CONTENTS STAFF
03 - BOLT NECESSITIES 04 - TEACHER FEATURE
Grace Brusegaard 9th Grade Writer
06 - SOCIAL DIVERSITY 07 - LIBERTY BUILDING PROGRESS 10 - KIBBY: THE MAN WITH A PLAN
Sierra Suiter 9th Grade Designer
Teya Kerns 9th Grade Photo Editer
12 - NEW SCHOOL, NEW SPORTS 14 - FRIEND SPLIT
Henry Krain 9th Grade Writer/Designer
16 - WHICH CANDY ARE YOU? DESIGNED BY SIERRA SUITER AND EVA BURBIDGE
Eva Burbidge 9th Grade Writer
03
E N T E R TA I N M E N T
MAY 25, 2017
BOLT NECESSITIES BY SIERRA SUITER AND TEYA KERNS
We came up with three snacks and a beverage for all those going to liberty. They are all quick and easy to make so anyone can do it. This Bolt of Energy is healthy as well as delicious. Made from more than five fruits it is a great way to get your energy up.
Bolt Bites are quick and easy to make, and taste good as well. Corn chex covered in peanut butter, purple chocolate, and powdered sugar makes it a mouth-watering treat.
These cookies are sweet treat that make a great after school snack. Dough rolled in sprinkes creates a sparkly outside for a great look.
Lightning Bolts are a great snack. Although they can get messy to make, their taste makes up for it. Pretzal rods covered in purple sprinkles and chocolate create a great treat.
Go to intro.wsspaper.com to see the video and find these recipies
04
PROFILE
MAY 24, 2017
C E A T E H R FEATU R E
By Eva Burbidge
Whether students like to admit it or not, teachers play a huge role in any school. They set the atmosphere of the entire school. And whether students realize it or not, teachers really do want to help you become the best person you can be, both in and out of the classroom. Liberty High School, located in North Liberty, will be opening for the 201718 school year. The graduating class of 2018 will only have 27 students in it. Despite being small, Liberty is ready to make a name for itself. And some of the teachers that will be teaching at Liberty next year have their own ways to get Liberty off to a good start. Ben Gast, Business Teacher Q: What is one piece of advice you want to give to your future students? A: They talk about [Highschool] being some of the best times of your lives and sometimes I think when you’re in the grind of it as students you don’t realize that, but there’s a lot of great things that happen in school and out of school at this time in your life, so just kind of enjoy it, but put effort into things and it’ll pay off down the road, but also don’t be afraid to have fun. Q: What do you think will be the most challenging thing about working in a new school? A: Probably just the newness of it, I’ll have two classrooms there and that’s new to me, I’ve kind of settled in here over 18 years, so just adjusting to that, other than that the students are going to be the students that I'm used to from here so I think that transition will be alright and a lot of the teachers that are going to be at Liberty coming from West so I kind of know them already but there will be some new faces and a new administration so just what their style is and adjusting to that, but I don’t see any big issues with that.
05 PROFILE MAY 24 2017
Justin Colbert, Dean of Administration Q: What are your goals for teaching at Liberty? A: It’s kind of a unique situation in that myself and the other leadership team, kind of get to set the rules we get to set the expectations but then also we have the ability to set the culture and set the tone of the entire feel for the schools, so that’s what we’re excited to get started with Q: What is one piece of advice you want to give to your future students? A: Be proud of the new school, same situation on it from my perspective where it’s really cool and really rare to open a new school but from the students perspectives it’s really rare to be able to be the first students to walk those hallways, so to be proud of that and then as a result, in terms of just feeling proud but then make the right decisions that gets the school off on the right start.”
Kim Cranston, ELL teacher Q: What are you looking forward to most about teaching at Liberty? A: I think going to Liberty is an opportunity of a lifetime because how many people can say that they were the first group of teachers, first group of kids at some place new. Just going in and talking to other teachers, we’ve talked about the climate we want there and I’ll always be number 44 hired at Liberty High and I just think the opportunities that us as a staff can help you kids create is amazing.” Q: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve ever learned related to teaching? A: “I had a parent once, we were just talking, and she said, ‘It would be nice if you guys called home sometimes about good things that my son does.’ And that really hit me because as a parent myself of a child with disabilities, I know everything she does wrong, I know what she struggles in, parents need to hear the success.
Jeff Kelley, History teacher Q: What are your goals for teaching at Liberty? A: Try to provide students at opportunity to explore American History, try to help them become more disciplined as students and helping them develop their own style and technique for learning skills that will benefit them throughout their life. Q: What do you think will be your favorite thing about working at Liberty? A: Doing things for the first time. [...] It’ll just be that first day in the building, it’ll just be the first time anyone's ever stepped in that building for the first day of school and I just think that’s cool because that buildings going to be there for hundreds of years, and so to say 20 years from now, or for the students to be able to say 50 years from now, ‘I walked in that building the very first day those doors opened.’ That’s pretty cool. Designed By Teya Kerns and Grace Brusegaard
6
OPINION MAY 24, 2017
SOCIAL DIVERSITY
BY HENRY KRAIN
We have been told repeatedly by friends, family, and society not to judge based on economic status. Accordingly ICCSD, like any other school district, tries to enforce a non-discrimination policy. It reads, “It is the policy of the Iowa City Community school district not to discriminate on [...] socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices.” They do a fine job of following this policy with things such as sex, religion, and age, however they seem to be hypocritical when it comes to economic status. Their policy clearly states that the ICCSD is discrimination-free. Period. The conversation should stop there. If you haven’t already heard, students from the past, present, and future that attend or have attended Kirkwood Elementary will be now be forced to attend North Central, and then go on to Liberty High. Which is completely unnecessary. ICCSD will be forcing kids that were already in the West High, and Northwest areas to go to North Central and Liberty. They’re placing them on their own little island. Kirkwood students are being forced to go to Liberty so all the schools
have an even amount of people who to get land a spot in clubs and are below the ICCSD’s poverty line. athletics. However, it affects kids They’re going straight against their from Kirkwood more, try to walk non discrimination policy. They are a mile in their shoes. Kids at West splitting up friendships, and placing are losing their lifetime friends, and a marker on people’s back by telling ones that have just been made.. They them they have to attend Liberty so are being blatantly disrespected by their is an equal amount of poverty the ICCSD. It would be a calamity at each high school. Yet, they tell if that happened to you; If you lost us not to discriminate based on your life long friends just because you weren’t as well off as other economic status. Now, you may be thinking, how people. does this affect me if I’m not from Kirkwood elementary? For starters it is going to increase Liberty’s population at an accelerated rate. Liberty’s capacity is only 1,000 people. In the first year there will be about 500 kids there plus at least 250 each year. It also means less chances in the classroom, and 2017-18 school year extracurriculars. Less 1-on-1 from teachers. Also, making it harder
2016-17 school year
DESIGNED BY HENRY KRAIN
7 F E AT U R E MAY 25TH, 2017
8
F E AT U R E
MAY 24, 2017
Walking in, a wave of fresh paint and cut wood overwhelmed the air. Boxes, ladders, and construction gear were strewn everywhere with a thin line of dust. Large fans were placed every few corners allowing a large gust of surprise at each turn. The modern design of the place was breathtaking with a fun color scheme consisting of blues, greens, and purples adding character. The whole place was lit brightly without the aid of artificial light, provided by the large, enticing windows.
Right: The hallway in front of the main doors facing the large windows of the soon to be lunch room . DESIGNED BY GRACE BRUSEGAARD
9 F E AT U R E MAY 24 2017
Right and Left: Two classrooms both with large windows and bright colored walls.
Each locker is plenty wide with the Liberty Lightning symbol engraved across the front. Compared to West High’s lockers they are much shorter and much wider. The lock to open it is very similar to those at North Central where you turn the lock and pull, to open the locker. With still lots lefts to do and only a few months left, walking in and seeing the beautiful architecture only builds up more excitement for the first school year at Liberty.
Right: Lockers with engraved Liberty Lightning sign
10
PROFILE
Kibby: “ The Man With a Plan MAY 24,2017
F
or years there has been discussion over building another high school to compensate for the over-crowding at West and it’s finally time. Liberty High School will be opening for the 2017-2018 school year, with Scott Kibby as its principal. Kibby was the athletic director at West High from 2012-2016, but was qualified to work with administrations; Kibby taught math for 16 years and had 14 years of administrative experience before he started working at West High.While teaching at a small school in Eddyville for five years, the superintendent encouraged him to go to grad school to become an administrator. Kibby followed the advice. While he was teaching at Cedar Rapids Jefferson
for his 11th year, his principal encouraged him to apply as a principal further on in his career. After getting caught up in the design of the school, Kibby became excited and decided to take up the principal position of the brand new building. Certain characteristics are needed to take on this task and Kibby believes he has them. “Energy, enthusiasm, work ethic, and organization [are all important characteristics]. I like to collaborate, work with other people and team up to make decisions better,” Kibby said responding to the qualities that make him a right fit for the job. When hiring teachers and going about interacting with kids, Kibby
“
BY GRACE BRUSEGAARD
Embrace it. What I mean by that is, it’s awesome; you get to walk into a new school. You will be the first set of students that have ever been in there. With that newness there’s going to be some bumps in the road so just roll with it, embrace it, enjoy it and at the same time just realize that it all might not work perfect at every second of the day.
recalls important messages from three principles. “My first core principle is [to] create great experiences for students. Whether that’s in the classroom or on the stage, we just want to have those great experiences for students. The second one is to treat students with respect, challenging them to their [full] potential. We will push [them], we want to make [them] awesome. We want to drive academics and challenge [students] At the same time, though, we want to be kind and respectful,” Kibby said. “The final one is to do everything with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is contagious and we do our best to work while we are fired
11
PROFILE
up, getting excited.” Kibby loves both sports and the arts and plans to be at every event. “I think a lot of people know that I have this athletic side to me and I have an athletic background. People would be surprised by how much I love the arts, [though]. [...] I love activities so I’ll be at everyone’s show choir [productions], their plays, marching band [performances] and athletic events. I just love to go to stuff,” Kibby said. As the school year approaches, Kibby is most excited about building up a collaborative environment while getting to know each student creating school community. Knowing that there will be kinks to work out ahead, including getting the school ready and able to operate, Kibby expects they are going to have to try new things and perhaps start over until the school develops its routines. To get students as well as parents fa-
MAY24, 2017
miliar with the building and comfortable with the switch, Liberty staff will be holding a ribbon cutting, an open house, a new student orientation, and an assembly to kick off the school year. In regards to getting to know students, Kibby made a student advisory board of freshman students at West that will be going to Liberty next year. They meet once a month to talk about how to get the Liberty community up and running.Going to a new school is a remarkable opportunity to start up clubs, athletics and arts. The environment and tone of Liberty will be set by the students and staff; Kibby knows that there will be challenges. “Embrace it. What I mean by that is, it’s awesome; you get to walk into a new school. You will be the first
set of students that have ever been in there. With that newness there’s going to be some bumps in the road so just roll with it, embrace it, enjoy it and at the same time just realize that it all might not work perfect at every second of the day,” Kibby said. When Liberty students finally graduate as seniors, Kibby hopes that they remember him well. “I hope people remember that I was kind, had a smile on my face, and was encouraging and excited most of the time. I would hope that people saw that I did things well and asked other people to do things well. Do your best, work as hard as you can and do things well,” Kibby said.
DESIGN BY EVA BURBIDGE
12
SPORTS
MAY 25, 2017
New School, New Sports By Eva Burbidge and Grace Brusegaard Switching teams or switching schools can be hard. But imagine doing both at the same time. Isabel Smith ’20 played basketball and soccer for West High school and will now have to make the transition to Liberty High School for the 201718 school year. Although Smith is ready for the switch and knows she can handle it, she knows that everything probably won’t go as planned. “I’m excited but at the same time I really like West and the girls there so it’ll be a different change but it’ll be for the better,” Smith said. But on top of everything, she thinks Liberty will be a great experience and will benefit her as a player. Smith has been playing basketball since 2nd grade and has been on many different teams including Thunder, Fusion, North Central Junior High, Team Iowa, and of course West High. Her next team will be the Liberty Bolts. But with any transition, there will be obstacles along the way. “[The most challenging thing will be] not really having anybody to lead us except for the coach and not really having any girls that are older,” Smith said.
Smith will have to get used to playing with teammates that she doesn’t know very well. She’ll also have to get used to their skill levels and how they perform on the court and the field. “I’ll get to deal with this soccer season is new teammates which will be hard learning how to position herself on the field. But she’s a quick learner and there won’t be as many girls on and helped her JV soccer team a lot. the team and we get a new coach which will be different.” With very few upperclassmen attending Liberty, the younger girls Overall, the transition from West will have to fill their role. “Well I’m to Liberty might not be the easiest probably going to have to step it up thing for most students athletes, but next year because there are not go- it will be a great experience. Everyone will learn new lessons and make Smith decided to go out for soccer ing to be as many people, I’ll prob- new memories that will stay with this year at West High and although ably play more of a leadership role them for their whole lives. One tip she’s never played it before she’s had which is going to be difficult,” Smith for success from Smith is, “You baa lot of fun with it even though it’s said. sically just have to be able to work been a little bit hard to pick up so hard and put your mind to it.” quickly. The hardest thing she’s had With a whole new roster of girls,
13 SPORTS
MAY 25 , 2017
“Staying mentally tough throughout the whole game [is the hardest part] because if your mind slips at one point in the game you can just totally lose the lead and not be able to come back.” -Ben Houselog Ben Houselog ’20 is no stranger to the game of football. He first started flag football in kindergarten and then started playing tackle football as soon as he was allowed to, which was in the fourth grade. Although he didn't enjoy flag football that much, he loved tackle football and has been playing ever since. Since he’s been playing so long, he’s played on many different teams. “I’ve played for West, I’ve played for numerous flag football teams, [...] but my favorite [tackle football team] was Liberty because I felt a special connection to the coaches and players.” Houselog said. Houselog knows the ups and downs of football. “My favorite thing [about football] is scoring and winning games and my least favorite thing is getting hit, getting hurt, and losing a game.” With Liberty being a new school, Houselog and his teammates want to give themselves a name right off the bat. “[Our goal is to] have the best record for our league,” Houselog said. He knows it will be hard, but will put in the work to achieve this goal. But there will be many challenges in the upcoming season considering Liberty will be a brand new school. One of the challenges will be the practices. As of the 2017-18, Liberty will not have a football field, so all the football players will be practicing at Van Allen Elementary school, instead of their own field which will affect the amount of practice time they will get because it will take them longer to get there after school.
Playing for three different club teams, and both for North Central and a Liberty team at West, Kaylee Berns ’20 has been playing volleyball for five years as a libero (back row returner of the serve and spikes). This year at West they decided to have a freshman team with all of the players going to Liberty so that they would get to know each other and their playing styles. To Berns, the nonstop pace of volleyball is her favorite thing, yet staying engaged and ready can be tricky. “Staying mentally tough throughout the whole game [is the hardest part] because if your mind slips at one point in the game you can just totally lose the lead and not be able to come back,” Berns said. Since all of her teammates will stay the same, Berns isn’t really concerned with the transition from West to Liberty and hopes that since it will be smaller it will allow a chance for more girls to play. “I’m actually really excited about [the transition] and I think Liberty will have a really good team,” Berns said, “The biggest challenge will be not having any upperclassman so it will be a pretty young team.” With Liberty only starting out with a full class of freshman and sophomores, with some upperclassman, it will still be significantly smaller than West and probably won’t play them in sports for a few years not making rivalry much of an issue. Volleyball season starts conditioning in the summer and playing in the fall and Berns can’t wait. “I’m looking forward to starting the season off and getting to play with some different girls who didn't play on the Liberty team last year and also new freshmen coming in. I want us to be successful and [play] to the highest potential we can and come off with a lot of wins,” Berns said.
Houselog is looking forward to being able to play West High. “I think there will be a rivalry [between West and Liberty] but I think Liberty will win,” Houselog said. He is ready for the season and ready to start Liberty off on the right foot. Designed by Sierra Suiter
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PROFILE
Friend Split MAY 25, 2017
BY EVA BURBIDGE Everyone has that one person that they tell everything to. But what if you weren’t able to see that person everyday anymore? Natalie Cargin ’20 and Josie Anderson ’19, best friends at West High, will be going to different schools for the 2017-18 school year. Cargin and Anderson met when they were in first and second grade. Cargin was friends with Lily Anderson ’19, Josie’s twin sister. “We were kind of forced to play together since Lily was friends with [Natalie].” Anderson said. But, the two girls quickly became friends and have been close ever since.
Natalie Cargin ‘20 and Josie Anderson ‘19
won’t be Josie.” Cargin said. But the two girls will still hangout with each other every weekend and whenever their busy schedules allow it. “I feel like our personalities [are] sort of shaped around each other since we grew up together.” -Anderson
They’ve become even closer over the past few years, “I feel like our personalities [are] sort of shaped around each other since we grew up together.” Anderson said. Some of their favorite things to do with each other include going to Taylor Swift concerts and getting Star- bucks on the way to school. Even though Cargin and Anderson will be going to separate schools Both Cargin and Anderson both next fall, they still both agree on one say that they will miss getting to see thing. They will always make time each other during lunch and in the for each other. hallways every day. “If something past few years, “I feel like our perhappens at school I won’t have sonalities sort of shaped around anybody to go to, well I will, but it each other since we grew up togeth-
er.” Josie said. Some of their favorite things to do with each other include going to Taylor Swift concerts and getting Starbucks on the way to school.
Both Cargin and Anderson both say that they will miss getting to see each other during lunch and in the hallways every day. “If something happens at school I won't have anybody to go to, well I will, but it won’t be Josie.” Cargin said. But the two girls will still hangout with each other every weekend and whenever their busy schedules allow it. Even though Cargin and Anderson will be going to separate schools next fall, they still both agree on one thing. They will always make time for each other.
15 PROFILE
By Grace Brusegaard
MAY 25, 2017
Asha Sandhu ‘20 and Grace QV ‘20 With Liberty High school opening this year, many students have been sectioned off into whether they are staying at West or going to Liberty. With this, many friend groups are being split causing some chaos. Grace Quast-Villafana ’20 and Asha Sandhu ’20 met in the eighth grade when Sandhu showed Quast-Villafana around North Central and they soon became best friends. Both sharing a passion for dance, they like to go to the rec center and practice together since they go to different studios. Now they are faced with the other going to a different school, Quast-Villafana at Liberty and Sandhu at West. While there are many things that can be disappointing about not going to the same school as your best friend, Sandhu can really pinpoint what she will miss the most. “ I won’t see her
everyday and it just kind of sucks. I can’t go up in the hall and be like ‘hey Grace what’s up?’. I won’t see Grace’s smile and she always cheers me up when I’m having a bad day,” Sandhu said,”It’s just like not seeing each other every day, I feel like that’s a huge impact on a friendship.” Quast-Villafana nodded her head in agreement and added, “ I won’t see Asha either, but we’ll still hang out on the weekend and whatever, we just won’t see each other at school.” Besides not being able to see a familiar face, the rivalry between the schools now and in the future might prove to be the hardest thing about going to different schools. “I know there is already a lot of bad blood occurring between Liberty and West, people are saying ‘oh Liberty is so annoying’ and it’s just not going to be good. I feel like the whole
school rivalry will affect it greatly,” said Sandhu. “I think it will be bigger than a City-West rivalry,” Quast-Villafana added. Although they won’t see each other every day their favorite things about each other will stay the same including mutual trust and being able to make any day much better. Since meeting each other both have found a change in their personalities for the better. Sandhu says, “Since I have met Grace, I’ve been more caring. I know that Grace has gone through a lot with her hip surgeries and I feel I’m more aware of what everyone is going through.” Quast-Villafana agreed that since meeting Asha she has become more outspoken and less timid. With afterschool activities including dance team for school and competition dance with local studios, both find themselves very busy and do not know how often they will get to see each other once at different schools. “ [We’ll] probably [see each other] every three weeks, once a month. It’s always hard to find times to hang out after school already while we’re going to the same school and I feel once we go to different schools it will be even harder to find times to hang out,” Sandhu said. Though it will prove difficult, the two know what aspects of their friendship will never change. “ I know that I could still go to Asha if I needed anything and I still feel like we will have a good friendship,” Quast-Villafana said. Soon after Sandhu responded, “ It’s just going to be hard to not see your friends every single day but hopefully it will stay the same out of school.” DESIGNED BY SIERRA SUITER
You can get a little sassy but absolutely love all candy, often finding yourself wandering in the candy aisle. You love to challenge your friends to who can stand the sourest candy.
You are very nice and kind and have a serious sweet tooth. Animal pictures are your life and each day you strive to do what makes you happy.
A day laughing is a day well spent. You never cease to make everyone around you happy and love to be the center of attention. Also of course there is no such thing as too much sugar.
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Which Candy Are You?