The Tightrope iowa city west high school
2901 melrose ave.
iowa city, IA 52246
wsspaper.com
Volume 1 issue 1
June 4, 2014
As school wraps up for the year, The Tightrope investigates how it would affect West High pg 9
LOOK INSIDE
I
II
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III
VI
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IV
III
V
Summer means blooming flowers, frizen yougurt, and all things colorful pg 6
Will the ICCSD ever change to year round schooling? How will it affact you? pg 9
II
IV
Travel the world and learn something along the way
Find some new music for your summer playlist pg 8
VI
With so many summer activites going on in Iowa City, it’s hard to pick just one pg 4
pg 5
When hunger strikes, fight back with refreshing yet indulgent summer treats pg 13 COVER PHOTO BY//KATIE MCGRANE
02 TABLE OF CONTENTS JUNE 2014 DESIGN BY // ALLIE BISCUPSKI
A Letter From YOUR EDITORS... Dear Readers,
Summer. It seems like it would never come, but here we are at t-minus 2 days left. Wish Murley would have decided that it wasn’t that cold now. (ok, maybe not). As we get ready for summer, The Tightrope investigated whether West would switch to year round school, making our summers a little shorter. But, for this summer, we’ve included things happening around the world and right here in Iowa City. You don’t have to go somewhere exotic to have fun. Embrace the diversity of our town, you may just find your new favorite spot downtown. Most importantly, make sure to have a good time. Before you know it, fall will come again, and we’ll be back in school with fading tans and wishful memories. Make the most of your summer, and have a good one.
Yours Truly, Allie and Katie
DESIGN BY// ALLIE BISCUPSKI TABLE OF CONTENTS JUNE 2014 03
SUMMER CALENDAR JUNE 6-8 13 19 21 JULY 3-5 17-20
With so much to do in Iowa City, The Tightrope shares the best of the best in the Iowa City Area this summer. BY KAITE MCGRANE
mcgrane.kaite@gmail.com
Iowa Arts Fesival - Downtown Iowa City Main stage located on Iowa Avenue Featured acts: Indigo Girls, Dave Moore, Euf贸rquestra, and more Friday Night Concert Series: The Recliners 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 210 S Dubuque St. in Iowa City Music IC Samuel Barber: Impassioned by Poetry 7:30 p.m. Trinity Episcopal Curch Free Movie Series: Despicible Me 2 Starts at sundown 17 N Clinton St. Iowa City
Iowa City Jazz Fesitval Various locations in Downtown Iowa City IC Deals - Sidewalk Sales All day Downtown and Northside marketplace
04 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT JUNE 2014 DESIGN BY // ALLIE BISCUPSKI
All you need to know about BY ALLIE BISCUPSKI
albiscupski@gmail.com
SCHOOL TRIPS
FOR MORE COVERAGE GO TO WSSPAPER.COM
WHO CAN GO? Students in Spanish III or above. WHERE TO? All around country of Spain. HOW LONG? 15 days. WHEN? During spring break every year. WHAT DO YOU DO? Start off in the beautiful city of Madrid, then travel around Southern Spain. Then, stay with a spanish family for a week anywhere in the country. HOW MUCH? Around $3900-4000. FOR MORE INFO: Sr. McNair in room 137. WHO CAN GO? Students who have completed Biology.WHERE TO? Ecuador and Galapagos Islands. HOW LONG? 15 days. WHEN? June 9-23, 2015. WHAT DO YOU DO? Everything from hiking in Ecuador’s rainforests to taking a cruise around the Galapagos Islands. HOW MUCH? $5375. FOR MORE INFO: Mr. Wymer in room 26. WHO CAN GO? Students in French III or above. WHERE TO? Paris and south of France. HOW LONG? 14 days. WHEN? During spring break every year. WHAT DO YOU DO? Sightsee in Paris, then travel to the south of France to stay with a French family for a week. HOW MUCH? Around $3,300-3,700. FOR MORE INFO: Ms. Wiesley in room 210 WHO CAN GO?West Side Story staffers with permission from adviser. WHERE TO? Washington, D.C. HOW LONG? 3-4 days. WHEN? November 6-9, 2014 WHAT DO YOU DO? Attend various breakout sessions for all media types, talk with journalists from all over the nation, and sightsee around the D.C. area. HOW MUCH? $750-800 FOR MORE INFO: Ms. Whittaker in room 109 DESIGN BY // ALLIE BISCUPSKI JUNE 2014 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 05
SHADES OF SUMMER {DESIGN BY ALLIE BISCUPSKI}
PHOTOS BY//KATIE MCGRANE
STUDENT PLAYLIST
It has a really good bass so I like it
I like it because it is a different type of music
I like that Ed Sheeren is trying a new style
I really like the lyrics of this song
BY KATIE MCGRANE
mcgrane.kaite@gmail.com
This is just a good song
PHOTOS BY//ALLIE BISCUPSKI
TREND REPORT: SUMMER 2014 BY ALLIE BISCUPSKI
albiscupski@gmail.com
With the change in seasons beckoning us all outdoors, the rising temperatures lend to everyone shedding their layers in favor of lighter summer staples. Loose, airy clothing in ethereal whites and pastels dominated the runways and West high halls. High waisted 08 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT JUNE 2014 DESIGN BY // ALLIE BISCUPSKI
shorts and skirts pair perfectly with crop tops in bold prints this summer. Maxi skirts are having a moment in soft cottons with loud, tribal inspired patterns. This summer, fashionably comfortable is the way to go, so pick up a maxi and tropical crop top for this season.
Shrinking Summers
As school lets out for the summer months, The Tightrope investigates the probability of year round schol being implmented in the ICCSD and the ramification it could have on both staff and students
DESIGN BY // KATIE MCGRANE JUNE 2014 NEWS 09
Shrinking How would year round school affect you?
BY ALLIE BISCUSPKI
albiscupski@gmail.com
PHOTO BY // KAITE MCGRANE
Summers
The anticipation mounting as each class period goes by. year round schools are still only 180 days long. The teachers hopelessly trying to cram in one more bit of The main goal of year round school is to space out the knowledge. Students talking excitedly about what they time in a school year to give students more time to learn are going to do with all 2 1/2 months off. material, more time to relax during the Summer. school year, and to close the achievement gap Now imagine that’s gone. Your 2 1/2 I THINK LIKE IN A in kids. Some year round schools pair their month summer is replaced with a year round tracks with delayed start times to COMMUNITY LIKE month long transition break. You also give help benefit students even more. IOWA CITY YEAR Controversy has surrounded year round get four 2-week breaks in the school year, offering more time for rest and in ROUND SCHOOL schooling due to the claims that it increases depth investigation into school topics productivity in the classroom and closes WOULDN’T BE that interest you. This is the reality for the achievement gap from the end of one students on a year round schooling year of school to the beginning of the next. NECESSARY track, which accounts for less than 4% of Typically, the achievement gap is lower in -Stacey Strief American schools. school districts with higher socioeconomic The most popular way to conduct year round school is standings. This means that lower income districts may going on a 45-15 track. Students have 45 days ‘on’, or in struggle more with students losing knowledge learned last class, and 15 days ‘off ’, on break. Year round schools do year over the summer. still give students weekends and holidays, and almost all Social studies teacher Stacey Strief agrees that the
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10 COVER JUNE 2014 // DESIGN BY KATIE MCGRANE
achievement gap is a problem that could be solved with the implementation of year round schooling in lower income places. “When you get into school districts that are mainly lower socioeconomic, opportunities aren’t as readily available as what you have in a place like Iowa City and I think year round schooling would be more beneficial to them,” Strief said. Strief goes on to explain how in Iowa City, many students seek out their own opportunities in the summertime. “I think like in a community like Iowa City I don’t think year round school would be necessary because I feel like we have a population of students who are learning on their own in the summer.” However, there are some drawbacks, Strief has said. “Professionally, having year round school would inhibit my ability to take online courses, professional growth course, and professional development courses because you wouldn’t have that time like you normally do in the summer. Also, you run into the summer camps and vacations that many of them go on your window to do those things would maybe be a little but narrower.” Students can also be affected by this as well. “You run into the summer camps and vacations that many of them go on your window to do those things would maybe be a little but narrower.” Delaney Burt ’17 is one of these students. For the past
two years, Burt has gone on an international trip with a group called People to People. They go all over Europe as student ambassadors, hoping to provide unity among the world’s nations. “Year round school would affect my trip greatly.” said Burt. “If there’s no summer vacation, then there’s no trip.” Burt, like many students, is against year round school. “Yes, I am against it because there’s no true break from school. If there’s no break, then school will get even more stressful and overwhelming.” Burt also states that year round schooling would not help her with the achievement gap. “Even throughout the school year I forget stuff, especially in math. So, remembering things is just a matter of review.” As a whole, Burt is fully against year round school. “Year round school would not work for me; trip or no trip.” Strief believes ICCSD would not need year round schooling, but she can see the potential in other places. “As a whole I am in favor [of year round school], however in ICCSD I am not. I can see the benefits of year round schools to more inner city schools where your student population is more benefitted by it.”
Year round schools in the U.S
10% of public school children are enrolled in year round school
Most popular year round school track. 45 days on, 15 days off
The dropout rate of year round schools is 3% lower
NUMBERS
BY THE
Increase in year round schools from 19872003
COMPILED BY// ALLIE BISCUPSKI
DESIGN BY // ALLIE BISCUPSKI JUNE 2014 COVER 11
Don’t judge a school by its cover
Standardized America
BY KATIE MCGRANE
BY ALLIE BISCUPSKI
mcgrane.katie@gmail.com
When you think of Tate High School, what comes to mind? Is it the fights? Low grades? Teen Moms? When I first heard about Tate I thought that all the rumors of fights, teen moms and low grades were true. I thought that everyone there was just a hooligan and high school was a joke to each and everyone of them. However, many of the people who go to Tate are very respectful people who are smart but just work at a different pace compared to people at a regular school like West. Tate is not a school for “hooligans”. It is a school for people who are willing to work hard but don’t necessarily have the ability to. I know what you’re probably thinking. Well if they want to work hard then why don’t they? High school sometimes just moves too fast for some people and they have a hard time staying organized or on top of things. Tate provides the One-on-One attention that a student may need to be successful. My mom is a teacher who has been fortunate enough to teach some of the students who have ended up at Tate. We have started a tradition of going to Tate’s graduation every year so that she could see her old students graduate. My first time there I was beside myself. It was so loud and it seemed to have no order but as the night went on I realized how much love was flowing through the air with each hoot and holler. Every person in that room was proud of a student who would be walking across the stage to receive their high school diploma for which they have worked so hard to receive. After the ceremony there is balloons everywhere and camera flashes left and right. Occasionally we would see a past student of my mom’s that
{DESIGN BY KATIE MCGRANE}
albiscupski@gmail.com
we would have to go talk to and to see how their lives have changed so much and they give all the credit for that change to Tate. “Other schools focus on the grades while Tate focuses on the education.” This is an excerpt from Tate High Schools senior class president graduation speech. She was describing the solid education that she has acquired while at Tate. Some schools focus on getting the solid grade point averages while Tate is a school that focuses on their kids leaving with solid education that will benefit them in their life to come. In this speech, she focused on the great opportunities she was offered at Tate that she would otherwise never be offered. As a proud student of Iowa City West High School, it is hard for me to think of going to school anywhere else. I have been fortunate enough to keep in touch with some of my peers who have transferred to Tate. They too could not imagine going anywhere else to get a high school education. Now as I talk to them they describe the wonderful learning environment and the healthy teacher student relationships they have been able to develop. Not only is Tate packed full of amazing teachers, it is full of amazing and hard working students that have successfully overcome all the rumors. Don’t judge a school by it’s cover. Don’t judge a school by a first glance. Take the time to look at the stories of the students at Tate and then try to keep up those terrible rumors. Good luck.
12 OPINION JUNE2014 DESIGN BY//KATIE MCGRANE
As finals finally wrap up for many students around the country, students breathe a collective sigh of relief that the tests are over. We’ve crammed, pulled all-nighters, and lost a small part of our sanity for these tests that can bring you up or down as much as a full letter grade. But are standardized tests accurately measuring student achievement in school? Standardized testing first started in the early 1900s as a means to measure someone’s intelligence, or IQ. It was later used during WWI to test which soldiers were officer material, and later used to test which students met a college’s standards. During Greek philosopher Socrates’ time in 400 BCE, he tested his students by asking them a question, which they would then have a conversation about. There was no one set right or wrong answer. Many educators today still believe this is the best way of teaching, but we have shifted to a multiple choice, one answer way of testing knowledge of material. This type of testing is an inaccurate measure of one’s intelligence and understanding of the material. We no longer teach students to learn the material, we teach them to know the correct answer to pass tests. There isn’t ample time to go over material taught in class, so many students struggle to learn something in a very short amount of time. It’s also easier to just look over a page of notes right before a test, then write down as many things as you can remember at the top and hope it’s enough. A student who is good at remembering things could ace a test about something they don’t get, while a student who totally understands the material could fail because they aren’t a
good test taker. We give these standardized test under the assumption that testing, and learning in general, is one size fits all. We teach how to have good test taking skills instead of how to effectively learn material. This jeopardizes our future generation of kids for when they go into the workforce. What use is knowing that b and c are usually right when you don’t know how to fix the router at your IT job? We also try to teach students too much in too little time. There is so much to know about everything. Staying in school your entire life wouldn’t even scratch the surface. But when we try to teach a everything in the span of 13 years, kids become overwhelmed and simply can’t remember it all. Specialized classes like in college need to be the standard for high schools. This not only gives students a better knowledge a what they’ll need for their future job, but allows more time to truly absorb material taught. The idea of standardized testing is unfair to students, it’s an outdated and inaccurate way to measure understanding of a certain topic in school. They offer an unfair advantage to good test takers and can hold back brilliant people. So check powerschool, and remember that your test grade doesn’t define your future.
Summer Snacks The sweetest snakcs for summer
COMPILED BY// KATIE MCGRANE
STRAWBERRY WATERMELON LEMONADE You will need...
4 cups frozen watermelon, cubed and seedless 2 cups frozen strawberries 1/2 can of frozen lemonade concentrate 1 can Sprite or carbonated water 1/4-1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup ice 1. Cut up watermelon and strawberries into small pieces 2. Add everything to blender 3. Blend and pour into glass
PHOTO BY // KATIE MCGRANE
NO-BAKE COOKIES You will need...
2 cups of sugar 1/4 cup cocoa 1/2 cup milk 1/4 lb. butter or margarine 1 tsp. vanilla pinch of salt 3 cups of quick oats 1/2 cup of peanut butter
PHOTO BY // KATIE MCGRANE
In a saucepan, melt butter; add cocoa. When mixed well, add sugar and milk. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for one minute. Remove from heat; add vanilla, salt, peanut butter, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoon onto waxed paper until hard FOR MORE COVERAGE GO TO WSSPAPER.COM
DESIGN BY// KATIE MCGRANE JUNE 2014 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 13
NAME THAT TEACHER Find out how well you know West High’s teacher with our interactive matching quiz
Compiled By//Katie McGrane
A.
1) I was homecoming queen I can wiggle my ears
B.
2)
Science teacher Shishonee Hughes
I like to race cars I sky dive
Je
C.
3)
Science teacher Jeff Conner
I’ve ridden on rag Bri 25 times For fun I used to ask my dad for long division problems
4)
D.
Spanish teacher David McNair
I went to Barack obamas inaguration I live in a co-op Math teacher Barb Lynn ANSWERS // 1)A 2)C. 3)D. 4)B.
{DESIGN BY KATIE MCGRANE}