Volume 92 issue 6

The Bell March 4, 2016 Volume 92, Issue 6

Visit us at LHSNEWS.NET

Table of Contents

Don’t Judge a Book..........................................................06-07 UMKC Diversity...................................................................08 Hawk Walk............................................................................09 Hitting the Right Tone......................................................10-11 Let’s Go Back to the Future...............................................12-13 The Road to Nationals...........................................................14 Senior Allison Niemeier..........................................................16 Junior Isaac Yates....................................................................17 Sophomore Ellen Auduong....................................................18 Freshman Will Laycock..........................................................19 Support Staff Scott Sportsman.............................................20 Teacher Crystal Bosch............................................................21 Bathroom Etiquette: It’s in the Toilet..............................22-23 The Icing on Top...................................................................24 Staff Editorial..........................................................................25 Games.................................................................................26-29 Columns..............................................................................30-31 Athlete of the Month..........................................................32-33 Niki’s Corner...........................................................................34 Swimming the Distance.........................................................35

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Photo by: Kelsey Baldwin

Photo by: Brieann Wynn

Page: 16

Page: 09 Photo by: Kelsey Baldwin

Page: 10-11

Photo by: Adam Pouliot

Page: 14

Page: 32

Photo by: Elise Ciferri

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On the cover: Senior Kendyl Beatty practices her free-style stroke before state competition.

Photo by Adam Pouliot

Corrections from previous issue: Tim Baldwin’s statement should have said: “Natalie is one of the hardest-workers I’ve ever met in my entire life. She’s a really brilliant person with a magnanimous personality and is consistently giving to her classmates. She’s a real asset to her team and an awesome student to work with.”

The photo of Daria Locke was taken by Hannah Leonard.

Staff

Blood Drive 2016 Senior Sarah Phillips donates blood at the annual blood drive on Friday, February 19.

Cookies, water and Star Wars themed t-shirts were given to those who participated. AP Biology students welcomed members of LHS, as well as the community, to donate.

Mission

Adviser --> Lori Oyler Editor-in-Chief --> Tara Prindle Design Editor --> Alex Wilson Opinion and A&E Editor --> Emily Johannes InDepth Editor --> Teresa Parra Features Editor --> Lacy Williams News Editor --> Hannah Leonard Sports Editor --> Kati Benhardt Ads Manager and Cartoonist --> Daryl Gichui Online Manager --> Erica Schmitz Reporters --> Sol Kim Niki Benhardt Kamden Bernard Teegan Saunders Jenna Spence Riley Kelley

Caleb Lautenschlager Katie Moon Joey O’Kelly Tommy Roseman Haley Stephenson Delaney Tarpley Paige Twenter Meg Whipple

Our mission for the 2015-2016 school year is to unite a diverse group of people and ideas to compose an informative and entertaining magazine using articles, photographs, and commercial messages. As journalists in training we endeavor to give the best representation of the community of Liberty High School. The Bell student newspaper is a public forum for student expression.

Contact

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Address --> 200 Blue Jay Drive Liberty, MO Phone --> (816)-736-5353 Email --> loyler@liberty.k12.mo.us Twitter --> @TheLHSBell

Jabber

“When your American Lit teacher wears Yeezy Season clothes” @CameronHora

@c

al l

m e_ ht 3

“the secret to being happy is letting every situation be what it is, instead of what you think it should be” @laurennnplyeee

“Nights to remember” “1st play of the World Series: Inside the park HR 1st play of NFL Playoffs: Kickoff return for TD Deja Vu. #KCMO” @jbednar15 @moflem22 “No one more deserving than Jess and Daniel to be King and Queen. What special night for Liberty! So grateful to be apart of all the Courtwarming Festivities #GlowBigOrGoHome”

“snickers: “you’re not you when you’re hungry” me: “who even am I...” #alwayshungry” @creativekaylee

“Our Liberty Special Olympics teams went 6-0 today with a gold medal sweep! #statebound @LHSBlueJays” @Michelle_Jank

“If I put as much effort into school as I put into Clash of Clans I wouldn’t be so stressed all the time.” @mckenna_still

Jabber 05

Don’t Judge a Book Diversity council works to put an end to microagressions.

Story by Riley Kelley

Photos by Lacy Williams and Corben Phillips

Intolerance can come in many forms, and even the smallest everyday comment can be a form of discrimination.

Microaggressions are defined as: “the everyday verbal, nonverbal and environmental slights, snubs or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.”

In other words, a microaggression is a small comment or action that can be interpreted as hurtful toward a person or group of people. Unfortunately, even in our more politically correct society, microaggressions are still common and LHS is no exception.

Microaggressions can appear in several different, yet equally damaging forms. Junior Jillian Lappin, a member of Diversity Council and Gay Straight Alliance club, said she sees these prejudicial acts on an everyday basis.

“There are plenty of small insults like ‘that’s so gay’ or saying a boy that acts feminine is gay or even calling someone who is transgender ‘it’,” Lappin said.

Gay Straight Alliance club member

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sophomore Dani Bessmer agrees.

“I have noticed a lot of slurs and people wearing t-shirts that are making fun of clubs who are working to achieve equality,” Bessemer said. “I have noticed a lot of slurs at hetero and cisnormativity.”

Other problematic areas of discrimination are racism and sexism.

“When I tell people that I’m Nigerian and they meet my parents they assume that because my parents have very thick accents they can’t understand what they’re saying,” senior Favor Oribhabor said.

“You can’t assume that someone is less intelligent just because of their race. Or even being a girl, like in stagecraft, people ask for strong guys to help with things even though girls can do it.”

The commonality of these microaggressions is astounding.

“I experience microaggressions three to four times a week,” Bessmer said.

Some of these microaggressions against other groups occur simply because the person making the comment does not have a good understanding of the group they are insulting.

“Most of it is ignorance and fear,” Lappin said. “Most people when they

don’t understand something they feel the need to attack it or lash out.”

There is one specific area that could use some extra attention when spreading awareness about toleration and the damage caused by microaggressions.

“I can only speak for the LGBT community,” Lappin said. “All of these areas could use improvement, but LGBT topics seem to be more taboo than others.

People feel like they need to talk about it and should know about it.”

Teachers and staff have these instances of prejudice and discrimination on their radar just as much as students do.

“We’ve had student reports of things being said in the hallway that are somewhat disturbing and comments made in classrooms that are disheartening for students to hear, such as statements being made about a person’s ethnicity, race or religion that are just disrespectful,” counselor and Diversity Council sponsor Brenda Wiederholt said.

Teachers play a vital role in providing this education and should step in when they see one of these microaggressions take place.

Members of Diversity Council reach out to students to stop using microaggressions.

Some members of Diversity Council: (left) senior Soliana Kahassai, juniors Jillian Lappin, Jacklyn Drewry (right) and Janai Simpson.

“I think one of the most important things is when staff members and faculty hear a statement that is disrespectful and inappropriate that it is addressed immediately,” Wiederholt said. “If there are any incidents that are witnessed they need to be addressed immediately and those students need to be made aware of why their statements or actions are not okay.”

Because they deal with most members of the student body on a daily basis, teachers need to be sure they are contributing to making the school a tolerant and safe environment for everyone. Although effort is made for this to be the case, teachers could still stand to be a little more careful.

“Maybe the teachers are trying a little harder now that we’ve held a student panel for them,” Lappin said. “Publicly they all, or a great majority, will try very hard to keep their personal beliefs to themselves.

They might not talk about their beliefs but they won’t try to attack people of diversities. They still might say something hurtful and they may not realize it.”

As far as development in the areas of

toleration and embracing differences within the school, students and staff feel that they are making progress, but there is still room for improvement.

“I think we do a pretty decent job,” Oribhabor said. “It used to be that someone uses a racial slur and they get away with it. Now if you say it, someone is going to call you out. There’s always room for improvement.”

With efforts from Diversity Council and increased recognition of these issues throughout the school, conflicts of intolerance are slowly being solved.

“I would say these problems are getting better because our Diversity Council has done a good job with bringing awareness to our staff members and so I am hopeful these issues will improve,” Wiederholt said. “I think that students are more willing to talk about issues now so hopefully it will just continue to get better.”

Efforts to continue embracing differences and diversity are critical and there are many different ways to further strive for a more accepting environment.

Leaders within the school have recognized the importance of educating students and staff members alike on topics of embracing diversity as well as tolerating differences in others.

“Providing education for the person is critical to point out the statement is derogatory and hurtful,” counselor and co-sponsor of Diversity Council Kathy Alagna said.

Oribhabor agrees.

“I think it’s a matter of educating yourself and talking to other people rather than getting second and third hand accounts of what is happening,” she said.

Overall, diversity and embracing the differences is an essential part of uniting the population of LHS and the community.

Part of doing so is raising awareness, putting an end to microaggressions and other acts of discrimination.

“An organization must continually strive for compliance with the law, civil rights for individuals and openness to diversity,” Alagna said. “We can never be complacent with matters of such importance.”

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UMKC Diversity

Students participate in an educational event at UMKC to prepare for college.

Story and photo by Lacy Williams

Underclassmen enjoy the opportunity to experience a day in the shoes of a college student; this is why UMKC sponsors a Youth Day every year on its campus.

Sophomores and juniors were invited on February 26, but only 20 students were able to participate because there are over 300 schools attending.

Students learned about the college admission process, activities and diversity training, and personal relationships.

“They will go to a variety of workshops and hopefully they will learn college is possible,” counselor Brenda Wiederholt said. “There are options out there that they can explore and maybe they will learn something about an option they didn’t know about before.”

The workshops gave students an eye opening experience to a day in college.

“They introduced us to what the college was like, toured the campus, did activities like paperwork things and it felt like the first day of college,” junior Donnie Smith said.

Along with workshops, the students

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learned statistics of ACT and SAT scores as well as learning about opportunities past high school.

“It was mostly about the percentage of African Americans who go to college and trying to increase it,” Barker said. “ACT and SAT scores for African Americans were really low; lower than what they should be. They basically asked us what would help raise it.”

The college students on campus help show LHS students they can overcome the odds of being a minority.

“My favorite part was seeing many of the African Americans who started out in a bad local neighborhood and got into college with a high ACT,” Barker said.

The atmosphere and glimpse into college life brings encouragement to LHS. “The energy is amazing throughout the event,” Wiederholt said. “The college students that are part of organizing the day and throughout the day are just so energized and positive which just feeds into our students.”

Students believe that it will help

enlighten them on college planning.

“I think it will be beneficial for where I want to go and helping decide where I want to go in the future,” sophomore Hannah Spell said.

This has helped shape students mindsets of planning for college and has impacted the process.

“It has helped mostly with the networking skills, meaning interacting with different people, exchanging information and getting further in your life or career based on just knowing other people,” junior Janai Simpson said. “I now talk to a lot more college coaches, my teachers, my parents, friends and opened up way more scholarship opportunities for me.”

Students who have gone believe it’s an opportunity that should be taken if one is able to attend.

“It has taught me to study more, to take high school seriously and to really think about college choices and what colleges expect of you,” Barker said.

Back row (left to right): Sophomores Ayraka Straws, Jordan Johnson, Jordan Autery, Kristian Smith, junior Chyna Reynolds, sophomores Tyler Walker, Cheyenne Garcia and Hannah Spell. Front (left to right): Sophomores Jordan Gipson, Emilyn Richardson, Precious Black.

H A W K

W A L K

A new crosswalk is added on Conistor Street.

Story by Joey O’Kelly

Photos by Kelsey Baldwin

Why did the Blue Jay cross the road?

Because, thanks to the new crosswalk, it’s now safe to do so. The crosswalk, known as the “HAWK Crosswalk,” is on Conistor Street, between EPiC Elementary and LHS. The crosswalk was put into construction towards the end of fall and was finished over Winter break.

“After we collaboratively decided that we needed to put something in place, the district engaged our engineer staff, and we got them to look into the specifics of the area, the type of traffic that we’d be looking at, the geometry of the road, the turns,” chief operations officer of LPS Steven Anderson said. “They began an evaluation from a pure and professional mindset of ‘what would be the best location’ and ‘what would be the best design.’ The city had some ideas and the district had some ideas. What we ended up doing was we gave complete responsibility to our professional engineers, and they came up with precisely where it’s located and what it looks like and that was the plan we sold to the city later on.”

While the goal is for everyone to use the crosswalk, people who travel between

LHS and EPiC may use it more often.

The HAWK might not seem like a big deal to LHS students, but it’s fairly significant for the elementary staff and students. EPiC students were given a permission slip to allow them to cross the road, not just for activities at the high school, but also for the students who live behind the high school and have to walk home.

“We’re excited about the increased collaboration that it’s going to provide for us.” EPiC Elementary principal Michelle Schmitz said. “We’re thinking now that more people could come over from the high school, and more students from our school could come over there.”

Along with in school activities, the crosswalk could also be used for afterschool activities.

“When you have your home football games, our parking lot is used for those too. It’s also for after school hours and for those to be safe too,” Schmitz said. “We have some football teams that practice here at night, and they park over there too.

We want them all to be safe.”

The HAWK crosswalk cost a total of

$125,000 and was part of the installation of EPiC Elementary, along with a parking lot and the transformation from an office building into an elementary school.

“I would say what’s installed is kind of a higher end crosswalk. Part of that was the nature of the students moving back and forth, but also with all the development happening here with all the new shopping centers going up, the traffic is going to increase. The idea was to put in something more significant and pronounced,” Anderson said.

Recently, KLHS produced a video on their broadcast with instructions on how to use the crosswalk. To cross on foot, one would just press a button like any other crosswalk. The video can be found on their twitter if there is any confusion on the process.

“I think ultimately we want kids to be safe. We’d like for students from both schools and adults from both sides who are crossing the street to be using to the crosswalk,” Schmitz said.

Left: The new crosswalk light on Conistor Street in use after school. Right: A stop for predestrians sign that accompanies the crosswalk.

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Hitting the Right Tone

Chinese students held a speech competition and celebrated the Chinese New Year.

Story by Paige Twenter

Photos by Kelsey Baldwin and Paige Twenter

On the list of people’s fears, public speaking usually ranks near the top. Now imagine having to speak in public in a foreign language and you can see the challenges of being in the Chinese speech contest.

On January 30, high school students from Kansas and Missouri competed in the fifth annual Chinese speech contest sponsored by the University of Kansas. LHS had five top wins and two honorable mentions.

“It’s a two-step process, first the people that want to compete take a video of your speech and submit it for the final screening,” teacher Shianguu Hsieh said. “The judges at KU will look over all the videos submitted, they will select the top seven to ten and then invite them to compete live at Johnson County Community College.”

All three levels of Chinese classes have to prepare and perform a speech for their semester one final. The topics vary between family, favorite things, their trip to China or hopes for the new year. The students were not obligated to compete in the contest, yet many decided to represent LHS and take

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the extra step in their education.

“We all make speeches within Chinese class and we have to get that in a certain amount of time. We have to get that with a certain amount of phrases that you learn that year and it has to fit the topic,” sophomore Miles Allain said. “We record that and enter it into a video submission then people for the competition view it then select the top people and have them compete. A panel of five judges chooses the winner from there.”

The students worked vigorously to write, memorize and perform their speeches.

Students followed their teacher’s advice as they practiced their speeches.

“The way that I prepared for it was I just practiced over my speech with my teacher and got down some phrases I needed to work on,” Allain said. “In Chinese, it’s really important to get your grammar correct and to get your tone marks right, so that you’re saying the correct stuff because there is a difference between saying ‘ten’ (十 Shí) and the word ‘is’ (是 Shì). It just matters all on how you say it, so I try to get

it all worked out so I can have a very clear speech.”

Students admitted that it’s not easy to speak the Chinese language.

“The hardest thing is probably the fact that there’s no alphabet, there’s a certain character for each word or syllable, rather than having a character for ‘a’ and ‘b’ and so on,” senior Jessica Watt said.

This contest grants students to exceed the basics of gaining a credit and experience the Chinese culture more vividly.

“The contest itself is a good chance to practice a different language, to experience a different culture and I think that being involved in Chinese you do have a chance to see something that is so different from everything that we know and the language is completely different from English, French or Spanish,” senior Riley Payne said.

The contest enables the students learning Chinese to go beyond the four walls in the classroom and go head-to-head against other Chinese programs.

Left: Sophomore Giovanni Franklin, freshman Liam Arciga and Chinese teacher Shianguu Hsieh make 3D Chinese symbols for spring to hang up around the classroom. Right: Freshmen Katt Braughton and Melody Cadmus cut out decorations.

“The best thing for me and my curriculum is it offers a challenge with the students to work extra hard,” Hsieh said. “It is one thing to ace my Chinese classes or to get A’s on the test, but then there are other things when you go to the next level, to put all your knowledge and grammar rules and vocabulary together in a speech and work really hard and you learn Chinese better.”

Both the competition and the school curriculum benefits students in the future because of the diversity incorporated in the programs.

“This is something you can put on your resume for college, admission applications, for job applications or scholarship applications,” Hsieh said.

Allain agreed.

“You should do it specifically if you are in the Chinese class, so that you can

actually practice having a conversation really with yourself so giving a speech in Chinese kind of helps you with your social skills,” Allain said.

Chinese New Year

Chinese classes celebrated the Chinese New Year on February 11 for the first three hours of the day.

“We are having a little party, when we talk about celebration for the students.

In China the schooling is very rigorous and very hard, we are expected to work, work, and work all the time, including the summer,” Hsieh said. “During the Chinese Year there’s about a one week when the students are not expected to study. I am here for three hours in the morning and so for the entire three hours we will block it down to have something that my students won’t have anything to do, just come and relax.”

Almost the entire Eastern world celebrates the Lunar New Year; including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Korea, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and of course, China.

“When we say Chinese New Year, we talk about the new year based on the lunar calendar, which is slightly off from the sun calendar that we use in the Western world. It’s typically from late January to mid February,” Hsieh said. “The earliest we could have it is January 21, the latest we can have is February 20, it’s different every year. It is similar to Jewish holidays and is not exactly on the same day every year, it’s the same phenomenon because Jewish holidays are based off the lunar calendar.”`

Left: Hsieh, student teacher Mr. Ji, freshmen Scott Cook and Weston Brown cut out the 3D decorations.

Top right: Freshmen Melody Cadmus, Brown, Arciga and senior Jackson Clemens Bottom right: Students brought in a cookie cake that said “Chinese Language.”

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Let's Go Back The history of the building and interesting statistics from as far back as 1890.

THEN 1929 56

43

98 285

88 7

2

4

Seniors

Juniors

Sophomores

Freshmen

Clubs

Students

High school buildings since 1890

School productions that year.

The old LHS building is now known as Herritage Middle School.

1890

LHS is established

1903

First LHS football team formed

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1904 If you left the laboratory door open during chemistry periods, you had to pay a $5 fine. Today, that would be worth over $135

1905

1922

$125,000 budget for the high school to be built

Library and Theater were built and there were 160 students enrolled

1926 Liberty Honor Society formed

To the future Story by Delaney Tarpley

427

NOW 2016

399 Juniors

Seniors

454

460

1,740

61

Sophomores

Freshmen

Students

Clubs

3

92

School productions and a Readers Theatre production

Classrooms The current LHS building at 200 Blue Jay Dr.

1997

1973

First year LHS is at 200 Blue Jay Drive

1984

Students were allowed to smoke on school grounds outside the building. Teachers called it “The Smoking Hole.” In 1985 this was ended by the new principal. Only seniors were allowed to take smoking breaks

The first expansion to this building was the entrance. The entrance of the building used to be through the Cokely fieldhouse. The Little Theater and 800’s hallway were built and the The expansion of the new field house Cafeteria was added

2015

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The Road to Nationals Speech and debate students compete for a spot at nationals.

Story by Haley Stephenson

Photos by Elise Ciferri

Every Friday, students dress for success and prepare to take on competition from schools all across Missouri who share their interest in speech and debate. However, with competition season coming to an end, several students were hand picked by their coaches to attend District competitions at LHS, Park Hill South and William Jewell College.

“The Districts are spread over six days,” Debate coach Timothy Baldwin said. “The first weekend is all debate and that’s held here at LHS. After that, the next three days are held during the second weekend of March and that’s at Park Hill South. The third day is student congress and that’s held at William Jewell College.”

Around 40 students get to attend Districts to compete for a spot that will take them to Nationals.

“If you win Districts or place high enough, you can qualify to compete in Nationals,” Baldwin said. “This year it’s being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. My goal for the team every year is to be one of the top ten schools at that tournament, so we not only establish that we do it all year long but when it’s us against the best, we demonstrate that we can compete against the best.”

Coaches have had a difficult time deciding which of the many talented competitors should be able to represent LHS at Park Hill South and William Jewell.

“It’s based on their performance at

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competitions during our regular season, as well as their dedication and their work ethic throughout the school year,” Forensics coach Michael Turpin said.

All competitors get nervous, especially when there’s a championship on the line.

“My biggest challenge has been taking risks,” freshman Maggie Quinn said. “A lot of times you have to take risks without knowing if you should or not. I used to be very scared of competition and being put up against other people. Now, I’ve found that I really do like getting to test my strengths.”

Though the challenges are difficult, the competitors all manage to push through them for their love of the stage and competition.

“I think it’s probably just the experience of being in the debate round that I really enjoy,” sophomore Emma Kenney said. “I think the topic and the education that we receive on the topic is really interesting, but I think the persuasion part of it is my favorite.”

Students have different things they enjoy about competing.

“My favorite part of competing is just that I’m a very sporadic person and I love talking to people,” junior Corben Phillips said. “Whether it is that I’m doing my informative, which is more of a serious speech or I’m doing another event that’s more funny. It’s just getting up there and getting them to laugh or understand

something. I just get to be me.”

From novice to varsity members returning to take the stage, everyone feels the excitement as they prepare for the important days ahead of them for nationals.

“It’s a big thing for me that I keep it in my head and keep performing it because I really want to go to Districts and hopefully Nationals,” Phillips said. “I just keep practicing and I fix what judges say needs to fixed so that I can make it the best that it can be.”

The seniors and juniors returning to the competitions see it not only as a chance to meet their goals and lead their school to championship, but as a fun experience where they can do something they love.

“My freshman year, nationals was in Birmingham. We took a really big team to nationals and we had the most national qualifiers of any school in the country,” senior Phoebe Alpern said. “It was a really great bonding experience for me as a novice debater and freshman on the team to be able to connect with the older students and the seniors and try to be a part of the legacy that they left.”

The first and second weekend of March these individuals will be head to head with other schools, using their pieces and debates to show everyone that dedication pays off.

Left: Junior Andrue Johnson and sophomore Molly Day work on their debate cases.

Right: Senior Max Cronin reviews his ballots and rounds.

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18 Days Until Spring Break!

How are you involved?

“I’m involved in softball, Link Crew, Breakfast Blub, Spanish Honor Society, National Honor Society, Spanish Club, SPARC and Practical Leadership. I like to help people, that’s something I’m passionate about, that’s why I’m so involved. I like how involved I am because I like to meet so many different kinds of people because not all the same people are involved in all those different things. I like branching out and meeting and helping other people.”

What do you do outside LHS?

“I play softball, I work with KCK9 and I play more softball, eat and sleep. I work with KCK9 because my uncle has two search and rescue dogs and I work to help train them in article-find, or live search. I lay trails for them and work with the dogs, so it’s a lot of fun. I like to go painting, hunting and fishing, as well as play softball, a lot of softball.”

What’s your plan after high school?

“I’m going to Wayne State College to play softball and major in Biology. After that I want to become an occupational therapist. I’m excited to play college softball and kind of get away from my family. It’s in Nebraska so it’s going to get kind of cold. It’s just going to be an exciting experience overall.”

Block’s thoughts:

“Allison is kind of like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, you know? She just brightens everything up wherever she goes. She’s always cheerful and upbeat and that’s one of the things I like about her most, is that she’s just happy. As a good student, she is persistent. She wants to know and those kinds of students who want to know and have a hunger for knowledge are going to do well.”

Senior

Allison Niemeier Spotlight 16

Story by Meg Whipple

Photo by Brieann Wynn

What do you like about LHS?

“There is the chance to meet new people and there’s a lot of extra curricular things that you can get involved in, there’s a thing for everyone to do. Right now, I’m part of a winter running club, I’m also in broadcasting. With KLHS, I do a lot of jobs. Last year, I was primarily an anchor, but now I do more off-screen things, like making graphics or doing the audio board, as well as producing stories.”

What are your hobbies?

“I’m passionate about guitar, fitness, lifting weights, running, that kind of thing. I spend a lot of my time playing guitar, that’s my main hobby. I like playing disc golf, ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, and I can juggle. I really like running because you get close to a group of guys and you hang out with them for 30-45 minutes and you’re just running. There’s nothing else to do, but just talk.”

What’s your plan after LHS? “I’m planning on going to college. I don’t know where or for what yet, but I’m planning on going to a four-year college. After I graduate, I’m really excited to have freedom at college and not having to be tied down to a house and being able to do my own thing when I want to.”

Taryn MacGee’s thoughts:

“Isaac is a very intelligent, bright and kind student. He is involved in multiple activities and still puts a priority on his education. A defining trait of Isaac’s is his kindness toward others. To be involved in activities and school he obviously has to have some time-management going on, so he can do both. I think he prioritizes so he knows what things he has to have done and when.”

Junior

Isaac Yates Story by Meg Whipple

Photo by Madison Parry

Spotlight 17

How can people be successful?

“In high school, the one thing I think holds many people back is the fact that they don’t put in enough effort. You can complain as much as you want about people who are just naturally good at things, but it won’t get you anywhere. Whether it’s in sports, music or academics, we all have something we don’t like doing, but it makes all the difference once you start trying to do it right.

Also don’t lose books. I lose things all the time. I think I’ve lost like seven books.”

What do you like to do?

“In my free time, I’m usually reading, running, practicing the piano or watching shows on Netflix. I’d say my favorite thing to do would be playing the piano. It’s always exciting to start a new piece and there’s something about learning how to play a new song that’s accomplishing. I started learning how to play in second grade and it has been a pretty big part of my life ever since. I went to many piano competitions in the past and I would always get really nervous right before playing. If I had to tell myself anything, it would be that there’s nothing to worry about and I’d be just fine.”

Are you in any clubs?

“I’m not in many clubs, just Key Club since I’m pretty busy most of the time with things like cross-country, track and music.

I joined the club because I enjoy helping people and it’s fun to do the volunteer work with your friends. My friends are people who motivate me to do the best that I can in school and sports. I can relate to them and get advice from them. They get me to try new things and take me to new places. Without them, I wouldn’t know where I’d be today. I don’t really tend to look for any specific things when making friends, but I’ve noticed that I tend to approach people who I think are hard-working. I respect people that put their all into the things they do, even if they aren’t the best at it.”

Ryan Brewer’s thoughts: “Ellen is a hardworking student. Her attention to detail makes her a natural at chemistry. She is a talented tutor for her peers. It’s always a pleasure to have students like Ellen in class, it makes teaching more enjoyable.”

Sophomore

Ellen Auduong Spotlight 18

Story by Kamden Bernard

Photo by Emilee Moody

What’s your favorite thing to do?

“My favorite thing to do is to play piano and play online chess. I just like problem-solving and I just think chess is a fun way to do that. I play against other people online and I think it’s cool. I’ve been taking piano lessons as well. I like doing it because it’s fun. I’m also in Boy Scouts because I want to be an Eagle Scout. It takes up a lot of time, but it’s worth it.”

What makes you unique?

“I play cello, guitar, piano, banjo and bass. I wasn’t really doing much outside of school so I figured involving myself in something like this would be fun. I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in 30 seconds, but a lot of people know that about me and I did fly a plane before I drove a car. My favorite object is my bed because I am always tired and I love to sleep.”

What do you like about LHS?

“Probably Liberty Hour because I can get all my homework done. I like that people can help me when I need help with homework or when I just need help. My favorite person, I’m going to say, is Orrin Donaldson because he’s a senior and he helps me with stuff I don’t really know much about because I’m a freshman.”

Kelsie Kleinmeyer’s thoughts:

“Will is a student in my gifted freshman English class. It’s always fun to have him in class, especially because he brings lots of humor and clever wit into class discussion. He’s also a pretty legit Shakespearean actor in his free time.”

Freshman

Will Laycock Story by Kamden Bernard

Photo by Hanna Davidson

Spotlight 19

What are your best memories?

“My best memories at LHS are definitely those made with students. There’s nothing better than seeing kids enjoy themselves.

At school, I only get to work with a small population of the student body and I adore the kids I work with. I also have many great memories attending/sponsoring various events outside of school and interacting with different kids in different settings. In addition to the kids, I cherish the great memories made with my co-workers many who have grown to become some of my best friends.”

What are your favorite things?

“Family time is by far my favorite hobby. My family and I love going to sporting events. I am a huge Sporting KC fan, as well as the World Champion KC Royals and KC Chiefs. In addition to being a sports fanatic, I also enjoy reading, traveling (preferably to the beach), and doing crazy things that give me a rush (like sky diving).”

How have you impacted LHS?

“My ultimate goal is to let students know that my classroom is a safe place that they are always welcome in. Someday after they graduate, I hope my students will look back and think of me as a person who made an impact and a difference in their life. There’s no better feeling than seeing former students as independent, employed, and successful adults and I strive to assist them in reaching those goals, while also having a bit of fun along the way.”

Jake Witherow’s thoughts: “I’ve been with her for two years and she’s always willing to help you out or give you some advice to help you do better and I feel like she has a lot of kids to handle. Some kids don’t really ask for her help or use her advice, but I use her advice. Like some days I have a bad day and I’ll be a little short and not use her advice, but I need to learn to use what she teaches me because it helps.”

LHS Tea cher of the Y ear

Teacher

Crystal Bosch Spotlight 20

Story by Teegan Saunders

Photo by Malissa Pennington

What do you do at LHS?

“I love working with the kids and I really enjoy getting to know all the kids through The Nest. I do that and then also working with other students, especially two brothers in the school, Elias and Rudy, both of them at different times during the day. I just help them with anything they could need along with other people around here. Also I go to class with our court warming queen Jessica Ballew. I go to gym class with her and work with her and I just do all kinds of things and often times it doesn’t even feel like work. I’m having so much fun with the kids.”

What are your hobbies?

“Outside of school, I really enjoy spending time with my daughter; she’s 13 years old and she’s a seventh grader at Discovery Midde School.

I also have an old classic car that I like to drive around town in and I like metal detecting, that’s a hobby I really enjoy.”

Describe your work at The Nest.

“I show up at about seven in the morning and I get The Nest open. I get all the coffee made, I get it ready for all the students that come in there and work and then I get it ready for the students who buy coffee and such. The Nest was for teaching our kids essential skills in life and to learn things along with gaining people skills and job skills. I love working with the kids and I really enjoy getting to know them through the Nest. The benefit of our kids learning all this is that everybody in the school gets to enjoy some wonderful coffee.”

Elias Pena-Marmolejo’s thoughts:

“He is super cool and really nice to be around, he helps my brother and I around the school with anything that we may need. It’s really awesome to know that he’s getting so much recognition about how hard he works.

What’s really nice though is that you can tell he cares about how all of us are doing and what is going on in our lives. He tries to make us as comfortable as possible and I really respect that about him. He also works really well with other teachers, like he really enjoys helping us and all the staff here at school. He enjoys his job so much and I think he really deserved being named staff member of the year because he works hard and he’s so fun to be with.”

Support Staff

LHS taff Support S f Member o the Year

Scott Sportsman Story by Teegan Saunders

Photo by Kasey Allshouse

Spotlight 21

Bathroom Etiquette: It’s In the Toilet

Analyzing the vandalism in the LHS bathrooms.

Story by Jenna Spence and Tommy Roseman Has this happened to you? You walk into a school restroom and this is what you find. Toilet paper teepeed over the stalls, paper towels stuffed in the sink and toilet, and carvings and drawings all over the walls. Let’s face it, people trash the bathrooms. Despite hard work from the custodial crew, vandalism is a serious problem that is hard to stop. Or is it?

Custodians, students and anonymous surveyors weighed in about the restroom vandalism at LHS.

Here’s the Problem

Vandalism can be as awful as a swastika on a bathroom stall or as ‘harmless’ as leaving paper towels all over the floor.

Students see carvings on stalls and walls, toilet paper stuffed in the toilets, teepee, paper towels clogging up sinks and trash all over the floor because people tip over the trash cans.

“People will take the roll of toilet paper off of the rack,” freshman Nathan Moon said. “Then they’ll stuff it in the toilets or throw it around the bathroom.”

Others reported walking into the bathroom, seeing the mess caused by the

Photos by Teresa Parra

vandalism and walking out without even using the restroom.

“Everybody has to use the restroom and it’s disgusting,” junior Jackson Ferguson said. “Why do you have to throw the toilet paper everywhere? It’s a mess and it’s annoying.”

Out of 329 students surveyed, 129 said that they sometimes see vandalism and 67 said they see it all of the time. In other words, about 60% see the vandalism frequently. That’s a staggering number.

Despite this, 187 students said they didn’t care and 15 even found it funny.

“One suspension many years ago resulted in criminal charges.”

“I’m sure it offends other people, but not me necessarily,” senior Josh Gale said.

While some students find it harmless, the consequences for vandalism are not minor by any means. The vandaliser is charged for the repair and clean up costs, billed for the custodial time and then suspended depending on the level of the crime.

“We’ve had suspensions all the way to out of school,” Head Principal Dr. April Adams said. “One suspension many years ago resulted in criminal charges.”

Why’s This Happening?

It’s not hard to determine why students do it.

“It shows the immaturity of some of the students here,” head custodian Paul Moreno said. “I think they do it for attention, to look cool. It was the same thing when I was growing up.”

Students agree with Moreno by assuming that vandalism is done to ‘look cool’ or ‘just because’.

Not many students say they have walked in on another student vandalising the restroom.

“If I were to walk in on someone doing

Indepth 22

it, I would probably ask them why they are doing it and remind them that they are in high school and not third grade,” Moon said.

“There’s always some forms of vandalism,” Adams said. “It is very negative and deviant behavior that has no purpose anywhere.”

Behind the Door

Behind the scenes, vandalism is a bigger problem than it seems. Custodian Maria Arrojo has been putting her own time and money into keeping the bathrooms clean.

Have you seen vandalism in the bathroom?

Nope, didn’t even know this was an issue 32.6%

Actually, I’ve seen it because I do it 0.6% I see it most of the time I go in there 20.5%

Once 8% I sometimes see it 38.3%

337 students responded.

Often times, the bathrooms are in such bad conditions that she doesn’t have time to take her breaks while she is working in the evening. She also buys air fresheners to put in the bathrooms. Despite this, students have continued to trash them.

One time Arrojo had to put a plastic bag over a broken urinal to keep students from using it. However, students ignored the bag and used the urinal anyways. Arrojo is just one of many custodians who have to deal with vandalism.

“Sometimes it impedes on the privacy because we have to take out the dividers to clean them or repaint them,” Moreno said. “A lot of the time it’s racist and I think that as a society we’re past that. But, it still happens.”

Flush Vandalism

How do you feel about bathroom vandalism?

It sorta bothers me 8.4% I love it! It’s funny and harmless 4.5%

I don’t really care 57.3%

I wish something would be done about it 18.5% I hate it, I wish people who do would get flushed 11.3%

action when they see vandalism; whether that be to stand up to the perpetrator or to tell an adult.

“If you do not feel comfortable and do not want to get involved because it is a peer, let an adult know,” she said. “If you feel confident enough to stand up to the vandaliser, just ask them why they are doing that and that it is your school too and you do not appreciate it.”

Of course, some believe that vandalism should be ignored. It could be argued that making a big deal about it only gives vandalism power.

“We all have to hold ourselves accountable,” Adams said. “There are more good decision-makers at our school than negative decision-makers. Let the majority rule and change the behaviors of the negative party.”

The problem is, it’s hard to catch someone in the act. There are so many repeat offenders because they are rarely punished.

“Extreme action would make me very sad,” Adams said. “I look at you all as young adults and I feel very passionately about treating our students as such.”

Adams encourages students to take

Indepth 23

The Icing on Top

A Bell reporter visited different places to get cupcakes and tried a few out.

Story and Photos by Emily Johannes Smallcakes, located at 9754 North Ash Avenue in Kansas City by Price Chopper, felt very nice and welcoming. The smell of chocolate and baking was in the air.

The cupcake itself had a good moistness and was very rich. There were chocolate curls on the top accenting it, making it very nice looking, and the frosting had excellent flavor and frosting. This was my favorite of the bunch, but keep in mind the price tag of $3.75 for one regular sized cupcake. This was significantly more pricey than the others, but the taste may well make it worth it.

Target

5/5 rating

Going into Target, located at 9220 North East Barry Road in Kansas City, it felt like any other visit to a big grocery store’s bakery. This cupcake was one of the more chocolaty ones, but the standout feature for this cupcake would be the frosting. It was rich without being too rich and was a good texture. The cake also measured up to the frosting, being fluffy, rich and not as crumbly as the others.

This was a good cupcake and wasn’t too pricey at $4.99 for 12.

The Hyvee cupcake was everything I would expect from a cupcake: Fluffy frosting, sprinkles and deliciousness. It was balanced with a good frosting to cake ratio, but the cake part of it was more crumbly than the other cupcakes. That didn’t take away from the cupcake as a whole, but it didn’t measure up to the other cupcakes. It was cheaper, at $4.99 for 12, so it has that going for it, but that also means it wasn’t quite as good.

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4/5 rating

Smallcakes

3/5 rating

HyVee

Do we Commit Microaggressions?

It’s as simple as walking down the hallway and commenting about how something “is so gay.” It’s as simple as laughing with friends and calling a person “retarded”. It’s so simple that some people don’t seem to realize their words or actions may be quite insulting for a group of people. Microaggressions are common, but hurtful. These small or even everyday statements are not necessarily direct, but rather can be unintentional comments made that are interpreted as discriminatory. The Bell staff unanimously agreed that as a whole, LHS is guilty of committing microaggressions.

One teacher said that in this society every individual has their own opinion and a lot to say, but being mindful of how to articulate our opinions and emotions without being hurtful to others is incredibly important.

Many teachers and staff members alike all pointed out that a common motive for microaggressions is personal fear based on lack of understanding. Lack of understanding and ignorance of other

groups of people can cause people to lash out and act negatively. One staff member said that fear of the unknown and complete unawareness is more prevalent in these situations than pure hatred, so people need to be better educated in these areas.

One staff member mentioned that while there is an obvious issue with microaggressions, it has gotten better over the years. Another staff member mentioned that tolerance levels change over time and people who are still making these small, indirect and hurtful comments need to catch up with the times and adjust their thinking to the reality of a modern and increasingly diverse society. One staff member added that when someone does say something offensive, there are typically people who witness and will step up to stop it. All staff members realized that this problem is always going to exist and will never be completely resolved, but there is more being done to stop it, which is good.

The causes of these microaggressions vary, but the staff pointed out some important factors that lead to this kind of disrespect. One staff member claimed that it depends on how open-minded you are. The more open-minded a person is, the higher the likelihood that they are able to take a step back from a comment they are about to make and analyze how their words might impact other groups of people. Multiple staff members mentioned that a lot of it has to do with the way a person is raised and there are certainly people who are raised with a more prejudiced mentality than others.

With such a diverse student body, there is a great possibility in today’s society of being hurtful toward someone else in everyday speech and actions that demands to be respected. Staff members agreed that by being conscious of what we say, correcting mistakes when we make them and embracing learning and growth, we can all help decrease microaggressions in our school.

Staff Vote Yes: 20 No: 0 Illustration by Daryl Gichui

Opinion 25

Crossing into March 1

2

3 4 5 6

7

8

Across: 4. Holiday over spring break.

6. Annual NCAA tournament in the spring.

8. Irish holiday.

Games 26

Down: 1. We go on this on March 21.

2. April showers spring May...

3. Symbol of St. Patrick’s Day. 5. Wear this color or you’ll get pinched!

7. You search for this on Easter morning.

Coloring Contest!

Stressed out? Unwind while you color this St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun! When you finish, bring your picture to Room 605 to enter the color contest by Monday, March 7. The winner will receive a candy bar.

Illustration by Daryl Gichui

Games 27

2016 LHS March Madness Bracket

march madness bracket Championship

Check out @thelhsbell on Twitter or LHSNEWS.net for information on how to join our March Madness bracket contest!

Search for Spring

April Baskets Spring Break Clover Eggs Easter March May Bunny Shamrock Rain Flowers

A&E 29

Did You Seriously Just Say That?

Editorial by Editor-in-Chief Tara Prindle

As high schoolers, we aren’t strangers to hearing or saying the not-so-occasional curse word, but some words just shouldn’t be said. However, the question we need to ask ourselves is: where do we draw the language line?

I’m not going to preach that people should stop cussing or wash their mouth out with soap because I’m just as guilty as the rest of the school. At the same time, just because I curse, doesn’t make me uneducated or mean.

I’m talking about the words that injure people, whether it’s intentional or not.

Interestingly enough, you hardly ever hear such talk in classrooms. However, when I walk down the hallway and hear a fourteen-year-old freshman say the “n-word” just to look cool in front of friends, then I pause in a moment of shock, just like when I heard my first curse word in a movie. It definitely grabs my attention, yet no one around me seems to mind or hear.

But that’s just a façade. People do hear words like that. Internally, they cringe because words like “that” are degrading and hurtful. You know the words I’m talking about, words that put people down: mircroaggressions.

Microaggressions are everyday verbal or nonverbal insults intentional or not, which send negative messages targeting people based solely their group or minority.

For example, the “n-word” is an ethnic slur, usually directed at African Americans. Today it’s one of the most racially offensive words in our language,

although calling a homosexual the “f-word” or a woman the “c-word” ranks right up there. And there are many others.

I can confidently say “those words” aren’t in my vocabulary, nor should they be coming out of people’s mouths at LHS. It doesn’t matter if it’s at lunch or if you’re goofing off with friends. Not only can those words be hurtful, but they’re downright disrespectful. If they were heard at all in a classroom, those students would find themselves having a conversation with a principal.

The minute someone uses a microaggressive word, my opinion of them goes down. Instantly, I see them as ignorant. No one should say those words for humor, in anger, or just because you can form the syllables.

If you hear those words that injure, take a stand. Do what’s right. No one will change until they see their mistake.

I would never allow words like that to be directed at my friends or myself. Why would you?

The Golden Years Editorial by Design Editor Alex Wilson

February 20, 1936 is a crowning day for my family. On that day my grandmother was born. We call her Grandma Boo. She is the sweetest old lady you will ever meet. She is the celebrity of our family because of her sparkling personality.

Our family wanted to do something special for her 80th birthday. Instead of a

Opinion 30

simple birthday party, we went all-out and planned a weeklong birthday bash at her home in Clermont, Florida.

Everyday, we did something different.

It started Monday, which was not very exciting. Everyone was flying in and checking into hotels that day. On Tuesday, however, we all went to my grandmother’s place for supper. My grandma lives in a very old-fashioned place where they call dinner supper and lunch dinner.

We also went to a place called “Gatorland,” which is a park with a bunch of alligators. There were small ones, big ones, white ones and even one that survived a fire. The next day on Wednesday, we went off on our own to explore Orlando. We ended up going to Escapology, where the goal is to escape a room you are locked in before an hour passes.

On Thursday, my Uncle Bryon hooked

us up with some free Disney World tickets. He works there and gets to bring people into the parks for free. We went to Epcot and for the most part walked around the park to sightsee. Followed by Friday, where we had a bonfire at my cousin’s house, who also lives in Clermont.

Saturday, we rented out an event hall for a big party. The theme was Golden Years.

It represented our grandmother well. To start the party, a video played showing moments throughout my grandmother’s life of her raising “The Big Three:” my dad, my two uncles and also the youngest; my aunt. After that a slideshow was played in the background as music played. My grandmother had fun and I’m glad I got to spend a few days with her. She has done a ton for our family and has made sure to spread the love to everyone she has ever known. None of us can wait for her to turn 85 and so we can celebrate again.

Vote Vote Vote!

Editorial by Opinion Editor Emily Johannes

Donald Trump this, Hillary Clinton that. What is the deal with people and politics these days? Mention of politics is everywhere and even the slightest mention of important issues or campaigns stirs people up into a frenzy. I will admit to being one of those people who does get stirred up when someone mentions a debate or campaign speech.

However, I have realized that not everyone in high school feels this way and don’t necessarily see politics as something that will affect them right now. Some people see it as something that they will eventually have to pay attention to, but not now. They think, “We’re only in high school, so it surely doesn’t affect us now.”

Well, I have a newsflash for those people: you can vote at 18. The next president could be in office for up to eight years.

That means I and many other students here at LHS could be well into our 20s before we have a new president. This election cycle will affect our lives dramatically, so some attention must be given.

I didn’t care for a long time up until the past couple years and I am glad that I have started paying attention to important issues like government spending and immigration. If more people started paying attention to politics and the world around them, we as a country would be

better equipped to deal with problems that arise in the future like terrorism, economic decline or foreign wars. More importantly, we as individuals can make up our minds about these issues. One of the most important things I have learned from following campaigns and news is to not listen to the loudest voices just because they are there, but to form your own opinions about a topic without letting other people or even politicians wrongly influence your developing ideas. Even just watching or reading the news gives you a heads-up on what’s going on around you and allows you to form your own opinions and ideas about current events.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as teenagers, we shouldn’t assume that politics doesn’t affect us because it will in the long run, so we might as well start getting ready to care now.

The Habit of Habits Editorial by Ads Manager Daryl Gichui

After years and years of being yelled at to do push-ups by P.E. teachers, it’s no wonder why most of us have grown to hate doing them. They can feel almost impossible or even stressful to think about, except for local running enthusiast and LCF pastor Tim Fritson. Fritson started making the habit of doing push-ups once a day everyday late last year and he’s still on roll with it. From what he’s said, the

routine started by breaking them up in sets and eventually he got to the point where he could drop a hundred and barely break a sweat and he has no plans to stop.

Lately, I’ve been reading a book by Sean Covey that talks about how powerful small habits can be. Little things like eating breakfast in the morning or working out on a regular basis or even practicing good listening and performing small acts of kindness are a few of the tips the book offers. It even goes on to say that the longer you’re able stick to those habits the easier they are to perform.

When I think of certain things in my life that idea makes a lot of sense. I used to absolutely dread having to wake up early for things, but after weeks and weeks of rolling out of bed at 5:30 to get ready for Cross Country, it’s become less of a struggle. I even almost look forward to it. I would hardly eat fruits or vegetables for weeks on end back in middle school, but now I rarely go a day without having

a fruit or veggie, to the point where now I have a favorite vegetable: broccoli.

I have no plans to go all out like Fritson and start doing tons of push-ups day after day, but the idea of making routine out of other hobbies like drawing or playing the ukulele seems really doable and I have no doubt I’ll see some results. If anything, Fritson is a testament to how we can turn something that starts out really difficult, but slowly turns into something easier the more we do it, and the same could go with bad habits. I’m not the first to admit to being an avid procrastinator or that I eat way too many desserts at parties. Maybe applying that habit idea to cut out some of my bad habits could make resisting the temptation to reach for that sixth cinnamon roll just a bit easier. As much power as habits have in shaping the life I live, It’s good to know that I have the power in choosing which ones I want to keep up with.

Opinion 31

Athletes of

Kendyl Beatty Story by Sol Kim

Photos by Mikayla Hill

Grade: Senior Height: 5’6” Favorite stroke: Freestyle Favorite Food: All types of Chicken

“I love swimming and I enjoy the environment. One of my most memorable moments during high school swim was going to state my freshman year. I have never experienced anything quite like it and now I get really excited whenever state comes around. My main goal is to swim at state all four years of high school. I also want to have best times in my events and have fun.”

- Kendyl Beatty “Kendyl is super fun to be around and her energy is always positive and she always gives great feedback. She is kind of like the mom of the team and keeps us all in line. She is very humble about herself and if she has a bad swim she is able to turn it around and do better the rest of the meet. She is very sweet and she is an upperclassman so she always has advice for me if I am struggling with something and she’s really understanding and can help me figure things out if I don’t understand something.”

-Sophomore Madeline Pittman “Kendyl is one of the hardest workers on the team. She enjoys relays more than anybody we have ever had and that’s probably one of the biggest things she brings to the team. She likes to be a part of team and swim not just for herself, but for her teammates.

She’s the team mom and that’s how I will remember her over her four years of swimming. She was the one that everybody went to for everything and seems like she was on top of everything and we’re really going to miss that.”

-Coach Christopher Murphy

Nathaniel Blochlinger Story by Sol Kim

“I’ve been playing basketball all of my life really. I started because my brother and family grew up playing, so I was raised playing it and it was my favorite sport ever since I was two years old. It is a challenging sport and every aspect of it gets harder as you get older. I enjoy hanging out with my team. I am friends with all of the guys on the basketball team, so every time I get to play with them it’s nice.”

- Nathaniel Blochlinger “Nathaniel is a really hard worker and he tries his best all of the time. He always has a fun time even if he’s not doing too well. He is always trying to improve and have a good time. He is there when you need him and you can always go to him if you need to talk about anything.”

-Junior Clayton Bentch “Nathaniel has really come a long way. His skill development has improved, he’s becoming more aggressive and when you combine those two things, he has become more productive too. I like the direction he’s headed. Nathaniel is very dedicated and works hard so it’s great to see kids like that be rewarded with improved play, point production and just overall productivity.”

-Coach Roger Stirtz

Sports 32

Grade: Junior Height: 6’3” Position: Forward Favorite Food: Pizza

Photo by Adam Pouliot

the Month

Kayel Newland

Story by Caleb Lautenschlager

“I love being around my teammates. We have six seniors this year and I’m going to miss every single one of them next year. We do things like team sleepovers or just being around them everyday of the week is a lot of fun. The coaches are pretty cool too. The hardest part of basketball is probably just working on a specific skill and getting it down because it does take a lot of practice. If you want to get better you have to practice a lot.”

-Kayel Newland “Kayel is just a positive player. She’s great at encouraging others, she can shoot the three ball and she’s very long and athletic, which makes her very good defensively. She’s very helpful and always cares about what’s going on with other people. She’s always there if you ever need a pick-me-up.

Kayel’s extremely smart and very talented and I think she’ll go super far.”

-Senior Sydney Offield “Kayel is very hardworking and does so much on her own to improve her game. There are not many kids in the entire nation that will put in the hours that Kayel does outside of practice. She is easily one of the best three-point shooters in the city and has developed into one of the best guards in the conference. She is a 4.0 student and one of the nicest young ladies I know. A great representative of our program and our community.”

-Coach Noah Simpson

Photo by Hailey Smith

Grade: Sophomore Height: 5’10” Position: Shooting Guard Favorite food: Pizza

Payton Christensen

Story by Caleb Lautenschlager

Photo by Malissa Pennington

“It’s really difficult being a wrestler, but it’s good hard work and has helped me with a lot of things in my life. I really liked it when I got to see the guys go and wrestle really hard and we ended up winning the duel at Park Hill South. My favorite part of wrestling is when I get my hand raised at the end.”

- Payton Christensen “Payton’s a good friend who’s respectful and cheers you on. He’s really good at wrestling because he’s been wrestling for a really long time. He also likes to teach you other moves that you wouldn’t learn from the coaches, but they help you out a lot.”

-Freshman Joe Charray “Payton listens, is very coachable and always seems positive. He is very determined, has an aggressive style and has a wrestling style that has helped him be very successful this year as a first year wrestler. Payton is a great kid, we enjoy having him in the wrestling program and we look forward to him doing very well in the future.”

-Coach Michael Hammer

Grade: Freshman Height: 5’10” Weight class: 152lb Favorite Food: Pizza

Sports 33

Niki’s Corner Photos by Niki Benhardt

PINK OUT!!! The varsity and junior varsity girls play a very speacial game.

They wore pink for breast cancer awareness night on February 12.

Sports 34

Swimming the Distance Positive attitudes and hard work prepared the swim team for state.

Story by Kati Benhardt

Photos by Adam Pouliot

The women’s swim and dive team’s atmosphere projects positive energy and great chemistry. The team has had a successful season and there was no rest for the swim team as they dove into state on the weekend of February 19, at St. Peters Rec Plex.

The swim team competed in over 15 meets and practiced afterschool in preparation for state Coach Christopher Murphy was eager to see the outcome of state for the swim team qualifiers, Anna Carl, Madeline Pittman, Hannah Schrag, Kendyl Beatty and Shea Williams.

“I’m excited about seeing them swim.

We did not taper, that’s when you rest at the end of the year,” Murphy said. “We have not tapered yet, so I’m hoping to see some times drop out there. I think that’s possible, both in individual and our relays.”

The girls on the swim and dive team strive to have a team full of encouragement.

“We’re all really close and we’re all really good friends this year. We really

try to cheer each other on and be really positive. That was our main goal this year,” senior Anna Carl said.

Sophomore Hannah Schrag agreed.

“I love the friendships that are made through the team and how close everybody gets along with each other during the season,” she said. “We always have pasta parties before every meet, so that’s a really good time to connect with everybody.”

Sophomore Shea Williams enjoys bonding with her teammates.

“Everyone’s so supportive of each other.

We’re all friends, it’s just really fun to be around the girl’s everyday,” she said.

Positive energy was attributed as one reason for the team’s success.

“We’ve actually done really well; I know a lot of us have gotten a lot better,” sophomore Madeline Pittman said. “Plus the energy is so positive with us, so if we have a bad swim meet, then somebody knows how to get us back on our feet and get us ready for our next race.”

The swim team puts in a lot of hours and hard work to prepare for meets.

“We just work hard and in swimming we swim up to three to four miles a day. As you go through practice you build up to that point and then you come back down at the end of the year. It’s a lot of work everyday, at least two hours a day and some Saturdays,” Murphy said.

There has been two very memorable meets this season, the varsity conference sticks out to Carl in particular.

“I think our varsity conference meet was just the best because we all dropped a lot of time,” Carl said. “We had a lot of fun cheering each other on and we were just the loudest team there and it was really fun.”

In January, The COMO invitational meet, held at Columbia, Missouri, stood out to Schrag this season.

“Everybody on our team had a really good meet. Everyone dropped time and it was a great atmosphere. Two of our relays got our state cut, so that was really fun. It was just altogether a really good meet,” Schrag said.

Left: Sophomore Madeline Pittman practices the butterfly stroke. Right: (clockwise) senior Kendyl Beatty, junior Mallory McGee, sophomores Shea Williams, Saige Jones and Hannah Schrag hold Pittman in a swim cap.

Left: See how the team did at state and their whole season.

Sports 35

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