FASHION TRENDS

VSCO following grows Social media trend takes over Tik Tok and Instagram with water bottles, scrunchies

Mason Gushwa gushwmas000@hsestudents.org

Scrunchies, Hydro fl asks, seashell necklaces, oversized t-shirts and friendship bracelets; without even explaining any further “a VSCO girl” most likely popped into mind. This new trend is showing up all over. Becoming a VSCO girl or already being the master of “and I oop,” has pros and cons as all trends do. VSCO girls originated from the app Tik-Tok. Many teens are using this platform as a place to stand out and show talents such as dancing, singing, and comedy. This trend started small but then soon grew into a large number of people. According to Adespresso there are nearly 1.4 billion “#VSCOgirl” posts on Instagram. All the attention VSCO girls are gathering is becoming a controversial topic among teenagers. “Doing it for attention” is one of the things people murmur amongst themselves. “I think some girls do it just to fi t in along with trying to be cool,” sophomore Lindsey Wells said. Many stereotypes come with being a VSCO one of them being “basic.” VSCO girls are constantly called “basic” and heaped into the pile of standard/average. According to BuzzFeed News reporter Caiti DeCort the word they would use best to describe it is “basic,” because everybody wears the same clothes and has the same items. “I wouldn’t want to be called a VSCO girl,but people who are VSCO girls are just simply being themselves,” freshman Kiya Austins said. Being a VSCO girl is not for everyone and comes with responsibilities. One of those responsibilities include “Saving the turtles,” this is a unifi ed ideal that many VSCO girls share. According to Sea Turtle Conservancy over 1 million marine animals are killed each year due to debris in the ocean. It can sometimes be a hassle fi nding where to buy the VSCO girl necessities. Hydrofl asks can be found at Dicks Sporting Goods for approximately $49.99. The classic seashell necklace and scrunchies found at Claire’s and Amazon for $1.66. Oversized t-shirts can be found at a local thrift shop such as Salvation Army and Goodwill. “I think that it’s unfair to stereotype them,” junior Josh Brown said “I’m not going to paint all of them with a broad brush.”

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1. Yellow hydro fl ask, $39.95. 2. Dark hydro fl ask, $39.95. 3. Lilac Hydrofl ask, $42.95. 4. Sophomore Bella Soto poses for camera with her “VSCO” scrunchies. 5. Tan three strap Birkenstocks, $110. 6. Orange sandals from Barney’s New York $180. Photos by Mason Gushwa

Auditorium renovation changes schedule for performing arts program Renovations to the sound, lighting systems cause location, date conflicts for fall play, musical

Emma Tomlinson tomliemm000@hsestudents.org

The school’s auditorium will be undergoing a $1.16 million-dollar renovation during the fall, causing the performing arts department to make several changes to its schedule. Renovations were originally scheduled for over the summer; however, unexpected delays have caused construction to be pushed back to the fall. Since renovations have already begun in the auditorium, fall concerts for the performing arts programs, such as orchestra, have been relocated to other locations in the school. The date of completion for the renovation is currently unknown. The fall play will now take place in the black box theatre. Before learning of the delays, the theatre teacher had chosen “Mamma Mia” to be the school musical. The fall play is “Our Town,” and show dates are November 7-9. The cast practices and will perform in the black box. “There aren’t a lot of exits, and it’s just a smaller space to perform in.” junior cast member Chloe Carlson said. According to musical director Anna Nickell, it would be too challenging for the musical to be in the black box. The size, sound and lighting capabilities can not support the musical because of the large size of the program. Because the musical was moved to the spring, the production will be a Broadway review. It will include scenes from popular musicals. “We need to make sure we can allow the show choir students to be involved,” Nickell said, “If we had done a traditional musical like ‘Mamma Mia’, they wouldn’t have been able to audition because it would be too straining on their voices and bodies.” With a renovation budget of $1.16 million dollars, there will be major upgrades in both the lighting and sound systems. “Most of the equipment we have right now is not the best,” sophomore crew member Morgan Strahan said. “Even considering that it’s pretty new, it’s falling apart.” Strahan and other tech crew members have had issues with the current equipment, and they believe that an upgrade is needed. The sound system will be a major focus of the project. There are often issues with sound cutting in and out. Both new headset equipment and a sound board will help to improve the sound system. “For that size of a facility, the capabilities for sound in there aren’t what they ought to be,” Nickell said. According to Nickell, the current lighting is considered “old-school.”There have been many advances in stage lighting in the past decade. Upgrading the lighting system to an LED system allows the performing arts program to have an updated, modern look. “This renovation absolutely needed to happen,” said Nickell.

Auditorium renovation changes schedule for performing arts program

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Change in homecoming week

Rebekah Shultz shultreb000@hsestudents.org

The homecoming dance this year, will be before the homecoming football game. This is diff erent than past years when the dance was typically held the day after the football game with the homecoming court announced during halftime.

Student government sponsor and English teacher Haley Care’ made the decision to move the dance to Sept. 21 because the marching band invitational will be held at the school on Sept. 28. Multiple area high schools participate in the marching band invitational, meaning that the school building, parking lots, and stadium will be in use by hundreds of people throughout the day. “People will be running in and out of the school all day making it impossible for a homecoming dance to take place [on the day after the homecoming football game],” student body president senior Riley Padron said. “There are no other home football games for this to happen, because the breast cancer awareness and senior night have to be planned through the PA [announcer]. With the schedule being the way it is, any other date would make homecoming too late or early.”

With the dance before the homecoming game, this also means that the pep rally for homecoming will be after homecoming and the day of the game.

“The focus of homecoming week is the football game. We will still be ending our homecoming week with the game,” Caré said. “Which is another

another great opportunity to bring students together.” The homecoming court will be announced on the day of the game, so the families of the court can attend, this would be after homecoming. Can attend, this would be after homecoming. However, students are already forming their opinions on this plan, and not all are positive.

“I think it’s pretty stupid that the homecoming game is after homecoming because you lose a lot of excitement for a game,” junior Carolyn Szilaygi said. “So I feel like a lot less people are going to end up going [to the game].” Although some students oppose the homecoming schedule this year, not all the students believe this to be a bad thing.

“I think that it is a good thing because at homecoming you can hang out with your friends and have that time,” junior Sadie Jordan said. “And then at the football game we’ll all come together for a big family thing as fi shers high school.”

The tickets for the dance are going to be $10 and will be sold in front of cafe A, the week leading to the dance. Students will be guided to enter through the CCA (FH19).

“ Homecoming football games are tradition,” said Padron. “Our parents had a homecoming football games our grandparents had a homecoming football game.. It’s apart of history and we are facing the adversity of our schedule, plus the marching band camp to keep it relevant at Fishers High School.”

Lizzie Mohr, 11

Noah Cashman, 12

Photo used with permission of NASA

Natalie Rund, 12

Gardening and taking care of plants is a popular activity in Fishers, even amongst younger groups of kids, like this garden at Hoosier Road Elementary. Photo by Ellie Albin

DIYs bring healing, control in planting, taking care of life in innovative ways Environmentally conscious DIYs

Maria Galosi galosmar000@hsestudents.org

Plants bring creativity and simplistic design to a space. According to UNC Health, caring for plants has natural health benefi ts, such as improved mental health, stress and anxiety reduction, and life balance. Students can experience these health benefi ts by making these eco-friendly DIYs, using old milk bottles, aluminium cans and egg cartons. “Plants make me and my space around me feel clean. I got into growing plants because of the image and how relaxed and put together my life feels when im able to take care of another living thing,” said senior Alex Pesenko said. Gardening can be an escape from the bustling, fast-paced world around us. In 2017 a preventative medicine group performed experimental studies that showed plants can lower blood pressure, increase attentiveness and raise productivity. It also provides what many high schoolers need: lower levels of anxiety. A 2011 Cornell University plant studies had shown that people who are having personal problems in their life benefi t greatly from caring for a plant. “My mom loves plants so we have a lot of them in my house,” sophomore Olivia Loriman said. “They look cool, liven things up and sometimes smell really good.” Plants are everywhere, so it may be very easy for families to begin starting their own gardens. “I have plants all in my backyard, a cactus plant in my bedroom and more plants in my front yard,” Tristler said. There are many places that plants can grow, ranging from inside the house to outside. “We have the plants in our dining room, living

room, kitchen counters and a bunch outside on the porch,” Loriman said. A DIY project is taking an empty milk carton, fill the carton with water, put a string in it, and take the other end of that string and put it in a plant holder. When doing this with a succulent, the plant will suck the water through the string from the jug, allowing for the plant to get the right amount of water that it needs. An eco-friendly way to plant a succulent is to take old Monster or Peace Tea cans and cut the tops off with scissors, filling the cans two- thirds of the way full of compost, and then placing the succulents or any plant you want into the ecofriendly recycled pot. Using egg cartons is convenient for people trying to be eco-friendly. First, take the empty carton and fill each individual slot with two tablespoons of compost. Next, take a bulb or any plant of your choosing that you would like to grow, and place one in each individual slot. Within four days, plants will be visible. Reusing these plastic and metal material can be beneficial to the Earth because plastic can take up to 1000 years to decompose, according to ThoughtCo. Furthermore, there are other ways that people can help spurt the growth of their plants at home. Most people brush our hair and then just throw away what has been shed. Instead, that hair can be used to help plants flourish. Press the hair into the soil around the base of the plant, give it a few days to degrade and become a fertilizer for the plant. A 1960s research project showed that human hair is 15% nitrogen, which helps plants by providing fertilization. Nitrogen is abundant in that it is used to make nylons, fertilizers, and dyes. It makes 75% of the atmosphere, plants themselves can not use nitrogen in its inherent atmospheric form. Lucky for these plants, some microbes pull the denitrifying (N2) out of the air and make it into the reactive nitrogen so that plants can use it. When crafting your garden, take that hair you brushed out and stick it into the soil of the plants you are trying to grow so that the nitrogen will be released. This will help the plants grow strong and healthy. “Plants make me feel amazing, and I just love plants,” Tristler said. “Plants are all over the world, and we just need plants.”

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1. With a milk carton filled with water close to the plant, place a string in the top of the carton in the water connecting it. This can be done inside this can or outside. Photo used with permission of Morgan Granager. 2. Take an aluminum can, like Monster or Arizona tea, and cut it in half or down the side, depending on the look you want. Fill 2/3 of the way full and plant the seeds. Photo used with the permission of Sam Schable. 3. Take an old egg carton and fill the individual holders with two tablespoons of compost . Plant the seeds and watch them grow. Photo by Barbara Jeffries.