2022 FOJ Publication: WSS Coverage Unit by Foundations of Journalism

FUTURE BOYS WEST SOCCER

A look inside the boys West soccer program underclassmen.

Playing soccer, Nathanaeli Baraka Madumba on the green team goes against Trey Montgomery on the yellow team, in a one versus one.

he West Soccer team is known for having a great program. This was true for the team last year. The Trojans entered the State Tournament as the number one seed. They managed to reach the State Championship with an 18 game win streak. Although the Trojans lost to Pleasant Valley 1-0, the program still had a great season, in which they went 20-2. This year the team will look very different because an astonishing amount of the varsity players last year have graduated. In 2010, a similar scenario played out, in the 2011 season. Although the 2011 season did not go the way the Trojan’s wanted it to, over the last few years the team SPORTS MAR. 24, 2022 restated themselves.

So with all the changes that are going on, it begs the question how will the next generation of players at West keep the phenomenal legacy of the team alive. After making a save, Richard Wu tucks the ball tightly in his grasp.

Dribbling down the court, Erwann Charles, a freshman of West High goes for the goal.

Over the summer Richard attended goalie training sessions with West, however due to state law West is prohibited from providing these opportunities during the school year leading up to the season. Some other ways Richard trains in order to maintain his spot he says, “Just getting outside with friends, and my brother helps a lot.” He continues, “Just getting shots on.” Richard takes advantage of the lifting programs. “I think the lifting programs at West are really beneficial obviously as a goalie strength, conditioning, and explosiveness are really important,” he says, “I feel like strength is important, but it’s more technique and reaction, but obviously the strength will play into the explosiveness.” The tryout process for a goalie however is a little bit different than the tryouts for every other position. “After just the regular tryout, we go off to the turf for specialized goalie sessions.”

Attacking Midfield,” he adds, “They’re really good positions. I really like them.” Charles decided to try out for the team because both his brothers played soccer for West. In fact one of his brothers, Corentin Charles 23’, still plays for West. He also says, “I really like playing soccer.” Outside of high school, Charles plays for the Iowa Soccer Club, and has done so for five years. Using the opportunities that West provides is something Charles does regularly. “I take performance,” he says, “I also go to the West open plays.” Charles’ ultimate goal is to make Varsity, though at the moment he doesn’t really know what to expect from high school soccer.

Every player wants to be on the field contributing to the team. However, for Leon Wu ‘24 this isn’t an option. In the first game of the 2021 season, Leon dislocated his shoulder, and since then, he says, “It’s kind of been like a repetition of injuries. I’ve dislocated my shoulder about three or four times in the past year and a half now.” He got it checked out and found out he had a labral tear and other damages to his right shoulder. “They decided I would get surgery on it ASAP to get that all fixed up.” Leon’s surgery is scheduled for early March. For the recovery period he explains, “It’s supposed to be a three to four month recovery period until I can get back into soccer, and then probably another two months until I’m fully recovered.” This means, Leon is out for the entirety of the High school season. However, this has not stopped Leon from training and playing soccer. “Yeah, I’m at risk for injury, but at this point I’ve injured it so many times I couldn’t care less,” he adds, “I’m taking the right precautions now.” Leon has worn a brace to help protect his shoulder while he plays. “I want to hold myself accountable. I don’t want to just stop showing up to practice cause I have an excuse.” Although Leon won’t be able to play for West this season, he still plans on staying involved with the team. He says, “I’m planning on potentially being like a team manager or maybe a cameraman for the team this year. I just want to find a way to contribute however I can.”

“ I WANT TO HOLD MYSE LF ACCOU NTABLE . I DON ’T WANT TO J UST STOP SHOWI NG U P TO PR ACTICE” - LEON WU ‘24

However goalies still have to partake in the baseline fitness test in order to make a team. Erwann Charles ‘25 is a Freshman at West this year. He’s played soccer for nine years. He says, “Most of the time I play striker and

During soccer practice, Leon Wu kicked the ball to a fellow teammate.

By: Zein Abu-Hijeh and Anthony Medina Photos By: Anthony Medina Design By: Anthony Medina

SPORTS

MAR. 24, 2022

FUTURE BOYS WEST SOCCER A look inside the West Soccer Program through the eyes of the under classman

Playing soccer, Nathanaeli Baraka Madumba on the green team goes against Trey Montgomery on the yellow team, in a one versus one.

By Zein Abu-Hijleh and Anthony Medina Photos By Anthony Medina Design By Zein Abu-Hijleh

08 SPORTS

MAR. 4, 2022

he West Soccer team is known for having a great program. This was true for the team last year. The Trojans entered the State Tournament as the number one seed. They managed to reach the State Championship with an 18 game win streak. Although the Trojans lost to Pleasant Valley 1-0, the program still had a great season, in which they went 20-2. This year the team will look very different because an astonishing amount of the varsity players last year have graduated. In 2010, a similar scenario played out, in the 2011 season. Although the 2011 season might not have gone the way the Trojan’s wanted it to, it didn’t take long for the team to reassert itself as a top tier program. So with all the changes that are going on, it begs the question how will the next generation of players at West keep the fenomenal legacy of the team alive.

Richard Wu ‘24 is a sophomore this year, but even as a Freshman he played as both a backup keeper for varsity and the main keeper for JV1. He was one of only three Freshman last year to make varsity. He says, “I have played soccer on and off since I was five.” He adds, “I started playing goalie when I was nine or ten.” Richard used to play for the Iowa Soccer Club, but last year he quit. The reason, he says, “I play football for West High and I couldn’t make the commitment for both.” For the football team, Richard played both wide receiver and defensive back. “I think playing football has helped me prepare with all the catching drills we did,” he says. Over the summer Richard attended goalie training sessions with West, however due to state law West is prohibited from providing these opportunities during the school year leading up to the season. Some other ways Richard trains in order to maintain his spot he says, “Just getting outside with friends, and my brother helps a lot.” he continues, “Just getting shots on.” Richard takes advantage of the lifting programs. “I think the lifting programs at West are really beneficial obviously as a goalie strength, conditioning, and explosiveness are really important,” he says, “I feel like strength is important, but it’s more technique and reaction, but obviously the strength will play into the explosiveness.” The tryout process for a goalie however is a little bit different than the tryouts for every other position. “After just the regular tryout, we go off to the turf for specialized

Dribbling down the court, Erwann Charles a freshman of West High goes for the goal.

goalie sessions.” However goalies still have to partake in the baseline fitness test in order to make a team. Erwann Charles ‘25 is a Freshman at West this year. He’s played soccer for nine years. He says, “Most of the time I play striker and Attacking Midfield,” he adds, “They’re really good positions. I really like them.” Charles decided to try out for the team because both his brothers played soccer for West. In fact one of his brothers, Corentin Charles 23’, still plays for West. He also says, “I really like playing soccer.” Outside of highschool, Charles plays for the Iowa Soccer Club, and has done so for five years. Using the opportunities that West provides is something Charles does regularly. “I take performance,” he says, “I also go to the West open plays.” Charles’ ultimate goal is to make Varsity, though at the moment he doesn’t really know what to expect from highschool soccer. Every player wants to be on the field contributing to the team. However, for Leon Wu ‘24 this isn’t an option. In the first game of the 2021 season, Leon dislocated his shoulder, and since then, he says, “It’s kind of been like a repetition of injuries. I’ve dislocated my shoulder about

three or four times in the past year and a half now.” He got it checked out and found out he had a labral tear and other damages to his right shoulder. “They decided I would get surgery on it ASAP to get that all fixed up.” Leon’s surgery is scheduled for early March. For the recovery period he explains, “It’s supposed to be a three to four month recovery period until I can get back into soccer, and then probably another two months until I’m fully recovered.” This means, Leon is out for the entirety of the Highschool season. However, this has not stopped Leon from training and playing soccer. “Yeah, I’m at risk for injury, but at this point I’ve injured it so many times I couldn’t care less,” he adds, “I’m taking the right precautions now.” Leon has worn a brace to help protect his shoulder while he plays. “I want to hold myself accountable. I don’t want to just stop showing up to practice cause I have an excuse.” Although Leon won’t be able to play for West this season, he still plans on staying involved with the team. He says, “I’m planning on potentially being like a team manager or maybe a cameraman for the team this year. I just want to find a way to contribute however I can.”

During soccer practice, Leon Wu kicked the ball to a fellow teammate. SPORTS MAR. 24, 2022

LIVIN’ UP TO the legacy BY ELENA GARCIA

PROFILE

ow would you feel if everyday when you were at school, one of your parents was right there with you, around for the ups and down of your school day? For some students, this question is a reality. We chatted with a few about their experiences, perspectives, and feelings on having a parent on staff. For Zola Gross ’23, daughter of principal Mitch Gross, talked about how comfortable and nice it is to see her father at school everyday. But sometimes she feels like the pressure is too high for her to not mess up. “I do feel pressure to not mess up, like not to cheat on a test or skip school or do anything because they would instantly go to him [and] it would be 10 times easier for someone else to do all that stuff than me.” In a similar boat is her younger sister, Mary Danielle Gross ’25, she noticed her actions were influenced by her dad’s position as well. “[Just] like every social media post, everything I say, I just have to be prepared to be like, ‘That’s Mr. Gross’ daughter.’” Zola Gross also talked about the stereotypes she receives that she has a higher amount of knowledge about the school than most teachers. “A lot of people assume that I know a little bit, like late starts and no school, but I was with my dad. He's gotten the same call from the district that everyone else gets and I found out the exact same time he did.” Evan Zukin ’22, is the son of Renee Zukin; Literacy and Language Arts teacher for Northwest Junior High, and English 9 teacher for Iowa City West High School. Zukin mentioned expectations towards his literary performance, commenting that, “Sometimes people assume that I'm really good at reading or writing. And honestly I'm not. Writing and like English in general

is just one of my, like the bane of my existence, [to be honest].” Zukin spoke about show choir at Iowa City West as well, citing his mom as one of the ways he was inspired to join. Ms. Zukin went to West High School and participated in the show choir’s Good Time Company for her four years of high school. “So I was very much looking forward to [show choir] but [my mom] having been in it was definitely like yeah, I want to be in that and try that out too.” Zukin said. Similar to Zola Gross, Zukin felt nervous that his actions would have an impact, touching on a time where he got into trouble in junior high. “I got a day of out-of-school suspension in junior high. And so that I was very much worried that I would reflect poorly on my mom, especially being a teacher there.” One good thing about having a parent at school is having a helpful presence around. Zola Gross and Zukin both agreed that it could be nice having a parent at school because of this. “...I love having my dad at school,” Gross remarked. “Every time I have a question I just like go to his office … '' Zukin reflected on how this was handy in junior high school. “It definitely helped in junior high a lot, because if I ever needed a

break I could just go sit in her room.” Zukin also spoke about being very inspired by his mom, saying that “My mother is definitely one of the strongest people I know, and she has never not been like a light … ” Altogether, it seems like having a parent around during the school day can have its added pressures and stereotypes, but the benefits, such as more to connect and a safe space when needed, far outweigh the negatives.

FOR PODCAST COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

PROFILE

BOWLED

DESIGN BY HELEN ORSZULA

OVER BY GABBY MONIZA, HELEN ORSZULA, SIGRID ROSSI, AND ERINN VARGA

Kolby Ripperton ’23 carefully calculating his arm swing.

PHOTO BY SIGRID ROSSI

12 SPORTS

MAR. 23, 2022

rash. Pins dance around as a ball rumbles through them, lights flashing as scores go up. A person stands posed, as if time had stopped as soon as they had let go of the ball. A few cheers went up and mixed with the bouncing sounds. Sounds of humming balls, idle chatter, and scuffed shoes. Stepping into a bowling meet at Colonial Lanes seemed gritty and dark turned into a live, fizzing show. However, the lack of a student audience is notable in this scene. Despite bowling being an Iowa high school sport for over a decade, it’s not recognized as such. Bowling is a sport that is so overlooked that not all schools have one. Kaitlyn Trimpe, a senior at Clear Creek Amana high school, bowls for Iowa City West High because Clear Creek Amana doesn’t have a team. Iowa City Liberty also sends West High their bowlers; in fact, one bowler; Ryan Bys ’22. Now, you might think that it’s hard for people who go to different schools to bowl on the same team, but Alexa King ’23, said, “We leave that out of bowling. We don’t even think about it.”

Around thirty boys tried out for the team but only eight got to bowl varsity this season. With the girl’s team, the difference is outstanding. In the past their team hasn’t had enough to make a complete junior varsity team. All in all, bowling is a serious sport which may be overlooked. Bowlers on the West High Team wish more people knew about the sport. While hard work is required, bowlers feel that the sense of camaraderie and sport combined guarantee a great time. You never know, bowling might be right up your alley.

“ IT WOU LD BE MOR E FU N I F PEOPLE KN EW IT WAS A TH I NG.” - WH ITN EY NOELLER ‘24

FOR VIDEO COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM FOR MORE COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

West High has a varsity and a junior varsity team for the girls’ and the boys’ teams, but that’s not the case at other high schools. The West High JV teams occasionally have to bowl against themselves because other schools don’t have JV teams. Bowling is a skill-based sport, but is viewed as merely a pastime. Something fun. And sure, the bowling team has fun at practice. It is a tradition on the girls’ bowling team to play UNO on the bus ride to a meet. It helps them destress and get ready to compete. However they work hard on their forms and perfect their techniques. The athletes on the bowling team work hard and should be recognized for it, like any other athlete. The coverage isn’t great, either. As most sports do, they have a place in the Trojan Epic yearbook, but it’s not until students flip through the yearbook that they realize West has a bowling team. It’s hard to do a sport when there’s little support from the student body. The crowds at bowling meets consist mostly of parents, not a teenager in sight. If you compare the crowds at Colonial Lanes to the crowd in the north gym during basketball games, it’s staggering. “It would be more fun if people knew it was a thing. They say, ‘Oh, you do bowling, like as a club?’ They don’t even know it’s a sport,” said Whitney Noeller ’24. What may come as a surprise is the competitiveness within bowling. There are only a certain number of spots on the bowling team, so not everyone who tried out got to bowl this season. ART BY ERINN VARGA SPORTS MAR. 23, 2022

Bowled Over

14 SPORTS

MAR. 24 2022

Kolby Ripperton ‘23 carefully calculating his role.

“

TH EY SAY, ‘OH , YOU DO BOWLI NG, LI KE AS A CLU B? ’ TH EY DON ’T EVE N KNOW IT’S A SPORT -WH ITN EY NOELLER , ‘24

”

espite bowling being an Iowa high school sport for over a decade, it’s not recognized as such.

Bowling is so overlooked as a sport, not all schools have one. Kaitlyn Trimpe, a senior at Clear Creek Amana high school, bowls for Iowa City West High because Clear Creek Amana doesn’t have a team. Iowa City Liberty also sends West High their bowlers -well, bowler; Ryan Bys ’22. Now, you might think that it’s hard for people who go to different schools to bowl on the same team, but Alexa King, ’23, said, “We leave that out of bowling. We don’t even think about it.” West High has a JV and varsity team for the girls’ and the boys’ teams, but that’s not the case at other high schools. The West High JV teams occasionally have to bowl against themselves because other schools don’t have JV teams. The coverage isn’t great, either. As most sports do, they have a place in the Trojan Epic yearbook, but it’s not until students flip through the yearbook that they realize West has a bowling team. It’s hard to do a sport when there’s little support from the student body. The crowds at bowling meets consist mostly of parents, not a teenager in sight. If you compare the crowds at Colonial Lanes to the crowd in the north gym during basketball games, it’s staggering. “It would be more fun if people knew it was a thing. They say, ‘Oh, you do bowling, like as a club?’ They don’t even

Alexander Rohm ‘22 razor focused on his role. PHOTOS BY SIGRID ROSSI know it’s a sport,” said Whitney Noeller, ’24. However bowlers also appreciate the low pressure that comes with low coverage. Bowling is a skill-based sport, but is viewed as merely a pastime. Something fun. And sure, the

bowling team has fun at practice. It is a tradition on the girls’ bowling team to play UNO on the bus ride to a meet. It helps them de-stress and get ready to compete. However they work hard on their forms and perfect their techniques. The athletes on the bowling team work hard and should be recognized for it, like any other athlete. What may come as a surprise is the competitiveness within bowling. There are only a certain number of spots on the bowling team, so not everyone who tried out got to bowl this season. Around thirty boys tried out for the team but only eight got to bowl varsity this season. All in all, bowling is a serious sport which may be overlooked. Bowlers on the West High Team wish more people knew about the sport. While hard work is required, bowlers feel that the sense of camaraderie and sport combined guarantee a great time. You never know, bowling might be right up your alley. Jade Ritchey ‘22 sporting green and gold ribbons while bowling.

FOR MORE COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

BY SIGRID ROSSI, GABBY MONIZA, ERINN VARGA, HELEN ORSZULA SPORTS MAR. 24 2022

HOW SCHOOL AFFECTS STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH

Picture Credits: Creative Commons

HEALTH & SCIENCE OCT. 3, 2019

early 75% of the students’ self-reported feelings related to school were negative, the Yale Child Study Center found in a survey of over 20,000 participants. This negative emotion found closely connected to school seems to ring true for the students at West High as well. The pandemic has made life harder for a lot of students and has hindered their ability to connect with others and focus at school. “Before Covid, I was very studious and would never procrastinate. But now, I would stresscram until around 1 am, which makes me dizzy and sometimes black out for a few seconds during classes. I have an AP class for the first period, and I always end up making mistakes on my tests because I JUST CAN'T FOCUS,” said Esther Park ‘25. Many students feel like the transition from online school to in-person school was very difficult for them, and many have still not gotten used to it. Some students just aren't fit to being in such an intensive environment, and having a long seven-hour school day doesn't help either. Socialization seems to be important for students, being one of the leading reasons as to why students would potentially look forward to school. “I think the biggest effect that school has on me is just that it wears me out. Between having to get up early and get home late in the afternoon, I never have enough energy or focus to work on the things I actually enjoy,” said Adeline Lasswell ‘24.

Much like Lasswell, many of these students have so many assignments and extracurricular activities, on top of people’s expectations and mental health, social life, and family issues. It seems to be wearing down upon them at an alarming rate. This seems to make them dislike school, or increases their negative emotions towards school exponentially. ”I hate it,” Addison Cribbs ‘25 said. When prompted, her friend gave a similar answer. And when asked of their reasons for coming to school, Cribbs replied with, “I’m only there for the friends and the music,” to which Brooke Chandler ‘25 mentioned, “I’m going because it’s illegal not to.” Chandler and Cribbs also spoke of a negative aura that, in their words, “suffocates the entirety of the school building.” Although the academic aspects of school are meant to be fun to some degree, most students receive stress and negative emotions from it, so they start to consider the act of going to school as a largely negative experience. Looking back on the survey from Yale, nearly 80% of students associate the feeling of stress with school, followed by boredom at about 70% and tired at 58%. And when asked how her academic experience could be improved, Park replied, “I am just really against the grading policy where about 80% is a test grade because it makes me procrastinate on homework, which ends up having literally no value to my grade. I’m also a really bad

test taker—my anxiety level goes up and I’m so stressed to the point where I sweat and start shaking. I wish the school would be more fair to people who have the same issues that I do.” Having too much stress to have a productive mindset is certainly not new to the students of West High. Many like Esther feel that too much pressure is placed on tests that in the grand scheme of things, have little to no significance in their life and what they might pursue in post-secondary education. For many students with a heavy workload, finding the motivation to go to school is a struggle that they face every morning “I go to school every morning with the goal to get into college and get a job that makes me a lot of money. It’s all I care about. I want to make money and be financially stable for myself, which would make me happy. I also like going to school because there are options for me like sports, choir, and a lot of cool things that outshine the bad,” said Kalli Titus ‘25. “When I was really little, teachers used to never give me homework. I would go and show up and learn kindergarten stuff. It wasn’t stressful and they would give us a lot of breaks. I feel like lunch and AFT are nice breaks in the day, but they need to tone down the homework. All of the kids I know have significant stress about homework. The schools expect you to learn everything at home during homework if you do AP classes. It’s the school’s job to teach you, not to learn it on your own if you sign up for an honors class.”

HEALTH & SCIENCE OCT. 3, 2019

LIVING UP TO THE LEGACY West High students share how it feels having a parent on staff BY ELENA GARCIA, NORA DALY AND VERA TANAS

ART AND DESIGN BY VERA TANAS

18 FEATURE MAR. 23 22

PHOTO USED WITH PERMISSION OF MITCH GROSS

How would you feel if all the time when

you were at school, one of your parents was right there with you, around for the ups and downs of your school day? For some students, this question is a reality. We chatted with a few about their experiences, perspectives, and feelings on having a parent on staff. Zola Gross ’23, (middle) daughter of principal Mitch Gross, talked about how comfortable and nice it is to see her father at school every day. But she felt like the pressure is high for her to not mess up. “I do feel pressure to not mess up, like not to cheat on a test or skip school or do anything because they would instantly go to him [and] it would be 10 times easier for someone else to do all that stuff than me.” In a similar boat is her younger sister, Mary Danielle Gross ’25 (right). She noticed her actions were influenced by her dad’s position as well. “Every social media post, everything I say, I just have to be prepared to be like, ‘That’s Mr. Gross’ daughter.’” Zola Gross also talked about the stereotype she receives that she has a higher amount of knowledge about the school than

most teachers. “A lot of people assume that I know a little bit, like late starts and no school, but I was with my dad. He’s gotten the same call from the district that everyone else gets and I found out the exact same time he did.” Evan Zukin ’22 is the son of Renee Zukin; Literacy and Language Arts teacher for Northwest Junior High, and English 9 teacher for West. Zukin mentioned expectations towards his literary performance, commenting that, “Sometimes people assume that I’m really good at reading or writing. And honestly, I’m not. Writing and like English, in general, is just one of my, like the bane of my existence, [to be honest].” Zukin spoke about show choir at West as well, citing his mom as one of the ways he was inspired to join. Ms. Zukin went to West High School and participated in the show choir’s Good Time Company for her four years of high school. “So I was very much looking forward to [show choir] but [my mom] having been in it was definitely like yeah, I want to be in that and try that out too.” Zukin said. Similar to Zola Gross, Zukin felt nervous that his actions would have an impact, touching on

a time when he got into trouble in junior high. “I got a day of out-of-school suspension in junior high, yes. And so that I was very much worried that I would reflect poorly on my mom, especially being a teacher there.” One good thing about having a parent at school is having a helpful presence around. Zola Gross and Zukin both agreed that it could be nice having a parent at school because of this. “No, I love having my dad at school,” Gross remarked. “Every time I have a question I just like go to his office …” Zukin reflected on how this was handy in junior high school. “It definitely helped in junior high a lot, because if I ever needed a break I could just go sit in her room.” Zukin spoke about being very inspired by his mom, saying that, “My mother is definitely one of the strongest people I know, and she has never not been like a light … Altogether, it seems like having a parent around during the school day can have its added pressures and stereotypes, but the benefits, such as more to connect and safe space when needed, far outweigh the negatives. FEATURE MAR. 23 22

TROBOTIX: INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION, AND CREATION Behind the scenes of West High’s note worthy robotics team BY REEM KIRJA, HANEEN ELTYEB, AND ASHLYN BRADY DESIGN BY ASHLYN BRADY ART COMPILED WITH WEST HIGH TROBOTIX LAB NOTES

20 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

West High is full of diverse clubs and organizations, some of the popular ones being Speech and Debate and Theater, but in the pile lies a creative and mostly unknown organization. West High’s Robotics Team, going by the name of Trobotix, has racked up plenty of awards and titles. It’s also a family of STEM inspired students who wish to further their understanding of engineering and programming. West High established the Trobotix 8696 team in 2014. With its name derived from a mash-up of 'trojan’ and ‘robotics’, it provides a space for students to work together using their knowledge of science and technology while simultaneously building life-long problem solving skills. The Trobotix team participates in competitions through FIRST, which is an acronym that represents “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” FIRST is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen that strives to give younger generations access to STEM education and activities. Every year, West High Trobotix competes in FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), a robotics competition for grades 7-12 that includes teams from all over the world. The club has competed in six seasons of FIRST Tech Challenge, and have already brought home five awards. Throughout their off-season, Trobotix diligently works to design, build, and program their robot to fit the different game requirements implemented each year. However, the team's efforts are not just poured towards a robot; Team members work together to fundraise and promote the club. Mishka Mohamed Nour ’22, the team coordinator, sums up the experience saying, “It’s almost like a small business that you’re running every year in a different way.” Trobotix is made up of builders, programmers, and strategists with aspects of business, Computer Aided Design (CAD), electronics configuration, and documentation. During the competition season, they meet on Mondays from 5:30 - 6:00 pm via Discord, Thursday’s from 3:00 - 6:00 pm for open lab, and two additional hours on Friday’s (4:00 - 6:00 pm) for those who need extra lab time. The club’s main focus is to provide a space for students who are interested in developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. In just under a month, students will need to understand

the season’s game requirements and develop an effective strategy that will earn them the maximum amount of points. With the added stress of rankings and limited amount of time, team members are learning to use their time efficiently while making the most out of the FTC season. Coach Scott Anson recognizes how diverse the Trobotix team is, and how that makes the team unique from other robotics teams. “He [Dean Kamen] really wants to get those under-represented populations in our country, women, and some of the other groups that kind of shy away from technology”, Anson explains, “and we [Trobotix] want to get those people in because we need a diverse set of ideas when we problem solve.” Diversity isn’t the only positive aspect of joining the team.

“ I E NJ OYE D EVE RY ASPECT OF IT, BUT [ESPECIALLY] J UST TH E I DEA OF BE I NG I N TH E SAM E ROOM WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE TH E SAM E GOAL I N M I N D [I S E NJ OYABLE].”

- M ISH KA MOHAM ED NOU R ‘22

Jinann AbuDagga, a freshman on the team, explains her reason for joining the team. “I've always been interested in engineering and I had friends in the program and they told me about it. I decided to come and check it out and I kind of really enjoyed it and fell in love with it.” Programmer Matthew Bedell ’24 shares his opinion as well. “Trobotix really feels like a community and there is this sense that everyone has a common goal. It’s competitive but everyone is working together, there never is any competition between the team members.” Although each member joined for different reasons, the

team shares what AbuDagga explains as a “close knit” dynamic. Team members describe the overall benefits of what the team has to offer, with some highlights being an activity to list on their college application, and gaining useful life skills such as determination. Trobotix is currently in their off-season and will have about eight months until the next season starts, giving them enough time to sharpen their skills in engineering and programming. The team is currently working on CAD training and building an unfinished robot. Considering that most of this year’s team members are rookies, students in the club want to make sure they come into the new season with added confidence and coordination. In order to stay organized, the team has created a calendar to follow for the coming months before the season begins. Plans include training activities, outreach, social media promotion, and branding. With these improvement plans, Trobotix hopes to be a strong competitor in the 2022-2023 FTC season. “My main takeaway is actually you don't have to be smart to be part of this. You can enjoy it, no matter how smart your IQ level is because I would say whatever your reason for joining [is, you’ll find it]. If you join for friendship, you’ll find the friendship, if you join for the awards, you’ll find the awards. I joined because I wanted to make an impact and I think I made an impact on myself and on my teammates as well.” Mohamed Nour said. Trobotix is the club to join for anyone interested in diving into the world of engineering and programming as well as forming new relationships. It helps students interact with others with the same interests as well as letting participants gain new experiences with engineering, computer science, teamwork, and friendly competition. Club members have many chances to compete and gain state, national, and global titles. It’s also a great addition for college applications. However, it’s important to know that Trobotix only has 15 open spots. You can contact Haneen Eltyeb if you’re interested in more information. FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

BOWLED OVER

DESIGN BY GABRIELLE MONIZA

PHOTOS BY SIGRID ROSSI

22 SPORTS

MAR. 24, 2022

espite bowling being an Iowa high school sport for over a decade, it’s not recognized as such.

BY SIGRID ROSSI, ERINN VARGA, GABRIELLE MONIZA, HELEN ORSZULA

“

OH , YOU DO BOWLI NG, LI KE AS A CLU B? ’ TH EY DON ’T EVE N KNOW IT’S A SPORT

”

-WH ITN EY NOELLER ‘24

West High has a JV and varsity team for the girls’ and the boys’ teams, but that’s not the case at other high schools. The West High JV teams occasionally have to bowl against themselves because other schools don’t have JV teams. The coverage isn’t great, either. As most sports do, they have a place in the Trojan Epic yearbook, but it’s not until students flip through the yearbook that they realize West has a bowling team. It’s hard to do a sport when there’s little support from the student body. The crowds at bowling meets consist mostly of parents, not a teenager in sight. If you compare the crowds at Colonial Lanes to the crowd in the north gym during basketball games, it’s staggering. “It would be more fun if people knew it was a thing. They say, ‘Oh, you do bowling, like as a club?’ They don’t even know it’s a sport,” said Whitney Noeller, ’24. However bowlers also appreciate the low pressure that comes with low coverage. Bowling is a skill-based sport, but is viewed as merely a pastime. Something fun. And sure, the bowling team has fun at practice. It is a tradition on the girls’ bowling team to play UNO on the bus ride to a meet. It helps them de-stress and get ready to compete. However they work hard on their forms and perfect their techniques. The athletes on the bowling team work hard and should be recognized for it, like any other athlete. What may come as a surprise is the competitiveness within bowling. There are only a certain number of spots on the bowling team, so not everyone who tried out got to bowl this season. Around thirty boys tried out for the team but only eight got to bowl varsity this season. All in all, bowling is a serious sport which may be overlooked. Bowlers on the West High Team wish more people knew about the sport. While hard work is required, bowlers feel that the sense of camaraderie and sport combined guarantee a great time. You never know, bowling might be right up your alley. ART BY ERINN VARGA

SPORTS MAR. 24, 2022

ART BY ERINN VARGA

24 SPORTS

MAR. 24, 2022

DESIGN BY ERINN VARGA

BY HELEN ORSZULA, SIGRID ROSSI, GABRIELLE MONIZA, AND ERINN VARGA PHOTOS BY SIGRID ROSSI

Kolby Ripperton ‘23 carefully calculating his arm swing.

Kayla Schindler ‘23 post role watching her bowling ball move down the lane.

Bowling is a skill-based sport, but is viewed as merely a pastime. Something fun. And sure, the bowling team has fun at practice. It is a tradition on the girls’ bowling team to play UNO on the bus ride to a meet. It helps them destress and get ready to compete. However they work hard on their forms and perfect their techniques. The athletes on the bowling team work hard and should be recognized for it, like any other athlete. What may come as a surprise is the competitiveness within bowling. There are only a certain number of spots on the bowling team, so not everyone who tried out got to bowl this season. Around thirty boys tried out for the team but only a number got to bowl varsity this season. The coverage isn’t great, either. As most sports do, they have a place in the Trojan Epic yearbook, but it’s not until students flip through the yearbook that they realize West has a bowling team. It’s hard to do a sport when there’s little support from the student body. The crowds at bowling meets consist mostly of parents, not a teenager in sight. If you compare the crowds at Colonial Lanes to the crowd in the north gym during basketball games, it’s staggering. “It would be more fun if people knew it was a thing. They say, ‘Oh, you do bowling, like as a club?’ They don’t even know it’s a sport,” said Whitney Noeller ’24. However bowlers also appreciate the low pressure that comes with low coverage. “It would be more fun if people knew it was a thing,” said Whitney Noeller ‘24.

BOW L E D

“ IT WOU LD BE MOR E FU N I F PEOPLE KN EW IT WAS A TH I NG” -WH ITN EY NOELLER ‘24 What may come as a surprise is the competitiveness within bowling. There are only a certain number of spots on the bowling team, so not everyone who tried out got to bowl this season. Around thirty boys tried out for the team but only a number got to bowl varsity this season. With the girl’s team, the difference is outstanding. In the past their team hasn’t had enough to make a complete junior varsity team. All in all, bowling is a serious sport which may be overlooked. Bowlers on the West High Team wish more people knew about the sport. While hard work is required, bowlers feel that the sense of camaraderie and sport combined guarantee a great time. You never know, bowling might be right up your lane. FOR MORE COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

OV E R

SPARE A GLANCE INTO THE WEST HIGH BOWLING TEAM, WHO HAS OFTEN AVOIDED THE SPOTLIGHT IN COVERAGE. SPORTS MAR. 24, 2022

Mental health and school

HEALTH & SCIENCE OCT. 3, 2019

used to it. Some students just aren’t fit to being in such an intensive environment, and having a long seven-hour school day doesn’t help either. Socialization seems to be important for students, being one of the leading reasons as to why students would potentially look forward to school. “I think the biggest effect that school has on me is just that it wears me out. Between having to get up early and get home late in the afternoon, I never have enough energy or focus to work on the things I actually enjoy,” said Adeline Lasswell ‘24. Much like Lasswell, many of these students have so many assignments and extracurricular activities, on top of people’s expectations and mental health, social life, and family issues. It seems to be wearing down upon them at an alarming rate. This seems to make them dislike school, or increases their negative emotions towards school exponentially.

Cribbs Addison 25’

”I hate it,” Addison Cribbs ‘25 said. When prompted, her friend gave a similar answer. And when asked of their reasons for coming to school, Cribbs replied with, “I’m only there for the friends and the music,” to which Brooke Chandler ‘25 mentioned, “I’m going because it’s illegal not to.” Chandler and Cribbs also spoke of a negative aura that, in their words, “suffocates the entirety of the school building.” Although the academic aspects of school are meant to be fun to some degree, most students receive stress and negative emotions from it, so they start to consider the act of going to school as a largely negative experience. Looking back on the survey from Yale, nearly 80% of students associate the feeling of stress with school, followed by boredom at about 70% and tired at 58%. And when asked how her academic experience could be improved, Park replied, “I am just really against the grading policy where about 80% is a test grade because it makes me procrastinate on homework, which ends up having literally no value to my grade. I’m also a really bad test taker—my anxiety level goes up and I’m so stressed to the point where I sweat and start shaking. I wish the school would be more fair to people who have the same issues that I do.” Having too much stress to have a productive mindset is certainly not new to the students of West High. Many like Esther feel that too much pressure is placed on tests that in the grand scheme of things, have little to no significance in their life and what they might pursue in post-secondary education. For many students with a heavy workload, finding the motivation to go to school is a struggle that they face every morning “I go to school every morning with the goal to get into college and get a job that makes me a lot of money. It’s all I care about. I want to make money and be financially stable for myself, which would make me happy. I also like going

to school because there are options for me like sports, choir, and a lot of cool things that outshine the bad,” said Kalli Titus ‘25. “When I was really little, teachers used to never give me homework. I would go and show up and learn kindergarten stuff. It wasn’t stressful and they would give us a lot of breaks. I feel like lunch and AFT are nice breaks in the day, but they need to tone down the homework. All of the kids I know have significant stress about homework. The schools expect you to learn everything at home during homework if you do AP classes. It’s the school’s job to teach you, not to learn it on your own if you sign up for an honors class.” Students like Kalli use the fun parts of school as coping mechanisms so that they won’t spend too much time focusing on the bad, which is why choosing the right classes and electives that interest them is so important. Another student, Esther Park, said, “When I go to school, I’m always excited about meeting my friends because they make me laugh and feel loved throughout the day. My friends are the biggest reason why I am able to wake up for school without hitting snooze on my alarm clock.” Addison Cribbs subsequently agreed that her friends are the primary reason she wakes up every morning to go to school. Speaking of friends, according to NIH news in health, interacting with animals can help to lower blood pressure levels, reduce loneliness, and decrease cortisol levels. According to NIH news in health, studies showed that kids who read with animals showed signs of improvement in areas of behavioral, social and emotional health. “animals offered unconditional acceptance, making them a calm comfort to the children.” We interviewed a busy student currently enrolling in West High. Addison Cribbs is one of many who struggle with lack of free time and copious amounts of stress, which have been affecting her both physically and mentally. when asked what she would think about implementing a ‘Kitten corner’ in the school area. she replied with, “that sounds awesome. At the show

choir meeting yesterday they had a service dog and she was so sweet.” This is just one of the many possible steps that schools can take in order to lower the stress that students have to undergo everyday. All of the people of whom we interviewed agreed that there is more that schools can and should do to make students’ time at West High a much better experience.

HEALTH & SCIENCE MAR. 24 2022

BY E LI MAZE

HOW SCHOOL AFFECTS STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH

Nearly 75% of the students’ self-reported feelings related to school were negative, the Yale Child Study Center found in a survey of over 20,000 participants from January 30, 2022. This negative emotion found closely connected to school seems to ring true for the students at West High as well. Many students have provided their thoughts on the emotions that they most commonly associate with school— and most of them seemed to be negative. The pandemic has made life harder for many students and has hindered their ability to connect with others and focus at school.

early 75% of the students’ self-reported feelings related to school were negative, the Yale Child Study Center found in a survey of over 20,000 participants from January 30, 2022. This negative emotion found closely connected to school seems to ring true for the students at West High as well. Many students have provided their thoughts on the emotions that they most commonly associate with school—and most of them seemed to be negative. The pandemic has made life harder for many students and has hindered their ability to connect with others and focus at school. “Before Covid, I was very studious and would never procrastinate. But now, I would stresscram until around 1 am, which makes me dizzy and sometimes blackout for a few seconds during classes. I have an AP class for the first period, and I always end up making mistakes on my tests because I JUST CAN’T FOCUS,” said Esther Park ‘25. According to a survey conducted by Anna Yuki ’25, students feel like the transition from online to in-person school was the most difficult for them, and many have still not gotten used to it. Some students just aren’t fit to be in such an intensive environment, and having a long seven-hour school day doesn’t help either. Also indicated in the survey is that socialization seems to be important for students, being one of the leading reasons as to why students would potentially look forward to school. “I think the biggest effect that school has on me is just that it wears me out. Between having to get up early and get home late in the afternoon, I never have enough energy or focus to work on the things I actually enjoy,” said Adeline Lasswell ‘24. Lasswell says that she walks her dog to help her cope with the stress from her daily life Much like Adeline Lasswell, many of these students have so many assignments and extracurricular activities, on top of people’s expectations and mental health, social life, and family issues. It seems to be wearing down upon them at an alarming rate. This seems to make them dislike school, or increases their negative emotions towards school exponentially. ”I hate it,” Addison Cribbs ‘25 said. Cribbs is a dancer in the Show Time group. She says that going to concerts and singing takes her mind off of school. When prompted, her friend gave a similar answer. And when asked of their reasons for coming to school, Cribbs replied with, “I’m only there for the friends and the music,” to which Brooke Chandler ‘25 mentioned, “I’m going because it’s illegal not to.” Chandler and Cribbs also spoke of a negative aura that, in their words, “suffocates the entirety of the school building.” Although the academic aspects of school are meant to be fun to some degree, most students receive stress and negative emotions from it, so they start to consider the act of going to school

as a largely negative experience. Looking back on the survey from Yale, nearly 80% of students associate the feeling of stress with school, followed by boredom at about 70% and tired at 58%. When asked how her academic experience could be improved, Park replied, “I am just really against the grading policy where about 80% is a test grade because it makes me procrastinate on homework, which ends up having literally no value to my grade. I’m also a really bad test taker—my anxiety level goes up and I’m so stressed to the point where I sweat and start shaking. I wish the school would be fairer to people who

“

have the same issues that I do.”

I ’ M ALSO A R EALLY BAD TEST TAKE R— MY ANXI ETY LEVE L GOES U P AN D I ’ M STR ESSE D TO TH E POI NT WH E R E I SWEAT AN D START SHAKI NG.

”

- ESTH ER PARK ‘25

Having too much stress to have a productive mindset is certainly not new to the students of West High. Many like Park feel that too much pressure is placed on tests that in the grand scheme of things, have little to no significance in their life and what they might pursue in post-secondary education. For many students with a heavy workload, finding the motivation to go to school is a struggle that they face every morning “I go to school every morning with the goal to get into college and get a job that makes me a lot of money. It’s all I care about. I want to make money and be financially stable for myself, which would make me happy. I also like going to school because there are options for me like sports, choir, and a lot of cool things that outshine the bad,” said Kalli Titus ‘25. “When I

was really little, teachers used to never give me homework. I would go and show up and learn kindergarten stuff. It wasn’t stressful and they would give us a lot of breaks. I feel like lunch and AFT are nice breaks in the day, but they need to tone down the homework. All of the kids I know have significant stress about homework. The schools expect you to learn everything at home during homework if you do AP classes. It’s the school’s job to teach you, not to learn it on your own if you sign up for an honors class.” Students like Titus use the fun parts of school as a way to cope so that they won’t spend too much time focusing on the bad, which is why choosing the right classes and electives that interest them is so important. Titus lifts weights in the cardio room after school in order to focus on something besides her schoolwork. Another student, Park, said, “When I go to school, I’m always excited about meeting my friends because they make me laugh and feel loved throughout the day. My friends are the biggest reason why I am able to wake up for school without hitting snooze on my alarm clock.” Addison Cribbs subsequently agreed that her friends are the primary reason she wakes up every morning to go to school. Speaking of friends, according to NIH news in health, interacting with animals can help to lower blood pressure levels, reduce loneliness, and decrease cortisol levels. According to NIH news in health, studies showed that kids who read with animals showed signs of improvement in areas of behavioral, social, and emotional health. “animals offered unconditional acceptance, making them a calm comfort to the children.” Another person also interviewed was a busy student currently enrolled in West High. Addison Cribbs is one of many who struggle with lack of free time and copious amounts of stress, which have been affecting her both physically and mentally. when asked what she would think about implementing a ‘Kitten corner’ in the school area. she replied, “that sounds awesome. At the show choir meeting yesterday they had a service dog and she was so sweet.” This is just one of the many possible steps that schools can take in order to lower the stress that students have to undergo every day. All of the people whom we interviewed agreed that there is more that schools can and should do to make students’ time at West High a much better experience. “High school feels like an uphill battle, but I know that things will get better. These times are definitely some of the most difficult in my life; I’m getting through it day-by-day,” Yuki said.

Expansive Education Bill effects By: SIDNEY TRANEL

30 NEWS

MAR. 25 , 2022

PHOTO FROM ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST

awmakers are sitting in sessions discussing what is best for classrooms when the last time they set foot in a classroom was when they were a student. The Iowa Senate is discussing bills involving controversial books, private school scholarships, and school funding. This new bill is called the expansive education bill (SSB 3080). Governor Kim Reynolds’ priorities in the Iowa education system focus on detailing parents’ rights in schools. When English teacher Mr. Cooper was asked about his thoughts on the expansive education bill he said, “Generally the reason these bills don't pass is because they realize that there's redundancy.” If the parents really care about what their kids are learning, then they can just ask. Parents don't realize that they already have these privileges and it doesn´t need to be up for debate. Part of Reynolds’ proposed bill, the expansive education bill, states it includes the solution to school book controversies. Under this part of the bill, all public schools would be required to provide all information about the classes they teach and the materials they use. This would require a summary of each class and it would have to be posted in a place online for the parents to access. This summary includes the titles of all books, videos, articles, and other materials used by teachers. Middle school teacher at NWJH, Mrs. Bruxvoort, said, ¨Parents think there is this transparency issue, but in reality there really isn't.¨ Both teachers have stated that they feel that it is necessary for bills concerning this issue to be proposed since they find no problem to begin with. Considering going as far as putting cameras in classrooms and recording lessons aren't needed.

I NFOGRAPHIC BY NPR NEWS

Another thing proposed in the bill is state-funded scholarship accounts that could be used to pay for private school. This states that families could apply for a voucher-style scholarship and the money received would be used for enrollment in a private school. The amount of money the bill offers would be worth around $5,300 per year and this money could also be utilized on tutoring and online school. ¨There

is no way that taking money out of the public school system would benefit school as a whole. Individuals can now afford a better education, but public schools rely on that money.” Bruxvoort said She is referring to when you don't use the money allotted to you in a school system it is used elsewhere. So if you take all of the money to better your education it simply hurts public schools. A new requirement for high school students to pass a civics test in order to graduate is also suggested in the expansion education bill. This wouldn’t imply that to get your diploma you would have to get a certain score on a civics test.

“

WE DON ’T R ESPECT E DUCATION TH E WAY IT N E E DS TO BE R ESPECTE D. - M R. COOPER

”

Fifteen states in the U.S. have to. So since your district cannot prevent any student from graduating or denying a student diploma who does not correctly answer 30 civics test questions it would almost be pointless to add this work and stress for the school systems to do. The issue that there is at hand is believing that a civics test is a sufficient response to disengagement of municipal topics in teens. The time and energy put into this Civics test would be more helpful elsewhere. The new generation lies in teachers' hands. They have control of our future and we are restricting their freedom to enhance our learning. A recent law in Iowa, the 10 Divisive Concepts, restricts teachers from teaching topics deemed controversial or inappropriate. This stops them from educating the students on racial or ethnic topics that aren't in the curriculum. So what's wrong? The political beliefs of the teacher or the curriculum that the legislature already wrote, or the requirements of the state that were already written by a legislature of the same political beliefs. “And so in that respect, maybe it would be good and transparency wouldn't be just about the teacher. It’d be about the whole school environment.” Cooper said. We need to focus more on unifying the schools as a community

rather than putting time, attention, and money into causes that will only hurt us. The expansive education bill is redundant, restrictive, and won't benefit the Iowa school system.

DESIGN BY PNGWING

LOGO FROM IOWA CITY WEST TWITTER PAGE

NEWS MAR. 25 , 2022

EXPANSIVE EDUCATION BILL BY MARYN REIMERS

PHOTOS BY Lyle Muller/IowaWatch

32 NEWS

MAR. 24, 2022

awmakers are sitting in

sessions discussing what is best for classrooms when the last time they set foot in a classroom was when they were a student. The Iowa Senate is discussing bills involving controversial books, private school scholarships, and school funding. This new bill is called the expansive education bill (SSB 3080). Governor Kim Reynolds’ priorities in the Iowa education system focus on detailing parents’ rights in schools. When English teacher Mr. Cooper was asked about his thoughts on the expansive education bill he said, “Generally the reason these bills don’t pass is because they realize that there’s redundancy.” If the parents really care about what their kids are learning, then they can just ask. Parents don’t realize that they already have these privileges and it doesn´t need to be up for debate. Part of Reynolds’ proposed bill, the expansive education bill, states it includes the solution to school book controversies. Under this part of the bill, all public schools would be required to provide all information about the classes they teach and the materials they use. This would require a summary of each class and it would have to be posted in a place online for the parents to access. This summary includes the titles of all books, videos, articles, and other materials used by teachers. Middle school teacher at NWJH, Mrs. Bruxvoort, said, ¨Parents think there is this transparency issue, but in reality there really isn’t.¨ Both teachers have stated that they feel that it is necessary for bills concerning this issue to be proposed since they find no problem to begin with. Considering going as far as putting cameras in classrooms and recording lessons aren’t needed. Another thing proposed in the bill is state-funded scholarship accounts that could be used to pay for private school. This states that families could

apply for a voucher-style scholarship and the money received would be used for enrollment in a private school. The amount of money the bill offers would be worth around $5,300 per year and this money could also be utilized on tutoring and online school.

“

TH E R E I S NO

WAY WAY THAT TAKI NG MON EY OUT OF TH E PU BLIC SCHOOL SYSTE M WOU LD BE N E FIT SCHOOL AS A WHOLE . I N DIVI DUALS CAN NOW AFFO R D A BETTE R E DUCATION , BUT PU BLIC SCHOOLS

”

R E LY ON THAT MON EY

- BRUXVOO RT

She is referring to when you don’t use the money allotted to you in a school system it is used elsewhere. So if you take all of the money to better your education it simply hurts public schools. A new requirement for high school students to pass a civics test in order to graduate is also suggested in the expansion education bill. This wouldn’t imply that to get your diploma you would have to get a certain score on a civics test. Fifteen states in the U.S. have to. So since your district cannot prevent any student from graduating or denying a student diploma who does not correctly answer 30 civics test questions it would almost be pointless to add this work and stress for the school systems to do. The issue that there is at hand is believing that

a civics test is a sufficient response to disengagement of municipal topics in teens. The time and energy put into this Civics test would be more helpful elsewhere. The new generation lies in teachers’ hands. They have control of our future and we are restricting their freedom to enhance our learning. A recent law in Iowa, the 10 Divisive Concepts, restricts teachers from teaching topics deemed controversial or inappropriate. This stops them from educating the students on racial or ethnic topics that aren’t in the curriculum. So what’s wrong? The political beliefs of the teacher or the curriculum that the legislature already wrote, or the requirements of the state that were already written by a legislature of the same political beliefs. “And so in that respect, maybe it would be good and transparency wouldn’t be just about the teacher. It’d be about the whole school environment.” Cooper said. We need to focus more on unifying the schools as a community rather than putting time, attention, and money into causes that will only hurt us. The expansive education bill is redundant, restrictive, and won’t benefit the Iowa school system.

NEWS

MAR. 24, 2022

Expansive Education Bill Effects BY AVA BRUXVOORT

34 NEWS

MAR. 24, 2022

awmakers are sitting in sessions discussing what is best for classrooms when the last time they set foot in a classroom was when they were a student. The Iowa Senate is discussing bills involving controversial books, private school scholarships, and school funding. This new bill is called the expansive education bill (SSB 3080). Governor Kim Reynolds’ priorities in the Iowa education system focus on detailing parents’ rights in schools. When English teacher Mr. Cooper was asked about his thoughts on the expansive education bill he said, “Generally the reason these bills don’t pass is because they realize that there’s redundancy.” If the parents really care about what their kids are learning, then they can just ask. Parents don’t realize that they already have these privileges and it doesn’t need to be up for debate. Part of Reynolds’ proposed bill, the expansive education bill, states it includes the solution to school book controversies. Under this part of the bill, all public schools would be required to provide all information about the classes they teach and the materials they use. This would require a summary of each class and it would have to be posted in a place online for the parents to access. This summary includes the titles of all books, videos, articles, and other materials used by teachers. Middle school teacher at NWJH, Mrs. Bruxvoort, said, “Parents think there is this transparency issue, but in reality there really isn’t.” Both teachers have stated that they feel that it is necessary for bills concerning this issue to be proposed since they find no problem to begin with. Considering going as far as putting cameras in classrooms and recording lessons aren’t needed.

ART BY RIBOLOGIST

“

“ PAR E NTS TH I N K TH E R E I S TH I S TR AN SPAR E NCY I SSU E , BUT I N R EALITY TH E R E R EALLY I SN ’T. - M RS. BRUXVOO RT

”

“There is no way that taking money out of the public school system would benefit school as a whole. Individuals can now afford a better education, but public schools rely on that money.” Bruxvoort said. She is referring to when you don’t use the money allotted to you in a school system it is used elsewhere. So if you take all of the money to better your education it simply hurts public schools. A new requirement for high school students to pass a civics test in order to graduate is also suggested in the expansion education bill. This wouldn’t imply that to get your diploma you would have to get a certain score on a civics test. Fifteen states in the U.S. have to. So since your district cannot prevent any student from graduating or denying a student diploma who does not correctly answer 30 civics test questions it would almost be pointless to add this work and stress for the school systems to do. The issue that there is at hand is believing that a civics test is a sufficient response to disengagement of municipal topics in teens. The time and energy put into this Civics test would be more helpful elsewhere. The new generation lies in teachers’ hands. They have control of our future and we are re-

stricting their freedom to enhance our learning. A recent law in Iowa, the 10 Divisive Concepts, restricts teachers from teaching topics deemed controversial or inappropriate. This stops them from educating the students on racial or ethnic topics that aren’t in the curriculum. So what’s wrong? The political beliefs of the teacher or the curriculum that the legislature already wrote, or the requirements of the state that were already written by a legislature of the same political beliefs. “And so in that respect, maybe it would be good and transparency wouldn’t be just about the teacher. It’d be about the whole school environment.” Cooper said. We need to focus more on unifying the schools as a community rather than putting time, attention, and money into causes that will only hurt us. The expansive education bill is redundant, restrictive, and won’t benefit the Iowa school system.

PICTURE FROM ICW HOME PAGE

NEWS

MAR. 24, 2022

Class Registration Students experiences with west high, previous classes, and new (WRITTEN BY ROSELYN RUBIO AND SIN LUENA)

Should I take Chemistry honors or Chemistry? Will this class help me in the future? I want to take this class but some have told me to take this one because it’s “better”, which should I take? Registration is hard for all students, especially for those who have doubts about what classes they want to take. Not everyone has a career in mind, which makes it almost impossible to know which classes will help you in the future. Since registration is on the minds of most students at this time, this way too common struggle is why we asked West high students their experiences with registration. Many of the students that we interviewed talked about the hard decisions they are having to make when registering as many don’t know what

36 FEATURE MAR. 24 2022

courses next year.

classes would most benefit them. Gabrielle Moniza is currently a sophomore and will be a Junior this fall. So far, they are getting in as many required classes as they can, but as they enter Junior year they must start to choose courses that reflect the major they would possibly like to go into. “Choosing what you want to do your junior and senior year decides what you want to do with the rest of your life” They say. Although this is the path many students take, Miguel Cohen Suarez 22’ recommends taking a wide range of courses for their first two years of high school so that students can figure out what they’re most interested in, which makes the process of choosing a major easier if they choose to

pursue higher education. “West gives a broad spectrum of classes so just take what interests you or a variety to get a feel of what you like and what you don’t,” Suarez said. They also recommend taking courses that intrigue them. Multiple students can recall taking classes because they have been told that they were good by other peers or counselors, even if they were at a difficulty level that the student was not comfortable with. Selene Filerio 25’ plans to take some honors and AP courses later on in high school as they have heard that they “look good on a [college] resume”. Many of the students we interviewed told us about the pressure there is at West High to take

higher level classes and many have given the same advice to help combat it.

“ The school puts a lot of

pressure for students to take an ap class and that shouldn’t be; you shouldn’t feel like you need to take an ap classes if you know that it will be too much… only take one if you are passionate about the subject”

Although there is a push to take AP and honors classes at West High— higher level elective courses aren’t talked about as frequently. Courses such as AP Art and Design as well as AP Music Theory are known to students as AP and honor classes that are a part of the core curriculum. Rudy Medina 24’ regrets not taking as many electives their freshman and sophomore year. They wish they had known more about the different electives offered here at West. Moniza 24’ and Suarez 22’ believe that students would take more electives if they had more information on them. Suarez recommends to take a variety of classes. He believes students should take electives to help them branch out more and take some stress out of the school day by having a class or two that would be enjoyable for them to make the high school experience more fresh and fulfilling.

- Gabrielle Davis 23’ (ALL PICTURES BY JUMANA ALTOM)

All the new courses being implemented next year! Human Anatomy & Physiology: Students will get introduced to how the body is structured, and how the body works. Intro to business - KCC dual credit: Similar to other businesses offered at West, this course teaches the basics of business and social economics, and also offers Kirkwood credit. Behavioral Health Studies: Taking this course allows students to be more in tune with themselves and their emotions. Mentoring In Violence Prevention: This class allows upperclassmen to monitor underclassmen environments, to ensure a healthy school life. Music fundamentals for Digital Music Production: Students taking this class get a grasp of music basics, such as rhythms, chords, musical scale, and some tech work. Construction Materials Processing (Woodworking): Students in this class learn plan development, madation of architecture and construction. Adv. Material Processing (Adv. Woodworking): This course widens students’ knowledge with skills from Construction Materials Processing, and also teaches them how to solve issues and work with a team.

FEATURE MAR. 24 2022

Class Registr Students experiences with registration Culture

BY ROSELLYN RUBIO, JUMANA ALTOM, SIN LUENA DESIGN BY Jumana Altom

40 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

and West High

Should I take Chemistry honors or Chemistry? Will this class help me in the future? I want to take this class but some have told me to take this one because it's “better”, which should I take? Registration is hard for all students, especially for those who have doubts about what classes they want to take. Not everyone has a career in mind, which makes it almost impossible to know which classes will help you in the future. Since registration is on the minds of most students at this time, that way too common struggle is why we asked West high students their experiences with registration. Many of the students that we interviewed talked about the hard decisions they are having to make when registering as many don't know what classes would most benefit them. Gabrielle Moniza is currently a sophomore and will be a Junior this fall. So far, they are getting in as many required classes as they can, but as they enter Junior year they must start to choose courses that reflect the major they would possibly like to go into. “Choosing what you want to do your junior and senior year decides what you want to do with the rest of your life” They say. Although this is the path many students take, Miguel Cohen Suarez 22’ recommends taking a wide range of courses for their first two years of high school so that students can figure out what they’re most interested in, which makes the process of choosing a major easier if they choose to pursue higher education. “West gives a broad spectrum of classes so just take what interests you or a variety to get a feel of what you like and what you don't,” Suarez said. They also recommend taking courses that intrigue them. Multiple students can recall taking

ation classes because they have been told that they were good by other peers or counselors, even if they were at a difficulty level that the student was not comfortable with. Selene Filerio 25' plans to take some honors and AP courses later on in high school as they have heard that they “look good on a (college) resume”. Many of the students we interviewed told us about the pressure there is at West High to take higher level classes and many have given the same advice to help combat it. “The school puts a lot of pressure for students to take an ap class and that shouldn’t be; you shouldn't feel that you need to take an ap classes if you know that it will be too much…only take one if you are passionate about the subject” said Gabrielle Davis 23’ Although there is a push to take AP and honors classes at West High— higher level elective courses aren't talked about as frequently. Courses such as AP Art and Design as well as AP Music Theory are known to students as AP and honor classes that are a part of the core curriculum. Rudy Medina 24’ regrets not taking as many electives their freshman and sophomore year. They wish they had known more about the different electives offered here at West. Moniza 24’ and Suarez 22’ believe that students would take more electives if they had more information on them. Suarez recommends to take a variety of classes. He believes students should take electives to help them branch out more and take some stress out of the school day by having a class or two that would be enjoyable for them to make the high school experience more fresh and fulfilling.

New Classes At West Human Anatomy & Physiology: -Students will get introduced to how the body is structured, and how the body works. Intro to business - KCC dual credit: Similar to other businesses offered at West, this course teaches the basics of business and social economics, and also offers Kirkwood credit. Behavioral Health Studies: Taking this course allows students to be more in tune with themselves and their emotions. Mentoring In Violence Prevention: This class allows upperclassmen to monitor underclassmen environments, to ensure a healthy school life. Music fundamentals for Digital Music Production: Students taking this class get a grasp of music basics, such as rhythms, chords, musical scale, and some tech work. Construction Materials Processing (Woodworking): Students in this class learn plan development, material identification, and the foundation of architecture and construction. Adv. Material Processing (Adv. Woodworking): This course widens students’ knowledge with skills from Construction Materials Processing, and also teaches them how to solve issues and work with a team.

FOR VIDEO COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

MANAGING THE STARS A LOOK INTO THE LIFE OF MANAGER JACK MORELAND

42 SPORTS

OCT. 3, 2019

Pete Moe ‘22 watches the ball from under the hoop waiting for a rebound in warm ups.

fter a long day of school work, Jack Moreland ‘24 walks into the West High gym. He unlocks the gym doors and rolls out the squeaky rack of basketballs. He does this for the love of the game and knows he’s helping his team. Jack Moreland is the varsity basketball manager and does the work that goes unseen by most people. Jack wasn’t always just a manager, at one time he had dreams of playing himself. “I played in seventh and eighth grade. You know, I was A-team”. He had played basketball since he was young but eventually, the dream was no more. “it’s very difficult when you were, however tall I was. Probably like, what 5”6’ to play against a bunch of six-foot players constantly getting blocked.” Moreland said. One of his former teammates and close friend Jacob Koch 24’ agreed it was time to hang it up. “ He had zero chance.” Said, Koch. When Moreland decided that his playing days were over he transitioned to managing. With the dreams of playing over Moreland still wanted to be involved with basketball. West high basketball had run through the family with his brother, Charlie Moreland, playing before him. “He played all four years of high school… best benchwarmer on the team,” Moreland said. Like his brother, he wanted to be involved in the West High program. That’s when he decided to become the manager of the boy’s basketball team. Generally, managing

is seen to be an easy job of getting water and chatting it up with the team. However, there is much more that goes into getting the team ready to perform at the highest level. “My job is to make the coach’s job easier by like, you know, filling up water bottles, obviously, you know, getting basketballs out”. While that is important he believes that helping his teammates get to the next level is what he values most in the job. He puts together highlights for those athletes to help them get attention from colleges. “we got a couple of athletes wanting to go division one. And colleges care about that. So I think that’s probably my most important job.” While Moreland isn’t playing he is still part of the team’s family. The team embraces the manager rather than keeping him separate. The bus rides are especially great, you know Jack and I sit right next to each other. “We have a great time, they have a great time we all mess with him.” Said, Koch. Being the manager he has lots of responsibilities, but he also is a friend and boosts the team’s morale. During away games, he is the team’s biggest cheerleader “during the away games that’s pretty much our student section right there. So yeah, I think I could help”

with a big smile.

Moreland loves the role he has and wouldn’t want it to be any other way. Getting to be part of the team and being respected for your role means something to Moreland. The manager is the perfect role for him and wants people to let that non-athletes can still be part of the team. “you’re part of the team, for the most part, so you know if you want to, you love basketball, you love watching the game.”

“

WE HAVE A G R EAT TI M E , TH EY HAVE A G R EAT TI M E AN D WE ALL M ESS WITH H I M .

”

-JACOB KOCH ‘24

PHOTOTS: BRALYN BIGLEY STORY: ZACH LOGSDON

SPORTS OCT. 3, 2019

*******************

MANAGING THE ST RS

44 SPORTS

OCT. 3, 2019

Sou Sanogo ‘23 finds the camera in warm ups with a big smile

***************

*******************

Pete Moe ‘22 watches the ball from under the hoop waiting for rebounds in warm ups. With the dreams of playing over Moreland still wanted to be involved with basketball. West high basketball had run through the family with his brother, Charlie Moreland, playing before him. “He played all four years of high school… best bench warmer on the team,” Moreland said. Like his brother, he wanted to be involved in the West High program. That’s when he decided to become the manager of the boy’s basketball team. Generally, managing is seen to be an easy job of getting water and chatting it up with the team. However, there is much more that goes into getting the team ready to perform

at the highest level. “My job is to make the coach’s job easier by like, you know, filling up water bottles, obviously, you know, getting basketballs out”. While that is important he believes that helping his teammates get to the next level is what he values most in the job. He puts together highlights for those athletes to help them get attention from colleges. “We got a couple of athletes wanting to go division one. And colleges care about that. So I think that’s probably my most important job.”

Photos: Bralyn Bigley Story: Zach Logdson

We got a couple of athletes wanting to go division one. And colleges care about that. So I think that’s probably my most important job.” — Jack Moreland ‘24

While Moreland isn’t playing he is still part of the team’s family. The team embraces the manager rather than keeping him separate. The bus rides are especially great, you know Jack and I sit right next to each other. “We have a great time they have they have a great time we all mess with him.” Said, Koch. Being the manager he has lots of responsibilities, but he also is a friend and boosts the team’s morale. During away games, he is the team’s biggest cheerleader “during the away games that’s pretty much our student section right there. So yeah, I think I could help” Moreland loves the role he has and wouldn’t want it to be any other way. Getting to be part of the team and being respected for your role means something to Moreland. The manager is the perfect role for him and wants people to let that non-athletes can still be part of the team.

***************

SPORTS OCT. 3, 2019

Maniging The Stars

With the dreams of playing over Moreland still wanted to be involved with basketball. West high basketball had run through the family with his brother, Charlie Moreland, playing before him. “He played all four years of high school… best benchwarmer on the team,” Moreland said. Like his brother, he wanted to be involved in the West High program. That’s when he decided to become the manager of the boy’s basketball team. Generally, managing is seen to be an easy job of getting water and chatting it up with the team. However, there is much more that goes into getting the team ready to perform at the highest level. “My job is to make the coach’s job easier by like, you know, filling up water bottles, obviously, you know, getting basketballs out”. While that is important he believes that helping his teammates get to the next level is what he values most in the job. He puts together highlights for those athletes to help them get attention from colleges. “we got a couple of athletes wanting to go division one. And colleges care about that. So I think that’s probably my most important job.”

PICTURE CREDITS: BRALYN BIGLEY STORY CREDITS: ZACH LOGDSON Kareem Earl 24’ cheeres on teamates from bench

Jacob Koch 24’ stares down Liberty defenders

“ We got a couple of athletes wanting to go division one. And colleges care about that. So I think that’s probably my most important job.” — Jack Moreland '24

The teachers side of the story Teaching has completely changed from the last 30+ years.

Talking non-stop for hours. Dealing with kids all day. Repeating yourself over and over. Day in, day out. This is the agenda for teachers at West. Following this every day all day, seems like nothing changes, and nothing does…when you’re only here for four years. But in the long run, everything is changing. From the obvious changes COVID-19 brought, but social media also changed everything. Remote learning, interacting completely online, no more textbooks, and doing tests/quizzes/exams all online. It changes the whole concept of a classroom. The students certainly feel the effects of the changes, but they accept them and have dealt with them their whole lives because they were born into a technological age. However, teachers have been here much longer than that. Some have been teaching since the 80s-90s when walkmans and VCRs were a thing. What changes have the teachers seen in their many years at West? “Every school is different naturally, but at the same time, there’s also tons of similarity,” said administrator Garett Hartwig COVID has had a big impact on schools everywhere. Teachers had to be very lenient with WiFi issues and with making a huge change from in-person to online. Some kids just turned on their screen and left or fell asleep. Some didn’t do much of the work, but teachers couldn’t do much in the position they were in. “It just broke my heart that I never really got to know my students. It breaks my heart to have a student come in, say, “Oh, I had you last year” and it’s like, yeah, but you know, you were a FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

zoom box that usually just had your name on it. I never heard you know, didn’t get to hear your voice.” -Said government and sociology teacher Gary Neuzil Trying to reconnect with students after only seeing a black box for so long was and still is really difficult for teachers. To create an atmosphere of community in a classroom you need to actually look and engage with your students, so not looking at your students or barely hearing their voices can make it hard for anyone to connect with

someone. “ You know, it’s really hard to reach out to kids, it’s really hard to connect with kids” -Said French teacher Teresa Juhl. Social media and technology is another majorly impacting thing in teaching. How students interact with each other and how they interact with teachers. Social media is how students have conversations and how they share their life and see others. Technology is how they turn in assignments and now are

taking tests. This age of technology can be both good and bad for schools. “In regards to social media. I think social media has a place in our personal lives. But I think it’s taken a bigger role in society. And I think that’s causing issues.” -Said government and sociology teacher Gary Neuzil Technology has wedged itself in our lives and it won’t be leaving for a while to come, but that does have its downsides. Such as inappropriate use of technology in schools and by students. There is very limited privacy in social media nowadays, once you post something, even if you delete your account, it will stay up there forever. Even if it gets taken down, people have still reposted it to another site. “It’s just hard for students to comprehend that when they hit send, no matter if you delete your account, you delete the message, whatever. It’s out there forever.” Said administrator Garett Hartwig With all of this access, what impacts does it have on the mentality of students and teachers? All of the world is online, and working from home is now easier than ever. But with that, you’re now not only competing with people in your area, but around the world. That’s pretty stressful. Everyone is now only numbers and uniqueness is hard to obtain when everyone is also trying to be unique. “And then you lose the individuality that some of you some of you, you know, really live off of individuality. And yet when you’re trying to be an individual, then you’re almost cast aside or you’re doing something wrong because you want to be unique.” Said government and sociology teacher Gary Neuzil Changes are everywhere and sometimes

all we can do is roll with the punches and work through it.

“ You know, it’s really hard

to reach out to kids , it’s really hard to connect with kids”

-TH ERESA JUHL ‘ WO RLD LAN GUAGE Attention spans are getting shorter and with all of this access it’s hard to find anything worth searching for, everything we need and want is at our fingertips. We wouldn’t even have to leave our house if we wanted to, everything ould be delivered and shipped to us. Food? Online apps and food delivery services. Clothes? Online shopping stores and shipping companies. School? Online learning programs and virtual learning. Human interaction? Texting apps, facetime, online games. Exercise? Treadmills, weights, and other equipment can be shipped, workout videos just at the tap of your fingers.

PHOTOS BY TORI LOWMAN

FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

TEACHER’S SIDE OF THE STORY STORY AND DESIGN BY: JORDAN SMITH

eaching has completely changed from the last 30+ years. Talking non-stop for hours. Dealing with kids all day. Repeating yourself over and over. Day in, day out. This is the agenda for teachers at West. Following this every day all day, seems like nothing changes, and nothing does… when you’re only here for four years. But in the long run, everything is changing. From the obvious changes COVID-19 brought, but social media also changed everything. Remote learning, interacting completely online, no more textbooks, and doing tests/quizzes/exams all online. It changes the whole concept of a classroom. The students certainly feel the effects of the changes, but they accept them and have dealt with them their whole lives because they were born into a technological age. However, teachers have been here much longer than that. Some have been teaching since the 80s-90s when walkmans and VCRs were a thing. What changes have the teachers seen in their many years at West? “Every school is different naturally, but at the same time, there's also tons of similarity,” said administrator Garett Hartwig COVID has had a big impact on schools everywhere. Teachers had

to be very lenient with WiFi issues and with making a huge change from in-person to online. Some kids just turned on their screen and left or fell asleep. Some didn’t do much of the work, but teachers couldn’t do much in the position they were in. “It just broke my heart that I never really got to know my students. It breaks my heart to have a student come in, say, “Oh, I had you last year” and it's like, yeah, but you know, you were a zoom box that usually just had your name on it. I never heard you know, didn't get to hear your voice.” -Said government and sociology teacher Gary Neuzil Trying to reconnect with students after only seeing a black box for so long was and still is really difficult

“ EVE RY SCHOOL I S DI FFE R E NT NATU R ALLY, BUT AT TH E SAM E TI M E , TH E R E’S ALSO TON S OF SI M I LAR ITY -ADM I N ISTRATO R GARETT HARTWIG

for teachers. To create an atmosphere of community in a classroom you need to actually look and engage with your students, so not looking at your students or barely hearing their voices can make it hard for anyone to connect with someone. “ You know, it's really hard to reach out to kids, it's really hard to connect with kids” -Said French teacher Teresa Juhl. Social media and technology is another majorly impacting thing in teaching. How students interact with each other and how they interact with teachers. Social media is how students have conversations and how they share their life and see others. Technology is how they turn in assignments and now are taking tests. This age of technology can be both good and bad for schools. “I think social media has a place in our personal lives. But I think it's taken a bigger role in society. And I think that's causing issues.” -Said government and sociology teacher Gary Neuzil Technology has wedged itself in our lives and it won’t be leaving for a while to come, but that does have its downsides. Such as inappropriate use of technology in schools and by students. There is very limited privacy in social media nowadays, once you post something, even if you delete your account, it will stay up there forever. Even if it gets taken down, people have still reposted it to another site.

“It's hard for students to comprehend that when they hit send, no matter if you delete your account. It's out there forever.” Said administrator Garett Hartwig With all of this access, what impacts does it have on the mentality of students and teachers? All of the world is online, and working from home is now easier than ever. But with that, you’re now not only competing with people in your area, TEACH ER but around the world. That’s pretty stressful. Everyone is now only numbers and uniqueness is hard to obtain when everyone is also trying to be unique. “And then you lose the individuality that some of you some of you, you know, really live off of individuality. And yet when you're trying to be an individual, then you're almost cast aside or you're doing something wrong because you want to be unique.” Said government and sociology teacher Gary Neuzil Changes are everywhere and sometimes all we can do is roll with the punches and work through it.

“ YOU KNOW, IT’S R EALLY HAR D TO R EACH OUT TO KI DS, IT’S R EALLY AR E TO CON N ECT WITH KI DS.”- FRENCH TERESA J U H L

PHOTOS BY: TORI LOWMAN

IVY HENDRICKSON, DEEKSHA RAGHAVAN, JOSIE SCHWARTZ

Does cooking with your family make you feel closer to them?

“A LOT OF MY FAM I LY STI LL LIVES I N G EORG IA , SO I FE E L THAT M UCH CLOSE R TO TH E M WH E N I EAT FOOD THAT R E M I N DS M E OF TH E M .” - KATI E NODIA ‘25

Learn to make khachapuri!

In every culture, no matter where, food plays an important role in highlighting family values and bringing people closer together, and Katie Nodia ‘25 (she/her) knows this better than anyone. Cooking with family- no matter how much time it takes- is time well spent. “We have a recipe called khachapuri. It doesn’t take long to make, but I have a lot of fond memories within the couple minutes it took to prepare,” Nodia said. “My mom always gives me the same job every time.” Typically made around holidays, khachapuri is a traditional Georgian cheese bread. “There’s so many different types of khachapuri, but the one my family makes uses puff pastry and three types of cheeses. It’s not very recognizable to authentic Georgian khachapuri, but it still tastes delicious.” Nodia’s grandparents immigrated to New York around 50 years ago, and with the harrowing journey of moving across countries, the family recipes were one of the few things they took with them. “A lot of my family still lives in Georgia, so I feel that much closer to them when I eat food that reminds me of them.” This isn’t a rare occurrence. In fact, over 80% of West High respondents said they feel more connected when they cook with their family. The Family Dinner Project reports that teens who eat with their family are at lower risk of depression and anxiety, as well as less of a chance of developing an eating disorder. “My father-in-law used to get annoyed, because you couldn’t find grape leaves anywhere, so my aunt who lives in New Orleans would have to find them at a special restaurant and ship them up, but now you can find them at Hy-Vee.” Currently, Nahra plans to teach her children all her recipes. Nahra treasures her family recipes. “I have all my recipes organized into a Google Doc, with hyperlinks to everything, all the recipes and pictures. I’m kind of a nerd about it,” she says. “I think food brings everyone together.” Nahra and her husband have combined many of their recipes and often enjoy spending quality time by cooking them together. “When you have a partner in your life someday, you make some concessions because your lovely family traditions might seem crazy to someone on the outside.” No matter the recipe, people are always united by food. Airi Thompson ‘24 (they/them) has many great memories of cooking with their family as a kid. “It was usually some cousins and my grandma, mostly because she would babysit, while the parents, aunts, and uncles would have a break from the kids,” Thompson says. They recalled baking chocolate chip M&M cookies with their family at a lot of family reunions. “The cousins would come and go, but it was always me, my English teacher Katy Nahra (she/her) has a similar brother, and my grandma baking cookies together.” experience with a different recipe - and culture. Nahra Another way that Thompson would feel closer to their family was interviewed about some of her favorite family recithrough food, was the family cookbook of recipes compiled by pes. One favorite was Belgian waffle cookies. their grandparents. “Sometimes my mom or my dad was like, “Me and my cousins all get together and we bake ‘Oh, let’s bake something out of it,’ and we would,” Thompson these.” Nahra said. Everyone had a job, even her said. A favorite of Thompson’s was chocolate crinkle cookgrandpa who would sit and roll the dough into perfect ies. They would eat them all the time. Thompson considers one ounce balls. The recipe began with Nahra’s grandthe recipe book to be very important to their parents, aunts, mother, who taught her how to make them and even uncles, and grandparents. “It’s a bunch of recipes that are from gave her a special waffle iron used for making the cook- their parents and grandparents. It’s pretty special.” ies. In addition to the meals that Nahra cooked growing Although all 4 of these recipes may be different, they all up, she also shares many recipes with her husband, who share the common elements of family and togetherness. It’s is Lebanese. One of these recipes is stuffed grape leaves, very clear that at West High School, family recipes play a huge which is essentially meat, spices, and other ingredients role in making families feel closer to each other. Each different mixed together and wrapped in grape leaves. recipe brings something new to the table.

By Ivy Hendrickson, Josie Schwartz, Deeksha Raghavan

54 FEATURE MAR 2022

In every culture, no matter where, food plays an important role in highlighting family values and bringing people closer together, and Katie Nodia ‘25 knows this better than anyone. Cooking with family- no matter how much time it takes- is time well spent. “We have a recipe called khachapuri. It doesn’t take long to make, but I have a lot of fond memories within the couple minutes it took to prepare,” Nodia said. “My mom always gives me the same job every time.” Typically made around holidays, khachapuri is a traditional Georgian cheese bread. “There’s so many different types of khachapuri, but the one my family makes uses puff pastry and three types of cheeses. It’s not very recognizable to authentic Georgian khachapuri, but it still tastes delicious.” Nodia’s grandparents immigrated to New York around 50 years ago, and with the harrowing journey of moving across countries, the family recipes were one of the few things they took with them. “A lot of my family still lives in Georgia, so I feel that much closer to them when I eat food that reminds me of them.” This isn’t a rare occurrence. In fact, over 80% of West High respondents said they feel more connected when they cook with their family. The Family Dinner Project reports that teens who eat with their family are at lower risk of depression and anxiety, as well as less of a chance of developing an eating disorder.

even her grandpa who would sit and roll the dough into perfect one ounce balls. The recipe began with Nahra’s grandmother, who taught her how to make them and even gave her a special waffle iron used for making the cookies. In addition to the meals that Nahra cooked growing up, she also shares many recipes with her husband, who is Lebanese. One of these recipes is stuffed grape leaves, which is essentially meat, spices, and other ingredients mixed together and wrapped in grape leaves.

“

A LOT OF MY FAM I LY STI LL LIVES I N G EORG IA , SO I FE E L THAT M UCH MOR E CON N ECTE D WH E N I EAT FOOD THAT R E M I N DS M E OF TH E M .

”

- KATI E NODIA ‘25

Learn how to make khacahpuri yourself using this QR code!

English teacher Katy Nahra has a similar experience with a different recipe - and culture. Nahra was interviewed about some of her favorite family recipes. One favorite was Belgian waffle cookies. “Me and my cousins all get together and we bake these.” Nahra said. Everyone had a job,

“My father-in-law used to get annoyed, because you couldn’t find grape leaves anywhere, so my aunt who lives in New Orleans would have to find them at a special restaurant and ship them up, but now you can find them at Hy-Vee.” Currently, Nahra plans to teach her children all her recipes. Nahra treasures her family recipes. “I have all my recipes organized into a Google Doc, with hyperlinks to everything, all the recipes and pictures. I’m kind of a nerd about it,” she says. “I think food brings everyone together.” Nahra and her husband have combined many of their recipes and often enjoy spending quality time by cooking them together. “When you have a partner in your life someday, you make some concessions because your lovely family traditions might seem crazy to someone on the outside.” No matter the recipe, people are always united by food.

Do students at West feel more connected when they cook with their family?

Airi Thompson ‘24 has many great memories of cooking with their family as a kid. “It was usually some cousins and my grandma, mostly because she would babysit, while the parents, aunts, and uncles would have a break from the kids,” Thompson says. They recalled baking chocolate chip M&M cookies with their family at a lot of family reunions. “The cousins would come and go, but it was always me, my brother, and my grandma baking cookies together.” (Image of chocolate chip m&m cookies that is legal to use here) Another way that Thompson would feel closer to their family through food, was the family cookbook of recipes compiled by their grandparents. “Sometimes my mom or my dad was like, ‘Oh, let's bake something out of it,’ and we would,” Thompson said. A favorite of Thompson’s was chocolate crinkle cookies. They would eat them all the time. Thompson considers the recipe book to be very important to their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. “It’s a bunch of recipes that are from their parents and grandparents. It’s pretty special.”

“ I TH I N K FOOD B R I NGS EVE RYON E TOG ETH E R ” - KATY NAH RA Although all 4 of these recipes may be different, they all share the common elements of family and togetherness. It’s very clear that at West High School, family recipes play a huge role in making families feel closer to each other. Each different recipe brings something new to the table. FEATURE MAR 2022

FOR MORE COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

TRIED AND TRUE: RECIPES FROM WEST BY IVY HENDRICKSON, DEEKSHA RAGHAVAN, AND JOSIE SCHWARTZ

DO YOU FEEL CLOSER WHEN YOU COOK WITH YOUR FAMILY?

10 56

Do not feel closer to their family

Feel closer to their family when cooking

No Yes

“

Typically made around holidays, khachapuri is a traditional Georgian cheese bread. “There’s so many different types of khachapuri, but the one my family makes uses puff pastry and three types of cheeses. It’s not very recognizable to authentic Georgian khachapuri, but it still tastes delicious.” Nodia’s grandparents immigrated to New York around 50 years ago, and with the harrowing journey of moving across countries, the family recipes were one of the few things they took with them. “A lot of my family still lives in Georgia, so I feel that much closer to them when I eat food that reminds me of them.” This isn’t a rare occurrence. In fact, over 80% of West High respondents said they feel more connected when they cook with their family. The Family Dinner Project reports that teens who eat with their family are at lower risk of depression and anxiety, as well as less of a chance of developing an eating disorder. English teacher Katy Nahra (she/her) has a similar experience with a different recipe - and culture. Nahra was interviewed about some of her favorite family recipes. One favorite was Belgian waffle cookies. “Me and my cousins all get together and we bake these.” Nahra said. Everyone had a job, even her grandpa who would sit and roll the dough into perfect one ounce balls. The recipe began with Nahra’s grandmother, who taught her how to make them and even gave her a special waffle iron used for making the cookies. In addition to the meals that Nahra cooked growing up, she also shares many recipes with her husband, who is Lebanese. One of these recipes is stuffed grape leaves, which is essentially meat, spices, and other ingredients mixed together and wrapped in grape leaves. “My father-in-law used to get annoyed, because you couldn’t find grape leaves anywhere, so my aunt who lives in New Orleans would have to find them at a special restaurant and ship them up, but now you can find them at Hy-Vee.” Currently, Nahra plans to teach her children all her recipes. Nahra treasures her family recipes. “I have all my recipes organized into a Google Doc, with hyperlinks to everything, all the recipes and pictures. I’m kind of a nerd about it,” she says. “I think food brings everyone together.” Nahra and her husband have combined many of their recipes and often enjoy spending quality time by cooking them together.

I TH I N K FOOD B R I NGS EVE RYON E TOG ETH E R - KATY NAH RA

”

“When you have a partner in your life someday, you make some concessions because your lovely family traditions might seem crazy to someone on the outside.” No matter the recipe, people are always united by food.

Airi Thompson ‘24 (they/them) has many great memories of cooking with their family as a kid. “It was usually some cousins and my grandma, mostly because she would babysit, while the parents, aunts, and uncles would have a break from the kids,” Thompson says. They recalled baking chocolate chip M&M cookies with their family at a lot of family reunions. “The cousins would come and go, but it was always me, my brother, and my grandma baking cookies together.” Another way that Thompson would feel closer to their family through food, was the family cookbook of recipes compiled by their grandparents. “Sometimes my mom or my dad was like, ‘Oh, let’s bake something out of it,’ and we would,” Thompson said. A favorite of Thompson’s was chocolate crinkle cookies. They would eat them all the time. Thompson considers the recipe book to be very important to their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. “It’s a bunch of recipes that are from their parents and grandparents. It’s pretty special.” Although all 4 of these recipes may be different, they all share the common elements of family and togetherness. It’s very clear that at West High School, family recipes play a huge role in making families feel closer to each other. Each different recipe brings something new to the table.

DESIGN BY IVY HENDRICKSON

FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

Boys swimming

Trojan L T

Holden Carter 24’ swims the 100 yard butterfly during the annual Battle For The Golden Speedo Jan.18 All Photos by: Owen Aanestead

Nik Sung 22’ swims his leg of the 400 yard freestyle during the annual Battle For The Golden Speedo Jan.18

58 SPORTS

MAR. 24, 2022

he swimmers are in position to leap off the pedestal as the announcer says “On your mark”. The crystal clear water glistening in the light with every ripple from the past race. Everyone is on the edge of their seat as the horn blows signaling the racers to begin. They take off like bullets going back and forth in their lanes as their teams wait to see who touches that wall first. This year the boys Trojan Bolts swim team has had many victories and has experienced enormous growth as a team as well as individual swimmers. The amount of joy seen in these boys as they do the sport they love is something amazing. Most boys on the team are also involved in IFLY which is a very competitive swimming club outside of school which just shows how much they love the sport and it makes them that much more committed to this sport.

Their team is like a family. Their team is unstoppable, the support they have for each other is inspiring and how they push one another to see success and become the best they can be. Meets for this team went amazing this year. We had our annual MVC Mississippi Valley Conference at the Coralville Recreation Center. We did not end up having one last year due to COVID-19 but we came back better than ever! Our boys took the MVC title with a total of 444.5 points. This meet we stole the new record from our very own rivals Iowa City City High School in the 200 medley race with Jordan Christensen ’22, Boyd Skelley ‘22, Holden Carter ’24 and Kirk Brotherton ’22 with the time of 1:33.89. Another record was set by Holden Carter ‘24 with a 50.59 time in the 100m butterfly. A memorial was also set up in memory of their fellow teammate and friend Dylan Salge who’s life was unfortunately cut short.

“The thing that got me into swimming primarily was the competitive atmosphere and the team dynamic” says Hans R

This year every single boy on the swim team broke their PR at some point whether in practice or at a meet. Which is very hard to accomplish as you are competing against

your biggest competition, yourself. These boys are so motivated and so driven to do better and to be better for themselves and their team. But that’s not the only reason they like this sport.

“My favorite part about swimming is really the social aspect of it.” Max Gerke ‘24 explains. Gerke describes himself as a social butterfly and enjoys away meets more so he can socialize with new people and meet new friends or see old friends from past meets. In the end the Trojan Bolt boys swimming team is more of a family than anything else. They go out to dinner after their wins and sometimes before. It is exciting to see where the future will take all of these record breaking swimmers!

Max Gerke 24’ swims the 100 yard backstroke during the annual Battle For The Golden Speedo Jan.18 SPORTS MAR. 24, 2022

BY MADDIE SCHROEDER

PERSPECTIVES PERSPECTIVES PERSPECTIVES ON

learning. 60 FEATURE MAR 24, 2022

OF ALL IN-SCHOOL FACTORS THAT AFFECT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, EFFECTIVE PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS COUNT FOR NEARLY 60% OF A STUDENT’S ABILITY TO SUCCEED.

You sit in front of a blank screen as you try to contemplate what to write about for your essay worth half your grade. The cursor is blinking at you. Exhausted, you try and hold your head up with your arm as you fight to keep your eyes open. A small humming noise coming from the air conditioning switches on. Chromebook keys clatter. And a feeling of anxiousness rushes over you. If you don’t complete this essay you won’t pass. Without passing you won’t graduate. No graduation, no job. No job, no money. Your life could come crashing down on you. Your head pops up. Fingertips sitting on the keyboard ready to type. A small noise goes off. The bell rings. This is the reality of some West High students. Struggling to decide whether to do school work to gain that education piece or to rush through it and not put in your best effort in understanding the topic. “Going out into the world with a lack of education just sets you up for failure,” said Evan Zukin ’22. Evan finds that schoolwork is one of the best and most accessible resources for learning. “I think not doing it to learn and just to drone through it, it’s just to put yourself

at a disadvantage,” he said. Learning keeps your mind engaged and moving. You obtain experiences and face new challenges. Amira Qidwai ’22 work ethic varies depending on how interested she is on the topic. “I have looked at some of my schoolwork as just getting it done because the things I’m probably not interested in I’m not going to internalize it as much,” she said. Amira has found that it is harder to make connections between different classes without putting her full effort into it. “One of the biggest parts of high school

“A GOOD G R ADE I N A CLASS DOES NOT N ECESSAR I LY YOU HAVE A G R ASP OF TH E CONTE NT, IT J UST M EAN S YOU AR E GOOD AT WOR KI NG WITH TH E SYSTE M TO G ET TH E G R ADE YOU WANT..”

I think that has been the most helpful is when I could connect the skills between different courses and that heightened how well I’m able to do my schoolwork,” she said. According to Derek Pennel ’24 staying attentive is a crucial point in being successful in school. “I feel like I don’t want to go to school, I tend to not pay attention in class or don’t focus or just do my own thing and not do any of the homework and just slack off, which leads to me doing worse on tests and not getting as much done with homework.” Derek finds that recalling how his actions now greatly impact his future, for example being aware of what colleges are looking for, helps him in staying motivated. Sometimes students see getting a good grade more important than understanding the topic. “A good grade in a class does not necessarily mean you have a grasp of the content, it just means that you’re good at working with the system to get the grade you want,” Peter Adams ’22 said. Busywork is a huge obstacle for some students to pass because they may comprehend the information but it is a struggle to bring themselves to get the motivation to complete it all. “There are some classes where I can do pretty well in, but it’s the homework that is really tedious for me.” Learning is essential and helps shape who you are but it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to take the time to grasp the subject and better yourself for the future.

- PETER ADAMS‘22

FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

Perspectives on Learning BY ASHLEY BEDFORD

62 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

78.9% to get it over with 21.1% to learn

do you do your school work to learn? or to get it over with?

“GOI NG OUT I N TH E WOR LD WITH A LACK OF E DUCATION J UST SETS YOU U P FOR FAI LU R E”

Evan finds that schoolwork is one of the best and most accessible resources for learning. “I think not doing it to learn and just to drone through it, it’s just to put yourself at a disadvantage,” he said. Learning keeps your mind engaged and moving. You obtain experiences and face new challenges. Amira Qidwai ’22 work ethic varies depending on how interested she is on the topic. “I have looked at some of my schoolwork as just getting it done because the things I’m probably not interested in I’m not going to internalize it as much,” she said. Amira has found that it is harder to make connections between different classes without putting her full effort into it. “One of the biggest parts of high school I think that has been the most helpful is when I could connect the skills between different courses and that heightened how well I’m able to do my schoolwork,” she said. According to Derek Pennel ’24 staying attentive is a crucial point in being successful in school. “I feel like I don’t want to go to

school, I tend to not pay attention in class or don’t focus or just do my own thing and not do any of the homework and just slack off, which leads to me doing worse on tests and not getting as much done with homework.” Derek finds that recalling how his actions now greatly impact his future, for example being aware of what colleges are looking for, helps him in staying motivated. Sometimes students see getting a good grade more important than understanding the topic. “A good grade in a class does not necessarily mean you have a grasp of the content, it just means that you’re good at working with the system to get the grade you want,” Peter Adams ’22 said. Busywork is a huge obstacle for some students to pass because they may comprehend the information but it is a struggle to bring themselves to get the motivation to complete it all. “There are some classes where I can do pretty well in, but it’s the homework that is really tedious for me.” Learning is essential and helps shape who you are but it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to take the time to grasp the subject and better yourself for the future.

- EVAN ZU KI N ‘22 FEATURE

MAR. 24, 2022

Managing the Stars After a long day of school work, Jack Moreland ‘24 walks into the West High gym. He unlocks the gym doors and rolls out the squeaky rack of basketballs. He does this for the love of the game and knows he’s helping his team. Jack Moreland is the varsity basketball manager and does the work that goes unseen by most people.

Jack wasn’t always just a manager, at one time he had dreams of playing himself. “I played in seventh and eighth grade. You know, I was A-team”. He had played basketball since he was young but eventually, the dream was no more. “it’s very difficult when you were, however tall I was. Probably like, what 5”6’ to play against a bunch of six-foot players constantly getting blocked.” Moreland said. One of his former teammates and close friend Jacob Koch 24’ agreed it was time to hang it up. “ He had zero chance.” Said, Koch. When Moreland decided that his playing days were over he transitioned to managing. With the dreams of playing over Moreland still wanted to be involved with basketball. West high basketball had run through the family with his brother, Charlie Moreland, playing before him. “He played all four years of high school… best benchwarmer on the team,” Moreland said. Like his brother, he wanted to be involved in the West High program. That’s when he decided to become the manager of the boy’s basketball team. Generally, managing is seen to be an easy job of getting water and chatting it up with the team. However, there is much more that goes into getting the team ready to perform at the highest level. “My job is to make the coach’s job easier by like, you know, filling up water bottles, obviously, you know, getting basketballs out”. While that is important he believes that helping his teammates get to the next level is what he values most in the job. He puts together highlights for those athletes to help them get attention from colleges. “we got a couple of athletes wanting to go division one. And colleges care about that. So I think that’s probablly my most important job.” While Moreland isn’t playing he is still part of the team’s family. The team embraces the manager rather than keeping him separate. The bus rides are especially great, you know Jack and I sit right next to each other. “We have a great time they have they have a great time we all mess with him.” Said, Koch. Being the manager he has lots of responsibilities, but he also is a friend and boosts the team’s morale. During away games, he is the team’s biggest cheerleader “during the way games that’s pretty -much our student section right there. So yeah, I think I could help”

SPORTS

MAR. 24, 2019

much our student section right there. So yeah, I think I could help” Moreland loves the role he has and wouldn’t want it to be any other way. Getting to be part of the team and being respected for your role means something to Moreland. The manager is the perfect role for him and wants people to let that non-athletes can still be part of the team.

“ YOU ’ R E PART OF TH E TEAM , FOR TH E MOST PART.. DO IT I F YOU LOVE TH E GAM E OF BASKETBALL .”

Jack Mccaffery 25’ looks on at the electric crowd in the West High gym.

-JACK MO RELAN D-

written by Zach Logsdon

Christian Barnes 22’ gets ready to catch and shot in warmups

photos by Bralyn Bigley

Pete Moe 22’ takes a break in the action to collect himself.

69 SPORTS

MAR. 24, 2022

Holden Carter ’24 swims the 200 yard individual medley during a duel meet against Waterloo on Dec 14.

Owen Aanestead

Trojan Bolts Boys Swimming By: Declan Nabhan-Warren

The swimmers are in position to leap off the pedestal as the announcer says “On your mark”. The crystal clear water glistening in the light with every ripple from the past race. Everyone is on the edge of their seat as the horn blows signaling the racers to begin. They take off like bullets going back and forth in their lanes as their teams wait to see who touches that wall first.

70 SPORTS

OCT. 3, 2019

“The thing that got me into swimming primarily was the competitive atmosphere and the team dynamic” says Hans R

This year the boys Trojan Bolts swim team has had many victories and has experienced enormous growth as a team as well as individual swimmers. The amount of joy seen in these boys as they do the sport they love is something amazing. Most boys on the team are also involved in IFLY which is a very competitive swimming club outside of school which just shows how much they love the sport and it makes them that much more committed to this sport.

Holden Carter ’24 swims the 100 yard butterfly during th annual Golden Speedo on jan 18

Owen Aanestead

These boys are so motivated and so driven to do better and to be better for themselves and their team. But that’s not the only reason they like this sport. “My favorite part Another record was set by about swimming is really Holden Carter ‘24 with a the social aspect of it.” Max 50.59 time in the 100m but- Gerke ‘24 explains. terfly. A memorial was also Gerke describes himset up in memory of their self as a social butterfly and fellow teammate and friend enjoys away meets more Dylan Salge who’s life was so he can socialize with unfortunately cut short. new people and meet new This year every sinfriends or see old friends gle boy on the swim team from past meets. broke their PR at some point In the end the Trojan whether in practice or at a Bolt boys swimming team is meet. Which is very hard to more of a family than anyaccomplish as you are com- thing else. They go out to peting against your biggest dinner after their wins and competition, yourself. These sometimes before. It is excitboys are so motivated and ing to see where the future so driven to do better and to will take all of these record be better for themselves and breaking swimmers! their team.

71 SPORTS

OCT. 3, 2019

CHANGE... FOR THE BETTER? Recently, there have been many changes made to West High. Students and teachers speak up about their perspectives on these changes and how it has affected their school life. BY MRUDANI RAMKUMAR EDITED BY ESTHER PARK, JESSIE LI, ABBY GUO DESIGN BY JESSIE LI PHOTO BY ESTHER PARK

EMILY STUMFF GRADES FINALS FOR HER ALGEBRA II HONORS CLASS DURING AN OPEN PERIOD. THIS GRADE GOES INTO THE 85% ASSESSMENTS CATEGORY.

72 NEWS

MAR. 24, 2022

riiiiiing!! Riiing! The loud noise jolts you awake as you fumble for the snooze button. After sloppily getting ready for school, you rush out the door, panicking about the four tests you have today because you didn’t have time to cram at 2 am in the morning. At school, the words on your tests seemed to dance and float off the page as you stared at it, not knowing what to do. When you get home, you collapse on the couch, relieved. Oh wait. You just realized that all those tests you winged your way through are worth 85% of your grade, and there is no way to make it up even if you work your butt off on all of the assignments. Even worse, extra credit doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe… you just shouldn’t look at your grades for a bit… This chain of events, although exaggerated, happens to many high school students here at West High. Why? The new grading policy. Now, 85% of a student’s grade comprises of tests while only 15% is made up of homework and assignments. This new policy places a hard ban on any type of extra credit. Also, it must be used in all classrooms across the district, so it’s no longer up to the teacher on how they want to grade their students. Another recently implemented policy is the hall pass system, which teachers also don’t have a say in. The majority of the students don’t care about this policy. However, very few actually like it, and around 30% dislike it. Some common reasons stated for not liking the policy is that some students might not be good test-takers and not having extra credit causes anxiety. Some also say that since homework takes up a lot of time, it should count more in the overall grade. The new AFT schedule might also favor some students as well. “I think that having one policy through all the classes is kind of a bad idea because not all classes are the same level of difficulty and have the same material, [so] I think maybe the district should let teachers choose their own grading policies based on what they think is the best fit for their class,” said Maya Chu ‘23 Based on the survey conducted, many other students also agree with this sentiment.

depends on the person. I’m a little bit of both,” said Vera Tanas ‘25.

and give them something for that work,” said Emily Stumpff.

Not having extra credit, as mentioned before, causes a lot of students’ anxiety. Many state that having this cushion on their grade was relieving because if they don’t do that great on a test, extra credit could make up for some of that and bring their grade back up a little. However, some students also say that extra credit might only be beneficial to students with higher socioeconomic status and a few points won’t make a difference in the grade. Also, it might be considered unfair to students who studied very hard

“ I DON ’T TH I N K THAT I F A TEACH E R SETS [TH E I R] G R ADI NG PROPE R LY, TH E R E R EALLY SHOU LD BE A N E E D FOR EXTR A CR E DIT.”

“ I TH I N K THAT HAVI NG ON E POLICY TH ROUG H ALL TH E CLASSES I S KI N D OF A BAD I DEA , BECAUSE NOT ALL CLASSES AR E TH E SAM E LEVE L OF DI FFICU LTY AN D HAVE TH E SAM E MATE R IAL .”

At Iowa City West High School, the new grading policy has definitely become a controversy amongst teachers and students, and will likely be reconsidered in the coming years.

- MAYA CH U ‘23

“For a student that really works hard and may have test anxiety, that could be unfair for them. [So] I can see it both ways,” said Emily Stumpf.

and got a good grade on their test but have the same overall score as another student who didn’t study but did the extra credit.

This is another point that’s been commonly brought up. Students have said that it would help their stress management if the weight of tests lowered and the weight of homework was brought up. Especially for those who have test anxiety, they say their grades, which are usually good, plummet after they take a test.

“I don’t think that if a teacher sets [their] grading properly, there really should be a need for extra credit,” said Jamie Sandhu.

“I definitely do know people where it’s similar to myself. It’s kind of stressful to have a lot of importance on just a couple of tests. It probably

-JAM I E SAN DH U, SPAN ISH TEACH ER

But on the other hand, some teachers think differently. “I like the opportunity to challenge a student to get to a level they might not expect for everyone and give them a little extra push for doing that extra work. I don’t love that I can’t challenge kids

NEWS MAR. 24, 2022

INFOGRAPHIC BY MRUDANI RAMKUMAR

NEW

CHANGES

AT WEST BY ESTHER PARK, JESSIE LI, MRUDANI RAMKUMAR, AND ABBY GUO

74 FEATURE MAR 23, 2022

The majority of the students don’t care about this policy. However, very few actually like it, and around 30% dislike it. Some common reasons stated for not liking the policy is that some students might not be good test-takers and not having extra credit causes anxiety. Some also say that since homework takes up a lot of time, it should count more in the overall grade. The new AFT schedule might also favor some students as well. For more information, click on the video.

“I think that having one policy through all the classes is kind of a bad idea because not all classes are the same level of difficulty and have the same material, [so] I think maybe thedistrict should let teachers choose their own grading policies based on what they think is thebest fit for their classes.”

— Maya Chu ’23 Based on the survey conducted, many other students also agree with this sentiment.

“For a student that really works hard and may have test anxiety, that could be unfair for them. [So] I can see it both ways,” said Ms. Stumpf. This is another point that’s been commonly brought up. Students have said that it would help their stress management if the weight of tests lowered and the weight of homework was brought up. Especially for those who have test anxiety, they say their grades, which are usually good, plummet after they take a test.

“I don’t think that if a teacher sets [their] grading properly, there really should be a need for extra credit.”

— señora Sandhu

“I definitely do know people where it’s similar to myself. It’s kind of stressful to have a lot of importance on just a couple of tests. It probably depends on the person. I’m a little bit of both,” said Vera Tanas ’25.

But on the other hand, some teachers think differently.

At Iowa City West High School, the new grading policy has definitely become a controversy amongst teachers and students, and will likely be reconsidered in the coming years.

Señora Sandhu breaks the news about the new grading policy to her Spanish ll Honors class. “This policy has made me rethink what I give points to. When I assign things for kids to do, and made me really analyze more–what are [the] essential learnings?” said Sandhu. PHOTO BY ESTHER PARK AND JESSIE LI

Ms. Stumpf grades finals for her Algebra ll Honors class during an open period. This grade goes into the 85% assessments category. PHOTO BY ESTHER PARK

75 FEATURE MAR 23, 2022

CHANGE... FOR THE BETTER?

Recently, there have been many changes made to West High. Students and teachers speak up about their perspectives on these changes and how it has affected their school life.

BY MRUDANI RAMKUMAR PHOTO BY ESTHER PARK

DESIGN BY ESTHER PARK

76 NEWS

OCT. 3, 2019

riiiiiing!! Riiing! The loud noise jolts you awake as you fumble for the snooze button. After sloppily getting ready for school, you rush out the door, panicking about the four tests you have today because you didn’t have time to cram at 2 am in the morning. At school, the words on your tests seemed to dance and float off the page as you stared at it, not knowing what to do. When you get home, you collapse on the couch, relieved. Oh wait. You just realized that all those tests you winged your way through are worth 85% of your grade, and there is no way to make it up even if you work your butt off on all of the assignments. Even worse, extra credit doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe… you just shouldn’t look at your grades for a bit… This chain of events, although exaggerated, happens to many high school students here at West High. Why? The new grading policy. Now, 85% of a student’s grade comprises of tests while only 15% is made up of homework and assignments. This new policy places a hard ban on any type of extra credit. Also, it must be used in all classrooms across the district, so it’s no longer up to the teacher on how they want to grade their students. The majority of the students don’t care about this policy. However, very few actually like it, and around 30% dislike it. Some common reasons stated for not liking the policy is that some students might not be good test-takers and not having extra credit causes anxiety. Some also say that since homework takes up a lot of time, it should count more in the overall grade.

“

the best fit for their class,” said Maya Chu ‘23. Based on the survey conducted, many other students also agree with this sentiment. “For a student that really works hard and may have test anxiety, that could be unfair for them. [So] I can see it both ways,” said Emily Stumpff. This is another point that’s been commonly brought up. Students have said that it would help their stress management if the weight of tests lowered and the weight of homework was brought up. Especially for those who have test anxiety, they say their grades, which are usually good, plummet after they take a test. “I definitely do know people where it’s similar to myself. It’s kind of stressful to have a lot of importance on just a couple of tests. It probably depends on the person. I’m a little bit of both,” said Vera Tanas ‘25. Not having extra credit, as mentioned before, causes a lot of students’ anxiety. Many state that having this cushion on their grade was relieving because if they don’t do that great on a test, extra credit could make up for some of that and bring their grade back up a little. However, some students also say that extra credit might only be beneficial to students with higher socioeconomic status and a few points won’t make a difference in the grade. Also, it might be considered unfair to students who studied very hard and got a good grade on their test but have the same overall score as another student who didn’t study but did the extra credit.

NOT ALL CLASSES AR E TH E SAM E LEVE L OF DI FFICU LTY AN D HAVE TH E SAM E MATE R IAL , [SO] I TH I N K MAYBE TH E DI STR ICT SHOU LD LET TEACH E RS CHOOSE TH E I R OWN G R ADI NG POLICI ES BASE D ON WHAT TH EY TH I N K I S BEST FIT FOR TH E I R CLASS. - MAYA CH U ‘23

“I think that having one policy through all the classes is kind of a bad idea because not all classes are the same level of difficulty and have the same material, [so] I think maybe the district should let teachers choose their own grading policies based on what they think is

“

I LI KE TH E OPPORTU N ITY TO CHALLE NG E A STU DE NT TO G ET TO A LEVE L TH EY M IG HT NOT EXPECT FOR ANYON E AN D G IVE TH E M A LITTLE EXTR A PUSH FOR DOI NG THAT EXTR A WOR K . I DON ’T LOVE THAT I CAN ’T CHALLE NG E KI DS AN D G IVE TH E M SOM ETH I NG FOR THAT WOR K . - EM I LY STU M PFF, MATH TEACH ER

“I like the opportunity to challenge a student to get to a level they might not expect for everyone and give them a little extra push for doing that extra work. I don’t love that I can’t challenge kids and give them something for that work,” said Emily Stumpff. At Iowa City West High School, the new grading policy has definitely become a controversy amongst teachers and students, and will likely be reconsidered in the coming years.

“I don’t think that if a teacher sets [their] grading properly, there really should be a need for extra credit,” said Jamie Sandhu. But on the other hand, some teachers think differently.

NEWS OCT. 3, 2019

TROBOTIX Inspiration, Creation, Motivation DESIGN BY HANEEN ELTYEB

ARTICLE BY HANEEN ELTYEB, REEM KIRJA, ASHLYN BRADY

Front Row: Matthew Bedell ‘24, AJ Kroemer ‘25, Mishka Mohamed Nour ‘22 Middle Row: Mike Zeng ‘25, Kamakhee Kuchhal ‘24, Tyler Lieberman ‘25, Jinann AbuDagga ‘25 Back Row: Wesal Haroun ‘24, Haneen Eltyeb ‘25, Aaron Das ‘25, Ian Wells ‘24

FEATURE MAR.24, 2022

PHOTO BY SCOTT ANSON

est High is full of diverse clubs and organizations, some of the popular ones being Speech and Debate and Theater, but in the pile lies a creative and mostly unknown organization. West High’s Robotics Team, going by the name of Trobotix, has racked up plenty of awards and titles. It’s also a family of STEM-inspired students who wish to further their understanding of engineering and programming. West High established the Trobotix 8696 team in 2014. With its name derived from a mash-up of ‘trojan’ and ‘robotics’, it provides a space for students to work together using their knowledge of science and technology while simultaneously building life-long problem-solving skills. Trobotix participates in competitions through FIRST, an acronym that represents “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” FIRST is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen that strives to give younger generations access to STEM education and activities. Every year, West High Trobotix competes in FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), a robotics competition for grades 7-12 that includes teams from all over the world. The team has competed in six seasons of FIRST Tech Challenge, and brought home five awards. Throughout their off-season, Trobotix diligently works to design, build, and program their robot to fit the different game requirements implemented each year. However, the team’s efforts are not just geared towards a robot. Team members also work together to fundraise and promote the club.

“ IT’S ALMOST LI KE A SMALL BUSI N ESS THAT YOU ’ R E R U N N I NG EVE RY YEAR I N A DI FFE R E NT WAY ” - M ISH K A MOHAM E D NOU R ‘22

Trobotix is made up of builders, programmers, and strategists with aspects of business, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), electronics configuration, and documentation. During the competition season, they meet on Mondays from 5:30 – 6:00 pm via Discord, Thursdays from 3:00 – 6:00 pm for open lab, and two additional hours on Fridays (4:00 – 6:00 pm) for those who need extra lab time. The club’s main focus is to provide a space for students who are interested in developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. In just under a month, students will need to understand the season’s game requirements and develop an effective strategy that will earn them the maximum amount of points. With the added stress of rankings and limited amount of time, team members are learning to use their time efficiently while making the most out of the FTC season. Coach Scott Anson recognizes how diverse the Trobotix team is, and how that makes the team unique from other robotics teams. “He [Dean Kamen] really wants to get those under-represented populations in our country, women, and some of the other groups that kind of shy away from technology,” Anson explains, “and we [Trobotix] want to get those people in because we need a diverse set of ideas when we problem solve.” However, diversity is not the only positive aspect of joining the team. “FIRST has taught me that it is possible to be competitive and cooperate with other teams at tournaments, it was definitely something that was very new for me and not the type of competitive environment that I was used to. ” -Matthew Bedell ‘24 Mohamed Nour says, “I enjoyed every aspect of it, but [especially] just the idea of being in the same room with people who have the same goal in mind [is enjoyable]”. Jinann AbuDagga, a freshman on the team, explains her reason for joining the team. “I’ve always been interested in engineering and I had friends in the program and they told me about it. I decided to come and check it out and I kind of really enjoyed it and fell in love with it.” Programmer Matthew Bedell ’24 shares his opinion as well. “Trobotix really feels like a community and there is this sense that everyone has a common goal. It’s competitive but everyone is working together, there never is any competition between the team members.” Although each member joined for different rea-

sons, the team shares what AbuDagga explains as a “close knit” dynamic. Team members describe the overall benefits of what the team has to offer, with some highlights being an activity to list on their college application, and gaining useful life skills such as determination. Trobotix is currently in their off-season and will have about eight months until the next season starts, giving them enough time to sharpen their skills in engineering and programming. The team is currently working on CAD training and finishing an incomplete robot. Considering that most of this year’s team members are rookies, students in the club want to make sure they come into the new season with added confidence and coordination. In order to stay organized, the team has created a calendar to follow for the coming months before the season begins. Plans include training activities, outreach, social media promotion, and branding. With these improvement plans, Trobotix hopes to be a stronger competitor in the 2022-2023 FTC season. “My main takeaway is actually you don’t have to be smart to be part of this. You can enjoy it, no matter how smart your IQ level is because I would say whatever your reason for joining [is, you’ll find it]. If you join for friendship, you’ll find the friendship, if you join for the awards, you’ll find the awards. I joined because I wanted to make an impact and I think I made an impact on myself and on my teammates as well.” Mohamed Nour says. Trobotix is a great club to join for anyone interested in diving into the world of engineering and programming as well as forming new relationships. It helps students interact with others with the same interests as well as letting participants gain new experiences with engineering, computer science, teamwork, and friendly competition. Club members have many chances to compete and gain state, national, and global titles. It’s also a great addition to college applications. However, it’s important to note that Trobotix only has a limited number of open spots. You can contact Haneen Eltyeb at haelt25@ icstudents.org, if you’re interested for more information.

FEATURE MAR.24, 2022

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE COUNTER

Take a look at what it’s like for the cafeteria staff at West High and the students’ opinions about the food. BY AIRI THOMPSON DESIGN BY YAYA ORSZULA

crowd gathers together in front of the large garage door that shields the Trojan Cafe from hungry students. The teens talk to each other and stare at their phones impatiently waiting for the doors to open. Once the doors are finally opened, hoards of students begin to flood the cafe and form disorderly lines. We’ve all been there at some point in our lives, we’ve all stood in those crowded lines, and groaned in despair when the kitchen had run out of pizza. But what is it like for the staff? How has their experience with COVID-19 differed from students? How have their West High experiences been different from ours? When the pandemic struck, students and teachers were forced to go online. This isn’t any-

82 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

thing new to us. Going to class in bed and zoom are still a fresh memory, but that wasn’t the case for all of West High. Cafeteria workers had to continue coming to work and making sack lunches for West and elementary schools. For those who don’t know, the West kitchen provides food for Alexander, Borlaug, Hills, Horn, and Weber Elementary schools (Northwest Jr. High has their own kitchen staff). Now with in person school being the more popular option, the cafeteria staff have to bag single foods like cookies, and have gotten rid of the condiment pumps and replaced them with packets to lower the risk of spreading COVID-19. Peter Adams ’22 feels the effect of the pandemic in the food he eats from the cafeteria too. “Some of the really good things that they used to have, they don't need more because you know,

they're being cautious, which I understand, but it still kind of sucks,” said Adams. Along with having to change the way students get food, the cafeteria is fairly understaffed, making the wait lines in the cafe longer. However, that isn’t the only reason the lines are so long; students don’t always have their ID on them. While one or two students forgetting their ID wouldn’t cause the lines to get so long or extend the length of the wait time, a large part of students either don’t have or forget to bring their ID. “We have to type everybody's name and so it takes a little bit longer. If everybody has a card we can get you guys through faster,” said Liz Kanagy, the Kitchen Manager at West High. It also makes the cafeteria staffs' jobs harder. "I know a lot of students don't have [their ID]

“

I KNOW A LOT OF STU DE NTS DON ’T HAVE [TH E I R I D] AN D THAT I S SOM ETH I NG THAT I S KI N D OF FR USTR ATI NG - H EAD COOK LIZ KANAGY

”

and that is something that is kind of frustrating," said Kanagy. Kanagy has been in the school district in nutrition services for 10 years. She started out as a Second Cook at Northwest Jr. High and worked up to being the Kitchen Manager at North Central, where she stayed for 5 years until she came to West this fall and became the Kitchen Manager here. In case of delays, every morning Kanagy and her Head and Second Cooks start cooking around 7:30 and at 9:15 they begin to send the food they’ve made to the elementary schools. Once C Lunch ends they begin to clean and take a break around 1:15. Then, once the carts with the dirty dishes from the elementary schools arrive, they wash those and head home around 2:30-3:00. There’s no question that the cafeteria staff put a lot of effort into our food, but do students appreciate it? It turns out they do. Almost a third of students say the kitchen staff are very important. What about the food itself? When a group of 53 students were asked about what they thought about the Cafeteria food 84% rated it a three out of five or higher. While some may find this surprising, whether it be because they expected a higher or lower rating, it is clear that many believe that the stereotype of ‘bad cafeteria food’ does not apply to the West Cafeteria. “I think that generally, it makes my day better to eat food from the lunchroom,” said Amira Qidwai ’22. Some students may find the cafeteria food to live up to it’s stereotype, but as a whole, most, if not all can appreciate the work that has been put into making us food over the years.

FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

THE HANDS BEHIND THE COUNTER

For those who don’t know, the West kitchen provides food for Alexander, Borlaug, Hills, Horn, and Weber Elementary schools (Northwest Jr. High has their own kitchen staff). Now with in person school being the more popular option, the cafeteria staff have to bag single foods like cookies, and have gotten rid of the condiment pumps and replaced them with packets to lower the risk of spreading COVID-19. Peter Adams ’22 feels the effect of the pandemic in the food he eats from the cafeteria too.

“TH EY DONT HAVE GOOD [SOM E FOOD] ANYMOR E BECAUSE YOU KNOW, TH EY ’ R E BE I NG CAUTIOUS, WH ICH I U N DE RSTAN D, BUT IT STI LL KI N D OF SUCKS” - PETER ADAMS ‘22 Photo taken by Olivia Orszula

BY AIRI THOMPSON AND OLIVIA ORSZULA

A crowd gathers together in front of the large garage door that shields the Trojan Cafe from hungry students. The teens talk to each other and stare at their phones impatiently waiting for the doors to open. Once the doors are finally opened, hoards of students begin to flood the cafe and form disorderly lines.

Along with having to change the way students get food, the cafeteria is fairly understaffed, making the wait lines in the cafe longer. However, that isn’t the only reason the lines are so long; students don’t always have their ID on them. While one or two students forgetting their ID wouldn’t cause the lines to get so long or extend the length of the wait time, a large part of students either don’t have or forget to bring their ID. “We have to type everybody’s name and so it takes a little bit longer. If everybody has a card we can get you guys through faster,” said Liz Kanagy, the Kitchen Manager at West High. It also makes the cafeteria staffs’ jobs harder.

We’ve all been there at some point in our lives, we’ve all stood in those crowded lines, and groaned in despair when the kitchen had run out of pizza. But what is it like for the staff? How has their experience with COVID-19 differed from students? How have their West High experiences been different from ours?

“ I KNOW A LOT OF STU DE NTS DONT HAVE [TH E I R I D] AN D THAT I S SOM ETH I NG THAT I S KI N D OF FR USTR ATI NG,”

When the pandemic struck, students and teachers were forced to go Online. This isn’t anything new to us. Going to class in bed and zoom are still a fresh memory, but that wasn’t t+he case for all of West High. Cafeteria workers had to continue coming to work and making sack lunches for West and elementary schools.

Kanagy has been in the school district in nutrition services for 10 years. She started out as a Second Cook at Northwest Jr. High and worked up to being the Kitchen Manager at North Central, where she stayed for 5 years until she came to West this fall and

84 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

became the Kitchen Manager here. In case of delays, every morning Kanagy and her Head and Second Cooks start cooking around 7:30 and at 9:15 they begin to send the food they’ve made to the elementary schools. Once Lunch C ends they begin to clean and take a break around 1:15. Then, once the carts with the dirty dishes from the elementary schools arrive, they wash those and head home around 2:30-3:00. There’s no question that the cafeteria staff put a lot of effort into our food, but do students appreciate it? It turns out they do. Almost a third of students say the kitchen staff are very important. What about the food itself? When a group of 53 students were asked about what they thought about the Cafeteria food 84% rated it a three out of five or higher. While some may find this surprising, whether it be because they expected a higher or lower rating, it is clear that many believe that the stereotype of ‘bad cafeteria food’ does not apply to the West Cafeteria. Photo taken by Olivia Orszula

“ I TH I N K THAT G E N E R ALLY, IT MAKES MY DAY BETTE R TO EAT FOOD FROM TH E LU NCH ROOM ” -AM I RA QI DWAI ‘22

Some students may find the cafeteria food to live up to it’s stereotype, but as a whole, most, if not all can appreciate the work that has been put into making us food over the years.

Infograms by Olivia Orszula Art by Airi Thompson

85 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

FOR VIDEO COVERAGE, GO TO WSSPAPER.COM

A Look at AP Class Culture By JACK FURLONG

Photo by Mckenna Stephens Design by Joe Corlette

86 FEATURE

.MAR. 24, 2022

An examination of the current environment surrounding AP classes, and what students have to say about it.

A student taking notes for his AP Classses.

can lead students to make unprepared decisions when choosing their schedule, adding more work to their plate for a subject they may have no desire to learn about. “It’s becoming a problem because I know it’s better for the school to have more kids taking AP tests and getting higher scores, so they do push them more than I think they should.” West High has received recognition on a multitude of levels for its success in academics, making it important to keep up its appearance by having teens enroll in these classes and get good grades. But the pressure doesn’t come from just staff members. For Heidi Du ‘23, students are also likely to make comments that push their peers into taking certain classes. “Going into high school I was already talking to people I knew who were older, and they were like ‘you should take this AP class, it’s super helpful, or you should take this one.’ But there was also the pressure to take those classes for other reasons. Not because you want to learn but because of social pressures, because people would compare how many classes they would take.” The same can be said for Peter Adams ‘22, who recognizes the pressures from peers and the im-

pacts that come with it. “I wouldn’t say it’s socially unacceptable (not to take AP classes) but you do feel left out if you’re not taking AP classes and a lot of times AP classes that a lot of people were taking.” It’s also important to factor in health, though. Remind yourself: What’s best for you? Not every decision can be made purely for academic purposes. “What I think can be looked at better is finding a healthy balance of AP classes and not over committing yourself,” Adams said. “With AP classes, you’re taking a big bite, and if you can’t chew that, that’s really tough.” This isn’t to say that AP classes themselves are the problem: just the environment around them. There are plenty of positive and negative things to note about the curriculum, and Adams shares one such sentiment: “I think West High implements them (AP classes) well, a lot of it is because we really do have amazing teachers here… …Especially the teachers who have been teaching their classes for a little while. They’ve really gotten in the groove of it, and they don’t have to modify their curriculum so they already know exactly what’s going to help

kids.” The current culture surrounding AP classes may not end anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to what others say. Choosing what you deem to be beneficial and shaping your high school experience the way you want is all that matters. “I think you really do need to specialize in what your interests are. I have never taken an AP science of math class. I am perfectly happy with that. I’m going to graduate and I don’t think I ever really needed that or it ever would have enhanced my education because it wasn’t something I was interested in and it wasn’t something I needed additional challenges in.” - Qidwai Peter Adams “I would be lying if I didn’t say there was a little bit of environmental peer pressure to factor in.” “It’s good that you can offer a college figure class and maybe a little bit of a larger time frame… I think AP classes are a great opportunity, even though they might be tough, but it’s kind of the point.”

“Workload varies a lot from the class. There are ones like AP Chemistry, AP Seminar which are probably the most intensive AP classes in the school, then there are some like AP music theory that aren’t as intensive and have a better passing rate overall… It can vary a lot.” “I think West High implements them (AP classes) well, a lot of it is because we really do have amazing teachers here… Especially the teachers who have been teaching their classes for a little while. They’ve really gotten in the groove of it, and they don’t have to modify their curriculum so they already know exactly what’s going to help kids.” “This is West High. It wasn’t explicit pressure saying like, oh, you better join these classes or else like some sort of threat but I mean, people will talk about their AP classes a lot.” “I wouldn’t say it’s socially unacceptable (not to take AP classes) but you do feel left out if you’re not taking AP classes and a lot of times AP classes that a lot of people were taking.” “Recognize that students need to also still be students.” “What I think can be looked at better is finding a healthy balance of AP classes and not over committing yourself… …With AP classes, you’re taking a big bite and if you can’t chew that, that’s really tough.” “Having the good resources for students to reach out to if they feel stressed, or if they need help with stuff, to be able to get answers, you can go to your teachers, but it’s so much easier to work with peers. You have so much more in common with them, it’s less awkward, and someone who’s probably more likely to understand your situation.”

tunity to heighten your experience with a specific subject. “(Workload) really depends on the class… …Some of the classes I’ve taken like AP UNited States history, that’s reading and in addition to reading, you have to do an equal workload of connecting historical events. That’s a whole different level. It just really depends on what you’re specializing in.” “The first AP class I ever took was AP human geography. That has been like the most forma-

“

Amira Qidwai “I don’t think you should just take every AP class there is. You should take ones that are specific to the things that you have strengths in, and the things that you want to continue on doing in the future.” “I think the reason a lot of people don’t like AP classes is because they are actually good at testing you on what your knowledge is, and that’s hard to do.” “I think (AP classes are) generally good and they provide an oppor-

“I think (AP classes are) generally good and they provide an opportunity to heighten your experience subject.

-AM I R A Q I DWAI (22) tive experience of high school for me… I think generally, it really widened my horizons.” “I think that we do push kids into AP classes a lot more than we should. I had several experiences with counselors and been like, ‘do you think I should take this or not?’ and they’re like ‘just take it, it can’t hurt’ but it can hurt, it really can. And it can be really hard on your own personal schedule and your priorities.” “At a lot of schools AP classes are the highest you can get. At west, it’s like AP classes, Kirkwood classes, University of Iowa classes, there’s steps up and for a lot of us they’re like ‘AP classes are the first level of challenges’ and that’s kind of scary.” “It’s becoming a problem

because I know it’s better for the school to have more kids taking AP tests and getting higher scores, so they do push them more than I think they should.” “I think you really do need to specialize in what your interests are. I have never taken an AP science of math class. I am perfectly happy with that. I’m going to graduate and I don’t think I ever really needed that or it ever would have enhanced my education because it wasn’t something I was interested in and it wasn’t something I needed additional challenges in.” Heidi Du “I think that when you sign up for an AP class, you’re basically signing up to do more work because it’s more challenging, you have more responsibilities in terms of the class since you have the AP test at the end of the year. So it’s good if you’re prepared to take on the work, but it’s bad if you’re not.” “Most freshmen take AP Human and I think it’s a really good introductory course, because it’s the first one (you can) take and AP Human is super good because it has a decent amount of work, but it’s preparing you for the harder AP classes that you’ll take later.” “Going into high school I was already talking to people I knew who were older, and they were like ‘you should take this AP class, it’s super helpful, or you should take this one.’ But there was also the pressure to take those classes for other reasons. Not because you want to learn but because of social pressures, because people would compare how many classes they would take.”

FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

Joe Corlette ‘24 takes notes in preparation of AP classes

A LOOK AT AP CLASS CULTURE An examination of the current environment surrounding AP classes, and what students have to say about it. BY JACK FURLONG PHOTOS AND DESIGN BY MCKENNA STEPHENS

88 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. These numbers are the culmination of all your work this year in one final test. You take a deep breath. You have one shot, one chance to show your knowledge and earn some college credit early. One. Two. Three. Four Five. The clock keeps ticking and time is running out. You tap your pencil on the desk as you stare blankly at the page in front of you. Maybe you should’ve gone with that other class instead. Maybe not. For many students, deciding what AP classes to take (or to take any at all) can be an incredibly daunting situation. At West High, where “excellence is a tradition”, some have experienced even more pressure to sign up for these accelerated courses. Although it may now be considered an important part of education for some, it hasn’t always been this way. The Advanced Placement Board began in 1955 with the goal to provide higher-level courses for students and has since reached more than 20,000 schools. Because of this, AP classes have become highly integrated into school culture and now play a prominent role in the college application process. If you go to West, you’ve probably considered taking an AP class at some point. For some students, the school environment plays a big factor in their decisions. “I think that we do push kids into AP classes a lot more than we should,” Amira Qiwai ‘22 said. “I’ve had several experiences with counselors and been like, ‘do you think I should take this or not?’ and they’re like: ‘Just take it, it can’t hurt.’ but it can hurt, it really can. And it can be really hard on your own personal schedule and your priorities.” The influence from staff members to sign up for higher-level classes can lead students to make unprepared decisions when choosing their schedule, adding more work to their plate for a subject they may have no desire to learn about. “It’s becoming a problem because I know it’s better for the school to have more kids taking AP tests and getting higher scores, so they do push them more than I think they should.” West High has received recognition on a multitude of levels for its success in academics, making it important to keep up its appearance by having teens enroll in these classes and get good grades. But the pressure doesn’t come from just staff members. For Heidi Du ‘23, students are also likely to make comments that push their peers into taking certain classes. “Going into high school I was already

“ NOT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO LEAR N BUT BECAUSE OF SOCIAL PR ESSU R ES, B ECAUSE PEOPLE WOU LD COM PAR E HOW MANY CLASSES TH EY WOU LD TAKE .”

- H EI DI DU ‘23

“ I WOULDN’T SAY IT’S SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE BUT YOU DO FEEL LEFT OUT IF YOU’RE NOT TAKING AP CLASSES AND A LOT OF TIMES AP CLASSES THAT A LOT OF

talking to people I knew who were older, and they were like ‘you should take this AP class, it’s super helpful, or you should take this one.’ But there was also the pressure to take those classes for other reasons. Not because you want to learn but because of social pressures, because people would compare how many classes they would take.” The same can be said for Peter Adams ‘22, who recognizes the pressures from peers and the impacts that come with it. “I wouldn’t say it’s socially unacceptable (not to take AP classes) but you do feel left out if you’re not taking AP classes and a lot of times AP classes that a lot of people were taking.” It’s also important to factor in health, though. Remind yourself: What’s best for you? Not every decision can be made purely for academic purposes. “What I think can be looked at better is finding a healthy balance of AP classes and not over committing yourself,” Adams said. “With AP classes, you’re taking a big bite, and if you can’t chew that, that’s really tough.” This isn’t to say that AP classes themselves are the problem: just the environment around them. There are plenty of positive and negative things to note about the curriculum, and Adams shares one such sentiment: “I think West High implements them (AP classes) well, a lot of it is because we really do have amazing teachers here… …Especially the teachers who have been teaching their classes for a little while. They’ve really gotten in the groove of it, and they don’t have to modify their curriculum so they already know exactly what’s going to help kids.” The current culture surrounding AP classes may not end anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to what others say. Choosing what you deem to be beneficial and shaping your high school experience the way you want is all that matters. “I think you really do need to specialize in what your interests are. I have never taken an AP science of math class. I am perfectly happy with that. I’m going to graduate and I don’t think I ever really needed that or it ever would have enhanced my education because it wasn’t something I was interested in and it wasn’t something I needed additional challenges in.” - Qidwai

PEOPLE WERE TAKING.”

- PETER ADAMS ‘22 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

Chinese Lunar New Year Anjali 25’ guide to making dumplings step 1: make dough

step 2: cut your dough into small pieces and roll them out

the rolled out dough

step 4: you can pan fry them (in Chinese we call them “Guo-tie” or pot sitkcers

step 4 (continued): you can also boil them to make traditional dumplings (in chinese “Jiaozi”

03 FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

oom Boom Boom, the drums beat loudly. Hundreds of people parade down the street, brilliant colors of gold and red blend together. Big dragons dance under the illuminated moon in the sky. The children’s chorus of laughter bounces through the neighborhood as they jump with lighted lanterns. Lunar New Year is a day of festivities and joy with bright lighted houses all in the neighborhood. Although each country has its own way of celebrating the Lunar New Year, we will be showing you how Chinese people celebrate this day in their own way. The Iowa City Area Chinese Association created a petition to get a day off for Lunar New Year. They collected a total of 1,369 signatures, and on Nov. 23, 2021, the ICCSD school board approved for a day off on Lunar New Years for the 2023-2024 calendars. The approval might only mean a day off for some people, but to Chinese students at West, it means something completely different. Two Juniors Heidi Du ’23 and Maya Chu ’23 said, “Right now we don’t have a day off, so the only thing my family does is eat dinner,” Du said. “Having a day off would mean more time for me to hangout with my family and actually have a celebration,” Du isn’t alone, as a lot of people from the Chinese community at West also feel underrepresented. “I feel like it is really important that as many

cultures as possible are represented in the ICCSD, they should definitely give us a day off to celebrate,” Chu said. The Chinese community will now be able to spend a day celebrating their culture with loved ones at home. ICCSD has realized how important Lunar New Year is, but that is not the case for the majority of schools in America. New York 6th district Chinese-American congresswoman Grace Meng proposed a bill on Jan. 28 to make Lunar New Year a federal holiday. She believes that the growing Asian Community deserves a day to celebrate the deeply rooted traditions of their culture. The race of the 12 animals, the tale of how each year was named. The Jade Emperor set a race for 12 animals to compete for the positions as the zodiacs. All the animals had to swim across

the river and run to the finish line. The Rat won the race, and therefore got the title for the first year. The Ox came second, then the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and last but not least, the Pig! Every year, families and friends celebrate in bright red clothes, some pulling up in fancy traditional clothes or some, just a plain old sweater. But one rule is for sure, it must be red, the color that symbolizes good fortune, vitality, prosperity, and celebration! Everyone is talking and laughing, and the atmosphere is relaxed. Talking to your loved ones is definitely a big part of the New Year. “Lunar New Years means being able to have a good time to talk to my grandparents from China, who I don’t have very much time to talk to, and spending time with my family,” said Junze Sun ’25 During these gatherings, delicious foods are being cooked, baked, stewed, steamed, and roasted. “Picture this, savory rich aroma wafting from the kitchen. The fried crispy duck, so scrumptious,” said Anjali Lodh ’25. Food, to many students, is the best part of the night,“I’ve got to say, sitting down at the dinner table and eating

food is the best part,” said Derek Hua ’25. The adults' booming laughter fills the house at parties. The dishes get placed on the table and your eyes see a big fish, dumplings with all sorts of fillings, duck, green vegetables fried with oil, plates of small dishes swimming around in sauce, long noodles, spring rolls and rice. For dinner with just families, a hot pot is always a classic. After-dinner, the moms carry out desserts like

only one who receives more money from his grandparents than his parents, “My parents forgot, but my grandparents usually give me a hefty amount,” said Hua. As Chinese-Americans living in the States, grandparents usually don’t send money through mail. Instead, they send hongbao (red pocket money) through a popular texting app called WeChat. Sending little GIFs or emojis through WeChat is also extremely popular, and often families call each other through the app. Many also stream the extremely popular New Year Gala on China Central television. The New Year Gala has a variety of performances, from singing and dancing to comedy and skits to welcome the upcoming year. “My family and I watch it every year,” said

“

I ’VE GOT TO SAY, SITTI NG DOWN AT TH E DI N N E R TABLE AN D EATI NG FOOD I S TH E BEST PART! - DEREK H UA ‘25

Written and design by: Gianna Liu Tan Yuan (tang- u-wan), a sweet bean paste dessert, or fruit. At the end of the night, when all the bellies have been filled with food, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, moms and dads hand out small red envelopes. “I like the money, hongbao, they are little bundles of joy,” Hong said. hongbao (red pocket money) are usually the highlight for the kids, “I get a lot of money from my grandparents, but my parents took it away ,” said Sun. He isn’t the

”

Sabrina Du ’25. “It’s a tradition.” Lunar New Year is a big day, celebrated by over 1.5 billion people all over the world. It is a deeply rooted tradition that stays firm in the households that celebrate it. To some, Lunar New Year doesn’t mean anything, but to the Chinese community at West, it means everything. “Lunar New Year means culture, it means family, and it means yummy food,” said Lodh.

FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

E S E N C H I L

NEW YE A R DESIGN BY ANNA SONG

FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

PHOTOS BY ANNA SONG AND ANJALI LODH

BY GIANNA LIU Boom Boom Boom, the drums beat loudly. Hundreds of people parade down the street, brilliant colors of gold and red blend together. Big dragons dance under the illuminated moon in the sky. The children’s chorus of laughter bounces through the neighborhood as they jump with lighted lanterns. Lunar New Year is a day of festivities and joy with bright-lighted houses all in the neighborhood. Although each country has its own way of celebrating the Lunar New Year, we will be showing you how Chinese people celebrate this day in their own way. The Iowa City Area Chinese Association created a petition to get a day off for Lunar New Year. They collected a total of 1,369 signatures, and on Nov. 23, 2021, the ICCSD school board approved for a day off on Lunar New Year for the 2023-2024 calendars. The approval might only mean a day off for some people, but to Chinese students at West, it means something completely different. Two juniors Heidi Du ’23 and Maya Chu ’23 said,

“Right now we don’t have a day off, so the only thing my family does is eat dinner,” Du said. “Having a day off would mean more time for me to hang out with my family and actually have a celebration,” Du isn’t alone, as a lot of people from the Chinese community at West also feel underrepresented. “I feel like it is really important that as many cultures as possible are represented in the ICCSD, they should definitely give us a day off to celebrate,” Chu said. The Chinese community will now be able to spend a day celebrating their culture with loved ones at home. ICCSD has realized how important Lunar New Year is, but that is not the case for the majority of schools in America. New York 6th district Chinese-American

congresswoman Grace Meng proposed a bill on Jan. 28 to make Lunar New Year a federal holiday. She believes that the growing Asian Community deserves a day to celebrate the deeply rooted traditions of their culture. “The Race of the 12 Animals,” tells the tale of how each lunar year was named. The Jade Emperor set a race for 12 animals to compete for the positions as the zodiacs. All the animals had to swim across the river and run to the finish line. The Rat won the race, and therefore got the title for the first year. The Ox came second, then the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and last but not least, the Pig! Every year, families and friends celebrate in bright red clothes, some pulling up in fancy traditional clothes or some, just a plain old sweater. But one rule is for sure, it must be red, the color that symbolizes good fortune, vitality, prosperity, and celebration! Everyone is talking and laughing, and the atmosphere is relaxed. Talking to your loved ones is definitely a big part of the New Year. “Lunar New Years means being able to have a good time to talk to my grandparents from China, who I don’t have very much time to talk to, and spending time with my family,” said Junze Sun ’25 During these gatherings, delicious foods are being cooked, baked, stewed, steamed, and roasted. “Picture this, savory rich aroma wafting from the kitchen. The fried crispy duck, so scrumptious,” said Anjali Lodh, ’25. Food, for many students, is the best part of the night, “I’ve got to say, sitting down at the dinner table and eating food is the best part,” said Derek Hua ’25. The adults’ booming laughter fills the house at parties. The dishes get placed on the table and your eyes see a big fish, dumplings with all sorts of fillings, duck, green vegetables fried with

oil, plates of small dishes swimming around in sauces, long noodles, spring rolls, and rice. For dinner with just families, a hot pot is always a classic. After dinner, the moms carry out desserts like Tang Yuan (tang-u-wan), a sweet bean paste dessert, or fruit. At the end of the night, when all the bellies have been filled with food, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, moms, and dads hand out small red envelopes. “I like the money, hongbao, they are little bundles of joy,” Hong said. hongbao (red pocket money) are usually the highlight for the kids, “I get a lot of money from my grandparents, but my parents took it away,” said Sun. He isn’t the only one who receives more money from his grandparents than his parents, “My parents forgot, but my grandparents usually give me a hefty amount,” said Hua. As Chinese-Americans living in the States, grandparents usually don’t send money through the mail. Instead, they send hongbao (red pocket money) through a popular texting app called WeChat. Sending little GIFs or emojis through WeChat is also extremely popular, and often families call each other through the app. Many also stream the extremely popular New Year Gala on China Central television. The New Year Gala has a variety of performances, from singing and dancing to comedy and skits to welcome the upcoming year. “My family and I watch it every year,” said Sabrina Du ’25. “It’s a tradition.” Lunar New Year is a big day, celebrated by over 1.5 billion people all over the world. It is a deeply rooted tradition that stays firm in the households that celebrate it. To some, Lunar New Year doesn’t mean anything, but to the Chinese community at West, it means everything. “Lunar New Year means culture, it means family, and it means yummy food,” said Lodh.

“ LU NAR N EW YEAR M EAN S CU LTU R E , IT M EAN S FAM I LY, AN D IT M EAN S YU M MY FOOD,” -ANJALI LODH ‘25 FEATURE MAR. 24, 2022

PLANT BASED DI ETS

BY MARIE STIER

“ I J UST DI DN ’T WANT TO BE AN I NCONVI E NCE” -SI DN EY TRAN EL ‘25 Food has always been a prime example of the diversity of cultures. People can find and experiment in both their identity and community. The United States, being a multicultural country, exemplifies both the variety, and the shared culture of residents. Mainstream American diets have continued to receive criticisms on the health and sustainability of them, but popular food trends are far from being over. McDonald’s, the number one fast food chain in the world. An often accepted symbol of the “American diet”.“Over 99 billion sold,” a sign could say, commenting on the total burgers produced for consumers. Serving Big Macs, McChickens, and Filet-o-Fishes, McDonald’s sells all kinds of meats. But for some, the “normal” means they’d never touch one of these foods. Plant based diet is an overarching term solely meaning that a person is actively trying to get most of their nutrients from plant sources. Plant HEALTH & SCIENCE

based diets can come in all forms; from eating occasional meat, poultry or fish as a flexitarian or not eating any eggs or dairy products as a vegan. Plant based diets have room for everyone to find their right fit ranging from adding more plants to their meals, to being pescatarian by eating only foods from plants with the exception of fish. Tranel identified as vegetarian for the last two years. She began due to the recommendation of a friend, and continued throughout the pandemic. But, due to worries about nutrition, and the accessibility of following a plant based diet, she recently implemented chicken into her diet. “Being in online school I would cook all the time. I cooked my own breakfast, lunch, dinner; I was very into cooking and like when you’re really into cooking, it is a lot easier to be vegetarian,” Tranel said. Despite Tranel’s desire to be fully plant based, many teenagers’ lives can’t fully commit to one more factor weighing on their brains. “I think if our society was more structured around plant based diets and had more options, it would be much easier,” Tranel said. “When you go to a fast food restaurant, or picking up dinner, there’s usually like one or two vegetarian options and it’s just and especially if you’re picky like me, it’s sometimes you’re like, that’s disgusting. It’s hard to find stuff. But just how our society is so based around meat, it’s just kind of hard to find good options and substitutes, if you’re a

teen who doesn’t have time for anything.” Despite the increase in awareness, popularity and understanding of plant based diets, people with dietary restrictions have difficulty in finding foods when they go out to eat. Ordering at restaurants can often be tricky for people following plant based diets; trying to figure out if they want to eat something and then additionally if they can eat it. People following less restrictive diets may want to alter theirs to be more specific, but it adds one more layer to being mindful of what they’re eating. “If there’s two vegetarian options, there’s one vegan option. It makes it harder to make meals like pasta, milk eggs, all of that stuff,” said Tranel. “Like that’s a component for so many like vegetarian meals. Especially being an athlete, [being vegan] would be so hard to get protein. In addition to more widespread culture, smaller circles have a huge impact on what we are able, and want, to eat. “I’ve been vegetarian for so long that it’d be weird for me to start eating [meat] now,” said Kamakshee Kuchal, ‘24. Kuchal has been vegetarian for her whole life. Her whole family follows plant based diets, both vegetarian and vegan. Despite her family all following these diets, the culture of our society still makes an impact on their food choices. “My brother is currently vegetarian, but my mom wants to persuade him to be vegan. But the school culture around him, like oth-

er kids drinking milk and him wanting to fit in [makes it difficult].” said Kuchal . People of all ages want to fit in. To find shared experiences, ideals, and aspirations. Food can bring people together, but at the same time it has the potential to isolate others. “I will admit that there have been times where my friends have made jokes about meat…. They’ll hold up meat and say “does this make you uncomfortable” and I would say “no why would you ask that” or they “why don’t you just try it?”. Some people just invalidate [my diet],” said Kuchal. Mia Thompson ‘24, has encountered similar influence because of her diet. “I’ve felt judged and I think sometimes it may be enough to pressure someone out of being vegetarian. For example someone who has a really avid meat eating and hunting family may struggle with food options and always being offered meat. But I think if you have a passionate enough reason to be vegetarian it’s easy to not care what others think and stick with it,” said Thompson. Determining a reason for following any diet can be difficult regardless of what that diet entails. Many people have hesitancy about following a plant-based diet especially regarding protein intake, but there are other foods that provide plenty of protein. Healthy adults should be consuming .36 grams of protein for every pound of their body weight daily. “I usually get [my protein from lentils and nuts]. I’ve been worried about my protein intake

a lot. I know meat has a lot of protein. And you need a lot of protein to function. I’ve been trying to look for substitutes but there really aren’t that many,” said Kuchal. Plant based diets have been thoroughly researched, finding many benefits such as boosting one’s immune system, increasing fiber, and even reducing disease risk. High fiber intake lowers cholesterol and stabilizes blood sugar. Additionally, organic foods contain nutrients and antioxidants that are essential to cellular health. Even though plant based diets can help reduce disease and other health concerns, it is also important to make sure that other essential vitamins and minerals aren’t lessening. If following a plant based diet, the following are some to make sure of balancing: - Vitamin B12 - Calcium - Iron - Zinc - Vitamin D - Omega-3 fatty acids After adding small amounts of chicken back into her diet, Tranel felt noticeable changes. “I felt fuller. Like I haven’t really craved snacks as much and I felt less tired during the day,” Tranel said. An innovation trying to replicate the protein that many get from animal products, are meat substitutes such as the Impossible burger. Many people are hesitant to try what they consider

PHOTO BY MARIE STIER

“fake meat”, but others are more open to the idea. “[I’ve tried] veggie burgers, Impossible meats, all of that. And I say, most of it’s pretty good. I found some good impossible burgers that taste basically the same,” said Tranel. Finding a way to alter their diet while still maintaining the culture of their communities is often a skill people participating in a plant based diet hone. “My go-to vegetarian meal is either a beef or black bean burger,” said Thompson. “It may sound hard when it comes to a place like McDonald’s but I usually would get something like a smoothie and fries.” Other times, it’s out of their control what options they have, and new arrangements are needed. “I went to this event and the coordinator had to spend her own money because there weren’t any vegetarian options. And I was the only vegetarian there, so I felt singled out,” said Kuchal. Common reasons for being plant based are related to sustainability; whether that is environment, health, etc. Regardless, sometimes following the diet itself isn’t sustainable. Each person is different, and in relation to what they are eating, everyone needs something different. “Research it, think through your reasons. If it’s going to be beneficial to you. Think of if you’ll be able to maintain it, how it’s going to affect you, like if you’re a sport take that into consideration,” said Tranel. In addition to food consumption needs, everyone’s culture varies. Who, where and why all play a role in the development of diet. People who have only known one diet their whole life, may struggle to embrace a sudden change. “If I were born in a family that wasn’t vegetarian I would not be convinced by anyone else to convert to be vegetarian, because you’re just so comfortable with where you are,” said Kuchal. “If you want to try it, there are a lot of health benefits to it, but it’s your choice to make.” These choices are flexible and don’t need to be concrete. Each experience will vary, and deciding whether or not to continue following a diet doesn’t have to be a fixed decision. “I would [recommend] just be plant based when you can,” said Tranel. “When I was strictly vegetarian, the thought of eating meat I was, ‘oh my god, I’m gonna break my streak, I’m not vegetarian anymore.” You have to be kind of lenient with it. If you eat meat, once a month, or once a week, you can still say your plant based.” Any diet that deviates from the mainstream diet can be hard to maintain for some, but for others, it would be harder to change what they eat. “I have definitely had my moments where I was, maybe I’ll try [meat] one day in the future,” said Kuchal. “I would like to see what it’s like just to experience it. But as of right now, being vegetarian is what I think my entire future will be. It’s something I can depend on.”

DESIGN BY MARIE STIER

HEALTH & SCIENCE

PLANT

Based

DESIGN BY MD GROSS

Food has always been a prime example of the diversity of cultures. People can find and experiment in both their identity and community. The United States, being a multicultural country, exemplifies both the variety, and the shared culture of residents. Mainstream American diets have continued to receive criticisms on the health and sustainability of them, but popular food trends are far from being over. McDonalds, the number one fast food chain in the world. An often accepted symbol of the “American diet”.“Over 99 billion sold,” a sign could say, commenting on the total burgers produced for consumers. Serving Big Macs, McChickens, and Filet o Fishes, McDonalds sells all kinds of meats. But for some, the “normal” means they’d never touch one of these foods. Plant based diet is an overarching term solely meaning that a person is actively trying to get most of their nutrients from plant sources. Plant based diets can come in all forms; from eating occasional meat, poultry or fish as a flexitarian or not eating any eggs or dairy products as a vegan. Plant based diets have room for everyone to find their right fit ranging from adding more plants to their meals, to being pescatarian by eating only foods from plants with the exception of fish. Tranel identified as vegetarian for the last two years. She began due to the recommendation of a friend, and continued throughout the pandemic. But, due to worries about nutrition, and the accessibility of following a plant based diet, she recently implemented chicken into her

98 HEALTH & SCIENCE MAR, 24 2022

DIETS

diet. “Being in online school I would cook all the time. I cooked my own breakfast, lunch, dinner; I was very into cooking and like when you’re really into cooking, it is a lot easier to be vegetarian,” Tranel said.

“ I J UST DI DNT WANT TO BE AN I NCONVE N I E NCE” -SI DN EY TRAN EL ‘25 Despite Tranel’s desire to be fully plant based, many teenagers’ lives can’t fully commit to one more factor weighing on their brains. “I think if our society was more structured around plant based diets and had more options, it would be much easier,” Tranel said. “When you go to a fast food restaurant, or picking up dinner, there’s usually like one or two vegetarian options and it’s just and especially if you’re picky like me, it’s sometimes you’re like, that’s disgusting. It’s hard to find stuff. But just how our society is so based around meat, it’s just kind of hard to find good options and substitutes, if you’re a teen who doesn’t have time for anything.” Despite the increase in awareness, popularity and understanding of plant based diets, people with dietary restrictions have difficulty in finding foods when they go out to eat. Ordering at restaurants can often be tricky for people following plant based diets; trying to figure out if they want to eat something and then additionally if they can eat it. People following less

restrictive diets may want to alter theirs to be more specific, but it adds one more layer to being mindful of what they’re eating. “If there’s two vegetarian options, there’s one vegan option. It makes it harder to make meals like pasta, milk eggs, all of that stuff,” said Tranel. “Like that’s a component for so many like vegetarian meals. Especially being an athlete, [being vegan] would be so hard to get protein. In addition to more widespread culture, smaller circles have a huge impact on what we are able, and want, to eat. “I’ve been vegetarian for so long that it’d be weird for me to start eating [meat] now.” said Kamakshee Kuchal, ;24. Kuchal has been vegetarian for her whole life. Her whole family follows plant based diets, both vegetarian and vegan. Despite her family all following these diets, the culture of our society still makes an impact on their food choices. “My brother is currently vegetarian, but my mom wants to persuade him to be vegan. But the school culture around him, like other kids drinking milk and him wanting to fit in [makes it difficult].” said Kuchal . People of all ages want to fit in. To find shared experiences, ideals, and aspirations. Food can bring people together, but at the same time it has the potential to isolate others. “I will admit that there have been times where my friends have made jokes about meat…. They’ll hold up meat and say “does this make you uncomfortable” and I would say “no why would you ask that” or they “why don’t you just try it?”. Some people just invalidate [my diet],” said Kuchal. Mia Thompson ‘24, has encountered similar influence because of het diet. “I’ve felt judged and I think sometimes it may be enough to pressure someone out of being vegetarian. For example someone who has a really avid meat eating and hunting family may struggle with food options and always being offered meat. But I think if you have a passionate enough reason to be vegetarian it’s easy to not care what others think and stick with

it.” said Thompson. Determining a reason for following any diet can be difficult regardless of what that diet entails. Many people have hesitancy about following a plant-based diet especially regarding protein intake, but there are other foods that provide plenty of protein. Healthy adults should be consuming .36 grams of protein for every pound of their body weight daily. “I usually get [my protein from lentils and nuts]. I’ve been worried about my protein intake a lot. I know meat has a lot of protein. And you need a lot of protein to function. I’ve been trying to look for substitutes but there really aren’t that Marie Steir ‘25 and Maeve Christians ‘25 cook a plant based meal many.” said Kuchal. PHOTOS BY MARIE STEIR Plant based diets have been thoroughly everyone’s culture varies. Who, where and meats, all of that. And I say, most of it’s researched, finding many benefits such as why all play a role in the development of pretty good. I found some good impossiboosting one’s immune system, increasdiet. People who have only known one ble burgers that taste basically the same,” ing fiber, and even reducing disease risk. diet their whole life, may struggle to emsaid Tranel. High fiber intake lowers cholesterol and brace a sudden change. Finding a way to alter their diet while stabilizes blood sugar. Additionally, or“If I were born in a family that wasn’t ganic foods contain nutrients and antioxi- still maintaining the culture of their comvegetarian I would not be convinced by munities is often a skill people participatdants that are essential to cellular health. anyone else to convert to be vegetarian, ing in a plant based diet hone. Even though plant based diets can help because you’re just so comfortable with “My go-to vegetarian meal is either a where you are,” said Kuchal. “If you want reduce disease and other health concerns, beef or black bean burger,” said Thompto try it, there are a lot of health benefits it is also important to make sure that othson. “It may sound hard when it comes to it, but it’s your choice to make.” er essential vitamins and minerals aren’t to a place like McDonalds but I usually These choices are flexible and don’t need lessening. If following a plant based diet, to be concrete. Each experience will vary, would get something like a smoothie and the following are some to make sure of and deciding whether or not to continue fries.” balancing. following a diet doesn’t have to be a fixed Other times, it’s out of their control After adding small amounts of chicken decision. what options they have, and new arrangeback into her diet, Tranel felt noticeable “I would [recommend] just be plant ments are needed. changes. “I felt fuller. Like I haven’t really based when you can,” said Tranel. “When “I went to this event and the coordinacraved snacks as much and I felt less tired I was strictly vegetarian, the thought of tor had to spend her own money because during the day,” Tranel said. eating meat I was, ‘oh my god, I’m gonna there weren’t any vegetarian options. And An innovation trying to replicate the break my streak, I’m not vegetarian anyI was the only vegetarian there, so I felt more.” You have to be kind of lenient with protein that many get from animal prodsingled out,” said Kuchal. it. If you eat meat, once a month, or once ucts, are meat substitutes such as the ImCommon reasons for being plant based a week, you can still say your plant based.” - VITAMIN B12 are related to sustainability; whether that Any diet that deviates from the mainstream diet can be hard to maintain for is environment, health, etc. Regardless, - CALCIUM some, but for others, it would be harder to sometimes following the diet itself isn’t change what they eat. - IRON sustainable. Each person is different, and “I have definitely had my moments in relation to what they are eating, every- ZINC where I was, maybe i’ll try [meat] one day one needs something different. in the future,” said Kuchal. “I would like “Research it, think through your rea- VITAMIN D to see what it’s like just to experience it. sons. If it’s going to be beneficial to you. But as of right now, being vegetarian is - OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS Think of if you’ll be able to maintain it, what I think my entire future will be. It’s how it’s going to affect you, like if you’re possible burger. Many people are hesitant something I can depend on.” a sport take that into consideration,” said to try what they consider “fake meat”, but Tranel. others are more open to the idea. In addition to food consumption needs, HEALTH & SCIENCE “[I’ve tried] veggie burgers, Impossible MAR 24, 2022

CHANGE... FO R TH E BETTE R? BY MRUDANI RAMKUMAR, ESTHER PARK, ABBY GUO, AND JESSIE LI

M s . S t u m p f g r a d e s f i n a l s fo r h e r A l g e b r a 2 Honors class during an open period. This grades goes into the 85% assessments cAate g o r y.

100 FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

P H OTO BY E S T H E R PA R K

riiiiiing!! Riiing! The sudden screeching sound of your alarm clock literally scares you half to death. After getting ready for school, you rush out the door, panicking about the four tests today that you didn’t have time to cram for at 2am in the morning. The words on your tests seemed to dance and float off the page as you stared at it, not knowing what to do. When you get home, you collapse on the couch, relieved. Oh wait. You just realized that all those tests you winged your way through are worth 85% your grade, and there is no way to make it up even if you work your butt off on all of the assignments. Even worse, extra credit doesn’t exist anymore. Maybe… you just shouldn’t look at your grades for a bit… This chain of events, although exaggerated, happens to many high school students here at West High. Why? The new grading policy. Now, 85% of a student’s grade comprises of tests while only 15% is made up of homework and assignments. This new policy places a hard ban on any type of extra credit. Also, it must be used in all classrooms across the district, so it's no longer up to the teacher on how they want to grade their students. Another recently implemented policy is the hall pass system, which teachers also don’t have a say in. For more information, check out our podcast. The majority of the students don’t care about this policy. However, very few actually like it, and around 30% dislike it. Some common reasons stated for not liking the policy is that some students might not be good test-takers and not having extra credit causes anxiety. Some also say that since homework takes up a lot of time, it should count more in the overall

grade. The new AFT schedule might also favor some students as well. For more information, click on the video. “I think that having one policy through all the classes is kind of a bad idea, because not all classes are the same level of difficulty and have the same material,” said Maya Chu ‘23. “[So] I think maybe the district should let teachers choose their own grading policies based on what they think is the best fit for their class.” brought up. Students have said that it would

“ I LI KE TH E OPPORTU N ITY TO CHALLE NG E STU DE NTS AN D G IVE TH E M A LITTLE PUSH FOR THAT EXTR A WOR K! ” - EM I LY STU M PF, MATH TEACH ER Based on the survey conducted, many other students also agree with this sentiment. “For a student that really works hard and may have test anxiety, that could be unfair for them. [So] I can see it both ways,” said Ms. Stumpff.

This is another point that’s been commonly help to have the weight of tests lowered, and the weight of homework brought up. Those who have test anxiety say their grades, which are usually good, plummet after they take a test. “I definitely do know people where it's similar to myself. It's kind of stressful to have a lot of importance on just a couple of tests. It probably depends on the person. I'm a little bit of both,” said Vera Tanas ‘25. Not having extra-credit, as mentioned before, causes a lot of students anxiety. Many state that having this cushion on their grade was relieving since if they don’t do great on a test, extra credit could bring their grade back up. However, some students also say that extra-credit might only be beneficial to students with higher socioeconomic status and a few points won’t make a difference in the grade. Also, it might not be fair to students who studied very hard and got a good grade on their test but have the same overall score as another student who didn’t study since they did the extra-credit. “I don't think that if a teacher sets [their] grading properly, there really should be a need for extra credit,” said Señora Sandhu. But on the other hand, some teachers think differently. “I like the opportunity to challenge a student to get to a level they might not expect for everyone, and give them a little extra push for doing that extra work. I don't love that I can't challenge kids and give them something for that work,” said Ms. Stumpff. At Iowa City West High School, the new grading policy has definitely become a controversy amongst teachers and students, and will likely be reconsidered in the coming years. P H OTO BY E S T H E R PA R K A N D J E S S S I E L I

Señora San dhu breaks the news abo ut the new grading policy to her Span ish 2 Honors class. “Th is policy has made m e r e t h i n k w h a t I g i v e p o i n t t o. W h e n I a s s i g n t h i n g s fo r ki ds to do, an d made me really analyze more-what are [the] essential learnings?” said Sandhu.

FEATURE OCT. 3, 2019

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