Paw Print Volume III, Issue 1

pawPRINT VOLUME III ISSUE 1

KANSAS CITY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL | PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KAN. | DEC. 16

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Kala Christou Flashback to WPA

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“Mind Games” with Scholar’s Bowl

“Into the Ring” with Balentine

table of contents 3 Mind Games 4 Opinion 6 Kansas City in People 8 Christmas Around the World 10 Modern Identity

staff co-editors Kayley Forshey Maddy Hardt

staff writers Grayson Bohlender Matthew Carlson Alyssa Elliott Turner Jones Olivia Madderom

12 The Mother Among Us 14 Into the Ring 16 #KCCGatsby

adviser Kylie Briggs The Paw Print is the high school newspaper of Kansas City Christian School. It is an open forum and is distributed to all students.

This is a student publication and may contain controversial matter. Kansas City Christian School and its board members and employees are not responsible for the content of this student publication.

Students and editors are solely responsible for the content.

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student spotlight

Mind Games

Olivia Madderom

staff writer

“What city in Tennessee has a fully replicated Parthenon?” a judge asked the two teams. The timer started, 30 seconds per question. It was a race against the opposing team. Sophomore Bryce Johnston buzzed in and gave the answer: Nashville. Ten points were awarded to the KCC team. If Johnston had answered incorrectly, the question would have gone to the other team.

Scholar’s bowl is a round robin competition, and the team with the most points wins. A tournament usually lasts an hour and a half. Trivia questions test students in social studies, science, math, literature, and pop culture. But there’s a catch. One question per round is completely random, and is dubbed potpourri.

Scholar’s Bowl is open to any and all students, although there is a limit to five students participating per round.

“Scholar’s Bowl is fun. It’s fun to test your knowledge and hang out with a good group of guys,” junior Jacob Butler said. “Our first tournament we went 4-5, which was a varsity tournament.”

With a new coach, history teacher Chad Pirotte, and mostly new members, the team has had a sharp learning curve.

“I like Scholar’s Bowl because I get to hang out with a lot of really cool people,” sophomore Lucas Miller said. “It broadens my knowledge beyond the classroom.”

Pirotte says it is tough for students to train for competitions.

“Coaching is interesting. I’m just placing people there and hoping

PHOTO BY OLIVIA MADDEROM

Junior Matthew Horner, sophomore Lucas Ford, sophomore Bryce Johnston, senior Michayla Kramer, freshman Joel Connealy and senior Sara Goodwin represent the Scholar’s Bowl team at a competition.

that they can answer questions,” Pirotte said. “So it’s more a matter of deciding the right combination of people that know different subjects.”

Junior Matthew Horner likes to compete under Pirotte’s watch.

“Pirotte makes Scholar’s a lot of fun,” Horner said. “He’s a really neat guy and has made it for me enjoyable.”

Scholar’s Bowl requires strategy as well as knowledge. Knowing how to buzz and how to follow the carefully planned out instructions can be a challenge in itself.

“It’s a bunch of kids who take pride in their intellect and want to compete with other schools about their knowledge,” Pirotte said. “So, it is an academic exercise, and the people who are involved are the students who are doing well in school.”

Since most of the Scholar’s Bowl team is new, they have had an unpredictable season. Butler referred to the team as “adequate,” and Pirotte said he has “no idea” where the team will go in the future.

“It’s more of a gift than anything,” Pirotte said. “You can study all you want but you’re still going to do only as good as you’re gifted.”

The Scholar’s Bowl team has grown in numbers quite a bit from last year, and Pirotte sees a way to keep the team big and winning.

“It’s more or less developing an interest in the program around it and getting a competitive team,” Pirotte said. “But we’ll only be as competitive as the kids on our team.”

Could you be on the Scholar’s Bowl team?

Quiz yourself with these questions:

What is the name of China’s main river system?

Yangste river system

What is the extreme, irrational fear of crowded or tightly-enclosed places?

Agoraphobia

What old English law gave men legal authority over women while marrried?

Coverture

What kind of orchard was President Richard Nixon born on?

Promoting adoption as a positive alternative to abortion. www.thezoefoundation.com

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Lemon orchard

Making every day great

Consider this diem carped an opinion

by KAYLEY

FORSHEY

I just love those days when I come home, kick off my shoes, collapse on my bed, and think, “Man, I got a lot done today, I’m so proud of myself! Good job, me.” Those days when I know I worked my butt off and rightly deserve a high five, a pat on the back, and a million people cheering my name (OK, maybe that last one was a bit much). Those days I feel like I’ve used my time wisely and wish I could do it all again the next day. I wonder, why can’t all days feel like this? I-totally-seizedthe-day-today kind of days.

Sadly, I only see those days once every few months or so, and even then, I still have this very faint whisper in the back of my mind telling me I forgot something. Why is it I can’t stay motivated for more than a day at a time? And why is it that all the other times I’m telling myself, “Stop freaking out; it’s almost Friday. It’s almost Friday.”

A generation’s identity in music an opinion

by TURNER

JONES

The music industry has always had a tight grip on the young generation whether it be The Beatles in the 60s or Nirvana in the 90s. But more recently, the music industry has become more greedy in its marketing style, “forgetting” some of its morals.

Unlike how it has changed in the past, with the popular genre or the sound changing over time, the industry has upped the ante with how the music is marketed. Instead of the focus being on music, now all the focus is on which artist stands out at the moment and what he/she did to get to the center of the media’s attention. Almost all of the artists today are focused on sex, drugs, and violence. While music has had this shock value to it in the past, many artists today have stopped caring about the actual music. The music is not the point any longer; it’s about the money and fame.

Musicians are continually doing crazier and more outrageous things to become what everyone is talking about. Often times it’s what the musicians wear. Or don’t wear. Sometimes stars take racy photos of themselves and release them online, where, let’s be honest, we as teens, spend a lot of time. Those photos then go viral through news outlets

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What is it that sparks my one day of genius? Maybe it’s the kind of coffee I had that morning? Or which shoe I put on first? Or the way I fixed my hair? What I wore? There has to be something that set off my day of super-get-stuff-done abilities?

I tried to pin point it when I realized that it’s all about choice. It’s up to me how I am going to react to what happens around me. Sure, I can get frustrated that I’m running a little late to school, didn’t have time for coffee, and put my shirt on inside out...again (seriously, I don’t know how many times I’ve showed up to school and had someone point out that my shirt was on inside out or even on backward). But if I let the little things harden me, my whole day will only get worse until I want to give up. So, I have to make the choice to overcome these little obstacles, and others like them. It doesn’t make much sense to cry over spilled milk; just clean it up and pour another glass.

God gives us every reason to wake up with gusto and excitement. He lays out the day for us, exuding endless possibilities. Infinite reasons to smile and laugh and be inspired. He rises the sun for us to get out of bed, get stuff done, and have fun while doing it. He wants us to enjoy what we do and to do everything for Him. We just have to take that first step. To say, “God, no matter what happens today, this is the day that You have made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it.” God knows we aren’t perfect and some days just aren’t going to be lollipops and rainbows, but when we purpose ourselves to walk with Him, every day can be a I-totally-seized-the-day-today kind of day. So put a smile on, ask for patience (I usually have to ask for hourly doses), and consider this diem carped because God made it for you and He wants you to be glad in it.

and social media.

Celebrities everywhere realize that people look up to them, especially kids and teens. Yet, they still don’t think twice, or may not even care, about what they do, and it’s continually causing internal problems in our society. The social norm is constantly being pushed further until eventually it will fall off the “cliff.” After that, who knows what people will find acceptable.

Some potentially dangerous fads have been started by popular music artists that we all listen to. Namely, the rapper Drake started the saying “YOLO”, meaning “You Only Live Once.” After this caught on, teens everywhere were saying it, thinking that when they said it, they had to do something crazy and possibly dangerous. Perhaps Drake was trying to convey a message to live life to the fullest, but instead, it took a different direction.

Another example is Miley Cyrus’ song “We Can’t Stop” in which she references the popular party drug, Molly. At one point in the song she sings the line “dancing with Molly,” which she admitted was about the drug. This has urged a lot of people, especially teens in high school, to take this dangerous drug that has been related to multiple deaths of students and young adults. Anything an artist sings about doing can become popular fast.

Of course you could just stop listening to these artists all together but that may be a little unrealistic. Instead, you could just look at the artist differently. Try not to take everything they say in and out of their songs seriously. Even though their music may sound really good to you, it’s not always a good idea to make them your role model. Instead, strive to be what they are, someone who has followed their dreams and achieved success. Don’t try to be the person they are. They’re not worth emulating.

Treasure finding an opinion

by GRAY

BOHLENDER

We’re all treasure finders, really. We all explore. Whether we venture thousands of miles away or just across the Internet, we always want to find something, of our own. Even if we don’t normally want to stand out from the pack, we always want to have something that nobody else has. Our one-of-a-kind longings have long been fueled by many different mediums - through our art or that one place only we know about. Recently, though, culture has started recycling itself. We find our treasures at, we explore the aisles of, and we declare our unique traits through, you guessed it, the thrift store.

It’s hard to find a really exhaustive history of thrift culture. Dedicated resale shops in the United States can be traced back to the early 1900s.

Thrifted merchandise was an icon of the poor and under resourced at the time, certainly not a fad that labeled one as an artist or explorer.

Time flew, and the thrift shop chic raced through many stereotypes, from the poor to the hippies to the punks to the hipsters, and finally, to America’s mainstream pop culture. The in-between seems to be up for historians’ grabs, but the chronology is consistent in most histories.

Looking through my dresser drawers, you might find a hand-knitted pullover or a “Happy Birthday, Gregory!” T-shirt. Personally, I don’t know anyone who can knit, and heaven knows who Gregory is, but maybe that’s the intrigue of it. The fact that we are wearing someone’s story - a story that we are hopelessly unfamiliar with - on our shoulders, like we’re advertising the testimony of a stranger, is almost surreal to me. I want to find a person’s story, and when I can’t, I want to try, and when I don’t know where to start, I want to wear it.

Is that weird?

Is that just me? It can’t be, because we’re all treasure finders, really.

We all explore.

sound off: what is the best thing you have ever thrifted?

“A piggy bank that looked like corn.”

-sophomore Eden Pierce

“An iPad T-shirt.”

-freshman Wyatt Palmer

“An Oklahoma Joe’s sweatshirt.”

-junior Cody Friesen

staff editorial Chapel needs revamped, more student input All worship. Interview a teacher. Lecture. Repeat.

This seems to be the typical cycle for chapel this year. It has become stale. Chapel should be a time for students to come together to worship God, learn more about Him, and become closer as a Christian family, which is happening to some degree, but it seems like students have become bored with methodical chapels. We, as a staff, are hoping for more student interaction during chapel and student input in the planning of chapel.

It’s not that all worship chapels and teacher interviews are bad.

They do provide the student body an opportunity to worship God with their peers and give insight into teachers’ lives. But, students seem unresponsive to the material. In other words, these chapels have gotten old over time.

The Paw Print Staff hopes for something new, such as more interaction with the speakers and their fellow students. This could be achieved through things like an open forum where students could ask questions through a microphone or live Twitter feed. Or, there could even be student speakers who share stories of the Kingdom and their walk with Christ.

We would love see the high school chaplains, senior Elisa Davis and junior Theo Young, given more of an opportunity to help plan chapels. While high school principal Ben Williams and Bible teacher Allan Chugg have taken the first step by having regular meetings to plan chapel, we would like there to be to a student voice in those meetings. Also, we encourage the students to give the Chaplains their ideas about how they would like chapel to be constructed. We want to see spiritual growth in the students and teachers as a result of chapel.

High school principal Ben Williams said, “In general, we are very much trying to merge the feedback that we have received from the past couple years and the needs of the student body with our overall goals for the students.”

This is the goal for chapel that can only be reached through cooperation within the school.

Everyone, students and administration, need to work together in discovering what chapel should consist of and look like. This can be achieved through more participation from the students, including paying attention during chapel and giving feedback, and through more communication between the chaplains and the administration.

Letters to the editor are encouraged. Letters must be signed by the author to be considered for the publication. The Paw Print encourages letters to be no longer than 500 words. Letters should be submitted to Room 311 or mailed to: The Paw Print c/o Kansas City Christian School, 4801 W. 79th St., Prairie Village, KS 66208.

opinion 5

kansas city in people Gray Bohlender

staff writer

Kansas City, a town middling in numbers and a bit lacking in namesake, is, more than anything else, a place easy to call home. From the people to the skyline, the barbeque to the fountains, it’s not hard to see Kansas City as a city fit for a lifetime. What the city means to me, though, is the view of one, and not necessarily the view of the majority.

In pursuit of what is the view of the majority, I spent my morning in and around Kansas City’s iconic Country Club Plaza, asking people what Kansas City means to them personally. I got just what I was looking for.

First, I met Keith. Keith moved to Kansas City right out of high school, hurrying to get out of his small Missouri hometown, full of farming stores and the religious slurs of a typical small town circa 1980. He was unwilling, though, to go straight from a rural community to a giant metropolis like Chicago or New York. He wanted to find himself.

“I consider myself both a Buddhist and a Methodist,” he said, “and people say, ‘No, Keith, you can’t do that!’ but I’ve checked in both books and haven’t read that anywhere.”

Kansas City became a comfortable home for Keith and a place where he feels able to express himself.

Not long after I shook Keith’s hand goodbye, I met a young man named Joshua. He also left a small town for Kansas City, but he came as a Corporate Trainer for Apple’s local retail stores. He fell in love with how big-city and urban it can feel here compared to where he came from.

“It’s funny,” he said “Because once you go to other cities, you come back and realize how small Kansas City is, but it’s good because it’s home.”

Sitting outside of Barnes and Nobles was a man, named Vincent, begging for money and praising anyone who gave him a dollar like they were his Good Samaritan. After putting a dollar in his cup, I asked him the same question I had asked Keith and Joshua: “What does Kansas City mean to you, sir?” It was obvious he had spent time thinking about his answer before I even asked, but he still considered his words before he said them. After a good minute or so, he uttered a single word: “Respect.”

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I must have looked puzzled, because after two or three seconds he expounded.

“Respectful pedestrians, that is,” he continued. “And I thank God every day for Kansas City. I have a bit of a history with the law. I’m unemployed. Where else can a funky-looking old bum get so much respect from people with money?”

It was a sobering moment.

Vincent ended by saying, “You want to hear the heart of Kansas City?

Go that way, toward the Cheesecake Factory. There’s a man on crutches.

He’ll tell you what you need for that story of yours.”

I followed Vincent’s directions, and on the way there, I saw an AfricanAmerican man sitting outside on a break from work. He was lighting up his cigarette, and I knew that if I sat down, he would stay there long enough to answer a few questions for me.

“Kansas City is divided,” he told me, “and when I go east on Prospect, I realize how alive racism is in America. Segregation.”

He told me about how the police always side with the whites in Kansas City, and that as far as employment goes, it doesn’t matter what color you are because they’ll cheat you with “slave labor” anyway. He expounded far beyond the reach of Kansas City, telling me his view on Obamacare and the welfare system and all-things America, but they eventually funneled back to local issues.

“Look, man, I love Kansas City,” Maine told me. “But we need true equality here.”

Maine made sure to reiterate, though, that Kansas City is home to him.

I went back on the search to find the man Vincent told me about. After a few turns, there he was. He was tall and on crutches, like I was told, and had an untamed beard. He looked rough, and to be honest, I almost didn’t talk to him. I remembered what Maine told me, though, and I remembered promising Vincent that I’d talk to him.

I approached him, and asked him if I could ask a few questions. He agreed, but not very heartily.

“What’s your name, sir?” I asked.

“My real name or the name to use in the newspaper? Call me Bill,” he responded.

Keith

Joshua

Vincent

Maine

“Alright, Bill. What does Kansas City mean to you?”

“It means home.”

“Would you ever want to leave?”

“My doctor’s here and my family’s here. Why would I leave?”

Below is a map of the Country Club Plaza, with my route represented by the red line and each person talked to by a dot on the way.

I was getting nowhere. I had to alter my go-to questions a bit.

“What do you love, sir? About Kansas City or otherwise.”

That hit something, I guess, whether it be good memories or just a fantasy of what might be, because for the first time in the five or six minutes we spent talking, Bill smiled. It was an almost hidden smile, but it wasn’t an ironic or forced one. It showed that he loved something, and that he’d love for me to love it too.

He told me that he loves when people love each other, and that the capability that Kansas City has to love is unmatchable. He called the city a “community,” which seemed to mean to him that everyone knows and helps each other. This seemed entirely opposite to Maine’s experience in the city, but it seemed a legitimate spot of sensitivity to him. It seemed that Bill wanted people to actually love each other, as a city, and that he saw Kansas City as a context where that is a genuine possibility.

That is Kansas City in the terms of its people. It’s Keith’s canvas of self, and Joshua’s big-city adventure, and Vincent’s platform of respect, and Maine’s everyday struggle. Bill summed it up best, though, and maybe even conglomerated all the attributes of the town into one: Kansas City is a work-in-progress, and a real context for creating a loving community. It isn’t perfect, but it just may be as perfect as they come.

Bill

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What they eat: Carp, goose, and stollen (a German pastry) Traditions: Sing “O Tannenbaum” around the tree and read the Bible Merry Christmas in German: Fröhliche Weihnachten

Greenland What they eat: Barbeque caribou, fish, and apple and berry crisp Traditions: Christmas Eve church services Merry Christmas in Danish: Glaedelig Jul

Germany

Christmas Around the World designed by Alyssa Elliott

What they eat: Chicken, turkey, ham, rice, and fruits Traditions: Fireworks, Christmas Eve services, and barbeques Merry Christmas in Portuguese: Feliz Nata!

Brazil

Greec

Nigeria

What they eat: Turkey, beets, goat, sheep, ram, and chicken Traditions: Parties all night and Christmas morning church services Merry Christmas in: Yoruba: E ku odun, e kun iye’dun

South Afric What they eat: Barbeque, lobster, prawns, and other seafood.

Carol Argentina Traditions: services at night in the cities.

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Egyp

Merry Christmas in Spanish: Feliz Navidad!

What Christmas traditions do you have?

“We throw pie at each other.”

-freshman Callie Eldred

What they eat: Lamb, pork, spinach and cheese pie, and baklava

Greece

Egypt

“We do Thanksmas every other year.

It’s where we have Christmas and Thanksgiving together.” -sophomore Kaitlyn Burns

Traditions: Midnight mass services Merry Christmas in Greek: Kala Christouyenna

What they eat: Fast for 40 days until Christmas Traditions: Celebrate on January 7 Merry Christmas in Arabic: Milad Majid

they eat: h Africa What Turkey, duck,

roast beef, mince pies, or suckling pig Traditions: Carol singing and Christmas morning church services Merry Christmas in Afrikaans: Geseënde Kersfees

“Our family listens to Christmas music from midnight on Halloween all the way through [Christmas].” -senior Alicia Sotelo

“My aunt always has a theme for each Christmas like Love or Peace and always gives comments about it in honor of our grandparents who died.”

-junior Holly Spencer

“We sing the 12 Days of Christmas and the newest couple sings the two turtle doves part.”

- Spanish teacher Alicia Kahler

What they eat: Christmas cake and ice cream cake.

Traditions: Christmas day church services Merry Christmas in Korean: Sung tan chuk ha

South Korea

India

What they eat: Curries Traditions: Midnight mass services Merry Christmas in Malayalam: Bade din ki badhai ho

Australia

Japan

What they eat: Fried Chicken from KFC Traditions: Not an official holiday and is treated like Valentine’s Day Merry Christmas in Japanese: Shinnen omedeto or Meri Kurisumasu

What they eat: Barbeque, lobster, prawns, and other seafood Traditions: Night carol services in the city Merry Christmas in Australian English: Happy Christmas

information from http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/

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MODERN IDENTITY Kayley Forshey

staff writer

Teenagers addicted to technology are everywhere, frequently hiding behind the apparatus of the modern world. Clicking away, eyes glued, using their mouths less and less every day. And if their precious electronics were to be taken away…? Well, let’s just say, things could get ugly. In today’s society, technology plays one of the largest roles in forming relationships and personal identities. It’s grip has become strong, and it’s removal could be catastrophic.

People tend to identify themselves with what they are most familiar. Since technology is so prominent in American culture, and even globally, more people are finding their personal worth in social media sites such as Instagram, Vine, Facebook, and Twitter. Teenagers use Instagram to gain acceptance through “likes” from people they many times don’t even know. Relationships become more about a “status” on Facebook than a personal bond. The worth of a person is based on how many followers they have on Twitter. And if anyone should not have a social media persona, they tend to be left out of the loop.

Because our world seems to be overrun with technology, it is important for us to be aware of the helps and hurts of social media.

How do you think students find their identity in social media or technology?

“They try to make them seem cooler and more appealing to other people.”

“I think they hide behind a false identity or they don’t show who they really are.”

“We judge each other on how many followers someone has.”

“By how many likes, comments, followers they have, rather than finding it in Christ.”

“They lose their identity and are exposed to many inappropriate and unreliable sources.”

“They think that likes and followers determine their value as a person.” *anonymous survey results

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MAmong Us

Turner Jones

staff writer

other

An inside look at the job of Cindy Lopez, front office receptionist

It’s 8 am. Receptionist Cindy reason with a kind smile.

Lopez walks in the door ready Not only does she give out Advil to take on the day. Sitting down and cough drops, Lopez knows in her office, she already has which students need medication. messages and tasks waiting for When students go on a field trip, her. But somehow she still makes she makes sure they have any time to listen and talk to students medication they need with them. who need her.

And when a parent comes in and Lopez has been a part of the asks to pick up their child but they school community since she aren’t in class, she will do anything started as a receptionist four years in her power to find them. ago.

During the 2010 girls tennis Really she’s more than the season, three senior boys wanted receptionist. She’s the nurse, and to go to a girls tennis match at the security Harmon Park.

“Everyone needs guard.

She Two of them makes sure someone to listen to got permission the people their them, someone to since that enter siblings were on uplift them.” -Cindy the team. The the building should be third didn’t, Lopez here and but decided to aren’t dangerous. Not to mention, go anyway. A little later when he she’s in charge of organizing the was reported missing from class carpool pick up. Lopez works Lopez went into overdrive trying behind the scenes making sure to find him. Eventually she found everything runs smoothly. him by using another student’s Lopez takes on a lot in one day, cell phone. When he answered he and all of it requires organization confessed and apologized. Lopez and skill. During one 45 minute was just relieved he was safe. period, Lopez took care of nine “I just use my mother’s instincts, students who weren’t feeling having four children will give well, treating them like her you those,” Lopez said. “I can tell own children. She took their what a student needs by looking at temperatures, comforting them them.” whether they were actually sick or Being extremely busy comes just not feeling well. She gave out with the job, but Lopez is happy Band-Aids along with reassuring to be here. words. She greeted everyone that “I love working at this school.” came to the front desk for any Lopez said. “I do it because I

PHOTO CREDIT

Receptionist Cindy Lopez helps a student at the front office.

Lopez began working as school receptionist four years ago.

want to make sure God’s words are sewn into a generation that is being stripped away, I don’t want kids to get lost.”

High school administrative assistant Nancy Payne, Betty Chugg, and Lopez had a prayer group last year. Once a week they would meet up in the morning and pray for all of the students.

Lopez’s favorite part of the job

is the kids, the interaction with the students. She talks to them, listening and encouraging, and keeps them in her prayers. Even though being a receptionist is what she’s paid for, it’s not why she’s here.

“Everyone needs someone to listen to them, someone to uplift them,” Lopez said.

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Into the Ring JUNIOR MORGAN BALENTINE COMPETES IN ENGLISH SADDLE RIDING PHOTO COURTESY OF MORGAN BALENTINE

Alyssa Elliott

staff writer

Junior Morgan Balentine arrives at the stadium before the show and quickly does her makeup as her mother assists her with her bun, a tradition that dates back to the beginnings of English Saddle Riding.

After putting on her jacket, gloves, and hat, Balentine and her mother circle up with her horse, Twister, and pray before she enters the ring.

Balentine has been showing horses since she was in fifth grade.

Recently, she placed third at the American Royal in Nov. Also, she has been featured on the cover of “National Horseman Magazine” and has previously qualified for the World’s Championship Horse Show at the Kentucky State Fair where she placed eighth.

She first became interested in horses when she went to a lesson with one of her friends. Balentine loved it so much that she asked her parents if she could take lessons also. Her parents agreed, paying for 10 lessons.

After those lessons, Balentine’s parents ended up paying for more lessons, and soon, she got her first horse.

Types of horses are a key factor in the discipline of horse riding.

Balentine rides saddlebred horses which are large, graceful, and more elegant than their short and stocky counterparts, the quarter horse.

Balentine’s first horse showing competition was when she was only in fifth grade.

“I was in Academy,” Balentine said, “and Academy is for the little kids

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and it wasn’t real competitive. I think I did pretty well. I think I got like second or third, and it was a really good ride too, and that’s all that matters.”

Before Balentine could drive, her mother would take her to the barn where her horse lives every other night or, sometimes in the summer, every night.

“I would be scared if I figured out the amount of hours I’ve spent driving out there,” Melody Balentine, Morgan’s mother, said. “Probably, oh, two or three hours a week.”

Balentine competes in English Saddle Riding, which has a season from March until November. Riders compete in different classes and within that class, riders must meet certain standards. The competition begins by the rider and their horse entering the ring. The judge then watches how the rider handles the horse and how the horse behaves.

After all the horses have been shown, they line up in the arena and the judge will call out each rider’s number and place.

“I feel nervous right before I go in,” Balentine said, “but never really after. I’m too tired to think about it I guess.”

During the show season, Balentine and her mother often travel to different cities for competitions and many times they must be there early in the morning, even if the drive is several hours. Fortunately for

PHOTO COURTESY OF MORGAN BALENTINE

Junior Morgan Balentine poses with her saddlebred horse, Twister.

Junior Morgan Balentine rides Twister into a competition.

Dressed in her riding uniform, junior Morgan Balentine shows Twister.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MORGAN BALENTINE

Balentine and her mother, they do not have to worry about taking a but he was pretty bad mannered and he would rear and run off with me. trailer with the horse.

We were cantering in, and I was trying to turn him “We pay for a trainer to work with her,” into a small circle, and we went into the middle of Balentine’s mother said. “Our trainer takes the the circle. There is this guy, the ring master, and he horses for us and part of what we pay is that she wears these tights and a coat and makes sure that is responsible for the horses all the time. She the judges don’t get run over. When we ran into takes them as far as Kentucky sometimes.” the middle of the ring, we almost ran him over Even though the show season ends in and my stirrup brushed him.”

November, there is still work that needs to be Mac’s behavior did not improve later that day, done with the horse. Balentine works every and the horse nearly injured Balentine. other day at the barn and spends time there “The horse reared her off and Morgan landed - Melody Balentine with Twister. like a gymnast with her hands in the air,” Melody “I’ll spend a long time just brushing him and Balentine said. “It was impressive, but it was very talking to him,” Balentine said. “That’s just what I love, just hanging out dangerous. We sold the horse the next day.” with him because he’s like my best friend. I mean, it’s just such a blessing Riding a horse can be difficult, and showing a horse when the judges to have a horse.” are watching you to see how you handle it can be an even more daunting Balentine has owned five horses. Usually she will get a new horse when task. Balentine, though, has always had a natural talent for horseback she gets better at riding and needs more of a challenge, but that was not riding. the case for one of her previous horses.

“I never felt like I could quit,” Balentine said. “‘Because if I did, I would “Three or four years ago I had a show here in downtown Kansas City,” just miss it too much, you know? My best friend is my horse. It’s just a Balentine said. “I had this horse named Mac, and he was not a bad horse, good place for me to relieve stress.”

“The horse reared her off and Morgan landed like a gymnast with her hands in the air.”

feature 15

WPA 2013

The girls cross country team gets together for a photo in the photo booth.

English teacher Rachel Schulte joins her AP Literature class for a picture.

The students of the drama department take advantage of the photo booth.

Seniors Taylor Breckenridge and Lizzie Wrablica join the freshmen for fun in the photo booth.

Freshmen Anna Schuchardt, Sam Coleman, Damara Beck and Wyatt Palmer put on serious faces for Gatsby’s party.

Juniors Savannah Ko and Anna Isaacson show off their vintage floral dresses.

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