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McCallum High School / 5600 Sunshine / Austin, TX 78756 / Dec. 14, 2018 / Volume 66 / Issue 3 /
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We take a look at @macjournalism’s origin story after it was named the nation’s top h.s. journalism social media account
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Students whose parents are teachers at McCallum reflect on the experience of being in high school with their parents.
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Want to take a look back at “When You Wish...,” the choir program’s annual cabaret fundraiser? Please, be our guest.
The abandoned First Texas Honda dealership, a frequent hangout for students, has been demolished, but for what?
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McCallum bands competed for various awards and prizes at the annual Battle of the Bands competition.
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In the latest Rhodes Travelled, Max Rhodes describes his recent visit to the Windy City.
sports Freshman Tracy Atoo, who moved from Ugana to America at age 7, competes in volleyball, wrestling and basketball. Junior Sam Werkenthin, a guard on the boys basketball team, takes on an expanded role in his second year on varsity.
opinion Fire drills were made for students and staff to know what to do in an emergency. Are they as effective as they could be?
Cover illustration by Kelsey Tasch. RIGHT: Tracy Atoo receives a hug from her mother after she officially became a U.S. citizen on Nov. 20 at St. David Episcopal Church. Photo by Risa Darlington-Horta. BOTTOM: Last month, the MacJournalism team visited the iconic Chicago landmark Cloudgate, more commonly known as The Bean. Photo by Max Rhodes.
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Decorating trees along 360 is an original Austin tradition, but is this Christmas pasttime more naughty than it is nice?
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Knights of Steel drum concert @ 7 p.m. Girls basketball vs. Lockhart @ Lockhart @ 7 p.m. Wrestling tournament @ San Antonio Finals begin from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Finals end and winter break begins Girls basketball vs. Crockett @ McCallum @ 6:30 p.m. Boys basketball vs. Crockett @ Crockett @ 8 p.m. Wrestling tournament @ Bryant H.S. Girls basketball vs. Reagan @ McCallum @ 7 p.m. Boys basketball vs. Reagan @ Reagan @ 6 p.m. Wrestling tournament @ Delco Girls basketball vs. Travis @ Travis @ 7 p.m. Boys basketball vs. Travis @ McCallum @ 8 p.m. Swim overnight meet @ Corpus Christi Classes resume
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2,481 posts
2,770 followers
579 following
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Double-tap @macjournalism’s journey from humble origins to best in nation Once at McCallum, Winter encouraged the editors to do something to make the Instagram account recognized throughout the school. staff reporter “I got a job here, and the teacher that I was Followers of the award-winning replacing [Rhonda Moore] was a legend,” said Macjournalism Instagram account are used Winter, who saw social media as a place where an to seeing multiple posts every day covering all already excellent program might improve. “When types of events in the McCallum community. I saw that we already had the Instagram account, It was only a few years ago, however, that the I decided that we’d post a picture a day.” account was just starting out. Editors from both the newspaper and yearbook The page was created in the spring of 2015 to staffs worked together, each being assigned a day sell extra yearbooks. of the week to organize a post. Especially in the “Some of our first posts were memes trying first year of the account’s existence, organizing a to promote sales,” said Samantha Harwood, the post every day was difficult. former yearbook editor who was integral in the “Often in the beginning, it was us scrambling formation of the account. “We had maybe 10 or at around 6 p.m. [or] at the worst, 9 or 10 p.m., fewer posts before the next fall.” for something new to post that day,” Raper said. The following fall, however, that all changed. “Luckily, we never missed a day during that, we “When Mr. Winter first started at McCallum, always came up with something that featured our we were walking him through all the platforms students and their accomplishments.” we used,” former yearbook editor Alana Raper Another initial challenge of creating the page said. “He asked if we had an Instagram. To be was gaining followers. honest, I didn’t even “Other than photo know we had one.” “We wanted to document of the day, we gained Winter previously followers by promoting taught at Henry W. student activities now and get the Instagram a ton,” Grady High School them excited about things going Harwood said. “We in Atlanta, where the plastered the hallways staff’s primary social on around McCallum.” with promo flyers with media presence was on our Instagram handle its Facebook account. and followed probably But he was happy to 600 McCallum students.” switch over to Instagram when he noticed the It took a while for the student body to catch hashtag, #dayinthelifeatmac. on, but slowly the follow count began to grow. “Now, people say Facebook is for adults,” “At first, I think people were kind of Winter said. “The great thing about Instagram is confused,” Raper said. “Especially since it took a that we really are hitting our core audience where little while for the concept of a daily Instagram they live: [this is] their space.” featuring student achievements and activities to
get off the ground. We mainly spread by word of difficult as Macjournalism decided to post more mouth, and I think by midway through the first than just once every day. semester, people were starting to get excited “Now I feel like if we miss something then about it.” we’ve failed,” Winter said. “When we started the Even after spreading the word as much as they Instagram account, it was more like ‘let’s just could, the former editors said that they only really post something today.’ I think the program’s realized that the account mindset has shifted was becoming a big deal where the people “I think the program’s mindset to when they overheard talk who are all-in on the about it in the hallways. has shifted to where the people Instagram account feel Later, both staffers who are all-in on the Instagram like if something gets and photojournalism dropped, then we’ve let students noticed account feel like if something gets the school down. That that many students dropped, then we’ve let the school makes it pretty hard were excited to see a work.” down.” Macjournalism There is also a greater representative at their push for utilizing every events. aspect of the account. “My favorite thing “The whole program about contributing to the account was that needs to get video in everything,” Winter said. people wanted to be featured, and people were “We don’t use the video function or the story excited to see their friends featured,” Raper said. function on Instagram as much as we could.” In under one year, the account transformed While there is room to improve, the staff from exclusively selling yearbooks to covering recently has also found reason to celebrate. events all across McCallum. On Nov. 4, the National Scholastic Press “I think the Instagram account has changed Association awarded Macjournalism two Best mainly by expanding its range of coverage,” Use of Social Media award for having the best Harwood said. “It covers all of the football games, high school journalism social media account in dance shows and special events but also just day- the country. Winter and a handful of newspaper to-day life at McCallum.” students attended the fall national scholastic The staff believes there is still more progress to journalism convention in Chicago, where, be made. among other awards, the staff received first “One of the challenges is getting balance,” place for best social media reporting and best Winter said. “It seems like if you really do a good social media promotion. job of covering one thing, you get pushback from “It was kind of surreal,” Winter said. “It was the people in other groups who feel like they’re being first time [NSPA has] ever done [this category]. underrepresented.” There’s only one winner and forever and always Finding a balance has gotten more and more it will be us.”
On May 6, 2015, the staff posted this picture to promote sale of surplus yearbooks. It was the first post on the @macjournalism page.
This image of the inauguration walkout in 2017 elicited 72 comments, the most commenteds on a post in the account’s history.
KRISTEN TIBBETTS
— 2017 editor Alana Raper
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The picture kicked off the 2015-2016 school year and the #dayinthelifeatmac photo-ofthe-day streak that continued ever since.
— adviser Dave Winter
With 630 likes, this picture is part of a 2018 Taco Shack gallery, the most-liked post in Macjournalism history. Photo by Bella Russo.
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AISD to realign sex ed curriculum
New curriculum aims to implement national standards. includes abuse, consent, gender identity JAZZABELLE DAVISHINES staff reporter
AISD classes are constantly being revised and adjusted, but one class is preparing for some dramatic shifts. The district has revised its Human Sexuality and Responsibility Curriculum to change what is taught in health classes, particularly at the elementary level. There are national sexuality education standards for this kind of curriculum, some of which were not being met currently under the previous AISD curriculum. The state of Texas also has its own standards for educational curricula in its public schools, called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS. “TEKS are a starting point because we want more and better for our students,” said Kathy Ryan, director of academics. “We look at other places, like College Board to see what colleges are expecting from our students. We are going above and beyond what is required by the state.” The School Health Advisory Council, also known as SHAC, an advisory body made up of parents and community members, requested revision and review in 2012, and again in 2016. By their standards, all curricula should (ideally) have major revision every three to six years. In 2016, minor updates took place at the middle school level, but major change has not been made in over a decade. The school board currently anticipates holding a vote on any proposed changes in February. There is some question over what subjects must be taught, as well as when certain topics should be introduced to students. For example, the curriculum specifies that two topics, the impact of social media on the body and mind, and education covering body parts involving the sexual anatomy, be introduced in the fifth grade. Another important goal is to provide information on physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Teaching students about consent and refusal skills is part of the national standards; SHAC is figuring out how to incorporate them into the Human Sexuality and Responsibility Curriculum of AISD. “They need to be given the skills, tools, and language to be able to say ‘No’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Don’t do that,’ as well as the skills, tools and language to respond to that ‘No’ properly,” said Laura Degrush, the community engagement coordinator for AISD. Currently, the most divisive issue is trying to resolve what subjects should be taught at each grade level. Each lesson, AISD asserts, should be age-appropriate. Parents are now debating what that means for certain topics, including sexual orientation and gender identity, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Parents can elect to opt-out their student from some or all Human Sexuality and Responsibility lessons. Lessons are public to parents and can be found in their school library, alleviating some parent concerns about the transparency of changes being made. Students who are opted-out of the curriculum will be engaged with Social Emotional Learning, or SEL, lessons as an alternative.
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“[Younger students] need to be given the skills, tools and language to be able to say, ‘No’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Don’t do that’, as well as the skills, tools and language to respond to that ‘No’ properly.” —Laura Degrush, AISD Community Engagement While the AISD Board of Trustees determines the content parameters of Human Sexuality courses, AISD officials said that they value public participation and input, and that it is vital for the decision-making process. They have implemented an online survey for parents to take to inform the district of their opinions and concerns about the changes in curriculum. It was sent to Campus Advisory Councils and was made available through the Parent Cloud. High school students that are currently enrolled in a health class are also taking the survey as a way for the district to solicit direct input from students. So far, approximately 10 percent of parents in the district have responded to the preliminary survey. The only topic that shows a solid consensus is that of consent; more than 90 percent of parents support it being taught as early as kindergarten. In addition to the survey, there have been several meetings at AISD high schools in which Degrush and Ryan have provided a detailed presentation on the potential changes to the curriculum. The meetings also provide group table discussions for parents, community members and AISD employees to ask questions and share opinions covering the topics at hand, such as what should possibly be added to the Human Sexuality and Responsibility Curriculum, what should be eliminated and when changes should be implemented. No matter what changes are proposed, the Human Sexuality and Responsibility curriculum from kindergarten through 12th grade must be abstinence-focused, as mandated by the Texas legislature. Abstinence-focused lessons, however, are different from abstinence-only lessons, which are the standard in some other states. Students can be taught about safe sex, but there must be a bottom line that the only way to be certain that one avoids STDs and unwanted pregnancy is through abstinence. Though the opinions and concerns of parents, students and community members is being sought out in these early stages, ultimately it will be up to SHAC to draft recommendations for the curricula and up to the Board of Trustees to approve it. Health classes at McCallum may not be changing anytime soon, but future students may arrive with a completely different health curriculum..
ABOVE: Laura Degrush, the community engagement coordinator for AISD, and Kathy Ryan, the director of academics, present proposed health curriculum changes and field parent questions at a meeting at Lanier High School on Nov. 13. Photo by Jazzabelle Davishines. BELOW: Nationwide trends regarding parents’ involvement in sex ed by the numbers. Graphic by Sophie Ryland.
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Austin firemen respond to auto fire in Dart Bowl parking lot
Best Buddies hold fundraiser
Just after 1 p.m. on Monday, neighborhood resident Adam Rice was working on his car in the Dart Bowl parking lot. The car had backfired before, but when the hood started smoking, he knew he had to get out of the vehicle. When he opened the hood to examine the cause of the smoke, flames erupted from underneath. Rice tried to extinguish them with a towel, but the fire continued to reignite. His fuel line melted and caught fire, spraying gas everywhere. He immediately closed the hood and called the fire department. A bystander helped him put out most of the fire with an extinguisher, but unfortunately, it spread to the interior. Soon afterwards, the whole car went up in flames. “It sucked.” was all Rice had to say about the event. Eventually, the fire department arrived to put out the fire, but Rice, who was trying to fix his car for a long time, FROM BACKFIRE TO CAR FIRE: The inside of Rice’s car was seriously thinks that he will have to start back at square one. burned. Along with a broken windshield and severely damaged —Evelyn Griffin dashboard, the seat coverings burned off. Photo by Evelyn Griffin.
McCallum students in the campus branch of Best Buddies worked throughout lunches last week to make ceramic pots for their December fundraiser. Best buddies is a friendship club that senior Isabel Solismilam started. She established the McCallum branch of best buddies after she found out about the organization at a national Down Syndrome conference in Dallas. The best buddies club meets during lunches in the life skills classrooms where the buddies hang out, do coloring, play games, and dance around. The club has so many members that the buddies have to sign up for specific days to participate. The money raised by the fundraiser will go to the clubs national dues. “[The fundraiser] was really fun to participate in because you were able to see everyone working together,” junior Cameryn Borman said, “You could see the different ways in which each person could express their artistic visions.” In the future, best buddies plans to sell T-shirts and host a movie night to raise more funds for the dues and for pizza and games during the clubs future meetings. The program is still accepting participants. —Mia Terminella and Dave Winter
Band sets new honor standard at 2018 TMEA auditions
On Thursday and Saturday, Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, McCallum band members participated in the annual TMEA auditions. Out of the Mac participants, 15 students were awarded All-Area Honors, while 46 earned All-Region, and 86 All-District. “These results represent the highest number of honors in McCallum band history at a TMEA audition,” band director Carol Nelson said. —Gabi Williams
ALL AREA: The 15 students awarded AllArea Honors include Gavin Owens, Abby Jones, Ziggy Shin-Peterson, Madelynn Niles, Nick Reedy, Makena Mailer, Marshall Haynes, Robert Hall, Dan Thomas, Jacob Martinez, Clifton Pike, Chance Green, Jon Forbes, Ardis Warrenfells and Van Soisson. Photo courtesy of Ms. Nelson.
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Left: The former First Texas Honda dealership after its recent demolition. Photo by Evelyn Griffin. Right: A digital rendering of the new Pearl apartments. Image supplied by Ian Asselstine.
From Honda store to Pearl next door Shuttered dealership on West Koenig makes way for apartment complex EVELYN GRIFFIN guest reporter
The Honda dealership on West Koenig Lane was frequented by many McCallum students. Some used it as their personal graffiti park, some used it to get to Thunderbird faster, and some used it as a secluded place to light up after school. Whichever of these categories you fall into, this oddly-shaped building, with its bashed-in windows and questionable homeless occupants, was likely a part of your life. Not anymore. In its place ... apartments. In less than two years, this 5.4-acre property will be home to The Pearl, a four-story complex named after Janis Joplin’s most popular album. It will consist of 383 units, 462 parking stalls and nearly threefourths of an acre of parks and trails.
You may have noticed a lot of apartment buildings popping up lately. That is because Austin is going through a housing crisis. Home sales are stagnant, but real estate prices get higher all the time, making owning a single-family home difficult for a lot of people. Austin Walton, an Austin citizen living in Allandale North, sympathizes with apartment renters. “For everyone who doesn’t want apartments in central Austin: where do you suggest people live?” Walton said. “Where do you want them to go? You can’t just hang out a sign that says, ‘Austin’s full. Try again later.’” There is another side to this story, however. Many native Austinites are worried about how the proliferation of apartment housing will affect Austin culture. Ken Epich, who lives in Midtown, is one of those people. “Getting excited about apartment buildings is not going to happen,” he said. “[It’s] just another nail in the coffin of Austin’s central neighborhood.” Ian Asselstine, an employee at Ledcor Properties, whose job is to secure zoning and permits for The
“Getting excited about apartment buildings is not going to happen. [It’s] just another nail in the coffin of Austin’s central neighborhood.” —city resident Ken Epich Pearl, understands his point of view. “Austin culture is always at the forefront of our minds,” Asselstine said. “In fact, it plays a large role in the naming of our project. But Austin has a housing crisis. The demand for housing is outpacing supply, so without thoughtful, welldesigned housing, the cost to live will quickly move beyond reach for some people.” Another concern among the community surrounding The Pearl is traffic. Once finished, its tenants would add a significant amount of cars to the already busy roads in the area. There may be a solution, though.
“We did a thorough traffic analysis,” Asselstine said, “And concluded that any traffic impact could be mitigated with an adjustment to the traffic light frequencies at the lot intersections.” There have additionally been some concerns with building code. Last year, the development lawyer David Hartman requested variances to accommodate a taller-than-normal height for the building, a taller- than-normal fence along the property line and for the building to be closer to the street than usually permitted . The variances were granted by the City of Austin Board of Adjustment on a decision sheet filed on April 10, 2017. However you feel about The Pearl, it is coming. It could be a positive addition to the McCallum community as opposed to an old, abandoned building, or the traffic produced by it could make getting to school more difficult. Although Ledcor says it is doing its part to keep The Pearl from negatively affecting community life, it will assuredly have some impact. Residents will have to wait and see if the positive changes outweigh the negative.
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With the bustle of the first semester coming to an end, you wouldn’t think the first thing on some students’ minds would be summer camp; however, that’s exactly what many students are thinking about. This is the time of year when many high school and college students begin to apply to be camp counselors and CITs. Many of these people have been going to their camps for years and are excited to go back, even if it’s not for
another six months. They want to give back to their camps and have more responsibilities so they’re applying for these positions. Earning these coveted spots is not as easy as just clicking a button or filling out a form. Many of these students go through months of applications, emails and preparations to participate in these programs. Some have even been going through training for the last few years just to be a counselor at their camps. Left: Junior Cate Mendivil has been attending all-girls camp Rocky River Ranch for 10 years. “It’s just a really special place where I get to connect with my friends every year and connect with the outdoors,” Mendivil said. Photo by Rocky River Ranch. Right: Freshman Annabel Winter and her friends from YMCA High Harbour, a camp on Lake Burton in Clayton, Ga., pose for a picture during a de-stressing Friday at camp; the day’s activities included painting each others’ faces and throwing flour and shaving cream at each other. Winter hopes to be a CIT this year. Photo by YMCA High Harbour.
Living in winter, thinking of summer Maybe it’s cold outside, but two MAC students have warm thoughts about being camp counselors ELISHA SCOTT staff reporter
Freshman Annabel Winter has been attending YMCA High Harbour for five years. It’s an overnight camp located in Clayton, Ga., on Lake Burton. She first heard about it from her brother who attended it before her, so she decided to try it out. She just finished her two years of leadership training this past summer so that she can be a CIT, or as it’s called at her camp, a LIT (leader-intraining), this summer. She went through trials with different cabins and tested what it would be like to work with different-aged children. “They do a lot of leadership training, because it’s a leadership-centered camp,” Winter said. “So you have a cabin, and then you switch off so you have a feel for taking care of different age groups.” As a LIT, she would not only help around the camp with set-up and clean-up, but she would also help taking care of the kids at the camp. She says the camp directors want to make sure they’re picking good, reliable people to take on these obligations, so they have the interested campers go through lots of preparation to even be considered. Winter had to get recommendations and go through an interview process during a retreat weekend, and she will be attending another retreat weekend in the spring to prove she is interested in the position. The camp has many different activities for campers to enjoy. Since the camp in on Lake Burton, a lot of the activities are water-based, such as tubing, kayaking and paddle boarding. Some of her favorite activities at her camp are horseback riding and paddle boarding. But
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Winter says the community is one of the main reasons that she loves the camp. For example, just sitting in her cabin, talking with her counselors and fellow campers was one of her favorite moments from the experience. “Every night in the cabin, [we] would hang out in [our] cabin and talk to the counselors and they could give [us] advice on school and stuff, so it’s just a good community,” Winter said. Not everyone lets their guard down at school or around people that they’re not familiar with, but with friends, family or a close-knit community, a person’s true side can come out. For some people, camp often includes all three of those things. People feel safe and comfortable to be themselves, whether that entails singing camp songs at the top of their lungs or trying new things that they never thought they’d like. “Everyone kind of let their weird side out at that camp, because you just scream at the top of your lungs...and you put glitter all over your face,” Winter said. “Everyone is completely themselves, and it is really awesome to let it all out.” She says she hopes to be a LIT so she can learn from working with the kids and acquire more skills from the experience. Having that type of responsibility and being depended on can really improve a person’s character and help them learn about themselves. It can also instill good skills and work ethic for the future when they get a job. This is a reason that so many people want to be apart of CIT programs at their camps and these are some of the things Winter hopes to gain from the experience. “Definitely growing as a leader and just being a good role model to different kids,” said Winter when asked about what she hopes to take away
from being a LIT. “I think it could really just help me grow and be more motivated.” Catie Mendivil is a junior who’s been attending Rocky River Ranch, an all-girls overnight camp in Wimberley, Texas, for nine years and is about to go back for her 10th. Her mom was the one who decided to send her to camp when Mendivil was 7 years old and simply needed a summer activity. Mendivil’s mother went to the Palmer Events Center for a camp fair and found the booth for Rocky River Ranch. At the time, Mendivil was attending an all-girls school, so her mom liked the camp and its objective and felt that it would be a good fit for her daughter. “I think the all-girls camp was appealing to my mom,” Mendivil said. “The directors of the camp were there personally at the booth, so I think my mom just really connected with them, and she liked their mission statement of raising independent girls and doing [really] interesting activities.” Now she’s excited to take on the responsibilities of the people who took care of her for the last nine years as a camper. She’s really excited to be a counselor, because she loves going to that camp, and she really liked the relationship that she saw the counselors have with each other in her past years. “I want to be a counselor because I love that camp, that’s like my second home,” Mendivil said. “I go for like 12 days every summer and I always had friends. I was just so familiar with it; I couldn’t imagine stopping.” She went through a three-year training process starting when she was 13, which included first aid and lifeguard training. The first year was seeing how she handled small responsibilities by
having a little sister who she followed around and talked to. The second year she stayed in a cabin with all the other girls who were going through the program with her. They did several team building activities, like a high ropes courses. The third year included “living in” with the kids and making sure they are up to the role of a counselor. “You’re no longer a camper, you’re living in with kids, you have more responsibilities and the counselors evaluate you and see how well you do as an actual counselor,” Mendivil said about the third year of training. “Then based on the evaluation of that year, you ask to apply.” After all of that, she filled out an application about what she had done the past summers and after she accepted, she will go through three weekends of training to learn the rest of the ins and outs of being a counselor. As a counselor, she also has to teach classes for the kids. When she was a camper, she enjoyed classes like archery, horseback riding, animal interaction classes, a random acts of kindness class and cooking, which she says she definitely wants to teach as a counselor. She says she loves all the people and the atmosphere of Rocky River Ranch, so she’s really excited to be a counselor and carry on there. “I love the community, I think is definitely the biggest thing,” Mendivil said. “It’s just like a big, amazing group of people and the directors know everyone by name so it’s a really personal experience and, again, I couldn’t imagine not seeing them every summer. [It’s] such a special community that’s created.” To read more profiles of Mac students seeking to be summer camp counselors, please visit The Shield Online at macshieldonline.com.
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Junior enjoys summer study in Japan
After six weeks in Yuzawa-shi Japan, Deloach learned about another culture but also about her own MIA TERMINELLA
“Being able to see how a society works ... watching how everyone interacted with each other really made me question how I treat others. ” —Mariko Deloach
staff reporter Junior Mariko Deloach spent the summer of 2018 across the globe in Japan. Deloach stayed with a host family, attended school and lived the everyday life of a teen in a different culture. Deloach went to Japan with the foreign exchange program, Youth For Understanding. Youth for Understanding, or YFU, is a nonprofit international educational organization for intercultural exchange programs. The group’s core belief is that full cultural immersion is the most effective way to learn the skills you need to survive in a multicultural and competitive global society. Deloach said that she was hesitant to apply to the exchange program at first. “My dad initially pushed me to go to Japan so I could learn a little bit more about my heritage,” said Deloach, whose paternal grandmother is a Japanese survivor of World War II. “I was pretty reluctant at first, but the ... foreign-exchange program began to sound more interesting as I researched it.” Deloach applied to the organization’s youth high school summer exchange program. After submitting an application that included high school transcripts , an essay and reference letters,
Mariko Deloach poses at school with her classmates in Japan. Deloach attended school throughout her overseas summer program because school was still in session there. Photo courtesy of Deloach. Deloach was accepted to the program and departed from Austin in early July. After a 17-hour long flight she arrived in Japan and was greeted by her host family. Deloach was in Japan for a period of six weeks, and lived in a very small town called Yuzawa-shi located in North Japan.
“It was very rural and mountainous,” Deloach said. The city of Yuzawa-shi is located in the Japanese Alps and is known for its hot springs and skiing. While there, Deloach experienced a wide range of opportunities such as attending school most days, playing soccer with classmates,
exploring the gardens in the city, going to the hot springs and experiencing the overall culture. Deloach said that the relationships that she was able to make with her host family, classmates and friends in Japan changed the way she views her life in this country everyday. “Being able to see how a society so different from America works within itself, and watching how everyone interacted with each other really made me question how I treat others” Deloach said. “It was a really good moral experience.” After the six week program, Deloach returned to Austin in late August. “It was an amazing experience and I have learned so much”
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The adventures continue for Galindo New AVID teacher/department head continues to open doors of opportunity for those around her BELLA RUSSO staff reporter
Growing up as an immigrant in California, college once seemed like a very distant possibility to Zulmy Galindo. Born and raised in Guatemala until age 7, she never really saw herself as the kind of person who would go to college; none of her family was talking about it, and the only kids at school who did didn’t look like her. Reluctantly, she applied to a school and got in. It took some convincing from a member of her community, but she attended Missouri State that fall. “I had to literally be convinced by this mentor in the community that I was going to go and that it was the most selfless thing I could do to go,” Galindo said. “It wasn’t about me; it was about the fact that I had a sibling and other people behind me and that I needed to go to basically open that door.” Now the newest addition to the AVID department, Zulmy Galindo helps her students to open those same doors that she once did as a first-generation college student and someone from a low socio-economic background. “It’s nice to see myself in them, and it’s nice to look like them because I feel like I can set an example and that I can open up their minds a little bit and expose them to the bigger possibility,” Galindo said. Her main goal is to continue to open doors for those in the McCallum community, whether it be by making sure her seniors have applied to at least four colleges before the end of September, or just making sure they have someone at the school who they know cares about them. Galindo isn’t just opening doors in her AVID classroom. After observing an underrepresentation of AVID students and minority populations in McCallum organizations—for example, Student Council and enrollment in AP courses—she has made it a priority to begin to better integrate McCallum populations. “It’s not because the sponsors, or because people, aren’t welcoming; it’s because we have a lot of people of color at our school that feel intimidated by being the only person of color in a specific room,” Galindo said, “so they miss out on all of these opportunities. They don’t sign up for the AP courses that they need to be taking. They don’t take the risks, or they’re not involved at the level they want to be because they don’t see themselves represented.” By sharing her own experiences as a person of color in the workplace, she hopes to build up that character through her interactions with her students, paying attention to them, and providing them with a place to open up. “With me, it’s a family. It’s a group dynamic,” Galindo said. “I don’t know if they are able to be themselves in their other classes, and in certain examples, I know that is not the case.”
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Left: Zulmy Galindo helps AVID senior president Melissa Marquez revise a college essay application in the senior AVID class. Photo by Bella Russo. Right: Galindo and her fiancee climb “The Edge of Time” in their wedding attire, the morning before their ceremony. Photo courtesy of Galindo.
“It’s nice to see myself in them ... because I feel like I can set an example and expose them to the bigger possibility. ”
—Zulmy Galindo
Before she taught AVID, Galindo was a middle school English teacher. Restricted by the pressure of making sure her students passed all of their standardized tests, Galindo found that she wasn’t doing what she really wanted to do: build strong relationships with her students and to give them a place where they could express themselves freely and creatively. “I’ve always wanted to teach a class that was very relationship-based.” Galindo said. “Obviously that’s the point of teaching any subject, to be a mentor to your students, to be able to make a huge difference, but working in an English class in a Title I school doesn’t allow the time for that” That’s when she discovered the AVID program at her school. When a position opened up in the program, a teacher introduced her to the class, and she discovered that the AVID curriculum fit exactly what she was looking for. “It’s a position where you really have to care about your kiddos No. 1,” Galindo said. “And that relationship builds everything else, and you build your curriculum around that. I love that model.”
For Galindo, the biggest difference between McCallum and her middle-school experience is the excitement and pride the student body and staff holds for their school. “It’s pretty awesome to be in the realm of all this school spirit,” Galindo said. “Everyone is so prideful of being at McCallum, and it shows. The teachers are super excited about being here, and the students have so much pride about their school. It’s been really, really good; everyone has been really welcoming.” When Galindo isn’t teaching, she enjoys many active pastimes, including coming up with vegan recipes with her husband, biking and above all, rock climbing. Galindo met her husband while rock climbing, so it was fitting that when the two got married this summer, they spent the morning of their wedding climbing the iconic Colorado formation, “Edge of Time,” in their wedding attire. The newlyweds spent their honeymoon climbing and exploring in Squamish, British Columbia. Galindo has also climbed in Mexico and Italy. “Anywhere we go that’s our thing,” Galindo said: “Climb the most amazing heights and enjoy the view.” Galindo’s adventures have taken her to Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and all around Latin America. One spring she took a one-way plane ticket to South America on a trip for a couple of weeks and ended up spending the next nine months backpacking solo, from Costa Rica to the Patagonias and everywhere in between. “The backpacking trip to South America when I was in my mid-20s was super powerful because it allowed me to figure out who I was,”
Galindo said. “It’s amazing to be able to get lost by yourself because a lot of times you are surrounded by your friends, and it’s almost a security blanket. Everything and everyone around you in a way defines you, but when you get out of that, you figure out who you are, and you define yourself.” Galindo hopes to bring her passion for the outdoors into her AVID class as well. One of rock climbing’s advantages, Galindo said, is its even playing field. Anyone can climb an objective or complete a hike, no matter their gender or background. By engaging in these activities together, students can forge relationships and confidence that gets carried back into the classroom and that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. “It’s pretty amazing, and it’s empowering to be able to get to the tops of these peaks and realize that you didn’t have a guide to take you up there,” Galindo said. “You set everything up yourself, and it was your strength and your mentality that got you there.” Through all of this, Galindo’s main goal is clear: to help her students achieve their goals. Whether supporting them inside the classroom or cheering them on a mountainside, she hopes to help them accomplish the things that they want for themselves, just like she did. “Now I’m 33 years old and I’ve graduated from college and I rock climb and I travel and I do all these things,” Galindo said. “By no means am I like the example, but I am very happy with my life. I can stand there and say, ‘No, you absolutely can do what you want to do, you just have to fight for it.’”
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Students of Color Alliance New club creates safe space for students of color and alliances
JANSSEN TRANSIER staff reporter Jordan Bibby first had the idea for the Students of Color Alliance when she was attending a meeting for the MacJustice Coalition, the club that organized the walkout when Donald Trump was inaugurated. After that protest, Bibby said she realized that the organizations at McCallum that work around issues of diversity and equality are often made up primarily of white students. “I wanted to get more involved with the Justice Coalition, but there aren’t really any people of color involved, and they don’t really focus on those issues, and then I realized that there really wasn’t a platform at McCallum for the issues that I wanted to focus on,” Bibby said. The first person that Bibby approached about the club was Kelsey Tasch, the club’s co-founder. “Jordan came to me with the idea because we had done a little bit of activism work outside of school together,” said Tasch, who identifies as Latina. “Right off the bat, I was really excited. I was honestly surprised that McCallum didn’t already have a club like this. ... When Jordan first asked me to help her start the club, I thought it was a great idea, but I did have some concerns,” Tasch said. One of her main concerns was what kind of role she, as a white passing person, would have in the club. “White passing basically means that I could be mistaken as a white person, so I’m not always faced with the same prejudice that other people of color experience,” Tasch said. “As a white passing person involved in the club, I wanted to be mindful of how my presence was going to affect the space” Tasch said. After asking Tasch to be her co-founder, one of the first people Bibby asked to join the club was Connie Pierce. “Jordan and I are good friends, so I was one of the first people she approached to join the club,” Pierce said. “I think this club is a great thing, because there’s so many clubs at McCallum, but until now, there hasn’t been one specifically for students of color and their allies. I also feel like McCallum has this reputation of being more socially accepting, and I’m not saying we aren’t, but of course there’s things that we can improve on, so it make all the more sense to have a Students of Color Alliance.” The club is sponsored by Ana O’Keefe and Lucy Griswold, who share the founding students’ desire to create a safe environment for conversations about race and ethnicity. “Jordan approached me wanting to know if I would host the club, and when I asked her what she wanted out of the club, she seemed like she had really thought about it and done her research, and I was honestly honored to host the club,“ O’Keefe said. According to O’Keefe, her main role in the club will be providing her room as a safe space for people of color. “From my experience, when students of color try to voice how race has affected them, it can make other students feel defensive, so I see this as an opportunity to create a safe space with a little bit of structure around those conversations,” she said. “ I think that my role
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Junior Jordan Bibby presents at the first meeting of The Students of Color Alliance on Nov. 28 in Ms. O’Keefe’s room. Photo by Janssen Transier.
“From my experience, when students of color try to voice how race has affected them, it can make other students feel defensive, so I see this as an opportunity to create a safe space with a little bit of structure around those conversations.” —teacher Ana O’Keefe is really just providing a space for both students of color and anyone who wants to come and support the cause and be an ally.” Griswold, who teaches ethnic studies and world geography and co-sponsors the club, shares O’Keefe’s excitement about the new club. “I think this is a wonderful and much-needed club on our campus,” Griswold said. “I think the goal of the organization is twofold. First, they want to create a safe space where students of color can totally let down their guard and feel like they can be their whole self. The second part of their stated goals is to take action, not just at our campus, but in our community as a whole. Really, I think the end goal is to create a more diverse and equitable society.” Bibby hopes that Griswold will also be able to help the club achieve its goals of community involvement. “I think she is super excited to help us reach out to different people, and she knows a lot about what’s going on in AISD that we may have to be concerned about,” she said. Bibby makes it clear that this isn’t “one of
those clubs where if you don’t show up to the first meeting, you can’t come. Whenever anyone wants to come, they can.” That said, while both Tasch and Bibby don’t want the club to be exclusive, they do agree that it’s important for there to be some meetings that are open only to people of color. “Jordan and I discussed this a lot, and we decided that most meetings will be open to everyone, but some will be closed to just people of color, so that way we can provide a truly safe space for students of color to discuss issues that are important to them,” Tasch said. Bibby stresses that in addition to direct action, the club will also focus on education and awareness for allies. “Another one of my main goals is to educate other people, because the club isn’t going to be just for people of color,” Bibby said. “I want to educate everyone who wants to learn about what sort of advocacy they can participate in outside of school, or even people who are just curious about the issues we will discuss in the club.” One such issue that both Bibby and Tasch
really wants to focus on within the Students of Color Alliance is examining minority participation in AP and honors classes, and what they call the “natural segregation” that happens within schools as a product of the divide between AP courses and regular courses. “Because of the inequality in opportunities available to students of color, there’s this gap in the enrollment of minority students in AP and regulars classes, and that can start really early on in their education,” Tasch said. A study by the U.S. Department of Education study shows that nationwide, there is a disparity between the number of white students and the number of black students enrolled in AP and honors courses. Although the issue is not specific to McCallum, a ProPublica study specific to AISD found that this gap occurs at McCallum. The study shows that at McCallum, “white students are 3.5 times as likely to be enrolled in at least one AP course than black students.” The Students of Color Alliance is new, but Griswold has high hopes for the future of the club. “McCallum is a school that often prides itself on its diversity and inclusion, and this is just another way that McCallum can live up to that reputation,” Griswold said. “Sometimes groups based around race and ethnicity can feel intimidating and exclusionary, but this is just about giving people of a particular background a space to explore that part of their identity, so it’s not something that people should feel threatened by, but something that gives a voice to a group on our campus that has too often gone unheard and unsolicited.”
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hen most kids get home, their parents ask them what they did at school that day. But for these students, their parents don’t have to ask. Instead, these students can ask their parents the same question. Though they admit can be a little annoying and stressful to have their parents teach at their school; overall, the students with parents who teach at Mac say that it’s a good thing to go to school where their parent teachers. They say they have become closer with their parents, and, more importantly, they can print their work for free. “My favorite part is that it’s a family thing,” journalism adviser teacher David Winter said, parent of junior Henry Winter and freshman Annabel Winter. “I like the idea that they are close, and that I can help, although I haven’t had to do much of that at all. But I can help with the little stuff, like if they have to print a paper or get a form signed, so they don’t have to worry.” For math teacher Angie Seckar, it’s also a family thing. Even if her daughter Addie Seckar-Martinez just says ‘Hi’ to her in the halls; it means a lot. It has helped Seckar become closer, both with Addie and with her friends, though she does have to be careful not to overdo it. “I like just seeing her in the halls,” Angie Seckar about her daughter Addie. “Though I do have to make sure I don’t say something that embarrasses her. But I like it even when she’s stops in and says, ‘Hey, or ‘I did well on my chemistry test.’ My favorite part is just getting to see her often and seeing her friends. I feel like I’m closer to her and her friends now.” But for the children of teachers, that closeness can also be a little weird. “It can be kinda awkward,” Henry Winter said. “It seems like everybody, every single time I bring it up to somebody who doesn’t know, they have the same reaction, like they’ve come to this crazy realization, like its been in front of them the entire time, because it really has.” Even David Winter has those kind of awkward interactions, but he thinks they aren’t just awkward but also funny. “There’s always a moment where one of their friends or someone who knows them says that a lightbulb goes off in their head,” David Winter said. “When they realize that ‘You’re Henry’s dad?’ and I say ‘Yep’ and they say ‘That makes so much sense.’” Annabel Winter also has these experiences, but she believes that they’re even more uncomfortable, especially since some of her friends are taking her dad’s photojournalism class. “It is a little strange that a lot of my friends are in his class,” Annabel said. “They talk about his class, and ask me if I can tell him to ease off a little. It’s just strange sometimes when they talk about your dad right next to you as a teacher.” But all of the students admit that there are lots of advantages of having their parents teach at their school, including printing for free, getting papers signed, having someone close to go to if anything bad happens, and getting an office-aide period. “My favorite part about having him here is that I can have his class as a teacher’s aide period,” Henry said. “That’s basically an off period if you think about it. So I have an extra off period, which is nice because I have a lot of difficult classes.” David Winter also loves Henry having his class as an off-period but not for the same reason. He gets to spend extra time with his son doing things Henry is interested in.
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When your parent is also a Mac teacher, mom or dad is ...
only a hallway away.
TOP: Wyeth Purkiss and his dad practice tennis together before a spring 2018 match. Though it is unusual to have his dad coaching him, Wyeth said his dad has helped him improve. Photo by Luke Robb. LEFT: Junior Henry Winter teaches his first chess lesson to the chess club at Ridgetop Elementary. He can work with the club on B-Day Fridays during eighth period because he is a student aide for his dad, journalism teacher David Winter. RIGHT: Addie Seckar-Martinez performs her Blue Brigade routine during the LBJ game on Sept. 21 at Nelson Field. Photo by Bella Russo. “We set it up so he’s my student aide,” David said, “so he can go and teach chess at Ridgetop Elementary. He’s teaching chess to 30 energetic, enthusiastic elementary school kids on a Friday afternoon, so it’s on the verge of a disaster at all times, but he’s doing a good job. Watching him teach, it almost seems like he’s me.” Though students may not always love their parents being at their school, the teachers love it. It’s fun for parents, especially when they get to connect with their children over shared interest in a subject, and even more so if it’s the one they’re teaching. This is especially true with junior tennis player Wyeth Purkiss and his dad, Christopher Purkiss, the assistant coach. “It’s something we can bond over, since we both play, and we can share that,” Wyeth said. “He helps me improve, and it’s helped us get closer.” Though Purkiss didn’t become the tennis coach because Wyeth plays, it is an added bonus. He just enjoys being a part of Wyeth’s school life. “I enjoy being a coach on the tennis team,” Purkiss said. “I like watching everyone play hard and get excited about winning and going through the frustration of not. Just seeing all the players and being able to help them be successful, and then watching my son, I’m excited. And he’s on cross country too, and I volunteer for that. And ... seeing the students be successful at that as well. I enjoy being a part of that.” David and Annabel Winter also agree that their shared interest in photography is a great new way to spend time together. “[Annabel]’s been taking pictures at the football games and the fact that she’s been getting pictures on our Instagram account and being a part of that has been really fun,” David said. “And last year, before she even got here, she started taking pictures at the dance shows and a lot of her pictures were the ones we posted, because even though she’s not in photojournalism, she’s gotten into taking pictures at football. I love that she has taken to photography and is taking lots of good pictures.” “It’s a high-stress situation sometimes and you’re in it together,” Annabel said. “My dad’s trying to get as many pictures as possible,
and it’s just a good activity to get some good bonding time.” Parents do have to maintain some boundaries though, both with their children and with their work. They try to give their children space, and though they could easily be intrusive, they try very hard not to. This concern is coupled with the parents also being not to talk about some aspects of school around their children. “I could easily be in her business and have opinions about the people she hangs out with,” Seckar said. “My husband [art teacher Jeff Martinez] and I also have to be careful about what we say. If we talk school, we have to not talk school in front of her.” Science teacher Nikki Sorto, mother of junior Niklas Sorto, also has to try not to interfere with her children’s lives, even though she admits that it would be very easy. “I try stay out of their business,” Sorto said. “I want them to have their own experience, and I don’t want them to have to be, ‘My mom is here, she’s in my face all the time.’ I also know where they are, and I feel like they’re safer. It makes me feel really good that I can get to them really quickly.” Being together at school has not only brought parents and children closer, but it has also provided them with unique experiences. “The most fun, most enjoyable part is bike riding,” Christopher Purkiss said. I’ve gotten into bike riding, so now I’m commuting to school pretty regularly, and Wyeth comes with me. So we bike together, and that’s a nice thing to do. It’s a nice time together. Just doing that together is nice.” Sorto’s children not only had unique experiences, but they had unique concerns when they started at McCallum. They weren’t worried about starting school; they were worried about interacting with the teachers that had known all their lives. “Both kids—the biggest concern they had was that they were basically born here,” Sorto said, “so they were most concerned about stuff like ‘What if I see Robert?’ They call Mr. Lehman Robert, or ‘Auntie Lanie’ or ‘Kristin,’ what if I see them and I forget, and I had to tell them that it would be OK. I’m mom first, and they’re friends, too, and both of
them had that problem.” None of the parents ever limited their children in their choice of high schools, but another school never even occurred to them. “I think for both my kids they never thought anything different,” Seckar said. “They never even entertained the idea. I don’t even know if they know about other schools. I think we definitely influenced [Addie], not directly, but that’s what she knew, and that’s what she wanted to do.” Winter even admits that when he was looking at high schools to work at, he made his choice based on what would be best for his children. “We came to Austin and looked at all the schools,” Winter said. “I mean I picked McCallum as a parent first, before I picked it as a teacher. We even toured the building with Ms. Georgia, and she didn’t know that I was applying here to teach, and I remember walking by the journalism room and thinking ‘Hmmm…’ but I was totally undercover, I was just the parent who was taking a tour with his family.” Sorto assumes that she influenced her children’s decisions to go to McCallum, but she encouraged them to look into other schools and explore options. “I’m sure that I did [influence their choice]” Sorto said, “inadvertently at least. I didn’t mean to, and I tried to make it clear that they could go anywhere they wanted, but I love it here, so I’m sure that I encouraged it without meaning to. Especially for Seckar, Addie being at her school gives her a further opportunity to connect and spend meaningful time with her daughter. She gets to be involved with Addie’s school, but in a different, more fun way than most parents. “I like watching her and knowing stuff,” Seckar said.”It’s nice to know, ‘Oh there’s a game, there’s a pep rally.’ It’s nice to be at the pep rally and watch her dance and things like that. I like being a part of her high school in a different way.” Though their situation is unique and certainly has the potential to go downhill, these Mac students and teachers have made the absolute best of the situation. Not only have they become closer, but all of them are able to appreciate what this shared campus means.
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Poolside with Sophia Sherline This interview is part of our continuing series of faculty interviews using a modified version of the Proust questionnaire. The Shield: What is your idea of perfect happiness? Sophia Sherline: Perfect happiness… sunshine, water, beach and pool, my kitty cats, books. I like going to the pool a lot because there’s a pool in my complex. I think for me it’s just water; I need water. Ideally, I think of a hammock on the beach kinda thing reading a book, and I guess my kitty cats are just roaming around, but realistically it’s just my pool, which is just as good. TS: Do you ever take your cats to the pool? SS: They come out and follow me. I call myself the “Pied Piper.” I have my little orange kitties, and they follow me when I go check my mail and stuff like that. I don’t bring them to the pool, but they come to the pool because they can go through the fence and stuff. All the neighbors love my kitty cats. They just follow me around; they’re so funny and so cute. I just turn around, and they’re like a trail of little orange kitties following me around. TS: What is your greatest fear? SS: Again, water, like drowning. That’s my greatest fear: drowning to death. Also, my greatest fear is, I guess, my parents dying. TS: What trait do you most deplore in others? I don’t know if its ignorance or stupidity, but it’s really hard to deal with people who “know better.” TS: Who is a living person that you most look up to? SS: My mom. My mom’s amazing. She’s from England, and she came to this country in her 20s and met my dad and had six kids; I’m the oldest of six, so she and my dad were able to take care of all of us and keep it all together and created the best childhood for me, and adulthood. I think my mom is really amazing for however it was that she figured out how to keep everything together. TS: Where did you grow up? SS: I went to middle school and high school in Houston. I was born in California, and we moved to Texas when I was 4. We kind of just moved around Texas until we settled in Houston [when I was] in sixth grade. TS: On what occasion do you lie? SS: I feel like I play devil’s advocate more than I’m a liar, even if it’s not something I believe or whatever, I may present an alternate view just to see what other people would say. Kind of lying, but I’m not trying to present that is my point of view, just as a different one. TS: What character trait do you most value in a coworker? SS: I guess wanting to make things better. Like finding issues and trying to find solutions, and making solutions better. TS: Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
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Although cats are her first choice in pet, Ms Sherline spends some quality bonding time with Reptile Club president Sabri Amrani-Khaldi’s leopard gecko during the club’s informational show-and-tell session during lunch in the main hallway on Sept. 10. Photo by Elisha Scott. SS: Maybe, ‘Hello Maculty,’ I got that from Mr Winter. When I send out emails, that’s the start. I wonder if I maybe say ‘good job’ too often, to where it’s not as meaningful. TS: What has been the greatest moment you’ve had while being at McCallum? SS: I really like working with teachers and figuring out ways to help them, so every time I’m able to help a teacher with something, even if it’s just like getting school supplies or setting up their printer or making copies for them, that makes me feel good, even though that’s not necessarily my description as assistant principal. One thing that I do remember from, I think, my first year teaching Mr. Denning’s first performance of Beauty and the Beast, and I thought that was so amazing. It was probably the best performance I had ever seen, and it was really well done, and I just felt really good about being here just because of the quality of that performance. TS: Have you always wanted to work in education? SS: Nope. Never. My parents, nicely, years later told me that there was no way they could have ever thought I would have been a teacher because I didn’t have the patience. I had to work on it, and I have a lot more of it, but I still think that I could work on it some more. I never wanted to be a teacher. I saw two of my friends were going to be teachers—that was what they were going to do after we graduated from college—and I thought ‘I could do that’
because there were really no other realistic job prospects in my mind. I figured that I could do it too, and that’s what I did. TS: Have you always been teaching? SS: That’s all I’ve done. Since college, I went back and got my teaching certificate and started teaching at Travis High School, and I was there for 11 years, and then I went to Pierce Middle School for two years as an assistant principal and then I’ve been here at McCallum for, I guess, seventh year. I’ve never wanted to ‘be’ anything. Just happy, I guess, is what I’ve wanted to be. TS: If you weren’t in education, what would you be doing right now? SS: I have no idea. One summer, after my first year of teaching I was a lifeguard at Stacey Pool, which was fun because it was right across the street from Travis High School, so I got to see some of my students, and I also got to work with Bowie High School students, like they were my manager because they had lifeguarded the year before, so it was really fun being 27 years old and a 16-year-old was my manager. It was also really helpful for me to be able to work with teenagers as my peers, and it really made subsequent school years of teaching so much better because I was able to remember how to relate instead of just being the boss in the classroom as the teacher. But I really have no idea what I would be, maybe a cat sanctuary owner or maybe an organization consultant. My office is a wreck, it always is, but I can organize other people’s stuff really well. Haha!
TS: What would you consider your greatest achievement? SS: Buying a house. Getting out of debt, paying off student loans. I didn’t really have a lot of debt, but it felt like a lot, and I can’t even imagine what kids are feeling now. Even just one semester [now] was probably what I spent in five years of college. Being able to pay my debt and have a house that’s mine and be able to afford it and support myself. TS: Where did you go to college? SS: I went to UT. I moved from Houston, came to Austin for UT and never left. Austin is the place that sucks you in, you love it and then you get stuck by the time you don’t like it anymore. I’m kind of worried about the state of Austin right now because of all of the gentrification and things like that; it’s really happening in my neighborhood. TS: How would you like to die? SS: I think like most people, right? Peacefully in their sleep. Not drowning, absolutely not drowning, no stress or worry, and I would like to die before I’m just so old that I’m frail and not well. TS: If you were to die and come back as any person or thing, what would it be? SS: Oh yeah, I’ve thought about this and I think about it all the time. I would come back as a domestic cat. I would come back as somebody’s pet: I feel like that is the life! Somebody feeds you, they pet you, you have a house to live in, and you’re the boss; cats are the boss. Sure, you have an “owner,” but you are basically the one that tells the owner what’s up. Every time I scoop my cat’s litter box, I’m just like, what kind of weird world are we in where I’m a slave to my cats? Like, “Yes, I will scoop your poop and feed you food and pet you and brush you.” Yeah, they’ve got the life. TS: What is your greatest regret? SS: Not living anywhere else, maybe? Not having tried to go anywhere else to live, which is still not over. I can still do it, and I still plan to, but I feel like not having had additional experiences living in other places kind of makes my viewpoints limited. TS: Where would you most like to live? SS: Costa Rica. I went to Costa Rica in college and studied tropical rain-forest ecology, and I want to go back. They have an expat agreement where if you go there with a certain amount of money, they’ll let you live there in Costa Rica as an expatriate, but you can work because they don’t allow immigrants to go there. I’ve already picked out the place, Tamarindo, Costa Rica: it’s northwest; it’s on the beach. This is where the beach comes in; it’s got the most amount of sun and the least amount of rain, with the right temperatures, always above 70 degrees. It gets into the hundreds, but I love the heat, so it’s perfect for me. That is my idea of paradise, and that’s my plan to move there at least at like 55, but sooner if I can. —interview by Bella Russo
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Drummer Drake Snider of Artificial Daylight. Photo by Kristen Tibbetts.
Guitarist Austin Cobb. Photo by Michael Speciale. Austin Rummel of Crusoe. Photo by Michael Speciale.
Junior Julia Blackmon of What. Photo by Kristen Tibbetts.
Vostok. Photo by Michael Speciale.
Signi Johnson. Photo by Olivia Capochiano.
Jeremy Mock. Photo by Michael Speciale.
A good show. A good time. A good cause. A good reward. 2018 Battle of the Bands was all good. LASZLO KING-HOVIS staff reporter
This year’s Battle of the Bands saw eight bands face off for the chance to play at Stubb’s in February. The Battle of the Bands is McCallum’s annual fundraiser for the guitar program. This year, the fundraiser will help the guitar program travel to Nashville to record at RCA Studio and play at the Grand Ole Opry. “What I like about it is that it’s open to any student at McCallum and any style, whether it be folk, hip-hop, metal, punk,” said guitar teacher and Battle of the Bands organizer Andrew Clark. “It’s a chance to showcase the diversity of the students musical interests.” Artificial Daylight opened the Battle with a mix of original songs and improvisation. “My favorite part is just jamming out with the people you care about and having fun,” drummer Drake Snider said. “I plan to continue playing with my band and hopefully we can create an album.” Next up, What played. “We formed our band two days before, so we were just having fun,” guitarist and singer Riley Edwards said. As for the band name, “There was a sign-up sheet in guitar, so I just wrote ‘What’ because I didn’t know what to call our band, and then I forgot to change it,” Edwards said. After What, Battle of the Bands veteran Signi Johnson played two covers and an original solo. “I wanted to perform one of my own,” Johnson said. “This is pretty much the only opportunity that I get to perform so I took it.” Jeremy Mock followed Signi and played three original songs, “Just Another Day,” “Afternoon Eyes,” and one untitled song. “It usually takes me about two months to write a song, but [the untitled] one only took me two days,” Mock said. “I got this whammy pedal and was messing around with it and I came up with this riff that repeats for the entire song. [In all], making weird sarcastic comments was my favorite part of performing.” Deva (Janssen Transier, Tomas Marrero, Asher Lowenstern, and Memphis Lamont) played two originals and a cover of “Airplane Blues” by the Black Keys in the middle.
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DEVA STATUS: The popular vote winners, Deva (Janssen Transier, Tomas Marrero, and Asher Lowenstern as well as guitarist Memphis Lamont), perform an original song. Photo by Olivia Capochiano. “The first song was definitely a highlight,” said Marrero, Deva’s guitarist and lead singer. “We decided to open with that one because it was the most energetic and the acts that came before us were more mellow, singer-songwriter stuff, so that woke the crowd up.” During Vostok’s set a mosh pit formed to the left of the stage. “I was really focused on playing keyboard,” Vostok said, “and I broke off one of my keys. I looked up because I didn’t know what to do and there was an entire mosh pit raving in front of me. That was a little surprising to say the least.” Second to last, Crusoe played a mix of originals and covers, closing with their version of Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher.” “I think we played really well,” said junior Austin Rummel, the lead guitarist for Crusoe. “Everything felt tight, and there was some nice groove that you only get within friends. I know we played well because afterwards, the sound guy said that he wanted to record us! That makes me feel really good because we’ve only had a few rehearsals. I’ve never performed keys in a non-classical setting before, so that was a new experience for me.” It was Rummel’s first gig with Crusoe, but not his first live show.
“I’ve played around 80-100 gigs around town,” Rummel said. “I’ve played at ACL and Summerfest in Milwaukee.” The Austin Cobb Trio played last. Austin Cobb played at last year’s Battle, but his band fell through on him just before the event. “I was determined enough to not quit, and I went up there with backing tracks, but because of monitor problems, I couldn’t use them,” Cobb said. Ultimately, he cites last year’s BotB as one of the reasons he wanted to play an active role organizing this time around. “Last year was pretty chaotic”, he said, “and I didn’t want that. It’s just kind of my tendency to make sure that things happen. During Battle of the Bands, I was running around telling people, ‘You’re having your sound checked now, you have 45 seconds.’” In the end, Deva won the popular vote, and the Austin Cobb Trio won the paid voite. “I’m really thankful that I won,” Austin Cobb said. “All the bands were good, it could have been so many different people, so I’m really glad. Whatever form music takes, it’s absolutely in my future,” Cobb explained. “Plan A of course is to have commercial success in one form or another. Gary Clark Jr. is doing great playing blues with a twist. If that doesn’t work out, [my future] is going to involve music; whether that’s as a producer [or a] musician for hire, it’s going to involve music.” Of his Deva mates, Marrero said: “I’m really proud of the guys, they killed it. My goal was just to sound good and feel confident and have fun. I wasn’t too concerned about winning, but it was definitely an added bonus that we did.” Before they play at Stubb’s though, they’ve got other shows coming up. “We’ve got a gig lined up the 28th at the Carousel Lounge,” Marrero said. “We might play a couple of co-op parties down on campus just to get some stage time too.” All in all, this year’s Battle of the Bands was a big success for the guitar program: “This was our most successful year in terms of sheer dollars, so I know for a fact we’re moving forward with the Nashville trip,” said Cobb. “It’s really exciting.” Videos of the Battle of the Bands can be found online at The Shield’s website.
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He’s got chemistry: STELLA SHENKMAN staff reporter
Robert Ely has held many roles during his lifetime: veteran, ALC teacher, graduate student. His newest? McCallum science teacher. Ely, who is in his first year at McCallum, began his seven-year teaching career in Shreveport, La., at C.E. Byrd High School. In 2013, he and his partner moved to Austin, where he worked as a science teacher at the Alternative Learning Center, or ALC. “When I first started [at ALC],” Ely said, “it was more like regular school but with smaller class sizes, and it was really good. I liked it because I got to really know the kids to the point where you really know what is going on in their lives.” Ely began substitute teaching during graduate school for extra money, only to fall in love with education. He says that teaching “is definitely the best job I’ve ever had.” His history with education wasn’t always so happy; in high school, Ely struggled with academics. “I was one of those kids where all through elementary and middle school, I had extremely high grades,” Ely said. “Once I hit high school, I decided I didn’t care anymore, and I had A’s in classes I liked, but F’s in classes I didn’t.” Struggling to adjust to the world around him, Ely decided his sophomore year that he would enlist in the Air Force after high school. “When I was a kid, I was always big about planes,” he said. “Even as a 10-year-old, my room was nothing but model planes hanging from the ceiling. I always wanted to go into the Air Force.” Ely attended summer school after his senior year in order to get his diploma; afterwards, he enlisted. Being a part of the LGBTQ community, Ely’s experience in the military was far from traditional, and he ended
up leaving active duty in order to more fully experience the world around him. “I was 23,” he said. “And I basically got out because I needed to find out who I was.” Shortly after leaving active duty, Ely met his current partner, Renee, who was also a part of the military. Together, in 2011, they decided to go back into the reserves, which Ely describes as “a dumb idea.” The time there, he says, was significantly different than active duty, “The reserves were nothing at all like active duty. Active duty, I loved it. The people I met there were like family and still are,” Ely said, “But, at the reserves it was a completely different energy, very detached. There was no camaraderie.” Even while teaching, Ely continues to be a student. Ely is currently taking classes at the University of Texas through Austin Community College in order to get another bachelor’s, this time in chemistry. “I’m driven because I want to learn more,” Ely said. “I want to know how things work, like in physics, if I could know, not just the concept of launching an object, but all the things it has to do to get to its destination. ... The opportunities for further education are there, so why not?” After he receives his degree, Ely hopes to continue his education beyond his master’s. “I’ll go for a master’s in chemistry,” Ely said, “then, if I decide to get a Ph.D., it will not be in education, it’ll be in chemistry. I’m going to school until I’m dead.” Even though he’s only been at McCallum for a semester, Ely has quickly made himself at home.
Whether it’s a lab in his classroom or his own grad coursework, Ely always learning
Ely demonstrating a lab for his fifth period class. Photo by Stella Shenkman. “I have never worked with such a very strong group of people,” Ely said. “The whole science department here is super tight. They all go out together and do things and even have a group chat, which is usually hilarious, I actually enjoy eating lunch with them every day. It’s definitely neat.” Ely, who teaches chemistry, has a teaching philosophy that is very pragmatic. “I think every teacher is a little different,” Ely said. “I try ... to ... focus on what could possibly make the student better.” His main focus in the classroom is doing as much hands-on work as possible, whether it be individual labs, class presentations or creative note-taking strategies. “I want to build up my classes’ ability to solve problems,” Ely said, so they can solve them in their everyday lives. Ely’s students say they enjoy the hands-on class activities. Junior Eliana Schuman feels the approach has helped her succeed. “M y f a v o r i t e thing about Mr. Ely’s class is the labs,”
Schuman said. “Most of them are really fun, and we get to fully experience them without him micromanaging us.” Schuman says that this goes hand-in-hand with his overall methods of teaching. “His teaching philosophy is that if students understand the formulas, then they will do [well],” Schuman said. His students know Ely as someone who maintains humorous environment in the classroom while also relating well to his students. “He’s really nice and tries to be a comedian,” Schuman said. “He’s not always trying to be a teacher; sometimes he is just trying to be a consultant, or even a mature friend.” Schuman is not the only student who admires Ely’s style; sophomore Luka Nugent also likes his untraditional approach. “He’s very engaging, ... and it’s quite fun to be in classroom,” Nugent said. “He might give lectures, but he does so in a fun and interesting way.” Nugent says he enjoys Ely’s class because of Ely’s personality. “Mr. Ely is very sporadic as a person,” Nugent said. “I really like his spunk and the way that he can flow in a classroom.” Ely said he wants students to feel comfortable confiding in him and having a strong relationship even after they complete his class. Because of his negative high school experience, he hopes to pass on what he learned to his current students. “Don’t try to carry everything on yourself,” Ely advises. “When you’re in high school, sometimes it feels like you’re in a war with a bunch of people. My best advice is to know who your friends are, know what adults you can trust, and to try and build up your experience with school because it is all about building for your future, and you can’t do it alone. I definitely did it that way, and I regret it.”
Ely conducts graduate-level archaeology field work via Texas State in the lower Pecos region of southwest Texas. He was creating sketches of front of thousand-year-old paintings. Photo courtesy of Robert Ely.
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Sophomore film majors Ian Hackworth and Alex Martinez chat on the set of The Garden Show, the upstart AV talk show that aims to showcase McCallum’s student artists. Photo by Ellen Fox.
Artistically Speaking: Alex Martinez
Sophomore president of the AV Club believes in the power of cinematic arts, now more than ever ELLEN FOX
staff reporter Two years ago, Alex Martinez was a visual arts major at Lamar Middle School looking for a way to make his drawings come to life. “What I really wanted was for my drawings to move, for the most part,” Martinez said. “It wouldn’t tell a full story from a still frame, so AV was the route to go for me whenever I came to McCallum because I can tell a full story with moving pictures opposed to just one picture.” Martinez applied to McCallum for both visual arts and cinematic arts. He was accepted into both but ultimately opted for film. After coming to McCallum, he says, he was able to foster his creativity and joined AV Club his freshman year. By the start of his sophomore year, he was president of the New York Timesfeatured club. “The president last year was a senior, and she graduated ... and Mr. Rogers saw me step up my game with our show [a previous project similar to Netflix’s Stranger Things], like I took charge. I was like, ‘OK, we need to do a project, or AV Club is going to be shut down’ because we really weren’t doing anything. ... By the end of the year, when she graduated, Mr. Rogers said, ‘You’re basically running the show, would you want to be president?’” According to Martinez, AV Club requires a lot of long hours and hard work, but ultimately the shared sense of accomplishment makes the time well spent. “Whenever we’re all working, and we’re all working together to make one project, and we’re all happy with it, those are the best memories,” he said. “Or like, there was this one time when the project was due the next day, so we stayed after school until like 10 p.m. editing
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because we had just finished filming, and we had to color correct and splice it together, so we stayed after school, and we were like, ‘We’re gonna just get this done.’ We brought in a bunch of junk food; we stayed really late and [sophomore] Erik [Jensen] ended up finishing it after some of us had already left. That was one of my favorite memories.” While things have been going well for Martinez and the AV Club, an ominous future may await the AV program due to changes in the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which funds CTE programs nationwide. Ken Rogers, the AV teacher, explained that according to a directive proposed by Secretary of Education Betsy Devos and instituted by President Trump, beginning in January, CTE funds will be provided only to certain CTE programs (STEM math and science programs for example) considered to be high-paying and permanent careers. A host of currently funded CTE programs (agriculture, AV, cosmetology and food services among them) will not be funded unless the local school district can convince federal CTE officials that those industries locally meet the federal criteria for funding. “Basically, the Trump administration decided to cut funding to programs deemed to not lead to high-paying jobs, which is stupid because the film industry pays really high,” sophomore Jay Mathias said. Rogers had an idea to start a Patreon, a site that allows programs and causes in need of money get donations securely, so that the Mac AV strand can survive the likely budget cut. This fundraising site has given the Mac AV Club an advantage compared to other AV clubs across the country that are also likely to lose their federal CTE funding. But in order to get donations, the AV club has been tasked with making more entertaining, high-quality projects.
“A lot of the best seniors are graduating, so we need to step up our game to make better films, which is basically what I said to AV Club,” Martinez said. “I was like, ‘OK, so this budget issue: don’t worry about making money. Worry about making films because those films will bring in the money because when people see great films, they will donate money.” AV Club is currently in full swing with a new project under way. They are beginning to work on The Garden Show, created by sophomore Jay Mathias and hosted by sophomore Ian Hackworth. The goal of the show is to showcase fine arts students at McCallum. They say they hope that this project will convince possible donors to support the AV Club through the Patreon in case the district is unable to forestall anticipated funding cuts come January. The Garden Show is not the only thing that Martinez is currently working on, though. Inspired by the abstract work of directors Federico Fellini and David Lynch, Martinez is currently working on his own abstract project. “I feel like when most people watch [abstract movies], they are like, ‘What the hell is going on?’” Marinez said. “But you have to think about them, and I think that’s the best part. When you actually have to dissect them and look into each shot to understand it, I think that’s the best type of film. ... You have to look at each shot and think, ‘What is this character doing now? Why is he doing that?’ It’s all told through visuals as opposed to dialogue, which is a huge handicap for films. It’s almost like a cheat, like if you explain the plot through dialogue, then what is the difference from a radio show, you know?” Making these kinds of films is a process, Martinez said. “First you need story,” he said. “Or, if you’re
doing something more abstract, then you don’t need a story at all, but for the most part you’re probably going to want a story, and that’s just the same as writing a book. You have to think of the story, but then you also have to think about it in a visual aspect, so once you think of that story you build off of there and start thinking about each shot and each scene and how it’ll look, and then you start building the world around it. You start building up each scene, like the playout or how the characters are placed and shot. It’s definitely a more difficult process than like, just writing a book. But it’s also definitely a lot of fun; you get to control every aspect of the shot.” After high school, there are a couple of options for a student interested in film. Martinez is adamant that he will continue with it after high school in some fashion. “That’s also kind of a double-edged sword, because either I go into college for film, or I get a job as a cameraman on some crew or something,” he said. “Either way I’m happy because I’d be working with film, but if I were to lean one way, I’d probably choose to get the job first because with college, with film, you’re not really working on films: you’re more studying them for like four years while you could be building experience.” Either way, he describes the medium of film as integral to his creativity. “[Film is] like taking a picture, but if that picture can move and talk and have so much more emotion, that’s basically what film is,” he said. “I think that’s a lot more interesting because with one shot of a film, you can tell an entire story. It’s like, you know how they say a picture is a thousand words? Imagine that times how many frames a second. It’s like millions of words being told at once.”
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BELLA RUSSO AND JAZZABELLE DAVISHINES staff reporters
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lejandra Estrada is tired of having to shove her first graders into supply closets during active shooter drills. For the students at Williams Elementary where Estrada teaches, there is no hiding under desks or sitting in corners because their outdated, open concept school building has no walls. “The first-grade class next to me has to come into my classroom and go into one of my closets while I shove the rest of my kids into my tiny hall office,” said Estrada, standing outside of the Nov. 26 AISD board meeting to protest her schools lack of funding before the Board of Trustees solidifies the 2019 budget. “It’s happening all over the school, and it’s just not safe.” With debate over the budget in full swing, all parts of the AISD community have come together to defend what is important to them, and what is on the chopping block in trying to alleviate the district’s well-publicized $30 million debt. For most of the protesters rallying against the debated budget, it’s the prospect of changing to a sevenout-of-eight class period work day for teachers, increased class sizes or the consolidation or outright closing of under-attended schools. For McCallum kids and parents, it is the consideration that the fine arts programs might see reduced or eliminated funding. For Estrada and her fellow teachers at Williams Elementary, safety is the main concern. AISD has already cut the funding they need to employ cafeteria monitors to make sure their pre-K and elementary students are safe during lunch and at recess; they need the districts help in paying for these important support jobs and helping to make their school a more secure and controlled environment. THE EXTENT OF THE DEBT As far as school districts go, AISD is pretty close to running on empty. For the 2018-2019 school year, the district will operate on a $30 million loss, and the reserve fund is projected to fall to about $210 million after the school year is over. When comparing the average operating costs of the district, around $750 million annually, it’s clear that the reserve fund is no longterm solution to the budget imbalance. In March, AISD formed a Budget Stabilization Task Force, a group of volunteers, and charged it with recommending community solutions to the district. The system also named the “largest cost drivers” of the budget: “employee compensation,” “maintaining current staffing,” “district contribution to employee health-care plans,” and “school nurse coverage.” Despite identifying these large-cost budget items, the district told the task force that no district cost is off of the table for the task force to consider cutting. This fall, the district even expanded the conversation about possible cuts to include considering a reduction of funding for specialized academic programs, including the fine arts program at McCallum. SO HOW DID WE GET HERE? According to the Financial Management section of the district’s website, “Austin ISD has earned the highest ratings for budget management from Moody’s Investors Service,
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ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK
The debate over AISD’s 2019 budget and debt management leaves no considered cost cut off of the table
attended the BSTF meeting at McCallum on Nov. 14. In public comment, they expressed support for fine arts and implored committee members not to look at specialized programs when deciding where to cut funding. They afterwards attended a separate meeting, where community members discussed ways to advocate for public education funding at the state legislative level. “Art students already have to pay upwards of $75 per art class without budget cuts,” senior Fine Arts ambassador Chloe Linscomb said. “With the potential cutting of programs, I feel like McCallum [wouldn’t] be that special school anymore with all the unique classes we offer.” MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS
Williams Elementary School teacher Julianne Hart speaks to the board of trustees about her concerns of the lack of security in her school as supporters stand behind her with signs. Williams Elementary doesn’t have proper walls separating the classrooms, enough safe places for students in the case of an emergency, or enough staff to supervise recess safely. Photo by Elisha Scott.
“Since 2015, AISD recapture payments have more than tripled. It is estimated that in fiscal year 2018, 55 percent of revenue will be sent to the state for redistribution, and that more than $699 million of local tax revenue will be sent to the state in recapture in fiscal year 2019.” Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. AISD also carries the highest bond and state financial accountability ratings that school districts can earn in the state of Texas.” So how exactly did AISD get into this financial hole? One culprit, a prime suspect if you will, is recapture, the state school finance system that takes the revenue of districts with high property tax revenues and redistributes it to schools with low property tax revenues. Since 2015, AISD recapture payments have more than tripled. It is estimated that in fiscal year 2018, 55 percent of revenue will be sent to the state for redistribution, and that more than $699 million of local tax revenue will be sent to the state in recapture in fiscal year 2019. Recapture’s purpose is simple enough: to provide equity and equal funding to all school districts, but the recapture system doesn’t always have a way to gauge the school district—only the property taxes it receives. Since Austin’s property taxes continue to rise and rise, AISD has had to send away record amounts of its primary revenue to the state of Texas, more than any other school
district in the state. The “Robin Hood” tax, however, doesn’t go directly to school districts in need. Instead, the money is simply dropped into a general pot, along with lottery revenue, sales taxes and other small revenue streams, making the millions of dollars first intended for the school district nearly impossible to track. THE ATTENDANCE ISSUE Since 2012, the district has lost around 6,200 students and it is projected that enrollment will drop another 4,266 students in the next seven years. Since the district receives funding from the state based on its attendance numbers, the dwindling number of students in AISD schools exacerbates an already hefty deficit. The skyrocketing property tax revenues of Austin has made it both a target for record amounts of recapture and has been a reason that so many families are being pushed out of Austin, leaving AISD caught in a vicious cycle. Initiatives like AISD’s fine arts programs and
all-day pre-K’s have faced scrutiny as they take up a large chunk of district funds and aren’t required by the state. The district has also been forced to explore consolidating and closing schools with low attendance rates. Cutting programs or relocating campuses which are integral to Austin communities, however, might cause attendance in AISD schools to drop further, which would further decrease the attendance revenue the district receives from the state. CONCERNS OVER FINE ARTS Once word began to spread about possible budget cuts, students began to worry about how the budget changes might affect the choice program at McCallum. Rumors began spreading about possible major funding cuts, as fine arts is not mandated by state or federal law. One viral picture even claimed that the Academy would be eliminated. Though this proved untrue, students still have advocated for the importance of the Academy in their lives, hoping to prevent future considered cuts. “[Loss of funding] would have a huge impact in both positive and negative ways,” said senior technical theatre Fine Arts Academy ambassador and MFAA Royale Court Players student president Zora Moore-Thoms. “Having lots of rehearsals can make it hard to have time to do homework, especially when you’re in lots of AP classes. But you also have this huge support system that you make in the Fine Arts Academy that helps you through that kind of stuff.” Dozens of students, parents and teachers
Specialized program advocates have argued that it is wise to invest money in programs like fine arts, because it draws more families to public schools (rather than charter or private), which in term generates more funding through attendance. The argument is that students feel more compelled to attend school regularly when they have an activity or class that they are passionate about or one where they can advance their understanding or proficiency in the discipline they most care about. “Since being the Fine Arts Academy, I’ve been able to receive a scholarship for the School of Visual Arts Pre-College Program, get into the People’s Gallery art show, go to state for art competitions like VASE, and win silver at Scholastic Art and Writing,” Linscomb said. “The academy has also taught me how to get my work out there. I’ve been invited to shows through East Austin Studio Tour that showcase art all over East Austin. ... Without the support from my facility, I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to succeed and have all of these opportunities.” High attendance rates allow for the district to receive more state revenue. The attendance policy has become stricter in the 2018-2019 school year in an attempt to raise attendance rates and reduce truancy throughout the district. Students must attend class for 90 percent of time it is offered in order to receive credit of the class. SHORT AND LONG TERM EFFECTS The issue of cutting and reducing funding for fine arts programs has prompted many students to think about current monetary limits, with some believing that the district should in fact spend more money on choice programs. “I know that our funding is already limited,” Moore-Thoms said. “And our shows can be quite expensive to produce. If we had a more limited budget, it could also diminish the quality of our shows, and there would be fewer learning opportunities for us because we would just have less to work with.” In the long term, cuts to fine arts funding could affect students’ likelihood of graduation and attempts to go to college. A study from the National Endowment for the Arts found that, as of 2012, students at the high school level who had little to no fine arts credits were five times as likely to fail to graduate as students who did have
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TOP: McCallum senior Emily Freeman presents a two-minute speech in defense of McCallum’s fine arts programs to a packed cafeteria during a Budget Stabilization Task Force meeting. Freeman was one of four speakers who presented public comments at the meeting. BOTTOM: Akins freshman Isabella Vasques makes signs against increasing class sizes to reduce the district’s $30 million debt. Protester held up the signs during the public comment period of the Nov. 26 Board of Trustees meeting. Photos by Bella Russo. credit for fine arts courses. In addition to being more likely to graduate, the study also discovered that students with high levels of engagement in the arts were more likely to aspire to go to college. INCREASING CLASS SIZE Although the prospect of increasing class sizes isn’t particularly appealing to students or to teachers, it could potentially eliminate a larger portion of the multi-million dollar deficit. Increasing class sizes by two students per class, upping the state limit from 22 to 24 students per class in pre-K and elementary schools and raising the limit from 29 to 31 for middle and high schools, could eliminate over a hundred classrooms. If approved by the school board, this increase is projected to save the district $6.4 million for the 2019 school year. AISD also assures that this increase would not lead to an escalation in teacher layoffs, claiming that the number of teachers that move out of the district each year would compensate for any eliminated positions. Michelle Cavazos, the district School Leadership Chief Officer argues that increasing class sizes may benefit students by supporting good teachers, claiming that a teacher who can engage a class will reach her students effectively no matter the class size. Many AISD teachers, students, and parents do not agree. “My little sister is in elementary school and there are so many kids in her class that she’s not getting the education that she needs,” said
Isabella Vasquez, a freshman at Akins, who protested class size increase at the AISD board meeting and public comment session on Nov. 26. Ken Zarifis, the president of Education Austin, the teacher’s union that advocates for student and teacher rights, agrees with her. “We want to know [what] is best for kids, and we don’t think increasing class sizes is best for kids. “ Zarifis said. Zarifis urges AISD to seek solutions beyond the classroom: “Don’t look at the classroom to cut away; look at administration, look at all the ways you could save money, but don’t take it away from the kids or the teachers.” Currently, AISD’s 2019 budget is still under debate. The Budget Stabilization Task Force will make its final recommendations to the district chairs sometime in December, when the matter will shift from the task force to the Board of Trustees to make a final decision. Although no solution will be perfect to everyone, what we know for certain is that the problems that the district is facing aren’t going to go away soon, so a solution will have to be made to ensure that AISD is financially sound for the long haul.
AISD Budgeting for Dummies DIAMANTE DIAZ staff reporter Everyone is in fear of the measures that AISD will ultimately take in order to resolve its budget deficit. At the rate AISD is going at right now, reserves will be exhausted within the next three years in large part because Austin taxpayers will be sending $2.6 billion to the district over the next five years, only for it to be redirected to districts other than AISD. Sacrificing this much money is not only bad in own right; it’s also leaving a huge dent in the AISD budget. Thirty five percent of school tax revenues are being sent out of Austin, thanks to a system known as recapture. What’s kept AISD in the red so far is something called recapture. Basically, the recapture system requires districts that receive large amounts of property tax revenue to pay a portion of that revenue to the state so that it might distribute it to property-tax poor districts in order to even out the playing field for Texas schools. The problem is, AISD schools and students families are in comparison less fortunate even though the property taxes rates in the City of Austin citizens are high. Property taxes also cost the district money in a different way. Not only do high property taxes trigger the recapture system, they also cause families to move from Austin to less expense neighboring cities with lower property taxes. The departing families cause AISD enrollment to decrease and the district loses state attendance revenue in addition to having to pay into the recapture system. The shrinking enrollment leaves AISD schools on the east side under-enrolled, and the revenue loss overall creates a district with a $30-million deficit that could possibly grow to be $70-million unless the budget is balanced. The district is required to pay facilities for the entire building even if it’s not all being put to use. Due to under enrollment in the East and the overpopulated schools on the West, a proposed solution is shutting down the east side schools and opening more schools on the west side. An example of the school board taking action is the Liberal Arts and Science Academy moving to another building on the East side while the second floor of LBJ high school is used as a health science magnet school to bring the population back from the west side. The irony is that while the district is making room for a health science academy, it is not providing a certified nurse to every school in the district. The problem is that AISD is losing students due to the increasing issue with the budget and this is their way to stop the bleeding. Charter schools get a taste of the Texas budgeting too, but separate from AISD. The new charter schools are cutting into the budget as they are not a part of AISD but receive money from the state. City officials have brought up raising city taxes while lowering property taxes to keep revenue from getting snatched up by the state. Though this isn’t the most typical way of getting out of a deficit dug ditch, desperate times call for desperate measures.
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BELLA RUSSO AND JAZZABELLE DAVISHINES staff reporters
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lejandra Estrada is tired of having to shove her first graders into supply closets during active shooter drills. For the students at Williams Elementary where Estrada teaches, there is no hiding under desks or sitting in corners because their outdated, open concept school building has no walls. “The first-grade class next to me has to come into my classroom and go into one of my closets while I shove the rest of my kids into my tiny hall office,” said Estrada, standing outside of the Nov. 26 AISD board meeting to protest her schools lack of funding before the Board of Trustees solidifies the 2019 budget. “It’s happening all over the school, and it’s just not safe.” With debate over the budget in full swing, all parts of the AISD community have come together to defend what is important to them, and what is on the chopping block in trying to alleviate the district’s well-publicized $30 million debt. For most of the protesters rallying against the debated budget, it’s the prospect of changing to a sevenout-of-eight class period work day for teachers, increased class sizes or the consolidation or outright closing of under-attended schools. For McCallum kids and parents, it is the consideration that the fine arts programs might see reduced or eliminated funding. For Estrada and her fellow teachers at Williams Elementary, safety is the main concern. AISD has already cut the funding they need to employ cafeteria monitors to make sure their pre-K and elementary students are safe during lunch and at recess; they need the districts help in paying for these important support jobs and helping to make their school a more secure and controlled environment. THE EXTENT OF THE DEBT As far as school districts go, AISD is pretty close to running on empty. For the 2018-2019 school year, the district will operate on a $30 million loss, and the reserve fund is projected to fall to about $210 million after the school year is over. When comparing the average operating costs of the district, around $750 million annually, it’s clear that the reserve fund is no longterm solution to the budget imbalance. In March, AISD formed a Budget Stabilization Task Force, a group of volunteers, and charged it with recommending community solutions to the district. The system also named the “largest cost drivers” of the budget: “employee compensation,” “maintaining current staffing,” “district contribution to employee health-care plans,” and “school nurse coverage.” Despite identifying these large-cost budget items, the district told the task force that no district cost is off of the table for the task force to consider cutting. This fall, the district even expanded the conversation about possible cuts to include considering a reduction of funding for specialized academic programs, including the fine arts program at McCallum. SO HOW DID WE GET HERE? According to the Financial Management section of the district’s website, “Austin ISD has earned the highest ratings for budget management from Moody’s Investors Service,
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ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK
The debate over AISD’s 2019 budget and debt management leaves no considered cost cut off of the table
attended the BSTF meeting at McCallum on Nov. 14. In public comment, they expressed support for fine arts and implored committee members not to look at specialized programs when deciding where to cut funding. They afterwards attended a separate meeting, where community members discussed ways to advocate for public education funding at the state legislative level. “Art students already have to pay upwards of $75 per art class without budget cuts,” senior Fine Arts ambassador Chloe Linscomb said. “With the potential cutting of programs, I feel like McCallum [wouldn’t] be that special school anymore with all the unique classes we offer.” MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS
Williams Elementary School teacher Julianne Hart speaks to the board of trustees about her concerns of the lack of security in her school as supporters stand behind her with signs. Williams Elementary doesn’t have proper walls separating the classrooms, enough safe places for students in the case of an emergency, or enough staff to supervise recess safely. Photo by Elisha Scott.
“Since 2015, AISD recapture payments have more than tripled. It is estimated that in fiscal year 2018, 55 percent of revenue will be sent to the state for redistribution, and that more than $699 million of local tax revenue will be sent to the state in recapture in fiscal year 2019.” Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. AISD also carries the highest bond and state financial accountability ratings that school districts can earn in the state of Texas.” So how exactly did AISD get into this financial hole? One culprit, a prime suspect if you will, is recapture, the state school finance system that takes the revenue of districts with high property tax revenues and redistributes it to schools with low property tax revenues. Since 2015, AISD recapture payments have more than tripled. It is estimated that in fiscal year 2018, 55 percent of revenue will be sent to the state for redistribution, and that more than $699 million of local tax revenue will be sent to the state in recapture in fiscal year 2019. Recapture’s purpose is simple enough: to provide equity and equal funding to all school districts, but the recapture system doesn’t always have a way to gauge the school district—only the property taxes it receives. Since Austin’s property taxes continue to rise and rise, AISD has had to send away record amounts of its primary revenue to the state of Texas, more than any other school
district in the state. The “Robin Hood” tax, however, doesn’t go directly to school districts in need. Instead, the money is simply dropped into a general pot, along with lottery revenue, sales taxes and other small revenue streams, making the millions of dollars first intended for the school district nearly impossible to track. THE ATTENDANCE ISSUE Since 2012, the district has lost around 6,200 students and it is projected that enrollment will drop another 4,266 students in the next seven years. Since the district receives funding from the state based on its attendance numbers, the dwindling number of students in AISD schools exacerbates an already hefty deficit. The skyrocketing property tax revenues of Austin has made it both a target for record amounts of recapture and has been a reason that so many families are being pushed out of Austin, leaving AISD caught in a vicious cycle. Initiatives like AISD’s fine arts programs and
all-day pre-K’s have faced scrutiny as they take up a large chunk of district funds and aren’t required by the state. The district has also been forced to explore consolidating and closing schools with low attendance rates. Cutting programs or relocating campuses which are integral to Austin communities, however, might cause attendance in AISD schools to drop further, which would further decrease the attendance revenue the district receives from the state. CONCERNS OVER FINE ARTS Once word began to spread about possible budget cuts, students began to worry about how the budget changes might affect the choice program at McCallum. Rumors began spreading about possible major funding cuts, as fine arts is not mandated by state or federal law. One viral picture even claimed that the Academy would be eliminated. Though this proved untrue, students still have advocated for the importance of the Academy in their lives, hoping to prevent future considered cuts. “[Loss of funding] would have a huge impact in both positive and negative ways,” said senior technical theatre Fine Arts Academy ambassador and MFAA Royale Court Players student president Zora Moore-Thoms. “Having lots of rehearsals can make it hard to have time to do homework, especially when you’re in lots of AP classes. But you also have this huge support system that you make in the Fine Arts Academy that helps you through that kind of stuff.” Dozens of students, parents and teachers
Specialized program advocates have argued that it is wise to invest money in programs like fine arts, because it draws more families to public schools (rather than charter or private), which in term generates more funding through attendance. The argument is that students feel more compelled to attend school regularly when they have an activity or class that they are passionate about or one where they can advance their understanding or proficiency in the discipline they most care about. “Since being the Fine Arts Academy, I’ve been able to receive a scholarship for the School of Visual Arts Pre-College Program, get into the People’s Gallery art show, go to state for art competitions like VASE, and win silver at Scholastic Art and Writing,” Linscomb said. “The academy has also taught me how to get my work out there. I’ve been invited to shows through East Austin Studio Tour that showcase art all over East Austin. ... Without the support from my facility, I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to succeed and have all of these opportunities.” High attendance rates allow for the district to receive more state revenue. The attendance policy has become stricter in the 2018-2019 school year in an attempt to raise attendance rates and reduce truancy throughout the district. Students must attend class for 90 percent of time it is offered in order to receive credit of the class. SHORT AND LONG TERM EFFECTS The issue of cutting and reducing funding for fine arts programs has prompted many students to think about current monetary limits, with some believing that the district should in fact spend more money on choice programs. “I know that our funding is already limited,” Moore-Thoms said. “And our shows can be quite expensive to produce. If we had a more limited budget, it could also diminish the quality of our shows, and there would be fewer learning opportunities for us because we would just have less to work with.” In the long term, cuts to fine arts funding could affect students’ likelihood of graduation and attempts to go to college. A study from the National Endowment for the Arts found that, as of 2012, students at the high school level who had little to no fine arts credits were five times as likely to fail to graduate as students who did have
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TOP: McCallum senior Emily Freeman presents a two-minute speech in defense of McCallum’s fine arts programs to a packed cafeteria during a Budget Stabilization Task Force meeting. Freeman was one of four speakers who presented public comments at the meeting. BOTTOM: Akins freshman Isabella Vasques makes signs against increasing class sizes to reduce the district’s $30 million debt. Protester held up the signs during the public comment period of the Nov. 26 Board of Trustees meeting. Photos by Bella Russo. credit for fine arts courses. In addition to being more likely to graduate, the study also discovered that students with high levels of engagement in the arts were more likely to aspire to go to college. INCREASING CLASS SIZE Although the prospect of increasing class sizes isn’t particularly appealing to students or to teachers, it could potentially eliminate a larger portion of the multi-million dollar deficit. Increasing class sizes by two students per class, upping the state limit from 22 to 24 students per class in pre-K and elementary schools and raising the limit from 29 to 31 for middle and high schools, could eliminate over a hundred classrooms. If approved by the school board, this increase is projected to save the district $6.4 million for the 2019 school year. AISD also assures that this increase would not lead to an escalation in teacher layoffs, claiming that the number of teachers that move out of the district each year would compensate for any eliminated positions. Michelle Cavazos, the district School Leadership Chief Officer argues that increasing class sizes may benefit students by supporting good teachers, claiming that a teacher who can engage a class will reach her students effectively no matter the class size. Many AISD teachers, students, and parents do not agree. “My little sister is in elementary school and there are so many kids in her class that she’s not getting the education that she needs,” said
Isabella Vasquez, a freshman at Akins, who protested class size increase at the AISD board meeting and public comment session on Nov. 26. Ken Zarifis, the president of Education Austin, the teacher’s union that advocates for student and teacher rights, agrees with her. “We want to know [what] is best for kids, and we don’t think increasing class sizes is best for kids. “ Zarifis said. Zarifis urges AISD to seek solutions beyond the classroom: “Don’t look at the classroom to cut away; look at administration, look at all the ways you could save money, but don’t take it away from the kids or the teachers.” Currently, AISD’s 2019 budget is still under debate. The Budget Stabilization Task Force will make its final recommendations to the district chairs sometime in December, when the matter will shift from the task force to the Board of Trustees to make a final decision. Although no solution will be perfect to everyone, what we know for certain is that the problems that the district is facing aren’t going to go away soon, so a solution will have to be made to ensure that AISD is financially sound for the long haul.
AISD Budgeting for Dummies DIAMANTE DIAZ staff reporter Everyone is in fear of the measures that AISD will ultimately take in order to resolve its budget deficit. At the rate AISD is going at right now, reserves will be exhausted within the next three years in large part because Austin taxpayers will be sending $2.6 billion to the district over the next five years, only for it to be redirected to districts other than AISD. Sacrificing this much money is not only bad in own right; it’s also leaving a huge dent in the AISD budget. Thirty five percent of school tax revenues are being sent out of Austin, thanks to a system known as recapture. What’s kept AISD in the red so far is something called recapture. Basically, the recapture system requires districts that receive large amounts of property tax revenue to pay a portion of that revenue to the state so that it might distribute it to property-tax poor districts in order to even out the playing field for Texas schools. The problem is, AISD schools and students families are in comparison less fortunate even though the property taxes rates in the City of Austin citizens are high. Property taxes also cost the district money in a different way. Not only do high property taxes trigger the recapture system, they also cause families to move from Austin to less expense neighboring cities with lower property taxes. The departing families cause AISD enrollment to decrease and the district loses state attendance revenue in addition to having to pay into the recapture system. The shrinking enrollment leaves AISD schools on the east side under-enrolled, and the revenue loss overall creates a district with a $30-million deficit that could possibly grow to be $70-million unless the budget is balanced. The district is required to pay facilities for the entire building even if it’s not all being put to use. Due to under enrollment in the East and the overpopulated schools on the West, a proposed solution is shutting down the east side schools and opening more schools on the west side. An example of the school board taking action is the Liberal Arts and Science Academy moving to another building on the East side while the second floor of LBJ high school is used as a health science magnet school to bring the population back from the west side. The irony is that while the district is making room for a health science academy, it is not providing a certified nurse to every school in the district. The problem is that AISD is losing students due to the increasing issue with the budget and this is their way to stop the bleeding. Charter schools get a taste of the Texas budgeting too, but separate from AISD. The new charter schools are cutting into the budget as they are not a part of AISD but receive money from the state. City officials have brought up raising city taxes while lowering property taxes to keep revenue from getting snatched up by the state. Though this isn’t the most typical way of getting out of a deficit dug ditch, desperate times call for desperate measures.
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shield Freshman Leilah Ramos (center) leaps during the full Cabaret cast’s production number “He Lives in You/Circle of Life” from The Lion King during Friday night’s show. “I love dancing, and I love singing, so being able to do both with all my friends is so much fun.” Photo by Maeve Walsh.
‘You Wish’ You Had Seen It ...
... unless of course you did, in which case you probably ‘Wish’ you could hear it one more time. :) MIA TERMINELLA staff reporter Junior Duval Bingham is a soccer player and a musical theatre major, but when Choir Cabaret rolls around each year, he adopts another role: muppet. Along with fellow muppet by night and choir major by day, sophomore Corin Vandenburg, Bingham performed a duet for the second year in a row, singing “Life’s a Happy Song” from The Muppet Movie. “It has been great to get to do a duet with Duval” Vandenburg said. “ We have become such great friends over the time spend rehearsing.” Bingham said, “Doing a duet with Corin has been amazing; it was great to perform onstage.” The McCallum vocal studies department performed its annual cabaret performance Dec. 6-9 in the McCallum Arts Center. This year’s show was entitled, “When You Wish...,” and featured songs from many memorable (and some not so well-remembered) Disney movies and shows. The Fine Arts Academy majors had been preparing since October and had their premiering performance on a Thursday night. Choir Cabaret is McCallum the choir program’s main fundraiser for the school year and features a live student orchestra, dancing and singing. “When You Wish... ” was led by creative director Malcolm Nelson. Nelson was the longtime choir director prior to Allison Kashdan and returns to McCallum annually to be the creative director for Cabaret. “When You Wish” was chorally directed by Kashdan. Assistant choir director Tyler Mabry created arrangements for the show and also helped teach the music to
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Singers Elle Hemenway, Eric Willard, Helen Heustess and Hannah Ashcraft (top center) perform in the number “Be Prepared” from The Lion King during the Sunday matinee performance of “When You Wish”. Photo by Dave Winter. the students. The show also relied on technical direction provided by Fine Arts Academy tech students. Junior Stella Shenkman stage managed the show. “It’s a really unique show to do because of how invested everyone on the team is,” said Shenkman, who added that “the tech only join the show a week before it happens and that is the first time we get to see it, so it kind of feels like a sprint to the finish line, which makes it really exciting.”
Fine arts academy orchestra students as well as collaborative piano students performed music for the show as well. Orchestra director Ricky Pringle arranged many of the scores for the show conducted the pit orchestra. Collaborative piano director Kate Wiley coordinated the piano students who performed throughout the entirety of the show. Prior and during the start of rehearsals, the choir department held Saturday work days for the upcoming show. Choir students would
go to the choir room on Saturday afternoons and help to build props and set pieces for the performance. “It was a great way to see the show develop as we worked on it” junior Sam Buford said. “We could eventually see the final product during the show.” Unlike past shows, this year’s cabaret theme was all things Disney. The show featured a collection of Disney favorites, from Moana to the original Mickey Mouse. Vandenburg said that aspect of the show appealed to him. Similar to previous years, some of the cabaret numbers were choreographed and directed by students. Junior choir major Abby Lerma and McCallum alum Tryston Davis co- choreographed the company number from Frozen, “Fixer Upper.” Lerma also choreographed the number “Zero to Hero” from Hercules. “It was very cool to be able to be in charge of a number,” Lerma said “I was very proud of how it looked when performed in the show.” The cabaret show had a series of solo performances showcasing seniors. “It has been kind of surreal performing in my last cabaret,” choir senior Sophia Salo said. “I love the choir community because everyone is so supportive and works together to be the best choir they can be.” While this performance was the seniors’ last cabaret, they will perform one more time in the choir program’s spring concert. To see more photos from “When You Wish ...” check out our photo essay on the back page of this issue and also on our website, macshieldonline.com.
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Page of the Month: December
Siphonophora by Thomas Glassford, at the Blanton.
A rainbow of shades Blue Velvet Vintage is a local store on the North Loop with styles from the ’50s to the ’90s that are totally gnarly and far out. Blue Velvet Vintage is owned by a mom and her daughter and has been open in Austin for 24 years. Many of the outfits represent from nations all over the world including China, India, Mexico and Holland. The items are not too expensive and are in good condition if you are on a budget. The clothes in the store are organized by type, by era and by color. The store does not just feature clothes; it also has many accessories including sunglasses, hats, shoes, socks and jewelry. The store is a little cramped in terms of space but this coziness adds to the vibe. At the front of the store in the window there are two mannequins, one featuring female clothes and one, male clothes. These are surrounded by a rack of T-shirts from all over the country. I saw one from a Jacksonville high school cross-country meet and one from Disney World. On the ceiling, many different colored skirts hang like decorations and the large shelf built into one of the walls of the store displays an assortment of boots. In the front of the store hang many leather purses and a large number of fanny packs along with a few vintage toys on the shelf below. These are placed next to another larger shelf filled with vintage blankets and one vintage Transformers sleeping bag. I was impressed with the store, especially since it operates in a smaller space. The store is located on 217 West North Loop and is open from 11 a.m. to 8.p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 Vintage-style sunglasses on displaye on a a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. spinning rack at Blue Velvet. Photo by Olivia
Art: “Making Africa” at the Blanton
“Black Veil” and “White Veil” from the Albus by Justin Dingwall. Photo by Olivia Watts. This traveling exhibit has come to the Blanton and has over a hundred art pieces, all of which were made by artists who are from Africa, live in Africa and artists who have been inspired by contemporary Africa. The exhibit is located right next to the entrance and front desk which makes it easy to find. When you first walk into the exhibit you see a picture of a man wearing glasses made out of wire and in front of the picture suspended on stands there are around a dozen, more or less, glasses made out of wire, beads and found objects. On the three walls around this videos play clips from interviews with some of these artists and others expressing their thoughts on art and life. Walking further into the gallery, you can see multimedia works adorning the walls. The exhibit winds through several rooms, each
room with many different art pieces varying in style and message. The exhibit features fashion in many styles including dresses and winter coats. The exhibit also projects several videos like one of a man done in fast motion photography who is smashing a piano that is painted on a wall. One of my favorite pieces was three light boxes each with around 600 pictures taken by two photographers. The photos were of the windows, doors and TVs of an apartment building in South Africa that has, in recent years, become very run down. The light boxes stretched almost to the ceiling. I found them interesting because each photo was like a small window into someone’s life. The exhibit will be open to January 6th, 2019. The Blanton is located at 200 East Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Eats: Black’s Barbecue Austin Black’s Barbecue was originally founded in Lockhart in 1932. Eighty-six years later, the restaurant is still open and has expanded to Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels. After all these years, the Black family still owns and runs the restaurant. I checked out the Austin location for “linner.” The Austin restaurant serves beef, pork, turkey, chicken and sausage. I had the lean brisket, and it was full of flavor. I could definitely taste the oak wood that was used to cook the brisket, which added to the flavor. The restaurant also serves many sides that complement the barbecue. My family got mac and cheese, green beans and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes added a hint of sweetness to the meal. The size of the sides range from five ounces, a pint and a quart. They also offer banana pudding, ice cream and two types of cobbler for dessert. You walk in the door and the counter where you order is right there with the menu on the wooden wall above it. You are given your
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meal at the counter as you order. Sauces and utensils are on the other side of the counter, along the side next to the soda fountain. The walls are wood paneled and the counters and tables are also made of wood. Everything about the atmosphere just says, “classic barbecue restaurant.” Since it is the end of November, wreaths, strings of lights and a banner reading “Merry Christmas” have been hung up around the restaurant. Black’s can get a little loud at times because of the echoes off the high ceilings, and country music often plays in the background. Multiple televisions play all different kinds of sports like football and baseball. Photos of the Black family adorn the wall along with a mural of musician Willie Nelson. Black’s Austin is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Austin location of Black’s is located at 3110 Guadalupe Street. Mac and cheese, green beans, sweet potatoes and sauce are all delicious sides available at —reporting and photos by Olivia Watts. Black’s, a classic barbecue joint with locations throughout central Texas. Photo by Olivia Watts.
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Sweet home Chicago
MAX RHODES
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fter a superb journalism trip to New York City last spring break, I was eager to join four members of the McCallum journalism team headed up to the mighty Chicago early this November. Chicago may have a population less than half of New York, but that by no means detracted from our experience. We landed in Chicago around 1:15 on Thursday afternoon. It was about 50 degrees and cloudy, which is pretty typical weather for that time of year. The place we were staying was called the Swissotel, which was only a few blocks away from the hotel complex where the journalism conference and award ceremony we would be attending were held. The Swissotel was right on the river and just off of the corner of Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue, so we could see some famous Chicago buildings, like the Wrigley building, Tribune tower and the DuSable bridge. CHEESE AND BEANS After we got settled into the hotel, we took to the streets for lunch. Anissa Ryland, our chaperone for the trip, found a sandwich restaurant a few blocks away. It was about 50 degrees outside, but the biting wind made it feel much colder. Chicago’s infamous nickname “The Windy City” actually had nothing to do with the weather when it was assigned in the 1870s, but the mixture of the wind coming off the lake and tall buildings create a wind tunnel so strong you’ll lose your hat, or even your balance. Needless to say, the warm restaurant was a nice break from the weather. I got a turkey sandwich, which was pretty good, but our journalism adviser David Winter was unhappy with the lack of cheese on his sub. We took a slight detour to walk down Michigan Avenue on the way back. This street reminded me of New York; all the shops, cars, buses and people walking had a very similar vibe. We walked down to Millennium Park, which is home of the Cloud Gate sculpture, or as it’s more commonly called, The Bean. It’s an interesting sculpture, because it looks like mercury, as a tour guide we overheard put it, and reflects the city skyline and the red-leaved trees. Unlike Austin, it looked like fall in Chicago with the trees and ground covered in red and yellow leaves. Even with the gray sky, the park was very lively and colorful. Back at the hotel, I took a look at the schedule for the conference the next day. There were several session available each hour, with subjects on just about anything journalism-related. The sessions were mostly taught by teachers from around the country, but a few were locals talking about their jobs. The next day Mrs. Ryland suggested we have breakfast at a donut place a few blocks down called Stan’s Donuts, which is a local chain around the city. The place was packed, but the line moved pretty quickly. New York was very expensive, and Chicago may be a little cheaper, but I still ended up paying $10 for two donuts and a water.
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Second (to none) City offers trip with memorable sites, stories
There was no place to sit, so we ate our donuts on the street in the chilly Chicago morning. My first session was about how to find good stories to cover around your school, taught by a UT professor. Next, I walked over to see Brian Cassella, a photographer for the Chicago Tribune. He showed us some of his pictures of Wrigley Field and the Cubs winning the World Series in 2016. He also had some “day in the life” photos, capturing people, buildings and other events happening on the streets of Chicago. After the next sessions, including one where I learned how to make a career as a journalist, I had some downtime before the writeoff competition I would be participating in that afternoon. I had never done a write-off before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. When I entered the room, it was absolutely packed with what had to be 150 people. I sat next to a girl from northern Alabama and a guy from Brazil living in Virginia. GANGSTERS, GHOSTS AND GIANT CORN COBS After the write-off, we all met up and decided the game plan for the evening. Mrs. Ryland had booked us a walking tour that night, so we set off to find dinner before it started. We got some shawarma at the Middle Eastern place just down the street, then headed over to the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive for our event of the evening, the Chicago Gangster and Ghost tour. Our tour was lead by a man in a beanie named Davy, “like Davy Crockett,” he explained, “or Davy Jones.” He started off by giving us a little background on Chicago in the 1920s and about the gangsters, most notably Al Capone. We went down to the Riverwalk, where Davy told us about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The combination of many wooden buildings and fat in the river from the meat packing industry caused the fire to spread very quickly. Nearly the entire city was burned to the ground. A little way down the river we saw the Marina City towers, which were built in the 1960s and look a little like giant corn cobs. They were originally designed to function as a mini city, with apartments, offices and retail, as well as a movie theater and ice skating rink. We took the stairs back up to street level and walked over to the alley behind the Oriental Theatre, supposedly called “Death Alley.” It earned its name after a terrible fire in 1903 at the theater killed more than 600 people. Later on, and much to Davy’s dismay, the city installed lights and murals to make the alley feel less “death-like.” Our last stop was the Congress Plaza Hotel. Along the way we saw the start of the historic Route 66, which stretches 2,450 miles to the outside of Los Angeles. Davy said that when he moved to Chicago from L.A, he took the road the entire distance. “It wasn’t very interesting,” he admitted. In the hotel lobby, we learned about the fall of Al Capone. After many years of being the most powerful man in Chicago, he was finally brought to justice. Not for the murders he planned, or the alcohol he smuggled, but for tax evasion. He was just over 30 years old.
We all thanked Davy for his excellent tour, and asked him how he got permission to go into all of these nice hotels. “Oh, I didn’t,” he replied. “I just show up and they assume I’ve talked with the manager.” We made our way back to the hotel, and I took another look at the sessions for Saturday. The award ceremony was tomorrow, and Mr. Winter was getting a little anxious about how McCallum journalism would fare against the rest of the country. YOU CAN’T WIN THEM ALL BUT YOU CAN TRY The next morning we went for breakfast at the Wildberry Cafe, which was just a few blocks from the hotel and right on the edge of Millennium Park. It was about 38 degrees that morning, but the wait to eat inside was too long, so we got a table on the street. I got a hot apple cider and the Belgian waffle, both of which were very good. After breakfast we walked back over to the hotel complex for Day 2 of the conference. I learned the benefits of a degree in communication and about the making of a documentary about newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer. For lunch that day Mrs. Ryland ordered some Chicago-style pizza, and brought it to us during our half-hour break between sessions. We sat on the floor to eat our feast, getting some longing looks from the passerby. You can get some good pizza in Austin, but Chicagostyle pizza in Chicago is hard to beat. It was deep-dish stuffed crust pepperoni pizza, and was easily one of the best things we ate on the trip. One slice was a sufficient meal. I had one more session that afternoon before the award ceremony, which was called “50 photos your publication needs.” They showed us some award-winning photos from various high schools around the country. It was a pleasant surprise to see photos taken by McCallum students used as examples. At 3:30 it was time for the award ceremony. We all met up again, and headed for the Grand Ballroom. McCallum was up for several individual awards and overall publication awards. The ceremony began, and I realized just how many branches of journalism there is. They had awards for podcasts, radio, photography, page design, reporting and news stories. We won first place in both social media reporting and promotion, which were both new categories this year (see page 3). The big question was whether or not we won a Pacemaker. The tension grew as the names of the publications were read in a random order. Finally, the list was over, and our name wasn’t called. It was a little sad, but we still had 15 award plaques to bring home, plus an eighth place in Best of Show. HUNGRY TO SOLVE A MYSTERY OR TWO We hurried back to the hotel to store our plaques and rushed back downstairs for dinner that night. All I knew about this place we were eating for dinner was that it was spy-themed, which definitely sounded interesting. We hopped in the Uber and got let out at an
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unassuming door, with a man with a beard and clipboard in front. He checked our reservations and let us in. Inside was a stereotypical secret-agent office, with shelves with various objects and a desk with a statue head and some computers. Sitting at the desk was another man with a beard, this time wearing a vest. He said that in order to get into the restaurant we needed “approval from headquarters,” or something like that, and that we had to follow his every move. He made us do some little dance, typed some numbers on a keypad on the desk and said we were good to go. He pushed the head back on the statue to reveal a red button, and when he pressed it the wall to my left opened up to a stairwell going down. We bid him farewell and descended the concrete staircase. At the bottom of the stairs there was a door, so naturally, I went to open it. Right before I grabbed the handle, the wall next to me opened upward to reveal the front desk of the restaurant. I stood a bit dumbfounded in the doorway that I thought was a was a wall a second ago, then we all entered. We saw that they had a camera on the guy upstairs and everyone in the bar could see whatever silly dances he made people do. We met our waiter, and he said something along the lines of, “OK, agents, let me take you to your table.” Once we sat down, I got a good look at the place. It was pretty dimly lit, with most of the lights being either red or blue. There were all sorts of tubes and pipes running across the ceiling and walls. The place was small and crowded and felt a little like being inside a submarine. The menus were small booklets, and all the food had fancy code names, such as “goldfingers” for chicken tenders. Our waiter came back and said something to the effect of, “Finished decoding? Or do you need a little more time?” I got the “Spy Burger,” which was really just a regular hamburger. After we ordered, we explored the restaurant a bit: there was a map of Vietnam, a periscope-type contraption that let you spy on the people in the bar and all sorts of strange screens showing what looked like security camera footage. We got our food, which was really nothing special; it was definitely the bizarre atmosphere of this place that appealed to people. After another spy-themed dictum from our waiter, we paid for the meal and tried to find the exit. There was an elevator in the back, which took us back to the street level. When the doors opened up, we were in some shopping center, and a sign pointed down the white hallway, which we followed and ended up back on the dark street. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant like that before, but it sure made for an interesting experience.
way to remember Chicago,” the lady at the counter said sarcastically. FIRST A PONCHO THEN AN APOLOGY We wanted to start our final morning in Chicago with donuts, so we headed for another donut place a few blocks away, called Do-Rite. The rain was holding off for now, but the wind was even stronger than the previous days, and it was very cold. We made it to Do-Rite, grabbed our donuts,and rushed back toward the hotel. We had booked tickets for an architecture boat tour starting at 9:45, and it was already 9:30. As we hurried through the windy streets, the first few drops of rain began to fall. We made it to the hotel, jumped into the Uber and took of for the dock. “Wonderful Christmas Time” by Paul McCartney was playing on the radio as the rain outside picked up. We jumped out of the car as soon as we arrived. Luckily, the boat was still there, but so was the rain. It was steadily coming down by that time, and they handed out emergency ponchos as we boarded. Putting these on was a bit of a challenge, with the crazy wind. The weather didn’t stop our tour guide, though. Amongst the wind and rain, he began to tell us about the three-story brick apartment buildings across the harbor. He looked like a friendly guy and was very knowledgeable on the subject, but it was a little difficult to focus on what he was saying on account of the 40-degree wind, rain and other peoples plastic ponchos flying in my face. The guide was just planning to go right on with his spiel, but another employee had to stop him, to which he seemed confused. Apparently the wind was too strong, and they had to cancel the tour, which was a little disappointing, but at that point I think everyone was OK with it. They gave us some cookies as an apology, and we walked back to the ticket office. That’s when the storm really got going. I ran down the sidewalk right into the rain, which was almost sideways from the wind. We all survived the downpour and regrouped in the ticket office. Not only did they refund our tickets, but they gave us another set for free. I made a note to remember that the next time I plan a trip to Chicago. We dried off as much as we could and waited for the rain to slow down, and after about 15 minutes we could return to the street. Since we couldn’t see all of the real buildings, we decided to go to the
Chicago Architectural Center to see some models of them. Inside the Center, there was a gift shop with just about any slightly overpriced architecture-related thing you could ever want, like books, models, posters and even socks. We looked around for a bit, then got our tickets and headed to the second floor, where the scale models of some buildings were. The first thing we were greeted by was a huge mural on the wall that predicted the future of the city, like self-driving cars and super tall apartment buildings. In the next room were the models, which were bigger than I expected, with some over eight feet tall. They had the Sears Tower, Hancock Center and Marina Towers, plus the Chrysler Building from New York, the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the planned Jeddah tower in Saudi Arabia, which is currently under construction but when completed will be the tallest building in the world. It is so massive that to make to scale with the others, it had to be started on the first floor, go through the second floor and almost reach the ceiling of the second story. All along the north side of the center were huge windows, which looked upon some of Chicago’s most famous buildings with information on them. We could see the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower and NBC Tower. We spent a good amount of time looking at the models, then moved into the next room. In this room was a scale model of the entire downtown, with all the famous buildings, lakeshore, river and even The Bean. We watched a short film about the history of the city and looked around at some of the other exhibits. On the way out we stopped by the gift shop, where I got a poster with some famous buildings on it. The cashier, who was a little more friendly toward my purchases than the one at the Hancock, asked me if I wanted to get a backpack for $10 off. I saw that my total was $73 and replied, “No thanks; I’d like to have enough money to eat today.” We went back to the hotel for the last time, and packed up our suitcases before heading back to the lobby for the Uber. We all climbed in and bid Chicago farewell, and as we drove further and further away, the buildings got shorter and smaller. Our four days in Chicago were packed full, from the sessions and award ceremony to the Bean, gangsters, Hancock Center, failed boat ride and the model buildings. I really did love New York, but I think I enjoyed Chicago a little more.
A BLANKET OF CITY LIGHTS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE Our next event for that evening, and one I was particularly excited about, was the observation deck at the John Hancock Center. It was only a few block away, so we started off through the chilly streets. Along the way, we met an old lady holding a microphone telling the whole block about Jesus Christ and a woman wearing Mickey Mouse slippers because her high heels were too uncomfortable. You know, typical big city things. Just down the street was the mighty Hancock Center, towering at 1,127 feet tall. We made our way into the building, got our tickets and headed for the elevator. It climbed more than 1,000 feet in 40 seconds and claimed to be the fastest elevator in North America, I could feel my ears pop from the change in altitude. Our stop was at the 360 observation deck 1,030 feet off the ground on the 94th floor, and from that vantage point, you could see the entire city. Facing south we could see the heart of downtown, with the Sears Tower, Trump Tower and Aon Center standing above the rest. Behind downtown the lights from neighborhoods stretched to the dark sky on the horizon, all the way to the curve of Lake Michigan in Indiana. From that vantage point, we could see the roofs of nearby 700-foot-tall buildings. Looking out west there were no big buildings, just the blanket of city lights that covered everything as far as the eye could see. I sat down to watch a documentary on the construction of the building. It has a unique shape; the bottom starts out big and gets skinner as it goes up, and is supported by huge diamond-shaped cross beams. It doesn’t have an internal frame; instead, all the weight is on the walls. The building was built in 1969 and is currently the fourth-tallest in the city. After about 45 minutes, we decided to return to the ground. The elevator probably came close to terminal velocity as it brought us 1,000 feet down in under 45 seconds. On the ground floor, we looked around the gift shop, which had pretty much anything you could ever want with the word Chicago on it, and all for just a little more than you wanted to spend. I purchased a small snow globe for $20. “Great
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Photos by yours truly.
7. Trees in Millennium Park
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Tracy Atoo wrestles against an opponent from Akins High school on Nov. 14 in the team’s tri-meet against Akins and Anderson. Atoo is trying wrestling for the first time this season. Photo by Chloe Gervais.
Tracy Atoo hits the ball back to San Marcos during the freshman B’team’s 2-1 loss to San Marcos on Aug. 31. Atoo has played volleyball since seventh grade when she moved here with her family seven years ago. Photo by Risa Darlington-Horta.
Tracy Atoo drives towards the hoop in the JV Girls Basketball 57-16 loss to Vandegrift on Nov 30, 2018. “I like basketball because of the community,” Atoo said. Photo by Anna Bausman.
Sports Profile: Tracy Atoo
Between volleyball, basketball, and wrestling freshman phenom is holding court this semester The Shield: Why did you decide to come to McCallum? Tracy Atoo: I wanted to come because they had a really good fine arts program, and I like theatre so I wanted to do that. TS: What was your life like before coming to the United States? TA: It was honestly pretty hard because we were growing up in a war zone, but it wasn’t too awful. TS: Where did you live? TA: I lived in Lira, Uganda. TS: When did you leave for the United States? TA: I came here seven years when my mom got a scholarship, and she brought us here the next year. TS: What has life been like in the United States compared to Uganda? TA: It is a lot better because you’re obviously not in a war zone. People are pretty nice here. TS: What sports do you play? TA: Volleyball, wrestling and basketball. TS: Which sport do enjoy the most? TA: I like basketball because of the community; it’s fun and loving, and you feel welcome. TS: What do you think the most important thing to do is to win in wrestling? TA: It is important to build endurance because you get tired fast, and if you can have that one boost of energy you can win. TS: What is it like balancing two sports in the same season? TA: It’s challenging. You have to split your practice time between the two sports. Since I have wrestling during the [school] day, I usually go to basketball practice [after school]. TS: Are you involved in any other school activities? TA: I am in the fashion show. TS: What is being in the fashion show like? TA: It feels great because you’re in the fashion show, and you get to walk, and everyone is like ‘Wow, it’s Tracy!’ TS: How did it feel being in the homecoming court this year? TA: I was so excited, and I was really happy. I love everybody who voted and I am so grateful that I was the baroness. TS: What are you looking forward to this school year and the rest of your time at McCallum? TA: I am looking forward to getting better at each sport and getting good grades, and having a good time overall. TS: How would you describe your McCallum experience so far?
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“Not being a citizen in the U.S. was scary. There were always chances of being deported. If we were to have been deported, I don’t even know what would happen..” —freshman Tracy Atoo TA: So far it has been great. People are nice and everyone does their own thing and no one is that judgy of you. TS: What prior experience do you have playing each sport? TA: I started playing volleyball and basketball in seventh grade in school. I never played out of school. I used to play soccer, but I don’t play anymore. TS: Have you ever done wrestling? TA: No, this is my first year. TS: What differences do you see between all three sports you play? TA: With wrestling, I know I have to have more endurance and have to build some muscle. Basketball is about the speed, and in volleyball, you have to be really powerful in the arms so that you can hit well. TS: Why did you leave your home country? Were you forced to? TA: My mom got a scholarship to UT and after that she decided to bring my brother and I here the next year. After my mom was already in the USA. She applied for political asylum. TS: What made you want to be so involved in school sports? TA: Playing sports is a great escape from everything. I mainly joined sports so I could learn more skills and get a college scholarship. TS: If you had one word to describe the change from middle school to high school, what would it be? TA: Great! TS: What keeps you motivated to play all of these sports? TA: The fact that I can get into college and become a doctor so I can help my country out motivates me. TS: Where do you see athletics taking you? TA: I see sports taking me to college and leading me to a better life. TS: What does it feel like to be an official citizen as of recent? TA: It is honestly such a relief. Not being a citizen in the U.S. was scary. There were always chances of being deported. If we were to have been deported, I don’t even know what would happen. My family would definitely be in trouble with the president of Uganda. —interview by Gregory James
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Once the young gun, now the old pro Junior guard Sam Werkenthin takes on a new, expanded role in his second year on varsity team STEVEN TIBBETTS sports editor
Last year, Sam Werkenthin was the only sophomore on McCallum’s varsity boys basketball team. Despite being the youngest player on the team, Werkenthin improved a lot and says that he learned a lot from the more experienced players on that team. This year, the junior guard is one of only two returning players from last year’s varsity team, with senior forward Norman Boyd being the other. Being one of only two veterans has forced Werkenthin into a different role on the team than he had the year before. “Last year I was the only sophomore on the team, and it was just a team full of seniors, so I had to learn from them, and now this year my role has definitely changed,” Werkenthin said. “Since me and Norman are the only ones who have experience playing varsity, [my role is to be] a scorer and a leader.” Boyd agrees that Werkenthin’s primary job on the team is to score, and he also believes that Werkenthin has done a good job doing it. “He is a reliable scorer,” Boyd said. Werkenthin’s long journey playing basketball first started about 10 years ago when his mom convinced him to play the sport. “My mom played basketball in high school,” Werkenthin said. “I always had a ball in my hands when I was a kid, so she wanted me to get into basketball.” Werkenthin may have started playing basketball because of his mom’s advice, but he continued to play because he loved, and still loves, to be a part of a team. “I enjoy the team spirit and that you can’t do everything by yourself,” Werkenthin said. Werkenthin says that he also enjoys the work it takes to improve at basketball, which is something former McCallum Knight basketball player Kenny Hall said Werkenthin did a lot of last year. “You got to put in a lot of work to be good at it, and you can’t cheat your way through it,” Werkenthin said. Werkenthin hopes that this hard work can help him achieve an individual goal this season. “I’m trying to get either second or third team all-district,” Werkenthin said. Werkenthin said at the start of this season, however, that he was looking forward to playing with the two seniors on the team for the last time more than he was looking forward to achieving his personal goals. “[I’m looking forward to] playing with Norman and Andrew [Alvarez] for the last year because I’ve played with them since my freshman year,” Werkenthin said. Boyd says that over the years, he and Werkenthin have gotten good at playing together. “We have good chemistry because I’ve known him for a long time,” Boyd said. Werkenthin hopes to extend the time he gets to play with Boyd and Alvarez by helping the Knights qualify for the 5A state playoffs, something last year’s team was unable to do. “This year, I want to make playoffs at least.
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Junior Sam Werkenthin sets up a shot during McCallum’s 47-56 loss to Hays on Nov. 13 at home. Shooting is something Werkenthin has done a lot of this year as he is one of only two returning players from last year’s varsity team. “This year my role has definitely changed. Since me and Norman are the only [players] who have experience playing varsity, [my role is to be] a scorer and a leader.” Photo by Risa Darlington-Horta. That’s the lowest expectation,” Werkenthin said. “I want to win district. I feel like we have a pretty good shot this year.” So far, Werkenthin and the Knights have proven that they are legitimate contenders to at least finish in the top four finishers in district and thus earn a playoff berth. According to MaxPreps, the Knights currently have the fifth best ranking out of the eight teams in District 25-5A, behind Reagan, LBJ, Dripping Springs and Lockhart. The Knights have reason to believe, however, that they can outperform those expectations. McCallum beat Bastrop 7365 on Nov. 20 less than a week before Lockhart lost to the Bears, 70-66. The Knights have also had a comparable result with Reagan, the top ranked District 25-5A team. The Knights beat St. Andrew’s by 12 on Nov. 19 by a score of 4028, while the Raiders beat St. Andrew’s by 17 the next day, 72-55. The Knights’ results against common opponents suggest that they can compete with the top teams in the district. Werkenthin’s final goal for the team, though, cannot be measured solely by wins and losses. “I want to see the team grow,” he said. With the Knights’ opening district game at Crockett on Dec. 20 looming less than a week away, the rest of Werkenthin’s goals for the team will be determined by how well the team accomplishes that one.
Werkenthin led the varsity boys basketball team with 15 points and three blocked shots in the team’s season opener at Georgetown on Nov. 9, but the host Georgetown Eagles prevailed, 62-48. Photo by Annabel Winter.
Werkenthin attempts to dribble past a St. Andrew’s defender during McCallum’s 40-28 win on Nov. 19. Werkenthin’s ability to dribble with his left hand is something that senior forward Norman Boyd says Werkenthin has improved on a lot since joining the varsity team last year. Photo by Anna Bausman.
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District 25-5A roundup Boyd’s 19, Werkenthin’s 14 help boys varsity beat Burnet; Knights play at Crockett next The McCallum varsity boys basketball team beat the Burnet Bulldogs 66-56 on Dec. 11 at the Delco Center. The Knights got off to a fast start on the defensive end of the court, where they held Burnet to under 10 points in the first quarter to take a 18-9 lead. The Knights then separated themselves from the Bulldogs with a great offensive performance in the second quarter, including three made three-pointers by junior guard Sam Werkenthin to take a 42-18 lead at the half. After both teams scored 12 points in the third quarter, McCallum survived a Bastrop run in the fourth quarter to hold on. Senior forward Norman Boyd led the Knights in scoring, putting up 19 points for McCallum in the win. Werkenthin added 14 point of his on as well. The win keeps the Knights, who are currently ranked 98th in Region 4 according to MaxPreps, above .500 on the year with a record of 7-5, including four wins in their last five games. Next up for the Knights is their first district game of the year at Crockett on Dec. 20. With district play looming, the Knights need to come in the top four spots in the District 25 standings in order to make the playoffs. In non-district play, the Knights have the fifth best record out of the eight teams in the district. —Steven Tibbetts
FACE TO FACE: Freshman Tracy Atoo takes on an Akins foe during McCallum’s loss to the Eagles on Nov. 14. Mac also faced Anderson at the meet. Photo by Chloe Gervais.
Two girl wrestlers win their division at AISD Meet
SOARING TO THE RIM: Senior Norman Boyd goes up for a layup during the Knights’ 66-56 win at Burnet. Boyd led McCallum with 19 points on the night. He was recently named as the Statesman’s 5A boys basketball player of the week. Photo by Kennedy Weatherby.
The McCallum girls wrestling team competed in an AISD Meet at the Burger Center on Dec. 8. Two Knights wrestlers won their division and two other wrestlers got fourth place in their division at the meet. Junior Margaret Olson got first place in the varsity 215-pound division while freshman Tracy Atoo won the junior varsity 215-pound division. Senior Christina Jerrells finished in fourth place in the 128-pound division and freshman Madison Katz also finished fourth in the 102-pound division. “They did pretty well,” head coach Ray Amaro said. Next up on the Knights’ schedule is the Russ Pederson Meet in San Antonio on Dec. 14 and 15. —Steven Tibbetts
Girls basketball team loses close district opener to LBJ
JUST KEEP SWIMMING: Sophomore Madi Baylor swims the butterfly at the Belton End of the Year Invitational on Dec. 1. Baylor had a busy night at the meet; individually, she took second place in the girls 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.69 and fifth place in the 100-yard butterfly. Baylor also swam anchor leg in McCallum’s 200-yard freestyle relay that placed second, and she also helped McCallum finish fourth in the 200-yard medley relay. Photo by Ellie Sullivan.
The McCallum Knights girls basketball team lost their opening district game of the year 34-28 against the LBJ Jaguars at McCallum on Tuesday night. The Knights got down 22-4 to the Jaguars at the start. McCallum then went on a 16-2 run to pull within four at 24-20 at the end of the third quarter. The Knights continued their run into the fourth quarter, going up 28-27 at one point. In the end, however, the Jaguars were too tough to tame, as LBJ rattled off seven straight points to win the game. Even though the loss keeps the Knights winless on the season, the game was the Knights second narrowest loss of the season, and it was also the fewest amount of points they have allowed in a game so far. McCallum will get a rematch against the Jaguars on Jan. 15 at LBJ. The Knights next game will be on Dec. 14 at Lockhart. —Steven Tibbetts
McCallum wins 11 events at Belton End-of-Year Invitational Even though the McCallum Knights swim team didn’t take home first place in either the boys or girls team competition at the Belton End-of-the-Year Invitational on Dec.1, many individual swimmers shined throughout the night. In total, McCallum swimmers finished first in 11 of the 24 events, including nine out of the 12 boys events. Junior Cole Kershner also led the way for the boys team, winning both of his individual events, the 50- and 100-yard freestyles. Kershner also swam anchor leg in both of the Knights’ winning relays, finishing first in the boys 200-yard medley relay with sophomores Kyle Larson and Marco Emami and junior Alex Lynch, and the boys 200-yard freestyle with sophomores Jack Hester and Marco Emami and junior Alex
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Lynch. Hester also finished first in the 200-yard freestyle and junior Jordan Trimyer won the 500-yard freestyle, completing the Knights’ sweep of the boys freestyle events. Larson won the boys 100-yard breaststroke, and Lynch won both the boys 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley as well. On the girls side, Lynch’s younger sister, Zoe, followed in her brother’s footsteps by winning the girls 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley as well. Overall, the McCallum girls team finished in third behind Belton and Cedar Ridge while the boys team finished in second behind only Belton. Next up for the Knights is the TISCA Zone Meet in Corpus Christi on Jan. 4-5. —Steven Tibbetts
DRIBBLE DRIVE: Junior guard Desaray Trevino attempts to dribble past an LBJ defender during the Knights’ 34-28 loss on Dec. 11. Photo by Risa Darlington-Horta.
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Goodbye, eyesore. Hello, traffic.
While change is scary and rush hours will be more annoying, new development is a good thing JANSSEN TRANSIER staff reporter
The former First Texas Honda dealership was an iconic part of the McCallum landscape. Throughout my time at McCallum, the abandoned car dealership off of Koenig and Woodrow has been the stuff of legends. I recall stories of vagrants hiding out in what used to be the lobby of the nicest Honda dealership in town and of kids exploring its abandoned halls. I’ve heard whispers that entire parties were thrown there. But now, after many years of decaying in a vacant lot, its reign as a destination location for loiterers has ended. The old Honda dealership has been torn down, all to be replaced with “multilevel apartment complexes,” meaning there will be shops and restaurants on the bottom level of the complex and apartments on top. To certain students at McCallum, this is a tragedy, but not everyone is so down in the dumps about the proposed building, to be called The Pearl. Some members of the faculty at McCallum think that the abandoned Honda dealership’s proximity to McCallum encouraged a certain ... miscreant behavior. Principal Mike Garrison is one such person who believes that the new apartments will be a positive change. “I think that the apartments will be a little bit more well monitored than the Honda dealership,” Garrison said, “so I don’t think there will be as many issues as there would be in a vacant building.” Garrison isn’t the only one who thinks the new apartments are a good thing. Junior Molly Gardner also has high hopes for the new apartments. “I’m glad to see that spot finally being used for something,” Gardner said. “It’s been abandoned for so many years, and I’m excited to see the new shops and restaurants it brings.” Although it may be a nice change, there will doubtlessly be some major adjustments to our daily life. One being the traffic after school on the roads around McCallum. Such a building will bring a lot of traffic around the McCallum area. If you have tried to drive down Grover at 4:30 p.m., you know traffic is bad enough already.
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Now, there will be the traffic of people going in and out of the apartment complex in addition to the existing rush-hour traffic on Koenig and the swarm of people in their cars trying to leave McCallum. Junior Sara Milliken is one student with similar concerns. “Traffic will definitely get a lot worse with everyone going in and out of the apartments and stores, which is really bad because the traffic on Grover at 4:30 is already insane,” Milliken said. Milliken also expressed her concerns about how the new development will affect the culture and atmosphere of the neighborhood and the city as a whole. “I think that this area is getting really crowded, really fast,” she said. “And in my opinion, more apartment buildings isn’t what we need. It’s already so hard to get around Austin, and this will only make it worse.” Things will be strange for a bit; that is undeniable. Change is always strange. However, I don’t think it will be all bad. The truth is, the Honda dealership was an eyesore, and it has sat vacant for far too long. It wasn’t doing anyone any good the way that it was. It will be refreshing to see a new use of the space, even if it will result in the loss of what some see as a McCallum icon. Although Milliken voiced some concerns about the future of the apartment complex, she does acknowledge that there will be some positive effects. “I think it’ll be nice to have some new restaurants around McCallum,” she said. “It’ll be a nice change of scenery.” There will doubtlessly be a period of adjustment, but I think in the long term, the new apartment complex will largely be a good thing. Traffic might increase, but there will also be a refreshing new use of space, and “The Pearl” will replace the unsightly heap that has been occupying the space for all these years. I believe that McCallum students will learn to love what the new apartment complex has to offer, even if it takes some time for them to warm up to it. To read more about what’s coming to Koenig and Grover, please see page 6.
Top: Traffic on Grover Avenue after the dismissal bell. Traffic on the street is already a problem, and some fear the new apartment complex will exacerbate the issue. Photo by Janssen Transier. Bottom right: Construction at the site of the old Honda dealership. Photo by Bella Russo.
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SARAH SLATEN staff reporter
If you missed it, the MAC caught on fire recently. Only the curtain ignited and ultimately, no one was injured. But this event did bring increased attention to fire safety procedures at McCallum. Though McCallum follows the laws for preparing for disasters of all kinds, that doesn’t mean the procedures have students ready to face an actual disaster. Not only do we not have enough tornado, hurricane and lockdown drills, but the drills we do have almost exclusively held in first period. This year, we have had only one drill outside of first period.This is dangerous and unsafe because it only prepares students for one class period and one part of the building, which could lead to chaos if we needed to evacuate during any other class. The monotony also leads to both students and teachers not taking these drills seriously. It’s not just a McCallum problem. Texas doesn’t have strict requirements for safety drills. The state only requires five drills: evacuation, lockout, lockdown, shelter and hold. Texas only specifies having fire drills once every month (with at least 10 days of school) and the other drills once per semester. Though Texas is rather lax with its safety procedures, it does have some guidelines for drills. One of these guidelines recommends that a school hold fire drills in many different periods. McCallum only holds drills (fire, tornado and lockdown, etc.) in first and ocassionally fifth period. Though this is logical because those periods are 20 minutes longer due to student sharing, it has the unintended consequence of preparing students to evacuate from only two out of eight classrooms. We should ocasionally hold drills at other times, which would help students familiarize themselves with different exit routes for evacuation and different areas of the school. Do the math: there is only a 12 percent chance (one eighth not considering lunch) that McCallum
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Fire safety at McCallum
We are ready for an unforeseen disaster .... as long as it happens during StIR time
will catch fire in first period. In theory, yes; we are high schoolers, and we could probably figure out how to walk out of a building. But if the school actually did catch fire, we would not be calm or relaxed. The failure to practice different exit routes jeopardizes our safety. An actual evacuation of the school from an unpracticed route would not go smoothly. No one would know which exit to
go through, as McCallum has many, many doors. Everyone would be running around, which could lead to dangerous outcomes. Another product of having fire drills exclusively during StIR time (almost always first) is that students and teachers don’t take the drills seriously. These drills have become so predictable and routine that nobody takes them seriously
TOP: On Nov. 14, McCallum students evactuate the school during a first-period monthly fire drill. Though we prepare for disasters during first period, we don’t practice evacuating during any other class period, except for fifth period once. As a result, we are only familiar with the routes and procedures we would need to follow during first period. Photo by Sarah Slaten. BOTTOM: The MAC theater after the curtain caught fire reignited a second time on Tuesday, Oct. 23 and the fire department was called. Photo Courtesy of the Austin Fire Department. anymore. Though this feeling of calm is good during a fire drill and helps to get rid of nerves around danger, we are not actually being sufficiently prepared for a disaster. In a real fire, no one is going to be calm. These evacuations don’t even feel like a drill anymore, just something required and routine. Yes, routine is good, but again, the routine is only for first period. We need to take these drills seriously, as our lives potentially depend on them. If we changed when the fire drills happen instead of keeping them predictable, we could get used to being less complacent about emergency preparedness than we are now. The Texas Fire Marshal requires students to know how to get out of a building in the event of a disaster. Though all of us could probably figure out how to get out of the school, it wouldn’t be pretty. I cannot confidently say which exits I would take to get out of the math building, for example. So, technically, we are not in accordance with the Fire Marshal. All in all, we would probably be fine in a disaster. Keyword being probably. There is a potential threat, one that should be addressed. We are supposed to be safe in school, and if disaster struck, we would not be sufficiently prepared. McCallum’s safety procedures need to be improved if it truly wants to be a safe campus.
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A new health crisis Vaping trend takes over minds, time and money of teens DIAMANTE DIAZ & OLIVIA WATTS staff reporters
As class begins, no one’s really concerned about the 14-year-olds trying out their new mango pods in the science hall bathroom, but everyone knows about it. Whether you’ve walked into the familiar fruity scent, or seen the pack of freshmen stumble out of the bathroom coughing, it’s no secret Juuling has found its way into our school. Vapes get used everywhere from bathrooms, to classrooms, and even on buses. The reason why people choose to use them in these settings is because the vapes are so small that adults often don’t notice them. Vapes may not be visible to everyone, but everyone can certainly smell them. Even though vape fluid evaporates quite quickly the scent doesn’t usually disappear as quickly, unfortunately, both for everyone else in the room, or in some cases, on the bus, and for the kids who gets caught by its characteristic smell. In addition, some schools, including Austin ISD, are beginning to crack down on vaping on campus. McCallum High School assistant principal Andrew Baxa said “the district leaves it up to the campus to adopt a policy as far as how to enforce it. The district basically says you’re not allowed to do it.” Along with the growing problem of vaping in schools the punishments for doing it are growing as well. Baxa said, “We want to drive home a message that it’s not acceptable on our campus at any time. It got to be a huge problem last year and that’s why we upped the penalty this year from ISS to a three day home suspension.” The San Francisco-based company, Juul, was started by two Stanford alumni seeking a smoking alternatives for adults. Originally created to wean adults from their smoking habits, it’s had the reverse effect on teens. With 59 mg/mL of nicotine in each pod, the brand has over 70 percent of the e-cigarette market. Most recently, the FDA has released a statement banning Juul’s flavored pods as it appeals to teens, pushing them further towards addiction. The flavors stores have in stock now are all that’s left. The company, however, is sticking to its mission of helping adult smokers and is keeping mint, tobacco and menthol flavors in retail stores. We’ve all read about vaping and the negative health effects it can have on its user in the articles written by the adults who didn’t have vaping around in their teen years. We’ve all heard about it from a parents perspective When asked about the FDA’s decision to restrict Juuling, a McCallum student who requested that we withhold his name said,”It’s not like it did much, they kept the better flavors, and there’s always a way to get the others.” The company is also stopping all social media promotions to slow the epidemic of teen vaping. With an Instagram account of 76.4K followers the company made a final post stating,”#JUUL Instagram account will no longer be active as of
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November 13, 2018.” While still on the mission to cure adult smokers, the website is still up and students are still using it as a resource. Though teens may not see it, peer pressure plays a bigger part than they realize. Vaping is everywhere, no matter the event. Whether it be a high school party or the bathrooms at school. “Just being around people who do it gets the thought in your head to at least consider it,” one McCallum parent said. Though some students are immediately hooked, many begin as skeptics to the fad but become open to it through increased exposure. Watching others students use their Juuls and not seeing an immediate effect makes it easier for students to partake without looking at the cost. “Well, I honestly thought it was stupid...I thought I’d never get into it myself but then I thought, what’s the harm?” another anonymous McCallum student said. Though vapes are 95 percent safer than cigarettes, it turns out that 30.7 percent of e-cig users become smokers. Some students have said they vape for stress relief or they just do it recreationally. Though these students claim to not be hooked on nicotine, on average those interviewed will go through four pods a week. One McCallum student even admits, ”One time I gave myself nicotine poisoning, and I just felt terrible all day. ... I had to take a break.” Juuls are regularly sold in smoke shops and gas stations everywhere. While the legal age of use is 18, students are said to get by with fake IDs,having their older friends buy for them, or even just hope that they don’t get carded. Students will go as far as ordering vape products from online stores as some sites don’t ID their buyers, then signing off on packages as their parents. Older students have even taken it upon themselves to sell to underclassmen. “I got my first Juul from my 18year-old senior friend, but I’ve definitely heard of people upcharging underaged kids,” said one student who requested anonymity. Beginning with the initial charge of $40, the cost piles up. Some students vape up to a pack of four pods a day, averaging to a cost of $75 a
week. Of course, this is an extreme case, but either way there’s no way around the dent it’ll leave in your pocket. Many schools have tried to help students with an intervention like nicotine patches and gums and coping techniques for when they feel like they need to vape. These can help, but teens should be monitored because depression and other mental health disorders can develop when adolescents use nicotine. In essence, there’s a literal and personal cost to the lifestyle. Usually started as a joke, vaping is a legitimate concern that a large group of students have played some part in. Though it is a fairly recent fad, vaping’s effects will be felt for many classes to come.
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the
shield ACC Highland is the closest ACC campus to McCallum. Photo by Abigail Salazar.
It’s not just about the dual credit
ACC classes are a great option because the quality and the availability of the instructors is excellent ABIGAIL SALAZAR staff reporter McCallum is one of many high schools that offer ACC classes for their students. Students can take ACC classes to earn college credit, get a ACC degree before graduating high school, and even substitute an ACC class for a high school class. Some student take dual classes because most of the colleges they apply to will take the credit, and that’s one less class you have to take during college, so you can save some extra money. Other students take the classes because they prefer the style of the class over the traditional style of high school classes, which is the camp I fall in. I like the style of instruction in an ACC class over the high school-style curriculum. I have taken dual credit World History and English Comp 1, and I enjoyed those classes more than the ones offered at McCallum. During the ACC classes, you have at least five major tests and when they say, “Everything I say will be on the test,” they mean it. At McCallum, teachers will lecture all day long, and students will leave class asking themselves and others, “Did you understand anything she said?” Or they will just sleep in the class, because the lectures are boring and long. Studies show that students have about 10-15 minutes during lectures where they are actively listening and after that 15 minutes, their attention starts to decline. In the current ACC class I am taking, our instructor will greet us with a joke of the day and will take a quick five to 10 minutes to talk about what has happened on that day in history, but including things that will interest us like actors who were born on this day or a certain classic movie everyone loves. Then she will talk about the plan for the day, which is about a 10-minute talk, and then we start our assignments and about every 20 minutes she will ask if we have any questions. She also explains the purpose of the activity so that we know that we are doing something useful and
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“During ACC classes, you have at least five major tests and when they say, “Everything I say will be on the test,” they mean it.” productive in class, as opposed to busywork. In McCallum classes, in contrast, you are greeted with a good morning, how are you doing and then you immediately start with a lecture. That’s basically all you do for the rest of the class unless you have independent assignments, but most students just go on their phones and do not do any work at all, because they are not engaged with the material. When you take a ACC class, if you have a question, your instructor will at least 90 percent of the time be there to answer your questions no matter what, either in class or outside of class. In my ACC class, the teacher is accommodating to my schedule and is willing to stay after school to help me. If you miss a lot of their classes, you won’t feel left behind when you get back to class; my teacher is very helpful in helping me get back on track. At McCallum, some of the teachers are very helpful and are very understanding when it comes to personal issues, but usually the teacher will just give you the assignment you missed and just tell you to go on Blend and try to do the assignment and only after that, ask any question s that you have instead of sitting down and talking to you about everything you missed. When you do miss class and you go back to school the next day, you will usually find yourself saying, “I was only gone for one day, how did I miss so much?” but at ACC you will never say that because you will always know what happened in class. At an ACC class the teacher will most likely have a link to their website on the syllabus
Leander
Round Rock Lanier High School
Elgin High School Reagan High School LBJ High School
Highland
Rio Grande Eastside Memorial High School Travis High School
Crockett High School
Del Valle High School
Southeast Travis County
Hays
“My ACC teacher is accommodating to my schedule and is willing to stay after school to help me.” they pass out on the very first day of class, where you can look at their Power Point on the website to see what you missed. The Power Point and website will always be kept up-to-date and if you have a question about the assignment or still have no clue what in on
Manor High School
Elgin
The map shows ACC campuses and high school that participate in dual credit. ACC campuses include the Rio Grande campus, the Highland campus in the Austin district, the Elgin campus in the Elgin district, the Hays campus in the Hays district, the Southeast Travis Country campus in the Del Valle district, the Leander campus in the Leander district and the Round Rock campus in the Round Rock district. There are about 60 high schools that participate in ACC dual credit; nine of them include Leander, Crockett, McCallum, Del Valle, Elgin, LBJ, Reagan, Travis and Eastside Memorial. Map created by Abigail Salazar.
in class the teacher will usually work with you after class or before class for how ever long you need to ask for help on anything or to answer any questions you have. They will never leave you in the dark to fend for yourself.
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Green Christmas
Forward-thinking Austinites should do a 180 when it comes to decorating the trees on 360 ZOE HOCKER
co-editor-in-chief
Graphic by Bella Russo
Seniors suffer a double burden Class of 2019 deserves a lighter homework load in fall semester GREGORY JAMES photo editor
For seniors, the ever-nearing deadline to apply to college is fast-approaching. The University of Texas, one of the most popular schools to which McCallum students apply, has a close regular decision deadline at Dec. 1, and other universities follow close behind that with deadlines later in December, January and February. These deadlines would be easier to meet if there was not also the ever-increasing amount of homework given to students by teachers. The amount of homework senior year seems to be a shock for most seniors, myself included, as I was told often by seniors of the Class of 2018 that “senior year is way easier than junior year” and “you have way less homework than you do in junior year.” The academic rigor of senior year may prepare students well for college, but it does not do them any favors when they are applying to college. I have found that I stay up until the wee hours of the morning trying to get homework done after school, and I have no time during the week to work on finishing my applications, which often include a second round for applications for things like honors colleges or housing even after you’ve been admitted. I don’t think I would have been able to finish my general college applications the way I wanted if I had not done most of the work over the summer. The ever-increasing workload as midterm finals approach has stopped me personally from being able to spend time on
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applications to honors programs and working on applying for scholarships. There are many steps to the process of getting ready to go to a university for higher education. Students have to not only worry about applying, but once they get admitted they have to try to get scholarship money, apply for FAFSA aid, apply for housing and to any special programs available at the university of their choice. But there’s more to applying to college than just the applications. Another major part of understanding university life is touring the schools to which you apply. Currently, seniors are given only two days excused absence for touring colleges. This limit on excused days discourages students from applying to schools that are out of state because of the days of school that will be missed. I have applied to five out-of-state schools, and I have felt the pressure of missing school when I have to fly out of state to tour the colleges I am interested in. I have now used up both of my days sanctioned off for touring colleges. Luckily I have been able to tour all the schools I am considering, but for many students, trying to get to see all the colleges they want is too much of a stretch. The school should give seniors more excused absences so they can truly get to experience the universities they wish to see. I think I speak for most seniors when I say that teachers should back off on assigning homework in the fall semester so that seniors can focus on their college applications. The college-application process is demanding, and teachers should adjust their fall semester plans accordingly. Students should not have to work on their college applications during class, as I have seen in several of my classes, but instead should be given time to work on their application after school instead of hours of homework.
Everybody loves the holidays. After Thanksgiving is over, I love to hear Christmas music and begin to decorate here and there as Winter break inches closer. The annual Austin traditions of the Trail of Lights, Mozart’s Christmas Lights show and ice skating at Whole Foods are all events that I support and take part in alongside the rest of Austin. In recent years, however, a new tradition has formed that I will not participate in. Gaining popularity in the past five years, decorating the trees on the sides of Highway 360 has become an event that hundreds take part in starting in November. Austinites take their family and friends to the highway with ribbons, ornaments and every decoration you can think of throwing on a tree in hand. As harmless as this activity may seem, there are many downsides to the holiday tradition. The issues start before the decorating even begins. Drivers pull over onto the shoulders of busy 360 to unload their family, sometimes including small children, friends and decorations. The speed limit throughout the highway, aside from the bridge portion, is 60 mph. That speed gives drivers little to no reaction time if there was an incident where a person or object entered the road a mere 15 feet from their car. This puts decorators and drivers in danger. Next up is the decorating itself. W hile putting up ornaments, tinsel and whatever else your heart desires may seem harmless, it isn’t entirely. Unless thes e i tem s are securely fastened, t h i s can
be extremely disruptive to the environment and animals that inhabit the area. Going out to decorate in early November, leaves at least two months for wind and rain to bring down the cheerful candy canes and bows and allow them to end up in the nearby creeks, on the highway or in the habitats of animals in the area. This isn’t the last of the litter problems either. The pre-holiday period is only the beginning. As Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s roll around, the decorations are a festive addition to an otherwise hilly green landscape. For me, this short amount of time is not worth the painful weeks that follow. Once February hit the calendar, I think it is fair to ask that decorations be taken down and cleaned up from the trees. That is not too much to ask. Valentine’s Day always leaves me scratching my head when I still see bows strewn across the fields and ornaments bouncing around the trees in the wind. The litter does nothing but increase over time. In some ways, I can’t even blame the people decorating. There is no driving force that is making them come back to clean up their trees. This is the issue. I feel that there needs to be some sort of change. The city needs to recognize that this tradition has picked up speed and is now large enough to require some regulations. Whether that be banning the decorating or simply charging a small fee that decorators can pay to someone clean up after them. Either of these options and others would be better than the current situation. Lastly, coming from someone who drives often on 360, please be respectful of the area if you decide to decorate this season. As the Girl Scouts always s ay, l e av e a place better than you found it.
The decorations on the trees along 360 turn into the equivalent of litter when left up months after Christmas. Graphic by Zoe Hocker.
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We have all been Hood-winked
Established with good intentions, recapture program is real cause of current AISD budget crisis As most of us know all too well by now, the Austin Independent School District faces a budget crisis that prompted a district task force to discuss eliminating or retrenching expensive special programs such as our beloved Fine Arts Academy. While the Academy has been declared safe from cuts, there is still fear of other proposed costsaving measures: teachers losing one of their planning periods, increasing class sizes, redrawing district boundaries or even consolidating or closing campuses altogether. Instead of blaming AISD money management or public school funding in general, we must focus on the real reason for this budget deficit. Usually high property values are a good thing for school districts because most school funding comes from property taxes. The reverse, however, is true in Texas. In an attempt to balance out school funding between richer and poorer school districts, the state legislature created the “recapture” program, commonly called the “Robin Hood Plan,” In theory, the system fairly distributes wealth more evenly across the state. In practice, however, the system has over-corrected the issue, siphoning off a disproportionate amount of money from so-called “wealthy” districts to less propertywealthy school districts. The Robin Hood plan was never intended to be taken this far. On May 23, 1984, Edgewood ISD, just outside of San Antonio, reported that their district was struggling while their neighbor, San Antonio ISD, enjoyed vastly more funding. The issue went to court in a case called “Edgewood v Kirby,” where the court decided that the property
Cartoon by Bella Russo
tax method of funding schools was unconstitutional. It gave more money to rich, urban regions throughout the state, neglecting poorer rural schools. Created in 1991, the Robin Hood plan sought to ensure equal-opportunity school districts statewide by collecting money from property-rich regions and distributing it evenly across the state. The goal was to have a relatively even amount of money spent per student in each district. The results, however, have been anything but equal. According to data collected by NPR, the western half of
the state, the one with fewer propertyrich cities such as Austin, has a greater budget per capita, and the disparity is rising every year. In many cases, rural west Texas districts receive more than 33 percent of the national average. In Austin and other large cities, such as Dallas, Houston, and even Amarillo, however, the percentage is significantly lower than the national average. It can be argued that because these urban cities have such high populations, the cost of operating a school is lower per student than it would be in districts with a smaller student body. In large
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the
A.N. McCallum High School 5600 Sunshine Drive Austin, TX 78756 (512) 414-7539 fax (512) 453-2599 contact.macshield@gmail.com
editors-in-chief ZOE HOCKER AND SOPHIE RYLAND
assistant editors GREGORY JAMES
districts such as AISD, however, there are many schools to account for, each of them needing teachers, custodians, officers, counselors, and all of the expenses that go along with keeping a school running. In AISD alone, the same percentage of money made from property taxes is sent to the state in recapture funds as is used for teacher’s salaries (46 percent). The rest of the money (8 percent) is spent on professional services, supplies, and other operational costs. AISD estimates that in 2019 it will ante up $669.6 million to the state to
be distributed to other districts. By 2020, there is an anticipated increase of another $115 million due to a reassessment of taxable property. In total, even since the beginning of the Robin Hood plan as we know it in 1994, Austin ISD has poured more than $3 billion into the program. This is not acceptable. That money could be used to fix up our old buildings, raise money for extracurricular activities or purchase new materials for teachers. There is no way that rural districts should have resources to spare while McCallum is having to make major cuts to our funding. Even though the Fine Arts Academy is no longer a possible budged casualty, major changes are still likely to happen affecting next year’s bell schedule, available classes and teacher schedules. Even though the effects of the Robin Hood plan have not been widely understood until the Fine Arts Academy closure scare, the plan’s impact had been evident in our longstanding facilities issues: leaky windows, broken air-conditioning systems, and pest infestations. It’s time for the way Texas regulates our budget to change. Abolishing the Robin Hood plan is likely out of the question, but it can and should be reeled in. If the state reduced how much AISD pays to other districts by 1 percent ($5.44 million) every year for the next couple of years, it could significantly reduce the disparity between rural and urban school funding. If we can find a balance between providing for property-wealthy districts and sending extra money to propertypoor areas, the real intention of the Robin Hood Plan can be fulfilled.
MAX RHODES
KELSEY TASCH
STEVEN TIBBETTS
reporters
adviser DAVE WINTER
GRAYSON CRUISE, JAZZABELLE DAVISHINES, DIAMANTE DIAZ, ELLEN FOX, LASZLO KING-HOVIS, BELLA RUSSO, ABIGAIL SALAZAR, ELISHA SCOTT, STELLA SHENKMAN, SARAH SLATEN, MIA TERMINELLA, KRISTEN TIBBETTS, JANSSEN TRANSIER, OLIVIA WATTS The Shield is published by journalism students in the newspaper production class. Although students work under the guidance of a professional faculty member, the student staff ultimately determines the content. Students may not publish material that is obscene, libelous or that which will cause a “substantial disruption to the educational process.” Content that may stimulate heated
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debate is not included in this definition. The Shield operates as an open forum for exchange of ideas. Opinions expressed in editorials are the ideas of the staff. Opinions expressed in the columns are that of the writer’s alone. Letters to the editor are encouraged and must be signed. Positive identification may be required when a letter is submitted.
Letters may be edited. Letters that are critical of the newspaper staff’s coverage of events or that present information that may stimulate heated debate will be published. Letters that contain malicious attacks on individual reporters, the adviser or the principal will be rejected. Anyone interested in purchasing an ad
should contact adviser Dave Winter at (512) 414-7539. Ads published in The Shield do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff. The Shield is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference, the National Scholastic Press Association the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Southern Interscholastic Press
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A Battle of the Bands multimedia party
Amid protests, Board of Trustees welcomes new members
Photo by Elisha Scott 14 dec. 2018
Senior Elijah Griffin reflects on the hit that may have saved his life
Photo by Grace Nugent
online preview 31
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More than just ‘Wish’ful thinking
Choir program delivers a delectable Disney delight in four eclectic Cabaret shows in the MAC MEN AT WORK: Juniors Duval Bingham and Corin Vandenburg (right) along with the rest of the tenor/bass chorus perform “I’ll Make a Man out of You” from the 1998 movie Mulan. Bingham said this song was his favorite. “You can belt the whole thing,”he said. “It had a lot of energy, and you got to hold the big poles.” Junior Liam Hannon, who led the number, said he felt “excited to put on a show for the audience.” Photo by Risa Darlington-Horta. Caption by Anna Bausman and Kennedy Weatherby.
FRIEND IN ME: Sophomore Cydney Placker and junior Janeal Copeland (left) sing “You’ve Got a Friend In Me” from the movie Toy Story. Choir students auditioned during class for solos and were placed by Ms. Kashdan, the choir teacher. “It’s fun to have a duet because you get to have something extra, but it also sometimes put a little more stress, because you can’t just go along with the show, you have to make sure you’re always on time, or make sure you know how everything is going,” Placker said. Photo by David Winter. Caption by Isabella Dietz.
TENOR OUT OF TEN: Junior Zion Flores (above) performs “Oogie Boogie’s Song” from the Disney film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Flores performed in 16 songs, the most Cabaret numbers he has done during his three years at McCallum. “I have the biggest stage fright in the world,” Flores said. “It was a obstacle I wasn’t sure I could overcome. I’m happy that I performed. I’m super proud of myself.” Photo by David Winter. Caption by Olivia Capochiano. CAMP ROCK RENDITION: Sophomore Kaia Boyle (right) sings “This is Me” from “Camp Rock.” Photo by Bela Tapperson.
MOUSE POWER: The full cast of Cabaret (above) strike a pose as the opening number “Mickey Mouse Club.” Photo by Bela Tapperson. BE OUR GUEST: Zara Terrazas Graham, along with the rest of McCallum’s Concert choir, (left) sings “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast” on Friday night’s Cabaret performance. The choir rehearsed this song for weeks prior to the show’s opening. Freshman Zara Graham said “It was pretty stressful with all the rehearsals, but we improved each time”. Photo by Risa DarlingtonHorta. Caption by Anna Bausman and Kennedy Weatherby.
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