Profiles 2016

INTROTONEWSPAPER

PERSONALITY PROFILES

INTRO. TO NEWSPAPER STUDENTS PROFILE THEIR CLASSMATES

WEST HIGH’S CELEBRITY The story of a life-long passion

BY JENNA WANG

PHOTO BY CAROLINE YOUNG

The next generation of stars right now are the ones that aren’t discovered, have no money and aren’t even 20 yet. They’re enthusiastic teenagers who hold on to their big dreams and will stop at nothing to pursue them.

Meet Abbie Callahan ‘20, who is one of these teenagers. Passionate about music and singing, she hadn’t discovered her love for the arts until the age of nine, when she was inspired from watching the talented kids sing on the hit show, America’s Got Talent. She pursued her passion right then with nothing but her karaoke tracks, her voice and the occasional jam session with her uncle. Today is a different story.

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She first enters her room after a long and demanding day of school, full of lectures, homework and drama. Instantly, a light and fresh breeze hits her face from the open windows as the lilac walls brighten up the room. Avoiding the winding cords, amps and little guitar picks scattered all over the floor, she walks over to her bed and shuffles around the whirl of sheet music that covers it. “It’s kind of chaotic,” Callahan said.

“My room’s a mess,” she added with a laugh.

Instead of starting on homework or worrying about the day’s problems, she grabs her birchwood guitar, her collection of more than 500 songs, and strums along to the beat to unwind and forget about her day. The natural ability about her to turn any regular piece of sheet music into something so much more deep and meaningful flows out of her.

After a few short minutes of recording a song, she listens to it with a half-smile on her face, scrutinizing for any improvements before she posts the video to her Instagram account with over 2000 followers. However, that’s only one small part of Callahan’s life. On days when she doesn’t have the time to play her worries away, she’s busy participating in Showtime, West High’s prep show choir, preparing for the rigorous Iowa All-State Choir audition, taking lessons at Rosazza Studio and being a member of Treble Choir.

On top of that all, she loves to spend her evenings performing her own original songs to the public. But before the booming claps and whoops can thunder the stage, Callahan spends hours of effort and passion over many days drawing inspiration, considering ideas, erasing and testing notes until the song is finally complete.

“When I write my songs, ideas come to my mind spontaneously.

Usually it’s when I’m up at three a.m and I can’t go back to sleep,”

COMPILED BY JENNA WANG

NOTE-WORTHY FACTS

1 2

3

Favorite Song: “Heathens”

by Twenty-One Pilots Favorite Singers: Meghan Trainor, Elton John, John Legend, Andy Grammer, and DNCE

me_and_my_music

Callahan said. “I just start writing things because when it’s three am, your brain isn’t like ‘oh that’s not good.’ It’s in a dream state, so I’m like, “Yeah that sounds great, throw that in there.’”

Regardless of times when learning music is frustrating, all of her hard work certainly pays off when presented to the ears of the public. She’s performed multiple gigs since the sixth grade, and her favorite one is performing at The Mill Restaurant Open Mic Nights, which is located downtown. She’s also performed at the Yacht Club Open Mic Nights, which is situated in the downtown and is known to be a neighborhood nightspot.

“It’s a bit sketchy,” Callahan says with a laugh. “but [the audience] all love and support me everywhere I play. They come for the same reason I play. The love of music.”

Her older sister, Carrie Callahan ‘18, remembers one of the first moments when she first heard Abbie sing. “I told [Abbie] that she should go on Dancing with the Stars and I should go on the Voice because I thought I was a better singer than her,” Carrie said. “...she decided to sing in the talent show at Weber and she sang “Rolling in the Deep.” It was actually good.”

It doesn’t help that the nerves and butterflies are dancing around before she goes up on stage, but once she steps into the spotlight and sings the first note, her jitters melt away.

“In real life, I’m pretty shy, so when I’m on stage and singing, I feel awesome and really find that everyone is there for me, so I can just own it all and I really love it,” Callahan said.

One of her biggest accomplishments was when she was performing in a competition at the Iowa State Fair. After she dedicated the song “Imagine” to the victims of the “senseless violence around the world,” she sang her heart out and felt more connected to the audience than ever before. “My biggest wish is for world peace,” Callah-

an said. “I dedicated my song to these victims in the hope that I’m making a difference with my music.”

And she certainly is. Callahan distinctly remembers a time when after a spectacular performance, a stranger came up to her and thanked Callahan for blessing her with her music.

“That was a really big accomplishment for me. Music to me, is making people happy. I feel like that’s what entertainment is really for,” Callahan said.

Regardless of how many successes and failures received, a singer never goes through a music career without experiencing some weird occurrences. Callahan recalls one special moment when she was in the streets of Key West, Florida, and a guy asked if he could record her singing to be put in a movie.

“I sang the song “Riptide” and while I was singing, he came up and started drumming next to me.” Callahan said with a smile.

Callahan also recalls another weird moment that involved one of her five guitars. “People always ask if they can play my guitar,” She said. “Once, this Russian guy asked to play my guitar and he ended up serenading me with it.”

Now in the present, Callahan looks toward the future with her music career and the opportunities that her talent can bring.

However, she isn’t doing it alone. She has the unconditional support of her mother, Kate Callahan, who will support Callahan with whatever she decides to do with her life. “...I would like to see Abbie accomplish her dreams and be able to make a living doing what she loves,” Kate said. “If that doesn’t happen, she will always have a talent that she loves and [is] able to share.”

It’s important to remember that Callahan is still just like any student at West High underneath all of her musical successes and endeavors.

“The music is just one part of Abbie’s life. To me, I’m most proud of the type of person she is, the values she has, and how she treats others,” Kate said. “I’m proud of her dedication to making herself a better person.”

Although Callahan doesn’t have an exact map for her future, she never plans to give up her passion anytime in her life and has a bright path ahead of her. “I’ll sing and play guitar for the rest of my life because it’s always going to be a passion of mine.” Callahan said.

“I don’t think I’d ever stop.”

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TO BE ON POINTE

BY KAUSHIK RAGHAVAN

She was on point as she danced pointe What is dancing pointe?

Dancing on your toes A more advanced form of ballet Wooden boxes in the shoes “Painful” “Annoying” Ariana Grande does pointe There are so many types of dance and Corissa Gavin ’20 does a couple. She practices many types of dance, including jazz, tap ballet and pointe. She also is the only tenor saxophone in the West High Freshman Band, and a reader of comics.

Gavin started dance when she was three years old. Her mom took her to the dance studio that she grew up in. She started out with ballet, jazz and tap--her favorite type to this day. . About four years ago, she started pointe dancing. She stopped doing competitive team dancing a year ago.

“I stopped because I didn’t want it to distract me from school,” Gavin said.

Her mom also thought that it was good idea “I don’t want to force Corissa into doing anything that she doesn’t want to ... if I did she could probably beat me up,” said her mom, Wendy Gavin.

She is the only tenor sax in the freshman concert band. She didn’t start by playing the tenor sax, she played the clarinet until the eighth grade. She felt that she wasn’t living up to her full musical potential.

So when she played the tenor sax in eighth grade jazz band at North Central Junior High, she made it her main instrument.

“It was an easy transfer. I liked the tenor more than I liked the clarinet, and the fingerings are and easy

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Corissa Gavin ‘20

transfer. Plus I was my own one man section,” she said.

“She would be good if that’s what she wants to do ... I’ve got no objections,” her dad, Jason Gavin, said.

“She is highly motivated, I would give her a nine out of ten for motivation ... I don’t have ask her to get to work done. She does it herself.”

“I don’t really know, she would have to practice,” her mom said She is also a liker of comic conventions, but maybe not the comic part.

“I go there for the merchandise, and then the comics,” she said.

She also likes to go there with her dad and friends.

“She loves the environment and all the cool people and things that you get to see there,” said Rhianna Maakestad ’20.

“I think that is the thing we like to the most together ... we both like going to them,” Gavin’s dad said.

The looming smell of chex mix, blaring Journey songs, and American Idol worthy voices wailing along are what make the Bell family road trips so memorable. “It truly is just like the cliche movies from the 90s.” Bell said, “We normally have a luggage pile in the backseat higher than my notification count on the day West got the first bomb threat.” Sure, overwhelming amount of luggage is a part of every family trip, but what makes this specific stack important?“[The luggage] engulfs you, like you settle into your seat and everything is packed around you, you’re not getting out without a fight,” Bell said. Bell’s father, Paul Bell, believes roadtrips are a huge part of the family lifestyle and connection. He thinks roadtrips can teach many valuable lessons from patience to important social cues (aka the you-have-played-this-song-toomany-times glare). With many years of family travels, and hopefully many more to come, Paul says he wouldn’t change a thing. “The kids (Emerie and Teagan Bell ‘17) have been apart of the trips since they were in diapers,” Paul said. “My wife and I have always loved traveling with them, even when Emerie would get a little feisty about being in a car seat.”

Flashing forward into more recent times, Emerie recently embarked on a trip to Tennessee with good friend, Sidney Shepard ‘19. With a wide variety of snacks and a dance worthy playlist in hand, the duo loaded into the Bell’s family van and hit the road.

“Emerie has a way of making a eightish hour car ride not feel like one at all,” Shepard said. “We would dance to cheesy songs and suddenly we had arrived, it honestly felt like an hour at most.”

Emerie tributes her car ride entertainment skills to her father. “He’s just a goofy guy,” Bell said, “he can make something out of nothing, I think that really changes the whole experience.” Although she isn’t as fond of her father’s jokes nowadays, she says they are still a piece of the experience.

With no limits in front of her, Emerie plans her future trips and dream locations whenever she has a chance.

“If something makes you happy why not continue to do it or the rest of your life?” She said, and continuing she will. If you too want to see more than .00003% of the world, grab a bag of chex mix and start planning, and you can see all the world has in store.

Happy Traveling.

By Morgan Hawkins

HOW .00003% IS A BIG PART OF YOUR LIFE Thirty six billion four hundred eighty thousand acres on earth, and a human only sees 110,000 of them. That’s a jaw-dropping minimum of .00003 percent of the world we experience in our lifetime. Emerie Bell ’19 plans to annihilate that average.

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“We eat Chinese food all the time at home. I would choose that over pizza any day to be honest” -Dai’19

Frances is working on painting. She use to go to a studio for 3 hours and paint or do some kind of art.

She has no time now that school started.

One of many paintings that Frances has created.

Frances lived with her grandparents in China for two years. They raised her because her parents were so busy. Her and her grandparemts are very close. Frances’s role model is her grandma. “shes a very strong person” she says. .

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From Denver, to China, and Back Frances Dai’s Story

In China, you don’t get to choose what you want to go to college for.

You take a test and depending on the grade you get, depends on what types of jobs you get and who will hire you. “It’s about prioritizing,” said Frances Dai ‘19. “You can become a doctor and engineer if you get a high grade and you will have many places to choose from. If you don’t study for this test then it’s not where will I work, it’s who will hire me.”

Dai isn’t sure what she would want to be when she grows up, but she’s glad she gets to choose and doesn’t have to worry about studying for that big exam. Dai knows she wants to go to college, but she hasn’t figured it all out yet. She is considering a future in design, business, or politics.

“Computer design sounds pretty awesome. Politics, I might go into a foreign language, try for like an ambassador or something,” says Dai. Dai has gone away from the idea of being a doctor because she thinks med school takes too long. “I don’t want to have to wait to get a job when I’m 30-plus and then be able to have a family and do what I want,” Dai says.

Both of Dai’s maternal grandparents are doctors. “I admire them,” says Dai, “They work so hard. I think it’s amazing that my grandma, even back then as a female, managed to become a doctor.” Dai’s grandparents are a very big part of her life. She’s very close to them as they are to her.

Because they both live in China, she

can’t see them as often as she would like to.

Dai was born in Denver, Colorado, but before she turned one, she went to China and was raised by her grandparents for two years before coming back to the U.S to live in New Mexico. She says that’s one of the big reasons why her and her grandparents are so close. Dai’s paternal grandparents live on a “peaceful island somewhere off the coast of Shanghai. One thing I remember from there is we used to ride mopeds.” She visits her maternal grandparents every other year but wants to visit both of them more.

While in China, Dai has to get used

to the everyday life, because she’s used to the American ways and culture. She doesn’t want to be rude and offend people there. She sometimes does make mistakes. She likes to observe the Chinese culture though and learn it. “It’s very cool that she goes back to China, and the despite the fact that she is an American she is staying to her roots,” says Maddy Thompson ‘19.

Dai draws, paints, and colors. She’s an artist. Chinese art has a very big impact on her. It taught her brush skill and to do watercolor easily.”In china the teachers tend to be not as nice as they teach. They’ll openly say things like ‘the way you paint is muddy and dirty.’” Also, family life is a big part of that culture. Family always comes first there but here, she says she considers some of her really close friends like family. Academic value is so high over in China and it sort of carries on over for her.

Even though Dai has come accustomed to the American culture, ways, and language, nothing will take the Chinese out of her. She will continue to shape her future at any means necessary. She’s taking many AP classes, and when asked if she thought if she was smart, she responded with, “ Everyone should consider them self smart. If not, you’re doing something wrong.”

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THE GIRL OF 100 STORIES

RANDOM FACTS: -Mahajan likes to draw -Mahajan Loves her family -Mahajan has 2 siblings -Mahajan likes bunnies

Leela Mahajan ‘20 was a girl who has told me lots of stories about her family all exciting compared to my boring farm life. Her stories consisted of jewel thieves, a cabin in the woods, a tale of slavery and even poverty. She's been through a lot compared to others, and this is what makes her special.

Mahajan is very close to her grandparents, and she loves going to their cabin every summer to chill with the family. She looks forward to this trip every summer, because “Cabin is like one room when her and her cousins were little it was so crowded that sometimes it would be 5 members of her family in one bed, some nights Mahajan remembers that her and her uncle would sleep on the porch of the cabin.”

Mahajan’s family was a big part of her childhood. She loves her grandparents, and she spends a lot of time with them.

She thinks her grandparents might just be the biggest part of her life, “She looks up to her grandfather with everything she loves him, her relationship with her grandparents has always been good she is always looking forward to seeing them and talking to them” Majahan comes from a Hispanic and Indian background.

Her grandparents faced struggles to get to the U.S. Her grandfather was even a diluted form of slave someone who worked on a farm and lived on a farm to gain money for him and his family to live on.

In her family, there was a JEWEL THIEF who stole jewels from jewelry stores and handed them down to generations, before anyone returned them. This was her great grandfather's story as a jewel thief. He was just a normal man who lived in poverty and had very little of anything. One day, he was sick of being poor and decided it was time to get money so he stole jewels from a jewelry store and would gain a house a car everything he needed he then passed this money from generation to generation, no one spending any of it.

Her main focus is her being a family girl she loves her family so much and Mahajan loves talking about them and telling the stories she knows about her stories she gave me great detail into the world of her family and how they are and some were she loves her family so so so so so so so so so so so so much and nothing can change that.

THE COURT OF DREAMS

By Emerie Bell The gym reeks of a suffocating scent of sweat. Dedicated players ignore this smell and run around the gym, trying to reach the volleyballs during warmups before the big match. It sounds as though everyone is slipping from the squeaks of the volleyball shoes. Morgan Hawkins ’19 is one of these dedicated players.

Hawkins has a lot of memorable games and moments in her volleyball history. “Winning is important to me because it brings a certain feeling that nothing else can provide,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins is competitive on and off the court. Earlier this summer, the Imagine 15u team--which Hawkins was a part of--made it to nationals which took place in Indianapolis. Hawkins was playing outside at the semi-final game against Hawaii. The girls on the Hawaii team were giants compared to the team from

wanted to have fun on her own and with her friends instead of exercising all the time.

Her parents made her start playing competitively the summer before third grade. She was a little hesitant starting off the season, but by the end of her first season--she fell in love with the sport. She started off playing outside as her position, but recently switched to back row playing with Laurel Kelly ‘19. “I like playing back row with Morgan. She’s fun to play with and I trust her to always have my back if something goes wrong,” Kelly said. Hawkins also enjoys playing with Kelly when they get the chance because they work well together.

She’s also been playing with Grace Fleckenstein ‘19 as long as she can remember. “Playing with Morgan has

small town Iowa City. The girls on the team thought their lack of height would be a disadvantage in this game. It was the third set of the game, and the score was 14-15. Hawkins was up to serve. She served an ace, tying the score.“It was nerve-racking,” Hawkins said.

“The rallies felt like they lasted forever until we tipped it right in the middle on their side of the court and won the game.” Hawkins said.

Surprisingly, Hawkins was forced into playing the sport of her dreams. “I hated the idea of it, I wanted to sit on the couch and watch Disney, not spend hours in a crusty gym,” Hawkins said. She was only 8 when she started playing rec-league. Her ideal life of a 6 year old was not to spend hours and hours in the gym, she just

always been a blast. She brings so much energy to the court,” Fleckenstein said. Hawkins loves to bring energy to the court, she believes that the more energy there is, the more positivity there is.

Hawk would love to be a volleyball player in the Olympics some day. “It’s a dream of any athlete in any sport, and of course it’s one of mine too, but my height is one of my major roadblocks,” Hawkins said. She is very dedicated to playing volleyball and says she couldn’t imagine not having it in her life. As much as she adores volleyball, she tries to work really hard in school and get all A’s. Hawkins is hoping her dedication and hard work will put her above the rest so she can also get into a Division 1 college.

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SMARTS OR SPORTS WHICH CARRER BETTER SUITS TANNER

BY AIDAN YAMASHITA

The air is cold. You can feel it hitting you in the face. The ground is frozen and you can see the blood on the ice where your elbow hit the ice.

You see your breath and hear the countdown. It’s Tanner Heiar ’19 when he scores the tying goal in hockey. Heiar is a sophomore at Iowa City West High School who loves both sports and school. “Tanner is a caring and polite person, but he’s also stubborn and works hard for everything he has,” Kiah Martin ’19. Ever since Tanner was 6 years old he had wanted to do hockey.

“I have always had an interest for the sport, but never had the courage to pursue it until I was 9 years old.” Heiar’ 19.

Heiar has also had an interest for something that has to do with engineering. Once Heiar started to think about his future, he wanted something to do with cars, engineering, or space. Over time he started to think deeper into what it is he wanted to do.

“First I had a very strong interest in automotive engineering. But then I had also carried a very strong interest in space, so I thought hey

why not do both.” Heiar ’19.

He decided, over a long of time to thinking, that he wanted to do aerospace engineering. For a long time Heiar has had an internal conflict on whether or not he wants to pursue ice hockey as a career, or to try and shoot for being an aerospace engineer.

“I really like playing hockey but have more of a chance as an engineer. I feel like I’m stuck in the middle.” Heiar’ 19. Recently Heiar has been trying to decide which career would be better suited for him, and which one he has a better chance of succeeding in.

“I am interested in both hockey and aerospace engineering. I feel like I have more of a chance in aerospace, and also if I did hockey it wouldn’t fit in my schedule because I want time to be with my family.” Heiar’ 19.

Heiar has a lot to think about when it comes to what he wants to do with his future. He wants something that he will both enjoy and be able to fit around his schedule. In the end Heiar has to decide whether or not he wants to pursue hockey or aerospace engineering.

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COMPILED BY AIDAN YAMASHITA

Facts about Tanner

6 2

0

is the number of years that Tanner Heiar has played hockey.

is the number of college credit engineering classes Tanner has taken.

is the number of treatening injuries Tanner has had in hcokey.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL An insider’s information on West High’s showtime show choir

BY SOPHIE STEPHENS Screaming people, bright lights, good music, and dancing. A concert. But not quite any concert--a West High show choir performance. Maybe those words didn’t bring to mind a choir concert in a high school auditorium, but for Jessica Moonjely ’20 and the rest of the West High show choirs, that’s exactly what it feels like.

Spending nearly three hours a week at practice, Moonjely and the other performers have a reputation. A reputation to be one of the best high school show choirs in the nation. For Moonjely, that’s become quite easy. As a freshman, Moonjely is deeply involved. She’s made the Show time show choir group while balancing her daily school and homework, and will begin playing tennis for West this spring. In fact, that’s Moonjely’s goal.

“It’s great to try new things.

That’s what I’m trying to do in high school,” said Moonjely.

With that being said, Moonjely states that she has always had

was actually really intimidated Callahan. “She is always posby her.” Said Callahan. itive and she is always there In middle school, both girls if you want someone to laugh participated in the North West with. She is super smart, and an show choir, and the rest is his- amazing friend.” tory.

Looking back, Moonjely says she hadn’t grown up planning to be in show choir, but when it happened she embraced it. Moonjely likes the feeling of being on stage, and • She’s allergic to peanuts, and just had an incident this past loves the opportusummer. nities it opens up.

“It’s a great way to • She played flute in Junior High meet people. Like before making the transition to community buildchoir. ing.” Said Moonjely.

• She loves to travel in her freeNot only does she time. have a great voice and good dance • She played soccer as a child moves, Moonjely before she quit due to an injury also has a great perin her knee. sonality. Walking • Her favorite subject has always down the halls you been science. will never see her in a bad mood.

“Jessica is a very hard worker,” said WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER2016 PROFILE 11

a passion for music and will stick with it for the time being.

As a child, Moonjely grew up in a very diverse household, being influenced both by her father-an athlete and her mother-a musician. When she was in grade school she began playing soccer, although she quit after injuring her leg. Afterwards, her parents pushed her to go more in depth with her piano practices, which she began at age five.

“I wouldn’t say I was forced.

I actually really liked it.” Said Moonjely.

Moonjely says that she has loved to sing for as long as she can remember, since she and her mom would sing along to the radio in the car.

In fact, music is what brought her and her best friend, Abbie Callahan ’20, together. Callahan is also a singer in Show time.

They met at Weber elementary in fourth grade through a school choir group.

“We mostly messed around at that age...She was smart and I

5 Fun Facts about Jessica Moonjely:

FULFILLING THE DREAMS HER FATHER ONCE HAD

BY ABBIE CALLAHAN Could you imagine a life without electricity, a functioning bathroom and air conditioning? Do you have enough dedication to school and academic success to work on your homework all day and late at night, using only the dim light given off by the street light? Have you ever dreamt of something unreachable to you? This is the world Wenjun Wang lived growing up in China. Jenna Wang ’20 is fortunate to live America.

Wang’s father grew up in a very poor part of China. He lived in a small one room house with no air conditioning, bathroom, or electricity. There was no extra money, and although he always dreamt of playing the violin—his dreams were crushed due to finances. He continued to fantasize about playing the violin until his daughter, Jenna, was able to live out his dream when she started to play at age four.

“Violin is one of the most elegant instruments,” Wenjun said. “When Jenna started her violin lessons, I bought her a tiny, cute violin. I told her she got a new life-long friend.”

Wang has played violin since the young age of four, from Sonja Zeithamel at Preucil School Of Music. At first she didn’t enjoy it and violin felt like something that she had to do. “When I was young, my dad made me play,” Wang said 12 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

She started with a box violin, which is a very simple, square shaped, violin. Now she has a violin made in the early 1900’s, it is an old French design. “My violin has scratches all over it from years of use, but I love it.”

Now, her passion has blossomed and she hopes to be as good as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Chloe Trevor as she gets older and progresses.

“They have done brilliant stuff,” Wang said.

Wang isn’t sure where music is going to take her. “It’s not going to be my career.

But it’s always something that I will enjoy,” Wang said, “I’m not sure what I want to be when I’m older. All I know is that I want to keep playing the violin and to pursue whatever my heart tells me to do.”

“I hope she will have music as part of the rest of her life. What she chooses to do with it will be up to her, however she is developing the skills now to enjoy music for a long time to come,” said Sonja Zeithamel, Jenna’s violin teacher.

Jenna has learned how to work hard through learning violin. “Jenna is a bright light in my life, and I am so grateful everyday that she is my dear daughter,” Wenjun Wang said.

“Jenna is polite, respectful, has a beautiful heart and is a delightful young person. Her

Four Fun Facts -The most memorable and weird thing she has eaten is pig’s blood.

-The funniest gift she has received are things that she already owns, sometimes her sister wraps objects from her room.

-Jenna loves spicy food, she feels it adds a unique flavor to the food.

-Jenna loves Reader’s Digest, the magazine.

It makes her laugh every time she reads it.

music expresses that,” Sonja Zeithamel said.

When it comes to singing, Wang was a self starter. She was singing in the car with her dad when she was very young. It was then that she discovered, she enjoyed singing. She took up choir in junior high as well as show choir. Currently, Wang is enjoying Primetime, an all girls show choir here at West, and Treble Choir. Jenna is also very passionate and enthusiastic about school. She loves reading, writing, math, science —almost all subjects. “She has been working really hard to excel,” Wenjun Wang said.

Recently, because of school, Wang has had a hard time finding time to do everything that she loves: singing, ice skating, violin, etc. But when she does find time, it’s like meeting up with an old friend; the connection is never lost. “I’m never going to give it up. I enjoy it so much. It gives me a time to vent my emotions or whatever happened at school that day,” said Wang.

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SWIM, BIKE, FLUTE A different type of triatholon

BY CORISSA GAVIN Kaushik Raghavan ’20 is one of the 35,000,000 people that play the flute, one of the 51% of people that are able swim, and one of the 60% of people can ride a bike.

Raghavan started playing flute in second grade, and now he plays second chair in the West High concert band.

He started playing the flute in second grade, His father, Suresh Raghavan, said that he wanted to play a musical instrument. Raghavan only wanted to play flute and he likes to annoy people with it.

Last year at North Central, Raghavan was in Jazz Band; he played the baritone saxophone, because there aren’t flutes in jazz bands. He was always late he still stayed in Jazz Band.

Raghavan likes marching band. He enjoys playing and marching all together.

Raghavan likes the marching band uniforms, with the feathery hats and the nice looking pants and white coats.

“I like things that are formal and that make me look clean and precise,” Raghavan said.

Last year at North Central, Raghavan was in Jazz Band. He played the baritone saxophone, Though he was always late he still stayed in Jazz Band.

On the other hand, Raghavan likes water. He was on the swim team iFly, but quit about two months ago to focus on school.

“My favorite event is the 50 meter backstroke because I can swim it fast and I have beaten people by 15-20 meters” said Raghavan.

“My mom signed me up for swimming one day.” Raghavan said.

Raghavan started swimming when he was 6. He started swimming because he

FAST FACTS

He uses biking and swimming to deal with stress.

His favorite part about the day is getting on the bus.

He likes to watch random shows on Netflix.

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Some of these shows are: Star Trek Pokemon Grey’s Ananomy How I met your Mother

thought it was a life skill and it seemed interesting.

He also likes to bike. According to his father, Raghavan bikes 3-4 times a week.

Raghavan doesn’t think he’s ready to bike in races, but he is training for them. He wants to participate in triathlons and RAGBRAI. Raghavan’s parents used to hide the word bike from him because he loved to bike.

That worked until Raghavan learned to spell.

Other than his life outside of school, Raghavan is very smart. He is in Biology as a freshman. Though he may not like school, he excels in it. Raghavan likes biology more than any other subject. He likes it because his teacher is interesting.

“He keeps us active and expects us to do well and that motivates me to do well.” Raghavan said.

STUDENT, ATHLETE, CHARITY CO-FOUNDER

BY NATALIE DUNLAP

“Time passes... good things don’t stay forever.” These are words Hieu Nguyen ’18- lives by.

He obtained this life motto after his friend, Jackson Charles Meardon, died over the summer.

Meardon was out with a large group of friends playing a game called Hostage.

Cameron Chavez ’18, Jackson Meyer ’18, and Meardon were on a team, and while they were crossing the street, Meyer and Meardon were hit by a car. Only Meyer’s leg was injured, but unfortunately, Meardon passed away in the hospital on July 12th, 2016.

Meardon--known to friends as JC--was Nguyen’s friend from rec league soccer, and losing him was so sudden and unforeseen, it changed Nguyen’s life. “I never would have uessed that he wouldn’t be here with me tod ay,” Nguyen said.

This devastating loss at such a young age caused a lot of pain, but from it, Nguyen and Meyer created Win 4 Weasel in his honor.

One of the goals of the organization is to keep Meardon’s memory alive. Meyer says he wants people to remember “his sense of humor, how he loved his friends and family... and whatever else you loved about him.” “JC was a funny, goofy guy who was always there to help you if you need it,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen and Meyer are also raising money for The JC Meardon Soccer Foundation, a sister organization to Win 4 Weasel, by selling apparel and having events. They want to raise

“A soccer ball is... one of the best things you could give to a kid who has nothing..”

money to create more opportunities for kids to get involved in soccer. They plan on donating soccer balls to kids in another country who are not fortunate enough to have their own. “A soccer ball is… one of the best things you could give to a kid who has nothing, especially in a country where soccer is a big sport,” Nguyen said.

Another portion of the money raised is going to the City High Soccer field. Nguyen says the organization is better known at City--the school Meardon attended--but you might see someone wearing a Win 4 Weasel shirt in the halls of West High.

They are currently working to get a Rotary donation. Rotary is an organization that allows people wanting to help their community donate to foundations, but Nguyen says it’s hard to raise awareness with the business of the school year, which any high schooler can relate to.

When he’s not working on Win 4 Weasel, Nguyen spends his time swimming on the West High team, boxing, traveling, practicing origami, and, of course, playing soccer.

Nguyen looks forward to taking a gap year between senior year and college to travel. He has taken many trips to Vietnam, where he lived when he was a baby, and he hopes to go to Latin America or Europe, too.

If one thing is certain, Nguyen is devoted to living life to the fullest. With the memory of Meardon in his heart, Nguyen says he wants to, “live in a way that when I’m about to die, I won’t regret anything.”

WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 SECTION15

IT’S NOT JUST ART “You can put down your thoughts, your stress, your feelings on paper rather then writing them.”

Imagine sitting in a 1st grade

class, just doodling in your notebook. You really like it so you go home after school and show your grandma and mom. They think it is amazing and they sign you up for art classes. You are a little hesitant at first, but then everyone is telling you and others how great your art is.

That's how it happened for Selina Hua ’ 20.

Hua is just an average freshman with her hobbies and passions. She loves to draw, ice skate, and is into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

She hopes to go to college and study something along the lines of STEM and wants to get into a top collage. She would like to have a stable job and a family by her side.

All though she has a gifted

-Selina Hua

talent for art she doesn't think she wants a career in that area. “I rather keep it a hobby.” Hua says.

Selina was born in China and moved to the USA when she was 3 and moved back to China until she was in 1st grade, than once again moved back to the USA. She said she definitely likes the United States better than China but still would like to keep her chinese culture in her. “I would like to pass on my chinese culture to my kids when I'm older...but they can chose whatever culture

Writen by Kora West

they would like.” The hua’s sometime have chinese music playing at home but they also have adapted to the American culture very much.

Selina didn't really get into art until first grade. Her grandmother took her to an art class and she was really into it. “The

whole house was colorful and it brightened up my day.” says hua in the 1st interview.

I asked Hua who her biggest inspiration was and she said, “this may sound a bit eh; but my mom.” Her mom is always there by her side to support her with anything and everything. Her dad is working a lot because he works at the hospital. Hua says her mom has been a huge influence on her life.

Selina say art is a relief for her. At her house she has a bunch of her art work hanging up around her room.

“You can put down your thoughts, your stress, your feelings on paper rather than writing them.” Hua says. She has many friends and family members that also say she is an amazing artist.

She makes amazing, deep, meaningful art and puts so much effort and emotion.

Selina Hua doesn’t just make art, she makes a story out of it. She hopes to keep art in her life even if she doesn't see a future in it.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 17

A PICTURE THAT WILL LAST FOREVER

BY MARY LONGMIRE

Have you ever felt targeted for no reason? Like someone was attacking you because of your religion, the color of your skin, or maybe just because you look like an easy target? 56% of Americans feel they have been discriminated against. Muslims are often a popular target for discrimination. Esra Mohammed ’19 is proud of her religion and luckily she says she doesn’t feel she has ever been discriminated against. She just feels people ask dumb questions.

Esra says ”You never really know when you’re facing it sometime it is just regular stuff.” But she is not always sure if they are making fun of her or they honestly just don’t know. “People ask me stuff like do you shower with the scarf on and i don’t know if they are being funny or asking a serious question.” A lot of people struggle with discrimination. Itis a big problem in the United States, discrimination makes people feel bad for being who they are. Esra thinks everyone should embrace who they are no matter what. She wants to be there for people who feel discriminated against and help through it.

When Esra Mohammed was young her dad owned a photo shop and that sparked her interest. Now she is a sophomore in high school and she is taking a photography class and is taking an intro to newspaper class all in hopes to be a better photographer. She loves her photography class and takes amazing photos just using her phone. You better be watching out for her photos when she finally gets her camera in her photography class because they are going to be fantastic. She is most looking forward to getting her camera. She describes herself as a “Tumblr enthusiast.”

In her free time she likes to watch youtube. Maria Osman ’19 says “She is always watching youtube she loves it.”some of her favorite youtubers are Thatcher Joe, Rice Gum, and Casper Lee. She has a passion for Tumblr things whether they are taking pictures or keeping up on the latest trend.

Esra loves photography and Youtube and keeping up with trends. She has a bright future in photography and intends on pursuing her passion. Everyone watch out for Ezra Mohamed.

Have you ever been so addicted to something you can’t function without it? That is how Ezra feels about coffee. She loves almost anything with caffeine. Mary Longmire ’19 says “I have a lot of classes with Esra and she always has coffee in her hands.”

18 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

PHOTO BY ESRA MOHAMMED

PHOTO BY ESRA MOHAMMED

GROWING UP IN

FAMILY OF 41

BY LEELA MAHAJAN

Dalton Deaton ’19 was born in Junction City, Kansas. That same day, Sugar, a paint horse, was born. Sugar was anything but sweet. Although she was not the strongest horse on the farm, she was the meanest. Sugar, the strong willed troublemaker, grew a soft spot for the young, quiet Deaton.

Deaton is reserved but his dark brown eyes light up when he talks about the stubborn, unruly Sugar.

Deaton reflects quietly for a moment then says proudly, “Sugar was my horse.” He describes her fondly as having “white and brown fur with a brown mane and small and big dark brown and black spots all over. She is beautiful.” When Sugar was old enough, Deaton started to train her.

“I was the only one who could do it,” Deaton admits.

Deaton recalls one particular day when Sugar was especially mischievous. He explains, “She was getting a little crazy and she started bucking the other horses.” It was not completely out of character for Sugar to be rowdy and a bit disruptive. However, Deaton explains that Sugar should have known not to challenge Chief. “Sugar started bucking Chief, which was a bad idea because he was much stronger and broke her hoof.”

Along with the farm, the Deaton’s owned 42 acres of land that their horses roamed.

Deaton remembers the Junction City farm as “mostly stormy and either hot or cold.”

“Because of the storms,’ Deaton says, “we would have to put the horses away a lot, which was difficult because they got jumpy and nervous. Sugar was always the hardest to get to calm down. It would take a while, but I was always able to do it.”

At age four Deaton moved from the Junction City farm to Iowa City. His aunt took over the farm and to this day he still visits Sugar. “On visits, I remember, we would play London Bridge with the horses,” Deaton said.

He and his siblings would sneak under the horses hoping not to touch them. If they did, they were out. If the horses moved and touched them, they were also out. Deaton says quietly, “Sugar would always get everyone out but me. When I went under, she would stop moving.

She liked me.”

Each morning, Deaton recalls waking up on the farm to the sounds of neighing, barking, oinking and crowing from 14 horses, 9 dogs, 2 pigs, and 13 chickens along with the Sugar, although rough chatter of his three siblings. Forty and mischievous, brought one family members in all. Deaton a sweetness into Deaton’s life that he speaks of his mother, Charryn, with will never forget. respect. Admiringly,, he says, “She single handedly raised us [her four children] while running the farm.”

19 PROFILES SEPTIEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

COMPILED BY LEAH DUSTERHOFT

BY THE NUMBERS

14 HORSES. 13 CHICKENS 2 PIGS 9 DOGS

THE VERY

IMAGE OF

SUCCESS

BY FRANCES DAI

It hurt: the yelling, screaming, fighting about things that didn’t really matter. The fact that they were so close made it feel even worse. This was how Haley Wojciechowski ’20 felt as she fought twin sister Madison Wojciechowski ’20.

“Going to the same school, having the same friends, basically being the same person: it just didn’t work,” Haley said. The constant fighting was ruining their relationship and was rough on their parents. Something had to be done.

In the end, the decision was made: though Haley loved her father and sister, the family made the difficult decision to separate. Haley would live with her mother, and Madison would stay with her father.

“It was better this way. Apart, we could each be our own independent person,” Haley said. “We couldn’t when we were together because we fought all the time.”

Madison agrees. “It’s better because we are able to have more space so we don’t fight as much,” Madison said. “She takes good care of herself, is a leader, and is a very smart person.”

Haley also prides herself on her character. She says the most important things to her are helping others and being nice, as well as being hardworking.

“Be a nice person no matter what, don’t judge others, and then treat people how you want to be treated,” are three pieces of advice Haley lives by. She believes respect goes both ways and that everyone deserves to be treated well.

Others would say she lives up to the advice she gives. Haley’s friend, JaQuel Davis ’20, describes her as funny, enthusiastic, honest, loyal, and very kind to others.

Haley’s integrity and kindness are apparent to her peers, even through the simplest of actions.

20 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

“SUCCESS IS BEING HAPPY AND TRYING TO DO MY BEST AT WHATEVER I DO. IT’S HAVING GOOD PEOPLE, HARMONY, AND PEACE” -Haley Wojciechowski ’20

“It was the first day of fourth grade. I was new and sat near her in class. I accidentally dropped my pencil and she picked it up for me. We’ve been friends ever since,” Davis said.

Haley’s mother also shaped the way she saw things and can be attributed to Haley being the maternal figure of her friend group.

“I guess I get being the ‘mother’ from her,” Haley said.

“Every group of friends has that one house they always go to, has that one parent that is always picking up the kids and always doing something with the kids. That’s my mom.”

Her mother also acts as her confidant. “My mom means so much to me,” Haley said. “Me and my mom have an irreplaceable relationship. I can tell my mom everything, my mom can tell me everything. It’s more than just motherly love.”

This care and loyalty shines through in her hopes and dreams. Besides being like a mother to her friends, Haley loves animals with a passion.

“Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to help animals and become a vet,” she said.

She has volunteered at animal shelters and loved it. “I adored seeing all the animals. It was amazing and a little scary at first... but it turns out I’m really good at working with those dogs.

Additionally, Haley has huge plans for the future that she is intent on accomplishing. She hopes to become a parttime author alongside being a vet and hopes to help pass laws against animal abuse and testing.

Though she wishes to make the world a better place for humans and animals alike, she also expects to settle down with her ideal family after all is said and done.

Accomplishing her goals and living life fully, this is her image of success.

petprofiles SCREECH

ALEX

SCREECH X2

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 21

A PICTURE IS WORTH A 1,000 WORDS The journey of a young photographer

24 PROFILE SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

COMPILED BY SELINA HUA

Fast Facts:

1.

2.

3.

BY SELINA HUA

Favorite Quote: “I fell in love the way you fall asleep slowly then all at once.” -Fault in our Stars

Favorite Song: “Skyscraper” by Demi Lovato

Best Advice: “Don’t let the haters get to you.” -Kora West

Photos by Kora West

The wind caresses your cheek as you make your way through the thick brush. As you stroll along the gravel trail, a few butterflies catch your attention. Gradually, you bring the camera up to your face. Your hand makes its way to the focusing ring, lightly turning it. Looking through the viewfinder, you try to find the perfect moment. As soon as the butterfly takes off, you click on the shutter button, catching the perfect scene.

Kora West ’20 started to get into photography last year. West was first exposed to photography as a toddler while she was on a walk with her mom.“My mom had the camera in her hand and she was looking through the glass piece while I was like ‘What the heck are you doing?’” She said. West wasn’t interested in photography at first but slowly started to take interest in it just last year.

West also sees photography as a way to calm down and relieve stress. “I just feel relaxed, like when you’re at that moment and you’re taking the pictures it’s like nothing else really matters and it’s just you and your camera,” West said.

“And also, being around everything, since nature is kinda nice too.” West has been through a couple of stressful moments where photography has helped her calm down. She remembers

specifically one of these moments from last year.

“I was just over the edge and I was so pissed off and I was going to freak out on everybody who talked to me and so I packed my bag and I brought water and headphones and a blanket. I also brought my camera thinking well I guess I’m gonna run away now!” She said. West spent some time outside with her camera and came back in the best mood.

“I went out of the house for a couple of hours just walking around town... and it was seven or eight at night so it was kinda dark and the sky was really pretty,” West describes, “So taking the pictures away from everybody and with music blasting in my ears and just doing the things that I love it just puts you in the mindset of you’re gonna be fine, everything will be okay. I went home after a while and then I was in the best mood ever.”

West says that the moment she takes the picture, all her focus is on her subject and she won’t back down until she gets a good picture. “Let’s say the subject is a butterfly and it moves; I’m gonna chase that till I get a good picture,” West said.

Another reason West enjoys spending time outdoors is because of nature. She loves the sound of the whistling trees and the chirping birds. She also finds

pleasure in the feeling of wind blowing in her face. West thinks that being in nature just makes the experience more 4-dimensional and real.

She describes her experience of taking pictures as “calming and fresh.” As a young photographer, she enjoys spending her time outside in nature with her camera. (insert quote from mom). But West does not want photography to be her top priority.

“Well, I’d like to have a side job for photography. Taking senior pictures or wedding pictures because I definitely want photography in my life.” She says.

West has also considered making a website for her photos and even making a business out of it. “I have considered displaying my work in public because I think that my work is pretty decent.”

West says. She also considered selling her work off of social media. “I think that it would be a choice and the idea of it would be amazing and it would be cool since I would have my own business at the age 14.” West says. Even though West believes that starting her own business would be cool and is still pondering this subject. “It would take a while for the process to start and I don’t think I necessarily have the time right now but maybe in a year or two I would start because it is a really cool idea.” West says.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 25

Ten People in One House

Mary Longmire ‘19 has one of coolest families ever. Mary lives in a house with four brothers and three sisters: Sarah, Rebekah, Hannah, Luke, Jake, Philip and Thad. Only three siblings are biological, and the rest are adopted. All the adopted siblings have a disability so not only does Mary get to have four additional family members, but they all have a different view on the world.”This isn’t your normal everyday family that you will see It’s more out of the ordinary” Longmire ‘19 states.Three of the adopted siblings are from Korea and one is from China.

Hannah, Mary’s sister was born without feet and only has two fingers. Jake, Mary’s brother is blind. Thad, Mary’s brother has no arms. Philip was born with a hole in his heart, but it has been fixed. “My siblings sometimes can’t do things, so I have to help them, not in a negative way, but more of a positive”, says Longmire ‘19.

Besides having the best family ever Mary loves to sing and swim although she isn’t on the West team she finds it to be a leisure activity. Mary isn’t all that into fashion, “I like Fashion, but sometimes I’d go to school with my hair up and my glasses on.” Mary also wants to have a job that involves people, but doesn’t know what she wants yet, “I just want to help people and that’s all”.

Mary feels like that she is practicing for her future job.

The Longmires don’t have 10 bathrooms or any of that stuff you see on MTV Cribs; instead, they have three bathrooms--one for her parents, one for the girls, and one for the boys, and it isn’t as packed as you’d expect it to be especially when waking up for school.

Mary also wants to be on the newspaper staff that’s why she is intro to newspaper. Mary’s sister is on the newspaper staff, and that’s where she got the idea of joining the class. Mary finds herself to be really embarrassing, “I don’t really get embarrassed a lot, but when I do it’s really awkward”

seans browns greatest adventures

shaneka johnson

Sean Brown is in tenth grade he is 15 years old he wants to be in a couple of clubs this year such as the jazz club and best buddies.

Brown plays the electric guitar he has been playing for a year now, he also collects guitar picks and listens to classic rock. He lives with his dog which is a golden retriver who is 4 years old his name is winter he also has a mom who is from Macedonia and a dad who is from america. Brown enjoys watching How I Met Your Mother and psych.

Sean was born in Kumanoel, Macedonia and moved all around the world he has lived in california, minnesota, New Mexico, and then eventually moved back to Macedonia. Moving to all these different places was hard because i couldn’t find any intrests brown said. He was motivated to play the guitar by his uncle who loved classic rock and electric guitars, because his uncle loved classic rock and that is why he started playing electric guitar and listening to classic rock.

24/7

Where Natalie has gone all around the world

Washington Nevda New York

Florida

France

California

Dancer

BY MICHELLE KIM

You’re backstage, your hands are sweaty, every inch of your body crawls with nerves. You take a deep breath in as you straighten up and walk onto stage. The claps echo against the walls of the auditorium, the noise dials down as you take a stance. The music turns on, and just like that, your nerves are gone. You dance with the music as you know each step of the way.

It’s important to have people who have passion. It gives the rest of us hope and encourages us to take another step forward into having passion as well. Natalie Roetlin ’18 has that passion with dancing. “When I’m dancing the rest of the world gets put on hold.”

Roetlin has been dancing since she was two years old, “My mother said that I would hide under the dining room table when I was going to dance class.” Roetlin said. “I started to like dance after a month or so after that.” From then on, Roetlin continued dancing. She’s on the West High Dance Team and the National Dance Academy (NDA).

Roetlin dances 26 hours a week and dances everyday.”I love to dance but no one really likes practice, you know what I’m saying?

Like I enjoy it but it’s not like, ‘ooooh I can’t wait for practice!’ “She likes contempt, modern and does a lot of ballet. “You can express yourself.” said Roetlin, “You kinda get lost and when you come off stage, you didn’t realize what you were doing, you’re just like, ‘Wow 22 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

I just did that?’ “ One of Roetlin’s friends, Taylor Fridrich, is also a dancer. They’ve known each other since seventh grade but got to really know each other more when they both tried out for Poms in eighth grade, “She’s really easy to get along with, she’s very welcoming and quick to laugh. She’s always willing to go out of her way to help others without any complaints.” says Fridrich, “She is very passionate about dance. You can tell because everytime she dances she gives it her all and is very expressive through her movements.”

Even though Roetlin has been dancing forever she wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps. She wants to become an ophthalmologist like her mom who is a ophthalmology surgeon. which is an eye surgeon.“How successful she is and the way she carries herself, respectfully.” said Roetlin, “I look up to her.”

!

N O E M

GA

ophie siast S

nthu

all Volleyb

BY JESSICA MOONJELTY Sophie Stephens ’19 has taken the expression “break a leg” a little too literally over the years. She hasn’t quite broken her leg yet. However, she has partially torn her Achilles’ tendon, fractured her foot, suffered a concussion and broken two fingers all while playing the sports she loves.

For Stephens, sports have been a part of her life since age five. In addition to playing volleyball and basketball, she played softball, soccer, tennis, danced and swam.

“My parents kind of got me into sports,” Stephens said. “My dad played basketball in high school, so I think basketball was something I always found interesting. They got me into it really early, and I think that’s what helped me love all those other sports too.”

In junior high, Stephens decided to cut back on her extracurricular activities. She focused on her passion for volleyball and basketball to see where they took her.

It was in junior high when she met friend and fellow teammate Morgan Hawkins ’19. “[Stephens] is a strong team player. You’ll never see her throw a fit, and I think everyone can appreciate someone like that,” Hawkins said. Hawkins’ favorite memory with Stephens is when she passed Stephens the winning box shot.

“It felt amazing because we hadn’t won a basketball game in forever,” Hawkins said. Stephens and Hawkins are on the West High basketball and volleyball teams together today.

“After winning a tough match, you are just really happy,” Stephens said, “But you have to make sure that you’re still a good teammate and show good sportsmanship.

and

ball e t e s k a b

You can’t be snobby towards the other team. It just looks bad and takes away from the victory.”

However, Stephen’s proudest accomplishment is her perseverance.

“Sticking with it for this long. When it gets really busy sometimes it’s hard to go out and practice and just get out there. Especially when school starts up again sometimes you consider, ‘maybe this isn’t the thing for me,’ and, ‘maybe I should stop.’”

One of the proudest moments for Jeremy Stephens, Stephens’ father, was when she made the volleyball team this year.

“It was hard, but she put the time in, kept working and got the result,” Jeremy Stephens said.

Although Stephens is a fierce competitor, she has had her share of adversities to face like anyone else.

“I started [volleyball] so late compared to all the girls I play with now that it was kind of hard to—not catch up—but continue to get better. And that’s always a challenge in anything you do: to just stick with it and always try your hardest to impress.”

This wasn’t the case with basketball.

“When I was really young, there were always so many girls playing, that I tried really hard to make myself be seen and noticed… I wanted to make sure people saw the best me.”

As of now, Stephens has no plans to pursue her sports career in college. Stephens sees her sports as more of hobbies that have taught her a unique set of skills—both on the court and off.

“I don’t expect she’ll play in college,” Jeremy Stephens said, “At this point I’ll be

28 PROFILE SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

lls all.

9 te hens ’1

Step

happy if she makes it to her senior year. It would be especially great if she makes it to state, just once.”

One of Stephens’ earlier role models was Iowa Women’s Basketball player and West alum Ally Disterhoft.

“I looked at Ally as a goddess… I knew growing up that she was one of the best in high school, and that I was on track for playing in high school like she was at the time… I knew she was a great team player, and she always seemed like she was having fun.”

For the kids who might be looking at Stephens the same way, she has some advice.

“Don’t shoot yourself down if you don’t think your the best person on the team. You can’t compare yourself to other people all the time. With team sports they’re different positions and different skills. You’re not going to have all of them, so don’t give up on yourself and stop working hard because you don’t think you’re good enough.

Because you are capable.”

Quick Quiz!

Which of these body parts has not been injured by Sophie Stephens?

a. foot b. Achille’s tendon c. nose Read the article to find out!

STUBBORNLY MUSICAL

By Nolan Fuhrmeister

Everyone can enjoy music. It’s one of everyone’s favorite things to do. But did you know that only a small two percent can read it? Meleah Chang ’18 is a part of that amazing two percent.

Chang is one of our musicians at our very own Iowa City West High School. Our cello player says she inherited these traits from her mother who majored in music. “‘ I probably inherited my stubbornness from my mom, but she helped introduce me to music more than the ability,” Chang said

Chang has been playing cello since she was 10, but that wasn’t her first time with an instrument. She actually started playing piano when she was just 8 years old, though Chang has lost interest in the piano over the year. But make no mistake, Chang is a devoted cello player who tries to practice at least an hour before school every day, and at least an hour and a half after school three times a week. Chang is also on the West High Orchestra and goes to the Preucil School of Music, where she is in the Preucil School String Orchestra, cello choir, and does a work study at Preucil. “‘ I think having Preucil in Iowa City is pretty great because it helps prepare you for your future, regardless if you go into music in 30 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

college because it helps you to be concentrated and work hard,”’ Chang said.

Chang’s goals for high school music would be to make All State and be able to play Elgar Concerto in A minor.

But music isn’t her only goal. Chang is also interested in biology and studying medicine. With all this practice and studying for school, Chang often finds herself without free time. But when her time frees up, Chang likes to spend it with her friends. Elise Femino ’18, a friend had this to say about Chang, “‘Meleah is a good friend of mine. I have known Meleah for about 2 years, since I met her in AP Euro. Meleah is a very caring person who has a passion for music. She also has a great sense of humor and is always up for a laugh. Meleah has inspired me to be a more caring and diligent person, as she is always kind to everyone and is very dedicated to her music. What I like about Meleah the most is that she is a wonderful person to be around and is always willing to help you.’” Chang says herself that she would like to be remembered as a person that is genuinely nice, but doesn’t need to affect millions of people to make an impact.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 31

The Interior of a

DREAM

BY SEAN BROWN Passion is something that everyone desires. Shaneka Johnson ’19 found her passion in interior design. Having her own interior design business is one of her dreams that she plans on pursuing in the future. She discovered her interest when her family moved from a rental house when she was 10 years old to their own house four years later. With a house that she can finally decorate herself, Johnson started to enjoy making changes to the interior and decorating the rooms.

“Sometimes when I have free time I like to get my sketchbook out and draw different types of designs for a kitchen or bedroom,” Johnson said.”Or I like to sing and play my guitar.”

For Johnson, there is nothing more relaxing than laying in bed and drawing designs of houses. She hopes to design future houses that people can enjoy for the rest of their lives.

“I want to start being an employee for an interior design business and then gradually go into making my own business,” Johnson said.

However, her interests reach

far beyond designing. She got an acoustic guitar for Christmas two years ago and has been taking lessons for over a year. She also enjoys spending time with her friends at the mall, or just having a lazy day plopped on the couch, remote in hand. Even though Johnson loves doing these activities, family will always be the most important thing to her.

“Sometimes everybody’s so busy that we don’t have that time where we can all come together and do something, to be able to have that outing relationship type,” Johnson said.

Although her life is running smoothly, she hasn’t always had an easy time. She was adopted at 18 months and she didn’t find out until she was eight years old.

Being adopted, she says, has made helped her develop into the mature and understanding self she is today.

This is not the only hardship Johnson had to deal with. Her mom that adopted her had to fight the battle that nobody ever wants to have to deal with: cancer. Regardless, her mom pushed forward and didn’t quit.

32 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

She didn’t want to leave her family behind, and bravely won the battle. Johnson has learned from this that she should never give up and can achieve whatever she wants, as long as she fights and believes.

Johnson’s friend Mariana Trujillo ’19 has also contributed to her motivation. Trujillo has always been there for her and is always there to make her feel better. She once told Johnson to “do what I want, not what others say.”

Another of Johnson’s friends, Ezra Mohamed ‘19 said, “She doesn’t hide anything … you’d expect someone that doesn’t hide anything to be really honest.”

Her friends have given Johnson the strength needed to follow her dreams and achieve her goals. She wouldn’t be able to become the person she is today without the motivation and inspiration from her mom’s past, as well as her ever-supporting friend, Mariana. With this fueling her to do her best, Johnson plans on graduating high school with a 4.0, acquiring the silver chord,

“(She told me to) do what I want, not what others say.”

-Johnson ‘19

getting to the state level for track and having an experienced business background.

Johnson has a bright future that she has planned for herself and is on a steady course to achieving her dreams. So if you buy a new house in the future and need someone to add some pizazz to it, look out for Johnson because chances are, she’ll have her own interior design business running and growing.

Brains and Brawns By: Tyler Olney

“When you pull on that jersey, the the league, but last year the Junior Varname on the front is a hell of a lot sity team got 4th in the league, so I have more important than the one on the pretty high hopes.” Pizzimenti says that back.” This is a quote from the movie several players have continued to play Miracle, sophomore Ben Pizzimenti’s hockey after high school at higher levels favorite film, “I like the truth to it, the including Drew Akins, Matt Donovan, way it sounds,” said Pizzimenti. and Tim Earl.

Pizzimenti is passionate about Until then, the Roughriders practice math, science, and most of all, hock- four days a week at the Cedar Rapids Ice ey, receiving his first pair of skates at Arena and at Performance Fitness. age two.

O n c e He startgames beed prac- “The pace (at the tournament) gin on Satt i c i n g is much faster, everything moves urday Nohockey vember 12, two years so quickly, you don’t really have and stulater. dents can “My fa- time to think just to react.” see them ther and home -Ben Pizzimenti ‘19 play brother games at influthe Cedar enced me,” Pizzimenti said. “More so Rapids Ice Arena. “The pace is much fastmy older brother. I always try to sur- er, everything moves so quickly, you don’t pass him whenever I play.” really have time to think just to react.”

When Pizzimenti started playAccording to Pizzimenti, there are 12 ing hockey as a toddler, his father teams in the Iowa high school league, all coached him and even helped to start based around the names of their cities, the Iowa City League at the Coral and his team could go up against any of Ridge Mall. His father continued to them during the tournament. Pizzimenti’s coach him for 10 more years. “He was position on the Cedar Rapids Roughrida really good guy, but when we were ers is left wing, which is an offensive poon the ice he wasn’t a dad anymore, sition that sticks to the left side of the ice. he was a coach.” Pizzimenti said.

Pizzimenti would like to play college Last year, Pizzimenti joined the Ce- hockey, but he’s not sure about plans bedar Rapids Roughriders’ high school yond that. “A lot of people don’t get into league, and he'll head to Des Moines professional sports so I would like to have for a pre-season tournament on Oct. a more realistic dream.”

16-17. The tournament tests the skill level of each player for the year. “In years past, the team that I play on [Cedar Rapids Roughriders] hasn’t been one of the top competitors in

WHO INFLUENCES YOU?

BY SEUNGJIN LEE

A big yellow cornfield grabbed her attention. She stared at that cornfield; trying to get rid of all the worries that were flooding into her head. Then she realized that staring at the cornfield doesn’t help either, she shook her head--thinking this might help her. Then she looked up to the blue sky, hoping to regain peace in her mind. This is what Hannah Cantrell ’19 felt when she first arrived in Iowa seven years ago.

Cantrell moved to Iowa from Maryland. As she was moving, she worried about her new life in Iowa. Seeing her struggle with adjusting to new surroundings was also difficult for Hannah’s family. Hannah’s mom, Pamela Cantrell, tried to help Hannah overcome these hardships with encouragement and advice; unfortunately it did not solve the problems. Hannah remembers this as the moment her mother helped her the most.

“When I first moved here, I was upset about it, because I went to a private school in Maryland,” Hannah said. “So it was very different. I didn’t have friends for a while and my mom really helped me.”

Hannah often asks for advice and Pamela always has a good advice for anything. She truly looks up to her mom.

“My mom knows what’s wrong or right. She knows what to say to make me feel better. Also, we’re both women, so we can relate to each other well. She understands me.”

Hannah thinks her mom has been the biggest influence on her life, because she considers Pamela’s advice to make good decisions in her life. Pamela is sometimes a tough mom, who encourages her daughter to do the right thing and not to take anything for granted. But when Hannah has problems with her friends and is having a rough day, Pamela teaches Hannah to put herself in the other person’s shoes and not to take anything for granted. Among all the advice, Pamela’s best advice for Hannah is to, “be kind, work hard and get some exercise.” She continues to give advice and teach lessons to her kids, because she believes that her greatest responsibility as a parent is keeping her kids safe, healthy, and safe.

From her Mom’s lessons, Hannah is now aware that

she can do anything if she does her best and she learned to overcome hardships by herself. Watching Hannah deal with life’s daily challenges in a mature manner makes Pamela feel rewarded.

“My greatest reward as a parent is watching my children make good decisions on their own,” Pamela said.

“It shows that they’ve been listening and paying attention.”

According to Pamela, Hannah is a funny, smart, creative, and little bit sassy, daughter. Nevertheless, Hannah is still Pamela’s pride and joy. Pamela is most proud of Hannah when, “she is kind and helpful to others.” She added, “This summer she did a great job helping lead a group of first graders at Vacation Bible School.”

Pamela’s parenting techniques seem to have affected Hannah in positive ways: she has grown into a strong, wise, and responsible teenager.

“All kids are different. I think it’s important to be a good listener and to be a real parent, not try to be your son or daughter’s best friend. Always be encouraging.

Eat dinner together without cell phones. Get a pet or two,” Pamela said.

For Hannah, Pamela is more than just her mom, she is a life mentor, role model and admirable woman.

FUN FACTS ABOUT HANNAH CANTRELL • • • •

Favorite Fruit: Strawberry Favorite Music: Cheap Thrills by Sia Favorite Sport: Soccer Hobbies: Listening to music, black&white drawing, and soccer

WINGS OF GOLD TO CAREER OF GOLD Look into what Aidan’s future has to hold

BY TANNER HEIAR

Aidan Yamashita ’19 sets the stage, literally, mic in his hand; his palms are sweaty, waiting for the first beat of the Show Time song to give the audience what he has to show off. This is just the start. He still has his future, to show off what he has to offer.

This is just a glimpse of what Yamashita’s future may hold for him. You can tell his whole future was deeply thought of, but when he talks about his future in the long run, he’s not so sure “I haven't thought of my future that far out yet.” You can tell what kind of person Yamashita is just by listening into the conversation we had about his future. Just asking the question, “Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years?” he has to think about it, knowing he's got something good on his mind. On the other hand, his friend, Sidney Shephard ’19, immediately has a response. “I think he will be married with three children and I think they will be going to theatre practice and taking singing lessons.”

Yamashita definitely plans to go to college sometime after his high school years, but he says he would like to join the military before he goes to college. “I want to do something with the military, most likely the air force, but not as a career, but for the experience,” Yamashita said.

As for college, he wants to study to become an orthodontist. “(College is) too expensive, so i’m gonna figure out a way to live with my parents to bring down the expenses.” He’s very consistent in talking about saving money because one goal he has is to, “never be in debt.”

I couldn't resist talking about if he plans to keep his friends with him that he had in high school. He plans to “stay in touch” and keep the high school thrill going. Finally, I asked him what he enjoys most in life and what he will enjoy in his future. “Friends, and girls that don't reject me.” This is just the start of what he thinks of his future, he still has his life to come.

Yamashita has never really been known as an athlete, but more as being part of the arts and who is a part of showchoir. Yet when Yamashita goes into his first ultimate frisbee practice, he surprises everyone with a stunning goal, showing the audiance singing isnt the only talent he has.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 35

Quiet in the classroom bold on the course

The life of Emma, inside and outside of school

BY SIDNEY SEHPHARD

The wet ground, cold against your feet as you prepare to take off. You are in your running mindset prepping yourself to run for miles. Bang!

The gun goes off and everyone takes off trying not to tackle each other. Hundreds of girls running to gain distance from each other with every girl trying to get into the lead.

Emma Gehlbach ’19 has a passion for running, clarinet and animals. She is kind, quiet, and smart. One of her classmates and friend Emma Miller ’19 agrees. “I can say with full confidence that Emma is the nicest person I have ever met. She is honestly so genuine and sweet to everybody. I don’t think I have ever seen her get angry or even mildly upset,” said Miller.

Although, Gehlbach does admit to occasionally reaching her boiling point when she just has to yell and get angry. A student in her class was being very obnoxious one day and Gehlbach snapped.

“The kid would not be quiet so I yelled ‘shut up’ in front of the entire classroom so I could get my work done. Everyone in the classroom looked at me strangely because I have never been so loud,” Gehlbach said.

Gehlbach has a busy schedule so she is always active during and after school.

During school she plays the clarinet for the school band

Emma’s Favorites!

Color: Light blue Food: Cinnamon Rolls Author: Sarah J. Maas Subject: Math Sport to Watch: Volleyball or Soccer

36 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

and marching band. “Emma is super smart and good at clarinet too, but she would never say so because of how humble she is,” Miller said.

After school she goes straight to cross country practice with her best friend Emma Durian ’19, who convinced Gehlbach to pursue cross country. “I was going to do volleyball in seventh grade and cross country in eighth grade, but Emma made me more and more excited to join,” Gehlbach ’19.

Durian would talk about the cross country season when Gehlbach was around to help her get ready to join.

Gehlbach is completely different at meets than at practices. At practices she is talkative and, according to Durian, she complains about early morning practices--although she continues to run no matter the conditions.

“Before the meets she is the person to always be doing everyone’s hair on the bus.”

Durian ’19. On the other hand, she is focused at the meets and is serious about the race when it comes time to run.

Overall Gehlbach is a humble high school student who makes time to hangout with her friends, even with her busy schedule. She runs her heart out and doesn’t quit even when she has 6 am practice before school.

WHY THE SIMPLEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE BEST MOIRA IGLESIAS TELLS WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO HER IN LIFE

BY MADELYN LUEGERING

From spending hours with her siblings to writing stories in her room, Moira Iglesias ’20 loves to spend her time reading, writing, and being with her family, activiteswhich she describes as “simple things”.

Iglesias enjoys spending time with her two sisters and brother. Her sisters’ outgoing nature and loudness make Iglesias less shy herself. “When I’m behind doors with my sisters I am very very loud, (and) not how I am in school and in public,” Iglesias said. They like the simple things. Spending time together is what really counts for the Iglesias sisters. “Simply going to the park, just walking around, having a chat, and just laughing together. We really like that, it’s just fun,” Iglesias says. They don’t need the mall, or extravagant adventures to have a good time, being together and going outdoors is entertaining enough.

“Be yourself, don’t let anyone tell you how to be a person you are not,” Iglesias says. “Don’t be shy, especially when you’re new to a new place. Try making friends because being in a new place, it is hard, but making new friends can help you get out of your bubble.” Iglesias can be herself around her sisters and she can show herself in her writing.

Another love of Iglesias’ is reading and writing. “I love reading and writing because they take me into a whole different world, and that makes it more fun,” she says.

Among all the genres, romance is by far Iglesias’ favorite. She loves to read and even write romance. She’s been working on COMPILED BY MADDY LUEGERING

QUICK FACTS

LOVES

Iglesias loves to play football with her siblings.

CLUB

Iglesias is in a club called Walk It Out. This club is about Asian culture.

WORKS

Iglesias has written over 30 works, this includes short stories and fanfiction.

some fanfiction stories that incorporate all those genres. Iglesias’ fanfictions are mainly based around anime that she watches, specifically Fairytales in Action. She hasn’t written since she moved from Saipan to Iowa in 2012, because of the time commitment that comes with moving . Iglesias also loves listening to music, especially in school. She listens to music such as K-Pop, J-Pop, Spanish music, music from her native language, and American pop music.

Iglesias’ sisters and friends see who she really is compared to how she acts at school. Hayley Iglesias ’20 describes Moira as quiet and shy, but also fun and interesting. Hayley and Moira sometimes play sports together, “Moira has a more competitive side when we play sports together.”said Hayley. She admires how creative Moira is, talking about her ideas and her writing. Yusra Alwaan ’18, one of Iglesias’s friends, describes Iglesias and how she is in school. “She’s really fun and outgoing, but she’s just quiet and shy,” said Alwaan.

Moira Iglesias has a whole other side to her than what people see at school. She’s all about the simple things.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 37

SHE SINGS,SHE PLAYS THE Meet Cacilia: she dances, she sings, and she plays the piano.

Everything she does involves music, even the poems she writes in class. Cacilia is a hardworking student who loves extracurricular activities, especially show choir. She started piano lessons in fifth grade and realized her passion for music and singing. She also loved writing poems, “I loved writing so I turned my poems into song lyrics,” she said.

Cacilia said that she used to want to be a choir director or a makeup artist, but she is leaning more towards the music side. She would really like to be a choir director or a person that works with the technical side of music and teaching about the methods of music instead of the singing side of it.

The most important person to her is her old choir director, Mr. Pearson. “He

was an amazing role model for me,” she said. “ He was one of those teachers that wanted to get everyone involved.” She really liked his attitude and how he took the time to get to know everyone personally. She explained how including how he was and how he wanted everyone to be a part of everything.

The most inspirational person to her in her family is her mom. Her mom is a lot like her because of their hobbies and the activities they love to do. Her mom did musicals, cheerleading, and was very involved and outgoing. “I always thought she was such a bad mom when I was younger.

I must have been so selfish,” said Cacilia. Her mom went to college again when she was a little bit younger to get a good job. Cacilia thought her mom was selfish because she wasn’t around as much. Now that she is older she realizes how strong

38 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

and how good of a role model she was because she was busy and still made time for school.

Now her mom is a principal and she is very proud of her.

Cacilia has two siblings. She and her sisters are very close. She is closest to one sibling or the other depending on which activities and who she can relate to. She has a dog too: “She is our princess,” she says, “she is just our princess.”

Her dog's name is Ursa after the constellation of a bear because she looks like a bear.

Her friend Ella Schmitt, “Helped me through a lot. I trust her,” says Cacilia. She also has another close friend named Anna “[She’s] another person I can with the craziest questions,” she said. Her friends mean alot to her and participate in the same activities as her so they understand how hard it is sometimes.

DANCES, SHE PIANO

Random Facts: -she likes doing voice impressions -her favorite singer is Barbra Striesen -her favorite movie is “A Clockward Orange” -her favorite animal is a llama -her favorite song is from “Kats the Muscial” and is called “Memory”

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 39

The Extraordinary Life of Emma Miller

BY HENRY KRAIN

Emma Miller 19’ is just your everyday girl. Nah, I’m just messing with you. “Emma is a one of a kind person,” said Kendra Triggs ’19, one of Miller’s best friends.

“She’s funny, and out of sorts, she always says the weirdest things at the weirdest times. You just never know what’s going to come out of her mouth. One of the more funny things she did was during a swim meet. Everybody was all serious and then all of a sudden Emma Jumps of the block and yells,Geronimo! “Everybody just started to laugh and the mood was lightened.” Miller has always wanted to help the world. She just doesn’t know how to yet, but she does know that it will have something to do with healthcare. “I’ve just always felt like that’s how I wanted to leave my mark.” Miller doesn’t know where she would like to travel to help people, but she did mention her hope of going to Australia. She wants to see the Great Barrier Reef, and hold a Koala bear in her arms, ”because they just look so fluffy, ya know.” So who knows maybe she’ll get her wish and go to Australia, and be able to help the world. She probably won’t stay there forever, even though she’s in love with the Iowa City area. “It’s a great place to raise kids, and I

like college towns because there’s always something going on.

Miller doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest people to ever help the world, such as Mother Teresa or Margaret Thatcher. She simply replied “ I don’t really aspire to be like anyone, I just wants to do my own thing and help the world my own way.”

Besides going to help the world Miller is really into band, drums to be exact. She’s been playing ever since she was little, and she loves it. Miller is into a lot of different forms of music, including jazz band and show choir, but she doesn’t want to make a career out of it.

“It’s a good way for me to get the stress out for me to relieve myself,Miller said. Her favorite overall would probably be Jazz Band, just because it’s more fun.

COMPILED BY LEAH DUSTERHOFT

Facts of Emma

150+

15 40 PROFILIES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

3

Is the numberof swim meets Emma has been to is the number of years that emma has particapated in band(6) and swimming(9) combined. 15 is also Emma’s age.

Is the number of clases that Emma takes that includes drums;Jazz, Show, and Regular Band

AARON FENNELL-CHAMETZKY’S INTERESTING INTERESTS

BY MIKAIL SYED

Aaron Fennell-Chametzky ‘20 is a freshman who hails from West High School. He has very typical interests, but not many interests in general. He enjoys Star Wars and the amazing sport of basketball.

“I first found my interests when my brother told me of them,” says Fennell-Chametzky ’20. Fennell-Chametzky ’20 states that basketball is easy to follow, both when playing and watching. He states understanding the NBA is much easier than understanding the NFL or the NHL. He also states basketball is the only sport you can practice by yourself.

Aaron Fennell-Chametzky ’20 recommends Star Wars as a form of pop culture. He loves almost anything Star Wars.

“Star Wars Battlefront is a very fun game,” says Fennell-Chametzky ’20. When told it was “the Call of Duty of Star Wars,” Fennell-Chametzky ’20 replied, “It is better than Call of Duty.” Fennell-Chametzky ’20 also owns almost every Star Wars movie, and states every one of them is a good movie, but that Episode III is the best.

When asked about other interests, Fennell-Chemetzy ’20 said he doesn’t have a lot of personal interests other than the two. What this can tell you is that Fennell-Chemetzy ’20 follows the steps to someone he looks up to, and that others can always succeed in their dreams if they take one or two minutes to think through that.

Fennell-Chametzky ’20 has unique interests as these are his only two major interests, while others may have many, many more. Fennell-Chametzky ’20 does have an additional interest in politics,

AARON FENNELL-CHAMETZKY ‘20

where he works with the Democratic Party. He campaigns fiercely for Clinton, and the only reason why she earned his dedicated support is because he wants a president who is “like Obama.”

Fennell-Chametzky ‘20 likes President Obama because of how he normalized relations with Cuba and passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and because he is just a Democrat.

Fennell-Chametzky ‘20 opposes the Republican Party, or GOP, and says his dream is to see it go away. “You know what’s the political party that should fade away?” he asked, “the Republican Party!” he said in a playful tone. When Fennell-Chametzky ‘20 was asked about Common Core National Standards, he said, “If it’s an issue Democrats agree with, I’ll probably agree with it, too.” Fennell-Chametzky ‘20 has put himself in a liberal poll by means to campaign for Hillary Clinton, but states he was disappointed by her debate performance.

“WE NEED A PRESIDENT WHO IS LIKE OBAMA, AND THAT IS HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON.” -Aaron Fennell-Chametzky ‘20

HE SHOOTS! HE SCORES! THE SOCCER STORY OF COLESON KRUPP

BY IVAN BADOVINAC Football. No, not American football with pads and helmets, but actual football. The one with kicking, not throwing, the ball. Soccer for Americans.

This is what Coleson Krupp ’19 has been playing most of his life, since he was four years old to be exact. From tiny tots, to Kickers, to the Iowa Soccer Club (ISC), and finally in the Cedar River Soccer Association (CRSA). “(Soccer) is something that I have always loved, try to better myself everyday, and it’s fun to be good at something,” Krupp said. Krupp does a lot of traveling for soccer, including 30 minutes just to get to practice three times a week. He also travels across Iowa and sometimes out of state to Illinois, Nebraska or Missouri for games and tournaments that usually take up his whole weekend. “With all the games and tournaments, weekends are hard to come by,” Krupp said.

He is also in ODP, the Olympic Development Program, which is an extra practice and training place in Des Moines. “To make the ODP team, you try out annually and only about 20 people make each team,” Krupp said. He has tried out for the ODP team for the last three years and has made it each time.

It is an understatement to say Krupp was influenced by his family to start soccer. Krupp has two older brothers, Trey ’15 and Kyler ’18, who both play and played soccer for West High and for the Iowa Soccer Club. “I remember Coleson always having a competitive edge and always wanting to win. Even when we played in the backyard when we were little,” Kyler said.

Along with Coleson Krupp’s brothers, his dad also played soccer in high school. Krupp’s parents play a huge role in his soccer development and support him through it all. They drive him to practices during the week and all of his many games during the weekends.

Krupp’s love for the game doesn’t stop at driving hours to games and tournaments, but continues to be expressed while on the field.

Krupp plays for the u17 team for the Cedar River Soccer Association (CRSA) and enjoys playing the defensive midfielder position the most. “To me, playing holding midfielder is the most fun because you get the ball a lot and are the ‘brains’ of the team,” Krupp said. He is looking forward to state cup the most, which starts in the second week of October.

Soccer is a team game where each position is a key to helping the team succeed. The forwards, mid-fielders, defenders, and most importantly the goalkeeper. Krupp’s good friend and teammate Zach Albright ’19 plays goalie for the u17 team. “Each position has its own role to play to make the team chemistry and mechanics work well,” Albright said.

Krupp has been playing soccer for most of his life and isn’t planning on stopping anytime soon.

Just the feeling of being on the pitch is enough to make anyone want to play the great game of soccer. Being with friends and teammates, scoring marvelous goals, and participating in the best known sport in the world is why Krupp and anyone else would play soccer.

COMPILED BY IVAN BADOVINAC

BY THE NUMBERS

12 4 13

is the number of years Coleson Krupp ‘19 has been playing soccer

is how old Krupp was when he first started playing soccer

is the number Coleson Krupp wears on his jersey

FROM SPORTS TO SINGING AND ACADEMICS

BY KILEY PIERCY

teammates miss her but they all understand her choice and they will always support her.

Avery Carneol ’19 is currently in choir with Streck and describes Streck as “a crazy person who always wants to live life to the fullest.

She is always there for somebody, even if she doesn’t personally know them.” Streck’s favorite part of choir is “the perfect feeling when everybody harmonizes.” Singing was a secret passion for Streck when younger, but now is open about it, and she is glad to be a part of an amazing group of friends from West High choir.

With the guidance and support from great friends and family, Streck has proved she can make any transition work, in order to find her true passion of singing, and to focus on the importance of school work.

70%

The exhaustion. That’s what hits you first.

You’re mentally and physically exhausted.

You had school all day and then practice all night. You’re hungry and tired. Your bed is calling you, but so is the big pile of textbooks.

Juggling sports and school at the same time can be a struggle for many people, including Taylor Streck ’19.

At age three, Streck started playing soccer, which later became her favorite sport.

At a young age, Streck’s parents started encouraging her to get involved in sports, which included starting dance at the age of five. At seven, Streck started basketball while still dancing and playing soccer.

“Dancing wasn’t really my thing; I wasn’t very flexible,” Streck said. After seven years of dancing, Streck had had enough and decided to be done and continue on with her other sports she enjoyed. Because she quit dance, she decided to try out for volleyball. That definitely was something that Streck did not enjoy doing and decided that volleyball was a one time deal.

“My mom had been in band her whole childhood and wanted me to follow more in her path, I think,” Streck said. In fifth grade, Streck joined band and played the flute. “The flute is one of the harder instruments to play, so when I was able to do it--I knew it was the one for me,” Streck said. After several years of playing, Streck made a sudden decision to quit and go out for choir.

Freshman year was the year her passion in life changed for Streck. “School is stressful, and when you play sports as well it just adds onto your list of things to do,” Streck said.

She knew her time for soccer and basketball was about to end as she was falling behind in school and sports weren’t her passion anymore. Without soccer and basketball, she could focus on singing and her school work. One of Streck’s former teammates from soccer, Grace Gilbough ’19, said, “[Streck] is always energetic and isn’t afraid to be herself.

By the age of 13, 70% of students will quit sports WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 SECTION 65

BEHIND THE PURPLE FRAMES

BY EMMA MILLER

Sitting in the hallway, there is a constant buzz. Henry Krain ’20 is rolling around on his swivel chair in his purple glasses and wacky socks, unable to sit still, and offering high-fives to every passerby. Krain’s personality and look help him stand out and be unique.

Krain’s junior high Global Studies teacher, Ryan Steward, reflects over his past two years of teaching him. “What made him stand out was his ability to be friendly with everyone. He was

never really shy around anyone and was pretty easy to talk to which is why I think he had so many friends,” Steward said.

What sets Krain apart from other people is his attitude. He acts and talks like no one is watching and isn’t afraid to be himself.

“Don’t let anybody’s opinion dictate your own.” Krain said.

Krain has 27 pairs of out of the ordinary socks. “Socks are the best part of the body.” Krain said. He went on to explain

44 PROFILE SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

that shirts just didn’t express all of his personality, and socks had the coolest patterns and were all unique. He has socks that show the radar of hurricane katrina, and multiple pairs of floral hawaiian print. Krain also has been rocking purple glasses frames for a while now, has loved them ever since he got them. He says that the chose the unique frames because his friend already had the same pair in black, and he wanted to be different. His goal is to stand out and his ward-

robe helps him do just that.

Steward describes him as a student who is a little silly, and likes to have a good time, but is also a hard worker. “Honestly, this is so dumb but what made Henry stand out to me was his purple glasses. I am not joking when I say this but I think they were the coolest glasses I had seen in a long time.”

Krain also has a crazy jokester side. While sitting at the lunch table, Krain likes to joke around with his buddies, all of them crammed into a small picnic table, with three conversations going on at once.

COMPILED BY EMMA MIILLER

BY THE NUMBERS

27

3 1

pairs of socks with wacky patterns

years with purple glasses

unique freshman boy

“We all love him,” said Alec Boldt ’20, about being close friends with Krain. Boldt explained that even though Krain can act pretty goofy sometimes, he enjoys being with him and likes how he is always there to lighten the mood. All of Krain’s friends agree that the best thing about him is his willingness to joke around and have a good time.

Steward agrees that Henry is good at being positive and joking around about his own flaws.

One day, as Steward was walking to his car after school, Henry and his friends were playing some pickup football. It was at that moment that Krain confessed to Steward that he has a case of self-proclaimed “butterfingers” and that is the reason why he isn’t a starter. “We both just laughed,” Steward said, remembering the conversation.

Krain’s actions may be out of the norm for some people, but they teach those close to him, or those that receive one of his high-fives in the hallway, to worry less and be more carefree.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 45

16 Countries in 4 Years COMPILED BY THOMAS PETERS

5 things you should bring when you travel

BY THOMAS PETERS

It was a hot day for Lila Terry ’20 as she was on the shore of Geneva, searching for rocks, while the sun was setting. Terry travels a lot, in fact, she has been to 16 different countries in just four years. “It’s something really important to my family because there is a lot of us and all of us do a ton of different activities so that’s the time that we really get to spend together as a family,” Terry said. “I learn more about my family during those nine weeks of the year than I do the rest of the year,” Terry said. Travel is important for the Terry’s because since they have lots of activities and do lots of things. When they travel, it’s a good time for them to really get to know each other since they are stuck close to each other A few of the countries Terry has been to include but are not limited to: Germany, Italy, France and Ireland. “Since Iowa is very demographically homogenous, I like to take my children so they can see how other people in other places operate,” said Terry’s Mother, Gretchen.

1 2 3 4 5

Always have a camera, because you never know when you are going to see somethign cool Always have a “Tide” stick, you wouldn’t belive what a life saver it can be Always have loose change for really good street performers Always pack at least two outfits in your carry on because bags get lost ALL the time Bring wet wipes for plane seats, screens and trays

Some of the places Terry goes to have been a bit unnerving for her mother. At one point, Terry and her family missed a connecting flight in Amsterdam. Terry’s mother and younger sister found a flight, though all the rest were still stuck in Amsterdam. Another time, when they were in Brussels, not too long after the terrorist attack, so there were lots of military tanks and personnel in the city square, which was a bit unnerving for Terry and her family. “Enjoy the present! Some plane companies will reimburse you for clothing purchases you made while your bag was lost and a lot of times getting stuck in airports is fun,” said Terry.

Despite these troubles there have also been some pretty funny moments for the Terry’s. In Prague, Terry had a bad cold and was tired from the jet lag and fell asleep walking down the street and almost ran into a street light. Another time in Austria, Terry and her sister were swimming in a cold stream where they were staying when a

Lila Terry ‘20 group of old men surprised them by running out of a sauna naked and jumped into the stream.

“If it was up to me I would really want to go to Japan, because I really like sushi, but also because I feel like we have spent so much time seeing Europe and they live a very similar lifestyle to what we do here in the U.S.” Terry said. “I really enjoy seeing different cultures -I think it’s really important to understand that your way of doing stuff isn’t necessarily the right way and there isn’t necessarily a right way at all.

We all have a different way of doing [stuff]-- and it’s important to see how other cultures do it.”

When Terry is older, she wants to give back and help make the world a better place.

Terry thinks that everyone should be required to do a year of volunteering, because it is important to give back to the community. “See as much as you can because it’s a very large place and we live in a very small part of it,” Terry said.

s d r o w n i n o i s Pas ugh words

u

ing how m

s It can surpri

ro xperssed th ch can be e

By Hieu Nguyen Ideas, they pop up randomly. A pirate that decides to become a knight, a dog that can talk, or even a teenager going through high school. They can be boring or interesting.

Nevertheless she scribbles each single one on her notepad.

Eventually, she connects these ideas together to form a story: one that portrays her ideas and emotions. For Natalie Dunlap ’20, this isn’t a process of writing, it’s a passion.

It all started in first grade when she discovered the marvels of literature. but she never would have believed that it would become her passion.

“At first, I thought it was pretty cool how I could express my ideas. I never even thought it was going to be a big thing for me, but then it stuck with me ever since,” Dunlap said.

Throughout elementary school, Dunlap wrote numerous forms of literature including essays, creative stories, and poems. During fifth grade, she participated in the Rory award in which she won her first essay competition. Last year she participated in the Iowa Writers’ House summer writing program; where selected students could learn the process of writing stories from famous authors such as Staci Mercado.

She also wrote stories dealing with her favorite genres:

“I never even thought it [writing] was going to be a big thing for -Natalie Dunlap ’20

science fiction and realistic fiction.

Claire Hansen, an English teacher from North Central is a strong supporter of Dunlap. “She has great writing skill, knows her conventions and how to organize her thoughts.

She has a penchant for writing,” Hansen said.

Aside from her love for writing, Dunlap is also a hardworking student, musician and athlete. She enjoys practicing her ukulele as well as casual games of volleyball and basketball; all of this while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school.

Similar to other writers, Dunlap’s ideas come to her spontaneously; she also gets inspiration from famous scifi works such as The Hunger Games. Usually her ideas are scrambled and do not instantly result in a clear story. It takes time for her to combine these ideas, but the result is a captivating and compelling story. “Her writing is very good!

It’s detailed, precise and neat.” said Gianna Baber ’19, a close friend of Dunlap for two years.

For her future, Dunlap does not expect being an author as a first choice career.

“I’m not certain yet but currently I have plans of working in the medical field, but writing is something I will also do,” Dunlap said.

The main reason for this being that writing is a way for her to express her ideas, which can be hard to do so in a busy society, “it allows me to express my thoughts out loud, something that can be hard to do in real life,” Dunlap said.

“Writing gives you the power to create whatever you want out of nothing but your thoughts.”

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 47

5 Facts about Tyler:

y r e t s y M an M s y M

1. Tyler has O.C.D

2. Tyler Can’t whistle 3. Tyler’s favorite place is South Carolina 4. Tyler owns an Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and a gaming computer 5. Tyler has eaten squid

As you turn your head you realize that charged. It gives him a chance to follow his own advice. “If you the strange man behind you has gained want something done right, do it yourself.” Said Olney. Olney distance, you think to yourself, hasn’t enjoys watching Netflix, reading books, or playing video games there been a spike in murders in this on one of his many consoles. Both Olney and Maliq Mosley, ’19 town recently. Then you notice the knife described Olney as introverted. Mosley and Olney have known creeping out of his jacket sleeve. You start each other for five years, and they have been playing metal to run, but it’s no use, he gains on you gear solid together since. “He’s really into the serial killer stuff.” every step, getting closer and closer and Mosley said after being asked what type of books and movies closer and BRRRRRRRRRINGGGGGG! Olney was into. He loves how real they can be, but how they Tyler Olney ’19 Off to second period. Tyler Olney, ’19 may can still take you out of reality. After realizing that he would seem like a pretty normal high school like to work in the justice system, or on student. He enjoys reading, biking, crime scenes. He combined that with and watching Netflix. But Olney wants his enjoyment of true crime books to go into one of the most interesting and movies that he picked up from positions that a person could be in. He just reading in school because he was wants to be a forensics psychologist. bored. Olney realized that he would Olney is very much into watching also like to talk to the criminals, and -Tyler Olney ‘19 Mystery/true crime movies and find out why they did, or as he would reading true crime books, such as, Red put it. “Talking to them and studying Dragon, Silence of the Lambs (the book and the movie), The them up close in person, it would be interesting to learn from movie Psycho, and the TV. show Criminal Minds. “I love how them up front, psychoanalyze, and become an expert witness in real they can be, but how they can still take you out of reality.” court.” Said Olney. Olney is just following his dream of learning When he was 13 he realized that he wanted to be a part of the about how and why these people committed these crimes. “See justice system, if you put his passion for true crime and the how I could help them, and see what I can learn from them.” justice system together you get the perfect job for him. Forensic Said Olney. He is making the most out of a passion that draws psychologist is a job where you get to be a key witness on the him in every time, and gets him more and more interested each stand and you get to study the case and the person who is being book. He is a man on a mission, and he is learning every step on the way.

“See how I could help them, and see what I can learn from them.”

48 PROFILE SPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

The Puzzle Master

By John Li

It was a dark, wet, rainy day when it happened, but to Walter Donich ’18, it was just another day of soccer practice. “I was about to not go to practice that day because of the rain, but I just said ‘screw it, whatever.’”

He was playing another team when someone slide-tackled Donich, breaking his kneecap in half. “There was pain for around thirty seconds and I felt pretty calm as I didn’t realize the severity of the injury.”

Donich has had his fair share of injuries over the years. Just a month before the kneecap injury, Donich tore his medial collateral ligament, or MCL, while playing soccer at his friend’s birthday party..

His friend, Prateek Raikwar ’18, witnessed it. “He just kind of landed awkwardly while we were playing soccer and I could immediately tell it was bad because he immediately stopped playing, which he had never done before because of his competitive nature in such things.”

Almost a year after his broken kneecap, another accident occurred. During soccer tryouts, Donich got his foot caught on a ball as it was being dribbled by someone else, injuring his knee, requiring an MPFL reconstruction, which is a procedure used to correct serious and recurring dislocation of the kneecap. Donich had to stay home from school for two weeks after his second knee cap injury; however, every cloud has its silver lining.

Had Donich not been injured, he might not have discovered his love of puzzles.

Can You Sovle this Puzzle?

(Find the10 Mines)

It first started when he downloaded a minesweeper app on his phone. “I thought it was quite boring at first but I played a few games to improve my time and got hooked,” Donich said.

Donich can now solve a minesweeper puzzle on advanced mode in 101 seconds, and is 235th in the world for beginner win streaks. Through minesweeper, Donich became interested in solving the Rubik’s cube. After satisfyingly solving it the first time he wanted to learn how to improve his time, looking into many different methods to drop time. “I like puzzles because I like understanding things I didn’t know before which are what puzzles are, and finding the methods to solve those puzzles is amusing.”

Donich does not plan on trying out for soccer , because, as he puts it, “Fate does not have that in my future,” as he has acquired three knee injuries from the sport. However, he does look forward to being on the swim team that received second in the state last year. “I’m looking forward to being on the swim team because it helps me stay focused and not procrastinate work because I simply don’t have the time. And I like hanging out with all the people even though I’m not a key player. I hope to eventually become a role player on the team and contribute.”

WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 SECTION 5

Swimmer dives toward the future

BY WALTER DONICH Water, considered to be the most important thing in life.

Everyone has had a sip of water, has had food that contains it, for it is a necessity for us humans to survive. However some, like John Li ’19, see it as a necessity for a different reason: swimming.

Li began his swimming career at the age of 10 at the Iowa City Eels Swim club and recently transitioned to the Iowa Flyers swim club or IFLY. Li has been swimming for around 5 years and his swim schedule consists of practice at least 6-7 days of the week.

“I didn’t really want to do swimming, I have asthma, and my mom said that swimming was apparently good for asthma,” Li said. However, swimming, for Li, became much more enjoyable once he started making friends with other members of the club.

Li’s most memorable moment occurred when he and his teammates made it to the state meet for club swimming and were able to nab a third place finish in three relays. “None of us were at the top of our age group and IFLY had three of the fastest swimmers,” Li said. Li himself was also able to get 4th place in the 100m butterfly that same meet.

When talking with teammates, George Liu ’ 19 and Yangtian Shanguan ’19, they spoke about Li with a tone of respect and comradery. “John is a really inspirational teammate, he is super competitive and pushes himself to be the best he can be and sets an example for the rest of the team,” Liu said. When asked if “he sees John as a rival or comrade”, other teammate Yangtian responded, “I see him as more of a comrade than a rival, because he is just better than me.”

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Li’s goals for swimming this year are quite simple, for the club team he hopes to reach the sectional meet, which is a meet that has no age brackets meaning anyone can race anyone, in his favorite and best strokes being backstroke and butterfly. As for his goals this year for the West swim team, they are quite tame in comparison to the goals for the club team. He hopes the school swim team will at least make state because, “We are not as good as last year, Mark, Will, and Aiden kind of carried us to second,” Li said.

Li ended with a piece of advice for people on edge about joining the swim team this year, “Just do it,” Li said.

4 Ways to Be a Better Swimmer 1. Have a tight streamline 2. Don’t breathe too long 3. Take long strokes 4. High elbows for catch

STUDENT VISITS SLUMS OF CHICAGO, RETURNS WITH DOG

BY EMMA GEHLBACH

The slums of Chicago. Notorious for their murder rates of over 400 people every year, they are places generally avoided by well-off, lawabiding Americans.

They seem to be the last place in the world you would expect to see Sidney Shephard ’19.

With her quick smile, easy-going personality and positive attitude, Shephard is most at home watching sports on her couch or hanging out with her parents--not driving through a dangerous neighborhood.

Shephard traveled to Chicago last July, not for thrill or humanitarian work, but to adopt a dog.

“It was really scary going to the middle of Chicago. There would be really nice houses for like a yard and then houses that looked like they were going to fall apart. It was close to the downtown stores: you could hear it easily from the neighborhood, [but] the house we got it from was actually really nice. [It was] the only one with a yard,” Shephard said.

When they learned of her experience, Shephard’s friends weren’t surprised.

INTERESTS: VOLLEYBALL TRAVELING FOOTBALL WRITING

“Sidney’s just kinda different,” said Aidan Yamashita ’19. “[She’d] probably go anywhere to get a dog. If it’s something she wanted to do, she’d probably just go out and do it.”

While there, Shephard adopted her dog, a little brown and white Chihuahua named Bella.

According to Shephard, Bella is very sweet and clingy and loves attention. “Here she is,” Shephard said proudly as she showed a picture of Bella wearing a football uniform and another snapshot of her with Shephard’s cat. The little dog dominates Shephard’s camera roll, and is asleep in most of her pictures. “She’s so asleep that we think she’s dead,” Shephard said.

However, Shephard’s interests aren’t limited to animals. She loves going to football games, traveling, playing volleyball and listening to country music among other things.

Whether she’s playing sports or hanging out with friends, Sidney Shephard is living life to the fullest. “It feels like every day is a great experience. I do something new every day and that overrides my other great experiences,” she said.

While Shephard is the first to tell you how scary the experience was, she said she didn’t focus on it. “I was too excited to notice anything around me. I was like, ‘address, house, gotta find it.’”

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 51

YOUNG MAN LEAPS HAPPILY INTO TRAGIC ACCIDENT IVAN’S TRAGIC VACATION ACCIDENT

BY SANDRAH OCHOLA

You just stepped out of the car, and your feet hit the hot sand. You see the ocean on the horizon, and--as a 7-year-old--you are eager to jump in.

You’re running toward the dock ready to plunge into the ocean. Little do you know, the ocean has other plans.

Ivan Badovinac ’19 was that 7-year-old boy. .

He got himself a good running start and jumped into the ocean, doing what he described as “High School Musical-style.” His knees hit the water first, and they also hit a very sharp rock. As the water near him turned red with his blood, he bawled his eyes out--not even knowing what he had hurt.

His sister, Barbara Badovinac ’16, noticed the blood and quickly figured out the source was his knee. “I didn’t realize it was his initially since I was in the water with my friend but i heard a scream and looked in the general direction. When it clicked I started to running to him to see what’s up.” A few family friends pulled him from the water and brought him inside “I could see parts of the actual kneecap since the cut was so deep… Our parents were about a block away so we called out to them but this very nice man carried Ivan back to the house to try to clean up” the man tied a tourniquet to his knee to stop the bleeding, She described the tourniquet and slowly turning red. “We had a problem though because we were in Baosici, a very small town in Montenegro, there were no doctors nearby, especially some that can stitch up that big of an injury.” The same man drove his car to their front door and took Ivan, and his mother in search of a hospital. When they reached a hospital the only doctor that was there was an eye doctor who ended up giving him 8 stitches.” “He stitched me up and did a pretty good job, I got this gnarly scar from it too,” Badovinac said proudly as he pulled

up his shorts to reveal the scar. “I guess I just have the best luck when it comes to injuries,” Ivan said.

“I mean, we went through a lot of trouble for a silly split open knee.”

Ivan is a very active guy, he plays soccer for the ISC team and runs cross country. He has a sister, named Barbara, she graduated last year from West High. He has a mom named Olga and dad named Vladimir. At this time he was only 7 years old and didn’t take his soccer as seriously as he does now, “I think about this story sometimes and just wonder what would happen to me if I had gotten this injury now, especially with how important soccer is to me” He sounded almost grateful that the injury happened 8 years ago. Badovinac’s knee is at full recovery and hasn’t gotten I any major injuries since, looks like he really does have good luck with injuries, oh the iron knee.

FUN SOCCER FACTS - Been playing soc cer for 13 years - Went to Northwest Junior High - Runs cross country for West - Enjoys Biking

THE LOVE OF TENNIS

BY EMMA DURIAN With Nicu Curtu ’19 and tennis, it was love at first sight. He has been playing tennis for a long time, seven years to be exact. In that time he has been able to improve a lot, and has become the second best player on the JV team.

went to the same junior high. Silva said they would sit together at lunch and discuss argumentative topics.

“The thing I probably admire most about him is that he doesn’t shy away from the controversial topics.” Silva said, “He’s a lot of fun to be around.”

When you first look at Curtu, you would assume he’s a basketball player. He is easily over six foot tall. Even though he looks like he’s a basketball player he’s actually a serious tennis player.

Curtu hopes that one day he can go watch Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world. It is considered the most prestigious tournament by many.

He doesn’t think he will be going any time soon but it’s definitely on the bucket list. A center court seat on the last day of the 2017 Wimbledon tournament will cost €190 or $213.08. “Wimbledon would be really cool, not now but I can go when I’m older” said Curtu.

Curtu first discovered his love of tennis when he was watching a professional tennis match on television with his dad, which he later had the chance to watch live. He remembers one memory of his dad and him driving to Montreal to watch the Romania vs. Canada tennis match in April of last year. They went to watch the Fed Cup, and although Romania was missing their top player--they still managed to get the win.

One of Curtu’s favorite parts of tennis is the individual aspect of it. “I like that it’s all up to you to win your matches.” Curtu said. “You either win or you lose, there’s no in-between.”

“At first a few people cheered because we thought we were gonna lose, but (then) we realized we were winning and everyone was very encouraging,” Curtu said. It was an amazing win for the Romanians as Curtu explained the betting odds were about ten to one against them.

He wishes to be just as good as the pros someday. Last May the West High tennis team played a very good game against a Cedar Rapids school, ranked one or two in the state. They ended up winning 7-5 with two doubles and six matches. Last tennis season was good for the trojans. They both started and ended the season with a high state ranking.

Curtu isn’t only passionate about tennis, according to Nick Silva ’19, Curtu is very interested in discussing controversial topics. Silva is one of Curtu’s closest friends; they met during lunch last year, though they

FUN FACTS: FAVORITE FOOD: PASTA FAVORITE COLOR: BLUE FAVORITE CLASS: AP EURO FAVORITE SPORT: TENNIS WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 53

BALANCING

KATZ ’20 BALANCES GYMNASTICS, SCHOOL, AND HANG OUT You’re standing at the narrow balance beam, arms high, getting ready to do your first flip. You can feel your leotard sticking to your back, and you’re sure everyone in the room can hear your rapid heartbeat. Time seems to go in slow motion as you perform your practiced routine and then finally, finally, you’re done. You go back to your teammates and wait anxiously for the results.

This is how Natalie Katz ’20 feels as she competes in her state competitions. Over the years, Katz has received numerous bronze and silver medals in the state level. But it wasn’t until her fifth year of competing that she received her first gold medal, which

was for the vault event. “I was really surprised when I won, because I wasn’t expecting to do so well,” Katz said.

Katz has been doing gymnastics since she was two years old, when her parents enrolled her in a motherdaughter gymnastics class as a way for her to release her energy in a safe way. “I was a crazy kid. I was always jumping from the couch and doing flips all over the furniture,” Katz said, laughing. At the age of eight, Katz joined a competitive gymnastics team. She’s been doing state competitions ever since.

Surprisingly, Katz’s favorite part about gymnastics

BY THE NUMBERS

8 12

state competitions years of gymnastics

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54 PROFILES

medals

IT ALL OUT

EXTRACURRICULARS, WHILE STILL FINDING TIME TO WITH FRIENDS isn’t the competition. It’s the environment. “Everyone’s really close together,” she said. She has made numerous friends in her gymnastics team, some of who she would have never had the chance to meet otherwise. Close friend and teammate, Mercedes Crile ’20, has known Katz for two years. They originally met in school, but gymnastics was what really strengthened their friendship. “[If I didn’t do gymnastics] I probably wouldn’t have been as close friends with her, because I wouldn’t see her as much.”

keeping up with gymnastics, while still finding time to hang out with her friends.

Gymnastics is only one of the many activities that Katz participates in. She’s also involved in marching band and hopes to join Mu Alpha Theta, West High’s math club. She challenges herself even more by taking many difficult classes, such as algebra 2 honors and AP human geography, With all these extracurriculars, four hours of daily gymnastics practice, homework, plus all the social events bound to come with high school, Katz finds it hard to find the right balance. But so far, she seems to be doing a good job.

She’s excelling in all her classes, including marching band, and

Katz’s dedication isn’t just limited to school. It also shines through in gymnastics.

“She is always determined to get a new skill and she won’t give up on it, even if it’s hard,” Crile said. And according to Katz, her dedication pays off. “The best part about gymnastics is that feeling you get afterwards, when you’re all sweaty, and have just learned a new skill. You feel very satisfied. Of course there are some days when I haven’t learned that new skill, and I don’t feel satisfied, but that just makes me want to work harder.”

One of Katz’s bandmates and friends, Carmela CohenSuarez ’20, describes Katz as being “funny, kind, honest, and persistent.” But the word that seems to describe Katz best is dedicated. “She’s really dedicated to school, so somehow she always finds a way to do her homework… even with four hours of practice everyday,” CohenSuarez said.

FAST FACTS Instruments played: Bassoon. saxophone, and paino.

Dream college: Yale

Favorite book: Cheif Inspector Gomashe Favorite song: “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong Favorite colors: light yellow and light pink As for the future, Katz doubts she’ll have the opportunity to join a gymnastics team while in college, but she still hopes to continue doing gymnastics as a hobby. “I really love the sport gymnastics, but it can just be really timeconsuming and it really stresses me out… But while I’m practicing I don’t really think about all that. It sorta takes my mind off things.”

55 PROFILES

RUNNING Following

WITH ACA

Kenneth W ilbur On H is Academic s And Run passion For ning

DEMICS

By Daniel Song

It’s a cool autumn morning. A barren, grassy field awaits ahead of hundreds of young men as they are clustered together, waiting for a sharp and crisp shot to ring in the air. The tension was palpable, and one must have the courage to lead from the front knowing that they have no one to pace, and soon that number one spot will be in contention. Kenneth Wilbur ’20 recounts his cross country experiences, showing his true love and passion for the sport.

Wilbur runs for the West High cross country team and is on the freshman-sophomore team. Throughout meets, Wilbur is a top 10 percent runner as he recently ran a 18:27 5k (3.1 miles) taking eighth place in the last fresh-soph meet. He recalled that in the start, he went out a little too fast and just had to stick with the pace and fight through the pain.

“It definitely hurts. When racing, 75% of it is all about preparation, but then the rest of it is like who wants it more; it's mental,” said Wilbur. “You’ve gotta be willing to push yourself and feel more pain than the person right

56 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

beside you to beat them [in that way] and that's really how it is sometimes, but I think it’s really good. It's also humbling to be beaten like that.”

Wilbur’s passion for running came from his parents, who both spend time running freely and Wilbur decided to tag along for fun. As his work ethic and passion combined, the love for the sport grew while improving his speed. Today, he has accepted his failures and has never looked back.

“I run on my free time. I really enjoy it and it’s something where when running, you can always run that much faster,” Wilbur said while pinching his fingers and breaking out in a laughter.

Wilbur’s passionate work ethic is not centered on running as he has also applied them academically. Wilbur is a devoted member of West High’s nationally recognized Mu Alpha Theta Math Club, where students express their love for math. He excels in many subjects such as math and Spanish where he is taking pre-calculus honors and Spanish III Honors.

“I really just enjoyed problem solving. In competition math, AMC math, math questions and its format, and Mathcounts it's really like you have to think and you have to do tons of other stuff that you wouldn’t have done in school. So it is really challenging and I really enjoy that challenge,” Wilbur said.

Just as Wilbur’s parents influenced running, one that help him along the way was his Grandma Aurelia Weil.

Weils tutored Wilbur two summers ago in for Geometry to pass the math placement test.

“I was very happy for Ken when he passed and I thought he was a very responsible man,” says Weil.

Wilbur believes that in order to succeed, you must be able to self teach and have a strong independent work ethic. This summer, Wilbur passed Spanish II by teaching himself while on vacation.

Wilbur ’20 says that he does not plan on pursuing math as a degree because it really doesnt help others.

Asking Wilbur what he plans on doing in the future, he responded with,

“I don't know what I want to do but I want to do something that will help people. I do not want to be a doctor or an engineer though.” As for now, who knows what the future of Kenneth Wilbur holds.

Daniel Song: pianist extraordinaire

He’s a young man of abundant confidence, incredible scholarly aptitude, a friendly, inviting smile and an elegant musical touch; and you probably would have never known.

At first glance, Daniel Song ‘20 doesn’t appear all that extraordinary. He has straight, black hair, dark brown eyes, and a normal build. It’s when one gets to know him, however, that the most interesting and impressive facets of Song’s personality can be found.

When the interview started to get going for real, he seemed reluctant to talk about any of his interests or passions, and it was difficult to to discern who Song truly was. That all changed when Song started to talk about his love for music.

It turns out that Song is musically gifted. He defers all credit to his teachers, of course, but his skill on the piano is one that can only be attained through genuine adoration. Song’s grace on the piano was noticeable before he even played one note. The way he fixed the bench into the exact place he wanted it and then glided onto it and in the blink of an eye formed a rigid posture that fit naturally with the piano. How he spread out his long, powerful fingers and then lightly placed them on the keys. This show of expertise promised a delight, and Song did not disappoint.

Song is also a great saxophone player, having qualified for both the S.E.I.B.A. and IBA honor bands in eighth grade. He plans on participating in jazz band at West, even though he was unable to make it into Wind Ensemble. “I think it’s unfair that once you make into Wind Ensemble you’re in it until you graduate,” he said.

When Song is not playing either saxophone or piano, he still finds time to participate in sports and What are those clubs about? other extracurricular activities. Song played baseball !. 321 is a club focused on random trivia that for the Trojans green team this summer and hopes to club members try to answer as a team. Memmake it onto West’s freshman baseball team in the bers participate in a biannuasl online “321” summer. Furthermore, Song has decided to particicompetition, as well as eat generous amounts pate in the 321, Mu Alpha Theta and 1440 clubs at of snacks.

West, all are very academic. However, his main priority 2. Mu Alpha Theta is West’s foremost compethas always been academics. How he can manage itive math club. Mr. Kirpes, a math teacher at such a busy lifestyle? Song says, “Working hard at west, is the club’s patron. Mu Alpha Theta has these activities helps me work hard at school. Playing won the Iowa state math competition for 12 the piano especially lets me show my emotions, and years in a row. translate that work ethic into academics.”

4 SECTION MONTH 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

MUSIC MAKES HER MOVE

How Leen Hamza ’19 became fully immersed in music through junior high show choir and what’s next

BY LUKE REYNOLDS

You sit on one of the crowded wooden benches in Northwest Junior High’s gym and watch as the show choir performs in front of you on stacked black stands. The boys are wearing white and other flashy shirts while the girls are wearing their own thing: bright orange tops with swirls in the front.

You can’t help but feel like the latter’s outfits will become iconic for all the wrong reasons in the future, but that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you're getting swept up and captivated by the performance, unable to look away.

Leen Hamza ’19 found herself with an open period her second year of junior high, only a couple of months after that jaw-dropping show choir performance. Maybe it was fate that drew her to choir, even though she at first signed up for it because she thought it would be ‘an easy A.’ However, she was surprised at what it had in store.

“I ended up really liking it,” Hamza said. “I made a lot of friends.”

Starting choir opened Hamza up to the world of singing, and after making it into her school’s show choir for that last year of junior high, she learned about the required work ethic.

“I’d get a ride from my friend Gabby to practice every morning, and we’d always be the last people to show up,” Hamza said. “We’d always get these stares when we walked in. Like, everyone would literally be halfway through a jazz hand and just look at us like, ‘Really?’ And we’d just find our spots. Honestly, that was one of the best parts: that hustle.”

Despite no longer being part of show choir at West, normal choir isn’t the only thing that has kept Hamza busy in the music world. Aside from singing two solos her eighth grade year and being a part of OPUS freshman year, she also formerly played both violin and clarinet, although not at the same time.

“I quit the violin because I wanted to join band, and I thought that two instruments was too much,” Hamza said. “So I played the clarinet in band for, like, half the year and then I quit. I really wanted to go back to the violin, but it was too late. Everyone in orchestra in my grade was already way ahead.”

58 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

MUSICAL MUSINGS “When you listen to that one band and that one song that you think is just amazing, you wonder why everyone else doesn’t like that. Time passes, and it turns out people do like it, and you’re like, ‘Oh, well I guess I did sort of expect this in a weird way.’”

“When I auditioned [for show choir], all I had to do was sing ‘My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.’”

“I have this curse where every time I buy headphones, I lose them within a week.”

“If I hear a song that I love, and I hear it during the day and at night, I’ll know which time it sounded better at and why.”

“It’s really rare that I’ll listen to an album and like every single song on it and think they’re amazing. I feel that some are kind of put in there as filler so they can have the full list of tracks, even though it’s not necessarily their best work.”

Despite that trouble, music is still enjoyable for the sophomore. Outside of the songs she sings in school, Hamza listens to music a lot at home, crawling into the cave of cacophonous chords inside her earbuds.

“I’m the type of person who has a lot of trouble expressing my emotions to people, so listening to music helps me feel that sense of relief that a lot of people get from talking,” she said. One of her favorite groups is alternative duo Twenty One Pilots, who smashed into the mainstream with their song “Stressed Out” earlier this year. “Their lyrics are painfully honest,” Hamza said. “It’s to the point where it kind of feels like they’re tapping into your thoughts.” Other acts she enjoys are Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Ellie Goulding, Panic! at the Disco and other indie musicians.

Other people have recognized Hamza’s hardworking nature, especially her seventh grade literacy teacher, Anah Austin. “She is one of the warmest students I’ve had the pleasure to work with,” Austin said. “She is quick to smile, kind to any person she comes into contact with, and accomplishes whatever she puts her mind to. I loved teaching her.”

Now that she’s in her second year of high school, Hamza has a lot more life to add to her belt. Although she loves choir, she’s thinking of trying to find ‘something [she’d] like more.’ Could it be another instrument? “I’ve always wanted to take guitar lessons,” Hamza said, a fact inspired by the general music course she took back in seventh grade in order to fulfill the music requirements. However, she ended up really enjoying it, and maybe that class three years ago will inspire the acquiring of a new skill. Who knows what awaits Hamza as she continues her musical journey? Hopefully it will make her move just as much as show choir did.

COMPILED BY PEDRO MARRA

Interesting Facts Favorite Serie: Excited bout: Favorite Pastry to Cook:

Grey’s Anatomy.

Meet Jasmine Funny, crazy and loud.

Drake’s concert.

Cheesecake

3 AND 1

Is the number of brothers and sister that Jasmine has

Wants to open a:

Bakery

By: Pedro Marra

When freshman Jasmine Beemon’s brother started in college and showed her that being a cook is possible, she started to think that this was also what she wanted to do.

Jasmine seems to be a quiet person, wearing glasses and has braids, who does not participate much during class, but who appears to be attentive. Janelle Beemon ’19 describes her sister differently, though.

“She is really loud, and that’s And not around her friends, either. “I know when she gets really crazy. that my friends think of But she is quiet around other me as funny,” Jasmine said. “I guess that people people; just not me.” assume that I am rude, because I am always frowning--but I am actually nice.”

Jasmine said that she enjoys cooking, and commented the reason to pursue cooking as a dream. “I went to Chicago, for Christmas, and I would help my grandma cook when she asked for help.” Jasmine questioned whether she would really be able to bake for a living, since there aren’t many options in the career world to follow this occupation. “And then, at first, I said that I wouldn’t be a cook, but my brother was like ‘I WANT TO BE A COOK.’ He went to college in Chicago and became one.” She also added. “Cooking main meals are boring, but cooking desserts are more fun, and then I was obsessed with those Food Network channels, and I would watch them everyday.”

Janelle told what is her sister skilled at the kitchen. “She is good at desserts, but when it comes to regular food NO.” The pastry that Jasmine enjoys the most to cook is cheesecake.

Jasmine’s friend Jillian Baker ’20 isn’t always a fan of her friend’s cooking,“She made some cookies and they tasted like mustard--so I wouldn’t really trust her.” Joked Jillian, “But sometimes she is good,” said Janelle, and Jillian agreed on that.

Jasmine knows what she wants to do in college and after graduation.“I’ve already planned this out: I know what to do in college, and then I’ll have my own bakery, if not, an assistant at someone else’s 59 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM bakery.”

THE SIGHTS, THE SOUNDS, THE SUSPICIOUS LIQUIDS...

Maddi Shinall ‘19

WEST STUDENT TRAVELS HUNDREDS OF MILES EVERY SUMMER

BY ANNA BROWN

You look at a map of the United States. You start imagining all the places you want to visit, what you want to do and the souvenirs you could get. Most people only dream about traveling all over the United States - Maddi Shinall ’19 lives it.

For Shinall, every summer is a new adventure. She has been traveling from state to state since she was four years old.

“I like to travel because I’ve never really moved. I’ve always lived in Coralville and Iowa City area, so [with] traveling I like [that] you get to see a lot of places and see how other people live, and what it’s like, and I like meeting new people,” Shinall said.

Shinall has been to over 22 states since she started traveling with her family. Most summers, they go to various national parks, but last summer, her family decided to spice things up a little and take on a big city. Not just any big city, but THE big city -- New York City.

“We don’t normally go to cities, but we went to New York and we did a lot of the touristy things. So we went to the Statue of Liberty,” Shinall said. “We went to Ellis Island Central Park, Times Square and you know all of the very popular New York places, which was fun to see. It’s very different from Iowa, that’s for sure.”

Shinall showcased her adventure to New York through Instagram, posting pictures along the way.

60 PROFILES SEPTE,BER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

“On her Instagram page [there are] some buildings in front of the Statue of Liberty. But I think she took some pictures of Cathedrals [in New York City],” said Jessica Doyle ‘19, a friend since seventh grade.

One of Shinall’s favorite places she has travelled to is Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming.

“I remember the sounds of Yellowstone National Park really well. We went to see Old Faithful, the geyser, and as it erupted you could just hear the whooshing water and could feel little water droplets falling on you that had been carried by the wind. That was one of my favorite places I have been to,” Shinall said.

Some other places she enjoyed visiting are Acadia National Park in Maine and New York City.

“They’re totally different, but I like them. I like Acadia because it’s just so pretty,” she said. “I went with my aunt and uncle, so that made it more fun.” And then there’s New York. “I like New York because it’s just so different from Iowa and you don’t really get to see all the stuff that you see in big cities. I like how fast paced and [how] everyone knows what they’re doing and it’s just all go. Everyone’s going; there’s no stop.”

To Caroline Young ‘19, a friend for three years, it is obvious that Shinall loves to travel. “If I ask her how it’s going or

something [over text], then she’s always like “Oh, it’s so great I get to go to New York this summer.’ Her traveling is always the first thing she brings up,” Young said.

Her passion for travelling inspired Shinall and Young to take a gap year to travel the world through the Rotary Program.

“I think it would be so cool to study abroad,” Shinall said.

“There’s the Rotary Program where you can be an exchange student and go study somewhere else. I really want to go to either England, [I love] the accents, or I think that Denmark sounds cool, too.” Young also mentioned the Rotary Program when asked about their travel plans together.

“One day we were just talking about what we wanted to do after high school so we were both talking about how we wanted to do a Rotary Program and graduate early and travel. We were talking about traveling to Northern Europe together,” said Young.

Shinall keeps mementos from everywhere she has been.

“I collect postcards from the places that I go. I have a big collection of postcards from basically everywhere I’ve been.

So I have this big kind of book, kind of like a scrapbook of all of my postcards,” she said.

Just from seeing Shinall talk about traveling you can tell how much she loves it. In a boring yellow tinted West High hallway, she stood out, with a big smile on her face. But there is one piece of advice Shinall wants to give out about traveling.

“In national parks you don’t have to worry about stepping over suspicious liquids in the streets. You know, like puddles?

[It’s similar to] when you get puddles of water, but there’s puddles...of [unknown] suspicious liquids.” So if you’re planning on taking on a big city, watch out for the suspicious liquids!

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 61

DECODING WEST STUDENT FINDS PASSION IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

BY LYDIA GUO The only sound that can be heard in the dim room is the clicking and clacking of fingers typing on a keyboard. The stressed teenager runs a hand through his hair while looking at the lines and lines of code.

For the thousandth time, his eyes skim through countless numbers and letters, looking for the one little thing causing his distress. He finally spots the one character in a sea of letters: a semicolon. He sighs in relief, begins to type rapidly, and fixes the overlooked mistake.

After compiling and running his program, Devin Nolte ’18 smiles when he sees the expected results on his bright laptop screen.

Since eighth grade, Nolte has been fascinated with computer science and the engineering field.

“I started with the ... applied tech class, and we started doing robotics and minor coding. I really enjoyed that, so I decided freshman year to do principles of engineering,” he said.

Aside from being introduced to the field by classes at Northwest, the junior high he attended, his parents also

62 PROFILE SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

played a role in his exploration of engineering. Nolte’s father encouraged him to consider pursuing his interest in the field and helped him to find his passion in computer science. “[He] influenced me to try it, [and] once I tried, I started to really like it,” Nolte said.

“I was pretty computer savvy in seventh grade, [so] he was like, ‘You should try to take this somewhere.’”

Nolte’s interest in computer science stems from his ability to problem solve. Steve Ehren, who has been teaching AP Computer Science at West High for nine years, believes that the skill to come up with solutions, in order to efficiently solve problems, is necessary to succeed in the computer science field. “[Computer scientists] have to be good problem solvers.

They have to be persistent because with programs that you write, you're going to STEVE EHREN make mistakes,” Ehren said.

Nolte agrees with Ehren that persistence is an important quality to have when pursuing computer science.

“It's not always going to work the first time, so you have to

HE WAS LIKE, ‘YOU SHOULD TRY TO TAKE THIS SOMEWHERE.’” - Nolte ’18

DEVIN NOLTE go back and read through it all, In order to prepare himself, and read through it three times Nolte plans to take all the classand finally find that one line es he can that relate to engithat you forgot a letter in and neering. Last summer, he went you fix it. Then it all works, and to an engineering camp held at it's amazing,” Nolte said.

Northwestern University. BeAndrew Wildes ’18, a friend cause of his experience there, of Nolte for over five years, Nolte strongly believes that a seems to think that Nolte shared interest in computer sciis suited for this occupa- ence and engineering can realtion as well. ly tie people together and that “Devin works real- strong bonds can be formed ly well with other that way. people. He usually “[The other students at camp is like a leader in and I] went in not knowing group activities anyone and came out being reand he is great ally good friends,” Nolte said. at prob“We all worked togethlem solver to solve problems ing,” Wildes and design things, and said. Wildes it's one of the awesome often talks to things about being an Nolte about enengineer - you don't gineering and the work alone, you work two help each other ANDREW WILDES‘18 in a group and you end come up with soluup really connecting tions for coding problems. with that group.”

After realizing his love for enNolte hopes to keep these gineering, Nolte began to con- ideas in mind as he pursues his sider pursuing computer sci- passion in computer science to ence in the future. obtain greater successes within “[My future occupation would this field in the future. most likely be] any sort of computer software design or computer engineering … depending on what kind of college I go to depends on what kind of computer engineering I’d want to study,” he said.

FAST FACTS

- Has played trumpet since the fifth grade - Family runs Nolte Dance Academy

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 63

A PASSION FOR MUSIC Ava Wessinger, a freshman in highshool balances three insruments

By Carmela Cohen Suarez Her lips and fingers tremble, she prepares herself for round two, deep breaths, her eyes slightly closed. She pushes as much as she can, pushing air out. Ava Wessigner `20 finishes practicing her french horn and moves on to the violin.

Wessinger `20 seems to be a quiet girl, but she sure is not quiet when playing her instruments. Learning how to play one instrument is no small feat, but imagine having the uncanny ability to play three. Wessinger has a strong passion for music, she plays french horn, violin, and mellophone, an instrument similar to the french horn that is usually played in concert bands. Wessinger used to play in her school orchestra, but now participates in the West High band and takes lots of private lessons on the side.

According to Wessinger, “If you really like something then you will keep doing it but you’ll drift away if you don’t.”

According to her mom, Wessinger is very “independent and headstrong.” Her mom is proud and happy that Wessinger is playing three instruments and sticking with them.

She definitely has a deep passion for music and hasn’t drifted away from it. When watching Wessinger play it seems so easy, the notes flow out of the instrument. Her favorite part of playing instruments is that she gets to meet new people who share a lot of the same interests as her. She says that playing three instruments is simple as long as you stick with them.

66 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

COMPILED BY CARMELA C.S.

Quick Facts

150 10

Minimium amount of songs Wessinger has played in 10 years of the violin.

Years playing the violin.

5

3

Music books played with violin.

Instruments played througout her life.

“If you really like something then you will keep doing it but you’ll drift away if you don’t.”

-Ava Wessinger ‘‘20

According to her mom, Wessinger is very “independent and headstrong.” Her mom is proud and happy that Wessinger is playing three instruments and sticking with them. She definitely has a deep passion for music and hasn’t drifted away from it.

When watching Wessinger play it seems so easy, the notes flow out of the instrument. Her favorite part of playing instruments is that she gets to meet new people who share a lot of the same interests as her.

She says that playing three instruments is simple as long as you stick with them.

On top of all the practice for music Wessinger also had to deal with her first year of high school. For most people, the first day is pretty stressful and Wessinger is no stranger to the stress. “I was nervous and I was kind of excited at the same time...

Mainly just nervous.” After a little bit she realized that everyone else in the school was on the same boat and she became excited about high school. She is happy that she gets to go to Liberty High School since she will be there with all her friends from junior high, but she is also nervous about having to go to a completely new school.

Not only is Wessinger a musician, but also, she is a good artist, sister, and daughter.

When talking about one of her favorite memories of Ava Wessinger her mother says,” When she was little we would sit at a table and paint for hours of just anything we could think of.” Her mother and brother both enjoy her music and think she is a good leader. One of her brother’s favorite memories was when she taught him how to roller skate. Wessinger also has big ambitions for the future.

For a future job she thinks being an architect would be interesting. She also plans on traveling, she wants to visit France or New York.

Wessinger wants to see what people in other parts of the world do and she thinks it would be interesting because she has not really travelled much and wants to learn more about the people.

Ava Wessinger draws her inspiration from music and shows that by being passionate and sticking with something you can go far. So take her ad-

vice and if you enjoy something, stick with it, if you don’t keep up with it then you never liked it enough to begin with.

67 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

ONE FAMILY The streets have plastic bags wavingaround in the light breeze. Empty bottles and yesterday’s dinner litter the streets. It’s rush hour and cars are backed up with the occasional donkey breaking the line of cars. But just feet away from the street, there is a brick house lined with a garden and a black metal gate.

Inside the home, beef rolls are baking in the oven and the aroma of ‫حالوم‬،, stew in Arabic, fills the kitchen. These foods are just the appetizers though; tonight is the first night of Ramadan and freshman Razan Abdelrahman’s family sits around their rectangular wooden table in Sudan.

In 2011, Abdelrahman and her family thought they were just going on a vacation to visit family in the United States.

Abdelrahman’s family had been in Egypt for a couple of months and was going from there to the visit family in Texas. Abdelrahman was ecstatic. This would be her first time visiting the United States. But, underneath the excitement, Abdelrahman was terrified.

She was going to a country where a different language was spoken, and a different culture was practiced. After visiting Texas, Abdelrahman’s

family went to Iowa to visit her aunt. It was here that their family found a safe and close-knit community. After a tour of the University of Iowa, Abdelrahman’s sister decided that she wanted to go to college here.

Her family decided that they

Razan Abdelrahman ‘20

would stay here in Iowa City.

Everybody except for her dad, who went back to Sudan and worked there. Abdelrahman, her mom, her sister, and three brothers didn’t go back to Sudan until the summer of 2015.

Ever since Abdelrahman moved to Iowa, she has challenged herself and tried her hardest in everything she does. For example, she is

68 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

taking a algebra II honors, a math class three years ahead of most students, as well as Biology. This isn’t enough for her though. She also manages to make time for clubs.

Debate club, 1440 Interact, and SSIKED (Successful Students Inspired through Knowledge, Education and Diversity). She is also thinking about joining the clubs G!World and Mu Alpha Theta, the math club at West.

Everybody that knows her agrees that Abdelrahman is an excellent student.

“Razan is a really good student. Always gets her work done,” said Enyo Okeoma ‘20, a good friend of Abdelrahman.

“Whenever she misses [a day], she’s sure to check in.

She is really hard working, really smart.” You might have to strain your ears to hear her, but she always has something worth your time to say.

Abdelrahman isn’t only a good student though; she is also a great friend and has a good personality. Although quiet, she is “kinda sassy,” according to Okeoma. Everyone who knows her says that she is nice and a great listener. “I feel like she’s that friend that everybody secretly wants,” Okeoma said.

TWO COUNTRIES

BY NATALIE KATZ

Razan’s personality is infectious. She knows how to get things done, but she also can be a fun person.

“Razan is like one of the most responsible friends I have,” Carmela Cohen Suarez ’20 said, “And people like me need responsible friends.” Many other people who know this remarkable student and person would know that she is also a leader and people can count on her.

Abdelrahman has three brothers (who are almost always fighting) and one sister who currently attends Iowa State University.

Even though her dad lives across the world, she still talks to him about once a week and he visits every six months. Abdelrahman’s father lives and works in Sudan, while her mother is staying in Iowa with the rest of Abdelrahman’s siblings. She is extremely grateful for her parents because they adapted to a new cul-

ture and moved to the United States for her and her siblings. After settling in nicely in Iowa City, the future is still uncertain for Ab-

to the Pacific University of Hawaii, and she might want to live in Thailand, but nothing is set in stone. “I don’t even

Razan in

8

but those who are fortunate enough to get to know her know that she is much more that what meets the eye. “I bet no matter

COMPILED BY NATALIE KATZ

1. Number of Days in U.S. : 1,938 2. Wants to live :Thailand 3.Goals in life: find the cure for cancer, face fears and go in a clear skyscraper 4. Pet Peeves: Metal scratching metal, people eating with their mouths open

5.Dream College: Pacific University in Hawaii Favorite...

Word: Lackadaisical Food: any kind of Chocolate

Book: Willow Falls series by Wendy Mass

delrahman. Her family may be moving back to Sudan next year and Abdelrahman still isn’t quite sure how she feels about it. “I want to stay here because the education is better and there are more opportunities, but at the same time, I don’t want to forget about my Sudanese culture.” Abdelrahman thinks that she might want to go

know what country I want to live in,” Abdelrahman said. No matter where she lives one thing about her future is certain: she wants to help people. “I don’t know.

I want to help people. Maybe even find the cure for cancer,” said Abdelrahman.

Many people who will meet Abdelrahman see a quiet and thoughtful student,

what, she’ll be successful. Even [in] today’s world with everything going on. I bet she’ll overcome all of that,” said Okeoma. With the combination of Razan’s personality and hard work, you can be sure that success will continue to follow her into her future.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 69

Princess Tiana did it, and heck--she got a prince out of it; so, why couldn’t Enyo Okeoma ’20 do it? Maybe she woauld get a prince, too.

Okeoma looked at the slimy, the big-eyed creature looking back at her and before she could think twice about what she was about to do, she puckered up her lips, closed her eyes and kissed the frog. Unfortunately, when Okeoma opened her eyes--there was no prince in sight and the frog was still a frog.

While on a field trip to School of the Wild in sixth grade, Okeoma got to experience her first kiss to a frog. “It was so slimy and gross,” Okeoma said. Okeoma remembers reading about diseases that she could’ve gotten from kissing a frog after she did it. She swore she would never do it again. “I was such a stupid kid,” said Okeoma.

Okeoma meet her good friend Lilli Duncan ’20 in seventh grade at drama club. “Basically I don’t exactly remember how it went but I remember hey we’re both weird let’s be friends,” Duncan said. When asked how Duncan considered Okeoma weird she replied with, “Will she was just really loud I think.” At the time of the interview, Duncan hadn’t heard the story of Okeoma kissing a frog. After telling the story, this is what Duncan had to say, “It sounds like something she would do. Especially if someone challenged her.” One story of just how competitive Okeoma is is a story of what great lengths Okeoma endured to win a game of tag.

Many if not all kids have played tag at one point in their life, however not many kids can say that they’ve broken a bone while playing, however, Okeoma can.“I lied to my mom telling her I was walking backward on the little play structure at Weber.” Okeoma said. “ Ok, so what happened was, we were playing tag. I was really competitive when I was younger...

So the tagger was really close to me.” Okeoma said. Okeoma was at the time at the edge of the play structure and to win she did something no one should do to win a game, she jumped.

She jumped with her arms out, “like an animal,” Okeoma said. Okeoma broke her Ulna bone, the bone between one’s wrist and elbow creating her arm to look like a hill. “ I remember I wasn’t even crying because it hurt I was crying because it looked so weird,” Okeoma said. Kids do crazy things, that’s no surprise, however, Okeoma takes that to a new level.

Ribbet Ribbet Ribbet

Favorite Princess Princess Tiana

Favorite Disney Movie Bambi

Favorite Prince Prince Eric

70 SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER

LESSONS TO LIFE

SIERRA SUITER ON HER CHURCH TRIP TO BELIZE

By: Sanjeev Sarin I know that I’m not going to be able to live, maybe because I don’t have my phone or because I don’t have a boyfriend or anything. I know that I’m going to keep living because I know that God is watching over me,” said Sierra Suiter ’20. Many people go to church because either their parents dragged them or they just want to go. However, it’s different for Sierra Suiter. She spends her free time at church and does many activities, like volunteer work.This led to something big in her life that taught her a lesson.

Last summer, Suiter went to Belize for a church volunteer mission to help girls in poverty. The mission changed her life and how she saw things.

“When I came back from the trip, I realized how lucky I am to be living in the U.S. There were bats in the rooms that we slept in and there were rats. I then saw how much these girls had and I realized that I shouldn’t take things for granted and I should appreciate what I have and always help others,” Suiter said. Before her experience in Belize, Suiter was having problems at home.. “An important lesson that

71 SECTION MONTH 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

I have learned is to never wish your life away. I kind of grew up with my grandma and she’s always complaining and saying that she wants to be dead,” Suiter said. Her grandmother was eventually diagnosed with cancer. “The thing was, that when she was about to die, she kept saying that now she doesn’t want her life to be over with and seeing that, I know that I shouldn’t wish my life away.”

Not only did Suiter’s grandma pass away, but her grandpa did as well.

Suiter was devastated, but she did have help. Her good friend, Khole Burkum ’20, helped her with the loss. “We did prayers together and we talked a lot. It made her feel better,” Burkum said.

Her friend Taylor Gardner ’20 said, “She’s a really good friend. She’s nice and she makes me laugh and always makes sure that I’m okay.”

Suiter is now on the volleyball team for Liberty and is very socially active. As Sierra continues high school she doesn’t dwell on her loss, but focuses on what her future will hold. Sierra wants to do something with sports medicine but she is still deciding on what degree she will want for her future. As Sierra said, “As long as God is watching me, I know that I will be fine.”

America, A Place With New Beginings

BY JASMINE BEEMON

Favorite Color- Red Favorite Food- Lasagna Favorite Book- Harry Potter Series Favoite Team- Santos, Soccer

To you, school is probably a place you’re forced to go to even if you don’t want to. You dread waking up in the morning, you don’t understand why you have to go if you’re not going to use any of this information in your life. Sometimes you think “What’s the point?” But for Pedro Marra ’20, school is the entire reason he moved to the United States.

Marra first came to the United States from Brazil less than a year ago. “Since I was a little kid my father has always encouraged me to go to a good university because in Brazil we don’t have much good ones so we always planned to try and come here some day,” said Marra. When Pedro’s dad got offered a job at the University of Iowa to work 72 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

Pedro Marra’20

as a researcher, it was a chance for Pedro to get a really good education.

Coming to the United States from another country can be hard. “I really miss my friends because it’s hard to communicate when you're in a different country, Marra said.

“In Brazil it was much more comfortable to speak to my friends. My cousins and Grandfather are still in Brazil and I can’t see them.”.

But the upside of all of this is Pedro and his brother are getting a better education. Pedro says that he likes it here and he likes all of the classes and how there is a variety on which you can choose from. “He is surprising me.

I am glad to see that he is studying hard.

He is devoting himself to studies, but at the

same time he is enjoying to have new friends, new experiences in a different culture for us,” Marra’s father said.

When not going to school, Pedro likes to play sports, including table tennis and soccer. But Marra says his favorite sport is soccer. “I have been playing soccer since I was 4 years old and I continued to do it. I like the sport because it is really fast. People aren’t just waiting for something, it’s very fast and difficult,” Marra said.

But Pedro also likes to watch and play American sports including

football, “We don't have American football but Pedro sees it on TV every Sunday (during NFL season) the Pittsburgh Steelers,” says Marra’s father.

Marra hopes someday he can go into medicine like his parents, Marra’s father is a doctor and his mother a nurse. He also enjoys studying the human body. But if medicine doesn’t work out, Marra would like to go into engineering.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 73

COMPETITVE SWIMMER TACKLES TWO INSTRUMENTS

By Ava Wessinger

Imagine walking on a beach all year long in Florida, and you are walking to school and it snows for the first time.

You get really excited and can’t believe what’s happening, you watch it fall to the ground but melt as soon as it hits the ground. Then imagine moving to Iowa and having hot weather for only 3-4 months a year and cold winters instead of hot sunny ones. Carmela Cohen Suarez ’20 moved to Iowa when she was 9 years old. Suarez had only seen snow once before, she didn’t really count it as her first because when she saw snow for the first time it melted as soon as it hit the ground. When she

moved to Iowa and saw snow that stayed on the ground she was amazed.

When you think of band you might think of something like a trumpet, clarinet, trombone, or a saxophone. You probably don’t automatically think of a bassoon. A bassoon is an instrument that can be played in both band and orchestra, it has a richer sound and basically brings the who band together.

Well, Suarez plays the bassoon and the saxophone, Suarez is in the marching band and the concert band. Suarez started off just playing the saxophone and then one day her band teacher asked the saxophone and flute players if any of them would be interested. Suarez ended

74 SECTION SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

up being the bassoon player they choose. She took private lessons for the bassoon to help her get a better sound and learn more about the instrument. Suarez still plays the saxophone when she is in marching band. Suarez said,”I like the experience of being in marching band and I am looking forward to going to Disney World this April.”

Another big part of Suarez’s life is swimming. Suarez started off swimming at the Red Cross she got to the second to last level and

decided to try out for Ice and has been doing it ever since. Suarez is also on the West High Swim Team , Suarez said she was nervous but also excited to be on the West High team. “I think it is great. I think that it helps her in very many different ways and i’m very happy that she’s into it and likes to swim,” said Suarez’s mom. When she was little she looked up to Missy Franklin because she started young and pursued her dream of being an olympian. Suarez said, “When I grow up I know that I would want to continue swimming but not be so serious about it, I wouldn’t want to get a scholarship for it or anything I would like to focus more on my academic career.”

COMPILED BY LEAH DUSTERHOFT

BY THE NUMBERS

450 5

2

Is about how many swim meets Suarez has been in.

is how many years she hasbeen compedittively swimming and how manyyears she has been playing the saxophone.

Is how many instrument Suarez plays.

Fun Facts

-Kiley loves to hang out with her friends in her free time.

-Her ideal meal is lazagna with oreo cheese cake for dessert -Her and her three other siblings were all born two years apart from eacother -If kiley got a dog she would name it Tucker -If Kiley could travel anywhere she would travel to Venice

DOING THE THING SHE LOVES Written by Taylor Streck You come home late after a three hour cheer practice just like the four nights leading up to this one.

Your back is throbbing and in constant pain. You lay down on your heating back pad and you take five Ibuprofen. The pain eases slightly. You know that in order to do what you love you are going to be in pain. Maybe, for the rest of your life.

At the age of five, Kiley Piercy 19’ went to her first cheer practice to observe and see if she was interested. She had been in gymnastics at the age of two and her mom thought it would be a good idea. “I knew from the moment I actually got out there and started to cheer that it was my passion. That night I went home and had my dad spot my cart wheels and I quit gymnastics right away,” Piercy said.

Piercy has been fully committed to cheer ever since that day ten

years ago. She was even one of the first people to be in Iowa elite; her audition cheer team. She has cheer four out of the five weekdays for three hours at a time. That is not including the 40 minutes it takes her to get to and from the gym where she practices. ”Every practice a girl gets injured, whether it is in a minor or major way. The most common injury in cheer are nose breaks and people often break their legs and arms,”

Kiley has broken her nose several times, has bulging back disks which cause constant pain, and major knee problems. Her best cheer friend, Hannah Sefton 19’ said Piercy even attends practices while she’s sick. “She will put blood sweat and tears into it. She has been doing it since she was little and none of her injuries have ever stopped her from continuing on season after season.”

Kiley was forced to start this season late but she joined right back in when possible. Her injury could and probably will affect her for the rest of her life yet she refuses to give up her passion. “I was told by my doctor to quit cheer, so I rested my body over the summer and joined in later on,” Piercy said. Joining in late on a sport with complicated routines that use tough technique was very hard for Kiley. “I found myself having to work twice as hard during practices due to everyone else being conditioned. I also had to work on my technique quite a bit,” Piercy said.

Though it can be tough a lot of the time for Kiley to continue doing cheer, she continues. The biggest struggle for her is time management due to a heavy class schedule. Although she does notice some stereotyping due to her being a cheerleader. “People definitely have stereotyped me

from the cheerleaders they see in the movies. They think of me as dumb, snotty, rich and popular,” Piercy said. Kiley has proven these people wrong.

Kiley is one of the sweetest and smartest people you will meet. “Kiley is the person that gets me through each and every practice. She motivates me and the team to push ourselves as cheerleaders. Younger kids look up to her because her personality is so positive and she is so loving towards everybody” Sefton said.

Not only has cheer allowed Kiley to meet some of her best friends but it also allows her to travel all around America for cheer compositions. Because of cheer so far, she has been to eight states but their are more to come. Kiley plans to continue cheer for as long as she can and maybe later on in life become a coach for younger children.

WSSPAPER.COM SPEPTEMBER 2016 PAGE 75

SPARKLES MEET STRESS The life of high school cheerleader

By Caecilia Shoppa

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“It isn’t all sparkles and smiles all the time.”

-Goodale ‘20 The smell of nachos and hotdogs fill the football stadium. The sound of screaming students and rain is all that is audible. The stands are full of gold and green and people cheering for the football team. But for Austyn Goodale ’20, she looks above the crowd and tumbles down in a complex set of turns. She lands and waves with a smile and yells, “Let’s go West” along with the rest of the cheerleaders.

But being a cheerleader isn’t all smiles and pom poms. “It can be very difficult. It isn’t all sparkles and smiles all the time. The mental and physical demands are sometimes a lot for one person,” she said. Goodale spends her Tuesday and Friday mornings practicing with the other cheerleaders. For Goodale, cheerleading is a way to relieve the stress brought on by school.

“Although it gets difficult, it’s been a great way to meet new people and get to know them. It pushes me to try new things and build up confidence.” With help from the cheerleaders, the student section at football games is always in high spirits. “Performing in front of the school used to make me really nervous. But when you hear everyone cheering, it makes you feel so much more confident.

That confidence makes performing incredible.”

Besides being a cheerleader, Goodale keeps a busy schedule participating in competitive cheer and is a member of the dive team.

“I find that cheerleading really helps with diving. My favorite is the Forward Half Spin. It makes me feel like I’m flying,” Goodale said.

But like many high school students, there has to be a balance between school work and extracurricular activities. “To me, freshman year isn’t too different than junior high. We don’t have too much homework or tests. It’s just harder doing so many other things. It definitely gets stressful,” said Goodale.

Besides being the energetic cheerleader outside of school, Goodale is just as bubbly in the classroom. “I definitely am an extroverted person. I have a lot to be happy about. But like everyone else, I have bad days where I am in a cranky mood.” According to Goodale’s best friend Riley Fay ‘20, she has changed a lot since junior high.

“Back then she was pretty introverted and quiet. But now she is very comfortable being silly and brings that energy with her everywhere. She puts others before herself. I admire that. I think its the best quality she has. Its an important one.” said Fay. But even

Austyn’s 5 Favs Fav Movie Highschool Musical

Fav class Spanish

Fav food Oreos Megastuff

Fav color Green

Fav song Formation by Beyonce if Goodale does have a bad day, she puts it behind her and gets right back up again.

“Even if I have a bad day, I always like to make other people laugh. It makes me happy to see them in a good mood.”

Besides cheerleading, Goodale has a bright future planned. “I’m interested in the medical field. It would be a great way to help other people. Because I’m good with kids, I would love to be a children’s doctor.”

Said Goodale.

Although wanting to be a doctor, Goodale wants to involve her present hobbies in her future. “I would love to cheer for the Kentucky football team. They are the number one cheer team in the nation.” she said.

But whatever Goodale decides to do, whether it be cheerleading, diving or becoming a doctor, she plans on “giving it my entire heart and even more.”

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 77

“Life is too short to be afraid of doing what you want to do.”

-Student ’19

BRING IT ON FUTURE Hopes for what’s ahead for Maddy Luegering Whatever holds us, will break us eventually. Especially the unknown knowledge of what’s ahead of us. It’s neither good nor bad, it all depends on you.

really lived anywhere, besides Iowa, so like I hope to go out to like, Florida or Boston.”

“The only reason I think she would want to stay in Iowa, is her family because, she really loves them and I think she gets homesick real easily.” Nicole Fitzpatrick ‘19 said.

Maddy Luegering ’19, tells us about her dreams and hopes for her future. She’s a very sweet person and even if you don’t talk to her, just simply having a class with her, After, the interview with can prove that she is indeed one of Maddy’s close a very nice person. friends, Maggie Towler ’19 just like Luegering. “Ca“I’ve always wanted to go to reer-wise, I don’t think London and England,” said Maddy knows what to do Maddy Luegering ’18. “It’s yet, but we do have plans hard to explain but it’s just for the future. We both always been my dream and, hope to go to the same colI don’t know, the architecture lege and also travel togethof the buildings and stuff just er to California or somefascinates me.” thing like that.”

better for us now in the present. It’s called regret, wishing we could’ve done that to help or this for them.

“The only thing I kind of regret is, not expanding my friends.

Like I have a group of friends but I never really gone out of that group like, talk to other people and stuff and so I just wish I could’ve expanded my bubble.”

The present is also a very important thing to focus on. What is it that you have done that you are most proud of?

“The thing I am most proud of is my grades.

Like I said, I don’t like studying, but my grades is something I work hard for and so I’m proud of them. I don’t really do extra curricular activities and so I don’t know, I guess I’m just proud of myself,” Luegering said

erything we do. Little things can also affect us like this, so who or what is it that inspires you the most? “Well, obviously my family because they’re all great people, they’re all super happy and they’re just all really fun and I just really aspire to be like them. Although the one person I really admire, is my grandpa. He really likes to make people smile and everyday he has like this goal to at least make five strangers smile and I don’t know, it’s really a good way to look at things and I just love it.”

Tough times is another big obstacle that we all face everyday at some point and we all have our ways of dealing with it in some way.

It’s sometimes can be overcome on our own but we also need people there for us.

“I’ve only really been to Mexico,” Luegering said.

Aside from that, whenever she’s traveled, it’s only been here in the States. Her family really likes to visit tropical places, so they’ve never really been to New York or Canada.

Nicole Fitzpatrick ‘19, another close friend, agrees.

“Maddy is the sweetest person I have ever met. She’s really quiet at first, but once you like get to know her, she’s really awesome and funny.

Aside from traveling, Luegering doesn’t consider herself a big fan of studying.

Although, she is hoping to go to college out of state. I never

Many of us always look back at the past and think We, most of the “Just be who you are of things we wished we times, have people who and the best version of would’ve done differently inspires us to be better yourself and always be that would’ve made things and work harder in ev- like that. If you really

like the way you are with your friends then why not be like that with everyone? Just branch out,” Luegering said.

Looking forward is a thing we always have to do. Although the most important thing I think we all should do is focus on right now.

The present is what affects our future and if we do one mistake, in some way it can change what lays ahead of us.

So focus and do as much as you can right now, because it won’t be the same in the upcoming years. Take what you’ve learned in the past and use it now.

Make the most of life and enjoy.

BY: MOIRA IGLECIAS

The sport she loves took her to a dangerous situation Nicu Curtu

It was supposed to be a great day, a marathon just like any other. But boom, and then she heard the explosion. Emma Durian ’19 ran in the Boston Marathon the year that it was bombed. “ I at first thought the Koreans were bombing us.” Durian said.

Durian has been a runner since third grade, starting when she when she first heard of Girls on the Run, an organization that encourages girls to follow their dreams, and to fulfill their potential. With Girls on the Run she ran her first 5K. Durian is very dedicated to running, having done it at school since she was in seventh grade. Her dedication to the sport is clearly visible, as the new school schedule means she sometimes gets home very late. She also sometimes has to come to school in the morning for practice. When there is morning practice, she has to get up at 6 a.m.. One reason that she enjoys running so much is that many of her friends do it as well. “We didn’t become friends until we ran track together,” said Emma Gehlbach ’19.

Durian feels that her parents and her family support her participation in cross-country and track. She gets along well with her parents, she feels like she has no problem talking with them and that if anyone in the family does, it would be her sister. “My sister acts more like a teenager.” Durian said. Durian is two years older than her sister. “Actually one year, eleven months, two weeks, and one day.”

Durian said. Durian says that she probably gets along better with her brother than her sister, but she admits that the main reason is most likely that her brother is six years old, while her sister is 13.

80 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

The one person that inspires Durian the most is her aunt, because she has travelled to many places in the world. When Durian was a little girl, her aunt promised her that if by the time Durian was 16, she still hadn't gotten married, she would take Durian to see any place in the world. Durian turns 16 soon, and her aunt still isn’t married, so that dream trip to Costa Rica might be in the near future.

Running led Durian to the most dangerous situation of her life.

Durian, along with some family members went to the Boston Marathon in 2013. She along with her mother ran only a part of the marathon. Durian’s aunt, who had promised her the trip anywhere in the world, though, ran the whole marathon. After Durian and her mother had stopped running in the marathon, they went on a train to see the finish line and the runners which were finishing. Durian did not get to see her aunt, though, as when she was a block away from the finish line, the bomb went off.

Luckily, Durian’s aunt was safe, as she had finished the marathon about four minutes before the bomb went off. Right after the bomb went off Durian and her mother tried to get to their hotel. It was not an easy task for them, as they had no money, and had left their cell phones, at the hotel, in order to make running in the marathon easier.

Durian now runs cross-country, and is in the tenth grade at West High, far away from any dangerous situation.

Be Like Mik By: Aaron Fennell-Chametzky Barack Obama did it. So did Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, John Edwards, John McCain, John Kerry and George W. Bush. Take a guess at what these men have in common.

Mikial Syed ‘20, wants to do the same thing someday. What can be made of him? You might think that he has no sense of direction in life, but one passion keeps him blithe at all times: drawing.

Syed was really drawing a lot in fifth grade with his friends Sanjeev Sarin ‘20 and Anonymous Person (former friend who did not want his name mentioned) ‘20. “That was basically the Golden Age of my drawing,” Syed remarks. He is now back onto it with his new comic, “Stick Life.” Also an avid videogame player, he prefers drawing because “it’s just a lot more creative, you know, than playing video games.

Video games have what to do already in them.” About his game-playing, Syed enjoys the classics. His favorite video game is Street Fighter II from 1991. Although he participates (and does well) in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments, he prefers Street Fighter because it is “less Song button mashing and more realistic.”

Running for president is a hard thing to do. He knows this, but wants to take on the challenge, starting with becoming Book a lawyer. “Being a lawyer is important because that’s where most great politicians start their careers,” Syed said. When Class I asked him who he looks up to as a role model (of anyone he doesn’t know), he quickly answered “John Kasich. Yeah, President definitely him because he showed a great attitude in the primaries. This was a guy who literally was expected to get 1 percent of the vote, but ended up staying with it. He suspended his campaign when he wanted to, not when Trump or anybody pushed him out.” The main political issues to Syed are illegal immigration, economy, abortion, and education (Common Core). His political views have changed a lot over this election cycle. First, he supported Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. Next, he jumped on the Marco Rubio bandwagon. His main support, obviously, was for John Kasich, until he dropped out. Syed than supported Donald Trump. “I can’t support Trump anymore because of his ‘build a wall’ nonsense,” he said. Now he is for Conservative third-party candidate Gary Johnson.

From the beginning, it might have seemed like Mikail Syed was just an average kid (except for the fact that he said he’ll be remembered by peers as “an idiot because I’m so tan”).

But my advice is to Be Like Mik.

Mik’s Favorites

Written in the Stars

by Tinie Tempah Captain Underpants Social Studies Ronald Reagan

How To Play Ten

BY SIERRA A. SUITER

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Sanjeev Sarin ’20 had been playing soccer for most of his elementary years when one day his parents decided it was too dangerous for him.

“I was using my head too much to score goals and they thought I would get brain damage,” Sarin said. So, his parents decided to show him a safer sport: tennis. He has been playing tennis for over 7 years.

Sarin has slowly become more committed to tennis and now practices for two hours everyday. He knew that it wasn’t just going to take 2 days to learn how to play tennis well so he put the time and effort he knew he needed to put in to be the best he could be. Sarin feels like tennis has changed his life and without it, his life it would be very different.

“It makes my life more interesting and suspenseful because every day I know that someone might be better than me but that I can beat, if I pull my full effort then I can get something whether I lose or win,” Sarin said. When he plays tennis he doesn’t play to win, he plays to play.

In his first match he played for 30 minutes and was already put in the consolation B Bracket. If you couldn’t tell the B Bracket is when you have lost all of your games and there is no way to win 1st or 2nd place. After that, he decided to work as hard as possible to improve. He knew he could do better and he hoped to be as good as the guy he first played against.

“I could see him becoming a professional tennis player or a career that has something to do with tennis because he clearly has a passion for it” Chris ’20 As he grows up he hopes to be able to play tennis in college which as you can see his peers believe he can do.

Besides playing tennis, Sarin loves to go scuba diving in the Bahamas and hopes one day to get a scuba diving license.

Sarin has been three times and every time he enjoys himself more.

“What we have up here does not compare to what’s down there. When you are down there it feels like you are at a spa,” Sarin said. He sees that it really showed him how beautiful the world was. Scuba diving gave him a refreshed perspective of life.

SEPTEMBER

As you can tell Sarin is like most of us dreams that he knows he can make a r works hard and doesn’t give up. We m different but we all can work towards we try.

nnis Under

s he has reality if he might all3 be something if

TOP 5

VIDEO GAMES

Sangeevs top five favorite video games of all time

1) Battlefield 1 2)Battlefield 4 3)Watch Dogs 4)Titanfall 5)NBA 2K 16

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PAINTING FRIENDSHIPS Lydia Guo ‘19 creates friendships through a shared love of art

BY DEVIN NOLTE True artists take many years to become experts. Lydia Guo ’19 started drawing in third grade for fun and has been mastering art’s imitation of life since. Guo started to gain an interest in art from a young age along with two of her closest friends, Frances Dai ’19 and Sophia Chen ’19.

“We have been super close because of art. We’ve been able to talk about it and critique each other's work, and help each other become better artists,” Guo said.

Dai introduced Guo to Maroger Fine Arts Studio when Guo was in fifth grade. “I invited Lydia ’cause I knew she liked art and this studio

helps so much when it comes to art technique,” Dai said.

Chen joined shortly after, and all three still paint at Maroger Fine Arts studio under the instruction of Yvette Jury. They have all stuck with Yvette as they feel a closer connection to their art and to Yvette as a person. “Yvette has been my favorite art teacher so far.

She really lets me do whatever I want and she lets me choose the art pieces I want to do and she doesn’t control me like my

other art teachers do.” Guo said. think art is all about learning and Guo feels that she can express not only expressing yourself to othherself through her art, and enjoys ers, but improving and feeling happainting still scenes and landscapes py with what you’ve created. Lydia the most. “I have been trying to do definitely does all of that and enjoys more portraits and faces because it while she does it,” Chen said. that's what I Guo, Dai, and Chen all have no am bad at, I plans to leave Yvette anytime soon am better at and expect to continue art together landscapes and throughout the rest of high school. nature and stuff “We’re super comfortable with each like that, but other and Yvette has taught us tons.

I'm really bad I guess the best part is we improve, at portraits,” are allowed to make mistakes, and Guo said. have a fun time doing it,” Dai said.

Guo likes to use art as a way to Art has taught Guo a lot through express the world and the way she her years, and she has been able to sees it. She has a particular love for learn a lot of lessons, way beyond still lifes as she can copy something just art. Guo feels that she will conin the world into a painting. “ I’m tinue painting and art as it allows not very good at creating my orig- her to find happiness, but does not inal work,” Guo said emphasizing currently expect to go into a career a preference for creating duplica- of art. Even with that said, she curtions. I’m really good at still lifes rently loves art and is very glad she and landscapes because I like imi- has her friends to support her and tating what I see onto the canvas.” learn with her. “Art is like a safe Both Chen and Dai have ob- place, the Friday classes at Yvette’s served Guo’s art style and take into are hilarious. We get off task someaccount how Guo is able to express times but we talk with each other herself through her art. “Lydia has freely and really enjoy doing what a smooth, vivid style, to put it in we love together.” words. I feel like it allows her to convey herself in the sense that it allows her to create anything she wants and add her own spin to things,” Years Guo has been at Maroger Dai said. Maroger Fine Arts Studio Art has been able to connect the trio even nd Place districtly in National more as they have Peace Poster competition the ability to express themselves as they wish, and this creates a sense of the kind of Times Guo visits Maroger each person they are and week how they interpret art and the world. “I

"We can connect with something that I can’t connect with to other people."

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5 2

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ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY Alex Pitz ‘20 shows that rock music is alive and well

BY LUCY POLYAK

When people think of rock music, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe and other 80s bands might come to mind. But Alexandra (Alex) Pitz ’20 proves that this genre still has quite the following.

“I think I was on an app on my mom’s phone looking up different genres of music and somehow came across [rock music],” Pitz said. It’s no question why she’d have grown up being fond of this music, considering her dad works for the rock radio station 100.7 The Fox. “Some songs get you really pumped up or happy. Others are good for when you’re mad,” Pitz said. “It really depends on the mood I’m in. I usually focus on the lyrics more than the sound of the song itself, unless I’m really mad or something.”

Describing the songs she listens to, Pitz talked about the use of drums, bass and guitar, as well as a fair amount of screaming and fast spoken word. Pitz goes on to explain that if she were given the chance, she would have wanted to have been alive during the 80s to have heard the famous bands that have inspired some of her favorite groups.

A lot of her friends listen to the same type of music. In fact, last year she was able to attend the Northern Invasion concert with her best friend Taylor Gardner ’20. The two of them got to see groups such as Bring Me the Horizon, Korn, and Disturbed.

Gardner and Pitz have been friends for two years. When asked about Pitz, Gardner said “[Alex] is nice, outspoken, and always there for me.”

Gardner went on to describe the type of music the two listen to as “loud but soothing at times.”

Pitz currently plays the piano, but would like to play guitar in a band if she was given the chance.

“Actually, I’ve always wanted a boyfriend in a band. Otherwise, I’d like to play guitar,” Pitz said. Her current boyfriend, Coleton Hedlund ’20, is into the same music style as she is. The two have known each other since the sixth grade and have been together for a little over a year.

“Alex is funny and awesome. She’s fun to be around and talk to, and if you feel bad she’s good to talk to,” Hedlund said.

Hedlund described Pitz’s music taste as, “Like rock and roll. Falling in Reverse and bands like that.”

While the vast majority of her friend group proves that rock is still a relevant genre, there are some minor disagreements on what the best genre might actually be.

“We all like rock, “Pitz said.“But one of my friends likes country music.

I hate country music.”

Alex’s Top Five Bands: 1. Falling in Reverse 2. Green Day 3. AC/DC 4. Mötely Crüe 5. Guns N’ Roses WSSPAPER PAGE 85 SEPTEMBER 2016

Miles Away

By Mario Bojorjes After waiting a nine grueling years, she was finally back in the most populated country in the world. I’m sure you can guess what country I’m talking about, China. Populated of about 1.325 billion people.Getting to listen to someone’s story from China really gives you a different perspective about their culture and way of life. Not many of us get to actually meet someone who has been out of the country, especially somewhere that far away.

“Its full of sand, and we rode camels and visited a circus. And my brother got chased by a tiger.” Ting Gao 19’ said. That’s something none of us would expect to hear or see happen in China. Maybe somewhere towards the middle eastern we would see camels, but not in China. Throughout her long visit their she stayed in big cities as well as little villages. “We stayed in a little village full of fruits and trees owned by my relatives.And we were the only ones living there. I don’t really like all the heat there and the fact it’s so full.” Ting Gao 19’said. “Everyday we ate fruits and my favorite one was dates”, said Ting Gao 19.It’s crazy how in my sixteen years 86 PROFILE SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

of existen i have never even heard of that fruit. I was amazed and a little confused when she told me that. I thought she was just messing around,but iwas wrong. Later that night I looked it up and it sort of looked like raisins.

But throughout everywhere she went, she said she’d prefer to live in Iowa rather than China. Eventhough all her relatives live in China.

Ting visited a couple cities Guang zhou, and Wuhan with her mom, brother, sister and dad . Guang zhou is the third largest city in China. It is also known as Canton, and is the political, economic,sci-tech, educational and central hub of Southern China. Chutin was the earliest formation of present Guang zhou.

Now Wuhan its a 3500 year long history city.It is one of the most ancient and most civilized metropilians cities in China.

NOTHING DEBATABLE ABOUT IT THE OUTLOOK ON NICK SILVA ‘19

By Marah Fuller

I

n a world with a high school full of typical teenagers -The music lovers, the nerds, the jocks, the rock-and-rollers -One boy is different from them all. Nick Silva ’19 is unique. He enjoys computers; he even built one over the summer. TV bores him; he would rather be doing something else than watch marathons of Grey’s Anatomy.

And he loves debate.

Silva is part of the West High debate team. He joined freshman year because of the example of many of his friends. They had previously done debate in junior high and planned to continue so he thought he would try it out as well. “Going along with my friends, we get to travel a lot and we stay overnight in hotels. And staying overnight in a hotel with four of my friends, staying up all night playing video games and just chilling is just--it’s fun,” Silva said. “The first one we ever went to one kid slept on the floor the entire night because he didn’t want to sleep with one of us.”

According to Silva, the debate starts small the first week and throughout the year it grows,

becoming more complex and very thought-provoking. “One team has a plan and … they say that if you don’t do [that] plan, then bad things are going to happen.” Silva said. One team creates an idea of how to solve a problem while another team has a different plan.

The two teams must debate and prove that their ideas are the better choice. “It’s just the one topic and then it just, it evolves as the year goes on.”

overnight in “Staying a hotel with four of

my friends, staying up all night playing video games and just chilling is just--it’s fun -Silva ‘19

”

Silva enjoys the time spent at competitions, especially one with a memorable prize. “I think it was in Des Moines, Roosevelt tournament. And me and my partner, we just did really well and we got like the best speaker points … We got a big box of these chocolate teddy grahams to eat on the way home...

Silva ‘19 I don’t know, it was tasty and I got to brag about it to my friends on the way back,” Silva said.

Silva also attended a debate camp at the University of Michigan over the summer.

The camp lasted for four weeks, and students were taught how to gather evidence, speak well, and practice against other debaters according to Hang Sung ’19, Silva’s roommate while at the camp.

Currently, Silva and the rest of the debate team are preparing for their competition coming up in the start of October. It will be in Cedar Rapids where they will face other local schools.

Their focus is China relations. “[He’s] extremely witty and funny and smart,” as described by his sister; Frank, intelligent and fun. Nick Silva, debater.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 87

SLITHERING ON UP ALL THE WAY TO A PH.D - IN HERPETOLOGY

By Eva Burbidge

“

But, in reality, there are so many different personalities and colors and just so much to learn; I just hope people can learn to love them too.

-Carley Spading ‘20

“

“I’ve had basically every type of pet in the book. I’ve had fish, a hamster, a hedgehog, birds and dogs, but a snake was something that was kind of interesting, it was very very different,” said Carley Spading ’19.

Spading got her first snake at age seven and named it Sam. Unfortunately, Sam passed away. “It took me awhile to get back into reptiles after that,” Spading said.

“I just remember that I was at a baseball game and I was out of data so I decided to get my mom’s phone out and look at some pictures of snakes …” and that’s what really got me back into them after so long.”

Ever since then, Spading has loved everything about reptiles. She even has two more snakes now, named Jobi and Pocket.

And now her dream pet is a caiman, which is basically a small alligator. She knows that likely won’t be happening anytime soon, at least not while she’s under the same roof as her mom.

Spading goes to reptile shows with some of her closest friends that love reptiles almost as much as she does. Reptile shows are a place for breeders to show off and sell their reptiles. One of Spading’s friends, Faith Geyer ’18, went to a reptile show with her once. “I find reptiles to be incredibly intriguing, stunning animals, and at the reptile show that I went to with Carley, she got a new snake, Pocket, and it’s been really cool to watch it grow since then.”

Geyer also has a snake of her own, named Ramen.

Spading’s dream is to continue studying reptiles in her future. She wants to get a Ph.D in herpetology, which is the branch of zoology concerned with amphibians and reptiles. “There’s so many places you can go with the study of herpetology,” Spading said. Her plans for where she wants to go with her Ph.D in herpetology are huge.

She hopes to one day even open a place that educates people on reptiles and helps raise reptile awareness. “My dream for the future is to open up a Midwest reptile education center,” Spading said. “I’ve got it all pretty much planned out.” In fact, she does have it all planned out.

“It’s just going to be a place where people can come and interact with different reptiles that we have.” Spading said. “I want 88 PROFILE SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER

it to not only have all the reptiles I’ve ever wanted, but also enable other people to work with them and to learn about them and to appreciate them in their natural environment.”

She hopes to educate people on reptiles in a way that will help people understand that reptiles are made out to be these horrible, scary, creatures, but they aren’t always. “In this world, [reptiles] are so ignored. No one actually looks into what they’re actually like,” Spading said “but in reality there are so many different personalities and colors and just so much to learn and I just hope people can learn to love them too.”

SPADING’S SNAKES

JOBI

Jobi’s a corn snake, and is about a foot and a half long.

POCKET Pocket is a Kenyan Sand Boa, and is about a foot long.

CENTER STAGE

BY NICK SILVA

She walks on stage to the monotonous chatter of the audience and takes her place in the middle of the stage. Kachunk, the stage lights turn on and the audience goes silent. The music plays and the butterflies in sophomore Marah Fuller’s stomach go away; she knows she is home.

Fuller is an aspiring traditional ballet dancer. Ever since a young age, Marah Fuller has wanted to become a dancer.

“When I was little, my sister danced and I’d stand outside and watch her, and ever since then I wanted to do dance,” she said.

After, Fuller insisted on joining dance and got her mom to sign her up for her first dance class. She was ecstatic. Since then, Fuller has spent nearly all of her waking hours either dancing or spending time with her friends and family.

Enrolled as a full time student, it can often be difficult for Fuller to balance her school work and the aspirations she has for dance. Even though dance may not become her career, she knows it will be part of her future. “Right now I’m just

“Last performance I had a solo.

I totally went blank. I wanted to barf, I couldn’t remember any of the dance,” Fuller ’19 trying to work as hard as I can but maybe sometime I’ll try and go to a [dance] school,” said Fuller.

Over the summer, Fuller went to a six week dance intensive camp in Houston, Texas. “Last summer I went to a summer intensive [...] I went to Houston for six weeks and you stay in a college dorm .They take you over to the ballet and you dance all day, and you come home and then you do it again every single day and it’s cool, it was a cool experience,” she said.

As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, one of the main things that has kept Fuller coming back to dance is the difficulty.

“No matter how hard you work on it, it’s not going to be perfect [...] you can’t really focus on anything besides dancing while you’re doing it,” she said. Fuller strives for perfection every time she practices and performs.

Another reason Fuller loves to dance so much is because she has the opportunity to be with people that share her passion for ballet. While dancing at the Nolte Dance Academy in Coralville, Fuller has made many friends because of her passion and bright and happy personality.

“When I’m around her, I feel so much happier because she’s such a joyful person,” said Kristin Asa ’19. “She’s always herself and never tries to impress anyone.”

When Fuller takes stage as a ballerina, she has to embody and take the character of whomever she is dancing as. Taking this character changes her perspective on the world, and when she is behind that mask, she is capable of doing anything.

As for the future, Fuller wants to become a physical therapist and be able to help those who don’t have the same opportunities that she does. “She always works hard and has a good attitude about everything she does,” said her brother Ander Fuller ’18. As she grows to love dance more and more Fuller knows it is something she will never give up.

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PAGE 89

LUCY POLYAK, BEHIND THE SCENES Piano. Theatre. Show choir. Tap dancing. Ever since first grade, when Lucy Polyak ‘19

started playing piano--she’s had show business in her blood.

“She’s a very amazing human being,” said Polyak’s close friend, Sofia Perez ’17.

She’s very loud, but in the best way. She has more talent than I could ever describe.”

Polyak is very passionate about what she does. “I just like being in front of an audience,” Polyak said. She has been in the show business for over half her life and she’s still grounded into it. With her vast experience in the musical arts, from tap dancing to playing piano, theatre is what Polyak is most passionate about. Theatre has a lot of variety, unlike piano and show choir. There are so many different genres but there are only so many songs you can pick from. Theatre is also about getting to know people. Polyak met almost all of her close friends through theatre. “[Theatre] brings everyone together in a way I’ve never experienced outside of theatre,” Polyak said.

Despite her love for theatre, Polyak also has a passion for tap dancing. Unfortunately, after 10 years of tap dancing, she had to quit due to lack of time in her schedule. “I’m super not flexible,” Polyak said. and old acting teacher, Ian Zahren. “He has probably made the biggest impact on my life,” Polyak said. “[I] strive to live like him everyday,” Polyak said.

Noah Tiegs ‘16 is another person Polyak looks up to. Polyak did a scene with Tiegs in a SPIT (Student Produced Innovative Theatre) performance which she will never forget. “I probably won’t ever forget that experience as an actress because of his talent level,” Polyak said.

Polyak loves what she does. “Lucy is very comfortable on stage. She knows exactly what to do at any point in time. And she can play any character. She can bring you to tears or make you pee yourself laughing,” Perez said . Polyak has been in eight shows in three years of being in theatre.

“Whatever part she is given or where ever she is placed on the stage, she makes the most of it and performs to the best of her ability,” said her other close friend, Zach Ring ’18. On the stage, Polyak’s happiness is your happiness. “Bringing people joy can be a pretty cool thing,” Polyak said.

9 MUSICALS LUCY POLYAK WOULD LIKE TO BE IN: 1. Chicago 2. Hairspray 3. Newsies 4. Pippin 5. Spring Awakening 6, Sweeney Todd 7. Rent 8. The Addams Family 9. West Side Story

LOCK

THE

TOOLSHED

LOAD

THE

TOYS

&

THE TODDLERS ARE COMING

BY WILLIAM FENG

Four year olds are like ants. than a mother, she is also her role model.

They each run around in their “She has taught me many valuable lessons,” Nachtman own paths, with no sense of said . “When I was young, I was really bossy. I would direction, only to bump into get into huge arguments over small things. My mother each other or a momentarily changed that. She taught me that I had to pick and neglected toy. Once they find choose my battles. You can’t fight every single battle that their food, they start to chew you start. You have to single out the most important away at the plastic shell of ones, and wage those wars.” the already deformed toy. It Nachtman is considering multiple careers in the wouldn’t last long for a normal future. One she seems most certain is to become a home before it is devoid of any teacher. intact hand held devices. But “When I grow up, I want to help people,” Nachtman to Abby Nachtman ’20, living with these toddlers has said. “And as a teacher, I feel I can do that.”

Being a teacher isn’t the only profession she was become her normal in her daily life. In fact, her home considering. She also wants to become a nurse so that is a daycare.

Nachtman’s mother ran an in-home daycare, before she could meet and help new people.

Nachtman was even born.

“Abby is funny, Instead of buying a second friendly, hard working, “You can’t fight every single home separate from the war and cares about her zone, Abby was born and raised battle that you start. You have friends and is kind. in the same house that her you’re to single out the most important Whenever mother worked in. To some around her she always people, living in a space that ones and wage those wars.” makes you laugh and coincides with a four year old she helps you during playground would be like living hard times,” said Erica -Abby Nachtman ‘20 in the stone age, but the idea Heisdoffer ‘19, a friend that her home resembles such a of Abby. nightmare is abstract to Nachtman.

However in the end, the profession of teaching will be “I don’t really have problems with kids screaming or the most appealing for her, mainly because of her past yelling while I’m trying to do homework,” Nachtman instructors. said.“Sure there are times when they are wild and “Before I was in fifth grade, I didn’t like social studies, energetic, but a lot of the time, they’re very quiet. because the class was just dishing out facts. Then I had They’re just so relaxed and chill.”

Mr. Landle in fifth grade for social studies. I really Although it would be reasonable to assume Nachtman enjoyed his class, but I guess I liked it because I got helps out in the daycare often, being tied down with to color. But he made social studies so interesting and schoolwork and show choir means little available time. fun to learn. I want to do that. I want to make learning Nachtman said almost all of the business and work is more enjoyable and fun. Make kids want to learn.” done by her mother. To Nachtman, her mother more

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PAGE 92

MAKING TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS

By Grace Heller

Grace Brusegaard 20’ has decided to do something effective with her life by choosing to volunteer her time to help others who need it most.

She volunteers at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics at least once a week in a three hour shift, but she often signs up for extra shifts.

Brusegaard has been volunteering at the hospital for about a year. She chose to volunteer there because she wants to become a doctor, specifically a surgeon--possibly for children.

She works with children when volunteering.

“Already having the experience working with sick kids in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) will help me to know what I can also do to help them emotionally as a doctor,“ Brusegaard said. She is already preparing academically for her career by taking biology, her favorite class in school. Brusegaard loves learning about human anatomy.

“I really like human anatomy and all of that stuff. I want to be like a surgeon or a child pediatrician. Thats why I like to volunteer there.”

96 PORTFOLIO SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

“I really like the quote, “By helping one person you might not change the world, but you will for that person.”

Megan Colony 20’, Brusegaard’s close friend, speaks highly of Brusegaard’s character, saying that she is “crazy, smart and kind.” Kindness is something that Brusegaard shows daily and when she is volunteering. Brusegaard says that she has been able to meet several people through volunteering at the hospital which has helped her to have “more confidence” from having to introduce herself and talk to a lot of people she didn’t know before.

Outside of volunteering, Brusegaard keeps very busy. Some of her other activities include tennis, volleyball and many years playing piano.

Brusegaard still makes time to help others at the University Hospital.

Brusegaard works with children and adults.

Some of her jobs at the hospital include: cleaning and working at the hospital library at the desk and putting books away.

Grace Brusegaard(left) folding linen at the University of Iowa Hospital with Emma Troyer(right).

Volunteering at the hospital helps Brusegaard with her goal of becoming a surgeon. Volunteer hours look good on a college resume and it prepares her to know some of what it’s like being a doctor.

Brusegaard recommends volunteering to everyone. “I grew up watching my mom volunteering at church and other places and it inspired me to want to help others,” Brusegaard said.“(It) makes me feel good to help people who are sick.”

“I would definitely recommend it just because you get to, even if you don’t like hospitals, you get to meet a bunch of people and you really get to see what happens when you help other people out. And to see how grateful they are and it helps too with getting to know new people.”

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PORTFOLIO 97

A “LITTLE” INTEREST Many things excite freshman Lexie Little.

BY AYANNA ROST Tackling freshman year can be tough, especially when you’re in three sports and count time to read as a high priority, spending many hours each week with your head in a book. “Every second you give me,” to be exact. This is the scenario for Lexie Little ’20.

Since seventh grade, sports has been a passion, participating in volleyball, bowling and track. “I love it,” she said. “I walk into the bowling alley bright and early at nine a.m. on Saturdays and I can know people. It’s a friendly place.”

She describes the bowling alley as “a run down kinda place. It’s old; it’s not the new style.

There’s not really new technology.

Mostly old technology and old games.” Although this may not sound too appealing, she said it’s becoming her second home because she “goes there a lot now.

It’s fun cause you get to see all the new people and have fun with your friends,” Little said.

Her friends seem to agree on the fact that she loves to bowl. “I would describe her personality as fun, determined and crazy,” said Ke’Asia Mullen ’20, a friend of Little. “She is the best at what she does, and I think she enjoys bowling over everything because that’s all she ever talks about sometimes. She likes the competitiveness of it and the winning.”

Little has other interests besides sports. These include reading, writing, designing, fine arts and a pet turtle named Edward. “Actually, I wasn’t there for that, but I know the story,” she said with a laugh. “My dad... got it three years ago, when he was driving on the golf course and he almost ran it over. So he thought he could be a little hero and take in the little turtle. [The turtle] could fit in the bottom of a coffee cup, but now he’s the size of a guy’s hand. Like, he’s huge,” Little said.

One time, Edward had a little mishap. “It was

funny, we took him out of the cage once, and we laid him on our carpet, white carpet. We were all laying around him like ‘aww, look at Edward he’s so cute’ and then he pooped on the floor and tried to make an escape. My dad got so heated and it was so funny to try to see [Edward] waddle away cause he didn’t get anywhere,” she said.

“Now he’s not allowed out of his cage, ever.”

When not spending time at sports practice, playing with her turtle or doing homework, reading is Little’s go-to option. At the library, you’ll be able to find her in the fiction section because that’s her favorite.

Little loves reading fiction because of how “all the authors make a mini- movie, but with words. I just love the imagination in it, how it goes from a small little idea on a Post-It note to this big novel that they’re writing.”

Little loves to read in her room because it’s quiet and peaceful. “It’s my own little batcave. I love reading in there; it’s quiet and I have no distractions. Nobody else goes in there,” she said.

Yes, she loves to read, but sometimes she takes matters into her own hands. “I actually have ideas, I’ve been writing them,” she said. “I have thought about writing my own books. I definitely want to have writing as a passion.”

Overall, she said high school has been a big change to get used to, but that she’s enjoying the challenge for the most part. Her favorite class is interior design because it’s something she may want to do for a living in the future. “I would love to go to someone’s house and have them tell me what they want and I would make it for them, design it all in my head and then put it on paper,” she said.

Little has lived in Iowa for almost four years now and she “used to move a lot, so meeting new people was easy and I’ve gotten to develop a lot of friendships”

95 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

LITTLE’S TOP

PICKS

Invisible

City of Bones

Postcard Killers The Murderhouse

13 Reasons Why

The Girl Who Could Fly

#42’S WAYS TO HAVE FUN IN GUATEMALA It’s humid, not too hot, but sticky. Your feet touch concrete floors and the cacophony of children’s voices surround you. Children are happy and bouncing with energy, but none of them know where their next meal will come from, and some don’t even know if it will come. That’s where Eva comes in.

“They would come in, then we would feed them a healthy meal,” said Eva Burbidge ’20. Burbidge has spent the past two spring breaks in Guatemala on mission trips, helping to build houses and provide meals for children. “We built [the houses] out of cement blocks and wet cement,” Burbidge said. “We would do a little bit of that every day.”

“[The trip] was organized through the church,” said David Burbidge, Eva’s father. He also says that Eva is very involved in her church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian. While in Guatemala, Burbidge spent much of her time helping the children and playing games with them.

“It was more challenging to come up with constructing activities,” Eva said. She would spend most of the day with these kids, so she always had to have a way to keep them busy.

“She seems to enjoy it very much,” said Mr. Burbidge “She likes helping out with the little kids.”

Eva said it was a wonderful learning experience. “That was one of the best weeks of my whole life.”

Aside from volunteering in Guatemala, she has worked hard on the field as well. Burbidge has participated in softball since she started on the Renegades team in fifth grade. She wore the number forty-two, the number she has played as until this year.

“When I was twelve maybe, my Renegades team, we won the state championship,” Eva said. “I pitched every single game at state.”

This was a very proud accomplishment for her, one that encouraged her to continue softball into high school, where she now wears

“We obviously don’t win all the time, so we have to learn to lose as a team,” number thirteen for the West High softball team.

“I’ll probably never have a season like that again,” Burbidge said.

Burbidge says that she tends to be a competitive player, but that some of that comes from having a twin brother and a competitive family. “Our whole family is competitive, but not in a bad way,” Eva said.

That competitive spirit does not prevent her from enjoying it, however.

“I like playing softball, being competitive, but also just for fun,” she said.

She also said that softball has been a very significant part of her life, especially in learning how to be a team player.

“We obviously don’t win all the time, so we have to learn to lose as a team,” Burbidge said. Softball has also given her lasting relationships, such as with her Renegades team coach and his daughter. “He was not just a coach but also a friend,” she said.

Burbidge plans to feed her passion for a while. “I definitely want to continue softball in college,” she said.

“I know she wants to continue through high school and college but she’s going to have to work at it,” her father said.

Eva plans on perhaps being a part-time coach and teacher when she’s older, but she has to play hard to get there.

“My goal right now is to just get the college coaches to notice me,” she said.

98 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM CARLEY SPADING

Top Right: Heller with group from “People to People” in Warwick, England

Top Left: Heller in the city Montmartre, Paris

32 STATES 4 COUNTRIES LOVING EVERY MOMENT Bottom Left:: Bath, England

Bottom Right: Normandy Beach, France

100 PROFILES SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

By Grace Brusegaard You are nine years old traveling to Paris, filled with overwhelming butterflies and shaky nerves. You cannot wait to get off the plane you have been stuck on for a grueling eight hours. Not quite knowing what to expect, you hesitantly climb off the plane and are greeted with a sprawling land, similar to the soft rolling hills and breezy fields you left across the graceful waves of blue. The further you travel, the grass turns into magnificent buildings and you become surrounded with the dazzling lights of the city.

Grace Heller ’19 was only nine years old when she first visited Paris and London with a group called “People to People” which was an organization made up of kids around 10 years old.

They took a charter bus through the bumbling, populous streets of Paris and London, getting a taste of foreign lands and cultures.

“There was a ton of traffic and loads of people bumped into you,” Heller said. “The people who lived there were very rude but the buildings were really cool and full of history.” All of Heller’s apprehension melted away as she saw the breathtaking buildings and extravagant sights of Paris. This is only one of many destinations that she has traveled to.

To be exact, Heller has been to a total of 32 states in the U.S. and three other countries: France, England and Mexico.

While Heller isn’t off roaming around overseas, and experiencing life, she lives a simple, quiet life back in Iowa. Born in Iowa City, along with her two brothers, she enjoys golfing, knitting , watching Netflix and, of course, traveling. She has always loved history, museums and ancient historical sites. Growing up, Heller has always wanted to be an archaeologist so that she would be able to see history pieces really come together.

When she isn’t out of state, she spends time with two of her close friends, Kara Wagenknecht ’19 and Emily Shie ’19.

Wagenknecht and Heller met in seventh grade in choir while Shie and Heller have known each other since fifth grade through competitive dance.

Heller in Boston, Massachusetts

“

I feel like when you travel, you learn a lot about other people and gain a good perspective.

-Grace Heller ‘19

”

“She has a crazy side but is very likable and has a spunk that makes her really fun to hang out with,” Shie said. Not only do her friends admire her personality, but also her love of the past and her dedication to learn.

“She loves history; I mean, she took AP Human [Geography] and American Studies the same year, which is crazy,” Wagenknecht said. Heller especially loves visiting new places and getting to see history books come alive.

“I feel like when you travel, you learn a lot about other people and gain a good perspective of the different cultures that other people live in,” Heller said.

One cool historic site she got to see in a London city called Bath, was a lot of old, huge, Roman bathtubs. They were gathered in one area where many people used to bathe together out in the open.

“I love London the most because of the vibe and the different culture,” Heller said. “[I love] seeing all the cities that contain way more history than you would see in the U.S.” Another cool opportunity Heller got to experience because of her travels was in London when a member of Parliament spoke to a group of them from their organization.

Heller mainly likes to travel with her mom, Courtney Heller, whom she has learned a lot from and looks up to. “I do not like to travel with my brothers because they are annoying and whiny and just don’t like to go to museums and see history like I do, but I love traveling with my mom; she has taught me everything I know,” Heller said. Within the U.S. she has also visited large cities including New York, Boston, D.C., Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

“I really enjoy [traveling],” said Heller, “and I love to visit new places and revisit old ones. [Traveling] has helped me accept other people’s cultures and generally make me a pretty open minded person.”

Heller with brother at Smithsonian Castle, D.C. WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 101

COMPILED BY TEYA KERNS

BY THE NUMBERS

15 4 2 10 1

Girls, including Allie Harvey, are currently playing on the sophmore volleyball team at West High this year.

Is the number of years that Harvey has been playing volleyball.

Is how many hours Harvey has volleyball practice after school most days.

Is Harvey’s number in volleyball this year.

Season is how long Harvey has played tennis for.

ALLIE HARVEY; BETWEEN THE NETS

You watch the ball as it soars back and forth over the net. Over and over again. Left to right, left to right. Allie Harvey ’19 is on one side of the net, driving the ball over. The court she is playing on and the ball coming at her depends on which sport she’s playing at the time, tennis or volleyball.

Harvey is a sophomore at West High School as well as a hitter on the volleyball team, and has been playing volleyball for four years.

Harvey started volleyball in seventh grade as an extracurricular, and it is now a big part of her life.

“At first it’s kind of, like, hard because you don’t know what to do,but when you really get into it and you get good at it it’s just really fun to get a good hit or a good block,” Harvey said. Harvey talked about how much really liked volleyball as a sport and the volleyball

team in general. Harvey also spoke about how spirit,” Harvey said. “It’s just fun to get into the whole team was very nice, saying they all stuff and, like, be supportive of your school. supported each other.

Just make sure you have enough time to hang “It’s pretty cool to see how much she likes out with your family and your friends and volleyball,” said Maddie Luegering ’19, “You doing homework.” She talked as well about can tell she enjoys doing it.” how the schedule change has affected her Last year, Harvey and her friends, Maggie homework. Harvey mentions that practice is Towler ’19 and Luegering, decided to join the now later so it is harder to get everything done tennis team, too. and still get a decent amount of sleep. Another “None of us really had a clue what we were change that is soon coming to our school doing, but (Harvey) is definitely the best out district is the opening of Liberty High. of the three of us,” Luegering said. Volleyball Harvey is not sure yet if the opening of already took up a lot of Harvey’s time, practice Liberty will change where she is playing or after school and games on the weekends, but how it will affect West High’s volleyball team in she was excited for this new opportunity. general. As of now, Harvey plans to continue Harvey has advice to new students who want doing tennis this coming spring and she is still to get involved as well. doing volleyball.

“Do as much as you can handle, but definitely “I just love the sport, love the people.” try to get involved and have a lot of school WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 99

3 Cheers for Ayana By: Lexie Little

There are nearly 4 million cheerleaders in the U.S. 400,000 of those are high school cheerleaders, and one of them is Ayana Rost ’19. Ayana has been doing cheer since she was in 3rd grade. When she came to west she was a freshman and she was on varsity and junior varsity. Now she’s a sophomore and is on varsity.Ayana doesn't just do cheer for west she does a competitive cheer in Cedar Rapids at the Iowa Elite Cheer. When Ayana was young she didn't do cheer right away , she did gymnastics.

Gymnastics wasn't exactly what she wanted to do , but she had a passion for athletics, specifically tumbling so she started cheer.

When Ayana first started she was really shy which was a challenge because you have to be energetic and social and develop relationships with your teammates. Even though that would be hard when you have a new team every year.

When Ayana started she had a wrist problem , she had to tough it out but it got better. In cheer there is a flyer, a back base, and 2 side bases. For West she is a back base. For her competitive cheer she was a back base and now she is a side base.

When Ayana went to her first cheer tournament. Was she nervous? Scared?

Or Exited? “ I was all of them, like, when i started i had a different skill level and people were doing flips around me.” Said Ayana.

Ayana has encouraged herself to work harder and learn a new skill ,the backtuck.

She is on level 2 and is trying to learn this

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skill to go up to level 3 where most of her friends are at.In order to make this happen , she goes to coaches and friends for help.

Ayana likes to be on the team because it’s something she loves to do and spends a lot of her time trying to get better. Also when she is trying to get her new skill Ayana says “ The team is very supportive when getting a new skill.” Ayana has a passion for cheer and she looks up to the California Allstars Cheer team. “All the girls are really good, there the best and there the highest level.”

Said Ayana.She also wants to get better and better and continue doing all Star Cheer until she’s 18 and she wants to get into a college that she can cheer at.

“I like that i’ve met so many new friends through cheer, evenif they dont go to my school. I aslo like building the bonds and then being able to perform our routine with them.”

-Ayana Rost’19

11 YEARS OF DOODLING IN THE MAKING

BY ABBY NACHTMAN

“Ouch,” thought a young William Feng ’19 as he accidentally hit himself with the door. William had this odd idea that everything was supposed to be fair, so he hit the door back. “I felt like the door should be hurt because it hurt me,” Feng said, “but I couldn’t hurt the door.”

Feng learned life isn’t fair the hard way and used art as a fun way to express himself. Feng is an artist. He mostly just doodles, nothing specific, just whatever pops into his head.Charlie Zheng has been friends with William since they were in junior high. “I mostly see him drawing in class, but occasionally he shows us something he worked on at home,” said Charlie Zheng ’19.. Zheng wrote in an email “..He draws a lot of cartoons (pretty good quality, they have shading and such) and (Feng) likes folding paper.”

When Feng was younger, he liked to draw Thomas the

“WHEN I WAS LITTLE I HAD A STRANGE IDEA OF FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE.” -William Feng’19

Tank Engine. Feng could only find sharpies around the house when he was younger so he mostly drew with those. When Feng was 14, his art teacher encouraged him to enter his art into a contest, where his environmental pastel drawing was submitted. Feng said he just came up with the drawing by following the environmental guideline and drew what came to mind. It was Feng’s art teacher- who introduced him to the contestwas a big part in starting his art career, and he wound up winning fourth place.. Feng has not been in any contests since that one. “I don’t really enjoy doing contests,” said Feng, but he says if the opportunity presents itself “Why not?” Even though contests are not Feng’s favorite, it felt pretty good to win fourth in his first one.

Feng uses his art to release tension. He has some good advice about stress too. Feng believes that you’re only as stressed as you choose to be. He also believes that stress is manageable and you just have to learn how to overcome it. One of the best ways to get rid of stress is by doing something you love and Feng uses his creativity to cope with all the stress that high school brings. It’s nice to have something to do in your free time, but to Feng art is not just a hobby it’s a passion that helps him express himself in ways that other people can’t.

WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 PROFILES103

POET, AUTHOR, GRANDPA Shuyin Ding talks about his new career as an author

BY TING GAO

You are zoning out in English class, as the teacher drones on about the fact your class is starting a new unit. Most of the things she is saying are not that important, just what material she plans for your class to cover during the three weeks you’ll be studying it. She follows this with one short sentence. “Oh, and by the way, class, to help you get into the groove of things, I want you all to write me a poem about anything you want, due tomorrow!” For most people, that mere sentence would make their blood freeze.

Not for Shuyin Ding, though. the 70-year old grandfather of a West High sophomore, who is currently in the process of releasing his first poetry book, The Scene of Bamboo, the Sound of Country Life.

“It is currently in print,” Shuyin said and it will be released in about ten days; at most, half a month.”

The Scene of Bamboo, The Sound of Country Life is a 160 page long collection of poems written entirely by Ding, and contains over 400 poems written over a period of several years. Shuyin, who

is currently retired after spending 45 years of his life working as a Communist Party official in China, has maintained an interest in poetry his whole life, so it was natural for him to write this book.

“He started when he was young, but most of his poems are from recent years, after he retired,” Shuyin Ding’s 44 year old daughter, Qiong Ding, said. Her opinion of her father’s poetry is high, and she thinks the book will do well. The poems are written in a traditional Chinese style, which Qiong thinks makes her father’s work all the more

admirable. “They are very strict about ending sounds, [and] rhyming,” she said of this style of poetry.

Yuzhen Liu, Shuyin Ding’s wife, also admires his poems. “ I like one poem he wrote about peonies,” she said when asked which poem was her favorite.

She claims that his poetry has had good reviews from other people, and a positive effect on the community. “ He actually kept writing after retirement, and enriched community life by writing this book,” Liu said. “ He is a role model for other retired people to have meaning in life.

As if writing one book wasn’t enough, Shuyin Ding said he has plans for yet another. “Most likely, I will have another book,” he said. “ It is a collection of essays I wrote about daily life, my thoughts, my feelings.” Currently, he has all the material he plans to put into the collection, and he hopes to release it sometime next year or in two years.

“He has always had thoughts about daily life. He’s sentimental,” his daughter said.

ABOVE: Shuyin Ding LEFT: The cover of The Scene of Bamboo, The Sound of Country Life

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 105 PROFILES

50,000 Words Minimum A peek into Luke Reynolds ‘18’s world of writing, music, and anime

by Leen Hamza

It’s typical of many aspiring novelists to write their ideas down somewhere. For Luke Reynolds ’18, writing down his ideas is an instinct, a natural response to his constant and vivid imagination, which he turns into sublime pieces of creative writing.

Reynolds has taken up writing as a serious hobby since the eighth grade, after taking a creative writing class at Northwest Junior High. Little did he know that that writing class would end up being the ticket to discovering his biggest passion. But there is much more to Reynolds than a gift for crafting original works of fiction.

Reynolds is a self-admitting bookworm, an anime and music enthusiast, and an identical twin.

His identical twin brother, Jack Reynolds ’18, enjoys reading Reynolds’ writing. “Even though I’m his brother and it may sound a bit biased, I love anything Luke writes,” Jack Reynolds said.

The two brothers support one another’s hobbies, and along with sharing a set of physical characteristics, they also share a love of all things books. The latter is especially in Reynolds’ case and he’s even called himself the self-proclaimed aspiring novelist of the two.

Reynolds said of what got him into writing: “I love reading books and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I came up with my own?’” With multiple novels and countless short stories under his belt, he has definitely come a long way from his first pieces, which he laughingly describes as “cringey.”

Reynolds’ first works had a common theme of romance and now have an “average teenage life” ambiance. He finds the most inspiration through anime and music. These art forms have inspired him to come up with stories which veer away from the status quo, as he strongly believes that the spectrum of fictional book characters in libraries everywhere must be diversified, and accordingly puts a lot of thought into diversifying the characters in his stories. “I want to make sure that my characters are [diverse]...you know, like, homosexual or of different ethnicities,” Reynolds said.

So far, Reynolds has written two full-length novels and has been working on a YA novel currently titled “The Draft of Three” in recent weeks. Prior to his current writing stance, he had set a goal to write at least 50,000 (!) words in one novel and has shattered it TWICE, an impressive milestone for any author. As for his writing process, Reynolds has had a knack for keeping lists of ideas and inspiration since he was ten years old. Now he keeps them on a single page in the Notes app on his iPhone, which is stacked with bullet points; each bullet connected to a past idea, although they do not always become stories.

his brother, though, even if it isn’t meant for his typical audience.

Reynolds’ passion for music has been an integral part of his life for years, and the music he listens to help him generate more story ideas.

He loves playing piano and has even been taking piano lessons for ten years; He says playing an instrument helped nurture his love of music. In the past, Reynolds has taken a shot at songwriting; he recalls a time when he was 13 years old, attending a summer church camp. There, he wrote and performed his first original song, “Dreamin”, a song which popped into his head after playing around with some piano keys. Reynolds recalls how awkward he was from the beginning of his performance and how the other campers were singing along with him towards the end of his performance. Reynolds was brought to tears in the immense gratification of the moment which he considers to be the “proudest moment” of his life.

Reynolds doesn’t only get writing inspiration from consuming/ producing music, but also from many other things he is enthusiastic about. One major source of inspiration for him is the wonderful, lively, exuberant world of anime. Jack Reynolds said, “Luke’s relationship to anime is actually very similar to mine. We both first heard about anime due to Sailor Moon.” Reynolds spends much of his free-time watching (and critiquing) anime with brother Jack.

His tastes in anime series have changed over the years although his all-time favorite remains: “Death Parade”. However, Reynolds has seen his share of not-so-great series such as “Karneval”. “The art style was gorgeous but I just couldn’t get into the story,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds will continue to write, currently exploring online creative writing outlets such as Quotev, where you can find the first chapter of one of his recent works titled “The Popularity Games”.

He has received quite the following on it.

Besides hoping to call himself a published author someday, Reynolds hopes to one day be able to read books featuring a more diverse set of characters. “Like, we’re all human,” Reynolds said. With his brother on his side, a considerable Quotev following, and two 50,000-word novels, Reynolds will keep breaking his impressive word-targets, and may very well change the game for Young Adult Fiction forever.

Is any of Reynolds’ writing personal? “Definitely,” Reynolds said.

While many of his works are intended for a public audience, some are completely personal to him. Plenty of his writing is shared with 1. The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater (who he is a big fan of) 2. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (which he wasn’t sure about at first) “At first I was like ‘I don’t really know what’s going on but the writing was pretty.’”

3. Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang (which he purchased at a Target Black Friday sale and ended up loving) 4. This is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang (big Amy Zhang fan) 5. True Letters From a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

Top 5 Favorite Books At The Moment

Glass shatters down from above.

Screams and cries as people avoid the glass that cascades from above, is all that’s audible. Well, that’s what you would’ve heard if the accident was that serious. In reality, a child playing accidentally threw a cylinder foam block at a light from above -- no, not God. That’s just one of many interesting stories Fatima Kammona ’19 has experienced during her part-time job at The Children’s Museum in Coralville Iowa. Kammona is able to reminisce her youngest years through the noisy, excitable children.

As a young girl, Kammona has always loved history.

“I love, love history -- don’t love what happened, but I loved learning about it because history will repeat itself,” Kammona said. Kammona had her whole life planned out from beginning to end.

Since the fifth grade Kammona knew she wanted to become a civil rights activist lawyer, and she had a step-by-step plan on how to get there. However Kammona changed her mind, now she aspires to become a child’s activist, specifically a child’s lawyer or pediatrician. She made this decision this summer after working at The Children’s Museum and absolutely loving it “I would work six hour shifts, seven hour

shifts and be so tired, but the kids make it so fun.”

Kammona said. “To work at a kid’s museum you gotta -- well you gotta be a kid, and that makes it really fun.” Kammona said Kammona knew a nice fun kid -- let’s call him John.

One day as Kammona was gathering supplies to clean, John came in and decided to help her. Now organizing toilet paper can be pretty boring so Kammona and John ended up throwing rolls of toilet paper across the room to their required station.

While they were upstairs having fun, John chucked a roll of toilet paper that unravelled -- mid air -- and happened to land on their bosses room. Luckily Mr. Boss wasn’t around so the two chuckled nervously and hurried away.

Fatima Kammona ‘19 Kammona isn’t

the only person who’s experienced crazy working stories. Kammona’s friend and ex-coworker Carly Fridich ’14 also has some hilarious stories to share.

While working at The Children’s Museum Fridich was hosting a birthday party. At the birthday party two children, twins, cheered “cha cha cha,” and proceeded to get out of their seats. Once out the pair simultaneously fell into the splits. “They must’ve been no more than five years old (...) so, so bizarre” Fridrich said.

Now back to the starting question. Aren’t kids annoying? Well, even though they may be a handful Kammona can tolerate them. “I Fatima Kammona ‘19 definitely would (...) love to work with kids in the future,” -Born in Iowa City, Iowa Kammona ‘19.

-Originally from Lebanon and Iraq

BY ENYO OKEOMA -Grew up with a lot of boys -Closer to her father than her mother

“To work at a kid’s museum you gotta -- well you gotta be a kid, and that’s what makes it really fun,” -Kammona ’19 WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 107

Study. Sleep.

Soccer. Repeat.

BY MELEAH CHANG

The sun beats down on the field.

The air is so humid you’re practically swimming when you walk. The freshly cut grass fills your sense of smell and you know it’s game time. Where many people would be indoors enjoying the luxury of air conditioning, Nolan Fuhrmeister ’19 spends his day in the thick of the heat.

As a defender on the Iowa Soccer Club (ISC) Fuhrmeister keeps himself busy. He was introduced to the sport by his mother at age four, and it stuck. “I like soccer because it was the one sport I was decent at,” Fuhrmeister said. His commitment in soccer includes practicing six hours a week, with two to four tournaments on the weekends.

“We have to travel a lot for his games, and our parents always go and support him.” said Fuhrmeister’s older sister, Katie Fuhrmeister ‘17, “ As much as I love him, I am often disturbed by how much dedication he puts into soccer, as if it’s an addiction.”

Through soccer, Fuhrmeister has been able to develop long lasting friendships. Matthew McDonnell ‘19 has been friends

112 PROFILES SEPTEMBER- 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

w it h Fuhrmeister for seven years because they were put on the same soccer team when they were young. Their similar interests in video games, “just chilling” and a similar sense of humor made them better friends in the last two years.

Fuhrmeister’s humor is also a large part of his character. Katie explains a story during their sister’s graduation party.

“My uncle started spamming my brother ugly photos of people around us, and so my brother was judging my uncle and said, ‘how are you even a doctor?’”. Katie said.

Fuhrmeister’s sense of humor also helps him calm down before games, “(He’s) funny because he always can make me laugh.” McDonnell said. Before games they can often be seen joking around.

Fuhrmeister’s humor has helped him with his school work. “I like to maintain high grades, but I don’t let them run my life,” he said.

McDonnell describes Fuhrmeister’s work ethic, “He’s a really hard worker and he knows how to have fun as well.”

Fast Facts -Likes reading nonfiction and was strongly immersed in a Harry Potter- filled childhoodS

-Wants to skydive -Has two older sisters -Will listen to anything but country music -If he could invent anything he’d invent a toaster ejector so he doesn’t have to get up to get it

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILES 113

SCIENTIFICALLY ATHLETIC IN A MUSICAL WAY

BY XENA MAKKY

T

ake a minute to think back to your first two years of high school.

That transition was most likely a challenging one alone. If you are an upperclassmen, you may be conscious of the time it took you to find your niche and the things you have the most passion for. You may not have even imagined being a member of more than a few clubs, organizations, or sports. Most students need some time before becoming so involved, but not Thomas Duong ’19. Duong is an exceptionally adept sophomore at Iowa City West High whose talent is prominent all over. He is a member of the cross country team, the show band, robotics club, and many more.

Duong comes from a family where success is no mystery. “Both of his parents are engineers,” said friend Diego Rivera ’19. “His sister is graduating from Iowa with a radiology master’s so they are very high achieving.” Rivera has known Duong since they were in first grade. He describes Duong as a hardworking individual who wants to make his parents proud. Most students would be stressed to the point of giving up if they were in his shoes as he is in various AP and honors courses besides his activities.

Duong finds inspiration in his family’s successful track, and is encouraged everyday by his friends. “He knows he is going to have to deal with a lot of stress, but is willing to do it,” said Lydia Guo ’19. “He is always juggling so much when we see him […] We don’t know how, but in the end, he manages to do it all.” It’s apparent how great of friends he has. According to Duong, his friends are a great support system for him. They always encourage him, are aware of his tight schedule, and they never hesitate to lend a helping hand. “He is always been there for us, so in return we help him [...]

He is genuinely a nice person, so it is hard to say no.”

On an average day, Duong gets home at about 7:30 p.m., which leaves

Provided by Luther College Music Camp little time for leisure activities after homework. This would be seem like a stressful schedule to a lot of students, but Duong doesn’t mind. “I like to keep myself busy, discover new things, and make new friends,” Duong said.

When he does have time, he does a lot of things with his friends. “A lot of the times him and I play video games, go on bike rides, or just chill and do homework,” Rivera said.

Besides his academic prosperity and leading presence throughout West, Duong has an even greater dedication towards music. “I have always enjoyed music. Ever since I was introduced to it as a child, it has stuck with me to this day,” Duong said. “Because of that, I try to be involved and achieving in that area. I play percussion in band, and that is something I feel pretty accomplished in. Every piece of music is different, and I love learning about it.” Duong’s presence throughout West isn’t driven by anything but passion.

He wouldn’t be a part of a club or organization if he didn’t have the slightest interest in it. He enjoys most of what he does which makes managing time a little easier.

As talented and dedicated as he his, Duong is very soft spoken and selfless.

He puts a lot of effort into all the things he does, but that isn’t how he sees it.

“My family is high achieving, but on the other hand, I am not. I don’t think I put enough effort into what I do.” You don’t need to know Duong very well to see how untrue that is. After being in school for eight hours on the hottest days, Duong still pushes to make it to cross country practices and will return home and stay up until he finishes all of his assignments.

In a school of more than two thousands students, Thomas Duong certainly stands out. His distinctiveness goes far beyond academics and extracurriculars, but with his uplifting ability to stay positive and social above it all.

“I LIKE TO KEEP MYSELF BUSY, DISCOVER NEW THINGS, AND MAKE NEW FRIENDS.” - THOMAS DUONG ‘18 108 SEPTEMBER 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

DESIGN BY XENA MAKKY

DANCING

HER WAY INTO HIGH SCHOOL

By Allie Harvey Tap. Lyrical. Ballet. You name it. Teya Kerns ’20 has done, or should I say danced, it all. Kerns is one of the incoming freshman attending West High School for the first time this year. And along with many of the other new students, she brings a lot to the table. Some are basketball players, some are artists but Kerns is a dancer. However, high school can be a bit confusing at first according to her.

One way high school can be nerve-wracking for newcomers is the introduction to hundreds of new peers. However, this isn’t a problem for Kerns, who is involved in activities in and out of school that have helped her meet many of her closest friends.

Specifically, Kerns met one of her close friends, Emily Shie ’19, through dance.

“She’s very outgoing and she’ll just, like, go along with anything.” Shie said about Kerns.

Kerns and Shie have been friends since the second grade, being backyard neighbors and also participating in dance together for awhile. Although Shie no longer dances, Kerns continues to pursue.

Kerns has been dancing since she was only two years-old, stopping for a while to do gymnastics and then continuing again for about five years now. She has done numerous styles such as ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, modern, lyrical, pointe and tap. While lyrical dancing is her favorite, she is only taking ballet and pointe now.

“I think [dance] is just fun because you work so hard on it and it’s fun to just get up on stage and show like, ‘Hey, this is what I learned.’” Kerns said about what she likes most about dancing.

Kerns has cut back a bit on competitive dancing this year so she could focus on other things like school activities. She is not planning on doing school dance teams such as Poms because of the commitment; however, she is participating as a performer in PrimeTime, one of West High’s three show choirs. Director, Sarah Haas has many great things to say about Kerns.

“She leads with a quiet confidence,” Haas said. “She’s so kind and I think the other girls can really respect that.”

It’s apparent that Kerns’ passion for performing is very strong, as a result she plans to continue participating in West High’s musical activities such as extracurricular choirs and more show choir.

High school is a big change, and can definitely be hard if you don’t get involved in school activities. But Kerns has it in the bag because of her friends she has made through her decisions to join choir, show choir and most important to her, dance.

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FAST FACTS

Favorite Movie: The Aristocats Favorite Artist: Taylor Swift Fun Fact: Can make her tongue into a W-shape.

A HELPING HAND

BY LILA TERRY

The next generation of United Nations delegates, Peace Corps workers, and UNICEF employees are right now kids like Thomas Peters ’19. He is working through different volunteer programs, clubs and organizations, such as the Best Buddies program, trying to help make a difference in the community around him.

Peters has been volunteering for various clubs and organizations, such as ecology club, since seventh grade.

“I just feel like it’s a worthwhile thing to do, and you get a lot more out of life helping people than serving yourself.” Peters said Peters joined North West’s ecology club in seventh grade. ”I just really like nature” said Peters. Peters soon realized how much he enjoyed helping others. This started him on a path of community involvement. He began helping in a special education class during their job period in which they went around and helped out doing different jobs around the school. “...[Volunteering] was just a worthwhile thing to do,” Peters said. Peters used the time spent in the classroom picking up recyclables, washing bottles and cans and shredding papers, to show that he was an able and helpful worker. His community service did not stop upon graduating middle school.

Peters asked his teacher how he could continue and she said the best way to continue was through Best Buddies “I felt it was so worthwhile that I looked for ways I could keep doing it and Best Buddies was one of the ways I could,” Peters said.

Peters was an active member of West High’ Best Buddies club last year and is looking forward to being a part of the program again this year.

“Best Buddies is a super cool club that promotes social inclusion for people with Intellectual and developmental disabilities.” Said Maddee Whitehead ‘17 who has been an active member of Best Buddies since her freshmen year, “It’s a great way to make friends with people you normally wouldn’t have talked to before.”

It seems natural that his volunteer work would lead him to also joining West High’s 1440 Interact club. 1440 Interact is run by students and a rotary and is aimed at encouraging students to volunteer and be active in their communities.

They organize food drives, clothing drives and activities to benefit those in need. Peters also plans on attempting to receive the silver cord, an honor given to students who complete 200 hours of volunteer work before graduation.

Peters is inspired by his parents and younger brother and parents. Petrers mom he described as a “painter version of Rosie the Riveter” said, “I’m very proud of him. He is very compassionate.” It is no surprise that after all his work throughout junior high Peters was presented with an award from the Iowa Realtor Association for having the most service hours completed by an eighth grade student in the district

Three fun facts about Peters: 1. His family is hosting a foreign Exchange student from Germany 2. He enjoys playing the bass 3. Plays soccer for Kickers

WSSPAPER.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 PROFILE 29

PEERING THROUGH THE LENS

WEST STUDENT FINDS PASSION THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

BY THOMAS DUONG When Xena Makky ’18 looked back in retrospect in her sophomore year, a new chapter in her life started to form. After acquiring a new camera from her mom, Makky’s eccentric personality and her newly developed passion of photography emerged as a focal point during the summer.

Her enthusiasm towards photography steadily increased, from a few pictures to a functioning blog. With support from her friends, she shares her perspective of the world through creativity and inspiration.

Makky’s interest traces back to the early days of high school, introduced by her first images.

Because of the availability of leisure time during the summer, Makky pursued her passion, most notably by blogging.

“I’m inspired really “SHE REALLY easily. I can easily find passions and I’m CAPTURES new really motivated to IT IN A do creative things.” said. “Like DIFFERENT Makky with my blog, the idea came to [me] one day WAY.” in June and the next -PAREEN MHATRE ‘18 day, it was fully set up with three posts!”

However, blogging wasn’t the only way she photography, both outside and inside of shared her photos. Social media platforms school. I know that Xena is determined and such as Instagram became appealing to eager to learn more about this.” Mhatre said.

Makky, showcasing her uniqueness and Aside from photography, Makky’s personality in every one of her photos. personality is unique among her friends.

“She has a unique taste, especially when I “We were at the movies together and we see her photos of her cats on Instagram; she just joke around. Like if we see a trash can really captures them in a different we’ll be like “hey that’s me” or “ way,” Pareen Mhatre ’18 said. “As you two look like twins”... Just a viewer, I can connect to the really dumb immature humor.” subject very easily and that’s what Meleah Chang ’18 said. These photography is about. Bottom line: I traits in her personality glorify really love Xena’s photos.” Mhatre said. her photography, creating Along with cats, some of Makky’s a contrast of perspectives treasured pictures include architecture. throughout her many pictures.

PAREEN MHATRE ‘18 Her most prominent place easily became From starting as a small hobby, downtown Iowa City, especially the photography has made its way to Old Capitol. It was close to home and provided being one of Makky’s favorite occupations. Not a lot to capture through her camera. When only does her photos highlight her creativity, it asked what her favorite place for photography also shines a spotlight on her personality and was, she instantly said, “Chicago.” This place her ability to visualize the world around her. was important to both Makky and her sister, “I’M INSPIRED REALLY EASILY. as they shared multiple accounts of memories.

For Makky, the trip influenced her inspiration I CAN FIND NEW for photography, taking a big step forward.

PASSIONS AND I’M REALLY Makky’s personality also plays a big role in the different photos she captures.

MOTIVATED.” As noted by her friends, she is never -Xena Makky ’18 bashful and is always eager to learn more.

“I’m really happy that she took up

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JUST DANCE

THE DANCE STORY OF SANDRAH OCHOLA By: Coleson Krupp

At just twelve years old, Sandrah Ochola 19`, running to her dance auditions in her leotard and tights while it is pouring down rain. She is already 15 minutes late debating whether to even go or not. She sheepishly walks in and everyone in the audition studio is staring at her including the judges who are giving her a distasteful look.

As much fun as dance is there is much more than just dancing in dance. People often times do not see how much time and commitment there is. Sandrah was born on April 10, 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya. She moved to Iowa City when she was two and a half. When she was just 3 years old she started dancing for Kate Carol and Company Dance.

She tries to be the best she can be to be a good role model to her younger sister, Talyia.

Sandrah spends everyday in the studio for about 3 hours during the weekday and usually 6 hours during the weekend days. She takes ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, hiphop, contemporary, modern,

Fun Fact:

Sandrah Ochola has torn both miniscinises.

Once in each knee

and contemporary ballet classes.

Just two years ago she was doing four sports including dance but she had to choose dance over the others because of the huge time commitment and stress.

Sandrah’s first audition was when she was 12 years old for Minnesota Conservatory for The Arts. When she got in late to the audition soaked in water everyone was staring at her and even the judges were looking at

her with an unpleased look. None of the girls would give her a spot on the bar so she had to go to the front.

But when you are in the front you needed to have good memory up there but she thought she did not.

She thought that she did not make it but her mom told her, “rain is a blessing where I come from.” Then a couple weeks later she got a letter that said she had made Minnesota Conservatory Summer Intensive.

The stress level for a competitor dancer is very high on top of the time and commitment. When Matilda Mackey ’17’, was younger she often shied away because of that. But then she realized dance requires the time commitment to be a dancer. Matilda said “if I didn’t put in the time I did, I would not be at Juilliard today.” She had to accept the fact that Friday nights were spent dancing and not being out with friends. When Sandrah was younger she would times think, “is dance worth all this?”

But now she is heading down the same path as Matilda.

Fun Fact:

Sandrah Ochola plays the flute and piano.

SHAKY HANDS AND HONOR BANDS

BY MADDI SHINALL

Two years ago, Anna Brown ’19, then in eighth grade, was nervously awaiting her clarinet audition. The audition that determines what band you’ll be in in high school. “I had to go first,” Brown said, “so I was really nervous.”

When her name was called for her to go into the orchestra room where her audition was taking place, she remembers the nerves. “My hands are shaking and my voice was quivering, (band instructor) Rob Medd had to give me time to calm down.” Although this wasn’t her first audition, she admits that she normally feels anxious before auditions or performances.

Once the auditions had finished, the results were posted on a printed list. She said she was preparing herself for disappointment. “When I first saw the list, I thought it was a mistake. I had to confirm with several people that it was actually me [on it].” She was going to be in wind ensemble as a freshman, she had gotten in. “I’m happy that I auditioned because I didn’t even think I’d make symphonic,” Brown said.

Like many people, Brown started playing clarinet in band in the fifth grade. Besides the fact that many of her friends were also starting, she said her family also inspired her to try. “My sister was in band, she was a really big band person, like she did all of the honor bands, and first chairs, so I did it after her because my family was really big on it and she thought it was really fun,” Brown said.

Like her sister, she also really enjoys band. “I have many favorite parts. I think that one of them is that you meet a lot of different people, [like in] different grades [and at] different schools. Second is that it’s one of those classes that are really relaxed. Because you

can be stressed about practicing and auditioning but in the actual class it’s just carefree,” Brown said.

She also enjoys the unexpected things that can happen in band. “It’s also one of those classes where anything can happen,” Brown said. She goes on to explain the different funny little things that can happen in the class. She brings up a story that she had just recently heard about from a friend. “I just heard from my friend that his whole section started this thing called the Sax Senate, and it’s just a group of them.”

She laughs a little. “And the trombones made a group called the Trombone Council so when we’re at marching band games and home games, both of the groups are going to have speeches prepared and they’re going to have a solo face-off between the two and so it’s just really fun and cool.”

Self-described as not really practicing much, others have much more to say about Brown. Her friend, Lexi Moore ’19, who has known Brown since third grade, had band with her since fifth grade, and takes private lessons with her through the same teacher, Bart Yates, said, “I think that Anna is a very good player. She is very talented, but she definitely doesn’t give herself enough credit. I can hear her during her lesson, and I can tell that she is definitely very prepared for it. So she definitely works hard to get into all of those good bands,” Moore said.

Another friend and fellow band player, Anjali Huynh ’19, who has band with Brown and has known her since sixth grade said, “Anna’s a very talented musician. I normally don’t like the clarinet very much, at all, but I actually enjoy hearing her play it. She’s been in the West wind ensemble, the highest band at West since freshman year and is a three year SEIBA Honor Band member, which are both great accomplishments.”

As for her future goals that she wishes to accomplish, Brown said just one thing, “I just want to make All-State.”

COMPILED BY MADDI SHINALL

Anna’s 3 Steps to Success

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Love the instrument you’re playing.

Practice, practice, practice

Perservere! Don’t give up on you’re instrument when it gets difficult, keep going!