B&W the black and white September, 2014
paved in controversy p. 5
FRIDAY
NIGHT
LIGHTS p. 3
IS ADMINISTRATION CONTROLLING HOW WE GRIEVE? p. 13
FOOTBALL HELPS FUND ALL ATHLETICS p. 19 t
Find us on Twitter! follow us @jhsnewspaper
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www.jhsblackandwhite.com
4
Playing to a new tune
10/11
5
Paved in controversy
12
6
The American way
7
Merging of cultures
8
Bad apples spoil the bunch
b&w philosophy
The Black and White is published solely by the Johnston High School newspaper staff. Its goal is to inform, enlighten and entertain Johnston students. It is an open forum. In accordance with Iowa law and board policy, students assign and edit material and make all decisions of content. The paper is published ten times per school year. The paper will avoid material that is libelous, obscene or an invasion of privacy. The law does not require parental permission to use student quotes. Ethically, we believe students can speak for themselves. Staff editorials represent the opinion of a majority of the editorial board. Editorial and opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the advisor, school officials or the district. Letters to the editor must be signed. Like all material, letters may not be libelous, obscene or an invasion of privacy. Bring letters to room 413 within one week after publication to be considered for the next issue. The Black and White strives to report accurate and timely information. If you believe that an error has been printed, please contact the editors at jhsblackandwhite@gmail.com The Black and White is a member of CSPA, NSPA, Quil & Scroll, and IHSPA. Recent issues of the paper earned these honors: Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist, National Scholastic Press Association First Class rating, Quill & Scroll Gallup Award, IHSPA state placings and sixth in the National Best of Show.
16
ELP remains unknown Back 2 Besic
17
Students build tolerance to peanut allergy
health
9
editorial
3
Friday night lights
18
Getting fit? There’s an app for that
19
Football funds all athletics
20
Remembering tragic times
New high school digs in
13 14
opinion
feature
photo essay
September 2014
index
backpage sports
sept. 2014 p.2
Having the nerve to help
Mistreatment of journalists unfair
Is adminisration controlling how we grieve?
Speak amongst silence
15
Cutting students’ chances of success
meet the staff
Head editor-in-chief Anne Rogers Print editor-in-chief Clare Farrell Online editor-in-chief Carly Kinning Design editor Zoe Wilson Online sub-editor Natalie Larimer Sports editor Carly Campbell Opinion editor Senad Besic
Staff writers Matthew Berry Erin Bockenstedt Meredith Campidilli Sarah Caporelli MacKenzie Costello Hannah Crooks Max Culbert Jake Dalbey Brianna Erickson Esmerelda Flores Brooke Ginsberg Myles Glandorf Kennedy Graeser Meredith Gwennap Medina Jusufovic
Allison Klein Michelle Kumar Eileen Lagerblade Anna Larson Kate Lichte Allexis Mahanna Kittarah Mangra-Dutcher Carissa Metcalf Jacob Orr Lizzy Orr Caroline Quinn Bryce Schulte Lindsay Soards Staff Illustrator Olivia White
photo essay
sept. 2014 p.3
Friday night lights 1
words | Anne Rogers layout | Carly Kinning
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Carly Kinning/BW
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6 Carly Kinning/BW
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5 Carly Kinning/BW
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Senior quarterback Reid Sinnett hands the ball off to sophomore Grant Gossling during the Ankeny game Sept. 5. The
Dragons won at home 28-27. As of Sept. 10, Sinnett’s completion percentage is 53.6%.
Members of the crowd hold their shoe up as the Dragons kick off after a touchdown. It has been a tradition to take one shoe off and cheer during football and basketball games.
Junior Jessica Battani and sophomore Megan Young lead the dance team during their halftime show at the Ankeny
game. The team performed their jazz song “Took the Night,” the dance they took to state and nationals two years ago.
Senior Abby Gorsche waves a towel and cheers on the team during the home game Sept. 5. Gorsche and senior Han-
nah Sieren ran up and down the track with a flag after every Dragon touchdown as well.
Seniors Alexandra Reiher and Karli Killian strike a pose during the dance team’s halftime show on Sept. 5. The dance team also cheers and dances on the sidelines during the games with the cheerleaders.
Senior defensive player John May tackles an Ankeny player
in pursuit of a fumble. Ankeny scored late in the game, however a missed field goal would prove to be fatal when the
Dragons scored in the last minutes of the game and made the field goal.
photo essay
sept. 2014 p.4
Playing to a new tune 1
3
words | Anne Rogers layout | Carly Kinning
2
Carly Kinning/BW
Carly Kinning/BW
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Carly Kinning/BW
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Sophomore Kyle Burgess plays his saxophone during the halftime marching band show during the home game Sept. 5. The theme of this year’s show is
“Wizard of Oz” and “Wicked.” The band has been practicing throughout the summer to get ready for their upcoming season.
Sophomore Jillian Gabby watches the drum major for the conducting cues as she plays her flute. Seniors Erica Thacker, Marcus Miller, Tim Zuo and
Meredith Toebben are this year’s drum majors. “I’m very excited that the
show is audience friendly,” Thacker said. “More people can relate to it instead of playing it off like it’s just another band performance.”
Playing her trombone, senior Kate Minney marches with the rest of the
band during the halftime performance. The marching band hosts its first
invitational on Sept. 20. They then compete at Iowa City and Urbandale on Oct. 4.
Senior Ross Kromminga plays his snare drum for the student section after
the marching band halftime show. The drumline has started the tradition of playing in front of the student section during halftime while the cheerleaders, dance team and students cheer and dance.
Focusing on the notes, junior Kristina Rice plays her trumpet during the marching band performance Sept. 5. The band features three songs that each contain several different songs from “Wicked”, “Wizard of Oz”, “Oz the Great and Powerful” and “The Wiz.”
feature
sept. 2014 p.5
Paved in controversy The “Black and White” investigates why parking remains a prominent problem for students and teachers Every morning senior Nolan Wengert makes an-
other trek from the side road through a dew soaked
because of the ‘seniority’ label,” Friesth said.
Bjurstrom tries to keep it as fair as possible.
field to the high shcool, not knowing if he will be
“If I receive an application on time, typically every
get a parking pass this school year. “I play football,
Bjurstrom said.
late. Wengert is one of many students who did not soccer and lift weights every day after school,” he
senior and junior that applied will be offered a tag,” This year, 160 sophomores turned in their ap-
said. “I feel like all seniors should be given a park-
plication on time, but only 40 were actually offered
should be first priority.” As the student population
temporary tag deadline. “We continually assess the
ing pass whether or not they turn in a sheet, they continues to grow, parking remains a prominent
problem. The “Black and White” investigated what
exactly goes into students receiving parking passes and tickets.
“Every spring we give students the opportunity
a ticket; the others would have to wait for the next parking lot on a daily basis and try to get temporary or seasonal tags out to students involved in activities who didn’t receive a permanent pass,” Bjurstrom said.
Some students have come up with their own so-
to fill out an application and be put on a list depend-
lutions to the problems of the parking lot. ”It’s easy,
campus monitor Jan Bjurstrom said. New to the
rest of the grades will fill up the remaining space,”
ing on how many students we have that applied,”
parking pass system is the emergence of early bird and DMACC classes which give students higher
give all seniors that have cars a pass and then the junior Gavin Mumm said.
Anger towards the parking tickets and the tag
priority when receiving a tag. “Having an academic
approval process often leads to some harsh feel-
other students,” Bjurstrom said. “Part of the agree-
obvious form is students who receive tickets but
need, say DMACC, puts you higher on the list than ment between our students in early bird classes is
that they receive a tag because they have to get to school earlier.”
Though the system in place is to give students
who have academic and sports needs higher priori-
ty, some students are able to slip through the cracks and receive tags even without participating in activi-
ings and even a little vehicular rebellion. The most continue to park in the lot. “If students continue to or have administrative consequences,” Bjurstrom
said. “Students can also lose their tags if they drive recklessly in the lot or on the property or speeding or misuse of the tag.”
The future of our parking lot will depend entirely
on the size of the new high school. “We’re advocat-
“This last spring was the first time I’ve applied for a
now we are sitting at about 1,200 we have 920
tag and I really don’t know why I was given a pass,” Olson said. “I think that students in activities should be first priority no matter what, it’s unfortunate that not everyone can have one, but I am grateful for mine even if I don’t deserve it.”
Much of the angst towards parking passes
comes from younger students receiving tags over upperclassmen. ‘It’s not fair at all,” Wengert said. “Seniors need to be first priority. I think students
in activities should be first priority no matter what
grade and then after that it can go from seniors to sophomores.”
Junior Eric Friesth felt differently about the issue.
“I know sophomores that are in a heck of a lot more stuff than some seniors, and seniors are upset just
Due to the large population size of the high school, the back lot near the soccer fields remains one of the only empty sections of the parking lot. Those who are late, leave for lunch, or have a free period do not have many parking options upon returning.
Our lot by numbers
park in the lot they may have their vehicle towed
ties. Senior Alizé Olson received a permanent pass in May, but does not participate in any activities.
words | Jake Dalbey layout | Carly Campbell
Dragon a t i o n
1550
Total JHS Students Drago n
Number of Parking Spots
ing for having more spots available, I think right
spots available now, but that includes staff, handi-
920
a t i o n
cap, and visitor parking,” Bjurstrom said. Given
the amount of students currently enrolled and the amount of applications being registered, the new
high school is close to being filled even before it’s
finished. “We would be close to filling our new high school parking lot right now given the amount of
Dragon a t 700 i o n
new enrollments we have every year,’’ Bjurstrom
Total Number of Permanent Parking Tags Students waiting for a temporary tag
said. “If every junior and senior I have on my waiting list had received a tag, we wouldn’t have any room for sophomores to park.”
Most students see the apparent problem with
the parking lot. “Our grades are getting bigger and bigger, there isn’t going be room for us,” Friesth said.
Dragon a 30-80 ti o
Temporary tags available
Dragon
100
100
a t i o n
feature
sept. 2014 p.6
The American way
Foreign exchange students and Johnston natives share their views and opinions on America and other countries words | Meredith Gwennap & Michelle Kumar layout | Zoe Wilson
Ines Guerreiro
France
What is your initial thought when
you think of the United States?
“First high school, the cheerleaders,
losers [and] Mcdonalds. Everything is bigger here, your cars, your houses, your food.”
What have you experienced in
the United States?
“When I first came here people
(didn’t) talk to me, I was like ‘Hi I’m Ines
and [they said] ok. I think it’s harder to
make friends when you aren’t with the same class all day, in France we are.”
America natives give perspectives on other nations Dave Oldham Ireland
What is your intial thought when
you think of Ireland?
“I knew it would be green and that’s
about it.”
Vitor de Mendonca
Brazil
What is your initial thought when
you think of the United States?
“I heard it was cold here and also
that there were a lot of fat people.”
What have you experienced in
the United States?
“You have the same classes every-
day, that’s weird. I like having different classes, it’s not repetitive. A lot of peo-
ple don’t have fences here, to protect them from other people, so they can
Edward Hovhannisyan
Ed Sirikanchai
Thailand
Armenia
What is your inital thought when
you think of the United states?
“It is going to be hard for me here.”
What are differences you have
seen
between
States?
and
the
United
“My city is bigger than Johnston,
but I like Johnston too. In my school
I know everyone, that is why I like my school.”
When you got there what was it “What struck me was that most of
the roads except for the two highways
were one lane with a bunch of farm
tractors and also how cold it was. As far as the people go they were very very nice and super hospitable. The
beautiful thing about Europe in general, that I hate about America, is the
public transportation. They work to live,they don’t live to work.”
“I think of hot dogs, American food,
and hamburger. [They’re] ok, but I prefer healthy food.”
What have you experienced in
the United States?
“Thailand always had traffic jams
because there’s a lot of people, more than here. There are no bullies here,
but I saw a naughty person. It’s okay though, he is funny.”
just walk into their yards.”
actually like?
What is your initial thought when
you think of the United States?
Taylor Anthony Spain
What is your intial thought when
you think of Spain?
“It was very old, pretty buildings, but it
was more kind of dirty.
When you got there what was it ac-
tually like?
“Traffic is crazy and people walk ev-
erywhere. [The people] were kind of rude, if you don’t speak Spanish the right way they will correct you”
Collin Jones
What is your intial thought when you
think of foreign countries?
“They’ll have a different culture, they all
follow different rules.”
If you could go to any country what
would it be?
“Italy all the history and architecture.”
What do you think people’s intial
thought is about America?
“We are very entertaining and rich and
very self centered.”
feature
sept. 2014 p.7
Merging of cultures
words & layout | Esmeralda Flores & Eileen Lagerblade
Student studies abroad in order to experience how others live Junior Ibrahim Yakubu snuck out of his boarding school
one night while staying in Egypt, only to come back and
Provided/Ibrahim Yakubu
find the gates locked.
“I had to find a way to get back in,” Yakubu said. “During
the day at certain times you can’t leave [and this was one
of those times.]” Luckily, one of his friends was near the gate and let him back in.
Yakubu traveled to Egypt from July 2013 to April 2014.
The main reason behind why he went was to learn how to read, write and speak Arabic fluently. Bilkisu Yakubu, Ibra-
Provided/Ibrahim Yakubu
him’s mother, explains that there was a deeper meaning to the trip and that it was not just to learn Arabic. “So many
kids grow up with many opportunities and they don’t take advantage [of them],” Bilkisu said.
She felt that by sending him to Egypt would let Ibrahim
experience life in a place where one is not given as many
opportunities. “Growing up in a different country, my experience is different and I wanted him to go somewhere
and to have the opportunity to see how other people live,” Bilkisu said. “I wanted to him to see how some people don’t have as much, but they work hard, they appreciate what
they have and are happy at the same time.” Bilkisu also ex-
Provided/Ibrahim Yakubu
plains that, as a young student back at home, she would go
Junior Ibrahim Yakubu was able to visit the pyramids (left and bottom right) while staying in Egypt. He also visited a mosque (top right), which is a Muslium place of worship.
her to send her son there.
true experience in Egypt to let them see what life is like in
hard but now all his homework is done on time and there
said. “I didn’t want him to go at first because I had never
Ajdin Islamovic, a close friend, also noticed a few
to a K-12 boarding school. This experience also influenced
While in Egypt, Yakubu saw some of the riots that went
on. Last year around December, multiple riots were going
on in the Middle East around Egypt due to a deadly bombing. “The coolest thing I saw was when I first got there, stuff was actually going on and it was on the news,” Yakubu
said. “More than 10 jets flew over the apartments, it was crazy.” However scary the riots were, Yakubu explains that
they were not as bad as the news would claim. “I think that on the news they exaggerate things a lot more than they
really are,” he said. “But I guess it was only bad if you lived in the area where it was affected.”
The international boarding school that Ibrahim went
through is called Naime. It is aimed to let students have a
a different country. “It was a long process deciding,” Bilkisu
are no more arguments,” Bilkisu said.
been there. But my friend encouraged me and I finally had
changes in Ibrahim when he came back. “The changes that
was staying at would only allow about one phone call every
was really quiet on the bus the week he came back and it’s
the courage to send him.” The boarding school that Ibrahim week.There are certain times of the day where you would
study Arabic with teachers and the rest of the time was
I saw was his emotions had changed,” Islamovic said. “He really different that he’s back now from Egypt.”
Through all the changes and experiences while in Egypt,
spent studying and just hanging out with friends. ”Being
Ibrahim and Bilkisu see the outcomes differently. “I actually
most about Iowa,” Yakubu said.
fun and a lot were boring and horrible.” Ibrahim said.
in my own house and having freedom was what I missed
The family and friends of Ibrahim state that throughout
the course of nine months Ibrahim did in fact change in a few ways. “He used to argue a lot and school work was
don’t know if I would go back because a lot of times were
Bilkisu see this whole trip as a learning opportunity.
“There were no regrets. I actually told him that he might go back after high school,” Bilkisu said.
Chaos in Egypt
Timeline of what was occuring while Yakubu was living in Egypt July
August
September
Security forces attack President Morsi is protest camps in removed by the Cario killing 2,200 military after mass people. A state of demostrations call emergency was on him to quit. declared and curfews were enforced.
October
November
Court bans Muslim Egypt criticises Brotherhood from US decision to involement in any suspend a large activities in Egypt part of the $1.3 and confiscated billion in aid to all of its assets. Egypt.
Law passed to restrict public protests.
December
January
Muslim Brotherhood declared terrorist group by government after a bomb in Mansoura kills 12.
February
New basic law bans parties based on religion to be involved in government.
Government of Prime Minister Hazem el- Beblawi resigns, no reasons were given.
*Information provided by bbc.com
feature
sept. 2014 p.8
Bad apples spoil the bunch
The Black & White learns it is harder to fire a teacher than one might suppose words & layout | Brianna Erickson & Natalie Larimer to help them remediate that and grow and to get up to
doesn’t happen, sometimes the staff member chooses
It takes quite a while for a teacher to be thoroughly
Lunn said. “If you have to terminate someone, then you
standards.”
evaluated. “(Our society) has the impression that it’s so
easy to fire someone,” Mitchell said. “It’s not like you just
show up and go, ‘Oh, well you’re fired today.’” The process that administration goes through to evaluate teach-
on their own to find a different job or different careers,” have to go through proper channels and involve legal counsel but there’s usually so many things in play that have to happen before you use that kind of stuff.”
Most of the staff that Riessen has worked with has
ers usually lasts for about a semester when there is a
improved because of the Intensive Assistance plan. “You
for much longer.
good at other things, so to improve focus in one area
question to their teaching ability. The program will not last “If a teacher’s in need of growth, you offer intensive
know all teachers are good at certain things and not as isn’t necessarily a slap in the face,” Riessen said. “We all
One almost always hears of students talking about
opportunities for improvement,” superintendent Corey
It is rare, however, for a teacher to be fired for that rea-
as I could and be having conferences with the teacher
brought up to administration by students and parents re-
vere, there’s immediate change that can happen, even if
but it has not been carried out, or it did not work. “I had
how a teacher should be fired for how bad they teach. son. If the teacher breaks the law, then they will get fired very quickly, but for simply not performing well, it almost
never happens. “In education, it’s interesting, you really
won’t hear of people being fired,” an anonymous teacher
Lunn said. “I’d be in the classroom every week or as often
every week, so if that situation should exist and it’s seit’s under a contract.”
Some students do have an idea of how the process
source said. “You’ll hear of people resigning all of a sud-
works. “I don’t think it’s something you can just do,” ju-
taken out of the classroom and fired, you don’t hear very
You can’t just fire a teacher. They’ve been working in this
den or not getting their contract renewed, but to really be much of that.”
Most students are unaware as to how administration
nior Maci Ballard said. “It has to be something really big. building forever, there’s no good answer.”
There are eight teaching standards that each teacher
addresses firing a teacher. “I think it’s a process where
must meet in their evaluations, which happen once every
before they can feasibly fire a teacher,” senior Evan Davis
for new teachers. The standards are broken down into
they have to talk to other teachers and some students
said. When a teacher, however, is reportedly not perform-
ing, it is not brought up to other teachers or any students. “I think it’s somewhat easy because it’s just like any
other job,” junior Preston Arnold said. “You can just go out
and fire them right away but you’ll also have the role of replacing a teacher; it is not immediate, so there’s more
three years for regular teachers, or three times per year
several smaller points that make up each standard, and
this is what administration bases the evaluations on. If
they fail to meet one or more of the standards, then they will be subject to further evaluation to help improve their teaching skills.
Resources representative Tom Mitchell said. There’s the performance thing and then there’s just the misconduct. If they were just totally neglectant of their duties, we’d have
some pretty serious conversations with them pretty quick-
we outline a program, outline goals and objectives and
provide supports, guidelines, who’s going to be evaluating that and what’s going to be the outcome of that.” In-
tensive Assistance is implemented when there has been a pattern of complaints about how teachers run their classrooms each day.
“The goal of the plan is that when you’re finished with
ly and if we didn’t see anything change, then we would
that, then you’re doing better with whatever that is,” Prin-
called just cause.”
that time and the person or the situation isn’t getting bet-
be able to probably move ahead with the termination. It’s There are set steps to take before thinking about fir-
ing a teacher. “It’s never really the goal (to fire teachers)
when we start out,” Mitchell said. “The goal is always,
if a teachers struggling, or an administrator sees concerns relative to what’s happening in the classroom, it’s
senior Aly Bowen said. “I know for a fact that multiple
people that had this teacher talked to administration expressing their concerns and nothing was done about it. I
think they should seriously consider firing this teacher or
talking to them and making sure that their ways of teaching change because multiple students have received horrible grades due to it and aren’t learning. This problem could very easily be avoided.”
Eight teaching standards Standard #1:
Ability to improve performance in student goals
Standard #3:
we have a process called ‘Intensive Assistance’ where
for insufficient work. “There’s kind of two things,” Human
a teacher a couple years ago that hardly ever taught,”
at the building level,” Mitchell said. “If it’s still a concern,
to follow, however.
yet it is nearly unheard of that a teacher would be fired
questing they be put in the Intensive Assistance program,
Standard #2:
er and talking with them about it, providing formal support
Several instances can lead to a teacher’s termination,
There have been instances where a teacher has been
“Principals start by identifying a concern with a teach-
to think about than just a regular job, like a regular employee at a cash register.” There is a complicated process
have our strengths and weaknesses.”
cipal Brent Riessen said. “Now if you get to the end of ter, then that’s when it can lead to a termination situation.”
Riessen would not comment on how many teachers are in the Intensive Assistance program at this point in time.
“The end result is usually to address the issue and
work with the person to grow and develop and if that
Has knowledge of the teaching position Knows how to plan and prepare for instruction
Standard #4:
Able to use strategies to help students learn
Standard #5:
Uses methods to monitor student learning
Standard #6:
Able to manage a classroom
Standard #7:
Engages in professional growth
Standard #8:
Does the responsibilities imposed by the school
feature
sept. 2014 p.9
New high school digs in Ground-breaking ceremony kicks off construction of new high school words | Lindsay Soards layout | Carly Kinning Johnston’s 12 year resident Jeff Franklin will not be
happy when he wakes up to 1,500 students driving to
the new high school in 2017. “I’m not too excited about the location,” Franklin said. “I think they could’ve picked somewhere more central and less residential.” Residents
around the area have mixed opinions about the new location of the high school.
At 5:00 p.m., students began digging for the new high
school at 6500 NW 100th Street Sept. 8. “I look forward
to watching this project as it takes shape,” former superintendent Clay Guthmiller said during his speech Sept. 8.
No time was wasted as a student representative from each
Lindsay Soards/BW
school in the district put on a hard hat, grabbed a golden
Students help at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new high school. The new high school is estimated to be finished by April 2017 in time for the 2017-2018 school year.
new school will begin construction.
“I think away from the residential area would be better,”
sen. “In 2011 the district had chosen that land, which is 125
share the same opinion as him. “I think there is a group of
shovel and took the first dig into the foundation where the Many wondered how the location of the school was cho-
acres,” director of communications Laura Dillavou said. “This not only accommodates the new high school but also
many future endeavors.” After ground breaking, construc-
forward to the new addition. “When I envision all that
people who like to be near the high school,” Franklin said.
tastic learning environments it will give to the young
“I think you’ll see some move in and some move out.”
Residents Scott and Tammy Chambers having been liv-
tion will start immediately. “We will start with footings and
ing near the new high school location for 12 years, and
school is expected to be finished in April 2017. “They will
to invest your money in,” Tammy said. When asked about
then basic foundation and structure,” Dillavou said. The try to get as much done as they can now,” Dillavou said.
Johnston mayor and board members are hard at work
trying to make sure that the school is finished soon and finished properly. “Our plan is to have all the infrastructure in place, roads, trails, everything else completed before the doors open on that first day of school in the fall of 2017,” mayor of Johnston, Paula Dierenfield said.
With all of the construction going on, some community
members are reacting positively to the idea of the new high
they are not bothered by the new area. “What better thing the possibility of roundabouts, the Chambers said they had
heard that roundabouts were being put in. While they are not a fan of the roundabouts, they understood why they
are needed. “I’m not thrilled, but what are you going to do,” Tammy said. The Chambers have two girls in middle
school that will be attending the new high school. The oldest will be a member of the first sophomore class to go through the building.
“Yeah the girls can just walk to school,” Scott said. They
school being built so close to such a large residential area.
noted that others living near them were not as happy with
of opportunity for growth out in that area, and with all the
family who moved three blocks so it was just a little further
“I think it’s a good location for the school to be there, lots
growing housing around the area,” school board member Brad Ortmeier said. Some residents are more concerned
with how the location of the new high school will affect the
traffic in that area. “I think the city is planning on putting
the location and were more bothered by it. “I know one away,” Scott said. “It was because they were concerned about the traffic though, because they were living right on that main road.”
That family, however, is not the only one that does not
roundabouts in,” Ortmeier said. The roundabouts had to be
want to live quite so close. “The older people don’t seem to
“Last I heard they were going to put in roundabouts,”
anything that would raise taxes.” The Chambers’, however,
voted and agreed upon by the city.
Jeff Franklin said. “You know I’m not a big fan of roundabouts.” The roundabouts, however, seemed to not bother
him as much as the location of the new high school did.
Most community members appear to be looking
Franklin said. There are community members that do not
want it,” Scott said. “Johnston is notorious for turning down
this high school will be, I ultimately dream of the fanminds,” superintendent Corey Lunn said.
Things to know about the new campus north of 62nd Ave. and west of 100th street
location capacity
total cost
will hold 1,800 students in grades 10-12 $81 million
completion access design
scheduled for spring of 2017
enter from 100th street or from 62nd Ave. FRK Architects + Engineers and Perkins and Will firm
see the need for a new high school as more important than
construction Stahl Construction
progress along,” Tammy said.
Information provided by Johnston School District website
the tax raise. “The school is outdated and we needed to
charities
sept. 2014 p.10&11
Having the nerve to help
A look into different foundations that have affected students and teachers here at Johnston
mother’s nursing home room, she has to constantly remind her grandma of who she is. Davis’s grand-
mother has had Alzheimer’s disease for two and a
half years. “I hate it,” Davis said. “She doesn’t even know her own grandchild’s name.”
According to alz.org, 5.2 million Americans are
living with Alzheimer’s disease. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S, resulting in the loss of almost 500,000 seniors each year.
The 2014 Alzheimer’s disease Facts and Figures
report defines dementia as “diseases or conditions characterized by a decline in memory or other
thinking skills that affects a person’s ability to per-
form everyday activities.” Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. By the final stages
of the disease, patients need around the clock care, need help with eating, using the toilet and walking. Alzheimer’s is usually diagnosed to people age 65 or older, but there is also early-onset Alzheimer’s
which affects people in their 40’s and 50’s. 200,000 out of the 5.2 million people with the disease have early-onset.
Alzheimer’s leaves an emotional mark on all
and a half mile walk that goes downtown over two
a person, especially an eight year old. “You can’t go
Walk. All the funds from the event go towards Al-
and you get to go out and come back,” now eleven-
the disease. If an individual donates $5 or more,
It’s a lot different when you do it at home, you don’t
available in four different colors, each representing
overwhelms you and you just stop doing it. And it
all the money that we raise or most of it to go all
zheimer’s research and support for those who have
year-old Carson Cooper said. “I kind of caught on.
salary,” Pam said.
he or she is able to get a Promise Garden flower,
have a schedule. You end up doing it all at once, it
and is included in others. Pitcher Perfect is a pitch-
something different. There will also be the Memory
just keeps repeating.”
training center, that features Tampa Bay Rays
ily and friends who have or who they have lost to
Check out jhsblackandwhite.com to see how Student Council is giving back with homecoming.
and half years ago. He was on and off treatment
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
he wasn’t like ‘Oh I’m back at school now,’” Pam
Wall, so walkers are able to put up pictures of famAlzheimer’s. Chantelle Manthany is in charge of
coordinating the walk, and works with the team captains everyday. “My event chair, who is the same age as me, has a mother living with early-onset
Alzheimer’s in just her fifties,” Mathany said. “I can’t
Promise garden flower colors
personal reason for taking part in the event.
lison said. “This is definitely not the case, and
Available at the Walk if you have donated $5 Descriptions provided by alz.org
blue
represents someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia
disappeared.”
for someone who has lost some one to Alzheimer’s
At the Good Samaritan Society in Indianola, the
with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Mike Hypes
represents someone who is currently supporting or caring for someone with Alzheimer’s
has been working as a nurse at Good Samaritan
for five years, helping the people living in the home
er’s will be held at the Capitol. People from Des
Challenge.’ She, however, had a much more
“My uncle passed away last summer from ALS at the age of 50, so I was going to do it on my
own but thought it would be great to participate with the staff,” teacher Alicia Rollison said.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also
orange for everyone who supports the cause and vision of a world without Alzheimer’s
their mental function is hindered as well,” RolI think I even learned a valuable lesson seeing my uncle in this way. I didn’t focus on the fact that he couldn’t move like he used to, I just
enjoyed the moments we could sit and talk.” Students have participated in the ‘Ice
known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a disease
Bucket Challenge’ on social media as well.
located in the brain. When neurons in the
enough for the government to help out so this
that directly affects the spinal cord and nerves brain die, side effects include losing control of
muscle movement, preceding the effect of par-
alyzation. Continuing through deeper stages of
yellow
Memory Lane wing is there for the care of people
On Sept. 20, the Memory Walk to End Alzheim-
“I think sometimes when we see someone
in a wheelchair, we may at first assume that
purple
Hypes said. “You have to enter their world.”
Like many of the other staff, teacher Alicia
Rollison participated in the popular ‘Ice Bucket
really hard to watch the disease progress, as all of
entertainment. “It makes me see in a different way,”
Cooper was diagnosed with leukemia three
imagine how difficult that must be.”
he was a bright, fun, and engaged person who was
through basic needs, like showering, feeding and
KLB has always been volunteer work.“We want
places, well at the end I got to, you got like 2 hours
the disease a few years ago. “Before the disease,
Alzheimer’s has a big impact on caregivers.
dumping into it,” Pam said.
pedestrian bridges and along the Principal River
ogy teacher Jennifer Rollings lost a great uncle to
the things that made him the person that he was
Being in the hospital for 28 days takes its toll on
Moines come together in teams to take the two
involved, not just the person suffering from it. Biol-
always learning new things,” Rollings said. “It was
layout | Zoe Wilson
Kids Living Brave
Alzheimer’s disease When senior Mikayla Davis walks into her grand-
words | Erin Bockenstedt, Brooke Ginsberg & Zoe Wilson
this disease, the entire body and brain neurons become disabled, leading to possible death. The disease is known as Lou Gherig’s
because of the former Yankee baseball player who suffered from the disease.
ALS, unlike most diseases, affects each
person differently. It has a unique process of
going through different stages and underlining
symptoms for each carrier. Through documentation, there are both records of which people progress rapidly through the disease in a
matter of months and those who deal with it for many years.
the entire time. “There wasn’t ever a time where
Cooper, Carson’s mom, said. “We’d get back in the swing of things and something would happen.” as his health deteriorated and he needed help
said. “I get to see all of my friends and even talk on the news.”
Another family hosted a drive recently as well.
“They did a drive and got products that we have in
sick anymore, it’s where it’s helping you.”
children. When Carson was going through treat-
a truthful answer and if it was something he
would have people from Childlife come spend time
things to get through it. “We started putting together
like this is a safe place where I know you can’t get
you need?’ And he was serious. He wanted could help with, he did.”
When getting certain procedures done, Carson
with him. Another thing Carson did in the hospital
was play with an Xbox 360 that his class had given to him. “They called it Coins for Carson and they literally just had a huge jar of coins, and it was
Pam said. “They weren’t even on his case and they would come in and play Xbox.”
mindset on how he or she views others. “My
The Cooper family did not just want to help their
uncle was such a positive person and extreme-
own child in their journey through cancer but others Addie Bolles/Dragon
Teachers get drenched in ice cold water by the Student Council members in order to raise awareness for ALS. Staff participated in the challenge for different reasons.
The main focus of KLB is to give back to the
ment, his parents realized that they needed a lot of a list with Carson of items of comfort,” Pam said.
Those items helped Carson through treatment, and
he wanted to help others through treatment as well. ‘Brave Baskets’ are given to all children from
are such things as KLB apparel and medical items.
doing’ and they were totally there to play Xbox,”
boundaries, causing expansion of a person’s
you’” Carson’s dad Jack Cooper said.
son would challenge the doctors to games on the
in and say ‘Hey just wanted to see how Carson was
can both extenuate physical and mental stress
us and were like ‘Hey we’ve got these checks for
ages 0-18. Items vary from child to child depend-
Xbox and win most of the time. “They would come
Having a personal connection to a disease
a list for a basket and money and they just called
enough that he could buy an Xbox with it and we’ve taken it to the hospital sometimes,” Pam said. Car-
the challenge.
for the positive side of every situation. “Even
it’s always good to have Jeremy there,” Carson
him. ‘How’s everything going, is there anything
what he would say whenever you spoke with
within 24 hours preceding their completion of
Rollison emphasized that her uncle looked
ally fun because my favorite sport is baseball and
it’s not a hospital to me,” Hailey said. “It’s more of
rhythm of the hospital. “It’s more of a second home,
nominated their peers to do the challenge
family right away.”
pitcher and Iowa native Jeremy Hellickson. It’s re-
point of his eulogy can be best represented by
the point of focus,” Rollison said. “The main
cause,” junior Bernardo Duarte said. Students
he actually did not share it with his extended
ing clinic held at Grand Slam, an indoor baseball
Carson’s sister, senior Hailey Cooper, got into the
is another way to get more donations to a great
it to be about him, and when he was diagnosed
Throughout the year KLB hosts many events
with mobility, he still did not make his disease
“I heard somewhere that ALS isn’t common
ly generous,” Rollison said. “He never wanted
After being at the hospital for a long time,
the way back into the mission so we don’t take a
in the community as well.
Kids Living Brave (KLB) was formed six months
after Carson was diagnosed. In November 2011,
the paperwork was finalized and their project had officially begun. “When we first started out it was
all just our own money that we were spending and
ing on their age. Things that are always included
“It felt good doing nice things for other people because I knew how it felt to go through it so I knew what you needed to do it, and that helped so if I
hadn’t gotten it then we would’ve had no idea what to put in the baskets.”
Helping others has helped the Coopers get
through Carson’s disease. “If I could choose
whether or not I had it at the time I would have said ‘No, I don’t want it’ but looking back on it I wouldn’t change anything,” Carson said.
Check out kidslivingbrave.org to find out more information on volunteering and donating
editorial
sept. 2014 p.12
Mistreatment of journalists unfair When former editor of the “Black and White” Lauren
Coffey was a sophomore in high school, she wrote about a house robbery that turned into the suspect shooting at a
student and his father. Coffey went to the house to get pictures of the bullet holes and was yelled at in the process.
“One of the men who lived in the neighborhood came out and demanded to know what I was doing and to get off the property,” Coffey said. “I said since I was on the sidewalk
I was allowed to be there. He also demanded I delete the photos, but I did save a few. I was really upset after, but the next day I was just more determined to report the story.”
Complications like Coffey’s happen in the professional
media as well. When “Des Moines Register” investigative
reporter Clark Kauffman wrote a story about prosecutors dismissing moving violations against drivers in exchange for higher fines for non-moving violations in order for a
clean driving record, a suggestion was made to a coun-
ty prosecutor to look into Kauffman’s driving record. “We
Although fictitious, this is an example of a police report one might request to see. Journalists file for police reports all the time, sometimes resulting in information being withheld from them because of standard practice. Thankfully, in Johnston, the police department works with the media in order to fulfill their needs. The rest of the nation, and the world, however, needs to work on this.
knew that the attorney general’s office helped train county
the public. The organization is called the Media Council.
that kind of cross the line.”
for all of the emails from the office that does this training
things are being covered in the news, if there were any is-
their own good. Our job as journalists is to tell the public
Kauffman said. “And in those emails it was indicated that
ols said. “It’s good to sort of talk and catch up and see
is just asking for this information for its own purposes, but
tacted one of the county prosecutors and made the sug-
better in the future.”
passed on my middle initial. What everyone had to admit
tween law enforcement and the media. For example, An-
but instead of focusing on that issue they were focused on
semi-automatic gun at them. The media was wondering
Kauffman’s story, like many other journalists’ around the
they thought it would be. “[The Ankeny police chief] talked
relaying information to the public. CNN reporters were ar-
about it from a new perspective and why it’s important for
because they were recording and taking notes about the
Seeing things from another perspective is important
prosecutors, so we filed a freedom of information request
“We meet and talk about media related things and how
for county prosecutors over the previous couple of weeks,”
sues, or what things are good,” KCCI reporter Laura Nich-
the guy who was in charge of training the prosecutors con-
what we’re doing right and what we kind of need to work on
gestion that he should look into my driving record and he
The Media Council is a great way to develop trust be-
Most the time media is not trying to expose things for
what we find. “I think sometimes people think the media
ultimately our purposes are to share that information with
the public,” Kauffman said. People need to realize that information is being kept from the press, it is most certainly
being kept from the average citizen, something that every-
was a problem, people pleading guilty to fictitious charges,
keny police shot and killed a woman who was aiming a
killing the messenger as the saying goes.”
why information on the case was being released later than
one to stop treating journalists like they are trying to make
world, is alarming. Journalists are being arrested for simply
about his perspective and that of his agency, and we talked
however, ways for the journalist and even the citizen to
rested amid the protests in Ferguson, Missouri in August
us to get information sooner than later,” Nichols said.
scenes that were happening. This violates the First Amend-
when it comes to law enforcement and the media. “It’s a
ing their lives threatened and taken because they are doing
people don’t understand what reporters do or why we need
is something most people still can’t even wrap their minds
Nichols said. “Everyone can look at the other person’s job
ment to the Constitution. “The fact that journalists are hav-
way to show other agencies what our job is because a lot of
the job and telling the truth is horrendous,” Coffey said. “It
the information when we need it and that type of thing,”
around, which is why it’s being ignored in some sense.”
from their perspective, and then we can know law enforce-
one should be concerned about.
The obvious solution to this mistreatment is for every-
the officials, police officers or town look bad. There are, change in order for this mistreatment to stop. Everyone,
not just journalists, should know their rights. “If you go to a courthouse and say I would like this information on this
case, they have to give you some things, but they don’t have to give you other things,” Hanson said. “If you don’t
know what you are entitled to, if you’re not educated on that kind of stuff, they can tell you no, and you wouldn’t have any recourse.”
Law enforcement should also not try to cover up infor-
ment better and understand why they do what they do.”
mation as well. We understand that some information can-
ery day. “You don’t simply go to City Hall and take the city
people’s privacy, however, this is not true. “I don’t think
upfront and don’t try to hide the information,” Hanson said.
those issues are,” Kauffman said. “You’re looking at the
are ways to do it in a constructive way that doesn’t cause
Sometimes law enforcement does not like when people
question authority, yet that is what we journalists do ev-
Some might say that the media is only trying to invade
manager’s word for what the budget problems are or what
we’re ever wrong for asking the questions we do, but there
documentation to make sure what you’re being told is be-
problems for other people,” Kauffman sad.
who is corrupt slide by the system.
a situation, but it is unfair to judge the entire journalism field
and the media. Representatives from the Des Moines Po-
industry, are bad apples that destroy the reputation for the
every news station meet to discuss getting information to
things that individual reporters or members of the media do
not be given to us immediately. “[They need to be] to be
“Even if you can’t say everything about the information, at least address it.”
Coffey is now on track to enter the journalism field in a
There are always bad tactics to use when approaching
few years. “The brutality with journalists both in this country
In Iowa, there is more trust between law enforcement
off of those. “Some tactics or some individual, like in any
the field, but if it doesn’t I still plan on becoming a journal-
lice, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Des Moines hospitals and
whole bunch,” KCCI repoter Eric Hanson said. “There are
ing supported by the facts.” Journalists do not let someone
and beyond will hopefully change by the time I break into ist,” she said. “I want to report on issues that are affecting
others, and if that means that I’m risking my life to do so then I’m okay with it.”
The editorial is an opinion held by the editorial board of the newspaper. It needs a simple majority to pass. This month’s vote was 8-0.
opinion
sept. 2014 p.13
Is administration controlling how we grieve? words | Allison Klein layout | Carly Kinning
Shirts made by students in honor of the three students who passed away dangle in front of the stadium. Despite the thoughts of some, administration is looking out for all Dragon students.
Carly Kinning/BW
Most kids have not been through the amount of trauma
because he is the head of our administration, but also be-
the act and more about the fact that we have a loss, that’s
We have lost three of our fellow students in the last three
students we have lost. I expressed to him my concern, and
are tragic no matter how it happened." As our school has
and loss that the students of Johnston High School have. years, something not many schools have to deal with. Two
of the three deaths were ruled as suicides, while the other was a tragic accident. We miss all three of these students
cause he has relationships with all of the families of the asked him why we cannot save a seat at graduation for the lost students, his response took me by surprise.
"Since I've been here that’s been a practice we've not
what we have to focus on. Because all of these things grown and learned, administration has a new approach to the loss of a student.
"We are a public school of 1,500 people and what may
equally, yet we have to remember them differently because
done," he said. "Graduation is about students graduating,
help or seem fair to 400, well there’s still 1,100 people in
Right after January 2012, when we lost two of our
pleted the graduation requirements. We've tried to draw
been done for the 400?" Riessen said.
of the way they died.
classmates to suicide, we were told we were not allowed to do things at basketball games to remember them. These
— that’s the purpose. It’s about people that have comthe line that what we are honoring and supporting and cel-
the building, and how does that 1,100 respond to what’s What might help us as individuals, might not help others
ebrating at graduation are graduates."
grieve. Administration has to decide what is fair and how
during games or students carrying their fallen teammates
how hard it is to say who do you include in the ceremony
goal is to help us heal, move on and return us to a sense
celebrate their memory, we always got the same answer.
doing things at sporting events or something for the team
things included students wearing certain colored socks
jersey onto the field. When we asked why we could not “It would be glorifying the act.”
“You don’t want to make it seem like it’s a great thing
I never thought about it this way. We also talked about
and who not to? How far back to you go? So I brought up to do to remember a fallen teammate.
"The balance is what is school sponsored, what looks
to do, like celebrating the act of how it happened versus
school sponsored, and what’s a result of the kids,” Riessen
“It’s a really fine line which is really hard because you want
ent than us putting a patch on a uniform or different types
an accident,” guidance counselor Stephanie Guthrie said. to allow students to show support and to also honor or remember the student.”
Senior Reid Sinnett, who has asked administration
about remembering a lost student at a sporting event, shares the same thoughts.
“When we asked the adults, they were weird about it in
fear of a copy cat, when we were just trying to remember our friend,” Sinnett said. “I don’t think they understood how much those little things during games would mean to us.”
Why does it make such a difference if I want to cele-
brate the life of a lost friend who committed suicide versus
said. “Somebody writing something on their shoe is differ-
"We have to be respectful of the grieving process and
understanding that it takes time and its never fixed. Ever," Riessen said.
Talking to Riessen gave me a whole new perspective.
ity, they feel it too. They knew and loved these students
We are a part of a community, we care about our kids, we
care about our families, we care about our students, but
what it really boils down to is a balance of grieving and the
balance of dwelling on something and moving on and we are trying to walk that fine line."
I brought up to Riessen the topic of 'glorifying the act'
and was curious to find out what it means to him.
grieve and celebrate the lives of our friends. When in realjust like us but their main concern is the well-being of all their students and giving them the freedom to move on and grieve how they individually see fit. Students need to realize that administration wants to help us move forward
and try to heal. They have the difficult job of how to keep it fair to all students.
"Time gives an opportunity to deal with it, but it never
"It’s the challenge of acknowledging what’s happened
makes it go away,” Riessen said. “Three years from now
on the act,” Riessen said. “As I've grown in this position
little better. That’s all time is. It's not like suddenly in a year
I've realized it’s less about that and more about supporting
After speaking to Guthrie I decided to go straight to
of us.
the grief and to talk through it. The desire isn't to say no.
but instead help the kids find appropriate ways to handle
grieve in the way that we individually see fit. Guthrie could
administration to talk to principal Brent Riessen. Not only
ways, but they really are looking out for every single one
I always felt administration was unfairly telling us how to
and balancing that with supporting people versus focusing
not give me a direct or clear answer.
of routine and normalcy. Some might not agree with their
of things. What we won't do is put a patch on the uniform
something natural or an accident? Who makes those decisions for us and why? We should be able to mourn and
something will benefit the whole student body. The whole
people. So probably when this first came about a couple
years ago it was a focus on not glorifying the act. I think I've grown, I think we've all grown to realize it's less about
you still feel the same way, you're just able to cope with it a it’s gonna be gone and you're going to feel nothing and it's
just a distant memory. No, you’ve just coped with it better, you’ve hardened. That hole has been roughed up a little bit more, now you’re able to deal with it just a little bit better."
opinion
sept. 2014 p.14
Speak up amongst silence Sharing my story about the seriousness of mental illness words & layout | Bryce Schulte
2012 was supposed to be the year Earth ended. Hu-
mans were supposed to die off, be exterminated and life would cease to exist. While the actual myth proved false, it felt like a reality for me.
Three days before my eighth grade year started, my
mother got a phone call from my grandmother. She was
crying hysterically, and after trying to understand what she was saying, the words finally came across. My great uncle Chris had killed himself. No one ever expected it.
Ever since his year of seventh grade, long before I ever
existed, Chris had suffered from depression. No one knew, and even after his death, after we found out, we could not to
tell his parents, for it would be too hard for them to handle. Without treatment, the consequences of mental illness
for the individual and society are unreal. They include dis-
ability, unemployment, substance abuse, and more. The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than
Robin Williams and hardly anyone knew that he had been
made an effort to help, then the costs would not be so high
Williams always had a smile on his face, but he just re-
$100 billion each year in the United States. If more people
battling depression for years,” Coleman said.
and we could put the money to better things, like research.
cently committed suicide. Depression is not a physical ill-
them help if they show any signs of mental illness.
have a mental illness look down on it and don’t know the
Instead of letting people live off disability, we need to get
My great uncle’s suicide essentially threw me down a
dark hole. I did not care about school. I did not want to listen to my teachers talk about slopes and lines or the formulas for gravity or kinetic and potential energy. I just wanted to go home, cry and lie in bed forever.
I am just one person, and one of the lucky few to get
help. A recent study in the Archives of General Psychiatry
ness, it’s mental. “People who don’t know what it’s like to
struggles people with mental illnesses face,” the anonymous student said.
Eighth grade year did not get better. My grades dropped,
and I was lucky to have a C in any class. It just goes to
show how much my depression affected me. It also goes to show how serious of an issue it is.
The anonymous student I talked with also suffers from
by Steven Marcus and Mark Olfson provides interesting in-
depression, like 20 percent of other teens. “It’s pushed
little more than half of teen suffering from a mental illness
anonymous student said. “I’m thankful that I’m still alive.”
sight on the treatment of depression. It shows that only a get proper treatment.
People with depression and mental illnesses are looked
over and rarely get the help they need. “There are many
me to constant thinking that suicide is a valid option,” the The anonymous student is currently seeking treatment and has support from other friends.
It was maybe late July 2013 when I went on Instagram
people struggling out there and nobody seems to care,” an
and talked about suicide. Luckily, my friends saw what I
I did not tell anyone about my feelings. Depression is
The day after that post, an officer showed up at my door.
anonymous student said.
had posted, and they notified police.
hard to see since it is not a physical illness. A lot of people
It was terrible. I felt like such a freak, and I can not even
they are perfectly fine. That is not always true.
liceman about my past of wanting to die and feeling like an
assume that because a person is smiling on the outside, “While we have gotten better as a society in talking
about it, it still is kept in secret by many,” sociology teacher Kelly Coleman said. People suffering from mental illnesses hide their conditions because they fear rejection.
Look at Robin Williams. “Really the only time we hear
about it is when a tragedy happens like the death of actor
de
Illustration/Olivia White
describe to say how bad I felt having to tell this random poutter failure at life. After a few questions, the officer had a
woman from mobile crisis come out to ask me more questions and decide what I should do after.
After speaking with a woman from mobile crisis she
decided I needed a mental evaluation, so I went to Des Moines to get one. There, I was officially diagnosed with
io
s es pr
n
major depression. Then on Aug. 5, 2013, I walked into an out-patient program for teens with mental illnesses.
It was nice to be around people who knew what it was
like to feel what I was feeling. It was nice to be at a place
where people genuinely cared and wanted to help others
get better. I left after a week and continued to see a therapist and take medication for my depression.
Some people have a problem with antidepressants,
saying that they do not really help and that they only help
people avoid their problems. “Antidepressants work but I feel like people don’t approve of them because they don’t know how they work,” the anonymous student said.
A lot of people talk about depression and mental ill-
nesses like they are not a big deal, but they are. More people now die of suicide than in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010 there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides.
Ever since I got help, it’s been easier to deal with my
mental illness. It took me over a year to learn that it is treatable and that I can get better. Depression, suicide, it is all very serious. It should not be the third leading cause of death in people ages 15-19.
People need to act. I know that no one reading this is
a professional doctor, but this does not need a doctor. It needs people, it needs students, kids, parents, friends.
To anyone out there suffering from depression, anxiety,
bipolar, schizophrenia: you are like any other person on
this planet. You deserve to be happy. You are not a failure, you are not a freak, and you are most definitely not a burden. Seek help. Do not give up. Do not stop fighting.
opinion
sept. 2014 p.15
Cutting students’ chance for success School board considers cutting seventh grade sports in order to meet the budget words & layout | Allex Mahanna The girls’ cross country team is as close as sis-
ters, which is why their theme this year is ‘Sole Sisters.’ “We all really try and make sure everyone feels
welcome and is prepared for meets,” senior captain
Kelsey Caffrey said. These leadership skills, friendships and bonds started in middle school, most of the girls’ first opportunity running and being a part of an
extra-curricular activity. The sports in seventh grade
allow students to try out different paths they might venture down in their future.
In the discussion regarding cutting seventh grade
athletics, the school board, and the community, need
to realize what is being lost when seventh grade student athletes lose this vital year of sports.
They lose the ability to try something new without
feeling overwhelmed. They lose basic skills such as leadership and commitment, skills that they would
have started to gain during this year of sports. Although they may develop these skills later, the year
they lose causes a lack of necessary growth that can impact our students for the rest of their lives.
It is obvious that the school board is putting a lot
Provided/Valerie Thacker
The now senior cross country team runs at their kickoff meet in middle school. This meet, and the 55 meets that have followed, led the team to qualifying for state all four years of high school as well as a close knit team. This started in seventh grade, a vital year for sports.
of thought into the decision regarding cutting seventh
head cross country coach Patrick Hennes said.
2013, about the pros and cons of cutting seventh
place, as those same friendships will shape who the
grade sports. I was given two reports, from 2009 and
The friendships made by students is hard to re-
damentals,” Ross said. He agrees that seventh grade sports is a necessary part of our kids’ development.
He also, however, has to look out for the school
grade sports. They were very well thought out, looking
student becomes as they mature.
district and do what he thinks is right. “I’m one that if
They also showed what the money used for seventh
native to school sport, a community ed program where
ent aspects and to offset the loss from those benefits,”
Reports cannot measure what seventh grade sports
have to pay for themselves. This idea, while a good
people give them credit for,” parent Jody Lehman said.
would provide. Kids will miss out on valuable oppor-
has changed at home because of these sports. “I think
participate, or they don’t see a point in paying for an-
sure they have enough money, but while he’s doing
deal with ups and downs,” Lehman said. Skills that
“Team building atmosphere in school is different
“With athletics there is probably a cost of $60,000-
at everything from money to student lost opportunities.
Athletic Director Gary Ross has proposed an alter-
grade sports could be used for instead.
kids can choose to play, however those kids would
do for the kids. “Kids learn a lot more from sports than
suggestion, is not going to provide what school sports
This was shown in her own son, Owen, and how he
tunities, either because they don’t have the money to
the decision is to remove it, that I need to look at differ-
Ross said. “So I’m supportive of it, but I’m also a team person that understands that when you make big de-
cisions, you work together to make the best solution possible.”
Ross has to look out for the school board and make
sports are good for maturing and helping (the kids)
other club team while already in another one.
are attained through sports cannot be supplied in an-
than in the club sports, and I think it’s important to have
$70,000 from eliminating seventh grade athletics from
sports, especially in the vital time of growth such as
kids to participate,” Lehman said. “Being we’ve been
teachers fund, so then you have to prioritize.
Another aspect that would be missing in the kids is
likely would not (participate in the community center
some tough decisions affect us more than they
Lehman believes that without sports her son would
be impacted by the people, by us showing the school
other way, which is why our school has to keep school
the school being more inclusive, allowing the different
seventh grade.
involved a lot in the club stuff, I would probably say we
the ability to make friends at this difficult age, an age .
teams).”
the same activities as them. By starting this friendship
be missing opportunities to increase his skills, make
begin to grow up with them. This lack of growth can
Ross understands these important opportunities as
You make your closest friends when you participate in
that, who is looking out for our students?
the general fund,” Ross said. That is comparable to a
Although tough decisions do have to be made,
should. The decision to cut seventh grade sports can we are not going stand by while our youth has their
in seventh grade, you grow close to each other and
friends, better his maturity and prepare for high school.
cause you to miss out on making friends that can stick
well. “I think anytime we can have kids involved in a
nities, next year’s seventh grade students may not be
form those relationships, whether it’s with other stu-
efits of having students involved in seventh grade ath-
it’s a sad outcome,” Lehman said. “It’s a good healthy
with you for life. “Helping people find their niche and
school activity, it’s a positive, so there’d be lots of ben-
dents or with coaches, it’s hard to replace that,” girls’
letics, being part of a team, learning the skills, the fun-
opportunities stolen from them.
While Owen has been provided with these opportu-
as lucky. “I understand the situation, but I do feel like lifestyle to instill in kids at a young age.”
opinion
sept. 2014 p.16
ELP remains unknown
words & layout | Senad Besic
In my AP Psychology class, we were doing this activity
identified by some teacher, Sue Cline or have been in ELP
ferent components of creativity. Overall, Johnston scored
your reading, math reasoning, science or social studies IT-
where we graded our school’s ability to encourage five difmediocrely, but the worst grade given was a ‘D’ under a venturesome personality, meaning that Johnston doesn’t
do a good job making its students able to tolerate ambiguity, take risks and make us able to overcome obstacles.
Jesse Dowell, the AP psychology teacher, asked the
class why we graded Johnston so low. We came to the conclusion that it was because everything here is basically followed to the letter. There are rubrics for practically every assignment, leaving almost no room for individuality, so no one feels passionate about what they are working on.
Many classes here follow this style. You show up, take
notes on the day’s lesson, then going home and do home-
work about the lesson. Then the next day, you rinse and repeat.
If a student is looking for individuality, he has a couple
options. Students can take an art or engineering class, where the projects usually rest in their hands and they can incorporate their own zest into the work. If you’re anything like me, however, and you have no artistic or hands-on
talent, then these options really aren’t open for you. This
leaves the Extended Learning Program (ELP), and some English classes left.
Now, English classes are easy to get into, however, ELP
is not open for everybody. To be eligible, you need to be
before. To do that, you need to get a 98 or higher in either
EDS and you need to score decently high on your MAPs tests. If you don’t score high enough on these tests, however, you can still get in by being recommended by teachers or by being good in other things that are not nationally tested, like foreign language.
“The program is designed to serve students who are
outside the norm,” ELP teacher Sue Cline said. “I would
suggest that about 20% of the student body probably would qualify.”
This is why some people don’t like ELP. They say that
ELP makes kids think they are better and are getting an
easy credit because ELP is laid back and you can just pick an easy project to work on for a semester.
But that’s not at all true. The class is individualistic and
you choose your own project, yes, yet the project you cre-
ate has to fall under certain criteria and you create your own deadlines, making you stick with a schedule. “[Students] would benefit from creating their own syllabus,” senior and ELP student Devon Wood said. “It’s a good way to learn more about yourself.”
Still, even though 300 students are eligible, there are
only 32 kids taking the class over three periods. That is a drastically low number. But why?
“They choose not to (take the class), or they are busy
kcaB2Besic words & layout Senad Besic
Photo by Senad Besic
Junior Bryan Friestad checks up on his kickstarter campaign to fund his ELP project. Friestad’s project is to create a large rocket to launch and record data about its speed and altitude. His kickstarter URL is http://kck.st/YyBkT8 taking classes that more specifically address their needs,”
Cline said. Also, Cline sends out a letter in the spring to all eligible students, and then follows up with an email in the
fall. There could also be an issue with students not reading or bothering to follow up on these notifications.
To counter the disinterest in ELP, if you receive mail
about it and are at least slightly interested, go talk to Cline about taking the class. If it does not work out, no harm
done. But the fact that only a tenth of eligible students actually take ELP, is pretty saddening. And that deserves some change.
Less talk, more pep
One of the best scenes in the movie “Easy A” was the
captain and she said all the cheerleaders do is plan some
The elder-athletes could even share a little bit about their
rel full of wood. It’s the best for two reasons; one, Emma
activities director told me that all he does is get the names
and how they feel about how the sport has evolved over
pep rally, where Emma Stone pops out of the wheel barStone is really, really, really, really, really, attractive. Second, that pep rally was actually very interesting. Penn
Badgley was doing flips off a trampoline and scoring baskets, Emma Stone did a musical number, the marching
band and cheerleaders were jamming out on the court, it was just a really amusing pep rally in general.
Our pep rallies, on the other hand, are probably the
cheers, a pyramid, and the occasional skit. Gary Ross, the
of the athletes and students that are receiving awards. And
I know for a fact that all student council does is pitch forward our activities director to speak during assemblies and
plan the assembly where we elect student body president,
secretary, etc. So no one is taking full responsibility of the main assemblies. It’s just a coalition of various groups that
team’s trip to state, how the sport was different back then time. We could also have the improv or choral reading
groups from speech team do a skit for us since they probably don’t get as much attendance to their performances as the football team does. Plus, it gives us a different angle on some of the other activities Johnston offers.
To add to our homecoming assemblies, we should also
are given a certain amount of time to perform.
do some stereoypical pep assembly stuff, like taking a copy
half-hearted clapping for sports and activities some people
ognition or homecoming assemblies. The only assembly I
Des Moines North in our case, and “ice” them. Technically
less awards above-average athletes received during their
only interesting things in those is a game or skit the cheer-
saddest display of pep I’ve ever seen. They are filled with
don’t even care about and monotone talking about countsport’s season. Even the cheerleaders, whose job is to pep us up, look bored.
But you can’t blame the cheerleaders, the entire crowd
To clarify, we mainly have two kinds of assemblies; rec-
even remotely enjoy is the homecoming one. But still, the
leaders run, the teacher dance, and the co-ed dance the dance team stars in.
dollars of damage towards the school.
The strongest pep we have is, hands down, at football
ognition assemblies more interesting, we should bring back
the track with huge flags and the cheerleaders are leading
the trick-basketball team stopped by at Summit, years ago.
some past all-state athletes from like, 1940, and have them
Turns out, the reason the assemblies are usually a drag
really want to be held responsible for tens of thousands of
games. Everyone’s participating in the purple-out, white-
ways we could spice up our assemblies. To make our rec-
is because no one technically runs them. I talked to a cheer
we should “burn” them since we’re the Dragons but I don’t
It doesn’t have to be like this though. There are multiple
is right there with them. At least they’re trying to get us going. Still, I haven’t felt excited about an assembly since
of our opposing team’s mascot for the homecoming game,
congratulate the athletes, instead of having some random student or activities director read from a pre-planned script.
out, balck-out, whatever, we have seniors parading down
some bleacher-rattling cheers. If we could harness even
the smallest fraction of that pep, and infuse it into our assemblies, we could possibly top Emma Stone.
health
sept. 2014 p.17
Students build tolerance to peanut allergy
words | Anna Larson layout | Carly Kinning
Sophomore Addison Seybert cannot wait for the
day where she does not have to examine a label
for any trace of peanuts. “I am so excited,” Seybert
said. “I want to go to Dairy Queen and get a Blizzard because I can’t really get anything there.”
A new treatment known as oral immunotherapy
will help make this happen. It is being used on
people with food protein allergies, specifically peanuts. Through the process of oral immunotherapy, a person takes in small amounts of their specific
allergen, gradually increasing over time. The goal of this process is that the patient will build a tolerance
to their specific allergen and eventually will not have to worry about the allergy at all.
“There is not one single documented procedure
for peanut oral immunotherapy so qualifications
vary,” Dr. Jennifer Petts, an Allergist/Immunologist
with The Iowa Clinic said. “There are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration. Depend-
you don’t have any reactions or anything like that,”
Junior Rachel Gowey tried to go through the
Seybert said. “Then after that each week progress-
process but was turned away.“I was going to try it
you a shot of the solution.”
able to do it because I got more allergic to it after I
es so you go in for an hour each week and they give The peanut butter dosage is gradually increased
during the treatment. “After the solution then it goes
but my blood levels somehow rose and we weren’t had already gotten tested,” Gowey said.
She was supposed to have an appointment over
into peanut flour and the dose is upped each time,”
the summer. “My doctor called us and said I wasn’t
M&M’s and peanut butter and stuff like that.”
back,” Gowey said. Even though Gowey was turned
immune system to tolerate the peanut. “The exact
later on in the future.
number of T regulatory cells resulting in tolerance,”
successfully, she plans on trying many new foods
medication desensitization for many years.”
M&M’s, and I heard Reese’s cups were really good,”
process but decided on not doing it. “I thought about
every time you eat something.”
sive,” Francois said. “I mean I’m not paying, but for
the process is over. “It’s a really cool thing and I’m
Seybert said. “Then after that you have peanut A gradual increase of the dosage tricks the
process is unknown but results in an increased
Petts said. “A similar process has been used with
Junior Erik Francois considered partaking in the
it and I kind of looked into it but it was pretty expen-
able to do it because of the test results that came away, she still plans to try going through process If Gowey is able to go through the process
containing peanut butter. “I want to try peanut butter Gowey said. “Just not having to look at the labels
Seybert also looks forward to many things after
my parents and stuff, I didn’t know if it was worth it.”
really glad I’m doing it,” she said. “I think if some-
which have to be considered.” Health risks and the
able to take part in it. “It’s expensive and insurance
then I think it is worthwhile. You won’t have to care
“I saw something on the news about it and I
to do the process in general like you have to sign up
eat it. You won’t have to ask people and go through
ing on the allergist the patient goes to, there may be certain skin testing and serum specific IgE results age of the patient must be considered as well.
decided ‘Woah that’s really cool,’ so I started talking
to my parents about it and they decided it was really cool so we looked into it and read more about it,” Seybert said. She began the process in July.
“It started (when) you took this test, and they
gave you this tiny amount of a peanut and they put it into a solution and you drank it and then you have to wait in the office for like four hours to make sure that
Seybert agreed with Francois, however she was
one’s financial stability is alright and they want to
does not cover it,” Seybert said. “I think [the cost] is
anymore (and) you can just pick something up and
like there is a fee kind of thing and then there is a
that whole process.”
many people come in wanting to do it.”
impact on patients. “Bullying of patients with food
may consider doing it in the distant future. “I mean
anxiety related to potentially having an accidental
Francois said. “I mean it seems like allergies get
be strongly considered but this could greatly benefit
huge waiting list that you have to be on because so Francois still sees the process as beneficial and
Pett thinks the therapy could have a beneficial
allergies does exist and some people experience
yeah as far as safety it would be smart I guess,”
exposure,” she said. “The benefits and risks must
progressively worse.”
some patients.”
Foods in the peanut oral immunotherapy process T U N R A PE LOU F
mmm m m mm m m mm
“
After the solution then it goes into peanut flour and the dose is upped each time,” Seybert said. “Then after that you have peanut M&M’s and peanut butter and stuff like that.
“
health
sept. 2014 p.18
Getting fit? There’s an app for that
With everything being at our finger tips and being available by just the touch of a button on smartphones, learn about a few popular apps that will help you maintain a healthy lifestyle
words & layout | Clare Farrell
A large pool of free, step-by-
If you are not drinking
step and full body workouts to
enough water, the Waterlogged
help you on your focus areas. “I
app allows you to log and track
really like the Nike Training app
your water intake everyday.
for different exercise ideas,” P.E.
This app is also compatible
teacher Deb Nicholson said. “It
Nike Training Club Cost: Free
Waterlogged
cises on it.”
Cost: Free
With the MapMyRun app you
are able to track your workout in just the press of a button. After pressing start you begin your
workout. It calculates your route, mileage, minutes per mile and
MapMyRun
with MyFitnessPal and Fitbit.
has a variety of different exer-
Healthy apps
MyFitnessPal is a calorie
counter and exercise tracking app. “This one is good if people are trying to lose weight,”
physical education teacher Deb Nicholson said.
calories burned.
MyFitnessPal
Cost: Free
Cost: Free
Fitness bands Misfit Shine
The
Misfit
Shine
Fitbit Flex
the steps you take,
many
eryday,
miles
worked
App: Free
It is also able to track sleeping patterns and
whether or not you are heavy or light sleeper. “My favorite thing about it is that it’s light weight, you never
have to take it off, it is flat to my skin and it tracks my swimming,” senior Peyton Mohrfeld said.
Band: $99.95 App: Free
well as that, you are
able to enter in the food you eat through-
out the day and the
app will give you a calorie input versus output for that day. The band is connected to the Fitbit app, so you are able to see everything on your phone. “It has
made me much more aware of how much or how little I do every day and motivates me to do more,” junior Madelyn Vajgrt said.
Fuel-
any activity, and con-
verts them into “fuel,” which is a unit of mea-
and your sleep. As
cling, swimming, run-
Nike+
your movements for
min-
ries burned each day
activities such as cy-
basketball and soccer.
active
utes, number of calo-
out. It can track many
ning, walking, tennis,
The
band measures all of
distance walked ev-
steps, calories and how
Band: $99.99
The Fitbit tracks
band is able to track
Nike+ Fuelband
Band: $99-$149 App: Free
sure created by Nike. It also acts as a watch,
tracks steps, counts
calories burned and tracks your “fuel.”
The band is connected to the Nike+ fuel app, so
you are able to see everything on your phone.
sports
sept. 2014 p.19
Football funds athletic programs words & layout | Caroline Quinn
Students tend to comment about how much the football
Members of the football team prepare to receive the kick from Ankeny after the Hawks scored a touchdown. After the Dragons line up they assume their positions in various places on the field to gain yardage. The Dragons went back and forth with the Hawks on the score board, but were able to pull away with a win in the last 51 seconds of the game. The final score was 28-27. The players from left to right are junior Noah Richards, junior Eric Siedenburg, junior Drew Singbush, senior Andy Pargulski, and junior Preston Arnold.
program costs, so “The Black and White” decided to in-
vestigate how much money each sport generates. Out of
the $190,713 earned from gate receipts at sporting events last school year, $65,770 was earned from football, which was almost 35% of the entire gate receipt revenue.
Although football generally does well for gate receipts,
some nights are better than others. “If we look at a varsity night, there’s various factors; who your opponent is, how the weather is, how your team is doing,” athletic direc-
tor Gary Ross said. “All those have factors on what [the
gate receipt] is. A big night, a homecoming, against a real rival, you might have a $20,000-$23,000 range [of gate
receipts]. On a [bad] night against not a rival, you might have a $12,000 gate.”
Once the gate receipt money is collected, it is put into
one revenue account for all the sport gate receipts from
the district. “All the monies that come into the athletic budget, for example gate receipts of all the sports, entry fees
year-to-year, some of them are rotating,” Ross said. “Certain sports, like our baseball and softball, they go through pants a little more because of the nature of softball and baseball with the sliding.”
For the football team, the budget works in a similar
way. “Of the different budgets we have to deal with, the number one is what we call the safety budget,” head
football coach Brian Woodley said. “They set aside some
money for safety, so helmets, shoulder pads, our manda-
tory things. We have to send helmets back to get recondi-
$4,052
$3,643 Wrestling
The budget is formulated yearly by Ross. “The
coaches have an idea of their needs, some of them are
G. Track
district, but most of it comes from the eight-hour relay.”
$4,337
Anna Toot said. “There’s a small budget from the school
don’t have very good following, that we can still go on as
B. Swimming
of the season where everyone writes pledges,” junior
we have a year where the weather is terrible and we
$5,379
“Money comes from the eight-hour relay at the beginning
a carry-over of a year’s budget, so that if all the sudden
G. Swimming
runners raise their own money for some of their budget.
future. “What I try to do is to make sure that I have at least
$6,408
sponsorships,” junior Karl Rasmussen said. Cross country
activities, there is still money left in the account for the
B. Track
“It comes from various sources, like donations and
Even with spending money on expenses for various
$7,050
said he had no idea.
buy more uniforms,” Ross said.
Softball
said. Regarding where other funds come from, Chapman
are 20 higher than they were last year, so we needed to
$9,600
jerseys came in from a donator,” junior Kaleb Chapman
need to spend more. “In cross country this year, our boys
Baseball
of how their sports are funded. “I know our new football
$9,998
gate receipt account, not all student athletes are aware
Although typically the coaches know how many stan-
dard expenses they will have each year, sometimes they
G. Soccer
Although money for sports budgets comes from this
things we might want.”
$11,232
the district’s athletic revenue account.
always donates money to our football team, to help with
needed,” Ross said. “It’s intended every year that we’re not going to spend all of the money.”
More expenses will arise for athletics and activities in
the next few years. As the new high school is estimated to be completed in the spring of 2017, Ross is already pre-
B. Soccer
revenue and non-revenue sports get their funding through
sources that help,” Woodley said. “A youth football team
$20,236
and boys’ tennis, girls’ and boys’ bowling,” Ross said. All
Gate receipts are the amount of money earned at the gate for each sport.
nology that has to come extra, and I have some outside
G. Basketball
boys’ and girls’ cross country, girls’ and boys’ golf, girls’
Gate Receipts
$20,431
through gate receipts. “Your non-revenue sports are like
budget. “We have things for computers, filming, just tech-
2013-2014
Volleyball
A revenue sport is a sport that provides income
Some of the money comes from outside of the usual
$22,577
go into a big pool, and then we formulate the budgets.”
tioned, which helps to preserve the life of the helmet.”
B. Basketball
goes into a revenue account,” Ross said. “All the monies
Carly Kinning/BW $65,770
tions from businesses or people, fundraising, all of that
Football
from invitationals, donations from the Booster Club, dona-
paring for the extra cost of a new athletic facility. “We’re
any money to begin with, so I put some money in there to
that all of them sit on, we’re going to need score tables,”
too, where we’ve given some money.”
to spend money on, and so I’m trying to build up a surplus
huge part in making all of the activities funding possible.
than a normal year, that we’ll be able to continue on.”
good teams and good support, so we do have good gate
with the athletics. “We helped get the musical started,”
just the largest number, and it will be like that anywhere
going to need things like our Dragon chairs for basketball
get them started. I’ve done that with speech and drama
Ross said. “There’s certain things that we’re going to need
It is clear that money earned from football plays a
there, so that at the point when we need to spend more The money earned from athletics does not just stay
Ross said. “At the beginning of the year they didn’t have
“We have many activities that have good following, with receipts in our other programs,” Ross said. “Football is you go.”
backpage
sept. 2014 p.20
Remembering tragic times
From catastrophic events in the United States history to staggering incidents in pop culture, students remember and mourn those who passed away words | Kitarrah Mangra-Dutcher layout | Zoe Wilson
September 11, 2001
Sept. 11 was the day when four planes
crashed on the east coast of the United
States. The twin towers in New York were hit
Herzmann had a full day of school that
thing is (that) afterwards you would hear all of these stories like that,” Herzmann said.
At the time of the crash part of the Penta-
day. “We still had our periods and classes,
gon was under construction and parts of the
member wanting to be close to people that
down,” Herzmann said. When the bus
kind of the interesting one,” Herzmann said.
field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. “I just re-
said. “That’s how a lot of people react when something tragic like that happens.”
Senior Lenin Cardwell lived about 15
minutes away from New York City at the
but essentially everything went on lockdropped Herzmann off at the stop she no-
ticed something wasn’t right. “When [the
building were empty. “The Pentagon was “It could have been a lot worse.”
At the time 9th grade science teacher
bus] went past my dad’s car was there,”
Lisa Horsch was in a planning period at the
The Pentagon sits right of interstate 95.
‘turn on the TV, you’ve gotta see what’s
Herzmann said.
time. “I just kind of remember there was a
“If they shut the highway down people would
long time,” Cardwell said. Cardwell, then a
Herzmann’s best friend’s father worked
ton of smoke because it smoked for a really
have been stuck in D.C.,” Herzmann said.
middle school. “Somebody came and said, going on in New York,’” Horsch said. “We
watched them fall, both of them. We turned on just in time to see the first one fall. And it
three-year-old, did not fully grasp what was
at the Pentagon. Herzmann remembers
know, just being a little kid,” Cardwell said.
“‘[I kept saying] is your dad okay, is your
were scary. “That was very frightening, that
have you heard from your dad, do you know
country,” Horsch said. “It was like ‘wow, they
going on. “In the pictures I’m just smiling you
Eighth grade science teacher Liz Her-
zmann was a junior in high school at the time of the attacks. Herzmann lived about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C. where
a plane crashed into the Pentagon. “The
looking for him to ensure his dad was safe. dad okay, have you heard from your dad,
anything, like is your dad okay,’” Herzmann said.
It turned out that his dad was in Califor-
principal came on over the announcements
nia that day and just happened to not be in
Many students do not remember the
generations. “There was a lot of talent there
and said ‘there’s been a plane crash on the
tragedy of that fateful September day, only
what they have seen and heard. However, students will probably remember what hap-
the building at all. “That’s kind of the weird
and a lot of sadness underneath that talent,” Thoreson said.
The death of Williams was surprising to
pened on Aug. 11, 2014. Comedian, film-
many. “I heard two kids talking about it and I
away due to suicide.
that was really weird, because he wasn’t
maker, and actor Robin Williams passed “It’s just so sad that he didn’t get the help
he needed,” senior Marcy Chamberlin said. According to the National Institute of Mental
Health, every year around 38,000 people die by suicide. “The fact that it takes somebody
thought they were joking because I thought very old,” senior Sandra Kromminga said,
“When I found out it was real, I was actually kind of sad because I really liked a lot of his movies.”
Williams played many different charac-
famous for everybody else to care. It’s kind
ters and was a favorite among many people.
When Williams passed away many peo-
cause I used to watch that all the time with
of annoying almost,” Chamberlin said.
ple discovered it on social media websites
such as Facebook and Twitter. “I think I saw
“My favorite movie was ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ bemy mom,” Kromminga said.
Williams was present throughout most
it on Facebook the night that it happened,”
students lives. “It was like heart-wrenching
in shows and movies that spread across
was gone,” Chamberlin said.
librarian Ruth Thoreson said. Williams was Provided/Eva Rinaldi
lied to us,” Herzmann said.
as, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a
I loved,” english teacher Sarah Wessling
Robin Williams’ death
helicopter pad at the Pentagon.’ [He] kind of
because it was like part of your childhood
was just like, ‘holy cow.’”
For some people the attacks on Sept. 11
it made me feel like we were vulnerable as a came to our country, they used our planes
against us. They took over our own commercial jets and flew them into our buildings.’ I was very upset and scared.”
Popular movies featuring Robin Williams
T MI ADONE IT ADME ON
“Dead Poets Society” (1989)
John Keating
“Aladdin” (1992) Genie
“Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993) Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Doubtfire
“Jumanji” (1995) Alan Parrish
“Good Will Hunting” (1997) Sean Maguire