Globe Newsmagazine, September 2015, Issue 2, Vol. 87

G L OBE issue 2, volume 87

The

art

of

chEA TING clayton high school, clayton, mo.

september 2015

Thank you to our sponsors!

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GL OB E

september 2015

Sports

32 Fall Sports Preview

Read about this season in CHS sports.

34 Ben Hochman

Former CHS student and Globe journalist returns to the area as the sports editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

25

The Art of Cheating Faced with the pressures of getting good grades and attending elite universities, a surprising amount of students resort to cheating.

News

10 Drug Task Force

The newest Clayton School District committee seeks to solve the issue of drug use among CHS students.

Feature

16 On the Right Track

A look at the future Loop Trolley.

20 An African Adventure

While visiting Ethiopia this summer, Christine Burris experienced a deadly disease firsthand.

36 Athlete Profile

Read about CHS varsity tennis co-captain, sophomore Madison Gudmestad.

Review 39 Loufest 40 U City Grill 41 Fall TV Shows

The best series to start this fall.

Opinion 42 Pro/Con

The Globe examines the benefits of learning for knowledge or for grades.

12 Castellano takes HAL

Journalism teacher Erin Castellano audits Sue Teson’s Honors American Literature class.

22 Sophie’s New Frontier

Senior Sophie Jacobs enrolls at CHS after a year spent abroad in Patagonia, Chile.

45 Staff Editorial: The Drug Task Force 47 Things Sophie Hates CONTENTS

3

GLOB E

staff

editor - in - chief

alex bernard

reporters

madeleine ackerburg

nikki seraji

marty sharpe

senior managing editors grace harrison

madeline bale

eunice shin

sophia barnes

petra sikic katie spear

kevin rosenthal

barrett bentzinger

ellie tomasson

michael bernard

amy tishler

sophie bernstein

cosima thomas

section editors

sophie allen

jacob blair

karena tse

gabrielle boeger

neel vallurupalli

noah brown

jack chereskin

angelo vidal

brian gatter

eunice chung

catherine walsh

nicholas lee

william clay

samuel youkilis

camille respess

nicholas d’agrosa

samantha zeid

max steinbaum

alexandria darmody

elise yang

lise derksen

phoebe yao

emma ebeling

theo fehr

sarah franzel

devin froehlich

mariclare gatter

anne goode

hugo hoffman

lucas hoffman

robert hogan

mitchell hu

peter indivino

olivia joseph

sehoon kim

cody krutzsch

san kwon

sol kwon

jacob lagesse

elise levy

benjamin litteken

madison lockett

rowan mccoy

bea mcguire

grace morris

lauren praiss

mia redington

copy editors

charlie brennan

harry rubin webmaster lemuel lan

business manager lucy cohen

photo editors bebe engel

katherine sleckman

distribution editor

robert hollocher editors

dimitri baldauf

nisha klein

olivia reuter

mitali sharma

zachary sorenson

albert wang

ashleigh williams

tara williams

daniel cho

photographers sophie argyres

emma barnes

jennifer braverman

lily brown

felix evans

alexandra gerchen

akansha goel

ava hoffman

ricky kuehn

elizabeth mills

carolyn niswonger

elizabeth poor

hannah ryan

claire schwarz

graphics editor victoria yi

graphic artist cherry tomatsu

design editor lawrence hu

adviser

erin castellano

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

Before I started high school, my parents sat me down so we could discuss the expectations that they would have of me as I would grow into an adult in the upcoming four years.

To my surprise, they didn’t have much to say.

Within reason, my mom and dad saw it to be in my best interest to not pass their judgements and opinions on the way I lived my everyday life as I began to mature. This did not mean that I was free to do whatever I pleased or come home in the wee morning hours after going out on the weekends, rather it would be up to me to guide myself through the many complexities that I would soon face. Being unsure about how I should navigate my way through the ins and outs of high school, I implored my parents for help, but they purposefully had none to offer.

They gave me little to no influence on the decisions I would have to make: what classes I should take, how to spend my time or what people with which I should surround myself, all of these things being factors that would play a role in the person that I would become. In the summer months before my freshman year at CHS, I wrestled between whether or not to join the Globe staff. Frankly, I was hesitant to do so because I lacked a sense of independence at the time. None of my closest friends were joining the Globe, so I was intimidated by the possibility of doing something new without the security of a close companion with which to walk through it. So, I asked my mom what I should do. Of course, she gently reminded me that it was my life and my decision to make. Thankfully, I made the right one and have been a “Globie” ever since.

Although my parents’ cautious lack of guidance has made my life challenging from time to time in regards to the choices I face, their silence in the decisions I’ve made is one of the greatest gifts that they have given me.

High school is the time to learn to stand on our own two feet, to delve into our own passions and set goals for ourselves. It is the time in which students need to absorb the sensation of independence and learn how to walk gracefully through life unassisted. With the help of my parents, I have been able to do that.

In the past two years, I have not received pressure from my parents in any sector of my life, something that isn’t commonly said in Clayton.

But this has not made my life a breeze. Since I get such a small amount of external encouragement, self-motivation has become the driving force in everything I do. Sometimes, when I find myself procrastinating and lacking the stimulus I need to accomplish the goals I desire, I wish

FROM THE EDITOR

my family dynamic was different, that my parents would look over my shoulder to make sure I am on the right track.

Moreover, the confusion I felt when starting high school led to a lack of confidence in myself because I was not receiving feedback from my parents from either a positive or negative standpoint, something that caused much frustration because I believed that I needed this assistance.

In my junior year, these ambiguities still exist. I still feel the same uncertainties about some of the decisions that I have to make now as I did when I started high school. In all honesty, I doubt that these apprehensions will ever disappear. In spite of this, now is this time in which we all must work towards grasping the confidence needed to be able to shape our own lives, to stray from the tendency of looking to others to give us the answers and discover them for ourselves. 

Camille Respess, News 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 newsmagazine. 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 EDITOR’S (314) 854-6668 N OT E 5 globe@claytonschools.net

Varsity left-back Nick D’Agrosa faces off against a Kirkwood midfielder.

PHOTO BY JOLENA PANG PA N O R

AMA 6

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Greyhound Goes Big CHS senior Robby Owens has been invited to participate in a national showcase after attending an offense-defense football camp over the summer. Named an “Offense-Defense AllAmerican” as a defensive lineman, Owens will be going to Daytona Beach, FL to attend the 10thannual Offense-Defense Bowl Week. With only a few athletes selected out of all football teams around the nation, Owens will be working with NFL pros and elite coaches from around the country during this week-long event.

Trump Holds the Lead

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at his rally at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Monday, September 14, 2015. (Nathan Hunsinger/ Dallas Morning News/TNS)

NEWS

AND

Although Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency has been controversial ever since he announced his decision to run in June, he has led the race for the Republican presidential nomination. According to realclearpolitics.com, Trump clocks in with a national poll average of 28.5 percent. Close behind, however, is neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 18.8 percent. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads with an overwhelming poll average of 41.2 percent. Trailing her for the Democratic nomination is current Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, with 23.8 percent.

notes

Wildfires Ravage California

Big Win for Rams

California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency after wildfires broke out in northern California. According to CNN, these wildfires have caused nearly 23,000 people to leave their homes and burned approximately 1,000 buildings to the ground. Local firefighters have encountered great difficulty in extinguishing some of these fires, several of which contain flames reaching up to 200 feet in the air. According to NBC News, the wildfires are only 35 percent contained as of Sept. 17.

On Sep. 13, 2015, the St. Louis Rams were victorious over the Seattle Seahawks in overtime with a score of 34-31. Despite an unimpressive 6-10 record last season, the team has higher hopes, and possibly even playoff aspirations for this season.

Their defeat over the Seahawks has revived football interest from the St. Louis community and given them pride in their usually dismal team. 

by DANIEL CHO page editor

Lance Kendricks, Rams tight end, scores a touchdown. (Chris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/ TNS)

CHAPMAN PL AZA Barr y-Wehmiller donates funds to renovate Shaw Park.

A missed opportunity.

That was how Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Co., described the corner of Shaw Park that will soon be known as Chapman Plaza.

Shaw Park is decades old and has not changed much since being founded in 1935. But the Clayton Century Foundation (CCF) wanted something new. They started drafting plans to renovate Shaw Park, but before they could put anything into action, they wanted to find corporate sponsors.

“We have teams of volunteers who go out and meet with corporate people to talk to them about our priorities, and Mr. Chapman was very interested in that corner,” said Judy Goodman, president of the CCF. When the CCF approached Chapman about donating to potential plans to renovate the park, he hesitated.

“I didn’t hear [a plan] I was comfortable with, in other words, it sounded like we were doing projects, but we didn’t have a vision of what the park was going to look like,” he said.

Chapman wasn’t interested in supporting something he deemed not well thought out, so he began the development of a different plan for the park.

“I happened to see that corner, and I know that that is one of the busiest corners in the city,” Chapman said. “I know that when people go to the restaurants they walk in that area and I thought that it was a missed opportunity for something we could be proud of.”

A renovation like this would not be cheap, but with the Barry-Wehmiller Company, Chapman donated $7 million to finance the construction and maintenance of the new entrance to the park.

Mayor Harold Sanger is extremely grateful for this generous endowment, calling the donation “the biggest made to the City of Clayton since the donation of the ground for Shaw Park.” The plans for Chapman Plaza include a fountain, tables and chairs and a waterfall, among other features. Construction is scheduled to start next spring and is planned to take about a year.

However, this project was not produced without input from the Clayton community. In June, three public meetings were held, during which residents had a chance to examine the design and make changes based

Photo by Cosi Thomas

by MICHAEL BERNARD, LISE DERKSEN and JACOB LAGESSE reporters upon what they believed would most benefit the Clayton community.

However, some Clayton residents feel the plan wasn’t shared with the public soon enough. In the early stages, planning was just between the CCF, the Board of Aldermen and the Parks Department. The public meetings were only held late in this process once much of the plan had already been established.

Clayton resident Lisa Mooney attended these meetings. While she is glad that the plan is being communicated with the public now, she thinks the city should have shared the plans earlier in the process. “I think what’s most important going forward is that they continue to communicate with citizens so that people continue to be comfortable and understand the project,” Mooney said.

One controversial topic addressed at the meeting was how the plaza would interfere with sledding at Shaw Park, given that plans placed it on a very popular sledding location. Sanger, however, believes this will not be an issue.

“One of our revisions [of the plan] was to make sure that it was placed such that it did not interfere with sledding in the winter,” Sanger said.

“The plaza will not interfere with the sledding hill, even though [sledding] is not something we encourage.”

The plans for Chapman Plaza were not developed without public consent and aid. The plaza would not have been constructed if it were not for people in the Clayton community like Bob Chapman who desired to give back to something from which they have received so much.

“Not everyone can give back on a seven million dollar level, but you know we have people give us 700 dollars or 70 dollars, and every little bit helps,” Goodman said.

Chapman said that in the end, he saw a park that was underused by the thousands of people who drive and walk by it each day. The new plaza, he desires, is something that will catch their eye. “[I hope that] it would invite them to stop and come into the park,” Chapman said. 

NEWS 9

A JOINT OPERATION

A look into the newly founded Clayton Alcohol and Drug Task Force.

by CAMILLE RESPESS news section editor He was only expecting a handful of people.

But when Dr. Gregory Batenhorst, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for the Clayton School District, walked into a meeting in April, 45 Clayton parents were present to voice their concerns about how alcohol and drug abuse is handled in the community.

“A group of caring parents approached the District about how we could possibly raise the level of our services of students and families who may be struggling with alcohol and drug concerns,” Batenhorst said.

Beth Deutsch, spearhead of this parent group, came to the School District in March to express her concern about substance abuse among students at CHS, as well as the lack of resources and assistance she felt families get from the District when dealing with the issue.

After doing so, Deutsch reached out to friends and acquaintances and asked them to come to a meeting with Batenhorst if they shared similar concerns.

At the April meeting, Batenhorst wanted to learn about the parents’ perspectives on the topic of alcohol and drug use and abuse among teenagers.

“I opened up the discussion and asked the parents this: ‘I really want to ask myself and you two questions. Number one: what is it that parents want and need? Obviously you are coming to us with a concern about alcohol and drug use and abuse. [Number two]: what do parents know about the problem?”’ Batenhorst said.

In this dialogue, Batenhorst gained a greater insight on the struggles that families face when dealing with alcohol and drug abuse among adolescents.

“The stories that they told were very personal and very powerful,” Batenhorst said. “I could listen to their stories and hear a lot of pain in their voices.”

This meeting propelled Batenhorst and the District to act upon the concerns that were expressed by the parents that came to them through the establishment of a task force that could look at the issues more in depth.

The Clayton Alcohol and Drug Task Force met for the first time, over the summer, as a formal group of about 20 parents, administrators, counselors, student resource officers, two CHS students and a representative from the National Council of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

CHS principal Dr. Dan Gutchewsky is a sitting member on the Task

NEWS

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Force and finds it to have a powerful collection of individuals.

“We have a very strong group of parents and community members that are very passionate about this,” Gutchewsky said. “I think that this group has galvanized in a way that I haven’t seen before in the 15 years that I have been here.”

In forming the Task Force, Batenhorst asked high school counselors and administrators for recommendations of students that they thought would be good representatives of CHS. “I asked them for kids that were pretty well balanced academically, socially; ones that crossed over different social groups and had pretty good heads on their shoulders,” Batenhorst said.

CHS junior Auriann Sehi is one of the two active student members on the Task Force. She joined the group because of her desire to express the viewpoints of teenagers on the subject matter of alcohol and drug use in Clayton.

“I think that with something like this, they really need a student’s perspective, whether it was my perspective or anyone else’s perspective,” Sehi said.

Based on a protocol from a Washington University professor, the Task Force is working methodically to make an impact on the Clayton community concerning substance abuse.

“We are identifying symptoms. From those, we are going to delve into what we think are the root causes for the abuse. After that, we are going to move into the solution and implementation phase to make sure that we are not missing anything,” Deutsch said.

Over the summer, the Task Force created a Correlated Symptoms List, containing 39 symptoms, or things that Clayton students are engaging in regarding drug and alcohol use. The group also categorized these symptoms under whose responsibility it is to deter them from happening.

“Students are getting high during lunch and then returning to school.

That’s a symptom. Students are dealing drugs in school, including in the restrooms, that’s a symptom. Students are selling prescription drugs to peers, that’s a symptom,” Batenhorst said. “So we identified all the symptoms and we looked at the list and posed the question of who is responsible for making sure those things don’t happen and/or who is responsible for responding to helping kids and families deal with it if it happens.”

The student members on the Task Force were out of town during the

summer months when the symptoms list was created and, therefore, were unable to contribute to it. Sehi finds that the list contains many misconceptions because it was made without students’ perspectives.

“I think that they had good intentions, but a lot of the things that they were saying came from ignorance because they don’t know what’s going on,” Sehi said. “They are seeing it from a parent perspective and that it is black and white and really easy to solve, but it’s not.”

In conjunction with the creation of the Correlated Symptoms List, the Task Force is also working to form a support group for families in Clayton dealing with substance abuse. Gutchewsky believes that the implementation of such a group would be beneficial to the Clayton community.

“It can be a very alienating and lonely feeling when you feel like if you have a child that has some substance abuse issues, then you kind of feel alone in it,” Gutchewsky said. “Just being able to connect folks with other people that have either experienced it or with resources is a really valuable thing.”

In addition to the formation of a support group, one of the main focal points of the Task Force now is to examine the freedom given to CHS students. Batenhorst believes that this freedom, such as an open-campus policy, might be propelling some students towards the use of drugs and alcohol during the school day.

“I think that there is a perception among some of the parents that one of the hallmarks of Clayton is the independence that is given to kids and the trust that is put into the hands of [students] to make good decisions,” Batenhorst said. “Maybe that’s been too much freedom given to kids. Maybe there’s a correlation between the freedom given to kids and students getting involved in alcohol and drug use.”

For Deutsch, one of her largest concerns is the fact that some Clayton students are using alcohol and drugs during the school day. Her son, Henry, former CHS student who is now in boarding school in Utah, did this frequently and was never caught by administration.

“The expectation is that when our kids are at school, they should be safe and in a drug-free environment. An abuser can always find a way,

we all know that,” Deutsch said. “But I have learned that there are things that we can put in place with policy and procedure to make it a lot more difficult for any student to be using during school hours.”

Sehi believes that any regulation changes would result in negative responses from the students at CHS. “If they do pass anything, in terms of a policy change or anything, it would just be reacted to with some kind of uproar,” she said.

Although the Task Force is not currently open to the public, the group is striving to eventually create a more accessible and formal group to better the process in which substance abuse is handled in the School District.

“In the long run, we are looking towards putting together what is called an Alcohol and Drug Free Coalition, which is a bigger group that would meet on a regular basis,” Batenhorst said.

More immediately, Batenhorst wants the Task Force to be able to reach out to other community members to join the conversation about teenage drug and alcohol use by holding an event open to the public in the late fall.

Similarly, Deutsch sees room for improvement in all regards surrounding substance abuse in the Clayton School District and wants to unite the community in the efforts she is hoping to make with the Task Force.

“Ultimately, I am hoping that we change policy and procedure, that we can change the culture amongst kids and how they think. [Also], educate and support families and students in the District and really just come together,” Deutsch said.

Even though she acknowledges that drug and alcohol use among teenagers is not a new phenomenon, through the Task Force, Deutsch wants to be able to give aid to the students of the Clayton School District in what she considers to be a more effective way.

“To whatever degree, there’s a problem at Clayton. To me it doesn’t really matter what the numbers are, if it’s the majority or if it’s the minority,” Deutsch said. “If this is a problem amongst any of the students whether it’s during school hours or after, then we have to do our best to help every student in the community.” 

Photo by Katherine Sleckman

NEWS

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BACK TO SCHOOLj TEACHER EDITION

by GRACE HARRISON senior managing editor

Castellano in a conference with Teson. (Phoebe Yao) On the first day of the 2015-2016 school year, CHS journalism advisor, Erin Castellano, walked into English teacher Sue Teson’s first hour class as a student, along with 22 anxious juniors.

Teson, who has been teaching for 27 years, was the recipient of the Bill Mendelson Excellence in Teaching Award last year. To say the least, she is a legend. Castellano speaks for many when she says, “I’m like a big, big fan.”

Castellano’s admiration for Teson was present from the start. “She was obviously someone that I had a deep respect for,” Castellano said. “Lots of my students and graduates have talked

about how she was such a wonderful teacher, and I was always kind of intrigued by her.”

As it turns out, the respect was mutual. “I always kind of admired her from afar,” Teson said. “But it wasn’t until recently that our paths converged.”

The convergence occurred on the way to a girls’ retreat in Caledonia, MO. “We drove down together and we just started talking about school, and about classes,” Teson said. “We just sort of clicked.”

Throughout the trip, Castellano became even more inspired to learn from Teson. “She is somebody who knows a lot about

the world around her,” Castellano said. “A plant, for example: she’ll be able to tell you what it is, the history of it, why it is important to the landscape and why it matters. It is fun to be around somebody Castellano in the 1st period HAL class. (Bebe Engel) who can give so much context and depth to the world that you’re in.”

After hearing Learning Center Direcbeen participating in class and completing her homework on par with tor Carroll Lehnhoff-Bell rave about how much she loved being a supthe other students in the class. port teacher in Teson’s class a few years ago, Castellano was convinced: “It is the students’ class,” Teson said. “She makes that very clear. she was going to take Teson’s Honors American Literature course.

But sometimes when she has something to say when other people “I thought, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this,” Castellano aren’t raising their hand, she will share, and it is just really great.” said. “No better day than today.”

For Castellano, the experience is much more than just learning As Castellano walked in on the first day, the students were surprised and practicing the material. “One piece is that I’m just generally into see her with a notebook in her hands. terested in the content, because I think it is presented incredibly well, CHS Junior Lawrence Hu reveals his peers’ reaction upon seeing and I think the stuff she talks about is really interesting,” Castellano Castellano in class. said. “But the other piece of that is looking at how she is operating as “On the first day, [my friends were] like, ‘what is she doing? Is she a teacher and how she is interacting with the students.” supposed to be here, or is she just here to survey people or see what is Castellano has already carefully observed Teson’s teaching style going on?’” and has used it within her own classes. “It has been a great experience Hu, a Globe student, knew about Castellano’s enrollment in the learning more about American literature in American history, and class prior to the first day of school. He was also one of the first to sit also learning how to be a better teacher,” Castellano said. “The goal next to her. is just to observe and learn from someone who is a master teacher.”

“I didn’t know how it was going to work at first,” Hu said. “I thought Castellano is not the only one learning from the experience. it was kind of weird, but then I kind of rolled with it.”

“I think it is pretty cool,” Hu said. “I think it builds a sense of comTo clear the confusion, Teson promptly addressed the class situamunity between the teachers and the students which I feel like we tion. “I said, ‘So here is what is happening,’” Teson said. “As far as class need more of. She probably gets to meet a lot of new students and the goes, she is one of you. So for groups and graded discussions and those students also get to meet her. Also, she [has the opportunity] to build a relationship with Mrs. Teson and the English Department, so I feel like maybe even teachers could learn something from that. You can “We just treat her like a student, but still learn even though you are teaching other kids.”

Teson sees Castellano as the poster child for the goal of the course. then the moment she steps out of that “It has gotten to the point where, I don’t think I’m exaggerating classroom she is a teacher again.” (Hu) when I say this, but I get a text from her everyday making some kind of connection with something she has seen or a piece of music, something she has heard,” Teson said. “So that’s what is so invigorating kind of things, she will just be interacting with you as if she is a student about the experience, is that she is really taking this stuff to heart, in the class, which she is.” and really seeing connections between what we are doing in class and It did not take long for Castellano to fit right in. “It is pretty fun,” Hu our larger American society, which is really the ultimate goal of the said. “We just treat her like a student, but then the moment she steps course -- to make students very conscious of their cultural heritage out of that classroom she is a teacher again.” and how the American story plays out before our eyes everyday.”  As far as the rigorous workload is concerned, Castellano has already

NEWS

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IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME

Clayton High School students and teachers participate in the Greek Festival in the Central West End. Each Labor Day weekend for the past 98 years, tucked away in the Central West End, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church throws St. Louis’ largest ethnic festival. The event takes place in and outside of St. Nicholas church and lasts for three days.

Walking under the main tent of the festival the hot, dense aroma of Greek food begins to take over. On the right, volunteers dished out spanakopita, gyros, moussaka, baklava and every imaginable Greek delicacy to the eager customers. On the left, a skillet erupted in flames to make a saganaki, flaming cheese.

CHS Sophomore Sam Nakis works at the saganaki booth at the festival with her dad. She has been involved with the festival for about five years helping out in any way she can: from grilling pita, to dishing out spanakopita, to setting cheese on fire.

Through crowds of people, on the other side of the tent, groups of children and teens, dressed in traditional Greek garb, dance.

CHS Junior, Katina Massad, has been dancing in the Greek Festival for eight years. Massad’s grandparents emigrated from a tiny village in northern Greece by the major city of Thessaloniki.

“I was baptized here. This is my family church,” Massad said. “My grandma goes here. My mom goes here. They were wanting people to build up a dance troupe, so my sister, my mom and I all dance here every

F E AT U R

E 14

by ELLIE TOMASSON senior managing editor

year.”

The dancers have to endure blazing temperatures while dancing in heavy clothing.

“We wear long-sleeved satin dresses with a velvet red vest with embellishments all over and a velvet hat that matches the red jacket. And then we change into our fishermen costumes for the Zorba because we’re supposed to resemble fishermen in Greece, so we wear the long black pants with the button-up shirt, a necktie and a sash. They are all made in Greece,” Massad said. “Every Labor Day weekend is always the hottest of the year. It really gets overwhelming, but you just carry on anyways. It doesn’t matter because you have so much fun doing it.”

Each of the dances is traditionally from Greece and has its own story behind it.

“We do a freedom dance for the Evzones, and we do a war dance,” Massad said. “Our choreographer Georgia Johnson is from Greece, so she goes there sometimes and brings back new stuff for us to learn.”

Although it is Massad’s last year being a part of the troupe, she hopes to continue her dancing throughout her life.

“I want to come back and dance as much as I can because this is what I want to do,” she said. “This is my passion: dancing.”

Outside of the main tent, there are several smaller food stands serv-

ing more Greek desserts. One stall dishes out the indescribably delicious Baklava sundaes, which consist of soft serve ice cream topped with Greek honey syrup and sprinkled with filo pastry flakes and crushed walnuts.

Another, doles out Loukoumades: fried balls of dough drenched in cinnamon, honey syrup and topped off with crushed walnuts.

Behind the Loukoumades booth, CHS substitute teacher Liz Glynias works frying the delicious doughy balls.

“It’s the size of a donut hole, a beignet flair, a funnel cake feel, but better than all of those things mixed together. It’s covered with a cinnamon honey syrup and sprinkled in crushed walnuts,” Glynias said.

Glynias works with her 84 year-old mother, making the Loukoumades for the festival all day in the sweltering heat.

“My mother has been [making Loukoumades] with the ladies here for over 20 years,” Glynias said.

Glynias and the other women had to make the outdoor kitchen in which they fry their confections from scratch. Glynias worked continuously for a month to construct the kitchen and prepare for the festival.

In addition to helping with the Greek festival, Glynias also plays an active role in the Philoptochos, an organization to provide for the philanthropic needs of the community.

“It’s the ladies auxiliary of The Greek Orthodox Church of America. In St. Louis, our Philoptochos works with hundreds of organizations. I’ve been president of [the philoptochos] for eight years in the past. I’ve just been involved since I was born,” Glynias said.

Glynias, whose five children all went through the Clayton School District, has been involved with the church for her whole life.

“My mother would bring me as a baby,” Glynias said. “We were all married here. I was married here. My parents were married here. My sisters and brothers were married here. My children have been married here. It’s a very family traditional church.”

Her parents were born in a village in northern Greece near the Albanian border before emigrating to America in the mid 1940s.

“My mother came when she was about 14-years-old. It was right be-

fore the war broke out,” Glynias said. “She likes to tell this story that when the Germans came to case the land to use their little village as a lookout point. They used my mother’s home, which was the largest home at the time, to be the headquarters for the general. My mom was crying because her dad had two white rabbits that were pets for her, and the general saw them and ordered them to kill the rabbits so his troops could eat meat. We didn’t have meat that often in those days.”

Eventually, her family left Greece and set out for St. Louis where she grew up.

“Her dad, my grandfather, had been over [to America] many times.,” she said. “He had his oldest son with him until he had enough money to send for his wife and his two children, and so, my youngest uncle was born here in St. Louis.”

Glynias, herself, was born in St. Louis. “[My parents] had seven children; I’m one of seven. We never ever ate in a restaurant when I was growing up. We walked to the grocery store because we didn’t own a car,” she said.

Greek is the first language of Glynias and her family.

“I didn’t really get into English until I was in kindergarten,” Glynias said. “I remember coming home and saying to my parents ‘You know, I don’t know this English very well and I want to do well in school, so I’m not going to talk to you in Greek anymore. I’m going to talk in English. You can talk any language you want to me, but I’m going to talk in English’ That was my decision.”

Glynias’ Greek heritage has connected her deeply with the St. Nicholas community.

Whether through a plate of sagnaki or a Zorba performance in the sweltering heat, the Greek Festival is a tradition that allows members of the St. Louis community to remind themselves of their Greek heritage and enjoy timeless traditions. 

(Above) Senior Tony Farias working in the food tent during the Greek Festival. (Left) The bustling food stands at the Greek Festival. (Right) Katina Massad performs traditional Greek dances (Photos by Jenny Braverman).

F E AT U

R E 15

(photo and map from ©Loop Trolley)

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

by NOAH BROWN and MARTY SHARPE I. The Project Itself Torn down. Desolate. These are words that were commonly used to describe the area east of Skinker in the late 1990’s. As Joe Edwards, a St. Louis civic leader and real estate investor, sat in on a neighborhood charrette, he was struck with an idea to solve this particular issue. While others proposed putting flower pots out and hanging banners on light poles, Edwards introduced the idea of the vintage trolley system.

After three years of being met with dead silence in regard to his perplexing idea, Edwards eventually founded the Loop Trolley Company with other local citizens in 2000. An environmental study followed a few years later that proved the project to be feasible.

Once it became a realistic possibility, Edwards took the initiative to seek much-needed funding for the project.

“It was really important to me to not have it funded out of the general funds of either the City of St. Louis or U-City,” Edwards said. “That’s one reason it took so long to get the funding to do it. But to make a long 18 year journey short, it is now actually happening.”

And happening it is.

Funding of the project was a major focal point in its initial planning.

In 2010, the project was one of few cities to be awarded a 25 million dollar grant from the Federal Transit Administration.

“We were one of the five cities that got it, and it was great for St. Louis to actually win something,” Edwards said.

Other contributions to the project’s funding were made by local inves-

F E AT U R

E 16

tors.

The proposed 2.2 mile route will run along Delmar Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue, connecting The Loop restaurant, shopping, and Arts & Entertainment District to Forest Park with a stop at the Missouri History Museum.

The leaders of the project plan for a 2016 opening date. University City’s Director of Public Works Richard Wilson explained the extensive process. “[The leaders of the project] are projecting the end of 2016 for it to be ready. The construction will probably finish the summer of 2016, but because it is a public transportation system, they have like six months of testing to do,” Wilson said. “There are many safety issues they have to investigate, so they are thinking that by the end of 2016, they should be ready to have the first paying customer.”

In comparison to the St. Louis Metrolink, the trolley system will function in a similar fashion, but most details are yet to be determined. One thing about the trolley that Edwards hopes will be similar to the Metrolink is the price tag.

“I’m hoping that the price will be the same as the bus or the Metrolink so it doesn’t confuse people from out of town so they will say, ‘Oh yeah, it is $2.75 or $2.50 for everything,’” Edwards said.

A collaboration with Metro may also be on the horizon, Edwards hopes.

“I would love to work out a transfer system with Metro where you

ey)

could take a bus or Metrolink, and then transfer from the trolley or one or the other, either for a small upcharge or for no upcharge, but time will tell on those negotiations,” he said.

Wilson noted the basic similarities between the two systems, yet argued there would be differences.

“It will be a lot slower than the Metrolink. It will be very similar to the Metrolink in that you have to get a ticket to get on, it’s got certain stops, it will basically be the same function but on a slower level,” he said.

The trolley looks to function as an attraction to tourists as well as residents and commuters. Wilson believes the project will attract a diverse group of citizens.

“Is it going to attract tourists? Yes. There’s going to be a lot of people that will ride it as tourists,” Wilson said. “It will attract some residents. There is always the question of where does it go. If you live down Debaliviere and wanted to come to the Loop, it would be a great means of transportation.”

Edwards argues that the project will be important to not only all St. Louisans, but other cities as well.

“It’s very meaningful to everyone in St. Louis. [...] it serves as a prototype for other areas -- how to connect neighborhoods to each other and to Metrolink,” Edwards said. “That’s the future of cities in our country, small and large.”

II. Controversy and Community Opposition As one wanders through the Loop, they will have little difficulty noticing that the project is under way and in the construction phase. Not only has the construction phase caused ubiquitous traffic and noise, but it has also decreased business and sparked controversy.

The construction, according to Wilson, has resulted in a 30 to 60 percent decrease in business among Loop businesses. However, he argues that a decrease in business is a result of any construction project.

Apart from the steady decrease of business, visitors like Richard Kordenbrock, CHS history teacher, visit the Loop for its unique attractions

like the Tivoli Theater and question the necessity of the trolley system.

“I really don’t see the need for it. What is it going to be used for? Is there really a great need to have public transportation in such a short area?” Kordenbrock said.

The project has even faced legal opposition. In April 2014, a handful of strong-minded citizens brought the project before a federal judge, seeking to have its developers punished for the trolley supposedly not following, “certain procedures,” according to Wilson.

Alex Ihnen, a University City citizen and editor of nextstl.com, argues that the trolley will function more as a tourist attraction than a legitimate means of transportation.

“The Loop Trolley has always been an economic development tool and a tourist attraction, separated from any real transportation purpose,” Ihnen said.

Despite controversy and opposition, those behind the project strongly believe that the short-term drawbacks will be outlived by the long-term value. Edwards stresses that the project will give local citizens pride as well as providing stability for centuries to come.

“It will just add excitement, and it will bring pride to St. Louisans,” he said. 

Many businesses in the Loop have been affected by the contrustion of the Trolley (Ava Hoffman).

F E AT U

R E 17

TE-TONS OF FUN CHS students research in the Grand Tetons.

“We got to school the day that we were leaving, and we loaded up the car and lit out for the west!” CHS Senior Eleanor Troupis said.

Troupis was one of four students who joined CHS Environmental Science teacher Charles Collis on his sixth expedition to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The students left a week before their second semester finals and remained at the Tetons for 16 days, participating in research through the University of Wyoming.

Following informative presentations Collis gave to various science classes at CHS, seniors Audrey Kastner, Michaela Key, Micaela Stoner and Troupis applied in the spring for a spot on the trip.

Collis looks for a variety of qualities in his applicants.

“I need students who I can trust when I’m not directly supervising them,” Collis said. “Ideally, the student is going to be curious about what is going on and work-oriented. We’re really there to do research as our primary objective, so the student has to be a hard-worker even though their summer has already begun.”

The trip consisted of studying the correlation between the mating calls and mating status of sagebrush crickets found in the Grand Tetons.

“The last two summers we’ve attempted to record male calls and release the males back into the field, and then attempt to recapture them to see their mating status change from captured as a virgin to captured again as a non-virgin, and then we’ve got these sound files to go with it,” Collis said. “We can analyze those sound files with software that I have that will allow us to determine how many hours he’s spending vocalizing, when he’s vocalizing and what his chirps sound like, and we try to see if any of those seem like a reasonable predictor of who gets mated first.”

Although capturing the crickets was initially difficult, the students quickly developed techniques to improve their success.

“We’d circle the bushes that the noises were coming from, shine red lights on them because crickets can’t pick up on red frequencies, capture them and put them in the car,” Troupis said.

“You get better at it as you go along,” Kastner said. “It’s pretty difficult at first, just to listen and then use your hearing to figure out where the male is. Sometimes he’ll call, and then he won’t call again. You know he’s near but you can’t find him.”

After bringing the crickets back to the research center, the students

by ALEX BERNARD and KATIE SPEAR

massed the crickets, then painted and numbered them for identification. lf the students captured crickets that had already been identified, they checked to see if their mating status had changed.

For Key, the most interesting part of the trip was conducting field work. “lt was fun being able to see how the crickets mated. Audrey and I got one of the first videos ever of the crickets mating in the field,” Key said.

Kastner was enticed by the research aspect of the trip.

“I’m hoping to major in [biology] in college ... That’s a big reason why I went, just to test it out and see if it’s something that I want to be doing for the rest of my life,” Kastner said.

Troupis, on the other hand, was interested in the opportunity to experience the scenery and nature of this national park.

“I love hiking and I’d never been to Wyoming, so I thought it’d be really fun to go on hikes there. l didn’t really go for the crickets to be honest. lt just seemed like a lot of fun,” Troupis said.

Kastner, Key, Troupis and senior Jolena Pang, who went on the trip in 2014, will be continuing to expand on their research throughout the school year.

“I’m going to require them to spend a certain number of hours a week analyzing these sound files and compiling all of the data so we can get this large data set, and then we can do a statistical analysis on it,” Collis said.

“We’ll create a poster project that displays our data, what our findings were and our methodology, and we will present that poster project at a couple of research symposiums.”

The first symposium will be at Illinois State University on April 29, 2016. The students also have an opportunity to to present their research at a St. Louis Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (SLEEC) symposium next fall.

Conducting and presenting research is a unique experience because it offers a professional scientific opportunity for high school students.

“This is a much more immersive experience than what you can do in high school,” Collis said. “We put so many hours into just one mysterious question, and to be the first person who gets to know something about the natural world because you did it, it gives me tingles.” 

The student and teacher group while in Grand Tetons National Park. (Photo from Ellie Troupis)

F E AT U R

E 18

Anzilotti (bottom right) and her classmates at their school, Instituto Madre de Jesús. (Photo from Anna Anzilotti)

ANZILOTTI TAKES ARGENTINA

Junior Anna Anzilotti spent nine weeks studying abroad in General Ramírez, Argentina over the summer.

by MARICLARE GATTER and MITALI SHARMA

It had been two days and Anna Anzilotti was still adjusting to her new ‘home away from home’ in General Ramírez, Argentina. Upon her arrival, a new classmate asked for her last name, using the Spanish word “apellido.” Thrown off by the local accent she had yet to adjust to, Anzilotti misheard their question. Trying to mimic the word, she mistakenly pronounced, “bachata,” the word for a type of Latin American dance. Unaware of what she was really saying, Anzilotti responded saying that her “bachata” was Anzilotti, to which her classmate laughed and replied, “no.”

Though the confusion was soon cleared up, Anna was given a nickname that stuck: Anna Bachata.

Anzilotti, a junior at CHS, had dreamt of studying abroad since hearing about the experiences of other students as a freshman during World Cultures Day. “I went home and told my mom that I wanted to study abroad for a year, and she was all for it,” Anzilotti said.

Although traveling for a year in high school seemed too risky with graduation credits and college requirements, her wish to travel abroad, for a much smaller time frame, came true through the AFS Intercultural Program, a 9-week summer trip.

AFS originally stood for the American Ambulance Field Service, an ambulance service created to help wounded soldiers during World War II. After the war, in 1947, it turned into a different type of program. In efforts to ease tensions between European and American people, they created a high school exchange student program, known as the AFS Intercultural Program. Now, the program has expanded to more than 75 countries, including Argentina, Anzilotti’s choice.

For Anzilotti, Spanish runs in the family. She has taken several Spanish classes in school and her mother is fluent in the language. When choosing her destination, Anzilotti immediately narrowed her search to Spanish speaking countries. However, based on the current turmoil in many of these places, Anzilotti had to refine her list of choices. One of the

remaining countries was Argentina, a country whose history Anzilotti had already researched and become familiar with. This made a perfect fit for Anzilotti.

A host family in General Ramírez, Argentina provided Anzilotti with a home during her summer-long stay. “I had a 14-year-old sister, a mom, and a dad,” Anzilotti said, who did not describe the family as simply her hosts, but rather as her second family. Through their bond, Anzilotti was able to further her connection with the Argentinean culture by having a true Argentinean ‘family.’

A day in Argentina was always a busy one. Anzilotti would wake up at 6:30 a.m. everyday, go to school with her host sister, Mercedes, come home to do homework or spend time with her “sister” and eat dinner before having some time to relax. Through various experiences of baking cakes, playing go-fish, doing homework, or just watching a family movie, Anzilotti’s host family became like a real one.

Anzilotti was able to apply her knowledge with the English language while in Argentina. In her town, there was an English school where even her host parents would go to study. Anzilotti became an assistant teacher there, meeting with locals of every age, from tiny kids to adults like her host parents. Not only did Anzilotti learn during her foreign experience, but she became a teacher as well.

After nine weeks, Anzilotti returned to Clayton with an experience she will never forget. One of the many take-aways from her trip, Anzilotti said, was that it was a huge confidence booster. “I just knew that everything else was going to be easy because I had done this and I could do it,” she said. Other effects of the time abroad include appreciating and connecting with another culture, as well as furthering her Spanish knowledge.

“It’s an experience [that’s] totally unique,” Anzilotti said. “To go anywhere in the world and to experience that culture so fully and really be submerged in the language, that’s just so perfect, so personal.” 

F E AT U

R E 19

Number of People Killed by These Animals per Year

Data according to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations. Numbers are approximate.

50,000

4 7 5, 0 0 0

Snakes

Humans

725,000

AN AFRIC AN ADVENTURE TURNS LIFE OR DEATH “I was like, ‘I’m in Africa, I want to go adventure,’ so I was always out, leader of the group, running around exploring things,” CHS sophomore Christine Burris said. “They’re guessing I might have been exposed to [malaria] more than once, just because I was always off on my own.”

On June 6, the Burris family traveled to Ethiopia. “I went there for part business, part vacation,” Christine said. “My dad was doing some work for Lonely Planet, so he writes about places to go when you’re traveling.”

“We flew to Africa from Washington D.C. It took us about three days to get to Ethiopia, and when we got off the plane there, it took us about an hour to get through customs, getting our visas,” William Burris, Christine’s father, said. “We went north to Mekeilah. It was the lowest dry place on the planet. When we were there, it was about 128 degrees.”

Christine, her 11-year-old brothers Connor and Benjamin, and William Burris experienced the living situation of the locals. “We got in that evening and crashed at kind of a hotel, more of a hostel - no air conditioning,” William said.

Unfortunately, a few days into the trip, Christine starting experiencing symptoms that, unbeknownst to her, were typical of malaria.

“We stopped at a hotel to get food that was safe to eat and I ended up passing out. I collapsed and was throwing up all over the place, and that’s when we decided that something was very wrong,” Christine said.

Conditions were not much better in the hospital they stayed at. “We

F E AT U R

E 20

Mosquitoes

by ALEX BERNARD and CATHERINE WALSH

pulled in and it looked like a Hotel 6 that had been abandoned years ago … It was pretty dirty, pretty rough, but that was the hospital - the nicest hospital,” Burris said.

“When we pulled up, I honestly thought that we’d made a wrong turn,” Christine said. “We ended up getting triage because there was like a 50 person wait, but all of them were fine and we were getting carried in.”

Fortunately, a World Health Organization doctor who studies malaria was in his last week of volunteering at the hospital.

“They didn’t have the supplies there to take a blood test ... but they diagnose four cases of malaria a day, so he was like, ‘It’s malaria,’” Christine said.

Christine was put on an IV for hydration and was given several injections.

“I was pretty worried about AIDS and other infections, so I wanted to make sure every needle was [sanitary]. I saw every needle come out of the package. They thought I was a little bit of a jerk,” William said.

“And I wanted to take pictures of every medication they gave us in case something went wrong and they [doctors in America] asked me ‘Well, what did they give you?’”

Over the course of the following 24 hours, both William and Con-

ner were also diagnosed with malaria and were given proper treatment, although the disease had not progressed as it had in Christine.

“The doctor gave me his number and said if anybody gets sick just call at anytime ... I needed medication at midnight. I was really cold and I had trouble getting to sleep. I had a fever, too, and then I realized that I probably have malaria, too,” William said. “I called him and he came to the hotel, but I ended up going to the hospital instead because I needed an IV and some blood work.”

Although the Burris family no longer felt the effects of the disease when returning home, they remained cautious.

“We white-lied through customs, because they didn’t ask if we had been sick so we didn’t bring it up, but when we got back we talked to our pediatrician and my doctor and just let them know,” Christine said. “The CDC totally pounced on us the second we got back.”

One strain of malaria has been found to be able to survive in the liver for up to a year following malaria exposure. However unlikely, this remains a possibility for the Burris family. “[The] CDC doctor said to come see them if they have fever in the next year because it could be malaria,” William said.

In general, the information the Burris’ received regarding malaria before going to Africa was not reliable.

“CVS actually told us that we wouldn’t have to worry about malaria where we were going, because it is so hot there that there weren’t going to be any bugs,” Christine said. “In the US, there’s not a lot of education on malaria because it’s not a problem here. In the village we were in, malaria is the top killer in children, and a lot of people can’t afford the drug to fix it.”

In addition to not having the financial means to afford the drugs, many hospitals, including the one Christine was treated in, are unable to do blood tests locally because of a lack of microscopes.

“I’m going to try to start a fundraiser to get a microscope sent to the hospital where I was [treated],” Christine said. “They don’t have even a basic medical microscope which is the reason why a lot of the kids there die from malaria because they don’t know whether it is malaria or not.”

Despite the setback from the malaria, the Burris family still enjoyed their trip.

“I definitely would go back in a heartbeat,” Christine said. “It was life changing.” 

(Left) Christine Burris at the private hospital in Hosanna, Africa. (Top, right) Where the Burris family slept. (Above) The Burris family (from left to right), Christine’s brother Benjamin, Christine’s father William, Christine and her brother Connor. (Photos from Burris family) ).

F E AT U

R E 21

Photo by Felix Evans

SOPHIE’S NEW FRONTIER

Senior Sophie Jacobs spent an adventurous summer vacation abroad in Chile.

While her trip to Chile was definitely a major culture shift, Sophie Jacobs is no stranger to being the new kid in town. At age 17, she has already moved nine or ten times (she has lost count), and has spent time in various parts of Oregon, Missouri and California. She even lived in Clayton from second to eighth grade, and attended Clayton schools.

The inspiration to enroll in a student exchange, however, came from numerous summers spent in Italy, where her mother had once been an exchange student. It was this positive experience, coupled with Jacobs’s love of languages, that led her to become involved in American Field Service Intercultural Programs.

It was through AFS, one of the largest student exchange services in the world, that Jacobs was able to realize her dream. She submitted a list of potential countries and was given her top choice, Chile. “It was the country I knew least about that was a Spanish–speaking country, and I really wanted to work on my skills in Spanish … Also the geography was really interesting to me … I just wanted to go somewhere far away from home,” Jacobs said.

Upon her arrival, Sophie realized just how far from home she actu-

E 22

FEATUR

by PETRA SIKIC reporter

ally was. Having previously lived in California’s Bay Area, one of the most densely populated urban zones in the world, she was struck by the isolation of her temporary hometown of Coyhaique, a city of just over 50,000 people situated amidst the harsh beauty of the region of Patagonia.

“I remember the first time I was there, “ Sophie said, “I was sitting in the car with my host mother, and there was just nothing around us and I remember thinking, ‘Wait, is this where I’m gonna be for my whole year?’

I remember kind of getting a bit scared, but also thinking this was just a new adventure for me.”

Over the course of her time in Coyhaique, Jacobs got to know more of the Patagonia and its stunning nature.

“My host parents actually worked for the national park service,” Jacobs said. “They were just really excited for me to explore nature and get to experience what it was like there.”

The region around Coyhaique is a popular tourist destination with many national parks and nature reserves close by. What Jacobs remem-

bers most clearly is the Piedra del Indio, a huge rocky outcrop that the locals believe resembles a human face.

When not acquainting herself with her surroundings, Jacobs spent her time with her new host parents and sister. “I just took it day by day.

I took every day as an opportunity to learn something,” she said.

The situation was made easier by the fact that Jacob’s host mother had once also been an exchange student. “Whenever I would get down because of the language barrier or whatever it was, she would just be like: ‘I’ve been there,’” Jacobs said.

In school, Sophie was in the same class as her host sister, which made her adjustment to a completely new system somewhat easier. Getting used to the local school in Coyhaique, however, was a bit of a challenge.

Having previously attended Oakland College Preparatory School in California, one of the nation’s top private schools, the experience of some of the inefficiencies of the Chilean system made an impact on Sophie.

The school day in Chile lasts from 8:00 in the morning to late into the afternoon, with a two-hour lunch break in between.

“For the first couple of months, I just remember being exhausted, but the weird thing was, we didn’t really learn that much,” Sophie said.

She noted that Chile is currently undergoing education reform, which she wholeheartedly supports. Her classmates she remembers fondly as more affectionate and immature than their American counterparts, but essentially, Sophie said, “We’re really not that different.”

Now back in Clayton, Sophie is once again adjusting to a new school. and said that she often finds herself very nostalgic for last year, but that she is also looking forward to more great things to come.

“That was a year in my life and I can’t stay there forever,” she said.

“I need to move on and I’m just grateful and glad that I had the experience.” 

Sophie Jacobs travels around Chile with her host family (Photo from Sophie Jacobs).

Jacobs at Torres del Paine National Park with her host family in Patagonia, Chile. (Photo from Sophie Jacobs) FEATURE 23

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The

art

of

chEA TING

by KEVIN ROSENTHAL senior managing editor

MAX STEINBAUM news section editor

with LAUREN PRAISS reporter

I

Introduction

With one stroke of a pen, Clayton High School students pledge themselves to a particular set of academic standards, guaranteeing they will abide by the school-wide regulations provided to maintain a high level of academic and moral integrity.

Each year, during the first week of school, time is taken out of one class to review these guidelines for preserving educational honesty. Despite the fact that all Clayton High School students are required to sign this contract, some and perhaps the majority - disregard the words which they have promised to observe.

CHS is recognized as a school with high achieving students, but such success among the student body generates a highly competitive atmosphere with intense pressure on students to perform well.

In facing such pressures, with only 24 hours in a day and an overwhelming amount of responsibilities, one of the means by which success can be attained is through cheating.

But what are the other chief causes contributing to cheating at Clayton High School? Why do many seemingly academically honorable students turn to dishonorable means of acquiring the grades they desire, and how many of them do so?

The Motivators

97.1

2.1 percent of students don’t feel this way

percent of students feel overworked during the school year

II

As it turns out, numerous factors contribute to why Clayton students resort to cheating. In a recent survey conducted by the CHS Globe staff regarding Clayton’s views on academic integrity, 97.9 percent of students describe themselves as being “generally very busy” during the school year. While a possible motivator could be the sheer fact that some students are just lazy and do not have the confidence to obtain good grades on their own, it is clear that nearly all CHS students consider themselves to be heavily involved; and for some, the lack of time in their daily lives is a dominant force in contributing to the presence of cheating.

CHS student Laura* feels that success at Clayton is almost socially imperative, which also may drive kids to cheat as a means of getting better - and more “acceptable” - grades.

“I think it’s mostly the stress factor that makes Clayton kids cheat. If you have college riding on how well you do on your final exams and you have the option to cheat, you’re probably going to find some way to do it,” Laura* said. “There’s so much pressure at Clayton for kids to ace tests and to have a 4.0 GPA, and when it comes down to it, when you have homework in every class, you have to prioritize.”

Nancy*, a CHS junior, frequently endures 14 hour days away from home during the school week due to in-and-out of school extracurriculars. She then must shift her focus directly to homework, and like many CHS students, hardly has free time during the day.

“I think if you are in a position where you have an insanely busy schedule and are sometimes not even getting home until 9 a night, and you know you just can’t make everything happen by yourself, it’s completely understandable to have the work of others sent to you every once in awhile,” Nancy said.

III

Thought Process

65.03

CHS places immense emphasis on gaining a competitive advantage via excellent grades, rigorous courses and multiple extracurriculars. In a day occupied by many different activities, the joy of learning is often then compromised. This, in turn, compels students to make a difficult decision: is it worth sacrificing personal integrity in order to properly “play the game of school” and develop an attractive transcript, contributing to a supposedly brighter future in college and beyond?

According to the survey, 65.03 percent of Clayton High School students admit to having ever cheated on homework by sending or being sent an assignment. With nearly two thirds of students participating in this breach of academic integrity, such instances of cheating can almost be considered commonplace.

According to Stacy Felps, current CHS instructional coordinator and former math teacher, this break with ethicality can largely be attributed to the fact that students, over all else, prioritize achieving respectable grades.

“At Clayton, what’s really interesting is you end up with a lot of good

percent of students admit to cheating on their homework

34.97

percent of students are academically honest

* Asterisks indicate students’ names have been changed to protect their identities.

people almost forced into making choices about cheating because they care so deeply about the grades and because they are overextended,” Felps said. “It doesn’t make them bad people, it makes them people who are stuck between a rock and a hard spot and they have to make a really devastating choice.”

CHS history teacher Sam Harned warns against what he views as this preoccupation with end goals at the expense of the acquisition of knowledge and life skills gained through the learning process.

“I think the dangerous thing with a high achieving school like Clayton that puts lots of emphasis on getting good grades and going to a selective college is people mistake product for process. If you’re all about the product, you’ve turned yourself into an object. You’ve commodified yourself.

The process of learning is so significant, it’s deep, it’s long, and it will outlast any product you create,” Harned said.

Long-time CHS psychology teacher David Aiello has taught rigorous courses at Clayton such as AP U.S. History and AP Psychology. Aiello has worked with many capable students during his Clayton tenure, but has been disappointed to encounter students willing to compromise their moral rectitude and affinity for the learning process if they believe it will translate into easier achievement of better grades.

“In [the Clayton] community, achievements matter a whole lot - I would suggest that maybe they matter a little bit too much - and the journey along the way is not as valued,” Aiello said.

“And so the mindset is, as long as I get the grade, as long as I get the score, as long as I get that rush, I can become addicted to that and not have to worry about the joy of just learning.”

Aiello provided insight into the psyche of the adolescent mind and the root causes of the overzealous student’s desire to achieve good grades.

“Our brain is wired to give us rewards, and a lot of things give us rewards. One of those things is feeling like we just did something well, or made an accomplishment,” Aiello said. “When you get a good grade, it’s going to give you a little dopamine rush.”

However, Aiello also mentioned that experiencing guilt for having acquired this dopamine rush through dishonest means can also manifest itself within the subconscious mind when someone cheats.

“Although you might get that dopamine rush, if you’ve achieved that score or grade form cheating, you would like to think that there’s some other part of your brain that thinks, ‘Oh, God, this is horrible, I can’t believe I did this.’ And oftentimes, that’s what happens,” Aiello said.

Aiello is correct in his assertion that experiencing guilt as a result of having cheated is a sentiment shared by some Clayton High School students, but not many admit to feeling regret for breaking the guidelines of academic integrity. Only 34.07 percent of students who admitted to having ever sent or received a homework assignment also reported feeling guilty for having done so.

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IV

Interpretation

Perhaps one explanation as to the prevalence of cheating is not just the ambiguity of Clayton’s stance on academic integrity, but the fact that both teachers and students have varying opinions on what constitutes cheating itself. This, in turn, causes every individual to subjectively interpret the language of the document binding them to maintain academic probity.

Felps, for instance, discussed how although she felt a responsibility to uphold Clayton’s guidelines as enshrined in the academic integrity contract, she also believes teachers deserve the liberty to implement the standards how they see fit within their own classrooms.

“Yes, there is a sheet, and yes it does have guidelines for what to do. As a classroom teacher, I am bound to follow the guidelines that are there.

But at the same time, I have taken some leeway at times - so I’ve cheated on the cheating policy,” Felps said.

Similarly, Aiello believes many teachers regard Clayton’s policies on the academic honorability of students with subjectivity. While teachers do have a duty to uphold school policy, a reality of the matter is that students and teachers alike naturally have different preconceptions on what constitutes cheating.

“I tell my students what my opinion is, not what school policy is, not what the community belief is,” Aiello said. “I know as a faculty, we’ve never had a really detailed discussion and I’m kind of curious as to what that kind of discussion would be. I think you would find that teachers are on just as wide a spectrum as kids about what is and what is not acceptable.”

From the perspective of a CHS student, it is understandable that the Clayton administration desires a set of standards by which all students must abide - but perhaps also unrealistic.

“I think it’s fair to say kids shouldn’t cheat and shouldn’t plagiarize but I do think that most kids, whether or not they will admit to it, have cheated in one way or another,” Laura* said. “I think the idea of academic integrity is really ambiguous because everyone has their own definition of cheating. I don’t consider doing homework with a friend as cheating.”

The Clayton academic integrity contract, while serving mainly as a source of guidance for what is considered cheating, fails to specifically name consequences for doing so. In turn, the responsibility of administering penalties to students is reverted to the interpretation of the individual teacher.

Harned also described how these subjective interpretations of the regulations relates to the implementation of discipline in the outside world.

“Anytime you pass a law, there will be a subjective interpretation of that law,” Harned said. “I can see teachers using a case-by-case situation.

I think teachers will treat you differently if cheating is a one time thing, just as police will treat you differently if you commit a crime and it’s a one time thing. But if you have a repeated offender, there’s going to be more of a punishment.”

The subjectivity of Clayton’s academic integrity contract and the ambiguity with which it defines cheating is also evidenced by the way that teachers and students generally interpret the language of the document differently.

While many teachers consider the sharing of assessment questions or answers by students who have already taken the test or quiz to those who have not yet done so to be cheating, 71.32 percent of students reported having done so; additionally, 65.85 percent of students who admitted to having shared or received answers on an assessment stated they do not

consider this supposed breach of academic integrity to be consistent with their personal perceptions of what constitutes cheating.

Nancy is among the majority of students who feel that certain elements of cheating are inevitable within the CHS student body.

“I think more of the extremely direct examples on the academic integrity contract are fair, but the more day-to-day examples like students sharing homework or telling the next class a question on the test are just simply not very preventable,” Nancy said.

v

JUSTIFIED?

With such diverse opinions regarding Clayton’s academic integrity standards, there also come different notions of what transgressions of the contract are more or less severe, are therefore also to what degree they are excusable. Similarly, teachers and students support varying opinions on whether or not cheating is more excusable dependent upon individual circumstance.

For instance, is it more understandable if a student with rigorous classes and intense extracurriculars copies a homework assignment than one who is guilty of the same infraction but is just too lazy to do the work? In other words, do the causes contributing to the students’ decision to cheat impact whether or not their actions are more justifiable?

54.22 percent of the CHS student body believes so.

“I think that if you’re cheating because you’re stressed you are doing it because you have high standards for yourself,” Laura said. “But if you are just cheating because you are lazy, there is no excuse to not at least try.

And if you are in really hard classes and honestly can’t make the time to study for a test, I think it’s more acceptable to cheat.”

To a degree, Felps acknowledged the legitimacy of that sometimes

challenging situation, but notes that it is still a violation of integrity and of the academic standards that students are held to.

“Students end up in too many clubs, or too many sports, or too many AP classes to do everything to the level they wish they could. I think it can get to the point where students feel like cheating is their only way.

So, you end up with really good people who sell their integrity for those reasons,” Felps said.

Interestingly, cheating on homework often does not correlate with cheating on exams; despite their tendency to cheat outside of school, many students maintain confidence in their own ability to perform on tests without cutting corners. Although almost two thirds of students admit to cheating on homework assignments, only 29.6 percent have done so on examinations.

Indeed, the survey indicates that students are more than two times as inclined to cheat when outside the walls of Clayton High School.

This data suggests that students have the ability to perform because they have successfully mastered the “game of school.”

Harned makes the argument that a truly high achieving student should not have to relent to breaking the guidelines of academic integrity. After all, he argues, it is the student’s choice to select challenging courses and to participate in a myriad of extracurriculars.

“I would say nothing is excusable. With a high ability kid, cheating shouldn’t happen,” Harned said. “There’s just no excuse for someone with high ability to say they are going to get their answers from somebody else. You are on a dangerous path if you start making excuses about cheating.”

Ryan Luhning, CHS assistant principal, has the responsibility to discipline students regarding academic integrity. In Luhning’s perspective, any act of cheating, regardless of magnitude, is a loss of academic virtue and deserves of equitable consequence.

“I think all cheating is the same,” Luhning said. “It doesn’t have to be cheating on a test or a final exam. It doesn’t have to be a large project.

It can be as simple as a one question from your neighbor - to me, that constitutes cheating.”

54.22

percent of students feel it is more acceptable to cheat when their workload is more rigorous

46.78 percent of students who don’t agree

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VI

Adding Technology

Only 15 years ago, exactly zero Clayton High School students used smartphones as a means of cheating on homework assignments and in-class assessments. Today, two thirds of the student body has sent and received homework. Due to the abundance of technological resources, students have been enabled to access virtually all of the knowledge in the world.

“Technology is huge [for cheating],” Laura said. “You have the Internet right at your hands, and you can just search up any question and in 30 seconds get the answer. And kids can easily find ways to be discrete about it.”

Felps echoed Laura’s statement on the prevalence of cheating via technology, believing that over time, the means of cheating have evolved in conjunction with development of portable resources.

“I wouldn’t say that cheating has gotten any worse through the years in terms of the number of offenses. I would say the way cheating is done is much more sophisticated. Technology has moved so quickly that we are kind of defining cheating as it is happening,” Felps said.

Laura attests that bending the rules has become easier due to the advent of technology.

During her sophomore year, Laura was caught cheating on a test when she was using her phone to look up answers. When the teacher noticed Laura had been using her phone to do so, her test was confiscated. Though Laura was not allowed to finish the test, her teacher still graded what she had completed, and she ultimately received a C on the assessment. After

apologizing profusely for her transgression, Laura was convinced further punishment would still ensue. No disciplinary action, however, was taken by either her teacher or by school administration. Although her grade did not suffer due to the incident, Laura said it caused her to undergo a transformation in her moral character, and that she has become more pragmatic in her actions regarding academic integrity.

“Sophomore year, that wasn’t the only time [I cheated],” Laura said.

“There were a few other times I was involved in a homework exchange.

But since then I don’t show my friends my homework anymore because I’m so paranoid about it now.”

Laura’s story demonstrates the increased capacity students have for cheating with handheld technology. However, her story also emphasizes how consequences for cheating can greatly impact an individual mentally rather than tangibly.

VII

FINAL Thoughts

Harned also discussed the philosophical implications of immoral acts, both including cheating and any form of dishonesty.

“When you commit any ethical or unethical act, you should ask yourself, ‘would I want to live in a world where this act is universalized? Do I want to live in a world where this occurs [frequently]?’ So, when you think about cheating, you have to ask yourself if I want to live in a world where cheating occurs on a regular basis,” Harned said.

“If your anesthesiologist cheated, you would be very concerned. We live in a world based on certification, and that certification is based on legitimacy, that there is a legitimate course of studies, and you know these things. Once that legitimacy is called into question, and you don’t have correct certification, then you live in a world where anything goes.”

Indeed, a world in which individuals are not truly the characters they profess themselves is a world of complete dishonesty and chaos.

In a school environment, as well as in the outside world, an individual’s character requires years of careful and purposeful cultivation to inspire admiration, but can suddenly be destroyed through a single action.

“You can walk around with a stellar reputation, yet it only takes one micro incident to crash you all the way to the bottom,” Felps said.

“So what I wish for people is that they would be honest about what they are able to do, and honest about what they are not able to do, and then their reputation is going to stand.”

In a world where such commonplace deceit and disingenuousness exists, how can we determine what is genuine and what is fallacy?

Ultimately, individuals have the ability to make their own choices.

Guidelines and rules in society are, of course, necessary, but people will intrinsically use their own judgements as to which regulations are to be regarded and disregarded.

Every individual has distinct motivations for committing unethical acts, subjective interpretations for any set of rules and differing opinions on what consequences in life should be. While only allowing an individual to interpret regulations imposed by society would undoubtedly lead to a state of chaos, there has to be a degree of faith that people can interpret laws in an appropriate fashion. 

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FALL SPOR T S PREVIEW A look into the impactful players and goals of the fall sports teams.

by NEEL VALLURUPALLI and CODY KRUTZCH Photo by Sophie Durham

Photo by Jolena Pang

Boys’ Soccer Players to watch: Sam Schneider Jack Marvel Andrew Boeger 2014-2015 Record: 10-12 Goals: The team has no set goals, but they plans to approach the season by improving everyday.

Softball Players to watch: Sarah Shepard Katie Howard Natalie Pegg 2014-2015 Record: 6-8 Goals: To have a winning season which has not happened since 2012. The team also hopes to beat Rosati-Kain for the District trophy after losing to them last year.

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Girls’ Golf Players to watch: Leah Peipert Olivia Reuter Gaby Lask 2014-2015 Record: 5-4 Goals: To promote character development.

The team hopes to achieve this goal by donating to a non profit organization, or doing non-golf community events.

Field Hockey Players to watch: Sarah Widder Ellie Troupis Arya Kirkhope 2014-2015 Record: 8-8 Goals: To maintain a positive upbeat attitude in the young team and increase endurance in order to handle two halves a day.

Boys’ Swimming/Diving

Girls’ Tennis

Players to watch: Tiger Chen Taylor Edlin Will Welch

Players to watch: Madison Gudmestad Arianna Blatt Abby Mills

2014-2015 Record: 11-5

2014-2015 Record: 6-7

Goals: To get as many people qualified for state as possible, place 4th or higher at conference, and to end the season with everyone having personal best swim times.

Goals: To posses team unity in order to achieve a winning record and qualify for sectionals.

Photo by Alex Gerchen

Photo by Sophie Argyres

Photo by Katherine Sleckman

Boys’ Cross Country Players to watch: Michael Painter Tom Cormier Lucas Hoffman 2014-2015 Record: District Champions, 13th at state Goals: To win the District championships for the fifth straight time and place top ten at state.

Girls’ Cross Country

Girls’ Volleyball

Players to watch: Gabby Boeger Gracie Morris Heather Stone

Players to watch: Mia Pugh Jaclyn Raskas Madison Lockett

2014-2015 Record: 3rd at Districts

2014-2015 Record: 12-17-2

Goals: To beat John Burroughs and MICDS after losing to them last year and to qualify for state.

Goals: To give everything, be the best person and teammate you can be, and the winning will follow.

Football Players to watch: Anthony Cameron Tyler Melvin Demetrius Norman 2014-2015 Record: 5-5 Goals: To compete every week and to win a District Championship.

RIVALRY SCHEDULE Upcoming games vs Ladue High School Volleyball @ Ladue Tues, Oct 6, 5:30 PM Boys Soccer @ Ladue Tues, Oct 13, 4:15PM Boys Swimming/Diving @ Ladue Mon, Oct 19, 4:15 PM

Photo by Ava Hoffman

SPORTS 33

BEN HOCHMAN Clayton grad becomes new St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist.

Less than 20 years ago, a spunky and ambitious teenager named Benjamin Hochman walked through the hallways at CHS, determined for his words to make an impact on the Clayton community. Hochman was both a sports fanatic and a lover of writing. After joining the CHS Globe, he worked tirelessly on his first story.

“I remember being assigned to write a review about the controversy surrounding the book ‘The Bell Curve,’ written in the early 1990s. It was a daunting assignment, and I was just so nervous about messing it up,” Hochman said.

Despite the difficulty of his first task as a student journalist, Hochman was not thwarted by his assignment from the Globe. Rather, Hochman stayed motivated from the start of writing his very first story to never settle on his work until each sentence held some form of luster to the reader.

Hochman understood at a young age the enduring power of the perfect sequence of words -- and realized that any story, no matter the subject, when expressed with authenticity, could be compelling to the reader.

“I remember setting the tone in my career as a 14-year-old on the Globe staff - approaching every assignment with tenacity and dedication. The topic didn't matter. The teacher at the time, Chris Holmes, used to say a good writer can even make a story about toe fungus interesting. And I've definitely had some toe fungus assignments over the years,” Hochman said.

In August, Hochman was hired as the St. Louis Post Dispatch Sports Columnist. Hochman’s words now reach out to the entire St. Louis community.

As a graduate of the Clayton High School Class of 1998, Hochman spent most of his time at CHS playing soccer and baseball, as well as writing. Looking back on his high school years, Hochman recalled, “...

Just great memories of playing Friday night soccer games under the lights. I’m ridiculously proud of being a Clayton alum. Kids come and go, four years and you're out, and I don’t know if the teachers truly know how much of an impact they make on each individual. I’ll always be a Greyhound.”

Hochman flourished with his love of writing during his CHS experience, especially from working on the Globe.

“I was the only freshman writer on the staff ... and it was a really neat badge of honor thing,” Hochman said. “Even though it’s just our

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34

by KEVIN ROSENTHAL with SAM ZEID senior managing editor reporter

fun little world of Clayton, still, it is a journalism experience. And you learn a lot of lessons at a young age, in real time.”

Hochman’s work ethic in high school was instrumental in leading him to develop an excellent resumé, which contributed to his eventual return to St. Louis.

“If you do anything for 10,000 hours you can be an expert at it,” Hochman said. “Similarly, here I am at age 14 writing articles for the Globe, and I think I got better each year because of it.”

After high school, Hochman majored in journalism at the University of Missouri. He then went on to cover sports in New Orleans as a reporter, later moving to Denver where he became the Beat Writer for the Denver Nuggets. Hochman accomplished an incredible life goal when he was promoted to the sports columnist of the Denver Post. High altitude, crisp rocky mountain air and Denver sports were treating Hochman well.

But Hochman frequently thought back to how his passion for journalism originated, around the age of seven, reading Bernie Miklasz, beloved St. Louis sports columnist, and dreaming of one day having his job.

Throughout his career, Hochman maintained pride in his alma mater CHS and in St. Louis professional sports, but he didn’t think a return to St. Louis was viable unless he could have one specific job. When Hochman

(Left) Hochman in his new St. Louis office. (Above) An excerpt from a CHS publication (photos from Hochman).

was presented with what, in his mind, was the opportunity of a lifetime, he knew he had to take it.

“I wasn’t looking to leave Denver ... I always said there was one job I would come back to St. Louis to have, and that would be columnist of the Post Dispatch,” Hochman said. “The opportunity to write about my hometown city and for my family and friends and former teachers and such, and to replace the legendary Bernie Miklasz who has been writing there since 1989 ... is humbling, and also exciting.”

After decades of work in various positions in the field of sports journalism, Hochman believes being a sports columnist is a truly vigorous and exciting job.

“It’s my two favorite things -- sports and writing. The fact that there is a job that combines the two of them, it’s pretty surreal,” Hochman said. “Sports columnist is such a dynamic job because there is so many facets to it. I’ll be writing columns in the newspaper, just like I did for the Globe in 1998 ... My job is not to be a fan of the teams, I’m kind of a watchdog in a way.”

In his columns, Hochman has a distinct and witty tone that St. Louis readers will come to know.

“I definitely try to infuse some humor in my writing. I did some comedy work in Denver as a stand-up comedian and I took improv

classes. They taught me about saying things at the right time in order to maximize humor,” Hochman said. “When I was promoted to columnist, it was a tricky transition at first because suddenly I had to change my style. Now I’m not just saying what happened in the game, I’m saying what I think about what happened in the game. But after a couple months, I found my voice, I found my confidence and I found my comfort.”

Hochman’s columns offer readers an alluring escape from their daily lives. The style of Hochman’s writing is shrewd, while also suffused with splotches of color. The distinct flair of Hochman’s personality genuinely shines through in his words.

The boy who once walked the halls of CHS with the desire never to settle on an assignment until he felt his best efforts were put forth on every sentence is now working his dream job. Twenty years ago Hochman was spending late nights at Clayton High School feverishly working on laying out sports pages in the Globe office, and now Hochman’s sports writing stretches through the entire St. Louis community.

“I feel like I’m on vacation, but the reality is, the rest of my life is in St. Louis,” Hochman said. “It’s pretty cool to be back. I’m going to have to work really hard to earn the respect of the readers, but I’m fired up for the challenge.” 

SPORTS 35

SHE’S PRETT Y GUD ATH

LETE

FILE

PRO

Varsity’s star player Madison Gudmestad gets ready to serve at practice. (Photo by Bebe Engel).

SPORTS 36

Sophomore Madison Gudmestad stands out on varsity tennis.

by BRIAN GATTER sports section editor

On a team where last year’s top two players won the state doubles tournament, solely making the varsity team is an incredible accomplishment.

Madison Gudmestad knew the stakes were high going into the girls’ tennis tryout her freshman year. She played through those nerves and not only made varsity but was placed at the number six seed on the team, meaning she would be playing both singles and doubles matches that counted in the final score of the match.

Now, in only her second year playing for CHS, Gudmestad is competing against some of the best tennis players in the area as the number one seed on the team.

“My matches are far more competitive this year,” Gudmestad said.

“My opponents are far more experienced.”

Gudmestad is still adjusting to this very different role with the absence of a strong presence of seniors on last year’s team, including state champions Connor Cassity and Cameron Freeman.

“Since six seniors graduated last year, we have a fresh new team and we're all working together to improve our games,” Gudmestad said. “It is weird though going from the ‘baby’ on the team to now being a co-captain with Abby [Mills].”

With so many seniors on the 2014 roster, Gudmestad had many leaders to model herself after. “[Last year] was a very rewarding year. All of the girls were really supportive and I learned so much from them,” Gudmestad said. “My teammates really modeled what it's like to be a good team member and leader.

They also helped me improve my game and challenged me on the court.”

Mills, who was also on the 2014 varsity team, explained how Gudmestad elevates the level at which those around her play.

“I can just completely mess up a point we were doing so well on and she looks at me and says, ‘It's okay, we got this,’ and high fives me, doesn't think twice about it and just continues,” Mills said.

Although 2015 has been seen as a rebuilding year for the girls’ team with so many key seniors lost, Gudmestad remains positive and focused on the effort and during practice.

“My goal for the team this year is for everyone to continue working really hard on their game and to continue to bond as a team,” Gudmestad said. “And personally, just work on improving my game.”

Mills also mentioned Gudmestad’s ability to keep herself composed.

“She also doesn't really show her emotion when she's on the court,” Mills said. “And she will always keep her head up when she's not doing well which is a really good quality because playing on a court by yourself can really get to your head and make you upset when you are down in the set.”

Although Gudmestad rarely likes to talk about her individual performance as opposed to the team performance, she did mention her true goal is to make it to state: a goal that could be achieved with her ability and drive on the court, as well as her attitude off of it. 

BALL AND LIFE

New basketball coach Blake Ahearn ‘s first-hand experience with the crisis in Ukraine.

by TARA WILLIAMS AND LUCY COHEN page editors

family, friends, and it wasn’t like it just popped up and happened. So my wife was definitely scared. My family, her mom, my mom and dad. Both [of] our mothers were calling us like crazy.”

Ahearn’s family and friends were not the only one’s fearful of the violence in Ukraine. As a result of the events that took place, other basketball teams didn’t want to come play them, so they had to fly to other countries and play the teams. In one of these instances, Ahearn was flying to Lithuania with his team, when the plane he was on came dangerously close to crashing.

“It was so windy the pilot just tried to slam the plane down, to get it down as fast as he could, but when he did it, the wind took us and I was sitting on the left Ahearn playing for the Utah Jazz (photo from Blake Ahearn). wing and the wing just scraped the ground of the runway and from there he pulled it back up and we take off “Long story short: there were basically over 100 people murdered within 100 yards of where we lived with my wife and two kids there. It again,” Ahearn said. “I literally said goodbye to my kids, goodbye to my wasn’t a fun experience to go through at all, but, fortunately I was able to wife and everything like that. It was the most stressful thing I have ever get back,” said Blake Ahearn, Clayton High School’s newest ISS officer and been through. Everyone on the plane thought that was it.”

Even though Ahearn’s experiences were frightening, he was able to boys’ basketball coach.

Ahearn has played for a total of 12 semi-professional and profession- develop close relationships with his teammates. After his terrifying exal basketball teams all over the world, including the NBA and the Euro perience in Ukraine, Ahearn still values the friendships he developed League. After playing over 12 years of basketball, Ahearn has now settled with his teammates and his opportunity to experience a different culture.

Ahearn’s friendships have helped shape his philosophy as a basketball in Clayton with his wife and three young kids.

One of the most noteworthy seasons of basketball for Ahearn was his coach.

On the road, his friends helped give him a shoulder to lean on and help 2013-2014 season playing for Ukraine in the Euro League. At the time, Russia was making attacks into Ukrainian territory, which angered many him through the cultural barrier. Particularly, Ahearn valued a friendship he developed with a Latvian teammate.

Ukrainians, turning into a full blown war.

“I just talked to him a few days ago, but being European and a guy who During the attacks, Ahearn was living in Ukraine’s capital, downtown Kiev. He was traveling on the road when one of the attacks occurred. Hav- speaks really good English, you know you can kind of bounce stuff off him ing lived in so many different parts of the world, Ahearn is no stranger and he can translate for you,” Ahearn said. “When stuff would be going to feeling alienated in a new country. This conflict, however, impacted on, I would always turn to him and he would translate for me and keep Ahearn in a way that was different from his other experiences. This time me up to speed.”

Through basketball, Ahearn was able to travel the world, experiencing Ahearn feared for his life. a variety of different cultures.

“When you get emails from your government saying sit in the middle “I’m Catholic, so I got to go to Jerusalem, I got to see where the Last of your apartment to basically dodge bullets and bombs it’s a pretty quick sign that you want to get out of there, but I am very fortunate nothing Supper was, and where Jesus was crucified. So for me all that was pretty neat. If you were to come and say ‘Hey, do you want to come take a vacahappened, everything is okay,” Ahearn said.

Fortunately, Ahearn and his family were able to return home un- tion to Jerusalem?’ I would say no. But the fact that basketball took me harmed after travelling 29 hours from his door in Ukraine to his door there was neat,” Ahearn said.

Despite some of the frightening events Ahearn experienced, he is ultiback in St. Louis.

Not only did Ahearn and his wife fear for their lives, but their families mately grateful for all that he has back at home, and the fact that basketball has led him to experience so many cultures. back home in the States were also worried.

“We are fortunate to live here in the States and really not have to deal “What was hard, too, was it was shown on CNN here - it was all over,” with a lot of that stuff, so I consider myself pretty lucky,” Ahearn said.  Ahearn said. “And what was more difficult was we were getting calls from

BUDGET

A look into the new system of budgeting in the Clayton athletic department.

On Aug. 17 the Clayton Football Twitter account unveiled the new uniforms for the 2015 football season. Principal Dr. Dan Gutchewsky, who was sporting a less than menacing game face, was pictured wearing the brand new, bright orange Nike uniforms.

It all seemed to come together. New turf, new uniforms for soccer and football and new soccer goals and bags.

The change in budget was noticeable to many athletes, students and even the athletic director, Bob Bone. This lead to an increase in spending on uniforms.

“The biggest increase we’ve had this year has been with the uniform budget,” Bone said, “Basically, once every three years, each team that we have will get new uniforms and we did not have that previously.”

Bone went into greater detail on the new budget that provides money solely for new uniforms.

“Up until this year, we might have a few thousand dollars to spend to help with the uniforms but not a budget. It was a real positive for us that the business office and the board would support something like that.”

This change was welcome to some athletes that were frustrated with uniforms that had stains and were worn out.

“There was a patch of blood on my uniform last year, and it wasn’t mine,” said senior baseball player Andreas Petermann.

The reason for this change in uniform budget was a new system for budgeting called the zero-based budget system.

“Several years ago the District started looking at going into a zerobased budget. What that means is each year you have to build your budget from scratch,” Bone said. “With the zero-based budget system, our

SPORTS 38

by BRIAN GATTER sports section editor

Photos by Alexandra Gerchen (field hockey) and Jennifer Braverman (football). coaches had to submit requests specifically listing whatever they need.

Whereas before they just got that money and were able make purchases, now they have to justify [their purchases] up front.”

Although most of the money comes to the department via the District, the department will receive donations for specific purposes.

“Sometimes we’ll get donations,” Bone said. “The donations are more specific in nature. Very seldom does someone say, ‘I’ll give you a thousand dollars, do with it what you wish.’”

Bone also explained why the department felt as though the new goals on Gay Field were necessary.

“Obviously stuff wears out, anything over at Gay Field. You talk about soccer goals, [which are] subject to anyone who walks out on the field,” Bone said. “We could go over there right now and there would be somebody shooting at the lacrosse goals or kicking soccer balls into the field hockey goals and as a result sometimes the replacement cycle for that is a bit quicker just because of the use.”

Although these new goals were included in the budget of the department, Bone said that the new turf was not.

“The turf was not part of the athletic budget. It was a replacement and the board authorized the money. [That] money came from the sale of one of our surplus properties. You really don’t know how bad the old turf was until you get on the new one and I’m sure our soccer guys really like it.”

The people who made up the 34 favorites and 12 retweetes on the picture of Gutchewsky beaming in the brand new uniform saw the beginning of a new budgeting system. And with the football team, as well as Gutchewsky looking fresh as ever, it seems to be working. 

Photo by Katherine Sleckman

LOUFEST

The annual concert festival in Forest Park continues to charm.

This year’s LouFest definitely succeeded in meeting festival goers’ expectations.

Of course, a music festival all starts with the music. Having a wide range of artists including everyone from Young the Giant to Nate Ruess to Ludacris, it seemed like there was a little bit for everyone to enjoy.

Although they contrasted to last year’s thrilling endings with Arctic Monkeys and Outkast, Hozier and the Avett Brothers were able to end the night on a calming note while still keeping the music festival ambience alive.

Furthermore, at every performance on the main stage, the artist was accompanied by a translator who repeated the song in sign language for the audience, which definitely helped to include those people who are hard of hearing.

One thing that had always been a problem for many people is the cigarettes. This year, however, the number of tobacco smokers present decreased significantly, making the entire experience even more enjoyable.

The ‘Nosh Pit,’ LouFest’s array of local cafes, offered many different types of cuisine. If you were in the mood for pizza, St. Louis favorite Dewey’s had a stall. Wanting coffee? Kaldi’s stood right next door. Even if you were looking for Mediterranean food, you could find it there. Yet, it is important to note that the options in the variety of stalls were limited.

Each booth only served a few dishes and the lines for these limited dishes were long. However, price-wise, everything in the Nosh Pit was under ten dollars, so a small meal or snack cost a reasonable amount.

Facilities also play a part in the total experience of a music festival,

by MITA SHARMA AND NISHA KLEIN page editors

and LouFest succeeded in improving their facilities from the previous year, making everyone’s experience more comfortable and enjoyable.

Bathrooms could be found in all corners of the festival, decreasing the lines found last year. Additionally, functional hand-washing stations with running water, soap and paper towels were not only found outside the restroom area but also by the ‘Nosh Pit.’ The staff continually cleaned the trash from these areas and kept the space as clean as possible, even approaching audience members during performances to ask them to help keep the park trash and litter-free. By doing this, the people attending the shows seemed to become more aware of their actions, feeling included in a group attempt to care for the space.

Referring back to the personnel, LouFest’s staff were incredibly helpful and attentive to each person’s individual needs. By the entrance, some gave directions (and helped festival-goers who had accidentally tightened their bracelet too much). In different tents, workers could help you find information, such as the lineup, or available services, as well as provide maps and similar pamphlets. Several different help stations were set up throughout the area, such as water-bottle filling and phone charging, in addition to a specific spot where parents or likewise could go if the child they were accompanying had gotten lost.

With the combinations of good music, good food and good fun, LouFest again held up previous standards and kept St. Louis charmed with its very own Lollapalooza. 

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U-CIT Y GRILL

Hole-in-the-wall Korean food charms.

On the corner of Kingsland and Delmar sits a hole-in-the-wall Korean kitchen properly named U-City Grill. To get an idea of its size, this barstyle restaurant has a total seating capacity of about eighteen people.

Directly behind Cicero’s, the diner is shadowed by many other treasures in the Loop. If cheap and surprisingly good international cuisine is your thing, then U-City Grill is definitely for you.

The Sim family started this place in 1988 and has been successful ever since, having been written up in several local columns over the years. Hyu Sim, the lone server at U-City Grill, is not the most talkative man, but his cooking is fantastic. His parent’s opened the restaurant when he was a child, just after they moved from Korea. Sim says he has worked at the grill his whole life and intends to finish his parents legacy.

Bibimbob, the famed dish adored by locals, is a slight spin off the original Korean dish called Bibimbap. Bibimbap is normally served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul and gochujang, soy sauce or doenjang, a salty soybean paste. Sim’s version consists of white rice with mixed veggies, your choice of Bulgoki (Beef or Chicken), topped with hot sauce, and a fried, over easy egg.

The menu also stretches beyond just Korean food. The diner offers eggs, potatoes and meat (bacon, sausage, ham or corned beef) for breakfast, and grilled cheese or a BLT during lunch in addition to the Korean classics. Although the service is not the friendliest, you must go for the experience alone. The prices are unbeatable and if you need a little grease and a whole lot of authenticity, U-City Grill is the place to be. 

by NICK D’AGROSA reporter

photo by nick d’agrosa

THE MOST ANTICIPATED T V SHOW S OF 2 015

by LEMUEL LAN webmaster

10. Arrow - Oct. 7 - CW After the defeat of Ra’s al Ghul and the departure of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and his beloved Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), viewers return to Starling City after a time jump into the future. New villains arise from the ashes and the team must join together yet again. The Arrow identity is dead, but the vigilante is not, and the heroes must watch over the city against the rising darkness. Don’t miss out on the thrilling, heroic return this fall.

9. Saturday Night Live - Oct. 3 - NBC Tune back in for the season premiere of the hilarious Saturday Night Live. Entering its 41st season, the season premiere boasts of the upcoming host appearance of Miley Cyrus. Other upcoming hosts this season includes the hilarious Amy Schumer and the triumphant return of Tracy Morgan.

If you’re looking for late night comedy laughs, this is the show for you.

8. The Vampire Diaries - Oct. 8 - CW While the departure of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) might have us still reeling with a mix of emotions, the creators of the hit CW show sends us into the future, where we deal with a destroyed Mystic Falls. On top of that, the Salvatore brothers have to deal with their mother along with her supposed family of Heretics. Want a thrilling show for this fall season? This will be the one.

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7. Scream Queens - Sept. 22 - Fox The newest Ryan Murphy show makes its debut this fall; including a cast with the famous Jamie Lee Curtis (“Halloween”), Lea Michele (“Glee”), and Emma Roberts (“American Horror Story”). Taking place in a sorority house with a clash between the popular girls and the misfits, a rising villain stakes its claim on the college campus, murdering a cast member each week. Don’t miss out on the upcoming hit show or you’ll miss your chance to scream.

6. How to Get Away with Murder - Sept. 24 - ABC While the death of Lila Stangard might have been revealed in the season finale, Rebecca Sutter’s death (Katie Findlay) propels us into the second season with a whole new set of questions. Perhaps people really can get away with murder… Will we find out who the new killer is? Who might be next?

Find out in ShondaLand this fall.

5. American Horror Story - Oct. 7 - FX Ready for another thrilling season? After the conclusion of season four’s “Freak Show,” Ryan Murphy (“Glee”, “The New Normal”) kicks off the much anticipated season five for the AHS universe. With guests checking into the supposedly haunted hotel, the ensemble expands even to actors like Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer. Rumors of drug addicts, fashion icons and vindictive owners set the stage for the newest horror show. Check in if you dare...

4. The Voice - Sept. 21 - NBC With the return of Gwen Stefani, season nine is back in full swing. The full ensemble of coaches is sure to give a kick of laughs as the pursuit for the newest talented singer continues. Be sure to tune in this fall as a whole new competition of singers emerges. Will Adam Levine be the winning coach?

Or the returning champion, Pharrell Williams? Find out this fall.

3. Grey’s Anatomy - Sept. 24 - ABC The death of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) is still a touchy subject for “Grey’s Anatomy” fans, but this new season will enter a refreshing start.

Couples will fall in love again, the humor and lightness will return, and bigger things are ever more in store of the upcoming season. This fall season, everyone will be talking about this classic Shonda Rhimes’ show. Don’t miss out.

2. Empire - Sept. 23 - Fox Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) might be locked up in jail, but the king of Empire Entertainment won’t rest until he exacts vengeance on those who did him wrong. Rising powers come and go, but the Empire will always remain. Be sure to keep up with the show that is taking America by storm as it enters its second season this fall.

1. The Walking Dead - Oct. 11 - AMC Can’t wait for the newest season of zombies, cannibals and survivors? Neither can we! Season six promises of a whole new cast of characters from Alexandria, the settling aftermath from the season finale, along with rumored, life-altering events with both Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs). Don’t be left behind as this riveting series continues in October, where the walkers continue to terrorize the last bits of humanity. 

Empire’s Lucious Lyon in the season finale (Chuck Hodes/FOX/TNS). (Right) Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepard from “Grey’s Anatomy.” (Karen Neal/ABC/MCT)

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PRO/CON

DO IT FOR THE KNOWLEDGE

Every year, students across America participate in the national frenzy to obtain the proverbial holy grail of our education system: the 4.0 GPA, 36 ACT, and 2400 SAT, but at what cost? As students scramble to get the best grades, the emphasis on actual learning takes a fatal blow.

Students engage in the cutthroat competition to snatch the coveted spots at the country’s top universities. In order to ensure matriculation in an Ivy League, impeccable grades are not optional. This obsession with “getting the A” necessitates mindless memorization, stressful nights churning out trite English essays and the occasional breach of academic integrity.

From the moment we walk into school for the first time, our fledgling young minds are bombarded by external expectations from parents, teachers and peers to get good grades to ensure bright futures. Throughout history, the American education system has evolved from a good-intentioned institution that cultivated eager and sanguine young scholars into a factory that manufactures humanoids to be thrown out to the bottom of the capitalistic food chain.

Advocates for grades would argue that are necessary as forms of motivation to succeed as well as standards of evaluation. To address the first point, it is true: grades do provide a form of motivation, but it is not always constructive. Grades can foster unhealthy competition between peers as well as a waning self image. They also can provide a desire to obtain the grade by any means necessary while leaving the ultimate goal of education by the wayside.

Furthermore, grades are not even an objective or consistent measure of skill or intelligence. Due to grade inflation and deflation, the grade scale has been perverted. Grades are no longer consistent, so determining intelligence can be difficult.

Additionally, grades also measure a singular strain of “intelligence.”

Some individuals can be condemned on account of their inability to perform well on tests and assignments in a certain subject, when in fact they have the capacity to be wildly successful for using a different skill in a different environment.

School is not about tangible achievements, it is about forming young minds into independent entities. Apologies to the math teachers of the world, but the majority of students are not going to be pulling out the quadratic formula or plotting a logarithmic function on the daily. That being said, I in no way demean the value of their courses. Each class teaches students how to think critically and solve problems for themselves.

While getting caught up in the grade-driven hysteria, students lose sight of their intellectual goals. Your parents can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a fancy diploma, you can get a job, and become a cog in the corporate machine without ever having to think for yourself.

This drone-like allegiance to the intangible pigeonholed standard of success sucks the individualism out of us all leaving only the dregs of the human mind: an inanimate lump of cortex trained only in obtaining su-

by ELLIE TOMASSON senior managing editor perficial needs.

By devaluing knowledge, we dehumanize ourselves. Intellect is what distinguishes us from our other mammalian counterparts.

Knowledge and original thought are paramount. The only person you are harming is yourself when you acquiesce to get dragged along by the ebb and flow of the grade-driven curricula.

Philosophy aside, individual thought does not require finding a solution to global warming, or curing cancer, but the desire to break free from the grasp the omnipresent groupthink that dominates our lives. 

Photos by Bebe Engel

OR GET THE GRADE

by ZACH SORENSON page editor

Your GPA determines your future.

After all, it determines the college you get into, the graduate school, the job, the home, the community, everything. If you don’t get that extra .2 on your GPA, then that college you’ve been striving for all these years may not take you, or you may not get that scholarship you desperately need, and if you don’t get into that school all of your plans could be tossed in the air for you to scrap together.

Is this right? No, it isn’t, but it’s the truth.

In this modern era of education, your grades matter more to your future than your actual learning.

This is reflected daily in our lives as students. Grades are the reason students go without sleep, why they study and why they cheat. If learning is so important, why do many classes spend a full period a week solely on tests and quizzes?

Why do so many teachers hand out what are often times meaningless homework assignments simply to ensure you actually read your textbook?

It's because those grades are the gauge, not only on how we learn, but our dedication and work ethic as well.

We know this, therefore, we participate in the system and by and large put the work in. If colleges see you get consistent A’s and B’s then they see that you put the work in, they assume that you are a dedicated student

who is a quick on their feet and a good learner. If colleges just wanted to know how much you know then they would simply reference your standardized tests.

Furthermore, despite our perception being warped by the here and now, grades have significantly more permanence than learning.

The National Summer Learning Association states that students can lose as much as two months of academic prowess over the summer. How much will you lose over the next decade as your learning becomes more specialized and high school grows more and more distant? Quite a bit more than two months.

Meanwhile, your grades are eternal, and even when you reach college you still need to maintain a healthy GPA if you wish to pursue higher education. Even if you don’t, a competitive GPA might be useful when actually getting a job. Your grades, unlike what you learned in 5th grade, may actually stay with you for life.

Like it or not, grades do matter more than learning. Your grades are what colleges rely on to measure your ability and dedication as a student.

But, they also exhibit a long-term effect on your life, even as the memories of school dwindle and collapse.

It’s easy to lose sight of that as we have yet to see the doors close as the years pass, but the truth is the truth. Your grades matter more than your learning. 

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STAFF EDITORIAL: PERFECTION. Perfection.

A word so simple, yet impossible to achieve; but this is the standard that Clayton students are forced into the moment they step through the doors.

Urged to find their ‘legacy’ on day one of freshman year, students are plunged into a whirl of Honors classes, a different sport each semester, a performing arts group and various clubs. And each year, the intensity increases. Four APs. Zero hour. Sacrifice a lunch for another class. Three clubs turn into six. Students must find spare time during their weekends for sports practices, volunteer hours and extracurricular performances, all to look good for colleges. Some must sacrifice time to work at jobs because of lower financial situations and are judged within the culture because of their “misguided focus from college.” Students are forced through a gambling game, giving up some opportunities for others.

Indeed, these are all the students’ own choices. Or are they?

The rising stars of Clayton are swamped in an environment where the stakes are consistently being raised. Each teacher adds to the daily, growing load of work, expecting their students to maintain academic integrity.

Parents expect students to have their focus constantly towards college.

Even peers compare to each other, seeing who is taking more APs, what college they’re thinking about, or who gets the least amount of sleep from homework every night.

A fine line stems between determining what is healthy competition.

Students easily grade their success based off of their peers, placing pressure on themselves to become the best. Despite Clayton granting a wide variety of opportunities for its students to experience, the culture is stimulated with an excessive need to pursue every single one.

Students are expected to embody their achievements, as they are the school’s reputation. They see each other as “walking trophies,” desperate to get to that desired perfection. And along the way, they think less about the experiences, and more about the goal of college and having those honors.

While Clayton students take pride in their own dedication and resilience, the line begins to blur as high school becomes less about the experience and more of achieving that “perfect” status. As students are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of activities and classes, they obsess over

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the need to excel, doing whatever means necessary, including the bending of academic integrity and commitment to cheating.

To an overworked, stressed student, there is nothing more enticing than a simple exchanging of answers and asking for help on tests.

Students are interested in doing anything it takes to get an edge above the rest; the grade separates from the education. No less, the students are certainly aware that the cheating is wrong, but few consider the ethics. Having so much on their plate, Clayton students aren’t guilt ridden about it.

With the focus on college, they justify their actions, not considering it as explicit cheating. As they are swarmed by various mixed signals, the culture urges students to reach the top. Teachers and parents try to deny that this pressure exists, promising that the focus is for the student’s learning. This only denies that the problem exists, rather than addressing it head on, proving that a stigma is associated with confronting this “perfect” ideal.

Even elite colleges, such as the esteemed Stanford University, face what is called the “duck syndrome.”

While everyone appears to be gliding effortlessly along the lake of school, underneath the surface, their feet paddle furiously to keep themselves afloat and their heads above water.

Clayton students seem to have everything under control, but underneath is the churning of fierce paddling. And ultimately, this begs the question of what the Clayton community should do for its future stars.

Students are bombarded daily with the mixed signals. They are told to do every possible activity offered whilst keeping academic integrity. They struggle to remain focused on learning, yet they worry about the grade, hoping to make a presentable appearance for colleges.

Each day has a limited amount of time, most of which is spent at school in the classroom. Choose one activity to sacrifice another, or force students to undertake all the beasts of burden at once. The dilemma of these mixed signals only causes greater confusion for the students.

What does Clayton expect from its students? What does it truly want from its rising stars of the future? The problem must be addressed now, or Clayton risks leaving its students out like sitting ducks, stranded in a lake of despair. 

STAFF EDITORIAL: DRUG TASK FORCE Last year, in several health classes, an anonymous survey was taken concerning drug and alcohol use by Clayton students. The directions were simple: select which drugs you have used in the past month. Given the anonymity of the survey, students answered uninhibited -- both a positive and negative aspect of the results.

Certainly, some students felt that they could finally come clean and tell the truth of their substance use - no one could discover their identity, so they had nothing to lose. Other students had some fun, selecting every substance on the list, from alcohol to LSD. The problem with anonymous surveys is that no one can verify that the results are reliable. Unfortunately, the results of this survey -- which actually did not reveal any devastating truths about CHS -- were used as the basis of the relatively young CHS Alcohol and Drug Task Force’s conversation regarding substance use at CHS. Early this school year, the Task Force published a “Correlated Symptoms List” of substance abuse by Clayton students, naming “Students getting high in Shaw Park (incl. mulch pile) during the school day” among the many symptoms mentioned in the three page list. This claim was one of the 22 claims (out of 39 total) that was accompanied with an asterisk, “denoting symptoms that were identified by multiple people.” That leaves 17 claims that were mentioned by a single person and 39 that were made by people whose names are not included on the list.

The items on the sheet were the result of an open-ended, brainstormtype discussion among the parents, administrators and community members at one of the first Task Force meetings in June. No claim can be 100 percent confirmed nor denied, yet the list has been typed and distributed among the members of the force.

Now, we are not saying that every claim on this list is false. In fact, we would venture to say that many of the symptoms are true; however, the Task Force failed to differentiate between rumored events involving a single student many years ago and an ongoing problem among the student body. When a serious, plausible claim such as “Students are using the open campus to leave campus and use drugs” is on the same list as “Students are soliciting clean urine from other sources to pass drug tests that they may otherwise fail,” it is unclear which claim the Task Force deems the most important to be dealt with.

In many ways, certain drug use issues seem to be unique to Clayton -- after all, CHS is one of the only high schools in the area with an opencampus, giving students the privilege to leave the school throughout the day. However, the problems seen at Clayton in relation to drug and alcohol use are most certainly not unique. Rather, underage drinking and drug use is something that can be found at any high school - the only difference may be the type of substance that the students tend to use, given the generally high access most Clayton students have to money.

The nationwide prevalence of the issue is a fact that the Task Force does acknowledge; however, the actions of the Force must match up with its

beliefs as well.

Another aspect that makes the situation at Clayton seem larger than at other schools is the fact that we have an unparalleled freedom of the press. The Globe, by school board policy, is not subject to prior review when publishing potentially controversial stories. An article published in the Globe last year on the use of cocaine by a few CHS students, a story that likely would have met some resistance if another school were to try to publish it, was read by CHS administrators the same day it was being read by parents. Drug and alcohol use is not unique to CHS - we just are allowed to write about it, something students may have mentioned to the Task Force had they been invited to the meeting.

Currently, the meetings are closed to students, except for the three that have been invited to share their opinions. Two of those students actually attend the meetings. Unfortunately, the students currently on the panel do not make up a very representative portion of the student body nor of the population that engages in drug use regularly. If the Task Force wishes to gather and release accurate information and policy concerning the high school, the only appropriate way to do that is to open the meetings to all students. Only then can they assure that all students wishing to express their experiences and opinions have had a chance to do so, rather than having only a select few who are expected to represent the student body as a whole.

The nature of the list reveals the lack of student and teacher involvement in its formation. Had students and teachers from CHS been allowed to attend the meeting where these symptoms were designated, the list would probably look drastically different, and ideally every claim would have been verified by multiple sources.

Drug and alcohol use is something that Clayton High School students partake in, and having a Task Force to combat these issues is not a bad thing. However, it is important to remember that substance use habits do not develop within the halls of Clayton High School.

Rather than placing blame on teachers for “failing to intervene” on suspicious activity, the Task Force should focus on the permissiveness of some Clayton parents and the root causes of these students to turn to substance use.

Students who use open-campus as a means to get high clearly have a substance abuse issue. These are the students who would continue to find a way to use drugs if campus were closed and would absolutely benefit from some sort of intervention.

However, the list currently reads as a punitive accusation of the majority of students at the high school. What students need is a supportive environment where they feel comfortable asking for help, not one in which admitting to having a problem would sacrifice the freedom of all.

When students graduate from high school, they are legally adults.

Open-campus poses an opportunity for students to develop their independence and form a trusting, mature relationship with the administration of the high school. Rather than continuing to treat high schoolers like children because of the poor decisions of a few and sacrificing a chance for students to become more independent, high schoolers must be treated as the adults they are -- adults responsible for their own education and adults capable of recognizing when they need to ask for help.

Most importantly, the Task Force must reconsider and rewrite the “Correlated Symptoms List.” The Task Force’s goal should be to help students, not the school’s reputation, and no student with a substance abuse problem is going to feel comfortable reaching out to the authors of a list that feels accustatory. 

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f o l l ow t h e

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12

THINGS

S PHIE a column by SOPHIE ALLEN, opinion section editor

HATES

Casting directors are whitewashing characters of color, even in 2015.

Picture this: Captain Allison Ng, a part-Hawaiian Air Force liaison, played by Emma Stone. Something just doesn’t add up, does it?

That’s because Stone represents a consistent and unfortunate trend in Hollywood of casting white actors and actresses to play characters of color.

“Aloha,” released in 2015, follows a military contractor (Bradley Cooper) attempting to stop a satellite launch in Hawaii. In romantic comedy fashion, he is joined on the mission by his ex-lover (Rachel McAdams), and his new love interest and Hawaiian liaison (Emma Stone).

Stone is supposed to represent the people of Hawaii in this military operation, and yet, she appears exactly the same as her counterparts.

The unfortunate fact is that this isn’t the first movie to disappointingly cast the wrong color; Think: “The Hunger Games” with Jennifer Lawrence, “Argo” with Ben Affleck and “The Lone Ranger” with Johnny Depp, to name a few.

In all instances, “minor” character traits have been overlooked to put big-name stars in big-name roles.

While it is understandable that our favorite actors and actresses appear in films that are sure to be popular to the public, it’s unfortunate that actors and actresses of color are hardly given a chance to shine in leading roles.

In fact, it was only in 1964 that Sidney Potlier became the first African American to win an Oscar in the “Best Actor” category, 35 years after the first Oscar awards. (Even more disappointingly, it was only

in 2002 that Halle Barry became the first African American woman to win “Best Actress”).

Now, it’s 2015, and television and movies are one of this generation’s major media sources. Shouldn’t the screen reflect our lives?

With endless representation in media and film, it appears as though Caucasians represent most of the world’s population. This most certainly isn’t true.

Not only that, but the people behind the characters, the writers who choose to make them characters of color, don’t write them that way by accident. Every aspect of a character is important, and when a casting director chooses to whitewash an intrinsic part, authenticity is lost.

In “Aloha,” Captain Allison Ng was written to be partially Hawaiian because she was meant to be the liaison between the military and her people. When Stone was cast, some of the authenticity of her character was lost.

Unfortunately, this is happening across the board. From romantic comedies to dramatic documentaries (note the new “Stonewall” movie scheduled to be released this month, starring a white male in riots centered around trans women and people of color), characters of color are being erased.

It’s time to give people of color the spotlight. Making up more of the world’s population and certainly a few of the ethnicities overlooked in previous Hollywood castings, it’s high time casting directors match the actor to the character. 

(Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

RedKey Realty Leaders is proud to support Clayton High School!

After all, RedKey was founded by a mom of Clayton High School students and several of our agents live in, and support, the Clayton community.

Here’s the best part: We have a limo for clients.

And you could enter to win a ride in it.

Send an email to contest@redkeystlouis.com with your name, phone number, and description of how you would use the RedKey Limo to be entered for a chance to win.

Good luck and go Greyhounds!

314-692-7200 RedKeyStLouis.com 10333 Clayton Road | Saint Louis 63131