Lakota East Spark 2015-6 Issue 5

Spark Lakota East High School lakotaeastsparkonline.com March. 18, 2016 $5 Newsstand

Honeybees are an irreplacable link in the chain of agricultural production. But bee populations have fallen by more than 40 percent since 2006. Everyone from beekeepers to consumers are starting to feel the effects of a species in collapse.

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CONTENTS issue #169

12 22 28 44 55 62 more than honey

girl code

food inc.

localmotive

growing in the game

The Honeybee population is declining, and the ramifications will touch everyone and everything that lives off of the Earth.

AP computer science student and East junior Sydni Venter is coding her way to a strong career in the technology field.

The business of food touches Americans with the age-old question: from where and from whom people should buy food.

From juice to coffee to high fashion, the newly renovated shopping center, Hyde Park, has something special for everyone.

East sophomore Jarret Cox has great support.

He rising to the challenge as an underclassman on the men’s varsity basketball team,

an apple a day keeps terrorism away Tenisions between Apple and the FBI put the balance between privacy and security into question.

Spark 2015-2016 STAFF

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Nina Brillhart

Brittany Meister

Christine Shi

Maddie Weikel

MANAGING EDITORS Design Christine Shi

News Nina Brillhart

Package Maddie Weikel

Co-Culture Katy Johnson

Broadcast Emma Stiefel Co-Culture Christine Shi

Feature Brittany Meister Sports Aly Thomas

Photography Sydney Rader Opinion Kelly Krajewski

Art Manjot Kalkat Infographics Manjot Kalkat

EDITORS News Vincent Galioto

News Emma Stiefel Package Erinn Aulfinger

Sports Allie Church

News Sophia Spivey Package Michelle Chu

Opinion Cara Satullo

Feature Alyssa Hetterich Package Cristina Francisco

Opinion Victoria Negron

Infographics Cassia Chryssovergis Co-Copy Maddie Weikel

Photography Cara Sieber

Photography Richard Giang

Culture Lauren Wilson

Art Sarah Aftab

Art Julia Sanders

Infographics Sophia Chryssovergis Co-Copy Katy Johnson

BUSINESS TEAM Business Director Nina Brillhart

Co-Fundraising Manager Kaily Hauck Business Collaborator Emma Presar

Co-Fundraising Manager Madeline Alsip

Public Relations Dillon Horter

Business Collaborator Sarah Mullins

WEBMASTER Emma Presar

ADVISOR Dean Hume

CONTACT US c/o Lakota East High School 6840 Lakota Lane Liberty Township, OH 45044 (513) 759-8615 ext. 15118 www.lakotaeastspark.com lakotaeastspark16@gmail.com Spark is a publication that is produced at Lakota East High School. The magazine is completely non-profit and student-generated through the efforts of the Journalism I, Journalism II and Journalism III-Honors classes. The publication material may not always reflect the views of the Lakota Local School District or the publication as a whole. Content is controlled and edited by the staff editors. The staff will publish only legally protected speech adhering to the legal definitions of libel, obscenity and invasions of privacy. The publication is produced every five weeks on recycled paper. Production costs are recovered through advertising, subscription sales and fundraisers. The purpose of Spark is to inform the students, faculty, and community members of news, information and issues that may influence or affect them.

4 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

to and from the editor | opinion

THE “US” GENERATION

Spark ED BOARD All too often, Millennials are described as self-centered, self-absorbed and materialistic, and these accusations don’t just come from the mouths of the older generations. According to a study by Pew Research Center, 59 percent of Millennials described their generation as “self-absorbed,” while 49 percent said they were “wasteful.”

Amidst all of these claims that the generation of people between the ages of 17 and 32 are terminally narcissistic, there are still shining acts of selfless kindness. Random Acts of Kindness Week, executed by the Lakota East chapter of J. Kyle Braid Experiential Education Foundation (JKBEEF), seeks to encourage and recognize these acts of kindness throughout the school.

Spreading kindness is becoming more important as incidences of bullying increase. According to The National Bullying Prevention Center, approximately one in four high school students will be the victim

of bullying. Because of the increased use of social media and other rapid communication systems, bullying is more common among the Millennial generation than the ones that came before.

“We’re finding that cyberbullying in the form of bashing, rumors and other hazing content focused at one person is replacing the physical assaults many associate with bullying,” said Sonja Perren in her investigation of modern bullying for the Journal of Youth and Adolescent Health. “Because of the manner of this bullying, the effects seem to be worse for the victims, sometimes even leading to suicide.”

Despite scathing studies like the 2013 Time magazine article titled “Me Me Me Generation” that will try to paint all young people with a broad self-centered brush, events like JKBEEF’s Random Acts of Kindness Week will exemplify the the attitude of the 51 percent of Millennials that the best years are ahead of us.

Dear Spark I would first of all like to thank Spark for interviewing me about the Heroin/Opiate Drug Prevention Program that I attempted to bring to Lakota East and West in March and May of 2015.

I would like to clarify some of the statements that Karen Mantia and Ray Murray made in your article.

As you stated in your article, I sent emails to all the the school board members and Karen Mantia regarding the program we were offering to bring to Lakota. Even after Randy Oppenheimer became involved, I sent updates to the school board members and Karen. At one meeting with Randy, he mentioned and made sure that I knew... that it was his responsibility to bring information to her. None of the school board members or Karen ever responded to me until after the dismal failure of the Lakota East presentation. I had sent an email to the school board members and Karen informing them of my disappointment at the lack of support from them. The speakers truly believed that Lakota intentionally wanted this to fail. Then I received emails from several school board members and Karen. Karen then wanted to have a conversation with me regarding this. At one point in the conversation and in her email to me she said Lakota already had something in place to help families with addiction, I then pressed her as to where families can access this information, was it on the Lakota website? Lakota did nothing to ensure this program would be attended or be successful. I asked if community service hours could be used, maybe doubled if they bring a parent, the answer was no. I spent my own money on posters that were to be distributed throughout all junior, freshman, and the high schools. According to friends I have in those schools, the posters were not displayed. For Karen to say “that this program was approached with

a professional and solid effort” is ludicrous. Karen also states in your article that you won’t get community involvement in a program such as this unless you are personally touched by this. As your article shows in the seventh paragraph, a high percentage of East students alone have been touched by heroin/opiate addiction/abuse. Those are the statistics that Spark came up with. It is alarming and should be alarming to the school board.

We had many champions but especially the distinguished knowledgeable presenters: a U.S. District Attorney, a U.S. DEA agent, an addict from Mason, a parent of an addict and the driving force for this program, a Director of Pain Management from Mercy Hospital, as well as support from Beckett Springs Hospital on Union Center Blvd... It is a law now in Ohio that schools address this subject. Lakota could have been so far ahead if they had supported this program.

As I told the Spark reporter, this entire program was about prevention and education. In a school district as big as Lakota with about 20,000 students and looking at Spark’s survey, you can be sure that there are many families struggling with this addiction in this community. If this had saved a few people from using/abusing this drug, it would have been worth it. That is all this program was about. It covered the legal, medical and emotional toll this addiction can cause.

I have had four kids in this school district for 21 years, my last one graduates this year. I am thankful that we will no longer be a part of the Lakota school district. —Sandy Tate, Lakota West parent

ON THE COVER

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

The Spark encourages letters to the editor, letters can be sent to the publication at lakotaeastspark16@gmail.com or delivered to room 118 at the Lakota East main campus. Letters must be signed, and the staff reserves the right to edit the letters for length, grammer, invasion of privacy, obscenity or potential libel. The opinion editors will contact writers for confirmation.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR COMMUNITY

Spark investigates the reasons behind the fall of the Honeybee and why this phenomenon matters to the community and the world.

photography used with permission from ronald heldman

Spark ONLINE

opinion | from the editor

TERROR FOR TUSKS BRITTANY MEISTER photography colin melick correction: the letter from the editor published in issue #168 of the Spark was incorrect. Below is the revised edition.

C

hristmas 2014 was one of the greatest Christmases I’ve ever had. That morning as I was opening my many presents, I finally came across the one that my parents said to keep until the end. I carefully broke the Scotch-tape seal on both ends of the package, and then I slid out a photo frame. Behind the glass of the frame was an adoption certificate. I had become the proud foster parent of my first baby elephant, Murit. However, my six-month-old baby elephant was more than just an ordinary elephant. He came from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi that I had just visited six months before on a mission trip to Kenya.

Murit was rescued by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust because he fell into a well after first being born. This happens more often than you might think. Needless to say, Murit’s trip down the well gave him quite a bruising from which, thankfully, he has now healed. Today, he is a playful little elephant with his own large personality. As a foster parent of Murit, there is nothing more that I could want than for him than to be released into the wild once again when he is old enough to survive on his own, and this is always the goal of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. But knowing this goal is always the objective makes me nervous. Eventually, when Murit leaves the safety and security of his keepers, he will be released into the vast safaris of Kenya where an estimated 100 African elephants are slaughtered each day by poachers seeking ivory, meat and body parts.

If elephants being slaughtered in the wild don’t get your attention, then maybe terrorism will. There is a disturbing connection between the slaughter of elephants in the wild and terrorist networks that operate in Africa. According to the U.S. International Conservation Caucus Foundation, ivory and rhino poaching fund the activities of terrorists such as Al-Shabaab, the group behind the Kenyan Westgate shopping mall massacre, which killed at least 68 people. Three years ago, the Elephant Action League discovered during an 18-month undercover investigation that ivory trafficking was supplying up to 40 percent of the funds needed to keep Al-Shabaab in business and fund its militant operations.

The illegal market for selling elephant ivory is driven by a lustful demand in Asia.

Terrorists kill the elephants, sell the ivory to Asia, and with the financial proceeds, purchase arms to commit acts of terror. This whole cycle of “ivory for arms” is driving these peaceful, family-orientated beasts to the brink of extinction. The price of ivory in China has tripled, pushing the poaching of African elephants through the roof. As I gaze at the elephant art that adorn my wrists as jewelry and that are scattered throughout my bedroom as stuffed animals and wall-art, I am reminded that there is some hope for the African elephant population.

President Obama is making sure that, when it comes to ending poaching, the United States is taking the lead. While in Kenya in July of 2015, the President announced the latest in a series of American steps to stop this deadly practice—a new proposed rule that would prohibit the majority of international trafficking of elephant ivory from Africa while tightening restrictions on commercial exports.

When we hear the story of how elephant and rhinoceros poaching is tied to funding a network of terrorists on the African continent, many people feel powerless to help, even if they would like to. But the Kenyan State Park system says there is something significant that many people can do to help, and that is to continue taking safaris. Without tourism, poaching would go completely unchecked. Tourism provides a significant revenue stream that keeps African parks open and patrolled to help counterbalance the “ivory for arms” trade.

These beautiful and unique creatures have captured my heart, and without the continued and concerted action to save the elephant species, they could vanish from the wild within my lifetime. If it were up to me, I would like to do more than just tell my grandchildren about African elephants; I would like to show them, too. In the meantime, it also doesn’t hurt to adopt a baby elephant of your own.

6 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

briefs | news

BRIEFS: NEWS

stories sarah mullins, sophia spivey and vincent galioto photography used with permission from joetta rader and sarah mullins

TALENT SHOW FOR LAKOTA TEACHERS Youth in Philanthropy (YIP), a subsidiary of the West Chester/ Liberty Township Community Foundation, hosted their second annual Lakota’s Got Talent show in the Lakota East High School auditorium starring teachers from Woodland Elementary, Liberty Elementary and Plains Junior School. The teachers competed for $2,000 and $1,000 grants for their schools.

“This is a great way to help the community get involved with the school,” Community Foundation student chair and East junior Kate Fulmer said. “The profits we make go towards the Community Foundation We give grants to other organizations and schools in the area that need it.”

The sponsors were West Chester Family Dentistry, Inc., Haglage Construction, First Financial Bank, CTI Restaurants, Inc., Ms. Annette Landesman, Mr. Martin Schneider, Mr. And Mrs. Dick Alderson and Dr. Nannette R. Sherman.

Each group of teachers representing the different schools performed an act. East juniors Haley Stevens and DJ Cleavenger and the West Cheer team performed also. They performed for guest judges Fiscal Officer Bruce Jones of West Chester

Township, Lakota School Board Member Lynda O’Connor, Liberty Township Trustee Tom Farrell, Lakota’s Superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia and Liberty Township Trustee Christine Matacic.

Before the show began, Woodland Elementary School principal Valerie Montgomery suggested that because there were only three participating schools, they should split the $3,000 equally among the schools. The other principals agreed.

“It takes a lot of extra time and commitment outside the regularly scheduled school day to prepare, practice and perform,” Montgomery said. “When I realized that there were only three schools participating, I felt that it was only fair that these three schools benefit from the prize money.”

At the end of the show, the judges chose Liberty Elementary as a winner, and the school was awarded a $2,000 grant. However, the audience chose Woodland Elementary as the winner, and the school won a $1,000 grant.

During intermission, audience members put money into buckets representing the school of their choice. The money from the buckets was split among a YIP fund to help them with future projects and the teachers.

“My staff was elated to win,” Liberty Principal Carrie Montgomery said. “They had so much fun practicing and

“The profits we make go towards the Community Foundation. We give grants to other organizations and schools in the area that need it.”

— Kate Fulmer, Community Foundation student chair

Lakota teachers celebrate after their performance at Lakota’s Got Talent.

working out the dance moves. We performed for our students, and it was priceless to see their faces and hear their compliments.”

The winning act, was a cover of the song “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor with the words rewritten to have a more school-appropriate theme. The teachers all dressed in the Bubble Gum Pop style of Trainor’s videos wearing matching outfits and colorful bows in their hair.

“I wrote new lyrics for it,” Liberty Elementary instructional aide and translator Robin Madden said. “It’s about learning your ABCs. [The new title is] ‘It’s How You Learn to Read.’ We choreographed a dance, added books as props and made a video to go along with it.”

The audience liked the act done by the Woodland staff to the song ‘We are Family’ by Sister Sledge.

The staff came together on stage using children’s toy instruments and pretending to sing the song.

They all showed their Wolfpack pride by wearing Woodland Elementary shirts.

Plains Junior’s act was a rendition of the evolution of dance through the 1990s and

2000s from a rap/hip-hop perspective. They all dressed in clothes typical of rappers in the ‘90s wearing backward-facing hats, baggy pants and long chains with money signs on them.

This was YIP’s second time hosting this event but their third attempt; the show was cancelled last year due to bad weather, and there was not an availability to reschedule.

The first year that the show was executed, the judges chose Cherokee out of 12 total schools as the winner. They used the $2,000 grant to help fund the Playground Project, which was a fund created to help refurbish the playground at the school for their students. With this grant and money from other sources, they were able to put in their first piece of new playground equipment last year.

“I thought [Lakota’s Got Talent] was great exposure for the YIP kids,” Cherokee Principal and Member of the Community Foundation Paulette Grady said.

“They did a great job. I think the show created a lot of enthusiasm in community. Our parents all came, and they cheered for us. It was really encouraging.”

news | briefs

BRIEFS: NEWS (cont.)

SENIORS RECEIVE LEA SCHOLARSHIP After weeks of reviewing applications, the Lakota Education Association (LEA) awarded a total of four students from both East and West with $1000 grants.

Because East seniors Elizabeth Harvey and Sydney Rader have a parent or grandparent who are a current LEA member, they were eligible to apply for the scholarship, which both girls received. In addition, East senior Emily Britton and West senior Miranda Knuf were presented with a $1000 scholarship for being the top two applicants for those interested in an education degree.

According to LEA Public Relations Chair and Scholarship Committee Chair Tracy O’Rourke, the scholarships are funded entirely from member donations.

Some of the teachers give a donation as part of the end-ofyear banquet and others donate throughout the year.

“Members of LEA see it as as another way of giving back to the students and encouraging them to continue to grow and learn,” O’Rourke said. “It’s always a joy to see our students excited about their future. Giving these scholarships to so many deserving students over the years has been a rewarding experience. We always find ourselves wanting to give more than 4.”

O’Rourke worked with the scholarship committee to

chose the recipients based on their applications, letters of recommendation and whether or not they met or exceeded the scholarship requirements.

“The applications are modified to remove any identifying information,” O’Rourke said. “The committee scores them blindly, using a rubric. The applicants with the highest average scores are awarded the scholarships.”

East senior Sydney Rader plans on studying pediatric oncology because she has always wanted to help families that have been or could be affected by cancer.

“I am the Survivorship Chair for Relay For Life because my best friend had cancer when she was three, and that is what sparked my passion,” Rader said. “I plan on attending The Ohio State University because they have the James Center, which is one of the top cancer research centers in the United States. They have so many opportunities that are offered in the realm of cancer that aren’t offered anywhere else.”

However, East senior Emily Britton wants to earn an degree for third or fourth grade teaching or speech language pathology.

She feels that this scholarship “definitely helps with the financial burden of college.” “[The scholarship will help since my parents and I are both going to be paying [my college expenses],” Britton said. “No scholarship amount is too little, so I didn’t care how much it is for because any little bit helps.”

According to East Principal

East seniors (from left) Emily Britton, Elizabeth Harvey and Sydney Rader are presented with the LEA Scholarship.

8 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

“ No scholarship amount is too little, so I didn’t care how much it is for because any little bit helps.”

— Emily Britton, East senior

Suzanna Davis, the LEA scholarships are one of the many ways that teachers go above and beyond to give back to their students.

“I put much credit to the work our teachers are doing day in and day out,” Davis said. “They give back so often just on a daily basis with their instruction, but to see them take it to a whole new level with financial support for these students is so rewarding.”

Rader’s mother, Joetta Rader, has been a dedicated member of LEA since 1989 and has seen many seniors who receive these scholarships express sincere appreciation for the opportunities that the scholarships present.

“I’m very excited that Sydney will be able to use this money toward fulfilling her dreams,” Joetta said. “Each year since I first started teaching, I’ve watched students receive this award, and now I’m excited for my daughter to receive this honor as well.”

BURKHARDT GIVEN PRAISE FOR WORKS

Lakota Director of Child Nutrition & Wellness Chris Burkhardt will receive one of the five 2016 School Nutrition Heroes awards that is given by the School Nutrition Foundation. It is a national award that goes to food service managers of schools who are nominated by manufacturers and have given back to their community.

The Director of Child Nutrition & Wellness must manage the day-to-day operations of Lakota’s 22 cafeterias, which cater to 16,500 students every school day and ensure that Lakota complies with state and federal

regulations for nutrition.

Burkhardt is being recognized for his initiatives to create a “culture of wellness” in the district. He has worked with local manufacturers to supply fruits and vegetables to the district at a reduced cost and has partnered with Reach Out Lakota, a local food pantry, to expand access to the free and reduced-price lunch program.

“We have partnered with Lakota Child Nutrition for years now with our back-to-school fair,” Reach Out Lakota CEO and Executive Director Lourdes A. Ward said. “One of the booths that we had was the Lakota Child Nutrition Department. Because we do that a couple of weeks before school starts, it ensures that children do not have to wait to get their free lunch.”

Lakota has around 3,400 students who are on the free and reduced lunch program, accounting for 19 percent of students district-wide. According to Burkhardt, that number is slowly growing, at around half a percent each year.

Burkhardt, who is also the current board president for Reach Out Lakota and a threeyear board member, moved the application for free and reduced lunches completely online so it was easier for applicants to fill out the questions.

“Because everyone can apply online, it has really taken the stigma out of filling the paper forms and sending them to the school office,” Burkhardt said. “It guides you through the process to apply. We can actually have someone apply, and we can have that application processed and a letter in their hands within 48 hours.” ...continued on lakotaeastsparkonline.com

school | news

LAKOTA INTRODUCES NEW SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE Anticipation rises among East students and faculty for the AP Human Geography course that wil be offered for the 2016-17 school year.

story cristina francisco photography cara sieber infographic maddie weikel

W

orld travellers can spend time sightseeing or doing a variety of leisurely activities, but for Lakota East social studies teacher Kevin Keen, traveling is a passion that involves interacting with people and exploring the cultures of new places such as Greece, Spain, Indonesia and Peru. After teaching in San Francisco, Calif. and in seven different buildings for Cincinnati Public Schools, Keen decided to continue his teaching career at East this year.

Keen, who currently teaches American History and Advanced Placement (AP) European History, will now be able to teach the importance of human interaction and explore different cultures through the new AP Human Geography course that will be introduced to both East and West in the 2016-17 school year.

The new class will maintain the traditional AP rigor, and, according to Keen, will consist of debates, lectures, group work and projectbased learning, which benefits students in real-word environments because “working in a group is something you have to do in any and

East social studies teacher Kevin Keen prepares for the new course.

all professions.”

The new course does not have a prerequisite and is only available to grades 10-12. It will not only focus on human interactions and cultures but also on topics such as population trends, migration patterns, language, ethnicity and religion.

“It’s a very current class and relevant to our lives,” Keen said. “For example, if we talk about migration, we will talk about different types of migrants. We will also talk about the Syrian refugee crisis and talk about where and why they are going to those places.”

According to Executive Director of Media Community Relations for Lakota Lauren Boettcher, discussions about the new course began after the community’s’ approval of the last levy in November 2013. Since then, Lakota’s curriculum department has been exploring different options in order “modernize the secondary curriculum.” “[The curriculum department] is very excited to introduce this course to students,” Boettcher said. “It certainly adds to our

social studies offerings, but its content is multidisciplinary and can be applied to a range of content areas.”

The process of adding the class to Lakota’s program of studies, according to the East social studies department head Amy Florence, included a written proposal from East and West, which was then sent to the district central office. From there, the proposal was sent to the Lakota Board of Education board for approval and then became dependent on student interest.

To gauge student interest in the class, Lakota Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Marlon Styles said the process included conducting student focus groups and surveys. He also noticed that there was a “high level of interest” for the AP Human Geography course.

The district is also working on developing the Innovation Council, which, according to Boettcher, is a system for sharing ideas and developing new courses and program models.

The council will research the different questions that go into introducing new programming options.

“It’s a very exciting project, especially considering it will include a cross-section of all different players across Lakota’s community, including students, teachers, administrators and business leaders,” Boettcher said.

East Principal Suzanna Davis welcomes the introduction of the new class and said students who traditionally thought they weren’t suited for an AP course will see great success in AP Human Geography.

“Any time we can add new courses for our students, it’s an exciting time.” Davis said.

“We are constantly evaluating our program of studies and looking at adding or adjusting courses to all departments. We want to be responsive not only to what we are seeing from the job market but also to our students’ desires.”

Last year, current East senior Philipp Corfman read a letter to the Lakota Board of Education asking for more social studies classes to balance the number of science courses and ...continued on page 53

Social studies classes offered at East

13

number of social studies number of other classes

144

source east guidence office

East junior Ekene Azuka spreads cheer on Main Steet on Wednesday.

East seniors Gillian Graham and Kate Zenz value their friendship.

LAKOTA EAST’S

RANDOM

ACTS

OF KIND

NESS

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NHS and JKBEEF members put kind notes on all the lockers.

East JKB members began their second annual Random Acts of Kindness week on Feb. 29, kicking off with Say Something Nice Day. story sophia spivey | photography sophia spivey and sydney rader

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akota East High School’s second annual Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK) was organized by J. Kyle Braid Experimental Education Foundation (JKBEEF) with the help of East National Honor Society members (NHS) to spread cheer throughout the school during the week of Feb. 29.

According to former JKBEEF advisor Lauri MacNeel, RAK week has been a national movement for many years and, starting last year, JKBEEF decided to join and implement a program at East to correspond with the week set aside by the national group.

“For me, it was very simple. RAK is a great national organization that promotes positivity,” MacNeel said. “When the JKBEEF students wanted to have a structured RAK Week at East, I was thrilled to help them accomplish something that can change the school culture in meaningful, positive ways.”

This year, JKBEEF seniors Nina Brillhart and Vincent Galioto spearheaded it, exposing the current juniors to the organization process so that they can continue the event next year.

Each day of RAK week had a theme and activity planned such as: say something nice to someone you don’t know, value friendship, teacher and administrator

East junior Payton Souders greets students as they walk in the front doors.

East students and faculty donate shoes to The Shoe Project.

appreciation, self love and East appreciation day. Throughout the week, each student was welcomed into the school by RAK greeters to create an uplifting environment.

Galioto feels that East made RAK week special in several ways, including taking nominations for people who had performed an act of kindness. Unlike last year, there was a ballot box at lunch for students to write something nice about someone else, themselves or the school. On Wednesday, students had the opportunity to write appreciation letters to their teachers.

“Last year, we had the nominations on tickets that we collected during Extra Help,” Galioto said. “At the end of the week, we poured all the tickets on the table and saw names representing kids from all walks of life.

It was one of those moments that affirms your faith in humanity.”

According to East junior and JKBEEF member Sydney Pinder, who also ran the RAK twitter, the ballots would be presented in a way so that students and faculty could easily read the compliments.

“JKBEEF would like to use the comments put in the box to make a poster that would have in bubble letters ‘Lakota East’ and we would like to fill in the letters with the comments,” Pinder said. “We would like to hang the poster up on Main Street once it is finished so that Random Acts of Kindness Week can have a lasting effect.”

According to Brillhart, last year RAK

Week had such a positive impact on East that JKBEEF wanted make sure it was a continued success.

“Last year, we passed out tickets to all the students during extra help, and everyone wrote another person’s name that performed a random act of kindness, and we did a raffle on the last day,” Brillhart said. “Also with those tickets, we made a huge sign for people to read the students’ names. This was really moving because almost every student’s name was on the poster. It was special to see the whole student body participate.”

Pinder embraced RAK Week to the fullest with anything from encouraging people to donate to East sophomore John Ferguson’s shoe drive, The Shoe Project, to performing small acts of kindness throughout East.

“At East, RAK week should put people in a better mood,” Pinder said. “I know that for Value Friendship Day, my friends and I were in a great mood throughout the whole day just because we realized how much we appreciated and loved each other.”

East junior Alexis League said she supported RAK Week so much that she decided to bake cupcakes for complete strangers. League said that she hopes that the kindness she saw during RAK Week continues through the rest of the school year.

“The rule to get a cupcake was you had to compliment another complete stranger. It made both sides feel good, the ones receiving and giving,” League said. “I decided to be

East junior Nick Hamilton passes out encouraging notes to students.

a part of RAK week because I wanted to do something out of the blue to show how I’m one of those people who loves giving compliments and seeing others smile. I wanted to make someone’s day.”

Brillhart feels that RAK week is a great way to lessen the stress that so many students face on a daily basis. She said it is easy to go through the motions, so RAK week gives students and faculty something to look forward to, even it it’s just for a week.

“It gives people some encouragement throughout the whole day,” Brillhart said.

“More often than not, people feel more upbeat when they give a compliment than when they receive one. Making the place a more friendly environment and giving people the courage to reach out to other groups is important. It is a big school, so sometimes people get lost in the crowd, and one of our biggest goals is to show each individual they matter.”

East junior and JKBEEF member Kaitlyn Rhodes did everything she could to help out with the preparation for RAK week from making posters, copies, picking up supplies and simply just getting the word out.

“I think the week has a huge impact on the school. It is the little things that can make a difference. I hope the week is helping people realize that,” Rhodes said. “Not only that, but complimenting people and giving to others puts everyone in a better mood. East is an overall happier environment this week, and I hope it continues.”

12 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

As Honeybee populations worldwide start to take a tumble, local beekeepers and farmers alike begin to feel the sting of Colony Collapse Disorder. story kelly krajewski photography used with permission from ronald held man infographic victoria negron

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t began as a hobby inspired by his grandfather and his brother. Ten years ago Mason resident Mark Ziener began keeping bees after his brother got him started by loading a single hive into the back of Ziener’s truck. Ziener was a self-described hobbyist and had done his reading, but he still didn’t know where to begin with that first hive.

But after he successfully split the first colony into two separate healthy ones, his confidence and passion for beekeeping grew. From the onset, it was a labor of love but a labor nonetheless, Ziener was self-taught and stuck to organic methods, eventually turning that initial hive into 45 that he used to help pollinate local farms and produce honey. However, things weren’t always so sweet.

“Every winter, I was losing probably around 50 percent of my hives,” Ziener said. “Ideally, you wouldn’t want to see losses over 20 percent.”

Ziener is not alone. In the last 50 years, domesticated Honeybee populations in the United States have dropped by 50 percent in the phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), according to National Geographic.

“The loss of colonies themselves in a big way started around 2004,” University of California, Davis entomologist Dr. Eric Mussen told Spark. “At that time, there began to be these unanticipated and peculiar losses of bees that began to bring the loss numbers, particularly in the winter, much higher than they used to be.”

The decimation of the world’s Honeybee population will mean a devastation of the world’s food supply because of how important bees are for food production. They are responsible not only for the pollination of almonds, but also the pollination of approximately a third of fruits and vegetables worldwide.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the list of foods that would disappear without bees ranges from apples to coffee.

Lunchtime staples like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would disappear completely without bees to pollinate the raw ingredients. The 75 percent of men’s clothing and 40 percent of women’s clothing that is 100 percent cotton would be unavailable without bees to facilitate the growth of the natural fabric.

Even if they are not directly involved in the growth of the crop, bees are necessary for seed production. Broccoli and carrots will grow whether or not they are pollinated, but they will not produce seeds, and without seeds no future generations can be grown. Overall, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, bee pollination is worth $15 billion to the U.S. farming industry, but keeping bees on farms can be a risky proposition for beekeepers because

they could be exposing their hives to pesticides.

“Once I was keeping six hives on a pumpkin farm, and in the few years I had hives there I doubled the pumpkin crop,” Ziener said. “I wasn’t charging the owner for keeping them there. It probably would have been hard to make a profit even if I did charge him because of the cost of equipment and care.”

After eight years of raising queens, salvaging what was left of hives that didn’t survive the winter, and pouring thousands of dollars into the now part-time job, Ziener was dealt his final

BEES ENABLE PRODUCTION OF 90 COMMERCIALLY GROWN CROPS IN NORTH AMERICA

ALMOND PRODUCTION AROUND THE WORLD IS 100 PERCENT DEPENDANT ON HONEY BEES blow when the bee inspector, a county employee who inspects the health of registered hives, said his hives had American Foulbrood (AFB).

AFB is a disease caused by the sporeforming Paenibacillus bacteria, and it is the quickest spreading and most devastating of the bee brood diseases. While AFB only affects the bee larvae, it is highly infectious. Bacterium spores germinate in the gut of a larva, and the vegetative form of the bacteria begins to grow, getting its nourishment from the larva.

When bees see an empty hive, their natural tendency is to rob remaining resources. This is why AFB spreads so quickly and devastates so many hives. If a bee enters a hive that was infected with AFB, it will carry the infection back to its own hive, and from there the vicious

cycle continues. The only way to keep AFB from spreading to surrounding hives is to burn all affected hives and equipment that came in contact with them. And just like that, years of Ziener’s passion and work went up in flames.

“I tried to use all organic methods so that when I sold my honey, I could say my honey was as close to completely organic as possible,” Ziener said. “But looking back on it, maybe if I would have given my bees antibiotics, they wouldn’t have gotten Foulbrood. I mean, I wouldn’t think twice about giving antibiotics to my child or myself.”

Even though AFB spelled the end for Ziener’s hives, it cannot be credited as the only factor causing CCD. Honeybee populations have been taking a hit because of issues ranging from droughts to monoculture farming practices.

“There’s a whole bunch of different stresses out there, and for those of us who have watched this happen, all we can say is it’s a combination of everything,” said Mussen. “Malnutrition, mites and diseases, pesticide exposure—it’s all ganging up on them, and they just can’t take it.”

Bees, like humans, need a variety of foods to be healthy. The diet of a Honeybee consists of a diverse group of pollen and nectar. The majority of bee larvae eat the honey that is produced by adult bees, except for the future queen bees who eat a substance called royal jelly, a food secreted by adult honey bees and fed to the larvae that will mature into queens.

However, often there is only one variety of pollen available to bees, especially those used to pollinate agricultural fields. This lack of variety is due to the popular practice of monoculture, growing a single crop in a field at a time. Bees that only have access to one kind of pollen become malnourished, which weakens their immune systems and lowers their productivity.

With the lack of food available to bees, they often have to resort to eating the honey stored in their hives, but without honey in a hive, there is no way for a beekeeper to maintain a business; their product has been stolen by their workers.

To avoid this malnutrition and potential loss of honey, the Agricultural Research Service developed a supplemental bee food called Megabee that beekeepers can administer to hives; however, this protein supplement is only sold by four distributors across the United States. A five-lb. bag of Megabee costs $25 on average, and the farther a bee keeper lives from the distributors in New York, Georgia, Florida and Washington, the more it will cost to ship.

“There would be times I’d go out to my hives in the middle of June thinking I’d be able to harvest 40 pounds of honey,” Ziener said, “but when I looked, there would be none because the

the bees would have started eating it. There was just no other food available [to them].”

Weakened bees are far more susceptible to one of American beekeepers’ biggest problems: mites. The two varieties of mites contribute to CCD are tracheal mites that attack the respiratory systems of adult Honeybees, and the more common varroa mites that suck the blood from adult honey bees and the maturing brood.

The University of Kentucky Department of Entomology has observed that when the maturing brood of a hive is affected by varroa, bees emerge with missing legs or wings.

“In 1984 we started to see trachea mites come into the United States and then three years later, in 1987, we got varroa mites, [which are] really difficult one to take care of,” Mussen told Spark.

“By 1990 beekeepers were treating their hives with pesticides to reduce the varroa population, and that’s when we started having problems with queens not living as long as they ought to. I used to be able to get two years out of a queen, and now I’m usually only able to get one.”

Mites left untreated can wreak havoc on a hive, but there is controversy in the beekeeping community over the best way to treat hives for varroa. Many commercial beekeepers lean toward pesticides to control the varroa populations.

Bees, however, feel the negative effects of the chemicals if they are added to the hive because bees are insects. Those in combination with the pesticides bees face while collecting pollen and nectar can seriously weaken or even kill them.

Bees first come in contact with pesticides in the soil of farms. Many seeds, 90 percent of which come from the chemical and pharmaceutical company, Bayer, are already covered in a coat of pesticides called neonicotinoids, more commonly known as neonics. Unlike contact pesticides that remain on the surface of treated plants, neonics are systemic; they are transported by the roots to all plant tissues, including pollen and nectar. According to a study conducted by the University of St Andrews and University of Dundee, even low levels of neonics caused bee colonies to have an estimated 55 percent reduction in live bee numbers and a 71 percent reduction in healthy brood cells.

Kelly Morris, the owner of a sustainable farm in Waynesville, Ohio, sticks to natural methods of treating her bees, fearing that pesticides would do more harm than good.

GLOBALLY, 9.5% OF THE TOTAL ECONOMIC VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION COMES FROM INSECT POLLINATION 14 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

“My bees are all organic. I don’t use any pesticides for mites or anything like that. I use essential oils,” Morris said. “I use all natural methods. For every problem, there’s a natural method to figure it out.”

Morris, along with using essential oils, has started keeping a specific breed of bees known as Carniolan. These bees were bred over generations after a group of beekeepers noticed some bees, specifically queens, chewing the legs off of varroa mites after they fall to the bottom of the hive and die.

This breed of bee is not alone in its resistance to varroa mites. Russian bee species have been exposed to varroa for 150 more years than the more common Italian honey bees kept in America. Russian bees were first introduced to American hives in the 1980s when varroa began appearing in hives and affecting bee populations.

According to a study done by North Carolina State University, colonies which had a Russian queen saw a serious decline in the population of mites; however, the hybrid Italian-Russian bees did not possess the varroa resistant trait.

With the decline of Honeybees due to malnutrition, pesticides, mites and other diseases, there has been an increase in the cost of produce. This is most apparent is the price of almonds, which reached four dollars a pound after the 2015 season, a $1.50 increase from three years ago, according to NPR. “The first year we saw insufficient bees for pollinating the almond crop in California was 2004,” Mussen said. “This year, keepers had trouble meeting the eight frame average per hive, try as they might, but they are still getting paid the full price for their bees to be there.”

The number of frames in a hive relates to the amount of bees in a hive. Hives that have more frames for bees on which to build cells will, in turn, have higher populations, and hives maintaining fewer frames have less living space and therefore fewer bees.

As the cost of being a beekeeper rises, it’s becoming harder for keepers to recover their losses and maintain a profitable business.

A single hive, including bees and the bare minimum equipment necessary to care for them, can cost a anywhere from $275-500, according to the Department of Entomology at Illinois State University.

“I just don’t know how anyone could make a

QUEEN LARGEST BEE IN THE HIVE, PURPOSE IS TO REPRODUCE

WORKER FEEDS QUEEN AND LARVAE, COLLECTS NECTAR AND PRODUCES WAX COMB

DRONE FERTILIZES THE RECEPTIVE QUEEN

living keeping bees,” Ziener said. “I, on average, only made one dollar per jar of honey, and having to replace 50 percent of my hives after every winter, I was pouring more money and time into it than I could ever get out.”

Many commercial beekeepers are now looking toward hobbyist beekeepers and gardeners to help potentially slow and halt CCD. While innovative practices like planting ‘bee gardens’ on urban buildings’ roofs and keeping single hives will not solve CCD on their own, all of these efforts combined can have an impact on the health of the environment. Locally, those like East junior Paige Bentley’s family have started doing their part; last spring they began keeping two bee hives. The practice, which started as a hobby that “looked really cool,” will do more than keep the Bentleys’ busy—it will help improve the health of the local ecosystem.

Those who don’t have the ability to keep bees themselves can do their part by planting bee-friendly plants such as daisies, lavender, marigolds, primroses and asters; however, gardeners need to be cautious when choosing from where they purchase their plants. Neonics don’t exist solely in agricultural fields; they are also used widely in garden stores to keep insects off the plants to make them more appealing to consumers. The Pesticide Research Institute has determined 71 bee friendly-plants purchased in 18 different Lowe’s, Walmart, and Home Depot locations around the United States had neonicotinoid residues. Depending on the plant, the residue levels (units of mass of contaminant) were between two and 748 parts per billion.

“Until I started keeping bees and going to classes, I didn’t know that these flowers I was planting thinking I was helping pollinators were actually hurting them,” Morris said, “but I’d still like to see everyone pay attention to what will help the pollinator. Even if you live in the suburbs, plant a flower or two.”

If CCD continues at the current rate, managed Honeybees will disappear by 2035, according to the committee on the Status of Pollinators Presentation to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Every viable hive needs an acre worth of grazing space a day in the active season,” Mussen said. “Planting a flower or two won’t do much, but it will do something. And something really needs to be done.”

POLLINATORS CONTRIBUTE $24 BILLION TO THE US ECONOMY ANNUALLY, HONEY BEES ACCOUNT FOR $15 BILLION OF THAT

ACCELERATE M

community | news

East students explored technology and career paths and competed in various events at the Acceleratethemed TechOlympics 2016. story emma stiefel | infographic colin melick

ore than 60 East students attended McKain said. “They have these breakout to learn about technology-related jobs.

TechOlympics 2016, a conference sessions where experts in different areas of “This year I decided to take Computer sponsored by INTERalliance, which is an technology will give a presentation. There are Science I, and I really like it,” Antiri said. “I’m organization that partners with high schools, also competitions, some of them are just fun like not 100 percent sure that I want to go into a colleges and businesses to teach students Wiki Races, and some are serious like TopCoder, technology field, so I went to [TechOlympics] to Information Technology (IT) skills and keep [though that competition wasn’t held this year].” see what kind of jobs there are and what kind of talented students in the Cincinnati area by In addition to participating in these opportunities I might find through technology exposing them to local career opportunities. events, TechOlympics also gives participants and computers.”

At the event, which was held Feb. 19-21 at opportunities to network with area professionals.

Paschal, who attended TechOlympics for all the Millennium Hotel in Cincinnati, students “There’s a career crossroads part where four years of high school at East, has seen firstcompeted in various challenges and learned INTERalliance sponsors come with their hand how it impacts students’ college and career about different technology fields. booths, and the people at TechOlympics can decisions. Her experiences with TechOlympics East’s team came in third this year, ending their come and talk to them,” Yost, who attended and INTERalliance helped her complete two three-year streak of winning the INTERalliance TechOlympics his sophomore and junior year technology internships and earn her current Cup Grand Champion and TechOlympics Gold and this year, said. “I talked to people at General leadership position in the organization.

Medalist award. St. Xavier High School came in Electric [in years past], and that kind of sparked “It’s fascinating how when I was a freshman first, and Cincinnati Christian took second; East my interest in getting an internship there.” at Lakota East I didn’t even know what finished ahead of both Mason and Lakota West.

INTERalliance Associate Director of programming was,” Paschal said, “and then I In the past, these awards were given out based External Outreach and East alum Taylor Paschal went to TechOlympics. I was talking to all these on the total amount of points a school earned, believes that students who go to TechOlympics different companies and got fascinated by all but this year the school that scored the most come away with ideas of “what different types the emerging technologies and the future the IT points per student won instead. of IT careers there are in Cincinnati; developing industry has to offer and how many companies “We knew right away that the odds of us is a big part of it, but there’s a big spectrum of are growing in downtown Cincinnati. The winning were very, very slim,” East Computer careers from developing to graphic design.” opportunities you get at INTERalliance really Science Teacher and INTERalliance Advisor East junior Briana Antiri attended shape your career and help you build your David McKain said. “What was really cool was TechOlympics for the first time this year in part professional and technical skills.” when they read off that St. Xavier won, all the East students stood up and gave a standing ovation. I felt like East students behaved in a There are several different events at the Techolympics very classy manner, recognizing that had it been that fall into three difficulty levels. the normal scoring, we would have crushed it.”

Several East students placed first in BEGINNER the individual competitions in which they competed: East junior Parshva Shah won the NXT Robotics Challenge, and East senior JC Pyron won the Microsoft Project Spark Coding Challenge. East’s food bank management system for Reach Out Lakota won the Showcase wiki races speed texting QR code award, for which teams present projects such as INTERMEDIATE scavenger hunt web pages, mobile apps and videos that address a real-world problem.

This year, East brought more students to the conference than they had any previous year, = + far surpassing the approximately 40 people they brought in 2015, and was the largest group participating.

“In the past, we’ve always been in the top five, but we’ve never had the most people there,” East INTERalliance President Bobby Yost said. academic tivia tech trivia xtreme design mock up design “We’re even beating out Mason, which has historically always had at least 20 more kids than ADVANCED us, so beating them out this year is really cool.”

Students attended informational sessions about topics including virtual reality and college readiness. There were also competitions ranging from a QR code scavenger hunt to coding and web design challenges. hacker heaven mystery coding network security microsoft project spark “If you have the spectrum of fun to serious, there are events that fall all along that spectrum,” source techolympics.org

TECHOLYMPICS EVENTS

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EAST FOCUS GROUP OPEN TO PUBLIC East students and parents gather to generate new ideas for reconstructing the school’s new mission statement. story and photography sophia spivey

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akota East High School has been working with students, parents, teachers and community members through focus groups to reconstruct the 18 year-old mission statement throughout the 2015-16 school year.

The current East Mission statement is: “We the students of Lakota East High School will achieve success inside and beyond the classroom by being held accountable for our actions and our attitudes and by working cohesively with our faculty, peers, and community.”

So far approximately 45 students, 100 parents and 150 East staff have participated in two focus groups.

“I was at a conference this summer and there was a lot of conversation about that vision mission being such a powers piece of a school overall,” East Principal Suzanna Davis Davis said. “When we sat down to look at our goals, [a mission statement] was something that presented itself that had not been looked at in quite awhile. It was a component missing that is needed to bring our school together.”

Davis asked District Consultant Jeffrey Stec to lead the mission-building process at East.

Since then he has been collaborating with East to facilitate the mission statement and organize the focus groups.

“My job is to design the community engagement process for [Davis] and for other leaders to implement, and also to facilitate the community meetings so that the community can truly set the direction. Without a neutral facilitator, the process will tilt in the direction of their opinion,” Stec said.

Separate East student, parent and staff focus groups have narrowed down the themes that they want the mission statement to entail.

According to the Lakota East Mission Data, parents and staff wanted more of a focus on character in the mission statement, while the students wanted more of a focus on wholestudent development.

East sophomore Sofia Seppi has been

16 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

East students and parents rewrite the school’s mission statement.

involved in the student focus groups and feels that the mission statement needs to embrace East’s diversity and show that the classroom is a place to learn from mistakes, not focus only on testing.

“Students need to be okay with failing once in awhile—that’s how they grow,” Seppi said.

“I think the mission statement should say something about Lakota East being a safe place to do this. I think it needs to talk about Lakota East being a place that can help students reach their own personal senses of achievement, whatever those may be.”

East Instructional Aide Samira Saidi has been involved in several of the focus groups and feels that these sessions help East make this vision statement relevant to what is unique about East.

“It is a year-long process, and we are gathering ideas from all walks of life,” Saidi said. “The reason why we need a new mission statement is because our community has been very diverse, and we want all students to see themselves in this statement and say, ‘Yes! That is exactly who we are!’”

Stec said that making our own mission statement as a community gives us the opportunity to leave a lasting impact on East and reflect who we are as a society.

“You have a unique opportunity to say what few people know about Lakota—it’s diverse, and that diversity reflects the planet and gives suburban students an opportunity to learn to collaborate with many different types of people,” Stec said. “The mission should be unique to your worldview.”

According to Stec, “people support what they co-create,” and these focus groups solidify that. East sophomore Julia Hartinger also feels that giving students the opportunity to have a part in making the mission statement only strengthens the significance of the statement to each individual.

“I love the fact that both students and

parents get to have a say in the statement,” Hartinger said. “If just the staff made a statement, it wouldn’t feel as though our thoughts were being considered, but this way, everyone has a say.”

Seppi realizes that this mission is bigger than just one group of people and that when she is in these focus groups, she needs to put herself in other people’s shoes to make sure everyone is being represented.

“Yes, we are one school, but there are thousands of individual families and students,” Seppi said. “Everyone has different definitions of success and what they want in their lives.

I think adding a phrase like ‘personal’ or ‘individual success’ would make the statement

“We want all student to see themselves in this statement and say ‘Yes! That is exactly who we are!”

—Samira Saidi, East instructional aide

resonate more with people.”

According to Stec the easy part of the process is making the statement, but the hard part is working to keep the vision relevant to the school and used in everyday life.

“Staff, parents and students all have to get together, separately and together, to ask themselves how to bring the mission alive in their part of the community,” Stec said. “So far, the process has shifted how the staff thinks— big picture about a positive and transformative future. Parents and students are also getting more connected to each other around these challenging questions.”

DJ on the risers in the East choir room.

SINCERELY, DJ

After discovering his true self, East junior DJ Cleavinger is extremely grateful for all the love and support he has recieved from both his family and friends at school. story peyton cox | photo illustration sydney rader

*Italic text denotes the letter DJ wrote to his family.

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om, Dad, and Kyle—This is a letter that you may or may not have been expecting but it needs to be read.

He watched the glaring computer screen after a hard day of school, his emotions were high. The YouTube videos pulled at his heart strings, and he began to think until he finally said aloud, “I am different.”

East junior DJ Cleavinger always knew that there was a part of him that wasn’t like everybody else. He just didn’t know exactly what that was. Watching different coming out videos spoke to Cleavinger in a way that most people wouldn’t understand.

“It was the beginning of sophomore year before Halloween. I was having a really horrible day, and that night, I was in my room watching Youtube videos, and I had watched a few coming out stories,” says Cleavinger. “As I continued to watch the videos, I said out loud, ‘I am different,’ and I began to cry.”

Saying those words scared Cleavinger because he didn’t know what that meant for him, but he did know that after he admitted it, he had a completely different mindset. His world began to look much different.

I matched up the puzzle pieces and knew I was, well I am, gay.

One of Cleavinger’s biggest fears in coming out was not about telling his friends but rather about telling his parents. There are many horror stories about kids coming out to their parents, and Cleavinger knew his parents would accept him. He just didn’t know how open they would be to the idea.

Cleavinger decided that the best way to break the news to his parents was in a letter.

While typing the letter, Cleavinger was filled with many different kinds of emotions because

he didn’t want to disappoint the people that meant the most to him or make them feel uncomfortable.

“I typed a letter because I didn’t know how to say it. I wrote what was happening and how I felt and that being gay doesn’t change me in any way,” says Cleavinger. “I still love my family, and I know that they love me.”

May 24, 2015 was the day that Cleavinger had given his parents the letter. He put it on the kitchen table before he left for his friend East junior Sondra Dietsch’s house. The following morning, Cleavinger’s mother, Laura Cleavinger, picked him up from his sleepover, put her arm around him and said, “Of course we still love you.” Hearing those words meant everything to DJ. Laura was not shocked when she read the letter. There was always a part of her that knew DJ was gay.

“The whole topic is not foreign to our family. We have people in our family who live homosexual lifestyles, and it was not something that came as a complete shock to us. It’s more important for us to make sure that DJ knows that we love him no matter what,” says Laura.

“He is a special and uniquely made person.”

I am the same exact person you know. I am not gay because of anything anyone ever did or said to me. This was not a choice. It’s who I am, and I have accepted it.

Part of what makes DJ unique, aside from his killer sense of fashion or remarkable sense of humor, are some of his hobbies.

He performs with both Eastside Voices and Eastside Music Company and has been playing piano since the age of 6. He constantly shows leadership in music and everything in which he participates, whether it be in the choir room or in the hallway.

One of the things to DJ that has stood out the most since coming out is that at East, everyone is very open to the fact that he is gay.

So far, DJ says he has not gotten a hard time for it. Walking through the halls is not intimidating.

People welcome him with open arms and smiling faces, making him feel accepted within his school.

“People at East are so kind, and everyone knows everyone. It’s a very open environment.

Nobody really cares,” says DJ. “When I came out, everyone was so supportive of me, and when I tweeted that I was gay, I received the most likes on anything that I’ve ever posted.”

Dietsch has only known DJ for one year but feels as if she has known him for much longer because of his positive attitude and the way he understands her. DJ is the kind of person that she goes to for anything, as he is always there to brighten her mood.

“DJ is an amazing person to talk to,” says Dietsch. “Whenever I am stressed or just in a state of excitement, he is always there ready with open arms, funny jokes or little encouragements.”

DJ and his family know the struggles there are with coming out but what makes things easier on them is that this generation is much more accepting than earlier generations.

According to dosomething.org, in 2013, 92 percent of adults who are a part of the LGBT community said they believe that society has become more accepting of them in the past 10 years, but DJ knows that not everyone will be open to the fact that he is gay.

“Being gay is not a choice,” says DJ. “You do not decide this. I didn’t decide this.”

Again, I love you all. Thank you for being everything to me.

East junior Jenna Duckworth and her Whiz Kids tutee Demetrius Stanley read a book together.

FRIENDS FOUND IN FICTION East junior Jenna Duckworth began Whiz Kids as a way to get government hours. Now, she has well surpassed the required 15 hours of service but continues to attend each week.

story sarah yanzsa | photography emma stiefel

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hand slams hard on a polished wood table in frustration as laughter fills the Woodland Elementary library on a Tuesday afternoon.

Cards surmount into a haphazard pile as those who are gathered around the table frantically try to get rid of the stack in their hands. A sly smile stretches across East Junior Jenna Duckworth’s face as she approaches her last yellow, six card in an intense game of Uno. Before she can place her final card on the table, a call interrupts the whole library informing everyone that it is four o’clock. Kids begin lining up at the doorway as Duckworth hugs her Whiz Kid, third grader Demetrius Stanley, goodbye like all the other tutors.

Whiz Kids is a tutoring program that mainly focuses on reading refinement for elementary students in grades second through sixth. At Woodland, students meet every Tuesday at 3 p.m. for an hour with their tutors, who range from high schoolers to retirees. Usually if there

18 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

is extra time at the end of a study session, tutors will let their students on the computers or play a card game with them.

“We play Uno a lot after we are done reading,” says Duckworth. “When somebody has the cards out, we usually try to join their game because I think it’s better than just letting them play [games] on the computer.”

In the Greater Cincinnati area, there are more than 1,300 Whiz Kids and 66 sites, according to City Gospel Mission, the official Whiz Kids website. There are 22 students and 24 tutors enrolled in the Whiz Kids program at Woodland for the 2015-16 school year.

Tutoring sessions are usually one hour each week at any location and are meant to be oneon-one sessions between tutors and students.

Elementary students are recommended by their teachers to be placed in Whiz Kids, knowing that the program offers a one-on-one approach to help children succeed in the classroom.

“Everyone in the program is behind in reading to some extent, and sometimes there are extra reasons why they are put into the program,” says Cherilu DuVal, who is the site coordinator for the Woodland branch of Whiz Kids. “[They are recommended] by a family situation or they need some extra attention.”

Over the past several months, Duckworth has come to realize the importance of being a tutor and the impact it has had on Stanley.

DuVal has seen the hard work Duckworth has put into the program and has seen Stanley’s success through reflective methods such as writing thoughtful observations after each tutoring session about how things went that day in their lesson.

“Jenna has been one of our reliable tutors, working with a third-grade child who is new to Whiz Kids this year,” says DuVal. “Demetrius has improved by two reading levels so far.”

Stanley’s mother, Brittany Gooden, speaks

student | feature

fondly of the program and has witnessed the effect it has had on her son the past year and a half he has attended.

“He loves Whiz Kids,” says Gooden, “I guess because of the experience he gets from doing the work with the tutors. He’s very intellectual, so he loves that stimulation.”

As for Stanley, he likes Whiz Kids, with his favorite part of the sessions with Duckworth being the reading.

“We get to read and do a lot of cool stuff,” says Stanley. “We make paper airplanes, play games [and] play Uno.” In elementary school, reading progression is measured through a lettering system. Typically, third-graders fall into the levels N-P, according to Reading A-Z. For Stanley, the ultimate goal is to improve his reading skills as much as possible.

Stanley has experienced major improvements in his reading skills this year and has moved up from level J to level L during the six-month period from September to February.

Students generally increase by four reading levels annually in the program.

“He’s a little shy sometimes about certain things, but [overall] he is pretty outgoing,” says Duckworth. “He likes to talk to other kids and other people. He’s a good kid.”

—Tisha Menchhofer-Grote, East government teacher

Duckworth first heard of the program through East government teacher, Tisha Menchhofer-Grote. It was offered as a way to earn her required 15 hours of service for the class, and even though Duckworth has surpassed her required service hours, she still comes to Whiz Kids every week.

Menchhofer-Grote believes that Duckworth has proceeded with the program because of the hard work she displays in class and her stellar class attendance, proving herself as a good choice for the program and as a role model.

“Those who have a strong work ethic do well in Whiz Kids, and they continue on with their responsibilities,” says Menchhofer-Grote.

“Those are the kinds of students that the Whiz Kids clientele needs—the good mentors, the responsible mentors, the role models.”

Duckworth’s mother, Cathy Duckworth, has also noticed the effects that Whiz Kids has had on Jenna. Cathy has noticed and her daughter’s growing confidence and how Jenna’s people skills have been improving.

“I am very proud that Jenna picked such a worthwhile cause,” says Cathy. “I feel that it has taught her more about being patient, understanding and giving.”

Fellow Whiz Kids tutor and East junior Kenzie Crowell has observed the relationship

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Those who have a strong work ethic do well in Whiz Kids and they continue on with their responsibilities. Those are the kinds of students that the Whiz Kids clientele needs.

between Jenna and Stanley and can see their friendship playing a big factor in successfully getting their work done each week.

“They’re good pals,” says Crowell. “They enjoy each other, and he doesn’t want to get up and leave. He likes staying [at Whiz Kids].”

When their tutor cannot attend that week or drops from the program, the kids are usually saddened, says DuVal. Jenna has been attending Whiz Kids regularly and has been very reliable for Stanley.

“This has been an unusually rough year,” says DuVal. “Several [tutors] have moved or lost interest. We have asked some tutors each week to work with two children, but this is not ideal.”

Jenna understands why it’s important to stay in Whiz Kids and believes that it is essential for the kids to have someone tutoring them for the whole year. Any change to this could have a negative impact on Stanley or any of the other students.

“I think it’s important because some of the kids don’t have somebody in their life that they can view as a mentor or role model,” says Jenna. “A lot of the tutors I know are good people, and they’re intelligent, so if the kids have mentors like that, it will really help them in their learning.”

Jenna and Stanley discussing what they have read during their session.

Katrina Wilson posing with her interpretive butterfly makeup art. Page 21 includes pictures Katrina has posted of her work.

IN THE EYE Finding a passion for a different art form, East junior Katrina Wilson has integrated her skills into a lifetime hobby.

OF A STORM

story lexy harrison photo illustration maya wells and used with permission by katrina wilson

20 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

student | feature

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he starts with a blank canvas on her chest.

The light paint strokes on her neck add colors of orange, red and yellow. She pulls out a thinner brush, dipping it into the black paint while carefully studying the dots and lines of a monarch butterfly. Life-like flowers and butterflies are then lightly rested upon the side of her face. In the final steps, she looks at her creation and smiles at the vibrant art filled with diverse textures that she has brought to life.

On a boring summer day 18 months ago, East junior Katrina Wilson took an interest in a certain kind of makeup that included blood, gore, elegance, delicacy and everything in between. Starting off, Wilson watched numerous YouTube videos on special effects makeup, following face painting accounts where people transformed their whole bodies into characters, animals and crazy designs.

art photography and has taken an interest in photography since she was 13 and an interest in metaphorical art since she was 15. Slack often uses Wilson as her model because they have been close friends since they met in seventh grade, when they were on the same soccer team.

“Katrina is so natural and is such a good model,” says Slack. “If I ever have an idea, I’ll totally text Katrina, she would come over and [the pictures] would turn out really well.”

The duo loves to work together and with friends, putting on makeup and taking pictures being fun pastimes for them.

“Some people see art, and they don’t think about it and what it means, and art is supposed to mean something,” says Slack. “A lot of times, people will label you as a person for what you do for your art.”

She carried her interest in makeup one step further and started using special products to get some of these different looks.

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to the film industry as it helps directors and production houses bring their visions to life,” says Joyner. “Where would franchise films like Star Wars, Friday the 13th, Alien, Batman, X-Men and countless others be without the talented craftsmen and women that specialize in the area of special makeup effects? It helps the audience get immersed into the story, where they can suspend their disbelief and truly enjoy this fantasy world as intensely as possible.”

Just like the many students who learning to apply their skills in the professional world of Hollywood in hopes of making an appearance on the big screen, Wilson spends different amounts of allotted time and all of her knowledge about different products to make a style look as realistic as possible.

“Once I do it the first time I’ll just keep on messing around until I like it,” says Wilson.

—Kristy Wilson, Katrina Wilson’s mother

Wilson was inspired by the oddity of the makeup and decided to try it herself.

In the early stages of her makeup interest, Wilson used herself and friends as models and canvases.

“When she first started to get into it, she would just say, ‘Hey let me do your makeup,’” says close friend and Bishop Fenwick High School junior Kaylie Slack. “She would always bring it to a sleepover or whatever we were doing, and she would always just end up putting stuff on our faces.”

Wilson explains that she never specifically mastered a certain design but rather has practiced a certain style. Wilson’s art, such as her butterfly piece, is more difficult than the gory look of a pencil through the nose, which only takes her up to 30 minutes because it isn’t supposed to be perfect.

Director of Admissions at the Cinema Makeup School in Hollywood, Calif. Lee Joyner tells Spark that he has noticed a surge in the proliferation of practical effects films, which are movies that are avoiding computer graphics for more practical makeup effects and puppetry. This means that Hollywood is promoting more practical effect films because they seem to have a much better reception than those that are heavy in computer-generated imagery.

“Special effects makeup is very important

“One look can take me one [try] to master, but a style can take me longer [to master].”

Having her friends and family to support her hobby, Wilson’s mother, Kristy Wilson, tells Spark her opinion on the makeup she sees her daughter create so often.

“She’s a creative, artistic person,” says Kristy, “a little more so than maybe the rest of us in our family. She’s developed some interests that are a little bit different than what the rest of us are used to.”

Slack, an East Thunderhawk until her second semester of freshman year when she transferred, loves conceptual and fine

In the future, Katrina plans to major in the medical field and minor in special effects makeup. But for now, she plans to continue it as a hobby and try to enter a face piece in the Scholastic Art Awards with her mother fully supportive of her.

“Some of [her makeup] is dark, and some is not, so she’s got a wide variety [of styles],” says Kristy. “Whatever Katrina can find a career in to support herself will be great.”

Katrina has never practiced makeup on her mother, but Kristy loves to “look at and see what she does” whenever Katrina creates a new look.

“Katrina developed an interest in not the more typical type of makeup that teenage girls experiment with and everything,” says Kristy.

“She also took her interest in makeup one step further and started using special products to get some of these different looks.”

Katrina plans on making her creations a hobby that she will have for the rest of her life.

She believes it is something that not only will resonate with her now but also in the future. “[My art] is kind of hard to describe in words, which I guess is one of the reasons I like doing it so much,” says Katrina. “I love doing this because, to me, it makes me feel something. It’s not always about what its outward appearance is, but [it’s about] how it presents itself to me in my own mind.”

Sydni Venter working on a project during her AP Computer Science class.

GIRL CODE For East junior Sydni Venter, computer science is practically second nature.

Whether it’s code or design, Venter dominates the technology field. story alyssa hetterich | photography sophia spivey

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orget the Geek Squad. Where there is a computer malfunctioning or causing trouble, this superhero amongst super PC’s can be found hacking, designing and coding her way to a solution. Don’t let her shining personality cause confusion as the stereotypes are not all true. This charismatic girl is more than just a pretty face or computer junkie, she’s a combination of it all.

East junior Sydni Venter has had an interest in the technology world ever since taking her first computer science class during her sophomore year. What began as a class to take “just for fun” quickly snowballed into a passion that has yet to fade and transferred into a potential career option.

22 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

“I didn’t really know what it was but I got really interested in it and then I got really good at it so I was like, ‘Oh, I could make a career out of this,’” Venter explains. “Now after researching a lot through technology, I either want to go into computer science programming or cyber security.”

This dedication to the science and technology field may or may not be hereditary as Sydni’s father, Vernon Venter, works as a senior software engineer for Intelligrated, a software engineering and material handling automation company that is based in Mason, Ohio.

There, Vernon creates infrastructure for the engineers and everybody else in order to

create software while also running the data center as he designs and puts big infrastructural computers into place. Through his work with engineers on a daily basis, Vernon has been able to watch the market’s growing need for engineers, thus the reason he asked Sydni to take a look into engineering.

“There are so many positions open and available for engineering, no matter the type of engineer. She kind of went on her own path when she took computer science,” says Vernon. “That was her decision.”

This decision turned out to be a good one as Sydni jumped headfirst into the challenging world of computer science. Currently a part of the Advanced Placement Computer Science

dart | feature

class, Sydni has been able to prove to herself that she can accept the challenge of the tougher course work and excel in doing so.

Along with the chance to challenge herself, the class has also opened opportunities for her to experience and explore her interests within technology inside and outside of the classroom. By partaking in INTERalliance’s Tech Olympics, Sydni got a real glimpse into some of the nuances in technology. One of INTERalliance’s main goals is to connect students to potential internship opportunities, as it did at Tech Olympics where it hosted CEO’s of major corporations like GE Aviation and P&G. Competitions in categories such as web

design and hacking gave students like Sydni a chance to put their skills to the test. Sydni competed in multiple competitions that were offered including mock up design, Wiki-races and a QR Scavenger Hunt. In addition to the numerous competitions, there were many chances to socialize and learn even more about the world of technology.

“At Tech Olympics, they would have ‘break-outs’ which is where they would connect it [technology] to the medical field and even to football and other stuff,” says Sydni. “It’s kind of crazy seeing how much of technology is in everything we do.”

This spirit of the involvement of technology stems in part from East Computer Science

teacher David McKain who sees his class as a way to not only learn the ins and outs of computers, but also to recognize their problem solving capabilities.

“They learn how to write software and they learn a bit about how the computers work.

I really try to make a big emphasis on how computers work and are able to solve problems for us,” says McKain. “Not everyone in the class is going to be a software engineer, but I want everyone to be a problem solver.”

Fellow computer science student and roommate to Sydni at Tech Olympics, Emily Niehaus, also shares an interest in technology and problem solving as the two bonded over similar competitions and study habits.

“We stayed up until like two in the morning working on homework. It was kind of like IT stuff at Tech Olympics and homework back in the room,” Niehaus laughs. “I think she was the only one who got [homework] done.”

Whether it be her dedication to her studies or her extracurricular activities, like her involvement in the Chess Team, Sydni remains determined and focused to put forth the best work she can. However, sometimes the noise surrounding her gender and her interests is a tiny bit bothersome.

Sydni recounts that at one chess match after she had just beaten her opponent, another man came up and said to her opponent that he should say he let her win to save his pride.

Small comments like these, while annoying to some, only add to Sydni’s confidence in herself and her abilities.

“It doesn’t bother me as much as it would bother someone else because I’ll just prove it by doing a competition, by winning a competition,” says Sydni.

This fiery persona and confidence to match is not something typically associated to women in technology but with women making up 25 percent of the computing force, according to nwict.org in 2015, the field is growing and the opportunities for women are growing along with it.

Not worried about his daughter’s future as it seems to be shining bright, Vernon is hopeful and confident that no matter what his daughter ends up doing, she will excel and bring some of her own self-confidence to the job.

“She definitely shows that she has dedication, drive and initiative to succeed,” says Vernon. “And as a father, I can say that I am very proud of her and what she has achieved and what she wants to achieve.”

Julia Kuhrworking standingonin Maggie front ofsome her painting sewing of her titled, “Double new designs and Vision.” styles.

PROJECT HALLWAY

Every day is a fashion show and the main hallway is her runway. For East sophomore Maggie Lehman self expression came in the form of a future career in fashion. story jennave traore | photography sydney rader

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er actions speak louder than her words. As she glides down the busy school hallways in her platform heels and black babydoll dress, she can easily be spotted. She’s known for making bold and outspoken fashion choices, but East sophomore Maggie Lehman does more than dress in alternative styles—she draws and creates her own clothing too.

Lehman’s creative spirit for fashion is how she expresses herself without words. She considers fashion to be another art form ever since she was three years old when she refused to wear anything but dresses and skirts.

In junior high, Lehman wasn’t very accepting of herself because she didn’t know who she was or who she wanted to be. Yet “through trial and error,” Lehman discovered Lolita fashion, which originated from Japan and ranges from gothic to girly styles. Now she realizes that fashion and art are what she loves, and she wants to pursue her passion as a

24 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

fashion designer.

“Art and fashion are a big part of my life, and style is a way of expressing yourself without words,” says Lehman. “Some people think it’s a hassle to put on makeup or look nice, but I really like to portray who I am by how I dress. I think it would be really cool if I became a big designer that designs for famous people like Melanie Martinez.”

Melanie Martinez is an American singer/ songwriter that Lehman considers to be her idol. While at one of her concerts in Columbus last September, Lehman had VIP tickets to the show and personally gave Melanie Martinez a canvas drawing she made of the artist.

“When she was six [years old], she started drawing her own fashions and manga art,” says Lehman’s mother, Sarah Lehman. “Since then her drawing skills have improved greatly and she has become quite adept at drawing portraits of her favorite celebrities.”

Maggie finds her inspiration for fashion from people on social media. She was inspired by other bloggers to create one of her own named “Dolly Diaries.” Her blog is an authentic representation of who she is every day, from showing everyone her favorite winged eyeliner style to her sense of humor.

A post on Maggie’s blog could range from makeup tutorials to product reviews that are meant to inspire others.

Another goal of Maggie’s blog is not only to provide inspiration but also to help people who read her posts to feel more accepting of themselves and of those around them. When it comes down to fashion, she values inner beauty as much as outer appearance. Her message in general is for people to be themselves because she believes that people are different.

“Different people have different interests,” says Maggie. “It’s definitely what someone’s personality is that’s most important.”

Maggie’s sketches in Julia Kuhr standing of different front of her painting fashion designs. titled, “Double Vision.”

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Art and fashion are a big part of my life, and style is a way of expressing yourself without words.

—Maggie Lehman, East sophomore

individual, she has been able to give 100 percent effort to endure dancing for most of her life.

Dance is Maggie’s discipline for achievement in everything she pursues in her life. When it comes down to the small details like which song or costume to use in a performance, it’s always an accurate representation of who she is as a person.

For a tap solo, it wasn’t hard for her to pick a song from the American rock band Panic! at the Disco. The costume was a pair of black-and-

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Art is a class on Maggie’s schedule that she plans to pursue in the future through fashion.

Her drawing and painting teacher, Linda Augutis, feels that if Maggie has the desire and works hard, she will be able to accomplish anything she puts her mind to. Augutis feels strongly about self expression in anyone’s life.

“It’s more of a personal fulfillment,” says Augutis. “[Expression] is very important because in art, the ability to express yourself helps fulfill a part of your personality and development as a human being.”

Maggie is genuinely shy and introspective, but still waters run deep. Despite having an introverted personality, she still appreciates maintaining healthy relationships with the people in her life. Maggie’s sister and East senior Kendall Lehman have opposite personalities but they are still able to find little things over which to bond like playing their Nintendo Developer’s Systems.

“I’m very extroverted and she’s pretty much introverted,” says Kendall. “I think she has a lot in her head that she doesn’t let out. But once you get to know her, her personality comes out and she really shows who she is.”

Maggie lets out her feelings and emotion not only through art and fashion, but also through dance. Since she was four years old, she’s been performing ballet, tap, lyrical and jazz dance on stage and in the studio. At the age of 11, she tiptoed onto the stage dressed as a chocolate cupcake in The Nutcracker at the Aronoff Center. Being an internally motivated

white, pinstriped, high-waisted leggings with a fitted, black jacket on top of a white sequined bustier and a small black hat balancing on the top of her head. Her parents are proud that she doesn’t try to please anyone but herself. She walks to the the rhythm of her own drum and listens to loud music while screaming in the car with her friends.

“I love that Maggie is not afraid to be true to herself,” says Sarah. “She’s so quiet and introverted that I think her sense of style and her creativity help her express her true self in a way that works for her.”

Designing and styling apparel isn’t the only thing done in the fashion industry. Some people love fashion in a variety of ways, and their careers could vary from business to merchandising to marketing. According to public relations specialist of The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and frequent guest at East Lynne Bartley, students from all over the country move to California to study fashion at FIDM. “The wonderful thing about fashion is that there are many directions that you can take,” says Bartley. “Over half of our students come from out-of-state. Several students from the Cincinnati area will be attending FIDM in the fall.”

To Maggie, fashion is an art that she can see herself pursuing in either the Design, Architecture, Art and Planning program at either the University of Cincinnati or School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the future, Maggie hopes to design for a company or start her own line of clothing, but for now, she’ll be translating alternative trends into something that is uniquely her own.

“People don’t take advantage of being able to express themselves enough, and I think that’s important,” says Maggie. “The things you really like and what really makes you happy, those are a part of who you are.”

feature | cool place

A VIEW OF THE QUEEN Located in Covington, Kentucky, Devou Park is one of the most peaceful and scenic spots to appreciate two states at the same time.

story alexis saliba | photography cara satullo

The view of downtown Cincinnati from Devou Park.

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Devou also houses the Northern Kentucky Children’s Home, a place that serves to better futures for abused and at-risk children and their families. It also houses the BehringerCrawford museum, which holds and preserves the history of Northern Kentucky.

“Nearly 17,000 adults and 19,000 kids participated in over 200 Behringer-Crawford museum activities,” says the executive director of the museum, Laurie Risch. “Classes visiting the museum on field trips can learn how animals adapt to their environments, hear accounts of the Civil War, and study the principles and

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The park contributes greatly to the quality of life for all of the community.

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ovington, Kentucky’s largest public park, Devou Park, has become a treasure to people of the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. The park mimics the looks of a painting with its beautiful landscaping and a friendly family enjoying their day in every direction you look. It’s mostly known for its breathtaking view of downtown Cincinnati, capturing the city in full-scale and offering a glimpse into the heart of the Queen City itself.

Established in 1910 by the city of Covington when William P. Devou and his brother Charles P. Devou donated 500 acres in memory of their parents, William P. and Sarah Ogden Devou created the park. In the early stages of the park’s development, the city decided to build a rock quarry, an open pit where rocks and minerals were pulled and then used for numerous reasons. In this particular quarry, city prisoners were sent to crush rocks that were then used for roads in the city. By 1923, the park contained a new nine-hole golf course and clubhouse. Now in 2016, it has an 18-hole course and a brand new pavilion, Drees Pavilion, that sits on top of the famous overlook.

A parks and recreation specialist for the city, Rosie Santos, who manages projects and programs at Devou, tells Spark that the park is the largest in the city of Covington, expanding from its original size of 500 acres to the 700 acres it is today.

“While Devou is only one of the many great parks in the city of Covington, it is by far the largest park and most popular,” says Santos. “Devou Park is a regional treasure, attracting people from all around to enjoy its trails, amenities and scenic views.”

According to covingtonky.gov, Covington’s official website, the park includes playgrounds and picnic shelters, an 18-hole golf course, more than eight miles of mountain bike trails, a fishing lake, an amphitheatre and nature trails.

— Laurie Risch, Behringer-Crawford museum director elements of art.”

School organizations and events such as these make the park not only have numerous selections of things to do but also works to better the community. Enriching students’ minds through education and creating a safe environment for families to spend time, Devou significantly builds its city up.

“It’s definitely worth the drive over the bridge,” says East senior and visitor of Devou Emma Webb. “I would recommend this to others. It’s something different to do, and it really shows how amazing Cincinnati looks

from a different view point.”

Webb recounts that some of her favorite memories and moments at the park have been at night when the cars are rushing across the bridge and the lights are sparkling from every building, making for an even better experience.

The memorial overlook where Webb spends her time when visiting Devou is a popular spot for wedding ceremonies and receptions. Drees pavilion, which sits on top of the view, often holds these events. The $2 million, 10,000-square-foot pavilion was donated by the Drees company in 2003. Every time someone pays to rent it out, other than to the employees, the funds go to the Devou park fund, which works to continuously better the park. The overlook is also often used as a spot to watch the Friday night fireworks from the Great American Ball Park.

Although the view may be the most prominent reason people go to the park, Devou does offer a variety of other things. Many avid visitors can go to play basketball, baseball or soccer on one of the many courts and fields for no charge, or for a small fee of $5, guests can swim at the pool.

Devou also obtains a “band shell,” which hosts concerts and serves as the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s home in the summer, making the park a great option for anyone that wants to get active, hear some music or just relax.

“The park contributes greatly to the quality of life for all of the community,” says Risch.

“It’s used heavily by families across Greater Cincinnati.”

The park is open every day from dawn until dusk and is a great option for a family outing or just to catch a breath of fresh air overlooking the city and all its glory. Devou is a place that joins two wonderful cities and states as one. It encapsulates the history of one and showcases the beauty of another.

student | feature

From left to right: Zach Woody, Dana Hanieh and Casey Farmer teach their class on a Wednesday at CARTeens.

THE APPROACHING CURVE

When Lakota East senior Casey Farmer was involved in a car accident her sophomore year, she decided to turn the experience into a motivater to save other teens’ lives each week at CARTeens. story brittany meister | photography emma stiefel

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n a wet March day of East senior Casey Farmer’s sophomore year, she received a text from her mother saying that it was time to come home from her friend’s house for dinner.

As the newly licensed high schooler took on Princeton road, winding at speeds greater than the limit, Farmer’s white Ford Explorer Sport Trac began to fishtail. By over correcting the wheel, the vehicle skidded off the road hitting a telephone pole and fire hydrant, flipping the car long ways twice, ejecting Farmer from the car, leaving her to wake up in an ambulance rushing to the West Chester trauma unit.

Because Farmer was so fortunate to have sustained so few injuries, every doctor in the trauma unit stopped by to see her. They all told her how lucky she was and that most people did not walk away from an accident of this nature.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American teenagers according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In a fatality analysis report done by the CDC in 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States, ages 16-19, were killed and 243,243 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes, meaning that six teens ages 16–19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries.

Leaving the unit with only a severe concussion, stitches and bruises, Farmer began feeling physically better within the next two weeks. She was, however, emotionally scarred for months by her experience. Farmer’s outlook on life has been significantly changed from that day onward, and she has made it her personal mission to help inform and educate other juveniles of risks on the

road.

“It took forever before I could get back in a car,” says Farmer. “My parents were really pushing for me to get back out on the road again, but the first time I got back in a car, an ambulance just happened to pass us and I had a panic attack.”

For four months after her accident, any type of siren would trigger a panic attack for Farmer.

Although her parents encouraged Farmer to move on from the accident and regain her confidence in driving, Farmers mother, Teresa Farmer, is still worried every time Casey leaves the house, despite whether she is driving or riding with anyone else.

“When you get the call that your child has been involved in a serious accident, you feel like the ground has opened up beneath you,” says Teresa. “You feel afraid and until you actually can see your child, you really don’t know what to expect or how bad it is. In our case, we were very lucky.”

The next impact for the Farmer family would be dealing with the aftermath of the accident.

Teresa and husband Darrin worked diligently with the families insurance company to pay for the medical bills and damages from the accident, including the replacement of the telephone pole which alone was $17,000.

Despite all the financial changes that came to the family when their car insurance went up 20 percent, there was also a significant change in Casey. She learned the value of life, friends, family, and realized that she should not take anything for granted because it can all change in the blink of an eye.

“Being a sophomore in high school, [I was] definitely concerned about fitting in and making sure other people liked me and it’s crazy but that one experience really changed all of that,” says Casey. “As a teenager, you think you’re invincible and after that it changed my perspective on life and how easily it can come and go. Then I started doing me more and stopped caring about other people.”

As Casey was ticketed with “failure to control” her vehicle in her accident, she was required to attend CARTeens, a program that is mandatory for juveniles in their first traffic offense. The program was created in Brown county in 1987 and formed in Butler County shortly after by Judge Niehaus and Jim Jordan, extension educator.

The CAR in CARTeens stands for Caution And Responsibility.

CARTeens is a peer-led program for teens that focuses solely on traffic safety and addresses all major risks for this age group. It was created to educate teen traffic offenders with the primary goal being to alter teen driving habits, reduce the number of second-time traffic offenders, and ultimately to save lives on Ohio roads. The strictly volunteer-run organization has an average of 20 volunteers who originally had to go through the program themselves. Each person comes back every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. and is passionate about helping the teens who come through the program.

Through interactive teaching stations, such as distracted driving, excessive speed, seatbelts and driving under the influence, Casey and the other ... continued on www.lakotaeastsparkonline.com

package | business of food

FOO D I NC

As Liberty Township becomes more suburban, food corporations are growing more prominent in a land that was once all farms. While giant food corporations make millions for every dollar a local farmer makes, both food sources remain important in the eyes—and the wallets—of Americans. story and photography lina kaval | infographic michael croy | art sarah aftab

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he searches through a row of Doritos, Kirkland Popcorn and Cheetos for a snack to satisfy her appetite. The shelves house cases of Coke Zero, Capri Sun and other snacks. The rest of the shelves above these are mostly cooking supplies, including Campbell’s Soup, Meijer-brand pasta, Kraft Mayonnaise and Cheerios. East sophomore Jillian Becker

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never has to worry about running out of snacks.

Becker picks out her snack, opening a pack of Junior Mints, accidentally ripping the entire package open. It never crosses her mind that these Junior Mints, along with many of the items in her pantry, are produced by some of the nation’s most profitable food corporations.

Almost all of the brands seen in supermarkets belong to about 10 of the largest food conglomerates in the world. In Becker’s pantry, 11 percent of the food items were products of General Mills, the cereal powerhouse, which also owns the Betty Crocker baking products. Kraft Heinz was the next major corporation at 10 percent, owning

business of food | package

Kraft Mayonnaise, Capri Sun and Nabisco Premium Crackers.

The third major corporation, making up 9 percent of Becker’s pantry, was PepsiCo, which produces Frito-Lay Chips, several brands of sodas and Quaker Oats. Other corporations include the Campbell Soup Company, J.M. Smucker Company, Kellogg and Unilever. According to Food Processing, these corporations each make more than $1 billion a year. PepsiCo alone made more than $38 billion in food sales in 2014.

Individual brands are owned by big corporations. For example, Nestle has more than 2000 brands across the globe. According to a Spark survey, 45 percent of 429 responses from East students correctly identified at least one of the brands that are a part of Nestle.

These corporations’ economic power affect the food market, the choices people make, and the many brands they own. Mergers, advertising and monetary influence are all resources big corporations use to shape the food industry.

Mergers cause growth in a corporation’s market power. Kashi is one example—it was bought by Kellogg’s in 2000 for $33 million and continues to sell healthy snack items.

This helps the small brand gain more public recognition, and the corporation can reach another demographic of consumers.

In the first 12 months after Kellogg’s bought the brand, Kashi produced 15 new products because the company became more efficient.

While Kashi is not an example of quality going down immediately, when most brands are bought out by bigger companies, the quality and cost of the product will normally go down, according to Neal Hooker, a Professor of Food Policy at the Ohio State University.

He tells Spark that when a high-quality firm is bought by a more efficient business, the corporation will instate better management and cut input, processing and distribution costs so that the corporation can save money despite the addition of a new brand. This can also cause price reductions for the consumer. Once a corporation adjusts to the new brand, the company has the opportunity to experiment with new improvements to products.

For a consumer who isn’t willing to wait for quality to improve, as in the case with Kashi’s low popularity over a lawsuit in 2014 from incorrectly labeling products as “all natural,” they may consider eating more local foods.

Sean Cash, an associate professor of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, says that consumers feel a loss of a local food connection when buying products made by huge corporations.

According to Cash, the loss of a local food connection is due to the consumer not knowing from where the food came. He adds that consumers may buy local food to feel the satisfaction of supporting the local economy or because they are able to visit the farm or factory where the product was produced.

Local food has also become more popular because these brands maintain their identity as a brand better than big companies. When a big food company makes too many changes to the food brand, they can isolate their consumers.

John Bryant, the CEO of Kellogg’s, said in 2013 that Kashi was too mainstream and that was why Kashi lost revenue over the past couple of years.

“Now because there is an interest in local [food], we see more [local businesses] than we did 15 to 20 years ago,” Cash tells Spark. “You might really like the fact that local apples taste differently than apples you get somewhere else.”

Becker says that her family often goes to

63 Standing in her pantry, East sophomore Jillian Becker eats food, most of which comes from the same 10 corporations.

the farmers’ market once a month to buy local nuts, peanut butter, bread and fruits. In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted

by Cowen and Company, 39 percent of respondents ranked “where food comes from/ what’s in my food” as either very or extremely important, which is more than the 29 percent who placed the same level of importance on healthfulness. But for people who care more about saving money than maintaining a local connection, buying from bigger companies can be more beneficial.

“In Ohio, if you wanted locally produced citruses, it’s only going to happen in a greenhouse, [which] would be extremely expensive and environmentally costly to

percent of 360 East students surveyed shop for groceries primarily at Kroger.

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produce,” Cash tells Spark. “It is much more environmentally [and cost] friendly to ship an orange than to grow one in Ohio.”

According to Hooker, food brands are important because they are low-valued, frequently purchased items, so consumers often don’t think too much about the choices they make. He added that this is why these food companies invest so much in food brands— because brands are recognized more often than food corporations, which was made evident by the more than half of East respondents that could not match one of Nestle’s brands to the corporation. Becker says that there were many corporations that were unfamiliar, even with the brands she buys most often.

In order to push food brands, corporations will advertise to consumers and the retail stores that carry their products. Hooker says that big corporations will spend money advertising to consumers, lobbying and advertising to retail markets such as Kroger. He adds that through advertising to Kroger, the store has more incentive to lower prices and make food brands look attractive no the shelves in order to entice consumers to buy the products.

Although food brands can save consumers time from thinking about what to buy, the amount of food brands from which to choose can be overwhelming.

According to Hooker, product proliferation keeps the market very competitive. He adds that if consumers had fewer choices, then they would spend more time choosing healthier options. In order to compete in the market and maintain their market position, brands introduce new flavors and products.

“In the United States, we see 20,000 new food items launched each year,” Hooker says. “They aren’t all successful, but if we had less food brands, perhaps we’d see less food innovation.

It’s not good or bad—it’s just what it is.”

While big businesses can supply more variety, they are not directly competing with local food businesses. According to Debashis Pal, the Interim Department Head of Economics at the University of Cincinnati, there will always be a market for specialty restaurants in local areas.

“Local restaurants have some advantages because they know the local [market],” Pal tells Spark. “Typically in the processed food market, the product becomes homogenous. With restaurants, it’s very hard to bring that kind of homogeneity in food because cooking itself matters. Some restaurants might have better cooks, and then the food will taste better.”

Many factors can affect how an item in a local restaurant tastes, and Pal says that franchises, unlike local restaurants, are more mechanized and require less cooking time. In a local restaurant, the way that the chef cooks and add spices does matter to the local people.

According to Cash, one advantage for big corporations that cannot be applied to local businesses is the consistency in the taste and 30 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

source fortune.com

TOP 10 FOOD CORPORATIONS COMPANY net worth

$247.3 billion

$179.9 billion

1 Digiorno 2 Kit-Kat 3 Wonka

1 Dasani 2 Fanta 3 Sprite

sample product 3 most popular subsidiaries (minimum of 50% stock ownership)

$143.0 billion $129.1 billion

$60.7 billion $44.9 billion

1 Quaker 2 Gatorade 3 Lays

1 Hellman’s 2 Popsicle 3 Klondike

1 Triscuit 2 Oreo 3 Sour Patch Kids

1 Oikos 2 Light Fit 3 Uncle Ben’s

$33.9 billion

$33.8 billion

$33.0 billion

$23.5 billion

1 Burgen 2 Kingsmill 3 Argo

1 Cheerios 2 Cocoa Puffs 3 Lucky Charms

packaging of a product. If a consumer goes to a supermarket to buy a well-known brand like Ritz crackers, the consumer will be able to identify it easily because the box is the same as they see around the United States. He adds that the crackers should taste the same from both boxes and would still taste the same if the consumer buys them a year later.

“We often like things to be predictable,” Cash says. “We want to know that it’s going to taste the same as it did last time, so bigger companies provide that consistency and can do it over a lot of geographic area.”

Becker says that consistency in taste can

1 Wrigley 2 Starburst 3 Skittles

1 Keebler 2 Pringles 3 Apple Jacks

influence from where she buys food. Even though there are many brands out there, she usually buys food that is familiar because she knows it tastes better to her.

“I wouldn’t have noticed honestly [that these brands are connected],” Becker says.

“Just looking through all this stuff, I didn’t know I was giving [these corporations] that much money. Stuff that I didn’t even think were link were connected because they’re by the same company. Knowing now that some of the brands are linked, I’ll look a little closer next time I shop, but I don’t think it would affect the items I buy.”

“If we had less food brands, perhaps we’d see less food innovation. It’s not good or bad— it’s just what it is.”

—Neal Hooker, professor of food policy at The Ohio State University

FADING

FARMS Urbanization threatens the future of farming. story matthew hetterich | photo charis williams | art tyler bonawitz and manjot kalkat

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utler County resident Rita Beiser is a very loyal farmer. Her 3,000 acres and many pigs and cattle appreciate her spending her time with them each day. Her farm and family comes first.

Beiser has been a farmer all her life and bought the farm that she owns today in 1988.

Her farm requires almost all of her time, and she loves every bit of it. She doesn’t think that her farm or neighboring farms will ever go out of business, but generally in suburban areas, farms are dying, and in very rural areas, farms are thriving. Beiser says she lives in “the most rural township in the county.”

She farms soybeans, corn, wheat and grain and raises pigs and cattle on her land. Her farm is one of the lucky ones in the county because urban sprawl has not affected it due to the vast spreads of farming land that surround her property. Other parts of the county are not as lucky, however, and Liberty Township Trustee Christine Matacic has seen it firsthand.

“In 1990, 50 percent of the township land was farming land,” Matacic tells Spark. “Now, 10 percent of the township land is farming land.”

She says that business and entertainment areas have been growing in the township, and farmland can’t compete with big companies taking the land from beneath them. Joe Cornely, Director of Ohio Farm Bureau, has seen impacts of this.

“The trend is definitely that there are fewer farms,” says Cornely. “That has been going on since the 1950s.”

A lot of the shrinking farms are being sold for housing development. These farmers need to sell their land to gain profit from the land sold instead of continuing to grow, according to Charles Abdalla, professor of Agriculture and Environmental Economics at Penn State University.

Businesses and farms aren’t always affected by urban sprawl. Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield is not affected because the store receives products from a variety of places

business of food | package

and not just local farms.

“We get [goods] from every program there is to get food,” said Jimmy Bonaminio, owner and founder of Jungle Jim’s. “We need to reach all our customers.”

Beiser has not been affected because her small farm is in a very rural place, and her consumers like their community’s small farms. She doesn’t think farms like hers will ever be impacted by urban sprawl or housing development.

“People like to know where their food comes from,” said Beiser.

Her neighboring farms are in the same situation with the agriculture in the community is the biggest business.

Many farmers, however, are directly struck by urbanization and urban sprawl. As cities get larger and entertainment centers expand, some local farms have to adapt by selling five-acre tracts for housing development or trying to get a nine-to-five job. Abdalla says that farms in Columbus are also experiencing the effects of urban growth, but fourth-generation farmer and owner of Garver Family Farms Michael Garver doesn’t plan on going anywhere.

Jungle Jim’s International Market buys food from all types of dustributors.

“You have to adapt to the environment,” Garver tells Spark. “We are not just a farm— we are part of the agriculture industry.”

There has been a movement to organic, local farm food and gluten-free food in recent years, according to Bonaminio’s experiences, so Jungle Jim’s has taken the opportunity to gain substantial profit and hit all customer wants with their gluten-free section.

“When other stores have two or three flavors,” Bonaminio tells Spark, “we have 15 flavors of gluten-free [products].”

Garver says that agriculture and farming will never be terminated or eliminated as industries because everyone needs to eat, and agriculture is currently the biggest business in the United States. He says that 70 out of every 100 jobs are directly or indirectly affected by farming.

Dedicated farmers that pass their land down to their children, take pride in their farm and have an understanding of their farm will never fall out, according to Garver’s and Beiser’s beliefs.

“Farmers are part of the continuum of this great country,” Beiser says. “The land is forever, and we are just here as the custodians.”

GROWING

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GENETICS

Becoming increasingly prevalent, genetically modified organisms are grown on farms for produce and meat in order to improve the foods in homes every day. story jack macneel | photography cara satullo | art sarah aftab

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n 82 years and four generations of ownership, times have changed at the Garver Family Farms, including what they produce and how they produce it. When the farms were founded in 1926 in Middletown, Ohio, they were at first dairy farms and then expanded into growing crops. In 1997, the farm introduced genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the form of soybeans and corn that are resistant to insecticide. Since then, Michael Garver, the owner of Garver Family Farms, has expanded the farm to 250 acres and spans three counties. He used to farm GMOs, but he doesn’t this year.

GMOs have been around since 1982 in the form of insulin, an artificial hormone used by many with diabetes, and have since been a topic of controversy in the public. GMOs are a food or animal that has a specific gene inside of it modified either through chemical treatment

or exposure to radiation to create random mutations that would never happen naturally, such as chickens engineered to grow fatter and faster.

Opponents to GMOs are concerned about the increased use of herbicides and pesticides as a result of GMO crops growing more resistant to chemicals, but no GMO crops have been proven to consistently lead to health problems in people, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Regardless, the Non-GMO Project has found that more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan and all of the countries in the European Union, restrict or ban the production and sale of GMOs, which account for about 80 percent of conventional processed foods.

“Since the invention of farming, farmers have always tried to improve the crops they

are growing, and that’s the purpose of the genetically modified seed,” Senior Director of Communications for the Ohio Farm Bureau Joe Cornely tells Spark.

Monsanto, a company that conducts research on genetically modified (GM) foods, conducted a survey that found that GM foods increase yield while decreasing input, which means less work and fewer expenses for farmers. Farmers tend to want to plow less because plowing strips the soil of nutrients and decreases the longevity of the land, and Cornely tells Spark that GMO crops help farmers to protect their soil.

GMOs also can yield more vitamin-rich foods, such as golden rice, which is a GMO crop that was introduced in India to help reduce malnutrition and prevent Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Vitamin A is not commonly present in white or brown rice, so golden rice has been valuable to combating VAD and helping to reduce the two million deaths each year attributed to the condition. Jon Entine, the director and founder of the Genetic Literacy Project and a senior research fellow at the University of California-Davis, says that GM foods are a “step in the right direction” toward solving world hunger, especially because farmers are able to produce GM foods in much larger quantities.

“Organic [crops] have a 20 to 40 percent yield lag on conventional foods, let alone GMO foods,” Entine tells Spark. “[GMO crops] are a piece [of] the puzzle [in] solving world hunger.

They’re a tool, but not the end-all-be-all.”

According to Entine, the world “can’t avoid” GM foods because GMOs are everywhere. For example, many cheeses use GM bacteria in order to produce cheese that lasts longer. Many foods we eat today were at one point modified by farmers through artificial selection, a process where the farmer chooses which crops to keep and which to throw away. “[A better term to use than GMO is] genetically engineered crops, which is what they are,” Entine tells Spark. “But that battle has been lost. Everybody uses [the term] GMO, including scientists now. The term was created by people who were opposed to the use [of GMO crops] to give it a scare feeling, as if you were creating this mysterious thing like Frankenstein.”

The stigma often overshadows benefits

“The term [GMO] was created by people who were opposed to the use [of GMO crops] to give it a scare feeling, as if you were creating this mysterious thing like Frankenstein.”

—Jon Entine, director and founder of the Genetic Literacy Project and senior research fellow at the University of California-Davis 32 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

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percent of 366 East students surveyed do not regularly buy organic food.

Garver Family Farm owner Michael Garver supports the use of GMOs in the produce he grows.

Garver also runs a farming store and farmed goods market in the off seasons.

unique to using GMOs. With GMOs, farmers can put less labor in and get a much larger yield through many processes such as herbicide tolerance, a process which allows crops to be sprayed with herbicide at any stage of a crop’s life without it being killed.

“There is a lot of negative media out there on GMOs,” Garver says. “We are spending the same dollars per acre [as non-GMO crops], but we use less harsh chemicals. If I had my choice of eating GMO versus non-GMO, I’d choose GMO all day.”

Because of the negative connotation of GMO, many companies are unhappy labeling their goods as GMOs. Cornely is supporting

a bill that was proposed in 2015 to give companies the choice on whether or not companies are required to label their goods as containing GMOs. He says that the bill will standardize whether or not GMOs are labeled on a national level in order to prevent discrepancies among states on what a GMO means. This will counteract laws like Vermont’s that will require labeling of GM foods beginning in July of 2016.

Some oppose Cornely’s bill because they believe that the decision of GMO conflict should remain with the state and should not be proposed on the national level. Others oppose this bill because they believe harsher restraints

should be put on GM cultivation.

A large concern with GM foods is that it makes the weeds resistant to Roundup (a weed killer), according to the Non-GMO Project.

Over time, some weeds have become immune to Roundup, and some people think that this will lead to some unkillable weeds growing at farms.

Although Garver is not using GMOs this year, he is planning to in the future and isn’t concerned with GMO risks.

“I wouldn’t feed my family anything I wouldn’t feed your family,” Garver says. “We eat what we grow here. If it’s not good enough for me, it’s not good enough for you.”

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GROCERY ANATOMY

East Cooking for a Healthy Living teacher Donna Edler buys groceries for her class on a Wednesday morning.

Supermarkets organize stores so that people leave with more than they planned to buy. story charis willliams infographic maddie weikel art sarah yanzsa photography christine shi

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or the fourth day in a row, she’s at the grocery store, looking over her list to make sure she hasn’t forgotten anything.

East Cooking For a Healthy Living I and II teacher Donna Edler has a desire to give the students a variety of meals to cook.

According to a 2015 Food Marketing Industry (FMI) report, the average American family goes to the grocery store 1.5 times a week. Edler goes four to five times a week, not including her personal trips. “[My teaching responsibilities] make me [do] a lot of shopping in the mornings,” Edler says. “It gives the kids a lot of variety, and they’re happy with what they’re making.”

The average weekly grocery expenditure for Americans amounted to $100.80 in 2015, and the grocery store industry made about

34 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

$638 billion in 2014—more than seven times the $88.3 billion profit that film entertainment industry made worldwide in 2014, according to international statistics database Statista.

Consumer Expert and Environmental Psychologist Paco Underhill says if customers bought only what they absolutely needed at the store, then the economy would crash.

While Edler is on a budget based on student enrollment and can’t afford to buy items that are not on her shopping list, average Americans find plenty of extra items to add to their carts.

Underhill wrote in his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping,” that Americans have no intention of buying two-thirds of what they ultimately buy in grocery stores.

The floor plan of the grocery store can affect how much a customer spends while shopping, Retail Consultant and Co-Owner of Outcalt & Johnson: Retail Strategists Dick Outcalt tells Spark.

The layout of the grocery store is predominantly the same in all stores: flowers or produce at the front door; deli in the back corner; milk, butter and eggs toward the other back corner; and everything generally colorful or fresh-looking. This makes customers walk through all the non-essentials to get to what they really need. A manager at The Kroger Marketplace tells Spark that corporate decides the layout, but it’s mostly dependent on the customer’s list and perishables. Outcalt says

that produce helps with what he calls addon buying, or impulse buying, because it’s so colorful.

“It’s designed so that if a customer arrives with a pre-planned list and the shopper leaves with only that list, it’s kind of a failure on the store’s part,” Outcalt says. “All stores have a premise to make it easy for customers to get to the back and hard for the customer to get out.”

Outcalt says another way stores convince shoppers to buy add-on products are endcaps.

These ends of aisles are typically more colorful or decorated in order to draw more people in as they pass by on their ways to essential groceries like meat and dairy. As the customer is walking down the main aisles of the store, the various displays and products are all battling for their interests, so the most colorful or vibrant displays will catch the most attention. “[Endcaps] are the most important part of the store,” Outcalt says. “They have the most lighting, the most prominence and usually the most colors.”

According to Jordan Gaines, a science writer and Ph.D. candidate at Penn State College of Medicine, grocery stores also subconsciously catch customers’ attention by playing certain types of music. While walking through the aisles, customers will be motivated to move faster if there is loud or fast-paced music playing, according to Cain-Smith and Curnow in 1966 and Business Insider in 2011. On the

other hand, customers will want to take more time and buy more items if the music is slower, according to Caldwell and Hibbert in 1999.

Although East parent and grocery shopper at the Cin-Day Kroger Joey Shreve says he’s not particularly phased by the music and colorful produce, he says he’s noticed grocery stores trying to get customers to spend more money.

“Near the checkout lines, you always have those little impulse items,” Shreve, who buys his groceries from vendors and resources both locally and worldwide, tells Spark.

Where an item is placed on a shelf is also important because people see things at eyelevel first. According to Outcalt, anything at “ankles” is worthless, so eye-level merchandise is more expensive. Director of the Graduate Nutrient Program at the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Sharon Akabas tells Spark that the way supermarkets are organized implies that the set-up maximizes sales because otherwise, stores would change it.

One hundred thousand products are available for the market every year, but only 30,000 are chosen to gain access to retail shelves, according to a 2008 study conducted

by Duke University. This means slotting fees, or payments for a warehouse “slot” for a new product, can be anywhere from around $25,000 to $250,000 on new products, according to a study done by Forbes magazine. Akabas says that, because stores spend so much on product placement, then it would be assumed that placing essentials by the checkout instead of across the store would result in decreased sales of add-ons.

SUPERMARKET BRAIN

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percent of 350 East students surveyed buy more than they intend to when they go to the grocery store.

Because eating healthily is a popular trend at the beginning of the year when people’s New Year’s resolutions are to lose weight, grocery stores can make more money if they put out more fresh fruits and vegetables while mixing healthy food with junk food. According to Forbes and Nielsen, more than 40 percent of Americans set New Year’s resolutions, and 32 percent of people who set a resolution wanted to get healthy, which partly accounts for the $50.8 billion stores made in December of 2015 and the $51.2 billion stores made in January as according to YCharts. Akabas points out that while customers may feel tricked by marketing strategies, grocery stores are still businesses that have to make money.

“Now, in fairness to supermarkets, they are also expanding their vegetable options, and they’re expanding options within prepared foods,” Akabas says. “[Stores] are responding to the idea that we want to have people eat healthy food as often as possible. We shouldn’t completely accuse them of cortical risk because from their point of view of ‘we make available what sells.’”

For every dollar brought in for a food

item, approximately eight percent goes toward packaging, four percent toward advertising, 38.5 percent toward labor costs and 4.5 percent toward profit, according to Statista.

The Kroger Company in 2014 made a profit of $93.32 billion in retail sales. There is a lot of profit in grocery stores that research human behavior and use trends to their advantage, and Akabas recommends that consumers who feel disillusioned by grocery stores’ marketing strategies “vote with their dollars” differently.

Her advice is to eat a more plant-based diet, try to shop from a list, and try not to shop when hungry or stressed.

Edler has to stick to her list to stick to her budget, but she does admit to trying to buy only the generic brands in order to lower her expenses, which amount to about $50 per trip.

As she checked the last item off her list, she headed to the checkout so she could get to East to prepare for the start of another day of school, giving her kids the best education on cooking that she can. “[Giving the kids variety] makes me have a lot of shopping [to do],” Edler says, “but they’re happy with what they’re making. ”

A variety of marketing strategies encourage grocery shoppers to buy more than they originally intended.

SALE

*WITH CUSTOMER CARD DISGUISED SALES fine print requires membership in loyalty programs to get sale prices GENTLE MUSIC shoppers feel relaxed from the music and linger in the store REORGANIZATION shoppers spend more time looking for items among unfamiliar layouts SUBSTITUTES sugary cereals near healthier options are associated with fiber and protein

FIBER FUN BAR

ER FIBBAR FUN

FIBER

CHIPS CHIPS

FUN BAR

OATMEAL OATMEAL OATMEAL OATMEAL

STORE MAPS

CHOCO CRUNCH

CHIPS

NAME-BRAND ENDCAPS lure shoppers into aisles with storebrand items

CHIPS CHIPS SALSA SALSA SALSA

SUGAR SWEET PUFF SMACKS

CHIPS

EYE-LEVEL SHELVES shoppers look where it is the most convenient

SALSA SALSA

CHIPS CHIPS

SEASONAL DISPLAY convince shoppers to buy more “spirited” items

CHIPS

CHIPS

LEFT TO RIGHT shoppers scan items on shelves and pick the last one they see

sources center for science in the public interest, west chester kroger layout, west chester target layout, west chester walmart layout

THE GAME

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CHANGER Liberty Center attracts customers due to its variety of chain and local restaurant options.

story austin black | photography charis williams | art tyler bonawitz

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he looks through the vast variety of dining options that rest within the 100acre center, never expecting that a choice so simple could be so onerous. East junior Lexi Draginoff is overwhelmed by the options as she stands in the middle of Liberty Center.

All different types of restaurants surround her, making her choice for dinner nearly impossible, but she finally settles on Flip Side.

Liberty Center has become a beacon of attraction for Liberty Township. It has a modern look, wide variety of shopping and dining options and a soothing atmosphere.

Jackie Reau, a representative of the center’s developer, Steiner + Associates, says Liberty Center brings a quality of life to visitors and is branded as a lifestyle center, rather than a mall, for “creating an environment of family fellowship, pristine parks, rich recreation and diverse cultural outlets.”

“Liberty Center unites beloved shopping destinations with an eclectic range of dining options, exciting events and entertainment venues,” Reau tells Spark. “The result is more than a destination; it’s a living, breathing getaway [for] the soul.”

Liberty Township Trustee Christine Matacic says Liberty Center is the complete package.

Unlike any other attraction nearby, Liberty Center will change how residents interact with their community.

“It has everything,” says Matacic.

“Apartments, work, shopping, dining, entertainment, hotels—it’s like a mini city has dropped down in our community.”

The 1.1 million-square-foot center is filled with a wide array of dining, ranging from the world-famous Cheesecake Factory with 165 locations worldwide, to the newly opened Yolo: Bar. Haneen Shteiwi, a Yolo: Bar employee, fixes up fresh smoothies for visitors within the heart of the main plaza. The Yolo: Bar supplies Liberty Center visitors with freshly squeezed fruits and different ingredients that distinguish the kiosk from other smoothie bars.

36 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

“We use all fruits, all of them are in front of you,” Shteiwi says. “We use puree instead of sherbert since there is less sugar.”

The Yolo: Bar isn’t the only restaurant in Liberty Center to use fresh ingredients. Some use ingredients homegrown in Ohio. Matacic says most of the dining at Liberty Center prefers to use homegrown foods.

“Flip Side is using beef raised in Ohio, lots of vegetables in Ohio, as much as they can get,” Matcatic says. “Local, homegrown types of food are ideal.”

University of Cincinnati Assistant Economics Professor Michael Jones offers insight on the effects on the economy when a huge attraction arrives in an area. He says the grouping of stores can result in price wars and stealing visitors while also increasing sales.

“A new mall is unlikely to change the amount or type of customer spending,” Jones tells Spark. “Some stores are substitutes while others are complements. What this means is that another Bed, Bath, and Beyond will take

away sales from a buy buy BABY, for example.”

According to the The International Council of Shopping Centers, there are more than 109,500 shopping centers across the United States that produce sales of more than $2.26 trillion. Jones says any new dining will likely have effects on large sales and crowds.

“What is important is the continual stream of customers,” Jones says. “Liberty Center is more of a destination shopping location, so the relative number of new customers will be higher than a typical restaurant.”

Jones says that location and convenience greatly add to a center’s total sales, and Draginoff agrees. Just 1.3 miles from East, Liberty Center has become a hub of activity and fun for students and their families.

“It’s personally a lifesaver,” Draginoff says, still enjoying her burger. “I don’t have to drive all the way to Kenwood and Tri-County now. It saves me money on gas and gives me more entertainment. But in the long run, it will probably just make me fatter.”

Liberty Center, located on Foundry Row, offers many new dining options to the community.

WATER AWARENESS

Following the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, public health officials are becoming cautious of lead contamination. story and photography morgan kile | art goldie bristow

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ue Vance, the director of the Butler County Water and Sewer Department, made it very clear that the Liberty Township area does not have lead pipes. According to the Assistant Superintendent at Greater Cincinnati Water Works, Jeff Swertfeger, the city of Cincinnati banned the usage of lead piping in 1927; the federal ban went into effect in 1986. Very few facilities in Cincinnati still have lead piping despite most of the water distribution system in the country being built with lead pipes. All facilities nationwide are required to follow a lead corrosive treatment protocol so that the poisonous properties of corroding lead do not seep into the water travelling through the pipes.

In the midst of the recent water crisis in Flint, Mich., lead piping discussions arose across the United States. All across Ohio, water testing has been put under scrutinizing eyes, and many cities have been questioning whether or not their water is safe.

The Flint crisis began in April 2014. Flint was buying their water from Detroit, so the state decided to be more cost-effective and instead get their water from their own Flint River. The change of water was supposed to be a temporary solution until they had a different state-run supply line to Lake Huron.The new water coming in from the Flint River caused corrosion in the pipes, stripping away the protective coating and making the water run over open lead. The lead mixed with the water, making the water unsafe to drink. This crisis has affected 6,000 to 12,000 children.

“There is no lead piping in our service area,” Vance tells Spark.

In Butler County, there are Ductile Iron, Blu Max, copper and plastic piping. Ductile is used for all the big main pipes. Blu Max and plastic is typically seen more in households.

Copper piping is used at East.

In Liberty Township, the water that flows from residents’ pipes is a mixture of water from Hamilton and Cincinnati. When Liberty Township Trustee Christine Matacic’s niece was visiting from Centerville, she raved about the taste of her aunt’s tap water, proclaiming that the water up at her house tasted “lousy.”

In 2010 and 2015, critics agreed. Hamilton’s water was titled “Best Tasting Tap Water in the World” at Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, according to berkeleysprings.com.

Piping is not the only factor that can make water harmful. Mechanical and Chemical Engineer at Ohio University David Bayless tells Spark that there are many chemicals that can negatively affect water.

“Metal poisoning is a big concern,” Bayless says. “Lead and other metals are big as well.

I also deal with organophosphates, which are used in pesticides. Finally, just runoff from farms or concentrated animal operations [taint water supplies].”

Bayless says that acid mine drainage, or sulfuric acid, is one of the most common water pollutants in Southeast Ohio.

All the Lakota Local Schools’ water comes from Butler County Water and Sewage, which is also a combination of water from Hamilton and Cincinnati. Despite Hamilton water’s superior ratings, East students who frequent the water fountains are sometimes concerned with the cloudiness of water that comes out of the fountains.

Vance says that if water from the faucet comes out milky or cloudy, it is typically from air being trapped in the water. She concludes that if the white water clears from the bottom of the glass upward, it is showing how the air bubbles are moving up and disappearing.

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East water fountains produce cloudy water from air bubbles.

“Cloudy water, also known as white water, is caused by air bubbles,” Executive Director of Business Operations for the Lakota Local School District Chris Passarge says. “It is completely harmless.”

After blindly tasting water from three East water fountains, 44 students voted on which water tasted the “best.” Water A was from the water fountain in front of the girls’ bathroom on Lakota Lane, Water B was from the first water fountain on Main Street, and Water C came directly from the water fountain in the music wing. Water C, which initially came out of the fountain the cloudiest, received the most votes with 20 out of the total 44. Water A was the second preference with 16 votes, and Water B received only eight.

“Tastes more pure,” East Junior Kiki Davis wrote about Water C. “It is more fresh.”

Davis gave Water C a 9/10 rating.

“Tastes like cheap bottled water,” East sophomore Debi Kaur wrote about water A. “Not good at all.”

She gave Water B her seal of approval.

Hamilton, Ohio having the best tasting tap water is very different from other places in Ohio, who have not passed lead-free water tests. Most were tested and failed, and residents of the failing cities were not told in the amount of time they were supposed to be told.

According to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), water providers are legally required to notify their residents within 60 days of learning results of lead levels.

They must give educational materials and must send out warnings for children, pregnant women and people who are more susceptible to lead-influenced health conditions.

According to Lead Safe Illinois, a campaign ...continued on page 53

“There is no lead piping in our service area. We have Ductile Iron, Blue Max and plastic piping.”

-Sue Vance, Head of the Butler County Water and Sewage Department

package | business of food

RESTAURANT

BUSINESS After more than three decades in a growing community, restaurant owners George and Doris Bernas have closed their doors in an age of chain and local businesses.

story vivian kolks | photography morgan kile and maya wells | art sarah aftab

T

hirty minutes south of Dayton and 30 minutes north of Cincinnati on the I-75 corridor, there’s a little piece of European culture nestled in the middle of Monroe, Ohio. The two dining rooms of the restaurant are dimly lit from the light of a magnificent chandelier, the hand-crafted tables are set with linens and fine china, and a barrelhead carved with the restaurant’s flowing logo hangs proudly over the century-old mantle piece.

Sitting in the corner of one of the meticulously renovated dining rooms is Doris Bernas, the co-owner and hostess of BrandyWine Inn, who is taking a quiet moment to rest before getting ready for the final week of running the restaurant, a job that has lasted for thirty-five years, and a job that has witnessed the increase of big chain restaurants in the area but has still stayed the same, representing quality and compassion for food.

Ninety percent of restaurants in Ohio employ under 50 people, according to the National Restaurant Association, but BrandyWine Inn employed under 20. Bernas closed the doors of BrandyWine Inn permanently on Feb. 14, 2016 after more than 35 years of business in order to retire and to spend more time with family.

“Our goal was to create a haven for people like ourselves in the European tradition in which dining constituted the event of the

BrandyWine Inn accentuated its cozy environment to appeal to customers.

38 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

evening,” Bernas says. “Now, if you want some new foofy and loud music and all the latest stuff, you can go [somewhere else. If you want the European tradition], you come here.”

Seeing new chain restaurants opening near East, Doris Bernas remembers the struggle it took to open BrandyWine Inn back in the ‘80s, starting with how often her husband, George Bernas, was on the road, working for a computer company. Alone in a strange city, he would forgo eating out and instead go to a local market to buy bread, fruit, wine, cheese and a food magazine before heading back to his hotel to call Doris and their children and describe all the food he’d rather be eating.

“He just came home one day, and he said, ‘I don’t want to keep doing this, I don’t want to keep traveling and being gone, I like to cook, and I want to open a restaurant,’ so we did,” Doris says.

George and Doris found a venue in an old stagecoach stop, exactly halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati, that had been around since the 19th century, and extensive renovations needed to take place. According to Doris, the renovation process was “one foot in front of the other for a while.” When they finally were able to open on April 4, 1981, they had needed two years and a month to completely restore the building that was to

become BrandyWine Inn. “We started in two dining rooms,” Doris says. “When we took up the floor, we found five more layers. Every time we took up the floor, there was another floor underneath. This building was built in the 1850s, so we figured every 40 years, they put down another floor.”

The brick and wood bricks aren’t devoid of history either; the unused layer of flooring went up to cover any brick that couldn’t be salvaged—brick that had been hand-fired on the premise more than 100 years ago. However, when the couple acquired the building, the bricks were covered in lathe and plaster.

“They didn’t look like this when we uncovered them,” Doris says, gesturing to the smooth brick wall behind her chair. “George had one little set of sandblasters, and he came up here and literally sandblasted every brick and all the grout in this entire room. It took him six weeks.”

E

ight years ago, another couple began their search for the perfect venue for their restaurant, and it ended at what is now known as Greek Isles. Maria and Kosta Karvelas chose their venue when it was still being built in the strip mall off of Yankee road and 0.7 miles from East. “[The location] was close to our house, which was a great advantage,” Maria says.

“We want to bring a little Greek to Liberty Township.”

This family-owned, local business is quite a contrast to the national Mexican grill, Chipotle, that opened 229 locations in 2015 alone, including the location next to East’s main campus. According to their annual fourth quarter report, they expect another 235 new restaurants in 2016, adding to their 1,771 locations. Still, the same basic dedication is at the heart of every one of these locations.

“We want to provide our customers a delicious meal served with great hospitality,” Gabe, a customer service coordinator of Chipotle, tells Spark. “We strive to provide five-star restaurant service in a fast, casual

Chipotle’s recognizably fresh look creates a chic and comfortable dining experience.

business of food | package

environment. You should feel immersed in your meal, socializing with friends or family and being able to focus fully on your food.”

Focusing on food is not a goal exclusive to Chipotle; BrandyWine Inn strives for this quality as well. An important part of their process was making sure that everything was completely made from scratch—nothing canned, bought or frozen. Doris and George piped real butter onto plates and set them on the tables at least 30 minutes before customers arrived so that the butter would spread smoothly on their homemade bread.

“Any restaurant can say that their bread is homemade if they make it on premise, even if it’s Pillsbury Doughboy,” Doris says. “It [took] George five hours, but he truly [made] his own bread. Every month [was] a different flavor.”

Across town in Greek Isles is a similar story

and memorable experiences for their customers.

“We want people to feel like they’re family,” Pfau says. “We want them to come back.”

F

or BrandyWine Inn, family is never far away either. One of Doris’ favorite memories is working at the restaurant on Thanksgiving and still getting to spend the holiday with her family. With her four children waiting tables and her husband in the kitchen, it was her favorite part of working there in 35 years, having all of the family working and, at the end of the night, eating all the leftovers.

With family still at its roots, Greek Isles has a different perspective. Bringing Greek culture to Liberty Township through authentic food drives the Karvelas’ passion.

“The best part for me is meeting all my customers,” Maria says. “Seeing the smiles as

At the Inn’s peak, they reached 4,000 people. In order to spread the word, Doris and George ripped out the names of all the doctors and lawyers in their phonebook and sent a menu to every single address. Doris said the menus were “fabulous” and that people would put them on their refrigerators.

Greek Isles has a similar method, using mostly word-of-mouth and features written by the local Pulse Journal to advertise their authentic Greek cuisine.

Now there are statewide resources for restaurants that struggle with advertising, as well as providing them with financial and legislative help, starting with the Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA).

ORA Director of Communications Natalie Walston makes sure that all restaurants and foodservice establishments are members

“He just came home one day and he said, ‘I don’t want to keep doing this, I don’t want to keep traveling and being gone, I like to cook, and I want to open a restaurant,’ so we did.”

-Doris Bernas, Co-owner and Hostess of BarndyWine Inn of using fresh food for better taste.

“We make everything,” Karvelas says, “especially our gyros, which are lamb meat and beef mixed with tzatziki sauce. Everybody loves my Greek salad dressing, too.”

Chipotle, on the other hand, uses produce from a variety of sources, making it hard to “pin down,” but Chipotle tells Spark that they try to “source locally when possible.”

Whether it’s a national, regional or a local restaurant, buying from a reputable source is always the best plan, according to East Cooking For Healthy Living teacher, Donna Edler.

“Quality is in your cooking methods,” Edler says. “People are starting to realize that we are what we eat. It’s generally a good idea to stay away from dented cans, punctured meat packages and frost crystals. It indicates that the food isn’t fresh.”

Graeter’s, a more localized restaurant with 100 locations in the Greater Cincinnati area, recognizes that as well, and some of the ingredients in their city-wide famous ice cream come from all over the world. Carol Pfau, an assistant manager at Graeter’s Ice Cream in Voice of America, dishes out strawberries from Oregon and vanilla beans from Madagascar, all in Graeter’s signature French pot style ice cream.

“We use real cream and fresh milk,” Pfau tells Spark, sprinkling nuts on a sundae and washing out another ice cream scoop. “Most of the dairy products we use are from Ohio.”

Despite occupying different niches in the local food industry, BrandyWine Inn, Chipotle and Graeter’s all mean to provide meaningful

they eat our Greek food [is great].”

But a happy working environment isn’t just limited to Thanksgiving or to BrandyWine Inn. According to East junior and Graeter’s employee Natalie Thomas, working in the ice cream parlor is a great opportunity.

“Graeter’s is one of the only jobs that is flexible for high schoolers,” Thomas says.

“They give shorter shifts, like four hours instead of seven, and the people are great to work with.”

Many restaurants focus not only on spreading the word about their employee benefits but also on reaching out to customers.

In 2011 alone, Chipotle spent $5.8 million on advertising. Despite the smaller budget compared to other chain restaurants like McDonald’s $650 million budget, Chipotle still tries to think outside of the box. This means including billboards, collaborating with famous musicians like Twenty One Pilots and Walk The Moon, and hosting a Cultivate Fest, which included music, information on Chipotle and guest chefs for their burrito-loving community.

However, actually reaching the high school demographic can become an issue, which Doris discovered after her trial and error in finding a system that worked for BrandyWine Inn. After trying expensive professional advertisers, college students looking for work and consulters trying to get started in the field, the only influx Doris ever noticed was when the food critics came to eat and review BrandyWine Inn’s signature French-style cooking.

Every month, BrandyWine Inn would mail out menus to allow people to make reservations.

“from mobile food trucks to school cafeterias, fine dining restaurants to quick service fast food restaurants.”

“We’re an extension of business as experts in insurance, government policies, education, communications and marketing,” Walston tells Spark. “We make sure they’re in the know.”

“In the know” includes saving the average restaurateur approximately $10,000 to $20,000 by administering group worker compensation insurance plans. Restaurants save money by signing their employees up as a group and by educating business owners and managers on food quality and safety.

“Our ServSafe program is a program that educates employees in the importance of food safety, cooking and storing food properly, and avoiding passing on illnesses to customers,” Walton says. “We also have an education series where we do webinars to help owners run their businesses smarter.”

With resources like the ORA, every restaurant in the area can be well-equipped for whatever comes their way so that restaurant owners like George and Doris and Maria and Kosta can enjoy giving their customers their full attention and the experiences they’ve hoped to accomplish since opening their individual restaurants, or in BrandyWine’s case, closing.

“We would love for someone to rent [BrandyWine’s space] or lease the other units in the building,” Doris says, “but we’d really just like to go home and stay home and play with the grandkids. I even thought to myself, I could work the fish fry [at St. Susanna’s on Fridays]. I had never had the time before.”

MEDIA MARKETING Due to increased internet usage, advertisers are investing in social media platforms in order to reach the Millennial generation. story conner ricca | infographic sophia chryssovergis | art goldie bristow

A

SODIUM Another nutrient that needs to be limited. Healthy adults should have a sodium level between 1500mg - 2300mg.

Ingredients:

VITAMINS Vitamins are needed to produce energy, make new cells, repair damaged tissue, and make enzymes, hormones and DNA.

fats or sugars.

DISSECTING NUTRITION: A BREAKDOWN OF THE NUTRITION FACTS LABEL

“but now it’s something where a company can get instant mass fter seeing Jimmy John’s Instagram page, East junior that Jimmy John’s has no. 1 brand loyalty among Millennials, exposure.”

Drew Simpson says, “Okay, let’s go grab a sandwich.” meaning Millennials will tend to come back to Jimmy John’s the Since Kladakis started working at Possible, Twitter has Simpson later walks into Jimmy John’s and instantly most out of all chain franchises. gone from 50 million Tweets per day to 500 million Tweets recognizes a welcoming staff which makes him “feel at home.”

Simpson found Jimmy John’s Instagram profile to be per day, according to Internetlivestats. Twitter has even created According to Possible Marketing Account Supervisor John enticing. Jimmy John’s has a Twitter profile that is very a promotion function in which any user can promote any Kladakis, Twitter and Instagram have completely changed the responsive to the consumers’ Tweets, and most food-related Tweet and get anywhere from 25 engagements for $10 to game for targeting Millennials. companies’ Twitter feeds will be stacked with responses to 6,250 engagements for $2,500. An engagement is when a user “Millennials’ radars are much more in-tune to BS,” Kladakis the average person’s Tweets. The user @pleakleigh Tweeted a interacts with a Tweet in any way. Twitter has also provided the says. He believes that Millennials will not just accept whatever picture to her 48 followers of the Jimmy John’s logo captioned, capability for anyone to see “Tweet activity,” which shows the they see. “@jimmyjohns has the best sandwiches in town!” Jimmy John’s amount of engagements a Tweet has received and how many The United States 2015 Census Bureau estimates there then tweeted to it’s 422.4 thousand followers, “@pleakleigh are 83.1 million Millennials in America, outnumbering the You’re making me blush Anna!” ...continued on page 53 75.4 million Baby Boomers. The current method to gain the “Twitter was day-to-day activities,” Kladakis tells Spark, business of this generation is through social media.

Simpson says that restaurants can most sources www.myfooddiary.com, www.scripps.org, www.heart.org, www.fda.gov effectively reach him through Tweets because half of his feed is covered with them.

U.S. Foods Culinary Specialist Paul Sturkey Serving Size 2/3 cup (55g) DIETARY FIBER CARBOHYDRATES helps restaurant owners to microtarget, or Servings Per Container About 8 SERVING SIZE The size CALORIES Calories Should be consumed You recieve 4 calories focus on attracting a single demographic, by of one serving and the provide a measure frequently. A high fiber per 1 gram of carbs. total number servings of how much energy coaching them and helping to increase their diet promotes healthy Carbs are separated Amount Per Serving per container. Affects you get from one bowel function and into simple carbs businesses’ sales to their fullest potential. One the quantity of the serving size. prevents constipation Calories 230 Calories from Fat 40 (sugars), complex of the various tasks he performs is teaching other nutrients. and hemorrhoids. carbs (fiber) and starch. % Daily Value owners how to properly manipulate social media outlets. He teaches them how to take Total fat 8g 12% pictures for their sites and how to analyze the Saturated Fat 1g 5% data they receive.

SUGARS The total PROTEIN An essential % DAILY VALUE The FATS Total fat lists Trans Fat 0g “People are hit with so many images today,” amount of sugar in nutrient found in percentage of each type of fat found in a serving. Different Sturkey says. “You’re never done advertising.”

Cholesterol 0mg meat, eggs, grains, 0% nutrient in one serving. the serving. Saturated types of sugars are dairy, nuts, some A lower % DV value and trans fat should be Sturkey says food photography is the single Sodium 160 mg 7% found in fruits and fruits and veggies. means fewer nutrients, limited. Too much may most important component of advertising veggies, grains, dairies 1 gram of protein while a higher %DV pose risks, i.e. heart Total Carbohydrate 37g 12% and added sugars. that pulls customers into the restaurant. In contains 4 calories. means more. disease.

Dietary Fiber 4g 16% order to create a quality, professional photo, it typically will take about one hour. Super Glue, Sugars 1g glycerin and waterproofing spray are just a Protien 3g few of the unnatural items that are present in INGREDIENTS Listed the average burger used for mass exposure in in descending order by Vitamin A 10% weight. Healthier choice: advertisements. first three ingredients Vitamin C 8% A 2014 study by YouGov BrandIndex stated should not be saturated CHOLESTEROL The amount of cholesterol in one serving. It should be consumed in moderation because of risks like high blood pressure.

40 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

WHERE FOOD COMES FROM infographic cassia chryssovergis

Food doesn’t go straight from the farm to table; it undergoes multiple steps before it reaches the stores. Production, processing, and transportation are the three basic steps to get food from the farm to the table.

Each step is vital to getting the food to homes everywhere.

1.

PRODUCTION

the growing of the food product on a farm or the production of food in a factory farm

monocrop farms

single crops are grown intensivley on a very large scale

CAFOS

(concentrated animal feeding operation)

where the majority of meat, eggs, and dairy products are now produced

sources www.yale.edu, www.sustainabletable.org, www.ucsusa.org, www.eufic.org, www.ams.usda.gov

3.

TRANSPORTATION

the four major modes of moving food from farm to table, port to market are truck, rail, barge, and ocean transportation

train

Cutting, cleaning, packaging and refrigeration of foods make them practical to use

4.GROCERY STORES

barge

where all of the finished food product ends up

FOOD MART

truck

ship

2.

PROCESSING

processing after the crop is ready for picking, it is further prepared

secondary food processing includes This goes a step further in creating a whole heating, cooling, drying, smoking, array of food products from canned and fermentation,and food additives frozen vegetables to fully prepared dinners

to give your child an academic advantage this school year!

42 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

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7844 King Lane Dr Suite E, West Chester, OH 45069 • 513-779-8448 • pho96.com

LOCALMOT Right: If you’re looking for a suit for prom, 45/46 Fine Men’s Apparel has them. With an array of ties and handkerchiefs to accessorize, they’ve got you covered for the dance. When the buyers pick out the items for the store, they try to go for a “contemporary with a little bit of modern” style.

the

45/46 Fine Men’s appa

y Weekly juicer

rel

Above: It all started when Kimmye Bohannon and Elizabeth Beal took turns juicing weekly for each other’s family. When friends starting requesting their juices, they decided to make a store, and that’s how the Weekly Juicery was born. “We are very unique from most juice bars in that we don’t dilute any of our juices, and we don’t add any sugar,” says store manager Marilyn Buckley.

leeli and lou 44 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

Left: Owner of Leelie and Lou Elizabeth Lance opened her eclectic boutique roughly 2.5 years ago and named it after her daughters. “[Lance] frequently travels to NY and LA, and goes to shows to buy pieces from different venders,” says sales associate Allie Peterson. “If you look at our clothing it’s not all one brand.”

patty’s popcorn Above: Since visiting his hometown popcorn shop with only three kinds of popcorn, Randy Sloan had always dreamed of having his own popcorn shop. About five years ago, his dream came true when he opened Patty’s Old Fashioned Popcorn shop. Now Patty’s has 19 different popcorn flavors, including bestseller the Chicago Twist, which is cheddar popcorn covered in caramel.

IVE

localmotive | culture

The historical Hyde Park Square has reinvented itself with a modern twist. From old banks to bras to beads, Hyde Park Square has a little something for everyone. story lauren wilson, gabbie behrmann, sidney li | art lauren wilson, morgan kile | photography cara satullo

ark

yde p knickers of h

Right: Before Teller’s was founded, the building was the Hyde Park Savings and Loan Bank. Nearly 20 years ago, Teller’s “took a [1950s] bank and flipped it into a restaurant,” says manager Jamye Small. With the original ironwork from the bank tellers’ windows, guests can enjoy modern dishes in a historical atmosphere.

Some of Teller’s most popular contemporary American dishes are the buffalo chicken eggrolls and scallop tocino pasta.

Hyde park square

Teller’s of Hyde park

Above: Knickers of Hyde Park is not your average lingerie store. The owner Jenalyn Schneider strives to empower women and carries a variety sizes not always offered at Victoria’s Secret. “We focus on the service aspect of what we do,” says Schneider. “Yesterday, I had a young girl who left here crying and hugging me because she felt so good.”

Right: The World of Beads is a store solely dedicated to beads.

Crystal beads, hamburgershaped beads— you name it they have the bead. “We sell beads, we have classes, we do repairs, and we offer design help,” says sales associate Crishana Manigan.

m5 espresso lab

THe world of

beads

Above: M5 espresso is a very modern slow bar-style coffee shop joined with the Cinema Elements store. Both companies are owned by New-Yorkcoffee-lover Michael Matossian. “We pride ourselves on educating people on coffee,” says sales associate Sean Varady. “We like to share coffee with people and teach them about its origins.”

culture | photoshoot

CASUAL ATHLETIC Since the end of last year, workout and athletic gear have spread into the fashion industry as daywear. story and photo illustration christine shi, nina brillhart models lauren panyko, cameron baert

In place of a “basic tee,” long sleeve Nike shirts work well as the basis of any outfit; men’s training shirt available at store.nike.com for $28 This pink Nike dri-fit long sleeve doubles as a comfortable workout piece and a statement shirt.

Through the emergence of the athletic trend, sweatpants have become accepted as leisure wear; fleece taper pants available at Adidas for $55

Comfortable yet trendy, Nike Roshe Ones can be found all over the streets; available at footlocker.com or store.nike.com

46 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

photoshoot | culture

Classic sports brands like Adidas and Nike have partnered with luxury brands at a fast rate to design classic, everyday wear.

The outdoor clothing company, Patagonia, has surfaced as almost the new North Face; available at patagonia.com

Able to be paired with almost anything, leggings have become a woman’s wardrobe staple.

culture | through the ages

A criminal, an athlete, and a beauty— or at least a fashionable modern representation of these infamous Breakfast Club characters is recreated.

DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT THE ‘80S

48 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

a series on the impact of fashion trends

THROUGH THE AGES

“What we found out is that each one of” these ‘80s trends falls under power dressing, athletics, hip-hop, or punk princess. The modern culture is a mix of everything, incorporating numerous trends from the past. As times change, don’t you forget about the ‘80s. Sincerely yours, the Spark club. story and art lauren wilson photography illustration maya wells models katie bryson, liz hodge, isabel roque

through the ages | culture

“

W

e didn’t start the fire” but the ‘80s trends have been recycled “since the world’s been turning.” From yuppies to jocks to valley girls, almost any trend is applicable to the 1980s. Although many look back at the fashions from that time with aversion, current designers are bringing these fresh fads back into style.

Possibly the biggest thing in the 80s was the hair. It seemed like everyone had a perm; just ask to see a parent’s yearbook for proof.

Although perms aren’t currently all the rage, curls have never really gone out of style. The same holds true for scrunchies, which can still be found at Claire’s starting at $3.

Thanks to perms, that bombdigity hair wouldn’t fall flat in aerobics class. During the ‘80s, exercise was really amped up. Today, gym memberships and yoga are the new hype. For a clutch sporty look, people wore tights, leotards and leg warmers. Occasionally, a sweatband was added for an intense workout.

“Athletic wear, now called athleisure,” Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Assistant Fashion Professor Deidra Arrington says, “was popular in the decade when aerobic exercise and ‘dancercise’ classes took off.

Leotards, tights, sweatbands and leg warmers were ‘must haves.’”

Brands like Victoria’s Secret Pink channel the trends from the ‘80s with current designs.

Items like yoga pants and neon windbreakers are making a comeback through this clothing line. Many students at East like the bright colors and fun styles Pink is bringing back in style.

“I really enjoy shopping at Pink,” East sophomore Ariel Swain says. “I like the style of the clothes and the neon colors they use. It

makes the clothes fun and gives off a 1980s, retro vibe.”

Still to this day, “girls just want to have fun,” or at least that’s what Cindy Lauper would say.

Between her and Madonna, the punk princess look of the ‘80s was born. With crop tops, lace skirts, fishnet tights and costume jewelry, this glam style emerged. Variations of this trend have not been cropped out of style just yet.

“Fashion is influenced by the zeitgeist of the times,” says Arrington. “Whatever is happening culturally, politically or economically will show its influence in fashion. In the ‘80s, there was a culture of extreme consumerism. People had more money than ever, and they spent it.”

Another mondo trend in the ‘80s was the hip-hop look. From gold rope chains to track suits, this style was totally fresh. Wild windbreakers took the fashion world by storm in the ‘80s, and now these bright, colorblocked jackets are back. Popular stores like Nike sell colorblocked ones for $95, and Pink has an array of neon ones for $69.99.

“Hip-hop culture became mainstream, which resulted in the rise of street wear,” VCU Assistant Fashion Professor Jacqueline Mullins tells Spark. “This trend piggy-backed on the fitness craze of the late 1970s, which resulted in tracksuits and tennis shoes becoming everyday clothing beyond the gym.”

Full-out denim looks were also a major 1980s trend. A jean jacket and pegged, highwaisted jeans were paired together for the denim-on-denim look. Because denim is easily styled, jean jackets and high waisted jeans aren’t Levi-ing. In order to achieve the pegged denim look, Pinterest has offered a diagram demonstrating, “How To: Peg Your Jeans.”

Okay so after the hair, the second biggest

“Fashion is cyclical. It’s not uncommon to see fashion trends from the past decades come back .”

—Deidra Arrington, VCU Assistant Fashion Professor

thing in the ‘80s were the shoulder pads. This spiffy trend added weight to the upper portion of a woman’s body, giving off an aura of confidence. Bold blazers with major shoulder pads were paired with pencil skirts and highwaisted suit pants for an empowered business look.

“The 1980s saw the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, appointed to the Supreme Court,” Mullins says. “This symbolized women breaking through the glass ceiling, thus resulting in power dressing.”

Many of these iconic trends are featured on ABC’s television show The Goldbergs, which is set in the ‘80s. Also, Netflix released Fuller House, the spin-off of the original Full House, on Feb. 26. One last blast from the past was the December release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which became the highest-grossing film of all time in North America. With such an influence of the 1980s in modern-day culture, it is not surprising to see past trends from the era advancing “back to the future.”

“Fashion is cyclical,” Arrington says. “It’s not uncommon to see fashion trends from past decades come back. There are several current trends [today] reminiscent of the ‘80s. There’s usually a slight twist with the trend that makes it fresh and modern.”

culture | music

REVIEWS: MUSIC I FEEL LIKE PABLO With an abstract sound and intriguing lyrics, “The Life of Pablo” is a must-listen album for all hip-hop fans.

review joey combs | photography fair use

I

“ ‘m 38 years old/a eight year old.” This line accurately describes who Kanye West has become—a 38 year old artist with the scatterbrained imagination of a child. The release of “The Life of Pablo” mirrored the artistic identity crisis West seems to be experiencing.

Recording for “The Life of Pablo” began in 2013, but its release was notably tumultuous in comparison to his previous projects. Originally titled “So Help Me God” and slated for a 2014 launch, West’s seventh studio album went through a multitude of drastic alterations up until February 12, two days before the album was exclusively put on TIDAL, Jay-Z’s streaming service. After “So Help Me God,” West renamed the album “SWISH.” This was once again changed to “Waves.” West then finally settled on the shocking-to-many title, “The Life of Pablo.”

The 18-track album boasts impressive features that include artists such as Chance the Rapper, Kid Cudi, Young Thug and Kendrick Lamar.

“The Life of Pablo” is a conundrum compared to West’s previous albums; “Yeezus” was met with controversy at its release as well, due to the remarkable lack of advertising. West now continues his trend of evolving past the hip-hop mold with “The Life of Pablo.”

The album, both lyrically and musically, is somewhat erratic.

Inconsistency generally comes with the implication that the product is low quality. However, this is not the case in “The Life of Pablo.” The eccentricity of this album appears to be intentional, truly showing how artistic West has become over the years. Giving “The Life of Pablo” one concrete score is difficult, and doing so requires separating the entire project into two categories, lyrics and production.

The lyricism of this album is befuddling at best. Soulful, positive messages on “Ultralight Beam” are mismatched next to lyrics from “Famous” that reinforce West’s arrogant media persona. Normally, this format of writing would make a project seem incoherent and unappealing, but West’s masterful writing transforms this disharmony into a beautiful mess. The multi-faceted media persona into which West has warped over his long career is exemplified on this album. On Twitter, West claimed that “The Life of Pablo” is a gospel album. The first track on the album, “Ultralight Beam,” showcases West’s ability to produce spiritual, meaningful and beautiful lyrics. West first empathizes with the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks, and taps into his inner philosopher with the line “Pray for Paris/Pray for the parents/This is a God dream,” suggesting that consciousness is merely a dream in a higher being’s head.

Another facet of West popped up in “Famous” with the line “If you see ‘em in the streets give ‘em Kanye’s bests/Why?/They mad they ain’t famous,” in reference to West’s old girlfriends. One song on “The Life of Pablo” completely encompasses the theme of the album,“I Love Kanye.” West’s pseudo-summation of his fluid identity is a track with 50 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

THE LIFE OF PABLO ARTIST: KANYE WEST RELEASE DATE: FEB. 14, 2016 ALBUM PRICE: $20.00 (TIDAL)

no instrumental, just rapping. “I hate the new Kanye/the bad mood Kanye/The always rude Kanye/Spaz in the news Kanye,” summing up the identity-based sentiments of the album.

The production of the album is stunning. The musicality of the instrumentals rivals “Graduation,” and the abstraction quite nearly meets that of “Yeezus.” The public disdain for “The Life of Pablo” comes mainly from the controversial lyrics and strange release, but the instrumentals are indisputably masterful. The “Ultralight Beam” instrumental is a masterpiece. The moving track features a beautiful choir to supplement West’s rapping. Each song’s production is quite individual; some tracks, like “Feedback,” sound similar to tracks on “Yeezus,” but some tracks, like “Waves,” are nothing like West has ever produced.

With an ever-evolving talent and persona, West is certainly a major powerhouse in the hip-hop industry. “The Life of Pablo” once again proves that West is free to make any artistic decision he likes, no matter how controversial, and will still end up on top.

music | culture

I LIKE IT WHEN YOU SLEEP, FOR YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL YET SO UNAWARE OF IT THE 1975 The 1975’s new sound is hard to pin to a specific genre, and yet, with their second studio album, painstakingly titled “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It,” the group is the embodiment of rock ‘n’ roll from eras past infused with a pop emphasis.

The group’s new sound is upbeat and still allows listeners to relate to the specificity of the tracks. The album’s lengthy title matches the equally long list of songs included: 17, to be exact.

Pulling inspiration from ‘80s songs and gospel choirs, the new sound let the band take a turn for better. With emotional songs such as “Nana” and “Love Me” and upbeat, feel-good songs such as “She’s American” and “The Sound,” this album is the perfect balance of empathy and sympathy.

While this band’s music is the epitome of catchiness, often this repetitiveness comes off as overplayed. The most outstanding feature of this album is it has the newfound sense of independence that allows the listener to be more invested in the lyrics. As a whole, this album is a fresh new taste into The 1975’s new aesthetic. — Kaily Hauck

YES, I’M A WITCH TOO YOKO ONO

“Yes, I’m a Witch, Too,” the sequel to Yoko Ono’s 2007 album “Yes I’m a Witch” reimagines her greatest hits in her second installment of remixes. In this newest album, Ono leaves her classic ballads and original recordings for a seemingly random assortment of unexpected collaborators to interpret, each with unique styles.

Artists ranging from indie rockers such as Peter Bjorn and John to the remix-minded Moby are featured, bringing their own personal feel to songs otherwise lacking in technical grace. Death Cab for Cutie tries out trip-hop in their unexpected interpretation of “Forget Me My Love” while alternative rock legend Spark runs wild with Ono’s original vocal recording of “Give Me Something.” The myriad of artists mixed with Ono’s laissez-faire attitude towards genre produces tracks that range from theatrical regality to electronic hits suitable for the dance floor.

Although each track has its own unique twist, the album is unified by central themes of death and Ono’s darker past. Songs such as “Mrs. Lennon” and “Coffin Car” perfectly pair Ono’s haunting falsettos with powerful beats that paint a portrait of her past in a new and intriguing light. Club beats may prove to be exciting, but tracks like “I Have a Woman Inside My Soul” carry a balance of narrative drama and dance-ability that delve deeper into the emotions of Ono and her past experiences. — Victoria Negron

PAINTING WITH ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

The Baltimore natives’ newest album is eccentric and electrifying.

Animal Collective is well-known to have music that is outside-the-box.

“Painting With” features many tracks that have random sound samplings. The album opener, “FloriDada,” is jam-packed with lyrics; in the first pre-chorus alone, there are 83 words. Around the middle of the song, hysterical laughter breaks through the song’s fast-paced sound, adding to the colorful, light mood of the song and album.

Animal Collective also plays around with the human voice. In “Lying in the Grass,” every other verse’s lyrics are manipulated and morphed to make an almost incoherent phrase. The voice is changed around with robotic sounds so much that it is hard to decipher the lyric: “All the pieces where they ought to be/But it’s clear that he don’t look like me/ Pick a place around the table talk/Make a push to wake the comatose/ Say you pause to say what’s wrong and quickly blow up the cover/There’s a way through fogs as long as there’s a light to discover.”

The entire album gives off a jamming-with-the-windows-down vibe.

“Painting With” has an upbeat sound, but overall it is very busy. It does not have a breathing moment; the whole time is filled with electronic noises, warped voices and spontaneity. — Morgan Kile

ANTI RIHANNA

Award-winning pop and R&B artist Rihanna’s release of her highly anticipated seventh album, “Anti,” was long awaited and suffered from repeated delays. Though the production of the album may have taken time, “Anti” deserves the title of the fastest album in history to be certified platinum.

The album is considerably more mellow and laid back compared to prior albums, with the mood being muted and more inwardly focused, rather than her typical dance songs found blasting in a nightclub. But Rihanna’s lyrics stay true to her usual risqué subjects such as sex and drugs.

Rihanna experiments with a different style of music in “Love on the Brain,” in contrast to her routinely electric-esque pop songs.

The first line in “James Joint,” an interlude barely longer than one minute, is “I’d rather be smoking weed whenever we breathe.” This line definitely sets the tone for the song as if the extremely slow and monotone musical notes weren’t enough. It creates a relaxing mood, and Rihanna’s warm timbre makes it easy to listen to. “Needed Me” gives Rihanna a chance to prove her vocal capabilities with vocal riffs and runs, featuring a broader range than most songs in the album.

Although different from her usual work, “Anti” doesn’t fail to impress. — Meredith Walters

culture | movies

REVIEWS: MOVIES DEADPOOL WILL LIVE

Ryan Reynolds teams up with Stan Lee to explore what it takes to make an anti-hero movie and turns Wade Wilson’s classic story into a humorous, action-filled cinema experience.

DEADPOOL DIRECTOR: TIM MILLER RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 12, 2016 RUN TIME: 148 MINUTES

review richard giang | photography fair use

D

eadpool is the single most satirical and unconventional addition to Marvel’s glorious line-up of superhero movies. Script writer Ryan Reynolds took his childhood love of the Deadpool comics, fused it with his sick and twisted humor, and produced a film that stretches beyond the demographic of superhero fanatics.

The movie’s opening credits sets the mood for the entire film by making a mockery of the film industry. The movie’s plot begins with Deadpool, Wade Wilson’s alter ego (Ryan Reynolds), in a cab on his way to take revenge on the man that made him ugly through his unorthodox cancer treatment. Through a series of strategic flashbacks, Deadpool’s entire backstory is established, allowing the humor-filled scene to set the action into motion.

Of course, Deadpool’s motives are driven by his love for his fiancée, Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin), whom he had to leave after his treatment due to his cowardice to face her after his transformation.

Furthermore, Reynolds plays in his crude humor by only highlighting the sexual aspect of their relationship. From the time that they meet to the time that they depart, the only aspect of their relationship seen is their sex life, which just adds to the overall theme of the movie.

Instead of the normal beginning-to-end sequence that most superhero movies follow, Deadpool narrates the movie and repeatedly breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience, making it a more personal experience. Scene by scene, Deadpool walks the viewer through

HOW TO BE SINGLE DIRECTOR: CHRISTIAN DITTER “How to be Single” is the perfect movie for a girls’ night out—it’s not the traditional romantic comedy. While reminiscent of “Sex in the City,” it’s surprisingly unpredictable, which is a nice break from the genre.

The storyline follows Alice (Dakota Johnson), who takes a break with her boyfriend to “find herself.” With a hilarious new friend, Robin (Rebel Wilson), she learns the ins-and-outs of being single.

This movie’s feminist undertone portrays female characters as independent and capable. It’s refreshing that each character didn’t enter a relationship at the end of the movie because they didn’t need other people to identify who they were as people. Yet, when one of the characters did enter a relationship, she didn’t lose her strength.

Wilson’s character’s crude humor made “How to be Single” stand out from the other movies in the genre. While the comedy was a huge asset, the plot was weak, but this setback didn’t break the film. The humorous atmosphere made the plot not as crucial as it would be in a more serious film. While “How to be Single” is worth seeing, it won’t become a classic like “Mean Girls” or “Bridesmaids.”— Maddie Alsip 52 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

his story, allowing for better development as a character.

The film’s crude humor perfectly targets its demographic. This is also one of the first big superhero movies to be rated R due to its frequent sex and strip club scenes. Also, its rating is due to the intense actions scenes that incorporate a hefty amount of gore.

An aspect of the movie that is really eye-catching is the action. These sequences are expected to be great in Marvel superhero movies, but “Deadpool’s” are especially satisfying to watch. The slow motion blood and intense match-ups keeps the audience anxiously waiting for the next one.

The soundtrack is fitting for the amazing action and cheesy, humorous scenes. From “X Gon’ Give it to Ya” to “Careless Whisper,” it is apparent that Reynolds handpicked every single song to ensure the audience gets enveloped into the scene.

The cinematography is near perfect. The 360 views of the gory death scenes, amazing panning and wide-angle shots are all aesthetically pleasing. Also, the CGI involved with the actions scenes are pulled off extremely well so much so that it just seems a part of his costume.

Reynolds’ film adaptation of the Deadpool comics was almost impeccable, leaving the masses on edge in preparation for the sequel to release. Reynolds took all of the basic qualities of a superhero movie and redefined the superhero movie industry. It is easy to tell that this film was meticulously crafted from beginning to end.

RACE DIRECTOR: STEPHEN HOPKINS Stephen Hopkins’ latest movie shows the positive impact AfricanAmerican Olympic runner Jesse Owens made during one of America’s most difficult times. World War II brought civil rights issues at home as well as the rise of Nazi Germany overseas.

“Race” features the life of Owens (Stephan James) as he overcomes many obstacles, including complicated family issues, racial injustice and athletic competition, to become one of the best runners in the world.

The movie starts from Owen’s life in Cleveland, Ohio as a high school senior, where he met his wife, Ruth (Shanice Banton), and leads up to his time as a student athlete at The Ohio State University, where he met Coach Lawrence “Larry” Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) and ultimately competed in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi-controlled Berlin.

This action-packed documentary does a fantastic job showing what type of mindset, work ethic and determination an athlete must have to be the best while giving an informative representation of America and Nazi Germany in the 1930s. “Race” is a must-see and sets a high standard for sports-centered dramas.— Dillon Horter

LAKOTA INTRODUCES NEW SOCIAL STUDIES COURSE continued from page 9... and humanities courses offered. The courses already offered at the high school level include College Prep (CP) World Studies, CP American History, AP United States History, AP European History, sociology and Honors American History. Psychology, government and economics, all of which can also be taken at an AP level, are also offered.

“In adding the course, there was little consideration of creating a balance of course types,” Styles said. “Instead, we really focus on courses that are going to develop skills that are in high-demand in our workforce and promote college and career readiness.”

According to the College Board, the AP Human Geography curriculum allows students to explore 71 possible careers areas and 20 college majors. Keen also recommends that students take the class if they have any interest in studying or pursuing a career in humanities, journalism, anthropology, geography or any type of social science that studies people. He also recommends the class to students who are thinking about taking an AP class or “anyone who is up for the challenge.”

“Exposure to AP rigor will help in the long run,” Keen said. “It’s known that students who take the AP exam, no matter if they pass or not, will do better at the college level. This class can also give students a weighted GPA and also college credit if they pass the exam, depending on the college they plan on attending.”

Corfman, who has taken AP European History and AP U.S. History, said that while he can’t take the class because he is a senior, he would if given the opportunity. “[The] world is becoming increasingly globally connected,” Corfman said. “[Having] a class that teaches students about important cultures that are otherwise absent from the Lakota curriculum is a welcome addition.”

WATER AWARENESS continued from page 37...

to raise awareness and prevent childhood lead poisoning, lead exposure can seep into unborn children’s brains and give them developmental disadvantages in the later years of their lives, and fetuses who have lead exposure before birth can be born prematurely or underweight.

Lead also has negative effects on children such as speech problems, developmental delay, behavioral problems, anemia and damage to their nervous system.

Adults are affected by lead in other harmful ways, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. A few are depression, fatigue, dizziness, impaired concentration and diminished reaction time.

According to the OEPA’s announcement that was sent out on Jan. 21, lead exposure has affected six homes in Sebring, Ohio and two water fountains in the Sebring school district, 241 miles north of Lakota. They also found that residents were not informed about their contaminated water until after January, which is when the Flint water crisis initially broke.

Manager of the Columbus Public Water System’s Laboratory Rod Dunn said the city monitors the water and tests for lead every three years, which is a frequency set by the OEPA. Chief of the OEPA Division of Drinking and Ground Waters Mike Baker told The Dispatch that the Sebring Public Water System stopped adding sodium hydroxide to the water, which then caused corrosion in the pipes and affected the old residential lead pipes.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer on Feb. 29, 2016, Manchester United Methodist Church in Summit County, Ohio found out in 2015 that their water tested with very high lead levels.

In Mansfield, Ohio, the Hillside Mobile Home Park’s water had tested positive for lead levels higher than average in November 2015.

The homeowners were not informed within the required 60 days—they were told Feb. 8.

East Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science teacher Mark Folta conducted water tests with his class, following the guidelines of the curriculum. East senior Matthew Jackson took part in the labs to test East’s water hardness. Hard water is high in calcium and magnesium, which are not health risks but are more hazardous to pipes because of the mineral buildup on plumbing fixtures.

“We had water samples from our tap water and water from our courtyard outside, which is mostly comprised of rainwater,” Jackson says.

“We tested it for different things like nitrogen content and dissolved oxygen levels. Dissolved oxygen content was the big thing, though.”

According to Folta, the tests revealed an average reading of 200 parts per million, or 200 milligrams per liter, which classified the water as hard.

In Sebring, Ohio, tests showed lead levels at 21 parts per billion, while the Federal government set the lead level standard at 15 parts per billion. In Flint, the lead levels tested at 27 parts per billion.

The average Liberty Township resident uses 4,660 gallons of water a month. They pay an average of $25.26 a month for water and $19.04 a month for sewage which, combined, would make a total of $44.30 a month, according to the Butler County Water and Sewage Department, and they’re paying for safe water.

“The Flint crisis will not happen in Liberty

Township,” says Vance. “This area does not have lead pipes and it will not be changing the way residents are supplied water. The Butler County Water and Sewage Department tests the water hundreds of times before one takes a sip out of their water glass.”

MEDIA MARKETING

continued from page 40...

people have seen it.

Kitchen manager Chris Nabors at the new bar and grill, Tap and Barrel, on Tylersville Road, said his favorite method of advertising is through word-of-mouth. Tap and Barrel has done no other form of advertising beside word of mouth, and they are still doing well financially, he says.

Kladakis and Sturkey agree that one of the biggest advantages of advertising through social media is the capability to track and microtarget. Sturkey says that the main problem with print is that businesses take part in what is known as “spray and pray advertising,” which is a technique where a firm puts an advertisement somewhere and hopes that it reaches a decent amount of its targeted demographic. Kladakis points out that the digital aspect of advertising allows microtargeting and trying to impact a certain demographic’s decisions.

In 2013, Apple announced the release of the iBeacon, which allows any participating store to know what products their consumer is around and target them accordingly. For example, if a customer is standing near a paper towel endcap, it will send coupons for that roll of paper towels. iBeacon uses a beacon in the iPhone that is more precise than GPS and allows firms to locate consumers’ exact locations in the store.

According to Sturkey, social media has been paramount in targeting Millennials.

Avero and Menu Profit Pro are two softwares that Sturkey utilizes to enhance business. Avero allows the user to analyze every variable that could be considered when running a business.

If the user owns a bar by the University of Cincinnati, Avero and Menu Profit Pro tells him or her the store would be busier during a basketball game and allows the owner to plan accordingly. Menu Profit Pro allows the users to input recipes and receive information about how much of each ingredient they should be ordering in order to maximize profits.

Whether spreading the love of their food or racing for the highest profits, the most successful chain restaurants have engaged with Millennials through social media and are taking advantage of this new source of connection.

“After seeing [Jimmy John’s] Instagram profile,” Simpson says, “I really wanted a sandwich.”

54 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

scouting report | sports

GROWING IN THE GAME

story hanna sylla photography maya wells

“Jarrett plays hard on both ends of the floor and seems to do the little things to help his team win.”

—Greg Richards, Mason head coach

W

ith an average of 19.4 minutes of playing time, sophomore Jarrett Cox earned his varsity spot on the Lakota East men’s basketball team. Cox says that the biggest difference between junior varsity (JV) and varsity is the intensity and pace of the game.

“It’s more fast-paced,” the 6-foot guard says. “It’s more difficult because everyone is so much bigger than on JV, and I’m younger than everybody.”

Despite his struggle of being smaller and less experienced than some of the players East has faced in games, Cox still manages to establish a presence on the court. When East played Colerain in January, Cox went five for six in free throws and made 80 percent of his shots, scoring 13 points in 16 minutes of playing time. Cox noted that the chemistry among the players on East’s basketball team has played a large role in his success.

“Usually people get nervous before games,” Cox says, “but playing with people you’re comfortable with takes the edge off. We can trust each other on the court.”

Because of Cox’s age, he feels more pressure to do well. Because he is the youngest player to receive notable playing time on the team, senior captain Andrew Emrick says that sometimes Cox is held to higher standards than his teammates because he is playing on varsity.

“As a sophomore, he almost needs to bring more energy because he’s the youngest,” Emrick says. “He gets held accountable more than others, so he has to work hard no matter what. We get on him when he messes up, which isn’t often. He’s a really, really good player.”

With a 52.1 free throw percentage and an average of 6.4 points per game, he has proven to be a substantial presence on the court. Men’s varsity head coach Clint Adkins believes Cox has great potential and a bright future on the basketball team.

“It’s been a learning process for him. I think Jarrett growing up has always been the biggest, most athletic guy on the court playing with kids his own age,” Adkins says. “Now, transitioning from JV to varsity, he’s not necessarily the most athletic or the strongest, but he has really developed as a basketball player. He’s becoming a player who understands the game and doesn’t just beat people with his athleticism. He’s a kid who works really hard at his game and I love his work ethic.”

Assistant coach Kyle Vanderhorst also foresees Cox becoming a great basketball player. He says Cox has made a smooth transition from JV to varsity this past season.

“Jarrett has really worked on developing his skill level to become a better basketball player,” Vanderhorst says. “He has also been extremely successful in working on his leadership ability.

I think as he grows older, he’ll be a great leader for us.”

989

7 AFRICA

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TION add r e s s and nu es specific perfo ance r s m o a f n r o c k e r varia ce attribute tions s

CAMB ER CO M

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d e li v e rs firm co a stable rid ea nt r n o l o n power d provides ful tur ns

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enable s feel w quick turns hil a e in c r easing nd maximum float

SNOWBOARDING WORLD RECORDS HIGHEST SPEED: 125 mph

LONGEST JUMP: 187 ft

HIGHEST AIR: 32.2 ft

DISTANCE COVERED (24 HRS): 58 mi

35 SOUTH AMERICA

EUROPE

SNOW RESORTS AROUND THE WORLD

LONGEST BOARD: 9 ft, 7 in

644

NORTH AMERICA

sources abc-of-snowboarding.com, rei.com, mapsofworld.com

ALPINE

This style is based on high speed arcing turns made on groomed courses. Riders make an angle of 12-18 degrees between the ground and their board. Their body comes close to the ground during the apex and is balanced with their hand.

FREESTYLE

This type of snowboarding focuses on jumps, tricks, rail slides, halfpipes and switch riding. These techniques mostly require aerial jumps in order to spin, flip and grab the board.

The most popular competition events are freestyle.

BACK COUNTRY

This form of snowboarding is performed on natural, ungroomed territory. It is considered the most extreme as it adapts to the variations and challenges of off-piste terrrain. Many similar tricks from freestyle can be done but on natural features.

56 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

sports | alternative

SCRAPING THE SLOPES THE ALTERNATIVE

something different and exciting,” Holthaus says. “I didn’t take lessons, so learning how to snowboard was a little difficult for me, but it was still a blast. I decided to continue snowboarding and phased out of skiing because it was a new challenge for me, and I really liked the feeling of accomplishment [snowboarding] gave me as I improved.”

According to Holthaus, the biggest issues people have when learning to snowboard is keeping a balanced stance and understanding how to use the edges of their boards effectively.

Mann says that everyone will fall the first couple days of learning to snowboard but that boarders have to stay patient and can’t get discouraged.

alternative | sports

“Skiing, you can learn in a day and be able to do some of the hills. Snowboarding is harder to learn but easier to get better at,” Sprong says. “Once you learn how to snowboard, you will keep getting better a lot quicker. Skiing is a lot harder to progress.”

The three seniors plan on continuing snowboarding for as long as they can. Sprong says that because he is attending the University of Cincinnati in the fall, he will still be able to snowboard but will only get a one-day-a-week pass instead of an everyday one. Mann is currently looking at colleges that are close to slopes so that he will still be able to practice during the week in college.

The costs of snowboarding can add up in the first year of riding. The price of new equipment including a board, boots, bindings, goggles and a helmet can cost between $700 and

$1000. The price of a gold pass at Perfect North, which allows guests to ride every day, costs $380 annually.

“It can be expensive and difficult,” Holthaus says. “It is still so worth the time and effort because of how fun it is.”

According to Mann, a lot of people tend to just keep to skiing, but he thinks everybody should try snowboarding to have a challenge.

“Everyone learns at a different pace, but as long as you stay patient and have fun, people of all ages can learn to snowboard,” Mann says. “The best piece of advice I can give to any snowboarder is to stay patient, be confident and work on improving as much as possible.”

—Riley Mann, East senior

“The best piece of advice I can give any snowboarder is to stay patient, be confident and work on improving as much as possible.”

challenge,” Liber says, who has now started riding “park,” which includes riding down pipes and rails and doing tricks. “I like constantly trying new stuff and new tricks. You fall until you get [the trick], and once you do, it is super fun.”

The Snow Sports School Manager at Perfect North Slopes is Megan Holthaus, who was a snowboarding instructor there for 10 years before she took her current position. Holthaus began skiing at two years old and then transitioned into snowboarding at 11 years old when Perfect North began allowing snowboarders.

“I had skied for almost 10 years, so I thought it would be

East seniors Riley Mann, Austin Liber and Austin Sprong snowboard twice a week during the winter at Perfect North Slopes. story aly thomas | infographic manjot kalkat

A s East senior Riley Mann reaches the top of the mountain at Perfect North Slopes, he prepares the perfect angle on the board to get the optimal speed without falling off.

While going down the hill, he doesn’t think about anything, all he sees is the downhill slope ahead of him as he enjoys the adrenaline rush.

Mann and East seniors Austin Sprong and Austin Liber began snowboarding as just an activity to do with each other and their friends. Through hours of practice at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, Ind., the three began to enjoy the sport and wanted to continue to learn and improve, according to Sprong.

“It is an adrenaline rush,” Sprong says. “It is just really fun, and it’s only one of the hobbies we like to do.”

The three snowboarders make the 45-minute drive to Perfect North twice a week. They will stay there to practice for anywhere between 2-6 hours. They all have a pass that allows them to go and practice any day of the week and stay for 8 hours.

“I normally stay six hours when I am there,” Mann says. “On Thursdays, I get out [of school] at 12:55 p.m., so I go home, eat and get over there by 2 [p.m.] and stay until 7 or 8 [p.m.]. On the weekends, they are open until one in the morning so I will stay until close when I go then.”

Mann has started participating in downhill races on Thursdays, where the main objective is to get down the hill as fast as the snowboarder can go. After he races, Mann will receive tips and coaching from different instructors on how to improve. Mann even has an app on his phone that allows him to track his speed when he goes down the hill, and the highest he has reached is 43 miles per hour.

Liber and Sprong decided to change it up from participating in downhill riding.

“Just going down the hill got boring so I wanted a new

sports | wrestling

WRESTLING WITH DETERMINATION Although the numbers of upperclassmen in the wrestling program are lower this year than in the past, an influx of strong underclassmen will compensate for the loss. story allie church | photography sydney rader

W

hen East freshman Christian Chavez stepped onto the mat for the first time in his high school wrestling career, his nerves were on end. He anxiously walked up to his opponent and paused. Taking a deep breath, Chavez reminded himself that he worked relentlessly to get to that point and that he was chosen to be there for a reason.

Confidence and instinct took over. It was just another match, like all the others in which he had participated for years.

“I’ve wanted [to wrestle on varsity] ever since I started wrestling,” Chavez says. “Once I looked past the name of the school and the singlet and realized I’m wrestling the body, it all became simple. He had two arms and legs, just like me.”

In the Greater Miami Conference (GMC)113-pound weight class Chavez placed fifth with 14 wins, 10 losses and one pin to complete his freshman year. He is one of 11 freshmen on the varsity roster for the 2016 season. With two seniors and 11 juniors, underclassmen account for more than 50 percent of students participating in wrestling this year. The 29-person roster has decreased from last year’s wrestling team by 14 athletes.

According to East’s head wrestling coach, Jim Lehman, there is a multitude of reasons

58 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

why the number of wrestlers has decreased from 43 to 29, including the mental and physical sacrifice, cost to participate, and work ethic necessary to succeed in the sport.

“It takes a very special kid to come out for wrestling,” Lehman says. “There’s no doubt that we work harder than any other sport. We have to make weight the next day so you might have to miss a dinner. Not many people train on Thanksgiving or Christmas day because [they’re] managing their weight. Wrestling is a tough sport, and it’s not for everyone.”

Not only does wrestling require sacrifice and time, but it also costs $400 to participate in Lakota. For many, Lehman says, paying such a high amount to possibly give up eating every meal and to practice daily isn’t worth it. For others, like junior Ben Curry, the passion and love for the sport simply isn’t present anymore.

Curry wrestled for East for two years and was on varsity as a sophomore, ending seventh in the GMC for the 106-pound weight class with 11 wins, 10 losses and eight pins. He decided not to return this season.

“I just didn’t love it anymore,” Curry says.

“Wrestling was my life up until this year, and it was a really hard decision for me to quit because that’s what I had been doing my whole life. I spent countless hours practicing, going to

camps, and cutting weight to try to be the best, and it makes me feel like the past 10 years were worth nothing.”

To senior Alec Meszaros, the hardest part of having 14 fewer athletes has nothing to do with the physical aspect. Meszaros, who placed eighth in the GMC 152-pound weight class with 12 wins and 12 losses, is one of two returning seniors. Losing teammates with whom he was accustomed to wrestle has had the biggest impact on his final high school season.

“It kind of stinks that it’s senior year and we’ve lost a lot of friends and wrestling partners and guys we were with,” Meszaros says. “It stinks that some of our starters didn’t come back, but we still have a lot of friends left on the team, and we can still make a lot of new friends coming in.”

Beside coping with the low turnout of wrestlers, Meszaros has had to use this positive attitude to accept another common occurrence for the wrestling team this year: forfeits. In every dual match completed this year, the Thunderhawks have forfeited anywhere from 18 points to 36 points, according to Lehman.

The forfeits, caused by not presenting wrestlers for every weight class represented in matches, have no correlation with having only 29 people on the roster, says Lehman.

wrestling | sports

“The bottom line is I sacrificed short-term so we can have something good long term.”

—Jim Lehman, East head coach

Because East wrestling is composed mostly of freshman, Lehman wasn’t interested in putting athletes into situations for which he felt they weren’t prepared. Therefore, while he could have supplied wrestlers for the matches forfeited, he chose not to, concerned more with the mental well-being of his athletes.

“There are [high school wrestling] programs out there that would have taken those kids and thrown them out there just to not forfeit that weight class,” Lehman says, “but maybe that kid loses and gets discouraged. He wasn’t ready for it, nor did he want to be out there on the varsity level, so he doesn’t come back next year.

I don’t want that to happen.”

To prevent this from happening, the East wrestling staff established a protocol for determining who was prepared to participate at the varsity level and who was not. The protocol was made up of three parts: the athlete had to make the coaches clearly aware that he wanted to wrestle for varsity, he had to explain explicitly why he was interested in a varsity position so coaches could make certain that his reasoning was valid, and the coaching staff discussed whether the athlete was physically and mentally capable of participating at that level. If, after these steps were completed, the coaches collectively agreed that the wrestler

was ready, they proceeded to place him on the varsity roster.

This process, Lehman says, was successful in placing athletes where he felt they belonged so the athletes wouldn’t be discouraged. When given the opportunity to provide wrestlers for every weight class in order to not forfeit matches, he refused, following the protocol, and therefore salvaging the confidence of his athletes.

In the GMC, all wrestling meets are dual matches, and every match contributes to the score of the overall team; at the state level, however, events are based on the individual.

Keeping the protocol, forfeiting and state-level competition in mind, Lehman shifted from focusing on winning dual matches to winning individual, head-to-head matches. According to Lehman, while he doesn’t particularly like losing, being successful in the matches in which they did participate was most important this season.

“We have given up anywhere from three weight classes to six, and you can’t win that way,” Lehman says. “The focus has shifted a lot in the dual meets to, ‘We know we’re not going to win the [entire] dual meets but let’s win the [individual] head-to-heads.’ That’s a moral victory for us. We know that we’re doing

well with what we’re putting out there.”

Despite working through a relatively small roster and forfeiting matches in the 2016 season, Lehman says he has seen “absolutely zero negativity” and is using this year as a time to transition. Incoming underclassmen including 28 current eighth graders who won the GMC this year and current freshmen who came in second their eighth grade year will greatly influence the future of East’s wrestling program, according to Liberty Junior and Hopewell Junior head wrestling coach Rico Hill.

“This is probably one of the best groups I’ve had,” Hill says. “They will add numbers to the kids that are dedicated to the sport. Any kid can be successful, no matter if they’re a senior or an underclassmen. If they can wrestle, they can wrestle.”

With only two wrestlers leaving and a talented group of underclassmen remaining, Lehman looks forward to what the future has to hold for East’s wrestling program.

“The bottom line is I sacrificed short-term so we can have something good long-term,” Lehman says. “We know the junior high group that’s coming up is awesome. If you add them to the talented and hardworking kids we have already, the future’s very bright.”

“[Alec Meszaros’] effort is great and he’s a hard worker; he fights hard, and wrestles at a good level.”

—Tim Kessler, Lakota West assistant coach

LEADING THE CIRCLE story and photography dillon horter

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nly two wrestlers returned to the East Varsity Wrestling team for the 2016 season, one of them being senior Alec Meszaros, who has been wrestling for more years than he can count on his hands.

“All the Meszaros boys wrestle. My dad was really involved with wrestling in college and high school, and he was the one that got me really involved,” Meszaros says. “He placed second at state two times in his high school career, and he really inspired me to keep going.

He got me started in the East Kids Club when I was in first grade. [East’s] is the only wrestling room I have ever known.”

East wrestling head coach Jim Lehman, a two-time New Jersey State Freestyle Champion who has served as head coach of Team New Jersey as well as 11 years as the head coach of the Ohio Cadet National Freestyle Team, has been “honored” to have Meszaros on his team at East.

“It’s been awesome to see Alec progress, and the biggest thrill I have is watching someone like him come out and have great success,” Lehman says. “This guy wants to win, and he doesn’t just take the easy road, he challenges himself. For a kid like him to be as committed as he is says a lot about his character.”

As the only active senior wrestler, Meszaros, who wrestles in the 152 pound weight class, has brought it upon himself to help lead a young and inexperienced team in a positive direction.

He says he takes great pride in leading the East team and only wants to see them succeed.

“You can’t just worry about yourself as a leader—you have to worry about the rest of the team,” Meszaros says. “There’s a lot of

60 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

expectations for us, and as a leader I have to make sure everyone and our goals are on the same page so that we can rise up and meet those expectations.”

Not only does Meszaros have to have to look at goals from a team standpoint, but he also has to look at goals from an individual standpoint.

He placed at the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) meet and at the sectional and district meets. Meszaros did not place in the top four at the GMC meet last year during the 2015 season didn’t qualify for the district meet, but with his hard work ethic and confidence, Meszaros believes he can place in both meets this season.

Fellow senior wrestler Sam Roth, who has been battling a shoulder injury most of the year, sees Meszaros going far into the postseason.

“He busts his tail during practice and frequently stays after to work with coaches,” Roth says. “Alec has always worked hard in and out of practice for the last four years he has been with the East wrestling program, and I am really excited to see him succeed this year going forward. I think he has the capability of placing at both GMCs and Districts.”

Lehman agrees saying that Meszaros’ work ethic and dedication over the past 12 years will reward him in the postseason if he continues to work hard and set goals for himself.

“Our goals are aligned, and going forward, we want to see him be successful. He’s a kid that may not be the star wrestler or a placer in state meets, but he’s going to be looked at as a kid who keeps plugging away and working hard,” Lehman says. “I admire him for everything he has done and he will go out and make us proud.”

STAT FOCUS LAKOTA EAST ATHLETICS 12-6-0

The Academic Quiz team’s record

55.1

East Senior Andrew Emrick’s field goal percentage after 20 games

0.750

The girl’s basketball team’s conference percentage after 16 games

4:32:81

Josh McDonald’s time in the 500 yard freestyle is first in the Greater Miami Conference

8178

Number of pins East Sophomore Josh Knull has knocked down.

scouting report | sports

PINNING IMPROVEMENTS W

alking into Mason Bowl for his first bowling tryout, East sophomore Logan Lockhart was looking for a Brunswick House bowling ball that would be big enough to fit his hand. He was only able to fit his hand into the twelve-pound ball. After he made the team, Lockhart decided to invest in a custom Haywire ball that was three pounds heavier, but it would cause him to have to relearn how to bowl.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Lockhart says. “I was just trying to find a ball that would fit [my hands]. I finally found a twelve-pound ball, which was super light, but it fit.”

Despite this adjustment to a new ball, East head bowling coach Michael Ballard says that Lockhart is committed to working on a new

story kathryn creehan photography richard giang

delivery that caused his scores to drop initially, but he says it will make Lockhart a much better bowler in the long run.

That commitment has gotten Lockhart an average of 170.5 pins per match and a personal best of 186, according to the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) website. “[Lockhart] is a hard worker and takes instruction well,” Ballard says. “His competitiveness is strong. We have subbed him [up for varsity] in matches, and he has stepped up nicely.”

With an overall record of 7-11 and a GMC record of 2-7, Ballard has been satisfied with the season so far.

“We would like to have had a few more wins, but we improved all year, and we are bowling

“[Logan Lockhart] is a hard worker and takes instruction well. He is committed.”

—Mike Ballard, East head coach

well heading into sectionals,” Ballard says. ”As the bowlers started seeing improvement, it pushed everyone’s score higher.”

Lockhart contributes much of his success in bowling to his friend and teammate, sophomore Josh Knull, who introduced Lockhart to East bowling.

“He has worked hard this season on improving his game,” Knull says. “He has definitely earned his spot on the varsity team.”

Lockhart says that he has enjoyed his first year on the team, largely due to his teammates.

“They are really cool and support each other,” Lockhart says. “They are all really great guys and make it a very enjoyable experience.

If I mess up, they are always there to give me a second chance.”

Q&A

BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY DUSTIN HORTER

interview maddie alsip

Maddie Alsip: How does it feel to be named the Cincinnati Enquirer Runner of the year?

Dustin Horter: It’s a huge honor especially based on how hard I worked this year. I was really excited when I heard I won the award because there’s a lot of other really good distance runners in the area.

MA: What are your individual goals for track?

DH: A goal I have for the track season at first is to go below four minutes for the 1500 and 1600 meter run. Than next is to go sub 9:05 in the 3200 meter run and hopefully run the 800 meter in 1:55 or lower.

MA: Do you feel any pressures or expectations for next season?

DH: There’s certiantly a little bit a pressure now that colleges are becoming a little more active in the recruitng process. But when I go out to run I just worry about having fun more than anything and that’s my main concern. I always do have fun running; it’s something that I do by choice and nobody is forcing me to do it.

MA: What do you hope to improve on next season?

DH: One thing I hope to improve on is finishing stronger. I’ve been practicing to improve my kick, which is the end of my run. I just want to be able to sprint to the finish lines and shoot for lower personal records everytime.

MA: Reflecting back on this season, what was the most memorable or rewarding moment?

DH: The most memorable moment was standing on the podeum in third place being that I was 14th my freshman year, third was a huge step up. Also there was two seniors in front of me so looking in the future I had confidence that I could potentially shoot for a state title in the next year.

opinion | editorial cartoons

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

“Flint Water Crisis” —Goldie Bristow

“An Apple a Day Keeps the Terrorism Away” —Sarah Aftab

“Keeping Up with the Candidates” —Cara Satullo 62 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

column | opinion

#FREEKESHA VICTORIA NEGRON art julia sanders

A

s of Feb. 19, pop star Kesha Rose will be forced to work with her alleged rapist and abuser, Sony producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald. Photos of the singer breaking down to tears in the courtroom spread rapidly across social media as fans protested outside the building, chanting, “Free Kesha.” In a judge’s ruling, Kesha was not granted the injunction that would have allowed her to create music outside of her six-album contract with Dr. Luke. Kesha accused him of raping her and emotionally abusing her for the majority of her career, which she claimed contributed to her eating disorder for which she entered rehab in 2014.

After the decision on Kesha’s case, fans and several celebrities, including Lorde, Ariana Grande and Zedd, took to social media to show their support with “#FreeKesha.” Taylor Swift even donated a staggering $250,000 to Kesha to help with her financial needs. Most recently, Adele, one of the biggest names under the production of Sony, stated her support while accepting a Brit Award on Feb. 24. Lady Gaga showed her solidarity by posting a picture of the two of them together with the caption “Free Kesha.” She also took the opportunity to speak on rape culture in an interview on Time Talks.

The judge’s decision sparked a discussion on rape culture and the double standards in music.

Kesha is forced to work under her contract with Sony because, according to the judge, there isn’t enough proof to support that she had been a victim of assault. Meanwhile, Zayn Malik broke his contract with the Syco label, which is a venture of Sony, when he left boy band One Direction in March 2015 because he “wasn’t happy.” Zayn went on to establish a solo career and put out a Billboard top 10 single while Kesha was trapped in a court battle that ultimately ended up right where it started.

Some may argue that as soon as someone claims to have been raped or sexually assaulted it is the undeniable truth, but jumping

the gun should be avoided. According to Stanford University, about two percent of rape accusations are determined to be false.

Although this number may be small, it is necessary to proceed into investigations with caution instead of making assumptions about the circumstances. Victims deserve to have their voices heard, but the accused still hold the right to due process. However, Kesha was not asking that Dr. Luke go to jail for his

sex and had opportunities taken away from me, that would get your attention as well,” said Kirkpatrick on her website. “Or at least it should. If it doesn’t, you’d fit right in in the entertainment business.”

More instances of sexism occur not only in the music industry but also in the entertainment industry as a whole. Actresses are subject to objectification during auditions and casting and are more likely than men to be turned down for

The controversy over double standards and sexism in the entertainment industry is larger than Kesha and her court case. actions—she simply asked to be released from the confines of her contract with a producer with whom she no longer felt safe. If Zayn were able to leave his contract under Sony for being unhappy, Kesha should have been able to do the same.

Although Zayn may have had to pay to get out of his contract, there was minimal backlash from Sony. Kesha, on the other hand, endured a court case with accusations and lawsuits being pushed on either side. Dr. Luke accused her of extortion and launched a countersuit against her, claiming that the allegations of rape and abuse were solely to get money from Sony. This double standard isn’t the first instance where sexism is prevalent in the music industry. It comes in many forms and affects every woman in music. Amy Kirkpatrick of Data Romance claimed that refusing sexual advances often limited her and her fellow bandmates.

“The amount of times I’ve turned down

a role because of physical appearance. Many actresses are held to higher standards, such as Jennifer Lawrence who was told to lose weight for several roles as she didn’t meet the nearly unattainable criteria called for during movie castings.

This controversy over double standards and sexism in the entertainment industry is larger than Kesha and her court case. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 15.8 to 35 percent of sexual assaults are reported to the police. The results of this case lead other victims of rape, assault or abuse to be wary of coming forward or pressing charges out of fear of the rejection that victims often times face.

When questions arise concerning why victims don’t come forward immediately, an instance like #FreeKesha is a perfect example. Victims of assault should feel safe to come forward, not restricted by the fear that no one will let their voices be heard.

opinion | column

FLINT, WATER YOU DOING? VIVIAN KOLKS O

ut of all of the water fountains at East, it seemed that all 2400 students had chosen the exact one I was standing at. There I was.

Three minutes left until the bell rang with five people in front of me filling up what must have been the largest water bottles in existence. I grumbled and groaned about my predicament, but in the end I had absolutely no qualms about guzzling down a bottle of water, fresh from the tap. After all, tap water should be undeniably and irrefutably safe.

“We only use bottled water to serve guests,” said Diana Phillips, resident of Flint, Michigan and owner of the city’s only bed and breakfast in a January 2016 interview with the Detroit Free Press. “We try to assure people that they won’t get poisoned.”

Normally, using bottled water over the cheaper and more readily available tap water is an extreme and unnecessary measure for a bed and breakfast to take. However, nothing about Flint’s water has been even remotely normal since 2014 when the state-appointed emergency manager, Darnell Earley, changed the city’s water source from from Lake Huron to the nearby Flint River.

It started with the pipes. The households in Flint are a small portion of the one hundred million private homes and businesses in America to have tap water brought directly into their homes by lead pipes, according to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA). Lead, which is used because it effectively stops pinhole leaks, is a dangerous element to use in the conduction of water. If lead-poisoned water is ingested, it can cause developmental delay and learning disabilities in children and memory loss and high blood pressure in adults. Usually lead in lead piping is controlled with delicate chemistry to keep it out of water intended for consumption. Sadly enough, the EPA reported that no preventive measures were taken during the switch to Flint River water, and as a result, the number of children with abnormal levels of lead in their blood doubled. It should have

64 lakotaeastsparkonline.com March 2016

mattered to city officials as citizens of Flint, Mich. to take the initiative to ensure that their fellow residents could trust their water.

“We don’t know what’s going to come in the future,” said Flint resident and parent Luke Waid in an interview with the Detroit Free Press. “I’m uncertain. I’m no doctor, but it’s really putting the parents in between a rock and a hard spot...It seems like our city officials do not care.”

I

f the city can’t properly control its own drinking supply, then it’s up to the rest of the country to make a difference for the people of Flint. Cher, Big Sean and Aretha Franklin are all celebrities who have begun to pitch in by donating money and water bottles to Flint as

water bottles and monetary donations to the residents of Flint.

H

owever, even with aid, the problem in Flint isn’t going away any time soon. The damage inflicted on the pipes is permanent, and the only option is complete replacement, which will take several years and $55 million, according to the EPA. Beyond the Mayo-Clinic-suggested eight glasses of water a day, Flint residents need water for cooking, washing and other daily uses. In fact, water resources expert Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute in Oakland has estimated that humans require 13.2 gallons of clean water each day to meet basic needs, which doesn’t even come close to the 98 gallons that the average American was estimated to use per

It should have mattered to city officials as citizens of Flint, Mich. to take the initiative to ensure that their fellow residents could trust their water. well as raising awareness on social media. Other Americans may not have the same resources that A-list celebrities do, like a vast disposable income or a Twitter account with millions of followers, but their intentions are still the same.

This is middle-class America reaching out to the rest of middle-class America, and there’s no shortage of organizations to which to donate.

The Flint Child Health And Development Fund, which focuses on delivering medicalbased services to any of the suspected victims of lead poisoning is one example. Other organizations like The Flint Water Fund and Help for Flint, focus more on water filters,

day in 2005. The citizens of Flint need water, they needed water yesterday, and they needed it all the way back in 2014, when poisoned water started running through their taps.

While my fellow students and I can complain about being late to class in an attempt to fill our bottles, there is an entire city that will never trust tap water again.

“Our children should not have to be worried about the water that they’re drinking in American cities, that’s not something we can accept,” said President Obama recently, and it’s up to us to make sure that’s a mistake we will never repeat.

column | opinion

MAYBE NEXT TIME AMENA SHEIKH W

hen I was a kid, I thought my Arab culture was completely normal and that I was just an average kid with average rules.

American food like hamburgers and corn-dogs were pretty rare in the house, and Lunchables were just the myths of lunchtime. Rice and pita bread were daily staples, which I was fine with because that meant weekly runs to our Middle Eastern bakery for fresh bread, and that always resulted in the baker giving us free sweets. Life was a piece of baklava for me as a kid. Then high school hit. As if dealing with freshman year wasn’t hard enough, just add the restrictions of strict Middle Eastern parents. I got a taste of what other kids were free to do, and what I couldn’t. My parents didn’t place much trust in me, which meant I wasn’t allowed to be out after 10 p.m., wear certain things, and, worst of all, my Wi-Fi was restricted. On top of that, I was the first child, the test run, the showcase child. I had to be flawless, and I missed that memo. I couldn’t even see the expectations because they were set so high.

At school, the goals I set for myself were reachable—I knew what I was capable of. If I got an 85 percent, it was fine because the girl next to me got a 76. But, there’s always one kid who aces everything with no effort, and I’m convinced it’s some sort of superhuman trait, but my parents tend to think otherwise. I’d bring home a test I got an A- on, and I used to expect praise and a smile, but they usually just ended up asking why I didn’t work hard enough to get a 100 if that one kid could. Screw you,

GUEST COLUMN smart kid.

This conversation of ‘work harder next time’ never really ends, and sometimes ,‘When I was your age…’ tags along at the end, too.

What my parents don’t understand is that the situations are different. This is now, that was then. What I probably will never understand is the obstacles and the hoops my parents had to jump through, starting with the moment they were born.

B

orn in Gaza, my parents left looking for a better life. The territory that was called the British Mandate for Palestine legally became the state of Israel in 1948, but the story goes way back to the late 1800s, when members of a Jewish movement called Zionism suggested seeking out a land to establish as a Jewish homeland. Palestine was a multicultural country, and the Palestinians had no problems with this diversity. Then, the level of Zionist immigrants increased with hopes of turning Palestine into a Jewish State, and people started freaking out. It didn’t help much when Hitler decided to make Germany “great” again, creating a surplus of Jewish refugees who came to Palestine. The unsettlement following the end of the British Mandate and United Nations proposal to create two separate states, one Arab

My parents made their sacrifices so I didn’t have to live a repeat of their life—the struggles they’ve been through, the things they’ve given up, and the regrets they’ve had.

and one Jewish, led to the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, leading Israel to conquer the majority of Palestine—except for the West Bank and Gaza, which were put under extremely oppressive control.

Both of my grandparents were part of thousands who were displaced, leaving everything behind. They fled, walking for days to the nearest refugee camp in Gaza, which they would call ‘home’ for the next 25 years, and would eventually be the birthplace of their children—my parents. When my mother was 5, the refugees were granted a small chunk of Gaza where they were told to sustain themselves. With nothing, the refugees built an economy that could survive the harsh circumstances, built their own homes, and farmed their own food. Not a thing existed without the Israeli government regulating it—random house searches; water, electricity and gas were limited; and there weren’t any colleges or airports. A few months after 2005, the government closed the border. Not a single Palestinian soul could get in or out. My mother hasn’t been able to see her siblings since.

M

y parents made their sacrifices so I didn’t have to live a repeat of their life—the struggles they’ve been through, the things they’ve given up, and the regrets they’ve had.

My dad, working several jobs and still getting high grades in college, while my mom had to carry the family while learning the language at the same time. I might not be a doctor or get 112 percent on a test (ever), and their image of a perfect child is impossible, but I move forward for them. My parents’ dream was to for me to succeed, and it’s such a small price compared to what they’ve paid. I can never really hate their immigrant parents who have given up everything so their child could live a better life, even though they try to guilt trip me by saying, ‘I didn’t come to this country so you could sit on your butt and do nothing,’ on the daily. I won’t let it all go to waste.

opinion | from the editor

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE NINA BRILLHART photography richard giang

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wo years ago, I wouldn’t have been bothered much by the comment, “You would have to be blind, deaf or illiterate to not pass the Ohio Graduation Tests (OGTs),” but it wasn’t until I heard my co-worker’s story that I realized how demeaning and repulsive that comment really was.

My co-worker had moved to America from Mexico at the age of 13 and currently lives in a predominantly Spanish-speaking household. When I asked him how school was going, he responded, “I hate school because I can’t pass the OGT tests.” He said he didn’t even know how to read most of the questions.

Because, according to the Ohio Department of Education, 86 percent of Lakota Local School District students passed the 2014 OGTs as “proficient” or above, it was easy for high schoolers to shrug off the assessments as a piece of cake. They would gripe and complain because they would rather have been sleeping in than have had to spend a few dollars on a cup of coffee just so they could breeze through filling in bubbles on an answer document. (The OGTs are no longer administered to grade levels because they were replaced with other statewide standardized tests. Students who have already taken and failed portions of the OGT, however, still need to pass all sections in order to graduate.)

Those who struggle completing the standardized test are not incompetent or stupid. They are people who walk the same halls, go to work, play instruments and participate in sports just like everyone else. They are not lazy or irresponsible, just at a disadvantage. Imagine students having to take a standardized test in their foreign language class that determined whether or not they would graduate. Granted, some students have translators at their disposal, but the tests are still timed. Because of the stigma surrounding the tests, the minority group is bound to feel like failures.

It was quickly apparent how many students take their education for granted. Even just knowing the common language is a tremendous advantage considering the U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2009 that 20 percent of Americans speak a language other than English at home. The fact that the test becomes a punchline every year at the expense of others exemplifies the lack of awareness many students have for the struggles of those around them and the advantages their education has provided for them. What people fail to realize is the weight of their words, and even more is the individual struggles that fellow classmates have. What is easy for one person isn’t always easy for the next.

As prom rolls around, the biggest dilemma in many high schoolers’ lives is how they’re is going to ask someone to prom or what dress they’re going to wear. And although these questions may seem urgent, there are still students who sit in classrooms with us who are wondering how they are going to graduate high school.

The lack of awareness teenagers have about the diversity within the school results in an uncensored and dangerous tongue. Today, people are too self-serving to see or even care with what others are dealing. It is time to break down the walls of naiveté and show compassion to those facing greater battles.

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