News

BY AUDREY WALKER

Reporter

Kaneland High School added new safety and security measures for the 2022-23 school year, including emergency posters, technology additions to school buses, an electronic hall pass system and teachers stationed in hallways as one of their possible duties. According to an email sent to Kaneland families by the Kaneland district administration, classrooms now have an emergency poster with information from the “I Love U Guys” Foundation. The poster details what students and adults should do if they are instructed to hold, secure, lockdown, evacuate or shelter. Dean of Students Joshua West explained how having the poster would help in an emergency. “I think in the past our students didn’t really know what [a hold-in-place] was, whereas our teachers [now] would be very easily ready to say [what a] hold- in-place is, and we’re going to clear the halls and still conduct business as usual,” West said. Another new safety measure includes technological additions to Kaneland’s school buses. According to West, there are new cameras with sound recording capabilities and WiFi being set up in some buses. WiFi will allow more students to use cell phones while riding the bus. “Maybe some students don’t have cell phone coverage, but they have WiFi service now so they can make some sort of emergency call if they need to on a bus,” West said. Kaneland has also implemented an electronic hall pass system. This system records how long a student is gone and where they are supposed to be going. Issuing passes online instead of on paper allows staff to keep track of students when they are in the hallways. “I think the hall passes [are] safety related because it’s easier for us to look up and look at, ‘Oh, why is this person out of class for 15 [minutes]?’” said Deputy Christopher Ruchaj, Kaneland High School’s School Resource Officer (SRO). “With a paper pass, we would never know.” The hall passes can be checked by teachers on hall duty, which is another new safety measure. “You might see, different periods of the day, certain staff members [are] out in the hallways,” West said. “So part of that is checking for passes. Part of that is just kind of being conscious of students that are coming in and out of bathrooms and being in the hallways [asking], ‘Do you have a pass?’”

An important existing security measure that has been increased this year is the testing of exterior doors.

“[Testing doors is] not a new practice, but I would say Deputy Ruchaj is more aware of it and trying to be on top of it maybe a little bit more than in years past,” West said.

Ruchaj said this is to “make sure that the doors are closed because a lot of times, especially like here, [students] go in and out and they’re different types of locks, so they forget to secure them.” He described the importance of always improving safety.

“You want to keep the kids safe, and you want to have a good learning environment for the kids,” Ruchaj said.

Sophomore Abigail Lechocki also recognized the importance of having a safe learning environment.

“I feel like when you feel safe when learning you learn more, and you feel more comfortable being at school and more comfortable being yourself,” she said.

Looking to the future, there are still additional safety precautions that teachers want.

“Doors that lock from the inside would be helpful and would make me feel better,” English teacher Rachel Giles said. She also expressed how staff members can help ensure safety for students by giving them an outlet to voice concerns.

“I also think just forming relationships with kids so that if they do hear or see something that they feel comfortable coming to us [so that] we can relay it to who we need to,” she said. West shares the same thoughts.

“A small thing we do, Ruchaj and I, that probably is more impactful that could turn into a big thing is constantly relationship building with our students,” West said. “Our hopes are as we kind of relationship build with these students that they’ll come to us. You know, see something, say something.”

The new measures are steps forward to creating a safer learning environment. Lechocki couldn’t think of any additional safety measures that she wanted.

“I feel like they’re doing a really good job this year,” she said. Kaneland Community Unit School District 302 has been working hard to make school as normal as possible for students. One change that has been implemented for the 2022-23 school year is the removal of traditional snow days. On days when there will be enough snow to cancel school, students will participate in e-learning activities rather than have a fully canceled school day. District administration presented the remote learning strategy to the Board of Education at the Aug. 29 board meeting, and the vote was unanimous in favor of remote learning days rather than traditional snow days. “For emergency days last year, we used snow days that were added to the end of the school year,” District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Todd Leden said. “Part of the reason [we] did it that way was because the previous year was a hybrid [model]. Students were only here every other day, so we felt it was essential for them to be in person as many days as possible with teachers.” During the 2021-22 school year, the district implemented a few emergency days that required non-attendance from students. Now, days like that won’t be added on and students will not miss a day of learning during the normal school year. ““If semester, quarter or trimester classes get added on to the end of the school year, students miss out on real learning experiences,” Leden said. “[Non-attendance days] will be better now that [we understand] how to do remote learning. I understand it’s not ideal, but because of the fact that it will be synchronous, students will get to see their teachers and they will get to be with their classmates for the same schedule [they would normally] follow.” With any update to district policies, there are going to be differing opinions. Some students, like senior Maya Lesniak, can see both the benefits and drawbacks of this new change. “By not adding days [at the end of the year], it just means I get to graduate early, I guess,” Lesniak said. “At the same time, I don’t know if I am going to be able to fit e-learning in when at home with my family because I would have to take care of my siblings who are also going to have snow days.”

E-LEARNING REPLACES SNOW DAYS AT KANELAND

BY ABBEY MONDI

Editor

Sunday, Nov. 6, might have been the last time any United States resident set their clocks back due to the possibility of making daylight saving time permanent. According to NBC Chicago, on March 15, 2022, the United States Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act. This act would make daylight saving time permanent. While the U.S. Senate passed this bill, the House of Representatives has yet to pass it, according to reporter Mychael Schnell from The Hill. If the House officially passes the bill, President Joe Biden also has to sign off on it. The House has yet to pass the bill and might not pass it for quite some time. According to Schnell, the House has many other decisions to make that take higher priority over daylight saving time. Some of the matters the House is dealing with right now include inflation, gun massacres and judicial threats. According to NBC Chicago, daylight saving time was first created by Germany in 1916 during World War I. It was set up to conserve the energy needed to fight the war. The U.S. began using daylight saving time in 1918 to follow Germany and other European countries. Many Americans didn’t like the time change, which eventually led to it being taken away after WWI. According to Chicago Tribune reporter Kori Rumore, the U.S. reinstated daylight saving time with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which put time zones into place throughout the U.S. These zones were created so there were uniform times in different parts of the country. In 1966, daylight saving was from late April to late October. There were many speculations and theories as to why it made a comeback. Some of these theories were that it was to conserve energy, to provide more daylight hours for farmers or to give trick-ortreaters more light on Halloween. While daylight saving may have affected farming in the past, it doesn’t affect it as much anymore. Environmental science teacher Joanna Edelman has seen how the impact of daylight saving time may have once affected farmers and how that impact has lessened over time. “Modern farming has changed so much from what was happening decades ago. When it’s harvest time or planting time, farmers work in the middle of the night. A big enough corporation will run 24/7 with its staff. With the modernization of farming, [daylight saving time] won’t have as much of an impact,” Edelman said.

The schedule change twice a year can cause some inevitable problems in people’s everyday lives. This change always happens in November and March. If the House and President pass permanent daylight saving time, then daylight saving will end on Nov. 6, 2023, at 2 a.m. The clocks would then spring an hour forward one last time on March 12, 2023, and people would not need to change their clocks back in November, according to NBC Chicago.

The human body needs time to adjust and adapt to a new schedule. When change occurs, it can cause people to feel tired and uneasy. Science teacher Jason Foster has seen how change affects students.

“In general, switching schedules is never a good thing for anyone, especially for high school students who are especially used to routines and schedules. It takes weeks to adjust to new schedules, even for adults,” Foster said.

Making daylight saving time permanent will change the way people perceive the sun rising and setting. The time that the actual sun will set and rise will be the same, but how dark it is outside will vary throughout the year. If Illinois is not an hour behind in the winter months, times of sunrises and sunsets will be an hour later than in years past.

“We are going to have later sunsets in the Chicagoland area. During the winter, the latest sunset will be around 5:30 p.m. as opposed to 4:30 p.m. There are also going to be times when we won’t have a sunrise until 8:30 a.m,” Edelman said.

While the changes in schedules due to daylight saving time may have effects on humans, they can also affect pets and livestock. Many animals have specific schedules that they follow throughout the day. By changing this schedule, animals may feel distressed due to different feeding and sleeping times. Blake Uchitjil, science teacher and Kaneland FFA adviser, has seen firsthand the effects of time changes on animals.

“Whenever daylight saving happens, it throws animals off, especially my dog with her sleep pattern. She was waking up at crazy times and needing to go to the bathroom. I could also see how that hour [difference] could throw off the schedules of livestock since they like routines,” Uchitjil said.

Photo by Abbey Mondi The sun rises over a field of corn. Modern farming practices have led some to question the need for daylight saving time.

Photo by Paige Whiteside A hay rake is an agricultural rake that collects hay or straw into windrows for later collection. Some attribute the purpose of daylight saving time to farming needs, but because of modern farming techniques, the need for daylight saving time has become a subject worth debating.

BY ELLIOT KRIPPELZ

Editor

Social media glorifies pretty and colorful pictures and videos, showcasing various types of aesthetic lifestyles. People edit and create their pages in order to be seen a certain way. Portraying a perfect lifestyle can be easy to do on social media, but in real life, this is nearly impossible to recreate. Constantly trying to glorify life to fit in a certain context can be hard to do and extremely harmful by encouraging physical and mental distress. Social media platforms serve as virtual communities for people to share photos of themselves and the things they like to do. Instagram, for example, is commonly used to post aesthetically pleasing pictures and create eye-catching profiles. Only posting aesthetic photos that match a theme can discourage people from posting content that actually represents themselves, causing them to hyper-focus on their profile and worry too much about how it appears to others. English department student-teacher Deja Harris is familiar with aesthetics when it comes to posting on social media. She can recall what she used to post and why she stopped posting that way. “In high school, I used to have a polaroid [theme] because it was popular during that time. I wouldn’t post pictures that didn’t fall into that theme. Recently, I deleted all those photos and revamped my profile,” Harris said. Many students go through the same struggle of debating whether or not to post a certain photo because they feel unsure if it goes with their aesthetic. This pressure can cause someone to create an unrealistic image of themselves on social media. Posting to keep up with trends and not doing it for personal enjoyment can slightly alter someone’s personality, making them change their own characteristics in the world that exists outside of social media.

Many different aesthetics cater to a certain body type or race, making it hard for everyone to feel included in whatever style they are trying to go for. The bimbo or grunge aesthetics are usually portrayed by skinny, white people on social media. This can cause dysphoria for some people, implying that the way they look isn’t up to the standards of a particular aesthetic.

Senior Alisa James can be found wearing comfortable clothes in the halls. She enjoys putting together low-effort outfits at school and loves to dress hyper-feminine when she goes out, but she acknowledges some struggles she faces with how she dresses.

“It can be harmful because you’re not being yourself; you’re trying to be like other people,” James said. “For example, the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic is usually [portrayed by] white girls, so I can see that being a body image problem.”

By comparing themselves with others and trying to look exactly like someone else to match a specific personality or lifestyle, people can experience self-image issues that might otherwise be avoided. It can be physically and mentally draining trying to keep up with others for superficial reasons.

The constant changing of trends isn’t affordable to everyone, either. Influencers, people who often have a lot of money, are able to create new clothing trends to match aesthetics that are currently popular, which can be a lot for the average person to keep up with when it comes to expenses.

Junior Rin Meagher has a more natural and earthy aesthetic. Meagher posts their art on Instagram with the same natural-feeling aesthetic that they connect to.

“Having certain aesthetics creates expectations that can’t always be met,” Meagher said. “If someone [posts aesthetic content online] and is wearing more expensive things and that video gets a lot of views, people think they can’t be like that because they might not be able to afford that style.”

Glamorizing expensive trends and aesthetics can create non-achievable expectations for others. When someone gets more likes or views on their social media posts because of the excessive money they spend on clothing, people who can’t afford these things may look at themselves differently, which can lower their self-esteem.

Trying to consistently match an aesthetic that requires a lot of effort can be nearly impossible on a daily basis. It isn’t realistic for some students to always be dressing in a way that can be displayed on their Instagram.

“My everyday [style] is comfy, so if I am comfortable, that’s it. If I am going out, however, I want my aesthetic to be really girly so that I feel hyper-feminine. It wouldn’t be realistic if I said I dressed super girly every day because that’s just not what I do,” James said.

Social media makes it seem as if sticking to a high-maintenance aesthetic every day is realistic, but in reality, this isn’t attainable for everyone. Some apps have tried to create a new way of posting more authentic photos. BeReal, an app that recently grew in popularity, notifies all users at a different time each day to share a photo within two minutes. While this app does offer a unique and more authentic appeal for users, many people post late when they have the chance to take an aesthetically pleasing picture, disregarding the whole point of the app.

Trying to constantly keep up with trendy aesthetics and always posting in a certain way can be difficult to keep up with. While having your own aesthetic is a good way to show off your personality, only doing it one way can create false expectations that can cause harm to many.

Cartoon by Dane Coyne Cultivating a certain aesthetic can be stressful and overwhelming for people. There are many different types of aesthetics, some of which require considerable upkeep and consistent maintenance.

November 10, 2022 | Voices WE ASK, YOU ANSWER WHAT HOLIDAY DO YOU CELEBRATE THAT IS UNIQUE TO YOUR CULTURE?

BY EDITORS DELANEY CALABRESE AND TIFFANY JOHNSON

Shrey Deshpande (junior)

Anelle Dominguez (senior)

Diwali, which is the festival of lights, is around October, and it is associated with one of the goddesses of prosperity so it marks the beginning of the year for India. We generally celebrate by lighting fireworks as the festival lights, but in India, they have a bunch of lamps around the house.

Christmas in Serbia is celebrated on a different date because they follow the old Julian calendar, which is two weeks apart. So our Christmas will be on January 7th, and Christmas Eve will be on January 6th. The calendar that we are using today is the Gregorian calendar. It was revised in the 17th century or so, and it just moved for two weeks. Many European countries and Greek cultures follow the Julian calendar that was made by Julius Caesar a long time ago.

Dragoljub Gudovic (staff member)

Before Christmas Eve, we make a little dinner, and then on Christmas Eve, we do another dinner. Then, we celebrate Three Kings Day, or Dia de Los Reyes. Then, we spend time with family and we celebrate Christmas the next day.

BY SOFIA WILLIAMS

Editor

From practicing for hours after school to spending time training on the weekends, the average high school athlete has a lot to do to keep up with their sport of choice. When spending so much time practicing and playing, injuries are bound to happen at some point in an athlete’s career. Sports injuries can range from as minor as a broken toe to as serious as a torn ACL. They can bench athletes for weeks at a time and sometimes for the whole season in more severe cases. Junior Sara Hosking is a cheerleader on both ICE All-Star and Kaneland varsity teams, so cheer consumes a large part of her life. This past July, Hosking tore her ACL and MCL. She ended up needing surgery and, due to the seriousness of her injury, has been completely out of practices and games since. Hosking uses cheer as an outlet when life gets stressful, and not having that outlet to clear her mind was hard to get through. “[Not being able to cheer] took a big toll on me. I spend a lot of my time cheering, and not being able to go and take my mind off of other things going on in my life made me really upset for a while,” Hosking said.

Many athletes have a deep connection with their sport. Whether it’s a serious commitment or a hobby, it can be hard on them when it is taken away due to an injury.

Senior wrestler Christian Duffing spent most of his junior season out due to a back injury. Duffing has been struggling with back issues since his freshman year, and it was hard for him to persevere through those challenges.

“Wrestling is a different feeling of competition. I am out there all by myself, and when I accomplish something I feel a lot better about myself because I was able to do it all on my own,” Duffing said. “It was really hard [when I couldn’t wrestle]. It is one of the most important things to me. I look forward to it during the school year, and I put a lot of work and effort into it during the preseason and postseason. I saw all my teammates, and all I wanted to do was to help and contribute to the team.”

Not only does an athlete who can’t compete feel the physical and mental effects of an injury, but the people around them also witness and observe the pain they are going through.

Athletic trainer Maggie Walker works with many Kaneland athletes before, during and after practices and games. She works with them hands-on and sees most of the injuries that Kaneland athletes experience.

“You can definitely see [a decrease in mental health] when an athlete is injured. Their mood and how they present themselves speaks a lot to me,” Walker said.

Coaches notice many things about an athlete, given the fact that they spend hours after school and even more time at games and on buses together. Seeing a student sit out for weeks at a time can be hard for a coach.

Boys and girls varsity soccer coach Scott Parillo has had many athletes out this past season with different injuries. He understands the heartache there is when this happens.

“I feel horrible [when athletes are out], especially later in the season. They work hard the whole season just to not be able to finish,” Parillo said.

No matter how bad the pain is, some athletes will still try to push through it to avoid the feeling of letting their team down. A lot of high school athletes are eager to get back out there and continue playing, but this can lead to reinjuring something and worsening the pain, which can end up putting them out even longer.

“Dealing with the high school demographic and trying to explain to them that I know [their injury] seems like a big deal and they have to sit out [can be tough],” Walker said. “I think communication and discussing the long-term goals [helps them understand why they have to sit out]. My goal is to try and get them back out there as soon as possible, but I never want to push them too hard because it will prolong them being out longer.”

While not being able to practice or play can be upsetting to many athletes, most find a way to persevere and still be a part of the team without injuring themselves further.

“I try my best to help everyone else and encourage them while I’m out. I like to still go to [practices and competitions] and just show up for them,” Hosking said.

Although Hosking can’t physically participate in practice, just being there and supporting her teammates helps the time that she has to sit out fly by.

Being injured is hard for anyone, including athletes, but with proper help and guidance, athletes can push through both physically and mentally.

Photo by Sofia Williams Kaneland athletic trainer Maggie Walker tapes senior varsity running back Tyler Bradshaw’s ankle. Athletes come into Walker’s office to receive different kinds of treatment to be in the best condition possible for their practices and games.

Photo courtesy of Sara Hosking Varsity cheerleaders Kirsten Johnson (left) and Sara Hosking (right) are in uniform but sidelined during Kaneland’s football game against Geneva High School. Johnson sprained her ankle while Hosking tore her ACL and meniscus.