L ura hall s
changing over time
“I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.”
- Henry R. Luce
I
n all of the hours I have spent devouring books, articles and magazines, in all of the years I have spent digesting written words which lay before me, I have never read anything that has literally taken my breath away in the way that this quote did. When I first heard it last year, I had already established within myself that writing was my first true love. What began simply as a hobby in my younger years quickly became a skill, and then an asset which I was able to use in several settings, including my school’s newspaper and literary magazines. When Luce’s words first drifted into my ears, I had already been the managing editor of The Eagle Angle for a year, and was anxiously awaiting the announcement that would eventually establish me as the Co-Editor-in-Chief for my senior year. When the speaker at the Dallas Morning News’ high school day incorporated the quote into her speech, she had no idea the impact they would have on me. What I heard was all of my thoughts and feelings concerning journalism put into words. They were the final push I needed to commit to what was already my passion: journalism. In what other field, could I have a three-hour long conversation with a homeless teen and then analyze new school policies? What other job description is to simply take it all in, and then relay your own experiences? Journalism calls its followers to experience life, and then let others experience it through you. This comes with its difficulties. As as an editor I have dealt with a cautious administration who was slow to approve controversial stories needed for a relevant publication. Only by nurturing a connection with the school board and providing detailed, sensitive coverage were we able to gain their trust. Then there is the task of managing and running a class of more than 4o staffers, with sometimes conflicting personalities. By being a constant but neutral force in the newsroom, I have been able to always connect with those who need me on staff and be a liaison and mentor which has, more than anything else, made our newsroom (k113) feel like home. Journalism is my home now, and I now know it is what I want for my own future. As I look at colleges and compare programs, I am searching with the intention of completing a Bachelor’s degree in public health policy and sociology at a school with a minor in communications and a strong student paper, and then move on to a graduate journalism program. Once I graduate I want to use my undergraduate experience to write specialized news and feature stories in a newsmagazine like TIME. Over the last few years, I have done everything in my power, to make sure my goals might someday be within my reach. I have developed my skills as a leader and kept up my own standard of in-depth, award-winning writing. When I discover a weakness, I work hard to turn it into an asset (feeling my design wasn’t at the level it could be, I took it upon myself to create my own magazine in my free time to strengthen this skill). As I begin the admissions and financial aid process, now is the time to begin the logistics of reaching my future. I can hear the pulse of the world, and I know that this scholarship will help lead me to its heart.
laura Hallas academics
Allen High School, class of 2015 214 901 2862 laheagle@gmail.com Intended education level: professional degree
class rank
33 of 1397, 4.28 weighted GPA
ap Human Geography and Biology brought direction to major choice
IB
Qualified to bypass intermediate art class and enroll at highest level
work experience
let’s art party
2011-2014 Teacher’s Assistant, promoted to Instructor, led children groups of 10-40 in acrylic painting sessions, opened and closed store
famous footwear
2014 Sales associate, 3 store locations
algonquin properties
2011-present Office Assistant for family-owned property management business
us lacrosse
2014-present Referee for youth games
clubs and organizations
newspaper Growth in leadership positions, interview skills, proficient in Adobe InDesign, basic knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator, frequently wrote award-winning cover stories 2014-present Co-Editor-In-Chief 2013-2014 Managing Editor; first junior in position 2012-2013 Staff writer
yearbook
2011-2012 Editor
lacrosse
2014-2015 Captain 2012- 2015 Varsity Starter 3 letters earned, involvement since fifth grade, year-round training and skills building
drumline Semi-annual auditions for program, frequent memorized solo performances brought greater appreciation for professionals, group ensembles required technical balance and creative collaboration between members Largest marching band in US, Division 1 UIL Concert Band 2013-2014 Bass Line, First Symphonic Band 2012-2013 Front Ensemble, First Symphonic Band 2011-2012 Front Ensemble, competitive drumline, First Symphonic Band
state representative Jeff Leach student leadership advisory council
2014-2015 Inaugural year, application position, district representative brings state issues to teens and takes their views back to Austin, learning about inner workings of state legislative system, involved in lobbying of education bill
junior world affairs council
2014-2015 World Quest, Model UN, must keep up with current events to be able to take on the issues of a given country, requires international understanding and cooperation to argue a culture’s position in a political setting
Phoenix Literary magazine
GT program’s annual publication, contributed all four years; poetry, illustration, and short stories 2014-present Editor-In-Chief 2013-2014 Managing editor, first junior in position
National honor society
2011-present Participated in class service projects including Miracle League, a baseball league for handicapped children
executive principal council Appointed fall 2014 to represent newspaper’s views on both school and district level issues with superintendent and principal
National Art honor society
2013 - present
National spanish honor society 2013 -present
student council
2011-2012 received citizenship award
awards and distinctions
academics Distinguished Diploma highest level graduation plan Eagle Scholar met Level II advanced criteria on STAAR End-of-Course exams AP Scholar with Distinction average score of at least 3.5 on AP Exam, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more Top Ten Percent award Commended performance on PSAT (National Merit Distinction)
newspaper
Journalism Education Association, Superior Rating in editorial cartooning (Boston, Washington DC) Interscholastic League Press Conference, first place in editorial cartooning (Austin) Interscholastic League Press Conference, honorable mention, in-depth news/feature (Austin) Press Women of Texas, second in editorial cartooning Press Women of Texas, third in opinion writing Press Women of Texas, honorable mention in feature writing Gloria Shields Jane Pak Honorary Scholarship recipient (Dallas) Placed sixth in districts for UIL news/feature writing, qualified to move on to regionals
lacrosse 2012
Defensive Player of the Year
drumline
volunteer
2013 and 2014 UIL Division 1 state solo 2012, 2013, 2014 UIL Division 1 region solo
church
Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church Volunteer with food bank Children’s vacation bible school staff learned to motivate and help students Children’s breakout sessions learned to quickly and concisely pass on a message Habitat for Humanity Mission trip to Moore, OK met with tornado victims and learned the roles of government, humanitarian work, and faith in their recovery
Library
2011-2013 worked with children as library aide, ran special events, pre-school story hour
teen court
2012-2013 served as lawyer and juror, alternative consequences for teen misdemeanors Learned more about working of judicial system
unique experiences
journalism conventions Traveled throughout country competing and attending workshops in major cities (Boston, San Francisco, Austin, Washington DC) lead/taught workshop on editorial leadership in DC
precollege programs
Brown University 2012 on-campus residential class on psychology of economics, lived and worked with high-achieving students from around the country and world. Contact with graduate students and faculty, one of youngest students attending Savannah College of Art and Design 2013 on-campus residential program encompassing two chosen courses, figure drawing and still life. Exposed to new materials, techniques to develop own art
Bill lobbying
Worked with district representative Jeff Leach in advocating bill for improved sexual education in public schools, public health initiative. Will attend spring legislative session in Austin to continue work
magazine
As a topic for an independent study project, looking to strengthen Adobe InDesign skills, created 12-page magazine over the recent changes to the journalism industry; original photography, design, and content
writing
Day One (may 20): online
eagle stadium closed
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he decision to close Eagle Stadium for the 20142015 school year was made this morning. The three home football games will instead be played at Plano stadiums. Cracks in the stadium’s concrete prompted an independent investigation by Nelson Forensics in February, which while still incomplete, has uncovered sufficient flaws in both design and construction to warrant extensive repairs which cannot be completed before the 2014 football season. Problems include areas in the concourse that
are unable to safely bear the weight of construction. According to superintendent Lance Hindt, PBK and Pogue Construction will bear the full cost of repairs, which Hindt said could take six to eight months. Rather than simply patching cracks with epoxy, the district is looking for a more permanent solution like tearing down and rebuilding affected areas. Final decisions on what action to take will be made when the final report is released in June.
One day, while warming up for a lacrosse game, I received a call from my advisor, telling me that there was an emergency press conference at the district Administration building. Curious, I decided to take on the story myself rather than assigning it to a staffer, and wound up on the front end of what became national news. The closure of our new, $60 million stadium
stadium update R
epairs to Eagle Stadium and other improvements throughout the district were discussed at the monthly school Board of Trustees meeting on Aug. 25. Continued collaboration between the school board and construction and design companies Pogue, PBK and Nelson Forensics have ensured that construction documents are sound and progress will continue in the right direction. The repairs have been divided into six stages, the first of which began on Aug. 5 and the last set to be completed in May.
update (september 5): online The first major repairs will be to the scoreboard for an overall cost of $250,000; new piers for the board were drilled Aug. 26. Subsequent phases include repairs to the press box, basement wall, visitor concourse and home and away side concourses. The board is also considering adding new skylight and roofing to the list of improvements to the high school following the food service-funded
print coverage T
he closure of Eagle Stadium was announced on Feb. 27 in a press conference held by the district, citing “extensive cracking” in the elevated concourse’s concrete that made the structure potentially unstable.“[The stadium] is a significant investment for our community,” interim superintendent Beth Nichols said. “We are very disappointed and upset that these problems have arisen. It is unacceptable.” Students and faculty have been prohibited from entering the stadium since that day, with all daily activities and events being relocated until June, at which a full investigation will be completed. “Repairs could be extensive, and could take months to complete,” Nichols said. “There will be a much clearer picture of the extent of the damage in June. The designers of this facility, and builders, have been notified, and discussions are under way with them regarding these issues.” ILPC, In-depth news Events rescheduled include the Eagle Run and senior graduation, which will be held on June 6 at the American Airlines Center. If repairs were needed, which the district predicts will be the case, the 2014 home football games are likely to be affected, which would only be the third season played in the stadium since its construction in 2012. “It will take a toll on [sports in the school], especially if we have to move back to Lowery,” senior soccer captain Taylor Trent said. “The soccer team has already moved back there, and it’s not the same [as playing in the stadium], so I feel bad for the sports who may suffer next year.” The investigation being carried out by Nelson Forensics is at this time only 10 percent complete. “We are very frustrate, we’re very concerned, we’re not happy about it of course,” Nichols said. “We want to get to the bottom of it because our taxpayers deserve that and our students deserve that, but we, at this point, believe that PBK will be working with us, so at this point we are optimistic
that we can work through and find a resolution and solve it.” Pogue Construction and PBK will also be involved in finding a solution, as they were charged with the initial construction of the stadium, a fact which Pogue president and CEO Ben Pogue acknowledges. Pogue has partnered with AISD for 31 years, and said that it will stand by the district until a solution is found. “First and foremost we step up and say that we’re a partner and that we are going to be a part of the solution,” Pogue said. “In over 31 years, we have had opportunities before, and not all of them have been this public or this high profile, but we’ve taken care of them and we’ll take care of them now.” Small cracks were initially found in the concrete shortly before the opening of the stadium in 2012; no action was taken because it seemed only to be normal settling of concrete. Now, the cracks are open up to threequarters of an inch and are clearly a sign of a larger problem. To prevent further damage by possible freezing and expansion of water, tarps have been laid over the concourse. “We’ve determined that there could be issues with either the concrete or the design,” Nichols said. “We want to ensure the safety of our students, and we felt that the most prudent thing to do was not to have students in there, in an abundance of caution.” Girl’s soccer was among the first to be informed of the stadium’s closing. “We knew at the beginning of January that [the stadium] was going to get closed.” Trent said. “Our season started in January, and that was originally our home site for our games, but they told us we can’t play there because of the potential threats of the stadium or whatever and that wouldn’t be our home site anymore, so we knew it was going to be closed when no one else did.” Trent said that the loss of the stadium has already made things harder, as lacrosse, track, and soccer all must try and coordinate the field usage
writing
The New Rosie I
t has been 95 years since women earned the right to vote. It has been 51 years since the Equal Pay act was passed. It has been 42 years since Title IX came into effect, promising equal treatment of the sexes in government-funded ventures. There have been 0 days when all women, especially feminists, have felt truly equal to men. “The way that the media portrayed [feminists] in the past in cartoons or TV shows or movies, people get a negative view of who and what feminists look like, but it doesn’t just apply to women but to anyone who is seeking equality,” senior Grant Foley said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that women get the upper hand or that women are replacing men in the social hierarchy. I think that we should promote feminism as equality and something that everyone should aspire to be.” Emma Watson’s U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Sept. 20 speech focused on the role of men in feminism, and that the movement is their crusade too. “After a long time of [my male friends] hanging out with me they have begun to see my points and
Between Emma Watson’s “He for She” campaign and the rise of college campus rape, feminism quickly became a topic of discussion at Allen High School, and our strong but neutral coverage of feminist activities gave a commanding voice to people who embodied the original feminist spirit of Rosie the Riveter.
they’re like ‘oh, she’s right,’” senior Lily Cruz said. “To me, feminism is logical, to think in these ways, to want to change, to want to not be discriminated against.” Cruz said that she has seen this discrimination firsthand. “I see a lot of bullying going on by girls being shamed by boys and other girls who grew up in a society like Allen, which is very conservative,” Cruz said. “A lot of times I have had to stick up for other people because it is just unfair to me, picking on someone or making a joke, because if you make too many jokes it eventually becomes reality.” One facet of this reality is rape culture. Defined as an environment where sexual violence is considered the norm and people are taught not to be raped rather than not to rape, rape culture has become infamous. The dramatic statistic that one in five college women will experience attempted sexual assault brought the issue all the way to the White House, where President Obama issued a nation-wide public service campaign, “It’s on Us” to encourage prevention of college campus sexual assaults. Foley said that the role of pop culture and
media also contributes to males feeling opposed to feminism. “Our social icons that we have don’t represent a forward thinking generation which is just a downfall as a whole,” Foley said. “For example, when you have rappers and other artists using slurs towards women that are degrading and derogatory, it doesn’t advance anyone in any way, it just brings people down.” Though she has never been assaulted, Cruz had an experience where a boy a grade above her harassed her for about six months during lunch and after school. She reported it to her counselors with an incident report, the first step needed for the school to take action. “Why should I have to compromise for a boy? Why can’t we just teach boys not to harass us?” Cruz said. “It’s simple things like that, where I shouldn’t have to compromise myself to make up for a boy’s lack of self control, they should just have that.” Senior Sheila Harris is looking to find a sponsor to start a club to discuss feminism and other social issues, a club long in the making.
“There have been multiple attempts to try [to make a club], but it has always seemed too controversial,” Harris said. “There is such a stigma with the word feminism and it is seen so negatively connoted.” Foley, one of the dozens of students who have expressed interest in a feminism club, said he doesn’t understand the negativity. “Feminism is just right, and you know it’s right, it’s not something you have to ask yourself, should I do this or shouldn’t I [treat women with respect],” senior Grant Foley said. “It is just common sense at this point.”
writing
food fight For the Faith
This story, the first of the year, was a first step in increasing our publication’s readership and investigative potential.
When junior Hayley Richard clicked on a Facebook link to Mercy for Animals, she didn’t intend to make any changes to her life. She had no problem with chicken wings or pork chops or burgers. But she did have a problem with the video she found. Of meatpacking workers beating pigs into submission. Of baby chicks dumped by the bucketful into grinders. Of bleeding cows strung up, writhing, by their hind legs. Food was food, until it had a face. “I cried a lot,” Richard said. “Particularly when it got to the cows, because I have a personal obsession with cows, and it really opened my eyes to what is happening [in the meat industry].” The video spurred Richard to become a vegetarian; one who does not eat meat but still consumes animal products such as milk, eggs and occasionally fish. In a national poll conducted in 2010, 3 percent of 8 to 18 year olds indicated that they were vegetarian, a decision most commonly influenced by animal rights concerns, religious or cultural beliefs, or dietary concerns. Richard was influenced by the first two factors, her conversion to Buddhism gave her backing behind her decision to go meat-less. “Nothing in Buddhism is set in stone, but there are suggestions to live your life more peacefully, and one of them is not to encourage death, not to create death. So that is something I follow. It is something that I agree with,” Richard said. “It is a pretty simple rule to live by, but a lot of us don’t follow it.” Richard began changing her eating habits a year ago, though did not go completely meat-free for another six months. She refrains from red meats and poultry, eating occasional amounts of fish to supplement her protein levels, which can cause protein deficiency when not maintained. Richard said that she has experienced protein deficiency before, missing iron and protein from her new diet as she instead ate a lot of starches. She said her hands shook and a feeling of weakness overcame her body. “I kind of passed out,” Richard said. “I was with my mom and we were talking and I blanked out, I did not know what she just said. And she was like ‘Hayley, you have this weird look on your face.’ She said we need to go to the doctor just to make sure, and they said to eat more protein.“ Her doctor told her she would die without sufficient protein. To compensate, Richard eats large amounts of vegetables in place of meat in meals, as well as adding
whey protein supplement to her diet. “It’s hard to be a vegetarian in this day and age, especially as a teenager,” Richard said. “Because there aren’t a lot of options out there for vegetarians.” Richard said that one of the hardest parts of her new diet is finding places to eat, particularly when eating out with her friends, though she enjoys Chipotle and Panda Express. “It just becomes habit to say ‘oh no, I’m vegetarian I can’t eat that,’ but supportive friends help, supportive family helps,” Richard said. “Allen can be a pretty accepting place when it comes to that kind of stuff.” Richard said that she feels more comfortable with herself since her decision to give up meat, but she doesn’t want people to think vegetarians judge others who eat meat around them. “Vegetarians don’t care,” Richard said. “It’s a choice. It’s a personal choice, [others] don’t have to make the choice. Don’t shove meat into my face and tell me to eat but I’m not going to be like ‘you eat meat, I don’t like you as much anymore.’ It’s not offensive.”
For the Health
For junior Valeria Arroyo, the decision to transform her diet came not from spiritual doctrine, but her personal desire to be healthy. After cutting out the majority of red meat from her diet as a part of a greater desire to eat more healthfully, Arroyo went to Twisted Root Burger Co. with her brother, had two bites of a beef hamburger, and spent the next day feeling nauseous. “I wanted to become a vegan a year ago,” Arroyo said. “I had those ideas in my head since summer 2013. Prior to that I just had the idea of having a healthier lifestyle, a lot of the stuff I ate was vegan food without even noticing.” Arroyo researched veganism after the incident, and while was skeptical about the prospect of totally removing animal products from her diet, said she was won over by her belief that humans should take care of the environment and all life that inhabits it. “I found this stuff about veganism, and I was so skeptical,” Arroyo said. “But when I researched it I was like ‘wow, I really like this.’ I had always liked animals so when I watched all of these documentaries and I learned the truth behind slaughterhouses, it is really bad. People choose to ignore it. Ignorance is not bliss. If people really knew it would hurt them. When you give money to those industries, you are supporting them.” She began her vegan diet by eating a diet of two-thirds raw food (uncooked/ unprocessed), for the first part of the day followed
by a cooked meal at dinner, which met the 46g protein requirement for women. “For me [starting out] was pretty easy,” Arroyo said. “I [ate raw] throughout the summer, and oh my gosh, my energy levels went up so high. I used to get really bloated from eating meat and dairy, but since I cut that, bloating really isn’t an issue anymore, and I feel so much better, and so much happier.” Arroyo said that she believes the slaughterhouse and meat-packing industries will eventually lose their relevance in society, an idea backed by the fact that the average American eats 12.2 percent less meat today than in 2007. “Spreading the word, in a nice way [will make this change],” Arroyo said. “I personally don’t believe that everyone should be vegan, being vegan is not right for everyone. Some people have culturally grown up with meat. My thing is that I don’t want to kill anything, I respect all forms of life.”
Allergic
First, there is itching, a slow spread of hives moving from her mouth to the rest of her face. Then is a feeling of impending doom, a feeling not helped by the swelling and closing of the throat and mouth, making talking impossible. Her voice robbed from her, she has to motion to her 7-year-old brother to call 911. “I pretty quickly went into anaphylactic shock,” senior Carolin Paxson said. “It was a pretty awful experience.” Paxson had been helping her brother’s friend wash his hands at a birthday party when he reached up and touched her face after holding Reece’s peanut butter cups. Peanuts are one of eight foods Paxson is allergic to. Paxson first discovered her allergies in seventh grade when she ate a granola bar with peanuts in it. “I was terrified,” Paxson said. “I went to the nurse and she knew right away that it was an allergic reaction, she monitored my oxygen to a certain point until it was way too low, and she injected me with an Epi Pen [injectable adrenaline] for my first time ever, which really hurt, and then I went to the hospital.” After the initial incident, Paxson went to an allergist to test her sensitivity to various foods. The list resembles a menu: melons, citrus fruits, avocados, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini and peanuts. Varying in degrees of severity from anaphylactic [a sever reaction that can lead to heart failure and death), the foods all have a similar genetic makeup to which her body has an adverse reaction. “I was mostly just really scared [when I saw everything I was allergic to],” Paxson said. “What it meant to me was that I didn’t have the same freedom as others and it was more difficult to find foods that I enjoy and I had to be careful, because it was my life, it’s my health.” After receiving the news, Paxson took
steps in her own life to decrease her exposure to allergens, including avoiding eating foods that she does not know the source of, including food from the cafeteria and brought by classmates, and becoming vegan. “I had done a lot of reading about how people overall felt better, their allergies improved, it is like a restart button for your system, and I was really apprehensive to do it, but it wasn’t actually that hard,” Paxson said. “After getting as much information that I could, I talked with my doctor and decided It was my best choice.” Paxson has alerted her friends of her allergy, but has still had use her Epi Pen 20 times since freshman year. Clinic assistant Becky McNally said that there is only one thing that the general student population can do to prevent exposure. “Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands,” McNally said. “That is the number one thing that you should do [to prevent allergic reactions].” Despite the precautions Paxson has to take to accommodate her allergies and vegan lifestyle, she said that her relationship with food is not as stressed as one might think. “I think I am more cultured about food,” Paxson said. “Other than being healthier and just being a little more careful about where I shop and what I buy, [my life] hasn’t changed too much.” superior, TAJE, in-depth package
writing
Living without walls
Story of the year
Homelessness rises 44% in collin county
Honorable Mention, Press Women of Texas
A
fter months of struggling, it is the high school senior’s first night in the shelter. Settling down on a bare cot in the building of strangers, the sadness takes over and for a moment, she simply cries. Her name is Taylor, and she is homeless. “It was really sad, I think that first night in the [homeless] program, I cried,” Taylor said. “It’s just something I took for granted, everyone does, just to have a home.” Taylor is not alone. Homelessness is on the rise in Collin County with a 44 percent increase in the last year alone from 368 to 531 individuals. Out of the 531, 40 percent are youth. Within the Allen school district alone, 37 students were identified as homeless last year, which includes situations such as living in a car, motel or home of another family member. Taylor said that for her and her mom, money was always a struggle. She has moved from trailer to house to shelter and was homeless from July to September 2011. She currently lives in her aunt’s home. “Getting off from school and having somewhere to go, I appreciate that every single day,” Taylor said. “Every day, my life was just in limbo, so just getting to go home [to my aunt’s house] and to know I could take a nap if I want to, to have that freedom, to be in your own personal space, I appreciate that so much more now.” Taylor and her mother were accepted into the Collin County branch of Family Promise after they lost their house. Family Promise, a national program, originated in New Jersey, and opened their Collin County location in 2011 exclusively for homeless children and their families when the needs of the population were not being met. “What we are seeing [in Collin County] is your neighbor, it’s your family [becoming homeless],” director Jacqueline Cook said. “Something just fell apart, and it just started this snowball effect and there was just no stopping it.” Family Promise uses existing resources and programs in the community to help get families back on their feet with a 77 percent success rate. Housing locations rotate weekly among the group’s network of 14 churches. However, the program can only support 14 people at once. “I am turning away six to seven people a day,” Cook said. “I am getting that many calls of people seeking assistance. And I have to refer them back to the Samaritan Inn, which I know is usually full, or to the Dallas area. [We] are doing everything [we] can, hoping
that by some miracle they’re going to get in [to another program].” According to the city of Allen website, the median household income in Allen is $94,630, which is $40,000 more than last year’s national average of $50,502. Collin County also had only a 7.0 percent unemployment rate compared to a national average of 8.9 percent last year. However, unemployment rates and household income measurements do not account for those who have jobs but do not earn wages high enough to keep up with the cost of living. The cost of living in Allen is 33.60 percent higher than the national average. “What I am seeing is families living on the edge,” Cook said. “Just barely making it because of the cost of living versus the livable wage they are making. And then something falls apart: their car breaks down, someone y are just teetering on the edge, just barely making it, barely keeping their heads above water and one thing falls apart, and it all just goes.” Taylor said her mother worked as a nurse and was underemployed. For three months, Taylor’s mother took out loans before eventually having to leave the house for Family Promise after falling about $800 behind on rent. “[My mom] was having a really having a hard time and didn’t tell anybody,” Taylor said. “I knew that we were cutting back, but I was working so much that I was never really home, and I didn’t realize [how much] we were cutting back on.” At Family Promise, students leave for school by 7:00 a.m. and come back by 5:00 p.m. All of the families and volunteers associated with the program eat dinner together. At night, guests sleep in cots in the church facilities. While staying at Family
In a generally upper-middle-class city in a fairly prosperous county, Allen is not a name that one would immediately associate with poverty. However, I saw a statistic and decided to find this need in the community and find a student who could speak first hand of the situation. The publication of this story resulted in several clubs reaching out and donating materials to Family Promise.
Promise, Taylor said she often remembered the one thing that she missed the most, her bed. “I don’t know how to explain because it was never something I had thought of before,” Taylor said. “Just being able to sit on your own bed that’s just yours, that nobody else has slept on, that’s big and comfortable, with your pillows, your blankets, your stuffed animals, or whatever you have on it. That’s something that I took for granted, because everyone has a bed. You don’t think about not having a bed.” In Collin County, over half of homeless minors are elementary school age or younger, with the majority (36 percent) 4 to 6 years old. According to Cook, Family Promise operates exclusively to serve homeless families with children, so Taylor saw parents with several different mentalities. “There were some [parents in Family Promise] that came into it and looked at the situation, and had so much courage,” Whitten said. “They were like ‘even though we are in this program, even though this is happening, I’m going to get a great job and we are going to have a home,’ and they were brave for their kids. [...] That was amazing for me to watch, to see people that were so strong and fierce for their kids.” Taylor said that after experiencing homelessness with her mother, she became stronger as her mom leaned on her to be her backbone. “Now our relationship has changed so much,” Taylor said. “Before, I felt like I needed her, I needed her to be there for me emotionally and in all the ways you need your mom. Now, I just don’t. I love her, and I like being around her, but I don’t need her in the same way. I grew up, because I had to.” Once a student of any age is living in a shelter and classified as homeless, school officials work to provide services for the student as outlined by the McKinneyVento Act, which protects the rights of homeless children and is the only major federal legislative response to homelessness. Allen offers services to its homeless students including bus transportation, modified assignments, waived SAT/ACT fees, free or reduced lunch and school supplies. “For some students, [school] creates some level of normalcy for them,” Allen ISD support counselor Jennifer Atencio said. “To know that they have a place to be for six to eight hours a day [...creates] the normalcy and consistency.” Taylor said that the school offered her a lot of
help and supplies to make the situation easier. She is working, and plans to get a second job when she graduates early in February before going to Collin College for two years. “[Now that I have been through Family Promise] I think more about what I can do in college that, when I leave, there will be a job waiting for me,” Taylor said. “It’s less of what I want to do and more of what I have to do. I have that mentality now, where I don’t have the freedom to just go to college for four years and not really care what I’m doing. I have to know. I have to have a plan. And it has to make a lot of money, whether I like it or not.” Organizations like Family Promise are not for profit
“I grew up, because I had to” and rely on donations to take care of the homeless. Local food banks such as Allen Community Outreach and drives by community service organizations like Key Club provide donations that Cook said are always needed. “I know that there are some areas of Allen that are getting hit pretty hard with [homelessness],” Key Club Sergeant at Arms Kyle Walden said. “ACO is doing a lot to help out with that along with the North Texas Food Bank by giving food to food banks in Allen to help out those families who don’t have enough money to provide for their kids all the time.” Taylor said that there are ways for teens to help and while you don’t get to see how donations impact families, the donations can make a difference in someone’s life. “I knew a little girl who got this unicorn, and she cried,” Whitten said. “Because her mom didn’t have anything for her, she just played with other little kids’ toys in the program. And then it was all hers, it was nobody elses’ unicorn, it was all hers. And that was the most amazing thing to watch.”
writing
Hope grows
There are a lot of “mission trip” stories out there, but these two students had a level of involvement that I had not seen before. The ties to the local dentist provided an even more Allen-centric angle to the story.
Juniors Volunteer at children’s house in Honduras
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he two girls walk through the small Honduran villages near Puerto Lempira, attracting quite a bit of attention. The “gringos,” or non-Hispanics, are a novelty. The indigenous Miskito Indians turn a full 360 degrees, staring at the visitors. But as the girls move closer and closer to the cluster of four buildings, things begin to get more familiar. Children run up and cling onto them. “It is like going to visit your family,” junior Katie Slaughter said. Slaughter and junior Megan Randolph volunteer with Send Hope, a non-profit organization that has been caring for underprivileged Miskito Indian children in Puerto Lempira, Honduras, since 2005. Honduras is the second poorest country in Central America, with 60 percent of its population below the poverty line. “It is just eye-opening,” Randolph said. “These kids don’t have anything, and if they can be happy, just coming back [to Honduras from Allen each year], it just really set my priorities straight.” Start of Hope Send Hope’s facility contains a school, dental clinic, a volunteers house, and a children’s house named the House of Hope. Slaughter and Randolph have been volunteering at the house for the past three years, going for about 10 days each summer, and they said they plan to continue. Send Hope is traced back to 1991, when a fellow church member at the First United Methodist Church of Allen invited Allen dentist Tom Brian on a mission trip to Honduras. “I told him I had always wanted to [help people who didn’t have access to dentists],” Brian said. “So I went and I pulled teeth for a week, and realized that’s what God called me into the dental field for back when I was in high school.” While Brian was in Honduras, he said he met an 11-year-old boy whom he still remembers. A memento of their first meeting, a stick, remains prominently displayed in the corner of his Allen office. “One day I was there, [and] I saw this kid [...] using [a] stick to walk with,” Brian said. “I thought that he was using it as a toy, but I realized he was
using it to walk with because he didn’t have any crutches.” The boy, named Walter, had broken his ankle when he was 3 years old and it had become infected. Brian brought the 11-year-old to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, where he was treated. It was his experiences with Walter that inspired Brian to start the children’s home in 2005, which currently holds 45 children ranging from newborns to teens. Volunteers from the church helped construct the buildings and brought the first teens to the project. Getting involved Slaughter and Randolph are members of the church, and the friends became interested in Send Hope after Randolph’s brother and mother volunteered for the organization. Randolph said that she was in shock her first year volunteering, when she saw the poverty first hand. “When my mom and brother came back and just showed us all of the pictures, it just didn’t seem real,” Randolph said. “It was even more [shocking] when I met the kids, that this is real. But just hearing about it, you wouldn’t even think that [the level of poverty] would be possible.” The two girls went down for the first time the summer before freshman year and have continued for the last three years.
“When I was with [them], I was happy,” Randolph said. “But when you’re by yourself and you are thinking about it, that was just shocking for me. But then over the years, it’s still sad, but it gets more important to make [the kids] happy in the now.” Reaching out While the house is not an orphanage, Slaughter said that many of the children stay there indefinitely. She said that often the parents are unable to care for the kids, and the kids have little future outside of Send Hope. “Most of them aren’t going to leave because where are they going to go?” Slaughter said. “They all have family, but their family is living just like them, it’s not like most of them have an opportunity to get a good education and go somewhere, a few of them do, but most of them don’t. They are just focused on getting their food.” Slaughter said she remembers one of the first kids she fell in love with, named Addison. When she found him, he was living on the streets, his father imprisoned and his mother unable to properly care for him. Addison was only 7 years old at the time. “In comparison to the kids here [in the U.S], it is a much purer love,” Slaughter said. “They are not looking for anything from us, they just want to hold our hand.” Kids like Addison who are brought to the House of Hope receive food, medical care, education and a place to stay. One medical condition that the house deals with is malnutrition. Through donations, the house is able to care for about 200 malnourished babies and children. Slaughter said that about 80 percent of the children who stay at House of Hope were previously sexually abused and that this can become an issue, like when one girl returned from a visit with her family and began abusing other kids. “It is frustrating,” Randolph said. “You are trying to teach them one thing and that is the other thing about the parents coming and getting them. [They] go back and everything that they were taught just goes out the window. They are back and forth between the two [lifestyles]. It would just be easier if we could keep them.” While Send Hope cares for the children, they do not have custody of them, so parents can come and take their kids whenever they want. With
almost no way of reaching the kids during the year, Slaughter said she feels helpless when they leave. “It is kind of scary when we leave every year because we don’t know for sure that they will be there next year,” Slaughter said. “The first year we came back and a lot of those kids were gone, and [the volunteers] don’t know where they are; we aren’t going to see them again.” Lasting love The organization has success stories where children are able to return to stable families, go to receive a better education in another country or are even adopted. For example, there is an 11-year-old girl studying in Plano, and a boy who is awaiting adoption by a famous Honduran soccer player. “Just the fact that the kids are alive are kind of success stories,” Slaughter said. “Like the babies, especially the kids who grow, who come as babies to the house, it is just really cool. Like ‘this baby would have died,’ and now they are running around, helping other kids. It’s giving more kids the possibility of having a hope and future.” Brian, who continues to visit Honduras, is struck by the contrast between people’s lives in the U.S. and South America and the difference she sees when she crosses the border. “[I] just realize how much we have and how little they have. [I] just wonder what made a difference,” Brian said. “On one side, a kid is going to get medical treatment, on the other side, maybe not. On the north side, people have an opportunity, on the south side, people are begging for opportunities, and [I] wonder why things are so different.” Both Slaughter and Randolph plan on continuing their missionary work. Randolph wants to continue to tutor kids. Building on her experience as a PAL, Slaughter hopes to open her own children’s home. “When you live here, you just think of missionaries and stuff. They are like the superhero Christians, but I never actually considered that I would do that,” Slaughter said. “And God put that on my heart, and now that’s what I want to do. So just going to the house, it just builds you.”
writing
There were several anonymous pages created at the school that were shut down by administration for cyber-bullying. In response, we decided to comment about online responisibility.
Press Women of Texas, third, opinion writing
silent voices: staff editorial
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iscussing (often controversial) social issues has become characteristic of our generation. Whether we argue ideologies with each other or our parents, there is one thing that is for certain: students have a lot to say about the politics of the world around them. But what they do not realize is that their words need to be translated into votes in order to be truly heard. Using the satirical hashtag #GOP teens isn’t enough to make a voice heard; political opinions only result in change when they are on a ballot. It’s easy to talk and argue and declare superiority over other’s opinions, but this counts for nothing if there isn’t a government official counting your vote. This includes social media. Opinions on the #Ferguson shooting or pop culture icon Emma Watson’s feminist speech triggered impassioned opinions online about the role of government, though not many took actual action. We have been told over and over that voting is a privilege and a responsibility to keep a democracy functioning. We have been told to be grateful, and we should be. Unlike most things in the government voting is a right by made by teens, for teens. During the Vietnam War, students were upset that their
peers were being sent off to war, yet couldn’t vote on whether the country should support the war they were fighting. The solution to this complaint was to lower the voting age to its current 18. For a long time, the ability to have a say in politics was treasured, but data collected from the 2012 presidential election showed a significant 6 percent decrease from that of 2008, which had a 51 percent turnout of young people ages 18-29. Losing interest doesn’t exactly show appreciation for past sacrifice. Some say that they just “don’t like politics,” and that is understandable. But do you like deciding on how much you get paid? Or your education? Or what you can/can’t eat? These are all issues decided by both state and federal government, and the decisions will be made with or without us, so we might as well have a say. In any case, almost every aspect of our lives is already steeped with government, from club president to debate and political organizations to student leadership boards. For newly legal teens, registering is just one new step on an already familiar path, and the outcome is nothing but beneficial to a demographic that wants its voice to be heard. Political decisions will be made with or without us, so we might as well vote and have a say.
Along with the spread over politics and the upcoming governor election arose the issue that there was very little student opinion about the issue. This was concerning, and so
Design
Following the closure of our stadium, home football games were outsourced to stadiums in nearby towns, meaning that every game was an away game. To show how this affected students, I wanted to map out exactly where the traffic of more than 5,000 students would he headed that season.
Infographics
TAJE, excellent infographic package
In our religion issue, there was a need to provide a full coverage of all of the different religious groups in Allen. However, the story itself did not have enough space to accurately and thoughtfully do this, so an infographic of statistics from both the school, city, and county showed the most comprehensive coverage.
With so many different kinds of specialized diets, it was difficult if not impossible to mention them all in detail in the cover story. Instead, a simple infographic made the distinction clear. This was challenging to create, as it was the first time I had used Adobe Illustrator to create visuals.
Design
In covering a transgender person, we were faced with a uniquely delicate situation. With a story topic so sensitive, the design had to leave room to breathe. I decided the best course of action would be to make reference to the transition itself, from female to male, through the lens of the young Ben Clark who wanted to play with blue power ranger toys, but felt pressured by his peers to use barbies. The simple, clean design and childlike font bring an innocence to the sensitive issue, one which prompted emails from Clark as well as his family and friends praising it.
For such a widely recognized sports school with so much sports-related news to report, it comes as a surprise to many that Allen’s the Eagle Angle does not have a sports editor on staff. As section editors usually design pages, it often comes down to my co-editor or myself to design these spreads. This sports spread was particularly effective in giving a comprehensice prediction and profile of players before our state football game. The retro style was inspired by our new, old-fashioned uniforms
Design
To cover a Steampunk-themed Cinderella production, I wanted to incorporate both the industrial and traditional elements of the event and use both aesthetics. The traditional blue helps clue the reader in to the theme, and smokestacks provide the Steampunk element in conjunction with the clock tower.
page design
To open our end-of year issue which focused on the people who make up the high school, I was tasked with the challenge of incorporating the ideas of community and interconnectedness into a visually pleasing spread. The original layout included only the panoramic of the student section at a football game, but by adding semi-transparent circles to the heads of some students and placing lines between them, the central idea of the issue is more directly conveyed.
To give information about the upcoming elections for governor, I created a quick chart that broke down major issues. Accompaniment with clean design and a stunning visual helps draw readers in.
multimedia
While at the Washington DC JEA convention, I was granted the opportunity to meet with syndicated cartoonist Steve Artley. I had won Superior in editorial cartooning, and his advice inspired me to continue improving my cartooning
multimedia
News briefs are a natural pairing with cartoons and illustrations, as they can reference and better explain through visuals how news is affecting the world.
When Congress was gridlocked and there was a government shutdown, there was not enough of a local angle to create a full-length story or column. However, a cartoon struck the perfect balance of commentary and reportin in a reasonable way. Press women of Texas, second placce, editorial cartooning ILPC, first place, editorial cartooning
open
a talk with Dr. seema yasmin
A
s both the medical correspondent of the Dallas Morning News and former CDC disease detective, Dr. Seema Yasmin is the authority for all things contagious disease. As this determines so much of public health policy, I decided to reach out to her to hear about her experiences. What I got was an invitation to her UT Dallas class where she was professor, as well as a private conversation with her and a CDC Tuberculosis expert who was a guest speaker. The following pages are scanned from the notebook I took with me that day.