Issue 3 pdf spreads

Spark Lakota East High School lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan. 26 2018 $5 Newsstand

THE WOMEN’S ISSUE With recent events of the #TimesUp and #MeToo movement, women have taken a stand in society for their issues.

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Contents January 2018 | Issue #179

Lakota looks for legalities After rejecting the proposed gender identity and expression policy, the Lakota board confers with legal team.

through the scope

East sophomore Brandon Khounesombat strives for a military career despite obstacles.

hawks for the cure

East senior Tessa Cedargren is a senior chair for East’s Relay for Life and wants to bring awareness to breast cancer.

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49

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ciao from milan East junior Susanna Merli came to the United States from Milan, Italy as a foreign exchange student and talks about her experiences.

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A family affair Continuing the McDonald swimming legacy, East sophomore Jacob McDonald has made major achievements.

55

times up; lets listen East senior Richard Giang shares his opinion on the #TimesUp and #MeToo movement.

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opinion | letter to the editor

Spark 2017-2018 STAFF

Editor in Chiefs

Julianne Ford Lexy Harrison Vivian Kolks Sidney Li

Writing Managers

Julianne Ford Lexy Harrison Sidney Li

Art Department Manager Design Coordinator Business Team Manager Marketing Coordinator Public Relations Directors

Michael Croy Richard Giang

Subscription Coordinator

Vivian Kolks Rachel Vogelsang Landon Meador Lauren Maier Leah Boehner

Photography Editor

Meredith Niemann

Online Editors

Rebecca Holst Lina Kaval Katey Kruback

Broadcast Manager

Landon Meador

News Editors

Bea Amsalu Julianne Ford Stephen McKay

Culture Editors

Caroline Bumgarner Noor Ghuniem Sidney Li

Feature Editors

Megan Finke Lexy Harrison

Package Editors

Ruth Elendu Sidney Li Samadhi Marapane

Sports Editors

Julianne Ford Lauren Maier Jack Parr

Opinion Editors

Jessica Jones Vivian Kolks

Art Editors

Tyler Bonawitz McKenna Lewis

Graphics Editors

Michael Croy Meredith Peters

Survey Coordinator

Advisor

Sidney Li Dean Hume

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Spark, I’m driving home to another typical evening looking forward to my weeknight ritual of exciting carpools. As I approach my cul-desac it appears there is a midweek party going on at my house. Cars everywhere... I manage to squeeze up my driveway and enter my house to a pool of 10 pairs of shoes everywhere.

All across my kitchen and through my living room are teenagers spread across my couches, chairs and tables. Looks like a party, sounds a bit like a party but these kids aren’t listening to loud music (well music was blaring to be quite honest) or watching movies or playing video games—they were working.

These kids were talking about current events, school board candidates and community issues. They were discussing sources and how to improve their graphics. There was stressful planning and delegating all in effort to create this wonderful issue of Spark. This evening happened to be a weeknight and was followed by all the weeknight and weekend evenings as well. This group of 16-18 year old kids pour their hearts and souls into creating this publication and it is an around the clock commitment.

I have three children and at some point through my motherhood I could be called swim mom, soccer mom and dance mom. My kids have and continue to practice for these sports multiple times each week spending hours perfecting the skill of a sport they love.

They have a passion to write these stories and update their fellow students and community on issues and accomplishments of their peers. I feel like I need to share their ongoing effort to any who may be reading this right now. Their readers must know that just as an athlete trains for endless hours, these teenage writers and Spark staffers do the same. They work very hard and give up any free time they may have to bring this publication to you.

In a day where we worry about how our teenagers lack responsibility, drive and passion I am here to tell you that you would feel different if you walked into mine or another Spark parents’ living room.

These kids work so hard to put the best issue out that they can each time and it is so encouraging to watch as their hard work pays off. I’m so proud of each of them! Well done!

-Shannon Ford The Spark encourages letters to the editor. Letters can be sent to the publication at lakotaeastsaprk18@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 In this issue, Spark highlights the current issues relating to women and their achievements throughout history. Also, our Spark staff wants to dedicate our package to the women of today’s society and the Women’s March that occurred in various cities across the United States.

Spark Lakota East High School lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan. 2018 $5 Newsstand

THE SKIRT VIVIAN KOLKS

photography meredith niemann

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’m probably the most intimidating person you will ever meet. False. I’m five feet one and a half inch and I snort when I laugh. I enjoy doing homework and diligently studying. Also not true. I’d rather do anything, literally, anything else. I wear a dress almost everyday. That...is true. And here’s why.

The power of a cute dress can’t be underestimated, that’s probably why I’ve worn so many over the past six years. It’s not a gimmick, political statement, religious requirement or costume. I just really, really like wearing skirts and feeling confident.

Part A just happens to influence Part B. I’ll let you in on a little secret about wearing skirts and feeling confident, once you get started, it’s super hard to stop.

I don’t actually remember how my wardrobe became approximantly 98 percent skirts and dresses. Ask my mom and she’ll tell you that she simply got tired of buying me clothes that I wouldn’t wear or maybe the third time I turned my jeans into lopsided cutoff shorts was the final straw.

Either way, I’m pretty certain that eleven-year-old me probably had zero deep considerations about her confidence and how what she wears affects it. She probably just liked the swish-swish of stylish Old Navy cotton skirts. And that’s totally okay.

My word of advice is, wear what you feel comfortable in and forget what anyone else could possibly say against it. You’d be surprised how mobile and flexible skirts can make your life.

For instance, I’ve worn skirts everywhere I possibly could and some places I probably shouldn’t have. Name it and I probably did it wearing a cute little dress from Target.

I’ve run a 5K, remulched a garden, gone ziplining, swimming and horseback riding in skirts. I hiked a five mile mountain trail, ran around in a protest taking pictures and rode a bike for twenty miles in one. Funny story, I went to most of my elementary school gym classes sporting a bright blue denim skirt complete with ruffles and a bow. Something that used to make me cringe, but now just makes me smile when I think about it.

Of course, this isn’t to say that jeans aren’t comfortable. Most mornings nowadays I’m too tired to deal with the whole tights and a skirt getup. During one memorable Spark deadline weekend I wore exclusively jeans and leggings for five entire days in a row just out of sleep deprived laziness. To my surprise, the world didn’t end, the birds kept chirping, my car kept making a ghastly rumbling noise.

It took a little nudging to realize that I didn’t need to dress up to be confident.

If I feel comfortable wearing sweatpants with a fancy sweater and a statement necklace, a favorte exam-week outfit of mine, then that’s what I’ll wear and I won’t be ashamed of my own femininity.

My views on how my confidence in how I dress and why I dress the way I do have changed, but there is still one important personality trait of mine that will stay the same.

If you let me loose in a JC Penney’s with a credit card, I can go absolutely nuts. •

WOMEN’S ISSUE With recent events of the #TimesUp and #MeToo movement, women have taken a stand in society for their issues.

SPARK ONLINE

Go to www.lakotaeastsparkonline.com to keep up with the latest school, district and community news, learn more about in-depth topics covered by the Spark staff, and read reviews and fashion stories.

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news | changes in lakota

Angie Brown after the Women of Excellence event.

ALL-DAY KINDERGARTEN BEGINS IN 2018 Starting next year Lakota will make major changes to its kindergarten system. story gabbie behrmann photography meredith niemann

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akota Local Schools will now be offering all day kindergarten to all incoming kindergarteners in the 2018-19 school year.

Over winter break Lakota superintendent Matthew Miller sent out an informational email to all Lakota staff, members of the community and Lakota parents. The biggest change was the all day kindergarten movement.

Principal of Wyandot early childhood school Mary Brophy has been in Lakota since 1998 is excited for the new changes next year.

“Next year all families registering for Kindergarten will have the option for full day,” Brophy said. “The past few years we have had to have a lottery for a limited number of slots. This will allow for families to have great options in choosing whether half-day or full day is the right option for their child.”

Superintendent Matthew Miller said this was something that kept coming up from teachers and the community. Miller said the lottery system gave many new parents in the district a bad first impression.

“Picture being a first time parent, your only or oldest child comes to Lakota and you have to get into a lottery system for what I call ‘a better education’,” Miller said. “You might have neighbors or other family members that have different kindergarten options because they won or didn’t win the lottery. So I think this way our kids will be on an even field and it will be more equitable for our kids in the community.”

Brophy, a former teacher, says that she isn’t concerned with what’s to come, at all. In fact, she’s believes they are doing the right thing in making this option available to more families who are looking for a full day program.

“I think that parents want to be sure that their child is happy and in a good learning environment,” Brophy said. “It takes time for students to adjust to a full day of school.

Part of our work is in helping students build their stamina over time. I think this is a great opportunity to focus on our youngest learners.”

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n order for the district to accommodate these changes elementary schools will now be grades three through six, instead of the two through six Lakota currently uses. As a result, Heritage and Hopewell Elementary Schools will change to early childhood schools in the fall.

New Lakota board member Kelley Casper

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Hopewell Elementary will be an early childhood center including grades K-2.

has heard a lot of feedback from the community.

She understands that many students will be nervous for changing schools next year. The district will announce the redistricting on Jan. 23 or Jan. 24.

“The community feedback has been mostly positive,” Casper said. “Change is never easy and [students] that will be moving schools are anxious to know where they will be going. I believe most people realize that this is a positive step for Lakota and what makes sense for our students.”

2008 East alumna and current Lakota mother of one Brittany Groves explains that she is “very excited” that she won’t have to put her daughter into the lottery for all-day kindergarten next year. According to Groves it benefits not only the kids but also the parents who have to pay for “full time childcare.”

“I [will choose the all day] option because it will help [my daughter] become more social, spend time with friends and I really think it will help her educationally,” Groves said. “Reading about Lakota, the kids have educational experiences, while still being able to play

during recess. I really feel the option of all day kindergarten will get the kids prepared for first grade. While they are learning, they still have recess which allows them to socialize.”

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roves feels that it is very important to have all-day kindergarten, so the students have more time in the classroom getting to explore education in their own time.

“I feel that in the half day kindergarten, they are cramming too much information in with so little time,” Groves said. “The option of full day kindergarten will allow for them to learn at a slower pace, and gather in all of that information.”

Brophy is proud of what Lakota has done, and is ready to see how the district will continue to grow in the future.

“I love being with families as they begin their time in Lakota,” Brophy said. “I believe in young children and all they have to offer.

Lakota is headed in an exciting direction to strengthen the work we are doing with our youngest learners.” • —additional reporting julianne ford

It takes time for students to adjust to a full day of school. Part of our work is in helping students build their stamina over time.

I think this is a great opportunity to focus on our youngest learners. —Mary Brophy, Wyandot Principal

EXCELLENT WOMAN

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he room was full of positive energy and laughs. The lights shined throughout the room onto the faces of the dressed up guests. This was what the 16th annual Women of Excellence Awards on Nov. 17 looked like. The event was sponsored by the West Chester/Liberty Chamber Alliance.

Community Engagement coordinator for the Lakota Schools Angenita “Angie” Brown, was one of the ten women honored at the event.

Brown’s accomplishments that qualify her for recognition include reaching out to diverse groups in Lakota and organizing an annual ice cream social at Voice of America (VOA) Park for new students. She also has increased parental engagement in the schools by 40 percent. Before working for Lakota, Brown hosted Phenomenal Women of Focus, a monthly meeting highlighting women’s work and life.

“I truly believe in parent engagement, and I think that there is a difference between parent engagement and parent involvement,” Brown said. “So I watched children who had parents who were in fact engaged, and I saw a pattern, that those students seemed to do better academically, and those students who were left by themselves didn’t. So I believe it really takes a community, it takes a parent, it takes a school

Lakota Community Engagement coordinator Angie Brown was one of the ten women honored as a Women of Excellence. story amy bohorfousch | photography vivica heidenreich

district together.”

However, this isn’t the limit of Brown’s drive to bring help to every student in the district.

According to former Lakota school board member Ray Murray, Brown is an inspiring woman for young girls to look up to.

“Every summer, she makes a tour to housing areas where the kids are disadvantaged and gives out contact information,” Murray said. “I must have lost eight pounds walking in the heat with [Brown] during one of her summer tours.”

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hough he was unable to be present during the full duration of the ceremony, Lakota Superintendent Matt MIller was highly complimentary about how Brown’s award was presented to her at the event. “[The event] was great because not only Angie was recognized, but the whole group was recognized together,” Miller said. “Each person up there had their own support system that was there to acknowledge the good works that they had and so for Lakota, we were able to bring some of the students that Angie had an impact in the audience as well, and that was pretty amazing.”

Murray has known Brown since she was first hired as the district’s Community Engagement

coordinator. Murray was very glad that Brown had received the recognition that he proclaimed was well-deserved. “[Brown] is a wonderful lady, who has a heart for outreach and a knack for connecting parents,” Murray said. “She has a knack of connecting parents. She studied and found that parents have a lot to do with students’ success.

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urray’s praise for Brown was reciprocated

by Miller. Both men see the influence that Brown has on the Lakota community.

Her impact on Lakota is huge.W “She really opened up my eyes to how the district impacts families, not just in an educational setting, but also the family, the home, and community setting.” Miller said.

“She was well-rounded in terms of what makes students successful.”

While Miller and Murray provided insight about her character, the depth of Brown’s passion for making the Lakota district and the surrounding community can only be expressed by the Woman of Excellence herself.

“I believe that everybody has a chance to become their very possible best self that they can be,” Brown said. “If it was left up to me, I’d want to help anyone who wants help to become a better part of themselves.” • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 2

(Left to right) Sophomore Lauren Rader, sophomore Anna Mullins, Lakota Superintendent Matthew Miller and junior Kayleigh Jones discussing education in a small group.

HEARING STUDENTS’ VOICES

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he East Student Advisory Council gathered for a ‘very special’ meeting Thursday Jan. 11th. The council was told that board members, district representatives and Lakota superintendent Matt Miller, would be in attendance.

While the topic of the meeting was not explained to the students before, director of Citizens of Civic Renewal Jeff Stec, the meeting’s facilitator, quickly described that the purpose of the meeting. He referenced a video that Miller posted on his Facebook page January 1st. “[The video] is high level strategic view of America education and the challenges” Stec said. “[Miller] didn’t post the video because Lakota has problem specifically, you guys are doing great, your test scores are great.

But the entire country is struggling.”

While students conversed softly, the team of administrators played the video with the title “Six Problems with Modern Schooling System.”

The video detailed in what ways the American education system was outdated, and how it negatively impacted students when they entered the workforce. The video stated:

3 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

“Our system of education, which evolved in the industrial age, has become outdated and ineffective. If we want to prepare our children for the modern world, if we want learning to be effective and engaging then there’s no doubt that we need to fundamentally change our system of education.”

Stec then asked the students to discuss real-life examples of things that aren’t working in the way that the students are educated. The students split up into groups, with each group having an adult who represented the district present to listen to the students.

After about twenty minutes of small group discussions, the students came together and began making a list of how they felt their education was flawed. Students discussed the pace of classes, the need for earlier conversations about students’ futures and even graduating. This gave the students an opportunity to voice their concerns with their education.

“To get an honors diploma or just a diploma, you have to [take] core classes, language [and] art to graduate,” sophomore Anna Mullins said.

“But we only have six periods, so we can’t take the electives we want

unless we do summer school or we wait an extra year.”

Other students made suggestions in how to better engage in their classes.

“I think a good point in that video is that [students] need to express individuality.” Junior Grace Phair said. “And one of the first things you think about in classrooms, [are] desks in a row, instead of the learners in [the classroom] actually learning. So I think in order to succeed we need more flexible classrooms to appeal to different learning styles. ”

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he adults in each of the groups also participated in the discussion, especially when a student brought up the idea of having students pick their teachers based on the student’s learning style.

“You could have all of the [students] going to one teacher or two teachers and not going to one or two.” Miller said. “To be fair, and I’m not saying all [students], but I think some [students] would choose not to go to a teacher who [they have] heard is ‘hard’ or ‘I have to do a lot of work’.”

High level administrators ask students their opinion on the effectiveness of their education at an East Student Advisory Council meeting. story abby bammerlin photography julianne ford

Many of the administrators were surprised to hear what students were saying about their teachers. Miller brought up how in his group, students discussed that teachers still didn’t know their students names.

“That just floors me.” Miller said. “And we’re not talking the first week of school or the first month of school, but [even now] some of the teachers don’t know your names. You sit in alphabetical order and it’s still a battle.”

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owever, for the majority of the meeting, the role the administrators held was that of a quiet listener. The discussions were mostly studentled, with administrators following along and clarifying when needed.

“Students are ready to codesign their educational experience, today’s student is ready to codesign their educational experience,” Stec said. “Adults just need to get out of the way. We should be facilitators.

You should be sort of directing us, we’re sort of executive producing you to direct us to do what you need to do. Basically within some parameters you should be directing your own education.” • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 4

news | technology

Lakota student scrolling through the #lakotaedchat and reading the answers

TECHNOLOGY USE INCREASES

Lakota has started using social media to communicate ideas and events going on in the district. story lina kaval | photo illustration meredith niemann | infographic leslie hernandez

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he Lakota Local School District has been increasing social media usage since the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. This ranges from unblocking apps on the school guest wifi to posting more online about school activities.

At the school level, East principal Suzanna Davis says that students are now allowed to use GroupMe and Twitter. Spotify has also been unblocked on school wifi. With a new “Student Voice: Technology response” form on Canvas, students can request technology changes, such as unblocking an app. Although

L Lakota families and students

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the decisions are not up to Davis, as the district needs to be mindful of legal logistics, each request is considered by the district technology department.

“Twitter was an example [of student voice], when students said ‘Hmm why, our superintendent tweets literally a thousand times a day and we can’t access it while we’re in school,’” Davis said. “That was a direct connection from a student request, to unblock Twitter, to unblock GroupMe. The student voice is important.”

The school’s focus on student voice is why

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East senior Joe Mislansky was able to lead a Lakota Ed Chat on November 29, 2017.

Starting from the beginning of this school year, Lakota staff and community members have had a Question and Answer session on Twitter every Wednesday at 8pm. According to Davis, Lakota superintendent Matt Miller has been managing the chats and scheduling in people to ask questions.

“We started #LakotaEdChat so that teachers and staff could virtually meet and discuss topics that impact their classrooms and their students,” Miller said. “The conversations have led to idea sharing that’s made a positive impact in grades Kindergarten through 12th [grade].”

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islansky says he noticed the Ed Chat by seeing it on Twitter, following a few of the chats to learn what it was about.

After meeting Miller while helping with a Twitter How-To session on a professional development day, Mislansky says he jokingly asked Miller if he could host an Ed Chat.

“Giving Joe the ability to host an Ed Chat gives us all the chance to reflect on something Twitter has been from a totally different perspective,” Davis said. used heavily by “Not to say that the Ed Chats by the teachers Lakota faculty to and the staff, which have been phenomenal foster communication and the questions have been wonderful and between the staff, very thought out, but I think we integrate now parents and their students asking these questions, which causes students. us to stop and think about it from a totally different way.”

At the school level, Davis says that most Lakota teachers and staff communication is done through Twitter, are hosting informational Facebook, Instagram and weekly emails. But parenting sessions once new communication methods are also being added at the district level. per month. The first According to Lakota Media & Community meeting saw 360 people Relations Manager Lauren Boettcher, there is a interested in attending. new Facebook Live Parenting Session program every month starting January 8, started by The recent increase in a teaching and learning consultant for the connection between staff district, Andrea Davis. Boettcher says this is and students is clear through one way of “empowering Lakota’s teachers and staff to be innovators and deliver what is in the the district unblocking popular applications on the best interest of student learning and growth.”

“The whole idea behind making learning schools wi-fi such as Spotify, sessions available through Facebook is to give Twitter and GroupMe. parents another alternative to participate,” Boettcher said. “It’s about meeting them where they’re at and for some parents, reporting inperson for an evening meeting isn’t realistic.

This gives them the opportunity to engage from the comfort and convenience of home,

or anywhere for that matter, or even catch up on the conversation after the fact.”

T

he Lakota District App will also be updated the beginning of 2018. Boettcher says the new app will “integrate with the district’s website and give users more options to customize information they’re seeing.”

Although the district’s usage of social media is increasing, with new hashtags like #LakotaGivesBack, Boettcher says that “It’s important to note that not everything we communicate is centered around technology.

Parent engagement sessions are being made available in the traditional in-person setting, too,

and the superintendent continues his monthly community coffee chats, for example.”

Davis says that one goal she has for social media is to have a Twitter Takeover, where students post on the school’s Twitter account for a school day. But one problem is that she wishes “there were some way to add a filter by where [I can] approve [posts].”

“There are over 7000 followers on our Twitter account,” Davis said. “We can’t afford to have [mistakes].”

Davis says that she is considering changing the password for the student as one precaution.

But she says that she will “have to trust people.”

If a student posts something inappropriate

during a Twitter Takeover, she will then know who posted it. Instead, Davis says, she might start having takeovers on the Instagram account, so she can ease herself into the idea.

Overall, Davis is excited about the social media expansion and sees the students’ love too.

“We tease about it, but people have stolen the tagline, ‘if it’s not on Twitter, did it really happen’,” Davis said. “There’s kind of a certain truth to that because that whole chemistry experiment [that we live-streamed on Twitter], people in our community would have had no idea; I know the things that go on here and how cool was that, like the catapult, but if people don’t see it, is it really happening?” • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 6

news | transgender policy

Bexley City Schools Lakota Local Schools

BOARD REJECTS TRANSGENDER POLICY

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os

Lakota failed a gender expression and identity policy that was based off of the Bexley City School District policy.

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The Bexley City Schools transgender policy was origninally proposed by the former The President of the Bexley Board of Education.

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story and photography julianne ford | infographic michael croy

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akota Local Schools rejected the proposed Gender Identity and Expression Policy 5000 with a 3-2 vote at the Dec. Board of Education meeting. At the Oct. 24 2016 school board meeting it was announced that the school would not create a policy. But just over a year later on Dec. 11 the board voted on a proposed policy.

The Lakota board members had multiple concerns regarding the policy that was presented to them. At the Dec. 11th board meeting, board member Todd Parnell stated the policy included “ambiguous language” and therefore he would not support it.

According to former board member Ray Murray this policy has been turned into a “political football” throughout the past year.

He believes the board members wanted to help the students but didn’t want their “name associated with the policy.”

“The main concern was the political pushback,” Murray said. “[The board was] afraid that the parents would pushback. I think honestly most of the board member woulds like to do the right thing.”

Lakota board member Lynda O’Conner would not support Lakota’s policy because it made up less than one percent of the student population in Lakota. She also claimed these students were covered under the antiharassment and bullying policies.

Another concerns at the Dec. 11 meeting the locker rooms section proposed Policy 5000. Before the board voted on it they decided to cut that sections out of the policy.

The section cut out included: “Students shall have access to a locker room that corresponds with their gender identity. A student shall not be required to use gender-segregated facilities. Any student who is uncomfortable with using a shared locker

TRANSGENDER POLICY room, regardless of the reason, upon the students timely request, be provided with a safe and non-stigmatizing alternative…”

At the meeting the three no votes were Ben Dibble, Lynda O’Conner and Todd Parnell.

The two yes votes were Julie Shaffer and Murray. One reason Murray had been pushing the policy was for the protection of district staff. He wanted to make sure all employees could handle situations with proper training and knowledge of the topic. “[Not having a policy is] really leaving the teachers and administrators in limbo,” Murray said. “If there was a complaint or lawsuit sue me, come at me or whatever; leave the teachers alone. But right now if somebody gets upset or mad at teachers or administrators, the board of education is left out of it. If we [the board] are the leaders throw the legal matters at us, not the teachers.”

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utler Tech junior Sam Nuccerino was also in attendance at the Dec. 11 meeting.

He believes if Lakota adopts a policy the district could help these vulnerable students feel safe.

“The school board should approve the transgender policy because everyday that they wait the transgender students at our school are put in a dangerous and awkward situation,” Nuccerino said. “This policy affects a small proportion of our school but those students are still students and should have the same

safety as everyone else at the school to use the bathroom or be called what they prefer to be called.”

According to Murray the policy was based off of the Bexley City School District Gender Identity and Expression policy. Bexley is a suburb located right outside of Columbus, Ohio. Because of its proximity to Lakota, Murray believed it would be a perfect policy for Lakota to base their proposed policy on. The school board approved of the Bexley policy, but as soon as Murray showed them it to the board with Lakota on the top, the board found many issues. “[The Bexley policy] looked very fair and I thought [Lakota] could apply it to us, and if we wanted to we could make a few tweaks to it,” Murray said. “If I wanted to get [a passed policy] I had to show the board what a different district is doing [with an official policy]. To show them that [Bexley] is doing just fine with it and the people are okay with it.”

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urrent Lakota Board of education member Todd Parnell said that if Lakota was to pass a policy it needed to be written by Lakota.

“We are going to do a policy like this it will be able to cover the policy written by Lakota with input from all of our community stakeholders,” Parnell said. “Lakota needs doesn’t need to use someone else’s policy.”

Current Bexley Board of Education vice president Mike Dennison was instrumental in the creation of the Bexley policy. It was brought up by former Bexley board member Carol Fay during her time at Bexley. At the time Fay had medical issues and took time off from the board.

After hearing her concerns Dennison wanted to help Fays vision to create the policy. To begin the process Dennison created

The policy can’t be boilerplate, it can’t be an X situation Y happens. We will work case by case situation that the school administration brings up. It’s ambiguous in that sense that it’s not straight forward. —Mike Dennison, Bexley Board of Education vice president 7 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

Bexley’s policy includes definitions for several gender related terms and privacy policies including a locker room policy.

Beginning

The Policy

Lakota Local Schools’ transgender policy was proposed by former Lakota Board of Education member Ray Murray.

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Lakota’s policy included much of the same as Bexley’s however the policy did not include a locker room policy.

The Vote The vote on the transgender policy passed with a unanimous 5-0 vote in 2015.

The vote on the transgender policy failed with a 3-2 vote in 2017.

FIREBIRDS

There was relatively little response to the policy being enacted aside from a few concerned emails from parents.

The Response

Several editorials were written in response to the failing of the policy along with large amounts of negative feedback recieved by email. sources lakotaonline.com & bexley schools.org

a committee that he was the chair of and began researching what a gender identity and expression policy would entail.

“The committee involved myself, administrators, superintendent, the high school and middle school principals,” Dennison said. “[The committee also had] several student members who the issue was important to. We started the process and did a literature review, we found other policies that other people had generated.”

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ccording to Dennison the process of creating the policy was “fairly straightforward”. The Bexley lawyers had to review the policy before the committee presented it to the board. “[The committee] crafted a policy, brought it to the board to review and get their comments,” Dennison said. “At some point in the process we had it reviewed by [the Bexley] district lawyer. They had issues and concerns so we brought that to board and addressed that.

Then we crafted a final policy and brought it to the board. It was a very heartfelt and intentional process.”

The final vote at the Bexley meet was 5-0, unanimous. Dennison said the district had little hate from community members, if anyone had

a complaint he said they had solid arguments. “[The people who were concerned] just wanted to make sure that their own students beliefs and values were going to be challenged or overridden by providing something for someone else,” Dennison said. “There major concern was if they had a daughter and she is changing in the locker room, is she going to be forced to see someones penis. Essentially that was the issue and we talked through that and reasoned why its a valid concern.”

When asked about “ambiguous language” regarding the policy Dennison said the policy needed to be written in a broader manner because every situation would be different.

“The policy can’t be boilerplate, it can’t be an X situation Y happens,” Dennison said. “So [the policy] ended up being more of these are the values we have as a school district. We will work case by case situation that the school administration brings up. It’s ambiguous in that sense that it’s not straight forward, it’s not like if you cheat on your test you’ll be suspended.

The issues involved aren’t black and white.”

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ennison said before Bexley had passed the policy the schools were already communicating with the students and trying to help them feel the most comfortable

they could be. The “unofficial policy” needed to be put to print according to Dennison.

“The high school was actually doing a really good job in accommodating [transgender students] if they wanted to be called by a certain pronoun or a certain name,” Dennison said. “But from the boards prospective that was enacting a policy that didn’t exist. That means that some teachers could come along and act differently. It doesn’t ensure that those students are going to be treated the same way and it doesn’t give guidance to teachers about how to do it.”

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y creating the policy Bexley was able to protect both their students and staff.

By having this policy created Dennison believes that the districts allows to students to express themselves in a comfortable environment.

“It doesn’t matter if you have [transgender] student’s or not you still have to be welcoming open to those folks,” Dennison said. “It’s possible that a place doesn’t have any openly transgender students because they don’t feel welcome and safe enough to come out and say that they are. You might have to create the environment for them to be comfortable enough to come forward and say ‘I am Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 8

Spark public relations director Landon Meador walking out of Bexley High School after an interview with administration the policy the transgender policy.

transgender’.”

East senior and Gay Straight Alliance member Charis Williams spoke at the Dec. 11 meeting. After watching fellow peers go through this transition Williams wanted to speak out and help her fellow classmates.

“A transgender policy is a potentially lifesaving decision,” Williams said. “Not only have transgender students been physically and emotionally harassed within [Lakota] for various reasons, but the specific policy that we are looking to put into place allows for transgender students to ‘come out’ essentially at school without having to involve their parents. By doing this, hopefully suicide and

homelessness rates in transgender students will go down, especially if schools across the state and nation follow our lead.”

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ccording to the Williams Institute and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention suicide attempts among transgender men is 46 percent and transgender women is 42 percent. Dennison believes that having this policy allows the students to grow in all aspect, especially with mental health. “[Bexley] really prides itself on students emotional and mental development,” Dennison said. “I think that’s a core value in the district.

I would expect our teachers would get on board with [the policy because] this because it’s what’s best for our students.”

Now that the board has two new members, Bradley Lovell and Kelley Casper, Lakota superintendent Matthew Miller believes the board will take time improving and rewriting the policy. “[What I think is] going to happen is I think the board will study the policy and take a look at it before putting it up for a vote again anytime soon in January,” Miller said. “I think they need to press pause and take a look at it from a legal standpoint and see what other options there are aside from the Bexley policy.” •

111 Reading Rd, Mason, OH 45040

Contact Nicole Grice Ngrice@masonumc.org for information, events, and times

(513) 398-2020

—additional reporting landon meador

12/31/18

feature | student feature

“

Brandon Khounesombat with his beloved 130 pound mutt Deacon.

through the scope

Everyone should be able to do what they want to do, even if they have some sort of disability.

East sophomore Brandon Khounesombat desires to be involved in the military any way that he can despite obstacles that he may undergo.

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11 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

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—Nick Khounesombat

“We arranged for an instructional aide to help him get to class [but] he said he could do it on his own,” says Proffitt.

“That afternoon, he [became] familiar with navigating the school [with his cane] and sure enough, on the first day he was perfectly able to get around completely on his own.”

story katey kruback photography connor douglass infographic caroline bumgarner he quad revs, its engine rumbling and smelling of action. It’s loud and the sound permeates the air around him. He takes a deep breath of the clean, crisp air. It smells like speed. The boy grins, excited.

Before he knows it, the quad flips into first gear. The clutch is released and the gas is hit. Tires shoot forward with snow flying out behind him.

He holds onto the driver as tight as he can, beaming.

Whether it’s riding four-wheelers, hunting with his favorite crossbow or lifting weights, East sophomore Brandon Khounesombat (K-hu-nesom-bot) is known to be willing to try anything at least once.

Ever since he was five-years-old, Khounesombat has wanted to be in the military. His grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran, initially introduced Brandon to hunting at a young age. The two go target shooting together and have spent numerous weekend hunting trips where Brandon’s love for all things military blossomed.

Brandon has never wavered in his goal to be involved in the military.

He has joined youth programs such as the Civil Air Patrol and works with associations such as the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to gather the tools he needs to most succeed in his objective.

“I remember going to military cadet training with Brandon around two [or] three years ago,” says Brandon’s cousin Andru Khounesombat. “I could tell Brandon was really into the military. We would go out to the shooting range and he would love TapTapSee shooting targets with all sorts of guns.”

According to Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Unit Commander John Bentley, cadets go through intensive aerospace education classes with an emphasis on understanding those dynamics of flight and the science behind them.

The cadets also have to pass fitness and drill tests and uniform inspections that are similar to what they’d expect to find in the military.

They also must undergo emergency services training, organize teambuilding, leadership activities, monthly safety courses and Operational Risk Management training. “[The CAP program helps cadets] learn discipline, leadership and understand group dynamics,” says United States (U.S.) Army veteran

student feature | feature

Optic nerve atrophy (ONA) is mild to severe damage to the optic nerve that can adversely affect central vision, peripheral vision and color vision.

Blood Vessel

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ccording to Brandon, he has always been the athletic type. But with his decision to focus on academics for his Optic sophomore year, he took a step back Nerve from his involvement in CAP and team sports. Brandon was unable to completely drop his athleticism and has instead become very passionate about bodybuilding, something he does at home five to six times a week.

“Bodybuilding… is a universal sport. You can be visually impaired or have any kind of disability [with it],” says Brenda. “He absolutely loves weightlifting.”

According to Brenda, she told Brandon his whole life to remember that if anyone else can do something, he can too, just differently and usually he can find a way.

“Life is hard, the way I’m different from everybody. Ever since my freshman year, I’ve always wondered if [someone] will find something to fix my vision so I can drive and do normal things,” says Brandon. “I am ambitious. I want to [try] everything. [I just have to] do it differently.”

Because he has to find alternate ways of carrying out certain tasks, such as hunting, his family has found apps such as Intelliscope and TapTapSee. These apps give Brandon the ability to see what he is shooting at, a scope he can actually use that mounts onto a gun or crossbow. All he has to do is tap the screen to set the range and yardage of the arrow or bullet, helping him aim.

“More than sometimes, he has to remind us ‘hey, if I have to do something a certain way, why can’t you guys do it, too?’ There are no excuses and he shows us that,” says Brenda. “Especially in our family because everyone can have excuses every day, but the ones that are born with a disability don’t, so why should we?”

Brandon is able to see as far as the bridge of his nose with his right eye and about one to two feet away with his left eye and everything he sees has the blurry effect of a car windshield on a rainy day. However, even with his low vision, Brandon is able to accomplish things that “traditional people” (the term his family uses) do not think possible of the visually impaired.

sources taptapseeapp.com and interliscope.com

and previous CAP cadet John Bentley. “We accept everyone who wants to join, [even if they] do not meet the requirements of the U.S. military. However, CAP certainly does help them in life, regardless of their ability to Inteliscope enter the military.”

Brandon’s family first noticed there was an issue with his eyes at sixmonths-old. But it wasn’t until he was almost two years old that tests were able to diagnose him with bilateral optic nerve atrophy, declaring him legally blind.

“I felt helpless and a bit lost,” says Brenda about the diagnosis. “What happened to my child? I was in denial… [but after] the third opinion, I just had to tell myself [that] we’re going to keep it moving.”

Being visually impaired never stopped Brandon. According to East intervention specialist, teacher Sarah Proffitt, Brandon is one of her most independent students.

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Braille is a form of the English language consisting of raised dots felt by finger tips and is used by people who have visual impairments.

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sources national braille press and american foundation for the blind

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source american association for pediatric ophthamology and strabismus.

“Everyone should be able to do what they want to do, even if they have some sort of disability,” says Bradon’s older brother Nick Khounesombat.

“Who are we to play God and decide what others can’t do? If we decide that any person with disabilities can’t do anything, we are holding them back from what they can become.”

As in any student growing up, there’s a learning curve.

Brandon has spent countless hours in downtown Sharonville learning to keep the noise of cars on his left side while walking on sidewalks and learning to listen for idle engines before crossing a street. He is one of ten percent of the visually impaired community that can read braille, according to the National Federation of the Blind. Last March during his first year of competing, he won second place in the Midwest Regional Braille Challenge.

“I’ve been working with Brandon since Kindergarten,” says district Braillist Sherry Wilder. “He has always been a polite, friendly and respectful young man who worked hard at learning braille [which is] not an easy task. Not once did he tell me that braille was too hard or that he wanted to quit.”

One thing that was quite synonymous with every individual interviewed was his or her awe at Brandon’s drive to be independent. It’s not expected for someone with low vision to have an interest in hunting, riding quads, the military or body building. However, Brandon has been taught for the entirety of his life to ignore what’s expected of him and to work towards what he wants.

“There were somethings [that] Brandon went through in school that made us more mindful in life. Just because you’re visually impaired or have a disability doesn’t make the world go easy on you,” says Brenda.

“You have to grow thick skin and learn to roll those things off your shoulder. Keep it going and be a better person for the next person and that’s how Brandon is.” •

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Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 12

feature | teacher feature

E Kathleen Foldy sitting in her classroom.

Free Bird East Honors Advanced Composition, Honors English 11 and Advanced Placement (AP) Language and Composition teacher Kathleen Foldy wants to teach independence and a strong sense of drive to her students. story makenna henderson photo illustration meredith niemann 13 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

very student aspires to have a teacher who has a classroom environment that they are always free to speak their mind.

A place where everyone’s commentary is welcomed and appreciated by the teacher. With an academic environment that is open, students are more susceptible to enjoy learning.

For East Honors Advanced Composition, Honors English 11 and Advanced Placement (AP) Language and Composition teacher Kathleen Foldy, providing that freedom of academia for her students is her hobby and profession which she has been doing since 2001.

Foldy taught at Cincinnati State and Gateway Community College for two years. Afterwards, she spent four years at Colerain High School before coming to East where she has been teaching for the past 11 years.

East alumna Lauren Harvey had Foldy’s Honors Advanced Composition class the first thing in the morning senior year.

Harvey attributes Foldy to “the reason I dragged myself out of bed in the mornings.”

From being advisor of Gay Straight Alliance, Muslim Student Association and Astronomy Club, Foldy devotes as much of her free time to the students both in and out of the classroom.

“I like working with teenagers,” Foldy says. “Being involved in a variety of clubs allows me the opportunity to experience a diverse group of people and help a diverse group of kids. It's [a] win-win for me.”

Despite having an array of students, Foldy chooses to not have children of her own as she views parenting as an occupation.

“I never wanted to be a lawyer or a fireman, and I don't want to be a parent, either. I don't regret my decision at all,” Foldy says.

“I know many people parent and teach successfully, and they are like superheros to me. Not having children doesn't add to or take away from my work. It just allows me to work specifically with the demographic of kids I like the best. And to me, this is the best professional gift I receive.”

With anecdotes that she always shares with her classes, Foldy is known to be very open with her students. Her attentiveness to her classes creates a very unique learning atmosphere for students.

“She was always willing to work through problems with kids, school related or not and always had our best interest at heart,” Harvey says. “She was different because she seemed to really love spending her days with us.”

East junior Sydney Larson is currently enrolled in Foldy’s AP Language and Composition class and plans on enrolling in AP English Literature and Composition next year.

“The biggest thing that sets her apart is her compassion and ability to understand our stresses as students,” Larson says. “She genuinely is looking out for our best interest not only in our education but also in our mental health. She builds into us as people, not just as students.”

Amy Naylor, East Honors and College Preparatory English 11 teacher, has known Foldy for three years. Naylor says her unique personality is what differentiates her from other teachers.

“She marches to the beat of her own drummer,” Naylor says.

“She has a zest for life that I truly admire, spends her summers taking adventures and exploring the world which gives her a unique perspective on life [and is] never afraid to speak her mind or stand up for what she believes in.”

Foldy exemplifies many qualities that most teachers strive to have as Naylor says that she “has shared her insights into various works and that has broadened my understanding.” She cares deeply for her students and makes them a priority in her life. This is a dedicated teacher who is admired by many, both peers and students alike.

“She has a passion and drive for education,” Naylor says. “[And] overall she has a love for the English language above it all too.” •

full of life story anna mullins photo illustration lexy harrison

Patricia Toman is a family-oriented teacher who wants to be a positive role model for young students.

East Advanced Placement Biology and Biology II Patricia Toman teaching biology to her students in class.

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fresh scent drifts from a candle as students enter the spacious classroom. Plants line the walls and sunlight shines in through the window blinds. The posters on the walls and students’ projects scattered on counters and filling bins are found throughout the biology room; it forms a perfect symphony of organized chaos.

The classroom has become an extension of East’s Advanced Placement (AP) biology and Biology II teacher Patricia Toman as she uses her life to influence others and teach the next generation of students that could potentially go into the science field—specifically biology.

“When I was in school my mother told me to pick up my teaching degree [but] I was a biology major and I had no intent to teach, she said ‘just pick it up you may be glad that you did,’” Toman says. “As I was getting my degree in biology, I picked up an education degree at the same time; it was easy to do because I had all the classes I needed.”

Toman has been a biology teacher at East for 20 years as both a teacher and mother. As she tries to maintain a positive outlook on her life, Toman’s constant passion for biology has made it effortless. With a profound love for her kids, she always wanted to be there for them.

“When my kids were young and my daughter was getting on the school bus, I wanted to be the one to put her on that bus,” Toman says.

“So, the only job that allowed me to do that was [to] be a teacher.”

East Honors Zoology and Honors Anatomy and Physiology Julie Deak has worked alongside with Toman for 20 years and served as the head of East’s science department for eight years before she stepped down at the end of the 2016-17 year.

As they both have a love for dogs and science, Deak soon became well acquainted with Toman. Deak says that she thinks “[Toman] brings that practical science experience into the classroom. I think that’s always valuable.”

“It seems to me that she connects very well to her students because she is so enthusiastic, that it’s always infectious,” Deak says. “Everybody

likes to be associated with upbeat positive people. So I think from that perspective she resonates very well with her students.”

Even though, Toman is dedicated to her two main jobs of teaching and being a mother, she recently has had more free time. Besides creating a book club and recently gardening more often, Toman has also been kickboxing for 17 years.

“My kids are older now so I do things for me [now],” Toman says. “I swim, I kick box, I love to read, I love to get out in nature; as I get older I find I like to garden.”

Her love of the outdoors is obvious when students walk into her classroom as she has a vast array of plant and animal life; such as the mangrove plants, quail, lizards and other organisms that she is raising in her classroom.

After taking AP biology her senior year in high school, 2017 East alumna Brooke Lilly is currently a first-year psychology pre-medicine and bassoon performance major at Miami University. Lilly says that Toman “helped me find my love for biological sciences.”

“You could tell that she really cared about all of the students,” Lilly says. “And even when you would walk in she would notice if you were like sad or extra happy that day and she would always ask you how you were doing. It was just super sweet.”

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he vivacious personality of Toman has made her known around East, especially for her willingness to share that with others. As she navigated her way through the science, technology, engineering, and math career path, Toman plans on helping students do the

same.

“Teaching is like an extension of your children. You get attached to your students and you care for them the way you care for your own kids, you want the best for them,” Toman says. “I think being a mother has made me a better teacher, because I see the tribulations but I have a better understanding of what students need from what my own kids need.” • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 14

feature | hawk spotlight

hawk spotlight | feature

Isabelle Wright So, you have a sister in 5th grade who’s physically disabled?

Hawks On:

photography meredith niemann

Physically and mentally, half her brain is dead causing her to be held back, the total of her right side of her body is strained. She has a two-fingered hand on the left side due to blood clotting.

The right hand doesn’t work though it has five fingers.

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Are people at school friendly to her?

No, they look down upon her she doesn’t understand either, when they were learning social skills.

How does this affect you?

Definitely when I was in school with her, I would walk up to the kids that hurt her and confront them, and they were so afraid they stopped, but I had to do that to every kid. It’s hard because I know what they’re doing to her actually does affect her even though she doesn’t show it.

15 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

Morgan Gyger

Haly Peterson

What mental disability do you have?

Do you feel that East makes enough accommodations to students with physical and mental disabilities?

Anxiety.

Are most teachers helpful and understanding with your anxiety?

I think that this building is really good with like disabilities. Every time I walk down the hallway, I always see classrooms that have kids with disabilities inside of them so they definitely contribute to all the different types of disabilities.

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The school has some teachers who are more understanding than others.

The workload is often very heavy and many teachers often do not show any lenience.

What do you do to help yourself out with your anxiety?

I often will distract myself from school work.

When did you realize you had anxiety/when did the symptoms really start?

High school really made my anxiety sky rocket when the workload increased from the middle school level to the high school level.

Do you feel that Lakota can make more changes so students with disabilities can be more comfortable and learn even better?

Okay, so I think that they could.

Regarding my brother, Kee [Peterson], he used to be on like a lower level and now he’s been moved up to a harder level. He’s now walking by himself in the hallway. Also, this might be just for Kee, but he never gets homework or anything like that. Which I think if they gave homework he could grasp what they’ve learned that day.

Disabilities

Every issue, the Spark asks one student fom each grade questions relating to feature stories in the issue.

interviews rebecca breland, gracie estep, leslie hernández and alanna schlaeger

Jamie Peterson Do you feel East makes accommodations for students with mental and physical disabilities?

[My brother Kee] doesn’t have any aides this year but they were super flexible with that and then for the physical disabilities, Kee doesn’t use they have the elevator and then ramps to help him out.

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What is your experience with having a personal connection to someone who has a disability?

He doesn’t struggle. He super duper loves the environment at east. I know he loves working in the spirit shop, which is for mostly for kids with disabilities, they work in there. He loves it, he always talks about it, it’s his favorite thing so I know that is something he looks forward to that when it comes to school. I think he likes the environment a lot here at East. I have seen it affect his day to day life and he’s improved so much.

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 16

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women noun

wom•an

\ ˈwu̇-mən

1. a person who has power, beauty and the ability to do whatever they aspire to be

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e An M sec oth ar o e ch nd r s in an ign C nu th in a a ci l W t nn w at om as i, e a O n t hi ’s o.

t en . m ch er ar w M po n’s em e e om al m iW fe at y nn an ci m in e C th he of at t ne s O ign s

an m er at i. ck rt ’s t A o en na h pp m in na su o inc an n l W C H t i ua n or fis n ow ni er an nt se h nd w st ps co do Ea um se in p e ch th ar M

women | package

Society has been portraying women as subordinate to men in various mediums throughout history; however, women have recently gathered more than ever in order to break down these societal barriers and taken a stand.

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I’ve seen better cabinets at Ikea” one sign yelled. “Girl Pwr” one sign proclaimed and finally, “The Future is Female” stated another.

More signs and chatters bombarded these streets on a chilly Jan. Saturday morning.

Surrounded by poster boards that are brightly clad with synonymous phrases of empowerment, East senior Hannah Ackerman continued to march on around the closed streets of downtown Cincinnati with hundreds of other spectators packed into a vibrant, constant throng.

Adrenaline ran through her veins. Despite the diversity of people in gender, age, ethnicity and income, they all were united as one for one cause—equality. She pumped her fist up towards the sky, proud of the meaning behind it all.

A year after President Donald Trump’s

L to R: East junior Amali Zade, East junior Haleigh Collins, East senior Hannah Ackerman, East junior Jada Ingram and East senior Joyce Jiang

story sidney li photography vivian kolks, richard giang, meredith niemann and used with permission art tyler bonawitz, sidney li and charis williams

inauguration, the second annual Women’s March paved the streets in hundreds of cities across the United States (U.S.). And in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ackerman continued to march for the topic that she has always valued deeply for—women’s rights.

“It was super fun and empowering to be in the crowd surrounded by other women and men who are also feminists,” Ackerman says. “It just gave me a lot of hope for the future of this country and the women’s rights movement.”

In a 2015 poll conducted by Vox, 85 percent of people believe in equality for women; however, 18 percent of those same respondents consider themselves as feminists, 52 percent said they were not feminist, 26 percent weren’t sure and four percent refused to answer.

“I have always identified as a feminist for as long as I can remember because a feminist

believes in political, economic and social equality between genders,” Ackerman says.

“There shouldn’t be inequality in pay or job positions simply because one candidate might be a woman or a man. Empowerment is beneficial as a whole.”

While the march spurred national attention a year ago, local people have added to the issue through positivity.

At Plains Junior School girl’s bathroom, quotes are found on the walls and stall doors that empower the adolescent girls. This was all created by Special Education Instructional Aide Megan Huss, Child Nutritionist Terri Ogg and English teacher Lisa Silverglade this academic school year.

After the positive phrases, such as “beautiful girl, you can do amazing things” and “be the best version of you” were painted at Plains, other teachers from Monroe Local Schools Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 18

package | women

women | package

“I saw how the march in our capital had also garnered more people than the Trump inauguration, which occurred less than 24 hours later, this was amazing to see people unite in not just our country but the world as a whole.” and Edgewood City Schools aspire to spread more positive empowerment within their own respective schools too.

In a Spark survey conducted, 68 percent of 302 students said that they personally identified as a feminist.

Women all around the world protested in the global Women’s March on Jan. 21, 2017 that was meant to advocate policies that regarded healthcare, equal and reproductive rights and more after the presidential inauguration of President Donald Trump.

This single demonstration had an estimated 4.96 million men, women and children participating in the 673 marches in all the United States (U.S.) and 32 countries, according to the Sister Marches website. However, there is also an expected 6 million participants across the globe throughout the Jan. 20 to Jan. 21 weekend.

“Seeing the news on the Women’s March in Washington D.C. not only made me wish that I was there but utterly flabbergasted that we did that,” Ackerman says. “I saw how the march in our capital had also garnered more people than the Trump inauguration, which occurred less than 24 hours later. This was amazing to see people unite in not just our country but the world as a whole.”

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uke University Women’s Studies and Literature Professor Elizabeth Grosz has written and edited books and articles that connect both literature, feminist history and studies. Grosz told Spark that feminism has “improved [with] progress [yet] women have and continue to overcome great odds to be deemed ‘worthy.’”

“Some people who believe that women should not be ‘allowed’ to make decisions regarding their own future is common in the right wing,” Grosz says. “Some press even bash feminists as selfish and crazy, yet today women should be proud to be feminists to act and identify with other women.”

In the 1960s and 70s, social activist and feminist Gloria Steinem had co-founded feminist-themed magazine “Ms.” that succeeded her various acts of fighting for gender equality. Her actions sparked a movement within the U.S. as there was a shift in the view of a woman’s role in society.

However, there are extreme feminists that are called “feminazis,” where “the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur,” as radio host Rush Limbaugh popularized in 1992 with his book, “The Way Things Ought to Be.”

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his term has led Americans to avoid being affiliated with “feminism” as “society has portrayed that a person who wants equality between genders or a ‘feminist’ [hates men and supports] female privilege,” Grosz says.

According to a 2013 poll conducted by the Huffington Post, 58 percent of Republicans view the term, “feminist”, as mostly negative, whereas only 40 percent of Independents and 20 percent of Democrats do. Then, 42 percent of men view “feminist” to be negative in comparison to the 32 percent of women who do view it to be negative.

Besides JSA, Ackerman is varsity captain of the academic quiz team and treasurer of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA)Future Health Professionals club and Medical Club at East. Each of those extracurricular clubs are related to professional fields that have a predominate male presence.

“I have always had a passion with medicine, science, debate, politics and just academics in general,” Ackerman says. “I couldn’t just pick one club over the other.”

Thirty four percent of physicians identify as female, while 0.1 percent are unspecified, according to data on October 2017 from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Along with this, 19.6 percent of Congress is comprised of women, 23.7 percent in statewide elective and

25.1 percent in state legislatures, according to a 2017 report conducted by the Center for American Women and Politics.

As an executive director at southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky for Unitedhealthcare, Caitlin Clipp partnered with the American Heart Association to participate in their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Goes Red day at Xavier University along with more than 50 local women.

“Unfortunately there isn’t an increased female presence in STEM fields. That is why STEM programs are so important. Women make up half the workforce and half the college educations, but are extremely underrepresented in STEM degrees and jobs,” Clipp told Spark.

“They hold less than 25 percent of the STEM jobs in the United States (U.S.) economy [and] 14 percent of engineering degrees go to women.”

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nowledgeWorks Chief Operating Officer Catherine Allshouse had eight out of about 60 people in her graduating class going into technology.

Now, in the class that she teaches at the University of Cincinnati, there are eight out of 22 students heading to technology.

“There are more [STEM] jobs than applicants and will be for some time in the future. I’ve honestly never paid much attention to the fact that I’ve worked with more men than women in technology,” Allshouse told Spark. “I just appreciate solid opportunities and intelligent, dedicated colleagues. I know not everyone shares the same experiences, but being a female in technology has never been awkward or a ‘thing’ for me. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”

In this past school year, East juniors Cali Hoffman and Lindsay Isom decided to start the Women in Science and Engineering club in order to remind their high school female friends and more that STEM is possible for anyone.

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“This year, women all over the nation have showed major interest in office at various stages, whether it is locally, statewide, or even nationally.”

“We want to get people more excited about science. When I was younger, I didn’t know what engineering was,” Isom told Spark. “I think that there’s a stereotype that girls can’t go into [engineering] and we want to break that stereotype. If you don’t know what [STEM] has to offer, you can’t say you’re not into it.”

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ckerman aspires to become a doctor.

In preparation for this, she along with East Medical Club and HOSAFuture Health Professionals club President Sophia Seppi and JSA Vice President Kate Harvey hope to inspire their female underclassmen through the club and their leadership roles.

“I hope that women will be able to confidently say that they are in a job field that has equal representation of genders,” Seppi says. “As I’m president of a club that has little women in its job field, there aren’t many female figures that can be looked up to in [the medical field] and I know Hannah will definitely be an inspiration with her determination and efforts.”

Only six percent of chief executive operator positions are comprised of women, according to a 2017 report conducted by the Center for American Progress. Clipp says that there is a lack of female role models in these conventional high positional careers along with gender stereotyping that makes it arduous for women to obtain these positions that men traditionally hold.

“This year, women all over the nation have showed major interest in office at various stages, whether it is locally, statewide, or even nationally,” Harvey says. “I’ve seen this reflected as I have seen more girls attend our

JSA meetings and at annual conventions.”

Even though there is an increase of women presence in many male-dominated job fields and positions of leadership over the past century, women are paid 80 percent of their male counterparts and the projected pay equity won’t occur until 2059, according to a 2016 report by the American Association of University Women.

In Sept. 2017, three former female Google employees sued the company with claims that they were being paid less than their male counterparts. This led to an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor into their pay practices and if they are violating California’s Equal Pay Act.

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ut San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary Wiss told Spark that two out of the three former employees could not accurately depict that they had performed a comparable amount of work to the men that allegedly earned more in Dec. 2017.

However, Associate Professor of Business and Economics at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College Michele D. Kegley told Spark there is a societal acceptance but now backlash on sexual harassment within the workforce and the “gender pay differentiation has become much more apparent these days.”

“There has been a lot of news articles and airtime about the gender pay disparity today but it has been happening for years and years,” Kegley says. “Now people, specifically women are speaking out against this and are having their voices heard about this.”

However, Kegley says that it takes a long

time to have a cultural shift in society. She says that “we are dealing with a practice that has been unspoken yet in place for years and going against that tide to make a change, which may or may not be inevitable.”

On the other hand, there are women who dedicate their lives to raising their children.

According to a 2014 Pew Research Center report, 29 percent of women were stay-athome mothers in 2012, which was a six percent increase from 1999.

There are various reasons as to why women decide to stay at home besides children, such as disabilities, school, or a lack of job availability.

Ackerman’s mother Kim Ackerman stays at home and has raised Hannah and her two brothers Ryan and Sean, as they are all triplets.

“I decided to be a stay-at-home mom to my three children because I wanted to take care of them while also being there for their major milestones throughout their childhood,” Kim says. “How could I not stay home when I not only had one child, but three? It wasn’t a choice but I love it and I have no regrets.”

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espite this rise in stay-at-home moms, there are 74.6 million women in the civilian labor field and almost 47 percent of U.S. workers are women, according to a 2017 report from the U.S. Department of Labor.

In that same report, women are the only or primary earners for 40 percent of households with children under 18 today, compared to the 11 percent in 1960. With that, women own close to 10 million businesses nationwide, which results in 1.4 trillion dollars in receipts.

On the other hand, Hannah doesn’t plan on

One of the Women’s Marches stretched over a 1.2 mile radius in the streets of downtown Cincinnati.

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on focusing on her medical career. But “if I happen to have one, I still want to continue working and not quit my job simply because I have a child.”

“I want to have that independence and ability to do something that I love along with a child, if I were to have one,” Hannah says.

“My relatives expect me to have kids when I’m older but it’s just not in my agenda. In the past, women’s roles were child-bearers but now we can do whatever we set our minds to.”

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ccording to a 2014 U.S. Census Bureau’s current population survey, 47.6 percent of women, ages 15 to 44, don’t have children, which is the ultimate high since the bureau has started collecting data from 1976.

Playing sports has always been the norm for Hannah as she has played tennis recreationally and now varsity at East. She has always enjoyed playing sports along with balancing her demanding Advanced Placement classes and extracurriculars.

During her years in tennis, Hannah has noticed the disparity amongst girls and boys sports in terms of popularity and awareness.

She says that boys sports always have more supporters at their games along with promotions that girl sports don’t always get.

“Being good at sports questions the way women are supposed to look and do. It questions our cultural ideas of femininity [as] the way women are supposed to act,” Grosz told Spark. “[Sports] affirms that women can be active, can develop bodily strengths and psychological skills needed to be athletes.

However, throughout history, women who are feminine are supposed to be the spectators for active young men.”

Yet, by age 14, girls are two times more likely

to drop out of sports in comparison to boys, according to a 2016 report by the Women’s Sports Foundation; due to the 1.3 million fewer opportunities, safety and transportation issues, costs, discrimination and lack of role models.

“After playing softball for more than 10 years for both school, varsity and travel teams, it’s definitely something that I can’t imagine my life without,” East Varsity Softball Centerfielder Regan Butikofer says. “Softball has taught me so much about myself and other girls should have the opportunity to play whatever sport they want.”

Playing sports for adolescent girls provides numerous advantages, such as health benefits, academic success, self-confidence and easier sociability. This can correlate to “potential increases of women empowerment with each other,” Grosz says.

Despite the separation between boys and girls sports in high school, on Oct. 2017, The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) released a statement that said the organization’s board of directors unanimously voted and girls will be allowed to become Cub Scouts and even earn the rank of Eagle Scout, which is the BSA’s highest honor.

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tarting on Jan. 2018, girls can join Cub Scout units, which are also known as dens. Also, each local BSA organization can have the choice of having dens for girls and dens for boys. In 2019, there will be another program for older girls that will allow them to earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

Hannah’s brother Ryan was in Boy Scouts for almost seven years; however, he didn’t register this year as he wanted to focus on preparing for college. In his last year as a registered scout, Ryan earned the Eagle Scout rank too.

“Everyone is making a big deal out of it when it is just offering girls the same opportunities as boys. There are already girls in some Boy Scouts programs and letting them be scouts is the next logical step,” Ryan told Spark. “The Boy Scouts, in my experience, allows [people] to gain a more recognized reward, Eagle, [that] can be [an] advantage to them in life.”

According to a 2017 report from Breastcancer.org, about one out of eight U.S. women will potentially develop “invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.” In 2017, an estimated 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer [was] expected to be diagnosed in women with 63,410 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.”

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s part of the American Cancer Society’s non-profit organization Relay for Life, East holds an annual overnight fundraiser that helps raise money for research and programs to spread awareness of the disease.

Last year, East’s Relay for Life raised $68,000 through the efforts of about 650 East students, including East senior and now senior event chair Colleen Flach. She says that their goal this year is to raise $75,000 with more than 800 students..

“The reason we relay is because people with cancer can’t and we all know someone who has or had cancer. Personally for me, my grandma died from lung cancer and she is what motivates me to keep relaying,” Flach told Spark. “If every student participated in Relay we would raise so much money for cancer and we would help find a cure [as] Relay is really life changing.”

In Oct. 2017, the Trump administration created a policy that employers had the ability to religiously or morally object the Obamacare

East swimmer Tara Witkowski swims the breast stroke in 200 yard IA medley.

“ [Sports] affirms that women can be active, can develop bodily strengths and psychological skills needed to be athletes.”

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“I never thought that I would see a female superhero movie but when I heard ‘Wonder Woman’ was coming out, I knew I had to see it.”

and its birth control coverage mandate for female employees along with other essential health benefits.

This followed the administration’s April 2017 action of defunding $32.5 million to the United Nations agency for reproductive health in the 2017 budget. However, the State Department said those funds will be used towards similar programs in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

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ccording to a May 23, 2017 post on the U.S. Department of State’s website, President Donald Trump requested 37.6 billion dollars as part of the 2018 fiscal year budget for the State Department and USAID in order to “reflect the president’s ‘America First’ agenda that prioritizes the well-being of Americans, bolsters U.S. national security, secures our borders and advances U.S. economic interests.”

There is no mention of reproductive health in the post; however “this budget will also support our efforts to combat corruption and address threats to good governance, which helps level the playing field for American workers and businesses.”

Even though Hannah is not on birth control, she has friends that are and is “worried that the government will try to regulate or make it harder for women to have access to birth control as it can help my friends with not only their periods but cramps and other things as well.”

In Dec. 2017, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed a legislation that will prohibit doctors from performing abortions when prenatal tests find out that have the fetus will either most likely or have Down syndrome.

This law is intended to be set in place 90 days after Kasich passed it. Physicians could potentially lost their license and the person performing the abortion could face up to a fourth-degree felony charge, but the pregnant mother who wants the abortion will not be held accountable.

Ohio Northern University Professor of Law Joanne Brant is a scholar at Constitutional Law and told Spark that the loss in medical licenses is a “sufficient deterrent to chill most medical professionals, and makes it unnecessary to police clinics.”

“However, since the law is inconsistent with the [Supreme Court of the United States] precedent, and a similar law has been found unconstitutional in Indiana,” Brant says, “I would expect a legal challenge to be filed in Ohio, and for the law to be struck down by the courts, after the state expends considerable taxpayer monies for litigation.”

Similar to this, 40 states in the U.S. currently tax feminine hygiene products as they are “luxury items” and non-necessities. However, in 2016, at least 13 states and the District of Columbia considered proposals to exempt feminine hygiene products from their state sales tax. Then, Connecticut, Illinois, New York and the District of Columbia accepted the proposals.

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n a Spark Twitter survey on Jan. 3, 2018, 95 percent of the 99 East Spark Twitter followers say that feminine hygiene products should not be taxed in Ohio.

Despite this, Ohio still continues to tax feminine hygiene products. Democratic House of Representative Brigid Kelly is currently sponsoring House Bill (HB) 61 to exempt

feminine hygiene products from sales tax in Ohio. But this bill was assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee in April 2017 and has not received a committee vote. Eliminating this tax will save the average Ohio woman 632.50 dollars in her lifetime.

At the same time the House Ways and Means Committee was assigned HB 61, they were also assigned HB 116 that proposed for a sales tax exemption for glasses, contacts and other forms of aid for vision but HB 116 was voted then approved by the committee. “[Women] need these products in order to fully function in our day-to-day lives and having these products and the luxury tax is meant for items that aren’t necessary unlike these products,” Kelly told Spark. “We have had other elected officials and community members coming in to speak at these hearings about their thoughts on the tax of feminine hygiene products since [last] year.”

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fter being released on June 2, 2017, “Wonder Woman” garnered 103.1 million dollars in just its opening weekend. The popularity of the solo heroine movie showcased princess of the Amazons Diana, who then became Wonder Woman as she saves the world from her evil half-brother Ares.

“Wonder Woman” is one of the few superhero movies that stars a female superhero, after the last comics movie was “Elektra” from publishing company Marvel Comics in 2005.

Grosz told Spark “[‘Wonder Woman’] has impacted the Hollywood box office, which may enable other similar movies to be possible [in the future].”

“Growing up, I always have looked and was

Fans of Wonder Woman can find comics about her and other female superheroes at Nostalgic Ink in Mason, Ohio.

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“It is important that women find, use their voices [and] deserve to be heard then empowered. We should respect and honor their courage in making public the abuses they have suffered.”

infatuated with the whole superhero world.

I never thought that I would see a female superhero movie but when I heard ‘Wonder Woman’ was coming out, I knew I had to see it,” Hannah says. “Watching that movie and seeing how Wonder Woman killed it, was so extremely inspiring that it left our theatre room in awe when it ended.”

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his 150 million dollar production also features female director Patty Jenkins, which is already a rarity within the film industry too. Women account for 7 percent of directors, which is a 2 percent decrease from 2015, and in 2016, 92 percent of films had no female directors, according to an annual report in 2017 by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

University of California, Los Angeles film historian Jonathan Kuntz has noticed how “Wonder Woman” and Jenkins “will undoubtedly lead to more female superheroes and female directors.”

“The superhero genre was originated by men for boys, but women and girls have played an increasing role in the past twenty years in science fiction, fantasy and superhero fandom,” Kuntz told Spark. “Women have been a huge part of the audience for ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Harry Potter,’ and now ‘Game of Thrones,’ so it is not surprising that more women are featured in these films and are increasingly part of the creative teams behind the camera.”

In response to the 37 percent of the photographers, 32 percent of hairstylists and 49 percent of makeup artists that were female in their prior year’s issues, Glamour magazine and their 17 international editions decided to

establish a “#PoweredByWomen” initiative with an all female staff.

Now former Editor-in-Chief of women’s magazine Glamour Cynthia Leive says on an online post on Glamour’s website on Oct. 2, 2017 that their “practices were standard for the industry, and the reasons are complex—high fashion, and fashion photography, have been traditionally male dominated—but regardless, we decided we wanted to do better, and raise the presence of female talent on our pages and screens.”

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anging from industries such as film, television and theater, 300 women launched an initiative on Jan. 1, 2018 to fight the ongoing sexual harassment and abuse cases found in Hollywood and various blue-collared jobs, called “Time’s Up.” This initiative will provide a legal defense fund for women who are less privileged, which is backed by 13 million dollars from donations in order for them to be protected from reporting sexual misconduct.

Time’s Up intends to have legislation punish companies that allow harassment to happen and then even using non-disclosure agreements in order to silence victims in their company.

According to the official website for Time’s Up, they have “a request that women walking the red carpet at the Golden Globes speak out and raise awareness by wearing black [with] a drive to reach gender parity at studios and talent agencies that has already begun making headway.”

Time’s Up follows the social media “#MeToo” campaign and hashtag that has numerous high-profile accusations against film and media personalities, prominently Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein

and National Broadcasting Company co-host Matt Lauer along with others.

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any of the #MeToo women who have come forth as victims of sexual harassment are in the entertainment industry, which is one of the reasons why Time’s Up is predominantly focusing on blue-collared female jobs who have also been affected.

Women’s Studies Professor Carol Stabile at University of Maryland has been researching the history of gender, race and class in media institutions. She is also the managing editor of the “Fembot Collective” and co-editor of “Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology” “I think the hope for #MeToo and #TimeUp is that having high profile women speaking out against sexual violence— which occurs along a spectrum from sexual harassment to sexual assault—will help affect social change for all women,” Stabile told Spark. “It’s important to note that women are describing what’s happening as ‘the reckoning,’ which they mean that men have abused power in these ways for decades and perhaps that now we will stop these abuses.”

Time Magazine’s annual person of the year for 2017 was awarded to “the silence breakers” that include actresses Ashley Judd and singer Taylor Swift along with women from various socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.

However, they all have a common belief that ties them together—shedding light on the dire issue of sexual harassment and abuse.

This led to Oprah Winfrey making her speech at the Golden Globe Awards, while generating talk of another possible female presidential candidate.

A woman holds up “#MeToo” sign at the Cincinnati Women’s March in Jan. 2018,.

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University of Arizona Gender and Women’s Studies Professor Patricia MacCorquodale told Spark that she thinks it is great that women are breaking the silence and talking about sexual harrassment and abuse.

“It is important that women find, use their voices [and] deserve to be heard then empowered. We should respect and honor their courage in making public the abuses they have suffered,” MacCorquodale says. “Our culture has a long history of blaming the victim. Some people say that women who suffer abuse “were asking for it” in the clothing, act and places.

Everyone should be safe in their own bodies.

No one should feel unsafe.”

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A “Women are Perfect” sign was used in the Jan. 2017 Women’s March in Washington D.C.

he U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women gathered a list of myths that pertain to sexual violence and harassment, and discredited them with facts. One of the myths was “victims provoke sexual assaults when they dress provocatively or act in a promiscuous manner.”

However, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, “neither provocative dress nor promiscuous behavior are invitations for unwanted sexual activity. Forcing someone to engage in nonconsensual sexual activity is sexual assault, regardless of the way that person dresses or acts.”

Grosz says this stigma of provocative attire has stemmed from the victims of sexual assault and rape “asking for it” with their choice of attire. In a 2005 Amnesty International United Kingdom poll, 26 percent of people said a woman was partially or completely responsible for rape if she was wearing revealing clothing.

“I don’t think that me, wearing a spaghetti strapped tank to school when it was 80 degrees out, would be a distraction to boys in my class,”

Hannah says. “I come to school to learn and further my knowledge for the future and just because my exposed shoulders are out, doesn’t mean my education should be impeded by a boy who can’t stop staring at my skin that he also has.”

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n a recent Spark survey, 42 percent of East students believe there are stigmas on some articles of clothing, such as fish nets and crop tops. However, 28 percent believe it is only true sometimes and 30 percent believe this stigma isn’t true at all.

“We live in a patriarchal culture that wants to emphasize the differences and inequalities between the sexes rather than their own similarities. Clothing is one way of socially reinforcing [those] gender expectations,” Grosz says. “For most women, how they look, not only to men, but to other women, with whom they are supposed to compete, is instilled in them as important, and linked to attracting men.”

CVS Pharmacy announced on Jan. 15, 2018, that they will not alter any of the physical characteristics on the photos of their models that would be used on their stores, social media accounts and websites as a way to promote a positive message on realistic body images to their predominate demographic of women.

“Photoshopping is usually used to make people appear more perfect and more conforming to societal standards of attractiveness,” MacCorquodale told Spark.

“The problem is that women and girls who see the photos believe that these are real people who look like this and they in turn want to look like this. They are setting a standard for their own appearance that is unattainable.”

Since women are constantly surrounded by advertisements filled with photoshopped models, this can lead to detrimental problems,

such as eating disorders, psychological distress, excess plastic surgery procedures and exercise addictions.

“As a purpose-led company, we strive to do our best to ensure all of the messages we are sending to our customers reflect our purpose of helping people to better health,” Holly from CVS Pharmacy Customer Relations told Spark.

“This new [CVS] initiative is to lead positive change around transparency in beauty and allow differentiation between authentic and materially altered imagery.”

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders’ website, there are at least 30 million people in the U.S. ranging from different ages and genders that suffer from an eating disorder and that number increases steadily.

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ith that, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness as in every 62 minutes, at least one person dies as a direct result. However, MacCorquodale says that people need to realize that “real people are imperfect [and] come in all sizes and shapes. Beauty is not the cultural standards and can be found in each person.”

Despite the obstacles that women have overcome since the beginning of history, there are many more potential achievements that women will conquer. As for Hannah, she continues to embrace her femininity as it makes her unique.

“I would never want to trade in being a woman. I’m proud of who I came to be and the women who came before me,” Hannah says. “I can’t wait for the day where I am officially out of medical school, which is male-dominated field, and can say that just because I am a girl, doesn’t mean that I can’t do the same thing that guys can do too.” •

“We live in a patriarchal culture that wants to emphasize the differences and inequalities between the sexes rather than their own similarities.”

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“Wonder Woman” comic books can be found at comic book store Nostalgic Ink in Mason, Ohio.

The rise of [the] female fandom really took off last decade, and we’re seeing the results of it today with the rise of female creators.

Not just in superhero comics but across the board, and also the growth in depth of portrayals of female characters.

Women going beyond the Panel The release of the new “Wonder Woman” movie has opened up controversy in the comic book community. story abby bammerlin | photography meredith niemann art tyler bonawitz and mckenna lewis

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he audience murmurs their excitement and anticipation. The theatre is full of faces, tensely looking between their watches and the blank screen. Then, the lights fade and the once-dim screen in front of her comes suddenly to life. Bright colors fill the auditorium and instantly she melts into the Themyscira, the home of Diana or soon to be, Wonder Woman. Action ensues, and she was completely entangled in the characters and stories being played out in front her.

East Sophomore Rachel Landers has enjoyed comic books since she was in elementary school. From flipping through “Spider-Man” comics to seeing “Avengers” for the first time, Landers has loved the comic book universe. So when Landers heard of the new “Wonder Woman” movie, she knew she had to see it.

“There were a lot of moments I really enjoyed,” Landers says. “I think one of the scenes I really enjoyed was the end scene where Wonder Woman beats [the villain]. Even in the “Avengers”, the female characters are there, [but] they are never [the] ones that defeat the final boss.”

When DC Comics released its summer blockbuster “Wonder

Woman,” it was an instant hit with audiences across the nation. According to the Box Office Mojo website, “Wonder Woman” was the seventh highest grossing movie on its opening weekend and was the third highest grossing movie of 2017.

“Wonder Woman” has not only been critically successful but has inspired women everywhere, providing a role model for aspiring young women. Out of the 314 students surveyed at East, 94 percent believed it is important for young girls have female superheroes as role models.

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omic book historian and a creator of “Wonder Woman Unbound” Tim Hanley believes that the success of “Wonder Woman” has shown “the fan base will accept female-driven superhero [material] and that [it’s] a lot broader than many studios and publishers thought.”

“For the genre as a whole, I think [‘Wonder Woman’] blows the door wide open for more female-led superhero films, both in terms of characters and behind the scenes as well,” Hanley says. “Given that it was such a success, I’m anticipating that studios will begin to showcase

tracking the growth of women These are some of the many events that depict the progress of women in society. infographic sidney li and meredith peters art mckenna lewis

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1792: Sarah Pierce establishes first institution in United States (U.S.) for higher education of women.

1769: Colonies adopt English system and state women can’t own property under own name or keep their own earnings.

—Tim Hanley, Comic book historian and a creator of “Wonder Woman Unbound” their female superheroes more, and that female filmmakers will be given more opportunities within the genre.”

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ccording to Internet Movie Database (iMDb), between the release of “Elektra” in 2005 and “Wonder Woman” in 2017, there have been 40 superhero movies with a male lead and no female leads.

“Wonder Woman” is the first female superhero movie, since “Catwoman” (2004) and “Elektra” (2005). “Catwoman” lost 8 million dollars while “Elektra” only made 13 million dollars, compared to “Wonder Woman”, which made over 672 million dollars.

“Studio executives latched onto [“Catwoman” and “Elektra” as] failures to justify their own sexist view of the business,” Hanley says. “[They] used them as an excuse to wait for more than a decade to make another superhero movie with a female lead.”

David Mahoney, a comic book expert and historian, says “Wonder Woman” was taken very seriously because someone was willing to look at it and see that recently gender has been a positive Hollywood trend with movies such as “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “The Hunger Games”.

“Historically that has not been that case, some of it is audience unwillingness,” Mahoney says. “If you’re not going to make a high budget

1847: Mary Kies becomes the first woman to receive a patent, for a method of weaving straw with silk.

movie to attract audiences than why bother. If you take the lack of studio support out you can have a movie that wins. If you don’t believe in it than I probably won’t.”

According to Box Office Mojo, the production budget for “Catwoman” (2004), was 100 million dollars. “Elektra” (2005) had a production budget of 43 million dollars.

“Wonder Woman” (2017) had a the largest production budget at 149 million dollars.

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hen compared to recent comic book movies that had a male lead such as “Batman v Superman: Dawn Justice” (2016) that had a 250 million dollar budget and “Man of Steel” (2013) which had a budget of 225 million dollars, “Wonder Woman,” which had smaller budget by almost 100 million dollars, made more money than both of these higher budgeted films.

Comic book movies that star women are arduous to make, due to the lack of women characters in the comic book industry. According to a survey conducted

by FiveThirtyEight, about 29 percent of DC Comics’ characters are female, and 24 percent of Marvel Comics’ characters are female.

However, in the 1950’s DC Comics had about 14 percent and Marvel Comics had 10 percent female characters.

While these numbers are improving, fans

1847: Maria Mitchell discovers a new comet, wins a medal from the King of Denmark.

1838: Kentucky widows with children are granted “school suffrage,” the right to vote in school board election.

including Landers still see the females in comic books as often oversexualizing women. She says that she liked “Wonder Woman” because it was one of the first movies where a female character is the main lead but movie producers didn’t dress her as ‘super skimpy.’

“I remember this one “Spider-Man” comic where [a woman is] sitting there and her boobs are pushed out. It’s so over sexualized [but] it’s just supposed to be her chilling,” Landers says. “[Oversexualization is] sometimes just not needed.”

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owever, the demographic of comic books and movies has begun to change from when comics first started. According to a report done

by Graphic Policy in September 2016, about 38 percent of comic book readers were women, while in September 2017, the percentage of women readers has increased to about 50 percent.

“The rise of [the] female fandom really took off last decade, and we’re seeing the results of it today with the rise of female creators,” Hanley says.“Not just in superhero comics but across the board, and also the growth in depth of portrayals of female characters.”

Landers says that the director of “Wonder Woman”, Patty Jenkins has been given a lot of the credit for the success of “Wonder Woman.”

“I feel like [Patty Jenkins] knows what she’s doing,” Landers says. “[She knows] how

1849: Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first licensed woman physician in the U.S.

1848: 300 people attend the first convention held to discuss women’s rights.

1851: First National Women’s Rights Convention is held in Massachusetts.

1850: Harriet Tubman joined the Underground Railroad efforts and leads slaves to freedom.

q&A: MoMS

q&a | package

“Wonder Woman” comic books are displayed at comic book store Nostalgic Ink in Mason, Ohio

interviews ruth elendu and samadhi marapane

to catch your attention and show women [as] powerful but we do have flaws and that’s okay.”

The central cause of comics becoming popular is hard to pinpoint, as Miami University Media Studies Professor Ron Becker says.

Becker thinks of cultural change as feedback loops between industries as an essential factor.

“These complex feedback loops between industry changes that make certain kinds of products available in new ways is what I think [of as] cultural change,” Becker says. “Then audiences are interested in them and new audiences get on board, which then fuel both the industry to deliver more [content] along those lines.”

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hese culture changes are a result of more women becoming involved in the process of creating comics. In June 2017, Hanley conducted a survey for internet news site Bleeding Cool, focusing on comics, TV, film and games. He found that in the credits in DC Comic movies, only 15.3 percent of them were women. Alongside this, Marvel comics had 15.7 percent.

Laura Innes is a webcomic book creator who predominantly works independently from

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1853: First feminist newspaper “The Una” premiers in Providence, Rhode Island.

1851: Sojourner Truth makes famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech in Akron, Ohio.

the mainstream comic book world. Innes says that comic book audiences are made up of mostly white men, especially in mainstream comics. She says mainstream comic book publishers are disproportionate in terms of the number of women and ethnicity. “[There are] guys who get upset that women creators exist and that they exist outside of just being a sexual icon,” Innes says. “Those guys are just going to be around until they die.” owever, after the success of “Wonder Woman”, Mahoney believes that “[Women] are better represented than some people are aware of ” and that women are getting more opportunities than before.

“There’s definitely a push from [Marvel Comics and DC Comics] of ‘let’s recognize some female artists’” Mahoney says. “It gets you female characters with a better voice.

There’s a quality that it brings to [comics].”

Due to “Wonder Woman”’s success in the box office and with critics, 93 percent of East students surveyed believe more female driven movies will be released in the future.

“Going to comic book conventions after

1861: Women in Kansas are granted votes in school board elections.

1855: Lucy Stone married Henry Blackwell but is first woman to keep last name.

“Wonder Woman” as opposed to before [is really different],” Innes says. “She’s become a fresh icon. Everywhere I go now, I see little girls dressed up as her. I think it’s really wonderful that there’s a female superhero out there that young women can aspire to be.”

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oung women like Rachel Landers have already drawn inspiration from “Wonder Woman”. She says that “Wonder Woman” has shown her that women can do just as much or even more than men.

“I think [the movie was] impactful because she got there and she wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she believed in,” Landers says. “[‘Wonder Woman’] wasn’t afraid to be the odd one out, but she still stood up for what she believed in, not caring what everyone else thought at that moment.” •

1867: Kansas puts a woman suffrage amendment proposal on the ballot.

1866: The Young Women’s Christian Association is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.

1868: 14th Amendment is ratified.

STAY-at-home mom

working mom

Who: Heather innis, married mom living in the lakota district and mother of ethan innis.

WHo: Roberta Hume, east british literature and american novel teacher and mother of Jameson Hume

Why did you choose to be a stay at home mom?

My son was diagnosed with ADHD, autism, mild cerebral palsy and a bunch of other smaller issues. I wanted to be the one at the appointments because I was the one raising him [since 2005] and doing all this research on his various diagnosis’. I knew I can’t work because there is going to be no [employer] who is going to be cool with that.

Why did you choose to be a working mom?

It wasn’t really a choice for me to be one as I was working for many years before I had a child. Yet teaching is my passion as it was what I have been doing for my whole life. I feel like it should be something that I need to do in the past [15] years. There is a lot of communication that goes on in our daily lives but in the end of the day, it is parenting.

What is your favorite part about being a stay-at-home mom?

If I were at my job all day I wouldn’t be able to come home be a mom, make dinner and help with homework.It also allows me to focus on taking care of myself, eating well, and exercising and getting sleep.

What is your favorite part about being a working mom?

There is a great part to working. Then there is a great part to being a mom but being a working mom doesn’t mesh together that well. It’s definitely tough, especially when my son [was] young.

What is your least favorite part about being a stay-at-home mom?

My neighbors all have older kids and their own established life so I’m not really included in the neighborhood. We didn’t know anyone when we moved here [either].

What is your least favorite part about being a working mom?

When Jameson was younger, it was tough volunteering for his school because I had my own working schedule that coincided with his school schedule too.

1869: The American Woman Suffrage Association is formed.

1872: Susan B. Anthony is arrested in New York for casting a ballot with 15 other women.

1870: “The Woman’s Journal” debuts, which is edited by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Mary Livermore.

1873: Susan B. Anthony is tried for voting illegally, convicted and fined $100

1875: Michigan and Minnesota give women the “school vote.”

1882: Both houses of Congress appoint Select Committees on Woman Suffrage and report in favor.

1878: Woman suffrage amendment first introduced Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 34

Hawks for the cure

package | breast cancer

Due to the extensive numbers of women diagnosed with breast cancer annually, East holds multiple outlets during the school year to raise awareness and educate students on the matter. story samadhi marapane | photography vivica heidenreich art rebecca holst

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he community room is filled with the mixed conversations of different groups of students. Each group split into a separate committee dedicated to planning a portion of one of the biggest events of their school year. She steps up to the front of the room and in a powerful voice silences the room and begins to announce the agenda for the meeting.

After her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer during East senior Tessa Cedargren’s freshman year of high school, she knew she wanted to be more involved in the fight for a cure to the disease. Cedargren is now beginning her third year participating in the American Cancer Society’s non-profit organization, Relay for Life. She is the senior co-chair for the

67% of 317 surveyed East

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ccording to a 2018 report by breastcancer.org, one in eight women in the United States (U.S.) will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and this number is expected to increase in the future years.

students did not know men can aquire breast cancer.

1890: Wyoming becomes the first state to give women the right to vote in all elections.

1887: The first vote on women’s suffrage goes through the Senate, but fails.

overnight fundraiser in honor of her family’s unfortunate experience with cancer, along with many others.

“It was always difficult to see my mom in pain with the surgeries. She had some bad days so we had to be supportive everyday,” Cedargren says. “A support team is so important. It was hard on my mom because both her mom and dad had breast cancer, [and] especially because her mother’s fight was very hard.”

In Dec. 2015, Cedargren’s mother Melanie Cedargren, was diagnosed with stage 0 Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, DCIS is a non-invasive breast cancer that occurs when the abnormal cells grow inside the milk ducts, but have not spread to nearby tissue. However, invasive and metastatic breast cancers occur when cancer cells spread to nearby tissue or other parts of the body.

1903: Women’s Trade Union League is founded to support working women.

1896: Idaho adopts a state constitutional amendment enfranchising women.

In that same study, it was estimated that among U.S. women, there had been 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2017.

Now, approximately 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed with 63,960 new cases of noninvasive breast cancer by the end of 2018.

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ne risk factor in developing breast cancer is often by genetically inheriting a gene mutation from family history. According to a 2018 report done by Genetics Home Reference, BReast CAncer 1 and 2 (BRCA1) and (BRCA2) genes hold mutations that are often inherited and hold a high risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer and more.

These genes are inherited in what is called an autosomal dominant pattern, or a pattern where only one altered gene copy is needed to increase the chances of developing the cancer.

When the BRCA2 gene mutation was found in Tessa’s grandmother, Melanie Elfers, her mother decided to get genetic testing done in order to find out whether she had inherited it.

Fortunately, she had not.

“My doctor, instead of wanting me to have

1911: First ever International Women’s Day is celebrated.

1910: First suffrage parade is held in New York City.

1913: 8,000 suffrage parades in Washington D.C. are mobbed by abusive crowds .

a regular mammogram, wanted me to have an MRI mammogram and I was really lucky because that kind of mammogram finds things really early,” Melanie says. “My mom had cancer [and] my dad had also been recently diagnosed with breast cancer [so] when that happened, she ordered the MRI to stay on top of things.”

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espite how breast cancer is affiliated with only females, they are possible in males too. Of the 317 East students surveyed, only 63 percent knew men can acquire breast cancer as well. In the U.S., about one percent of all breast cancer cases occur in men and in 2017, it was estimated there were a total of 2,470 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men according to breastcancer.org.

At East, the Hawks for the Cure is a month long initiative which promotes the awareness of breast cancer and its prominent effects by raising awareness and money to educate, research, fight and support those who have, had, or could have breast cancer.

East Athletic Director Richard Bryant started this 10 years ago to take advantage of the large school to support a cause that affects thousands of lives every day, including himself.

“I’ve lost both of my grandmas to breast cancer, and it runs in my family so it is something that is near and dear to my heart,” Bryant says. “An understanding of that at high school age is absolutely critical because a lot of times you see people who give their life to this disease or just people who don’t know they have it till it’s too late.”

Bryant says fundraisers like Hawks for the Cure, Relay for Life and more all strive for one goal—to raise awareness and money to fund the search for a cure. Due to the lack of education of cancers in the school curriculum specifically, these fundraisers also serve to educate students of the repercussions of cancers.

“I took online health in seventh grade so I never really learned about breast cancer,” Tessa says. “I think it is something that schools should talk about because it’s all about catching it early. My mom caught hers at stage 0 so she was extremely lucky that they found it.”

In a recent Spark survey of 310 East students, 50 percent knew breast cancer affects

12.5 percent of U.S. women, while half don’t.

Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction in the Lakota Local School District Keith Koehne works with a curriculum and instruction team to ensure that the curriculum that is taught every day is aligned to state and or federal standards.

According to Koehne and the grades nine to 12 Health Education Curriculum Legislated Requirements, the Lakota health curriculum does not specifically mention any certain kind of cancer by name.

This is because the health curriculum from the state of Ohio needs to be general in nature and focus on healthy lifestyles and choices that students can make that generally lead to lifetime health.

Because the focus of most health courses is around healthy living related to risk factors most common to teenagers, Koehne says this “may be the reason that most health courses in the state of Ohio tend not to address breast cancer specifically.”

“While breast cancer may not be specifically addressed in the health curriculum, the message of being health conscious and responsible is one that is pretty consistent,” Koehne says.

“We would hope that all students would carry this same mindset into adulthood when routine testing for breast cancer or colon, prostate and many others becomes so important.”

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ryant strives to spread of awareness and education outside the health curriculum by helping to manage Hawks for the Cure, which partners with the Susan G. Komen foundation, whose mission includes aide to education, research, screening and treatment.

“Our volleyball team is made up of all women and having high school girls have an

1917: North Dakota, 1920: Women’s Nebraska, Ohio, Indiana, and Rhode Bureau of Department of Labor is formed.

Island give women the right to vote in a presidential election.

1918: President Wilson first gives his public support for the women suffrage amendment.

1921: American Birth Control League is found.

1920: The 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote, is passed.

understanding of the life choices they can make to put themselves in a better position not to get cancer,” Bryant says. “An understanding of that at high school age is absolutely critical because a lot of times you see people who give their life to this disease or just people who don’t know they have it till it’s too late.”

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ne hundred percent of the money raised by Hawks for the Cure is donated to Komen of Greater Cincinnati, who will use it for the research and awareness factors that Bryant endeavors to assist with. Breast Cancer survivor Melissa Dunn works with communications and fundraising for the southwest Ohio affiliation of Susan G. Komen and proposals such as Hawks for the Cure.

“The awareness for breast cancer has grown and almost everyone knows someone touched by it, which is why we are turning awareness into action,” Dunn says. “Research will one day find the cures—hence why it is so important to us. We also invest in community programs that assist uninsured women and we provide financial aid to those currently in treatment for breast cancer.” •

1928: Women compete for the first time in Olympic field events.

1925: Nallie Tayloe Ross becomes the first women governor in the Wyoming, U.S..

women in stem | package East senior Tessa Cedargren leading Kick-off meeting for East Relay for Life 2018

Women in

stem As the amount of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields have increased over the past several decades and continue to make an impact today. story lexy harrison | art mckenna lewis

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unn says that Hawks for the Cure and the southwest Ohio affiliation with Susan G. Komen funds faculty member of the College of Pharmacy at University of Cincinnati Joan Garrett and also funds national Komen research.

According to Susan G. Komen’s website, 80 percent of the money goes towards impacting breast cancer and 20 percent goes towards fundraising and admin according to their website. Since Susan G. Komen began 35 years ago, there has been a 38 percent decrease in breast cancer mortality rate.

Another association assisting with cancer research, screening, and treatment help is the American Cancer Society (ACS). ACS’s signature fundraiser is Relay for Life, which is staffed and coordinated by volunteers in more than 5,200 communities and 27 countries.

East’s student-ran Relay for Life has been raising funds to help find a cure for cancer for the past nine years. Tessa became an asset to the committee of students planning for the 2017 event that raised a total of 68,000 dollars.

“My mom having breast cancer has lead me

1932: Amelia Earhart makes the first solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean.

1931: Jane Addams is the first woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

to get involved with Relay for Life at East,” Cedargren says. “[In] junior year, I became Chair of Fundraising and starting selling bath bombs to raise money for the event. Senior year, I became the Senior co-chair and continue the bath bomb sales.”

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sing olive oil from her mother’s store The Spicy Olive, Tessa has been making and selling the bath bombs for two years. Her mother works with the Pink Ribbon Girls, an organization that provides meals, housecleaning, treatment and peer support to individuals in Ohio with breast and women’s reproductive cancers. “[Through Pink Ribbon Girls] I do cooking classes at my store [to enforce the] ‘pink ribbon diet,’” Melanie says. “[The diet] shows eating rich in whole grains, vegetables and olive oils are helpful in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.”

Of the 313 East students surveyed, and asked how much information they knew on breast cancer and routine testing that is needed for early detection, 53 percent said they knew

53% of 313 surveyed East

students don’t know about breast cancer and routine testing nothing, 43 percent said they only knew little information and only 3 percent said they knew a lot of information. Melanie says that she hopes with her three daughters, they are all well-educated on the risks that come with breast cancer.

“I remember when I was Tessa’s age, I always figured they would have things figured out [with finding cures for cancers],” Melanie says. “[But] I think breast cancer awareness month in October and ACS really educates [students].

I just want [my daughters] to get tested on a regular basis and be really careful in doing anything that could increase the risk.” •

1945: Eleanor Roosevelt becomes the American delegate in the United Nations (UN).

1938: The Fair Labor Standards establishes minimum wage with regard to gender

1933: Frances Perkins becomes first woman in the U.S. cabinet.

1942: Women’s services are established in the military.

1946: The UN Commission on the Status of Women is formed.

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he wanted to prove that a woman can excel in math and science. After major discouragement from an authoritative figure, a young high school girl headed off into the field of Inorganic Chemistry to earn her doctoral degree.

Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Ohio State University (OSU) Christine Thomas-Wade says that a few “of my female undergraduate students have told me similar stories,” of role models dissuading them to pursue a career in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field solely because of their gender.

“In the mid-90s, I had a high school guidance counselor tell me that I wasn’t cut out for science and engineering and that I should consider focusing on some of the other subjects I was good at,” Wade says. “When I asked him why, he told me [it was] because science and engineering [was] too hard for girls.”

In a Pew Research Center study that was released in Jan. 2018, “jobs in STEM have grown substantially, particularly in computer

1952: Molecular Biologist Rosalind Franklin plays a major role in the discovery of the DNA.

1955: Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat on the bus and her arrest launches the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

occupations, [but] the share of women working in STEM jobs has remained at about half over time.”

Yet, in that same study, 50 percent of women in STEM jobs said they have experienced gender discrimination at work but only only 19 percent of men agree. Additionally, 29 percent of women in STEM jobs report an array of experiences with discrimination including being treated as if they were incompetent.

20 percent have experienced repeated, small slights at work and 18 percent have received less support from senior leaders than a man doing the same job. n a recent Spark survey that was conducted with 325 East students, 87 percent believe women should be in STEM fields. Wade says that when she looks around at the undergraduate students in her chemistry classes, half of the class is male and the other half is female.

According to a 2016 study by the National Girls Collaborative Project, women make up half of the total United States (U.S.) college-

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1960: First birth-control pill goes on the market.

educated workforce, but only 29 percent of the science and engineering workforce.

That same study found that women make up 62 percent of the workforce in social sciences and 48 percent of biological, agricultural and environmental life sciences. However, women only occupy 15 percent of engineers and 25 percent of computer and mathematical scientists.

“The percentage of women [in science related fields] begins to drop off at the graduate level—in most chemistry [doctorate] programs in the country, the male to female ratio is far from equal,” Wade says. “Usually the demographic is about 30 percent female and this is consistent with the applicant pools. ...continue reading online

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1964: Civil Rights Act outlaws sex discrimination.

1963: The Equal Pay Act is passed by Congress.

1968: Shirley Chrisholm becomes the first black women elected into The House of Representatives.

1966: The National Organization for Women is organized.

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 38

Liberty Junior School seventh grader Lauren Creech looks through a fence that she practices behind.

same [but] there has been no difference in my coaching philosophy besides making sure that they are safe, being respected and accountable for everything that they have signed up for.”

Lauren also maintains a positive attitude and strong work ethic when on the team.

Hamilton says she is one of the hardest working individuals on the team, much like her sister was. “[Lauren] never complains [when the] kids have to run because someone was acting like a fool,” Hamilton says. “[While] she never complains, the boys whine and moan [and] she just takes off and runs. If I had 31 or 41 Laurens, it would be a pretty solid team.”

BREAKING BARRIERS Liberty Junior School seventh grader Lauren Creech defeats gender stereotypes and advocates gender equality in sports by being a part of the the football team. story gracie estep | photography lucy hartmann

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utside, it’s a warm and sunny day.

The game has been tight, and the team is sweating in anticipation.

Within the last few seconds, all they need is a field goal to secure the win. #3 sets up to kick and it goes soaring through the goal.

Everyone watches in amazement as #3 takes her helmet off to reveal her identity; a girl on the football team.

Liberty Junior school (LJS) seventh grader, Lauren Creech has been playing football for the school team since the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. Following in the steps of her older sister and freshman at Fenwick High School, Meghan Creech, who played football for the 2016-2017 school year, Lauren has taken her place in the position of placekicker after playing soccer six years prior.

1972: The Equal Rights Amendment is passed

by Congress and Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in schools.

1973: Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade overturns state laws restricting the right to abortions.

39 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

”Everyone has that one sport they just love to play and love to surprise people with.

[For me], football is my sport,” Lauren says. “[When] the cheerleaders walked by at a game, they all stopped and were like ‘wait, is that a girl?’ and got super excited.”

During the 2017-18 season, Lauren set a personal record of kicking 35 yards. So far, she has only missed two field goals all year, scored 19 of 23 extra points for the team and is zero for one on field goal attempts. Athletic Director and Seventh Grade Football Coach at LJS Randy Hamilton encouraged both Lauren and her older sister to start kicking for the football team.

“It was very natural; her mom sent me a video [of them] practicing over the summer,” Hamilton says. “We always just ask for the best

1978: Women’s History Week is first celebrated in Sonoma County, California.

soccer player and we usually get a girl’s name.”

According to a 2015 report by the National Federation of State High School Association, there are more than 1,600 girls playing on high school football teams in many positions including quarterbacks, linebackers and ends.

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oach of the undefeated (9-0) Eighth Grade Football Team at LJS Rico Hill will have Lauren joining his team at the start of the 2018-19 season. In the past 15 years of coaching, he has coached four girls and says they all brought a win using their kicking skills. Due to this, he believes that Lauren will be a great asset to the team.

“I am excited about having Lauren on my team next year,” Hill says. “I think it also shows these young men how to appreciate others who are different, especially when you all have the same goal in mind, which is to win the game.”

Hill says high school level football is a whole new outlook to coaching because of the varied sizes of the athletes who play. Due to this he says “you can’t coach all kids the

1983: Sally Ride becomes the first women from the United States to go into space.

1981: Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman in the Supreme Court.

1987: The Census Bureau reports that the average woman earns 68 cents for every dollar that a man makes.

1984: Geraldine Ferraro becomes first woman nominated for vice president for a Democratic Party.

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nother female athlete at East’s main campus is East junior Lauren Michael, who has been playing golf since the seventh grade and began playing for the LJS team as well. “[A strength I have would be the] mental part of playing,” Michael says. “If you think you’re going to have a bad match then you are going to have a bad match [and] if you think you are going to play bad, then you are going to play bad.”

At East, the boy’s and the girl’s golf team made it to the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s (OHSAA) state competition for the first time in the school’s history against 12 other Division I teams. They finished with with a score of 668 and a 7th place state title.

Michael believes that there is a separation between the way girl’s golf is perceived in contrast to boy’s golf. She believes that due to this, the boys are more competitive about golf and aren’t as open to playing with girls in contrast to the girl’s golf team being much more inclusive.

“There is definitely a separation between [girl’s and boy’s golf] because it’s known that girls have a ‘weaker’ swing than guys,” Michael says. “The way I see it is most guys think they are better than girls and they have a mentality that guys are stronger than females.”

According to Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) website, a study

1993: The Supreme Court rules that sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal.

1997: Madeleine Albright is sworn in as the first woman U.S. Secretary of State.

in 2011 shows, in the last 39 years, the skill level of female athletes has improved tremendously and there may even be places for women in the male major leagues coming soon. The trends in women’s participation have been increasing as more and more women are working towards gender equality in sports.

In America, 40 percent of sportspeople are women and yet only six to eight percent of sports media coverage is dedicated to them, according to a 2017 article written for Athlete Assessments.

“I’ve been here 19 years and I bet I’ve had nine to 10 girl kickers,” Hamilton says.

“It’s becoming more common and a trend.

It’s not going to be rampant but its starting and they are trying it and they are seeming more successful at it.”

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he 2007 report done by United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women Department of Economic and Social Affairs says that participation of women and girls in sports challenges gender stereotypes and discrimination, and can therefore be a vehicle to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Back at LJS, Lauren plans on playing football for the 2018-19 season as well as into her high school athletic career as well.

Besides football, Lauren also plans to play on the school basketball team.

“Because of the day in age and where we are at right now in society, it is more acceptable [for a girl to play football],” Hamilton says. “Back in my day, a girl would walk onto the football field and people wouldn’t know what to think. Times have changed and it’s becoming more acceptable to do it.

Now, it’s no longer a man’s sport.” •

2011: United Nations Women is formed to further empowerment of women.

2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is signed to help women that face pay discrimination.

2013: Ban against women in military combat positions is removed.

2017: Congress has 104 female House members and 21 female Senators.

2016: Hillary Clinton becomes first female presidential nominee of Democratic party.

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 40

That Tax of the month

Breaking the Silence

There has been a push to exempt feminine hygiene products from the sales tax in various states across the country, including in Ohio.

The victims reported that they:

There are the various reasons why victims of sexual violence don’t report what happened. infographic ruth elendu

Feared retalitation

story ruth elendu photography richard giang

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n 2015, California assemblywoman Cristina Garcia introduced legislation that would make feminine hygiene products exempt from sales tax. Although this bill hasn’t passed, Garcia’s actions have prompted women all over the United States (U.S.) to protest sales tax on feminine hygiene products, also called the “tampon tax” or the “pink tax.”

Two years later, Ohio House of Representative Brigid Kelly and now former Ohio House of Representative Greta Johnson introduced House Bill 61 (HB) 61 which would eliminate the “pink tax.” Ever since then, HB 61 has yet to be enacted in Ohio.

“This is something that affects 61 percent of Ohio’s population because 61 percent of Ohio’s population is women,” Kelly says. “They need, or have needed menstrual products at some point in time. These are medically necessary products that permit women to fully engage in work, school and in their communities.”

New York assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal proposed and passed similar legislation, making menstrual hygiene products exempt from New York’s four percent sales tax. Nebraska Senator Mike McDonnell also presented a bill with the same goal in mind.

Want to read more about the wage gap?

Go to Lakotaeastsparkonline.com

An underlying issue of the “pink tax” is its effect on low income women. Sales tax is regressive, which means it is the same no matter the income. Women, Gender Studies and Economics Professor at Denison University Robin Bartlett explains how the “pink tax” effects women with different income levels.

“The woman who makes 10,000 dollars a year is going to use just as many tampons as the woman who makes 100,000 dollars a year,” Bartlett says. “That tax is much greater for the low income person than it is for the person making 100,000 dollars a year.”

If the legislation to make feminine hygiene products tax exempted were to pass in Ohio, it would effect the state’s revenue. According to Laura Stanley, the attorney of the Ohio Department of Taxation, if female products were to become tax exempt, approximately $3.8 million would be lost in state revenue in the fiscal year of 2018 and approximately $5.3 million in 2019.

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aw professor at Loyola University of Chicago Samuel Brunson who researches the effects of tax on taxpayers, overviews the consequences of exempting menstrual hygiene products from sales tax. “[Making feminine hygiene products tax exempt] means that the state raises less revenue, it has less money from the sales tax and as a result, it has to cut back on the services it provides,” Brunson says. “Or it has to raise that additional revenue through other means,

Jan. 7, 2018: Celebrities Jan. 21, 2018: Second wore black in support for Annual Women’s March the #TimesUp movement occurred across the U.S. at the Golden Globe Awards Show.

Jan. 21, 2017: First Annual Women’s March occurred across the U.S.

whether its property or income tax or fees.”

Although menstrual products are not exempt in Ohio this does not prevent Clair Coder, founder and chief executive officer of Aunt Flow, a non-profit organization in Columbus, from providing tampons to women in need.

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or every bag of tampons bought, Aunt Flow donates tampons to an organization in that helps women who are in need obtain menstrual products.

Coder says that the products are not covered by women, infants and children or food stamps and they aren’t offered in schools.”

“There is clear research that offering free menstrual products increases attendance by 2.4 percent,” Coder says. “I would much rather keep the tax and reallocate all of that money towards adding tampons and pads in schools and offering the products to [women in need] and food stamps.”

Kelly believes that one of the reasons feminine hygiene products have yet to be tax exempt in Ohio is because of the negative view on periods and creating a different perception will help women, no matter their age.

“Trying to move away from a stigma where people don’t feel comfortable talking about periods or acknowledging that this is normal and natural is tough,” Kelly says. “The more we talk about it, the more we normalize it, the better off we’ll be whether it’s for young girls in high school or women that are in the workforce.” •

Gave another reason or no reason given

30%

20%

Believed the polic wouldn’t help 2% Believed it was a personal matter

13%

7% 8%

13% 8%

Reported to it to an official aside from the police

Believed it wasn’t important enough to report

Didn’t want to implicate the perpitrator Believed the police couldn’t do anything to help source rainn.org

LOCALMOTIVE

True West Cafe

This lively downtown scene hosts many mom and pop shops that have caught the attention of locals inside and outside of the area. story caroline bumgarner, noor ghuniem, richard giang and sidney li photography noor ghuniem | art caroline bumgarner

Left: As downtown Hamilton flourishes, Basil 1791 moves in as the sole asian cuisine option.

With options such as the popular Crunch Sushi rolls—a deep fried crab roll—Basil 1791 offers Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean.

“It’s very free spirited, it has class but it’s not super uptight,” says employee Liz BeverlyCunningham. “People can come and have fun and we have good music so I think it brings good vibes.”

Right: Cassie Kellum took charge of her own life by opening Ivy 1 with her husband, liberating her from working under someone.

Ivy 1 is the embodiment of the flair she picked up at hair school in New Orleans. The salon also doubles as a gallery, so while customers get their hair done they can peruse original artwork and even purchase too. “[Davines products are] all natural based in Italy,” says employee Kate Ross.

“Most clients like it because it’s relaxing.”

Ivy 1

Above: True West Coffee’s goal is to serve great coffee and food while serving their community. They often have live music on the weekend and their philosophy is to be friends with their customers. Owners Chris and Vanessa Cannon opened True Weste hoping to foster a loving and inclusive community. Chris dreamt up True West while working a nine to five job and dropped everything to pursue it. “True West Coffee has two locations. Our goal is to serve you awesome coffee and great food while serving our community as well,” says long-time employee Jorden James.

3rd Street Music

localmotive | culture

Basil 1791

Below: Jason Herren and his father have owned Main Vinyl Street since May 2017. The idea for the store stemmed from the fact that Herren’s father had a large collection of records sitting in his basement and wanted to put them to good use. “We don’t just sell records,” says Herren. “We sell turntables, headphones, speakers and

HAM

ILTON , OH

Family video

Above: Family Video allows customers to buy and rent videos, games, movies and a variety of food that coincide with their merchandise. Ranging from free kids movies, sports videos and fitness videos, customers only need a membership. “All it takes is an ID and two phone numbers,” says employee Brandy Turley.

“It’s like a library [where] you take them out for five days and return them [later].”

needles.”

Left: Over five years ago, Pete Davidson opened up a recording studio with his best friend. It has evolved into a place where anyone regardless of genre can come in and work with him and his son Miles Davidson. 3rd Street Music also jumped on the recent nostalgia wave and now sells vinyls. Miles admires what his dad does in the studio, “My dad is the main engineer.

He stands at the board and slides all the faders and the dials and knobs. It’s actually kind of amazing, every knob is turned differently,” says Miles.

Richards Pizza

eet Main Vinyl Str

Above: Richards Pizza originally opened in 1955 in Hamilton West between E Street and F Street. Their most popular dishes are the Chicago meats, which is comprised of the pepperoni sausage, mushrooms and ham, the traditional Deluxe and the “Create it Yourself ” pizza. “[It’s fun [and] always busy. There’s lots of people to talk to [too],” says employee Tommijo Lewis.

Right: Christopher Miller and his wife opened up Pet Wants in June of 2017 hoping to spread the word about pet nutrition and to sell healthy products for pets. “We have our food that we make fresh every month here in Ohio. It’s all natural, no whea, corn, soy and animal byproducts,” says Miller. “Then we’ve gone out and researched really good pet treats like bones chews for both cats and dogs.”

Pet Wants

culture | reviews

RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Shooters sports grill On target review and photography caroline bumgarner

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verybody knows all small towns have local sports grills where neighbors hang out and get to know each other and families spend time together before going to a movie. Luckily, Liberty Township— just off of State Route 747 by Millikin—just welcomed a new restaurant to that list, Shooters Sports Grill.

Even though there is still construction being done in the surrounding area, Shooters has plenty of parking and relatively easy access to the main road. It’s spacious and definitely still has the new restaurant feel making it a nice refresher from some of the older sports grills in the area.

As I walked through the revolving door, and my mom opted for the conventional door, we were greeted by a friendly waitress who took us to our table. There were plenty of booths and table tops to choose from and also patio seating for the warmer months of the year.

To start off, I have a relatively small stomach and eat relatively small portions; not everyone can eat the same sized portion as a six-foot-tall growing teenage boy. I ordered the Chicken Caesar Wrap for 8.99 dollars and it came with

location:

4981 Winners Circle Drive Hamilton, OH 45011

hours:

Mon – Thurs 11am -12am Fri – Sat 11am-1am Sun 11am-12am

price: $$

location: 7610

Sloan Way, Liberty Township, OH

-Thurs 10am - 9pm hours: Mon Fri - Sat 10am - 10pm Sun 12pm - 6pm

a side of saratoga chips. Normally I can barely finish a half of a wrap but I finished the first and wanted to keep eating the second. It wasn’t overly dressed, as lots of wraps are, and had a pleasantly light sauce.

My mom ordered the Potatoe Rags for 8.49 dollars appetizer which is comprised of a bed of shredded potatoes topped with cheese, tomatoes, red onion, crumbled bacon and ranch. The first comment I made was how heavy it sounded but my mom contested it wasn’t heavy at all because there wasn’t an overload of cheese that is usually found in numerous dishes.

The overall decor was very family oriented but nothing too excessive. There were large quotes such as “There is no I in team but there is an I in wings” sprinkled around the restaurant. I even noted that there were three picture frames of influential women athletes in the restroom.

As the check was signed and coats put on my mom and I came to the conclusion that we would definitely be back soon to enjoy dinner with the whole family. •

RESTAURANT REVIEW:

price: $$

Smoochies boba and Crepes CHEAP FUN

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moochies Boba and Crepes is full of vibrant and bright colors. The stand is very noticeable in the back of the Foundry, which is full of earthy tones.

Shoppers can find this colorful stand in the back of the Liberty Center Foundry on the first floor.

The stand also consists of many different ingredients and different nutella flavors that you can pick and choose and put into a variety of shakes, teas, and crepes. Smoochies Boba and Crepes also offers the customer to watch the employees make their shake and customize it the way that the customer ordered it.

The menu plenty of options such as shakes, milk teas, and fruit teas for their drinks. Along with drinks, Smoochies Boba and Crepes also offers sweet and savory Crepes.

For the drinks, there is a vast amount of choices for different flavors, such as avocado, red bean, nutella, or the more common flavors such as strawberry and mango. For the milk teas, the flavors consist of Taro, Matcha, Chai, Red Bean, and many more. The fruit teas have flavors such as lychee, kiwi, watermelon,

pomegranate, cantaloupe, mango, strawberry, and many more.

Along with the different drinks, the Crepes have a variety of options such as “Heavenly Treat” which is consisted of nutella, strawberry and bananas, and “The Memphis” which is made of peanut butter, nutella, and Bananas.

There are also savory crepes such as the “Magic Mushroom” which is made of Cheese, Roasted Thyme Mix, Mushroom, Tomato.

When ordering the strawberry shakes, the employee offered many different customizations along with the shake. The total time that the shake was made in was about three minutes.

Customers also receive any shake with a seal over top of the drink which you poke a hole through with the straw. This is a different spin on just a regular plastic lid and has a creative twist on top of it.

With a cheap price, and fast service, Smoochies is a perfect place to take a breather while shopping. The employees there are very outgoing and nice, along with informing people of the different customizations that their aesthetically pleasing products offer. •

review rachel vogelsang photography meredith peters

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 46

reviews | culture

culture | reviews

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E

ver since Taylor Swift’s transformation from a country singer-songwriter to a modern pop queen in 2012, her country and pop fans were divided. As the country music fanatics called Swift out for “turning her back on country music”, the pop enthusiasts continued to show love and support to her music, which pushed her first pop album “1989” to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2016.

In Taylor Swift’s latest album “Reputation,” Swift traveled into an abyss of dark pop music. As the queen of pop, she is trying something new with her style, and it cannot be said better in the lines of “Look What You Made Me Do”, “ ‘I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now’ ‘Why?’ ‘Oh, `cause she’s dead!’”

The songs define a series of breakups that Swift went through, which is not surprising, but Swift definitely took it to the next level with many firsts—first recorded profanity, first time sung about consuming alcohol, and lyrics relating to sexual desires.

The album is almost filled with lust, loss and revenge, and the lyrics really did put the “Old Taylor” into the grave. Instead of a generic pop album with the same beat in most of its songs, it is easy to tell that Swift put a substantial amount of time and heart into Reputation. However, it also involved more autotone instead of her true, beautiful voice.

With her classic lines from 2008, “You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess. It’s a love story, baby just say yes,” in “Love Story” to now transitioning to lines like, “I don’t wanna touch you, I don’t wanna be just another ex-love you don’t wanna see.”

This marks Swift’s change from an innocent country girl with her guitar to a dark queen who thirsts revenge on her exes, and Taylor Swift made her fans’ jaw drop with Reputation, making her album a “love or hate”. — Joe Phelan

CAMILA

REPUTATION

ARTIST: CAMILA CABELLO GENERE: POP

ARTIST: TAYLOR SWIFT GENRE: POP

little over a year after her departure from the girl group Fifth Harmony, Camila Cabello has finally released her self-titled debut solo album Camila. The album was originally titled “The Hurting, The Healing, The Loving” and had “Crying in the Club” as its lead single, but when the promotional single “Havana” became massively successful, Cabello changed the album’s lead single and the entire theme of the album.

While Fifth Harmony may have used their music and live performances to diss their former bandmate, Cabello takes the high road, choosing to write about love and heartbreak. On Consequences, Cabello sings about loving too hard in a relationship that eventually failed and on “Inside Out,” Cabello talks about loving all aspects of a person.

Cabello’s music in Fifth Harmony had a very radio-friendly pop sound. Her solo album has a mix of pop songs and emotional ballads, but she definitely favors the latter. Songs like “She Loves Control” and “Into It” are enough to put anyone in a good mood, but “Real Friends” and “Something’s Gotta Give” are there to help anyone when they’re feeling down.

The only problem with Cabello’s solo album is her unnecessary use of autotune.

Through her live and television performances, Cabello has proven that she has a strong and unique voice. Thus, her use of autotune on the album is excessive and takes away from her powerful voice.

Cabello’s debut album proves to anyone that she is not only a great musician in a group, but also as a solo artist. Her unique style and voice are enough to convince anyone that she is not to be overlooked in the future. — Alan Frank

I “This is why we can’t have nice things, darling because you break them”

-Reputation

“Hold onto the ties that bind, but don’t get shackled to emotion” -Walk the Moon

“Loving you was sunshine, safe and sound, a steady place to let down my defenses, but loving you had consequences” -Camila

n 2015, the crossover hit tailor-made for radio, “Shut Up and Dance”, reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, launching young indie band Walk the Moon directly into the mainstream.

However, the direction of the young alternative band to go on an international crossover is still up in the air with fans today. The Cincinnati natives give many new, if underdeveloped, answers on their latest release, “What if Nothing.”

Much of the album echos a familiar sound from the pop indie group, such as the songs “All Night” or their most recent radio hit “One Foot”. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca still optimistically sings lyrical themes of overcoming and perseverance over the jovial and fun dance beats of his three bandmates.

But “What If Nothing” also sees the inclusion of somewhat different elements to the band’s pop formula, causing the songs to grow slightly more generic and to the nature of fabricated pop.

In fact, with songs like “Headphones” and “Can’t Sleep (Wolves)”, the band sounds as though they are sifting through the overflow piles of Maroon 5 or Imagine Dragons.

However, the album still succeeds in being a perfectly fun and exciting listen for fans of Walk the Moon’s original sound. The songs still have recognizable sonic roots in the band’s self titled album and 2015’s Talking is Hard.

Despite the different rock and glam textures that the album displays, it is clear that the album’s intent was good and fun, and displayed a young band attempting to experiment with a familiar sound in order to break new ground in the future. Despite distinct highs and definite lows scattered throughout “What if Nothing,” the band’s sometimes underdeveloped ideas are fortunately ones that their loyal and ever-growing audience should be excited to witness the development of. — Bryce Forren

WHAT IF NOTHING

ARTIST: WALK THE MOON GENRE: POP-ROCK

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IA

East junior Susanna Merli came to Liberty Township from Milan, Italy through a foreign exchange program.

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story and photography susanna merli

eing an exchange student is hard.

You leave the world that you have known for 17 years, all the people that you love, your routine and your comfort zone. It’s not a trip or a vacation, you leave a life to start another one from the beginning.

There are hard times: days where you just want to go back home, where you miss your country, you feel awfully homesick and you would like to eat just your grandma’s fresh pasta. There are days where you feel alone and you are not sure that you could do it anymore.

But it is just part of the process, these days end and you wake up in the morning ready to go on.

I have been in West Chester for five months and I’m building my new life each day.

I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity because living in the United States (US) was always a dream for me. I grew up watching movies that took place here, wishing to be in the classic American high school and thinking how cool it was to speak English fluently.

I decided to come to the US because my

49 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

LOCAL LEGENDS life in Italy seemed too ordinary for me. I was “bored” of having the same perspective of the world for that many years, I wanted to experience a completely new life.

It is totally a new world. Everything here is really different from Italy and you learn something new every day. I had a lot of ideas and prejudices of the US and, even if some of them are just stereotypes and biases, I observed a lot of these things on my daily routine here.

First of all, everything is huge. From the size of a milk gallon to a car, and the streets to the schools,W everything here looks bigger and it sounds weird to me when a waiter asks me if I want a large or a giant milkshake.

School is a big part of a teenager’s life, and I found a lot of things that differ from my school in Milan. For example, the teachers at

n a l i M

k East junior Susanna Merli too East are more friendly and readily to help their students. Our teachers in Italy are really strict, as the grading system is too. It’s very hard to get a 100 percent even when everything looks right.

Italian schools are concentrated only on study; that’s a reason as to why we do not have any school events and any elective classes like choir, photography, journalism or metals.

We have just one classroom with the same classmates every day and year.

Instead of the students walking around the school to go to their next class, teachers do it instead. Having just one classroom allows you to have the chance to make great friendships easily because you spend so much time with the same people.

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ne of the hardest challenges was to make friends here, even if all my classmates are really nice and kind to me. It was pretty hard to be introduced to a real group of people with whom you can hang on. I had to become

an i o Em r o t t i V alleria t the G a o t o h this p

involved in something else outside my classes and I finally found “real friends” when I started the fall show at school.

Another big value for Americans schools is the sport. The first time a person told me that there are scholarships for football I was shocked. If you want to practice a sport in Italy, you have to find an organization outside the school, in fact, we do not have a football field and any games on Friday nights where students go. Furthermore, the most popular sport is soccer and a lot of people are obsessed with it as Americans are with football.

Food is a mixture of different cultures here.

I learned that US is the country with the largest variety of food in the world. The US takes a dish from every part of the globe and tries to remake it. Just think about how many Italian dishes are reproduced here: pizza, pasta, coffee, ice cream, some types of cheese, lasagna and so on.

Another thing that shocked me is how many fast food chains exist. In Italy we have just Mcdonald’s—that has a different menu and

II i uele

better quality than the American one—Burger King, and some other chains less popular.

The Mediterranean diet is really different: on average we eat more vegetables, fruit, fish, seafood, more olive oil than butter, less meat and sodas.

The consumption of electricity here is excessive. Even when it’s not hot, the air conditioning is really high everywhere, people leave light, fans and home appliances on when it’s not necessary. I suppose that this “culture of waste” comes from the habit and the custom, and maybe because the taxes here are lower than in Italy. For me, a big value is to not waste too much, but I can’t say that this is the mentality of every Italian.

I

n the American suburbia, you cannot go anywhere without a car. As I live in Milan, Italy, it is a pretty big, urban city and there’s a lot of public transportation: the train, the subway, the bus or the tram; however, even outside the city there are some public transportation.

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Italy , n a l n Mi

It is really easy for me to go anywhere whenever I want. That is why I don’t really need a car in Italy, and I actually cannot have one because you must be eighteen to have your driver license—as well as the possibility to drink alcohol.

Something that I miss of Milan is the easiness of hanging out with my friends without thinking too much. You can just walk around the streets, eat in a nice place in the center of the city, go in a museum or just sit on a bench in a park. However, if you want to go out you have to make a plan before, go to the mall or to have dinner somewhere, you cannot just go out without a purpose.

I

n Italy, if you are a teenager in high school you don’t have a job: you are just focused on school; and even if you have time to work, it is really hard to find a job without experience. We use the Euro like many countries in the European Union. The difference with the American dollar is not really big as 10€ is almost $12.

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 50

Europe, and I visited a large number of Italian cities; the peninsula is full of beautiful places that offer everything: culture, art, history, fashion, great food, sea, mountains, lakes and more. These are some of the things that I noticed since I am here, but I am sure that there will be a lot more during these remaining months.

Being an exchange student and studying abroad is an amazing experience that I recommend to anyone. Since I’ve been here, people asked me why I took this decision, and my answer is to feel alive.

I came because I wanted to escape from ordinary life and now I understand that I just wasn’t seeing the extraordinary that surrounded me. Travel is the best way to learn about the world, but especially about yourself. It reveals new sides of your personalities, it lets you understand who you are and who you want to be, it changes your perspective of people, of your reality and the rest of the world.

A East junior Susanna Merli went to the Duomo of Milan (above) and Naples, italy (right).

When you start college you do not have to save too much money or apply for scholarships because usually for a public university you pay—based on your incomes—around 700 and 3000€ every year. A private university considered really expensive could cost about €10,000.

Italians are not patriotic as Americans are, nobody has a flag in the yard and we don’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school. I think patriotism could be a good value until it doesn’t become a feeling of superiority compared to other countries.

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mericans do not use the metric system as the rest of the world; this issue complicates my everyday life since I have to convert feet in meters, Fahrenheit in Celsius, pounds in kilograms and so on. Furthermore to write a date you put before the month and then the day, and we do exactly the opposite.

In Italy, healthcare is provided to all citizens and residents, the government pays

51 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

for it through taxes so you do not need to own insurance for the hospital. A result of the public healthcare is that taxes are a little bit higher, but you know that your money will be helpful to guarantee to everyone the entry at the hospital, even to those who cannot afford an insurance.

In US, you use a lot Italian words such as: opera, ballerina, influenza, paparazzi, bravo, al dente, alto, soprano, diva, fantasia, motto, stanza and so on. Here people wear pajama, flip-flops and sweatpants everywhere and no one thinks that is weird. If you do it in Italy, people will be shocked because on average people care more about what they are wearing.

I

n Italy, owning a weapon is illegal. Of course, there are exceptions, but the regulations are really strict. Even the death penalty is unthinkable for an Italian. Europe is more or less big as the United States, so countries are closed and you do not have to go far away to meet a completely different culture. In about two hours by plane I can go to London, Paris, Madrid, Copenhagen or Dublin.

In the past 17 years, I traveled a lot around

ccording to the University of California Merced’s website, 97 percent of these studying abroad students found employment within twelve months of graduation, when only 49 percent of college graduates found employment in the same period; 70 percent of them were more satisfied with their jobs.

34 percent say that this experience helped them to choose their career field; 59 percent of employers said study abroad would be valuable in an individual’s career later on with their organization; and 97 percent of study abroad alumni attributed this experience to increased maturity and self-confidence.

I decided to go in an exchange program to learn about other cultures and to spread mine, to see how people live in the other part of the world and to immerse in their reality. I am here to grow up and to learn how to fend for myself. I am here to try things that I could never imagine possible, to create memories that will stay with me forever.

I am here to find myself. •

East junior Susanna Merli took both of these pictures of Venice, Italy.

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 52

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

East junior Lucy Hartmann practices the bars in preparation for her next meet.

The East Varsity Gymnastics team is regrouping in the 2017-18 season after losing many seniors from last year.

T

Events:

Vault

Bars

Scoring: each gymnist starts with 10 points at the beginning of each event. These points are deducted from with common faults like:

Balance Beam

Floor

Bad foot form: -0.05 pts. for each foot

Fall: -0.5 pts.

Bent legs: up to -0.03 pts.

Body shape: up to -0.3 pts.

Legs apart: up to -0.2 pts.

Wobbles: up to -0.3 pts.

There are four main events that gymnists can participate in and the scoring is done through deducting points from the starting 10.

hey’ve spent hours twisting through the air, swinging upside down, flipping on four inches of wood covered with rough sandpaper and hurling their bodies at a stationary object. As the East Girl’s Varsity Gymnastics team stepped onto the bouncy spring floor they knew the 2017-18 season they would give it all they’ve got.

After an eventful 2016-17 season lead by East alumnas Kiley Lovejoy and McKenna Devich, the East Girl’s Gymnastics team had some rebuilding to do before the bulk of the 2017-18 season.

East senior and captain Martha Yost is excited for the remainder of the 2017-18 season. She says the team had to restructure after losing two leading seniors. “[The team is] a very young team, a lot of [the girls] are new,” Yost says. “We had a lot of our older girls graduate in the previous year so we’re sort of turning a new page.”

The girl’s gymnastics team knows that they love to have fun and joke around with each other. According to Yost the girls share a sisterly bond and love to spend time with each other in and out of the gym. It is clear the dynamic of the team is lighthearted and fun but they can also turn on a serious attitude when it’s time to get to work.

“Our team is pretty relaxed, I mean everyone

story lexi evans photography richard giang infographic michael croy

really gets along and there’s never any fighting or anything,” Yost says. “It’s good because we’re all just really friendly and we are always there for each other”.

According to Girl’s Varsity Gymnastic coach Mardi Dagley the girls gel really well together.

They motivate each other to get new skills or know how to comfort each other if something isn’t going their way.

“It’s a positive and very supportive dynamic with them,” Dagley says. “Each member plays a vital role in making sure the team is completely unified. Even though Lovejoy and Henderson are gone, it hasn’t changed the teams overall attitude towards the sport.”

Team captains, Olivia Fugate and Yost, are doing their best to fill their shoes for this new team.

“It puts a lot of pressure on Martha and me as captains,” Fugate says. “We have to keep the team motivated and everything. Now it’s our time to step up”.

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gymnastics | sports

s for the newcomers of the team, they are adjusting perfectly according to Dagley.

Freshman Emily DeVilbiss and Kayla Scanlon are ready to take on this season as first year team members.

The freshman also bring brand new skills that showcase the capability of East gymnastics as a whole. Both girls really look up to their upperclassman teammates because they have helped them get through troubling adversities and DeVilbiss says “getting through the mental blocks”

Devilbiss is returning to gymnastics this year for her first season after retiring as a competitive gymnast. Devilbiss had stress fractures in her foot and is just getting back into the swing of things. But her competitive gymnastics background gives her an advantage for the East team. She said she’s ready to take on this season and finally feels prepared to go out and give it all she’s got.

Both Freshman love the team and are so happy they joined the family. “The friendships are what make practicing and competing with all these girls exciting” said Emily. Both the coaches and the girls are excited for the start of this season.

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agley looks forward to the new dynamic of the team going into the 2017-18 season.

“I love this team and I love high school Gymnastics,” Dagley says “Their biggest strength is their teamwork, they’re in it together, they get along great. In some teams, its divided and cliquey but here they all get along and they all cheer for each other. They’re great pushers for each other and that’s so fun to work with.”

Dagley explained that the girls main focus this year will be on self improvement and not the final score. The teams goal is to improve meet by meet and peak at the District Championship.

“Our goal is that everyone competes what they want to, and they do well in their own eyes,” Yost says. “[So the girls] can leave with a good feeling knowing that they did their best and that’s all they could do.” •

source emethgym.com Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 54

sports | swimming

A FAMILY AFFAIR The McDonald siblings have been swimming and winning awards in Lakota for years. story stephen mckay | photography richard giang

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he C.T. Branin Natatorium located in Canton High School is not a place most freshman swimmers get to know. For the talented few, it may take up to their senior year to compete in the historic pool. The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) state swim meet in Canton is not something most swimmers get to compete in.

However, for East sophomore Jacob McDonald, he competed as a freshman at the OHSAA state meet, swimming the 500 yard freestyle event. At the meet he finished with a prelim time of 4:35.93 and a finals time of 4:34.81. This time placed him sixth in the state.

Now, in his sophomore season, McDonald leads the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:44.15, in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:37.43 and in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of :21.96.

According to McDonald he has swam as low as around a 4:27 in the 500 yard freestyle.

If he swam around that time again he believes he could potentially win OHSAA state in 500 freestyle this year.

“My goals are to win state three times in the 500 and get top three in my secondary event,” McDonald says. “I’ve grown in a lot in the past year. I’ve grown physically, and mentally. I’ve made big changes in my life to be the best I can be.”

East and West swim coach Dennis Beck, who has been coaching McDonald for two years also said that McDonald has a good shot at the state title this year.

“It is my goal that he competes and is a contender for a state championship,” Beck says. “It would also be a goal that he continues to swim well in his United States of America

(USA) Swimming competitions as well.”

Growing up McDonald and his three brothers all got into swimming after watching it on the Olympics as kids. All four of the McDonald boys have swam competitively throughout their lives.

Matt who is Jacob’s oldest brother competed in multiple OHSAA state championships and swam for the University of Cincinnati for a portion of college. While Josh, Jacobs second oldest brother won the OHSAA state championship in the 500 yard freestyle in the 2015-16 season. Jacob’s youngest brother Adam holds the 9-10 year old National Age Group recorder in the 50 yard breastroke with a time of 31.09.

“It was always a big frustration competing with my brothers but also a huge push in my swimming career,” Jacob says. “I’ve been at meets where my older brother breaks my oldest brothers record then I break his record and my younger brother breaks that record and it’s really amazing to be apart of that.”

Josh loved growing up racing his brothers, especially Jacob. He says that by doing this they were able to build off of each other and put up their best times. Josh says his favorite memory was swimming along Jacob in the mile.

“My little brother is one of the hardest working people I know and it was so awesome growing up competing with him,” Josh says.

“We learned so much from each other and pushed ourselves to the next level.”

Jacob swam competitively at the Cincinnati Marlins for the beginning of his swimming career. He recently decided to switch teams to the Mason Manta Rays to continue with his club swimming career.

“Making the big switch from The Cincinnati

Marlins to the Mason Manta Rays was one of the first big adult decision I’ve had to make,” Jacob says. “It took tons of meeting, thoughts, and tears to come to my decision, but I really wanted a change in my life. I love the Marlins and my roots are there but I wanted to change.

Mason has a great program as well and it was a different style of training that I knew would be good for where I wanted to be.”

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acob’s girlfriend and East sophomore swimmer Lizzie Jantausch, has seen him compete for the last couple of years at East and believes his work ethic allows him to get faster.

“One of his many strengths is how he can mentally cope. If he had a hard meet and doesn’t do as well as he expected he trains harder and doesn’t give up,” Jantausch says. “It’s one of his best qualities.”

Another good friend of Jacob and Mason teammate, Sycamore sophomore Carson Foster, has been swimming with him for eight years and have been on the same team for six years.

“In the water Jacob is an amazing training partner because of his amazing talent and his work ethic so I benefit from being able to train with him,” Foster says. “Out of the water, Jacob is one of the most genuine people I know. I’m never afraid to tell him what’s on my mind and I know he’ll respect it.”

According to Beck, McDonald is not just a great individual swimmer and hard worker, but he is also a huge help to the team and as a leader as well. Even as an underclassmen Beck believes that Jacob has made a major impact to the team.

“Jacob is an important part of our team as all the athletes are,” Beck says. “Jacob has

I’ve been at meets where my older brother breaks my oldest brothers record then I break his record and my younger brother breaks that record and it’s really amazing to be apart of that. ­­ 55 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

— East Sophomore, Jacob McDonald

McDonald swims the 500-yard freestyle at the Princeton Invitational.

the potential to become a team leader as he continues in the program and reaches his goals.”

Jantausch also said that McDonald has been a great friend to her and a great teammate, as he is always there to pick someone up and encourage the team when needed. “[McDonald] is special in the sense that he is always there for people,” Jantausch says. “If I have a rough meet he is always there to give me a pep talk and tell me how well i did.”

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wimming is a major time commitment according to Jacob. He attends eight to nine practices during an average week.

Each morning practice is two hours and each night practice is three hours. In total Jacob swims about 25 hours over the course of six days. Jacob loves his swimming career, but he also is very dedicated to his studies.

“School is very important to me because it’s a big part of my future,” Jacob says. “It’s definitely a struggle because sometimes I’m out for weeks at a time. Swimming has limited the amplitude of the classes I take, but do my best to thrive in school. In the end it will be

worth it because I will have the hard work in me that some people didn’t and it will put me ahead of the game. Swimming is definitely something that stays with you.”

Jacob has made many impacts on his teammates, including Foster. The boys have had many opportunities to push each other and break records together. “[McDonald and I] broke the National Age Group record at ten years old in the 200 medley relay. [along with two other swimmers],” Foster says. “We [won] the 2017 Junior National Championships in the 200 and 400 yard medley relays.”

JACOB MCDONALD STATS

J

50-YARD FREESTYLE (21:2)

acob is excited to see where swimming could take him in life. He dreams of swimming in college at either the University of Texas or University of Florida. But for now he is ready for his sophomore season as a Thunderhawk.

“Swimming has correlated to so many life lessons. It teaches you to be focused on your work and most of all dedication,” Jacob says.

“It’s taught be to be humble and respectful and will be a huge impact on the rest of my life.” •

500-YARD FREESTYLE (4:27.86) 200-YARD FREESTYLE (1:40.1)

100-YARD BUTTERFLY (50:09) 100-YARD BACKSTROKE (50:03) Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 56

girl’s basketball | sports

sports | boy’s basketball

ORDER ON THE COURT

AIR JORDAN STANLEY

East junior and varsity basketball player Jordan Stanley is excited for the Hawks 2017-18 season. story dustin horter | photography richard giang

East junior Sebastion “Bash” Wieland moved to East from West this school year.

story stone shields | photography richard giang

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ut of the boys locker room he comes walking down the hallway, prepared to enter the Hawks Nest. The East band is as loud as ever above him plugging away at the fight song and he finds himself clapping along. This is new for him, but he doesn’t miss a beat. “E-A-S-T go Hawks go,” he finds himself chanting under his breath. He is now a Thunderhawk, and it’s gametime.

6’4’’ junior Guard Sebastian “Bash” Wieland is playing in his first season for the East basketball program after transferring from West. As for his departure, Weiland has no hard feelings towards the other school and has a tremendous amount of respect for their coaches and players.

“I just felt East would be a better fit for me,” Wieland says. “I felt that it would be the best place for me to improve my game. Also I knew there was great senior leadership there as well and I’d be able to learn a lot from them.”

Wieland is off to an incredible start this year averaging 12.4 points a game and currently sits fourth in the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) in field goal percentage shooting 53.6 percent from the field.

The transfer process for Wieland was much easier than he thought it would be. He moved into the district so he didn’t have to sit out any games and was able to play right away and has since morphed into the Hawks number two scoring threat behind Senior Jarrett Cox. Teammate and fellow Junior Will Johnston says, “He’s a great friend who will always have your back and a guy I love to compete with.”

Johnston is thriving in his role off the bench shooting 53.3 percent from beyond the arc.

“The transition was very easy and it felt natural,”Wieland says. “From day one my teammates welcomed me and made me feel like I belonged and I’m really starting to gel with these guys. I knew that it was a decision that I wanted to make.”

East Men’s Basketball Coach Clinton

57 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

Adkins was excited when he found out he was going to get the opportunity to coach Wieland in the 2017-18 season and he has since been able to develop a close relationship with Wieland along with his other 13 players.

“He’s just an awesome kid and a kid that wants to be coached,” Adkins says. “Sometimes you have players that don’t want to be criticized and things of that nature but Wieland welcomes constructive criticism and does an outstanding job of listening to his coaches and teammates.”

On top of his good qualities as a kid, he also is a key player and a big reason why the Hawks are currently on a five game winning streak including a ten point defeat of his former school, West.

“From a basketball standpoint his game is really evolving,” Adkins says. “Obviously people see his ability to make shots and score the ball but at the same time I feel like he is doing a better job in other areas of his game.

He’s becoming a better defender, a better rebounder, a better ball handler and passer so I’m seeing those things improve as well.”

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he Hawks as a whole are currently sitting at fourth place in the GMC with a conference record of 6-2 and an overall record of 9-5.

After dropping two of their first three conference games by a total of four points combined they have really buckled down and have started to play really good basketball.

“We had an opportunity to win those two

conferences games at the end of regulation and just came up a little short,” Adkins says. “But if you compare where we were in weeks two and three to where we are now we’re playing so much better. Offensively, our motion looks much more smooth and we’ve continued to play good defense and wear teams down.”

Senior Jarrett Cox is leading the team averaging 15.6 points per game as well as 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Next year he will play basketball at Fairmont State University where he will reunite with former Thunderhawk Andrew Emrick.

The East basketball season is far from over, they have eight regular season games remaining including two against GMC front runner Princeton. They will take it one game at a time and hope to make a nice run in the tournament come February. Adkins is excited to see his players grow through the rest of the season.

“We just want to get better,” Adkins says.

“If we can get a little bit better each day we’ll be able to take care of business and accomplish what we want to accomplish.” •

S

he posts up and receives the ball. The shot goes up, blocked again. Luckily for East junior Girls Varsity Basketball Point Guard Jordan Stanley, the fast pace and intensity of today’s snow day assembly was a practice against the boys. She realizes this is second year head girls basketball coach Gideon Dudgeon’s mission and keeps her chin up for the next possession.

This is nothing from what the Lady Hawks have experienced in their final game of the 2016-17 season in the 44-38 loss to Princeton, where heads were down and tears were heavily flowing. That was the day an inexperienced and rebuilding team thanked their seniors and concluded their first season under Dudgeon.

Determined to get better in the upcoming season and change the culture of their team, East Athletic Director Richard Bryant refers to Coach Dudgeon’s coaching style as one filled with hope and a plan over many years to improve the team.

“Coach Dudgeon is incredibly organized,” Bryant says. “He has a very strong knowledge

of the game overall and he has what it takes to coach female athletes. He has a well thought out plan over a period of three to four years in order to bring success.”

Midway through the season, the Lady Hawks basketball program has nearly matched their 6-17 record to the 6-10 Greater Miami Conference (GMC) record from 2017. Currently in the 2017-18 season, the Lady Hawks stand at 3-10 with a 3-7 GMC record.

The Thunderhawks have lost four games by less than six points and six by less than ten, showing the grit and fight Dudgeon desires to see in his players.

“The competition in practice and in games continues to improve,” Dudgeon says. “They are all learning what it takes to compete in practice against themselves and on the court against others.”

On the other side, the Lady Hawks have scored 20 or more points against opponents in two out of their three wins. As Stanley is the leading scorer for the Hawks, she has amassed ten points a game and ranks tenth in the GMC in points per game. Stanley is captain and a leader of the young team and has articulated that the goals of the team are to continue to get better as a unit.

“Our motto this year is ‘Unfinished Business’,” Stanley says. “The culture this year is to work really hard every day to reach the goals we have set for ourselves and our team.”

Bryant also recognized the culture and new leadership of the team as a positive pulling the team in the right direction. Seeing them practice and play almost daily, Bryant stated that the Lady Hawks have become extremely

coachable and most importantly buy into the methods Coach Dudgeon brought with him to East.

“The level of competition we force these ladies to play against every single night is brutal,” Bryant says. “We play the best teams in Dayton and Cincinnati. There is never an easy night but we have full faith and confidence in Coach Dudgeon and the team to pull through and work hard.”

Also helping lead the team this year is East junior Jessica Motley, who is the teams leading rebounder with six point five rebounds a game which ranks her seventh in the GMC. Stanley praised Motley and recognizes her as a valuable piece to a team that looks to improve itself over the next few years.

“Motley is a great asset to the team,” Stanley says. “She is a very good vocal leader on and off the court which makes her one of the best players to have on our team.”

Likewise, both Motley and Dudgeon stated that having a player like Stanley with a few years of varsity experience gives the team someone to rally around. According to Dudgeon, Stanley’s two year prior experience on the varsity squad and Motley’s talent on the court make the two some of the biggest leaders for the Lady Hawks in the 2018 season.

“Motley and Stanley are our most experienced players from last year,” Dudgeon says. “More than just stats, they are both unselfish and lead the program in countless ways.”

Motley and Stanley both mentioned one of the team’s goals is to become one of the top four teams in the GMC over the course of Coach Dudgeon’s career as East’s coach. One thing they say that has changed over the course of the coaching switch is the mood and intensity at practice, which Motley claims is a mentality that is here to stay.

“The positive energy is much higher,” Motley says. “We hold each other to a higher standard of performance on and off the court.

Coach Dudgeon is really showing us what it means to compete as a collective unit now and moving forward.” • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 58

sports | quiz team

For the sophomores, juniors and seniors on Academic Quiz Team their after school activity is

QUIZLETICS

The Lakota East Academic Quiz Team is poised to make noise in the GMC this season after rebuilding their roster for success.

L to R: senior Carly Landers, junior Bradley Samberg, senior Maddox Linneman and Ryan Ackerman participate in the Alphabet Round in a match against Fairfield.

story jack parr photography meredith peters

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he team discusses the possible answer, thinking deeply about the question and eventually coming to a conclusion. They lock in the answer, hoping that this one will push them to victory. But, these competitors aren’t on a TV game show, and they aren’t playing a game in class to review for the upcoming test. They are participating in Academic Quiz Team (AQT), according to the team it is one of the most interesting and unappreciated sports at Lakota East.

East has a varsity quiz team as well as a junior varsity (JV) quiz team. The Varsity team is lead by senior captain Hannah Ackerman, and junior Bradley Samberg serves as the captain for the JV team.

The captains are in charge of a lot on the quiz team, because most of the structure of the team is determined by them. Ackerman welcomes the challenge and feels a good deal of responsibility for the outcome of the teams’ matches.

“I feel a lot of responsibility for how the team does,” Ackerman says. “I pick the lineup so I feel bad if we lose and I feel successful if

59 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

we win.”

Each AQT match consists of three games, starting with varsity, followed by JV, and ending with varsity. Each game consists of three rounds. The first round is the category round, with a question for each team followed by a toss-up. The second round is the alphabet round, with every answer beginning with the same letter. The final round is the lightning round.

“It’s kind of like watching Jeopardy [during the final round] except, you actually get to participate,” Ackerman says. “But it’s all as a team so you’re never put on the spot for knowing something.”

The structure of a quiz team match seems complicated at first, but is easy to understand after watching for a while according to the two captains. Most students at East aren’t familiar with AQT and it doesn’t receive a lot of recognition compared to other sports at the high school level. Samberg says that a lack of recognition for the sport may contribute to its popularity struggles.

“It’s just not as popular and it’s more of

an advertising issue compared to other sports,” Samberg says. “When you mention quiz team some people don’t even know what it is.”

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he GMC works to get more recognition for sports such as quiz team by including them in the competition for the All Sports Trophy, awarded to the school that has the most overall points from all sports combined throughout the year. Lakota East is currently second in the standings with 81 points, only behind Mason with.

Academic Quiz Team Coach Brandon Bright likes the fact that the GMC recognizes quiz team and says that it helps the team receive more recognition and added benefits that come with being a school-recognized sport.

“The fact that the GMC recognizes us helps a lot in an uphill battle for recognition,” Bright says. “They have been very accommodating to us and its nice to see our records kept on the website so the kids can get competitive with it.”

One way for students to get more exposure to the quiz team is by considering joining it.

Samberg encouraged giving AQT a chance for anyone that enjoys trivia. He says that joining the team would add a lot of exposure to the sport, and that people shouldn’t be intimidated by the thought that they may not be smart enough to play.

“Definitely join the team. Even if you’re not very good it’s very beneficial.” Samberg says. “It’s not a big time commitment and the atmosphere is very relaxed. It’s all educational.”

Ackerman also talked about the laid-back atmosphere of the team and the low pressure environment of AQT. She encourages anyone to give the team a try and repeated the message of being welcomed on the team and not being worried about not knowing enough information to play.

“A lot of people are nervous about joining because they think they don’t know enough,” Ackerman says. “Even if you come up and get everything wrong at first no one will judge you.”

While participating in quiz team does not require a large amount of prior knowledge, having a lot of success on the team does de-

pend on your effort and dedication outside of matches, according to Samberg.

“You have to have a good drive to work hard,” Samberg says. “You have to know what you need to work on for each match.”

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enior Weston Lindner, another key contributor to the success of the team this season, also stressed the importance of taking it one match at a time and working to get better throughout his time as part of the quiz team.

“It’s tough for freshmen sometimes because they just haven’t learned much of the science or English content in their classes,” Lindner says. “But, by sticking around, learning the strategic elements of the game, and answering what they can, they can be great players their last three years. It just takes time.”

Samberg says that quiz team can leave an impact not only by being a memorable high school experience, but also by increasing knowledge in several different areas.

“I feel like I’ve improved a lot intellectually just by being there,” Samberg says. “You learn

a lot of things that you would never even think about learning.”

The 2017-18 season has started on a positive note for the Thunderhawk quiz team after defeating defending conference champion Sycamore, and they will look to continue that success this season, where they project themselves to finish in the top three in the Greater Miami Conference (GMC).

“I feel like we have a very strong team,” Samberg says. “The Sycamore game gave us a good benchmark for where we are heading into this season.”

According to Bright, the team is in the middle of a successful rebuild after losing 14 seniors after last season. He says that the team has a shot to win in a league that is more balanced than ever going into the home stretch of the season.

“We have succeeded in turning it around after losing some key players and have a much more even spread right now,” Bright says. “We are trying to show all the new people how (quiz team) works and ultimately build the team into a dynasty.”

Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 60

column | opinion

TAMPING DOWN TAXES

KAYLEIGH BEARDEN infographic mike croy |art tyler bonawitz

I

never realized how expensive pads and tampons were until I had to start buying them for myself on a regular basis. I walk into my nearby grocery store, go down that one aisle that makes prepubescent boys quake in their boots, the women’s hygiene aisle. When I first started buying tampons, I assumed that one box of five dollar tampons would last for a few months but I quickly realized that a regular sized box would only last for around one cycle.

On top of the price of that box of tampons, I have to pay the infamous tax on tampons every single month.

the tax on tampons is currently at 5 percent, which is the lowest tax rate that a single item in the UK can have. As of 2016, lawmakers in France have voted to cut down taxes on feminine hygiene products from 20 percent to 5 percent, which is the lowest allowed by the European Commision. The Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls stated that the move was a “step in the right direction.”

Garcia, along with other California lawmakers, recognized this problem and proposed a solution. They suggested raising the taxes on liquor to make up for the budget

It feels like the predominantly male lawmakers never think about the women who can’t afford pads or tampons in the first place.

In Ohio, the state tax rate is currently 5.75 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation. Just looking at Ohio, the taxes add up to over 20 million dollars annually, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Due to the fact that half of America’s population has to use some sort of feminine hygiene product for on average a week every month, it seems like the issue needs to be addressed in state legislation.

California assemblywoman Cristina Garcia noticed the controversy surrounding the tax on tampons, or the Pink Tax, was an issue and took it upon herself to start suggesting changes in legislation.

According to Time Magazine, Garcia announced Assembly Bill 1561 in March of 2017 that proposed an end to the tampon tax. Those who support the tax on tampons are concerned that if the tax on tampons is removed, states will have to raise taxes on other things in order to earn back the 20 million dollars that would be lost annually if the tax on tampons were removed.

America is behind when it comes to taxes on feminine hygiene products. According to USA Today, on July 1 of 2015, Canada officially halted sales tax on tampons, pads, and menstrual cups. In the United Kingdom (UK), 61 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

shortfall, stating that “liquor is a choice, while anatomy is not.” The argument is that feminine hygiene products are necessities, not luxuries, so they shouldn’t be taxed as such.

According to Politifact.com, there are 12 states where feminine hygiene products are not taxed under a state’s sales tax. Five states—

What The Students Said 298 students were asked if there should be a tax on tampons. Their responses were:

Yes No

Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana, and Oregon—do not have sales tax at all. Seven states specifically exempt feminine hygiene products—Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

On average, a woman has 450 periods in their lifetime. Each period usually means 20 tampons, which at 19 cents per tampon, adds up to around 1,750 dollars on tampons in a single lifetime. It seems terribly excessive to add a tax on top of that.

Then there’s the issue of the 50,000 women living on the streets nationwide, according to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. 50,000 women have to make the monthly decision of tampons or food. It’s heartbreaking to think that they have to choose between going hungry, or bleeding and dealing with the shame and embarrassment that comes along with that.

It feels like the predominantly male lawmakers never think about the women who can’t afford pads or tampons in the first place and hardly ever think about how these taxes affect all women country-wide.

In July of 2016, New York City took a big step and became the first city in the country to require public schools, jails, and homeless shelters to provide free pads and tampons. Soon after, the rest of the country followed suit. If it is necessary to provide pads and tampons to incarcerated women and transgender men free of charge, that must mean that they are essential for the wellbeing of women and trans men around the country.

If that is that case, then those products should not still be taxed in most states. If things like lip balm and dandruff shampoo are considered medical goods, then pad and tampons should be too. If chapped lips, hair loss, dry scalp, and erectile dysfunction are regarded as medical issues, than menstrual cycles absolutely belong on that list.

All this being said, I don’t really know what else to expect when the lawmakers making the decisions about how much my period costs are mostly men. Sorry to break it to you but women can’t just turn them off. They aren’t really negotiable. • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 62

opinion | column

column | opinion

TIME’S UP; LET’S LISTEN RICHARD GIANG

H

art tyler bonawitz

arassment. Discrimination. Tolerance.

These words separately all hold their own meaning, but together they define all that is wrong with the current state of a hierarchical structure that shouldn’t even exist.

According to the Cosmopolitan, one in three women ages 18 to 34 have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, however, 71 percent of those affected did not report it.

To me, as a male, this is unacceptable. There are no “but”’s or “what if ”’s, it is, at its very core, intolerable.

Women should not come to work worrying about what they’re wearing, scared to be around certain people or be afraid of their workplace

in societies where the wage differences aren’t that big, it’s not so easy to get somebody else to take care of your children inside your own home. That means that you have to build out a helping systems for the family. And the benefit of that is higher economic growth and maybe also a more innovative society.”

Women can’t be shafted because they’re expected to be the caretakers; the playing field must be leveled. Even with the odds stacked against them, women like Solberg become role models in the feminine world, but because of the male superior complex that has no right to exist, most women aren’t seen as the powerful beings they are here in the United States and other male-centric countries.

because a man says he can’t “control himself ”.

No means no. Clothing can’t say yes. Biased interpretations of body language can’t say yes.

Unruly handling of testosterone can’t say yes.

A nonresponsive body can’t say yes. The only thing that can say yes is a woman’s voice.

That same voice has decided to echo #MeToo and #TimesUp across the country uniting the population that has grown in strength, compassion and prominence over the past few years. The female population has decided that time is up on sexual harassment and we, the male population, are obligated to listen.

Men feel as if they have the ability to throw their weight around in any way they please because of the countless male-dominated industries worldwide that have been prejudiced towards women for centuries. Change up until now has been slow, but it’s needed more than ever. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), the Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg stated that women need to be given the opportunity to show what they can do.

“We don’t want to choose between a career and motherhood,” Solberg told NPR. “And

According to a study in 2007 conducted by Jennifer L. Berdahl, a professor in Leadership Studies: Gender and Diversity at the University of British Columbia, research has shown that women in male-dominated work fields are sexually harassed more often than women in balanced or female-dominated work fields.

We, as men, have to step aside and work to remove all social and institutional barriers that have been placed on not just females, but all underrepresented populations that have experienced injustice in today’s society.

Currently we are a wall they are trying to climb, we must become the hand to pull them up to stand with us.

A balanced workforce is what we need. Men being excused for heinous crimes is what we’ve been given. Equality is what women deserve.

Injustice is what they’ve been forced to deal with.

According to womenintheworkplace.com, 50 percent of men believe that women are wellrepresented in leadership in companies where only one in ten senior leaders is female.

This can be stood for no longer. Until 100 percent of men believe that women are well-

No means no. Clothing can’t say yes. Biased interpretations of body language can’t say yes. Unruly handling of testosterone can’t say yes. A nonresponsive body can’t say yes.

63 lakotaeastsparkonline.com Jan 2018

represented in leadership in companies where one-half senior leaders are female, the work of social leaders across the nation is unfinished.

The simple fact that, according to the Women’s National Law Center, the TimesUp Fund has garnered 16 million dollars going towards 14,000 cases in just 18 days, powerfully illustrates the need for the world to drop everything and fix this issue. If this doesn’t wake up the ignorant men like Harvey Weinstein whose egos are too thick for them to hear the word “no”, then nothing will.

Women deserve much more than this. They deserve what they have worked so hard for.

They deserve to wear whatever they like, they deserve to feel safe walking home alone, they deserve to work their hardest without having to worry about being sexually harassed in the workplace.

I hold these truths to be self-evident: Companies like AR Wear that create clothing for women that is “rape-proof ” shouldn’t even exist. Men shouldn’t be able to keep their jobs after being accused of sexual assault. #MeToo and #TimesUp can only exist if everyone, man or woman, is held accountable if they sexually harass someone. America’s justice system needs to listen to the unheard cries of women and underrepresented minorities who are being taken advantage of by the institutionalized patriarchy.

As a brother and a son I find it sickening to think that my mother and sister could be victims of antiquated gender roles of a bygone era. I’d like to believe that change can be made swiftly enough for my sister to enter the workforce unbothered by such a trivial, yet influential issue.

I don’t want to raise a daughter in world where she’s afraid to do certain things. She, along with every young woman across the world, should be able to achieve to their highest potential, unhindered by the unchecked powers of anachronistic men.

To wrap up, dear harassers, I’ll lay it out: just stop harassing people, it’s that easy. Don’t assume. Do take “no” for an answer. Give women the respect they deserve.

As for all of the women out there: continue to be empowered, unfettered beings of unimaginable potential. • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 64

opinion | ed cartoon & east speaks out

guest column | opinion

THE NEW “F” WORD East alumni and former Spark Editor-in-Chief Erinn Aulfinger reflects on the power of telling diverse stories from the female perspective. column erinn aulfinger | photography used with permission

H “Real Danger” - Bryce Forren

EAST SPEAKS OUT Are You Pro-Life or Pro-Choice? interviews and photography connor douglas, jessica jones and meredith neimann

LIFE

I don’t think killing the most innocent of our citizens is the answer to the woman’s consequences.

-Grace Abdelnour

CHOICE I know that women

LIFE Just because the

CHOICE Everyone has the

deserve 100 percent the rights to choose what happens inside and outside their bodies.

woman didn’t choose to have the baby, doesn’t mean they can’t choose not to have the-Dominic baby. Satullo

right to determine how their life will go.

-Anna Davidson

-Jack Mcain

-Corrin Peterson

igh school is a breeding ground for curse words.

Teachers grow immune to them eventually. Students learn them alongside ACT vocabulary and incorporate them into everyday language like adjectives, scattering them into every story about who likes whom, or who did what at that party. It is the culture of high school.

But in the commandments of school, among the words scrawled onto bathroom stall doors, defiling the covers of history books, and inked forever on desks at the back of the classroom, there is an understanding that one word must never be mentioned in our four walls: the “F” word.

Say this unthinkable word, and the classroom falls silent, as fellow students gauge the reaction of the teacher to this faux pas.

Dirty looks and judgmental whispers murmur through the crowd. If you say the “F” word in public, you’re immediately labeled a rebel or radical and scrupulously avoided.

“Feminist.”

This curse word is spit out with disdain, used to label women deemed anti-social, antimen, and antiquated. Yet the true definition of feminist is one desiring equal rights for both sexes, and judging by today’s reality, the world could still use a little feminism.

However, feminism’s lingering status as a virtual curse word has made it difficult to discuss and even acknowledge the issues that still separate the genders. According to a 2016 survey by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation 50 percent of men and 30 percent of women do not identify as feminists, and 30 and 43 percent labeled the movement as “outdated” and “angry,” respectively.

Although the world has made strides toward equality, women still lag behind men in salary, positions of authority, and even self-esteem.

I witnessed it myself in school, I watched friends succumb to the pitfalls of low selfesteem like cutting, drugs, and eating disorders.

GUEST COLUMN I saw the rise of “mean girls” bullying, and saw and heard stories about adults treating girls and boys differently, again amplifying the gender issue.

W

ords have unmistakable power, and the halls of schools have the uncanny ability to bring out the worst of them.

With the strength of the “F” word fueling me, I hatched a plan to combat the industry reports that show that girls see a significant drop in self-esteem around age 9 that is both deeper and longer-lasting than that of boys through creating, funding, and

provide girls with the tools needed to avoid that self-esteem drop.

Topics included tips on maintaining a strong body image and sense of self despite negative messages from the media and peer bullies, keeping the lines of communication open with parents and teachers, and on how to address anxiety in less harmful ways.

By providing a free hard copy of my book to the 700 sixth grade girls in Lakota Local School District, and a free eCopy online for girls around the world, I could ensure a solution that’s both relevant and sustainable, locally and globally.

I’d like us to rebrand feminism. Even though improvements have been made in reaching gender equality, the disparity between genders should not be overlooked, particularly in a country like the United States that ought to be far ahead of other developing countries

However, feminism’s lingering status as a virtual curse word has made it difficult to discuss and even acknowledge the issues that still separate the genders. publishing a self-help book for sixth grade girls about to enter middle school and face the selfesteem challenges from peers, academic pressure, parents, and puberty.

I started with research: contacting 1,000+ individuals and organizations focused on women’s empowerment or girls’ self-esteem including CEOs, gender equality researchers for the United Nations, the Marketing Director for the Always Brand’s “Like a Girl” Campaign, and child psychologists to help review my book’s content.

After raising $5,000 , I published an 80-page book including inspirational stories from older girls and women who’d faced and overcome selfesteem issues, along with exercises and tips to

in such measures, rather than lagging behind.

When I say the “F word” in class, I hope that we will see a day when it is no longer regarded as a dirty word. I want bathroom stall doors re-painted with words of equality; book covers rebound with messages of respect; and the ink forever etched in desktops renovated into stories back at the head of the class, where they belong.

I

want to drop a new “F” bomb. I want to shout it from the rooftops and instead of being ostracized with feelings of disgust from its very utterance, I want it to be met with the echoing calls of men and women who are proud to call themselves the “F” word too. • Jan 2018 lakotaeastsparkonline.com 66

DEAR ALL YOUNG GIRLS LEXY HARRISON photography meredith niemann

W

hen I was in middle school, at the peak of pubescence, I hated the way my body looked. I never thought I was pretty or skinny enough. There was always something I wanted to change about myself; whether it be my hair, the type of clothes I wore, how much fat I had around my waist or how the other skinny girls looked at me in the locker room. There was always something missing. I always knew that that something was confidence, but it took me forever to find that piece of myself.

It took me years to be comfortable with myself and that’s with no thanks to mass media and the unrealistic expectations for girls it establishes. However, now that I am acutely comfortable with my appearance, I fear for young girls who witness the impractical looks of a photoshopped Selena Gomez in an issue of Cosmopolitan and alter themselves to fit into a size two dress or cake on makeup to achieve the Kylie Jenner look, just as I did.

It wasn’t until when I turned 15-years-old that I truly started to like myself for who I was and how I looked. I didn’t care about the number on the scale, the blemishes on my face, or if the cute boy in my class noticed me. I realized that I was the only one who could change how I viewed myself and counteract my unhappiness.

Some people may attribute teenage angst in these types of situations as just a stage in a young girl’s life. I, myself, believe that and many of my friends do as well.

However, that doesn’t mean that this issue should be ignored anymore than we’d ignore a student who eats too much as a stage. Many insecure girls grow up in their still insecure and precarious mindset, hating their appearances as grown women.

This may lead to an adult woman passing on this ideology of a lack of confidence to her young daughter unknowingly, repeating the malicious cycle.

According to a 2015 study by the National Eating Disorders Association, 42 percent of first-to third-grade girls want to lose weight and 81 percent of 10-yearolds are afraid of being fat. This paints a devastating picture. Luckily, the second annual Women’s March on Jan. 20 and the latest CVS Drug Chain plan to ban photo manipulation in its store-brand makeup marketing will help alleviate some of the messages concentrating on young, impressionable mindsets.

Retail marketing such as clothing brand American Eagle subsidiary Aerie who politick their no retouching policy of photos to promote self love to youthful women everywhere bring me hope for female adolescence. The website states, “It’s more than no retouching. It’s about loving your real self. It’s about empowerment.

We want everyone to feel confident inside and out.” I personally enjoy shopping at Aerie compared to Victoria’s Secret because of the messages both brands promote.

The women’s march focuses on many activities, not just in women’s rights but as a presence in society as women stand up and take charge. This too, builds confidence and maturity. However, most of all, perspective. This is the mentality most young teenage girls -- and teenage boys for that matter -- need to see in advertising, politics and media. Society needs to understand the impacts on the youth in order to generate advertising, media and government perspective that empowers without judging. •