NEWS
Students March for Life in D.C. The first school sponsored trip Jan. 18 includes 16 students and three chaperones in the nation’s capital. BY CECILIA MOHÁCSI PRINT CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sixteen students and three chaperones traveled to Washington D.C. for three days for the annual national March for Life Jan. 18. This is the first year a school sponsored trip has been organized for the event. “I’m pro-life and I thought it would be a really good experience to come,” freshman Sophia Aguayo said. “There were a lot more people than I thought there would be.” The trip was coordinated by Alive for All Life Club with the help of club sponsor and College Counselor Erin Stein. Stein planned the trip along with seniors and Alive for All Life Club presidents Taylor Pitzl and Cecilia Mohácsi. The group left Jan. 17 and returned Jan. 19. “I could not have asked for this trip to go any better than it did,” Stein said. “I am proud of all of our girls for the way they represented Sion, as well as the sacrifice they made to attend the march.” The national March for Life is the largest prolife demonstration in the world where hundreds of thousands of marchers joined together to march down Constitution Ave towards the Supreme Court. The theme chosen to represent this year’s
march was “Unique from Day One: Pro-Life is Pro-Science.” Every year a rally precedes the March on the National Mall that features several speakers, many of whom focused their speeches on the theme. “To hear from a stage full of individuals speaking about the unified cause of protecting the unborn was inspiring. There were faith leaders to politicians on both sides of party lines to a former medical director of Planned Parenthood,” Stein said. “Ultimately, the focus of the rally was not solely political or overly religious. Being pro-life is not limited to religious or political affiliation, but is rooted in science.” Speakers at the rally included Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and Chairman of the Pro-life Activities Committee Joseph Naumann, founder of And Then There Were None Abby Johnson and conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro, who recorded an episode of his podcast live at the rally. “It was really interesting. He said some things I agreed with, said some things I didn’t necessarily agree with, but I enjoyed getting to hear someone else’s viewpoint,” senior Victoria Farrington said. “It was interesting to me too hearing the people around me react to what he said.” One speaker arrived to the rally as a surprise. March for Life President Jeanne Mancini announced to the crowd that not even the staff knew about this speaker as Vice President of the
Students United States Mike Pence walked pose with on stage joined by his wife Karen signs for a Pence. Pence had called into Shapiro’s photo taken show just an hour before his live by a reporter appearance. from The “From what I’ve heard from past Leaven years, you had to go through lots of during the extra security when he was there, so I rally for the March for really wasn’t expecting anything like Life on the that,” Farrington said. National Several of the students had never Mall Jan. been to D.C. or the March before. 18. (Photo This experience allowed them to see a by Cecilia new part of the country. Mohácsi) “I decided to go on the March because I wanted to experience something I hadn’t before and go somewhere with a school group,” junior Brie Bowes said. While in D.C. the group also had time to sightsee around the city including visiting Arlington National Cemetery for the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, walking to the monuments and seeing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. However, with the government shutdown, students were unable to visit Smithsonian museums and other D.C. attractions. But Stein is hopeful that the trip will continue in years to come. “I’d love to see a new group of seniors rise to the challenge of coordinating this trip as their senior service project,” Stein said.
New Schedule Change for 2019-2020 School Year Class times for next school year have been changed with the hope that students will sleep more. BY EMMA HUTCHIN REPORTER
A new schedule change will be put into place next year, with school starting at 8:45 a.m. and ending at 3:45 p.m. in order to give students an opportunity to sleep more. “In our study, we found patterns of benefit for the health of teens with a later start time,” High School Principal Natalie McDonough said. An email was sent to students and their parents announcing the change Jan. 21 with attached articles that were referenced when deciding what the new schedule would look like. The new changes
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are being put into place in order to coincide with the natural wake-up times of adolescents, according to McDonough. “We have been researching schedules for the past two years, and later start times work best with adolescent needs,” McDonough said. “During puberty, the adolescent circadian system naturally delays the onset of sleep to a later time.” The school building will still open at 7:00 a.m. in case parents need to drop off students early, and a math lab will be open for anyone needing extra help. The math lab will be staffed with math teachers and students can either drop in or set an appointment to ask for help. Rather than classes beginning at 8:00 a.m., they will begin at 8:45 a.m. and last until 3:45 p.m. Each period will last
a total of 48 minutes instead of the normal 50. “I prefer the new schedule because I get to sleep in longer and the school day is a bit shorter,” junior Caroline Ehren said. “The new schedule works out great for me.” For students with after-school jobs or activities, a “case by case” 7th-hour work study hall can be set up, according to McDonough. Girls will be able to leave campus by 3:10 p.m., but need signatures from their parents, counselor and employer. Athletic practices will be set back 15 minutes and games will be scheduled to miss as little class time possible. “We have students coming from all over the city during rush hour, and pushing the start time back saves students time and danger in heavy traffic conditions,” McDonough
said. “We will pilot it next year and keep data on several different items to see how effective the late start is in helping students achieve, get the rest they need and improve mental health.” Although the changes are in the best interest of students, some are upset with the new plan and believe it will interfere with their extracurriculars. With a later start time, dismissal is pushed back in order to have a full school day. Late starts and activity time will now be built into the daily schedule as well. “I don’t like the late ending because it makes everything go later,” sophomore Madeline Hammett said. “But, give a little take a little, and I’m willing to give 35 minutes at the end of the day if I am able to take 45 minutes at the beginning.”
