The Harbinger Issue 7 2024-2025

THE FUTURE IS female

DECEMBER 2, 2024

political cartoon

sta list

EDITORS

PRINT EDITORS

Avery Anderson

Addie Moore

ONLINE EDITORS

Larkin Brundige

Connor Vogel

ASST. PRINT EDITORS

Sophia Brockmeier

Libby Marsh

ASST. ONLINE EDITORS

Luciana Mendy

Lucy Stephens

HEAD COPY EDITOR

Ada Lillie Worthington

ASST. HEAD COPY EDITORS

Libby Marsh

Luciana Mendy

HEAD PHOTO EDITORS

Caroline Martucci

Molly Miller

Clara Peters

Amelie Wong

ASST. PHOTO EDITORS

Will Grif th

Paige Bean

PHOTO MENTORS

Addie Clark

Mason Sajna

Molly Scott

VIDEO EDITORS

Alex Sajna

Mason Sajna

ASST. VIDEO EDITOR

Preston Hooker

Kai McPhail

ASST. DESIGN EDITOR

Sydney Eck

DESIGN MENTORS

Clara Burdick

Zane Laing

PAGE DESIGNERS

Ben Bagby

Evelyn Bagley

Avni Bansal

Caroline Beal

Vanessa Blades

Ellen Bowser

Ella Hargens

Ashtyn Ingram

Miranda Liberda

Christopher Long

Francesca Lorusso

Addy Newman

Tillie Paisner

Ava Slocum

Lucy Swope

SECTION EDITORS

EDITORIAL

Julia Campbell

NEWS

Clara Burdick

OPINION

Mya Smith

FEATURE

Reese Dunham

online update stories

design by sophia brockmeier cover design by avery anderson

galleries videos

story idea submission

SCAN ME FORM

Visit smeharbinger.net to view additional stories, galleries, podcasts and videos

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS

Caroline Black

Katie Cook

Sylvie DeGalan

Emery Engle

Anastasia Flower

Evelyn Geheb

Vivien Glenski

Rubi Hakes

Caroline Hoffman

Francesca Lorusso

Lexi Madden

Tyler Russell

Zac Russell

Alex Sajna

Simon Shawver

Ava Towner

Annie Trenkle

Emma Weidman

MULTIMEDIA STAFF

Ben Bagby

Paige Bean

Mary Gagen

Alex Sajna

Emma Weidman

EQUIPMENT MANAGER

Mason Sajna

STAFF WRITERS

Avni Bansal

Caroline Beal

Vanessa Blades

Ellen Bowser

Reese Dunham

Mary Gagen

Preston Hooker

Christopher Long

Addy Newman

Grace Pei

Mya Smith

Carl Sutton

COPY EDITORS

Avery Anderson

Isabel Baldassaro

Sophia Brockmeier

Larkin Brundige

Addie Moore

Lucy Stephens

Connor Vogel

Emmerson Winfrey

Lucy Wolf

Michael Yi

ART EDITOR

Kai McPhail

ASST. ART EDITOR

Francesca Lorusso

STAFF ARTISTS

Evelyn Bagley

Bella Broce

Julia Campbell

Avery Foster

Preston Hooker

Miranda Liberda

Tillie Paisner

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS

Isabel Baldassaro

Lucy Stephens

ASST. SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Sydney Eck

SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF

Paige Bean

Bella Broce

Clara Burdick

Ella Hargens

Ashtyn Ingram

Zane Laing

Luciana Mendy

Mya Smith

Connor Vogel

ADS MANAGER

Michael Yi

CIRCULATION MANAGER

Reese Dunham

CONTEST COORDINATORS

Sophia Brockmeier

Addie Clark

SCAN ME WEBSITE

Read about a staffer’s movie review, look at new soccer photos, watch the Mole Day video ll out this short survey - stories - photo galleries - videos - cartoons

editorial policy

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 con rmed 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 though letters may be edited for clarity, length or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 400 or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com.

art by preston hooker

story by mary gagen photo by caroline martucci video by will griffith

design by addie moore & avery anderson all art by avery foster, kai mcphail & francesca lorusso

her voice,

power her power

THE EXPERIENCE OF being a woman is a unique one, to say the least. It’s something shared by more than half of the world’s population, yet it’s an individual experience that can manifest itself differently in every woman.

Being a woman has its highs and lows, and in this issue, we aim to cover both the positive and negative sides of it. There’s no “wrong way” to experience womanhood, and we strive to celebrate the accomplishments as well as bring awareness to the hardships that come with the feminine experience.

At East, 49% of students are women, according to Great Schools, and the staff directory shows half of the staff is female. It’s crucial we share the often overlooked stories of half our school’s population.

In this special section, we covered everything from

women in STEM and the powerful business teachers at our school to unrealistic beauty standards and the unfortunate reality of sexual assault and harassment.

With recent threats to women’s rights and access to healthcare such as the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we feel there’s no better time to celebrate and acknowledge feminism, reminding our school and community how strong women can be in the face of adversity.

We celebrate all women highlighted in this issue and acknowledge the hundreds at our school and billions in the world whose stories are yet to be shared.

This issue, we ask our readers to truly take in our special section and use it to remind everyone of the power women hold as well as the influence they have on our world.

rising ab ve

biases

WALKING INTO THE first day of her AP Physics class, junior Sally Sue* scanned the seating chart. Only one other girl made the list. She took a seat, hoping more girls would show up and were just accidentally left off the list.

Spoiler: they weren’t.

Trigonometry.

Female students should be encouraged by counselors to challenge themselves by taking higher-level classes due to lower turnout in higher-level STEM classes

Currently, no STEM-related club at East caters directly towards women. Girls are easily discouraged from seeking out difficult classes by counseling services, according to female students at East. This situation must change.

That spring, after spending a semester feeling like a fish out of water, she refused to take AP Physics 2 as a senior. She won’t be making that mistake again.

Sally Sue might not be real, but her experience is all too real to girls across high schools.

Despite a recent trend showing girls outperforming guys in the liberal arts, according to a 2023 University of Cambridge study, girls enroll in fewer higher-level STEM classes. This problem should be a major concern to administrators and educators across the country and at East, but they’re often more interested in attendance levels than keeping girls in advanced classes.

In both AP Physics and AP Calculus BC classes at East, boys nearly double the number of girls, according to this year’s enrollment data. This trend continues in AP Physics 2 and Calculus 3, where girls make up only a fourth of the students in both classes.

More girls make it to the graduation stage than boys, so these numbers should be reflected across all classes, according to a Brookings study, regardless of whether

Administrators and counselors must encourage female students to push themselves in higher math and science classes. Whether it be through a “Women in STEM Club” or advice during enrollment to continue on difficult tracks, this aid is vital to preventing girls from feeling isolated in STEM classes.

But this issue isn’t only limited to East. Preparation for careers begins early, and with fewer girls enrolled in classes such as AP Physics — making up only 30% of the class, according to College Board — less women are likely to end up in STEM-related careers.

Even in AP exam registration from last year, College Board statistics show boys made up an overwhelming majority of economics, physics and computer science classes. But girls only slightly outnumbered boys in liberal arts classes and the genders split evenly in history classes.

Just because girls enroll in fewer STEM classes doesn’t mean they can’t keep up. Girls outperform guys frequently in many classes. A University of

that during exams taken by 16-year-old students, female students outperformed male students in almost every subject, aside from classes like economics and physics.

Once women join the workforce, they only make up 28% of STEM careers, according to an Massachusetts Institute of Technology study. Clearly, more strides need to be taken to shrink the gender gap in STEM-related careers, and it all starts in high school classrooms.

Women are capable of doing math. When counselors nudge a girl to drop an Honors Chemistry class because she’s taking “too many difficult classes,” it only harms her success long term.

With the February late registration date on the horizon, it’s still not too late for any girl to sign up and study for any AP exam. Even if she is hesitant to take the class itself, she can still study and attempt to gain college credit — and she should.

The issue is not that girls are incapable of taking a college-level math or science class. Something is holding them back. Whether that be external forces from counselors, the pressure of getting a good grade, or the already small number of girls in the class, it’s evident something

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. for: 8 against: 0

inclusion for all East students — coming up on Dec. 3 is a great opportunity to introduce a new, administration-supported club, specifically for women in STEM.

With proper support from staff, the club could gain traction quickly and increase female involvement in STEM classes. With next year’s enrollment coming up, female students with A’s in their math and science classes shouldn’t be scared into taking easier courses.

Girls, don’t be afraid to take that AP class, and don’t let anyone say you’re not capable of challenging yourself. You have the potential — don’t let your gender define your academic success.

Percentages of women in high school and college

Across the nation,

women made up 58% of all college students in 2020

The “You Belong Fair”

3.1 million more

women were enrolled in college than men in 2021

In 2023 65.3% of female high school graduates went to college, compared to 57.6% of males

future is female

AFTER BEING DISAPPOINTED

by the results of the presidential election, freshmen Emma Hebbert and Zella Hanzel decided to create a feminist club called Future Is Female. Their goal is to spread awareness about women’s rights, with their first meeting on Dec. 5.

“Historically, I don’t care much about politics, but after the results of the election, it was very upsetting

Freshmen Zella Hanzel and Emma Hebbert created Future Is Female, a club centered around feminism

for me because I don’t agree with [Trump’s] views,” Hanzel said. “We don’t want to go back in history and get our rights taken away.”

Future Is Female will focus on informing members and other young women about women’s rights, while also inspiring them to become advocates.

Hebbert and other co-founders also created the club with a goal to raise awareness about the struggles women face. They aim to uplift

afghanistan women

ON AUG. 30, in Afghanistan, the Taliban announced that women are no longer able to speak freely with each other in public, according to the Associated Press. But, restricting women’s ability to speak isn’t the only human right the Taliban have stripped away since taking over in 2021.

women and help them find success in life by informing their members of prevalent female issues and ways that members can advocate for each other.

“Being underestimated is a huge thing in the female community,” Hanzel said. “I’ve seen men talk down to women and say ‘Oh you’re a girl. You can’t do that’ and I’m like, ‘We can do that better than you can.’ I think it would be really great if we could give women the confidence to ignore them.”

VOICES

Giving the Lancer community a voice

The Taliban’s recent rules and regulations have disproven their promise to treat women equally

work and most notably, their right to secondary education.

treatment of women in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

In addition to this, Taliban officials have restricted women’s rights such as the ability to work a job in government, the freedom to leave their homes or go to

On Aug. 31, 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, promising not to return to their misogynistic treatment of women. Their relapse into banning all women’s rights has caused English classes at East to hone in on the topic and discuss it as part of their curriculum.

Women’s rights in Afghanistan have become a prevalent topic of discussion with senior AP English classes reading “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” set in Afghanistan during the height of the Taliban’s regime.

Through “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” AP Literature teacher Amy Andersen has actively followed the

stuco execs

ON NOV. 23 the all female StuCo

“I think it’s important for students to have the opportunity to read a book that expands their worldview and hopefully fosters empathy for Afghan society as a whole,” Andersen said.

Andersen, along with other teachers at East, use this book as a tool to help them showcase the value of education to their students.

“Education is such a basic, foundational right,” Andersen said. “It’s not just the fact that it opens up doors to professions and finances, it also shapes our perspectives and gives us an ability to have a fully formulated way of seeing the world.”

The first female StuCo Executive board, in ten years, ended their second to last event of 2024 with their annual can drive for the Johnson County Christmas Bureau

be a certain percentage under the poverty line to shop at the christmas bureau,” StuCo Vice President and junior Paige Bean said. “We go and volunteer in December and we see the people that are shopping and they always thank us so much for donating and volunteering our time.”

Executive board held their second to last event of 2024, the annual can drive, raising almost $3000 and donating nearly 2400 cans to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau.

“It makes a huge difference because these cans last into next year and you have to

Stuco Secretary junior Claire Polanco, Treasurer junior Fina Kessler, and Student Body President senior Ingrid Blacketer have known each other for three years, through StuCo. The executives’ long-term friendships have helped them to understand what each person has to offer

“We know what each other would want in a situation or the way they would go about an event,” Blacketer said. “And so we try and incorporate part of everyone’s thought process into whatever we’re working on in that moment.”

The executives all agree that their friendships with one another allowed them to be on track to raise more money that last years’ exec board.

“We all compliment each other so well,” Blacketer said. “We have a different way to approach situations, so you get a little piece of everything.”

HANNAH ROSEMANN

Q: Why did you want to join the Future is Female club?

A: I joined because I thought it would be a super cool opportunity. I like the message and I look forward to talking to other girls and having that time to have a positive conversation.

FRESHMAN SADIE ALGREN

Q: Why did you want to join the Future is Female club?

A: The people that started it I’m friends with, so I wanted to support them. I also support what they are trying to do, and I just really wanted to be a part of that.

FRESHMAN LIBBY MORRIS

Q: Why did you want to join the Future is Female club?

A: One of my reasons for joining was because I believed it was really important to have a strong understanding [of feminism] as well as a social connection and support group I could fall back on.

Senior Ingrid Blacketer the StuCo president

photo by will grif

SINCE AGE 10, freshman Elena Hull has been sifting through presidential interviews, going on campaign deep dives and talking to others to determine her own stance on politics.

Many of her family members support Donald Trump but after he announced his campaign for the 2024 election she started to dig into her research.

“Of course, I agree with my parents, but I didn’t want to be somebody who just relied on what their parents said because I didn’t feel viable,” Hull said. “Everybody has their own opinion, so I went and did my own research and I realized how complex all the issues are.”

She knew the Harris-Trump election would be close and on Nov. 5, she didn’t know which way it would go. She had studied Trump’s policies up and down, knowing the risks for women’s health care in the next four years if he was elected. She was scared knowing women would have little choice in abortion healthcare even in the case of sexual assault.

But she wasn’t just thinking about herself, she was worried for her two young sisters and friends as well.

“What if somebody got to my little sister, if somebody got to my friends,” Hull said. “I wouldn’t want them to be in that situation,

With former president Donald Trump’s re-election, female students worry their rights to abortion and health care will be limited story by lucy stephens

because that’d be so hard for anybody.”

Following the 2024 election of former president Donald Trump, female East students including Hull are discouraged by what their futures could look like with the Trump administration’s policies and connection to Project 2025.

plan to ensure everyone in the community has high-quality affordable care.

Last year, under the Biden Administration, Planned Parenthood got nearly half its total revenues from government reimbursements or grants.

Project 2025 is a movement created by over 100 conservative organizations to “return the government to the people,” according to their website. However, a main concern for Hull and other East girls is the plan’s stance on abortion.

The Project 2025 document states the plan will prohibit Planned Parenthood and other government-funded abortion clinics from receiving federal funds. This will make safe abortion procedures for those on Medicaid more difficult to achieve.

“I’m terrified,” junior Brooks Hagedorn said. “[Project 2025] is now just a plan, but it’s concerning to me. Where is it going to draw the line?”

Planned Parenthood strives to provide health care services no matter what according to their mission statement. They

PROJECT 2025

TRUMP CAN SAY as much as he wants that he’s he personally isn’t associated with [Project 2025], but everyone in his cabinet is. It’s pretty clear that even if he constitutionally can’t do everything that [Project 2025] says, he’s definitely gonna take a step in that direction.

MIRA McINNES SOPHOMORE

“I’m able to get pregnant, and if in the future I ever need abortion access, or just overall healthcare with getting pregnant, that may not be an option,” sophomore Storm Vontz said. “Those are very important healthcare options those necessary options are being taken away.”

While Vontz doesn’t necessarily like the idea of abortion, she says it is a necessary

health procedure when the mother’s health is in jeopardy. She fears that if this crucial care is taken away, complications in pregnancies could be a lot more dangerous.

The accessibility of miscarriage care is something sophomore Mira McInnes is worried will diminish with the policies Trump will possibly enact regarding Project 2025.

“ reproductive fears

However, in various interviews, Trump has said he is not affiliated with Project 2025 and its abortion stance. But, to prepare for his upcoming term, Trump has been actively proposing cabinet members — most of which are supporters of Project 2025 based on a New York Times analysis.

The analysis found at least 144 of the 267 contributors to Project 2025 that have either worked on Trump’s administration during his first term in office, his 2024 presidential campaign or are a part of his cabinet as he looks to assume office in January 2025.

“Trump can say as much as he wants that he’s he personally isn’t associated with [Project 2025], but everyone in his cabinet is,” McInnes said. “It’s pretty clear that even if he constitutionally can’t do everything that [Project 2025] says, he’s definitely gonna take a step in that direction.”

Portions and wording in project 2025’s plan that are worrisome to some women at East

“Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders...”

“It should ensure that it is not promoting abortion as health care.”

1. 3. 2.

“Reverse its approval of chemical abortion drugs because the politicized approval process was illegal from the start.”

story by miranda liberda

GIRLS HYPING UP each other’s Instagram posts is by far one of the most uplifting aspects of social media.

In a digital space with an indescribable amount of negativity, it’s refreshing to see women supporting women, filling comment sections with love, compliments, and a sense of community.

A simple “You’re stunning!” or “Obsessed with this!” can make someone’s day and reinforce positive connections. This trend has become a staple of Instagram posts and at its best boosts confidence.

favorite part of being a woman is the close female friendships

comic strip

art by avery foster

But, there’s a point where this constant hype starts to feel less like genuine support and more like a social performance. Every post gets flooded with the same comments: “OMG QUEEN,” “Stop, you’re perfect,” or “You’re Gorgeous.”W

While these reactions are kind on the surface, they often feel repetitive, almost automated. When every single picture is met with identical, over-the-top praise, the compliments can lose their impact, and it starts to feel like people are hyping for the sake of the social aspect like people hype people up to get more comments of their posts.

The issue isn’t with being kind — it’s with the lack of sincerity. Compliments hit differently when they feel personal and thoughtful, rather than part of a trend.

Instead of falling back on emojis and cookiecutter phrases, why not leave a comment that reflects something real? For example, something about a specific photo on the post or anything related to the post, like: “That top is so cute where is it from?”

Genuine support isn’t about following the script or playing to the algorithm; it’s about making someone feel truly seen and appreciated in a way that stands out.

staffer ranks women’s athletes

1

In rst place would be my favorite women’s athlete,Aitana Bonmati. Barcelona is my favorite club, and Bonmati is such a fun player to watch. Seeing her win the Ballon d’Or not once, but twice was so inspring and welldeserved.

Angel Reese is my second favorite women’s athlete. Ever since her time in college basketball, I’ve loved her ability to speak her mind. Her personality that she displays on and off the court is charasmatic.

2

3

In third place, I’d rank Alex Morgan. As a young girl in recreational soccer, she was the one that introduced me into women’s sports. If you ask me, she is one of the main causes of the rise of women’s soccer, especially in the US.

take

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Harbinger

EVERY TIME I see a conventionally attractive woman with even a miniscule amount of skin showing on social media I can already hear the putrid and objectifying comments before I press “view.”

The nature of these comments isn’t new to the internet. Yet, I believe there’s a reason that videos susceptible to sexualization are being seen by users who are willing to do so — the majority of which are men.

TikTok’s male-designed algorithm was leaked in a lawsuit on Oct. 11. Genderbased recommendations weren’t accounted for, although statistics based on age demographics and user interaction were shared. Because of the lack of information, I decided to run an experiment to test TikTok’s algorithm based on gender.

CONTENTtargeting

Social media algorithms use sexualized media to promote more male interaction

SAID WHO?

News sources that have looked into algorithms on various social media platforms

I made two separate accounts, the first as a 16-year-old boy and the other as a 16-year-old girl. There were no other specifications made — that was all that TikTok knew about me.

On the “male” account, it took exactly two scrolls till I found myself reading “This girl is flashing me! Check the location,” inherently encouraging me to interact with this zealously sex-driven media. The video had 10.6 million views and 113 thousand likes in only three days. And because I was picked to be one of those viewers, the algorithm will recommend more videos of a similar nature.

And that algorithm works, according to Social Media Today, TikTok has a 150% higher engagement rate than Instagram. That’s 150% more comments, shares, likes and reposts daily. The average user also spends over 90 minutes on TikTok daily.

The site is attempting to get more user interaction, and it seems that sex appeal is the most efficient way to get it from men — there’s no other reason why they would need to recommend that to an underage boy.

On the second “female” account, however, what I saw in the first few videos scrolling through was even more surprising. Videos about “Hacks I wish I knew before I was a mom,” the unhealthy nature of fast food,

women breaking into their ex-boyfriend’s car and women talking about how they love that their boyfriend is stronger than her flooded the feed.

All of these videos are either setting a stereotypical view of a motherly, weightconscious lifestyle or are videos of women doing negative things like smashing someone’s car. These ideas and videos are essentially putting women in a box with a label of emotional outbursts and stereotypes.

If you personally align with stereotypes, there’s no issue with that whatsoever, but if a man promotes stereotypes for women it’s simply intolerable and wrong.

It wasn’t until the 26th video that I got a sponsored ad about ‘booty shorts’ with 507 likes — something I would consider targeted and sexualized media. The difference between this example and the video I viewed on the “male” account is that this video was encouraging me — thinking I was a woman — to purchase suggestive, tight and revealing athleticwear to appeal to men rather than for a cute clothing choice.

I don’t have a problem if someone buys those shorts or posts about them. That has nothing to do with me at all and it’s completely their choice. As a man, however, I can judge the men who create and design the algorithm that recommends those videos to the young women on TikTok, setting more unrealistic beauty standards.

The New York Times concluded in a 2020 article that over a third of TikTok’s population may be under the age of 14. Both of the test accounts were in a twoyear range of hitting that demographic and were still recommended videos of a highly inappropriate and uncontextualized nature because of the lack of content preferences

set.

I’m not the only one to notice these issues, in 2022, Apple reviewed TikTok’s age restrictions to test its algorithm; what the team found was exactly what you’d expect.

“[There’s] frequent or intense mature or suggestive content,” Apple stated. “We hope [TikTok] will consider making the necessary changes to follow the App Store Review Guidelines and will resubmit.”

The issue remains prevalent with no attempts being made to fix it. If anything, this issue has gotten worse, and my experiment proves.

Yet there’s no reason they’d want to change it. TikTok is benefiting from its higher userinteraction rate as it’s better than any other social media platform to date, even if the methods that bring them undervalue women.

It’s futile to even ask for reformation because that’s not profitable for TikTok or any other social media platform. What’s most important is for people to be informed on the subject, making sure others are aware of the new and developing forms of scrutiny in social media algorithms by sharing articles like this and doing research of their own. It’s also important to select “not interested” on any sort of video to try to break the cycle of the algorithm.

It’s a broken and corrupt system — that denotes the positivity social media is supposed to bring to users. I don’t think I can handle seeing more videos or comments asking me to succumb to the algorithm and avidly choose to harm the feminine image. Social media like this is a huge step back from all the proggressional feminism of the past century — don’t let us fall behind any more.

design by

anderson art by francesca lorusso

A NPR article on how TikTok promotes more sexual content , especially for underage users, to boost interaction

A New York Times article on how the TikTok algorithm works and often times seems to “read your mind”

story by preston hooker

YOUR schedule

story by mary gagen

MALES AND FEMALES are inherently different.

Sexes are distinct for a reason. From muscle and chemical buildup, to daily hormonal cycles, the difference in physical build is naturally opposing, and prevalent.

A woman’s menstrual cycle is 28 days long — unlike a man’s 24 hour cycle, which makes up the energetic and emotional highs and lows that a woman feels over a month’s span, but shortened into a day. A male’s cycle resets each day, while a female’s resets every 28 days.

This means that a woman’s bodily movement when exercising may need to change week to week based on the phase of the menstrual cycle in order to accommodate ever-changing chemical composition.

Being intentional about movement is important as your hormone levels change. Increasing dopamine through exercise will always be beneficial, but listening to your body is too. There’s no reason to overwork your body in phases where regular activity already feels more strenuous.

A woman’s 28-day cycle consists of four phases. There’s menstruation — better known as the period — the follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase.

During menstruation, exercising can alleviate menstrual symptoms, but it’s best to do low-impact movements. Focusing on exercises that your body can handle will prevent creating more discomfort in an already deeply uncomfortable time — cramping, fatigue and mood swings are not the ideal ingredients for a high-intesity workout. Walking and light cardio, gentle stretching like yoga and light strength training are best.

For light strength training, weights should be light enough that you can complete 12 -15

repetitions. Gentle stretching can be found by searching for “light stretching” on YouTube, or by simply listening to your body and moving as you see fit.

In the follicular phase, estrogen rises which increases energy. Estrogen signals to your body when to begin and end sexual and reproductive cycles, causing important bodily changes.

This phase is a good time to increase the intensity of your exercise. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), heavier strength training and more intense cardio like running or boxing. HIIT consists of exercises that raise your heart rate and challenge you. These exercises should be completed on an interval, including brief resting periods. Heavier strength training means you should be lifting weights and pushing yourself for each rep.

During ovulation, your energy levels will be similarly high to the follicular phase because estrogen levels will be high. Weights will feel lighter and you’ll likely feel more motivation. High intensity workouts like rowing and kickboxing are still good options. In addition to intense exercise, ovulation is the ideal time to take on big tasks.

The luteal phase is the longest of the cycles, lasting roughly two weeks. Energy will start to decrease in the later half as progesterone increases. This means that weights may feel heavier, and you may feel less inclined to exercise.

While it’s possible to maintain higher impact exercise, it’s wiser to focus on lower impact exercises like yoga or swimming in addition to focusing on recovery by resting and fueling your body as fatigue

WORKOUT SCHEDULE

Womens monthly cycles, their length and the exercises and physical activity that can benefit women during each time

cycle

increases.

Unfortunately, this scheduling might not work for athletes involved in organized sports where workouts are preplanned. For female athletes, the best solution may be spending more time focused on recovery during the luteal and menstrual phases of the cycle. But for those who can, acknowledging the differences in bodily makeup, makes it possible to get the most out of fitness.

For women to benefit from exercise to the fullest extent, the type of exercise they’re doing should correlate with where they are in their menstrual cycle. It’s entirely possible for a woman to follow a bodybuilder’s split — and there are plenty of people who do — but for regular individuals who simply want to be fit, it’s best to work with

Women’s bodies work differently than men’s, so it’s important to know how to exercise in a way that will help your body

your body, rather than against it.

Just like men wouldn’t want to follow a woman’s monthly cycle, women shouldn’t follow a man’s.

This is a key factor that females need to consider when deciding how to exercise. In the media, it’s incredibly easy to misconceive how women should be working out in order to benefit their bodies. Just because a bodybuilder split — the dedication of each day to a specific muscle group — works for a fully grown middle-aged man, doesn’t mean it’ll work for women.

At the end of the day, the goal of working out is finding what works for you and how you’re able to help yourself. You can’t do that if you’re imitating someone with an entirely different genetic and hormonal build.

story by mya smith

GOD, I LOOK so ugly today.

My skin is breaking out so much.

I’m so bloated. I shouldn’t

“ unrealistic ideas unrealistic ideas

appearance without even realizing. It’s something we barely even notice anymore.

Unfortunately, this behavior is common for women. We tend to nitpick every little detail about our looks, even when there’s no

Women should embrace the things that traditional beauty standards don’t accept and unlearn the insecurities media taught us to have

This certain look on our supposed role models like influencers and celebrities, creates a false illusion of what the word “beautiful” means.

Growing up with Barbie dolls, we were conditioned to see all women as perfect, skinny, tan, blonde dolls whose outfits and makeup were faultless. Instead, women often feel more like that Barbie at the bottom of the bin covered in Sharpie and sporting an uneven bob.

WHEN YOU’RE

YOUNG, you learn from your surroundings. So when we hear our moms and grandmas routinely picking themselves apart, we start to think this is the norm, and follow the pattern ourselves.

This way of thinking translates into our teenage years, especially with the rise of the “clean girl aesthetic.” Slicked-back hair, a dewy face of makeup, and a “comfy but elegant” outfit become the new expectation of looking pretty.

In 2024, social media influencers have gotten better at portraying the raw versions of themselves by showing the glamorous parts of their life along with their struggles. But my feed is still flooded with ones that

STUDENT’S TAKE

show only the romanticized parts of their life.

Seeing rigorous diets, hourglass figures and overconsumption of overpriced skincare and makeup makes us feel like we need everything these picture-perfect people have. That if we do everything they do and have everything they have, we’ll be as “beautiful” as them.

As much as I love putting on expensive makeup and wearing something other than sweats to school, we shouldn’t need these things to feel beautiful. Not to mention, makeup is supposed to enhance our beauty — not define it.

Nowadays, being direct copies and having the same features as everyone else has become the beauty standard. Instead of embracing uniqueness and different types of beauty, a lot of us often live with the thought in the back of our heads that we aren’t good enough.

We dwell into these certain insecurities and hyper fixate on how they can look better

Students at East responded to a poll asking what unrealistic traits they feel our society deems to be “beautiful”

design by avery anderson

photo by molly scott

feature

most in uential women

Meet a few of the female staff members that are most empowering, according to a student poll, and read their reactions

“

NEETA

MANDSAGER math

I AM INCREDIBLY proud and humbled by the support I’ve received from my students—it means more to me than anything else. I’m deeply thankful to all the students who truly connect with me and appreciate my teaching.

“

8 days

until the East orchestra concert

9 days

until the East choir concert

SUSAN

HALLSTROM science

“

SAMANTHA NEWLIN

math

female student leaders

A few female students in leadership positions

I THINK THAT’S awesome, because what’s more important to me than teaching math is making a connection with kids. So the fact that I have made some women, especially, feel a little bit stronger. That just made my day.

I’M VERY HONORED, and I feel like it is something that comes with responsibility. It makes me consider that I need to always make sure that women are treated with the professional courtesy and respect we deserve.

“JORDAN

DOMBROWSKI language arts

IT FEELS GREAT to be a role model for young women. Just to give them a model of someone who works hard, is happy about what they do, and brings their full effort to what they’re doing. I love that I can show them how to do that.

this week in photos

BELOW Junior Gavin Perez works on his drawing project during his Intro to Studio Art class photo by tyler russell

TOP Freshman Parker Anderson and junior Clayton Hanner grab beads to make friendship bracelets with Spanish adjectives in their Spanish 1 class photo by molly scott

HELEN JONES coffee shop

ANNABELLE COVELL pep club

SAMANTHA ATKINS hauberk

RIGHT Sophomore Hank Dodderidge plays a game of chess against his opponent during chess club photo by paige bean

design by reese dunham

t eaching around the

jessica krievins

GYMNASTICS ON MONDAYS,

Boy Scouts on Tuesdays, staff meetings once a month on Tuesdays, volleyball on Wednesdays and Thursdays and soccer on Thursdays and Saturdays.

“I don’t know where August, September and October went,” Business teacher Jessica Krievins said.

Krievins has four children — two sets of twins — elementary schoolers Lily, Katie, AJ and Izzy, whose extracurricular activities have taken over Krievins’ calendar.

“[My kids and I] will sit down, lay on the couch, and watch a movie together before bed, just to create those times where we can slow down because they’re tired too,” Krievins said.

She finds that being a teacher and a mom helps her understand both her students and kids better.

“With my kids being so little, it helps

AP

t eachingclock

me understand my students’ background,”

story by grace pei

clock

Krievins said. “I [think of it like], ‘Okay if they didn’t have this kind of a nurturing home at home, how can I help that at school?’”

She used to teach career and life planning, where she taught a unit about how children change the dynamics of their families. She brought her own kids to class and let her students interact and babysit them for one day.

From then on, her kids would beg to go back to school with her.

Though she wants to be an efficient teacher at school, Krievins also wants to focus on her family. She sets boundaries for herself like letting parents know that she may not answer emails at home.

“I don’t take work home,” Krievins said. “When I leave [school], I’m a mom, and when I come [to school], I’m a teacher.”

emily fossoh

EUROPEAN

HISTORY

teacher and former track coach Emily Fossoh’s kids, sevenyear-old Henry and five-year-old Ethan, hit a pickleball ball back and forth on the courts at Harmon Park alongside students two feet taller than them during the sophomore pickleball tournament.

Fossoh’s three children, Henry, Ethan and two-year-old Gabby go with her to many school activities from former track practices to parentteacher conferences.

“My life is my children, and they are the schedule,” Fossoh said. “And that’s the big reason why I stopped coaching. I had my third [child and] it just wasn’t sustainable.”

Fossoh applies her ability to create learning opportunities as a teacher when she creates activities to challenge her kids.

Hot wheels? Engineer the fastest track. Legos? 20 minutes to build the best building.

Fossoh also sets up obstacle courses for her

Teachers Jessica Krievins, Ann Flurry and Emily Fossoh share their experiences as a mom balancing their work schedule with their kids’ schedules

ann flurry

SET THE TIMER so Liam can catch the bus. Make sure Lily’s lunch is made. Tell Liam to feed the dogs. Give them breakfast. Out of the house by 7:15 every morning.

English teacher Ann Flurry has two children — eighth grader Liam and sixth grader Lily — both starting school almost an hour apart. Her husband is the principal at the Center for Academic Achievement, meaning they both have to leave home earlier than their children.

“I’d love to say, ‘Oh yeah, I make breakfast every morning and we all sit down and [eat together],” Flurry said. “[But] we just do the best we can.”

When emergencies happen during school, like her kids getting sick, Flurry has to leave in the middle of the day.

“It has been understood that family comes first, and everyone just rallies

kids. Start by passing the area with a nerf gun challenge, then move on to dribble a basketball between cones and shoot. Cross the finish line.

“I’m a coach too, so competition is something that I really like to instill in them,” Fossoh said.

Having mostly taught history classes, Fossoh helps her kids embrace both her African husband’s culture and American culture.

“I feel like they’re too young to understand the depth of history, but [I want to] pass on those cultural traits and traditions,” Fossoh said. “That could be food or showing on the map where [their] daddy’s from.”

For Fossoh, a benefit to teaching is the convenience, because she gets summer break off to spend time with her kids.

“Those first years [of teaching] I would take a lot home,” Fossoh said. “I’ve been teaching [now] for 17 years. I’m at a point where my focus is my family when I get home.”

around the teachers who need to leave,” Flurry said. “We try to do everything we can to cover their classes.”

Flurry has a photography business on the side, and uses her skills to help with the Belinder yearbook at her daughter’s school. Connecting her hobbies with things that benefit her kids helps her choose the activities that are worth giving her time to.

Despite her busy schedule being a volunteer coach for her daughter’s cheer team, Flurry is grateful for her job as a teacher while being a mother — even when it gets challenging.

“If this is my struggle, gosh, I’m happy to do it and I’m not going to complain,” Flurry said. “I chose this life. So I was just really lucky that we are blessed with two

ABOVE Fossoh’s three children

TOP RIGHT Flurry, her husband and two children

RIGHT Krievins, her husband and four children

photos courtesy of jessica krievins, ann flurry & emily fossoh

RIGHT Senior Sylvia MohrSting listens as program sponsors Kelsi Horner and Anna Thiele introduce themselves. “I joined [Women in Leadership] because thought it would be a great way to guide myself as a leader and help guide younger women,” MohrSting said. This is the second year that the program is offered, and it includes all grade levels.”

women leading

The Women in Leadership program had its first meeting of the year on Nov. 7

with an ice breaker. Each table had ten minutes to agree on the greatest movie of all time. Members sat with their “families”—other members with similar future career interests.

Women in Leadership senior council members Gia Tuso and Jordan Fuller take attendance while two other senior council members lead the meeting. The senior council consists of six seniors who meet with the sponsors to plan meetings and field trips.

and

ABOVE Junior Fina Kessler discusses what she wishes she knew about involvement opportunities at East when she was in middle school, as sophomore Anne Bowser listens. Members brainstormed advice to give to middle schoolers regarding high school. “I love Women in Leadership because it’s such an amazing program to have and community to be a part of,” Kessler said. “I hope to gain more relationships with the other female leaders at East and learn from them and am excited for the field trips and opportunities the program provides.”

photo by paige bean

photo by paige bean

photo by paige bean

photo by paige bean

SCAN ME PHOTO

by addie moore photos

by

molly miller

Business teachers Mercedes Rasmussen and Amanda Doane work together to create an engaging environment in the business department

they mean business

Lstory by addie moore

business

AST YEAR AT DECA

Internationals in Anaheim, CA, the airline lost two groups’ projects for their presentation the next day. The hotel lobby was filled with 27 panicked DECA students.

In classic “Mercedes fashion,” business teacher Mercedes Rasmussen was on the phone with the airline, doing everything she could to get the posters delivered within the next day. Meanwhile, business teacher Amanda Doane calmly gathered the students whose presentations were lost and had a car service take them to Kinkos to reprint the posters.

“When I get riled up about things, [Doane] comes and brings zen to me when I need it,” Rasmussen said. “We really do have a different vibe about us, which allows the kids to attach themselves to whoever they feel more comfortable [with].”

Rasmussen and Doane have spent their days running back and forth between each other’s rooms since Doane came to East eight years ago.

The self-proclaimed “work wives” have shaped East’s DECA program since it was started by Rasmussen in 1995. It’s now the largest chapter in Kansas with 180 members, over 50 international finalists and one international champion. Rasmussen is the head DECA Chapter Advisor and Doane is the assistant.

Rasmussen and Doane bounce from the two marketing classrooms to the student store and coffee shop, borrowing supplies from each other for projects in marketing principles and planning DECA events together. Thanks to them, the

business wing of the fifth floor is jampacked with collaboration, candy and helpful tips for students.

When junior Georgia Boyd missed the DECA information day due to a golf tournament, both Rasmussen and Doane took time out of their packed schedules and seminar to reiterate the spiel seniors gave the day prior and convinced her to sign up for the upcoming competition.

“They’re very understanding [about missing school] and are always willing to help me,” Boyd said. “Since I was close with both of [them], they got me all the information and helped me.”

Students like DECA member and senior Elle Tollefson are drawn to the business hallway because of Rasmussen and Doane’s synergetic personalities.

Tollefson is in Rasmussen’s room at least once a day — even though she doesn’t have her in class. Tollefson can be found in room 528 during first hour making Coffee Shop merch, fourth hour eating lunch with her twin sister Eve or helping out with merchandise for student store in seventh hour.

“They’re always saying ‘Hi’ and asking questions,” Tollefson said. “They make me happy because they’re so easy to talk to.”

Doane’s calm and organized nature helped Rasmussen when she broke her wrist and ended up in the hospital three years ago. Mid-examination, Rasmussen realized she had no substitute plans.

“All I could think about was, please call [Doane],” Rasmussen said. “I gotta call [Doane].”

Doane quickly organized sub plans for Rasmussen’s classes for the following days.

They rely on each other, whether it’s for ideas regarding projects in Marketing Principles or covering for one another when they have to step out of the classroom.

When the bell rings at 2:40 every afternoon, Doane walks into room 528 to say “Hi” to Rasmussen for at least the fifth time that day.

There, they “download the day,” according to Doane. This can be anything from discussing booking hotel rooms for the upcoming

design

survivor kc kc feature

story by carl sutton

THEN-FRESHMAN ELLIE

Fisher stood in a flood of freezing cold rain for three hours with only one goal in mind — to help people struggling with breast cancer.

After all, that’s why she founded Survivor KC, a non-profit that focuses on raising money for women who’ve been diagnosed breast cancer.

“Even as a second grader, on her birthday she would request donations instead of gifts,” Fisher’s mom Carie Fisher said. “She would request donations for animal shelters, she just has a feeling where she wants to give and help and contribute.”

When Fisher was in 6th grade, she founded Survivor KC with her friend nowsophomore Annie Trenkle — and plenty of help from her parents. Survivor KC acts as a fundraiser for a bigger KC-based nonprofit called Peace Out Cancer, which supplies women who’ve had breast cancer with recliner lift chairs.

“Following breast cancer surgery, it’s very difficult to stand up from a seated position,” Ellie’s father Cory Fisher said. “So these are chairs that allow assist

in standing up, and they’re really expensive to buy and so Peace Out Cancer lets them borrow them.”

Survivor KC raises money by selling pink and black “Survivor Bracelets.”

Survival Bracelets are rope bracelets that can be unraveled up to 7 feet, and work as a wilderness survival tool.

Fisher used the money she got as a Christmas gift to buy her first case of Survival Bracelets bracelets.

“

I WANT TO

inspire people to get started working in non-pro ts and even if

it’s for something small, just get working on it.

ELLIE FISHER SOPHOMORE

Fisher and Trenkle’s first fundraising event with Survivor KC was in October 2023 at a Kansas City block party, to celebrate the unveiling of a “Stay Strong KC!” mural supporting breast cancer patients , in the pouring rain.

Sitting at an uncovered white table trying to selling bracelets — while also freezing sitting in the rain — may not sound like a good time, but if you ask Fisher, it is.

design by addie moore photo by will griffith

Sophomore Ellie Fisher helps support women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer through her nonprofit Survivor KC

“[I love] meeting and seeing these survivors and talking to them,” Fisher said. “Seeing how much it means to them when they have young females coming in. I’ve talked to a few survivors when they’ve just started crying to us about how much this means to them and they love to see the next generation working towards this.”

Since then, Survivor KC has reached hundreds of people, from block parties to pickleball tournaments. Fisher and Trenkle have now sold over 100 bracelets, which they sell for $5 each.

“It’s not always what they say, but what they do,” Trenkle said. “We had one customer came up to us and she bought herself a bracelet, and she came back and she just gave us a bunch of money and said, How many bracelets can I get with this money? So we gave her a bunch of bracelets. She was just so into what we do, which really makes us feel proud.”

While Survivor KC isn’t currently looking to grow in numbers, they’re always looking for more non-profits, like Peace Out Cancer to partner with.

“I want to be able to show people that non-profit isn’t as scary as it seems,” Fisher said. “I want to inspire people to get started working in non-profits and even if it’s for something small, just get working on it.”

ABOVE Ellie Fisher, Annie Trenkle and their moms hold up bracelets at a fundraising event.

ABOVE Ellie Fisher and Annie Trenkle pose in front of a mural at their first fundraising event photo courtesy of ellie sher

photo courtesy of ellie sher

FLINGING OPEN THE front

door of her house, senior Scout Jacobs greets her newest client from the doorway.

The 17-year-old nail artist only started her busines, Scout’s Sets, last August, yet she sees five friends and family members weekly — with 25 monthly customers — and makes $150 on a good week.

“I love [doing nails],” Jacobs said. “It’s my favorite thing in the world.”

When a customer enters Jacobs’ diningroom-turned-nail-studio, she urges her clients to sit down on a padded, mustard yellow chair to get comfortable — they’ll be chatting about school and listening to 70s songs for the following two hours.

Strewn across her hot pink table are polishing drills, acetone bottles and handrests.

At her desk, Jacobs pulls out her phone and clicks on the Pinterest photos her client has texted her. It’s how she starts all her appointments and how her clients send Jacobs inspiration for their designs.

Scrolling through the shiny, bedazzled and matte nails, Jacobs points out concepts that match best with her client’s requests. They discuss nail lengths and shapes, such as medium length and almond tips. Jacobs will create whatever her clients want.

“I really want people to send me what they’re feeling and so many pictures,” Jacobs said. “When people text me and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t really know what I want’ I’m like, ‘Go on Pinterest, go wherever you want, and just send me a bunch of pictures.’”

Once the design is picked out, Jacobs settles down and selects colors from her book of acrylic hues.

“They can look through the book, and I

@scouts

Senior Scout Jacobs has a nail business, Scout’s Sets, and does her family and friend’s manicures

@scouts sets

have different base colors and nude colors,” Jacobs said. “I have about 30 to 45 nude colors and about 40 to 70 just plain colors.”

Nude pink is senior Adelaide Basta’s go-to color. Basta was Jacobs’ first client, doing their nails together before prom, and has seen Jacobs’ business through its early stages. First, Jacobs did her friends nails, trying out an Amazon gel nail kit. Slowly, she began charging her clients and amassing “regulars.”

“

I JUST

REALLY like seeing everyone feel super con dent after they get their nails done because it’s so important if it

SOPHIA BROCKMEIER

JUNIOR

“Scout’s my best friend,” Basta said. “I love getting my nails done because we get to talk the entire time. I feel like most people can’t stick with a hobby to that level, especially with school, but she’s so crazy and awesome.”

Jacobs uses her refined art skills as she stares down at a fingertip, perfecting a lace-tipped nail or diagonal French tip.

She has been an artist since early childhood, according to Scout’s mom, Whitney Jacobs. Whitney would often find Jacobs creating her own art supplies out of existing materials instead of using conventional art kit chalks and paint.

“She would smash [chalk] up and make her own colors, because the colors that came from the manufacturer were just not doing it,” Whitney said. “She needed more of a variety and she had to have been like maybe six. She would grind the sidewalk

chalk down and then make little mounds, almost like how you’d see, when you travel and see spices.”

Although she no longer specializes in concrete driveway chalk creations, Jacobs still enjoys the artistic process of her appointments. She plans on continuing her business by joining the Johnson County Community College’s Cosmetology Program post-high school.

“It’s one of those jobs that you have so much creative freedom and you can make such a good living off,” Jacobs said. “Because none of [the designs] are the same, I’ll never be bored.”

Jacobs finishes off the top layer of her client’s nails and blows off the nail-bit dust. Her product is finished, but there’s one more thing she must do: take pictures for her Instagram account.

Jacobs’ Instagram, @scouts_sets, has over 150 followers and 80 posts — featuring her latest client’s sets like color-changing polish and 3D acrylics.

As Jacobs’ clients step out of her door, she always hands first-time customers a complimentary goody bag — filled with supplies such as a bottle of cuticle oil, one-time use lotion packs and a nail file to keep their nails maintained. Jacobs waves goodbye to her clients as they walk away with a smile on their face and a new manicure.

“I just really like seeing everyone feel super confident after they get their nails done because it’s so important if it makes you feel confident,” Jacobs said. “If nails make you feel super confident, get your nails done.”

her work her work

Examples of Scout’s work, found on her Instagram

Athrough Friday in Dr. Kenneth Lee’s Center of Academic Achievement biotech classroom, budding young scientists are learning biology.

But not off PowerPoint presentations.

Rows of table stations outfitted with micro-pipettes, granulated cylinders and centrifuges stretch across the room toward the whiteboard, where a numbered list of instructions titled “dichotomous identification” outlines the various steps of identifying bacteria — the process students will have to perform during the final.

“There’s always a misconception that young people are limited in what they can do,” biotech teacher Zulma Perez said. “I think as teachers, we have to believe that students will rise to the occasion.”

In the all-female Agriculture and Pharmacolgy class in the biotech program hosted at the CAA, the seven students are developing concrete lab skills that they’ll use as they pursue their careers in science — a heavily male- dominated field.

American Association of University Women, only 34% of STEM careers are occupied by women.

“I think it’s empowering because I’m a woman going into the biotechnology field and doing that stuff,” junior Hailey Poague said. “And I’m only 16, compared to what a white male might be doing even though he’s probably had more opportunities than I have.”

Agriculture and Pharmacology is one of the two secondary biotech classes taught by Lee offered after the introductory course taught by Perez, Standard Operating Procedures.

When class starts, Dr. Lee gives instructions for 15 minutes before students have the whole period to work on their lab — from synthesizing aspirin to testing the efficacy of commercial disinfectants.

“When I come back to East classes, all my classes feel like I’m not actually doing anything because they feel way easier compared to what I’m doing at the CAA,” Poague said. “They just feel less complex.”

notebook documenting the procedure, methods and results of their work to be graded qualitatively. The small class size allows Dr. Lee to help students efficiently and give one-on-one feedback.

“It’s almost like a job environment, though, because the students are doing what they need to do,” Lee said. “If they have a question they go to each other, and then they come to me.”

addie moore preston hooker

Young women in the biotechnology

developing their skills for careers in science

story by michael yi

current events social studies project during the pandemic.

“I always grew up really loving science, but I never really saw any women involved in the science programs that I was interested in,” Scott said. “So it was just kind of disheartening, especially watching science shows on TV, but it was really awesome to sign up and then be in a class with mostly girls.”

Rather than taking down notes, students use lab-grade technology to practice their technical and critical thinking skills. Through the program, students gain Occupational Safety and Health Administration certification for procedures like safety-hazard assessment and aseptic technique.

“It doesn’t feel like going to school,” junior Sage Scott said. “That’s really what I like about it. I feel like I’m going and getting this valuable experience that will help me in life, while also being around people who are like me.”

After taking SOP and either of Lee’s classes, students in the program perform research at local research facilities, from KU Medical Center to Quest Diagnostics, a healthcare company.

Students self-direct their research, choosing topics from pancreatic cancer to microplastics in sand. After meeting with Lee, they reached out to see if local companies would be interested in having them intern.

Students keep a detailed lab

According to the

Scott first became fascinated with science in grade school but became drawn to biology after exploring vaccine development for a

“They’re not just washing dishes,” Lee said. “They’re actually doing these experiments that are funded by the government to do and figure out different aspects of whatever question that they’re tasked with.”

Most of the Agriculture and Pharmacology class will go on to research next year. Poague is interested in studying insulin, junior Alejandra Ceron Madrigal is interested in studying cancer and Scott is pursuing shadowing a researcher at KU Medical Center.

“Just going out and touring these places, it’s just so male-dominated, and it can be kind of disheartening for a lot of women,” Scott said. “But I’m not going to let that stop me.”

Three labs they’ve done in class so far this year

enzyme bacteria lab

make bacteria glow by injecting a plasmid into the mother cell

aspirin lab

learned how to adjust aspirin to be easier on the stomach

wisconsin fast plant lab

grew catnip, WFP, broccoli, and other seed and compared the speeds of their growth

design by addie

moore photo

by

sylvie degalan

attention

unequal attention

story by luciana mendy

SHE’S A BRIGHT kid and does great working on assignments, she just needs to practice her time management skills.

As senior Daisy Amaya looks back at her old report cards, she now knows that what her teachers saw as a lack of “timemanagement skills” was actually a clear sign of her inattentive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Amaya was diagnosed with ADHD last December. The diagnosis process was difficult due to the number of steps it included and because she didn’t have the typical hyperactive symptoms that are often seen, according to Amaya.

“It’s kind of weird because you really only see the hyperactive part online,” Amaya said. “So a lot of people expect you to be ultrahyper, really destructive, or talking too much out loud, like a stereotypical person with ADHD. But then there’s an inattentive type, and if you don’t have the hyperactive type people don’t really acknowledge it.”

Individuals with inattentive ADHD tend to get easily distracted and have difficulty staying organized while those with hyperactive ADHD are often impulsive and constantly “on the go”.

Boys tend to show hyperactive ADHD while girls often have inattentive, causing girls to be overlooked when diagnosing ADHD, with boys being three times more likely to receive a diagnosis, according to the CDC. This lack of diagnosis can lessen girls’ ability to get the necessary resources to help their academic performance.

Then-7th-grader Margot Fair needed an ADHD diagnosis for additional

accommodations at Indian Hills Middle School, such as more testing time and access to breaks that help her regain focus.

Fair had suspected that she had ADHD due to her inability to focus during class, from doodling on assignments to wondering about what she was going to have for dinner during a test. However, her lack of a diagnosis made it difficult to get a 504 plan to help her manage her struggles with focusing.

504

plan formal plans that schools develop to give kids with disabilities the support they need

“I was pretty quiet, not one of those kids jumping up and down, more calm and collected, but in my head I definitely wasn’t,” Fair said. “I think [the administration] struggled to see that, even though I told them. They just didn’t understand.”

Fair was able to receive a 504 plan her freshman year after she got her ADHD diagnosis. Before the accommodations, she was close to failing classes, but now she has a GPA of 3.7.

With hyperactive ADHD being more noticeable and appearing more in boys, the stereotype that a child with ADHD is a male who “acts up” or speaks loudly in class has been created. This contributes to women’s ADHD being missed or minimized, according to Very Well Health.

Thirty-five-year psychologist Michael Pollock specializes in ADHD and said that girls often don’t show the typical hyperactive symptoms because of the social standards for girls.

“Males are often allowed to act out more,

INATTENTIVE VS. ATTENTIVE

so they could show that hyperactivity, some of that bad behavior,” Pollock said. “Females are often taught not to be heard, not bother people socially, not hurt.”

Amaya dealt with these impacts personally since her ex-stepbrother also had ADHD and was able to get diagnosed at seven years old due to his hyperactive tendencies. It took Amaya two times to even get her diagnosis in the first place.

“[My ex-stepbrother] talked out loud, he was a bit destructive and had that typical hyperactivity,” Amaya said. “But then there’s me and I tried picking up the rules to be more helpful. I feel like that’s also a problem with girls, just trying to be more helpful than needed.”

led to an estimated 50-75% of girls with ADHD going undiagnosed, according to Clinical Partners.

social workers like Elizabeth Findley are working to help students — even those without a diagnosis –manage their mental health and perform to the best of their ability at school.

Girls have a harder time being diagnosed with ADHD because they often don’t show the hyperactive signs that boys do

students who are mentally overwhelmed or stressed, so we work to help those kids manage those emotions.”

According to Pollock, if someone is having trouble learning it is important to ask why and to reach out to adults for assistance. He encourages girls to educate themselves on ADHD symptoms and that those who suspect they have ADHD should then look for help despite what others may say.

“I think that people are still afraid that others will think they are just faking it and just looking for an excuse for why

and it’s not a requirement to have a diagnosis to come in and talk,” Findley said. “That’s really important because there’s a lot of

A breakdown of the two types of ADHD paying attention to details

DIFFICULTY WITH: DIFFICULTY WITH: remembering daily tasks organizing tasks following through on projects staying seated while working doing activities quietly interrupting other conversations not doing anything

&

e picture perfect

These Overland Park murals painted by local artists capture woman of all cultures

Titled: Esperanza

Painted by: Emily Alvarez

Location: Overland Park Clock Tower

in clover

Titled: 10,000 Villages

Painted by: JT Daniels

Location: 7947 Santa Fe Dr, Overland Park

BEYONCE becomes the most nominated artist in Grammy

In Clover, a woman-owned boutique in Corinth, is a luxurious place to shop for fashionable women’s clothing and accessories

story by avni bansal

LOCATED IN Corinth Square, In Clover sells an assortment of classy women’s clothing and accessories.

Wynne Foster, owner of the one-room boutique, flawlessly brings her vision of a luxurious and comfortable boutique to life through its carefully selected products and cozy ambiance.

A bright green clover marks the entrance, and three outfits are displayed in the window showcase along with a winter-themed bright red bag labeled “Joy.” The spirited colors and designs made me eager to enter the store.

Multiple gold-rimmed chandeliers illuminate the boutique’s layout. The fresh scent of pine cones complements the entrance’s

festive display of white and silver jewelry plates, red candles, Christmas-themed napkins and tiny snowmen.

Seasonal items, from fuzzy maroon sweaters and red blouses to gold beaded jewelry are arranged thoughtfully to make browsing simplistic and appealing. I was already imagining different ways to assemble the stylish outfits.

Each table features mini green and white pine trees and baskets filled with earthytoned white and brown blankets and pillows. The layout is organized, yet each corner of the store is filled with countless items.

Two spacious dressing rooms with mirrors and stylish cream-colored stools provide a comfortable place to

SCARLETT STAMOS

JUNIOR AT THE BEGINNING, [Erin’s] a single mom, I wouldn’t say she’s very successful, but she’s headstrong and she just powered through. And I know this is school, but she’s a bad-ass. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she became even more successful.

“try on items, while the gentle guitar and piano notes from the speakers create a serene atmosphere.

A turquoise accent wall adorned with an oval mirror adds an appealing splash of color and the wall-sized mirror on the far wall opens up the area and brightens the store with reflected light.

Combined with warm, yellow lighting and friendly staff who are willing to chat and answer any questions, In Clover offers a calm and pleasant shopping experience and thoughtfully made items. Their huge selection of items makes it the perfect place for girls and women to shop, whether they’re looking for a cozy pair of fluffy socks or a brown leather coat.

*The Breeders

Former Pixies bassist Kim Deal formed all-female — besides the drummer — alternative rock band in 1989. Their hits include “Do You Love Me Now” and “Cannonball,” which was in the movie “A Walk to Remember.” This past year, they opened for Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour.

photos by zac russell

LEFT Jewelry display stands out to customers in front of bright blue accent wall

photo by zac russell

ABOVE Two gold chain necklaces with charms sit are displayed in the middle of the store surrounded by many similar pieces.

photo by zac russell

LEFT Owner Wynne Foster poses for a photo next to a jewelry display.

photo by zac russell

THE HARBINGER

A STORE NAMED

A STORE NAMED STUFF 23

STUFF

ISABEL’S ISABEL’S BUYS

A Store Named Stuff is a Brookside charm owned by two sisters who sell art pieces made by female artists

items — jewelry, keychains, pins, books, stickers and different pottery pieces — the colorful array of art pieces always

Items that Isabel bought from A Store Named Stuff

Elephant Match Holder: An elephant-shaped match holder and lighter that comes with a match strike pad attatched to its back.

Starfish Jewlery Plate: A starfish plate with a bumpy, realistic texture and a light red glaze.

Fish Jewelery Plate: A fish jewelry plate with realistic stripes and a dark blue glaze.

AFTER COUNTLESS

TRIPS down the iconic 63rd street in Brookside, I had finally found my favorite shop. A Store Named Stuff was created by two talented women, for women and supported by women.

Casey Simmons, one of the owners, told me about their primarily women crafted art pieces and feminist areas of the store.

Casey and her sister Sloane opened their boutique-style store in 1996. Their website depicts their artistic and lifestyle focused store that has thrived online, and at their Brookside storefront, since it opened. They sell pieces by local, regional, national and even international fine artists, handmade creators and small batch makers.

While they sell art made by all genders, Casey says a good majority of their pieces are made and supplied by women.

The sisters aimed to make their store open to all, while being hip and fashionable. With over 300 available

Open five days a week and with an easily accessible website, A Store Named Stuff is the ideal place to shop for gifts, home decor, books and jewelry, all while soaking in the charm of the handmade

I started by browsing their matches and candles section, I found the most adorable elephant match holder with a good sized match pad on its back. My room constantly has a candle lit to help me study or focus and I’d just recently run out of my matches supply. With its $15 price tag, I immediately picked it up.

Across the store my eyes landed on the plates and dishware, all covered in colors or drawings from fruits to striped patterns. Seeing the sea-themed jewelry plates for the price of $7, I shuffled through until I found two that I knew I needed, a red starfish and a blue fish.

As if the appeal of knowing that the pieces I picked up were crafted by local women isn’t enough, they have a wall lined with books and crafts Casey describes as their feminist section.

There you’ll spot books, pins and coloring books about important females cover the wall and tables. I’d never bought one of these pieces myself, but I‘d often seen my mom pick them up to give to her friends for gift exchanges and holiday parties. Whether they were candles or earrings, she loved to know they were made by and for women.

I’ve been in the store year round, but my favorite time of the year to stop in has to be in late November through December. Their hundreds of sparkly ornaments hung from their huge Christmas tree along with ribbons and tree wraps hanging from each display table give the

poké bowl ornaments caught my eye, as I’ve never seen such sparkly renditions of food. Their variety of weird yet fun designs had me admiring them for almost 10 minutes. If it weren’t for their high price tags, I would’ve bought 20.

As I finished my laps around the store, I took a mental note to do my Christmas shopping here. With their range of gifts for any gender, you could truly shop for anyone — that is, if you can keep yourself from buying a million things for yourself.

When I got home, I tried out my new match holder and lighter. The hole in the elephant’s mouth was a great size to fit around 15 to 20 matches comfortably. The strike pad worked the first time, immediately sparking and keeping the match lit for a solid 15 seconds.

My only complaint — it didn’t come with matches. However, there were many different match selections next to the holder, I just would’ve preferred them to come together.

Then I set my jewelry plates on my vanity and tested out how they would look when I put them to use. They held my jewelry perfectly and weren’t too easy to move or accidentally nudge while I got ready. In the light, the plates shimmered adding a pleasant lighting and decor to my bland vanity.

Although it’s usually busy and can be pricey, the store is completely worth it. You can stop in and find truly anything in A Store Named Stuff at any time — and its bright white logo makes it hard to miss.

Next time you’re in Brookside, check out its charm that is A Store Named Stuff and make sure to ask Casey and Sloane about their influential business.

isabel baldassaro

design by kai mcphail

photos by amelie wong

entertainment female

This winter, turn on a movie that promotes feminism and female leaders rather than one that belittles them

T HE 2019 REMAKE

of Louisa May Alcott’s book, “Little Women” may not be the first movie that comes to mind when you think of feminism. A movie set in a time before women could vote, let alone advocate for themselves couldn’t be about feminism — but that’s where most viewers are mistaken.

On the surface, this movie is about four sisters’ chaotic lives while their father is fighting in the Civil War, but it’s truly about being your own person and overcoming gender roles.

All four daughters exhibit a desire to be their own people throughout the movie, with dreams of becoming a writer, painter, pianist and mother.

Meg, played by Emma Watson, Amy, played by Florence Pugh and Beth, played by Eliza Scanlen display strength in front of sexist men, standing up for themselves at parties and never relying on men for help.

intro hidden gures little women

“HIDDEN

FIGURES”

IS often characterized as a civil rights movie filled with racial justice and equality for all, and it is. But, it’s also a movie about three strong women who overcome misogyny and doubts about their abilities — something women of all different races and backgrounds should watch and feel empowered by.

The three main characters, Dorothy Vaughan, played by Octavia Spencer, Katerine Global, played by Taraji P. Henson and Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monáe spend the movie working their way up in various mathematical and engineering positions at NASA during the space race and Civil Rights Movement.

In the movie, women of all colors are often confined to jobs as receptionists

and lower-ranking workers, but Dorothy, Katerine and Mary work to fight both race and gender stereotypes to climb the ranks of NASA, making themselves indispensable and outperforming the men around them at every turn.

Dorothy, specifically, is shown standing up for herself and her work in front of a room of men, who treated her like she was invisible and a waste of space, refusing to do work below her pay grade and education level, and even encouraging other women to work in STEM-related fields. The aspect of women helping women, shown especially at the end when Dorothy teaches a class of women how to use the new computers, is just as heart-warming as the first snowfall of the year in any Hallmark movie.

The three women are shown being

WITH THE HOLIDAY season in full swing, it can be tempting to scroll through the hundreds of rom-coms and Hallmark movies, looking for the perfect background movie to get you in the spirit.

And while I’m all for a

They volunteer in their community, go ice skating, homeschool each other, write and perform plays and hold down jobs.

story by avery anderson

mistletoe-filled, cheesy, predictable movie, it’s time to put down the damsel-indistress and country-girlgets-saved-by-big-city-man tropes and watch a movie that celebrates women, instead of stereotyping them.

standards or men’s preferances.

I don’t know about you, but I love independent women with real hobbies and real jobs.

Jo, played by Saoirse Ronan, wishes to become a writer and refuses to let the precedent that only men could be writers stop her. She publishes her often gory and “man-like” short stories under a pseudonym and when she finally writes a novel, she stays defiant in the face of a sexist publisher and refuses to make her story more “womanly” or appeal to a “girlier audience” by morphing it into a love story.

A lesson to all women to never change their work or themselves just to fit societal

The movie moves through the lives of the four sisters, following the girls’education, everyday lives, volunteer work, jobs and social events. Through all of these activities they learn to think for themselves as well as do things like make their own money and live independently.

If you’re still craving some Christmas-y elements in your movies, don’t fret — “Little Women” has all the heartwarming gift-opening and carol-singing scenes you need to stay in the holiday spirit.

And to top it all off, “Little Women” is directed by a woman. There’s no better way to support women in male-dominated fields like movie production than by admiring and appreciating their work.

home in time for their children’s bedtimes, juggling work with their lives and not being afraid to raise their voices — something the small-town girl who has a degree in cupcake engineering could never do.

The women are ultimately recognized for their work during the Space Race and are able to teach other women to follow in their footsteps. And the best part: it’s a true story.

Despite not having a fantastical love plot filled with snow and Christmas cookies, it’s uplifting in a way most Christmas movies could never be. Hidden Figures highlights real women who were real feminists and who made real impacts in the world.

I would take historical feminism and true stories over stupid holiday love tropes any day.

design by kai mcphail

martha

martha a review of

The documentary “Martha” is insightful, as it reveals Martha Stewart’s life and the impact she has on women around the world

EVERYONE

KNOWS AND loves Martha Stewart, America’s original influencer and the author of over 100 best-selling lifestyle books and magazines.

Growing up, Martha was always on my living room TV — whether she was making tacos or on a talk show sharing various stories about her life. So when Netflix released “Martha,” a documentary about her comeback from an insider trading scandal, I was eager to hear what she had to say.

The documentary portrays Martha as someone who developed a passion for gardening at a young age, thanks to her father, Edward Kostyra. Like him, Martha is a perfectionist, a trait that led to her catchphrase “perfectly perfect.” I enjoyed this detail about Martha as it let me understand her personality on a more personal level.

Just like her catchphrase says, Martha was perfect. She was someone who had her life completely together and free of mistakes — an image I personally don’t think I could keep up with. Martha even received hate and criticism online for “trying to create a lifestyle

that was unattainable.” In reality, she just wanted to educate people on homemaking, business and everyday living.

Martha didn’t just want to make a living off of being a beautiful blonde woman. After graduating from Barnard College, she headed to Wall Street in 1968, a time where no women worked there, and got hired as the first female stockbroker at the American Stock Exchange. A pretty big accomplishment, if you ask me.

She was iconic. According to stockbroker Andy Monness, Martha was the best worker in the firm, smarter and more social than everyone there. However, many coworkers claimed Martha was a “great white shark” and “someone who was ruthless and would shake you down.” But let’s be honest, if these traits were said about a businessman, they would be seen as a good thing and he wouldn’t be called a b*tch because of them.

I enjoyed how raw Martha was when talking about how cruel the public was to her in the documentary. It made me feel disappointed as I realized that some people in the world hate to see a successful woman.

The documentary also showed how 1968 was a bad time for women on Wall Street, due to men not respecting women in the business world and not taking them seriously. But Martha dominated the industry and made a quarter of a million a year, which was more than most men at the firm. Women deserve to be treated at the same level as men. Period.

Martha also mentions throughout the documentary how she got slammed by the media as they would call her “mentally unstable” and “Manic Martha.” All the hate she received correlated with how the public didn’t like the idea of a successful woman running her own million dollar company. Disgusting doesn’t begin to describe it.

The disrespect didn’t stop here. As soon as Martha was questioned by talk show hosts for her involvement with Sam Waksol’s arrest regarding insider trading, she got flustered, asking to switch the topic and the media went feral. Thousands of people wanted to see the first self-made female billionaire fail. They wanted to see her in jail.

As Martha was found guilty of four counts of obstruction of justice while lying to

investigators and faced 150 days in prison, prosecution painted her as a villain. While her actions were wrong, it left me wondering how different the trial would’ve gone if Martha was a successful man.

Despite her time in jail, she came back to many loving friends and fans who supported her no matter what. She resumed her cooking show and continued her role of educating the public — something truly inspiring considering her time in prison.

Martha reinvented herself with the younger audience as she went viral for roasting Justin Bieber and becoming friends with Snoop Dogg.

But Martha was still the same woman she was before all the trials and online hate. She was a woman who wanted to educate the public about growing a garden and cooking recipes. She was a role model to women all over the world and still is to this day.

The documentary “Martha” was eye opening seeing the harsh reality that people can hate women just for being successful. Let “Martha” show how women today are still treated poorly today for just simply living.

books

Two of Martha’s different lifestyle books and magazines

ENTERTAINING

QUICK COOK

Launched Martha’s career and focuses on hosting and includes recipes for entertaining

RELEASED IN 1982

The second book she wrote, includes 200 easy and elegant essays that are folded into 52 menus and organized by season

photo from of imdb

upcoming events

mark your calendars

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Scan here for more photos like these from our website’s online photo galleries

TOP During the hip-hop section of Game Day routine, juniors Harper Beck and Lily Tucker and senior Parker Paben snake their heads to the side.

by caroline hoffman

season preview

THE GIRLS BOWLING

tryouts begin on Dec. 11 and 12 after school at Bolero Lanes on College Boulevard. Athletes should turn in their phsyical forms before tryouts.

A preview of the girls’ bowling season

eight female bowlers currently joined on the bowling GroupMe according to senior Charlotte Echton.

The primarily senior class team hopes to encourage underclassmen to join.

“It’s really fun and it kind of gives you a break,” senior Zoe McCamy said. “And you don’t have to be super athletic.” story by michael yi

The team has been growing over the past three years, with

lancers to watch

Plays the guard position in basketball

Started on varsity freshman, sophomore and junior year

Varsity athletes to watch during the winter season

Co-founded the girls’ wrestling program with Abi Contreras

Achieved 6th at State last year

BOTTOM Senior Ada Lillie Worthington looks toward the crowd will seniors Clara Burdick and Parker Paben leap into a firebird. photo by molly scott

photo

design by michael yi

“newcoming” “newcoming”acceptance

Former East athletic director and advocate for women in sports Dr. Art Newcomer passed away on Oct. 26

After her team won the cross country state championship in 1984, former East student and cross country coach Tricia Beaham looked over to see Dr. Art Newcomer cheering for the East team on the sidelines. She looks back on her time in high school now and treasures seeing his beaming

also outside our own school with all the other athletic directors.”

department for years to come, according to Sarah Bingham, an East alumni who graduated in 2021.

Newcomer was the first athletic director at East from 1965 to 1995, and according to Beaham, he was one of the most impactful figures in the entire sports program because he expanded the

Helping to equalize women’s athletics by adding sports that hadn’t yet been incorporated at East including girls soccer and additional track and field events was the main focus of Newcomer. He founded the All-Sports Booster Club in 1968 and was one of the 13 people who founded the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrator Association, which recognizes outstanding athletic directors.

“He was an incredible athletic director, a huge advocate for every sport, not just a particular sport that he was fond of,” Beaham said. “[He got] along very well with parents, other coaches, administration and

Newcomer added new sports to East based on what the Prairie Village community wanted. When he first started, there were only six sports across men and women’s programs, and when he left that number drastically increased to 22 different sports between girls and boys.

Carrie Fotopoulos Barnthouse was the undefeated girls’ tennis champion during her high school career from 1971-1975 and the varsity girls cheer team captain. The addition of these new sports wasn’t just a huge step for East, but it had an extreme impact on the athletes of that time and years to come, according to Fotopoulos.

“He was really respectful of womens sports, very beyond accepting he just treated us like he would any athlete, and in a really good way,” Fotopoulos Barnthouse. “He encouraged us, he supported us, he always spoke highly of all his athletes and just really encouraging.”

Athletes especially, Newcomer made an effort to create personal connections with students. Newcomer wrote Fotopolous a special note in her yearbook when she graduated telling her what a kind student and tennis player she was and that she always brought positive energy to her athletic events.

Additionally, many female athletes felt more recognized by the athletic

Bingham participated in volleyball, basketball and track throughout her high school career, and she felt like there were many improvements made to the program.

“We upgraded from playing the short direction in the main gym to the full court [length], and the volleyball games too,” said Bingham. “In girls basketball the leaderboard was added. The new one was added while I was there. There was a lot of systematic attention that was brought to it too, which made me feel good as an athlete, to be seen and appreciated like that.”

Newcomer made it his mission to expand the girls sports program even though it took years to add girls soccer because of state and federal requirements, according to Beaham.

When Newcomer left, he was the first inductee to the Hall of Fame at East. There was also a scholarship award named after to honor one senior boy and one senior girl who excelled as a student-athlete during their high school career. In years to come, he was known as one of the most kindhearted and approachable staff members at East, according to Former East teacher Brenda Fishman.

After Newcomer made his impact at East and retired, he continued attending all East sporting events and stayed active in the community until his death on Oct. 26.

“He was very accessible,” Fishman said. “His office was in the main office, and the door was always open. You could always come in and talk to him. He was very personable and very friendly. He really was very dedicated to students at Shawnee Mission East. He wanted to give kids as many opportunities as possible to take part in athletics or in activities.”

RIGHT A picture displayed of Dr. Newcomer in East’s yearbook.

LEFT A note written by Dr. Newcomer to one of the female athletes he coached.

8 local lancer

DECEMBER 2, 2024 design and copy by kai mcphail photo by will grifith

sophia& & lulu

Seniors Sophia Beedle and Lulu Stadler are focusing their DECA project on feminine care products

stadler

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CHOOSE TO RESEARCH FEMININE PRODUCTS AS

YOUR DECA

PROJECT TOPIC?

I HAD WATCHED this documentary about different healthcare issues [that were] women focused and targeted, and they had an episode about hair, makeup and nails and skincare. In one episode, there was something about talc, which is like a powder that’s like a mineral, and it’s found in baby powder and powdered makeup and stuff like that. And so I had done my IB paper, like my extended essay over talcum powder, over what it is like, what it’s in, women products. And I just like, I think that topic is super interesting. And then there had also been, recently around the time, how tampons have just been kind of getting outed, almost like exposed, for having different metals and chemicals in the tampon. And so Lulu and I both decided that that would be interesting and also a relevant topic [for a] paper and project over.”

- SOPHIA BEEDLE

WHO ARE THE REPRESENTATIVES THAT WILL HELP YOU DO YOUR PRESENTATION AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THEM?

ASHLEY SIMMONS, SHE’S a cardiologist, which is a heart doctor, but she’s dabbled in the women’s health industry, [and] she’s the founder of cardio bra, which is super cool, [and] she is helping us out with our project. She’s telling us information, we have a huge paper, and she goes in and edits it, [and] she’s gonna speak [about] things women’s health related, along the lines of harmful things that women are putting in their bodies. Then Ms. Hallstrom, we wanted to go on the more scienti c route with her, where she explains what each chemical is. And I think that’ll kind of just open people’s minds and be like ‘Oh my God, that’s going in my body, that’s horrible,’ it’s just scary. So we were like [it’s] cool to hear about the

WHAT EXISTING FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS DID YOU CHOOSE TO ANALYZE AND WHY?

HAIR, MAKEUP, NAILS,

shooting for

With few returning players this season, girls basketball hopes to build a culture of respect and equality among all their players

GIRLS BASKETBALL WILL

start their new season on Dec. 3 for the annual “Night at the Castle,” where varsity will play against multiple rival schools. However, with only eight girls returning from last year’s JV/varsity team, the girls feel like they’re “starting from scratch” with a mostly new group of girls to train, according to varsity player and senior Brie Murdoch.

“[Seniors] all had different reasons for leaving,” Murdoch said. “I think it became a really stressful environment. And after playing [basketball] for so many years, for their senior year, they don’t want to have to deal with [the pressure].”

spending every day after school practicing together, disagreements and tension are inevitable. Murdoch emphasizes the need for teammates to connect off the court and outside of school.

other all in basketball, but it’s apparent that no one [acts like themselves] while they’re playing,” Murdoch said. “So we want [the team] to have a healthy balance of getting to see the person that you’re playing with off the court too.”

GREATNESS

returning seniors who’ve played all four years, Murdoch and the other senior girls want to build a positive culture for girls basketball — whether it’s with team dinners after games or team bonding events like laser tag — and encourage girls to stay on the team all four years.

“My goal as a senior is to really make sure that morale on the team is up and to make sure people are actually getting along,” senior Laine Birch said. “People want to be motivated to come to games.”

For players like junior Paige Stanfield, basketball isn’t even their “main” sport. She practices softball, but takes a break

priorities,” Stanfield said. “Some people prioritize their friends and want to hang out with others, which is completely fine,

“[PLAYERS]

CAN BE

awful, and if you can still have fun when you play with people, then I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t pay attention to the score sometimes.

BRIE MURDOCH

But spending entire games on the bench or attending combined film sessions for games you don’t even play in can be frustrating for players, according to Birch.

“I continued to play because I wanted to bring both sides together,” Murdoch said. “I started on JV as a freshman, and now I’m here as a senior on varsity. I think it’s important that everyone feels really connected on the team, because it is a team sport. Since we see each other for six months, we do become friends and support each other.”

it’s great in fact. But I think committing to a sport and really prioritizing one thing can

It can also be discouraging for players who make this commitment to end up not getting playing time in games, according to senior Laine Birch, who attended every game for JV and varsity while playing last year.

This is because the girls team combines JV and varsity on a single roster.

For Murdoch and Birch, this means the two teams share a playbook and host joint practices.

Creating this “culture” started with the summer recreational league games earlier this year. By getting girls excited for the basketball season, they can bond together and avoid the revolving door of players they experienced in the past.

During the tournament for new and returning players, the girls can play with their future teammates without worrying about consequences or silly mistakes, according to Birch.

“[The tournament] gives you kind of a vibe check for the year,” Birch said. “I say this summer was one of the best that we’ve had. A lot of people came out and people were happy to be there.”

Since tryouts started on Nov. 18, the girls have attempted to recreate a fun team environment. According to Murdoch, the

gui

dance

The JV Lancer Dancers performed their jazz dance choreographed by Lancer Dancer alumni at the annual Innovative Showcase

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Scan here to view and purchase photos from this photo story

FAR RIGHT Junior Chole Harmon leads her team in the front and center of the performance.

RIGHT Sophomore Evelyn DeSalvo grabs onto Junior Lucy Stephens for a partner trick.

BELOW Freshman Caroline Kruse holds her position as her teammates finish a ripple across the floor.

RIGHT Senior Lancer Dancer Clara Burdick watches the JV Lancer Dancers perform their jazz routine, choreographed by her sister and Lancer Dancer alumni, Adya Burdick. “I cadet taught [the JV Lancer Dancers] last year”. Burdick said. “and me and [Adya] both work at Ms. Marias and we’re dance teachers there. It’s really fun getting to work together.” Burdick said. “Through [choreographing for the JV Lancer Dancers] Adya was able to work on her choreography skills even more and this opens up a whole new set of doors for choreographing for teams.”

photo by francesca lorusso

photo by caroline black

photo by caroline black

photo by caroline black

“PRINT

ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK.” IT JUST DID.

High quality, full color advertisements are available for purchase in the Shawnee Mission East newspaper, The Harbinger. Print and online advertisements are all offered in a variety of sizes and designs, each uniquely tailored to your individual business needs.

Our print publication garners over 2,000 readers every two weeks, and our online publication receives over 1,000 hits per day.

Interested? Contact Ads Manager Michael Yi at 913.276.8080 or 3097199@smsd.org.

DECEMBER 2, 2024

Female influencers who support and motivate their followers through their content

fernanda gimenez

FOLLOWERS:

TIKTOK INSTAGRAM

SHE EMPOWERS ME because I am a dancer and I have loved watching her learn how to dance on Dancing with the Stars. She is a big believer that anyone can dance and it doesn’t matter what you look like. I love that she is spreading that message because that is an idea that I fully support and try to spread when I can.

CHLOE HARMON

JUNIOR

• GIVES ADVICE ON HOW TO CREATE A POSITIVE

photos courtesy of instagram

150 EPISODES

4.9

• MOTIVATES GIRLS TO BE ACTIVE AND DEMONSTRATES A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE 932K 9.3M

• CREATES CONTENT ON TIKTOK ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE WITH HAVING A MUSCULAR PHYSIQUE

• CONTESTANT ON DANCING WITH THE STARS

Lexi Hidalgo de nitely helped me with a more positive outlook on things. Her podcast is very uplifting and is easy to listen to during the day. She’s very vulnerable on her podcast and is easy to relate to.

RELATABLE AND

BODY POSITIVITY

TIKTOK ACCOUNT

• CREATED NON-DIET APP TO HELP PEOPLE FEEL MORE IN CONTROL ABOUT FOOD

• POSTS CONTENT TO HELP FIGHT FOOD STIGMAS MOMENTS PODCAST

CREATED A FEMALE CENTERED RUNNING CLUB VIBES CLUB

RUN CLUB INFO INSTAGRAM FREE ALL RUNNING LEVELS 4 MILES RUNS @noebadvibes

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lucy swope