Issue 5 Harbinger 2020-21

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the harbinger.

SHAWNEE MISSION EAST

MOMENT

7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILL AGE, KS 66208 NOVEMBER 20, 2020 VOLUME LXIII ISSUE 5

A M OV E M E N T SPECIAL SECTION

The Black Lives Matter movement is encouraging those in the East community and across the country to demand justice

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P15

P16/17

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FEATURE

FEATURE

OPINION

NEWS-FEATURE

FEATURE

PHOTOSTORY

ALT-COPY

BLACK-OWNED

A HIGHER PROMISE

GUEST WRITERS

CHANGES FOR EAST

ALUMNI CHANGE

PROTESTS

REDLINING

BUSINESSES

02 | INSIDE COVER

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

STAF F LIST

ONLINE

PREVIEW

@smeharbinger

@smeharbinger

STO RIE S I AM GRETA

@smeharbie

5-MINUTE CRAFTS Scan to read Sophie Lindberg’s review of testing eight “hacks” from the popular YouTube channel 5 Minute Crafts

Scan to read Mia Vogel’s review of the Hulu documentary, “I Am Greta”

V I D E OS

GA L L E R I E S

PUMPKIN BOWL Scan to view Liv Olson’s video on the new East football tradition, the Pumpkin Bowl

CARTO O N | n atal i e sc h o l z

cover design by rose kanaley cover photo by noelle griffin

BOYS SOCCER REGIONAL FINALS Scan to view Megan Stopperan’s gallery of Pickleball Club

PRINT EDITORS Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley ONLINE EDITORS Riley Atkinson Lauren West ASST. PRINT EDITORS Celia Condon Annabelle Moore ASST. ONLINE EDITORS Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood HEAD COPY EDITORS Phoebe Hendon Allison Wilcox PHOTO EDITORS Sarah Golder Trevor Paulus Julia Percy ASST. PHOTO EDITORS Noelle Griffin Elise Madden Megan Stopperan MOBILE MEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Megan Biles VIDEO EDITOR Lawder DeSantis ASST. VIDEO EDITOR Sydney Williams VIDEO TRAINING EDITOR Roberto Galicia BROADCAST EDITORS Sam Freund Megan Stopperan ASST. BROADCAST EDITOR Brett Pendland Liv Olson PHOTO MENTORS Taylor Keal Megan Biles Annakate Dilks MJ Wolf STAFF WRITERS Lyda Cosgrove Caroline Wood Sydney Newton Ethan Enderle Lily Billingsley Kelly Murphy Elizabeth Mikkelson Tommy Paulus Sydney Decker Peyton Moore Lauren Dierks Grace Allen Kate Heitmann Cesca Stamati Winnie Wolf Madeline Funkey Grace Tucker Emma Brown

Gibbs Morris Ben Bradley Anna Mitchell Sophie Lindberg Nora Lynn Mia Vogel Caroline Gould COPY EDITORS Sydney Newton Winnie Wolf Lily Billingsley Elizabeth Mikkelson Lyda Cosgrove Caroline Wood Kelly Murphy EDITORIAL BOARD Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley Lauren West Riley Atkinson Phoebe Hendon Allison Wilcox Celia Condon Annabelle Moore Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood Sydney Newton Lily Billingsley SECTION EDITORS EDITORIAL PRINT Sydney Newton NEWS PRINT Lauren Dierks ONLINE Caroline Wood OPINION PRINT Elizabeth Mikkelson ONLINE Winnie Wolf FEATURE PRINT Grace Tucker ONLINE Lyda Cosgrove A&E PRINT Tommy Paulus ONLINE Kate Heitmann SPORTS PRINT Peyton Moore ONLINE Cesca Stamati PAGE DESIGNERS Elizabeth Mikkelson Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks Sydney Newton Winnie Wolf Kate Heitmann

Grace Allen Grace Tucker Cesca Stamati Peyton Moore Madeline Funkey Anna Mitchell Sophie Lindberg Nora Lynn Caroline Gould ART EDITOR Celia Condon STAFF ARTISTS Natalie Scholz Sophie Henschel Mia Vogel Lauren Dierks Sophie Lindberg Maria Morrissey STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Emma Kate Squires Maggie Merckens Hadley Chapman Emily Pollock Maggie Klump Tristen Porter Rachel Bingham Molly Schumm Ella Hans Eva Berkley Macy Crosser Helen Rice Lily Mantel Sabrina Dean VIDEO STAFF Liv Olson Megan Stopperan Brett Pendland SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Annabelle Moore ASST. SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Sophie Henschel SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF Mia Vogel Sydney Decker Megan Biles Grace Tucker Julia Percy Celia Condon Lyda Cosgrove Kelly Murphy Grace Allen Anna Mitchell Liv Olson Paige Zadoo ADS MANAGER Caroline Wood CIRCULATION MANAGER Lyda Cosgrove SOCIAL CHAIRS Peyton Moore Tommy Paulus

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS We believe it is important to use our publication to amplify the voices and share the stories of people of color amidst the constant battle against racism. We recognize that our school and staff are primarily white students, as well as the privilege that comes with that. As journalists, it is in our code of ethics to boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience and seek sources whose voices we seldom hear. Because this is a matter of human rights, it is our duty to support and promote people of color facing opression and discriminiation. In this special package, we aim to raise awareness and spark conversations about the racial injustices in our society.

design by sydney newton illustration by natalie scholz

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

EDITORIAL | 03

AGREE TO DISAGREE, Human rights isn’t the same thing as politics, and it’s fair to avoid a friendship with someone if you have differing views on human rights

W

hether it’s written in a condescending tweet or advised by a family member, we’ve all been hearing it lately — “You should be able to be friends with people who have different political views than you, and if you can’t, you’re immature!”

Sure, it’s reasonable for two people to argue over foreign policy or tax adjustments. But politics and human rights are on different planes of existence, and the true reason why many liberals and conservatives are hostile towards each other is because they disagree about moral issues beyond political quarrels.

Debating whether a person’s rights are valid based on their religion, race, sexual orientation or any other affiliation is unreasonable — and easily getting along with someone whose views oppose yours on rights is an unrealistic expectation.

Yes, people who belong to different political parties can be friends ­— but human rights isn’t a political issue. They aren’t something to agree or disagree with, and if that’s the case then we can separate ourselves from each other.

We shouldn’t be disputing over whether certain people should or shouldn’t have basic liberties and freedoms, so in the case that someone thinks differently than you about human rights, it ceases to be a difference in politics — ­ it’s a difference in virtue.

Democrats and Republicans squabble back and forth about how immature it is to cut ourselves off from each other over different opinions, and while you can have different opinions on immigration or government interference, there shouldn’t be opinions about whether a person should have the same equal rights we’re all entitled to. Believing we can befriend people with different moral values than us what’s actually immature and ignorant.

These basic human rights, like who we identify as or freedom from mistreatment because we look different, are called natural rights. They’re bestowed to us by nature and are not granted by the government, but are to be protected by the government, whereas policy and legislature fall under the government’s jurisdiction to manipulate.

Imagine you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community closeted by a friend group that constantly disrespects your existence and debates your rights as if they could be taken away. No one should feel obligated to remain friends with people who degrade their rights.

We can’t be friends if one of us thinks putting people and children in cages at the border is inhumane and the other believes we’re doing what needs to be done to keep the border safe because that’s a human

SEPARATELY

rights concern, conflicting with the American ideals of freedom and justice. We can be friends if one of us thinks taxes should be lowered for wealthy Americans and the other thinks they should be raised –– this is a political issue and free for debate.

“You can’t handle when people have different opinions? Ha, snowflake!”

No, what we can’t handle is debating over someone’s right to get married to the person they love in their state, or someone’s right to control their own body, whether you agree or not. We shouldn’t be disputing over whether certain people should or shouldn’t have basic liberties and freedoms, so in the case that someone thinks differently than you about human rights, it ceases to be a difference in politics ­— it’s a difference in virtue.

We shouldn’t be expected to buddy-up with people disagreeing with us on human rights, issues that affect our own lives, the lives of people in our communities or the lives of people we care about.

It can’t be acceptable for a person with privilege — whether you’re white, straight, wealthy, etc — who doesn’t have to worry about the protection of their rights to use it as an excuse to be disrespectful towards people who are denied their basic rights.

“If you stop being friends with someone because they have different opinions than you, you’re shallow.”

Some people feel the need to unfollow others, even friends, on social media if they disagree politically or think that their opinion is stupid — and there’s nothing wrong with that. But you also have a right to unfollow when someone has different intrinsic values than you, especially when it comes to human rights. You don’t have to feel compelled to ignore or be friendly with a person on social media who decided to say that Hitler was actually a smart leader.

We can be friends if one of us believes that a private, patient-centered healthcare system would help lower the cost of healthcare and the other believes that public, government-centered healthcare will adequately provide healthcare for all Americans. We can’t be friends if one of us believes that transgender people shouldn’t have rights because it’s a threat to women and children and the other believes that having mismatched gender and sex doesn’t make you a mistake or a potential threat.

We can be friends if one of us believes that every American is entitled to own guns for their own protection and the other believes that there should be more gun control when it comes to more aggressive weapons. We can’t be friends if one of use thinks it’s more important to preach All Lives Matter while the other believes Black Lives Matter is the prominent issue.

Just because friendships can be put at risk when opposing on topics doesn’t mean we should stop discussing these issues. We can separate ourselves and disagree until we can end the war with ourselves by agreeing on natural rights.

A B O V E | Political differences don’t have to cause a divide amongst people, but differing views on human rights can.

F O R : 9 AGA I NST: 1 The members of the editorial board who agree with the viewpoint of the editorial are represented by for, and those who disagree with the viewpoint are represented by against.

E DITORIAL 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 confirmed with the sources. The Harbinger encourages letters to the editors, but reserves the right to reject them for reasons including but not limited to lack of space, multiple letters of the same topic and personal attacks contained in the letter. The Harbinger will not edit content thought letters may be edited for clarity, length or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 413B or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com.

04 | NEWS

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by lauren dierks photo by maggie klumpp

NEWS

HIGHLIGHTS Catch up on school, local and national news

by kate heitmann

EAST

Student Council coat drive took place Nov. 9-13

THE ANNUAL STUDENT Council coat drive for the Johnson Country Christmas Bureau (JCCB) took place Nov. 9-18.

The drive was originally going to last until Nov. 12, but STUCO decided to extend it to Nov. 18 — the day when representatives from the JCCB picked up the coats.

For the past two weeks, students and staff were able to drop off coats in the large bins near the front office. As of Nov. 17, STUCO collected an estimated total of 40 coats.

Even though most students are at school only two days a week, the amount of coats collected were similar to last year.

“I go in [on] Wednesdays, Thursdays,” student body president and senior Sophie Rice said. “If I forget Wednesday [to bring

coats in] I only have one more chance to get stuff there, as opposed to the traditional five. It’s just a little bit different.”

The JCCB provides a nine-day holiday shop for low-income families below the poverty line in Johnson County, where customers are able to pick out groceries, personal care items, books, gifts and winter clothing.

“It’s usually just a way around the holidays to help them and provide that support, because it is a pretty hard time,” Rice said.

Usually the can drive is also held during this time of year, but STUCO was unable to hold it as the JCCB is not accepting food donations due to COVID-19.

A B O V E | The Stroud’s building off of Shawnee Mission Parkway that will be replaced by a Starbucks.

N A T I O N A L Tropical Storm Eta hit Florida, the Bahamas and Central America

TROPICAL STORM ETA hit Florida, the Bahamas and Central America in early November, causing some counties and universities to cancel school, and residents to use sandbags as protection for their homes.

Tampa Bay experienced extensive flooding and overflowing bridges, causing some homeowners to find wildlife on their property, such as alligators and manatees.

Former East student and sophomore Lily Simmons, who moved to Watercolor, Fla. during quarantine, noticed higher winds and storm surges — big, rough waves due to storms.

“It’s definitely kind of scary to hear all of these stories and kind of experience that,” Simmons said.

In an interview with WFLA 8 news in Tampa, Fla., Mayor Jane Castor described Hurricane Eta as an “unpredictable storm in a very, very unpredictable year.”

According to the Associated Press, Eta was categorized as a category four hurricane in Nicaragua, with landslides and several power outages. A category four hurricane has winds ranging in 130-156 miles per hour and can cause extensive damages to houses, power lines and trees. More than 20,000 people sought help in shelters from the massive power outages.

Hurricane Iota also made landfall on Nicaragua on Nov. 16 as a category four hurricane, just 15 miles away from Eta’s landfall, according to the National Public Radio.

Tropical Storm Eta set a record this year as the 28th named storm in one year since 2005. Storms are named if they sustain winds over 39 miles per hour.

Meteorologists had to start using latin names because they’d gone through the entire alphabet already — hence the name “Eta.”

Starbucks will replace Stroud’s off of Shawnee Mission

L O C A L Parkway

THE FORMER STROUD’S building on Shawnee Mission Parkway will be demolished to make way for a new Starbucks and two other spaces for lease, an estimated cost of just under $2 million.

The building will feature 6,200 square feet of spaces for lease and a Starbucks with a drive-through window.

Sophomore Phoenix Fisk is excited for the new Starbucks in Fairway. She gets Starbucks several times a week and is glad that there will be a new location opening right by her house in Fairway.

“Usually when I have a really slow day at school, I’ll go down to Starbucks and get coffee for my mom and I,” Fisk said. “I have noticed there isn’t [a Starbucks] over [in Fairway] so that should be nice.”

The Stroud’s restaurant closed last October in 2019. Before Stroud’s, a Mexican restaurant and a bakery occupied the building.

“The previous [businesses] in that particular building have struggled to be

successful,” City Administrator Nathan Nogelmeier said. “So I think if we have a fresh building with some new and interesting tenants in there, that could be a really positive thing for the city of Fairway. Not only from being able to provide amenities to the residents that we currently don’t have, but also generate revenue from the city to help offset our operating expenses.”

The Fairway City Council has approved the development, however the developers contract hasn’t been made yet.

The purposes of the two other spaces has yet to be determined, but will most likely be retail, such as a restaurant or store, or a service component, like dry cleaning.

The developers are able to begin construction any day, but the city is still waiting on their request for a Community Improvement District — or in this case, a request to impose a 1.5 cent sales tax on the Starbucks.

The construction is estimated to be finished by next summer in 2021.

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R NOV. 20

THANKSGIVING BRE AK

DEC. 2

CHOIR CONCERT

NOV. 30

TRANSITION TO ONLINE LE ARNING

DEC. 3

ORCHESTRA CONCERT

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by caroline gould photo by emma kate squires

NEWS | 05

IN THE RED With Johnson County back in the red zone as COVID-19 cases rise, the SMSD Board has decided to move learning to fully remote until the end of the semester

by ben bradley

O A B O V E | Students walk out of school after a long day of wearing their masks.

GAT I NG C R I T E R I A T H E N Before school moved to hybrid, this was the criteria for each zone, with Johnson County having to meet the green or yellow to move to hybrid G R E E N | Previous 14 days show a less than 5% positivity rate and steady or decreasing new cases.

Y E L L O W | Previous 14 days show a less than 10% positivity rate and steady or decreasing new cases.

R E D | Previous 14 days show a less than 15% positivity rate and steady or decreasing new cases.

C OVI D - 1 9 CASE S NOW The current statistics on COVID cases in the district

518

QUARANTINED AND ISOLATED TEACHERS

305

QUARANTINED STUDENTS

180

ISOLATED STUDENTS

*Information from the Johnson County Heath Department and the Shawnee Mission School District

n Monday, Nov. 16 a mass email was sent by the Shawnee Mission School District to teachers, parents and students in the district announcing the return of remote school following Thanksgiving break.

Teacher shortages, rising number of student COVID-19 cases and Johnson County cases stuck in the “red zone” will prevent students from returning to in-person school until the second semester, which begins Jan. 22, 2021.

“I think that the main reason we are having these problems is because of teacher shortages,” Associate Principal Dr. Susan Leonard said.

“Personally, [I feel] all of the students at East are following all of the guidelines.”

Out of all of the cases, none have been tracked back to East. Usually they are conducted from an outside source, according to East nurse Stephanie Ptacek.

“I think that it is really all about the importance of wearing masks,” Ptacek said.

“As long as students have masks on the level of exposure is contained.”

Leonard and Ptacek both agree that although students might be pegged as “super spreaders”, many of the cases they have seen come from the community outside of East.

“I have talked to several parents who have contracted COVID themselves and spread it onto their child,” Ptacek said. “They get it mainly from work or being with their own friends.”

Leonard feels students have been responsible in wearing their masks and social distancing during school. The concern is coming from how these students spend their time outside of school.

Ptacek recommends East families to skip out on traveling over the holidays. She says students are more likely to contract the virus when traveling outside of their bubble.

“Most cases I have seen are from smaller get-togethers,” Ptacek said. “Although it may be hard to juggle a bunch of Zoom calls at the dinner table, it is definitely the safer option.”

When awaiting the SMSD’s decision, Leonard’s main concern was the safety of students and the priority of learning. She doesn’t find hybrid nor online to be ideal because either

way, students aren’t getting enough time with teachers. Leonard would prefer to have students in-school full-time, but rising cases are forcing the district to wait at least three months until full immersion.

I think that the main reason we are having these problems is because of teachers shortages. Personally all of the students at East are following all of the guidelines.

susan leonard | vice principal Following the switch to remote, Leonard hopes East’s community can stay safe and return to in-person learning.

“I do think that students should confine their friend groups and who they hangout with,” Leonard said. “But I also just want to yell at the community to model after the students, because they have been problem-free.”

The change to remote will hopefully help the teacher and substitute shortage East has seen in the past few weeks. East secretary Krissie Wiggins said at the beginning of the year each school was allowed to hire four on-campus subs, opposed to the one sub allowed in past years.

However, as hybrid learning progressed, the number of teachers in isolation has increased, along with the need for subs.

“The district won’t allow us to hire any more subs in risk of exposure,” Wiggins said. “It is also hard to find subs right now because they could be posted at different schools.”

The lack of subs is causing other staff and management facilities to try and step in as a sub for the day. Former East Principal and current district Director of Family and Student Services, Dr. John Mckinney, even subbed for Mrs. Feinberg’s English class.

“Even if and when we do come back to school, we are not sure if we will have enough staff in the building [for school to occur],” Wiggins said.

06 | NEWS

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

NE W

BLU E C

Johnson County flipped Democrat in the 2020 presidential election after 104 years of being Republican

UNT Y

by etha n end erle

F

or the first time since 1916, Johnson County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, following the trend of many other typically Republican strongholds across the nation.

The 2020 election saw key swing states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — who voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, flip and vote for President-Elect Joe Biden, along with long-time red states like Arizona and Georgia voting for Biden as well.

According to Barbara Bollier — Kansas Senator from district seven and U.S. Senate candidate for Kansas — the main reason for the shift in political ideologies is the Republican party becoming less moderate and more conservative.

Bollier was a Republican until 2018, when she switched to the Democratic party. She says her reason for leaving the Republican party was because their ideals no longer aligned with hers.

“I endorsed our current governor Laura Kelly across party lines, because she was the best candidate,” Bollier said. “After she was elected, I realized the Republican party had left my value system and those of the majority of who I represented.”

Echoing the same idea, senior Mac

Muehlberger believes that the Prairie Village and Mission Hills area is becoming less conservative and more moderately progressive due to choices made by the current administration.

“The [Republicans], like what we find in Mission Hills, are often more socially progressive while being more fiscally conservative,” said Muehlberger. “This administration has increased debt and the deficit, and I really think it angers these Republicans.”

I think this shift is caused by younger people now eligible to vote. As a result, [they] are voting more progressively.

mac muehlberger | senior Bollier also said that her ideals didn’t change, but rather the parties themselves, citing funding for education as a big issue.

This appears to be what happened in Johnson County, as it has been a long-time red county, until this year when it voted blue by a sizeable margin of just over 26,600 votes.

Bollier cited other reasons for possible

A B OV E | Celebrations along the streets in the Plaza on Nov. 11 after Biden was projected winner of the 2020 Presidential Election.

changes in political beliefs, including party registration.

According to the Johnson County Election Office, Democrats in Johnson County make up 30% of all registered voters in 2020, while Republicans make up 43%. In 2016, Democrats made up 24%, while Republicans made up 46%.

Unaffiliated voters played a large role in Johnson County’s flip in the 2020 election.

According to Chapter 1 of the Kansas Election Standards, voters cannot change their party affiliation during the primaries, which take place June 1 to August 31. Many voters will choose to be unaffiliated because they can declare their party allegiance at the polls during the primary election, which allows for more flexibility.

In Johnson County, unaffiliated voters make up 25% of all registered voters, according to the Johnson County Election Office. The county followed the national trend where a majority of independent or unaffiliated voters sided with Biden.

Along with parties changing and party affiliation, the other reason for the shift of political ideologies more turnout from younger voters, according to Bollier.

Muehlberger believes that this current political climate has stimulated a generation

PARTY IDENTIFICATION

The distribution of the parties of registered voters in Johnson County

INDEPENDENT (34%) REPUBLICAN

REPUBLICAN (29%) DEMOCRAT (33%) 0

5

10

15

20

44% 25

30

*i nform ation from pew research

35

design by sophia lindberg photos by ella hans

49% DEMOCRAT

1916 2020

of voters that have in the past been notorious for not voting.

“I think this shift is caused by younger people now eligible to vote,” said Muehlberger. “As a result, [they] are voting more progressively.”

According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, more than seven million 18-29 year olds voted early or by absentee in the 2020 election, with four million of those voters being from key swing states. In comparison, in 2016 2.5% of Michigan youth voters voted early, while in 2020, 9.4% voted early. This contributed to the record voter turnout in this election.

Young voters also carry more of a weight than many recognize because voters aged 1829 make up half of the voting population, giving them the power to sway an election.

Bollier, who graduated from East in 1976, believes youth involvement in politics is very important. After getting her start in politics from student government at East, she encourages others to do the same.

“I realized how important public service was and what an impact you can have, way back when I was a junior in high school,” said Bollier. “It is important to be involved in student government to learn how those processes work.”

WOODROW WILSON IN 1916, WOODROW WILSON WON AS THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE IN JOHNSON COUNTY AGAINST CHARLES E. HUGHES BY ONLY 2.04%, OR 161 BALLOTS

JOE BIDEN THIS YEAR WAS THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1916 THAT A DEMOCRAT WON THE POPULAR VOTE IN JOHNSON COUNTY. HE WON BY 7.9% (26,625 BALLOTS)

* i n fo r m a ti o n f ro m th e n ew yo r k t i mes an d at l as of U.S. pres i de n t i al e l e c t i o n s

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by elizabeth mikkelson

OPINION

HIGHLIGHTS

Student and national perspectives on the Black Lives Matter movement

ST U D E N T VS. N AT I O N A L P O L L I N G

EAST

Scan here to read The Los Angeles Times’ opinion about how two black women helped build the Black Lives Matter movement from a hashtag to a global movement

NATIONAL

*from @smeharbinger Instagram poll out of 238 votes

Scan here to read CNN’s opinion story titled “Taking ‘Black Lives Matter ’ from slogan to reality” about what it means to advocate for the cause and the importance of doing better

SCAN ME | LOS ANGELES TIMES OPINION STORY

77%

71%

SCAN ME | CNN OPINION STORY

Scan here to read The New York Times’ opinion article titled, “In the Wake of Protests” about reflecting upon the protests and the change they enlisted

23%

29%

B L AC K L I V E S M AT T E R I N F O R M AT I V E O P I N I O N STO R I E S

SCAN ME | THE NEW YORK TIMES OPINION STORY

HAS SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED OR EXPANDED YOUR VIEWS ON CERTAIN SOCIAL ISSUES, SUCH AS BLACK LIVES MATTER? NO YES

OPINION | 07

THIS WEEK IN TWEETS

*from Pew Research Center

“ T H E M A I N B I N A RY I N A M E R I C A N P O L I T I C S N OW M AY N OT BE BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT, BUT BETWEEN FICTION AND R E A L I T Y. AT S O M E P O I N T , F I C T I O N S M U ST B E R E V E A L E D A S N O M O R E T H A N F I C T I O N S - A N D T H E Y M U ST B E S W I TC H E D O F F,” W R I T E S @ M AC A E S B R U N O

POLICE KILLINGS BY COUNTRY

N E W YO R K T I M E S O P I N I O N | 1 1 / 1 5 / 2 0

1200 1,100

“ T H E B I G Q U E ST I O N N OW I S : I S A M E R I C A A D E M O C R AC Y ?

R I G H T N OW W E A R E A L L ST I L L O B S E S S E D W I T H VOT E C O U N T I N G. B U T W E N E E D TO B E O B S E S S E D W I T H M A K I N G S U R E E V E RYO N E W H O WA N TS TO VOT E , G E TS TO VOT E , A N D T H AT T H E I R VOT E I S CO U N T E D. ”

1000 SCAN ME | INFORMATION Scan here to read the World Economic Forum’s “The Black Lives Matter Movement Explained” and to research more statistics and facts

800 600

C N N O P I N I O N | 1 1 / 1 0/ 2 0

“ T H E VAC C I N E S T H AT W E ’ R E TA L K I N G A B O U T , A N D VACC I N E S TO C O M E , A R E R E A L LY T H E L I G H T AT T H E E N D O F T H E T U N N E L . ” D R . A N T H O N Y FAU C I S AYS T H AT T H E R E S U LTS O F M E D E R N A ’S C OV I D -1 9 VAC C I N E A R E “ T R U LY ST R I K I N G. ”

400

T H E AS S OC I AT E D P R E S S | 1 1 / 1 6 / 2 0

200

TA K E O U R P O L LS 0

UNITED STATES 2014

6

2

6

0

GERMANY 2011

UK 2011

AUSTRALIA 2011

JAPAN 2011

@smeharbinger

Follow us on social media to participate in the polls

@smeharbinger

@smeharbie

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

08 | OPINION

design by lily billingsley

CL E A R T H E CA F E T E R I A Staffer thinks that all grades should be allowed to leave for lunch to reduce COVID exposure in the cafeteria

by grace alle n

B E A ST L U N C H STATS

4 200 50

LUNCHES

STUDENTS PER LUNCH

STUDENTS CA N L E AV E

STUDENT OPINION ELLE KARRAS

Everyone looks forward to their senior year where they get to leave for lunch. We should continue the tradition where seniors go and the underclassmen eat in the cafeteria.

SHOULD ALL GRADES BE ABLE TO LEAVE FOR LUNCH DUE TO COVID? Instagram poll of 299 votes

27% NO 73% YES

2 0 ,9 4 6 C A S E S JOCO 2 4 4 D E AT H S CASES 3 , 4 7 7 CASES PER

* as of Nov. 17 *Information from joc.gov.org

100K

y now, most of us have the CDC’s pandemic guidelines ingrained in our brains. Stay six feet apart. Try to stay outdoors when in groups. Wear a mask.

With in-person school back in session, most districts have tried to uphold these precautions through protocols like distancing desks, dividing hallways and assigning staircases for students to go up and down to reduce crowding.

But for as much planning as the school has done to safely host students, one precaution has fallen through the cracks: our lunch protocol.

Although students eat at spaced-out desks in smaller groups, many are unmasked and often hopping up and down to throw trash away, or go say hey to a friend. As of now, only seniors are allowed to leave campus for lunch, but other grades must eat in the lunchroom. If we’re forced to group unmasked people in one big room, the rules need to be stricter.

Although seniority rules typically say that only seniors can leave, all grade levels should be allowed to leave for lunch, especially for students who feel unsafe in the lunchroom.

This would reduce the number of people in the cafeteria and give people that aren’t comfortable another option.

While the school might feel that underclassmen aren’t old enough to leave the building for lunch, even letting juniors leave would cut out 1/3 of the students in the lunchroom, creating a more spaced out environment. If juniors are paying for parking spots, they should be allowed to at least sit in their cars and eat, away from the overcrowded lunchroom setting.

Even with attempts to space out students, a sense of discomfort overtakes me every day as I share an eating space with many other students who aren’t necessarily staying put in their desks the way they should be. The slightest cough or sneeze makes me want to get up and head for the doors.

With my mom having an immune compromising disease and my brother heading off for the military soon, contracting the virus and bringing it home to my family is a massive fear of mine. If the school allowed students to leave for lunch, the lunchroom would be a much

safer environment, and I wouldn’t have to worry about being exposed every time I sit down to eat.

While I understand that the school might not feel comfortable letting dozens of cars leave every lunch period, they could at least let younger grades eat lunch in their cars, or at least eat outside the school. A student eating lunch in their car is still technically lunch on campus, and this saves them from taking their masks off around peers.

During my past few in-person lunches, I’ve witnessed several people have cough attacks, and everyone around me has a mutual fear that they are being exposed. Many students feel like they

By allowing all grades to be able to leave for lunch, there would be fewer people in the cafeteria for students who don’t have the option to leave or drive in their car and also gives the students who do drive to school a safe alternative. need to keep their masks on during this time, prioritizing their health over eating. Eating lunch in their cars would eliminate this fear for students, and allow their stomachs not to be grumbling till the bell rings to head out for the day.

And if students aren’t allowed to leave for lunch, the school should at least be more strict about the cafeteria. Students shouldn’t be allowed to leave their desks without a mask, and there should be teachers or staff members actively enforcing that.

For the cafeteria itself, students would feel much safer if we were better spaced out and everyone followed the rules in places about wearing masks.

Although the announcement that the district will resume remote learning after Thanksgiving break through second semester, COVID-19 won’t be going away. When students do return, administration needs to think through lunch plans with a more safety-driven and less seniority-driven mindset. If there are fewer students in one area without masks, there is less exposure, helping to mitigate the community’s overall number of cases – so why not make the change?

design by mia vogel

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

TOOR TEST NOT TO TEST

Q: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT IN-PERSON TESTING? “I’d prefer to give tests in-person. It’s easier to monitor and answer questions if something comes up. That being said, I totally understand why teachers are being asked to not use in-person class time for tests.

We don’t get to see you all a lot so class time should be geared towards learning.”

jenny jordan | ap u.s. history teacher

EMMA’S 5 REASONS Staffer’s top five reasons why she thinks in-person testing is necessary

REASON #1 THERE SHOULD BE SUPERVISION OVER L ARGE TESTS TO ENSURE THERE’S NO CHEATING

REASON #2 THERE ARE NO DISTRACTIONS AROUND SUCH AS A PHONE

REASON #3 IT’S EASIER TO ASK THE TEACHER QUESTIONS SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT INTERRUPTING A WEBEX

REASON #4 IT PUTS MORE PRESSURE ON THE TEST

REASON #5 IT MOTIVATES ME TO PREPARE MORE FOR THE TEST BECAUSE I KNOW IT WON’T BE OPEN NOTE

OPINION | 09

Staffer believes in-person class time should be spent testing to provide supervision and motivation for students

by emma brown

I

t’s no secret that taking a test is unenjoyable.

Now taking a test with no time limit, a phone by my side and the distractions that come with being at home is very different than taking a test in a teacher-controlled environment at school. The supervision and pressure motivate me to prepare and understand the material thoroughly so I won’t fail.

After being in hybrid for a few weeks, I’ve realized that the in-person system helps me stay more motivated in my classes. Having my trigonometry test in the classroom forced me to study, making me actually comprehend the material — something that I never experienced during online learning because I had access to all my notes.

But this motivation was short-lived. When my teacher returned the test a week later, he announced that unit tests would no longer be taken in person because of the time consumed with them. I felt a stroke of bewilderment, and a complete loss of the sense of motivation I once had. My exams will now be open-note and through a screen, with access to resources I wouldn’t have if I was taking a pen-topaper test.

Face-to-face class is vital for most courses in high school. Human interaction as well as the ability to collaborate on projects and work with teachers is essential to learning — most students didn’t realize this until it was taken away. And yes, it’s important to have projects, but tests should be a large priority when we are physically in the classroom.

With traditional testing environments, there isn’t an easy way to cheat without sacrificing you grade. In a physical classroom environment, I’m not tempted to pull out my phone under my desk attempting to Photomath my problem. Whereas having a computer at my disposal, nothing will stop me from researching every question and double-checking my answers.

Sure, online has its benefits — it provides a coronavirus-safe bubble and extensive free time to work on assignments. These might seem great, but the long-term harms outweigh the short-term benefits. Distractions like the desire to sleep during Physics notes and browse Instagram at home make it difficult to pay attention in class, whereas being in the classroom forces me to focus and comprehend the work I’m doing.

Having experienced tests online and in a traditional testing environment, I can definitely say

that I feel more biased towards the latter route.

It’s nice not having to spend minutes printing papers off, or rushing to take pictures of my written work with seconds left to turn it in. If I have a question over velocity and acceleration, I can simply raise my hand. But when I’m at home, I feel like I’m interrupting the Webex call by unmuting myself in the middle of a lesson to ask an awkward question.

When my tests are in-person I’m more willing to not only complete the study guide, but also prepare as much as possible by creating flashcards and highlighting my notes, so I can feel confident about my grade because I won’t be able to use the internet to check my work.

When my tests are in-person I’m more willing to not only complete the study guide, but also prepare as much as possible by creating flashcards and highlighting my notes Sure online testing is easier than in-person testing, but it will end up hurting you in the long run. Online learning isn’t beneficial to help you learn all the material for AP tests. Some teachers are cramming tests into the 90-minute online class and some allow the entire day to start and complete your test — eight hours for a history test? Seems a bit unproductive.

I understand that when in the classroom time should be used wisely and taking long exams takes up a large chunk of that time that could be used for projects, asking questions about the material or discussing missing assignments, but testing can also be vital when seeing where students are with the lessons they are learning at home.

Tests like the ACT are taken in-person with a pen and paper — there isn’t room for a phone to be a distraction. The focus required is what makes students study so hard for the test, and this principle should be applied to testing at school.

Testing is an important component of school and when shifted to online, it loses that value. So when it comes to unit tests — tests that our grades depend on — they should be treated like any other big in-person test. They should be supervised, timed and pressured.

10 | FEATURES

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by grace tucker photos by megan stopperan

FEATURE

HIGHLIGHTS

A look into East students’ involvement in the Black Lives Matter Movement

R A C E P R OJ E C T KC

S T U D E N T P R OT E S T E R S Students describe what it was like going to the protests and what BLM means to them

Students attend a virtual Race Project KC field trip I went to a protest because I felt like I needed to be doing something more. I feel like I learned so much more from the speeches at that rally than I ever could have by just reading articles and Instagram posts from POC.

eve benditt | freshman

I went to the BLM protest in Chicago and another one here. To me, as a white person, the BLM movement means recognizing something

A B O V E Senior Kayla Andrews introduces herself to the other schools participating in the field trip over WebEx. R I G H T Senior Ana-Sofia Lahovary unmutes her computer to contribute to the group’s conversation.

wrong in this society and putting in at least a little bit of time to show up and help support.

fiona junger | senior

I participated in a silent march to Macy’s. In the parking lot, we listened to many different voices speaking out against the recent injustices in the country and heard stories from people of

BLM DICTIONARY WHITE PRIVILEGE - advantages of a white person in a society of racial inequality and injustice DEFUND THE POLICE - the push to reallocate law enforcement funds and resources to community-based programs like education and healthcare ANTI-RACIST - someone who is not only against racism, but deliberately takes action to combat racism

different religions, sexualities, ages and race. It was an experience that will stick to me forever.

evelyn roth | junior

B L A C K L I V E S M AT T E R DID YOU ATTEND ANY OF THE BLM PROTESTS? Instagram poll of 207 votes

43%

YES 57%

MICROAGGRESSION - instances of racism that are subtle or indirect; ignoring one’s ethnic identity is a form of this

NO

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO WENT TO THE PROTESTS?

Instagram poll of 177 votes INTERSECTIONALITY - How race, gender and other social and political identities produce different sets of privileges and disadvantages

76% YES 24% NO

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by riley atkinson photos by trevor paulus

POTTERY PICKS

A few of Ava’s favorite ceramic pieces from the past three years

WHITE POT SERIES TOOK ABOUT THREE DAYS TO MAKE ALL POTS

BLUE MUG TOOK DAYS TO MAKE IN AVA’S JUNIOR YEAR

PUMPKIN DECOR MADE IN HER SOPHOMORE YEAR FOR DECORATION

BIRD FEEDER MADE AS A BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR HER DAD BECAUSE HE LOVES TO WATCH BIRDS

CA L M I N G

FEATURES | 11

Senior’s backup elective turned into her main passion and hobby

CR E ATIONS W by sydney newton

hen filling out her schedule for freshman year, Ava Deschaine scribbled down three electives for her backups: jewelry, painting and ceramics.

Certain she’d get into advanced foods, Deschaine was anything but thrilled when she found out she had to spend a whole semester with clay crusting up under her fingernails.

Deschaine hesitantly stepped into room 207 on her first day of school, hoping to get through the class without ruining her first project.

Now a senior, Deschaine has gone from quietly sitting in the back of the classroom to helping other students perfect their hand-building skills and center their clay. She excitedly filled out her new favorite class all four years and she’s now creating a studio in her basement.

“I don’t really like playing sports or anything,” Deschaine said. “This is, I would say, my main hobby. It’s something I do for myself because I really enjoy it.”

For Deschaine, throwing clay on the wheel during class has become a major stress reliever, where her focus goes solely onto her piece, providing an escape from her CAT worksheet or Spanish 6 study guide. The ability to clear her mind, and the excitement she gets from seeing her finished product on her dresser at home, has made ceramics something that she can look forward to during her hectic school day.

“It’s a really, really good break in my day,” Deschaine said. “If I have stuff going on at school, if I’ve had a crappy day or a big test, that class always makes me feel a lot better.”

Deschaine has taken five semesters of ceramics since her first time stepping in the room freshman year, which makes her one of only two students currently taking the class for a fourth year.

Grouped with beginner students, Deschaine is allowed creative freedom on her projects from her teacher Jennifer Hensley, making everything from pumpkin decorations for her mom to a set of hand-built ceramic pomegranates for Christmas gifts — while the rest of the class is still working on their second beginner project of making trays.

Her passion for ceramics has grown so much that for her past birthday, Deschaine’s parents surprised her with her own wheel to make ceramics at home. After looking for two months, Deschaine and her parents bought a Speedball Clayboss, the most affordable wheel with all the features Deschaine was looking for, which will arrive around Christmas time.

The wheel inspired Deschaine’s family to turn one of the rooms in the basement into a ceramics studio. They plan to put in an air filter, tables, shelves and tools to make a work area. According to her dad Ryan Deschaine, she’s been spending hours creating pieces in the garage, so he wanted to give her a more comfortable space with the cold weather.

“She just enjoys it so much,” Ryan said. “She’s passionate about it. We decided to

embrace it as a hobby of hers. [The wheel and studio] will open up the opportunity for her to be able to throw pottery more.”

Working on ceramics three to four times a week and building on her skills in and out of the classroom, Deschaine checks over her teacher’s assignments to make sure she didn’t forget any important questions, helps first-year students learn to sculpt and takes projects out of the kiln to help her teacher.

Junior Aina Lewis, who has been in class with Deschaine for two years, feels that Deschaine has become a role model to her and other students. Lewis struggles with hand-building sculptures, so watching the focus that Deschaine has when handbuilding gives Lewis a new perspective.

“I definitely look up to her,” Lewis said. “It makes me more willing to go out of my comfort zone and hand-build more. It makes me want to try and do things that I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with but I needed to do to grow as a person. ” Deschaine feels she’s grown to become more well-rounded in creating ceramics. Going in during seminar and after school, she’s observed her pieces become more symmetrical, thinner and larger — an improvement since the ceramic tile embedded with a palm tree pattern that she made as her first project freshman year.

“My stuff is a lot more realistic,” Deschaine said. “[My first project] looks like a kindergartner drew it. I’ve kind of gotten better at using glazes to increase definition and I’ve mastered how to use certain tools.”

I don’t really like playing sports or anything. This is, I would say, my main hobby. It’s something I do for myself because I really enjoy it.

ava deschaine | senior Part of what makes Deschaine return to ceramics year after year is the friendships she’s formed with the other advanced students. Whether it’s arguing about if water is wet or ranking different “Gossip Girl” episodes, Deschaine and her tablemates are able to joke around while bonding over their art. Following their first semester final last year, Deschaine and some of her classmates went outside and had a snowball fight.

“All the advanced kids were able to talk and get to know each other while we made things that we all loved,” Lewis said. “It was really cool to not only share something that we all love but to be able to talk to each other on a more personal level.”

Deschaine hopes to use the studio when she comes home from college to continue making ceramics, working on throwing larger pieces and moving slower so that the pieces don’t get lopsided.

Her goal in the future is to make a piece that’s over two-feet tall.

“It’s just relaxing,” Deschaine said. “And it’s really fun.

It’s something I looked forward to when we were online. I was emailing my teacher because I was really excited to go back and throw.”

Deschaine hopes to use the studio throughout college to continue making ceramics, working on throwing larger pieces and moving slower so that the pieces don’t get lopsided. Her goal in the future is to make a piece larger than two feet tall.

“It’s just relaxing,” Deschaine said. “And it’s really fun.

It’s something I looked forward to when we were online. I was emailing my teacher because I was really excited to go back and throw.”

12 | FEATURES

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by anna mitchell photos by mj wolf B E L O W | These a re three examples of the greeting cards the students are making.

GREETING NEW SKILLS Job Skills class adjusts to COVID-19 circumstances by selling greeting cards through the student store by lauren west

D

uring fourth hour in room 416, sophomore Anaya McGaugh presses the multi-colored, heart-shaped cutouts onto the front of her greeting card, wiping the excess glue off her sticky hands. After 10 minutes spent tediously gluing, centering her stamps and sharp creasing, McGaugh completed her first “Thank You Card” of the day.

These greeting cards are the latest project for the students in Job Skills class — a class held during fourth and sixth hour for special education students to practice and learn skills that will prepare them for life after high school. The four students in the class work together by using the die cutter to cut out various shapes, stamping the front of the cards and assembling each part together.

In past years unaffected by COVID, students involved in Job Skills and Careers classes would leave school for two hours and work at stores like Savers or Walgreens to learn tasks like inventory, packaging, sales and filling an order.

Since students are no longer able to leave school due to COVID restrictions, Job Skills and special education teachers, Kate Frederick and Rachel Kirby, introduced card making as an in-person activity that teaches similar skills as the out-of-school activities from last year.

According to Frederick, the four students will focus on assembling the cards, following orders from their “boss” — aka teacher — and learning various marketing skills when they sell their cards in the Student Store.

“I’d love for [the Job Skills students] to be super creative but we also had to learn the job of [doing what] your boss tells you to,” Frederick said. “If he needs eight different colors, they need

to be eight different colors.”

The assembly process starts with students putting an empty glass jar stamp onto a white piece of paper.

Then, they stamp on a greeting card saying — either “happy birthday,” “best wishes,” “thank you” or “good luck” — just above the empty glass jar stamp.

After they glue cutout stars or hearts inside the inked image of the jar, the white piece of paper is glued on top of brown cardstock and a sticker explaining who made the card is placed

The students in Job Skills love it. They come up to me in the halls and ask, ‘when are we going to make them? They love that their cards are going to be in this shop.

kate frederick | job skills teacher on the back. The final step is to place the card in a plastic bag with a matching envelope.

“The students in Job Skills love it,“ Frederick said. “They come up to me in the halls and ask, ‘when are we going to make them?’ They love that their cards are going to be in this shop.”

According to McGaugh, everyday in room 416 is bound to be different. One day she could be preparing cut-out shapes and the next she could be gluing the whole card together.

“Not everything we do is going to be perfect,” Frederick said.

“I even said to our student that is online, ‘you know not every [cutout] is going to make it on a card’, just like not every Oreo makes it in the bag.”

the STEPS

making process wouldn’t possible without the help from the rest according to Frederick.

“I came in [to the year] with no budget and went to [Assistant Principal] Jeffery Storey and told him what I wanted to do and he found money in the budget to help us get stamps and some cards,” Frederick said. “We asked [Marketing teacher] Mrs. Rasmussen and she and her students were more than happy to help. I was just in the copy room and saw [Sight Impaired teacher, Christy Keller] and asked her if she would make some braille for us, and now we are going to have braille on the cards.”

Rasmussen has collaborated with the special education program for the past 20 years. While this year restricts the in-class interaction between special education students and marketing students, Rasmussen was able to have a few of her students teach the Job Skills students to count and organize inventory in the Student Store.

“The Job Skills program is amazing, it gives those kids such confidence in their abilities to do things,” Rasmussen said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for everyone, and I think not only do they learn confidence but little skills throughout. It makes my students happy and those students happy.”

Rasmussen’s Student Store, will be selling the greeting cards on the Student Store website for $1 each. Despite the frustrations of crooked stamps and gluey fingers, McGaugh is glad to be learning new skills while having fun.

“I really want to give [my cards] to people,” McGaugh said.

“It’s a new skill I have.”

B E L O W | Job Skills student Cece Baylor-Harness passes classtime punching out hearts and stars to glue on the front of the cards.

1.

Fold a piece of brown paper and set aside

4.

Glue eight various colored cutouts onto the jar

2.

Stamp on the image of a glass jar on white paper

5.

Glue the white paper onto the brown cardstock

Stamp on the desired saying

6.

3.

T h e whole card have been of the school,

Put “Made by Job Skills” sticker on the back

7.

Add product into clear plastic bag to be sold

SCAN ME | VIDEO Scan to see a day in the life of a Jobs Skills class

HARBIE PHOTO FORGOT YOUR CAMERA? WE DIDN’T. Scan the QR code below or go to harbiephoto.com to purchase photos from games, meets, concerts, and more!

WAGSTAFF CARTMELL

&

EXPERTS IN HIGH STAKES LITIGATION CALL: (816) 701-1100 | EMAIL: RECEPTION@WCLLP.COM

14 | FEATURES

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

B U Y F R O M B L ACK

LaToya Rozof

photo from latoya rozof

Rosierra Taborn

photo from rosierra taborn

Rosierra Taborn

photo by noelle griffin

design by annabelle moore

Rosierra Taborn

photo from rosierra taborn

In a year of social change, the KC community has been encouraged to show their support for local Black-owned businesses

W

by riley a tkinson

ith the Black Lives Matter movement gathering nationwide attention throughout the year, inequality in all areas has been widely publicized — including in the local business

world.

For Kansas City community members like seniors Cameron Hughes and Ana-Sofia Lahovary, the informative social media reposts that filled their Instagram stories in the summer helped them make a switch — many are planning to shop local items from Black entrepreneurs instead of their typical Amazon or Target products.

Almost half a year has passed since the original social media surge that pushed the importance of supporting local Black-owned businesses so they can remain afloat in an economically-challenging year. But according to Hughes, Lahovary and local business owners, the same t-shirt dress or sugar scrub many usually purchase from Target could also be found at a Black-owned business, which leaves a bigger impact than contributing to the billion dollar corporations.

“If I need something, I will try to source it locally instead of going to Amazon or Target because those companies will be sustained in the pandemic, they have the funding, they will always be around,” local dress shop owner LaToya Rozof said.

“Small Black-owned businesses on the other hand, they can’t say the same . . . [by supporting them] you’re giving back to your community, but also you’re helping to make the world better and increase diversity.”

A report published in 2017 by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) stated that Black business owners experience the same typical challenges that all entrepreneurs do in starting and growing businesses, whether that be issues with funding or advertising. But systematic challenges like lower starting wealth, limited access to capital and difficulty gaining customer trust stand in the way of Black entrepreneurial success.

As a young Black girl, Rozof was told by her parents and grandparents consistently that she had to work harder than her white friends to be even half as successful. Whether it was teaching herself marketing techniques through Google searches or spending all her own savings on inventory, she always felt a step behind her white peers.

For decades, Black-owned businesses in America have lagged behind other firms in the United States, according to the AEO report. They name the main boundaries to be the credit gap, the wealth gap and the trust gap, which all impede their ability to be successful by providing roadblocks.

SPECIAL SECTIO N

Just 6% of Black business owners said their primary source of credit came from banks, according to the AEO, compared to the 23% for the total sample. That’s a 17% gap.

For Rosierra Taborn, the owner of a local herbal health company called “Nature Made Me,” funding to start and maintain her business comes from tips at her waitressing job she also has to work at. She and other Black business owners don’t have the privilege to firmly rely on receiving loans from banks or from wealthy family members. Very rarely has she heard of any Black-owned business that was able to get a loan from the bank to start their business, but she — as well as Rozof — hears about white business owners getting loans often.

Taborn also feels it’s tougher for her to be successful because of the trust gap for black-owned businesses. Specifically as an herbalist — someone who makes natural medicines — she’s had to emphasize her credibility in order to be successful with people who don’t look like her.

“The number one word that comes to my mind is it’s just unfair,” Taborn said.

Now you can say, ‘Yes, I am a Black business owner.’ I’m empowered to say that even more because I know there’s a community out there that will embrace me.

latoya rozof | 79Roze owner Many are forced to fund their own business due to the credit gap, but Black entrepreneurs struggle to come up with the original funding — their household incomes are only 79% of those of their white peers, according to the AEO. “You get the flack like, ‘Why [do Black-owned businesses] have to be [supported] differently?’ and, ‘Why should somebody care?’ and it’s like, ‘Well we are different because we don’t get the same funding or the same opportunities,’” Rozof said.

For local small business owners like Taborn and Rozof, money is a catalyst to growth. Especially in the midst of a pandemic, they feel it’s more important than ever to make an effort to scope out businesses who are struggling to get by.

An NPR podcast about Black Americans and their struggle through the COVID pandemic stated that minority-owned businesses have been far less likely to receive government aid from the CARES Act passed by Congress in March to help provide economic relief. 38% of white small business owners

who applied for government aid reported getting it, compared to just 12% of Black and Latino-owned businesses who received it. Rozof was denied support during the pandemic, and hasn’t seen many of her Black peers get approved either.

“Now that we’re getting the light that we want, it’s time for us to step up and show that our products and our brands are quality as well,” Taborn said. “Supporting your local businesses during a pandemic can really make or break a business, especially your small Black-owned businesses. We are relying heavily on that support.”

Although they understand the convenience of ordering from large corporations, Hughes and Lahovary emphasize the importance of teenagers supporting Black-owned businesses after being educated about the institutional racial struggles like the wealth gap, and more recently the CARES Act. “I remember reading a long time ago that high schoolers are one of the biggest money-movers because we get money from our parents, we get money from jobs and we don’t have to pay for bills or usually insurance or anything like that,” Hughes said. “I think to advertise [supporting Black-owned businesses] to people our age is a really good thing because we’re more likely to spend money in that way.”

Anyone can spread the importance of supporting Blackowned businesses through their social media accounts or word-of-mouth recommendations, according to Rozof — several lists of Black businesses are available on social media or on websites like Made in KC Explore or VisitKC. Rozof hopes the empowerment that came from this summer can maintain momentum into the future, and that social media support can aid in that momentum.

“I think [the social media support] was empowering [as a] successful Black business owner [to] not have to hide that,” Rozof said. “I feel like you needed to hide it because you didn’t want to offend anybody. Now you can say, ‘Yes, I am a Black business owner.’ I’m empowered to say that even more because I know there’s a community out there that will embrace me.”

Lahovary feels the momentum from the BLM movement should carry on through with supporting Black-owned businesses — and her family has been making an effort to try out new Black-owned restaurants or buy their holiday gifts from local shops.

“I think supporting Black-owned business is a way to start closing the racial wealth gap,” Lahovary said. “It’s a way to uplift these underserved communities, it’s a way to continue our momentum and advocacy and activism post 2020.”

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by annabelle moore

FEATURES | 15

A HIGHER PROMISE

SCAN ME | STORE Scan here to view Amari and Sa’Mya’s website and purchase a sign for $10

F OR BL ACK LIVES Amari and Sa’Mya Lewis founded A Higher Promise, a business selling signs with a black heart, to start conversations about the Black Lives Matter movement

One of the Black Lives Matter heart signs in a Prairie Village yard. photo by elise madden by rose kana l ey

S

a ’Sa’Mya and Amari are tired of facing the same

microaggressions every day.

Sa’Mya doesn’t want people pulling at her curls, making her feel like an animal rather than a person.

Amari doesn’t want to be followed by employees while she shops as if she’s intruding on their space. But that anger is exactly what fueled their starting A Higher Promise.

Sumner Academy junior Sa’Mya Lewis and her sister Kansas City Community College freshman Amari Lewis started their business — A Higher Promise — in June, selling signs with a black heart design to spark conversations of racial inequality and create a sense of comfort for everyone in the community.

“I feel an angry-ness and frustration towards the world,” Sa’Mya said. “I used that as energy and turned it into a positive thing.”

Their signs feature a simple black heart over a white sign, meant to be a symbol of unity while giving a voice to Black lives, according to Sa’Mya. The sisters agreed that they wanted the signs’ meaning to be open to interpretation, allowing each person who buys one to find their own meaning in the black heart design.

The sisters wanted to first focus on bringing their business to predominantly white communities like Johnson County because it was in those areas they didn’t see the same inclusion of Black people as in their own community, Wyandotte County.

“I think that it being specifically a heart, it softens people to the [Black Lives Matter] message,” Amari said. “And that way, they can receive it more than they would if it was just words, and they were like, ‘I don’t like that because it’s a political statement.’ A heart can’t be a political statement.”

Having been a part of Stage Right and subsequently becoming friends with East students and others who live in Johnson County, they noticed the lack of conversations over racial inequality and wanted to make minorities living in Johnson County feel safer and seen.

“The area that we live in is super diverse and very inclusive,” Amari said. “But when we go out and do theater in Johnson County, it’s really not. It was a culture shock almost to be out there and experience those new experiences. So being able to put [signs] out there and see our friends take our signs and put them in their yards and create a safe space for

us was really the whole point of A Higher Promise.”

But their intentions for A Higher Promise aren’t solely based on spreading awareness and starting conversations about race — it’s also a way to remember and honor their brother.

Amari and Sa’Myas’ older brother L.J. Lewis died of gun violence in Kansas City in August of 2019. It was his character that inspired their business and leadership — and even the name, A Higher Promise.

L.J. always kept his promises to his family. When he promised to help them practice for their orchestra trips, he always followed through. When he’d promise to come watch one of Amari’s Stage Right Performing Arts performances, even if she didn’t see him in the audience, she’d know he was there from the flowers or card he left for her. Now, Amari and Sa’Mya are keeping their own promises to him while keeping his memory alive through A Higher Promise.

Now, five months after starting A Higher Promise, the sisters have sold over 5,000 signs, managing to reach all 50 states with their business. They spent most of their summer and now their after school hours going through sign orders while working on their website and social media presence.

With the expansion in their business’ popularity, instead of placing the black heart stickers on each sign individually and shipping them personally, they now go through a distributor.

The sisters have made connections with multiple local churches and even Donutology, hosting sign distributions at their locations.

Each sign is priced at $10, the profit from their business has been going to the sisters’ college education funds, and they’re looking to begin donating more of the profits to local nonprofits like The Learning Club.

I think that it being specifically a heart, it softens people to the [Black Lives Matter] message. And that way, they can receive it more than they would if it was just words, and they were like, ‘I don’t like that because it’s a political statement.’ A heart can’t be a political statement.

amari lewis | co-founder In addition to selling the signs, they’ve been using their Instagram and social media presence, @ahigherpromise, to partake in other supportive actions like promoting Kansas City’s Black Business Saturdays. On Saturdays, they’ll post about different local Black-owned businesses such as Loray Easterwood Realtor and Eat Her Cupcakes, featuring information about the business and a quote from the owner.

Currently, Amari is working on a new website for A Higher Promise that she plans to have up and running by December.

The site will break down the history of the Black Lives Matter movement and educational resources for the reader, with articles she included to help educate people about racism and how they can help move the conversation forward to make people more aware of racial injustice.

In the future, the sisters hope to expand their business to promote a range of other social issues, like LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights.

Senior Reilly Kenney has known the Lewises from Stage Right for four years and agrees that in this predominantly white community, there’s not enough attention paid to working on diversity and inclusion. Living in Johnson County and attending an 85% white school, Kenney’s proud to now see the signs all across yards in the East community and believes they are a big step towards starting conversations about recognizing white privilege.

“In this area, I feel like our eyes aren’t very open to other perspectives,” Kenney said. “We don’t have a very deep understanding of what might be going on in other parts of the country at that moment, or in the past, and [the signs] help us open our eyes and understand one another and really start to recognize how we can make a difference.”

The biggest surprise to the sisters was the amount of support they’ve received. Both Amari and Sa’Mya were shocked at the rapid pace A Higher Promise grew, and the number of people they’d never met who wanted to buy their signs. Sa’Mya wasn’t just shocked at that, but also at the number of white people living in predominantly white communities who were focused on making change.

But for two teen girls, it hasn’t been easy. Amari and Sa’Mya struggled watching their peers relax and enjoy their summer while they were busy packaging and shipping signs or holding a sign pick-up event. A business is a lot to take on, especially as teens still in school.

But both of the girls saw that the outcome of their work far outweighs any social sacrifice. Amari and Sa’Mya know that even when they’d rather just go watch a show or stop feeling the pressure of being a leader in this movement, they’re making change through A Higher Promise for another young Black woman tired of facing discrimination.

“We’re still teenagers,” Amari said. “And so there are things that we want to do like watch T V, or just have time to ourselves. So I will say that the hardest part was kind of giving up our summer, but at the end of it, it was really worth it.”

With all the work they put into the business, Amari and Sa’Mya are proud of the message they’re spreading and the impact it’s leaving in Johnson County — and around the country.

“Especially in Johnson County, where people may be afraid of stepping outside of whatever everybody else is saying, I feel like the black heart is like this safe way of saying, I think... different,” Amari said. “And [the sign is saying] what I think is that all people matter, including Black people, including undocumented people, including wrongly convicted felons, including whoever.”

B L AC K LIVE S M AT T E R

16/17 | GUEST WRITERS

LISTEN & UNLE ARN Three members of the East community share their experiences attending a predominantly white school and advocating for their rights, and what they believe are important steps to take in being a part of the Black Lives Matter movement

LILLIAN WILLIAMS junior

“BLACK LIVES matter!” Over and over again we chant, growing quieter with the loss of our weary voices. Our first protest was both terrifying and euphoric. The noise, smell of pepper spray and lingering tear gas all created an unforgettable backdrop to the hundreds of cops lined in battle gear. We felt anger, peace, hate, love, defeat and hope.

These feelings drove us to mobilize our social media followings. Resources were shared, testimonials given, links clicked, videos watched, petitions signed. We cringed as each day brought new posts highlighting evidence of police brutality and murder. When they responded with “All lives matter,” we held back screams as we wondered if they’d ever consider Black lives a part of that “All?” We continued to post and share until we gave up to the insurmountable task.

We were tired, annoyed and angry. We began to hate the requests for us to speak up and out about these issues. We had spent so much time speaking up for those who didn’t feel equipped, that we forgot to ask who was speaking up for us?

SPECIAL SECTION

I needed a break. I detached and turned my eyes away from the fight. Even when approached about this story, I almost stepped away from the opportunity. I asked myself, “Why me..why do I have to speak for all Black people?”

But there, in my complaint, I found motivation. I’m not speaking for all Black people. I am speaking for myself. And, that’s enough.

I am writing today for me. And, if that inspires others to find their voices in the process, then it is a positive consequence of my actions. There is nothing more valuable to life than believing in yourself and maintaining hope. Believing that no matter how hard it gets, what is good and what is right will prevail. This movement has highlighted the raw truths of this country, but has also shown us that there is still a life full of love waiting to be lived.

I encourage you all to continue down our journeys of self enlightenment. The journey is a marathon.

design by rose kanaley illustration by sophie henscel

AUTUMN BAILEY sophomore

WALKING THROUGH the halls at Shawnee Mission East is really weird. It is weird because there is nobody that’s the same as you, or even close. You feel like the elephant in the room because you’re the only one that looks different and you can’t really do anything about it.

When I walk down the halls and hear everyone talking to each other, they have some stuff in common.

But I don’t have things in common with people here and people don’t understand my struggle and I don’t understand theirs. And it’s hard when you don’t. It can make you feel lonely because you’re in a big school with people you don’t understand and it feels like you’re by yourself. So when you come to school and have nothing in common with anybody, it can be hard to even focus on school work because it’s like no one is there to help you or wants to.

I also think, being Black in an all white school, some people look at that as a way to learn how to act Black.

Sometimes there are people who ask me questions on how to do things or how things are done which is no problem. The only problem with it is when you try to

do it or act like it and it becomes offensive and they don’t know it is. They make it seem like I’m an animal in the zoo or something they have never seen and they just want to copy the way I talk or act! With a lot of white people at this school, I don’t feel comfortable because you’re around people who don’t respect you simply just for your skin color. Everyone is human and I don’t think the way your skin is should represent if you should be treated right or not.

I walk home from school some days and it’s scary not knowing if a police officer will stop me and kill me just cause the color of my skin, and nobody should have to worry about that. I don’t feel safe at this school simply because I am Black and I know that bothers some people and I know some people don’t want me at the school. If I was to change something at Shawnee Mission East, it would be for everyone to see eye-to-eye when it comes to certain things and respect each other — and that goes for students and teachers. It would make people more like me feel more comfortable at school.

D AV I D M U H A M M A D

r a c e p r o j e c t kc c o - f o u n d e r a n d f o r m e r e a s t t e a c h e r COMFORT PARALYZES. It provides us with a crutch on which to lean when we turn away from challenging views.

The fear of losing physical and psychological comfort is what leads so many of us to adopt cognitive dissonance.

It is easier to claim there isn’t an issue than to admit its existence, and the possibility that we may have a role in perpetuating its continuation.

One does not struggle to say “Black Lives Matter” because one sees no value in the lives of African Americans. One struggles to recognize this statement because one fears the recognition of their own role in the dehumanization of the Black body.

This role, whether conscious or subconscious, is one that we are all guilty of owning. Regardless of the paths by which we adopted this role, we are all the products of a nation built on the subjugation of human bodies.

Every system from which we benefit today exists as the result of particular bodies building that to which they are prevented access. I use the word “system” very intentionally because, while the individual structures we access may appear to be separate from this history, they are only the fruit of the seeds these systems planted.

Those subjugated bodies, that have far too often been

Black and brown, are now asking for access to what they helped build. And, those of us who have benefited from their sacrifice are often too comfortable to share a seat at the “table.”

If we are comfortable with these bodies making millions from dribbling a basketball or catching a football, but uncomfortable when they pick up a microphone and express an opinion, then we are upholding the aforementioned systems. If we are comfortable singing and rapping the lyrics that these bodies create, but uncomfortable when those bodies ask us to recognize the need to repair the conditions that have birthed the content of those very lyrics, then we are upholding the systems.

The statement “Black Lives Matter” exists because far too often the entirety of the Black life is not valued. For far too long, the Black life has only “mattered” when it didn’t challenge the comforts it helped create.

One must ask oneself what one truly stands to lose by admitting that Black life matters. Why is it hard for one to adopt such a minimal declaration? Is it possible that the answer to that question makes you…uncomfortable?

BLACK LIVES MATTER

18 | FEATURES

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by celia condon

WE CAN DO BETTER Students of color and East teachers express what changes need to be made at East to make it more welcoming for people of color

by catherine erickson

G

growing up, the only people of color East alum Olive Henry knew were in her family.

All of her friends at Belinder Elementary School were white. The girls she ate lunch with at Indian Hills Middle School were white. Since it was all she had ever known, Henry didn’t grasp the concept of sticking out as a person of color in SMSD until high school.

But senior Alyssa Jimenez felt out of place her first day in the district. After living in Wyandotte County and attending diverse private schools, Jimenez struggled to find her identity among the 85% white student body once she transferred to East her freshman year.

“I didn’t really know how to identify where I came from because I lived in kind of a bad neighborhood, like past 18th St,” Jimenez said. “I just couldn’t come to terms with being a Latina and finding people at [East] who I could connect with.

I had friends, but I never talked to them about what had happened to me at school.”

During her freshman year, Jimenez was assigned an English project to identify and present on a problem within the school. As a woman of color, she was compelled to choose diversity. Her presentation was met with responses like, “Why is this so important” and “This isn’t even an issue,” reinforcing the feeling that her struggles about her identity didn’t matter to her peers.

Jimenez, along with some teachers and other students of color, feel that increasing conversations about racial issues and biases, diversifying the staff and adjusting curriculum to represent contributions of people of color would help students of color feel more represented and welcome at East.

After hearing students express concerns similar to these during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer, Assistant Principal Dr. Susan Leonard and English teacher Samantha Feinberg organized a meeting with students of color. According to Leonard, one of the most prominent issues the students mentioned was the use of the n-word and other discriminatory slurs among East students.

For Jimenez, hearing these words and phrases thrown around casually in the hallway makes her feel helplessly unwelcome.

“I feel really degraded,” Jimenez said. “I feel like my culture is not important. I feel like, ‘Oh, I don’t belong here, I should transfer to another school.’ ‘Oh my friends aren’t going to get what I’m going through.’ How am I supposed to tell my friends that someone has said this to me? Who am I supposed to tell?”

However, Jimenez feels that having teachers or administrators instigate conversations about the significance and history behind these slurs will help diminish the problem.

SPECI AL SECTIO N

“Maybe they didn’t know it was a slur, but it’s just a conversation that needs to be had,” Jimenez said. “I know it’s really uncomfortable for a lot of people, and it shouldn’t be uncomfortable. I’ve had conversations with my friends about uncomfortable situations and how they can’t say [certain things].”

One way Feinberg and Leonard would like to stimulate these conversations is by enacting restorative justice policies, which involves the offender having conversations with members of the victimized community and reading and writing essays to enhance one’s understanding of the topic. This focuses the disciplinary process on rehabilitation through reconciliation with victims and the community.

Although this isn’t currently a widely used practice at East, Feinberg was involved in leading a restorative justice experience with a student who made anti-semetic remarks a few years ago. As a member of the Jewish community, Feinberg met with the student and their mother to discuss the event, and then the student wrote reflection pieces about the conversation and eventually met with the principal.

“A couple years later, the student happened to wind up in my class, and I felt like we had a really good relationship,” Feinberg said. “I really think that if it had been a really disciplinary thing, like, ‘You’re gonna sit in my room and wipe tables after school, and you owe me a 30-minute detention’ or whatever, it wouldn’t have been as effective. Part of the reason that we had a positive relationship that was free of shame was because it truly was restorative.”

Feinberg believes the same concept could be applied to students who make racist comments to help them understand the significance of their words.

Henry also believes that punitive action can further the divide between people, so turning punishment into a learning opportunity is a chance to create another ally.

However, Henry recognizes that many students who continually make discriminatory remarks are repeat offenders who have had learning opportunities, but still don’t change their behavior. In these cases, Henry believes a statement needs to be released by the district condemning the student when disciplinary actions cannot be taken if the event didn’t occur during school hours.

“It would be really reassuring to the other members of the community, specifically people of color, that at least the administration knows that that’s wrong,” Henry said. “I think it feels like a lot of the time, either [the administration] doesn’t even see it or they don’t care because of the lack of action. When in reality, I know that that’s not true.”

Like Jimenez, Henry feels the changes that can be made to make students of color feel more welcome include diversifying the staff and adjusting academic curriculum.

Both Henry and Jimenez turned to one of the only

teachers of color at the time — David Muhammad — for a sense of belonging and adult advice while struggling to find a community they identify with at East.

However, after Muhammad left East, Henry felt like she no longer had a network of people she could relate to, especially given that Muhammad had been the teacher sponsor of the Black Student Union.

“Once he left, that was one less teacher of color out of like three teachers of color,” Henry said “That entire system, that safe space, should not be dependent on one teacher. I think that’s the problem — a lot of students now feel like that safe space is gone. When the fact of the matter is it shouldn’t have been that dire in the first place.”

Curriculum can also add representation of people of color by broadening the diversity of authors and discussing different cultures.

Feinberg and other teachers within the English department have worked to include more works by authors of differing groups, including racial, gender and sexual identities.

Feinberg has instituted a project in AP English to read a book from a list of all female authors, most of whom are women of color. re•stor•a•tive

ju•stice

A system of cr i mi n a l ju st i ce t h a t focu ses on t h e reh a b i l i ta t i on of of fen d ers t h rou g h recon ci l i a t i on w i t h v i ct i ms a n d t h e commu n i t y a t l a rg e.

“Representation matters,” Feinberg said. “If we don’t represent the contributions of everyone, it perpetuates the myth that only white people have contributed to our society.

And we know that’s not true.”

In her later years of high school, Henry noticed changes to the English curriculum, with the addition of books like “The Hate You Give,” a novel about a Black girl who witnessed the shooting of her best friend at the hands of a police officer.

Henry thinks these changes are moving curriculum in the right direction.

“The norm for so long was basically to read things that characterize race poorly,” Henry said. “You had to be like, ‘Take this with a grain of salt. It’s obviously racist but we’re still going to read it for other reasons.’ That’s really frustrating, especially because of the lack of representation in the student body.”

Feinberg believes that making these changes would lead to an environment that gives every student an equal opportunity to succeed.

“If we want to say that anyone can be anything and do anything they want, then all American children deserve an equally excellent public education,” Feinberg said. “This is an attempt to put all students on equal footing, granting them equal access to future opportunities.”

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by catherine erickson

DIVERSITY BREAKDOWN

AT EAST VS. NATIONAL

*from public school review

85 % WHITE

2%

BLACK

7%

HISPANIC

*from U.S. census bureau

60%

WHITE

13%

THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION COMMITTEE MISSION STATEMENT

18%

by kelly murphy

GO BACK TO AFRICA. You’re an Oreo. You talk white. You’re not really Black.

Insults were continuously hurled at 2015 East graduate Kaycee Mayfield by her fellow classmates. She would straighten her hair and wear Sperrys and Vera Bradley, but she always felt like she stood out.

“It was a constant state of worry,” Mayfield said. “I always wondered what people thought about me. It was a worry of ‘Do they like me?’ and ‘Do they not like me because I’m Black?’”

For two years, Mayfield tried to ignore her peers’ microaggressions and invalidations of her identity as a person of color. She considered transferring out of East her junior year to a more diverse school like West or Northwest where she could feel like less of an outcast.

When I graduated high school and I started to travel and experience other places, I realized how shifted our mindset is in Johnson County as a whole.

mkai jantz | east alum “When you’re a kid, it’s cool to be mean to people and point out people’s differences, especially if they’re the minority,” Mayfield said. “I think it has to do with being sheltered, I think it has to do with immaturity and I think it has to do with what they’re being taught at home.”

When Mayfield attended East in 2015, 87% of the student population identified as white and just over 1% identified as Black, according to the Kansas State Department of Education. By 2019, those numbers had shifted only slightly to 84% white and 2% Black.

The lack of racial diversity at East has deep roots and can shape some students’ perspectives, but East has been taking steps to promote multicultural acceptance.

A long history of redlining and discriminatory public school district boundaries have made it next to impossible for many minority students to receive a high quality education

THROUGH A N E W L E NS

The lack of diversity at East has shaped some students’ perspectives, however, East can take proactive measures to promote acceptance

BLACK

HISPANIC

FEATURES | 19

The Shawnee Mission East Diversity and Inclusion Committee values and respects the diversity found in the East family... We are committed to promoting crosscultural understanding, harmony and positive relationships, and equally committed to raising the awareness of the powerful and beautiful diversity that exists within our community.

surrounded by students that look like them, based on senior Morghan Golloher’s experience.

As an in-district transfer student, Golloher transferred to the East area schools in kindergarten and has stayed ever since. But, according to Golloher, Black students at East have to put on a facade in order to be accepted and hold themselves to a higher standard in order to avoid a bad reputation.

Perspectives on race can change or be skewed, according to 2020 East graduate and University of Kansas freshman Mkai Jantz. Jantz grew up as a minority in Prairie Village. It wasn’t until he visited Atlanta in October that, for the first time in his life, he saw a place where white people are the minority.

“When I graduated high school and I started to travel and experience other places, I realized how shifted our mindset is in Johnson County as a whole,” Jantz said.

Jantz believes that a lot of people who grow up in one town and stay for their whole life don’t realize that there are different types of races and perspectives everywhere.

According to Jantz, while East made attempts to educate the student body on different cultures during his time there, they lacked sincerity.

“You can have a whole Black History Month and you can talk about Kwanzaa,” Jantz said. “But at the end of the day, if the students don’t feel like you actually care about the things that you’re showing them, then they’re just not going to care.”

There are more effective ways to create a welcoming environment, such as what 2019 East graduate and Vanderbilt University sophomore Lauren Winston experienced at Vanderbilt. When Winston arrived, she noticed students celebrating their identities through multicultural dance teams and racial-based choir groups — despite Vanderbilt being a predominantly white institution.

“It’s very eye-opening to see how the various forms of diversity manifest themselves to create expression, which isn’t something that I saw at East just because there weren’t as many people to even create that appreciation,” Lauren said.

Even though lacking diversity, East has been taking steps to broaden perspectives. In 2015, Lauren’s mom Bernie Winston responded to a number of racial-based harassment cases at East by founding the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

The committee meets once a month to bring students, parents, community members, administrators and teachers together to promote cross-cultural understanding throughout

the East community. In working towards their goal, the committee has created a District Diversity Advisory Council, held staff and student panel discussions and increased ACT enrollment and scores.

I just said I’ll try to improve the current environment the best way I know how, and that’s why I started the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. I want to see all the students thrive, not just my daughter.

bernie winston | diversity and inclusion committee founder Although her daughter graduated from East two years ago, Bernie remains a member of the committee to ensure that none of her work will be undone.

“I just said I’ll try to improve the current environment the best way I know how, and that’s why I started the Diversity and Inclusion Committee,” Bernie said. “I want to see all the students thrive, not just my daughter.”

Four years ago, the committee drew up 12 recommendations and presented them to the district administrator. Three of them have been put in place by the administrators — hiring a diversity coordinator, providing equity training for teachers and establishing an internal general counsel.

Bernie is encouraged by the progress that is being made, such as the recent district non-discrimination policy put in place stating that all students, parents and community members should report discrimination, harassment or retaliation to the district.

She is currently working with Director of Family and Student Services Dr. John McKinney and Coordinator of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Tyrone Bates to ensure students of all different cultures and backgrounds feel welcome within the SMSD — and East in particular.

“East is making some considerable strides to increase awareness and build a culture where all students feel safe,” Bernie said. “We are on the right track and proud of the progress that has been made in the district.”

B L AC K LIVE S M AT T E R

20/21 | PHOTOSTORY

RIGHT | A group of pastors link arms and lead protesters on a peaceful march throughout the Plaza area. They are standing in front of everyone to make a barrier between protesters and police. photo by noelle griffin

A MOVEMENT

FAR RIGHT | Just before the police started to mace the protesters, an officer kneels and puts on his gear to protect him from the tear gas and pepper spray. photo by noelle griffin

ABOVE | One officer holds out a large aerosol container of pepper spray before macing a group of protesters. photo by noelle griffin ABOVE | Mayor Quinton Lucas speaks to a crowd of peaceful protesters about the Black Lives Matter movement. photo by emily pollock RIGHT | As she stands in front of the police, a protester begs the officers to listen to the people. photo by noelle griffin

SPECIAL SECTIO N

design by sarah golder illustration by sophie henschel

IN PHOTOS

Black Lives Matter protests erupted on the Plaza and at The Village Shops over the summer as the movement for equality spread across the country A B O V E | Debate teacher Trey Witt checks the electoral college results map during his free period as election results come in. photo by trevor paulus

ABOVE | As East graduate Olive Henry speaks at the protest, a supporter in the crowd holds a sign in the air saying, “Don’t get it twisted: White Silence is Violence.” photo by julia percy FAR LEFT | JC Hammon H i g h S chool student Za c h Gardner performs h i s p a r t of “The Lost O n es, ” a spoken word po em . photo by sarah golder

ABOVE | S u p p o r ter listens intently as a list of t h e v i c t i m s of pol i ce brutal i t y i s read of f. photo by sarah golder FAR LEFT | A protester holds a sign saying, “Black Lives are precious, are worthy, are valued, are loved”. photo by sarah golder LEFT | A p rotester holds out his sign on M i ssi o n Rd . w h i le par ticipating in the p e a cef u l m a rc h from the Prairie Village police sta t i o n to t h e Vi l l age. photo by elise madden

B L AC K LIVE S M AT T E R

design by tommy paulus photos and information courtesy of by audible.com, netflix, britannica, and amazon

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

A&E | 23

A&E

HIGHLIGHTS

Resources for staying up to date and educating yourself on the Black Lives Matter Movement

AMPLIFYING BL ACK VOICES

E D U C AT I O N A L M E D I A

PODCASTS

MOVIES

AUDIOBOOKS

MOVIE:

P O D C A ST | B L AC K M E N C A N ’ T J U M P I N H O L LY WO O D

A U D I O B O O K | I N LOV E A N D ST R U G G L E

13TH

R U N T I M E | 75 M I N

R U N T I M E | 1 H 33 M I N

DOCUMENTARY

This show is a comedic movie review podcast that breaks down movies with leading actors of color in the context of race and diversity.

A collective of Black Woman discuss being at the intersections of racism and sexism while also being able to celebrate their black female identity.

GENRE: RUN TIME: 1 HR 30 MIN

SUMMARY: “13th” is a strong fact-based documentary over the systematic oppression of Black Americans spanning from the 13th amendment to now.

AUDIOBOOK | WHITE F R AG I L I T Y

P O D C A ST | C O D E SW I TC H

MOVIE: WHAT HAPPENED TO DUJUAN ARMSTRONG

RUN TIME | 28MIN

RUN TIME | 4H 28MIN

“Code Switch” aims to analyze and discuss modern day issues for people of color such as pop-culture and politics.

This book delves into conversations of white people being anti-racist ally’s and the guilt and anger that can come from it.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY/SHORT FILM

RUN TIME: 28 MIN

SUMMARY: This documentary shows the dark and corrupted underbelly of the criminal justice system and its neglect for prisoners of color.

I M P O R TA N T B L A C K V I S U A L A R T I S T S J E A N M I C H E L B A S Q U I AT

BOOKS

FAITH RINGGOLD

AUTHOR:

B O R N : D E C. 2 2 , 1 96 0 I N B R O O K LY N , N Y

B O R N : O C T. 8 , 1 93 0 I N HARLEM, NY

TANNER COLBY

P E R I O D: N E O E X P R E SS I O N I S M

P E R I O D: F E M I N I ST A R T M OV E M E N T

INFORMATIVE

GENRE: PAGE COUNT:

KNOWN FOR Basquiat’s art is an oxymoronic mix of primitive and futurist style choices that capture his complex emotions that come from being a Black man in America.

L E F T | “ PY R O ” ( 1 9 8 4 )

400

KNOWN FOR

SUMMARY: Ringgold’s stand out pieces are her quilts that tell stories of the struggles of black people, specifically black women.

LEFT | “WE CAME A M E R I C A” ( 1 9 9 7 )

TO

This book provides an deep look into the American experience of the attempted integration of different races.

creatively

24 | A&E

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

MAKING BANK Staffer reviews East student-owned businesses

design by sophie henschel photos by taylor keal, tristen porter & sarah golder

by celia con d on

FRESHMAN YEAR IS pivotal, filled with change and new expectations — learning to drive, starting to think about colleges and, the most pressing of all, parents expecting you to get a job. Unless you already have a job or gracious parents willing to give an allowance, you find yourself tearing apart the couch

for change when it comes time to go out to dinner with your friends. Throw a pandemic into the madness, and you’ve got a bunch of 15-year-olds looking for creative ways to get some money. This led a few East students to start businesses custom to their talents. I’m just here to review a few.

sarah’s jewelry THERE IS RARELY a time where my hands aren’t adorned by 3 rings — minimum. So any business that sells unique and affordable rings is one I’m willing to throw my money at.

Sophomore Sarah McConwell sells rings through her somewhat underground jewelry business. Although she doesn’t have an official Instagram account or website, she often posts to her Snapchat private story, offering recently made items to her friends. McConwell uses stones, pearls, assorted jewelery parts and wire to make fun and unique earrings

and rings.

There’s an option of earrings or rings, with wire color options of gold, silver, rose gold, black and copper. After choosing the type of jewelry and color, you get to choose your embellishment — stone or pearl.

I chose a gold wired ring with a stunning white pearl in the center, similar to one she showed me an example of. McConwell asks for your ring size to make sure that it fits perfectly.

I paid only three dollars for the ring, and it was delivered straight to my door

baked by abbs

FRESHMAN ABBY MARGOLIN took advantage of her socially distanced summer by starting a baking business.

At a young age Margolin was making cupcake and cake variations for friend and family events, but after realizing her talent for it, she decided to start up an account (@bakedbyabbs on Instagram) and charge people for her baked goods.

To buy a sweet treat — anything from cupcakes to cookies — you direct message Margolin, and let her know what you’re looking for from her array of goodies. Not sure what I was craving, I asked Margolin what ideas she had, giving her the freedom to make something new or recreate her go-to treat.

Margolin had the idea to make a gingerbread-flavored cake to go along with the upcoming holiday season. I chose cream cheese frosting and let her take it away.

She was constantly keeping me up to date, asking about

@bakedbyabbs on instagram

specific preferences I had for my order.

Her customer service was top-tier — doing everything she could to keep me satisfied.

Only a day after the inquiry, my cake was ready. I went to her house to pick it up, and was overwhelmed at how professional the cake looked. Not only did it have its own Christmas color scheme, but it looked absolutely delectable — like it was straight out of a professional cake bakery.

I paid Margolin $40 through PayPal for the cake — the hard work, time and consideration she put into the cake made the price more than worth it.

My family and I couldn’t take our eyes off the 8-inch cake as we ate our dinner that night — we devoured it when it was time for dessert.

Because the cake was so rich and large in size, we had it to look forward to the next night as well.

about two hours after I described to McConwell what I wanted. The affordable and fast service makes McConwell’s business the perfect option for any high school student.

The ring was just what I was looking for as an addition to my collection. It’s obvious that McConwell pays close attention to detail, and I know I’ll be wearing this ring often as it goes nicely with my other rings and fits perfectly. I would recommend this business for anyone looking for a cute addition to their ring collection.

evyn’s prints

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for cute art pieces, @ evynsprints on Instagram is the perfect place.

I browsed through the many designs on sale that sophomore Evyn Roberts created, looking for something that caught my eye.

Evyn has always made art, but she came up with the idea of selling her creations during quarantine. The art started as doodles and grew into custom collages, prints and phone cases.

Prices for her custom prints range from $4-$14, and phone cases are priced at about $30. I decided I wanted a collage: my options were a ‘Custom,’ a ‘Day in the Life of Love’ and a ‘Beautiful Mess.’

When I chose a custom, Roberts asked for a description of what I was looking for. I told her my favorite colors of green, pink and orange and said I was into a retro 70s/ beach theme.

Five days after placing the order, the collage arrived in an envelope at my front door. With my name written beautifully on the front, the package labeled ‘Open With Care’ and a heart written under the seal, opening the package felt welcoming.

The glamorous-looking collage was composed of magazine cutouts, doodles and inspiring messages. There was a focus on a sage green color, and the photos were mainly of model-like women and assorted

evynroberts.wixsite.com plants. Roberts’ doodles look so flawless they could have been printed, and letters were cut out from a magazine to spell my name at the bottom.

I paid $8 for the custom collage, which is worth it for the character it will add to my bedroom walls.

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by elizabeth mikkelson photos by jill rice

A&E | 25

STRANGERS ON THE OUTSIDE, BUT We’re Not Really Strangers, an interactive get-to-know you card game, breaks the conversation barriers with strangers and allows you to better get to know close friends by p eyton m o o re

“WHAT’S UP?” From Snapchat texts to Instagram DMs, this has become the greeting that everyone has become accustomed to. We’re used to texting surface-level questions such as “Wyd?” or “What’s the move?” but conversations don’t typically dive any deeper than that.

“We’re Not Really Strangers” (WNRS), a card game created to bring mental health conversations into everyday life, is supposed to help form meaningful connections. Blown up across Instagram with its signature red box, the game was created to break the barriers of our tech world and reach past mundane conversations to bring people mentally closer — even if they have to be six feet apart.

The game features three different conversation levels — perception, connection and reflection. With each level sparking different thoughts, WNRS is meant to bring the conversation past the bland first-level, learning more about others and yourself.

To put this to the test, I played WNRS with a close friend of mine and a stranger to see how much I could learn about them on a personal level in 10 minutes.

T H E P L AY E R S : JULIA: CLOSE FRIEND AFTER SIX YEARS of checking in over text with sophomore Julia Fillmore every day, you’d think there was nothing unknown about one another. Julia will put others’ needs over her own and is the most plan-oriented girl I know. But what is one compliment she wishes she could hear more often? The game asks thoughtprovoking questions like this, allowing me to get to know her even better than I had before.

The level-one questions in the game were easy for us because it felt like a normal 2 a.m. talk — getting past the “How are you feeling, really?” and “Do you need to rant?” questions has never been a struggle for us. But when we got to the highest third-level questions, we were both at a loss.

The difference between a 2 a.m. talk

and “We’re Not Really Strangers” is that it forces you to reach into their emotions, not just your own. They ask you a levelthree question like “What do you think my biggest weakness is?”, forcing you to answer before they can get a chance to explain how they really feel, filling in pieces you wouldn’t have guessed.

Creating connections doesn’t have to be forced, and during the pandemic, talking about mental health is more important than ever because we are constantly isolated. It’s comforting to validate each other’s emotions and emphasize that no one is alone. “We’re Not Really Strangers” helps foster this validation and creates openness, which is important with everyone — even close friends.

SCAN ME | WEBSITE Scan here to go to the We’re not Really Strangers’ website and browse the card game and other merch from the brand

CAROLINE: STRANGER TALKING TO SOMEONE for the first time has become feared in our society — and I’m no different. Hiding behind a screen on Snapchat is viewed as “easier” than walking up to someone for face-to-face connection.

I decided to have my first-ever conversation with freshman Caroline Reiser playing “We’re Not Really Strangers.” I learned more about her in 10 minutes than I know about some of my closest friends.

“Which are you more afraid of: failure or success, and why?”

This was the first question of the game, and Caroline paused, “I guess I am more afraid of failing, but failing in front of the whole world. Maybe it’s from TikTok, but every little thing you do and each thing you say is projected to the world and I think I would just crumble.”

Right off the bat, the game allowed me to learn something about Caroline that I only know about my best friend. The meaningful questions that come with the game allow you to form a connection with someone you don’t know.

I would have never learned that Caroline’s childhood dream morphed into her biggest fear during a Snapchat text string. Caroline’s dream of living Hannah Montana’s lifestyle has disappeared, as she’s scared of being “canceled.” The game forces you to ask the hard questions which allow you to actually get to know someone — something that has become neglected in our social-mediasurrounded world.

Not only does the game force you to understand complex ideas about others, but it asks you to think about yourself — I’ve never thought of what compliment I hear most often or what I’m doing right now to reach my goals and the game allowed me to self reflect.

Cultivating face-to-face connections is crucial in a world controlled by technology.

Snapping forehead pics back and forth until someone says something doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s important to take steps to find common interests and actually get to know each other, and “We’re Not Really Strangers” is the perfect game to do that. Now with a five-day streak, I made a new friend.

26 | A&E

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by lauren west

P I CK M E U P P O D CA S TS

Staffer reviews motivational podcasts in hopes of finding some inspiration

by madeline f unkey AS I ENTER my second wave of quarantining, I can’t help but mindlessly click the ‘Next Episode’ button when binging “The Vampire Diaries” or scroll endlessly through Princess Polly’s online site until my strained eyes beg me for a break. After the fifth time of ignoring my mom telling me to do something productive with my time, I decided to dig through my

phone and find the app in my “extras” folder that I thought I’d never use — the Podcasts app. I tested out the potential of these podcasts to boost my motivation throughout the day, and my top three favorites were The Mindset Mentor, Everyday is Saturday and The School of Greatness.

“THE MINDSET MENTOR” SCROLLING THROUGH THE positive mindset section on the Podcasts app, a mental health related podcast called “The Mindset Mentor” caught my attention with its promising name. Each episode dating back to 2015 was under 25 minutes — making it perfect for someone with a short attention span like me. Reading through the reviews, I couldn’t find a negative comment or rating below five stars.

With high expectations, I clicked on a random episode and found myself zoned in for an hour worth of episodes listening to host Rob Dial discuss positivity, dealing with failure, how to “beat” fear and healthy habits for success. Dial mentioned in his “7 Keys For Being More Focused” episode that making a to-do list every morning will help set

yourself up for a productive day. And that’s exactly what I did.

Testing his theory, I made a list every morning for a week with all my day’s tasks from math homework to laundry and noticed sticking to my list helped me not procrastinate, even if I only checked three of my 10 boxes that day.

With Dial’s up-beat, encouraging tone, it’s very likely you’ll pick up on a few of his tips for being a more successful person. He ends every episode with the saying, “Make it your mission to make someones day better,” which made me feel a little more positive — considering I’m stuck in quarantine.

“EVERYDAY IS SATURDAY” LOOKING TO PASS time while tackling the chaos and clutter of my bathroom, I turned on the podcast “Everyday is Saturday.” After skipping the first 10 seconds because of the loud, annoying intro music, my attention was caught by the energetic host.

The host Sam Crowley is one of those guys you feel like you’ve known without ever meeting him. His authentic stories that feature his kids, previous jobs and college struggles made it feel like he was an approachable guy having a real conversation with me. His high energy voice made me want to keep listening, continually motivating me to organize the mess under my sink.

Crowley explains how he was a college dropout failing to make money

when he turned his life around by quitting the corporate business and built himself to become a successful entrepreneur. Sharing stories of his multiple failures to make money and lessons he’s learned on the way, he slips in moments of comedy that gave me a laugh while reorganizing my hair product cabinet.

The episodes are all under 20 minutes, but I found myself wanting them to be longer, fascinated with Crowley’s animated personality and inspiring stories. If you’re ever looking to strengthen your motivation levels with practical and positive advice, I would definitely recommend hopping on the “Everyday is Saturday” train.

“THE SCHOOL OF GREATNESS” “THE SCHOOL OF GREATNESS” was the perfect thing to entertain me while I tackled my overdue painting project. Intimidated by the hour and a half long episodes, I settled in with my artwork, put in headphones and pressed play.

The podcast features host Lewis Howes, who interviews authors, celebrities, athletes and business owners three times a week. People like Rachel Platten, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Hart and Tom Brady appear on his episodes, and each guest brings a unique perspective about becoming successful while discussing the struggles it took to reach their goals. Listening to Rachel Platten go in-depth about motherhood, mental health and manifestation made the hour and a half go by in what seemed

like minutes.

And if you don’t have the time for an hour and a half to listen to a podcast, Howes has “5 Minute Fridays” where he shares quick inspirational tips covering different topics of motivation — helping you get ready for your weekend. I found that these shorter episodes were more my speed because he gets to the point fast while still leaving a lasting impression on my day.

I would recommend “The School of Greatness” podcast to anyone interested in looking deeper into the raw lives of celebrities and business-minded people and their journey towards success.

QUICK TIPS TO STAY MOTIVATED to do lists

limiting social media

turn electronics off an hour before bed

MADELINE’S MOTIVATIONAL TAKEAWAY’S turning off notifications will limit distractions you have to be the first person to believe you can succeed thoughts create your words, which create your actions which create your reality

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by peyton moore art by maria morrissey photos by hadley chapman

SPORTS

HIGHLIGHTS

Quotes, polls and examples of how sports are helping fight racial inequality nationally

ST U D E N T T H O U G H TS

SPORTS | 27

T H E S TA R T O F A M OV E M E N T Timeline of Colin Kaepernick’s momumental kneel

2AU0G126.

6

C o l i n Ka e p e r n i c k knelt during the n a t i o n a l a n t h e m to p ro test o p p ress i o n of p e o p l e of c o l o r i n t h e U. S.

2M 0 17 ARCH

Ka e p e r n i c k l e a ves t h e 49e rs a n d g ets n o o t h e r of fe rs

2 02 0

Ka e p e r n i c k re m a i n s unsigned

How two students view Kaepernick’s impact on the sports world

I remember seeing Kaepernick’s name all over Sports Center after the game. In the moment, I didn’t really know the severity of it but now I understand why he did that and see how important he is in sports.

graham mosher | sophomore

I have always been a big fan of Kaepernick.

I think what Kaepernick did was huge for the 49ers and showed that athletes are more than just players and can be people to look up to.

blake hanson | freshman

POLITICAL POLLS DO YOU SUPPORT COLIN KAEPERNICK’S DECISION TO KNEEL DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IN 2017?

Instagram poll of 216 votes

C L A S H I N G H E L M E TS 22% NO

The NFL’s approved helmet phrases to show support of the Black Lives Matter movement

DO YOU BELIEVE NATIONAL SPORTS ARE DOING ENOUGH TO SHOW SUPPORT OF THE BLM MOVEMENT?

APPROVED PHRASES A NAME OF A VICTIM E N D R AC I S M

78% YES

Instagram poll of 247 votes

S TO P H A T E

55% YES 45%

NO

I T TA K E S A L L O F U S B L AC K L I V E S M AT T E R STO P H AT E

S P O R T I N G KC B L M PATC H E S

MORE THAN

A PATC H

WO R N O N T H E B AC K O F P L AY E R S ’ J E R S E YS I N T H E F I R ST M LS GA M E B AC K P L AY E R S U S E T H E B L A N K S PAC E TO W R I T E A N A M E T H E Y WA N T TO H O N O R O R A M E SS AG E

SCAN ME | WEBSITE Click here to see the full list of Sporting Players and the messages they wrote on their patches

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

28 | SPORTS

design by tommy paulus photo by macy crosser

SCORING ON THE SLOPE Sophomore Erin Kaye’s passion for skiing led her and her family to move to Montana so she could ski full-time

S

by caroline wood

tanding at the top of the mountain, then-freshman Erin Kaye took a deep breath thinking about how she would navigate the triple black-diamond mountain below.

After previously being a mogul skier and only having to go over two jumps, it was her first time trying freeride skiing — an interpretive yet dangerous skiing style. Wearing her avalanche pack, Erin flew down the mountain, doing jumps, grinding across downed trees and — Erin’s favorite — going off cliffs.

Erin’s family first got her out on the slopes when she was just a kindergartner. Her parents decided when they got married that they wanted their children to be skiers because her mom grew up skiing, and it’s a good physical activity the family could bond over.

At first, skiing was something her family got her into, but going to the slopes growing up to ski with her older siblings and the weightless feeling of flying down the mountains turned the sport from something she does to something she loves.

“If you’ve ever been skiing and it’s just so cold out, you can’t even feel your fingers, your nose is basically off,” Erin said. “I just have so many amazing memories attached to that.

Every time I go skiing, I feel like I’m in that moment, and I’m also creating new moments.”

By the time Erin was five, she began skiing competitively and competing in tournaments.

She started out as a racer, trying to make it down the hill as fast as possible. When she was 10, she switched to mogul skiing, going off bumps, as well as freestyle skiing, where she’d go on a man-made park with jumps, rails and pipes.

The Kaye family lived in Boston, Mass., driving two hours to their mountain home in Mount Sunapee, N.H. — “The Little Red House” as they called it — to ski every weekend from December through April.

Not only did they travel to The Little Red House on the weekends, but they went to a different ski resort every winter break.

They’ve been to other popular mountain t o w n s

including Jackson Hole, Vail, Deer Valley, Whistler and even venturing off to Switzerland.

But to the family, no place compared to the charming, remote town of Big Sky, Mont.

Big Sky is one of the largest ski resorts in America with 5,800 skiable acres — Mount Sunapee only had 300 acres — but since it’s an hour away from any big towns, it’s not nearly as crowded as other resorts. And with 400 inches of snow each year, the grass isn’t seen from October through April — perfect for skiing.

They’d sold The Little Red House in 2016, but after falling in love with Big Sky, they decided to buy a house there in 2018. The mountain retreat is tucked in the forest, with a creek running through the back that they share with a herd of around 50 elk — and it’s only 15 minutes away from the slopes.

The more they visited Big Sky, the more Erin loved it. Sometimes she would mention the idea of living there full time to focus on skiing, but never really thought much else of it. When her parents offered for them to actually move there, her love for skiing made the decision simple.

“When my mom and dad presented me with the opportunity, because they knew I loved skiing so much, I was like, ‘Yeah, this would be such a fun adventure, there’s so much snow there, I can’t wait to try and find what kind of different skiing styles [are] out there,’” Erin said.

In the fall of 2019, Erin and her mom moved to Big Sky, since her mom’s job allowed her to work remotely from anywhere. While they went to Montana, her dad and older brother stayed in Boston so her brother could finish off his senior year of high school.

In Big Sky, Erin went to school at Discovery Academy, where she was able to ski throughout the day. Discovery had just 15 kids and only five in Erin’s grade, and they were all skiers. The curriculum was all online, so she’d work one-on-one with teachers in the morning and leave to go ski in the afternoon.

Because of the

LINE

The features you hit on the course

flexible school days at Discovery Academy, Erin was able to ski six days a week, and would be on the slopes six hours on the weekends and three to four hours on school days. However, anytime it snowed three feet overnight, the students would take the day off to go skiing, as well as the teachers.

“It was kind of like a snow day even though every day it snows,” Erin said.

While living in Montana, Erin switched from mogul skiing to freeride, and joined the team in Big Sky, going to competitions one to two times a month.

Freeride skiing was a change from previous styles she’s done — the whole mountain is at Erin’s disposal. As she goes down triple black diamonds, she determines her own route and decide what features and tricks to do. “[Since freeride skiing] is so dangerous and so extreme, everyone’s on one team, we all want everyone to make it down safely without any injuries,” Erin said. “So, when anyone [finishes] — it doesn’t matter what team — you come down, you cheer for them.”

Erin qualified for the North America Freeride Championship — the freeride equivalent to the Junior Olympics — which would’ve been the biggest tournament she’d ever competed in. It was supposed to happen in March, but was canceled due to COVID-19.

“I understood why it had to be canceled... but I was kind of bitter that I wasn’t able to go,” Erin said. “It was my first year, I really felt like I had proven myself, since some of the parents in Big Sky and coaches just did not expect me to [qualify], because I’ve never done it before.”

When the pandemic broke out, the whole mountain was shut down, and there wasn’t much

else to do there. So, Erin’s family went back to Boston for the summer to quarantine together.

During that time, her dad got a job offer in Kansas City. He proposed the move to her and her mom.

“Now, a sane person would be, ‘I’m going back to Montana,’ but I’m a very social person, I like to talk, I like to meet people and make connections, and there was only 35 kids who were my age [in Montana],” Erin said. “The social group was so small, and I wanted that high school football, all-American experience, and so I kind of traded that life for, I guess, a normal one.”

Now that school will be going back to full remote, the Kaye family is considering returning to their house in Big Sky for the winter. But now-sophomore Erin is conflicted, she misses the cold air on the mountains, but also wants to get to know the East community.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword because I love to go back, I miss skiing so much, I miss the cold, I miss seeing bears wherever I go, that Montana-esque feeling,” Erin said. “But, I also want to stay, and I want to make friends and I want to meet people and be a part of the community, because I’m going to live here for the next three years.” here for the next three years.”

An explanation of the judges’ criteria during a ski competition

FLUIDITY

AIR+STYLE

CONTROL

TECHNIQUE

How well you connect each feature of the course

How well you ski.

The judges look for ski stability

How well you perform tricks and jumps on the mountain

Everything combined; the judges look at the overall performance

design by lauren dierks photo by megan biles

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

SPORTS | 29

( N OT S O ) S E AS O N F I N A L E Girls cross country team trains in group outside of the season to prepare for track and cross country

STAYING ON TRACK Common routes the group run on to stay in shape during their off-season

7.5

miles

75th St.-> Ward Parkway-> Access Rd.-> Mission Rd.-> Tomahawk Rd.

4.77

ABOVE | Varsity girls cross country begins their race after hearing the gun go off during their regional meet at Shawnee Mission Park.

by lily b i l l i ngsley

A

s sophomore Scarlett Pearlman, junior Grace Meyer and seniors Grace Strongman and Kate Kowalik navigate across Mission Rd. and Roe Avenue on their daily runs, they tally how many times they almost get hit by cars passing by — their current total is six.

Every weekday between the cross country and track seasons, the girls meet in the junior parking lot to begin their workout.

Whether they run their go-to routes through Mission Hills or Ward Parkway or find new spots like the Trolley Trail, running with each other year-round has kept them motivated when training for their seasons. The girls run five to six days a week for anywhere from three to 10 miles a day.

After training all summer, the girls cross country team placed fourth at the State meet on Oct. 31 — their best performance in more than 20 years. Strongman and Meyer were named all-state runners, which means they placed in the top 20 runners at the state meet, and every member of the team achieved a personal best time during the season.

Meyer thinks that the supportive atmosphere created by the team is part of what helps every runner do their best at meets. Whether they’re shouting words of encouragement or running across the course to cheer their teammates on, the team urges every runner to work their hardest.

“At meets we’re always cheering each other on,” Meyer said. “We all know everyone on the team, and everyone always tries to be there for each other.”

Although their season was filled with unknowns, the girls had their running group as a constant. To lessen the risk of contracting COVID-19 and control contact tracing, the girls were placed in a running cohort together during the season and have continued to run together after the cross country season ended. According to Pearlman, this made the girls even closer.

“We’re like a family,” Pearlman said. “Especially this year since it was a smaller group. Since we were put into groups, the group that we were in was really tight.”

All of the members describe the dynamic of the team in the same way — a family. They spend nearly every week of the year running together, chatting about their next meet or events happening in their lives such as an upcoming Physics test or their goal race times.

During the season, they spend their Friday nights at team dinners eating as much pasta and bread as they can to carb load for their Saturday morning race.

The girls run dozens of miles a week, doing sprints and long runs. The similar workouts have led the team to find ways to make them more entertaining, like blasting music or joking around throughout the runs.

“We have workouts at Windsor Park, and we listen to crazy music when we do those workouts,” Strongman said. “We have a shared playlist, with all kinds of rap music.”

While all of the girls love the sport, running together has kept them motivated to run every day, even when the temperature is below freezing or there’s snow on the ground.

“When it’s snowing it sucks, but we’re all out there doing it together,” Kowalik said. “It makes it fun to be out there.”

Training between the fall and spring seasons helps the girls keep their stamina and create a starting point for their races as Lancers.

“Especially when the weather’s bad, it can be hard to get yourself going,” Meyer said. “But it’s always better if you’re running with someone. That’s why we run together during the winter.”

Running every day isn’t easy — each team member can easily go through multiple pairs of running shoes a year. Training in a group helps the girls stay on top of their workouts. Some days they might not feel like running, but they still get on their tennis shoes and running shorts because they know their teammates are waiting for them in the junior lot.

“It’s more motivating when you have someone to run with,” Pearlman said. “That’s why we meet after school, because, for me at least, if I’m sitting by myself at home and it’s some day that I have to run, I don’t feel like doing it at all. And sometimes I don’t do it.

Being with the team helps me get motivated to run.”

miles

75th St.-> Mission Rd.-> 69th St.-> Ward Parkway.-> 71st St.

4.86

miles

75th St.-> Belinder Ave.-> 63rd St. -> Mission Rd.-> Tomahawk Rd.

STATE RECAP

The results of the girls cross country state meet

AS A TEAM

44

The team placed 4th state wide with a score of 115 and a total time of 1:41:18

TOP 20 RUNNERS

6th

GRACE MEYER 19:15.76 run time

20th

GRACE STRONGMAN 20:04 run time

30 | SPORTS

STILL

signing

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by cesca stamati photos by rachel bingham

A B O V E | Above: Senior Sarah Bingham signs her form to commit to the University of Illinois where she will play volleyball

Seniors committed to colleges carry on signing day tradition from home by gib bs morri s

O

n a typical signing day, East friends and family rally together in the school cafeteria and celebrate seniors committing to play their sport at the collegiate level. But this year, the college-themed cookies and cheers from teammates have been replaced by signing celebrations with only family members in their households.

Committing is one step towards becoming an athlete for a specific university, but it’s only a verbal agreement and can be changed if one chooses to — signing finalizes the decision.

Senior athlete Will Wynn feels signing is a momentous occasion for high school athletes that warrants a time for gathering and festivities, something he couldn’t fully enjoy this year.

Wynn, a lacrosse player, has been working towards taking his sport to the collegiate level since eighth grade, and this was his year to bring that plan to fruition. This month, Wynn both verbally committed and signed to Rockhurst University and is eager to get on the field to play.

“Normally, you have a group of friends, teammates, and coaches that get together for when you sign,” said Wynn.

But, instead of sitting in a balloon-tied chairs surrounded by his teammates, Wynn celebrated signing day at home in the kitchen with his family, without a special dinner or gathering. The day was that of an average one for him.

“I didn’t celebrate, it was just like a regular day,”

Wynn said.

Other East athletes who haven’t signed yet, but plan on doing so this year, such as senior Lee Marshall, hope that things will return to normal by the time their signing day comes around.

Marshall is planning to sign for football at Baker University this spring and is disappointed in the way that signing days turned out this year, but understands why it has to be this way.

“I think that it’s really disappointing and a let down

I hope everything will be opened back up again by then. Although, considering school is closing again in a few weeks, realistically I don’t think it will be so soon.

lee marshall | senior for everyone that doesn’t get to have the normal crowd that they typically could have had,” Marshall said. “But, at the end of the day if that’s what’s going to keep people safe, then we gotta do what we gotta do.”

Marshall is hopeful that things will return to normal by the time his college experience starts, but unsure if that will happen.

“I hope everything will be opened back up again by then,” Marshall said. “Although, considering school is closing again in a few weeks, realistically I don’t think it

will be so soon.”

Wynn wasn’t the only athlete that had their signing day look different this year. Senior Sarah Bingham who has played club volleyball since sixth grade didn’t have the option to have a crowd attend her signing as well.

Bingham had already committed to her school of choice, University of Illinois, during her sophomore year and officially signed this year on Nov. 11 which made the overall signing process smoother even with COVID around.

“It’s just been minor changes. I figured out most of my college stuff my sophomore year,” Bingham said. “So, it hasn’t really impacted me much.”

Although the day she signed was still one to remember, Bingham ended up also having her “signing day” at home with her family along with fellow senior Caroline Coleman who is set to play soccer at Pepperdine.

While the social aspect of signing days for athletes may be hindered by COVID, the excitement of officially attending a university is still very real. Despite the lack of a major crowd, Bingham was still excited to be apart of what Illinois has to offer.

“The electric atmosphere of Huff Hall, the amazing resources and opportunities the University has to offer, the welcoming coaches and players on the team, that’s why I chose Illinois,” Bingham said.

As the year goes on, East athletes will continue to handle signing days in their own ways while respecting the circumstances that come with the pandemic.

MEET THE ATHLETES CAROLINE COLEMAN

SARAH BINGHAM

SIGNED SCHOOL: PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

SIGNED SCHOOL: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

SPORT: DIVISION 1 SOCCER

SPORT: DIVISION 1 VOLLEYBALL

design by photo editors

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

PHOTOSTORY | 31

CRUSTACEAN

CREW

Race Project KC held their annual lobster sale to raise money for the club’s field trips

A B O V E | Senior Quinci Cartmell holds a lobster and takes a selfie with it. Cartmell says, “I really enjoyed the lobster sale. It was my first time holding a lobster, a little scary, but I got used to it.” photo by taylor keal

A B O V E | Senior Sydney Williams reacts to a live lobster. Williams says, “I was deathly afraid of the lobster, anything that crawls around or moves is definitely not my forte.” photo by trevor paulus

LEFT | The Lobster sale sold Fresh Atlantic lobsters.

Cartmell says, “My favorite part of the lobster sale was interacting with people as they drove up.” photo by emmakate squires

RIGHT | Senior Sienna Sun carries a box of live lobsters and places them on a push cart to bring into the gym, where the club was setting up the sale. photo by trevor paulus

R I G H T | T h e te a c h e r s po n so r of T h e Ra ce Proj e c t KC, M rs. F e i n be rg, bro u gh t h e r fa m ily to h e lp set u p an d su ppo r t t h e lobste r sa le. Eva , h e r dau gh te r, grabbe d a lobste r a n d ra ce d it agai n st t h e ot h e r lobste rs. photo by taylor keal

32 | ALT-COPY

THE HARBINGER | NOVEMBER 20, 2020

design by celia condon information from Voice Map Dividing Lines Tour

THE DIVIDING LINES A rundown of the history and dividing lines of Racial Segregation in Kansas City

R EDLI NI NG

N e ighbo rho o ds a t financial risk, usua lly of Black m aj o rit y, we re o utlined red o n a m a p, inhib iting reside nts fro m lo a ns

BLOCKBUSTING

Prof i tee rs conv i n ced oth e rs to se l l th e i r h om es for ch ea p usi n g fea r- m on g e r i n g ta cti cs

by ca mpbell wo o d REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER , J.C. Nichols is known as one of the most impactful Kansas

Citians throughout the 20th Century. Nichols’ idea to establish uniform and highvalued neighborhoods formed the blueprint for the Kansas City area. However, his

TROOST AVENUE COINED AS THE “Troost Divide,” Troost Avenue is a street that serves as a physical line between rich and poor neighborhoods, funded and non-funded, white and Black — the main segregation line in Kansas City. Troost’s divide stems from the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation’s system to determine property values based on racial biases — white neighborhoods were outlined on a map in

green and Black ones in red. When Black families started moving into white neighborhoods in the 1960s, the color flipped from green to red — white to Black. These redoutlined communities were denied loans and the property values dropped due to this racially-biased system.

The majority of these neighborhoods were east of Troost, making Troost the dividing line. They were redlined. They were mostly Black.

NICHOLS DEVELOPED THE Country Club Plaza

in the 1920s as the first shopping mall in the nation where people would arrive by automobile. He constructed well-developed neighborhoods to the

BEING

in the 1920s, The Paseo — a 10-mile boulevard through Kansas City — was completed as part of the City Beautiful Movement. At the time, it was 100% white due to the restrictive covenants that kept Black people out, but that changed when the Supreme Court outlawed the

enforcement of restrictive ownership covenants in 1948. As Black families moved in, white families moved west, making Ward Parkway the new Paseo. Ward Parkway being a boulevard that takes you through some of the most prosperous neighborhoods in Kansas City — the mostly-white neighborhoods.

south and west of the Plaza to support the shopping district. To increase the market value of those neighborhoods, he put restrictive covenants on the properties, prohibiting any Black families from owning them.

BLUE HILLS EAST

OF

TROOST

Avenue and right off The Paseo, the Blue Hills area was part of the “blockbusting” movement. When the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregating schools was illegal, Black families moved their kids into stronger

school districts for a better education. As soon as Black families moved in, white families fled to Nichols’ newly developed neighborhoods in Kansas, right off of Ward Parkway. Blue Hills became a prime example of blockbusting and “white flight.”

MISSION HILLS NICHOLS DEVELOPED MISSION Hills in the 1920s as part of the Country Club District — the wealthy, allwhite neighborhoods that would ensure a prosperous community.

Having one of the most expensive zip codes in Kansas, Mission Hills

Rest r i cti ons on a hom eowner deed that preve nted Bl ack fam il i es f rom owni ng i t

use of racially restrictive covenants segregated Kansas City. These subdivisions have forged lasting impacts where racial disparity can still be seen throughout the city today.

COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA

THE PASEO AFTER DEVELOPED

R E ST R I CT I V E COV E N A N TS

assisted East in being a well-funded school.

The well-funded schools get the best test scores, and the best test scores attract other wealthy families to move in.

The redlining has set East aside as being more privileged than other schools.

27TH STREET 27TH

STREET

WAS

the former segregating line before Troost Avenue, as Black families were confined to the north side of 27th Street until desegregation in the 1960s.

With people of color being restricted to this small part of town, the divide led to overcrowding in neighborhoods, with up to six families living in the same unit at times.

HIGHWAY 71 CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHWAY 71 took place

over the last half of the 20th Century, the city and highway department decided to build the road through the middle of the poorer Black neighborhoods. In doing this, the government

seized homes that were in the way of construction through eminent domain.

The residents were upset with the low values offered for their property due to redlining valuations.