Lakota East Spark 2018-2019 Issue #2

Spark

Lakota East High School Lakotaeastsparkonline.com Nov. 2018 $5 Newsstand

out of

africa Abby Bammerlin traveled to Botswana and Zimbabwe as part of a National Geographic Student Expedition.

CONTENTS Out of Africa

26 Welcome Home Members of the community support Vietnam veterans after they completed their honor flight.

42 The Franchise Effect

Spark analyzes the franchise effect by reviewing remake and original mo Predator and Halloween.

62

The Political Divide

Spark Opinion Editor Alex Hood evaluates the problem of partisanship in open elections.

East senior Abby Bammerlin travels to Botswana and Zimbabwe as part of a National Geographic Student Expedition..

10 Getting Trashed

East strives to be an environmentally-friendly school, although there are some setbacks that are faced.

46 Playoff Picture

The Greater Miami Conference changed their scheduling process, and the decision has playoff implications

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Spark 2018-2019 STAFF

Editor-in-Chiefs Business Manager Assistant Manager News Editors

Culture Managing Editor Section Editors Package Managing Editor Section Editor Entertainment Editor Sports Editors Opinion Managing Editor Section Editor

Katey Kruback Lauren Maier Landon Meador Jack McFarland Bea Amsalu Alex Fernholz Megan Finke Caroline Bumgarner Anna Mullins Isis Summerlin Abby Bammerlin Rebecca Breland Bryce Forren Stephen McKay Broc Nordmark Jessica Jones Alex Hood

Photography Editors

Abby Bammerlin Meredith Niemann Joe Phelan

Art Managing Editor Section Editor

McKenna Lewis Leo Rolfert

Graphics Coordinators

Caroline Bumgarner Lauren Maier

Design Coordinators

Caroline Bumgarner Landon Meador

Communications Director PR Director

Landon Meador Jack McFarland

Survey Coordinator

Landon Meador

Webmaster

Katey Kruback

Copyeditor

Katey Kruback

Advisor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Spark,

As I stood looking at my options on the voting machine, I was reminded once again that I wasn’t properly informed on all the races I was to vote on, namely. I also didn’t know that we had an amendment to vote on. Normally I do not vote when I have to make snap decisions, but this time I did and I regret that decision. I believe the only good vote is an informed vote.

I’d researched what was going to be on the ballot again this year and found the information very difficult to find.

I moved here from a state that issued an annual voting guide a month ahead of time, and it had each race in it and the people running for those races as well as a brief resume and statement from each person about what they wanted to accomplish if elected.

On issues to vote on, it would have a brief description of the issue and one pro statement and one con statement, which was enough for me to find more information if I needed to. You could check off the boxes of what you wanted and take it to the voting booth with you. Though generic, the guide offered enough information for me to be able to find more quite easily, and allowed voters who had no intention of researching before votes to be at least minimally informed.

Maybe printed material would be too expensive so we have a website where we could go to see a sample ballot. I would certainly find that helpful. Regardless, I believe we should implement this in Ohio for the voters benefit.

— Jerry Kruback, Community Member Spark encourages letters to the editor. Letters can be sent to the publication at lakotaspark@gmail.com or delivered to room 118 at the Lakota East High School Main Campus. Letters must be signed, and the staff reserves the right to edit the letters for length, grammar, invasion of privacy, obscenity or potential libel. The opinion editors will contact writers for confirmation.

ON THE COVER photography abby bammerlin This issue Spark chose to run two covers. The African Elephant, featured on the cover, was photographed in Botswana, Africa and was distributed to community subscribers. The African crocodile cover, photographed in Zimbabwe, Africa, was distributed to staff and students.

STATE REPORT CARD

Dean Hume

Spark

5TH IN STATE MAKING A STATEMENT out of

africa

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out of

africa

chief column | opinion

A WORLD AWAY

KATEY KRUBACK photography abby bammerlin

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’ve been an avid reader since I discovered the Harry Potter series in fourth grade, and I have read an average of 300 books a year since - until my sophomore year in high school when the homework got serious, and I had to cut down on the reading time.

Point is, I’ve spent a quarter of my life journeying realms long-forgotten, saving the world, and being a life-saving ninja through the pages of a fantasy novel. I’m more often soaring through the clouds on the back of a dragon, outsmarting an Evil Faerie Queen and sword-fighting with evil than I am exploring my own real surroundings.

I’ve been to New York plenty of times, and have been to the Shadowhunters hangout even more often, but only between the pages of a fictional novel. I’ve attended a surprising amount of magic schools hidden in Wyoming, but have never set foot in the state itself.

I’ll read a book that takes place anywhere - but I’d never dare to actually travel to those places myself. As adventurous as I am between the pages, I’m a homebody at heart. My house is my favorite place to be, whether I’m listening to the breeze from my back patio or snuggled in my favorite recliner, I’m perfectly content.

Through my books, I’ve sacrificed myself for the good of the world, been almost eaten by various monstrous beasts and have lost loved ones. But there’s a restaurant on the corner by my neighborhood that I’ve never eaten at. And will probably never bother to.

I always considered myself brave because I emulated myself after the characters I read - they were brave, so I was brave too. Because everything that they did, every choice, I was right there with them.

But that’s a lie. I would never do even a sixth of what the characters in my books do, and am capable of even less than that in reality. They get thrown at a wall and pop right back up, ready to fight off evil once more. By that point, I’d be out and done.

Besides fantasy, my favorite kinds of books are those that take place in faraway countries. I long to visit New Zealand, England, Scotland, and even Canada. But going to a non-English-speaking country would be the most terrifying thing I will ever do, and that will take courage that I do not currently have.

So when my friend Abby hopped on a plane and went on a three-week photography expedition with National Geographic and spent her summer drinking brown water and surrounded by lions, I was shocked at her opportunity and jealous of her courage.

I was raised in a very practical family, and have a very “do things right” mentality. Which is definitely not a bad thing. But my stories tell me other things, too.

Gayle Forman’s “Just One Day” told a story of a girl who wanted a change, so she went to Paris and got lost on purpose. Jessica Stanley’s graduation speech in Stephenie Meyer’s “Eclipse” told the students to just get on a train and get stuck somewhere, and that it was the time to make mistakes. Because, and I’m paraphrasing here, that’s how you figure out who you are.

Reading so much at such a young age made me who I am. My books taught me to always take various perspectives into consideration, and to look at things differently and from various angles before making a decision. They taught me that no one is who they think they are, and that people are capable of change, no matter how rigid they may appear (with the exception of Umbridge).

Books taught me to be adventurous and to not let any walls keep me locked up, whether those be the walls of a domineering tyrant, the walls of societal expectations, or the walls of my own making. Books taught me to be brave and to value exploration and independence. But in order to be brave and get the chance to explore, I have to put the book down and step out of the pages. •

news | recaps

CHARGING UP

LAKOTA RECAPS:

photography emma lacalameto

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ast sophomore Emra Avdic (above) walks past the new charging station in the cafeteria and stops to plug her phone in.

Leased to the school through the Veloxity company, the station was installed in late September next to the entrance of the lunch line in order to allow students to charge their phones while they’re eating. “[I think] this is a great upgrade for East because students can use this regularly,” said Avdic, appreciating the steps East is taking to keep up with new technology in the school’s environment. “This will help for when we get our Chromebooks because not only can we recharge our phones in this, we can charge our [devices].”

To use the station, students create their own password to store their phone in one of eight lockers, and when they are looking to retrieve it, they must re-enter that password.

“I feel like [my device] is well protected,”

Avdic said. “Because you have to have a code to enter [your compartment] and people know which slot your phone’s in.”

The stations sell for $4,600. East custodian Josh Crouch said the system came preassembled, and just had to plug it in.

“We don’t do any maintenance on [the station],” Crouch said. “It’s all done by them.” [ Currently, according to Veloxity representative, who wishes to remain anonomys, East is leasing the station for $290 per month with option to buy. East Principal Suzanna Davis told Spark there might be more stations coming to East in the future. “[Adding more stations is] a conversation we’re continuing to have with students,” Davis said. “We recognize that students have a connection to devices. So we were trying to think proactively about if a student finds themselves in need of charging in a very safe way.” - Anna Florence

SIGN OF THE TIMES O

n Oct. 15, East and West high schools changed the signs on the staff bathrooms, re-titling them as “single user stalls.”

“The decision to create two single-user bathrooms available for anyone’s use was made to accommodate the diverse needs of our students, staff and visitors,” Lakota School and Community Relations Director Betsy Fuller told Spark.

This new distinction allows the restrooms throughout the school to be used by anyone.

East Principal Suzanna Davis knows that this change will bring opportunities for the bathrooms to be used in various new ways.

“It [could] be staff,” Davis said. “Or if a student feels the need to access a single-user stall, then that’s an option for them as well.”

Although not inspired by anything specific, the new upgrade is expected to have great use during and after school hours.

East junior Abby Beckham is no stranger when it comes to getting to class on time.

According to Beckham, now that there are more available restrooms in the school in different locations, students can use them at their convenience, depending on where their class may be in the building.

Beckham, who’s also a student athlete, knows the struggle of having to change quickly after school for practices and games. She believes that the restrooms will be useful when it comes to shortening lines.

“I think it will allow the [athletes] to change faster,” said Beckham, who plays softball and basketball for East. “Especially when the locker rooms are crowded or if the locker room has a long line for the bathroom.”

The bathrooms are now everyone’s to use.

Davis trusts that this is a good way to provide diversity to the facilities.

“It’s just opening up the possibilities for facilities to be used in other ways.” Davis said.

- Hannah Myers

photography cassandra mueller

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ast students rehearsed for the Thunderhawk Theatre’s student led and directed fall play, James and the Giant Peach, which is based off the popular children’s novel

by Roald Dahl. The main actors (from left) Izak Lord-Wohlstein, Caleb Hoch, Bethany Untener, Sarah Opoku, and AJ Holtel are practicing for their show nights. “Students that have been on leadership [have done] such a good job fulfilling their vision,” senior actress Alyson Hamilton said. “They did a fantastic job just making this play into reality.”

- Cassandra Mueller

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photography abby bammerlin

recaps | news

FOUR SELECTED photography joe phelan

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ast junior Adam Hundemeer (in grey, #89) and senior Nolan Warren (grey, #7) prepare as West’s offensive line prepares to snap the ball at the East versus West football game. The Thunderhawks’ 36-3 defeat over the Firebirds continue East’s three-year streak of victory over the “other school.” The team beat West

21-6 in 2016, 35-0 in 2017, and 36-3 in 2018.

“Being able to beat West for the third year in a row was amazing, but being able to do it at home this year made it really special.” Warren said. “I have never been more proud to be a Thunderhawk.”

photography meredith niemann

photography eliza bush

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each Jar is a new flyer management system now provided to Lakota Local Schools community members. Parents looking to receive information about their student’s upcoming events can sign up online to have emails sent to them. School and Community Relations manager Lauren Boettcher said that any forum of communication is helpful. “Any touch point that we can use to connect with parents and, share with them opportunities that could be in the classroom is a good thing,” said Boettcher. - Ekra Khalid

- Bea Amsalu

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ast Band students performed for their peers during their Extra Help study hall time.

There were six acts in total, including Vivian Traficanti (shown above). Students performed piano, drums, bass, bell kit, trombone, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, among others. “The recital was to showcase students and give them an opportunity to perform,” East band director Rob Tanis said. “[It] lets them be in the driver’s seat of what they play and how they organize themselves." - Anna Florence

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ast fall, 1.6 million students across the country sat down to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Of those, 16,000 students were named National Merit Semifinalists in the class of 2019, and four of them come from East.

The seniors recognized for their outstanding achievement on the PSAT/NMSQT from East are (from left) Idris Malik, Aubert Li, Chloe Huggins and William Koger.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is an academic competition based upon the competitors’ academic performance. The program provides recognition and scholarships to high achieving participants.

Moving forward, the semifinalists will apply to advance to finalist standing by submitting an application and an essay. In February, they will be notified of whether they have advanced.

To Huggins, the prestige of being a semifinalist is something she has been looking forward to for a long time.

“It was really fulfilling because I had hoped I would be recognized since I took the PSAT,” said Huggins, who has taken the PSAT/ NMSQT three years in a row. “All the way from ninth grade when we first took it, I was thought ‘Maybe junior year,’ and then [it happened].”

All four of these students have made themselves known to their peers at East through what they have been involved in beyond the classroom. Principal Suzanna Davis told Spark that all of the students recognized are “extremely well-rounded individuals.” Malik is heavily involved in East’s band program, Huggins dances at SDA studios, Koger plays baseball for East, and Li is involved in Science Olympiad.

“I knew all of them before they were the national semifinalists, so I think that they’ve gone about making their mark on Lakota East in a variety of different ways,” Davis said. “We have a lot of students doing a lot of outstanding work in a lot of different areas and I’m certainly very proud of the semifinalists and finalists we have on a yearly basis.”

- Shelby Alderman

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 7

Adena Elementarys food pantry is full of various items to help out students.

TO FEED THE NEED

Food pantries are beginning to be integrated into schools across the district. story and photography anna mullins | infographic gracie estep

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chools like East Freshman, Shawnee Early Childhood and VanGorden Elementary have started their own food pantries. Adena Elementary’s food pantry inspired the initiative when they started to help students in their building.

The intention of the food pantries is to give teachers a centralized location where they can get supplies for their students. While many teachers already have a drawer where they keep snacks and other supplies handy, the pantries are funded through donations rather than out of teacher’s pockets.

A similar initiative, No Kid Hungry, is a national campaign started in 1993 to solve

problems of hunger in the United States.

According to a study in 2017 by No Kid Hungry, teachers spend approximately $300 a year on food for hungry students.

“The pantry is for anybody who has a need [that] we need to meet. So the plan is not only to sustain it, but to grow it,” said Angie Brown, who is a part of Lakota Outreach, Diversity, and Inclusion (LODI). “We’re trying to meet the needs of our students right here, right now.”

After Adena teacher Amy Harris spoke to administration last year about her concerns, they created the food pantry. The pantry started out only stocking snacks, but administrators began to add hygiene items as the year progressed.

With the help of community partners such as Kroger and various local churches, Adena was able to expand its supply of snacks and other items.

After the pantry was set up, administrators moved the small stockpile of school supplies, they already had, into the same area. The newest edition to the pantry has been winter clothing such as hats, gloves, coats, and shoes as the weather begins to get colder.

“Mrs. Harris came to our administration and [asked], ‘Is there anything we can do to get food for these kids?’” said Jessica Allshouse, the Community Liaison for Adena. “She was having a lot of students during the day come to

“We are always needing new items because we need to replace and replenish [our stock].”

— Jessica Allshouse, Community Liaison.

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district pantry | news

“We’re trying to meet the needs of our students right here, right now.”

—Angie Brown, Parent Engagement and Community Outreach Liaison

her and tell her that they were hungry. And so she was spending a lot of her money that she’s making [as a teacher] here to get some food items for the kids.”

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he pantries are for all students in the school to make sure they are learning in the most optimized environment. According to a study by No Kid Hungry, 80 percent of teachers see their students lose the ability to concentrate and 76 percent see poor academic progress when their students were hungry.

“We know that the need is everywhere,” Brown said. “And it doesn’t mean that it is always for our marginalized students. If you have somebody who’s been in inclement weather, and they come to school, how will [they] sit when [their] clothes and shoes are wet? [They’re] not learning. If there’s a problem, then we should be able to meet the needs of the students.”

freezing cold and dripping wet.

That morning, Laurel Canepa, an East Freshman counselor, began trying to find clothes so that students would not have to sit in their wet clothing during the school day. The new pantry has quick snack foods, as well as sweatshirts and winter clothing. “[The biggest food item needed] is graband-go stuff that’s easy to take,” Canepa said.

“Really, what’s more helpful is those crackers and Pop-Tarts, even though they’re not the breakfast of champions.”

The pantry is open to any student who has a need. The goal for the pantry is to discreetly make students aware of the supplies available to them at the Freshman building, says Canepa.

“I’d like it to be something that’s known

T

he pantry at East Freshman is mostly funded by the teachers themselves. Canepa reaches out to them via email and the teachers bring in the supplies that the students need.

“The goal of the food pantry is to help meet the needs of our students so that they are better able to focus on school work,” Miller said. “Whether it is a snack, school supplies or a personal hygiene item, the food pantry is another source for teachers to be able to help their students.’’ •

Your Brain On Breakfast

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ach school’s pantry has its own needs.

Adena finds itself always in need of food, because snacks are the most used item in the pantry, said Allshouse.

“We are always needing new items because we need to replace and replenish,” Allshouse said. “We just did another drive to help replace some of those snack items.”

Lakota Superintendent Matt Miller heard about Adena’s pantry and wanted to expand it to the the whole district. LODI has stepped up to assist the expansion. They started by reaching out to IKEA, who offered to donate shelving for each of the schools.

“The District Parent Council (DPC) and LODI are working together with every school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTO) to establish food pantries throughout the district,” Miller said. “Our partners at IKEA West Chester have been generous enough to donate shelving for our pantry’s.”

The East Freshman campus has also started a pantry. They received help from LODI, and were given one of the donated shelves from IKEA. These shelves have since been put to use, stocking clothing, personal hygine products and food for the students.

“It was sometime [in] early spring, where we had a day where it’s pouring rain, and it’s probably 40 degrees and we know we have kids that walk,” East Freshman Associate Principal Robert Burnside said. “On this particular morning, rain started at 6:30 - 7 a.m., right as our people walked in, and we had kids show up

by students,” Canepa said. “Anybody can use it. People in need changes all the time…if you told me you had a need, I’m not going to question you.”

Breakfast kickstarts the body’s metabolism, the process by which the body converts food to fuel.

Food is necessary for body function, which means that when consuming calories, the hypothalamus works overtime to restore balance to the body through the process of hunger.

The cells in the brain rely on energy from food just like any other cell in the body.

Without the nutrition that food supplies, both neural functions and brain chemistry can be negatively impacted.

When a person eats, dopamine is released, resulting in feelings of reward.

Eating at the start of the day can be beneficial for regulating food intake.

Eating a quality breakfast can increase feelings of alertness and motivation.

It improves concentration, alertness, comprehension, memory, and learning.

Not eating breakfast can then affect a child’s concentration and may even cause destructive outburst.

source kids health, netdoctor.co, npr

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 9

news | honor flight

WELCOME HOME Members of the community support veterans after they completed their honor flight. story kelly johantges photo lauren maier art selena chen

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fter his return flight, former Sergeant in the Vietnam war John Yorgoven walked through Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and saw a sight that brought him to tears. A massive crowd of students, families, and active duty soldiers were cheering for him and all of his fellow veterans.

“I never had anything like that happen to me. When I came back from Vietnam, they weren’t clapping for us. They were spitting on us,” Yorgoven told Spark.

What brought him to tears was an organization called The Honor Flight Networka trip where veterans are flown to Washington D.C. in order to have their achievements honored. The program has grown from just 12 participants in 2005 to over 159,000 in 13 years.

In the past 13 years, the Honor Flight program has grown from 12 participants to 159,000 participants

World War II Navy veteran Hank Murphy is greeted at CVG airport by East students and fellow servicemen after his Honor Flight.

According to The Honor Flight Network website, the idea of an Honor Flight started in the end of 2004 when the World War II (WWII) memorial was completed. Earl Morse, a physician assistant and retired Air Force Captain, realized that many of his WWII patients would not be able to travel to Washington D.C. to visit the memorial.

With that, Morse took it in his own hands and pitched an idea to about 300 private pilots.

He introduced the idea that the pilots would pay for the flights and personally escort the veterans around D.C. In turn, by January 2005, a board was formed and funds were raised.

Soon more volunteers had joined. On May 2005, six small planes flew 12 veterans to D.C. for the first official Honor Flight.

Soon the idea spread and a dry-cleaning company owner in Hendersonville, North Carolina had a similar idea.

Jeff Miller wanted to charter veterans in commercial jets. Utilizing his membership of the National World War II Memorial Foundation, he created HonorAir and began

10 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

flying WWII veterans to the memorial.

In February of 2007, Miller and Morse met together and blended Honor Flight and HonorAir together into The Honor Flight Network.

Veterans can apply to take part on the flight through the organization’s website and are then placed on a waiting list with the current top priority being World War II and Korean War veterans.

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o go on the Honor Flight each veteran needs someone who can take care of them for the duration of the trip. The guardians must pay a total of $600 to go. Priority goes to those who have the credentials of either previously in the military or possess medical training and then civilians.

The trip consists of a flight to D.C., then a tour of the WWII, Lincoln, Korean, Vietnam, Iwo Jima, the Air Force and the Navy Memorials, and then a flight home. A trip of 100 veterans costs about $30,000 dollars, a sum which is donated from across the nation

honor flight | news

“I have many family members who served, and I believe that [the veterans] don’t get enough honor or respect that they deserve.”

—Katie Niewald, East sophomore typically through HonorFlightNetwork.org.

Hosted by the Honor Flight Tri-State Organization, the flight on the night of Oct. 23 saw a parade of student supporters come to CVG to welcome the veterans’ return.

Students, parents, children, and even fellow veterans came to the airport to cheer on those who participated in the flight.

This is the second year that East students were able to go and show their support.

Students interested signed up at lunch along with a signed permission slip from their parents and the district provided transportation by bus and dinner before leaving for the students. One of those students was East sophomore Katie Niewald whose father served in Desert Storm and went to a service academy, as well as her

paternal grandfather, who was in the Air Force.

“I wanted to come because I have many family members that have served in the military,” said Niewald, who attended her first Honor Flight this year. “I believe that [veterans] don’t get enough honor or respect that they deserve.”

Several active duty marines and soldiers were at the airport with the students that night.

“Just thanking them for their service is awesome. They deserve it and that’s why they are here,” Marine Lance Corporal Alex said.

“They’re not expecting this, so for us to do this for them will be a real big shock.”

Among the community members were four American Heritage Girls. This group is a community of girls who learn about society

with the influence of the Christian faith. They told Spark that they were here to support the troops, had a lot of fun and planned on returning for more arrivals.

Accompanying the American Heritage Girls was Kyle Smithson, a Vietnam war veteran.

“I’ve been to DC to honor the folks who have come home from other wars,” Smithson said. “That’s the best part honestly, seeing other vets get what they deserve.”

That night, Yorgoven and his fellow veterans were honored for their bravery and sacrifices. They shook the hands of the people they had fought for, and they heard the rallying cries from the people cheering U.S.A. “They treated us like gold,” Yorgoven said.

“It was neat.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 11

Chris Kilby and Liza Gildemeister work together in the media center.

GOALS OVER GRADES While Lakota’s report card showed the district needed to improve, Lakota officials felt it didn’t measure the district’s strengths. story amy bohorfoush | infographic caroline bumgarner | photography joe phelan

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ast’s Student Advisory Council met with an important guest on Oct. 4, Lakota’s Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Keith Koehne, in order to create a list of skills Lakota graduates will need the most after graduation. For Student Advisory Council member and East senior Lindsey Kluesener, the most important quality the group discussed was self-motivation. “[You need to be] able to motivate yourself, even if you’re not getting a reward directly out of it, because you know you’re doing something good, either for you or another person,” Kluesener said.

The meeting was just one piece of East’s response to the results of the Lakota District Report Card for the 2018-2019 school year.

The Ohio Department of Education released the Report Card using standardized test scores, graduation rates, and other data to calculate a letter grade for school districts in six major categories. The Department of Education issues the report cards each year to show districts both where they’re doing well, and to highlight areas within the schools that require improvement.

The Ohio Department of Education’s Senior Director of Accountability and

Continuous Improvement Chris Woolard is optimistic about the statewide trends he has observed in the data he’s helped collect since the early 2000s.

“A lot of primary data points have changed with the new state tests, which messes up longterm data,” Woolard told Spark. “However, graduation rates and other achievement numbers have increased over the three years we’ve had the same state tests.”

The Lakota district earned a B overall for the six components the Department of Education examines to determine a district’s grade for the school year. According to the Department of Education, the six components are achievement, progress, gap closing, graduation rate, improving at-risk K-3 readers, and prepared for success.

East and West are among the 30.8 percent of schools that received a B average for their overall grade.

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The achievement component examines how many of the students met state performance requirements on standardized tests. Progress compares how students performed on standardized tests between the previous year and the current school year. The score for gap closing determines how well a district reaches out to students in a vulnerable economic position. Prepared for Success measures how well a school prepares students for college and a career through statistics, such as Advanced Placement (AP) participation and industryrecognized credentials.

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s a district, Lakota improved by one letter grade in both achievement and gap closing from 2017-2018, with a current grade of B. In addition, Lakota maintained an A for progress and graduation rate, but the district’s prepared for success grade fell from a C to a D. The Department of Education also graded individual high schools. East and West both earned a B overall.

However, a letter grade can never portray a complete picture of performance or effort.

Koehne understands that this truism applies to Lakota’s district report card, as well as individual students.

report card | news

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William Mason High School

Comparison of Local High Schools’ Overall Grades

B

Lakota East High School

“We want to make sure we’re improving our report card, but it doesn’t take into account internships, Spark, band, engineering, et cetera,” said Koehne, who believes the skills students learn through extracurricular activities are just as important as their academic knowledge.

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akota’s Director of 7-12 Curriculum and Instruction Andrew Wheatley echoed Koehne’s thoughts on the way the Department of Education measures districts, and added that the standards the report cards emphasize change as elected officials are replaced over time.

“The state uses the data [from the report cards] to make decisions at the state level, and to communicate to communities and families the status of the school district,” Wheatley said. “[However,] I can’t spend all day talking to legislators, and they can tell us what draft [of standards] they’re working on, but sometimes they throw us a curveball.”

According to Lakota’s 2017-2018 Quality

Achievement measures how well our students perform on state mandated testing. The component grade is calculated by looking at the performance index and number of indicators met.

C

Lakota West High School

Oak Hills High School

Profile, the aspects of the district that aren’t measured by the report card include the integration of technology to enrich learning experiences, from the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math and Medical (STEAM2) labs in the elementary schools to the one-toone initiative at the middle and high schools that provides every middle and high school student with a Chromebook laptop.

In addition, Lakota has made strenuous efforts to connect not only to the students, but to the surrounding community. In the 2017-2018 school year, the district hosted 42 community listening sessions and 175 events to promote engagement among Lakota parents and others living within the district’s boundaries.

Another way Lakota administration is attempting to improve the district’s report card is through Lakota Next, a group of about 40 teachers and administrators dedicated to preparing students for the modern workforce.

East Principal Suzanna Davis is among the administrators in this new group.

AIRTEST TEST AIR SCORES SCORES 55 Biology Biology 4 Algebra Algebra 4 55 English English 11 Geometry 33 Geometry

Achievement Achievement

B

D Fairfield High School

“We don’t live in a bubble, so we’re constantly looking at any piece of data we have,” Davis said. “As we are faced with data that is maybe not where we want it to be, we’re constantly tweaking and evolving our plan.”

A

ccording to the Pew Research Center, recent changes in the workforce that students have to prepare for include increases in education and other preparation that all occupations are requiring before allowing people to begin their career. In 2015, 83 million Americans held jobs that required average or above average preparation. Of that, only 65 million were employed in fields requiring below average preparation. Job placement rates have also increased more quickly in job fields that require more training.

The main job for Lakota Next is to implement practices throughout the district that will prepare students better for the increase in experience they’re expected to have before they start their careers. East’s English department head and Lakota Next member Rich Schmaltz

checkcheck list

list

ORS HON ORS

HON

Progress Progress Progress examines the overall growth students are making year to year. At the high school level the state looks specifically at English 1, English 2, Algebra and Geometry.

GLOSSARY

Prepared PreparedFor For Success Success This category looks at how well graduates are prepared for opportunities after high school graduation. The state looks at the number of students who earned a remediation free score on all parts of the ACT or SAT, earned an honors diploma, and/or earned an industryrecognized credential.

Graduation Rate Gap Closing GraduationRate Rate Gap Graduation Closing Graduation rate evaluates the number of students who receive a diploma within four or five years. It is important to note that this component of the report card does not look only at the year’s senior class, but takes into consideration all students who attend a high school beginning in ninth grade.

Gap Closing measures how well a school district is meeting the needs of all students, regardless of income, race or special needs, with respect to English language arts, math and graduation.

This measurement also looks at how well districts are helping English language learners become proficient in English.

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 13

news | report card

A look at Lakota’s changing grades from year to year.

Achievement

Progress

Gap Closing

Graduation Rate

Prepared For Success

source: Ohio Department of Education

Lakota Local School District

B

A

B

A

D

Lakota East High School

C

A

C

B

D

Lakota West High School

C

A

B

A

D

Lakota Local School District

C

A

C

A

C

Lakota East High School

C

A

F

B

C

Lakota West High School

C

A

C

A

C

KEY A = An increase in letter grade A = No change in letter grade A = A decrease in letter grade

2017 2018

emphasizes the long-term nature of Lakota Next’s goals and the impacts the committee hopes to achieve.

“The kid who’s sitting in eighth-grade is the kid who’s going to see all the way through what’s going on with them, and they’ll see it by the time they’re a senior,” Schmaltz said.

“Right now, what we’re working on is, ‘what are some things we can do next year to get a basic benchmark in place that will let us keep moving forward?’”

Koehne is excited about the new direction the administration is going.

“What if we can all find ways to engage kids in what they like doing?” Koehne said. “I don’t know if we’ll be there by the end of this year but there’s already a buzz about it from the community.”

Davis shares Koehne’s excitement over the improvements, and reflected on the aspects of Lakota that drive the district to constantly improve.

“I think it all goes back to instruction that’s occurring in the classroom.” Davis said. “[It all goes back to] embracing and amplifying student voice.” •

CANS NOT CANDY W

hen Halloween approaches, East Thespians go door-to-door in local neighborhoods, looking not for candy bars, but for cans of soup.

Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat (TOTS) is an annual food drive that has been hosted by the East Thespian Society for over a decade, but with its own special twist: the donors can give from the comfort of home.

Members of the Thespian Society pass out flyers informing residents about the drive, then come back at a later date to collect the bounty.

“The [Thespian students] choose a time to go out and ‘Trick or Treat’ in their neighborhood, and their neighbors can leave non-perishable food items on their porches for pickup,” said Kristen Hoch, East theater teacher and Thespian Society advisor. “In the larger groups we have anywhere from 20 to 30 people who participate in pickups in the neighborhood.”

Those students who do collect cans stay within their own neighborhoods, both for logistical and safety reasons.

“We try to have them stick within their own neighborhoods, simply because we don’t want to ask more than one house twice,” said Social Coordinator and East senior Cassie Johnson. “If you stick within your own neighborhood, you’re more likely to know the people rather than just going up to a random houses, [which can be] kind of dangerous.”

Once the food is collected, students gather together to compile the food before sending it to Reach Out Lakota. The amount of food collected has varied greatly since the project’s inception, sometimes merely a few pounds, sometimes several 50-pound boxes of food.

When TOTS began at East over a decade ago, Hoch was in charge of organizing the event. But in recent years, Hoch has chosen to allow students to organize TOTS. “I give them a timeline, but it’s organized by students,” Hoch said. “I try to make my job to be facilitating and mentoring as much as possible.”

For Thespian Society Service Coordinator and East junior Mae Koger, the drive isn’t about having fun. It’s about giving back to the community.

“The goal is to collect food items for those who are unable to, because the holiday season is kind of tough for people who aren’t able to provide for themselves,” Koger said. “It’s just helping out.”

—Alexandra Fernholz

photography kara harris

14lakotaeastsparkonline.com lakotaeastsparkonline.com 14 NovemberNovember 2018

2018

4e | news Students were given two 25 minute blocks, with ten minutes between each, to choose the session that matched their interests best. One of these blocks was set aside for a presenter who would speak to each “class” in the gymnasium, giving a message to the entire school in small portions.

“We wanted to change up that traditional career-fair feel, so we had people coming in and talking about a variety of things,” Davis said. “Ultimately, we wanted students to walk away, not so much with their eyes on a career, but with an idea of the skills it takes for a certain profession.”

Lisa Robbins leads a senior class presentation on networking and communication etiquette.

A

lthough a large portion of the sessions revolved around specific career paths that students may be interested in choosing, a handful of them revolved around basic skills that all adults need to thrive in the workforce. Whether it be interviewing skills or how to choose the right career, the event covered it.

Krista Heidenreich, who is the Director of Digital and Professional Learning for Lakota, taught a session about team leadership and project management hoping to pass these obtained skills down to the students.

“Team leadership and project management skills, no matter what career you pick, are definitely going to be applicable at some East guidance department worked hard to hold its first 4E Event for point,” Heidenreich said. “[Team INSPIRE] students to learn about different pathways they can take post-graduation. really pushes collaboration, so hopefully you’ll have a lot more opportunities to work in teams story and photography vivica heidenreich throughout your learning, inside and outside of fter a modified school day at Lakota East, businesses and Lakota officials that were school.” the hallways were abuzz with discussion interested in presenting to the students.

Lisa Marker-Robbins, the President of about the afternoon’s upcoming events.

“It was kind of a three-prong approach,” Learning Enrichment and Assistance Program Guidance counselors handed out bright Angela Fisher, one of the East guidance of Learning Enrichment and Assistance orange fliers filled with information about the counselors and primary organizer of the Program (LEAP), aimed to teach more about different presentations being held throughout 4E Event, said. “We reached out to the networking and communication etiquette the building. As students began to decide teaching staff through a survey, asking them - something that all students will need which sessions suited them best, they filed into for resources that they knew of. At the West throughout their careers. She discussed this classrooms where they would learn more about Chester Liberty Chamber Luncheon, I invited through her large group presentation in the their lives after high school. some of our local resources. Then Mrs. Davis gymnasium with each class of students.

Over the summer, the East guidance put some feelers out to people; I believe she “My goal was to redefine networking as counselors have been planning the 4E Event even posted it on Facebook to ask for people making meaningful and lasting connections, to educate students about the different avenues instead of self-promotion,” Marker-Robbins they can pursue after graduation - either said. “I believe that if students follow the through enrollment, enlistment, employment, framework and tips I taught, they will stand or entrepreneurship. It made its first debut this out to adults as being heads above most other year on Oct. 30. teens.”

“We’ve always had the college career and Based on the general feedback the guidance military night in the evening,” Andrea Bryant, counselors have received thus far about the one of the East guidance counselors, said. debut of the 4E Event, they are hopeful that “Through the summer and into August, we it will return to the halls of East next year, and determined that it’d be good to have some that were interested.” for many years after.

Through this process, East was able stuff through the day that students could “For the first year, we wanted to see how attend. Then they could get some good college, to connect with 70 individual people and [the event] went so that we would know how to businesses who all jumped at the opportunity grow from there,” Fisher said. “It’s something career, and post-high school planning in.”

Under East Principal Suzanna Davis’ to speak to the students. A wide variety of we’ll try to do again next year, but we’ll be direction, the school counseling department topics were provided, ranging from welding, tweaking it and making some adjustments was able to begin reaching out to different military branches, drones, and cosmetology. along the way.” •

4E(ducation)

A

4E

ENROLLMENT, ENLISTMENT, EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 15

news | halloween bash

IT’S SPOOKTACULAR

photography bea amsalu

N

early 75 families attended the first Halloween Bash sponsored

by National Honor Society (NHS) at East on Saturday Oct. 27.

At the door, tickets were five dollars per family. From 4 p.m to 7 p.m, activities varyied from face painting, slime making and ghost bowling were offered and all proceeds went towards NHS and their service projects.

NHS president and East senior Kate Harvey said she is excited about the event and hopes for it to become annual, “I think anytime you have community events, you bring together children in the local area, especially reasonably priced ones.” Harvey said.

The idea for the bash was proposed during one of the general meetings where NHS members were brainstorming ways to raise money.

NHS advisor and Spanish I and II teacher, Stuart Maine said, “I think it’s a great event for little kids, for families to come in and partake in some of the different activities that they’re doing in a safe environment.”

Kids were seen smiling and enjoying the event while eating candy and playing games. Honors Physics teacher Brandon Bright attended the event with his four year old daughter Ariadne Bright and shares his thought of what his family experienced.

“The open format of it and how welcoming everything was was very well put together,” Bright said. “All the kids I saw seemed to be having a ball as long as they were under a certain age and those over a certain age I think still managed to find a way to have fun.”

Bright also told Spark how much his daughter enjoyed the event.

“She really liked it. She kept well, mostly she just ate all the candy afterwards. But she did keep talking about the event all weekend,” Bright said. “And she was very happy to have slime to give to my wife because she wasn’t able to go with us.” —Ekra Khalid

Lakota Early Childhood student plays with the slime she made at the National Honor Society Halloween Bash.

online teaser / jump page | news

CHECK IT OUT...

NEWS:

www.LakotaEastSparkOnline.com

On Nov. 11 and 12, East hosted a craft show highlighting local artisans.

SPORTS:

ASTHMA ON THE RISE Multiple East students share their experience of how they participate in athletics while dealing with their asthmatic condition.

OPINION:

CALL OF CIVIC DUTY

Spark created a video showing the importance of Honor Flight including footage of East students welcoming veterans at CVG airport.

East senior Amy Bohorfoush discusses her first voting experience at the 2018 midterm election.

ORGANIZATION “I would talk to some teachers and they say, ‘I agree with you, but my two professional organizations have a policy that dead animals should be used,’” says Pippin, who endorses digital dissections over live dissections. “Well, it’s not true anymore. The National Association of Biology teachers and National Science Teachers Association changed that a decade ago. So there’s really no reason. I can’t imagine how a science teacher could stand in front of a classroom and justify using animals.”

Alternative forms of dissection are already being discussed at East. In discussions between East Principal Suzanna Davis and Deak, possibilities of VR technology integration in the science classes at East have come up. Davis says that the conversations haven’t necessarily been about a complete swap, but rather a combination of VR experiences with some live dissection.

Continued from page 40

“We’re talking about some kind of a combination of integrating some live dissection, because there’s value in that, but then also layering VR and that type of thing to start to explore different options,” Davis told Spark.

According to Davis, because the cost of these technologies still tends to be somewhat expensive, East is beginning to look at how to integrate entry-level VR technology through goggles.

“I think that what we’re beginning to see is technology becoming a little more mainstream, to the point where three years ago we were talking about, ‘wow, what if ?’” Davis says. “We don’t have to go from zero to 100. But [the conversation is on] how can we just start to integrate pieces and parts.”

While VR technology may be a consideration in the future, Deak says that she doesn’t know

if the technology quite fulfills the purpose of the science department’s tenants yet.

“I know one of the tenants of the classes I teach is to prepare students for the next level,” Deak says. “To me, that’s kind of important as that’s one way we prepare our kids for life after Lakota.” “[Deak] and I talked about this recently,” Davis says. “There’s technology out there for dissection tables that integrate VR into an entire dissection table.”

While the price point is slightly outside of East’s usual budget, integrating the technology isn’t out of the question in the future.

“The price point is a little higher than we’ve typically discussed, but those discussions have been going on for probably two to three years.” says Davis, “I think I feel comfortable in saying there are going to be VR experiences integrated into our school starting in January.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 17

culture | pic six

PIC SIX

Second Issue Features:

Spark chose six sushi restaurants to vist and review. McKenna Lewis ordered a philly roll at every restaurant. Here are her rankings.

6

kitchen • sushi • cocktails

Kona Grill 7524 Gibson St, Liberty Township Hours: Mon-Thurs 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Fri-Sat 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.

Sun 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

5

reviews and photography mckenna lewis graphics caroline bumgarner art leo rolfert and mckenna lewis

Sushi Monk 6064 West Chester Rd, West Chester Township Warren County

Butler County

Hamilton

Liberty Center 6 3

Mason

1 2

Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. & 4 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Fri 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. & 4 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Sat 4 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Sun Closed

5

4

Hamilton County

FUSIAN

Kenwood 4

8060 Montgomery Rd #100, Cincinnati Hours: Every day 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

1

3

2

Miyako

Dancing Roll

Sushi Samurais

9326 Union Centre Blvd, West Chester Township

7691 Voice of America Centre Dr, West Chester Township

Hours: Mon-Sat 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.

Sun: 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Hours: Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Sat 1 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Sun 3 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Hours: Mon-Fri 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Sat 12 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Sun 12 p.m. - 10 p.m.

7759 Tylersville Rd, West Chester Township

18lakotaeastsparkonline.com lakotaeastsparkonline.com 18 NovemberNovember 2018

2018

pic six | culture

1st

3rd

2nd

Dancing Roll

Sushi Samaurais

Miyako

8 piece Philly Roll $6.50

8 piece Philly Roll $6.95

6 piece Philly Roll $5.95

Dancing Roll is a small, japanese restaurant featuring contemporary music and large TV’s for viewing sports and other entertainment.

The restaurant has a sushi bar, many tables, and a separate dining room for larger parties.

Service is quick and the staff is personable.

The philly roll consists of smoked salmon and cream cheese. The smaller rolls are warm and soft. The smokey salmon flavor compliments the sweet and tangy cream cheese so well, as the ingredients blend together perfectly. Despite being hand-made, the rolls retain remarkably similar size, shape, and substance. Dancing Roll doesn’t have to over-embellish each meal to get it right, because nothing beats the warm and inviting environment consistently offered at Dancing Roll, especially when coupled with a large and affordable menu.

Sushi Samurais is a small, tucked-away wonder with plenty of sushi options, personal customer interaction, and quick, yet elegant, presentation. The atmosphere is chic with colored lighting and music videos playing on the large screen tv at the bar. Seating is spacious, which is impressive considering the restaurant’s smaller size. Despite having a smaller staff, service at Sushi Samurais is pleasant and quick.

The smoked salmon roll is made in-house at the sushi bar. Including smoked salmon, avocado, and cream cheese, and topped with sesame seeds, all of the ingredients blend together well, while still retaining their own notes of flavor.. The smoked salmon makes up the bulk of the roll, which is complimented perfectly by the sweet cream cheese, and livened up by some soft avocado.

Miyako is a luxury japanese restaurant with a large array of seating options including a sushi bar, dining booths and tables, and hibachi.

The restaurant features three TVs; sports are displayed on the two end TVs, while the bigger middle TV shows a slideshow featuring of some of the beautifully crafted items listed on the menu. Service is quick and friendly. The philadelphia roll includes salmon and cream cheese topped with a small amount of sesame seeds. The individual rolls are larger in size and contain generally equal portions of salmon and cream cheese. While the rolls are made up of a large amount of rice, the flavor of the salmon and cream cheese hold up well. The sesame seeds add texture while not distracting from the softness of the salmon and cream cheese mixing together.

5th

6th

4th

FUSIAN

Sushi Monk

10 piece Create your own $7.25

8 piece Philly Roll $8.00

FUSIAN is a modern, environmentally conscious fast-food location that specializes in sushi. The seating arrangements cater towards community seating with a long, large bar table with high seats and a shorter booth with separate tables. My custom sushi roll was made with seaweed, white rice, smoked salmon, cream cheese, and a side of of spicy mayo. The ingredients are fresh tasting and flavorful, the smoked salmon stands out with noticeably rich flavor before blending seamlessly with the sweet cream cheese. The side spicy mayo adds a nice kick to the roll while not overpowering it, it lingers in the front of the mouth instead of lighting it completely on fire. FUSIAN offers other rolls, sushi bowls and sides.

Sushi Monk has cost-effective luxury dining in mind with cheap sushi prices juxtaposed by elegantly lit dining and beautiful sushi spreads. There are many different places to sit including a sushi bar, multiple two or four person tables, and patio seating. Service is slower, yet courteous. The smoked salmon roll includes smoked salmon, and cream cheese, and are topped with a poppy and sesame seed blend. The large amount of smoked salmon is complimented well by sweet cream cheese.

The seeds on the outside of the roll a crunchy texture to complement the soft salmon and cream cheese. The individual sushi rolls are less uniform than most, some rolls have more rice on the outside than others.

Kona Grill 8 piece Philly Roll $7.50 Kona Grill is a sleek and popular asian food restaurant chain. The restaurant features a bar, sushi bar, tables, booths, and balcony seating with an open fire. Service is generally quick considering the large staff, but fails to deliver a memorable personal experience due to the amount of customers dining at one time. The philadelphia roll is made with smoked salmon, and cream cheese, and topped with sesame seeds. The sushi is uniform, but isn’t generous with the smoked salmon. Despite the large amount of cream cheese, the smoky flavor in the salmon retains a strong smoky kick.

The sesame seeds on the outside of the roll give some texture to the roll, leveling out the softness of the salmon and cream cheese.

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 19

culture | diy

UNBELEAFABLE DIY This DIY will leaf you excited and ready to make a decorative fall leaf bowl which can be used for keys, loose change, rings, candy or simply as a festive decoration. diy ekra khalid | photography caroline bumgarner

Materials

Tips and Tricks

One bag of artificial autumn leaves One jar of Mod Podge (matte finish) or fabric finish for a more flexible bowl One paint brush or foam brush One plastic bowl One roll of plastic wrap

Palm sized leaves will work the best for a firm bowl Preferably a medium sized bowl works the best for this DIY

Directions Step 1: Get a plastic bowl of the same size you want your new bowl to be. This will serve as a base for the leaf bowl.

Step 2: Carefully wrap plastic wrap over the bowl and brush a thick layer of Mod Podge onto the plastic covered bowl.

Start from the top and work your way downwards.

Step 3: Taking one leaf at a time, brush thin layers of Mod Podge onto both sides of the leaves and lay them onto the plastic wrap.

Step 3: Place more leaves on the top to make the bowl firm and steady, and start layering them, working your way down to the desired depth of your bowl.

Step 4: After you finish layering your leaves, let them dry onto the bowl. Now would be a good time to drink a pumpkin spice latte while watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.�

Step 5: After 12 hours, the bowl will be hardened. Carefully take the new bowl off of the plastic bowl.

20lakotaeastsparkonline.com lakotaeastsparkonline.com 20 November November 2018

2018

dart | culture

A TASTE OF HOME Every issue, Spark chooses one student at random to feature.

This issue Spark chose East junior Ellie Leisten. story katey kruback | art sinju cho photography abby bammerlin

E

ast junior Ellie Leisten smiled at the whir of the mixer, and she breathed in the sweet scent of her made-from-scratch icing. She glanced at her recipe card—a gross, crusty thing covered in flour-y fingerprints after so many uses—and adjusted the speed, though she knew the secret family recipe by heart. The timer dinged, and she sped over to the oven to check on her cookies.

The recipe came from her grandmother’s cookbook, titled “Mom’s Taste of Home.” So when Ellie was inspired to start a side-business in baking and decorating cookies for events, she borrowed the secret family recipe and the name, putting stickers labelled “Ellie’s Taste of Home,” on each cookie sold.

“I volunteered to make 100 life preservershaped cookies for Hope Squad to fundraise during the volleyball game,” says Ellie, who can be contacted via her Instagram profile @ellies_taste_of_home. “It’s the biggest event I’ve done, and it was great to get my name out there. I gave them all away for a great cause, [hoping] people would like them enough to come back and order more.”

Hope Squad gave out the life preserver-shaped cookies at a volleyball game to anyone who donated any dollar amount to “the cause.” They were able to raise over $150 that night on cookie sales alone.

“Ellie made each individual one herself, and it took her over four days to do it with her busy schedule,” Hope Squad President Alyssa Longworth

Above: East junior Ellie Leisten puts unicorn-shaped cookies into the oven.

Junior says. “[They turned out] absolutely amazing.”

Ellie’s mother Gena Leisten agrees, saying that the kitchen-takeover and four days of takeout for dinner was absolutely worth it, just to see how proud Ellie was of the final result.

“It was a fun event, they turned out great and she was super proud. The part that I loved as her mom and cheerleader was seeing her face and how excited she was to share what she loves with other people,” says Gena, who was proud to learn that her daughter’s cookies raised $150. “And to hear the response she got from teachers and other students who donated to try one of her cookies was really rewarding of all the time and effort she put into it.”

T

he Hope Squad event is what finally propelled Ellie to start Ellie’s Taste of Home, open to special event orders from anyone who calls or messages her on Instagram. According to Gena, this is something that she’s been wanting, and working towards, her whole life.

“When Ellie was little, she would play a version of Chopped Junior with her brothers, where they’d throw together all these crazy ingredients to create the most interesting concoctions,” says Gena, remembering a horrible instance where she was supposed to judge a dish that mixed pickles and pasta.

“She’s always been creative in the kitchen.

Which I enjoy more now than I did [when she was little].”

Ellie takes as many opportunities as possible to bake for holidays, special events, birthdays, or breakfasts in bed for mom. This has made for an extensive cookie-cutter collection,

which, by all accounts, exceeds 100 with all the letters of the alphabet, uppercase and lowercase, numbers, and any other shape that she has accumulated from various occasions.

“We have a lot of Christmas cookie-cutters especially, because of our cookie painting tradition each year,” Ellie says. “I have a lifesaver one from the Hope Squad event, and a graduation cap from my brother’s graduation.

Everytime I do something, I get a new one. It’s really fun and exciting to go out and see all the new ones available.”

B

ut Ellie isn’t just a baker - she’s in East’s Voices (one of the top choirs offered at East), she’s on the varsity tennis team and she participates in school musicals whenever it doesn’t interfere with her tennis schedule. It’s a “full load,” but as long as she maintains the balance of academia, tennis, baking and sleep, her parents say they support her every step of the way.

“It’s good that it’s small individual jobs, so she can pick and choose what jobs she wants to do,” Ellie’s dad David Leisten says. “But she has a real knack for her creative cookie decorations.

It’s amazing, the things she can do with icing.”

Ellie remembers cooking with her dad when she was seven-years-old, and breathing down his neck until he got so annoyed with her pestering, that he let her help. And that, she says, is pretty much how she fell in love with cooking.

“My dad does most of the cooking; my mom does most of the baking, and my two younger brothers and I all like to cook,” Ellie say. “Any time I could get involved with something in the kitchen, I was there. And that hasn’t changed; everything about Ellie’s Taste of Home, the recipe, and the ability to share my cookies, keeps me connected to my family, which is very important to me.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 21

culture | foreign exchange Pin Tanayogpibul plays guitar in Keehner Park after school with her friends.

BANGKOK ROCK

With her cultural wisdom and musical talent, Thailand native Pin brings a different viewpoint to Lakota East High School. l story and photography isis summerlin | art selena chen

O

n her first day at an American high school, Papichaya “Pin” Tanayogpibul walked the halls alone. Since her host siblings were too young for high school, she had to learn a lot on her own.

When a teenager walks into high school for the first time, they bring things that are familiar into an unfamiliar situation. Most teenagers couldn’t even fathom leaving their home to go to foreign places, but that’s what Tanayogpibul did. In fact, Tanayogpibul has been to many different countries such as England, France, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.

“I miss my friends and family, but I’m not homesick or anything,” Tanayogpibul says. “I think I miss how it was back then because when you come [to America], you have to develop and make yourself a part of this.”

In Bangkok, Thailand, where Tanayogpibul is from, things are a little different then how things are in America. Back home, her mother is a former nurse who now works in business and her father is an architect. She also has two siblings, a 10-year-old brother and an eightyear-old sister.

“My host siblings, they are pretty similar to my real siblings back in Thailand. They’re

cheerful, playful, and they fight all the time,” Tanayogpibul says.

At a young age, Tanayogpibul became interested in music so she began playing the piano. Now at age 16, she also plays guitar and bass.

“I started playing piano at age five, it was my grandparents’ idea. I used to play duo piano competitively,” Tanayogpibul says. “Duo is when you play with a partner. I passed through the national round twice.”

Pin began learning English in first grade, and says she learned a foreign language early on because the structure of the schools in Thailand differs largely from American schools.

“I’ve tried to learn Chinese and French, but

Foreign Exchange Students Part 2

22 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

it didn’t work out,” Tanayogpibul laughs.

Another example of how Thai schools are different from American is that students stay with the same classmates all day for their entire high school experience. “[In Thailand], you do everything with your friends even go to the bathroom with your friends,” Tanayogpibul says. “But here every class you see different people and it’s hard to keep making friends since you don’t see each other.”

Thai students are also encouraged to experience other cultures, so the exchange program is very popular. Because of this, it was no surprise when Tanayogpibul filled out an application with the Overseas Ed Group (OEG), which is the high school exchange program in Thailand.

“My organization in Thailand is OEG. They correlate with Pan Atlantic here,” Tanayogpibul says.

After a student sends in their application, the Pan Atlantic Foundation spreads their information around the country (in this case America) of their choosing. The host families then review the essay and profile of the applicant before they make a decision.

foreign exchange | culture Tanayogpibul’s host mother and father, Alice and Chawa Msachi, are originally from Malawi. They chose to become involved in the exchange program when a neighbor posted on social media saying that Pan Atlantic was looking for host families. Alice feels that it’s important for Tanayogpibul and for her own family to become knowledgeable about other cultures.

“We met her at the airport [and] she was excited that we were there [and] we were excited that she was,” Alice says.

Now in America, Tanayogpibul is involved in activities at East. She goes to open gym in hopes of making the basketball team. She also takes a theater arts class where she learns how to build sets, work lights, and design costumes.

“For the latest show, James and the Giant Peach, [I was a part of] the construction crew,” Tanayogpibul says. “We are some of the people who helped make the giant peach and some of the backdrops.”

According to one of her favorite teachers Kate Joseph, who has taught American History at East for two years, Tanayogpibul is thriving in and outside of the classroom.

“She is doing awesome [and] is very thorough,” says Joseph, who has been teaching for 14 years. “She’s also very creative in terms of what she comes up with.”

Joseph expressed how impressed she was with not only Tanayogpibul’s work ethic, but her strength in character. She described how

Thailand Population 69.2 million Bangkok

Distance from Bankok to West Chester, OH: 8,601 miles

source worldometers.info

Tanayogpibul’s unflinching boldness led her to reach out to another exchange student.

“The biggest thing that impresses me about Pin is how brave she is. [She] came all the way over here [and] didn’t know anybody,” Joseph says. “There’s a student that I have in a different bell who’s from Thailand and she went out of her way to talk to him.”

In the two short months that Tanayogpibul has lived here, she has made many friends due to her naturally amiable personality. East junior Kylee West quickly formed a strong bond with Tanayogpibul.

“I met Pin on the first day of school during the class wide Rock Paper Scissors contest and I was a new student also,” says West, a former Xenia high school student. “I was kind of just standing there while everybody else was playing and Pin and one of the other girls walked up and introduced themselves to me.”

The two girls began sitting together at lunch with a few others and the rest was history.

West told Spark that the amount she’s learned from Tanayogpibul is “insane.” Tanayogpibul’s experience has encouraged West to think about travelling to another country. West also spoke adamantly about Tanayogpibul’s genuine kindness, curiosity, and fearlessness.

“If she comes across something new that she doesn’t understand, she’s not afraid to ask about it and she’s not embarrassed,” West says.

“I feel like I’m helping sometimes and I feel like she’s helping me...she doesn’t judge me.” •

m fresh an

SOPHIA CISZEWSKI

HAWKS ON: CAR FUMES

culture | hawks on

homore p o s

BRENNAN POSTICH

Do you know the effect that gas has on the environment?

Do you know the effect that gas has on the environment?

Yes, when excessive amounts of carbon monoxide are “produced” it essentially burns holes in our ozone layer.

It causes global warming. There’s huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions that happened from it. And also, for example, there are oil spills coming from it, which can cause huge effect on the environment.

How long do you wait in the parking lot at the end of the day?

Not too long, my ride parks at the end of the freshman parking lot so once I get to the car we can just leave.

Do you feel waiting at the end of the day affects your gas tank?

It uses more gas than if there was a quicker way out of the parking lot.

How do you think we could improve our parking lot?

I think we could improve the main campus parking lot by having more than one or two main exits. Leaving at the freshman campus is pretty easy in my opinion, its less crowded, but we also have way less students there who are dependent on rides.

24 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

How long do you wait in the parking lot at the end of the day?

About 15 minutes.

Do you feel waiting at the end of the day affects your gas tank?

Yes, it lowers the amount of gas from me running my car.

How do you think we could improve our parking lot?

Honestly, just adding more exits and improve the amount of buses or other things there are, then there’s less people just in cars and wasting space.

interviews gracie estep and logan maxfield photography meredith niemann, gracie estep and logan maxfield

hawks on | culture

LAURYN DIXON

HAWKS ON: CAR FUMES

junior

senior

CATIE LINCICOME

Do you know the effect that gas has on the environment?

Do you know the effect that gas has on the environment?

I do indeed understand the effect that has had on the environment.

I am definitely not the most educated on the effects on the environment but I do know that we are hurting the planet. Carpooling or cutting down on drive time always helps.

How long do you wait in the parking lot at the end of the day?

In the parking lot after school, I wait anywhere from 2-10 minutes depending on how fast I can leave my class.

How do you think we could improve our parking lot?

Yes I definitely feel waiting at the end of the day in the parking lot affects my gas.

I feel like structurally the parking lot is fine. Definitely gets the job done and has enough room for everyone.

One way it could be improved would be to have people directing traffic like they do at the beginning of the year. That always saves me at least 10 minutes.

How do you think we could improve our parking lot?

Do you feel waiting at the end of the day affects your gas tank?

Do you feel waiting at the end of the day affects your gas tank?

I think we could improve the parking by releasing students who are picked up by a parent 10 minutes before the bell, seniors second, and juniors and sophomores last.

I have not noticed a huge change in the amount of times I fill up my gas tank, but it for sure has an affect. If I don’t get out to my car fast enough multiple days a week I have to get gas maybe a day or two earlier than I would have.

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 25

culture | personal narrative

OUT OF

africa East senior Abby Bammerlin traveled to Botswana and Zimbabwe as part of a National Geographic Student Expedition. l personal narrarive and photography abby bammerlin verytime I tried to drift-off to sleep, the crunch of their teeth jerked me back to consciousness. In an attempt to distract myself from the overpowering noise, I tried to remember back to what I did that day. I thought maybe that would help my mind become more at ease with the fact that a two-ton hippo was gorging itself on a salad bar four feet from my head. It did not.

I was in the Okavango Delta in the middle of the Botswanan winter. Most people, understandingly, have no idea what any of that means. My own parents only knew the country of Botswana as “the one above South Africa.”

But to me the country was special. It was my first journey away from home, my first time not being able to use my phone for more than a day and my first time not having access to clean water.

National Geographic had accepted my application to attend their student expedition to Botswana and Zimbabwe. The trip would primarily focus on wildlife photography. In total, 17 students from around the world were accepted to attend the three week trip. We would be gone July 17 through Aug. 3.

It all started in John F. Kennedy International Airport where I met our group leaders and the students going on the trip. The students were from all over the world including China, London, Vietnam, and Brazil, but most were from the United States (US).

It was here where I met my prickly seat-mate.

When we sat down on the flight, I tried to make light conversation, knowing that we would be stuck together for the next 17 hours. She only huffed one-word answers and shoved her $350 noise-cancelling headphones over her head. She didn’t bother to look at me for the rest of the trip.

I found entertainment in the form of 20-year-old movies displayed on a screen that

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was probably installed while I was learning how to walk. Although I soon found myself counting the pixels on the screen rather than paying attention to the corny jokes.

I pushed up the window visor and stared, wide-mouthed at the sky. I’ve always had a fondness for what laid beyond the atmosphere, but these stars were different. They scattered the sky like moondust on a black canvas. It was then that I realized how alone I was.

My parents were asleep back home, and my friends were probably doing a late-night Waffle House run. I considered waking my row-mate, but based on her barbed responses when we sat down, I decided against the idea.

I closed my eyes and let the plane guide me to an entirely new world.

Eventually we ended up in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We were there to photograph one of the world’s seven natural wonders: Victoria Falls.

The falls were known for the thick mist that surrounded them and the plethora of life that called them home. There were times when I couldn’t even see the gushing falls because of the Botswana and Zimbabwe the white wall of mist, but we could hear them roaring their presence just beyond the mist.

The team of students, all ranging from freshman in high school to freshmen in college, ogled at the harsh contrasts between the cascading water and the powerful rocks below.

However, the gushing water caused a deadly splashback for any electronic.

It was here I learned how rich my fellow students were.

I watched with horror as the mist approached one of the Brazilian students who was entranced This photo is a lilacby what she was seeing in her viewfinder on her breasted roller perches brand new camera. itself on the top of the The camera, which I would later discover to reeds in the Okavango be over $1200 for the body alone, looked like Delta, listening to another roller just out of a drenched rat, dripping with water from the Zambezi River. sight.

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2018

personal narrative | culture

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com27 27

culture | personal narrative

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personal narrative | culture

he unfortunate owner only laughed.

I would have screamed. She only shrugged and stuffed the camera into her bag. Without the lens cap. I didn’t know much about photography at the time, but I knew that soaking an $800 piece of glass with half the water in Africa was very, very bad.

I only held my camera closer and continued moving. Our groups’ next stop was a crocodile farm just outside of the falls. It was there that crocodiles were raised for five years and then killed for their meat and skin. Crocodile meat is a favorite among locals.

The crocodiles were held in large cement pits.

Children ran around the farm, some daring to poke their fingers into the cages. The farm was open to the public and even hosted school field trips.

The crocodiles scuttled over one another, some missing legs. They looked like a plate of spaghetti, their limbs intertwined. They were so close together I couldn’t tell which limb belonged to which crocodile.

We were given a tour of the facility. The deeper we walked into the farm, the worse it smelled. The crocs were laid out in the sun, but quickly scurried away when anyone came near. They were terrified of people, even the smallest child. It was like they knew they wouldn’t come back if they were taken.

At the end, we were presented with a tub of baby crocodiles. They told us to reach in and pull one out, showing their collection off as if it were a petting zoo. I went first and grabbed one. I examined the hatchling with a feeling of melancholy, knowing it would probably become a pair of boots or a purse.

Our group decided to leave the farm. After

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Top left going clockwise: 1) A male African elephant displays his enormous size and tusks in the Makgadikgadi Pan National Park.

2) Tracts left by a safari jeep in salt pans of the Park 3) A female African painted reed frog tucks itself into the reeds in order to hide from potential predators. 4) Victoria Falls, powered by the Zambezi River, is a popular tourist location. It’s considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. 5) A small zebra herd congregates around a watering hole. 6) Without the presence of light pollution, the Milky Way is present even to the naked eye.

I’ve always had a fondness for what laid beyond the atmosphere, but these stars were different.

They scattered the sky like moondust on a black canvas.

a quiet ride back to our hostel, we packed up our gear and headed to our next location: the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park in Botswana.

Our first morning in the park, I woke up to the bellowing of an adult lion.

It was just before 6 a.m, and the roar of the lion pierced through our thin tents. We had been warned that we were in the territory of the dominate lion pride. There were no fences separating us from the wild animals.

I was still a little shaky from earlier in the night, when a hyena was sniffing around my tent. He had gotten a little curious and started pawing at the lip of my tent. I acted more out of adrenaline than intelligence when I thrusted my fist into the intruders head. That was how my morning started.

The rest of our time in the park consisted of safaris. I saw my first herd of zebra, which I had explained to my dad was my one goal for the trip. I had never seen such a mass of fur, legs and stripes.

Maybe one or two at the zoo, but the sheer size of these herds was almost overwhelming.

The herds of zebra, antelope and blue wildebeest led us to the village which stood directly across a valley from the Makgadikgadi park. The village was home to hundreds of farmers, all of whom had come in contact with the elephants that lived in the park.

The elephants, on the search for food, would often destroy fields of crops that were desperately needed by the village. To me, elephants were majestic and gentle creatures, but to the village, they were nothing more than greedy rats.

Local research organizations worked with the village to find non-violent ways to combat the elephants and keep the village happy. They built chili farms, which when burned, would release a smell strong enough to keep any elephants far, far away.

We went back and forth between the park and the village. We played soccer with the village children, then chased after a leopard we would never catch up to. We helped build chili farms, then came face-to-face with not-so-friendly elephants.

On the last day in the park, our group sat by the fire we had all become fond of, as it was deep into the Botswanan winter. I sat and spoke to a girl I met from Beijing, her name is Lemona Niu. We watched quietly as the rest of our group typed away at their computers, trying to edit photos and sending Snapchats.

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 29

culture | personal narrative

he night crept in, stealing away the beautiful 360 degree sunset. It stole the dim light and left only the light of the laptops to brighten everyone’s faces. It was on this last night that I saw the stars again. I looked up. It was as if the sun had pricked through the dark blue blanket that covered the sky. Lemona followed my example. One by one, the laptops around us closed and the clicking halted.

We had all fallen under the spell of that Botswanan sky.

Our last location was the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana, famous for the high populous of elephants. The only way to reach the Delta was by boat.

After six hours and an aching back, we had reached our island that we were meant to spend the night on. We were warned that hippos liked to use the island for feeding at night. I made a mental note to use the bathroom before sunset.

It was on this island that I saw my first wild lion. Well, I shouldn’t say I saw it. It was more like my guide saw it and quietly explained that I needed to slowly get everyone to walk backwards toward the tree line.

It was also here that I came within arms reach of an elephant. And it took every muscle in my body to get me not to touch it.

We remained on the island for a week drinking brown, crunchy water and trying to cover up our smell. We would go out on the boats everyday and run into elephants mere feet away from us. They were unbothered by us. These elephants had never seen the destruction a human was capable of.

One of my favorite parts of the island was its seclusion. We were hours away from the nearest hospital and even further from a hospital of US equivalence. Phones and laptops slowly died. All we had left were our cameras. It was here we became absorbed into the nature around us.

I remember speaking to Lemona for hours one night about her experiences in Beijing and mine in the US. She was fascinated by our culture and government. Lemona had never experienced what it was like to be politically free. In her country, she could not fully express her views, whether it be politics or something as simple as her feelings; she always felt limited.

I explained how even though the US allows more freedom, there were still things wrong

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It was on this last night that I saw the stars again.

I looked up.

It was as if the sun had pricked through the dark blue blanket that covered the sky.

30 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

with the country. There was vicious fighting over politics and constant division within the nation.

Even though we are technically free, we are still limited by what we can say, in fear of starting a politically-charged fight.

We were so similar, but we had lived two completely different lives.

With each passing sunset, I knew my trip was coming to an end. I boarded the plane to New York with resignation. The stars in the sky were exactly the same, but I couldn’t look at them anymore. I instead watched the lights below, outlining the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, wishing I could be among them.

I came back to New York to find that my flight to Cincinnati had been cancelled. Three times.

After wishing safe travels to my new friends and our trip experts, I met my cousin who luckily lives in Queens. She was nice enough to take me around the city as I would be stuck in New York for a few days.

It was there I realized what the trip had done to me. The trash scattered the streets, there was nothing but cement beneath my feet and the buildings were so tall, it was dizzying. It made my stomach ache, wishing to go home.

But I didn’t want to go back to West Chester.

How could I? My nails still had sand and dirt buried deep under them. I knew the sand would wash away after a couple days. I knew my hands would be pale and pristine yet again.

Is it bad to say I would have rather left them brown from the sand than waste the crystal-clear water to clean them? • Top left going clockwise: 1) Southern yellowbilled hornbill rests in the middle of our camp eyeing our breakfast. 2) The sun sets over the Park as our final day in the bush comes to an end. The photo was captured just as a flock of birds flew over the tree line. 3) Four white-backed vultures scan for their next meal in the Makgadikgadi Pan National Park just before sundown. 4) A lone adolescent giraffe walks over a hill locking eyes with a herd of elephants just out of frame. The moon was just beginning to show. 5) An African crocodile rests its head on top of the back of another in a crocodile farm just outside of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

personal narrative | culture

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 31

David Honhart shared a moment after teaching basketball to children at local schools in Cape Town, South Africa.

THE HEART IN HONHART East speech and English teacher David Honhart spent a 11 days teaching basketball and life skills in Cape Town,Sounth Africa, where he learned through diversity. story rebecca breland | infographic caroline bumgarner | photography used with premission

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e takes a break from basketball, and a little girl runs up to him begging and pulling at his leg to be twirled. As he looks down he can’t help but lift her up off the ground and spin her around in a circle. By the time he sets her down, a line of 10 kids formed, wanting just the same. He chuckles as the children gather around, only seeking his attention.

He had put a smile on the children’s faces after a long day of basketball practice. But these children weren’t the normal East students he coached. These children lived in Cape Town, South Africa.

East English and speech teacher David Honhart usually spends his summers and spring breaks teaching basketball to students at the Point Guard College (PGC), a national basketball camp across America with select sponsorships in other countries. After working with PGC in America for about eight years, Honhart went to Africa with Zebra Crossing Adventures (ZCA), not only to teach children basketball, but to learn about diversity through Cape Town’s culture and communities.

ZCA is a company founded by Chad Songy that takes a group of strong leaders from the United States (US) to Cape Town, South Africa.

When the group is there, they do not teach, but

learn from what they see. According to ZCA’s website, they aim “to leave our world better than we found it by bringing diverse leaders to Africa to grow through cultural experience.”

“Just being around other driven people who are all leaders in their own way, [we] can’t help but learn from one another,” Honhart says. “[Songy] describes it as a leadership growth experience, and it absolutely was. I would say I’m very thankful for having the opportunity to go and to create bonds that I know will last a long time.”

ZCA originally started when Songy went on a trip to Africa for vacation, and soon found passion in teaching others. He saw the potential of his teaching ability, and he had already learned so much that he wanted to share that knowledge and experience with others.

“It’s a trip that is focused around learning

“...if you have privilege, you shouldn’t feel guilty about it, you should use it to help lift up others.”

— David Honhart, speech and English teacher

32 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

about social injustice, both in South Africa and America, and learning from African communities about how to lead and how to live,” Songy told Spark. “It’s also just about learning from other people who believe different things than you believe.”

Honhart was one of the 10 hand-picked applicants. His trip consisted of about 11 days in South Africa, including travel time. During this week, the group learned extensively about diversity, as well as how it affects them back home.

“Every year, it’s kind of grown and become more intentional and deeper. I had a very dear friend who’s African-American who challenged me about three-and-a-half years ago on what I was doing for social injustice, and how much I talked about race and how much I even knew about race,” Songy says. “That kind of began a journey that led to Zebra Crossings, by becoming a beautiful examination of social injustice in America.”

Greg Andrews is a local leader for ZCA who works closely with Songy and all the members to plan and organize trips and activities for the trip, such as going to Nelson Mandela’s prison, to take a break and learn about the rich history of the country. He, too, has noticed what all

foreign exchange | culture strong leaders can learn from the community in Africa.

The whole reason this takes place in Cape Town is because of apartheid, a systematic repression of black Africans, and colored people in South Africa to benefit the minority white population. Learning how South Africa came back from this, and the importance of diversity, is the main goal of this trip, and Cape Town is perfect for that.

“Too many people come from wealthy developed countries to do stuff for Africa, and frankly, it seldom works and often creates unintended costs which are left to locals to fix,” Andrews says. “ZCA is about exposing thoughtful American leaders to racism and injustice in South Africa as a way to help facilitate a conversation about racism and injustice in the United States (US).”

The City of Cape Town

Itinerary Day 1: Hike up Lions Head Mountain Day 2: Sail to Rodden Island Day 3: Visit District 6 Day 4: Go to Streetscapes **Day 5-6: Gave educational lectures all across Cape Town Day 7: Climb Table Mountain

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nderstanding the cultural difference between the US and Cape Town, he approached the trip with an open mind. He knew the amount that he could learn from them was astronomical, and he took all of that information and put it to work.

“One thing that this trip reinforced is that if you have privilege, you shouldn’t feel guilty about it, you should use it to help lift up others,” Honhart says. “The trip has allowed me to grow and I’ve always been someone who’s very passionate about it.”

When people hear that this is a trip to Africa, but not a service trip, they are sometimes confused, says Songy. Leaving the country burdened with unintentional costs is not the aim of this project, and according to Songy, that is what service projects tend to do, good intentions or not.

“It’s not a service trip. Although we do go teach basketball, it is a growth and leadership experience,” Songy says. “I think America needs help from Africa [on] how to live and value community and people, and be present.”

On the trip, they learned a lot from everyone involved: Cape Town citizens, other members on the trip, and the leaders teaching them. The value of community has always been important to Honhart, and even before he met Songy, he was volunteering at PGC. “I first met [Honhart] at PGC [when] he

Africa

Table Mountain National Park

was an observing coach, so him and I have been friends since 2011 or 2012,” Songy says.

“Every year he’s been kind enough to give up time with his family to come and impact athletes with me at PGC. I had a team that I thought he would be a good fit for.”

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hat team ended up being the perfect fit for Honhart, and he loved every minute of the time he got to spend in Africa learning.

Even though he knew what was happening coming in, the experience still amazed him.

“The depth of conversation that you have in an environment where there is no judgment [and] no technology [was] so different than what [the group] expected,” Honhart says.

ZCA is a trip based around diversity and learning, and it not only taught Honhart new things, but also strengthened certain subjects he already knew about, causing him to want to share that information with those back home.

“Can I grow leaders who are going to impact a lot of people back in their communities, and not only to be more aware of social injustice, but just how they are as a father or wife, or mother or sister, or coach or teacher in their own communities?” Songy says.

The connections on this trip, the bonds made, and the things learned do not just leave when members go home. They stay in contact with each other because the people they shared this time and made memories with push them

Cape Town

to share the knowledge with others.

“We are all keeping in touch and holding each other accountable for finding different ways to try to both fight social injustice and to bring strength,” Honhart says.

The lessons learned on this trip last much longer than anyone expected, and keeping in touch with others that they met on the trip helps in real ways.

“A young woman who came [on the trip] lives in LA, [and is] really bright. For a long time, she’d been wanting to do a podcast, but never really had the guts to do it,” Songy says.

“She brought that up. And the group not only encouraged her, but held her accountable. She started a podcast last year that sheds light on stories of hope and justice.”

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any stories such as these exist among ZCA members, and Honhart has even experienced similar things, learning things that he can take back to his classes at East.

“I don’t think there’s any more powerful tool than your voice. In speech class I can teach students of all backgrounds and ethnicities, races, and gender, ways of using their voice more effectively,” Honhart says. “I think it’s one of the things that excites me about what I’ve seen this year from the Lakota student population.”

None of what Honhart experienced in South Africa was expected when he signed up for this trip, but all of what he learned comes directly back into his life here in Ohio. Much of what happens on these trips are not planned, and that is the beauty of it all.

“Stuff is constantly happening, where the impact and the connections are beyond what I could do,” Songy says. “Some of it I plan for, some of it is just beautiful, and I think God’s hand did it all.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 33

package

umbrella

The recycling process is started by people bringing their recycling items to the curb.

90 percent of the 1.4 million pounds of materials recycled everyday, are used to be made into other recyclable goods.

800-2,000 lbs of recycled products are shipped to repurpose the materials.

The recycled goods are packaged into blocks like this one below.

Overhead magnets attract the metal items to seperate from other materials such as plastic bottles.

Angeled sorter is a wide conveyor that rolls off three dimmesional items off the conveyor.

Disc screeners filter out the smaller materials and keeps largers items on the conveyor.

SCHOOL EFFICIENCY East students work to increase school efficiency by learning about recycling and the environment. story abby bammerlin | infographic alanna schlaeger

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his issue Spark is covering the efficiency of East. With the roll out of one-to-one technology at Lakota high schools expected in January, the Lakota district has made conscious efforts to reduce waste and improve efficiency, especially in regards to paper usage in schools.

This isn’t the only area where East is trying to become more efficient.

East students have made efforts to reuse lab specimens for dissections in multiple areas of study. This has led to interdisciplinary education from one specimen. East students have also taken initiative to try to improve the recycling program at East.

However, Spark is also covering the places were East can improve.

34 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

There is no recycling option in the East cafeteria, as the administration removed it due to students putting trash in the recycling bins.

Outside of East, the dismissal system in the parking lot has contributed to long periods of cars idling, leading to carbon emissions.

Spark begins to cover possible solutions as well as the implications of letting cars idle in the parking lot.

The community of West Chester, as Spark reports, has worked to promote the conservation of honey bees and birds. New infrastructure and chemicals have contributed to the decline of both birds and bees.

Spark looks at how the community has tried to conserve these animals.•

school waste | package paper waste

GOING GREEN

East strives to be an eco-friendly school, although there are some setbacks that are faced. story stephen mckay | photo illustration shelby alderman

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alking through the hallways is different for her now. She does not have a pile of books and folders to drag from class to class. There is no need anymore to borrow her friends’ pencil, or carry around a ripped binder and folder for each class, overflowing with papers. Learning and organization has become easier thanks to her new laptop. Now, all she needs is her Chromebook with all her schoolwork on it to take from class to class.

Current Liberty Junior School (LJS) eighthgrader Kirsten Kusel says she has benefitted from using her laptop this school year and likes how it helps her stay organized.

This school year, Hopewell Junior School (HJS) and LJS students received Chromebooks to use throughout the school year, limiting the amount of paper used in schools. There are plans to roll out the Chromebooks to the high schools as early as January.

“The focus of our junior schools one-toone pilot program is student learning. The expansion of access to quality instructional content and digital tools provides new opportunities for personalized student learning,” says Todd Wesley, Chief Technology Officer of Lakota. “We do anticipate paper usage and subsequent paper cost decreasing.”

According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, which analyzes schools’ waste on a district-by-district basis.

Alameda County Schools alone disposes of more than 11,700 tons of paper waste every year. San Diego runs through more than 24,000 tons of paper, and Los Angeles schools go through 75,600 tons of paper annually.

Lakota is taking an initiative to limit the amount of paper the district uses.

“Environmental responsibility is important in our district [as well as] our student’s

understanding of their world as well our involvement in our community,” Wesley says.

Kusel has benefitted from using her laptop throughout the start of her eighth grade year and likes how it helps her stay organized with her schoolwork.

“I think transitioning from paper to technology has helped my school experience because it [decreases the] stress of trying to remember what you need to bring home for homework,” Kusel says. “The laptop’s calendar helps me remember what [homework I have] and what I have scheduled ahead of me so I know what classes I need to study for for the week. If I have a test or quiz, [the calendar] just lets me know when things are coming up.”

Kusel uses her tabletfor a lot of her schoolwork and has gotten used to bringing it from home to school and from class to class and uses her tablet for many things.

“In school,, I use my tablet for [my] assignments. I use it to type out documents, powerpoints and for projects,” Kusel says.

“I also use it as a way to keep track of my homework [using the] calendar. [That way, there] is less paper to carry around, and I won’t lose anything because it’s all on one device.”

Vanderbilt University psychology professor Andy Tomarken says technology can also help many students learn to stay interested in the class by staying organized and keeping their focus easily while working on their devices.

“I usually am pretty interactive with the class,” Tomarken says. “They have to type answers in [and] click on the mouse. I think it’s pretty lively in a lot of ways, reducing what I like to call the passivity factor in class where no one likes to raise their hand and answer.”

Tomarken also believes that students seem to trust their teacher more and connect with them more through the use of technology in

class and throughout the school year.

“I think sometimes students go [into class] with the mindset that their teachers do not really give a darn about teaching. Using technology is a real way of communicating ‘yes I do,’” Tomarken says.

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usel says he has liked the convenience of a laptop has brought to her school day and she also has had fun with customizing her tablet and personalizing it to make her school day more enjoyable.

“My favorite thing about my laptop is that we are allowed to customize a lot of things,” Kusel says. “I like having my own [laptop] background of my friends, because I have the option of screenshotting things.I also like how you can put stickers on the outside of the case and how everyone gets their own laptop and charger and you have the freedom to bring it everywhere with you.”

Using more technology is not the first thing the district has implemented to decrease the amount of paper used and decrease how much they pay for paper each year.

“We are always looking at ways to reduce costs, to include the purchase of paper,” says Lakota Chief Operations Officer Chris Passarge. “As we deploy more technology, collaboration can be done electronically in lieu of printing out copies for all to share.

Continuing to look at how things are printed, such as putting access codes on [copy] machines or setting two-sided printing as the default.”

Lakota hopes to continue to decrease the amount of paper and is always looking to get better about handling paper waste. “[We] continue to look at best practices and the infusion of additional technology [which] [to]help decrease paper use in the future,” Passarge says. •

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PRACTICALLY PARKED

The East parking lot is filling up faster than last year and with it, carbon emissions increase. story abby bammerlin | photography megan finke | infographic lauren maier

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is tires squealed from the hard stop. The student in the car next to him waved an apology for the unexpected stop. He sighed, thinking about how much time he was wasting waiting in line when he could be doing his homework. It had been 20 minutes, and he had yet to make it out of the parking lot.

East senior Nathaniel Bird had experienced this situation almost everyday after dismissal.

This year, Bird requested a sixth period Senior Flex. The gridlock in the parking lot was one of the reasons Bird chose to leave early.

“You’re just sitting there with your car burning fuel,” Bird says. “It’s very inefficient system.”

East administrative assistant Keri Myers says that there are 1,327 parking spots available to students.

“We are almost full in the north lot,” Myers says. “Once the north lot is full, we will have the limited spaces available in the south lot. I am unsure at the moment what will happen to the students once the lot is full.”

According to East Principal Suzanna Davis, East’s parking lot will reach capacity this year.

“With class sizes being larger and the sophomores being a little older this year, we are filling up earlier than last year,” Myers says. “At the moment, I would say that we are close to 75-80 percent full.”

A Spark Twitter poll reports that out of 47 East voters, 21 percent of students report that they wait 15 minutes or longer to get out of the parking lot.

Out of 38 East voters, 87 percent of students say they leave their cars running while

waiting to exit the parking lot.

“You’re sitting there [and] your gas mileage is plummeting. It’s just burning gas in your car without it going anywhere,” Bird says. “It costs a lot of money at the end of the year.”

The Argonne National Laboratory, a United States (US) Department of Energy laboratory, found that idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel and emits more carbon dioxide than an engine restarting.

The lab concluded that it was more beneficial to turn an engine during short stops in order to minimize fuel usage and carbon emissions. They reported that compared to idling, the pollutant emissions released by cold-

starts.

Miami University professor of geography James Rubenstein has done extensive research into the automobile industry. He says that motor vehicle emissions are the principle cause of global warming.

According to a 2016 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study, transportation accounts to for 28 percent of total US Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2016, followed by electricity at 28 percent and industry at 22 percent.

Rubenstein believes that the only way help alleviate some of the parking lot gridlock at East is to either reduce demand, or to increase

36 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

supply.

“The obvious way to reduce the demand is to stagger the dismissal times,” Rubenstein says. “People don’t leave at the same time, so that cuts the the demand down.”

Bird says that even if East dimisses in “sections,” many students carpool so the staggered dismissal may not be as efficient.

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hief Operations Officer Chris Passarge says that while he did no work at Lakota while the school parking lot was being designed, he believes that parking spaces are based on zoning laws. He says that if Lakota were to not have enough parking spaces, there is a plan.

“If for some reason the need for spaces should occur, we could look at several options to include restriping [and] reconfiguring the lot to gain addition spaces, expand the lot, or use the freshman building,” says Passarge.

Rubenstein also says there are ways to forcibly keep demand down by rationing or selling the parking spots.

He says increasing supply is more tough and that it would be hard to increase the capacity of the parking lot without spending money.

“One coherent way to increase supply is to make Cincinnati-Dayton Road oneway northbound and Yankee Road one-way southbound,” says Rubenstein. “That’s a theoretical and very practical and cheap way to increase capacity.”

Miami University assistant professor of the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability Sarah Dumyahn explains that global warming begins with the visible light

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“With class sizes being larger and the sophomores being older this year, [the parking lot is] filling up earlier than last year. I would say that we are close to 75-80 percent full.”

—Keri Myers, East Administrative Assistant in charge of parking lot

energy from the sun. The light is absorbed by the Earth’s surface and is then transformed into infrared light.

“With higher concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the infrared energy takes longer to leave the atmosphere causing a warming effect,” Dumyahn says.

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ccording to Rubenstein, the impacts of idling emissions can impact the environment and contribute to global warming.

“It’s the carbon emissions of motor vehicles which causes global warming,” Rubenstein says.

“When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide is discharged into the atmosphere. The principal source of fossil fuel burning is motor vehicles.”

Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency Public Relation Specialist Joy Landry cautions against drivers idling cars due to the health problems associated with it.

“Although you may not smell these air pollutants, you’re still inhaling them,” Landry says. “Nitrogen dioxide and carbon oxides are directly tied to respiratory illness, like asthma.

Even healthy people may notice it’s more difficult to breathe, depending upon the length of their exposure to vehicle exhaust.”

Landry says that people can improve the quality of the air by reducing idling, conserving energy, carpooling, combining trips and using public transportation.

“Air quality has actually improved dramatically since the 1990s, with all six major air pollutants seeing reductions,” Landry says.

“Much of this can be credited to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.”

According to the US EPA, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 outlined performancebased standards and provides a framework from which alternative clean fuels can be used.

The amendments also outline ways to reduce energy waste and create a market for clean fuels derived from grain and natural gas to cut dependency on oil imports.

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) estimates that between 1895 and 2012, the Midwest’s average temperature was 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The NCA projects that annual temperatures in Hamilton and Butler

County could increase between 3.8-4.4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2041-2071.

“Some of the impacts to the Midwest that will be particularly important for urban areas, such as Cincinnati, will be increased heat waves and increased atmospheric pollution,” Dumyahn says. “Agriculture in Butler County and the surrounding region will face additional climate-related stresses, such as drought, flooding, and changes in crop pests and diseases.”

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ubenstein says that government mandates require a higher fuel efficiency and miles per gallon in cars. He believes that due to this, there will be a substantial increase on the amount of electric cars. “[Students] can certainly be working toward solutions for greenhouse gas emissions now,” Dumyahn says. “In order to address climate change and avoid the most severe impacts from an increasingly warmer planet, we’ll need to address impacts at the global to the individual level.” •

15min of a single car running =

0.26 lbs. of CO

2

On average, each car produces 4.6 tons of CO2 emmisions per year.

1 ton of = CO2

500 cars running for 15 min = 131 lbs. of CO2 emissions. ov

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dissection

ORGANIZATION As the amount of cats being euthanized in the United States decreases, educators at East have found ways to conserve resources through sharing organs. story mckenna lewis infographic caroline bumgarner and landon meador photography meredith niemann and used with permission

East senior Grace Phair, then junior, sutures a deer heart in her Human Body Systems class

38 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

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er fingers drifted across the deep laceration that divided the heart in half. She studied the damage, closed the heart and then laid the red organ back down onto the tray.

After gently picking up the curved needle and forceps, she skillfully attaches the nylon thread to the end of the needle. She runs through the steps in her head, “align the edges of the laceration, guide the needle through the first edge, then the second, and tighten the thread to make an airtight continuous stitch.”

As she repeats the steps to herself, junior Grace Phair carefully reconstructs the deer heart that one of her classmates dissected in an earlier period today.

The deer hearts were originally dissected in an honors anatomy course, and were to be thrown away in a large trash can that was brought in for the dissections. Later that day, Phair attended James Williams’ human body systems class, where she would be practicing suturing.

When Williams introduced the bananas and leather suture practice kits that the class would be practicing suturing with, a student mentioned that one of the honors anatomy classes had been dissecting deer hearts earlier that day. Phair, along with some of her classmates, proposed suturing the hearts that were dissected in Deak’s class earlier, back together.

Students and educators at East have found unconventional ways to conserve resources by sharing organs, while also considering alternatives to live cat dissections, given the recent decrease in available cat specimen.

East teachers listened to the student’s proposal, and so now the human body systems class gets to suture, or re-stitch,real deer hearts, instead of using the banana and leather kits..

“I remember that moment when we all finished putting them back together and stood there in amazement,” Phair says. “It was symbolic of all of the years of hard work that we spent studying and could finally apply.”

Instead of wasting the hearts, one class got to use them for dissection, then her class got to put them back together. According to Williams, the hearts were helpful because real tissue is even more accurate than the banana or leather model.

“You start stitching on [the leather suture kit] and when you try to pull a stitch tight most of the time [the stitch] pulls through just because [suturing on the leather model] is softer and not the same as real tissue,” Williams says. “So when we actually had the hearts then to suture, you can actually pull and tug on the stitches and you get a real nice stitch.”

Another way that East has contributed to the exchanges of specimen and animal organs among teachers is through the cat dissection labs done in Julie Deak’s honors anatomy classes at East. Deak says that all the students ask, “Where do the cats come from?”

dissection package dissection | package East sophomores (left to right) Rachel Caulfield and Isabelle Wright dissect a sheep heart.

The cats cost $58 and are obtained through the Carolina Biological Supply Company, which acquires the cats from shelters for educational use.

“The cats preserved by Carolina Biological Supply for dissection are procured from governmentally operated or regulated humane shelters,” Manager of Product Safety and Compliance at Carolina Biological Supply Keith Barker says. “They are dead when we receive them, euthanized at the shelters in accordance with [the shelter’s] normal schedules, policies, and procedures.”

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or the students that are apprehensive towards cat dissections, Deak says that the cat specimen used for dissections benefit students educationally through experiential learning.

“I like to say that these cats are serving us one last greater good,” Deak says. “And that is a fantastic opportunity.”

According to Barker, cat specimen are becoming harder to find, due to shelters’ recent movement towards Trap-Neuter-Return programs. According to the Humane Society of Greater Dayton, Trap-Neuter-Return programs are designed to reduce the number of free-roaming community cats humanely, through sterilization, rather than by euthanasia.

“The number of euthanized cats available to

us is not enough to meet educators’ demands in a timely fashion,” Barker says. “The specimens are euthanized at the shelters, and we only have access to those that are available because of shelters’ normal operations. The number available is not something that we control.”

While the honors anatomy classes haven’t had to make adjustments to the dissection labs yet, Deak has alternatives to use in the event that there aren’t enough cat specimen available for students.

“We typically work on the cats in pairs because it allows two people to be actively involved in the dissection,” Deak says. “If you couldn’t get enough cats, you might have to triple or quadruple people up. But if we have four people working on a cat, there’s only, one or two [students] able to be actively involved, and the other two are sitting around watching them, and they have to take turns.”

Other animals such as minks or rabbits, are another one of East’s alternative considerations.

But the problem with a rabbit is that it’s an herbivore, which means that the digestive and muscular systems differ from humans.

“With minks, [the companies] ship them to you without their fur, and they’re greasy. They have a really pungent odor to them,” Deak says.

“There’s some schools that are starting to go to mink. But again, I think the cat’s the best and I’m just going to keep trying to do that as long

as I can.”

Another alternative being discussed at East is virtual reality (VR). According to Marxent Labs, VR is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. The simulated environment is experienced through a headmounted display (HMD), or “glasses” that the user looks through in order to get a first-person perspective.

Director of Academic Affairs for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine John Pippin is one proponent of VR and computer based alternatives to dissection.

“Some people are very sensitive to ethical [and] moral issues involved in [dissections].

A lot of people just don’t care,” Pippin says. “[Dissections are] an archaic and discredited and substandard way to learn. Why would you let yourself be trapped in the old way of doing things when there are better methods for this kind of teaching.”

Another reason to use VR or computerbased alternatives, according to Pippin, are the possible psychological effects that dissections can have on students.

According to Williams, students involved in the biomedical pathway at East enjoy the dissections done in those classes. Williams says that lot of freshman still don’t know exactly what they want to do, but the further into the program students go, the more interested they

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Zoology

Number of dissections At Lakota East

Human Body Systems

4 4

Honors Biology

AP Biology Principles of Biomedical Sciences

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6

Anatomy

3 2 1 1 1

Medical Interventions Biomedical Innovations

source East Science Dept. are in medical careers.

East senior Aidan Hutt says that the heart dissections were interesting because he got to see an internal organ that’s so similar to the human body.

“There’s so much to [the heart], you can dissect it all day and still not find everything,” Hutt says. “The eyeball just has so many parts to it, and [we were able to] actually see how the eyeball worked and functioned.”

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health problems when it is exposed to humans for an extended period of time. “[Formaldehyde] can cause cancer,” Pippin says.

ne of the things Deak likes about the dissections is that students are able to discover immediately whether dissections are their “thing” or not.

“A former student told me that the cadaver lab and the cat dissections told her she did not want to be a science teacher. She is currently an awesome Advanced Placement (AP) English teacher at Cincinnati Public [Schools],” Deak says. “And that’s okay. But [it’s] fascinating to watch the students who are able to work past their anxieties and appreciations. That is realworld learning.”

Along with putting paper towels over the cat specimen’s face, Deak also makes adjustments in for students who have cats at home.

“Sometimes, a student is like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t want a yellow cat. I’ve got a yellow cat at home,’” Deak says. “We try to work around that.”

Deak says that while students could use a computer program or simulation and still understand the general idea, those students wouldn’t get to foster the lab technique, or learn the actual scope and sequence of the dissection.

Phair has been a vegetarian for eight years, and while she says that the dissection of animals does stray from her beliefs about animal treatment, she still participates in dissections at East. She believes that by participating in dissections now, she’ll be able to save a real person later.

“I don’t want to say I’m trading a life for a life, but it does kind of motivate me to be like [this dissection] is going to be okay,’” Phair says.

Another reason for alternative options to live dissection are that specimen containing formaldehyde pose potential health risks to students, educators, and researchers. Pippin says that formaldehyde, a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that is used to preserve specimens, can pose some negative

ccording to Carolina Biological Supply’s website, the company has developed their own preservative for biological specimens as an alternative. The preservative in the specimen purchased by East contain no formaldehyde.

“Propylene glycol is not toxic and is a common ingredient in cosmetics,” Barker says.

“The specimens will contain a small residual amount of formaldehyde, but exposure is decreased through using Carosafe.”

In regards to safety precautions, Carolina Biological Supply and East teachers advise students to use gloves and eyewear, and, if possible, a lab apron, to avoid direct exposure to materials.

“We always advise, in any biology or chemistry lab work, that appropriate personal protective equipment be used,” Barker says.

“The Carosafe specimens will have a small residual amount of formaldehyde. Good general ventilation is recommended more as a matter of comfort than as a concern for chemical exposure.”

In addition to opening the doors and windows, Deak says that there are four auxiliary vents inside the classroom that she turns on during dissections. These auxiliary vents draw air from inside the room, providing sufficient ventilation.

Pippin says that after this current generation of science teachers, everyone will be using online dissection software because this is a generation that grew up with computers and software. They are comfortable with the software, and can use computer programs now that their professional organizations are okay with this technology being used in the classroom.

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round worm crayfish dogfish turtle pidgeon rat

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Anatomy

deer heart cat cow eye sheep brain

cow eye sheep kidney sheep brain cow forelimb

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waste

WHAT WE WASTE

Every day, the 2,600 students at East generate roughly 3,000 pounds of trash and recycling.

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At a cost of nearly $3,500, East students will dissect 59 cat specimens this year.

East’s waste A closer lookfootprint at East’s trash cans. infographic alexandra fernholz

east courtyard

cafeteria

media center

north parking lot

central courtyard

theater

west courtyard

gymnasium

junior parking lot

senior parking lot

The average East student’s car produces 25 pounds of CO2 per day.

source Hamilton Journal News, Xcel Energy, Minnesota Pollution coontrol Agency, edutopia.org, the science department

Each year, East will spend over $210,000 on electricity.

East uses roughly 2,490,000 pieces of paper every year (allowing about 833 pieces of paper per student).

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trash

GETTING TRASHED

alking away from the register towards her seat, surrounded by the senior’s friends, she goes and eats her lunch in the cafeteria. She makes jokes with her friends as she munches away on her food, when finally the bell rings. She gets up to throw away the remains of her lunch, taking the recyclable paper tray and the leftover bits of food and tossing them into the trashcan nearest to her seat.

The trash can still carries the sticker indicating the bin was at one time used for recycling.

East senior and Lakota East’s Environmental Advocates Forum (LEAF) Club president

East strives to be an eco-friendly school, although there are some setbacks that are faced. story rebecca holst infographic alex fernholz photography cassandra mueller

Kailyn Bost has had this lunch ritual for all of her three years at East.

“A few years ago, [LEAF Club] tried to reinforce recycling bins in the cafeteria,” Bost says. “But [the administration] took away the recycling bins because people kept throwing trash in them, despite repeatedly being told not to.”

Lakota’s Chief of Operations Officer Chris Passarge explained that recycling bins in the cafeteria would have to be a studentdriven initiative because students need to take ownership of putting things in the right bins.

“When Rumpke takes a recycle dumpster to their facility, they inspect the contents to ensure

Turing Trash into Treasure: How to Compost at Home

they are compliant,” Passarge says. “If they are not, we are charged an additional fee for them to dump the contents.”

Besides the posters that Bost and other members of LEAF Club have put up, the club has been unable to come up with other ideas to help fix the school’s issue with recycling.

According to East’s Advanced Placement Environmental Biology (APES) teacher and LEAF Club advisor Mark Folta, East has made increasing steps to help create a greener school. “[We] produce the kind of foods that are available to students during the school year that [students] could harvest,” Folta says.

Folta said that there are many plants

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“[LEAF Club] tried to reinforce recycling bins in the cafeteria. But [they took] away the recycling bins because people kept throwing trash in them, despite repeatedly being told not to.”

—Kailyn Bost, East student students can grow and harvest: apples, grapes, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and various berries to be grown at the school. All of these can be sold to students in the school’s cafeteria.

Along with recycling and harvesting foods, East has implemented succession forests along the interstate. The forests, which as Folta describes, are young forests that grow into mature ones. The forest was donated by Duke Energy. The company has to donate trees, according to the Clean Air Act of 1970, in order to lighten their ecological footprint.

Spark reached out to Duke Energy, but did not receive a response. They decided to give the trees to East where teachers such as Folta could use them for educational purposes. “[The forest is] going to take out carbon dioxide,” Folta says. “It’s also going to absorb some of that noise from the interstate.”

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y allowing the trees to grow with no mowing or disturbances, students can see what a natural forest looks like. Along with that, Folta is using this year to teach about the invasive species that have started living in the forest and will be using it in an assignment for his APES students learning to identify the species.

“We have our annual tree plantings [in LEAF Club], but we also are going to be removing invasive species this year,” Bost says.

Some schools and businesses in the United States (US) go entirely waste-free. These schools recycle all biodegradables, grow their own food, and use compost systems. According to Senior Curator of Urban Ecology and Director of the Hefner Museum of Natural History Steve Sullivan, waste-free is just an idea.

“One hundred percent waste cannot happen,” Sullivan says. “[But] we can probably get close.”

One way that Folta finds that the school has lacked in its green-initiative is the food waste

in the cafeteria. He says if the students and faculty could separate the food waste from the recyclable bottles and trays, as well as any trash such as wrappers, that food could be used as compost.

“They do not check each can to ensure the proper can has the proper contents in it before being dumped into the [dumpster],” Passarge says. “Our [custodians] are on a tight schedule to get their areas cleaned and we have to assume [the] individuals own their responsibility to place the waste contents in the appropriate can.”

According to a study done by National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in San Diego, it was found that 76 percent of the trash in US landfills could actually be recycled.

“Students use paper trays, which is compostable and biodegradable, but what we could do is have [most] of the cafeteria waste composted,” Folta says. “It’d be a lot of work and coordination. We’d almost need to hire somebody else.”

According to Miami University professor of biology David Berg, as a society, people should figure out what their responsibilities are in helping nature. He says that people have to think about how their actions cause reactions to the environment.

Berg uses examples like using plastic bags in the supermarket to show how people choose convenience over being eco-friendly. He raises the question of whether it is worth it to make life simpler for humanity if it is making life worse for the environment. In order to figure that out, Berg says, people need to have the proper environmental education.

“Education doesn’t just have to be about of sustainability, but also about exposure to the natural world,” Berg says.

Berg believes the main cause of this apathy for the environment is children not playing outside. If kids aren’t playing outside and they

don’t have the proper education, they may not understand how their actions will affect the environment.

“Children have to know what nature is like,” Berg says. “[Children] don’t play outside in streams, they don’t do those kinds of things [anymore]. They don’t know what they’re missing.”

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ullivan has some experience with his past school on learning how to promote recycling. He got to see firsthand what it takes to make a school more environmentally friendly.

“As a child, [my] school separated paper and food from the waste stream. Paper was recycled at a pulp plant, and food was fed to livestock,” Sullivan says. “By removing paper, we removed the bulk of our waste. This means the dump took up less space on the planet and the space it did use lasted longer.”

According to Wallethub, a research website which received their information from various sources in the American Census Bureau, Ohio is ranked number 37 in the country for the greenest state. The criteria for the “greenest state” is air quality, water quality, soil content, mass of recycling, renewable energy consumption, and gasoline consumption.

Sullivan found, in his expert opinion, for the statistic to be entirely accurate.

“My own experience in Ohio supports the conclusion as well. Ohio seems to only nominally recycle. For that matter, the US in general is pathetic at recycling,” Sullivan says.

“There are many countries that do a better job than any [American] state.”

Bost says that she thinks that people throwing their trash in the recycling has had a negative impact on East’s recycling program. “[The Administration doesn’t] want to deal with the stress of going through and sorting the trash [from the recycling],” Bost says.

“Some people ruin [recycling] for us.” •

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HITTIN’ A WALL The Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative is taking action in avian conservation by partnering with Ohio Lights Out. story shiloh wolfork | art sinju cho

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red cardinal flies through the air on a cool, dark evening. As the bird soars over tall buildings with glistening windows, it becomes disoriented in the face of the beaming lights coming through the windows.

The cardinal fails to gain control of its wings, and becomes completely distracted by the illumination of the streetlights. Startling employees working a late shift at an office, the cardinal’s body slams into the glass window.

Collisions with buildings and windows are the leading cause of avian death during migration in North America. According to Ohio Lights Out, a local program that works to reduce the rate of avian mortality caused by collisions, it is estimated that up to half a billion birds suffer collision-related deaths.

The Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative (OBCI) is a group that consists of multiple independent non-profit organizations seeking to promote avian conservation in Ohio cities such as Dayton, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

OBCI partners with numerous groups and participates in various initiatives to encourage their goal. One of OBCIs’ most impactful projects is the Ohio Lights Out project.

“OBCI coordinates Ohio Lights Out,” OBCI Representative and Program Coordinator Matthew Shumar says. ”We help manage all the Lights Out efforts in the state, seek funding for all cities, and try to coordinate effort/resources among the city programs.”

Avian species are arguably the most important animals in the environment. Miami University Assistant Teaching Professor of Ornithology David Russell explains how birds play an essential role in the spreading of seeds and natural insect control.

“Birds are absolutely integral in the [environmental] systems in both nutrient cycling and pollination,” Russell told Spark.

“Birds are really important pieces in the ecosystem puzzle.”

In addition to performing as pollinators and distributing nutrients within an ecosystem, birds serve as an indicator species within an environment. Consequently, a change in an avian species can reflect important biological changes or issues.

“Birds are really good indicators of

ecosystem health,” Shumar says. “We can learn a lot about the health of our ecosystems by observations, and birds are easy to observe.”

Many species are either habitat specialists or sensitive to environmental contaminants. By understanding avian and habitat relationships, Shumar feels that we can get a better understanding of how humans are affecting the earth as a whole.

In the 20th century, coal miners would bring canaries underground with them as carbon monoxide detectors. According to Russell, if the canary stopped singing and fell over in its cage, the miners knew to get out of the coal mine as quickly as possible because the buildup of gases could cause an explosion.

“Birds are super important in the functioning of how a planet works,” Russell says. “On a more practical level, if birds can’t survive someplace because the conditions are too toxic or degraded, then that doesn’t bode well for [humans] us in the future then.”

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uring the migratory seasons of spring and fall, birds migrate from their summer breeding grounds to their non-breeding grounds for the the winter. Many avian species migrate from their breeding grounds at night.

Ashley Conway, an undergraduate student at University of Cincinnati (UC), is leading an avian research project in order to collect data concerning bird mortality on the UC Campus.

Conway explains how the lights that are placed on tall buildings and point toward the sky distract the birds, drawing them toward buildings and glass windows. In this situation, birds may also circle the buildings that they are drawn to until they become too exhausted to continue.

“We have found 80 dead birds and nine stunned birds on UC’s campus since April 27. A majority of these mortalities take place during fall migration (85 percent), rather than spring migration (15 percent),” Conway says.

OBCI partners with Ohio Lights Out in order to bring awareness to things that humans can do to prevent birds from becoming distracted during migration.

Ohio Lights Out encourages large buildings,

44 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

like the Cincinnati Nature Center, to take the organization’s pledge, agreeing to dim lobby and atrium lighting, turn off interior lights on upper floors, draw blinds and dim outdoor decorative lighting at night.

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ccording to Ohio Lights Out Cincinnati, there was an 80 percent decrease in downtown Chicago when the lights were dimmed. The buildings agree to these terms during the fall and spring migratory seasons for Ohio which are Aug. 15-Oct. 31 and Mar. 15-June 1. “[The Cornell Lab of Ornithology] was able to work with the city of New York to actually turn off the [9/11 Memorial] lights so that the birds could continue flying and wouldn’t get distracted by the lights,” Conway says.

From 2012 to today, the organization has worked to establish regional Lights Out programs in Dayton, Cleveland, Miami Valley and Cincinnati.

According to the OBCI website, the nonprofit partnered with the Grange Insurance Audubon Center, a group that offers programs to encourage participants to explore the beauty of the natural world. As a result, 27 buildings have taken the pledge to reduce lighting during the most active migratory seasons.

In spring of 2015, OBCI developed a Lights Out program in Miami Valley and in 2017, the organization established Lights Out Cleveland.

Currently, the project is working to launch a program in Toledo.

In spring 2018, Lights Out Cincinnati was officially launched. The program is being led by the Cincinnati Nature Center, the Cincinnati Museum and the Cincinnati Zoo. Shumar explains that a goal this significant can only be achieved with the unification of people who are willing to become informed and work to educate others in order to support avian protection.

“The biggest issue that we face is a lack of education [and] people just not being aware of the issue,” Shumar told Spark. “People need to be exposed to environmental education earlier and more frequently and it’s encouraging to see a lot of organizations working together to better the cause.” •

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BUZZIN’ AROUND The Ohio State Beekeepers Association, addresses the decline of honey bees in the world, and how it may affect humans if it goes any further. story abbie westendorf | art logan maxfield

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s she plants seeds in her garden, she takes a deep inhale in order to smell the fragrant flowers and the fertile, earthy dirt The sun is warm against her skin, giving her what she hopes to be a beautiful tan. She hears the sweet sounds of nature and wildlife humming in her ear. However, something is missing, there is no buzzing around her head; beekeepers and gardeners alike are witnessing the decline of nature’s pollinators-honey bees.

Vice President of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association (OSBA) Peggy Garnes is trying to change that. The OSBA, located an hour and a half from East, spreads public awareness of honey bees, offers support to local county beekeeping associations, and hosts educational events and seminars.

According to Environment America, a environmental research organization, 30 percent of all honey bee colonies die each winter, this is twice the loss considered economically tolerable. Garnes feels there are four major pressures facing honey bees: pests, lack of varied diet, pesticides, and changes to the environment.

“Any changes in the environment from pollution to global warming affects plants and the pollen they produce,” Garnes says. “In the end, the bees and all pollinators are effected.”

According to Pollen Nation, an organization that works with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden to help honey bees and other pollinators, out of the 100 crops that feed 90 percent of the world, bees pollinate 71 of them.

“One out of every three bites of our food is a result of the pollination of honey bees,” Garnes says. “Less bees would mean less pollination services, which would reduce overall crop production, and billions of dollars of horticulture products and jobs would be in jeopardy.”

Food options are not the only thing in jeopardy, according to Garnes. If honey bees were to go extinct, the environmental food chain would also be affected. Animals who eat bees, as well as plants that rely on bees, could be at risk.

According to Greenpeace, a environmental campaigning organization, buying local and organic food, avoiding pesticides in your garden, and planting bee-friendly organic flowers can all help save bees.

Environment America reports when seeds are treated with neonics, a type of insecticide, the chemicals work their way into the pollen and nectar of the plants. When pollinators, like bees, come into contact with neonics, they can die or be unable to pollinate the plants. Neonics are about 6,000 times more toxic to bees than the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is to humans.

friendly landscapes. This is something that the average person can do to help.”

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ast’s Environmental Advocates Forum (LEAF) Club shares information and discusses current issues that the environment is facing. The club attempts to concoct ways to solve the honey bee decline or how to spread awareness for it.

“The LEAF Club has allowed me to express my love for nature and to share it with others,” says Kailyn Bost, a member of the LEAF club. “I have also learned a lot of information that has allowed me to grow in my knowledge

“One out of every three bites of our food is a result of the pollination of honey bees. Less bees means a reduction in overall crop production, with billions of dollars of horticulture products and jobs would be in jeopardy.”

—Peggy Garnes, Vice President of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association (OSBA)

According to the National Pesticide Information Center, people exposed to DDT by accidental exposure or while working with the chemical report tremors, dizziness, and nausea along with other symptoms. DDT also causes cancer in laboratory animals and has proven to have some effects on the reproduction in animals.

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niversity of Illinois (U of I) is a certified Bee Campus United States of America (USA). U of I is recognized for their work with bees and the sustainable habitats provided for pollinators.The campus reports that by opting for native plants, gardens will be attractive to adult bees that are foraging for nectar and pollen. In addition, it will also increase native habitat in your area for other wildlife, like caterpillars and birds.

“Definitely plant more bee-friendly trees, shrubs, and flowers. If you visit your local garden shop, you will see what plants are being visited by bees,” Garnes says. “I have seen more people interested in helping the honey bee and I have suggested that everyone plant more bee-

and perform daily actions that benefit the environment.”

Last year, the LEAF club talked about the decline of bees over various meetings, and always sees bees pollinating in the courtyard.

Through these discussions and encounters, they have made their gardens more bee friendly.

“The president, Gold Bristow, presented the club with various videos for us to watch,” Bost says. “We also discussed it as we worked in the courtyard, pulled weeds, watered plants, [and] spreaded seeds.”

These conversations led to more issues, like pesticides. Through these discussions the club stopped using them.

“We know how detrimental pesticides and insecticides can be on the population of important insects such as bees so we stopped using them in our gardens,” Bost says.

Through her work with bees and OSBA, Peggy Garnes says she has benefited greatly.

“My gardens and fruit orchards yield much larger crops,” Garnes says. “My personal interaction with beekeepers has made me a better person and beekeeper.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 45

entertainment | halloween original

THE FRANCHISE EFFECT photography fair use

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ith the release of director David Gordon Green’s latest film, there are now three movies in the 11-movie series featuring masked killer Michael Myers titled only “Halloween.” And while one is a decade-old remake and Green’s is a direct sequel that adopted the exact name of its predecessor, the Halloween franchise only has the traction that it does today because of its first movie.

John Carpenter’s big break as a director came in his 1978 slasher film, which he also composed the score for, where Myers was first introduced to the world.

The teenage protagonist Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) begins to witness Myers all around her neighborhood, as people suspect he is returning to his old house after breaking out of a mental institution. Meanwhile, Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who had Michael as a psychiatric patient throughout his childhood, is attempting to track him down before he can cause any harm.

Oct. 25, 1978 Compass International Pictures Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis

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hile Carpenter’s later movies like “Escape From New York” would become iconic for their alien settings and surrealist atmospheres, “Halloween” strengthens its suspense by making its audience feel unsafe in the all-too-familiar setting of suburban America. The stark contrasts between the sunny

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blue-sky environments where Myers can be spotted with an emotionless white mask subvert an expectation of feeling safe both in daylight and in one’s own home.

Creating an iconic character with the mystery and intrigue of Michael Myers is ultimately what sets this film apart from the slasher movies that came before it, and what would go on to define them for the next decade.

While Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” four years earlier presented another masked killer cloaked in mystery through Leatherface, “Halloween” set a standard by baiting just enough insight into Myers’ character that the audience becomes intrigued into his motivations and the outcome of his story.

Where Leatherface is chaotic and appears in a jump scare, “Halloween’s” opening shot presents the audience with a first-person perspective of a more calculated and quiet killer.

This forces them to watch every brutal second from the eyes of a character that streamlines the plot of the film from the beginning.

Carpenter, whose thriller “The Thing” would also go on to reshape the horror genre four years later, introduces ideas through “Halloween” that are now expectations of the horror style. But even looking past its impact, Carpenter’s film is timeless in its scares, and ultimately downright thrilling and enjoyable.

—Bryce Forren

halloween remake | entertainment

HALLOWEEN: 1978-2018 photography fair use

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hen people think about cozying up on a crisp, fall night to watch a movie in 1980s America the classic slasher films are usually the more favored options. The new special effects that were created allowed directors to do things that filmmakers prior to that period couldn’t dream of doing.

That’s why horror in that time was so tremendously innovative.

That’s why when someone hears the title “Halloween” they know what it is and what it means.

That’s why people involuntarily shudder at the name Michael Myers.

The new “Halloween” movie is the eleventh segment in the series, and as someone who is a fan of the originals, I was excited for another installment.

After a mental institution bus transfer goes terribly wrong, Michael Myers (Nick Castle) escapes and goes on a killing spree in the suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois in search of his rival Laurie Strode, who is played by the renowned Jamie Lee Curtis. This time around, Strode’s character development has foregone a major change.

The damsel in distress from the original “Halloween” is dead and the new Laurie Strode has risen from the ashes. She is locked, loaded, and ready to get rid of Myers (for good this time, right?) even if it takes her to extreme measures.

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wanted to love this movie.

I mean, it had one of the highest box office horror movie openings ever at $77.5 million in ticket sales. But the fact of the matter is that director David Gordon Green

released a 20th Century movie to a 21st Century audience. The reputation of “Halloween” held more weight than the movie itself. The exposition develops in a way that leads the viewer to believe that they’re going to experience a new story by adding fresh faces to the cast, Judy Greer and Andi Matichak, who play Strode’s daughter and granddaughter respectively.

But there were ultimately too many plot elements that were never developed and too many questions that were left unanswered. What happened to the little boy Vicky was babysitting? Is Michael Myers really gone for good? Is there a psychological explanation as to why Michael kills? What’s up with Allyson holding a knife in her hand on the ending scene?

Questions like these are usually posed in order to set the stage for another movie.

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he problem with making another movie is that this was supposed to be the end of the story. If there is going to be another installment, that does seem a bit excessive at this point. For lack of a more intellectual statement, they’re beating a dead horse.

My mother and I are selfproclaimed scaredy-cats and we only jumped once, more out of surprise than fear. I came out of a scary movie without being scared. I came out of the theater without once looking over my shoulder for a masked man with a knife. The most iconic films leave audience members with something even after it’s over.

Let Michael die already!

—Isis Summerlin

Oct. 19, 2018 Blumhouse Productions Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis

HALLOWEEN dir. David Gordon Green November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 47

entertainment | predator original

THE FRANCHISE EFFECT photography fair use

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June 12, 1987 20th Century Fox Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger

PREDATOR

eleased in 1987, “Predator” became an instant classic amidst the large amount of action movies released during the late 1980s. The classic alien creature exploded into pop culture almost right after this movie came out. Unforgettable lines from the movie like, “get to the choppa” or “if it bleeds we can kill it,” still echo through the 80’s nostalgia filled media of today.

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the rugged protagonist, Dutch, who leads a platoon into a supposed crash site outside of the range of their camp, meaning they will have to go into enemy lines and fight a mysterious alien. The group ends up shrinking down only to, Dutch, and this is where the pace of the movie really starts to pick up. The action scenes in this act are some of the most enjoyable and Schwarzenegger’s solo scenes show actual character development. They show how Dutch adapts and changes by learning what he can through the few short experiences he has with the “predator.”

This “predator” stalks the group like he’s an animal.

Throughout his first appearances, he isn’t entirely visible. He’s cloaked in stealth making the viewer only able to see the outline of him. Later on in the movie, the viewers see more of him. He wears a mask for almost the entire movie, covering his nasty, buglike, dreadlocked visage. Near the end, the monsters’ mask comes off and viewers get to see the face only a mother could love.

Most previous action movies that came out before director John McTiernan’s second venture

dir. John McTiernan

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into big-budget feature films were largely story-based, meaning they put story first and action second.

They followed one character, and focused on that one character’s journey to becoming a hero.

However, the movie shifts this classic trope by revolving its plot around this platoon. They are a mash of different people from all different backgrounds, ideologies, and ethnicities. They all have very strong bonds in the beginning of the movie, but near the end it becomes a question of who can be the most honorable by killing the predator on their own.

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he major flaw with this movie, however, is how it deals with these characters’ deaths. The group ends up being killed off one by one by the predator, but it feels like only some of the soldiers’ deaths serve a purpose.

The other deaths feel shoehorned in, and therefore meaningless.

Some characters’ reactions to the deaths also feel just as artificial,like they don’t care about the fact that one of their platoon mates just died a gruesome death right in front of them.

This movie came out in the mid-summer of 1987, making it almost impossible not to be watched by any casual moviegoer. Its classic repeatable quotes will never be forgotten and its effect on the basic formula of science-fiction/action movies can still resonate. Through its memorable lines and special effects, Predator, still remains one of the most unforgettable science-fiction action movies of its time.

—Michael Patterson

predator remake | entertainment

PREDATOR: 1987-2018 photography fair use

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his film was a lot of fun, but not because it was any good.

“The Predator,” the 2018 remake of the 1987 science fiction cult classic, is a confusing film to watch. You never know if it’s self-aware of its comedy, or if the direction is actually just laughable.

The best scenes feature a surprisingly strong supporting cast known in the film as “group two,” made up of comedian KeeganMichael Key, Trevante Rhodes, the star of 2016’s Best-Picture winner “Moonlight,” and Hollywood veteran Thomas Jane.

But unfortunately, since this world isn’t perfect and we don’t always get want we want, the film has a weird and confusing side focus about a father and son trying to reconnect amidst aliens that want to kill them. If we got a film entirely about “group two” killing aliens instead, then everyone would be very pleased by this hollywood remake.

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ther than the exceptions made by “group two2,” the acting is weird and sometimes uncomfortable. This is very disappointing because the film has endless talent. The cast in all has appeared in four different Best-Picture nominated films, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell at all from Predator’s lackluster direction from Shane Black.

Black is best known for being the writer-director of “Iron Man 3” (considered to be one of the weakest films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), as well as being a head writer for the

“Lethal Weapon” franchise. It’s unfortunate that “The Predator,” even with breakout star of NBC’s ”This Is Us” Sterling K. Brown as the lead antagonist, still lacks a clear vision.

Sadly, Brown does a complete career 180 as a weird side-villain to the real threat, which areis the aliens coming to destroy all of Earth. Brown’s character is hyped up more than the Ppredator itself.

Male lead army sniper Quinn (Boyd Holbrook) does everything he can to make a bad plot work, but Holbrook’s performance unfortunately offers nothing of value to overshadow the awful lines that were written for him.

Child star Jacob Tremblay’s performance will make people forget all about his sensational role as Jack in the 2015 Oscarwinning film “Room.” Tremblay plays a stereotypical bullied and misunderstood kid, but the character comes across as annoying and dull.

Unfortunately, as far as the humor goes, the remake doesn’t quite make itself clear if the film is self aware that it is partially a comedy or just the writing is so laughable it comes across as so. The thing that makes the original “Predator” so good is the fun 80’s nostalgia, but that is clearly missing this time around.

Although the writers did manage to throw in a well-timed “get to the chopper” line as a homage to the famous scene from the original, which is very respectable.

—Geoffrey Vollette

Sept. 14, 2018 20th Century Fox Starring: Boyd Holbrook

The PREDATOR dir. Shane Black November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 49

entertainment | movie review

MOVIE: THE HATE U GIVE L

ist of my favorite things: the color yellow, a cool winter’s day, fettuccine alfredo. Scratch that. List of my favorite things after Oct. 19: “The Hate U Give.”

Feb. 28, 2017 marks the original publishing date of the book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. On Oct. 19, 2018, the movie adaptation of the legendary book was released in all theaters.

The release of this film was highly anticipated following the popularity received by the book, and it has certainly lived up to the praise.

Directed by George Tillman Jr, who is most famously known for directing Soul Food and Men of Honor, the film illustrates black excellence in every aspect.

In the movie, Starr Carter, played by Amandla Stenberg who is also known for her starring roles in “Everything, Everything” and “The Darkest Minds,” is a 16-year old African American girl that switches between her neighborhood that as seen as “ghetto” to the rich, white kids at her private school.

In the movie, Starr never feels like she can be completely sincere with either crowd. At her school, she has to be “Starr Version 2” which means never getting mad and never using slang.

When she is in Garden Heights, her friends often mock her for being too stuck up for attending a private school.

Wherever she is, Starr feels like she is constantly putting on a face for one crowd or the other, while never genuinely being herself.

But everything changes when Starr’s childhood friend, Khalil Harris (Algee Smith) is shot by a white police officer who believed Khalil to be reaching for his weapon. The weapon? A hairbrush. The officer? Given a paid suspension.

The film is a landmark in the fight against police brutality toward AfricanAmericans. After Khalil is shot, Starr assumes responsibility as a black person to fight for Khalil’s justice and to speak for equality in his honor.

Within the two hours and twelve minutes, Starr blossoms into an incredible,

strong young black woman who was unwilling to remain silent. Starr Carter is a role model for African-Americans, but especially African-American youth.

As I walked out of the theater, I related to every aspect of the film. I felt proud of the cast for creating a beautiful movie that encourages the importance of togetherness and I felt proud as an African-American woman.

The film established the necessity of unity, not only as a nation, but in the African-American community. This is seen when Starr is speaking to the entirety of Garden Heights during the Justice for Khalil protest.

In this scene, Starr shouts “He mattered! He lived!” which the group of protestors met with praises and action against the line of police holding them back. To the audience, this scene proclaims “No more.”

Equality is never going to be recognized across the nation, until we, as black people, fully celebrate our roots and revel in the absolute beauty of our culture.

Our skin. Our hair. Our bodies. This movie is us. Starr proves that we, as a community, have the power to make a difference and to fight for the justice that we deserve. She proves that we will not remain silent.

Although the people are celebrities and the characters are fictional, this movie is a representation of the society that we live in. It is a representation of the acceptance that is possible and the pride that is necessary. Every person can find themselves in some aspect of the movie.

Perhaps as Chris, Starr’s white boyfriend played by “Riverdale” star KJ Apa, who supports her no matter what. Or Maverick Carter (Russell Hornsby), Starr’s father who teaches his children to stand up for their beliefs.

The fact is, this film was made with the intent to unify.

It is a wake-up call to our society that never avoids a chance to claim that all lives matter, but refuses to analyze the actions that prove whose lives matter more.

—Shiloh Wolfork

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photography fair use

car review | entertainment

GREAT R-SPECTATIONS review jack mcfarland | photography fair use

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’ve alway had a special spot in my heart for my first car, the Hyundai Veloster. The quirky styling and bizarre characteristics were what first attracted me to the car. Hyundai first introduced the motorcycle-inspired three door hatch to the world in 2011. Fast forward to 2018, and Hyundai has now completely redesigned the three-door hatch, claiming the car is now a true drivers’ car. Have they succeeded? That’s what we’re here to find out.

Hyundai completely redid the Veloster for the 2019 model year. Although the first generation looked cool, it didn’t have the performance to match its looks. Hyundai claims they’ve fixed this problem with their latest model.

Looks From Hyundai’s signature cascading front grill down to the “lobster claw” tail lights in the rear. Hyundai kept the odd, yet charming, third door on the passenger side of the car for the outgoing model. This is one of the many things that help the asymmetrical hatch stand out in today’s blur of new cars. The Veloster continues to have a low and wide stance.

However, new to 2019, the Veloster now has character lines just above the wheels to add to the sporty “fast moving” effect.

The R-Spec comes equipped with 18-inch dark grey wheels that have an orange ring around the center cap. From the side, the car looks sporty and has a sloping roofline that ends with a fairly squatted rear end. The Veloster comes in an array of new fun colors, including sunset orange.

manner, materials are nice and the screen feels durable.

The seats are more comfortable than the outgoing model, mostly due to the bolstering (sides of the seats) not being as aggressive.

Taking a seat in the rear of the veloster isn’t as comfortable.

This is mostly due to the cars smaller size and sport-inspired sloping roof. Overall the Veloster has seating for four but comfortable seating for two. The trunk goes from 18-cubicfeet to 20-cubic-feet.

Love music? Then you’ll love the Veloster’s Infinity by Harman sound system. Apple Carplay and Android Auto come standard on all Veloster R-Spec models.

Interior The new Veloster’s interior is way better than the previous generation Veloster. The fabrics and plastics are of much higher quality and the overall fit and finish is much improved.

All R-Spec models come equipped with a B&M short throw shifter and machined aluminium shift knob that add a sense of high quality to the interior. The eight-inch screen, located at the top of the dash, is mounted in a tablet

Driving Impressions Hyundai gave the new Veloster independent rear suspension in place of the torsion beam in the previous-generation car. After driving the 2019 Veloster, you can tell that Hyundai definitely tried to improve the cars driving mannerisms. Steering feel is solid but not superb. Hit the sport button on the center console and the steering gets heavier.

All Veloster R-Spec’s come equipped with a

six speed manual transmission equipped with a B&M short throw shifter. Shifts are crisp and clean and the clutch has a nice weight to it and the engaging point is very good. The 1.6L inline four cylinder turbo has fantastic low end torque that makes driving the 2,900-pound hatch fun especially on backroads. Power is sufficient for the car but it could use a bit more.

Exhaust note is great for the engine being as small as it is, you even get some fun cracks and bangs from the exhaust of the car. Hit the sport button and it enhances the exhaust note through the car’s stereo system.

Final Impressions The new Hyundai Veloster R-Spec is far improved from the outgoing model. The new car is a blast to drive, looks good, gets great gas mileage, has a great stereo, is comfortable, and is loaded with great value!

However, there are a couple things Hyundai could do to improve the car further (which I have a feeling will be addressed in the Veloster N). Overall I would recommend the Veloster to anyone looking for a fun hatch that’s also practical yet fuel-efficient all for an affordable $22,900. •

HYUNDAI VELOSTER 2019 November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 51

entertainment | band feature

BEATING THEIR OWN DRUM East alumni Taylor Watkins and Scott Harris have been playing music together since their freshman year. Now, they’ve released their first major album together as “Watkins.” story michael szczepkowski photography used with permission

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atkins is home-grown talent. Conceived at the beginning of lead singer Taylor Watkins and drummer Scott Harris’ freshman year at East, the band has evolved from a twopiece to a five-piece alternative rock band. With their existence coming to around eight years, the band released their first album in February of this year, “Interstate of Mind.”

Taylor Watkins says he tried to “create a story” for his album. “[The album is] like a little emotional ride for people to see both sides of things, while being able to take it in as a happy song, or however they want to take it, but still have a good groove with the music,” Watkins says. “What we tried to create is [categorized as] psychedelic chill rock.”

The road to completing “Interstate of Mind” was not an easy one. Due to college, Harris and Watkins had to travel between Tennessee and

Kentucky, just to get time together in order to record the album’s 11 songs.

“We were just setting up home studios wherever we were, basically just trying to get anything we could recorded to just have demos and get us in the recording mode,” Watkins says.

Unfortunately that was “not really cutting it,” as Waktins puts it. Within those two-to-three years spent traveling, only three singles were put out under the band’s previous name, No Zapatos: “More of This,” “Trying,” and “Lie (BlackHoles).” The band knew something had to change and so Watkins decided to move to Nashville for the summer. As work began on Interstate of Mind, the need for more members became increasingly obvious. Asking around, Watkins finally had his break.

“We knew we needed a bass player,” Watkins said. “We know we wanted some background vocals, [and] we knew we wanted a lead guitar.”

So, piece by piece, the band came together.

Connor Gravley-Novello became the band’s bass, James Muller joined as their lead guitar, and Jake Luttrell played the keyboard.

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2018

The traveling home studio still remained a problem, but a solution abruptly appeared.

“Two summers ago, we contacted Mike Curb Entertainment at Belmont studios and they were really helpful. [The producer] loved our project.” Watkins said. “We asked if there was any way [he] could give us a more studio time than usual and he was really thrilled.”

To Watkins’ benefit, there was no one else coming to record during the summer time, so they ended up with having an empty studio called Quonset Hut and Columbia Studio A. “We also did a good amount of recording at Ocean Way, a $3,000-4,000 per night studio,” Watkins added.

Scott Harris, a sound engineer in training and the band’s original drummer, considers Watkins a difficult sound to describe, despite it being one that each member of the band knowingly despite it being one that each member of the band knowingly wants to create.

“It depends very much so on what Taylor [is] feeling at the time,” Harris says. “He’s the one who writes the music while playing acoustic. The music is very reflective of the mood that the lyrics create.” •

music reviews | entertainment

MUSIC REVIEWS S

FEB. 16, 2018

inger and guitarist Taylor Watkins and drummer Scott Harris started playing music together in their freshman year at East, putting out their first album together as “No Zapatos” just before graduation. In February, however, the longtime friends released their first album under the name Watkins.

“Interstate Of Mind” embraces the upbeat indie-rock of their time as No Zapatos, but the addition of Connor Gravley-Novello on bass, James Muller on lead guitar and Jake Luttrell on keyboard allows for more intricacy in the band’s sound. The light acoustic jams of their early days are gone in favor of riff-driven tracks that hold loose roots in the southern rock of Tennessee, where most their music was recorded.

This blend is evident in songs like opener

“Nocturnal,” where the loose guitars of the verse are contrasted richly by the twang of the lead guitars; all over a melody that strike up 15-year-old memories of Matchbox Twenty.

Later songs, however, embrace the edgier sounds that a five-piece group enables. “Assess the Situation” boasts a wah-laden lead guitar that coats the rhythm section, floating by the phaser sound of the second guitar.

“Interstate Of Mind” is able to maintain a steady alternative sound, using either distorted or acoustic sounds to accomplish that goal.

Through the consistent power offered by the album’s ten songs, it is evident that Watkins’ and Harris’ near-decade-long project is more powerful now than ever.

—Bryce Forren

Watkins: INTERSTATE OF MIND B AUG. 24, 2018

TS, the South Korean K-pop group, stuns audiences yet again with another powerful album centered on love entitled “Love Yourself: Answer.” The group, which debuted under BigHit Entertainment in June 2013, consists of seven members; RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. “Love Yourself: Answer” is the final installment of a three-part series that started with “Love Yourself: Her” and followed with “Love Yourself: Tear.” Each installment is centered on a different story line, with “Her”about loving another, “Tear” about realizing that love wasn’t real, and “Answer” about understanding that you need to love yourself before you can love another.

“Answer” starts off with the track “Euphoria,” which effectively creates a hopeful and optimistic theme for the rest of the album.

The main track of Answer, however, is “IDOL”

which encourages listeners to continue to love themselves despite what others may say, because love for yourself is the most important thing.

Since this album is the end of the series, it includes songs from the previous albums such as “Her,” a rock and dance version of the hit “DNA,” “Mic Drop,” “Fake Love,” and “Truth Untold.”

Overall, the album was very creative and artistic, and I strongly suggest listening to it.

This band seems to transcend any box it’s placed in, and defy stereotypes every chance it gets. With “Love Yourself: Answer,” being the final installment of a year-long series, it’s hard to see where they are going to go from here.

But one thing is for sure: their fanbase, which affectionately calls themselves “ARMY,” will always stand by their side.

—Anna Biddle

BTS: LOVE YOURSELF: ANSWER Playlist: Alternative 90’s I Followers: 306,227 Curated by: Spotify

n true fashion of the nostalgia that has driven pop culture through the 2010’s, “Alternative 90’s” allows Spotify’s listeners to immerse themselves in the early days of the genre that is still thriving today. Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” and Radiohead’s “Creep” are among the array of tracks that make this playlist the go-to for anyone interested in exploring the genre’s development. —Bryce Forren

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 53

sports | football

East senior Evan Yablonsky checks in with the referee during the 34-6 State Playoff loss to Elder.

THE GLUE story broc nordmark photography bea amsalu

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Switching to wide out on a run-based team? Evan Yablonsky changed positions to help the Hawks make the playoffs.

For him, it was a no brainer.

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ast fans are decked out in all pink for breast cancer awareness, facing the sea of red in the West bleachers. The drizzling rain slightly fogs the air, and the sound of the fans screaming fills the atmosphere as the football soars through the air. Caught by the receiver. Touchdown Hawks.

The West bleachers go completely silent as East’s players slap the helmet of East senior Evan Yablonsky. The Hawks nest is ecstatic. The chants for number 88 echo through the stadium.

Every student is frantic, and not because that East scored. It is because of who scored. The guy who everyone loves. The big man on campus. The Homecoming King. It’s Evan Yablonsky.

Many current or former National Football League (NFL) players have switched positions for the sake of their team. Players like Hines Ward, Julian Edelman, Terrelle Pryor and Mohamed Sanu willingly converted from quarterback to wide-receiver. All of them have found success, and have lifted their teams.

Yablonsky is following in the shoes of these talented players. After playing quarterback for the Hawks during his freshman and sophomore seasons, Yablonsky was asked to make the transition to playing receiver his junior and senior seasons.

He willingly took on the change of pace and immediately got to work despite how past receivers have fared in East’s triple option scheme, being used about as much as a lawn mower by someone living in a studio apartment. His unique set of skills at the receiver position has begun to change that narrative.

Yablonsky started the conversion as soon as his sophomore year came to a close. The decision stemmed from East’s final game of their sophomore season against West, when he played wide out.

“We were down in a two-minute drill situation and lord knows I can’t throw the football,” Yablonsky says. “So they put Sean Church at quarterback and me at receiver. We kind of did a little flip-flop. I had about three or four catches in a row on that drive.”

The decision to move Yablonsky was an easy one for Head Coach Richard Haynes. After seeing Yablonsky play receiver, he loved the skillset Yablonsky brings.

“I think he’s a sneaky athlete. I think you look

football | sports at him and you don’t think he’s nearly as athletic as he is.” Haynes says. “He does a great job of blocking down the field, he has great hands, he’s not afraid to go catch the ball.”

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is impact on the success of the team isn’t limited to just his production as a receiver.

In his last year with the program, he has taken on many different roles --- all aimed at helping the Hawks.

Haynes says that Yablonsky has made great contributions to the team’s success this season.

“He’s played really well on offense, he’s our long snapper, he has come in and kicked when our starting kicker has been hurt, he catches punts,” Haynes says. “He’s kind of like the glue that holds our team together.”

It takes a lot of offseason work and constant grinding in practice to be able to play multiple positions. However, Yablonsky says he was more than willing to take on the extra work in order to do more for the team.

“I was willing to learn all those new positions because that’s how I can contribute to the team. I believe that I do more for the team playing these positions than I would have playing backup quarterback,” Yablonsky says.

“It’s all worth it when we get a win on friday night and I know I contributed to that.”

Yablonsky has made an impact on his team from many different positions, but his contributions as a pass catcher have come as

“He’s kind of like the glue that holds our team together.” — Richard Haynes a surprise. East runs a triple option offense, which is a run dominated offensive scheme.

With the heavy workload of ball carriers, such as Jack Dobrozi, East’s receivers in the past have had limited opportunities.

He is placed top five in the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) in receiving yards, and is one of East’s leading receivers since the start of the program. Assistant Coach Kenneth Kinch is in his first year with East football, working with the wide-receivers on the team.

Kinch says that Yablonsky gives the team a boost both with his skills as a player and as a teammate.

“A big thing for him is his leadership, not only verbal, but also through his actions. He leads by example,” Kinch says. “He gives us an offensive threat. We’re a run-dominated offense. But when there are times when we need to throw, he gives us that opportunity.”

Yablonsky has created many bonds throughout the course of his high school career, including East senior Tyler Wilkerson, who says that the one thing he loves the most

about football is the brotherhood.

“You learn a lot about those guys, and you spend more time with them than with anybody else,” Wilkerson says. “They’re your best friends.”

As teammates, having faith in one another is crucial. Wilkerson saw the potential in Yablonsky as he was making the transition to receiver. Wilkerson said that Yablonsky was well suited to play receiver, and the switch has helped their team tremendously.

“Last year, we didn’t have any receivers.

Then we come out with a stud like Evan,” Wilkerson says. “Our sophomore year, we had pretty good receivers, but we were left with a gap after they left. Then Evan kind of slid out and we got better.”

J

ust like some of the great players to switch positions in the NFL, Yablonsky has made multiple sacrifices for the sake of his team.

He plays multiple positions, puts in countless hours of work, and is a role model for all of his teammates.

Yablonsky doesn’t complain. When he puts on his helmet and walks onto the field with the lights illuminating the night and the students going crazy, he knows it is all worth it.

“It’s a lot more fun for me playing widereceiver, but I don’t think there’s any advantage to playing a specific position,” Yablonsky says.

“Just playing at the varsity level is a dream.” •

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November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 55

sports | girls soccer

SISTERS PAST SECTIONALS

East women’s soccer hold hands to celebrate each other after every game.

This past season, East women’s soccer advanced past the sectional game in the state OHSAA tournament for the first time since 2004. Two of the four coaches for East had been on the squad that advanced that far 14 years ago. story and infographic bea amsalu | photos bea amsalu, caroline bumgarner, used with permission

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ast women’s soccer coach Tom McEwan ikes to post inspirational quotes and photos on the team’s Twitter account. Towards the end of the season, he posted the number 14 and asked the team what it might mean at practice later.

While one of the players guessed that jersey number 14 was the only varsity number not worn by a player, McEwan posted the number because it had been 14 years since the team had advanced past the sectional finals in the postseason tournament. Not only had it been so long since the team was so successful, but current varsity coaches Emily Miller and Lorrin Patrick were players on the team back in 2004.

“It was [our] junior year. [Patrick and I played] on the back line and had a really strong team,” says Miller, who’s been coaching at East for five years. “We beat West in sectional finals, beat Turpin in district finals and ended up losing in regional semifinals against Beavercreek in [penalty kicks]. It was a really great game, but we choked at [penalty kicks].”

This year, the team had a record of 10 wins, six losses, and three ties during their season.

They had a 4-4-1 record in the Greater Miami

Conference (GMC), to be ranked as the No.14 seed in the postseason tournament. East defeated Little Miami High School 3-2 in the first round of play and defeated Milford High School 1-0 in the second round.

East ended a 14-year drought when they upset number two seed Fairfield 2-1 in overtime during the sectional final on Oct. 23. The game was redemption for the regular season match when East lost to Fairfield 6-1. The Thunderhawks fell to Mount Notre Dame High School 1-0 in the district finals on Oct. 27.

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iller thinks that her team was so successful back in 2004 not only because of the skill levels and talent the squad had, but because of the leadership and mentality the girls on the team had.

“The 2004 team, although not the best of friends off the field, had a sisterly connection that kept them together,” Miller says. “That team played inspired. We had a couple seniors on the team who knew how to put the team on their shoulders and demand the best from their teammates. The captains had the responsibility and the dedication to keeping everyone focused

56 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

and passionate.”

Going into the 2018 season, Miller saw similarities in the four senior captains, forward Kate Larbes, midfielder Jenna Kralik, defender Ashley Whitehead, and goalkeeper Madison Hart.

“The senior class, who also happens to be the captains, took full responsibility in their roles,” Miller says. “They played passionately, they lead and encouraged their teammates, [and] they demanded a lot from not only their teammates, but of themselves.”

Like sisters, Miller knows there is sometimes drama between players. Despite this though, she

Miller and Patrick (then Bertsch, fourth and fifth from left in the back row) stand side by side in the 2004 East women’s soccer team picture

saw the girls back when she was a player and now rise above anything that might be going on for the good of the team.

“In both talent or soccer skill and personalities of the players, I can almost match player for player from 2004 to 2018,” Miller says. “The important part is that by the end of the season, like all high school girls sports, even if there is tension among teammates, at end of every game, they held hands and held each other up.”

Hart, who stopped an outstanding nine out of ten of Fairfield’s shots on goal during the sectional final, believes a lot of their success came from the heightened “sister” mentality the team had this season compared to previous years.

“Our teammates this year have really been the best. We connected and we really are sisters this year. We’ve bonded and we actually like each other,” Hart says. “[By the time the tournament started], we finally connected as a team. We just got each other and didn’t really need to communicate as much we usually do.”

Junior midfielder Jackie Amaya also thinks the team has done so well this year because of the diverse positions the captains play.

“This year it’s been different because the four [captains] are all at different parts of the field,” says Amaya, who has been on the varsity squad all three years she’s played at East. “We have keeper, defense, midfield, and forward. They all bring different experiences and can relate to every single player on the team.”

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oth Patrick and Miller agree that their coach back in 2004, Tara Riffle-Murray, made sure to keep soccer fun for them during their season, but they had no idea the caliber of the games they were playing during the tournament.

“She wasn’t overly into making sure that we knew how high the stakes were, which is good and bad in a lot of ways,” Miller says. “We were having fun. We were playing soccer, [and] we were kicking butt. We had no idea that we were two games out from winning state. I didn’t know the next game would have been states semis, so I was ignorant. Ignorance is bliss, sure, but it was a very difficult journey.”

As the team went into the state tournament, Patrick kept her 2004 experiences in mind as she helped the team prepare for games.

“Now that I’m a coach, I always think ‘man if somebody would have just told me this,’ or ‘If I

Kate Larbes (in black, #7) cuts the ball in a game against Mount Notre Dame.

“Even if there is tension among teammates, at end of every game, they hold each other up.”

—Emily Miller, East women’s soccer coach would have just known that,’ so I feel like I really try to do that all the time,” Patrick says. “I try to remind them ‘This could be your last game, so you don’t want to feel this way when you lose.’”

Had East won the district final against Mount Notre Dame, the team would have advanced to the “sweet sixteen” regional semifinal round and faced off against Beavercreek. During the 2004 season, East lost against Beavercreek after double-overtime in penalty kicks during the same round of play.

As Larbes prepares to leave East and continue her soccer career at Morehead State University next year, she is appreciative of the impact East

women’s soccer has had on her high school experience. Larbes as faith in her team that there will not be another 14 year drought in tournament success.

“Looking back at the season, knowing how much potential and talent the team had, I knew we were going to do something special this year,” Larbes says. “I’m beyond proud of my team and the success we achieved together and I know they can and will achieve so much more with the talent of the players and coaches in the future. The records of wins and losses will eventually fade, but the friendships made will always be the most special part of East soccer.” •

Key Conference Title

Sectional Title

District Title

2000

2001

2003 2004 2005

2018

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 57

sports | club soccer

KICK STARTING East juniors Samantha Dodd and Parker Crowell participate in club soccer to get more exposure to colleges. story jack parr photograhy joe phelan and used with permission

S

he takes a deep breath as she gets ready to take the penalty kick. Her heart races as she runs up and strikes the ball just past the outstretched arm of the keeper and into the net. Her teammates storm out onto the field and celebrate the victory that the kick just sealed. She couldn’t be happier.

But something’s missing. There is no roar of the student section cheering on their classmates. No junior varsity (JV) team on the sideline watching the upperclassmen compete.

No music pumping on the bus ride back to school as the team celebrates the big win.

East junior Samantha Dodd had to make the difficult decision to give up these missing pieces and more when she chose to stop playing high school soccer after her freshman year and compete full-time for the Cincinnati Development Academy (DA).

“It was especially tough for me to give up high school soccer because I had already gotten the experience of playing at the varsity level during my freshman year,” Dodd says.

“There are definitely things that I miss about it, including wearing my jersey to school and the experience of representing the school and playing in front of the student section.”

Many components went into Dodd’s decision to exclusively play club soccer rather than school soccer. One of the major determining factors was the exposure to colleges and recruiters that the DA would provide, which Dodd believed to be much more significant than the opportunities that she would have as a Thunderhawk.

“It was a very difficult decision to make.

Ultimately, I felt that it was the right choice for me because of the opportunities the DA would give me to be recruited,” Dodd says. “I felt that the opportunities were just a little more than what I could have at the high school level.”

Dodd is part of an increasing group of players, both boys and girls, that have given up high school soccer to pursue higher level opportunities with the DA or other top level club teams. Among those is Lakota East

Samantha Dodd lines up a pass during a game for the Cincinnati DA. junior Parker Crowell, who is a member of the Columbus Crew Academy U-17 team.

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or someone as talented as Crowell, who is committed to play soccer at the Naval Academy and has a chance to play professionally following college, the choice to give up high school soccer was much easier.

“Overall, it wasn’t a difficult decision because the DA has a lot more benefits and opportunities than high school soccer does,” Crowell says. “If you’re trying to go to college or play professionally, the DA is the way to go.”

After having success during his time at the Crew Academy, Crowell has attracted the attention of college and professional scouts while continuing to impress his coaches and

58 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

everyone involved in the Crew organization both on and off the field.

“Parker is an attacking player who has the ability to influence the game by scoring or creating goals every time he steps on the field,” Crew Academy General Manager Dennis Sanchez told Spark. “He is also an outstanding person, wants to constantly learn, and has a strong work ethic. He represents our club’s ethos in all capacities.”

Once his time at the Crew Academy is over, Crowell will look to continue the progress he has made in hopes of achieving his dream of playing professional soccer. Sanchez believes he can succeed if he continues to develop and plays at a consistent level.

“Parker will reach his full abilities if he

club soccer | sports continues to believe in his abilities and play with confidence. He now needs to perform at his optimal level consistently over a period of time,” Sanchez told Spark. “His experience within our academy of playing against the best players in the country and receiving a high level of professional coaching will put him in a position to be successful at the Naval Academy.”

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rowell has had to undertake a huge commitment to play for the Crew Academy while still being a full-time high school student. He is able to maintain successful grades by doing the majority of his homework in the car during the two hour trip to and from practice every day. This kind of time strain effects not only Crowell but his family as well.

“Most of the time, I’m in the car more than I’m actually at practice,” Crowell says. “ It takes a lot of time out of my parent’s days and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”

Not every young athlete is looking for the level of commitment that Crowell has to take on in order to play at such a high level. While Crowell and Dodd are very happy with where they are now, not everyone that has chosen to play for the DA has had the same positive experience.

East senior Jenna Kralik is among those who prefer playing high school soccer after experiencing both perspectives. After leaving the Thunderhawks to play for the DA during her junior year, Kralik decided that the high school team was a better fit for her and has returned to the varsity roster for her senior season.

“High school is more relaxed. You play for the joy of playing,” Kralik says. “The DA is more serious with the recruiting and the

“It was a very difficult decision to make. Ultimately, I felt that it was the right one because the recruitement were just a little more than what I could have at the high school level.”

—Sam Dodd, Cincinnati Development Academy soccer player coaches take it a lot more seriously. It’s hardcore. You have to be really focused and you have to love soccer.”

Another factor that made Dodd’s decision difficult was the relationship she had built with Lakota East varsity soccer coach Tom McEwan during her freshman season. Even though the two haven’t maintained the same relationship during the past two years, McEwan does not have any hard feelings towards Dodd and wishes her the best at the DA as she prepares for college.

“Sam is a great kid. She has some unique talents as a soccer player,” McEwan says.

“I don’t begrudge her decision at all. She obviously made the decision she felt was best for her.”

While it may seem that high school coaches have a tough task trying to prevent talented players from leaving for high-level clubs, McEwan doesn’t see it as competition and likes to allow his players to make the decision on their own.

“I don’t view it as competition and truly comes down to individual choice,” McEwan says. “I have never, nor will I ever talk a player into choosing one or the other. I feel the worst thing a coach can do is pressure or force a player into a decision.”

Although Kralik did not particularly enjoy

her season away from the comfort of the Hawks Nest, she feels that the DA did a good job of preparing her for the next level and made it possible for her to commit to play at Ohio University. Committing during her junior year was a big factor in her decision to return to play for East this season.

“If you haven’t committed yet, it’s probably better to play DA because of the exposure you get,” Kralik says. “If you have already committed, it’s really whatever is best for you.

The [Ohio University] coaching staff was extremely supportive of my decision to play school soccer my senior year. They really didn’t care either way.”

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s Kralik prepares to lead the East varsity soccer team through her last end-ofseason tournament, Dodd is focused on continuing to develop and improve with the DA as she makes the transition to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she has committed to further her athletic career.

“My goal is just to keep getting better and continue to play at a high level,” Dodd says. “Having so many D-1 players around me motivates me to work even harder. If I can match them with my level of play, I will continue to improve and reach my fullest potential.” •

“His experience within our academy of playing against the best players in the country and receiving a high level of professional coaching will put him in a position to be successful at the Naval Academy.”

—Dennis Sanchez

Above: East junior Parker Crowell (right) dribbles down the sideline while playing for his club team.

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 59

sports | golf

East boys and girls golf teams finished out their seasons strong at the state tournament. story stone shields infographic stephen mckay and stone shields photography used with permission of Paragon Yearbook

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MAKING A

STATEMENT East Junior Brock Aten striped his drive down the middle during the team’s state run.

60 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

oth the boys and girls golf teams from East strutted the grounds of The Ohio State University Golf Club with a new level of confidence this year. This year marked the third consecutive year the boys competed in the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) State Tournament, and the second consecutive year the girls had. It was no longer time to celebrate simply qualifying, it was time to compete for some hardware.

The boys finished in a tie for second place with St. Xavier. Both schools had two-day totals of 650. However, the fifth score for each team served as the tie-breaker. Freshman Ty Sylla shot a 84 in the second round, defeating St. Xavier’s fifth man and securing second place for the Hawks. The girls team took fifth place, two spots better than their 2017 finish.

The boys team stuck with the same five man rotation throughout the entirety of the postseason: senior Kyle Schmidt, juniors Peyton Houston and Brock Aten, and freshman Joe Wilson IV and Ty Sylla. They had regular season 9-hole-averages of 35.56, 38.48, 40.57, 38.43, and 38.90 respectively.

The East boys owned the field in the first three stages of the playoffs. They won the conference tournament by 30 shots. This is the fifth consecutive year East has taken the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) crown.

They followed up this performance with winning Sectionals by four and Districts by three. All three victories featured a second place finish by Mason.

The last remaining obstacle that stood in their way was the State Tournament.

The boys played Scarlet, and it definitely showed its teeth over the course of event. The wind was howling and the greens were lightning quick. Keeping the ball in the fairway is a necessity at Scarlet. The greens and bunkers are unforgiving, players can’t afford to give up shots due to poor control off the tee.

“I would have liked to have seen a little softer greens, but we like tough conditions and understand it isn’t supposed to be easy,” says

golf | sports

“At the beginning of the year I would’ve taken it and run with it. I thought we could have made it close on Saturday but I am very happy for the boys and extremely proud of them.”

– Jeff Combs, Head Golf Coach

East head golf coach Jeff Combs, who has won nine conference titles in his tenure.

The greens were not holding well, so players were forced to land approach shots short of the pin and roll it up to the hole. In addition, the quick, undulated greens produced a lot of three-putts from nearly everyone in the field.

“The greens were super fast,” says East junior Brock Aten. “If you left an uphill putt short, there was a chance the ball could roll right back down to you.”

The Hawks shot 321 in the first round of play, only five shots back of the defending state champs Dublin Jerome. They were in a good position to make a Saturday push for the title.

Jerome, however, was able to pull away on day two and repeat as state champions. They are a very deep team with a lot of talent. They were led by seniors Jackson Chandler and Mason Wagner who are committed to Ohio State and Xavier respectively. Chandler was also the Individual Co-Medalist.

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erome Head Coach Taylor Harle attests a lot of their success to the competition that is embedded within their program.

“We have so many great players that challenge each other all year round and want to be apart of our team,” Harle says. “Having guys that are constantly pushing each other is a reminder that no one can become complacent, there is always someone trying to take your spot.”

In addition, Harle loves competing against East and had nothing but good things to say about Combs’ program.

“They are respectful towards other players

Boys State Champions 2015: St. Xavier 2016: St. Xavier 2017: Dublin Jerome 2018: Dublin Jerome

East junior Grace Honigford tees off while playing in an inventational. and coaches, and always behave appropriately,” Harle says. “They are humble when they perform well and are congratulatory when others play well.”

The Hawks didn’t go up to Columbus to get second place, but they will take it.

“At the beginning of the year I would’ve taken it and run with it,” Combs says. “I

Girls State Champions 2015: Dublin Jerome 2016: Olentangy Orange 2017: Olentangy Orange 2018: New Albany

thought we could have made it close on Saturday but I am very happy for the boys and extremely proud of them.”

The biggest challenge for next years team will be attempting to fill the shoes of senior captain Kyle Schmidt, who has been their clearcut best player over the last three years. He is a three-time GMC Champion, three-time Sectional Champion, and District Champion.

“Looking back at the last four years brings back a lot of good memories. When I first joined the team, I was only a freshman with relatively no experience,” Schmidt says. “I’ve grown a lot as a player and a lot of that comes from Coach Combs, Coach Wilson, and Coach Vandy. They have all taught me what it takes to be a good player and an even better person, and for that I am truly grateful.”

Schmidt is very much looking forward to the next chapter of his golf career which will start next season at the University of Dayton.

“I’m really looking forward to a new challenge and even better competition,” Schmidt says. “I’ve always loved playing with guys who are better than me. It helps me improve and become a better player and I think I’ll experience a lot of that as I play at Dayton over the next four years.”

Dayton Men’s Head Golf Coach Gip Hoagland told Spark that NCAA rules forbid him to talk about recruits until they sign their National Letter of Intent which Schmidt will do later this month.

The East girls team also had a season to remember. Their goal all season was to qualify for State and they did just that under the leadership of first year head coach Alison Green.

“I am extremely pleased with the teams performance at State this year,” Green says.

“Our two goals going in were to improve upon last year’s score and finish in the top five. We were able to accomplish both of those things.”

The girls state lineup consisted of senior Bree Wilson, juniors Camryn Eddy and Grace Honigford, and freshman Ellie Yeazell and Samantha Bernardo. At State they shot twoday scores of 158, 168, 163, 173, and 178 respectively.

The future is bright for both the East boys and girls programs. Both teams will return four out of five from their state teams with seniors Kyle Schmidt and Bree Wilson graduating.•

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 61

East faced Kings in week two of the season. The loss kept East from winning any playoff points.

PLAYOFF PICTURE The Greater Miami Conference changed their scheduling process,

and the decision has playoff implications story isaac lukose | photo abby bammerlin | infographic mckenna lewis

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ast season, East played Hamilton and won 30-21. It didn’t matter, however, as East already lost two league games and was already on the outside of the playoff bracket looking in.

If only things were different. If only things were like three years ago, maybe the (GMC) football coaches would get more sleep.

Three years ago, nearly all of the athletic directors in the 10-team Greater Miami Conference (GMC), decided that they would change the football schedules to include more league games. Specifically, the athletic directors changed the 10-game schedule to include eight instead of seven league games, meaning that there are now two non-league games instead of three.

“We went to a eight-game conference schedule to solve conference non-league scheduling issues,” GMC Assistant

Commissioner Stu Eversole says. “Not many schools outside the conference want to step up to take on the GMC.” East’s Athletic Director Richard Bryant agreed.

“The league went from a seven-game league schedule to an eight-game league schedule based on [the fact that] it is difficult to find opponents that want to play us and other GMC schools.”

This year, East’s non-league opponents were Walnut Hills (a victory) and Kings (a lastsecond loss).

The Athletic Director at Mason, Scott Stemple, feels that the schedule change was a positive for Athletic Directors in general.

“Scheduling the appropriate Football opponent can be difficult. Many things need to be taken into consideration,” Stemple says.

“For example, location, quality of opponent

62 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

in terms of point return based on the Harbin rating system (point system that awards points for wins as well as points for opponent wins).

An example would be Springboro, which has been Mason’s first opponent to start the regular season for the past six years.

“They are relatively competitive year in year out. It is a winnable game, but always competitive game for both schools. Also, we are 10 miles apart,” Stemple says. “This saves on transportation costs [for teams, cheerleaders, band and buses) and the crowd attendance is generally strong which helps contribute to a great spectator atmosphere and financially to each schools’ general athletic budget.”

In football, teams are looking for “like” opponents in order to gain the most amount of points without risking a major loss. For example, a Division One team would want to face as many Division One teams as possible because they provide the most points (6.5).

Each lower Division provides 0.5 fewer points, with Division seven giving the least at 3.5 points.

The Ohio high school football playoffs points system is like the college football playoffs ranking system.

Not only do teams rise in the rankings if they win games, they also go up if their wins

gmc | sports

GMConquest

To earn level 1 points:

East played ten teams in the GMC. By earning level-1 and -2 points, East placed third for the 2018 season.

Flag Color Key: Win Lose

East’s Level 2 Points: Walnut Hills 6W 4L...............26 pts.

Kings 9W 2L.................................0 pts.

Middletown 2W 8L.................18 pts.

Princeton 3W 7L..................19.5 pts.

Fairfield 7W 3L...........................0 pts.

Princeton 3W 7L..................19.5 pts.

Oak Hills 3W 7L.......................18 pts.

East received differing amount of level-2 points from the two teams, because Oak Hills’ three wins were against d-1, d-2 and Oak Hills 3W 7L.......................18 pts. d-3 schools. This gave East a grand total Lakota West 4W 6L............26 pts. of 18 level-2 points (6.5+6+5.5) while Colerain 10W 0L.......................0 pts. Princeton’s three wins were all against Hamilton 1W 9L.....................6.5 pts. division-1 teams, which provided East 19.5 Sycamore 6W 4L...............37.5 pts. level-2 points (6.5+6.5+6.5).

are wins against teams with wins. With that being said, East finished 7-3, and defeated opponents with a combined record of 27-43.

This earned East enough points to qualify as a seventh seed in the eight-team OHSAA Region 4 (southwest, Ohio).

However, a team with a winning record, such as 6-4 Sycamore did not automatically qualify for the playoffs. A team’s goal is to defeat a higher-ranked opponent to gain more points.

If a team beats a lower-ranked opponent, the points earned aren’t as high when it concerns level-2 points, since these count the opponent’s points earned from level-1 points.

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Example of level 2 point calculation: Princeton and Oak Hills both managed to provide East with the same amount of level 1 points since both teams are division-I (d-1) opponents.

East recieved a differing amount of level 2 points for each school based on their individual win-loss record.

his was the problem for East, as they didn’t get nearly enough level-2 points since East’s victories prior to week 10 were against Walnut Hills, Middletown, Princeton, Oak Hills, and West, which would’ve been a combined record of 17-43. This made an already important game against Sycamore (a 42-21 win) even more important, since East only had 87 points up to that point. Once East defeated Sycamore, East got the level-1 points Sycamore had, 37.5 points.

Teams want to defeat higher quality opponents since teams are awarded more points. Ideally, if a team goes 10-0, they would

want each of their opponents to end up with a record of 9-1, since that would get them the most points. Teams receive no points for a loss.

This where the problem arises in the GMC, as more common opponents means that there is a greater chance for teams to beat up on each other, causing some good teams to miss the playoffs because their opponents won’t all have victories.

“If everybody’s very even and everybody is beating up on everyone, like, let’s say Colerain loses two games, Fairfield loses two games, we lose three games, West loses three, I mean if, it’s that equity could potentially cause us problems,” says Bryant, who also noted that there hasn’t been a problem yet because the league has been so top-heavy, with Colerain, Sycamore, Mason, and East all dominating the league in recent years.

Eversole added, “Our commissioner did a study on the Harbin point impact, which was minimal. Under this setup, the GMC can at least qualify three if not four teams to the OHSAA playoffs base on our Harbin points.”

This season, four out of the eight teams in the OHSAA Region 4 were from the GMC (Mason, East, Colerain, Fairfield). Milford, St. Xavier, Elder and Moeller rounded out the region.

Regarding the playoff system, East’s football coach Richard Haynes (who has guided East to three play-off appearances since 2010) provided a different perspective. He mentioned how high school football is the only sport in Ohio that doesn’t allow every team to make the tournament and how some (coaches) believe it’s time for the OHSAA to follow other states and allow all teams to partake.

“I coached at Loveland and we were 6-4, had a lot of guys hurt early, and won our last four games. We were playing really well; if they had let everybody in I think we could’ve made a decent run,” Haynes says.

W

ith that being said, Haynes does believe that there needs to be some restrictions on who gets in to the state tournament.

“I don’t wanna throw anybody under the bus but a really bad team that’s 0-6 goes and plays somebody like Mueller or St. X or Colerain week one and just get obliterated so, I don’t know, I just go back and forth on what’s the best thing for the kids.”

Ultimately, Bryant summed up both men’s thoughts on East’s playoff chances each season.

“We have to win our non-league games, and then we have to probably go 6-2 or 5-3 in the league to make the playoffs.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 63

sports opinion | ethan mccracken

IN THE

I

t’s Feb. 22, 1980 in Lake Placid, New York.

The winter olympics are coming to a close and the gold medal hockey game between the Soviet Union and the United States is being played in the Olympic Center.

The game was expected to be an easy victory for the soviets who had the oldest team in the competition besides Japan (who they beat 16-0). They had not lost a game the entire tournament, and they had beaten Canada 6-4 to get to the gold medal game.

The United States (US) team was entirely made up of college players, and had not lost a game either. Unlike the Soviets, the US wasn’t expected to make it this far, as they were seeded seventh out of the 12 teams and had a rough road ahead of them.

The US now had to face “the Red Army” a team that was one of the best international hockey teams that the world had ever seen, having the eventual leaders in games played, goals, and points for the Soviet Union in the history of the sport. The United States eventually won the game, leading to many movies and books being written about the team and the game.

The only way this happens is when team chemistry beats talent. This team wasn’t even in the top half of the seeding and wasn’t expected to make the medal rounds. They were full of amateur college players.

Team chemistry has always played a

TRENCHES huge part in success and you can’t have any success without it.

Manchester United is a perfect example of why you can’t just rely on talent. The team is sitting seventh in the premier league standings after gaining 17 points out of 24 possible points (teams get 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss). Manchester United has the highest average player salary in the premier league at 6.81 million dollars.

M

anchester United also sits behind Bournemouth who has an average player salary of 2.05 million dollars.

Bournemouth is in its four season in the premier league, ever, and have finished at number 16, seventh, and number 12. Manchester United’s manager, Jose Mourinho, has repeatedly snapped at reporters who have asked about the team chemistry on the team.

Manchester United is surrounded by controversies of their manager and one of their best players, Paul Pogba not being able to get along.

Paul Pogba has been seen ignoring the manager, been stripped of his vice-captain title, and he and the manager have reportedly fought on m u l t i p l e occasions.

Manchester United also lost to a second tier side in Derby County F.C. in the EFL Cup on penalties.

Soccer and hockey aren’t the only sports where

64 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

bad chemistry creates disappointing teams out of teams with generally decent or great talent.

Just take a look at the Seattle Mariners. The mariners the mariners on July 15th had a 64% chance to make the playoffs. The Mariners also had an 11 game lead over the Oakland A’s in June In early september, there was a fight in the club house hours before a game. It was all downhill from there.

Team chemistry is the reason the Mariners would miss out on the playoffs while the A’s would make it after a very good 2nd half of the season being in the top 10 for records aftWWer the all star break The A’s also have had one of the lowest payrolls for a long time, which when the team went on a run in 2002, the movie “Moneyball” was made in 2011 about the team’s amazing season with such a low payroll.

T

he A’s haven’t always been successful but they have done a lot under low payrolls, including making the playoffs this year and have done it 8 other times since 1998 when Billy Beane took over as baseball operations.

The Athletics have only been able to do this with their team chemistry since they can’t bring in the best talent like the Yankees or Dodgers.

The Yankees are paying Giancarlo Stanton 325 million dollars over 13 years after they brought him in last offseason, and they didn’t even make it to the World Series.

Baseball often relies on team chemistry.

Whenever that fails, teams don’t have success.

This idea also applies universally in sports. If you can’t communicate between players and coaches effectively, then you can’t have players playing at their potential. No matter how much money you throw at players it doesn’t guarantee that you can win championships.

Money doesn’t win championships alone.

That is universal throughout sports. Sure it helps, but it doesn’t guarantee anything if you don’t have a team that can play together as a team rather than just relying on each players talent. There will always be players like Lebron James who can bring a team deep into the playoffs on their own but even he didn’t win a title without Kyrie Irving to help him.•

mason wise | sports opinion

TEAM V. TALENT story Ethan McCracken and Mason Wise | photography joe phelan

Ethan McCracken and Mason Wise debate whether a team with chemistry performs better than a team with a few talented players.

I

t is Game four of the 2018 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals. Fans in Quicken Loans Arena are making their way towards the exits, as the final seconds of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season begin to wane.

The Golden State Warriors are on the verge of winning their second straight title.The players and their fans are already starting to celebrate an emphatic end their historic season.

As time expires and the clock hits all zeroes, the Warriors cap off their dominant NBA finals sweep with a 108-85 win over the Cavaliers. Despite the Cavaliers being led by Lebron James, arguably one of the greatest professional basketball players of all time, they were simply overpowered by the incredibly deep and talented Warriors roster.

The success of a team is usually determined by two important factors; talent and team chemistry. In almost every sport, whether it be at the college or professional level, teams have been successful because of how these factors are able to positively impact them. Some teams will have either one or the other, or possibly a combination of both.

People often debate which of these factors is most vital to a team’s success. I personally believe that the right amount of talent is something that every team needs in order to be successful, and that the team with the most talent will be victorious.

The Warriors 2018 NBA Finals win was just one of many examples in which the team with more talent has come out on top. You could have outstanding team chemistry where everyone cooperates and knows their own role, but if you lack the necessary talent to compete with an opponent, then the team chemistry will not benefit much.

O

n the flip side, if a team has an incredibly talented group of players, then this talent will often times compensate for a lack of chemistry that a team may have.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr acknowledged this after the NBA Finals. When asked about the challenge, or lack thereof, presented by the Cavaliers, Kerr emphasized that he had the more talented team

and said he was surprised that the Cavaliers had reached the Finals.

“The fact that they got here surprised me, frankly,” Kerr says. “Watching them, it didn’t seem like they would have enough. We had more talent than they did, and talent wins in this league.”

Kerr has played and coached through two different eras of NBA basketball, and has won five championships as a player and three as a coach. He knows exactly what it takes to be a part of a championship team, which makes his statement even more compelling.

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team is essentially the Golden State Warriors of college football. The Crimson Tide have essentially dominated college football in recent years, winning five national championships in the past decade, including a 26-23 overtime win against Georgia in 2018.

P

ure talent has carried this Alabama football team through their vastly successful era.

They have consistently been ranked at the top of the recruiting polls every season, and they continue to produce valiant NFL players each year, such as Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, and HaHa Clinton-Dix, who have all been selected to the NFL Pro Bowl.

Alabama’s dominance is not solely because of the talent of the players, but also due to the talent of head coach Nick Saban.

His ability to generate a positive culture within the

program and to recruit some of the nation’s best high school players year after year is what sets the team apart from everyone else. He has built a dynasty, and the Roll Tide fans couldn’t be happier to have him as their coach.

In Saban’s eyes, talent is not just a measure of strength or athleticism, but also a combination of work ethic and an ability to execute.

When asked about his ability to recognize talent, Saban says, “When you have something good happen, it’s the special people that can stay focused and keep paying attention to detail, working to get better and not being satisfied with what they have accomplished.”

Therefore, when Saban recruits, he is looking for more than just the most athletic players to make contributions to his team.

Raw talent is extremely valuable in sports, and teams like Alabama and Golden State that are stocked to the brim with it are miles ahead of the competition. While good team chemistry could play a small role in their success, the team would not be anywhere near as successful without the highest level of talent that they boast every year.

As time goes on, the debate of talent versus chemistry will only get stronger. Teams that show consistent dominance within their league are continuing to prove that it takes more than just team chemistry to win.

It takes the best of the best to be a part of the empirical reign these teams have over their respective leagues. While good team chemistry can help create shortterm success, it is talent that ultimately allows a team to have continued dominance over a long period of time. •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 65

story megan finke | photography and infographics and art lauren maier

East sophomore Kelsi Harris (above) helps bring East girls cross country team to best state finish ever.

GETTING SPIKED

sports | cross-country

T

he proximity of feet to face is closer than usual. Sharpies scribble the names of the rivaling schools and “Glorious Forever” across the balls of their feet which soon are hidden by worn-down shoes. A stench is yet to come, as the East varsity girls cross country team hasn’t started their next race but the team continually remember that “Glory is Forever.”

The eight girls gather into a group, crack a few jokes, do their regular stretches with seniors leading the counts and hold hands in prayer. They move to the starting line, pushing their way into their starting box. The line is abundant with competitors that all bring something different to the race.

Tension consumes the air as each racer morphs into their starting position, waiting for the loud echoing sound of the blank firing. Soon enough, the inevitable happens, the blank fires and painted feet pound swiftly chasing the finish line.

The crisp fall air bites at the faces of the seven East varsity runners as they funnel from the wide starting line of opponents to a narrow eight foot path. They use force and hostility to push their way to the front of the pack on the ankle breaking, grass terrain.

With a total of eight girls on the varsity cross country squad, seven run in races, the first five of will place, the remaining two will then displace opposing runners scores and the eighth being the alternate.

Over the past four years three East seniors, Lindsay Isom, Ali Nuemier and Kaitlyn Smith, have all been constant varsity members. While the three have grown up on the team over the past four years, they have experienced the change in teammates, difficulty of the sport and overall growth of the team. As teammates age in and out of the high school sport, new runners come and the veterans retire.

“The older girls were so good at welcoming me into the team when as a freshman. They made me feel like I belonged,” Smith says. “[Currently,] we try to be as welcoming as we can and create a positive atmosphere for everyone. We get really close with the girls, mainly because we spend so much time

together.”

During races and practices the eight girls all keep in close proximity to one another by having similar strides, close finishing times and each urging to beat their 18 minute plus personal record.

“You just kind of have to be close with the people you run with,” Isom says. “whoever is running the same pace as you, you get a lot closer with.”

Each year new girls qualify for the varsity squad by improving their time and speed making the three seniors adapt to not only change but learn how to open their arms to welcome.

A

s years passed the relationships between the runners grew, as did their success. In and out of sport the girls made memories that can last a lifetime and eventually turned their co-teammates into best friends.

“For one of our easy runs[typically four miles], we did a scavenger hunt.”

Smith says. “We made clues so we would run to either Burger King, Kroger or Starbucks, just to get a little something different.”

Outside of the daily practices and weekend races, memories are made between the girls not only at sport meets but also at sleepovers, a pre-race spaghetti dinners and shopping trips.

“The night before [state meet last year] we [varsity girls] went around and got presents from the hotel for our coach as a joke,” Isom says. “But we actually got him a Nike gift card so it was like trashy shock then a big surprise and it’s something we will never forget.”

As the chase comes to an end an, each girl aims to lessen their 18 and some minute personal record (PR) time, withstanding the brisk air and fulfilling the tradition of “crushing” those who they wrote on their feet.

With the goal of obtaining the lowest score, the runners placing will be counted as points which will be added together to their teammates scores. Once added together, the lowest scores will get the top placing and continue on.

Cheering on those who finished soon after them, the interchangeable varsity team rankings keep the girls working to get better but also allow them to motivate their teammates. The current top five PR times are as followed; East junior Danielle Horter, sophomore Kelsi Harris, senior Ali Neumeier, freshman Cali Reynolds and senior Lindsay Isom.

Climbing onto the podium, the eight girls smile brightly while grasping onto yet another

68 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

trophy and/or plaque. Over the past four years, every runner, coach and parent knows this has been one of the most successful seasons while holding the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) title as well as the Districts title.

Knowing some of the girls for multiple seasons, while only knowing others for a year, the four cross country coaches, Head Coach Adam Thomas and Assistant Coaches, Kelly Burrows, Lee Sellers and Kathy Reynolds, have developed a bond with returning runners.

Assistant East cross country Coach Lee Sellers says there are two sides to the team, business and fun, and the girls have a healthy mix of both.

“Cross country is a very difficult sport as it is, and most times we are very business like but I also believe that we have to have fun.”

Sellers says. “There are moments where we are all serious but there are those times where we are just kind of goofing around, and they are probably the goofiest girls of the bunch.”•

2017

OHIO STATE CHAPIONSHIP RESULTS

weather: 61 degrees placed: 10th overall fastest east time: carly spletzer 50th, 19:04.6

2018

OHIO STATE CHAPIONSHIP RESULTS

weather: 35 degrees placed: 5th overall fastest east time: kelsi harris 23, 19:00.7 Ali Neumeier

column | opinion

THE POLITICAL DIVIDE ALEX HOOD

photo illustration mckenna lewis

T

he last speech Abraham Lincoln ever gave was on April 11, 1865. During his speech, Lincoln publicly announced his support for black suffrage, a statement that contradicted multiple speeches from his election campaign years before. Four days later, John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Lincoln in a Ford Theater Balcony.

Even though Lincoln was assassinated for what he said, he still delivered a clear message to all politicians at the time. Lincoln showed that he was his own politician, and that he wouldn’t conform to the standards of his party simply for political gain. Supporting black suffrage was rare even among Republicans at the time, and was viewed as completely unacceptable by Democrats. Unfortunately, politicians like Lincoln are very rare today, as both major parties tend to vote for what that party as a whole believes in, rather than what they themselves may truly think.

Of course there must be a certain level of compromise made in Congress. But today, the real compromise in politics is made by the voters themselves, having to compromise to whatever form of red or blue is on the ballot.

Though the phrases “vote blue” or “vote red” are now thrown around more than ever, the meaning of those phrases can drastically vary in actual effect. Voting blue could mean voting for a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Voting blue could also mean voting for a “Blue Dog” democrat, or simply put, a more right-leaning Democrat.

The difference between these two different types of Democrats is massive in regards to policy, but voters would never know, as both respective sects of the party would still be listed under “Democrat” on ballots. To the uninformed voter, “voting blue” could have many different effects, depending on what type of Democrat is running for a position.

Every four years, voters are given two

realistic options that will win the position of president. Though they may not have voted for their respective party’s candidate in the primaries, most Republicans will still “vote red,” while most Democrats will still “vote blue,” maybe not because they support the candidate they are voting for, but rather because they are simply voting against the other party’s candidate.

These are the flaws with the modern Presidential Election. The ballot doesn’t provide enough information to allow uninformed voters to make a decision. This results in voters basing their decision on a candidate’s party, rather than their policy.

The manifestation of this problem was shown in 2016 as, according to the Wall Street

according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), write-ins accounted for 0.51 percent of votes in the 2016 presidential election, meaning that write-ins essentially mean nothing.

U

ntil major changes are made to the primary process and to the voter ballot itself, elections will continue to spiral further into a sort of “dark age,” as problems like these only contribute more to the already huge problem of voter apathy.

The election process wasn’t like this in the past. Back in Lincoln’s time, it was common to see two or even three major candidates emerge from the Republican party. The party still won multiple presidential elections, despite the divide between bases in the party itself, showing

“The real compromise that politics sees is made by the voters themselves.”

Journal, 60 percent of Americans said they were unhappy with the major choices for president. This percentage is a direct reflection of the flaws with the primary process, as many Republicans and Democrats didn’t feel represented by their party’s candidate.

The lack of representation felt by Bernie Sanders supporters led many to not vote.

According to surveys done by political scientist Brian Schaffner, 12 percent of Sanders supporters voted for Trump as a result of not feeling represented by the Clinton campaign.

There are other options if disgruntled voters don’t support their party’s candidates, but realistically, the Libertarian and Green parties stand little to no chance of winning a seat in Congress, much less the presidency.

Voters can also choose to write in someone, but

that the election process used to reflect the ideas of more Americans, in contrast to the limited options voters are given today.

As the 2018 midterms pass, many voters had once again cast their vote based on the party listed next to a candidates name, rather than for a candidate that truly represents what they think. With there being such a vast difference in the beliefs held by candidates in one party alone, modern elections have simply become a matter of voting for “anyone but them.” •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 69

opinion | column

THE SLEEPING GIANT column anna biddle | art mckenna lewis

70 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

column | opinion

O

n Sept. 26, my friend and I sat huddled around my slowly dying phone, shivering in the cafeteria as we watched Christine Blasey Ford testify. I will forever remember that day and the small feeling of hope that surrounded it.

Then Oct. 6 came, and I watched as Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Slowly all the hope that had settled in my chest drained out and was replaced with anger. The exasperation I felt was reflected in the protestors who charged the steps of the Supreme Court to bang on the doors, and in the protestors, who surrounded Capitol Hill during the final vote.

Despite the confirmation of Kavanaugh, President Trump, when speaking to reporters on the matter, recently said it was a “scary time for young men in America.” He’s right; it is a scary time for young queer men in America, but not for the straight-cis men who are accused of the sexual assault he is alluding to.

It might be hard for the man who said he would “date his own daughter” to see the irony in his statement, but the rest of us do. The sad part, though, isn’t the fact that our President said something inaccurate. It’s the fact that he believes it to be true.

Now we have to somehow move forward in changing the narrative, even though the leader of our country believes a completely different story. As a young woman living in America, there is a 20 percent chance that I will be sexually assaulted at some point in my life, while men have a 1.4 percent chance of sexual assault. So it’s safe to say that times are not all that scary for young, straight-cis men living in America.

To say that sexual assault is America’s biggest flaw would be categorically incorrect.

Sexual assault is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to current issues in American society and the world today. One of them being that the government feels the need to define sex and gender, or the fact that our President would rather meet with a rapper than the thousands of people affected by a devastating hurricane.

After Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle, causing mass devastation from wind damage and flooding, Trump met with

“The election of Donald Trump has created an environment in which men no longer feel it’s necessary to answer to their actions.”

Kanye West. The meeting, which was supposed to be about prison reform and education, among other things, turned into a bizarre photo opportunity. From there Kanye shifted into an incoherent rant about why he favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

T

he rationale behind his choice, which was altogether not that surprising, was that Trump, and his hat emblazoned with “Make America Great Again,” made Kanye feel like a man. The reason he couldn’t support Hillary wasn’t due to differing political viewpoints, but that he didn’t feel manly voting for her.

“The campaign ‘I’m with her’ just didn’t make me feel like a guy that could play catch with his son,” West said. “It was something about when I put this hat on, it made me feel like Superman.”

Men feel so uncomfortable with themselves and their masculinity that they would rather support a male candidate over a female one, no matter the politics involved. According to political science professor Dan Cassino, the more marginalized men felt, the more negatively they viewed Hillary Clinton. The election of Donald Trump has created an environment where men no longer feel it’s necessary to answer to their actions.

The issue of sexual assault has become a widely talked about problem that has gained

traction on social media. All across America, both men and women have taken to social platforms to discuss their reasons for staying quiet and finding fault with President Trump’s statement. Which in turn becomes a good stepping stone for raising future generations when talking about the issue. But it still raises the question: how do we as a nation move on from here? The answer to that lies with the women of America.

Women who have been sexually abused by men at any point in their life are tired of keeping quiet about it. With a record amount of women running for office, it’s more than evident that the #MeToo movement, and Kavanaugh’s confirmation, have awoken a sleeping giant.

A

nd this giant isn’t going to go away, because she lives all over the US, sleeps and breathes the same air as the rest of us and she is angry. Sure, you can call her an angry mob, or a group of hired protesters, but you’re never going to make her go away. In fact, it’ll probably be the exact opposite because she isn’t leaving until she sees change. That change starts this November and will last through to the 2020 elections. Women, as the world is finding out, never forget when they’ve been wronged. •

November 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 71

opinion | head to head

HEAD TO HEAD A

frog’s natural instinct when placed in a pot of boiling water is to jump out. However, if the frog is placed in a pot of cool water, whose temperature is raised gradually, the frog, being cold-blooded, will continuously adapt to this raise in temperature, unaware that in the process, it’s actually cooking.

Metaphorically speaking, the frog in this fable is representative of humans, and the “pot of water” the environment. Humans, like the frog, have adapted to the changes in the environment over the past couple decades.

They’ve tricked themselves into accepting this “new normal,” while failing to recognize that the environment is not what it used to be. The worst part is, man is the architect of his own downfall.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), global warming occurs when an excess of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. These gases rest in the upper layers of the atmosphere and prevent heat from escaping, creating a warmer world. The term “greenhouse gases” refers to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and a few other less prevalent, yet just as dangerous, gases.

One thing these greenhouse gases have in common is they are all released predominately by human activities. Carbon dioxide, for example, is released through deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. Nitrous oxide is released by fertilizers and biomass burning.

All these activities are human generated and are able to be regulated in order to slow down the pace at which Earth warms, yet not much action has been taken to do so. Even in the rare instance that action was taken, the vigil is scarcely maintained.

S

ince 1980, the average global temperature has risen approximately 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. This may seem insignificant, but it is very telling of the dangerous rate at which the Earth is warming. In the entire 20th century, the global temperature increased by only 1.39 degrees Fahrenheit. In only 40 years, humans have managed to raise global temperature more than was possible in a 100-year time frame.

It’s no coincidence that, as the production of gas-consuming cars increases, the use of fossil fuels, and the rate of deforestation have all increased, so has global temperature. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), carbon dioxide emissions have risen 90 percent since 1970, 78 percent of which originated from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. Clearly, there is a connection between human activity and the rate at which Earth warms.

Some of the human action contributing to global warming is inevitable. As humans develop, so must their world. As the world transitions into an era

The planet is heating.

Who’s to blame? characterized by technological discovery, the Earth must adapt to the changes being made to it. However, at a certain point, humans must start adapting to their world.

B

ecause of global warming, ice caps are melting, animal habitats are destroyed, and sometimes entire species tread dangerously close to extinction, such as the bees, who have declined in population by 60 percent since 1957. Almost every environmental problem plaguing our world can be traced back to global warming.

Even the 2018 hurricane season, characterized by unusual behaviors like the unexpected rapidity and odd locations of the storms, is an indirect result of global warming.

Many Americans have adopted the belief that ignoring a problem means it won’t happen, instilling apathy in the population and allowing people to miss out on opportunities to make the world a better place for themselves and future generations. According to a study by Yale University, 14 percent of Americans doubt the legitimacy of global warming, which explains why they continue to cause it.

President Trump even displays this attitude.

He dismisses the idea of global warming and has taken strides to worsen the state of the environment. In August, Trump proposed the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, allowing states to determine their own coal emission standards. In Ohio, this plan will increase emissions drastically. Trump’s plan is a sad attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and critics argue it may increase carbon dioxide emissions.

With someone like Donald Trump leading a nation, it’s no surprise that his contingency mimics his attitudes on global warming.

If people were able to see the real dangers of global warming and acknowledge their role in causing it, they may be sprung into action in order to reverse the damage they have caused.

However, it’s hard to admit mistakes, and few are willing to sacrifice their pride, even if it means making the world a better place.

Reversing global warming will be a complex process. However, it is necessary that change starts now. According to the United Nations, humans have ten years to stop global warming before the Earth is too far gone. The truth is, the only ones who can stop global warming are those who caused it in the first place. •

head to head | opinion

Recent reports have been released that say the global temperature is rising. How much mankind plays in that is debated here between two Spark staffers. columns eliza bush and regan denham art mckenna lewis

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umans have always had an inquisitiveness to search for answers to things they could not explain. Ancient societies created gods to explain the weather, how day turns to night and the afterlife. As humanity has advanced, they’ve been able to find answers to these questions. But for every question answered, a new one arises.

The modern issue of global warming and climate change is another example of a problem that we don’t have an answer to, but we find ways to make it comprehensible. Since we are not yet able to understand how our universe works, we blame ourselves for every uncontrollable issue.

My first introduction in the concept of global warming was during my ninth grade Honors Biology final report. This was my thesis, “The concept of man-made global warming is the cultivation of humanity’s fear for the future and our natural instinct to take the blame for a problem” I still view global warming in the same sense that I did during this project. But my knowledge and passion for this issue has grown.

After doing multiple reports and research over the past few years, and taking into account every possible angle, I was able to form a strong opinion about the controversial topic of global warming.

According to multiple agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Geographic, global warming is defined as the current rise in the average temperature of earth’s air and oceans as a result of humanity’s increased release of carbon dioxide into atmosphere.

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he modern idea of man-made global warming was introduced in 1896 by Swedish scientist Svente Arrhenius.

This was in the heart of the industrial revolution, when big businesses were booming and the gap between the wealthy and poor was rapidly expanding. Since then, society has run with the idea that businesses are the reason for this certain period of Earth’s warming, when in reality global warming and cooling has been happening throughout the billions of years of Earth’s history.

This is the bigger picture. Our sun is currently in the stage of a white dwarf, and the next step in its cycle is to become a red giant.

This means that it is constantly expanding and getting warmer. So as a result, global temperatures will continue to rise.

The sun also goes through geomagnetic solar cycles about every eleven years. In the period of solar flare 23 (1998-2009), there was an increased amount of solar activity (solar flares and sunspots). Even the smallest variation of 0.1 percent in the amount of the sun’s energy can cause a shift of 0.05 degrees Celsius.

Throughout the history of the earth, there has been a numerous amount of distinct geologic periods. With the Precambrian being the known oldest known (541-485 million years ago) and the current Holocene (10,000 - now).

During the history of the earth, five major ice ages have occurred, with the oldest being over two billion years ago. By definition, we are currently still in an ice age due to the fact that the Greenland, Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets still exist.

I

t is commonly known that modern, intelligent Homo sapiens have been on earth for at least 200,000 years. For the majority of that time, we were in the Eemian Interglacial period, which consisted from 115,000-11,700 years ago. Our time of modern, civilized society has known nothing but a period of warming. We have nothing else to compare to, and we don’t know if 1,000 years ago was the hottest year on earth.

Like with most current ‘charitable’ organizations, Environmental support charities are in it for other gains. For example, the world’s largest environmental organization, GreenPeace, had its non-profit status revoked by Canada and New Zealand for having an overtly politicized agenda. GreenPeace was also started as a anti-war movement that developed into an environmental advocacy group.

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ow this is in no way denying that the earth is currently in a period of global warming, of which it has been in for thousands of years or that carbon emissions do not impact the environment. There is well supported evidence that global temperatures have been slightly rising in the past few hundred years that we’ve been able to record it.

However, our concept of man-made global warming based upon the production of carbon emissions is a scheme to get society anxious about something they think they can control, and for some individuals to profit. While I agree that we’re in a period of global warming, to say that humans are the only cause for this period of warming is an ill-informed exaggeration based upon narrow-minded facts. •

opinion | column

THE UNOFFICIAL SEATING CHART ANNA MULLINS photo illustration mckenna lewis

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girl sits in the lunchroom all by herself, knowing that if she walks up to ask someone for a seat, they will tell her she is not allowed to sit with them. She feels completely ostracized by all of her classmates as they see her sitting alone. She never receives the mental break lunch is supposed to provide from the stress of the school day.

The lunch social culture is cutthroat; it’s a first-come, first-served, every-person-forthemself culture. We are all aware of the unofficial seating chart because we are the ones who created it. On the first few days of school, we picked the seats and the people we planned on sitting with for the rest of the year and the people who didn’t get the seat they wanted, or didn’t have anyone to sit with, were left to fend for themselves.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to know where to sit or who to sit with. The problem lies in how we treat people who are not aware of their place in the seating chart.

not getting to sit next to one of their friends, and the bystanders may incidentally become emotionally involved in what happens.

The person getting called out most likely had no malicious intent and now is facing the embarrassment of being called out and faces the fear of not finding a new place to sit with people they know. They also may feel social anxiety. The person whose seat was taken has the initial fear that they might lose their seat and not have a place to sit. They also have the anger that someone would sit in their seat when they have been sitting there since the beginning of the year. When the bystanders chose a side, they put themselves in a position where they can be disappointed by the outcome.

This is not an uncommon sight in high school cafeterias. Natalie Hampton is a girl who lives in Sherman Oaks, California and faced the obstacles that students dread from the lunch room.

“At my old school, I was completely

When someone is sitting in someone else’s seat, the common thing to do is lash out and tell them to move. These reactions can cause stress for all those involved. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 31.9 percent of teens suffer from anxiety.

There are several people involved in this lunchroom lash out. The person who gets called out is brought to the attention of the people around them, the person who is doing the calling out faces the possibility of

ostracized by all of my classmates, and so I had to eat lunch alone every day,” said Hampton, in an interview with All Things Considered host Audie Cornish. “When you walk into the lunchroom and you see all the tables of everyone sitting there and you know that going up to them would only end in rejection, you feel extremely alone and extremely isolated, and your stomach drops.”

To combat these problems people face in the lunch room she created an app called

“As a school, our culture is not accepting. We tend to hang out with the people who do the same things we do and do not interact with those who don’t.”

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“Come Sit With Us” that aims at helping people find a place to sit.

The app gives students the chance to ask around for a place to sit without having to be face-to-face with the people they are asking.

They will also know that when they are walking up to a table, they have a guaranteed spot. This lowers the chances of an anxiety inducing situation occurring, because if if they are rejected, no one has to know and they do not have to worry about not finding a place to sit.

The app can only do so much though, and we need to take our own actions during the school day.

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s a school, our culture is not accepting. We tend to hang out with the people who do the same things we do and do not interact with those who don’t. It’s easy to follow the status quo; I’ve done it. In a school as large as East, it is virtually impossible to know everyone. Because of this, we have not decided to take it upon ourselves to make an effort to get to know anyone outside our social circle.

This translates into the lunchroom environment because when we see someone who doesn’t have a place to sit, we tend not to reach out because it doesn’t make logical sense to risk making ourselves uncomfortable for someone else’s sake. People like Hampton are working to put an end to the harsh culture of the lunchroom and to make sure everyone has a seat in the lunchroom. •

guest column | opinion

GIVE THEM A CHANCE

SAVANNAH JAMES art mckenna lewis

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notty, smelly, and annoying are common terms used to describe the species known as young children. Most of the time they have disgusting snot running from their nose or they have a ,k horrific stench from their pants and some may sit there and think, “How can anyone like these creatures?”

The hardest thing to understand is when a mother smiles while changing a diaper, or when they are keeping their cool as their child is kicking them in the stomach, mid-tantrum.

There is a certain type of patience needed in order to work with them, and sometimes it just takes a bit of maturing to realize that they aren’t as gross as they may seem.

I used to dislike kids with a passion, and had no interest in being around any of them, let

GUEST COLUMN gave up on those kids and as I began to work with them more, I started to feel a passion for teaching them. Weeks went on and I finally felt a connection with them. My second year, I had a foster child in my group and that changed my perspective on kids completely. He came in every Sunday morning running towards me, giving me a tight hug, and he told me he loved me repeatedly. His foster parents thanked me every Sunday and they told me that I made such a huge impact in his life.

“I never gave up on those kids and as I began to work with them more, I started to feel a passion for teaching them.” alone talking to them. But when I was 14 years old, my mom signed me up to help teach kids at Sunday school. I’d never worked with kids and the thought of teaching, what I thought were annoying three- and four-year olds, was nothing close to what I wanted to do.

I started out as a helper and watched how the leader connected with the them. I watched the leader talk with them like it was nothing.

I tried to mimic her, but I got punched in the face by a three-year-old.

It was then that I realized that with a different species comes a different way of acting. I went through the tantrums, the slapping, pinching, crying, all of it. I never

I was 16 when I started teaching swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School. The age of kids ranged from two-12 years old. For each 30 minute session, there was a new age of them and I would have to change my tone and my attitude for the different age groups. I went from talking in a normal tone with 10 and 11year old’s, to talking in the highest tone of voice with the needed enthusiasm for 3-year-olds.

Kids have a way with changing people’s view on the world. Teaching the them at the swim school changed my whole perspective on life. I was much happier, and they gave me something to look forward to every shift. They had a way of changing my mood. If I had a

bad day at school and had to work that night, I felt relief. There were the ones with terrible attitudes and the ones who could not listen to save their lives.

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ne shift I had one take my glasses off my face and throw them across the pool. My reaction had to be calm and collective, so I just laughed through my teeth reminding myself that kids don’t think before doing things. I had more good times than bad while working there. I had some that would cry when I couldn’t come into work and they would only want me to work with them. I had a five-yearold girl who wrote me a letter before I left telling me how much she loved me and wished that I could be her teacher forever. The smiles and hugs they gave me made me feel special and important in their lives.

Kids don’t get the credit they deserve. A lot of teens and young adults don’t like them at all and want nothing to do with them, but children can teach people a lot. Teaching kids and working with them has impacted several parts of my life. They have taught me how to have patience and to try and stay calm during frustrating situations.

My outlook on life has more adventure and is more imaginative because kids taught me to embrace those qualities. I feel more confident in myself compared to how I felt before I started working with them. The kids I worked with changed my life in so many ways and if people would give them a chance the same could for them. •

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opinion | ed-cartoon/east speaks out

“A Corrupt Sham� - Alexandra Fernholz

EAST SPEAKS OUT Is man-made global warming real? interviews rachel anderson | photography logan maxfield

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YES Multiple studies that have shown that the global temperature has been rising over the years and polar ice caps are melting and overall the heat has been increasing over the years.

Colin Rakel, freshman

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YES

NO

[Man-made global warming] kind of seems a little bit impossible...

I think that global warming is something that would happen naturally.

A vast majority of scientific consensus agree with it. And not only that, but just given the past 200 years or so of modern industrial production, given the increasing carbon, whatever it is, releases and kind of proves it.

I believe that over time the earth goes through different changes both possibly semi-man made and natural.

Chloe Mink, sophomore

76 lakotaeastsparkonline.com November 2018

Alex Bastin, junior

Lindsey Jones, senior

chief column | opinion

SHOOT YOUR SHOT LAUREN MAIER

photography abby bammerlin

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t’s that time of year where it seems like each day is a new holiday. Halloween is filled with kids receiving pounds of candy within a few hours, and cheerful giggles that echo in the streets. Then comes the big family thanksgiving dinner.

The dining room table is filled with food and bordered by family members that are sitting so close that their shoulders touch. With a blink of an eye, comes Christmas. The same scene is painted from Thanksgiving. Close-knit friends and families come together for food, laughs and memories.

What comes with these cheerful and fun holidays is the spread of a virus that hospitalizes over 200,000 Americans annually: the flu. What makes the flu so harmful is how it spreads. A simple cough, sneeze or even talking to someone can spread the contagious virus.

Even if the proper precautions were taken, such as washing hands, coughing in the back of the elbow and avoiding physical contact, the flu still spreads.

The flu doesn’t care about who it infects. It’s ruthless with its attack. When it first hits, chills, headaches, a sore and dry throat, coughs, runny noses, muscle aches, and fatigue all hit the body very suddenly.

After these irritating symptoms, the flu still has some tricks up its sleeve. On top of the plethora of symptoms that initially come, there comes the second wave of misery. A person may have warm, flushed skin, watery or bloodshot eyes, a severe cough that produces a thick and gross phlegm, and last but certainly not least, nasal congestion.

The flu still isn’t done. Along with these symptoms, a person my experience nausea and vomiting especially among children.

At the end of all this madness, a person may miss a week or two of work or school. Isn’t that horrible? However, there is a way to avoid the flu. It’s called the flu shot.

The flu vaccine causes antibodies to develop in the body around two weeks after vaccination. These very important antibodies provide protection against infection with the viruses that are in the vaccine.

Basically, the flu is injected into the patient, but their antibodies attack the virus and ultimately makes the patient’s antibodies stronger. If the flu virus ever crossed them again, the antibodies would be able to attack the it.

However, each year there is a different strain of the flu. Like Darwin’s famous theory of natural selection and evolution, the flu virus works the same exact way. As a result of this evolution, there is a new vaccine every year, hence the annual flu shot which everyone should be getting.

A common argument to not get this beneficial shot is that whenever a person gets the flu shot, they get the flu. But, according to the Center of Disease Control, no one can get the flu from the flu shot.

The flu vaccines that are given with a needle are currently made in two ways.

The flu vaccine is can be made of the flu virus, which has been inactivated or killed, making the virus not infectious. The other way the vaccine is made is by using only a single gene from a flu virus (not the full virus) in order to produce an immune response without causing an infection.

The flu vaccine cannot do anything harmful to the patient, making me absolutely flummoxed why people consciously make the decision to not get the flu shot. So, if you happen to pass a CVS or Walgreens, get your flu shot. •