Muskateer Monthly by Foundations of Journalism

UNCING COVID

BACK FROM

Muskateer Monthly

CONTENTS Hi there! 3 4 6 8 11 College Bucket List

Favorite Memories from the Year

The end of the 2021-2022 schoolyear is coming to a fast end! Y’all are probably already tired of school… but we hope this mini issue of Muskateer Monthly brings you some This issue’s cover story dives into the confusing and lowkey messy year we’ve had last school year with Covid, online,

has been another new club added to our seemingly un-

Quick Q&A with Rich Medd Bouncing Back from Covid

The Newest Rocketry League

ABBY GUO

Reporter, Designer

JESSIE LI

Reporter, Designer, Artist

ESTHER PARK Artist, Designer

MRUDANI RAMKUMAR Reporter, Designer

ers and the West High student/staff community: thank you for supporting us, especially those of you who are featured inside!!

Much Love,

Abby, Jessie, Esther, and Mrudani <3

BY JESSIE LI & MRUDANI RAMKUMAR ART & DESIGN BY JESSIE LI

-J 1. Sleepovers/all-nighters 2. Beach day 3. Make new friends 4. Go to all sports game w/ friends 5. Be in a study group 6. Indoor picnic 7. Read a book under a tree 8. Visit a new restaurant 9. Prank my roommate

“

I R EALLY WANT TO B R ANCH OUT, M E ET N EW PEOPLE , [AN D] BE MOR E I NVOLVE D THAN I WAS I N H IG H SCHOOL . PLUS, I ’ M PAYI NG TO BE TH E R E AN D I WANT TO MAKE TH E MOST OF IT. - MAGGY OWEN ‘22

as tan

friends e new k a M . 1 y!!! years 2. Part y teen m e iv L 3. out

din

ary

illis

1. Join clubs 2. Make new friends 3. Decorate my dorm le 4. Hang out with peop h wit in g without checkin

- Maggy Owen

- Leiya ez ‘26 Rodrigu

‘22

“

I SWEAR TO GOD I F I DON ’T HAVE FU N I N COLLEG E-TREY HOTSEN PI LLER ‘22

alia Austr er in d a ro occ dy ab ramural s u t S . t 1 in in an b 2. Jo ne clu club at least o in 3. Jo 2

1. Stud y 2. Join abroad a new club 3. Not g drunk et blackout

mer ‘2 e Wid

- Mad dy Sm

- Cla

ith ‘22

1. G 2. G o to a sea et inv footb olve rch a d w ll gam ith re- e Cla

re L ous

sae rt ‘2

”

FAVORITE MEMORIES FROM THE YEAR

As we know, the 2021-22 school year is coming to an end. We asked some West students their most memorable memories from this kind-of normal year. By Mrudani Ramkumar “One that always cackles me up is when I was in my Stats class in the back with my friends playing video games and not taking any notes. Then all of a sudden, Mitch Gross walks in to talk to Mr.Witt and at this point in time, me and Mitch Gross had already established a glorious friendship, so I was like “Ayo what’s up Mitch Gross?!” Then he just looks at me and waves, then walks over to me, looks at my notes paper and sees it’s completely blank, exhales a sigh of disappointment and just walks out the classroom shaking his head NOT SAYING A WORD other than “of course” after looking at my blank notes sheet.” - Bivan Shrestha ‘22

“During the opening show of Footloose, we still had a piece of wood with plastic over it, meant to be stained glass. We weren’t going to use it, but we didn’t have a chance to get rid of it. Right before the Burger Blast scene, it started breaking. I’m on props, and I had to put out condiment bottles in that scene. I was waiting for the musical number to begin, when I heard a loud noise that sounded like wood breaking. I looked to my left to see a bunch of set kids holding on to the stained glass for dear life. It was panic-inducing in the moment, but looking back on it, it was very funny. Thank you for risking your life to get it down for us, Christian.” - Addison Long ‘25

“So, this was in the beginning of the year but me and two other people, Sabrina and Tina, would run to lunch every single day because the lunch lines were so long you know? We would run out the side door and run through the courtyard and up the stairs to get lunch. And it was really funny cause people would stare at us and laugh at us. We stopped doing it though because of the snow but it was a really funny memory.” Gianna Liu ‘25

04 FEATURE MAY 26, 2022

“Walk It Out was a lot of fun! I’ve never done anything like it having a sense of community, trying new things like walking down a runway, and performing Bollywood in front of classmates and teachers. Everything was amazing.” - Kamakshee Kuchhal ‘24

“I was at the MVC indoor track meet at the UNIDOME. I went up to my 60m as I prepared my blocks for the race. The race started and it went smoothly until I attempted to stop. I jerked my thigh and I fell coaches (Coach Kiddman I think) came and tried to help me stand. I managed to stand and everyone started clapping as I saw that I was 2nd place for my heat, a millisecond faster than 3rd. I still fell on my face though, and probably would have gotten Athlete of the Meet if I showed up to practice the next day.” - Harel Gameti ‘25

“I remember that the girls tennis team had a party at Found Farm. knockout on the basketball court brought back memories from 5th grade. There was a cool room in the barn about Caroline Found and it was really amazing to see all of her accomplishments as a West High volleyball player.” - Anjali Lodh ‘25

Harel Gameti ‘25 competing at the UNIDOME for the 60 meter. He won second place for this. Design by Mrudani Ramkumar FEATURE MAY 26, 2022

Photo taken by Miriam Thompson

Quick

Q&A With Rich Medd

What are some of your most memorable moments at West?

Medd: “Having my son here at school for four years was very memorable.Rich The most recent was the performance that we did in Chicago. This was right before Covid. We played at the finals of the of this Jazz Festival (competition). There was a big gym full of high school and junior high students from other schools. We played a ballad and the whole gym was just absolutely silent. All these little junior high kids were not making a sound. It was very cool.”

How has the West High community changed over the years?

Rich Medd:

“The school was smaller than it is now when I got here, and then it went through

a period of dramatic growth. That was a huge change in the hallways and for events. I think that the students have pretty much kept the same creative energetic. And I think that’s why it works, for me, for Rob, for Mr. Welch and the choir directors it works so well. Because the students are still interested in making music and participating in a group and a team activity for musicians. I love West High for that.”

What were some of your biggest challenges Rich Medd: when doing a big project?

“I think having the right vision for it, seeing what it’s going to accomplish for stu-

dents and making sure that it you’re always thinking about what you could tweak to make it better. That’s what was cool about the repeating the jazz cafe every year. We’d always make little tweaks here and there to make the experience bet-

06 PROFILE OCT. 3, 2019

The blast of a trumpet sounds as you walk through the band hallway. You might also know it as where the school musical, or any concerts, take place. For most people, this is a place they only visit occasionally. However, this is a place Rich Medd has been to almost every day, for the past 27 years. This year is his last. During the time he’s been here, Rich Medd has not only been an asset to the music department, but has been a great teacher and friend to many students and other teachers. “It's always fun to see students and the ensembles grow through each school year. Some years you'd come back and after a summer break it seemed like there was a completely new group of students. Other years, you might come back and it's just a continuation of the previous year,” he said.

“Seeing the students every day ing to be the thing I'll miss the most.” One of the most important things about a class is how enjoyable it is. This is something that Rich Medd has done very well over the years. He’s very laid back, but still has good and productive rehearsals. “When we rehearse, he usually tells us some funny stories and stuff. Instead of the more strict kind of band teachers, he’s more chill,” said Anjali Lodh ’25.

“Mr. Medd is very funny and relaxed. He always makes sure that we have a good time.” -Anjali Lodh ’25

CELEBRATING 27 YEARS AT WEST By: Abby Guo ’25

“Rich’s always fun every day at lunch. The thing about Mr. Medd is that he is always just ready to make you laugh; (he’s) always ready to cheer you up. And he just knows how to have a good time in any situation,” said Mr. Welch, the orchestra director. “Whether that’s at lunch trips to all-state or just getting some advice from a colleague, he’s ready to make you laugh, and it’s great.” A large annual project at West is the pit orchestra for the school musical. It’s directed and conducted by Mr. Welch, but Rich Medd helps out a ton every year. “While I'm the one that's conducting, Rich Medd has always been there to help out with a lot of things, whether it's sound help or getting things organized in the pits. He has been very, very good with that,” said Mr. Welch. “He's always been tremendously helpful, willing to help me get set up on stage or anything along those lines.” We can’t forget about the elephant in the room that has affected all of our lives: Covid. For the bands, it reset a lot of progress people had been building. One of the most important things when playing in a large band is ensemble. This includes things like listening to other people’s parts, knowing when to take the spotlight and when to back down and not play as much. Covid ruined that ensemble, as people couldn’t play with each other during the lockdown.

Photo taken from West High bands live stream

“It was not so much like starting over, but just kind of trying to pick up where we left off. A lot of times it felt like we just needed to learn how to rehearse again, or how to play together with other people again,” said Rich Medd. “For me, personally, it was kind of a time music, education and what's important with students' lives and families’ lives. I think that was probably the biggest thing, and also to appreciate how important everybody is” Whether you knew him or not, it’s impossible to deny the positive imprint Rich Medd has left on our community. I personally didn't know him very well, but I’m still grateful for all the contributions he has made to the West High bands and music department. Thank you, Rich Medd, and I hope great things wait for you in your next stage of life!

PROFILE OCT. 3, 2019

THE NEWEST ROCKETRY LEAGUE

WSS interns Jessie Li ‘25 and Esther Park ‘25 explore one of the new clubs at West founded this 2021-2022 school year: Rocketry Club.

By Esther Park and Jessie Li You may have not heard of the West High Rocketry club yet, and that’s understandable. It was just established this school year by freshmen Derek Hua ‘25, Richard Yang ‘25, and Junze Sun ‘25, and sponsored by Keith Kraeplin, one of the main engineering teachers here at West. “And we're making engines, right? Rocket engines were really fun. And I was like, dang, this is cool,” said Derek Hua ‘25, when asked about why they decided to start this club at West. All the members of the club have a passion for building and launching rockets. They have dedicated almost every Monday morning this school year to buildPhoto by Jessie Li

11 FEATURE MAY 26, 2022

ing rockets and launching them in preparation for the world’s largest nationwide rocket contest: The American Rocketry Challenge. “It's challenging when you just started as a freshman, because you don't really know anything about the school yet; so everything you're doing is kind of just walking with no guidance, you just can't figure out what you're doing,” said Hua. “You just kind of have to wing it.” Though the founders of rocketry club are all freshmen, they have managed to pull it off to a great start for this first season here at West. But they still had some struggles and worries in the beginning. For one, starting a club is

“AN D WE’ R E MAKI NG E NG I N ES, R IG HT? ROCKET E NG I N ES WE R E R EALLY FU N . AN D I WAS LI KE , TH I S I S COOL .” - DEREK H UA ‘25 not an easy task; it requires a lot of dedication and time commitment. They also faced other hardships such as finding a teacher to sponsor the club, gathering numbers, and funding. But with the support of their friends, these weren’t huge problems. “Because Derek was in it, ‘cause my friends,” said Aaron Das ‘25 when asked why he decided to join the club. He, along with a couple of other close friends, have been members of the rocketry team since the beginning of the school year. But the funny thing is, none of them knew of Keith Kraeplin, the current sponsor of the rocketry club, beforehand. They originally went to Matthew Harding to sponsor the club. But Harding recom-

mended they reach out to Kraeplin instead, so that’s exactly what they did. “I felt like some of the knowledge or experiences that I have, prior to teaching [and] in addition to the class that I teach, I felt like I would be able to help contribute in some ways that would probably be beneficial for them to be successful,” said Kraeplin. Kraeplin has always been very passionate about rocketry and built them as a hobby as well. So he didn’t hesitate to help guide the freshmen in establishing this club. But with the requirement of starting a club or an organization at West having to be student-led, Kraeplin is more or less in the mentorship role, where he just provides them with the general direction and offers suggestions and feedback every once in a while. “I was pretty much hands off with the meetings,” said Kraeplin. “They were actually really organized with their meetings. And so they typically had a slideshow presentation

setup, and they presented that to their group.” The weekly meetings were always focused and productive, but it wasn’t always all about the work ethic, it was about the time spent with friends and having fun.

“ I FE LT LI KE I WOU LD BE ABLE TO CONTR I BUTE I N WAYS THAT COU LD BE BE N E FICIAL FOR TH E M TO BE SUCCESSFU L .” - KEITH KRAEPLI N “Like, everyone there was working on something for the rocket, like sanding the fins or designing the nose cone,” said Richard Yang ‘25. “It was basically three months of just building the rocket and then

the launch day where we got an official from the federal aviation agency to monitor our launches so he could send them to the competition and, like, that's kind of like the biggest day for us.” Although the rocketry team didn’t qualify for the next level of The American Rocketry Challenge competition, they have worked really hard to get to where they are now, and have put in their best efforts to do the best they can. “We didn’t make it to the top 100 in the finals this year. But we did, okay. This was years much harder. [But] we did better than last year.” As you can see, the newest rocketry club at West has been working hard and learning new things along the way. If you’re interested in joining the club or learning more about rocketry, reach out to Derek Hua or Mr. Kreaplin for more details. Design by Mrudani Ramkumar

Photo by Esther Park

FEATURE MAY 26, 2022

ESTHER PARK Derek Hua ‘25, Heil Houston ‘25, and Ajay Bharindhar ‘25 work on a rocket together during Rocketry Club.

PHOTO FEATURE