SENIOR MANAGING EDITORS

Noah Brown and M itali Sharma

Madeline Bale

CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR

M ichael Bernard Charlie Brennan

Lauren Prais s

J acob LaGes se

CHIEF PHOTO EDITOR

SECTION EDITORS

Michael Melinger

Justin Guilak, NEWS

COPY EDITOR

L i l a T a y l o r , F E AT U R E

N e e l Va l l u r u p a l l i

Daniel Cho, SPORTS

CHIEF VIDEO EDITOR

Olivia Joseph, OPINION

Sean Kim

Richard Cheng , RE VI EW

GRAPHICS EDITOR

REPORTERS

Lizzy Mills

BUSINESS MANAGER Daniel Cohen

PAGE EDITORS

Ashley Chung

S a m Yo u k i l i s

J osephine Cross

Hongkai Jiang

Camille Curtis

Ke i l a n M o r r i s e y

David Higuchi

Laura Par vu lescu

S a m Ze i d

Ka t i e H e

Cody Krutzsch

Philip Stahl

Ca therine Walsh

Sophie Bernstein

Paul Liu

Junyi Su

N ikki Seraji

Maddy Ackerburg

James Malone

Victor Wei

Grace Snelling

Lise Dersken

Neema Naemi

Noor J era th

Ka t i e S n e l l i n g

Mariclare Ga tter

William Redington

Za ch a r y Fi s h e r

Sarah Baker

Gracie Morris

Sophia Thompson

Sara S temmler

Theo Fehr

PHOTOGRAPHERS Synthia Baer

Fiona McGuire

Erin Brown

Alexandra Hardie

Barrett Bentzinger

Jovan Miller

Isabella Clark

Paige Holmes

Elizabeth Cordova

Mallory Palmer

Za ch a r y C o b l e

Xuenan Jin

Alex Darmody

Sophia Ryan

Cindy Combs

Caroline Marsden

Ella Engel

Saniya Sah

Ka t h r y n C o o p e r

Ka t h e r i n e O w i n g s

Catherine Holtzman

Annika Sandquist

Gwen Duplain

Mia Redington

I sheeta Khurana

Emma Siegel

Madison Gudmestad

Madison Rudd

Professional Affiliations: Sponsors of School Publications, Missouri Interscholastic Press Association, Missouri Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association

FROM THE EDITOR In my room sits a red journal. It is an artifact from a year-long intensive program, called Cultural Leadership, where a group of my peers and I studied social justice and learned how to become “change agents”. The pages consist of thoughts and reflections I recorded as I absorbed information and change. Though the journal’s purpose was to allow me to revisit my experiences as I continued to live my life outside of the program, it remained in a pile of old books and binders that sat undisturbed.

As I drifted away from Cultural Leadership and became re-immersed in Clayton’s culture, I caught myself in times where I fell back into the facile habit of silence. I began to forget the lessons I had learned and the powers of speaking out. When the Globe decided to take on the task of writing about the Me Too movement, I was reminded of the importance of the skills I learned during my time in Cultural Leadership. I felt the inclination, for the first time, to revisit the journal.

I read over the thoughts and feelings that I hadn’t considered since they were first written. Although I wrote about a variety of topics, there was one unifying pattern throughout the pages: an overwhelming aspiration to speak out and change the injustices of the world.

The Me Too movement signifies the importance of speaking out and taking action against injustice. In an environment where it is easier to stay silent than to speak out, inequity only remains and persists. The movement stands as a symbol for the power of words. By empowering victims with the strength of stories, Me Too created an environment of empathy and solidarity, rather than isolation and self blame. What started as a hashtag became a worldwide movement, sparking a global reaction to eradicate the silence that pervades our world.

If the trend continues, I hope that our generation will become the one that breaks the silence and speaks out not only for themselves, but for the generations to come who have yet to learn the power of their own voice.

olivia joseph @olivia.joseph OPINION SECTION EDITOR

The Globe Newsmagazine exists to inform, entertain, persuade and represent the student voice at CHS. All content decisions are made by the student editorial staff and the Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. Not every story that our reporters write is published in the print newsmagazines. Visit www.chsglobe. com for additional stories and photos and for more information about the Globe itself. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement - for more information about advertising and subscriptions, please contact our office: Clayton High School Globe 1 Mark Twain Circle Clayton, MO 63105 (314) 854-6668 globe@claytonschools.net

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LETTER

Students walked out of CHS to support the 17 students and faculty that died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and to advocate for better gun control legislation. View from behind student speaker Isheeta Khurana.

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Students Walk Out Nationwide One month after the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, high school students across the nation walked out of classrooms at 10 a.m. to show solidarity with Parkland and to protest the current gun control laws. Clayton’s walkout was MC’ed by senior Mita Sharma and included powerful speeches from other seniors and juniors about gun control and student protesting.

CHS students lead the walkout. From left to right: senior Maddy Markenson; junior Sydney Tennill; senior Sam Zeid. Photo by Michael Melinger.

The CHS Speech and Debate team performed exceptionally well at their District competition on March 2-3, qualifying two students for the State Championship. Coached by CHS teachers Justin Seiwell, Daniel Glossenger and Deana Tennill, the team won six individual awards. Junior Maddy Bale won third in Original Oratory and senior Sophie Havranek won third in Radio Speaking, qualifying them both for State. Bale and Havranek will compete April 20-21 in Springfield, Missouri. Sophie Havranek also won fifth place in U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking. Seniors Daniel Cho and Ajay Venigalla won fourth in Public Forum Debate and juniors Josh Ettinger and Druva Riswadkar won fourth in Policy Debate. Sophomores Adam Jaffe and Armon Seraji won fifth in Duet Acting. Additionally, sophomore Wynne Havranek won sixth in Humorous Interpretation.

CHS Finalist in Cardinals’ Video Challenge The CHS film club’s video “Saving Ozzie” was nominated as a finalist for the Cardinals’ High School Video challenge. Led by editor and director Sean Kim, CHS junior, the video includes acting from juniors David Corbo, Clay Butler, John Friesen and Aaron Zoll. Voting ends Mar. 28 and the results will be posted online.

Clayton’s Mock Trial team maintained an undefeated record at the Regional Tournament last month, qualifying them for the State Championship, which will be held at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in downtown St. Louis. The team went 120. The following students will advance to the State Championship, along with their coach Justin Seiwell: Koray Akduman Jacob Blair Emily Bober Israel McClendon

Krish Sardesai Sydney Tennill Sasha Ware Eva Zafft

A scene from CHS film club’s submission to the Cardinals’ High School Video Challenge. Their video, “Saving Ozzie” was named as a finalist and can be watched on the YouTube channel “VV

CHS Senior Earns Perfect Score on AP Chem Test CHS senior Tong Zhao was one of three students in the world to earn a perfect score on the AP Chemistry test in 2017. Zhao also placed first in the St. Louis chapter of the American Chemical Society’s high school competition, both in 2017 and 2018.

News and Notes

Speech and Debate Students Qualify for State Championship

Mock Trial Team Undefeated on Way to State

C L AY TO N S TA N D S

CHS students participate in national high school walk-out to show solidarity for the victims of the Parkland school shooting.

Senior Erin Brown protests current gun laws.

Photo by Michael Melinger “You are never too young to inspire change. People might shoot you down and tell you that you are and sometimes you might have to demand that your voice be heard, but there is no such thing as being too young to understand the issues in your country and influence what goes on in your country,” senior Annelise Laakko, walkout speaker and organizer, said.

On March 14 at 10:00 a.m., students across the country walked out of their classes to show support for the fallen members of the Marjory Stoneman-Douglas community.

In solidarity, over 300 CHS students gathered outside the high school’s entrance carrying signs in support of victims and calling for stricter gun regulation. Several speeches were given by students addressing current gun laws, gun violence and legislation students wish to see passed.

“Our main goals were to educate other students about the types of gun laws in Missouri, inform about ways students can get involved with policy in the legislature, and to take a stand in a movement we strongly believe in,” senior Rahul Kirkhope, a speaker and organizer, said.

Other demonstrators echo Kirkhope.

“I’m a supporter of this movement and I truly believe that we need to come together as a community because our generation is strong and powerful. We need to show unity as one and I think by having a walkout we show that our generation is ready to fight,”

CHS sophomore Myles Rosenblum said.

Missouri has some of the weakest gun laws in the country. The Giffords Law Center gives the Show-Me State gun laws an F grade and ranks them 48th out of the 50 states in potency. Missouri also falls among the top 10 states with the highest gun death rates.

“I believe that the gun laws in this country right now are way too loose and it’s way too easy for someone to be able to kill as many people as they want. And there’s just no reason to provide weapons of destruction to regular citizens,” sophomore Abby Cooper said.

Several media outlets were present for the demonstration. Students felt empowered, as their voices were shared with a larger audience.

“Students are feeling like they’re actually part of a bigger movement than themselves. I feel like it was also method for us to expand our message and show greater unison with this. Adults are acknowledging us as young adults and realizing the power that we have,” Kirkhope said.

Yet, CHS was not the only active school in the district. Wydown and all three elementary schools also held student demonstrations: at Glenridge there were 10 students, at Captain 66, at Meramec 41 and at Wydown 435.

At Glenridge Elementary School, teachers held discussions with students about civil disobedience and its consequences.

“We talked about how the high school students who participat-

W I T H PA R K L A N D Senior Cindy Combs writes to Congressman Roy Blunt. Photo by Michael Melinger

ed would receive a lunch detention and an ‘unexcused absence’. Our students learned that elementary aged students do not have ‘unexcused absence’ marks in PowerSchool; however, they offered to miss their lunch with friends, opting instead to sit at what we call the ‘safe table’ during lunch,” Glenridge Principal Beth Scott said.

Glenridge students were encouraged to reflect on their personal reasons for walking-out.

“I’m proud of these students. Their individual reflection letters thoughtfully scripted a depth of thinking related to either school safety, gun laws and/or a sincere compassion for the lives lost in Parkland, Florida,” Scott said.

The Student Action Committee, the club which spearheaded the student walk-out, also plans to help students demonstrate both on March 24, for Stoneman-Douglas, and April 20, on the anniversary of Columbine.

The SAC hopes to further educate students about what they can do to make change and take action.

“I think the walkout was extremely beneficial for the students themselves especially those that may not be as educated about Missouri’s laws and about what we are asking for,” Kirkhope said.

Members of the SAC have even begun talks with Wydown administration to educate the student demonstrators about the policy, which they hope to change, during the mandatory lunch detention earned for walking out of class.

“I’m very proud of the national movement, what we have students are able to do, what we are able to prove,” Kirkhope said, “and it’s time for our voices to be heard again.”

charles brennan @charles_brennan SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR jimmy malone @jimmymalone3 PAGE EDITOR

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NEWS

I L L E G A L I L L U M I N AT I O N S

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here was a huge party. I had tons of people over,” CHS student Joel* said. “The neighbors were wondering what was going on.”

Things were running according to plan at Joel’s annual summer party. However, he decided it was not enough. This party had to exceed his previous parties.

“We set off this massive firework. It was like something you’d see at Forest Park on the 4th of July,” he said. “Somebody half a mile away called the police, and told them that they heard gunshots when we set off this giant multi-shot firework. The chief of police came with two of his assistants. They turned the light on and we were freaking out.”

Joel and his friends fell upon their instinct, and ran in the opposite direction of the authorities to safety within Joel’s house. With firework residue scattered across the lawn, and a large bin filled with thousands of fireworks, it was clear to the police that they were not dealing with an armed shooter.

“My parents had to come out and talk to the guy. He threatened to give us a huge fine of a couple thousand dollars if we did that again,” Joel said.

“They were trying not to scare any of the citizens of Clayton.”

For Joel, this event only added to the revelry of the party. The addition of the local authorities did not faze the student, it only benefited his reputation.

“I think, even though it’s illegal, fireworks are a lot of fun. I feel like they should be illegal, and this is my way of protesting,” Joel said. “I am going to create a movement to free fireworks.”

Fireworks are not new to Clayton, or the surrounding areas.

Open fields and black tops often host nightly fireworks shows on weekends.

The City of Clayton has certain rules and regulations concerning the use of fireworks. According to the MO Offenses handbook concerning public safety, “No person shall sell, use, manufacture, display or possess fireworks, as hereinafter defined, within the City at any time. This Section shall not prohibit the sale by any wholesaler, dealer or jobber within the City at wholesale if the

FEATURE

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fireworks are shipped and delivered directly to consignees outside the limits of the City.”

Although there is a law against the use of fireworks, Clayton High School SRO Herman Whittaker often chooses to withhold from granting a violator a ticket.

“If I see a younger person shooting off fireworks, I will contact them and contact the parent just let them know the reason why I’m speaking to the child and explained to them that our ordinances don’t allow fireworks to be shot off,” Whittaker said. “So then after that, [I] just let the parents know this is why stopped [their] kids. Please don’t do it again and [I] go about my business.” However, if Whittaker has to stop the same children the same night, he will have no problem in issuing a ticket.

According to Whittaker, homeowners calling for fireworks is no anomaly, especially around the 4th of July. When responding to these calls, Whittaker’s concern for the neighbors is minimal compared to the real issue on his mind. He is instead concerned about the safety of the children involved.

“Those fireworks are dangerous,” Whittaker said. In 2016, there were 11,000 fireworks related injuries and four deaths.

CHS students are not always so lucky when it comes to discreetly displaying these illegal illuminations.

Joel has also been caught using fireworks at Concordia Seminary, located on the outskirts of Clayton.

“One time I was heading to Concordia [Seminary] with some fireworks that I got from my dealer. They were expensive,” Joel said. “They were pretty big fireworks, and we went to Concordia because that’s a pretty big open space to blow up some fireworks. We headed in and parked in our normal spot so that we’re ready to go if we think the police are coming.”

Joel was accompanied by six other CHS students, all ecstatic to ignite the fuses. However, their fun was quickly brought to a halt.

“These people pulled up next to us and asked us what we were doing. We told them we were just hanging out, having fun. They were like, ‘alright, you be safe.’ Then, all of a sudden, a security officer pulled up right in front of my car,” Joel said. “My other friend hopped in his car with a couple kids and sped around and left. He brought us in for some questioning and asked us what was going on.”

w*names have been changed to protect the identity of those involved

Photos by Caroline Marsden Luckily, Joel and his friends had not set off any fireworks. They denied all allegations and were let off with just a warning.

Later that same night, CHS student Carl* felt the need to imitate Joel and his friends by lighting off fireworks at Concordia Seminary. However, Carl was new to buying fireworks, and was unaware of the process.

“I wanted to get some fireworks, and I heard a friend of mine had a stash of them. I called him up and I met up with him. I bought a few bottle rockets,” Carl said. “I had my other two friends with me. We went to Concordia [Seminary] near my house. It’s secluded so we figured we’d light some off there. We wanted to have a little bit of fun.”

Carl and his friends were not informed of the preceding events involving Joel, and did not fear any authoritative intrusion. “[After] the first firework that we lit, a car instantly pulled up.

Two [security guards] hopped out,” Carl said. “They started taking pictures of the license plates and rubbing it in our face [saying], ‘oh, we’ve got you now.’ It was our first time doing it.”

The two men immediately called the Clayton Police Department. The two teenagers were soon after greeted by former CHS SRO John Zlatic, and another police officer.

“They asked us our names and we gave it to them. They said they weren’t going to put it on our record. They said we should leave and not come back to Concordia, or else we would be arrested,” Carl said. “We got banned from Concordia, which sucks. I was scared I’d be going on a bike ride with my family and get tackled and put in cuffs.”

According to Concordia Seminary security guard Daniel Warren, this type of behavior is very unusual in comparison with other affairs.

“It’s certainly worth consideration because it’s illegal activity.

It’s out of the ordinary. We don’t put a stop to it,” Warren said.

“We contact Clayton police. Our job is to observe and report.

Then they come out and enforce the law.”

The illegal use of fireworks also occurs at Maryland School, an abandoned elementary education center that sits on the corner of Maryland and Jackson Ave. CHS student Richard* previously preferred the use of the large parking lot as a space to shoot off his fireworks. Although he has been caught in the past, the presence of the police department was not what initially led him to stop using this space.

“One time was on the 4th of July, we were lighting off fireworks in the parking lot at Maryland School. These people on their mopeds stopped and they called the police on us,” Richard said.

“They surrounded us. There were three cop cars. We couldn’t run anywhere. Before we knew it, they snatched [my friend’s] bag full of fireworks. We told them we had fireworks in there. They dumped all the contents out on the ground.”

As this confrontation was Richard and his friends first encounter with a police officer, the group panicked.

“They proceeded to explain how that was a federal offense because it was on government owned property. They said they could press charges,” Richard said. “We said we were sorry. They said if we cleaned everything up we would be free to go.”

Due to recent developments, Richard and his fireworks group have stayed clear of Maryland school as a lot for fireworks.

“Some kids broke into it and defiled it. Now there’s a lot of heat going on there,” Richard said. “If you make one move, cops show up.”

At CHS and in the Clayton community, numerous dealers provided fireworks to students.

“I get fireworks over the summer around the 4th of July. I mainly sell to people who like to party, who like to have good times,” one dealer said. “They wouldn’t tell on me. You just go up to people and say, “hey, want some fireworks?” Then you make bank.

[I’ve made] probably $300.”

According to Whittaker, serious consequences can be faced for selling large quantities of fireworks. However, not much action is typically taken for smaller quantities.

“Fireworks are fun. You’re doing the whole community a service by giving them a free show. How it is illegal is a thrill,” Richard said. “I’m doing something I really shouldn’t be.”

michael bernard @mkevvb SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR

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FEATURE

ZAKI BARUTI

An interview with African American role model and humanitarian

Zaki Baruti Photo by Lydia Kearney Carlis

FEATURE

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story by camille curtis REPORTER

Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Are you married? Do you have children or grandchildren?

A: I’m 79-years-old, and I’ve been married over 42 years. I have four children and six grandchildren.

Q: I found out that you were a teacher. How long did you teach?

A: I’m a former educator in the school district of 189, East St. Louis, Illinois, and I was a teacher for over 33 years.

Q: One phrase that I’ve heard you say before is “Not giving up the ghost.” What does that mean?

A: What I meant by that was not quitting – being persistent

– because the struggle for justice and equality for our people (African Americans) is a lifelong effort.

Q: Did you ever voice your personal opinions about African culture while teaching your history classes?

A: Absolutely. My views of the world were part of my teach-

ing. Although there’s basic curriculum that we have to follow, we also had leeway to add current events. My passion for African history and the history of black people was part of my teaching in the history classes. I was the kind of teacher who would bring different speakers in the classroom so my students could hear different perspectives on different subjects and life.

Q: Tell me about your Universal African People’s Organization.

A: The Universal African People’s Organization was an or-

ganization that was created by myself and several co-founders on April 4th, 1989 and came into existence for my candidacy for governor of the state of Missouri. I was a candidate for governor in 1984 as well as 1988. In the 1988 campaign, we shocked a lot of political pundits by receiving 19 percent of the vote total in a state that only had a 10 percent black voting population. This was without a lot of money but with a lot of political support. As an extension of that, those who were with me during the camping felt that they wanted to continue on with me and my political message, further transpiring into social justice. We decided to form the organization and as I mentioned, we chose April 4th, 1989 in the spirit of Martin Luther King who was assassinated on that day in 1968 to go forth in seeking social justice and equality. But much of our philosophical background for the organization came from the most powerful Pan-Africanist visionary named the honorable, Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Q: Could you speak more on Marcus Garvey?

A: Marcus Garvey was a profound and prolific organizer, and

what impressed me so much about him (and which is a shame) today in many of the history classes across America and Black communities is how he has been “white-balled” – removed from history. But he had 2 to 4 million followers. His economic proficiency and self sufficiency in the black community, political empowerment of the black community, and giving the black community a international perspective were all very powerful messages

as far as I was concerned. So to that end as an organization, I’ve had a Pan-Africanist view point or “world view point.”

Q: I was informed that you just came back from Iraq. What was the basis of that trip?

A: First of all, I’ve been blessed to travel extensively; I’ve been

to about 30 countries. But I was recently in Iraq at the invitation of the organization called the New Horizon that annually puts together a peace conference. The event was held in a city called Karbala. It was about a week long conference with people from about 15 different representative states and other parts of the globe.

Not only was I infatuated with the discussion of peace, but I was so incredibly touched by how interested the people of Iraq were in the struggle for black equality and justice in regards to police violence.

Q: So how do you think your organization spreads black awareness in the African American community?

A: We use several methods. One method is our newspaper.

We have a quarterly newspaper that’s called the African NewsWorld, and we use that as a means to educate our people on a variety of issues that we see locally and nationally and internationally.

We also in the past had a radio talk program which we had for 6 or 7 years called “Let’s get busy.” And currently, we have a half hour TV program called “Conversations with Zaki Baruti.” Along with that, we host annual programs within the community, where we celebrate the life of Dr. King in January. We also have an activity on April 4th which commemorates the founding of our organization and we bring in different speakers. We also celebrate and honor Malcolm X on his birthday, and we celebrate the life and legacy of the honorable Marcus Garvey on his birthday.

Whatever percentage we are as a national state and a local levels of government, then we should have that much percentage of political power on both the national states and local levels. Currently, black people are far from that. Nationally its projected that we have a half a million publicly elected officials in this country and black people have 13 percent according to the United State census, and black people only make up 2 to 3 percent of elected officials which translates to about 15 thousand or less. If we were truly empowered, then we should have at least 66 thousand as opposed to what we have now. I believe that would help our people economically as well as socially. So to that end, our organization in the last few years has been hosting what’s called the National Black Political Leadership conference to encourage people to run statewide. I’m proud to say, through our efforts as an organization, we had black people running for the open elections of governors, lieutenant governors, state senate and more.

Q: As a young boy growing into a young man, what injustices did you witness and or face?

A: My first awareness of social injustice came when I was in

junior high school and I really didn’t understand the implications of the killing of Emmett Till. I didn’t understand that a young teenager was visiting Chicago from Money, Mississippi and allegedly whistled at a white woman and her husband a few of his friends kidnapped him from his home and killed him. That really woke me up.

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FEATURE

SEX ED. A look at Clayton’s sex education curriculum Health class is designed to educate students on how to make smart decisions and take care of their bodies. Part of this important curriculum involves sexual education. However, teaching about sex is sometimes seen as taboo, leading to an education that is not fully comprehensive.

Judy Lipsitz, leader of Teen Advocates for Sexual Health (TASH), a group with Planned Parenthood, knows how crucial this education is for young people.

“I think that the parents should be the primary sex educator of their children, but for many young people, that’s not happening for many different reasons. Sex education needs to help young people to be sexually healthy and safe,” Lipsitz said.

TASH is an organization that is open to all high schoolers who are passionate about reproductive justice, among other issues.

The group meets at Planned Parenthood once every two weeks for three hours and on some Saturdays for all-day retreats. They cover a wide range of topics such as media literacy, contraceptive methods and self-compassion. This group is racially and socioeconomically diverse and includes many different sexual orientations.

“TASH has been a way for me to educate myself more about topics regarding sexuality and sex education and also to get more connected to the people in my community that are passionate about the same things as me such as comprehensive sex education and other social justice issues,” Tucker Hall, a CHS sophomore and member of TASH, said.

Few are as passionate about comprehensive sex education as Lipsitz.

“When I say comprehensive sex education, that includes talking about the importance of abstinence. I think that people think that we don’t, but we do stress abstinence. Abstinence is a very healthy choice for young people. However, we recognize that young people are going to choose to be sexually active and, if they do, whether they are in a same-sex relationship or a heterosexual relationship, they need to know how to be safe and healthy. So I think it is very important to understand and have access to contraception,” Lipsitz said.

Sexual education in the Clayton School District is taught main3 classes consist of presentations, ly in 8th and 10th grade. These videos and pictures to teach about sexually transmitted infections, birth control, and other topics relating to sex. Two different units are taught in health which make up Clayton’s sex education:

the relationships unit and the sex education. Speakers come from Safe Connections and Planned Parenthood to present on these topics.

“Compared to a lot of metro area schools we have a pretty decent and robust sex education system because we have professionals from places such as Planned Parenthood actually come in to talk to us. However, at the same time, it’s definitely not perfect and there is still a long way to go in terms of making it totally comprehensive and having it meet everyone’s needs,” Hall said.

CHS sophomores Tucker Hall, Sam Osborne, and Sarah Baker at TASH Advocacy Day in Jeff City.

CHS student in health class. Photo by Annika Sandquist.

The quality and depth of the sex education taught in public schools is often controlled by the state. In Missouri, schools are only required to provide health education and information on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Schools are not obligated to teach about any forms of contraception and they must stress that abstinence is the best decision for students.

Many states also do not require that schools include information for different sexual orientations in their curriculum. The LGBTQ community tends to not be addressed in most sex education courses, but CHS health teacher David Brechin feels that Clayton’s health curriculum is inclusive of everyone.

“We definitely don’t exclude anyone from anything we talk about,” Brechin said.

Some students still think sexual orientation and the LGBTQ community should be further addressed at Clayton.

“If we focus on making sex ed completely comprehensive for as many people in as many situations as we can I think we would have a lot better of a sex ed system. I think that Clayton’s sex ed is generally targeted towards heterosexual people,” said Hall.

Lipsitz’s work at TASH has created a place for teens to come and talk about very sensitive issues. She believes that teenagers need a platform to voice their opinions.

“Everyone should have access to sexual health and to sexual health information and resources so I have now just become a huge advocate for that but I think the most the thing that I feel so lucky is I have learned so much from young people about life and about what your struggles are and what it’s like growing up. The most important thing I’ve learned is to listen,” Lipsitz said.

Although Missouri law does not have many requirements for sex education, Clayton recognizes the importance of giving students the information they need. Health class teaches about how to put on a condom, different types of contraceptives and the dangers of sexually transmitted infections.

“In Missouri, it is abstinence first, but in Clayton it’s abstinence-plus, so we stress abstinence but we also teach the contraceptives and negative outcomes,” Brechin said.

Consent education is not currently required in any state.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, many people are frustrated with schools’ lack of information on this important topic.

TASH recognizes that consent is about more than just not saying “no” and they teach that sexual consent should always be enthusiastic in healthy relationships.

“It is important that we teach young people how to give consent, ask for consent, and understand consent because that is really the cornerstone of sex ed in relationships,” Hall said.

One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Consent is a popular issue now, and discussions on the definition of consent in school can decrease the massive problem of sexual harassment and assault.

“What I talk about a lot with people is that consent is something that should be taught right in your first year of elementary school ... It takes time, somebody telling someone that they need to use consent once is not going to stick,” Samantha Osborne, a current sophomore at CHS, said.

Clayton teaches the basics of consent and that someone cannot give consent while they are drunk or unconscious.

“Health class covers consent but consent is a really complicated subject and I felt like there should have been more time spent on it,” Hall said.

Brechin feels that Clayton’s sex education covers all of the necessary topics, but he also feels that there is a problem with the time spent on some issues.

“We are locked in days and time and we have to get through so much material in health class. We can always spend more time on things but we are limited to the number of days we have in the semester. It might be important to try to add it to both freshman and sophomore year,” Brechin said.

josephine cross REPORTER

lise derksen @lise.derksen EDITOR sarah baker @sa.rah.b_ EDITOR

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ME TOO.

By Lila Taylor and Samantha Zeid With the bright lights of the #MeToo movement blaring down on society, voices across the world have been empowered to regain their agency, as well as to expose the underlying causes for the systemic and endemic problem of sexual assault and harassment. The Globe offers itself as a platform for these voices.

the movement The #MeToo movement was rekindled this past year when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘#MeToo’ as their status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

With tens of thousands of retweets and likes, “#MeToo” quickly became a household phrase. Allegations flooded the media, accusing previously well respected actors, business men and politicians of sexual harassment and assault. More men and women were held responsible for their actions. Companies cut ties with those who had been accused of sexual misconduct. High profile celebrities were let go or fired. Heartbreaking stories emerged of victims abused by those in high positions of power. One by one, tweet by tweet, victims of sexual assault felt more comfortable sharing their stories.

Behind Milano’s tweet was Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Dozens of women have recently accused Weinstein of sexual assault, and as a result, the Weinstein company fired him and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences terminated his membership.

Three women have accused Weinstein of rape, in addition to over 60 other reports of sexual harassment. And he continues to deny all claims made against him.

Others have accused powerful Hollywood figures as well. Five women accused comedian Louis C. K. of sexual misconduct. Consequently, his movie release and comedy special were cancelled, and FX discontinued relations with C.K. Women are not the only ones who are coming forward about their struggles with sexual assault. Over a dozen men have accused “House of Cards” actor, Kevin Spacey, of sexual misconduct and attempted rape.

Spacey admitted to some of the claims and used the accusations to come out as gay. This angered many in the LGBTQ community, who viewed this as a smokescreen to distract from the accusations of pedophilia. Spacey has since been suspended and replaced from his series “House of Cards,” as well as other projects.

Sexual assault is not just a Hollywood calamity. Powerful figures in business, sports and politics are being accused of sexual misconduct everyday. Over a dozen women have accused President Trump of sexual harassment. Students walk back to their dorms at night scared for their sexual safety.

An employee will avoid their boss at work, knowing that they will attempt sexual advances that, when turned down, could result in the deterioration of a career.

The fact that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men will be raped in their lives, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, shows that there is a problem in the nation. The #MeToo movement is just the beginning.

Washington University professor of history and women and gender studies, Dr. Mary Ann Dzuback, described what sparked

this movement.

“As a historian, I think there’s no such thing as a single causal factor, so I tend to look at what has converged at this moment to enable this movement to emerge right now,” Dzuback said. “One is that we have a president who’s clearly a misogynist and abuses women, and yet really doesn’t understand what he’s doing. He models dysfunctional hyper masculinity that can’t recognize the equal humanity of women or have women as separate from their relationship with him. He sees them as objects to be possessed.”

Dzuback argues that despite the progress that feminism had made in the past, there is still a lot of work to be done. Today, the world is more connected than ever, with the Internet and social media at the fingertips of even the most ordinary person. Anyone can get their message out there––it is no longer limited to those who have a stage or podium.

“There’s also confluence of major media people who have declared themselves as feminists, and they represent a whole variety of feminism, and they put the word [‘feminist’] out there; they’re not afraid to use it,” said Dzuback. “They have a large following among the population that follows popular culture primarily young people, men and women. With the advancement of social media, the kinds of conversations that are going on are accessible to a far wider range of people than the New York Times letters to the nation and so on.”

This social construct of using social media in order to do more than post photos and collect “likes” is new to many adults. Younger generations have been raised on this technology. Cellphones, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are just a regular part of a daily life for most.

Those with fame and a large following on social media have begun to use it as a tool to get a message across to their audiences. “[It has] raised people’s consciousness about gender inequality, about the abuse of women, gay people and trans people, about the ways that power operates to disadvantage certain people in the workplace, but also in other kinds of spaces like higher education institutions and so on.”

Additionally, the #MeToo movement has allowed victims to tell their stories without as much fear of doing so. The domino effect of one person inspiring another to speak up about their past is what propelled the movement forward. “[The #MeToo movement] has allowed a sort of greater consciousness to emerge and also a certain fearlessness about telling stories,” said Dzuback. “Feminists have always found once you start sharing your stories, you create spaces for people to begin to take power and to understand better that this is a cultural, structural, political issue.”

As this movement spreads, opening the eyes of the public, both victims and attackers alike, we are focusing on three of the areas where sexual assault is prevalent: our schools, the workplace, and in relationships.

63% of sexual assaults go unreported

the schools

Fifty eight percent of 7th through 12th graders experience sexual harassment in any given school year, according to a study done about sexual violence in high schools. According to a 2008 study, 1 in 5 high school girls say that they have been sexually assaulted at school. We spoke to the Clayton High School Counseling Department to gain a little more insight about how these statistics play out at CHS. “[We] haven’t had any students come forward this year that [We’ve] dealt with personally,” said the Counseling Department. “All of us would split sexual harassment and assault. [We] have not had any complaints of sexual assault.

[We] have had a harassment complaint. [We] have had students come to [us]. It was more of a processing thing. What was this like, and what were the feelings. Trying to understand if this is harassment or whatever it was. They had already gone to family and they were just coming here to figure out what it is and what the situation was. It was much more about them processing it and trying to figure out what category to put it in. [We[ shared it with administration and we kind of let it go at that.”

A 1993 study in Louisiana showed that only half of high school rape victims ever told anyone about their attack. It has been found that with sexual assaults and attacks at a high school age, the victim is much less likely to come forward and report the event.

“Sexual assault or sexual harassment is less reported by high school students than it is at a college level,” said the Counseling Department. “[We] think it happens, but [We] think it’s less reported. [We] get a sense that sometimes kids, at this age level, especially a 9th or 10th grader, may not be adept enough to consider what sexual harassment may be.

They may think that a kid is just playing around with them in the hallway. But really it would probably be sexual harass-

ment.”

Not only are counselors involved when there is a reported situation of sexual misconduct in the high school, but administration is highly involved as well. Witnesses of victims must report the event to a teacher or principal, who then investigate the situation. After interviewing the perpetrator, they write a full, written report to the superintendent who will then determine the disciplinary action that is to be taken.

CHS defines sexual harassment as, “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature by anyone—employees, students or others. This definition includes, but is not limited to, both overt and subtle types of harassment such as uninvited letters, telephone calls, looks, gestures, touching, teasing, jokes, remarks and questions of a sexual nature. Further prohibited is any uninvited pressure for dates, explicit or implicit suggestion of sexual favors as a condition of employment or academic status or attempted or actual sexual assault.”

The counselors are there for students to further process these events. Administration is there to deal with the discipline side of the issue.

“An assault or a harassment is a discipline thing,” said the Counseling Department. “Of course there’s a counseling piece to it, to help them process it and figure out ‘what are your options,’ but at that point, it becomes an administrative situation. [We’ve] had students in the past, in the hallways, especially underclassmen and things like that, and there’s this sort of crowded inappropriate touching during that passing time. [We’ve] had breakups between students before, where you constantly have to see each other. One is hurt so rumors start and so the harassment is not necessarily ‘I harass you sexually,’; it’s the things that are said about you and spread around about you.”

“it’s not ever your fault”

One time, when I was walking home from school, we got back from a field trip from somewhere late at night. I live so close to school that I was just walking home with my suitcase, and this man on a moped like scooter was riding by. He stopped a little ahead of me. I was paying attention because I was nervous, and it was also because of what I learned in class. Things that told me that this doesn’t seem right or that it was weird.

So I stopped walking and I called my mom and she was going to meet me halfway. He was just waiting for me to walk over so he could grab me or something. So I’m sitting down and waiting for my mom. He sees my mom walking to me and he goes off and just drives around by her.

So he’s circling around and he just starts masturbating.

That was like the first thing that ever happened to me. It was just really scary. I thought,‘What sicko would do that?’ Even after that, I didn’t really have a lot of support. I guess I did with my mom, and she told the school. The principal was talking to me about it, telling me how I need to be safer. And I think that’s so harmful. He can’t make girls think that it’s their fault for being like assault. It’s not your fault––ever.

In China, a lot of social media was blocked, so I didn’t spend that much time on it. In America, it is such a good platform to speak about these things. So many people are on it. People will have like five friends that like can talk about it. And that’s when I got really interested in the topic. I just think that it’s scary when girls aren’t taught––when everyone isn’t taught about this.

Avery Becker - CHS student

21

As times have changed, so has the technology.

CHS recognizes that there are new ways that sexual harassment can manifest. One of the more popular ways has become social media and the abuse of it. “[We] think that we can all speak to the social media [aspect],” said the Counseling Department. “It’s not necessarily just boy and girl. It is a bunch of girls that will get on with really negative things and it can be sexual in nature. You’re a slut, you’re a whore, you’re a this, you’re a that, that is equally as hurtful than anything a boy would say. Or in a breakup or in a situation where sexual details are shared with other people––in my mind that’s equally as harassing and assaulting to how I feel about myself and how I feel about myself in this very public world: high school.”

There are examples of social media being used to cyberbully other teenagers, and the counselors at CHS are no stranger to this tool being used to torment another student, sexually or in any other way. One of the counselors shared this story of a past student’s difficult experience.

“There was a student who transferred in from another local high school,” the counselor said. “She had been at a party and had been intoxicated. She had done some inappropriate things and she had been filmed. It was put on social media the next day. It changed her life completely. She couldn’t go back to school; she ended up not doing well academically. They had to move. They literally had to move to another school district and she started here. That’s how bad it was. I don’t think anybody at this table or in the administration discounts the impact that assault or harassment would have.”

Even after transferring to Clayton, the same student still was

tormented by the sexual abuse that had been inflicted upon her at her previous school.

“Through the social media, the harassment started bigger and bigger and other people from other schools knew. When I got her, that news about her that wasn’t really true, she couldn’t stop it at all. It was starting to creep in here too. One person saw on social media, and then another and it sort of rolled on her here. It can really change a lot for a student. For a person. Not just for a girl.”

These changing times call for the changing of how students are educated. Online sexual harassment has since been introduced into the curriculum students are taught.

“Our health curriculum has also changed,” said the Counseling Department. “Texting, sexting, that wasn’t a part of it ten years ago.

And now it’s still not covered as much as it need to be covered. Officer Zlatic went into the classes a few years ago and talked about social media and texting and what that looks like if you say something or if you spread something around. Those are not conversations we would’ve had ten years ago.”

Even so, the conversations being had now do not fully cover and address the conversations necessary for complete sexual education. “[We] think we’re doing it indirectly by the building of the relationships and making sure everyone feels connected so that they all have somebody that they think they could share with,” said the departement. “But we probably could stand to do more and be more directive.”

The counselors think that there is more that the school could be doing to help its students, and there are many organizations out

“you wouldn’t be able to do anything” It was seventh grade. I was probably 12, so pretty young. We were in the theater because there was play practice going on, and they were showing us a video on the projector screen. It was dark and I was sitting next to a boy. He ended up putting his arm around me and I was a little uncomfortable, because you know I was 12 and I didn’t think about him like that at all. And then, he just slowly started reaching for my chest and we were completely in the middle of this dark auditorium. All my friends were around. I wanted to punch him in the face, but at that moment, I was just so paralyzed. I’m very closed off about my body and having somebody like try to violate that ...

I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on until it started to happen. And I just wanted to not have him go any further. So I ended up just kind of slowly leaning forward and his arm just fell down and was touching my back instead. I sat that way the entire time, just in that position because I didn’t want to risk going back.

Then the lights came back on. I still remember the music that was playing and I still remember where we were sitting. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. I guess it doesn’t seem like it was or anything, but it’s still a violation of me and my body. I didn’t end up telling anybody about it at first just because I was terrified. I guess I’d like talk to him about it. He was texting me later. And I was not having any part of it.

He had such a low self esteem and didn’t like the way he looked. I didn’t really know what to say because I did not want to have any part of it.

It ended up is kind of dying out. I didn’t really tell anybody about it. I think maybe a couple of my friends. Honestly, it was so long ago and it was just so early on. I had never had a boyfriend or kissed anybody. To just pretend like everything’s okay the next day and still kind of have to be around him ... I was always uncomfortable.

I didn’t really know what a relationship was then. It just ended up being this weird event. I didn’t tell my mom about it because I was afraid that she would just go and beat him up. I talked to my mom about those kind of things when I was young, and I feel that now, if something similar were to happen, I’d definitely reach out to her. It was just so new to me and so young and so violating that I didn’t know how to approach it. He ended up later dating one of my best friends and I didn’t tell her at all.

It’s paralyzing. You don’t know how to react. You don’t know like they would react to how you react and in that situation, he had control over me. By not saying anything you give them that control and you give them that power over you. You shouldn’t, but it’s hard to tell yourself to punch him or smack him. In the moment, you really can’t do anything. And I think that’s just the nature of it. And no matter who you are, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.

22

Anonymous

- CHS student

there that could assist with that deeper learning. eryone needs a trusted adult to talk to in their time of need, and CHS “[We] think there are campaigns that are out there and simtries their best at attempting to provide each and every student with ple messages that could be helpful,” said the Counseling Departthat very figure. ment. “It’s about self worth and those messages that can play “[We] do think that we are fortunate in this community, and many and could easily be done throughout the school and should be.” students don’t realize it, but students are fortunate enough to have reLoveisrespect.org is a campaign, recommended by a memlationships with all sorts of people––not just the counselors but with ber of the counseling staff, that focuses educating members of the teachers,” said Counseling Department. “We all are in communicathe community on what consent is, relationships and even comtion with each other. It’s very rare for a student not to have some kind munication or trust. Education is key when schools aim to build of cohort in the building where eventually, if there’s some sort of probhealthy and prosperous students. lem, it will come to surface. And there will be a great deal of support.”

“Educating, especially at that freshman/sophomore level and For many CHS students, the next step after high school becomes even into middle school, where you’ve played with people in the college. Professor Dzuback is on the Sexual Assault Advisory board, past and learning that that’s not okay and touching is not okay,” and she hears out the cases of students at Washington University. said the Counseling Department.

“Sometimes [we] think that it’s like ‘Well, we were just playing around,’ but no one has ever acknowledged that it’s not okay. Or even said ‘You can’t touch someone in that place even when you’re playing around.’ [We] think we This was at the very beginning of first semester. My freshman year. It was kind of a need to be intentional in our words and introductory period for college. You know everybody’s gone wild, lots of drinking lots actions. We’re still having those kinds of just partying, not a whole lot of responsibility. It just seems like a ‘no parents’ kind of of conversations.” thing. So you have a lot of freedom with that, but that also comes with lots of responsiAnd the earlier the better. Accordbility. You’re setting yourself up for a lot of failure and that’s what happened. Thay was ing to the counseling department 9th when I was first being treated for like mental illness and the big thing that any person graders are too old to being learning with common sense should know not to mix this medicine with alcohol. But it didn’t about relationships and sexual conduct really come to me. for the first time.

I remember taking my medication and then my friends a couple doors down were “It has to start very, very early. We having a dorm party. We went over there and then had a couple drinks. I realized when cannot start at the high school level. it was too late. After like just a couple of drinks, I had already blacked out from like the It has to start really very young: what medication and alcohol. is appropriate, what is inappropriate, I was literally completely sober and then once the alcohol hit, I blacked out and what is welcomed, and what is not welthen the next thing I remember is waking up next to a lab partner in her room. And the comed. And [we] think we do. At the really, really weird part about it was that I couldn’t remember anything and that I had elementary schools we have a lot of ended up there somehow. those conversations and we meet reguI was walking back super hungover, throwing up everywhere, feeling super sick, not larly with all of the counselors throughonly because like of the substances, but because of what was going through my mind out. Once it gets to the high school level regarding what happened. and it becomes assault or harassment, This was like kind of when everything started to go into different directions. I didn’t it’s discipline.” know how to explain it or tell anyone because I didn’t know what happened. I asked the While prevented sexual harassgirl--apparently we did stuff and she said she was not aware that I was drunk, but talking ment and assault as a whole is the to anybody who’s been on alcohol and prescription meds at the same time, it’s like number one priority, it is realistic to impossible not to be able to tell that someone’s absolutely messed up from that. plan on ways of making students in the That was the first thing I told my girlfriend at the time and I couldn’t live with myself building feel more comfortable about because I had either cheated on her or been assaulted or something like that. And then sharing their story and talking action. after that we broke up because I didn’t know what to do with myself.

Too many fall silent due to shame or Then I went to my SA and they said I could contact Dr. Jamie Ball, who is the Title IX confusion. director, which is against all assault and discrimination and all that in college. I called “[We] think it’s about empowerher and I told her about it and she asked if I wanted to press charges stuff like that. And ing students to be able to say ‘This is then I talk to the girl that, I don’t even know what to say about her, stuff happened with, not ok, here’s the avenue with which I and she literally told me that she heard that I’m going to the authorities with this. She share that with,” said the Counseling said who are they gonna believe: you or me?

Department. “It telling them that this is I felt like I had to drop everything. It’s unfortunate because in that kind of situation an okay thing to talk about and that this they can believe the guy or the girl, but who’s it going to end up being? So I had to like is an okay thing to process. We say that take my loss and learn from my mistake kind of thing. I put it down in ‘college life’ and about many other things so we need to all that. I can’t really speak out about it. say it about this.”

The bonds that students make with each other and faculty members are important in every teenager’s life. Ev-

“college life”

Lawrence Hu

- CHS graduate

“I couldn’t even say no”

I was at a party off campus at a house and it was around midnight, and I had been drinking a ton. I had had maybe like eight or ten drinks.

It was like honestly not that much; it wasn’t out of the norm, being a college student, but it was it was midnight, which was still pretty early.

I was like ‘I’m too drunk, like I just want to go home.’

So I called an Uber and I told him I was with my roommate and so I told her I was going home, ‘I’ll text you when I get there,’ all that stuff, but I was also like blacking out a little bit, I wasn’t great.

Anyway, so I got in the Uber and the driver was young and kind of cute and I was in the backseat. I don’t really remember the ride very clearly, but I was talking to him and touching his arm and flirting with him a little bit, and then at some point he pulled the car over to the side of the road and got in the backseat and raped me, essentially, and it wasn’t violent. It wasn’t forced, I just had no idea was going on – I was completely out of my mind drunk, you know, so I like I didn’t realize the gravity of what was happening. And obviously, we didn’t use protection or anything like I didn’t even take off my dress.

Then he just got back in the front of the car and drove me back to campus; it was a 10 minute ride.

I got back to campus and I like texted my roommate that I just had sex with my Uber driver and she was freaking out and I went back up to my room.

The next morning my roommate sat me down and she was like, ‘Hey, we need to talk about what happened last night’ and I was like ‘it was nothing, like it wasn’t a big deal. It doesn’t matter.’

And she was like, ‘No, you were drunk, you didn’t consent because you were drunk, like that is assault’, and then I kind of started to grapple with it.

I was talking to my boyfriend and he was ‘that’s really messed up,’ and he was like very upset. He was like ‘he took advantage of you’.

About a week later I decided to go the police.

I’ve had a lot of guilt with it because it was so hard for me to process. I don’t remember what I said. I don’t know if I led him on or if I did consent. I have no idea.

And I know that since I was drunk, I couldn’t consent, but I don’t know. I was probably being confusing to him.

“What strikes me is the lack of communication and that’s what leads to these situations where people feel taken advantage of, abused, or they don’t understand what’s happened and they’re confused,” said Dzuback. “Men and women want more meaningful relationships, but they don’t know how to create them. They’re in this culture that’s putting pressure on them to rack up notches in their belts, but they’re not making meaningful connections.”

Without learning how to make these meaningful connections at an early age, students are often lost when they mature into adults looking for relationships. Universities and even high schools need to provide time and safe spaces to talk through their thoughts surrounding relationships.

“It should be direct and it should give kids places to talk and ask questions and get some answers and explore what this means,” said Dzuback. “That’s a way to intervene in this gender unequal interaction where women gay people and trans people are harassed because of their sexuality are taken advantage of, or abused or mistreated.”

One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while on a college campus. 90 percent of these attacks go unreported.

“A fairly high proportion of women have experienced assault,” said Dzuback. “We know less about men. There’s no place safe to talk about it except a psychiatrist’s office. Nobody should be afraid. They shouldn’t be afraid of guns, and they shouldn’t be afraid of being assaulted in our schools or on their campuses.”

Dzuback advice for students who are in the middle of the college selection process is as follows: “When you get to campus look around for organizations that you can get involved with that do anti-assault and assault prevention training that offer opportunities to provide assistance and support for people who are assaulted. Educate yourself on the issue,” said Dzuback.

The students at Washington University were very involved in making their school a safer place. They started hotlines and made demands for sexual violence prevention professionals to be hired by the university.

“Students started an assault hotline for students to call in; they demanded that we get assault and violence prevention coordinator who is now directing the Assault and Violence Prevention Center on campus with two people working under her,” said Dzuback. “We now have a Title IX coordinator, who’s a lawyer that’s dealing with assault cases. This whole thing has grown out of student demands. Your institution responds to the situation and does something about it, and a whole range of education programs are created. Student activism is really critical. It’s your campus for four years. So try to do something

about it.”

It’s not only your campus for four years––for some, it’s their home.

Even though student activism can accomplish a great deal, it’s important to make sure that a college or university already has set rules in place that will keep you and other students safe.

“Make very clear and explicit in the school’s mission and ethical code and everybody shares it from the janitors, to the security officers, to the athletic directors, to teachers, everybody in the school–– anybody who’s an adult––[make sure] they all understand that this is absolutely unacceptable at this institution,” said Dzuback. “They should all agree to it and all have some sort of training about how to intervene. Then you can train students on bystander intervention.

Students are the ones who see what goes on in those crowds in the hallway and they can just say, ‘Hey, man. Don’t do that. I’m gonna have to report you if you do it again.’”

Punishment is important when dealing with these very perpetrators. There needs to be a change within the individuals themselves so that it can be insured that they won’t be a danger to others around them once their punishment has run its course.

“One of the most effective ways of getting people to examine their behavior is to hear other people share the pain of their stories, whether it’s an assembly or in smaller classroom size gatherings or in those kinds of venues,” said Dzuback. “You make sure those are safe spaces so people can say what they’ve experienced and what it left them feeling. Then you create penalties. People are suspended are kicked out.

One of the ways to sort of enforce that is to have student governance.

There’s punishment if somebody violates one piece of the code and you can have students participate in constructing the code.”

Student participation is a key part in how WashU handles its punishments.

“There’s a student jury who makes a decision. All of our committees have students on them,” said Dzuback. “Whether students are cheating or engaged in assault or anything like that.”

This very student involvement could help aid CHS students in their feeling of importance and fairness. College campuses are a place of learning and independence, but this next step in life comes hand in hand with a great deal of responsibility. Many CHS students will be heading to these campuses in the fall. Teaching teenagers what we can now is what schools can do to make the percentage of sexual harassments and assaults go down. According to Rape Response Services, 1 in five men will experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

For women, the chances are 1 in 2. These statistics change based on how our children are educated.

The whole thing with pursuing a criminal case, just the whole time I was really conflicted about it. It was horrible.

And then the criminal case ended up getting dropped because there wasn’t enough evidence, so the prosecutor didn’t even hear the case. I mean what evidence do they need? My friend saw me drinking, I know I had sex with this guy. I texted my friends right afterwards. That should have been enough to have a case, but it never went anywhere. So now we’re actually trying to pursue a civil suit against Uber for inadequate hiring and training.

I was really upset like because you know I’d already been blaming myself and feeling guilty, but still what had happened was a crime. I wasn’t sure and then to hear ‘we can’t charge him like this, there is not enough evidence,’ then all of a sudden I was back in that place of like maybe it wasn’t wrong, maybe it was

my fault, like maybe I’m being dumb for even trying to do this.

It was like a terrible couple of months.

I still don’t feel like I’m totally good. Even when I’m talking to the lawyers sometimes I [wonder if] I’m just inflating this to something that it’s not. I feel bad about it or I worry about the perpetrator ... how this is affecting him, even though that’s not my problem.

I always thought that I was someone that was really strong. I was like, this will never happen to me; I can always say no. And yet, just enough alcohol and suddenly I couldn’t even say no.

Anonymous

- CHS graduate

the workplace In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925, which declared the responsibility of all corporations to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”

This executive order was the predecessor to the The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commision, created in 1965, which is a federal agency that enforces civil rights issues of discrimination in the workplace, often including lawsuits regarding sexual harassment and assault.

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commision defines workplace sexual harassment as:

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

Despite the fact that the Commision was signed into action well over 50 years ago, workplace discrimination is still carried out today, specifically in the form of sexual harassment.

In fact, 1 out of every 3 women ages 18-34 experience sexual harassment in the workplace, according to a Cosmopolitan Magazine survey confirmed by The Huffington Post.

“i just kind of let it go”

I taught English at a high school, just like I do here, and the principals at the high school were both male. For whatever reason during something one summer, we were back to school, as in teachers were all together. Back to school. The technology person was giving us instructions about new technology and she was being a little short and a little curt, and the principal of my building suggested that I should go over and take care of her needs because she was behaving like someone who hadn’t had sex in a while. And that she was being crabby and tense, and that it was probably something like she’d be less crabby if she had sex, and said that I should go investigate that. What you have to know is that I am not a lesbian, not that it matters that people are, but I am not. So I thought it was some weird thing, but kind of like laughed it off and said no, not my thing.

Several weeks or months later, there was a very similar situation with the librarian. The same principal said, ‘Why don’t you go and ask her what she needs? You should take one for the team and go take care of that for us so that she stops being so crabby.’ Again, I kind of ignored it, realizing, of course, that it wasn’t okay, but at this time, it was my first year in that building. I didn’t want to do anything that continued those kinds of comments. And finally, when I lost all my cool with it all, I said, ‘You understand that I don’t like girls like that, right?’ And his response was, ‘It doesn’t matter if it makes the work environment better. [You] should be willing to do it.’ And I said, ‘But no, because that’s insulting to me, to her and to lesbians everywhere.’

I took it to a colleague who had been in the district for a very long time. She said that that was just the environment here in the small town and we had to become accustomed to those kinds of jokes, because that’s the way the good old boys work. So I sat on it for a month and a half or two months and then took it to the superintendent, who suggested to me that he would look into it, but that maybe I should worry about things going on within my own classroom. At the time, I was the advisor to the newspaper, and there were people in our community who were unhappy with a thing we had published in the paper. The superintendent’s response was, ‘Sure, I’ll look into your complaint, but you need to stop upsetting the town with your newspaper.’

So, at that moment, I just kind of let it go and I resigned at the end of the year without a job, without job security, just hoping to find work. Then I came here in November of the following school year, when Dr. Cade resigned. So that’s how I ended up here. I was lucky.

Darcy Cearley - CHS english teacher

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Awareness of sexual assault and harassment has risen greatly with the flood of allegations against powerful men, such as Harvey Weinstein and President Trump.

A 2017 poll conducted by NBC and the Wall Street Journal that was posted directly following the outbreak of the Weinstein allegations reported that as of 2018, 48 percent of women have experienced sexual, verbal, or physical harassment, as printed in Time Magazine Online.

Additionally, the opening of the floodgates has made 44 percent of the women surveyed feel more inclined to speak out.

One reason that misconduct such as this has continued to go on for so long is because of the unseen shackles that prevent women from coming forward.

Often, women who try to report the incident or tell the perpetrator to stop are then penalized or threatened by their employer.

According to Dr. Andrea Friedman, Washington University professor of history and women’s and gender studies, “One [way to prevent reports] is the quid pro quo. If you don’t provide favors, they are going to fire you, you’re not going to get a raise, etc, and the other is the creation of hostile work environment.”

Credibility of the victims is often challenged when people wait many years to report incidents of assault and harassment, such as is seen in the allegations made by various women towards the President.

‘What makes [sexual assault] so hard to report is that you start thinking , how much am I going to give up?” said Dzuback.

“they tried to belittle the talents that I had” “I think it’s about time. It was too easy for people to hide behind the secrecy of corporations and institutions. This [#MeToo] movement has lifted the veil and given women the security to speak out so that their voices will be heard,” said Francine Katz, a former Chief Communications Advisor for Anheuser Busch.

Starting out as a young, ambitious female attorney, Katz climbed the ladder of success quickly, as she eventually became the first woman in the 150 year history of Anheuser Busch to join the Strategy Committee, a board of the 15 strongest executives in the company.

As Chief Communications Advisor, Katz went as far as testifying on the behalf of A-B before Congress, representing the company on national television and appearing in The New York Times.

By the time the company was sold, she was ranked the 8th ‘senior most executive’. However, as a woman soaring through the ranks of power, that meant facing her fair share of harassment and discrimination, some of which she did not realize until years later.

Katz described the company as having a “locker room mentality,” complete with under the breath innuendos and steam-room meetings meant to exclude women.

All this aside, Katz was fairly well respected, or at least she thought she was.

“For the most part, and certainly among the strategy committee, I felt very respected. I was given tremendous responsibility. I mean, I was the company spokesperson with the news media. That’s a pretty lofty position and that says that they trust that what I’m going to say will fairly justly represent the company, so I did not have any reason to suspect that I was not being fairly compensated because I certainly was given the responsibility,” Katz said.

In fact, it was not until the company was sold and the federal Security and Exchange Commission demanded salary disclosure that Katz fully realized the gravity of the situation.

“It was at that time, when I saw the report, that I realized that I made less than every single man on the strategy committee––and the only person who made less than I did was the other woman,” Katz said.

In addition to the salary gap, the company executives were grouped to determine, “compensation packages, which included

stock options, extended health care benefits, all the long term compensation aspects that go with an exit package when people leave a company,” Katz said.

“I found out that all the men on the strategy committee were in what was called ‘Tier One’ and Marlene, the only other woman on the strategy committee, and I were in ‘Tier Two’. Now there were some men who did not work on the strategy committee who were in Tier One, yet Marlene and I [as members of that committee] were in ‘Tier Two,’” Katz said. “And the reason we noticed it was that our extended healthcare benefits were less than what the men on the strategy committee were getting. They got [around] 36 months and we got 24 months. And so Marlene asked the general counsel why it was that we had gotten less in terms of extended health care benefits, and he said, ‘Oh, that’s because there are two tiers, and the other people are in ‘Tier One’ and you’re in ‘Tier Two.’” Katz had been willing to overlook the sly, inappropriate comments that had been made to her, as the response was often, “Oh, that’s just the way he is. I mean, if you’re going to work here, you’re going to have to tolerate that.”

As a highly successful woman, she thought she had won the fight, but all that changed when she saw that she had been unwittingly working for decades under a discriminatory contract.

“I can’t even begin to explain what a punch in the gut that was, to realize that all this time, I had thought that I broke the glass ceiling, I had mentored women in the company, I had told them ‘Anything’s possible, look at my career path! You can be whatever you want to be!’– only to find out that I had been discriminated against and that Marlene had been discriminated against. We both replaced men in our positions, and we both made far less than the men whose positions we had taken,” Katz said.

That, for Katz, was unacceptable. She filed a lawsuit, which after five years of legal debacles finally went to trial in 2014. “I knew that I would never feel right about myself if I didn’t speak up, if I didn’t expose what happened,” Katz said.

It has been seen throughout history that female accusers are often disparaged in order to discredit and diminish their importance and believability. Katz was no different. “[The company] said, ‘Listen, Francine it is a great executive,

but she was only a PR person and this is all PR people make.’ And that wasn’t true. I was a vice president of public relations. I was a strategy committee member,” Katz said. “They tried to belittle the talents that I had and tried to say that I was greedy and that I had made enough money. Well the thing is, if you can say after a certain amount of money that it is okay to discriminate, then I think that’s a fundamental problem. You shouldn’t be able to say about someone’s gender, ethnicity or, sexual preference, ‘Well, you know we’ll pay them enough, but they don’t have to be paid like everyone else in that they’re making enough money.’”

After three weeks of incessant court appearances, the jury had come to a decision.

“In the end, I didn’t win. When I came out of the courtroom. I said ‘I’m disappointed, but I’m not sorry that I brought this lawsuit. You can’t ever win if you don’t fight.’”

Despite losing the lawsuit, Katz holds strongly to her belief that her case was impactful regarding the advancement of women’s rights.

“A friend said, ‘You might not think that you made a difference, but you can bet every CEO in America is going to meet with their HR person tomorrow and say what do our steps look like? We don’t want to have to go through this, let’s make sure that we’re being fair,’” Katz said.

She truly does not see the case as a loss. Although the jury may not have recognized the pay gap as discriminatory, much of America did.

In addition, Katz recognizes that the women who came before her did not make it to the leadership levels of the company not because they were not qualified, but because they were not wanted.

Those women, along with women who fought for female advancement in society were limited by the patriarchy, but their efforts did not go to waste, and neither will her’s.

“They were just up against the system that was unfair, and they blazed the trail for my generation and hopefully I’m blazing a trail for your generation,” Katz said. “When you fight, you don’t always win, and you just have to get up, pull yourself together, dust yourself off, and and move on. You can’t let it make you bitter. You can’t let it consume you. You move on.”

Francine Katz

“i did doubt my own perceptions” I was working in a small law firm as kind of just an assistant. I wasn’t a paralegal or anything like that. So I typed and took dictation, back when people did that. It was a law firm that had two main lawyers that were husband and wife. They were people who I knew because they were active in progressive reform. A lot of my job was taking dictation from the male lawyer and so I spent a lot of time in his office, just me and him.

One day, back in the early 80’s, he asked me if I’d [perform oral sex]. And there are other things going on in the workplace.

There was some drug use and stuff like that. It was a different time. I thought that maybe he didn’t really mean it. Or maybe he just wasn’t sober. Excuses went through my head. And so I said no, and then he seemed to repeat the request over and over. I said, ‘You know, you need to stop doing this. And if you don’t, I’m going to tell your wife,’ and he got very angry. I had said that twice, and he told me to get over myself. He said, ‘I heard you.

We don’t have to keep talking about this.’

He never admitted that what he did was wrong or anything like that. I felt like his getting angry about me saying no and ‘you need to stop talking like this,’ was geared to make me doubt my own perceptions of it all.

That was a really bad thing because I did doubt my own perceptions and spent a lot of time worrying about it and feeling really uncomfortable in my workplace. I was also really uncomfortable with his wife, my other boss, because I had this knowledge and I didn’t know what to do with it. I left that job, partly for that reason, but for other reasons as well.

Then a friend of mine applied for the same job and she got it. I didn’t say anything to her. A year later, she came to me and said, ‘I’ve been feeling all this pressure from this guy.’ So the same thing was happening to her. I felt so horrible that I had not said anything at the beginning.

Andrea Friedman

- Washington University professor

- Former Anheuser Busch Executive

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the relationships

S

exual assault and harassment also play out in relationships between partners. Whether a couple is dating, living together, or married, those in relationships can often muddle basic terms such as consent if not educated on the term at an early age.

When teenagers find themselves in relationships during their high school or college years, decision making is underdeveloped and emotions are heightened.

In a survey done by the National Institute of Justice, it was found that 18 percent of teens report being sexually abused in a relationship. 12 percent admitted that they had abused someone that they were dating. This means that almost 1 out of 5 teens was sexually abused by a person that they trusted and cared about. This can easily lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and create difficulties for the victim when they are ready to enter a new relationship.

Additionally, the perpetrators continue to behave in this same fashion throughout future relationships.

There was a study done that presented forced sex scenarios to a group of 237 students in a Louisiana public high school. 60 percent of the boys thought forced sex was acceptable in one or more of these scenarios. Another study done by a senior at a Seattle high school, who interviewed students for an AP Statistics assignment, found that 11 percent thought that is was okay for one person to force another person to have sex with them if they were in love.

These very misconceptions are exactly the reason why education surrounding relationships, not just sexual health is so important.

“Quite often a relationship will start and it feels like a normal relationship,” Dzuback said. “You become very emotionally attached to the person, the person seems to be emotionally attached to you.

You like each other, you enjoy each other’s company, and then these little things start happening. You suddenly realize that he doesn’t like you going places by yourself. He doesn’t want you to do things without him, with your friends. You have fewer and fewer friends with whom you’re hanging out regularly. It’s a process of isolation that happens initially, but those signs of isolation and sort of possession and control, those become visible.”

Washington University Assistant Dean and Academic Coordina-

tor of the College of Arts and Sciences and Senior Lecturer in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Department Jami Ake also spoke about what sexual assault looks like in a relationship and how you could help a friend who is in that kind of negative situation.

“When you when you see an unhealthy relationship, an intimate relationship and they’re friends of yours … It’s really hard to say, ‘I’ll be there for you’ without saying, ‘there are strings attached’ or ‘I need you to leave [them]’,” said Ake. “You have to find a way to be supportive without controlling this person’s life. It’s painful. It’s one of the hardest things and it’s sometimes it’s just noticing this pattern.”

Relationship abuse can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. Abuse is physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure or wound someone.

According to Loveisrespect.org, whose purpose is to engage, educate and empower young people to prevent and end abusive relationships, if you yourself feel that you are in an abusive relationship, aside from telling family and friends what has happened, you can find support groups, create a safety plan for yourself whether or not you’re staying in the relationship, or you could create a protective order, which is a court order that prevents the abuser from contacting you, your friends, or your family.

Loveisrespect defines relationship abuse as, “a pattern of behaviors one person uses to gain and maintain power and control over their partner.”

They go on to say that “many people assume abuse means that physical violence is happening, but that’s not always the case. Abuse comes in many forms—it’s not just physical. Each type of abuse is serious and no one deserves to experience abuse of any kind.”

Emotional, verbal, digital, financial, stalking and sexual abuse are all different forms of relationship violence.

The organization says, “Sexual abuse refers to any action that pressures or coerces someone to do something sexually they don’t

“i was afraid to be a victim” Before the #MeToo movement, I wasn’t really clear on the parameters of the word “abuse.” Only a few months ago, had someone asked me to define abuse, I likely would have just described it as “physical or emotional battery to another being.”

I had never imagined that one day I would be sitting in the hospital telling the psychologist across from me: “I think I might be a victim of emotional abuse.”

And it didn’t start out that way, but that’s how it ended up. I was 14, a freshman in high school and at the peak of my rebellious streak. In one of my extracurriculars, there was a junior boy. For

28

the sake of anonymity, I’ll call him T. T was everything I wanted. Older, smarter, attractive, and a little dangerous. And when my parents met him, they hated him.

The two-year age gap didn’t seem like much to me, but when it’s 14 and 16, it sounds worse. That age gap created a power dynamic that initially I failed to recognize.

Our first kiss was only a week after we met, I was thrilled. He had a car, and would give me a ride home every day. It was truly the honeymoon phase.

Two weeks following the first kiss, T told me he loved me. Fol-

lowing my initial shock, I gushed it back. He’d found me in one of my personal lows, and his confession and general presence felt like a lifeline back to a happy reality.

Later, I would learn that while he was charming the hell out of me, he was also charming the pants off of two other people. I was the main event, but he held sideshows.

From the beginning of the relationship in April to about mid-June, things were great. We were young, happy, and in love. It was special. I left for a month during the summer, and when I got back, things had changed.

We had sex for the first time, my first time, and then we spiralled. That was all he ever wanted to do. He was more depressed. His insecurities ate away at him, and then at me because I was blaming myself for not being able to fix him. We never went on dates, and he only wanted to hang out at his house because he knew my parents didn’t like him.

Every time I would go over, he would find something new to be upset about. He found comfort in the tears that I cried for him and used my body to ease his pain. I loved him, and I wanted him to feel better, so I always let it happen.

We eventually got to the point where if I didn’t want to have sex, he would cry and tell me he told me that it felt like I didn’t love him or want him. With guilt settled in my stomach, I would change my mind and let him do as he pleased.

Every fight we had ended up being my fault. I remember once we were sitting on the couch, I was scrolling through Pinterest. He began to melt down next to me, yelling about how all I ever did was meaningless bullshit.

He belittled me and boxed my existence into nothing but sex and bad habits that I couldn’t quit. But I didn’t know it, not then.

I used to be a singer. I did school musicals, I took voice lessons, I was in recitals. Once, I was singing along to a song in the car, and he made fun of the way I sounded.

Following that day, I never sung in front of him again, and my interest in singing slowly tapered off.

He stole the passions from my heart and forced himself into every empty cavity ... I was in denial. I loved him, it was normal, he loved me.

He always begged me to break curfew, or sneak out.

He would tell me to leave my phone at Kaldi’s so my parents thought I was doing homework and then he would drive to an empty parking lot and we would have sex in the back of his car. I never really thought about whether I was enjoying it or not, but I wanted him to be happy. And that’s what he wanted, so that’s what I did.

We were together for about a year and a half. We broke up twice, once in June and then for the final time that following August. In the two weeks that we had been apart in June, he had slept with three other people. I had

been crying in my room, leaving only once to sit with my friends in my living room. I had been crying in my room, and he was [having sex with] other people. And then he came back to me, told me he loved me, and I was back in his trap.

Once again, I was gone from mid-July to mid-August.

When I got back, that was when he told me about all the cheating. It had been constant. He told me that almost every time he asked me to sneak out (and I never did) that after I said no, he would go and find someone else to have sex with. I remember crying so hard that I threw up.

I broke up with him, and he left for college.

Coming off of that breakup in the beginning of my junior year, I felt broken. All of my pieces were there, but they didn’t quite match up. It took me over a year to realize that my experience hadn’t just been a relationship with a bitter truth and a sad ending, it had been emotional manipulation. Abuse.

The #MeToo movement is the only reason I was able to recognize this. I began seeing articles and tweets and facebook posts about the stories of women who has been in situations where they were being manipulated so viciously that they didn’t realize what was happening to that. The first time I related to one of those posts, I felt sick to my stomach.

I was afraid to be a victim. I was afraid to look anyone in the eyes and say “I have been in an abusive relationship.”

Since our final breakup, T has reached out to me several times. I have reached out to him, as well. There is nothing beautiful about lost loves finding their way back to each other; I went to him because it was all I knew and he came to me because he wanted to feel the powerful high that he once knew. I never gave it to him again.

Only recently have I been empowered by my experiences.

In some cases, I wish that I could take that part of my life back. I wish that I could take back every tear I ever wasted on T, but at the same time, I know that had I not been in that relationship, I would not be anywhere near the woman I am today.

At 17, I can confidently say that I am a woman who will never let herself fall victim to any man, or woman, ever again. Through the lens of other stories, I was able to come to my senses about what had happened to me. Sharing my own experiences is difficult, I have never talked about it openly, but I believe that it is a tool of communication that will ultimately help other victims of abusive relationships empower themselves and hopefully realize the severity of their relationships.

Anonymous

- CHS student

want to do. It can also refer to behavior that impacts a person’s ability to control their sexual activity or the circumstances in which sexual activity occurs, including oral sex, rape or restricting access to birth control and condoms. It is important to know that just because the victim “didn’t say no,” doesn’t mean that they meant “yes.” When someone does not resist an unwanted sexual advance, it doesn’t mean that they consented. Sometimes physically resisting can put a victim at a bigger risk for further physical or sexual abuse.”

The victim should never be blamed for any kind of sexual assault.

Even if they were wearing a provocative outfit and even if they had been drinking alcohol, it is still always the fault of the attacker.

“Some think that if the victim didn’t resist, that it doesn’t count as abuse,” said loveisrespect. “That’s not true. This myth is hurtful because it makes it more difficult for the victim to speak out and more likely that they will blame themselves. Whether they were intoxicated or felt pressured, intimidated or obligated to act a certain way, sexual assault/abuse is never the victim’s fault.”

In more committed relationships such as marriage, the laws behind sexual assault and rape are concerning and heartbreaking. Up until 1991, marital rape was not a crime in the state of Missouri.

One in 10 women will be raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime. The same is true for one in 45 men. This is brought on by the lack of knowledge surrounding proper consent.

A group of CHS students wrote a paper for their AP Language and Composition course titled, Consent: And a lack thereof.

This 45 page multi-genre paper defines consent and sexual

harassment/abuse within short stories, poems, photographs, research papers and analyses. It was all based on the reading of the research paper Missoula which focused on the study of campus rape in the U.S. Senior Rahul Kirkhope co-authored the paper.

“To highlight the societal issues that the United States has when addressing the dichotomy of the way men handle things, the way women handle things, and how the country addresses issues of abuse and rape and how rape is not taken seriously enough,” said Kirkhope. “We see that people are quick to blame the victim. People are quick to blame the environment or the circumstances, rather than simply blaming the actual perpetrator. It’s a shame to see that.”

The CHS senior hopes that his paper will affect people in the way it affected him. He’s found that our society today has some major issues surrounding how we handle sexual harassment and assault, especially in relationships.

“Our paper addresses multiple ways and hopefully ideas that could turn the tide in how we address rape as a culture, both systematically and on a personal basis. Knowing people that have actually gone through it, it’s really upsetting to see how the people they looked up to after the fact. And quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. It really angers me to see how we as a society address the victims of rape and sexual assault. And that needs to change.”

moving forward The #MeToo movement has allowed the victims of sexual assault and those who support them to stand up and share their stories.

The victims are asking for the world to just listen. They’re seeking for people to listen to the word no, and not ignore it.

They’re demanding for education for the children of this country––education that covers more than math and science.

This movement recognizes that the kids in schools now will grow up to one day become the CEOs of the world. The celebrities. The employers.

The presidents. And encourages educators to teach children right from wrong while they’re

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still young enough to be swayed one way or another.

The victims have begun to call out those who are abusing their power. #MeToo stories are about giving voices to the voiceless.

The men and women who have shared their stories for this article want for others to know they are not alone.

The movement is saying that time is up for those who exploit the weaknesses of others and abuse their subordinates. The victims are declaring that time is up for sending students off into the world, not knowing how to function or act in a healthy, consensual relationship.

This is the victim’s time to share their stories.

The Center of Clayton Stay active all winter with membership.

Resident rates available for all Clayton School District families.

(314)-290-8500 www.centerofclayton.com

Center C C The Center of Clayton

BOYS’ GOLF Players to watch:

WATER POLO Players to watch:

GIRLS’ SOCCER Players to watch:

Daniel Cho David Cramer Michael Bernard

Charlie Brennan Jaime Befeler Christine Kuehn

Katherine Owings Eliza Copilevitz Kate Cooper

2016-2017 Record:

2016-2017 Record:

2016-2017 Record:

6-5

Goals: To be competitive at conference and advance past the district tournament as a team.

13-5

Goals: To stay competitive despite having lost a very strong senior class.

3-12

Goals:

To play better as a team and get more wins than last year. We also want a lot of people to show up to our games.

SPRING SPORTS BOYS’ BASEBALL Players to watch: Blake Bax Jimmie Adams Marcus Deutsch

2016-2017 Record: 11-16

Goals: To improve everyday. Every practice is the biggest practice of the year so that we can find or exceed our potential. Every game is the biggest game of the year so that every game feels right-sized.

SPORTS

32 3

BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD Players to watch: George Gelzer Brooklyn Day-Smith Reese Barnett

2016-2017 Record: 9-11

Goals: To improve upon our first round loss in Districts last year to MICDS and our 3rd place finish in conference.

BOYS’ LACROSSE Players to watch: Hutton Murdoch Trystan Goette Brian Schmidt

2016-2017 Record:

GIRLS’ LACROSSE Players to watch: Caroline Marsden Annika Sandquist Grace Muhm

2016-2017 Record:

8-8

7-12

Goals:

Goals:

To develop a good foundation to build on next year and to have a winning record.

To win more games than last year.

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD Players to watch: Teaia Jackson Katie Howard Taylor Dent

2016-2017 Record: N/A

Goals: To adjust to the combination of the boys’ and girls’ team and to qualify more people to State.

Photos from Globe archives

Rivalry Schedule Water Polo vs Ladue Apr. 11, 5:30 PM Boys’ Golf vs Ladue Apr. 12, 3:30 PM

S PREVIEW BOYS’ TENNIS Players to watch: Angelo Vidal Noah Brown Thomas Lawrence

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Goals: To capitalize on the returning talent and the young incoming talent to make an individual and team run to State.

Girls’ Lacrosse vs Ladue Apr. 12, 5:45 PM Boys’ Tennis vs Ladue Apr. 17, 4:00 PM Track vs Ladue Apr. 27-28 Girls’ Soccer vs Ladue May 1, 4:00 PM Boys’ Baseball vs Ladue May 1, 4:15 PM Boys’ Lacrosse vs. Ladue May 4, 5:00 PM danielcho @cho__bani SPORTS SECTION EDITOR danielcohen @danielc_52 BUSINESS MANAGER

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SPORTS

TO D AY ’ S V I E T N A M Trump’s first year in office entailed discriminatory travel bans, environmental crises, Nazi rallies, nuclear threats, lies and dreams dissolving into dust. As the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration came around, my girlfriends and I took to the streets in the 2018 Women’s March to express our disgust and frustration over the Trump and GOP administration’s actions, and not let these actions slide idly by.

The girls gathered at my house the night before the march, equipped with paint, posters and good tunes: we were prepared to perfect our signs of resistance. As my friends chatted about female empowerment with paintbrushes in their hands, I felt a need to immortalize this moment so I quickly grabbed my Polaroid and snapped the image.

As the film emerged, I realized that this Polaroid looked like it could have been taken in the 60s and 70s. My friends and I mirrored the young activists of those times, who were fighting for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental protection, and of course, peace. We were going to be marching for the exact same causes the next day. While this fact can be disheartening, as it reminds us that 50 years later the same problems exist, there is also hope that comes with drawing a parallel between the present and the past.

At the core of the revolution of the 60s and 70s was the youth: young adults, who revered social justice and were not satisfied with the status quo, that pressed for change. The youth movements became so large that they ended up defining the culture of those decades, even permeating music, art and literature. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always been infatuated with those years -- it’s not just the music or the emphasis on the arts, but it’s the youth being politically active and pushing for change. And let me make this clear: the spirit of those decades has made its way into the souls of my generation.

The “night before the march” Polaroid first reminded me of this fact, and the feeling of empowerment and activism that followed in the actual march only affirmed it. Thousands of people my age across the country joined in the movement to oppose Trump and the GOP’s hateful leading of our country. Nevertheless, it was the most recent gun violence prevention movement that gained us the title of the largest generation of youth activists since the 70s.

You see, gun violence has become our Vietnam, and the fight for more gun control has become the largest youth-led movement since the anti-Vietnam protests in the 60s and 70s. This is a movement completely started by young people -- specifically the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragic shooting -- that has gained the support of hundreds of thousands of students and young voters across the nation. Just recently, on March 14, the movement had its first national event and these

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hundreds of thousands of young adults demanded common-sense gun laws from politicians in a 17 minute school walkout, each occurring at 10 am in their respective time zones.

CHS also had its walkout, and the same group of girls -- plus some new guys -- took the reins in putting this together. We had been working on this for a month, but what actually happened on March 14 went beyond our dreams. Hundreds of CHS students came out and banded together, cheering on their fellow student speakers while news outlets spread the statement across St. Louis and the country. Students continued the fight during their lunch periods, writing letters to Senator Blunt and registering to vote in the 2018 elections. And the best part is that events like this were taking place all across Missouri and the entire country. Just with this day, we have given our generation the name of political activists, following the footsteps of the youth in the 70s.

If we, the youth, are going to be civically engaged and politically active, there is no way politicians can avoid listening to our demands: this country was founded upon the ideal of representation of the people. When we band together, a sense of hope and empowerment permeates our beings. We know we will be the change. And my hypothesis is that this attitude was what defined the spirit of the movements in the 60s and 70s.

Thus, I call on us today to carry that spirit further. Our revolution has just begun. Time after time again, the argument for gun control has been buried in the news and nothing in policy changes.

People lose hope and interest, and the country remains in a catatonic state until another tragedy initiates the same conversation. However, our youth idealism, a trait we are often criticized for, gives us energy and passion, which is exactly what can keep the movement actually moving. So, we must embody the spirit of the 60s and 70s, souls energized with a commitment to being politically active young adults, and never give up the fight. It took anti-Vietnam protesters almost 10 years of demonstrations and political activism before politicians made a change. The only reason this change occurred is because the youth did not give up and submit to the status quo.

No matter how long it takes us, we, the young adults, have to keep fighting -- for this cause and all other causes we are fighting for in this politically tumultuous age.

“Revolutions have always been driven by the young,” wrote Tim Kreider in his New York Times commentary, “Go Ahead, Millennials, Destroy Us.” Kreider speaks the truth; I just told you how history agrees. We are the young activists, so it’s time for us to drive this revolution.

mitali sharma @mitasharma EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

“KIDS THESE DAYS”

Erik Nelson Rodriguez illustration TNS 2016 “Kids these days…” Every generation has heard this phrase or some variation of it. Whether it was said 30 years ago or two years ago, this phrase underlines the disapproval younger generations get from older generations.

Today, Millennials and Generation Zs are at the brunt of this insult. Despite age and other generational differences, both generations are typically grouped together. Millennials are generally defined as being born between the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s and Generation Zs are generally born from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s.

While it is normal for older generations to look down upon younger generations, it seems that more recently, younger generations have received an abundance of disapproval. Millennials and Generation Zs are generalized as being lazy, narcissistic, overly sensitive and much more. Despite these stereotypes, there are deeper parts to being a Millennial or Generation Z. Most Millennials were in their teens or twenties when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. This and the Great Recession of 2008 impacted their lives immensely. The majority of Millennials entered the workforce in the early 2000s, but since the Great Recession reduced job openings, many were jobless and therefore were forced to move back to their parents’ home.

Many judged Millennials based off these consequences, but those who judged did not fully understand the story.

Additionally, Millennials and Generation Z are the first generation to be impacted by the widespread availability of the internet.

The internet allows quick and constant access to information all around the world. It has also changed the way we live our day to day lives, and the style of our generations’ cultures. Young people are constantly using the internet and other technology, as it has integrated into their culture. This is very different from what previous generations experienced; the concept of internet would be almost unthinkable thirty years ago.

Another criticism that is slung at Millennials and Gen-Z is that they are lazy.

Laziness is defined as the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy; idleness.

Firstly, calling a whole generation lazy is inaccurate. Lazy peo-

ple will be found in every generation.

Next, while the younger generation may have expressed their dislike for work, nowadays, the standards of achievement and entry into elite schools are higher than they were before.

For example, the way high schoolers take the SAT has drastically changed. A teacher once told my class that she did not study for the SAT and even attended a party the night before taking the test, yet currently, many students pay for workbooks, tutors, classes and more in order to receive high scores.

If you ask any young person today, they will say that they are often told they are narcissistic. Selfies are often blamed as being unnecessary and excessive, but it is a part of today’s culture.

While selfies are self-centered, they do not necessarily indicate narcissism.

Narcissism is excessive interest in oneself, but often, people take selfies to boost their self confidence. With societal standards that are set for women and men, selfies are taken to raise one’s morale.

A final insult that Millennials and Gen-Zs are called is a “snowflake.”

This nickname comes from the fact that many young people today believe that everyone is delicate and special like a snowflake.

While there is truth in saying that everyone is different, “snowflakes” have a connotation of being overly sensitive.

Many of our generation has heard a variation of, “When I was your age, I sucked it up. We did not complain.” Although this may be true, many Millenials and Gen-Zs believe that if there is a problem, there should not be a need to suck it up. Instead of ignoring the problem and covering it up, young people now believe that instead, it should be faced head on.

Despite all of these arguments that are put against the younger generation, we have a strength that underlines what we do: we stand up for what we believe.

Whether it’s LGBTQ+ rights or racism, our generation is not afraid to stand up. Recently, teens have been taking action against guns after the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School.

Using social media to their advantage, they have been advocating and using their voice to express their opinions on gun control.

These teens have forced the nation to think about issues many adults choose to find too difficult to solve.

Our generation has taken action against what we believe is wrong. There will always be different problems with each generation, but it is important that all generations acknowledge them, yet also know their strengths so that they may become better than the generation before them.

ashley chung @achvng REPORTER

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OPINION

Love, The Globe a column

introduction

We put a lot of emphasis on love at the Globe. We’ve tried to keep this focus on love a central part of our paper. We continue to have touching conversations, build community and encourage love for human storytelling and observation of the world around us. And we’re taking a step to expand the realm of this philosophy of ours.

Greatly inspired by the New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, Globe is following suit and presenting a “Love, The Globe” column. Each issue from now on will feature a commentary following one writer’s story with any form of love. In a world where the news can get heavy and dark, we hope these stories will help the light of love shine a little brighter. mitali sharma @mitasharma EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T

hey say you don’t truly love something until it is gone. This is not entirely true for me. I loved him when he was alive and well, and I still love him now, because who couldn’t? If angels do exist, he was one of them. And I was one of the many that had the immense pleasure of knowing Stevie Landau.

It’s weird how after you lose something, the things that seemed insignificant at the time become much more vivid. Ever since Aug. 16, 2014, a sort of montage plays in my mind. It is of a day I spent with Stevie. A summer day. My favorite day. The tangerine day.

It was the first time Stevie had ever been to my house. I was nervous. Although it seems somewhat ridiculous now, because he was not a judgmental person, Stevie was the type of guy you wanted to impress. I figured if Stevie had fun at my house, he would go tell his legion of friends, and they would all be jealous and want to come to my house too.

I scrambled for something to do. Stevie, being Stevie, did not wait for me to come to any such conclusion. He walked over to the long cord attached to my fan and swung it violently this way and

that. He then began to jerk his body around underneath it in an equally animated way.

For a moment, I just stared at him wondering what in the world he was doing as he violently convulsed under the cord that was now firmly wrapped around one of the fan blades.

After an embarrassing amount of time, I realized that he was playing a sort of game in which the cord couldn’t touch you. I joined in tentatively, and we took turns whipping the cord about and ducking underneath it.

After our surprisingly physically strenuous activity, we made the unanimous decision to go downstairs and get a snack. It was summertime, so we had a bowl full of ripe tangerines on the table.

Stevie picked a particularly large one off of the top. Now see, a normal person would just peel it and eat it, but Stevie, once again being Stevie, decided to turn the tangerine into yet another game.

We rolled that poor tangerine down all three staircases, used it as equipment in a twisted game of wiffle ball, and stuffed it into my dad’s pillow to see if he would notice. I believe at one point, we even threw it at the ground as hard as we could to see if it would bounce. It did not.

At the end of the day, as daylight waned and we sat on my kitchen counter to recover from the days taxing activities of running away from fan cords and testing the limits of one fated tangerine, Stevie had an idea.

Stevie held the tangerine in his hand, if you could even call it a tangerine, grimacing at its shriveled and discolored appearance, and at what I’m sure felt like a slightly slick deflated balloon. He looked at me in a way I will never forget. His aqua eyes got all big and round and his dimples deepened, accompanied by a slant of the eyebrows that could only mean mischief. Without so much as a word, he bit into that disgusting excuse for a tangerine and let its soupy contents spill out into his lap. I could have laughed, I could have pointed, I could have asked him why in the world would he do such a thing, but something I can’t explain compelled me to take the tangerine straight out of his sticky hands and take a bite out of it myself. While I’d rather wipe all memories of the taste of that repulsive tangerine from my mind, every other aspect of that day with Stevie are welcome to me at any time. It was simple; Stevie had to be followed, and I followed him until the end.

Other, less welcome montages also visit me frequently. Another summer day. A day that started happy and ended sad. The day of the call.

My friend had just turned 13. She held a pool party. We had already spent the day performing what I’m sure were lackluster dives and drinking tall glasses of cool lemonade, tiny umbrella and all. It was a totally cliche summer day of sunshine and bliss. Having had a busy day, my pre-teen flip phone had been off and tucked in my bag for several hours. I would later find out that while I was off playing with beach balls and blushing at lifeguards, one of my close friends would pass away.

I remember this moment clearly. The minute I turned my phone on, it blew up.

Two hours ago: did you guys hear what happened? 90 minutes ago: Yeah. We should all find time to talk about it. An hour ago: he was such a nice guy. 45 minutes ago: School is going to feel different now. I wasn’t putting it together. Move on to the voicemails. Six. The first one; “We have some bad news . . .”

The car ride home was the longest of my entire life. My friend and I held hands so hard that it hurt.

Then came the funeral. It was both comforting and distressing to see so many of my peers there, feeling vulnerable that they could witness my grieving but knowing that they, too were grieving. Having my friends at my side made the day slightly more bearable, but none of us were prepared for an open casket, and the Stevie inside that didn’t look like Stevie at all.

What made everything worth it was the look of pure relief on his mother’s face when she saw us, and her encircled arms paired with a whispered, “He really loved you, girls.”

Four years, five months, and 10 days from when he passed, I can’t say that I have ever known a love quite like mine for Stevie, because it was special to him. All that sappy stuff you hear about the room lighting up when a person walks in -- their smile healing a sore heart, their laughter being the best medicine -- was all miraculously true about Stevie. I sincerely wish everyone had just our tangerine day with Stevie. He fit in with anyone and everyone, and thank god, because those who knew him were all changed for the better. I know that somewhere up there, Stevie is smiling down with that killer grin of his. We love you. We miss you. Rest easy.

Art by Lizzy Mills sara stemmler @sarasally_stem PAGE EDITOR

should we pay co PRO A 70-foot slide. Two bowling lanes with video scoring. An outdoor basketball court and putting green. A barber shop, shoeshine area, and a nap room. No, this isn’t a list of amenities of a luxury Caribbean cruise ship. Rather it’s a list of amenities included in Clemson University’s newly-renovated $55 million football complex. Clemson football generated 45.9 million dollars in revenue last year alone. Its coach, Dabo Swinney, pocketed approximately $6 million in the same year.

He isn’t the only handsomely-compensated college coach in the nation.

In fact, in 40 of 50 states, the highest paid public official is the head coach of either the state university’s basketball or football team. Those on the field, throwing, tackling, kicking, and running? Those often risking their physical and mental health in the name of winning for their universities? They earn zero.

You might be thinking: What about the thousands of dollars athletes “earn” from being granted full ride scholarships to college. And, yes, this is a valid counterargument, besides the fact that it fails to account for the reality of the lives of college athletes.

Historically, the NCAA has stood in blind support of its model of amateurism, that is - the model it has long adopted to ensure college athletes sacrifice their rights to employment and fair compensation. Essentially, the NCAA, a corporation currently earning upwards of $11 billion in annual revenue, insists that student-athletes are not employees.

This same model has rendered college athletes essentially pawns of their respective university – pawns of an institution. The best performers bring fame and recognition to not only the athletic program they represent, but also the university they attend as a whole.

As college athletics have grown more and more in tandem with commercialization, this labor extraction system has become inseparable from evil. The coaches coach, get paid millions of dollars. The athletic directors direct, get paid well into the six figures.

University branding gains worldwide recognition attention. And, those on the courts, on the fields, proxies for these higher-ups, have their tuition covered. It is mere ignorance to suggest that a college scholarship - which, on average, is worth around $25,000 a year, is commensurate with the value these star collegiate athletes bring to their institutions and the NCAA. The rationalization of the current model falls short when one considers the 43 hours an average college football player spends playing in an average school week. Take into account, also, the multi-faceted approach the NCAA has for extracting athlete’s economic potential. In televising the performance of these so-called students on national television, the non-profit organization, the NCAA, earns nearly a billion dollars annually.

This debate over the amateurism model has gained special momentum recently, namely after the release of a wiretap that suggested Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller had mentioned the possibility of paying star prospect Deandre Ayton $100,000 to join his team. And these kinds of recruiting scandals have become commonplace over the past few decades. A few years ago,

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Louisville University basketball staff hired strippers to lure in the nation’s best high school basketball players. Two decades ago, Southern Methodist University was caught paying its football players, giving the conservation around the NCAA’s treatment of its athletes a much-needed injection of momentum and urgency.

Schools have shown, time and time again, an egregious willingness to pursue extreme measures to lure top recruits. It is as if, they might understand, the obvious: the better their teams perform on the court or field, the more money they will make.

For every stakeholder except for the athlete, it’s a performance-driven business.

These countless recruiting scandals that stem from coaches’ and athletic departments’ violations of the NCAA’s strict set of rules is nothing more than a tangible product of the NCAA’s ignorant, outdated system - a system that has led to its fair share of adverse outcomes.

Outcomes, like the one-and-done phenomenon in college basketball, in which many of the country’s best players elect to abandon their education - to become fairly compensated for their market value.

Can anyone blame them?

It seems the on-campus barber shops and bowling alleys are not enough to make college athletes ignore their status as subjugates under the dominion of a corrupt, greedy system.

In recent years, star players, current and former, have come forward to voice their own reservations. Outspoken NFL player Richard Sherman, a Stanford graduate, said, “You’re not on scholarship for school and it sounds crazy when a student-athlete says that, but those are the things coaches tell them every day: ‘You’re not on scholarship for school.’”

Sherman’s current teammate, Michael Bennett, shared similar sentiment, saying “[The NCAA] says, ‘We gave you a free degree.’ That’s like owning a restaurant and telling an employee, ‘I’ll give you a free burger.”

With March Madness, the annual NCAA basketball tournament that generates billions of dollars in revenue, underway, it is time we take a hard look at the ways of the NCAA. The only way to clean up the mess that is college athletics is to upend the obsolete amateur model, grant athletes the employment status they deserve, and thus be bound to pay all stakeholders their fair market value.

That is not to say that the educational component of the college athlete experience should be dismissed as unimportant.

It’s the opposite.

Fair payment naysayers will pose the logistical questions. Fair payment advocates like myself will pose the moral ones and demand them be answered by the corrupted corporation that is the NCAA.

college athletes?CON As high school student athletes, many of us are used to taking a season out of our school year to dedicate 15 hours a week to a certain sport. Now, imagine tripling that time while being a full time student.

With reports coming out that many college athletes work more than 40 hours a week while still trying to get their degree, it’s clear that there needs to be some solution to reimburse them for their hard work.

While paying college athletes may seem to be the simple fix for their overworked status, the recent NCAA scandal uncovered by the FBI reveals the issues with paying student athletes.

Although there may be a moral aspect to repay these hard working students, a system where we pay our college athletes would not be a pragmatic solution.

To contextualize, college costs have increased by 260 percent since 1980 according to a study conducted by the Business Insider.

Unfortunately, paying college athletes would pose massive repercussions to the rest of students trying to attend college.

Time magazine explains, “Changes to how student-athletes are paid could lead schools, stuck with nowhere else to turn, to raise other students’ fees.”

The best example of this can actually be seen right now.

From Slate in 2015, “Colleges want to sweeten athletic scholarships.

So they inflate the cost of attendance to give more money to athletes.”

Even in the status quo, we see colleges increasing the tuition for other students to offer more enticing scholarships to their desired players.

To offset paying all NCAA players a real and competitive income, all students would eventua l ly suffer. This would ultimately lead to a vicious cycle of unaffordable tuition.

When you increase the cost of tuition, government gives out more student loan subsidies as well as subsidies to the colleges themselves and that would increase tuition further in a never ending cycle of unaffordability and loss of opportunity.

Logically, a NCAA student athlete would need to be paid $7.25 in order to meet the federal minimum wage. And, because of Title IX, a model where college athletes are paid would have to include both mens’ and womens’ sports.

For all 470,000 NCAA student athletes, that’s a minimum of over $3.5 billion dollars every year. Problematically, as CNBC in April 2014

reports, the average market value is much higher, with football players at $178,000 and basketball players at $375,000.

The article furthers that bidding wars between universities would undoubtedly raise the cost of players even further -- perpetuating the corruption and ostracizing smaller colleges unable to compete with the financial capabilities of a large DI school.

This means we go past that $7.25 minimum wage and we can easily quadruple the $3.5 billion baseline sum.

This would be hugely problematic considering that many college athletic programs already operate at a deficit. In fact, Mike Herndon in August 2014 confirms that only 20 schools, all in Division I, generated more revenue than costs.

Because of that, while a few Division I schools could effectively handle paying their college athletes, most, if not all, Division II and Division III schools would not be able to handle this financial burden. Shifting to a system where we pay our college athletes would lead to a ripple effect throughout many colleges deteriorating the true nature and spirit of college athletics.

Michael Corgan of Villanova University concluded in his analysis that by paying college athletes, many schools would be forced to cut other sports to even consider paying both men and women student-athletes what could total billions of dollars.

This would eliminate opportunities for athletes in many others sports. Because we’d be harming the opportunity for higher education for the masses and worsening the status of college athletics by forcing schools to shut off other sports, it’s clear that paying college athletes, while noble in cause, is not a pragmatic solution.

While the uncovered corruption within the NCAA sheds light on the unfortunate exploitation of some of the United States’ most gifted athletes, implementing a system where all college athletes are paid would be illogical and potentially augment the corruption we’re currently seeing.

Thus, it becomes imperative that we keep in mind the potential impacts of such a change.

Unfortunately for paying college athletes, we would be jeopardizing college access for the masses.

noah brown @noah.20 EDITOR IN CHIEF daniel cho @cho__bani SPORTS SECTION EDITOR

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PRO/CON

GOT HOMEWORK? The Globe comments on Kirkwood High School’s experiment with a new “no weekend homework” policy as an attempt to alleviate pressure on student and teacher mental health.

91% of the Globe staff agrees with the content of On the weekends following February 19 and March 9, Kirkwood High School students had one less worry due to a newly enacted no-weekend-homework policy. These two weekends functioned as an experiment as part of an initiative to improve both student and teacher mental health.

In order to enforce this policy, students could report teachers who attempted to assign homework over the weekend. In addition, teachers were not allowed to front-load or back-load, meaning that they could not assign homework due right when the students return from the weekend or assign a large amount of homework right before the weekend.

KHS principal Mike Havener explained that this policy arises from the recent increase in the number of kids seeking counseling and the increase in the number of kids dealing with anxiety and depression.

Although Havener believes that homework has a purpose, he also recognizes the need to respect students’ extracurricular activities, after-school jobs, and responsibilities at home. KHS students, parents, and faculty are hopeful that this new homework policy will relieve stress and consequently reduce the level of anxiety and depression the students feel.

This homework policy also aims benefits teachers, as it hopefully lightens the load that the teachers must grade over the weekend.

KHS’s steps to improve students and teacher mental health not only demonstrates the Kirkwood School District’s advanced

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actions, but also highlights the lack of action taken at CHS so far to improve its members’ mental health.

Although CHS has attempted similar homework policies in the past in an effort to allow students to dedicate themselves to different activities for a brief period of time, these efforts have rarely had a beneficial effect on student and teacher mental health. The school’s attempt to lighten students’ homework load during Homecoming Week in order to encourage more participation in Homecoming activities, generally results in a disregard for this policy and a normal week of homework for students.

The Clayton School District has also taken some initiative to benefit student mental health, by hiring Dr. Sheila Powell-Walker as a school social this article. worker for CHS and Wydown Middle School.

Despite the benefits of no-homework weekends, KHS senior Claire Lin observed that the policy merely repositioned the stress of homework, rather than alleviate it.

“Over the weekend, I definitely felt that students were more relaxed, just because we didn’t have the pressure of having to work on homework all the time, but at the same time, the weeks bookending the weekend of no homework were kind of extra busy, because I feel like teachers were trying to wrap up stuff before the weekend and trying to catch up after we had the no-homework weekend,” Lin said.

Still, Lin appreciated the positive effects of having a homework-free weekend, and was grateful that the policy allowed her to dedicate more energy and focus to her other passions.

Given that the first of the no-homework weekends fell on the MSHSAA Girls’ Swimming and Diving State Championship, Lin was able to swim at the meet without thinking about her schoolwork.

“It was really nice to be able to focus on the things that I was doing that weekend 100% rather than having homework hanging over my head the whole time,” Lin said.

While a realistic and efficient homework policy may still be in progress, we, the Globe, strive to prioritize mental health. We hope to encourage all CHS students and staff to place their own mental health at the forefront of their lives. Although schoolwork can often become overwhelming, we aim to initiate conversations about improving mental health.

On display at a gun shop in Wendell, N.C., an AR-15 assault rifle manufactured by Core15 Rifle Systems in December 18, 2012. (Chuck Liddy/ Raleigh News & Observer/TNS)

STAFF ED: GUN CONTROL There should be no instance in which the last thing a child hears is the sound of gunfire. In America, this has been the case with far too many children as of late. In February, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, 15 children were killed, as well as two adults. On March 7, 17-year-old Courtlin Arrington was killed at Huffman high school in Alabama. The list could go on, including well-known instances such as Columbine and Sandy Hook, as well as the countless others which never rose to infamy.

One massacre is too many, yet somehow, it would take paragraphs to name them all.

The fact that an assault rifle such as the AR-15 can be brought into a school, a theatre, a concert venue or a mall in any instance allows for so many killings to take place. The apparent ease with which this has been done calls into question the logistics and morality of the laws regarding gun control. In situations where the safety of innocent children is encroached upon, this is especially true.

We are the innocent children, the teens trying to enjoy our youth in a time where, for the first time, mass slaughter is a very real possibility. No previous generation has grown up with the knowledge that stepping into a school building could be a deadly risk. We have to grow up this way.

There is no situation where an American’s right to own a gun outweighs a child’s right to be alive, our right to be alive. After all, the right to live safely is in the International Bill of Human Rights.

The right to bear arms belongs solely to the American Constitution, only one country’s document. And, anyway, aren’t we as Americans supposed to have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

The use of the Constitution to excuse unmonitored ownership of a gun comes up far too frequently in discussions of gun control.

To start, the second amendment was written during the time

94% of the Globe staff agrees with the content of this article.

of one-shot rifles and citizen militias, a time when gun might truly have been needed to protect oneself. Now, America has one of the world’s most reinforced armies, and a strong police force.

The need for the ownership of a gun is questionable. Definitively, however, owning a weapon like the AR-15 is inexcusable.

Perhaps, then, the Constitution and its amendments (specifically the second) should not be treated as set-in-stone, but as a living document that adapts with the progress of the world. We have progressed to a point where weapons of war are easily-purchased commodities. Now is the time for a change, one which would make it impossible to purchase such a weapon and bring it into a place that should be kept safe. We can not afford to cling unyielding to the second amendment when the currency with which we pay for it is the lives of children.

The time has passed for offering thoughts and prayers without action to back them up. One massacre should have been enough to warrant change. Certainly after this many, there is no excuse for the inaction we have seen thus far. The demand is not that all guns be removed from the hands of the American people; the demand is, in fact, that guns only be placed into the hands of American people who can be trusted to use them safely. This does not encroach on any freedom, so there is no reason that a change can’t be made.

Perhaps the Constitution declares “We the People,” but the Constitution also contains the lax second amendment, and nobody seems to be able to fix it. Well, we the youth will not rest until we no longer have to watch our peers slaughtered around us, and we will not rest until we prevail.

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OPINION