Tucker Runner Wins Medals at AAU Junior Olympic Games in California

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Tucker elementary student Alexandra Hise was awarded two medals at the 2022 USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships, held in July in Sacramento, California. Hise, a thirdgrader at The Globe Academy who runs for Sapphire Track Club, competed in the girls’ 8-and-under, placing eighth in the 800-meter (3:00) and fourth in the 1,500-meter (5:57, beating her previous best time in the category by 42 seconds). The top eight in each race were awarded medals.

Hise’s performance is most remarkable considering her recent entry into the sport; she began running competitively in March of this year. “Allie has been running since the day she could walk,” said mother Lauren Hise. “She was always fast and stable as a baby.” Seeing how much her daughter enjoyed running, Allie’s mother signed her up for a rec team, where she never placed below third in any meet. When the rec team spring season ended, Allie joined the Sapphire Track Club in the summer, and was a top qualifier in all four qualifying meets for nationals. Even though her school doesn’t have a track team, Allie looks forward to being old enough to run hurdles and relays, as well as one day perhaps the 3,000-Meter Steeplechase at the Olympics. In the meantime, she’ll continue running track, and has recently started gymnastics. “Her stamina is truly incredible,” exclaimed mother Lauren. Stamina is obviously in the genes; Lauren never misses a meet, even driving herself to Augusta for a qualifying meet only eighteen hours after giving birth. “I love watching her run. She absolutely amazes me!” When she is not working on her athletic skills, Allie likes to play with her friends, create art, and is learning to sew. She's also a Girl Scout. But even when she is not competing, she still likes to jog around the neighborhood - for fun.

Zoomer Zone: Connecting on Social Media

EMMA DISON BRANTLEY

It’s rare these days to find someone who doesn’t use social media. It’s become part of just about everyone’s lives, not only for Gen Z but for other generations as well. Social media is not just for sharing funny pictures or videos but for marketing, ecommerce, and personal connection. Our technology is growing at an exponential rate, and with that comes a new generation of social media platforms. Gen Zers have moved far beyond Facebook and Twitter, to newer social media platforms with more robust capabilities.

Before there was TikTok, there was Vine or Musical.ly, short video streaming platforms. Neither of these platforms still exist because of franchise issues and becoming unable to support their content creators. While many in older generations go to Google to search something they don’t know, many Gen Zers go to TikTok as their reference because we like to have a visual representation of what we don’t know. You’ll even see many companies advertise to check them on TikTok or other media platforms.

BeReal was created in 2020, but didn’t gain users until mid-2022. BeReal was created to connect with real friends in real time. Upon signing up, you receive daily notifications to post a picture of what you’re doing at that time. It could be at 9:00 a.m. or 11:00 p.m., but the concept is to capture the moment and share it with your friends. BeReal doesn’t advertise as a social media platform because with most social media platforms, you can plan and edit the pictures how you want before people see them. BeReal gives the user two minutes to post a picture of what you are doing and if you miss the two-minute window, other people can see how “late” you posted.

Instagram has been around since 2010, but it’s done some remodeling since then. Then, the purpose of Instagram was to share pictures with your friends for them to like and comment, but now Instagram has an algorithm for users based on what they like most. Instagram also started out as mainly sharing pictures, but with the addition of “reels,” stories, and the explore page, videos are becoming more popular. With Instagram making changes to its app to make it look and feel more like TikTok, comments from the public show they want the “old” Instagram back.

Discord came out in 2015 to replace Skype or TeamSpeak, which are proprietary applications used for video or voice over calls. Like Discord, these applications are used for in-game voice calls, but Discord’s purpose is to connect with people both in-game and outside of the game. Discord has also updated its application with a subscription to Discord Nitro, which offers animated backgrounds, higher streaming quality, larger file sharing capabilities, and much more.

I personally use all of these applications, some more than others, and it’s crazy how much these applications have shaped our society. Social media was created with the intention to connect with people and used as a tool for our benefit, but be careful about what you post, to whom you talk, or whom you meet on social media. These applications have been useful for me and maybe they could help you in the future, too.

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EMMA DISON BRANTLEY is a third-year student at the University of Cincinnati, where she is pursuing a degree in information technology on the game development and simulation track. When she is not gaming online, she spends time with her parents trying to help them not be so boomer.

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