The Harbinger Issue 6 2021 by The Harbinger

the harbinger. S H AW N E E M I S S I O N E A S T 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS 66208 NOVEMBER 15, 2021 VOLUME LXIV ISSUE 6

A WORKER’S WORTH Amid discussions of raising the minimum wage, the required amount a worker must make influences students, businesses and customers in the East community

02 INSIDE COVER

staff list PRINT EDITORS Celia Condon Sydney Newton ONLINE EDITORS Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood ASST. PRINT EDITORS Peyton Moore Cesca Stamati ASST. ONLINE EDITORS Lyda Cosgrove Kate Heitmann HEAD COPY EDITOR Campbell Wood PHOTO EDITORS Elise Madden Maggie Merckens ASST. PHOTO EDITORS Rachel Bingham Macy Crosser Hadley Chapman VIDEO EDITOR Roberto Galicia ASST. VIDEO EDITOR Maggie Klumpp PHOTO MENTORS Emily Pollock Grace Allen Lily Mantel MJ Wolf STAFF WRITERS Caroline Wood Madeline Funkey Anna Mitchell Christian Gooley Caroline Gould Mia Vogel Paige Zadoo

Greyson Imm Sophie Lindberg Ben Bradley Nora Lynn Katie Murphy Luke Beil Maggie Kissick Emma Krause COPY EDITORS Sydney Newton Celia Condon Campbell Wood Sophie Henschel Peyton Moore Cesca Stamati Kate Heitmann Lyda Cosgrove Caroline Wood Caroline Gould Greyson Imm Nora Lynn EDITORIAL BOARD Sydney Newton Celia Condon Campbell Wood Sophie Henschel Peyton Moore Cesca Stamati Kate Heitmann Lyda Cosgrove Caroline Wood Madeline Funkey Nora Lynn SECTION EDITORS EDITORIAL PRINT Madeline Funkey NEWS PRINT Caroline Gould ONLINE Kate Heitmann OPINION

THE HARBINGER

design by cesca stamati cover design by sydney newton cover illustration by natalie scholtz

PRINT Sophie Lindberg ONLINE Mia Vogel FEATURE PRINT Anna Mitchell ONLINE Greyson Imm A&E PRINT Nora Lynn ONLINE Paige Zadoo SPORTS PRINT Caroline Wood ONLINE Ben Bradley PAGE DESIGNERS Anna Mitchell Katie Murphy Madeline Funkey Christian Gooley Caroline Wood Bridget Connelly Luke Beil Emma Krause ART EDITOR Natalie Scholz ASS. ART EDITOR Nora Lynn STAFF ARTISTS Celia Condon Sophie Henschel Sophie Lindberg Christian Gooley Bridget Connelly Marissa Liberda STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Audrey Condon Charlotte Emley

Elle Siegel Jill Rice Julia Fillmore Kate Beaulieu Maggie Klumpp Riley Eck Sabrina Dean Tristen Porter VIDEO STAFF Roberto Galacia Maggie Klumpp PODCAST EDITOR Ben Bradley SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS Celia Condon Sophie Henschel ASST. SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Mia Vogel Paige Zadoo SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF Madeline Funkey Campbell Wood Christian Gooley Grace Allen Paige Zadoo Sophie Lindberg Ben Bradley Peyton Moore Lyda Cosgrove Nora Lynn Marissa Liberda Bridget Connelly ADS MANAGER Greyson Imm CONTEST COORDINATOR Peyton Moore CIRCULATION MANAGER Maggie Klumpp

political cartoon by natalie scholtz

click for pics

online preview

LANCER DANCER GAME DAY SHOWCASE Scan to view the gallery f ro m t h e L a n c e r D a n c e r I n n ova t i ve G a m e D a y Showcase by tristen porter, riley eck, charlotte emley and macy crosser

FREQUENT FRIDAY Scan to view the gallery f ro m “ T h e S h o w t h a t G o e s Wro n g ” F re q u e n t Friday by tristen porter, rachel bingham, sabrina dean and audrey condon

photo by charlotte emley

soon to come FOLLOW THEHARBINGER SMEHARBINGER SMEHARBINGER

Nov.

WINTER SPORTS TRYOUTS

FREQUENT FRIDAY

CHILL SPIRIT NIGHT

3-5:30 p.m. at East through Nov. 17

3:00 p.m. in the Little Theater

Buy a sweet treat at Chill in the Village and 25% will go to the JCCB

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

NEWS 03

design by caroline gould photo by audrey condon

NEWS IN BRIEF Catch up on school and national news

NATIONAL

EAST by emma krause

Students and staff believe that the school should be doing a better job at recycling

A recap of recent climate change initiatives around the world

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE

ONE HUNDRED GLOBAL

recycling bins within East, the school currently doesn’t have a reinforced recycling system in place. But according to an Instagram poll of 227 students and East community members, 84% agree that East should better enforce recycling habits.

I T ’ S R E A L LY DISAPPOINTING to see a school that i s s o c a p a b l e [ of re c yc l i n g ] t o fa i l a t s u c h a simple task.

EMMA KATE SQUIRES SENIOR Senior Emma Kate Squires pointed out that recycling might not affect us personally, but a lack of it will eventually lead to a much greater negative impact “It’s really disappointing to see a school that is so capable [of recycling] to fail at such a simple task,” said

Squires. In the next few weeks, science teacher Rusty DeBey hopes to encourage and advertise active recycling at East. “As of right now we do not recycle,” DeBey said. “The bins keep getting emptied at night by the custodians, and to my knowledge they do not recycle.” To many of the student’s knowledge East was practicing recycling, so it was a shock to learn that it isn’t taking place regularly. “I always thought we recycled,” Sophomore Autumn Sun said. “The bins are already there so why not use them. We’ve always been trained at a young age to recycle and are told that it benefits the environment.” A few East faculty members have also noticed that the trash and recycling goes in the same place.

leaders, including presidents, ministers and businesses, pledged on Nov. 1 to end deforestation and land degradation by 2030. This project will be funded by $19 billion in public and private funds, which will go towards protecting and restoring forests. “A new U.S. plan would help the world deliver on our shared goal of halting natural forest loss and restoring at least an additional 200 million hectares of forest and other ecosystems by 2030,” President Joe Biden stated at the Nov. 1 press conference. Government and separate private initiatives were taken to help reach their goal on Nov. 2. These included billions in pledges for indigenous guardians of the forest and sustainable agriculture. United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosted a global meeting in Glasgow, Scotland discussing deforestation, where it was announced that 110 leaders — more than any initiative

before — were committing to help reach this goal. “We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests,” Johnson said at the meeting. “[And] end the role of humanity as nature’s conqueror, and instead become nature’s custodian.” In 2020 alone, the world lost 99,600 square miles of forest, according to World Resource Institute’s deforestation tracking initiative Global Forest Watch. This new pledge is similar to the previous one in 2014 called the New York Declaration on Forests. However, the current plan more precisely lays out the resources needed to reach that goal. Sophomore Ella Howard, who’s passionate about working to keep the planet healthy, read about the new pledge and watched Biden’s deforestation speech. “I think that the pledge will be beneficial and I hope that it ends up helping the environment, not hurting it,” Howard said.

Do you think East should enforce better recycling?

YES NO Poll of 227 people

What are your thoughts on the recent pledge to end deforestation?

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R NOV EMB ER 15

SALTY IGUANA AND SUMMER NOVEMBER 20-28 SALT SPIRIT NIGHTS

THANKSGIVING BREAK

04 NEWS

THE HARBINGER

design by nora lynn

MIRRORING

MANNERISMS After a recent increase in doctor visits relating to newly developed tics in teenage girls, researchers and neurosurgeons have found a connection to TikTok

by caroline gould

ITH THE INCREASED screen time

from the COVID-19 pandemic, neurologists have discovered a new pandemic emerging — teenage girls are developing anxiety tics from the social media app TikTok. Tics can be both physical jerking movements or verbal outbursts, and have remained fairly uncommon in girls. This is why, according to The Wall Street Journal, neurologists around the world were primarily confused as to why these occurrences were becoming more common. So after months of studies conducted by researchers across the world, they found a pattern between these girls — all of the girls reported watching TikTok videos of people who have Tourette’s 1 syndrome. Doctors across the nation are treating an influx of patients for tics since the start of the pandemic. Per a Wall Street Journal report, Texas Children’s Hospital reports seeing approximately 60 cases since March 2020. Before the pandemic, they’d see one or two a year. The same goes for patients located at the John Hopkins University Tourette’s Center, where 10-20% of them describe having tic behaviors, which which is 2-3% higher than what it was before the pandemic. One of these more recent cases of tics has been developed by freshman Addie Moore, who became concerned after having difficulty while taking deep breaths. “It kept getting worse and worse to the point where my friends would text me in class like, ‘Jesus, Addie, are you okay?’” Moore said. “And I’m usually not an anxious person either, so when I wasn’t able to breathe I was really confused about what was happening.” It eventually got to the point where

friends and even her dance coach suggested that she go to the doctor, where she was told that she had the “TikTok tic.” “At that point I was really confused and had never really heard of them,” Moore said. Dr. Richard Dubinsky, who’s a neurology professor at The University of Kansas Medical Center specializing in movement disorders, has both read about and seen first-hand an increase in young women reporting tics after working with patients with tics since he joined the staff in 1988. He attributes this rise in tics to TikTok influencers with Tourette’s talking about their tics online, causing otherwise neurotypical girls to pick up similar movements. Dubinsky says that this could be contributed to echopraxia. 2 “As a species, we tend to imitate those around us,” Dubinsky said. He compares this situation to a prepandemic lunch with friends. Say that one person reaches to take a drink, and everyone else follows. Only what’s going on with TikTok is a much more extreme example than that — where users are watching people with Tourette’s and picking up those tics. “I have no clue how this even happened,” Moore said. I looked it up and it said something about watching certain types of videos, but I don’t even think I watched [videos of influencers with Touette’s]. My For You Page was normal, I just watched too much of it.” East parent and licensed psychiatrist Dr. Miguel Stamati agrees with Dubinsky, also bringing up mirror neurons 3 as an example. So, when a human being sees someone make a movement, mirror neurons register this and copy it. Stamati also thinks that TikTok has

the ability to cause an adrenaline rush, or “hyper arousal,” in teenagers, caused by their screens and what they are displaying to them. This adrenaline rush also has the ability to manifest tics. “There’s this idea of being hyper aroused, manifested by sweaty hands and perhaps a changing heart rate,” Stamati said. “For an adolescent, the heart rate could increase. Part of this hyper arousal in the brain causes tic manifestation.” As for Moore, she still doesn’t know exactly how her anxiety tic manifested, counter to the fact that it was due to TikTok. Having spent an average of 16 hours per week on TikTok, with the app downloaded on her sixth grade iPod, Moore solemnly decided to delete it after finding out that the chuckles were no longer worth her suffering when breathing. “It makes me mad since I love watching TikTok and I spent so much time doing it that it’s sad that I can’t have it,” Moore said.

1. tou•rettes

a n e r vo u s sy st e m d i s o rd e r t h a t b e g i n s a t c h i l d h o o d a n d i nvo lve s u n c o n t ro l l a b l e , re p et i t i ve m ove m e nt s a n d u nw a n t e d s o u n d s k n o w n a s t i c s . S i m p ly h a v i n g a n x i et y t i c s i s n ot h a v i n g To u re tt e ’s S y n d ro m e .

2. ech•o•prax•i•a

t h e i nvo lu nt a r y m i r ro r i n g of a n o b s e r ve d action.

3. mir•ror neu•ron

t i ny n e u ro l o g i c a l st r u c t u re s t h a t f i re w h e n b ot h p e rc e i v i n g a n d t a k i n g a n a c t i o n

WHAT ARE

TICS? TICS?

two kinds of tics: motor tics (movement) & vocal tics (sounds) tics can be simple or complex simple tics are one action, like blinking or nose-twitching complex tics are a series of tics performed in the same order each time

HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT FROM TWITCHES? these are still involuntary movements, but they’re usually not repeated

NOVEMBER 15, 2021 design by caroline wood

911 RE-DONE

The OPPD is planning to employ a mental health crisis response team, OPCAT, by the end of 2022

OPCAT SQUAD JC Mental Health clinicians

crisis intervention trained officers

TRAINED TO ASSIST

Common causes of mental health that the officers will be specially trained for

elderly

veterans

youths

LGBTQ

homeless traumatic brain injury substance abuse *This story includes content related to suicide, self harm and police violence by gibbs morris

OVERLAND PARK Police Department is creating a crisis response team known as the Overland Park Crisis Action Team, or OPCAT for short, that’s expected to be implemented by the end of next year as a way to actively prevent mental health crisis situations. Officer Clayton Jenison arrived at John Albers’ household located on West 149th Ter. on Jan. 20, 2018 at 5:48 p.m. Two minutes later, 13 shots are discharged into his vehicle. 17-year-old and Blue Valley Northwest student Albers was shot dead by police. In body cam footage provided after the incident by the Overland Park Police Department, Jenison walks up the driveway. The garage door begins to open, and a white minivan pulls out slowly. Jenison yells for the vehicle to stop, but discharges his gun twice after the car didn’t cease slowly rolling out. After the initial shots, the car HE

Who the team will be made up of

a therapy dog named Haven

7 CALLS P E R D AY T O THE OP POLICE DEPARTMENT T H AT A R E M E N TA L H E A LT H R E L A T E D

SCAN ME • WEBSITE S c a n h e re t o v i s i t O ve r l a n d P a r k ’s w e b s i t e a n d re a d a b o u t the newest updates on O P C AT

reverses quickly in a U-shape into the front yard where Jenison fires another 11 shots into the driver’s side window before the vehicle rolls to a stop in a neighbor’s front yard across the street. According to Jenison, he fired his weapon because he was convinced Albers was attempting to back out and hit him. However, footage released to the public shows Jenison off to the right of the garage, not in the path of the reversing vehicle. In a 500-page report provided by the OPPD, two calls made to 911 were recorded that night — one at 5:36 p.m. and another one minute before officers arrived at the house. The calls were made by one of Albers’ friends — whose name was redacted in the report — to the station to report that Albers was suffering a mental health crisis and had said he was going to kill himself after allegedly stabbing his stomach and chest twice. About two years later during a news conference, Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach was asked the one question that Albers’ mother, Sheila Albers, had on her mind: Was this an appropriate response to

a welfare check on a teenager? While answers may vary across the board, one indisputable fact was that a suffering young teen ended up dead rather than receiving the help he needed. To prevent cases such as Albers’ from happening again, OPCAT will be taking calls that involve severe mental health crises, crises that even our own students at Shawnee Mission East experience as well. According to an Instagram poll of 204 East students, 104 of them said they’ve experienced a severe mental health crisis at some point in their life. Senior Jacob Rigby, for example, details his own journey with mental health issues that manifested in the form of severe panic attacks. “I remember my first one like it was yesterday,” Rigby said. “I was under a lot of stress and I suddenly felt lightheaded. I walked out of a store, fell to the ground and was yelling at someone to take me to the ER. I didn’t end up going, but a lot of first timers end up there. Your heart beats too fast, your mind spins and your hands get really clammy. Personally, I felt crazy and manic. I felt like whatever I was going through was never going to end, like I was going to die.” Rigby goes on to speak about how his recurring attacks led his mind to spiral a bit before he was able to find the mindset he needed to eliminate them entirely. “I felt like these panic attacks were something that only happened to me,” Rigby said. “That heaviness led me to think bad thoughts and feelings. My life just felt pointless. But after constantly going through them, I realized the attacks never really kill you. It not only made them go away, but made me more aware to keep my mind healthy.” However, like in the case of John Albers, some don’t reach the conclusion Rigby was able to in his own mind. Professional help would be the next step in the process, but that can take time and money that not everyone can afford. OPCAT plans to compensate for this with the credentials of its members on the new force the OPPD is creating.

T H E H O P E I S t h a t ot h e r p o l i c e d e p a r t m e nt s w i l l fo l l o w o u r exa m p l e t o e n s u re t h e s a fet y of t h e p u b l i c a n d t h o s e s u f fe r i n g f ro m m e n t a l h e a lt h i s s u e s .

JOHN LACY OP PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER According to the Overland Park Kansas website, OPCAT will consist of 12 members varying from police to mental health

NEWS 05

experts including: elderely specialists, youth specialists, a homeless specialist, a veteran specialist, LGBTQ specialists, traumatic brain injury specialists, intellectual development disability specialists and substance abuse specialists. The team will also include a therapy dog named Haven, who will be able to relieve the stress of those working on the team and those they encounter in the field of duty. The labrador retriever-mix will be called into scenarios where he can help ease the individual and encourage the development of a bond between the officer and them. OPCAT team members will also wear more casual uniforms, consisting of polos and khaki pants, and replace traditional squad cars with plain SUVs. This decision was made to help curb the intimidation those in crisis may feel when coming into contact with police outfitted in all tactical gear arriving in police vehicles. According to Overland Park public information officer John Lacy, while the team will only be able to operate and respond to calls within Overland Park jurisdiction, the OPPD’s hopes are that other jurisdictions will follow in their footsteps. “We get a lot of questions about the team on the daily, but especially about where they would operate,” Lacy said. “Members will only be able to respond to calls within our jurisdiction. Even so, the hope is that other police departments will follow our example to ensure the safety of the public and those suffering from mental health issues.” East senior Kyle Dean has also dealt with friends who have reached out to him for help in mental health crises and the stress of not having the proper tools to handle the situation everytime. “There have been a few times where I have been up all night on the phone with people I know, trying to change their minds from doing the unthinkable,” Dean said. “But, some of those times I felt like I wasn’t able to help very much because I didn’t know how to handle it. The only other thing I could think to tell them is talk to their parents immediately or call a hotline, but even then I feel like that wouldn’t be much different than talking with a friend.” The institution of a crisis action team within OP sets a precedent for other cities and jurisdictions to create their own form of a crisis response teams amongst their police force, including the Shawnee Mission district. As Dean mentioned, not knowing where else to turn for help at times, potential implementation of response teams similar to OPCAT will offer a fast acting and nonthreatening tool for those in crisis to turn to all over the Kansas City metro area.

06 PHOTOSTORY

FROM SEA

A B O V E W h i le waiting fo r t h e lo b ste rs to arrive f ro m t h e a i r p o r t, junior M a r i n B r ya nt h i t s junior Evy n Ro b e r t s w i t h a blow up lo b ste r . “ I t was really coo l t h a t s o m a ny people s h owe d u p l i ke the gym lobby a re a wa s c o mpletely fi l le d w i t h p e o p le, some pe o ple o rde re d up to 50 lo b ste rs , ” Ro b e r ts said. PHOTO BY JILL RICE R I G H T J u n i or Marin Br ya nt p u t s a s i gn up at th e f ro nt of E a st to give dire ct i o n s o n w h e re to go. “It wa s re a l ly i nteresting to s e e lo b ste rs i n real life b e c a u s e I ’ ve n ever seen or e a te n lo b ste r before,” B r ya nt s a i d . “ T he main g o a l of t h e lo b ster sale wa s to ra i s e f unds for fore i g n exc h a n g e students to c om e to the United Sta te s fo r a n e d u cation.” PHOTO BY JILL RICE

THE HARBINGER

design by elise madden

SME

The international club hosted the annual lobster sale to raise money for school fees for the international students, selling 469 lobsters on Oct. 30

A B O V E Junior Lillie Dirks examin es a l ive lobster after taking it out of the container. “Honestly my favorite part was definitely being able to handle the lobsters. I handled live lobsters before so it wasn’t an entirely new experience for me,” Dirks said. PHOTO BY JILL RICE L E F T Juniors Kate Heitmann and Lyda Cosgrove carry in a box of lobsters into the school, after being picked up from the airport. The lobsters were from off the coast of Salem Massach u setts. PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN

L E F T Ju n ior Marin Bryant takes a photo of junior Jill Rice while she holds up a live lobster after taking it out of the box of seaweed. PHOTO BY CAROLINE GOULD

SCAN ME

PHOTO Use this QR code to p u rc h a s e photos f ro m t h i s eve n t o n Harbie P h ot o

OPINION 07

NOVEMBER 15, 2021 design by sophie lindberg

OPINION

HIGHLIGHTS

T HIS W E E K I N T WEET S Opinionated tweets from this week I C A N N OT B E L I E V E T H E R E I S A N E W A B B A A L B U M . I T ’ S L I K E G E T T I N G A N E W I N G R I D B E R G M A N M OV I E O R S O M E T H I N G ,

LOUIS VIRTEL

11/4/21

A look into student opinions and the opinion section

F I L L I N THE O PINIO N: AARON ROD GERS

DAV E G R O H L W I L L S TO P A C O N C E RT A N D K I C K S O M E O N E O U T I F H E S E E S A F I G H T H A P P E N I N G . I ’ V E P L AY E D B I G S TAG E S , YO U H AV E I N - E A R S A N D P E O P L E A L E RT YO U TO P RO B L E M S . N O E X C U S E TO N OT S TO P T H E S H OW.

TWO FEET

11/7/21

Write in your opinion about Aaron Rodgers being unvaccinated J A C O B WO H L A L S O B E L I E V E S T H AT N OT E D J E W J E S U S C H R I S T S H O U L D H AV E D E C O R AT E D H I S C RO S S W I T H C H R I S T M A S

C I A L LY B E I N G S U C H A P U B L I C F I G U R E . LY I N G A B O U T S O M E T H I N G L I K E T H AT J U ST D O E S N ’ T SET A GOOD EXAMPLE. HE’S AROUND SO MANY PEOPLE, AND HIS TEAM, AND SO MANY PEOPLE C O U L D G E T S I C K . T H E FACT T H AT T H E Y D I D N ’ T K N OW T H E Y W E R E A R O U N D S O M E O N E W H O WA S U N VA C C I N AT E D , I T S R E A L LY M I S L E A D I N G A N D D I S R E S P E CT F U L .

JOHN FUGELSANG 11/5/21

JUNIOR

LIGHTS.

TATUM AIKIN

I T H I N K I T ’ S R E A L LY I R R E S P O N S I B L E , E S P E -

N E

YES

85%

15%

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT STORES LIKE TRADER JOE’S AND TROPICAL SMOOTHIE ARE WORTH THEIR HIGHER PRICE? * I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 2 9 3 vo t e s

YES

53%

47%

NAME

SHOULD FULL CAPACITY BE ALLOWED AT EAST’S INDOOR SPORTS GAMES? * I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 3 57 vo t e s

T A

YOU R O P IN IO N

YO U R P O R T R AIT

Students’ thoughts relating to this issue’s opinion section

GRADE

@smeharbinger

@smeharbie

* I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 2 1 6 vo t e s

TA K E O U R P O L L S

DO YOU TIP WORKERS CONSERVATIVELY OR LIBERALLY?

CONSERVATIVELY LIBERALLY NO

24% 76%

08 OPINION

THE HARBINGER

design by cesca stamati

WHEN SEARCHING FOR a healthier food option,

Trader Joes, Tropical Smoothie Nekter Juice Bar are common names thrown around with my friends and family. I decided to take a closer look at the nutritional facts and prices of a few of their staple items and found that they may not always be the best options — especially if you don’t have much money coming out of the wazoo. When I’m walking down the aisles at Trader Joes, I can’t help but notice the prices and nutritional facts of their healthily marketed items. A particularly large turn away for me is their spin on different items like Takis. The on-brand Takis are a pretty normal snack among my friends — 140 calories per per serving and two dollars and fifty cents per bag. So, I was intrigued when I saw a similar product on their shelves that were marketed to be a “healthier option.” In reality, the Trader Joe’s version is seven dollars for a nine ounce bag while a regular bag is ten ounces, and 150 calories per serving. While they aren’t significantly worse for your health, it isn’t fair to market the product as a healthier option as in reality, the product contains 10 more calories than the Taki brand. On top of that I don’t feel like spending five more dollars for a snack bag of chips that I could be spending on an actual meal somewhere.

I T ’ S D E F I N I T E LY E A SY t o b e fo o l e d by c h a i n s l i ke Tro p i c a l S m o o t h i e w h o b ra n d t h e m s e lve s a s h e a lt hy d r i n k s t h a t a re a n e a s y , l i g ht m e a l t o s t o p i n fo r . H o w eve r , a s I ’ ve d o n e a d e e p e r d i ve i n t h e l a b e l s , I ’ ve re a l i ze d t h e i m p o r t a n c e i n l o o k i n g i n t o t h i s b efo re p u rc h a s i n g t h e s e “ h e a lt hy ” p ro d u c t s . Walking into the produce isle my eyes zoom from carrots, avocados, and everything in between. Knowing the pesticides that may be in a normal grocery stores vegetables are gone when I read the label organic is relieving, but the price differences not so much. I’m not always down with spending an extra dollar on an avocado that is around 3 dollars when a normal avocado is just under two. Outside of grocery shopping, I also think that smoothie shops have a lack of genuine health benefits that are falsely advertised and price ranges that are out of my budget. When I’m in need of a refreshing cup of blended fruit my mind normal goes straight to Tropical Smoothie. They always have a great option for fresh, healthy fruit — or so you would think so

READ LABEL

THE

by ben bradley

you would think. One of the most popular items on the Tropical Smoothie menu is the Orange Ka-Bam. Even in the smallest size this smoothie has 469 calories and 108 grams of sugar. With an insane 108 grams of sugar I might as well just skip the smoothie, grab the nearest coca cola to me and start chugging. It’s definitely easy to be fooled by chains like Tropical Smoothie who brand themselves as healthy drinks that are an easy, light meal to stop in for. However, as I’ve done a deeper dive in the labels, I’ve realized the importance in looking into this before purchasing these “healthy” products. The prices are a different story, while most of them vary, the average price for a 24 ounce drink is around four dollars. That is definitely cheaper than anything that I could buy and make at home. Tropical Smoothie is definitely cheaper than other stores like Nekter Juice Bar. Now Nekter has been a big attraction point for my friends and I recently as it was just put into Corinth Square. But, I find myself constantly suppressing the urge to go inside in fear that I am about to drop twelve dollars on a small smoothie bowl. I do commend them for making their bowls right in front of the customer to ensure that there is nothing odd being added. According to Baylee ____, the manager of the Corinth Square location, they use all whole ingredients in their bowls and have no added sugars. I just can’t justify spending up to twelve dollars with tax on a smoothie bowl that if I bought all of the proper ingredients for, could definitely make at home. On top of that with such small portions I am always left waiting another treat after. It obviously wouldn’t be the same price to buy all of the same ingredients and make it at home, but with them at my availability I could make, say up to ten over the span of a month, instead of going back to Nekter accumulating a purchase price of one hundred dollars. Compared to Tropical Smoothie, Nekter definitely has more bang for your buck in the actual health department, but Tropical Smoothie definitely has them beat on cost efficiency. Nekter also provides wellness shots: varying from a ginger shot, $2.95, to an immunity shot, $3.95. One immunity shot comes out to be the same price as an entire 24 ounce Sunrise Sunset smoothie at Tropical Smoothie. All together, I think it’s pretty safe to say that I am really looking for a healthy and affordable meal. I will be dining at home. Instead of wasting calories in added sugar to a smoothie or buying overpriced organic food I will stick to my pantry.

Healthy food is difficult to find and falsely advertised by “health” food stores like Trader Joe’s and Nekter

DO YOU SHOP AT STORES LIKE SPROUTS, TRADER JOE’S AND NEKTER FOR HEALTHY FOOD AND DRINKS? * I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 2 2 8 vot e s

YES

62%

38%

NOT NUTRITIONAL

Nutrition facts of foods marketed as healthy

TROPICAL SMOOTHIE CAFE bahama mama smoothie

calories: 510 carbohydrates: 117 g sugars: 110

CLIF BAR

CHOCOLATE CHIP

chocolate calories: 250 chip energy carbohydrates: 45 g sugars: 21 g bar

NEKTER JUICE BAR dragon fruit bowl

FOR REFERENCE

calories: 460 carbohydrates: 97 g sugars: 67 g Daily FDA recommended caloric and nutrient intake

Daily Recommended Values Calories

2000

Carbohydrates

275 g

Added Sugars

50 g

* Daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

design by mia vogel photos by rachel bingham & grace allen

OPINION 09

EFFECT OF THE FAN DOM

by c h ristia n g ooley

OUR HEART DROPS as you step out of the locker room and glance into what seems to be hundreds of people in outfits matching to a theme, crammed in the bleachers to watch you play the game you love. It makes all the hours in the weight room, Saturday nights staying in and aches and pains after your three hours of practice worth it. It’s the moment you have been waiting for. It’s game time.

F O OT B A L L H A D N O l i m i t s . Soccer had no limits. Vo l l ey b a l l h a d n o l i m i t s . W hy re s t r i c t i t now? When it comes to high school sports, being able to look into the crowd and spot your friends, family, peers and even teachers cheering their hearts out for you is arguably the best part of a game. It fuels you with energy and motivation to do better for those who support you. Last year, the seniors were stripped of the high school right of passage to go to games and stand at the front of the student section.r After three years of being shoved to the back of the stands and getting booed for not being loud enough, the time had finally come for them to do the same to the underclassmen. That high school right of passage was taken away with a single board meeting. That can’t happen again. We’ve been going to school every day now for over two months with the COVID cases fluctuating constantly and the only protocol being that we have to wear masks indoors. But, the Shawnee Mission School District Board is still determining how many people will be allowed in the visitors/student section at indoor sporting events such as basketball games and swim meets this winter. There’s virtually no difference

Student scetions at winter sporting

between being a foot away from a classmate at my desk wearing masks and being ten inches away from a classmate in the gym supporting my friends, still in a mask. The level of exposure is almost exactly the same. When it comes to concerns with COVID-19, there’s no reason indoor sports shouldn’t be allowed to have full capacity attendance. If it’s ruled that student sections will be limited or not allowed, I believe there will be nothing but backlash from it. It’s not only stealing part of the high school experience from the fans themselves, but also is taking away the support and confidence that the athletes receive, validating their hard work. Players play the sport because they love the game, but also because they love the atmosphere that’s created while they’re playing. It isn’t right to steal that from yet another senior class of athletes who have worked so hard throughout their high school season to earn the spots that they’re in. Football had no limits. Soccer had no limits. Volleyball had no limits. Lacrosse last year had no limits. Why restrict it now? The Lancer Day football game had a full student section of kids standing shoulder to shoulder in the stands, chanting and jumping all over each other, and even the Link Crew dance at the beginning of the year was packed with un-masked students dancing for hours. Yes, the risks of transmitting the COVID-19 virus are higher inside. But studies from the CDC report that wearing a mask can reduce the chance of transmitting the virus by 70% or more. And with majority of East already vaccinated, the likelihood of transmitting COVID-19 is even less likely. In fact, East has only COVID cases since the start of the year. So, to argue that being indoors is more dangerous than something as extreme as Lancer Day is absurd. Not only does this affect the athletes and their classmates, but also the families of players who have been watching

their kids play the sport for as long as they events should be allowed to reach can remember. I know if I was a senior, my full capacity to encourage the parents, siblings, grandparents and cousins would do anything to get to see me play in athletes and school spirit my last season. Another variable that adds to the frustration of the potential restriction is that the COVID rates in Johnson County are not going up, they are in fact going East’s opinions and stats on how down and the vaccination rates are doing nothing but going up day by day. fans impact the game So if all of this is happening, then why is the concern for COVID getting worse instead of getting better? Putting limitations on indoor game ATHLETES: DO FANS EFFECT YOUR GAME attendance would also diminish our PERFORMANCE IN A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE school’s spirit as a whole. Nothing brings WAY? * I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 2 3 0 vo t e s students together more than a rivalry basketball game against Rockhurst or POSITIVE 90% Shawnee Mission South. Sure, you might NEGATIVE 10% get to watch it online or hear all about it the next day from a player, but nothing will match the excitement and school bond J U S T S E E I N G T H E fa n s t h e re of seeing it all go down firsthand. h a s a p o s i t i ve i n f l u e n c e o n For three months, there will be no yo u r m e n t a l i t y , a n d g i v i n g t h e talk in the halls about who’s going to the fa n s s o m e t h i n g t o c h e e r fo r game and the awaited theme conversation. fe e l s a m a z i n g . There will be no rushing the court and celebrating the big win with the team. CHARLIE DUSKE Instead, our Instagram stories will be JUNIOR cluttered with reposts about the score. The senior players and all students will walk away from the East wondering about I T G E T S I N my h e a d w h e n t h e all the memories and laughs that could’ve o t h e r s c h o o l ’s s t u d e n t s e c t i o n been made at those games. All we’ll have s t a r t s ye l l i n g a t m e a n d s a y i n g are memories of what could have been. The t h a t I ’ m a b a d g o a l i e . I t re a l ly past two years of seniors were robbed of k i l l s my c o n f i d e n c e . a fully normal senior year, so I hope the GRACE HASTERT district won’t take it away from this year’s JUNIOR senior class too. We should absolutely be allowed to have full spectator capacity at all winter sports. OF EAST STUDENTS Let us get the high school experience we AT T E N D T H E S P O R T S GAMES have been told about from our parents. Stop making this isolating COVID lifestyle normal, because it no longer has to be. Let us cheer on our team.

EAST'S THOUGHTS

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10 FEATURE

THE HARBINGER

design by anna mitchell

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS A look at student life this issue with the upcoming events, student opinions and new clubs

T H I S W E E K I N P H OTO S

The Varsity football boys prepare for the Powderpuff girls game by learning their halftime routine they performed on Nov. 13

ASTROWORLD T R AV I S T Y At Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld festival, a stampede occurred, taking many lives and injuring more

R I G H T Senior Jackson Mou lin stands at the front of the dance line a s the football boys practice their halftime dance taught by the senior Lancer Da n cers. PHOTO BY CHARLOTTE EMLEY

I T H I N K I T w a s m e s s e d u p fo r

CARMEN GIEGLE FRESHMAN

BELOW Senior Rhett Wallace lifts up senior Brian Heneger while they learn the choreography for their halftime show at the Powderpuff game. PHOTO BY HADLEY CHAPMAN

Tra v i s t o ke e p p e r fo r m i n g , e s p e c i a l ly b e c a u s e t h e re ’s a v i d e o of h i m p e r fo r m i n g n ex t t o a p e rs o n g ett i n g C P R . I w o u l d n ’ t b e s u r p r i s e d i f h e fa c e s a b u n c h of l a w s u i t s .

W H AT H A P P E N E D AT Tra v i s

THOMAS GOGEL JUNIOR

S c ott ’s c o n c e r t i s ex t re m e ly t ra g i c a n d h e a r t b re a k i n g . T h i s i s n ot h o w c o n c e r t s s h o u l d b e h a n d l e d a n d I ’ m j u st s h o c ke d a b o u t w h a t h a s happened.

REINVENTING

PING-PONG CLUB W H AT?

Brothers Connor (11) and Jackson (9) Burrows recreate a club at East

The Burrows family started a ping pong club

W H EN?

LEFT Seniors Brian Heneger and Zach O’roark jump and kick while running through their newly-learned dance routine. PHOTO BY ANNA MITCHELL

After school WHY? each Wednesday Connor and Jackson were inspired by their older WH ERE? brother, the prior ping Fourth floor pong club president. The science Burrows family practices hallway by at home with their ping sponsor Steven pong table. Appier’s room

FEATURE 11

NOVEMBER 15, 2021 design by luke beil photos by hadley chapman

SIBLING SIDEKICK Three senior debaters chose to compete with freshman siblings for the fun and different debating experience

by anna mitc h ell UKE AUDUS JUMPS

out of his desk chair goes six and “O” in his all virtual debate tournament and shook his house. His mom and younger sister, now freshman and debater Mae Audus, overheard his and his partner’s celebration, and knew once again, Luke had taken another win in a debate tournament. But Luke isn’t the only four-year debater with a sibling in the beginners’ class. Seniors Ibrahim Sufi and Sam Huntley also pass along encouragement to their younger siblings freshmen Mariam Sufi and Mae Audus this year. Gus, Mariam and Mae saw their older siblings succeed as debaters in winning tournaments and qualifying for state, and began their debate career this year, with the help and motivation in following after their brothers. Despite the beginners now having nearly the same experience, Luke feels like participating with his little sister as a partner and having fun is worth a loss in a round. “Me and my friend Sam at the beginning of the year decided debate wasn’t going to be super competitive for us,” Luke said. “One idea we had to make it really fun would be to debate with our younger siblings who are freshman.” Despite the freshmen siblings having just started, all three seniors decided to attend a competition with their siblings as

LEVELING UP The different competition levels of debate and the requirements for them

partners and share their debate wisdom and all the tips and tricks they’ve learned over their four year debate career. “[Sam] would practice his speeches and for sure motivates me,” Gus said. “He taught me this thing called spreading where you go through your speech really fast.” With debate, competitors are expected to do their own research and prepare for each competition with their partners for what arguments they might face. While Luke researched the debate topic this year — water resources and the environment — at the beginning of the year while also using on-the-fly arguments to get across a point, Gus rehearses his speech, timing it to ensure he can fit all his points into the eightminute window when competing. The Auduses and the Huntleys prepare to debate on Nov. 20 while the Sufis have yet to pick an exact date. As the regular debate season comes to an end, this will be one of the last hurrahs for the senior-freshman sibling duos. This year’s overall debate topic is water resources where they have to argue either affirmative or negative points. For example, being in agreement with fracking and pollution-ideas would be arguments for the negative points. With novice debaters having a limited number of points and cases they by

themselves can run, they’ll be exposed to a broader range of argument topics through their siblings, which could affect their record. Sam has been to state for debate three times, placed in tournaments six times and qualified for nationals, with his freshman brother and parents, especially mom Leah Huntley observing.

O N E I D E A W E h a d t o m a ke i t re a l ly f u n w o u l d b e t o debate with our yo u n g e r s i b l i n g s w h o a re f re s h m a n

LUKE AUDUS

SENIOR

“That’s probably the most painful thing about being a parent of a debater,” Leah Huntley said. “ I will never see one of them debate. Sam has won some big tournaments and even qualified for nationals, but we just have to go with that they won.” On a normal occasion, freshmen compete in the novice division — the beginner level for debate — and junior varsity and varsity debaters compete in the open division. Since the seniors can’t debate down, the freshmen have to compete against more experienced, better debaters in the open competition. “I will probably say my same speeches

NOVICE

JUNIOR VARSITY

For first year debaters only

For first and second year debaters only

but simplify my ideas a little bit so [Mae] can understand what I’m saying and contribute to my arguments too,” Luke said. All three seniors have debated and gotten their rhythms down for the most ideal way to beat the competitors in each of their rounds with experiencing the early morning competitions since freshman year. Not only will the actual debate be impacted by their varying knowledge levels, but also the sibling bonds. Unlike the Huntleys and Sufis, the Auduses aren’t in the same debate period, yet Luke doesn’t see this as a disadvantage. “This is both an experience we can enjoy, but also a learning experience for her and introducing her into higher levels of competition,” Luke said. Competing together doesn’t mean they’re looking for an easy win, but a chance to spend more time running through every affirmative and negative round, as well as giving extra tips to the beginners to become successful like their siblings. “Not necessarily this individual tournament [brings us closer], but just overall debate,” Mariam said. “I get to see him at school and we will also hangout and he will help me with debate if and when I need it.”

OPEN More difficult competition for all debate levels

VARSITY

The most challenging competition for advanced debaters, who have attended a debate camp

12 FEATURE

THE HARBINGER

design by katie murphy photos by jill rice

A SYMBOL FOR

MEET THE

INCLUSION

The Gay-Straight Alliance is now called “Plus Club” as its newly elected leaders emphasize the importance of creating a safe and inclusive space at East

by lyda c osgrove HEN THE BELL rings every Wednesday afternoon,

junior Sam Fritz and freshman Ella Weber rush to prepare to present to their weekly roll call question as nearly 30 students trickle in to room 524. As everyone shares their answers to the various questions — ranging from their favorite part of fall to least favorite state — junior Ayla Özkan keeps track of everyone’s preferred names and pronouns on a Google Spreadsheet as they introduce themselves. Since 2010, queer and LGBTQ-allying students have gathered to educate themselves and others, chat and bond in a safe, accepting space. Until this year, the club was known as “Gay-Straight Alliance,” but this year it’s evolved into “Plus Club” — a reference to the plus sign in LGBTQ+. At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, former GSA leaders graduated and left a gap during the on-and-off 2020-2021 school year. Having heard about the club but not yet confident enough to get involved during their freshman year, now-club President Sam Fritz felt the need to bring back the missing safe haven for queer students at East. “I wanted to take it upon myself to get it started up again so I could bring together queer people and bond and create an environment [for them] at East,” Fritz said. Fritz met with long-time club sponsor and English teacher Melinda DiGirolamo to see what it would take to get the club up and running again. After signing off on papers, getting approval from administration and spreading the word, GSA was back on its feet. At the first meeting, they elected leaders for the year — Fritz as President, Weber as Vice President and Özkan as Secretary. There was just one problem — the name. Though “Gay Straight Alliance” was fitting 11 years ago when the club first formed and the idea of varying sexualties and gender identities was becoming more socially embraced, the queer community’s diversity has only expanded since then — far beyond simply being gay or straight, according to Fritz. “As a queer person, the ‘straight’ in [the name ‘Gay Straight Alliance’] just felt intrusive,” Fritz said. “As a club that was made for the queer people, we wanted a club for us to get together. Everyone’s welcome. Everyone can come, but we wanted it to solely focus on queer people. So taking the ‘straight’ out of the name focused it more to the audience we wanted.” Inspired by similar clubs at Shawnee Mission South and North, the group adopted the name “Plus Club” as a more inclusive title. Coming from a Catholic grade school, then-freshman Isabelle Simmonds wanted to find a safe way to become familiar with the LGBTQ+ world and explore her own sexuality going into her freshman year. Having not yet

come out to her parents, Isabelle found it awkward to tell them she’d be attending “Gay-Straight Alliance” meetings. Though now confidently out as a junior, Isabelle feels that the name “Plus Club” is more comfortable and vague for students who aren’t ready to come out to their parents or friends. Despite changes in leadership and now the name, the goal has always remained the same — to create an open, safe environment for queer students who may not have one at home, or any other place in the school. According to Weber, East can lack proper education surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and its history, leading to disrespect simply out of ignorance. Weber hopes that as a leader she can emphasize that exploring your sexuality is OK, and not “weird.” “[The LGBTQ+ community] has always existed,” Weber said. “It’s not like we’re some new species or whatever. Some kids don’t even mean to be rude, they’re just uneducated and that’s understandable. I know a lot of parents don’t tell their kids about it or can be awkward. I feel like teaching that knowing your sexuality from a young age is OK.” The Plus Club’s attendance has practically multiplied every week, according to Fritz. What started out as a few returning members from previous years at the first few Wednesday meetings has grown to nearly 30. Spreading the word through colorful posters tacked up around the hallways and encouraging everyone to bring along new friends, Fritz’s ultimate goal as president this year is to nurture a sense of community. Though the meetings are short, usually wrapping up by 3:20 p.m., Fritz, Weber and Özkan work together to ensure that the time is always worthwhile. Whether its sketching up more posters to promote the club, making pronoun bracelets, watching videos on queer history, inviting in a guest speaker or simply relaxing with each other and catching up, Fritz hopes that the club will continue to be a welcoming safe space for its attendees. As the year goes on, the leaders plan to join together with Plus Clubs from other schools to further strengthen connections within the district’s queer community. My goal is to create a healthy environment for queer people, so we can gather, we can have speakers, we can do arts and crafts,” Fritz said. “We can do presentations on queer history topics and watch educational videos. If people want to talk about something, they can do that. It’s just a support group for everyone.”

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NOV EMBER 15, 2021 design by celia condon

SPECIAL SECTION FEAT URE

T HE BARE

MINIMUM

Minimum wage determines the money that many part time workers have to learn how to live off of; this $7.25 federal minimum affects everyone from high school students to working adults and business owners

14 S P E C I A L S E C T I O N EDITORIAL

D O YOUR

PA RT

OOKING AT THE blank space at the bottom of the restaurant bill, reasons not to tip may pop into a customer’s head: the service wasn’t above and beyond, they don’t have an extra dollar to spend on top of a $20 meal or they assume the employee doesn’t need more money in addition to their wage. But as the customer scribbles down an amount that accounts for less than 10% of their meal, they don’t realize that the tip was crucial to their waiter’s paycheck. It may be difficult to accurately quantify a server’s worth in the moment with an expectant waiter watching and an already-hefty restaurant bill, but keep in mind that their bosses have already decided the exact value of their labor — and it’s usually a generous underestimate. In Kansas, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour, assuming the employee makes at least $30 a month in tips, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. While it’s required that the employer raises the wages if the combination of tips and cash wage isn’t enough to reach minimum wage, this bare minimum takes advantage of workers. Unless the minimum wage is raised to meet the actual cost of pay bills and expenses — around $15.41 an hour according to CNBC — the burden of tipping is forced on the customer.

I T ’ S N OT T H AT t i p s n e e d t o g o ove r b o a rd . Yo u s h o u l d n ’ t fe e l o b l i g a t e d t o t i p $ 2 0 t o a w o r ke r w h o s i m p ly h a n d e d yo u a c of fe e o r a 50% tip on a single meal. But acknowledge t h a t t h e i r j o b h a s fo rc e d t h e m t o d e p e n d o n st ra n g e r s ’ g e n e ro s i t y fo r t i p s a n d s h o w t h e w o r ke r s t h e c o m m o n d e c e n c y of t i p p i n g fo r t h e i r s e r v i c e . Waiters aren’t even paid minimum wage by their employers, and the tips make up the rest of their salary. Tips don’t exclusively become extra money for the workers — they go toward reaching the cost of surviving. This ultimately leaves the responsibility to the customer to tip employees, since it helps close the gap between minimum wage and how much a person actually needs to live. Even working full time, employees simply won’t have enough to pay for rent, bills, gas, groceries and other expenses with only minimum wage. In Kansas City, Kan., the average cost of rent for an apartment is $887 a month according to RENTCafé. The average Kansan pays around $261 for groceries and over $420 on gas every month, according to 13 WIBW. The combined cost of these basic expenses is already more than a person’s monthly income on minimum wage — around $1,160 before tax deductions for employees working 40 hours a week. That’s not just living paycheck to paycheck — it’s needing

T HE H ARBINGER

design by SYDNEY NEWTON

F O R : 1 1 A GA I N ST : 0 It’s important to tip servers and other workers because they make up a large portion of their pay

to work another job to even scrape by. If everyone tipped in the customary 15-20% range, workers may have the extra money they need above their minimum wage to cover basic needs and expenses. Low wages and tips are the number one reason for restaurant workers to consider leaving the industry, according to a survey conducted by TIME Magazine. So instead of getting annoyed and uncomfortable the next time you feel an employee’s eyes on you as you write their tip, realize they may be desperate — and for good reason. Behind those eyes could be the worry of having a dry faucet in the morning or the thought of an eviction notice taped on their door as they arrive home. Their forehead creases may be from the stress of working the long night shift for an insufficient wage. And we all know what happens after tax deductions, which also affect tips that count as part of the worker’s salary. So do your part when visiting restaurants by tipping the workers and help these people make a living — your $5 tip might end up paying for their dinner later that night or a go towards a bus ticket in order to get home. There are many reasons people don’t tip — greed, a tight budget of their own or possibly a stubbornness to only tip workers for extraordinary service. Workers have only so much time to make an impression on each table of customers they’re serving, so this expectation isn’t fair to warrant a tip. It’s not that tips need to go overboard. You shouldn’t feel obligated to tip $20 to a worker who simply handed you a coffee or a 50% tip on a single meal. But acknowledge that their job has forced them to depend on strangers’ generosity for tips and show the workers the common decency of tipping for their service. Don’t feel guilty for not being able to give hefty tips — especially if you’re a student who hardly makes money yourself. But remember empathy. Often when we go out to eat, we’re caught up in our personal lives and just want our food, so it’s easy to forget that the staff are people, not servants. Every friday after school, workers at the Prairie Village shops have to deal with the mass of middle schoolers clustering into their businesses for food — which may flood the kitchens’ orders and disrupt the restaurant through childish behavior, only to leave only to leave with $1.12 in the tip jar. Next time you’re heading to a restaurant with friends, remember to bring extra money to support these employees. A tip isn’t about rewarding personalized, over-the-top service, it’s about doing your part as a human being.

The members of the editorial board who agree with the viewpoint of the editorial are represented by for, and those who disagree with the viewpoint are represented by against.

E D I TOR I A L P OLI C Y The Harbinger is a student run publication. Published editorials express the views of the Harbinger staff. Signed columns published in the Harbinger express the writer’s personal opinion. The content and opinions of the Harbinger do not represent the student body, faculty, administration or Shawnee Mission School District. The Harbinger will not share any unpublished content, but quotes material may be confirmed with the sources. The Harbinger encourages letters to the editors, but reserves the right to reject them for reasons including but not limited to lack of space, multiple letters of the same topic and personal attacks contained in the letter. The Harbinger will not edit content thought letters may be edited for clarity, length or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 413B or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com.

NOV EMBER 15, 2021 design by celia condon

SPECIAL SECTION NEWS-FEAT URE

a living wage?

Many students who work part-time jobs recieve minimum wage, making it hard for them to afford their day-to-day expenses by sydney newton T WAS MOTHER’S Day. Then-sophomore

Sasha Malik was four hours into a sevenhour shift during her first job at Caffetteria in Prairie Village. The system for receiving orders was delayed, which meant long wait times and switch-ups with several meals. Malik was used to customers yelling at her, but today was especially bad. Serving four tables at once, Malik heard insults from four families in a row about how she ruined their Mother’s Day or how she was bad at her job. She walked into the back and immediately broke down in tears. Malik couldn’t take it anymore — she was only 15. The onslaught of insults continued all day as customers blamed Malik for errors with their meals or demanded a refund. The worst part about it? After the eight-hour shift, written at the bottom of her paycheck was a two-digit number: $64. She placed her two-week notice the next day. Her sanity wasn’t worth $64. “I was so upset because when multiple people tell you that you’re responsible for everything that’s going wrong in their life, you start to believe it,” Malik said. “It’s emotionally distressing. And I was barely being paid, so it just didn’t make sense.” Malik isn’t alone in feeling like she isn’t paid enough. Currently, the Kansas minimum wage stands at $7.25 — the same as the federal minimum wage — and hasn’t changed since 2009. In a Instagram poll of 267

students, 63% said they had worked or are working a minimum wage job. And in another Instagram poll of 270 students, 58% stated that they think minimum wage isn’t sustainable for students’ day-to-day expenses. Along with Malik, numerous students at East struggle to pay basic expenses with their jobs and agree the minimum wage should be raised because it’s not sufficient enough to cover their necessary costs. According to University of Kansas economics professor Donna Ginter, the problem with the minimum wage rate is that it doesn’t increase with inflation. When the minimum wage of $7.25 was created over 10 years ago, it was consistent with how much money was needed to pay for basic expenses. However, the prices of goods have seen small rises in inflation each year, and a 5% rise in inflation from 2020 to 2021 — with a 27.9% increase in prices since 2009 — which Ginter believes is due to the decreased supply and increased demand of goods. “Inflation prices have gone up, but the wage hasn’t,” Ginter said. “So if you’re earning the minimum wage, it doesn’t buy much anymore. That $7.25 doesn’t go very far.” With the increase in prices, a new type of wage has risen in economics: a living wage, according to University of Missouri-Kansas City economics professor Erik Olsen, who agrees that the minimum wage no longer matches inflation levels. Right now, the “living wage” — how much a person needs to pay their bills and expenses — is around $15.41 an hour, according to CNBC, which is almost double the minimum wage. Junior Samantha Robinson’s problem with — and reason for quitting — her minimum wage job at Chill in the Village was her meager paycheck. Robinson w o r k e d around 4-5 times a

week for a total of 12 hours, with paychecks of only $200 every two weeks. Responsible for refilling her $40 gas tank, paying for $80-a-month workout classes and other daily expenses, she was left with less than $40 for her savings. “The money I was making just wasn’t sustainable,” Robinson said. “It felt like I couldn’t do anything. It was school and work. I didn’t have time to hang out with people, and if I did, it was always somewhat money-involved. The money I was making wasn’t enough for everything I needed to pay for, and I’m not sure how it would be enough for anyone working a minimum

I N F L AT I O N P R I C E S H AV E gone up, but the wage hasn’t. S o i f yo u ’ re e a r n i n g t h e m i n i m u m wage, it doesn’t buy m u c h a ny m o re . T h a t $7. 2 5 d o e s n ’ t g o ve r y fa r .

DONNA GINTER UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ECONOMICS PROFESSOR wage job.” Facing the same issue of low pay while working at Chick-fil-A 25 hours a week as a training coordinator, junior Gianna Sorce didn’t feel she received enough compensation for her labor. With less than half the normal staff, Sorce said she essentially does double the work and isn’t allowed to look at her phone or even sit down. Since her store averages 2,100 customers a day, Sorce feels they should pay their workers more because of the exhausting shifts they work, serving countless customers each hour and even risking injuries such as burns from frying the food. Sorce has recently had several conversations with her manager about raising the rate of pay for employees, trainers and managers, arguing that people earn more at the Target across the parking lot, and that Chick-Fil-A’s work environment is more high stress than others. She believes that raising the starting worker wage is the best solution, as their paychecks aren’t enough for students like herself who pay for their car, gas and various other expenses.

“The job is hard,” Sorce said. “But our biggest thing that we’ve tried to realize is that we can complain about it all day long and say all the things that are wrong, but we also have to think about how we would fix it. That’s what we’re doing now.” Another problem with the minimum wage for both Robinson and Sorce is that it didn’t provide them with enough money to save for college. Both being in school, they feel it’s hard to work enough hours to earn adequate money to save for higher education. East counselor Susan Barr thinks that with the standing high price of tuition, room and board for universities, it’s nearly impossible for a student to save enough money to cover the full cost while working for minimum wage. It’s hard to balance working that many hours with being successful in high school or college, so Barr encourages students to utilize their summer and winter breaks to work, but still doesn’t feel the money earned is enough to cover college tuition. “There are probably not any students at all who can attend college full-time and work to fund that,” Barr said. “In general, even if students are making even a little more than the minimum wage, it doesn’t really go very far to cover the price of basic expenses, and especially not that of a college or university.” Ginter agrees that the minimum should be raised, but not all at once. She thinks the best solution to raising the minimum wage is raising it incrementally until it’s closer to a living wage, to prevent harsh economic impacts. However, these impacts could still be inevitable with a wage change, according to Olsen. When minimum wage is raised in a state, the economic theory is that unemployment rates will rise, or people in surrounding areas will flood to that state for work. Even with these risks, Olsen believes the minimum wage now isn’t sustainable, and taking action would help low-wage workers be able to pay for expenses. “[Minimum wage] is a pretty complicated question,” Olsen said. “The cons are that business owners will see higher wages, which means they’ll be less profitable. But it would improve the incomes of low-wage workers and low income workers, and that

16 S P E C I A L S E C T I O N NEWS

T HE H ARBINGER design by celia condon

E AST’S SE ARCH

Vacant East jobs as of November 8

baseball asst. coach boys swim asst. coach boys basketball coach softball asst. coach building manager paraprofessional

VA S T VA C A N C I E S

by p eyton moore

SMSD has been facing a staffing shortage specifically in the areas of the bus system, substitute teachers and the janitorial staff, and administration is working to eliminate these vacancies

INE LUNCH SERVICE employees feeding students for five different lunch periods. Three custodians taking care of five different floors. Buses transporting six sporting teams. While students ease back into a mostly normal school year, our staff still suffers the repercussions of the pandemic. With the sudden labor shortage, the Shawnee Mission School District’s applicant pool has shrunk tremendously. As of Oct. 11, the district reported 54 paraprofessional vacancies, 26 food service job opportunities and about 50 custodian vacancies throughout SMSD schools — which is almost two thirds more than the vacancy count in 2019. Associate principals Dr. Susan Leonard

SCAN ME • APPLICATION S c a n h e re t o v i s i t A p p l i t ra c k , S M S D ’s j o b s e a rc h i n g a n d application website

and Jeff Storey are hoping for applicants on SMSD’s hiring site, Applitrack. In previous years, Storey was used to sorting through 10 applicants for the recent paraprofessional vacancy. Now, he feels lucky to even have a single applicant. Along with businesses across the nation, SMSD is struggling to find employees for nearly every field. However, the hardest to find are classified employees, who work jobs that don’t require a professional education for the role such as paraprofessionals, custodians, lunch service employees, substitute teachers and bus drivers. Though filling these vacancies has never been an extreme challenge for SMSD, the supply just isn’t matching the demand

according to Jarius Jones, Director of Classified Human Resources for SMSD. “We want our employees to know they are valued because they work so hard every single day,” Jones said. “We want to make sure that our scholars have all of the resources they need to flourish. We as a district recognize our staff and students and want to provide for them and are working towards staying competitive in this realm.” With the understaffing at SMSD, the current employees are having to do double the work, leaving them with little room for flexibility, according to Leonard. Custodians work every day with two less sets of hands than normal, lunch staff has to work four separate jobs in the kitchen just to get the food out in time, bus drivers are called in 15 minutes before an assignment and students are often left wondering why their teacher’s gone and where the substitute is five minutes after the bell rings. One way the East administration is considering dealing with these changes is having “working detentions” for students. Instead of having traditional detentions, Leonard has started the conversation of giving students “working detentions” — detentions spent helping out with approved tasks around school. Recent actions for these detentions that have been approved include emptying trash cans, mopping and wiping down the lunch room. “I like restorative justice practices because it makes you feel better after making a mistake to do something good,” Leonard said. “But also this is the time, especially for our custodians who are working two men down. Why not have students help out instead of sitting through a detention?” Even with COVID-19, it’s still a mystery

as to why the staffing shortage is so apparent this year, according to Jones. “We simply don’t know,” Jones said. “That right there is the million-dollar question. And every business is trying to give this a million-dollar answer but we just don’t know. It’s coincided with COVID-19, but slowly people are getting back to work and still there are openings.” A large amount of frustrations have arised as these classified employees work the job of two or three people for a single salary, according to Jones. But these conditions may be changing. The school board has released public statements about potentially raising the minimum pay for classified workers, arguing that businesses, neighboring school districts and local businesses have to raise their pay at or above $15 to keep their doors open. With the conversation rolling, Jones estimates the board will propose an increase in the minimum pay of classified workers as early as this spring.

W E WA N T O U R e m p l oye e s t o k n o w t h ey a re va lu e d b e c a u s e t h ey w o r k s o h a rd eve r y s i n g l e d a y . We w a nt t o m a ke s u re t h a t o u r s c h o l a rs h a ve a l l of t h e re s o u rc e s t h ey n e e d to flourish.

JARIUS JONES SMSD DIRECTOR OF CLASSIFIED HUMAN RESOURCES Until then, SMSD has searched for employees in almost every field. The district hosted a job fair on Aug. 4 in hopes of filling some of the vacancies, specifically in the

classified positions. Although potential employees were found and later hired, it didn’t come close to filling all of the vacancies for this school year, according to Jones. After this semi-success, the district continues to attend other job fairs, promote vacancies on social media and encourage building leaders to announce job opportunities to parents who might help out or work in the field in their weekly newsletter. East parent Bob Blacketer took on the position as a substitute teacher last winter after hearing about the lack of substitutes due to the pandemic — a possibility made by the flexibility his full-time job provides. He trained for eight hours total with both the Teacher Education of Kansas and Kelly Services, SMSD’s contact for substitutes. During the 2020-21 school year, Blacketer filled in whenever needed. “Because I wasn’t traveling for work, I decided to be active and to volunteer or help the community,” Blacketer said. “And to also be a good example for my kids on how to support your community.” At the end of the year, Blacketer donated all of his earnings from substitute teaching to the East Fund. But not stopping there, Blacketer is currently undergoing training to become a “bus sub” for DS Bus Lines — East’s outsourced bussing. The district is providing maximum effort, including hiring applicants any time they can, according to Jones. But part of the problem is out of their control. No one knows the answer to this national “milliondollar question.” “I want everyone to know that we are still hiring,” Jones says.

NOV EMBER 15, 2021 design by SYDNEY NEWTON

DROPPING BY THE

SPECIAL SECTION NEWS

In the midst of COVID-19, businesses are struggling to find employees, causing a labor shortage by ca mp b e ll wood HE U.S. IS battling a labor shortage in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has challenged businesses in finding new employees, but has also opened up more internship opportunities for students at the Center for Academic Achievement. With a staffing shortage, businesses struggle to maintain their pre-pandemic operations from when they had bigger staffs. But because of the increase in job openings, more companies are reaching out to high school interns and workers, according to SMSD Coordinator of Career and Technical Education Ryan Flurry, who now receives phone calls every day from companies looking for student workers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly report for August, released on Oct. 12, states that the number of job openings sits at around 10.4 million — 4.2 million more openings than in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic. The labor shortage emerged from the pandemic for several reasons; some “have retired early, are skeptical about going back to work in the face of lingering health concerns, or are having difficulty securing reliable child care,” according to CNN. “I think it’s part of the general aging demographics as people are aging out of the workforce,” Flurry said. “We can’t fill those spots quick enough with new workers, new employees.” With labor shortages, businesses have to accommodate for a smaller staff. For restaurant Strang Hall, they’ve accommodated by crosstraining employees so they can work different jobs, according to Assistant General Manager and 2017 East alum Nora Engelken. “Some of [the employees] are old enough that we’ve cross-trained them to be also at the bar,” Engelken said. “If they know how to bartend, then it’s not necessarily the end of the world if we run short one day because then I’ll just throw my busser who knows how to bartend on the bar.” Along with accommodating for a smaller staff, businesses have also raised starting salaries from the minimum wage previously set, according to CNN. Strang Hall has set their starting rate anywhere from $12-15 an hour as motivation for high school employees to stay. However, even with the incentives, a new challenge has arised: getting high school employees to actually show up. “We can book 10 interviews, but maybe one person shows up,” Engelken said. “And if that person has a better job offer, then the chances that they stay with us is maybe 10%.” Minsky’s Pizza in the Prairie Village Shops faces the same problem. They schedule interviews but many don’t come. According to Minsky’s General Manager Jake Stricker, he has a folder

L E F T Businesses in the Prairie Village a re a have started to put o u t help wanted signs d u e to und eremployment. PHOTO BY JULIA FILLMORE

with around 75 applications belonging to people who never came to the interview. “I can make my assumptions and, I don’t know if I’m exactly right, but I will tell you, this is a completely different environment than I was used to pre-COVID,” Stricker said. “It was much easier to get applicants that were ready to work and wanted to go and be there, and now it’s just different.” Stricker and Engelken have their guesses as to why so many applicants are all of a sudden absent to interviews, but they don’t know the full reason. While reasons can vary, for sophomore Neva Hudson, she forgot about her interview at The Learning Tree because she was feeling sick and had other things going on. “I just feel like it’s hard when there’s so much on your mind, like I was not even thinking about [the interview],” Hudson said. “It was right after school and I was home so it was just not on my mind.” Hudson believes, for some students, the anxiety and stress of interviewing and working can turn them away. She thinks after the pandemic, working doesn’t sound appealing anymore and students don’t feel the need to get a job like they used to. But the lack of applicants isn’t the only setback, the labor shortage has also caused businesses to abbreviate their menus according to The Washington Post. With a smaller staff, Stricker has had to limit the menu since there aren’t enough people to make all the food without overworking the staff. And because many employees can’t pick up extra shifts outside their set schedule, Stricker and his assistant managers fill in where needed. “My whole thing has always been, throughout my career, provide a place that people enjoy coming to,” Stricker said. “If you enjoy coming to work then, most likely, you’re going to talk to your friends about where you work.” Minsky’s employee and junior Ava Cooper has experienced setbacks from the lack of employees through having to stay late and denying customers certain items during nights where they offer a limited menu. Hoping to get more employees, Cooper convinced some of her friends to apply, referring three people who now work there. Cooper received $300 for two of her three referrals after they stayed for a month — another incentive to increase employment. But it’s not just Minsky’s. According to The New York Times, more businesses, especially retail, are offering referral bonuses to attract employees, especially with the holidays approaching. While the labor shortage has hurt businesses, it’s benefited some students as he’s been in contact with more companies with jobs available for students, according to Flurry. He helps students find internships and jobs during or after high

school. “Across areas it was more difficult to get kids into workplace learning opportunities, internships, job shadows, planned projects...because the employers weren’t really seeing as big of a need to connect with the high school kids,” Flurry said. “But I think what they’ve learned is if you don’t connect with the kid when they’re in high school, by the time they graduate, and or go off to a twoor four-year program, you’ve lost them.” Because of this, Flurry has had more local employers try to connect with high school kids to start building that relationship and be employed later on. According to Flurry, before the pandemic, they’d get internships for about 10-15 students. So far this year, they’ve found internships for over 100 students.

I C A N M A K E my a s s u m pt i o n s a n d , I d o n ’ t k n o w i f I ’ m exa c t ly r i g ht , b u t I w i l l t e l l yo u , t h i s i s a c o m p l et e ly d i f fe re nt e nv i ro n m e nt t h a n I w a s u s e d t o p re - C OV I D . I t w a s m u c h e a s i e r t o g et , yo u k n o w , a p p l i c a nt s i n t h a t w e re re a d y t o w o r k a n d w a nt e d t o g o a n d b e t h e re , a n d n o w i t ’s j u st d i f fe re nt .

RYAN FLURRY SMSD CORDINATOR OF CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION Senior Lucy Harrison, who’s in her second year of engineering at the CAA, has noticed more internship opportunities this year than last. “If there was only 10 people that were getting jobs or internships, they’re gonna be the best of the best,” Harrison said. “But this way, even if you’re good and you’re dedicated, you have the opportunity to do internships, you don’t have to be the very, very best at anything.” The application process for jobs and internships has been a lot easier, according to Harrison. Her teachers introduced them to a separate Canvas page with resources on how to put together a portfolio and resume for internships. She’s working on finishing her application and hopes to get an internship to be certain architecture is what she wants to pursue. “I would encourage students to really look at all the opportunities that are out there to get engaged in real-world learning,” Flurry said. “[It can] help them explore what their future could look like before they’re out of high school.”

18 S P E C I A L S E C T I O N FEAT URE

T HE H ARBINGER

design by SYDNEY NEWTON photo by KATE BEAULIEU

from

THEN to

NOW

As the culture of business I in the East area shifts towards online and chain corporations, local business owners and their employees change how they operate

by g reys on imm

S EAST ALUM Robert Martin clocked in for his dinner shift at Waid’s in 2010, he made his evening rounds — greeting his co-workers, waiting tables, washing dishes in the back and striking up conversation with the regulars while filling up coffee cups. Though mundane at times, Martin says he learned a lot from this job as well as his job at José Peppers, which was then in the Village — from how to work in teams to interpersonal communication skills. Plus, he got to know his community and the people in it, which he believes is a perk of working at a local business as opposed to a chain. “Those jobs were very formative for me,” Martin said. “Every high school kid who can should work and have a job. I would also like really advocate for working at a restaurant because it is pretty hard at times but it toughens you up.” The catch? Both restaurants, along with a multitude of other local businesses, have went out of business in the last ten years and been replaced with chains. In fact, the former Waid’s building now houses three storefronts, two of which are Fortune 500 franchises. With the lower price and added convenience of chain restaurants and big box stores, many local and small business owners are finding it harder and harder to maintain their customer base. Jon Rojjanasriat, owner of Thai Orchid,

notes that within the last few years, it’s been increasingly harder to keep the restaurant operating. In order to compete with larger chain franchises, Rojjanasriat says that he has to make intentional efforts to go above and beyond — if he can’t set Thai Orchid apart from the fast food chains just down the street from his restaurant, he’ll lose long-time valued customers. “If there’s a delivery mistake by a third party — GrubHub, Uber Eats,” Rojjanasriat said. “I just tell the kitchen to make a new order, and then I’ll go drop it off myself. Even though it’s not our fault, it’s an opportunity for me to show the customer that we care. We just go and say, ‘Alright, we’ll be there in 20 minutes. Sorry for the hiccups,’ and then actually deliver, which is a lot of times not what people expect.” Though one large competitor of small and locally-owned businesses are chain stores and restaurants, a rapidly-growing percentage of competition is online commerce sites like Amazon. Amazon, originally a digital book retailer itself, struggled to make any margin of profit in the first few years it was running. The retail service now has an operating income of $155 billion, according to spglobal.com. Mary McBride, a bookseller at Rainy Day Books since 2010, notes that in the recent years especially, a majority of book sales are being made through services like Amazon rather than businesses like Rainy Day Books — an alarming and suddenly approaching

10 YEARS AGO

problem. “I would say our major competition is Amazon,” McBride said. “People have become so used to instant gratification. [Now,] we do a lot of special orders that are usually there within three to four days, so we can get pretty much get anything people can get on Amazon. People need to know that when they put money back into a local business that it stays in their community. The money goes back into keeping the neighborhoods [operating]. And paying for police, fire, all those things that people really don’t think about.”

E V E RY H I G H S C H O O L k i d w h o c a n s h o u l d w o r k a n d h a ve a j o b . I w o u l d a l s o l i ke re a l ly a d vo c a t e fo r w o r k i n g a t a re st a u ra nt b e c a u s e i t i s p rett y h a rd a t t i m e s .

ROBERT MARTIN EAST ALUM The closure and reduction of small businesses has led to understaffing, low wages, poor working conditions and overall decline in service. Many current issues relating to labor, wages and staffing that are prevalent today are a result of the cultural shift, according to Martin. “Some of the problems you’ve seen now posed by the late [stages of the] pandemic where these restaurants can’t find staff just

VS VS

weren’t happening back then,” Martin said. “It was like a totally different world before. I mean, a lot of people were looking for jobs — I don’t think they were having any problems hiring or staffing. Jill Myers, owner of Moxie Catering, the Golden Ox, and Voltaire, emphasizes the significance of change, and how entrepreneurs and their employees must adapt. “Labor of course goes up all the time,” Myers said. “But the restaurants and the catering business trends change. Color Palettes change. People go from wanting small, intimate weddings to ones that cost more money. [Despite change,] we just kind of get to do what we want to do. And it works.” Even though local businesses face challenges like these every day, and probably will continue to in the future, Rojjanasriat and the others remain hopeful — after all, change is inevitable. Many are unsure about the next ten years, but a strong community is what has held local businesses together for the last ten years. “The customers know that it’s not just [a chain like] Taco Bell — It’s Jon and his family,” Rojjanasriat said. “It’s Thai Orchid and all the staff that are real people in this Mission community — regular folks that have their families, their own lives, stress, ups and downs. And people can relate to that.”

NOW I N 20 21

What a day in the life of a worker at Thai Orchin in Prairie Village looked like ten years ago versus now

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SEAT GUESTS, GENERAL HOST DUTIES

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MANY

WAY S T O

by m i a vo gel

ROM FRAPPES TO refreshers, coffee shops have evolved far past the standard cup of joe — and one of the most popular alternatives is matcha. My first experience with matcha was a grainy and bitter latte from Starbucks. To top it off, the lid wasn’t on properly and I ended up wearing half of it. After this particularly awful first impression, I’d sworn off the green powder indefinitely. However, the matcha craze has only intensified since then. Whenever I express my disdain for it I get the same answer: “You got it from Starbucks? Big mistake,” and suggest that

I try a local shop and order it with an alternative milk and honey. It’s also been expressed to me that matcha doesn’t only serve as a drink, but that it’s beloved in a myriad of other forms such as mochi ice cream and “life changing” skin care products. Always one to give into peer pressure, I’ve decided to give the ugly green monster one more chance after being harassed for years about the endless benefits of ingesting and absorbing it. I’ve decided to try out the latte, ice cream and face mask because I’m bound to appreciate at least one of the popular forms it comes in — right?

MARVELOUS MOCHI I ADORE MOCHI — a popular Japanese dessert made from a sweet pounded rice dough wrapped around ice cream — to such an extent that I could devour an entire box if it were to be put in front of me, no matter the flavor. However, I’ve always skipped over the bright green box at Trader Joe’s. I got to Trader Joe’s and saw that they had an abundance of matcha mochi — easily twice the amount of any other flavor, which only supported my suspicion

that no one liked this flavor. I’ll begrudgingly admit that aside from the brain freeze and the sting that hit my teeth the moment I bit into the dough, I was pleased with the earthy flavor of the matcha mochi. The dough around the outside of the mochi tasted as it always does with that soft and sticky texture that isn’t a burden on the integrity of the ice cream flavor that’s inside. The ice cream was a lovely sage green shade and tasted more sweet than bitter.

It was so smooth and creamy that you’d never guess that one of the ingredients is ground powder. Perhaps it was just the green color that I associate with vegetables, but even though this is a treat, I still felt like I'd made a healthy choice after eating six pincushion size ice creams in the span of 20 minutes. Like everything at Trader Joe’s, it doesn’t disappoint and was the perfect post-yoga snack.

I DOVE RIGHT into the foamy, green deep-end which had turned me off the supplement all those years ago: the iced matcha latte. I stopped at Hattie’s Fine Coffee in Corinth Square to try out the drink. Every matcha lover I know prefers to go to local cafes to fulfill their matcha craving. I thought it was best to follow in their footsteps and also get the opinion of the ultimate matcha experts: the baristas. The barista encouraged me to try out

MOSTURIZING MASK WHILE MATCHA IS known for being delicious with food and drinks, its recently entered into a new genre: skin care. Matcha lovers rave about the wonders it does for your skin, so I decided to try out the skincare version of it. Because matcha contains chlorophyll, a natural antibacterial, not only does it help remove excess oils from your skin, but it also helps eliminate the bacteria which cause bacterial acne. Its soothing coolness can help reduce redness from acne, rosacea and other skin conditions, according to medium.com.

Wandering through beauty aisles, I’ll see products ranging from lip balm to shampoo with the selling point that they contain the rejuvenating supplement — but I personally opted to try a matcha mud mask. I ordered the Matcha Clay Face Mask by Shvyog from Amazon, which came with an application brush that made me feel like I was back in freshman year art class working on my oil paintings. The mask went on smooth and didn’t feel sticky or runny on my face. It wasn’t heavy and allowed my skin to breathe as it cleansed.

L O V E LY L AT T E

their standard matcha latte made with oat milk — I was skeptical, but was assured that the oat milk “makes all the difference” by naturally enhancing the sweetness of the drink. I was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t recoil the moment the cold, green liquid hit my tastebuds. The main issue I had with the latte the first time I tried it was the grainy texture, but to my delight the powder was thoroughly mixed in with the milk resulting in a smooth latte.

Consisting of all natural ingredients, I felt more comfortable using this product since it wasn't chock-full of chemicals. My only qualm with the mask was that taking it off took about five rounds of soap and water before my cheeks were void of a green tint. But although it was difficult to wash off, my skin looked cleaner and hydrated afterwards, but wasn’t rid of blemishes. I wouldn’t describe this product as life-changing, but it was a quality mask and the matcha did as promised in helping my skin.

Regardless of the improvement in texture, the bitter taste prevailed. Perhaps if I’d ordered it with a bit of honey or chai it would’ve masked matcha’s natural flavor and I would’ve enjoyed it more. It’s definitely not my drink of choice — especially at $6 for a small — but after experiencing a more accurate testament to the way the latte should taste, I have a better understanding of why matcha lovers are so obsessed.

22 LOCAL LANCER

A FA

THE HARBINGER

design by celia condon

WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND WHY IS IT YOUR NAME? My name is Afa Akwanka’a. My last name was my grandpa’s name on my dad’s side. I believe that my first name means, “God’s Will,” or something along those lines. My actual name is kind of complicated, but there’s not really much meaning to it. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CHILDHOOD MEMORY? When I was kid, oh man. When I was living in an apartment complex, from about 2013 to 2014, I remember that I always had my bike, and would always be out of the house. On summer days, I would wake up, and go ride my bike around the complex. I remember I knew almost everybody in the area. So I’d wake up, explore the place, go everywhere, go talk to my neighbors and my friends and I’d come back at six or seven in the evening. Then I’d eat dinner, go to sleep, wake up, and do it all again. All summer. WHAT IS A MOVIE YOU’D LIKE TO READ AS A BOOK? ATO. It’s a movie about these kids who grew up in Atlanta, and I think it’d be a good detailed book. And they could make it into a multiple-book series as well. But the movie was really nice. And I think it would be really nice book as well. WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? Basketball. It is one of my goals is to play at least at the collegiate level. The dream is to play at a professional level, but as right now I’m moving on one step at a time. One of my pulling factors that motivates me to work for it is knowing the people I could help if I do make it pro. I’d be able to pay family debt, I’d pay to send my sister to college. Those are the awesome factors that are inspiring me constantly. Other than basketball or graphic design, I don’t see what else I could be doing in the future.

SPORTS 23

NOVEMBER 15, 2021 design by caroline wood

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS Gallery, final scores and upcoming try-out times

WINTER IS COMING Dates for tryouts, roster announcements and potential first game

BOYS SWIMMING TRY-OUTS | Nov. 15-18 ROSTER ANNOUNCED | Nov. 19 FIRST MEET | Nov. 29

BOYS BASKETBALL TRY-OUTS | Nov. 15-18 ROSTER ANNOUNCED | Nov. 19 FIRST GAME | Dec. 2

GIRLS BASKETBALL TRY-OUTS | Nov. 15-18 ROSTER ANNOUNCED | Nov. 19 FIRST GAME | Dec. 2

WRESTLING TRY-OUTS | Nov. 15-18

T O P During the JV hip h o p ro u t i n e , f re s h m a n M a d i M o o r m a n n d o e s a sta l l w h i le t h e re st of h e r te a m bu gs dow n . PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

L E F T J unior Maggie Klumpp c h e e rs on the Blue Valley S o u t hwe st d a n ce tea m on t h e s i d e line prior to her pe r fo r m a n ce. PHOTO BY RILEY ECK

R I G H T Freshman Hannah Todd hits an upper check in a rip p le d u rin g th e sid el in e ro u t i n e . PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

ROSTER ANNOUNCED | Nov. 19 FIRST MEET | Nov. 29

BOWLING

FINAL FINISHES BOYS XC st a t e

TRY-OUTS | Jan. 1

ROSTER ANNOUNCED | Jan. 2

2nd

FIRST MEET | Jan. 8

18th

C a d e n P et e r s

29th

Ben Rodriquez

*information from Athletic Directory Debbie Katzfey

Wya tt H a u g h t o n

A few of the results from fall sports

GI RL S XC st a t e

5th

G ra c e M eye r

38th Jade Achen

F O OT B A L L st a t e

SOCCER league

24 SPORTS

THE HARBINGER

design by kate heitmann photos by tristen porter

Making Powder Moves After not being held last year due to COVID-19, the Powderpuff game will be held

by maggie kissick NSTEAD OF LACING up their cleats

for football practice, the varsity football players head to the Lancer Dancer room with one common purpose: perfecting their hip rolls and pirouettes for their routine to “Toxic” by Britney Spears for the halftime performance of the powderpuff football game. Powderpuff is the one time a year where the cheerleaders, Lancer Dancers and football players get to swap roles. Cheer and dance play a flag football game against one another while the football players do cheers on the sidelines and put on a halftime show for the crowd. Each powderpuff team is coached by the senior football team captains: Kyler Haughton, Ben Luetje, Jack Muller and Ryan Ward. “For cheer, I feel like we’re always the sideshow,” senior cheer captain Maddie Thibodeau said. “We’re out on the sidelines and we spend so much time watching the game happen. So it’s gonna be pretty fun to actually be out there and be the main show for once.” The game is played with mixed teams, with junior cheerleaders and dancers going against senior cheerleaders and dancers. Playing with girls from their own teams, as well as the other team, allows different groups of girls to come together, according to senior Lancer Dancer Maliyah Darrington. Powderpuff is also an opportunity for girls to try out a new sport like football who normally wouldn’t, according to junior

T H E R A N G E S IN KN OW L E D G E P owd e r P u f f i s a n o b s cure h i g h s c h o o l t ra d t i o n t h at m a ny st u d e nt s m i g ht not know a b o u t . W h ere d o you fall w i th in t h e ra n g e?

on Nov. 13.

cheerleader Sophia Snyder. Whether the cheerleaders and dancers have been around the game their whole lives or they’ve never touched a football, Snyder believes everyone will get a chance to experience the game for themselves. “I’ve been to countless football games since my brother plays college football,” Snyder said. “So I’m excited to actually get in there and see what I can do. I really want to see if the football skills come through genetics, or if he just got lucky.” The game will be played with flag football rules and no tackling. Even after some of the football captains encouraged it, cheerleaders and dancers decided that tackling would be too much of a risk for potential injuries. The game will have four quarters, each ten minutes long along with a ten minute halftime. Junior team coach Haughton is even adding simplified plays from East’s playbook. The cheer and dance teams normally stay pretty separated. With cheer on the sidelines and dance out on the field for halftime performances, they never really do anything together — besides joint pep assembly performances and being next to each other on the track during fourth quarter, according to Darrington. “[Our combined dance], Chill Ball, is one of the only bonding opportunities that we

get with the cheer girls, ” Darrington said. “We never really do anything with them outside of games and school, so I feel like doing something with cheer will be really fun.” Powderpuff is a way to meet new people, but also a way to become even closer with girls they already know, according to Thibodeau, who has many close friends who are Lancer Dancers. She’s excited to be on the same team as her friends for the first time, and powderpuff is an opportunity that they wouldn’t have otherwise to participate on the same team.

A L L O F U S a re g o n n a g et o u t o n t h e f i e l d a n d h a ve n o i d e a w h a t w e ’ re d o i n g . B u t t h a t ’s w h a t i s g o i n g t o m a ke i t f u n . N o n e of u s h a ve p l a ye d b efo re , s o i t ’ l l j u s t b e a l o t of c h a o s a n d r u n n i n g a ro u n d .

KATE CRONENWETT JUNIOR Senior dance captain Sydney Beck likes that the game is played with mixed teams because she believes the game wouldn’t be as effective if it was simply just dance vs. cheer. “We obviously don’t know some of the

I H AV E N O i d e a w h a t

THE DRILL TEAM and

t h a t i s . I t m a ke s m e t h i n k of c ott o n c a n d y , t h a t ’s i t !

cheer girls play fo ot b a l l . T h e n t h e fo ot b a l l b oy s d a n c e and cheer.

ROWAN DIVADEEM JUNIOR

SYDNEY BECK SENIOR

cheer girls that well,” Beck said. “So it’d be kind of awkward to be like going against them. But this really unites the teams, which I think is good. It makes us have a bond that we wouldn’t have if we weren’t playing a game like this.” Due to COVID-19 restrictions, neither team has played a powderpuff game before. Normally the senior team has one year of experience under their belt, but this year is an even playing field. “All of us are gonna get out on the field and have no idea what we’re doing,” junior Lancer Dancer Kate Cronenwett said. “But that’s what is going to make it fun. None of us have played before, so it’ll just be a lot of chaos and running around.” Having girls from two different teams will be an advantage out on the field. From fast senior players, to cheerleaders using their jumping abilities, the variety of skills will help them win the game, according to Beck. “I think we have a lot of athletic players that will make some moves for us out on the field,” Beck said. “[Seniors] Olivia Lisher is really strong and will probably be put at quarterback, Megan Angel is pretty speedy. Kay Kay [Winn] is just all over the place, I really think she’ll be able to juke out the juniors. And then obviously the cheer girls, they’re good jumpers. So maybe they’ll be jumping over the opponents. I think we have a lot of assets, I’m excited to see what we do.”

COACHI N G

VS.

JU NI OR CAP TAI NS

S ENI OR CAP TAI NS

SPORTS 25

NOVEMBER 15, 2021 design by madeline funkey photo by mj wolf

KICKING TO THE

WHAT’S NEW? Kansas City Currents new announcements

by katie murphy

T WAS TACO night at the Long house. Freshman Mary Long and sophomore Abigail Long recapped their day to their parents — an Algebra II test, Socratic Seminar, basketball practice, soccer drills. As Abigail passed her sister the guacamole, their parents posed an unexpected question. “What would you guys think if we brought a women’s soccer team to KC?” East parents and founders of Palmer Square Capital Management — a company that manages over $18 billion — Angie and Chris Long went through with the proposal, becoming co-owners of the Kansas City Current professional National Women’s Soccer League team along with Brittany Matthews, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ partner. Now, the sisters and their two younger brothers have been the first to hear any news about the team — a new staple conversation topic at family dinners. Sports have always influenced the Long family’s lives. Mary plays soccer for KC Athletics’ 07 Elite Clubs National League team — part of the highest-level youth soccer league in the U.S.. Abigail plays basketball for MO Phenom as the number one shooting guard for class of 2024 in Kansas. Their little brothers Teddy and Christopher both play tennis as well, and it was no surprise when the Longs got involved with another sports team. Being connected to the NWSL team creates unique opportunities for the sisters. They watched almost every home game this season from the owners’ suite, sat on the sidelines during practices and made friends with the players. “After the games, if they lose, they usually don’t want to talk,” Mary said. “But, if they win, we go down to the field and congratulate everyone.” Not only is it fun to spend their weekends in a stadium packed with teal-adorned fans, both Mary and Abigail see

Building the first NWSL team stadium for around $70m

KC Current midfielder Victoria Pickett nominated for 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year

The Kansas City Currents announced their new name and logo at the end of October

CURRENTS

Abigail and Mary Long are inspired by their parents soccer team, the Kansas City Currents

their future when they watch the team. Playing soccer since she was three years old, Mary hopes to play soccer in college, and then become a professional soccer player. Seeing the players first-hand has shown her what that life would be like. “My biggest dream is to play for the women’s national team, but I would definitely want to play in either the NWSL or Europe,” Mary said. As for Abigail, she hopes to study sports management in college. Spending time observing the management team at games and practices, Abigail can picture herself doing what they do — she especially looks up to her parents after seeing how dedicated they are to the project. “They spend a lot of time doing work for the team, but still make time to come to our stuff like my basketball games,” Abigail said.

I M A G I N E T H E M I D D L E of b a s ke t b a l l s e a s o n , w h e re yo u ’ re p ra c t i c i n g eve r y s i n g l e d a y a f t e r s c h o o l , a n d m u lt i p ly t h a t by a t l e a st t w o a n d t h a t ’s w h a t t h ey ’ re d o i n g , ” A b i g a i l s a i d . “ I w a nt t o b e l i ke t h e m , b u t b a s ke t b a l l ve rs i o n . ”

ABIGAIL LONG

SOPHOMORE

As highly-skilled athletes themselves, the sisters have found role models in the players. “Having a normal conversation with the players about what they did in high school and college is cool because it’s relatable in some ways,” Abigail said. “They also had to balance practices, social things and school just like me.” The sisters enjoy being around the players because they’re lighthearted, despite their full commitment to soccer — clocking in for over three-hour practices six days a week. Mary and Abigail have a running joke with midfielder Lo’eau

LaBonta about her five foot stature — shorter than 14-yearold Mary. By now, the sisters on a first-name basis with the majority of the players. Mary hopes to practice with the women someday. Her favorite player is Victoria Pickett, who plays a similar position to her — center forward or attacking midfield. “She’s super fast and good at dribbling,” Mary said. “Instead of passing every time, she is great at turning and getting up the field. I want to play like her.” Abigail most admires the players’ work ethic, which is apparent through long practices and sweaty workouts despite their friendly demeanor. Though she isn’t a soccer player herself, she still relates to the time and effort the players put in to perform at their best. “Imagine the middle of basketball season, where you’re practicing every single day after school, and multiply that by at least two and that’s what they’re doing,” Abigail said. “I want to be like them, but basketball version.” The Long parents hope having the team around will teach the girls life lessons about dedication and following your dreams. “Whether professional athletics is your ambition or not, it takes a lot of hard work to be really successful in whatever it is that you choose to do,” Angie said. “These female professional athletes are fearless in a way and I hope that our whole family will learn from that.” In November, the Longs announced that construction of the team’s new stadium will begin in 2022 — it will be the country’s first soccer stadium built for a women’s league. “Even ten years ago, you wouldn’t have thought, ‘I can play professional women’s soccer,’” Abigail said. “Especially having it in Kansas City, now I think, ‘This is possible. I can go professional in women’s sports.’”

26 PHOTOSTORY

THE HARBINGER

design by maggie merckens

DRAWING The Sources of Strength Club created a mural representing a mood checklist to support mental health awareness LEFT Sen ior Ma g g ie Merckens and Hannah Gef fert f il l in the yellow smiley fa ce on th e win d ow for the Sources of Stre n g th M u ra l . PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

R I G H T Members of the So urces of Strength club trace circles on t he win dows in the fifth floor main staircase. Each circle contains a different emotion and is filled in with a different c o lor . PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

SCAN ME • PHOTO A B O V E Students wa l k p a st t h e mural during passin g p e r i o d . A s students come dow n t h e sta i rs t h ey c a n self -evalu ate th e i r m ood . PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

M I D D L E R I G H T J u n i o rs J a d e A c h e n a n d C love r Ty le r f i l l i n t h e o ra n g e s m i ley fa c e . “ I wa nte d to j o i n b e c a u s e , l i ke t h e m e s s a g e , l i ke s p re a d i n g h o p e a n d b re a k i n g t h e s i le n c e a b o u t m e nta l h e a lt h j u st re a l ly s p o ke to m e b e c a u s e i n m i d d le s ch o o l, t h ey t r i e d to do pre s e ntat i o n s ove r i t , a n d i t j u st wa s n ’ t ve r y g o o d . A n d I h a ve a lot of f r i e n d s w h o l i ke , st r u g g le w i t h t h e i r m e nta l h e a lt h . S o I re a l ly wa nte d to j o i n a n d he l p out” A ch e n s ai d. PHOTO BY RACHEL BINGHAM

R I G H T S e n i o r Merrie Clough te st s o u t t h e p aint markers b efo re d ra w i n g on the w i n dows . “ T h ey d on ’t wa nt to b e l i ke to o i n your face l i ke t h i s i s n ot something to pre s s u re wo r t hy [it’s] ju st l ike a s i m p le c h e c k in” Clough s ai d. PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

Use this QR code to p u rc h a s e p h ot o s f ro m t h i s eve nt o n Harbie P h ot o

HERE ARE

MY T WO

CENTS

65% of workers earning minimum wage are part-time

Everything you need to know about minimum wage from its creation to now

design by celia condon

The US average hourly pay of some of the more common part-time minimum wage jobs

JANITOR - $12.46 WAITRESS - $2.13(BEFORE TIPS) HOUSEKEEPER - $11.19 HOSTESS - $10.39 ICE CREAM SCOOPER - $11.00 GROCERY BAGGER - $9.20 BUS DRIVER - $14.00

GENDER

EDUCATION

60% of all workers

23.1% of those earning

who earn the

minimum wage or less

minimum wage or

do not have a high school

less, are women

THE FIRST M I N I M U M WA G E IN THE UNITED S TAT E S WA S $0.25 IN 1938, WHICH IS EQUAL TO ABOUT $4.64 AN HOUR THIS YEAR

T HE H ARBINGER

PART-TIME JOBS

28 S P E C I A L S E C T I O N INFOGR APHIC

diploma

THEN TO NOW

The federal minimum wage has increased over time, but has remained the same for 12 years

1938 1956 1974 1980 1996 2009

$ $

$1.00/hour $0.25/hour

50%

wag

imuf e wo m

min

are

the

r ke r

age er of

und

$3.10/hour

$2.00/hour

$7.25/hour

$4.75/hour

ACROSS THE STATES

Many U.S. States follow the federal minimum wage, but some have a higher state minimum, due to the population and life expenses of that state

$7.25 (Federal minimum) $7.25 - 9.00 $9.00 - 11.99 Over $11.00

information courtesy of giovdocs.com