Community Catch-Up!

Table of Contents

3 Feature Seniors reminisce as concert band season begins

4 News

How LHS students utilize the collab spaces

5 News

The implementation of door alarms at Lindbergh

6 News

A rundown of the new grading system

Editor’s Note

Hello Flyers! As we reach the end of the semester, we invite you to keep up with what is happening within your school and community. Follow along as we move into the concert band season, discuss the benefits of collaboration spaces, cover the new door alarms, and provide insight into the newly minted grading system. Stick around as we talk to upcoming musicians in your community, check out Lindbergh art clubs and get into the holiday spirit of giving with Toys-for-Tots.

8 Feature Check out three upcoming artists in the community

10 Feature A spotlight on art-based clubs at Lindbergh 11

Feature Toys-for-Tots: its origins and how students can participate

Pilot Policy

Pilot is a monthly newsmagazine published by students enrolled in the Pilot Publications class at Lindbergh High School, 5000 Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri, 63126. The publications office is currently located in Room 21.

Opinions of Pilot writers or the Editorial Board are not reflective of the opinions of the staff as a whole, the Pilot, or the administration. The Pilot welcomes responses and letters to the editors. These may be submitted by email to lhspilot@lindberghschools.ws or by signed letters brought to Room 21. The Pilot reserves the right to edit submissions as long as their original intent remains unaltered, and to refuse to print material for any reason the Editor in Chief and adviser deem appropriate.

More information about our editorial policy can be found on lindberghlookup.com.

Band Reminiscence

With the Marching Band season coming to a close, the band seniors reflect

The marching band season came to a close with students moving into Concert Band. With this change in classes, the seniors are allowed a moment of reflection. As the band program has been a commitment that many have stuck with since middle school, the change can be quite impactful to some. By collecting a few words from Sophia Pineda (12), Rosemary Anderson (12), and Shawn Kalisiak (12), the significance of this award-winning program is highlighted.

Since a lot of students in the program begin their adventure with band at the beginning of middle school, it becomes a very large part of most students’ lives. Not only do students indulge in music and the fun of playing an instrument, they have the chance to form long lasting and meaningful friendships. Some say they have met a lot of different people similar to them.

“I made a lot of friends. I definitely have people-- I have my people, and it is definitely through band,” Anderson said.

Others have formed really strong bonds with a few other people in band.

“I have probably met some of my best friends and the people I know I can trust through band and I’m so grateful that I did,” Pineda stated.

Band members feel sharing special moments with their friends is one of the best parts of the entire experience.

“I got second chair [after Concert Band auditions], and that was the first time I had gotten a high chair. I was super excited about it. That was one of those moments where I was like ‘Oh I’m actually making it,’” Pineda said.

For Anderson, her favorite moment came from marching band when they made state-level for the first time in at least a decade.

“I think the most memorable moment was getting called to go back to BoA [Bands of America]. It was just like, ‘We did it!’ We finally made it for the first time in 10 or 11 years,” Anderson stated.

Though it’s not always about the accomplishments. Sometimes it revolves around simply spending extra time with friends.

“The best thing we did was the big Orlando vacation. Parts of it were not so fun, like the 18 hour bus drive, but just getting to spend an entire week with friends that have an interest in band-- That was a really fun experience and it’s something I’m really glad I got to do,” Kalisiak said.

With all these amazing and fun experiences behind them, the seniors are ready to move forward into their college lives. Kalisiak, Pineda and Anderson said they believed that band taught them something essential they could learn from later in life and in future careers.

“It helped me to develop my time management skills and it also helped me make friendships I hope to keep for as long as possible. I feel like that just looks really good on a resume, seeing as in Marching Band I was fully committed for every year of it and was still able to achieve the high standards that would be expected,” Kalisiak said.

Even though there were struggles throughout their time in band, all of these band members were glad that they participated, made friends along the way and got the best help from the directors.

“It’s thanks to our directors, all the people, all the educators who work to help us, without them we wouldn’t be able to do this. I just want to say a big shout out to the directors and thank you,” Pineda said.

Having gained wisdom from their experiences and adventures, it is encouraged that non-band members should give band a try and that band members should try Marching Band.

“It is an experience you won’t get anywhere else in high school,” Kalisiak said.

Sophia Pineda, Rosemary Anderson, and Shawn Kalisiak in their Class of 2024 Marching Band photos. Photo credit: Wagner Photography.

Skyler Daubendiek Staff Writer

“Shadow Works” banner for BOA finals perfomed and signed by the Spirit of Saint Louis Marching Band.

Adoration for Collaboration

How Lindbergh classes incorporate collaborative spaces into learning

A door of possibilities has opened for the teachers here at LHS that have the opportunity to utilize the collaboration spaces to the benefit of their students.

“I highly rely on the collaboration space almost daily, or for sure weekly. I will utilize it as almost just like a second area for my students… I just use it as an extension because sometimes it's a bit chaotic just to be on top of one another in this room. If we need to space out, which we often do, for discussions or activities or some poster assignment, it's just nice,” English teacher Kylee Maassen said.

Although some teachers have already started making use of the collaboration spaces, they are also thinking about what more they could do to improve their lessons and create a better learning experience for their students.

“I think the collaboration space is a unique element that I don’t think that I fully took advantage of last year. This year, it’s always just in the back of my mind all the time… I like having it in our tool kit now that we can use it,” Maassen said.

The open area is similar to what the college experience is going to look like and is preparing students for it.

“It gives you a lot of flexibility, it’s nice to have. I think it’s a lot closer to what you guys will experience in a collage atmosphere, so the fact that the building is designed like that with that in mind I think is intentional to get you guys accustomed to work outside your traditional structural space. I’m a big fan of it,” History teacher Bryan Peske said.

Staff writer

Liz Stolzberg (12) and Names Sara Terzic (11) utilize the LHS collaborative spaces.

LHS students working in the collaboration spaces.

Meadow Roy

School Door Alarms

A closer look at a new safety measure at Lindbergh Staff

Marissa Alonzo

Writer

As the school year proceeds, Lindbergh High School finds itself equipped with new safety features. One of the notable features is door alarms. These alarms have caught many people’s interest here at LHS. Students, teachers and staff have many thoughts and opinions on the door alarms.

“When Lindbergh designed the building, we did so with the consultation of a nationally recognized school security expert named Phil Santore. This was one of the recommendations that came out of that work. The idea is that all doors will be alarmed so that they are not propped open and that they are not opened by someone to the outside, ensuring that the building itself is locked down throughout the course of the school day,” Principal Eric Cochran said.

One of the problems Lindbergh faces is students propping doors open for other students. This allows students to leave during the school day without checking out with the main office. This also creates the issue of unwanted people being able to get into the building. Before the implementation of the alarms, the doors were still locked, so people would prop doors open for other students, or let other people in from outside. Now, with the alarms, the idea is that they discourage students from doing this.

“I appreciate the door alarms, I think that we need security in the school and I love the fact that they can see where the alarm went off and they can use the cameras to then pinpoint who, when, where and why that person has left the building,” Child Development teacher Erin McGrath said.

Once someone opens the door from the inside or outside during school hours without using a key, the alarm will go off. It doesn’t stop until someone uses a key to turn it off. Administrators, custodians and security personnel are equipped with keys and are able to turn off the alarms. The alarms are only programmed to be on during the school day hours and they disarm automatically when school comes to an end.

“I think the door alarms are very annoying and very stupid, I hear them go off literally every time I’m in the expo, which is three times a day,” Caroline Cave (10) said.

The alarms tend to go off multiple times a day, causing distraction for students and teachers, especially the ones working and teaching in the Expo or the commons.

“I’m in the basement, I hear the alarm more often than other people perhaps. I would say they go off around 10-15 times a week. Some days I don’t hear it at all, and other days I’ve heard it five times,” McGrath said.

When they go off many times during the day, many students and staff find the alarms to be very repetitive and make it hard to do work. This causes annoyance amongst them and people then tend to complain about the alarms.

“I’ve had a couple of complaints about the alarms, but nothing major. They can be quite annoying when they are constantly going off. They can definitely be disruptive to the learning environment. However, their purpose is an important one… keeping our building secure and making sure our students and staff are as safe as possible,” Cochran said.

Prepare for the A+

Lindbergh integrates a new grading system

Lindbergh integrates a new grading system

As Lindbergh welcomed the 2023-2024 school year, students, teachers and staff also welcomed a new grading system, changing what is reflected in students’ final grades. As LHS adjusts to this system, many opinions and questions have surfaced in regard to the changes.

Principal Eric Cochran, along with other teachers and administrators, started meeting about seven years ago to discuss grading practices, working to formulate a new system that they believe will better benefit students.

“The objective is really to try to accurately reflect what students know and what students can do in a grade, and to challenge them to learn those things and not to have behaviors be a measurable part of what their actual grade is,” Cochran said.

The system divides grades into two sections: preparation and assessment. Smaller preparation assignments are used to prepare students for assessment grades. They aid in student growth to ensure that students have the knowledge base and skill set to achieve their goals on much larger assessment assignments.

“Not doing your homework is not really a reflection of what you know about a content area. It’s more of a behavior; it’s a responsibility. So, what you end up doing is grading kids more on their responsibility than on whether or not they know the material you’re trying to teach them,” Cochran said.

Students have many different opinions about the new system, some thinking it’s effective and others not so much. Student Maple Rawls (12) is hopeful for this new system and happy for the extra time it gives her.

“My favorite part is that I don’t have to do homework I don’t need to,” Rawls said. “I had this grading system last year with math and I do really well in things like math, so doing the homework was just a waste of time for me,” Rawls said.

To students on the other side, this system can seem ineffective and perhaps damaging. Student Jackie Petrescu (11) is reminiscent of the old system where homework had more of an impact on grades.

“I don’t like how the assessment takes over the whole grade. I just think it was better when the homework actually had value and counted towards our grade so that the test wouldn’t completely tank our grades,” Petrescu said.

While many think these practices were put in place just this year, they were actually implemented a couple of years ago, but not being enforced until this year.

“These are the exact same practices we have had in place for the last two years, and then some of them we implemented three years ago. Not all of our teachers were doing it with fidelity last year,” Cochran explained. “We had to get together and have a conversation about it about halfway through the year last year and say, ‘Hey guys, remember those guidelines? We really meant you’re supposed to be doing these things.’”

12.6.23

Students are not the only ones who have had to adjust to this new system; teachers have formed their own opinions on the grading change as well.

“I like that we can intentionally design things that are particularly assessing, ‘Do they get the content?’ vs ‘Are they just doing the work to do the work?’ That’s more valuable to me in every single grade I give out now. I know exactly why they are getting that grade and how we can help,” said Physical Science, Anatomy and Physiology teacher Taylor Mirka

Freeing up time is one of the most favorable traits that students and teachers, including Mirka, see with this new system.

“It takes the pressure off of getting 10 homework assignments and trying to think, ‘I have to get perfect on all 10 of these assignments or else I’ll get a bad grade in the class,” Mirka said.

“Now, it’s, ‘Well, I’m really getting Physical Science, but I really need to work on my Algebra.’ You can prioritize what you need.”

The need for extra practice and homework differs among all students. Preparation assignments can allow students who are struggling to get extra help leading up to assessments.

“I would argue that for those that are close to failing, it’s a lot easier for them to see what they truly have to get to immediately see that grade change. In the past, it would just be this mountain of work, whereas now it’s, ‘Hey, for this unit, we have four assignments and this other stuff, you can use to help you, but you can pick and choose when you need it.’ It makes things a bit more manageable,” said U.S. History teacher Timothy Deposki

A common concern amongst many students and parents is that students will have no incentive to do preparation work if it does not impact their grades. Dr. Cochran understands these concerns and wants to offer a different perspective.

“If a student is struggling on their assessments, we can go back and point to the fact, ‘Well, you didn’t do any of the preparation

Staff Writer

Taylor Mirka grading papers. Mirka appreicates the flexibility of the new system.

Elliot Lentz

work. We gave you these five assignments and you chose not to do them because you saw they weren’t worth points. Now, the test came, and guess what, you weren’t prepared,’” Cochran said.

Even though preparation assignments aren’t graded, certain classes may have their own requirements.

“For my class, if you are doing a retake, you have to do the prep work anyways. If you didn’t do it the first time, you still have to do it,” Mirka said.

One criticism that teachers have heard is that this system is not properly preparing students for college. Many staff and teachers, though, believe the opposite.

“I think that there’s a lot of anxiety about, ‘This isn’t the real world or college.’ However, it is. Things are moving. Things start at our level and move up. Colleges are more and more adapting to a proficiency-based model rather than just, ‘You either know it or you don’t,’ at that moment,” Mirka said.

Cochran agreed with Mirka and expanded on how this system could help prepare students to learn and be graded in college.

“For the most part, that’s really how college is. You don’t get worksheets that you take home and then turn them in and get 10 points. You get assessments, you get papers, you get different assignments that are worth all the points that make up your entire grade in college,” Cochran said.

Along with a new way to grade, Lindbergh also started using a new grading software called Infinite Campus. For some, this added another layer of stress when considering grading and reading grades.

“My least favorite part right now would be Infinite Campus. I feel like since no one knows what Infinite Campus even looks like, coupling that with the struggle of the new grading system, it’s making it very hard for some to understand what their grade is,” Deposki said.

While there are those that have complaints and concerns, Cochran is staying hopeful for the new system. He hopes to remind students that this system was constructed to truly benefit them and give them more chances to learn compared to past years.

“To say to students, ‘Well, you have this one moment in time that you’re going to show us whether you do or do not know this, and if you don’t, tough luck, we’re moving on with or without you.’ That does potentially a lot of damage to students when it comes to their own confidence and what you can do,” Cochran said.

Many students have other things to do outside of school such as work or family matters. Cochran knows this and believes the formation of this new system will especially benefit these students by offering retakes and use of preparation work.

“If you take a test and you had a bad day because maybe you were up late, you had a situation at home, or you had to work, and you did really poorly on it, should that grade stick forever simply because the moment the teacher said you have to take that test, you weren’t quite ready for it?”

Cochran said.

12.6.23

Teachers and staff sometimes hear complaints on offering retakes to students. Cochran believes everyone should get a chance to redo something, whether it be for school or work.

“One of the critiques we get from parents is, ‘Retakes? That’s not the way things work in the real world,’ and that’s just not true,” Cochran said. “If I create something that is not good for our district, for example, they’d say, ‘Hey, go back and do this again, this isn’t good enough,’ and that’s what we’re doing with students.”

As this school year nears the end of first semester, there is plenty of time to become more familiar with this new system. Cochran encourages members of LHS to stay positive..

“This requires a lot of patience. It requires a lot of people to be open to the fact that the way we have always done things is not automatically better,” Cochran said. “If we give this a chance, we might find that this is a better way to clearly communicate to parents, to colleges, to the workforce, and to students themselves what they’re good at and where they’re struggling.”

The new grading software, Infinite Campus. It has taken a while for some to get used to this software change.

Lavia Raof | Graphics Editor

THE GROWING SOUND OF STUDENT ARTISTS

When thinking of the modern music scene, many minds trail back to large-scale singers and bands that frequently appear on the Billboard Hot 100. However, these highly-acclaimed artists haven’t all started with the level of fame they possess today–they worked up to it from their homes, all the way to the studio. That much can be said for the local student artists today in St. Louis County, all delving into their talents and passions in order to create and inspire.

One student at Lindbergh High School has been in the music scene for a long time. Maddux Younce (12) has been taking vocal lessons since he was 12-years-old, having been in a variety of bands since then. The cliche answer on what, or who rather, got him into music would be his parents.

“My dad grew up showing me Black Sabbath and The Smashing Pumpkins,” said Younce. “My mom was a big metalhead when she was a kid, so she was raising me on Pantera– I always loved it growing up.”

High school students in St. Louis County reflect on the past, present and future of their musical careers

However, another prime motivation for him pursuing his musical career is the attention he garners from it. Singing in venues with his hardcore band, Hudai– of which he’s been with for four years now–has made him feel connected with listeners and fans. The weekends of which he gets to go on stage and perform, most of the time at Red Flag, make all of his effort and hardwork worth it; especially when the lyrics he creates in his songs resonate with others. “There’s nothing that has meant more to me in music than seeing people pumped about this thing that I’ve made– it’s fantastic,” said Younce. “It’s always after the show when someone comes up to me and they talk to me about how something I’ve written has affected and helped them.”

Photo taken from @hudai_band

Photo taken by Elliot Lentz

Taking a step back from the heavy metal scene, Blame the Internet is a more indie-focused band created by a few sophomores here at Lindbergh– Zach Hallemann, Nathan McMillian and Trevor Michael. Ever since winning first place at last year’s talent show, they’ve been working on their anticipated album coming out this spring. Most of their tracks are influenced by artists such as the Backseat Lovers; though, having two vocalists in their group gives their sound more of a twist.

“It’s different because me and Zach both sing, so we have our two different styles,” McMillian said.

The trio started working together as they all held the same common interest in music. They find the ability to express their emotions throughout their songs is one of the best parts about being an artist, along with the fun that results from it. Their advice for students who want to start creating their own band is to work hard and pursue their passions, no matter the anticipated pay-off.

“Really put all your effort into it, because if you enjoy it then you’ll wanna do it,” Hallemann said.

The final artist spotlight has more of a solo career. Straying from more traditional singing and delving deeper into the realm of rap, Isaiah Nelson (11), a student at Lutheran South High School, has been making music for four years, ever since his friend convinced him to. Inspired by Juice WRLD, Kanye and Trippie Redd, Nelson– also known by his artist name, Za3Zae– puts out his music on platforms such as Spotify and has performed some of his original songs at his school’s homecoming. Recently, he’s been working on putting out a new album for this upcoming year, having some wellknown artists from the underground scene collaborating with him on it.

“I have a single coming soon, and I have [an] album with features from YBN Nahmir and SSGKobe.” Nelson said.

Photo taken from @blame.the.internet

Photo taken from @yvngboy.zae

WLHS Art Clubs

The Illustrations of the Art Clubs here at Lindbergh High School

ith the progression of the school year transitioning from the cool breezes of fall into the cold winds of winter, the clubs at LHS thrived in productivity as the year progressed. Certain clubs, such as the Comic Creation Club and Apotheosis, are focused on the creativity and imaginations of the students as they meet every other week with their club members to discuss upcoming projects or to spend time socializing.

“Comic Creation Club is somewhere people can just relax and draw whatever they want,” Elsa Sears (11), a frequent club member, said. “It’s pretty great because of the freedom we get to have here.”

Apotheosis, being known as a literary magazine, specializes in publishing the different mediums of students’ artwork ranging from drawings, writings, photography and other forms of art released through semester editions that display students’ artwork.

While being a small percentage of the clubs here at LHS, these art clubs do have upcoming projects to continuously establish their relevance in the future and expand their influence, such as Apotheosis.

“I would love for it to become a class, obviously I won’t be able to see that because I’m a senior, but I think it becoming a class would be awesome, and I know literary magazines could win awards,” Hines said.

“I always loved art growing up, loved reading manga and different comic books and things, so I would always draw different little comics with my friends and on my notes”

- Courtney Payne

Meanwhile, the Comic Creation Club contains more of an open space rather than creating a publication as it now runs its second year under the management of Courtney Payne, a Spanish teacher, and club president Kairi Rader (11).

“At Lindbergh High School, when I was a student here, we didn’t have a club like that back then. During the pandemic, I noticed I had quite a few students that were really amazing at art and I asked them if they would be interested in creating a club surrounding creating comics and they said yes,” Payne said.

However, as of last year Apotheosis has made the transition from releasing their editions online to a printed out version this year as their first edition to come will have the theme ‘comfort’.

“It’s been a thing for years, there’s editions from the early 2000’s that we have,” Apotheosis editor-in-chief, Lydia Hines (12) said, “We’re hoping this year to do 2 editions. A fall and a spring just to make them shorter and a little easier and so that there are more of them.”

But what separates these clubs from other various clubs such as sports teams are the meetings they host every other week. Apotheosis, which meets with its members every other A lunch on Tuesdays tackles its release of the first printed edition for the school year, while Comic Creation meets with its members every other Wednesday for the full power lunch as they plan out their next student participating competition, settling on the theme ‘Winter Wonderland’.

“We draw, do art walks and we just integrated a new thing this year, competitions,” Rader said.

Members of both of these clubs usually arrive to socialize with friends, as the participants of the club work with pencil and paper to create their artwork, while others use their Chromebooks to bring their illustrations to life. As members of the Comic Creation Club demonstrated their artwork during their October competition, open to any LHS student to submit to, the first round ended with a three-way tie between Calle Svoboda, Sebastian Zigaitis

“I like the atmosphere and the kindness of the club members!” said tri-winner Sebastian Zigaitis

and Gavin Berry.

(11).

Gavin Berry Staff Writer

Comic Creation Contest winner: CROWS!!!!! By Calle Svoboda

Art by Quinn Prouty (12)

Art by Sebastian Zigaitis (11) Art by Dillon Phruttitum (12) Art by Elsa Sears (11)

A Heartwarming Journey Through Toys for Tots

Lindsey Pham | Graphic Editor

1947:

Toys for Tots was created by the Marine Corps Reserve Major, Bill Hendricks. However, his wife, Diane, was the real inspiration. She had dolls and asked Bill to deliver them to an agency that supports children in need. When he reported back to his wife that no organization existed, she instructed him to, “start one.” Maj Hendricks and the Marines in his reserve unit in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys that year.

1962:

New York Yankees sponsored a major event in order to support Toys for Tots. From then on, the sports industry, individuals, and teams have supported Toys for Tots.

1993:

Marine Toys for Tots Program collected and distributed over 8,000,000 toys. Deliveries were made to the victims of the Mississippi basin floods. LtGen Mathew T. Cooper, USMC (Ret) became the President and CEO of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

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4 5 6

Information Courtesey: Toys for Tots offical Website.

2008:

After supporting Toys for Tots since 2005 and raising $1.3 million to help the UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. Network launched the Toys for Tots Literacy Program, a year-round initiative, in March to expand beyond its partnership.

2013:

Federated Auto Parts kicked off their support of the program by raising $65,000 at their April national conference. Additionally, they included the program in the September NASCAR Sprint Cup Race held at the Richmond International Raceway.

2022: