2020-21 NS Times 2nd Edition

NS Drama department

-- See story page 15

Find out what NS students think about the presidential candidates and other local elections

FRESHMEN ATHLETE LEADS TEAM TO 2ND PLACE AT STATE

-- See pages 10-11

-- SEE STORY PAGE 12

27 October 2020 www.nstimes.org Volume 13 Issue 2

Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks

WELL SAID “No matter who wins, we come together as Americans and so we’re hoping that Utah can set an example for the rest of the nation.”

NS Times seeks to build connection in time of division

-- Lieutenant Governor, Spencer Cox on the upcoming elections

BY THE NUMBERS

2nd

Place NS girls cross country team took at state tournament

87 Percent of NS students who said they would vote for Spencer Cox for Governor

1st

Place NS drama department took in their recent Shakespeare Competetion

53

Percent of students at NS that would vote for Donald Trump for President

NS EVENTS Tuesday, Oct 27 State Volleyball @ Sevier Valley Center All Day Thursday, Nov 19 Swim Meet @ NS 2:00pm-6:00pm Girls Basketball @ Millard 4:00pm-9:00pm

CONTENTS Opinion.................5 Features................7 Elections..............10 Sports..................12 Arts......................15 Crossword...........17

by

Kaylee anderson

Two years ago, the NS Times editorial staff was sitting in an airport discussing the purpose and future of the school newspaper.

They wanted a slogan, a mantra, that would help promote what they felt the purpose

of the paper should be and the direction it should take. After brainstorming several ideas, they decided on this: Real.

Human. Connection.

This is a mantra that we have carried forward because not only do we write about what is happening in the school, but we also write about

people and how the things they do impact our community.

The desire to have real human connections with our school and our community has pushed us in different directions to look for more than the surface story. We want to know more of the why. We want to tell real, personal stories that

help connect us, and we want to share information that helps us know and understand what is going on around us.

Real human connection helps us to unify both on the journalism staff level and also as human beings living and working together in our community and school. It reminds us that we are part of something bigger and that we owe it to each other to come together and connect with each other.

This year we decided that it was more important than ever to have connection and dive into the idea of connection more deeply. We have become less tolerant of each other’s differences and those differences continue to divide us. Things like physical appearance, social ing opinions, and many others have become wedges instead of bridges.

This year has also caused cause of our inability to be with each other as often as we used to. So the need for connection is greater than ever. This is why we are going to explore connection through writing, video and other interactive mediums to unearth the things that pull us apart and bring us together to portant to connect as humans.

Local collages change scholarship NS makes plans for a turf distribution, no longer use ACT by

Mary Jones

Due to complications with the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges have decided not to consider ACT scores when making decisions about scholarship awards. Many students were unable to take the ACT because of lowered testing center capacities.

Because of this, many colleges aren’t requiring the ACT for college admissions or using the ACT in determining scholarship awards.

“We’ve actually been looking into this for over a year—redoing our scholarships,” said Snow College Assistant Director of Admissions Jill Trythall. “We hired a third-party company to come in and do some data analysis for us on the relationship between student success in college, in relation to their ACT scores and GPA.” Through the research, Snow Col-

lege saw no correlation between a student’s success and their ACT scores.

Using this information, and with the help of the data analysis company, Snow came up with a new scholarship awarding process.

“They helped us come up with kind of a breakdown with a scholarship chart, which took in a lot of factors, and came up with this new scholarship awarding process that eliminates the ACT and is based strictly off GPA, ” Trythall said.

Getting rid of the ACT in college admissions may open the door for more students to be able to attend college who are good students, but obtained an ACT score that would have prevented their attending college otherwise.

“I kind of like to hope or believe that you’re going to have an opportunity to see kids get to college who See ACT, page 2

by

riley Madsen

The Sanpete Valley has always been one of the driest counties in the state of Utah, and drought can cause serious problems for this community. At NS, a plan has been created by the district to save millions of gallons of waters annually.

The plan is to reduce water by switching the “We water most of our property with culinary,” said superintendent Nan Ault. “We are using drinking water.”

As a county that is at a high risk of drought, amount of water.

“If we convert the stadium to turf, this is just an estimate, we could save approximately 2-3 million gallons of culinary water annually,” Ault said. would be able to serve more than one purpose.

See Turf, page 11

News

2

ACT, continued from page 1 wouldn’t have gone before this, ” said NS counselor Jon Hafen. “I’m hoping that that group of students will show some data that, hey here’s a whole other group of kids who show great opportunity, who were successful in college, that maybe didn’t take that opportunity before this.”

Not considering the ACT on college applications opens the doors to education and scholarships for specific students such as NS senior Morgan Drew. But she recognizes that for some, this is a disadvantage.

“I know for me it’s a blessing, but I know a lot of people that feel the opposite way,” Drew said. “They tried hard on the ACT and took hard classes that affected their GPA because it would bring their ACT up if they knew that material, and so they got a really good ACT score and not a really great GPA. So, it’s really hurting them in the long run.”

Though this change has hurt a lot of students, it has, however, been benGPA and with lower ACT scores.

“Personally, it’s helping me a lot because my ACT score wasn’t that great,” Drew said. “I had maintained a good GPA throughout my high school

career, so colleges are taking my GPA more than my ACT, and that’s really helped me out. I got a scholarship because of it.”

However, for people who scored high on the ACT and took harder classes, this has lessened their chances of receiving a scholarship at some colleges. The amount of effort and time spent on the ACT now feels like a waste to some students. If, in their freshman year, the circumstances of their senior year were known, a wholly different route could have been taken to attain a scholarship.

For senior Jared Strait, that knowledge would have led him to change the entire way that he went about high school. To get a scholarship, he would have focused less on learning and would have gone more for the grade.

“I wouldn’t have taken concurrent enrollment classes, and I would have just taken just easier classes,” said senior Jared Strait. “Like, you know, the ones that are offered from the high school that teach the same material, but they’re not college courses. The ones that are really easy to get a grade.

I feel like, with the way the ACT goes and the way college admission goes, I would have just gone for the grade.”

The desire to take the easy path and the heightened desire for a 4.0 is problem. Going solely off of someone’s GPA for college admissions will cause them to focus solely on their GPA and take the easier route and choose classes that will most likely get them an A. “I think it’s going to change the work ethic of students altogether,” Strait said. “I think [it would be good] at the classes as well and be like, ‘okay, this class was harder, so this could be the equivalent of getting an A in this class.’ So, if they had a weighted GPA and they used that for college applications, I think that would be a much better way of admitting students into colleges.”

The usage of a weighted GPA in college admissions is something that Strait and Drew both suggest. change,” Drew said. “Or they need to take your weighted GPA or something so that students are still trying to take classes that will help them learn and develop.”

As found in the research conducted by Snow College, an ACT score, or maybe even just a GPA, is not a reliably

photo by Mary Jones

NS student Riley Madsen takes a practice ACT test

accurate way of measuring who will do well in college and who doesn’t qualify.

“I can think of people who are extremely intelligent and never drop below a 4.0 in high school, but their ACT score was not that great, ” Hafen said.

“If you were going to predict their success in college based on that alone, it wouldn’t at all show what that person’s capable of. In fact, people I know like that still went on to college and excelled very, very well.”

New procedures for COVID outbreaks at NS by

audrey inglish

On the evening of Sunday, Sept. 20, parents received an urgent email verifying that a student at NS tested positive for COVID-19. By the next morning, administrators had contacted the parents of potentially exposed students, letting them know that their students were expected to quarantine for two weeks, effective immediately.

Among these students was Jordan Hilton, junior, who had been exposed to the active case at a volleyball game the previous Wednesday. was a very good thing for me to quarantine, just in case, because there’s that risk,” Hilton said. “I would just hate for the school to shut down again. I know it was really hard for a lot of people, and I feel like in general, no one likes to be sick and no one likes to be isolated.”

Some parents of exposed children expressed frustration with the required quarantines and the preventative measures the school was taking to slow the spread of the virus, howev-

er, as of Thursday, Oct. 8, the administration received updated guidelines on quarantine procedures from the health department. With these new guidelines, mask wearing and negative tests of exposed students are taken into account.

Effective immediately, if the exposed student and the person that tested positive were both wearing face masks at the time of exposure, and the exposed student tests negative after 7 days, they will be able to return to school.

“Before, I said [wearing a mask] doesn’t mean that you won’t be quarantined, but now under the new guidelines, it is going to possibly reduce the number of days that you’re quarantined,” said NS principal Christy Straatman. “And, seven days after [the exposed students] were near someone [with COVID-19], they can go get a test now. If it is negative, and that student doesn’t have any symptoms of COVID-19, then they can return after the seventh day. Before, it was 14 days.”

The health department and administration work together in deciding which stu-

dents needed to quarantine.

The health department uses contact tracing to identify students that are exposed outside of school, while Straatman communicates with teachers to determine which students come within six feet of the active case while in the classroom.

“Once I am aware of a positive case, I have to notify the health department,” Straatman said. “They have to be part of that process before we start any kind of identifying anyone who needs to be quarantined. Once we’ve conwith the health department, then I would pull the [student’s] schedule, and I would work with those teachers. Really, it was just going step-bystep on looking at schedules and identifying who was sitting next to that student.”

For the most part, parents and students were understanding and cooperative upon of required quarantines. However, some expressed frustration with the quarantine procedures and other procedures to reduce the spread of the

virus. “[The masks] don’t work,” said sophomore PJ Cook. “If the [masks] did work, then why would I have to be quarantined? I was around [the student] with a mask on. These masks are supposed to solve all of these problems.”

Most of the exposed students didn’t look forward to quarantining, but families also saw the importance of protecting themselves and others from the virus.

me to accept, but I think in the end, keeping my family and friends safe was the ultimate goal,” Hilton said.

Due to the multiple day delay in receiving test results, some of the exposed students chose not to get tested for COVID-19. As a result, many more students may be unknowingly exposed to the virus.

“It takes too long to get your test results back, so why test?” Cook said.

However, it is now possible to get tested at the Nephi hospital and receive results within a much shorter time frame.

“In our county, they can

get tested, but there’s a delay in getting the test results back-a couple of days,” Straatman said. “But if they go over to Nephi hospital, they have a rapid test, and those results come back fairly quickly. I mean, we’ve had people get those results back within a half hour.”

Additionally, many of the exposed students didn’t get tested for COVID-19 under the consideration that a negative test wouldn’t cut their quarantine any shorter.

“I didn’t feel it was necessary to quarantine because I didn’t have any symptoms,” Cook said. “Even with the no-symptom thing, I couldn’t even go get a negative test and come back [to school].”

However, with new guidelines in place, students that were previously opposed to getting tested are now more willing to consider going through the process in hopes of returning to school sooner.

“I would go get tested now, with this new rule about the seven days negative test and you can come back,” Cook said.

News by

3

Jessica blacKhaM

As the second quarter begins at NS, the school will reinstate the NC policy and ARC program. After facing problems with attendance this last quarter, the school administration hopes this change will help students reprioritize their attendance.

The administration at NS chose to suspend the NC policy at the beginning of the year to help students if they had to be quarantined. The temporary suspension was an attempt to help students not to fall behind in classes during this unprecedented time.

Junior Casey Mitchell is grateful knowing that the administration’s decision to defer the NC policy for a time was a preventative measure to help him and other students feel safer at school.

“Just having the option that if you decide that you don’t feel safe and comfortable in the school’s environment, then you can leave and go do your work online without it affecting your grade in any way,” Mitchell said.

However, it soon became clear that many students instead took advantage of the fact that they could miss class and it wouldn’t have an effect on their grade. While there has been an increase of more students missing class, when a few teachers were asked about student attendance in their classes they all noticed a pattern. They all agreed that a lot of the same kids who missed their classes last year are the same students who tended to miss repeatedly this past quarter.

“I have a few students who seem to miss habitually,” said NS language arts teacher Catherine Carney.

“I never see them in class. I also notice that my juniors and seniors are the ones who tend to miss more because they have cars.”

Carney expressed concern over these students

845 So. Highway 89 Mt. Pleasant, UT

because they’re not receiving the same learning experience. These students often still turn in the work and get a decent grade but she feels the quality of education isn’t the same. She is excited about the NC policy to return because she believes it will help students recognize how important it is to be in class.

NS family and consumer science teacher Auralee Brooks feels similarly about the NC policy being restored.

“The return of the NC policy will help kids,” Brooks said. “Students are going to be given a choice.

They’re going to be able to see the negative consequences more immediately. They may not see them right now because it’s not on their grade, but they will soon.”

On the other hand, many students were not pleased with the announcement of the NC policy being restored. Students have expressed frustration over tardies and making up the ARC hours after school.

Another reason students are frustrated with the ARC program is that they can now easily access all of their classwork online. Many don’t see the reason why it’s as important to be in class physically if they can just make up the work online later.

“Sometimes you have to miss class because something unexpected comes up and your parents don’t remember to excuse you,” said Junior Anastasia Terry. “I think the NC policy is just a little strict because if you miss like only four classes then you already have to go makeup hours in ARC. Also now everything is online it’s not important to be in class because we can still make up the work.”

Nevertheless, the administration and the teachers feel the best learning takes place in the classroom.

Their goal is to prepare students for their futures and the NC policy takes part in helping them achieve that goal.

Percentage of students that missed class because there were no NC’s

The NC policy pushes students by help giving them a reason why they should go to their classes.

Teachers and administration strive to teach students accountability to prepare them for their futures.

“I like how our NC policy holds kids accountable,” NS science teacher Bryan Holder said. “It’s one of those things that if you’re coming to class and doing what you are supposed to do then it won’t affect you much. The ones it is affecting are those who don’t come to class or those who need that little extra incentive.”

Beginning with the second quarter, the NC policy will be re-established and ARC will once again be available in Carney’s classroom. This will encourage students to go to class and be responsible for their attendance.

7 a.m.-5 p.m.

Monday-Sunday

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News

4

Vending machines provide small commision to school by

benJaMin ThoMpson

The two vending machines in the commons area are arguably two of the most used facilities at this school. Every day, kids will buy a drink or two for class, sports, or whatever they plan to do next. Is this a good thing for the school?

The school doesn’t get much income from the vending machines - about 100 dollars a month - but it still helps with whatever we need it for.

This pays for the activities and things that the student body “Sometimes, it will keep kids here,” said NS principal Straatman.

Rather than having students leave school to go to Maverik or Fizz, many will stick around because the

drinks are cheap and they’re much more convenient.

Obviously, the vending machines are pretty good for this school. Though, like any normal vending machine, it’ll eat your money every once in a while.

“Vending machines are sometimes just grouchy,” That is the obvious answer, but there is another one.

Every day, Tori Hansen comes over during lunch and shuts off the vending machines during lunch. The state of Utah requires this for all schools that use a vending machine. If kids run up to purchase an item and aren’t paying attention, their money will be wasted, which is more common.

“I’ve been with Tori when

she says ‘I’m going to go turn them off now’, or ‘Hurry and

said. “I’ve even handed back a dollar to try and get it back.”

Why do they do this though?

“Because it’s in competition with school lunches,”Hansen said.

“Instead of eating lunch, I’d go to the vending machines and eat junk,” said Straatman.

This would be true for most kids at school if there was junk food in the vending machines.

The vending machines are managed by a company and someone comes every vending machines and give the school a commission based on the sales of the vending machines.

We got a $200 commission early this month that covered a

phtoto by Benjamin Thompson

four month period. This time went into summer, when no one was here to buy anything from the vending machines.

Most people really appreciate the presence of the vending machines and love to get drinks out of them. Watching

across the commons, you can enjoying these wonderful machines.

USDA now covers all school-lunch expenses by

Kenna cooK

According to schoolnutrition.org, about thirty million students in the US eat school lunch every day. Each lunch costs approximately $2.00. As million dollars are accu-

mulated each day from school lunches, and over nine-billion dollars in each school year. But this year, that number will drop to zero.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many adults and parents have lost their jobs,

leaving them unable to provide money for their child/children’s nutritional needs--in this case, school lunches. According to usda.gov., the Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will

ities through as late as December 31, 2020. The meal program operators to continue serving free meals to all children into the fall months. This unprecedented move will help ensure – no matter

what the situation is onthe-ground – children have access to nutritious food as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In short, the USDA will be taking care of all school lunch related expenses.

This change obviously makes the parents job easier but what about the people preparing these meals?

NS principal Christy Straatman revealed some challenges that have come up with the change.

First of all, lunches are now pre-packed, requiring the lunch workers to start working earlier in the day. Secondly, all packages and packaged lunches must be sanitized on the exterior.

Now the real question is, where is the USDA getting the money to fund all these schools lunch programs? According to usda.gov, their primary source is a COVID relief fund.

“President Trump directed USDA to craft this $19 billion immediate relief program to provide critical support to our farmers and ranchers, maintain the integrity of our food supply chain and ensure every American continues to receive and have access to the food they need.”

According to usda. gov, congress did not authorize enough funding for the entire 2020-2021 school year, due to States delay in responding to the pandemic. However, based upon the April data we currently have available, FNS (Food and Nutrition Service) projects that it could offer this extension, contingent on funding, for the remaining months of 2020. USDA will continue to actively monitor the rapidly evolving situation and continue to keep Congress informed of our current abilities and limitations.

In effect, this saves each American parent around $180, which may not seem like much, but to those families with barely (if any) any income, $180 could mean the world.

5

Opinion upon the idea that everyone has rights, but each and every person also has a responsibility to uphold the law. For America’s conductors, this means they are responsible for the welfare of the people they conduct.

Over 66 percent of stu-

by

bradley power

What do people in America think of when they hear the word government?

I would like to think that most Americans correlate government with principles such as security, safety, prosperity, and organization. Unfortunately, that is not the case today.

These days, talking about government brings feelings of contention, uncertainty, negativity, and most alarmingly, chaos. This political chaos that so many people believe to be real is a terrifying prospect.

To govern means “to conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of a state, organization, or people.” I would like to bring attention to the word conduct.

A conductor in a symphony, or an orchestra, is not the most important person on the stage.

In fact, without the musicians in an orchestra, the conductor is completely incapable of producing music.

Conductors do not control the musicians, rather, they direct them for the best interest of the orchestra as a whole, leading to glorious music for all to enjoy. So, our government is entrusted with the responsibility to conduct our nation’s affairs, in a way that will lead the country (as a whole) to prosperity and security.

The principles this nation has been built upon depend

our current government. This is an issue. Most Americans do not think positively of our government, and our country is presently rife with accusations and slander directed at our conductors from the people. All the contention stems from this undeniable fact: No matter how many responsibilities are entrusted to our government, it has lost the trust of the citizens of our country.

This loss of trust is a grievous injury to our nation. I do not think it is unwarranted, but it does not bode well for the future. Numerous politicians, legislators, and even presidents of our country have done, said, or stood for some things that are not good. This is a sad but true fact that must be addressed.

On the other hand, people are imperfect. Certain promicaused great and calamitous division in our nation, and we make matters worse by accusdoing the wrong thing. All this chaos leads to even more division between both the conductors and the members of the orchestra.

Another interesting meaning of the word govern is “to conduct oneself, especially with regard to controlling one’s emotions.” This is an element of governing where our conductors fall completely and utterly short.

Instead of civil debates, we get to watch childlike shouting matches.

Instead of appreciating

and valuing the opinions of our peers, we ignore them in every respect.

Instead of listening to new ideas, we attempt to eradicate them.

Instead of proving why they are good for our orchestra, our conductors focus only on proving how everyone else is bad.

What we are experiencing is “erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power,” according to Transparency International, a worldwide anti-corruption organization. All of this immature contention ement of our government: the two-party system.

George Washington, widely regarded as one of the greatest conductors to have ever taken up the baton, warned against partisan politics in his famous farewell address. Many of the other Founding Fathers, including both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, discouraged it as well, both before and after the writing of the Constitution.

Lamentably, after Washington stepped down, the two-party way of thinking began to take root in the minds of Americans. It took centuries, but we are seeing the forewarned effects of it now.

Our current president is not capable of governing himself, and his efforts to properly govern us are marred by his heavily divisive actions and words. Republicans and Democrats have polar opposite other with such vehemence that to an outside observer such as myself, they are one and the same.

At the very least, the two parties represent the same thing, and that is the loss of honor in politics. All the aforecult circumstances ultimately

Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks

27 October 2020 www.NSTimes.org

5

mean two things for our nation today.

First, chaos reigns in our lives. We are without a reliable conductor, and as such we are unable to stay together with the music. Discordant, uncanny rhythms permeate the very air around us, and it is almost impossible to discern the true beat of the song we are trying to play.

Indeed, our sources of information in these troubling times are both inconsistent and untruthful. The media twists and tarnishes real events, for the agenda of politicians and parties that only want us to be afraid.

Second, and more pressingly, our nation is unable to deal with the problems that are arising in this ever-changing world. I would even go so far as to say that our government is crippled, unable to provide and unable to do what needs to be done. The parties battle, and the politicians interrupt one another rampantly.

Hence, the government as a whole is unable to act.

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a good example of how broken our government is. When the pandemic began, the orchestra stalled for a moment, and missed the opportunity to make the necessary decisions that would have made it much easier on the people of our nation.

Even now, months into the affair, politicians still argue over what to do. Because of mixed signals from multiple conductors, we can’t even agree to wear masks and protect each other. We as a people are unable to play in harmony or create anything resembling a song.

Another example is the troubling civil unrest that is happening in our country right now. A few instances of

huge mistakes led our orchestra into a surge of contentious chaos that no one could do anything to stop. The corrupt and the government debated over what to do, all while cities were being burned.

This is not ok. Regardless of whether or not coronavirus is a real threat, regardless of whether or not systematic racism is a problem in this country, this country is not able to handle what is happening in and around it. And it’s chilling that no one can do anything about that.

I am really just a high schooler. There is much I don’t know, and my opinion may be extreme. But this is how I feel.

And I, unlike our conductors, have the strength to govern my own feelings and thoughts.

It is uncertain what the future will bring. Chaos will not go away, and contention will not disappear in moments. People will still think negatively when they hear the word government.

However, there are measures we can take and decisions we can make as members of the orchestra that have the potential to greatly impact the music we collectively create. Our conductors may be grating, but if we turn to each other and remember the principles that our society rests on, we can get back on track.

If we are civil, honorable, honest, and understanding of different points of view, things will change. No matter how far away the conductor is from the beat, no matter how separated the parts of the music are, if the musicians of the orchestra can be in time and harmony with one another, beautiful music will be created. Our country can change for the better, but it has to start with each one of us.

A student perspective on the importance of masks

by

phaedra laMb

Masks. Those awful things on your face. Do they work? At all? What’s even the point in wearing one? Why the heck should I wear one? There is so much information showing they do work, and you should wear one. But then again, there’s information saying they don’t work, and not to bother. It’s your right to choose as an American; you have a voice. Like they always say, your body, your choice, right?

In this particular situation, wrong.

One example of this is abortion.

When asked why they don’t like masks, some of the students at NS say it’s their body, their choice. This is a common statement attributed to the pro-abortion movement. This is interesting to me because not all of these students are pro-abortion. A pretty strong argument can be made that someone else’s choices can affect someone else’s body.

It is not unreasonable to be asked to choose to either wear a mask or don’t participate. The Mayo Clinic explains that cloth face coverings are most likely to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus when widely used by people in public settings.

This shows us that masks are part of the process that slows the spread of COVID-19, which is the whole objective in Utah: to slow the spread. The Mayo Clinic also talks about the countries which required face masks, testing, isolation and social distancing early in the pandemic and have successfully slowed the spread of the virus.

One example of this is Vietnam;

they’ve handled COVID-19 the best out of all the countries with only 401 cases and 0 deaths. hit, their emergency plan was instantly put into action.

“When you’re dealing with these kinds of unknown novel, potentially dangerous pathogens, it’s better to overreact,” says Dr. Todd Pollack of Harvard’s Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam in Hanoi.

At https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC7182304/ it mentions masks and how even though the world health association states that only positive cases need a mask, the people in Vietnam still wear one. Not only for them, but for the safety of others.

That brings us to another issue.

Many people don’t wear a mask because they are not high-risk. Or they believe that the whole COVID-19 thing is way overrated, and it’s just a common cold.

For example, skyparkpfc argues that the Coronavirus is way overrated,

about sketchy sites, is that they’re sometimes opinion-based and lack any solid research backing.

That article does have one thing right though, which is the fact that 0.1% of the population who contract found this lovely article which debunks Coronavirus.

Live Science This article was written by Rachael Rettner. It discusses that among reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S., about 4% have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That percentage is known as the case fatality rate.

Many studies estimate that around 0.5% to 1% of people infected with COVID-19 will die from the disease, according to Nature News. Even though 1% is still very low, that doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s 10 times more What I’m trying to say with all of this, is that sometimes we can all get caught up in a few facts instead of Masks, continued on page 6

Opinion

6

Student speaks out about colleges not using ACT

by

harrison cooK

A few weeks ago, I learned that many colleges, including Snow College, had dropped the ACT as a factor in their scholarship awards programs, and are instead only looking at GPA, with any GPA from 3.9 to 4.0 qualifying for a full tuition and fees scholarship. is that as a student with a high ACT score, this most likely impacts me more than other students. mensely frustrating, but I believe that it is fundamentally students who have put in the hard work to study for the ACT, but it is even more frustrating because this change was done without warning.

Before this announcement, arship to Snow. Then very suddenly, I no longer qualino built-in way to differentiate between students, instead approach.

These standardized tests are meant to help colleges and other educational institutions make sound admissions and scholarship decisions, and yet many colleges are dropping them. When I heard about this, two questions immediately came to mind.

First, why are colleges dropping the ACT as a factor in scholarship awards? The fundamental problem in answering this question is that most colleges have a different answer. There are two really big arguments for dropping the ACT. ACT has biases based on socioeconomic status. It has been shown that those who come from wealthier backgrounds are more likely to score higher on standardized tests. Because of this, many colleges feel as though by including standard-

ized tests as criteria for admission and scholarship awards, they skew in favor of those who already are well off.

The colleges are trying to make it so that more students have access to scholarships and admission, especially less wealthy students. In that aspect, they have been successful. Many more students from NS now have access to a full tuition and fees scholarship.

The second big reason is that ACT scores do not always correlate with success in colleges. A prime example of this is Snow College. They announced that they would no longer be using ACT to award scholarships this summer. When I reached out to Terri Clawson, the Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management, I discovered that Snow had hired a consultant who found that there was no connection between ACT scores and success at Snow.

Responding accordingly, they dropped ACT as a factor in the awarding of scholarships.

Colleges are dropping ACT for many good reasons. They are trying to help students who may be socioeconomically disadvantaged, and they are trying to use the best indicators that they can.

However, the way that colleges are approaching these that there are better ways to achieve these goals.

ACT is biased in favor of those with higher socioeconomic status.

There is no debating that this is true. Studies have shown repeatedly that students who have a higher socioeconomic status score higher on standardized tests. What this new approach of dropping ACT is so more students who are economically disadvantaged have access to scholarships, especially because these students are the ones who need scholarships the most.

Unfortunately, using only this problem. According to a study by the College Board, GPA is also biased towards students who are more economically well off. This means socioeconomic biases, we have gained little if any ground.

Second, GPA is no longer as accurate of an indicator as it used to be. This is due to

for less wealthy households.

know more about that, I wrote a story about it last year. Essentially, what is happening is that students are earning A’s for less work than the A is worth. We can see this by looking at the average GPA of graduating seniors from 1990 to 2010. In that time, according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics, GPAs rose from an average of 2.67 to 3.0.

At NS, the average GPA of seniors is 3.2. The average GPA in an ideal grading system is 2.0.

available. This pushes students to apply even faster than ever before, and again, those who have a solid home environment will be pushed further ahead of students without that foundation.

In addition, there are two obvious, and unintended consequences for using only GPA to award scholarships. tion higher. When so much is riding on a student’s GPA, teachers with good intentions will award students a higher grade than they deserve because they want the student to succeed.

Here I believe that it is important to recognize that many of these problems which are arising are stemming from genuinely good intentions, poorly executed. This is a theme I have noticed becoming more and more prevalent throughout society. It is, I believe, a result of people acting

a cost. It costs colleges their ability to differentiate between students who, as different as they may be, are the same on paper. Two students at NS, both with GPA’s of 4.0 have vastly different ACT scores, a 32 and a 22. There is at least some difference between these two students, but now that colleges are only looking at GPA, they lose some of that perspective.

The next argument that needs to be addressed is the argument that ACT is not an indicator of success at a given college. As stated before, it was found that there was no correlation between ACT scores and success at Snow College.

If this is the case, there is no reason that Snow should continue to use the ACT. However, this does not mean that looking solely at GPA is an acceptable alternative. GPA is no longer worth as much as it once was. Not only that, but it does not remove the socioeconomic bias.

Something that needs to be addressed here, but is not directly linked to any of the main arguments, is the way that snow is awarding scholarships. I mentioned earlier proach that Snow is taking.

This approach has an unintended consequence. Stu-

the fact that there is a very

in doing so, failing to realize the ways that their plan could potentially go wrong.

The second unintended consequence that I noticed is that it will disincentivize students from taking harder classes. When your future is potentially riding on your ability to get an A, what motivation do you have to take a hard class?

This is already an issue at NS,

as just one example, there are only two students enrolled this year in Calculus. With this new motivation to take easier classes, the education of future students will be degraded, with only a few willing to take the risk, and when some lose out on that risk, even fewer.

The last thing that I will address is the fact that Snow gave next to no warning about this change. This was sprung on us at the last moment, and this is unacceptable. Snow has given students no chance to reorient or change their approach to meet this new expectation.

Not only that, but the new metric that they have installed is a poor one.

I urge Snow, and all colleges to look further into the and more reliable metric than just GPA. We need to use more data points for each student so that we can more accurately award scholarships. We also, as students, need time to adapt to any new metrics that are introduced. Of all the problems caused by changing to GPA only, the most immediately relevant is the fact that students were not given the opportunity to adapt. This was, quite frankly, very inconsiderate towards your students.

In conclusion, GPA is not an adequate metric to stand sue of irrelevance. It was unprofessional to change with so little notice, and it drives grade

Many Colleges Won’t Use ACT Scores Is this positive or negative?

push them to apply to colleges will lose out. This is again, an example of how the socioeconomic biases will not necessarily be reduced by these new approaches. More often, wealthy - Many colleges just changed their requirements to no longer ures who do push students to include the ACT in scholarship awards. While this has proven apply, and the opposite is true helpful for many students, others have lost out.

Masks, continued from page 4 looking at the big picture. In refusing to participate with a worldwide infection control effort, and by ‘forgetting’ to keep their mask up, lack of compliance shows the rest of the world that maybe we don’t see the whole picture.

Take attending Costco for example. I love Costco, and I’ve personally ranked it the 2nd most magical place in Utah. The store has a mask mandate, and in order to get in, you must be wearing one.

It’s not unreasonable for them to require one. They are not a state owned business. As business owners, they also have rights.

The reason we have the mask rule is not to make everyone angry and mad, it’s an effort to ensure everyone can enjoy a happy, safe, life where we all participate socially

and economically as we please.

When those in a group don’t

NS Times Staff 2020-21

risk neighbors from participating.

By refusing to wear a mask, it forces others to stay home in order to keep safe. Many aren’t afraid, just unsure, because they don’t know how it will affect some loved ones.

Is that really fair to them?

Hearing the phrase ‘My body, my choice’ in reference to masks can be immensely frustrating in this time where not wearing one can possibly affect my body too. So in a way, it’s not only your body. It’s not a bad thing to respect someone’s decision to try and keep their family safe.

Kaylee Anderson Editor in Chief

Reporters

Athena DeGroff Managing Editor Audrey Inglish Managing Editor Carson Hadley Managing Editor

Abby Bench Jessica Blackham Mary Jones Caden Clawson Harrison Cook Shirley Xicotencatl Joshua Cox Jake Cox Vanessa Jimenez Benjamin Thompson Cael Howard Kenna Cook Michelle Lee Hope Shelley

Marlee Crozier Riley Madsen

Managing Editor - Web Photography Editor

Bradley Power Micheal Larsen Phaedra Lamb Siri Huntington Liz Madsen Maren Bench

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Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks

Features

27 October 20 www.NSTimes.org

6

Special-ed program forced to adapt to COVID-19 by

M aren bench

Covid-19 has brought upon many challenges, especially in the education department, and nowhere is that more true than in the special education department.

“Because of the guidelines, the bidities that my kids have, they stay in my room all day,” said Cami Hathaway, the special education teacher for the severely handicapped.

Following the Covid-19 guidelines, wear masks inside of the school buildlenge for the special ed students.

“I had one of my students have a breakdown. He really got upset and down,” said Hathaway. “We were alone in the room next door and I said, ‘Sweetheart, what is your problem?’ and he just started crying and he says, ‘You’ve taught me for years to watch your face so I knew how you felt, and now I can’t tell.’ That was a bellringer for me.”

For a lot of the special ed students, especially those with autism, facial expressions and body language are important to them. It lets them know how someone is feeling and also helps them react to the situation. But that isn’t the only challenge that masks create for them.

“Another fear is they can’t tell who people are, and they are afraid people won’t know who they are, and for them it’s a real issue,” said Hathaway. “They all love when people say hi. In fact, and said, ‘Someone said hi to me! They knew it was me!’ That helps when people still say hi to them and it helps them realize that people still know who they are under the mask.”

To give the students break and relief from the masks, the teachers have

implemented masks breaks that happen each period.

“We do go and have mask breaks and so that helps a lot because then said Debbie Miller, a TA for the special ed program. “Then when we come back in, they just automatically put them back on. I don’t really have to encourage them to keep them on.”

With all the changes being made to the school’s curriculum, Hathaway and the other special ed teachers have also had to roll with the punches and adjust their curriculum.

“We now instead of going out for general ed, we are in here all day,” said Hathaway. “We have art classes, we have social skills, we have health, we I’ll tell you I love it. I have my kids and I can teach them on their level, which has been the positive for me.”

By having the kids inside the classroom all day, the teachers are able to teach the kids at their individual level and are able to do lessons such as learning how to cook with a microwave, which is something that they can do at home.

Smith, one of the special ed students, when asked what her favorite thing they made in class was.

Even with the kids enjoying being in class, there are still a few downsides to it, with them not being able to go out and really see people in other classrooms.

“From what I’ve seen, they love being out in classes to be with friends, they love their friends and that’s important for the general ed and it’s important for special ed,” said Hathaway.

“We have friends. [With] teenagers, that’s how you guys learn, by your peers, and that’s why I love my peer tutors because they still get to come in and they still get to have friends.”

Aside from not being able to interact

photo by Maren Bench

Senior peer tutor Kaje Nielsen works with senior Jarrod Spencer in the special-ed classroom, where handicapped students spend the majority of their school day.

with the rest of the student body, the special ed students have been able to grow close to one another.

“Our class grew as a team, the teachers and everybody, we are growing like a team where we have them all here together,” Miller said. “Even the kids are growing as friends, because that’s who they’re involved with most of the time.

While the majority of the students have returned to in-person learning, there are a few who are taking the online route.

“I have two that are doing it at home,” said Hathaway. “I come up

with programs and then mom brings the work back to me, so it’s not an in person type of thing. I still check on them. I will go check on them at their house or talk to mom on the phone.”

Despite all the challenges and trials that have come into play this year, the special ed students and teachers continue to persevere and roll with the hand that they are dealt.

“It’s just such a tender environment, that I will do whatever I need to do to protect them,” said Hathaway.

“But I would protect you guys too, because that’s just what I do.”

Science teacher, FFA advisor reflects on ag-centered childhood by

a bby bench

Getting chased by a skunk isn’t something that most people experience, even when they live in a rural community. But there are an unlucky few. One such person is Jens Andreasen, one of NS’s new teachers.

Not only was his childhood tions with animals, but a lot of farming and ranching as well. This is where his love and appreciation for agriculture came from.

“Agriculture is something

I’ve always loved,” said Andreasen. “I grew up farming and ranching. It’s helped me with being an ag teacher.”

Those experiences have already come in handy in draws on those lessons to help make his lessons for students.

He teaches natural resources, beginners and advanced welding, plant soil science and ag biology. He’s also the FFA advisor.

“I try to make my curriculum as relevant to everyday life

photo by Abby Bench

Jens Andreasen passes out papers to his natural resources 2 class. Andreasen has been recieved well by students in his short time at NS.

as I can,” said Andreasen. “So I draw on that a lot to help make sure I’m giving these kids good solid information. I take those principles that I’ve learned in the real world and try to transfer that into the classroom.”

He wants to do what’s best for his students and help them to succeed in everything they do. His students are very important to him.

“I just want my kids to do well,” said Andreasen. “I want them to put in the same amount of work that I put into it and to give it their best.”

FFA has played a big part in Andreasen’s life. He did it when he was in high school and has a lot of good memories from being in that club. One thing that made him enjoy it so much was his FFA advisors.

“Generally the ag kids have a reputation for being the rowdy bunch, which more often than not is pretty dang true,” Andreasen said. “My FFA advisors, through participating in FFA and by helping

me in class, kinda took me from being, for lack of a better term, a hell raiser to something that was probably a little better for society.”

Not only did his advisors make him a better person, they reer choices.

“I thought back to high school and how my ag teachsaid, “and I feel like they made me a better person, so I thought why don’t I be an ag teacher.”

His advisors not only helped him in high school, but in life as well.

Now he’s doing the same by helping his students to have a similar experience and become better people in the process. He has already helped his students and made a good impression in his short time here.

“He’s super laid back, but also not the teacher that is laid back to the point where nothing gets done,” said NS sophomore Wyatt Rees.

Another big part of Andreasen’s life is his family. He came to NS from Box Elder

county, where he grew up working with his family, including his brothers, who enjoyed teasing him when they were younger. He and his wife have been married for about eight years and they have two daughters. Family is actually one of the reasons that Andreasen wanted to come to NS. “It’s a pretty safe place to raise my family. A lot of agriculture and a good community,” said Andreasen.

“To be honest, I got pretty lucky. This has always been my dream job, being here in Sanpete.”

He enjoys working here and his students like having him as their teacher.

“I think that he teaches us pretty good and I’m learning a lot, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it,” said student Logan Black.

Andreasen knows what he’s talking about and is always there to help his students.

“I’m generally a pretty laid back guy that just wants to teach and preach ag,” Andreasen said.

Features

7

Everyday social interactions impacted by sociological ‘masks’ by

athena Degroff

During the current pandemic, er, unbeknownst to most, we have each been wearing invisible masks all along.

These masks are sociological rather than medical. The concept of changing one’s behavior or putting on a “mask” in order to portray yourself in a specific manner is formally known as dramaturgy, and it constantly plays a part in human interaction.

“It’s a coping mechanism,” math teacher Matt Syme said. “If you’re upset or discouraged, putting on a certain mask can help. If you’re in a situation where you feel uncomfortable, you don’t know what to say or do, start acting like the people around you, put on that certain mask and you can get through it.”

In 1959, Erving Goffman introduced the idea of dramaturgical analysis in his book “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.”

Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy is akin to Shakespeare’s famous line “all the world’s a stage,” in that life is like a theatrical performance.

We each engage in “impression management,” which is behaving in a way that we believe will be favorable to others. In dramaturgy, this is metaphorically compared to putting on different masks.

At NS, teachers and students are affected by dramaturgy both in their own lives and through the actions of others. One example of this is students behaving differently around teachers compared to how they would act around friends and family.

“I do see some people use [impression management] more than

“especially around teachers, like all the time around teachers.”

Syme has seen many examples of students using this impression management in his class, and also differently in a different environment.

“I watch students in my classroom who are very polite, very kind-I guess nice would be the right word,” Syme said. “And then you see them out in public, and I don’t want to say they’re not nice, but they act completely different around their friends. They talk differently, they sound different, and they behave differently.” people act differently depending on who they are around. She finds enjoyment in observing what people do in these situations.

“I like to people-watch, it’s fasciit amusing to watch people put on a different mask when they are with others. From my view, it’s funny to see how people get uncomfy when they don’t know what mask to use around people they know.”

In some circumstances, putting on different masks can help individuals get through difficult situations by conforming to those around them.

Along with using masks to fit in, some may use these masks as a cover to justify being mean to others. In a more positive light, it can also give people the confidence they need to overcome difficult situations.

“I feel like it gives some people

because that’s their mask.”

A key element of Dramaturgy is the idea of “back vs. front” stage performances. An individual’s front stage performance occurs when their behavior is influenced by how others will perceive them. On the other hand, the backstage performance happens when an individual is comfortable with being their true self. Throughout the day, one would likely switch between front and backstage performances, based on circumstance and surroundings.

An article from opentextbc.ca says that, “Dramaturgy acknowledges that identities are pluralistic – we have many identities that we put on and off as we move through time and space, and enter and exit different social contexts. As such, to achieve these goals, one has to be

roles, or performative masks, as they move between different social contexts.”

These behaviors contained in dramaturgy are usually subconscious. One wouldn’t be likely to expend mental effort choosing which ‘mask’ to put on next, but rather do it unknowingly.

Real connections happen when individuals can be their true selves, as opposed to covering up their personality with masks to conform to, or impress others.

“People have the need to express their true selves, they want us to know who they are,” Syme said.

“Even though we put on faces at times, we want people to know who our true self is. It can be very difficult if you can’t mentally communicate that. You get lonely.”

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Features

8

Student gives insight on convenient and relevent halloween costume ideas by

elizabeth MaDsen Halloween is almost here, and

your mind or the last, here are some ideas to make your holiday more festive.

Next, a classic Ghost can be done with a simple white sheet and a pair of sunglasses. Whether you are a ghost from “Charlie Brown” or from “TikTok,” you will be sure to get candy (or a rock!)

Group Costumes

Last-Minute Costumes If Halloween has snuck up on you this year, here are some costume ideas “Where’s Waldo?” This fun character from the book, “Where’s Waldo?” by Martin Handford only needs a redand-white striped shirt, a pair of circle glasses, a pair of jeans, and a red hat to be costume-party ready.

Next on the last-minute scale is “Smarty Pants.” This costume is a pun, and all you need is a pair of pants, tape, and a few packages of “Smarties.”

Tape the “Smarties” onto your pants, and add some glasses or a textbook, and you are now a “Smarty Pants.”

Finally, a suit and a pair of dark glasses will turn you into a “Men in Black” character.

Classic Costumes Witches, skeletons, and ghosts have all been associated with Halloween for of these classic characters.

The Sanderson Sisters from the fect trifecta of witches to be this year.

Red, green, and purple medieval dresses as well as a blonde, red, and black wig, will have you matching with these sisters. eton. “The Nightmare before Christmas” main character, Jack Skellington, will be sure to come together with a pinstripe suit and a skeletal mask.

Halloween can be so much more fun with friends. Group costumes are a great way to bring everyone together.

The movie “The Incredibles” will be the perfect red-suited superheroes for you and your friends to dress up as.

The TV show “Scooby-Doo” with Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby will have your crew solving all of Halloween’s mysteries.

If video-games seem to suit your group better, then “Pac-Man” should be the perfect solution. All you need is colorful T-Shirts with taped-on eyes as well as a yellow T-Shirt with a black mouth to have your group become the “Pac-Man” characters.

Couples Costumes other can be just as fun dressing up with your friends. My top three couples costumes start with Carl and Ellie from Disney’s “Up.” If you and your significant other love to go on adventures, grab your goggles and some balloons, and become Carl and Ellie!

If your love is out of this world, you may want to match the adorable robots, Eva and Wall-E from Pixar’s “Wall-E,” and follow your “directive” to save the world.

Thefts and robberies hopefully aren’t a part of your romance, but the legendary Bonnie and Clyde will give you the perfect edge on your Halloween costume.

Disney Costumes “Disney” has made many movies and joined with several other companies that almost any character you choose may actually be a Disney character. This allows for a large selection of costumes.

My top three choices begin with Winne-the-Pooh. To exemplify the character Winne-the-Pooh, all you need is a yellow shirt, red pants, and a love of honey.

Next up on the list is Mary Poppins.

If you want to be “Practically Perfect in Every Way,” then Mary Poppins is the

photo by Elizabeth Madsen

Liz madsen poses, dressed as Waldo from Martin Handford’s “Where’s Waldo?”

bag will have you looking just like her.

photo by Elizabeth Madsen

Seniors Eneli Silva and Isabelle Mitchell dressed as ghosts, participating in a current trend photo on TikTok.

Finally, my last Disney costume ophave a soft side, and we see this in the versions of her, and my favorite is the brown dress, horns, and a large set of feathery wings is all you need to do to Costume Essentials No matter what you decide to be for Halloween, it’s always good to have certain costume items on hand for surtume essential is a wig. A wig can add to any costume, or can be a costume

all by itself. Any color, any length, and any shape of wig will always come in handy all year long. Costume essential number two is a cape. A cape will not only add to, but will complete your costume as well. From superhero capes to witches cloaks, a cape is exactly what is needed in your costume box.

Halloween costumes are a great way to add to the magic and mystery of Halloween. There are so many people, objects, animals, and puns that you can be. You can become your favorite celebrity or dress up with your friends.

No matter what, choose to be someone (or something) else for one day every year!

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Election

Connectio

Partisan politics divides, but governor race shows bette

By Kaylee Anderson and Audrey Inglish With the presidential election fast approaching, our country feels more divided than at any time in recent history. President Donald J Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have taken slander campaigning to a new level.

Being a part of their parties makes people open to the opposing side’s ridicule and ire.

Many middle ground politicians are not considered because the extremes of the Democratic and Republican parties are chosen over them.

“To be a representative you either have to be completely the right or completely the left, which I think makes it really hard to be a middle person,’’ said NS social studies teacher Chris Hoopes. “I think that there are probably some really good middle people that represent either party, but that is overlooked a lot because the parties are so one way or the other. It is really dysfunctional and negative.”

Political stance did not used to be a deciding factor for whether or not someone got respect, trust or friendship. Because of the back and forth

cal views are seen as an enemy.

“Forty years ago, when asked to rate how ‘favorable and warm’ their opinion of each party was, the average Democrat and Republican said they felt OK-ish about the opposite party. But for four decades now, partisans have increasingly turned against each other in an escalating cycle of dislike and distrust — views of the other party are currently at an all-time low,” said Lee Drutman in “How Hatred Came to Dominate American PoliWith increasing polarization in the political sphere, democracy as a whole is at risk.

“It’s bad news for a democracy when 60 to 70 percent of people view fellow citizens of the other party as a serious threat,” Drutman said. “And the more the parties continue to unify their supporters by casting the other party as the enemy, the higher this number will rise.” towards villainizing the opposing opinion, some feel that both parties should spend the time and energy on reaching across the aisle to see the alternate perspective.

“I think that there needs to be a balance of understanding of either side,” said Hoopes.

But instead of striving for understanding, people in the current political climate will only listen to the opposing side long enough to pick apart their argument and who they are as a person. The parties focus more on attacking their opponents than advocating for their own intentions.

“Republicans and Democrats can’t please into their party and want their issue to be prioritized,” Drutman said. “But in a polarized two-party system, they can make it clear why the other party is bad.”

Given the current concerns, political journalists have made predictions on the longhave on democratic society.

“The growing partisan hatreds and the forces driving them have been a long time in the making,” Drutman said. “It’s possible they are coming to an end. But more than any other time in the last century and a half, they are testing the very foundations of American democracy.”

However, despite the slandering of the presidential election, the race for Utah Gov-

running mates have with unique ads pro “We talked abou without hating each Governor Spencer C wins, we come toget we’re hoping that U for the rest of the na Cox approached series of ads in whic to talk about the imp kindness during the

also included a mess accept the results of regardless of the ou These videos hav of viewers, and spot shown on news outle including Good Mo Show, CNN, and M run internationally i Brazil, Mexico, and “America is hung This call to good respect has proven t

NS students support Trump despite nega

By Jacob Cox In a recent poll at NS high school, the majority of students indicated that they would vote for Donald Trump.

The poll showed that 53 percent of students would vote for Trump, while just 32 percent would vote for Biden, with 15 percent indicating that they would wish neither man be elected.

“I would vote for Trump because everything he said he would do, he’s done,” said sophomore Darld Swapp, “and Joe Biden, over the forty-seven years he’s been in politics, he didn’t do nothing. Donald Trump’s done a heck of a lot more than Biden.”

Currently in the national polls, Biden is leading Trump. According to polls if the election were now, Biden would be the next president. ButTrump has come from behind before, and he could make a big comeback

with some of the states who are borderline right now. “I think that it will be very hard to unseat Trump,” said teacher Tyler Bailey, “and I think that president Trump will win re-election. I think it will be closer this presidential election than it was last time. I don’t think he’s going to carry all of the states that he did in 2016, but I do think that president Trump will win the re-election.”

While people have strong opinions about who should be our next commander in chief, most agree that the current path to the White House has been ablaze with nasty rhetoric and uncivilized behavior.

The presidential debates are the greatest example of the nastiness that has permeated this election cycle. Many see both ing only to talk about how the other candidate is wrong.

“I feel like the presidential debates are absolutely hilarious to watch,” said senior Kaje Nielsen. “They really portray how bad of shape America is right now.”

Others at NS felt the same way. Students in the recent NS Times survey offered the following comments about the nature of the debate: “It was a national embarrassment with an unfortunate lack of maturity shown on both sides.”

“Very disrespectful.”

“One of the most embarrassing dis-

NS TIMES POLITICAL POLL We asked students at NS who they would vote for in the upcoming national and state elections.

plays I have ever While there who mostly is res we now face, mo least some culpa “They’re so right,” Bailey sai the point in this for me to be rig be wrong. That’s to be politically. right together, an wrong together. adays in politics other fascist soci to lose in order fo feel that it’s the b whole.”

Regardless of sonally, many be system is not pro ble candidates w “I feel like w are only presente tions. When our up with our go intending it to b Emily Revoir. “S falls in the mid both parties is fo other, so there i stand in the mid be far on the on I think that’s wh have to choose th

President Trump 53%

on

er way

decided to come together omoting respect and unity. ut how we can disagree h other,” Lieutenant Cox said. “No matter who ther as Americans and so Utah can set an example ation.”

Peterson about creating a ch both candidates appear portance of civility and election.

sage that they would the elections at all levels, utcome. ve been seen by millions tlights on the videos were ets across the country, orning America, the Today MSNBC. They have also in the UK, Spain, France, many others. gry for civility,” Cox said. d citizenship and mutual to be one that most people

gative tone

r seen.” is disagreement about sponsible for the problem ost agree that there is at ability from both sides. worried about being id, “and I guess we’re at s country where in order ght, someone else has to s not a good place for us I think we can both be nd I think we can both be There is this idea nows that’s now spreading to ieties that somebody has or me to win, and I don’t best way for citizens as a

f who is responsible perelieve that our two-party oducing the greatest possiwho represent the people. we’re divided because we ed with two big party opr founding fathers came overnment, they weren’t be like this,” said teacher So anyone who kind of ddle or likes things from orced to choose one or the is nowhere for people to ddle. They either have to ne side or the other side. hy. It’s because you either his one or that one.”

Biden 32%

Local election coverage: governor, congress, school board

By Carson Hadley and Caden Clawson With election day swiftly approaching, it is important to be aware of all the races that will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, instead of just focusing on the presidential election. These other elections may have more of an impact upon Sanpete county than the race for president.

Utah Governor One of the biggest elections taking place in Utah this year is the race of governor. The June primaries lead to Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox being nominated as the Republican candidate and University of Utah law professor, Chris Peterson, as the Democratic candidate for governor.

Cox, a Sanpete county native and NS alumnus, says that being from a rural community tive on several important issues in facing Utah today. If elected, nor from Sanpete county. ent, it’s really hard for people to Cox said. “They don’t understand some of the challenges that we face, with education for example. They don’t understand the lack of jobs that are available.”

Some of these issues that Cox would focus on if elected include education, housing prices, transportation, and clean air.

“The price of housing and transportation issues, and clean air, all of those are really important,” Cox said. “For me, just as important, if not more important, is economic development in rural Utah. Making sure that we have jobs for our kids so that they can live here in Sanpete county if they want to.”

As far as education goes, Cox has some ideas on how to im“Education is a huge one for me,” Cox said. “We have a teacher shortage in our state, we need to do more, we need to pay our teachers more and make sure that more young people want to become teachers.”

Governor Cox 87%

Other 15%

Cox’s opponent, Democratic nominee Chris Peterson, has some of the same concerns as Cox, but they disagree on solutions for these issues.

“We agree on the things that need to be solved, we just disagree on how to solve them,” Cox said.

Peterson’s campaign was not available for comment, but according to his website, if elected, Peterson plans to focus on education, economic support, healthcare, managing public lands and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, among other things.

Despite their disagreements about how to best serve Utah’s needs, Cox and Peterson have recently appeared in campaign advertisements together as a way to advocate for unity and cooperation amid the current political climate.

The advertisements have gotten so much attention around the nation and worldwide due to their message of unity and respect despite political disagreements.

Utah’s 4th Congressional District In stark contrast to the relatively clean and respectful gubernatorial election, is the race for Utah’s 4th congressional district between Democratic candidate Ben McAdams and Republican candidate Burgess Owens.

The 4th congressional district includes the northern part of Sanpete county along with parts of Juab, Utah, Salt Lake counties.

These negative ads have caused many voters and future voters to feel frustrated and disgusted.

“It makes me more disappointed than anything else because I feel that both sides are already just ignoring each other’s points,” said sophomore Ava Lamb. “The negative ads While the election for Congress does not have as big an impact as the Presidential Election, it’s vital to Utah’s interest in Washington. It’s an important race, especially because it is

rare that Utahns elect a d e m ocrat to represent them.

“I think that it’s good we’re talking about it and paying attention,” Lamb said. as extreme as the presidential election, similarities.”

Local School Board Another local election that will have a big impact on Sanpete county and NS is the race for North Sanpete School Board. This year, the representative from NSSD voting district 1, Stacy Goble, is up for re-election. Goble is running against Dan Rasmussen of Spring City.

Goble has served on the school board for the past eight years and is seeking to be elected for her third term.

“It’s an opportunity for me to give back to the community for all the things that the school and the school district did for me in my life,” Goble said.

Goble is a resident of Mount Pleasant and an NS alumna.

“I’ve been born and raised in this community and I attended North Sanpete, graduated from there, and it just runs kind of deep in my soul,” Goble said.

“I’m very proud to be a Hawk.”

If she is re-elected, Goble hopes to continue to build on the growth and success the board has had during her previous two terms.

Running against Goble is challenger Dan Rasmussen, a teacher in the South Sanpete School District.

“The main reason is that I see that there are areas that need improvement and my insight would help the board be able to make those improvements,”

Peterson 7% Other 7%

Rasmussen said.

In his 17 years of teaching, Rasmussen has been able school board decisions have on teachers and students. tive being on the front lines,” Rasmussen said. “[Actually] being in the trenches, I get a on certain topics.”

If he is elected, Rasmussen hopes to be able to improve the management of technology in NSSD and help provide students with needed support.

Like the congressional elections, board members are elected by certain voting districts.

But unlike congressional elections, once they are elected, board members represent the entire school district, not just their voting district. tion and personal opinion, Cox has advice for everyone.

“It’s just really important to vote,” Cox said. “That’s the foundation of our country and everyone needs to get involved and make sure that their voice is heard by casting their vote.”

Congress McAdams 48%

Owens 30%

Other 22%

Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks

Sports

26 October 20 www.NSTimes.org

12

Freshman leads x-country to 2nd place

photo by Michelle Lee

by

Michelle lee

Being a dual-sport athlete is very challenging on the body.

Soccer and cross country are challenging sports individually, and require a lot out of one person’s body. NS Freshman Mari Briggs is finding this out the hard way.

Going from one practice to the next in one day drains Briggs’ energy and strength and sometimes she begins to wonder why she continues moving forward with both sports.

“There was a lot of points where I felt like I couldn’t do it,” said Briggs. “I’d be like, ‘Why am I putting myself through this? I could just quit now and no one would notice.’”

Briggs began asking herself over and over again why she is putting her body through the stress. It is hard, and at times, doesn’t seem worth it. However, as a crucial member of both teams and not wanting to let them down, she continues to stick it out.

Briggs and her coaches must do what they can to keep her from overdoing it and draining all her en-

ergy, so she can continue her up for playing soccer to do her best in both in city league at age five sports. and she has been play“Both myself and ing since then. However, Coach Bedford are on this is her first year with the same page,” said cross country. When her girls soccer coach Julio friend said she wanted to Tapia. “We both com“She is so determined municate and feisty, and she that and we give her as never backs down much time from anyone” as she needs to rest up Erika Briggs to be able to do both sports.” do it, Briggs decided she Although Briggs’ would also give it a try, coaches ensure she rests though her only distance up, there is always the running experience had risk of getting injured in been with soccer. one sport and affecting “She’s been a good the rest of the season surprise for sure,” said for both teams. But de- cross country coach Bill spite these risks, Briggs Bedford. “It wasn’t realdoesn’t stop. She con- ly until we got into Autinues to do her best and gust and then the first knows how to manage couple races that we her body well. found out that she’s a “I’m constantly be- big talent and a big help ing rubbed out after long to the girls team.” days,” said Briggs, “and Briggs’ personal realways making sure that cord during a meet is I communicate with my 19:31 at Lakeside Park. coaches when some- She has the best times thing even hurts just a on this year’s team and little, and just always has a record of a 6:01 making sure that I’m be- minute mile, which has ing healthy so that I have brought the girls cross the energy to do both country team to place sports at the same time.” high during their meets.

Briggs’ mom signed “If you told me a year ago that it would be a freshman who’s running the best times on the team, I think I would’ve been surprised,” said Bedford.

Briggs took first place in their region competition, allowing the girls’ team

to bring home the first place team trophy. In the last race, Briggs placed third overall in the 3A state championship, adding the points up for the team to bring home the second place team trophy.

“She’s made it possible for us to win state,” said senior cross country runner, Tamsin Stewart.

Not only is Briggs a crucial part of the cross country team, but she is an important player of the girls soccer team as well.

“Her skill level is probably around a juniors skill, technicality wise,” Tapia said. “She’s

give up until she accomplishes her job.

“She is so determined and feisty, and she never backs down from anyone,” said Erika Briggs, Mari Briggs’ mom. “Whether they’re bigger, or older or more skilled, she’s just so determined to make her presence known.”

Briggs’ sister, Eryn, is the varsity goalkeeper and has confidence in the way her sister performs her defensive play and trusts her ability to keep the ball away from the goal. “[Eryn] tells me she starts getting a little panicky [when I get subbed

game and a cross country meet have a good chance of landing on the same day. In those cases, Mari has to choose what team she will be with that day.

“I always struggle with what person I’m going to let down and how bad I’m going to feel when I let them down,” said Briggs. “I don’t like seeing someone else be sad when I choose something else over them. So I try to make everyone happy, but sometimes it doesn’t work.”

Not only does Briggs manage both sports, but also gains close friends in the process. Maybe not from the very start, but the friendships grow stronger and stronger as time goes on.

“I thought she was a jerk,’’ said teammate and now close friend, Sarah Church, “but it’s ok, because she thought I was too.”

The more Briggs and Church got to know each other from soccer, the better friends they became and now are close friends.

“It was definitely a mutual feeling,” said Briggs. “I was forced to be friends with her, but luckily it wasn’t like I didn’t like being friends with her. I loved being with her because she’s just so sweet and my thoughts have definitely changed about her.”

An added challenge

photo by Jessica Blackham

pretty advanced for such a young person. If she is there to play and is mentally ready, she is one of the key players in the defence.”

Although Briggs may be small, standing at 5’5”, she makes sure that whoever she is going up against knows she is there and is not going to

out] because she knows that I will recover quickly,” said Mari Briggs, “and I’ll always be so determined to get the ball back if I get it taken from me. So she knows I’m not going to let them shoot on her. She trusts me, which is crazy.”

Being a dual-sport athlete means a soccer

to being a two-sport athlete is the extra payto-play fees. However, Briggs feels it’s all worth it.

“As long as they want to do those activities, and get better, and stay busy and meet new kids,” said Erika Briggs, “then it is totally worth the price.”

Sports

13

Turf, continued from page 1

photo by Carson Hadley

able to serve more than one purpose.

“Having a field that can host multiple events and not sustain damage is also an advantage of turf,” said athletic director Cheryl Hadley. “Maintenance is still needed, and there are definitely pros and cons to turf fields.”

While the new turf field will be a great advantage to the football team and other sports teams, this is not just an investment for them.

“It’s really not about turf, it’s about reducing water use,” Ault said. “That’s the main objective.”

Not only will the field be changed to reduce the need for water, but they will also xeriscape a large majority of the school’s property for the same purpose. The district is planning on having landscape architects come and design the xeriscape to create a water re-

duced landscape for the property.

“If we go ahead and update the landscape with water efficient plants, reduce the amount of grass we water and mow, we could save approximately 5 million gallons of culinary water every year,” Ault said.

The project was brought about by Dr. Sam Ray, the former district superintendent.

“Superintendent Ray got the ball rolling and had most of the initial work done,” Hadley said. “Superintendent Ault has picked up where he left off.”

Ault has taken over where Ray left off and intends to see the project through completion. However, before she can move forward with the plan, it needs to be approved. “[Ray worked] with the six county planners to develop a plan for the reduction of water,” Ault said. “Once they had

this plan in play, they submitted it to FEMA.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is an organization that supports and promotes that as a nation, the country works together to improve its capability to prepare for and recover from disasters. Their goal is to improve services and reduce the risk of natural disasters such as drought.

FEMA provides grants to help reduce the chance of disasters happening. This grant would give NS the money it needs to change the landscape of the school property. The amount of money that will be received from the grant is unknown, but it could be anywhere from one to two million dollars.

“The only way FEMA would approve it is if it’s about water,” Ault said.

By eliminating a portion

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of the water used in the valley, long droughts have a smaller chance of occurring. This benefit plays a significant part in FEMA’s decision of whether or not to approve the grant.

“Reduction of water use and being conservative and wise about how we use water is really what FEMA would appreciate,” Ault said. “Everybody would.”

If NS can convince FEMA of the need for the grant, the change would benefit everyone involved.

“Water is always an issue, and the grant is tied directly to water conservation efforts,” Hadley said.

Although all those that are involved in this project are hopeful the grant will be approved, it is still unknown if this will happen.

“It’s been a discussion item for 10 years or more, but it has always come down to the lack of funding,” Hadley said.

To be confident that NS has a chance of receiving the grant, there is still work to be done. “[The grant] is not just given to you, you have to show an effort. We can do that,” Ault said. “We have lots of projects and we will just have to come up with a good plan to use the money that they provide us.”

The administration does not know if the grant will be approved, but they are optimistic and ready for if it is allowed.

“We have had several preliminary discussions and will continue to work with the district on the planning and details,” Hadley said, “so we are

prepared to move forward if the grant goes through.”

Although NS may be able to receive this grant, they are not able to do it alone.

“Right now, the city has approved to sponsor our grant,” Ault said. ”We can’t apply on our own.”

Mt. Pleasant city will benefit greatly from this plan because of the lack of water in the valley. They will have more water to use throughout the dry season.

Once a full plan has been made, it will be sent to FEMA for approval. Although they are on the verge of being able to send the request to FEMA, the approval is unknown. “[The request] will go to FEMA in January,” Ault said, “FEMA can take 45 days [to approve]. We won’t know until, at the soonest, the middle of February as to whether this will work.”

This project has gone through much discussion and has had much help to make it happen.

“I appreciate Dr. Ray in taking these steps, and [I] really appreciate the six county planner, [Zach Leavitt],” Ault said.

“He’s been really instrumental in making sure we know what the steps are as we proceed.”

A lot of this is possible because of Mt. Pleasant city as well.

“Thank you to the city council and the mayor for supporting this,” Ault said, “we can’t do this on our own.”

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Sports

14

photo by Jessica Blackham

by

Marlee crozier

The NS girls volleyball team is carrying on a strong season with 16-9 overall wins and losses, and a 9-2 region record.

The Lady Hawks enter the state tournament as the fifth seed, and they recently Defeated Grantsville on Saturday.

They credit their success this season to focusing on developing players with a holistic approach.

“In the past, we have run into issues because players won’t make a play on a ball because they feel that they aren’t the setter, hitter, libero, etcetera,’ Jori Turpin, assistant coach, said.

‘We wanted all of the kids to feel comfortable making a play on the ball and making the best choice they can. Our focus for the year was talking about making volleyball players, not position

players.”

The players, as well as the coaches, have really worked on embracing the new mindset of buying-in to the game and to being volleyball players and not just positions.

“The coaches, specifically Rickie [Stewart], want this season to be the one where we buy-in,” said Jada Bailey, team libero and junior. “We know we have the talent, skill, and ability to do really well, it all just comes down to our effort and determination to lay it all on the floor.”

It has been a bit of an adjustment for the team but Rickie Stewart, head coach, believes in the girls and their potential.

“As always, we [coaches] have high expectations because we realize that they can do hard things,” Stewart said.

“To get better, you have to be uncomfortable sometimes.”

The state tournament begins today and they are bringing their best effort

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to achieve their goal. “[The goal for state this year is] to win, to win the whole thing,” Steward said. “Put out our best players on the floor, the best product on the floor.”

A lot of preparation for state from the athletes has been put in this season since day one.

“I think this team has improved a lot because they have decided that this is important,” Stewart said. “If you look at where they were [compared] to now, I think the key for them is that they realize it’s not how many times they fall down, but how many times they get back up.”

The improvements through the season haven’t come easy, but have been worth all the time and effort.

“It’s been a climb,” Bailey said.

“Each week since the summer, we have gotten better at volleyball in some way.

It hasn’t been easy and we’ve really had to work for it. But you can definitely see a huge improvement with our team from the summer until now. We take it one ball at a time.”

Many different approaches and learning methods have been used throughout the season to help strengthen the girls to be better and smarter than their opponents.

“We have watched some film on different opponents and just worked on some of our weaknesses in offense and serving,” said Turpin.

“We are putting kids into more pressure situations in practice to try and help them feel with a little bit of pressure that you would feel at the state tournament.”

The coaches have taught and implemented into the team all that they can--state is in the players’ hands now.

“Skill-wise, there is nothing else we can teach them,” Turpin said. “It’s up to them at this point. They are either going to do the small things and buy-in, or we could resort to old things and end 4th and 5th like we have the past several years. How they perform is going to be contingent on confidence and showing up at the same time.”

Not only the coaches, but the girls on the team have really taken initiative this year to help themselves improve as a team and individually.

“I feel everyone has taken initiative, including the coaches,” Bailey said. “We all want to be good and we all have realized that it’s going to take everyone doing their job for us to succeed. Hard work, communicating with one another, and working as a team has been the way we prepare. Every day at practice, we go in ready to get better.”

With all the time put in, the team feels ready to compete at state.

“I know the team is ready for state,” Bailey said. “We know that if we give it our all, we can accomplish our goals for the state tournament. You won’t want to miss it.’’

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Voice of the North Sanpete Hawks

Arts

27 October 20 www.nstimes.org

15

Because of the shortage of auditions, every student that tried out was able to have a part in the Shakespeare competition.

After countless days of practicing and rehearsal, Barlow and his students submitted their work on September 26th.

The submissions consisted of two duo/ trio scenes, three dramatic monologues, and an ensemble consisting of scenes from Richard the

photos by Bradley Power

Senior Kylee Davis plays the part of Richard the Third, who is being tormented by the souls he has killed (Above). Richard the Third and his two consciences (Bottom Right). by

MiChael larsen

NS Drama departsweepstakes and ensemble categories while attending the annual Shakespeare Competition, despite the drastic changes to accommodate safety during the pandemic.

Students this year could not attend any event

in person and could not perform or view pieces in Cedar City. Instead, NS performed in front of a camera and sent their pieces to be judged and viewed online.

“Because it was virtual, we just submitted our or on YouTube,” said NS drama teacher Alex Barlow, “and then they sent them out to all the judges

from all across the country.”

Students also had routine checks for symptoms before rehearsals, and all wore masks until they were ready to record their pieces.

The participants included sixteen NS students.

Students were required to submit a pre-recorded piece, such as a song or a monologue, to try out.

Barlow and his students all watched for their names when the winners were announced on Oct. 9. They were ecstatic to

see the results.

“They did awesome,” place

sweepstakes,

and

Anderson took third place in monologues, and both our duo/trio scenes made the second year in a row sweepstakes and ensemble scenes.”

Anderson was a lead role in the ensemble scene and won third place in the monologue category.

“We all love what we do at the drama department,” said Anderson, “so we were glad to take what we could when we could.”

New Mandalorian season coming October 30 For those of you who do not

by Josh Cox know what a dark saber is, it is an incredibly rare weapon, completely Almost exactly one year ago, a unique. This weapon was kept withStar Wars series called The Man- in the Mandalorians, and was given dalorian came out. Many were ex- to the leader as a sign of power and cited for its release, and for most it authority, not to mention he could did not disappoint. Baby Yoda was wield it with great skill. introduced, and he captured all of our hearts.

Now, the second season of The Mandalorian is coming out on Oct. winning and gaining a dark saber.

30, the day before Halloween.

Then, he may reform the MandaloThe last episode of The Man- rians, among other things.

The trailer for the upcoming seThe Mandalorian, Din Djarin, re- ries looks amazing. In the voiceover, ceived a jet pack, which fans were the armorer tells Din Djarin that he excited about. The jet pack is, of needs to take Baby Yoda to the Jedi. course, a sign of a Mandalorian, along with the helmet design and the Mandalorians and the Jedi have Beskar steel. contention toward each other. So, He also took down his imperial none of them will trust him, making pack and some bombs. But we see

At the beginning of the trailer,

out in space. It looks like he will get die, he emerges from the wreckage, stranded or lose his ship. Then, he dark saber in his hand. is walking into a city, which looks

The Little Trump That Tried

by Trayson ThoMpson

scene at the end of the trailer.

about the Jedi. But, it also seems that something goes wrong. desert planet, with a Tusken raider One of the things that makes on the back of a Bantha. This sug- the trailer exciting is at the end, gests that they are on the planet Ta- where he beats the crap out of a tooine, where we know both Anakin and Luke lived.

Overall, I think it’s safe to exIn one of the following scenes pect good things from season two of of the trailer, he sees a woman, The Mandalorian. The trailer looks who just might be a Jedi. One thing fantastic, and as long as we don’t that also might be important hap- have anything like episode 4 in the pens when he is being tailed by two original season, the new season will X-wings, which means he visits the be great.

Arts

16

Murder mystery game skyrockets in popularity among students shirley xiCoTenCaTl

meeting is called).

While in the game, you are randomly cho“Among Us” is a simple, yet complex game sen to be either to be a crewmate or an imposter.

If you go into a private game or a game with that is taking the gaming world by storm. Creat- After you get chosen, it’s a game of who is the ed by InnerSloth, “Among Us” was released in better liar and how many people get killed by June of 2018. For two years, the game languished the imposters and if the crewmates can get their a game, you can choose the color of your skin in the back of the App Store, with few down(dark blue/green, red, black, etc.). Also, while in loads and few regular players. This was suddenly vote them out. the lobby you can change to wear a hat or an changed by a surge of popularity that took over both the PC and mobile platforms in mid-2020, where everyone is going and who they are goYou don’t have to pay money to get the game ing with. If they get killed, they can still do their on your phone or your tablet and still get the the rising king of PC games. tasks and observe how far or how close their fel- hats, but if you try to get it on your computer, Even though 82 percent of the NS student you will have to pay money for the game, and body knows of the game, only 53 percent of Imposters need to kill the crewmates, which students play weekly. However, that is still quite they can do by sabotaging the reactor, oxygen, a big number. Throughout the school, you can lights or comms to make sure that the crewmates see many students playing before, after, or even during class. As the students are playing with that a crewmate believes they have found an Imclassmates and even some teachers, such as poster, they can either call an emergency meetCheyne Christensen (who teaches coding), they are having a lot of fun during school.

When playing as an imposter, students try to Playing “Among Us” has been really fun for students when some of the teachers let them play have to do. After killing the person, they try to for the last few minutes of class, which can cause sabotage either lights or something on the other a lot of ruckus. When playing you can feel be- side of the map to hinder the rest of the players. trayed if one of your friends kills you or vote you out for no reason. Students love being the im- settings you can have in it. In the home menu, you can choose either to go online or local. After The object of the game is simple, but the in- that you can choose if you want to create a new trigue is in discovering who in the group is the game or join a public game or even go into a game with bots. virtually. There are one to three Imposters and Students often go into private lobbies with - friends or family, in which the gameplay could cause a few trust issues or bring people together killed, and try to vote out the imposter(s) when a lot more. Some like to play free play so they can a crewmate’s body is found (or an emergency by

Artistic students participate in project for impoverished youth years. A teacher working at Juab High School told NS art teacher Paul Allred about the organization.

After they got in contact, the program was started here at NS. Since then 15 kids in our school have participated in the project, and they have completed 20-30 portraits.

A person will get chosen at random and the organization will send headshots of them to Allred. Allred then asks his students if they would like to participate, and the age of the person, their name, and their favorite color is the only information that is given about subject. Once the portrait is completed, it gets sent back. photo by Paul Allred

Junior Paige Ison standing with her drawing for the Memory Project. by

Vanessa JiMenez

The Memory Project is a nonpeople of all cultural backgrounds together and to show children from around the world that they are valued and important. They work with schools all around the world and have had 280,000 youth involved in 55 countries since 2004.

This organization has been involved with our school for about 8

home, so they don’t have any photographs of themselves. They’re lucky to have a blanket, even food,” Allred said, “so it’s a way to give them something they can call their own.”

Some of the children live in refugee camps, others have lost their families, and others live in severe ing home and can’t carry around a lot of their personal belongings.

So getting to have something like a portrait of themselves, drawn by someone miles away, can mean a lot to them. It’s also special for the peo-

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ple who get to draw the art.

“I think the fact that they were going to receive it was part of why I wanted to do it,” said junior Page Ison, who recently did a portrait for the organization.

The impact that COVID-19 has had on The Memory Project has been huge. Normally, about 30,000 students around the country get involved, but this year, the total will probably be around 10,000.

The delivery process has had to change as well; instead of traveling in person to deliver the portraits, they’ll have to send them by UPS and FedEx. “The one thing all children in

our program have in common is that they are either facing or oversaid the founder of The Memory Project Ben Shumaker said on his site, “and they inspire us with their courage and resilience. Creating portraits for them is our artistic way of showing support and honoring their strength. We also place a special emphasis on creating portraits for children in countries that have tension with the United States as a way of extending our hand in peace.”

Arts

Presidents by

Josh Cox

17

Heard in the

Halls -’’His personality is like 50% ranch.

How do you not have ranch?”

-’’I can’t close my eyes, it’s too dark.”

-’’Do you want some mustard lotion?”

-”Apparently I just hate developed countries.”

-”Poverty is a strategy. Nobody will steal from me when I have nothing.”

-’’Just because I’m arguing doesn’t mean I actually care.”

-’’Carson is deceitful.”

-”Uno ruins relationships, it’s not a sport!”

-”Wearing other people’s clothes is much more fun than wearing your own.”

-’’Rihanna’s career decisions make me depressed.”

-’’Did you even 2014?!?!?”

-’’You can’t quit, slaves have to be sold.”

Wish in g you a l l a sa f e, f un , a n d f a n t a st ic sc h ool yea r

GO HAWKS!