Rolla High School, October 31, 2015 Issue

ECHO

Rolla High School - 900 Bulldog Run - Rolla, Missouri 65401 www.rhsecho.com

Vol. 66 - Issue 2 - Oct. 31, 2014

Taking a stand against rape pg. 10

by Maggie Duncan

In lovng memory of Philip and Carin Allen pg. 18

by Rohit Allada

Experience Diwali pg. 3

by Rahel Pommerenke

Area hunters prepare to take to the woods pg. 10

by Luke Walker

Local efforts to rid hunger pg. 6

by Chloe Meyers

In this issue...

Celebrating Diwali.................................................................................3 Local Coat Drive Provides for Community............................................4 Stressing About Your GPA?...................................................................5 Charity Provides Food for Needy...........................................................6 Growing Up Between Cultures..............................................................8 C.O.R.E Funding Cuts Explained..........................................................14 Look Into AP Art Student’s Portfolios...................................................15 Is Your Backpack Hurting You?.............................................................16 Tribute to a Beloved Teacher................................................................18 Students Go Above and Beyond for Their Activities.............................20 Students’ Passion for Hunting...............................................................21 Halloween Crafts....................................................................................23

Rape Culture

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pg.

Letter from the editor b y

M

a g g i e

Editor

D

u n c a n

in

Chief

Even though the center is about rape culture and feminism can get a little overdone, the problem does exist and there’s still so much that needs to be brought to the public’s attention. And don’t say we should lighten up, or shrug these things off because according to a study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television women still have less than a third of all speaking roles in the year’s top grossing films and only fifteen percent of those films had women in leading roles. Too many strong female characters are simply props for the male leads and have no personality whatsoever. Take Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon, or the Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four. Sure, they’re strong and independent on screen but they speak only generic lines. Their entire purpose is to further enhance the other male roles which are witty, flawed and real. Sure we’re making strides with films like Brave, The Hunger Games, and Mulan but even at the end of the Mulan after she saves the entire country and is honored by

ECHO Magazine Staff Editor In Chief - Maggie Duncan, Managing Editor - Theodora Leventis, Webmaster - Rohit Allada, Staff Writers: Chloe Myers, Trustin Dinsdale, Rahel Pommerenke, John Giesey, Amanda Steineman, Luke Walker

ECHO is an open forum for student expression. All letters to the editor must include the writer’s name, signature and class or position. Anonymous letters will not be published. ECHO reserves the right to reject any letters. should be sent to ECHO, Rolla High School, 900 Bulldog Run, Rolla, MO 65401.

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the emperor she is still not complete until she gets a boyfriend. These are just a few films out of many. Women still have yet to fully assert themselves in today’s society, and another trend that concerns me is the need to be a “chill girlfriend.” I have never striven to be a chill girlfriend. I know exactly what I want and how I want it and since communication about how you feel is the most important part of any relationship this has so far worked out very well for me. The chill girlfriend trend sets girls up for unhealthy relationships by forcing them to lower their standards in order to try to fit into this societal standard set for them and forces them to keep quiet about any complaints for fear of becoming the sexist stereotype of that clingy and irrational girlfriend. Having expectations does not make you demanding, if you have no expectations of the other person than there is no point in being in a relationship at all. There is nothing wrong with being assertive about your needs in any relationship.

However, with all this liberation flying around it can be easy to demonize our Y chromosomed friends. Men are treated differently from the time they are born, expected to be louder, rowdier and get in trouble more. The definition of feminism is to root for equality, not to turn around and oppress someone else.

Diwali b y

R

a h e l

Pomme

r e n k e

Staff Writer

Diwali, the Festival of the Lights, has become an international celebration. In all of India, as well as in parts of the United States, this Hindu tradition has taken root. The India Association is an organization of students, professors and their families who reside in Rolla. Annually, they share their vibrant culture and wide range dishes through a Cultural Show and a Dinner. In the Hindu belief, this celebration originates the story of a lord returning from exile after fourteen years.

Although the different regions of India have various explanations for the origin of this four-day festival. In general, the festival is based on figures in history and religion performing heroic actions.

“Lord Rama killed Lord Ravan who had taken away Rama’s wife, Sita. So Lord Rama built a big bridge over the Indian Ocean by using big stones, and he was able to go to Sri Lanka, This is where Lord Ravan was hiding with Sita. He killed him and brought his wife back to India. That is the reason that we celebrate it,” Rohit Joshi, director of the India Association said.

Diwali, being a time of rejoicing, is an important celebration. People from India’s twenty-nine states come together to celebrate something that they all have in common. While in the United States English is the official language, in India, twenty-seven languages are spoken. ”You can’t understand another one if you know one. They’re all different, because people with their own backgrounds have their own languages,” Joshi said.

Although there are many different people coming together to celebrate, the concept of the festival remain constant.

“Diwali is the festival of the lights. [To illuminate the celebrations] we have special lamps which are little pots to which we add oil; a small lining so that it will stay lit the entire night,” Joshi said.

In addition to these oil lamps. People also light fireworks. Both of these forms of light are symbols for wealth, peace, good health and well-being. Most families come together to celebrate and to cook several traditional dishes.

“Most Indian dinners include the paneer, chicken and curry, to which spices can be added to give it a different flavor,” Joshi said.

These dishes can also be found at the local celebration of Diwali at Missouri Science and Technology. The celebration, consisting of a Cultural Show, a dinner and a possible display of fireworks brings close to one-thousand people together. This year the theme of the show will be “A Love Story.” The performances, including dances, skits as well as an appearance of some of the local children associated with the celebration will all revolve around the theme.

“We will be depicting different Indian Cultures. We will be trying to showcase the biggest cultures: Bollywood, South Indian, Panjabi,

Garba and Classical,” Joshi said.

The tradition of celebrating of Diwali in Rolla has been going on for almost a decade. It has developed considerably since the 1990s.

“We used to have it in a classroom. Then we moved it to the Havener Center, and now Leach Theater, and every part of it has become big,” Joshi said.

Although the celebration in Rolla has expanded, it is nowhere as big as the celebrations in India. Diwali is celebrated for several days, and many more people take part in the preparations and celebrations during which moods are happy. People exercise their free spirits, and at the same time, they repeat the traditions.

“We just randomly light them in front of our houses. There are rockets flying into people’s houses and nobody cares,” Joshi said.

In Rolla, however, the restrictions on fireworks do not make it possible for people to light fireworks on designated days.

“We may have fireworks this year too. Here it’s very complicated to get them. There’s a specific guy who sets them up, so you can’t mess around with them. There’s security and such,” Joshi said.

Although not all of the traditions of Diwali can be upheld at the university celebration, some of the most important, such as the lamps, are included. At Leach Theater, there is an elaborate process to lighting a large oil lamp which burns throughout the entire show, and after the performances, the India Association attempts to organize a display of fireworks.

“In India, my favorite part of the celebration are the fireworks, but here I don’t get to play with them. Here, I love Indian food. I am looking forward to eating real Indian food cooked by students, not by professionals,” Joshi said.

Due to the large number of people that will be attending the dinner, food preparations take up a big part of the planning. Close to eighty people will be working in shifts of three hours the two days before the performance to cook and set up.

Paneer is a type of cheese commonly served in South Asian cuisines.

It is often served with spinach or other types of leafy vegetables. Although Diwali is not celebrated exactly the same by the India Association as in India, the main ideas and symbols can be seen in both celebrations. Sharing the Indian culture with the community brings the two closer together.

“Indian food is very difficult to find in Rolla. There aren’t any restaurants or stores that specialize in Indian dishes. People are actually on the lookout for festivals like these to eat the food. Come for the show, enjoy it and come have great Indian food,” Joshi said.

Cultural Show and Dinner Sunday November 2nd, 2014 (4 PM - 6 PM; 6:30 PM) Tickets available at Leach Theatre, Havener Center & C. L. Wilson Library Ocotober 13th- November 2nd (10 AM -4 PM) For more information contact: sgxdd@mst.edu -- (573)-308-5049

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Visit Brenda’s coat closet, make a donation b y

t r u s t i n

d i n s d a l e

Staff Writer

Photo by Trustin Dinsdale

As the days get colder and the nights get longer, there’s a few things looming in everyones thoughts. Bitter winds and blowing snow. It happens every year and this year will be no exception. As mother nature satisfies her flare for the dramatic, some may be wondering how they’re going to keep warm. Look no further.

There are many places around Rolla that do all that they can to keep people warm and comfortable throughout the winter. First Baptist Church has a community outreach program called Brenda’s Coat Closet. The coat closet serves anyone in the community that needs or can’t afford a coat for those freezing winter months.

“Over the last twenty years, we have probably averaged about two hundred and fifty coats a year,” Beki Wade, chairperson of the coat closet said.

All the coats are either donated or bought through donations. Every used coat that is donated is thoroughly examined to make sure that they are in good shape. The coats are washed and fixed by volunteers.

All of this is done so that the people they serve are happy and healthy.

“Most of the families we serve are very appreciative. I’ve seen people actually cry,” Wade said.

Often, families come in and are overwhelmed by the kindness of these people. For some teenagers, it is often hard to accept help from other people. They’re afraid that they will be looked down upon, because they simply can’t afford a coat.

“I can’t give an actual number of high school students that we have served, but there are some every year and a relative guess would be around twenty,” Wade said.

The most appealing thing about the coat closet, is that it is com-

pletely free. The volunteers that run it do not expect any kind of payment for these coats. They are given out of love for their community.

The volunteers are satisfied because they know that they are doing what they can to help the people around them. A record is kept of all the coats that are given out. The record doesn’t list names; it simply lists numbers.

“But it’s just a number. The important thing is that we are obviously meeting a real need in the community. It has always been surprising to me as I speak to our consumers, how much hurt and need is all around us,” Wade said.

These people are doing something very important and they know it. They love what they do and they’re very happy to help anyone and everyone.

“Sometimes, we see folks who can’t afford a new coat right now, and sometimes we see folks who have never ever had a new coat and can’t even imagine what it would be like to purchase one,” Wade said.

Of course, there are also people who’d like to donate coats instead of receiving one. For anyone who would like to donate a coat or coats, they can stop by the churches main office anytime before four o’clock.

The church is always very appreciative of any new or lightly used coats that can be donated. Around the end of October through the end of February, the coat closet will be open most Wednesday nights at six thirty. For anyone who would like to receive a coat, the coat closet will soon be opening their doors for another season. The way to the coat closet is clearly marked and people are encouraged to come and take advantage of this wonderful program.

Photo by Trustin Dinsdale

Historically Known In Beautiful Downtown Rolla

Blossom Basket Florist 4017 Hypoint Blvd.

Rolla, MO 65401 Phone:(573) 364-4833 4 feature

10th and Cedar Streets

Rolla, MO 65401

573-364-7101

Is it really worth it? b y

A

m a n d a

S

t e i n e m a n

Staff Writer

College is approaching for many of us, and students worry about if their GPA is good enough to get into a good college.

Most students are satisfied with a GPA above a 3.0, which is a B average. But what about those students who strive for a 4.0? The question is if the 4.0 is worth the stress and hard work.

When asked how important a 4.0 is, the Rolla High School’s Counselor Sarah Kaelin said, “For college admissions purposes it is not critical to maintain a 4.0. What IS critical is the courses you are taking. You should be taking the most challenging courses in which you can do well without being overwhelmed. Many colleges would prefer to see a ‘B’ in a difficult class than an ‘A’ in a class beneath your ability.”

Having a perfect GPA is not expected by many colleges, but they do like to see a high number.

“I don’t know of any colleges/universities that require a 4.0.

Many colleges/universities with great reputations are able to be more selective because there are so many applicants who want to attend,” Kaelin said.

If a student is interested in seeing their chances to get into a certain college, Kaelin recommends using websites such asParchment and Cappex.

Cappex combines basic information about a student such as GPA, ACT, SAT, clubs, sports, and hobbies. It then gives you a range of how likely it is to get into a college. Even when a 4.0 GPA and a 36 ACT score are entered for a student, some premier schools such as Yale and Harvard are not in a “highly likely” range to be admitted.

Perhaps this is because, according to an article published by USA Today, “Admissions officers at some of the nation’s most selective colleges, who are now sending acceptance letters for their fall freshman classes, say they barely look at an applicant’s GPA,” said Kaelin.

However, not all universities disregard GPA. According to education.com, “Your academic average or GPA is one of the most important criteria that colleges consider when reviewing your application.”

The value of GPA depends highly on the college a student applies to. One college may see a GPA as unimportant, another may use a GPA as the main way to consider a student.

Colleges do not just look at the numbers for a GPA. They mainly look at the courses. If a student takes AP classes and has As, that will look much more impressive to colleges versus a student taking lower level classes with As. “Years ago, I had a student with a 36 on the ACT and a 4.0 who applied to the same university as another student with an ACT of 28 and GPA of 3.49. Only the second student was admitted. The student with the ‘perfect’ academic track record was denied admission. Sometimes, other factors contribute to the college admission process,” Kaelin said. Though both a GPA and ACT are important to colleges, it is not the only thing they consider.

“Obviously the higher your GPA and test score, the easier it is to obtain automatic admission at some schools, but there are other important factors which contribute to the admission process.” Kaelin said.

Design by Rahel Pommerenke

College admissions not only look at GPA and tests scores, they also look for leadership roles, community service, essays and letters of recommendations.

“Another factor can be if you have a family member who attended that university since some admissions offices offer ‘legacy’ admission to contribute to the final acceptance decision.” Kaelin said. Although it is obvious that a 4.0 is nearly never required to get into a school, students have more personal reasons for keeping an A average.

Rolla High School Sophomore Jesse Liu strives for a 4.0 to “make my parents proud, make myself happy, get into a good college, and to have something to work towards”. Some parents expect their children to maintain a 4.0, and students feel as if they have to live up to their expectations. But for Jesse Liu, keeping a 4.0 is more than living up to expectations.

“The thought of not having a 4.0 makes me sick ” Liu said.

He prides himself in his grades and strives to keep them up.

Telling his parents that he does not have a 4.0 is a nightmare to him.

“I’m perpetually in fear of getting bad grades” Liu. Getting good grades can bring just as much stress to the table as the actual work itself. Liu says he is constantly stressed because of school.

Rolla High School Junior Caroline Victor says that maintaining a 4.0 “is a pride thing. I have set a goal for myself to have A’s through high school. My parents would be fine if I got a few B’s but I’d be disappointed with myself.” For Victor, she knows that she can achieve a 4.0, and made it her goal to prove it.

“I used to put a lot of pressure on myself in ninth and tenth grade but so far this year I haven’t been too stressed out” Victor said. Students put pressure and stress on themselves everyday to be better and to have those grades, but they view the reward to be higher than the stress they put upon themselves.

“My sister had a final GPA of 3.85 and so I have challenged myself to beat her” Rolla High School Junior Kameron Wood said. Wood says keeping a 4.0 is a goal for him to work towards and achieve when he graduates. He also mentioned a scholarship that you can earn, which is another incentive for him to keep working toward his goal.

Students who strive for a 4.0 do not necessarily do so for college; many also feel the need to make their parents proud and to set a goal for themselves. It is no question that these students spend hours studying and losing sleep to keep that 4.0. So ask yourself, is it worth it?

Feature feature 5

Finding faith and fighting hunger

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b y

Chl

o e

M

y e r s

Staff Writer

A local food distribution, which happens every third Saturday of the month from 8:30 AM to noon at Grace Church, takes place at Grace Church here in Rolla and feeds up to 600 families a month. It is called Phelps County Faith Distribution, and it is a program in the Phelps County area that provides faithbased support and food and other items to local families in need.

“In March 1999, Grace Church, a local church in Rolla, Mo., began distributing groceries and USDA commodities to needy families in Phelps County, in conjunction with The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri (Columbia, Mo.) Continuing every month since then, the ministry has assisted thousands of families with items from Feeding America and USDA,” Phelps County Faith Distribution’s website says.

Diane Hagni, a coordinator of Phelps County Faith Distribution, and a pastor at Grace Church has been a part of this since the beginning.

“The Food Bank for Central and Northeastern Missouri in Columbia contacted us about 16 years ago because there were no distribution points in Phelps County. They asked [Grace Church] if we were willing to be a distribution site. We prayed and did some research, and decided to go for it. In March 1999, we served about 90 families and it has just increased since then,” Hagni said.

Hagni was not kidding about the program growing.

“The last few months, we have averaged 550

to 600 families, which is about 1,400 individuals per month,” Hagni said.

According to Hagni, the number of families served has fluctuated in the many years the program has been around.

“When the economy went into a recession, it took about a year and a half for us to see a pretty significant increase in the number of families served. Up until a couple of years ago, we were serving an average of 425 families a month, so more than a 125 to 150 family increase in the last couple of years. It has leveled off now,” Hagni said.

Since this program is so huge, the Phelps County Faith Distribution coordinators can often run into problems.

“Sometimes, we don’t have enough volunteers, especially people to carry grocery boxes to cars. A lot of the people we serve are disabled or elderly and can’t carry their own boxes. Due to the increase in the number of people we serve, we don’t have space or truck capacity to distribute as much food as The Food Bank would like us to,” Hagni said.

Sometimes, according to Hagni, all the work can be frustrating, but it is worth it.

“Sometimes [it is frustrating], but also can be very rewarding when we see people who are really trying to make ends meet and know that the food assistance allows them to purchase other things they may need for their families. It’s frustrating when the people we serve get upset when we run out of some items, or they don’t get the same thing another family gets, and they complain. All of us who serve are volunteers, so it can really be hard to hear when people aren’t grateful when all of us are doing the best we can with what we have,” Hagni said.

Photos by Diane Hagni

There have been many instances in all of the years that this program has been serving the community, but a couple in particular stand out to Hagni.

“There have been several instances over the years [that it has been rewarding]. A few years ago, a young man in his early 20s was volunteering and carrying boxes, and he told me that when he was a kid, if it wasn’t for the food we distributed, he wouldn’t have had anything to eat, because his family was really in a bad way. Recently, I was helping a family get their box of food and the little boy, maybe 5 years old, looked inside and started jumping up and down, excited that he had some food to eat. Sometimes you never know whose life you are affecting,” Hagni said.

Hagni is very thankful for the help the programs receives from those within the community such as other churches, clubs, youth groups, the Forest Service and other individuals and groups.

“Although Grace Church spearheads this ministry, there are so many community partners we are grateful for, including Wal-Mart Distribution Center, which provides a semi truck and driver for free for us every month, and many other businesses, churches and groups who help out. We sincerely mean it when we say we couldn’t do it without everyone’s help,” Hagni said.

Because this is a huge program that serves many families throughout our community, more help is always needed. For more information on how to help make a difference and serve the community, one should go to the Phelps County Faith Distribution website.

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Culture Change

Yessica Guzman “My parents were born in Mexico and left for the United States before me and my brother were born so that we would have more chances for a better life. Even though I wasn’t born there, I feel like I am extremely in touch with Mexican culture; I go back all the time and I am completely fluent in Spanish. I like America a lot, but one thing from Mexican culture that I wish was in American culture is how people, families and communities stick together.

For example, at a dinner even if you’re not eating or you don’t like the food you’ll still be sitting at the table just so that you can be there. It’s kind of hard to describe but I think most Americans are taken aback when they see that type of thing. Like when someone comes to my house and we’re speaking Spanish or listening to Spanish music or I’m in the kitchen with my mom and we’re cooking and dancing or something, people will be like ‘Oh, what are you doing?’ and that reaction is just because Mexicans have a need to connect and work b y J o h n G i e s e y together instead of having your mom just do your cooking and laundry and chores and Staff Writer everything for you. We’re really independent but we all know how to work together. Also in Mexico, there’s just a lot of cultural pride and identity and stuff like that that’s just not According to the 2010 census, Rolla’s population up here. In my opinion, the biggest cultural distinction between America and Mexico is demographic was 86.71 percent White. Meaning work ethic. Down there, the attitude towards work is that a job is a job and it’s part of your that if one attends Rolla high school, there is a responsibility and personal integrity to do it well. Up here it’s more like a job is a paycheck. strong chance that they are an average white, People in Mexico know how to work and they do it even if they’re making below minimum American-looking kid. But for others, this isn’t wage. Because of that influence, I get a lot of job opportunities and teachers look at me necessarily the case. While Americans can be from positively because I know how to work hard. I also understand what it is like to not have any kind of ethnicity or people, some kids and their something and that really inspires me to do more up here. Mexico is not perfect though. I parents come from a different part of the world. dpn’t likestuff like the drug cartels and the corruption and the crime. When you go there Whether they came for education, for a better you do have to watch where you step and not go out alone at night and stuff. Because of life or for opportunities is not important. What is those things I probably won’t move back and live there in the future.The fact that me and important is that they and their families are now my family are American now is kind of hard on my parents because even though we all have a better life, there’s a greater culture of snobbishness up here. In Mexico people are straight Americans. up with each other so if someone is being lazy or spreading rumors about you, you confront them and just tell them that they need to stop or you will shut them out of your life. But here Anwaar Ibrahim there’s always a type of social back-shadow and my mom especially doesn’t like that.”

“My dad was born in Sudan, and my mom is from Vasilisa Shamina Egypt. They got married and had me and when I “My mom and I came from Russia. I was born in Yaroslavl, which is a few hours from was two; they left Sudan and came here. They just Moscow.

My mom and I lived there for a few years. We left when I was four because my came here looking for a better life like most people mom met my step dad and they got married and we moved here to Rolla. My mom and my and I definitely am glad they did. I feel like my life biological dad were together until I was about two years old and then they split up, so it was would life my what than better lot a in America is just my mom and I. My mom was a lawyer in Russia. She met my step dad who is a profesbe like in Sudan. Sudanese culture is very different sor at S&T coincidentally and they liked each other a lot so they just got married and came from American culture for sure. For starters, Sudahere. My mom also just moved here for better opportunities and stuff like that too. I feel like like stuff of lots nese culture is really sexist. There’s I’m really in touch with my heritage. I speak fluent Russian and I really understand Russian men always get to eat before women, and women culture. My favorite thing about Russia is the culture surrounding food. It’s like having your have to cover themselves up in front of men and whole family eating a meal and coming together. A dinner can last for four or five hours just women have to spend their time cleaning and because of all the talking people do. It just really brings everyone together in Russia. Overall, cooking and stuff like that. It’s stuff like that that I’m pretty happy with my mom’s decision to bring us over here because the standard of life makes me kind of opposed it because I am a femand government are just better here. Obviously, America just has better opportunities for inist, which is almost entirely a result of culture. me so yeah. I wouldn’t say that I’m happy I don’t live there, but I am happy that I live here.

Sudanese about charming find I stuff There’s some I would say that if there was a major difference between Russia and American culture, it culture. For example, everything is very family and would be that here is much warmer and more welcoming, bu it’s also snobbish here a bit too. community orientated. Every little village is like For example, when you walk down the street here and you see a random stranger, it’s totally a is neighbor a massive family and being a good okay to smile at them or something. Over there, it’s a lot less friendly tightly knit than here. I fundamental of life over there. You can tell from wouldn’t say that my mom and me coming from Russia affects my day to day life because I’ve looking at me that I’m different; I’m Muslim, black been living here since I was five and I don’t really notice differences. When I go over there and wear a headscarf; I don’t feel ‘different’ per se or my grandparents come over here, I do notice differences. For example, if I go over there but if I had to describe it, I’d say sometimes I feel and I’m like, overly-friendly or say thank you or please too much, it’s just weird for people like a red bead on a necklace full of blue beads. In and they look at me funny. My mom really doesn’t have a problem with me growing up here spite of all the stuff that might make me look difand acting like any other American teenager. She acts pretty American too. My grandparents happy am I and American, an as ferent, I identify probably feel like I’m not staying true to my culture so if I were to go live with them I would that I live here. The only thing that really makes probably be different. Me and my mom both speak Russian at home and on the phone and me feel guilty in the sense of ‘not acting Sudanese we both care about preserving the fact that we’re from Russia so I feel like I am a pretty good about enough’ is that I’m just not as enthusiastic mix of cultures. Most people I meet probably learn that I’m Russian pretty quickly because my original culture as my mom. For example, for of my name and stuff. Most people think it’s cool that I can speak Russian and am from one Sudanese holiday, my mom makes thousands there but other than that I wouldn’t say that being Russian affects my daily life much at all. I of traditional cookies, because of how community don’t do anything that’s really out of the ordinary that would indicate that I’m not American orientated Sudanese culture is, but because we live and Russian culture isn’t really different enough from American culture in the first place. If in America without that type of community, we somebody randomly asked me if I identify as Russian or American, I would say I was born in just have a bunch of cookies lying around.”

Russia, so I’m technically Russian, but completely raised in America. Culturally I’m almost 100 percent American through customs and morals and the way I talk and the way I dress.

But still, I feel like so many aspects of Russian culture play into who I am that it’s not fair to ignore that altogether.”

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Adem Malone “My dad’s from New Jersey but my mom came to America from Istanbul, Turkey for educational purposes. She had the top scores in her school so she came to MS&T. She met my dad because he was an English professor for non-natives. After my mom got married to my dad and had me and my sister Aysen the Turkish government wanted her back in Turkey because they paid for her education, so we had court trials because if we wanted to stay in the U.S, we had to pay a $100,000 fine to the Turkish government. Over the duration of the court cases, the Turkish government changed the fine for what my mom did from $100,000 to only $10,000. So we agreed to pay that amount and we’ve been in America ever since. I usually go back to Turkey for summers. I haven't been able to go in recent years because of summer school and stuff. Whenever we go, we spend about two months there. We go to Istanbul first, and see my grandma and grandpa and a few of my uncles. Then we go to Ankara and see my mom’s sister and my cousins. We also go to a village outside of Konya, which is a big city where my other uncle and aunt live. After that we go back to Istanbul back for two weeks, then we go back to the U.S. I would say that the influence of Turkish culture has been negative on me. Me and my sister aren’t the best at English and that’s because we learned Turkish first but our experience with Turkish is limited, although my sister ois better at Turkish than me because she spent a lot of time over there when she was younger. We weren't exposed to English as much as other kids and I’d say that knowing Turkish has affected my English skills dramatically; sometimes I have a hard time pronouncing words. I feel like I’m lacking in Turkish and English because I was never put completely into either culture, but was only half immersed in both cultures. It has definitely been positive for me too though. My Turkish isn’t that bad and normally when you

learn a language in school it’s really hard to speak it fluently because you have to be exposed to it a bunch in order to actually be any good at it. Normally when you’re learning a language and you learn a new word you have to think of what that word is in English and then you use it. But since me and my sister learned Turkish at a young age we can just think of the Turkish word and then say it. One of the greatest differences between me and most Americans is religion. My dad is Catholic but my mom is Muslim and since most children adopt their mother’s religion me and my sister are Muslim. Recently, I’ve kind of gone away from that; I don’t really practice Islam anymore. But when I was younger, my mom would take us to the mosque in Rolla and we would do the prayers and play with other Turkish kids and we didn’t eat pork. My mom was never really strict about her religion though.

For example, I first realized I couldn’t eat pork when I was eight because my mom had never told me and I had been eating pork all my life until then. My mom never forced the religion on us but we just adopted it because it’s our mom’s religion. I feel like other than that I have lived life that’s pretty similar to most american kids. I spend way more time here and my dad is American. If it makes sense, I’d say I identify as one third Turkish, and two thirds American. I really enjoy being American as well as Turkish. Lots of people find the fact that I’m half-Turkish to be really interesting, and when I go to Turkey lots of people think its interesting that I’m also American. I don’t even notice many differences except for language. Most Turkish people look like somebody we’d see walking around here. I classify Turkey as my second home, but my first home is America. I wouldn’t want to live in Turkey because I don’t think Turkey is exactly where it needs to be as a nation in order for me to live there permanently. America is really a great country and it is no mistake as to why so many say it is the great-

Jesse Liu “My parents came from southwestern China and they both came here mainly for college; my dad went to Queens University in Kansas, because that was the only school that would give him a full ride scholarship and pay for his living costs. He got his bachelors degree in China then went to Queens to get his masters. After that, he couldn’t afford to get my mom over so he had to get a job. When he first came over, he had one empty suitcase, one that was half full and twenty-three dollars and thirty-three cents; he specifically remembers counting it because it was all he had. So he worked here for a year and a half, then my mom came over. They were already married and they kept their relationship going on monthly phone calls because it was really expensive. They were living at Queens University but my mom hated Queens University because it was cold and the part of China they come from is pretty hot. So my dad transferred to Texas A&M and got his Ph.D there. My mom got her masters and Ph.D there too. What made my dad special was that at the time in China, the cultural revolution didn’t allow anyone to go to college but his year was the first that they allowed to go to college, so that year the standards were crazy high and he had to get really high scores on a bunch of tests to come over; he did though and that’s why I’m here today. Having grown up with Chinese culture at home and American culture everywhere else has changed my life a lot from most kids. On the outside I know I look like a normal Asian-American kid, but really I was raised in a more traditional Chinese culture. For example, I was never able to go out and play with friends when I was a kid without asking my parents first.

I always had to study first and focus on school. My parents are stricter than most of my friends parents, but they are definitely not as strict as most Asian parents. To an extent, I think it has been hard on my parents to see me grow up so differently from them culturally wise. Of course they love me, I’m their child, but they don’t like some aspects of American teenage culture. In Chinese culture, being a good kid means you study a lot and you don’t go out and act independently. But American culture is so much more relaxed and not really as caring, and that really goes against Chinese culture which focuses on listening to your parents, respect and doing what you’re supposed to. Confucius taught that young people need to listen to their elders and respect their parents, so that’s really prevalent. At first when I would act indepen-

dent it was hard for them cause I would be like ‘I wanna be with my friends! I do what I want! I’m strong, beautiful and independent!’ That was hard for my parents because they were like “Oh, we weren’t like that! He’s a punk!” But they’ve done a really good job of adjusting to that. My mom and dad are both very intelligent people and they read a lot so they’ve gotten pretty familiar with American teenage culture and I’m feel really fortunate to have parents who understand. Another thing is that they are really liberal towards movies and music because their parents were really restricting, so in response to that they are like ‘You can watch and listen to whatever you want! Be happy!’ with me.

Another thing that’s great about my parents is that they feel like, ‘You live in America so it’s okay to be American but you still need to respect Chinese culture.’ I really respect Chinese culture and I love my Chinese heritage so I still represent that in a lot of ways in my life. Sometimes I feel pressure to be more true to my heritage; like I should be eating some noodles instead of a burger. I feel like I’m a pretty good mix but sometimes I still feel like I’m not really acting Asian. It bothers me when I see other Asian kids and they’re just acting like white kids.

In my personal opinion, I feel like if you’re Chinese then you need to respect Chinese culture. You can be Americanized because you were born in America and stuff, but remember that you’re Chinese-American or Asian-American; Asian and Chinese are still in there, and you have to respect that. If there was anything I don’t like about Chinese culture, it is definitely their system of discipline. In America if you don’t turn in a homework assignment then you get a zero or the teacher yells at you. But in China you go up in front of the class and they yell insults at you and throw things at you and in some more rural areas teachers can hit kids with rulers and stuff. Discipline wise I don’t want to be Chinese but American cause I feel like that’s a better system. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my heritage. I know its part of the stereotype, but I think that my parents coming from China has made me try so much harder in school. The thing people overlook about strict Asian parents is that most of them grew up in really terrible times; starving and working their butts off every day without ny results. So when they come to America where people can shape their own destinies they try so hard to make sure that their kids are as far away from poverty as possible. They just want to make sure that their kids have a secure future and lots of Asian parents see going to a good

est country on Earth.”

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Rape Culture is defined as a culture in which the main culture’s practices, social media, ideologies and institutions overlook and reinforce sexual abuse against women by varying means.

The reasons

Photo by Maggie Duncan

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ns behind

Rape Culture Rape culture is everywhere in our lives. It is not b y Maggie Duncan always as obvious as a rape joke, or an unwanted grope Editor in Chief at a party, but rather many little messages coming from all around us that all adds up to create a dangerous culture for women. These messages can come from popular movies such as Superbad, which opened at number one in the United States box office and grossed almost 170 million dollars worldwide. In the film, a girl comes onto the lead, Evan, very strongly while she is intoxicated and he is not. Evan tells her no, and at the end of the film is hailed for being such an upstanding guy for not taking advantage of her while she is drunk. The media plays a large role in perceptions about consent in how it portrays women in it’s ads.

“Rape culture exists on a couple of different levels. It essentially exists in part by the media and things just as small as commercials. Hardee’s doesn’t sell a burger without a half naked woman eating it and dripping it on herself and lots of car companies don’t sell fancy vehicles without women standing next to them. If you see any pictures from a car show, there’s always women in bikinis standing next to them. Just the whole media surrounding the idea that women sell things, and not necessarily women, but women’s bodies sell things. I think that’s kind of where rape culture starts and it starts to kind of take away the human aspect of women in general and makes them more of objects. You’ll see ads where women’s bodies are compared to cell phone cases and you’re only seeing their torso and there’s not legs and no head and no arms and no brain. I think rape culture starts there and then it’s manifested through jokes and movies,” Koree Klaxton-Miller, violence prevention voracity facilitator for the Russell House said.

The sexualization of females is a component of rape culture and can go largely unnoticed in society. It starts at an early age and continues throughout the female’s lifetime.

“You can go shopping for a little girl’s outfit and find diaper covers that say, ‘Does this make my butt look big?’ or shorts in the little girl’s department that say, ‘cutie’ across the rear end and it’s just this hypersexualized culture that women are supposed to be sexual creatures and that’s what we’re supposed to view them as. In High School, I think I see it a lot in the way that girls dress. I see not necessarily rape culture, but this hyper sexualized image of girls. The shorts are shorter and the shirts are tighter and they’re cut lower. A lot of clothes that I see girls wearing don’t look like they’re for comfort, perhaps they are, I’m not sure, but there’s nothing left to the imagination. Everything’s always super short, and then they’re sticking to desk chairs and they’re uncomfortable,” Klaxton-Miller said.

On one side, girls face the pressure to wear skimpy outfits, but on the other side are shamed for wearing such impractical clothing.

“On one side, boys will say, ‘We want a woman who dresses sexy and gets our attention’ and things like that, but then if she gets sexually assaulted she shouldn’t have been dressing like that. So it’s like where do I pick and choose the line? Do I dress sexy and hope I get attention when I go out and that’s what I’m looking for, maybe I’m hoping to find a boyfriend or someone to chat with or whatever and if I do get sexually assaulted now it’s my fault that I did it?

It leaves women in this really gray area of what do I do. Do I get dressed and then put on a sweater and a scarf and then if I see someone I like I take it off and see if they notice me and then put it back on if they don’t? It leaves girls in a very confusing state of mind of what is too much and what is not enough,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Victim blaming in terms of what the victim is wearing is a large aspect of rape culture.

Sometimes this idea goes so far that it is even brought up in court to try to defend the perpetrator, saying that the victim knew that she would be attacked or wanted attention.

“A lot of times when rapes and sexual assaults are happening, the first thing that people ask is ‘Well did she deserve it? What was she wearing? Why did she go there?’ and I tell people all the time; you can be raped in a hoodie and sweatpants, people don’t care to be realistic about it. Your clothing doesn’t necessarily have an impact on should you be raped or not. I mean that’s not a fair statement. If I’m a doctor walking down the street in expensive clothes, does that mean I should be robbed? Because I look like I have expensive clothes? I mean that’s not fair. And we would never say that to a robbery victim. But to a sexual assault victim

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does that mean I should be robbed? Because I look like I have expensive clothes? I mean that’s not fair. And we would never say that to a robbery victim. But to a sexual assault victim we would say that. ‘Why would you wear such a short skirt and not expect someone to take advantage of you? If you were going to a party you should have been more covered up’ and things like that,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Some victim blaming occurs when excuses are made for males nature using the “Boys will be boys” mentality and saying that they are simply sexual creatures and cannot control themselves. Perpetrators of rape culture excuse the attacker saying that that’s simply how boys are and that the victim should have known that they were placing themselves into a dangerous situation. “[Some people] kind of excuse the males behavior and put the blame back on the female. Why would you walk away with him if you didn’t know him? Why would you sit down in the corner with him if you didn’t know him? Instead of ‘Why would he take advantage of someone without permission? Why did he think it was okay to do this without getting her consent?’ And I think we live in a society where we’re much quicker to blame the victim than we are to question the perpetrator.

And we make it the victims fault where ‘You should have known better, and you should have done x,y and z. Instead of saying ‘You could have been there with someone who wasn’t a perpetrator and that would have never happened,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Even if a woman sets out to be aware and careful, certain social atmospheres, especially on college campuses, can make it more difficult to do so.

“I’ve seen college parties where the punch bowls are set for two different genders, like the males drink out of one bowl and the females drink out of another bowl. The girls bowl has more alcohol in it hoping

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it will make them consent to doing things and not realizing that consent after being intoxicated doesn’t count. The social scene is where I see it the most on college campuses as opposed to in the classroom.

[Rape culture can also be seen in] making decisions after being at a party that they may not have made if they had not been at that party.

Seeing that the social environment that they were in has kind of influenced their decision as opposed to if they were a separate entity by themselves they would not have made that decision,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Rape culture is furthered by the fact that many crimes go unpunished. Many crimes on college campuses go unpunished because when alcohol is involved many victims feel less credible due to their impaired memory of what actually happened. Victims may also be deterred from prosecuting because sexual assault is one of the few crimes where the victim has to testify in court.

“If I get robbed I can say I don’t want to take the stand, but if I get raped I have to take the stand.That can deter people from wanting to press charges because I don’t want to have to relive it in front of a court of fifty people and the person who assaulted me as well,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Although females are more obviously affected by rape culture, boys may also face societal pressures from the opposite side of the issue.

“I think it’s sometimes easy to sell boys short in saying that ‘Oh boys will be boys. They like girls. This is what they do.’ When in reality that’s not what all boys do. And that’s not how all boys think. Sometimes when you get people in a group and a few of the stronger personalities in a group feel this way, it’s easier for people to go along with it,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Most of the pressure boys face comes from competition with their

peers.

“I have conversations with kids just about the simple if a girl goes on a date or a boy goes on a date when they come back what do they friends want to know. And a lot of the girls say they want to know ‘What did you wear? Did he open the door for you? Did he pay for you?

Where did you guys go?’ and the boys are like, ‘I wanna know how far you got.’ I mean, if those are the questions that our friends are asking us after a date, you can see where the social pressure starts to come in.

And if your answer is like, ‘We went to the movies and then we came home’ and then your boys are like, ‘No no no, we don’t want to know where you went, we want to know what you did’ and he’s like ‘That’s what we did.’ Then there’s that social pressure that comes in if your friends are asking those questions. I also think that if the boys who don’t agree with that spoke up a little more then I think it would start to quiet the comments,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Education is a key component in preventing sexual assault. If males were raised to ask permission and respect boundaries instead of growing up hearing the “boys will be boys” excuse it could help break down rape culture.

“I feel like when we say ‘preventing rape,’ when we use the word prevention, it sounds like I’m going to give you these tools and then this is never going to happen to you. I would say that education is the key component. We’re never going to be able to prevent sexual assault from happening as long as there are predators walking among us.

What we can do is educate people to be more aware of their surroundings, to pay attention to the cues and to be more socially respectful of each other’s wishes and decisions, whether that comes in to agreement with what you’re hoping to get out of the situation or not. If we can start focusing more on that, on how do I get permission and consent

Photo by Maggie Duncan

and how do I also respect it while knowing I may not get my own agenda met I think we can reduce the number of sexual assaults that happen,” Klaxton-Miller said.

In order to remove rape culture from society, it first needs to be removed from casual conversations.

“We use the word rape casually in conversations when we feel like we’ve been done wrong and things like that and if you’re using it that way around someone who is an actual rape victim, it can be very traumatizing, it can be triggering, and it can make just walking through the grocery store very awkward and uncomfortable,” Klaxton-Miller said.

Rape culture prevention can start small, but in order to completely eradicate it from society it would require a renovation of how women are portrayed in the media.

“Ideally, media would quit advertising things using women as their advertising ploy. Media is a multimillion dollar industry and unfortunately in our society sex sells and that’s why it’s working. So unfortunately in order to prevent that we would have to get to those people higher up and have those conversations with them that if this was your wife, daughter, granddaughter, niece with the cheeseburger dripping down her chest and people watching it, would you feel okay? And I would hope that the answer is no, that they wouldn’t want that to be their wife. But when it’s just a woman that they employ and write a paycheck to, they don’t think twice about it because they don’t have any emotion invested in that relationship. When we start looking at things as how would I want my mother, sister and niece to be portrayed, I hope most people would say not the way that they are in the media,” Klaxton-Miller said.

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Reduced C.O.R.E funding forces administrators to be more creative b y

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For over twenty years, Champions Of Rolla Education (CORE) has provided financial support for extracurricular activities in the Rolla Public School District. Until recently, CORE had received a grant from the Rolla Licensing Bureau, which helped to fund many of the field trips and other enrichment activities offered by the school district.

“The license fee office is a bidding process. Anybody can bid on providing that service to the community,” Superintendent Dr. Aaron Zalis said. “It’s been about three years since the last time it was up for bid. This time, there was a competitive bid process again. We submitted our bid, but we lost it to a group that has won a few different bids across the state. They won fair and square; they promised things for the license fee office that, frankly, our office couldn’t do or would cost more money.”

The license fee office brought in a significant amount of revenue, but had been declining in recent years due to a variety of factors.

“The money that is generated from the license fee office is paid out on a monthly or quarterly basis. The dividends, back when CORE first ran the license fee office, were in the neighborhood of $60,000 per year.

Because of the advent of online licensing and a lot more convenience built into those kinds of processes, the actual dividend has gone down to under $25,000,” Dr. Zalis said.

Though the Licensing Bureau provided funding for CORE, it was not the only revenue source.

“That is just one part of CORE funding that goes into providing field trips and enrichment activities; it’s not the total CORE budget. As a matter of fact, it makes up a very small part of it,” Dr. Zalis said.

Administrators across the district are looking for ways to make up for the loss of revenue.

“They’re still going to have activities, but we’re going to go back and look at the budget. We just have to cut back on some of the things that are occuring. We’re also going to ask some of the larger businesses

906 N. Cedar St. Rolla, MO. (573) 368-0999 Fax: 368-2777 e-mail: sport@fidnet.com

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in town that have expressed interest in CORE to supplement that $25,000 gap that occurs now. We already have one. MOSCI, that gave $8500 to CORE,” Dr. Zalis said.

It is a high priority to try and give students the same opportunities that have been present in the past, despite the minor setback.

“Its a funding cut, so there’s just less money to go around. It causes us to be more creative in terms of raising money so that our students are able to have enrichment opportunities, whether it be a field trip or a speaker coming in,” Principal Dr. Jim Pritchett said.

“Long term, our community has been good about supporting education. When we have fundraisers or have projects that go on, our community will support those and that money will go towards CORE.” The specific effects the reduced funding will have on Rolla high students are not exactly favorable, but they’re not the end of the world.

“Well, our budget has been cut essentially, so we have half of what we would normally have to spend on stuff like field trips. Prices are also going up so there’s that. We have a committee with Mrs. Gillis, Mrs. Hargis and Mr. Goldschmidt that goes over CORE’s decisions and things like that and they’ve never had a problem with most stuff and most trips or school events would get funded mostly in full. This year, the same number of requests would come in but they didn’t have nearly as much money, so to be fair, the committee voted to partially fund everybody, so those groups are having to work concession stands or do independent fundraisers or have the kids cover the costs. For students, their opportunities aren’t as broad as they were. There won’t be as many trips where students don’t have to pay entirely,” Wood said.

Overall, the community shouldn’t fret too much over the loss of the Licensing Bureau funding.

“In the long run, I hope [the school district is] not affected very much at all. The strong foundation will continue to be there. The scholarships will remain. In the short term, we’re just going to have to find different ways to raise funds so that we can still offer the enrichment activities we have in the past. think this is a challenge we can work around. It won’t be easy, but it’s just change,” Dr. Zalis said.

Forum & 10th Street Rolla, Missouri

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The World is Our Canvas b y

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Self-taught poet, Henry Thoreau once said, “this world is but a canvas to our imagination.” Poetry, being a form or art, paints a picture. Amature artists and AP Art students, Korey Pearson and Kessah Headrick paint their words on a more literal canvas. The AP Art students must complete twenty-four works of art in one year. These are assigned to them through My Big Campus. They must use sixty out-of-school work hours into each semester. Much like some of the issues that are reflected in works, creating the pieces can be a struggle.

In the image below, senior and AP Art student Korey Pearson proves this to be wrong through his latest painting which was inspired by the addiction to smoking cigarettes.

“I just drew on the canvas board until I got tired of erasing. Then I told myself ‘let’s just paint,” Pearson said.

The woman with the cigarette is blowing out smoke which turns into a bird, which is metaphorical to the artist.

“I think it’s kind of ironic how air pollution and cigarette smoke are things that kill a living breathing animal that is coming out of it. What I see is someone who is trapped by an addiction. It’s kind of like a bird in a cage. Whenever they don’t have their cigarette, they feel like they’re caged in and whenever they have their cigarette and are smoking, it’s a relief for them; it’s like a bird taking flight,” Pearson said.

Through the use of different medias and colors, artists add emphasis to different parts of the piece.

“I used acrylic paint on a canvas board. I liked the blue in the blue bird, because it’s kind of an in-your-face blue. I put a little red in the background to add a darker mood to it. With all the white and gray and blue from the smoke, it shows the good and the bad from the smoker’s point of view,” Pearson said.

Many artists face challenges while creating their work.

“My biggest challenge was definitely making the human face look 3-D and to actually look like a human face and the fingers,” Pearson said.

Pearson is letting the painting speak for itself to be analyzed in various ways by different people, which is why he it is still unnamed.

“I don’t want to give it a name to take away from what it looks like. I want it to make you think,” Pearson said.

“I like art to be fun. Be creative and do what you want with art. Try to think outside of the box and do your own thing.”

-Korey Pearson

In the image above, senior Kessah Headrick, an AP Art student, chose one of the many controversial issues in our world today to be to muse of her in progress painting.

“It was titled genetics, but that might change when I finish it,” Headrick said.

Since there are many different aspects to creating a work of art such as planning, picking colors, blending and finalizing a piece can take a lot of time and effort.

“This painting has been a long time coming, I’ve been working on it since the summer,“ Headrick said.

The inspiration of her painting came from one of the most innovative scientific progressions: gene manipulation. “[T]he main idea is that people don’t get to chose what their babies look like now, but maybe sometime in the future, they can kind of pick-and-chose what they want their baby to have as it grows. I am kind of visualising how that can be detrimental or maybe positive, depending on how you look at it,” Headrick said.

To express to complexity of gene manipulation, the colors and the style were specifically chosen to emphasize the details.

“I took a class over the summer, and we were studying an artist who used mostly primary colors. He broke it up using white lines to show movement. I really took inspiration from that,” Headrick said.

Every piece of art presents itself with different challenges which the artist must find creative ways to create fluid transitions between the different aspects of the work.

“This is wood finish on canvas and then acrylic paint on top of that.

At first, I wanted a wooden background to paint on, and then I decided that it wasn’t going to work so I just used wood finish to get the color that I wanted on canvas,” Headrick said.

Many artists have preferred materials to work with, and experimenting outside of their comfort zone helps them think outside of the box.

“Paint is not my forte, which is why I am doing this painting so that I

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Weighed down b y

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It is no surprise that Rolla High School students’ backpacks are heavy.

One backpack at RHS typically contains at least one large textbook or more. Can all of this weight on students backs be healthy? According to some local chiropractors, this may be something of concern, while also having some evidence of it being good.

Dr. Alan Singer, Doctor of Chiropractic, showed us some new research related to heavy weight on people’s backs and how it affects discs.

“We used to think that anytime you put a backpack on you were hurting yourself. Then there is a man, McGill, and he put together laboratories where he sticks needles in somebody’s discs and he watches how much pressure the disc can withstand before it ruptures,” Singer said.

According to Singer, this new research has found something surprising.

“So we used to think that when people put backpacks on that it did

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this [curved the back] that rounded it [which is] no good. They found that if you put the backpacks [ on the small of the back] and the more weight the better- it brought you so far back as to take the pressure off the disc,” Singer said.

This surprising new evidence had an unexpected conclusion, according to Singer.

“So all of the sudden, what used to be thought of as the worst thing you could possibly do, can actually be a very therapeutic thing,” Singer said.

Dr. Cameron Myers, Doctor of Chiropractic, and Rolla High School graduate feels strongly about how people wear backpacks.

“If one chooses to wear a heavy backpack on a daily basis, it is very important to ensure proper weight distribution and to stick with a pack that has two straps that are pulled tightly enough to keep the bottom of the bag above the beltline,” Myers said.

According to Myers, a two strap backpack is the best. Messenger style bags can be dangerous.

“This [proper weight distribution] is impossible to accomplish with

Photo by Mary Gillis

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Percent of Body Weight of Echo Staff's Backpacks 30 27

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the messenger style bags. Having all of the weight pulling on one side of the neck and shoulder can cause muscle imbalances and may eventually lead to pain or discomfort,” Myers said.

According to Myers, because students are still growing, it is very important that they are careful about how they distribute weight on their backs and shoulders from heavy bags. If students are not careful, there can be some negative effects on their spines if backpacks are not worn correctly.

“In some cases, the muscle imbalances and postural changes will lead to the development of scoliosis, a change in the normal curvature of the spine,” Myers said.

Many information sites, such as The AAOS, or the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, say that students backpacks should be between 10 to 15 percent of their body weight.

The Echo staff took the challenge of finding the percent of their backpacks to their body weight. The results were, for the most part, within the appropriate weight, as described by The AAOS.

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Mrs. Allen was more than a Latin teacher. She was an advisor, a confidant, a school mother, a confidence booster, a caretaker, and a friend. If I needed someone to cheer me up, calm me down, keep me disciplined, push me to do my best, help me with any problems, or just make conversation with, I knew I could always rely on her. Although it sounds cliché, she was an amazing woman that was not only committed to Latin, a subject she loved, but also to the people she worked with and the students she taught. I learned more than ablative absolutes and subjunctives in her class; I learned how to handle situations maturely, how to be held accountable for my actions, and how to have a good time while still learning. She would do anything to help her students succeed. When I approached her after I completed Latin I and asked her about skipping Latin II so that I could take Latin IV my senior year, she was extremely excited to assist me. Over the summer, she met with me regularly to go over vocabulary, review grammar concepts, and make sure I could squeeze a year of Latin into one summer.

At the end of the summer, when I took the second semester final and scored less than stellar due to a lack of studying, she gave me one of her famous “looks” (something I received quite often) and made me retake it the next week. With her help, I scored more than twenty percent higher the second time around. She always had the utmost confidence in her students to succeed not just in school, but in life. I always imagined that she would be at my graduation, clapping proudly with the other influential people in my life as I walked across the stage to get my diploma. I was looking forward to the day when I could come back to Rolla as a successful adult and thank her for the impact she had on me. And though I’ll never get those opportunities, I’ll know that the lessons she taught me and the memories we made will never be forgotten. They have made me a better person, and for that, I am forever thankful to ~ Rohit Allada ~ Class of 2015 18her.sports

In loving memory

Phil & Carin Allen

A legacy of influence

Kathy Elifrits was still teaching Latin when I was at RHS but Carin & I got our Masters degrees at the same time & we got to know each other through that. I remember how passionate she was for students to take Latin because they wanted to & not just because it would help them if they went to medical school. She loved her subject & she wanted her students to love it too! Amanda Nisbett ~ Class of 2003 I guess my response isn’t really in line with your request about Mrs. Allen’s impact on me as a Latin teacher. In all honesty for me, as a Latin teacher Mrs. Allen did an acceptable job in her role in teaching me Latin. I think a lot of students will probably write how she did an amazing job in inspiring them to pursue the classics and opened up their minds to the world of language, but that isn’t the case with me. I did take the courses and did well under her guidance on the subject but learning Latin from her or anyone was ever that life changing. However, I think her role in my high school years was far more important than simply inspiring passion in a subject. As I think back at that period in my life, the adolescent phase was a very painful phase of growth for me, and I presume for all people. As I became an adult, I had questions about how to deal with girls (probably the most pressing issue at the time) and just real life in general. At that point parental guidance was out of the question because we were teenagers, so the teachers in my life were the only individuals that were the only direct role models that I could learn from. I think all too often teachers overlook the potential influence they can have upon their students by simply showing friendship. It was very empowering to me that Mrs. Allen treated me like a peer that I felt comfortable asking advice from. It was always very comforting because it felt like she could reassure me in saying, “I’ve been there before and it’ll be fine.” Beyond that I never felt the tone of judgment from her. We all know how mean kids are at that age and even though I had a great circle of friends at the time, you could never be fully sure you would not be made fun of for the most ridiculous of reasons. She has definitely influenced the way I approach teaching. So I guess this was a bit long, meandering, and most likely poorly written, but yeah to me Mrs. Allen was a great friend and role model that made the pain of adolescence a little bit less. ~ Ming Wang ~ Class of 2006 When I was a freshman, Mrs. Allen tricked me into going to the National Junior Classical League convention. It was one of the best things anyone has every done for me. She had made it sound like all of my cool older friends were going, and they weren’t. Back then my group of friends could be summed up with the phrase “bad crowd” and I didn’t have an ounce of school spirit. NJCL has a mandatory pep assembly every single night and each state delegation competes to show the most spirit. There are costumes, special dances, and A LOT of cheering/chanting. Mrs. Allen had been going for years, but that year Missouri was hosting. There was no way she was going to let us get shown up, not on our home turf! The first night I wasn’t really feeling the whole “pep assembly vibe” but Mrs. Allen’s passion was contagious. Seriously, to this day I can’t describe that week without bursting into a cheer. People look at me like I’m crazy. If it wasn’t for that week I’d probably never had been as involved at RHS as I was during my time there. She brought out the best in me! Her passion for teaching was amazing. The best teachers are the ones who care about all students, and she really exemplified that. I can’t even count the number of students who enrolled in Latin because of her. She was always looking out for kids in the halls who didn’t even know RHS offered Latin. She was always willing to hear your problems and offered up the best advice. She never judged anyone because they got detention and ruled them out as a bad kid. Mrs. Allen was the first, of many, wonderful teachers to encourage and inspire me to take pride in my school work and get involved. I don’t think I would have made it to graduation without her. That first NJCL convention was where it all started but we went to three more conventions together after that, and they were the highlight of my summers. They were better than any party, any date, or any vacation. It sounds crazy, but with Mrs. Allen it was impossible to have a bad time - even if you did have to take two tests when you got there. Pax mecum, may peace be with you Mrs. Allen. ~Jessi Wood ~ Class of 2008

Mrs. Allen was sunlight personified. Her happiness, kindness, and nurturing character were a constant source of reassurance during my high school career. I will never forget those treasured after school chats, the brief visits with her and her family as they took walks around our neighborhood, or the amazing trips I got to experience with her in Latin Club. I hope that she can look down on us all now and see the appreciation we have for the numerous small and large ways in which she touched each of our lives. God bless, Mrs. Allen, and thank you.” ~ Lisa Ma ~ Class of 2008 Mrs. Allen busted me for more things in high school than my parents and all my others teachers combined. Every time I got caught with my cell phone in class, forging my mom’s signature on a progress report, being in the hallway for no reason during classes, hiding from the tardy sweep, or even when I was fighting with people. I would always try to talk myself out of it, and she never bought any of what I tried to say. And around senior year, I finally realized that if I was just honest with her she usually let me get away with it. As a law student I know I’ll spend a lot of my career spinning things. But I could not ever BS Carin Allen. But the Latin is really where I most remember her. I’m one of Mrs. Allen’s many students who because of her, went on to study Latin in college. There are so many lines that when I read them in my classes, and when I later TAed, and when I read them now that are always in Mrs. Allen’s voice. “mango misceri murmure.” Even more than the phrases, are the stories and lines where I can hear her laugh. I won’t forget her explaining Catullus 5 to a group of painfully awkward 16 year olds. “Give to me a thousand kisses, then a hundred, then another thousand, then a second hundred, then even another thousand, then a hundred. Then when we have produced many thousands, we will confuse it, that we will not know. Nor will any evil be able to to cast an evil eye, when he knows that our kisses are so many. “After the class struggled through translating it, Mrs. Allen did her own very dramatic recitation and translation. We are all so uncomfortable that we had just been talking about such intense love and passion, and she started laughing at us uncontrollably. Mrs. Allen always took the opportunity to try to sow the seeds of things that we weren’t close to understanding. When I found out that she was gone, I spent a few hours reading book VI of the Aeneid, where Aeneas goes to the underworld, and sees his fallen comrades. The lines that really got me talk about how these great people get to lounge in these beautiful fields clothed in purple light. And Aeneas’ father shows him the future generations and all the promise they have. I just never realized how big of gift she had given us by teaching us how to really read these stories. She couldn’t teach us how to deal with loss, just like she couldn’t teach us about jealous intense love, or the anger you feel when you can’t figure out where your life is taking you. But when I needed it, she had given me the understanding that comes from knowing what I’m experiencing timeless. ~ Emalea Black ~Class of 2010 I was blessed to learn from Mrs. Allen through four amazing years all the way from reading about Caecilius in the garden to Aeneas leading the Trojeans to Latium. Mrs. Allen cared deeply for all students and we loved her for it. It was so rewarding to learn from a teacher who had such an obvious and overflowing joy about her subject matter. She and Phil will be greatly missed in the hearts and minds of her students who cared for her so deeply. Mrs. Allen, “nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo.” ~ Morgan Carlile~ Class of 2010

“It is so difficult to describe Mrs. Allen concisely with as many roles as she filled, be it teacher, mentor, mother, or friend. Her commitment to her students and consistent support, even after we graduated, were ideal attributes. After graduating college, she spoke with me on the phone and met with me concerning my career plans, and genuinely cared about everyone she came to know. Though there are many great times we had together, one of my favorite memories is when our classes sang Latin carols. Though she always had an infectious smile, she was particularly exuberant when revivifying Latin with holiday cheer. Mrs. Allen’s warm smile and empathy will live on in all the lives she touched, and I am truly honored to have known her.” ~ Jacob Emmett ~Class of 2010 One of the greatest things about Mrs. Allen was how good of a friend she was. Any time anything would happen and she would hear about it I would get an instant text message telling me we needed to get together in person to talk! She was always there for me, regardless of the fact that it had been 4 years since high school. She also had been trying to get me to call her Carin for a long time which wasn’t really working out for her. Exactly three days before her death my grandfather passed away and she found out about it. She was quick to let me know that everything was going to be alright (in better words) and told me that we would have to get together when I got back. That would have been last Tuesday. She wasn’t here for it. I could not believe my ears when my sister told me that they had been in a car accident. We had just been talking days prior. How could she be gone? I want to leave you with a message she sent me that has been what has kept me going these past few days. “It will take time. That’s why we have funerals and families get together. To help each other. It’s really ok to feel like this. You loved him and he’s gone. He was special! Hug on your family. I wish I could say that it would be over tomorrow but it’s going to take time”. She never intended those words be used for her but I hope she knows how much they mean to me. ~ Sana Khan ~ Class of 2010

We were flying back from Rome and and the TVs on the plane weren’t working. I was sitting next to Mrs. Allen and we chatted for the entire 7 hour flight. We talked about school, boys, college, and other random topics. I learned so much about her and Phil that day. There are very few people who I would enjoy being in that situation with, and she was definitely one of them. I will miss stopping by her room when I come back from college. I loved being able to catch up with her. ~Gina Monaldi ~ Class of 2012 Mrs. Allen made going to class every day feel like a treat. Her warm smile and caring personality greeted every student who walked into her room and made you feel at home. I remember her asking how I was doing on a daily basis, like any other friend, when I was having a rough time personally. Being so full of happiness, she always rubbed off on you. ~ Natalie Wronkiewicz ~ Class of 2013 I wasn’t involved like many others but as I waited on various instances to speak with you while you finished a conversation with Phil (and, at random times while he was speaking to others in the hall or building), I was impressed by his obvious faith in God and Christ. It brought joy to my spirit, knowing how simply by being around Phil, he was modeling and influencing my son and others in how to live as a man who loves and honors Christ. I’m sure there are many faiths represented on the robotics teams and I don’t want to give the impression that Phil was actively evangelizing - because I never saw that. I just saw a man that young men an women recognized as being worthy of emulating -maybe not knowing why -but because Jesus came through Phil in a very real and honest way. I can’t comment on his obviously remarkable engineering skills, but with only a few encounters I can attest to the spiritual influence he had on those around him. ~ Cindi Howard I lost two great people. They both inspired me to be who I am and influenced what I’m going to do in the future.” ~ Aysen Malone ~Class of 2014 (member 2011-2013 and captain 2013-2014 of Rolla Patriots Robotics Team when Mr. Allen was mentor and Mrs. Allen’s student in Latin 1, 2, and 3)

Thank you Phil for bringing robotics to Rolla. Your dedication, absolute love for, and belief in this program is the reason it has become the successful entity that it is today. Your positive influence on the adult mentors and students will be irreplaceable. We will miss you, more than words can say. ~ Leigh Ann Tumbrink

I joined the Robotics team the first year we had one. Mr. Allen was my first experience in engineering and robotics. This ultimately led to me joining the army when I learned about how robots are used in today’s military. Now I’m a U.S. Army engineer. There was almost 4 years of things that he taught me that it’s hard to compress to a brief thought. He taught me everything from brainstorming to managing raw materials. The things I learned from Mr. Allen will go with me for the rest of my life no matter where I go. I hope to continue as a mentor on the Robotics team and hope I can bring even a fraction of his experience to the current and future members of the teams. ~ William Morgan Long ~ Class of 2014

Although Phil was an engineer, it struck me that he was also an excellent teacher. When asked a question, he would stop what he was doing and give his full attention to the questioner. Then he would offer an excellent, easy to understand explanation. He treated everyone he came into contact with as if they were the most important person in the world. He was an excellent role model for the kids on the Robotics team. ~ Jenny Maples

I worked with Phil for two years at Brewer Science. As an engineer, he always impressed me with his focus on safety above all else in his designs. Always the go-to guy for any mechanical problems (have a problem with a system? Just go ask Phil!). Even when he didn’t know the answer, you could be sure he’d have one for you the next day. As a person, Phil and I had gotten close in the past year spent working with the robotics team. He was always ready and available to help and had great chemistry with the kids. I worked well with him as a fellow nerd and “whovian” and his sarcastic humor.

His enthusiasm and dedication to the robotics program was what made me take the plunge and sign on myself. I’ll always be thankful for his friendship and guidance over the unfortunately short time I knew him. He’s left a legacy for robotics, Brewer Science, and myself that will not soon be forgotten. ~ Darren Harvey ~ Brewer Science When we first started an FLL team in Rolla, we needed an Olympic “standard size” robot table to practice on. The next weekend, Mr. Allen and his son Patrick, who was on our team, showed up with a wooden table they had build for us. Mr. Allen was always helpful. The captain of a St. Louis team and his parents, who came as a family to pay their respects at the memorial service, recalled that when their robot stopped functioning at one competition, Mr. Allen rushed over to their robot and fixed the problem. He was a kind, generous man who believed in the value of robotics programs for all children. ~ Adem Malone ~ Class of 2016

opinion 19

Beyond Rolla Rolla athletes participate in teams outside of school in order to expand their horizons b y

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There is a lot of competition at Rolla High School. However, the athletic department might not be enough for some of the student athletes. Senior London Clift felt that she needed to branch out in order to get what she wanted out of playing soccer. She currently plays for AC Porta Via in St. Louis, Missouri.

“It’s just a lot more competitive and we definitely travel a lot more. We play a lot of different teams [from different states], just different teams that we wouldn’t get to see in high school season,” Clift said. “I started playing in St. Louis when I was about fourteen and there just wasn’t anything competitive enough here around Rolla other than like high school. We needed something to do in the fall season and so we looked into teams and stuff, and we found WC St. Louis Academy and we played for them up until just this past year. This will be my first and last year with AC Port Avia since I’ll be going off to college, but yeah there’s not a competitive club team for our age group here so I mean you just have to travel if you want to play,” Clift Said.

Senior Jessie Kaczmarek also wanted to expand her interests by joining a club volleyball team.

“I play for the Rockwood Thunder U17 Mizuno team in St. Louis. I would go to St. Louis usually around four times a week. I would practice just twice a week. We would have tournament on Saturday. Once we got into February [and] April, I have one almost every Saturday and also have just special T-training like with defensive specialists, hitter training and we have conditioning practices as well,” Kaczmarek said.

As well as being more competitive, Kaczmarek has other reasons for playing on a St. Louis team.

“I was looking at colleges [recruiting] to play volleyball there and I knew that I needed to get my name out there. So if I made a high level team that was renowned for having good athletes, that colleges knew that team’s name and knew they produced high level girls, then I knew that it would increase my chances of being recruited to colleges and it did. Because I was on Rockwood, I was able to get noticed by my future school,” Kaczmarek said.

Though being on a club team may be more competitive and challenging than being on a school team, the bonding experience between teammates is very different on a club team.

“We don’t really bond as well as our high school team does, because we don’t really know each other as well. You bond differently I guess, because you don’t know everybody’s status. You don’t know if somebody has like a bad reputation at their school or something. So you get to know them just for who they are and not how their peers think of them, because they’re all from different schools so you get to know them on a more personal level.

You don’t hear all the rumors about them that might be spread at school,” Clift said.

Along with sports, there are other activities in which students participate in, and must travel for, in order to be more competitive. French teacher Kathy Roller drove her daughter Lauren back and forth on a regular basis so that she could attend a prestigious dance company.

“When Lauren was ten, we began taking her to Dance Productions Unlimited, which is a national dance studio in Arnold, Missouri. She began dancing four days a week, and a lot of weekends for competitions and choreography when choreographers would come in to work with her. We did it for eight years. Now we didn’t go four days a week for all eight years. By the time she was a junior I think we were down to two or three days a week plus weekends,” Roller said.

According to Roller, Lauren had many more opportunities in the field of dance in Arnold than she did in Rolla.

“People asked why we didn’t move to St. Louis, and we kind of thought about it, but we also didn’t want to put that on a ten year old. Ten year olds come home and say ‘Okay mommy I’m done dancing! I wanna play soccer now!’ or ‘I wanna do this now!’ You don’t want to say ‘But we moved here for your thing,’ and I know there are a lot of people that do that, but we didn’t want to take them out of the Rolla schools [and] the Rolla community. We would do the drive so that she wouldn’t have that kind of pressure on her,” Roller said. “She knew she needed to experience a broader scope and spectrum of dance. She needed to have more than one teacher. Where she went to school they brought in choreographers from L.A., Miami, New York [and] Chicago all the time. She realized if she wanted to be competitive, she had to work with more people.”

Although this is what Lauren wanted to do, it was difficult for Roller as a mom. While running around for Lauren’s, she was worried about how her other daughter, Erin, was feeling.

“Lauren and I are very very close cause we spent lots of time in the car ride up and lots of time in the car ride back and we did a lot of weekends

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Photo courtesy of Jessie Kaczmarek together. We’re still very close. It was tough on [my other daughter] Erin, because we took Erin to St. Louis also to dance and she just did not have the drive. It wasn’t something she loved, so she tried gymnastics in St. Louis and she tried taiquando and we took her to all different types of things so she could try and she just really wanted to be more in Rolla. She’s more of a homebody. She wanted to do her school activities. They both did cheerleading so that was fun for her and when Lauren went off to college, that was our time for Erin and I to spend together,” Roller said.

Even though the commute itself was difficult, the studio itself was very accomodating for Roller.

“They had a little table set up for me at the studio so that I could grade all my papers and work on all my school work up there. I had opportunity to work. It was hard though, because the days we had to go we had to leave.

Boom. We had to be there by five and she would dance until ten and we’d be home by midnight. So it was tough, but we worked it out somehow,” Roller said.

Though the action of traveling, having to keep track of school life and dance life was hard, Roller thinks that Lauren learned from it and that everything paid off in the long run.

“I think one of the best lessons that Lauren learned, aside from dance, was time management. She was able to work very diligently in her classes to get her work done. She would do her homework in the car on the way up [and] she would do her homework in the car on the way back. She just was very very well organized,” Roller said.

Being a part of such a fierce activity has its ups and downs and there are sacrifices, but the good that comes out of it is very rewarding.

Lauren is currently a choreographer at a very highly competitive dance company in Springfield, Missouri.

“We went through some times.

Lauren had a lot of good friends at the studio which was really nice, and in some respects that’s better, because you’re not competing against the same people you’re going to class with. You kind of have your separate lives. She had student council and cheerleading and a lot of things here. There were things she didn’t get to go to. She missed school dances, because we had to be at a competition or she didn’t go to Vicksburg, because she had to do choreography with Ray Leeper. In the long run I think she’s okay with it. There were things she missed and she was upset at the time, but we said you make the choice. You make the choice,” Roller said.

Photo courtesy of London Clift

Hunting: Aa Form of Era Hunting New Expression

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To some, nothing can beat the feeling of walking to a treestand on a chilly October morning. These are the people who don’t mind waiting hours in the freezing cold, silently watching and waiting for a enormous buck to emerge from the woods. There are different driving forces behind why each person makes a conquest into the woods. For junior Brett Hoffman, it is simply a matter of tradition.

“Its been in the family for quite a few generations now. [I] started as soon as I could. It’s kind of natural. I feel like I’m carrying on a family tradition,” Hoffman said.

Senior Denver Spurgeon’s reasons for hunting are primarily focused on the sport aspect that hunting brings to some people.

“Its pretty much the adrenaline rush that gets me. It’s more of a sport for me, because that’s my passion. It’s what I love to do. I take it a little more seriously [than most people],” Spurgeon said.

Senior Paige Newkirk’s desire to hunt is simply an addiction.

“My grandpa has been trying to get me into to it for about five years, and about three years ago I went for the first time and I killed something so I’ve always went back,” Newkirk said.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, during the 2013-2014 hunting season, 252,574 deer were harvested. There are many different hunting season opportunities available in Missouri.

Spurgeon takes advantage of bow season.

“You see way more deer [during bow season]. You can’t just go out there and shoot one from 300 yards. You have to watch them. You have to be patient. You’re right up close to a deer. It’s hard, because they smell you so much when you’re closer. When you’re far out they aren’t ever going to smell you. It’s a lot more rewarding [to go with a bow],” Spurgeon said.

One of the most exciting moments for some hunters is after they have made the perfect shot on a deer. The thoughts that go through the hunter’s head in the moments after varies from person to person, but

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Photo by Luke Walker Spurgeon has a simile.

“It’s like you can’t even stand, because your knees are shaking so bad. Your whole body is just shaking so much. You can barely talk. Its awesome. It’s like doing crack, but not as bad,” Spurgeon said.

Hoffman’s reaction is not much different.

“You really can’t [describe it]. Basically, you feel all the hours are worth it. I feel like I’ve accomplished more than just a goal,” Hoffman said.

For other hunters, a lot of behind the scenes preparation goes into the hunt. Countless hours of scouting and planting are done to get the best chance of killing a huge buck.

“I really just think you have to put the time into it, and [that] putting food plots in is the key to getting big deer. I’d say [I put in] 100 hours, of just not hunting, [but] leading up to the hunting. It’s worth it when I kill a monster,” Spurgeon said.

After the kill comes the time to field dress and clean the deer.

“When I killed my third deer, which was a twelve point buck, I skinned and gutted it for the first time and that was a unique experience,” Newkirk said.

According to Spurgeon, the aspect of blood might make hunting a dying tradition.

“I think [less people will hunt]. I think it will get worse. A bunch of these hoodlums are running around. They don’t like to hunt. They think they’re too good for it. They don’t like to get blood on ‘em,” Spurgeon said.

However, Hoffman has a plan to combat the decline of hunters.

“Take little kids. That’s the big thing. Get them started. It’s much more of a reward to watch someone younger than you kill one than for yourself to kill one. It adds to it to see someone else take pride in it,” Hoffman said.

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Political Arena It’s not always black and white

Yes!

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Privacy, bullying, distractions, pornography, violence the list of inappropriate materials that can be found online goes on and on. All of these are the things that the government and local schools wish to protect their students from.

With the advances in computers that have been made over the last three decades, it is common for schools to have computers available to the students who range from the ages of five to nineteen. However, everyone under the age of seventeen is considered a minor, and not all content that is published is appropriate for minors to see. The wrong article, website or image can leave lasting effects on children. These are being already being avoided through the careful blocking and filtering of certain materials through school computers, and governmental measures have been taken to ensure a safe, non-distracting learning environment for students at school, and I thankful that my childhood wasn’t ruined by the many unnecessary pictures on the internet.

In 2000, the Children’s Internet Protection Act was created to prevent the distribution of private information about students like candy at Halloween. This includes schools blocking or filtering pictures that are obscene, considered child pornography or are harmful to minors.

Every computer with internet access which is available to children must meet these guidelines, if not, who knows what could scar and distract the students next.

Not only does internet censorship create a safer environment for children online, but it also protects them when they are offline. It is frightening to imagine that the name and the address of a child in school could simply be floating around the cyber-net. Anything could happen if that information fell into the wrong hands.

In addition to protecting minors from the first three points declared in the CIPA, this heroic law requires that the school, “...must provide for educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and cyberbullying awareness and response,” the Federal Communications Commission states on their website.

I see the internet as a jungle full of contrasting sources of information: the trees forming canopies of facts, figures, names, places; information raining down from the clouds; the ground, the people, soaking all of it up. I know that last time I sent a silly snapchat to my friends, one of them screenshot it and shared it with our other friends.

Pretty much everything on the internet can be made public. Although it didn’t offend me, I was still surprised to see how fast it traveled.

Be aware of what is posted on the internet, because these things can lead to weeks of embarrassment and harassment. Believe it or not, private messages between friends could end up on the phones of ten other people. Knowing how to protect yourself on the internet is aided by the efforts that schools make. This is why applications such as facebook, snapchat, twitter and more are blocked on school wifis; they are distractions to the learning process. I believe that there is no need for the school to encourage the use of these forms of social media by allowing access to them through the school’s network.

Many schools adopt programs such as Bess and Surfcontrol’s Surfcontrol to help them block and filter information online. Of course, there are loopholes in almost every system, so inappropriate media still seeps through. To protect the students, these systems are still being tweaked to protect users.

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Does internet censorship protect us?

No!

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A free society is a great society. This freedom must not be limited, and must extend to the internet. The internet is necessary for the general populace to stay informed. It is even more important for young students, primarily high schoolers, to use to know what is going on. Since they will be living in a world that is shaped by events that are happening now, it is entirely necessary for them to stay up to date on world issues. In many cases of censorship, the school system decides to censor for various reasons. One of the main issues that schools are concerned about is social content that might be found offensive by some students and parents. We can not allow children to be hidden from the truth at such a young age and then expect them to figure it out themselves when they are older. On top of this, the first amendment should protect students from schools harmful overreach in “protecting” them. Internet censorship is something that is only put into place by schools that are too overprotective of students.

Many times school filters can be inefficient. They often will block many educational websites that are needed as sources. Youtube can be a very beneficial tool for learning. However, if you want to include a video in a powerpoint presentation, you can’t. Sure, YouTube has some potentially distracting videos, but I believe that the majority of high-school age students are mature enough to stick to videos that are simply educational. If not, teachers are there to steer kids back on the right path. Teachers are ultimately the ones who should make the decisions on whether or not a website should be accessed by kids. Some filters used by schools are designed to block sites that have a keyword within the site. These filters don’t look for context in which the word is used, it just simply looks for the word, and therefore is inefficient. Another downfall of internet filters is that email is blocked. High schoolers wouldn’t use inconvenient email to talk to each other. Having email unblocked would allow for students to email people about projects or email colleges. Email is another a tool for education rather than a distraction to students. Man should choose the sites that are blocked or not, not a machine.

School systems stress blocking sites that will cause students to waste time, but students rarely have time to waste on computers. Most of the time spent in computer labs is centered on educational websites. There isn’t much time for students to visit sites that would be found as distracting. Even if they were to venture to such sites, teachers could steer them back. Phones are more distracting than the internet and are more of a commonplace problem.

The internet is a very informative place. For students to utilize this information, there cannot be filters that block news and other information sites. These sites are crucial for kids to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the world.

Perhaps the most important thing a high-schooler can do is to stay informed.

Sometimes, students find themselves with free time and a computer. Students should use this time to research because “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family,” said Kofi Annan(quote courtesy of public domain). For students to achieve the best amount of knowledge, there must be an unrestricted internet in which students are able to access sites that benefit their education. If sites that are If these sites are blocked, students are losing a very important tool.

Content that is for adults doesn’t have a place in schools, but any other website should have unrestricted access.

The internet has evolved since its founding in 1989. This doesn’t mean that rights on the internets need to change. Over restrictive censorship should not even be a option for schools. If a student or parent has a problem with certain content, it is easy to not navigate there. There are 644 million active websites according to Netcraft. This is a huge number of sites and gives students a vast array of different ones to choose from. Students should be able to access content that will benefit them in their education, which unfortunately, some filters block out.

Athlete of the Month b y

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Sport: Tennis

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Favorite part of tennis: “...meeting and playing different types of people.”

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Other activities she is interested in: “I am involved in my youth group at church and I enjoy spending time with my friends.”

Life after high school: “I plan of going to college and pursuing a degree in pharmacy.”

Biggest Challenge: “Adapting my game to varying weather conditions, like when it is windy or the sun is blinding you.”

Hopes for her team: “I hope that one day my team and I can make it to sectionals and state.”

Inspiration: “I play because I love tennis. I like that it is an individual sport.

Yet, on the tennis team, we can support each other as if it weren’t an individual sport. It’s a challenging game. Tennis is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. My coach inspires me to work harder.”

Proudest Moment: “My proudest moment was when I won the sportsmanship award at a big tournament in South Carolina.”

Sara Brooks playing in a tennis match. Photo courtesy of Sara Brooks.

RICO VIEIRA b y

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This year, there has been a rising star on the Rolla High School soccer team. Unfortunately, he will only be here for this year, then will return to his hometown of Natal, Brazil. His name is Rico Vieira and he is a foreign exchange student. Rico may be new to Rolla, but he isn’t new to the game of soccer. He started playing at age three and has played on a multitude of teams and leagues. He has had the opportunity to play in four different countries including Brazil, Spain, Portugal and America. Of these countries America, is his favorite to play in.

“Here, it’s more tactic. In Brazil, [you have to] have more skills. You need more skills for game. Brazil is good [to] watch. [The players have] more skills [there]. I like [to] play more here, [because] it’s better for me. Because everybody here [doesn’t have as much] skill, but [are] more tactic. And I have the skills,” Vieira said.

Teammates agree that Rico, in fact, does have the skills. Senior and Captain Theron Weeks sums it up quite frankly.

“He’s a beast,” Weeks said.

Some would think that a kid that came from a country so far away might have a hard time fitting in or becoming a member of the team. The other captain on the team, Senior Jordan Kaden, says that Rico got an early start and since then has done well.

“During the off season stuff he came in. He’s good for our team, because he makes passes. He’s good in the middle of the field [at] distributing the ball [and] that’s what we need,” Kaden said.

Weeks agrees that Rico brings a unique skill set to the soccer team.

“He gives us a lot of attacking pressure, which we need this year. He takes a lot of shots. We wouldn’t have half the shots we have if we didn’t have Rico,” Weeks said.

Rico has big plans for his future as a soccer player.

“I don’t know [if] I can play Major League Soccer, because its so difficult. If I can’t I [will] go to college,” Vieira said.

Photo by Luke Walker

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pumpkin,Spice,and everythingnice

Pumpkins b y

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1. Clean your pumpkin.

1. Cut a hole in the top of your pumpkin.

2. Scoop out the inside.

3. Clean the outside of your pumpkin.

4. Use a large drill with a large bit to bore holes all over the sides of your pumpkin.

5. Place a candle in your pumpkin.

1. Cut a hole in the top of your pumpkin.

2. Scoop out the inside.

3. Decide on the face that your pumpkin will be making.

4. Use a knife to carve the face.

5. Place a candle in your pumpkin.

1. Cut a hole in the top of your pumpkin.

2. Scoop out the inside.

3. Select an image for your pumpkin and use a toothpick to poke holes to show you where to cut 4. Use a dremel to carve the image 5. Place a bright light in your pumpkin

Photos by Trustin Dinsdale 2. Decide the color that you want your pumpkin to be.

3. Pour paint on the top of the pumpkin.

4. Spread as much of this paint as you can before adding a different color for a layered

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Halloween Cuisine b y

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Squeezing out the batter to form a cookie.

Directions:

Photos by Amanda Steineman

Just in time for Halloween, this Betty Crocker recipe for easy-tomake cobweb cookies that taste great and look even better. These healthy and fun cookies have only 55 calories per cookie and take less than an hour to make.

1. Beat all ingredients except powdered sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Pour batter into plastic squeeze bottle with narrow opening. Heat 8-inch skillet over medium heat until hot; grease lightly.

2. Working quickly, squeeze batter to form 4 straight, thin lines that intersect at a common center point to form a star shape. To form cobweb, squeeze thin streams of batter to connect lines.

3. Cook 30 to 60 seconds or until bottom is golden brown; carefully turn. Cook until golden brown; remove from skillet. Cool on wire rack.

4. Heat oven to 325ºF. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 5 to 7 minutes or until almost crisp (cookies will become crisp as they cool).

5. Remove from cookie sheet; cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Store cookies in container with loose-fitting cover.

Ingredients: ¾ cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose or unbleached flour ½ cup granulated sugar ¼ cup vegetable oil ¼ cup milk ½ teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs Powdered sugar

After forming the cookies, let them cook for about a minute.

Tips and Tricks: 1. If you have trouble with pieces breaking off when flipping on the skillet, try using two spatulas.

2. If you do not have a squeeze bottle, cut a tiny corner of a ziplock bag and use that instead.

Final product with powdered sugar.

arts & entertainment opinion 25 19

will get you there, will Living on your own Life you be ready?

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Leventis M a n a g i n g E d i t o r cheese or olives, sesame seeds and Italian salad dressing or a salad

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Whenever I think about college, one of the first things that come to mind is food. I wonder how on earth I will be able to feed my never-not-hungry stomach. Some people say college kids are so poor and starve all the time and some others say that it’s so easy to gain weight.

In reality, it’s a little bit of both. College kids may be eating less, but because the foods they eat lack nutrition, they still gain weight. Studies show that 77 percent of college students gain weight during their freshman and sophomore years due to poor dietary habits. It’s important to know there are still several well-balanced meals and snacks you can prepare for yourself when you can’t cook. And when you can cook, you can create a wide variety of meals by just knowing a few simple food preparation skills. For instance, if you know how to open cans, boil pasta and cook ground meat, you can make spaghetti, chili, casseroles, and soups and stews. However, when you’re first starting out as a freshman, it might be a little easier to stick with the meals that don’t require cooking. Practicing your food skills can also help you stretch your budget. Here are a few basic foods you can prepare without cooking: Breakfast: Cold cereal with low-fat milk, fruit and sliced almonds. You get your protein, calcium, vitamin B and iron.

Soups and Salads: Salads with leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, shredded

People in your neighborhood: b y

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Have you ever brought a gun to school to show all your friends? Or ever beat up some lame teacher who totally deserved it? If so, you probably are familiar with sergeant Rapier; it’s actually his job to interact with kids who do such things. Wayne Rapier is the Rolla School District’s personal police officer, meaning that he’s a police officer who deals with crimes that happen at one of our schools. For the few of you who haven’t necessarily done something like take the life of another human being, let me say, you’re missing out. Sgt. Rapier is cool.

Rapier graduated from Rolla High School in 1971. That was a long time ago. So long ago that some things have changed.

“One thing that has changed is that when I was in school, we had open lunch, so we could go wherever outside the school for our lunch break. And during that time, all the guys who had cool cars would go out and rev up their engines and race up tenth street, which was only two lanes at the time. I never had a cool car, but I would always stand on the top of the hill and yell if I saw some cops coming,” Rapier said.

Because 1971 was so long ago, that means that Rapier has been kicking bad-guy butts for a pretty long time too.

“I majored in psychology in college, but then I decided that I wanted to help people, so that’s why I got into law enforcement. I started out as a patrol officer and I stayed there for I don’t know how many years.

Then I was promoted to a detective. I’ve always really enjoyed stuff like that. Then I became a road sergeant, which means I’m in charge of a group of cops who are driving around on patrol. I started working at the schools in 2001 when my daughter was a senior,” Rapier said.

A day in the life of a school district’s police officer involves a lot more than waking up falling out of bed and dragging a comb across one’s head then finding your way downstairs and drinking a cup and looking up then noticing you’re late. In fact, it’s a lot different from most Beatles songs. “[My day-to-day duties] really vary on everything, it’s different every day. I usually start out by going to Mobil on the run or somewhere like that and getting some coffee. Then I show up at the high school at the same time most of you guys do. Then the rest of the day is usually de-

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made using tomatoes, mozzarella balls and Italian dressing are high in nutrients. Low-sodium canned soups with vegetables, lentils, chicken or lean beef are easy to prepare in the microwave.

Sandwiches: Ideal nutrition based sandwiches include peanut butter and jelly, tuna salad, canned chicken salad or sliced turkey with whole-grain bread, mayonnaise, lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cheese. You can also make vegetarian sandwiches using whole-grain bread, hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced cheese and avocados.

Smoothies: If you have a mini blender and small fridge in your college dorm room or apartment, you can easily make a protein smoothie. Simply mix ice, low-fat milk or soy milk, yogurt, fresh fruits and peanut, cashew or almond butter in your blender to create a rich in protein, calcium and healthy fats drink. Protein smoothies fill you up and keep you energized when you’re studying or heading to class. If you don’t already have mini blender, some good brands to look at are Oster, Hamilton Beach and Vitamix.

Snacks: Trail mix with nuts, dried fruit and chex mix, pretzels or sesame sticks, celery sticks topped with peanut butter and raisins, whole grain crackers topped with hummus and olives or tomatoes, yogurt topped with fruit, and cottage cheese topped with walnuts make for great healthy snacks when you’re on the go.

Guidance counselor with a gun edition

cided for me after that. Sometimes, I start getting calls before I’ve even left my house. For example, sometimes I might get a call from the high school asking me to stop a fight that’s going on in the parking lot when I’m in the middle of tracking a junior high student who’s left the building and might have a gun. Another part of my job is simply helping kids get through stuff. When a kid is misbehaving to the point where I need to be called in, I don’t want to have to go in there and tackle them or take them away, but I should try and find out why they’re acting up and try and help them through it. I’ve had to take some kids to the ground at the high school, and I do all detective work for any case that involves any of the schools. It’s also my job to listen to any kids that come to me to tell me about abuse or a bad home. When I was a sergeant, I would tell my men not to make arrests just because they can. A few years later, one of the men I was in charge of became a sergeant himself and he told me he didn’t understand why I would say that, but now that he’s a sergeant, he found himself saying that to his men,” Rapier said.

But why does he choose to work with a bunch of stinky teenagers?

Because he loves you, that’s why.

“I do enjoy being on the force and working at the schools, but I like it because I think it lets me make an impact on the kids who go here.

I think there are some kids that need me and who are better off if I’m here. As long as I still feel that and I’m able to do my job properly, I’d like to stay where I’m at,” Rapier said.

But considering how long ago 1971 was and all the bad guy butts he’s kicked and all the stuff he does every day, you’d have to wonder how he’s feeling towards his eventual retirement.

“There’s a rule for law enforcement here that if your age and years of service are greater than eighty, then you are eligible for retirement.

I think I passed that mark about seven or eight years ago. Like I said, I’m here because I feel that I help kids. I know I’m getting old and I can’t do as much stuff as I could when I was twenty-one, but for the most part, I still feel like I can do what needs to be done and do it well.

There have been a few times where I’ve had a physical encounter with a student that made me go ‘Oh man,’ but I like working here and I don’t think I need to go anywhere just yet,” Rapier said.

Serious Silliness b y

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Staff Writer Disclaimer: This column’s purpose is to not rant on about my opinion… well maybe a little bit… but I do want to provide a new outlook on different issues that affect high school kids, like myself. But like always, I promise some silliness at the end to lighten up the seriousness.

LET IT GO! LET IT GOOOO!!! Now that I have that stuck in your head, I’m going to forever ruin Disney’s Frozen for you. Don’t get me wrong, I like the movie. In fact, I have a pretty good collection of Disney animations myself. But I am sure that I’m not the only one who is getting sick of all the “clever” references to it 24/7. Okay, maybe I am the only one, but hear me out: I keep hearing people talk about how “original” and “refreshing” it is that Elsa and Anna do not need a prince to save the day. While it is awesome and all that these characters are independent women, it definitely is not original. Like HELLO? Have none of you seen The Princess and the Frog or Princess Diaries 2? What about Mulan? Or Brave?

How about Beauty and the Beast or Pocahontas? The list goes on and on. In all of these movies, the main characters are strong, independent women. However, Elsa and Anna are getting all the credit for being the first princesses that do not need a prince to save them.

Let us take Beauty and the Beast, for example. At the end, it is Belle,

the book-reading girl with good judgement and that does not let Gaston dominate her, that saves the day. Another example would be Brave. Merida is ready to “shoot for her own hand” (or win the contest for her own hand in marriage). In Princess Diaries 2, Princess Mia, at the end, rules Genovia by her own, womanly self.

My point is that Frozen is a good movie with catchy songs that get stuck in your head forever, but it is by no means original. Let us give a little more credit to all of those awesome, independent princess and other female characters throughout movies who proved that they can save the day without any man’s help.

Here’s the silliness I promised earlier: I recently composed my own Netflix rendition of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman.” It goes: Do you want to watch a movie?

It doesn’t have to be a movie.

It could be a TV show, a cartoon, or a documentaryyy!

Show-Me College Showcase b y

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Touring colleges, filling out applications, and applying for scholarships basically describes every senior during the first semester. While some may be frantically sending applications to any college they set their eyes upon, others want to be a little more selective.

Approximately 166 miles from Rolla is the birthplace of Mark Twain. Yes, Hannibal Missouri. This town is home to a wonderful university known as Hannibal Lagrange. This quiet college is home to a very active Fine Arts department and an extensive Athletics department. Due to their lack of a football team, their homecoming festivities are held in their homecoming soccer game. This university happily showcases ten different sports and they are very proud of each and every one. They take great pride in their fighting Trojans.

HGLU has a very involved group of student administrators.

These students are more than happy to show potential students around their campus and give them the full tour. The dorms on campus range from old to new and are first come first serve. No one is forced to stay in the older dorms simply because they’re lower classmen. This school allows open houses in which people of the opposite gender are allowed into dorm rooms together.

There are certain regulations that must be followed when exercising this privilege.

Whether it’s date night in your dorm room or drinking Starbucks in their extensive libraries, Hannibal Lagrange University has something for everyone to enjoy.

Pictures to the right are of the HLGU campus. On the top is their admissions building and on the bottom is the Roland Library.

Photos by Hannibal Larange Admissions Office

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@rhsechonews #RoMoBulldogs Rolla High School ECHO