The Pack Vol. 22, Issue 2

the pack The Student Voice of Monarch High School

Heart

of a

Champion SENIOR CHALLENGES SOCIAL EXPECTATIONs

329 Campus Dr.│Louisville, Colorado│ 80027 Volume 22 Issue 2 November 2019

the pack The Student Voice of Monarch High School

Editor-in-Chief India Turner

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Managing Editor Haley Breit

Team Editors Evie Cuffaro Lia Farrell Lindsay Haight Amelia Krueger

Social Media Editor Kate Muldoon

Staff Writers Jacqueline Campbell Ruby Cervantes Jack Ewig Logan Lair Minh Anh Le Maya Matus Alex Neumann Connor Nimmons Hahn Park Lincoln Roch Sam K. Saliba Jonah Speyer

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Cartoonist Akasia Zamastil

Adviser Ben Reed

Our Policies:

Opinions or expressions made by students in this publication are not expressions of Boulder Valley School District Board policy. The district and its employees are immune from any civil action based on any expression made for or published by students. The Pack is an open forum for and by the students, faculty, and community of Monarch High School. The Pack is willing to accept and publish any appropriate articles submitted by students of MHS and reserves the right to edit any of these articles. We will not print letters sent to us without a name and signature. Submit letters to mohimediapublications@gmail.com

@mohimix

@mohimix

@mohimix

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Foreword

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In high school, it’s so easy to feel like you don’t fit in.

It sounds crazy that in a high school of 1,700 students we can’t always find people that we relate to, but it happens. We find people that relate to certain aspects of who we are, but I think most people have at least one thing that they feel no one else understands.

It could be a hobby, a belief, a habit, or a thought.

It’s that quiet murmuring at the back of your brain that you don’t voice because you’re worried no one will understand. Or you do voice and are received with a lifted eyebrow and questioning look.

Sometimes I’ll voice something, and I’ll feel as if no one in the room gets it. They think I’m weird, stupid, or just plain eccentric. What made perfect sense in the confines of my mind turns into gibberish as it filters through other people’s ears.

Most of us have something that just doesn’t seem to fit into the fabric of high school. Sometimes it’s physical and sometimes it’s not. We’re too short, too tall, or have a passion for magic tricks.

But maybe the reason we don’t feel like we fit in is because there isn’t a single person in the school like us.

This may feel discouraging and scary and terribly lonely, but it’s the most beautiful thing about humanity. Each of us will always hold a mystery within ourselves that no one will ever see.

This is certainly the case for Katie Wilson ‘20 and Emily McGarry ‘20.

Emily McGarry has been in a wheelchair since she was young and is on an adaptive cheer team. While others may see being in a wheelchair as a disadvantage, it helped her find an experience that she may never have discovered otherwise. The team has gone to Nationals and not a single other person at Monarch can claim the same success. Her story is truly unique.

About a year ago, Katie Wilson had her first tic, a result of Tourette Syndrome, which began to impact her academics. But instead of seeing the negatives of this, Katie once said to me that it was just something that made her story more interesting and colorful.

Being different is scary. Sometimes it feels like no one understands your uniqueness. However, there is a beauty in the differences we fear will separate us from the crowd.

It means that you have something worth contributing that no one else is able to. So, as scary as it is, embrace that feeling of not fitting in. It means you’re doing it right.

- India Turner, Editor-in-Chief

photo by Karen Pring

I M X MOHI

Monarch High School.

MOHI students set trends across Boulder Valley.

What we wear, what we say. Everyone wants to be a Coyote. Here are nine things that set us apart in the pack.

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Championship iced marching Band goes sledding after state competition cancellation FOR SNOW

By Lindsay Haight Moving down a hill at a fast pace, adrenaline rushes through their veins. Freezing cold snow blasts their faces as they glide down the hill. This is what it was like for the marching band members when they went sledding after their state competition was cancelled.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Colorado was hit with a massive snow storm with non-stop snow for 24 hours. This caused the competition for 4A and 5A marching bands to be cancelled with no chance of rescheduling.

“It’s disappointing,” band director Mr. Chuck Stephen said.

“Because we worked so hard for that, then to have it cancel our culminating event is kind of a let down.”

However, the band members had something scheduled that would take their minds off the snow and the competition’s cancellation.

They decided to make the best out of the snow and go sledding as a wrap up to the season.

“It’s definitely a memory that’s going to stick with [me] for a while,” band member Nathan Dankers ‘20 said. “Not many people can say that they ended their marching band career by going sledding.”

The Colorado Bandmasters Association sent out the news on Friday, Oct. 25, devastating the senior class that thought they wouldn’t get to have one last run of their show. However, Mr. Stephen had already been in the process of creating an event to give seniors one last chance to perform.

“During parent teacher conferences, I actually started calling directors and proposing my idea,” Mr. Stephen said. “The discussion started between myself, Fairview’s director, Centaurus’ [director], Legacy’s director, and the four of us started putting all of the plans together to try and make it work.”

These four directors spent several hours on the phone scheduling the itinerary. They organized a mini-state performance that consisted of six bands: Broomfield, Horizon, Legacy, Monarch, Fairview, and Centaurus.

“It was really fun,” band member Colin Raulf ‘20 said. “We got to watch and support our local bands and it really shows how close the band community is here.”

After seeing the devastation of the cancellation on the students’ faces, Mr. Stephen is trying to do everything he can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Being on the Marching Committee this year, I’m going to advocate that there has to be an alternate plan, whether it’s at a high school stadium,” Mr. Stephen said. “There has to be some kind of backup plan because this is the first time this has ever happened, and we’ve never had it where it was cancelled with nothing else after that.”

“It was a mix of putting a band-aid over a stab wound and making lemonade out of lemons,” Dankers said.

November 5

We all know who Mr. Bean is...

but we also know who Mr. Bean looks like: Science teacher Mr. Lazlo Vass

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Teacher look alikes

As you enter Advanced Biology, you turn to the left and see a crazy looking man by the name of Dr. Laszlo Vass.

He can contort his face every which way like Mr. Bean, the popular British character who has starred in several movies. The resemblance is uncanny.

He even acts like him. Have you seen Dr. Vass and Mr. Bean in the same room with each other? I don’t think so.

Language like no other Student creates his own ALPHABET as a way to channel his love of dialect

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Language is at the root of civilization. For Solan Wheeler ‘22, it is also the root of his passions.

He has even taken it so far as to create a language of his own.

“It’s a project I’ve been working on for several years now, and to tell you honestly, I don’t think I know the exact reason why I’ve made it,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler named his language Lisan Aldārir, which translates to “the language of the people.” It doesn’t use our Latin alphabet, but instead uses a series of symbols unique to Wheeler.

Lisan Aldārir is modeled after the work of JRR Tolkien and the Tibetan script, since Wheeler admires Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books. Through reading, he was inspired to create something of his own.

“It seems like I’m subconsciously testing myself on how much I actually know about languages and how they work,” Wheeler said.

Of course, this project has not been easy. “I remember I retooled and redesigned the script multiple times when I first made it. What I didn’t realize is how cumbersome it is to write,” he said.

Wheeler plans to work on creating the imaginary place where his language is spoken, but is not yet sure what this will look like. “I could adapt it to a fictional story or a fictional world,” Wheeler said.

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Around the world

“Two summers ago, I traveled to Southeast Asia with my wife and my kids to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia for a month. Probably the most interesting part of my travels is the need to stay away from tap water. You have to have bottled water everywhere.

Because of that, there were plastic water bottles all over the place. Pretty messy.The people were really friendly.

I was fascinated when we were staying in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, on how friendly the people were there to me and how much they seem to like American tourists because not too many years ago, we were like mortal enemies during the Vietnam War. So that was interesting.”

-Social Studies teacher Mr. Andrew Buhse

Abbott’s take on time

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Time management a code that no one can seem to really crack. However, social studies teacher Mr. Justin Abbott is doing his best to make it easier for students to plan out their time.

“It’s just making sure that every day students know what’s going on, right?” he said. “When deadlines are, when the reading’s due, what we’re talking about, and for me that just takes an effort on my part to plan in advance.”

His goal is to keep students organized and set them up for success as well as keep himself organized in the process.

Abbott also shared some tips and tricks for how he manages his time, as well. “Prioritizing, right? What is going to be the most important to get done now and get that done first and then really thinking it through,” he said. “First, you have to know what all you have to do, then organiz[e] that stuff by what is more important.”

November 7

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Whether you’re hosting or being hosted for dinner, make sure you have a spot to sneak off to when your uncles start arguing about politics.

Call first dibs on dessert and stash some for later in the very back of the fridge where hungry siblings or cousins can’t get to it.

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Perfect your excuse-making skills to get out of any long, boring conversation with your grandparents. An easy one? “I’m going to the bathroom” and just don’t come back.

Make sure you have a favorite cousin or sibling to stick with to make the time fly by.

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6 The student’s guide to surviving thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a time for sharing and caring with the whole family. However, around the dinner table things can become boring or even intense. Here are some tips on how to survive Thanksgiving with the whole fam.

Legacies of spirit

For many people, school spirit is shown by how much Monarch gear you have.

For others, it’s in the spirit wear that is passed down. Monarch has five pieces of spirit wear passed down year after year to wear at football games: the tutus, the poncho, the bucket boy suit, the beekeeper suit, and the hard hat.

Every piece of spirit wear handed off has a different reason as to why it is inherited. The hard hat that Ben Riecken ‘20 wears, for example, is passed down through the lacrosse team. The bucket boy suit that Nolan Chavez ‘20 wears is passed down to someone who shows a lot of spirit.

However, there are some expectations that come with inheriting the spirit wear. “I just have to be loud and get the crowd rowdied up,” Riecken said. He says it takes a lot of dedication and hard work in order to get chosen to wear the gear.

It shows one’s passion for Monarch. It isn’t all hard work, though. “It’s fun. You have front row seats to every game,” Riecken said.

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Freshest fits

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#throwback Were you even allowed to go to the sleepover if you didn’t have a pillow pet? One of the symbols of elementary school royalty, kids would compare the types they had, from dolphins to unicorns.

Chances are the catchy Pillow Pet theme song still rings on a loop in your head at the worst possible times.

Sponsored by the Sprouse twins of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Danimals were the desired yogurt drink of every child.

During our years of watching the Disney Channel show, everyone was interested to see who would win the Danimals Sweepstakes and have the opportunity to go on a cruise with the Sprouse twins. What teenager wouldn’t remember the smiling monkey on the side of the bottle and that classic strawberry flavor?

Picture from Phineas and Ferb, property of Disney.

Remember when we were around 6 years old and turned on Disney Channel every day to watch Phineas and Ferb? I believe you all remember the iconic roller coaster that included loops, hairpin turns, and corkscrews going through downtown Danville. Or when Phineas and Ferb are caught by their mom, but it all ends up being a dream.

Phineas and Ferb was more than just a show, it was a childhood.

monarch student dishes the tea on how to shop on a budget

Many people take pride in what they wear and how they look, especially Sophie Westerkamp ‘20.

High school for some is not only just a place for learning, it’s also a constant fashion show to flex the coolest clothes you have.

From designer brands to thrifted gems, school is a constant drip contest and Sophie is winning.

“I love to thrift. I buy a lot of my stuff at Arc, just because it’s really cheap, and you can find some really, really good stuff,” she said. Every day she shows up with some of the best fits that Monarch High School has ever seen. For Sophie, fashion doesn’t mean the coolest, most expensive thing.

“I just think [good fashion] means whatever you’re comfortable in and whatever you think is most representative of yourself.” You don’t always have to spend large amounts of money in order to look fresh. Some of the most drippy people ball on a budget. Like Sophie.

November 9

The

Prowl Kicking off a new year Senior Athena Angel ‘20 Kicks down social standards

By Evie Cuffaro, Madison Sain and Maria Ruscitto

3 Facts About Angel

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Angel plays soccer in the spring for Monarch Angel moved from Las Cruces, N. M. in the second semester of her freshman year

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This is Angel’s first year kicking for the football team

Monarch High School has never had a female football player. This year, that changed.

Athena Angel ‘20 became a kicker for the team.

“I play soccer, and I wanted to try something new. Being a kicker for the football team has always been in the back of my mind,” she said. “I talked to Coach Bravo, and he was really open to it, so I just joined.”

Angel started going to summer practices to build her skills.

“Initially, it was a little awkward. It was a new situation that none of us has ever dealt with before,” she said.

Blending in with the team took some time, but the whole team was accepting of her joining and excited for a new player. Now, she fits right in, she feels like herself without feeling different from everyone else.

“She just integrated well into the team and just plays along, and it goes really well. She’s just a really fun person,” teammate Gage Majure ‘21 said.

Angel believes in feminism and that everyone should be able to do what they want, regardless of their gender.

“I’m one of the teammates, which is exactly what I wanted,” Angel said. “The last thing I would want is to be treated differently than all of them. I want to be held to the same standards.”

While often overlooked, being a kicker for a football team is an important job. They score extra points by kicking field goals after a touchdown. This means her role on the team can put pressure on her.

For Angel, there’s the additional pressure of being a girl on a predominantly male team. She always wants to be treated equally and doesn’t want her expectations to be different from the other players.

“There’s a lot of expectations building up to see me kick,” she said. “I don’t want to miss and then have everyone think I’m only on the team because I’m a girl. I always want to show that I can play and contend with the others.”

Even with that, she still loves what she does.

“When I’m done kicking, I feel more relieved than anything. Right before I kick the football, it’s very intense.

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” she said.

She enjoys being on the team and playing football. Much of her high school experience has been dedicated to sports, and now she is the first female football player.

“I think you should be able to do anything, regardless of your gender. If you can do it, you should do it,” Angel said.

MOHI

Hot Takes

5 Predictions for upcoming Winter Sports

By Lindsay Haight, Jack Ewig, and Logan Lair

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Hockey

Monarch’s hockey team looks to keep their momentum from last year. With a few returning starters and the leadership Caleb Gold ’20 provides, Monarch will become State Champs once again.

2 Poms 3 Poms will keep up the hard work this year with seniors Zoe Hansburg ‘20 and Katy Sun ‘20 to lead them past last year’s 2nd place finish in State to 1st place in Colorado.

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Girls Swimming

Swimming is one of the most promising winter sports at Monarch. With Clare Boehm ‘20 and Alison Cross ‘20 as team captains, the Yotes will be unstoppable this season.

They have a great chance at finishing higher than their 8th place finish in the Front Range League last year.

Girls basketball

The Coyotes look to Abigail Russo ‘20 and Mia Schmanski ‘21 to score many of the points this year. If they play well, the team is likely to win the league and go deep into the playoffs.

Boys Basketball With the assistance of new head coach Tim DeBerry from Centaurus, Joey Covington ‘20 plans to push the Yotes past their losing season last year and into the state playoffs this season.

November 11

Art The

Cuisine of

By Sam K. Saliba, Evie Cuffaro and Hahn Park

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reakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Midnight snack. Repeat.

For most people, this is the routine.

For most people, not much thought goes into the preparation of their next meal.

This story isn’t about most people.

This story is about those who live and breathe the culinary craft.

The ones who see an empty plate as a blank canvas with endless possibilities.

This is for anyone who’s spent hours obsessing over a single dish, striving for perfection.

This is a story about the artists who paint with hand-crafted sauces and seasonings.

This is a story about the feeling of accomplishment after making a perfectly seasoned meal.

This is a story about putting love and passion into a dish.

This is a story about The Art of Cuisine.

November 13

Ryan Albin making food into a science

“To the Pass!” shouts the head chef the Mercantile restaurant in Denver.

There are flashes of heat everywhere. The Sous Chefs all respond in unison, calling out, “Yes, Chef!” in response, and subsequently return to their tasks, double-time.

A boy in the back of the kitchen hears his name called. The chef needs him to step up to the plate, so to speak. For two days, he is called upon to manage a stage, the task of preparing assorted areas of the kitchen for the rest of the staff. He watches as a culinary ballet plays out in front of him.

Fire flashes before his eyes, pans clatter against stovetops, and before he knows it, Ryan Albin ‘20 witnesses the heat and sweat and the yelling of the kitchen crescendo into finished plates, one by one.

“Service!” shouts the head chef, the callout signifying the completion of a set of plates.

The front of house staff steps forward, gathering the finalized dishes and bringing them out of the heat and fervor into the kitchen and into the dining room, full of fervent and excited diners. As they cross the threshold separating the kitchen and the dining area, a cool breeze blasts through the door for a brief moment, wafting in the smells and the sounds of the other side.

As the kitchen door closes, the air returns to one of heat and productivity. The effort the entire kitchen staff--and Albin-put in is almost tangible.

As he prepares assorted ingredients, Albin, recalls why he got into cooking in the first place. “Every day, I’d see my mother prep these dishes. It’s all this science, all this preparation. I thought, ‘This is something I really want to go into.’”

And one year later, here he is, preparing ingredients at an awardwinning restaurant downtown.

He inherently believes that “I’m telling a story. I’m saying something on a plate that represents something.” Ultimately, this is the same hope or belief that drives any artist to create. The hope that they can communicate whatever’s inside their head through whatever it is they create.

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Alex Waschak scholarships turned down for passion

Alex Waschak ‘20 had the opportunity many athletes dream of: the chance to play Division 1 football. He had the chance of a lifetime.

At 6’8” tall and nearly 300 lbs., he towered above his opponents, and after eight years of practicing football, college scouts from all over the country told him he had what it takes to play on the next level.

“For the longest time, I thought I would go into football. The whole point was to do football in college,” he said. “I thought maybe I could go into the NFL.” For some people, the pursuit of college football pushes them through all four years of high school. For Waschak, however, this wasn’t the case.

He was offered full scholarship to multiple colleges. He turned them all down, and completely changed directions.

Instead of pursuing a football career, he developed an interest in culinary arts. Constant football practices and intense training gave him inspiration to start cooking. He needed the fuel for his body. A passion for football turned into passion for cooking.

After graduation, he hopes to attend Johnson and Wales, a university specializing in culinary education. After learning the basics at the university, he wants to gain real life experience doing what he loves: cooking.

“I want to venture out into the world, and probably get an apprenticeship in France or Spain or Japan maybe,” he said. “What I would do in Japan is sushi. I would master that for 5 or 10 years. Overall, it’s just learning how to perfect it.”

Using his experience of working under professional chefs, he hopes to open a restaurant of his own, and bring his education of foreign cuisine back to America.

While he isn’t a professional chef yet, Waschak knows his way around a kitchen. Most importantly, he knows how to make food that brings people joy.

“That’s what’s important, the taste,” he said. “If you aren’t having tasty food, then what’s the point? It sounds really basic, but just put love into your food. People can literally taste that, so if you can cook with happiness and joy, it definitely makes a difference.”

Alex’s Apple Rose Tart Ingredients 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 cups white sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoons salt 1/4 stick butter 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream 3 Granny Smith apples

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 2. Sift together all purpose flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt with butter, and mix until crumbly. Set aside.

3. Beat together heavy whipping cream and one egg until combined.

4. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and lightly mix with a spatula. Make sure it is still crumbly.

5. Pour into 9 inch tart pan and set aside 6. Peel and core Granny Smith apples, and slice into thin half circles. Starting from the outside, arrange them to form a rose pattern.

7. Bake for about 30 minutes, and enjoy!

November 15

Heart of a Champion Emily Mcgarry ‘20 refuses to let her limitations stop her

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By Haley Breit, Lia Farrell, Ruby Cervantes and Minh Anh Le

November 17

The Unstoppable

Emily McG senior challenges social expectations to achieve success as a cheerleader and in life

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rowing up, people have many opportunities to pursue the sport they love. It’s not that simple for Emily McGarry ‘20.

McGarry was born with a disability in her legs with an unknown cause, meaning she spends much of her time in a wheelchair.

Going into seventh grade, McGarry tentatively made the decision to join an adaptive cheerleading team. “I was unsure if I wanted to join the special abilities team or just the regular half-year team,” she said. “[The coach] had me try out with the special abilities team, and I was a flyer.”

Soon after, she fell in love with it. “I’m a specialty flyer, so I fly in the opening and then in dance, and then in tumbling,” McGarry said.

Over time, a welcoming and understanding environment helped McGarry grow, express herself, and gave her the opportunity to participate in the sport she loves at a competitive level.

Her twin sister Gwen McGarry ‘20 has always stood by her side.

“From a family standpoint and a coach standpoint, I think that at least what I’ve seen in Emily is she’s become a lot more competent and confident in her abilities,” Gwen said.

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“It’s a really inclusive environment and everyone kind of understands what you’re going through because they too don’t connect with the normal crowd,” McGarry said. “It’s just a really nice experience, and it helped me become the person I am right now.”

Special abilities, or adaptive, sports teams work with differently-abled people to make athletics accessible.

“Special athletic teams are definitely different because it takes longer for them to get up, so instead of having one practice, you typically have to spend a couple of practices learning just that type of routine, and then it just takes them longer to build muscle memory,” McGarry said.

She has been part of the special abilities cheer team at Cheer Central Suns in Lafayette for about five years now. The journey hasn’t always been easy, but the hard work has definitely paid off.

“This past season we were selected to represent the United States of America as the US Special Abilities National Traditional Team, so that was super cool,” McGarry said. “It’s hosted by the Olympics, I think, so there was a whole opening ceremony where we walked across the stage with our flags and super cool warm ups. We

competed against other countries and won a gold medal.”

However, achievements take persistence and hard work. “We had a lot of extra practices,” McGarry said. “Normally, we practice twice a week, Monday and Wednesday for two hours each day, and then occasionally we have extra practices on the weekends. We had a lot of morning practices and all day practices for this competition.”

Being on the team has changed McGarry in many ways. Her self-esteem increased and she felt proud of what she was doing. “This team has definitely had an impact on me because it’s something I’m very proud of,” McGarry said. “I’m more comfortable with myself because of this super awesome thing that I can do.”

Gwen has seen how cheer has influenced Emily’s journey as well, both in her relationships and in how she perceives herself.

“Now Emily’s this independent, strong woman and that’s been really cool for my whole family to see that she’s strong and not ashamed to be disabled anymore,” Gwen said.

“She’s confident in who she is.

And that’s been really cool as a family to see her love herself as much as we love her.”

Despite all the struggles she faces, cheering has given her a place where she can feel connected. “I’ve experienced a lot of special memories on the team that I wouldn’t have gotten to do with other teams, so it’s just a really great experience.”

56.7

participants in adaptive sports whose lives are positively impacted

million people in the United States have some sort of disability

79.3%

1

The amount of the population with a disability is about

adaptive team at MOHI

20%

The year adaptive sports were first included in the London Winter Olympics

1948

32

million Americans have functional limitations

5600

annual participants in adaptive sports

Statistics according to American Association of Adaptive Sports

Sister Support Behind Emily’s journey is a supportive family, especially her twin sister Gwen McGarry ‘20.

“From what I’ve seen since when we started middle school, she didn’t have a ton of friends, and she was really shy,” Gwen McGarry said.

“Then, when she started cheering, I think it was seventh grade, she just became a lot more confident and she became a lot stronger emotionally.”

Gwen was born without the physical disability that Emily has, but as Emily’s twin, she’s experienced

Emily’s life secondhand, and that comes with seeing the way people look at her.

“A lot of people look at her as just ‘Oh, that girl in the wheelchair,’ but when she’s cheerleading she’s so much more than that,” Gwen said. “For the first time, I think she believes it, too. She’s not just someone who’s disabled. It gives her a way to express herself and escape from that title of disabled person.”

November 19

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Gun Epidemic What measures should be taken in response to the school shooting epidemic?

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chool shootings in the United States have become an epidemic. There have been 22 shootings this year alone. According to Every Town Research, there were at least 79 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2019 as of July. This has resulted in 12 deaths, including 3 suicide deaths, along with 48 injuries. In the past ten years, 242 people have been injured and 138 people have been killed in school shootings. Schools have been taking security measures in response to this, to keep school a safe atmosphere for all. According to Education Week, the percentage of public schools reporting the use of security cameras increased from 19 percent in 1999-2000 to 81 percent in 2015-2016. But is this enough?

November 21

False Sense Of

SECURITY A Look Into How Our District Keeps Us safe

By India Turner, Amelia Krueger, Maya Matus, Maria Ruscitto, and Jonah Speyer

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propped open. The heart of the problem is that the fob system is not as efficient as it should be.

While it can prevent anyone from simply walking into the school, the system is ultimately faulty.

“The fobs are flawed because half the time they don’t even work,” Angelique Cervantes ‘21 said. “Then they make you go down to the office but most of the time they’re just like ‘you just have to wait it out and see what happens’ and it’s just a waiting game. Because all last year my fob didn’t work and it took forever.”

There have been a few complications from the company that supplies the fobs. “We did get fobs that were apparently issued that had not yet been [activated],” Assistant principal Mark Sibley said. “It was a major inconvenience for everyone.”

The second hole in the system is the cameras.

Cameras were implemented in the school a few years ago, but it wasn’t until last year that the number of cameras throughout the school were increased.

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It’s never enough. You never know when it’s going to happen or who it’s going to be, there’s just no way of telling.” -Lindsay Hernandez ‘20

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You turn on the news and it’s another dreadful report.

You can feel the pain of families and friends through your TV screen. Another school has been the target of a shooting incident.

However, we are distanced from it within the Boulder Bubble. There’s a heavy blanket of, “Oh, this could never happen to us.” Until it does.

In a time where school shootings feel overwhelmingly common, safety in schools has become a vital focus for the nation. As a school district, Boulder Valley has taken steps to increase security for the wellbeing of all students.

However, this raises an important question: exactly how safe is Monarch High School?

“I don’t think that there’s one [thing that’s going to make us all safe,” School Resource Officer Christopher Humphreys said. “I think it’s a combination of everything. It’s a combination of having cameras, of having fobs, of having a really good security personnel working here.”

However, when one or more of these pieces malfunction, the safety of the school can be compromised.

In the past few years, Monarch, and many other BVSD high schools have been adjusting to the new fob system.

“The idea would be that everybody would have their fobs on them somewhere that they could pull out quickly in times of an emergency, and easily,” Principal Neil Anderson said.

The fobs are supposed to keep everyone without an activated Monarch ID out of the school. “If you’re a visitor, you can’t just walk into the school,” Brendan Sullivan, BVSD Director of Safety, Security, and Emergency Procedures, said. “[However],we’re realizing students have been leaving doors propped open.”

While the fob system was installed with good intentions, students, however, have noticed that they don’t always have the desired effect.

“Anyone can get in without a fob if they go through the front desk. If you don’t have your fob you can easily get in to the school,” Paloma Rutherford ‘21 said.

Not only can students enter the school through the front door, but it is incredibly easy for students to follow others in through the door, or for the doors to be

Currently, school security is only monitoring the security camera footage throughout the night.

However, BVSD says the safety of the school requires every person inside and outside to have that same awareness and share it with others. Even with all the security equipment and personnel, some things are out of their hands and the students need to take action to make and keep our atmosphere safe.

The largest hole in the security system is the doors.

A new door security system was added in a couple of

142 PEOPLE KILLED IN SCHOOL SHOOTINGS IN THE PAST TEN YEARS

INJURIES

242

years ago to increase Monarch’s safety. The fobs are also a part of this, and they allow students to get into the school while eliminating the possibility of any threats to the school.

However, students walk in every day without a fob, melding into the mob of people. Staff and students at Monarch have a culture of holding doors open for each other to be polite. “I hold open doors for students when I see a student coming in from the parking lot and they clearly have a backpack on, and they’re fumbling for their key card,” Officer Humphreys said.

The majority of school shooters are 17 years old, according to the BBC. This means that instead of looking for an unfamiliar person of older age, a threat to our school is most likely to be a student who either is or was once a student at Monarch. Someone who could easily blend into the crowd.

However, this puts students in a difficult situation: do you close the door in someone’s face or let in a student that’s probably harmless, yet unfamiliar?

“If I recognize them as a student I’ve seen in the halls.

I think it’s the having the awareness and understanding that, yeah, I know who you are and I recognize you as a student, versus, this person just doesn’t belong here,” Officer Humphreys said. It doesn’t matter how many security features were added to the school, if students don’t do their part then it won’t make a difference.

Every morning, the doors in the bus loop entrance are either unlocked in anticipation of entering high schoolers, or opened by another student inside to help out. However, this can be extremely dangerous. Any person, regardless of if they have a fob in hand can simply walk in alongside others, with absolutely no one seeing anything wrong.

School security has definitely come a long way since members of the staff were high schoolers themselves.

However, there are still red flags that compromise our safety as current high schoolers.

Ranging from our cameras to our fobs, there are still many ways to improve our security at Monarch, starting with every individual student playing their part in making our school a safe atmosphere.

IN THE PAST

10 YEARS

22 SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

IN 2019 AS OF

J U L Y

Statistics according to CNN

November23

Taking on Tourette senior doesn’t let tourette syndrome get in the way of her passion for music

By Lindsay Haight, Kate Muldoon and Logan Lair

I

t was the end of freshman year, a week before finals, and all she could think about was summer right around the corner.

Suddenly, she felt an urge. It was like a sneeze but in her neck. All of a sudden, her shoulders rose towards the sky as her head shot backwards. Katie Wilson ‘20 had received her first tic.

“It feels almost like when you know you are going to sneeze. It’s like, ‘I’m going to sneeze! I have to sneeze!’

And you can try to hold in the sneeze for a little while, but it doesn’t go so great, and you sneeze eventually,” she said.

She had developed Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder where a person makes involuntary movements or sounds called tics that the person has little to no control over. As of now, the cause of Tourette syndrome is unknown, but genetics has been shown to play a role in its development.

Wilson’s journey has been different from most people who have Tourette syndrome, who find out about their condition at a much younger age. “The most common

24 the pack

age is between seven and eight years old,” Wilson said.

This gives the people surrounding the person with Tourette syndrome much more time to get used to life with tics before some of the most important years of their life. High school is a hard time for almost everybody, especially when you find out you have an incurable syndrome that will affect the rest of your life.

“I didn’t know what it was. It was this crazy neck movement where I was kicking my head backwards in class,” said Wilson. “I didn’t know whether or not I was doing it on purpose.”

Although high schoolers are arguably more mature than seven- and eight-year-olds, it was still hard to get used to, which made it tough for Wilson. However, people who knew her before freshman year were more accepting than others. “[Katie] just needs you to respect her and give her space, and so I think that’s definitely something that me and the rest of my friends have learned to do,” Wilson’s friend Annalie Haralson ‘21 said.

Things became even harder when she developed verbal tics. Her first one was squeaking. This became difficult to deal with in class. She started missing school for weeks on end. More tics started developing, which made it worse. It was a downward spiral from then on.

“When I first got tics, I started missing a ton of school because I didn’t know how to cope with it,” Wilson said.

Her number of classes has dropped significantly. “So, I aid in the forum, I am in psychology, AP Lit, and then I aid in the Intensive Learning Center,” she said. “So those are my classes at Monarch, and then I’m in two classes online.”

Last year, a new light entered her life, Watson. In March of 2019, she got a service dog to help with some of her tics.

November 25

“So many different parts of my brain are active when I’m playing music that there’s no opportunity for the tics to rear their head.”

26 the pack

Watson is still in training but will soon be ready to follow her everywhere she goes. “His job is to help keep me safe,” she said. “I have a fair number of tics that hurt me. They’re self-injurious tics.”

Before having Watson, she had to rely on her peers to help her during these self harming tics. “In the past, it’s been something where I walk into class on the first day of school, and I’m like, ‘Hey, by the way, would you be comfortable restraining me if I start hitting myself?’

Which is awkward at best.”

Wilson’s friend Evan Childre ‘20 has been one of the people to help her. “One time [in percussion practice], we were rehearsing something, and I had to stand there with Katie and hold her arm back from punching herself,” he said. “She just whispered to me and she said, ‘Thank you.’”

Once Watson is fully trained, Wilson and her peers will become more comfortable with each other, which she hopes will help her socially. “Hopefully, in future situations where that might happen, I would be able to rely on him to do that and not have to put that sort of pressure on other people that I don’t even know,” she said.

Watson isn’t the only thing that has been supporting Wilson.

The biggest help in Wilson’s life has been the music program.

She is a key component of Monarch’s marching band, and playing percussion helps with her urge to tic.

“Tics are unique in that they’re distractible, which means when I’m playing music, they stop or at least significantly calm down because so many different parts of my brain are active when I’m playing music.”

Music has been such a positive influence in her life that it’s not just the music, it’s the people, too.

“When she’s focusing on the music, it takes so much concentration and mental energy that she can’t break into Tourette, and so it’s really awesome because then she can just do what she loves and be who she is,” Haralson said.

When Wilson started playing music in 5th grade, she immediately fell in love. Over the years, its importance in her life has grown. “I would say the biggest help in my life has been the music program.”

It has helped her through the good times, and especially the bad.

Whenever I’m having a really bad ticking day, I know I can pick up a pair of mallets. I can do that, and it’s like I don’t have to be out of control anymore.”

For the longest time, Wilson felt like she wasn’t in control of her own body. She could tell that what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn’t stop from harming herself. “I’ve had a two-year-old

15

age when Wilson was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome

inside of my brain going, ‘Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?’ And there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

Throughout all of this, she has stayed positive and started to embrace her Tourette syndrome. She learned about her syndrome, and she eventually trained to be a youth ambassador for the Tourette Association of America. “I’m educated on how to present to various different types of groups about Tourette syndrome and raise awareness.” She was also trained how to talk in media interviews. “I was interviewed by 9News a while back, which was cool.”

Wilson has dedicated many parts of her life to focusing on making people aware of Tourette syndrome. She takes the time to explain what Tourette syndrome is, so that when people ask questions, she can answer them and help spread awareness.

From having some of the hardest years of her life, to being successful in school and out of it, Wilson has faced one of the hardest challenges someone can experience, and turned it into good.

Even though Tourette syndrome is a serious condition, Wilson continues to think of others before herself. Her friends say she is one of the kindest people at Monarch.

“She’s really caring. She wants to make sure everyone is safe. I think especially in our drumline, she’s pretty concerned with looking after everyone,” Haralson said.

0.3

percent of children 6 – 17 years old in the US have Tourette syndrome Statistics according to the CDC

November 27

Q

Our monthly question...

We should talk more about...

People like the idea of banning plastic straws because they believe they damage the oceans. In reality, straws are only a tiny percentage of the total amount of plastic the US tosses into the seas. Plastic is more than just a straw. People are still using plastic cups, plastic bags, and more. Instead, people replace plastic straws with paper straws without realizing they aren’t environmentally pristine either. Paper is made of trees and decomposition of the paper produces methane. It’s great to reduce your plastic straw use, but only stopping using plastic straws doesn’t solve the pollution issue.

Sure, we like them. But we like them enough to meet them every single day for lunch. These are the people we trust with some of the most important aspects of our lives. The people we hurriedly text to tell the teachers in the classes we share that we’re not absent, we’re just late.

We even trust them with our phone passcodes. Our friends, at times, are literally the people keep who our lives together. So from myself to anyone who’s a friend of anyone, thank you.

Sam K. Saliba - Friends

Minh Anh Le - Straws Everyone knows the frustration that comes with driving down Campus Drive. At 20 miles per hour, it’s painfully slow. If you are running late to school or trying to go off campus for lunch, it feels even slower.

Most schools have a 25 mile per hour speed limit that is only while school is in session.

At Monarch, the speed limit lasts from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. It is unnecessary to have such a slow speed limit on a road with no pedestrians, traffic lights, or crosswalks.

Boulder Valley School District and the city of Louisville are sleeping on this very important struggle that students face each school day.

Evie Cuffaro - Speed limits

What kind of stupid, dumb, idiot lawyer admits that their client broke campaign finance laws on live TV? What kind of dull brained, thick skulled, ludicrous former prosecutor thinks it’s remotely intelligent associating with Ukrainians Lev and Igor, whose goals serve to further corrupt Ukrainian oil companies? A defense lawyer’s job is to keep their client, in this case, Donald Trump, out of legal trouble, not help create the scandal that caused an impeachment inquiry. Let’s also not forget that he married his own cousin. Rudy Guliani is a dense, impotent buffoon and is the biggest clown I know.

Lincoln Roch - Rudy Giuliani 28 the pack

We all think of mental health as this taboo subject, but mental health issues are more common than you might think. According to Psychology Today, “One in every five adults experience some type of mental health issue.” The problems surrounding mental health seem to stem from a lack of communication. There is a stigma around the subject of mental health that’s existed for a while, and it needs to change. Having a mental health issue is not a sign of weakness. The best way to end this stigma is to talk about it.

Alex Neumann - Mental health Exploration is important. Curiosity is important. If there’s anything we should talk more about, it’s all the places and things to see on our planet. There are unexplainable sights to be seen and an amazing amount of places to explore. Why are these places important to us? Some people prefer a more sophisticated getaway somewhere like Europe where there are endless artifacts and history to indulge in. Others prefer a tropical scene like the Caribbean with adventurous opportunity to get out there in the wild or explore the oceans. The places we go give an insight on who we are and where we have interest. Although our interests may not be in common at all, travel gives us understanding and opens us up to new ideas and opportunities.

Jacqueline Campbell - Exploration We should talk more about how awful an actor Matthew McConaughey is. Don’t get me wrong, I love McConaughey as a celebrity, but his acting is just terrible. It hurts to watch. It’s like the only character he seems capable of playing is himself. That’s why I hated Interstellar so much. You could’ve sent anybody to space and you chose Matthew McConaughey? The guy from Dazed and Confused? I feel like he was going for a Charlton HestonPlanet of the Apes kind of act, but it just failed and backfired. Matthew McConaughey is just, well, he’s just awful.

Connor Nimmons - Matthew McConaughey

Mind the Gap Two writers take sides on taking a gap year

Taking a vacation

By Maria Ruscitto When you make the decision to take a gap year, you have the freedom of doing whatever you’d like. You can travel, focus on your job to save up money, and figure out who you are.

When students take a gap year, they tend to have better grades in college because when you go back to school, your brain is refreshed for the new year.

We have been going to school for most of our lives, and a gap year definitely has its advantages. It gives you time to think about questions like, “What would I want to major in? Where do I want to go? What do I want to be?”

A gap year is a chance to figure out the next few years of your life.

Traveling is one of the best things to do during a gap year. You can see different places and experience new things. The world is so different and has so many cultures, and experiencing other cultures can impact the rest of your life.

People tend to go to countries such as England, Mexico or France. Sometimes, they even do lots of short trips all around the world.

I remember when I went to Italy, and it felt like a completely different universe. The buildings, food and way of life were completely different from the United States.

By seeing these places, you are able to see different points of view you never could have dreamed of before.

You can also have a chance to find yourself. You can figure out where you want to go in life, what you’d like to major in. It’s an opportunity to try new things, have freedom, do whatever you want.

All of us have changed over the years as we’ve grown up. We are still changing. Taking a break from school and reality for a little while and discovering yourself more can definitely be healthy in life. It will give you a new perspective on your future.

It’s one last year before committing to adulthood and deciding what you want to do in life. With the advantage of taking a year off, you get to experience different things before committing to a specific thing and you can put your skills to the test.

Delaying your plans

By Amelia Krueger It’s been playing on a loop in our heads ever since we were young. Go to school to graduate, so that you can go to even more school.

In more recent years, gap years have become increasingly common among new graduates, and the pressure to jump straight into college has lessened.

In 2015, surveys from the American Gap Association showed a 22% increase of gap years than the year before.

While a gap year does provide many students with the opportunity to explore and discover what they would like to do, it also can lead to permanently delaying college altogether.

Although, the commitment level of a gap year is different than simply choosing not to attend university.

A gap year suggests a break in between high school and the next commitment. If I were to have plans and dreams for my future that could only be made possible with a degree, taking a gap year with the wrong mindset could ruin them.

After taking a whole year off, it’s common for motivation to drop. I know that if I took a year off, I would lose the drive to return to the structure of school.

Structure is important for me, it’s a way for me to make sure I don’t sit around all the time and do nothing.

High school can be stressful, and busy, but the goal of always moving towards something is my relief.

Additionally, graduating college at a young age gives the advantage of being able to start working young, or to use that time to explore now that you have more options.

Moving onto new points in life is always stressful and scary, but having a year where everything is up in the air would break and loosen the plans I have.

For those who are either still searching, or those who desperately need a break, taking a gap year could be a wonderful idea.

Because I personally plan on going to college, hesitating to transition into the large commitment of getting a degree would throw me off of that path.

If you know what you are passionate about, and plan to go to college, don’t hesitate to move onto a new chapter of your life.

Should students take a gap year?

Eleanor Guanella ‘20

“It’s really hard after you’ve been out in the world for a year to then come back and do work and school.

If you had started right away, it’s a lot easier to go right from high school to college, where when taking a gap year you know what freedom is... and then you have to go back to school.”

Hannah burton ‘20 “Taking a gap year makes it difficult to apply to college afterwards because you don’t have the same support system from your teachers and counselors that you have during your senior year in high school.”

Anna Wexler ‘20 “I think that going to college and getting an education should be a priority. You will have more focus if you do that immediately upon your graduation from high school, and you will be able to have valuable experiences that will shape your life in college, as well.”

Sebastian Manzanares ‘20 “I think that if students want to go to college at all, they should just go straight out of high school. Get it done and over with. I think that if they have a taste of freedom and maybe some money from a job they have, they will decide that college isn’t really for them. And then they won’t end up going at all.”

Humberto Patron ‘20 “From my experience, if you know what you want to do in college, there is no point in taking a gap year. It’s because you could finish college faster and get on with your career sooner. If you don’t know what you are doing, some colleges and universities offer help to those who don’t know what they want to study. I think a gap year is not a good idea. “

November 29

Life is bigger than a phone screen

Why everyone should Press reset on their social media habits

By Ruby Cervantes

How social media affects teens

42

percent of the world’s population that uses social media every single day.

2.22

average number of hours people use social media every day

6.5

the number of Facebook accounts is 6.5 times greater than the population of the United States

30 the pack

I

don’t think there has been a single time in my life, from fourth grade up until a month ago, when I wasn’t completely obsessed with my portrayal on social media.

I needed the most followers, the most likes, the most comments, the best pictures. It was a constant mission to keep myself near the top.

My self-worth was completely and totally dependent on what other people thought of me.

I did anything and everything to make people think I was doing better, feeling better, looking better than I actually was. Social media was where I placed every ounce of my security.

The idea that my life could be better without social media was absolutely ludicrous to me. I could never have imagined my life not knowing where people were, what they were doing, how they were doing. I needed to be in the loop at all times, not to mention I needed to fill everyone else in on what I was doing (not that anyone ever really cared). To me, it was never something I really wanted to give up, and I was dependent on it.

Deleting social media for me was something I wish I had done months ago. The insane relief that I felt after I wasn’t constantly worried about everyone and everything else was refreshing. Although taking the actual action of unplugging was difficult, the end result gave me more happiness and freedom than I ever thought I’d get.

According to a survey done by the Pew Research Center, 45% of U.S teens say they use the internet “almost constantly.” In fact, according to the Center for Research, addiction to social media can be potentially as addicting or more addicting than that to cigarettes or alcohol.

The appeal of social media comes from many different reasons, one being the instant gratification and the pleasure or reward of opening social media and refreshing it to see a new post or message. Furthermore, it is a place where people seek validation. It’s posting something and using the amount of likes or views to determine your

own self worth.

This can become dangerous. When the instant gratification or validation is not achieved, people begin to think negative, untrue things about themselves. According to the National Institute of Health. “People with lower self-esteem spend more time on social media.” Furthermore, “People who experience difficulties in social relations, such as individuals with low self-esteem, socially anxious individuals, and introverts, are more motivated to use social networks in order to compensate for their unsatisfactory face-to-face interactions.”

I think we’re all heavily in denial. I think somewhere deep in our minds we will never want to accept that we are ruining our self esteem, self worth, and mental health solely because we don’t want to be left out; we don’t want FOMO because we don’t know what every single one of our peers is doing.

It’s upsetting that the way we rely on communication is through sending each other pictures of our faces through an app instead of seeing each other face to face, going and doing things together. We will forever be stuck in the digital world, we will forever be stuck talking about all the adventures we want to go out and do but never will.

We depend on a cyber barrier to talk to the people we like because over time we’ve lost the basic skills to walk up to someone and actually ask them out. We’re losing our ability to interact with other human beings and that is such a sad thing.

I encourage you to think about the way you let technology affect you in your day to day life.

I encourage you to put your phone down and actually go outside, call your friend and hang out with them in person, not on FaceTime.

Don’t let yourself get lost in the material and unrealistic world of social media. If you never look up from your phone, you’ll miss the incredible things the world has to offer around you. Don’t miss out. Don’t regret your youth because you never did all the things you said you want to do because you were stuck inside your phone.

The entire world is waiting for you outside your

“It’s posting something and using the amount of likes or views to determine your own self worth.”

T

here were 94 school shootings in the United States last year, according to the BBC. Almost one every three days. The facts can’t be questioned, but Boulder Valley School District is trying to treat bullet wounds with band-aids, trying to change large-scale safety issues with small, surface-level changes.

Recently, Monarch adopted a new security system that is supposed to keep us safe. The system includes cameras both inside and outside the school and a fob system where students must swipe their fob in order to enter the school. Of course, the cameras are good to investigate incidents of bullying or drug use, and the fobs might keep someone out, but the reality is, it isn’t enough.

Most days we are able to walk into school without a fob, the door held open for me by people we have never seen before in my life. Students from other schools have gotten in, and students from Monarch get into other schools. After all, what makes a Fairview student look different from a Monarch student? Nothing.

We’ve always been told to look out for a large, creepy man: trenchcoat, large case, gun, sketchy. The reality of what shooters look like is very different. The average shooter is a 17-year-old male, according to the BBC, someone who could easily blend in amongst a crowd of students. And in a school of 1,700 students, it’s difficult to know the face of each and every one.

We need a complete rethink how BVSD schools run. If we aren’t going to take the guns out of society, then we need to rethink how our schools operate in a society built upon guns. Because that’s what we have. Not a couple of gun-owners with malicious intent among a crowd of gunless people.

We live in a society where one in three people

just at night.

But we were told those ideas were inconvenient and that there had to be a balance. A balance between what, we wanted to ask. What could possibly be equal to our safety?

Apparently, our safety isn’t worth the inconvenience. There is a price they won’t pay for our safety. It’s always sugar-coated of course, but that’s essentially what it means.

The fact is, if we really want to protect ourselves, Boulder Valley School District requires an entire culture change, not just policy change.

If we truly want to be safe, we have to take measures that aren’t convenient. Each student must be required to use their personal fob to get into the school, and have attendance must be linked to scanning your fob at the front of the school, or at the entrance of each classroom at the beginning of the period.

People say this would make the high school seem like a prison, but many office buildings have a similar policy, where each person must swipe a fob in order to get inside the building. Even colleges have a similar fob system.

By having a turnstile system, students would be able to file through the doors quickly and easily.

If Disneyland filters 44,000 people into its grounds every day, we can get 1,700 people through the door.

We don’t know what the perfect solution is, but we know there are dozens that are better than what we have now.

The truth is, safety isn’t convenient. It takes time to put in place, time to operate; it takes money.

So, we have to decide if our lives are worth the inconvenience.

Holding open a door to danger

Let’s rethink safety here in boulder valley school District Opinion of the staff editorial board

own a firearm, according to NBC News. It is not surprising, therefore, that in a society of guns, we protect the guns more than we do the people.

When talking to members of the security council from Boulder Valley School District, we heard over and over again that options presented in order to better safety were “too inconvenient.”

We suggested a system where only one door is used for entrance by students and parents. We suggested a system where each student must scan their fob in order for attendance. We suggested camera surveillance happening during the day, not

November 31

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