Griffin Rites Vol 48, Issue 5 by Griffin Rites

The Griffin Rites

NEWS

Feature

Renovating reality: new entrance to be finished during next school year

Truth be told: students discuss the effects of #metoo

Winnetonka High School | Kansas city MO, 64119 | Vol. 49, Issue 5 | feb. 12, 2018

Page 4

Pages 10 & 11

ending the candlelight vigils Recent suicides in Kansas City spark discussion about prevention Pages 7-9

CONTENTS

On the cover:

A candle smokes after having just been blown out, representing a possible end to the hopeful held after suicides. Photo by KatieBullock

Snapshot: Senior Skylar Seitz screams and pumps her fist in the air after winning a match of the PowerPuﬀ Dodgeball Tournament on Jan. 26 in the main gym, which was won by the junior team “The average Joes.” “I felt so proud of all of my junior friends for coming through and beating the seniors,” Seitz said. “My favorite part was the excruciating fear that my entire team was not going to show up. I was the only one here for the first 10 minutes.” Photo by KelseyCowden.

Editorial

Features

03 - School start times should reflect student needs District high schools should start at the proposed 7:43 a.m.

News 04 - Renovating reality Students and staff anticipate major construction in upcoming year 05 - A new net The two sides of net neutrality

Want more? Visit tonkanews.com for breaking news, interactive stories and multimedia.

STAFF Editor-in-chief Print Editor Multimedia Editor Staff Writer Staff Writer

07 - Ending the candlelight vigils Recent sucicides in Kansas City spark discussion about prevention

Sports 14 - An appetite for strength Wrestlers seek to satisfy constant physical demand with their diet

16 - Diving into state 10 - Truth be told Students discuss the effects of #metoo in Junior Eden Viles prepares for state dive competition alongside the world and in their own lives girls’ swim 200-yard relay team

Practical Arts

12 - The tech team Robotics club bonds while working towards regional competition

Entertainment 06 - Fun for one [satire] “Fun” activities for Valentine’s Day when you’re single and lonely

Adviser Katie Bullock Jessica Glaszczak Elizabeth Payton Jason Hopkins Gage Rabideaux

Laura Williams

The Griffin Rites Purpose The Griﬃn Rites strongly supports the First Amendment and opposes censorship. Freedom of expression and press are fundamental values in a democratic society. The mission of any institution committed to preparing productive citizens must include teaching students these values, both by example and lesson. We welcome letters to the editor and reserve the right to edit them for length and clarity, but we will not change ideas. Letters may attack policies but not people. They must be signed an submitted to F6 or mailed to Laura Williams at 5818 NE 48th St., Kansas City, Mo. Advertising space is available. Please contact laura. williams@nkcschools.org or call 816-321-6527 for information. Our organization is a member of the Journalism Educators of Metropolitan Kansas City, Journalism Educators Association, the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association.

EDITORIAL | PAGE DESIGN BY KATIE BULLOCK

Have your own opinion? Take our poll at tonkanews.com or by scanning the QR code below.

Griﬃn Rites staﬀ opinions: 5 agree 0 disagree

The Editorial voice of the Griffin Rites staff,

Jessica Glaszczak

school start times should reflect student needs District high schools should start at the proposed 7:43 a.m. | Art by GageRabideaux

fter years of school start times remaining relatively unchanged, the board of education is currently discussing the age-old question: ‘When should school start?’, and for high schoolers, the answer is 7:43 a.m. The North Kansas City School District’s transportation department will no longer be able to sustain the current school start and end times due to the addition of two sixth-grade centers that are scheduled to open next year, which necessitates another bus route be squeezed into the morning mix. Using a survey presented to parents, staﬀ and students throughout the district, which garnered over 3,844 responses, as well as personal meetings with a “diverse group of students,” according to the district website, the board of education proposed school start and end times for the 2018-2019 school year at the board meeting on Jan. 23. In the proposal, all high schools start at 7:43 a.m. and end at 2:40 p.m. Although some parents have asked that start and end times remain the same, according to the North Kansas City district website, in order to keep the current schedules an additional 20 buses and drivers would be needed. This would add $1,300,000 per year to the transportation budget. However, the proposed schedule adds just an estimated $284,000 a year. Thus, by altering start times the district is saving upwards of one million dollars per year. Additionally, according to an experiment conducted by Mary Carskadon of Brown University, teenagers secrete melatonin at later times than younger adolescents, which makes it diﬃcult for teenagers to fall asleep early causing them to wake up later. “The typical adolescent’s natural time to fall asleep may be 11 p.m. or later,” an article by the National Sleep Foundation [NSF] said. Con-

sidering that the NSF also recommends that teens should sleep for around nine hours, high schoolers who fall asleep at 11 p.m. should wake up around 8 a.m, implying that high schools should start closer to 8:30 a.m. However, high school students wear many hats which make it unrealistic to start schools at 8:30 a.m. or later because a seven-hour school day would then end at 3:30 p.m. Getting out of school this late would make it impossible for students to balance extracurriculars, familial responsibilities, jobs and sports with academics and sleep. Due to this later natural sleep pattern, high school should start after middle school. However, it should still start before elementary school, since many high school age children are responsible for elementary age siblings and need to be able to be home before their younger siblings. Thus, a start time of 7:43 a.m. is the perfect compromise between what research shows is best for students and the reality that students live in. If high schoolers start school at 7:43 a.m., then they will get out of school at 2:40 p.m. so that school does not intrude on their other activities and responsibilities. Plus, it will allow for students to get much needed sleep. There does not need to be a significant change in start times to make an impact on students lives. According to a report by Hanover research, even a small delay in start times can affect students positively in academics, attitude and motivation. This means that the 20 minute delay from the current start time of 7:23 a.m. still has the ability to improve students’ performance and personal lives. The board of education will vote on whether or not to approve the new start and end time schedule at their next board meeting on Feb. 13.

PAGE DESIGN BY ELIZABETH PAYTON | NEWS

Renovating Reality Students and staff anticipate major construction in upcoming year

By Elizabeth Payton

tudents can expect to kiss the existing main office goodbye when this spring the school entrance will be reconstructed, reimagined and relocated. “We’ve been talking about getting a new main entrance for quite a few years, but last summer the district actually found the funding for the new main entrance for Winnetonka,” principal Eric Johnson said. The funding came from a bond issue that pays for renovations at Oak Park and Winnetonka. The renovations are budgeted to cost about 2 million dollars. Along with the new main entrance added on to the west side of the building where the current attendance office is, Winnetonka will receive a gender-neutral bathroom, a main office suite, a new school sign, a second story floor fitted with conference rooms, an updated security entrance and a waiting area. “We will have a new vestibule where it’s a waiting area,” Johnson said. “There will be a security entrance. We are going to have a space for our security. We will have a new office area, my office will be downstairs along with one of the assistant principal’s office. There’s also a second floor being added onto the building that’s going to be conference rooms. It’s not just two million dollars of a doorway, it’s a lot of stuff. One thing we are also trying to include is a gender neutral bathroom while we are doing construction.” Although the timeline for the new

entrance is still being planned, Johnson said construction should start in early April, possibly ending into the 2018-2019 school year. “Originally it [construction] was supposed to end before the start of school 2018, but now it looks like we might have to go a little bit into the school year,” Johnson said. “We might be without our real main entrance when the school year starts, so we may have to redirect some of the traffic to a different location to get people inside the building.” The main office will be relocated downstairs, rendering the building more accessible to visitors and putting a halt to complaints about walking up the stairs to conduct business. According to North Kansas City School District Executive Director of Facilities Jeff Vandel, who is managing the designing and construction of the project, the new entrance will also serve to give Winnetonka more community attention. “Our goal is to give a little bit more visibility to Winnetonka from the street and once you are in that parking lot, to give a sense of entry into the building,” Vandel said. “Right now, it is a little bit confusing as to which door visitors should come in. But the goal is to grab your attention when you are on the street and give you a definitive entry point once you are parked.” Johnson, staff and the architecture firm BNIM designed the new main entrance and renovations to serve several purposes. Johnson hopes it will perpetuate Winnetonka’s selfhood, creating an environment that

Above: A rendering of what the new main entrance on the west side of the school will look like. The addition was designed by Principal Eric Johnson, as well as other staﬀ members in collaboration with the architecture firm BNIM. Scan the QR code for additional renderings of the construction project.

can be respected by the community. “We told them [BNIM] what we wanted in the initial meeting in July and we went over the goals, which were to increase the identity that Winnetonka has and to have easily identifiable markings that show we are Winnetonka, that we are the Griffins,” Johnson said. “We wanted something that our alumni, as well as our future graduates, could be proud of.” Johnson also believes that students will be impacted by this new change. “The people inside the building make it what it is,” Johnson said. “I think our students will feel proud walking into that new main entrance, which will also elicit or change or impact the way they act in the building. We want our students to learn in a place they feel comfortable in.” Sophomore Logan Murray agrees, saying the main entrance will not only make the school look better, but make the students feel comfortable overall. “I think it’s going to bring a lot of pride to the school,” Murray said. “It’s going to make us feel like we are a little bit better than we are right now. I think, number one, it’s going to make school stand out more and secondly, it’s going to build up a better standard of us.”

NEWS | PAGE DESIGN BY JASON HOPKINS

t e n w e n A f des o i s o w

Net Neutrality Support Approximate percent of voters in the United States who support Net Neutrality

lity

52%

utra net ne

The t By Jason Hopkins

he Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to end net neutrality on Dec. 14, 2017, a law put in place in 2015 to ensure internet equality. While the FCC assured Americans that the repeal of net neutrality was to increase competition among companies to drive internet costs down, many citizens are concerned about the lack of regulation after the repeal. The decision to repeal net neutrality came after weeks of public protest both on the streets and on social media. In a survey by the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication, which was released approximately one month before the FCC vote, 81 percent of Americans opposed the repeal of net neutrality. History teacher Ian Johnston was one of the majority of Americans in support of net neutrality. “This [the repeal] is completely against what the people want,” Johnston said. “Net neutrality is basically free and open access to the internet without having corporations of ISPs [internet service providers] limiting or throttling speeds. [With net neutrality] corporations are under certain rules that they have to abide by for internet protections by the consumer. The majority of people do no want it repealed, but they’re going ahead and not listening to the people although that’s what the government is for.” After the vote to repeal net neutrality, FCC chairman Ajit Pai addressed this public concern in an oral statement where Pai stated that the belief that Americans will have to begin paying for all internet services is incorrect. “Following today’s [Dec. 14, 2017]

vote, Americans will still be able to access the websites they want to visit,” Pai said. “They will still be able to enjoy the services they want to enjoy. There will still be cops on the beat guarding a free and open internet. This is the way things were prior to 2015, and this is the way they will be once again.” According to Pai, repealing net neutrality will create more competition - not less - among broadband providers and will create a more open internet. “Broadband providers will have stronger incentives to build networks, especially in unserved areas, and to upgrade networks to gigabit speeds and 5G,” Pai went on to say. “This means there will be more competition among broadband providers. It also means more ways that startups and tech giants alike can deliver applications and content to more users. In short, it’s a freer and more open internet.” Although increased competition is the intended outcome of the repeal of net neutrality, many critics believe that instead, companies will now be able to charge customers a monthly fee for access to certain internet sites and services. “The change [repeal] does open the door for ISPs to charge more to some big broadband users, say Netflix or YouTube, which could pass those increased costs to their subscribers,” Mike Snider and Jeﬀerson Graham wrote in the USA Today. “In theory, ISPs could charge subscribers more, too.” According to senior Kyle Hayden, if ISPs charge subscribers more, the new internet policy may be an issue for students, since the North Kansas City School District may opt for smaller internet packages to keep costs

29% 18%

| Based on a survey of 1,994 registered voters by Politico between Nov. 21 and Nov. 25, 2017.

low.

“The school has to provide us with internet so that we can accomplish the things we’re here to do,” Hayden said. “Personally, I’m foreseeing us having a lot less access to the sites that we need to use and the sites that we want to use.” Whether the repeal of net neutrality will drive internet costs up or down has yet to be seen. However, with 22 states suing to block the FCC’s repeal as of Jan. 17 according to the Los Angeles Times, it is unlikely that Americans will feel the eﬀects of the repeal in the near future.

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FEATURE | PAGE DESIGN BY KATIE BULLOCK

ils in the days following student deaths. Wax melted on concrete sidewalks and rose-lined picture frames; they called it memoriam. Just over a month ago, on Dec. 15, junior Carli Crum attempted to take her own life. “I just hit rock bottom,” Carli said. “I’m a perfectionist so I’m always putting pressure on myself to just be the best. I don’t like to fail so I don’t want to talk to anybody or reach out to anybody because then it feels like I’m failing or I’m going to fall oﬀ.”

ENDING THE Above: A white candle burns with a teal and purple ribbon pinned to it. The ribbon is the symbol of suicide prevention and awareness. Photo by KatieBullock

Online

CANDLELIGHT VIGILS Recent suicides in Kansas City spark discussions about suicide prevention By Katie Bullock

View the full online story for more information, to see a collection of social media posts about Kansas City suicides, to take our online survey about possible prevention programs, and to see a performance of 1-800-273-8255 at tonkanews.com or by scanning the QR code below.

Kansas city and candlelight vigils

“I

believe in you.” “You are important.” “Everyone matters.” On the sidewalk outside of Shawnee Mission Northwest high school, these are the messages on the signs held by students and parents. It is Jan. 25, a cold morning. The sign holders wear coats, gloves and hats in the wind. The trees are bare. The sun is just beginning to rise in the dark blue sky. One day earlier, the school lost one of its own students to suicide. Two days before that, they had lost another. These are not the first suicide deaths in the Kansas City area. In November, two Olathe Northwest girls died from suicide just days apart. In March, it was two Belton students. In September, 17-year-old Gamesha Thomas, a student at Lee’s Summit North, lost her life. All of these schools held candlelight vig-

A taboo topic

According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide rates among teens have been steadily increasing for more than a decade. Since 2007, the rate of suicide among girls ages 15 to 19 has doubled. The suicide rate over the same time period for boys of the same age increased by 30 percent. In 2004, Chad McCord was one of the many victims of suicide. As a result, his mother Marian McCord co-founded the CHADS [Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide] coalition, a non-profit organization where she currently serves as the executive director. “Our society is not ready to look at how big this problem is and the number of lives mental illness is taking,” McCord said. “In spite of suicide being the second leading cause of death among our teens, we as a society have invested so very poorly in prevention and better treatment options.” One of the problems with the way suicide is handled revolves around the way mental illness is viewed, according to McCord, who emphasizes that mental illness is a real physical ailment. “If we talked more openly about it, I have no doubt suicide rates would go down,” McCord said. “If people really believed depression is an illness and not a weakness, lives would be saved. When was the last fundraiser you or your peers went on to raise money for research for early onset mood disor-

PAGE DESIGN BY KATIE BULLOCK | FEATURES

>>> continued from page 7

cause of death among 15-24 year olds. What is this saying about how much we really understand what is happening. How much does society really care?” In recent years, campaigns for the visibility of mental health and suicide have increased awareness about it in the general public. On April 28, 2017 popular musicians Alessia Cara, Khalid and Logic dropped the now grammy-nominated joint song entitled ‘1-800-2738255,’ the number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL), which discussed the topic of teen suicide. “I just felt that it [suicide] was something that is so important but that no one really wants to talk about, especially in the mainstream media,” Cara said in an interview on “The Ellen Show.” “It’s always this taboo, touchy subject but this is real and there are so many people who have gone through this, even people close to me, who have felt that their lives aren’t worth it just being who they simply are, and I just thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about that and to let people know that they aren’t alone.” The day after the song was released, the NSPL received their second highest call volume on record according to its director John Draper. By August, traﬃc to the hotline had increased by 33 percent from the same time last year. This enabling of discussion is, according to McCord, life saving.

“Many people think about suicide, and when people talk about suicide it opens the door for the person that had been thinking about it to actually talk about it,” McCord said. “Anytime you can get someone to talk about their thoughts of suicide, you could be saving a life.” Despite the proven power of discourse, the topic of suicide remains somewhat taboo in most regions, with little action taken to genuinely increase discussion of mental illness. “There are students in your school right now considering suicide. By not allowing the opportunity to talk about suicide, we are not giving those students enough opportunity to ask for help,” McCord said. “Generally speaking, the fact that we do not want to talk about suicide and therefore will not talk about it, is in reality very harmful. We should be talking much more openly about suicide. By not talking about it, it adds layers of misunderstanding, shame and guilt.” Sophomore Cozmo Crum, Carli’s brother, has watched his sister’s battle with depression over the years, and he has come to believe that the best way to prevent suicide and mental illness is to be open to understanding those who struggle with it. “Sometimes I feel like it’s hard because people don’t want to admit that they’re not happy or that they’re going through something tough be-

suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in Missouri

cause they want to make others happy around them,” Cozmo said. “I feel like talking about it more often will make it less taboo so that more people can understand it, and understanding is what we all need. I think talking about it, not having an assembly, but people in general being more open about it, will help. It’s hard to just be open about it but if someone needs help they should be able to go to anyone.”

Seeking help

After her suicide attempt, Carli sought help at the Two Rivers Psychiatric Hospital in Raytown, MO. “Being in the psychiatric hospital, I had a week to focus on myself,” Carli said. “You get really caught up in your schoolwork and focusing on your grades and being with friends and doing all of this stuff and you forget to take the time to just relax and be happy with your own self. [At Two Rivers] I didn’t have my phone. It was just me and my recovery and being around kids that were going through similar stuff.” Now back at school, Carli said that she is learning to prioritize her mental health over her other activities. “I think what helped a lot is that a lot of my teachers and my counselors know what happened,” Carli said. “Mrs. Ford [counselor Jennifer Ford] told me that I could go to her office if I ever needed a break or anything. I think it’s

suicide statistics: - 3rd leading cause of death among youth nationwide - In 2013, suicides in Missouri outnumbered homicides by more than 2 to 1 (958 vs. 390) - In 2013, suicides in Missouri outnumbered motor vehicle accidents (958 vs. 747) - Firearms are the primary means of suicide in Missouri

FEATURES | PAGE DESIGN BY KATIE BULLOCK good to have people around you that know and be able to reach out to them so that you can have them in those hard times and have the resources to be able to take a break because the most important thing is to be able to focus on yourself.” While self-focus can be challenging, a pivotal step for Carli is finding people and places where it is safe for her to speak out about personal problems. “I feel like it’s [speaking out] important because in the moment it’s such a hard thing to overcome but it’s a good thing to get those feelings out so that they don’t come back and they’re not just circulating around in your head,” Carli said. “When they build up that’s when it gets bad and that’s when it all starts to crumble.” Whether it is seeking solitude in a counselor’s oﬃce, or taking the liberty to forego school and social events, Carli speaks from personal experience when she advises students to take time to themselves and to ask for help. “I think listening is really important and kids need to know that it’s okay to take the pressure oﬀ of themselves and take a break if they need to,” Carli said. “Just have time to focus on themselves without worrying about everything on their plate. They need to feel okay to speak up and say ‘Hey, I don’t think I can do this. I need help.’”

Proactive policy

With the rise in suicides, signs and candlelight vigils, a new Missouri law was passed in December 2017 that requires schools to have a suicide prevention policy in place by July of 2018, along with support for faculty suicide prevention training. “I would highly recommend an evidenced-based suicide prevention program such as SOS Signs of Suicide for students, teachers and administration,” McCord said. “I also encourage your school to start an Ambassador Club; a club that focuses on promoting positive and encouraging mental health messaging in your school. It also equips students to help be that special friend to

those that struggle with mental health.” Although there is no official plan in place yet for the North Kansas City School District, school and community resource officer Shelly Meinke confirmed that steps are being taken to address student mental health concerns. Until a new plan takes effect, Meinke recommends that students become familiar with the signs of suicide and become more comfortable speaking about it with friends and staff. “A great way to be proactive is to know the warning signs that may possibly indicate if someone is struggling,” Meinke said. “Often, a person dealing with overwhelming feelings will talk about or discuss things like: wanting to die, being a burden to others, feeling hopeless or trapped or being in constant emotional or physical pain. If you notice any of these warning signs, talk to the person you are concerned about, let them know you care. Ask if they are thinking about harming themselves. Seek help: let someone - counselor, teacher, parent - know immediately about the situation.” In December, student council hosted a mental health awareness week. Each day the halls turned yellow, blue, green or another color representing different mental illnesses. It was an almost silent show of support for those who are struggling, and for Carli, it made an impact. “I think that it’s [showing support for students] important because it helps students know that they’re not alone,” Carli said. “I think the best thing to do is to know that you’re not the only one out there. That’s why I’m so open about it because I want people to know that it gets better.” The signs outside of Shawnee Mission Northwest are now gone, and so are the wax remains of candles outside of Belton, Lee’s Summit North and Olathe West, but here at Winnetonka there remains a community of support for those who need it. “You are not alone,” Meinke said. “We are here to help.”

Know the warning signs: - Increase or decrease in sleep - Researching ways to kill themselves - Use of alcohol or drugs - Increasingly irritable, agitated or anxious - withdrawal from activities/ social life

PAGE DESIGN BY JESSICA GLASZCZAK | FEATURES

h t u tr

told Students discuss the effects of #metoo in the world and in their own lives By Jessica Glaszczak

fter more than 50 sexual-assault allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, after former Olympic gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in jail for molesting approximately 160 girls and after nearly all celebrities attending the 2018 Golden Globes wore black to combat sexual assault, the #metoo movement has given a voice to the millions of people who have been sexually assaulted or harassed. Although it has only recently made its way into the media, the #metoo movement was started ten years ago by the Brooklyn-based Girls for Gender Equity program director Tarana Burke. Last October, actress Alyssa Milano turned the movement into a hashtag, which has now

been shared by many celebrities and millions of other people across social media. “I think the one responsibility we have as survivors - once we get to a place where we can - is to create an entry point to healing for other survivors,” Burke said

movement. “I definitely think it’s great that they’re [celebrities] using this power for good; trying to get change to happen despite how we view them as people,” senior Hannah Hernandez said. “They also have problems, and they have very, very real problems that people aren’t looking at because we see them as these perfect people who only play other people, not as people themselves. I’m glad that they’re finding their voice and speaking out against those things.” Dressed in black, actress and talk show host Oprah Winfrey spoke at the Golden Globes about the #metoo movement and also about the #timesup campaign, which speaks out against sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace. “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful

“I think the one responsibility we have as survivors - once we get to a place where we can - is to create an entry point to healing for other survivors.” -Tanara Burke in a CNN article. “For years I couldn’t figure out what that would be for me and then Me Too became that thing.” Senior Hannah Hernandez said she appreciates that celebrities are using their position in the media to promote the

FEATURES | PAGE DESIGN BY JESSICA GLASZCZAK tool we all have,” Winfrey said during her acceptance speech. “And I’m especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell, and this year we became the story. But it’s not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It’s one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics or workplace.” According to senior Audrey Thompson, this problem is currently prevalent in the media because people are just now listening. “It’s great that they’re trying to shine a light on what’s been going on for so long, but at the same time, it’s also funny because it has been going on for so long and people are like ‘Why is it just now coming out?’” Thompson said. “It hasn’t just been coming out now; it’s just now people are paying attention.” Junior Ashley Smith used #metoo to spread her voice about how the effected people are not alone. “I was affected at a young age, but I was shunned whenever I tried to speak,” Smith said. “But I wanted to bring more awareness about how that happens to so many girls. I basically just copied and pasted from one of my male friends on Facebook. It was basically saying ‘men and women get assaulted, #metoo.’” According to Hernandez, using #metoo helps educate the public about sexual assault. “Sexual assault is not just a college kid getting a girl drunk and then raping her. It’s way more complicated than that,” Hernandez said. “It could be asking a woman repeatedly to have sex until she finally is just like ‘I guess.’ That’s not actual consent; that’s just wearing someone down. It’s not like the typical version of sexual assault, but it definitely is still in that grey area where it counts. Having these conversations and educating people about that is definitely being productive in helping to stop these things.” Although this hashtag has been used by many victims of sexual abuse, senior Bailey Kleindienst - who has experienced

sexual assault and harassment - does not speak about her personal experiences on social media. “I’ll share things on Facebook when it talks about how to prevent rape or little things, I’ll share it because it’s important, but I don’t use social media to speak out about it,” Kleindienst said. “If I were to speak out about it, I would go more public-level. I want to work in the criminal justice system because I want things like that to change because I’ve been to court for sexaul assault... For me, I want to go a step further, instead of using social media as a platform, I want to use my career as a platform.” Although the movement has made a diﬀerence in the media, there is more to be done in support for it, according to Thompson. “I think it’s [using #metoo] a good way to put out there that it’s far more common today than what a lot of people realize, but at the same time, people will put out there a hashtag in support of a movement, they won’t do anything else,” Thompson said. “There are pros and cons to it because it’s a way to get the movement out there - it’s a way to keep it going - but at the same time people think that once they put a hashtag on something, their part is done.” For Kleindienst, #metoo is just the start of making a diﬀerence. “There’s a lot more to be done, and I hope that by having ‘metoo’, it encourages more people to have a passion for changing the tune on things they think are unjust,” Kliendienst said. Although #metoo may only be the beginning of a longer movement for students like Kleindienst, for Winfrey, who ended her speech encouraging action, it is also an important step towards ending sexual assault and harassment. “I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon,” Winfrey said in her speech. “And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women… and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, ‘Me

women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

women ages 18 to 34 have been sexually harassed at work; 71% did not report it. To see Oprah Winfrey’s full speech at the Golden Globes, scan the QR code. Sources: Endsexualviolencect.org Timesupnow.com

PAGE DESIGN BY KATIE BULLOCK | PRACTICAL ARTS

The tech team

Robotics club bonds while working towards regional competition * To see the FIRST robotics oﬃcial game animation, scan the QR code below.

By Katie Bullock

t is noon on a Saturday, and the robotics team is laughing through barbeque smoke while grilling burgers at the school. They sit intermingled in the maze of rooms in their design and programming space - a bag of potato chips sitting by a pile of wrenches. A group of sophomores eat cheeseburgers and crack jokes while staring at a tangled mass of wires and steel. In the corner, three students play a board game they made to help them understand the competition they are working towards. This is the robotics team at work. Each year on Jan. 6, the oﬃcial robotics season kicks into gear when the annual theme of the FIRST Robotics Competition is revealed. After that day, teams around the world have 62 days to build their bots. “Right now we’re in the mock-up phase so we’re really just doing a lot of testing of our designs and seeing if they’re eﬃcient or not,” captain of the build team, junior Brandon Burt said. “We’re breaking everything down into systems, pieces and then once they’re all done we’ll put it together and build ourselves a bot.” This year, the FIRST competition is arcade themed and revolves around the teams’ abilities to pick up and transfer power cubes - which are boxes similar to milk-crates - to various locations. [*] Burt hopes that this year they will place within the top eight teams at the March 9 to March 14 regional competition hosted at the Metropolitan Community College Engineering Hall, which hosts over 60 teams from around the greater Kansas City

Junior Andrew Willis

Junior Brandon Burt

Q: What is your favorite part of being on the robotics team?

Q: Why do you enjoy robotics?

A: “What’s nice about our team; if you don’t like building you can go to programming, and if that’s not your thing you can do business. There’s a place for everybody.”

A: “I think we all just have a passion for engineering and design. It’s fun to start from nothing and to end up with something that you made from scratch.”

area.

“We started out pretty decent as a rookie team, and each year if you look at the statistics from the competition we’ve improved,” Burt said. “We keep getting better and better and closer to the top eight. At one point last year we were the fourth seat in the entire competition. We basically fix our mistakes each year. Eventually, we’ll get to the top.” Part of the teams’ growth has come from the growth of individual students on the team, according to industrial technology teacher and robotics coach Thomas Fish. “Brandon came with computer skills, but a desire to learn. His freshman year you’d tell him ‘Go get a screwdriver,’ and he’d be like, ‘Umm… okay,’ but now he’s our build captain,” Fish said. “You put the tool in their hand and make them do it. You sit back and you watch them mess up. Then, you watch them learn.” Science teachers Brice Jensen and Jeﬀ Janzen work with Fish to coach the team. “It’s amazing to watch them,” Fish said. “The way I can tell that we’ve done our job back here is when we go to competition. Myself and the other mentors can sit back in the pit and just watch them work. The bot will break down or mess up and they will collaborate, focus, redesign, rebuild so that they’re back in the next round.” There are five diﬀerent teams that make up the robotics club: build team, business team, programming team, safety team and spirit team. Students can join any of the teams or be involved with multiple teams if

they choose to do so. “People view tech-y things like, ‘Oh it’s just for nerds,’ but no; there are people from almost every other club that have joined robotics,” junior Luke Milroy said. “We have someone who joined who’s an artist, and they designed the logo for this year, our shirts and hats. You can be or do anything. We’re really accepting overall.” That acceptance has created a team of over a dozen students who spend nearly three hours every day together. But for Milroy, robotics is not just a team, it is a family. “I was talking with Bob [robotic member’s father] about that this morning; some teams get really clique-y but we’re not really like that,” Milroy said. “It’s like a big family.” Through the after school meetings and the weekend work sessions, for Fish, every person on the robotics team has their own place and their own part. “Janzen is programming. Jensen is responsible for business and spirit. He’s the head-cook and bottle washer. Ben is a [student] dad, Bob is a [student] dad. Then there are the kids,” Fish said. “That’s kind of who we are and we just build.” But between the bots and the burgers is, according to Burt, a group of people who share more than just a passion for building something new. “You learn new things every single practice, you learn every trade you want to learn and more,” Burt said. “And you can build a lot of friendships on this team, not just robots.”

ENTERTAINMENT | PAGE DESIGN BY GAGE RABIDEAUX

Fun for one Fun activities for Valentine’s Day when you’re single and lonely By Gage Rabideaux

ebruary is the most pitiful month of the year. On top of having a pathetic and cowardly 28 days, February mocks those who have yet to find a significant other. Valentine’s Day is without a doubt one of the most monumental mistakes ever conjured up by mankind. The saccharine hearts and flowers sicken even

proud souls to their very core. But despite February being the scummiest of 12 months, Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be the disgusting day it normally is. Just follow this guide and your Valentine’s Day will be much less vile. *This piece is entirely satirical and does not intend to oﬀend our audience.*

Option #1: Cry

rying is a fun activity that many singles already take part in. But with a little creativity, crying can be much more enjoyable. One fun tip is to find different places to cry, such as basically anywhere that’s within earshot of a smooching couple. The second they realize how nasty they are, crying becomes fun and purposeful. Seek out the happy couples and ensure they’re as miserable as possible. Another way to spice up your cry-game is to see how long you can cry. Once the tears start to flow, start a timer and try to beat your previous time. Ensure you stay appropriately hydrated; you can’t cry if you run out of tears!

Option #2: trick everyone into believing you have a

partner through a ridiculously complex, large-scale systematic plan

f you’re too proud to admit that you have yet to find a significant other, you don’t have to! You can always lie to your friends and family and create an absurdly complicated scheme to make them think you’re not single. Consider the following ideas: write love letters to yourself, ship flowers to yourself, make up a shamelessly detailed and vivid story about a date you had recently and take pictures of a random cute person over an extended period of time while saying they’re your partner. The sky is the limit, so don’t be afraid to push the barriers of human decency until you trick your friends and family.

Option #3: Buy discount chocolate

his delicious sweet was made for lovers to exchange on Valentine’s Day, but after Feb. 14, all the yummy candy will be on sale for dirt cheap. Once that magical day arrives, it can easily be yours. Simply drive down to the nearest grocery store, scope out the Valentine’s Day displays, and find the biggest, most sickeningly syrupy sweets in stock. Then proceed to buy the entire display and drive back home. Eat the display and swiftly fall unconscious. Once you’re out, you won’t have to worry about catching a lousy romantic comedy on television to remind you of how lonely you are.

Option #4: turn the tables

ou’re a strong, independent woman/man who don’t need no man/woman. I’m surprised you’re not breaking hearts left and right. You’re so beautiful, queen! You slay! Stop wondering if you’re good enough for them, ask if they’re good enough for YOU! You’ve got to find somebody who will treat you RIGHT. So be patient, stop looking and someone will come to you.

PAGE DESIGN BY ELIZABETH PAYTON | SPORTS

An Appetite for Strength Wrestlers seek to satisfy constant physical demand through their diet By Elizabeth Payton

n estimated 45 million Americans make an attempt to eat healthier each year for various reasons according to the Boston Medical Center, but Winnetonka wrestlers diet to keep up with the high physical standards their sport requires of them. Whether they started before or at the beginning of the season, wrestlers have implemented a special diet to boost energy and performance, increase stamina and stay in shape. “The analogy that a lot of wrestling coaches use is, ‘your food is your fuel,’” head wrestling coach Ryan Lowry said. “If you put sugar in your gas tank, your car doesn’t run very well. It’s the same thing with wrestling; if you put a lot of sugar in your stomach, you will run for a very short time.” Although the American Heart Association recommends that children consume less than six teaspoons of sugar per day, the average child takes in about 32 teaspoons. As the amount of sugar ingested increases, so does the feeling of tiredness. Wrestlers avoid eating sugary foods due to the infamous sugar crashes associated with it.

| Photos made available under the Creative Commons CCC 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Right: Sophomore Eric Frazier, empowered by his diet, pins sophomore Cozmo Crum to the ground during wrestling practice. So far this season Frazier has won 10 matches and lost 25 pounds. Photo by KileighSalior

“It’s about sustained energy over a length of time,” Lowry said. “If you’re at a wrestling competition all day - 10 to 12 hours - you have to have plenty of good fuel. Otherwise, your first match might look good, but by the time you are on your fourth or fifth, you’re done.” Lowry tells his wrestlers to cut down to the basics. Sophomore Eric Frazier, who is on the varsity team, has been following this advice since the beginning of the season. “[We eat] fruits, vegetables, good meats, pretty much anything that isn’t prepackaged or precooked,” Frazier said. “These foods help keep your energy and stamina up. They ensure that you will have enough strength to actually take the other guy down.” Wrestlers should strive for seven percent body fat according to Lowry, which can be achieved through satisfying the body’s need for both nutritious and complex foods. To lose fat, an individual must eat fewer calories than burned. “Raw vegetables, that’s your best friend. You can eat raw vegetables all day and not gain much weight at all,” Lowry said. “It’s a lot of good filler. People typically think to completely cut carbs out, but carbs are a lot of good energy. We

SPORTS | PAGE DESIGN BY ELIZABETH PAYTON

want complex carbs, not simple carbs, so whole grains as opposed to white bread. Brown rice instead of white rice, things like that.” In addition to vegetables and carbohydrates, proteins are also a building block needed to increase muscle while maintaining strength and energy. Good proteins, such as lean meats, help build and repair the body’s tissues and are essential to building up strong bones, muscles and skin. The MyPyramid food patterns recommend that protein accounts for 17 to 21 percent of caloric intake for the average person, while wrestlers who are trying to lose weight are advised to only take in 12 to15 percent. “You want to get a decent amount of protein in you, usually about a gram of protein for every pound of body weight,” Lowry said. “So if you weigh 150 pounds, that’s 150 grams of protein, which is quite a bit. If you’re trying to lose weight, we want that more like half: 150 pounds, 75 grams of protein. Sometimes you’ll have to supplement to get to that much protein, so taking a protein shake of some sorts, drinking plenty of milk.” Protein can be found in a lot of foods, but not many are suitable for the wrestlers’ diet. Choosing the right foods

can be a challenge, especially during lunch, where they have to eat what is given to them. However, Frazier has lost 25 pounds and dropped a weight class while sticking to his diet. “Right now I’m trying to get my weight down to 182 [pounds] and I’ve been eating more peanut butter than I ever have before,” Frazier said. “I like to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but not too much of it, the bread is heavy on your stomach and it has a hard time digesting it.” Instead of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner like the majority of Americans, Lowry recommends breaking the day down into between four and six smaller meals, advice followed by junior Patrick Biggs, who wrestled in the 285 pound weight class. “I typically try to snack throughout the day,” Biggs said. “I snack through breakfast and by the time people are on lunch, I’m on my second or third snack. I try to stay with the diet, but every once in awhile I have cheat days.” Fighting against temptations can be hard, but the wrestlers know that with every healthy meal, they are closer to a healthy body.

Guidelines for a Wrestler’s Diet:

Eat foods that are high in carbohydrates and low in fat and protein, such as grains, vegetables and fruits.

Avoid salts in foods as they cause water to leave the muscles where it is needed.

Before competition, drink at least two, 8 ounce glasses of water and eat familiar, healthy foods.

SPORTS | PAGE DESIGN BY KATIE BULLOCK

Diving into

state

Junior Eden Viles prepares for state alongside the girls’ 200-yard relay team

By Katie Bullock

or the first time since 2015, girls’ swim and dive athletes are preparing for the state competition. First year swimmer and diver, junior Eden Viles is currently seated fourth in the state for dive. Viles, who was previously a gymnast, transferred to Winnetonka at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year from Northland Christian Academy. “I did this to stay in shape. I didn’t think I’d be good at it, Viles said. “The meet I qualified [for state] was actually the first meet that we had: the Winnetonka Invitational. My step-dad was like, ‘Well you better qualify for state or you’re not coming home,’ and then I got consideration.” As a member of both the swim team and the dive team, an associate of the Northland Career Center, as well as being involved in National Honor Society and the softball team, Viles’s schedules can sometimes conflict. “It’s a lot of time management and I’m busy a lot but I enjoy it,” Viles said. “Sometimes it gets a little stressful but then again I’ve always been busy so I’m able to juggle it.” Despite a busy schedule, Viles said that she feels grateful for the opportunities that she has been given. “It honestly amazes me. I’m a Christian and I believe that God has given me this ability to be good at dive and swim and gymnastics and generally at everything that I do,” Viles said. “I’m not trying to be cocky

but I have a 4.0 and I have good grades and it’s just amazing that I would be able to come into a new school not knowing anybody and be good at this.” Viles is also on the 4x200-yard free relay, which alternates between seniors Anna Braman and Kaitlyn Presko, and juniors Makayla Cambiano and Carli Crum. After swimming a time of 2:02:00 on Dec. 9 at the Winnetonka Invitational they obtained a state consideration cut. “Right now with freestyle, even though it’s a relay, we’re really focusing on our individual strokes and trying to get better,” Presko said. “We’re tapering, which is a lot more rigorous sprinting but with lots of rest so it’s breaking down the muscles and then building them back up which helps us get faster while helping us get the strokes down. We’re shaving oﬀ milliseconds but those milliseconds count.” The state consideration cut for an individual 50-yard freestyle is 28:49, 00:83 seconds oﬀ of Presko’s personal best of 29:32. As a team, the relay is 0:03:99 under the state consideration time of 2:05.99. However, only the top 32 teams attend state and currently the relay is ranked 40, four seconds behind the 32 place team’s time. ““It’s possible but they all have to be clicking, they all have to be in sync,” girls’ head swim Luke Young said. “Their relay exchanges have to be flawless so that’s what we’ll be working on this week.” “With 50 free, taking one breath can change your time,” Presko said. “I mean, just breathing can hurt you, so you have to

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think about it every time. It’s all of the little things that will make or break your time. Did you jump off the block too late? Did you flip too early? Should you have taken that breath? During the race you can’t exactly think about it, you just have to get in and swim.” In the third month of the swim season, fractions of seconds are becoming more difficult to shave off according to Presko. “It can be heartbreaking sometimes when you feel like you put in so much work and then you look up at the time and you gained a half second. I know it doesn’t sound like much but it makes a difference,” Presko said. “But then, when you drop time, even if it’s just fractions of a second, it’s very accomplishing.” The last time a student from the girl’s swim team made a state cut was in 2015, but this year, Presko, Viles and the rest of the relay time have a clear shot at making it past conference. And for Braman and Presko, this shot will be their last. “I’ll be pretty dang happy if we make it to state,” Presko said. “I mean the last time anyone from Winnetonka girls’ swim team has gone to state was my freshman year with a relay team, and now I’m a senior. I’ve always kind of wanted to go to state and this may be our chance to do it.” Above: Junior Eden Viles looks forward during a backwards summersault at the Jan. 9 meet at the Gladstone Community Center where she took first place. Photo by KatieBullock. To see the full photo gallery from that meet, scan the QR code.

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