What Keeps you up at Night?

What Keeps you up at Night?

Editorial Board

Anna Catlett Dory Holms Liliana Verzani

Corie Lies Sidny Pohlman Noah Traylor

What Keeps You Up At Night?

The stress of expectations, rumors, and the fear of forgetting can overcome you, especially when you’re trying to forget about them and fall asleep. “What Keeps You up at Night?” is a collection of thoughts that may keep you awake at night, whether it’s from your inner or exterior stressor.

January

When Jay Rice ‘94 brainstormed the name of our paper in 1991, it was not because of the ink color. For the last 28 years, our mission has been to bring our audience stories from the school, community and nation, told clearly and without exaggeration--in black and white.

Staff Writers

Black & White is published solely by the Johnston High School newspaper staff. It is an open forum. In accordance with Iowa law, students assign, edit material and make all decisions of content.

represent the opinion of a majority of the editorial

flect the opinions of the advisor, school officials or the district.

Words| Sidny Polhman Layout| Catherine Reiher

Girls Wrestling

On Thursday, December 1st, 2022, the girls wrestling team was recognized at the boys wrestling meet at home. The team received recognition for being the first women’s wrestling team in Johnstons’ school history. “It’s crazy to realize we’re making history and that generations of girls might look at us for inspiration,” said Jasmine Newman ‘25.

43rd Annual Madrigal

The 43rd annual Madrigal performances took place on Wednesday, November 30th and Thursday, December 1st, 2022. Madrigal entails a skit performed by seniors and various songs performed by the entirety of the cast.

“Madrigal is a fun team building experience that is so worth it. We grow as a choir and I love it so much,” said Jonah Ayres ‘24

Sydney Jackson ‘24 waves to the crowd at the boys wrestling meet on Thursday, December 1st. Also pictured, Jasmine Newman ‘25 and Huda Anglo ‘24.

Noah Hartman ‘23 and Sophie Ruddy ‘23 act as “Jester” and “Mayflower” in the 2022 Madrigal production of Bob Bados, a Pirate Tale.

Photo By: Desiree Gentry

Photo By: Giada Grimes

Dance Team State Championships

On Friday, December 2nd, 2022, the girls dance team competed in the state dance competition. They finished in 2nd place for hip hop, 2nd place finish in contemporary, and 3rd place finish in pom. Last season they took home a 5th place finish in contemporary, this year they managed to beat several challenging teams and achieve even better places.

“State was such a great experience this year. I honestly think we’ve improved so much and our placements this year show that,” said Berklee Williams ‘25.

Boys Wrestling

The boys wrestling team is in the prime of their season, having won 15 meets leaving them with a record of 15-4. 7 of 14 varsity wrestlers are ranked in the top 12, including sophomore Jashua Anglo ‘25, his individual record is 22-5. The team is continuing to compete and get better as the season progresses. “Our team is doing really well this year. It’s fun to see the team succeed and be a part of that.” Anglo.

Berklee Williams ‘25 does a toe touch during the Johnston Varsity Dance Team’s pom routine at the ISDTA State Championships

Jashua Anglo ‘25 in position to wrestle an Ankeny opponent on December 1, 2022 at Johnston High School.

Photo By: Jaden Anderson

Photo By: Desiree Gentry

1/1800 Waverly Zhao

Eighteen-hundred, the number of students that attend Johnston High School. Of these 1,800 students, one was picked randomly to share their story. This 1/1800 features senior Waverly Zhao.

As Vice President of the JHS Student Council, varsity soccer player, and a student school board representative, Zhao is taking the necessary steps to achieve her goals of experiencing the world.

Zhao has said she loves learning about other cultures, and hearing about the stories of her mother’s travels helped spark a love to learn and try new things. And hopes to continue traveling in the future.

“She [Waverly’s mom] shared a lot of insight and experience that she got and things that she learned from her travels…”

After graduating from high school, Zhao has plans of experiencing the world. She has even made a bucket list of countries and places she wants to visit.

“After high school, I will be going to college and traveling a lot. I want to study abroad for at least a year in school. One of my bucket list goals is to travel to every continent, including Antarctica,” Zhao said.

Her dream destination is to travel to Turkey to experience

diverse history and culture that the country has to offer.

“There’s so much history, and it’s also very beautiful; the culture is very immense and long-lasting,” Zhao said. “Turkey is like the geographical location of where Mesopotamia was. The Byzantine Empire was there, and the Ottoman

“...learning about different cultures and things that are completely different than what you’ve grown up with and what you’ve known, can really help you going forward in any future career, and just teaches you how to be open-minded,” Zhao said.

the

Words | John Kirkpatrick Layout | Noah Traylor

Empire. And present-day Turkey is really beautiful.”

Along with traveling, Zhao has set clear plans for her future job. After graduation, Zhao would like to pursue a career in politics.

“Next semester I’m going to be an online student and a page at the capitol which will be a 40-hour work week. I’m working specifically in the house of reps[representatives] for the House minority leader.”

Zhao sees this opportunity as a good foundation for her career in the future. Working as a page will act as a trial to see if Zhao enjoys advocacy work more or being directly a part of political work.

“I know that I like politics and I want to get into that field… This is kind of an experimental ‘Do I like working directly, like in the heat of it all? Or do I like advocacy work more?’ I’m just kind of feeling it out early on so I know what I like going into college,” Zhao said.

Zhao plans on moving to Washington, D.C., for college. She wants to study political science or international relations. Zhao knows she has the desire to be involved in politics, but is still unsure exactly what type of job she wants.

“I know I want to go into politics, but what area? There are so many ways that I could do it. I’ll likely just be somewhere in the government, but whether I’m an ambassador or if I’m like a senator or a representative, it will just depend on what I find to be the most interesting.”

Zhao’s interests and goals of working in politics and love of traveling the world can be traced back to her mother, her biggest inspiration.

“...she has had a really interesting career path. She started as a teacher, and then she went into international adoption, and now she’s a paralegal. And she has gone back to school, she’s like studied abroad and lived abroad,” Zhao said.” She’s someone that I have drawn a lot of inspiration from because of how flexible she is, and willing she is to learn new things and try new things.”

While Zhao and her mom have bonded over their many shared interests, their relationship has also been strengthened by the different experiences they had when growing up.

“I think my identity as just a multiracial student, and like I’m a person of color, but I was raised by someone not a person of color so that’s given me an interesting insight into life… even the differences between my own mother and I, of how we were raised sort of on the basis of color but also because of our situations. So I think my background and the fact that I get to draw like a part of myself from different cultures is really cool.”

When traveling and exploring other cultures, Zhao has said she often experiences them with her family. Her favorite childhood memories were when her family would travel every summer to states like Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota.

“I also really like learning about the Lakota Sioux that are in South Dakota, and I got to go on the reservation… and that was where I learned the truth of American history, is like going on those trips, and my mom doing a good job at trying to show us all these things.”

Zhao’s mother studied abroad in China for three years, and this helped her become experienced with traveling

and discovering new cultures. Now, Zhao says she and her mother often try new things together.

“She’s very big on going out and traveling and experiencing new things that are different from your culture. So we try to eat at different places. Like if we ever go out of state, we try to find restaurants that we can’t go to in Iowa. You will not catch us in an Applebee’s, ever! So eating different foods, if a new kind of cuisine opens up in Des Moines, we will immediately be going and trying it,” Zhao said.

Whether traveling the world, exploring new cuisines, or pursuing a career in politics there’s no doubt Zhao’s future will be anything but ordinary.

Targe T s or s T uden T s?

A look inside safety policies and how effective they actually are.

to the modern capacity of news, the prevalence of gun violence today and a plethora of other factors. Since Columbine, two decades have passed without any federal resolution, leaving large scale tragedies and smaller acts of gun violence to prevail.

upon the community to ensure learning environments are safe. While seemingly straightforward, the precarious nature of such a task makes this “little thing” a critical responsibility.

In the last twenty years across the United States, school shootings have evolved from a “horrifying, unimaginable massacre” title that once defined the event, into a topic of political discussions periodically revisited, without any productive outcome.

When 13 students were murdered and 24 injured at Columbine High School in Colorado (1999), Americans were moved by grief and shock. It spurred a reaction unlike anything gun violence had provoked before. The event marked the first major school shooting in America’s history, and since then, hundreds more school shootings have devastated the United States.

Growing up in a fast evolving, increasingly digital world, young people have more expertise in technology and access to information than ever before. Young generations today and forever moving forward are most familiar with a world where media is fast, global, and at their fingertips at any moment in time. Although a privilege, the accessibility and accelerated nature of media creates a force-fed consumption of information; before there is time to finish processing one major event, we have moved on to the next tragedy, the next story, the latest vapid celebrity update. The nation as a whole is desensitized due

Johnston is not immune. In September of this academic year, a JMS student was shown on cameras with a firearm on a bus. In response, the student was expelled; Iowa law (Iowa Code § 280.21B) asserts that the board of directors at public schools should expel a student who brings a firearm on campus for one year minimum.

Additionally, a clear backpack policy was implemented at the Dragon Stadium, an effort to prevent a mass casualty during the football season. Whether the policy is here to stay at the Dragon Stadium and potentially other school events is yet to be determined. But, Principal Ryan Woods doesn’t recall receiving any negative feedback from Johnston families about the new policy.

“Honestly, those messages went out fast and furious … I think people understand the rationale, and the end goal is, a little thing, to keep everyone a little safer, hopefully.” Woods said.

Johnston’s students, educators and other staff hold perspectives of utmost importance in the matter of school shootings and safety. With recent attacks on education (shown in the staggering numbers of teachers leaving the profession) and students preoccupied with their adolescence, the burden of defending themselves from gun violence is both excessive and depraved. It is

For many at Johnston, school shootings and mass acts of gun violence feel distant and out of reach, until the issue hits close to home. On news stories and the impact on student mental health, Holden Witt ‘23 states,

“I like to know, but I don’t like to get super deep into it … Things that are really far away, it’s like you’re concerned about them, but you’re not. It’s not like, ‘oh this is gonna affect me right here, right now.’ It’s more like, ‘Oh, this could affect me later.’”

So when word spread of the JMS gun incident on the bus, families in Johnston were shaken by the news, with some less than surprised reactions.

“I never really thought it would happen here. Like, I always knew it happens and stuff, but you never expect it to happen near you, especially with having a little brother there. Like that definitely caught me off guard a little bit, but also remembering what that school is like. It doesn’t surprise me,” Witt said.

Local action and response thanks to school board officials and state legislators is undeniably present, but how logical and effective is it truly? As of this year, another security development is the student ID scanners used when returning from lunch, DMACC classes, or leaving for an excused absence. Implemented in part to help the recent efforts to improve attendance, the scanners ostensibly pertain to security too by

seeing an ID from the barcode.

“The goal is, anyone walking through those doors, we know who they are,” Woods explains.

Still, from an inside look, glaring shortcomings counteract the security. Lydia Whitehead ‘24 recounts some flaws.

“Kids letting their friends in during lunch because they don’t want to go in through the cafeteria doors. Kids skipping very easily, which is not a good thing during a drill. … It’d be pretty easy for someone to just sneak in, in the morning,” said Whitehead.

Woods clarifies that the expectation is students do not open locked doors for peers; in a building of thousands of people, the precautions almost have to be in everyone’s hands. Maintaining a balance of secure protections and reasonability that isn’t an inconvenience for staff and students is a complex issue.

“Sometimes I don’t think we have enough safety policies here, like I feel like I’ve seen a lot of kids just get in and out of the building ... Especially as a senior ... But at the same time, the kids that you see, like getting in and out of the building, you generally know ‘em,” Witt said.

Apart from lesser violations by students of opening locked doors, why aren’t the scanners a morning precaution too? Staff knows who’s in the building, but only when they’re returning from lunch or DMACC.

“I feel like if we do it (ID scanners) in the morning, that’s gonna be such a hassle because everyone’s coming in, but when people leave and come in, obviously we do scan in, but there’s other doors that people are coming in and they don’t even realize,” Hannah Abbey ‘24 said.

When asked about this inconsistency, Woods commented, “We talked about that. I think the morning is an interesting time because we have so many kids coming through… That’s something we’re talking about right now, actually, in our safety committee meetings.”

The district’s safety committee meets every month to report to the board, address questions and changes, and use the funds the governor issues for improvements.

“I feel like, if you’re gonna do it, do it. Have them at every door or make it so we have to like, almost like a teacher

has to use a badge to actually unlock the door and get in,” Witt said. “... I can understand it’s their first year of trying it. So it’s gonna be bumpy; the juniors and the sophomores, they’ll be more like, they’ll probably get more into it, or they’ll be more just used to it. … They’ll have time to build the habit of it.”

There is potential in the scanners being a security protection, but until then, the reality is that they exist to control the flow of some 2,000 students and hundreds of staff going in and out. Additional security qualities at Johnston are easy to take for granted, for example, the classroom doors that immediately lock without a key, the feature of visitors being both buzzed in and out at the attendance office, and even the attendance office being at the front entrance.

of threats and red flags pertaining to gun violence, as opposed to gossip among students. From the US Government Accountability Office, a review of school shootings shows half of the shootings were committed by current or former students, with suburban, rural, wealthier, and low minority schools like Johnston having more school-targeted, fatal shootings committed by students. Disquieting facts like this makes the responsibility to inform and initiative upon threats even more pressing.

JHS students throughout the district have differing ideas of the best plan of action for nationwide gun violence in schools.

“If you ban guns, you’re just taking it away from people who want to defend themselves in case they need to. … So while kids should definitely not have access to guns, I think it’s very difficult,” Witt said.

Either way, Johnston is fortunate enough to have a well-thought-out plan of precaution.

Bulletproof

“I do think even though we’re big, we’ve got a lot of people– we have a lot of good things as far as our security, and we have a good plan, and we have good partners… So, we’re always talking about it, we’re never going to stop talking about it,” Woods said.

Woods stresses rapid technology developments will further be accounted for in the evolving safety plan.

“We’re looking at putting more alarms on doors so if the door was propped open it would signal us, so we would know. There’s all kinds of things that we continue to evaluate and look at to help us.” Woods said.

This is something many students endorse.

“... We have money, let’s spend it on stuff that matters instead of like our school’s ego,” said Whitehead.

Further, the understanding that Johnston is trying to protect its image applies to ensuring that families are informed

Thankfully this is the case, safety policies at Johnston are constantly evolving to suit the uncertain society we live in. But there’s something sad about that. Is this truly a good thing? While students are enabled to learn in an up to date, protected environment, it forces a community to be constantly mentally cognizant of the grievous possibility. Perhaps the easier solution would be tackling the issue of guns directly, though a controversial concept. Students, educators and the future generations deserve not only to successfully evade the school-shooting nightmare, but to not have to worry about such a thing. This can’t be our forever normal. Students deserve to be and feel safe.

Taking a Timeout

Athletes Open Up About their Mental Health and Address Stigmas within Sports Culture

Cross Country runner Kaylee Spurbeck ‘24 sat in her blocked math class feeling overwhelmed, disheartened and discouraged - but not because of trigonometry. The season had come to a close, but Spurbeck was not satisfied. As her classmates struggled to solve equations, Spurbeck composed a lengthy text message to her coach under her desk,

“I understand that it is my first year and I don’t really know what I am doing, but still. I think I am setting too high of standards for myself, but I will still hold that pressure over myself. I thought I was going to perform a lot better. Right now I feel like I am one of the worst runners on the team… I just don’t understand what I am doing wrong.”

Spurbeck is just one of many student athletes who struggle with their mental health.

Lauren Millang ’24 participates in football cheer, wrestling cheer and competition cheer. Millang struggles to find time to prioritize her well-being amidst her busy schedule,

“I find it a lot harder in season to get my work done, and it’s a lot more stressful, I get a lot less sleep, and my eating habits aren’t as good because I don’t have time to eat every night for dinner. A lot of things contribute to the mental health decline,” Millang said.

Cortlynn Jackson ‘23 ran her final

season of cross country last fall and is playing basketball this winter. While Jackson is looking forward to playing collegiate basketball at William Penn University, she admits she bases her “happiness and self worth” off of how she performs.

Spurbeck relates to Jackson’s struggle, “When I don’t perform the way I think people thought I would, it makes me super upset, and it’s very discouraging and kinda digs you in a hole in a way,” Spurbeck said. “Because I was disappointed with my performance, it was changing the way I was acting in my everyday life.”

Lauren Hendrickson ‘24 has been playing varsity tennis since her freshman year, and acknowledges that her stress spikes during the season. Like many athletes, Hendrickson holds herself to a high standard.

“I remember I was so angry with myself and my playing that I literally hit my racket against my leg so hard that I created lines and bruises on my leg that formed the next day,” Hendrickson said.

While athletes are often their own worst critics, other people’s expectations can often warp athletes’ self-confidence and make them second guess themselves.

As the 2021 Summer Olympics approached, all eyes were on gymnast Simone Biles. Biles took home five medals during her Olympic debut in Rio in 2016, and was projected to win gold in Tokyo. However, she stunned the world after she withdrew from the team finals and four other events soon after. Biles chose to prioritize her safety and mental health, “We also have to focus on ourselves, because at the end of the day, we’re human, too…we have to protect our mind and our body, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do,” Biles said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Biles is not alone. According to Trine University, “A National College Health Assessment reported about 31% of male

Words & Layout | Allie Christensen

“I was so angry with myself and my playing that I literally hit my racket against my leg so hard that I created lines and bruises on my leg that formed the next day.”

- Lauren Hendrickson

“

People keep telling me I am a natural runner, I have good form and that I’m strong in general. If so, then why am I not performing to those expectations that they have put on me, and that I have put on myself?”

-Kaylee Spurbeck ‘24

and 48% of female NCAA student-athletes reported having depression or anxiety symptoms.”

Iowa basketball player Patrick McCaffery recently announced he will be taking time away from the sport after revealing he has been “battling anxiety for a while, and recently it has peaked, which has inhibited [McCaffery’s] preparation and performance on the court.”

“When will I stop doing things to please other people and when will I finally do it for myself?” Spurbeck said.

Naomi Osaka, pro tennis player and highest paid female athlete, frequently advocates for mental health awareness; she herself struggles with depression and anxiety on and off the court. Osaka has sparked major controversy in the past for refusing to speak with the press after matches, or withdrawing from tournaments such as the 2021 French Open.

In her TIME article, ‘It’s O.K. Not to Be O.K.’ Osaka states, “Perhaps we should give athletes the right to take a mental break from media scrutiny on a rare occasion without being subject to strict sanctions.”

Cari Naanep, a two-time state tennis singles champion and current senior at the University of Iowa received lots of support from coaches and teammates, while she felt the most pressure came from “non-tennis players/students at Johnston.”

The Center for Sports Psychology and Mental Health offers athletes tips for overcoming high

pressure situations and learning how to respond after mistakes are made (which are inevitable) including, “visualization, easing off perfection, treating yourself as you would your teammates, changing how you look at the situation and breathing.”

According to Peak Performance Sports, “The sporting event contains no pressure in and of itself. This is important… there is zero pressure in a sporting event…Pressure is an internal experience (a feeling) that is created by the athlete.”

Jonah Frey ‘23 ran his final season of cross country last fall and is looking forward to running track in the spring.

“The pressure is definitely a real thing, being expected to run a certain time or get a certain place to remain varsity. It comes down to ignoring the pressure and running for yourself and your own goals. Self pressure is better than external pressure, in my opinion,” Frey said.

Peak Sports Performance suggests to “Focus on what you can control for your role, not the outcome that leads you to worry and feel pressure.”

“I felt like I needed to win back to back and I pushed myself too hard at times, but I do feel that the more I took care of myself mentally, the better I was physically,” Naanep said.

Prominent athlete and influencer Victoria Garrick Browne played four years of Division I volleyball at USC and uses her platform to normalize mental health struggles and promote body positivity. In 2019, Browne founded the Hidden Opponent, an “Accredited non-profit and advocacy group that raises awareness for student mental health and addresses the stigma within sports culture.”

The idea of a similar group forming in the high school is exciting for many student athletes, “I think it would help to talk about it and get it out, so they feel like they have a place for them,” Jackson said.

Millang agrees that a group would “Let students know that they’re not alone and that they have people to talk to if they’re feeling overwhelmed.”

Frey also believes having a group would be beneficial, however he notes some may struggle to open up.

“I believe it would be hard to get enough athletes going to a mental

“When will I stop doing things to please other people and when will I finally do it for myself?”

-Kaylee Spurbeck ‘24

health club, due to the fact that young males in our society feel a pressure to keep feelings inside, and to not be ‘soft,’” Frey said. “I am not sure exactly how the female athletes at our school feel, but I’m sure they feel a similar pressure to avoid being ‘soft’ as well. It’s unfortunate, and a club like that would be a great idea, as long as people are willing to open up and go.”

Michael Phelps, 23 time Olympic gold medalist is vulnerable about his past struggles with his depression and anxiety.

“We’re supposed to be big, macho, physically strong human beings, but this is not a weakness…we are seeking and reaching for help,” Phelps told Healthline.

Spurbeck notes many athletes are in the same boat.

“We’re all experiencing the same thing no matter what the sport so at least you have somebody to connect with,” Spurbeck said.

Osaka stresses the importance of opening up.

“I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s O.K. to not be O.K., and it’s O.K. to talk about it. There are people who can help, and there is usually light at the end of any tunnel,” she wrote in her TIME article.

Browne echoes Osaka in one of her speeches, “I was completely wrong about mental health. It takes more bravery, more strength, more courage, to open up to someone about what you’re struggling with. I think it’s easier to say nothing. So, let’s rewrite this narrative.”

“Young males in our society feel a pressure to keep feelings inside, and to not be ‘soft.’”

-Jonah Frey

“A club for student athletes would let students know that they’re not alone and that they have people to talk to if they’re feeling overwhelmed.”

-Lauren Millang ‘24

From a New

Johnston Perspective

Words | Anna Catlett Design | Dory Holms

Stereotypes of Johnston: the original idea for this story. But, as we set out to gather information we realized that the perception of Johnston is fairly positive. Many Johnston students prefer to point out the flaws of our school, which is what we planned to do in this article. Though once we spoke to students who are new to Johnston they had only positive things to share about their experience. Switching to a new school is a nerve racking process for any student. This year we have had a total of 98 new students transfer to Johnston. When attending a new school it is important to feel connected with the community, which Johnston has provided for incoming students.

“I do feel connected to Johnston. They make you feel like you’re like family to them you know? Like they care more about you and they basically treat you well.” Yvonne Benezo ‘25 said.

Benezo transferred from Urbandale at the beginning of this year. When comparing Johnston to other schools, new students state that they have had a more positive experience with our educators.

“There might be a little more individualized teaching here. I have had a better experience with teachers here,” Carson Lane ‘23 said.

Who transferred from Roosevelt at the beginning of last school year. According to students, our staff put in more effort to connect with students and establish an effective learning environment. When speaking with teachers, they say that they often check in with students on their understanding of the material and offer their support before and after school hours.

“I feel more connected [with the teachers] here because they care more about you, like if you have bad grades they will take care of that and try to help you. At Urbandale, it’s all by you, like that’s your business.” Benezo stated.

Teachers were happy to hear that students recognized their efforts.

“It makes me feel good to know that students appreciate what we do, or at least can tell that we try to be kind.” Madison Buckley, a teacher at JHS said.

Along with teachers, new students say that their peers have been respectful and assisted them in their transition to Johnston.

“People here tend to mind their own business more which is, like I’m not used to that since everybody at Urbandale kind of came up in everybody’s business 24/7,” Ethan Boyde said, another transfer from Urbandale.

Feeling included is key to adjusting in a new environment. Fortunately, this is something Johnston students have provided for their new classmates.

“At Urbandale, like if somebody sees that you’re new they will literally just pass you and act like they don’t want you around, but here they talk to you, chat up on you,” Benezo said.

The Johnston Youth Mentoring Program (JUMP) has also played a part in helping new students at Johnston. New students who have chosen to be a part of the program reported that it has been beneficial to their experience at Johnston.

“If you are feeling stressed you just go there [JUMP]. If you want to talk to somebody there is someone to talk to. If you want a snack or something you go there they have everything. If you need something they just got you.” Benezo stated.

Upon hearing about their new peers’ experience, Johnston students were surprised by the positive outcome. Instead of focusing on what we dislike about our school, we should try seeing Johnston from a new perspective.

“It makes me really happy actually, that these kids are blending in so well and everybody is just really welcoming to them. I didn’t realize that we had it so well here,” Kennedy Dostal ‘25 said.

HAVE INTO

98 STUDENTS JOHNSTON TRANSFERRED THIS

YEAR

School To Work

Students take on the working world

words & layout | Abigail Wharton

The school to work program enables seniors to be considered full-time students while exploring their possible career paths. It is a year-long elective that students take fifth period, leaving sixth, seventh, and eighth periods open for an internship of their choice and the potential to make some money.

Business teachers Kayla Bousum and Lexi Shafer run the program. Students who are interested in participating apply as juniors and then proceed to be interviewed by the facilitators. Bousum said that in order to narrow down the applicants from 120 students to 60 they ask questions about their job history, senior year schedule, transportation,

and initiative-taking ability.

“We have to try to find the kids that are already focused on their career,” Bousum said.

Chosen students meet during fifth period from the beginning of the school year until the middle of October. They work on employability skills, cover letters, and resumes while searching for an internship that resembles what they might be interested in pursuing in the future. Around mid-October, students begin working at least ten hours every week.

Students receive two full elective credits from Johnston – one for coursework and one for time spent at their internship. Additionally, they

DMACC credits for the course while learning about everything from airways to splinting and even delivering babies. On top of nightly homework, students have three eight hour clinicals in the emergency department and three twelve hour ambulance shifts.

“The nurses monitored us super closely, and they taught us really well how to do everything,” Godfredsen said.

Students then prepare for the National Registry Exam at the end of the semester. They must get at least eighty percent correct to pass. Once they are certified, they are able to work as EMTs and make $18-$25 an hour.

While not a participant in Johnston’s school to work program, Kennedy Godfredsen 23’ is part of another class that allows her to work while in school.

The EMT program is a blocked semester-long class offered to seniors who want to be EMTs. They receive six

Godfredsen recommends the program for anyone interested in medicine. She plans to work as an EMT throughout college to pay for her undergraduate degree and medical school. She would like to pursue a career as an obstetrician-gynecologist or an orthopedic specialist.

receive nine elective credits from DMACC for work-based learning and administration. The DMACC credits transfer to most universities as elective credits saving students time and money.

If students dislike their internship, they may be able to switch as long as they attend both work and class and their employer does not have any complaints. While it may be frustrating to switch internships, students get to try out another field that may be a better fit for them.

“That’s a win. You didn’t just waste four years in school and thousands of dollars of college tuition money on a major that you weren’t going to enjoy anyway,” Bousum said.

Ava Morgan ‘23 is an intern at the West Des Moines police Department. She has shadowed officers on everything from patrol and school resources to detective and canine units.

Morgan attributes her interest in community service to her Dad who served as a Sergeant at the Des Moines Police Department from 2006 until he passed in 2020.

“I don’t have to go to work everyday, but I really enjoy my days when I do,” Morgan said.

Alex Wear ‘23 is an intern at Charter Bank where he regularly works with formulating and converting data and occasionally with the teller line. His internship is paid, but Wear isn’t exactly pleased with his hourly wage.

“It’s not great. I’m there for the experience,” Wear said.

He believes that school to work is a great resume builder and an opportunity to combat senioritis.

He hopes to take his experience with him to college where he plans to double major in finance and economics with minors in computer science and accounting. After receiving his degree, he wants to work as an investment banking analyst on Wall Street.

Class of 2024 Scan QR Code to Apply!

Jonah Frey ‘23 is an unpaid intern in the sports department at KCCI. Despite working anywhere from four to twenty hours a week, Frey does not mind the missing paycheck.

“For me, a big part of signing up for school to work to do this KCCI internship was more for experience, and I love it anyway,” Frey said.

He spends most of his time

filming sporting events for the network, including the state football tournament. While he is unsure of whether his future lies in sports broadcasting, he is thankful for the experience and the connections he has made. Balancing school and work has kept him busy and taught him to manage his time well.

“For me, a big part of signing up for school to work to do this KCCI internship was more for experience, and I love it anyway,”

-Jonah Frey

Words| Riley Babel Design| Audrey Allen

Johnston High School is home to dozens of clubs—so many it can be

many of them go by unnoticed by so many students.

new people, gain life experience,

One of the many clubs that has been lost among the fray is Key Club, but the club is trying to change that now.

“The purpose of Key Club is to get kids more active in the community in a volunteer-based way. It’s kind of like Silver Cord, where it’s trying to get kids to volunteer,” Brian Sturges ‘24 said. Sturges joined Key Club last year as a sophomore. “You have to raise money and go out and use that money to buy something to give to someone else that’s in need of something.”

but never gone Key Club

After Mrs. Thoreson, the previous sponsor of Key Club resigned last year, the club was in danger of guzzling out entirely, but the members were undeterred. They managed to keep the club alive, and Mrs. Hayes stepped in as

the club’s new sponsor.

Key Club meets every Tuesday after school in room 105 to either volunteer places or plan future volunteer events. Their main goal is to raise money for the Johnston Partnership and use said money to support people in the community who are in need.

Key Club strives to give back to the community and extend its influence over the student body. Not only can students gain Silver Cord hours for the volunteer work done through Key Club, but they can be part of a much larger organization and learn new things about the school and the Johnston Community. Despite the club being buried amongst all the other interesting and exciting extracurricular activities at Johnston, Key Club is finding other ways to stand out and make a difference.

ASL Club

American Sign Language is the predominant language of Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities in the United States and parts of Canada, serving as many people’s main form of communication, but many people know little about it. Johnston High School formed the ASL (American Sign Language) Club in 2016 with the purpose of bringing awareness of the Deaf culture to students while teaching ASL.

“Our goal is to provide students with ASL skills and knowledge of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities in order to apply ASL within their own lives,” said Lisa Noe, the sponsor of the ASL Club at Johnston.

Despite being initially formed in 2016, the club was inactive from early 2020 up

until this 2022-2023 school year. A primary struggle of getting the club up and running again was finding a student who knows ASL and is willing and able to lead the club. As of now, two students are leading the club but they are always open to more help and students who are eager to learn ASL, or to teach it to their peers if they already know it.

The ASL Club meets after school on the first and third Monday of every month, where they spend time learning new signs, reviewing the signs they have already learned, sharing information about ASL and the Deaf community, playing games and socializing. For many of the club’s members, it is a great opportunity to meet new friends while learning a new language and educating themselves about the Deaf community.

hard to keep track. Needless to say,

Extracurriculars are a great way for students to meet

learn about the world and really strengthen their resume for whatever they plan to do after high school.

Girls InTech G

irls in Tech is a club started by Johnston High School girls to support girls from all backgrounds who want to come together to be involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and help the Johnston community. They meet every Tuesday in room number 220 (Ms. Nsereko’s classroom), where they discuss ideas and work on their projects in a safe and comfortable environment.

“As of now, we’re gonna work with the Blank Children’s hospital, and we’re gonna go there and visit them and we’re gonna build robots,” Adonawit Meshesha ‘25 explained. “We have a bunch of creative ideas coming and you just have to wait and see.”

Because Girls in Tech strives to focus on the girls at Johnston specifically, providing them with support needed to pursue their interests in the STEM field, they

sometimes struggle with informing girls about the club and getting them to join.

“Some girls are afraid that it’s gonna be too hard or too challenging, but that’s the whole purpose of our mission,” said Meshesha.

While Girls in Tech is not the only club at Johnston that centers around STEM and technology, it is the only one that is exclusively for girls. Not only is the club an opportunity for learning and gaining experience, it is also a place for girls to find friends and peers with similar interests and aspirations.

“There’s many scholarship activities offered for people that get into the STEM career path, and this is a good way to get into that,” Meshesha added. “We also have a bunch of fun outreaches, so it’s a fun environment and you get to become one big STEM family.”

Another club that often goes unnoticed is the FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Robotics club, sponsored by Mr. Martinsen. Like many others of these “forgotten” clubs, the Robotics club primarily struggles with low attendance and underfunding, but that doesn’t stop them from meeting at least twice a week in room 326 (the Special Skills Lab).

The purpose of the club is to provide support for students in a yearly competitive league all the way up to a worldwide tournament robotics program. Members of the club are able to design, build and program robots that run autonomously and through driver control to compete in the events.

Normally, their meetings include a stand up meeting to “address where the team is with goals and action items, address upcoming events, and then work in smaller groups to design, build, program, test and drive the robot,” Mr. Martinsen explained. They also coordinate outreach to share the program with others and connect with local experts in related fields.

“Students get to work together to learn about robotics, math, engineering, technology, science and programming,” Martinsen said. “[They] meet other students across the DSM metro and up to state or world level depending on our team’s performance.”

FTC Robotics

Photo by: Rylee Hayes

This recipe makes approximately four dozen cookies.

Directions

Preheat oven to convection 350º

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together butter, shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla until it reaches a fluffy consistency.

Stir in dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

Line a metal baking sheet with parchment paper

Place tablespoon size scoops of dough (approximately 1 inch in Diameter) 2-3 inches apart on a baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet until they can be transfered.

When cookies have cooled enough to be transferred, move them to a cooling rack to cool completely before being stored.