North Star - May 2020 Issue - Underclassman Half

| ALTERED AP TESTING PAGE 05 | WORKOUTS TO STAY IN SHAPE PAGE 12 | SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE PAGE 16 |

NORTH | STAR

FRANCIS HOWELL NORTH | ST. CHARLES, MO 63303 | 05.06.20 | VOL 34 ISSUE 08

ISOLATION VACATION

THE NORTH STAR SHOWCASES HOW COVID-19 HAS AFFECTED FHN AND CHANGED THE LIVES OF THE STUDENTS

FHNtoday.com

CONTENTS ENTERTAINMENT 1 Quarantine Activities Check out a list of fun activities you can do while stuck in quarantine

2

Nintendo Switch Find out more about Nintendo’s shortage of their best selling product, the switch

NEWS 5 AP Tests

Learn about changes that had to be made to the AP exams due to COVID-19

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Band’s Future

Read more about what the FHN band is doing to keep their spirits up

FEATURES 9 Bringing Joy To FHN Aakruthi Pasuparthi shares her experiences in being FHN’s voice

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Quarantine Stories Students share their experiences during these different times

SPORTS 13 At Home Workouts

Check out easy ways to keep yourself healthy and fit while stuck at home

14 Postponed Fundraising FHN tennis team postpones their cancer fundraiser until next season

Top 5 Video Games These are the top five video games and what the teens of FHN have to say about them (By Ryleigh O’Donnell) Animal Crossing New Horizons

This is a game about fishing, catching bugs and befriending the 6854 animal villagers that live around you. You also work to pay off your house loan from Tom Nook, and you help him try to get the island to a five star rating so K.K. Slider will come to your town. It’s also beneficial to try and fill out Blathers museum with fossils, fish, bugs and now art.

“I’d say I mostly like it because it has a very nice and relaxing atmosphere and it’s a good escape from how chaotic real life is most of the time,” Leo Hanks, 10

Minecraft

It’s a game about building, fighting mobs and just doing your own thing basically, but if you want a goal you can travel around, collect better resources and materials. Then when you’re powerful enough or whenever you’re ready to travel to the End and defeat the Ender Dragon. There’s also another mini boss you can fight called the Wither if you’re bored.

“There’s so much you can do in it, and with all the updates more things keep being released making there more you can do,” Mary Lauritzen, 10

Doom Eternal

This game is a first person shooter where you play as a character called Doom Slayer and fight creatures from hell. Earth is overrun by demonic forces that wipe out 60% of the population in this game.To gain health, ammo or armor you are forced to attack enemies.

“I just admire the gameplay and the way it’s structured and all the things that go along with playing it, even down to the other people I’ve talked to about it who really get it,” Jaxson Bircher, 9

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

It’s about a CIA officer and british SAS forces. They team up with rebels from Urzikstan to beat Russian forces that have invaded the country. The game has a special Op mode that allows cooperative play that follows the games campaign and it has a multiplayer mode where you have to fight other teams to win.

“I like it cause it’s fun to me, my favorite part is how it looks graphic wise,” Mason Rigby, 10

CS:GO

This is a game where the team’s prime goals are to eliminate the other, they are split into teams, terrorists and counter-terrorists. The terrorists must plant a bomb or eliminate the counter-terrorists while the counter-terrorists have to either, eliminate all the terrorists, defuse the bomb, or save a hostage depending on the game’s map.

“I like CS:GO because it involves accuracy and being able to work a team strategically,” Blaize Cross, 10

OPINIONS 17 Forced Inclusivity Read about how misrepresentation in the in the film industry affects perception

18

Star Wars Order Find out the real order to watch the popular Star Wars series

ON THE COVER

Two students wearing protective masks walk away from FHN which is blocked off with caution tape.

This edition of the North Star contains several stories about the COVID-19 pandemic. (Design by Macy Cronin and Jena Pae)

FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | CONTENTS

PAGE BY RYLEIGH O’DONNELL AND JUSTIN BREWER

PASSING THE TIME

(Photo by Ivan Marc/Shutterstock.com)

While staying inside due to COVID-19, here are some ideas of things you can do (Content by Maya Helbig)

READ

Pick up that book that’s been sitting on your shelf for six months and use your imagination. Snuggle up in the corner of the room and dive deep into someone else’s world, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, action or romance, it’s never a bad idea to leave our world and enter someone else’s.

“There was nothing else to do. I also had to finish it anyway, I started it a while ago and it just worked out.”

Josh Reily, 11

VIDEO GAMES Whether it’s on your phone or on a computer, video games are everywhere. Video games can put you into someone else’s shoes and can make the time fly by fast. With all the different types of games, there has to be at least one for everyone. There’s competitive, horror or just a peaceful game about life.

“It gives you a break from reality. It’s fun to play a scenario that in real like obviously wouldn’t happen.”

Mary Lauritzen, 10

ART Even if you’re not the best at making something art related, it can be super fun to try. Painting, drawing, coloring, there are so many different ways to create something. Be creative and think of an idea on what to do then just dive right into it! And if you don’t like creating things with a pen or pencil, paint brush or marker, there’s always digital art where you can draw on your phone with your finger or a stylus.

“It’s very calming. I was very bored and had nothing better to do.”

Cheyenne Leahr, 10

GO ON A WALK Even though we all need to be staying inside when it’s possible, we also still need fresh air. As long as you’re maintaining a safe distance from other people you see, it’s not a bad idea to go on a walk or run. Just take precautions and try not to get too close to others.

“We [She and a friend] went on a walk and got ice cream. We got Ben and Jerry’s and listened to music.”

Victoria Ramshaw, 9

COOK Try a new recipe and experiment with your food! Most people have a specific set of foods they make, alternating every few days or weeks. Making a new dish can be exciting and add something new to your day instead of just the same old stuff you’re used to.

“Cooking is a great pass time because it’s a very necessary skill in life and it teaches you to keep trying even when you’re convinced you’ve messed up beyond repair. Also, you get to eat what you make.”

Rose Martin, 10

PAGE BY MAYA HELBIG

QUARANTINE STREAMING COVID-19 has left nearly the entire world quarantined in their homes with little to do.

As a result they are turning to TV. People are relying on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and more to provide entertainment.

Streaming services have all responded in their own ways to this massive influx of people at home watching TV. There are many streaming services to choose from when it comes to TV watching. Most of these services offer some kind of free trial.

However, several services, like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon Prime Video and more, have longer free trials to give people an opportunity to view their libraries.

Other services found different ways to entertain. Disney Plus released the movie Frozen 2 on their app earlier than expected to give families something to watch. Netflix’s release of the series Tiger King has also proven to be widely popular.

Streaming movies and TV shows has been a popular pastime even without quarantine, but exactly how much more are people watching TV? According to vanity.com there has been an average 61% increase in streaming videos on the TV. (Brief by Justin Brewer) “[My favorite service is] Youtube. I watch it for at least four hours a day. Yes [it has increased since quarantine}.”

Devon Steinbreugge, 9 “I just finished Tiger King because it got super popular and that was really good and I enjoyed that. I’ve also been watching All American and I hadn’t started either of those before quarantine.”

Katie McNevin, 10 “[My favorite thing to watch is} The Mandalorian. I’m a massive Star Wars nerd and we just got Disney Plus so I figured I’d see what all the hype is about.”

Lara Traversy, 11

ENTERTAINMENT | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

01

SUMMER ACTIVITIES

While in quarantine sophomore Abbie Carpenter plays on her friends Nintendo Switch. Carpenter stayed six-feet away when she played on sophomore Macy Cronin’s gaming console. (Photo by Macy Cronin)

Although times might be a little bit different than usual, there is still plenty of safe and fun activities, especially for summer 2020 (Content by Liv Engle) Go Exploring

Set up an adventure with your family members. Find a hiking trail that has some beautiful views. Take some photo’s or challenge your self by drawing the scene. If nature is not your thing, take a walk in the city and explore with your family.

Create a Workout Routine

Quarantine definitely puts a pause on the gym, so if you’re looking to get back to working out, make a routine for yourself and have a log or schedule to follow for yourself. Excersise is proven to decrease stress and helps keep you healthy.

Try Out a New Craft

Make some clothes in different DIY ways, cut, color, sew, use patches and design clothing of your own while we are stuck at home. Another DIY activity is to learn how to make your own

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ENTERTAINMENT | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

Create a Clean Environment

If you are stuck in the house, clean out your room to feel so much better and less stressed when in your room. Or if there’s a project in your house that needs to be taken care of, take a day to finish it up.

02

Relax in the sun

Soak up that vitamin D. Take a blanket outside in the grass with a good book and read the day away. Some other calm activities include sketching, painting or a

GONE EVERYWHERE With the world facing a pandemic, Nintendo is facing a shortage. Nintendo’s best selling product the Nintendo Switch has become increasingly popular over quarantine. Its latest game release Animal Crossing has helped the increase of sales as well as people being stuck inside because of quarantine.

“Everyone is kind of locked in their homes with nowhere to go and nothing to do and right now is an ideal time to bunker up and play with your video games,” sophomore Abbie Carpenter said.

“So, you can spend most of your time Find out more about the focusing on switch here: something bit.ly/NSswitch like Animal Crossing.”

COVID-19 originally comes from Wuhan, China which happens to manufacture software for the gaming company. China has shut down the country which means the manufacturing for Nintendo’s gaming consoles has had to be put on hold.

“The main sources are from China and that’s shut down and so are all the other places that do make them are also shut down because of quarantine, so they stopped making them,” sophomore Pater Pae said.

Retail stores across the globe are coming up empty handed when asked about this product and do not know when more consoles are coming in. This is creating a market of people buying and selling the console double or triple the price on third-party sites such as eBay or Amazon.

“Honestly I’m really not [looking for a switch], I kind of accepted my fate,” Carpenter said. “If I was looking I would just go online look around at different prices and see if anyone is selling theirs, because I’m pretty sure stores don’t have them right now.”(Brief by Macy Cronin)

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PAGE BY JUSTIN BREWER AND SYDNEY ELLISON

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VOTING DATES ARE MOVED

Due to COVID-19, the voting day for Prop S and Board of Education was moved to June

by Justin Brewer

justinbrewer15@gmail.com

Much like many other things in the world, the district voting that was supposed to take place on April 7 was postponed due to COVID-19. There were many important things on that ballot, such as school board member elections and Prop S, whose voting has been moved to June.

“Obviously they [candidates] started down that path [of making themselves known] but coronavirus did impact that and so they are going to have to do that again,” School Board President Rene Cope said.

“In my opinion, it’s almost like starting over.”

This postponement will shift the board member elections as well as everything else on the ballot.

The original voting day was April 7 but it has been postponed until June 2. While this hasn’t drastically changed many things on the ballot, it has proposed a couple of challenges, the first regarding the board candidates. Since the vote is later and people aren’t at school, the candidates have to find a new way to

The election sign sits in a yard used to promote Proposition S for the Francis Howell School District for the April 7 ballot. Last December, FHSD Board of Education voted to place a no tax rate increase bond to obtain funds to help the district. The date of the elections has been moved to June 2, due to the virus. (Photo by Anna Hollinger)

connect with their community. This affects the date they will be sworn in. This will also affect Proposition S. Without people in the schools that are being voted on to be fixed, that firsthand perspective is harder to come by.

“School is not in session, so I think it’s important for the candidates to figure out how to reach the community while school is not in session so that the voters understand who they are,” Cope said.

The other thing that proposes a challenge is the voting itself. Parents and other community members

will be looked at to do most of the voting. This virus brings the possibility of discouraging voting within the community. There is also the issue regarding CDC guidelines, social distancing and other regulations that have the possibility of affecting the number of voters. Another option is applying for absentee voting. People can either mail their ballot in or vote six weeks in advance at St. Charles County Election Authority.

“I think the fact that we have social distancing and stay at home orders will potentially discourage

PROM IS CANCELLED

After some uncertainty, the district made the decision to call off prom

by Evan Becker

evanbecker64@gmail.com

Junior Angela Cuccio smiles and poses in the dress she would have worn to prom this year. Many students had already bought their dresses and now won’t be able to wear them. “I’m sad that prom got canceled this year, but I’m glad that I still will be able to go to my senior prom next year,” Cuccio said. (Photo submitted)

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FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | NEWS

Francis Howell administrators announced in an email on April 20 that prom across all three high schools would be cancelled for the 2020 school year, to protect the safety and health of the community during COVID-19.

For weeks, the status of prom was in limbo. The district had cancelled all after school events and extracurriculars for the remainder of the school year, which would include prom. There were some attempts behind the scenes to try and get prom moved to late summer, but it didn’t seem likely.

“We were trying to find a way to coordinate around it, but it doesn’t seem like we were able to at all,” junior Luke Coffman said. “There wasn’t much of an option to get that many people together, especially during these times.”

The news did not come as a complete surprise.

St. Charles County has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in Missouri, with over 458

confirmed cases and 15 deaths, only behind St. Louis City and County. Social distancing rules are especially necessary to ensure the curve is lessened.

“Initially we had an inkling that it would have been cancelled once they cancelled school for the rest of the school year,” Coffman said.

“Even though there was a little bit of hope, I was expecting it to be cancelled after that.”

While both juniors and seniors attend prom, for the seniors this was their last chance to attend prom before graduating. Many seniors were disappointed at not being able to experience that final story within their high school journey.

“It has impacted some aspect of my high school experience, but I understand why, [which] makes it easier to sort of deal with the idea,” senior Uma Upamaka said. “It was for a good reason. I knew it was going to happen, it was just like waiting for bad news that I didn’t want to happen, kind of deal.”

PAGE BY ASHLYNN PEREZ

Drama students practice on stage. Their spring performances were cancelled. (File photo)

NEW GOALS FOR DRAMA CLUB At her desk, senior Riley Witherbee studies for her upcoming AP statistics exam. All AP exams have been moved online this year due to Covid-19. The exams have been altered to fit in a smaller time frame and cover only the units that should have been taught before spring break. (Photo by Avery Witherbee)

AP GOES online

Due to COVID-19, students are now taking altered AP tests online

by Macy Cronin

macy.cronin03@gmail.com

AP Testing is a rigorous exam for possible college credit students spend all year preparing for. This year COVID-19 caused some unforeseen problems, which forced the College Board to change the structure of the exam for this year’s AP students.

“No one’s ever really had to do this before, so we are kind of in uncharted waters and prepping for those uncharted waters is very daunting,” sophomore Carly Gordon said.

The exams will differ depending on which ones the students are taking, but all of them will be focused on free responses rather than multiple choice. By taking out all multiple choice questions the time for the test was drastically reduced to 45 mins rather than around three hours.

“It is a little more stressful that we no longer have the multiple choice part to help our score if our free response isn’t scoring [well],” junior Angela Cuccio said.

Due to students not being able to finish their year out in schools, the College Board also shortened the units their AP tests will cover. On their website they have a complete list of their exams and which topics are being covered for each exam.

“I don’t think [the altered exam] will give a very good representation of what the student really knows,” AP Chemistry teacher Donna Malkmus said. “I know they are trying to incorporate several different concepts within each problem to incorporate different units. So I’m not sure how successful they’re going to be able to design two questions that reflect the units the kids have learned.”

PAGE BY ASHLYNN PEREZ

In order to ensure safe quarantine practices are happening, College Board has officially moved the test completely online. This will help hinder the spread of the virus as well as keep proctors, students and their families safe.

“I’m worried because we’re losing all that class time that we would have prepped for AP exams and prepping online obviously isn’t the same, so I’m worried about it, but I ultimately think it’s the right decision [to go online],” Gordon said.

Moving the test online causes some problems to be brought up like cheating. Cheating includes plagiarism, using someone else to write the students free response or use outside information while taking the exam. Doing any of those actions will result in notifying any colleges the student applies to that they cheated on exams even if they don’t submit that specific AP test score. One way College Board is combating cheating is for students, when finished with the test, to submit it to their teachers for a prior review. They make sure that is something the student would write and that it’s not someone else’s work.

Another concern that students face is relying on technology. During the test, students will not get extended time if their technology is acting up. It is recommended that students go to the place where the internet connection is strongest and use the device that has the best connection.

“Technology is not always reliable, sometimes there are issues connecting to wifi,” Cuccio said.

“If a lot of people are on a certain thing at a certain time it lags really bad, so I just worry about technology problems that could affect my score or the amount of time that I have to complete the test.”

The closure of school caused by COVID-19 made FHN’s drama club quickly change up their plans.

Their spring play scheduled for March 26-28 had to be cancelled after preparing for it for weeks.

Finishing touches on the set was the last piece of production that needed to be placed before the closure changed everything.

“It’s just like any one of our other productions, actors were running lines, the crew was working on getting everything out,” senior Emilee Statzer said. “We were ignoring the pandemic like it wasn’t there.”

Drama teacher Kim Sulzner has extended the rights to the play and hopes to put on the show sometime in winter of the next school year. A goal of hers is to get some of the seniors of the 2019-20 school year who were working on the play to come back and perform one number.

“I’d never thought I’d say this but I miss the rehearsals,” Sulzner said. “They were stressful but we also had a lot of fun.”

Statzer recalled that everyone in the club expected the closure but were emotional nonetheless. Leading up to spring break the club continued preparation like normal.

“We had kind of seen it [school closure] coming but nobody really wanted to face it,” Statzer said. “I was really sad.”

This was Statzer’s senior year in drama club and she joined as a freshman. As an officer of the club she is trying her best to continue as normal and work with the other officers to schedule many activities for the club. They have Zoom meetings around once a week and do both games and educational experiences.

“So we are still electing our officers for next year, so like right now we’re taking nominations, they’ll do presentations, we’ll vote,” Sulzner said.

Leading out of the school year the club hopes to continue meeting over video calls and to use this time to learn and reflect.

“The old adage about the show must go on isn’t always true because we always have to take into account the bigger picture,” Sulzner said. “It is much more important for us to be safe and to protect our families and our communities than to produce the show.” (Brief by Sydney Ellison)

NEWS | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

05

Marching band plays their instruments. With school cancelled, they have had to make adjustments. (File Photo)

BAND KEEPS THEIR HEADS UP With physical classes and gatherings cancelled for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year, FHN’s many clubs and activities have had to make rearrangements and adapt, including the school band.

“At first, there was just curiosity,” Grace Sickendick, senior drum major and bass player, said. “You know, everyone was wondering what was going to happen with the band. And when school was finally cancelled, I know for me personally, but probably with a lot of others, it was just heartbreak.”

Several events were cancelled, such as a competition and a jazz banquet. Also cancelled was the annual band icebreaker, where middle schoolers interested in joining the band could come to talk with FHN students and hopefully be recruited for their freshman year. Other forms of in-person recruitment have been cancelled; however, the band has made efforts to do recruitment in an online format.

“I think despite our disrupted schedule, we’re setting up for a great season,” junior drum major Brenna Hood said.

The band has been going about their normal practice, communicating with band director Robert Stegeman to receive their classwork. This has included recording and submitting videos of them playing their instruments, with pieces they chose to work on, and some sight-reading practice assigned by Stegeman.

“I wish we were in class playing, because my favorite part of band is the human aspect and the community, but I’m glad there’s motivation,” Sickendick said. “I’m glad there’s a little road map to what I need to do and how I can improve.”

Though marching band practices normally gear up in June and have been pushed back to July, Sickendick believes the band shouldn’t be overly concerned.

With the late August start of the 2020-2021 school year, it provides an extra month of practice for the marching band. Everything is pushed back a month, but the band will have roughly the same amount of time to prepare.

“We’re just trying to keep our heads up,” Sickendick said. “We’re still recruiting, still practicing, and we’re still trying to become better musicians.” (Brief by Ashlynn Perez)

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FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | NEWS

Highlighting her work, junior Natalie Newport works on her classwork for online school. COVID-19 has caused schools to close and forced students to switch from learning in a school setting to learning at home. “I started off disliking online school but it grew on me,” Newport said. “I like it now because of how much resources we have available.” (Photo by Anna Hollinger)

MOVING TO CLASS ONLINE

Students and teachers share their thoughts on online learning, which officially started in April due to social distancing expectations Online learning has caused a few problems for some students, such as keeping track of the With school called off, high schools across different online mediums and due dates. the county scrambled to find an alternate form “For me, the transition was pretty smooth,” of education, where students could learn and junior Troy Ludwig said. “The only difficulty I’ve access their work remotely. FHN began online had is that my teachers don’t all use the same learning in late March and early April, allowing platform to post and turn in assignments, so I them time to have a training just have to remember to check week to test the waters before a few websites daily.” diving into the actual chunk of School is set to end on May second semester remaining.

19, and online learning will take To read about how AP “It’s hard to say [whether] I like place through then, but some Testing is going online online learning and quarantine people, like math teacher Steve this year, see page 5 or not,” junior Ella Walther said.

Willott, have an eye out for the “I enjoy getting the freedom possibility of a resurgence of and control to do things on my COVID-19 and social distancing schedule at home where I can be comfortable, in the fall, but with the possibility of a new and it’s nice getting to sleep, which I normally system called Canvas in place, remote learning miss out on during the year.” would be much easier.

Many students have accessed their schoolwork “It will be good that we should have some through sites like Google Classroom and common platform available from the district Schoology, as well as some teachers’ personal called Canvas for putting a lot of online material websites. At first, teachers were restricted to on,” Willott said. “I’ve been using it a bit with the assigning 30 minutes of work each day, but now community college and it would have made this the expectation is that teachers only give one semester a little easier for us, if we had it in place assignment per week. already.”

by Ashlynn Perez

ashlynnkaeperez@gmail.com

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PAGE BY ASHLYNN PEREZ

THERE’S STILL TIME Make friends.

Make cool stuff.

Make a difference.

Sign up with your friends for one or more of these classes for next year and join the team.

JOURNALISM

Writing and Design and Multimedia - You can get a 1/2 credit of Comm Arts towards the 4 you need to graduate and you’ll become a better writer and designer.

It’s the class most people entering the FHN media program take.

BROADCAST JOURNALISM

Video - You can get a 1/2 credit of Comm Arts towards the 4 you need to graduate and you’ll become a better video broadcast storyteller in the process.

DIGITAL PHOTOJOURNALISM

Photography and Multimedia - You can get a 1/2 credit of Practical Arts towards what you need to graduate and you’ll become a photographer and multimedia creator in the process.

FHN

Find out more. www.FHNtoday.com/TellMeMore media Or Contact Mr. Manfull - aaron.manfull@fhsdschools.org

MAKING A MIND

Art teacher Courtney Flamm teaches a pottery class over summer

by Aadhi Sathishkumar aadhikumarblue@gmail.com

During the school year, students at FHN may be enrolled in Courtney Flamm’s variety of art classes, from Drawing to AP Studio. However, Flamm also teaches at the St. Peter’s Cultural Art Center as a pottery teacher for younger students.

“When I’m teaching over the summer, I’m actually teaching 8 to 12-year-olds,” Flamm said. “I have 3rd graders in there and I have to learn how to teach them.”

While pottery is Flamm’s summer job, she still works at the studio for 40 hours each week.

Teaching, regardless, is a hard job and requires teachers to be very involved with their students and class. To help her, Flamm has the help of a former student, Alex Rowe.

“I started after my senior year,” Rowe said. “I just volunteered, so I just helped her watch over the class and helped where I could. I’ve done it for the past two summers.”

Rowe was heavily influenced by Flamm. She became close to her due to a class she took in her senior year, Digital Art. Rowe had always been interested in art, but was unsure of what to do with

Courtney Flamm’s students make sculptures from clay and paint. One of her third to seventh grade students made this sculpture. Flamm teaches her classes at the St Peter’s Cultural Art Center.

her passion. Flamm helped her navigate her future after high school.

“I met her my senior year when I was not sure what college I wanted to go to or even what I wanted to do and I talked to her a lot,” Rowe said. “It was nice having her to talk through my future. I ended up going to school for art.”

Flamm first taught art classes during college.

She would teach classes at the Cultural Art Center, such as drawing and painting. Flamm learned pottery from college and was asked to teach the class.

“I guess you could say from my sophomore year of college,” Flamm said when asked about how long

she has professionally done art. “Since then, it’s been my full-time job and my summer job.”

Although Flamm has worked at FHN for seven years and at the pottery studio for five years, she still finds the transition from teaching high schoolers to teaching preteens challenging both ways, but also very helpful in improving her teaching skills.

“I think it really helps me get the basics down so I can learn how to translate those to my students later,” Flamm said. “It also gives me higher expectations, because the little third graders I have bust out some pretty awesome stuff so it gives me really high expectations for my older students.”

ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEE Megan Miller works at Imo’s Pizza during quarantine

by Maya Helbig

Mayabean10@gmail.com

Megan Miller works the register during the COVID-19 outbreak. To reduce the spread the disease, many buisnesses have closed. Since she works in food service, Megan continues to work as an essential employee. (Photo submitted)

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FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | FEATURES

A lot of things have been changing ever since COVID-19 hit. No more going out every weekend, businesses have been changing their hours and people are now staying six feet apart, but some people are expected to keep working. Junior Megan Miller is an essential worker at Imo’s Pizza.

Megan has been working at Imo’s Pizza for around a year making salads, cleaning up the diner and working at the counter, but ever since COVID-19 came along the diner has been closed for safety meaning no customers are allowed inside.

“We do curbside pickups,” Megan said. “We tell them to call whenever they get to the store to pick up their food but some of them have like, come into the store, which we all freak out whenever it happens.”

Everyone’s definition of essential is different, anything could be essential to anyone. All of the places that stayed open are considered essential, from what they sell to what they can do for you.

“I do believe that it is up to the business owners at this point,” Megan’s brother, Matt Miller said.

“However, there have been a few situations where

I’ve seen people going to stores for some odd purposes.”

Working during this time can be a huge risk, while the workers at Imo’s Pizza have gotten gloves to wear and some get masks, it is still risky for both the customers and the workers.

“I feel almost guilty, because I feel like I’m going out and contributing to the spread of it,” Megan said. “With my co-workers, we have some people who have diabetes and other health problems that they’re very susceptible to being very hurt by the virus.”

Some people have not been taking this virus seriously, even with all the messages going out to wash your hands, social distance and stay home if possible. But without following the rules, this virus may spread more.

“Now is the time, you know it’s coming to St. Louis and it will be here and our response now will indicate how bad this can get. So, if we mitigate our actions, we mitigate our contact and follow the guidelines now, then we can see a large flattening of the curve in St. Louis,” Matt said.

PAGE BY AADHI SATHISHKUMAR

SURGERY TO DANCE AGAIN

Knightline athlete Sarah Stover needs brain surgery to keep dancing

by Ivy Lowery

ilowery408@g.fhsdschools.org

Scalpels and brain surgery is scary for anyone, but is much more real for sophomore and Knightline athlete Sarah Stover. Stover has Chiari Malformation, a disorder where the skull has a hole at the bottom causing brain tissue to extend into the spinal canal. It affects Stover daily, but never stops her.

“I didn’t know [I had Chiari Malformation]- I found out I had it in November. I could’ve gotten the surgery earlier in January, but I wanted to wait until dance season was over,” Stover said. “Whenever I do a lot of high-level activity, I get really bad pain and pressure in the back of my head. I also get dizzy or blurry vision.”

Stover is in love with dance and has been dancing for 10 years. Her love for it inspired her to try out for Knightline in the spring of her eighth-grade year where she met her best friend, sophomore and Knightline athlete Abby Martinez. Martinez has been supporting Stover, even when she first found out about her Chiari Malformation.

“In the beginning, she was a little [scared for the surgery], but she was more heartbroken that she couldn’t dance,” Martinez said. “She’s obviously

Sophmore Sarah Stover poses with two awards from a dance competition. Knightline is FHN’s dance team, and Stover is a varsity dancer. She requires surgery to fix her Chiari Malformation .(Photo submittted)

worried, but she was never reluctant. She’s ready to get it fixed.”

Martinez and Stover have been best friends for two years and Martinez has been there for her the whole time. Stover soon went to a neurologist after having extreme headaches and such, then had an MRI. “When she got the results of the MRI and she found out, her parents called me and my family over for her,” Martinez said. “She’s like a part of my family. We can rely on each other with everything.”

Anyone could sympathize with Stover’s worry about having a brain surgery, but she, her family and friends are mostly excited for her to recover. With Stover’s support system, nothing can stop them.

“I am nervous, but I don’t think anything will go wrong because it’s a simple surgery,” Martinez said.

“She can’t wait to go back to mostly normal. I’m excited for her” The only thing on Stover’s mind throughout this is returning to her passion of dancing. Being able to dance without pain is her goal, and she’ll even go through brain surgery to achieve it.

“It’s supposed to be one of the most common pediatric brain surgeries, it’s done often enough that there aren’t high risks from it. Anything could really happen like any other surgery,” Stover said. “I think it will be hard getting back into dance, but I should recover fine.”

BRINGING JOY TO FHN

Senior Aakruthi Pasuparthi shares her experience in being the voice of FHN

by Shivani Bondada shivanibondada@gmail.com

Fun. Creative. Memorable. That’s how Senior jokes online and tell them at school. Pasuparthi Aakruthi Pasuparthi describes the role of being the enjoyed knowing that she made someone’s day, voice of FHN. Cherishing the moments she created making an impression long to be forgotten. with Aakruthi’s joke of the day, Pasuparthi hopes to “[My favorite joke was] ‘I don’t tell dad jokes very inspire students that they can do something like this often, but when I do, he usually laughs’ and for some and be involved with the FHN Community. reason that stuck with me,” FHN principal Nathaneal “[I’m motivated by] the laughs that I hear in the Hostetler said. “I laughed a lot. I told my own dad office and the joy that these jokes that joke.” bring to people was just really cool,” When the school closed due to Pasuparthi said.

COVID-19, Pasuparthi eventually FHN Secretary Stephanie Weeksjoined Hostetler on daily Facebook View Dr. Hostetler’s daily Slaughter takes the time to compile lives at 8 a.m. Hostetler added her Facebook Live here: a list of information for Pasuparthi to create a sense of normalcy in https://bit.ly/NSfhnlive every day. Pasuparthi would go to the current situation. Hostetler the main office every single day of relays information that answers the school week to announce daily questions from students or parents school announcements and end with her joke of the on Facebook live. On the other hand, Pasuparthi day. She persistently did this even when she received would read out students’ birthdays and do her joke hate from students who didn’t have a fond liking for of the day. her jokes. “[During Facebook lives] it didn’t take long to “Some of the people were just like they’re [jokes] realize that there really was something missing and annoying, but I kept doing them and a lot of faculty it was Aakruthi,” Hostetler said. “During the course praised me,” Pasuparthi said. of the year, she became the Voice of FHN [and] for Aakruthi’s joke of the day progressively became a people to be able to see and hear her do the joke of signature for the culture at school. She would find the day has been a big deal.”

MORE INFO

Senior Aakruthi Pasuparthi smiles during an interview for FHSD Lifelong Learner video. Pasuparthi has been doing the daily announcements and providing the FHN community with her joke of the day all school year. She has also been heavily involved in various activities around the school including marching band, delta, and mentors. (Photo submitted)

PAGE BY AADHI SATHISHKUMAR

FEATURES | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

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Ups and downs at home FHN students share their experiences, both the positives and negatives during this unique time of America quarantined due to COVID-19 (Content by Anna Besancenez)

Angela Cuccio

While enjoying nice family dinners, game nights and movie days with her family, junior Angela Cuccio has also been spending a lot of time on school work.

“Even though we moved to online school work,” Cuccio said. ”It doesn’t change the fact that it’s still important for me to do well and succeed.”

During quarantine Cuccio has had time to think of all the positives and negatives like family time, school work and being stuck inside.

Although she misses school and socializing with her friends, Cuccio thinks that online school will prepare her for college. Cuccio is on the varsity lacrosse team and the team only got to play in the jamboree.

“It’s sad to see that all these months of hard work finally paid off just to not be able to play with my best friends who are like my second family,” Cuccio said.

Ryan Reduzzi

While getting out of the house, sophomore Ryan Reduzzi, has been playing basketball almost everyday, but while inside he is still connecting with his friends.

“I have been playing PlayStation with my friends and we can talk through that,” Reduzzi said. “I have also been facetiming my girlfriend since we can’t see each other.”

When Reduzzi isn’t playing games with his friends or facetiming his girlfriend, he has been focusing on school work and catching up on some much needed sleep.

“I can build my own schedule on when I do school and sleep in,” Reduzzi said. “Most of my work is due at the end of the week anyways.”

Luke Dempski

Senior Luke Dempski is making the most out of quarantine by doing things he loves to do.

“I have been fishing and finding things to do to keep me sane,” Dempski said. “Since I can’t work at my job right now I’ve been helping my neighbors with their yard work.”

The seniors won’t be able to finish out their senior year but Dempski is having a love-hate relationship with not returning back to school.

“I like how we have an extended break but it’s really sad and depressing how I don’t get to spend the little time we have with my buddies in school,” Dempski said.

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FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | FEATURES

PAGE BY SYDNEY ELLISON

THE CHRONICLES OF CORONA

From December to now, the world has seen many drastic changes caused by the respiratory virus, Covid-19 (Source: CNN, Infographic by Minnie Adamsl, illustrations by Minnie Adams)

December 31, 2019 - Cases of pneumonia detected in Wuhan, China, are first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). Virus is unknown at the time.

January 7, 2020 - Chinese authorities confirm that they have identified the virus as a novel coronavirus, initially named 2019-nCoV by the WHO. January 20, 2020 - The National Institutes of Health announces that it is working on a vaccine against the coronavirus.

January 30, 2020 - The United States reports its first confirmed case of person-to-person transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus.

On the same day, the WHO determines that the outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

March 9, 2020 - Giuseppe Conte announces that the whole country of Italy is on lockdown.

March 11, 2020 - The WHO declares the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic.

WHO says the outbreak is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

March 24, 2020 - Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach agree to postpone the Olympics until 2021 amid the outbreak.

April 8, 2020 - China reopens Wuhan after a 76-day lockdown.

HOW HAVE YOU REACTED TO COVID-19?

“I don’t feel anything, I’m kinda having fun, I’m productive.”

Sam Smith, 11

“I’ve been playing video games because it is the easiest way to keep sane and interact with my friends.”

Blaize Cross, 10

PAGE BY MINNIE ADAMS

“I’ve tried to adapt to this time by using it to my advantage rather than thinking of it as something that’s holding me back.”

Rayan Amir, 11

“I started working out more regularly and spending time with family, but I want to leave the house and talk to see friends.”

Lacy Chapman, 10

FEATURES | 03.21.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

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ATHLETES IN QUARANTINE TEAM FRIENDSHIP

Equipment used in various spring sports lies unused due to the cancellation of all high school spring sports for this season. The announcement was made earlier in April that all Missouri schools will be closed through the end of the school year including all activities and sports. Spring athletes now face the loss of a season and growth. (Photo

by Anna Hollinger)

TRAINING DURING QUARANTINE Ever since March 13 at the start of spring break, the district announced that school would not resume until April 6. Eventually, they then announced school wouldn’t resume, and all the spring sports practices have been postponed since the start of spring break. Many spring athletes such as senior varsity baseball player Nolan Hutson and senior varsity soccer player Lauren Shah have been staying active and keeping in shape even though their spring sports season won’t resume.

“Right now since it’s been nice out lately we’ve been going for runs or [working on] a treadmill every week, personally I’ve been getting touches on the ball or going for runs, going for walks just trying to do as much as I can,” Shah said. “I know that it’s out of my control but knowing that it’s our senior year it’s pretty sad that you look forward to your senior year, playing your fourth and final year and then knowing that this virus could dictate if you do or not.”

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According to Hutson, the varsity baseball team is packed with seniors and has been looking very strong and is very much hoping their season would’ve resumed.

“It sucks since it’s our last season together and it’s our best chance at winning districts but we just got to look at all the positives and not look at the negatives so much.”

Overall, as unfortunate as this pandemic is, seniors are especially sad with this being their final season playing. Though themselves along with all the other athletes mostly plan to just work out as much as they can while in quarantine, even though school won’t continue.

“We have a lot of seniors, so missing out on our last season to play with each other and how most of us have played with each other since we were really young, our last opportunity to play out with each other is what we’re missing out on,” Hutson said. (Brief by Parker Kilen)

FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | SPORTS

On March 25, three close friends on the girls Lacrosse team were struck with the disappointing news that they would not get the opportunity to play with each other again.

“It was devastating that I wasn’t going to be able to play with my best friends because they’re graduating this year,” junior Angela Cuccio said.

“We were so pumped for the season.”

This team was dedicated. They scheduled their own practices once or twice a week over the summer up until the end of December of last year.

Cuccio, along with her good friend sophomore Catherine Connolly, looked up to senior Heaven-Lee Nichols like a mentor and quickly became close friends similar to that of a family. “[The biggest let down was] not getting to play with Heavenly,” Connolly said. “She’s like a big

sister to me. She was teaching me everything she knew about lacrosse and I never got to play with her then.

This was going to be the season [that we played together].

With a team possessing such strong dedication and bonds, these three girls were looking for varsity spots but also looking beyond that. They wanted to dominate the season and continue in college if given the chance.

“Our coaches are trying to do a senior night,” Nichols said. “The girls talked about it and even if the coaches can’t be there, they want to set something up where we can all scrimmage each other and play. I know that with select teams as long as it doesn’t get cancelled they [the coaches] are letting graduated seniors play since they didn’t get a season this year.” (Brief by Liy Taliaferro)

Q&A WITH ZACH ZIMMERMAN How do you feel about the cancellation of your volleyball season?

I’m very sad and a little annoyed because I love volleyball and the high school season is fantastic. All the good memories that I got last year, I won’t really be able to have that same experience this year.

How do you keep in touch with the team?

We have a group chat on Snapchat we have been talking about how we would really like to be back in season and about the zoom calls we’ve had. And most of the other times it’s just joking around like memes and stuff like that.

Looking towards the future, what are you excited to see next year?

There are a lot of freshmen that came in and that have some great potential and with juniors that are going to be seniors next year we still have them. So I think we’re going to be pretty good next year.

PAGE BY LIY TALIAFERRO AND ABBY MARTINEZ

STAYING IN SHAPE FOR BASEBALL

Resting on a yoga mat, workout equipment surrounds an open laptop displaying an exercise video off of YouTube.

Many have begun focusing on their health during quarantine and starting to workout more routinely. Chloe Ting, a YouTuber, has become a popular resource for workout routines. (Photo by Avery Witherbee)

MAINTAINING FITNESS As the weeks go by, people have begun to find a new normal. A new way to learn, not leaving the house as often-- it’s all so new. Though finding ways to keep everyone physically healthy is just as important as keeping your mental health up.

“I encourage others to take time to work out,” senior and dancer Grace Lindstrom says. “It allows me an outlet to get out all the frustration with what’s going on with the virus.”

Keeping your physical health up is good for the athletes during this off-season. Staying in shape will help ease the transition back into the season.

“I’m an athlete and there is nothing worse than

going back to your sport and being completely out of shape,” sophomore soccer player Makenna Davis said.

Taking a small portion of the day to workout will help keep the brain focused and healthy.

“Working out in times like this benefits me by mentally and physically making me stronger,” Lindstrom said. “Sitting around all day everyday on my phone or watching Netflix isn’t healthy.” (Brief by Abby Martinez)

AT HOME WORKOUTS 1: HIILT (High Intensity Interval Training) Find any exercise that causes you to move around a lot. Perform this exercise as hard as you can for about 30 seconds and rest for about 15-30 seconds.

Repeat as many times as desired. The goal is to increase your heart rate as much as possible then bring it back down.

2: Yoga

Uses breathing techniques, exercise and meditation to help improve health and happiness. You can find yoga videos on youtube or just simple stretching alone can help reduce the stress your body and mind has.

3: Cardio in the neighborhood

Simply walking, jogging, running or biking as long as desired in the neighborhood to get your heart pumping and muscles moving.

PAGE BY LIY TALIAFERRO AND ABBY MARTINEZ

4: Ab variations

Variations of abs can be done anywhere in the house. Simple crunches, russion twist and different types of planks are just a few of the many easy ways to keep in shape. Do these once or twice a day and you’ll be good to go.

5: Arm and leg workouts

Workouts such as burpees, squats, and pushups are all very useful to keep your body active. Also, using common household items, such as chairs and books, can help add variety and intensity to these workouts. You can simply use a chair to add levels and increase the intensity for pushups. Books are a good thing to use as simple weights for most ab workouts you do, like abdominal twists. (Content by Abby Martinez)

With spring sports being canceled, athletes are now focusing on staying in shape for next season. Because baseball is a sport that uses many skills, there are a lot of things these athletes can work on.

“Staying in shape helps you keep your stamina and that is very important for baseball,” sophomore Dominic Henning said.

First, a balanced, good diet will help athletes tremendously. It will help you build muscle which is very important for any sport. It will also keep you healthy.

“You want to make sure your body has all of the right nutrients it needs to function and play a sport,” Henning said.

For baseball players, there are many ways to stay in shape and keep their skills sharp.

One exercise is the drop lunge. The drop lunge improves flexibility in the hips and glutes.

Another exercise is mini-band lateral walks.

To do this, place a band above the knees and move to the right by pushing with the left leg and moving. Once a set amount of reps is done, move to the left by pushing the right leg.

According to FHN’s athletic trainer Jackée Hill, cardio short-shorts are a good way to stay in shape. 30 to 40 yard sprints will help with speed while 10 to 20 yard runs help with acceleration. A simple jog every day will help with building stamina. Squats and leg workouts are also very important exercises to do while trying to stay in shape. “[These exercises] are similar to when sprinting base to base and take offs from each base,” Hill said. “Squats help create a strong base and strength through quads, hip flexors and extensors,and hamstrings.”

Shoulder work such as horizontal front and lateral raises help maintain a 90 degree angle for pitching and throwing.

It is important to not forget about hitting drills. The one-handed hitting drill helps find flaws in an athletes swing. To do this drill, grip the bat with the bottom hand and place the other hand on the opposite hip. From there players would swing as if they have both hands on the bat. This drill will help build forearm strength and improve the two-handed swing.

Fielding exercises such as taking ground balls or fly balls will help keep fielding sharp. A fast hands drill will also help with fielding. With a partner, athletes will play catch and get the ball out of the glove and throw it back as fast as they can. A bare handed ground ball drill that is similar to taking regular ground balls can also be done.

Fielding, throwing, and hitting drills mixed with eating healthy will help to stay in shape during the offseason. (Brief by Abby Akers)

SPORTS | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY.COM

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BE READY TO RETURN

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FHN track and field distance runner, Rana Shaker maintains a healthy lifestyle and keeps up with fitness routines

by Emma Musselman emmalavone04@gmail.com

Covid-19 has taken a toll on all of FHN, but sophomore Rana Shaker doesn’t let this affect her running progress. Shaker has been on the cross country and track and field team ever since her freshman year.

“I was really upset at first because I wouldn’t be able to train with my team and be on a strict schedule that the coach would give you,” Shaker said. “I really like doing track during school because I know after school I’ll have time to run and I can just go home and do my work, but now it’s kind of hard to have that motivation to keep running.”

Since this year’s track and field season as a distance runner has been cancelled Shaker has been trying to keep participating in the workouts her coach, Kim Martin, texts to the cross country group chat.

Shaker has found that doing workout routines as well as running allows her to achieve the best physical fitness she can while in quarantine. For her workouts, Shaker sometimes uses videos on Youtube by fitness influencer Chloe Ting.

“I haven’t been running as much as I want to, but I’m doing at-home workouts just to keep my

Focused on finishing the meet, sophomore Rana Shaker attempts to fun past her opponent in a cross country race on Oct. 18. The cross country team competed in a meet called Border Wars at McNair Park and is one of the last meets of the regular season. Shaker has been running cross country and track since her freshman year.

(Photo by Allie Moore)

endurance and to stay fit,” Shaker said. “I have been doing a lot of ab workouts to stay toned that I can find on YouTube.”

Along with working out, Shaker continues to eat healthily as if school and track season were still taking the place. Eating healthy and working allows Shaker to maintain the best overall health and wellness.

“It’s important to me to keep a balanced diet because when I do any type of physical activity I get really dizzy and not to my full potential, so I make sure that I eat so I can last through a workout,”

Shaker said.

Shaker’s diet and rigorous workout routines help keep her in shape and healthy during these trying times in quarantine. Staying in shape will not only benefit her as if now, but it will also benefit her in the future.

“If I stick with [the workouts] I feel like I will be in good enough shape to be at the place that I was last year,” Shaker said. “So, I am going to try and push harder so that I can come out strong for cross country.”

FUNDRAISER POSTPONED The FHN boys tennis team had prepared a fundraising event for cancer later this season was sadly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

by Karsyn Williams

karsyn.williams15@gmail.com

After winning the match, senior Will Schellman and graduate Sachin Milli shake hands with the opposing team. The varsity boys tennis team had a 9-1 record last year and sent many of its players to state. (Photo Submitted)

PAGE BY EMMA MUSSELMAN

There were high hopes for the FHN boys tennis team this season after their success the previous year. With many returning from states and with high scores and plans for a conference wide cancer awareness event, the next year was looking bright.

Unfortunately, the season was cancelled and courts were left empty.

“I felt really confident [in the team for the season] I thought we had a really strong team,” junior player Rayan Amir said. “Our top players were looking really strong. I thought we were going to have a really good season before it was cancelled.”

In collaboration with other schools, the tennis teams were organizing a fundraising event towards cancer foundations. The GAC conference was to be focused on spreading awareness as well as selling shirts in order to raise money for the cause. The coaches were looking forward to this event and due to the unfortunate situation, had to postpone the event till next year’s season.

“Each team in our conference [was going to] try to sell shirts to spread awareness [for cancer],” coach Samantha Soltysiak said.

Despite the season being cancelled, players are trying to still practice as much as they can while practicing social distancing within their homes. [player] has been continuously exercising and practicing the skills he can away from the court. “[The cancellation of the season] is unfortunate but at the end of the day it’s for the best,” Amir said.

“I’m trying to keep my cardio up and every once in a while I’m hitting against the wall. I’ve been wanting to go out and hit but I can’t because of the quarantine but I’m definitely going to try and hit as much as I can once this is all over.”

While the team was looking forward to the season and had high hopes, they are trying to maintain this optimism towards the following season.

“I have all the hope that we can achieve [the successes of the 2018-2019 season] again but it will just take a lot of hard work,” Soltisyiak said.

SPORTS | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

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Fighting to keep the ball, junior Julia Kristensen moves around the defenders in a game against Fort Zumwalt South. Kristensen has been on the Varsity Girls Soccer team since her freshman year and has committed to continue playing for SLU. (File Photo)

MAKING NEW GOALS

After a long history of being on the field, junior Julia Kristensen pursues a future with soccer in college

by Chloe Horstman clshorstman@gmail.com

The soccer field holds some of junior Julia Kristensen’s finest memories. Her parents, both having played soccer, encouraged each of their children to take part in the sport from a young age, and as a toddler Kristensen would run up and down the field kicking the ball in either goal. Thirteen years later, the sport has developed into a huge passion for her, and she plans to dribble a soccer ball into her future.

“Ever since I was little, my parents have always pushed me to do the extra stuff once I played soccer, like going to extra training with my other siblings,” Kristensen said. “I got pretty good, and then whenever I started getting competitive, I couldn’t want anything more except for to be on the best team possible.”

As a third grader, Kristensen joined the Saint Louis Scott Gallagher Junior Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), where she competed and grew in her skills alongside girls her age. Over the years she has formed long lasting relationships with her teammates and coaches.

However, one year things changed. In early middle school, Kristensen was cut from her club’s team, which was considered to be the best team in the club.

“Then it was just my main goal to get back onto that team,” Kristensen said. “ That was probably one of my hardest obstacles.”

This hiatus was not to be long, as Kristensen was determined to get back onto the team. A soccer trainer and friend of her father’s helped Kristensen practice in order to bolster her skills and reclaim her place.

“She basically had me at all these practices,” Kristensen said. “I worked a lot on my foot skills and stayed mentally ready for all of my games so that I could get back to where I was.”

Kristensen’s hard work paid off. About two years later, she made it back onto the team, and has stayed with the club ever since. Once she reached high school, she tried out for FHN’s soccer team and made the varsity team as a freshman.

“Julia’s pretty unique in the sense that she’s one, an outstanding soccer player, but she’s also a very versatile player,” head girls soccer coach, Mark Olwig, said.

“I think that’s one of the challenges to high school soccer, is that sometimes you PAGE BY CHLOE HORSTMAN

have to get out of your comfort zone of maybe what you did on your club team or with other teams you play for because in high school, we get who comes through the door, so sometimes we have to make adjustments. That’s one of the things Julia was really good about. She’s such an all around good soccer player that she could play multiple spots on the field. She has a very high work rate, which is really nice to have and then just the versatility and the way she plays is outstanding for a team to have somebody who can fill in wherever we need her.

She can and does make other players around her better with her skill level, so that’s another positive.”

In January of her sophomore year, she verbally committed to play soccer for Saint Louis University, a large division one school, which in turn offered her a full ride athletic scholarship.

“The main reason why I chose SLU was just because I love the coaches and the players that I already know there,” Kristensen said. “A lot of the girls that play at my club go to SLU for college, and the coaches are like my best friends.”

Although the coronavirus pandemic has cut her seasons short, Kristensen stays fit by running and doing exercises that her club coach creates, then exercises her core and practices foot skills and shooting, even though social distancing has limited her access to soccer fields.

She maintains close contact with her future team and looks forward to continuing to improve and play with teammates, many of whom will be familiar faces from her club team. She plans to add more new memories in addition to her fond memories of last summer.

“One of the biggest ‘wow, soccer’s amazing’ moments for me was over the summer 2019,” Kristensen said. “My team was at ECNL Nationals, which was like our leagues’ playoffs. It was the group stage and the bracket was tied at the end of our game. The game that was deciding if we went through or not was playing right next to us, and our game ended first, and the team that needed to lose, lost. Whenever the final whistle blew on that game, our whole team went crazy because it was one of the first times our club has ever done that at playoffs. It felt like we were making history.”

SPORTS | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

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(Photo from shutterstock)

THE TRUE (FIRST) ORDER In 1977, “Star Wars: A New Hope” was released into theaters and quickly became a box office hit. Despite being the first “Star Wars” movie ever released, it was actually the fourth episode in the main nine movie series. The movies were released out of chronological order and instead the main trilogy (episodes four, five, and six) were released first, then came the prequels (episodes one, two, and three), and then latest three sequels (episodes seven, eight, and nine). It’s a common debate among fans whether or not it’s better to watch the movies in the release order or the chronological order, but it’s better to watch in release order as it adds an interesting element to the overall story.

While the “Star Wars” movie series is known as one of the best, it does have some flaws. One of those being, the three prequels are known by critics and fans alike to not be all that good.

Between poor acting and confusing plot lines, the prequels pale in comparison to the original trio. Especially for first time watchers, three bad movies aren’t the best introduction to a series.

With the prequels alone being almost seven hours long, it’s not easy to get through without the support of the original three giving the audience a reason to even be interested at all.

The out of order release has been done before and often is used to add more to the story in a unique way. This technique was also used in “The Godfather” trilogy, but the audience wouldn’t opt to watch those movies in the chronological order since it would take away from the way the story is told. The movies first released in the “Star Wars” series are good for introducing the world of the galaxy, along with key characters, before tracing back to further worldbuild and show some history through the fictional universe the first few movies created.

Overall, “Star Wars” is a cinematic classic that is enjoyed by thousands today ever since its first release in 1977. With the canon series consisting of multiple movies, shows, comics and even video games, the world can be enjoyed in many ways.

Though for decades, the movies were originally enjoyed through a scrambled order of movies, that ultimately is a more enjoyable way to watch the series. (Story by Karsyn Williams)

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FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | OPINIONS

(Illustration by Jena Pae)

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE MUST GO Healthcare in America is currently expensive and inconsistent. A single payer healthcare system can fix those issues

by Justin Christensen

deny coverage to people in the interest of money, or if they don’t think it is “medically necessary”. There n 2019, the U.S. spent about $3.5 trillion on may also be alternatives available that might be healthcare costs, or about $11,000 per person, covered. However, there may be only one treatment according to the Peter G Peterson Foundation. that is effective. Someone requiring that treatment One would think that, with so much spending per would then have to appeal to the insurance company person, our healthcare system is very effective in if they deny coverage. If the denial is not overturned, serving the needs of Americans at a low price. In the only option is to pay the full price for the reality, compared to other developed countries, the treatment.

U.S. has one of the most problematic healthcare So what can fix all these problems and ensure systems. that people are covered well? Medicare for all, a For normal citizens in the U.S., healthcare is bill which, if passed, would provide comprehensive expensive. Bloomberg reports that the average coverage to all Americans, with absolutely no person spends about $1,200 in prescription drugs out of pocket expenses. Additionally, prices for every year. In Sweden, that number is under half at prescription drugs would be lowered substantially. $524. A knee replacement in the U.S. can cost up to By consolidating all insurors into one, the $28,000, while only costing $6,687 in Spain. This is government will have much more leverage to because Spain and Sweden both have a single payer negotiate with companies to lower the price of system. Costs shouldn’t be this high in a country prescription drugs. Over 10 years, implementation with an economy worth over $20 trillion. Fortunately, of this generous healthcare system may cost up to insurance companies cover a lot $36 trillion according to the Center of the cost, but there are many for Health and Economy. Even with instances where they don’t. the seemingly astronomical cost of Check out more info on Insurance companies in America implementation, this system would single-payer healthcare here: have a network system. When actually yield net savings over several bit.ly/NShealthcare people choose their healthcare years, according to 19 different plan, they are bound to the network studies, One of which was conducted the plan provides. If a doctor accepts an insurance by the Congressional Budget Office. plan, they are considered “in network”. Hospitals The Census Bureau found in 2019 that 27.5 million as a whole can also be in or out of the network. A Americans are uninsured, and that 43.8 million are big problem in this system is in the case of medical underinsured, meaning that those people either emergencies. If someone were to require immediate have high copayments or gaps in coverage. The medical attention which required an ambulance, most common reason for bankruptcy in America that person doesn’t get to choose which hospital he is health expenses per the American Public Health or she is going to. If the hospital is out of network, Association. This doesn’t have to happen. Americans the costs would be very high for that person. Even if shouldn’t have to deal with astronomical medicine the person was taken to an in network hospital, he or and procedure costs. Americans shouldn’t have to she may be treated by a doctor out of network, which deal with denied coverage for treatments. Americans means potentially crippling healthcare costs. shouldn’t have to choose between going without Even if someone has insurance, goes to the right treatment or bankruptcy. By supporting Medicare hospital and sees the right doctor, costs still may be for All, people can voice their want for an affordable, astronomical. Insurance companies can choose to generous, comprehensive healthcare system.

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PAGE BY JUSTIN CHRISTENSEN

CALLING CARD Misrepresentation in the film industry harms the people’s perception of reality

by Liy Taliaferro

liytaliaferro@gmail.com

Over the last few decades, casting has become more inclusive and while there are several shows/ movies with unique representation there are some that are done in undignified taste.

Disney’s content has been present in the homes of millions. Though their audience ranges from all ages, their target has always been children, the most impressionable demographic. One of their most diverse shows has been Jessie and the spin-off Bunk’d. In both shows, Disney has a variety in race and ethnicity, but nearly every diverse character is misrepresented.

Cast in both shows, Skai Jackson plays a sassy black girl, Karan Brar plays the unathletic, nerdy Asian. In “Bunk’d” Nina Lu plays a smart asian girl who plays violin and Nathan Arenas, plays the unhygienic hispanic.

According to the Leichtman Research group as of 2019, at least 75% of U.S homes have on demand streaming services (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and/ or Hulu). Disney+ was not included in that study.

(Illustration by Nico Boenitz)

Millions of kids are devouring these shows and picking up on these stereotypes because of this distasteful content.

There is always something that someone will take away from the content they’re exposed to. That’s one of the reasons why diversity is so important. If these stereotypes continue to stick to minorities, they will eventually translate to the outside world. Not only does this leave an impression on people that interact with these minorities, but it also leaves a mark on the minorities themselves. If they are constantly being represented in this way, how long until that transfers too? While there a lot of shows that contribute to this problem, there are also shows that try to fix it.

Airing their last episode on April 16, How to Get

Away with Murder had one of the most polished representations of minorities. It had a diverse cast but it didn’t distort realistic representation.

The characters had personas more complex than Hollywood’s lazy characterization of them as minorities. The show had a realistic perception of all people represented and has set the standard for accurate representation since it’s first air date in 2013.

Misrepresentation makes characters hard to identify with. Inclusivity with a purpose is important but the lack of depth in character build is twodimensional and distracting from what the world is truly like.

DOWN THE DRAIN

General education classes in college are a waste of time and money

by Sydney Ellison

sydney.ellison55@gmail.com

(Illustration by Jena Pae)

PAGE BY SHIVANI BONDADA

High school is the time for learning new things and finding possible interests, college is the time for buckling down and finding the future. High school classes are purposely required during that time to range from many different subjects and areas so there’s a better chance of finding an interest. Public high school is free and during a time in life where it is necessary to explore different interests. College is neither of those two statements. General education should expire by college.

College is to prepare for going into a specific field and finding a job in that field.

It should be about becoming an expert in that field. Money shouldn’t be spent on something that won’t be the main focus of use in everyday life. Many colleges require general education classes that advance skills in English, communication, social

science, math and humanities. These are all important skills that make a well-rounded human but not something that should be paid for. These skills need to be taught fully in high school.

College classes are expensive. According to studentloanhero.com, taking into account all types of colleges, the average cost per credit hour is $594. Most people don’t have the funds to take classes that aren’t needed for life after college. It would be time and money saving to get general education in high school.

A solution would be to incorporate the college curriculum of general education into high school classes. This would give students a chance to get those broad skills while not wasting money. To put general education in high school would mean that students would come into college as well-rounded individuals and ready to learn about their studies.

OPINIONS | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

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STUDENT TAKE: Do you think techonology in schools is important?

"Technology in schools is important because it has the ability to enhance the understanding of material in different ways," Elizabeth Pudmann, 11

“Technology offers a new way to learn, create and explore useful knowledge in today's society,” Bailey Scarbrough, 9

“I believe that technology in school is so important because it allows for individual learning and some students learn better alone.”

David Lopez, 11

"Technology in schools is important because it has the ability to enhance the understanding of material in different ways.”

Grace Harding, 11

“Yes because its a part of our everyday lives and people need to be accustomed to it.”

Brandon Bridgeman, 11

“Yes, it's a part of the real world so I think using it in schools will prepare us for our future.”

Chloe Ellison, 9

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FHNTODAY.COM | 05.06.20 | OPINIONS

NORTH STAR TAKE:

TURNING TECHNO

Incorporating technology into schools is important for students and would’ve helped a lot during online school On Behalf of the Editorial Staff @fhntoday.com | @FHNtoday

FHSD has shown up on the ballot numerous times in the past decade proposing to increase the district’s funding. Unfortunately, many of these propositions have failed, resulting in the district’s budget to be barely enough to provide the 19 schools with adequate technology for the classrooms. The district is looking to increase the budget for multiple reasons including renovations, better pay and increasing the technology used in schools. This is important for students within the district as it would help them learn in a modern environment and also would make students way more prepared for sudden events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the remainder of the 2019-20 school year was called off due to the pandemic, resulting in closing all schools in the district and leaving students to continue their education online and at home. This uncommon learning environment where students and teachers were both using programs they weren’t familiar with created plenty of confusion and limited their education. Meanwhile, other schools in the state that were prepared by heavily incorporating technology into schools beforehand were able to transition into online schooling much smoother. Their use of technology was able to connect the school and create a valuable learning experience, despite the circumstances. This same use of tech in FHSD schools would’ve been beneficial for unexpected events, from a snow day PAGE BY SYDNEY ELLISON

North | star

Editor-in-Chief: Gracie Bowman Copy Editor: Ashlynn Perez Entertainment/Opinions Editor: Justin Christensen News Editor: Macy Cronin Features Editor: Sydney Ellison Sports Editor: Karsyn Williams

General Staff: Minnie Adams Ivy Lowery Evan Becker Abby Martinez Anna Besancenez Emma Musselman Shivani Bondada Ryleigh O’Donnell Justin Brewer Connor Peper DaNyla Creacy Andrew Reese Olivia Engle Emma Rohrbach Maya Helbig Aadhi Sathishkumar Chloe Horstman Valerie Showers Brandon Lite Aliyah Taliaferro Editor-in-Chief of Photo Editor: Phoebe Primeau Newspaper Photo Editor: Kaili Martin Yearbook Photo Editor: Ella Manthey Sports Photo Editor: Riley Witherbee Social Media Photo Editor: Addalynn Bradbury Photographers: Salam Abouchleih Allison Moore Alayna Furch Amber Scheulen Sydney Giacomarra Rachel Stover Bryanna Ginn Oscar Sun Aidyn Gleason Samuel Watkins Sky Hebisen Sarah Williams Adam Hogan Amber Winkler Anna Hollinger Avery Witherbee Pavan Kolluru Courntey Wortman Editor-in-Chief of FHNtoday: Sophie Carite FHNtoday Managing Editor: Carson Ramirez (Illustration by Nico Boenitz)

to a global pandemic.

Most modern day jobs heavily include tech use and as time progresses more advancements are being added into the workforce. In order to prepare students for working in the modern environment, it’s important technology is also included in education.

FHSD has started to begin integrating online by starting training for the software Canvas, a learning management system being paid for by the district.

While this is a good step towards integrating technology into schools, there’s still the issue of students not having the technology or wifi services at home in order to properly accommodate all students. FHSD had sent out a multitude of tech during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to help all students be able to finish the year online, but with further tech integration this could’ve already been provided, giving each student an equal chance.

Providing devices and services for an entire school, much less an entire district, is very costly but is worth putting funds into.

The latest action FHSD has been taking in order to try and increase the budget is by putting PAGE BY SYDNEY ELLISON

Prop S onto the ballot. Prop S proposes a no tax increase bond to get funding for the school district but the money from the bonds will go mainly towards renovations and building costs of schools. This prop will be voted on June 2nd by local residents and those who can vote should vote to allow it as it would improve the educational circumstances of students in the area. While Prop S doesn’t directly increase the budget towards technology integration, it allows the district to take care of renovations with less of the district’s original budget, allowing them to make more advancements in the future without building procedures preventing them from doing so due to cost.

Overall, incorporating technology into schools is important but difficult due to budget issues.

Residents within the FHSD boundaries should help allow the schools to incorporate more technology by voting on Prop S to allow the district to use bond money towards improving the buildings and allowing the base budget of the district to be focused on other matters such as tech integrations.

Web Staff: Abigail Akers Laramie Horstman Isabel Bira Parker Kilen Sumi Chen Dylan Machalek Jonathan Fitch Rocio Romero Bret Hammond Haidyn Stewart Amanda Hasenback Ethan Van Horn Taylor Hill Michael Willmann Executive Producer of Video: Emily Hood Chief Editor: Jena Pae Podcast Editor: Tom Jamison Promotions Manager: Emily Zhang Segment Producer: Azariah Anderson Video Staff: Nadia Abusoud Michael Mellor Allison Bass Andrew Powell Anjolina Blackwell Louis Primeau Nico Boenitz Raymond Shea Kelsey Carnes Cole Sherman Ellen Davis Coong Tran Morgan Hanson Jacob Willmann Gabriel Lobato Joshua Wright Advisers: Aaron Manfull Jordyn Kiel

OPINIONS | 05.06.20 | FHNTODAY. COM

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WARNING!

49% OF STUDENTS ...HAVE NOT PURCHASED THEIR YEARBOOK FOR THIS YEAR YET. Why is this a big deal?

• The price goes up to $75 June 1.

• The staff will not be ordering extras once the final number is set at the end of the year Check on FHNtoday.com to make sure your name is on the list of who has purchcased a book. You can find that list here: https://fhntoday.com/excalibur-yearbook-order/

You can purchase a 2019-20 yearbook: • on FHNtoday.com under the YEARBOOK tab on the top menu