Nov. 2022 | Vol. 106, Issue 4

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Avoiding social media in an ever-connected world

By Isabella Martinez, Tanya Weisman Staff Writers

As platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and relatively new platforms like BeReal continue to rise in popularity, the grip that social media has on students tightens. Many teenagers have lives that revolve around their screens, but others decide to distance themselves from certain platforms.

Some may feel juggling school, clubs and relationships challenging when having a constant distraction in their pocket.

“When I had TikTok, I would sit there for a couple of hours at a time without realizing it. My grades actually dropped the

quarter of the year I had Tik Tok by about a grade level per class. When I deleted it, my grades went back up, because I spent more productive time studying,” says sophomore Elliot Obuch. After difficulties focusing in school, he made the decision to go partially social media-free by deleting all unnecessary platforms from his phone. This freed up a surprising amount of time to focus on school work.

“People are a lot less productive and have shorter attention spans due to the easy access to short-form content,” says Obuch. He feels that, if students are constantly receiving new entertainment at such a rapid rate through their devices, they will slowly become less accustomed to working on long-term proj-

ects in the classroom.

To build stronger connections in her classroom, ETHS English teacher, Elizabeth Hartley, has a strong no cell phone policy.

“The worst effect cell phones have on students is that your eyes are looking down at you device while you are going through your whole life. Usually, you have earphones in so you can’t even hear or socialize. People around you will say hello, and you won’t even know they are there. [Devices] check you out of the community and real social interactions more effectively than putting you in a prison cell.” Hartley says.

She feels it is crucial to recreate the missing human connections that students may have lost over the pandemic.

“Last year was the worst year of my career. Mostly because I had four sections of sophomores that had been isolated for a year, and they literally moved through the halls like zombies. They didn’t know how to communicate, they didn’t know how to talk, and didn’t know to look people in the eye. I had sophomores trying to convince me that they were being social, they were just being social on their screens. They told me they didn’t want to come to school, because they didn’t want to be around people. They just wanted to be in their rooms by themselves. I almost didn’t come back this year, I almost quit.” continues Hartley.

Evanston, Ill. Evanston Township High School

New community advisory council provides voice, agency

By Elise Goulding Staff Writer

In an effort to connect and involve himself with the community, ETHS super intendent Dr. Marcus Campbell started a Community Advisory Council.

“I’m a very relational person…I want to know what’s important to our commu nity members, our parents, our students,” said Campbell.

The council consists of five community members and parents (Steve Jones, Sarah Liddell, Kobby Mason Akuffo, Melissa Raman Molitor and Gabriella Ramos), as well as three ETHS students, Mayra Ba zan Gonzalez, Miigis Curley and Caleb Powell.

“I think it’s important to have both adults and students on the council so we can get as many perspectives as possi ble…It’s important to have students as representatives within the council,” said

council member Gabriella Ramos.

The members have many different rea sons for joining the council. However, a common goal is to ensure all students feel accepted at school.

“There are many, many, different stu dents from different cultures and back grounds that experience ETHS in different ways and [I want to know] how the school is addressing [supporting people from all of those backgrounds] and how the school is ensuring that all of the students feel like they belong and are getting the support and resources that they need,” Molitor said.

Members of the council also have dif ferent backgrounds, and thus more per sonal, specific things they would like to see brought up within the administration.

“I want to see Black Hawks removed from classrooms because of the deep emo tional trauma that it coincides with, not only in indigenous people, but also all POC,” Molitor said.

The Community Advisory Council gives people the opportunity to voice their concerns. It is one of many efforts Dr. Campbell has made in order to form a more direct connection to the community.

“The school needs to show that they’re an active listener when it comes to issues in the community. I think this council will be really beneficial, and it’ll help provide solutions to any issues that students or families might have with the high school or just in Evanston in general,” said Ra mos.

Community Advisory Council meetings are quarterly, though members would like to meet more often after the first meeting on Oct. 13. They spoke for around an hour and a half.

“How do we continue to navigate con versations about race in the context of, you know, white supremacy, and that was pretty much a big piece of what we talked about,” said Campbell.

As the council will mainly give opinions

on improvements that can be made within ETHS, it is important that students have a voice. The three student council members will be able to call on their experiences to help form the important conversations.

“[The council] offers another set of per spectives for the superintendent and the school at large to take into consideration when making decisions for the school and for the student body…I was really im pressed with the students. It was great to hear their stories,” said Molitor.

This council also helps people move away from less personal forms of com munication, especially digital communi cation, which has become increasingly prevalent in schools and life at large, and allows people to address Campbell in per son.

“I think that it might be a very effective way to [hear]... all the points of view of people that are in some shape or form in contact with ETHS,” said Gonzalez.

Zombies bring community together in annual Scramble

By Tanya Weisman. Isabella Martinez Staff Writers

As Halloween approached, Evanston resi dents got into the spooky spirit by participat ing in the annual Zombie Scramble.

The event occurred the night of Oct. 22 at the Ecology Center. Ages eight and up were welcome to sign up and run a two-mile course around Butler Park. They were given flag football belts to tie around their waists, with the end goal of finishing the run without getting their flags stolen from the “zombies” hidden around the trail.

Volunteers dressed in full zombie cos tumes and makeup to jump out and scare the runners as they sped by. Many ETHS stu dents volunteered with groups of friends.

“If they have 800 people to participate in it, obviously, the community likes to come out and be a part of the event. It definitely gives kids something fun to look forward to in the fall. It’s good exposure to the park too, because the trail runs through the entire thing. So it definitely puts a good use to the green space in Evanston,” said Anna, a volunteer zombie at the event.

The course consisted of “Mob Zones,”

placed with high numbers of zombies and “Safe Zones”, places where you could walk and catch your breath without fear of having a flag stolen. These locations were equipped with portable restrooms and first aid kits.

“Honestly, it’s not too scary, which makes it even more fun. It helps you meet new people and gathers the community to gether” said middle schooler Sawyer after finishing the race with a group of friends. A great part of the event is that it is struc tured for all ages. The younger runners can sign up to go when it still is light out or to come with their parents, whereas older runners can race after the sun has set to make it a more challenging and creepier experience.

At the end of the event, runners and their families are welcome to stay for the after-par ty inside the Ecology Center where they are provided food, hot chocolate and s’mores. Players who still had flags remaining were entered into a raffle where they could win a number of prizes.

“Kids are doing these activities with ei ther their friends or families and making memories. I think it’s nice how it brings the

Northwestern’s new stadium plans evoke mixed feelings

By Mack Jones Staff Writer

On Sept. 28, Northwestern University an nounced plans to rebuild its football stadium, Ryan Field. The choice to build a new stadi um in Evanston was made after a generous $480 million donation by the Ryan Family last year. The plans for a new stadium come after Northwestern ranked dead last in home attendance in the B1G in 2021. It is expected to be completed in time for 2026.

Northwestern’s solution to the attendance problem is to decrease the number of seats. The new stadium will only seat 35,000, 12,000 less than its current capacity. Howev er, it is still a larger number than the school’s average attendance last year. (In 2021, North western averaged 30,796 people per home game.) The idea is to focus on the fan experi ence instead of going for the largest possible number, which they hope will bring in more fans than before.

“The new stadium will create a best-inthe-nation football experience for fans, stu dent-athletes, and the community,” says a statement from Northwestern. It is unknown where Northwestern Football will play during the construction, but options include Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, or Guaranteed Rate Field.

The stadium will be funded entirely through private dollars, so no taxpayer fi

nancing will be required for construction. Most of the money will come from Pat and Shirley Ryan and will be the largest donation in school history. The new Ryan Field will be the only new Power Five football stadium built this century without public money. It is estimated to cost around $800 million. The project is the most expensive stadium reno vation in college football history, surpassing Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, which cost $450 million in 2013.

A new stadium is necessary. The original Ryan Field is historic, standing at 97 years old. It is one of the oldest stadiums in college football. Stadiums with similar historical backgrounds, Kyle Field of Texas A&M and Camp Randall of Wisconsin, were renovated in 2013 and 2022, respectively.

“It’s just getting a little too old. The school has a whole section in the last corner of the stadium blocked off because of unsafe con ditions. The bathrooms and everything aren’t the nicest places, so I feel like an upgrade is needed,” said Miles Lehmer, owner of the In stagram account northwestern.orbit.

The stadium will be an upgrade, featuring a state-of-the-art canopy to focus noise and light onto the field. The new Ryan Field will be a modern stadium campus featuring recre ational areas surrounding the stadium, simi lar to the recently built SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Northwestern also wants to upgrade concessions in the stadium with new food op

tions that will feature local restaurants.

In light of the Chicago Cubs organization being sued over ADA shortcomings at Wrig ley Field, Northwestern has emphasized the accessibility of their new stadium, calling it “among the most accessible stadiums in the country.” The university also says the stadi um will be a premium experience, with the best sightlines in college football and chair backs for every fan.

There will also be a newly designed student section based on other sports. A sport that NU might have looked to could include soccer, known for the super-fans known as “ultras” for their hardcore attitude during matches. Upgrading the student section is especially important to provide a better experience for everyone.

“Students don’t like going to [Ryan Field]. They don’t think it’s a good stadium, espe cially when it gets colder. I mean, halfway during the season, it gets to freezing tempera tures,” said Lehmer, “It’s especially import ant because we’re a smaller school. It’s more like a family. The student section is one way to foster that relationship.”

Northwestern plans to start selling alcohol at the games, something that the university didn’t do before. Athletic department spokes man Paul Kennedy said in an interview with The Daily Northwestern that, “The main hur dle prohibiting alcohol sales at Ryan Field is the stadium’s location in a residential neigh

borhood.”

Evanston is known to have stingier al cohol laws because of the city’s involvement in Prohibition. Northwestern managed to convince the City Council to allow alcohol sales at its basketball stadium, Welsh Ryan Arena, when the City Council met on Feb ruary 10. The Evanston City Council has not yet reached an agreement for the Ryan Field renovation, but Northwestern plans to target alcohol sales as one of its main focuses. They also plan to host 12 concerts a year, and six scheduled home college football games.

“I’m hoping the gameday experience doesn’t change with alcohol. I’ve had a couple of ex periences with people getting angry. We could see some unexpected, unwanted behavior from fans so I’m hoping Northwestern does their best to try and prevent that,” said Lehmer.

Northwestern President Michael Schill’s thoughts revolved around the forward vision a new stadium may usher in.

“I am excited about this project, which will create a world-class new stadium befit ting our world-class institution, our amazing student-athletes, our fans, our alumni, and the Evanston community,” Schill said. “I ap preciate all the work my predecessor and the leadership team at the University have done to actively listen and solicit input from the community. I am looking forward to continu ing that engagement and look forward to see ing this project come to fruition.”

community together” said Nee, a parent of a participant.

The annual Zombie Scramble takes plce in late October, where people sign up to run two miles while avoid ing being caught by volunteers who dress up as zombies to add excitement and Halloween spirit. Photo by Tony Mateos

Old Orchard Barnes and Noble reopening this month

By Elliot Hoffner, Grace Jorgensen Staff Writers

When COVID-19 struck, Evanston and the surrounding areas lost many busi nesses, and many locals mourned the loss of multiple Barnes & Nobles. This pop ular bookstore not only left downtown Evanston but also the Old Orchard Mall in Skokie. However, after being closed for only a year, the beloved bookstore is coming back to the mall. The new and im proved location will have two floors, with 20,000 square feet, and contain a Paper Source.

Opening Nov. 16, many loyal Barnes & Noble customers are anxiously awaiting its return. The Barnes & Noble Old Or chard location originally opened in 1994. After inhabiting the space for 27 years, the bookstore closed on Dec. 21, 2021, due to the pandemic. When Barnes & Noble re

opens it will be moving to a new location within the mall– where Toms Price Home previously was located.

Even with their comforting atmo sphere, Barnes & Noble still struggles. Amazon has started to box out small and large bookstores. According to The Mot ley Fool, Barnes & Noble’s stock dropped around 20 percent in 2021.

“I try to support independent book stores as much as possible, but sometimes urgency and convenience do come into play, and I may break down and order something from Amazon. Usually, how ever, it’s not books that I turn to Amazon for, but other stuff,” said William Latham, the head librarian at ETHS.

The closings of several Barnes & Noble’s across the country can also be blamed on COVID-19. Librarian Robina Button grew up in Niles and remembers coming to the Old Orchard Barnes & No

ble very frequently.

“I think it’s a big systemic problem. Not only just for bookstores, but malls [as well]” says Button, commenting on the closings of businesses due to the pandem ic.

“I’d go two or three times a week,” said Button. She describes Barnes & No ble as an atmospheric hangout spot. The Starbucks that often inhabits Barnes and Noble’s can be a factor in that coziness.

“I would just go there to hang out… It’s the atmosphere they put out,” Button said.

As Evanston gears up for the holiday season, Barnes & Noble will welcome ea ger gift shoppers with open arms. Among these customers is Serge Khalimsky, the mall’s general manager.

“[Barnes & Noble] has been a staple at the center for many years, so we are thrilled for its return in time for holiday shopping,” said Khalimsky.

The holidays are a big hit for bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Most stores see an uptick in sales around Thanksgiving and in December when more shoppers want gifts for their family and friends. Since Barnes & Noble offers not only books, but also board games, collectibles, a variety of toys, LEGOs and more, it is seen as an easy and accessible store to shop for any loved one.

With Paper Source moving in and of fering a wide variety of stationery and gifts, customers are able to have a onestop shopping experience at this revived Barnes & Noble, as well as have the wel coming and familiar bookstore the mall has been missing.

Starting Nov. 16, Barnes & Noble will be waiting with open arms for every avid reader.

Choir hosts open mic as fundraiser for New Orleans trip

By Ella Bowker Staff Writer

On Oct. 27 at 6:30, the choir hosted an open mic night in the little theater.

Around the end of last school year, Orchestra and Choir members were sent a compelling email that announced a 20222023 school year combined-group trip. These trips occur every two years for choir, orchestra and band, with the goal in mind to provide both a socially and musi cally meaningful experience for those stu dents. For this school year, the band will go on a separate trip from the others.

The email’s survey allowed choir and orchestra students to choose from four trip location options: Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando and Los Angeles. After the results were collected, a New Orleans trip was announced.

“I’m very excited. We went to New Orleans in freshman year also. It was so much fun, and I think I would enjoy it even more this year,” said senior Sadie Clutter. The New Orleans trip itinerary lists not only sight-seeing attractions such as vis iting the French Quarter and enjoying a swamp tour but also music-related oppor tunities such as clinics at Tulane Univer sity and performing in Jackson square. All of these opportunities add up to a costly trip for any student, which the music de partment has been trying to help students with. “We’re bringing between 80 and 100 people, and the cost per student is going to be about $1,400, which is quite a lot.

So, we have been encouraging students to apply for scholarships, and we’ll host our own sort of department fundraisers throughout the year,” said choir director Sarah Zegree.

Because the cost of the trip is such a large sum of money, scholarship and fund raising opportunities have become a major focus for Choir and Orchestra members. The Unterman Family Fund allows stu dents to apply for funds for the trip. Choir performed at the West End Market as well, raising about $500. The ETHS music de partment provides further scholarships that can be built up for each student if they choose to raise money from regular fund raising projects.

“Often we do a Fannie Mae fundraiser, which is selling chocolates and having a portion of the money go towards the trip. But that’s just not everyone’s thing. A lot of people forget about it. It can be very tedious, and only part of that money ac tually goes to us,” Clutter said. For that reason, choir board members proposed an open mic night.

“The board decided to have an open mic to give an easy, low-stress and no-pressure opportunity for any student to perform. We thought it would be a good way for students to practice performing in front of an audience, because some people don’t have much of that experience and want to get better at it or see what it’s like,” said senior Lucie Escobar. “We’re all here be cause we love to sing or play instruments. I thought it would be a fun way for us to

showcase our talents, while also making the money that we need to make,” said Clutter.

A $5 entrance fee was required, and all profits went to the New Orleans trip. “The open mic night was absolutely a success. We made over $200, enough for someone

going on the orchestra/choir New Orle ans trip to cover their monthly payment. The event was super enjoyable, as every one performing was so talented and their passion for singing was made abundantly clear. I got to hear a lot of voices that I’ve never heard before!” said Clutter.

Two months, two new board members for District 65

By Clara Gustafson News Editor

Over the months of September and October, with the 2022-2023 school year starting to ramp up, District 65 wel comed two new board members, Tracy Olasimbo and Mya Wilkins, following the departure of Marquise Witherspoon and Anya Tanyavutti.

Both Wilkins and Olasimbo will be serving until the 2023 election in April.

Tracy Olasimbo grew up attending Distric 65 schools, and currently works at the Evanston Public Library as the Family

Engagement Coordinator. In an interview she gave with the Evanston Roundtable, Olasimbo stated that her goal is to ensure that Black and brown children in special education have equal oppritunity as their white peers.

“I am thrilled to be the newest addition to the District 65 school board,” Olasimbo said in a statement released by the district.

“I’m even more excited to collaborate with each board member, Dr. Horton, and administration to continue the challenging work to shift systems and structures, while elevating the educational experience for every student and their families.”

Just as Olasimbo has Evanston ties, as

does Wilkins, who works as an Executive Director in Marketing Research at Chase and has lived in Evanston for almost 20 years, and currently, she has two children attending District 65 schools.

Because of her children being a part of District 65, Wilkins has become involved in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) at Walker Elementary School, and it was that experience in the PTA that made Dis trict 65 confident in bringing her on as a board member.

Wilkins plans to ensure that all of the schools that are part of District 65 are “providing the support needed to make sure every child can achieve academical

ly,” she said in a district statement.

Olasimbo takes over for Witherspoon, who announced her departure after a year serving on the board, while Wilkins steps in for Tanyavutti, who had worked as a board member for the previous six years. Each spot on the board was filled in less than two months.

With both of these new additions, the D65 board will continue its work on im proving academic and social emotional outcomes for all students.

Choir hosted an open mic night on Oct. 27 as a way to raise funds for their 2023 trip to New Orleans. Photo courtesy of Macy Hoelever

Chess takes fourth against other competitive programs

By Rafi DiCrescenzo Staff Writer

On Oct. 29, ETHS’ varsity chess team placed fourth in a statewide competition between over twenty other Illinois high schools. Other winning teams include Neuqua Valley (first place), Stevenson (second place), and Walter Payton (third place). ETHS’ JV squads, Evanston Orange and Evanston Blue, took first and third place, respectively, in the JV division.

“The way [the tournament] works, each school has eight varsity players who play the other schools,” ETHS chess coach Keith Holzmueller explained. “Until we get to the state tournament, it’s possibly the strongest of these regular season tournaments.”

ETHS has historically had a successful chess team. Last year, the Kits placed third in the IHSA state championships, and ETHS has won more matches at the state tournament than any other Illinois school. The last time Evanston took gold, however, was back in 2006. According to Holzmueller, the unpredictability of chess may be partially to blame.

“We’ve always been a strong program,” he said. “But [chess] is a bit like baseball or soccer.

One team may be ‘better’ than another team, but they won’t win every time.”

Still, Holzmueller is confident in a victory at this year’s IHSA championship.

“I’ve been very pleased overall [with the team’s performance],” he said. “[The seniors especially] have been a terrific group, very focused on playing and improving, and they’ve set a good example for the juniors, sophomores, and freshman … We’ve got a great team, and it’s getting better every year.”

Regardless of the team’s placement in the championship, ETHS chess will continue to grow.

“It’s not just about the team,” Holzmueller adds. “[Chess] is about encouraging people, and helping others learn how to play chess and enjoy it … No matter how much you keep playing, you always run into games where something new is going on. You never stop learning.”

And for those considering trying their hand at chess, it’s not too late to sign up.

“We’re happy to welcome anyone who would like to play,” Coach Holzmueller says. “It doesn’t matter your level of experience … We’re happy either way. We’re promoting chess.”

Voting-age seniors take to the polls Prep for Flying Turkey 5k in motion

By Hannah Cervantes Staff Writers

The Flying Turkey 5k has been on Thanksgiving morning in Evanston for the past 10 years, and it has become a popular place for families from all over to come together and have a good time. The community benefits from the race too, with all the charity booths and food drives that the race supports. The sponsors of the race have stands set up with free food and drinks, along with trinkets and candy.

Such a seemingly simple event takes a lot more planning than you might think. Jonathan Cain has been directing the event since it started.

“We start planning for the next race right after one is finished,” Cain said. Planning street permits and having police officers and ambulances at the races can be a hard task to schedule correctly. On top of everything else, the iconic flying turkey hats need to be passed out.

“The hats started in the fourth year of the race,” Cain explained. “They are one size fits all so nobody walks away with an extra large when they wear a small.”

The race’s popularity has grown every year, with this year’s capacity at 3,250 participants and around 50 volunteers. People volunteering for the race could be high schoolers searching for service credit, or people who don’t want to run the course. Performing tasks like passing out hats, patrolling the course and helping at the aid station, volunteers are a help to the program.

Although The Flying Turkey 5k is a fully profitable company, they work with many charities. Some, like the Evanston Food Pantry and Vault D65 have been working with the race since year one, while others just started like a local homeless shelter. At the race, you can donate all kinds of lightly used winter clothes and shoes, as well as canned and non-perishable foods to the food pantry to help someone in need enjoy their Thanksgiving dinner as well.

Sophomore Catherine De los Reyes has participated in the race in past years..

¨My favorite part is how it became a tradition,¨ she stated. For the past four years, she has been running the 5k with her mom and occasionally her sister. Her favorite part of the race is spending time with family and friends, and enjoying all the food and drinks at the end.

There are three times that you can start running. If you are looking for a more competitive race, you can start the run at 9:00 a.m. If you are just running for fun, the starting time is 9:05 and if you want to walk you start at 9:08. The course stays on the street or sidewalk, taking routes through Northwestern’s campus, and loops around through Evanston. The start and end are on Sheridan road, which is closed for the event.

Overall, the race is a good time to get some exercise before Thanksgiving dinner. People running have a good time and people volunteering get credit and are a bigger part of the event. The Flying Turkey 5k brings the Evanston community closer.

By Tarek Anthony Staff Writer

With the Democrats’ 50/50 control of congress on the line, this year’s Nov. 8 midterm elections were highly consequential. Currently, Congress is controlled by the Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote, meaning any shift in this year’s midterm election could subsequently shift congressional power back to the Republican Party. Whichever way it goes, the results will likely determine the effectiveness of the second half of Joe Biden’s presidential term. There are additionally 435 house seat and 35 Senate seats up for grabs in addition to 36 out of 50 states holding gubernatorial elections.

Key gubernatorial elections in swing states such as Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania will prove highly consequential in the 2024 presidential race as incumbent candidates Gretchen Whitmer (D) of Michigan and Ron DeSantis (R) of Florida both eye possible presidential runs for 2024 in addition to a highly contentious rematch between Texas Republican incumbent governor Greg Abbott and perennial Democratic challenger Beto O’Roukre.

Following another year of high political tension the topics of abortion, crime, border control, inflation and economic instability are expected to prove prevalent for Americans when making their decisions at the polls. The topic of abortion, particularly among younger voters, is expected to increase voter turnout in favor of

the Democrats as many red states push for a full abortion ban.

Teenage voter turnout is on the rise following record-shattering voter turnout in the 2018 Midterms and this was most recently seen in the Aug. 2 abortion ban vote in Kansas in which teenage voting led to a landslide vote for the Democrats. Following this rise, teenagers are expected to heavily influence the 2022 election cycle.

“I am voting [in the midterms] because it is my civic duty and [also] my first opportunity to do so,” says senior Asher Cohen. “I am concerned with the current economic crisis and foreign affairs issues in our country and want to make my voice heard.”

Numerous states including key battleground states such as Georgia and Florida have enacted new voting laws surrounding identification requirements with restricted access to early voting and voting by mail following false election fraud claims by many Republicans following the 2020 presidential election. These new restrictions to mail voting are expected to negatively impact Black voter turnout given they used mail voting more than any other racial group last election.

“ I personally feel like it is important for everyone to vote,” says senior Aleks Williams It makes difference [even] one single vote can make a difference no matter [the outcome].”

Literacy, safety focus of D65, D202 combined board meeting

By Annabelle Harris Assistant News Editor

On Oct. 24, District 202, ETHS’s district, along with District 65, which includes the elementary and middle schools that go into ETHS, had a combined board meeting. In this meeting the boards mainly focused on their plans to improve literacy and safety in Evanston schools.

According to Pat Savage-Williams, president of the D202 board, this meeting was about “[The two districts] ability to work together and collaborate together.” She explains this further, stating that collaboration includes, “Communicating consistently, assisting one another, not necessarily doing the same thing, but understanding where we're coming from and having enough trust in each other so that if we have questions we can just communicate that and articulate around that. So even though we don’t have to do the same steps. it’s really important that we understand and support each other, particularly because we are educating our students in this community so we have a very important role.”

Joseph Hailpern, a District 65 board member, resident of Evanston and parent of multiple children in D65 also shared his point of view on the

reasons for this meeting, which was to “Reaffirm the relationship and the collaboration [between D65 and D202], and the collective work we need to do to advance equity and embed it and operationalize not only individually within our own respective systems, but across the city and in collaboration.”

For Hailpern, embedding equity into our systems doesn’t just apply to D65 and D202, but other institutions in the city as well.

Hailpern also explained that along with these board meetings, they have joint leadership meetings with the city to address the issues that impact the families in our community and how to provide them with the resources that they need to succeed.

In light of recent events, such as the lockdown at ETHS, safety has been a huge priority at ETHS. The school even hired a consulting firm to conduct a full safety assessment. Taya Kinzie, assistant superintendent and principal at ETHS, explained that along with putting safety measures into place such as students scanning in and out of the building, building trust with students is a very important part of making ETHS safer.

“The data shows focusing on relationships is truly the greatest act of prevention, so we are go-

ing to continue that focus. That’s one of the reasons we have been even more intentional about beginning our schoolwide effort towards building our restorative practices,” Kinzie said. If students trust the adults in the building, Kinzie said, they will come to them with safety concerns.

D65 also took steps to improve safety at the elementary and middle schools. Several new full time safety positions were added, along with new technology that keeps track of who is in the

school buildings. They are also training more staff in crisis prevention/intervention.

While the districts’ methods for improving safety seem to be going well, several attendees of the meeting admitted that the literacy goals were more of a struggle. District 65 Board President Sergio Hernandez suggested that the literacy goals could be improved by being more understandable and aiming to support marginalized students more.

ETHS’ chess team has won more matches than any other school in Illinois, but hasn’t won State since 2006. Photo by Celia Jefferson

Disticts 202, 65 met to discuss literacy, safety across both districts that serve Evanston families. Screenshot of District 65 Youtube channel

Mixed opinions on next steps for aging animal shelter

By Ethan Ravi Assistant News Editor

For years, the Evanston Animal Shelter has housed and cared for animals in Evanston that need aid. But in the last few years, plans have been made to demolish the current building and rebuild a new 8,810 square foot facility that would be at 2310 Oakton Street, its cur rent location. These plans, and the $6.3 mil lion price tag, have been readily accepted by some in the Evanston community. However, some residents have raised their eyebrows at the large amount of money that is needed for the shelter.

The current animal shelter is thought by many to have seen better days. It was built in 1987, and since then, has cared for hundreds of rescue cats and dogs. Understandably, its wellused facilities have started to decline, resulting in less comfort for the animals and more strug gles for the people trying to help them.

Dr. Catherine Bellamy, who has been a veterinarian for over 20 years in Evanston and worked at the shelter from time to time, de scribed the difficult conditions for the caretak ers. In addition to unsafe heating systems that put the animals in danger, Bellamy described the lack of room for proper veterinary work.

“I was working, for the 15 years that I have been there on and off, in a bathroom. It was about a four foot by eight foot space, and we couldn’t even restrain the animals properly,” said Bellamy. “That was unsafe for both the people that work for the animals and the an imals themselves, and you couldn’t even take proper care of them because of that.”

These concerns that Bellamy had about the safety of the shelter were confirmed by Vicki Pasenko, executive director of the Evanston Animal Shelter, and co-founder of the Evan ston Animal Shelter Association (EASA).

“The current building is dying; it’s beyond its useful life. And it has a myriad of problems that cannot be corrected,” said Pasenko. Although some people love animals and some don’t, Bellamy explained why all Evanston residents should care for their well-being, with the shelter being the main place where that could happen.

“Taking care of pets is a basic sign of hu manity, and we need to give those animals both a better quality of care and a better build ing. Animals and people in Evanston have a very deep and meaningful bond, I see it every day at work. It’s our responsibility to be the stewards of these pets and to make sure they are safely and humanely cared for.”

While it seems clear that some sort of improve ment to the animal shelter is necessary, the high sum of money that the City of Evanston plans to give has caused some dissent within the citizen body. Many of these concerns were raised at the Oct. 10 City Council Meeting.

Mike Vasilko, who is very involved with

Evanston politics, expressed his worries about the financial commitment the City would have to make to build the shelter.

“You’re pushing forward on the animal shelter that no member of council or public has seen the design of. We don’t know what it looks like, we don’t know what the plan is, and no one really knows what it’s going to cost,” said Vasilko. “There’s a budget, but we know how budgets and Evanston go. It’ll be twice that before it’s all said and done.”

Mary Rosinski, another community mem ber and former City Council candidate, ex pressed similar apprehension for the proposed budget. She compared it to a new PAWS Chi cago shelter that had been renovated (instead of demolished and rebuilt) in the past few years for much less money per square foot and proposed that a similar course of action could be taken with the Evanston Animal Shelter.

“I do believe that we need a new animal shelter, I just don’t believe that we’re being fiscally responsible…Just because something is old, does not mean you don’t work with it,” said Rosinski. She went on to add, “Before you just recklessly spend money on an animal shelter, let’s get the right animal shelter for the right price.”

When spending millions of city funds and hours of valuable time on planning a new, state-of-the-art shelter, questions arise about how responsible that is, amid a nationwide homelessness crisis. Tina Payton voiced her concerns during the public comment portion of the City Council Meeting, after noticing a lack of care when trying to find help for some one who was unhoused. She noticed this man under a viaduct and tried to find help for him. After being turned away from multiple ser vices that were supposed to help in a situation like that, she took the matter to the City Coun cil.

“You’re sitting up here, talking about cats and dogs in a new house, but you won’t accept a homeless man under the viaduct. Get your priorities straight here. This is a disgrace,” ex claimed Payton.

There are a lot of Evanston residents who have recently expressed their worries about spending millions on a new shelter, but this project has been in the works for a while. In 2018, the workers at the Evanston Animal Shelter started the process to apply for a grant from Cook County, and it was accepted. They received $2million as funding for the new facility, but that money came with a few timing and monetary requirements. To meet the fiscal requirements, the overall bud get for the project must be $6.3 million. Additionally, to meet the scheduling requirements, the old shelter needs to be de molished sometime around February or March of 2023, and the new one completed before No

vember of 2023. Now, with those deadlines looming, the workers at the EASA are feeling the pressure.

During the Oct. 10 City Council meeting, Pasenko and others who have spent a lot of time preparing and planning for the new shel ter expressed annoyance with the City’s lack of willingness to fund the shelter. The lack of commitment from the City Council makes fundraising especially difficult for Pasenko. One million dollars of the $6.3 million budget was supposed to come from fundraising by the EASA, and they still have a long way to go if they want to raise that money.

“People are not going to give us large do nations if they don’t think that the city will proceed with building the building,” Pasenko explained. She added that the EASA had cash donations in hand of just under $300,000 and had commitments for an additional $200,000. At the City Council meeting, Clare Kelly, the first ward alderperson, expressed worries about plans for the new shelter. Her concerns mainly centered around the budget of the new shelter, which she thought was unreasonable in light of the potential upcoming recession. “I’m going to talk again about next year; it’s going to be a really hard year,” said Kelly. “I think we need to look at what we really need for next year, and I’m concerned that we’re already talking about demolition and building a sort of state-of-the-art animal shelter that is very expensive per square foot.” Kelly is not completely against the shelter but thinks that it could be built for much less, sim ilarly to what other community members had said during the public comment portion of the

than six point three million dollars.

“The $6.3 million actually includes all the architectural services fees which we spent about $500,000 on so far, its furnishing and equipment, its temporary shelter space. It’s supposed to be a comprehensive package,” explained Biggs. “The actual cost of construc tion would be considerably less than six point three million dollars.”

In response to the surprise by some at the council meeting when hearing about the budget, Biggs also brought up the point that the city council had voted on a resolution in 2021 that indicated that they were in support of the new shelter. While that resolution tech nically didn’t approve the spending of the money, Biggs argued that the updated budget shouldn’t come as a surprise, as herself and the EASA had kept the city council updated throughout the planning process.

Councilmember Devon Reid, the eighth ward alderperson, raised the idea of poten tially collaborating with the EASA to make their shelter more of a community space for residents in the Eigth Ward. It was received enthusiastically by Pasenko.

“I’d just love at some point to sit down with Shane and Laura and Vicki and the whole Evanston Animal Shelter team and the Animal Welfare Board if they’re involved with this and think more expansively about how this could serve as maybe a space for the commu nity to inhabit as well,” said Reid.

The focus on the animal shelter during the Oct. 10 City Council meeting ended with a vote on Resolution 107-R-22, which would authorize the city manager to waive stan

vanston i an

Writers, Artists, Photographers:

Tarek Anthony, Ella Bowker, Hannah Cervantes, Jonah Chiss, Lydah Coates, Rafi DiCrescenzo, Nina Ferrer, Meera Field, Isaac Flint, Charlotte Geyskens, Elise Goulding, Calliope Green, Hazel Hayes, Paula Hlava, Elliot Hoffner, Simone Jacot-Bell, Celia Jefferson, Leah Johnson, Mack Jones, Grace Jorgensen, Zoe Kaufman, Emerson Kimrey, Will Klearman, Parker Krzystofiak, Max Low, Isabella Martinez, Anthony Mateos, Charlotte Murray, Kate Myers, Jessie Okoon, Marco Roman, Jeremy Schoen, Milo Slevin, Jared Tucker, Maya Valentine, Aaliya Weheliye, Tanya Weisman, Rosie Witt

As COVID misinformation spread, health officials fought back

By Isaac Flint Staff Writer

In the early days of the pandemic, it became apparently clear to junior Giles Gilbert Bartell that the media was going to be difficult to trust. Hearing different things from various news outlets, social media platforms, political leaders and his family, there was no one way of determining the truth.

“There was so much information being passed around, any of it could’ve been true or untrue. Typically I filtered out the most extreme information, but even now I don’t quite know if the information I took for truth actually was,” says Gilbert Bartell.

For many ETHS Students and teachers, this was a shared experience, and one that has permanently altered the way they view politics, media, and public health.

In a world where misinformation has the ability to spread like wildfire, it can be difficult to know who to trust. Science has become a topic of debate, health officials the subjects of abuse, and social media a battleground. Even through conflict, the Covid-19 Pandemic has taught us that the truth is inescapable, no matter how grave.

In Cook County alone, almost 40,000 deaths have been recorded since the be ginning of the Pandemic, with over 3.79 million confirmed cases of Covid-19. Na tionally, there have been over one million deaths, and case numbers are approaching one billion. America is no stranger to loss, yet correspondingly familiar with mistrust in science.

“We so often consume information through [media sources] and look at them as trustworthy places that we can learn about things that are happening in our world. The hope is that our elected officials and news outlets will do their due diligence as they make decisions and report on the news, but unfortunately this is not often the case,” says English teacher Bradley Baum.

“It has become increasingly disappoint ing that these individuals and sources seem to be more driven by ratings, power and the money that comes with it rather than reporting the facts,” he continues.

The politicization of science is an is sue that public health officials are highly experienced with, from the debunking of political conspiracies to the navigation of a harsh partisan divide found in topics such as public health and pandemic response. For Evanston Health Department Director Greg Olsen, the importance of publicizing the truth in an accessible and dependable way quickly became a primary focus when beginning the pandemic response back in March of 2020.

“We made the decision very early on in the pandemic to be as transparent as we could,” Olsen says. “We know that there was a lot of bad information going out there from the highest office in the country to your neighbors. We wanted to be a trust ed resource for the community.”

In a recent study performed by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a thorough review of the Trump administra tion’s efforts to interfere with the Pandemic response revealed that the administration was involved in significant harassment of CDC officials, in attempt to downplay the severity of the virus as well as protect the former President’s reputation. This includ ed a months-long effort against the work and statements made by Dr. Anne Schuchat, former deputy director of the CDC, who re tired last spring.

Throughout her 33-year career with the CDC, Dr. Schucat has served a significant role during numerous outbreaks including H1N1, West Nile, Ebola, Zika and most re cently Covid-19. During the last five years of her career, Dr. Schucat was subject to pressure and blame, not only from the Trump administration, but from the gener al public regarding her leadership amid the pandemic.

“The partisan approach that character izes the Trump administration was really hard. Covid-19 is capable of severe dis

ease, is very transmissible, can cause no symptoms, and could spread before you have any symptoms. It’s a tough virus. And so the partisan effort made it extreme ly hard to navigate,” says Dr. Schuchat. “This is the worst virus that I’ve had to deal with and it’s certainly the worst pandem ic that the nation has been through in over 100 years. So, I think every country, every state, every clinician, and every family has really been struggling with it. I think that when we planned for pandemic response, we didn’t expect to have as prolonged re sponses as we’ve had.”

Starting early on in the pandemic, it was common to hear about Covid-19 being described as a government hoax, or simply an illness similar to a typical common cold or flu. Worries over the state of the econ omy overtook broadcast media, and pan demic procedure quickly became a cam paign component for both Republicans and Democrats. Tweets from the Office of the President read “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have de veloped, under the Trump administration, some really great drugs and knowledge,” and “I have always treated the Chinese vi rus very seriously.”

The Trump administration silenced pub lic health officials like Dr. Schucat, only to take credit for advancements in the pre vention and control of the virus, all while

ment officials. One study respondent be lieved that “(Coronavirus vaccines) were hastily made for the sake of profit, not to help or protect American citizens.”

Political and economic perspectives control what media is consumed by cit izens, varying the information received during the pandemic. Pew found that over 25 percent of both democrats and repub licans relied on news sources that aligned with their political views during the 2020 election. Similarly, senior Rex Wallin con sumed media primarily aligned with his and his family’s views throughout the pan demic.

“With the politicization of the pandem ic, news sources became very politicized as well, so I generally distrusted news sources that don’t align with my views, like Fox, and trusted sources that do align with my views, especially the New York Times,” says Wallin.

Along with news sources, social media has also been used as a tool for polarization and politicization. While some used it as their main source for information, Physi cal Education and Sports Medicine teacher Chad Harris has tried to avoid consuming information found on social media.

“Social media was and will always be one of the last sources for information for me. Social media is usually not substan tiated by research and involves too much

ious members of the community. And I think journalists try to get the truth…. It’s just very hard right now, with all the differ ent channels and all the different networks that people follow, to have us all be part of the same community.”

Despite the challenges of navigating the political landscape that defined the Pan demic, Dr. Schuchat has found deep value in her public health career.

“It’s incredibly meaningful to do work that challenges you, but also serves others. And there’ll be days and maybe months or years where you wonder, and it seems real ly, really hard. But when you can do it for a long time, the chance to learn and grow and see the impact of your work is just ex traordinary.”

“There are bad days and good days; it’s not the most highly paid or the high status of many other professions, but for personal meaning, and for working with others that have a shared purpose, it’s really special,” Dr. Schucat expresses.

“One project after another, one col league after another, one community after another that I worked with, I found real joy and meaning from that immersion.”

While political leaders disagree on the information regarding Covid-19, public health officials know and share the truth to the extent the Biden administration cur rently allows. In a highly divided country, it is important to actively seek out the truth

For reliable information regarding Covid-19 on a national level, visit the CDC website. For Evanston-based information, visit the Evanston Health Department’s

gether, we can work to prioritize the lives of our neighbors, and the spread of the truth as we continue to navigate the Covid-19

Art by Parker Krzystofiak

Evanston concludes year-long search for city manager

By Milo Slevin Staff Writer

When Evanston City Manager Luke Stowe enters his office every day, he blocks out the chaos surrounding his new job and gets to work on making Evanston a better place. In the past year, he has seen a city manager step down because of a scandal, a candidate for the job take a different position at the last second, another candidate drop out because of a contract dispute, and another candidate driven away because of her controversial history. Stowe, a 10-year city employee, has seen the best and the worst of the city government. And now, after a nationwide job search and several failed candidacies, Stowe takes over the most important role in the Evanston government.

The city manager position is kind of like the CEO of the government, and no, he’s not the mayor. Whereas the mayor presides over the city council, the city manager oversees the dayto-day operations of the city.

“I’m not directly part of the policymaking process; most of that is left up to the mayor and the council. But then, after they make a decision on something, it’s generally up to me and city staff to implement those policy desires,” Stowe explains.

For example, Stowe’s office oversees the Department of Parks and Recreation, so he might be responsible for guiding projects like building a new park or cleaning the beaches. He also supervises the police department, so he maintains contact with the police chief to ensure that everything runs smoothly. It doesn’t stop there, since Stowe and the deputy city manager preside over all Evanston operations.

Clearly, the city manager position is critical to Evanston. So why haven’t you heard of it? Why isn’t it on your voting ballot or in your weekly city newsletters? Maybe that’s because the city manager is not an elected office. Unlike the mayor, the position is appointed by the city council and isn’t obliged to have direct contact with the public.

However, oftentimes the city manager can’t avoid the spotlight. A scandal surrounding sexual misconduct by Evanston lifeguard supervisors led to city manager and long-time Evanston employee Erika Storlie leaving office on Oct. 8, 2021. Because of an agreement between her and the city council, details of her involvement in the scandal are unclear.

After that, the city was ready to find a new, qualified city manager. The City Council hired several recruitment firms to conduct a nationwide search spanning over several months.

In January of 2022, the council brought in their top candidate: Daniel Ramos, a Deputy City Manager for the City of Baltimore. However, his candidacy didn’t last long. “We would have really been excited about Mr. Ramos,” explains alderman Devon Reid, “but the city council took a bit too much time to coalesce around him, so Daniel ended up taking a job in Houston, Texas.”

Just like that, the council had missed their first chance to bring in a new permanent city manager. Fear not, though, because the nationwide search yielded a new finalist a few months later.

John Fournier, an administrator in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was appointed as city manager on May 23. However, literally the next day, he reopened contract negotiations because of a misunderstanding surrounding a small clause in his contract.

“That (misunderstanding) led to a disagreement between the council and John on what would be presented to him as a part of his compensation package and that caused Mr. Fournier to withdraw,” says Reid.

With Fournier gone, it had been over half a year since Storlie stepped down, and there remained no permanent city manager. Luckily for the city, throughout the hiring process, city employee Kelly Gandurski filled in as interim city manager. Even so, in an interim position, Gandurski wasn’t given the jurisdiction that a full-time city manager would have had.

Stowe details the difference between an interim versus a permanent role.

“Once you know that you’re in the permanent position, you definitely feel that you’re in a better position to move forward and make decisions, as opposed to ‘let’s hold off on some big-

ger decisions because we know there’s going to be a new city manager,’” he states. Unfortunately, Gandurski found a job elsewhere before a permanent city manager was hired.

In summary, when Fournier’s candidacy failed, the government wasn’t functioning at full capacity and the council was yet to find a new city manager. What was next? Did the council finally find their person? Did they at least find a more committed candidate? Nope. How about the most polarizing candidate yet: Carol Mitten.

Mitten is the city administrator in Urbana, which is a smaller city than Evanston. In her time in Urbana, Mitten was surrounded by controversy that was brought to light when she was announced as the lone finalist for the job in July.

Mitten faced immediate backlash from organizations like Evanston Fight for Black Lives, who criticized instances where she defended police officers’ use of violence. She also met heavy criticism from Alderman Reid and other city officials.

Reid cites a situation where a young woman in Urbana was slammed to the ground by a police officer and Mitten said that “the only person that got hurt was a police officer.” Reid and other protesters see that rhetoric as a major step backwards for the City of Evanston.

“Carol Mitten demonstrated a lack of cultural awareness, which, as the city manager, I don’t think would have translated well to improving relationships with the black community in the city, and various other minority populations in the city,” Reid concludes.

The Evanstonian reached out to Mitten for an interview, but she politely declined. In an email, she said, “I have had more than my share of attention from my adventures in Evanston, and I really don’t want to revisit the issue, particularly in the media.”

Once Mitten’s candidacy failed, the City Council looked inward at their interim city manager, Luke Stowe. Two weeks later, he was hired. Stowe has about a decade of experience in the Evanston government and meets all of the qualifications that the council was looking for.

With Stowe’s hiring, a search in which the city spent about $100,000 on hiring firms and countless hours deliberating was finally over. Some say that the search was a huge waste of resources given that the council settled on an internal candidate. However, Reid doesn’t see it that way. “I do think that the dollar amount that we spent was certainly worth it, even though we ended up landing on an internal candidate,” he said.

Nonetheless, the painfully long process begs the question: why was it so hard to hire a city manager? Was it something about Evanston? Was it just unlucky? Reid believes it was unluckiness with a bit of dysfunction in how the candidates were handled. He consistently cites two main parts of the process that were bungled. The first was the council’s indecision in hiring Ramos, and the second was that Mitten was the only candidate brought forward in July. Maybe if the council had been a little more proactive, the process would have been a lot smoother.

Also, Stowe notes that Evanston has “what I would describe as urban challenges, but our residents often have Northshore type expectations.”

In some senses, Evanston is an average suburb. However, it is a more racially and economically diverse city than their neighbors to the north. As Stowe explains, it is also a more expansive government with more responsibilities than those of neighboring towns. Some job candidates may have stayed away from the tall task of being Evanston city manager.

Fortunately, Stowe is ready to face the challenge head on. With a couple of months under his belt, he reports that everything is going smoothly. Currently, he is developing the 2023 budget, helping new police chief Schenita Stewart settle in, and furthering his goals on racial equity within the city government.

After 312 painstaking days of searching, discussing, and evaluating, the Evanston government is functioning at full capacity. Now in office, Stowe will continue to do what he does best: put his head down, push the drama aside, and go to work.

By Lydah Coates, Calliope Green Staff Writers

Standing in the planetarium courtyard, staff members and students together enjoy the gleeful mesmerized laughter of young children. Stunned and excited, they awe at the cock-a-doodle-do of the rooster living right in ETHS’ courtyard. They marvel at its red crown, golden feathers and long, clawed feet. With an up-close view of the unfa miliar colors and piercing scream they quickly learn the excitement that comes with the revela tion of a rooster.

This uncovering is only one of many new discoveries made during the hours at ETHS’ unique daycare facility. For ages three to five, an immersive, educational experience is provid ed for young Wildkits while their ETHS staff or teacher-parents work nearby.

Originally starting in the 1960’s as a two and a half hour program, the Daycare was created to educate students of the Child Development class. Today, it is a full-time program not only aiming to create interactive experiences for ETHS stu dents, but also focusing on developing creative and cognitive abilities for the children.

A typical day for a child at the Daycare con sists of structured activities, story time, outdoor play, nap time and much-loved arts and crafts. On special days, the kids enjoy field trips to the courtyard, trips to classrooms and visits from the Child Development class. Sticking to a well known area, while also exploring, allows the children to maintain a more comfortable dispo sition while also teaching them the importance of branching out.

Nancy Fuller, ETHS’ Child Care Center Coor dinator, speaks on the importance of the day care to parent-teachers and staff.

“It provides an on-site daycare center for ETHS staff, and it allows parents to bring their child to work with them; this is a convenience,”

she says.

The parental benefits of the Daycare are exten sive. Not only do parents appreciate the comfort of having their child in their workplace, but their children also get the educational benefits of inter acting with older students.

Growing up, it is common to be given puzzles, blocks, coloring tools and even books. These kinds of activities are intellectually stimulating and engaging. They begin the path towards gain ing linguistic, motor and emotional skills, acti vating the prefrontal cortex of the child’s brain. The kids at the ETHS day care are no different. Alba Vickers, an ETHS sophomore, partakes in visiting the Daycare as part of the Child De velopment elective. She explains the benefits of having hands-on experiences with children’s cognition and learning.

“What we did yesterday was free play, which includes playing with cars, trains, dolls, LEGOs and painting. I think that some days when the weather looks a bit nicer, they go outside to their playground, but I know a lot of the activities they do are very cognitive based, to help them devel op a lot of their physical, emotional and intellec tual abilities.”

Throughout the day they are involved in many activities: sensory crafts, art, and storytelling. Even counting blocks, and admiring the grain iness of playdough, introduces the ideas of sci ence, math and social studies. These subjects are all taught to give the young children an opportu nity to become familiar with the material before starting grade school. Different Child Develop ment classes rotate through the day, allowing the children to develop social skills and a level of comfortability with change.

Change comes in many forms at the ETHS Daycare. Whether it be transitions between ac tivities, outside versus inside play, new places to visit or new people to meet, the young ones con stantly learn a new way to deal with adjustments.

A common unfamiliarity for the young Wildkits comes in meeting the new, much older students at the high school. Charlie Henderson, a sopho more and Child Development student at ETHS, explains her first interaction with the children.

“We first had to go up to them and introduce ourselves,” Henderson says. “After a while, the students and kids begin to click. They end up going up to you when you walk in the room or they’re like, ‘come sit with me.’”

These young Wildkits also have opportunities to branch out with many engaging and pedagog ical experiences, taking advantage of ETHS’ many resources. Sometimes, ASL classes are visited during holidays, musical performances are given, poetry readings are attended and best of all, the planetarium is opened for the young kids to discover and enjoy the beautiful wonder of outer space.

These unique outings are not only enjoyed by the young children, but also by students at ETHS.

“Recently, they’ve been getting into swings. At first, they weren’t really into it, but now, we have to have a timer on it. We got to encourage all those kids to try something new. There’s one kid, a four-year old. He’s one of the older kids. He cries when he has to get off the swing,” Hen derson says.

Teaching confidence and trying new things is valued by the Daycare. Throughout the day, op portunities are presented to the kids, giving them the chance to find out what kind of challeng es they can face, and what they are passionate about. Acknowledging and understanding emo tions is also an important aspect of the ETHS Daycare.

Vickers speaks about the way she deals with emotionally expressive children along with any children she converses with.

“Even though they don’t always understand a lot of what we’re saying and they may tend to be

more emotional, they still understand a lot of the social cues that we have, because they observe. Kids are very good observers … So just by nod ding your head, and just talking to them, asking them questions after they speak even if you don’t understand something that they said, or just say ing, like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool’, or ‘oh my gosh did that actually happen to you!’ makes them feel like they’re being heard and seen.”

Even as a young child, feeling like you have a voice and a valid opinion provides a sense of reassurance especially when away from home and family. This moral is constantly stressed at the ETHS Daycare center and within the Child Development courses. Just these extra consider ations for each child makes the ETHS Daycare a safe and welcoming space for all individuals.

“All students are able to explore careers relat ed to early childhood/child development. They learn about developmental stages of growth, as well as educational theories, and they also learn how to develop age appropriate lessons for fu ture practices either in careers or as future par ents. Last but not least, the children benefit from being immersed in a social environment that is loving, nurturing, and educational,” Fuller con cludes.

Students participating in the child devel opment course greatly improve in their social abilities when working with all ages. They learn to portray a sense of comfort among young er grades while also experimenting with how to best teach and interact with a more youthful generation. This also creates a compassionate, affable atmosphere for the young Wildkits to grow and discover. Additionally the ETHS Day care provides a trusted space for staff and teach er-parents to leave their loved ones. By creating a nourishing yet enriching environment for the young learners, they can grow to be confident in themselves as well as the community surround ing them.

New principal ‘called upon’ to lead students, staff

By Charlotte Geyskens Staff Writer

As the teenage daughter of a minister com ing of age in southwest Iowa, Taya Kinzie spent those years focused on community-centered work, spending her childhood volunteering. Although Dr. Kinzie didn’t originally intend to work in education, her path eventually brought her to ETHS, where she worked for 18 years until eventually becoming principal and assis tant superintendent at the beginning of the 2022 school year.

Kinzie’s first experience with ETHS came in the form of an internship, which she completed in 1997 while also pursuing her masters in social work. Eventually, she left to do mental health and community oriented work.

“I got my certification to be a school social worker, but I decided to do community mental health [instead], and then I kept ending up doing service provision in schools. [I thought,] why am I not going to do this?”

When the supervisor of her previous internship contacted her to let her know that a social work position had opened at ETHS, she accepted. For nine years, she worked as a social worker, specif ically in special education, before being offered a

position as the Dean of the Class of 2015. In the position, she had the opportunity to connect with and get to know students.

“That was amazing, because we really… fo cused on prevention, early intervention and problem solving, instead of [students being] sent to the dean’s office… purely as a consequence.

And so many students really do a great job of coming into the dean’s office to be part of the problem solving process before something gets big,” says Kinzie.

After her time as dean, she became the As sociate Principal for Student Services for seven years, during which time she had a chance to work closely with Superintendent Dr. Marcus Campbell.

“I was really fortunate to have worked along side him and [have him] as my direct supervisor. And we share a vision about how to support staff about how to develop relationships and [trust] with students and staff members,” explains Kinzie.

In her 19th year at ETHS, Kinzie has taken on a new position as principal, one that she nev er envisioned herself taking on. Still, she holds many of the same values now that she did in her past positions, both as a dean and a social worker.

“Thinking about that invitation [to be principal],

and thinking about what you’re called upon to do, I wasn’t planning on any of these pieces. [But] I work really hard to try to support students and to support staff. I’m really committed to that. There are ways that I can contribute to our school community.”

Some of the issues that Kinzie is mainly fo cused on are student support and discipline, stu dent mental health and LGBTQ+ issues.

As principal, Kinzie is constantly collabo rating with Campbell. While Campbell handles wider issues with the school and District 202 as a whole, Kinzie’s role is more concentrated on ETHS itself and the students within it.

“I respect [Campbell] tremendously, and we work very much in sync right now,” says Kinzie. In terms of the relationship between Campbell and Kinzie, the warm feelings are mutual.

“I’m thrilled to have Dr. Kinzie on board as Assistant Superintendent and Principal. We have worked together for several years. She has al ways been fair, collaborative, full of integrity and genuinely warm,” says Campbell.

Kinzie is also being faced with the unique challenge of helping students and ETHS as a whole get back on track after COVID.

“I think some of the changes we’re making [are] in response to going through a pandemic,

coming back and working to be really support ive, flexible and focused on grace. We learned along the way that we might need a little more structure because we’re still in high school.”

Despite all challenges, Kinzie is especially proud to be working at ETHS with this specific group of students. She wants to make an effort to connect with individual students and to allow students and their families to bring their concerns to her directly.

“I think our students are amazing, brilliant, creative and super resilient,” she says, “I love that we give [them] so much room and we keep expanding ways for students to show their great ness, and not just in really traditional ways. Be cause when we think about student involvement, and we think about all the clubs and activities, and athletics and all these opportunities, we keep looking for additional ways for students to show leadership.”

ETHS has been through a multitude of chang es recently, both in the last two years and since Dr. Kinzie became principal. The school is sure to continue changing as years pass and people come and go. Luckily, Kinzie is no stranger to diverse, developing communities, and she has plans to ensure that ETHS continues heading in the right direction.

Photo by Aaliya Weheliye, art by Ahania Soni

you just live your life’

Hazel Hayes Staff Writer

On Aug. 15, students filled ETHS’ halls for the first time in a few months, but for senior Nikita Studinsky, this was a fresh start to a new school coming all the way from Poland, neighboring war-torn Ukraine and brought him walking down H Hall.

When we look back at 2022, one of the defining points will be the events that occurred in February; Russia’s attack on Ukraine. As the disastrous war broke out, Studinsky, a native of Poland and Ukraine both, was able to escape this panicking country. ETHS welcomed the senior this fall, and he is adjusting to this new environment slowly, but very surely.

Studinsky lived in Poland his whole life, but frequently visited Ukraine for the holidays and to visit family. When quarantine came along in early 2020, he was stuck in Ukraine and had to study from there for the time being. But once the chaos began in February 2022, he moved back to Poland without his extended family because his country was fighting against one of the largest armies in the world, and danger and distress was constantly around him.

Studinsky’s father—who is still in Ukraine, aiding his country’s military—helped greatly in making sure Studinsky made it out safely.

“He tried to explain to me that I should go away to Poland,” Studinsky says. “We thought that the [Russian army] would come to Kyiv for three days and kill all of the people. They wanted to do that. So, I moved with my grandma firstly, because I didn’t have a place for the moment.

“I thought that I had seen my brother and my whole family for the last time.”

Fortunately, Studinsky escaped, but many of his peers were not granted the same opportunity.

“I cannot arrive in Ukraine until the war is over,” Studinsky says. “If I [return sooner], I will have to fight, like a lot of my friends that

are 18 years old.”

Studinsky, who just recently turned 18, not only has to consider having to join the Ukrainian military, but he also has to worry about the livelihood of his friends and family still in Ukraine, and if he will get to spend time with those friends again.

“I would like to go to Ukraine,” he says, “to arrive for holidays to meet my friends after the war, if they will stay alive.”

After making it to Poland, Studkinsky, his mother and his brother traveled to Evanston.

Studinsky shares how, when they first arrived in the United states, he and his brother both had a hard time emotionally, especially because they had to say goodbye to their father for the time-being. But Studinsky noticed his brother—being younger— had a harder time adjusting to this massive change.

“[My brother] has some problems after this war,” Studinsky explains. “And when my dad stayed, and we moved here, it was difficult for us both, but I have more years than him, so it was easier for me. He feels better now, but at first we were worried.”

When Studinsky first arrived with his mother and brother, they resided with a longtime friend of his mothers, Kostya Katz. Studinsky became close with Katz’s nephew, ETHS senior Nathan Melnikov.

“My uncle and aunt were actually host-

ing his family for a month,” Melnikov says. “So they kind of sponsored him to come over here. And I was the only one his age that spoke his language, [so] naturally I came in and helped him out with navigating school, navigating soccer and all that stuff.”

After being in the United States for about a month, the Studinsky family moved nearby the Katz’s home but is no longer residing with them.

One of the biggest challenges in the transition for Studinsky has been the language barrier. Studinsky has always spoken Russian, but when he moved to America, he was forced to immediately begin learning this unknown dialect.

“A challenge here is language. When I started to meet people, they helped me to improve my English, because I knew some words, some phrases, but mostly none at all. It took me a month or so. It was difficult, because I would try to explain some things, but it was very complicated,” Stundisky shares.

Melnikov was an essential figure in the early stages of Studinsky navigating the language.

“I think when he came, he had a good understanding of English, like when someone spoke English, he could understand, he knew what was going on,” Melnikov says. “He wasn’t really comfortable responding in English though.”

But through constant practice, Studinsky has come far in increasing his fluency.

A huge influence across all of Studinsky’s life is his love for soccer. He shares how he played in top leagues in both Ukraine and Poland. He currently plays on the ETHS boy’s varsity team, and hopes to continue his career through college — despite all the mental toughness he has endured over the many years of playing.

“It’s something positive in life right now,” states ETHS boys varsity soccer coach, Franz Calixte. “He would tell me all the time, ‘things are very stressful’. And this, he’s

[just] so happy to be able to play.”

Calixte, having coached at ETHS for many years now, has had multiple experiences with foreign transfer students on his teams.

“We have had Syrian refugees; one was a state champ in wrestling. Then before that, we had several refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. So it’s nothing new for Evanston,” Calixte explains.

He sympathizes for Studinsky and has learned what type of support is needed for him throughout this season.

“The soccer program always has a motto for the year,” Calitxte shares, and it couldn’t have been chosen more perfectly for this season. “This year the saying is in Ukrainian. So before he even came and showed up, we were gonna have one in Ukrainian.”

This team quote added yet another hint of welcome and comfort that helped Studinsky in his initial time here.

Another big shift—and a good one so far—is schooling. “I didn’t like [school in Ukraine]. The teachers spoke to us not like friends, which I can feel here. I like the school here more than the schools in Ukraine.”

He explains how, despite the language barrier, his classes have brought an expected amount of challenge, as the content being learned doesn’t vary greatly between the countries.

Not only has schooling felt less strict, Studinsky shares how the freedom of expression in America has also been a large surprise. He shares a time in a taxi when he noticed that his male driver had pink nails and pink hair.

“It’s very strange for me,” Studinsky says, “because where I grew up, there are a lot of people hiding [certain sides of their identity], but here, you just live your life.”

As Studinsky discovers more about American culture, he is taking things day by day. “This is my first and last year at the school, so I want to try a lot of new things and focus on my studies here for now.”

Despite fear of missing out, students find peace off social media

Isabella Martinez, Tanya Weisman Staff Writers

Continued from page 1

“It’s not about social media per se but about conscious personal awareness and decisions. It is about how you spend your time. That’s how long you’re here,” Hartley says before snapping her fingers, “and then you’re dead, and do you really want to be some atomic energy that isn’t here in the shape of a body anymore, and wishing that you’d put that [phone] away?” said Hartley.

She believes that in order for students to form healthy relationships with peers, one must first be able to form healthy relationships with their devices. Taking a break from one’s phone may be an important piece to healing from the pandemic and rebuilding essential communication skills.

Evan Langan, sophomore at ETHS, has only ever used social media once, Tiktok, and then promptly deleted the app after installing. “Now that we are not in lockdown, I have not had any trouble stopping or limiting my social media use since I did not use social media during the pandemic. Because of this I have been able to focus on the things that are important to me...Not using social media has improved my mental health by allowing me to be in theme be in moment without worrying about posting what I am doing. I have more time to do other activities that I prefer over social media”.

He now spends his extra free time investing in doing hobbies such as chess, reading, and spending time outside.

Even though spacing yourself from social media may have positive effects to your mental health, not having it can block you from connecting with your school and friends. It is common for one to feel a fear of missing out.

For Lanagan though, this has not been an issue for him. “By disconecting from social media it is harder to keep up with news, as well as friend groups. At times, I feel out of the loop, but not so much so that I downloadded social media…I connect with others through meeting them in person, in clubs, and at extracurricular activities”. Lanagan says. He sees himself downloading more social media, but only in the very distant future.

Still, one can not completelycompletly ignore all the benefits social media provides.

Diana Balitaan, head of the Community Service Club at ETHS, spoke to us about social media. Balitaan uses many platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, BeReal and Facebook. Instagram especially plays a large part in the Community Service Club. Posting on this platform allows students to be informed on upcoming events organized by the club and even allows parents to be aware of how they can participate at ETHS.

Social media allows groups like the Community Service Club to spread important information to students quickly and effectively. It also allows students to communicate with their peers.

Vivian Rose, a senior at ETHS, currently uses platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. She doesn’t put any restrictions on her screen time but is conscious to put away her phone when studying to eliminate any distractions. “I think that social media lets you stay in touch with a lot of current events… It also keeps me more in touch with trends, friends, and my family.”

Whether you choose to spend your free time scrolling or not, it is important to establish healthy relationships with your devices. Rose shares some personal advice she has gained, “Social media is fun as long as you allow it to be. If you feel negative about yourself, taking a break from socials is healthy.”

‘Here,

Ukrainian refugee, senior Nikita Studinsky on the war in Ukraine, life in America and what comes next

Senior Nikita Studinsky (left) played for the boys soccer varsity team during its recent 2022 season.

Individualizing instruction: ‘student

that differs from student to student.

Fifteen pages. As Claire Smith* persisted through the fatiguing eighty-five minutes of her AP Language block, her hazel eyes fixat ed on two words resting on the screen of her Chromebook: fifteen pages. The colossal de mand attached to her junior research paper tor mented her and she began to feel herself dis connect from the classroom surrounding her.

“It's an overall sense of being so over whelmed and so anxious. It's a lot of anxiety to the point where it's paralyzing. It's so much to think about at once that I can't approach it because that's just terrifying, I guess,” Smith pauses for a moment while recounting her emotions. “It's, it's, it's … the only way I can describe it is just paralyzing.”

Over a year earlier, Smith had been given a 504 plan—a list of accommodations avail able to legally qualified students in order to promote academic success and prosperity. After submitting proof to the school of her diagnosis, Smith received approval for a 504 plan, which later entailed a Google Meet with her mother, her 504 coordinator and all of her teachers to draft the details of her new learning plan. Smith describes the meeting, recalling how all of her teachers took turns listing the accommodations that they would grant Smith in their class in order to determine what her 504 plan would entail.

“Especially online”—referring to remote learning—“it was super impersonal. My teachers didn’t know me at all. I thought that was a little unfair,” Smith expresses. “Also, I feel like a lot of teachers don’t really take it that seriously or they don’t think it’s that pressing of an issue, so they will undermine my needs and they won’t give me the things that I need in class. They’ll give me, like, the bare minimum stuff.”

Smith’s learning plan is far from rare. ETHS has over 3,500 students roaming its halls every day, attending classes, and completing work, and many of these students are part of ETHS’ multi-dimensional special education program. In addition to 504 plans, the special education program guarantees Individualized Educa tion Plans (IEPs) to students who have dis abilities that require individualized services. Unlike 504 plans, which just include a list of accommodations to benefit a student’s ability to learn, IEPs provide specialized instruction

“We have over 400 students with IEPs, or Individualized Education Plans that we write for students who are eligible for special edu cation,” says Deanna Gill, the ETHS Assistant Director of Special Education.

Naturally, the program has warranted mixed responses. Some students, like Smith, are dissatisfied with their schooling experience, while others are pleased with the outcomes of their educational adjustments.

“I've been in situations where schools have handled [my IEP] horribly, and ETHS has done a really, really good job of making people feel welcome, especially with our large Special Education Department,” student Gail Brooks* shares.

Brooks’ contentment is, in part, due to the process of IEP formation evolving over time to be more inclusive and helpful.

“We make sure we're collaborative with stu dents and families to make sure that they are part of writing their IEP. We offer professional development for our staff, and we started the special education Parent Advisory Committee, to hear from our parents about what they need. We also partner with our parents in various ways throughout the year to make sure that their student's needs are met,” Gill says.

However, many students who feel as though they require this individualized assistance face difficulty while attempting to access it.

“Sometimes people are surprised that it is so difficult to get what they view as absolutely and clearly necessary for their child. They're surprised that there is so much opposition to what they themselves see as a clear need. Often, there's a dichotomy where the family is seeing the child really struggling and the school says, 'We don't see that,’” says Jill Ca lian, an Evanston attorney who works in spe cial education law.

The process of accessing special education programs and accommodations is filled with complex legal jargon and rules that can be difficult to understand. Parents have to play a large role in this process, but as their students grow, it becomes especially important that the students are involved and aware of how they can advocate for themselves.

“The goal is always for the young person to be able to advocate for themself, and I think

schools are getting better at understanding that. For example, the year that they turn four teen and a half, they start to participate in their own IEP meetings, and there is a movement towards not only putting them in the meetings, but being sure that they can present their own statement about their own needs and desires,” explains Calian.

However, students are only able to demon strate self-advocacy if schools are willing to listen, and oftentimes schools don’t present their students with the opportunity to have agency in their education and futures. Tradi tionally, schools have granted students a nar row range of options regarding their educa tional accommodations; however, ETHS has strived to integrate students into the decisions that form their education.

“The goal is for this process to become much more student-centered, where it's about meeting students where they are and then also understanding what their long-term goals are, trying to honor what they want to do with their lives. Sometimes in the world of disability, in stead of saying 'What do you want to do with your life? How can we get that on the right path?' The approach is more like, 'We have some educational opportunities or we have some employment opportunities. There are these three. Which one?'”

Despite the push for greater student autono my, students continue to be frequently left out of this process, resulting in an impersonal and limited learning plan.

“It was entirely up to the caseworker and my teachers,” Smith recalls the manner in which her plan was crafted. “They asked me a couple questions about, like, if I have a certain part of the classroom I want to sit in, but I felt like that was a little bit of a weird question, it was kind of the only thing I got a say in.”

Not only are students often excluded from the decision making process, but many stu dents in need fail to access an entry into this process all together due to a lack of under standing and awareness surrounding the pro grams.

“I do feel like in some situations people ar en't aware and … are just like, ‘Oh, [my learn ing difference] is normal. I can deal with it on my own.’ I feel like it would be more useful if it was easier [to receive an IEP or 504 plan],

more known about or [more] accessible for some people,” Sharon Lowe* explains.

Indeed, many people who could benefit from having a 504 plan or IEP miss out on the opportunity to acquire them due to the stigma around learning differences. This is unfortu nate, because many of these accommodations are incredibly important for different aspects of the learning experience.

“In my education plan, I'm allowed ex tended time. I'm also allowed to hear my work back instead of reading my work. … I'm al lowed to take a test in a room with pretty much myself and a teacher when it comes to College Board stuff like SATs and PSATs. [Usually,] I don't really have anything in front of me. In stead, it's me just answering the questions and then they'll bubble it in for me,” she says.

Although all of these adjustments benefit classroom experiences, they can come with a frustrating social cost. Oftentimes, the accom modations that come with learning plans are misinterpreted as advantages, which can stem harmful stereotypes surrounding students with 504 plans or IEPs.

“A lot of the time when people hear that I have extra time and like stuff like that, they're like, ‘Oh, my God, you're so lucky,’ and sometimes it comes off as a little insensitive because it's not that I just landed on this 504. I had to actually struggle, and you have to prove to [the school] that you have a diagno sis of why you're struggling,” Smith explains. “I think [having a 504 plan] is stereotyped as everyone thinks that it would make [school] so much easier … but not everybody needs [these arrangements in] the same way as certain peo ple, and that's where I feel like the [culture of] insensitivity has come in,” she says.

It’s true that many students believe those with 504 plans and IEPs are “lucky,” but these harmful notions stem from the lack of understanding surrounding the driving forc es behind the exigency of these plans. Many students fail to recognize that certain school elements can become insurmountable for stu dents with learning differences.

“You have to follow these rules, conduct yourself in class, sit still for 85 minutes and complete so many assignments in one week for one class. The homework for each night is so much time that I physically just can't ded

‘student-centered’ special education

icate myself to it,” Smith explains, describ ing the factors of school that she struggles to endure. “I get mentally tired a lot easier than other people and a lot quicker than other peo ple. Like my brain just physically prevents me from sitting down for that long and like doing that work for that long.”

Although learning adjustments, like 504 plans, can help to minimize the excess obsta cles of education as a student with learning differences, they are not a resolution to all ed ucational struggles.

“[School] is easier to cope with, it's easier to manage with those accommodations, but I still don't feel like I am learning like every one is or like I'm keeping up with everyone else.”

When the fundamentals of school grow to be overwhelming, personalized support is key, and teachers are often some of the great est resources in providing this support.

“I have been graced with some really nice teachers this year, who, especially during tests, they come up to me, and they remind me that I have extra time, that if I need to come in for A.M. support or during lunch that I can, so that's been good,” she notes.

Individual teacher connections are es sential to classroom success, and in a school with thousands of students, like ETHS, stu dents are often held responsible for managing these ties.

“We're in a big high school. We're in a big area, where there are a lot of people and a lot of students and a lot of teachers, but I think it's really important for those students to not just rely on their teachers to give them their accommodations, but to also say, ‘Hey, I need this, like, this is part of my IEP,” Brooks shares.

“There have been a couple times where a teacher was unaware of my IEP needs and therefore didn't meet them. But communi cation-wise, most teachers are very apolo getic about it and feel horrible, because you wouldn't want a student that is suffering and having a hard time in class,” she continues.

However, with a well-resourced school like ETHS, teachers are informed of each stu dent’s individual needs and are often depend able for enforcement.

“[My teachers] are all very aware of [my

plan], and they know when to enact it or when to use my accommodations,” she says. Nonetheless, the program still has room for growth, and the first step begins with a school-wide shift. Historically, the special education program has functioned in isola tion from the rest of the school, but leaders hope to bridge that divide.

“I think some ways that we, as a whole school can make that better is by offering in clusive environments, creating community around individuals with disabilities and get ting to know our individuals with disabilities and what they need so that we can better sup port that effort of inclusion and community,” says Gill.

In building an environment that best works for its students, complex conversations about inclusivity arise; about how and when stu dents in restrictive placements should be included in the general education pool. In special education, there is a spectrum of possible placements. Restrictive placement refers to having less opportunity to be with peers in general education. More restrictive placements–separate classrooms, separate schools, residential schools–can be great set tings, giving students more access to special education teachers, therapists and specialized curriculums.

“There's a real pendulum swing in terms of inclusion. For example, a few years ago, there was a real swing towards including all students with disabilities in general educa tion as peers. There's sometimes drawbacks to that and schools occasionally end up hav ing to back off of that, because they are re quired under the law, not just to provide ed ucation in the least restrictive environment, but also to provide a spectrum of possible placements. Occasionally, students do need placements that would be considered more restrictive. Those settings are appropriate for some students just indisputably. I see a pendulum swing that 'We're going to include everybody,' and then 'Oh, maybe that's not such a good idea,' and then 'We're going to include everyone.’ It goes back and forth,” says Calian.

Despite the manner of the approach, the ultimate goal is to increase inclusion sur rounding the disabilities community. Helping

all students engage with the Evanston com munity, whether in restrictive school settings or modified learning plans, is vital.

“People like Benji shouldn't be at home. They belong everywhere else, just like any body else. So I think that getting the kids into the community is twofold. It serves the kids who are learning, they're working on real-life skills. Then also, they're being seen, they're out there. Somebody's not shopping for them. They are shopping,” says Christie Williams*, mother of sophomore student Benji Wil liams*.

Students in the special education program are starting to become more involved in the rest of the school and the Evanston com munity. There are so many more programs that allow students to get to do typical hob bies, while also having them tailored to their needs. With programs like Wildkit Buddies, students are able to sign up and meet with other students not a part of the special educa tion program and together they go on differ ent fun outings.

“He's doing keyboarding and then they have an arts class, so it’s half music, half art. When we first moved here there was just like so much that was available. We're like, ‘Okay, I guess we're just kinda gonna jump in and do everything.’ He did sit through Evan ston special rec, the city recreation special education. He did cooking classes, power lifting, swimming, volleyball and bowling,” says Williams in reference to her son.

Helping the student body as a whole bet ter understand the scope of services and ac tivities offered to special education services is also important. Programs that increase awareness are valuable.

“I think that it is important for libraries to have books that focus on people with disabil ities in the same way that we have to focus on a whole variety of human experiences and build curriculum around that as well. ETHS has started Abilities Awareness Week which is a good idea, generally. I would prefer that they be called something different than Abil ities Awareness, something more like Dis ability Pride or Advocacy for Disabilities, and have the focus to be a little bit different,” says Calian.

Abilities Awareness Week was enacted for

the first time during the 2021-2022 school year as a part of ETHS’ Social Consciousness Series. This event is just one of many ways ETHS hopes to expand on the support avail able to students with disabilities.

“We are constantly thinking about what the continuum of services is for special ed ucation students, and how we really make ETHS more inclusive. That's always a work in progress; we live in a very ablestic soci ety, and ableism is real. Even amongst our well-meaning efforts, it's still contingent to provide inclusive opportunities for students in special education,” Superintendent Marcus Campbell expresses.

A modern increase in societal awareness surrounding the disability community has been essential in allowing for these resources to continue to blossom.

“I think that there is an understanding, cer tainly that people with disabilities have a lot to offer the world in a way that there wasn't 40 years ago when there was a lot more in stitutionalization of students of young people with disabilities,” says Calian.

It’s true that people with disabilities have way more opportunities now than ever, and one of the most important elements of that is having the chance to get the education that they need.

“Having these accommodations doesn't make you less of a person. It makes you so that you don't have to…force yourself to fo cus for a certain period of time. It's okay to have these accommodations, because they [don’t mean] you're stupid or you're slow. They’re to help you so that you aren't fighting yourself,” Lowe concludes.

*Disclaimer: We have changed the *names of certain students and identifiable details in or der to protect their privacy.

By

Executive Editor, In-Depth Editor, Assistant In-Depth Editor, Staff Writers

Jessica Sehgal, Bridget Baker, Marin Ubersox, Paula Hlava, Zoe Kaufman, Kate Myers

Change new, unjust tardy, social probation policies

By Max Low, Jeremy Schoen, Jonah Chiss Staff Writers

Two months ago, we, the three authors of this article, set out on a unique mission. Our goal was to analyze the current tardy and social probation policies at ETHS in their entirety and document the purpose and impact of them. After hours of researching, interviewing and discussing our thoughts, we have finally come to a resounding conclusion: ETHS’ current policies are deeply flawed. Our gripes with the policies are twofold—the first being that the social probation policy is counterintuitive and, at times, harmful.

The goal of a social probation or tardy policy should be to not only discourage tardies but also lead students on the right path to improve their habits. The current system of ETHS fails to achieve this. Students who are put on social probation are unable to participate in clubs and sports. While this may seem helpful, as it gives a short-term incentive for a student to clear tardies, it also takes away a piece of community from this student and can ultimately cause them to lose motivation to clear them if they are accruing them for reasons outside of their control.

In a lengthy report entitled “Reimagining School Safety,” the Moran Center for Youth Advocacy exposes a harsh reality about ETHS’ system of social probation: it achieves very little in addressing student attendance.

“Recent medical studies have shown that student participation in extracurriculars after school hours is associated with higher levels of fulfillment and optimism and lower levels of anxiety and depression,” the report reads.

Thus, students who are failing to live up to academic standards should actually be encouraged to engage in extracurriculars. In

fact, according to the Moran Center, blocking students from extracurriculars as we are doing now will only contribute to higher levels of anxiety and depression: a practice that no one could argue is beneficial.

Junior wrestler Grant Aaron sees his sport as a vital source of happiness.

“Playing a sport helped me make friends and created a community for me, so it seems super unfair that tardies can keep you out of clubs and carry over from year to year because I know personally being in a club has helped my mental health,” Aaron explains.

in a school activity. Instead of creating rules that cause further harm to students on social probation, ETHS should look for ways to connect with students and place them onto the right track.

Our second problem with the current policies is that the tardy system is downright inequitable, heavily favoring students with easy access to transportation. As of now, it is way too common for students who live far from ETHS to fall into a cycle of tardiness. The location of someone’s household should not determine their likelihood to end

sense that they should have to deal with that just because of where they live,” Aaron remarks.

Recently, students are finding themselves lacking adequate transportation more than ever. As an increasing number of bus routes are being shut down due to the national shortage of bus drivers, this could be particularly problematic for those that rely on bussing to get to school.

Despite these unfortunate conditions, other schools have begun to innovate and create new policies to support student transportation. For a good example of this, look no further than Chicago Public Schools.

According to their website, “CPS Transportation Services has been significantly impacted by the national bus driver shortage. As a result, we are prioritizing those students most in need of transportation services, maximizing those routes in service, and distributing financial assistance in order to ease the burden on those who traditionally rely on CPS for transportation.”

While we understand that implementing change will be a long and arduous process, we strongly believe that these solutions would solve many problems concerning transportation, tardies and the social probation system. Fixing our most egregious policies could vastly improve the functionality of our students.

can’t imagine if that was taken away.”

So, while the act of barring students from their extracurricular activities may provide them with short-term motivation to improve their attendance, it could severely hinder their wellbeing in the long-term. During their time on probation, students will miss out on the friends, motivation and mental health benefits that come with participating

up on social probation and be held out of clubs and sports. Simply put, students that are incapable of accessing transportation may face serious consequences, and be held accountable under uncontrollable circumstances.

“There’s definitely some guys on the team that I know got put on social probation at one point. Most of them live pretty far away [from ETHS]. It doesn’t make any

Overall, school should be about equal opportunity and education. With these strict policies being enforced, we are not taking all people into consideration. We need to start observing the holes in our systems, taking action, and creating equitable opportunities for all.

“I think there’s a lot of room for improvement,” Aaron concludes. “And as long as a lot of us speak out against the policies, ETHS will have to listen.”

Lack of school communication around days off leaves Jewish students feeling overloaded

By Charlotte Geyskens Staff Writer

As ETHS’ Jewish students celebrated Rosh Hashanah and began the year 5783 on Monday, Sept. 26, a concerning issue became obvious. Although ETHS is generally friendly to Jewish students and staff, giving both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off, many teachers, and therefore students, remain completely oblivious to the holidays.

Because of the way ETHS organiz- es the calendar, the holidays are marked as just non-attendance days with no indication that they hold religious significance. Granted, this is also true of holidays like Christmas and Easter, but no one, not even non-Christian people, need to be reminded when it’s Christmas. This disconnect led to some teachers assigning heavier workloads than they would on an average weekend, assuming that students would have extra time to complete assignments and projects. However, for the Jewish students at ETHS, this was patently untrue, as many of us were spending hours in High Holiday services. Even the Jewish students and staff who don’t attend services should be allowed to spend the holidays resting and spending time with their families if they so choose.

If ETHS teachers

mandated that their students complete excessive assignments on Easter, they would have students protesting in the halls outside of their classrooms. If the calendar treated Dec. 25 as a regular non-attendance day, the confused emails from parents would be uncountable.

“I have had this conversation with some of my employees as well. Have you ever thought to assign homework on Christmas day before? How about Easter [or] Good Friday?” says Spanish

teacher Curt Gladstein, who is Jewish.

Even if we remove the factor of homework from the equation, I still believe that Jewish students deserve to have our important days acknowledged by our teachers. Although many teachers bypass the holidays altogether, some see the importance of making their students feel comfortable.

History teacher Jessica Harrison, who is not Jewish, is one of those teachers.

“I grew up with

ly ethically [and] religiously diverse friend group, and I’ve always taught in and been part of communities where a lot of faiths are represented and celebrated. I make a practice of being aware of my students and their identities and celebrating them. I think religion is such a key part of peoples’ identities. It makes people [feel] seen and like they belong with you,” says Harrison.

It would be an oversight not to acknowledge that this is far from just a Jewish issue. Any member of a non-Christian faith has, at some point, had to deal with their religious celebrations being ignored. For example, this year, the SAT and PSAT were administered on April 13 and 14 respectively, right in the middle of Ramadan, meaning that Muslim students had to take the tests while fasting.

Former Superintendent Dr. Eric Witherspoon’s statement, which is displayed right next to Entrance 1, says “We embrace one another’s religion and your right to your own personal customs and beliefs.” However, by crowding Jewish students with work over the holidays and disregarding them altogether, ETHS is not following this principle. In order to be more inclusive to students of all faiths, ETHS should raise awareness for non-Christian holidays and mandate that teachers refrain from giving homework on all religious holidays.

Art by Macyn Hoeveler

Art by Meg Houseworth

Curating authenticity in the time of BeReal

however, that come with maintaining some constructed brand online are considerable. As senior Lily Straussman says, “It all wraps back to consumerism. Like, these different looks and, like, models of human beings that are so fake, that people create…and then push it out to these kids who are already try ing to make themselves look cooler than they are because they [feel pressured] to. It’s like a cycle that never ends.”

was “retail therapy.”

By Leah Johnson Staff Writer

Above is the to-do list I was greeted with: screenshotted from a TikTok user, posted on Instagram, glaring at me from my feed. I ad mit, I leapt at the opportunity. Immediately, the little synapses in my brain started firing, and I hunted through my recent camera roll to find pictures that would satisfy each of these requirements. What could be more appealing than selecting the shiniest pieces of yourself and showing them off? At this moment, care fully choosing these photos, I have complete control over how I am perceived, which facets of myself I want to highlight and what overall character I would like to curate for myself, to be seen by others. Best of all, the photo dump itself seems to imply authenticity, so my selected images will come off even more candid and genuine, even though I am quite literally following a formula. This thought is thrilling, and then, all of a sudden, it’s not. Soon, the pressure becomes daunting, and a little terrifying. I often pause in moments when I’m torn between which screenshot of an arcane acoustic ballad I should post, and think, “What in the world am I doing?”

How are we handling the newfound plat forms we’ve all received from social media? It’s a stranger reality than I believe we often credit it to be; with our social media accounts, the subtle performances we give to our fol lowers eventually square us into a brand that we then have to maintain. This was a respon sibility priorly reserved for actual brands, then celebrities and online personalities striving to maintain an audience. Now, any average person with more than 10 followers is subject to the sensation of perception, even if only on the smallest scale, and the urge to control this perception as much as possible.

Senior Lily Benjamin reflects on the infor mation she’s shared about herself online, say ing “...It’s not like you’re sharing actual, per sonal information about, like, what makes you you…It’s just how you want to be perceived, even if it isn’t, like, necessarily a positive thing, but I don’t know. I don’t know why.”

Often, thinking back on my own online presence, I have a similar reaction; I don’t quite know why I post the things that I do, or where the appeal in posting random informa tion about myself, like which fictional char acters I relate to the most, comes from.

A fellow senior at ETHS adds, “Everyone is guilty of this; wanting to have, like, a de fined, set personality. Like, are you the funny friend? Are you the main character? Are you the love interest?” This student is discussing specifically how the need to have a concrete self-image presented online affects teenagers, still unsure of who they really are.

Projecting an idealized version of your self is an instinct as old as social culture, but being online greatly exacerbates the pressure to perform and being a teenager online is even worse. It’s incentivized to have an im

age of who you’d like to be, advertised to ev eryone as who you actually are. Social media has become an outlet of anti-authenticity, and its methods have become quite complex.

Consider BeReal. It seems like a haven of human connection in our superficial Internet realm. Everything in the app’s design func tions with the sole purpose of eliminating the curation process and highlighting what we’re really doing in our day to day lives. For those unfamiliar with the app, BeReal is an image sharing platform that has gained popularity recently for its centering of the mundane el ements of our lives, rather than the glamor ized. Users are notified once daily that it is, in fact, time to be real, at which point they have two minutes to take a photo of whatever they’re doing at that moment. If a user fails to post within two minutes of the notification, their post for the day will be marked late, by however many hours. BeReal also has a fea ture that marks each post with the number of times the user retook the photo. The senior student, a user of the app, says “They expose you if you’re not real. But like, the thing is… people would be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to a concert tonight. I’ll specifically post late.’ Like, no one ever posts on time.”

Despite the app’s many attempts to avoid idealized images on their platform, the desire to curate is pervasive, because we are so em bedded in this culture already. Even when faced with a time limit, the persistent user will find a way to spruce up whatever they happened to be doing when they received the notification. Sitting in your room suddenly becomes reading poetry, for instance. If you’re doing something more photo-worthy later, nobody really notices the late post mark; because of how the app is marketed, everything on it seems to have some air of being in the moment, even if it’s 20 hours late. While it seems like a good thing that we have such a popular social media site counter ing the superficiality of other platforms, there is something insidious about their incessant reminders that the app is authentic. As video essayist Amanda Maryanna says in her video, “the art of being real”, “...thanks to our new found affinity for the effortless aesthetic, it’s harder than ever to distinguish the candid from the curated.” BeReal seems the antithesis of that formulaic list that will result in a “perfect photo dump,” although they both have the same goal; to give the illusion of having an effortless ly beautiful life, at all times. When picturesque, enviable images are posted on BeReal, the im pression that this is what the poster’s life is like 24/7 and the subsequent comparing and jeal ousy other users might experience, is signifi cantly stronger than it would be on any other app. BeReal is just as much of a performance as Instagram; the only difference is how they’re marketed.

It’s evident that the urge to be perceived in some specific way is pretty inescapable for the majority of us, to the point that an app ex plicitly titled BeReal can become yet anoth er vehicle for, well, fakeness. The sacrifices,

Straussman also references the “microtrends of 2020 and 2021,” an online phenomenon of rapidly changing, hyperniche clothing trends marketed to primarily teen users as a piece of some larger “aesthetic”. “. . .the polka dot pants or the cow print pants. I never really was into that, cause it was so fake, and I just knew that it would be over soon,” Straussman says. These clothes were mostly found on fast fashion web sites like Shein and Romwe, which unethically produce clothes at breakneck speed in order to keep up with the amazingly short-lived trends of the period. Microtrends became such a main stream problem because of the demand that so cial media facilitates for clothes. Clothes can be such a clear indicator of the characters we want to play online. They are the primary symbol of other online figures that we remember and try to emulate. A chunky sweater microtrend may be incited because of a handful of influencers proclaiming the rise of the “grandpa aesthetic” (this was a real thing, I promise you). Shein may suddenly start producing crochet pieces in bulk because of the “hippie aesthetic” gaining traction. Benjamin says, “...the corset trend, or whatever, like, that was completely, like, a social media thing, because I never really saw people…wearing corsets to school.“ Social me dia can pump out new random patterns, colors or fashion pieces daily and declare it a neces sary wardrobe staple, and by tying it to certain lifestyles and identities (leather jacket = cool girl, cream colors = light academia, chunky

The constant need to define ourselves is very real, especially when we struggle with having security in who we are. Stauss man says, “...people need to be able to de fine themselves with something.” The senior student adds, when I asked them about a TikTok trend from a while ago where peo ple were randomly declaring if they were the color blue or the color red, “That’s why [teenagers]...take character tests or do Buzz feed quizzes. It’s because they don’t know anything really about themselves, and when people do find themselves…it almost feels like, ‘Oh, I’m being self-absorbed to dictate myself in this way or see myself in this way.’

And I think people want validation…from being like, ‘Oh my God, you are the color blue!!’ Because that means in some little way you are right about who you are.” This vul nerability is commodified as an opportunity for profit by not only social media platforms, but large companies pandering to teens as well. We don’t quite know who we are yet, and so given a platform, we have a chance to project into the world a clear, consistent, branded identity through our curation and consumption. It’s a comfort thing, or, as the senior student says, “an identity thing”, and it’s a comfort which is taken advantage of largely.

So, then, how do we cope with these things? It’s sort of impossible to say. A prob lem as complex as this is not a quick fix. I believe simply bringing awareness to these things is all we need to make a giant first step towards taking the validation we get from social media off its pedestal. Benjamin talks about how social media has slowly lost its in fluence over her life, saying, “...If I’m, like, out with friends…I feel like I don’t necessar ily need to, like, take pictures with them and stuff, because, like, in reality, it takes time out of…what I’m spending with them.” Strauss

rings = astrology girl), they can prey on teen users from their most vulnerable point; trying to understand who they are. That way, teens overconsume arbitrary items of clothing, not simply to look nice, but to signal to the world some constructed identity. In some way, we are defining ourselves by the materials we own or consume. In August 2021, I posted a Tik Tok pretty much just word-vomiting things I liked, and really wanted people to know I liked. Moonstone, iced coffee, tarot, fall-scented stuff, World Market and pearls were featured on the list, as if those are adjectives to describe me and not just a long list of consumable items; a shop ping list. It seems fitting that another mention

man adds, “I just started kind of posting what I wanted to post…I honestly think it was just growing up, because I would take these really cool photos…but I’d be like, ‘Oh, it’s not of myself’, or, ‘It’s of, like, the sky, like who wants to see that?’ And I was like, I want people to see it…I like it.” Being aware of the ways that curated social media platforms affect us, both as creators and consumers, be gins to slowly expose the fakeness of it all. In short, when you know there’s a game being played, it becomes much less necessary to play it.

Art by Meg Houseworth, Kupu Sumi

White feminism is outdated. It’s time to move forward

By Aaliya Weheliye, Simone JacotBell Staff Writers

While feminism has come a long way since Susan B. Anthony’s time, it is still problematic and exclusive. Oftentimes, feminism is seen as a one-size-fits-all issue, but this is far from the truth. Mainstream feminism can ignore the nuance that is needed to understand that each woman has a different interpretation of feminist. This is why intersectionality is important. According to Kimberlé Creshshaw, a scholar on civil rights and critical race theory, intersectionality refers to the intersection of the different identities each person holds and how those identities may overlap and intersect with each other. This causes unique experiences with oppression that people who fit into just one of these categories don’t typically experience.

The problem with mainstream feminism is how it assumes that, when talking about women, they are inherently white. White feminism lacks intersectionality. While the name simply refers to race, it applies to all aspects of someone’s identity. It fails to comprehend how race, class, disability or religion can play a role in someone’s oppression.

However, it should also be noted that being white and a feminist does not make you a White Feminist. White Feminism is feminism that doesn’t recognize the unique chal-

lenges women of multiple oppressed groups face. For this article, we will be focusing on women of color.

First, let’s do a little history lesson. When we learn about the suffrage movement in schools, we learn about it through a very white lens. Oftentimes, we are taught that the suffragettes helped all women get the right they otherwise wouldn’t have. This is untrue for women of color, however, because they were widely excluded from this movement and definitely not one of the groups for which the movement fought. In fact, one of the most famous icons of the movement, Anthony, said that she would rather cut off her right arm then fight for Black women to have the right to vote. No Black women were allowed to attend any of the suffrage protests or meetings. At the Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913, Black women were forced to march separately and behind the white women. Thus, to think that the suffrage movement was for all women is an act of ignorance. Mainstream feminism was built on the exclusion of Black women, and this prejudice must be unlearned for us to move forward.

There are many examples of oppression that are unique to Black women. Black women are more likely to be fetishized and hypersexualized than white women and are often forced to grow up at an early age. Police brutality and anti-blackness are interwoven with the oppression of being a woman. This idea is called misogynoir, referring to the unique

racism and sexism Black women face. Misogynoir is rarely discussed in mainstream feminism, because the focus is always issues that center white women. Our curriculum in schools should incorporate a more nuanced and diverse idea of feminism and female oppression, thus including women of color in the movement.

In order for our curriculums to become inclusive, our representation of feminism must expand to include more BIPOC women. Claudette Colvin and Dolores Huerta were two incredible BIPOC activists, yet they are continually left out of our history curriculum. And within AP United States History, the content is even more half-baked. As a result of the curriculums created by the College Board and other organizations that have test-driven mindsets and are often promoters of white supremacist structures themselves, students are not given the wide range of American history that is necessary to fully understand feminism, women’s rights movements, and our individual places in history. It is also important to note that feminism is not the only branch within the women’s rights movements. There are womanists, intersectional feminists and women who don’t feel included in any of those movements but still want to be apart of the collective movement and the conversation. Students of color who identify as women typically feel pressured to support the movements about which they are taught, like the Women’s Suffrage Move-

ment, but don’t see themselves represented within that history. Yes, learning about Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton is important, but as Black girls, it makes us feel like women that look like us were nonexistent throughout history. We all know about the outstanding achievements of Rosa Parks and Malala Yousafzai, but why are they some of the only women that are acceptably integrated into the narrative?

White feminism is not only seen within our history— it creeps out through modern women’s movements, dating as recently as the outrage against the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. Similarly to historical movements, we see the pattern of white women advocating for issues that only pertain to them. As someone who identifies as a “feminist,” it is not acceptable for you to be outraged about Roe vs. Wade but not the murder of Breonna Taylor. As someone who advocates for women’s rights, you must also take into account the levels of oppression within the sub groups that comprise all American women. Race, socio-economic status, and sexual orientation play an extremely large role in the oppression that women face. Feminism should be about having those difficult conversations about our unique experiences within womanhood, not disregarding our differences to emphasize a false narrative that all women experience the same oppression simply because we are women.

Lack of social opportunity at school makes friendships difficult

By Maria Gomez Staff Writer

Making friends is hard in any situation. It is especially difficult, however, to ask another student if you can sit and have lunch with them. I know this, because I was a new student last year. I remember coming to school the first day with no friends or anyone I knew. The lonely panorama of not having friends to sit in lunch with was terrifying.

There aren’t many moments where you can actually socialize in school. Every class, we’re with a different cohort of classmates, and passing periods only last ten minutes. So the only part of the day that we have to make friends is the lunch periods, which are made for more than just eating your lunch. They provide a moment to take a break from

the academic content and classes while socializing with your peers. But, how are we supposed to be comfortable in our only free time with the policy of assigned cafeterias, as if we were in a prison? The excuse is that the school doesn’t have enough spaces, which I can comprehend, but there should exist a solution at least in winter months we’re eating outside is not an option.

“Go to the Hub if you want to eat with your friends,” some may say, but when in the Hub, they don’t allow more than four people in a huge table. At the end of lunch, I can see plenty of seats and open tables that could be used by people that were rejected at the entrance because of “lack of capacity.” It’s understandable that there should exist a maximum of people per place, but if the school is aware of the quantity of students,they should

create more spaces where we can eat lunch with our friends, so students don’t feel the pressure of spending their only free time with no one. It’s sad how we see people eating alone, because it is just “their cafeteria.” It’s ironic how the school “cares about us” while they think that we go to our break just to “eat.”

My friends and I used to eat in the north wing, me being the only one not having that assigned cafeteria, but when the policy started, I couldn’t eat with my peers any more. So we decided to move to the Hub. Then we saw how unfair it is for the people that come from places far from the Hub to get in. I have art class before lunch, so everyday I have to run to be in the line and not lose my seat.

Another space where students can technically spend their lunch is the Academic Study

Center, but that has its challenges too due to the movement restrictions during lunch. I was studying in the center last week when I heard one of the workers say, “I can give you a pass to go and grab lunch in one of the cafeterias, but I can’t let you in again.” What’s that supposed to mean? So I can grab lunch, but I can’t eat in the cafeteria because I’m studying (that’s why I went to the study center) but I can’t come back, as well I can’t be in the hallways without a pass. This situation is incoherent.

The location for lunch is a problem that the school should work on, being aware of not only the capacity of people in each space, but also taking into account how students feel in their only free time obligated to be in a space with people that they don’t know at all.

Art by Aiyana Jehan

So much more to ‘Little Mermaid’’s Bailey than both sides of online debate would suggest

Charlotte Murray Staff Writer

Whelp. Twitter is at it again. The fes tering hotbed of hate that Elon Musk con siders essential to free speech is the root of yet another racially charged attack on Black women in mainstream media. Disney re cently released a teaser trailer for the new live-action Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey as Ariel.

And after watching shots of Ariel’s tail mystically glide across the screen, we see a headshot of… a bird, a plane, no, a Black woman! Wow! Isn’t everyone so excited?! Well, it would seem not. The backlash has been quick and bitter, with the video amass ing over two million dislikes on Youtube.

Older white men in particular seem to

openly offensive comments, I’m also dis pleased with the unrelenting, blind support of Bailey. As someone who is female and Black, I’m tired of the idea that spotlighting people of color is revolutionary, for no other reason than the color of their skin.

When we group and assume that different people of the same race are part of a mono lith, we lose what each person has to offer as an individual. Almost nothing about Halle’s identity other than her Blackness is being cel ebrated, and yet she is still being applauded for being inspiring, as attested by the tsunami of videos of young Black girls’ ecstatic reac tions to the trailer. But I would push everyone to wonder why is it the expectation that these girls should be excited?

I hope there is someday where young Black girls don’t blink at seeing someone

be upset at the departure of the story from Disney’s animated 1989 version. But what do old white men and Ariel have in common? Nothing. This is confirmed by the fact that white men are not the target audience: young girls are.

And yet people—adults—on the inter net have still been quick to criticize every thing from Bailey’s voice, to her face, and of course, her skin tone. In fact, one male user used AI to replace Bailey’s face with that of a white womens, claiming that by turning the “woke actor’’ into a ginger white girl he’d “fixed” the Little Mermaid.

But as disgusted as I am by some of the

who looks like them on the big screen, who understand that of course they can be a mer maid if they want to.

People miss the point when they ask questions like ‘Why was a Black wom an chosen for this role?’ Or, ‘What state ment is Disney trying to make?’ For exam ple, no white child goes into a Target, begs their parents to let them go to the toy section and stares longingly at the Barbies thinking, “Wow, that blonde Barbie looks just like me!” But the expectation is that young Black girls should be shocked and amazed at being represented in any way, shape, or form.

So no, the problem isn’t that Bailey is

fuses

Sam Froum Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editor

On Sept. 30, Bros made history for being the first studio-released romantic comedy star ring two gay men. It is a major milestone for LGBTQ+ representation in the media and was received very positively by critics, scor ing an 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film stars Billy Eichner as Bob by, a podcast host/board member of the first LGBTQ+ museum, who relishes in his sin gle life and isn’t one for long-term relation ships. This all changes when he meets Aar on, played by Luke McFarland, an equally non-committed, but less outspoken lawyer who hates his job. Bobby and Aaron start dat ing and eventually realize that their relation ship is deeper than any they’ve had before.

I went into this movie with very high hopes. With Billy Eichner, Bowen Yang and Jim Rash, I couldn’t have asked for a funni er cast. The film’s producer, Judd Apatow, is behind some of the greatest comedies of the last 20 years with Superbad, The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Big Sick, Bridesmaids, and so many more. Director Nick Stoller also has an impressive comedic resume, having directed both Neighbors movies and Forgetting Sarah

Marshall

But even with all this comedic firepower behind it, Bros seemed to miss the mark from a comedy standpoint.

I laughed during certain parts of the mov ie, like at scenes where Bobby texts someone on Grindr, but the laughs were not as frequent as I thought they would be. I expected to see the same Billy Eichner from his iconic show, Billy on the Street, where he runs around New York City while yelling hysterically at startled pedestrians. But in Bros, Eichner’s usual screaming and fits of hysteria are few and far between. While he does provide most of the humor with his frequent pop culture references and snappy remarks, it doesn’t capture the same chaotic whirlwind of en ergy that he displays in Billy on the Street. In Bros, Eichner displays a more emotional side that his audience hasn’t seen before. It’s a phenomenal dramatic performance, but not one that I was expecting to see in a comedy. Side characters like Henry (Guy Branum), Robert (Jim Rash), and Lawrence Grape (Bowen Yang) also provide comic relief, but they only appear for a short amount of time throughout the movie.

In any comedy, the story is an important detail, even as important as the comedy itself.

The main story in Bros feels familiar, but with a few new twists on the familiar roman tic comedy plot.They meet, they date, they fall in love, they fight, they break up, then they get back together and live happily ever after. However, this time a few new layers are added to the story. In addition to the movie starring two men, it also shows how phones play a role in modern relationships, and the nervousness and stress they can cause. It’s an interesting addition that makes the plot feel more modern and a little bit less formulaic. The side plot involves Bobby working on the board of the first LGBTQ museum and pre paring for the museum’s opening. It doesn’t add much emotional weight to the movie, but it flows well with the main story and pro vides lighthearted comedic relief whenever it comes up.

Despite not always delivering the laughs, Bros is full of emotion. Top-notch perfor mances from Eichner and McFarlane make their characters feel complex and dimension al. Their characters’ relationship feels differ ent than any relationship seen in previous romantic comedies. Not just because they’re both men, but because the emotions they ex press and how they deal with jealousy and conflict feel true to life. You feel connected

to the characters and their struggles while watching Bros because everything that hap pens to them could easily happen to you.

Another thing that sets Bros apart from other romantic comedies is the representation present in the cast. Bros features a primarily LGBTW+ cast, and likewise, so are the char acters. It is refreshing to see many different kinds of people represented on screen, and it allows the movie to connect with a broader audience. Straight white men have dominat ed cinema for as long as it has existed, and now, it feels like other voices are finally be ing heard.

However, many people are not willing to listen. On its opening weekend, Bros made a meager $4.8 million. Eichner reacted with disappointment, tweeting, “[S]traight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros. And that’s disap pointing but it is what it is.” Backlash for the movie was expected, but not to the extent that was seen.

While Bros is not a perfect movie, it is still a movie worth seeing. It’s historic, pow erful, and at some points, pretty funny. If we want to keep seeing representation like this depicted in mainstream media, we need to go support Bros.

Black. The problem, and the correct ques tion we should all be asking is: why isn’t

anything other than her Blackness being celebrated?

‘Bros’

romance, comedy to offer needed LGBT+ representation

Art by Ahania Soni

I’m tired of the idea that spotlighting people of color is revolutionary for no other reason than the color of their skin.

Meet me at midnight: Taylor Swift's "Midnights"

By Sadie Dowhan Video Editor

On Oct. 21, millions of fans met Taylor Swift at midnight to listen to her tenth studio album.

At the 2022 Video Music Awards that took place at the end of August, Swift took home three awards for her “All Too Well” short film. During her third acceptance speech, the singer announced that her next album, Midnights , would be released just a month and a half later. I jumped around my living room with excitement and told my job I was unavailable in late October.

Midnights is composed of 13 songs Swift wrote on sleepless nights, including seven more on a deluxe 3 a.m. version. She started releasing track title names on social media by playing a game called ‘Midnights Mayhem With Me,’ in which Swift used a bingo blower to determine the order in which the titles were released.

Once the clock struck midnight on release day, ‘Lavender Haze,’ the opening track of the album was playing all over the world.

Upon first listening, I was very happy with Midnights . Like any album, songs grew on me with time like ‘Question…?’ and ‘Mastermind,’ but songs also moved down on my list with more listens.

One of my favorite parts of Taylor Swift’s music are the parallels between songs, especially between albums. On Evermore , there is a connection of characters in “dorthea” and ‘tis’ the damn season,’ though there seems to be a connection with Midnights song “Midnight

Rain.” This parallel is about a girl named Dorthea who has big hollywood dreams, but there is someone at home making her want to stay. Some fans believe that Swift is saying she is Dorthea, but no matter who it is, this character chose dreams and fame over hometown love.

Midnights became the most streamed album in a single day in Spo- tify his-

almost two weeks after the release, Swift holds all top ten spots on the billboard one hundred list.

A highly anticipated track was “Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Ray).” Ray co-wrote the song but was only featured as background vocals to Swift. There is lots of speculation as to why Ray didn’t get a verse to herself, and many fans were let down.

In the first week of release, Swift gave us two music videos: ‘Anti-Hero’ and ‘Bejeweled.’ She used her typical quirky, fun video style, and directed them both. Anti-Hero featured several versions of Swift, and highlighted some of her biggest insecurities. The singer featured the HAIM sisters and Laura Dern in a Cinderella themed intro to ‘Bejeweled,’ and there were many easter eggs hidden indicating future projects.

On Nov. 1st, the singer announced Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, the first tour she’s been on since her sixth album, Reputation . Many artists will be featured in different cities across the U.S., including Phoebe Bridgers and girl in red.

tory, a title that was previously held by Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) , and Folklore before that. But, streams don’t always equal good reviews. Following Folklore and Evermore , this album had very high expectations among fans. The opinions are definitely mixed; listeners either love the album or are disappointed. Though

Almost two weeks after the Midnights release, Swift held all the top ten spots on the billboard one hundred list, a record that has never been broken before. As for her mission to record her first six studio albums, the singer has yet to announce a confirmed date for any of the four still to be released. Taylor Swift has once again taken over pop culture, and still has lots to come.

Art by Nina Ferrer

Staff reacts to "Midnights"

"I saw it as a regression back to her old music, which was a bit disappointing."

- Macyn Hoeveler, Copy Editor

"As a die-hard Swiftie, I was ecstatic to listen to Midnights for the first time. I love the variety of the songs on the album!"

- Zoe Kaufman, Staff Writer

'I was surprised . . . I liked it the third time."

- Ahania Soni, Executive Editor

The biggest band in Britain is back

By Ben Levy, Lily Roback Staff Writers

Since the Arctic Monkeys stepped onto the scene in England in 2005, they have demanded attention. The rock band has always carried a personalized voice that built a recognizable brand and dedicated fanbase. Whether it was Alex Turner’s nostalgic and rapid-firing singing over records like Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not and Favorite Worst Nightmare, or shifting towards more cryptic and longing lyrics found on Humbug, Suck it and See, and AM the Arctic Monkeys have been a staple in British entertainment. Their turbulent, refreshing take on the genre was a turning point for rock at the time, kicking in the door to become a British powerhouse, and introducing a nuanced version of what might have been considered forever ‘old people music’.

Their new project, The Car, was released on Friday, Oct. 21 to consistently favorable reviews. The album falls in line with their previous work, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. Drummer Matt Helders notes that the project "picks up where the other one left off musically", and this is certainly true. TC is soft, elegant and far more cautious than the band has been before. Although it carries hints of sadness in contrast to the pure, bliss-

ful aura of Tranquility, The Car is a continuation nonetheless.

Despite the fact that the band’s initial fans from the early 2000s are maturing the same way the style is, the general age demographic of their base has remained the same. Thus, a disconnect with their new, mature works is inevitable. The aforementioned differences over the sound were also addressed, with Helders saying that “[the music is] never gonna be like ‘R U Mine’ and all that stuff again?” The track was one of the powerhouse singles from 2013’s AM Then, they sang of luxuries, indulging in a hazy cloud of rockstar smoke. The cloud is all gone now, and the luxuries that once existed in words have manifested more in their sound.

Songs embrace this new approach with ease though. They move between adjacent but unique styles across every track. The second, ‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am,’ features a warbling bassline from bandmate Nick O’Malley, as strings glisten in the background. A few tracks later, on ‘Body Paint,’ we hear a beautiful composition as synthesizer notes ascend, the piano sings sadly and a surprisingly apt electric guitar hums with passion. The instrumental serves as a stunning backdrop for the pain and deject that Turner sings with.

The reception to all of this, as we said,

was unsure. But the group has never cared what people thought. Isn’t that the point? The new album certainly takes this sentiment in stride. All of the aforementioned change is certainly addressed in the midst of the glitz and glamour of the project. The album also avoids the frequent topics of love and heartbreak from their prior works. The entire concept of The Car, as examined on the titular track, seems to be the downfall of something important; going to the car in the middle of a holiday, Turner’s lover doesn’t really want to be there. He senses the fraying of a relationship and can only mourn from a distance.. He can see fans checked out as the band continues to change, he understands the reception is different, but there’s not much he can do. They want AM again.

Nonetheless, the band is not going back to that. The Car punctuates this, leaning heavily into the beautiful new sound. The album has all the poise and poignancy of a lavish noir film. Lines like “A four figure sum on a hotel notepad” or “Wardrobe's lint-rollin' your velveteen suit'' ooze this attitude of opulence and extravagance. Although they may have deeper meanings, the mood created is ornate. It avoids the pitfalls of similar big names in the recent year, and doesn’t sell itself short, nor out, for streams and sales. It's authentic, creative and a bloody good direction from an ever-progressing band.

Kimrey's Krossword

Taylor Swifts songs to listen to when . .

By Sadie Dowhan Video Editor

You’re driving

The Other Side of the Door (Fearless Taylor’s Version)

The Way I Loved You (Fearless Taylor’s Version)

You Belong With Me (Fearless Taylor’s Version) Haunted (Speak Now)

State of Grace (Red Taylor’s Version) Treacherous (Red Taylor’s Version) Red (Red Taylor’s Version) Style (1989)

Getaway Car (Reputation) Cruel Summer (Lover) Cornelia Street (Lover)

Death By A Thousand Cuts (Lover) right where you left me (evermore) Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve (Midnights)

You’re feeling self critical

The Archer (Lover) this is me trying (folklore) mirrorball (folklore) peace (folklore) champagne problems (evermore) Anti-Hero (Midnights) Dear Reader (Midnights)

You’re falling in love

Stay Beautiful (Taylor Swift) Crazier (Hannah Montana: The Movie) Fearless (Fearless Taylor’s Version) Hey Stephen (Fearless Taylor’s Version) Sparks Fly (Speak Now) Enchanted (Speak Now) This Love (1989) Wonderland (1989)

You Are In Love (1989) Gorgeous (Reputation)

Dancing With Our Hands Tied (Reputation) Lover (Lover) Paper Rings (Lover) Daylight (Lover) invisible string (folklore) dorthea (evermore) Sweet Nothing (Midnights) Labyrinth (Midnights)

You’re reeling from a breakup

Picture To Burn (Taylor Swift)

Teardrops On My Guitar (Taylor Swift) White Horse (Fearless Taylor’s Version) You All Over Me (Fearless Taylor’s Version) We Were Happy (Fearless Taylor’s Version) Mine (Speak Now)

Dear John (Speak Now)

Last Kiss (Speak Now)

Sad Beautiful Tragic (Red Taylor’s Version) Better Man (Red Taylor’s Version)

All Too Well (10 minute version) (Red Taylor’s Version) cardigan (folklore) happiness (evermore) right where you left me (evermore)

You’re getting ready

Tell Me Why (Fearless Taylor’s Version) Better Than Revenge (Speak Now) Haunted (Speak Now)

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Red Taylor’s Version)

Babe (Red Taylor’s Version)

The Very First Night (Red Taylor’s Version) New Romantics (1989)

Welcome To New York (1989)

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Reputation) no body, no crime (evermore)

Lavender Haze (Midnights) Bejeweled (Midnights)

Crossword by Emerson Kimrey

Apple cider of Evanston

By Mae Luning Arts and Entertainment Editor

For me, hot apple cider is a fall staple. Fall as a season is always a magical time of year, and even with this year’s weirdly hot weather, I’m always up for a steaming cup of hot cider.

What makes apple cider so great? That depends—hot apple cider can come in many different forms, whatever you’re looking for you’ll find at one of the three shops in this review. From spiced to caramel or a combination of the two, coffee shops all around Evanston introduced unique, limited-edition apple cider to their fall menus.

The three locations with some of the best cider in Evanston? You’ll find them here—Colectivo, Backlot and Coffee Lab.

Colectivo (6/10)

I’ve heard a lot about Colectivo’s limited-edition spiced hot apple cider, so I was prepared to be blown away when I tried it. I even went in early before school because, apparently, it sells out before noon. It was good but certainly not great. If you get the chance, I definitely recommend stopping by Colectivo, if not for the apple cider, at least for the other items on their fall menu. Colectivo is one of my favorite coffee spots in Evanston, and it does fall very well. Their apple cider itself is pretty basic,—a slimming hot cup of cider with their attempt at an added twist—a tea bag filled with different spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s a solid drink for a brisk November day but definitely

doesn’t top this list.

Backlot (9/10)

Backlot Coffee’s seasonal hot caramel apple cider did not disappoint. Much like Colectivo, Backlot has a limited-edition fall menu that’s stacked with delicious seasonal treats. I, of course, went straight for the caramel apple cider. Their cider is the perfect temperature and richness. The flavor itself is probably the best on this list, but there’s one problem; the apple cider is advertised as caramel apple cider, but I couldn’t taste the caramel at all. This is a problem that I encounter a lot at Backlot. With things like their lavender matcha (can’t taste the lavender) and pomegranate iced tea (you guessed it, can’t taste any pomegranate) missing a few flavors, I can’t say I wasn’t expecting this, but it was still a little disappointing.

Backlot’s cider is still a standout for me though. If you’re looking for a great hot apple cider, Backlot is the place to go; just don’t go expecting caramel.

Coffee Lab (7/10)

Coffee Lab gives their customers a choice: hot apple cider with cinnamon, caramel or both. I chose cinnamon since I’d already had caramel at Backlot (kind of), and it was really good! Honestly, Coffee Lab’s cider didn’t amaze me but there’s nothing to complain about either. Coffee Lab is also a great fall coffee shop, and if you happen to find yourself on Noyes Street, I’d definitely recommend stopping in.

‘House of the Dragon’ is the next generational show

By Jared Tucker Staff Writer

In May 2019, the long-awaited finale of Game of Thrones aired after eight long seasons, ultimately leaving fans angered and disappointed. When the prequel show was announced, most fans felt done with the world that George R. R. Martin had created. But after casting announcements and trailers, the hype for the opening episode was massive. From the opening scene, it was clear that the Dragon was going to live up to be another generational show. The scale, effects, writing, acting and story lived up to the impossible task of being as exemplary as Game of Thrones.

Season one of House of the Dragon builds up to the upcoming Tarcivil war, titled the Dance of Dragfollows Princess Rhaenyra Taras she is named heir to the sevdoms from her father, King Viserys Targaryen. The nomination to successor causes a split between Rhaenyra’s house and the Hightowers, of which her best friend is a part. Unlike Game of

Thrones, House of the Dragon doesn’t go into as much detail, with time jumps totaling to around 26 years over the course of the first season. Although the time jumps make it like the audience is missing out on 26 years of Westorosi history, they’re necessary for developing the story to get to the dance.

The pilot got off to a fantastic start, introducing all the characters in excellent ways and showing off the massive scale that the show had the potential for. The first five episodes continued to build up to the first big time jump with stakes getting increasingly more tense until another disastrous Westerosi wedding that we’ve come to expect from every marriage ceremony since the Game of Thrones. Milly Allock and Emiley Carey play young Alicent and Rhaenyra so expertly that the transition to their future selves was challenging for audiences at first, but the audience quickly warmed up to Emma D’Arcy and Emilia Cooke. The second half of the season sees our characters in their more mature forms, which only makes them more dangerous. As the sides grow further and further apart, the backstabbing, conniving, and usurping

increase, and the political thrillers that Game of Thrones mastered are on full display.

With a budget of roughly $200 million dollars which is usually only seen for Hollywood blockbusters, House of the Dragon looks absolutely INCREDIBLE. The sets are massive, the costumes are stunning, and the special effects are some of the best I’ve ever seen in a TV show. The dragons appear so real that it adds an even more lifelike sense to this fantasy world while the dragons in Game of Thrones were clearly fake. With as many practical effects as possible, it’s easier to imagine the actors in their roles as they walk through real courtyards and castles, but the show’s massive sets still needed to live up to fans’ massive expectations.

After showrunners besmirched Game of Thrones with the rushed ending of Season 8, writing and running House of the Dragon was a major concern for fans. While showrunner Miguel Sapochnik made mistakes, like making many scenes too dark to even see, he still did an excellent job moving the show forward and analyzing Martin’s texts to create a spectacle. The writing was continually fantastic with a number of original and quotable lines that immediately made audiences fall in love with characters. With

the bigger budget, directors and cinematographers did a wonderful job of creating stunning after stunning shots and on top of all that, the acting was phenomenal. Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke do a wonderful job bringing Rhaenyra and Alicent to life, and Paddy Considine, Eve Best, Matt Smith and the rest of the ensemble all give Emmy level performances episode after episode.

The final two episodes received some backlash from fans, as they believe the show began to focus too much on spectacle over story, but despite one scene from episodes nine and ten, the episodes were still fantastic and did an incredible job of setting up the fiery civil war that will inevitably set Westeros up in flames. Fan overreactions to the Game Of Thrones world on social media has ruined people’s perceptions of how shows are made. They are not meant to cater to the fantasies that fans have in their heads, but to create a story, whether that means abandoning the relationships that fans want, or even changing what’s written in the source material. Episodes nine and ten were not the best episodes of the season, but they were still character driven, suspenseful, beautiful, and emotional episodes that set up the Dance of Dragons.

‘Hocus Pocus 2’ leaves fans disappointed, nostalgic for original

By Meera Field Staff Writer

Nearly 30 years after the original, Hocus Pocus 2 was just released. One of the most highly anticipated movies of the fall, the film follows a similar storyline to the first one, with three best friends Becca (Whitney Peak from Gossip Girl), Cassie (Lilia Buckingham) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo from American Horror Story) bringing the Sanderson sisters back to Salem by lighting the infamous black flame candle on Becca’s 16th birthday. The Sanderson sisters are back with the same motive: to take over Salem…and also to look young again. The three girls have to prevent the power-hungry witches from causing chaos and calamity all over Salem and the rest of the world.

While the three main characters are all new, Hocus Pocus 2 kept some things the same. The Sanderson sisters, Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy) all reprised their classic roles, and Doug Jones also returned to play Billy. Disappointingly though, none of the leading actors from the original came back, not even as a side character or cameo.

Despite how much fans were looking forward to the movie, many had mixed reviews.

Some feel that there shouldn’t even be a second movie, saying it would have been better off as a standalone. Others feel that it was an enjoyable and entertaining movie that was a good throwback, but most fans of the original Hocus Pocus waited years for a sequel, and the movie ended up being a bit of a disappointment. It got a 63 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and a ⅗ on Common Sense Media. Some reviews say that it had no plot, the characters were bland and it just wasn’t worth the wait. Others say that it’s a great movie for Halloween, it was funny and a good movie for kids, but definitely not as good as the original.

Compared to the first Hocus Pocus, I was definitely expecting a lot more from this movie. I was hoping for something just as lovable as the first, but with a new plot, but I didn’t get that. It is a kids’ movie, and that’s who it’s targeted towards, but the acting wasn’t very good and neither was the humor. It all just felt kind of bland. Many scenes were really random and didn’t add anything to the plot, and while the actors of the main characters are loved by many, their acting in Hocus Pocus 2 was cheesy and hard to watch.

Freshman Caroline Emerich says Hocus Pocus 2 was “disappointing” and that it “had a weak plot.” The original Hocus Pocus is one of her

favorite movies, but she felt very let down by the sequel. She felt that the characters of the witches were changed a lot and just weren’t as likable as they were in the original. In Caroline’s opinion, it is a movie built around nostalgia, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not something that she will be watching again. She thinks that it could be enjoyable to Hocus Pocus fans for that reason, but if you didn’t love the original, the sequel won’t really hold any meaning for you.

If you’re someone who loved Hocus Pocus, there’s a good chance you’ll be deeply disappointed with the sequel. While it’s still worth watching for the nostalgia aspect, it’s most likely going to be a better movie to hate-watch with your friends than something you’re watching for enjoyment or entertainment.

House of

Art by Jessie Okoon

Art by Ahania Soni

Home Conference meet hosts profound performance for girls swimming

By Christopher Vye Sports Editor

As it turns out, hosting the Conference meet was exactly what girls swimming needed to have some of their best performances of the season. There may not have been any conference champions, but between a whopping six individual medalists and two more on relays, it’s safe to say the Kits unleashed their fullest potential that day.

Some notable highlights included sopho-

more Cameron Corbett taking a pair of fifth places in the 200 and 100-yard freestyles, senior Amanda Nelson finishing sixth in the 200-yard IM and junior-senior combo Monroe Stroth and Ainslie Stoolmaker taking fourth and fifth in the 50-yard freestyle.

In the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Malia Schoonyoung dropped over ten seconds off her season best to take fifth in 5:29.51.

In the freestyle relays, E-Town’s quartet of Corbett, Stroth, senior Karolien Van Mieghem and junior Abby Romisher took

third in 1:41.38, and in the 400-yard freestyle relay, Stroth, Nelson, Corbett and Romisher teamed up to take second in 3:40.74. Going into Sectionals, Evanston’s best bets for State appeared to be Nelson in the 100yard backstroke after she finished fourth in the 100 back at Conference. Romisher also looked to be a strong contender after taking second at Conference in the 500 free with a 5:18.64. However, come Saturday, Nov. 5, none of the ETHS swimmers were able to advance to state. Nelson did beat her season

best of 59.46 in the 100-yard backstroke with 59.32, placing her in seventh place. Romisher also excelled, landing in third place with a time of 5:16.91 in the 500-yard freestyle under New Trier swimmers Haley Knupp and Madelyn Ohr with 5:13.79 and 5:13.99 respectively.

Although the Kits were unable to pull through with a State qualifier, the girls’ impressive performance proves ETHS swim is not to be underestimated.

Girls volleyball keeps matches close, can’t close in end-of-season contests

By Christopher Vye Sports Editor

Between a 10-26 record and no conference wins, it was a tough season for girls volleyball. Most of Evanston’s losses could have easily gone the other way—it wasn’t as if the team was getting blown out every day. In the final playoff game against Fremd, the first set came down to a two-point margin. Unfortunately, the Kits

lost it, 25-23. In the game before that, against Niles West, the second set not only came down to a two-point margin, but also went into extra points. Again, the Kits lost narrowly, 27-25. On top of that, it was the same story two days prior in the first set against Glenbrook North, where, once again, the Kits just barely fell short, 2624. So many individual sets came down to just a handful of points. There wasn’t a single team

that walked all over the Wildkits. With six seniors—Carter Aaron, Claire Henthorn, Meg Houseworth, Sophie Lechleitner, Jessica Sehgal and Maya Valentine—all graduating this year, you can expect to see juniors Isa De los reyes, Emma Philibert and Annika Stewart, as well as sophomores, Gillian Colledge, Lina Hauser, Sofia Lindroth and Kylie O’Connor work their way into the Wildkit’s starting lineup.

“[This senior class is] a real special group,” says Assistant Coach Michael McDermott. “They have a great sense of community and have established a really good new culture for our program. When they leave, they’re going to leave a real positive impact with the rest of the girls.”

Bellios’ qualification for State serves as highlight for boys golf season

By Christopher Vye Sports Editor

Between State champions New Trier, thirdplace finishers Glenbrook North and fourthplace finishers Glenbrook South, ETHS is in perhaps the toughest sectional for boys golf in the state. Last year, Evanston was placed into a sectional without any of those schools, which

paved the way for the Kits to qualify for State. It was the first time that had happened since 2013. But come back to 2022, and you’ll find things pretty much the way they always are. E-Town was stuck in its usual sectional, and on top of the three aforementioned teams, there was also Loyola Academy to deal with. As a result, the Orange and Blue settled for just fifth place.

“In just about any other sectional, they would have qualified for State,” says Athletic Director Chris Livatino.

That being said, there were still a number of strong performances throughout the season, including senior Ryder Bellios’ scores at Sectionals. By shooting a 73, Bellios qualified for State, made it to day two and ended up 54th overall.

Impressive times not refl ected in boys cross country ranking

By Christopher Vye Sports Editor

Although boys cross country may not have advanced any runners to State this year, a young team means that bright things lie ahead.

At the Hoffman Estates Sectional on Saturday, Oct. 29, Evanston’s highest finisher was sophomore Sam Froum, who came in just un-

der the 16-minute-mark with a 15:59.62, good for 57th place. Not far behind Froum was junior Henry O’Malley, who finished 60th with a 16:02.21. Senior Torin Ravi was next, 70th in 16:11.72, and just about a half second behind him was sophomore Arber Bombaci, who took 72nd in 16:12.10. Rounding out the top five for Evanston was senior David Chol-

din, 77th with a 16:16.87.

In cross country, runners earn points equal to the position they finish in. Lowest score wins. After adjusting for runners who weren’t competing in the team category, Evanston ended up with 314 points, good for 11th place and ahead of Warren but behind Highland Park. It took 213 points or less in order to qualify for

State as a team.

On an individual level, Froum and O’Malley both ran times faster than last year’s sole State qualifier Essay Tolosa, who ran a 16:06.0 to take 30th at the 2021 Sectional. With both runners returning next year as well as Bombaci, the squad is definitely a team to keep an eye on.

Girls cross country looks to have promising seasons ahead

By Christopher Vye Sports Editor

Similar to the boys team, ETHS girls cross country is exceptionally young. In fact, four of the top five finishers at Sectionals were underclassmen.

All together, the Kits ended up 12th at the Hoffman Estates Sectional on Saturday Oct. 29 with 301 points, just one ahead of Glenbrook South and seven behind Lake Zurich.

Just like it was for the boys, it took 213 points or less to qualify for State as a team.

Individually, the Kits were clearly divided into two packs. One was clustered just under the 19-minute-mark and the other under the 21. Evanston’s top finishers were sophomores Stella Davis and Sammy Schuneman, who took 34th and 37th respectively with times of 18:53.83 and 18:57.42. Not far behind them at all was freshman Rory Malia in

18:59.90, good for 41st.

Senior Ella Gutierrez was Evanston’s next finisher, ending up 109th in 20:41.45. After that, sophomore Talia Wisely took 117th in 20:51.01 and freshman Sam Caldwell took 118th in 20:55.79.

To make it down to State individually, runners needed a time of 18:42.92. While Davis may have come up eleven seconds short, her PR still stands at an 18:41.3 from

conference last year, so there’s no doubt she can make it—it’s just a matter of performing when it matters most. With Malia and Schuneman both proving they can put up competitive times, running personal bests at Sectionals by more than ten seconds, the next couple of years are sure to be promising ones for EGXC.

Two doubles pairs make runs in tennis’ conference tourney

By Jessica Sehgal Executive Editor

After a 10-6 season, girls tennis felt confident heading into their Central Suburban South tournament on Friday, Oct. 7. However, after the first round, only two ETHS teams re-

mained in the running. Doubles team Sophie Glantz and Mia Tingley swept Senn, 6-0, 6-0, with an exciting progression to the next round. However, they failed to advance past the second round, with a 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 loss to Lane Tech. Contrarily, fourth seed doubles team

7-6, 7-5 loss.

Despite a senior-heavy team, returning players, including freshman Wadsworth and sophomore singles player Maggie Cummins—who lost to the no. 1 seed in the tournament opener—indicate hopeful seasons to follow.

Despite losing season, football improves on both sides of ball

By Will Klearman Staff Writer

After an up-and-down season, ETHS closed out the year with a record of 3-6, landing them in fourth place in the Central Suburban South standings. An exciting 53-50 over-

time home opener win against Indian Trail foreshadowed the roller coaster season that had yet to come. ETHS went on to win two of their next eight games with wins against Niles West and Glenbrook North.

ETHS was led by dual-threat senior

quarterback Dylan Groff, who totaled 1482 passing yards along with 604 rushing yards. Junior Damarion Timberlake led the running backs with 503 rushing yards. Senior wide receiver Mac Mettee led the team in catches with 41 receptions, and senior wide receiver

Preston Brown tallied up 588 receiving yards and five touchdowns. The defense showed improvement after the opener against Indian Trail, holding opponents to an average of 20.7 points per game over the next seven games.

Photos courtesy of Adrian Garton (top), Eddie Roman (bottom)

At

Regionals, freshman standout Kieran Low shot a 71, just one shot over par, to become Regional Champion, something that no ETHS student had done in at least fifty years, Low did as a freshman. While his score of 79 at Sectionals just barely kept him locked out of State, with three seasons left as a Wildkit, the sky’s the limit for what he might accomplish.

Maddie Pollard and Linden Wadsworth found themselves in the quarterfinals after receiving a bye for the first round and defeating Lane Tech 6-1, 6-0 in the second. When faced with their next competition, Niles West, Pollard and Wadsworth eventually suffered defeat with a

On your marks, get set, row!

By Alexis Rogers, Owen Chiss Assistant Sports Editors

Rowing, the newest addition to ETHS’ roster of sports, launched this fall, introducing 50 athletes to a traditionally exclusive sport with the intention of establishing diversity and inclusion from the beginning. This fall, the team has looked to build a solid foundation of understanding and funds.

Head coach Luciana Ruiz, her five assistant coaches and the dedicated athletes introduced rowing to the ever-growing list of programs at ETHS. The season began with a trial period in August that focused on exposing students to a new sport, then kicked off practices directly after.

“[Coaches] knew that we were gonna get a pool of athletes with no experience,” says Ruiz. “What makes someone a good rower is the ability to learn, willingness to learn, being able to take and work with feedback.”

Few ETHS students had rowed before, and those that

had were often versed in sculling, a technique involving two oars per person, as opposed to the single-oared sweeping method used by the team. Ruiz knew that they were going to be creating a program from scratch.

“Our first year, we want to build a team that is cohesive and competitive and eager to continue,” says Ruiz. “For our first year, we really want to set the foundation so that when these kids come back as experienced rowers, they're able to set an example for the new kids who begin next year.”

However, Ruiz and her armada of volunteer assistant coaches were not alone in their pursuit of equitable rowing. North Channel Community Rowing (NCCR) is a nonprofit organization that aims to support diversity in rowing, and Ruiz has spent the past year volunteering there. Several athletes on the team were introduced to rowing through NCCR.

A major barrier that frequently limits who has access to rowing is the cost of the sport. To practice, a team requires a shell, oars and a safety launch. This equipment is expensive, and so are travel fees. Luckily, Northwestern University was able to lend a hand.

“We have a partnership with the crew team at Northwestern [whom] we rent our boats from. That includes everything needed to practice,” says Ruiz. “We're

from Northwestern this year, renting them out and then fundraising so that we can buy our own equipment in the future.”

Northwestern’s contributions have been significantly helpful in managing the unexpected turnout of student athletes.

“[The team] was originally only supposed to be 25 people,” says freshman rower Jack Bucciarelli. “But since Northwestern gave us more loans for equipment, it’s 50.”

Ruiz herself was part of the crew team at Northwestern while she attended college there. Her inspiration to work with ETHS students stemmed from her Evanston connections.

“The opportunity that we saw in Evanston was we have this awesome student population and this really big school that is so close to the boathouse,” Ruiz says. “But the schools around us that have rowing, they don't look like us. They're not public schools.”

Rowing has the reputation of being a predominantly white and upper class sport, which makes Ruiz all the much happier that it was introduced at a school like Evanston.

“Rowing is known to be a very elitist, very white, very privileged sport,” Ruiz states. “When I went to regattas, I didn’t see people who looked like me; that just wasn’t a really common thing. But I stuck with the sport because I wanted to take up that space. So I

newest sport

is a really fantastic opportunity to have a start.”

For Athletic Director Chris Livatino, rowing is a sport especially well-suited for Evanston because of its flexibility. Rowing provides strength training that can be beneficial for other sports, and due to competitions being in the spring, this leaves room for athletes to be involved in other programs in the off-season.

“I want our kids to play multiple sports,” says Livatino. “I don't want them to feel like they can only do rowing. There's also a lot of kids in our rowing program that weren't planning on doing other sports. Hopefully, we can find a happy balance for kids that are multisport athletes [so they] can still row. It'll be a fun thing for them to do.”

While the majority of the competitive season takes place in the spring, the first chance the Orange and Blue rowers had to compete was on Oct. 29, during an intrasquad regatta.

Bucciarelli emphasizes that it showed how far the team had come in such a short period of time.

“We raced for our baseline times. It was a very fun experience and a good taste of what racing is like,” Bucciarelli says. “This was a big step for a team that just started and it shows how much progress the team has made in such little time.”

Upset in regional final shuts door on long playoff run for boys soccer

By Alexis Rogers, Owen Chiss Assistant Sports Editors

While boys soccer finished the regular season with a 12-5-2 record– capturing the second seed in the Glenbrook South Sectional– the Kits were unable to advance past the regional finals following a 2-0 loss to Lane Tech.

A 4-0 shutout against Maine West in the regional semifinals looked like a promising start for the Kits, who entered the IHSA Regional Final against Lane Tech as favorite. However, two Lane goals in the first half ultimately proved to be too much for the Blue and Orange.

The first goal of the night came on a score by Lane Tech’s Winston Henry 15 minutes into the game, but Evanston bounced back by controlling the run of play for most of the first half. Yet, the Kits (13-6-2) couldn’t finish any possession. Things took a turn for the worse for Evanston when Lane (14-4-1) scored another goal mere minutes before halftime.

With Lane just needing to play strong defense in the second half, ETHS couldn’t make a comeback.

Despite not managing the win, the Kits fought hard, firing shots at Lane keeper Gael Rodriguez throughout the night. A particularly direct attempt by junior Bryan Maldonado in the fourth quarter knocked Rodriguez down and off the field.

Constant energy and fast feet from Maldonado, as well as solid presence from junior defender Benji Koziura, helped keep Lane Tech working. Malonando achieved multiple shots on goal, and Koziura locked down the Kits defense in the second half to prevent a third score.

Play became increasingly aggressive as time waned, with rough contact sending multiple athletes from both teams to the bench. ETHS senior forward Pascal Calonges, following a possession near Lane Tech’s goal, was one of the casualties, as was Malonando just three minutes from the

end of the second half.

The contest ended the Kits’ push to repeat their reign as conference champions. Meanwhile, Lane Tech played Oak Park on Oct. 25 at the state sectional match hosted by Glenbrook South.

Despite an unexpected early exit, the Kits proved to the state once again that they were a force to be reckoned with by finishing with a winning record and taking the CSL South Conference Crown.

The Kits will graduate 14 seniors at the end of this year, but junior keeper Cade Likhite believes that next fall, Evanston will be right back where it left off this season.

“We’re going to have a very strong squad next year. The rising juniors have a lot of potential and our current juniors are constantly improving,” says Likhite. “Next year will be very fun. We definitely have what it takes to be a contender for state.”

borrowing thought to myself, ETHS

ETHS’ rowing team, in its inaugural season, is school’s

Photo courtesy of Chris Livatino

Photo courtesy of Maya Valentine