Issue 9

harbinger

issue 9 / january 23, 2006 / 7500 mission road prairie village, kansas

WOULD THIS SCARE YOU?

GUN

The only visible difference in between a toy Airsoft gun and the real thing is a tiny orange circle.

If you can’t tell, how can the police? by stephen nichols

It was just the simple procedure of writing out a traffic violation ticket for Cpl. Brad Robbins and his fellow Leawood police officer until he saw the two teenage boys shifting around in the front seat trying to hide something.

Then he saw it through the car window, the glint of the handles of a pair of guns reflected back into his eyes.

The officers quickly had the boys lying on the ground as they searched the car and found two guns, although as Robins

took a closer look, he realized that these were in fact Airsoft guns.

After Robbins had inspected the guns, he found that one of the guns had the orange tip completely missing while the second tip was colored in with black marker.

“Kids don’t think that their guns look cool enough unless it doesn’t have the orange tip,” Robins said.

Close calls such as this put teenagers and police alike in dangerous situations, where the wrong determination can cost a life. Police officers realize the risk that

kids take when they play with Airsoft guns. Accidental shootings of teenagers who were playing with Airsoft guns have been reported across the country when police mistake the fairly harmless Airsoft guns for the real thing. Recently in Florida a S.W.A.T. team shot a teenage boy after he brought a realistic toy gun to school and aimed the gun at a police officer.

continued on page 2

page 2 / news / the harbinger

Police crack down on airsoft gun battles around the area continued from page 1 Airsoft guns are non-lethal and shoot plastic b.b.’s, but they are made to look like exact replicas of real guns except for the orange tip that encircles the barrel.

“From close up, I could tell the difference, but from a couple feet away, I can’t tell,” Robins said.

But even when the tips stay on the guns, neighbors can’t always tell when teenagers are out playing with just airsoft guns.

Junior George Hart had been playing his brother and friends in an airsoft battle, tracking down opposing players and shotting each other with the small plastic b.b.’s.

“One of my neighbors called the cops,” Hart said. “ I was walking through the neighborhood and I realized that four cop cars were parked outside my house.”

Once he saw his driveway, he realized there would be trouble. All four airsoft guns from the other team members were lying in the middle of the driveway in the rain.

When Hart walked into the garage he found his brother, his friends, and his neighbor, Junior Greg Halper who had also been playing, along Gas with two police officers.

Sping Loaded The officers had the boys standing up and Hop Up were explaining to them Electric that they had received a call saying that there Recoil Blowback were boys roaming the neighborhood with

Types of Guns

News Briefs MAP testing The “Measures of Academic Progress” test is a 60-minute computer test given to freshman and sophomores. The MAP test gives immediate results. The whole objective is user friendly.

The questions on the test gradually get harder if answers are correct. and the test is individualized with no two people having the same test. This test will replace the ITED’s and in the future will be given in the fall and then the spring to attempt to document academic progress.

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guns.

“I couldn’t understand why the cops were taking it so seriously. I didn’t understand why they were turning it into such a big deal,” Halper said.

Officers respond to these calls as if they are serious gun threats and even if they turn out to be airsoft guns, it can still lead to a ticket for violating city ordinance depending on the officer’s discretion.

However, in the boys’ case they got off with a warning, where the officers explained the dangers of running around the neighborhood with their guns visible to neighbors.

When officers appear during an airsoft battle, they expect full cooperation from the players, which means dropping the gun immediately when ordered. If kids don’t react correctly when police officers come, it leads to tough decisions for the officers.

“We don’t have time to Minors (under 18 years of determine what type of gun age) must NEVER use guns, or it is,” Robbins said. “When airsoft guns, without active, immediate someone points the barrel adult supervision. of any type of a gun at you, you aren’t going Never carry or use your airsoft gun in a public to worry about what place where it may be mistaken to be a real caliber it is.” firearm. Brandishing a soft air gun in public may When the police get a gun related call, they be illegal, a crime, and is dangerous, and may be have to act immediately harmful or fatal. and decisively, especially when the gun is pointed Never alter the color of any gun, or any at them.

tha

lud

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ton

Gun Safety

part of any gun, including airsoft guns in any way. Doing so may be against Federal and State Law, and punishable as a crime.

Carnation Sales Senior Class DVD

Winter Musical

In the process of putting together the Class of 2006 DVD senior parents are being asked to submit one photograph of their child that they want to be included in the DVD. The photograph may be from any age.

Please label the back of the photograph with the student’s name and place it in an envelope in Mrs. Sieck’s mailbox in the school office no later than Feb. 3. This photograph will not be returned. Later in the school year students will have the opportunity to submit other photographs.

East theater will be presenting the musical Grease. It will be performed on Feb. 2-4. There will be a 7 p.m. show each might and a matinee is scheduled for Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. The performance will be in the Dan Zollars Auditorium.

Tickets are $7. East students who have purchased an activity tickets will receive one complementary ticket. Tickets will be on sale on the north ramp during lunch from Jan. 3 to Feb. 3 and may also be purchased prior to the shows.

The annual Love Fund carnation sale in taking place on Jan. 25, 26 and 27. Carnations will be $1 per carnation. Order forms are available in the January newsletter and in the office. Turn money and forms in to the PTA box in the office or on the north ramp during lunch on Jan. 25-27. Recipients will be notified on Feb. 10 and can pick up their carnations on Feb. 14. The Love Fund is used to assist qualifying SME students and families with some financial assistance.

Late Start There will be a late start for students on Feb. 7. The faculty and staff will spend the morning in staff development sessions.

Classes for students will begin at 9:40 a.m.

Finding the answers

issue 9 / january 19, 2005 / opinion / page 3

meaning of life not found on internet

an opinion of amanda allison If I were to take literally the results of my Googling “What is the meaning of life???” I would need to combine a Monty Python film, the Dahli Lama and the number 42 (I was thinking more like 36, but whatev).

A few weeks back, I had a huge fight with my mom about….well, I don’t remember. I am a teenager. Random spurts of crying and ‘an attitude’ are part of my job description. Anyway, I was sitting on my bed, my glasses foggy with plump tears, and I felt absolutely powerless over anything and everything in my life.

This feeling of immense dread had taken hold of me, digging and prodding its way into my mind. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or what type of person I was to become.

But my computer sat on my desk in front of me, staring at me. Laughing at me. Beckoning me to get online and search for some way to deal with what I was feeling. It wasn’t that I wanted to talk to someone or get others’ feedback, it was that I just didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to analyze or sort through my actions that had therefore led to my emotions.

As I sat there on my bed, staring down my paradigm of a computer, I felt immensely ridiculous. At the age of 16, as a junior in high school, as an editor of the newspaper, as a salesperson at Rainy Day Books, as someone who had protested the creation of an anti-gay marriage amendment and as someone who would someday like to live independently of my mother and dog, I do not possess the capability to think for myself.

And I am not alone.

I have grown up, as our whole generation has, with computers serving the purpose of dictionary, stereo, atlas,

newspaper and worse… brain?

Computers have become a crutch to be used in moments of intense laziness and supreme confusion.

Taking apart my computer and staring across the vast landscape of infinitesimal chips would not provide me with concrete opinions, and, I am going to assume, nothing that resembles common sense.

Instead, us members of the “Millenial” generation, aka computer-dependents, obtain, and thrive on, partially to fully false information (anyone can put up a webpage, my teachers remind me), but the fact that the information is FAST, READILLY AVAILABLE and FREE (!) makes it all good to us friends of computers.

We have stopped questioning information and take everything we find online to be the truth and nothing but the truth.

Too bad I am just now realizing that.

The computer has thus far served me, in my technology ridden lifetime, with what appear to be simple prompts and suggestions about what to think. The problem is, I have taken those suggestions and online columns and Wikipedia results and molded them into my brain’s (small) crevices; I have casually adopted them, made them mine, and not even thought to actually, what is the word…think, about them. They are simply more results from another search engine, typed hastily as I scramble to find out all of the world’s secrets.

The fight with my mother and the resulting hour-long

emoing out rudely awakened me into adulthood and the concept of thinking for myself. Of developing opinions based on analysis and research. Of actually attempting to use my brain, not a mouse.

Part of this adulthood that we are all speeding towards is filled with jobs, responsibility and independence. We have to learn now to not be afraid of the concept of being, and most importantly, thinking, alone and without Jeeves.

Like, a Nightmare

American teens have to rethink their dependence on the word “like” an opinion of ronan mcghie

language; as time changes, so do they. In an age characterized by television, instant messaging, and e-mail, crude language has become acceptable; abbreviations and Like. It’s a simple, one syllable word, and seems harmless. misspellings have not only become tolerated, but celebrated. Our generation has changed Over the course of the last couple of years it has grown into a the language more drastically than our hippie ancestors did with “man” and “cool” and we monster. “Like” is the new are arguably the best-educated generation since.

Subconsciously, we realize that spoken language is “um.” The word can be heard So, limited. Words cannot always fully capture a description in almost any conversation like this one day, or action so we use the seemingly senseless metaphor, involving anyone under 25. like, I was at like the mall and So, like, I saw like this cat and it was “like.”

It is found littered throughout like so weird. Like what’s a cat yesterday I saw a guy skateboarding doing at the mall the teenage lexicon. Used with “so” and “yeah”, it forms For example: “She was, like, running.” We understand and like he totally anyway?

So I wiped out dude I was all like, the universal rejoinder “so, like yeah.” that phrase doesn’t give justice to the running she like Man you should have like worn a helmet was doing: her stride, the look on her face, the heavy At a school with exemplary test scores, known for the or something because his face looked like the breathing and small subtle visual details so we use like quality of education, it is surprising that students use as a disclaimer. The running was like nothing but we “like” so regularly. In the required four years of English, still feel the need to make the comparison. sentences are dissected like rats, grammar rules are ingrained and countless books are read but the use of We are a nation known by the rest of the world by our President with a Texas twang. When our figurehead the word “like” still increases. is known for his inarticulation and blatant grammar But gone are the days where the average “like” user mistakes, it’s hard for the rest of the nation to take was a teenage girl, gossiping with her girlfriends about speech seriously. “she was like” and “so then I was like.” Now it seems that nearly everyone saying it, myself included.

Like many drugs, it is habit forming, causes Many students don’t realize that they use it so headaches, may cause an inability to operate machinery and intervention seems to be the best way to stop usage. frequently and that it is even a problem. When faced art by sara mcelhaney Greater attention and more, like emphasis needs with an oral presentation, some students find they are to be called to our speaking habits. In a world were incapable of speaking with out using “like.” Difficulty giving oral presentations isn’t the only change English teachers have been noticing in the presentation is key, they way we speak is a crucial skill. It is how, like intelligence and classrooms. competence is judged, and the intercalary use of words could like, close many windows of, Punctuation, grammar, handwriting-- none have been spared in the reformation of like, opportunities.

page 4 / editorial / the harbinger

worth the inconvenience the harbinger

MAP tests offer advantages which outweigh the burdens placed on students and staff

The MAP tests that freshman and sophomores about having MAP testing three times a year. This will have had to take during the past couple weeks are an measure students’ progress throughout the school year. effective new way of examination. They are a much This will also determine whether the MAP tests are in fact more innovative approach towards standardized testing effective in increasing the academic progress of students. than the ITEDs, which they are replacing. They have Now that the MAP will replace the ITEDs, only an easy-to-follow setup, provide quick results, adapt freshmen and sophomores will be required to take the to students’ abilities, and monitor students’ progress tests. Unlike with the ITEDs, the seniors will not need to along the way. Though schedules have been altered take the test. Having one less test to worry about, they on test days, the MAP is still a welcome replacement can shift their focus to critical things like preparing for of what is usually an unwelcome examination. college and more important examinations. Seniors do The MAP test, which is taken by clicking answers not need to have their academic progress measured; they to 50 questions on a computer screen, is much more are almost done with high school. They have been taking comfortable than filling out hundreds tests for the past three years, such as of bubbles with a number 2 pencil. the Kansas Assessments, SATs, ACTs, On the MAP, each question is there and the whole No Child Left Behind to measure the student’s academic deal. If they are planning on going Although the new MAP tests level, and as one answers a question to college, then seniors have already present widespread schedulright, a more difficult question either sent out their applications or ing complications, they offer appears. This helps to determine are in the process of doing so. They a much-needed alternative whether the test-taker needs “extra don’t need any “extra help,” as it to the outdated ITEDS. help” to meet national requirements will really not aid them at this stage. in a certain subject. It also finds out One problem that people speak what level he is at in that subject. about is the scheduling. Although this Once a student finishes taking seems inconvenient to some teachers the MAP test, his score pops up and students, it is not a permanent on the screen. This score is just a replacement. One of the reasons number that might not mean much, for such scheduling is that for some but within 24 hours a printout is students it takes more than a class produced with the test taker’s score period to finish the test. Thus, a longer and level. Individualized score testing hour provides enough time for 2 absent reports are provided for students, everyone to complete testing. Also, in while class reports are provided for order to set up the tests, the teachers teachers and administrators. The have to go through a complicated individual reports are different from the ITED personal procedure on the computers. This in itself takes a long score reports, as these are much more detailed and time, and therefore the current schedule accommodates specific. MAP score reports list specific areas that the that. However, an administrator says that they will student is good at or needs help in, as opposed to the consider different scheduling options for future tests.

ITEDs, which only give the student a composite score The ITEDs effective once, but now they are and percentile. These results come in much quicker out of date. With the new MAP test, we have an than those to the ITEDs, which can take months to improved system of measuring students’ progress come in, making for anxious students and school that overshadows past attempts for testing. officials. Which means, in the words of Assistant Principal Mike Wolgast, “the ITEDs are out of date.”

The district administration is currently thinking

the issue

verdict

7 2

editorial cartoon

a publication of shawnee mission east high school 7500 mission road, prarie village, kansas 66208 january 23rd, 2006 issue 9, volume 52 editor-in-chief annie fuhrman asst. editors amanda allison evan favreau art & design editor ian mcfarland head copy editor bryan dykman news editor sara steinwart news page editor melissa lem opinion page editors thomas braslavsky clare jordan editorial editor foster tidwell features editor ellie weed features page editors katie jones christy beeder center spread editor laura nelson center spread asst. editor michelle sprehe mixed editor libby nachman a&e editor derek martin

page editors ally heisdorffer rachel mayfield photo editor linda howard assistant photo editor samantha ludington ads / buisness managers kristen crawford kevin grunwald vanessa legat circulation manager davin phillips copy editors amanda allison bryan dykman evan favreau annie fuhrman hallie mccormick laura nelson staff writers paige cornwell joe demarco clark goble tom grotewohl ronan mcghie stephen nichols meg shackleford adrienne wood photographers karen boomer katie james frances lafferty kelsey stabenow katie woods adviser dow tate

a&e page editors joey soptic ruth stark sports editor peter goehausen sports page editors jayne shelton ben whitsitt

by ren li

Letters to the editor should be sent to room 521 or smeharbinger@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel and mechanics and accepted or rejected at the editor’s discretion.

The Harbinger is a student run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the shawnee mission east or smsd faculty, or administration.

newculture Sisters visit Pakistani homeland

by paige cornwell Freshman Audrey Wadood and her sister, senior Laura, knew that this flight would be different from any other flight they had been on before. This flight, leaving from England, would be over eight hours long and take them to a place they had never been before. They sat down and looked around.

Every passenger on the plane was wearing traditional Islamic clothing and the women had their heads covered.

They were headed to Pakistan.

The Wadood sisters and their father Umar Wadood flew to Pakistan on December 17 and returned on January 6,. After arriving in Islamabad, in the northeast part of Pakistan, they were greeted by their father Umar’s brother and sister-in-law, whom they had only heard stories about.

Laura and Audrey would end up meeting five new aunts and uncles and 22 cousins.

Umar Wadood had always wanted to take his daughters to Pakistan, but their mother, who is now deceased, felt that it wasn’t safe.

“There is always something going on in the Middle East, you always hear about some earthquake, shooting or bombing and all that so she felt that it wasn’t safe,” Laura said.

Because of this, Audrey originally felt scared for what would come when her father told her of his plans during the summer.

“I didn’t want to go just because I hate flying, and I knew that my mom wouldn’t have wanted us to go, but my dad really wanted to go and he is from there so I was just like whatever,” Audrey said. “When he told me I was like, wow, it is finally happening, because I never thought that we would actually go.”

Although there was an official United States Department of State advisory, which stated that American travelers should take precaution when traveling to Pakistan due to ongoing security concerns about terrorists, Umar felt that going on the trip now was a must.

issue 9 / january 23 / features / page 5 “I wanted to see my family, [who] hadn’t seen in over six years,” Wadood said. “I felt that it was safe since I am Pakistani.”

Their family members are considered wealthy by Pakistani standards, which allows them to live with the luxury of having a chef and servants. A brick wall with gatekeepers separates the wealthy neighborhoods from the poor.

“My dad didn’t really give us a complete heads up on what Pakistan would look like so I thought it was like deserts and my dad had told me that it was green and when we got there it wasn’t really desert or green,” Audrey said.

“But it definitely isn’t like what you see on television where everything is completely desert. And my dad had always told me about how they lived so I wasn’t surprised by the large houses and all that.”

But not even a brick wall could hide the evidence from the destruction of the October earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan where the death toll has reached 79,000 and three million people have been left homeless. Driving through the mountains on the hour and a half journey to get to Peshawar, the town where they were staying, they saw trucks carrying blankets and other supplies for the victims to the worst hit valleys.

“The only bad thing that happened to our family was there was damage across the street from my cousin’s college, but that’s it,” Laura said. “And there wasn’t any earthquakes while we were there, luckily.”

A normal day would start off at 8:30 in the morning when Laura and Audrey would wake up and get dressed before the cook would come and bring them eggs. They then would go to do what they wanted until lunch was served at 2. Their cousins would start arriving from school at 2:30, so Laura and Audrey would talk to them until dinner was served at 9.

Laura and Audrey soon became aware of the many differences between her family at home and her extended family. They felt that the biggest difference was between her teenage life and their cousins’.

“I would ask them what they were planning to do for the weekend, and they would tell me that they were just planning on chilling in their house, not going anywhere, because there isn’t much to do and they told me that since

they see their friends during school they didn’t need to see them outside of school,” Audrey said.“They acted really smart and professional.”

The religious and language differences were apparent, too. Their Pakistani family is Muslim, while Laura and Audrey are Christian. One of their cousins felt that they should be Muslim, too.

“She would always say that because they are Muslim I should just convert,” Audrey said. “And they told me that I should do this, I should do that, she would tell me all the time that I should read the Koran, but I don’t think I will because I am fine the way I am.”

Laura and Audrey also had to wear the traditional attire, which was a shalwar kamis outfit consisting of loose fitting pants and a long shirt. Their grandfather, a strict Muslim who had strong views on modesty, found all American clothes unacceptable.

“When we were waking up and going to bed we had to change in and out of our regular clothes really fast because if my grandfather saw them he would go crazy,” Audrey said.

And while most of her family members knew how to speak English from learning it in school, their first language is Pukshto, which Laura and Audrey don’t speak.

“They would speak English when they would talk to me, but every other time they would speak their language, so my sister and I kind of stood there; it was really weird just because almost everyone except us spoke two languages, my cousin who is seven can even speak three,” Laura said.

Laura and Audrey also got to attend their second cousin’s traditional Pakistani wedding.

“It was so different from an American wedding, the bride can’t even talk for the whole thing!” Laura said. “And there were all these colorful outfits and singing and dancing. It was completely different and fun.”

Despite the differences, Laura and Audrey still felt a connection with their Pakistani family.

“I really liked them. At times they got annoying because they were too nice, since they don’t really get visitors. If you think of vacation probably the last place you think of is Pakistan,” Audrey said. “So they would always ask us if we were okay or if we were hungry, but when we were leaving I was crying.”

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G R E A S E

emily

cray

best

The summer before sophomore Emily Cray’s freshman year was spent redecorating her room. The Cray family had purchased the home when Emily was in second grade, but she hadn’t changed the style of the room until the summer of 2004. Cray wanted to change the “little girl” style of her room into something more mature to fit her better.

Cray began looking for ideas to redecorate her bedroom during her whole eighth grade year. Finally, she found her inspiration from Pottery Barn’s teen line in the PB Teen magazine. The bedspread she had found was bright and colorful striped with greens, pinks, and oranges. The sample bedroom in the magazine was what Cray played off of, making her room look similar to the one shown, but with a few of her own twists.

“The room they showed in the magazine was more classic,” Cray said. “I loved the bright colors and patterns, but I wanted my room to be more vintage.”

From there, Cray decided to paint her room the same green that was in the bedspread and her bathroom, a pink that matched as well. The hardest project for Cray was painting the walls. She and her family made six trips to the paint store choosing and improving the bright green color, which now covers her walls.

Cray shows her love for vintage accessories with two colorful beaded lamps in her room as well as three tin lunchboxes and old posters.

The decorations on Cray’s walls show her love for music. Old records hang by her bed, and an original poster of The Beatles from the inside of their White Album record hangs framed on Cray’s wall.

“I really like The Beatles and not a lot of people my age like the old stuff anymore,” Cray said. “Not everyone else has a passion for old rock.”

Several of her vintage purchases remind her of family vacations. An old Vanguard Airlines advertisement hangs beside her bed, which was retrieved from an aircraft auction in Paris by her father. The Marilyn Monroe lunchbox was purchased while she was in Las Vegas. A Rosie the Riveter lunchbox was a souvenir from Washington DC. Her Betty Boop lunchbox was a prize won by her younger brother at Skate World. A poster of Hawaii also hangs in her room along with a self-portrait that was drawn in Paris.

Cray’s photos that surround the room are her favorite accessories.

“Everyone has different friends and different good experiences. It’s nice to be reminded of them,” Cray said.

Pictures of her friends and family are in picture frames all over the room. She has also created a mural of photographs on a bulletin board behind her desk. Pictures of the varsity drill team, which Cray is a member of, are also scattered throughout the room as well as a team picture on a pillow, a gift from the captains, which is located on top of the pile of pillows on her bed.

From bright colors, to floral patterns, and several pictures of friends, Cray has decorated a room to match her personality which makes her feel right at home in the place where she spends most of her time.

Coordinated: Cray’s room is all made to match the colors of her comforter.

by ally heisdorffer

bedrooms

page 6 / features / the harbinger by ally heisdorffer

kylie

scovell

Senior Kylie Scovell stands in her bedroom with a concentrated look on her face. She’s trying to find a spot to place her recently purchased antique scale. Scovell’s scale collection has increased steadily over the past six months and now there are so many that you can find at least one strategically placed on each of her dressers and antique tables.

The Scovell family started the renovation on their home three years ago. Her father is the founder of a Mission Hills remodeling company called Scovell-Wolfe Remodeling and his interest in remodeling lead his family to purchase their current home for the sole purpose of renovating it. Besides decorating her own room, Scovell has also decorated the guest bedroom and her sewing room.

Scovell’s bedroom is what she would classify as “shabby chic.”

“I always wanted a room that was comfortable, inviting and homey,” Scovell said. “Everything is usable and accessible, and I really like that.”

Before her family purchased the house, Scovell had only made quilts and knew some basics on how to sew. Most of her sewing knowledge was self-taught and inspired by taking a FACS class at Indian Hills. When she was 13, her parents bought her a sewing machine for Christmas and she began experimenting, making curtains, pillows and bedspreads of her own.

Scovell tends to be fascinated mainly with antiques to decorate her room. She and her mother make trips to antique stores several times a year.

“All antiques have a story behind them,” Scovell said. “I didn’t buy it at Pottery Barn, but it was actually in use. It was a part of someone’s life. I always wonder what it looked like when people were using a hundred years ago.”

Her purchases range in price varying from a $15 antique bed-side table to a $2,000 wood dresser. She is able to buy most of her own fabrics, accessories and furniture on her own due to an after-school babysitting job which includes cooking dinner, cleaning and helping out with a carpool. Besides all of the purchases she makes for her own room, she also has rented out storage space to keep several other antique pieces that she wants to keep to decorate her own home.

Recently, Scovell has spent time making her room look more “grown up.” Before Scovell painted the room a dark tan and tried to emphasize original wood rather than white antiques, her room was more girly and soft. She decided to make this change after her boyfriend who lives in Springfield, Missouri saw it for the first time and said it looked like a nursery. After identifying what accessories made the room look young, she got rid of them and began to change the style of her room once again.

Scovell has arranged and rearranged so many times that she doesn’t remember what it looked like to begin with. Her bedspread, which she made herself, was not the original one she had created. After spending several hours and days creating her original comforter, she got sick of looking at it and decided to make a whole new one. The finished product has hand-woven pink chenille material on the bottom that she purchased when she was 15 with all of her babysitting money for $300. The floral sheet on top was something she found on Ebay for a much cheaper price.

Although the bedroom has the impression of being a completed project, Scovell will never be satisfied.

“Instead of walking into my room and thinking, ‘Wow look at all the things that I made,’ I just think of more ways to rearrange and add more items or use what I have,” Scovell said. “I move something around every day.”

photos taken by Kelsey Stabenow

so you want to learn to

sew

Best places in Kansas City to get sewing supplies: JoAnn Superstore 11401 Metcalf

For class schedules and supply information, go to www.joann.com

Harper’s Fabric Co. 7918 Santa Fe For class information and schedules, call (913)648-2739

The Studio 1121 W. 47th St.

For class information and schedules, call (816)531-4466

Bedside: Scovell’s room has antique style furniture and handmade accessories.

issue 9 / january 23, 2006 / feature / page 7

Classroom

photo illustration by samantha ludington

Confusion Confu Substitute teachers affect the way kids learn

by derek martin As then freshman Nick Boehm sat on the first day of second semester English he saw a new face in front of him. It was that of his long-term sub, she’d be with his class for the rest of the semester. Everything seemed normal enough until the teacher posed a question to the class for discussion. Boehm claims that discussion was almost non-existent first semester, “It was pretty much all reading,” he said. This new sub was changing the rules and changing the way things were done. Subs across the district do this every day and in long-term assignments they’re forced to help students learn large pieces of the curriculum.

When science teacher Ron Puls knows in advance that he will need a sub, he prepares a lesson plan and requests a science sub. He says most of his lectures have been transferred to Word documents with visuals and videos included, so the sub is able to teach the curriculum for that day. In situations with afewer than a day of notice though, he says an entire day of learning can be lost.

On any given day around 10 percent of America’s classrooms are led by substitute teachers. This may not seem like a staggering statistic, but in the time between kindergarten and graduation, one out of every ten days will be taught by someone other than the regular teacher, meaning the potential for these “lost days” to occur is quite often. With auto-tech teacher Jim Dienesen and sophomore English teacher Yolande Mountjoy both taking extended absence due to surgery, at least two long-term subs will be making East there home for the next few weeks.

According to Boehm, while his sub did things differently, it wasn’t necessarily better.

“Freshman year I had a long-term sub in English and I didn’t really learn too much, there were really vague lesson plans and it seemed like the teacher winged most of it,” Boehm said. “You also just get a different atmosphere, the sub doesn’t have the same perspective as the regular teacher.”

Sandra House, a regular East substitute, says that the standard procedure as far as lesson plans go is that teachers either leave them for the sub, or if very short notice will record them on the automated service that ubs use to find classrooms. This may work for one or two day

assignments, but when the situation is long-term how do subs handle the situation?

House said that in her long-term substitute stint she sought the help of one of the regular teachers to help develop lesson plans and figure out what the students had already covered.

Like other substitutes, House, is only required to have certification at some level in any subject area, meaning that although she’s only certified in English and Social Studies, she can teach any subject at any level of education. This minimal requirement leads to teachers who specialize in one subject, essentially baby sitting another class because of their lack of knowledge in that subject area.

For core subject teachers a substitute who specializes in their subject may be relatively easy to find, but for those who teach electives finding a sub can be a bit more of a hassle.

“You can’t get Latin subs,” Latin teacher Dr. Anathasia Worley said, “if you leave a lesson plan it takes work and then you spend time ‘fixing’ that [what the students have learned in the teacher’s absence].”

A video is usually shown on days when Dr. Worley is absent.

This time lost is magnified when a long-term sub is present. According to Calculus teacher Dan Gruman, while most of his students that have had long-term subs are doing fine, it usually poses difficulties such as some students being behind or lost because the sub didn’t teach the material effectively.

According to sophomore Steven Van Auken, this isn’t having much effect on the students in Mountjoy’s class.

“Mrs. Mountjoy’s sub, Ms. White, is an English teacher so she’s been able to teach us the material,” Van Auken said. Right now the class is working on Shakespeare and Ms. White has been teaching the unit from the beginning.

“It hasn’t really been much different, we’re still learning the same material,” Van Auken said, “I really don’t think we’re missing out on learning or anything.”

Dienesen’s sub, Ron Ray, while not an auto tech teacher, knows his way around a car; he’s subbed for Mr. Dienesen before. According to Boehm they’ll be doing a lot of work out of the book, but still working on cars.

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page 8 / spread / the harbinger

Angelo Cocolis

dabbled in many fields to support his family

by ben whitsitt From starting out thinking he was going to be a gourmet chef and open a restaurant to selling insurance, and managing many odd-jobs, Dr. Angelo Cocolis’ career has been a work in progress.

His fantasy job was to be a cook, but after high school Cocolis took a different approach. He decided to enter the business world. He went from Stamford, Conn. to Washburn University in Topeka to major in business.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at that point,” Cocolis said. “Teaching was probably the last thing on my mind.”

With four years of college under his belt, Cocolis was persuaded into selling life insurance, but after six months decided it was time to quit.

After being coaxed into the world of sales, the Vietnam War took Cocolis to the army reserve at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas. While there, he went through basic training, and that’s about it.

It was at this point that Cocolis decided to teach, but that required a teaching certificate. While heading back to Washburn to get his teaching certificate, Cocolis was also offered a job as assistant coach for the football team.

The head coach at the time, Bud Elliot, knew Cocolis had played in college and thought the job might help him out financially.

“I loved coaching football. Nobody works harder than coaches and everyone enjoys being around them,” Cocolis said.

While student teaching at Topeka West, Cocolis found his calling.

“I enjoyed coaching and student teaching at Topeka West. I had a class for three months and they were great. I wanted to keep teaching after that,” Cocolis said.

Then Cocolis took a road trip to Conn. The head football coach at Stamford offered Cocolis a job to teach at his old high school. During a one-year period at Stamford, Cocolis held down four jobs trying to support his newly born child, Alexa, and his wife, Sara. He was the head coach of football and track, a waiter at night and a house painter and local country club worker during the summer.

Five years and two new additions to the family later, Cocolis became the head coach of football, track and wrestling at Brookfield high school in Conn. There was no pay upgrade, so he still had to work as a waiter. After nine years working at the same restaurant, all his customers knew him as “Coach.”

“I actually made more money as a waiter than I did teaching, if that tells you anything about how much teachers get

paid,” Cocolis said.

Cocolis was not making enough, though. All his jobs could not support his life on the east coast, so he began to look for a way out.

Back in Topeka, Cocolis’ mother-in-law was working at Topeka High and told her sonin-law about a job opening at the school.

From there, Cocolis’ career was set, but there was one more stop in his life: here at Shawnee Mission East, ten years ago.

For some, the amount of jobs Cocolis had would come with an enormous amount of stress, but to Cocolis, it was just a necessity to support his family.

“Every job has helped out with my current job. You could do every job in the world and some job will help you with your current job,” Cocolis said.

His life has been a roller coaster full of ups and downs but luckily, he can’t remember most of downs.

“If you asked me 15 years ago what I wanted to do with my life, I’d tell you I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I enjoy what I do now,” Cocolis said.

the

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issue 9 / january 23, 2006 / spread / page 9

hn Nickels by michelle sprehe

mentary school, social studies er John Nickels spent his e going door-to-door selling oughnuts. But when he realized hat he could not make a career off of his first job, he found many other diverse jobs.

“I had a problem. I kept eating half of my stock,” Nickels said. “Hey, they were good!”

From there, Nickels went on selling shoes, working on a lroad, being a camp counselor d - oh, yeah - working for NASA. During the summer of 1963, in between his junior and senior

worked at NASA as a computer system tester year at KU, Nickels wrote a letter to NASA, hoping to get a job there.

“I would have been happy just sweeping the floors,” Nickels said. “Exciting things were happening down there and I wanted to be involved in them.”

At the time, Nickels was working on a degree in computer programming. NASA had him take a computer crash course, in which he received a 99.67 percent.

“They [NASA] freaked out and offered me a job,” Nickels said.

Nickels lived in an apartment in Cape Canaveral, Fla. with 10 other college-aged NASA employees.

They spent their mornings taking a computer class and their afternoons trying to “screw up” NASA’s computers.

“That was our job. We had to do anything we could think of to screw up the computers by giving it impossible situations, such as dividing by zero,”

“After JFK died, NASA stopped hiring people, so I had to find something else to do,” Nickels said.

“That’s when I chose teaching.”

Nickels prefers humans to machines because he says humans are more interesting, they have emotions and are not robotic.

Nickels went back to school and then began teaching at Indian Hills, where he taught for 21 years.

After he taught at Indian Hills, Nickels came to East and has been here for 20 years.

“NASA called me when I was in school and wanted me to come back, but I declined,” Nickels said. “My mother always told me I made the wrong choice because I could have made more money at NASA, but I prefer humans to computers.”

Chuck Crawford worked in Osawattamie mental hospital by tom grotewohl

High school students and the mentally insane have a lot in common. They both come in a wide range of personalities, each with their own quirks and nuances. Both are desperately trying to fit in with the world around them, which can often times be quite scary.

And, as jewelry teacher Chuck Crawford put it, “Both teach you how to keep track of your keys.”

Crawford has worked with both groups of people. He knew he wanted to be a teacher from a young age, and so he set out to attain the necessary skills for the job. He began volunteering at the Osawattamie M e n t a l H e a l t h

experience

son Filbeck was a caricae artist at Worlds of Fun d got into any amusement rk in America for free, cept for Disney World . also still does caricature gs.

Nickels said.

“And if we succeeded, then they would fix the problem before they launched the space craft.”

The memory in the computers that that Nickels used was the size of a Kleenex box and it only held 16 kilobytes which isn’t much compared to computer memory now.

“At the time, we were so proud of the memory capacity,” Nickels said. “But it seems crazy compared to computers now.”

Sometimes, Nickels and the other students were allowed to take off and explore Cape Canaveral.

“Anywhere they would let us go, we went,” Nickels said. “We explored launch pads, and then at night, we would sit out on the beach outside our place and watch night launches. It was a great lifestyle.”

After the summer ended, Nickels went back to school at the University of Kansas for his senior year. Then, in May of 1964, he wanted to go back and work for NASA but there was a “freeze” on hiring.

Hospital in high school “in search of people skills” where he was introduced to the most eccentric group he could have ever wished for.

“There were people there with all kinds of mental disorders from all over the spectrum,” said Crawford, who mainly worked with the patients of the locked wards. “Most had some type of schizophrenia, but I also worked with the adult alcoholic unit and teenage drug addicts.”

At the ward, where he soon acquired a paying job in college, Crawford worked primarily in recreational therapy. Though his main duty was as a lifeguard over the patients in their awkward “state-issued, one-size-fits-all swimsuits” at the hospital pool, he was also responsible for escorting the patients on various field trips.

“They loved going camping more than anything,” Crawford said. “We would pull in to the park at Lake Pomona in big mental hospital trucks and 60 guys would leap out, all zonked out on medication, yelling and screaming because they hadn’t seen the light of day in so long. This was all right in front of the families who came just to sit back and relax, and by now they were getting pretty freaked out. When we arrived, the park would be about three-fourths of the way full, but by dinner time it was nearly empty.”

Crawford recollected the camping experiences fondly. It was times like these that allowed him to bond with his patients, many of whom had charming

personalities.

“There was this one huge guy who would always have the most enormous breakfasts,” Crawford recalled. “On the camping trips he’d have two loaves of bread, a dozen eggs, pounds of bacon... and he’d pretend like it was nothing out of the ordinary. You could tell these trips meant a lot to the guys because they’d been locked up for so long, and it was finally a chance to go out and have some fun.”

Whether it was his relationships with the patients or his improved ability to communicate with unique personalities, Crawford soon found the people skills he was looking for. He frequently worked in one-onone situations with the patients, oftentimes teaching them using his own favorite pastime, art.

“I could tell that the little ceramic bowls and paintings that they made really meant something to them,” Crawford said. “The patients needed instant gratification to boost their self-esteem, and so projects like this were a huge help.”

After a couple summers, Crawford left the Osawattamie to pursue his dream of teaching. But while his experiences at the hospital may have been many years ago, they are times that he will never forget.

“I learned some of the biggest lessons of my life there,” Crawford said. “But after working with the insane, teaching high school is a whole new challenge.”

Crawford, Nickels and Cocolis aren’t the only staff members who have done other things.

Jonathan Lane built cars in the Fairfax plant for General Motors, where he was a welder. Though the welding job paid well, he gave it up to become a teacher.

Karen Pearson studied in France and harvested grapes for a small family vintner in Alsace in the fall of ‘86, where she learned a little about wine-making.

Kevin Still taught in China for two years and almost died from eating dumplings made of donkey meat.

photos by katie woods, katie james and samantha ludington

page 10 / a&e / the harbinger

Prospero’s books prosper East graduate’s eclectic bookstore features ‘taste of true literature’ by adrienne wood 1980 East graduate Will Leathem opened a bookstore to save his soul. “[For] the desire to make our world better,” Leathem said.

“To not let bad things off the hook, and to make sure that the good in this time and place is recorded and celebrated.”

Since its beginning in 1997, Prospero’s Bookstore has hosted poetry readings, book signings, musicians, art shows and political meetings for groups such as Green and Libertarian Parties.

On the corner of 39th Street and Bell, across from d’Bronx and Freak’s Tattoo and Piercing, rests a 110-year-old brick building. Lost dog signs, sheets poetry and colorful ads plaster the window looking into Prospero’s.

50,000 used books, on everything from witchcraft to World War II, line the shelves and rafters of the three floors.

Piles of organic coffee bags and local poetry books beckon from the counter.

“This is a taste of what literature is supposed to be,” Leathem said. “A touch of anglophile erudition mingled with a little beat of rebellion and rolled up into a love of life.”

Beyond the creaky rolling ladder, dusty book covers and eclectic collections of artwork lies a world of culture.

The Pit, sponsored by Prospero’s and held by the Plaza Library, invites undiscovered poets and writers to step up to the open mic every second Thursday from 7-9 p.m. “[We have] some of the wildest readings in the region,” Leathem said. “We publish edgier poets and sponsor KC writers.”

Prospero’s encourages everyone, including high school students, to speak at the poetry readings.

“Younger artists have yet to have the life knocked out of them by people telling them how to write,” Leathem said.

“Our readings are for everyone—and everyone seems to attend.”

In the back corner of the new Plaza Library, surrounded by wall-length windows overlooking the Plaza lights, a large group of poets and poetry lovers listen to a man’s enthusiastic political verses. Rasta dreadlocks blend with bling, hornrimmed glasses and berets as the poets wander through the audience, pounding their fists and screaming with emotion.

Leathem also invites musicians of all ages, including East students, to sing and gain publicity three weekend nights a month.

“We offer our space to many younger performers,” Leathem said. “I love listening to all the new material this city is generating.”

Prospective bands and songwriters are welcome to call Leathem to book a time slot.

“I’ve even had people bring their guitars into the store to audition,” Leathem said.

Along with poets and musicians, Leathem has supported

Prospero’s books: Rows and rows of books make up Leathem’s second hand book store. photo by linda howard

local writers for three years with his small publishing company, Unholy Day Press. He has published 27 poetry “chapbooks” (small paperbacks) and seven full-length books.

And for the artistically inclined, every third Friday Prospero’s hosts the 39th Street Artwalk, in which six venues feature budding local painters, sculptors and photographers.

Leathem encourages students to get involved with Prospero’s—to read poetry, audition their bands, attend art shows or buy books.

“Youth is a time of vibrancy,” Leathem said. “An energy sometimes forgotten as individuals get older.”

But for the owners of Prospero’s, it all comes down to keeping the arts alive.

“No froofy, lace-doily literature,” Leathem said. “To speak to today’s audiences, today’s literature needs to be alive, full of itself, maybe with a little dirt under its fingernails.”

issue 9 / january 23, 2006 / mixed / page 11

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whitney van way

page 12 / a&e / the harbinger

gay.love.sex.straight.homosexual.controversy.gay.love.sex.straight.homosex ual.controversy.gay.These words aren’t funny.love.sex.straight.homosexual. controversy.gay.love.sex.straight.homosexual.controversy.gay.love.sex.straig ht.homosexual.New movie lifts veil of humor from homosexuality.controversy .gay.love.sex.straight.homosexual.controversy.gay.love.sex.straight.homosex ual.controversy.gay.love.sex.straight.homosexual.controversy.gay.love.sex.st by cay fogel After the break, a teacher was catching his students up on what he’d been doing over his vacation. He mentioned that he’d seen a few movies.

“King Kong,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Brokeback Mountain.” Directly after the word “mountain,” 3/4 of the students in the room broke into giggling.

Because being gay is funny. Of course it’s not, but late night talk show hosts and teenage insecurities say different.

The movie has made buzz because it is a gay love story (and because it’s very, very good), the likes of which have rarely been made before. But, as is true about most uncommon topics, the reaction is laughter. And that’s fine; there’s nothing wrong with laughing at something that’s funny. It becomes wrong only when we start to treat a whole community as a joke. Where is the line between making me feel more comfortable and making gay people feel stupid. At some point we’ve got to say, “No more jokes. This is something real, and I’m not going to hide from it by laughing or being uncomfortable.”

It’s too easy. It’s too cheap.

Just being gay shouldn’t be enough for a punch line. There should be no state of being that’s okay to laugh at.

Of course, it is a movie about fictional characters, so it’s okay to laugh when Jay Leno makes an amusing play on words with the title. It’s just a story, and the very worst thing that can happen to any community is to take itself too seriously. Media humor is all about making fun, and everybody has to take a little, and nobody is made of candy-glass.

But when the mockery begins to be about the idea of gay romance and not the awkward hilarity of this gay romance, that’s when a problem occurs.

I wonder if gay people begin to feel minimal, marginalized or made fun of by how flippantly the topic is thrown around for a laugh. After all, straight romance is the stuff of legends, of ballads, of operas and traditions. Gay romance is the stuff of awkwardness, of over-seriousness, of cheap, simple, base entertainment. It’s the joke that takes

no creativity to develop and yet will always get a laugh.

L aughing purely at the fact that a movie involves gay themes is the same thing as laughing at gay people.

Movi e s have been going the easy, cheap way with gay characters since anyone can remember, with rare exceptions.

One of the greatest things about this movie is that the gay people LOVE STORY: Actors Jake Gyllenhal and Heath Ledger portray a gay couple in rural Wyoming. in it are not funny, they are never sideshows or the sexless tag-alongs of romantic comedies. That’s the reason this movie takes us out of our comfort zone, these are the reasons you can’t say the title of the film without a joke ensuing.

“Brokeback Mountain,” despite its ubiquitous mockery, is a movie about humanity and loss and shrugging it off as a joke is a pedestrian reaction.

When you look beyond the outrageousness of the visuals and the immediate shock of the plot, it is a moving love story that meant a great deal to me, seeing it, and probably has an even greater impact on gay people, struggling to find art today that shows the dignity and majesty of their kind of love, which is no less dignified or majestic then anyone else’s kind.

with Derek Martin This week in CONTROVERSY...

A million little lies?

Junkie turned author James Frey, who penned the best -selling bio-pic ‘A Million Little Pieces’ came under fire last week over the legitimacy of his book. Hardened detectives sitting in front of computer screens eating pizza and sipping Bawls energy drink investigated Frey’s supposedly true account and published their findings on thesmokinggun.com. Apparently Frey was so messed up on various illegal substances he forgot that printing lies about public record was a stupid idea. Although thesmokinggun.com has found some information that Frey has, perhaps, exaggerated, Frey continues to stand LIES: James Frey’s by the verocity of his work, with support from everybody’s novel which has favorite talk-show host/magazine publisher/book club come under fire sponsoring/mulitimillionaire Oprah.

recently.

Angelina’s having Brad’s baby!

Famed Hollywood starlet and star of such movies as ‘Tomb Raider’ and ‘Girl Interrupted’ Angelina Jolie is pregnant for the first time after adopting two Cambodian children. This revelation of course flies in the face of previous Jolie-isms about how their are too many orphaned children in the world. Of course, if you were dating Brad Pitt, you’d have his child. You’d have his brother’s child if you thought there was a chance of bagging Brad for a lifetime. The happy couple celebrated the good news with a trip to the island paradise of Haiti (on some sort of “goodwill” mission.

Recent scenes of Port-au-prince, the capital, show that many of the bullet ridden buildings are beginning to be re-inhabited. Poverty has improved from horrible to bad, and the armed gangs only IT-COUPLE: Pitt and Jolie on the set of roam the streets at night. Have a good time Brangelina!

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

issue 9 / january 23, 2006 / a&e / page 13

a positive

‘First Impression’ The Strokes take a step in the right direction for rock ‘n’ roll by tom grotewohl Let’s be honest: the 21st century has not been kind to music. Year after year we are offered the bile the industry has crafted to cheat us out of our cash, and each time we are left with a sour taste in our mouths. That’s why in 2001, when The Strokes debuted with a halfway decent album that was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, they were hailed as the soon-to-be saviors of rock and roll. The album portrayed a young band fresh out of college bringing a much-needed exuberance to an otherwise stagnant genre.

Hype took its natural course, and increasingly great things were expected of the band. Their second LP “Room on Fire” was a good one, but it still did not tap into their true potential. Newest to the band’s arsenal is “First Impressions of Earth”, and Strokes fans everywhere are wondering if it’s the masterpiece they’ve all been waiting for.

It isn’t. But it is a damn fine album all the same.

“First Impressions” is by far the band’s most mature effort to date, and, while some of the youthful vigor is now absent, the album shows the quintet quickly becoming more familiar with their instruments. On their last two records the

The Strokes photo courtesy of RCA Records

band often came across as a gang of wild men desperately plucking at their guitars in an attempt to unlock the secrets inside, but now they have begun to actually demonstrate some technical prowess. From the very beginning of the album with “You Only Live Once”, the Strokes sound as tight as they have ever been.

Other standout tracks include the pop ballad “Razorblade” and Franz Ferdinand-esque “Ize of the World.”

The Strokes take each song in a completely different direction but are able to succeed with both. The former features some of the band’s catchiest guitar riffs yet, while the latter is an intricately woven quilt of pure awesomeness, complete with an epic chorus and surprise ending. While the fundamentals of the group are the same, we are listening to a much more experienced band.

Unfortunately, this newfound worldliness comes at a price, as calculation and precision are not always good things when it comes to the Strokes. Gone is the indie sloppiness that made them exciting to listen to in the first place. Where previously the band would have opted for apathetic guitar strumming and an off-kilter bass line, now each song sounds rigid and mechanical.

A prime example is “Vision of Division” – while it is one of the rockingest tracks the band has ever done, it lacks the spontaneity of earlier works like their breakthrough hit “Last Nite.” “Vision” sounds more like the highly planned product of a business meeting than a bunch of slightly liquored dudes getting together to tear their instruments apart.

In addition, some of the songs are just plain boring. “Ask Me Anything” features singer Julian Casablancas crooning over how he’s “got nothing to say” in an effort towards intimacy with his listeners. If he really had nothing to say then he ought not have said it at all and spared us this bore of a song. It even features some sort of revolting synthesized cello; and honestly, who listens to the Strokes for their elegant orchestration?

Luckily the Strokes are the Strokes all the same. The album, while flawed, is still so much better than most of the junk vomited upon us by the music industry in recent years.

While they have not yet succeeded in their assigned goal of saving rock ‘n’ roll, a genre that desperately needs saving, with “First Impressions of Earth,” they are on the right path.

GRADE: B-

YOUNG OR OLD, WE CENTER ON YOUR HEALTH Phone: 913-722-8200

6200 Martway • Mission, KS 66202 Fax: 913-722-8208 • web-site: www.missionks.org

page 14 / sports / the harbinger

Fighting Defeat

With high pre-season expectations, the Lancers four game losing streak has left them with something to prove by peter goehausen

Coming into this season, the Lancer boys basketball had a lot to look forward to: being the number one team in 6-A Kansas, in the Kansas City Star team Poll, in the Metro Sports poll and the pre-season favorite to win the Sunflower League.

All of that praise came before East lost by 20 to Raytown South and became victims of a four game losing streak.

The streak left them unranked, unproven and in doubt.

“Because of the high rankings, every team is playing their hardest,” head coach Shawn Hair said. “Every game is a big game for us.”

In the blowout loss to Raytown South, the Lancers allowed South senior guard Roderick Pearson to score 25 points. The majority of his points were off penetrating to the basket and not until East switched to a zone late in the second half they were able to contain him.

“During the losing streak, we’ve had a tough time stopping the dribble penetration,” junior guard Reid Robson said. “That has been one of our main areas of work during practice.”

The Lancers will have their first chance to see how well they can stop the penetration in this Friday’s game against cross-state rival Rockhurst. The Hawklets, who took East’s place as the number one team in both the KC Star and Metro Sports poll, are led by 6’6” junior guard Conner Teahan. East has beat Rockhurst the past two seasons, but this season the Hawklets, 14-1, will be the favored team as they will be some of the best competition East faces all season.

“This is probably the biggest game of the season,” junior guard Colin Hertel said. “If we win it will give us a ton of momentum going into the rest of the season.”

Rockhurst will also be the first to test the Lancers on another area they have been exploited on during the four game losing streak: getting the ball inside.

While the Lancers were amidst their losing streak, most teams, defensively, were running a box-and-one defense or a one-two-two zone. Both of the defense’s focus on shutting down East’s high scorer, senior wing-man J.D. Christie, and stuffing the paint with defenders. The defenses worked so well against East because offensively

players were standing around, Hair said. Also the Lancers inability to shoot from behind the arc (only two were made against Free State), has led to the skid.

To fix their problems Hair has had the varsity working against the zones in practice and is encouraging them to get the ball into the paint, in particular junior center Bryan Nelson.

Nelson, a pre-season honorable mention player in the metro according to local scouts, lost his starting spot early this season to senior center Mike Drier. He has recently worked his way back as he started against Free State while scoring ten points and grabbing eight rebounds.

On the defensive side of the ball, aside from the dribble penetration, Hertel said he feels like they aren’t playing bad. Aside from the Raytown South, they have been within ten points of every other team.

They have started working on zone defense which will contain the dribble penetration better and will allow them to get more steals to run their transition game.

However, the transition game was weakened when senior forward Garret Webb cracked his tibia, which will sideline him for the rest of the season.

“He was a heck of a player,” Hertel said. “His injury has given us a lot of inspiration and something greater to play for.”

The void of Webb will mainly be filled by senior Brian Tagg, sophomore Terrance Thomas and Robson, who made his first career start against Free State.

Though the team has gone through a tough losing streak and even tougher injuries, Hertel said that one of the keys to getting back to winning has been the coaching staff.

“They have been really relaxed and told us everything will be fine,” Hertel said. “ They know that if they were uptight and pressured us, we would all be uptight and timid.”

The boys team and community will have a chance to see if the relaxed mind set works as they start the second part of their season Friday and move onto league play Jan. 31 at Olathe North.

TOP LEFT: Senior J.D. Christie drives the lane in the game against SM Northwest on December 21. The Lancers lost 43-44. photo by Katie James TOP RIGHT: Coach Shawn Hair watches the team play in their fourth win against Free State January 13. photo by Linda Howard ABOVE: Sophomore Terrance Thomas goes up for a lay up in the West game on December 9.

The Lancers won 56-53. photo by Frances Lafferty

issue 9 / january 23, 2006 / sports / page 15

Junior leaves behind State title, comes to East by clark goble Junior Rachel Kaegi strolled through the back main gym doors at 4:03 p.m. for her varsity girls’ basketball practice.

After an emotional loss to Lawrence 41-38 the night before, a good practice would be essential as they had a game against Free State the next night. Problem was, practice started at 3.

“There she is,” varsity head coach Rick Rhoades shouted from mid-court while his players ran through shooting drills with a teammate. “Your partner’s been waiting.”

Kaegi rushed over to her partner, sophomore Taylon Johnson, and made up for lost time by drilling six consecutive elbow jumpers. No one, not even Rhoades, was upset she was late. Star treatment for the leading scorer?

Not exactly. She had been making up a final.

Leading by example is something Kaegi has been doing for most of her Rachel Kaegi short basketball career Class- junior at East. She moved from McPherson, Kansas prior Position- forward to the season and has been Points- 10.6 per game a star early in her East About her- Last seagirls’ basketball career. son, as a sophomore After being a part of a at McPherson HS, won class 5A state basketball championship as a the 5A state title. Since sophomore, she has had no transferring to East, she has led the team in scor- problems adjusting to Eaststyle hoops. ing at 10.8, which puts “It was really hard her in the top 15 scorers to enjoy the game of in the Sunflower League. basketball (at McPherson),” Kaegi said. “Here it’s all

25

about having fun which makes it easier to win.”

Having fun while playing basketball was secondary to winning in McPherson. Playing basketball there was loaded with pressure, due to the fact that in McPherson, basketball comes just after eating and sleeping. Kaegi says Coach Rhoades is a welcome change from the high-pressure, high-intensity coach of her McPherson team.

“It’s nice that (Rhoades) and the team care about you as a person and not just someone playing on the court,” Kaegi said.

In McPherson, there were fewer students to worry about. Since there are fewer students in a 5A school, like McPherson, the talent level is generally lower than a 6A school like East. Class 6A is the largest class in Kansas and is the one all East varsity teams compete with.

Head varsity girls coach Rick Getting Defensive: Junior Rachel Kaegi plays tight defense in the Rhoades believes Kaegi is having Lady Lancer’s victory over Olathe Northwest. It was one of their two success due to her prior experience league victories. photo by kelsey brown at a high level. night against Free State, Coach Rhoades felt they had to “Rachel comes from a school that plays physical basketball which helps her succeed,” work on their zone offense during practice. Johnson swung the ball over to Kaegi over the top of the 2-3 zone, who Rhoades said.

She has been the leading scorer for the team this year. quickly whipped it back to the point guard Johnson. She As of Jan. 9, Kaegi is averaging 10.8 points per game. then dropped a quick bounce pass into Meredith Walrafen While getting her fair share of baskets, she has also been a past the D for an uncontested two.

“Nice shot Meredith!” senior Molly Stewart yelled. “Good defensive stopper, averaging two steals a game.

“Rachel’s defense often creates her offense,” Rhoades pass Taylon!” sophomore Kelsey Whitaker shouted.

Kaegi hopes to keep the team unity intact as they move said. “By making steals on defense it gives her good forward in the year and even into next year. opportunities to score.”

“I know that by the end of the season when our team is After their loss to Lawrence and with a game the next

The Week Ahead

What to watch for in Lancer Athletics By Peter Goehausen THURSDAY 1/26

Boys Swimming @ SM Northwest Invitational

The Lancer boys swim team’s biggest victory of the season came in a meet that will have no effect on whether or not they win the Sunflower League. The Jan. 14th victory at the MO- KAN meet was the best competition the Lancers will face all season, beating the likes of Missouri power house Blue Springs. To add to his already impressive resume, junior Luke Tanner won the 100 freestyle and took part in the 200 free and medley relay victories. The Lancers unbeaten streak has nearly reached two straight seasons as they head into post- season meets in February.

Bowling @ Washington Tri

After hosting the school’s first ever bowling tournament on the 10th, the Lancers are looking to continue to improve. Head coach Fred Elliot has said that junior Samantha Kirkwood is the best bowler in the state, and will be looked upon to carry the girls side of the team. On the boys side, Doug Kelly and Kevin Darting are expected to lead the team.

THURSDAY 1/26- SATURDAY 1/28

Junior Edwin Recinos

Girls Basketball @ Topeka West Tournament

The Lady Lancers will take a break from Sunflower competition as they will travel to Topeka to play in the annual Topeka West Tournament. Through four Sunflower games, the Lancers sit in the middle of the pack with a 2-2 League record with wins at SM West and Olathe Northwest. Sophomore Emily Hartman has started to come on strong with a 19 point effort in their loss to Lawrence. Also playing well for East this season has been junior-transfer Rachel Kaegi, who leads the team in scoring with nearly 11 points a game.

FRIDAY 1/27

GAME OF THE WEEK-Boys Basketball vs. Rockhurst Coming into this season, this game was supposed to be as high caliber of a game as the Rose Bowl, but now it looks as if it will be two talented teams playing mediocre basketball. The Lancers, the pre-season number one team in KS, were victims of a four game losing streak less than two weeks ago. Rockhurst’s record on the other hand has been more fortunate going 12-1, however the Hawklet’s victories have come against sub-par Missouri teams. Expect an intense one-on-one battle of the Lancers Christie and Rockhursts’ junior guard Conner Teahan, whose resume includes game tying and winning three’s against Raytown South. This game will draw attention metro wide, as it will be the Metro Sports Game of the Week (Time Warner ch. 30).

SATURDAY 1/28

Wrestling @ SM North Invitational

Though the team hasn’t fared well as they had once hoped, they are still receiving great individual efforts from juniors John Carr and Drew Robinson. Carr got second in the SMS and SMNW Invitational’s and fourth in the JOCO Classic. Robinson recently took photos by kathleen sprouse third at the SMS meet in the 215 lb. weight class.

page 16 / photo essay / the harbinger issue 1 / september 6, 2005

One Step at a Time

Senior Molly Magoon knows a side of 5 year-old autistic, D.J. Stevens that no one sees. Even through his challenges and frustrations with his school work and daily lessons, Molly sees him slowly improving. Molly uses great patience to help D.J. through his struggles in communication and social interaction. Through his autisim, D.J. experiences excessive attachment to certain objects and repetitive acts such as watching the same movies everyday. With two hard working parents, a nanny, an older sister, and a baby brother, D.J. has solid support in his household.

Working with D.J. six days a week for over a year and a half has developed a special friendship between D.J. and Molly.

“He’s my little buddy, and I view him as my little brother. I want to look out for him, and at the same time teach him.” Molly said.

Molly’s touching work is not only inspiring to students, but opens eyes to what being a true role model really means.

JUST LIKE MOLLY: Molly picks up D.J. to give him a hug while D.J.’s 7 year-old sister Cassie holds 13 month old brother Alex. Understanding D.J.’s body language, Cassie recognizes his moods and is used to any aggression or complications he might have understanding her.

READY TO LEARN: Five year old D.J. Stevens heads downstairs to begin his daily lessons with Molly. The pair usually works downstairs in a quiet working environment. The quiet helps D.J. concentrate and avoid becoming preoccupied with something else. Molly likes therapy to be relaxed so D.J. is more willing to open up and interact socially.

TICKLE MONSTER: Molly Magoon tickles D.J. and plays with him during break time.

Break time is D.J.’s time earned from working hard and getting all the right answers during his lessons. Breaks usually consist of watching a clip from SHREK 2, jumping on his mini trampoline, and playing with toys.

photos by Linda Howard

FLASHCARDS: During the day, D.J. goes to “Maps,” a school for kids with autism.

After that he has therapy one hour a day with Molly. D.J. and Molly go over the same flashcards of the alphabet and different words.

They distinguish colors, and review social questions. Molly will prompt him to answer questions and respond in a sentence.

TIME FOR DISNEY: D.J. watches Tarzan in the family room.

He likes to rewind and fast foward the tapes on his own to see his favorite parts. There is no known cause for autism and it generally affects more boys than girls.

In order for Molly to be qualified to work with D.J. alone, she had to be trained for two and a half weeks to learn the right therapy.