Issue 3 from the 2012-2013 Harbinger.

Shawnee Mission East l 7500 Mission Road, PV KS, 66208 l October 8, 2012 l Issue 3 l www.smeharbinger.net

THE HARBINGER Football team plays men on both sides and succeeds by the motto

WON’T

BACK

DOWN photo illustration by Jake Crandall written by Jennifer Rorie

It’s no secret by now that the East varsity football team of 2012 is not the Lancer team from years past. The success of the team has been on the rise since head football coach Chip Sherman came to East four years ago, and with a current record of 5-0, it’s the best start in the history of the football program. The team, made up of a variety of sophomores, juniors and seniors, has reached a level of success that no one expected. A success achieved by having only a few of their best athletes involved in most plays on both sides of the ball.

Since coming to East, Sherman has had to employ many players on offense and defense. The trend has continued and escalated this year with athletes having to step up and play most of the game. Senior twins Sam and David Stewart are only a few of the players experiencing the weight of a shorter roster.

David, a running back and inside linebacker, puts hours in the weight room every day, and worked with the team on training during the summer to meet the demands of the season.

“We are a very well conditioned team,” David said. “Compared to other teams, we are in great shape and we are a lot tougher. We’re always ready to play.”

David was named the Sunflower League Defensive Player of the Month [for September] with *42 tackles. The Stewarts sit out on only a few downs, and are generally the ones running the ball or tackling for the team while they are in. According to Sherman, without them and the other key players, the offensive and defensive games would not run the same.

“We would certainly try the same offense, and in an ideal world it would work,” Sherman said. “It’s like the weather, you just can’t predict it.” continued on pg 30

PG 27 Check out what students wore to Homecoming

2 | NEWS

QUICK UPDATE

THE NEWS IN BRIEF

OCT. 8, 2012

Football team holds best record in school history: 5-0

written by Audrey Dancinger

photo by Marisa Walton

Seniors Nick Kraske and Chloe Stradinger were announced photo by Connor Woodson homecoming king and queen.

Students attended the Homecoming dance on Sept. 29.

photo by Miranda Gibbs

NEW IPHONE Apple announced the iPhone 5, the newest edition to its line of smart phones, on Sept. 12. The new phone boasts many new features such as a 3D option for Apple’s map application and a panoramic camera.

Within its first week of sales, Apple sold a little over five million units of it’s newest phone.

These record sales, however, were much lower than what critics had estimated.

For the most part, the phone has been received positively by the public, with just one major error in the graphics of the maps. Some images appear to be blurry or melting, such as the view of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in Washington.

A small percentage of iPhone 5 owners also reported other problems such as short battery life and faulty wifi connection. However, this is not the case with every unit sold.

Despite the errors there are also many new, well-running features. The dimensions of the phone have changed to where the screen is easier to hold, spanning four inches long. The phone also now runs on an LTE network as opposed to 3G which, according to ABC News technology editor Joanna Stern, basically means really fast web browsing.

With all of these new changes Apple is calling this, “The biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since the iPhone.”

On Sept. 20 Gene Johnson announced his retirement from his position as superintendent of the Shawnee Mission school district. His term is due to end on July 1, 2013.

Now, the District is faced with the task of hiring someone to replace Johnson.

According to Patty Mach, the president of the SMSD School Board, the first step in this process is to hire a search firm, which the district has yet to do. The search firm will look at candidates from across the nation that fit the requirements and qualifications of the position, which the community decides on.

Parents, teachers and various citizens who work within the district will tell the school board what they want to see in the candidate by writing letters, answering questionnaires and speaking at school board meetings.

“We will be putting together a leadership profile based on people’s survey answers, questions, etc.” Mach said.

Based on this information, Mach and other school board members will choose which of the candidates presented to them by the search firm is best for the job.

Mach says that the board will have hired a candidate by spring 2013.

THE WEEK IN PHOTOS

Students gather around the bonfire after the football game. photo by Stefano Byer

AP/IB LANGUAGE TESTS

THE SEARCH FOR THE NEW SUPERINTENDENT

Students cheer for the football team at the homecoming game. photo by McKenzie Swanson

This year the IB English and foreign language exam formats are going to be different from years past. The tests were redesigned to show whether students really understand the curriculum or have just memorized the information.

English teacher Laura Beachy says that, in some ways, the IOC (Individual Oral Commentary) will be more difficult for the students but in others it will be easier.

In past years, the IOC was a 15-minute oral presentation given by the student analyzing a poem previously covered in class. This year, a brand new part is being added to the IOC--an oral discussion over one of two books covered in class that year.

“That’s a lot harder for me because I’m supposed to have some notion of what kinds of comments they’ve made in class about those books and maybe follow up on that a little bit,” Beachy said.

French and German teacher Karen Pearson says that there are major changes being made in the Internal Assessment portion of the language exam. The goal of the changes is to make sure that students aren’t just rambling on about their topic without an outline but also aren’t memorizing everything they have to say without really understanding the content.

IB Science courses will not be facing any changes in exams this year. Their changes will not be coming until 2015 due to the six-year cycle that these tests run on.

Students will first experience these new changes in the spring when exams are given.

Sophomore Peter Madison plays the symbols in the marching band. photo by Marisa Walton

Cheerleaders from each squad pump up the crowd. photo by AnnaMarie Oakley

NEWS 3

SCOUT’S

DISHONOR The Boy Scouts of America are facing public scrutiny after covering up boy scout leaders’ abusive acts towards young scout members written by Leah Pack photo illustration by Marisa Walton

What’s your opinion on the Boy Scout scandal?

“I just think it’s sad that you go ahead and judge an organization by a couple of members.”

“I think that’s messed up. I didn’t even realize that was a real thing, but it’s sad that it is.”

Erik Snyder

Tommy Larson

go to summer camp, camp outs or weekly outings,” Mayfield said.

Along with educating the Scout leaders and volunteers, the BSA has used this scandal to prolong and back up their reasoning for banning homosexual men and women from holding leadership positions within the organization. Originally, this rule was made because the BSA worried that homosexuals could teach their children the wrong values and would allow for a greater chance of abuse, even though they were aware of the sexual abuse going on at the time. They also argue that according to the Boy Scout Oath, it is required that all group members, as well as the leaders, are “morally straight.”

“For the past couple of years there have been more rules added to help prevent any sexual abuse,” Perkins said. “All of the leaders undergo training to ensure the Scouts will have a good, safe experience.”

EAGLE SCOUT

LANCER V0ICE

age, 4 million youth scouts and more than a million leaders and volunteers actively participating in the program each year. With that many participants, the BSA has had to handle pedophiles and molesters making it through their screening process when selecting Scout leaders.

Starting in 1990, there were more precautions added to the application process in order to prevent offenders from slipping through, and even more have been added now since the BSA’s history was let out to the public. The new rules consist of requiring at least two adults present at all scouting events. Scout leaders and volunteers must also enter into a criminal background check and attend a training course on protecting youth from abuse before participating in any activities.

“In the last few years, our troop has formed new rules against leaders and scouts sleeping in the same area or tent when we

EAGLE SCOUT

Mayfield said. “There are so many positives that you get from the whole experience that an incident can be overseen fairly easily.”

Officials with the BSA responded to a Los Angeles Times article that they have “always cooperated fully with any request from law enforcement and today require our members to report even suspicion of abuse directly to their local authorities.” It has been discovered that in the past the BSA has even helped offenders cover up their tracks and “regretfully resign” from their positions as Scout leaders in order to keep up their prestigious reputations in their communities.

“The reason they covered up the events in the beginning was to protect the reputation of the BSA,” Watkins said. “So I imagine they will work to restore its good reputation.”

Scouts at the highest ranking of the organization like senior Chris Watkins aren’t fully aware of the situation at hand. “My troop never addressed this issue because we never faced any problems pertaining to it,” Eagle Scout, Watkins said. “I think many troops have not even come close to having problems like this, so I do not believe it will impact local communities as much.”

Since the 1960s, there have been on aver-

LIFE SCOUT

Troop 919 goes through the scout law and oath at a typical meeting. Troop Leader Jeff Perkins goes through the agenda with the young Boy Scouts who range from fifth grade up to seniors in high school. After taking the troop through what merit badges they will work on for the next hour, Perkins switches to a graver subject. It is an issue that has been covered nationwide. According to the New York Times multiple hidden cases of alleged sex abuse by the Scout leaders from 1970-1991 have been revealed.

“We talk to the Scouts and their parents to educate them on how to detect sexual abuse and make them aware of what is currently going on,” Perkins said.

The New York Times said that in more than 500 instances of alleged molestation by its leaders, “the Scouts learned about it from boys, parents, staff members, or anonymous tips. In about 400 of those cases — 80 percent — there are no record of Scouting officials reporting the allegations to police. In more than 100 of the cases, officials actively sought to conceal the alleged abuse or allowed the suspects to hide it....” The reports were not specific to one area.

“I think the scandal will just kind of smudge the name,” junior Boy Scout Alex

“I haven’t heard much. I’m still in scouting, just not as much. That doesn’t seem right, though.” Connor Swanson

GorgingForGlory

4 | NEWS

You Are What You Eat

Lancer athletes devote hours of their time and energy improving their skills and honing their bodies for their sport.

But that devotion on the court or in the weight room might not be enough to create the ideal physicality and healthiness that those athletes desire.

An article published in September by the New York Times revealed that one in four high school athletes is overweight.

The article’s findings were based on the BMI (Body Mass In-

The Harbinger investigates the diet of East athletes written by Julia Poe art by James Simmons

dex) of the athletes studied, which defines “healthiness” using a formula for height versus weight. The article showed that the nutrition of high school athletes is often not ideal, lacking the proper amounts of fruits, vegetables and proteins while being too high in carbs and fats.

Sports nutritionist and dietician Sally Berry says that the attention that athletes give- or don’t give- to their diets can have a large impact on the energy and strength of their per-

formances.

“It’s difficult in high school because of how busy athletes are,” Berry says. “You see a whole range in diets, from good to bad, but regardless... It’s something that athletes need to focus on.”

To investigate the effectiveness of diets of Lancer athletes, The Harbinger looked at how athletes in four different sports fuel their bodies on a daily basis.

Whether they are defending Jordan Darling from a linebacker or attempting to sack an opponent’s quarterback, East linemen want to be the biggest and strongest on the field.

Hours of practice on the turf behind the junior lot and weight training have helped them gain strength, but their nutrition has also allowed them to out-size opponents.

Senior Max Kurlbaum has seen a major increase in how much he eats since last year. Kurlbaum gained around 35 pounds of mostly muscle over the summer as a side effect of transitioning from being a wide receiver to being an offensive lineman.

“I probably eat around 9000 calories a day,” Kurlbaum says. “But I don’t have a specific diet. The coaches aren’t too strict about what we eat; they just want us to be fueling our bodies and feeling good.”

Kurlbaum’s daily eating schedule consists of breakfast, two lunches and dinner, along with “grazing” his kitchen for food after practices. Sometimes he eats entire jars of pickles

or family sized bags of chips in one sitting and sees his fellow linemen eating similarly. Kurlbaum knows that this is more than other high school athletes and even more than some of his smaller teammates, but he feels it is necessary for athletes of his position.

“We don’t pack it down, it’s not like Reed can eat 16 pounds of food in one sitting or something ridiculous like that,” Kurlbaum says. “We just eat what we need, because we’re burning a lot of energy in practice, so if we’re eating a lot, it’s because we’re working a lot.”

While this pattern of eating is common for athletes like Kurlbaum and his teammates, it causes concern for dieticians like Berry. She believes that while athletes shouldn’t go hungry, they should be more purposeful with their diet. “[Athletes] will come home from school and practice, and it’s natural that they’ll be hungry,” Berry says. “The problem is when they go for whatever’s easy, like chips or sugars, when what their bodies really need is protein.”

Although he knows that his food intake is necessary now while he is practicing every day, Kurlbaum worries about what will happen once he doesn’t have football training. He hopes that his metabolism stays high, but knows that he will be forced to change his diet to adjust to less activity.

“We might all get fat,” Kurlbaum says. “I’m probably going to have to diet and keep working out, just to stay in shape...

But right now, we’re not too worried about that.”

For athletes who don’t continue their sport into college, Berry has found that the transition from high school often requires a distinct change in diet. Although the athletes will stop exercising as much, Berry says that many will continue to eat the same amount of calories per day. This is where the infamous “Freshman 15” is often gained.

“They have to realize that they’re going to have to eat less,” Berry says. “The problem is that they’ll get into habits of eating a lot to make up [for exercising], and then they won’t break those when they stop doing sports [every day].”

Rigorous dieting. Worrying about every calorie. Eating disorders. It’s a stereotype of dancers that has persisted through the years and yet, for competitive dancers like sophomore Audrey Phillips, it’s the opposite of reality.

“As dancers, we eat so much. It’s not even funny,” Phillips says. “I just focus on what’s going to make me feel good and what’s going to let me perform to my fullest.”

Phillips trains for 16 hours each week at her studio, along with Varsity Lancer Dancer practices before and during school every day. She knows that other dancers will follow stricter diets, but Phillips has never had dance instructors restrict her diet or felt the need to count calories.

“It’s most important to focus on what makes you, personally, feel good,” Phillips says. “I don’t eat bananas. I never, ever feel good after eating one, so I just don’t eat them. That’s the kind of thing I worry about with eating.”

Although she skips breakfast, Phillips eats a full lunch and two dinners between dance practices. Since most of her day consists of dance or schoolwork, Phillips mainly focuses on eating foods that allow her to feel healthy, avoiding fast food, bananas, chocolates and sugary foods that can make her feel sick or weighed down.

“I mostly eat a lot of fruits and a lot of carbs,” Phillips says.

“Just foods that make me feel full without feeling gross, so that I can dance my best.”

This idea of eating “whatever feels good” can be a common fallacy in high school athletes, Berry says. Phillips is unique, because her feel-good diet doesn’t include foods high in fat and sugars. However, Berry believes that many teens will forego fruits and vegetables for junk food.

“Lots of kids when they’re hungry will just go for chips or cookies or even just a lot of carbs,” Berry says. “They think

that, since they feel fine, they’re doing what’s best for their body, but they might be missing out on necessities like protein or vegetables.”

Berry explains that a lack of proper nutrients can cause an athlete’s body to fail to meet its full potential. Without protein, muscles can’t continue to grow. Fruits and vegetables are also vital in the growth and maintenance of muscles, especially since high school athletes are often still growing.

“Working out and practicing is important for athletes,” Berry says. “But eating right is just as important.”

Since she has goals of becoming a professional dancer in the future, Phillips sees a healthy diet as another part of her daily routine and recipe for success.

“If you want to get where you want to be, you need to be pushed and you need to be constantly training,” Phillips says.

“So I don’t have a problem with it.”

The counter top is overflowing with food and the kitchen is overflowing with East cross country runners. Styrofoam plates are loaded with salad, lasagna, fettuccine, homemade cookies and brownies. Runners make trips back for seconds, honoring the name of the cross country weekly gatherings: carbo loads.

Every Friday night, a senior hosts the carbo-load, a potluck for the team where runners can fill up on pasta and other carbs in an effort to get energy for the next day’s race.

“The carbo loads are a great way to bond as a team and they give you a lot of energy,” senior Anna Colby, a varsity runner, says. “I never eat a lot at them, but a lot of people will go pretty crazy.”

These pre-meet rituals are one of the areas of nutrition that the New York Times study criticized the most, saying that huge meals such as carbo loads can reverse days worth of

team practices. Berry believes that the meals are valuable for team bonding but require discretion from the athletes.

For Colby, the Friday night dinners are the opposite of the diet she normally tries to maintain. During cross country season, Colby is conscious of her diet and makes sure to stick to foods that won’t make her feel sick when she’s running with her teammates after school.

“I try to eat less carbs, and I try to just eat healthier,” Colby says. “I just do what feels best for my body, because I want to have energy and not feel sick while I’m running.”

Having practices directly after school has caused Colby to struggle with what she was eating in past years. She feels lucky this year, since she has an earlier lunch period and can eat more without feeling sick at practice. It’s mainly foods at school that make maintaining her ideal diet difficult for Colby.

“It’s hard sometimes, because you’ll want to eat cookies or chips at lunch, but you know you’ll feel bad at practice in a few hours,” Colby says. “There’s never really junk food in my house. My mom will make me eggs and bacon in the morning and healthy dinners, so it’s never that hard when I’m at home.”

Finding healthy sources of nutrition is one of the biggest challenges that high school athletes face, Berry says. When they are constantly tempted by pizza and Otis Spunkmeier cookies at school, Five Guys outings with friends and homemade goodies at home, Berry says it is easy for athletes to make unhealthy choices on a daily basis.

“It’s understandable, because there is so much unhealthy food around them,” Berry says. “But it’s important for every athlete to find a way to eat healthy, because they’re making habits for life.”

Football: Getting Big

Drill Team: Keeping Light

Cross Country: Carbing Up

T

he Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) voted Sept. 9 to go on their first strike in 25 years. The schools in Chicago were closed from Sept. 10 to Sept. 18. Teachers left their classroom in protest of an evaluation system that was based heavily on test scores.

Forty percent of Chicago teachers’ evaluation score came from standardized tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind laws. The CTU argued that this evaluation system was unfair, asking Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make changes, because the system didn’t account for other factors that affect student performance such as poverty, poor nutrition and family situations. Chicago is taking steps to improve their evaluation system, but they shouldn’t focus on tests when evaluating; instead, they should be using their students as the heart of the system. Students are always with their teachers and they know how they teach. Students need to be the main evaluators of teachers as opposed to the reviews of test scores and administrators.

The system of evaluation in Chicago is almost the polar opposite from the way East evaluates their teachers. According to Dr. Karl Krawitz, administrators at East don’t look at

tests at all when evaluating; they look mainly at what goes on in the classroom, what kind of questions the teacher asks their students and their course plan for the year. But, still, they are lacking in the same areas as the Chicago system: no voice from the students.

The evaluation system at East bases most of its review of teachers on the categories of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy, created in 1956 by an educator’s committee headed by psychologist Benjamin Bloom, is a way of evaluating how teachers teach and what questions they ask their students. It was made to help educators communicate what they needed to do to help their students learn.

The categories of Bloom’s taxonomy start at the lowest level: knowledge. If their students could memorize and regurgitate facts, the teacher would meet the requirements for this level. The categories go through four more levels, getting more difficult as they go, and ending on evaluation, the highest level on the chart. In this category students would be asked to pick the best answer or find the most suitable way to solve a problem. When an administrator sits in on a class, this is one thing they are looking at. Can a teacher

EDITORIAL | 5

get their students involved in the questions and get them to the point where they can apply and improve the problems posed in class?

The teacher evaluation process starts at the beginning of the year. Teachers and administrators meet to agree on what they would like to improve on and what needs to be improved as individuals and as a whole. They pick two goals that they would like to work on during the year, whether it be better communication with students, keeping the class more organized, etc. Evaluators focus on these goals while reviewing the teachers’ plans for the year.

One thing missing from our evaluation system is the voice of the student body. Students should be part of the evaluation process to ensure that there is an unbiased review process as the students are with their teachers almost every day. Every teacher should be required to receive evaluation from their students; the most effective and fastest way to do this would be through a simple sheet of paper. It should ask specific questions as to how well each teacher taught their subject and what they could improve on.

Students should be the main evaluators of teachers or the administrators will get a false perception of what goes on in the classroom. The district needs to rethink its evaluation system to make the students opinion a priority. The review process is vital to our school.

In order to have the best teachers, we need a strong evaluation system.

EDITORIAL BOARD VOTES

THE HARBINGER a publication of Shawnee Mission East high school 7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

Editors-in Chief Anne Willman Chloe Stradinger Assistant Editors Andrew McKittrick Katie Knight Art & Design Editor Paige Hess Head Copy Editor Matt Hanson Copy Editors Anne Willman Chloe Stradinger Andrew McKittrick Katie Knight Erin Reilly Morgan Twibell Leah Pack Sarah Berger Ads Manager Sophie Tulp Circulation Manager Greta Nepstad Editorial Board Chloe Stradinger Andrew McKittrick Erin Reilly Anne Willman

illustration by Akshay Dinakar

STAFF 2012-2013

Jennifer Rorie Katie Knight Grace Heitmann Matt Hanson Julia Poe Kim Hoedel Duncan MacLachlan Sami Walter Staff Writers Julia Seiden Sophie Tulp Taylor Bell Nellie Whittaker Alex May Pauline Werner Caroline Kohring New Section Editor Sarah Berger News Page Editors Emily Perkins Rock Greta Nepstad Editorial Section Editor Jennifer Rorie Opinion Section Editor Kim Hoedel Opinion Page Editors Maggie McGannon Morgan Krakow

Feature Section Editor Erin Reilly Feature Page Editors Jeri Freirich Maddie Hise Spread Editor Morgan Twibell Mixed Page Editor Leah Pack A&E Section Editor Tiernan Shank A&E Page Editors Phoebe Aguiar Hannah Ratliff Sports Section Editor Grace Heitmann Sports Page Editors Alex Goldman Mitch Kaskie G.J. Melia Freelance Page Editors Vanessa Daves Julia Poe Audrey Danciger Staff Artists Matti Crabtree Akshay Dinakar Photo Editor

FOR AGAINST ABSENT

13 0 0

The Harbinger is a student run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission School DIstrict, East faculty or school administration.

Jake Crandall Assistant Photo Editors Caroline Creidenberg Emma Robson Staff Photographers Katie Sgroi Annie Savage Connor Woodson Taylor Anderson Miranda Gibbs Megan Shirling Maddie Schoemann Molly Gasal Stefano Byer Maddie Connely Paloma Garcia Online Editors-in-Chief Sami Walter Duncan MacLachlan Assistant Online Editors Julia Poe Zoe Brian Head Copy Editors Jennifer Rorie Vanessa Daves Multimedia Editor Dalton Boehm Convergence Editor

Erin Reilly News Editor Pauline Werner Online Photo Editors Marisa Walton McKenzie Swanson Assistant Online Photo Editor AnnaMarie Oakley Video Editor Nathan Walker Live Broadcast Editor Connor Woodson Homegrown Editor Morgan Krakow A&E Editor Maggie McGannon Sports Section Editors Alex Goldman Mitch Kaskie Blogs Editor Susannah Mitchell Podcast Editor Thomas Allen Eastipedia Editor Taylor Bell Interactive Design Editor James Simmons

Mitch Kaskie Social Media Director Maddie Hise Webmaster Chris Denniston Live Broadcast Producers Grace Heitmann Chris Denniston Mitch Kaskie Connor Woodson Andrew McKittrick Thomas Allen Multimedia Staff Maxx Lamb Thomas Allen Chris Denniston Dalton Boehm Tessa Polaschek Nathan Walker Emily Perkins Rock Will Brownlee Miranda Gibbs Meghan Shirling Advisor Dow Tate

Letters to the editor may 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 editors’ discretion.

6 | OPINION

SEMINAR:

Sophomore expresses his disdain for seminar written by Akshay Dinakar

LANCER VOICE

East students and faculty discuss their views of seminar and whether it is beneficial or a waste of time

TEACHER

TEACHER

FRESHMAN

SOPHOMORE

What do you think of seminar?

SENIOR

art by Akshay Dinakar

alone without your girlfriend blowing kisses to you from across the classroom.

In my opinion, if students were sent home instead of having to stay for seminar, they would focus better and get more work done, enabling them to complete and turn in higher quality assignments.

The whole student body would benefit and get higher GPAs. Teachers often assign homework that requires a computer, which cannot be completed in seminar. Many spanish teachers assign online homework on conjuguemos.com. English teachers assign essays that need to be Times New Roman 12 pt. Try writing Times New Roman on a sheet of notebook paper. And make sure it’s 1.5 line spacing. Did I mention the one inch margins?

After completing their non-electronic homework, some students still have the majority of seminar left. So what do they do with their time? They talk to friends, distracting students who actually want to get work done. Or they’ll ask the teacher to go to the bathroom, mysteriously disappearing for 20 or more minutes at a time.

Seriously, seminar is pointless. Let the students out earlier and watch everyone’s grades shoot up like rockets.

JUNIOR

It’s a giant mix of cell phones, paper airplanes and secret love notes. It was solely invented to keep young human beings imprisoned in a room until 2:40 p.m., just to get the number of state required hours of school. I waste one hour and 33 minutes in it every even block day. This terrible invention happens to be called seminar.

As you look around a seminar, what do you see? A boy sticking paper wads in the sweatshirt hood of the kid sitting in front of him. Two girls sharing a pair of headphones while giggling to themselves. A boy scribbling on his desk with a Sharpie. Fifteen kids with their eyes glued to their cell-phones, thumbs flying over their keyboards for all they’re worth. A stressed teacher sitting at the front of the classroom with a four-hour stack of ungraded papers in front of her, watching an uncontrollable bunch of students.

How many people do you know that actually use seminar for educational purposes? One out of 10? I bet that one person is hiding an Android behind their precalc textbook.

I’m pretty sure that a majority of kids would rather get dismissed from school early rather than stay for seminar. I bet it’s even easier to do your homework at home

Worth the While or a Waste of Time?

“I think seminar is great because you can make [tests, assignments] up.” derek burrows

“[Seminar] is boring. If I had a car I’d leave. Everyone just talks the entire time.” molly manske

linda sieck

cole ogdon

“It benefits me as a teacher in that I have the opportunity to work with my students one on one.”

“I think seminar when it’s used properly has many advantages...it’s an opportunity for students to work with other students.”

“I like seminar when I have stuff to do. But I’d rather just go home.”

morgan bush

rob simpson

“Seminar is a great time to get work done, or if nothing else go see teachers. I definitely use mine well and it’s annoying when we don’t have one.”

FINISHING UP HILL

OPINION | 7

Staffer explains how he’s learned to never give up on the track through his mother’s death and dad’s survival of cancer

Mitch Kaskie

an opinion of

L

ooking down my lane, everything becomes silent.

The yelling of my coaches and teammates becomes irrelevant. At last, I hear the gun, and off I go. Nothing goes through my head. I put one foot in front of another, striding out and sticking behind a fellow runner. After four laps of sheer pain, I’m finally done. I look toward my coach. Gasping for air, I manage to spit out “time?” 4:33. With a smile I pump my fist. Finally, after three years of harsh winter practices, spring track workouts, miles and miles of hills- I did it. I beat my time from freshman year. Even if it was only by a second, I did it. More importantly, I never gave up. *** Never give up.

It’s something my mom lived by. She was a perfectionist.

If I ever thought about quitting a sport, or skipping a class, it wasn’t allowed. “Finish out the year,” she’d always say.

If I didn’t like what I was doing, that was okay. But it was necessary I finish what I started.

When I first started running the mile in fourth grade gym class, it wasn’t quite the same. The biggest worry was my safety. She would tell me over and over, “if you don’t feel good, sit out.” I had other ideas on my mind. If it hurt, I’d finish it anyway. Besides, that’s how I was taught.

Soon enough, my mom realized that I had things under control. I even was good at running. In those gym classes I always beat the other kids in my class, and my mom knew it too. So she sparked my interest in track. In sixth grade, she entered me into the Hershey Relays. I made it to the state level both in sixth and seventh grade, and placed in the 1600 and 800.

Sometimes I didn’t like the running. It’s painful just to run.

But there was something about it that got my attention. I liked to challenge myself, to see how far I could push myself.

In many ways, I liked to think that I shared my mother tenacious, never quit attitude.

Cancer is a completely different story. ** * One warm night in early September, I was out and about with my best friend playing football in the front yard. I was the quarterback, he was the receiver and we were both stars in the NFL — our typical seventh grade pastime. Soon enough it began to get dark, I said farewell to my friend and went inside for dinner. Before we sat down, my dad wanted to talk to me.

He began to explain it to me — he had been diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.

Before I knew it, we took my dad to the hospital to undergo surgery. The entire day at school all I did was to try not to think about it. He’ll be okay, I thought. The doctors said he would, so I stuck to that. The next day we went to visit him at the hospital. I saw him hooked up to the machines, with tubes everywhere. I couldn’t stand to see him in such pain. He couldn’t eat anything, so he was fed through a feeding tube.

We stayed for a bit, and that was the last time I saw him until he came home three days later.

After that visit of the hospital, the image of my dad laying there, suffering, was burnt in my head. The chemo and radiation began, and things only got worse. My dad could barely get out of bed. My mom and him began to miss all of my sporting events. I caught ride after ride to basketball games with my friends’ parents. At soccer games, when I looked to the sideline, neither of them were in sight. I was angry, and became selfish.

Cancer is cruel and scary, and a lot of the times when started, it can’t be undone. I was so scared to death of it that

I probably felt closer to it than he did. I didn’t talk to my dad much, and acted like nothing happened. My parents didn’t want it to be a big deal, so I didn’t tell anyone, not even my friends. I just hid from it, and kept it out of my life.

My mom was different. She was right beside him at every single radiation treatment. She was there on those day long chemo treatments at the hospital. She was there to help him learn how to eat, to help give him pills to take away the absolute staggering pain. She was there to make sure he did not give up.

And he didn’t. By spring of my seventh grade year, my dad beat cancer. *** Thump. I heard it from the couch I was laying on, where just moments ago I had been cuddled up with my mom watching Spongebob Squarepants in a 42nd floor condo with a great view of the John Hancock building. It was a beautiful summer day in Chicago. With my dad recovering from the cancer treatments, we decided it would be nice to take a vacation and celebrate his healing. The night before we had seen the Blue Man Group, and we spent the morning being lazy, trying to decide what our agenda for the day was.

But this vacation would end early. When I heard the thump from the couch, I had no idea what it was. I got up to look, and saw my mother laying there, face up on the bathroom floor.

My dad leaned over her, and shouted, “Call 911.” It was too late. She was dead before she hit the floor.

A massive heart attack, they told us. The paramedic seemed to take years to make it up to that 42nd floor. A police man drove us to the Hospital a few blocks over. I sat there, hands in my face, with tears dripping onto my white shirt, uncertain of my future. For an unknown reason, just out of instinct, I asked my dad, “Are we going to keep our house?”

The answer was yes. All I could think was that I wanted to go home. Go home and pretend that this ever happened.

Like that, abruptly — without a fight — my mother’s life was taken from her. She had no chance to fight it. With a snap, it was all over.

After my mom’s death, I didn’t know what to do. There were times I thought about giving up on everything. School.

Sports. Life. But in the back of my head, I could always hear my mom’s voice, and every second I spent with my dad was a living reminder not to give up.

When high school rolled around, I felt lost without her.

There would be nights after long days, where I would lay into my bed, holding Pooh Bear, a stuffed animal I’ve had since I can remember, and just cry. I would wonder why this could happen to me. But I knew I couldn’t give up.

High school track was where my mom’s legacy stuck with me the most. She was the one who sparked my interest in it, and I wanted to do it for her. Freshman year, I came into track knowing I could do something great. My dreams from the beginning were to eventually win state. It may have been ambitious, but I worked hard, and times came easy. It seemed every meet came with a drop of 10 seconds or more of time.

Like that, my time dropped to 4:34, and that’s where I hit a wall.

At the end of freshman year, I placed 7th at regionals, missing state by three places. I knew I had three years left to

photo illustration by Jake Crandall make state, but my heart was still broken. I promised myself it wouldn’t happen again.

This promise turned out to be a bit harder to keep than I thought. Although I pushed through winter training, the running took a toll on my body. I couldn’t keep my weight up, and in result many days I felt weak and drained of energy.

The season came and went without any change of time, and once again I missed state by three spots. This time I was emotionally distraught, and I felt like I could quit.

Junior year only brought more toll on my running career. I trained twice as hard during the winter, and tried everything to make it to state. I spent spring break in town, and ran daily with my fellow runners. Finally, in a meet at ODAC, I beat my time, by one second.

I had gotten over that hump that had haunted me for so many years. It felt great, but once again regionals came around, and there I was again, missing state by one place.

It could have been easy to quit, right then and there, on the Lawrence Freestate track. I saw the four other runners in front of me, all seniors, cross the line. When I finally got there, I knew what was in store. I had been here before, this time was the third. I knew it was the last time I would be with the big group of seniors that had lead me since senior year. I dropped to the ground, and instantly tears poured from my eyes.

Then I saw my dad standing in the crowd. He had made it to almost every track meet over my high school career. I remembered being mad at him in middle school, for the little soccer and basketball games he missed. But now, a traveling single parent, he had made every soccer game and track meet he could, even the ones in Lawrence. He was a living example of my mom’s determination.

When he had cancer, she wouldn’t let him down, wouldn’t let him quit. Now, bent over in my East track uniform and blue and green spikes, I knew I couldn’t let her down. I had one more year to fulfill my promise, and it would be done.

I wouldn’t quit, no matter how much the odds were against me — even if it’s just for a second.

DANGER

8 | OPINION

written by Maddie Hise

ON BOARD

photos by Maddie Connelly

Whenever someone asks me to tell them a strange fact about myself, the first thing that comes to mind is my six car accidents. Now before you freak out, let me say that only three of those accidents were my fault. But still, I’ve had six trips to the collision center with my abused car, Tigi, and I have only had my drivers license for a little over a year. I like to think that all these accidents have given me some sort of wisdom. I proudly think of myself as somewhat of a “pro” at car accidents, despite how bad that sounds. For those of you still on good terms with your insurance companies, here are my five steps for dealing with a car accident.

Staffer discusses her journey as she undergoes the five stages of grief after her sixth car accident

5. ACCEPTANCE

4. DEPRESSION 2. ANGER

1. DENIAL

Right before I ram my car into another car, pole or whatever Tigi decides to get intimate with other objects, I have a moment where I tell myself this isn’t about to happen. I tell myself I can avoid this situation. I pump my brakes and the world pauses for a moment. This is a dream, I repeat to myself time after time. This is a dream and I will wake up, right now. Wake up Maddie!

Then, boom. No stopping it, no avoiding it. I don’t know what to do. I just want hide under my dashboard and never come out. A million thoughts race through my head. I don’t want to be here anymore. What do I do? Should I pull off Mission? Oh god, everyone will see me. Should I call the cops or my mom first?

Wait, should I go talk to the lady I hit? Can I just drive away? No, you’ve heard the stories of the news of the people going to jail for a hit and run. Wait, was it my fault? Maybe the lady just abruptly stopped. Yeah, I bet it’s her fault. At this point, I work to think up a story, anything that can get me out of this.

After a couple of minutes, realization strikes-that just happened. I’m not usually an angry person. It takes quite a bit to get me worked up. However, if I know a car accident is my fault, that’s when my dark side comes out. Are you kidding me? I told my dad he should have my brakes checked. That wicked lady, why would she just stop there? Everyone driving by gawks -- they just want a good show. Stop slowing down, just drive away. Everyone just go away and let me deal with this so I can move on with my life. The worst is when the person I hit tries to get as much out of the accident as they can.

For example, last year I rearended an old lady. I get that she was old and all, but did she really need to go to the hospital in an ambulance, and get an x-ray? It wasn’t even a bad crash; no airbags deployed or anything, all that was needed was a new rear bumper. I mean, the accident wasn’t even severe enough to set off her airbags! Nor was the car totaled. She probably had had a sore back before and figured it was the perfect time to get it checked out on my dime.

Damage LOCATIONS of

art by James Simmons

this diagram shows the location of all dings, dents and scratches

3. BARGAIN

Once I begin to contemplate the future repercussions, my begging and pleading begins to take place.

“Please ma’am I will do anything. Can we just not tell my mom?”

It’s a given that my mom has to be called, but it was worth a shot.

“Let’s just keep this between us and not call the cops.”

Yeah, right. The lady I hit calls me stupid as she dials 911. As the cops interview me, I start to interject.

“But sir, she stopped abruptly. I’m a great driver, it was her fault!”

Anything to get out of this. Maybe there’s still a chance.

The bargaining continues when my parents tell me how long I will be unable to drive. I view driving as my freedom and my mom knows I would rather be grounded than have my car taken away. I pester my mom repetitively, I will drive my siblings to practice or do the dishes for a week if only we can let this one accident slide. That negotiation worked after the first two accidents, but eventually lost its effectiveness.

Depression is the hardest step. I begin to see all the punishments falling into place. Yes, Tigi will have to go to the shop for a substantial amount of time. I’ll be grounded from my car for a lifetime. The worst is having to pay the $500 deductible from my car insurance.

“Maddie, this is the last time we will cover you,” the insurance lady says. I am told to discuss the whole accident with the the insurance lady in detail but all I end up doing is try to tell her that it wasn’t my fault or convince her I’m not a bad driver.

Going to school the next day is a struggle. I have to stand there and tell the story over and over to people who laugh at what an awful driver I am, even though they will still call me for rides the minute I get my car back. But on the bright side, I have never been in an accident with anyone in the car with me. Unless you count my first accident in driver’s ed... sorry Mr. Elliot.

Acceptance usually sets in as I go to pick Tigi up from the shop. Picking up my car not only helps the depression pass, but Not only do I get over the depression because I finally get to pick up my car, but a restored sense of freedom hits me. I promise myself I will be a much better driver from now on, although that usually goes away within a couple weeks of having my car back. Back to changing the radio, fixing my hair and staring off into space as I drive.

Going to the collision center is easy now. I know the routine. As I walk in, I’m greeted by Peg, who always says, “Hi Maddie, I’ll go grab your creamer in back.” Yes, they do keep my favorite type of creamer for my coffee on hand, plus they always have new Otis cookies in back if you ask.

Usually, when I first announce I will need my car fixed yet again, the workers give me a round of applause. Sadly enough, I feel very at home at the collision center. But hey, I still consider myself a good driver.

OPINION | 9

THINK

positive

written by Katie Knight I’m not a life coach. I’m not an elderly 105-year-old full of wisdom and life experience, nor am I worthy of giving you advice. Despite all this, in the past year or so I’ve faced a few things that have caused me to change the way I think. I’ve realized that, as much as it may seem like it now, there are other things in life more important than what most high school students are worrying about.

photo by Annie Savage

Avoid Debbie Downers

In the past few months, I found myself in the presence of a person who I can honestly call the most unhappy human being I’ve ever met. Let’s call him Jeremy.

Jeremy was, and still is, the classic example of a bully. He poked at other people in order make him feel better about his own life. I never saw a smile on that man’s face unless he was laughing at one of his own jokes or making fun of other people. It wasn’t rare for Jeremy to roll his eyes and blatantly call people idiots. Day after day, he made it clear that there were at least 10 other places that he would rather be. The worst of all was when Jeremy decided to let out all of his bitter, personal problems out out on other people.

After spending a couple months with Jeremy, I began to think like him. I had more of a negative mindset towards life and I became more whiny than the average teenager. I hated my growing negative attitude, and I knew it was time for a change.

And then I realized that all this whining was kind of exhausting.

Why does Jeremy live like this, as a person who so gladly sucks the happiness out of everything? I mean, is there not one single thing in life to look forward to? Not one person he loves and cares about? Living like him wasn’t easy, even if it was for a short time. I never plan to go back.

Treasure Good Company

My grandma was, and still is, easily the greatest person I have ever known; she was kind and full of life. She always went the extra mile to make sure everyone was happy. She loved people, and people loved her; she could talk old-fashioned cars with the men at her office and turn around and talk opera with her girlfriends. She would never hesitate to spoil me, whether it was taking me shopping for back to school clothes or giving me $200 to spend on fireworks to set off on the Fourth of July at her home in the country. Her high-pitched laugh was infectious, as was her generosity. She inspired me to be a better person.

So when we lost her just eight weeks ago, it felt like someone sucked the air out of my lungs.

My Mimi fought stage IV breast cancer for four years.

She had a miraculous three-year remission three months after her first diagnosis. Last year, one of her scans came back and showed that the cancer had crept back into her liver and her lungs; she began chemotherapy that January.

All seemed to be going well until she caught a bad case of pneumonia and her body couldn’t handle the stress from chemo anymore. After a week in the hospital, she decided she had had enough that August night and ripped the awful BiPAP (a breathing machine) from her parched mouth.

Explore New Interests

When most people fill out the cliched “get to know you” questionnaires on the first day of school, they name a variety hobbies like reading, cooking, maybe even painting. For me, I’ve had the same answer since day one: “Volleyball”.

For the longest time, I have been engulfed in the sport; I constantly worried, cried, obsessed over volleyball.

Due to a heavy academic load, I made the decision to quit this fall season of high school ball. At first, I felt lost; I spent most of my time doing homework and when I was finished I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. But after a couple days of going to bed at 10:30 p.m. instead of 1:30 a.m., I knew quitting was a good move.

Having time off for the first time in six years has opened my eyes. I’ve figured out that as wrong as it may feel to peo-

ple who are busy, sometimes having free time isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s a necessity if you’re committed to having a decent level of sanity. Having time to slow down and relax led me to find other things besides volleyball that I have a passion for. Having time for a social life will be more beneficial in life than spending a couple extra hours in the gym.

The biggest thing I’ve realized since quitting is that volleyball won’t last forever. I’m not the next Kerri Walsh or Misty May-Treanor — I won’t have an olympic career in volleyball. Even if I decide to play in college, that will only last four years. I realized I shouldn’t invest all my time and energy into something that is so temporary and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Don’t get me wrong, though, I still plan on playing club

I don’t understand Jeremy in the slightest bit, but I’ve grown to be sympathetic towards the old crab. To live so unhappily and to lose your passion for life must make for a miserable living.

Living a joyless life is exhausting. Why put yourself in that situation? As cheesy as it may sound, thanks to Jeremy, my attitude will always be positive.

He’s made me realize that there is always something to look forward to in life, and that there is someone out there who has it worse than you do. There’s no value in living a miserable life -- it’s a lose-lose battle.

“I’m done,” she managed to squeak out.

Why? Why do horrible things happen to good people? Of all the people on this earth, she is one of the least-deserving of a death so horrific.

Enjoy the people you’re with. Even though you may think you have no time, call your grandparents once a week.

Check up on that friend you haven’t spoken to in awhile. I thought it seemed unlikely that something so unexpected would happen in my life, yet here I am. It doesn’t take a long time for someone you love to slip through your fingers.

volleyball for the rest of high school and maybe continuing it into college. Just because I enjoy having an occasional day off doesn’t mean I’m going to be any less committed or passionate; now, I just know how to keep everything in perspective.

The most important part of volleyball — or anything time-and-thought-consuming, really — is keeping my life balanced around the commitment. My life was completely centered around the sport. Now, I realize that there are other things in life besides volleyball. It fogged my perspective and made me forget all the other important things that life has to offer, like spending time with friends and family, actually going to a school sporting event or getting to read a book that isn’t required for my English class for once.

10 | OPINION

GROWING

UP

Staffer discusses his struggles with height an opinion of GJ Melia

7 ft.

6 ft.

5 ft.

4 ft.

3 ft.

2 ft.

1 ft.

I

told them I could handle it, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to have to deal with daily shots. I didn’t want that pain. I wanted to be normal.

At the end of eighth grade, I was 4 feet 10 inches — a head shorter than most in my grade. I was so undersized that my parents took me to see Dr. Gufran S. Babar, an endocrinologist. He was a tall man with a soft handshake and a distinct Indian accent. Dr. Babar recommended I begin taking a human growth hormone (HGH).

When most people hear HGH, they think of steroids. Technically, they’d be right. HGH is a steroid. It helps the growth plates on bones grow larger than they normally would on their own. Obviously, steroids have earned a negative connotation because of sports; names like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Lance Armstrong come to mind. I avoided having the same bad association with these athletes by never telling many people. * * * Soccer had the biggest influence in my decision to go through with HGH. I knew that height played a key role in whether I could make a high school team in the future. This meant I had to do whatever it took to grow those extra inches. I had to play.

The shots started as just a pain. They were annoying. I was always dreading that one would be very painful, but it never happened. I was constantly complaining and asking “why” and “when will this be over.” I wanted to be done.

But, they could have been much worse. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be able to have the treatment.

By the first day of freshman year I was 4 feet 11 inches. This was a huge improvement. I had grown an inch over the summer compared to the half of an inch since seventh grade. My parents and I were ecstatic. They were proud of me. I didn’t know why. It was just a shot.

When I first started the injections, I was embarrassed — ashamed, actually.

I felt like there was something wrong with me. Why was I so short? As I grew a little more comfortable talking about it, I told a couple of my closest friends.

written by GJ Melia photo illustration by Stefano Byer

National

GROWTH HORMONES Break Down

Average height children grow from HGH: 1.5 to 4 inches Average cost of HGH per year: $10,000-$25,000 Side Effects:

Diabetes Severe headaches Progression of scoliosis

Personal

Height GJ grew from HGH: 6 inches Cost of GJ’s HGH per year: $24,000 Side Effects:

Weakened immune system Frequent Migraines Daily Fatigue information provided by Dr. Julie Ehly

They encouraged and supported me just like my parents did. Except once.

I was talking to one of them. He said I was cheating. He wasn’t even angry, he just mentioned it. I held in my tears until I got home. He made me feel like I was doing something wrong. He nearly made me stop the shots.

Once high school soccer season rolled around, I tried out and made the C team. I was content. I was more determined than anything. I was determined to show people that my height didn’t matter.

At the start of holiday break, I was 5 feet and the medicine seemed to be working whatever “magic” it had. My goal by the end of the school year was to make it to 5 feet 2 inches. It seemed like a reasonable goal and something to look forward to.

I had a checkup with Dr. Babar every six months to monitor my progress and make sure my dosage didn’t need to be raised or lowered; most times it was raised a small amount. At the end of my

“ ” When I first started the injections, I was embarrassed— ashamed, actually. I felt like there was something wrong with me.

freshmen year, I had achieved the goal I set for myself. I wasn’t done yet, though.

5 feet 2 inches was just a start. * * * Fatigue was a side effect that would prove to be a problem on occasion.

Whenever I participated in physical activity such as soccer, I found myself not having as much energy as I used to. I would quickly become tired unlike before.

I started my sophomore year at 5 feet 3 inches. The treatment was about halfway complete. I didn’t know it though, because there was no timetable to how long I would be taking the medicine.

I made the junior varsity soccer team that year; which boosted my confidence a bit more. I again created a height goal for the end of the school year— 5 feet 5 inches. This target wasn’t going to be as easy to reach as the last.

At the end of 2010, my mom’s employer switched insurance providers.

The new insurance wasn’t going to pay for the HGH. At first, they provided us with a different brand of HGH while we tried to work out a way of paying for the medicine. We ended up having to pay for the new HGH brand out-of-pocket, which just was not going to be possible for long since HGH medication costs about 1,200 to 4,000 dollars a month.

Thankfully, my dad had an idea to get the medication much cheaper. He contacted his brother, who is a doctor, and asked if there was any way he could

help. My uncle knew he could buy the HGH medication at a much discounted price. The old medication was cheaper, so he bought the medicine with his doctor discount, and then we would pay him back for it. That problem was solved by the end of the school year sophomore year.

The biggest side effect of HGH is disappointment. Dr. Babar told my parents and I not to have high hopes because the medicine might not be able to meet our expectations. I realized what he meant at the end of sophomore year. I did not meet the height goal I had set for myself. I was 5 feet 4 inches, give or take a half of an inch. I was sure I needed to grow at least a bit more if I wanted to have any chance to make the soccer team my junior year.

I was distraught. My confidence was at an all time low. I felt I had done it for nothing. I wasn’t depressed. But I was upset.

To my relief, I grew by the end of the summer. I grew at least an inch, getting me to 5 feet 5 inches and a half. That extra inch was just what I needed to make Varsity soccer that fall. I couldn’t have been any happier. For the first time since I started taking the medication, I had a normal year. Once January hit, I was about 5 feet 7 inches. I was finally happy with my height. I decided that I didn’t need to be any taller. *** My last shot was somewhere in late January, early February. I don’t remember the exact date, but I remember the day. When I gave the shot, it was really late. One in the morning late. That night wasn’t a celebration or anything like that. I just looked back and saw how far I had come in three years. I thought it would be weird, in the weeks following.

It wasn’t though. My life carried on like normal. Nothing else changed.

The last appointment with Dr. Babar was an awkward one. Well, they were all awkward, but this one was by far the most. The appointment was in April, two months after I had stopped taking the medicine. We had not told him, so when we did, he was very surprised.

He agreed. If we were pleased with my height, it was the correct decision to stop with the injections.

When he left the room, I was sad. I felt rush of blood to head and the tears coming to my eyes. I wanted to cry.

But why? I was never going to see him again, I knew that much, but I didn’t know why I felt so emotional about it.

In all the visits, I realized, he had become a friend to me.

I was done. I was done with the experience. The medicine changed my life.

Through the painful process, most of the tears I shed were of sadness. I finally had something to be happy about. To be proud of. I was truly blessed, and I didn’t figure that out until it was over.

curly dark brown hair, dark eyes, pale skin, a big nose and

My favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is that instead of looking ahead to the next year, we reflect on the prior year. We don’t have a countdown at midnight, or make resolution lists, or pop champagne bottles when the clock strikes twelve. There aren’t any extravagant late-night parties, million of my people. or confetti and balloons. Rosh Hashanah is about finding Every time I hear an ignorant stereotype my feelings your true self, and getting back down to your core values. are hurt. I hate that people think I need to fall into a cer- I get to spend time with my extended family and it gives tain category. The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe best me a really good chance to just slow down and evaluate myself.

This year, during my reflection I decided to examine how I see others. I looked at the judgements I make based on race, religion and appearance. I want to change because I want to be a mensch, but also, because I know how it feels.

How it feels to be the brunt of a disrespectful joke, or be questioned for my beliefs. And I have a hunch I’m not the only one who knows how it feels. There must be millions of people out there who are left out or discounted for how they dress, how they talk, the color of their skin, the person they love, the party they vote for, the country they’re from, the country they live in, or even just the way they go about living their daily lives.

But still we are quick to judge or quick to criticize even when we can understand the pain it causes.

I can assure you, taking the time to get to know someone else, learning about another culture or just slowing down to appreciate someone or something that differs from your personal lifestyle will be worth it.

I think that we as citizens of the world have to remember that we aren’t here to box up, and scrutinize others. We’re here to love one another. We’re here to capitalize on our differences and celebrate them.

Now, don’t start categorizing me as being a person who likes to make big smart quotations all the time. Trust me, I’m not that pretentious. But the quote from sociologist Charles Horton Cooley perfectly illustrates an ideal way to look at the world; “Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social photo illustration by Paloma Dickey order is also.” He means that we explains why the human race has a knack for generaliz- ourselves can’t be beautiful and appreciated, if our world ing. He says, “The whole idea of a stereotype is to simplify. doesn’t want to perceive us as so. To gain a certain level Instead of going through the problem of all this great di- of respect we must also give that same level of respect to versity - that it’s this or maybe that - you have just one others. large statement; it is this.” In other words, humans are unThis year, I hope you can join me in my fight against comfortable with our differences so we try to box people stereotypes, generalizations and barriers. Join me as I up. To make ourselves more comfortable. To generalize hope to open my mind and be more tolerant of others instead of acknowledge reality. It’s obvious that creating and their own practices. Join me in celebrating the varia barrier isn’t right, but sometimes it’s easier than getting ety and differences that make our world a beautiful place to know someone who is different. It’s very easy. So easy to live. Join me in becoming a true mensch. that I’m guilty of it too.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” During the fall, my family joins Jews all over the world -Helen Keller in celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

Sophomore Morgan Krakow discusses a small pale frame. I have blonde hair and an averageher personal experience of being stero- sized nose. I’m also a practicing Jewish American. The latter generalization are so 1942 and WWII. They are the typed for her beliefs. untrue sweeping statements that brutally murdered six An opinion of Morgan Krakow

“B

e a mensch Morgan,” they say. My dad, my mom, my grandma. They all want me to be a mensch. What’s a mensch? It’s the nicest, the most open-minded, the most caring a person can be. It’s a Yiddish term that was brought over to the United States by Jewish people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

So how do I “be a mensch?”

It’s something I’ve always struggled with. Am I a mensch? How can I become one?

Everyday, I get thrown into situations where I may not display the qualities of a mensch.

A big struggle of mine centers around my religion and how others around me react to it. It’s true, it’d probably be easier to go to church on Sundays or celebrate Christmas in December. It would be easier to acknowledge Easter in the Spring instead of Passover. It would be easier to make a Christmas ham instead of matzoball soup. But my family is Jewish, so explaining to others about my religion isn’t always that easy.

And when I think about all the struggles that my people have gone through before me, in theory, telling someone that I’m Jewish in 2012 shouldn’t be that hard.

But it is. Whenever I tell people about my faith, I am often struck with how high a level of ignorance others have. To some it’s almost as if they don’t even see me. They see my face, my hair color, my nose, and suddenly they are confused. I don’t add up in their minds.

“Really? You don’t look Jewish.”

I hear it all the time. At first I feel surprised, embarrassed, even ashamed. What’s that supposed to mean? What do you mean I don’t look Jewish? It’s a religion. Not a race. It’s my religion.

And yet, I say nothing. And my thoughts pound me. five thousand years of scapegoating, persecution, bullies, and I can’t even stand up for myself. And I can’t tell them it’s wrong. I can’t stand up and be a real mensch. I can’t even act brave when someone is questioning or insulting the very values that make up my core.

So now I want to say what I haven’t been able to say before. I’m proud. I’m proud of my culture, my religion and of myself.

My religion doesn’t define me, I define my religion.

But I know the generalizations. I’m supposed to have

OPINION | 11

BREAK

THE MOLD

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ELECTING

TO

CAMPAIGN

East students are finding ways to get involved with the election campaign process Senior Eden McKissick-Hawley commands the meeting from start to finish. Her down-tobuisness tone of voice makes sure the group is on task as she begins the meeting’s discussion: she emphasizes the importance of getting a sustainable group of volunteers, just how essential it is to keep sign-in sheets up to date and shift times filled. She handles questions about the office’s voicemail recordings with ease. Though an 18-year-old volunteer clad in Rainbow-brand flip flops, nike shorts and an East t-shirt might not be the first person you picture to help locally run a presidential campaign, she’s been at it for awhile. And she’s not alone.

McKissick-Hawley has always had a passion for politics. For as long as she can remember, she’s been interested in her rights and how the government makes their decisions about them.

For McKissick-Hawley to celebrate her ninth birthday in the Kerry/Edwards campaign office was nothing short of normal, and spending her time phone banking was nearly second nature (after a crash course in political calls, of course).

Thanks to her dedication to the campaign, being asked to present senators and leaders of the Democratic National Committee at a press conference before the 2004 debates was just icing on the cake.

“We’re not so much entitled to all of [our democratic] rights as much as we are lucky to have them,” McKissick-Hawley said. “[It’s important to] appreciate those who have come before us and made it possible for us to vote.”

McKissick-Hawley was offered her position as a part-time volunteer with the Obama for America campaign in the Kansas office after working with Aude Negrete, the state director for the Kansas campaign, in 2010. She spends as many as 50 hours a week at work, if she spends her weekends going door-to-door, or “canvasing” in the important swing state of Iowa, which she does frequently. When she’s not canvasing in Iowa, she’s working in the Kansas office, doing volunteer recruitment, phone banking,or entering data into the office’s computers. Though it may seem tedious at times, McKissick-Hawley knows just how rewarding this work can be.

When McKissick-Hawley’s hard work with the campaign allowed her to meet then president-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle in 2008, she was reminded of the reason the work that she and all of the campaign’s other volunteers’ work is so important: shaking the future-president’s hand proved to be one of the highlights of her campaigning career.

“I remember it was just a really humbling experience to be in the presence of someone that has impacted my life and impacted history so much,” McKissick-Hawley said. “Whether you’re Democrat or Republican, to stand in the shadow of someone you really admire, you really respect and [someone who] makes you want to be a better person...there’s nothing as gratifying as... know[ing] what that’s like to look them in the eye and really trust them.”

Senior Nate Anderson, an unpaid campaign staff member with the Obama campaign during the past summer and now part-time volunteer, made the decision to volunteer after a long interest in politics. Ever since Anderson was told by his grandfather that his great-great grandmother was the first woman to vote in Missouri, he wanted to be able to express his democratic rights as she did. When he heard about a summer fellowship opportunity with the Kansas City Missouri office for the Obama campaign through former East teacher John Comstock, Anderson wanted to learn more and decided to apply.

“It’s so important that you get your voice heard, because it’s your life that you’re able to control by voting,” Anderson said. “If you give up that right, it’s kind of foolish on your part... you might end up in a situation with someone who is not in favor of your needs in power, and it’s your fault because you had the power to vote... it’s truly an honor to be able to actually control what actually happens in politics.”

As an unpaid campaign staff member, Anderson frequently canvased in Missouri and helped with the office’s organization. The position proved to be a perfect summer job for Anderson, but when the school year began, he decided to become only a part-time volunteer. Today, he spends a few hours a week in the office, phone banking and entering data, or canvasing on Sat-

urdays. Though this is as much time as Anderson can devote to the office now, he misses being able to spend more time on the campaign.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Anderson said. “It’s really rewarding when you know, after you’ve been out door-to-door canvasing and you debate with somebody over why they should or should not vote, and you leave them thinking... it’s a small victory, [but] each victory is a victory you didn’t have before... It’s really rewarding when you realize that what you’re doing really could have made a difference between who wins and who doesn’t in the election.”

Senior Helena Buchmann volunteered parttime over the summer with the Johnson County Obama for America office by phone banking and helping with data entry along with 2012 East graduate Becca Brownlee. Since she was little, Buchmann has been watching the news and questioning the decisions made by policy makers. Her interest in politics blossomed in 2004 when she met John and Elizabeth Edwards at a campaign event in Kansas City.

“Because I cannot vote, because I cannot use my voice, I’m depending on everyone else to use their voice for me,” Buchmann said. “I need everyone else to vote for Obama for me because I can’t. I don’t want people to waste their vote. It’s so annoying.”

Just because all of these politically active students work on the Obama campaign doesn’t mean there aren’t any active Republicans in the area. Although you can sign up for volunteer opportunities with the Romney campaign through their website, there is not yet a campaign office in the state of Kansas.

These three young volunteers are thrilled when they’re asked what difference they’re making. Why a single vote would matter. They’d love to tell you why using their voice matters.

“I want to make a difference,” Anderson said.

“And this is the election if you want to make a difference.... I could help persuade people who are maybe not wanting to vote, to vote. Or people that were kind of wishy-washy about Obama or Romney... it was just really cool that I could still influence the election without actually having a vote.”

FEATURES 13

written by Hannah Ratliffe photos by Marisa Walton

GET Involved

Just because you aren’t 18 doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference. Here are some ways you can help.

GET EDUCATED

Read about the issues and be literate about what your stances are.

SHOW SUPPORT

After you know which side shares your views, you can support them with bumper stickers, signs or apparel.

JOIN THE CLUB

There are clubs at East and beyond where your local party members meet and discuss, such as Bridge Politics Club.

Drop by to broaden your view.

WRITE IT OUT

You can voice your opinions by creating or contributing to a blog or forum online. You can also write letters to your congressmen.

TIMELESS COLLECTION

FEATURES | 14

photo by Marisa Walton

S

enior Joe Simmons is meticulous.

“It’s kind of going chicka-chickachicka,” Simmons notes as he holds his Omega watch up to his ear. “You want it to sound more rhythmic, like chicka, chicka, chicka.”

He notices these things— the tick of his watches, fine inscriptions of watchmakers’ signatures and smudgy fingerprints on glass watch faces. He studies the gears when he unscrews the back of one of his watches and takes pictures of his collection with his iPhone so he’s ready to sell and buy to add to his collection. He has in impressive watch tan from sporting one every day on his right wrist.

These are the things that make Simmons tick. * * * As a kid, Simmons was all about cars.

He watched “Top Gear” and European races and read car magazines where he saw endless advertisements for expensive watches made by fancy car companies.

It wasn’t till sophomore year when his attention shifted and he began to watch the watch industry. After a bit of research, Simmons became intrigued.

“The bug bit me and I started reading more and more,” Simmons said.

After about two months of googling, Simmons decided on his first watch: a Seiko.

“What I read was that it was a good starting place because it wasn’t expensive, it was pretty versatile and it was reliable and wearable,” Simmons said. “It was a solid timepiece.”

Once Simmons started, he couldn’t stop. He began looking for watches with more specific functions or to wear at more specific occasions. He joined a forum to keep up with the watch world and ask questions to other gurus before adding

anything to his collection. Now, his collection encompasses five watches and 21 watch straps.

“It’s a mixture between deal hunting and managing a small business,” Simmons said.

Collecting is a constant process with no end time. Simmons likes to keep his collection between five to seven watches.

He enjoys each watch for more than their monetary value.

“It’s not impressing others or yourself, it’s more about enjoying the experience and appreciating the craftsmanship behind watches,” Simmons said.

And craftsmanship and quality are exactly the type of things Simmons looks for in a watch. Before adding anything to his collection, Simmons identifies exactly what he wants— size, color and purposewise. After he narrows down the logistics, Simmons continues his research with specifications set on Amazon and sees what comes up. He finds something he likes, then reads about it on watchuseek. com, the “CNN for watch collectors”. This resource is where Simmons sees what fellow collectors say about prospective buys, can ask them questions, or look at the news, which, according to Joe, is slow in the watch world.

“There’s nothing willy nilly about what I do,” Simmons said.

Simmons sells his watches mostly through eBay, what he sees as the safest medium because of PayPal. He keeps his watches in top condition by storing them in a special case and cleaning them a few times a month. He also documents them through photos and videos using a macro lens designed for iPhones— his photos show small details important to a collector, like each little inscription on his watches. He’ll continue to buy and sell as

he watches the market, but will never sell two watches: the Omega he received as a 17th birthday gift and the Seiko he first bought as a collector.

Simmons’ collection includes more than just tangible watches; through research, he’s collected an abundance of information about the watch industry. He tells of a big story he read about on the forum about a Russian church official’s watch scandal (see www.smeharbinger. net to hear the story) and how presidnet Eisenhauer used his watch to give people he was talking to exactly one minute of his time. He knows about the solid gold watch Volcane Criquet gifts to each president, and that president Obama doesn’t wear his.

“Obama’s watches aren’t very interesting,” Simmons said.

Along with collecting, Simmons likes to tinker. He’s no professional repairman, but has a small collection of tools that allow him to get an inside look at his watches two or three times a month, depending on how often they need it. Last month, he fixed his sister’s Timex Simmons has already begun research on his next prospect: a Sinn 103 Diapal— a light watch with a sleek looking face, perfect for a graduation gift.

Meanwhile, Simmons’s watch tan will grow deeper. He may buy and sell a few watches or straps to build on his collection, but only time will tell.

Senior collects and tinkers with watches.

written by Chloe Stradinger photo below courtesy of Joe Simmons

canvas watch strap

second hand one of Joe’s three Seiko watches this dial starts and stops the stopwatch

military time one of Joe’s favorite features: thick hands

lumination shot

ONLINE | 15

SOCCER

FOOTBALL

DATE

TIME LOCATION

OPPONENT

Fri, Oct 12 Fri, Oct 19 Fri, Oct 26

7 pm 7 pm 7 pm

SM North Stadium SM South Stadium SM South Stadium

@SM Northwest @SM West SM North

Tues, Oct 9 Thu, Oct 11 Tues, Oct 16

7 pm 7 pm 7 pm

SM Soccer Complex SM Soccer Complex SM Soccer Complex

SM Northwest SM West Olathe South

16 | SPREAD

SPREAD | 17 written by Nellie Whittaker

photos by Caroline Creidenberg

Six exhausted girls skate down the rink, hitting the puck to one another, trying to end a gruelingly-long hockey game. They’ve just started the ninth overtime of the Central District Championship game. They have been playing for nearly three hours, and the game is to the point that instead of the normal five-on-five setup, it is down to just 3-on-3. Most of the team is too exhausted to keep playing. The game has been going on for so long that they have to have snacks brought over to them to keep their energy levels up. The Lady Blues are tired and at this point, they just want to put an end to the game.

With just 10 seconds left on the clock for this round of overtime, team captain Jessica Dunne pushes the puck to junior Jessica Young, the center forward, and Young takes it up the rink. She shoots it to the goal, thinking please go in. I don’t think I can skate anymore. The puck shoots into the net, just below the goalie’s glove. Score! Her goal clinches the game and the championship.

*** Jessica started ice skating at the age of three, following her father, Jeff’s footsteps. He grew up in Chicago playing hockey, and because he loved it so much, he enrolled Jessica and her older brother, Jeremy, in hockey when they were young. At first, Jeff and Julie, Jessica’s mother, thought that Jessica would want to do figure skating instead of hockey; but Jessica was more of a tomboy.

“Jessica didn’t want anything to do with [figure skating]” Julie said. “She wanted to play hockey like her brother.”

Jeremy was a role model for Jessica in hockey. He practiced on the team with her and inspired her try to improve, just by being an older, more experienced player.

“I looked up to him as a hockey player... I always wanted to be as good as him, or better,” Jessica said.

Jessica’s first team, the Kansas City Saints, was an allboys team she was on with her brother. Jessica’s dad coaches the team, which makes it that much more personal for her. She played on that team from when she was six until she was eleven. At that point, the boys started checking, or physically hurting other players. Jessica decided that it was too rough for her to keep playing with them, so she joined the Lady Blues, a traveling girls team from St. Louis.

Now, Jessica practices with the Saints but plays games and tournaments for the Lady Blues. The few practices she has with the Lady Blues are much more fun and social for her. She feels more comfortable since she and her team-

mates talk, and the general mood is less intense. Because girls’ hockey is not very common in this area, the team has to find games in places like Michigan, Ohio, the East Coast and Canada.

Typically, Jessica has to miss school on Fridays when she has a weekend tournament, so she gets a lot of makeup school work. Since she’s been doing this since middle school, she’s used to it. She tries to get all her homework done before she leaves.

Julie views all this traveling as an opportunity for her daughter to meet people and make friends from all over the country. Jessica and her team have gotten close because of the travel; although they only see each other once or twice per month, they bond a lot on the road.

“I think as a team we drive our coach crazy because we talk constantly to catch up on all the time we are apart,” Jessica’s linemate Alexis Toporowski said.

When they are traveling, the Lady Blues often do some sort of team bonding activity, like rock-climbing or playing paintball. Last season, they had a tournament at Miami of Ohio, so they took a tour of the school together while they were there.

According to Jessica, the Lady Blues team is a lot more fun, and the other players are more friendly towards her than the Saints are. It’s not just about what happens on the ice for them; they like to have fun together.

“Our teammates really like it when Jess and I are the team DJs because we sing and dance in the locker room until the last second!” Toporowski said.

According to Toporowski, the Lady Blues are like sisters.

Even if they’re upset with one another, they always have each others’ backs when they’re playing. She thinks that they would all be great friends if they went to the same school, but that it’s nice to have friends that don’t, this way they can all get away from any drama going on with their friends from school.

“It’s the bond we have off the ice that helps us win,” Toporowski said.

Although the team didn’t win very often when Jessica joined six years ago, the Lady Blues have been very successful this past season, especially being the Central District champions. Last season, Jessica was the highest-scoring player per game on her team, and she scored the most game-winning goals (six). Because of the team’s success, there have been several newspaper articles written about

it.

“I think it’s really cool when we get recognition for playing, but it doesn’t really have much of an effect on me [confidence-wise],” Jessica said.

She went through a lot to achieve this success. Practicing with the boys has been essential to her success, but it hasn’t been easy, as most of them seem to play rough and check her on purpose.

“Whenever I play in games with the boys, I always have to keep my head up because they kind of come after me, because they think it’s funny or something,” Jessica said.

“And sometimes they make comments. It’s not such a big deal anymore.”

Because of the roughness of the sport, she has had two concussions recently, and they made her realize how important it was to be careful not to get another. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to play anymore. She had to think about whether or not she really wanted to risk getting another one to keep playing hockey.

“It hit me that just one more time [getting a concussion], and I could be done,” Jessica said.

Her dad really wanted her to continue, but her mom urged her to think about whether or not it was worth it to keep playing. Jessica decided that she had come too far to quit, so she continued playing. Since then, Jessica has become more careful, especially when she plays with the boys, by dodging checks and trying to stay out of the boys’ way.

Jessica also golfs and plays soccer. She spends about the same amount of time practicing for hockey and soccer, and a little less for golf. Although she is equally dedicated to the three sports, her focus for the future is mainly on hockey.

Jessica hopes to play hockey at a Division I college, or both hockey and soccer at a Division III school. But after four years of college, she will probably end her hockey career. “[Hockey will benefit my future] because it opens up doors to colleges I wouldn’t normally think of going to, especially the Ivy Leagues,” Jessica said. “It’s a lot harder to get into those schools if you don’t play a sport... You’re kind of special if you want to play a sport at a school like that.”

*CENTER

ON THE ICE

YOUNG TALENT

This is Jessica’s position, she is the one who scores the goals and is constantly moving around the rink

GOALIE

The most stressful position, where they have to stop the pucks from getting in the goal

DEFENSE

WINGER

Assists the center, wingers move around the rink constantly

Helps the goalie keep the pucks out of the goal box

a KEY to Jessicas travels tournament practice scouting trip/ college visit

Left: Skating after the puck, Young makes her attempt to score a goal.

Below: Young and her dad have a conversation on the sidelines during her practice.

Below left: Young watches teammates scrimmage during one of her few breaks off the ice.

16 | SPREAD

SPREAD | 17 written by Nellie Whittaker

photos by Caroline Creidenberg

Six exhausted girls skate down the rink, hitting the puck to one another, trying to end a gruelingly-long hockey game. They’ve just started the ninth overtime of the Central District Championship game. They have been playing for nearly three hours, and the game is to the point that instead of the normal five-on-five setup, it is down to just 3-on-3. Most of the team is too exhausted to keep playing. The game has been going on for so long that they have to have snacks brought over to them to keep their energy levels up. The Lady Blues are tired and at this point, they just want to put an end to the game.

With just 10 seconds left on the clock for this round of overtime, team captain Jessica Dunne pushes the puck to junior Jessica Young, the center forward, and Young takes it up the rink. She shoots it to the goal, thinking please go in. I don’t think I can skate anymore. The puck shoots into the net, just below the goalie’s glove. Score! Her goal clinches the game and the championship.

*** Jessica started ice skating at the age of three, following her father, Jeff’s footsteps. He grew up in Chicago playing hockey, and because he loved it so much, he enrolled Jessica and her older brother, Jeremy, in hockey when they were young. At first, Jeff and Julie, Jessica’s mother, thought that Jessica would want to do figure skating instead of hockey; but Jessica was more of a tomboy.

“Jessica didn’t want anything to do with [figure skating]” Julie said. “She wanted to play hockey like her brother.”

Jeremy was a role model for Jessica in hockey. He practiced on the team with her and inspired her try to improve, just by being an older, more experienced player.

“I looked up to him as a hockey player... I always wanted to be as good as him, or better,” Jessica said.

Jessica’s first team, the Kansas City Saints, was an allboys team she was on with her brother. Jessica’s dad coaches the team, which makes it that much more personal for her. She played on that team from when she was six until she was eleven. At that point, the boys started checking, or physically hurting other players. Jessica decided that it was too rough for her to keep playing with them, so she joined the Lady Blues, a traveling girls team from St. Louis.

Now, Jessica practices with the Saints but plays games and tournaments for the Lady Blues. The few practices she has with the Lady Blues are much more fun and social for her. She feels more comfortable since she and her team-

mates talk, and the general mood is less intense. Because girls’ hockey is not very common in this area, the team has to find games in places like Michigan, Ohio, the East Coast and Canada.

Typically, Jessica has to miss school on Fridays when she has a weekend tournament, so she gets a lot of makeup school work. Since she’s been doing this since middle school, she’s used to it. She tries to get all her homework done before she leaves.

Julie views all this traveling as an opportunity for her daughter to meet people and make friends from all over the country. Jessica and her team have gotten close because of the travel; although they only see each other once or twice per month, they bond a lot on the road.

“I think as a team we drive our coach crazy because we talk constantly to catch up on all the time we are apart,” Jessica’s linemate Alexis Toporowski said.

When they are traveling, the Lady Blues often do some sort of team bonding activity, like rock-climbing or playing paintball. Last season, they had a tournament at Miami of Ohio, so they took a tour of the school together while they were there.

According to Jessica, the Lady Blues team is a lot more fun, and the other players are more friendly towards her than the Saints are. It’s not just about what happens on the ice for them; they like to have fun together.

“Our teammates really like it when Jess and I are the team DJs because we sing and dance in the locker room until the last second!” Toporowski said.

According to Toporowski, the Lady Blues are like sisters.

Even if they’re upset with one another, they always have each others’ backs when they’re playing. She thinks that they would all be great friends if they went to the same school, but that it’s nice to have friends that don’t, this way they can all get away from any drama going on with their friends from school.

“It’s the bond we have off the ice that helps us win,” Toporowski said.

Although the team didn’t win very often when Jessica joined six years ago, the Lady Blues have been very successful this past season, especially being the Central District champions. Last season, Jessica was the highest-scoring player per game on her team, and she scored the most game-winning goals (six). Because of the team’s success, there have been several newspaper articles written about

it.

“I think it’s really cool when we get recognition for playing, but it doesn’t really have much of an effect on me [confidence-wise],” Jessica said.

She went through a lot to achieve this success. Practicing with the boys has been essential to her success, but it hasn’t been easy, as most of them seem to play rough and check her on purpose.

“Whenever I play in games with the boys, I always have to keep my head up because they kind of come after me, because they think it’s funny or something,” Jessica said.

“And sometimes they make comments. It’s not such a big deal anymore.”

Because of the roughness of the sport, she has had two concussions recently, and they made her realize how important it was to be careful not to get another. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to play anymore. She had to think about whether or not she really wanted to risk getting another one to keep playing hockey.

“It hit me that just one more time [getting a concussion], and I could be done,” Jessica said.

Her dad really wanted her to continue, but her mom urged her to think about whether or not it was worth it to keep playing. Jessica decided that she had come too far to quit, so she continued playing. Since then, Jessica has become more careful, especially when she plays with the boys, by dodging checks and trying to stay out of the boys’ way.

Jessica also golfs and plays soccer. She spends about the same amount of time practicing for hockey and soccer, and a little less for golf. Although she is equally dedicated to the three sports, her focus for the future is mainly on hockey.

Jessica hopes to play hockey at a Division I college, or both hockey and soccer at a Division III school. But after four years of college, she will probably end her hockey career. “[Hockey will benefit my future] because it opens up doors to colleges I wouldn’t normally think of going to, especially the Ivy Leagues,” Jessica said. “It’s a lot harder to get into those schools if you don’t play a sport... You’re kind of special if you want to play a sport at a school like that.”

*CENTER

ON THE ICE

YOUNG TALENT

This is Jessica’s position, she is the one who scores the goals and is constantly moving around the rink

GOALIE

The most stressful position, where they have to stop the pucks from getting in the goal

DEFENSE

WINGER

Assists the center, wingers move around the rink constantly

Helps the goalie keep the pucks out of the goal box

a KEY to Jessicas travels tournament practice scouting trip/ college visit

Left: Skating after the puck, Young makes her attempt to score a goal.

Below: Young and her dad have a conversation on the sidelines during her practice.

Below left: Young watches teammates scrimmage during one of her few breaks off the ice.

18 | FEATURES

“I just see Patrick as something that is gonna be a T

written by Matt Hanson

wo days ago, junior Quinn Appletoft ran a 5k in 18:20 in Chicago. That’s about six minutes per mile.

Today, he’s moving at a slower pace. He has to when he’s walking with his 26-yearold brother Patrick. He rests his hand on his older brother’s back, holding him by a strap wrapped around his Chiefs shirt. Even with his crutches, Patrick sometimes needs a little extra support, so Quinn acts as his backup crutch.

It’s a leisurely Sunday afternoon walk for the two brothers, but they don’t make it very far. They never leave the driveway. They just walk in circles. While it’s nothing compared to the 5k Quinn ran Chicago, it’s Patrick’s exercise for the day.

Since birth, Patrick has had a developmental disorder so unique, doctors diagnosed him with “unknown syndrome.” There isn’t another case like his in the world. Patrick’s problems include a mental age of two, muscle weakness and an inability to communicate beyond limited sign language.

During the day Patrick goes to an adult day care program, but when he’s home, he needs constant one-on-one attention. Since his communication is limited to signs like “more” and “finished”, the Appletofts have to instinctively know what he needs when.

They have to feed him, bathe him, keep him hydrated, exercise him. His mother, Debbie, compares taking care of him to taking care of a toddler.

“You just kind of picture him about a year to two years old,” Debbie said. “[He’s] just completely dependent on you for everything.”

For Quinn, taking care of Patrick is a way of life. Helping Patrick around the house, playing toys with him, taking him for walks — they’re just extra chores that Quinn fits in between baseball games and homework.

“People would see it as ‘Wow, you have to do a lot of stuff to help him out,’” Quinn said.

“I just see it as what I normally do. It’s just something that I’m used to.”

When the Appletofts first adopted Quinn, he was completely dependent on his parents, like Patrick. But as Quinn got older, he began to help his parents take care of his older brother. While Quinn has had to spend much of his life helping out with Patrick, he says it never really bothered him.

“I kind of came into having all of these things that we did to help out with Patrick,” Quinn said. “It didn’t really seem like I had all this extra stuff to do. It just seemed normal.”

In addition to helping with Patrick’s care, Quinn entertains his brother, playing toys with him, wrestling with him, making him laugh.

On this particular Sunday, he plays a few notes on the piano with Patrick and helps him read his favorite book, “Grandma and Me.” “He’s stepped into a caregiver role, but he’s probably more fun than my husband and I,”

Debbie said. “The good thing about Quinn is that he just has a really good attitude about Patrick.”

After pacing their driveway for 10 minutes, Quinn and Patrick head inside to rest.

Patrick sits in the Appletoft’s family room and flips through the pages of his favorite magazine, Good Housekeeping. He flips through it once forwards and then slowly makes his way backwards looking for pictures he likes.

While Patrick does this, Quinn begins to take his white leg braces off. He unstraps one, sets it on the floor beside him and attends to the other. Like exercising Patrick, it’s a simple task for him, one he’s been doing for a long time.

He never asks for help from his mom as he unwraps each brace. Someday, he knows he won’t have the option. Someday, he knows he’ll be the one who has to take care of Patrick.

“I see it as something I have to be prepared for,” Quinn said. “I’m gonna be the person that knows what’s best for him once my parents are gone.”

This summer, at the behest of his parents, Quinn took big steps towards being able to take care of Patrick alone. He learned how to tape Patrick’s feet, how to shave him, bathe him, brush his teeth, anything he needed to know how to do to take care of Patrick alone.

He’s not completely there, but he’s getting close.

Still, Quinn knows that one day Patrick will need him. He doesn’t mind. In fact, he feels he owes it to his brother to take care of him for what Patrick has done for him. While Quinn has taken care of Patrick for much of his life, Patrick has given him a lot in return.

In sports, Patrick has given Quinn motivation. Whenever he has a tough baseball practice or a cross country run he doesn’t want to do, Quinn thinks of Patrick, who’s never had the chance to play sports. When he thinks of what his brother would give to play a sport, he finds the motivation he needs. Quinn has used this motivation to make varsity in both of his sports.

Quinn says Patrick also forced him to mature and accept more responsibility at an earlier age. His experience with Patrick has given him perspective on life and how lucky he is. He says the most important lesson he’s learned from Patrick is to never take things for granted.

So the way Quinn sees it, taking care of Patrick down the road is the least he can do in return for the perspective Patrick’s given him on life. So when the time comes, he’ll be ready.

“I just see it as Patrick is something that’s gonna be a part of my life for the rest of my life,” Quinn said. “He’s my brother. He’s just a person I’m gonna take care of.”

Little Brother, Responsibility

BIG

photos by Jake Crandall

Junior Quinn Appletoff helps his brother, Patrick, live with a unique developemental disorder

PHOTO STORY | 19

part of my life, for the rest of my life,” Quinn said.

Left: Junior Quinn Appletoft supports his brother as he walks down the driveway for exercise.

Below: 26-year-old Patrick likes to flip through magazines and books.

“His favorite book is called ‘Grandma and Me’ which he flips through constantly,” mother Debbie said.

HAND

LENDING A HELPING

Above: Quinn sits with is brother at the piano.

“Patrick will sit at the piano a few minutes before he leaves for the bus,” his mother, Debbie, said. “He just bangs on the keys but it’s not an ugly sound.”

Right Above: Adjusting Patrick’s leg braces is a normal every day activity for Quinn. “I’m gonna be the person that knows what’s best for him once my parents are gone,” Quinn said.

Right: Patrick listens to his toddler toy that plays nursery rhymes. “He likes listen to nursery rhymes,” Debbie said. “Then he will hum the same tune later.”

20| FEATURES

BAGPIPING THROUGH GENERATIONS

Junior Andy McKee plays as a third generation bagpiper for the Kansas City St. Andrew’s Pipe and Drum Band written by Grace Heitmann

photo courtesy of Andy McKee

Junior Andy McKee plays the bagpipe at the Kansas City Saint Andrew Society Robert Burns Dinner, held each Jan. to honor the famous Scottish poet.

Junior Andy McKee is Scottish. Need proof? Ask him to play the bagpipes for you.

Andy is a third generation bagpipe player on the Kansas City St. Andrew’s Pipes and Drum Band. Founded in 1962 by Wallace McKee, Andy’s grandfather, the pipe band, as well as the heritage of the McKee’s, has played a prevalent role in the entire McKee family.

“It’s really a tradition in my family,” Andy said. “Sometimes I joke that we’re sort of like the mafia of Kansas City Highland Arts.”

At age seven when most kids were learning their addition and subtraction, Andy was learning how to play the traditional Great Highland bagpipe from his dad. The Great Highland Bagpipe originates from Scotland and consists of a bag, chanter, blowpipe, two tenor drones and one bass drone.

“There’s the traditional stereotype of the bagpipes sounding like a dying pig,” Andy said. “But if a bagpipe is well tuned and well played, it’s a really beautiful thing.”

Andy continued to learn the bagpipes, even traveling to Ontario, Canada several summers to study at the Ontario School of Piping under the teachings of some of the best pipers. Andy has competed in many solo competitions throughout the years and has had great success competing at the Junior Novice level.

Just this last year, Andy started competing as a piper in the St.

Andrew’s competition band. The competition band travels to play against other bagpipe bands.

A typical pipe band consists of bagpipers, Scottish snare drummers, bass drummers and tenor drummers. Out of the roughly 50 members of the St. Andrew’s Pipe Band, pipers make up a little more than half of the musicians in the band. There are about 10 snare drummers, two bass drummers and three tenor drummers as well. And, of course, there were the McKee’s. “[While competing] at Chicago, it was either a quarter or a third of the Kansas City [St. Andrew’s] Pipe Band was made of McKee’s,” Andy said.

In the pipe band competitions, each band is ranked in grades to determine their competition. The grades range from one to five, Grade 1 being the highest and Grade 5 being the lowest. St. Andrew’s Pipe and Drums band took a hiatus of competing over the past couple years but recently started competing again in Grade 4.

To compete, a pipe band selects several bagpipe tunes (not songs) and forms them into a compilation. The band makes sure that the compilation, called a set, includes tunes that the band thinks the judges will like. The pipe band must play the compilation to show both the strengths of the pipers and drummers as well as the cooperation between the two.

“There are usually different competitions for different kinds of sets,” McKee said. “The sets we play [in competitions] are quick march medleys which are sets made up entirely of different march style tunes.”

The bagpipe competitions take place at what’s called the Highland Games. The Highland Games typically last a couple days, depending on their location. The games are held all over the world, especially in Canada and Scotland. The Highland Games honor the Scottish and their lifestyles and traditions.

Events include Scottish bands, Highland dancers, Scottish clans and bagpiping. Kansas City hosts their own highland games during June in Riverside, Mo. but they do not include bagpipe competitions.

Over the summer, Andy and the pipe band competed in the Chicago Highland Games. Two weeks ago, the band competed in the St. Louis Highland Games. Although the pipe band did well in Chicago, the band only managed to get fifth place out of six in St. Louis.

“We kind of blew the start and it didn’t go so well after that,” Andy said.

But Andy’s favorite part of playing the bagpipes is the history and heritage behind it.

“The majority of the music is very old and has a very deep tradition,” Andy said. “[There’s] just a massive variety of heritage in bagpiping that you don’t really find in a lot of other instruments.”

Bagpiping has slowly become more mainstream and part of the modern world. Once mostly confined to the British armies in the 18th and 19th centuries, countries all over the world are playing the bagpipes and adding their own style to the music.

“I think that’s another great thing — the new sort of piping culture that’s emerged all over the world,” Andy said. “It really is a cool thing to see how bagpipes are being transformed from a very insular instrument to something a lot more worldly.”

But whether they’re in an AC/DC song or Paul McCartney song, Andy and his family hope the bagpipes will always be revered for their great sound and rich heritage.

Bass Drone Tenor Drones

Chanter Blowpipe

Great Highland Bagpipe

Bag

Scottish Snare Drum

Tenor Drum

Bass Drum

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A&E | 23

OASTING UP KANSAS CITY

written by Phoebe Aguiar

F

rom East’s coffee shop to the KU campus, Roasterie coffee is popping up everywhere. The local coffee roasting company, which began in founder Danny O’Neill’s basement in 1993, has grown considerably in the past 19 years of operation. This year will mark the one of the biggest and most publicized expansions of the Roasterie.

This expansion, which has taken more than a year to complete, has increased the size of the facilities and improved public and employee space. Some of the major improvements for customers include major expansion of the cupping room where coffee is taste-tested and the additions of a larger and newly-renovated break room, a gym and a play area for children.

The new feature that has most people talking is the 1943 DC-3 airplane that has made its permanent roost atop the building. The plane was an unplanned augmentation of the renovated factory.

“There is a company down in Ottawa Kansas that takes the planes and rebuilds them,” Roasterie representative Stacy Barter said. “The owner had called us and asked if we wanted any gadgets or gizmos for our cafes and when our president talked to him, it went from gadgets and gizmos to a full sized airplane.”

To actually place the plane atop of the building, the company had to rent the largest crane available in Kansas City. The two-ton plane was lifted in front of a crowd on the morning of Sept. 11.

The plane isn’t just the company’s symbol; it symbolizes the actual roasting process that they use. Roasterie’s beans are air-roasted, which is different from the common drumroasting method, where the beans are heated until they reached the desired state. Roasterie uses a method where the beans are suspended in a

art by Tiernan Shank hot bed of air that roasts all sides of the bean consistently.

“We air-roast which is means the beans are always suspended, in a hot air,” Barter said. “[Air roasting] allows us to have a more consistent roast.

So every time you pick up one of our coffees it should taste the same from batch to batch.”

The Roasterie purchase their coffee beans from direct trade companies, which means they deal directly with either the farmers or providers.

The Roasterie also tries to buy 30 percent of their beans fair trade, which means that the producers in developing countries are paid fair prices for their product.

The main reason the Roasterie strives to uphold these production standards as part of a commitment to the Kansas City community and the promotion of local roasters and shops.

“We work on a smaller level, privately owned coffee shops, just your little mom and pop coffee shops and the higher level we’re the primary coffee on college campuses all over,” Barter said. “We must have 15-20 different universities across the country that we provide coffee to.”

On Sept. 15-16 the company helped host an event called the Caffeine Crawl. The crawl toured 14 local coffee houses in two days. The Caffeine Crawl is one way the company works to promote local coffee businesses.

Not only does the Roasterie supply coffee to local coffee shops but also charity organizations. Not only have they partnered with non-profit organizations here in Kansas City, but also international organizations covering a wide variety of problems.

The company also works to educate people about their coffee. They want to make coffee an experience, not just a drink. The company is run on a set of values that are outlined

and each worker is expected to follow. Accountability, commitment, excellence, passion, positivity and teamwork are the values that the Roasterie stresses.

They educate the public on the differences in coffee roasts and the production of coffee because they want their consumers to understand what makes their coffee better than their competitors’ coffee.

“We try to be involved wherever we can and our mission is to spread coffee education,” Barter said. “To let people know why speciality coffee is the kind of quality that other lower grade isn’t.”

The Kansas City coffee scene has grown with the Roasterie’s success.

Our city is now considered one of the top coffee cities in the country, alongside coffee powerhouses such as Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. The Roasterie operates on values and has a mission to not only promote the benefits of speciality of coffee but environment sustainability, support of the local community and coffee community.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ROASTERIE USE THIS QR CODE

WHAT DRINK ARE YOU? Find what your drink says about you

BASIC BLACK You like it straight up, no nonsense. Coffee is a vital part of your morning routine, and you don’t worry about all the add-ins because you can take it.

PUMPKIN SPICE You love the seasonal festivity; you’re probably already listening to Christmas music as you snuggle by the fire. Who cares what the thermometer says? ‘Tis the season.

THE FRAPP You’re a sophisticated coffee drinker in training. At the moment, all you can take is a milkshake with a slightly bitter aftertaste and Starbucks logo.

TEA TIME Pinkies up, lads.

You’re channeling your inner William and Kate when you sip your English breakfast tea, and being healthy, too.

24 | A&E Skip It

Netflix

With clichéd plot devices like time-travel and dystopic futurism, “Looper” could have easily been another interesting sci-fi premise squandered by poor execution. But writerdirector Rian Johnson avoids the common mistakes that have befallen many films of the genre. In his hands, “Looper” rises to a

See It

rare level of science fiction excellence.

In the year 2074, time travel is invented and is almost immediately outlawed by the government. As a result, it comes to be used exclusively by organized crime units, who use it to send their enemies back in time to have them disposed of by assassins from the past known as loopers. Set in a bleak, crimeridden Kansas City in 2044, “Looper” centers on a young looper named Joe Simmons (not to be confused with our own Student Body treasurer of the same name), played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Loopers live fast and large and receive large bounties for their deadly services. But their way of life comes at a price: eventually, their employers from the future make them kill their future selves to “close their loop”, thereby eliminating all loose ends in the future. The loopers kill their future selves, collect a big paycheck, then go live the rest of their lives as they wish, albeit with the knowledge that eventually their former employers will have them killed.

Midnight Premiere Most of Joe’s friends seemingly have no problem with this setup, but Joe has his doubts. Then one day, Joe fails to close his loop, allowing his older self, played by Bruce Willis, to run free in the past. Now old Joe is running around trying to find and kill a kid who will one day run the same mob that tried to have him killed. His presence makes a big mess of younger Joe’s life. With old Joe on the loose, the mob comes after both Joes with intent to kill. Meanwhile, young Joe is after old Joe and old Joe is after the younger version of “the rainmaker”, the man in charge of the mob.

Sound confusing? Well, it is, but Johnson doesn’t want you to linger on the logic of the whole time-travel-driven premise. As Bruce Willis Joe tells Joseph Gordon-Levitt Joe in the movie, “If we start talking about [time travel] then we’re going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws.”

Johnson’s decision to ignore the logic of time-travel is emblematic of the film’s true virtue: its premise serves its story, not the other way around. Too often, sci-fi movies are made entirely for their interesting premises, with poor plans for where they go with their premises. In other words, the story seems to be built around the premise. In Looper, the premise seems to be built around the story that follows it.

Johnson sets up an entire world to tell a story that’s even better than the world he’s created. Once he establishes the rules of his world, Johnson gives us a story that has emotional and intellectual appeal.

The second half of the movie tells the story of Cid, the boy destined to become the leader of the mob and his mother, Sara,

A review of the sci-fi time travel flick, “Looper” photo courtesy of collide.com

who allows young Joe to stay on their farm and defend them from his older self.

Sara, played by Emily Blunt, believes that her son has the potential to choose the right path and avoid becoming the monster Joe says he will be. But young Joe knows that he’s likely to become “the rainmaker” despite what she says. The second half thus presents a serious philosophical question: is it right to stamp out evil before it becomes evil? And on the other side, is it right to protect your loved ones when you know doing so works against the common good? The second half of “Looper” plays with these and other questions of morality, and its conclusion simply promotes further discussion of these questions from moviegoers.

These questions of morality mean that there is no true antagonist in this movie, which is refreshing given the number of movies that feature one-dimensional antagonists. Old Joe isn’t just trying to kill a boy; he’s a man trying to save future lives through a preemptive strike. Sara isn’t evil for wanting to protect her potentially evil son; she’s just a mother torn between the common good and her love for her son. The grey areas in “Looper” are another element make it fascinatingly original.

The high-minded philosophy of “Looper” alone would set it apart from most films of its genre, but what really separates “Looper” from the rest of the pack is its emotional appeal. Each of the main characters wrestles with some moral dilemma, and their struggles tug at the audience’s heartstrings. Sci-fi isn’t known for its heart, but “Looper” has lots of it.

Johnson combines highly stylized action with slow, mundane, everyday moments to create a unique style. His style only adds to the sense that “Looper” is not your average sci-fi movie -- or even your average movie.

It’s entirely unique and refreshing, two qualities that have been largely absent as of late in Hollywood. While its main strength is intellectual stimulation, “Looper” delivers on all fronts, surely establishing itself as a modern science fiction classic.

throwing us for a

L

P

written by Matt Hanson

A&E | 25

BATTLE OF THE BURRITOS written by Alex Goldman photos by Jake Crandall

I

t seems like every week I find myself loading up another fat burrito at Chipotle.

Whether it’s for lunch, dinner or even leftovers for breakfast, I just cannot turn down the wonderful wrap. That’s why when I heard of a new burrito restaurant in Johnson County, I was intrigued, to say the least.

When I heard the name “Freebird” I instantly thought of pigeons flying in the sky, soaring wherever they desire.

At Freebird, the customer has the opportunity of choosing whatever they want on their burrito. This Tex-Mex burrito restaurant located by Johnson Drive and Metcalf offers 32, yes 32, free add-ons to your burrito. From cilantro lime rice to Monterrey jack cheese to queso sauce, Freebird has it all.

Walking into Freebird, I instantly felt a different vibe than the modern Mexican cantina one of Chipotle. A sculpture of the Statue of Liberty riding a Harley Davidson bursts out of the wall and greets you along with the word “Freedom” and other American sayings in rainbow colors cover the walls and give off the feel of a sixties patriotic biker theme.

In contrast to Chipotle, Freebird had multiple Samsung 42” televisions scattered around the restaurant. I felt like I was in my own utopia with my hands gripping a perfectly wrapped burrito and my eyes glued to the Royals game.

One of the most unique

Staffer compares new restaurant’s burritos to Chipotle’s popular creations.

aspects about Freebird is the ability to choose however big you want your burrito to be.

Instead of Chipotle’s “one size fits all” mentality, Freebird’s sizes range from Hybrid, Freebird, Monster to their biggest burrito, the Super Monster.

Being the daredevil that I am, I decided to shock the cashier and order their “Super Monster” burrito. The workers had to whip out their extra large pizza pan and use two 13” tortillas. The obese burrito consisted of over 10 ingredients and ended up being bigger than my forearm. As I made my best attempt to consume this dish I couldn’t help but feel as if I were eating a newborn baby. About three-fourths into the burrito I began to feel the Super Monster set in. Bite by bite, I tried to reach my goal of conquering the baron of burritos. Unfortunately the Super Monster proved too much for me and I had to throw in the towel. I wasn’t sure if it was the extra bacon (yes, they have bacon too) or the fact that it weighed as much as an infant, but one thing was for sure: my belly was busted. Freebird won this time.

After choosing the right sized burrito with all the condiments that you desire you can make your way to the sauce bar which varies from mild, hot, Habanero, “Death Sauce” and their “Bad Ass Barbeque Sauce”. Each sauce contains as much flavor as the restaurant’s

GOLDMAN’S PICKS

FREEBIRD

design and will spice up any burrito.

All in all, Freebird is like Chipotle on steroids. There are hundreds of possibilities when it comes to your burrito and if you feel like you could eat a horse, then you can take a shot at the Super Monster. But just like steroids, there are a few defects. It is quite evident that the quality of the ingredients is diminished.

I couldn’t understand how Chipotle’s ingredients tasted so much fresher and better than Freebird so I decided to give both local restaurants a call.

Surprisingly, Freebird’s ingredients are made fresher than Chipotle’s. Freebird makes all their materials from scratch every day giving their food a homemade taste, opposed to Chipotle who uses bagged ingredients, except for their meat which they cook in their restaurants. Usually, I would go with the home cooked meal but I guess I’ll make an exception and stick with the preservative-based burritos that taste absolutely delicious.

If you’re feeling like stuffing a burrito with literally anything you can think of, then Freebird is the place to go. But if you are looking the most tasty Mexican wrap in town, just stay with your local Chipotle.

MEXICAN MUCK

Above: The freedom theme of Freebirds is represented by the American symbols, including this motorcycle piece of artwork.

JUST GO TO TACO BELL

TORTILLA: Super Monster sized Cayenne tortilla

MEAT: Steak and bacon

EXTRA TOPPINGS: Cilantro rice, Monterrey Jack cheese, mild salsa, Bad Ass BBQ sauce, onions, cilantro, lime juice, Pico de Gallo, lettuce, queso, guacamole, tomatoes and tortilla strips

MUY BUENO

Above Left: Staffer Alex Goldman takes his first bight at of the Super Monster Burrito at Freebirds.

Above Right: Freebirds staffer washes hands before serving customers. The Freebird menu hangs above his head.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE BURRITO

CHIPOTLE

FANTASTICO

TORTILLA: Flower tortilla

MEAT: Steak

EXTRA TOPPINGS: Lettuce, fajita, cilantro lime rice, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, corn and mild salsa

Take Your Bank To The Game...

WITHMOBILE BANKING

AFTON APODACA

JAYDEN ROBERT Why the red lipstick?

“I just think it’s a really bold look that’s really in and lets you draw more attention to your face, but also it can be very glamorous and classy. And it’s kinda old school, it used to be around and now it’s coming back.”

IAN HARMON

What was your style?

“I would say it’s more vintage and retro. That’s kinda what my friend aimed for with the hair and makeup and obviously the dress is twenties’ flapper dress.”

A&E | 27

What was your favorite part about your outfit and why?

“Suspenders, because I looked like a classy old man. Except for I had to wear a belt with the suspenders because the red from the buttons was a different color than the pants. So I just looked like an old man who was scared of losing his pants.”

MICHEL ANDERSON

What was your favorite part of your outfit?

“I liked the headdress... It’s very Lana Del Rae the whole with the flowers in her hair. It’s just cool. I put very baby pink roses that were larger with daisies. It matched the corsage because I made the boutinier and coursage to save money.

I made it a couple nights before. I found the dress and then I made the headdress.”

ROBIN BRETT

Why did you pick out your outfit?

“I wore my gold tie because it went with my date’s dress and my mom picked out the checkered shirt for me.”

What did your date say?

“She said it was dapper.”

DRESSED TO IMPRESS

a collection of east’s most unique homecoming ensembles

JENNIFER YOUNG

How did you pick out your dress?

“Well, I’m a procrastinator, so I went literally a week before the dance with my mom about 3 hours before the mall closed on a Saturday night. We were just trying to find dresses that nobody else has...The dress I got I haven’t ever seen before. The goal was basically to have a unique dress.”

ALEXAVIER GALICIA

How long did it take to get ready?

“It took me about thirty minutes just to get ready. Fixing my hair, cleaning my shoes, and putting my bow tie on.”

How would you describe your style?

“Swag.”

VICTORIA SABATES

Why did you pick your ensemble?

“I actually ordered two dresses online and I tried both of those on and didn’t like them so I was kind of pressed for time. I ran to a store and found that one out of the blue and I liked it a lot.”

DASH 28 |SPORTS

the new

Between unexpected injuries and three new freshman, the varsity Freshman Tess Iler sprints girls’ cross country team began uneasy but is finishing strong ahead during warm-ups at cross country practice. photo by Megan Shirling

written by Pauline Werner

“C’mon! You can do it!” sophomore Hannah Arnspiger yells as her teammates speed by her. She finds the familiar uniform out of the horde of runners and yells a name, hoping to encourage them. She can hear their spike-clad feet thumping against the ground. She wants to run alongside them, like she usually does. But Hannah isn’t running today. She’s sitting this out this race at the Baldwin City Golf Course due to an injury that began in track season, a hurt hip flexor.

When only one of the girls top seven graduated last year, head coach Tricia Beaham fully expected a strong season for them.

After placing third in time trials last year, Arnspiger expected to have a successful season, but instead of starting the season the way she envisioned it, Arnspiger found herself on the sidelines.

However, three freshman running varsity allow for the team to come back strong from several injuries and work together towards state. *** With freshmen Tess Iler, Hannah Coleman and Adalaide Kline running varsity this year, the girls’ team will compete with an even younger team than last year. With a team that’s been struggling getting started, three strong runners are more than welcome.

“It definitely has made our team realize that we need to be better examples for all these new people and freshman that didn’t really know what was going on,” Arsnpiger said.

“They’re becoming a bigger part of the team dynamic.”

From overused hip flexors to bothersome knees, various injuries have plagued several of East’s top girl runners.

Junior Grace Quinlan, who helped lead the team last year, sat out until the meet at the Rim Rock Invitational due to a strained hip flexor that was about to tear. Arnspiger has recently recovered from her hurt hip flexor. Freshman Allison Sernett has has only been able to run in one varsity race due to injuries in both of her hips.

RETURNING:

SOPHOMORE

Hannah Arnspiger

RETURNING:

JUNIOR

Annie Kuklenski

“We realized that we “I think next year we will be really needed to be good back on track but this year examples for the freshmen.” is a rebuilding team.”

Though the team got off to a rougher start than they would’ve hoped, Beaham thinks they still have a shot at qualifying for state as a team.

“As long as people can stay healthy, get good food to nutrition themselves well and maintain their physical level, anything’s possible,” Beaham said. “In doing so, they should prevail and end up making it to state.”

In years past, the varsity runners would go through their workouts in a tight two-by-two line formation. By running as a pack this year, the girls were able to form closer bonds and push themselves by trying to keep up with the team’s top runners. According to Arnspiger, this year’s team seems less unified and doesn’t operate as much like a team during practices likely because of the absence of last year’s seniors.

“It’s especially nice having three new freshmen just because I thought we would just have a smaller team this year; but its nice having [them], who are improving dramatically,” junior Annie Kuklenski, who currently holds the number one spot on the team, said. *** Iler came onto the team three days after the season started when she quit the golf team , expecting to run c-team but after placing fifteenth at time trials found herself on JV. The thing she enjoys the most about cross country, she says, are the social and competitive aspects of being on the team. She has since risen into varsity, running her first varsity race in Topeka.

“It’s kind of [about] how good we can be, because Hannah Arnspiger did it last year,” Iler said. “I think [the coaches] are just trying to get us better and better every week.”

Senior captain Anna Colby says that the freshmen are, along with the rest of the team, improving greatly and rising to the occasion.

“They’re very positive, which is good,” Arnspiger said.

“They don’t make a big deal out of things and don’t complain.”

NEWBIE:

NEWBIE:

FRESHMAN

FRESHMAN

“It’s really fun to to be doing a sport and have fun at the same time.”

“I’m meeting a bunch of new people and just getting to run. “

Tess Iler

Adalaide Kline

Over the weekend of Sept. 28-29, all varsity runners and seniors went to Chicago for the annual Sean Earl Invitational. The younger runners got a chance to get closer to their teammates by way of a race, a comedy show and the traditional swim in the 61 degree water of Lake Michigan.

The East cross country team won both the girls and boys races with senior Joe Bahr coming in first overall for the boys and Kuklenski coming in first overall for girls. Both boys and girls ran in the JV race in order to get back in time for Homecoming.

Following the trip to Chicago, the girls saw changes towards a closer team dynamic. A close team that runs together has long since been a big part of head coach Beaham’s team philosophy.

The girls finished last season by sending Kuklenski and Arnspiger to state, both underclassmen at the time. Beaham looked ahead to this year setting a goal for the girls to send more runners to state. Strong freshmen runners along with the solid team from last year make this seem very possible.

“I’m excited for the future,” Arnspiger said. “It’ll definitely be interesting, but I’m excited,”

THE BREAKDOWN {Rim Rock Inv. times compared}

THIS SEASON 1. Annie Kuklenski 16:45.50 2. Hannah Arnspiger 17:23.30 3. Tiernan Shank 17:34.30 137 4. Tess Iler 17:48.40 148 5. Adalaide Kline 17:56.30 6. Megan McCalister 17:57.90 LAST SEASON 1. Annie Kuklenski 16:48.07 2. Hannah Arnspiger 16:33.60 3. Grace Quinlan 17:26.76 4. Alex Hilliard 17:48.72 5. Kennedy Burgess 17:50.45 6. Tiernan Shank 18:11.20

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30 | SPORTS DEFENSE

NO BREAKS

50 40 30 20 10

BOTH SIDES

Seniors on the football team play both offense and defense because of the small roster photos by Connor Woodson continued from cover

SENIOR SAM STEWART

SENIOR DAVID STEWART

SENIOR CONNOR RELLIHAN

SENIOR PATRICK BLACKBURN

SENIOR DAVID SONSA

Many 6A schools in Kansas have an abundance of players and are prepared with decent depth on the team. But in order to match the size of other teams, East has to have players from sophomores to seniors suit-up. This is an issue that Sherman sees as a movement in recent years.

Sherman believes the problem is rooted in the recent specialization of a single sport. According to him, many young people have decided to just participate and invest most of their time in one sport.

It has become more rare that a student will play multiple sports, and Sherman doesn’t think that problem will going away anytime soon.

“Young people have so many other interests,” Sherman said. “So, where we used to have five to seven baseball players [on the team], now we only have one or two.”

Senior Connor Rellihan has also played a significant role on the team this year. Playing in three positions, slot receiver, cornerback and punter, Rellihan has had to take on the challenge of competing in many roles. According to Rellihan, playing multiple positions is a result of many players not returning to the sport after their freshmen, sophomore and even junior seasons.

To fix the problem, Sherman has had to promote his program more to the younger players.

Sherman goes to watch the pee-wee football games, and hosts camps to get players energized about high school football. He also persuades boys to try out for the team, along with highlighting the positive things in the program.

“The band teacher promotes the band, and the people that run the plays promote the plays,” Sherman said. “All of our coaches and sponsors promote our activity as well.”

Because of the lack of boys trying out for football, Sherman has been forced to play many players for most of the game. However, East is not the only school in the district that has had this problem. “[Athletic Director Sam Brown] called the other Shawnee Mission schools, and each one of us are all fairly close in our numbers,” Sherman said. “I don’t know if you call it a trend, but I think it is where we are right now.”

To most, including the players, it would seem natural that athletes would get worn down or tire out throughout a game or the season as a whole — especially if many are playing both sides of the ball. But for the Lancers it has had an opposite effect. The team is working harder than in the past to condition in practice so tiring out becomes almost nonexistent.

The nature of football itself also helps give the team a rest. According to Sherman, the players aren’t in for every down, so they get at least 30 seconds while the other play is going on to take a break on the sidelines. The players also are able to catch their breath on the field in between plays.

“An average football play lasts six seconds. So,

you go as hard as you can for six seconds, but then you get a rest,” Rellihan said. “Yeah, it’s tiring, but I like to think we are in pretty good shape as a team.”

However, numbers on the team are not the only issue. Injuries could also become the weakness of this key-player dominated team. With senior Troy Wilkins sitting on the sidelines against Olathe East due to a pulled hamstring, and senior David Sosna separating his shoulder, injuries have already posed a problem for crucial players. While injuries are a looming threat, Sherman likes to think in terms of avoiding injury. “[It’s all about] injury prevention,” Sherman said. “The better condition you are in, the less likely you are to injure muscles and things like that.”

The threat of an injury doesn’t just haunt the coaches, but also the players. According to Rellihan a season-ending injury could be devastating for the team. Not only would they lose a skilled varsity player on offense, but also one on defense.

Sherman describes losing a player like senior running back and linebacker Patrick Blackburn as losing one varsity spot on defence, and a third of a spot on offense — considering he shares the running back position with the Stewart brothers.

The decision to play so many athletes on both sides of the ball wasn’t an easy one for Sherman. He looked at the number of players after the 2011 season, and realized that the entire offensive line and backfield had graduated. He knew that new starters would have to step up and take on these difficult positions to help fill the void left on the team, but he remained hopeful in the returning athletes.

“Right now those kids have put in so much time and effort,” Sherman said. “They’re good enough and in good enough shape to [play both sides of the ball.] So, we’re going to let them do it.”

Overall the team has been succeeding at a level that has not been achieved by others in the past.

They have swept the four Olathe schools -- something that no team has accomplished since all of the Olathe schools joined the Sunflower League in 2004. With this new-found success, there are implications of going deep into postseason play.

Many may see these games as tiring for the team; however, Sherman doesn’t think these possible extra games will hinder them.

“I don’t see it,” said Sherman. “In Kansas you play once a week [unlike other states, where they play multiple times a week], so they don’t tire as easily.”

As for the future, Sherman believes it to be bright. He sees strong underclassmen players that can step up to the plate along with almost half of the starters returning next year — something that Sherman sees as ideal. Still, he doesn’t see the problem of a small team going away.

“In a school like this, there just may be a conflict in the time and effort it takes to play football,” Sherman said. “That is a battle that we have to continue to fight.”

OFFENSE

SPORTS A mid-season recap of all fall sports, as of Oct. 3, 2012

GOLF The girls’ golf team has continued to improve this season. They are now recording scores that are close to those of the best schools in Kansas (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Olathe Northwest and Blue Valley North). Their team score has improved by nearly 20 strokes since the start of the season. The Lancers are currently five strokes behind Olathe Northwest in the league standings.

Regionals will be more difficult this season because the 2011 state champion, Blue Valley North, will be competing in the same tournament.

The team does have one thing that other teams do not: their entire varsity squad returning from last year. The Lancers returned their entire varsity squad from last year (seniors Anne Willman, Kelley Tomlin, and juniors Sophie Wetzler, Jessica Young and Anne Foster). The team will have to concentrate on every shot and make sure that they avoid large numbers during each round.

“We just need to play as well as we have been,” Wetzler said, referring to their chances at state. “We are peaking at the right time so hopefully we can keep it up.”

ROUND UP

written by Paige Hess

photo by Marisa Walton

VOLLEYBALL

FOOTBALL The football team had high hopes going into the season, and they have achieved more than they were expecting. They are 5-0 and the only undefeated team remaining in the Sunflower League. The offensive and defensive lines were big question marks going into the season with most of the players from both sides being seniors last year, but the new starters have proven themselves by protecting senior quarterback Jordan Darling as well as getting to opposing quarterbacks.

Juniors Dominique Atkinson and Ryan Carter along with sophomore Kyle Ball have been pleasant surprises as they have shown to be excellent on the defensive side of the ball. They are accompanied by seniors Sam and David Stewart, and senior Patrick Blackburn at linebacker. Blackburn also is the team’s leading rusher and has become a force in the backfield.

Senior Connor Rellihan is one of the top receivers in the league with almost 500 receiving yards, and is an integral part on the offensive side of the ball. Darling hasn’t disappointed in the first four games of the season showing running capabilities as well as a cannon for an arm. The East defense has been superb through the first four games only allowing 31 points with two shutouts.

After beating defending 6A state champions Olathe South, East is one of the favorites come playoff time to take the east side of Kansas in the playoffs. As long as the defense holds up and the team stays healthy they should finish out the year well. East still has to play SM West and Lawrence Free State, who are both top teams in the league as well.

SPORTS | 31

SOCCER Lancer soccer got off to a fast start, winning their first three games in the KAMO Tournament, retaking their trophy from last year. After running through each team in the tournament, the Lancers received their first loss against Olathe East, 3-0 at home.

The Lancers bounced back from the loss, and went on to win their next seven games. In 11 games, the Lancers have scored 63 goals, conceded five, and have eight shutouts.

Senior Tyler Rathbun, with 15 goals, is coming up on head coach Jamie Kelly’s all-time scoring record at 17 goals.

In the boys most recent game, they dominated the SM South Raiders, 8-1.

“The season has gone pretty well. No surprises other than the Olathe East game but we’ve learned from it and recovered,” senior Jack Shook said. “If we play our game the way we know, and work hard, there’s nothing we cannot achieve.”

The Lancers now sit at 10-1. The Lancers stand nicely ranked in the Sunflower League with teams such as Olathe East and Olathe South.

CROSS COUNTRY The cross country season has been of disappointments on both the girls’ and boys’ sides, especially after failing to crack into the top five team placements at the Rimrock invitational. The team has, however, pulled away with two victories out of their five meets so far, one at the Topeka Invitational and the other at the Loyola Invitational in Chicago.

Seniors Joe Bahr and Chipper Jorns have been the most consistent on the boys’ team, averaging sub 18 minute times in the 5k races. On the girls’ end, juniors Annie Kuklenski and sophomore Hannah Arnspiger have lead the team, until Arnspiger hurt her hip after the beginning of the season.

Kuklenski placed first overall at the Loyola Invitational.

Kuklenski ran a 20:53 and junior Hannah Arnspiger finished sixth with a 21:18.

“I had a great time in Chicago,” Kuklenski said. “It was exciting to win the girls’ race but it was even more exciting to have our girls’ team race win overall.”

With the season winding down, the Lancers have the Haskell Indian Nations Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 6. The team will then compete in league, regionals and then state.

“It’s important that we keep with our training regime,” Bahr said. “We need to finish the season strong.”

The girls’ varsity volleyball team had senior night Tuesday, Oct. 2 for their game against De Soto. Seniors Anne Recker, Elizabeth Arnold, Ashley Allegri and Katherine Higdon were presented with flowers by the lower classmen varsity girls. After three close rounds, the team beat the De Soto wildcats.

With new coach Charles Cooper, the team continues to work on teamwork and working together on the court.

Cooper emphasizes the overall team working together, not individual players.

The JV and freshman team also played De Soto on senior night, where JV pulled out a victory and the freshman team lost.

GYMNASTICS The girls’ gymnastics squad has been putting in the work with two hour and forty-five minute practices everyday. They recently placed first at the Falcon Invitational, which hosted many of the teams that will be participating at league, including their biggest competitor—Olathe South.

According to senior gymnast Emily Kaplan, the team feels as if they have a strong chance of placing in the top seven at state.

The girls have a week now off from competitions to rework their routines. They are adding in more difficult skills that are worth more points to boost their team score. Conditioning at practice is getting harder too — filled with crosstraining such as flipping mats over and sliding the heavy mats across the floor, as well as endurance. The endurance portion involves sprinting and walking intervals and holding handstands.

Coach Lundblad says that the girls are working on endurance to build stamina for their floor routines. In addition to conditioning, the gymnasts will have to run through full routines on each event to be sure that they will have enough energy in competitions.

TENNIS This year, the girls’ tennis team will be neck and neck with Blue Valley North at state. According to senior Eden McKissick-Hawley, it will be really important to place high in doubles because singles will be a whole lot harder.

The teams needs to make sure to get all of their top six to qualify at regionals this weekend to raise their chances of winning state.

“If we do well in number two doubles it will help a lot because we are currently worried about getting number six singles qualified,” McKissick-Hawley said.

32| PHOTO STORY

Above: The Lancer Dancers also participated at the Marching Band Festival. They performed and then watched their competition. “It was fun getting to see all the other schools flag teams,” Junior Mary Workman said. photo by Caroline Creidenberg

Above: “We definitely have a lot of cleaning up to do before Raytown and K-State,” French Horn Section Leader and Senior Ingrid Starkey said. “But I think we’re doing really well.” photo by Caroline Creidenberg

Above: Solo performer, Junior Eric Snyder, replaced his shako for a cowboy hat during the solo. photo by Caroline Creidenberg

ON

Marching The Marching Band and Drill Team performed at the annual Marching Band Festival at South on Oct. 2, 2012

Far Above: The Lancer’s performed at South’s stadium. They were the first band to play and started off the night with the National Anthem. photo by Jake Crandall Right: The band played a total of three songs including Junior Ross Commeford’s favorite piece, “Echano.”

“The Festival overall went really well,” Commeford said. “And it was good to see the competition for this year.” photo by Jake Crandall

Above: East’s band was significantly smaller than all the other bands, but still put on a good performance. photo by Caroline Creidenberg

Left: Band director, Kim Harrison, was satisfied with his band’s performance. “The students did a fine job,” Harris said. “We had a very good sound for a smaller band. We really played to our strengths.” photo by Caroline Creidenberg