2016 Intro. Feature Magazine

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INTRO. TO NEWSPAPER’S

FEATURE

MAGA-

ZINE Dec 20, 2 ember 016

PHONE

Phones are everywhere at West, but what problems come with phones?

By Devin Nolte BZZZZ BZZZZ. Your phone vibrates during an English test. You suddenly lose all focus on what you are doing, and your mind starts to drift. Who could that be? Did my mom send me a picture of our dog? Is it a snap from that cute girl I like? Did someone mention me in Phil Keitel, Student Advisory a tweet? That notification Center Coordinator could mean thousands issue. Keitel is in charge of things--none of which of the phone lockers for pertain to your English juniors and seniors. test--and all it takes is “[The phone locker] is a one wee vibration to start good thing, because kids the distracting thoughts. know it’s there. Kids that According to a survey of don’t care don’t ever get 250 West High students, their cell phone in there, 95 percent of students because they would rathown a phone, and the diser go home than give up ruptions caused by phone their cell phone,” Keitel addiction have become said. a problem for a vast majority of stu“I personally think cell dents.

phones are a bigger problem than drugs.”

Phones have become a regular part of a student’s day, and Student Advisory Center Coordinator Phil Keitel has noticed the

The phone lockers help to keep some kids off their phone, but they are not enough to stop phone usage altogether.

Students may prioritize their phones before their studies, and this ultimately harms what grades students earn, whether or not they earn their high school diploma, and what kind of college they can get into.

“When you add cell phones to the mix, that’s what [the students] are the most concerned about, and school becomes an afterthought,” Keitel said.

Keitel believes cell phones are becoming the biggest problem among students.

“I personally think cell phones are a bigger problem than drugs. The thing about drug addiction is that you don’t know you’re addicted until it’s too late, so when it comes to cell phones, kids are given them so early in their life, and then kids can’t get off them,” Mr. Keitel said.

Phones are being given to kids at earlier and earlier ages, and this causes them to feel like they need a phone to live,

AROUND THE COUNTRY • • • • •

24% of teens are online “constantly” 92% of teens go online daily Only 2% of teens are online less than once a week Male teens send 2,539 texts a day Female teens send 4,050 texts a day

Stats According to Pew Research

2 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

causing them to spend most of their lives online. According to the Washington Post, teenagers in America spend nine hours a day online, much of this time spent on phones.

“If a kid has a phone in their pocket, and they are taking a test, and they feel it vibrate, nine times out of ten, they can’t get

Crissy Vigil ‘17 that vibration out of their head. They literally do not have the ability to get the thought out of their head, essentially like a drug,” Mr. Keitel said.

Even the students with good grades have phones and often prioritize their online social life over school itself.

Most students have phones, but what is it like for the five percent that do not? Crissy Vigil ‘17 is one of the few who does not have a personal cell phone at West.

“Sometimes it’s better because I don’t have to worry about the drama, but also worse because sometimes I feel discon-

nected,” Vigil said. Vigil has also notices how much students use and rely on their phones, and from her perspective--she finds it rather annoying.

“Sometimes it really bugs me because then [the students] forget how to communicate with people in person,” Vigil said.

It is clear that phone addiction is a present and growing problem, and there is nothing slowing it down, not even the new app Pocket Points. Pocket Points was implemented with the idea that students could earn points while their phone was off during school hours, and then redeem those points for discounts at stores or restaurants. Keitel does not believe it is working to its intent.

“People just bring in another phone, they’ve found ways to hack it, and it’s just a joke,” Keitel said.

Pocket points has only been online at West a few weeks, and already seems to be rapidly declining in use, based on the in-app leader board which shows that students are not earning as many points as in the first couple weeks.

Phones, at times, can be beneficial to students, but as Vigil puts it, “People need to know the limits of usage, if that makes sense.

Don’t stop talking to people face to face like humans were meant to do.”

ADDICTION STUDENTS AT WEST Percent of students with personal phone

Smart phones among phone owners

Average grade of first phone

7

Students who use phone during school hours

Average time students are willing to give up phone

th

Average number of Snapchat streaks

7

6

Days

per student

INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 3

F E AT U R E

MISANDRISM? EQUALITY?

FEMINISM.

REDEFINING FEMINISM

BY FRANCES DAI AND LYDIA GUO

T

he protester yelled, waving a sign with the words “Equal Pay For Equal Work.” The nonconformist followed as the stream of people poured out into the street, chanting.

Some think feminists are radicals, extremists, man-haters. This d e m o n s t r at o r disagrees.

To him, feminism means equality.

Feminism has been, and continues to be, a controversial topic in society.

With many interpretations on what the word exactly means, and the stigma that comes with the term, many students struggle to call themselves a ‘feminist’. However, some, such as Emily Buck ’19, have openly accepted the label. “[My definition of feminism is] wanting equal rights for men and women [and] having the genders be equal,” Buck said.

Agreeing with Buck’s definition of feminism, Yiwen Gao ’17 said, “ [Feminists advocate for] equal pay for equal work. And besides salaries, just equal treatment in general.”

Buck explains the wage gap is an example of a discrimination toward half of the population, although it may not be the most apparent, it is still discrimination nonetheless. Therefore, she believes that it is an important topic that must be discussed because it directly affects women in America.

Melanie Cloud Gross, former board member of the League of Women Voters of Johnson County and a women’s studies major, explained what her definition of feminism was. “[Feminism is] advocating for equality between men and woman. Closing, or even lessening, the gap in male

4 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

versus female privilege,” Gross said.

Along with misunderstandings of what the term ‘feminism’ entitles, Gao has heard a number of misconceptions about the movement. “[I’ve heard people say] that all feminists hate men, and that we want a society where men aren’t there, [and] that’s just not true,” Gao said.

Feminism is often confused or associated with misandrism, or the hatred of men. Buck has encountered similar fallacies about feminism.

“Being a feminist is not all like ‘women are superior’, it’s more like women should be treated the same as men,” Buck said. “As a feminist, you have to be okay with that because you can’t elevate women higher than men because everyone should be equal.”

Nick Stilwell ’19, however, has a different

view on the topic.

“I think that the general ideas of feminism are very good because I support equality, both legally and socially. [But] I feel like if you’re too aggressive with things it won’t convince anyone and just push them away from the ideals that you’re trying to get across,” Stilwell said.

Stilwell believes that the ‘dictionary definition’ and

MYTH “EVEN IF IT’S OVER ISSUES THAT DON’T AFFECT [MEN] LIKE WOMEN’S RIGHTS, THEY SHOULD WANT EQUAL RIGHTS FOR EVERYONE BECAUSE THERE’S NO REASON WHY WOMEN SHOULD GET LESS OPPORTUNITIES THAN MEN.” - Sean Brown ’19

ideas of the movement are morally right but says he has a problem with the actions of the individuals of the organization.

“I feel like it’s gotten too far in some areas. I’m not saying in general, but the policy positions of it have become too extreme that I wouldn’t support [them] and it seems to be almost considered sexist to oppose it,” said Stilwell.

Although Stilwell is male, not all males disagree with the principles of feminism. Sean Brown ’19, who believes in equality for both genders, thinks that all men, at a certain extent, should support feminism.

“Even if it’s over issues that don’t affect [men] like women’s rights, they should want equal rights for everyone because there’s no reason why women should get less opportunities than men,” Brown said.

Yajatra Kulkarni ’19, another male West student, agrees with Brown. Kulkarni said that as a male, he can support the movement to promote equality.

“I am an advocate for feminism in the sense that I can only support feminists. In other words, I can only help females earns the rights they want, but I can’t earn those rights for them,” said Kulkarni. People like Brown and Kulkarni prove that feminism isn’t a gender term, and is not only advocated by females.

Now that the meaning of the term feminism has been portrayed with such a wide range of interpretations, the true meaning is somewhat abstract. As a widely debated and controversial topic, the word has lost a standard definition. Does feminism still mean equal rights for both genders? Does feminism entail merely greater or radical change? Instead of mulling over whether not you should be a feminist or not, maybe it’s time to learn to support what you believe is right.

OR

TRUTH? Feminism isn’t an issue in today’s society.

“I completely disagree. Until equal opportunities are available to all women in the world and sexual violence against women completely ends, there will be a need for feminists to give voice to these issues.”

Feminism is the same as misandrism, the hatred of men. “[It’s] celebrating women vs. tearing down men... hating men takes energy that I’d rather spend on lifting up women.”

- MELANIE GROSS,

WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 FEATURE 5

Friendship: The Irresistible

BY SEAN BROWN

F

riendship is something that is necessary for most people to get through their daily routine.

They make us laugh and support whatever goals we have. Everyone has at least one friend that they’re close to and can relate to. But how does a friendship work?

You’ll find out that it’s much more than two people who like to talk to each other.

Gary Neuzil Friendship doesn’t just happen--it can be directly related to science and the brain. Psychology teacher Gary Neuzil sees friendship from a psychological standpoint. To him, it’s not just a bond between two friends, but something that affects the brain and becomes essential to function normally.

“Friendships can activate natural neurotransmitters, which can activate parts of the brain that can release pleasure zones in the brain,” Neuzil said. “Friendship can release chemicals in the brain that will make the person feel very good, as if they were getting pain relief medication from a doctor [...] so the body is responding to the friend as if they are so satisfied or so naturally high that they want to be with that friend more and more.”

Although friendships don’t have the same harmful effects as a drug, they both satisfy the brain and become a necessary part of life.

This is why people suffer so much after they lose a best friend or go through a breakup. According to a study done by Katerina Johnson, a student at Oxford, friendship is more powerful than some drugs. ‘“Endorphins are [...] our body’s

Drug

natural painkillers and also give us feelings of pleasure [...],”’ said Johnson. ‘“[,,,] endorphin has a powerful pain-killing effect -stronger even than morphine.”’

If endorphins have a stronger impact on us than the drug that was used to stop pain during World War II, then our social network is more important than it seems.

Paul Breitbach, a By looking at your best friend, you might be able to guidance counselor come up with a multitude at West, also values highly.. of characteristics that gave patience “I think patience [is them that position in the first place. Though, there’s no important], both with doubt that they have some themselves and with flaws as well. Even with these their friends because Paul Breitbach flaws, it is possible for them to be we’re all going to gotten rid of and for someone to make mistakes. That’s become a “perfect friend.” Anna just part of being Truszkowski ’18, a very social human and realizing that if your person, disagrees that achieving best friend does something that an ideal friendship is possible. hurts you, it doesn’t mean that “I don’t think any person can they’re no longer your best friends.

Part of relationships be the perfect friend,” and friendships are she said. “You can look strengthened when for and find a good you can get through friend or a best friend those tough times.” even, but I don’t think Breitbach regards any one person can communication as be the perfect friend.” “the most important Although Truszkowski thing.” Not just any doesn’t believe in a Anna Truszkowski ‘18 kind, but verbal faultless friendship, she communication does believe in people specifically. A text improving on their faults so that they can be a better friend. or Snapchat doesn’t always display “I think that if you want to be a the intent or emotion behind what good friend, you have to always be the person is saying very well. Their yourself because then you’ll find a message could be taken the wrong friend that will actually value you way since a text can’t carry the tone and your time and your personality,” that the person meant for it to have.

Friendship is profoundly Truszkowski said. “I think it’s very important to be very patient important and if it’s handled well, with people when they’re going it can produce a healthy, lifelong through hard times and that way relationship. Everyone depends you can become [strong] willed.” on their friends to support them

6 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTRO TO NEWSPAPER

through hard times and make the good times even better. It’s just as important to realize what great friends we have and try to become better ones ourselves.

Friendship is the drug that get us through the pain and makes our lives, extraordinary.

5

Most Important Characteristics

Caring Check to see if your friends are okay! They might have a problem that they’re holding in but need help with.

Considerate It helps a lot to consider the person’s feelings or position and choose to not say something or do something for them when they’re in need of help.

Funny Humor is always a great trait to has. It can brighten someone’s day and make spending time with someone more fun.

Adventurous Doing the same things every hangout gets boring quick. Going on adventures and getting out of the usual routine can be exciting and open you up to new and amazing experiences.

Nice

Although this is a very basic trait, it’s necessary for any healthy relationship. Saying or doing nice things even as small as complimenting someone’s outfit goes a long way.

INTRO TO NEWSPAPER DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 7

THE SCHOOL THAT NEVER SLEEPS

BY TING GAO

8 SECTION DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Sleep. It’s the one thing that is on your mind these days. Everything in this world seems to conspire against your pursuit of a few hours of shut-eye. There’s always plenty of homework that needs to be done, people to chat with on social media, and extracurriculars to keep you at school until late at night. All of this comes together to consume your free time, until all of a sudden, you realize that it is two in the morning. This ensures a mad scramble to get to bed to catch what measly bit of sleep you can manage to snatch. After too short a time, your alarm sounds, and you rise like the living dead and drag yourself out of the house.

To replace sleep, you chug caffeine, and get ready to go back to school, to repeat this awful process yet again, all while functioning like a zombie. This is the new reality of sleep deprivation that teenagers today face. After all, according to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2014 Sleep in America Poll, over half of 15-17 yearolds get 7 or less hours of sleep per night, which falls an hour or more short of the recommended amount.

The sort of impact this sleep deprivation has on teenagers is huge. According to Dr. Ellen Link, a pediatrician at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the recommended amount of sleep that teenagers get is 8-10 hours of sleep a night. “Teens are particularly impacted by lack of sleep. They actually require more sleep than adults,” Link said. “ Sleep is very important for learning and school performance.

In addition to cognitive deficits and attention problems as mentioned above, lack of sleep can lead to impairments in executive function (working memory, organization, time management, sustained effort), trouble with abstract thinking, decreased efficiency and

resultant lower academic achievement and increased dropout rates.”

During a recent survey conducted at West High, 95% of the 20 people surveyed said they slept 8 or less hours a night, which means that they were not getting enough sleep. 30% reported an average daily tiredness, on a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being extremely tired, of 9-10.

Another 30% reported an average daily tiredness of 7-8.

This indicates a high level of tiredness, one that has not been improved by the later start times. Despite the fact that the later start times were introduced in order to help teens get more sleep, 35% of respondents reported that the later start times did not impact their sleep schedule at all, while another 35% reported that it actually negatively impacted their sleep schedule.

Need some help getting to sleep? Here are a few tips from Dr. Link: - Stick to a sleep schedule with the same bedtime and wake time, even on the weekends - Have a consistent bedtime routine every night. It should include quiet activities that promote sleep such as reading with a dim light. Avoid use of electronics at least 30 minutes before bedtime.

-Avoid naps, especially in the late afternoon -Exercise daily, but ideally not right before bedtime.

-Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows in a dark, quiet room -Avoid caffeine and heavy meals in the evening.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 SECTION 9

Are You Consuming Much Sugar?

T The truth behind America’s addiction.

BY ABBIE CALLAHAN AND JESSICA MOOMJELY

It’s 4:37 am. You woke up early to finish homework. You reach for an energy drink (29g) and get started.

After you finish up your homework, you are eager to eat breakfast. So you pour a bowl of cheerios (1.2g) and add in a splash of milk (13g). You get dressed and head out the door. By the time lunch rolls around, you are starving. You go to the cafeteria and get a slice of pizza (3.8g), a bag of chips (0.1g), a chocolate chip cookie (9g), and a Coke to wash it all down (39g). After school, you drive home. You can't start on homework without a snack. So you quickly grab a granola bar (8g) and head upstairs to work on homework. After hours of procrastinating, it's time for dinner. You cook up spaghetti (0.8g). You pour on the tomato sauce (8g). And you enjoy. Women should consume no more than six teaspoons of sugar per day, whereas men should consume no more than nine teaspoons of sugar per day. Congrats! You just consumed over 22 teaspoons. Bon appetit, your pitiful daily diet could end up causing numerous complications and send you into an early grave.

Natural Sugar

Glucose refers to natural or simple sugars, which are found in all foods that have carbohydrates, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions. Glucose is necessary for all living things; it is even produced by your body. Natural sugar also produces cellular energy and is easily broken down by the body.

Fructose is another simple sugar and it is often referred to as fruit sugar because it is mostly found in fruits and honeys. However, that doesn’t mean fructose is good for you. Fructose is not as easily broken down by the body because the liver is forced to break it down.

Another thing the liver breaks down is alcohol. Just like alcohol, fructose is metabolized directly into fat.

Refined Sugar

Sucrose is a complex, processed sugar. This adds the sweet taste to the coffee you drink, and is in most junk foods that we crave. Overconsumption of refined sugars can lead to weight gain, increased blood pressure and cholesterol levels, higher risk for diabetes, fatty liver disease, cancer, and heart disease. “Scientists have found that sugar is addictive and stimulates the same pleasure centers of the brain as cocaine or heroin. Just like those hard-core drugs, getting off sugar leads to withdrawal and cravings, requiring an actual detox process to wean off,” according to Dailyburn.com.

The Daily Struggle

Meet Trent Miller ’19. Most school days, Miller begins his day with a 52 oz. cup of Pepsi. That’s 169 grams (33.8 teaspoons) of sugar, or over four and a half days worth of sugar.

“I’m always pretty tired, so the pop helps me stay awake and focused. Also, who wouldn’t want this much Pepsi?” said Miller.

Miller is one of many students at West who look towards sugary beverages for a quick fix for lack of sleep. But there are many consequences to these quick fixes, dietitian Susan Szmyrgala of the University of Iowa, has seen the dangers of overconsumption of processed sugar. “Some dangers include consuming calories without nutrition value, addictive nature, weight gain, and cavities. Diseases found to be associated with high added sugar intake include diabetes, obesity, heart disease and liver disease,”said Szmyrgala.

10 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER

The Test To test how hard it is to maintain a low refined sugar diet, Jessica Moonjely ’20 gave up processed sugar for three days. “I walked into the experiment thinking it would be a piece of cake, because I consider myself a generally healthy person…boy was I wrong,” said Moonjely.

Day 1:

For breakfast, I had two slices of whole wheat bread toasted with a spread, blackberries, and a glass of 1% low fat milk. I missed my usual cereal, but at this point I was feeling pretty good. For lunch, I tried to see if I could find a school lunch that would meet my diet requirements. There weren’t a whole lot of options, so I ended up buying a salad, an orange, carrots, and a bottle of 1% low fat milk. To be honest, I just ate the salad to eat something and wouldn’t have eaten it otherwise. It was cold with soggy pieces of vegetables, and I didn’t enjoy it much. By the time school ended, I was feeling kind of hungry. I found myself about to reach for a granola bar, but then remembered my diet and grabbed an apple. For dinner, I had salmon fillet and roasted red potatoes. As I was doing my homework I realized that I felt the urge to be snacking on something sweet. After staring inside my refrigerator, I grabbed some grapes to munch on.

By the time I went to bed I just felt pretty bored. I wanted the taste of something more, but I just didn’t know what.

Day 2:

Today I woke up feeling really tired. For breakfast, I had two slices of whole wheat bread toasted with a non-butter spread, scrambled eggs, and a glass of water. For lunch, I bought a home lunch. In my lunch I had a vegetarian wrap , orange slices, blackberries, and a bottle of water. When I got home I was still feeling sluggish and craved for that sweet taste. For dinner I had chicken and spinach with white rice and a glass of water. After doing my homework I found myself with nothing to do. It was then that I realized idle hands during a low refined sugar diet could be detrimental, so I decided to go run on the treadmill. Surprisingly enough, after running I felt pretty good and no longer craved for a sugary treat.

Day 3:

Rejuvenated. That’s how I felt today. Not tired or hungry. For breakfast, I had a strawberry smoothie. The smoothie was pretty filling, I could definitely see myself having this on a regular day. For lunch, I had a vegetarian wrap, raspberries, a cheese stick, and a bottle of water. It was a similar lunch to Day 2, but this time I felt it was much more filling. For dinner, I had home-made macaroni and cheese. This may not be the healthiest dinner, but it was very low in refined sugars. Babysteps. Overall, today I felt pretty awesome. Some cravings were still present, but none of them I felt had any “power” over me. ” This is a feeling is totally alright if you keep it in check.

Is completely cutting out processed sugar the answer?

Yes, but it won't be easy. Just like an alcoholic in rehab, it is a painful process filled with cravings and possible headaches. “Like any addiction, you need to ‘ride out the storm.’ A healthy well balanced diet with adequate protein and fiber helps. I have noticed it takes about three to five weeks for the craving to calm,” said Szmyrgala.

It is worth it, in just a few weeks you will be feeling healthier and happier. “By cutting out simple sugars, our body’s metabolism works more efficiently, keeping our energy levels stable – therefore possibly improving mood,” said Szmyrgala. Maybe completely cutting out sugar isn't quite your speed, but one thing is for sure: cutting down sugars is essential to a healthier life.

WSSPAPER DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 5

The Darkside of Pocket Points

The exploitation of the app Pocket Points and its reward system

A busy, bustling group of students are hanging around the room awaiting the start of class. They are snapchatting, instagramming, tweeting, and all other ways to share their lives on their phones. The bell rings, class begins, and everyone is still on their phones and being distracted from the lecture. This problem has found its solution with an app called, Pocket Points. West High brought Pocket Points to the school early in December and within the first week, over 200 students downloaded the app. However, there has been a recent rise of hackers that have abused the reward system and use it to get a massive amount of points they can use in real stores and places to get free or discounted items.

Pocket Points is an app, created by Rob Richardson and Mitch Gardner, two college students from California State University, that rewards points for having your phone turned off for period of time. These points can be redeemed for discounts at a variety of stores in your local area or online.

They were inspired to create the app by the amount of students using their phones during class and created Pocket Points to combat this increasing usage. Richardson believed that there needed to be an incentive to get people off their phones, however this has sparked an unwanted result.

Due to the app’s relatively slow reward system at West High many

“hackers” have messed with the app in order to quickly obtain more points. This is done by ways such as location spoofing and altering the phone’s internal clock.

Ander Fuller ’18, has used the app as an opportunity to work on his coding skills.“I’m always curious about how the stuff works, and playing around with it is a good way to learn,” Fuller said. Fuller explained that in order to do this he has “packets” which are filled with data that he sends to Pocket Points in order to manipulate the score.

“They [packets] basically say give person “x”, “n” many points and boom,” Fuller said.

Although the “hacks” can be fun or a good learning opportunity for -Evan Flitz ’18 those engaged in the act, it has the opposite effect for other people who use the app fairly. There are many who feel discouraged by the people who have been tinkering with the app. One of these people is Evan Flitz ’18, one of the first users of Pocket Points at West High.

“It feels kind of unfair that some people can use the app inappropriately and get a ton of points, while the people who play fair don’t get as many,” Flitz said.

The developers of Pocket Points have taken notice towards the hackers and the frustration felt by students like Flitz.

“It feels kind of unfair that some people can use the app innapropiately to get a ton of apps while people who play fair don’t get as much”

12 FEATURES DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Brent Glowatch, the administration manager at Pocket Points, said they are aware of the issue and will be releasing an update soon. “It [the update] will use a type of flagging system so that we know who troubled users are,” Glowatch said. Currently the company tries to correct the points of hackers manually, so that the points they have gained through hacking are removed, but they can’t stop everyone currently.

People hacking Pocket Points are putting the app itself in a bad situation as companies who decide to be apart of the Pocket Points reward system could be inclined to withdraw their support. This situation could be for the better though as Pocket Points will then have to figure out solutions to these problems and improve the application. In fact progress has already been made by Pocket Points since these issues and Fuller’s account has been banned. Hopefully, we can all get back to earning pocket points legitimately.

BY HIEU NGUYEN, WALTER DONICH, AND KAUSHIK RAGHAVAN

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURES 13

Aspiring A at West

BY CORISSA GAVIN

Y

ou place your pencil down on the paper. You sit and think.

After some blank stares, the idea finally hits you. You quickly scribble down some words as a story develops in front of you. Suddenly, you realize this is what you want to do for the rest of your life. There are many options for you if you want to be a writer: authors, scriptwriters, programmers, and much more.

Mia Irving ’20 is one West High student who wants to become a writer. Irving started writing in the summer of fifth grade and that same year, she decided she wanted to be a fiction writer. Irving was inspired by “reading other stories” and the authors, like Rick Riordan, author of Percy

14 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

Jackson and the Olympians. Irving said that she has started writing three novels, and got about 50 pages into each.

She starts a new novel when she gets bored of the one that she is writing.

Irving has many different styles of novels.

“I like them all equally,” said Irving.

All of her novels are about parties and someone almost dying. Irving enjoys writing and writes whenever she can; sometimes she will write every day. Other times she will spread it out over a few months. Writing has not caused a problem with her schoolwork, but it has created conflicts with her sleep schedule.

“The only time I have to write is after I do homework and by then it’s almost 10. I write for how long I want and by then it’s past my bedtime and I’m so tired, but it’s worth it because I wrote something” Irving said.

“I remember that I made myself write every day [in the summer of fifth grade]… and it was a lot of pages,” Irving said.

Ian Prescott ’19 enjoys writing, but

hasn’t considered becoming a professional writer. He started writing in fifth grade in an assignment for class. “[The story] was about this guy who was walking through a forest.

He found a dungeon and then he woke up in bed and got killed,” said Prescott. .

In eighth grade, Prescott’s English teacher introduced him to writing competitions. “I started getting into writing more that way,” Prescott said.

Prescott has participated in the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, but hasn’t completed a novel. However, every year he is getting more and more words written.

“I’m not very consistent with writing; it’s like a spur of the moment,” Prescott said.

Erik Therme, a 1990 graduate of City High School, is a published author and

father. When he was a child, he liked drawing and writing comics. This passion burgeoned into reading novels, and then into writing. When he was 15, his parents bought him a typewriter and he started to write a story.

“It was pretty horrible, but I loved the experience, and from there I continued to write more stories,” said Therme. .

Therme self-published his first novel, Mortom, and six months later, Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer Publishing re-published it with his permission.

It takes Therme two years to finish a book.

“Of course, that’s when the real work begins: marketing and promotion,” Therme said. “If you want to be a writer, sit down and write. It’s that simple. I know too many people who enjoy the thought of being an author, but they never actually write or finish anything. Writing is hard work. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 15

“Don’t be afraid to write badly--especially on the first draft. The important thing is to get your story down on the page.” -Erik Therme

Authors High

THE GREAT COFFEE DEBATE!

16 FEATURE DECE,MBER 2016 INTRO TO NEWSPAPER

because it used to have a vegetarian cake and Starbucks is more consistent and faster. One I used to get that all the time, [but last year] reason for this, Armstrong feels, is Java has been someone took me to Java and was just like, ‘Hey switching out many new employees.

Every student knows the feeling of exhaustion let’s go and study there,”’ Jain said.

“A lot of [the new employees] are still learning that comes with heaps of homework being Since then, he’s been hooked. “I really like Java, how to make a really good coffee, which is totally assigned every night. The feeling of long hours it’s good, it’s close, it’s nice, [and] it’s enjoyable,” fine, I totally understand that, but sometimes the cramming for a test or writing an essay until Jain said. Because he is a vegan, Jain simply drinks aren’t as consistently made, so one day the crack of dawn, by the time you make it to visits Java for the atmosphere and to enjoy the you’ll get a mint mocha and it tastes really great. school, you feel droopy and you can’t company of his friends.

The next day you get the same thing and it’s focus on anything. All in all, you’re “[Java and Starbucks] both kind of iffy because you had a different barista,” practically delirious, so you turn to have some sort of a coffee house Armstrong said. coffee for an energy boost. The only atmosphere,but Armstrong has noticed that question is, where should you go to Starbucks just seems Starbucks has many employees buy your caffeinated savior, Starbucks like one of those normal behind the counter making drinks or Java House? places you go to,” he said. as opposed to Java which usually Starbucks and Java House are two “It reminds me of walking only has one or two. This results in of the most popular coffee shops in Lexi Moore ‘19 into a McDonald’s. It’s Java drinks taking longer. “If I’m the Iowa City area. Starbucks is an everywhere and it’s in a rush to somewhere, not only international chain created in 1971 normal, there’s nothing do they, [Starbucks], have a drive Kat Armstrong ‘18 according to the chain’s official website. different about it. When you go into through, but their service is just so On the other hand, Java is a local chain founded Java, it just seems more comfortable, much faster,”Armstrong said.

by Tara Cronbaugh in 1994 on the second floor more like a work atmosphere, which is why it’s Though she prefers Java over Starbucks, of Prairie Lights, a local bookstore. Since then, more fun to go to Java than Starbucks. Java is Armstrong recognizes both chains to be strong Java has expanded to other areas like the U of I just more like a home.” businesses. “Coffee shops are just really great Iowa and Mormon Trek.

However Nicole Fitzpatrick ‘19 disagrees. places to study [in general],” Armstrong said.

Lexi Moore ‘19 prefers Java over Starbucks Being to both chains, Fitzpatrick Both Starbucks and the Java House are after going to each for several years. prefers Starbucks over the Java respectable coffee shops with their pros and First introduced to the coffee shop House. cons. It is up to the consumer to pick which shop by her mother, Moore has stuck with “There are just more options, and they choose to get their caffeine fix. If you prefer Java for its great coffee and local I like their coffee better,” Fitzpatrick a place where you can focus on homework with convenience. said. a homey feel, pick the Java House, but if you “[Java] has more of a real coffee Moore agrees that Starbucks has want a quick drink with many options to choose taste than Starbucks; Starbucks seems more drink options, even though from, pick Starbucks. “I love coffee….so I think like it has more sugar in it. [Plus] Java she is a Java fan, “The variety of they’re both really great,” Armstrong said.

Chirag Jain ‘18 is way closer to my house. It’s just a drinks [at Java], I wouldn’t say is as five minute drive to get there,” Moore large as Starbucks,” Moore said. said.

Both coffee shops have their advantages and While Moore is a Java veteran, Chirag Jain ‘18 disadvantages, as illustrated by Kat Armstrong only heard about the Java House last year. Before ‘18, a supporter of both chains. In Armstrong’s then, Starbucks was his main coffee shop source. opinion, Java has a more personal feel, but “When I was small, I used to go to Starbucks

BY ANNA BROWN

Have you been to Starbucks or Java?

Which do you prefer?

INTRO TO NEWSPAPER DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 17

Dating Disasters

What could possibly go wrong?

“It wasn’t really supposed to be a date. I went to the movies with three of my friends. We went to see a scary movie and one of the my friends I went with didn’t like scary movies, so she kept grabbing my hand and holding on to me. She tried to do that after too, and it was just very awkward. I ended up distancing myself from her.” ““It was homecoming night. The night before stayed up really late, and all of the girls missed their appointments, so we had to do everything ourselves. Me and my date went in a group and in the middle of homecoming, we decided to leave for food. We ended up getting pulled over and the cop didn’t want to hear any excuses so we ended up hanging out in the lobby since we couldn’t get back in.”

-Alex Pierce ‘19

-Anonymous student’19

Design by Alexandra Pitz

“It was just suppose to be a regular date. We were going out to a movie then out to eat. It was last year in August.

She started ask me about marriage and family things and about the kids name’s that she had picked out. I started to get quiet because i was scared at what was going on. I started to be distant and tell her that this isn’t how things are gonna work. This was a slow relationship. She then picked up a forked and stabbed me. It was very awkward.

She was very made.”

-Julian Jones ‘17

PAGE 18 DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Article by Haley Wojciechowski The Worst date… Ever?!

Most of us out there have been on a date.

Sometimes they can get awkward but they usually end well, or so we thought. Well as it turns out, they don’t. Dates can go hilariously wrong, but you still end up becoming closer with your date. Or, they can go very bad, ruining the whole night and the relationship. When you think of horrible dates I’m guessing you think of spilling something on the other person, calling them the wrong name, going too far, etc. Well that’s not always the case. There are three stories that are going to be told , from our very own teachers here, at West High.

Spanish teacher Dave Rosenthal had a graduating class of 20 people in a very small high school. He was 18 years old. It was his senior prom and he had asked a “young lady,” to go to prom with him, Rosenthal said.

“At first she said no, she was holding off for someone else. And the other person never asked her, so at the last minute she said yes, because she wanted to go,” Rosenthal said.

They went to dinner beforehand, and didn’t speak much. They arrived at the dance and she ran off to find her friends, leaving Rosenthal alone. Even though they only danced once, it didn’t affect him that much. Senior prom was a let down for him.

“Prom gets built up for a much bigger hype then it typically is,” Rosenthal said.

It, thankfully, didn’t discourage him from dating.

The date was extremely awkward. When asked to rate it from one to ten, with 10 being the most awkward, he said, “either eight or nine.”

After prom, it just ended and they didn’t talk much afterward. He’s not in contact with her anymore.

“The advice I would give to you, teenagers, is to have self-respect.

Stick to your word,” Rosenthal said.

American Studies teacher Neil Davis also had an awkward date, although his was in 7th grade.

His best friend and him were going to go on a double date together with their girlfriends, and while they were at his house getting ready, his best friend asked him do something.

“The thing he has asked me was, to give him a haircut. I tried to tell him it was a bad idea but he wouldn’t listen, so I did it.

And it was a bad idea,” Davis said.

They eventually had to leave, so his friend decided to wear a stocking cap, to cover this horrible haircut Davis had given. They went to the roller skating rink for their double date. “He was so mad at me. It was my first date and his hair was all messed up and he was so mad at me. He didn’t have any fun, which means I didn’t have fun. The girls kept trying to figure out what was going on but he wouldn’t tell them,” Davis said.

He learned his lesson. He says he’s never going to give another haircut ever. He is still in contact with his friend, and they are very close to this day. Davis said he’s forgiven him for the bad haircut “I advise you guys to never give someone a haircut, no matter how many times they ask, always say no,” Davis said.

It was just a normal day for Science teacher Maureen Head. She was out, hanging around, having fun, doing what a woman in her twenties would normally do. But suddenly, a guy out of nowhere came up to her and asked for her number.

She denied him several times, saying she was not interested. Finally, after his persistence , she finally gave him her number. And that is how this horrible date came to be.

“I don’t know why I gave him my real number, but then I ended up having to go on the date with him,” Head said.

So, she went on this date, unenthusiastically and it turned out exactly how she thought it would, horrible and awkward. “We went out to eat and it was terrible conversation, and we didn’t really have that much in common and it was super awkward.”

This made her realize that if someone harrasses you for your number, then they’re not the right people to go on a date with. It was just very awkward, with lots of awkward silences, Head said.

She feels that the fact that she didn’t listen to her gut made this date go so wrong. She’s not in contact with him anymore. “I don’t even remember this guy’s name,” Head said.

The wise words that she has to offer us teens, is that “usually your instincts are right. Go with your gut and trust your instincts, ladies and gentlemen.”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 PAGE 19

BEHIND THE CURTAINS

BY NATALIE DUNLAP AND ABBY NACHTMAN

As the lights dim in the West High auditorium, the theatre quiets and you wait in anticipation to view the talents of your fellow peers. You’re probably wondering how students will perform your favorite song or scene from the play, not about more than a hundred stage crew students behind the curtain, working on everything from lights and microphones to costumes and makeup, making the performance the best it can be.

There are many different departments of stage crew: stage managers, lights, sound, props, set, costume, hair, makeup and production. All these different crews with their variety of jobs come together to create the final performance.

“It’s a mutual respect for everybody and all the parts have to work together, which I think they do, and that’s why it’s a great show,” said Theatre Director Katy Nahra.

The stage crew puts a lot of thought into every aspect of the performances. Small things are what make the play experience more special and vivid, bringing the show to life.

“It’s tons of detail work,” Nahra said.

Scene changes are one of the instances where being exact is crucial. If a piece is not on it’s mark, the whole scene is off. This is a challenge because stage crew members have to keep in mind the safety of their crew and cast members as they work in the dark.

“We had some bigger pieces that had to be moved very quickly and I thought they did an excellent job with it,” Nahra said, regarding the scene changes in The Wizard of Oz.

PICTURE BY ABBY NACHTMAN

20 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

PICTURE BY ABBY NACHTMAN

Faces Behind the Curtain

When Jaya Blanchard ’17 was a sophomore she was recommended to Nahra by Kate Vander Leest to be a stage manager. The stage manager at the time was a senior, so Blanchard was trained to take on the role as a junior.

“I… wish I would have been involved freshman year because…it’s a really welcoming group of people and it’s really rewarding to see…something that so many people are working on come together,” Blanchard said.

As stage manager, Blanchard is in charge of keeping people productive, coordinating the different departments, being Nahra’s assistant and, Blanchard jokes, her life coach. Brianna Bradshaw ’17 is also a stage manager. This year, Blanchard was in charge of The Wizard of Oz and Bradshaw will be working on Les Miserables, the spring musical. “[One of my favorite things is] going on errands during tech Saturdays…Bri and I…go to thrifts shops to get things for the show, it’s really fun,” Blanchard said.

“I’ve always been around production,” said Caitlyn Mckenna ’17.

Mckenna has been head of the hair crew since the end of her freshman year, but before that she had been on the dance crew and helped out with production at Nolte, her dance studio. After seeing West’s performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mckenna wanted to join the stage crew. The first musical Mckenna was involved in was the 2014 performance of Annie.

Mckenna has about thirteen people working with her in hair.

“I’m responsible for coming up with all the hair designs for every character, and then I have to get that approved with the directors, and then once they’re approved I assign…each person in my crew which hair style they’re going to do,” Mckenna said.

Mckenna says finding the hairstyles isn’t very difficult, it’s the assigning that’s a challenge. She must consider who has the experience and skills needed for whatever hairstyle is needed to be done.

For chorus members Mckenna gives the stylist more creative freedom, but stylist working on main actors have to follow the guide Mckenna provides more strictly. One of the problems that arises with giving creative freedom is when Mckenna has to put restrictions on it or has to give constructive criticism.

One of Mckenna’s favorite parts of theatre are the relationships built there.

“You get to know the people you’re…doing hair and makeup on so well; and so from year to year I kind of try to…assign [crew members] to the same person,” Mckenna said.

Hair and makeup are different from other crews because they aren’t necessarily working during the show, they do their part before the play starts. From the audience they see if the hair turned out they way they imagined.

“It’s just fun to see all your hard work get put…into motion,” Mckenna said.

Marina Paul ’17, is head of the props department. Her responsibilities include making a props list from the script, buying props and decorating the stage.

“We’ll go to… Stuff Ext. or Goodwill to buy stuff or we’ll...send out an email and ask if people have any old stuff that we can borrow,” Paul said.

A challenge in The Wizard of Oz for the props crew was making the poppies for the scene which Dorothy enters Oz. The flowers were made out of tissue paper and constructing them was time consuming.

“Both groups work really hard but for... different things...We don’t get as much recognition as people on stage but it’s all ok because it’s fun and we have a good time doing it,” Paul said.

Paul joined the stage crew her freshman year, influenced by her brother who was in lights. Last year she became head of props.

Alyssa Clark ’17, head of sound, has been on stage crew since freshman year, when her older brother strongly encouraged her to join theatre. At first, she tried a couple different departments, including set and lights, but after a tech interest meeting for the Annie, she decided to give sound a try, and she has been there ever since.

“I just liked doing mic changes and interacting with the actors and…the tech people too,” Clark said.

As head of sound, she creates a microphone list for the cast scene by scene and trains her crew to do mic switches. This planning is critical because of the set number of mics the sound crew has.

“It’s kind of stressful sometimes because...if something goes wrong with sound [audience members] know something went wrong,” Clark said.

Microphones over five years old malfunction from time to time, which presents a new challenge. Clark also works with sound tracks and effects. Some common sound effects she’s used over the years are: thunder, wind, barking and doorbells.

Of course, theatre isn’t only about tracking down perfect sound effects and keeping track of mics.

“We used to have this cardboard cut out that a senior brought in because she worked at Barnes and Noble and it was the author James Patterson and it was really creepy…so we would just move it around in different places.”

Scott Clark ‘20, Alyssa’s younger brother, works backstage in lighting. Clark joined because many of his friends were on the lighting crew. Even after only being involved in theatre for five months, he plans on being there in the years to come.

“I will definitely stay in theatre,” Clark said. Clark likely sees himself continuing in lighting but may try set building.

Some challenges he’s faced being in lighting are staying quiet during the performance and coordinating his work schedule at Fareway.

For Clark, the best part of theatre is seeing the play come together before it’s performed. He also likes being able to meet people, especially during tech week.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 21

A

comeback

crash

The following trends at West High may be coming to an end as the year closes, but, for the moment, they are still a part of 2016 and will be a reminder of some of the memories it holds for students as 2017 approaches.

BY CARMELA COHEN SUAREZ AND JASMINE BEEMON

(Guin Elderts ‘20) The year 2016 is rapidly com-

ing to a close. Old friendships may be tested, new bonds may be made, memories will be remembered fondly or with regret, and old trends may crash and burn. But, never fear, the year 2017 is about to begin and with it an open window of new opportunities, new memories, new friendships and bonds, and new trends arising from the ashes, or perhaps, making a

booming comeback. 2017 will (Anna Brown ‘19) be a new slate for anything and everything, bring on the new! But, of course, let's not forget about the old. Remembering past events helps shape the future. Our experiences in 2016 should not be forgotten, neither should the abundance of trends that have made an appearance over the course of the year.

Hot Topic choker prices online store excluding shipping Lovesick Galaxy cord Choker-- $3.75 Cord Moon Tattoo Choker set-- $6.50 Black Basic Tattoo stretch choker-- $3/$2.25

(Instagram)

(Instagram)

Since the ‘90s when chokers were booming, they have made a significant comeback in the year 2016. Kaitlyn Meierotto ‘19 doesn’t think it matters whether the trend lives on in 2017 or reaches its’ final resting place in 2016. “Even if the trend dies out I’ll still wear them,” Meierotto said. Meierotto and Anaya McCutcheon do not think that chokers are ‘meant for emos or goths’ and she has not been subjected to any negative comments for her use of them. Chokers are worn as a fashion accessory around the neck and Meierotto thinks they can really bring the outfit together.

As well as the choker trend, hair dying has also been a popular trend at West High school.

PG 22 DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

The End of an Era: The Mannequin Challenge In the past people would normally think of a mannequin as a figure store owners would put clothes on to try and sell a product with. Now, you probably think of people doing something called “The Mannequin Challenge”. This challenge has been circulating all around. Lots of people are doing it and seem to enjoy. Like some, Jasmine Miftahof ‘20 is someone who doesn’t seem to mind the challenge. “It’s better than all the other challenges because it doesn’t involve hurting yourself ”. As for Katelyn Sharp ‘20, she is one of many that doesn’t enjoy it as much. “It’s really annoying because it’s done over and over again. The song is annoying and it’s overplayed”. As year comes to a close some are glad this challenge is finally come to an end. For others, they’ll be waiting to see what is next to come.

(Album cover for mannequin challenge “Black Beetles” by Rae Sremmurd)

Student’s Picks

Cranes in the Sky By Solange- Antonio Clipperton ‘17 I Feel it Coming By The Weeknd- Tomas Sanchez ‘20 Money Mitch By Lil Uzi Vert- Miguel Paredes ‘18 Caroline By Amine- Makenzie Garrett ‘20 Move By Luke Bryan- Olivia Accola ‘20 Child’s Play By Drake- Brie Sonii ‘19 Confident By Demi Lovato- Damarius Levi ‘18

(Album cover of Starboy by The Weeknd)

No Heart By 21 Savage- Janelle Beemon ‘19 Huntin’, Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day By Luke BryanJordan Forbes ‘20 One Dance By Drake- Maddie Ganoe ‘19 WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 PG 23

The best sledding hills near you With the wind in your hair and the fluffy snow in your face, you know you are where you belong’ sledding on the best hills in Johnson County.

By Emma Durian and Mary Longmire

Benton Hill

Benton Hill Park is located on South Gilbert Street in Iowa City, Iowa about 5 miles away from downtown. Benton is known for its beautiful trails and medium-sized hills, perfect for an easy day of sledding. It is a popular site among West students. In a survey completed by West High students, 10% of students said that Benton was their favorite place to go sledding, mostly because of it’s close location to West High. It being so close makes it very accessible to the students.

Kent Park

Kent Park is known for its gorgeous trails, lakes, and forest. Kent Park has big hills, small hills, or really any kind of hill you might want. It is a favorite among many people. The only downside to the awesome hills at Kent Park is that it is located in Oxford, Iowa just outside of Coralville. Kent park is a less popular place to go sledding because of its location. Students who go say it is worth the commute.

Happy Hollow Park

Happy Hollow Park is one of the best sledding spots in the state. The park is home to some of the most massive hills in the area. For someone who enjoys sledding, Happy Hollows Park would be heaven. A short drive from the Old Capital Museum, the park is close for Iowa City students. This would be the perfect spot for a long day of family sledding.

Brown Deer Golf Course

Brown Deer Golf Course is a sledding hot-spot for the Coralville area. Because it is one of the only public places to sled in Coralville, it is the most popular. It is located near Wickham Elementary School, making it convenient for a large number of West High students. 42% of the students who completed the survey said Brown Deer is their favorite place to sled in the area.

W Th a

o p t s m a

g e

Winter break is coming fast, meaning students will have loads of time on their hands.

What to do with this abundance of time has students unsure of what to do. One idea is sledding.

The Iowa City area has oodles of big, steep hills that make for a fun day of sledding. People of all ages can enjoy sledding, and all you need is a sled and some warm winter clothes.

What a lot of people love about sledding is making memories with their family. “A couple of years ago, we were sledding down a hill by a pond which was covered in ice. My sister pushed me down the hill and I stopped on the ice. My dad was right behind me and he fell through the ice,” said Hailee Hardin ’19, “And every year me and my sister will have a race to see who can go down the hill faster.” Sledding provides people with the opportunity to spend more time as a family and create memories. “When I was little, I would always watch my family, and it looked like so much fun, I wanted to do it too,” said Avery Carneol ’19.

While the snow is cold, the positives of going sledding beat the negatives. Not only is it a good chance to bond with family, it’s also a good chance to go outside. “I love going outside and enjoying the snow,” said Carneol.

“It’s fun and what else are you going to do with all that snow,” said Morgan Saylor ’17.

4 1.

Fast & Easy Ways to Make Food

BY MICHELLE KIM

It is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. ()% of West High students don’t eat breakfast. This might be because they don’t have time, they don’t have enough money or they just don’t want to eat breakfast. But no matter what, everyone needs a good start to the day, and why not start with breakfast? Breakfast is important because it starts up your day, the type of food you eat at the start of your day determines how you will be for the rest of the day. So, for those who usually eat microwaved food, here are some ways to mix it up.

Sautéed Salad with Egg

Ingredients: 2 eggs, 2 cups of veggies, vinegar oil, a pan, and a spoon.

In this recipe, the eggs will be poached so grab a pot and poir about half way to the pot, put it on the stove, set it to high and then add a dash of vinegar oil, carefully place eggs and wait 2-3 minutes.

Then slowly take your eggs out and carefully peel the shells.

Get you veggie and you can sauté them by stirring veggies in a pan with vinegar oil in it. Get a spoon and just strif them around for 4 minutes. (Optional:

2. Berry Heaven Yogurt

Ingredients: 1/2 cup of strawberries, 1/2 cup of blueberries, 1/2 cup of raspberries.

For this recipe, get a cup, greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, any other fruits you want to add.

Dump about 2 cups or however much you want, of Greek yogurt You then want to put your fruits on top, then mix with a spoon.

(Optional) Add granola on top if desired

26 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTRO TO JOURNALISM

Can you cook?

3.

Hamlet Ingredients: 2 Eggs, 2 Tbsp. water, ½ tsp. Salt, Dash pepper, Vinegar Oil, ham, baby spinach. (optional: cheese) Beat eggs with salt, pepper, and water in a small bowl until blended Set the stove to Medium, place a pan on the stove, and pour a little bit of vingear oil on the pan.

Slowly pour the egg mixer onto the pan. Push the edges towards the center and continue doing that a spatula.

When it looks cooked, add the ham, baby spinach (optional: cheese) onto one side Then flip the other side of the omelet on top of the ham, spinach and cheese.

Take it off onto a plate.

4. Eggs Benedict Ingredients: Eggs, Hollandaise sauce, toasted biscuit.

Toast your biscuit on a pan with a little bit of vinegar oil.

Optional: You can cook your ham if you want to but you don’t have to. Place you ham on top of your biscuit.

Then cook an egg, it doesnt have to br perfect, then just place it on top of your little tower. If you have Hollandaise sauce thats great, if you don’t, you don’t have to eat it with Hollandaise sause. So pour a little on top and you done!

INTRO TO JOURNALISM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 27

UNSEEN TO MANY

A LOOK AT WEST HIGHS DIVERSIFIED “SOCK GAME” AND WHAT STUDENTS THINK

BY DANIEL SONG AND SANJEEV SARIN ocks. Not a thing we generally think about day to day. When we get ready, we just slide them on and head out the door. However, here at West, the opportunity to discover is abundant. From green stripes to red stripes, bats to bolts, we were given plentiful results after we asked students if they had a unique pair of socks (ranging from crazy, cool, strange, colorful, colored, etc). These pictures and quotes are just enough to observe the “sock diversity” at West High.

1) What makes your pair of socks so unique to you?

S

2) What do your friends specifically think about your pair of socks?

Ben Kruger ’20: (1) I think color scheme makes my socks very unique and how in the summer, they hide my tan line from ankle socks. (2) My friends like my socks because they’re in fashion and sometimes we can twin.

Ian Gluesing ’19: (1) My socks are colorful they have this nice arrow pattern on it. (2) My friends think that my socks are amazing because I always have a cool shirt and pants to match with it.

Zach Peterson ’19: (1) My socks are colorful and the black and blue flowers make it even better. (2) My friends think my socks are really cool because they say it makes me look tropical.

Alexander Wemmie ’17: (1) I like all the visual aspects of my socks, whether it be the patterns or just the symbols. (2) My friends don’t wear socks like mine, so they generally don’t notice. They do compliment me once in awhile.

Nick Brand ’19: (1) I don't know…. My socks are cool because [they are] just blue. (2) My friends think that they are fire.

Joseph Westermeyer ’19: (1) My socks are unique because they show the american flag which my friends also like.

28 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Gavin Luze ’19: (1) My socks are so cool to me because I wear them for football. (2) My friends think my socks are pretty unique because it goes with my football uniform.

COMPILED BY DANIEL SONG

Jack Gray ’20: (1) My socks are unique to me because I took the time to tye-dye by myself so I consider it as an accomplishment.

BY THE NUMBERS

4 BILLION Ivan Cross ’18: (1) I just like the color red.

I mean it’s my favorite color and you have to admit, these look pretty good on me.

Patrick McCaffery ’19: (1) They are just comfortable and simple and they can go with anything I wear. (2) My friends like my socks a lot because I have the same ones but different colors.

27 B.C

6

Just under 4 billion pair of mens, ladies and children’s socks are purchased each year.

The year socks were first used by the Roman empire.

Average number of socks lost by a family of 4.

Ryan Braverman ’18: (1) I think that what makes my socks really unique is the fact that it is made from the prestigious designer, Virgil Abloh.

Dylan Philibert ’20: (1) They can be formal, business, or casual. The toes add a sense of excitement while the black, red, and tan are very “fall like”, serious colors.

Shuntaro Kawasaki ’20: (1) Even though my socks are simple, they’re Polo! You can’t get better than that.

Ainsley Kellogg ’19: (1) My socks are special to me because they have snowflakes on them and they are really comfy.

Colin Eberl ’20: I like them because they are very colorful and they make me more of a colorful person… My friends think I look great because they are colorful

Julian Wemmie ’20: (1) They’re really comfortable and show something about my personality. (2) I change it up everyday so they can expect something new. They’re usually surprised.

Ben Houselog ’20: (1) Ever since I got my socks, I feel amazing after I put them on and I think it’s just the pattern and colors incorporated to make me feel good.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 29

BY EMMA GEHLBACH AND EMMA MILLER Bilingualism is on the rise in America. According to a 2013 Census Bureau study, 61.8 million Americans speak a language other than English at home, a 2.2 million increase since 2010. The numbers of bilingual Americans are growing steadily, with the biggest increases among Spanish, Chinese and Arabic speakers.

Breno Sader ’19 is a bilingual student who speaks English and Portuguese.

“I was born in Brazil, so my parents started teaching me [Portuguese] first.

Breno Sader ’19 Then we moved to the United States in 2002, and that’s when I started learning English,” Sader said.

Julian Wemmie ’20, a student who speaks English and Russian, has been bilingual his entire life. Due to his Russian heritage, 30 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

he grew up in a household that speaks partially Russian.

“I write, read and speak [Russian]… it’s fun,” he said.

In an increasingly globalized world, the ability to speak multiple languages is becoming more and more of an advantage because people are interacting with individuals who speak different languages from themselves more than ever before.

Ana Crespo ’18, a Spanish and English speaking student who wants to study nursing, said she has a higher chance of employment since she won’t need a translator to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients.

“The job opportunities are higher when you can speak both languages,” Crespo said.

The advantages of bilingualism don’t stop in the workplace.

According to The New York Times, bilinguals have better problemsolving skills and can learn another language more easily than monolinguals. Bilingualism also comes with an array of mental health benefits such as delayed onset of dementia and less extreme cases of Alzheimer’s.

However, the positives expressed by bilingual students were more on the lighthearted side.

Ana Crespo ‘18 “If I want to talk trash about someone, I can do it in Russian and they won’t know,” Wemmie joked.

Being bilingual also comes with struggles, as it’s not uncommon for bilinguals to get their languages mixed up.

“The other day I told a waiter

‘thank you’ in Portuguese and vital skill in the world we live in. then I didn’t realize it until all “I think there should be my friends were staring at me more emphasis on learning like I was a weirdo,” Sader said. other languages, not necessarily Portuguese, but Mandarin, German, Another disadvantage to [etc.]. [Other languages] should all bilingualism is that it can be be taught in schools,” Sader said. difficult to learn languages that share similarities. Many people assume that Portuguese and Spanish

“The other day I told a waiter ‘thank you’ in Portuguese and then I didn’t realize it until all of my friends were staring at -Student me like I was a weirdo. ” -Breno Sader ’19

are very similar, but Sader assured this is not the case. Spanish and Portuguese share many false cognates (words that sound the same but mean different things), which can make it challenging to speak both languages.

“In some ways, [speaking Portuguese] makes it harder to learn Spanish and other Romance languages, because your brain wants to say it in Portuguese,” said Sader.

Most Commonly Spoken Second Languages in the U.S Percentage of Speakers

Spanish Other Indo-European Asian and Pacific Islands Other

Struggles aside, Sader believes that speaking another language is a

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 31

EBONY An inside look at how cultural appropriation affects students at West High.

32 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

BY

noit·a· i rp·orp·pa l a·r ut· l uc / noitairporppa larutluc cultural appropriation / cul·tur·al ap·pro·pri·a·tion .er utluc rehtona yb erutluc eno fo stnemele fo esu ro noitpodA Adoption or use of elements of one culture by another culture.

Recently one could say Black Culture is starting to “trend”.

People of other races have been carrying protective styling [box braids, senegalese twists], cornrows, bantu knots, and even afros. “Personally, that ain’t cute to me.” Jade Meariwheather ‘17 says, “you have to be prepared for the backlash you might get from the Black community.”. Janelle Beemon ‘19 shares her opinion as well, “Mine’s not the afro part, it’s the braids. That’s what makes me mad. (...) My mom used to cornrow my hair to make it look nice, okay? I didn’t just cornrow my hair for fun. ‘Oh it’d look cute!’ no. I had to do it

JASMINE BEEMON ‘20

JANELLE BEEMON ‘19

because I couldn’t just go around with my hair out because it gets too puffy. I hate it, I hate it.” Jasmine Beemon ‘20 has a different view, “Oh, I personally think it’s cool, because like our culture is circulating to their culture. And they should’ve got with it a long time ago, which is sad that it took them this long. Cause I think our culture is cool.” and also, “Unless it’s somebody that’s racist. Like no, you can’t have that.”

Damarius Levi ‘18 agrees, “I don’t have a problem with it personally.”

When the topic of dashikis came up Janelle had an interesting view.

“I like that, but I don’t like that they’re taking it from other cultures still. Like.. yeah anyone could pull DAMARIUS LEVI ‘18 it off but it’s for African Americans to wear so I don’t think you should be wearing it.” said Janelle. Jade gives a realistic perspective of how one might be viewed“I think it goes to say for a lot of different people.

[You would] probably look at them sideways and say ‘What are you wearing?’. You don’t know where someone is from and what culture they were brought up with [just by looking at them] and so you can’t automatically assume that they’re stealing from another culture,”. And Anaya allows insight, “I don’t like it, personally, just because it came from Africa, and I feel like it’s more to celebrate your heritage and like recognizing where you come from.” “I feel like if you don’t know the meaning behind it, and like you don’t know where it came from (...) then I don’t think you should wear it.

The “n-word” origins from the word “niger”, a Latin word, and a variation of the term “negro”. It was modified by white slave owners as an offensive term to call African American slaves. Ever since that time period it has been used by African Americans as well. Today, it would be considered offensive if any other person outside of the Black race used that term. Here is what someo of our students think about it.

“For most people in the Black Community it’s more acceptable for Black people to say it to Black people than it is for White people to say it to Black people” says Jade, “it’s just kind of like a word that represents something in our past that shouldn’t be repeated, in my opinion, so i feel like that’s just something that’s making us take a step back in time instead of, like, moving forward.” Anaya shares a common idea, however she uses it more as well. “I usually use it when I’m trying to explain to some of my friends who don’t quite get it.”. She also shares a story about the relationship between her and that word, “Back when I was smaller, I thought it was like ‘aw it’s so cool’ but as you grow older you realize what it actually means, so I don’t really use it anymore.”

Damarius has bold feelings too, “I don’t like it, at all. I feel like no one should be able to say it.” Janelle feels a similar way, “Oh the n-word, I absolutely hate it! (...) I feel like that word is really bad, just really bad. And no one should say

JADE MERRIWETHER ‘17

ANAYA McCUTCHEON ‘17

it, no matter what”. However, it is interesting to see that her sister, Jasmine has a different opinion “I personally don’t care. Like, I say it all the time,” she says “I guess if someone went up to me and said like ‘You dirty’ and then they said the n-word, then maybe we would fight.” When asked if they cared if people outside their race used the word, most of them said yes. “It actually makes me really mad because first off that word was never used against you, it does not get thrown at you in a discriminatory way so you have no right to say it at all. It gets thrown at me in a discriminatory way,” Janelle said. Jasmine doesn’t really care either way, however if a White person said it, she has different feelings, “My ancestors got told that by your ancestors, so you shouldn’t be saying that to me.” Jasmine said, “white people get the definite no.”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 33

Behind the Body Art

BY CAECILIA SHOPPA AND SIDNEY SHEPHARD

Ms. Woodhouse

You are walking in the hallways and someone brushes past you.

As they do, you see something that catches your eye. A tattoo.

You stare at it wondering “Why did they get that?”

Tattoos have slowly been gaining popularity in the younger generation. Seeing body ink in the hallways, the mall and downtown has become the norm for many Iowans. So why are tattoos becoming popular for high schoolers? According to research done

by Pew Research Center nearly 21% of americans have tattoos.

40% percent of which are between ages 18-29. Tattoos are becoming more and more popular among the west high hallways. Here, 3 West High Trojans divulge into the backgrounds on their body ink.

“I never told my mom and dad about it...I was 15 when I got my first “When I first one.” got it, I was pretty worried about the cost. Being a high schooler, tattoos were expensive.”

“No one looks at me weird because there are so many other weird stuff about me that they can assume that I have tattoos.”

TAT STATS

Most common age- Between 18-25 year olds

Total americans that have tatoos- 45 million Average cost- $45-$150 (depending on size)

Number of tattoo parlors- 21,000 Most common tattoo- Letters, glasses and flowers

Hardest thing about being a tattoo artist- Meeting peoples expectaions becasue of photo editing

34 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

“I wanted to get something that was meaningful to me. Something I can look down on and have to help me in my everyday life.”

Paul Mcgee

“It [tattoo] doesn’t really affect me badly in everyday life, if anything it helps me get through the day.”

“This is the only one I have. If I do decide to get another one it will have to be as meaningful as this one.”

“The pain was bad for about 10 minutes and then it went numb so it wasn’t too bad..”

“The pain was pretty bad. I ended up going back 4 times because it’s so big. I figured it wouldn’t be too bad since it’s on my stomach but the pain was bad.”

“I tried to do color “It was just kind on the tattoo but of a rush of it hurt so bad, we the moment only got decision. My through friend gave the me the opporeyes.” tunity and I took it.”

Lucky Bah

“I don’t think I could ever remove it. It’s become a part of me.”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 35

s e t u n i M 13 ne takes o e m o s s e t inu e stories h Every 13 m t e r a e r e fe. H their own li attempts. d n a n e k a t of a life

BY FATIMA KAMMONA & THOMAS PETERS

T

ick tock tick tock.

13 minutes and one life is gone.

Tick tock tick tock. 13 minutes and another life goes missing. Every 13 minutes someone takes their life. The person who just took their life left behind a mother, a sister, a brother, a father, a lover, a friend, a family that will feel the absence of the life that once had belonged with them. That one life lost had once belonged to Vincent Head, younger brother of Maureen Head, one of the Foundation Of Science III and Basic Biology teachers at West High.

“He was super smart, that was probably his trademark for me,” said Head, “He was super smart but he didn’t want to work that hard. He would be the kid who got like a 32 on his ACT and his GPA would be low

because he didn’t want to do that much work. He played football when he was in high school until he quit because it was too much work. He liked to play video games and read a lot, he liked to read. He was super sarcastic.”

“I had seen him a few days before,” Head recalls how Vincent had acted before he took his life.

“He didn’t fall victim to everybody elses expectations”

“He had just broken up with his girlfriend, and I think in addition to that he kinda battled with depression [In the family]. He had communicated with me and my mom about that and so my mom was trying to find him some counseling or therapy but it’s hard to get in. So the last time that I had saw him he

PAGE 36 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016

was just super sad about what had happened with his girlfriend. But never in a million years would I have ever guessed, just because he was communicating and talking about how he was feeling bad and he was talking. I never would have guessed that a week later he would be taking the steps that he did.”

Head remembers the day that her little brother, the person she grew up with, the person she joked with and played games with, killed himself.

Approximatly 3000 people kill themselves everyday

“It was surreal. I remember my mom woke me up and she was hysterical. She had gotten a call from his roommate because he was in college.

He said, “Hey I’m really

worried. Vinc left a note and I’m afraid that he’s going to hurt himself.” At that point [5 o’clock in the morning], It was summertime, so I was home from school. So I threw on some clothes and drove to Lincoln which is about an hour from my mom’s house in Omaha, Nebraska. And as I was driving the police had called saying that Vincent had taken his life and that he had died. He had gone to the tallest parking garage in Lincoln and jumped off.”

Head tells what it was like after Vincent had paced away.“It was hard, it was hard for me, it was compounded seeing how

For everyone that kills themself, 20 more will try

*KYS means, “kill yourself ” *KMS means, “kill myself ”

much my mom was hurting. It was devastating.

Growing up it was me, my mom and him and so we would spend a lot of time together. Me and my brother would be at home beating each other up, playing video games, not doing our chores. We were close.”

If Head could say one last thing to him, she would say, “I would just tell him that I love him.

When we’re young, we’re selfish, and we take things for granted, and I totally took him for granted.

And I would just make sure that he knew that I loved him.”

“My brother had had these bright blue eyes when he was alive and his eyes were still kinda open [When she had gone to the funeral home because at the time her boyfriend wanted to see him]. They were gray and the life was

gone and at that moment I realized my brother died and I’m never going to be able to talk to him again,” said Head.

This summer will be the 11th anniversary since the loss of Vincent Head and still Head feels the loss of her little brother.

According to the CDC, from ages 10-34 suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death

Head tells what she thinks of the terms kms(kill myself) and kys(kill yourself),“I think it’s to light. Like it makes light of that idea[suicide] I think a lot of time, just in general the way that I hear students and young people talking to each other. Even people who are supposedly there friends. They just make light of so many things.”.

In 2014, about 2.7 million people made a plan about how they were going to kill themselves

“Like to really say that you’re going to kill yourself because of a test or your mom mad you mad and that’s your immediate response or in the same breath telling someone to go kill themself. Especially if you don’t know who you’re talking to or if you’re not aware of what that person is dealing with. That can do some damage and much more hurtful than people intend. I think that that’s the problem. For the most part people are not intending to hurt other people. But it’s not always the intention it’s the actual reality of how that phrase[kys/kms] is taking to someone who’s been told that.” Head said.

Every 13 minutes, someone takes their life and leaves the people that love them behind. The fact is that people feel this way. Is it really worth it to joke about something so serious? Is it worth it to joke about something so real? Something people struggle with every day.

Read the stories about what these superheroes really feel and what’s really happening inside them.

“It’ll get better eventually. It may last for a while and life is hard but it will get better.”

-Ms. Head

Males take their lives nearly four times as much as females.

DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE PAGE 37

We have changed the names of the people to protect their anonymity.

L

The Battle to Win the War

ife is just one big war, with many battles, some you lose and some you win.

But what if the biggest battle you fight is the one against yourself? For Kent, that’s a battle that is being fought every day. “I never know what I’m going to be like,” Kent said. “I can’t trust myself.”

This battle Kent is fighting is a battle being fought at home and inside him.“I’m sitting in class, and all I’m thinking about is drowning myself,” Kent said. “I’m listening to music to drown the voices in my head that tell me to kill myself.”

“That day was a blur.” Kent recalls the day that he tried to take his life, “I just remember I was at school and I remember going home.

I started listening to music and I was laying in bed and I was crying. I was crying so hard, I was throwing up and I couldn’t breath.”

Kent remembered thinking that baths are relaxing so he had decided to take a bath. “I was sobbing so hard and I couldn’t and I was throwing up. And so I held my head under water because it was calming me down and I started counting. It was a solid minute and 6 seconds and then I was like I should probably stop.”

Kent said that he still takes bath but it’s just hard. “I keep my glasses on because it’s a mental thing for me to go under water with glasses on. So if I fail [to kill myself] I don’t want rusty glasses. I can’t put my head under.”

PAGE 38 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016

“ I know I would [put my head underwater] for sure.” Kent said, “So I’m just like don’t up your head under. And as soon as I’m starting to go under [the water] I’m just like ok time to get out. Even if the water is still warm.”

Another battle is fought inside Kent. It’s a battle between depression and anxiety. “ Homework is so difficult for me because I just don’t want to do it but I know I have to and that’s what sucks.” Kent said, “My depression is like don’t do your homework but my anxiety is like do your homework.

So they just like clash. Depression is literally being dead inside and pretending you’re fine.”

“Depression is literally being dead inside and pretending you’re fine” -Kent

“Everyone wants to help but they don’t want to help me they want to help me.” Kent said, “So must people, they just want me to seem fine but like they don’t want me to be fine. They just want to be like, Oh look I made him better.”

This battle that Kent is fighting within himself to stay alive, is the battle that will decide whether he wins the war inside him or if it will cost his life.

Holding onto Life

“It was a rough day, it was winter time. I wasn’t talking to anybody I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I was alone in my room, it was the middle of the night and a bunch of emotions just kinda hit me all at once and I wanted to go.” Wayne tells the story of the time that he tried to kill himself, “I slight my wrist over a hundred time on each arm.” No one found Wayne, it was just him in his room with blood coming down his arms.

Wayne said that he doesn’t want to kill himself anymore and talks about why he doesn’t want to anymore, “I can’t say that I’ve grown up because it’s not that, it’s just that I’ve realized that it’s going to be hard, life is going to be hard. You’ve got to have downs to have ups. You’ve gotta let life do what it does.”

Wayne lost his best friend last summer in a car accident, “I miss him very much and I decided that I wanted to live for him

every day. Everything that I do is for him.

The choices I make the decisions I choose to decide. The way I treat people. I gotta remember that. He would want me to be kind to everybody. He would because he was kind to every person he ever meets.”

“You don’t tell them what they want they want to hear, you tell them to want they need to hear. You gotta tell them that yeah it’s going to be hard, yeah you’re going to not want to be here but you have to push on for the people that care about you.” Wayne gives advice to others that are going through what he’s gone through, “You have to live for your family that loves you. It’s not going to get better if you kill yourself. You’re just going to make everybody around you’s [sic] life harder by not having you around.”

FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 PAGE 39

-Dave McNair

-Dave McNair

Travel with Senor McNair!

BY MOIRA IGLECIAS

One of West High’s World Language teacher speaks out and talks about his travels and where he wants to go next. Dave McNair has traveled around the world to various and all kinds of places.

“I went to Cuba and I traveled alone, to study and so I don’t think I’d have another opportunity to see Cuba, so I took it and that was about 2003.”

Cuba is a tropical island and so McNair tells us that it rains every morning and when it does, the electricity goes out.

“There is not one place I would avoid “He’s willing to look just because it stupid is scary and just try something or ugly”. new.”

Said McNair -Amy Seidel “I love experiencing new culture, different ways of life, new things and learning about those places. I just love that about traveling.” said Mcnair.

One of the many places McNair explored was Cuba. After McNair was given the opportunity to travel abroad for his studies, he knew it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and took it without a moment’s hesitation.

He’s tried many different kinds of food and experienced many different ways of life when he traveled.

When he went to Spain for trips with his Spanish four classes and his studies for his masters degree, he says everything was really relaxed, and says the lifestyle is kind of slow paced and the people and also there food were fantastic.

“The power would go out every morning for like 10-20 minutes. It’s because their electrical system is in such disrepair that raw wires were hanging all over the place. Quite frankly, it was dangerous.” McNair said.

“He’s the figure things out and go with the flow kind of person” -Carmen Gwenigale

“McNair is a very good observer,” Seidel said. “He’s willing to learn other cultures and he’s good at watching what other people are doing and just learning what the normal everyday things are.”

“Sometimes I like to be a little uncomfortable because things are new and different” -Dave McNair

-Student ’18

Señor McNair isn’t picky with anything when it comes to experiencing new things.

When it comes to culture and anything related to it, he would put in the effort to learn as much as he can about it.

Besides going to Spain and Cuba, he’s also been to Hawaii several times. He traveled to almost all of the islands:Oahu, Maui, and of course the big island, Hawaii.

McNair then tells us that his next goal to travel to is Asia.

“I've never been to Asia” says McNair. “To me, Asia is very intriguing especially with their history it's just so old that I want to know more and also see the old buildings. I don't know much about Asia so it's very interesting when I hear about it. I would go to any part of Asia like China or Japan. I don't know, it's just very interesting.”

Clubs, Time After Time.

By Coleson Krupp and Nicu Curtu

There are many clubs offered here at West High- almost too many to count. Even though there are many clubs and extracurricular activities, lots of people don’t participate in any at all. The people that do participate in clubs though find it to be lots of fun. Even though clubs are very time consuming, they believe clubs are worthwhile.

Misha Kuznetsov ‘19 is a member of many clubs at West. He is currently in five clubs: FTC, 321, Mu Alpha Theta, F³,and FRC, which range in topics from general knowledge of math to robotics. Being in all these clubs is not easy. He has to manage his time and schedule very well. “I do my homework on bus rides,” Kuznetsov said. His Tuesday schedule, the day of the week most filled with activities for him, is intense, to say the least. He wakes up at 6:45 in the morning, gets to West High at 7:45 for one of his two math clubs. After school, he goes home, then to robotics club at 5:15. This club meets in downtown Iowa City at the Theodore Roosevelt Educational Center. When asked about whether he had to sacrifice anything to be able to do all these clubs, Kuznetsov says, “I had to sacrifice soccer and sleep.” But the hard work is worth it for him, as he enjoys his favorite club, robotics club. “FTC [is my favorite] by 1000 miles, because I’m actually good at it,” Kuznetsov said.

Mason Wang ’18 is another student who is also heavily involved.. He is a member of three clubs: F³, Mu Alpha Theta, (both math clubs) , and the one he sees as most important, debate. He also has to work hard to manage his time. “I do [my homework] during my 3rd period open,” Wang said.

Another person who spends a lot of time, and effort on clubs is Maddee Whitehead ‘17, who is the president of Best Buddies, a club here at West High.

She says that clubs are a great way to interact with others, Whitehead said, “I think personally you can meet a lot of people like you and it is the best way to spend your time and get involved,” Whitehead believes that the effort many people put in to be a part of clubs is worth it.“Even though it can be overwhelming with life, I think it makes high school fun,” Whitehead said.

Whitehead also recommends that other people should do clubs too. “Everyone should be a part of Best Buddies, [West High Dance Marathon], Theatre West, and Young Life,” Whitehead said.

Misha Kuznetsov ‘19 42 INTRO DECEMBER 2016 FEARURE

To her, clubs are a great part of high school. “Sometimes I get way too overworked and get down about it but I would never not do it, it’s my favorite part about high school,” Whitehead said.

These three students at West High go to extraordinary lengths to do clubs. If you are thinking about trying some clubs out too, you have many possibilities.

Maddee Whitehead ‘17 Tuesday: Art Club Room 158; Debate Room 232; GWorld Room 32; MineCraft Club Room 131; Mu Alpha Theta (Math Club) Room 206; Robotics Club (FRC) ICCSD Physical Plant; Robotics Club (FTC) TREC; West High Electrathon Room 157; West High Review Literary Magazine Room 107;

Mason Wang ’18

This is a list of clubs that regularly meet at West High. The club name is listed then the location it meets, a semicolon seperates clubs from one another.

Monday: Behind the Mask Room 132; JRC (Jump Rope Club) outside; Chess Club Room 31; West High Democrats Club Room 230; Truth Squad Room 27;WAC (Writing Art and Creativity with

Wednesday: 1440 Interact Room 132; Colors Room 239; HOSA Future Health Professionals Room 2; JETS Room 159; Science Olympiad Rooms 1 and 31; SPAM (Students Pursuing a Mission) Room 235; Starving Hunger Room 126; Student Senate Room 236; Young Republicans Room 228; Zombie Research Authority Room 225 Thursday: Board Game Club Room 126; Computer Science Club Room 131; Fellowship of Christian Athletes Room 235; For Tomorrow Room 239; Korean Culture Club Room 224; SSIKED Room 132; West High Electrathon Room 157; WHS Dance Marathon Room 4; Friday: Anime Club Room 27; Business Professionals of America Room 123; E.A.T.S. Room 151; F-Cubed Fun for Fridays Room 206; Far East Club Room 224; French Club Room 210; Knowledge Masters (3-2-1) Room 159; SADD Rooms 1 and 31; Yarn Club Room 31; Young Life Guidance office; Yu Gi Oh club Room 27 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTRO 43

STANDING UP FOR CHANGE Students Against Hate and Discrimination, or informally known as S.A.H.D, is a student led organization that has come about after various incidents. Lujayn Hamad ’18 is one of the four leaders in this organization “I feel like we’ve started this movement of young activists, the leaders of our country, and we’re all fighting for one cause--unity-that’s the best feeling in the entire world,” Hamad said.

Hamad is one of the many West High students that have been discriminated against after the election and days leading up to it. Hamad has not only been pushed in the lunch line and been called various mean words, but has also found a note on her door saying “You’re not welcome here go back to your country” followed by many vulgar slurs and a #Trump “It’s not about who won the election, it’s about what comes next,” Hamad said.

S.A.H.D. is diverse, made up of students from all over Iowa. Diego Paciotto-Biggers ’20 is an Italian student from City High who has joined this organization.

“I like it [SAHD], because I’ve never been in a group of such hardworking people that are involved in a lot of stuff and are just really cool, and I feel lucky to be in it,” said Paciotto-Biggers.

ike Paciotto-Biggers, there are a lot of City students that are involved and are genuinely interested“We have all become great friends, and we get a lot done, but we always have fun while doing everything,” said Xena Makky ‘18, another Wesst member of the organization.

The group tries to meet up around everyone’s schedule and Different places each time,and everyone is welcome regardless of sexuality, religion, gender, and race.

The organization has had many successes such as the sit-in that took place in the hallway, the student led anti-hate protest, and many more. The group is trying to make their voices heard by going to school board meeting and listing their demands and requests. So far, the group has been to three Board meetings in hopes of making a change at school.

Alexie Lalagos is an American Studies and Economics teacher that believes S.A.H.D is a,“Great organization with diverse people looking for non violent protests” Lalagos also thinks that Spreading the idea of love and tolerance is key and shares how he thinks “although change is a slow proc he thinks “although change is a slow process it’s importance could educate them”.Lalagos says that “affecting positive change in society is a great quality to have in the organization”.

“More equality is what we all need and everyone wants”. Lalagos wants the group to know that what they’re doing is what teachers wanted them to do on their own.

Jillian Baker ‘19 a member of S.A.H.D. shares her opinion on the matter of the last school board meeting the group attended,”They told us the workshops are going to be a thing and we’re cooperating with them on the matter, also the policy video was sent to all schools.”

When asked what she thinks what’s next for S.A.H.D Baker says,”We’ll continue to work on our demands and ratify hate in general”.

These pictures were taken from several newspapers ranging from New York Times to The Press Citizen.

THE BEGGING TO A NEW ENDING. A Throw back of 2016

By Kora West

Playlist of 20 16

:

1. Black Bea tles - Rae Sre mmurd Featu Gucci Mane ring 2. Starboy The Weeknd Featuring D Punk aft 3. Closer - Th e Chainsmok ers Featuring Halsey 4. Side To Sid e - Ariana G rande Featuri Nicki Minaj ng 5. 24K Magic - Bruno Mars 6. Juju On Th at Beat (TZ A nthem) - Za Hilfigerrr & y Zayion McC a ll 7. Let Me Lo ve You - DJ S nake Featuri Justin Bieber ng 8. Don’t Wan na Know - M aroon 5 Featu ing Kendrick rLamar 9. Heathens - twenty one pilots 10. Broccoli - D.R.A.M. F eaturing Lil

PAGE 46 DECEMBER 2016 INTRO TO JOURNALISM

Best seller yo ung adult bo oks of 2016 1. The Lie Tre e, by Frances Hardinge 2. The Sun Is Also a Star, b y Nicola Yoon 3. And I Dark en, by Kierste n White

Movies of 20 16; most rotten tomato os 1. Zootopia 2. Hell or Hig h Water 3. Arrival

Fashion Some fantastic fashion strends of 2016 are chokers, scrunches, pins, uggs, leggings, converse, hats, and braclets.

INTRO TO JORNALISM DECEMBER 2016 PAGE 47

ASlice ’

16

Oh how the times have flown by, 2016 was something to remember. Aside from controversial presidents and inventions that caught our momentary attention, let’s summarize what we all really cared about this year--food.

BY THE NUMBERS

360 12

1

Days of culinary heaven, that will never be forgotten. Not now, not ever.

Months that reflect just a sliver of the delicous gallery of 2016.

Hungry West high student who shouldnt have to experience the anguish of missing out on all these dishes have to offer.

By Morgan Hawkins

50 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Of

,

Oh January, the unpleasant presence of slush that serves no purpose but the production of that weird stench your shoes have for the rest of the year. Let’s not talk about that!

Let’s look at these sweet potato quesadillas that swept the hearts of all this January.

The month of love… for food. In February, the boom of pizza cups took the prize of making mouths water more than any lover ever could. You heard me, pizza cups. Everything we loved about this traditional friday night meal was packed into a tiny, portable cup. How could you not fall in love?

Admit it, March doesnt make you want to march at all. It’s just another sluggish advance towards summer, but ohhhhh no, oh no no no, this March gave us salted caramel cashew banana bread, the gift that keeps on giving year round.

While April showers kept us in, we put out a brown butter skillet cake with strawberries. The weather may have taken our sunny days but it could never block this tasty ray of sunshine. Day in and day out, it was impossible to worry about the rain when we had this gooey skillet of goodness.

Mayday, mayday, our mouths can never forget the waffle pulled pork sliders for our meat lovers out there, and the Russian honey cake for those with a sweet tooth. OHHHH boy, this one is going down in the record books.

It was summer time baby, and we got pumped. Or we got in the backyard, lit the bonfire, and made smores stuffed strawberries. Two summertime classics wrapped in one, because who didn’t love this creamy, chocolatey strawberry kiss of deliciousness every night.

It’s hot, hotter than your lab partner hot, so take a break from the slip-n-slide and try this fudge brownie mudslide ice cream cake, Abbey Turnbull 19 swears by its rich, creamy taste that it tastes even better than it sounds. ¨My brotherś would start watering before my mom could even finish saying fudge,¨ said Turnbull.

The raging bonfire of summer was coming to a close, but our kitchens never were.

Beef burgers with sweet and smoky ketchup or a mint and cherry sorbet kept our summer memories close to our hearts along with our tastebuds.

All though school has started and homework was rolling in, we rolled out apple pull-apart bread. Those Golden Delicious from the apple orchard living on your countertop had to go somewhere, so why not this unearthly good dish? That why not led to a tastebud reviving snack that went down in the record books.

Pumpkins and presidential campaigns galore, we were tired of the same old, same old. So we were overjoyed when something new came to town, Popeyes. Kiahna Hill ‘20 was one of the brave soles to bear the 30 (at least) car pileup the day it opened. “It is honestly so good,” Hill said, “It’s impossible to get tired of it.”

The weather put the no in November. 70 one day, sike it’ll be -12 tomorrow, but the one thing that never switched up on us was pumpkin nutella hot chocolate.

A comeback duo for the bone chilling weather and inner desire to relive October. A toasty drink that not only warmed our hearts but 2016 as a whole.

Almost there, 2017 is right around the corner. Time for the big reveal and return of Steak & Shake. We were waiting all year and it was finally back, and that sprinkle of holiday cheer will undeniably join us in a savory salute to 2016. Kaylub Ripperton ‘17 has always been a huge fan and is overjoyed in the chain’s return. “It’s a great place to meet your friends and just get a great meal,” Ripperton said.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 51

WHAT TO READ OVER Two weeks of being buried in blankets and cranking up the heat to combat the cold and frosty winter await, and with time stretching out to infinity, why not read to pass the time? These 10 books may be just the perfect escape for the holidays.

1

3

6

8

2

52 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

4

9

5

10

7

WINTER BREAK 1. My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Various genres)--12 YA authors each pen their own short story covering a different aspect of the holiday season. Whether it’s New Year’s Eve parties, elves in the North Pole, or someone dressing up as Santa, there’s something to appeal to any reader.

2. The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater (Fantasy)--A high school girl collides with the wolves from her childhood when a boy with black hair and yellow eyes ends up wounded on her doorstep. This intimate take on werewolf lore expands over the course of three books and a spin-off, capturing the blistering bite of winter, the humid haze of summer and romances that will rip at hearts.

3. Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless by Liz Czukas (Realistic fiction)-When Chloe and her teenage co-workers are locked in the work break room after $10,000 is robbed from a community donation box, chaos ensues. Humorous lists and a well-rounded cast give this novel plenty of personality and a warm heart.

4. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Realistic fiction)--Simon is a gay high school junior who hasn’t come out of the closet, but his classmate, Martin, finds out and dangles an offer over his head. Either he can hook Martin up with the girl he likes or leak Simon’s secret e-mails with a pseudonymous pen pal. This novel has a big heart, falling-off-the-couch humor and enough Oreos to make the need for cookies and milk monumental.

5. What Light by Jay Asher (Realistic fiction)--Asher’s newest novel in five years focuses on a girl and her family running a Christmas tree farm, their lives constantly in motion. One Christmas, she falls in love with a boy and although his reputation isn’t the greatest, their relationship will keep them afloat.

6. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Fantasy)--Set in the same universe as The Grisha trilogy, the first in a high fantasy duology brings to life the world of a gang who have a heist to commit. Complicated anti-heroes, descriptive writing and fast-paced action await; even if readers skipped Bardugo’s first series, they’ll find themselves right at home here.

7. Reindeer Boy by Cassandra Jean (Fantasy)--In this graphic novel from previously published artist Jean, Quincy has been dreaming of something that happened as a child for years: a boy under the Christmas tree with a present just for her. Even though she’s only had the presents to go by, a transfer student with antlers seems to have his sights set on her after the holiday break and may change that.

8. Falling into Place by Amy Zhang (Realistic fiction)--When the most popular girl in school attempts suicide by enacting Newton’s Laws of Motion, her life and those of the people she knows all start to come together. This emotional book told from a secret narrator will require lots and lots of tissues.

9. Like Magic by Elaine Vickers (Realistic fiction)--Three 10-yearold girls are experiencing intense loneliness in their lives, but maybe a treasure box from the library’s lost and found will help them feel stronger. This simple yet effective middle grade debut touches upon the magic found in friendship and life.

10. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis (Realistic fiction)Part brutal social commentary and part slice-of-life story, McGinnis’s latest focuses on three teens and their final year of high school. People will die, true love will be found and the way the students view each other will be completely changed.

BY LUKE REYNOLDS

WHAT OTHERS RECOMMEND

Jill Hofmockel, West High librarian--Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (Fantasy) “Now is a great time to be a Harry Potter fan.”

Jack Reynolds ’18--Something Real by Heather Demetrios (Realistic fiction) “I just couldn’t put it down.”

Ella Schmitz ’18-Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Nonfiction) “[There’s] an amazing message about racism and privilege in modern America.”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 53

F E AT U R E

(SCHOOL)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

BY JENNA WANG

It’s about that time. Your stomach is rumbling. You’re quickly packing up your oh-so-heavy backpack, hurriedly stuffing your crumpled homework into a folder as you walk outside the classroom. It’s packed.

It’s suffocating. You get shoved into plenty of times. Still, you move on, desperate to win the race. Jump down the stairs. Speed past the awfully slow person. Sweat dripping down your cheek and nose. Round the sharp corner. Finally, you see that large lunchroom. You step in and you find a long-winding line, filled with the annoying and rude cutters. An interesting, funny odor. You grab your food an eternity later. What’s in this weird heap?

Where did this pile come from? Maybe you shouldn’t have ran down to the lunchroom so soon. You walk to the overflowing garbage can.

Just about every one of the 30 million students who eat school lunch every day around the nation and at West High have faced this moment

A kitchen staff member prepares hashbrowns to be served at lunch

This act has also sprung many of the rumors and myths about school lunches that roam the halls of West High today.They are ingrained in most students from the books and movies that promote school lunches as being unhealthy, as well as the spread of made-up rumors created by students. The question is: Just how many of these rumors are true?

Here is a list of things every student should know about the food at West High.

Storage area for food to be sent out to elementary schools

when their stomach says yes and then instantly says no. Most schools try their hardest to make lunches the healthiest and most appetizing, so the real question is, why do most students dislike school lunches?

Zhihui Chen ’20 believes that taste and the ingredients are the reason for the untouched food. "The food tastes horrible and the ingredients are bad.

They are made of frozen and canned items."

Students who dislike school lunches can thank the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which went into effect in 2012 and restricts schools from only serving food such as salty French fries and greasy pizza.

Foods must be lower in fat, calories, and sodium and contain more of the proteins, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. According to food and nutrition directors nationwide, the results of this act are overflowing trash cans and financial drops. The School Nutrition Association reported than more than 70 percent of lunch programs have taken a significant drop since the new acts went into effect.

54 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Rumor: The food comes from unhealthy locations.

Bust: “Martin Brothers is our prime vendor and they supply the majority of our ingredients. We also receive food through the USDA commodity program and we buy local produce through Farm to School when it’s available.” -Alison Demory, ICCSD Food and Nutrition Director Rumor: All food comes prepackaged and stored at the beginning of the year Bust: Deliveries come twice a week from the Martin Brothers vendor.

How would you rate the quality of your scholl lunch?

How would you rate your experience trying school lunches?

1= Unappealing, 5- Appealing

1= Unappealing, 5- Appealing

Rumor: Food items are are convenience and “processed” items.

Bust: Most of the food items at West High are entirely made from

scratch. “We make homemade oat rolls, wheat rolls, cookies-including the delicious monster cookies-and many casseroles like lasagna, tetrazzini, chili, spaghetti and many others,” says Demory. “The convenience items we do use, such as the breaded chicken patty is low in fat, sodium and the breading is whole grain rich. All of the Pizza Hut pizza has a whole wheat crust and is also low in sodium and fat.”

Rumor: I can grab

whatever I want at the lunch line.

school lunch is made up of five components recommended by U.S Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service for students everyday, including protein, grains, vegetables, fruits and dairy. However, students are only required to take three of those components to count as a meal, with at least one of them being fruit or a veggie. If you don’t have any three of those components, head back in line.

Rumor: Kitchen, staff and food items are unsanitary.

COMPILED BY SELINA HUA AND JENNA WANG

Bust: "Kitchen staff are required to wear the required uniform, apron, gloves and hairnets. They are also required to follow many sanitation procedures to deliver healthy lunches, such as wearing protective eye goggles when handling chemicals." -Julie Peterson, Kitchen Manager at West High.

Regardless of the rumors, there has been a significant rise in the number of students who eat school lunches.

“We have definitely seen an increase in meal participation, both breakfast and lunch. Our student population continues to grow, but I also think the increase is due to the menu and all the many options we offer,” says Demory. Recently, the West High kitchen staff has unveiled new samples of food such as pulled pork and cheese-filled breadsticks to be determined on next year’s lunch menu in efforts to receive student opinions.

Overall, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act has been successful

A layout of new lunch samples for the 2017 menu for students to try Bust: The best

Do you think school lunches are healthy?

The daily fresh vegetables that students can take PICTURES TAKEN BY: JENNA WANG

in most schools around the nation. According to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, kids are eating more healthy and schools are finally meeting the updated nutrition standards after years of trying to win them over.

Lastly, not only is the food important, but the unseen people out of sight in the kitchen who work to make what goes into the student’s mouths.

“We have amazing staff at West high who work hard every day to serve thousands of meals to our students. We know that there are a wide variety of tastes and food preferences and we try to offer a wide variety of options daily,” says Demory.

So order up the lunches...or don’t. There will be plenty of more flavors, varieties, options….and possibly more rumors to be made in the nearing future.

DESIGN BY SELINA HUA

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 55

Off the court

Student athletes outside of competition

BY KEN WILBUR AND LILA TERRY

The flashing lights, the deafening crowd, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

That is just a small part of the life of a high school athlete at west.

What they do with the rest of their time is more hard work than anything.

There are

7.8 million

High school athletes in the U.S.

58 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Mason Sorge ‘19

Mason Sorge ’19 has been wrestling for about six years, but it has not come easy. Wrestlers often cut weight in order to wrestle on top of their weight group. Sorge is currently wrestling at the 152 pound weight class and has to work hard to maintain his weight.

¨A lot of people don’t know just how hard (wrestling) is, it’s a very tough sport.”

“I just won´t eat for about two days straight, and then during practice I´ll lose about 3-4 pounds,” Sorge said about cutting weight. However, his diet during the wrestling season affects much more than performance on the mat. “My grades aren't as good as they were during the football season, because I´m just so tired,” Sorge said.

Rabi Alaya ‘20

Emma Koch ‘19

“It’s just so fun that I get to play the sport that I love with a bunch of my best friends.”

Emma Koch ´19 has been playing basketball since she was in kindergarten. ¨I've really been playing ever since I can remember,¨ Koch said. She began playing basketball for West High last year.

Koch started by playing half sophomore team and half varsity but by halfway through the year she was starting varsity. “The west high basketball team there's a lot of girls that are honestly my best friends so it's just so fun that I get to play the sport that I love with a bunch of my best friends.” Said Koch.

However, there is a definite drawback to devoting so much time to basketball. “It’s definitely harder to get stuff done during the season, but I’ve been doing it so long that It’s really not terrible,” Koch said.

Rabi Alaya is new to swimming, participating in the sport mainly to stay fit for cross country and track. ¨Swimming is a great offseason sport because it works out your whole body,¨ Alaya said.

Alaya is not alone in participating in swimming as an offseason sport. ¨We have a lot of football players, soccer players, runners everything.

Alaya also drew a comparison between cross country and swimming. ¨The schedule for swimming is a lot harder, but the workouts for cross country is so much harder,¨ Alaya said. The schedule for swimming is rigorous, with swimmers often having little time for other activities. ¨It’s a little harder to get all of my homework done after school, I have less time to work,¨ Alaya said.

¨It’s a little harder to get all of my homework done after school, I have less time to work.¨

59 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

62 Feature December 2016 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

Photos courtesy of Leah Brownsberger

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF ARTIST Leah Brownsberger ’18 and her love of all things makeup BY: LUCY POLYAK Arrays of colors, brush strokes and tons of money spent on tools. These are all typical of an artist, right? Leah Brownsberger ’18 is quite the talented artist, but her canvas of choice isn’t a common one. For over three years, Brownsberger has been interested in the art of makeup.

Brownsberger first got into makeup during the summer of 2013 while browsing videos online.

“I went on to watch tons of YouTube videos on [makeup],” Brownsberger said. “I became invested in how cool it was and how fun it seemed.”

Her interest has evolved into spending around $1,400 in 2016 alone on products to add to her extensive makeup collection. Some of her favorites are Ink! Eyeliner, Maybelline Lots of Lashes, Marc Jacobs Re-Marc-Able Foundation, Bare Minerals liquid lipsticks and Kat Von Dee products.

A typical look for Brownsberger takes up to an hour to perfect. This process includes elements such as black winged eyeliner, a brown eyelid crease, a nude lip, and some form of glitter. “I’m also a fan of colors,” Brownsberger said, “so I’ll sometimes wear like blue and green glitter [eyeshadow] or a pink and orange style. I also love a bold lip color.”

Brownsberger collects inspiration for her styles from sources such as Alison Henry, NikkieTutorials, Manny Mua and styles found on Instagram and Pinterest. Brownsberger also creates more theatrical makeup looks. Some examples of this are a bloody Little Red Riding Hood for this past Halloween and a black and white based look for her role as Auntie Em in Theatre West’s “The Wizard of Oz”.

Bridget McKenna ’17 runs Theatre West’s makeup crew. Brownsberger has been on this crew for three Theatre West shows, but she has known McKenna for about ten years. The two met through Nolte Academy and have stayed close through dance.

Leah’s makeup is dramatic,” McKenna said. “I love how she always has outrageous eyeliner wings and bold lipstick colors. Everything she does is very clean and is very good. She’s always looking flawless.

McKenna went on to praise Leah for her immaculate skills and knowledge of the makeup world.

“I admire how everything is always so sharp and perfected; I’ve never seen her makeup not look good. I also admire how she always keeps up on the new trends and how she’s the first person to know when there’s a new awesome

product on the market. I admire how she lets makeup be her hobby, not a necessity. She wears makeup because she wants to, not because she feels like she needs to, which I think is awesome,” McKenna said.

Brownsberger also does special occasion makeup for her friends, such as Maddie Moriyama ’18. After knowing each other for about a year, Moriyama asked Brownsberger to do her makeup for homecoming. “I knew she was good and I wanted someone I knew as a friend,” said Moriyama.

Moriyama described Brownsberger’s makeup style as trendy, sharp and having a personal flair. She went on to compliment Brownsberger’s strength in doing perfect eyeliner as well, something that both of the two love.

“She’s very precise and detail-oriented and I appreciate that,” Moriyama said.

While this form of art isn’t something that is hung in museums, Brownsberger values that many still can enjoy it.

“It’s a type of freedom of expression that changes every day. I wear it on my face so that anyone can see it.”

By The Numbers Minutes spent on an average look

45-60 spent on 1,400 Dollars makeup in 2016 spent practicing 3.5 Years her skills

INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM December 2016 Feature 63

AN OUTLET FOR EXPRESSION

BY SOPHIE STEPHENS AND MADDI SHINALL an outlet where I can vent about things.”

Internet blogs can be located all over the Photoshop and [then] usually I’ll try to post Moses also sees it as a way to save some of her world, but you don’t have to look far to find it on my social media, [and finally] I put it on favorite memories in a way that’s more creative them--there are bloggers right here at West [my blog].” than a regular video. After seeing her parents’ High. Blogging is a personalized, private way Anna Moses ’19, who is a video blogger on home videos with some of their favorite memof sharing interests and opinions to whoever YouTube, agrees that it can be a taxing process. ories, Moses wanted to put a spin on her own chooses to listen. Many students turn to blog“The editing process can run anywhere from memories so they could be remembered in a ging instead of social media to express their an hour up to three to four days depending on special way. interests in a variety of different categories. “[People] have family videos and Sophia Chen ’19 started her blog pictures, [but I] do it more creatively three years ago as a way to showcase her art.

“I was starting to get to the point where so that I have an outlet and it’s not just sitting there on a camera,” Moses said.

“I was starting to get to the point I wanted to be able to have a platform “I know that my parents have home where I wanted to be able to have a platform where I could showcase all where I could showcase all of my artwork.” videos and [they’re] just sitting on cassette tapes. Like their good memof my artwork,” Chen said. “I was ories are there and I think everyone making art and I wanted to be able to -Sophia Chen ‘19 should be able to have that. Why not send it to competitions, or show it to put a spin on it so that my potential my family, but I didn’t really have a children, grandchildren, or nieces and platform where I could show my art nephews can watch it [and] they won’t portfolio or just the things I can do.” just get a shaky camera and a thumb in front of After that, she created her website, posting a how easy the footage is to edit [and] how long the lens, they [will] get something polished and variety of drawings and paintings for the world the video is,” Moses said. pretty.” to see.

Moses started video blogging, commonly Despite the large amount of work necessary Though Chen enjoys her blog, running it can known as “vlogging”, over the summer, after to sustain a Youtube channel, Moses says that be very time-consuming. having another YouTube channel since she was it’s well worth it when she sees the final product “First I have to finish the art which somethirteen, turning to vlogging as an outlet for and gets to interact with her subscribers. times takes a while,” Chen said, “and then I will self-expression.

“I like the finished product [and that] if I look usually try to get blog pictures with the best “I had seen other people doing it and I was back at it, [I’ll think] ‘Oh, look at what I did, lighting and I’ll get [them] with my DSLR, a into taking videos [so] I thought it would be look at how much fun I had!’” Moses said. “But nicer camera, so that it gets the quality of the something I could do,” Moses said. “It’s [also] the positive community interacting with each artwork all in there and then I’ll edit it using

ADVICE TO FUTURE BLOGGERS

Sophia Chen:

“Take your time to develop because it’s

kind of like a brand.”

64 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

To Find Their Blogs Go To: https://makennasocks .wordpress.com/ http://sophiachen0 .wixsite.com/ sophiachenart

“[People] have family videos and pictures, [but I] do it more creatively so that I have an outlet and it’s not just sitting there on a camera.”

For Anna’s Vlog: https://m.youtube. com/#/channel /UC4kKgAn8B2j Mo4zaSiyNW4g

-Anna Moses ’19

other, watching what happened, or just knowing that I did something for someone, made them happy, made their day better [is the most rewarding aspect].”

Makenna Hendrickson ’19, who has recently started a sock blog, loves blogging for a multitude of reasons.

“It gives me something to do when I’m bored because I get bored a lot,” Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson says that her friend encouraged her to start a blog when she was telling her about the new socks she had just bought, adding to her fifty-pair collection.

“They gave me the idea because I have a lot of socks, so I was like ‘Okay!’ and started it,” Hendrickson said. “Also I get to buy more socks [for new posts], which is always good.”

Everyone has their own opinions, and no matter what they are, high schoolers have a habit of turning to social media to share them.

Some students have decided to take an alternative way to sharing their opinions with the online community; through blogging, they’re able to do so.

Makenna Hendrickson:

“Tell somebody about it because otherwise nothing

is going to happen.”

Anna Moses:

“Just keep being yourself and making the content that you

want to make.”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 65

WEST HIGH’S

Students and teachers give their opinions over the foo

“MY FAVORITE [FOOD] THERE IS THE SPINACH SALAD.” -Audia, science teacher

BY PEDRO MARRA Lunch time, the period where students relax, stop worrying about responsibilities, and relish talking with their friends. Of course, this is also the time to eat. Thus, the food that you enjoy eating may come from the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that your mother made before you left home, or from the food service at West High.

Going back some years ago, the lunches served at schools were more controversial than nowadays. The options, cost and healthiness were certainly factors which made people concerned and question the way that schools were dealing with the nutrition of students.

“Healthy… it’s healthy when the student wants to be. They could always choose to not pick up a vegetable, or to not eat the fruit,” said Andy Hou ’18 when asked about his opinion whether the food that was served at the main cafeteria was healthy.

66 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

FOOD

od service and quality at IC West High School.

Dominic Audia, science teacher, also agrees.

“I think you just have to make wise choices.

Particularly, their vegetables options are really good. My favorite [food] there is the spinach salad.

Unfortunately, they only serve [it once] every six weeks.”

In 2002, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed by Congress to impede the unhealthy food that has been served throughout the U.S.’s schools since the beginning of the 20th century. Henceforth, pizzas, French fries, and hamburgers could not be the only options. Moreover, a limit of calories was set, and the guidance for a healthy diet with whole grains, vegetables, and fruits was established.

Bringing healthier and fresher products might have also an effect over the price of aliments. Interestingly, it seems that

this is not the case.

“If it is 2, or $2.50, there is no way that even fastfood [can compete with it]. Even in McDonald’s you can’t eat with less than 5 dollars,” said Neil Davis, an American Studies teacher.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, commonly known as the USDA, is also one of the measures created to promote a healthier diet to students that eat the food that is served in their respective schools. Its efforts to improve and enhance the school food environment include staying updated to the meal standards for the National School Lunch Program to increase all of the healthy products served at school . Another goal that they are responsible to achieve, is to provide training and technical assistance to help schools meet augmented standards.

According to the National School Lunch Program, school food is a $16.3

billion federally funded

program.

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the average American child generates 67 lunches every year

pounds of trash from school

In addition to all of these improvements that have been made throughout the past years, the food options have also increased.

“Obviously, I started eating school lunch, 40...45 years ago, and there weren’t [many options]. In school lunch today, kids have options. I mean, you can have Subway sandwiches, you can have pizza, so you can eat school lunch everyday and you wouldn’t have to eat the same thing,” said Davis.

Among the few improvements suggested by students and teachers over the food service and quality at West High, the physical area and the way that food was presented were the main issues.

Both Mr. Davis and Mr. Audia agreed that “our student population is too big for our cafeteria facilities” and that “the lines are rather long.”

11 9 13 28

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 67

BY EMERIE BELL AND HANNAH CANTRELL

FITNESS

Klutts at the gym with Sidney Kout ‘19

To some it is a challenge to get up and go exercise. But for Molly Klutts ‘19 exercising has been a piece of cake for three years.

Klutts plans to go to the gym on a regular basis, like most people.

“First trimester I went to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. But this trimester, since I have performance PE, I only go every Thursday,” said Klutts. She was motivated to go because she hadn’t been working out and knew she wanted to get back in shape.

Her favorite exercises are ones that involve cardio to get her heart pumping and to make running easier for her since track is her favorite sport. There has been times when Klutts struggles to bring herself to go to the gym because of the long days she has had at school.

Her personal trainer pushes her to feel good and accomplished of herself. Being allergic to some fruits and veggies is a challenge for her to eat healthy but she does what she can with the foods she isn’t allergic to. Klutts is determined to keep going to the gym until she becomes stronger for an hour and a half each times she goes.

68 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Sweet Pea and Avocado Dip with Baked Pita Chips 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon chile powder 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper 3 (6-inch) whole-grain pitas Cooking spray 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed 3 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon lime juice 1 large ripe peeled avocado 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves 1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine cumin, chile powder, salt, and red pepper in a bowl.

Split each pita in half to make 6 rounds. Cut each pita round into 6 wedges. Spread wedges in single layers on 2 large baking sheets.

Lightly coat pita with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with half of cumin mixture. Bake at 350° for 6 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely on pans.

3. Combine peas, 3 tablespoons water, lime juice, and remaining cumin mixture in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth. Add avocado; pulse until combined.

Top with cilantro.

Eating healthy and nutritional food is something schools have reinforced throughout the years, but actually following through on this is unlikely for a lot of people. Ivy Towler, a local photographer and committed healthy food eater, is one person who has managed to continue eating healthy since around her high school years, by being conscientious about what she eats. “I have a lot of life I want to live, so a healthy lifestyle is not an option but a requirement for me to do what I want,” Ivy said. She finds inspiration to prepare nutritious meals from cookbooks and new recipes.

For her, Sundays are planning days for the following week’s meals, although she rarely gets to make each one. She likes to do this because, with a plan, it is less likely to make poor choices and more likely to go for healthier options.

To stay eating healthy, she makes a variety of different things. For salty snacks she likes to make kale chips or hummus with vegetables.

For sweet snacks, she goes for any fruit, or a fruit smoothie. In Ivy’s opinion, the easiest and best thing to make are smoothies. “You can pretty much throw anything in the blender and drink it. It’s fun to try new recipes.” She avoids processed foods of any kind, and any foods that irritate her body. Once in awhile, she will indulge in some dark chocolate, or potato chips, but for the most part, she only puts good nutrients into her body. “You are what you eat they say and food is medicine,” Ivy said.

One tip for success to eat and stay healthy is to always avoid processed foods, and check the ingredient list on the packaging. If the ingredients contain artificial sweeteners, synthetic trans fats, artificial flavors, monosodium glutamate (MSG), artificial colors and food dyes, high-fructose corn syrup, or preservatives, it is best to stay away. These ingredients can have serious long term effects. Overall, to stay in good health, eat everything in moderation, not too much and not too little.

HEALTH

Healthy Snack Idea

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 69

1 Out of 365 Days

Does West High have problems with keeping New Year’s resolutions?

by Jin Lee and Sierra Suiter

In twelve days, the year will be coming to a close and it’s time to take a good look at our life this past year. Most of us have made New Year’s resolutions at least once in our lifetime, hoping to make our next year better.

But sometimes we never get them done. We asked West High students about their New Year’s resolutions and why they don’t complete them.

Mia Irving ‘20

“I generally don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I know I’m not going to actually do them.” She said her most common resolution is going to bed earlier, “I usually want to go to bed earlier but I never do it.” When Irving tries to go to sleep at a good time like she promised herself to do, “I get on on Instagram and I never go back.”

Irving feels that if people aren’t going to follow through with their new year’s resolutions, they shouldn’t do it , “Well I feel like everyone should improve on something, but I feel like everyone would give up because that is what I do.”

“I feel that making New Year’s resolutions are just a big waste of time because we all know that we won’t be able to actually do them and follow through with them.”

Slattery has a very strong feeling about why she feels that they are a big waste of time. “It’s like when a person says that they want to lose weight and then a week later they have gained 20 pounds. New Year’s resolutions are the biggest waste of time if we never actually do them and I am guilty of not doing them.”

Madeleine Slattery ‘19

Angie Zirbes ‘18

Zirbes doesn’t make resolutions because she thinks, “everyday is a new day and a chance for improvement.” Then she added, “But when I do, it’s usually to improve myself as a sister, friend, daughter, and leader, and to find more and more positivity in everyday moments.”

When Zirbes makes New Year’s resolution she can’t go into detail or she won’t ever do them, “If I make very specific ones, I often forget them.”

Wehmeyer doesn’t believe resolutions are for everyone. “Well, honestly, any resolution you make is hard to keep up on everyday of the year,” said Wehmeyer. She claims that it’s hard to follow the resolutions, because she gets lazy and forgets the resolutions.

When she was asked if she felt that everyone should make New Year’s resolutions, she said, “It’s not for everyone. It’s nice to have a goal in mind sometimes, but if you aren’t going to keep up on it, don’t do it.”

Maddie Wehmeyer ‘18

Erin McCain ‘17

“I do make new year’s resolutions every year, but they’re not usually big. I try to do small things like maybe take more time to be with family and friends, work on saving rather than spending, or something health related, like watching what I eat.”

McCain sometimes feels like making new year’s resolutions can be full of pressure. “Sometimes I don’t make resolutions because the pressure gives me anxiety which results in me not even getting started on my resolutions.”

Choosing the Right Underwear Color for New Year’s Eve!

What color will you wear to show what you want for the New Year?

Yellow Blue means means wellness, prosperity, good wealth, and success. health, and tranquillity.

Red means White Green Pink means love, pasmeans love and means sion, and peace, har- well-being, harmony. romance. mony, and life, and nature. happiness.

Introduction Students enter the halls, backpacks crammed with homework, faces filled with exhaustion and minds occupied by stress. They congregate in the library to finish incomplete worksheets and essays that had slipped pass the 2:00 AM curfew set by their fatigue, but has it always been this way?

St res BY M

ELE

AH

CH

AN G

sf or

Now Students are stressed, whether they’re juggling homework, extracurriculars or work. Many find themselves burnt out at the end of the day. Some may say students are more stressed than ever before.

“The curriculum and classes are more challenging, college acceptance is more competitive and the cost of college has risen exponentially, so I think people are much more invested in the college process than they were before.” said Lindsey Parrott ‘18, a student from City High School.

Parrott has endured a number of AP and hon- Lindsey Parrott ‘18 ors classes her school offers such as AP World History, AP Biology and Pre-Calculus Honors just to name a few. She finds that she’s often the one pressuring herself to take difficult courses.

“It’s really not my peers that pressure me into taking honors or AP courses, it’s actually quite the opposite. They worry that I will take too many honors courses, but sometimes I gauge the classes that I take based on what my friends are doing,” Parrot said.

In addition, she finds that her school puts a large emphasis on taking AP and honors classes.

“They argue that it will look good on your applications and you can opt out of entry level courses if you do well on exams,” Parrott said.

“Even though I don’t plan on using the credit in college, it’s a more challenging course and it does look good on college applications.”

Others feel their parents expect them to perform well and take more rigorous classes.

Gokul Thangavel ‘19 usually is required by his parents to take at least one AP or honors class per year, however he usually pressures himself to do more.

“I get a lot of pressure from my parents if I’m falling behind a bit.” Thangavel said.

Lauren Aird ‘18, a student at West Liberty High School feels that homework and school account for the majority of her stress by a large margin. Lauren Aird ‘18 “There is pressure from my friends and family to do well because I’ve gotten good grades in the past. I pressure myself because I know I have the capa-

72 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

bility to do well as I have in previous years.

I’m also aware that scholarships are extremely important to go to a good college.” Aird said.

The introduction of the use of technology and the internet in schools have affected the way students receive and complete their homework.

“Having classes online has changed education.

Now there is no excuse for turning your paper in late because you weren’t at school,” Aird said. “I have entire classes with all of the work online. The other work is usually through Schoology.com. I also have classes which use Google Classroom .”

However, the internet is often taken advantage of by students,“[Technology has] made it easier to access a lot of information all at once. Oh and don’t forget, it has answers for worksheets teachers give us. I know of classmates who have found complete answers to many AP worksheets,” Parrott said.

On the other hand, internet usage also has its bad side; specifically procrastination.

“I tend to procrastinate the more work I have because I don’t know where to start and not doing the work is easier,” Aird said. “The internet is distracting because I could be researching for a paper and all of a sudden a video of endangered tigers comes on, and I spend 30 minutes watching the video instead of researching.”

s

Then

suc

Before school was based on tests and GPA’s, the focus was on the content and understanding of a course. “I just remember my teachers wanting me to learn subjects, but not necessarily wanting us to make sure you score well on this.” Said Jim Meehan ‘84 an alumnae from Anamosa High School.

He went to a school Jim Meehan ‘84 in Eastern Iowa where his class size was about 132 students.

There weren’t any honors or AP courses in his school. “There were people who do lower level classes. We really didn’t call them AP.” Meehan said, “I took chemistry and physics when others took general classes” However, he never felt any pressure to take those more challenging courses.

The interaction between students was also different as they were encouraged to work together and to solve problems instead of turning to the internet.

“When I would have a question about homework I would call up a friend of mine.” Meehan said, “I think that websites like Khan

Academy have reenvironment, the way material is preduced the collaborasented to the student has changed. “In tion between students.” my high school you got an assign to read

Linda Bara chapter and then you would have a row ‘65 an alumnae discussion or lecture where you sat and from Midway High take notes.” Barrow said, “Today you School in Kansas not only have a written material but a said “A lot of times computer where you can go to other the one on one with Linda Barrow ‘65 sites and add information to the assignment that had been given to you.”

The use of technology also “Everyone has a foot in brings up the disadvantages to those the door in this one.” that don’t have the access to comput-Jim Meehan ‘84 ers. “They’re already behind on being able to do an assignment if they don’t have a computer.” Barrow said. an individual either encourages you When it’s broken down, Meehan beto learn or makes you want to learn. lieves that everybody is receiving more If it’s just the computer and you it it pressure. “I think [the pressure] is bekinda makes you lose the motivation.” cause of money; because our political Barrow’s class size was about 18 which leaders have said the money that schools made for a “laidback” environment. She get are determined by how well [studidn’t receive any pressure from her dents] test and if they’re falling behind. parents or peers. “There was no pres- And if they’re not testing as well, there’s sure to be the ‘A kid’ at all.” Barrow said. repercussions for that.” Meehan said. “EvIn addition to the different learning eryone has a foot in the door in this one.”

How 22,000 Students felt at school

ce

ss

Source: USA Today

INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 73

A Grey’s Anatomy life HENRY D. KRAIN

K. Peraud

Two of the most high paying jobs in the world today: Doctors and Actors. Both require a large amount of dedication, hard work, and drama, at least according to Grey’s Anatomy. So after binge watching the series I decided to compare Grey’s Anatomy to the real life of being a doctor.

I met with Katie Peraud, an ER Physician, in a small room in Mercy Medical Center filled with other ER physicians. The room was full of computers and keyboards, with a coffee stand in the middle. “”It’s difficult to balance life and work.

I’m a mom and I’m married so it's tough to keep up with everything,” Katie said.

The work is very stressful. She agreed that Grey’s Anatomy had the intern and residency scenes right. So if you decide to become a doctor don’t expect the first couple of years to be easy Her brother-in-law, Peter Peraud, who is another ER Physican decided to give his perspective about Grey’s Anatomy.

“Scrubs (another television series about doctors) is the most accurate representation,” Peter said. “Grey’s Anatomy romanticizes being a doctor, but the ER scenes are the most accurate in Grey’s Anatomy.”

Both of them also mentioned that you probably won't find as many rare and important surgeries as often as Seattle Grace does. They also mentioned that everybody keeps their “stuff ” in their pants more in the real world.

However, I did notice some similarities between Grey’s Anatomy and Mercy Medical Center. Katie’s husband works in the same hospital as her, and so does her brother-in-law.

Therefore, there really are a couple of relationships involved, just like in Grey’s Anatomy.

P. P e r a u d

J. Boggess

I also got to meet a patient who was suffering from chronic lower back pain. It was sad to see him the way he was; mopey and depressed. I had to watch as he struggled to even stand up.

For a second it made me want to throw away my dream as a doctor, but my dad reassured me on the drive home that there are good patients to come with the bad ones. It’s sort of like that in Grey’s Anatomy.

How you have to handle the mean and depressed patients to make the nice one’s feel important. How there’s always a bit of advice that comes at the beginning of the episode After asking the doctors, I de-

cided to ask Johan Boggess, an ER nurse, about her perspective if being a Grey’s Anatomy nurse was the same as being a professional Nurse.

“It’s not similar, I love the doctors here, and get respect, I don’t want to start a union,” Boggess said.

However she also said there are some similarities. ”(It’s) hectic all the time. Some days are enjoyable and some days you just want to go to [the psychiatric room],” said Boggess.

Overall, if you want to become a doctor, don’t expect for it to turn out like Grey’s Anatomy. Being a doctor won’t include many romances, and it will most likely be stressful. Katie says that at the end of the day, you will walk away from the hospital feeling that you have helped somebody.

PCI, Where the doctors worked

Where.

Amazing.

Happens.

Where amazing happens

By Aaron Fennell-Chametzky Note: This is a sports-related article Introduction Brandon Jennings dribbles up the Target Center with chants of “DE-FENSE!” getting louder and louder. The score is tied at 104-104, New York Knicks vs. Minnesota Timberwolves. Jennings gets the ball to veteran scorer Carmelo Anthony. Anthony stares down his young defender, Andrew Wiggins. As the clock ticks 5...4...3… Anthony plots his next move. With two seconds left Carmelo Anthony leans back and fires his deadly fadeaway. Bang! Game. New York wins. This is why people across the country watch the National Basketball Association.

East Coast Calvin Parker of New York, New York, has been an NBA fan almost all of his life. Parker works as an urban/city designer in Harlem and often travels to New Orleans for Hurricane work. In his free time he has a strong passion for the NBA. He remembers the days of Jerry West, Walt Frazier, and John Havlicek in the late ’60s and early ’70s but also the days of James Harden, Stephen Curry, and Kawhi Leonard (translation: today). “Really none of the older stars would be stars except maybe the biggest, strongest, and fastest who could be role players. Wilt (Chamberlain), (Bill) Russell, Elgin Baylor, Calvin Murphy, Gus Williams,” says Parker on how great players from his time would play today.

About Calvin Favorite Team:

New York Knicks

Favorite Player:

John Starks (Former NY Guard)

Place of Residence:

New York, New York

Home State:

Illinois

Alma Mater:

Colombia University

As a New York Knicks season ticket holder for over 30 years, he has seen it all. Arguably the two greatest scorers and small forwards in Knicks history, Carmelo Anthony and Bernard King, are often compared by fans. Parker gives the nod to Melo. “Carmelo Anthony was just a bigger, stronger, and faster guy than Bernard was. I’m unsure if he (Bernard) could still get 30 points a night because the conditioning, size, and overall ability of players today is greater than it was 30 years ago.”

By his friends who share interests in the NBA, they know he has a dislike of players who get to the free throw line continuously instead of scoring field goals. About James Harden, Houston Rockets Point Guard, Parker calls him a “loathsome genius hard at work trying to create ‘incidental’ contact. I also don’t like how he has continued the practice of flopping on offense that Reggie Miller started in the 90’s- any move that is easily recognized as a deviation from your shot - i.e. from your best efforts to make the actual basket (say kicking your legs out or flailing with your arms). ”

Another player whom he clearly does not enjoy is Paul Pierce, former Boston Celtics and now Los Angeles Clippers forward. Parker talked about how he wouldn’t even try to get a good shot, just go and complain to the refs and say ‘I got fouled!’. He also didn’t like his ego and personality- his promotion of himself after every shot got tiresome as he declined as a player.

On the much-debated topic of greatest ever, Parker weighs in: “To me, nobody has done what LeBron (James) has done. I mean, wherever he goes, that team is instantly a contender and when he leaves, they become a bottom team.”

West Coast Do you tend to favor people and things from your area? Do you tend to favor people and things that do well? If yes, than you agree with Ahmed Noureldaim ‘20. Born in Dallas, Texas, he has been a diehard Mavericks fan ever since they won the NBA Finals in 2011. Right now, the Mavs are sitting at 5-18. When asked about them he said, “Yes! I am extremely disappointed in the Mavs because if you have (Rick) Carlisle, Dirk (Nowitzki), that is a recipe for success. Although Dirk has been injured, I expected them to be the eighth seed in the West.”

Noureldaim likes to show his Maverick fandom. He has a throwback jersey of Michael Finley, retired Mavs All-Star shooting guard, and several other pieces of Maverick gear. “I hope to see Mark Cuban (owner of the team) run for president in 2020 because he created the GOAT 2011 squad, is a successful businessman and TV star, and opposed Trump,” Noureldaim says.

On the topic of best player of all time, Noureldaim has an

answer, “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is the all-time leader in points of NBA history, all-time leader in rebounds, and has the most MVP trophies ever.”

West High The West High Boys Varsity team has won five championships under coach Steve Bergman. That should mean he loves the game of basketball, but he doesn’t follow the NBA much.

“I think the pro game drones on and on… too many time outs, stoppages of play, and they have a lot of outside entertainment crap. Watching games live doesn’t make it any better because teams don’t focus on the game and the players.” Bergman says.

He has been to Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks games. Although not a huge fan of professional basketball, Bergman has player analogies for some of West’s top stars this season.

.”I think the pro game drones on and on... too many time outs, stoppages of play.”

-Steve Bergman

“Devontae Lane reminds me of Quinn Buckner, guard, who played for the Bucks and the Boston Celtics. Both are very strong men who double as football players and play gritty defense.

Patrick McCaffery is similar in some ways to former Nuggets and Philadelphia Seventy Sixers Forward Bobby Jones. They both run the floor well, create for others, and make some highlights. His older brother Connor is a worse-shooting Chris Mullin. Both are lefty swingmen who can pass and handle the ball. All three of these guys are great players.”

Coach Charlie Stumpf, West Varsity Baseball and seventh grade boys basketball coach at Northwest Junior High, enjoys the NBA but doesn’t watch a whole lot. He has been to Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies games. On the greatest player ever, the two well-respected coaches disagree. “Bill Russell was the greatest winner of all time, but Michael Jordan was the best player,” says Bergmann.

“Russell’s defense and winning ability make him stand out as the greatest of all time,” Stumpf says.

Table made on Micrsoft Word 2013 Graphs made on Infogr.am Graph data: basketball-reference.com

WHAT

DEFINES A

bully ?

SPEAKING UP

BY WILLIAM FENG

DESIGN BY THOMAS DUONG

F E AT U R E 80 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

ICCSD BOARD:

You feel proud. Proud of your success. and harassment commonly take the Proud as you should be. Proud that form of words. you have avoided eye contact with that “[Another of my friends] was told ‘go person who has been belittling you for back to your own country’,” Baker said. percent of weeks, maybe months. Because if you “But this is [her] country. This was students had made that fatal eye contact, they where [she] lived. Where could [she] report would have taken you on for a ride. go [if] this was where [she] was from?” hearing hurtful comments They’d take you through the criticism The words being said were hurtful, but about race from teachers of how your clothes suck. They’d take the person may not have said it with a walk with you, except they would be the intent to hurt. Oftentimes, when a percent of walking along while pressing your face situation arises involving a bully and a against an aisle of lockers. They’d take victim, the bully usually doesn’t realize students you on an emotional rollercoaster you they is the bully. Most of the time, the report being took so many times. But today, you bully is just trying to have fun. criticized for not being are proud, because you are “A lot of people take smart one day closer to the day you things more personally change schools. The day you than anybody realizes,” percent of leave the school you hate so said Spanish teacher David much. Forever. Because of Rosenthal. “What some students that one kid. This is the life a people think is a pleasant report victim. conversation, will be taken hearing hurtful comments DAVID ROSENTHAL,, Whenever someone uses WEST HIGH SPANISH a lot more personally [than] about race from students the word ‘bullying,’ one of the teasing.”

TEACHER most common images that But the problem with comes to mind is an injured person. bullying, as brought up during a meeting In general, the frequency and They may have a black eye, bloody nose of multiple guidance counselors, accumulation of Negative and cuts all over, just from constant was the fact that the bullying won’t Experiences reported by physical mistreatment. stop happening on its own. Adults students increase at higher Bullying is not solely confined to aren’t going to see something that is grade levels. violence. Words can hurt just as much deliberately being hidden from them.

COMPILED BY WILLIAM FENG as fists. They can hit the most vulnerable Victims of bullying have to speak up for part of a person, where the pain themselves. can cause the “We don’t know how other people feel blurriest vision. about things,” said Rosenthal, “Unless aware of it and a lot more sensitive about “[One of] they express what they are [feeling] . it,” said Rosenthal. “I still think we need my friends Then it’s got to stop, and it’s got to stop to remind students to say something’s was mugged,” immediately.” happening when something bothers said Successful But sometimes, they can’t speak up, them. [If] they need help and they S t u d e n t s one of the counselors said. There is this need support, I will help you be a voice JILLIAN BAKER ‘19 Inspired through tattletale feeling, where telling an adult to address it. Because it’s important to K n o w l e d g e , will make the situation worse, They are speak up to the people you feel safe with Education, & Diversity (SSIKED) scared of what will happen if they do. and address it as quickly as you can.” member Jillian Baker ‘19. “and when he There is a reason why awareness was, they shouted slurs at him. He used about bullying is being spread “I WILL BE YOUR VOICE to be very vocal. After [the event], he around the school. Harassment seemed more shaken, quieter.” situations are going to recur again TO ADDRESS IT... AS Since the week after the election, the and again, until it can stop be QUICKLY AS YOU CAN.” amount harassment and bullying had prevented from recurring. Only -David Rosenthal risen to abnormal levels. Nowadays, by addressing the problem as a it is uncommon to encounter physical community can it be prevented. harassment and abuse, because bullying “I think everybody is a lot more

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WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 81

Receive college credit in high school INTRODUCTION

BY AYANNA ROST

Registration. Junior year. College will approach sooner than you might think. You start to get the rest of your life planned out and know what you want to do for a career. Problem is, you’ve taken all of the courses offered in that subject at high school level. You consult some friends and end up talking to your counselor about other possibilities. It turns out Kirkwood has a program for high school students to take college courses and receive credit towards a college degree.

84 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Seniors Marissa Meade and Simran Sarin share their opinions.

What is offered?

There is a large variety of subjects that students can explore, including medical, English, and criminology. Meade said she’s currently taking Comp 1 and Oral Communications “so basically a writing class and a speech class. Also if I take these [classes] this semester and two others next semester, then I’ll have twelve college credits for free already, which is the same as a full-time student for one semester,” she added. Sarin, on the other hand, is taking Ancient Medicine and Chinese because she finished all required courses for high school and would otherwise have four or five open periods this year. She also “wanted to take [a class] with more challenge”.

Differences between high school and college classes

The differences may not seem that big, as homework will still be assigned and tests will still be given, but there’s more to it than that.“They treat you more like adults,” Meade said. “and you don’t have to come to class, like it’s your responsibility [as a student]”. As for the classes themselves, Sarin said that size can differ from 15-20 students to about 200 sitting in a lecture.

Pros and Cons

Of course, there’s the obvious; they’re free, look good on applications, and provide college credit, but there are also a couple other aspects. Meade said she liked how they don’t have a lot of tests, but instead one big final. Sarin enjoys the challenge and that “there’s not a lot of tedious work that you have to do, [and] it’s more on your own, which I like better.”

Overall, there isn’t much to dislike about the Kirkwood program. “Really the only thing I don’t like is the time the morning classes start. [They start] at 7:30 am, which is pretty early,” Meade explained.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 85

New Year, New Me? NEW YEAR, NEW ME?

BY BEN PIZZIMENTI AND AIDAN YAMASHITA

86 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Many people believe that the start of a new year is the start of a new you, a time to reflect on the past years and attempt to better yourself for the new year. Others just want to have a good time and watch that ball drop.

Davis Larson ’20 is not making a New Year’s resolution this year and has never made one for himself before, as he finds them to be unnecessary.

“I don’t m a k e N e w Ye a r ’s resolutions because I can do it any day of the year,” said Larson.

There are many advantages to making a New Year’s resolution. It is an opportunity to set a goal for yourself so that you are always achieving more and you can better yourself every day as long as you keep to your resolution. But there are some downsides as well. You may be focused too much on achieving your goal and not worry about anyone else or you may just think that the one thing that you set as your goal is the only thing that you need to improve on all year and not try to better yourself everyday.

Morgan Saylor ‘17 has different t hou g ht s a b o u t the ideas of New Year’s Resolutions When asked if she thought that New Year’s resolutions were a good idea, Saylor said, “Yes, I guess it’s good to have goals

and things to look forward to,” Saylor said.

She would like to have a New Year’s resolution, but she said she has tried and failed in the past.

“I tried eating healthy, the day after, I ate unhealthy food,” said S a y l o r.

Leah Rietz 20’ also believes in New Year’s resolutions but has her own spin on the idea.

“I believe in New Year’s resolutions kind of, but not really, because you should make goals more often than yearly,” said Rietz.

Her New Year’s resolution this year is to be more accepting and nice to everyone..

“I can keep [resolutions] because I make new ones moving onto bigger and better things,” said Rietz.

Rietz, Saylor and Larson can’t agree on much about resolutions, but they do agree that the most common resolution is to exercise and eat better. This resolution may seem too vague and hard to follow. , Then again, it reminds us that people are trying to better themselves, and isn’t that all we’re asking for?

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 87

High’s

West

Wildest

BY TEYA AND EVA

You come home from a long day of school and lay down on the couch.

You’re day has been very stressful so far, but seeing your pet instantly makes all of it go away. Pets are always excited to see you. They don’t care what you look like, they don’t care how much you spend on clothes, they don’t care who you’re friends with or what grades you have. All they want is to be loved and taken care of, which is a great trade-off for the love they give us. Many students here at West High have pets of their own. We surveyed over 120 students who have pets and found out many unique things about their pets.

Names of Pets Owned by West High Students

“They’re always kind of there for you, even when you’re not[...] that’s just kind of pets in general.”

-Alec Boldt ’20

88 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 INTROWSSPAPER.COM

Maui, the Dog Who Thinks He’s a Cat Name: Maui

A buddy to all

Chickens, Goats, llamas, Oh My!

Age: 6 Months

“He acts like a cat sometimes because he's around my cats all the time.”

-Alec Boldt ‘20 COMPILED BY TEYA KERNS AND EVA BURBIDGET

Skipper (AKA Toto)

Name: Buddy Age: 5 “when I used to have a guinne pig he was always trying to play with it.”

Name: Sunny Age: “My goats sleep on trampolines, like mini trampolines. My llama hums when she’s happy, oh and she gives people kisses too.”

-Natalie Young ‘20

Most Common Pet

Skipper Ronathon Shie

Goes by Skip, Skippo, and Skippy Lives with the Shie family Is 10 years old Born June 21 Likes: barking, walks, and sleeping Dislikes: Breakfast time, storms, bouncy balls, and cameras His favorite food is a chicken jerky treat “[Skipper’s] scared of breakfast time, especially on the weekends.

He’ll shake like, when we make waffles and stuff,” -Emily Shie ’19 INTROWSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 89

FROM WITHIN BY GOODALE AND LEELA MAHAJAN BYAUSTYN AUSTYN GOODALE AND LEELA

MAHAJAN

6:30 AM, eyes open shut 5, open shut

“After completing 6, open shut 7, open shut 8. Two the rituals for the shirts, two pairs of socks, three legfirst time, I couldn’t gings, layered. The cold of the house relentlessly penetrates her frail figure. continue with my The lights go on and off 13, on and day unless I fulfilled off 14, on and off 15, on and off 16. this duty that they The door unlock, lock 16, unlock, demanded of me,” Brady explained. Severe cases lock 17, unlock, lock 18. Then the of O.C.D. can be emotionally

buzzing starts. The clicking of her mental calculation comes into motion. Calories converted to miles over and over again. How much food can she ration herself. 7:20 ready to walk to the bus stop. Right foot aligned with the edge of the sidewalk.

1 step,

2 steps, 3 steps allowed per cement

square. Failing these rules means beginning again.

These are a few of the symptoms of the mental illnesses that control Esti Brady, a Sophomore at City High. It was after Brady’s first half-marathon in June of 2013 that she experienced her first symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and anorexia.

O.C.D., obsessive-compulsive disorder, is an anxiety disorder where people have nagging, repetitive thoughts, behaviors, and sensations that drive them to complete a ritualistic task. People suffering from O.C.D. often complete these tasks in order to relieve themselves of obsessive thoughts; however, completing each ritual only enforces the need to complete the task over and over again.

90 DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

and socially crippling.

“Every morning, I would write out a list of things to do. Even after I checked it off, I would stare at it to make sure it was really checked off. I would also have to make sure I turned off all the lights and closed all the doors. I would do this by tapping the light switch, door, and sink handle until I was sure they were really off or closed.”

These were time consuming rituals that dominated Brady’s life. Brady described the com-

pulsive behaviors as coming in phases with distinct starting and stopping points. Each ritual was crucial and necessary. Brady’s O.C.D. overlapped with her anorexia. Anorexia is defined by the obsessive need to lose weight.

Anorexics often do this by refusing to eat and exercising excessively.

Brady’s initial weight in June was 83 lbs, but by December she weighed only 75 lbs and was constantly cold.

“Because I was so thin, I was always freezing,” Brady said. “In class, I would stand up and pretend to blow my nose, so I could stand under the heater. I was always embarrassed by the comments my teacher and classmates made to me. I wanted them to know what was going on, but I didn’t want to tell them.”

In the United States, approximately 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from an eating disorder.

Only about 60% of people with eating disorders are able to recover. This is primarily due to the stigma related to mental illnesses. This stigma causes people to treat mental illnesses as a weakness rather than a disease that can be treated. Society plays a key role in preventing people with mental illness from seeking help.

“Help is crucial,” Brady said. “If you are experiencing warning signs, you need to tell someone.

You need to grab onto whatever part of you

isn’t sick, and just hold on to that. Get help from someone; don't allow yourself to fall victim to these illnesses.”

Dr. Karen Nelson, a licensed psychologist at the University of Iowa, says peers can play an important role in encouraging a friend to get help, “At some point, to be a friend means to make your friend uncomfortable by saying, ‘I am really worried, and even at a cost to our friendship, I am going to talk to someone else about what I am seeing.’”

Brady received help from many therapists and doctors and is on her way to a normal life. As her health improves, she has become aware of the freedoms that her mental illnesses took from her.

Brady reflected on the colossal differences between her life today compared to the winter of 2013.

Brady tried two medications to help with her OCD. “I took the first medication for five months. I stopped, because I had developed suicidal thoughts, which my parents and doctors thought were a side effect of the medication. After I switched medication, the thoughts didn’t stop, and my OCD symptoms did not get better. So, my doctors and I stopped all medications.”

Although medication did not help Brady recover, she found that meeting with a therapist was much more effective. For anyone struggling with mental illnesses, it is important to know that there are many forms of treatment. An important step in every recovery process is finding the best combinations of medications and treatments that work for an individual. Medication, social support, counseling, and education are just a few forms of treatment that aid people in recovery.

When asked what aspect of her life was most impacted by her disease, Brady immediately responded,

“Family relationships.

Family life has taken a severe blow.”

“In general I was a lot less social, and when I tried to [be social], I wouldn't feel connected or part of anything. I was depressed, and it was hard. When I got home, I spent a lot of time in my room laying on the ground and crying. I felt there was nothing good left for me.”

She described the frustration between her parents and siblings and attributed it to a lack of understanding from all ends. She recalled arguments about food and health with her parents and describes them as circular conversations, always ending up where they began, never accomplishing much.

Brady would deflect her parents concerns by making promises to eat more and gain weight. However, she knew that her mental state would not allow her to fulfill these promises. But, with lots of support, Brady has come a long way in three years.

Currently, Brady is able to eat desserts and no longer experiences many of the compulsions that previously dictated her life.

She no longer has to check the lights, faucet handles, doors, or under her bed. She no longer steps in patterns or washes her hands for long periods of time.

“It’s the silent support that some close teachers and friends have given me that has helped me the most.”

This is an exert from one of Brady’s journals.

For Brady, silent support meant that she could go to these people when she needed to talk, rather than them pushing her to talk when she was not ready.

Because these illnesses are so complex and pervasive, education is necessary to raise our sensitivity and understanding of what people with mental disorders go through. Brady says that the best thing you can do for someone who suffers from a mental illness is to simply listen.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 91

A MISTAKE THAT L

BY IVAN BADOVINAC AND TANNER HEIAR

Tap, tap, click, click, tap, click, send, and silence. That last text that you just sent will be the mistake that will last a lifetime. It will change your life and the life of the victim forever and could cause serious injuries and death. Texting and driving is a growing problem in the USA and around the globe. It causes over 1.5 million accidents every year and over 300,000 injuries.

Kiah Martin ’19, a sophomore at Iowa City West has been involved in an accident involving texting. Martin says, “I was on my phone texting and not paying attention when I struck a mailbox with my car.” The accident happened June of this year when Martin didn’t realize she was in reverse while texting and hit a mailbox. Despite this not being a serious accident, it shows that texting while driving is extremely distracting and can lead to more serious accidents. “I wasn’t hurt in the accident but I realized it is more dangerous than I first thought,” says Martin who has promised herself she will never text and drive again. Over 3,000 teenagers are killed annually due to the consequences of texting while driving. This could easily be prevented if the phones are kept out of reach while driving. According to studies, drivers are 23 times more likely to be involved in a car accident if they are texting.

Jake Greenlee ’19, a student at West High whose cousin sadly passed away in a texting crash has strong feelings about texting while driving and car crashes in general.

“Anybody who is involved in a high speed car crash that causes injury or fatality due

92 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

to something as easily preventable as texting and driving deserves a much harsher penalty,” says Greenlee. He was affected personally by this growing problem and says it should have a larger spotlight among problems in the USA. Greenlee says, “A lot of people think texting and driving isn’t a huge problem but it should be one because of the many injuries and fatalities it causes.” At the moment texting while driving is usually penalized with a fine or in the case of injury or death can result in prison time. Even with these penalties, this action should have even higher penalties because of how dangerous it is.

There are many different thoughts about texting and driving, some think it is extremely dangerous while others do not think it is a big deal. Maddy Luegering ’19, a student at West High thinks texting and driving is dangerous and becoming a bigger problem, “I think texting and driving is dangerous and should be addressed more harshly because it has become a bigger problem than most people think.” With the creation of new phones and technologies, more people are likely to use it during driving. This has escalated the problem and made it a bigger one that should have a bigger spotlight in many people's eyes.

One mistake like texting and driving can have extremely serious consequences that can end in serious injury or even death.

Make sure to pay attention while driving so that this problem doesn’t become a reality for you as well. Stay safe, and don’t text and drive.

LASTS A LIFETIME 34% of drivers have texted while driving 23% of ao collisions involved cell phones Drivers are 23x more likely get in a crash while texting Complied by Tanner Heiar

Drawn by Ivan Badovinac

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 93

How to Inspire an Artist Making a Sketch into a Masterpiece

by Carley Spading They’re everywhere. In nooks and crannies, walking the streets and roaming the halls, maybe even sitting in the desk next to you. There are many artists that populate the vast student body of West High, however none of them are the same. Some thrive on grand canvases and murals, while others fancy a simple sketchbook resting in their lap.

Art is an excellent escape for all kinds of people, and can even serve as a form of meditation.There are no boundaries and no rules, so quite literally any idea can be a good idea. But it’s not always easy to find that good idea, so even starting a piece can be a challenge.

“When I actually try to work on a project, I’ll get so caught up in the idea,”said Stormy Snyder ’19. Artist’s block is something that affects artists of every variety. This lack of inspiration can last from one day to several months. So where can someone get that inspiration from?

Some people find it in books, some in nature, maybe in movies. Max Collins ’18 finds it in a $20 bill.

“Usually I just kind of do what people ask of me,” said Collins, “A lot of times people will say ‘Hey, I’ll give you $15 if you do this [picture] for me,’ and so that’s what I tend to do.”

A junior here at West High, the money Collins earns from these drawings make up for his lack of a job. These art commissions make up most

“I guess I j ust kinda thou ght it came out w ell.”

- Max Coll ins

sa p l i o g n i s u e I lik en tels because wh you you mix colors lors o c t n e r e ff i d t e g xe ’t n o d u o y t a th yn S y m r o t S ” . t p ec der

of Collins’ work, and he rarely draws for himself, but he says that he enjoys “finding something [he’s] halfway decent at.” Many artists are very self critical of their work, and it can become discouraging to some.

“I see a lot of other pieces of art from other people, and I think ‘oh wow that’s really cool I wish I could do that’ and then I try to draw like that and then it doesn’t work out,” said Snyder.

But she doesn’t find herself with a lack of sources.

“I also do some people watching, and I’ll just see a situation and I’ll be like ‘oh that’s an interesting situation, I wonder how I could put some background behind that,’” said Snyder. Snyder also enjoys trying various medias, including pencil, pen, paint, and oil pastels. But she isn’t the only one who enjoys switching it up.

“I kind of just try different things and different medias.” said Erin Moses ’20. Moses draws mostly people and her own characters. “A lot of it is also inspired by my music taste.” she said. The fine arts are very important to many artists, as it is yet another form of expression. That expression is one of the most crucial components of art, which perhaps is why it appeals to so many people across the world, and across our very halls.

“It’s diffic ult to draw full body shots and this is just one th found int at I eresting.” - Eri n Moses

IS SCHOOL AND THEIR SUBJECTS WORTH THE TIME?

BY MIKAIL SYED

School has been regarded one of the largest, if not the largest, essentials to a man’s life, providing the basis of education. School subjects include math, science, social studies, and English, along with extracurricular subjects like band, orchestra, machinery, and world languages.

However, several students have come up with the question for many years about the value of school subjects. Extracurriculars are often not included in the topic, because they intend to strengthen a student’s chances of getting into college or provide a time where kids can relax and do something they enjoy. The question of class subjects’ value has been open for several years.

There have been several instances in the United States in which a student has asked a teacher the value of what they are learning during a lecture. Teachers tend to change their happy, excited faces into deep frowny faces. Teachers have provided examples of getting mad when they hear the question. However, even they admit that it is a good question to ask.

History has often been targeted for having no value, according to specific students. History’s reason for having no value is it happened in the past and it is not important now.

Some subjects have been targeted by kids because it does not matter to them in the future. Jobs like athletics, eSports, or acting do not require the knowledge of E equals MC squared.

Another thing that is stated by many is the role models set by schools. Schools have been criticized, according to successfulstudent.org, of not teaching students life skills, such as finance, no technology, or public speaking, aside from extracurriculars.

Schools have also been accused of being “outdated,” according to http://www.alternet.org/education, and not responding to changes in teenagers socially. They also criticize the teaching industry of having teachers give up and high school dropouts.

So what else is there to satirize schools? Teachers, homework length, homework in general, and most of all, slobby school lunch!

One thing that bothers students about subjects are their homework. It’s possible students don’t have a job that applies to foreign policy, so why have homework to do that is required in that criteria?

Students and teachers have different views on school subjects. Students tend to complain about the value of school subjects, and teachers tend to defend the value or agenda of school subjects.

Stacey Strief, an AP Government and American Studies teacher, supported her class subject. “Of course I believe history is an important subject,” Strief said. “It teaches you about civic responsibilities.”

Her argument has applied to the value, the future, and the general in her subject. “I think every subject has a value and a place at school,” Strief said. This would apply to the fact that school balances out all jobs in general...unless your job is out of the ordinary.

Another issue the regarding school is the value of having to take electives. Some wonder why they are required to choose between Manufacturing and Theater. It is entirely possible that students do not want to take specific subjects like such.

DESIGN BY CATHERINE JU

“SOCIAL STUDIES HAS A PLACE AT SCHOOL BECAUSE IT TEACHES CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES AND A GOOD POINT OF REFERENCE.” -Stacey Strief

Points of reference have been a positive, defendable argument made in favor of school. People can look at a Confederate flag, for example, and ask, “Where did that come from?” A friend would answer, “The Civil War.” Points of reference are a sign of knowledge and have the capability to impress others.

Knowledge is a key factor in deciding the value of school subjects. Some believe knowledge is an important part of life, and without it people are going to fail in life, because they cannot make a video game program without math. Others believe they do not need knowledge, and only need to know their position in football.

Another defense in the value of school is opportunity. Schools have several clubs and sports, allowing students to form a team together in basketball and show school spirit. Also, people who may not have much experience with one of their interests, such as the Democratic Party, may go to the Democrats’ Club to expand their interest. Others may want to join policy debate in favor of a huge trophy or to leave class early.

Factors that are achieved through school in depth are also good defense. For example, science class may have specific calculations relevant to math class, even though it is science, or that math teaches you not to get careless and get the right answer. It is completely possible that kids learn about important and essential material that they don’t normally get into. This can help students in the future, and prevent future conflicts that are relevant to the lesson.

Debate.org has a poll for whether school is a waste of time.

Ninety two percent of students state it is a waste of time, while the remaining eight disagree. The website states that parents should be able to teach kids. It also states that schools are expensive but are key to students’ futures. The website states that school forces you to learn something you don’t want or need to learn, and you have to sit there and deal with what you do not want, and also state students cannot “absorb the info” if they are not interested in the learning. Another argument against schools on the website is that in elementary and middle school, you learn the foundation. In high school onwards, it is considered nonsense and does not help you prepare for your future.

On alex-ding,com, there are five reasons listed on why school is unimportant or wasteful. Schools take up too much time for a child which is disappointing because they should be able to do more of what is creative, the website states. Schools take kids out of creativity and force them to sit down while bored, unmotivated, and unhappy. Schools’ subjects also do not help you in life, the website says. The website says the five things to a good life in the future is making money, having freedom, being well-liked, finding love, and being healthy.

The government has been criticized for its control over school with the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

President-elect Donald Trump has criticized Common Core and wants to replace it. According to freedomworks.org, Common Core limits school choice, something that Trump finds disgraceful. Teachers cannot innovate to meet the needs of students. Common Core is expensive, and causes states to pay hundreds of millions. It also assumes each student studies exactly the same, and fail to understand that students have different preferences and paces. Common Core forces teachers to “teach the test” which forces students to memorize rather than learn. Common Core is considered unconstitutional because of countrywide education. Quality of school education has been declining, so freedomworks.org suggests that federal government should stop controlling education.

Barb Lynn, an Algebra I and Geometry Honors teacher at West High, stated she thought math class was a subject worth teaching. “Of course I think math is a subject worth learning,” Lynn said, “There are daily math opportunities where kids utilize math skills.” Lynn finds appreciation in all school subjects and school overall.. “Futures for students are undetermined,” Lynn said, “When you broader your learning, the better off you are in the future..” Lynn stated, however, that she had a challenge in her subject. “The only challenge is getting kids to have greater appreciation for math,” Lynn said.

IMGS: http://www.clker.com/clipart-lightyellow-book.html

https://www.google.com/imgr es?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2F jjamesreviews.files.wordpress.

“DON’T LET SCHOOL INTERFERE WITH YOUR EDUCATION.” -Mark Twain

Tyler’s Streetwear BY: MARAH FULLER AND TAYLOR STRECK

Y

ou’re walking downw the hallway of West High School when you see a boy dressed in

mostly baggy grays and a little disheveled strutting past you. In his presence, you stop with a curious attitude. Something about him catches your eye. You turn around and look back at him in wonder. You notice the sneakers, the cuffed jeans, the oversized shirt, and the bandana. Where did he get this unforgettable outfit? You think about approaching him, but change your mind as he turns into his first class. That night you go home and search your closet inspired from this unique figure hoping that tomorrow someone will stop and notice your new trends.This baggy clothed, inspiring, trendsetter is Tyler White ’19.

The inspiration behind White’s style is his desire to be unique, and to turn away from the

“I go to thrift shops, pick out cool clothes, and make them my own.”

status quo. “ I didn’t want to fit in.” Tyler White 19’

-Tyler White ‘19

When asked for a one word description of his style, White responded with, ”Different.”

White follows a style called streetwear.

While he is very confident in his style, not everyone seems to agree with his day to day clothing choices.

“He dresses in a very unique fashion, do with that what you will. It appeals to different people,” Anna Weckerlin ‘19 said.

Along with White’s desire to separate himself from the basics of high school, his street style also emulates his love for longboarding.

With his trusty Sk8-Hi’s on his feet, a rock printed sweatshirt, and some good flannel, he hits the streets with his best friend Shane Snapp ‘19.

Similarly to White, the joy of longboarding has too affected the way Snapp dresses. Dressed in a skater-like style, he can often be found wearing black skinny jeans, black sneakers, and a black beanie. His interests often coincide with those of his close friend. “I view his dress style as unique and outgoing” said Snapp. Snapp also likes to view his own style as “not the norm

“ I didn’t want to fit in.”

and different” Which shows their similarity in both personality and style.

White’s favorite stores are Pacsun, Hot Topic, and Ace Footwear. He’s a stylish but prudent shopper who does not pass up a good deal.

“I go to thrift shops, pick out cool clothes, and make them my own.” White said, and when asked where he got his long shirts he answered, “I usually find them at JCPenney for cheap!”

-Tyler White ‘19

Anna Weckerlin 19’

Shane Snapp 19’

From winter to spring, Tyler White is layered head to two in his unique, outgoing, style.

White and Snapp enjoying homecoming,

White and Snapp longboarding

2016 together.

while sporting their unique fashions.

Champion Sweat Shirt(Kohls), Under

Flannel(thrift shop), Skinny jeans(Hot Top-

shirt(JCPenney), Shoelace Belt(Scheels),

ic), Hat(Zumies), T-shirt(JCPenney), Sweat

Bandana(Hobby Lobby), Shoes(DC)

Shirt(Kohls), Backpack(Urban Outfitters)

Sweatshirt(kohl’s), Flannel(Thrift shop), Hat(amazon), Shoes(Famous Footwear), White Shirt(JCPenney)

Bandanna(Hobby Lobby), Sweat Shirt(K-

Band Sweatshirt(Hot Topic), Flannel( Good-

hols), Band Shirt(Hot Topic), Vans(Fa-

will). Skinny Jeans(Hot Topic), Shirt(JCPen-

mous Footwear), Flannel(Thrift Shop)

ney), Shoelace belt( Scheels), Hat(Amazon)

GOODBYE WEST What it’s like leaving our school

By Nick Silva and John Li Jacob Yon moved back to Iowa City from Korea three years ago. He has spent the last three years of his life adjusting to a new school and a new life but, just as his life began to settle in, his parents his parents told him he has to move.Yon’s brother got a job at Facebook he had to move across the country. After a summer of traveling around Asia with his family, Jacob is back to school at Kamiak High around 15 miles away from Seattle.

But Jacob is not alone, just last year over six million students moved nationally. Although most students don’t move out of state, at West alone students have moved as far as Thailand: over 8000 miles away.

New places can open opportunities Jacob Yon ’19 and paths to success but, according to a 2015 study published by the Social Science Research journal, students, even those who move to higher achieving schools, often fall behind in their classes.

“Everything is weird and new,” Yon said. “I find it hard to pay attention [to my teachers] and they don’t accept late work. But I really like the new opportunities that I have this year, there are a bunch of classes that [weren’t] at West, like my Japanese class.”

Students who have moved in the past 12 months were found to have a 50% decreased likelihood of obtaining their high school diploma according to the same study. The Sidney Haigler ’19 reasons for this are simple; one of the main ones being different teachers. New students often fear teachers and students whom 100 FEATURE 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

they have never met and are therefore less likely to ask for help from their mentors or peers.

“I think [my new teachers] are worse, a lot worse.

I actually kinda miss my old ones.” Yon said.

Shifting across the country is hard enough, but also having to adjust to a new building, curriculum and student base can become overwhelming and often contribute to fledging success. This stress, along with other factors, contributes to an average loss of three months of math and reading skills.

Often moving can be a surprise for students and does not only uproot long lasting friendships but also their plans for the future.

“Initially, I resented moving; I basically had my academic schedule for my four years at West planned out, along with which teachers I wanted, extracurriculars I wanted to participate in, and summer activities, so I was very unreceptive to the idea of moving and having to uproot my life,” said Valerie Hsieh ’16.

Hsieh moved from West to Boston during the summer after her freshman year. Even though West High is one of the best and most rigorous schools in the state Hsieh said that the Ivy-League COMPILED BY JOHN LI

BY THE NUMBERS

6.5M 5.6

4

students frequently move in America

percent of famillies had moved once in a study following teens in 1994 to 2008

is the number of times to move before 6th grade to be on average, one year behind

SWITCHING SCHOOLS mindset at her new school hurt her experience.

For Yon, the shift was massive. He came from West Although many students do struggle when leaving High, a ethnically diverse but white majority school, West for a new school, some find the adjustment less difto a school he describes as having “Twenty times as ficult because of West’s rigorous academic standards. many Asians.” This was particularly hard for Yon, “West was more academically chaleven though he himself is of Korean descent. lenging for me. I’m more secure in my “It’s weird but I feel less unique,” said Yon. grades here and sometimes feel like some Often new students find themselves alienated of my classes, especially math, should from the rest of their peers. These students risk be more difficult,” said Sidney Haigler becoming antisocial, and begin to spend their ’19, a transfer student from Sandra De time communicating with their old friends.

O’Connor High School in Arizona.

“I’m kinda guilty [of spending time with Not only does student mobility afold friends]. Honestly, I probably spend fect students’ academic lives, but also more time talking to my friends from their social lives. For example, stuWest than new ones I’ve made,” Yon said. dents who transfer between schools Even when students succeed in making caValerie Hsieh ’16 of differing racial and ethnic desual friends it can often become difficult mographics can find it hard to fit in at first. for them to create more meaningful relationships.

“I did not find it difficult at all to make casual friends,” Hsieh said. “But I struggled for awhile in finding close friends. Classes in high school really force people to engage with the same peers every day, so everyone was friendly, but not that many of my classmates were open to adding me to their already tight-knit friend groups.”

“Moving to a new school was hard,” Yon said.

“But with some support from my family and my -Jacob Yon’19 friends I feel more at home [...] every single day.”

“I FELT THAT IT WAS PRETTY HARD TO TRANSITION INTO SCHOOL HERE.”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 101

e

17 YEARS LATER

BY SANDRAH OCHOLA AND NATALIE ROETLIN

Seventeen years ago the Iowa City West High football team made it to the State Championship. This year, the 2016 team was able to water the 17 year drought was watered by achieving second place at the UNI Dome.

“Before the season even started I knew we had great potential to make it this far, given the

great players,” said head coach Garrett Hartwig.

The team had a clear set goal and fought their hardest to achieve it.

The pressure was on, not only for the players but for the students. Majid Taha ‘17, student section representative, felt the intense pressure to cheer on not only his friends but his family.

“I feel like the student section plays a big role in the game,” Taha said.

“We all have to be really loud and organized in order to hype up my boys.”

This season has truly been one to remember, the team not only achieved an amazing accomplishment but they did it with passion. Passion not only for the sport but for each other.

“At the end of the day, it’s them who walk across the line and take the field. Their attitudes play a big role in the success of the season.

Their spirits were high and I

WE ARE BACK believe that’s the reason we had the year we did,” Hartwig said.

Not only did the coaches recognize this passion but students saw it as well.

“Every single one of them, they just get so excited on game day and I know how much it means to them so we try to hype them up as much as possible,” Taha said.

This team was not expected to make it as far as they did.

They were taken back and a little upset about getting so

son in the UNI Dome. far and not winning the “Coaching is hard work championship, but they but when I get to be all are truly appreciaaround the guys I was tive of making the 2016 around this season, the season the beginning players and coaches, it to a new journey. “We becomes a labor of love,” practice 4 days a week to Hartwig said. play 1 game, we want to be ready,” said Devontae Lane ‘17.

They hope to take the 1999 & 2016 similarites knowledge of this year and apply it to next - West lost to City and Cdear rapids year’s team right off Praire both years the bat. They were all - Both teams played in the state pleased to end their sea- Championship game

WINTER BUCKET L

BY ALLIE HARVEY & MADDY LUEGERING

In the summer, it’s not hard to keep yourself busy. However, in the winter, the cold weather makes it difficult to find fun things to do with friends and family. We asked students around West to write one thing that is on their winter bucket list that they think will help you have the best winter ever.

WINTERVIEWS

Isaac Miller ‘18 “Skiing/snowboaring, sledding with friends, spending time with family” Q: What do you want to do before the winter ends?

I: Get good grades.

Q: What is your favorite winter food or drink?

I: Definitely christmas cookies.

Q: Do you prefer winter or summer?

I: Winter because of the winter break and the festive feeling of the season.

Q: What do you like to do outside in the winter?

I: Snowboard, ski, sled and go running Q: Inside?

I: Playing board games with my family.

Q: What is something new you want to try this winter?

I: Cooking

104 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Avrill Gratton ‘19 “Snowboard/ski” Q: What do you want to do before winter ends?

A: Improve on my skiing abilities, keep pushing myself to try new stuff on my snowboard, and spend more time with my family Q: Do you have any winter traditions with family or friends?

A: We take a family trip up to Canada to visit my grandparents over break.

Q: Winter or smmer?

A: Winter. Always.

Q: Is there something new you want to try this winter?

A: I’ve always wanted to go snowmobiling.

Sushma Santhana ‘20 “Snow tubing”

Q: What do you want to do before winter ends?

S: I want to go skiing at sundown because you can only do it in the winter and it seems super fun.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the winter season?

S: Hot chocolate and fuzzy socks by the fireplace.

Q: What do you like to do outside in the winter?

S: I don’t go outside much but when I do I sled.

Q: Inside?

S: Curl up with Hot Chocolate and watch Netflix

LIST

What’s on your bucket list?

Brad Dileo ‘18 “Sledding”

Jill Hofmockel, librarian “Read with my kids”

Madi Barta ‘18 “Make a snowman”

Maggie Towler ‘19 “Make an igloo”

Jaclyn Bakken ‘19 “Build a snowman, go sledding, drink hot coco”

Sharon Amouzou ‘18 “Hang out with my friends and work less”

Eric Doorn ‘19 “Play Christmas songs”

Taylor Nadeau ‘19 “Make cookies”

Ivan Badovinac ‘19 “Go skiing”

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 105

The Truth

Bats Are Blind

False. Bats can see three times better than humans can. Bats have a great sense of hearing and use echolocation to find prey to have a better sense of their surroundings at night, but they still are able to manually see.

About Myths BY: NATLIE KATZ AND GRACE BRUSEGAARD

Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, these are all well known myths that many people in our society believe in. According to the dictionary definition, myths are widely held but false beliefs or ideas. While some myths have been driven into the human mind for centuries, others seem to just be rumors that we question their reliability. A survey completed by 252 West High Students showed which common myths are believed as true. Did we fool you?

By Holding In A Sneeze You Could Crack A Rib Or Rupture A Blood Vessel

54%

54%

46%

70 FEATURE DECEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

True. Whenever a human sneezes, germs fly out of their mouth at around a hundred miles per hour.

Prior to sneezing, a lot of pressure builds up in your lungs meant to be forced out of our mouth and nose to relieve and clear irritants. According to Time Magazine, by plugging your nose or trying to suppress a sneeze, the pressure is forced back, which can cause a ruptured blood vessel or a cracked a rib.

Drinking Hot Tea Will Cool You Down True. According to the National Public Radio, by drinking hot drinks your body starts to sweat which actually cools down your body. The receptors in our tongues send a signal in our brain to start doing the one thing that most effectively cools us off: sweating.The sweating relieves more temperature than the hot drink is bringing in, cooling our body down.

There’s No Gravity in Space False,. There actually is gravity in space, in fact a lot. Gravity is what keeps the moon orbiting the earth, the earth orbiting the sun and the sun orbiting around the center of our galaxy. Gravity is created by any object with mass and, since there are planets in space, gravity is there. While astronauts have actually come back from space a few inches taller, this doesn’t mean there is no gravity, it just means that there is a much lower amount of it.

A Penny Dropped From The Empire State Building Will Kill You If It Hits You False. On the show Myth Busters, they proved that a penny dropped from the the Empire State Building roof, which is at 1,250 feet, could not gain enough momentum to actually kill someone. Pennies only weigh around one gram, so the air resistance created by it would only sting or hurt if it hit you.

Even dropping a penny from 35,000 feet wouldn’t do any serious damage.

WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER 2016 FEATURE 71

Top 5 Things To Do Over Winter Break

By Ava Wessinger

Winter break is exciting for most but for others

it isn’t. Boredom is a problem that happens to a lot of people. You do nothing for hours and it is a major waste of your time. You have two weeks to do whatever you want, so you want to spend your time doing something you enjoy. Here are some ideas on how to spend your winter break.

Hot Chocolate

Skiing

Cupcakes

With the holidays coming up, people are always looking for a sweet treat for themselves or others. Molly’s Cupcakes has custom cupcakes with many different options of fillings and toppings.

From ice cream, cakes, to gluten free options they have lots to choose from.

When it is just too cold outside and you have had a long day, you need to relax. A good way to do that is make hot chocolate. It is simple, easy, and always tastes great on a cold winter day. You can make it in many different ways and in many different flavors. From peppermint to marshmellows, the options are endless. To make hot chocolate you only need a few things; you can buy a premade mix or for an intense flavor you could make your own with cocoa powder and water or milk.

If you are an adventurous person who loves the outdoors, then this could be something fun for you. At Lake Macbride, there is a cross country skiing trail. If you don’t like skiing, they also offer an area to snowmobile. It is free and is a fun thing to do with the family.

If you like crafts and baking, then you should try this easy project. All you need are peppermints and non-stick spray. It serves as a great holiday decoration and when the season is over, it serves as a nice treat. If you want to get creative you could even use candy canes.

Peppermint bowl

COMPILED BY LEAH DUSTERHOFT

BY THE numbers

80 14

2

Movie Night

Is how many years Bob’s candy company has been open and been making peppermint candies

how many days of winter break you havw ot try these activites

How many weeks of winter break

With two weeks, that gives you plenty of time to catch up on T.V. shows or watch movies. If you are looking for something new, here are some of the recommended movies/ tv shows to watch over break.

Most reccomended T.V. show to watch Grey’s Anatomy Gil More Girls Most reccomended Movie to watch Elf

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Get as many peppermints as you would like remember they will melt and expand so don’t use too many 2. Turn on oven to 350 degrees 3. Unwrap them 4. Get a oven safe pan and place parchment paper on top and spray with nonstick spray 5. Place peppermints on the pan in any design you like 6. Put in oven for 10 min. ( you will know when they are melted when the colors have merged together and there isn’t any space between the mints.

7.Remove pan from the oven and let cool for about 10-15 minutes or until completely cool to the touch 8. Remove parchment paper from the peppermints 9. If you would like to make yours into a shape like a bowl once it is partially cool place it in or around the bowl then let completely cool before you remove the paper

l l A s ’ t I

FOR

By Kiley Piercy The dancing, the fundraising, the smiles and laughter is all “for the kids”. West High School Dance Marathon supports children and families that are battling with pediatric cancer. With the help of Dance Marathon, their lives don’t have to be as hard.

Many families have been affected by Dance Marathon, especially the Schroeder family. Austin “Flash” Schroeder was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, a type of cancer. It was news that was very hard to hear, but they knew that they had to fight this battle together. According to Stacy Schroeder, mother of Austin, “Dance Marathon has proven to us that individuals can come together & make such a huge impacts on so many!”

The community had came together as one, and helped Flash with his fight. At Dance Marathon, kids pumped their fists in the air, and continously shouted “FTK”. All of the money raised went towards the kids in the Univeristy Of Iowa Children’s Hospital. For the families that had to practically move into the hospital, it made a huge difference.

Flash had passed away on April 28, of 2015. “Flash loved West High and all his amazing friends who continue to help keep his spirit alive! We know he’s smiling down on all of us, seeing everything that is continuously being accomplished!” Stacy said.

Each individuals efforts goes along ways, especially when doing it for something so important.

Intro to journalism December 2016 Feature 108

The Kids

I dance for...

Jordan Christensen ‘19 and Savanna Richter 19’ both dance for Avery.

Camryn Benge ‘18 dances for the thrill and excitement of raising money for the kids. intro to journalism December 2016 Feature 109

Tis The Season

BY RAZAN ABDELRAHMAN AND LEEN HAMZA

Did you know?

THE FEAR OF HALLOWEEN IS CALLED SAMHAINOPHOBIA.

Winter is finally here. For many people, this means setting up decorations and buying presents because Christmas is coming. When spring’s on its way, many West high students look forward to egg hunting with their families on Easter.

Every part of the year has a set of distinctive, seasonal holidays, and West High’s diverse student body celebrates a wide range of them.

JACK-O-LANTERNS WERE FIRST MADE OUT OF SQUASH. AMERICANS BUY AROUND 600 MILLION POUNDS OF HALLOWEEN CANDY ANNUALLY. THE SONG “JINGLE BELLS” WAS INTENDED TO BE A THANKSGIVING SONG. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN WILL EAT A TOTAL OF 4,500 CALORIES ON THANKSGIVING. 535 MILLION POUNDS OF TURKEY MEAT IS EATEN EACH THANKSGIVING IN AMERICA.

56 FEATURE DECEMBER2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Eid is sometimes referred to as the “Islamic Christmas”. It’s a Muslim holiday that can celebrate either the end of Ramadan or another holy day on the Islamic calendar, depending on the time of year. Many West students celebrate Eid, with a large number of them skipping school for the day to celebrate the holiday. Khlood Saeed ’20 is one student who celebrates the holiday. “My favorite part [about Eid] is getting to just clean, get dressed, and go out with friends,” Saeed said. One commonly practiced Eid tradition is buying new outfits. And like on Christmas, a lot of families also buy presents for each other.

Maya Wald ’19, like many other Jewish people, celebrates Hanukkah during the winter.

Hanukkah is eight days long and each day another candle is added to the menorah, while nights are more dedicated to singing songs around the dinner table.“It’s a lot of fun,” said Wald. To Wald, the holiday symbolizes the importance of family.

Wald says her favorite part of the holiday is getting to hear her parents sing Hanukkah songs.

Popular Hanukkah foods include latkes and briskets, which Wald enjoys every Hanukkah.

She is especially fond of the desserts. “The best dessert you can have on Hanukkah is sufganiyot; it’s like donuts but better.”

Popular Holidays Around West

Percentage of West High Students who celebrate popular holidays.

Quiz Results

If you got mostly As you are...

Christmas

If you gotly mostly Bs you are..

Halloween If you got mostly Cs you are...

Valentine’s

If you got mostly Ds you are...

Thanksgiving

If you got mostly Es you are..

The 4th of July WSSPAPER.COM DECEMBER2016 FEATURE 57

Holy Crêpe!

Holy Crêpe!

BY XENA MAKKY

F

or a growing community, the variety of places to eat is esPeople generally appreciate foods different cultures as they bring sential. Fortunately, the people of Iowa City are given option a unique taste to the community. Manaligod is one of many people after option of restaurants to pick from. There are restaurants who believe the community is significantly impacted by this cafe. with warm environments, and those that are always brimming with Iowa City has many options when it comes to international cuisine, customers. There are restaurants that serve only breakfasts foods, and those that serve only desserts. Fortunately, there are dozens of international restaurants th6at people in Iowa City can choose from, but how many of those restaurants can give you an honest taste of a different culture?

Crêpe de Luxe Café is a small diner in downtown Iowa City.

It is one of the many international restaurants. From the food, to its environment and decor, to the people working there, you just might get an introduction to French culture. Nikita Bailey ’20 has known the café since it was just a crêpe cart stationed at the ped mall. “It’s really friendly and authentic. Just looking around the room, the decorations look like a mashup but the choices are usually repetitive. Although there are others that of different places, so it doesn’t only represent serve similar items, this one has an environment similar to a café France.” Bailey often comes to the Crêpe de in France. There are a couple of restaurants like iHop and Village Luxe Café to meet with friends and family. Inn who serve crêpes as well, but there are people who prefer Crêpe “This place reminds me of family and friends de Luxe for its convenient location. “People of all sorts come here because I’ll usually meet up with them (...) because it’s in close range, next to the library and the University,” It just feels really safe and warm here.”

Manaligod says. Another reason is the consistency of quality food.

Nikita Bailey '19 The small restaurant is decorated with French art and ornaments, “It brings another culture here and it broadens people's horizons. along with decorations from other parts of the world. The inclusive If you eat a burger or pizza everyday, you’re only going to like the atmosphere of the café is contributed by the colors and knicknacks same things and you’re going to be picky and to a certain extent, brought together by the people themselves. ignorant (...) Crêpes are something people who like simple AmeriThere are many international restaurants in Iowa City, but there can dishes will like. aren’t a lot that represent French culture. “I think Iowa City has Another contribution to the cafe’s great reputation are the workers. enough international restaurants for certain cultures, but we could The owner and workers at the Café make everyone feel welcome use more for others,” Bailey says. and special by giving them their full attention and making every Olivia Manaligod ’18 has known the cafe for years. “It’s really pretty. meal with time and care. They make the effort to be friendly and The place in general has such a colorful and unique feeling to it. It’s often will converse with you, while giving you your space and time small and it feels very personal when you’re with people. It’s never to eat. “You are close to the workers and you can see the environtoo loud, and the food is always good.” ment they’re working in, and I like that.” The workers interact with Another contribution to its uniqueness is the customers in a positive and welcoming manner. “These people the food itself. There are restaurants that may are good smart and kind and they contribute to the community serve them on the side, or a few basic flavors, so well.” Rather than feeling like an ordinary customer at a larger, but not many have dedicated a whole business chain restaurant, people express the importance they feel supportto crêpes and other French cuisine. Whether ing an inclusive local business. “Crêpe de Luxe is just awesome and you would like a quick meal, or a sit down with everyone should come.” friends, this café of French igin is the perfect place for any meal of the day, and can serve as a Olivia Manaligod 18 break from anything.

People often describe the location to be a convenient place for many people, especially students to meet with friends, and the environment itself is often described as warm and safe.