Issue 15 of the 2012-2013 Harbinger by The Harbinger

INSIDE THE

ISSUE

p. 4 SMSD program for at-risk preschoolers p. 22 Childhood cartoons featured on Netflix p. 26 Best & worst young actors

‘FEED’ING PERCEPTIONS

THE HARBINGER Shawnee Mission East l 7500 Mission Road, PV KS, 66208 l April 29, 2013 l Issue 15 l www.smeharbinger.net

How Twitter has become the window through which students view their school

Twitter

Facebook

http://www.twitter.com/

written by Matt Hanson photo illustration by Jake Crandall and James Simmons

reshman Henry Kircher follows 741 people on Twitter. While some of the accounts he follows belong to celebrities or news organizations, the majority are students at East — many of whom he hasn’t even met. Henry and his twin brother Charlie, who follows 480 accounts, use their huge Twitter feeds for more than entertainment; they use them to learn about their new school. By following a host of upperclassmen and school-affiliated accounts, the Kirchers have learned East traditions, what upperclassmen are like and which students have social status

Instagram

at East. As freshmen, Twitter has been a window through which they’ve viewed East. The number of current East students following @TotalSMEastMove alone would put 31 percent of the total student body on Twitter. That percentage is still lower than the percentage of students on Facebook, but some students think Twitter is still a better source of information on their school and their peers than Facebook. One such student, senior Jackson Dalton, says that the more open posting atmosphere and the frequency of posts on Twitter have made it the best social

network for learning about East and its student body. “[Twitter is] a collection of information about East that you can’t really find anywhere else because [people are] a little bit more [open with posting],” Dalton said. “You can just find out so much about your school and its reputation just by a simple thing like Twitter. I think in a way it shows more about your school sometimes than actually going to school.”

continued on pages 16-17

EDITORIAL 2

THE HARBINGER STAFF 2012-2013 a publication of Shawnee Mission East high school 7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

Editors-in-Chief Opinion Page Designers Anne Willman Greta Nepstad Chloe Stradinger Morgan Krakow Assistant Editors Feature Section Editor Andrew McKittrick Hannah Ratliff Katie Knight Feature Page Editors Art & Design Editor Maddie Hise Paige Hess Pauline Werner Managing Editor Will Oakley Jennifer Rorie Caroline Kohring Head Copy Editor A&E Section Editor Matt Hanson Tiernan Shank Assistant Head Copy Editor A&E Page Designer Sarah Berger Megan McAlister Copy Editors Sports Section Editor Anne Willman Mitch Kaskie Chloe Stradinger Sports Page Designers Andrew McKittrick G.J. Melia Katie Knight Sam Pottenger Erin Reilly Grace Heitmann Morgan Twibell Co-Spread Editors Sarah Berger Morgan Twibell Matt Hanson Leah Pack Julia Poe Freelance Page Editors Jennifer Rorie Phoebe Aguiar Sophie Tulp Sophie Tulp Grace Heitmann Alex Goldman Morgan Krakow Maggie McGannon Ads Manager James Simmons Sophie Tulp Audrey Danciger Circulation Manager Business and Circulation Greta Nepstad Manager Editorial Section Editor Greta Nepstad Jennifer Rorie Social Media Director Editorial Board Mattie German Chloe Stradinger Staff Artists Andrew McKittrick Emily Perkins Rock Anne Willman Miranda Gibbs Jennifer Rorie Paloma Gustafson-ika Katie Knight Photo Editors Grace Heitmann Jake Crandall Matt Hanson Caroline Creidenberg Julia Poe Assistant Photo Editor Kim Hoedel Maddie Schoemann Duncan MacLachlan Staff Photographers Sarah Berger Erin Reilly Sami Walter Neely Atha Morgan Krakow Taylor Anderson Staff Writers Stefano Byer Mike Thibodeau Tessa Polaschek Emily Perkins Rock Alexa Young Caroline Kohring Molly Gasal Michael Kraske Annie Savage Susannah Mitchell Leah O’connor Taylor Bell Kathryn Jones Tommy Sherk Connor Woodson New Section Editor Hayden Roste Sarah Berger Meghan Shirling News Page Designer Katie Sgroi Julia Seiden Hailey Hughes Opinion Section Editor Adviser Kim Hoedel Dow Tate

The Tweet Factor The student body needs to take a second look at what they put on Twitter — more than just colleges are watching what you say

art by Paloma Gustafson-ika Tweeting 140 characters can be quick, easy and fun. It allows anyone to broadcast their thoughts to the world, or at least their amount of followers. Brevity is what makes it attractive. The goal is to be clever, funny and ironic. But what if the wrong people see your snide remarks? We’re not talking about colleges, parents or employers. We’re talking about the people who look up to you the most — the underclassmen. TotalSMEastMove has over 1,000 followers, making it the most popular and the most followed of any East affiliated twitter account. With all these followers this account can be used for good — sharing game themes or promoting events. But what has made it so widely followed are the “witty” drinking references and hurtful comments. Comments and references that are hopefully meant to be seen as a joke but may be taken the wrong way by naive underclassmen; for example, TotalSMEastMove’s tweet, “When does drinking on a weeknight become acceptable,” might be misunderstood as a socially acceptable or even cool activity upperclassmen participate in. Freshmen and sophomores see these tweets everyday. Tweets about how our school has more money than other Shawnee Mission Schools or how we’re cool because we drink on the weekends and wear Sperrys. Material positions and underage drinking shouldn’t be considered cool; what’s cool is when we come together on social media to show support

EDITORIAL BOARD VOTES

FOR AGAINST ABSENT

9 1 3

for each other during tough times and exciting victories. More serious than just underclassmen watching is the administration. They are well aware of our school’s reputation. Since many students don’t put their accounts on private or monitor their followers, school officials as well as anyone else can view the content. They can see those pictures with a beer from spring break and they probably know what you were doing last Friday night. Upperclassmen need to start thinking about their activity on social media. Would you like your little sister or brother reading about how you were so “hammered” on Saturday night that you did something stupid? What could seem funny to your peers now might not be in 20 years. Think about how you’re hurting the reputation of our school. A school that was just ranked 942 on the Washington Post’s Most Challenging High Schools in the country shouldn’t be known for it’s particular affinity with Minor in Possession charges or material possessions. We should be known for the support we give our various sports teams and clubs that work harder than anyone could ever “party” on the weekend. A reputation we can regain through social media. Now juniors and seniors aren’t the only ones at fault here. Freshman and sophomores need to realize that although you might think you have Shawnee Mission Wonderful all figured out, you don’t. You have a great two or three years ahead of you at a school that has more to it than being preppy and proud. But this isn’t a chastisement of how we have to support each other in every aspect of the school. Uniqueness and individuality are two of the best qualities of social media. Don’t take that away, upperclassmen, just make sure those witty 140 character comments won’t, 20 years from now, make you wish you’d gone to — dare we say it? South.

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

NEWS THE FEED

Controversy In Kansas

A LOOK AT RECENT EVENTS

New abortion bill sparks discussion

written by Morgan Krakow

written by Will Oakley

Boston Marathon Explosion At 2:49 p.m., April 15, two “pressure cooker” bombs detonated at or near the finish line of the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding 178. The two suspects are Dzhokhor Tsarnaev , 19, and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. Tamerlan was killed on April 19th after a shoot out with Boston police, and Dzhokhor was captured in the Boston suburb of Watertown after a manhunt shut down the entire city of Boston for nearly 24 hours. He was captured while sitting in a boat, but not before throwing more homemade bombs and “flash bombs.” Tsarnaev suffered a gunshot wound to his throat while hiding out in the boat; with rumors surrounding that the wound was self-inflicted in an apparent suicide attempt. A week later following the initial attack, the world learned that apparently the two Chechen brothers were “working alone”. Dzhokhor Tsarnaev emerged from his post-surgical recovery and at this moment, Dzhokhor is not communicating much with authorities. America will soon learn if the two Chechen brothers were working with terrorists groups in the attacks or not. The two brothers had been living in the United States for approximately a decade, with Dzhokhor being granted U.S. citizenship on Sept. 11, 2012. Instead of being tried as an enemy combatant in front of a military tribunal, CNN reports that Dzhokhor will be tried in a civilian court for his crimes.

photo courtesy of MCT Campus

Ninety Yea, 30 Nay, in the Kansas House and 28 Yea, 10 Nay, in the Kansas Senate was the final vote count for House Bill 2253. The bill, entitled “The Pro-Life Protections Act,” was signed into law by Governor Sam Brownback two weeks ago. It will make it illegal for employees, agents or volunteers from an abortion service to sponsor or provide course materials or instruction on human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases in schools. HB 2253 will also prohibit women from having gender-based abortions, as well as cut funding for abortion clinics and services. It also includes the declaration that life begins at fertilization. Public Affairs Director at Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, Sheila Kostas, believes in the good of her organization, and the positive impact it can have. Kostas wrote that even with these funding decreases, Planned Parenthood has been in Kansas for 75 years, and will stick around. “Planned Parenthood will be here no matter what to provide affordable reproductive health care and safe, legal abortion services to women and families in Kansas,” Kostas wrote. She wrote in an email that sex education has wide public support, and has been shown effective for students. “Our own polling last year showed that more than 90 percent of parents think it’s important that sex education is taught in middle

and high school, and the vast majority (94 percent for high school and 78 percent for middle school) want it to include information about birth control.” Kostas wrote. Health teacher Sue Chipman believes that the bill will not change how students are educated about sex in the Shawnee Mission School District. She has never had a Planned Parenthood or other abortion clinic representative speak to her classes. “The district actually said that it was not a good idea and to avoid controversy, we would be advised not to have [a representative from an abortion clinic],” Chipman said. The bottom line though, she said, was that the reproductive facts are not changing anytime soon, and that’s what she will keep on teaching. Senior lobbyist at Kansans For Life, Jeanne Gawdun, believes the bill prohibits these representatives from coming to schools because it creates a conflict of interest. She acknowledged that sexual education is important but that Planned Parenthood is not the right organization to present it. “These are people who make money when, for example, you know children are sexually active, and there’s is a pregnancy, these children are going into the clinics and having abortions,” Gawdun said. Gawdun compared having representatives from abortion clinics teaching sexual education to McDonalds telling people to not eat beef and simultaneously selling hamburgers. “As a leading reproductive health provider and educator, sex education is some of the most important work Planned Parenthood does,” Kostas wrote. The bill also prohibits the spending of public funds and tax credits to facilitate abortions and from funding locations where abortions are performed. for the full story turn to page 7

Texas Explosion A fertilizer plant in Waco, Texas caught fire, and nearly 10 minutes later exploded on April 18. The jarring explosions ripped a wave of inferno and debris nearly a half mile wide, injuring over 160 people and killing 14. For more than two days, around 60 people were missing, causing mass confusion around the area as well as around the country. Of the 60 missing, only two were to have been found dead. CNN reports that four days after the accident, State Fire Marshals and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and have finished searching “certain parts of the affected area,” and most residents around the area are now being allowed to return. The cause of the fire and the following explosion is still confusing investigating teams. Investigators have recently ruled out crime as a cause of the inferno. But, Fox News and CNN also return in its most recent report, that the Texas Department of State Health Services said that in 2012 there was a significant amount of “potentially toxic products,” including 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be highly explosive. The explosion in Waco left many families stranded for nearly four days, as well as 14 families to mourn the death of a loved one. Now, families are slowly being permitted to return back to their homes of the area.

A Look Ahead- Week of 4/29 Today MTV

4/30 Band

Interviews for MTV’s MADE photo courtesy of MCT Campus

5/3 Band

5/3 SHARE

East area choral festival IN THIS SECTION

East area orchestra festival

East area band festival

5/2 Choir

5/1 Orchestra

JUMP START p.

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CAS HOURS + Love Is

Louder

Jazz Night

PRIVATE COLLEGE WARNING

NEW BILL

NEWS 4 SMART Start student Alexandra spends her daily reading time with her teacher

A SMART Start student paints a picture of a butterfly as a part of their classroom study of the metamorphosis of a butterfly

STARTING strong SMSD’s free pre school program for students at risk is successful in preparing them for kindergarten written by Katie Knight

At the SMART Start program in Overland Park, the four- and five-year-old students attentively listen to their teacher when she speaks. If it weren’t for SMART Start, these underprivileged students wouldn’t have this opportunity; they would be starting kindergarten miles behind their classmates. Thus, every time one of these preschoolers learn a new concept, they celebrate. “Now that we can all count to one hundred, we get to kiss our brains!” the teacher says to her students, smiling. Students squeal and laugh as they kiss their hands, and smack it right onto their forehead. This act of celebration is one of the many popular techniques SMART Start uses to get their students excited about learning. SMART Start, started in 2006, is a Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) program that offers a free early childhood education for students who are at risk. In order to qualify, students must fit into at least one of the criteria: a parent active in the military, qualify for free or reduced lunch, have a first language other than English, have a parent who was a teen when they were born, live in a single parent household, a parent is lacking a GED, the student is developmentally delayed or the student qualifies for services under the Migrant Education Program. Besides the diversity of the student body, what administrator Michelle Wallace-Beaven believes makes SMART Start unique is their rigorous curriculum and direct instruction. “[SMART start] is different than a church preschool or others in our community because, in our preschool, we have licensed teachers who could teach in [other SMSD] schools,” Wallace-Beaven said. “Most preschools are following the model of ‘let the kids play and develop those skills through exploration.’ We don’t take that model. We [teach] intentionally.”

Every day, students in SMART Start do structured activities led by their teacher to improve their math, reading and science skills to prepare them for kindergarten. Within those activities, the kids learn problem solving and basic kindergarten etiquette like walking in a line, sharing and saying “please” and “thank you.” These skills, according to Wallace-Beaven, give the SMART Start students a head start over those from other preschools. “Elementary schools look forward to getting our kids because our teachers can tell from day one, based on our students’ behavior, that they’re from SMART start,” WallaceBeaven said. “They can tell that kid knows how school works, that kid doesn’t. That’s a huge advantage.” In addition to basic math and reading skills, SMART Start specializes in working with students who are English Language Learners (ELL). Nearly half of the SMART Start students come to the program without knowing a word of English. To get them familiar with the language, Wallace-Beaven says the teachers “bombard the students” with English by using visual methods like labeling and pictures. By teaching students English early in their education, fewer students will have to be part of the ELL program in elementary school, saving the district money and resources. “After they’ve been through our program, they don’t have to have ELL services when they’re in kindergarten,” WallaceBeaven said. “So it obviously gives them an advantage over other students who aren’t English speaking because they can understand the instruction.” Almost as important as their students’ education, according to Linda Roser, the executive director of the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation (SMEF), is making connections between the schools and the

families. “[SMART Start] is a district program, so the connections are made immediately from this program to their home kindergartens,” Roser said. “[Elementary Schools administrators] know the students here, and all the folks know where they’re going to go to kindergarten based on their address. Also, they’re connected with the principal, and even in kindergarten start getting invited to activities at the home school.” SMART Start also offers ways for parents to be involved in their student’s education; a few times a month, they’ll host a “Drop Off and Drop In” day, where parents come in when they drop their kids off at school and observe their class. According to WallaceBeaven, these types of activities and their end-of-the-year graduation ceremonies attract a large, diverse group of people. “When we have events like [graduation], we don’t just have a few people come; everybody comes,” Wallace-Beaven said. “We’ll have every student’s family here. It’s not just mom and dad, sometimes its mom, dad, grandpa, whoever their family is. We have huge numbers of people that are involved in the students’ education.” Despite the improvements SMART Start is making, the services they’re able to provide are heavily restricted by lack of funds. Although Roser and Wallace-Beaven acknowledge their gratefulness towards the annual grants given to them by the state of Kansas, the funding still isn’t enough to serve as many students as they would like to. SMART Start has 180 spots for incoming 4-year-olds each year, with more than 300 hopefuls on the waiting list. If it weren’t for the $750,000 cost, the program would be able to open two unoccupied classrooms already in the SMART Start building. In addition to teachers and classroom resources, much of the cost would be maintaining the

photos by Caroline Creidenberg rooms year round. With the state’s current financial standing, their funding is constantly at risk, and one of SMART Start’s main goals is to collect enough money that would protect the program in case there is a cutback in funding. Also, the SMART Start leaders would like to collect enough donations from the community and local businesses so that they could continue to grow their program by opening the other two classrooms. “Over the last several years, [SMEF] adopted certain areas where, as a foundation, we feel we can help connect community resources to benefit programs at our schools. Early childhood is one of those programs,” Roser said. “Those [grants] are annually at risk, and if the funding is lost at the state level, then we’re going to have kids that we’re not able to serve.” With the success SMART Start has had in their seven years, protecting the program is a top priority for Wallace-Beaven and Roser. Last year, the first group of students from the program was tested in their third grade classes; nearly all of their assessment scores exceeded those of their peers who did not attend SMART Start. Wallace-Beaven hopes that if her SMART Start students continue their success, they will challenge themselves in high school by taking math classes all four years or taking a more challenging science class that they don’t necessarily need to graduate. It’s these types of things, she thinks, that promises these kids a better future. “I believe every child should be able to go to a preschool if they want to go, and they should be able to go to the best one that is available to them,” Wallace-Beaven said. “Do I think it’ll take a long time? Yes. But we’re going to work towards it.”

NEWS 5

All For

LOVE For All

written by Pauline Werner

Indian Hills Middle School joins the Love is Louder campaign

After his first assembly performance in a school in Cincinnati, Ohio in February 2011, a young girl came up to the then-22-year-old Cameron Ernst. She was in tears in and told him how grateful she was that he came to her school; her best friend had just committed suicide. Since then, Ernst has been on the road taking the message of Love is Louder, along with his own music, on the road to have a positive impact on students. Love is Louder is a movement co-founded by actress Brittany Snow with MTV. It was started to address not only bullying and depression, but also ideas like positive self-image, according to Indian Hills Middle School counselor Amber Basom. Ernst is a singer-songwriter from Dallas who was inspired by the message when a friend tweeted about it. He decided to use his own music along with the Love is Louder message to create Love on the Road, which visited Indian Hills earlier this year. Love is Louder preaches the message that think about love and the people that support you can help you out of any situation. “A part of my message is the Love is Louder message which is just love is louder than anything that you could be going through, whether it’s fear, pain, loneliness, stress, your parents’ divorce, whatever it is,” Ernst said. “And so I use my

music and I go into schools and connect with young people.” Love on the Road has traveled to 22 schools in Texas, Kansas and Ohio. Cameron made a stop at Indian Hills Middle School in February of this year. Basom saw his activity on Facebook and invited him to share what he was doing with the students. “There are a lot of kids that have taken it on since then and, there are always going to be some kids that it doesn’t affect as much,” Basom said. “But I think for the most part the kids liked it and I think it’s a message that they can relate to.” Ernst gave the students three “challenges” to work on after he left. He told them to say “hi” to people in the hallways that they wouldn’t normally say hello to and address people by their names. He also challenged them to find people who were sitting alone at lunch or were feeling left out and to include them. And finally, he said to write kind notes to people who might be having a bad day. “So, since he gave us concrete things that we could work on, that actually gave kids something that they knew how to do instead of just saying ‘be nice to everyone,’” Basom said. “I think that for the most part they’ve taken it on.” In the weeks following Ernst’s visit, students at Indian Hills did what they call Homeroom Activities with the ideas

from Love is Louder and Love on the Road. Once a month, both seventh and eighth grade students will meet in a room with a teacher that is near their locker to talk about different things. “When we had our homeroom activity, we talked about if we did those three things and how we think they affected other people and made them happier,” said Indian Hills eighth grader Emily Kohring. Ernst usually tells the students is that his goal is to ‘raise the volume around the message that love and support is louder than any internal or external voice that brings us down.’ There are still bulletin boards up in the hallways of Indian Hills with the message on them. Basom is seeing more kids at lunch including classmates that are eating alone and has had more students address her by her name and greet her in the halls. “I liked it because I thought that it really helped put a positive attitude on things,” Kohring said. “I think it was a good thing in middle school, especially eighth graders as we’re going into high school, to keep it in our minds that love is louder than all the bullies and things.”

CHECKING THE TRUTH

The IB program makes sure four seniors have done their CAS hours written by Megan McAlister Senior Madison Hattaway was visiting a college when she heard the news. It came to her in the form of a text message from one of her friends: her CAS hours were going to be audited by International Baccalaureate (IB) along with two of her classmates. CAS hours are a requirement for graduation for all IB students. It consists of 150 hours divided evenly between three different categories, Creativity, Action and Service. At East students must complete these hours and turn them in before May 1 in order to graduate with an IB diploma. Each year the IB program chooses a few of the schools involved in it’s program to be audited for meeting the CAS hour requirements. Three students are randomly chosen from the graduating class to be audited. The students being audited at East are seniors Hattaway, Jack Mitchell and Andrew Manalo. “What used to happen,” “is you had to send in a sample of everybodys’ [CAS portfolios] into IB,” said Monique Goodeyon,the CAS hour supervisor. “A few years ago they stopped doing that and they left it up to the schools to decide whether or not they had met the requirement, but now I guess they realized that maybe some schools were not doing what they were supposed to so now they have instilled the audit process back in again.”Students, after completing their hours, must also compose portfolios which require them to include evidence of having finished their hours, such as an email from a supervisor. Also they must submit a written reflection on each particular activity. In addition to the 50 hours required in the categories of

Creativity, Action and Service, students at East are obliged, due to an established rule by Goodeyon, to refrain from doing more than 15 hours in each type. “I put that requirement in because I wanted them to be able to have as many experiences as possible and to try to expound upon what they really might be interested in,” Goodeyon said. “I wanted them within that 50 hours to possibly do two to three to four different activities that allowed them to see what different types of service were out there or to see what different types of action hours were out there.” The audit has placed a lot of stress on the selected seniors. They are representing the IB program for the entire school and this weight is presenting itself in the form of pressure from peers. “One student posted on the IB page...‘if you don’t think you’re doing a good enough job drop IB,” said Hattaway. “People are just nervous [because] we’ve all been working so hard for the past two years and we don’t want some person to mess it up, because they’ve done a sloppy job.” However some of the students have gotten together to help out their fellow students finish their portfolios. “It’s a collective group thing,” said Manolo. “Not as much like a specific person...everyone is pulling for you just because their grade kind of depends on you. So if you need help like trying to write down a certain reflection well, then really anyone is willing to help out and proofread whatever you are trying to write down.” Although several of the students are worried about

this audit, Goodeyon feels there is no need for concern. “I don’t think the kids need to worry, we were lucky that the three individuals that were chosen have done a very good job in their CAS activities, and so i don’t think there’s going to be any problem with them representing our school as a whole,” Goodeyon said. She also believes that even if the portfolios of the selected students did not meet the standards of the auditing process this would not result in the temporary closing of the IB program at East or the withdrawal of IB diplomas, as some of the students have feared. “IB never says ‘boom you’re done’... they always give you a chance to correct the problems that they have with your program and to do better,” Goodeyon said. However, Goodeyon does express some regret that students don’t spend more effort in preparing their reflections after each activity. She wishes that they would reflect more on the real purpose of CAS which according to her is:: “Doing some new things, trying to figure out what did I learn from it, and is this something worthwhile that I would want to carry on for the rest of my life. It’s trying to get them to be involved in the community and to keep themselves healthy and to always go after those passionate things that you are interested in so that you become a well rounded person.”

NEWS 6 written by Mike Thibodeau

“Dear Student:

artwork by Miranda Gibbs

absolutely rescind admission.” These letters are meant to combat the trend of seniors letWe recently received your final high school transcript. While your overall academic background continues to demonstrate the po- ting their grades fall in the last semester of their senior year during a bout of ‘senioritis.’ TCU is known for using these lettential for success, we are concerned with your performance duringGibbs artwork by Miranda the senior year.” -excerpt from Texas Christian University’s “Fear ters, but they are certainly not the only college to use them. “It’s a letter we write to students whose grades have of God” letter slipped considerably,” Vice President of Enrollment Nancy “[That’s] not something a high school senior wants to hear about,” senior Clint Dunn said. “Yeah that’s crazy. No- Benedict from Beloit, a small private school in Wisconsin, said. “In the summer when we get a final transcript we rebody wants to hear that.” Dunn had just heard about an increasing tradition among view all of them and if we have seen a significant decline in private colleges — the sending out of “Fear of God” letters. A the students performance, we do one of two things.” They’ll either rescind the students admission, or they’ll 20-year-old tradition that most seniors aren’t aware of. The ones that have learned about them, are concerned. “Fear of put them on academic probation. If a student is put on proGod” letters are sent to high school seniors who have let bation, they’ll have to keep a GPA of higher than 2.0 in order their grades fall after they’ve gotten an admission letter from to stay in school. If it drops below that, they’ll be kicked out. Over a third of the colleges in the country have rescinded a college. For a drop from A’s and B’s down to C’s all ask they admission to students — an alarming trend that has upset ask for s for an explanation. They get more serious when the some high school seniors like senior Joe Bahr. grades drop even lower than that. “Most kids have, for their first three and a half years of When the student’s grades nosedive from A’s and B’s all the way down to D’s — or worse — they add in a paragraph high school, proven that they can be good students,” Bahr to the letter. A paragraph that usually goes something like said. “I feel like second semester should be a time to just really relax and enjoy.” this: Next year many seniors will go off to different colleges Student, please understand that your admission to TCU is in and will leave the friends they made in high school behind. jeopardy. If I do not hear from you by the above date, I will assume you are no longer interested in TCU and will begin the process of This has many wanting to enjoy the few months they have left with their friends before leaving, taking their focus away rescinding your admission. * Without a valid explanation, the consequences are se- from school. With a loss of focus in school, grades have a tenvere. The college will either put you on academic probation, dency to slip and seniors slip into ‘senioritis.’ “I was at a Notre Dame event and the director of admisif you’re lucky, or they’ll fully rescind your admission and you’ll have no school to go to when the fall semester starts. sions was there and he just said enjoy your senior year,” Bahr Around 35 percent of schools across the country have re- said. “Don’t worry too much about your grades — keep doing well, just do not let your grades slip by a point on your GPA.” scinded admission from students. A small drop in grades second semester senior year is “We’re one of those schools that is pretty serious about commonly seen and even accepted by teachers and students. running through the tape,” Dean of Admissions at TCU Raymond Brown said. “If you’re in school we expect you to do It’s something that East teacher Mrs. Bonjour has noticed. “I’ve taught seniors for years and years and it happens evwell in school and there are some students who take the ery year,” Bonjour said. “Nobody gets to claim they thought entire senior year off or part of the senior year off and we need to have some kind of explanation for that. In some cases it up. It’s...the anticipation of moving on to the next phase there’s not a good explanation...when that happens we will of life.”

Even though many students see this anticipation as normal, Brown sees a more negative side to it. “Senioritis is not a real world phenomenon,” Brown said. “How did this even happen? How did this even start? At what point did people say, you know it’s okay to become a slacker for a semester. Is that okay in the real world? Mmm, I think not.” TCU and many other private college’s beliefs are that if seniors stop trying at the end of high school and they’ll fall away from their normal studying habits. They say ‘senioritis’ will make it much more difficult for students to start up again when they start their freshman year of college. Especially since many schools make this year difficult to try to ‘wash out’ some of the bloated freshmen class. “When you arrive on the doorstep of your college in the fall, you’re unprepared for the work ahead, and it’s going to be a lot of work and it’s going to be different,” Benedict said. “It’s like being a good athlete, you have to stay in training.” The colleges that send these letters want to make sure that the incoming freshmen will be able to handle college. These letters carry a heavy feeling with them, especially with a name like “Fear of God” letters. But these letters aren’t meant to hold this kind of negative, almost scary connotation with them. “My attempt on this is to let you guys know, ‘Hey we care,’” Brown said. “We care about you. We want you to do well. We expect you to do well and, so, run through the tape. Don’t be messing around.” He explains that these letters aren’t meant to scare students into keeping their grades up their senior year. They’re meant to check up on his future students. “Let’s say we send out 120 of these [letters] each year,” Brown said. “There’s not nearly that many who have senioritis. These are kids who took a course that was just way too tough for them. In the vast majority of cases, it’s not an issue of senioritis, it’s an issue of life getting in the way — something legitimate getting in the way.” *excerpt from TCU’s “Fear of God” Letter

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR EXCEPT...

Fear of God Letters

Students recieve letters from their college about their drop in acedemics senior year

NEWS 7

NEW BILL TO CHANGE ABORTION LAWS IN KANSAS

versy between pro-life and pro-choice activists in Kansas. HB 2253 declares that life begins at fertilization. Senior Allie Chesbrough, a strong supporter of anti-abortion measures, agrees with many parts of House Bill sparks conversation in education about abortion the bill. written by Morgan Krakow “I personally believe that life starts at concepSenior Helena Buchmann sees the good in Planned Par- tion, so I think it’s the government’s role to and prevent aborenthood. She cites that only a small percentage of their bud- tions from happening,” Chesbrough said. get goes to actually funding abortions. Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood “It’s annoying that Planned Parenthood can’t teach sex of Kansas and Mid-Missouri stated his dissatisfaction with ed because that’s probably one of their biggest things that the bill and how he believes the government is overstepping they spend money on is providing sex education to schools its grounds in a press release. around the country.” Buchmann said. “Women don’t turn to politicians for advice about mamAccording to FactCheck.org, about 3 percent of Planned mograms, prenatal care or cancer treatments. Politicians Parenthood’s total budget in 2009 went to abortions, while should not be involved in a woman’s personal medical deci10 percent of their total clients received abortion services. sions about her pregnancy. Let’s let real physicians practice The other 97 percent of the budget went to funding things medicine — not the ‘pretend doctors’ in the Statehouse,” the like cancer screenings, education and testing for STDs. release stated. Gawdun expresses that this is a good change. She believes The press release that included quotes from Holly Weaththe public should not be paying taxes that go towards fund- erford of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and ing abortions, or abortion training. Western Missouri, Elise Higgins of the Kansas National Or“This is an important measure in that regard,” Gawdun ganization for Women as well as Brownlie, illustrated the said, “The fact that it does recognize the state is making a strong dissatisfaction towards the bill from the pro-choice powerful statement that the unborn child does have protect- stand-point. able interest and that taxpayers should not be forced to sub“Somebody can believe that the sky is green, but scientifisidize the abortion industry,” Gawdun said. cally we know that it is not,” Gawdun said. “And it’s the same Kostas specified the positive impact Planned Parenthood thing that somebody can believe that human life doesn’t has had on women in Kansas. begin until birth but they would be biologically incorrect.” “One in five women has turned to Planned Parenthood at Gawdun said. some time in her life for professional, non-judgmental and Gawdun specified that although declaring that life begins confidential care. No one else does more than Planned Par- at fertilization, the bill would not criminalize abortions. The enthood to reduce unintended pregnancies and keep women bill would make it so that if someone was injured or killed healthy.” Kostas said. while pregnant, the prosecutor would be able to add charges Some of the terminology in the bill has sparked contro- to the case, and make unborn children protectable interest

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for the natural parents. “Kansas is a pro-life state and we’re going to move forward with that, and anywhere we can protect human life, we will do so,” Gawdun said. Buchmann, who believes life begins at birth, argued that she, too, is also a supporter of life. “I hate the terminology pro-choice and pro-life, because it implies that pro-choicers aren’t pro-life, and I’m pro-life. I’m really into living, I’m really into other people living.” Buchmann said. Buchmann said she is a supporter of all life, from birth until death, but doesn’t believe the state should work so hard just to protect an unborn child. She also expressed her concern with the direction that this bill moves the state in. She stated that although she knows abortions will never become illegal, it makes her fearful of what is to come. She emailed Governor Brownback and cited her concerns with the cutting of funding for Planned Parenthood, and how it will affect others. “Your quest for a “culture of life” in Kansas is one that should not even be in the rhetoric of a government official,” the email read, “The imposition of your beliefs is hurting people far more than abortions are, despite your allegation that life begins at fertilization,” it went on to say. The office replied with an email that complimented Buchmann on her concern with the government of Kansas. It also explained some of the grounds for why Brownback did sign the bill. “It is my profound belief that our state must support the dignity of every human being, whether they are unemployed, undereducated, or unborn.” The email said. The bill will go into effect July 2013. Certain provisions, relating to the tax code, will not go into effect until January 1, 2014.

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WEIRDEST MEMORIES

Right: Twibell helps her siblings rake the yard by stuffing leaves up her shorts and shirt and pretending to be a tree

Morgan Twibell’s friends share the weirdest memory they have of her “When she mooned Colin [Burns] and Ryan [Carter] in the middle of the street. It was before I knew her well and didn’t know that was actually normal for her to do that to them.” -Junior Annie Kuklenski

OPINION

STAFF PANEL

Has social media had a positive or negative effect on news reporting?

“When she touched her tongue to the Journalism Room floor for a Sour Straw on the last day of school.” -Junior McKenzie Swanson

“I was working a swim meet and the theme was mustache. I’m setting up and swimmers were coming in and here Morgan comes decked out as a Viking with an orange beard and mustache. She even had orange eyebrows.” -Sophomore Annie Savage

See Morgan Twibell’s column on her childhood p. 9

INSIDE THE

SECTION

TRENDS IN BIRTH ORDER PERSONALITY TRAITS take the quiz to determine which birth order traits you match

Hannah Ratliff

“I don’t have a Twitter, but next year I feel I need to get one as a journalism major to keep up with news.”

Put things in their proper place or just throw it anywhere?

proper place Andrew McKittrick

“It can be good at getting news out to our generation quickly. It gets bad when reporters don’t check their facts — they need to confirm things before tweeting.”

Prefer to discuss abstract ideas or concrete facts?

concrete When is comes to work, perfectionist or good enough?

Sophie Tulp

“It is beneficial for getting information out quickly, but It suffers sometimes due to the fact that in the competition for getting updates out first, they may be incorrect or still under investigation.” email comments about this issue to smeharbinger@gmail.com and see your note here in issue 16 of The Harbinger.

perfection

START

no an yw

Stick to tradition or explore new ways to do things?

yes

Do you have a vivid imagination?

io dit

tra STUCO meeting! Roll in 15 min. early or 15 min. late?

str ac

n pla

Is it easy for you to make your friends crack up?

good enough

FIRST BORN OR ONLY CHILD -A natural leader, prefer to lead over entertain. -Detail oriented, tend to be extremely organized. -Not a fan of surprises and favors facts over ideas.

Road trip: plan it all out or see what happens?

late

early

ye s

explore

spontaneity

Would you describe yourself as creative?

yes

YOUNGEST OR MIDDLE

-You love to entertain, not afraid to take risks -Like to be the center of attention. -Tend to be more creative and are easily bored.

OPINION 9

“

She had a unique sense of humor and did weird and funny things.

Conor Twibell

”

photos by of the Twibell Family

“

an opinion of Morgan Twibell

She actually believed she could totally blend in as a stuffed animal. Taylor Twibell

”

rowing up I was always a little strange. Maybe it was the fact that I talked in a baby voice until the fourth grade, or that I would put my cat in a stroller and roll her down the stairs. I always looked up to my siblings, but I never thought that I would grow up to be anything like them. And I was right. The term “black sheep” is used to describe the outcast of the group, the person who just doesn’t really fit in, usually used in a negative context. Since when is it a bad thing to be different? My siblings were the perfect little duo for my parents: one boy one girl -- the typical American family. Three years later my mom and dad decided to have another sweet angel child, but then BOOM they end up with me, who is just a whole different kind of “sweet angel child.” So, while my brother and sister are outside playing soccer or basketball in our backyard, I was up in my tree house with my imaginary friend Slide Bundle Bonehead using my blue telescope to investigate the whereabouts of Slide Bundle Bonehead’s family (see, they lived in New York and he traveled to Kansas seeking help from me to find them -- but that’s not what this story is about). Anyway, back to the whole “me being different than my siblings thing.” While they had perfect vision, I got my first pair of glasses when I was 4-years-old and when they would ask for Pokemon cards for Christmas all I wanted were watches -- I would wear two on each wrist. My sister is the perfect example of a first born child. She’s always trying to act more responsible than she actually is (sorry Taylor, but you know it’s true). She is an exact replica of my mom. They look alike, they love to read and shop, and they are both very girly. Then there’s my brother, the classic middle child with a crave for attention. He’s exactly like my dad -- they like to ask a lot of questions and watch sports. Then there’s me...the baby of the family. Which parent am I supposed to be like? From the get go I was bound to be different from the other four Twibells. But if you know me, you know I have no problem marching to the beat of my own drum.

I think my family knew I was going to be the interesting one from the beginning. When I was a baby, instead of screaming for my mom to come get me out of the crib in the morning I would stand up and sing, that was my clue to them that I was awake. My “unique-ness” kept on growing more and more as I got older. The glasses at age four gave me a little pizzaz because of course no one else in my family had any vision problems and I’m over there wearing bi-focals as a 4-year-old. I loved wearing my glasses up until the second grade when called me Four Eyes on the tetherball court (you know who you are). I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT! Other “unique” moments range from naming my pinky fingers “Billy-Bob-Joe” and “Billy-Bob-Joe-Jr.” to the oh so classic “stuffing my shirt and shorts with leaves running around saying I was a tree” story. I used to run around my house with a video camera 24/7 and make my own “reality shows.” I’m sure if you’ve seen some of my throwback Thursdays on Instagram you can kind of get the picture as to how I was a weird child. When I was younger, I remember that I wanted to be exactly like my big sister. I wanted to fit in with her and my older brother because they seemed so cool and mature. They would have friends over and I was super creepy and would lay over this vent in our living room that led to the basement and I would listen in to all their conversations with the help of my spy equipment that I had gotten for Christmas. Looking back on it now, if I had tried to be more like my siblings when I was younger and lost sight of my true personality I wouldn’t be who I am today. I wouldn’t be able to give speeches in front of the school or dress up in a chicken costume and sing Christina Aguilara at the bachelor auction. Basically what I’m trying to get across is that I feel pretty lucky that I was a weird child. And even though my siblings still make fun of me for leaving a poop trail around the house when I was two-years-old, I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything, not even spy equipment.

BEST FOR LAST

BEING THE YOUNGEST KID IN THE FAMILY ISN’T A BAD THING

OPINION 10

PUTTING LIFEIN PERSPECTIVE Appreciate the life you’ve been given, and live it to the fullest The doctors said that there was supposed to be something “wrong” with me. They thought that I would be handicapped. Not “normal.” After routine an opinion of Anne Willman blood tests, my parents were told that there was a high chance that I would have a genetic disorder. The doctors suggested to my mom that she might want to have an abortion. My parents decided that termination wasn’t an option. I would live regardless of the advice of the doctors. As it turned out, the doctors were wrong. But despite what the doctors and tests said, my parents stuck to their decision. They chose to give me life, not death. I don’t know what my life would have been like if the tests had proven to be true. I will never know. But what I do know is that I have been given a chance. My parents made a commitment and have given me life. That having been said, I sometimes fall into bad habits and waste precious time. Sometimes I complain — if it is about the amount of homework I receive on a weeknight, the social problems at school or that I only received five hours of sleep the night before. I even voice my opinions about what my family should

have for dinner and whine that my favorite jacket is in the laundry basket. I worry about the future and I sometimes feel sorry for myself. But all of those complaints fade away when I think about what I have been given — life. Not until recently, have I started to understand the value of my short time on this planet. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with people — people all over the community. I feel like I have a purpose, like I’m doing something bigger than myself. During the past two years, I have made an effort to volunteer — at food pantries and homeless shelters, with Special Olympics and at the East used book sale and by tutoring. Through my conversations and interactions with people, I learned lessons that have changed my thinking and attitude. In my time helping the Special Olympics golf program, I’ve had the chance to connect with some of the most wonderful people I know. I look forward to seeing each and every one of those young adults. As I show them how to grip a golf club or pivot through the ball, I come to a pause and think to myself: this is how I should be spending time. And when I volunteered for the used book sale — designing T-shirts and ringing up customers — I knew that I was contributing to something that would ultimately impact others. And again I came to the realization that this is how my time should be spent. At the shelters and food pantries or even at school, as I mentor a student in the after school NHS tutoring program, I

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CLASSOF2013

begin to understand the importance of time. After each activity, everything becomes clear. My priorities get back in order. I sometimes regret that I haven’t lived life to the fullest. I’ve been given life and at times, I’m wasting it. I have worried (and still worry) about minute situations. Hours are spent on Facebook, Twitter and watching multiple episodes of Criminal Minds on Hulu. I wish that I had the power to reverse time like the Minutemen in one of Disney Channel’s original movies (another movie that has consumed my time). The sad reality is that nothing can bring back the wasted time. Hours have been consumed worrying about people’s perception of me and what was the “cool thing” to do. Instead of truly being empathetic, I have been absent-minded – concerned only of myself. Right now, I’m trying to make the transition. I’m making small steps — lists are made up of simple tasks: cleaning my room, washing my car or reading a chapter from a book. These are things that can and should be completed in little time with the idea that I can use the remaining time being productive — achieving goals and helping others. I hope that these habits will form before I head to Manhattan next year for college. I plan to accomplish goals academically, athletically and spiritually. At this point, I am struggling and it will always be a constant struggle, especially when I will be given more free time in the coming few months. I’m determined to make the most of the next several years. Worth the life my parents chose to give me.

Personalize your message A great way to send off the seniors Support the senior class and the journalism program!

It is your chance to say your last few words to the senior class in issue 16

Name of person purchasing ad: Size of Ad: 2.25 inches x 1.25 inches $15

EXAMPLE Good luck seniors!

You will do great things next year! -The East Family

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FEATURES 3)+2)(4&5678&-&9:;;

BLACK BEAN salad

r e c i p e f r o m Ta s t e b u d M a g a z i n e

INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS

Back to Basics !"#$%&'()*+,&-&.$)/0&.%)+,&-&12*+#) 1 January, 2013

Above: The January 2013 cover of Tastebud Magazine features tacos and a black bean salad

EAST FAMILY RUNS KANSAS CITY FOOD AND DRINK MAGAZINE written by Phoebe Aguiar

“Kansas City’s guide to food, drink, places, and people” is the slogan that sits under the masthead of Jennifer and Gordon Roe’s magazine “Tastebud.” The East parents decided to start the publication six years ago to broaden people’s knowledge of what the city has to offer in food, places to eat and people to meet in the surrounding area. “It is a resource for people who want recipes and who want to support local business and food producers,” Jennifer said. When Jennifer and her husband decided to begin the

photo courtesy of Tastebud Magazine

1/2 cup minced onion 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed 2 cups cooked black beans or one 15 oz can, drained and rinsed 1 cup frozen corn, thawed 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered 1/2 cup diced red onion 2 tablespoon pumpkin seeds, coarsely chopped 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice salt and black pepper to taste

magazine, she and her husband, Gordon, had the knowledge and skills to start a publication on their own. Jennifer had experience working with people, editing and planning from her work as a teacher and grant writer. Gordon worked in sales, so he knew how to manage people and money for his as role of publisher. While the magazine is a large part of the Roe family, the work doesn’t affect their daily lives, aside from trying out the occasional recipe or helping Jennifer decide on a cover image. “I think I have grown up knowing what foods to eat and what are good foods,” junior Caroline Roe, Jennifer and Gordon’s daughter, said. “We don’t eat out a whole lot and if we do it’s at a smaller places, not like Applebee’s.” The magazine itself consists of a variety of sections such as “Ask the Expert” and “Table Hopping”. Each month there

Mince onions and press garlic and let sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out their health-promoting benefits. Mix all ingredients together and serve. This salad will keep for a couple of days and gets more flavorful if you let it marinate in the refrigerator for awhile. Serves 4.

is an overall theme to the magazine, which usually corresponds to the time of year. Jennifer is the one who picks the theme each month. Then she works with the photographer, art director and writers, to decide the design and content of each issue. Jennifer also makes the final decisions on what goes into the magazine. As it’s gotten older, the magazine readership has increased to 45,000 readers per issue and is distributed in more 150 locations. With this growth, “Tastebud” has added a website to the publication which helps to expand the reader base. It gives the reader the ability to search for recipes, look at past issues read articles and learn more about the magazine. The website also gives the user the ability to sign up for a free e-newsletter. The magazine also uses the social media platforms of Twitter and Facebook to connect with readers and keep them up to date. Contributors range from foodies, restaurant and shop owners to cooks. They write reviews, give tips and tricks and share insight and recipes with readers. All of these articles correspond with a section and the theme of the magazine. Tastebud partners with local businesses to distribute the magazine and help to spread recipes. Many businesses and services advertise with the magazine as well. “We try to have them [Tastebud] in the places where our readers are most likely to go and so they are at all the Hen Houses, a few Price Choppers, then just other places around city,” Jennifer said. As “Tastebud” magazine continues to grow in the community, the Roe’s will be the reason that people learn about what to eat, how to eat and where to buy it.

FEATURES 12

S E

MADE

Popular MTV show comes to East to interview potential candidates photo illustration by Stefano Byer written by Maggie McGannon

Check for updates about audtions at smeharbinger.net

WHAT

Everyone has dreams of what they aspire to be, and this may finally be your reality. The producers of the Emmy Award winning series, MTV’s MADE, are coming to East to interview potential candidates for the show. The show gives viewers first hand accounts of high school and college students wanting to transform themselves in someway. They have transformed average people into varsity athletes, surfers and even rappers. “They’re just trying to get average people,” East theatre teacher Brian Capello said. “When I talked to the producer he said he was really excited about coming here.”

Capello is unsure why the show decided to contact East. Interviews will take place after school on Monday April 29 and are expected to take five to seven minutes. Interviews will be recorded and taken back to their studios in New York to be analyzed. A few things they are looking for is how serious you are about your goals and what kind of person they are dealing with. If an East student is chosen, they will commit to at least one-month of intensive training toward their goal, which will take place over summer. This includes working with a personal trainer or life coach. “There are so many kids who do it just to be on

photos by Caroline Creidenburg

WHO

Senior Emma Meara may write acoustic music, but she hopes to take her music career one step further. “I want to be made into a DJ because I love electronic and dubstep music,” Meara said. “I would love to be the one behind the scenes making it happen.” In the beginning, Meara considered interviewing to be transformed into a variety of different things. These included a ribbon dancer, baton twirler and belly dancer. She ultimately decided on DJ-ing because of her love for music and desire to mix it for others to enjoy. “I’m pretty outgoing and am willing to try new things,” Meara said. “Hopefully that will stand out.” Even if she isn’t selected, Meara would still like to pursue a career as a DJ if she can obtain the right resources and equipment, which she knows may be a challenge.

T.V.,” Cappello said. “I tell them, ‘I think they’ve heard that before.’” According to MADE, they usually have about 10 to 20 students interested in a school this size. East has had student body interest, but there is not a clear number. One of the main things the producers consider is the length of time the goal takes to achieve. If it will take multiple years to reach, they encourage you not to try out. “Whether they succeed at their goal or not, we strive to give these kids a chance at a dream,” MTV’s MADE said. “They ultimately realize that it takes hard work, persistence, and commitment to make one’s dreams come true.”

Have you ever wondered what the source of Disney’s Magic was? According to their website, “[Disney Imagineers are] the creative force behind the iconic Disney attractions and experiences that our guests have come to know and love.” Imagineers design and build everything Disney and even have the motto, “We make the magic.” Freshman Kyle Baker has dreams to become a Disney Imagineer and sees MADE as an opportunity to achieve this. Baker also has dreamed of working with or directing a broadway musical, but he knew his love for math and art are perfect to work with Disney. Baker thinks he has a fair shot at being chosen. “I try hard and I carry things through,” Baker said. “I know it would just be a really cool experience that I would remember forever.”

Junior Emma Calvert has never considered herself to be very athletic, but has always aspired to be. When she heard about MADE coming to East, she thought this was a perfect opportunity. “I want to be a soccer player,” Calvert said. “I feel like this is what I needed to just do it.” Calvert thought it was hard to decide what kind of transformation she wanted because there are so many things she didn’t know how to do. Her love for being outside and getting to play with other people on a team are what drove her to strive to be a soccer player rather than another sport. “I feel like I wouldn’t try to join a team unless I had some kind of push,” Calvert said. “This may not be the only opportunity I have, but it would definitely get me started.”

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FEATURES 14

SPORTS PICKS with Will and Nick Sophomore Clark Doerr and junior Joe Libeer inherit roles as co-hosts for next year’s Sports Picks.

written by Maddie Hise

LOOKING BACK

Will and Nick recall their favorite memories from the last two years making Sports Picks

Jan. 27, 2012

WILL

knows today, Hunter believes the new cast will need a change. “They have to come up with a completely different idea,” Hunter said. “There is no way you can carry over Sports Picks — the song, the theme. I think honestly they’re going to have to create something new that’s their own thing, their own format. I think Libeer and Doerr will start with their own ideas and it will kind of morph into what they want to do with it.” Libeer says he and the editor of Sports Picks, junior John Moore, have already started the brainstorming process for segment ideas, but will not be doing any work on it over the summer. Hunter thinks Kraske and Cray will need to do an introduction to the new cast before the end of the year. “My biggest concern is not living up to expectations,” Libeer said. “They’ve done such a good job with it. I’d like to do interviews the same, feature somebody each week, of course I’d like to keep it on sports. I don’t want to make it too different.” But according to Hunter, it’s less about being funny and taking the place of the old cast and more about being a likeable person. The changing of hosts is not the only change that is coming to Sports Picks. Video announcements filming will now take place in a daily class, not during seminar. Since it will be a regular part of their schedule Libeer would like to see two video announcements a week; however, that is

mostly up to Moore. Kraske says the class will help with the planning to make the show more organized. “We didn’t really plan anything,” Kraske said. “We kind of just walked in with an idea and improvise stuff. But the fact that they have a class is going to be awesome because maybe they’ll be able to hone in on their ideas in that class. I would definitely tell them to plan their ideas out better than we did, because we never really planned anything.” With the change of cast, the boys believe they will be compared to the former hosts. According to Libeer, he will take on more of the Nick persona because Nick talks more and he plans to make Doerr the butt of the jokes. “Joe seemed really funny and goofy,” Kraske said. “I could see him taking on more of a Nick persona. I could see Clark being more of a straight man like Will.” Cray says he hopes Doerr and Libeer are enthusiastic about the segments and do whatever they want as long as the students enjoy it. “I wish them best of luck,” Cray said. “To come up with random ideas as well as Nick Kraske does.”

“

Oct. 19, 2012

NICK

“

One of my favorites was definitely the time that we did the Risky Buisness episode last year, the theme for the basketball game that week. We just had on button downs and boxers and we went to Chick-Fil-A and slid across the floor up to the counter, and all the customers were so confused. It’s always fun to see people’s reactions on the weird things that we do in public when we’re filming.

“

photo illustration by Annie Savage

There are definitely a lot of fun memories, probably one of the funniest ones was the episode where we were in a minivan and Nick was dressed up as a mom. Tyler was actually in that episode, which makes me like it even more. Nick was dressed up as a mom and talking in a woman voice the entire time and it was hilarious.

“

Sophomore Clark Doerr was sitting in Mr. Southwick’s physical science classroom watching the daily announcements. Like the rest of the class he laughed along, but next year he will be the one students are watching: the new co-host of Sports Picks. “I made a vine of watching ‘Saving Private Ryan,” junior Clark Doerr said. “I was in class and the guy next to me was watching it and said I was funny and I should be on Sports Picks. So I thought I could be like Will and Nick, because I’m comfortable talking to people and I like to entertain people.” When an announcement went out that there was a meeting for people interested in being the new cast of the video announcements, Doerr realized that there was two spots open for new cast of Sports Picks because seniors Will Cray and Nick Kraske were graduating. He went to the meeting specifically to take the segment over. At the meeting, his fellow JV track runner, junior Joe Libeer, also made it known he was interested in taking over the segment. “They were kind of the only guys who expressed interest in doing it,” Video production teacher Jennifer Hunter said. But, Cray understands. “I was pretty surprised by the how few people were interested [in becoming the new cast],” Cray said. “But then I realized that I would probably be pretty intimidated to try and do the same thing as we do.” Becoming the new face of Sports Picks means taking on the responsibility of entertaining people like the old cast used to do. According to Kraske, finding the right balance between entertainment and getting information into the segment is tricky and took him around year to get a well-balanced episode. “Hopefully they’ll try to still make the episodes decently entertaining,” Kraske said. “Or at least attention-getting so that people will actually pay attention and give people something to look forward to every Friday.” Kraske also recommends the boys should try to convey more information about the sports because one of his regrets is not making the episodes more focused. After two years of watching the show grow and become what the student body

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THE SOCIAL NETWORK

@EAST

Social media changes real life Social Networks at East

continued from cover

18% of surveyed students feel less popular after checking social networking sites

The Kircher twins aren’t the only students whose perceptions of East are shaped by its Twitter community. In a poll of 183 underclass men, 96 (52 percent) said they were on the popular social network. Of that group, 33 percent said their ideas of how East students should !"#$%&'$(&')!&*+,+&-.!+$&#$/0+$)+(&12&*"'!&!"+2&3'*&-$&4*#!!+,5& “I just feel like the kids in our grade think the upperclassmen are cool and want to see how they do things,” Henry said. “Because some day we’ll be there.” Sociology and History teacher Vicki ArndtHelgesen, who has taught high school students for 38 years, sees Twitter as just a new vehicle for a perceptionshaping process that she has always seen in high school. “[Twitter is] both the same and different from what has always ex isted by a high school grapevine,” ArndtHelgesen said. “It is same in the role that it plays. It is different in its broadness and the speed. I think then it has a capacity to shape the response, the belief, the party line more quickly.” 4"+& #$/0+$)+& 4*#!!+,& "'3& -$& 3-6+& 7'3!& 3!0(+$!3& )-08(& )"'$9+& their behavior. In 2010, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that behavior change spread faster through online social networks with many overlapping ties (where individual mem bers share more connections) than in clustered networks without overlapping ties (loosely connected clusters of individuals). With many East students following some of the same accounts, such as @TotalSMEastMove and @SME_Positweets, the East Twitter )-660$#!2&,+3+618+3&6-,+&)8-3+82&!"+&:,3!&!2;+&-.&-$8#$+&$+!*-,%<& and, according to study, would be more likely to change behavior of individual members of the community. Dalton has seen this behaviorshaping effect in action and worries !"'!&4*#!!+,&)-08(&1+&$+9'!#=+82&#$/0+$)#$9&!"+65 “At East, you’re already being shaped by lots of stuff,” Dalton said. “It feels like you become more of a stereotypical East kid even more so through Twitter. It molds you even more. What’s accepted on Twitter and what’s not accepted on Twitter... reaches even deeper to people.” The Kirchers admit that they’ve already started to learn about the East stereotype — it’s the preppy, rich school, they say — from up perclassmen accounts and accounts like @TotalSMEastMove. Senior Nick Kraske worries that students like the Kirchers are getting the wrong idea about East from Twitter. “An underclassman might see an attempt at humor by an older kid

written by Matt Hanson

photos by Jake Crandall

that has to do with drinking and think that’s what East is all about, when in reality they probably don’t know the person that well,” Kraske said. @TotalSMEastMove cofounder and current senior Jack Kingsley* says that the account, which now has over 1,300 followers including over 550 current East students, was never meant to be taken seriously. Still, he thinks some students take the account’s satire of East’s stereo type to heart. “It’s not meant to be serious at all,” Kingsley said. “It’s not meant to be a representation [of East] at all. People just take it as that.” Just as he thinks Twitter doesn’t accurately represent East, Kraske also warns students that individual accounts don’t represent the peo ple behind them. Both the Kircher twins and Dalton say they feel like peoples’ tweets say a lot about who they are, but Kraske says a lot of *"'!&7'3!&3!0(+$!3&!*++!&3"-08($>!&1+&!'%+$&3+,#-0382&'3&'&,+/+)!#-$&-.& what they believe. “I think it’s important to remember that... [a Twitter account] isn’t a holistic view of that person,” Kraske said. “I guess you could let it af fect your perception of them, but it’s important to remember that you should try not to let it affect your perception of them until you actu ally meet them and understand what kind of person they are and not just what they’re putting out there.” Senior Tyler Benschoter agrees with Kraske but warns that while a social network account isn’t a complete picture of a person, it will nevertheless be considered a representation of that person, whether that person intends it to or not. “This is what people see of you,” Benschoter said. “So if that’s what you put out there, that’s what people are going to know, and that is the reality.” ArndtHelgesen agrees with Benschoter. She adds that perceptions formed from Twitter, both of students and of social groups, don’t have to be accurate to have power. She says that if people believe that a per ception is accepted by others, they will respond to it as though it is true. “Reality is simply that which is created,” ArndtHelgesen said. “So if we believe that that is the perception, if that becomes the shared real ity, we still act on it as if it’s real. [Students hear that] to be considered popular at East, [they] must do these things, go to these things, wear these kinds of things. That may or may not be an accurate statement, but it has created the response... and so [students] respond to that.”

38% of surveyed students check social media two or more times a day

Social Media Sites

@vwentz14

20%

“Someones’ Twitter account doesn’t necessarily represent their personality as a whole because with social media you’re just given a little glimpse into that person’s life. The only things you see are the things they choose to tweet.” -junior Danya Issawi

“[The East twitter community] only shows one segment of personality, usually people tweet about stuff that is very instantaneous and in the moment.” -David Muhammad

MOST USED

50%

@danyasawi

@theMrMu

16.7% 3%

Above are the social networking sites the surveyed East students use during school.

“I think some people’s twitter reflect a more humorous side and I think sometimes if someones trying to be funny it doesn’t represent what they’re about.” -senior Vance Wentz 21% of surveyed students feel more outgoing when using social networking sites *percentages taken from a survey of 192 East students

SPREAD 17

SPREAD 16

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

@EAST

Social media changes real life Social Networks at East

continued from cover

18% of surveyed students feel less popular after checking social networking sites

The Kircher twins aren’t the only students whose perceptions of East are shaped by its Twitter community. In a poll of 183 underclassmen, 96 (52 percent) said they were on the popular social network. Of that group, 33 percent said their ideas of how East students should think and act were often influenced by what they saw on Twitter. “I just feel like the kids in our grade think the upperclassmen are cool and want to see how they do things,” Henry said. “Because someday we’ll be there.” Sociology and History teacher Vicki Arndt-Helgesen, who has taught high school students for 38 years, sees Twitter as just a new vehicle for a perception-shaping process that she has always seen in high school. “[Twitter is] both the same and different from what has always existed by a high school grapevine,” Arndt-Helgesen said. “It is same in the role that it plays. It is different in its broadness and the speed. I think then it has a capacity to shape the response, the belief, the party line more quickly.” The influence Twitter has on some East students could change their behavior. In 2010, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that behavior change spread faster through online social networks with many overlapping ties (where individual members share more connections) than in clustered networks without overlapping ties (loosely connected clusters of individuals). With many East students following some of the same accounts, such as @TotalSMEastMove and @SME_Positweets, the East Twitter community resembles more closely the first type of online network, and, according to study, would be more likely to change behavior of individual members of the community. Dalton has seen this behavior-shaping effect in action and worries that Twitter could be negatively influencing them. “At East, you’re already being shaped by lots of stuff,” Dalton said. “It feels like you become more of a stereotypical East kid even more so through Twitter. It molds you even more. What’s accepted on Twitter and what’s not accepted on Twitter... reaches even deeper to people.” The Kirchers admit that they’ve already started to learn about the East stereotype — it’s the preppy, rich school, they say — from upperclassmen accounts and accounts like @TotalSMEastMove. Senior Nick Kraske worries that students like the Kirchers are getting the wrong idea about East from Twitter. “An underclassman might see an attempt at humor by an older kid

written by Matt Hanson

photos by Jake Crandall

that has to do with drinking and think that’s what East is all about, when in reality they probably don’t know the person that well,” Kraske said. @TotalSMEastMove co-founder and current senior Jack Kingsley* says that the account, which now has over 1,300 followers including over 550 current East students, was never meant to be taken seriously. Still, he thinks some students take the account’s satire of East’s stereotype to heart. “It’s not meant to be serious at all,” Kingsley said. “It’s not meant to be a representation [of East] at all. People just take it as that.” Just as he thinks Twitter doesn’t accurately represent East, Kraske also warns students that individual accounts don’t represent the people behind them. Both the Kircher twins and Dalton say they feel like peoples’ tweets say a lot about who they are, but Kraske says a lot of what East students tweet shouldn’t be taken seriously as a reflection of what they believe. “I think it’s important to remember that... [a Twitter account] isn’t a holistic view of that person,” Kraske said. “I guess you could let it affect your perception of them, but it’s important to remember that you should try not to let it affect your perception of them until you actually meet them and understand what kind of person they are and not just what they’re putting out there.” Senior Tyler Benschoter agrees with Kraske but warns that while a social network account isn’t a complete picture of a person, it will nevertheless be considered a representation of that person, whether that person intends it to or not. “This is what people see of you,” Benschoter said. “So if that’s what you put out there, that’s what people are going to know, and that is the reality.” Arndt-Helgesen agrees with Benschoter. She adds that perceptions formed from Twitter, both of students and of social groups, don’t have to be accurate to have power. She says that if people believe that a perception is accepted by others, they will respond to it as though it is true. “Reality is simply that which is created,” Arndt-Helgesen said. “So if we believe that that is the perception, if that becomes the shared reality, we still act on it as if it’s real. [Students hear that] to be considered popular at East, [they] must do these things, go to these things, wear these kinds of things. That may or may not be an accurate statement, but it has created the response... and so [students] respond to that.”

38% of surveyed students check social media two or more times a day

Social Media Sites

@vwentz14

20%

“[The East twitter community] only shows one segment of personality, usually people tweet about stuff that is very instantaneous and in the moment.” -David Muhammad

MOST USED

50%

@danyasawi

@theMrMu

16.7% 3%

Above are the social networking sites the surveyed East students use during school.

FEATURES 18

CLUBS REVIEW

AN UPDATE OF WHAT CLUBS HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS SCHOOL YEAR

Pack of Pa ls

written by Audrey Danciger

photos by Caroline Creidenberg, Leah O’Connor & Elizabeth Bittiker

NAH

Natio

al Art The Pack of Pals club stand Hono This year, Members of the National rs So around junior Mitchell Earley at Noodles and Company on Art Honors Society had a plan. After over a ciety the Plaza and sing ”Happy Birthday” loud and off-key. Other year of discussion, they were finally going to paint a restaurant-goers stare, but the group doesn’t care; they’re on mural on the walls of the third floor girls’ bathroom. one of their outings, where students of different learning abiliLast year, the group struggled to decide on a theme, ties, interests and grade levels come together and just have fun. so the idea never really got off the ground. The Pack of Pals is an organization of students at East who foThe club took action and got approval from ascus on making kids with learning disabilities and social disorders sociate principal John McKinney and began work feel more comfortable and loved by their peers. The “pals” and their on their fantasy-themed mural. Spending hours “peers” all get together once a month to participate in regular teen acpainting on the weekends and after school, they tivities. They often make trips to sporting events to support their fellow finally finished the mural at the end of February. Lancers. This year, the group has gone bowling, seen “Oz the Great and “Our main accomplishment was getting the Powerful” and even taken a trip to PowerPlay. mural done, so that will be a lasting thing after we’re gone,” co-president Mattie Crabtree said. The club has also contributed works to events such as the Winter Fair Auction and the Art Awards Award Ceremony. They recently far in years past. So big issues like Coalition sponsor David Muhammad raps at vput on their annual Fashion show in the Crossse e r th fo in ey on ot m fo have raised Walking bare ey th their Love 146 concert. roads which had a larger turnout compared to ch su is ra Village and organizations eral different streets of Prairie years past. For the remainder of the year the ar s Ch al d im an an , Kiva buy farm Room to Read ing money to club plans to work on crafts and pick leaders — this is as even started a ed e ne ’v ey in Th es . ili er m at W ity for a fa t for next year. en l, el m os. tourna is all about. W per Smash Br Su what Coalition ral te ci In r so fe r Hei onsored by raise money fo not exactly. Sp MS Shoe to TO y fee was $3 tr d en an r e he Th ac l. studies te - nationa am uh M een the two id tw av Some athletes Fell e D ayer, and be pl r pe owsh Drop Candidat er at th ip of have pre-game rituals they raised ov is a group ts on en iti m al na Co ur , to ad Chris m en rd bu at th s in the locker rooms, whether ue tian A iss $100. focuses on p ed ou m gr thlete co e el w Th e e. ar id rs they scream and shout to get themselves -w be ld or em w m ll s ity A human East most al at is ts ar en ye ud e st psyched up or recite a prayer. For the the members th e at gh uc ou ed th al to d ks an wor lems ways someone of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, it’s the latter. eness for prob over, there is al and raise awar xse y, lit ta encourages or m ub l cl The locker room becomes the auxiliary gym and the na e er Th at . m ed such as d in ne ts to join next clean water an an game is actually a day at school. w of ck ho la w g, ne in yo ck an traffi ity of ar ch a t At 7:00 a.m. on Thursday mornings the 25-30 ou a. lp nd ar or he the war in Uga Senior Chandler Harrison makes tiles at an s focused ye mer. ha m ub su cl e members file in the doors of the gym. They munch on e th th er ar ov This ye NAHS meeting after school. g choice tin na do d an s snacks and chat before they open with a prayer. Each enes on raising awar spo as week they have a different speaker whether it’s one of any causes money to as m on three ng si cu fo the groups six student leaders or a pastor from a local an th sible, rather church. Last week they even brought in former Royals player Ed Hearn to talk about struggles he’s faced in his life. The group plans their meetings around When some people think of the journalthe needs of the school. When the comism program at East, they may tend to think of the will munity is wounded by tragedies such Harbinger and Hauberk. Many people overlook or aren’t go into the as the death of senior Tyler Ratheven familiar with East’s literary magazine, the FreeLancbook. They try to bun or the Boston Marathon er. get as wide a variety of bombings, they provide a The FreeLancer is published annually by a staff of pieces as possible. safe place and a couple about 10 students. Rather than the newspaper and yearAlthough the group of minutes to be with book, which are only made up of pieces written by stustruggled with organization after friends and pray. dents on staff, the FreeLancer is comprised of works by Junior Corinne Stratton leads a small group of losing their two senior editors last hundreds of East students. girls at an early morning FCA meeting. year, they have completed the book Throughout the school year and over the summer, stuwhich will be available for purchase at any dents submit their own original works whether they be upcoming East sports games, parent-teacher poems, short stories, photographs or musical composinights or from Mrs. Beachy in room 515 within tions. The staff then meets in club sponsor Laura Beachy’s the next two weeks. room to discuss the submissions, and decide which ones

Coalition 1

FCA 3

FreeL an

cer

for all your athletic needs.

NAIL ENVOGUE 3601 W. 95 Street

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SHELEKC GEL COLOR ONLY $23.00

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PIZZA BY THE SLICE

Tune in to hear Lancer News, entertainment, opinions and more.

11am-2pm Monday- Friday

GILMAN LAW OFFICE FRANK P. GILMAN, P.A. LAWYER

913-381-5280

THE CHORALIERS RECEIVED A ONE, THE HIGHEST SCORE, AT THE STATE CHOIR COMPETITION, APRIL 16. SAM TULP AND LIAM MURPHY QUALIFIED TO THE NATIONAL FORENSICS LEAGUE AND THE CATHOLIC FORENSICS LEAGUE IN DEBATE THE REPERTORY THEATER STUDENTS PERFORMED ‘ANDROCLES AND THE LION’ FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, APRIL 12.

GREAT NEWS FOLKS! THE HAUBERK STAFF FINISHED THE YEARBOOK!

VINE CONTEST 1

photos courtesy of mctcampus.com

SPRING TV SHOWS THE VOICE SUMMARY: Competition singing show. FAVORITE JUDGE: Adam Levine, of course. WHY IT’S SO GOOD: It focuses more on the music

instead of the fame and fortune.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY SUMMARY: Follows the lives of women in Orange County,

CA FAVORITE HOUSEWIFE: Heather WHY IT’S SO GOOD: What’s better than fake drama?

MAD MEN SUMMARY: Follows a successful New York ad agency in

the 1960s. FAVORITE CHARACTER: The man himself, Don Draper. WHY IT’S SO GOOD: Fashion and drama.

IDEA IS TOO OUTRAGEOUS. BUT BE SMART (SEE THE EDITORIAL). YOUR VINE USING 3 UPLOAD #harbingercontest THE WINNER FEATURED IN THE 4 SEE NEXT ISSUE. MAY THE BEST VINER WIN DUE DATE: MONDAY, MAY 6

#harbingercontest

CARTOONS ON NETFLIX

GAME OF THRONES SUMMARY: Medieval families fight for control of the

kingdom FAVORITE CHARACTER: Bran Stark WHY IT’S SO GOOD: The show is really in-depth and has a ton of characters.

MAKE A VINE THAT CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF EAST. IT CAN BE ANYTHING SCHOOL RELATED — FROM THE FIELD TO THE CLASSROOM.

IT FUN. USE TEACHERS, 2 MAKE TEAMMATES OR CLASSMATES. NO

ARTS & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

ORCHESTRA TOOK FIRST PLACE IN THE LAS ANGELES HERITAGE FESTIVAL, APRIL 6.

A&E 21

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?

1. MR. FOLEY RETURNS

After a small stroke, Mr. Foley is back at school and directing the East choirs. Although Foley was not able to direct the choir contest on April 16, the Spring Concert is May 2 and he will get the choir in gear for their final performance of the year.

2. REMAKE OF THE GREAT GATSBY

You’ve read the book, maybe written a couple papers on it, but you haven’t seen it like this. Baz Luhrman’s rendition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel will be one for the books. With Leonardo DiCaprio as the mysterious Jay Gatsby, this movie is a sure fire hit—at least looks wise.

23 PHOTO ESSAY

ONOMATOPOEIA FASHION SHOW

26 YOUNG ACTORS

A&E 22

C AR T O ON written by Susannah Mitchell

I was snuggling with my laptop in bed, looking through Netflix’s “Recently Added” section when I discovered it. On March 30, Netflix added a collection of late-90s/early2000s children’s shows to its repertoire. For a lot of people who fervently embrace their early-2000s nostalgia (or maybe just me), this was the best news of my month. Maybe even my year. But I resisted the impulse to click on Dexter’s glasses and asked myself: is it worth

DEXTER’S LABORATORY Before watching “Dexter” again, I’d forgotten how much I absolutely yearn to be as cool as he is. His scientific inventions (hello, a machine that changes your taste buds?) are amazing, his prowess with the ladies (“omelette...du fromage”) is undeniably smooth and his hair is an enviable poof of ginger. The show centers around Dexter, a genius elementary schooler who makes wacky inventions in his basement and his sister Dede, who consistently screws everything up.

Animation: 3/10

Of all the cartoons I watched, “Dexter’s” animation barely held up. The drawing was too simplistic and relied on stills too much for the audience to remain engrossed in what was happening.

Humor: 9/10

Unlike a lot of today’s cartoons, the show didn’t rely on inane jokes to entertain little kids. “Dexter” is still watchable whether you’re an adult or a kid, because the jokes appeal to both audiences.

Nostalgia: 9/10

Every episode I saw of “Dexter” instantly brought me back to when I used to watch it as a kid. The characters were memorable, and the whole thing was just fun to experience again.

COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG Maybe this counts as cheating; I’m not sure, and I don’t care. After sitting down to re-watch “Courage,” I found that I couldn’t watch more than one episode. It wasn’t the cartoon about a silly dog protecting his owners and getting into crazy supernatural hijinks I remembered it to be. “Courage” was just plain creepy. Courage and his owner Muriel are constantly abused by Muriel’s husband Eustace, and even then, Courage still attempts to save both of their lives on an episodic basis. Courage’s cowardice, rather than being endearing, comes off as annoying and frustrating.

Animation: 6/10

The eerie purple and green color scheme gives the audience a sense that something is wrong, which works well with an adult audience but can be easily ignored by kids. The overall animation, however, is more crude than creepy.

Humor: 2/10

No memorable jokes that I could recall from my childhood, and what small amount of humor the show possessed was either hit-or-miss or just a bad pun.

Nostalgia: 2/10

In retrospect, even the one episode I watched wasn’t worth it. Really, I’m just fortunate I’m as normal as I am today, having watched “Courage” on a regular basis as a child.

it? What if my favorite childhood TV shows weren’t as good as I remembered? What if the jokes weren’t as funny, what if the animation sucked? With great trepidation, I selected “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “The PowerPuff Girls,” “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” “Samurai Jack” and “Courage the Cowardly Dog” and waited to see if they lived up to how I remembered them. Upon watching them all, I got mixed results.

SAMURAI JACK

I really don’t have anything to say except that “Samurai Jack” is awesome. Literally. It’s utterly amazing to watch, visually, and everything about it is cool. The show centers around a samurai, Jack, that gets sent into the future by an evil monster, Aku, and his journey back to the past. The plot is suspenseful, and all of the sound effects and voice acting are superb.

Animation: 10/10

The most appealing part of “Samurai Jack” is the art. Full of gorgeous transitions and coloring, the first episode, “The Beginning,” was utterly captivating. The setting and characters are all beautifully drawn, and the animation truly makes the show fantastic.

Humor: 2/10

To be fair, this is not a comedy. With a fast-paced, action-packed show about a samurai I didn’t really expect that many jokes, but what few jokes there are aren’t totally flat.

Nostalgia: 7/10

Watching “Samurai Jack” as a teenager is just as, if not cooler than it was as a kid. Despite how striking it is visually, I found that very few characters, plot lines or jokes were memorable at all.

POWERPUFF GIRLS

art by James Simmons and Andrew McKittrick

FOSTER’S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS

Back in pre-school, “PowerPuff Girls” was my “Sex and the City.” You were either a Blossom, a Bubbles or a Buttercup. I hailed myself as a Bubbles. After watching the series again though, it’s harder to say. The show centers around a trio of crime-fighting little girls trying to save the world, and their science-loving dad who created them. The characters and the show ended up being far more complex than I remembered, and interesting to re-experience.

Although “Foster’s Home” is one of the more recent Cartoon Network shows (2004), it still holds a place in my heart. The show follows Mac, a little boy, and his imaginary blob-friend Bloo and their adventures in a foster home for imaginary friends. And the show is cute. It’s really, really cute. All of the imaginary friends are adorable, and it really encompasses everything a Cartoon Network cartoon should be.

Animation: 6/10

Animation: 8/10

Humor: 6/10

Humor: 8/10

The animation is simple and sticks with a black-whitered-pink color scheme, which can seem girly and cute to fit the show, but also vaguely scary. The villains in the show are drawn even creepier, with “Him” being reminiscent of a devillish Frank-N-Furter. Although several jokes were spread between episodes, nothing was memorable.

Nostalgia: 7/10

Re-watching “PPG” was extremely interesting, mostly because of the amount of information I never picked up on as a child. When I was five, I didn’t really pick up on Professor Utonium’s loneliness and single-dad sadness. The villains didn’t seem so creepy, and the characters didn’t seem so complicated.

Rather than the strict, crude lines of “Dexter’s Lab” and “Courage,” “Foster’s Home” takes a new approach: a lot of of blotchy colors, no specific color scheme, scribbles. It was refreshing after seeing the other shows doing the same thing as each other. “Foster’s Home” used a lot of immature “kid-humor,” and I loved it. Every episode was stupid and hilarious; while that could definitely turn some people off of the show, it worked perfectly for me.

Nostalgia: 4/10

Simply due to it being more recent, I didn’t have a lot of memories connected to “Foster’s Home.” However, it was great creating new memories with the show that I didn’t have before. If, in 10 years, I end up re-watching the show, it’ll still be great.

PHOTO ESSAY 23 Middle Right: Junior Gaby Azorsky shows the judges one of her jewelry pieces.“I have been working on the jewelry all first semester,” Azorsky said. “I was really proud with the results. I won in the accessories category and got first runner up in the styling category.” Below Left: Senior Hanna Butts snacks backstage before the show started. “Backstage had a great atmosphere,” Butts said. “Everyone was so ready to show off what they were wearing.” Below Right: Sophomore Justine Patton has her makeup done pre-show. “Modeling has always been my dream so it was really fun to walk down the runway to music wearing my own design,” Patton said.

photo by Taylor Anderson

photo by Maddie Schoemann

photo by Jake Crandall

ART THROUGHFASHION

photo by Jake Crandall

National Art Honors Society held their annual fashion show where students showed their artistic talents through styling and designing looks inspired by “onomatopoeia”

photo by Jake Crandall

Above: Juniors James Fink and Ilana Duby showcase their pieces at the judges’ table. “The concept of the pieces is how sounds don’t translate perfectly into words, and there are a lot of things lost in translation.” Duby said about her collection.

Above Right: Sophomore Karly McNeil models for Gaby Azorsky. “Everything was extremely polished, from her sleek styling to her amazing jewelry,” McNeil said. “She spent a ton of time perfecting everything, it really showed in the end.”

A&E 25 With an exciting summer movie season nearly upon us, I got to thinking about some of the last year’s most impressive accomplishments in film, and how many of those involved some actors who are just now beginning their careers. But it’s not all good: it seems this year also delivered some flicks starring young Hollywood that were so fantastically bad that they actually have (unintentional) comedic value. So here’s my personal grade card for Hollywood’s starlets — though some need some major improvement, a few of these stars have real potential.

At only 21, Lerman has already nabbed roles any actor would be envious of. After starring in the first installment of the movie adaptation of the “Percy Jackson” series, Lerman gained the widespread attention that later lead to his role in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” last year. Lerman proved that he could do more than just run around with a bunch of special effects being a demi-god, but had real dramatic acting chops. Though his role in “Perks” was likely his best and most moving role yet, his honest, funny, yet heartbreaking performance only earned him a nomination from the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards. Hopefully, Lerman will allow his budding career to blossom even more after he reprises his role as Percy Jackson this summer.

ADM : STUDENT 4/29/13

(under 30) ROW: 1 SEAT: 4

ACTORS & ACTRESSES

*reviews in tomatoes and splats courtesy of critic rankings on rottentomatoes.com

written by Hannah Ratliff

THE PERKS OF BEING

A WALLFLOWER

*85%

red tomato = percentage of critics that rank movie as “fresh” or good green splat = percentage of critics that rank movie as “rotten” or bad

BROOKLYN DECKER

LOGAN LERMAN

THE BEST & WORST

ADMIT ONE

The former Victoria’s Secret supermodel’s attempts at acting are, not-soshockingly, some of the worst I’ve seen in the last year. Though the ditzy blonde girl roles (the only ones she seems to accept) probably shouldn’t be that much of a stretch for her, it seems she can’t even get those quite right. Her wide acting variety includes a range of roles from Taylor Kitsch’s girlfriend in the summer disaster “Battleship”, the pregnant, young new wife of Dennis Quaid in “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and the blonde that Adam Sandler attempts to dupe into thinking he’s married so she’ll date him in “Just Go With It,” it seems that Decker can only play roles where she is totally dependant on a central male character. Maybe I’ll change my tune once she attempts a role more along the lines of a brain surgeon.

JUST GO WITH IT

ABDUCTION

*19%

*4%

At the ripe old age of 23, Emma Watson is already an internationally recognized superstar. After 10 years of playing the amazingly witty, goody-twoshoes Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” series, the role which brought her worldwide fame and made audiences fall in love with her. After the series’ emotional end with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part: 2,” which displayed Watson’s best performance of Granger yet, Watson went on to prove that her acting ability went beyond wands and floo powder. She followed her 2011 role in “My Week With Marilyn” with a moving performance as Sam in the beloved “Perks of Being a Wallflower,” alongside Logan Lerman. This summer, Watson will show off a new set of skills with a cameo in the apocalyptic comedy “This Is the End,” alongside stars like James Franco, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and more.

HARRY POTTER AND THE

DEATHLY HALLOWS

PART 2

* 96%

Don’t even get me started on his role as Jacob the werewolf in “Twilight.” By now, I think even the most intense “Twi-hards” have realized that the sole purpose of Mr. Lautner’s character in the series was for him to occasionally walk on screen shirtless. Although I’m sure there are some Twilight fans that would argue his role was pivotal and beautifully executed, I am certain that no one will try and correct me when I say his role in the 2011 thriller “Abduction” was one of the worst performances the year had to offer. The little dialogue Lautner had to deliver, which was tightly wedged between fight scenes and unnecessary explosions, was spoken with possibly the least emotion I’ve ever seen from an actor. Seriously, this guy looks dead behind the eyes. But if you disagree with me and love Lautner to death, don’t be discouraged: you’ll get to see him this July as “Frat Boy Andy” in “Grown Ups 2,” the sequel to the smash hit “Grown Ups” which starred the likes of Adam Sandler and Kevin James, who have never made a bad movie (“Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” anybody?). How could that possibly go wrong?

WINTER’S BONE

* 94%

Though I have never had the pleasure of seeing the Nicholas Sparks classic “The Last Song” (Miley’s acting in the trailer alone was enough to make me steer clear), I am fairly confident that even Miley’s fans agree that she should stick to her singing career. But don’t think I am judging her acting ability blindly: though I haven’t seen “The Last Song,” I actually sat all the way through the 2012 teen romantic comedy/drama train wreck that was “LOL.” And let me tell you, her performance was staggering — for all the wrong reasons. I guess you could call what she was doing “acting” if you consider talking in varying speeds and occasionally fake crying to be “acting.” The only nice thing I can say about “LOL” is that SO it is so amazingly bad that it is brilliant (without meaning to be, of course). So Miley, UNDERCOVER I beg you, if you must do another movie in the future, at least do us all the courtesy of only doing a voice-over in an animated film. Though I’ll admit that “Bolt” tugged *6% at my heartstrings, it was because of my soft spot for animated dogs, not for “Smiley.”

MILEY CYRUS

JENNIFER LAWRENCE

EMMA WATSON

TAYLOR LAUTNER

After gaining critical acclaim for her role in the intense emotional drama “Winter’s Bone” in 2010, Lawrence was later nominated for best actress. Lawrence went on to play superhero Mystique in “X-Men: First Class,” then dominated box offices with her performance of Katniss Everdeen in the blockbuster “The Hunger Games.” She proved she could still rock an extremely dramatic role in the romantic comedy/drama hybrid “Silver Linings Playbook,” which won her the Oscar for best actress this year. And if all that wasn’t enough, her wickedly dry sense of humor has taken over pinterest humor pages worldwide, showing that Lawrence’s fans love her characters just as much as the actress’ personality herself. If you don’t think you want her to be your best friend, you’re not being honest with yourself.

THE HARBINGER ONLINE STAFF Online Editors-in-Chief Sami Walter Duncan MacLachlan Assistant Online Editor Julia Poe Head Online Copy Editors Jennifer Rorie Vanessa Daves Multimedia Editor Dalton Boehm News Editor Pauline Werner Online Photo Editors Marisa Walton McKenzie Swanson Assistant Online Photo Editors AnnaMarie Oakley Paloma Garcia Video Editor Nathan Walker Live Broadcast Editors Andrew McKittrick Jack Stevens Homegrown Editor Maxx Lamb Opinion Editor Taylor Bell A&E Editor Morgan Krakow Sports Section Editors Alex Goldman Mitch Kaskie Blogs Editor Taylor Bell Podcast and Radio Editor Thomas Allen Eastipedia Editor Susannah Mitchell Interactive Designers James Simmons Will Oakley Anchors Kyle Winston Joe Bahr Morgan Twibell G.J. Melia Mitch Kaskie Annie Foster Webmasters Chris Denniston Jack Stevens Multimedia Staff Dalton Boehm Chris Denniston Maxx Lamb Kathryn Jones Nick Miriani Jack Stevens Mattie Germann Emily Perkins Rock AnnaMarie Oakley Tessa Polaschek Will Brownlee Sophie Mitchell Annie Foster

ONLINE 27

THE HARBINGER RADIO Tune in to catch these Harbinger Online favorites for the last cycle of the 2012 - 2013 Harbinger Radio

REFLECTIONS OF JENNIFER RORIE

TECHNOLOGY WITH DUNCAN MACLACHLAN

Join Duncan as he discusses the latest news in the techie world. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act is the House of Representative’s latest attempt to expand the federal government’s ability to access online data from services such as Facebook and email clients. Even though the bill is struggling to get through the Senate, proponents worry that the bill would be an unprecedented infringement on American’s fourth amendment rights.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: FINAL SAYS HELENA BUCHMANN A.J. ORTH JOHN NICKELS

GRACE PICKELL JOE SIMMONS SAMIE FETZER

UNDER WIRE WITH LEAH O’CONNOR

GREAT ADVICE WITH ANNIE SULLIVAN AND BECCA ZEIGER

Staffer Julia Poe has always been an animal lover. Tune in this week to find out why her latest pet — a kitten named Tonks — is making her rethink her love of furried friends.

Listen to how staffer Jennifer Rorie gained a love for high school and why she doesn’t want to say goodbye. From the woes of EHAP tests to the joys of finally graduating, join Jennifer on her journey to the University of Missouri.

OPINIONATED WITH JULIA POE

MUSIC WITH KATIE SGRIO AND AFTON APODACA Join these two photographers as they continue their artsy journey into the wild world of radio with their singer/songwriter podcast, featuring facts about some prominent women in the music industry as well as songs from Marina and the Diamonds, Paloma Faith and Florence + the Machine.

Lend an ear to staffer and local music photographer Leah O’Connor this week as she talks about one of Kansas City’s most popular local bands, The Beautiful Bodies. Listen to some killer music, soak up a few facts and hear from the band directly through an interesting interview.

Tune in to senior Annie Sullivan and sophomore Becca Zeiger as they answer questions about high school and give unusual advice to dealing with problems in their Dear Abby spoof podcast. This week, they’ll be discussing their love lives, the eyebrow threading trend and debate Macs vs. PCs.

@SMEHARBINGER Ever wondered what a teacher’s middle name is? How many detentions Will & Nick have gotten? Well, tweet us your questions to hear them answered in the next live broadcast on Tuesday, April 30 at 7 p.m.

SPORTS ON DECK

“

29 30 31

Left: Seniors show their tributes to Tyler Rathbun over Instagram. From top to bottom: Ben Sight, Connor McGannon and Carter Olander.

QUOTED:

WEEK IN PHOTOS

photo by Marisa Walton

IN THE LOOP TWEET OF THE WEEK

Mitch Tyler @MitchTyler1 This is a really heartwarming opening presentation, both teams #BostonStrong. Too bad Royals are about to steal the show #ComeToPlay

12 FAVORITES

TYLER RATHBUN Spring sports tribute their season to lost classmate

GIRLS’ LACROSSE Why players are doubling up on JV and Varsity games

HALEY DAGLEISH East alumni finds success in basketball overseas

“The South game was a pretty tough game this year. They played dirty, which made beating them even better. I am very proud to say that we haven’t lost to South in my four years here.” -Senior soccer player Anna Colby

Right: Senior Chloe Stradinger strides out in the 100 meter hurldes at the KU Relays on Friday, April 18. Left: Senior James Simmons cradles the ball as he starts the attack against Rockhurst on Thursday, April 18. The team lost 7-6 in overtime.

Right: Junior Frank Esberg dodges towards the goal. Esberg had four goals against Rockhurst in the 6-7 loss.

photo by McKenzie Swanson

photo by Caroline Creidenberg

SOCCER LACROSSE

T&F

GOLF

photo by Meghan Shirling

Left: Junior Ashley Murrell swims breaststroke at the Lancer Invite on Saturday, April 20. The Lancers won the meet.

SWIMMING TENNIS SOFTBALL BASEBALL

SME 1 SMS 0

SME 9 LINC 4

V DIST B-1st G-1st

SME 1st TOPW INV

SME 1st SME INVITE

SME 1st Pembroke

SME 12 ON 8

SME 1 BVW 8

SME 7 ON 1

SME 6 ROCK 7

SMW INV B-2nd G-1st

SME 1st RD 2 SFL

SME 1st LFS DUEL

SME 1st Districts

SME 6 ON 3

SME 0 ROCK 12

DATE 4/29/13 4/30/13 4/30/13 4/30/13 4/30/13 5/1/13 5/3/13 5/3/13 5/4/13

SPORT Golf Lacrosse Baseball Tennis Soccer Lacrosse Track Swimming Softball

TIME 3:00 7:30 4:30 3:30 7:00 8:00 3:30 5:00 12:00

LOCATION Falcon Ridge Golf Course SM South 3&2 Baseball Fields BV North SM Soccer Complex SM North SM North Prairie Trail Junior High SM Softball Complex

OPPONENT Olathe North SM South SM West BV North SM Northwest OE (Senior Night) North Relays League SM North

SPORTS 29

Playing for a Purpose

Spring sport teams dedicate their seasons to deceased senior Tyler Rathbun written by G.J. Melia Junior AnnaMarie Oakley feels the grass under her feet as she takes the field. She gazes down to her cleats and sees the number 14. It reminds her of who she is playing for, and why she is playing this soccer season. When news broke of senior Tyler Rathbun’s death, student athletes like Oakley at East relied on athletics to be an outlet to release their feelings and a coping method for their loss. Similar to girls’ and boys’ basketball, multiple spring sports are dedicating their respective season to Rathbun. The boys’ lacrosse team wears blue helmet stickers that have a simple TR on them. Track has a TR as a part of their jersey, in the form of a patch on the right side of the chest. A TR was added over the heart of the boys’ tennis uniform. All the girls on the soccer team have different words scribbled on their cleats. In addition to the cleats, the team’s slogan this is year is “Buck Up,” a phrase that Rathbun said often. “A lot of us had thought about [‘Buck Up’] being our slogan,” Oakley said. “The returning varsity got together one night and came up with a bunch of different slogans but nothing really seemed to fit as well as ‘Buck Up.’ I think it just has a good meaning and it will just really help us throughout our season.” Like soccer, track has several athletes who were close to Rath-

bun. Seniors Carter Olander and Mitch Kaskie had both played soccer with him on the varsity squad for the past two years. Olander brought the idea to track coach Brie Meschke about incorporating some sort of patch tributing Rathbun on to the uniform. “[The patch] is not just for us, it’s for everyone,” Olander said. “The other schools will see it and they’ll know, and they are respectful about it.” The on-field representations are not only for just opposing teams or fans to see, but to senior lacrosse player Connor McGannon, they are small reminders that can provide an extra boost while on the field. “You know how fragile life can be, and [Tyler] was always one to play as hard as he could,” McGannon said. “All he wanted to do was win and he played for his teammates every time. So I think that is just what [the sticker] reminds me of.” McGannon, who also played basketball this winter, explained that the lacrosse season is similar to the basketball season, but basketball season had a different meaning to him. “I think [the lacrosse season] is the same, because either way, I want to win,” McGannon said. “But I think basketball was more of a emotional representation of him because for the next month and a half or so, it was so hard to under-

stand.” Senior tennis player Will Cray also played soccer with Rathbun this past season. Rathbun played tennis his freshman and sophomore years, and Cray misses his presence not only as a friend, but also as a teammate. “The thing I’d most remember him for was during practices, he would always joke around and make it more fun for everyone,” Cray said. “It definitely adds a more serious and a more meaningful aspect to the season, because we want to represent him the best we can.” From tennis and soccer, to lacrosse and track, there is one consistency. They are playing for Tyler Rathbun. “I’m playing for Ty, but I’m also playing for my teammates,” senior lacrosse player Ben Sight said. “I knew from the soccer field, he gave it 110 percent every game. Whether he won or lost, you know he brought his best game.” Not only are the athletes playing for Rathbun this season, but they would like to keep his legacy ingrained at East for years to come. “I think it is mainly just keeping his name around, because in my mind he was the best athlete to come through our school in a while,” Cray said. “Regardless of the sport, we want to keep his name around because of his athleticism, and because of the person that he was.”

photo by AnnaMarie Oakley

TY TRIBUTES Left: “We thought it would be a great idea to put TR on the front and 14 on the back. Tyler did play tennis, and we definitely miss his presence.”- Senior Will Cray

photos by Marisa Walton

Left: “Everyday before a game when I put on my shoes, I’ll see the RIPTR on my cleats, and I’ll know that’s why I’m playing. I always think about him before every game.”- Senior Addison Steiner

Left: “It’s a constant reminder because in life you have to take every advantage of everything you have, because you might not have another chance to do it. So you have to play your heart out or play to the best of your ability.”- Senior Pat Simmons

SPORTS 30

THIN

The girls’ lacrosse team struggles to maintain a full roster despite previous popularity written by Caroline Kohring Sophomore Molly Gasperi loves lacrosse. She loves playing double headers. She loves her teammates that she has grown close to. And she loves that she has improved her defensive game since she joined the team last year. But next year, Gasperi might not get to play the sport that she loves. Because this year the girls’ lacrosse team only has 27 players. Other teams, like Blue Valley and St. Theresa’s, have the necessary number of girls in their program — around 40. And if they don’t recruit players for next season, they might be forced to call it quits. The small amount of players has resulted in girls having to play back-to-back games. Senior team captains Jocelyn Worner and India D’Ortona are both frustrated by this. “When you’ve got varsity players playing in the JV game and that JV game is first, you have a lot of people running for the whole length of both games,” D’Ortona said. “And come time for the last quarter of the varsity game you’re just exhausted.” The lack of players hasn’t always been a problem. Last year, the girls’ lacrosse team had around 40 players. Worner believes one of the main reasons for the lack in participants is the fact that girls’ lacrosse is a club, not a school sponsored sport. Both Worner and D’Ortona feel that there

photos by Maxx Lamb aren’t as many dedicated players this year as there were in previous years. Some of the girls have been to as little as three practices so far this season. “The girls who are playing this year are either very dedicated to the success of the team and are playing 110 percent, or are spread too thin,” head coach Jill McDonald said. “[They are] over-committed to too many extracurricular activities, trying to do everything.” Because the lacrosse team is a club team and not a school-sponsored sport, the team is made up of girls from other schools, which the captains agree has helped in recruitment. The other girls come from Shawnee Mission North, Shawnee Mission South and Bishop Miege. The diversity of the team and the low practice attendance have made it difficult for the team to bond as a whole, according to Worner and D’Ortona. Despite the lack of players, the team has still had success. Varsity is fifth out of seven teams and JV is sixth out of nine teams in their Kansas City Metro Girls Lacrosse Association league. Worner accredits their success to the forced JV/Varsity mergence. Having varsity players on the JV team has upped their skill-level. The girls practice every Monday through

Thursday for about two hours. Worner says the she and the other captains give McDonald suggestions of what they think the team needs to work on and she bases practice around that. Because there are so little girls at practice, it’s hard for the team to improve as a whole. However, according to Gasperi, there are girls who are very dedicated and work hard for the benefit of their team. “There’s a continuous group of people that show up to practice,” Gasperi said. “You can tell that those people are the ones that want to be there and want to play. But it kind of sucks because the people who don’t really put effort into practice still get to play in the games just as much as the people who go to practice and work hard.” The Kansas City area has been developing in terms of women’s lacrosse over the past few years. When Worner first joined East’s lacrosse team four years ago, there were only four other teams from the area. The girls would have to travel to places such as Omaha, Des Moines and Wichita. Now there are around 17 teams, including schools from Olathe, Blue Valley and Lee’s Summit. “It’s significantly more home games and less traveling which is good,” Worner said. “But it also kind of stinks because those away games were tournaments and we got

to play a lot more, which, allowed for team bonding.” Looking ahead, both the captains and McDonald are looking forward to larger incoming classes. They are looking to recruit players from other schools as well as from the local Prairie Village lacrosse teams. “The girls, parents and coaches have all worked really hard to recruit new players to team this year,” McDonald said. “We got some really great new first year players this year and we are hopeful that they will talk about their success and enjoyment of the game to friends and bring them next year. We need girls from other schools to embrace the sport like East has.” D’Ortona says that lacrosse is the kind of sport you can catch onto after just a few weeks of playing, so the team is looking for girls of all skill-levels to join next year. Gasperi, along with other girls on the team, have been making an effort to reach out and contact any who might be interested in the team. “Anyone at all who is new is welcome to play,” Gasperi said. “We just really want to have a team. It’d be really disappointing if we didn’t get to have one.”

The Scoop: A simple explanation to some of the differences between women’s and men’s lacrosse. EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

PLAYERS:

Women’s Lacrosse:

Face Mask Mouthguard Stick

Men’s Lacrosse: Helmet Mouthguard Stick

Shoulder Pads Arm Protection Gloves

12} players

(2) Attack (2) Attack Wings (1) Center (2) Defensive Wings (4) Defense (1) Goalie

players

GIRLS’: GOALIE

50”

Men’s Lacrosse:

10}

GIRLS’: FIELD PLAYER

40”

BOYS’: ATTACK

(3) Attack (3) Midfielders (3) Defense (1) Goalie

30” 40” 60”

BOYS’: GOALIE BOYS’: DEFENSEMEN

SPORTS 31

BALLIN’

photos provided by Haley Dalgleish

ABROAD

Former East Basketball player has walked on to play for the University of Cape Town written by Sam Pottenger East graduate Haley Dalgleish is playing in her first collegiate basketball game. Haley is currently a junior at Texas Christian University, but she is not playing in Fort Worth, Texas. She is 8,000 miles away in South Africa. Haley is studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, where she plays basketball for the University of Cape Town Tigers. The team won their first game, against Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 150-0. “They were honestly the worst basketball team I have ever seen,” Haley said. “If the girls ever got the ball in and caught it, they would just walk with it. It was nuts and so much fun. We had so many fast breaks and steals it was hilarious.” Haley played three years of varsity basketball when she attended East. She wanted to play while she studied abroad in South Africa, but wasn’t sure how to do so. “I actually missed tryouts because I couldn’t find anyone who knew who to contact about when the season started,” Haley said. “I went to the sports center one day after class and found my way to the basketball manager’s office, who told me I could come to practice that night and try it out.” She met the girls and the coach, who instructed Haley to practice with a backup squad for the first hour. After an hour of demonstrating her basketball skills, Haley was moved up to the

first team, where she would stay for the rest of the season. According to Haley, basketball is not nearly as popular in South Africa as it is in the U.S. It is also very different playing at a collegiate level there. “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge commitment. It’s less time than I spent even in high school, but the girls think it is demanding,” Haley said. “Often times if they have something come up such as an essay due the next day, they will just not come to practice. I can’t imagine skipping practice at East.” In South Africa, basketball does not receive funding as it does in the U.S., and the facilities and equipment are more limited than those at East. “When we got to my game last Sunday, we didn’t have jerseys or balls,” Haley said. “I just started running around trying to get warmed up as much as I could. Finally, five minutes before our game was supposed to start, our coach showed up and our jerseys arrived with one men’s ball for us to warm up with. The baskets were uneven and the floor was concrete and dusty, so I fell at least five times during the game.” The Tigers women’s basketball squad is a collection of many different ethnicities. Xhosa, Afrikaans, Chinese, Ndebele and Portuguese are just some of the languages spoken by girls on the team. Most of the girls are fluent in

Dalgleish (number 13) has been getting solid playing time for the Cape Town University Tigers English, but the Coach, a refugee from the Congo, primarily speaks French. The girls communicate with the coach through his body language and his dry erase board. “The language barrier with our coach can make practice very difficult,” Haley said. “A common phrase he uses is ‘very run’ which I interpret to mean run very fast! He will also say ‘she nothing’ which means the other team isn’t very good.” Haley plays both guard and forward for the Tigers, where she has the responsibility of bringing the ball up, and guarding the opposing team’s best player. She is third in the league in scoring, and fourth in rebounding. While at East, she was a part of a varsity girls team that went to the state quarterfinals two years in a row, and had a combined record of 53-13. “I have worked so hard in basketball since I was in third grade, and it’s cool to see it pay off in a

way I never could have imagined,” Haley said. ”I get to be the leader on my team who challenges my teammates to push themselves to a new level and improve their game each day.” In South Africa Haley has had experiences outside of basketball, including going on safaris, playing with penguins and shark cage diving. When she isn’t studying or playing basketball, Haley spends her time working out, volunteering or catching a bus to the beach about 20 minutes away. Doug Dalgleish, Haley’s father, believes that Haley’s time in South Africa will equate to a fantastic life experience. “She has the academic, cultural and life experiences that are really special. She gets to be in classrooms and play with students from all over Africa, “ Doug said. “She has made friendships that will last a lifetime.”

DALGLEISH’S

CAREER B N y the

14 94 69

umbers

points Dalgleish averages for the Cape Town Tigers

percent from the free throw line, the highest on the team wins for her senior basketball season, the most of any girls’ basketball class at East

Dalgleish’s

DESTINATIONS Through her last four months in South Africa, Dagleish has seen a lot of the country. Check out some of the places she’s been. photos courtesy of the Dagleish family

Dalgleish stands on top of Robben Island with her TCU peers

Dalgleish poses in front of the FNB stadium in Johannesburg where the 2010 World Cup final took place

Dalgleish stands in front of Nelson Mandela’s former house in Soweto

PHOTO ESSAY 32

photo by Caroline Creidenberg Above: Track runners and fans gathered to cheer on their teammates. On the far right Hannah Arnspiger watches her teammates compete “It was really fun to watch all of my friends compete and overall I was very proud of them.” Arnspiger said.

Below: Seniors Emma Vickers and Juan Ramos hug before the 400m dash preliminary. “He looked nervous and I knew I was nervous so it was a good way for both of us to calm down and focus before our races.” Vickers said. Vickers won her pre-lim heat and placed 6th in the finals.

photo by Maddie Schoemann Above: Senior Devin Burton runs the 110m hurdles. “We were really excited to run as a team,” Burton said. “I was really happy with my 110 race -- I placed 15th which was fun.” Burton also placed 4th in the 300m hurdles.

photo by Maddie Schoemann

16 E

ast st

RACIN IN TH

RELAY S E

Se ude lected n ts a qua thlete s lifie d fo from a cr r th e relay oss the m s and id two r west comp elay t e eams ted in the 86 t and th ree indi h annual KU Relays A viduals pl p aced in the topril 19-20. ten.

photo by Caroline Creidenberg