Vol. 19 - No. 2

THE HOWLER DECEMBER ISSUE 2016

MONARCH HIGH SCHOOL

BOBBY PINS AND BODY SHAMING 16-17

VOL. 19 - NO. 2

MAJOR STRESS ALERT 14-15

A LOOK BACK AT 2016 12-13

WE ARE THE MILITIA 18-19

THIS YEAR BY THE NUMBERS 20-21

TIMBERLINE ADVENTURES C

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CM

MY

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CMY

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Inn to inn, multi-week fully supported cycling & hiking tours in 39 National Parks

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Are you interested in writing? Maybe photography? Do you want to be a part of an award winning publication staff and create both memories and art? Join MoHi Publications and get to be a part of a fun and tight knit family!

Contact bonnie.katzive@bvsd.org for more information.

Justin’s proudly supports Monarch High School www.justins.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

December 2016 - Issue 1

FEATURES The Holidays 9 The K-Wave 22 Preparing for Finals 27 CULTURE Winterized & Stylized 5 What’s Cooking 6 It’s Called Fashion 7 Star Wars and the Power of Costume 28 - 29 OPINIONS From Sweatshop to Landfill 4 Happy Hanukwanzaa 8 To Believe or Not to Believe 10 Staff Editorial: School Rivalries 11 SPORTS Committed Seniors 24 The Recruitment Process 25 The Injury Report 26 GUEST WRITERS That’s It/Jessica Niuesma 23 Fiction: No Gods In Space/Brycen Edwards 30 Memoir: The Power of Kindness/Ryan Rosenblum 31

The Howler reserves the right to refuse advertising which does not adhere to the publication’s standards, particulary in reference to good taste and to products and/or services that are illegal and/or immoral for the majority of high school readers. Guest contributions sent to The Howler which do not adhere to the publication’s standards may be turned down for publication.

The Howler strives to inform, educate, and entertain the student body of Monarch High School as a student-produced maagazine and open forum for student expression and opinions. Expression made by students in The Howler is not an expression of Boulder Valley School District Board policy and the School District and its employees are immune from any civil or ciminal action based on any expression made or published by students in The Howler.

cover photo courtesy of mason notebloom photo by andrew patra

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Opinions

FROM SWEATSHOP TO

LANDFILL

The Problem with Fast Fashion

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detailed work, and employers can get away with paying them less. Children are also quick to go to work because their families need more income.

This is modern-day slavery. Instead of going to school, children go to work. The fashion supply chain is too complex for companies to watch over every step in the production process and there are no unions for employees to speak out and push for better conditions. They have no voice and they’re stuck in an endless cycle of unfair treatment, because of fast fashion brands.

Where do these clothes go when they go out of style? Many pass them down, donate or sell them, or if you’re like me, just hold on to them forever. In fact, secondhand and thrift stores oftentimes reject fast fashion clothing because of it’s poor quality. Because they’re so cheap, people throw old clothes away guilt-free, without thinking of the impact it has on the environment. According to Newsweek, 84 percent of unwanted clothes in the United States in 2012 went into either a landfill or an incinerator.

The only thing we can do to stop fast fashion is stop supporting it. Not supporting fast fashion means not supporting child labor, unfair pay, the environmental crisis, and our growing landfills.

More sustainable clothing brands are

’ll admit it: I’m a shopaholic. Wasting money on trends that die out faster than you can say “bandwagon” is my favorite pastime.

Stores like Zara, H&M, Forever 21, and Q are perfect for this; the clothes are cheap enough that regret doesn’t consume me when they sit in my closet for months, and they always have the cutest trends as soon as they come out.

These brands have always confused me, though. How do these stores do it? How can they always have new cute stuff coming in?

You’ve also probably questioned the quality of the clothes from these stores. They’re cheap for a reason, and it’s called fast fashion.

When I heard about the human costs of fast fashion I was shocked. I could only get cute clothes at an unspeakably affordable price because someone else was paying it.

Brands outsource labor to countries with more fluid labor laws, meaning they can get away with doing pretty shady stuff. People work on just dollars an hour in terrible conditions… for what? A sweater, a pair of jeans, a sundress?

According to the International Labor Organization, 170 million kids are engaged in child labor worldwide. Fast fashion contributes in a huge way to this, according to UNICEF. In fact, clothing company employers look for children, specifically, a lot of the time. Their small hands allow more

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all around such Patagonia and Everland.

Companies that have their products made in the U.S. are often a good call, with the U.S.’s stricter labor laws. Thrift shopping is also more sustainable. Everyone can make a difference in this industry, but the most important thing is to inform and educate about the clothes people wear.

- Racheal Jacobs/Features Editor

photo illustration by Tareq Sallahuddin/ WikiMedia Commons Above photo of an assembly line clothing textile garment factory in Bangladesh

WINTERIZED & STYLIZED

Culture

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uring the winter season people feel like they have to give up style to stay warm and comfortable. Well not anymore! Here are some ways to take your style from drab to fab and still stay comfortable and cozy.

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adies, I know in the morning it’s really hard to want to wake and get dressed cute while staying warm EVERY DAY but, here are some simple ways to do that:

Still trudging through the winter weather in your boring combat boots? And a pair of colored high socks to spice up your outfit.

Colored high socks give your outfit a pop of color, and also keeps your feet extremely warm.

Are you getting a little chilly in your plain old sweater? Add a colorful scarf and give it some flair. There are so many different scarves to choose from and so many different ways to tie them it will really bring up your outfit.

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Ladies you’ve got to invest in a vest. Vests are essential to keeping warm and taking a regular drab outfit and making it fab.

Are you trying to get the preppy boy look?

It’s simple and easy get a button up shirt, some khakis, and now add some warmth and flair by putting on a vest and you’ll be fire.

Did you stand in your closet for about three hours and trying to figure out how to get the “hipster look but not trying too hard look”? Well here’s what you need to do: grab yourfavorite jeans and sweater and grab a color coordinated beanie and you are set.

ellas, Trying to step up your outfit game, but not really sure how? Well here are some simple ways to take your outfit games from zero to one hundred real quick.

Boys, you’ve got your classic joggers on and your standard flannel shirt; now, add some flair. Add a jacket and a hat to give you an album cover look.

-Jasmine Jeffcoat/Sports Editor Photos by Jasmine Jeffcoat

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Culture

WHAT’S COOKING? Left: Hannah Hagens Center: Madison Bohling and Tatiana Cherry Santos Right: Katherine Johnson

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unch is one of the best times of the day for many students, and there is a lot of diversity in what everyone decides to eat.

Some students choose to prepare a well thought out meal to keep them going the rest of the day, while others randomly choose what is easiest to throw in a lunchbox before they leave in the morning.

Having a healthy lunch is very important to some students, but eating healthy can be a struggle. Finding the time to make a good lunch can be difficult for many who have a lot to do in the mornings. Most people are tired and busy in the mornings, so finding the time during the scramble to get ready can be a challenge.

“I make up everything at night so I can just put it in my lunchbox when I’m walking out in the morning,” junior Mikayla Aiken said. Preparing a lunch the night before gives Aiken more time to get ready in the morning and allows her to make a healthier lunch.

Other students bring less healthy items for lunch as well, often because they are pressed for time in the morning before school.

“I try to eat as healthy as I can, but when I’m in a rush in the morning it’s hard to always grab super healthy food items,” said Catalina Lozano. The late start on Wednesdays gives students the time that they need to take their time to get ready.

“It depends on the day. If I have time then I put effort into it” Lozano said.

Even though most students are in a rush in the mornings, many still do their best to eat a good quality, healthy lunch.

“I spend barely any time on it because I’m already crunched for time and don’t want to wake up any time before six,” Molly Williams said. “I choose mostly healthy items because I want to be aware of what I eat and I know what’s bad for me and what I need in my diet.

I do have like one thing that’s unhealthy, but that’s just to help me get through the day.”

It is important for all students to have a decent lunch for the day, whether they are

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rushing out the door or actually catch enough time to get ready in the morning.

Without the crunch on their own time however, some students like to make complete meals for themselves. They take the time out of their day to make food that they love. Some students gave us an important look on the process behind their favorite foods to make at home.

“I like to cook a lot of different things, Burgers and steaks, stuff like that.” said senior Reed Coker.

Coker was introduced to food and cooking through his midwest family. “My family, being from Oklahoma and Kansas, we’ve always loved to cook. And it’s all comfort food.” Coker family cooks fried chicken, barbecue, and homemade ice cream.

Reed Coker says he’s always been exposed to cooking, learning from his aunts and mom while they cooked on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Coker has a specific favorite, though. He loves cooking barbeque with his dad. To cook his famous pork shoulders, “we mix up a marinade, let it sit overnight, give it 24 hours. Then we put it in the smoker for eight hours, and throughout the whole thing we’ll spray it with apple juice and put more rub on it and stuff. It makes it really sweet, but at the same time keeps in all the juices. Then we’ll bring it inside and put it in the oven for four hours, and then it just gets to where it falls apart. It’s amazing. We use different seasonings but we kinda have our own secret mixture that we make up. I can’t tell you that.”

Trevor Flynn also loves to grill. “I love to grill” he says. “I love grilling steak, but I do grill a lot of other things too. Like pork chops, burgers, hot dogs. You name it.” His personal favorite to grill is steak, however. His mother prepares the meat, and then Trevor puts it on the grill. “Ten minutes on the first side, and then ten minutes on the second side.”

Katherine Johnson, another senior also has a love for cooking. “I’ve always been making food for myself, just because I’m a picky

person and I kind of have to.” Johnson enjoys making breakfast foods the most, but she has a wider range. Andalso enjoys cooking things like steak and mashed potatoes. Her favorite dish to cook is dumplings. “If you’re gonna make them from scratch, you make the filling first. Get some meat, chop it up, get some vegetables, chop it up. Season it, put it in a pan. Then you fill it into the dumpling wraps and steam it or pan fry it.” Johnson’s advice to people who want to start cooking for themselves, but don’t know where to start is straightforward: “Just look inside your fridge or cabinet. See what you can find and think of something you can make with it.”

Madison Bohling and Tatiana Santos don’t just cook for themselves, they cook for eachother. The seniors get together on Monday nights and whip up, dishes.

Bolhing saidsays that “We make gluten free chinese chicken with quinoa, which is really good. We’ve made stuffed bell peppers and enchiladas, we made chocolate dipped cheesecakes the other day.” Cherry-Santos says that they also like to make Peach Cobbler, and described process behind it “You’re gonna get peaches, sugar flour butter all that stuff, Bohling’s dad gets ususally gets us fresh peaches and he helps us make it. You put the peaches and sugar together on the stove and wait til it gets to a liquid and the sugar is all dissolved. Then you use the flour and all that into a crust, and pour the peaches on top of the crust and let it bake and cool down. Now you have a great peach cobbler.” Cherry-Santos and Bohling have been baking together since eighth grade, and clearly they’ve learned a lot.

All things considered, food is something that can be used for comfort, socializing, and even entertainment. Having the time to make something special is the cherry on top.

- Bryan Dumpert & Ian Fowles/Staff Reporters photos by Bryan Dumpert & Ian Fowles

IT’S CALLED FASHION

Culture

Night Two at the Fall Denver Fashion Weekend

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ashion is weird. Especially when it’s considered “high fashion”, and that normally comes at astronomical prices that no sane person would actually buy and then wear. That kind of clothing, or more accurately art, is only seen on catwalks at fashion shows, and that’s what I expected to see at this season’s Denver Fashion Weekend.

Yet as I attended night two of the three night affair, what was shown on the runway were clothes less to stir the mind of eccentrics, but more to appeal to people who would actually wear them.

The event showcased local designers as well as designers from across the nation, and

they gathered at the City Hall Event Center in downtown Denver for three nights to show off their best work. There was a lot going on, with a crowd that made me feel a little underdressed, the hectic hairsprayatmosphere backstage, and the bright lights that illuminated the runway.

Backstage would be one of the more exciting parts of the night, and the side many don’t see. The small space, no larger than maybe a classroom and a half, was packed with massive pallets of makeup, racks of high-end designer clothing, clouds of hairspray, gorgeous models, and skilled stylists. The models were there long before we were, spending an hour or more having stylists brush on makeup, only to move to another chair where their hair would be finessed for another half hour. No details were left unchecked; each eyelash and every stray hair was put into its place, and the clothing was finely tailored to each model.

Once the show got started the lights dimmed, a flash shot across the three large screens displaying the designer’s name, and the models emerged onto the catwalk in quick succession. Even their steps were crafted, each footstep matched to the beat of the music. The first few designers were some of my favorites, maybe because they were

the most conventional. Denver Boutiques showed off some of their best with Velvet Wolf flaunting winter styles and Fab’rik taking it back to the 70’s. Designer John Paul Ataker wowed the audience with stunning gowns that no doubt would fetch quite a bit of cash and Frances Roces was the only designer to feature exclusively male models. Kotomi Yoshida who brought theatre to the stage with a sort of marionette show: her models acted as puppets and a puppeteer brought them to life in an amazing, yet slightly unnerving manner.

The show was an overwhelming sensory overload, at least for me as I would scramble to get a shot in focus and correctly exposed.

But to those in the crowd, it was a good excuse to dress up and look at fancy clothes.

-The looks that seemed to get the loudest cheers and the most wows weren’t the ones that showed skin or were exceptionally slinky, but rather the ones that held class or that just had a famous model in it. And while it may not be standard across every show, Denver Fashion Weekend included models that weren’t skinny to an unhealthy degree and tattoos were almost a numerous as the shades of foundation. The show seemed to be more about expression of fashion as an art form, best left to be experienced rather than worn, hairspray fumes and all.

- Andrew Patra/Editor in Cheif photos by andrew patra

Left: Designed by Kotomi Yoshida Middle: Designed by Fabrik Denver Right: Designed by Frances Roces

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Opinions

HAPPY

HANUKWANZA

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walk into my house on a cold December night after a long run and throw my backpack next to the tall artificial christmas tree, the shiny lights making the room glow with the reflection of the silver ornament. The smell of Potato latkes fill the air, and I walk into the kitchen waiting to light the menorah on the first night of Hanukkah. Yep, you heard it right. I celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah and yes, I do get presents for both.

I am being raised interfaith, meaning, my mother is Christian and my dad is Jewish. So, my parents decided that they would bring me up celebrating holidays from both religions.

Throughout my years living in Naperville, Illinois and Superior, Colorado I can assure you that I have gotten my fair share of comments about my parents decision.

One being,“ What what is Hannukah even about?” Well, the short answer is it’s about a miracle. In Israel a candle was suppose to only last for one day, but it lasted for eight days and eight nights. So, we celebrate this by lighting a candle each night for eight days and gifting loved ones presents and eating traditional foods, and obviously playing A LOT of dreidel. As much as I love Hanukkah,

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it’s kind of a unique holiday to celebrate. My friends call me wanting to go out to celebrate another holiday season with ice skating and hot chocolate, and buy the perfect Christmas gifts for their mom. But, I have a holiday, Hanukkah is already underway my holidays have started.. And well, it is already taking place.

This time of year is wonderful but very Christmas-minded. As for the Christmas side, I also adore this... the soft sound of Michael Buble fills the air in my grandma’s house.

Once again I’m spending another Christmas in Maryland. It’s the night before Christmas and…my cousins are screaming with joy as they rip open the newest XBOX and the best frozen microphones on the market.

Traditionally, every Christmas we go to my grandma’s house in Maryland and celebrate the Christian side of the holiday with my mom’s side of the family including my aunt and her kids and my grandma and of course my mom, dad, and sister. It’s a blast!

It is awesome to be interfaith and get to celebrate a few holidays from both religions.

I am one of the few who get to see a side of two truly influential religions in the modern world, and for that I am thankful December twenty-sixth, a time where people decompress and relax for the stressful time of year that is the winter holiday season. But, for my family we are wrapped up in another holiday, Kwanzaa a very unknow holiday but very important to me. Kwanzaa is a holiday to celebrate African-American heritage, it has no religious meaning to it, but has tremendous meaning to me. Kwanzaa is seven day celebration, throughout the days we celebrate unity, self determination, responsibility,cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. We celebrate

each value separately on each day. For my family, each of the 7 values (listed before) have a really deep meaning in my heart, but that may differ from the meaning another family have which is okay. That’s what I think makes Kwanzaa such an interesting and special holiday is because everyone can celebrate it in their own way. But, we are still celebrating our African-American heritage, and that’s what i most important to all of us.

- Anna Wexler/Staff Reporter Left photo courtesy of Anna Wexler Right photo courtesy of Jasmine Jeffcoat

Features

THE HOLIDAYS More than just Christmas

A The McCauley family decorating Christmas cookies. photo courtesy of the McCauley family.

s the days become shorter and we start to spend more time in the dark, many different celebrations that focus around light start to happen. Christmas may be the most popular and known celebration during the holiday seasons, but there are other holidays that are celebrated too. In our diverse community, there are students who celebrate more than just Christmas.

Kwanzaa wanzaa is an African American celebration all about celebrating African American heritage, and lasts for 6 days, starting on December 26th and ending on January 1st.

Senior, Jasmine Jeffcoat celebrates Kwanzaa and Christmas with her family every year, sticking to the usual traditions very closely, such as lighting candles and having nightly feasts, but also adding some family traditions as well.

“My brother and sister are both born the day after Christmas, [which is ] also the day that Kwanzaa starts, and you’re supposed to celebrate it all day, well, we don’t start celebrating until the night time, because we want to get them their special day, since their born the day after Christmas, which obviously sucks right there.” Said Jeffcoat.

A big part of Kwanzaa is the food, which is very similar to the types of food served at a tradition Thanksgiving dinner, and is one of the things that Jeffcoat looks forward to the most.

“In both holidays, you give gifts, and you give gifts [to] the children. So once you get past [the age of] 18, that’s your last year of getting gifts in Kwanzaa, like big gifts.

You’ll get little gifts, but you give gifts to the children, so I guess my favorite part would be food, because it’s equal for everyone.”

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The finished product. photo courtesy of the McCauley family.

The Jeffcoat family celebrating Kwanzaa. photo courtesy of the Jeffcoat family.

On the day of Diwali, people fast the entire day, eating only fruits milk and water.

Then they come together in evening prayer before feasting. “[I mostly enjoy] just being with my family, and we make some bomb cookies with my grandma’s recipe,” McCauley said.

When McCauley lived in Pennsylvania, she and her family from India would all get together and celebrate Diwali very traditionally, and got to wear saris and hang out with all of the family in what they called, “The big house.” But now in Colorado with a smaller group of family to celebrate, McCauley and her sisters have found new small things to enjoy with each other every year.

“Usually around that time of year it gets really pretty with the leaves and the stars, so usually on those nights, me and my sisters will go out, and it’s not really with the holiday, but it’s one of the things that I look forward to most.”

No matter what you celebrate, or if you celebrate anything at all, the holidays are all about spending time with your family, and in the end, that’s what they should be about.

- Sali Castro/Staff Reporter

Diwali iwali is the Hindu celebration of light, which is celebrated at the end of October. Junior Elora McCauley and her family celebrate Diwali to keep the tradition on her mother’s side of the family from India, and the Christmas traditions from her dad’s side of the family.

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Opinions

I WANT TO BELIEVE

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strology has been popular for thousands of years and even today, most people can name their sun signs from the top of their heads. Lately zodiac signs have even become popular in social media with the onslaught of accounts dedicated to quirky, pop culture horoscopes.

As of 2011, astrology and holistic practices were a $355 billion industry. I myself believe in and love astrology with all my heart. I’m a Pisces and damn proud of it.

Horoscopes don’t consist of a psychic staring into a crystal ball and charging insane amounts of money for stating the obvious.

It’s a practice as methodical as physics or biology. Revered scientific figures like Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, and Carl Jung used astrology. Basically a person’s natal chart shows the positions of the various signs, planets, and houses of a person’s zodiac. This is done by looking at the belt of stars that make up the zodiac from the exact time and place of someone’s birth. Astrologers used to have to calculate angles and positions of planets and stars by hand, but now there is computer software to do it more easily.

One complaint that I’ve heard about astrology is that there are more personalities in the world than could correspond with a mere dozen different zodiac signs. I don’t mean to rain on that parade, but astrology is WAY more complicated than that. People typically are familiar with their sun sign, which is seen as the main sign. There are dozens of different signs within a birth chart that, as a whole, show someone’s personality. Typically the most important signs in someone’s chart are the sun, moon, rising, and dominant signs. For example, my chart means that I have a Pisces sun, Scorpio moon, Capricorn rising, and that my dominant sign is Scorpio.

The sun sign explains overall personality, the moon sign shows a person’s emotional tendencies, and the ascendant describes outer appearance and how someone seems to others. The dominant sign refers to repeated characteristics and tendencies for a person.

All of these signs, along with planets, houses, and more, help to describe the specific aspects of each individual person.

Astrology also shows how different

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personalities interact with each other. In life, group projects and collaboration are inevitable. People are innately different from each other and everyone works in their own specific ways. Astrology and birth charts can help determine more effective ways to work and communicate with people who have completely different views on just about everything.

The stars also connect us to the past.

This awe-inspiring art has existed since the time when pharaohs ruled the land and the pyramids were build yesterday. People have believed in astrology for thousands of years.

Every civilization on Earth has had some form of astrology in their society. As there are twelve main zodiac signs in the past people were creative, analytical, and as afraid of change as many people are now. These innately human characteristics provide a connection with our distant ancestors.

Some people will love astrology with all their hearts, while others will condemn it as naive.

In a world with chaos and strife, people look for answers in any place they can. It gives people comfort, guidance, and the faith to get through the inevitable problems they’ll face. To me, astrology is a sense of hope in the world. It lets me see the humanity in every person, from the flaws to the triumphs.

Next time you look up at the night sky after a rough day, try to have faith in the idea that the universe has your back.

DON’T BELIEVE

Horoscopes may be entertaining, but are they true? You may pull up your phone and look at your daily horoscopes and believe they apply to you. But can these signs really be the same for a group of people just because they were born around the same time?

Astrology has been around for two thousand years, and still has a massive following. These signs all represent different

personality traits for different times of the year. As the years go on, the stars in the sky change, which dictates these horoscopes.

Oh you’re a Cancer? You must be so quiet and emotional. You’re a Gemini?

You must be two-faced and fake. Oh you’re a Leo? You must need attention.

Most horoscopes are a generalization and don’t contain many details. They are worded in ways that make you think that it must be true. You may start to believe that these apply to you, and what events are happening in your life. But not everyone born on one day contains the same characteristics; we are all vastly different in our emotions and how we show ourselves to others.

Horoscopes give your whole life a summary of characteristics you might not have, which I think is pretty absurd. This is called the Forer effect. It was identified by psychologist Bertram Forer in the late 1940’s.

James Randi, a magician and scientific skeptic, conducted a test with students concerning astrology and horoscopes. He gave each student a horoscope, and told the students that they were made from their individual birth chart. The majority of the students rated their horoscope A for accuracy. Randi then asked them to pass their readings to the student behind them.

Turns out, they were all the same.

It may not just be the wording of horoscopes that can make them believable, but also the ‘science’ behind it. I don’t think there is enough proof to state that the zodiac signs are true. These silly horoscopes impact so many people, shape many aspects of how they live their life. For me, I don’t plan my events around the constant change in the calendar or Mercury in retrograde.

Astrology has always been in my life. My friends talk about it a lot, but I don’t see the big deal with it.

Horoscopes are here to entertain us. I live my life and I don’t let a horoscope column tell me how my week is going to be. In the long run, the universe doesn’t care about you that much. It has other things to worry about.

- Carmen Harris/ Features Editor Maddie Rumbach/ Staff Writer

RIVALRY GOOD

Opinions

RIVALRY BAD

Where a Line Needs to be Drawn in School Competition

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wild uproar of a cheering crowd at a school football game infuses the players with excitement as they face off against their greatest opponent, the rival school. Both teams have experienced restless, sunset practices preparing for exactly this moment, knowing that it’s not just a win for the team or a single individual, but the school.

In another instance, a group of students overwhelm a small lunchroom table as eyes glare with awe at an individual talking about how their now “rival” school is filled with deplorables with no future when in reality the foundation of their judgment is based on the result of a previous football game.

The rumor spreads like wildfire, burning stereotypes into the minds of those who have never even interacted with their “rival” school students. What started as a meaningless judgment has grown to a full fledged stereotype with roots lying solely within an arduous rivalry between two sports teams.

These scenes are nothing new for school districts around the nation.

Despite school rivalries stirring trouble in their small communities, there are also benefits of competition. Competition is not a new concept in this society. The very basis of capitalism is the idea that having a competitive market will advocate for companies to strive to be forever better than their rivals, in turn increasing their profits.

On the most basic level, it is understood that whenever a game against a rival is coming up, the team will train especially hard in preparing so that they will become the victors. The competition incited by the impending game does exactly what was stated previously: it advocates improvements in the team. However, sports is not the entire representation of what school competition has to offer.

In the beginning of every new year,

Monarch High School assesses its position on the state competition of the top high schools.

Proudly representing the place it holds for that year, the students and staff always wish to improve in that field. This includes sports, academics, advanced placement classes, college preparedness, extracurriculars, average grades and more. Having this competition not just on the district level, but also on the state level, encourages improvement for the school in all aspects of academics. In this way, competition benefits not just the students, also community as more residents wish to attend the school. In such a large way, competition has benefitted the school for the better, yet with light comes a shadow.

Competition strikes hard for losers and reaps the sweetest victory for winners, and it’s for this very reason that participants are always trying to look like the winners. Rivalries have pitted schools against each other, which is later reflected in the actions and words of the students. This has led to stereotyping, propagating hate throughout schools.

Understanding the flaws of a school is one thing, and in fact it’s good to do that, but when it boils down to blatant discrimination, a line has to be drawn.

People are just people, period.

Generalizing a majority of people has, and will never have a factual basis, only an anecdotal one. School competition is important for communities and schools to hold, but in no way should it affect student relations. It’s tempting to judge an individual based on what team they’re on, but under the mascot there is still a human.

Despite school presenting a battleground of social status and mass subjection, there is still purpose in individual action. Monarch may have over fifteen-hundred students, but on the larger scale of a country, or even

a continent, the amount of possibility the individual has is endless. When it comes down to it, the most effective way of diluting rivalry stereotypes is to begin by observing self action, and taking responsibility over providing factual claims instead of anecdotal nonsense.

- Howler Editors

What is a Staff Editorial?

An editorial is a topic presented to the staff that is written to represent the magazine editors’ view on an issue. Since it is written from the perspective of all the staff editors, it is not signed or specifically written by any person.

An editorial piece builds on an argument to influence public opinion, stimulate critical thinking and possibly affect the actions of readers.

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A LOOK BACK AT 2016 525,600 minutes. 8760 hours. 365 days.

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s you reflect on this year, think about what you’ve accomplished. Think about what you’ve seen on the news, locally, nationally, and/or globally. Just sit there and think about it for a moment.

In 2016, events like the release of Pokemon Go, and the 2016 Rio Olympics captivated the world. Members of the scientific community eagerly awaited the arrival of the Juno probe at Jupiter, and held their breath as SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on a floating drone ship for the first time. Records were broken and new faces appeared at the 2016 Rio Olympics as it saw the initiation of its first team for refugees. We also saw Olympic standouts like gymnast Simone Biles, and swimmer Katie Ledecky excel in their respective events. Biles came away from Rio with four gold and three bronze medals, with Ledecky earning four gold and one silver. Local CU olympians, Emma Coburn and Jenny Simpson both won bronze for their track events (3000 meter steeplechase and the 1500 meter). Simpson is the first American woman to medal in the 1500 meter.

Aside from the Olympic Games, we also saw success in other sports like baseball.

For the first time since 1907, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, Game 7 against the Cleveland Indians with a score of 8-7. It also marks the first championship appearance for the Cubs since 1945.

In football, we saw the Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers with a score of 24-10. This game marked the third championship win for the Denver Broncos and the last game of Peyton Manning’s career.

Among the major world news events this year, one was the recapture of escapee Joaquín Guzmán (aka El Chapo), after his escape from a maximum security prison in 2015. North Korea also popped up in the

headlines after violating several UN treaties by launching a long range rocket into space. The launch was widely condemned by countries like the United States, South Korea, and Japan. Over in Brussels, Belgium, ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) committed three coordinated attacks leaving 32 dead and more than 300 injured.

This year was marred with controversy as businessman Donald Trump made some offensive remarks regarding women and about the latino population in several of his rally speeches. Despite this, he managed to win the presidency against Hillary Clinton, with 290 electoral votes to Clinton’s 228. Back in the early days of the race, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders tried to win the Democratic nomination but fell short just behind Hillary Clinton. He ended up dropping out of the race in July and threw his support behind Clinton, in an effort to bring Democrats together and continue his political movement America wasn’t the only country in the political limelight, the UK became headline news as it voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June (aka Brexit).

England strongly supported the decision to leave the EU, while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted as a majority to stay in the EU. The decision to leave was made with a 52% majority vote against the other 48%.

Former home secretary Theresa May took over from former Prime Minister David Cameron, who resigned on the day after losing the referendum.

Since April 22 (aka Earth Day), over 100 countries have signed and ratified the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Although lauded by UN Secretary Ban Kimoon, the agreement has faced some sharp criticism for consisting of empty promises and not including any binding enforcement mechanism for it to actually work.

Within the world of cinema, we celebrated works created by extremely talented filmmakers and some outstanding acting performances within the past year.

Mark Rylance’s acting performance in Bridge of Spies showed us what life was like being a KGB agent working in the US during the Cold War. Brie Larson in Room took us on an emotional journey as she played a mother held captive in an enclosed space, with her five year old son. Spotlight and The Big Short both won an Academy Award respectively for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay.

Once a script has been written, the director takes control and brings their vision to the movie. That vision comes alive in films like The Revenant, which was directed by Alejandro Iñárritu. Aside from the director, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also award the people involved in areas like sound editing, musical score, production design, cinematography, film editing, visual effects, and many other categories.

We also mourned the deaths of world famous singers such as Prince, David Bowie, and actor Anton Yelchin. Nobel Peace Prize laureate/Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan also passed away. You may know some of the people listed above, but there were also celebrity deaths of people we might not have heard of. People like Ray Tomlinson, widely credited as the inventor of email, passed away earlier this year at the age of 74.

With that being said, this year has seen its good and bad sides. We’ve gaped in horror to the events unfold at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul and seen jubilation as NASA launched OSIRIS-REx, their first asteroid sample return mission.

Although listed above is just a fraction of all the major events this year, there have also been many achievements. Whether it

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has been personal, local, global, etc, 2016 continues to be a year to behold, both for ourselves and the world.

-Kevin Wu/Staff Reporter photo by NASA/Jeff Williams

Actor Gene Wilder (pictured here at a book signing), sadly passed away the past summer at the age of 83 due to complications from Alzheimer’s. photo by Caroline Bonarde Ucci

Katie Ledecky smiles as she poses for a photograph during an award ceremony at the Rio 2016 Olympics. photo credit Agência Brasil

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, SecurityRegolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. photo by NASA/Joel Kowsky Confetti flies in Levi Stadium after the Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers. photo by Arnie Papp

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Opinions

MAJOR

STRESS ALERT

Dear Teachers, We literally can’t anymore, homework has gotten out of hand.

Students have homework from math, science, language arts, and history, not to mention their elective classes. On top of being student athletes or working a part time job it’s just impossible to accomplish getting all your homework done.

Teachers and schools want students to be social and have a social life, but also participate in clubs and sports, and be able to get a job to pay for college, while getting eight plus hours of sleep, and getting all of our homework finished. We have five choices: social life, clubs and sports, homework, and sleep.

On average students in high school will only get seven to seven and a half hours of sleep every night, whereas teens need a minimum of nine hours of sleep to be healthy. It’s literally impossible to get even seven hours a night let alone nine. Here is why: school ends at three o’clock, and with all of the school traffic it takes at least half an hour to fortyfive minutes to even get home. Once 14

we do get home, we need time to unwind from a stressful eight hours of school (not counting if we work or play a sport). So give it maybe an hour or hour and a half, we’re looking at staying up doing homework till ten. And remember that is without playing any sport, participating in clubs, or working a part time job, so with school starting at 7:30 and with students needing to get up and get ready for the day and eat a healthy breakfast that leaves about six and a half hours of sleep or less.

Teachers, right about now you are probably saying “I only give 30 minutes of homework” or something along those lines. Well yes, it might take you 30 minutes to do this assignment and maybe for a student who fully understands everything about the unit they might be able to accomplish it in the same time span you do. But, for the majority of the students it takes a lot longer to do their homework and we also have five or six other classes where homework is assigned. So if each of our teachers assign 30 minutes of homework, that equals three and a half hours of homework per night. There’s also the

Opinions

fact that we are the students; we are still learning and we might not have the same knowledge you do, so the homework assigned may actually take longer than 30 minutes to complete. The reason you assign us homework is for us to practice what we just learned that day, but if we’re assigned too much, we’re not actually going to be practicing the skill or knowledge you taught us. We’re just going to do the homework so that we won’t get a marked down grade on the assignment.

The amount of homework we have to do causes our stress levels to go up. We also have other important things to do as well, such as sports, or helping a younger sibling, maybe participate in clubs, and other activities as well. In some situations stress is good, it tells you that you need to do something different, but chronic stress is a completely different case.

According to Psychology Today, chronic stress causes brain-related stress and can have negative effects on the brain, such as memory problems, anxiety, lower immunity function and much more. Chronic stress levels can also lead to a higher chance of depression, mental illnesses, and lower life expectancy, especially in

adolescent people.

It’s bad enough that we’re stressed about growing up and having to deal with insecurities, piling on top with lots of homework just causes us more stress and anxiety because we have to do this and get that done by tomorrow.

We didn’t write this letter to criticize the teachers. We just wanted the teachers to be able to look at things from our perspective and maybe not be so harsh on us when we don’t have everything done the very next day after it was assigned.

We do appreciate the things that the teachers do for us and we students do understand you’re trying to help us, but also please know that we don’t have just one class to do homework for, we have many others too, and other things going on after school.

Sincerely, Claire, Jazzy, Sali, and every student who has stressed out over homework

by Claire Clarissa, Jasmine Jeffcoat, and Sali Castro illustration by Mandy Matteson photo illustration by Andrew Patra

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BOBBY PINS AND BODY SHAMING

Jacobs stretching after class. Photo by Emily Tarbush

I

’ve been dancing since I was four years old, starting with ballet. Gradually, I became interested in, and started taking tap, jazz and lyrical classes. By the time I was twelve, I decided dance was something I wanted to pursue professionally and I switched to a more serious studio focused on classical and contemporary ballet.

To put it plain and simple: being beautiful on stage is ballet’s main goal.

In ballet culture, delicate, whimsical, airy is the aesthetic. This oftentimes means being thin. It also meant that at twelve years old, my growing body was a big--if not main-- concern to myself and my teacher. I hit puberty at an earlier age than the other dancers at the studio and since I was twelve, I’ve been trying to achieve this unrealistic body image: thin legs, and a flat stomach. Quickly, dancing wasn’t about dancing. It was about losing weight.

I grew up watching girls starve themselves.

Crash diets were normal. Analyzing our bodies in the mirror was normal. I would go on runs before dance and stay after dance to continue training. I would go on diets that would be physically and emotionally exhausting. I would stare at my legs in the mirror at dance and at home and never let myself wear shorts or anything that would draw attention to them. I hated my body. But I wasn’t the only one; according to the New York Times, eating disorders occur in one in five dancers have, a huge percentage. One in five dancers lived the same, or a scarier, life

than me.

Eating disorders also contribute to injuries among dancers. You need good food to be a good dancer. I have grown up going to summer intensives, a ballet boot camp, for three to six weeks every summer since I was twelve. At one of my first intensives I witnessed the “cigarette and yogurt” diet in action. I also witnessed many injuries. And although the thinner dancers were beautiful, the more muscular and built dancers had better technique.

I have always been really competitive and a raging feminist, always wanting to prove that I could do anything the boys could. I would train by jumping with the boys while the girls stood back and watched. This contributed to my larger legs, but I also had the best saut-dechat in class. Training hard meant more muscles, and not always the long lean type that the ballet community prefers. The girls who wouldn’t train as intensely as me couldn’t do all the things I could, but I thought it didn’t matter, because they were thinner than me they were more beautiful than me, I would always be torn between what was more important: being thinner or training harder.

When I was twelve, I subscribed to at least three different dance magazines. After I read each magazine cover-to-cover, I would cut out nearly every dancer from the pages and tape them to one wall in my bedroom. Within a year, the wall in my room was covered top

Quickly, dancing wasn’t about dancing--it was about losing weight.

16

to bottom with these beautiful dancers. I wanted to look exactly like them. They were my inspiration. I would go to bed every night looking up at my favorite dancers and I would wake up in the morning and start my day the same way. However, they were all thin. I didn’t think they were beautiful if they weren’t. I remember setting a goal to never let myself get above 115 pounds. I wanted to be just like the dancers on my wall and I didn’t care what the consequences were.

At seventeen years old, I am five feet and five inches and weigh around 140 pounds. I’ve always had a flat stomach and a thin chest and arms. My wider hips and muscular legs were always what made me stand out. Growing up I heard that an older girl with a similar body type to me “could be successful if she had the body.” Younger dancers future success is measured by their bodies. If they have long limbs, a long neck, thin hips, and archy feet they could make it. And if you don’t have this body, you’re encouraged to stop pursuing ballet or take up another dance form like contemporary or commercial dancing. Even last year and dancing the lead role in our spring performance, I received criticism about my body.

Because the studio I danced with was small, we only had two male dancers. When I was en pointe, I was taller thaneither of them.

This made partnering harder than usual, but it didn’t stop us. Before leaving for a two-day DECA field trip I was reminded to not “dare to gain even half a pound” because “it would be unfair to [my partner].” Hearing this shocked me. I thought I had finally made it.

I had to be thin enough if I was the lead, if I

Jacobs rehearsing as Scheherazade for One Thousand and One Nights. Photo by Randy Macht.

was dancing pas des deuxs, right? My director couldn’t ask me to lose weight, could she?

Would she cast me as the lead role if I was too fat? I knew that I was bigger than the other dancers, but I thought it didn’t matter.

Being told I needed to watch my weight sent me back to a place when I was growing up, trying everything just to lose a few pounds and look a little thinner compared to my friends.

In the fall I decided it was time for me to stop pursuing dance professionally. I didn’t want to work somewhere where I didn’t fit in

“I was sick of feeling like I wasn’t good enough.” because of my body. I didn’t want food, my body, and what I was doing to lose weight consume my thoughts like it used to. I didn’t want to face myself, thick thighs, wide hips and all, in the mirror every day. I was sick of feeling like I wasn’t good enough because I looked different than other dancers.

I haven’t stopped dancing. Instead of quitting altogether I reluctantly took my teacher’s advice and now dance contemporary dance on a regular basis. I now celebrate my body and all the amazing things it allows me to do, instead of criticising myself from the moment I step into the dance studio. My journey to body positivity has been a long one, but now that I’m here, now that I accept and love my body, I know so much more about myself, and the flaws in the dance community.

- Rachael Jacobs/Features Editor

Jacobs rehearsing for the 2015 Summer Showcase. Photo by Emily Tarbush.

WE ARE THE MILITIA.

I

t’s a chilly Friday night, energy is high, there is flour caked in your hair. Where are you? You’re standing in the Militia at a home football game. It’s about 4:30, you’re in a parking lot that has been transformed into a frenzy spirited students, burgers and hot dogs on a grill, glitter EVERYWHERE. Where are you? You’re getting hyped up at tailgate amongst the Militia. You’re in a hot gym, with bodies packed closely on either side of you, and everyone is wearing white.

Where are you? You’re in standing and cheering amongst Militia members at a home basketball or volleyball game.

We thrive on school spirit and “bleed” black and gold. Students are committed to showing up to support our sports teams and spend Fridays getting pumped up for different events. We support our fellow students, we cheer until we lose our voices, We are the Militia.

Seniors Gus Light and Ethan Alexander lead the Monarch Militia this year and can

be found at just about any sporting events sporting “Militia” shirts, of course, and getting fellow classmates pumped up for athletics. The duo carries on the Militia, which has been passed down from senior class to class after it was originally created a few years ago. “[The Militia] is an ongoing legacy that gets passed down year to year. I think it’ll be fun to see what we do with the shirts in the future and what new cheers we make up… to see what legacy sticks around,” Gus said.

Militia members can be spotted by their Militia shirts. The shirts provide another form of spirit wear for students to school events. Light and Alexander were this year’s organizers for shirt design and sales.

MoHi’s Militia has continued to thrive since its official birth, and it’s no surprise that social media has played a large part in the development. Light explained just how communication through social media supports a stronger, larger student section.

“People can tweet out ‘come to the game’ and it helps get information about events around and gets more people to show up.

It especially helps communicate with the younger students who I don’t really know.. I can tweet ‘tailgate at 5 at Centaurus’ or ‘black out theme’ and the word gets around,” Light said.

Alexander stressed how involved he wished for students to be in the Militia, and believes that social media advocates that the desired volume off students at school events, partially placing the affect on today”s generation, in which kids ALWAYS have their phones.

“We want people to show up, and as many people as possible. And I feel social media these days is the best way to communicate with the masses,” Alexander said.

The spirit of a student section says a lot about a school and its unity. Students in the Militia show up in freezing cold weather, sun-burn worthy exposure, and school nights because they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I feel like we can really energize our “Being a member of the Militia teams and help them go out there makes me feel like I’m a part of something bigger than just watching and play their hardest.” a game.”

- Greg Hibl - Megan Sours

“The Militia helps us to have confidence in our team and in ourselves. The Militia’s spirit makes us feel that we can win any game.”

- Brian Phan

18

The Militia throws flour into the air at kickoff. photo courtesy of Madi Bohling

“[The Militia] shows that a lot of people are happy to go to this school, and therefore they want to support school athletics and other outside events. Having a strong student section makes Monarch such a strong community and such a great place to be,” Alexander said.

There are a few other traditions within the gigantic one that is the Militia. Certain student section memorabilia or spirit wear is passed down each year by seniors to underclassmen at the end of their Militia run, with new items added over time. These tokens include the “barrel”, worn this year by Stephen Scruggs, the helmet, the megaphone, and a gold cape. This year, Alexander has brought a new contender to pass down to the table; the white board.

At games, Alexander writes different things on the board and shows the message to the rest of the student section. The board gets kids pumped up and helps get chants going.

“It’s the infinite sign; you can always

change what it says. Oh, but only positive things, of course,” said Alexander.

This year tailgates have played a huge role in the Militia and student attendance at football games. With the help of Grill Club, whose name speaks for itself, food and drinks have been provided for students who show up. Music, spirit pictures, corn hole, and the occasional mannequin challenge basically wrap up the scene of the pre-game hangout.

“Tailgates get people even more excited for people to come out and for the games to start. Its another outlet for people to come out and support their school, hang out, and have some good fun,” Alexander said. Light added, “The tailgates a great way to meet up with your friends and to get to know even more people.”

So how do you become a member of the Militia? Simple; show up. Show that you are proud to be a Coyote.

“Everyone at the school is a member of the Militia. If you go to the games or events

with all the students, you are sitting in the Militia student section,” Light said.

We live for losing our voices from cheering. We can’t wait to have glitter and flour caked into our hair and stuck in our shoes. We look forward to “marching,” side by side. We embrace the cold weather, sweaty gyms, or blazing sun to back on our teams. We find comfort in shaky metal bleachers and crazy spirit day outfits. We bleed black and gold. We show support for our athletes. We are “proud to be Monarch Coyotes!” Who are we? We are the Militia.

- Mikayla Dudek/Web Editor in Cheif

“The Militia really makes me feel “I believe that we are very positive “I like going to games because I like involved with my school and I love and we represent our school in a hanging with my classmates and being able to support sports teams very fashionable and polite way.” supporting my school.” and group that I don’t play or am - Greg Hibl - Maggie Valdez not a part of. I really feel like I’m supporting my school.”

- Carly Gallant 19

$5

MILLION for a 30-second Super Bowl commericial

The Super Bowl was the

3rd

4

Swing states that voted Democratic: 1. Colorado 2. Nevada 3. New Hampshire 4. Virginia

most-watched broadcast in TV history

1906

Donald Trump won by

5

last year, prior to 2016, that the Cubs won the World Series

#1

Domestic Grossing

Election funding by candidate

$1,000,000,000 Finding Dory Box Office

All top

4

of the year’s highest grossing films were produced by Disney

20 www.mhshowler.com

Hillary Clinton

THIS YEAR BY THE NUMBERS

7

Swng states that voted Republican: 1. Florida 2. Iowa 3. Michigan 4. North Carolina 5. Ohio 6. Pennsylvania 7. Wisconsin

#1 BestsellerHarry Potter and the Cursed Child

2 million copies sold in

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MILLION global downloads within the first week of Pokemon Go’s release

48 hours

8

electoral college votes

in the US and Canada

72

writers on Beyonce’s album Lemonade

30 writers on Rihanna’s Anti, her 8th studio album

852,000 copies of Drake’s Views From The 6 sold in the first week of release

Donald Trump 21 www.mhshowler.com

Sources: Image credits: available on request Information credits: nbc.com, teamusa.com, olympic.org, billboard.com, washingtonpost.com, theguardian.com, boxofficemojo.com

Features

THE K-WAVE The growing populairty of Korean pop

K

-Pop, as the name suggests, is a pop/ rock music genre that originated in South Korea. You may have noticed some people hum to a song from BTS or EXO rather than a song familiar to you. Or perhaps you yourself are one of those people.

K-Pop has gradually become extremely popular and built up a huge fan following around the world. This phenomenon is known as the Korean Wave - an increase in the popularity of South Korean culture that started in the 90s.

Junior Rigpi Satho first came across K-Pop when she was ten years old.

“I remember just being so drawn to it even though I didn’t understand anything,” Satho said.

That brings up a popular inquiry by many non-K-Pop fans. How can you listen and enjoy something when you can’t even sing along?

“I don’t need to understand it to enjoy

it.” Josie Weese (9) said. “They’re like One Direction but not English -- they just project their feelings through their music.”

There are many different K-Pop groups who each have their own concepts. Some have incorporated music from around the world into their songs. Others will debut in different languages, such as EXO, who release songs in both Mandarin and Korean (EXO-M and EXO-K). BTS, another one of these groups, have released a Japanese album.

Like American pop bands, K-Pop groups have catchy tunes and good choreography.

It’s usually expected that they may release a music video and probably go on a tour after.

K-Pop Idols, while similar to American pop stars, have their differences. For example, as well as singing and dancing, they occasionally act in dramas (D.O of EXO acting in the drama It’s Okay That’s Love is one of many examples). Some of them also are multilingual. K-pop groups also go through

intense mentoring and grooming by their agencies before they debut. Many - even after all of that vigorous training - don’t even get to release a song.

“You have to have visuals, vocals, charisma and dance skills,” Satho said. “It’s very intense and competitive to debut.”

“You see it as a regular boy band at first, but they have a status for each of the members and will sometimes focus around the one member people find most attractive.”

Weese said.

K-Pop has evolved from a national sensation into a global one. People around the world have been attracted to their infectious tunes and amazing dance moves ever since the 1990s and the Korean Wave.

We don’t expect this to be dying any time soon.

- Zikra Hashmi and Sneha Varanasi/Staff Reporters

Bangtan Boys at KCON France 2016 in Paris on June 2, 2016.

Photo Credit Wikipedia

22 www.mhshowler.com

Poetry

THAT’S IT She keeps telling me to jump. Jump into this art form that I have only known for 24 hours. She says that it’s possible to crawl back, to get back to the level of okay that you left with one little step.

How does one step cause such a great fall?

I keep wanting to tell her that the jump will kill me. She keeps answering this without ever hearing it.

“Look at me,” she says.

“I jump all the time and I always make it back, more or less.”

Well, that’s her.

I want to scream. I want to yell until she tells how, from where, how far?

How can I possibly jump and thus fall, when I’m already at the bottom? When I’m lying face down, grinding myself further and further into the dirt and dust.

Where is there anything left to jump from when the lowest you can get is lying down and holding your breath?

“That’s it. That’s where you jump from.”

- Jessica Niuesma/Guest Writer illustrations by mandy matterson

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Sports

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND Sophia Chen lines up to take a shot during a soccer game. Next year, Chen will trade her Monarch jersey for her University of Albany New York jersey as she steps on to the field for the first time. Chen will start out next year as a Great Dane but she will never lose her Coyote spirit. photo courtsey of Sophia Chen

COMMITTED SENIORS

CLICK...

Jasmine Jeffcoat signs her commitment letter to University of Missouri Kansas City on the early signing date, November 9, to play basketball. She is surrounded by her family on her special day. “It was really special and honestly a weight off my shoulder.”

Jeffcoat said on her big day. She can be caught on the court next year. photo by Anna Wexler

CO to CA Sophia Wingert communicates with her teammates on the court during a game. Wingert has commited to Point Loma Nazarene University San Diego to play volleyball. “I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to continue playing the sport I love so much in college.” Wingert said on her decision to continue her athletic career. photo courtesy of Elizabeth Danekind

Sophia Chen

Jasmine Jeffcoat

Sophie Wingert

The State University of New York at AlbanySoccer

University of Missouri Kansas City - Basketball

Point Loma Nazarene University San Diego Volleyball

Soccer is a sport that many little girls and boys try at a young age and Sophia Chen was no different. “I started playing soccer when I was seven years old.” Chen said. . She has committed to The State University of New York at Albany to continue her soccer and education. “It’s a great school for science and there’s a lot of places you can go from Albany, like NYC, Canada, Syracuse, etc.”

Chen said. Soccer is a sport where you must rely on your teammates and Chen gets this.

“My favorite part about soccer is being on a team and meeting new people.” Chen said on her favorite part of the sport. A task many college athletes must face is balancing their academic life and their sport. “My goals for college are to balance academics with athletics and hopefully do well at both.” Chen said.

A college athletic path is just one stop on an athlete’s journey. “Started playing in kindergarten but started playing competitive travel basketball in 3rd grade.” Jasmine Jeffcoat said. The choice of school can be greatly affected by the sports programs there. Jeffcoat said she “Committed there [Univ. of Missouri] because the coaches were extremely genuine and the girls were super nice.” But the athletic aspect of a college will not be the only reason a student commits to a school. Education and classes are very important. “It’s a liberal art school so it would fit me really well.” Jeffcoat said.

For many college athletes, committing to a school is just the first step in achieving their dreams. Jeffcoat says that she “Hope[s] to get my degree firstly. But I want to win a conference championship and get into the NCAA tournament.” A college education is very important; being able to play your sport after high school is an added bonus.

- Anna Wexler & Ellie Guanella/Staff Reporters

24 www.mhshowler.com

Another committed senior is Sophia Wingert.

Her sport and passion is Volleyball. She commited to Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA (NCAA DII). “PLNU is such an amazing school with everything I could ask for from a beautiful campus overlooking the ocean, to very friendly students and faculty. I plan on studying Kinesiology and Business once I get there.” Wingert said her choice goes even beyond her sports career.

“Growing up, I always wanted to play a sport in college,” Wingert said on her next step in her sports journey. Wingerts journey started “in seventh grade, when I was 12 years old, and I instantly fell in love with it. Volleyball is so intense and fun, and I’ve learned so much about life from it.” Wingert said. She “currently play[s] for Juggernaut Volleyball.”

Having a solid athletic and academic career is what every high school athlete wishes for, and for this athlete, that dream came true.

Sports

THE RECRUITING PROCESS The joy, the stress, and the anxieties

O

day after day after day for my transcript. nce I turned ten, I realized I wanted to play basketball for as long as I could.

Until September first of your junior year The first step was playing basketball in coaches can’t contact you on their own. But college. The first time I received a collegiate they can call your coaches and ask them to basketball recruitment letter was in eighth tell you to call them. During the summer grade. It was a Monday, right after I had going into my junior year this happened a played in a college showcase with high school lot and I felt so overwhelmed. Schools that players. I honestly didn’t think anyone really I hadn’t even heard of were calling for me. noticed me; I was only After a while I got 14 and I thought they used to the situation, would be looking at and I even thought I juniors and seniors. But was ready to narrow they noticed me. down my list. Well, My first letter was until September 1 from Ole Miss. When came; on that day I just I think about it now I happened to be going can’t imagine going on a trip and I wasn’t there, but for a 14 going to be able to year old it was one have my phone on to of the most exciting answer calls. But once days of my life. After I got off the plane and my first letter I kept turn on my phone I receiving letters on had over 100 missed the daily. They were calls, texts, emails, and your standard “Fill out voicemails. I was so this questionnaire” overwhelmed with the or “Here’s about our situation, my phone team” letter, but it was was flooding with still exciting. coaches. They were At that point I was asking me if I had a top already thinking about Even through the stressful recruiting ten list yet… I didn’t know process Jasmine Jeffcoat still found a college and my GPA. The what I wanted for dinner, way to have fun. more letters I received, the photo by erica howard how would I know by then more I got focused about where I would want to go? college and my career. I This kept going on for signed myself up for tutoring three times a months. I would be trying to do my week on top of the four times a week I was homework and then a coach would call me, in the gym (not including my team practice and talk for a solid hour. It would happen or my school homework). I also started about three times every night, so I was up looking at what GPA I needed to get into until midnight doing homework. This was different colleges. I believe that many people very stressful, it didn’t slow down until my get confused about this-- they think that just senior year when everyone was expecting me because you are an athlete you don’t have to make a decision. And when I finally did it to get good grades and you can just coast was a weight off my shoulders. through school. This couldn’t be any more wrong.

- Jasmine Jeffcoat/Sports Editor First of all,to even be considered to be looked at, you must have a GPA of at least 3.0, which isn’t easy with the amount you have to put into your sport, which also leaves minimum time for homework. So once you get on a school’s radar, you are under a tight grade watch. During my sophomore and junior year college coaches were emailing me

Zachary Farrow “Knowing that someone is looking at your performance and they think that you’re good enough to play at the next level is really exciting.” photo by MoHi touchdown club

Jess Rodriguez “My plan is to go to a junior college, in hope to go play at a bigger school at one point in my career.” photo courtsey of jess rodriguez

Rachel Arrotta “... when coaches are watching you, you have to impress them. And if you are having a bad day or just not playing great you feel like you’ve ruined your chances at getting their attention.” photo by elizabeth danekind

25

Sports

THE INJURY REPORT

Athletes who have suffered injuries and how they recovered

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ports seasons come and go. The fall football and volleyball games give way to basketball and hockey in the winter, and eventually girl’s soccer and baseball in the spring. Yet across the wide array of sports, one thing remains constant: injuries.

In nearly every athletic event, an injury of some sort, ranging from a twisted ankle to a torn ACL, is almost guaranteed. Football players are faced with concussions from the harsh hits taken on the field, and cross country and track runners are at risk for leg and foot injuries, to name a few.

Many top Monarch athletes have faced the disappointment of watching their teams perform from the sidelines rather than making plays on the field, track, and court.

Though they faced this hardship, many felt that they grew from their time away that they could focus on a new aspect of their game and life during their time being hurt.

“It honestly sucks not being able to be with the team.”

That’s how senior defensive lineman Nico Magri felt when he was sidelined for the initial portion of the Monarch football season with a broken foot. After having a breakout junior campaign along the defensive front, Magri was devastated at the thought of watching his team play from the sidelines.

“You put so much effort into offseason

26 www.mhshowler.com

training with the teammates,” said Magri.

“When you get hurt, you can’t do anything, and it’s really tough, especially because football is everything for me.”

After missing the first two games of the season, Magri made his debut against Denver South, returning to top-notch form for the Coyotes. Yet during his stint of inaction, Magri found ways to refine his skills in ways he never considered before.

“Before my injury, my upper body strength was not up to par,” said Magri. “When I was injured, I worked a lot on this and it was great because I felt a lot better about my performance when I came back from my injury, shockingly.”

Ultimate frisbee is often criticized for its lack of intensity. The lack of referees and the friendly atmosphere often face harsh criticism from athletes of different sports. If you told said that to junior Morgan Cioth, however, you would receive a completely different response.

Cioth has played on the frisbee team since her freshman year of high school. She was in the middle of a game when she damaged her knee.

“I was playing in an ultimate frisbee tournament,” she said. “I was running to catch a disc and a huge guy from the other team laid out into my legs and knocked me

off my feet.”

And just like that, Cioth was pushed to the sideline for the remainder of the match. Though her injury could have been disastrous, Cioth was cleared by doctors to continue playing.

“I had to sit out the rest of the next game, but I went to the doctor a few days after and he cleared me to keep playing as long as I was careful, so I didn’t really sit out otherwise,” she said.

As brief as Cioth’s absence was, she desperately desired to be on the field with her teammates.

“The worst part was probably that I couldn’t help my team and be on the field doing what I love. Sitting out and just watching is hard when all you want is to be able to play with your teammates.”

Cioth, who was one of the leaders of the fall ultimate season, continues to don a brace over her knee to guard her from any future scares.

- Matt Keenan/Associate Editor Above: Nico Magri getting ready to play after his injury photo by Matt Keenan

Features

PREPARING FOR FINALS The finals are coming! The finals are coming!

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inals are coming up and the majority of students probably have mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, it means that the semester is coming to an end and all will have a two and a half week break from school filled with friends, family, and good food. On the other hand, it means that hours of studying are required to bump the grades up that need it or that’s it, that’s the grade that will stick and nothing will change that.

The goal then becomes to just keep it where it is. With the stress of finals also comes the mood swings of taking finals.

“I’m a little bit nervous about [finals] and I’ve been a little worried,” said freshman John Grigsby.

Grigsby did not have finals in his middle school and is preparing to take his first finals for school.

Freshmen are taking their first high school finals and most have no idea what to expect unless they have an older sibling. To prepare for finals, most have come up with the plan to just study and go ask teachers questions about what they don’t understand.

There are different ways that freshmen prepare for finals.

Some are trying new techniques of studying and some stick to what they know works.

Freshman Abigail Watt has a different way of studying than Grigsby that she’s been using since middle school and works for her.

“I write stuff down and I’d make a list of everything I needed to do and then I would study each different thing at different points in time,” said Watt.

Sophomores have a little bit of experience about the upcoming finals and know what they need to do their best. They’ve dealt with stress, procrastination, and having to study too much.

“I’ll block off my browser from all the other distractions and things, so all I’ll do are finals [related subject] instead of watching Netflix. [And when I’m stressed] I’ll take a break and watch Top Gear,” said sophomore Trevor Achterman.

For junior Valerie Warkins, her way of destressing is a little bit different because she’s a dancer. Instead of listening to music or watching TV like most people would do to relax after a hard time of studying, she dances. “[When I want all the stress to go away] I go to dance, practice for “The Nutcracker”, and I don’t think about school. And I think that after finals is completely over, it’s Christmas. So I get really happy and bake stuff,” Warkins said.

Seniors are at the end for high school and are just ready to kick finals’ butt. Especially since this is the first half of their last finals, they’re basically done.

Their main concern would be getting into the college of their dreams rather than a high school final that may or may not affect which college they decide to attend.

“I feel like I should just finish [the school year] out strongly. [I do think finals will have a big impact with colleges because ] me, personally, I applied to all my schools so they’re probably looking at all my stuff right now. So I’m not really sure it matter, but it’s just in case,” said senior Ethan Alexander.

- Claire Clarissa & Nick Kauza/Staff Reporters illustrations by Rachael Jacobs

THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF FINALS WEEK The Howler’s not-so-serious satirical take on keeping cool, calm, and just a little crazed.

DO: Meditate and find your center.

DON’T: Use your textbook or past notes to study.

DO: Take long walks down street listening to “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie.

DON’T: Make a study guide for the classes you’re stressed about.

DO: Listen to Metallica and blast it through your room.

DON’T: Ask for help from your teachers. You already know everything.

DO: Cram the night before without sleep. The best way to learn is to shove it into your head last minute.

DON’T: Remain calm. This is finals, a few tears are okay.

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Culture

OUT OF THIS GALAXY

The Denver Art Museum’s New Exhibit

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tar Wars has been around for almost 40 years. It’s arguably the biggest franchise in the world and easily one of the most recognizable. Star Wars in the near future is going to be one of those films that our fathers’ fathers watched, and their fathers before them, and theirs before them. The legacy of Star Wars wasn’t created by just one man, but built by thousands. Although George Lucas was the man with the idea, he needed hundreds of the most talented people in the world to bring it to life.

“Star Wars and the Power of Costume” exhibits some of those talents that did just that. The exhibit not only holds the drawings that many of the costumes in the exhibit were based off, but the actual costumes themselves. “Star Wars and the Power of Costume” supplies an important perspective on a story that hardly ever gets told, the one about the people making the robes, dresses, suits, armor, and everything else worn in Star Wars.

Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, the expertise displayed is enough to impress everyone. The exhibit is at the Denver Art Museum until April 2017.

Interview with Iain McCaig

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t the Star Wars and the Power of Costume exhibit creative director Ian McCraig who worked on episodes 1, 2, 3, and 7 was present and answering the questions of the press. We were lucky enough to interview him and ask about his creative process behind creating the characters and their transition from being on paper to the big screen.

“Episode 1 I had a huge desk, a pencil sharpener and a mirror. You would always have to make the faces to know how to draw your characters. By episode three we were no longer drawing hundreds of copies.

Now the whole room is dark and you just sit at a computer and work. No one way is better, they are just different methods” McCaig said.

McCaig was the creator of the popular character Darth Maul. Before creating the character George Lucas approached him with the idea and told him to find inspiration in his “worst nightmares”. McCaig then created seven different sketches and George Lucas picked pieces from each until Darth Maul was created.

“I would draw the same figure seven times, until I look at it and think about what didn’t work. At this point I would stop someone in the hallway and have them react to me to see how a real person reacts to make my drawings more real,” McCaig said.

“Star Wars in the near future is going to be one of those things that our fathers’ fathers watched, and their fathers before them, and theirs before them.”

- Ian Fowles/Staff Reporter

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McCaig’s drawings can be found all around the exhibit. He drew most of them in ink and then would make the final draft in watercolor or oil paints. The costumes that were created based off of his drawings are on display to show how his ideas came to life.

- Estelle Silk/Staff Reporter photos by ian fowles and mikaula dudek

STAR WARS & THE POWER OF COSTUME

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he Denver Art Museum is known for its rich cultural, social, and abstract art showcases and it certainly did not disappoint with its newest addition. Located on the second floor of the museum and available through April 2, 2017, “Star Wars and The Power of Costume” is a truly fascinating and beautiful look into the fashion and design of the movie series. The exhibit offers a first look into the inspiration behind the costumes of so many of the characters that are cherished in our culture today, from Luke Skywalker to Queen Amidala. The showcase combines interactive features and stunning displays of Star Wars artifacts, including 70 of the original costumes that were worn in production, to form an art exhibit that is truly out of this galaxy.

The flow of the exhibit offers a quality of movement, as though you are venturing

through the many epic adventures of Star Wars that we all know and love today.

Quotes from actors, concept artists, directors, designers, and more are presented throughout the exhibit, providing an even more in depth look into the Star Wars production and the minds of those who made it happen. The layout of the exhibit is configured as a series of smaller segments in which costumes from different concepts or areas of Star Wars are displayed. The lighting and music present in the exhibit is consistent with the mood of each showcase, allowing the viewer to feel the emotions and excitement of each sub-unit of the exhibit as they maneuver through. With a surprise around each corner, the exhibit keeps you on your toes and excited for what is ahead in the exploration.

Displayed in the exhibit is a first hand look into the process that goes into creating a single costume for a single character. Viewers see original sketches, along with the trial and error that is carried about before arriving at the perfect costume. Throughout, you are exposed to the steps that an idea must go through the sketch, the theme, the power, the mobility for the actor, the creation of, the many hands and brains that influence the final product until it breaks through to become the iconic costume that we cherish on screen.

Especially impressive are the presence of original costumes worn by the original actors themselves. This will be a true source of enthusiasm for the Star Wars mega fan, but even for me, a somewhat of a Star Wars newbie, the costumes fueled a source of total star-stuck amazement.

Up close and personal, it becomes clear as to why these costumes are featured at an art museum: they are ART. Costumes take inspiration from many cultural influences around the world and throughout time, as well from everyday occupations. For example, who knew Han Solo’s outfit was inspired by that of a western sheriff? The costumes feature intricate beading, stitching, embellishments, and more, and their range in color, material, and complexity really channel a unique artistic aesthetic.

A highlight in the exhibit is an incredible display of some of the many costumes of Padmé Amidala. The display features many of her most memorable looks, from her huge head dresses and full bodied skirts to the

Culture

delicate, naive looks consisting of delicate floral separates and long flowing gowns.

Her outfits speak for her character and each look provokes a different emotional reaction, serving to further back up her complex character. Along the way, viewers can watch a video of Natalie Portman, in which she explains just how she felt about the costumes and how they helped her to play the role of such a powerful character, adding yet another connection to the film and its production.

Amidala's costumes contrast royal and strong pieces with soft, vulnerable ones to create a truly emotional and beautiful artistic statement.

“Star Wars and The Power of Costume” is for everyone. With both intellectual and interactive aspects to the exhibit, viewers of all ages can appreciate the display. Although the entire show is specific to Star Wars, it opens eyes to the overall idea of what costumes do for a production, making the exhibit beneficial and enjoyable for both die-hard Star Wars fans and movie enthusiasts, or anyone who has ever appreciated a film. Above all, any art lover will be in awe of this showcase, for the staging of the exhibit and the pieces are undeniably artistically relevant.

From the original sketches of Darth Maul, to the stunning wedding dress of Amidala, “Star Wars and the Power of Costume” offers a beautifully balanced display of so many pieces from a film series that has grown so close to the hearts and imaginations of many.

The exhibit is both an educational and artistic journey, with the combination of thorough information about the Star Wars pieces and the beauty of each and every one featured.

The layout of the exhibit carries the viewer through a galactic and personal journey into the costumes and ideas that made Star Wars the empire it is today, finding a new character or theme beyond each twist and turn of the display. It's safe to say the force is definitely with the Denver Art Museum's exhibi.

- Mikayla Dudek/Web Editor in Chief photos by Ian Fowles

29

Fiction

NO GODS IN SPACE

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he year was September 3rd, 3,016 and like any of the past 226 days, the last surviving human ship, Omega Prime was talking propaganda and deciding who to blame for Earth’s destruction. Johnny Reed had just awakened from his sleep pod to find that General Jerry Williams and Henry Johnson had already begun their talks of aliens being to blame for Earth’s demise.

“What makes you people think that the aliens had anything to do with Earth?” said Johnny.

“Not this again,” General Henry said laughingly. “We’ve all told you time and time again that we are tired of hearing your pathetic peace talk.”

Many conversations before had gone like this for the former peace activist Johnny Reed. Reed angrily replied, “It is military propagandist like yourself that caused this catastrophe!”

The Generals scoffed and dispersed the crowd of civilians that had been intently agreeing with them. Reed had realized long ago that the human race was quick to take the blame off of themselves but he wanted to believe that they could change their ways.

O

mega Prime was a military vessel capable of carrying small amounts of people and very large amounts weaponry. The plan was to roam through space in search of a new hospitable planet. Three known planets in the galaxy had already been discovered with life but communications with the planets had been slim to nothing in the years nearing Earth’s destruction. In a desperate attempt to preserve peace and civilized behavior on the evacuating Earth ships, a plan known as The Executive Peace Act had been ordered.

The Executive Peace Act promised a highly educated group of peace activists to be placed on each evacuating ship; however, none of the other escape ships made it off of Earth and Johnny Reed was the only member of his activist group to be allowed access to Omega Prime. Reed knew that the generals were to blame for his fellow activists being left behind but he did not understand why none of 300 nonmilitary escape ships hadn’t survived and a military vessel with so little room for survivors had been chosen as an escape vessel.

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- Brycen Edwards/Guest Writer

It wasn’t long before Reed discovered why a military ship had been chosen… Omega Prime wasn’t just being used as an escape vessel but it was also holding 100 tons of disintegrating bombs capable of wiping out all alien life on a planet without harming the plant life.

Shocked and disgusted by a weapon of such massive destruction capabilities, Reed sprinted to the control room and deactivated as many bombs as he could. Reed was only able to disarm 12 of the 30 bombs, but he still had to warn the aliens of the nearby threat. To avoid being caught Reed raced to the escape pod bay and headed toward one of the three known planets call Zenos.

Zenos was a large blue planet inhabited by amphibious life. Once on Zenos, Reed met with the Zenothin leader and explained what the evacuating humans had planned.

Outraged by human’s plan, the Zenothin leader primed the planetary defense systems and set out to capture the human ship for final judgment.

would blend in with native species on each living planet and become prominent peace activist. However, Reed was tasked with the impossible… keeping the pathetic human race from ripping itself apart and hurting other planets within the galaxy.

After revealing his true identity to the Zenothin leader, Reed would be tasked with deciding what punishment was suitable for what was left of the human race. It was an extremely difficult task for a peacekeeping race but certainly not impossible.

The punishment was inevitably decided…

Omega Prime and all of its crew were pulled into the Zenothin tractor beam and relocated to the galaxies most notable black hole.

There, the last of the human race will remain for eternity as they are tortured by the laws of space and time.

I

t took two days for the Zenothin ships to find Omega Prime but when they did something felt seriously wrong. Out into the distance the city planet Raxus had gone radio silent and seemed dark and lifeless. It wasn’t long before the Zenothin ship realized that Omega Prime had already destroyed all intelligent life on a once impressively wellorganized planet. Intelligent life throughout the galaxy was devastated by the news of the horrific crimes the humans had committed.

The pain especially dug deep into Reed’s body. He couldn’t believe how selfish human nature could be. He wanted to die, cry, and fight all at the same time but he knew it wouldn’t make anything better. Reed knew that because humans had committed such ferocious crimes his company would not be welcomed much longer on the alien planet so he had to reveal his true identity to them.

Johnny Reed was native to a peaceful planet of shapeshifters that traveled from planet to planet to keep peace in the galaxy.

Reed and many of his fellow shapeshifters

image by NASA/Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Memoir

THE POWER OF KINDNESS - Ryan Rosenblum/Guest Writer

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o you know the excitement of an impatient child on Christmas morning before their parents wake up?

Are you familiar with waking up your parents as you run throughout the house with nothing on your mind but the presents sitting under the tree? I experienced that excitement on the public bus to Denver. It was a scorching hot mid-July day and I could barely move without touching a sweaty stranger.

However, I didn’t mind because I was too eager. I could barely notice the loud chatter of many conversations overlapping, for I was lost in thought about watching my first professional baseball game. I had played for years and now I would get to watch and learn from the best.

Suddenly, the bus stopped and the doors opened. Slowly, the bus emptied until there was enough room for me and my dad to exit. The burning heat of the summer day smashed into me as I stepped out of the air conditioning.

Even though I had lived in Colorado for the six years I had been alive, this was my first time in Denver. I practically ran with excitement while I dragged my dad through countless stores as I explored the city.

“Come on,” my dad said. “It’s almost starting.” There were only a few blocks that we had to walk, but it felt like miles.

I could barely contain my excitement.

As we turned a corner, a colossal crimson stone building emerged from the others and towered above them. I gazed at the vibrant red, white and blue of the American flag that fluttered in the light breeze on the roof of the stadium. The bright sun’s rays fell upon the large metal sign that hung just below the flag.

“Coor’s Field” read the sign. “Home of the Colorado Rockies”. My dad guided me towards the entrance, where a large crowd of fans dressed in jerseys looked like a purple sea. It felt like days, but finally we got inside. We wandered around the stadium that somehow felt bigger from the inside than it looked from outside. Eventually we found our way to the seats directly behind center field. The booming cracks of the batters warming up echoed around us.

“Try to catch a home run,” my dad told me as he turned back towards the stadium to buy snacks. I sprinted down the cement steps and grabbed the metal railing right above the field.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!” The stadium echoed with every batting practice swing.

I stood where I was, waiting for a ball to come my way. There was nothing I wanted more than to catch a Major League Baseball ball.

“Crack!” A ball went flying and I knew it was a home run, but it wasn’t coming close enough for me to catch it. Instead, it flew towards a young girl who was about 20 feet to my left. She wore a bright purple Rockies jersey that was a few sizes too big and came down close to her knees. Her face lit up as she reached down and scooped it up. She couldn’t have been much older than four years old. Every spectator was happy for her when they saw her big smile. Everyone except for me.

“Why couldn’t that have been me?” I wondered bitterly. I stood grasping the railing for what seemed like ages, getting more and more hopeless with every crack of the bat. All I wanted was a ball.

“Crack!” With that hit, the players started heading towards the dugout.

Depressed, I slumped into a hard plastic seat behind me. A burning envy for the girl who caught a ball coursed through my body. I stared at my feet as I waited for my dad to get me. Suddenly, a small shadow covered my feet. Looking up, I recognized the little girl. She placed a hard, round object in my hands.

“Looks like you need it more than I do,” she said. I was so stunned I couldn’t speak or even say thanks before she disappeared back towards her parents.

I ran my finger over the red laces as I examined the ball.

I don’t remember the ball game. But I do remember the little girl. The little girl who didn’t know me. The little girl who had just gotten a baseball and who knew how special it was. And the little girl who decided to give it to a complete stranger and expected nothing in return.

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STAFF Andrew Patra/Editor-in-Chief Carmen Harris/Culture Editor Rachael Jacobs/Features Editor Levi Wood/Opinions Editor Jasmine Jeffcoat/Sports Editor Tori Armitage/News Editor Mikayla Dudek/Web Editor-inChief Matt Keenan/Associate Editor

Monarch High School 329 Campus Drive Louisville, CO, 80027

Staff Reporters Samantha Wexler Emma Wolters Emma Baziuk Sali Castro Bryan Dumpert Ian Fowles Estelle Silk Hannah Gross Ellie Guanella Zikra Hashmi Kanika Hicks Nick Kauza Claire Clarissa Maddie Rumbach Sarah Schemmerling Estelle Silk Chase Standerwick Sneha Varanasi Aidin Velick Anna Wexler Kevin Wu Advisers Bonnie Katzive Emily Stanley