Panorama 2019: The Photo Issue

LADUE PANORAMA NEWSPAPER

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01.31.2019 VOLUME 67, ISSUE 6 LADUE HORTON WATKINS HIGH SCHOOL 1201 S. WARSON ROAD ST. LOUIS, MO 63124

THE Panorama STAFF Zach Weller, photographer-in-chief Katie Shaw, managing editor Carolina Alisio, photography editor Jordan Ganzer, photography editor Rose Hauser, photography editor Grace Hensley, photographer Abbie Hoefer, photography editor Burke Howe, photography editor Nicole Kalishman, photographer Maggie Lochmoeller, photographer Sunny Lu, photographer Laura Zoeller, photographer Sarah Kirksey, adviser

FROM THE

editors

On a seemingly inconspicuous day, we discovered two things: The New York Times and National Geographic. Specifically, we discovered their respective photo issues and were immediately entranced. Each publication featured powerful images, intriguing stories and nearly perfect pages; each spread looked better than the last. Inspired, we decided emulate them and create a photo issue of our own.

We wanted to produce an issue of a high caliber while featuring students whose stories are not commonly told. These narratives, which are told mainly through photos as opposed to words, give photographers their own voices. As National Geographic put it, “photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration, passports to inner sanctums, instruments for change. Their images are proof that photography matters.�

Katie Shaw

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Zach Weller

PANORAMA

policy

Panorama is a monthly newspaper that strives to inform and entertain students, staff and community members and to uphold professional standards of accuracy and fairness. The publication hopes to engage the student body by eliciting dialogue among its readers. It aims to reflect the diversity of the population it serves and to observe the journalistic principle of doing no harm. All surveys are completely anonymous. Panorama welcomes letters to the editors. Please bring signed letters to room 1311. Panorama reserves the right to revise submissions as long as original intent remains unaltered.

Panorama is produced 10 times per school year by the newspaper class of Ladue Horton Watkins High School at 1201 S. Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63124. The publication lab is located in room 1311, (314)-993-6447 ext. 5844. Read more stories online at laduelead.com. Follow @laduepublications on Instagram and @laduepanorama on Twitter. Cover design, staff page and table of contents by Katie Shaw and Zach Weller.

TABLE OF contents

Defying gravity 04 Berglund climbs higher 06 Welcome to my room 08 A brand new figure 10 Never let your guard down 12 Let’s go camping 13 The art of makeup 16 Put your dancing shoes on 18 The computer king 20 Inked in memory 21 On the right track 22 Arun sings out 24 Double the treble 26

OUR Ladue Blue sponsors ($100) Judy Bowman The Hoefer Family The Holland Family The Howe Family Immerse + Atlas Supply Company The Jain Family Les Kaufman The Korn Family Ladue Education Foundation & Alumni Assosiation Lockmoeller/Schulte Grandkids Frank & Esther Lu Chen Liu & Danielle Zhang The Shimony Family Amy & Stanley Small

sponsors

The Suffian Family Bob & Carolyn Suffian The Tullman Family Gold sponsors ($75) Hensley Construction The Katzman Family Silver sponsors ($50) Anonymous The Arun Family Walter & Leonssia Beisheim The Bry Family Christy Crump Bianca Daniels Terri Halsey Susie Harris Alan Korn

Jeffery & Elaine Korn The Kumaran Family The Levy-Thomeczek Family The Page Family — Luke & Jake Patney Family Southern/Lochmoeller Team Vie Terry & Phyllis Weiss The Wolf Family Friendly sponsors ($25) Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More Aaron Bry Marcia Crump Harry Diwakaran The Fruend Family Lily Hauptman

Mimi Hensley The Huber Family The Kalishman Family The Moore Family The Newman Family David Newman Marty Newman Melanie Rush Nancy Rush Robert Rush Dede Sherman Gary Siegel Grandma Judy Stecher Jill Tullman Emma Weller The Yeldham Family

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DEFYING gravity Photographs by Abbie Hoefer

FLIPPING THROUGH THE AIR For 21 hours a week, senior Dani Wides performs a variety of skills on four different events at All American Gymnastics. Wides has been a competitive gymnast for 14 years, starting at the age of 4. Competing at the highest junior Olympic level for five years has given her the opportunity to continue her gymnastics career at the collegiate level. “Gymnastics has helped me become more confident in myself and has helped me learn a variety of life lessons,” Wides said. “Right when my mom adopted me from Romania, she put me in gymnastics.

My love for the sport started there.”

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BERGLUND climbs HIGHER Photographs by Zach Weller

REACHING FOR THE ROCKS Scaling the walls at Pere Marquette State Park, freshman Lucia Berglund goes through her rock climbing routine. Berglund decided to take up climbing three years ago after she quit basketball.

“My absolute favorite part of climbing is the environment and the fact that everyone supports each other and helps each other out,” Berglund said. “I think that anybody can find their place climbing because everyone in the climbing community is very accepting.”

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GRIPPING Freshman Lucia Berglund reaches for the next hold on the wall. In rock climbing, being able to grip the rock is extremely important. “If you’re trying to improve your grip strength, you just continue to work problems with small holds,” Berglund said.

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WELCOME TO MY room ROOM SWEET ROOM Outside of school and extracurricular activities, junior Brynne Bursack spends most of her time in her bedroom. “After school I can probably spend six or seven hours in my room,” Bursack said. “I don’t want my room to be boring or empty. I want it to represent what I like and what I am.” From doing homework and art to playing guitar and piano, Bursack’s room exemplifies the expressive, artistic pursuits she spends her time at home working on.

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Photographs by Sunny Lu

MY ROOM, MY SELF Madeline Stoces, junior, also spends most of her time outside of school and music lessons in her room. “I do all of my homework, art, composing and most of my Netflix binging in my bedroom,” Stoces said. “I mostly just try to fill [my room] with things I like and things that make me happy, like my books, plants and my better artworks. I’d say that a person’s room is like a representation of their mind. Mine is messy at times but filled with the things that make me who I am.” From her full bookshelves to the variety of trinkets around her room, Stoces’ creativity is illustrated through her bedroom.

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A BRAND NEW figure Photographs by Rose Hauser

BREAKING THE ICE Practicing her figure skating routine, freshman Sophia Liu returns to the ice after an absence of two years. The stress of repeated jumps and skating for hours almost every day resulted in damage and small fractures to bones in her feet. In the end, surgery was needed to allow her to skate again. “It feels absolutely exhilarating to be back on the ice,” Liu said. “I was expecting to face plant the minute I stepped on, but despite being very rusty on just about everything, I still enjoyed every minute of it.”

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GETTING A GRIP Junior Hannah Abraham grips her sabre tightly before beginning her practice match. Abraham has been fencing for four years. She began fencing because of her sudden interest in the sport after watching Olympic fencing on television. Last summer, Abraham was able to fence at the national level. “My favorite part about fencing is how I can relieve all my stress through it,�

Abraham said.

NEVER LET YOUR Photographs by Grace Hensley

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guard DOWN

LET’S GO camping Photographs by Zach Weller

TAKING IN THE VIEW Sitting atop a rock on the Bell Mountain hiking trail Nov. 16, seniors Luke Page, Thomas Bliss and Ladue alumnus Kiyan Hader admire the fall colors. Page has enjoyed being outdoors since he was young. “I have been doing outdoor activities ever since I was a Cub Scout in first grade,” Page said. “My favorite part of hiking is the scenery and views of hills and mountains.”

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STARRY NIGHT PHOTOGRAPH BY ZACH WELLER

Nowadays, stars are rare encounters in the St. Louis city and county area. Thanks to smog and light pollution, byproducts of urbanization, night skies have become pitch-black canvases. But out in the forests of Bell Mountain Wilderness Area, MO, the scenery is drastically different. While camping with friends, Weller takes his camera and captures something reminiscent of a Vincent van Gogh painting.

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THE ART OF makeup Photographs by Nicole Kalishman

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PERFECTING EVERY DETAIL Senior Lorelei Gebhard fills in junior Kate Abreu’s eyebrows. Since the age of 11, Gebhard has been passionate about makeup. “I love doing makeup because I see it as a unique art form. I get a lot of my inspiration from the makeup artist Pat McGrath and makeup trends from the 1960s,” Gebhard said.

When it came time to make a decision about what she wanted to study in college, Gebhard immediately knew that she wanted to further her studies in cosmetology.

“I knew I wanted to pursue makeup as a career because of the happiness that I have felt making other people feel good about themselves,” Gebhard said.

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PUT YOUR Photographs by Burke Howe CURTAIN CALL (below) During an early December dress rehearsal, senior Annie Morgan watches her fellow dancers from her place on the edge of the stage. The Nutcracker was Morgan’s final performance with Dimensions Dance Center. “I always want to put my best foot forward when performing, but I felt that this year was especially important,” Morgan said. “It’s my last show as a student at Dimensions, and I wanted to make this year’s show my best yet. In addition, I wanted to just have fun and make as many memories as possible with the cast.”

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dancing SHOES ON

DANCE LIKE IT’S OPENING NIGHT (above) Sophomore Natalie Ashkar waves a ribbon during final bows.

Ashkar’s favorite part of being in the Nutcracker was performing on opening night. “I always love opening night because it’s really fun to see the performance finally come together,” Ashkar said.

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THE computer KING Photographs by Zach Weller

CONNECTING WIRES Taking apart a computer, junior Sebastian McGregor changes a part of his latest computer project. McGregor has been building computers for about a year and a half. “I have serviced (altered the components inside) over 100 desktop computers and laptops,” McGregor said. “I really enjoy putting computers together and cable managing them. Putting together a nice system and seeing it perform well is pretty satisfying.”

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inked IN MEMORY

Photographs by Jordan Ganzer

IN MEMORIAM Makayla Bommer bears a tattoo to honor her father’s passing and the ways in which it has shaped her as a person.

Willie James Bommer passed away May 7, 2001, when Bommer was only 1 year old. “Since I was so young when he passed away, I never really got to know him, but he’s such a large part of who I am,” Bommer said. “This tattoo is in honor of him, but it makes me feel more connected to him too.”

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ON THE RIGHT Photographs by Maggie Lochmoeller

track MIC DROP Juniors Gideon Boaten and Elijah Clark compose and perform rap songs together at Vintage Vinyl. They began working together when Boaten wrote a song that mentioned Clark, and Clark wrote a song in response. “Honestly, just seeing Elijah doing his SoundCloud stuff for fun made me feel like I just had to put something out too,” Boaten said. Clark originally wrote songs about sports but since then has branched out. “My favorite part about rapping is the amount of creativity it offers,” Clark said. “It gives me an outlet to express any emotions I felt at the time, sports related or not.”

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ARUN sings OUT Photographs by Laura Zoeller SINGING FROM THE HEART Freshman Varsha Arun has been in the St. Louis Children’s Choirs for five years and has made many lifelong friends and memories. “My favorite part about choir is seeing the emotions on the faces of our audience members when we sing,” Arun said.

“It makes me happy to know that we are making a difference in people’s lives with our music.”

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Follow @laduepanorama on Snapchat and Twitter, @laduepublications on Instagram and Ladue Publications on Facebook.

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DOUBLE THE Photographs by Carolina Alisio

treble

SOUND OF MUSIC Sophomores Rebecca Lang and Daniel Diringer play for the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, a highly selective organization for musicians ranging from ages 12 to 22. “I get a sense of accomplishment ... when everybody is standing for me,” Diringer said. Both have participated in the group for four years. “Studying music is a very long and difficult journey, but it can be very rewarding,” Lang said.

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LET SPARKS FLY PHOTOGRAPH BY ZACH WELLER

Senior Thomas Bliss, alumnus Kiyan Hader and senior Luke Page stand in front of a campfire Nov. 16. Their overnight trip to the top of Bell Mountain led them through some of Missouri’s most beautiful terrain.

Winding through densely wooded forest, the hikers finished the five-mile trip to camp just as the sun dipped below the picturesque rolling hills of the surrounding Bell Mountain Wilderness Area.