Devils' Advocate January 2020

DEVILS'ADVOCATE - JANUARY 2020 -

Social media Sensation p. 16 Curriculum Equity p. 13 HINSDALE CENTR AL HIGH SCHOOL | VOLUME 94

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SECTION EDITORS

HEAD EDITORS

LOUKAS BEZANIS

HANNAH AHDAB — COPY EDITOR

SOFIJA BUZELIS

OLIVIA BEARGIE — HEAD OF DESIGN

NATHANIEL BITTNER

CATHERINE DOLAN — MANAGING EDITOR

CAROLINE CUBBIN

ANCHAL KUMAR — MANAGING EDITOR

RAMZEY DOUEDARI

RIMA RAFIQ —TRENDS EDITOR

GRACE ERWIN

KATIE SHARP — COPY EDITOR

LAINEY HARVEY

CONTRIBUTERS

AMMAR HUSSAIN CEDRA JAZAYERLI DALYA LABAN AILISH LYMAN

DAVID GUST — BATTLEGROUND RAYHAN HUSSAIN — PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER AVA SEVERTS — BATTLEGROUND

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JOHN OLSEN HARI RAO

AUDREY CARTER

KRITIN SHANMUGAM

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05 06 10 PAGE

06

LETTER FROM THE

[EDITOR]

I

t’s a brand new decade, and whether you’re looking for a fresh start or sticking with the tried and true habits of 2019, that’s pretty exciting. For the first issue of the year, this month’s Devils’ Advocate explores one of the most popular trends of the past decade: Tik Tok. In “Social Media Sensation”, our writers take a deep dive into the domination of the most recent social media phenomenon and members of the community share their perspectives on the app’s influence.

Back at school, over the past few years, students have come to see the growing influence of curriculum equity. Our piece “It’s the Five Year Countdown” gives an investigative overview of the issue of equity through the lens of the recent alterations in science sequencing. In “The Switch to Semesters”, we take a retrospective look at the titular change from a quarter system to a semester system that occurred at the beginning of this year. Students and teachers alike share their opinions on how the switch has influenced social emotional learning at school, as well as the reasoning behind it.

In our profile section, “Road to the UC” and “Setting a New Standard” share the stories of two up and coming student groups, the Hinsdale Central Hockey club and Red Devil Standard. Meanwhile, our Battleground writers debate the trajectory of the fourth-wave feminist movement, and our food columnist investigates the best chicken sandwich in the area. Finally, for students struggling to get in the groove of winter weather, our Unsolicited Advice column gives some tips on how to stay healthy in the cold.

We hope you enjoy this month’s issue of Devils’ Advocate!

21 28 30

AROUND CAMPUS 05 DAILY DEVIL

PROFILES 06 ROAD TO THE UC 08 SETTING A NEW STANDARD

FEATURES 10 THE SWITCH TO SEMESTERS 13 IT’S THE 5 YEAR COUNTDOWN 16 SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATION

PERSPECTIVES 21 23 25 26

BATTLEGROUND UNSOLICITED ADVICE DISHED EDITORIAL

BY THE NUMBERS 28 YOUTUBE ADDICTION

TRENDS 30 MEET THE...

31 PUZZLE

MISSION STATMENT

CONTACT

ADVISER, CHERISE LOPEZ CLOPEZ@HINSDALE86.ORG 630.570.8361

Cover Photo and TOC photos by Sofija Buzelis

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THE DAILY DEVIL Students Bring the Pep A Pep rally was held to get students hyped for the Winter Fling.

O

by Hannah Ahdab and Katie Sharp

n Friday Jan. 24, students headed to the gym for the winter pep rally.

As they walked into the gym they were greeted by Social Chair Alex Ovan in a referee costume. The pep rally began with a student versus teacher knockout game. Students included basketball players Kendall Butler, Brennan Walsh and Mac Quast competing against teachers including Ms. Fisch, Ms. Hoeksema, and Mr. Lud. Assistant Principal for Operations Ryan Maita won the tournament.

After the Knockout game, the cheerleading team took to the floor to perform their routine, including stunts, tumbling, and dancing.

All week before the pep rally, students had been playing Rock, Paper, Scissors against students and staff to win beaded necklaces that were passed out on Tuesday

by Student Council. During the Pep rally Ovan invited all students who believed they had the largest amount of beads to

come down to the gym floor. After many rounds of rock, paper, scissors, a winner was finally crowned. Sophomore Jeremiah Adams successfully won all the bead necklaces.

After the all school game of rock, paper, scissors was over the pommers took the floor to perform their last all school performance of the season.They danced to songs including “The box” by Roddy Rich and “My Oh My” by Camilla Cabello.

“This pep rally performance was really special because it was our last one for the seniors and I’m going to miss dancing with all of my friends,” said Melina Slone, senior pommer.

Finally to wrap up the rally, students were invited down to show off their best dance moves in a game of freeze dance. After many rounds, sophomore Vanessa Ivanov won.

As students were leaving, Ovan reminded them to attend the Winter Fling the following day in the Fieldhouse and the Pack the Place basketball game that night against York.

Photo by Hannah Ahdab

The Cheerleaders strike a pose at the end of their performance at the Pep Rally on Jan. 24.

Mr. Hinsdale Suits Up

Students participate in a pageant to raise money for charity.

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by Hannah Ahdab and Katie Sharp

n Thursday, Jan. 23 eight students took the stage to compete in the Mr. Hinsdale pageant. With a talent, school spirit, and lip sync section, the boys competed in front of a large audience of students, parents, and teachers in order to win the honorary title.

This year, Student Council voted to expand the competition beyond just juniors and seniors, with one sophomore and one freshman taking the stage this year.

“I like that they added the underclassmen because it gets the whole school involved instead of just the upperclassmen,” said Stewart Leigh, senior Mr. Hinsdale contestant.

The night kicked off with an opening dance choreographed by varsity pommers Ava Loughlin, Audrey Giltner and Jane Cashman.

This year their talents included playing the piano blindfolded, making basketball trick shots, and working toward TikTok fame. The night concluded with a mother-son dance before the final crowning.

The funds raised from ticket sales will go to the People’s Resource Center, a food pantry in Westmont that serves people in need in DuPage County.

Each year, two members of Student Council host the event, and this year it was juniors, Gianna Dugan and Cayden Torsberg. The judging consists of 2018 Mr. Hinsdale Winner, Patrick Hsiao, Mr. Coughlin, Mr. Battaglia, and Ms. Boheme.

After a night full of laughs and cheers, it came time for the final votes. The audience was able to participate in the final decision as they scanned a QR Code on the back of the program and voted for their favorite contestant. The judges conversed and the final decision came in. Scott Pitts, senior, was crowned the 2019 Mr. Hinsdale winner.

“It means a lot to me to win because I really love the school and I’m happy I get to represent it,” Pitts said. “I have been in love with this place ever since I stepped on campus; I have met my lifelong best friends here and I love the community as a whole so it is very humbling to be able to represent such a great place.”

Photo by Sofija Buzelis

Junior Jimmy Draddy shows of his Irish Dance skills with fellow classmates Caroline Malloy and Bridget O’Kane.

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Road to the UC The varsity hockey team competes against Illinois teams in

hopes of making it to the United Center and winning the state championship for the first time.

by Cedra Jazayerli and Ailish Lyman

design by Ramzey

Douedari

T

hhe rink is freshly groomed while the Zamboni sweeps across the transparent ice. The vibe in the crowd is electric as the Hinsdale Central varsity hockey team takes to the rink, their skates cutting effortlessly into the ground beneath them as the roar of the crowd fills their ears. The players’ black and red jerseys are personalized with their last names and match their customized helmets with red, white, and black detailing. This is a game they have been preparing for the last four months. A game that will decide whether or not they will continue to fight for a chance to skate at the United Center.

The Hinsdale Central Hockey Club was created in 1972 by parents who felt the need to implement a hockey program to a growing community of local players.

The club is open to all with a range of experienced players from those who play on travel teams to intermediate beginners.

The organization is considered independent of Hinsdale Central, and therefore funded by parents, donors, and local sponsors. As a result, they have different coaching staff, advertisements, fanbases, and budgets than other sports at the high school.

Varsity Coach Jim Swoyer has more than 30 years of hockey experience, from inexperienced beginners to the NHL level. He played in college and has since coached in places like Russia, Sweden, and across the U.S. This season makes it his third year coaching the varsity team.

With all his experience coaching, Swoyer has made it clear that his team has all the potential to have great success this season.

“We’d like to be at the United Center playing for the championship,” Swoyer said.

Because the Varsity team recently won first place in their conference, they will be participating in the playoffs beginning in February. Both the varsity and junior varsity teams participate in the Illinois West High School Hockey League, with teams from all over the

states. The league houses both public and private schools, as well as a few club teams such as Central that aren’t technically represented by their affiliated school.

“We can travel, play outside, and face schools from out of state,” Swoyer said.

Because the club does not use funds from the school, the coaches and management have a lot more flexibility when planning games, practices and team bonding experiences.

“We went to a battle camp in Wisconsin and were out on the ice for four days straight going on zip lines and eating team dinners. It was a lot of fun with such a special group of kids,” Assistant Manager Ken Sullivan said.

Up until last year, the teams practiced at Darien Sportsplex four days a week from 4-5:30 p.m. After participating in countless fundraisers held by the Hinsdale Central Hockey Club members, they raised enough money to make major improvements to the program. The organization has been able to make the Willowbrook Ice Arena their home rink since its opening last year.

Located less than a mile from the school, the Willowbrook Ice Arena has also been customized to the teams’ specification with a brand new locker room.

“We wanted to create a space for both teams to get ready together,” Swoyer said. “There is space for 45 players to get ready which makes both varsity and junior varsity feel more like one team rather than two.”

Built in 2019, the locker room is equipped with a sound system, TV, and full stalls for each player to leave their equipment in, customized with their last name on top. In addition, both the junior varsity and varsity coaches have their own private offices, as well as plenty of half stalls for practice players to use and showers for each of them to use after they work out.

“Our locker room is one of the best facilities in the state,” said junior Michael McCormick, right wing.

The convenience of having a locker room is partially the reason so many players commit to playing such a rigorous and demanding sport.

“It’s really helpful to be able to leave our stuff at the rink instead of having to bring it back and forth from home,” said senior Matthew Johnson, defense.

Players have also noted that the convenience of the arena has helped shorten the length of practice and given them more leisure time that would have been dedicated to uniform/equipment prep last year.

Many factors contribute to the club’s success, including their advertisement on social media accounts for upcoming games, specifically on the @roadtotheUC account on Instagram. Some of the players said they think that the key to being successful is getting a larger student section at each of their upcoming games.

“All of us players post on our social media accounts the times of our games, who we play, and where they are located.

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The varsity hockey team beat Benet Academy on Jan. 19 at Willowbrook Ice Arena.

Since we are a club and not an actual sport at Central, we don’t get the same advertising at school as the football or basketball teams do,” McCormick said.

Some players also noted that having peers at their games increases their enthusiasm and drive to win.

“It’s so much more fun when we have our friends chirping at the other team and banging on the glass when we score,” said senior Nikolas Dimitriou, left wing.

There are even some dedicated Central students who make an effort to show up for their weekly games.

“It’s the most entertaining sport at our school and it’s fun seeing them go up against hard teams like Glenbrook North and Benet,” said junior Jameson Pecilunas, who has attended almost every varsity game this season.

Players noted that they see the same group of people at each game but there are not many new-comers making appearances in the stands.

“I think that if we got @reddevilnation (the social chair’s Instagram account) to post about us, we would for sure get more fans,” Johnson said. “If we get people

that haven’t been exposed to hockey to come, then I think we would get more students to come to our games regularly.”

The success of the club would not only give the team bragging rights, but also attract more players to come play in the future.

“When this team gets better more kids currently playing club will play for Central,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got our eye on about five or six Central club players for next year that will be good additions to the team.”

The depth of the hockey talent goes beyond just upperclassmen and the varsity team as well.

“We have a lot of really good freshmen this year playing on varsity,” Swoyer said. “And our junior varsity was undefeated for much of the season.”

Because the season is several months long, the varsity team has already been able to play some of the most notorious teams in the state. They recently tied with the #3 ranked St. Viator.

“We are lighting it up and competing against really high ranked teams,” Johnson said.

provided by Sofija Buzelis

C

The team is currently ranked twelfth in state and players have expressed their goal of entering the top ten.

“We want to remain competitive to go deep in state,” Swoyer said.

The varsity team was in a similar position last year so some players said they think they need to take a different approach to win.

“Just like last year, we have a lot of really talented guys so I think if there’s going to be a difference this year it’ll be in how we play together as a team rather than individually,” Dimitriou said.

McCormick said their main focus as a team was always to earn first place in their conference and then hope that it will lead them to the state championship.

“The end goal is always to make it to the United Center and this year is the best opportunity Central has had at doing it in years,” McCormick said.

“We need all the support we can get.”

The hockey team is gearing up for playoffs that start Jan. 26 at the Willowbrook Ice Arena, and will progress into February if they continue to win.

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Setting a New Standard Newly-formed group aims to promote healthy lifestyle skills among student-athletes.

by Ammar Hussain & Caroline Cubbin design by Loukas Bezanis

C

hris Robinson walks into the health room on a chilly January morning.

After everyone takes their seats, Robinson and his fellow students promptly begin their discussion. The topic for today: nutrition and hydration. Robinson and his fellow students sit attentively as P.E. teacher Jason Hayes explains how nutrition and hydration impact performance. Robinson, along with every student there, is a leader of his athletic team at Central and has joined the recently formed group: Red Devil Standard.

Red Devil Standard (RDS) was created last year by Hayes and fellow P.E. teacher Lynn Hatzikostantis in order to spread scientific-based information to help the student-athletes and teams at Central. Team captains and other leaders are invited to join the club and participate in meetings where they then learn about a range of topics, including sleep, stress, and diet. Those student-athletes are expected to then pass that information along to their teammates.

Current sponsors Hayes and Courtney Wallace prepare presentations on studentselected topics in advance and share guidance to the team leaders. However, students also have the opportunity to give their own personal insight on matters of discussion.

Wallace described a typical morning meeting as beginning with a presentation on a topic the members are interested in discussing or learning about, followed by a more logistical discussion in regard to the club’s future. Currently, RDS is looking to grow their club in order to reach more people and get their message out.

“It’s really wonderful to watch students become involved and really take ownership over their life. And [within] this group, [they are] trying to help inspire others to live the best they can with regards to nutrition, hydration, sleep, stress management and wanting to help their peers and their teammates,” Wallace said.

Hayes explained that he and Hatzikostanis got the idea for starting the club after attending a convention over the summer led by John Underwood,

the founder and director of the Life of an Athlete-Human Performance Project.

The project is dedicated to producing manuals outlining how to optimize certain aspects of young people’s lives.

According to his website, Underwood has experience training and working with Navy SEALS and Olympic athletes, and has dedicated his career to scientificallydriven research on optimizing human performance. Hayes explained that the RDS curriculum is derived directly from Underwood’s research. As a P.E. teacher and coach for wrestling and football, Hayes said he sees how tired and anxious students are at Central and wanted to provide resources to help students perform their best.

“It’s a lifestyle,” Hayes said. “We give information to students on scientificbased research and how [they] can implement it into [their] sports programs.”

This year, Hatzikostanis is teaching at South, so Hayes teamed up with Wallace to lead the club at Central. According to Hayes, this year the club is focused on teaching members and the rest of the school body about four distinct domains of performance: diet, sleep, nutrition, and anxiety.

Hayes also mentioned that while he and Wallace are leading discussions currently, the goal is for RDS to become primarily student-driven in the future. Wallace stressed the importance of information coming from the students themselves.

“I find that it’s a lot more meaningful if the message comes from peers,” Wallace said. “Having been a coach [and teacher] for quite a while, you can say something, but when a [peer] says it, it [carries] a different [weight]. When it comes from adults, [students think] ‘They’re harping on us again, They’re so hard on us.’ But when a peer says it, it makes you think ‘Oh my gosh, I wouldn’t want to let anyone down’.”

Wallace also mentioned that while the sponsors do play a role in the meetings as well as in more logistical aspects of the club, the most committed members, which according to Wallace is around 10 to 12

students, have made a logo and t-shirt.

Sarah Cernugel, senior, was one of the new members who joined RDS this year after taking on a leadership role within her soccer and basketball teams at Central. Cernugel said that while RDS is still figuring out its schedule for the rest of the year, so far one topic she had found very valuable is sleep.

According to Cernugel, they examined at an Olympic level how an extra hour of sleep can bridge the split-second difference between a gold and silver medalist.

Robinson, who is the captain of the school’s wrestling team, expanded on the idea of the need for better sleep. He explained that while we all know we are supposed to get more sleep, we don’t really understand how much a lack of sleep can affect our ability to function.

“We talked [in RDS] about how if you are a competitive athlete, you should really be getting eight to nine hours of sleep. We then brought that [information] to our teams. I talked about how I understand that school is difficult, but we also have to understand that rest is very important [for] sport[s] and for retaining information in school,” Robinson said.

Similarly, Katrina Geiersbach, junior and captain of the girls’ water polo team, emphasized the potential she saw in RDS in helping her team improve.

“I thought that as a captain it would be really beneficial for us to go and get new ideas and attend some workshops to bring that back,” Geiersbach said.

Geiersbach also stressed the importance of the club and explained why it’s important that student-athletes receive this information. According to Geiersbach, she’s seen a sizeable difference in both her performance and her mindset.

“I’m a lot more mindful and aware of my actions and I’ve started thinking on behalf of others more than I have been in the past because of this club. I totally think it’s changed my life, [like] what foods I choose to eat, [and] what attitude and mindset I choose to bring to practice,” Geiersbach said.

Wallace shared this sentiment, saying that she has already seen a difference in some of the members of the club, especially in terms of their commitment.

“Their sheer passion for an interest in creating sound habits has really shown,” Wallace said.

Geiersbach mentioned that she saw additional value in joining RDS not only because of the information and resources that it offers, but also because it offered

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participate in a day-long workshop with a number of similar clubs from schools throughout the Chicagoland area.

Cernugel explained that while RDS was one of the smaller groups there, they were able to learn a lot of information from other schools on how best to grow the club and disseminate information that will help Central’s athletes perform at a high level.

Hayes echoed that idea, pointing toward other schools as an example for what he hopes RDS will become.

“There were probably 20 schools there — Buffalo Grove was there, Conant was there — but a lot of them started from ground zero like us. I think Buffalo Grove [started with] five people. Now they are at 80. So [growing the club] just takes time like anything else,” Hayes said.

Wallace shared this sentiment and further emphasized the importance of growing the club and spreading the message.

“We have been working towards getting the word out that this opportunity exists not just for athletes, but for anyone that would like to make sure that they’re doing the best job they can,” Wallace said.

Accordingly, RDS’s first meeting of the second semester was dedicated to brainstorming plans for expanding the club’s outreach. Members proposed and considered various ideas including midgame announcements at sporting events

and through Twitter. Last year Hatzikostanis came up with the idea for Thursday Tweets, through which RDS would tweet out important lifestyle information each Thursday, and Hayes said that the club plans on implementing that idea shortly.

Additionally, next month RDS plans to speak to the head coaches’ meeting, where every varsity spring sport will be represented.

There, they hope to show coaches how the club can benefit their teams, and the members will encourage every coach to invite a few team leaders to join RDS. For those students interested in joining, Red Devil Standard meets twice per month on Friday mornings in the health room.

While many RDS members currently have leadership positions within their team, the sponsors have stressed that anyone is welcome to join, whether they are team captains, members of teams, or even non-athletes who are interested in learning more about how to improve their health — no invite necessary. The sponsors and members all made clear that they want to provide a valuable learning experience to any student willing to listen.

As Robinson put it, “There are so many things we learn in [RDS] that you can use not only right now, but later on in life. It’s important information that a lot of people should know and you become more well-educated.”

phtoto provided by Lainey Harvey

her a chance, as a team captain, to share new experiences and bond with her team. She also said that because RDS is a leadership and value-based group, it offers a lot of different opportunities for those who don’t have a leadership position on their team. While the water polo season has not started yet, Geiersbach said she is looking forward to sharing new information that she learns from RDS. “I’m really excited to bring everything that I’ve learned in the club to my team and hopefully have other kids on my team join the club,” Geiersbach said.

Because Red Devil Standard is a new club, there is still a lot that the athletes and sponsors have to decide about the club’s future. Hayes stressed the importance of building a strong foundation of members who will help spread RDS’s message throughout the school.

“We want [RDS to be a club that allows you] to perform at your best, not only athletically, but academically. And we also want this to carry over into the P.E. classes since we’re talking about SEL — Social Emotional Learning. We can network those together,” Hayes said. “[RDS has] taken a while to get going, but hopefully it will take off soon.”

Most of the students that were interviewed expressed that they are excited about the information they have learned so far, but like Hayes, they all talked about how they need to grow in order to fulfill their goals as a club of spreading that information throughout the school. Cernugel, in particular, mentioned that while she finds the club to be valuable, she said she also feels that it is important for the club to grow in order to reach its potential.

“We’re hoping to get more people to join the club and spread the word. We also hope that people actually take to heart and use the knowledge we’re going to put out — so [that] people start focusing more on limiting their stress and getting more sleep, and seeing how that impacts their performance, not only as an athlete but as a student,” Cernugel said.

For that reason, RDS took a field trip in December during the school week to a conference center to

RDS students discuss goals for their next meeting.

From left to right: Sarah Cernugel, Max Pohlend, and Lainey Harvey

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The Switch to Semesters

by Lainey Harvey and Grace Erwin design by Ramzey Douedari

Students, teachers and administrators discuss the recent district wide change from the quarter system to the semester system.

I

n past years, as mid-October came around, students felt the stress of the end of the quarter. With the increase of tests, projects, and assignments due, students were left cramming and rushing to get the grade they wanted for first quarter. This year, in mid-October, students felt relief as they had nine more weeks to work on their final grade for the end of the semester.

At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, an 18 member district committee made the decision to change from a quarter system to a semester system.

According to Jessica Hurt, the Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction at Hinsdale Central, the goal of the new semester system was to reduce stress among students, and increase consistency between departments and continuity between both schools in the district, Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South.

With the previous grading system, there were four quarters, each nine weeks long. Students would receive a grade for each quarter. At the end of the semester, a student’s final grade was calculated using their two quarter grades, weighing 40 percent each, and a final exam grade weighing 20 percent. This grading system was used by all departments at Central.

According to Hurt, teachers from all throughout the school asked and requested for the system to be changed for many reasons including stress among students.

“We have had teachers asking us for probably over a decade, about quarters versus semesters…we have just noticed in our building that students reported to us, and we saw it, anecdotally, that at the quarters, students are actually way more stressed out than at the semesters,” Hurt said.

A committee of parents, students, teachers, department chairs and administrators from all throughout the district started meeting roughly five years ago to discuss the possible change.

During these committee meetings, different perspectives and opinions were given and taken into consideration. The different views were presented with data and research to support their argument.

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This year, the district is striving to combine South and Central curriculum to be as identical as possible.

The committee members noticed that at Hinsdale South, final exams were worth 1020 percent depending on the class, while at Hinsdale Central, it was always 20 percent, no matter what year or class the students were in. People started to raise questions as to why this was the case and whether or not it should be changed to encourage more equality between both schools.

Since district administrators were in the process of assigning teachers to travel in between buildings and also work on aligning the curriculums of the school, they decided it would be best to try to align the grading scales.

“We started realizing that our two buildings were different in terms of how students’ grades were made up, and that was a little concerning,” Hurt said.

According to Hurt, the grading scales were another difference throughout the district that impacted students final grades. There are more than 30 different grading scales in the district as a whole.

This means, the letter grade of an A might be 90 percent in one class, while in another class an A letter grade is an 82 percent.

This can make it difficult for students when calculating grades and trying to keep track of what percentage goes with what letter grade in each class. Hurt also said that students were reporting some finals to be extremely easy, while others were difficult.

“Teachers were making [the final exams] easy because they felt bad it was 20 percent,” Hurt said.

The district decided to give the decision to each department, on whether they make a student’s grade using the final exam as 10 percent or as 20 percent.

According to Hurt, how the following 80 percent is calculated is decided by the departments.

“Some departments do total points, some departments do categories, that’s a lot of stuff that we are working on as a district when it comes to grading.

It’s a pretty cool time in the education world because we are using a bunch of research and some new ideas,” Hurt said.

According to Hurt, the committee also looked into the social-emotional aspects of the two systems, which played a significant role in their final decision.

Lesley Nagle, English teacher, said with the quarter system she noticed students getting anxiety when a quarter

was ending. She noticed students rushing to finish assignments, looking for extra credit, and overworking themselves in an attempt to have a higher grade at the end of the quarter. “[With semesters] there isn’t the pressure in the middle to try to get to the grade that they really want,” Nagle said.

According to Hurt, many teachers and administrators also started to notice the increased stress on students around the middle of the semester, when the first quarter was ending.

“We put safeguards in place for finals so there were only three exams

“

I like [quarters] better because having quarters allows me to mentally reset more often, with the semester system it’s one long grind.

”

AJ Andersen on each day,” Hurt said. “But yet, at the quarters sometimes students reported to us that they would have six tests on one day and all of these projects due.”

According to a survey of 87 students, 63.2 percent like semesters more than quarters.

“I like semesters better because we have more time in each half of the year.

Students are not scrambling as much and I feel as though we are more level-headed or finals,” said an anonymous respondent.

Hurt also said having two quarters worth 40 percent each can be unfair at times.

“There would be way more points in the second or fourth quarter and all of a sudden those are being averaged with first and third and it seemed like those carry the same weight…” Hurt said.

Nagle said she likes semesters more because it gives students time to work on and improve their writing, which is an important part of her English classes. Since writing is a crucial part of many English classes, this was important to the English department. “[Students] need time to develop writing skills and sometimes it’s not until the end of the semesters where [the students] are able to really accomplish a writing task or a reading task,” Nagle said.

Although Hurt said most teachers prefer the semester system, she also mentioned one challenge. With the removal of the quarter system, teachers have to become more flexible. One goal Hurt had with the change was fewer tests piling up on week nine of the semester, which was due to quarters ending.

According to Hurt, this goal was not fully reached because of teachers’ set schedules.

“So many teachers are programmed to always have a midterm on week nine, if they don’t move that midterm to week eight, week seven, or week eleven, we’re perpetuating the same thing,” Hurt said.

This is one part of the system that could make the year more difficult for teachers, especially in terms of planning. They have to switch around the regular schedule and order of lessons, tests, projects, etc in order to support the new system and the advantages it provides for students in terms of stress levels and social emotional health.

According to the Devils’ Advocate survey, 19.5 percent like quarters more than semesters. One main reason for this is the new start that students get when the new quarter is commencing. Since a grade has already been finalized for the first quarter, the students start back at 100 percent for the second quarter.

“If [students] are starting behind it does give [them] a little bit of a boost,” Hurt said.

AJ Andersen, junior, said he finds semesters to be more challenging because students don’t get the fresh start at the beginning of the second quarter.

“I like [quarters] better because having quarters allows me to mentally reset more often, with the semester system it’s one long grind,” Andersen said.

According to Hurt, the school is always open to change. There are no plans as of now to make further changes, but Hurt encourages students and staff to express any concerns so they can be taken into consideration in future years.

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It’ s the Five Year Countdown

by John Olsen & Dalya Laban design by Loukas Bezanis

D86 works on Year 1 in a 5 year plan to improve and align Central and South, starting with science curriculum equity.

Photo by Sofija Buzelis

A

Seniors Jessica Joy and Scott Pitts experiment during AP Environmental Science.

fter the School Board approved the recommended changes to the science sequencing at Central in October 2019, an immense amount of feedback from the community followed. Parents expressed their opinions and views through a variety of outlets, including Facebook groups, online petitions, and emailing Board and Administration members directly. Many students at Central also posted links to a petition opposing these changes on social media, while others expressed their support for the changes.

“The lack of transparency and suddenness of this overhaul has poor optics and should be reconsidered,” a user on the Change.org petition wrote. “Please slow down the changes to the HC and HS science programs.”

Despite the pushback from some parents and students, District 86 will continue to follow these changes, and plans to apply them for the 2021-2022 school year.

Julie May, Science Department Chair at Central, said that the new science sequence at Central will bring hopes for the future of students’ college education as well as their jobs.

“I’m hoping that [students] walk out of here with a real appreciation for science, maybe even more than what they had before,” May said.

However, the changes to the science sequencing are only a small part of a much larger plan to improve the learning Features | 13

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Photo by Sofija Buzelis

Senior Chloe Lannert applies her AP Environmental Science curriculum to a project.

environment for students at both Central and South. This plan, named the “Strategic Plan” by the District, was approved by the Board on May 21, 2018, and aims to align curriculums at Central and South, along with many other goals before the 2024-25 school year. As stated on the D86 website, this plan is designed to “empower students to pursue their ideal futures by acquiring critical skills and knowledge to collaborate, create, and connect with an ever-changing world.”

The Strategic Plan consists of five goals with multiple strategies within each goal. These five goals are based around student growth and achievement, the learning environment, the work environment, family and community connections, and resources. Each goal has a defined statement that communicates what the District is looking to improve.

Tammy Prentiss, Superintendent, said that the Strategic Plan creates a positive working environment.

“It’s very helpful to have boundaries so that you can focus and get that work done,” Prentiss said.

For example, Goal 2, the Learning Environment, has a statement that says, “The learning environment promotes student well being.” Every goal also has a Goal Champion who oversees the overall progress of achieving the goal

and reports back to the Superintendent.

Goal 2’s Champion is Brad Verthein, who is an Assistant Superintendent. Beneath the Goal Champion are strategy leaders, who oversee the individual strategies laid out within the goal, and beneath them are the members within each strategy.

According to Prentiss, of the five goals, number one, which concerns Student Growth and Achievement has had the most work done on it in terms of time spent, most notably with the new science sequencing at Central. Currently, Central has a very open sequence that gives students a multitude of options starting their freshman year. Incoming freshmen could take Earth Science, Biology, or Chemistry, and would have more options after that in their sophomore year.

Jackson Hughes, senior, is a student liaison to the School Board, which means that he gives a report to the Board once a month on various aspects of student life at Central, said he supports the idea of an open curriculum. “[The current curriculum] allows students at Hinsdale Central to form their own path. It allowed me to make my own path and explore my interests,” Hughes said.

Hughes took Chemistry Honors his freshman year, which prompted him to take AP Chemistry his sophomore year

along with AP Physics 1, which then led him to taking AP Physics C his junior year.

He credits the freedom of this sequence for developing his interest in science.

The District is now adapting Central’s science sequence to a Physics freshman year, Chemistry sophomore year, Biology junior year track that also has incorporated Earth Science into each of these classes. This change was made and approved in accordance with Strategy 1 in Goal 1, which includes aligned curriculums between Central and South.

In order to determine what science sequence the two schools would be aligned with, the District formed a committee composed of teachers, department heads, principals, and assistant principals from both schools, along with an assistant superintendent. This committee looked at nine different sequences that included both Central and South’s current sequences along with many other options and evaluated them based on six different goals that aligned with the Strategic plan. These included: aligning courses, increasing student exposure to and interest in core sciences, aligning courses with college and career opportunities, creating a strategic and coherent science program, providing informed student choice in coursework junior and senior year, and increasing Social/

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Emotional Learning (SEL) considerations for students and parents. From these goals, the committee determined that a Physics-Chemistry-Biology sequence that builds on itself and incorporates Earth Science concepts and follows the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) would benefit students the most.

“The best phrase I have heard to describe the new science standards is that our secondary students need to be doing science, not sitting and getting science,” Prentiss said.

May said she also believes in this idea, “Our goal as people who are creating these courses is for them to be hands on classes. They’re really teaching students to think about science, the process of science, how you do science, as well as learning physics and chemistry and biology and earth science along the way.”

In this new sequence, freshmen will have the option between Physics and Physics Honors, in their sophomore year they can choose between Chemistry and Chemistry Honors, and their junior year they can take either Biology or AP Biology. Students will also have the option to double up on science starting their sophomore year with a select few AP courses, with the rest of the courses becoming available junior year.

The limited availability of AP courses to sophomores in this new sequencing worries Hughes, as he had a very positive experience with AP science classes his sophomore year.

“This is something that was a concern to me because I did take those AP classes so early on, which I think helped springboard myself into my interest in science,” Hughes said. “And I have plenty of friends who have had the same experience.”

This new sequencing will be available to freshmen enrolling this fall, although they will have the option to follow the current sequence at Central as well. Starting in the 2021-22 school year, all incoming freshmen will be following the new sequence.

Current students at Central will follow the current sequence until they graduate.

AP Physics I, AP Physics II, Earth Science Honors, and Biology Honors are no longer offered in the new science sequence, and Anatomy and Physiology has been added as a new course to Central’s curriculum.

In addition to the aforementioned AP and Honors classes that are no longer being offered, the District is eliminating G-level science classes, which are classes that assist students with reading comprehension regarding science, putting these students on the regular track.

To accommodate these students, the science department is implementing interventionists.

Interventionists would be science teachers who are free various periods of the day and can go into classrooms and help students who might be struggling or to provide them assistance outside of the classroom.

May said she believes that having interventionists is a much more efficient method than isolating students in their own G-level class. “[An interventionist] might be able to work with a group of kids to help bring them up to where they need to be rather than having them in a classroom by themselves,” May said. “There’s also a lot of students in our general level program capable of being in a regular level class.”

Prentiss said she does not support the idea of secondary tracking, such as general level classes in science.

“Does [secondary tracking] help the students? Does it close the gap? The answer is no,” Prentiss said. “There is no support for remedial and secondary tracking.”

Overall, there is much optimism from May about what this new science sequencing will bring for incoming students, regardless of how split the opinion from the community on it is.

“I have heard parents who are super excited about this program and I have spoken to a number of parents of incoming freshmen who are super excited that

“

Strategic Plan, and there are many other goals that need to be tackled and implemented.

Prentiss has repurposed the flex learning days this school year so that all teachers from Central and South are talking and working to create uniform grading scales across departments, which is another part of Strategy 1, in Goal 1.

“When I took over as Superintendent, there were 38 different grading scales,” Prentiss said. “It’s outrageous. I think science has 23 alone in its department. [I’m letting] the teachers have their voice and [having] them figure out [a uniform grading scale].”

The Math department is also beginning to align their curriculums, forming a committee similar to what science did, and following a process similar to that.

Prentiss emphasized the importance of feedback from students, staff, and parents, and as part of Goal 3, Family and Community Connections, wants to gain better and more accurate feedback from the community.

“The feedback from parents on the 5Essentials survey is currently at 26 percent,” Prentiss said. “They started in October. We remind them all the time. We are trying to find more regular times than just the 5Essentials survey to find ways for our students, stakeholders, and parents to give us feedback, because we’re only hearing from not even a third of our population.”

In May’s eyes, everyone in the community, and everyone contributing to

The best phrase I have heard to describe the new science standards is that our secondary students need to be doing science, not sitting and getting science.

Tammy Prentiss, Superintendent this is an option for their kids,” May said. “And then there are parents who are super apprehensive about it. There is a wide range of people and opinions. I think that for the students in this district, this should be a very positive move.”

As successful or unsuccessful as these changes to the science sequencing may turn out to be, they are only one small part of the

”

the Strategic Plan is trying to move in the right direction, and create positive change.

“There are passionate conversations that are [taking place] because they all want what’s best for the students,” May said. “What I will say is that there may be passionate conversations, but they’re all positive because everyone in their heart is trying to do the right thing.”

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SOCIAL MEDIA NSATION An in-depth look of the popularity of TikTok among students.

by Nate Bittner & Hari Rao design by Kritin Shanmugam Graphics by Audrey Carter

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JJ

ameson Pecilunas is setting up her phone against the wall. She turns on the camera and puts on a smile.

She runs to her friends who are already in front of the camera, and they start flailing their arms around as heavy base vibrates from the phone and the music yells “renegade, renegade.” They finish their TikTok and, in a couple taps, upload it in the app, and they all watch their views go up, anxious to see if their TikTok goes viral.

What is TikTok?

TikTok, like Vine, is an app for creating and sharing short videos.

Similar to other social media, TikTok users have a feed where they can scroll to see endless content recommended to them by TikTok’s algorithm. The algorithm suggests videos based on other content users have viewed and liked.

TikTok videos, like Snapchat, have filters that creators can use. Creators are able to interact with others’ TikToks through “duets” or a “response” video. In the app, users can search for songs or sounds to make videos with.

TikTok was not always popular.

According to Oberlo, TikTok rose to fame all across the world, most notably in 2019, where it amassed more than 1 billion downloads as of January of 2019 and retained

“Basically anywhere you’ll find people watching or making TikToks.”

Johnny Johnny Taylor Taylor an average of 500 million monthly users.

Sanskruti Patel, social studies teacher, knows of TikTok and has watched a few to understand the main idea of TikTok. “I think it’s a way for people to gain popularity like a lot of social media platforms,” Patel said. “It’s about being clever and getting someone’s attention.”

Who Uses TikTok?

TikTok as an app has widespread viewership with more than 500 million users. This places the fairly new app at the ninth most used across all social media sites.

Putting it up in the ranks with long time app veterans such as Twitter and Facebook.

With its large numbers, TikTok also has found itself with a widely diverse user base. Apptrace reported that

the app can be found in 154 different countries as well as many Asian countries close to the apps developers in China.

In a survey at Central, out of 108 responses, 70.4% of students said they use TikTok. When asked which gender they thought used TikTok more, students gave a response with girls getting 54.6%, and equal participation getting 45.4%.

The faces on TikTok don’t stop at Central either, 74.1% of those who use the app said they know people around school who were or still are popular on TikTok. Some students have noticed the age gap that has developed on TikTok. While many consider the creators on the app to be older in age, they still keep in mind the large percentage of viewers include the high school age group.

Why are People Using TikTok?

Genny Haarlow, senior, previously owned an account that accumulated more than 100,000 followers.

Haarlow calls TikTok “the New Vine.”

Vine, a social media app acquired by Twitter in 2012, allowed creators to share six-second videos and became a popular social media because viewers were provided with a continuous source of funny, silly or creative content which they could watch as many times as they wanted. However, because of business challenges with other competitors, the company could not make enough money off their app, causing it to eventually shut down on January 17, 2017. “[The reason TikTok is popular is] the same reason that Vine blew up,” Haarlow said. “There is an endless supply of these short-snippet videos that plays to your short attention span with whatever content you want.”

Johnny Taylor, junior, explained why he thinks the app has become so popular.

Taylor owns an account with 75 followers where he makes humorous-styled videos.

“It’s just like any other social media app, it’s just staying with trends,” Taylor said. “A lot of people understand the memes (jokes) that come with it.”

Some may argue that people use TikTok in order to acquire fame. Patel talked about an observation she made on this topic, which may account for the fact that, according to MediaKix, 60.4% of users in the United States are between the ages of 16 and 24.

“Something that I found interesting is that there seems to be more of an interest in becoming internet famous in [today’s youth] rather than from my generation,” Patel said.

On the other hand, Haarlow stated that she created a TikTok one day during her summer break because she was bored and saw it as an outlet for enjoyment. She said that she never created TikTok for fame but rather for fun and to pass time.

“I thought that the whole concept was stupid but [my sister] told me I could make one and probably get famous,” Haarlow said. “She told me ‘honestly, you don’t even need to have talent you just need to be decently good looking and you can be famous,’ so as a joke, I created one.”

Through TikTok’s algorithm, users randomly have their videos become popular, leading to them gaining a significant following. There have been multiple instances of students having their videos go viral or even resulting in gaining a significant following.

“After a week of posting videos, all of a sudden one [TikTok] blew up,” Haarlow said. “From there, I consistently started gaining more followers and more attention.”

Users may find many famous creators who create TikToks for fame and status, such as Charli D’Amelio, a young TikTok celebrity with more than 19 million followers. Influencers on the app like her cause fans to want to make TikToks in order to also become famous. Since TikTok’s algorithm is meant to recommend users TikToks based off of what they like, Haarlow said she believes there are multiple ways to earn a significant influence.

“The biggest thing that gets you a following is that you have to find your niche, or the type of content that is best suited for you,” Haarlow said. “You have a lot of attractive guys posting videos that they want attention from, but then you have people who post comedy, art or aesthetic videos.”

In the survey sent out by Devils’ Advocate, 79.6% answered that they see humorous TikToks, while 59.3% see dancing, and 17.6% see educational/informative videos.

“TikToks can be kind of making fun of an idea or someone else’s TikToks,” said Christine Kouria, a junior who owns an account with more than 15,000 followers. “But there are also those that talk about current issues in the world, like the Muslims held in Chinese camps and the Australian fires.”

Concerns

The Devils’ Advocate survey found that 51.9% of students said they believed that TikTok was a bad thing for students.

Many participants in the survey stated

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that TikTok was a waste of time, and that they found the app to be very addicting as well as distracting for students.

Haarlow said she has seen multiple politically-charged videos on TikTok. As these types of posts anywhere on social media start arguments and garner attention, she said she believes the same thing happens on TikTok. “If one of those really famous creators decided to take a stance on a specific political issue, climate issue, or really whatever they say, a lot of their followers would blindly agree with him or her,” Haarlow said. “I’ve seen chains of videos supporting Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, and TikTok is polarized in that way.”

Phillip Fan, senior, is a creator on TikTok with more than 33,000 followers. Despite many creators being aware of their young audience, he tells of how creators will still exploit this.

“Being honest, [kids] are the people that are more susceptible to not understanding sarcasm and a lot of the stuff targeted at them,” Fan said.

Kouria also touched on the matter. She spoke about how being inexperienced with social media can lead to misconception.

“I think it depends on how you interpret a lot of [TikToks]; most of them are sarcastic,” Kouria said. “If you’re younger, some TikToks might give you the wrong idea.”

Kouria added that she often notices others teens on TikTok that try to exaggerate information in order to be controversial and get viral.

With the multitude of users of TikTok, and the random probability of users able to go viral and gain influence on the app, some are starting to become more aware of what they are sharing on the app.

“For me, the biggest thing I would think about [when I’d post] was what would my parents or grandparents say if they saw my video,” Haarlow said. “I wanted to be able to go to school the next day and not be really ashamed by something I posted on TikTok.” Haarlow eventually deleted her TikTok because her parents were worried for her safety and privacy.

“It was really overwhelming — I am not the kind of person who likes that much attention,” Haarlow said. “The last week that I had my account, I went from [having] 50,000 followers to 104,000 followers in six days.”

Taylor spoke out about his own experiences with time management. “[TikTok] wastes a lot of time and it’s

@jamdowg @ayypatrick @aaronlajoie

TikTok has accumulated more than 1 billion downloads and supports a variety of content.

Provided by Sofija Buzelis

like other social media apps: it burns more time and it’s really addicting,” Taylor said.

Taylor went on to talk about the effect TikTok has had on the rest of the school, including where he has seen the plethora of trends and dances.

“People watch it basically anywhere, they just put in their earphones and just watch it,” Taylor said. “Today I saw two girls doing this dance on TikTok and their microphone volume was all the way up so it was kind of annoying.”

Many students have noticed the endless dances and videos at different places around the school. In the Devils’ Advocate survey, students said the most common places to see TikToks made live would be in the bathrooms and cafeteria. Students say phones have been seen propped up in the hallways and even during class.

However, the popularity isn’t limited to just the school. Taylor, who has been on TikTok for a few months has noticed the reach of the app’s influence.

“There are people that make TikToks in just random places,” Taylor said. “Basically anywhere you’ll find people watching or making TikToks.”

TikTok is owned by a Chinese company.

According to the New York Times, TikTok is under a national security review because of concerns that China could be spying on the U.S. through TikTok. “I think it was one of those things that freaked me out when I heard it, but nothing has happened yet to show that we should be worried about this,” Haarlow said.

Same old Story

The Devils’ Advocate survey shows that 20.4% spend 30 minutes to one hour and 25% of participants spend one to two hours viewing TikTok. Some question if it is beneficial for students to spend this much time on TikTok. “Is it bringing you entertainment or is it a mindless [activity],” Patel said. “Sometimes you need something kind of mindless to relax.”

Some ideas have circulated that there should be age restrictions on TikTok in order to prevent anything bad from happening to the younger audience who are exposed to more mature humor and videos in general. However, it is possible for a user to fake their age simply by using a parent’s account or faking their birthdate. Kouria offered a potentially more effective alternative to age restrictions.

“I think there should be something where you put in your age, and TikTok curates the content for those age groups,” Kouria said.

“That way younger viewers can’t get hurt.”

Haarlow capitalized on the point that while social media can be fun, users need to be cautious and remember the big picture of it.

“Every single thing you do is scrutinized and people will find your little slip-ups and expose you for it; people look for reasons to dislike you,” Haarlow said.

Creators like Haarlow have learned and kept in mind what has been the age old lesson with social media.

“Anything you do or say on the Internet is there forever,” Haarlow said.

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BATTLEGROUND FEMINISM

CONTEXT—The Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as “Advocacy of the equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex.” Feminism’s fourth wave, generally agreed to have started in 2012, focuses on issues such as sexual harassment and female empowerment. In the wake of January’s fourth-ever Women’s March, feminism is more prominent than ever, but some argue that it has become too radical and partisan. Is fourth-wave feminism a necessary and valuable movement in the U.S.?

Our society has come a long way in the past century. Thankfully, women no longer face the same systematic sexism and social barriers they once did, but that’s not to say everything’s perfect. Discrimination today is more subtle, so feminism has evolved with it, becoming a diverse movement that uses its base of support to call out inequality for what it is.

Take Hollywood. The entertainment industry has long had a problem with female representation, from unrealistic beauty standards to excluding female directors. That culminated in the #MeToo movement of 2017, when allegations of sexual harassment against producer Harvey Weinstein sparked the creation of Time’s Up, a feminist organization within the industry. The group created a $13 million legal defense fund for less privileged women who have experienced sexual misconduct in the workplace, and in 2019 announced the 4 Percent Challenge, which lobbies studios to hire female directors. As a result, more than 10% of films released last year were directed by women. While that number is still dismally small, it’s double that of 2018, proving that modern feminism can substantially improve an industry.

Inequality isn’t limited to the silver screen. Pregnant women or those with children still face discrimination from employers worried that their parental status will detract from work. For instance, the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality found that the average callback rate for job-seeking women fell from 6.6% to 3.1% when they had children.

Furthermore, pregnant women can struggle to get accommodations at work (e.g. not lifting heavy items). The 2015 Supreme Court case Young v. UPS ruled that existing law does not automatically grant the right to accommodations, placing the burden on women to fight for them.

Thankfully, despite those challenges women face, feminists are trying to help. On Jan. 14, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which makes it easier for women to obtain accommodations from employers, finally made it past the committee stage in the House. The bill isn’t particularly radical or shocking—it simply aligns with the feminist goal of ensuring that women aren’t hampered by their gender in society.

Fourth-wave feminism is linked to politics, and is sometimes accused of partisanship. But that criticism is usually an oversimplification. For instance, the concerns behind the Women’s March in 2017 were, in part, political, but also represented a response to the shocking disregard for women President Trump displayed in the Access Hollywood tape.

Though the march was political in nature, its cause transcended party infighting to genuine concern about a powerful person disrespecting women.

IThe whole feminist movement is much the same—though it intersects with politics, its aims are not partisan.

Many women of my generation may never face inequality or discrimination at all. But some will, and feminism highlights those problems. Of course, it doesn’t always get it right—any internet-based movement will sometimes be reactionary. Yet, despite its occasional flaws, fourth wave feminism tries its best to bring about gender equality in our society.

AVA SEVERTS

Illustrations by Audrey Carter

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Feminism— conservatives cringe, but this isn’t how it should be. Feminism, at its core is a good thing. Women’s rights, fighting sexual harassment, and equality under the law are righteous; feats accomplished through respected litigation such as the nineteenth amendment, the Equal Pay Act, and Title IX. But what do these legislative victories have in common? They were achieved before the 21st century— accomplished by the brave feminists of the first and second wave movements. So why is feminism such a divisive topic? With equality won, fourth-wave feminists cite “empowerment of women” as their goal.

DAVID GUST Like almost all leftist agendas (free college, healthcare, etc.), this sounds positive and righteous, but in reality it deteriorates society. Twenty-first century feminism isn’t real feminism, it’s a radical, unnecessary movement that has degenerated into a leftist agenda targeted at conservatives.

Fourth wave feminism is focused on promoting left-wing interests rather than equality. On December 30, 2016, the New York Times published an editorial entitled “Feminism Lost. Now What?”, a reaction to Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton. The article stated that “Hillary Clinton’s loss was feminism’s too.” This was a popular view among feminists, and just days after President Trump’s inauguration, the 2017 Women’s March took the streets toting leftist signs such as “build the wall around Trump.” However, according to Pew Research Center, 39% of female voters voted for Trump. Do these women hate women’s rights? Are these women anti-feminists? No, that’s ridiculous. These women didn’t leave the feminist movement, the feminist movement left them.

The Women’s March 2020 website states the march is “a powerful movement of people who share a common belief that freedom is for everyone, without exception.” What’s ironic is that just two sentences under this is stated “for three years we have persisted and will not tolerate anymore attacks on our reproductive health, our reproductive rights, on our immigrant communities, and on our planet.” Basically, freedom excludes anybody with any sort of conservative views or women who voted for President Trump, and God forbid that you are pro-life.

Let me reiterate: feminism, by definition, is a good thing. It’s current manifestation is what’s harmful. Being a conservative man writing about feminism, let me make my views crystal clear. Rape is fundamentally wrong, sexism is fundamentally wrong, and man or woman, conservative or liberal, we have a moral duty to fight these wrongs. But taking grounds against conservatives, attacking men on the grounds of “toxic masculinity” and the “patriarchy,” creating a platform on reproductive rights and resisting Trump; that’s not feminism. Tammy Bruce, a conservative feminist and previous member of the National Organization for Women, states “Dignity is at the core of what feminism should always be about. Dignity means that a woman should be able to freely choose her own path in life,” and whether this is a housewife, CEO, or a pro-life, gun-toting conservative, it is up to women to choose. Twenty-first century feminism embodies a radical leftist movement concerned more in identity politics than equality and freedom.

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Unsolicited Advice

by Catherine Dolan & Anchal Kumar

January's bitter cold can be brutal. Devils' Advocate writers provide advice on how to get through the winter.

Stay Healthy!

2

Work Out

3

Take Care of Your Skin

Illustrations by Audrey Carter

1

Colder weather means more sickness. Many students have already experienced a variety of colds and viruses this year. If you find yourself feeling a little under the weather, one great thing to do is to try the “Medicine Ball” drink at Starbucks. This beverage, which is available through the secret menu, is a mixture of Jade Citrus Mint Green Tea, Peach Tranquility Herbal Tea, hot water, steamed lemonade, and just a hint of honey.

During the winter, daylight hours are few and far between.

With the sun being so scarce this month, many people lose motivation to work out and stay in shape. While it can be a major testament of will, it is important to keep yourself happy and healthy. One tactic is to buy cute workout clothes specifically meant for chillier temperatures. Having fun clothes to wear will help motivate you to exercise.

Listening to a playlist of positive, uplifting songs will also add to this happy vibe. Finally, attempt to schedule your workouts when it’s light outside. According to Healthline, there’s no replacement for the mood boost and vitamin D that the sun provides.

As temperatures hit an all-time low, so does our skin condition. No one is a fan of that dry, cracked feeling.

While dry skin may seem inevitable, avoiding it takes only a few subtle lifestyle changes. For one, try to avoid cranking up the thermostat—contrary to popular belief extremely warm temperatures can make your environment even drier! Another small change is purchasing cleansers and soaps that are without fragrance and designed to be gentle.

They are not packed with the chemicals that contribute to drying you out. Finally, make sure that you always keep chapstick and a tube of hand moisturizer on you. When you are hours into the day and able to rejuvenate your skin, you will be thanking us.

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Fall 2020

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DISHED

by Rima Rafiq

This Week's Dish

Photos by Rima Rafiq

In the past couple months, the talk over chicken sandwiches has been nonstop. Publications such as Business Insider and Vox have all voiced their opinions on this dish. For instance, Business Insider compared chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-a and Popeyes, and found the latter to be disappointing. Love them or hate them, restaurants are really upping their game and competing against each other for the best one. For this reason, I decided to test it out for myself.

Raising Cane's

Raising Cane’s, a fast food restaurant most commonly located in the South, recently opened at 60 W. 63rd Street in Westmont. With only a few locations in Illinois, everyone was excited to try one so close to Hinsdale. When I first entered the restaurant on a Wednesday night, it was packed with people. I ordered the chicken sandwich, which included three tenders inside. I really enjoyed Cane’s sandwich because it had a subtle flavor with a kick of Cajun spice, salt, and pepper.

Price: $5.95

Popeyes

Popeyes, an affordable fast food restaurant located at 7518 S. Cass Ave in Darien, was in the news a couple months back for creating a spicy chicken sandwich to rival Chick-fil-a.

When I took my first bite, I was definitely disappointed. Having heard good reviews on the sandwich, I expected it to taste better.

However, it lacked any flavor and was pretty greasy for my taste. It tasted almost rubbery and didn’t include any lettuce or toppings to help further the flavor. The sandwich wasn’t worth finishing and I definitely would not order from Popeyes again given the lack of flavor and quality.

Price: $5.60

Chick-fil-a

Chick-fil-a is an American staple located at 7101 S. Kingery Highway in Willowbrook.

They specialize solely in chicken and breakfast items. Having tried their chicken sandwich multiple times, I’ve always liked their food. Their sandwich never disappoints and always has a great level of spice and flavor. In addition to the sandwich, Chick-fil-a offers their special sauce which only makes the sandwich taste even better.

The meat was definitely much more high quality and had the perfect crisp texture along with pickles and spiced sauce.

Price: $5.85

The Verdict

While I’m not a huge fan of fast food, I was excited to try out these sandwiches since there was so much controversy over the past couple of months. Each restaurant had a different take on such a simple dish. For example, Chick-fil-a’s had a ton of spice and flavor, while Raising Cane’s had a more subtle flavor. Popeyes didn’t taste like anything special and the lack of flavor and taste was evident.

Both Chick-fil-a and Raising Cane’s did a great job, but, given the choice between the two, I’d definitely order Chick-fil-a’s chicken sandwich over Cane’s.

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STAFF EDITORIAL

“F

or this unit, we will be going on a field trip,” says the teacher as the class erupts into discussion. “Oooh, where?” someone asks. “Oh yes!” someone else exclaims. The teacher passes out the forms, giving the class one week to

Illustration by Audrey Carter

Field Trippin’

return them signed. However, when the time comes, there is only a measly stack on the desk, amounting to a little over half the class. They even extend the deadline for the forms, thinking students just forgot, unaware of the fact that students are actively choosing not to go. You may be wondering,

why would these students skip out on a learning enrichment opportunity?

Teachers curate their field trips towards whatever the students are learning in class, with the aim of integrating some fun. English classes go to Navy Pier to watch Shakespeare performances to see the literature they’re reading live before

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their eyes. Physics classes go to Six Flags to see how momentum and gravity come into action. European history students go to the Holocaust Museum to see a momentous part of their curriculum laid out before them. German students go to the Christkindlmarket to experience the winter culture and traditions firsthand.

Business Law visits county jails to witness trials and see the inmates. These experiences not only deepen students’ understanding of the curriculum, but also allow them to connect their learning to their own lives and see how they can interact with what they’re learning.

“It gets you guys out of school and gets you looking at real things outside the classroom and applications of things that we study in school you get to see in real life,” said Mr. James Ludois, AP Environmental Science Teacher.

Despite these outside learning opportunities, field trip attendance remains low. Many students fear missing school or do not see the academic value in missing a whole day of school for a single subject. The student body has created a culture in which our academics are always placed ahead of everything.

We come to school to learn everything we can and to not fall behind. In this way of thinking, however, we are missing out on opportunities to see what we are learning in the real world. While field trips range from museums to amusement parks, they all carry valuable lessons that allow us to apply our learning, despite what their educational face value may seem.

“I’ve never been on a field trip in high school; if I’m going to dedicate a day to academics I’m going to come to school. If I want a fun day off I’m going to go full Ferris Bueller and do what I want,” said Audrey LaValle, senior.

According to EducationNext.org, field trips, in general, are on the decline. They found that the Field Museum in Chicago used to welcome more than 300,000 students every year, but now the number is below 200,000. This is in correlation to a decrease in students signing up for field trips, as schools are often forced to cancel or simply take a smaller group.

You can reschedule that test and turn in that assignment before school, but make sure you’re in the cafeteria

ready to embark on the bus with the rest of your class. Don’t let yourself be the one who’s left behind because you were too lazy to take a quiz after school. Don’t let yourself be the one sitting in silence as your class discusses the events of their recent field trips and the connections to your curriculum.

Teachers are understanding and willing to make accommodations to allow you to attend your field trips. Often times, field trips that might seem mundane and boring can turn out to be some of your favorite high school memories. You don’t want to be left out when all your classmates return the next days talking about all the fun they had the day before.

Field trips also provide us with a school sponsored day to let loose a little bit. They provide us with the chance to expand our education from beyond our uncomfortable desks in our cramped classroom. It’s these breaks in routine that are not only beneficial to our education, but also to our mental health. They are a break from the never ending cycle of going from class to class. According to the National Education Association, 59% of students who participate in field trips earn higher grades in the class, 95% have higher graduation rates and those students who take advantage of these real world opportunities are found to have a 12% income increase later on in their life. They are a chance to step out into the real world and breathe some fresh air. While doing this, we are able to see the world through the lens of whatever subject we are learning in school and could potentially discover a passion we never knew we had. Yet, students never take advantage of these opportunities and instead find themselves never turning in their permissions slips out of the ridiculous fear that comes with missing a single day of school.

“I think a lot of students skip because they have a test and they view tests as more important than real life experiences,” Ludois said. “Field trips should be emphasized more than exams and things of that nature.”

Education manifests itself in ways that we can’t always see. Field trips show us that it is possible to learn in an environment other than the classroom.

Often times, the field trips we take are at typical places we visit or pass by on a regular basis. These field trips help us connect our learning to the outside world and understand how we can connect our learning to things beyond our homework and exams. If we pay enough attention while on these field trips, we will eventually be able to make the connections on our own, and that is called learning in action. Even if you don’t see the educational value of your field trip at times, at least we are being given a day that allows us to spend time with our classmates. University of Arkansas researchers from the College of Education and Health Professions found that students who attend field students actually retain a great deal of information from field trips and improve their critical thinking skills.

When you skip out on a field trip, you’re not only letting yourself down, but also your teachers. Teachers put a lot of hard work into making field trips happen, coordinating with locations and setting up transportation with the school. And they get excited to take their classroom into the real world, where they can see their students experiencing what they have taught them. And you get the chance to hang out with your teacher outside of the classroom, where you can learn more in a nontraditional setting and expand on what they have already taught you. Or, you can get a chance to do something fun with your teachers, like go-karting or Six Flags, and develop your relationship beyond physics or math.

Sure, missing one day of school gives you work to make up, whether it’s homework or a test. But, one day of assignments is not going to set you back far. Your opportunity to attend field trips is limited, after high school you may never get an opportunity like this.

Making up one day of assignments is worth riding those rollercoasters with your classmates or sitting in on a real trial, possibly helping you discover your own future passion in law. So, arrange with your teacher to take that quiz after school and get your butt to the Christkindlmarket while you still can.

This editorial is the consensus of the Advocate staff.

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ADDICTION Based on 100 student responses

HOW OFTEN DO YOU WATCH YOUTUBE? 11.5%

13%

1Tim2e a we s ek

6%

NEVER

11%

3-4 es Tim eek aw

Shane dawson

70% ALMOST EVERY DAY

23.0% Mr Beast

3.4% jeffree Star

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77.2%Use

N

22.8% DON’t USE

YOUTUBE FOR SCHOOL

YOUTUBE FOR SCHOOL

s

66.3% FoLLOW

YOUTUBERS ON OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA FAVORITE CREATORS

25.3% David Dobrik

10.3% EmMA Chamberlain

2.3% Jake Paul

24.1% PEWDIePIE

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MEET THE...

Cafeteria Staff Photos by Catherine Dolan

What’s your favorite food to make for students?

Toula Georgacopoulos Chicken Sandwich

Adrina Felix Vanilla Starbucks Coffee

Martin Escobedo Wing Toss

Mary Brennan

Michael Garcia

Gabriela Villalobos

Betsy Serrano

Kathleen Siwachok

Adriana Zerneno

French Toast Sticks

Sprinkle Cookies

Shaker Salads

Taco Salad

Chicken Baked Pasta

Fruit Cups

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Trends CROSSWORD

OVERHEARD AT CENTRAL Comical Quotes Heard In the Halls of Central

“

The Endzone

With the start of the new year, college football has been all the rage. Take this puzzle to learn more!

My life is powered by bacon.

Man, I don’t have an forehead—I’ve got a FIVEhead!

“

”

I saw Little Women just for Timothée Chalamet.

He gave me a beef stick for my birthday.

”

Please check your email next month for an opportunity to submit what you’ve heard in the hallways.

Clues Across

Down

1. Which team has been to the most bowl games?

3. Which team has the most players drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft?

5. Which team, USC or Notre Dame, has more wins in the series?

6. Which team has more wins in the series, Navy or Army?

2. Which team has the highest winning percentage in the FBS? 4. Notre Dame and Ohio State have how many Heisman trophy winners each?

5. Which team has won the most overall conference championships?

Answers 1. Alabama 2. Michigan 3. USC 4. Seven 5. Notre Dame 5. Nebraska 6. Navy crossword/overheard 207551 DA January 2020 32.indd r1.indd 1 31

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DEVILS’ ADVOCATE Hinsdale Central High School 55th and Grant Streets Hinsdale, IL 60521 207551 DA January 2020 r1.indd 32 Back Cover December.indd 1

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