Volume 17, Issue 5

Tiger Times Staff

Editorial Board

Reporters

Malak Samara Editor-in-Chief/News Editor

Alex Duer

Madelyn Lerew Online Editor

Emerson Elledge Copy Editor

Veda Thangudu Features Editor

Katrell Readus Opinion Editor

Mia Brant

Preston J. Collins

David Jacobs Sophia Krueger Lizzie Payne

Avery Roe

Ameera Tai

Rosie Towler Unity Director

Madelyn Garber

Kindell Readus

Jakob Polly Assistant Online Editor

Millions for mental health

HSE Schools will distribute newly awarded grant over the next ve years

Sophia Krueger kruegsop000@hsestudents.org

On Jan. 10, HSE Schools announced that the district had received a $5.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to increase the amount of school-based mental health professionals in the district.

e funds from the grant will be used to support multiple schools throughout the district, including FHS, where Jenna Petro serves as a counselor.

“I know that we are supposed to get two new counselors in our department, which we’re very excited for,“ Petro said. “We have di erent thoughts on what that will look like, but it’s been really fun just thinking about getting extra support, because we know that support directly a ects students.”

e school’s sta currently consists of nine counselors, but with a current student-tocounselor ratio of approximately 410:1, Petro recognizes that assistance in the department will be valuable.

“I love getting to work with so many students,” said Petro . “Being able to advocate more and get closer with those students and families, and just being able to spend more time intently with less students on our load, will just be really bene cial for everybody across the board.”

According to Petro , her job consists of discussing students’ academic needs, mental and emotional health, future colleges and careers, home life and school life; A role that has seen

an increase in demand since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I just think our role is so important, but I can speak for myself as a counselor, it’s hard to ever feel like you’re doing enough,” Petro said. “So that’s what makes us excited.”

e funding will be invested into increasing counseling sta , but junior Leah Mercho has her own opinions on how the grant could reshape the counseling system.

“I’d like [counseling to be] more outside of school because during school I feel like if kids are going to be pulled out to receive help, that’s not really helping them better themselves within the school day, and I think it could be happening on a more regular basis outside of school,” said Mercho.

Counseling is one form of relief that students are able to seek, but Mercho suggests that there are other ways students can help relieve stress as well, such as journaling.

“I think the best advice I could give is to work on expressing those emotions to yourself rst,” Mercho said. “Telling yourself the problem before you take it to someone else; to make sure that you’re really expressing what it is, rather than blurting out things that you might not truly feel.”

e grant comes as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill signed into law on June 25, 2022. e bill invests in a multitude of areas, including

Information from HSE Schools. Infographic by Sophia Krueger.

mental health, a topic that junior Vince Dieu believes is no longer as stigmatized as it once was.

“In our school, I have seen lots of people burnt out and willing to share with others that they are not okay,” Dieu said. “Tons of them go to therapy or take medication to help, and that de nitely shows the normalization of struggling with mental health. It shows that this is a real thing and that it’s okay because everyone is dealing with it.”

An e ort to normalize mental health struggles amongst students can be found at the Bring Change to Mind club, where Dieu serves as a board member.

“Bring Change to Mind is a club that dedicates its time to educating others about the importance of mental health and ways to help destress,” Dieu said. “We do activities to better our understanding of each other as peers, the community, and to inform [everyone] on disorders that can help their [ability] to help others.”

Dieu emphasizes that the club is a judgment-free zone within the school, and encourages speaking up about your struggles, an action that Petro believes is vital to starting a conversation on the topic.

“You can’t get help if you are not open to talking about it,” Petro said. “It’s hard, but I think the rst step is the hardest. Everybody has their own dealings with mental health,

whether they’re talking about it or not. ey might know someone who’s dealing with it whether it be a parent, or a family member or a friend. I just think we can only help each other if we are comfortable with talking about it. So, I would just encourage [students] to be brave enough to do so.”

Information from Mayo clinic.

Infographic by Sophia Krueger.

Information from American School Counselor Association. Infographic by Sophia Krueger.

“I think [struggling with your mental health] is de nitely becoming more normalized. The school is acknowledging that students o en need help with their mental health, while they’re in school.

I think they’re taking a step forward to try and help us,” junior Leah Mercho said.

Attending to adhere

New attendance policy for seniors sparks change

Mia Brant brantmia000@hsestudents.org

Attendance for the class of 2023 has signi cantly worsened since previous years, with the number of unexcused absences doubling other grade levels during the rst semester according to Senior Academic Dean Nawla Williams. Williams thinks this could be due to many factors, one being the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID just changed a lot of us in di erent ways,” said Williams. “A lot of people just struggled to get back into the habit of coming to school every day,”

In the 20222023 attendance data obtained from Williams, the number of senior unexcused absences more than doubles the junior class, standing at 1329.78 absences during the rst semester compared to the juniors’ 662.74. An unexcused absence is any absence that has not been excused by a parent within 24 hours.

“I’m probably absent at least twice a month if not more than that,” said senior Jasmeen Kaur. “Most of the time I’m absent because I don’t feel well or I have something important to do during school hours.”

In response to the poor attendance numbers from the senior class, phase two of the attendance plan, #Attend2achieve, has begun this semester. e initiative started at the beginning of the year with phase one, focusing on targeted instruction (TI) attendance and reducing tardiness. Although TI attendance improved and tardiness lessened, unexcused absences worsened with Williams claiming that the numbers were the worst that they have been in four years.

“[ e deans] talked it over and we came up with this policy, and then depending on what it looks like this semester, we will roll it out for the whole school next year,” said Williams.

New parts of the policy state that a er accumulating four unexcused absences, students will have to serve one hour of intervention time, usually in the form of detention. e policy also says that in order for seniors to be in good attendance standing they need to have less than eight days

of unexcused absences.

“As of now, this school year I am in good attendance standing,” said Kaur. “I would increase the number of unexcused absences from four because I feel like four is a pretty low number of absences. I think detention is also a form of punishment that is not really needed. A phone call to the student’s parents is better in my opinion.”

Kaur is not the only senior who would like a more lenient attendance policy. Senior Kai Broviak said she would extend the number of appropriate absences to eight days a semester instead of eight days a year.

“I’m afraid to take any days o even if I’m not feeling well,” said Broviak. “Last year I took more mental health days but this year I’m too afraid of getting behind in school.”

e new policy also states that a er 12 class periods of unexcused absences, a parent meeting will take place and an attendance support plan will be created.

“We want you to re ect on how your unexcused absences a ect you and the others around you,” said Williams. “[Absences] even a ect your teachers and your family, believe it or not.”

Fishers student attendance data from the fall semester of 2022 based on grade.

Graphic by Mia Brant.

Sign posted at the attendance o ce, on Feb. 2. Photo by Mia Brant.

Diverse Coachella

Coachella starts to have more inclusion in its lineup

Rosie Towler towleros000@hsestudents.org

The Coachella line-up was announced on Jan. 10 for its 2023 festival in April. is year’s headliners include Frank Ocean, Blackpink and Bad Bunny, all of which are artists of color, making headlines and sparking discussions about diversity at a wellknown event.

“ ey are doing a good job at diversifying their lineup,” senior Sebastian Calejandro said, “you can’t expect everything to change overnight that’s unrealistic.”

e diversity in the list of artists is not just about the headliners this year.

ere are many non-white sub headliners this year as well: Artists like Becky- G, Labrinth, Dominic Fike, Jackson Wang and many more recognizable names.

“ e lineup this year is one of the best, especially because they have a lot of artists who do produce good music but need more recognition,” senior Zebee Villigran said.

e artist list is made up

of many Hispanic, Asian and Black artists this year. ey are making history this year where Blackpink will be the rst Asian headliner and Bad Bunny being the rst Hispanic headliner as well.

“I’m not a bad bunny listener but… I’m extremely proud of him and the fame he has brought to our beautiful island.” Calejandro said.“I’m really excited for Blackpink, Rosalia and DPR Ian as they are in my top ve favorite artists. I’ll de nitely be keeping up with them”

Last year, there was only one person of color as a headliner, that person of color being Kanye. In 2021, there was, again, only one person of color headlining.

“By adding di erent types [of music], you attract more crowds and get more people involved,” Buonaiuto said.

In the year 2020, Coachella was very close to having an all non-white main lineup where it was planned to have headliners like Ocean, Travis Scott, and Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against Machine,

all of which are also artists of color. Unfortunately, the festival was canceled due to COVID that year. Some are starting to believe Coachella adding diversity is just to give people what they want instead of having a change of heart.

“ ey’re doing it to t the new standard,” Calejandro said, “Everyone wants to be diverse in fear of being canceled but at the same time as more [people of color] artists get more popular they’re going to have to give the people what they want.”

For many followers of Coachella, having a diverse headliner list is a step in the right direction for the event. For many kids and adults, seeing a person who is similar to them in terms of ethnicity and culture on a big stage could get them to be excited about the future of artists of color.

“It is a great step forward in music,” Calejandro said. “It is good to see di erent identities perform and the culture they bring with their music.”

Recent emphasis on censor***p

Forms of media become restricted for various reasons

Malak Samara samarmal000@hsestudents.org

Libraries, the media and the news are some of the many resources people all over the world utilize in order to become more knowledgeable on a topic or learn new, exotic ideas that they otherwise would not have come across. However, with the recent phenomenon of censorship, book bans and misinformation, there is a fear that those sources will be restricted to the point where rights and entire identities are stripped away.

“It’s dangerous to censor books because you’re not presenting [all- sides and you’re not being equitable then,” administrative assistant of library and technology Rachelle Anaba said. “Usually the books that are censored have to do with a marginalized society or a religious [group], so I think we have to have a broad range of everything in the library.”

Generally, censorship is the act of prohibiting either entire pieces of media or parts of it that are considered ‘obscene,’ ‘a threat to security,’ or ‘politically unacceptable.’ Senior Mira Athmarao believes that censorship is also a way for those in positions of power to force their ideals or morals onto the public. Public Engagement editor at IndyStar Oyese Boyd agrees that it is taking away the opportunity for people to form their own opinions.

“[Censorship] is actually hindering what my job is as a journalist,” Boyd said. “My job is to be a government watchdog. My job is to report what’s going on to citizens so that they know what their government is doing.

Censorship has no place in journalism.”

Even though censorship is now known to be limiting freedoms, it was originally intended to protect people from media such as child pornography, misinformation or to stop mature content from getting into the hands of children. Anaba believes that she, as a parent, has the right to be in charge of what her kids do and do not see. Athmarao agrees with this thought and further believes that censorship can help people of older age, as well.

“I am for [censorship] to a certain extent,” Athmarao said. “Censorship for kids [is important] so they don’t have unrestricted internet access as that could be dangerous for the child’s safety and physical and mental well-being. Misinformation [also] needs to be monitored so people don’t make outlandish claims on basic concrete beliefs like science.”

What censorship has become now, however, is what most have a problem with. Anaba believes it is more damaging to try and tell people what they can and cannot read because eventually, they will nd an outlet to read about what they are interested in. erefore, instead of children having an important and necessary conversation with a trusted adult about a topic they read that might be unfamiliar, they are doing it on their own, potentially making dangerous decisions. Further, Boyd emphasized that censorship of certain news stories or journalism makes the government authoritarian, which is the exact opposite of what America was founded on.

“State suppression of news they don’t want getting out or just

books and movies the government might think should be censored are some issues I don’t support,” Athmarao said. “[When] the majority decides what everyone sees, the narrative is decided for us instead [of] us critically thinking and evaluating, and repression creates compliance.”

e idea of no censorship in journalism/the news, speci cally, is valued because it helps the general public form political opinions in order to gure out who they feel is best to run the country. Further, it allows people to nd out about important causes, events or issues that they could play a part in helping or combating.

“[With censorship] we live in a perfect bubble where we are ignorant of others’ issues that we could be helping solve,” Athmarao said. “We need to be aware of global issues and national issues. For example, Iran’s struggle for women’s freedoms was being suppressed by the Iranian government until the death of Mahsa Amini became known across the world. Now Iranian women have the support and resources of millions of others worldwide, which can help them overcome their oppressive government.”

News reports and books are not the only things being censored. ‘Indecent,’ a play about the censorship of the 1923 Broadway production of an LGBTQ+ story, ‘God of Vengeance,’ was canceled in a Florida country school in January. e o cial reason for the cancellation of the show was due to a scene that was considered too mature for a school setting.

“[Banning the play] just shows

the ridiculousness of it all and how we’re not even grasping nuances now,” Boyd said. “It was satire. Satire to show you the ridiculousness of censorship, and it [showed] the ridiculousness because it ended up being censored.”

Pen America, a group that advocates for free speech rights, is drawing national attention to the decision with the condemnation of censoring LGBTQ+ stories.

“[Banning the play was] just a matter of homophobia and wanting their kids to be straight rather than even introducing them to the concept of the LGBTQIA+ community safely,” Athmarao said. “I think the general LGBTQIA+ community is [usually] censored, as their issues are hardly ever seen in the spotlight outside of social media platforms.

A concern that arises from the banning of ‘Indecent’ and ‘God of Vengeance’ is the message it sends to mostly younger audiences. Since the banning of both is speculated to be due to the fact that their themes are LGBTQ+ based, rather than mature, it correlates the community with being a bad thing.

“It sends the message that being queer is bad and unnatural, which makes it feel unsafe for those kids to truly feel like themselves if they don’t see representation and believe that there are others like them,” Athmarao said.

e banning of ‘Indecent’ is not the only recent act of censorship. In Florida, an AP African American studies class was considered to be banned from the curriculum due to the mention of

Critical Race eory. Further, a library in Illinois is in jeopardy of being closed down due to possessing a book about the LGBTQ+ community. Boyd believes this is a perfect example of censorship going too far because not only is it taking away important resources from society, but it is also stripping the right to read away from those who only had access to that library.

”I felt [the banning of the African American studies class] was a dangerous way to keep their whitewashed version of history,” Athmarao said. “It’s preventing their students from getting a fair world view of what really happened to Africans who were brought to the U.S. against their will, which will only reinforce racial bias and allow white supremacy to fester.”

Censorship is not something that has only started recently, however, and instead has been a prevalent theme for a long time. ‘God of Vengeance’ was banned in 1923 and there have also been talks about book bans nationwide for a while, such as the banning of a holocaust graphic novel. Anaba believes that censorship is being brought up more frequently due to the use of social media and technology to spread the word, but that the act of censorship is just as regular as it has been in the past.

Even though censorship is a recurring topic concerning many, especially those involved in journalism, Boyd believes nothing should change about censorship other than the fact that nonexperts or the government are trying to mandate it. Boyd

believes that libraries already do a good job of sectioning o di erent books for di erent age groups, but if all else fails parents can have a nal say in what their child reads or sees.

“I don’t think I would change anything because librarians go through and look at books,” Boyd said. “You have books divided up by age appropriately. Parents are the ones who are supposed to have the nal say. So if that book is not okay for your family, for your kid, then you are supposed to be the one with the nal say so.”

ose against censorship seem to have the biggest problem with double standards as well as the pathway toward governmentmandated thoughts or ideologies. What makes America unique from other countries is its democracy and the multitude of rights citizens are promised. If the government starts mandating what people can and cannot read or believe in, it strips away that entire foundation from the country.

“[Censorship is allowing] the government to tell people what to believe and how to think,” Boyd said. “[Citizens] are not getting information to make their own informed decisions. at’s what you need in a free society and a democratic society, you need to be able to make your own decisions. Part of what makes America great is we’re allowed to question these things. We have this love-hate relationship with authority where we have authority gures in place but we’re also supposed to question and hold them accountable. at’s what makes this country, this country.”

The rest of this story has been censored.

Lunching and munching

Students comment on new changes to cafeteria menu

Madelyn Lerew lerewmad000@hsestudents.org

Lines that sprawl out across three cafeterias bring students united toward one goal: buying the school lunch. This outpouring of demand is in large part due to how accessible these meals are. Junior Ben Jones is one to agree with this statement as he prefers the quality of his homemade lunches more.

“Having the choice of bringing something I want from home is better, but the easy access from school is nice,” Jones said. “It’s easy because I don’t have to make it myself, whereas packing from home, I’m gonna enjoy my meal more.”

Despite not getting much choice in the options provided, students have come to love dishes that are

prepared and served on a regular basis. The famous pizza calzone is well-loved with both Jones and junior Eli Duke citing it as their favorite. Other good options include the nachos, which are sophomore Daniella Cerezo’s favorite, and taco triangles, a top-rated meal by sophomore Dani Davis.

While some items receive high praise, others fall short of praise. Student encounters with the school lunches have made for good stories despite not providing excitement about the meal on a day-to-day basis.

“It hasn’t been the greatest dining experience, I think school lunches are very ‘mid’,” Duke said. “They have their ups, they have their downs, but neither the ups nor the downs are too bad or too good, making them very, very mid.”

A common complaint from students has been the decline seen in the variety of options being made available. Repetition of the same type of food in different variations is a recurring event.

“[School lunches] are kind of not good, they used to be better,” Davis said. “Now it’s just different variations of pizza and pizza calzone and there’s not really

variety anymore.”

This decline in the diversity of meals is not something that the school, specifically cafeteria workers, take the fall for. A plethora of outside factors has put the school into this conundrum.

“Before we were here, they used to have, by the CCA, a sushi place,” Jones said. “They did smoothies and sushi on Thursdays for a little bit. COVID has definitely impacted the school food situation.”

Despite COVID-19 taking heavy hits on school food as a whole, with it being responsible for shutting down the CCA snack bar, steps are being made to course correct back to what it once was. The Tiger Bites snack bar opened on Jan. 30 outside of Cafe A providing students with a place to purchase food during study halls, TI and after school. Another problem faced by the school when trying to provide lunch to a majority of the building is the number of people doing the work to make this happen.

“I feel like they do an okay job,” Cerezo said. “I think they’re more just trying to make sure everyone has something. They

“One time I got milk and when I opened it, it was a cube, an ice cube, completely frozen,” junior Eli Duke said.

Duke opens a school milk carton to find it completely frozen.

Photo courtesy of Eli Duke.

couldn’t do a better job, just because of how many staff members there are.”

Under-staffing places stress on existing cafeteria workers trying to create lunches without full support. That along with budgetary restrictions affects what food is being made.

“[The school does] what they can,” Duke said. “I know they’re a little understaffed, but I know the budget’s thin. A lot of the time they’re buying packaged goods and it feels like they’re doing the bare minimum. I think it all does come down to funding which is kind of out of their hands at this moment.”

When it comes to pricing some believe that the going rate for lunches is too high, with them costing three dollars.

“I get discounted lunch, but I don’t think it’s worth paying

three dollars for this [school lunch] because some people don’t even eat all of it,” Davis said. “I don’t eat all this, I don’t drink all my milk and stuff.”

While some view the amount of food as too much, others view it as a meager sum. The culmination of the different items required to make it a full meal does not always create something filling.

Michelle Obama helped advocate for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act which helped provide more students access to meals. The act also made new changes to the menu which included more healthy options.

“[The school] does a good job [in providing healthy meals],” Davis said.

“I feel like I’m not eating enough,” Jones said. “I would normally get two entrees because then I would feel full.

I’m a growing boy, I need to eat a big meal. I also think nutritionally Mrs. Obama did a lot. It’s still not very healthy, but I don’t really care.”

In 2010, former first lady

“They make you get a fruit or a vegetable, they make you get milk to make your bones strong and they make you get an entree.”

To help the currently employed cafeteria workers HSE schools is looking to hire more food service workers, and are advertising it on the district website. Those looking to apply should go to hseschools.org to find more information.

USDA MyPlate graphic used in public schools. Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Managing your mind

Students and sta share their forms of self-love

Ameera Tai taiame000@hsestudents.org

According to the Oxford English dictionary, self-love is de ned as the feeling that one’s own happiness and wishes are important. Spending time with friends and family, listening to music and practicing yoga are ways students show themselves love.

“[To me] self-love is looking out for your personal needs, and putting those rst,” senior Alyssa De Smet said.

While it can be confused with conceitedness or sel shness, having an appreciation for oneself is important for many aspects of life. De Smet practices self-care as an outlet to relieve her stress and protect her mental health. According to Srini Pillay, the assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, having a low sense of self-acceptance can disrupt the emotional centers of the brain, and in turn create more stress.

“Self-love revolves around the body and eating healthy,” junior Morgan Wright said. Additionally, as the mind and body are interconnected, loving oneself can provide multiple physical bene ts. Pillay said this can include increased serotonin (a neurotransmitter associated with happiness), lowered blood pressure and better quality of sleep. Wright expresses love to herself by going to the gym and eating healthy. However, practicing self-love looks di erent for everyone.

“I joined a yoga studio, [and] that’s helped me [with] stress relief in my life,” De Smet said.

Outside of attending the gym, there are many other ways self love is expressed through physical activity. Yoga is a common way people look to promote self healing, with focus being on one’s inner self. Hiking is an exercise that co-sponsor of bring change to mind (BC2M) club Katie Hagerty practice. She feels that hiking allows her to put her in a better headspace.

“Anytime I hang out with my family, it usually puts me in a good mood,” Hagerty said. “When I feel down on myself, one of them [will] remind me of something I love, and it works out.”

Surrounding oneself with loved ones is a commonly overlooked practice in self-love. Hagerty emphasizes how having positive gures in one’s life can support and strengthen their self-love. One practice De Smet learned in BC2M is gratitude journaling. Journaling provides bene ts such as creating self awareness of things that could have been previously missed and allowing her to be more present in her life.

“Gratitude journaling [is when you] make a list of what you’re grateful for and ways you [can] improve your strengths,” De Smet said. “When I don’t do gratitude journaling or yoga, I get in my head a lot and get stressed [out]. Life and schoolwork can become cluttered.”

By not allowing time for personal self-love practices, major stressors can go ignored and self-esteem can be lowered. For Hagerty, it makes it di cult to do things for others and feel exhausted.

“ e biggest thing is being more open and honest about it,” Hagerty said. “If I’m not always feeling good, [I] know that it’s okay.”

Finding love for oneself can be di cult, but its importance can not be overlooked. Expressing self-love will di er for everyone, as everyone has di erent needs.

“Your brain is where you live,” Wright said. “You need to make sure that you love it.”

“Self-love is a becausenecessityyou have to nd ways to be in the moment,” Katie Hagarty said.

What does a camera mean to you?

An analysis of student and sta opinions on cameras

Companies o en predict what consumers desire from a product. rough data collection services, many modern businesses are able to understand everything about their consumer. For example, in a recent survey conducted by Marques Brownlee on mkbhd. com, out of twenty million votes, the Google Pixel 6a was voted the best smartphone camera. Brownlee is a well respected smartphone and technology reviewer. He and his team created a system where multiple photos from di erent smartphones were compared and voted on blindly, allowing for unbiased results. He published his ndings from the survey online and made his nal results available on YouTube. is survey only brought what the public wants from a camera into question.

Not all consumers are focused on smartphone cameras. Photographer and counselor Kelly Applegate expressed his disinterest in smartphone cameras as compared to a standalone camera.

“I don’t care about my smartphone camera,” Applegate said. “However, I have noticed that the quality has signi cantly improved. I’m looking for a professional camera since I’m a wedding photographer.”

e di erence in quality separates the smartphone from the professional camera. Picture quality is important when

deciding what the photographer is seeking. Vibrance and realism are one form of balance in a camera. When taking a picture of a grassy eld, a camera might auto change its settings to increase the green. at is an example of vibrance. In some cases the camera might make the colors darker and more realistic. While it’s closer to reality, it might not be exactly what the photographer wants unless they tweak the photo themselves. e same principles apply in contrast where the camera can take a more vibrant and colorful photo, where realism is desired. e picture quality depends on what the individual prefers.

“I prefer lighting and clarity,” freshmen Philip Zink said. “ ose are my two big preferences. It’s really annoying when the picture is too dark and I have to adjust the brightness.” e consensus of the beholder is a major factor when deciding the picture quality of a camera. A great majority of camera accessibility today

is through the smartphone. Many students take photos on some form of mobile device.

e simplicity and portable use of the phone camera creates a major convenience for the photographer and has the ability to take photos in seconds. However, some teens do not care about their phone cameras.

“I don’t think phone cameras are that important on a phone,” freshmen Jonathan Wu said. “I don’t look for them when shopping.”

Wu is not the only student to feel this way, for Zink also shared this sentiment.

“When shopping I would look for a camera, but that would be secondary,” said Zink.

All in all, some students agree with phone cameras being good enough for them. e average student might pick any modern phone up and be content with its abilities. Technology has reached a period where the values of the consumer and whether the product is suitable for the values is objective.

A photo showcasing realistic colors taken of the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. Photo by Amy Updike.

A photo showcasing vibrant colors taken in Scotland. Photo by Amy Updike.

A spotlight on Black culture

Students work towards embracing Black heritage

Veda Thangudu thangved000@hsestudents.org

Black history month is celebrated in the month of February, set to recognize and honor the history of the Black community. More speci cally, to celebrate the accomplishments of Black people who fought for the Black community. For di erent people, the month can mean a variety of things.

“[Black history month] is important to me because there’s a lot of signi cance within history that involves what Black people have done, especially in this country,” co-chair of the Black Heritage celebration junior Myla Cantrell said.

According to junior James Gray, co-chair of the service committee of Future Black Leaders (FBL), learning about Black people’s signi cance in the society is upli ing and unifying.

“I think that Black History Month creates the opportunity to learn about parts of American history that may be overlooked or deemed not as signi cant to teach,” Cantrell said. “I feel that as we get older, school becomes a lot more demanding which o en leaves less time to explore things of social and historical importance that could enrich our adult lives, especially if we

are not used to interacting with people who are di erent from us.”

Cantrell also believes that it is very important to have the month set aside to highlight leaders who impacted the community in ways they usually are not highlighted, especially in a classroom setting. She feels that many people are unaware of most of the important gures.

“If we are not knowledgeable about our entire history, then we’re missing out on education,”

FBL sponsor Renee Isom said. “And that’s what this is, an educational institution. So, it’s important in school to put a spotlight on Black history because o en it is not included in the curriculum.”

Black Heritage celebration is an annual event hosted by FBL in the school building. Black owned local businesses are invited to be highlighted and to unite through the common grounds of Black heritage. is year, it is being held on Feb. 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

“We reach out to di erent community members, mainly the Divine Nine fraternity and sororities, HBCU alumni that are local and di erent community members that can engage in interactive activities around black heritage,” Isom

Ingredients Cooking, the

Joy. According to Cantrell, the intention is to highlight black experience, especially in a more predominantly white area.

“ e hope is to have a celebration of Black heritage and to show how black heritage is worthy of celebration and fun to celebrate,” Isom said. “It’s not divisive. It’s uniting. e theme is ‘tribute to the black experience’ because they want to honor the black experience from the past, the present and the future.”

Gray believes that unity within the community is the key to accomplish goals and make a di erence in the society.

“Take pride in who you are,” Gray said. “You’re Black and there’s a lot of things. I mean, we’re artistic, we’re smart. We’re hoping to express and hopefully motivate some other black people that ‘If you have a dream, you have a goal, you can go get it. It doesn’t matter what you look like,’ If we stick together, we can accomplish these goals. We want to be excellent, but also just strike down stereotypes, show that we can contribute, if you really give us a chance.”

1. CCA area as the Black heritage celebration starts. 2. Lajoi Shelton Robinson as she dances for the Black heritage celebration. 3. Fishers grduates Zion Nelson and Olivia Young stick FBL labels on cookies to pas out in the event. Photos by Veda Thangudu.

Black Heritage Celebration

Feb. 16 2022

4. Attendees get a chance to interact with multiple Black owned businesses and connect with each other. Two visitors hug and show a ection towards one another at the Black Heritage Celebration. 5. Junior Isaiah Webb performs a rap, and includes FBL members. 6. As a part of Webb’s rap, FBL club members hold up signs for peace. 7. Visitors browse through the Black Heritage celebration. 8. Junior Bailey Liner, along with Fishers graduates Niah Cantrell and Samirah Crawford, sing the Black national anthem to start o the celebration.

Photos by Veda Thangudu.

Chapter 6: How to play like a girl

In this portion, athletes, coaches discuss di erences in various aspects of sports on the basis of sex

Author: Emerson Elledge elledeme000@hsestudents.org

Chapter 6 Overview

Wellness is o en divided into four subsections: physical, mental, emotional and social. ese four components have various a ects on a player’s overall opinion of their sport.

e NCAA reports that in their program, the sexes are fairly equally distributed, with males making up 56%. Despite this relative equality, the divisions are not viewed entirely equally. According to Front O ce Sports, only 21% of sports fans actively follow a female sporting league, as well as only 9% saying that they would pay to attend a women’s sporting game. is prejudice dribbles down to the high school sporting world, and will be further discussed and elaborated on shortly.

Topic 6.1: e e ect of gender on the physical aspects of sports.

Physical components and e ects are o en the most outward expression of sports, tending to be the rst and sometimes only component a person thinks of when thinking about sports. is element is o en used as a method of discriminating against female athletes by calling them weaker and undermining their work despite the genders essentially doing the same amount of work, according to sophomore track and eld athlete, Macy Miller.

“[Athletes] bodies move in the same way [in the terms of basketball],” girls basketball coach Lauren Votaw said. “We need to be powerful. We need to be explosive.”

Strength and conditioning coach Josh Jones designs the conditioning and weight training regimen for all teams in the school, boys and girls alike. Sophomore Olivia Brookshire is the point guard on the girls JV basketball team and appreciates this focus on strength.

“ e [longer you play] in your sport, you need to begin focusing on your recovery,” Brookshire said. “Especially [since] starting up with weightli ing, recovery and managing soreness has become an important part in trying to become the best I can be [at my sport].” is method of accommodation is popular among other sports as well. According to junior

Marina Agapios, a member of the track and eld team, the approach her team takes follows this norm, with the coaches rst creating the workout for the girls team before adjusting it to t with the boys.

“Target times when running have a few seconds di erence between the boys and the girls,” Agapios said. “Performance wise, girls and boys have very di erent times. e boys are faster, jump higher or longer, while the girls are a few seconds or inches behind them.”

Topic 6.2: e personal mentality of female players based on the coaching they receive and the game they play.

Mental components refer to the internal emotions and feelings of the players, especially in regards to the game.

“ e players want to work hard because they want to work hard for their teammates and for you as their coach,” Votaw said. “So I really try to use that [passion] as our main motivation”

However, along with this passion, a common feeling among players is a feeling of lack of respect or equality that they have internalized because of their peers.

Figure 6.1

“It has all been really frustrating to not be respected for our hard work and to not feel respected as athletes,” Brookshire said. “But I think at this point all we can do is our best despite what other people think and that’s all that really matters. “

Topic 6.3: e di erence, if any, of coaching and refereeing due to gender and how that a ects a player’s emotional state.

Coaching has the utmost e ects on a players performance and attitude on playing.

“I really try to not be authoritative [with my coaching],” Votaw said. “It’s much better if you can build the relationship and then hold [the athletes] to high standards. I rmly believe that you can hold [athletes] to high standards without being demeaning or derogatory in any way.”

As with coaching, refereeing has a high e ect on players’ performances and attitudes on the sport, which can lead to either celebration or anger.

“ ere is a big discrepancy in what females are allowed to do in terms of celebrations, [like]

body language in comparison to boys,” Votaw said. “Por example, let’s say a girl makes a layup, exes and maybe says ‘and one.’ at girl is probably at the very least going to be warned, if not given a technical foul, [but when] a boy does that, we move on to the other end and don’t even say anything.”

However, some players complain about inequality in terms of coaching.

“With the coaching, [the treatment] feels imbalanced,” Agapios said. “Most of the time, it feels like not all, but some of the coaches focus their time on the guys instead of both groups. Sexism however isn’t big in our culture but it’s still there.”

Topic 6.4: e perceived attitude of female athlete’s peers.

e nal element of a players’ perceived attitude and performance of their sport is their perception among peers. A common complaint among female athletes was a lack of spectators at games.

“[ ere will be] a Friday night where stands will be packed for our boys, but then Saturday night we’ll have maybe ve fans,” Votaw said. “ at’s not an exaggeration [and] that’s my biggest frustration, [but] I know this is not a Fisher’s High School thing, this is a statewide thing.”

is mindset is not limited to the coaches, but additionally spreads to the player’s perceptions.

“A lot of students don’t think that girls’ teams are entertaining and that can be seen by the di erence in the student section between the two. While the two games are vastly di erent, they each have their own strengths and girls games can de nitely be just as hype as the guys. I mean I think that the mindset is everywhere. You can hear people talk about how girls’ sports suck when you walk down the hall. With that, I think that many guys don’t think that girls are athletic. I know that I personally have seen this in PE with guys excluding girls from games because ‘girls aren’t fast enough, strong enough, etc.’”

In Figure 6.1, a female athlete is displayed running. In Figure 6.2, a female athlete is displayed li ing weights for training. Graphics by Emerson Elledge

Figure 6.2

Dominating the game

The girls basketball team has led a successful season this year

The girl’s basketball team has been successful during this year’s season with their recent Sectional Championship win, with a few players being committed to colleges to continue playing at the next level. Surrounded by talent and skill, sophomore Neveah Dickman expresses how playing with successful players impacts her.

“Playing with [talented teammates] helps to push me harder,” Dickman said. “I have to play up to their level in a way.”

In the United States, there are over 400,000 girls basketball players. The game is widespread and allows for multiple forms of inspiration to play the game.

“Just watching it with my dad growing up, I fell in love with the game,” Hailey Smith said. “I have had a ball in my hands since I was three years old.”

According to Hailey Smith, multiple people in her life now serve as role models for her in her life and within the game of basketball.

“My trainer, Coach Nick made me see a different side of the game and elevated my game so much,” Hailey Smith said. “[As

Lizzie Payne paynenic002@hsestudents.org

do] my coaches who hold me accountable and continue to push me to do better.”

Hailey Smith believes the impact that her coaches have left on her will continue to stay strong and apply on and off of the court. Her sister, senior Olivia Smith, also takes inspiration from the NBA approach and style in the game. They believe the skill displayed by professionals provides an example for others to base their game off of.

“I think my game models Jimmy Butler and [Russel] Westbrook the most,” Olivia Smith said. “Just the way they get down the hill and can play every position.”

Olivia Smith discussed how she stays motivated to play year after year and how having NBA role models keeps her motivated. Players like Jimmy Butler provide an example that inspires her to keep going.

“What keeps me motivated is I have a goal that I want to reach and that is to play overseas or [in the] WNBA,” Olivia Smith said. “The role models keep me motivated in just the simple fact of they have made it.”

Dickman talked about her main goals for her time playing high school basketball and further beyond, including the dreams that help her pursue what she does.

“My main goal for high school basketball is to win a state championship,” Dickman said. “Another goal I have is to be able to make a difference on the court at a varsity level. My dream of playing college basketball is what motivates me to work hard every day.”

The emphasis on a state championship is high, especially since Fishers High School for girl’s basketball is listed in 4A with 101 other schools. The IHSAA has four different divisions for basketball and 4A is the highest level that schools can register for within high school basketball. The expectations for a state championship comes from their skill and success level throughout the series of games played in the season.

“Our team is so special and I am so glad I get to be a part of it,” Dickman said. “We are graduating a lot of amazing seniors this year so we are going to make this year count.”

Junior Talia Harris shooting a shot in the paint at the Noblesville Sectional game on Feb. 3. Photo by Rylie Thorne.

Tigers win sectionals 67-64 at Noblesville with senior Alycia Triplett and junior Morgan Roberts on Feb. 3. Photo by Rylie Thorne.

Get your head in the game

A look into how the boy’s basketbal team gears up on gamedays

Avery Roe roeave000@hsestudents.org

The amount of energy that the Tiger Cage adds to the atmosphere during good plays is something that would seem to be distracting, however, Senior basketball player Aidan Zimmer mentions how their energy amplifies his own. Junior Taden Metzger agreed with Aidan about the crowd bringing a lot of energy to the court. The team and players have worked to find unique ways to stay focused before and in the midst of games.

One of the ways the team works to stay focused throughout game days is by keeping a schedule that always remains the same. The team does one round of warm-ups before the JV team plays, and when they come back into the gym for their game, they do a second round of warm-ups.

“The pre-game consists of shooting drills, working on each position individually, and then we have layup lines and defensive shell drills,” Zimmer said.

Metzger highlighted head coach Garrett Winegar when he talked about the passion the

coaches have when it comes to their craft. The coaches work to keep the team focused during game days and make games feel like any other day. Zimmer and Metzger both agreed that the coaches have the players’ best interests at heart.

“The coaching style is a lot of constructive criticism and having fun while playing basketball,” Zimmer said. “Our coaches want the best for us and will always be honest with us to make us better players. I have seen a lot of improvement in my game and myself as a man throughout my time at Fishers.”

Zimmer connects his focus on the court to the rest of the team. Zimmer states that as long as he is on the same page as his team and is communicating with them, then he will be focused. Kirby also agreed that his teammates play a role in his focus during games.

“If I am going through a slump my teammates always have my back and I can count on them to keep me locked in for the next play and keep me motivated to

keep doing what I’m doing, even if I am not doing the best,” Kirby said.

While Kirby and Zimmer emphasized how their team keeps them focused, Metzger finds his focus just by being on the court.

“I always pray during the national anthem,” Metzger said. “Other than that, I just try and keep my mind still.”

Not only does the routine of the team warm-up stay consistent, but so does the process of getting dressed and prepped in the locker room. Metzger mentioned that while the team puts on their uniforms before games, they are “blasting” music. Sophomore Justin Kirby specified the team’s love for playing ‘Just Wanna Rock’ by Lil Uzi Vert to get the team hyped up.

“The team’s dynamic on game days is a mix of being focused and being loose,” Zimmer said. “We will listen to music and then as it comes closer to game time we go through the scout for the team we are going to play.”

Senior basketball player Aidan Zimmer shoots and makes a twopoint shot, increasing their lead on Carroll High School to 166. The Tigers played Carroll at home on Jan. 17. Photo by Avery Roe

Beyond the surface

Acoach is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “one who instructs or trains.” Coaching is much more complicated than that, however. It is a subjective matter. It’s an art, a form of training and it teaches real-life skills. It is time-consuming and requires a lot of patience, according to math teacher and football coach

Benjamin Wyss.

“Part of being a teacher is teaching lifeskills,” said Wyss. “I teach math, sure. But what I’m really teaching is time-management skills, accountability skills, communication skills, teamwork skills — all those skills I emphasize in my class [are the] same skills I emphasize while I am coaching, that will be required to be successful later in life.”

However, as much as coaching envelopes life-skills and exposure to new environments, it can be incredibly difficult to manage from a coach’s standpoint, expressed by both Amanda Howard, math teacher and volleyball coach, and Wyss.

“I admire all of [the coaches] for the time-commitment that I know they put in, because it’s so much more than just during the season,” said Howard. “For volleyball, we’re here every day

in summer, and when we’re here, we see soccer outside, and football. I think anyone willing to put in the time to coach a high school sport, and putting in so many more hours than you’re expected to do, [is admirable].”

Wyss similarly stated that the time-consumption of coaching is extensive. Coaching seemed to cause sacrifices in other aspects of his life, such as his own family.

“[My least favorite part about coaching] is the amount of time it takes away from my family, especially football...and even when I go home, I continue working,” says Wyss. “The number of times I had to tell my kids ‘no.’ It was every day for almost six months.”

Across the board, no matter the sport, coaches seem to agree that the best part about the job

is creating relationships with athletes. Nathan Warnecke, a science teacher as well as a track and cross-country coach, speaks of his experience with students across the sports background.

“Track has exposed me to a lot of different athletes, and of course, a lot of other sports,” said Warnecke. “We have football players, soccer players, we have basketball players, swimmers, wrestlers, and on the girls’ side of things, basketball players, swimmers, volleyball players. We have some players that track and field is the only sport that they do.”

Matt Poisel, a math teacher as well as a baseball coach, agreed, but also loves having the opportunity to get to know the coaches on staff during and outside of baseball season. “I love to watch the players grow and get better and to have fun,” said Poisel. “All the coaches too, we’re really really close, and our families spend time together outside of baseball. We have group texts for people’s birthdays, and we are really close.”

The relationships within

While a good coach can change a game, a great coach can change a life

Madelyn Garber garbemad000@hsestudents.org

“I couldn’t imagine teaching without coaching, and vice versa. I couldn’t imagine coaching without teaching. They have to go hand-in-hand,” said math teacher and football coach Benjamin Wyss.

each coaching circle seemed to be a common denominator across each sport. Howard and Wyss both expressed their relationships with the other coaches as something that was just necessary for coaching to work.

“We have group chats, we hang out frequently, we know each other’s families really well, and even our wives have a club called ‘The Coaches’ Wives Club,’ and our kids know each other well,” said Wyss. “We bring the players into that circle a little bit, and invite them to dinner at our house, but the coaches definitely are close, and we probably spend more time together than I do with the teachers in my own department.”

Howard was equally enthused with the other coaching staff and agrees that families are close within their little group of volleyball coaches.

“Of course, we have a group chat, in fact, we have multiple group chats, and we are close outside of practice and have get-togethers at each other’s house,” said Howard. “I think that it is normal for coaches to be close here, and just knowing other coaches here is extremely beneficial.”

Each coach got into their sport in a slightly different way, some through experience, some through friendships and some through trying to get out of other obligations. Warnecke got into coaching because it was his past experience.

“I was a track athlete through junior high, high school, and college,” he said. “Then I started coaching at my old high school back in 2003. It’s the sport I am most comfortable with, and I have the most knowledge about,” he said.

Similarly, Poisel and Howard also played their sport throughout their own high

school days, but Howard got into coaching because her father was a coach and it was a torch that was passed to her. Meanwhile, Poisel got into coaching through his friend Matt Cherry, head coach of the varsity baseball team.

“I actually started umpiring baseball when I was in high school and college, plus my first couple years here. Then, I would always be talking baseball with Coach Cherry,” said Poisel. “Something about wanting to be getting back into competing, versus umpiring and not just working at the game, led me to get onto the coaching staff with Coach Cherry.”

While Howard did start playing volleyball early, and it is a familiar sport to her, she does not coach just because of its familiarity. She is not the first coach in her family, and she long before fell in love with the sport.

“I always played volleyball. I played in high school; I played in college,” said Howard. “Then it just became like, when I was

going into teaching, my first job happened to have a coaching position open, so it just kind of happened that way. My dad was a basketball coach, so it just runs in the family.

Wyss, however, got into football, and eventually coaching, because of his responsibilities to his family, as he was growing up.

“So, I grew up on a farm. Farm is my whole life. Every minute of every day. That’s why I loved coming to school—because I couldn’t work on the farm if I was at school,” said Wyss. “And then there were sports programs after school, and I learned that I could miss even more farming if I did those. So, I joined every sports program that was offered in my school. I did it all just because I wanted to get away from working on the farm.”

Coaching is more than yelling at players to get better. Each coach has their own motives and their own background experiences that got them into coaching. Each coach has inspirations and they have different goals. Behind every coach is a story ready to be told and heard.

“When the team wins or does something well, it’s because of what they did. But when you lose, it’s because of what you as a coach did,” said Wyss.

1. Coach Joe Keller confers with swim and dive manager, senior Katherine Ayers. 2. Coach Jordan Seele, head coach of the freshmen basketball team, advises his team on a drill with footwork. Photos by Madelyn Garber.

Taking flight

Taking a look into what it takes to be a diver

Alex Duer duerale000@hsestudents.org

Diving takes the aspects of strength, exibility and coordination and combines them all in midair, leading to an agile display of human movement. As the Diving Coach, Jeremy Russ points out that there are a few aspects that he likes to see be developed.

“Flexibility [is one] for sure,” Russ said. “[You] de nitely want to be strong in your legs, pretty lines [and] you like to see divers with big hands and pointed toes, along with clean and strong entries.”

In terms of practice strategy, the diving team balances their training both in and out of the water.

“We have practice every day a er school from three to ve,” senior diver Gretchen Osmun said. “We start with conditioning and dry land practice. We use the trampolines, we use mats, we stretch and warm up a little bit and then we usually get in the water and start running our list.”

From there, practice is then put into performance. At diving only meets, each diver performs 11 dives. At the combined swimming and diving meets, divers perform six dives, di erentiated into types based on their characteristics.

“During the six dive meets, your rst dive is your voluntary, which is the easy dive, and

then you cover ve more dives a er that,” Russ said. “ ey can be optional dives which are your tougher dives. You start with Fronts, Inwards, Backs, Reverses, and Twisters, and you get to choose one from each of those.”

In terms of competition, every diver competes by themselves, with their placement being the factor determining points scored in total. As for scoring, each judge rates the dive from zero to ten, that total from the judges then being multiplied by the degree of di culty. A dive's di culty is determined by its category, contents, and landing position.

“I prefer to go for tougher dives because they can score me more points,” junior Jack Roby said. “[It] also gives me more of a challenge.”

For those interested in learning how to dive, Coach Russ is also the coach of the Fishers Diving Club, which o ers lessons for beginners all the way up to the competitive level. e sport also shares many characteristics with both dancing and gymnastics.

“I was a gymnast for about 11 years, and I quit, and I was trying to nd something else to do,” Osmun said. “It was that or pole-vaulting, and I heard diving was an easy transition, so I tried it and I loved it."

Fishers junior Jack Roby gets some airtime while performing a dive at the Tiger College Events Classic on Jan. 20. Photo by Alex Duer

Freshman Kirby Danglade performs a twist midair at the Tigers College Events Classic on Jan. 20. Photo by Alex Duer

Senior Gretchen Osmun tucks her hands into pike position at the Tiger College Events Classic on Jan. 20. Photo by Alex Duer.

Reloading talent and restoring faith

An early preview and predictions for the upcoming Colts draft

David Jacobs jacobdav000@hsestudents.org

The Colts have had a revolving door of quarterbacks ever since the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck in 2019. I have watched Jacoby Brissett, an elderly Phillip Rivers, Carson Wentz and a washedup Matt Ryan play quarterback for my beloved Colts, but now that can finally change in this year’s draft with the quarterbacks Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson highlighting this year’s draft class. According to Colts.com, the Colts currently have seven picks in this year’s draft, including the fourth and 35th overall selections. With no trades happening to date, the top-five teams drafting this year are the Bears, Texans, Cardinals, Colts then Seahawks. In a perfect world, no trades occur and the Bears take defensive lineman Jalen Carter, the Texans take quarterback Bryce Young, the Cardinals take linebacker Will Anderson Jr., then we get to take our quarterback CJ Stroud. Unfortunately, that is just not going to happen. The Bears will likely look to trade that pick to a quarterback-needy team in exchange for a haul that will include multiple picks and even some players. So, let us take a look at one possibility.

In this scenario, the Colts save seven million dollars by giving up veteran center Ryan Kelly, the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, the third-round pick in this year’s draft, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2025 fifth-rounder. The Bears need some consistency up front and the multitime pro bowler Kelly can offer that. With just one year left on his contract extension, it would give the Bears the flexibility to pay him themselves. With the first overall pick, this would enable Ballard to pick either Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, whichever he likes better. I am all for either quarterback: Stroud amassed over 8,000 yards, 85 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions in his two

Heisman finalist campaigns at Ohio State; Young won the Heisman in 2021 with 47 touchdowns and nearly 4,800 yards but followed it up with 32 touchdowns and 3,300 yards this season. All things considered, I will be ecstatic if I get to cheer on either of these guys next year, but if I have to choose I prefer Stroud who has a more prototypical build at 6’3” 215 pounds compared to Bryce Young who is 6’ 0” 195 pounds.

Now that we have our quarterback of the future, we can take a look at how the rest of the draft should pan out. With the second-round pick and 35th overall, I think the Colts should take Stroud’s collegiate center from Ohio State, Luke Wypler. Giving up Kelly in the deal to obtain Stroud would leave a spot open to fill and Wypler would do just that. Wypler is a young prospect who did not allow a single sack throughout his redshirt sophomore season. In this scenario, we trade away our third-round pick so with our fourth-round pick and projected 106th overall, I think the Colts should take cornerback Eli Ricks out of Alabama. Ricks was a two-year starter at Louisiana State University (LSU) before transferring to Alabama. As a freshman at LSU, he recorded four interceptions, returning two for touchdowns. As a junior at Alabama, Ricks forced five pass deflections while boasting an elite quarterback rating of 41.8 when targeted by passers. Ricks will add much-needed depth to a Colts secondary that has aging veterans Rodney McLeod and Stephon Gilmore slowly exiting their primes. With the fifth-round pick and projected 139th overall, I would love to see the Colts select Syracuse linebacker, Mikel Jones. Jones was a four-year starter and three-time all-conference linebacker for the Orange and recorded nearly 300 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and eight

sacks throughout his career. At 6 ‘1’’ and 220 pounds, Jones would be small for an NFL linebacker, but with the frame to gain weight, he will be a great addition to the best position group on the team being able to learn from Shaq Leonard, Bobby Okereke and Zaire Franklin. Ballard has proven to be elite at scouting under-the-radar talent that drops to the late round. So, with the sixth-round pick and projected 207th overall, I hope the Colts bring Alabama guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. back home. Ekiyor Jr. attended Cathedral High School before becoming a three-year starter at Alabama, earning first-team all-conference in the 2022 season. With a rotating door at right guard throughout the 2022 season, Ekiyor Jr. will provide competition and viable depth, while potentially forming a path to start at right guard. With the seventh-round pick and projected 224th overall, I would like to see the Colts bring in Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell. The former 2017 walk-on attempted nearly 1,000 passes, recorded 7,200 yards and threw for 50 touchdowns in his two healthy seasons. O’Connell would bring in healthy competition for the quarterback room and potentially win the third-string quarterback spot.

This upcoming off-season and draft is a crucial one, I can only hope Ballard does not screw it up.

Hypothetical trade between the Bears and Colts for the upcoming NFL Draft. Graphic by David Jacobs.

Strike out, knock out DROP OUT

How as a society we are failing teen athletes

Lainey Akins

High school athletes may ‘throw in the towel’ for a variety of reasons. e most common factors, however, can be traced back to two ‘hitting points’: pressure from coaches, parents, teammates or internal, and the intensity that comes with that. is new pressure that grows as the athlete matures changes the structure of the athlete’s practices, games and the overall environment. Once athletes ‘join the big leagues’ they o en nd that their passion for the sport is ‘not up to par’ with what it used to be.

e competitive nature that is created by the pressure felt by the coaches leads to intense practices with seemingly no o -season. As a result, athletes develop many overuse injuries. According to the Journal of Advances in Sports and Physical Education, injuries are part of the top eight reasons why young people quit their sport. Some injuries that occur can be costly to x, many requiring physical therapy or other kinds of treatment. Other injuries obtained from youth sports can linger into adulthood, causing athletes to question if playing their sport is worth it. “Up to 50% of all injuries seen in pediatric sports medicine clinics may be related to overuse,’ said Lyle J. Micheli, the director of Sports Medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston, in an interview with ACSM’s Health and

Fitness Journal.

e increasing absence of oseasons forces athletes to have to ‘specialize’ in one sport, with little time for break periods or engagement in other sports or activities. is specialization can cause speci c sport related injuries.

According to pubmed, “highly specialized athletes were more likely to report a history of overuse knee or hip injuries. Participating in a single sport for more than 8 months per year appeared to be an important factor in the increased injury risk observed in highly specialized athletes.”

e decrease of multi-sport athletes in the teen years along with the intense training and game schedules, leads to burnout and ultimately the athlete quitting their sport. When sports start to take up a considerable amount of time, athletes may start equating their identity to their sport, which o en leads to athletes enjoying their sport less.

Athletes also may be striving to get athletic scholarships from colleges, which is yet again another way pressure can build in teen athletes. Some athletes will get these scholarships and then have to deal with the added intensity of college sports. Others, however, will fail to obtain these scholarships, which means they trained at a higher intensity than what they may have

wished, for seemingly no reason. e pressure- lled environment o en created in teen sports by those involved can also a ect these athletes mentally. “ e professional consensus is that the incidence of anxiety and depression among scholastic athletes has increased over the past 10 to 15 years,” says Marshall Mintz, a sports psychologist in interview with the Atlantic. Many athletes feel the need to ‘jump through hoops’ to please their coaches or parents. But, while these spectators to the game are taking their own personal ‘victory lap,’ athletes are le to deal with their own mental exhaustion. When approached the right way, sports in general can have very bene cial impacts for athletes, both mentally and physically. e key to helping these young athletes is, in the simplest of terms, ‘keep the game fun.’ It is important to be mindful of the pressures that we may be putting on these teen athletes. Coaches, parents and others involved in the teen’s life need to work to create an environment where these athletes will not feel the need to quit. We need to ‘go to bat’ for these young athletes before they ‘strike out of the game’ altogether. Or else when these athletes ‘meet their match’ it will not be another player, but instead their own animosity towards the game they once loved.

Reading into the past

The importance of humanity in today’s history education

Jakob Polly pollyjak000@hsestudents.org

In K-12 history classes across the country, incredible emphasis is placed on the nonspeci c. Day in and day out, students are met with PowerPoints titled, ‘ e Rise and Fall of Rome,’ ‘ e Causes of the American Revolutionary War’ or ‘ e Chinese Dynasties.’ In these lessons, history is o en treated as but a soulless, static vessel on which to mindlessly apply ‘historical skills.’ It is not uncommon to nd students in these history classes completely apathetic to the subject matter. And it is hard to blame them.

e study of history would cease to exist without the individual, and in the blind pursuit of only teaching students ‘historical skills,’ that very humanity is lost.

For thousands of years, history was something uniquely personal. Before the advent of written language, community history was passed down orally. From birth, one would hear of their community’s past triumphant victories and tragic woes. All knowledge of the world and one’s culture was understood by means of personal communication. is oral tradition, passed down over countless generations, allowed for an intimate and uniquely human connection to the world.

A legacy of this millenniaspanning oral tradition is found in ancient literature. Although far from impenetrable historical documents, stories like ‘the Odyssey,’ ‘the Epic of Gilgamesh,’ and ‘Beowulf’ shine a light onto a people o en assumed to be lesser. In reading the emotionally profound moments of Odysseus speaking to the

spirit of his deceased mother, or Gilgamesh grappling with his own mortality a er the death of his friend, one sees just how emotionally complex people in the past truly were. is sentiment is felt strongly by classicist Emily Wilson, who in her 2017 translation of ‘the Odyssey’ writes, “Reading the Odyssey with fresh, curious, and critical eyes may help us not only rethink our assumptions about people in the past, but also break down some of our modern distinctions and assumptions.”

Of course, these protagonists are not real historical gures, nor do they face many of the same problems as you and I do today. Despite this, their value as tools for understanding and empathizing with those in the past is incredible. ese stories are products of real people and their lived experiences. While no one actually fought dragons or conversed with the gods, people did laugh, love, lie, cheat, grieve and su er, and that is demonstrated no more poetically than in ancient literature.

For years, ‘Beowulf,’ the longest surviving Old English poem, was o en dismissed by scholars due to its largely inaccurate depiction of sixthcentury Scandinavia. is all changed, however, when philologist and author J.R.R. Tolkien delivered a now-famous lecture at the British Academy in 1936, arguing that ‘Beowulf’ should be studied not as a historical document, but rather as a piece of historic poetry. In looking at ‘Beowulf’ in this way,

one nds moving themes of mortality and the inevitability of death, as it was seen by people thousands of years ago. is unique perspective allows students to better connect and empathize with those in the past, something which is incredibly important when studying history.

Although it may seem counterintuitive to introduce works of ction into an academic subject that relies heavily upon factual documentation, the value that ancient stories bring in fostering historical empathy is something that should not be overlooked. According to historian Craig Wollner, Leopold Von Ranke, a key gure in the development of historical empiricism and historiography, claimed, “a key attribute of the historical imagination is empathy.” To study, scrutinize, and understand history best, Ranke argued that one must rst understand the complex blend of emotion and ambition of each actor under study. Only in this understanding would one have the most objective analysis of history.

of argued

Naturally, the ‘historical skills’ and events taught in history class are important; they form the basis for understanding and analyzing the world as it is today. But, for too long has history been portrayed as the study of static, soulless characters, rather than what it really is: an intricate fabric weaved by the stories of individuals – individuals with just as much capacity for empathy and ambition as you and I today.

Memory is ckle, palpable, and can be twisted and bent like a dream, wavering and shi ing unconsciously. Memories, like dreams, can be haunting and short-lived but when something sticks, when memory breaks down the barriers of true and false, one must cling to the falsehoods that come in its wake.

False memories, memories tainted by suggestion or perception, are a phenomenon that no one can control. Everyone nds themselves falling victim to it, but for some, it becomes more sinister than inconvenient. For many, false memories are as simple as thinking you responded to a message but instead you only thought you did, while for others, it can be as complex as thinking you were the perpetrator of a crime when instead you only saw it on the news or misidentifying a criminal in a court case. In an experiment done by the Universities of Bedfordshire and British Colombia in 2015, it was proven that it was “surprisingly easy” to convince participants that they had taken part in a crime. By connecting the crime with an event experienced in their past, the researchers were able to fully convince participants

of their involvement in the manufactured crime. Of the 30 participants who were made to believe that they committed a crime as a teenager, 21 were classi ed as having developed a false memory; of the 20 who were told about an assault of some kind, 11 reported elaborate falsely-remembered details of their ‘exact’ interaction with the police. e feelings involved with this memory were and are just as genuine as feeling as those that are truthful. ese individuals force themselves to reconstruct memories of the past to t this new narrative while their brains are constructing new ones to ll in the gaps to make them believe without reasonable doubt that what has happened to them is true. It is memories like this that beg the question of whether, these feelings while false, should be treated the same as those that are real.

ere are many reasons false memories can occur, most commonly seen however is the combination of actual memories with suggestions given by

others. is can be seen most e ectively in criminal cases. According to the Innocence Project, mistaken identity is the leading cause of wrongful conviction with almost 70% of more than 375 cases being overturned due to DNA testing in the U.S. ese cases are prime examples of how memories founded in truth can become reconstructed as a result of repetitively reliving a traumatic experience. When shown a lineup, victims o en expect that the criminal at fault will be there. is causes them to pick out the person who simply looks the closest. Soon the person can only see the misidenti ed gure when remembering the event. is coupled with reinforcement and feedback from law enforcement, creates a false sense of con dence in their incorrect choice. Here, their brain has rebuilt their memories to t what is convenient, at no fault of their own.

Mind of uncertainty

But the feeling is real, just as those who falsely blame themselves for crimes if fully convinced of its occurrence. It would be unfair to discount the experience as merely false; while the event’s falsehood can be acknowledged the feelings should be treated as truthful. Emotions, though based in the event’s ction, are still valid and perfectly reasonable responses to the neurological e ect of these perceived events.

readukin000@hsestudents.org

Memories are not always truthful but that does not make them any less real

Kindell Readus

Clocking out

Somestudents sufer a lossofdaylight exposure inwinter months

Turning back the clock: a common turn of phrase used to describe the process of resetting our days to standard time in the winter, and a cause of distress to busy students looking for sunlight in their day- today lives. Daylight savings time was first implemented during WWI to save resources and better utilize sunlight. It is still in practice in most parts of the U.S. and causes clocks to be set forward one hour on the second Sunday in March and moved back an hour on the first Sunday in November.

On Feb. 1 the sun rose at 7:52 a.m. and set at 6:03 p.m. meaning that there were about 10 hours of sunlight during that day. With school being from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., seven and a half hours of this daylight was spent indoors, in a classroom. Students who participate in extracurriculars might average an extra two to three hours at school after the bell has rung or may be arriving early before the 7:52 a.m. sunrise, which can lead to a schedule with little to no sunlight exposure. I have

Madelyn Lerew

personally felt this as I tend to arrive at school at 8:00 a.m. and have had practices that end at 6:00 p.m. three to four times a week.

The aforementioned students restricted to school during daylight hours are forced to lead their winter lives in the dark, which can lead to them being put into dangerous situations. According to a study conducted in the UK and reported by the Review of Economics and Statistics, darkness increases the number of automobile accidents per hour by seven percent. This means that students involved in extracurriculars, who would be forced to drive to and from school in the dark, are going to have an increased risk of being involved in a collision as opposed to their peers. This statistic becomes a much scarier reality when also considering that drivers ages 15 to 20 make up six percent of U.S. drivers but are accountable for 14% of fatal crashes, according to Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Inexperienced student drivers should not be forced into the position of driving home in the dark due to their extracurricular commitments. Lack of exposure to sunlight,

while it does not seem all that serious health wise, can lead to a number of health concerns. Vitamin D is produced by your skin when exposed to sunlight, and according to Mayo Clinic helps to build strong bones and prevent cancer. When indoors all day the body doesn’t receive the sunlight it needs to produce Vitamin D which can cause a deficiency. Other negative health effects can be seen in the increased rate of heart attacks due to the springtime shift, according to PLOS Computational Biology, a peer-reviewed journal. These damaging effects are simply not worth the ‘extra hours’ of daylight in the morning.

However, the problems that arise from resetting the world to standard time in the winter could be resolved by operating on daylight savings time yearround. This would remove the changing of the clocks and the health problems that arise from it. The sun would set an hour later in the winter with this change, meaning that students staying after school would receive the gift of an hour of sunlight at the end of each day.

Seeing the unsung

Curricula continues to neglect Black history

Katrell Readus readukat000@hsestudents.org

Black America will likely never receive the recognition or compensation that we deserve for our contributions in any and all elds and yet, even during the one month of the year that is dedicated to us, some of our most deserving and remarkable gures are le without the honor, respect and/or praise that they are more than entitled to. We as American students have been robbed by our nation of an ideologically diverse education when it comes to historical gures, speci cally as it applies to Black activists and leaders.

is is illustrated to us through the taught perception of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X.

In our modern, whitedominated curriculum and district it is easier and more palatable for students to learn about a young scholar who graduated high school at 15, obtained a bachelor’s degree by 19 and won a Nobel Peace Prize by 35 with a passive approach as opposed to a middle school dropout with a criminal record and a ‘by any means necessary’ mindset. ough both of these men made strides for civil rights and demonstrated strength and bravery in the name of equality and the improvement of race relations, only one is a orded recognition in media outputs or curricula. Leaders like Malcolm hold ideologies that are morally challenging for many, as hearing things like ‘Black nationalism’ can be confusing and easily misunderstood by children

if not taught correctly. Still, something so simple should by no means derail our education or the honoring of a man who gave his life for the betterment of his people. is pattern is further established through the story of Rosa Parks, the well-known woman who would not give up her seat to a white man on public transportation, and Claudette Colvin, a young teenager who exhibited bravery in the same way prior to Parks, who was then and is now lesser known due to aspects of her life that would not fair well in the light of the media.

e backs of Black revolutionaries like Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks have been used as crutches to create and cra a speci c narrative of the civil rights movement and the individuals themselves. Both media and curricula have extorted these gures in order to ‘celebrate’ Black history without having to confront the moral, ethical or

societal di erences of people they do not validate such as Claudette Colvin, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Angela Davis and

Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl and member of her local NAACP Youth Council, was arrested on March 2, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus, nine months prior to her mentor Rosa Parks who worked as the secretary of the very same local chapter of the NAACP.

After being a standing member of the NAACP, Fred Hampton quickly rose to leadership within the Black Panthers Party, becoming the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter, organizing rallies, establishing a Free Breakfast program, and negotiating peace pacts amongst rival gangs. Hampton accomplished all of this and more before being killed at 21 years old.

Claudette Colvin

Photo courtesy of openclipart.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Bayard Rustin Angela Davis

Angela Davis is an activist, leader and professor, with her largest pursuits being her time advocating with Black Panthers. In addition to this, Davis has published several writings of different kinds detailing her lived experience, the ght to end racism, feminism, incarceration’s ugly effects and more.

Before becoming a key ally of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, Bayard Rustin, an openly gay Black man during the Jim Crow era, was jailed for homosexuality and served more than two years. Upon his release, he traveled to King’s home in 1956 and convinced him to adopt the nonviolence protest tactic and a way of life that the reverend is now known for.

“I pointed my camera at people mostly who needed someone to say something for them.” Parks and his photography humanized the Black experience, through his expertly shot images of the segregated south. In addition, Parks made his way into lm, becoming the rst African American to direct a movie for a major studio, he later directed the movie “Shaft,” a hit lm that spawned the Blaxploitation genre.

Audre Lorde defined herself with these words: “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” She was an educator and learner who published her first poem while still in high school. She went on to use her affinity for writing to explore, explain and call out racism, homophobia and her battle with breast cancer. She humanized Black women in a way that was rare for her time.

Gordan Parks

Audre Lorde

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Photo courtesy of Picryl

Humanity, as defined by the Cambridge dictionary, is all the people in the world as a whole as well as the constant effort to show kindness towards and understand other people. Keeping this in mind is vital to peace and equality throughout the world, especially in relation to cultures, identities and beliefs we may not be familiar with.

When leading a life with humanity, it allows you to show empathy towards people with different beliefs that may not make sense to you. However, you still attempt to have an understanding of it. This is important because, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities, it makes up for the uniqueness within cultures throughout the world and awakens us to “the possibilities of human life and culture.” This is due to the fact that other beliefs and backgrounds can produce different ideas, inventions or ways to think about a situation which can end up providing a unique, beneficial solution to everyday, common issues.

We need to have humanity in

Editorial Board Question:

Do you think we as a society are on the right track toward recognizing the importance of humanity? No

Have humanity

The importance of acceptance in a society

order to prevent inequalities in any kind of setting, especially in job settings or, as mentioned earlier in the issue, to prevent censorship of different beliefs such as LGBTQ+ love. These are both examples of decisions being made without humanity being kept in mind. The cycle of inequalities and discrimination will continue to go on as time does if humanity is not held to higher importance.

There are institutions that are in charge of ensuring someone is putting in time and effort toward humanity such as the Geneva Convention. The convention was first founded in 1863 and included delegates from 16 countries in order to discuss the terms of a wartime agreement. Now, however, organizations such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent are going to be present in the meetings in order to discuss their stance on the importance of humanity. The two organizations see humanity as their first fundamental principle and purpose and since 1965, they have defined their movements as “To prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be

found [and] to protect life and health and ensure respect for the human being.”

The purpose of introducing this concept and implementing it into people’s everyday thinking is to build a relationship within the world and have them naturally think of everyone as a ‘we’ in the sense that we are sharing the same home, and share a common species consciousness.

Humanity is especially important to Black history and what they have gone through in the past. Having Black History Month is important in order to recognize Black people’s hardships through slavery and inequality in the past, but also recognize that they are still very much going through inequalities and discrimination. Further, Black History Month is important to recognize everything Black people have achieved and a way for us to celebrate those achievements. Therefore, during this month we should be making ourselves more aware of their goals and accomplishments, ways we can support them and how to be better allies in order to contribute towards the mission of humanity.

Future Black Leaders club members prepare for the Black Heritage Celebration in 2022. Photo by Veda Thangudu.

Editorial Policy

Tiger Topics Tiger Times is the official monthly newsmagazine of Fishers High School. It is distributed free to approximately 3,700 students and over 300 student personnel. It is designed, written and edited by students.

Opinions expressed in the newsmagazine do not necessarily represent those of the adviser, administration or staff.

Letters to the adviser may be submitted to A218, and must contain the writer’s phone number for verification. Letters to the editor will not be published anonymously. If there is any incorrect information, corrections will be made in the next issue.

Mission Statement

As the student-run newsmagazine of FHS, Tiger Times is dedicated to providing the staff, students and community of FHS with a timely, entertaining and factual publication once a month by means of public forum. In publishing articles that students enjoy reading, we are furthering both educational experience and the expansion of FHS culture. The staff works to create a sense of unity and awareness and allow the students of FHS to have better insight to the world around them.

Crossword Answers

DOWN:

1. Woodson

2. Parks

3. FBL

5. Forward dive

8. Purdue

12. Apple

14. Encanto

15. Packers

ACROSS:

4. Davis

5. Flowers

6. Conversation

7. Leap

9. Armstrong

10. Teddy

11. Mardi Gras

13. Michelle

16. Chocolate

17. Romcom

Crossword

Down Across

1. ought up precursor to Black History Month in 1926

2.Black photographer known for photos of the segregated south

3.Club organizing the Black Heritage Celebration

5.Dive in which divers face and rotate forward

8.First men’s college basketball team to be voted number one unanimously

12.Company that prides itself on clarity of camera

14.Animated movie that won three Grammys in 2023

15.First SuperBowl winner

4.Most recent obtainer of EGOT status

5.Miley Cyrus’ new song

6.Struck up by candy hearts

7. e unluckiest day to be born

9.Famous blues trumpet, astronaut

10._____ bear

11.Fat Tuesday

13.“Saviour” of the school lunches

16.Delivery method of golden tickets

17.Cheesy movie genre for Valentines Day