November 2021 issue of the Pepper Box

RESTART DAY

AWARENESS WEEK

Leadership is hosting an awareness week for the week of November 8

RHS responded to students struggling to readjust to full time school

SPOTLIGHT Page 6

SPOTLIGHT Pgs 4-5

FALL SPORTS WRAP UPS

Fall athletes complete their first full season in the last two years

SPORTS Page 8

THE PEPPER BOX RITENOUR HIGH SCHOOL

ISSUE 1 VOLUME 99

9100 ST. CHARLES ROCK ROAD, ST. LOUIS, MO 63114

NOVEMBER 2021

National case helps spotlight violence in relationships The Gabby Petito case took national headlines, but spotlighted signs of toxic relationships

K NO WING T HE SIGNS The most common red flags of a potentially abusive relationship

CONTROL A huge red flag is when your partner attempts to control who you see, where you go or what you do.

BLAME They may blame you for their behaviors or act like it is not happening at all.

INTIMIDATION Your partner may attempt to intemidate you with threats.

THREATS Your partner may threaten to leave, hurt you, themselves or others.

TO GET MORE INFORMATION ON DOMESTIC ABUSE Visit thehotline.org or visit with one of our own Ritenour counselors

Infographic by Michelle Everett

KAYLYN RIGGS Content Editor-in-Chief Gabrielle (Gabby) Petito had a real appreciation for nature; she wanted to see as much of the world as she could. She was a princess craving adventure beyond the castle. She thought her Prince Charming was right around the corner. His name was Brian Laundrie, and he was just as interested in traveling and seizing the day as she was. Together they just seemed to click - they fit like puzzle pieces and they knew they wanted to spend each adventure with each other.

The couple went on a huge cross-country road trip in 2019, all the way from the East Coast, to California and Oregon. They camped, visited different cities, beaches, mountains and national parks. When they returned from that trip they continued to take shorter trips; never getting enough of seeing the world with each other. They wanted to spend the rest of their lives together traveling; they were the perfect match.

But soon the world would get a terrifying look at the truth. Petito and Laundrie’s relationship was not the picture-perfect Disney adventure they portrayed on social media and it’s horrible end is opening everyone’s eyes to the uncomfortable truth: domestic violence is a lot more common than people would like to think.

Even in young adults. Even in teenagers. Even if it does not appear that way publicly.

According to The Hotline, on average 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will experience violence at the hands of an intimate partner, and 1 in 10 high school students have experienced violence in a relationship in the last year (2020) alone.

While many have been publicly grieving for Petito, it is time to arm the population with the knowledge and understanding of a domestic abuse situation to better prepare readers and their loved ones for what is statistically probable.

There are many red flags in what could become a toxic relationship.

Number one: One of the partners is embarrassing the other or putting them down.

One extremely common way for a manipulator to gain control over someone is to isolate them via embarrassment.

Number two: Toxic relationships often form with one person being overly controlling. Another way manipulators commonly control their partners is by forcing them to only be with them. They may request that their significant other stays away from family members, friends, and colleagues.

Number three: Insults.

Abusers may use insults to isolate their partner and make them feel more alone in the world and in their life.

Unfortunately, some people are able to understand all of the red flags listed and more, but that knowledge may not be enough to protect

them. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, mentioned that they saw red flags in their past relationship, but tried to work through them instead of ending it.

“I noticed the red flags.

I knew things were off but I chalked it up to everyone having bad parts. I used his hard past as an excuse for his behaviors towards me and others,” anonymous student 1 said.

Another student who wished to remain anonymous mentioned that once people have left toxic relationships, there is still more that needs to be done to move forward.

“I feel we need to understand and notice red flags while entering a relationship, but we also need to understand that there are people who are willing to help. If you are already in this type of situation knowing all of the red flags won’t help you escape; but those caring people will,” anonymous student 2 said.

Ritenour’s counselors are well armed and equipped to help Ritenour students in need. They are ready to help students get to a safer space, and students who report going through violence in a relationship can be referred to a specialist in the building.

As the Petito case comes to a close, those who have followed it can grieve and give peace and honor to her and her family by keeping themselves and their friends safe. Understand the red flags and know that nobody is ever alone.

New history class will focus on social justice After being proposed by the Game Changers, Global Majority Studies will start in the Spring CAIDEN GAITHER Pepper Box Staff After a long year of virtual planning, discussion, and collaboration between staff, parents, and students, a new class teaching about social justice and its related issues is coming to Ritenour.

The new class, titled Global Majority Studies, aims to bring awareness and education to the student body on modern social topics such as race, orientation, and the history of oppression and identity, both in the United States and globally.

“It will give students more leeway to understand that these things have happened

IN THIS ISSUE

in not only the US, but worldwide,” junior Jayden Bock, a student who assisted in the creation of helped create the class, explained.

“Even though we do have Game Changers, I think [this class] is an even better way for those who are interested and want to learn more.”

The class was brought to the attention of history teachers Michael Floyd, Brett Mueller, and Zachary Buxman by the Game Changers and Tavonda Palmer Harvey. With the support of the building’s curriculum faculty and leadership, a committee was formed to create the class.

“They will go over

different social justice issues, but they will also teach vocabulary that is associated with social justice, such as oppression, microaggression, discrimination,” Palmer Harvey said. “They’ll look into identity, so that people can look into that, but it is mostly surrounded by the concept of social justice and issues that come up. It will be a connection between social justice and history, and connecting events that took place in the past versus now, like modern day slavery and mass incarceration.”

Floyd, with his fellow history teachers, played a major role in creating the lesson plans.

“We have been building the curriculum from scratch.

It has been an amazing, eye opening process,” Floyd said.

Floyd was excited to participate in the creation of the class, and acknowledges that the subject matter will be different than other classes he has taught in the past.

“I love everything about social studies, that’s what’s drawn me to social studies,“ Floyd said. “There will be some adjustments, there’s going to be some content that’s going to cause some pause for reflection. It’s going to cause some conversation.

We need to make sure that we’re including everyone in our history.”

Global Majority Studies will be available to sophomores, juniors and seniors in 7th Hour during second semester. Palmer Harvey is excited that the class will be available so quickly to students, and thinks it can have a positive impact on Ritenour students.

“We are very excited about the class, we are very grateful that we have district and building leadership supporting it because we think that it’s a great opportunity for all students to be able to learn more about not only themselves, but others who may not look like them within their classroom,” Palmer Harvey said.

WORD ON THE “R”

FOREIGN EXCHANGE ESXPERIENCE

A ROCKY RETURN TO THE SCHOOL YEAR

AWARENESS WEEK

FAST FOOD RANCH RANKING

FALL SPORTS WRAP UPS

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Opinion

November 2021

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PEPPER BOX STAFF Visual EIC: Kaitlyn Hurst Content EIC: Kaylyn Riggs Production EIC: Maricela Nunez Online Editor: Chloe Sapp Photography Editor: Michelle Everett Social Media Manager: Chanel Foster Adviser: Ron Steinschriber

Staff Members: Nichole Armstrong, Paula De Hippolito Ruiz, Layla Fouche, Caden Gaither, Kylie Griffith, Danielle Haynes, Gavin Hochman, Jennifer Huerta Lopez, Ashton Miller, Kevon Moore Special Contributors: Salaya Choudhury, Zack Gordon, Lou Hankins Editorial Policy: The Pepper Box is designed and created by members of the newspaper staff of Ritenour High School. The purpose of the newspaper is to provide a forum for the students to focus on issues, give opinions, and share information with the Ritenour High School community. The opinions expressed in this paper do not reflect opinions of our faculty or administration.

Staff Editorial

Editorial The past 21 months have changed our society. They have isolated us, drained us emotionally and mentally, and split us apart in every way possible.

A situation like this could have spelled doom for the

entire human civilization, but as the great movie “Jurassic Park” tells us, life finds a way.

Instead of dwelling on all the negatives of the past, we are starting to find a way to take all of that emotional baggage and turn it into something positive.

On Monday, October 7, Ritenour hosted a Restart Day. It was a fresh start after

a series of events proved that not everyone was ready to just start over again in August. With this restart, we have learned that reflecting on and changing the mistakes of the past can help us move forward. We have learned that life will not ever be the same as it was before March of 2020. We have a long way to go to fix the aggressive

discourse that has formed and seemed to separate people from each other.

While it has already been a month since Restart Day, students should work to continually restart their lives.

Instead of staying within our own small group of friends, we should expand our groups and seek new friends. Instead of focusing on the loss that we

“Trying to get around the building because there are a lot of people, and it gets chaotic sometimes.”

Word on the Denisse Chaidez - Freshman

What has been the most difficult adjustment into this new school year?

“The hardest adjustment is having to manage my time with school, work, and marching band. Also, having to shift my focus to physical school instead of online school, because last year Ulises school was easier to do.”

Hernandez Junior

Janiya Scott Senior

Braden AlanisSophomore

have experienced, we should celebrate the positives in our lives every day. Instead of focusing on our differences, we should all be celebrating similarities.

We may not be able to completely restart after the past 21 months, but we can start looking towards a more positive future.

“I feel like the workload has gotten a lot more bigger than it was when we were virtual. I feel like the time has gotten a lot shorter, and I feel like when we were doing virtual school online, we had more time to finish assignments than we do now.”

“The hardest adjustment was coming back to school from virtual school because it was not just me coming back, it was me and my siblings.

So basically, my mom was trying to get us together to get us to school, and make sure that we are safe at school. When coming back, there are more kids in the classroom, teachers are trying to get together, and students are trying to make sure their credits are right. I am a senior and I am just trying to graduate, so there are a lot of things happening all at once.”

Comics

Space Neighbors Kaitlyn Hurst

BlueZack Comics Zack Gordon

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Opinion

November 2021

Foreign exchange student brings new perspective Junior Paula De Hippolito Ruiz shares her experience of transferring to Ritenour from Spain From Spain With Love

Paula De Hippolito Ruiz My transition here has been very different from Spain. Schools are not the same and the educational system is not the same either.

Firstly, schools are not as big in Spain. There is just one building for the entire school from first grade to twelfth grade, including kindergarten, so there are not so many people in a school.

Secondly, you can not choose your subjects. When you are in tenth grade you have to choose a block (science, technologic, or humanities). Inside those blocks, there are different subjects; the science block takes chemistry, physics, biology, and science culture; for technologic, there are

classes in chemistry, physics, biology, and technologic design; and finally, for humanities there are Latin, philosophy, and economy classes. There are also the obligatory subjects of Spanish (literature and grammar), maths, history, and English.

In the United States, you can choose your entire schedule and choose the things you like, but you have to still have the obligatory subjects at the level you need, not like in Spain where the entire grade needs to do the same level.

One thing that impacts me is that you can attend classes with people from different levels. If you go to a Spanish school, people are in the same room with people of the same grade, and we do not have to change classrooms every hour and be with people from different grades. Instead, the teachers are the ones who move room by room every hour. This can sometimes change, for example, if you are in a class with people who have chosen a different block at the time you have to take the subjects of your block. In the US, people from different grades can be in the same class,

and every hour the students change their room classes.

Sports are not nearly as important in Spain as they are in the US. We only have a few, like soccer (which is very important to Spanish people), basketball, and volleyball.

There are some schools that can have more, but only as many as two or three more, and the sports are for all the school year, so they run from September through May. In the US, sports are so important, and even more so if you want a scholarship for college, so all schools have a lot of choices about what

sport to play.

Lunch is also very different in Spain. We do not have lunch hours, we only have one lunch where all people go to lunch and they can choose if they want to eat at school or at home. When you are in 10th grade you actually finish school before lunch. In Spain, people eat lunch between the hours of 1-3 pm.

Finally, we don’t have dances in Spain, but here, there is a Homecoming dance with a spirit week and a Prom dance at the end of the school year.

At the beginning of this

school year, I got lost every day, a lot of times. I did not know the lunch hours so I tried to find people that were in my classes, but I did not see them and that is because they had a different lunch hour.

In sports, it was different because now I have practice every day for two and a half hours, and in Spain, I had one hour and a half practice two days a week.

It has been different, but I have been getting used to it, and now I prefer this over the things we have in Spain.

Photo by Asqueladd via Wikimedia Commons Paula De Hippolito Ruiz started her high school career at Claret in Madrid, Spain.

Hallway issues return with more students Junior Danielle Haynes has some special plans for hallways if they do not clear out soon

The Diary of a Teenage SmartAleck

Danielle Haynes [WARNING: Extreme sarcasm ahead. Please proceed with caution] At Ritenour High School, we have five minutes to get to class during passing periods.

You would think that would be enough time to make it to class on time, right?

Wrong.

People love to stand in the middle of the hall or just stop walking altogether. It does not make any sense, especially to a heightist like me.

As someone who is 5’8,

I cannot really get around hurt; the body constantly would win gold, including “less tall” person who moves people like the fun size people heals itself, so just speed up me. I would make America fast, I love you, and you are can. It does not make sense to the process. I kind of just proud. terrific! me. We all have somewhere want to pick people up and If you are under 5’7.5, Now, if you do not move to go, so just keep walking or throw them out of my way. move or be destroyed. I am in the hall, you are a menace walk and talk. It is really not We could create a whole new not stopping anymore; just to society; I said what I said, that hard; you just have to sport of throwing people. accept your fate and go down; now deal with it. open your mouth and keep It can replace curling in the you can get back up when I have got things to do, and walking. winter Olympics, and we can the minute bell rings. I would bills to pay in the future, so There should be a twothrow them out in the fluffy love to watch you try to get to please move out of my way. minute head start for people snow, so they are safe. class with all the tall people in Thank you! over 5’7, and if you aren’t that I feel like many tall people the way. However, if you are a tall, then could you just, like, grow or something? If you turn around right in front of me, you will be walking right into me and might injure my knees. Also, I walk really fast, so I cannot stop really quickly like others, so you either get bumped by me or see me staring down at you like a giant. What is the reason to be that slow? Oh, that is right, there is not one; and don’t even get me started on the super tall people, like, you can just kick the little munchkins out of our way but you cannot do that so you Photo by Ron Steinschriber are also in my way.

If you are injured, move The hallways are feeling much more crowded to students after a year without seeing large groups. to the side. It is not my fault or my problem that you are

Editorial Cartoons

Illustration by Lou Hankins

Illustration by Kaitlyn Hurst

Spotlight

November 2021

ABOVE: SSD teacher Tricia Thrasher participates in the boxing activity during Restart Day. Students and staff had the opportunities to work out their frustrations through boxing.

BELOW: Senior Peter Martin participates in a spirited game of rock, paper, scissors with guest speaker Koran Bolden. Bolden spoke to the school about perserverance.

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Photo by Danielle Haynes

The struggle to adjust

Ritenour hosts a Restart Day after seeing the effect of missing a normal school year last year MARICELA NUNEZ AND CHLOE SAPP Production EIC & Online Editor

Photo by Danielle Haynes

305 days.

When school shut down on March 20, 2020, students were told that they would be virtual for at least two weeks, and then the district would reassess. Ultimately, Ritenour School District stayed virtual for almost an entire year, 305 days, eventually transitioning to hybrid learning for second semester of last school year.

This year, with limited virtual learning availability, most students entered the school, almost half of them for the first time, and the process of reacclimating to what a normal school year looks like has begun.

It had a rocky start, with many elements leading to issues both in the school and the community. The pandemic itself led to trauma, a lack of social interaction, and time apart when online disagreements could fester and grow. Some students sought attention, some from their peers, some from adults, and some from social media connections, and that attention seeking behavior has caused incidents that have affected the entire school population.

SOCIAL MEDIA’S EFFECTS Ritenour started the new school year of 2021 with over half of the school being

Photo by Danielle Haynes Photo by Michelle Everett LEFT: Members of the Game Changers learn how to lead restorative circles. RIGHT: Students in English teacher Melissa Monzyk’s class participate in a group activity.

LEFT: Senior Zack Gordon works on the “I Am From” poem during 4th hour. Students were asked to complete the poem to take a deeper look at themselves.

RIGHT: Junior Jayden Bock participates in the Restart Day activities with her classmates.

Photo by Michelle Everett

Photo by Danielle Haynes

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Spotlight

November 2021

Photo by Michelle Everett LEFT: Students in Math teacher Ellen Kim’s classroom work on their introspective writing.

RIGHT: Graduation Coach Tavonda Palmer-Harvey leads the “Cross the Line” activity.

new to the building after the virtual and hybrid learning of last year, and tension between the students began rising at alarming rates. Reaching out to apps like Tik Tok for an outlet to cure their boredom led to some issues within the building.

Going into the new school year, Tik Tok had influenced over 1 billion people throughout the world through various trends seen on the app. From dancing families to paying it back, the trends varied to a degree on how far people had to go. However, some of the trends in August and September focused on challenges for students, and what ultimately led to damage being caused in buildings.

According to Katherine Rodriguez from NJ Advance Media, the “Devious Licks” trend started with the user jugg4elias who posted a video to the social media platform on Sept. 1 where they were showing off a box of disposable masks the user claimed to have stolen from a school.

“Devious Licks” is one of many Tik Tok trends that have grown out of proportion for what it requires people to do. The trend gives people attention by making students steal property from the school. What started as stealing masks drastically changed to stealing soap dispensers from school bathrooms.

Counselor Iliana Vayman has noticed these changes and has been very vocal about her opinions on the Tik Tok trend.

“In September you could not find a bathroom with anything in it, and it was frustrating because when kids are in class and they want to go to the bathroom you have to go to multiple bathrooms just to find soap, toilet paper, or paper towels,” Vayman said The teachers were not the only victims to this student based offense, but also students who were not a part of these assaults on the school. Finding a bathroom with everything that students

needed was difficult.

“And it was also vandalism, throwing soap dispensers in the toilet doing a bunch of nonsense, it was very frustrating,” Vayman said.

Math teacher Ellen Kim is a veteran teacher in the building, and she acknowledges that these activities distract not only from the learning environment, but the overall school and community as well.

“Obviously what’s happening is both wrong and shows a lack of respect for yourself and your school.

If you care about the name “Ritenour” on your diploma and your community you take good care of those things,” Kim said.“Maturity, mindset, what you respect, etc. are things that play a role in how you look at this school. I don’t know if it’s the mindset of “middle schoolers” because I know a lot of high-quality middle school students. I think it is immaturity and a selfish mindset. I do not think it is an age thing, it is a maturity and respect thing.

If people are destroying their own school that they attend they do not respect themselves enough to try to have nice things.”

What happened in the school has been dealt with and the school has taken action with monitors and hall sweeps, but Vayman says that some more things could help enhance the learning environment and steer away from the distractions.

“Hall sweeps are a big thing that has changed because a lot of people like to roam. It is important to get to class, every time someone comes into class late it both disturbs the teacher and the classroom, but also something that will be likely to stay are some type of hall monitor situation, whether it is the secondary officers or someone who is hired as a hall monitor,” Vayman said.

Caution has been taken as this affects not only the offenders, but also the innocent students.

These small offenses might correlate with the current school population. When school began, none of the freshmen had ever had class in the building, and a very small percentage of the sophomores. The only class that has had a full school year at the high school is the senior class, and that was when they were freshmen.

NEGATIVE MINDSETS WITHIN SCHOOL In addition to the social media trends, there have been incidents of fighting in the building, often when large groups are together in spaces like the cafeteria. One underclassmen, freshman Alivia Pearia, believes that there is a lack of ability for people to talk through their emotions in the building.

“I feel the reason these fights are happening so much is that some kids might have trouble talking about how they feel when they have a problem with another person.

Or they might have some things they need to let out but they don’t have an outlet they can use so it boils over and turns into a fight,” Pearia said.

In a nationwide survey of 21,678 high school students done by researchers from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Yale Child Study Center, it was found that nearly 75% of the students’ self-reported feelings related to school as negative. In addition, students reported having negative feelings 60% of the time they were in the school building.

3/4 of students nationwide are feeling some sort of negative feeling, and this mindset has been reflected in Ritenour students as well.

Combating those feelings has not been easy and yet Ritenour Principal Dr. Jana Haywood is pushing through and trying to set an example for not only the students but also the teachers.

Being able to speak out about feelings and having

Photo by Danielle Haynes

an outlet for a situation is something needed when people are having such negative emotions.

Counselors and social workers are being more available to students who are caught up in bad situations.

“A big issue I think is that students have to step up and be role models especially upperclassmen for their lowerclassmen because if underclassmen see that the upperclassmen are acting mature and respectful then they will try to act the same so there are a lot of things students can do,” Vayman said.

Senior Kyla Jefferson agrees that the upperclassmen need to set a good example for the newer students, but says that might be an unrealistic expectation, given that the upperclassmen have also been out of school for a while and are trying to readjust.

“As an upperclassmen I feel like we need to be doing something, like standing up and being a role model that the school needs, but at the same time I was not attending in person school before the pandemic and coming back it is hard to make that transition” Jefferson said.

Everyone still needs time to adapt which could take a while.

“But I think we are all in a transitional time seeing what works and what does not, we need to be flexible with each other,” Vayman says.

“I hope that this will only be this year. I think it will get better with each year as students learn how to be back in a school and a structured environment, so maybe next year will be better, but I still think this will still be around.

Honestly, I still think this will be around for a while because Tik Tok and other things have a such huge prevalence in teen society.”

RESTART DAY

Infographic by Kaylyn Riggs

With constant challenges facing teachers and administrators as kids came back to school, Ritenour leaders came up with a plan

to address these problems.

On October 7, Ritenour High School announced that it would be hosting a “Restart Day” on October 11. A flyer was posted on the KRHS Instagram account announcing “Restart Day” with the tagline “Let’s Heal Together”. In an email written

by Dr. Haywood, she stated that “the goal for Restart Day will be for students to process the harm and the anxiety that exists in our school community”.

“Restart Day was a response to the hurt we were experiencing within the school community. It was an opportunity to learn with each other ways to excel as a school. We listened to stories, practiced regulation strategies and began to create shared goals for our collective future.” Haywood said.

Restart Day’s itinerary included guest speakers, presentations, and holding boxing sessions throughout the school day.

“The presenters and sessions were decided from survey results from students.

We wanted student input since the day was about meeting students’ needs,” Haywood said.

The day started with presentations given by speakers like Koran Bolden and Shawn Roundtree Jr and a “Cross the Line” game. The “Cross the Line” included prompts like “would you stand up for someone being bullied?” and students would walk forward, in front of their classmates, if they have done the action listed. The latter half of the day included writing poems and having talks about empathy Overall, students and teachers took this as a day to decompress and reflect on the struggles the school had collectively gone through.

“I do not believe we have seen the long-term impact of the day,” Haywood said. “My hope is that we will regain connectedness and respect our individual perspectives.

Conflict is often the result of miscommunication, so I also hope we take more time to really listen.”

Spotlight

November 2021

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Leadership hosts mental health awareness week

The group plans to raise awareness for issues like bullying, body positivity, mental health, and suicide ASHTON MILLER Staff Reporter Awareness Week begins Monday, November 8, and each day has a different theme for students to participate in.

Awareness Week is meant to help increase awareness for certain issues that students deal with. It is an opportunity for students to learn about important issues and what they can do to help. Each day is meant to raise awareness about a new issue.

Senior Leadership student Tess Ostoff believes that Awareness Week is an opportunity for students to express their feelings.

“Awareness Week means being able to express your hardships and receive information about how to help without the feeling of ridicule that you might feel if you were just openly talking about it. Awareness Week is for making people feel seen and helping people feel safe,” Ostoff said.

The theme for Monday will be bullying awareness.

Bullying is an issue at high schools across the country. Every year, millions of students in America experience bullying. If a student sees bullying or is

being bullied, they should tell a trusted adult.

On Tuesday, the theme will be body positivity awareness. Body positivity is about encouraging people to think positively about the way they look. Raising awareness about body positivity is meant to help people feel more confident about themselves.

Wednesday will be about mental health. Mental health issues can affect anyone.

Mental health awareness is meant to help destigmatize mental health disorders.

Students in the Ritenour District can access mental health resources on the district’s website.

Thursday will be about promoting suicide awareness.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for teenagers.

Suicide awareness is about helping people feel more comfortable expressing themselves and reaching out for help. There are resources on the district’s website if a student needs to reach out for help.

Lastly, Friday will be unity day. Unity day is about promoting unity within our school. By uniting together, people in the school community can help support each other.

As November 8 approaches, students can expect to see more details about how they can participate in Awareness Week. Senior Leadership student Charlie Farris explained that Leadership will be promoting Awareness Week through social media.

“We’re going to have a really strong presence on social media. We will be posting on the Leadership page and KRHS Media so we will have publicity for the school,” Farris said.

As of right now, Leadership has a few plans for engaging students. Alyssa Johnson, the co-sponsor for Leadership, said that planning is complete, but they still need approval from the administration.

“I know they’re planning to do some interactive events coming in the main door and at lunch, but they are trying to get that approved by the administration first,” Johnson said.

If students do not have access to social media, information will be posted throughout the school.

Students will also receive information through their school email.

Photo by Layla Fouche Posters hang throughout the building with memories of cancer patients connected to each staff member. This initiative was put forth by HOSA in October for Cancer Awareness Month.

Club of the month - HOSA Health Occupation Students of America has started their events for the fall, with a spirit week planned for November JENNIFER HUERTA LOPEZ Staff Reporter

Photo by Danielle Haynes Leadership students painted the windows in the breezeway in preparation for Awareness Week.

During the week, the group will spotlight bullying, body positivity, mental health, and suicide awareness.

HOSA is a club that stands for Health Occupation Students of America- Future Health Professionals.

It is mainly for any student who is interested in healthcare. HOSA not only educates, but they also have fundraisers for a spring competition. Each member chooses the competition event that they want to participate in, and they prepare for it beginning in October and continue all the way up until competition day.

HOSA focuses on giving students a chance to see what

the medical field is based on, and also to see the knowledge and understanding about the topic that they chose for competition.

October is Cancer Awareness Month, and HOSA made sure to set up posters around the school, to inform the students about Cancer and what it’s all about. HOSA tried to acknowledge those with or those who have had Cancer.

In November, HOSA is planning to have a spirit week, so they want students to show some support. In December, HOSA will be selling fuzzy socks in order to raise money for competition expenses.

Band performance photo gallery The band held a concert on October 26 to show off the skills they had learned so far this year

TOP: The clarinet section performs at the band concert on October 26.

BOTTOM: The band uses sound tubes to make wind sounds at the performance.

All photos by Danielle Haynes

TOP: Members of woodwind and brass show off their skills BOTTOM: Freshman Matthew Walker celebrates his performance with his family at the end of the night.

Band director Hadley Haux waves goodbye to the crowd at the end of the performance.

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A&E

November 2021

Taylor Swift takes control of her music The pop star is rerecording her albums to get ownership of the proceeds CHLOE SAPP Online Editor Taylor Swift has dealt with a lot in her 15 years in the spotlight, and now, she’s faced with getting the rights to her own music.

Swift signed to record label Big Machine Records, run by Scott Borchetta, in 2006. She recorded and released 6 albums under this label, including hit albums “1989” and “Red”. In 2018, this contract expired and she switched to the Republic Records label. While Swift was switching labels and trying to buy her discography, Borchetta was selling it to Scooter Braun, a well known manager for pop singers like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato.

Braun being in charge of Swift’s music meant he would get all of the money made from streams generated from her albums released under Big Machine Records.

Borchetta and Braun were also attempting to prevent her from performing her old songs at the 2019 AMAs. “I’ve been planning to perform a medley of my hits throughout the decade on the show. Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun have now said that I’m not allowed to perform my old songs on television because they claim that would be rerecording my music before I’m allowed to next year.” Swift wrote on Tumblr in November 2019.

Swift also had an upcoming Netflix documentary titled “Miss Americana”, releasing at the end of January 2020, in which Borchetta and Braun declined use of any music from her first 6 albums and any performance footage of these songs.

“Scott Borchetta told my team that they’ll allow me to use my music only if I do these things: If I agree to not re-record copycat versions of my songs next year and also told my team that I need to stop talking about him and Scooter Braun… The message being sent to me is very clear.

Basically, be a good little girl and shut up. Or you’ll be punished,” Swift wrote in the same Tumblr post.

Big Machine Records responded to this post in their own letter put up on their website. They state Swift was spreading “false information”.

“At no point did we say Taylor could not perform on the AMAs or block her Netflix special. In fact, we do not have the right to keep her from performing live anywhere.” Big Machine Records writes. “Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist. All we ask is to have a direct and honest conversation. When that happens, you will see there is nothing but respect, kindness and support waiting for you on the other side. To date, not one of the invitations to speak with us and work through this has been accepted. Rumors fester in the absence of communication.

Let’s not have that continue here. We share the collective goal of giving your fans the entertainment they both want

and deserve.”

Taylor Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine, then went on to refute these claims made by Big Machine Records.

“The Vice President, Rights Management and Business Affairs from Big Machine Label Group sent Taylor Swift’s team the following: “Please be advised that BMLG will not agree to issue licenses for existing recordings or waivers of its re-recording restrictions in connection with these two projects: The Netflix documentary and The Alibaba ‘Double Eleven’ event.’

In addition, Scott Borchetta, CEO and founder of Big Machine Label Group flatly declined the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix. Big Machine is trying to deflect and make this about money by saying she owes them but, and independent, professional auditor has determined that Big Machine owes Taylor $7.9 million of unpaid royalties over several years.”

Nine days before the AMAs, Big Machine Records put out a statement announcing that Swift would be allowed to perform her old music at the show. Dick Clark Productions, the studio that produces the AMAs, also stated that artists do not need approval from their labels on what they can and cannot perform.

A full year passed on with no new issues. Braun was making money off of Swift’s discography, while Swift was releasing her eighth album, “Folklore,” and had plans in place to rerecord her old music, in hopes to block Braun from making any more money from her music catalog.

But, in November 2020, Braun sold Swift’s music to an investment fund for $300 million.

“A few weeks ago my team received a letter from a private equity company called Shamrock Holdings, letting us know that they had bought 100% of my music, videos, and album art from Scooter Braun. This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge.”

Swift writes in a letter posted on Twitter. “The letter told me they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.”

Swift goes on to say that, under Shamrock Holdings, Braun would still profit off of her music catalog. She refused to work with a company that partnered with Braun.

“If I support you, as you request, I will be contributing to these future payments to Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings.” Swift writes in a letter to Shamrock Holdings.

“I simply cannot in good conscience bring myself to be involved in benefiting Scooter Braun’s interests directly or indirectly. As a result, I cannot currently entertain being partners with you.”

She also goes on to mention that she fully plans on rerecording her old music, and she has already begun

‘

What’s trending? - Ranch The editorial staff ranked the best fast food ranch dressing KAITLYN HURST Visual Editor-in-Chief

POPEYES BLACKENED RANCH Its color may seem off putting compared to your standard white Ranch, as it is pretty orange and has dark herbs scattered throughout. That being said, you may be pleasantly surprised with this peppery creamy dressing that has a decent amount of kick, considering it is a Ranch. It had a pretty good consistency, and would be good with a variety of foods, especially chicken.

Pepper Box Ranking: 8/10 MCDONALDS RANCH

How shocking would it be if I were to tell you that this Ranch tastes like literally everything on McDonalds menu? Oh, its not shocking at all? It is a classic pairing for your McNuggets and for more adventurous folks, burgers, fries, and well, anything on their menu. It is white and creamy with little black specks swimming about. Although this Ranch may not be for everyone, it has got a solid foundation and you cannot really go wrong with it.

Pepper Box Ranking: 7/10 CHICK FIL-A GARDEN HERB RANCH This was your standard bottle Ranch from the store. Dont get me wrong, it is good, but more for salads. It was a liquidy crisp white dressing with large and small pieces of herbs scattered throughout. This dressing was very similar to Hidden Valley in my opinion. The saddest part about this Ranch you may ask? The portion provided in one container. Sure, they might package it as a healthy serving size, but come on, we all know no one is getting Ranch to be healthy.

Pepper Box Ranking: 6/10 JACK IN THE BOX BUTTERMILK HOUSE SAUCE

This Ranch was not too bad for a place you can get tacos at 3 am. However, it ranks lower because of the overwhelming sweetness in it.

It appears like your standard Ranch; white and creamy with tiny specks of herbs - but then it just hits you - SWEET - too sweet. Now the sweetness could possibly be a really good pair with an extremely salty savory food, but their Ranch just doesnt make the cut on variety.

Pepper Box Ranking: 5/10 LEE’S JALAPENO RANCH

Lotion texture. Yes, you heard me, eating it was like a mouth full of lotion. That being said, as disgusting as that sounds it actually had a decent taste. This Jalapeno Ranch was the spiciest out of all of the ranches on this list, and should be, considering the chunks of jalapeno peppers scattered throughout the sauce. It also had a yellow/orange tinge color, and looked like other herbs were mixed within. It would have scored better if it was more of a Ranch than a lotion dressing, but it was not too bad.

Pepper Box Ranking: 4/10 BURGER KING RANCH

Boycott Burger King right now if you want to have any faith in humanity for future generations. Well, at least until they change their Ranch recipe back to the kind they had before the new green label. This Ranch was truly disappointing for their so called “upgrade”. It was tangy in all the wrong ways and had a spoiled after taste. They also changed the texture slightly, so now its runnier. If Burger King was smart they would change their Ranch recipe back to what it was not even a year ago, as it would have most definitely been first place.

Pepper Box Ranking: 1/10 embarking on that journey.

On April 9, Swift’s first of many rerecords was released.

Her first rerecord ended up being her second album, Fearless. Each song on the album had, in parentheses, the words “Taylor’s Version” added to the titles to signify that these songs were hers and hers only.

To make the rerecords more exciting for the fans, she also added a “From the Vault” section of her album where she includes songs that were written, but never added, to the old versions of the albums. For Fearless (Taylor’s Version), these vault tracks also included collabs with Keith Urban and Maren

Morris, artists who were not originally included in the album.

The next one to two years is planned out for Swift with 4 of her old albums still waiting to be turned into Taylor’s Version. In the meantime, fans look forward to Red (Taylor’s Version) coming on November 12.

Sports

November 2021

Page 8

Fall Season Final Sports Capsules Boys Soccer

LAYLA FOUCHE Pepper Box Staff

Cross Country

• • •

Photo courtesy: RHS Athletics Senior Yemil Lopez competes against a player from Brentwood on senior night.

Photo courtesy: KRHS Coach Molly Dahlquist, senior Yaztin Chaidez, senior Cheyenne Simmons, senior Ben Weissler, senior Timothy Krumly, and Coach Mike Aitken celebrate senior night.

Coach: Mike Aitken • Results so far: We have had a fantastic season thus far. Senior Ben Weissler qualified for the State Championships the first week of November.

• Top Contributor(s): Benjamin Weissler, Tim Crumly, Yaztin Chaidez, Elizabeth Weissler, Adriana Gutierrez • Key Newcomer(s): Micah Weissler, Denisse Chaidez • Season Performance: We have a great group of kids that work hard and support each other.

They hold themselves and their teammates accountable in workouts and push each other to be their best. This mindset has allowed them to continuously improve throughout the season.

Additionally, we are a pretty young team which bodes well for the next several years!

Football

Photo by Danielle Haynes The football team lines up in their game against Northwest High School.

Coach: Yarmon Kirksey • Last Year’s Record: 1-3 • Current Record: 0-10 • Top Contributor(s): Anthony Darevsky, Nakai Steele-Myers, Antorion Briggs, Eli Mitchell, Leon Mitchell-Williams, Isaac Biayi • Key Newcomer(s): Jayden Barnett, Derrick Smith, Tyson Robinson, Percy Childs, Billy Hall, Ashton James • Season Performance: This season we have not won any games yet, but we have shown promise each week. We have a young team and we are essentially learning on the job and we will see the improvement later this season and next year.

Coach: Michael Mayberry • Last Year’s Record: 6-2 • Current Record: 10-9 • Top Contributor(s): Yemil Lopez, Fidel Lopez, Richard McNary • Key Newcomer(s): Miles White, Osvaldo Cruz • Season Performance: A major boost to our team’s performance was the addition of a goalkeeper, Osvaldo Cruz. Since he joined, we have let up two goals in seven games.

Softball

season, we recently celebrated our Senior Night with a 64-24 victory over McCluer; daily the swimmers are working really hard to improve their times.

Top Contributor(s): Since I only had two swimmers return from last year I would have to say everyone plays a key role on the team.

Key Newcomer(s): Shawn Buttry, Holden Myers Season Performance: Holden Myers stepped right up and took the longest event, the 500 Freestyle, Jackson Leong took the technical event with the 100 Breaststroke, Nick Robinson is our new sprinter who likes to challenge himself, and Anthony Finizia can swim anything I put him in. Last year we gained Shawn Buttry who continues to drop time, and our senior Ryleigh Myers is a valuable swimmer both in and out of the water.

Girls Tennis

Photo by Michelle Everett Sophomore Margaret Susovica competes in a tennis match this season. Susovica was one of two returning tennis players this season.

Coach: Beth Seibold • Last Year’s Record: 5-2 • Current Record: 3-6 • Top Contributor(s): Margaret Susovica, An Nguyen • Key Newcomer(s): Chloe Sapp, Tatiana Floyd, Kierstin Ford, Nadyah Majeed-Ali • Season Performance: This is a rebuilding year and the four new players are just now learning the sport so with any rebuilding year you learn Photo courtesy: RHS Athletics from your wins and you learn more from your losses.

Senior Kailey Covert throws out a runner.

Coach: Darrell Butler • Last Year’s Record: 14-0 • Current Record: 8-10 • Top Contributor(s): Tyler Frost, Leyla Payton, Liz Dobbs, Samantha Lohnes • Key Newcomer(s): Hailey Ebert, Tyler Frost, Leyla Payton • Season Performance: Getting along with each other is special. It is not about winning or losing, but the experience. Despite having a new coach, the girls were attentive and coachable.

Boys Swim

Girls Volleyball

Photo courtesy: RHS Athletics Junior Carmen Lee-Taylor, sophomore Jada Bradley, senior Gracie Gary, and junior Bryanna Degraffenried discuss strategy during the game.

Coach: Ellen Kim • Last Year’s Record: 9-2 • Current Record: 6-20 • Top Contributor(s): Carmen Lee-Taylor, Lexi Hahn, Jada Bradley, Bre Degraffenried, Rene’ Nelson, Maddi Travis, Gracie Gary • Key Newcomer(s): Allie Hansen, Talia Jones • Season Performance: We had a lot of new players in our program overall and we did not have a freshman/C-team last spring due Photo by: RHS Athletics to COVID so our experience is a little lower Sophomore Anthony Finizia prepares to dive in overall than it normally is. However, we only during Conference finals. have 3 seniors so we have a lot of returning players that should be competing for a spot Coach: Jennifer Wakefield and playing time next season. I anticipate a • Last Year’s Record: 3-3 competitive spring practice session as well as a • Current Record: We are wrapping up our competitive summer pre-season.

Inside the Huddle - Prepping for winter Question: What are you most looking forward to in the winter season?

Kelly Jones Girls Basketball

Grayson Rogers Boys Basketball

“I am excited to actually have “This upcoming season I am a team because last year we most excited about our home did not have one. I am excited games.” to experience high school basketball, because I am a sophomore, so I will get to see how it is different from middle and elementary school.”

Roi Mundin Wrestling

Addyson Watts Girls Swimming

“I am most excited to have all “I am excited for, well it the new people on the team is my senior year so I get because last year there were a senior night, and I am only a few guys and now we excited to see if we win the have a good amount of guys in conference, and I am excited there, big decent guys in there, to meet all the new girls that and I’m really excited to see join the swim team.” what the season will be like.”