Sports and Activities

BY LYLA CHRISTAKES

Editor and Co-Broadcast Manager

Girls wrestling has seen a tremendous increase in enrollment numbers throughout the country in recent years. This development has been met with excitement from female wrestlers across the nation, including those in the Kaneland district. The Kaneland girls wrestling team, coached by Kenneth Paoli, has had fluctuating numbers of student-athletes in their program throughout the years, but recently, the numbers have been at an all-time high. “[The numbers] have gone up and down because of COVID, but we went from having one female wrestler to where we now consistently start with around 10. Kaneland has always had at least one girl wrestler, at least for the last seven years that I have been here,” Paoli said. Recently, Kaneland has been trying to build a team to match the growth of girls wrestling across the nation. “About three or four years ago, I became very intentional about recruiting girls so there were [enough to] build a team,” Paoli said. The number of female wrestlers has also been growing in the Illinois High School Association’s (IHSA) sports and activities program. “Wrestling [has been quickly growing] in Illinois, and it was looking like there was going to be a girls-only state competition. They officially [held a girls-only state competition] for the first time in the IHSA last year,” Paoli said. Many girls across the state have joined their school’s wrestling team for a variety of different reasons. “Girls do not have as many sports to play in the wintertime. [Wrestling] is a newer option for females who don’t have many opportunities to play contact sports. There is an appeal there. I feel like people want to be a part of this very new and upcoming thing,” Paoli said. Many girls at Kaneland are beginning their first season of wrestling, including sophomore Lilly Boose. “I joined for women empowerment, mostly. We lift weights a lot, and it makes me feel stronger and better about myself,” Boose said. According to Jay Taft of the Rockford Register Star, Illinois was the 28th state in the country to sanction girls wrestling as a sport. IHSA assistant executive director Sam Knox reported that over 200 schools registered their girls wrestling teams for the state tournament last season, and Kaneland is aiming to send girls to compete at the state level every year.

“If you are a very athletic female right now, just one year of experience can get [you] to the state tournament. We had two girls [go to the state tournament] last year, one who was in her first year and one who had wrestled before that,” Paoli said.

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“Wrestling [has been quickly growing] in Illinois, and it was looking like there was going to be a girls-only state competition. They officially [held a girls-only state competition] for the first time in the IHSA last year.” -Wrestling coach Kenneth Paoli “

Paoli is hopeful about the current regular season as well for the team’s chances in the state tournament.

“This year, we have two female wrestlers who should do very well. We are hoping that we will at least place in state, and hopefully, we will have four or five others who will get to state,” Paoli said.

The girls in the wrestling program at Kaneland are excited about the growth of the sport in Illinois and more specifically at the school. Some girls have also contributed to the growth of wrestling in the area, such as sophomore Brooklyn Sheaffer.

“I like to consider myself as one of the people who helped grow women’s wrestling. I helped start an all women’s wrestling team for youth at St. Charles East called the Lady Saints, where we had beginners and experienced girls,” Sheaffer said.

Although girls wrestling is growing greatly, women still face adversity in a mainly male-dominated sport.

“It is very hard without a doubt, and you will run into parents, coaches or anyone, honestly, trying to bring you down. When I first started wrestling, I had guys on the team who gave me a week until I quit, or guys at practice who refused to wrestle me,” Sheaffer said.

Women have faced plenty of challenges when it comes to proving themselves in wrestling.

“I definitely do think that we have to prove ourselves a little bit more. [The boys] do usually tend to push us, so we usually have to show them up a lot,” Boose said.

Despite the challenges, the girls work hard to be seen and appreciated in a traditionally male sport.

“Now I have people asking to be my partners and coaches coming up to me. It feels really good to know that my hard work has paid off,” Sheaffer said.

Right: Throughout the fall, boys and girls wrestlers share space at open mat sessions after school. Girls wrestling continues to grow in popularity both locally and nationally.

Photo by Kevin Sigrist

Photo by Lyla Christakes

Photo by Zoey Pozen Above: As a way to get ready for the season, wrestlers spend time on the mat and in the weightroom during the fall. Sophomore Dyani Torres (left) wrestles a teammate at an open mat after school, and sophomore Brooklyn Sheaffer (right) lifts weights in preparation for the challenging season ahead.

BY PAIGE WHITESIDE

Editor-in-Chief of Web and Copy Editor

Standardized testing has been perceived as a way to measure a student’s intelligence and readiness for college, but that view has started to shift due to recent trends in education and the impediments to student access to learning based on a variety of societal factors. The ACT is a lengthy standardized test in which students are assessed based on their knowledge of four subjects: English, mathematics, reading and science - with an optional writing section. The SAT is another standardized test used as an indicator of a student’s readiness for college. Many colleges and universities have long considered these scores when determining who gets accepted into their programs.

According to the College Board website, the SAT was first introduced to high school students in 1926, and the ACT was initiated 33 years later in 1959. Due to the age of these assessments, it can be expected that they are outdated in some ways. That has led to the creators of both assessments seeking ways to modernize exams to suit the needs of today’s students.

According to an article from NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny about changes made to SAT testing, the College Board got rid of multiple features of their standardized tests. In 2014, the penalty-for-wrong-answers policy and vocabulary section were removed, and the essay portion was made optional. In 2021, the College Board announced that they will no longer offer subject tests in U.S. history, languages and certain math sections, in addition to discontinuing the optional essay section.

Another change to standardized testing will come in 2024 when U.S. students will have the option to take the SAT online rather than on paper. Tests will be taken at schools or testing centers, but students will be able to choose between using their own devices or school devices, as reported by Nadworny. Some students, like senior Evan Moran, feel that shifting to a digital format might actually do more harm than good when it comes to improving testing quality.

“I don’t think that taking the SAT digitally would be a good idea. I feel that paper exams are much better. It is a lot easier to focus when [taking a] test on paper because there are fewer distractions,” Moran said.

Kaneland High School guidance counselor Erin Shore acknowledges seeing some changes to the way colleges and universities are viewing scores from standardized tests. Part of that shift in perception, she thinks, comes from the recent pandemic.

“I think that [colleges not requiring ACT or SAT scores] is their way of being understanding of the effects of COVID on education,” Shore said. “Colleges might understand that there are learning gaps and inequities of students who can and can’t take the test because of personal health restrictions. The testing location might have to cancel a test. It is helping students with things that are out of their control.”

Despite changes being made to attempt to improve the testing experience, the number of colleges and universities that require SAT and ACT results as part of their application process is declining. According to an article on the necessity of standardized tests by Arizona State University faculty members Audrey Amrein-Beardsley and Keon M. McGuire, “More than half of four-year colleges and universities throughout the U.S. are no longer requiring either an SAT or ACT score for admissions [as of 2021].”

Clashes with a school’s philosophy of education, an effort to improve accessibility for students and standardized tests’ lack of accurate representation of a student’s intelligence are all reasons that many colleges are no longer requiring SAT or ACT scores.

Standardized tests have also been criticized for contributions to modern racism and discrimination against students. The wealth of a school district can impact the quality of education that students receive. Poor test scores from minorities attending schools in less wealthy districts have been used against them as a way to categorize them as lesser or more incapable than more affluent districts.

In an article highlighting criticisms of standardized testing, Rethinking Schools, an organization that brings attention to social justice issues, wrote, “Two clear examples of standardized tests supporting institutional racism are Chicago and Philadelphia, where the tests are being used to label schools in communities of color as ‘failures’ and then shut them down at unprecedented rates.”

The validity and merit of standardized tests will likely be the subject of further debate for years to come, and people like Shore can see both sides of the issue.

“Like anything, there are pros and cons to standardized testing,” Shore said. “There is a great deal you can learn from it when it is taken seriously, but when it is not taken seriously, I think it doesn’t fully depict a student’s future. I think that even when a student gets what they would consider to be a low score, it does not mean they won’t be successful. When taken seriously, standardized testing can be a very valuable tool.”

HOW STUDENTS’ MINDSETS CHANGE

BY RAFIKA KHAN

Editor

As the school year progresses, it is not surprising to see changes in students’ outlooks toward school. Many students will find themselves in a slump and lose motivation to show up every day and do their schoolwork. This phenomenon is to be expected, whether it is closer to the beginning or toward the end of the school year.

“This up and down in learning is called the implementation dip,” Kaneland High School guidance counselor Anne Kuntz said. “At first, there is a steep incline where the student is continuously learning until there is suddenly an overload. The curve then declines down into a depression and the student begins to not be as engaged in their learning as they may have been before. It affects students mentally by making them more sensitive and tired and can lead to them struggling to do work.”

There are many factors that can cause an implementation dip, most of which are linked to stress. Things like part-time jobs, after-school activities and difficult living situations can all contribute to the pressure piling on students when it comes to school.

“If you imagine that every student has an invisible backpack that carries all of their stress, you can see that some students have a far heavier load than others,” Kuntz said. “This doesn’t mean that the students who have less on their plate don’t feel as much stress as the others, but it shows that there are always external factors that can affect student performance.”

Junior Kathryn Fair shared a similar viewpoint to Kuntz but suggested other reasons for these changes in mindsets.

“Around the start of second semester, I tend to find myself wanting school to just be over,” Fair said. “I feel like part of it is because of the environment and how it’s been different for me every year. There is also the redundancy of having gone to school for so many years and becoming demotivated from how tired I am from all of it. It changes from time to time, but most of my demotivation stems from not finding school fun.”

Outside of physical factors, self-confidence in learning can directly affect motivation which in turn affects performance. A 2019 study from Frontiers, an open science platform and research publishing company, found that students who had faith in their abilities in a subject would have more interest in it and earn higher grades than those who did not. Fair agreed with this statement.

“Personally, I do better in classes that I actually enjoy and think I’m good at,” Fair said. “It’s easier for me to find the motivation to do things compared to other classes which sometimes feel redundant and boring.”

Student mindsets don’t only change when it comes to academics, as it happens when it comes to school spirit too. Homecoming is often considered the pinnacle of school spirit and excitement, which both quickly die down once it is over. Student Council members, like Fair, try their best to keep their fellow students enthusiastic through events that extend beyond Homecoming.

“Our biggest thing is definitely Homecoming, but we do other things too,” Fair said. “We do fundraisers, Mr. Kaneland and other fun activities to get students involved and take a break from school. School isn’t always fun, but we try to find ways to encourage people to stay interested and engaged.”

Staying excited about school is not always easy, but there are ways to deal with sudden changes in mindsets. While the Frontiers study and Fair both agree that academic achievement is a motivator for students, Kuntz believes that clear communication helps students too.

“Talking to someone who is smarter than you can help so much more than you think it will. Being honest about your struggles and listening to them about how they dealt with struggles like yours can be a learning experience,” Kuntz said. “If you were smart enough to handle your struggles, you would not be struggling because you would have dealt with them already. There is always something you don’t know but someone else will, so recognizing that is the smart thing to do, and you’ll be able to get insight and support. Having an honest conversation with someone may not be the easiest thing to do, but it is the best thing to do when you face struggles that you cannot handle.”

Cartoon by Lilliana Bobé