Issue 15

the harbinger.

PAGE 10

NEVER ASKING FOR IT PAGE 30

STUDENTS COMPETE AT CHEER WORLD CHAMPS

FAKING THEIR ID

Students utilize false identification cards to purchase alcohol and gain access to concerts as minors

90

WRITTEN BY KATIE KNIGHT

*names changed to protect identity

S

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MADDIE SCHOEMANN

enior Hallie Frances* heads toward CVS, not hearing the doors ding as they part for her entrance. Her head is in another place.

Act normal. Make them think you know what you’re doing, she tells herself.

She turns the corner and heads straight for the fridges stocked with alcohol. She can see her friends

waiting for her in their car, almost as nervous as she is. Her hands are quivering at her side.

What was I supposed to get again? Crap. Here comes a worker.

Once the cheery worker asks to help her, she replies “What do you like?” and throws him a friendly smile, trying to look older. After a few minutes of

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 discussion, she heads to the cash register with a case of Coors.

As she reaches for the cash in her wallet and takes out her fake Missouri driver’s license with her fake address, she shoves her now-exposed East student ID deeper into its pocket. The cashier didn’t see. This time, she’s safe.

Shawnee Mission East l 7500 Mission Road, PV KS, 66208 l April 28, 2014 l Issue 15 l www.smeharbinger.net

editorial.

THE HARBINGER STAFF 2013-2014

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Katie Knight Andrew McKittrick

SPORTS PAGE DESIGNERS Tommy Sherk John Foster

ASSISTANT EDITORS FREELANCE PAGE DESIGNERS Morgan Krakow Grace Heitmann Sophie Tulp Ali Lee HEAD COPY EDITOR Sarah Berger ASSISTANT HEAD COPY EDITOR Pauline Werner ART & DESIGN EDITOR Miranda Gibbs ART & DESIGN ASSISTANT EDITOR Phoebe Aguiar NEWS SECTION EDITOR Greta Nepstad NEWS PAGE DESIGNERS Mike Thibodeau Lauren Brown SPREAD EDITOR Caroline Kohring FEATURES SECTION EDITOR Maddie Hise FEATURES PAGE DESIGNERS Sydney Lowe Pauline Werner

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Neely Atha Callie McPhail Kylie Rellihan Annika Sink Taylor Anderson Katie Lamar Paloma Garcia James Wooldrige Tessa Polaschek Abby Hans Katie Roe EDITORIAL BOARD Katie Knight Andrew McKittrick Morgan Krakow Sarah Berger Lauren Brown Susannah Mitchell Morgan Twibell Sophie Tulp Julia Poe Grace Heitmann Mike Thibodeau Pauline Werner John Foster ADS MANAGER SOPHIE TOLP

COPY EDITORS Mike Thibodeau ONLINE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Clara Ma Grace Heitmann Andrew McKittrick Julia Poe Morgan Krakow ONLINE ASSISTANT EDITOR Sarah Berger John Foster Sophie Tulp Katie Knight Pauline Werner ONLINE HEAD COPY EDITORS Susannah Mitchell Caroline Kohring Clara Ma Julia Poe ONLINE ASSISTANT Susannah Mitchell HEAD COPY EDITOR Greta Nepstad Lauren Brown FREELANCE PAGE DESIGNERS ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR Grace Heitmann Marisa Walton Will Oakley ONLINE ASSISTANT STAFF WRITERS PHOTO EDITORS Madison Hyatt Hailey Hughes Ellis Nepstad Callie McPhail Michael Kraske Hannah Coleman Sophie Storbeck ONLINE CONVERGENCE EDITOR Audrey Danciger Ellie Booton Sean Overton ONLINE NEWS EDITOR Ellie Booton PHOTO EDITORS McKenzie Swanson Maddie Schoemann ONLINE HOMEGROWN EDITOR Hannah Coleman ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS ONLINE OPINION EDITOR Annie Savage Claire Sullivan Tessa Polaschek OPINION SECTION EDITOR Morgan Twibell

ONLINE A&E EDITOR Audrey Danciger

OPINION PAGE DESIGNERS Nellie Whittaker Aidan Epstein

ONLINE SPORTS SECTION EDITORS Michael Kraske Will Oakley

A&E SECTION EDITOR Phoebe Aguiar A&E PAGE DESIGNERS Audrey Danciger Leah Pack SPORTS SECTION EDITOR Will Oakley

VIDEO EDITORS Sophie Mitchell Annie Foster PODCAST & RADIO EDITOR Leah O’Connor

editorial

EASTIPEDIA EDITOR Maxx Lamb INTERACTIVE EDITOR Mike Thibodeau HEAD WEBMASTER Jack Stevens ASSISTANT WEBMASTERS Jacob Milgrim Tommy Sherk LIVE BROADCAST EDITORS Jack Stevens Andrew McKittrick BROADCAST TEAM Daniel Rinner MULTIMEDIA STAFF Jack Stevens Sophie Mitchell Matthew Bruyere Annie Foster Georgia DuBois Abby Hans Leah O’Connor TWEETMASTER Jacob Milgrim ONLINE BLOGGERS Corinne Stratton Katharine Swindells Brian Philipps Gaby Azorsky Scotty Burford ADVISER Dow Tate

THE GUN DEBATE The U.S. needs to change its firearm laws in order to ensure the safety of American citizens

Twenty-seven men, women and children gunned down in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Twelve shot dead at the Navy Yard in D.C. Four dead in another shooting at Fort Hood. These are a handful of the many mass shootings that have happened over the past two years, now including a mass shooting at a Jewish community center that took the lives of a grandfather, his grandson and a woman visiting her elderly mother, 12 minutes away from East. With all these recent shootings, the Harbinger believes the country needs to strengthen it’s gun control laws through increased background checks and closing the “gun show” loophole, a clause that allows private sellers to sell firearms without doing a background check.

This country is suffering a serious epidemic of mass shootings. In 2013, USA Today published an article reporting that over 900 people had lost their lives in mass shootings in the past seven years. In 2013, the FBI reported that, in the past seven years, there had been 146 mass shootings. In 2014, there have already been eight mass shootings.

The best way to end this epidemic is not to make it easier for anyone to get a gun, but to make sure guns only get to the safest hands. The federal government need to strengthen background checks and close the “gun show” loophole.

Strengthening background checks will keep people with mental illnesses and prior histories with violence and crime from buying guns.

The measures have been looked as infringing on people’s second amendment rights, but don’t you think it’s more important to protect people’s lives

than a felon’s right to own a deadly weapon? Background checks are in place, but when people like the Aurora movie theatre shooter and the Navy Yard shooter, two men with severe mental delusions, slip through the cracks, it’s obvious the system needs to be strengthened. Who would let an ex-paramilitary leader and a convicted felon, like the JCC shooter Glenn Frazier Cross, own a gun?

A big step in strengthening these checks is to close the “gun show” loophole. Without these background checks, anyone could be getting a gun, like Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the Columbine shooters who killed 13 people and wounded 23 more before taking their own lives. The two bought their guns at a gun show without ever getting a background check. A background check that would have shown that both had been arrested and made public threats to kill people.

The phrase, “guns don’t kill people; people kill people,” gets thrown around a lot. It’s true, people do kill people. It’s the person who pulls that trigger and ends someone else’s life. But having an AR-15 that can shoot over 13 rounds a second makes it a lot easier for that person to cut down a lot of innocent people. We need to make sure people who kill people, aren’t people who can pick up guns.

We need to pass federal legislation increasing background checks and closing the loophole. The country needs these stronger laws to protect their citizens’ rights to life. Rights a grandfather, his grandson and a woman visiting her elderly mother, the JCC victims, had denied by a lunatic who never should have owned a gun.

FOR: 11 AGAINST: 3 Letters to the editor may be sent to room 521 or smeharbinger@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel and mechanics and accepted or rejected at the editors’ discretion.

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.

A week in photos

F E I R B NEWS IN

news.

WRITTEN BY GRETA NEPSTAD

}

A look

INSIDE

Boston Marathon a Success for American Athlete KYLIE RELLIHAN Senior David Spivak tells elementary school students about reptiles during their field trip to the Environmental Ed. classes on April 21.

KYLIE RELLIHAN During a field trip for their French Honors Society, senior Liz Orr and junior Nellie Whittaker observe crepes being made at the Clock Tower Bakery on April 13.

MARISA WALTON Senior Jay Anderson plays frisbee with fellow classmates during halftime of the varsity girls’ soccer game on April 22.

KYLIE RELLIHAN Junior Kate Worner works on her art project in ceramics on April 22. “Ceramics is one of my favorite classes,” Worner said. “[I’m] so happy I took it and can’t wait for it next year to learn more.”

Male distance runner Meb Keflezighi won the 2014 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21. Keflezighi, the first American to win the marathon since 1984, had a personal best time of 2:08:37.

“It’s a little discouraging that we haven’t had an American runner win in such a long time and it’s taken us a long time to get back up there ,” Shawnee Mission East cross country and track coach Michael Chaffee said. “Meb Keflezighi is a great athlete and he’s run well and represented the United States well.”

A year ago Keflezighi was a spectator when the bombs went off.

This past marathon marked the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, a terrorist attack that left three dead and over 200 injured.

“The the city came together, the country came together and the running community came together for the race,” cross country and track coach Michael Chaffee said. “The rebound we’ve made from last year was an extremely positive thing.”

Broadmoor sends students to state competition The Broadmoor technical program sent 17 of its students to compete in the SkillsUSA state competition on Tuesday, April 22.

Lasting three days, the students participated in a series of competitions. The three most popular events were cooking, table service and culinary.

Senior Kayla van Thullenar, a member of the cooking program at Broadmoor, was one of the students to attend the state competition in Wichita, KS. Van Thullenar competed in the quiz bowl, an event similar to Jeopardy. The quiz bowl allows students from the same school to compete as a team against other schools. Questions concerning cooking methods, table services and baking methods are asked. She and her team were eliminated after the first round, and did not progress to the next stage.

“The competition is kind of one last bang,” van Thullenar said.

“It’s something we can all do together before we go off to different colleges. We can have fun one last time.”

2014 BOSTON the

MARATHON

THE NUMBERS: 117th marathon, founded in 1897 approximately 36,000 runners 96 countries were represented Kenyan is the nationality of the individuals who hold the course records

RITA JEPTOO 2014 record:

{2:18:57}

GEOFFRY MUTAI 2011 record:

{2:03:02}

MOST COMMON MARATHON INJURIES mental exhaustion

sun burns and wind burns

dehydration runner’s trots chaffing

cramped muscles

strains, sprains and fractures

blisters

Jewish Community Center victim of hate crime Almost immediately after walking into the sport office of the Jewish Community Center (JCC) on April 13, senior Brian Philipps and the other student employees were told that there was an active shooter at the center.

“Those first few minutes were when I was the most panicked.”

Philipps said.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., an active white supremacist since the 80’s, was arrested on the site and reportedly yelled “Heil Hitler” as he was placed in the police car. On Tuesday, he was charged with capital murder and first-degree premeditated murder. He is being accused of shooting and killing three people, including a freshman from BV high school.

“It’s a horrible tragedy,” Philipps said. “I think the Jewish Community Center handled it very well. There was a procedure. It’s a shame that people passed away but thankfully there weren’t a lot of people involved.”

MEB KAFLEZIGHI First American to win the Boston Marathon since 1983 Won a silver medal during the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens, Greece for the marathon event “Like the marathon, life can sometimes be difficult, challenging and present obstacles, however if you believe in your dreams and never ever give up, things will turn out for the best.” -Meb Kaflezighi

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GOURMET, AND GOING TO STAY THAT WAY CAFE & BAR

PIZZA

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news.

CUTTING CLASS

WRITTEN BY ELLIS NEPSTAD PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NEELY ATHA

German class will no longer be offered at East due to low enrollment.

A

fter 19 years of teaching German at East, Karen Pearson will not be teaching the class in the future due to its cancellation here at East. This year’s 12 students currently enrolled in German 2, 3 and 4 classes will be the last German students at East.

A large part in the cancellation of German was the small enrollment. The number of students who enrolled in all of the 2014-15 German classes was a total of eight students.

“Electives are enrollment-based so if not enough student are enrolled, then the elective doesn’t [exist],” associate principal Jeff Storey said.

According to Pearson, the district is cutting classes that have low enrollment and are continuing to decrease.

“What is going on in the district is that they are

looking to maximize their use of dollars,” Pearson said.

“So for classes that have smaller enrollment, if they see that there is not much of a future for them, then they are just cutting them out.”

Despite the low enrollment, it was already decided that the program would end in the future as of last year.

“Last year they told me that this would be coming that they would be phasing out the German program and I said ‘ok that’s understandable’ but what they didn’t say was ‘by the way we are cutting it out next year,’” Pearson said. “Last year the line was we are going to let the people who started the program finish it.

I don’t think it’s fair to the kids. For myself there are other things I can do but for the kids it’s not fair.”

This year East stopped offering German 1, meaning that no one could start taking German. The only people that could take German were students who were

WHEN SHE SHOOTS, SO DO WE GIRL’S SOCCER BROADCAST SCHEDULE OPPONENT SM WEST

DATE & TIME

PLACE

5/1/14 @ 7:00

COMPLEX

OLATHE SOUTH 5/6/14 @ 7:00

ODAC

OLATHE NW

COMPLEX

5/13/14 @ 7:00

CLASS OF 2014 GRADUATION EVENT GRADUATION

DATE & TIME

PLACE

5/14/14 @ 7:45

SM NORTH

already enrolled in German offered at East.

The students currently enrolled in German expected to be able to finish learning German in their high school careers.

“We were told that if we started the German program than we would be able to finish, but they completely cut it out for next year,” junior Jake Ruthrauff said. “Now I can’t go on too German 3 and other people can’t go on either.”

Although the German program is being cut, there is a chance that it could come back in the future. According to Pearson, the district stopped offering Latin in the late 70’s, early 80’s, but they brought the class back in the mid 90’s “Anything can happen,” Pearson said. “By the time they bring it back, [if they bring it back] I’m going to be an old lady”.

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news.

Counting Fewer Calories

New FDA changes has STUCO trying to find a new, healthier menu to replace unhealthy foods

A

Big Texas: crusty, plastic-wrapped, 460-calorie cinnamon roll, one of the coffee shop’s quickest selling items. With the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changes passed by congress for the coming school year, Big Texas cinnamon rolls are one of many foods that will no longer be sold in the school.

The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFAKA) was enacted by Congress in 2010 to curb childhood obesity. The Foods Sold in School Act, otherwise known as Smart Snacks in Schools, includes a section which specifically targets school lunches. Any food or beverage sold to students on campus during the school day must qualify under these guidelines, which limit nutritional amounts of things like sodium, trans fats and calories.

However, cafeteria meals are not the only foods impacted. Any food sold to students during school hours are subject to these guidelines. This includes products sold in the coffee shop, vending machines, food for fundraisers sold to students during school hours and in the student store outside the cafeteria.

This means no chocolate bar sales or donut parties during school. But, students will be allowed to bring their own food.

Any food must qualify under at least one of four criteria points before nutrition facts

WRITTEN BY MADDIE HISE

come into consideration. First, it must be a whole grain-rich product. If not that, then the first ingredient must be a fruit, vegetable, dairy or protein product, or it needs to be a combination food with at least one-fourth cup of either a fruit and/or vegetable. Finally, it must contain 10 percent of the daily value of one nutrient of public health concern. These include calcium, potassium, vitamin D or dietary fiber.

“Well, we’re working right now with the lunch ladies to figure out what would be good alternatives for students,” junior and next year’s student body president Annie Savage said. “We don’t really have much say, but we want students to be happy with what they get in the lunch line.”

Foods the cafeteria and coffee shop can sell that students will still enjoy include sugar-free gum and muffins, according to Savage.

Companies that the school and the coffee shop buy food from are trying to make products that do follow these guidelines.

Each state is allowed one exemption for to this law. Although it will be presented next month, Jill Funk, the nutritionist for the district, believes that the exemption presented to the state will be fundraisers, one per every group in school. Meaning, each school club or sport will be allowed one fundraiser involving

food.

However, the HHFAKA changes will not have exemptions for the coffee shop which will have to follow all the guidelines the cafeteria does.

“There will be a change in the coffee shop next year,” Tami Fryer, who buys the food for the coffee shop, said. “Things like the Big Texas and the donuts will not make that cut. We’re now looking at healthier items.

We are trying to find the best tasting products that meet the guidelines, our coffee shop’s variety and high standards.”

The coffee shop believes only the food items will be affected, according to Fryer. Coffee will not be affected, just the products put into it such as syrups and sweeteners. This means there is a chance the shop will have to transfer to sugar free french vanilla syrups and portion sizes for sugar.

Funk said she received mixed reviews from the different groups she presented this

information to including parent-teacher association, principals and high school student councils.

“I think it’s a good step in the right direction nutritionally,” Funk said. “The time frame is a quick turnaround. It’s a lot of information to get out and it does go into effect July 1st.”

To make sure the Food Sold in Schools Act is enforced, the district will have to keep record of all the food sales in each school. The state will review all the nutritional labels to make sure they qualify under the HHFAKA guidelines. If the district does not comply with the guidelines the state will cut their funding.

“Right now all that matters is about the kids who eat at school,” Savage said. “Making it easier for them and not as much as a big change or a shock.”

“We endure. We overcome... and we own the finish line.”

-Joe Biden

(on the anniversary of Boston marathon bombings)

“QUOTED ”

EXPLAINED:

On April 15, a year after the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11, Vice President Joe Biden stood in front of a crowd of thousands in Boston to give a speech celebrating the city’s strength and resilience.

It rained heavily, but the ceremony continued despite the downpour. At the finish line, a flag was raised above a sea of umbrellas. Biden paid tribute to the first responders present at the scene over a year ago. He also led the crowd in remembering the victims and survivors of the tragedy. At 2:49 p.m. that Tuesday, a moment of silence was observed for the four who died and hundreds more injured at the marathon. The citizens of Boston, Biden said, are living proof that America can never be defeated.

Get up to date on what people in the news talked about this April

WRITTEN BY CLARA MA ART BY KATIE KNIGHT

EXPLAINED:

Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps’ longtime coach, announced April 14 that the decorated Olympian had decided to return to the sport after retiring in 2012. This time, however, Bowman maintains that there is no overarching plan to get to the 2016 Olympics.

Phelps has competed in four Olympic games throughout his career and is the most decorated Olympian in history.

When he left the sport in 2012, Phelps expressed certainty in his desire to leave behind his career in the swimming pool. “I accomplished every goal I ever wanted to...and, at that point,

HIGHLIGHTS of the month

“Blood red” lunar eclipse took place April 15 around 2:30 a.m.

EXPLAINED:

Actress and singer Miley Cyrus postponed her April 15 Kansas City concert to Aug. 12 after suffering a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics just hours before she was scheduled to perform at the Sprint Center. Cyrus took to Twitter to apologize to fans early the next morning, tweeting out a picture of herself recovering in an unnamed local hospital. Her illness has resulted in the cancellation of several successive concerts in addition to the concert scheduled to take place in Kansas City. Fans who had received the news shortly before the 7 p.m. start time of the concert were disappointed as they left the Sprint Center. A representative of Cyrus told E! News on Wednesday that Cyrus was “devastated about missing shows and possibly disappointing her fans.”

“Kansas, I promise I’m as (heartbroken) as you are. I wanted so badly 2 be there 2 night. Not being with y’all makes me feel (worse) than I already do.” -Miley Cyrus

news.

NCAA grants unlimited snacks and meals to its DI athletes

S O UTH AFRICA

2642

Trial for Olympic and Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius is moved to May 5

The Harbinger and Harbinger Online get 1st and 2nd at the San Diego NSPA convention, respectively INFORMATION COURTESY OF: CNN, USA TODAY PHOTOS COURTESY OF MCTCAMPUS

“It really is an exploratory thing.

it’s just time to move on,” he Unlike our past training, this time, said in regards to retiring. He there is no grand plan.” has since reconsidered this -Michael Phelps’ coach, position and resumed trainBob Bowman ing last fall. He has also completed the 6-month period of waiting required by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to be eligible for competition.

There is speculation on whether or not Phelps will compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. His coach, however, stresses that Phelps’ decision to return is personal and not necessarily competitive.

EXPLAINED:

In her first interview since announcing her resignation as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that serving until the end of President Obama’s second term would not be an option for her. She and the president began to discuss her future after the recovery of the Affordable Health Care enrollment following its rocky implementation in Octo-

“I thought that at the end of open enrollment was a logical time to leave.

I made it pretty clear that it really wasn’t an option to stay on.”

ber of 2013. Sebelius, however, has made clear that the decision to leave was made independent of the White House. She contended that the March 31 deadline for open enrollment was an apt time to make the transition. Sebelius has previously served as the 44th governor of the state of Kansas. She was immensely popular throughout her two terms in office, and her resignation comes at a high point for Obamacare. At the time of her departure, 7.5 million people had signed up for coverage under the law.

-Kathleen Sebelius

“I’m thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth.”

-Stephen Colbert EXPLAINED:

A week after veteran late-night talk show host David Letterman revealed that he would retire in 2015, CBS executives announced Stephen Colbert as his successor. In his personal statement, Colbert expressed excitement and interest in being chosen to fill Letterman’s shoes. Colbert is currently the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” a political news show in which he satirizes the pundits and commentary of conservative

politicians. Although Colbert has signed a five-year contract with CBS to be the host of “The Late Show,” he will remain the host of his current show until the end of 2014. Network executives cite Colbert’s talent and respectability as a television host, writer, producer, comedian and satirist as the basis of their decision. Colbert himself has noted that simply “being a guest on David Letterman’s show has been a highlight of [his] career.”

photo essay.

LEFT: Senior Calen Byrd begins to rally up the boys before they perform. “The pre-dance pump-up is a tradition that has been carried on since the beginning of the Mancer Dancers,” Byrd said. “It allows for the flow of adrenaline and creates an energy which allows all of us guys to perform at our best.”

BELOW: The JV performs a hip-hop routine that was choreographed by the junior captains, Kathryn Peterson and Carolyn Wassmer. “Carolyn and I really wanted to do a sassy dance that the girls could have fun with,” Peterson said. “It was neat trying to incorporate special tricks that the girls could do and we were really proud of how hard they worked.”

PHOTO BY ANNIE SAVAGE

BELOW: Junior Grace Satterlee congratulates her fillin Mancer Dancer, junior Clark Doerr, after her original partner had a conflicting track meet. “I knew I could count on Clark to fill in,” Satterlee said. “The dress rehearsal was rough but he ended up doing a fantastic job the night of. Definitely one of the best Mancer Dancers.”

PHOTO BY ANNIE SAVAGE

ABOVE: After her final performance as a Lancer Dancer, senior captain Madison Stottle hugs her coach, Bubba. “It’s emotional for seniors because for most of us, it’s our last time dancing.”

Stottle said. “Bubba is the mastermind behind all things drill team. I’ll miss have her support and encouragement every morning first hour.”

PHOTO BY ANNIE SAVAGE

THEIR FINAL ROAR

PHOTO BY TAYLOR ANDERSON

The Lancer Dancers hosted their annual Spring Show on Tuesday, April 15. Both varsity and JV teams perform all their dances from the year ranging from HipHop to Lyrical. In addition, all the seniors perform a solo and senior dance that they choreograph themselves. Each varsity dancer picks a boy to be a “Mancer Dancer” for the show.

“It went really well and we appreciated all the support we got,” senior captain Kaitlin Stewart said. “We started practicing two weeks before in class. Also, the night of the show we have a dress rehearsal from 3-9 p.m. It’s a long night of hard work to make sure everything is perfect for the show.”

PHOTO BY ANNIE SAVAGE

opinion.

HITTING CLOSE TO

HOME

I

t’s not that the shooting happened at my elementary school. It’s not that the gunman was wielding a weapon outside of a place where I still spend most of my Sundays. It’s not that the blood spilled where in a place where I gained a sense of idealism, where I believed that peace was possible.

This time, it wasn’t just another mass shooting on the news. It wasn’t a terrifying, random act of violence. That hatred was planned and calculated. And it was aimed directly at me. It was aimed at everything I believe in, everything that makes me whole.

Right now, everything feels broken. That wholeness is gone. I fully admit that a piece of me broke on April 13, when an anti-Semitic gunman murdered three people outside of the JCC and Village Shalom. For the first time in my life, there is something in me that I don’t know how to fix.

I will never again find a home like I did at 115th and Nall. My heart remains at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, within the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.

Even when I transferred to public school in seventh grade, the JCC was still my second home. I I took my SAT there. I got lifeguard certified there. I studied for my bat-mitz-

The shooting at the JCC and Village Shalom shakes security of the community as well as individuals AN OPINION OF MORGAN KRAKOW PHOTOS BY KATIE LAMAR vah there. I spend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur there every year. My youthgroup is in that building. I volunteer there. I’ve lived a great majority of my life at the JCC. Maybe we all see our elementary schools that way. Glorious, worry-free, a sort of hazy and dream-like memory of recess, Legos and picture books. But for me, it was also a place where I learned about myself and my faith. I learned Hebrew. I studied the Torah. I began to understand Judaism. Beyond my faith, I began to understand religion as a whole. We learned about pluralism, about the importance of diversity, about understanding others different from us. Even though we were small in number, they taught us, it was our job to help repair the world.

But that picture of peace and acceptance was suddenly shattered that Sunday, when my deepest and darkest fears materialized.

It’s a nightmare that I haven’t yet accepted.

There are people out to get me, in a place so familiar, so safe. It’s a fear that I learned before I could walk. I was the “other.” I was a Jew. I was different.

Anti-semitism is a fear I have spent years shoving away. I didn’t want to let it get in the way of my daily life. I didn’t ever want be the victim of a hate crime.

Hate-crime. Two words. Two simple words that have been trying to ruin the

Jewish people for centuries. The timeline ticks off events in my head; the Romans, the Spanish, the Germans. They tried to ruin us.

They tried to squelch us and rip us apart.

We’ve been brutalized and villainized. But we withstood. Little acts of courage and rebellion kept us around. We’ve outlasted the longest form of bigotry.

We all thought that was over. America the free, right? Maybe for some it’s easy to turn the T.V. off when the images from the shooting flash up on the news. Most will avert their eyes. It’s a random act, they’ll say.

It will never happen again, they’ll say. Apathy is easy.

But for me, it’s not that simple. I can’t just shut it all out. I wish I could. I so badly wish that this was a horrible nightmare that we could all wake up from. But we won’t.

I know that I can’t fix this entire world.

I wrote a 20-paged paper about the rise of modern-day anti-semitism last semester. I know what’s out there. I’ve seen the swastikas drawn along the sides of synagogue walls in Eastern Europe. My friend in Serbia wears a cross to school, because if he wore a Star of David, he would get punched in the face. I’ve watched massacres and bus bombings and hostage situations unfold on television. It all seemed so far away.

And then one day, it was in my city. My

school. My home.

Maybe I get on people’s nerves when I passionately rant about how much I wish there was peace and prosperity for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Maybe they think it’s weird that my friends from camp stretch the continental U.S. and most of Europe. But to me, it’s not weird or strange. It’s pride. Pride in my people and my religion. So when my home is desecrated, I will not take a back seat. It’s my time to drive my generation in the direction of acceptance.

I won’t ever understand why it happened and I’ve decided to stop trying. I don’t want to move on and forget. Instead, I want to move forward and progress. I could say a million words or I could say none. I could mourn the loss of not just the humans who were murdered but of my youthful idealism.

I could mourn that I once thought the world could grow. Hopefully it will. But for now, all I can be is scared, and sad and prepared to rid the world of hate.

No one deserves to live in fear. Maybe I’m not fully broken. Maybe I am temporarily mis-shapen. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll at least find a way to fix myself and in turn find a way to help fix this world. It’s ours to shape, and the clay isn’t dry just yet.

opinion.

a look into

RAPE CULTURE

NO MEANS NO.

1/2

of rapes are less than actually reported

3%

of rapists spend only even a day in jail

32,000

women about get pregnant from rape in the U.S. each year

31

in states convicted rapists can sue for custody and visitation rights stats provided by weareutraviolet.org

Our society can help change the faults in the way rape is perceived

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANNIKA SINK

“She was asking for it!”

“He spent a lot of money on the date, so it’s ok,” “She was passed out so it doesn’t really count... right?” “Because she has a promiscuous sexual past, she must have been fine an opinion of with it.”

SEAN OVERTON All of the comment made are absolutely ridiculous statements about women who were raped. I would like to say that these are the views of adults, but these are a few misconceptions from a poll taken by 11-14-year-olds here in the U.S. collected by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

These kids’ minds are still young and impressionable, just like most high schoolers, and it’s not too late to change rape culture, which is the concept that links rape and violence to regular culture in society.

According to a 2010 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States has been raped.

One of the biggest issues being faced in society, is men not getting blamed with the inexcusable crime of rape, just because of what the female was wearing. The fact that there are no laws against this still baffles me.

Men and women are beautiful, and should be able to dress in what makes them happiest. Women shouldn’t be having to sacrifice what makes them happy clothing wise, just to take precaution of male violators.

A third of Brits believe women are to blame for rape if they are acting flirtatiously according to Mail Online, a British news website. Also, more than a quarter believe she is to blame if her clothing is revealing.

You can say all you want, that if a girl goes out with her bottom hanging out and breasts escaping her top, that she is wanting the wrong type of attention. I’m sure there are cases where someone may want to be hit on, but does that mean that because of her clothing it means she was “Asking for it?”

Anyone and everyone, not only women, should be able to wear whatever they want, from a maxi skirt, to one that shows half your butt, and not have to worry about someone violating them because of it. As human beings we should be able to celebrate the beautiful bodies we are given, celebrate our sexuality and do so no matter how much skin we show.

One of my cousins lived with me for three years. I saw her break down crying countless times over the span of those years, because the man who raped her was not put in jail due to the fact she passed out drunk and couldn’t protest to her violators actions.

Not being able to give consent does not mean someone has the right to take advantage of a person. There are countless cases, such as the Daisy Coleman, Maryville rape court case. In her case the prosecutor dropped felony charges against two 17-year-old Maryville High School students in March 2012, two months after the mother found her daughter passed out on the family’s front porch in below-freezing temperatures. Coleman’s, rapist was let off because she was passed out drunk. That poor 14-year-old girl didn’t even have the option to fight back.

Changing the rape culture that a society has created will not happen overnight. It will happen from you, on a personal level, being an advocate for a new day.

A person’s voice is one of the most powerful tools one can utilize, along with one’s actions. Just by speaking out against harmful behavior and rape culture can make a difference. We must have the power to make a change for our posterity.

When you are older and see the man persistently asking a girl to go home with him, be the one to step in. When a girl is drunk at the bar, call her a cab instead of letting her go home with the man who’s been giving her the eye from across the room all night.

Stepping in to do what’s right makes all the difference.

After all no means no, not to keep asking. Somewhere along in the world men thought they were given the right to dominate women’s bodies, and don’t keep their thoughts in mind. Often a rapist feels very power hungry, and that can be a root to his crime. After all rape is never the victim’s fault.

It is astounding to me that in 2014 people say rape is inevitable, that men can’t help themselves. Letting boys grow up thinking they have entitlement to a girl’s body is completely wrong. It’s attitudes such as this that lead to harmful acts in the future.

Our generation can be the ones to know better than to take advantage of others’ bodies. Be the ones to raise our children teaching them that they are equal and don’t have the right to ever sexually assault someone.

opinion.

packing away The IB program is something you can take with you to any college, no matter where a student goes

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN FOSTER

A

s I sat through Mrs. Murphy’s presentations of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program my sophomore year, I kept picturing all the colleges I would be able to go with IB on my resume. I was an opinion of picturing myself at Dartmouth, or GRACE HEITMANN at Northwestern or Georgetown.

Attending the University of Kansas (KU) never crossed my mind during that presentation, but two years later, I can’t picture myself anywhere else.

When I started looking at colleges my junior year, I was only looking at out of state, liberal arts schools. As a member of the IB program, I believed that I needed to go to a small, prestigious school because it seemed like all the graduated students of the program ended up at a school like that. I felt the indirect pressure of my peers, teachers and past students bearing down on me, telling me to uphold the prestige of the IB program. And it wasn’t just IB that I was feeling pressure from — it seemed like the entire senior class wanted to get out of Kansas.

At the end of my last summer as a high school student, I started intensively researching for colleges. During the school year, I would procrastinate doing my homework for a couple hours by researching colleges after school. Each time I logged onto College Board, I felt the nagging pressure of going anywhere but a state school. I thought that I would be a disappointment to my family, friends and teachers by not going to a prestigious school. I believed that I would just be wasting the past two years of the IB program by going to a state school. I had invested so much time and hard work into the program (I haven’t watched “The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” in weeks) and I wanted to see the results in the college I would go to.

I had applied to KU in the summer, not really thinking of it as anything more than a back up while researching other colleges. As people around me began to find their perfect college, I became more frustrated with myself and started to see KU as a more viable option. I had sent in a portfolio to the School of Design in February, 10 minutes before the post office closed and found out that I had been one of 40 students accepted into the program.

After I received that acceptance letter, parts of the college puzzle started to come together. One random weekend in February, my aunt from Dallas called me about her friend’s daughter who was wanting to go to KU. The daughter, Lowrie, was in town and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up to get coffee.

By the end of the meeting, I had found a roommate if I ended up

going to KU. I started to research more about the design school and was blown away by the types of design that is created by the students. All these things helped me look past the barriers that I had set upon myself.

It wasn’t until March that I decide to attend KU, but coming to that decision was hard. It was hard to let myself want to go to KU. I signed up for the IB program not only for its academics but also the fact that it looks good on college applications.

Why did I work so hard for the past two years only to make the decision to go to a state school?

I had that question stuck in my head for a little bit, but then I realized that IB had ended up holding me back in my college process. I gave into the thoughts that everyone goes to KU, it’s just like a bigger East and that it’s just a major party school. I had tried to convince myself that I would be happy at a small school, but I was only kidding myself. I want to go to KU. I can’t wait to be taking classes in the design school and business school. I want to spend my weekends cheering on the basketball team at Allen Fieldhouse and exploring downtown Lawrence.

Just because I’m not going to a small liberal arts school or a selective school doesn’t mean that IB wasn’t meaningful. I am going to take whatever I learn in IB with me regardless of where I go to school. Going to a state school doesn’t mean that I’ll never use anything I learned in IB during college.

I’ll take with me the ability to analyze Irish poems or key passages with magical realism in it with me to college. I’ll be able to write 15+ page papers, even if they are about math or biology. I’ll be able to look at things beyond my schema and think at a higher critical level.

I’ll take the memories of arguing over Christ figures in novels in English, joking about Zimbardo in Psychology and getting Murph’d. I’ll cherish winning the can drive competition between Mrs. Horn’s and Mrs. Goodeyon’s math classes two years in a row and crashing the parties junior IB throws with Fishman. I got so much more out of IB than I ever thought I would get out of it, and I have all the students and teachers who are a part of the IB program to thank. All my fellow IB seniors have become my best friends and classes next year will be unnatural without them.

For me, the IB program was completely worth the hard work.

I’ve achieved some of my proudest accomplishments through the program and I would be a different person without it. Even though I’ll be leaving the program in a couple weeks, I’ll be taking everything I learned with me to college. KU wasn’t the glamorous Ivy League school I first pictured myself attending when I signed up for the IB program, but I’m completely fine with that.

LANCER Voices from the Past Former and current East IB students reflect on the value of their education “In IB we focus a lot more on comprehension than memorization, so even though I’m not using IB to go to some Ivy League school, I will be able to use what I’ve gotten from IB throughout college.”

-Sarah Bromley ‘14

“The way the IB curriculum is designed promotes critical thinking and writing ability.

If you’ve mastered these by the time you’ve graduated high school, it puts you in a really good spot in college, because you don’t have to learn them in addition to the huge transitions that go along with just going to college.”

-Helena Buchmann ‘13

“To me, the IB program is worth taking because it teaches you analytical and discussion skills that I do not think you would have otherwise. Additionally, I think that spending time with so many diverse and intelligent students in the IB program caused me to want to be more knowledgeable and curious.”

-Christa McKittrick ‘12 “Not only did I start college with 40 hours of credit, IB prepared me for the depth of the material in college classes. I feel like I started college with a head start on how to master a large amount of material.”

-Lauren Stanley ‘11

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The Average Athlete

opinion.

The experience of playing sports, even if they are no-cut, is worth it for the friendships and memories made

I suck at sports.

I’m second to last on the JV tennis ladder, my friends lap me every day at swim practice and my 7-year-old brother has had more goals in his two an opinion of year soccer career than I CAROLINE KOHRING had in my 10.

But despite my blatant lack of athletic ability, I’ve played sports my whole life.

From soccer and dance, to swimming and tennis, to basketball and even softball. I’ve tried them all. I was never the best, I was rarely in shape and dreaded every early morning game (or any game at all if we’re being honest), but I’ve somehow stuck with it. Looking back, I’m glad I did.

The sports I’ve stuck with through high school are swimming and tennis, the two non-cut sports, of course.

I love tennis. I get to play doubles with one of my best friends, and although we don’t always win, we definitely have the most fun on the court. We celebrate obnoxiously after every point and can never seem to keep a straight face

G N I AR E’S P M LIN O C RO CA ATS ST

while we play.

This year, I went 5-0; and yes, I only made it to five of the ten matches the entire season. People are always impressed by my undefeated season, but what they don’t know is that because I’m so low on the ladder, the girls I play are usually very inexperienced and I win because they can’t get the ball over the net. But hey, I’ll take all the credit I can get.

Like tennis, I don’t take swimming too seriously either.

Swimming’s the kind of sport I love to hate. I dread practice and meets and just the pool in general, but I would never even consider quitting. The reason I keep swimming are the girls I get to endure 5:30 a.m. practices with. I swim for the experience. I swim for the buddy gifts filled with granola bars, Gatorade and unhealthy amounts of candy. I swim for the cute, Columbia blue spirit wear. I swim for post-meet dinners with frizzy, wet hair and makeup smeared under my eyes.

That’s why I play tennis too. It’s not that I’m passionate about the sport — I love just being on the team and being with my teammates. Making friends with girls I wouldn’t otherwise know is something I’m so grateful for, and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do so if I didn’t swim

or play tennis.

Just because I have accepted the fact that I’m incredibly unathletic, doesn’t mean I’m not still insecure about it.

I like to make fun of myself and joke about it, but it’s always embarrassing at swim meets when all of my friends are in the fast heats and I’m always in the earlier, slower heats. It’s even more embarrassing when I’m late to practice and my coach makes me swim in the fast lane with all of my friends, who awkwardly lap me the entire time.

I’ve learned to not let my lack of athletic talent define me. So what if I’m not the best? It doesn’t mean I can’t be the hardest worker or the most dedicated, although I don’t think either of those titles belong to me. My friends don’t care that I’m slower in the water or that I don’t always make all of my serves over the net. They just care that I’m there to have fun and enjoy the sport with them. And to me, that’s what matters. It’s not about state cuts and first place trophies — it’s about the unexpected friendships and lasting memories.

And trying to set the record for most meets and matches skipped in a season.

50 Freestyle

100 Freestyle

Girls’ State Winning Time in 2013: 23:29

Girls’ State Winning Time in 2013: 50:43

Boy’s State Winning Time in 2014: 21:28

Boys’ State Winning Time in 2014: 45:20

Caroline’s time in 2014: 32:40

Caroline’s Time in 2014: 1:15:64

Identity Crisis

features.

KANSAS DRIVER’S LICENSE

USA KS

Fake IDs enhance alcohol culture among East students

the difference now is the easy accessibility. She believes that one of the reasons so many seniors have gotten caught is because the majority of the IDs have been bought in bulk from the same supplier, and therefore all NOT 21 UNTIL look exactly the same.

That easy accessibility has its consequences, especially for Travis.

In early January, East parent and Nall Hills Liquor owner Doug Seiden took Travis’ ID after seeing the too-thick plastic that the fake IDs are often made of. Whenever Seiden takes an ID, he tapes it up on the wall behind his cash register for all of his ART BY MADDIE HISE PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JORDAN HALL customers to see, in hopes of deterring any other underage customers.

At one point in time, Seiden had 10 CONTINUED FROM COVER or 12 IDs hanging. But it wasn’t until ccording to Frances, nearly 30 of Travis’ mom ventured into the store her friends have fake IDs that were and saw her daughter’s ID on the wall with purchased in the past year. The “SME senior” written on the card in thick black ones who don’t, she says, feel that they don’t marker that she got in trouble. After a long, need them because they can get the alcohol hand-written apology letter and a month’s through all of their friends who do have IDs. grounding, the ID was finally retired from the Frances feels that at this point in time, it’s al- wall. most expected for teens to have fake IDs. But Travis considers herself lucky to only For senior Lindsey Travis*, the bigget off with her gest appeal for having a fake ID was Personally, I felt bad ID taped to a wall the independence that came with it. asking other people and no legal conseWith a fake, she had the ability to use [to buy me alcohol]. quences. According it on her own time frame and not ask to Kansas Statutes older friends to do her any favors inchapter 8, the first volving purchasing alcohol time being caught “Personally, I felt bad asking other using a fake ID to people [to buy alcohol] because if they got in purchase alcohol will result in at least 100 trouble, it’d be my fault,” Travis said. “That’s hours of public service and anywhere from a the reason I wanted my own, so that I could $200-$500 fine. rely on myself. Also it’s really inconvenient and After Seiden read the apology letter, Travis you feel like a hassle.” received a Facebook message from Seiden’s After hearing stories from her parents, Tra- daughter, senior Julia Seiden. Once Julia’s dad vis realizes that fake IDs have been around for started seeing her peers come into the store, decades. She believes that what really makes she took on the responsibility of asking those

KS

KS

S KS A S AN K S A S AN N- NSAS KCDowTate A

KA K

KS

KS

ORGAN DONOR

A

Lindsey Travis*

people to stay away. When Julia messaged Travis thanking her for the apology letter, she also asked that if she continue to buy alcohol, she do it in places other than her dad’s store. “[Julia] was like ‘My dad says thank you for the letter...but he doesn’t appreciate you and your friends coming to his store because that hurts him. If he gets caught, that’s so bad and it hurts his store.’” Travis said. “When she put it in that perspective, I was like ‘that is so true.’ I was like ‘Oh my god I could have hurt her family. He could have lost his store because of me.’”

Frances had her ID taken away twice, resulting in a $125 fine and 20 hours of public service.

Although her parents reacted strongly against her ID, Frances does believe that in this time period, fake IDs are more widely accepted as a rite of passage by parents.

“I feel like parents are a lot more accepting,” Frances said. “But more in college though, I think in high school it’s kind of a taboo, and their parents don’t want to know, but I think they know it’s there.”

Seiden is one parent at East who is far from accepting. From being on the other side of the fake ID craze and having a high school age daughter, he makes sure that his business does everything they can to prevent selling to minors.

After receiving an anonymous letter in the mail from a concerned East parent telling Seiden to keep an eye out for minors in his store, he and his workers are on high alert for fake IDs. He sees purposely selling alcohol to underage students as completely unacceptable.

“I think [selling alcohol to minors] is insane,” Seiden said. “First of all it’s immoral, second of all it’s not worth the risk of your business...I don’t want [other stores] selling to them, but I don’t control other people’s liquor stores and they can do what they want. If they’re willing to take the risk, they can have that business. I don’t want it.”

Get to know the law: Kansas Alcohol Laws for minors

Open Container $50-500 possible MIP to correspond

Fake ID

Misrepresentation $200-500 100 hours community service

18 - 21

$200-500

MIP

Minor In Possession

Under 18

$200-500 40 hours community service alcohol course

PI

Public Intoxication $50-200 Max 6 months jail time

DUI

Driving Under the Influence 2-365 days in jail $500-1,000 suspended license

Facts About Fakes Manufactured ID

ID’s are produced to look acceptable can be computer scanned and printed can be photocopied

CA

AZ

Two states with most commonly forged ID

Altered ID Information that has been added to the ID

12.5% Fraudulent ID 32% of incom- of students near Use of someone using ing college their second someone else’s ID card. freshman year of college own a fake ID

features.

Successes in Service

Through working as a waitress at The Forum, a retirement community, junior Julia Sprouse has learned respect and admiration for an older generation by getting to know them

THE TOP

3: THE FORUM

WRITTEN BY LAUREN BROWN

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ABBY HANS

Junior Julia Sprouse has a lot she needs to remember.

Sprouse has to remember that Mr. Hirsh is allergic to black pepper; something she discovered when she accidenSprouse has worked at The Forum since tally served him peppered salmon with his Jell-O and skim January. Here’s a look back at her most milk. She remembers because his allergic reaction resulted memorable moments there in Sprouse having to clear his vomit-covered plates.

She has to remember that Ms. Smith needs ketchup as Sprouse and her coworker, junior Jenna soon as she’s seated, and later a cup of ice cream. Hopefully Haith, often make sundaes with The Forum’s not to be eaten together, but Sprouse still isn’t sure. quality deserts In a place where silver hair and occasional forgetfulness Sprouse’s older sister are common, Sprouse has needed to gain a keen memory, paworked at The Forum, tience and respect while serving as a waitress at The Forum, a retirement community near her home in Leawood. She and she remembers wanted to match her knew she didn’t want to have a job where she would be situniform so that she ting in a store alone. Sprouse would rather work with people. could go and work She feels a true sense of community at The Forum with both When she first with her her coworkers and the residents. started, the older The Forum is the place where she eats leftover cookies kids working at The in the kitchen with the staff. It’s the place where she knows Forum made Sprouse what some residents will order without them having to ask. do the cinnamon It’s the place where she’s learned valuable lessons that come challenge with serving the elderly.

At first, Sprouse says she wasn’t used to serving others and having the patience that this job requires. She’d never had to deal with anything like people constantly asking her for refills, requesting details about the ‘catch of the day,’ or taking five minutes to read the nine items on The Forum menu.

“Respect is another thing I’ve learned [in addition to patience],” Sprouse said. “If I see an old lady sitting alone, she’s obviously a widow, and I’ll try to make conversation with her.

You can’t have sympathy because then you’d feel awful the whole time but you do have to have a good energy and respect for them.”

Since beginning work in January of this year, Sprouse has spent four days a week serving four tables in the dining room. Although the residents that sit in her section change daily, her routine as a waitress does not. She brings out JellO or soup as an appetizer, then takes the residents’ drink, meal and dessert orders.

For Sprouse, it’s hardly work at all. She loves seeing how appreciative the residents are of her simply bringing their food and making conversation with them. “[The residents] always get so excited about seeing you,” Sprouse said. “I don’t have any grandparents in Kansas City so it’s fun how they’re all so loving. They just think it’s amazing how I can carry all the plates. They always compliment me, they’re sweet.”

Sprouse believes her age makes her a new and interesting person for the residents to interact with. Sprouse has favorite residents that sit in her section more often than others.

There’s Mrs. Anderson, who color coordinates her purse and shirt every day. She always gives Sprouse a good ‘server report card’ with at least 10 plus signs. There’s Ms. Smith, the one who must have ketchup, who says “I love you, I love

AT OVERLAND PARK

1

2

3

ART BY PAULINE WERNER

you” to Sprouse, holding her hand or hugging her. There are the eight bachelors who come early to dinner to get the large round table in the center. There’s the woman simply known as “Cookie” who has to have the menu read to her because her vision is slowly going bad. Sprouse always has to give Cookie a heads up as to what type of food she’s placing in front of her.

Mostly, the residents are interested in what she does when she’s not working at The Forum. Once they knew she was a dancer, residents asked Sprouse about ballet, especially residents who had been dancers as children.

Sprouse often serves a woman named Marilyn who used to be a dancer. She orders the same salad with shredded lettuce, cheddar cheese and ranch every day, which over time, Sprouse and Marilyn have come to call the “Marilyn Salad.”

When Marilyn was a young girl during WWII, she and her sister couldn’t afford dance lessons, so her mom became the pianist at the studio to pay for her daughters’ ballet classes.

Sprouse respects the commitment of Marilyn and her family to something that Sprouse has done her whole life.

Sprouse says their ability to talk about dance has made the times when she serves Marilyn much more meaningful.

In addition to her own conversations with the residents, she enjoys overhearing what they talk about over meals. She says it’s helped her gain perspective about the older generation.

“A lot of [the residents] talk about earlier years, experiences during the war and things like that,” Sprouse said.

“They talk about the past a lot more than the present. They talk about their grandkids, too. You can tell when their family has called to give them an update so they tell everyone what their grandkids are up to.”

Sprouse says she found it cute when she heard a newer resident say “I just love it here, it’s like having dinner with your friends every night.” However, some residents present more of a challenge in terms of practicing patience and respect.

Once, Sprouse had to break the news to residents that fish would not be served at dinner. One woman threw her napkin and stormed out of the dining hall. Sprouse says she tries to be as apologetic as possible when instances like this occur, but that some residents simply have bitter personalities.

“I’ll go up to [some residents] and say ‘Hi I’m Julia, how are you?’ and they’ll say ‘7UP no ice,’” Sprouse said. “There are just people that aren’t fun to serve, aren’t fun to talk to, but then I can hear some people at the end who say ‘This was so fun, let’s do it again,’ who stay forever after dessert hanging out and talking with one another.”

Four times a week, she serves a meal to 96 people in their home. Four times a week she overhears about life experiences of the past. Four times a week she has to remember individual “likes” and “dislikes.” Most importantly, four times a week Sprouse practices patience and respect for her friends at The Forum.

And that’s something she will remember.

A LOOK AT POVERTY IN JOHNSON COUNTY

spread.

WRITTEN BY SOPHIE TULP

SMSD: POVERTY RATES INCREASE T

he number of students who are higher, according to Dean. However, JohnIn addition to the stretched resources, struggling financially in the dis- son County’s rate of growth of poverty is Dean says that there is a stigma attached trict is increasing at a rate that increasing and surpassing other counties to being in poverty in the Johnson County cannot be met by existing funds, according rates of growth, like Wyandotte’s. Because area. She says that all too often families to Federal Programs Coordinator for the SMSD does not receive as much federal will know about the resources the district district, Alicia Dean. funding, Dean has to reach out to commu- can provide if they need financial help, but In nine years, the number of students nity resources for much of what struggling families are hesitant in seeking it. For this, Dean wants to stress how important it is to enrolled in the district’s free and reduced families need. lunch program has increased from 17.25 “The truth is, we don’t have enough educate the community about increasing percent to 37.84 percent funds to serve the poverty, even in the suburbs.

But for now, Dean thinks the district this year. There are over students we encounThe face of homeless10,000 students districtter, sadly because is doing all that it can with its funds. The ness [and poverty] has the issue is growing,” district is working to develop collaborative wide that are near or below changed. the poverty line, and last Dean said. “When relationships with community organizayear alone 451 homeless you reach out to the tions, businesses and individuals to pool students were identified community for sup- resources to provide a support system for and assisted in the district. port you’re looking students and families in need.

In his first year as Superintendent, Dr. With district funds to supat the private sector. port these families limited, And often, we en- Jim Hinson has already established the each year Dean is having to reach out to counter the attitude of ‘what, there’s pov- Shawnee Mission Cares Fund, a fund that community resources more to meet the erty in Johnson county, I don’t think so, helps with rent, utilities and medical needs growing need for financial aid in the dis- you are kidding.’ So it takes educating [the of financially struggling students. These trict. county] to what’s really happening in our students can be referred to the program by a social worker or administrator.

Dean handles the federal and state fi- community.”

The Summer Lunch Bunch program nancial aid programs that provide services Dean connects the families with reto lower-income and homeless students sources after the families are referred to is being implemented for a second year, in elementary and secondary education. her by an administrator or counselor in the beginning this June. A hot lunch will be Dean says that the rapid increase in lower- building that knows they need assistance. served for free to anyone ages 1-18, Monday income families in the district knows no If they need family counseling, Dean has through Friday, June 2 to July 25 at various geographical boundaries, and is increasing a database of inexpensive metropolitan SMSD schools.

“I believe the district is doing the best in every school, regardless of what percep- services for that need. Dean directs the it can given the funding tions of the Johnson County area might be. families to places where challenges,” Dean said.

“The face of homelessness [and pov- they can go to get help We don’t have “We need to be creative erty] has changed,” Dean said. “It is no lon- with utilities, housing enough funds to and wise with how we ger primarily the poorly-dressed individual and even job search reserve the students work to reach the needs panhandling at the intersection or under sources. we encounter, sadly of students...If you have the bypass. The growing number of homeWhile Dean says the because the issue is been watching what is less look like your neighbors; they could be district is trying to make growing. happening in our state the family standing in front of you at the the most out of the funds with funding and what grocery checkout stand. Poverty in the sub- they have, she says there is happening at the fedurbs is real.” are still certain things eral level with funding, I The federal government requires school she is unable to provide, don’t know if we will acdistricts to provide services such as busing, especially for the homequire more funds. I think meals and clothing to homeless students, less students who may we need to be smarter with our money and provided under the McKinney-Vento law in lack any kind of transportation. the state of Kansas. However, the govern“It would be nice if we had money to improve our community collaboration.” ment does not supply the actual funds that help students get to the special events that go towards waiving fees for those students. are provided for them at the school,” Dean The funds must be set aside by the districts said. “Or, if practice events or a sport octhemselves, which Dean calls a “loss for the curs after school [we still need a way to] district,” as things like transportation can pick them up after practice or get them to get costly to provide. and from their job. If we could get more School districts in Kansas like the KCK help from the community that would be district get a larger amount of federal great...The law goes so far, but it doesn’t go money, because their poverty levels are far enough for providing funding.”

ALICIA DEAN, SMSD Federal Programs Coordinator

ALICIA DEAN, SMSD Federal Programs Coordinator

ART BY CAROLINE KOHRING

AN ECONOMIC PICTURE OF SMSD by the numbers

Rates of poverty grow while state funding remains the same

Percentage of students in SMSD high schools on free and reduced lunch plan District average: 37.9%

SME SMS SMNW SMW SMN 10.7% 21.4% 24.7% 41.6% 45.7% Normal lunch cost:

arly n e ye ohnso g a J r e n ): Av me i 012 o inc nty (2 Cou ,139 $75

Reduced lunch cost:

vs.

$2.50

$0.40

r e fo com r in n i rly ou Yea ily of f ee & fr fam D on nch: S SM ced lu u 8 red ,56 $43

inarly line e y rty sas : Kan e pove f four o m y o l i c fam for ,775 $35

Percent of Johnson County residents below the poverty line:

Percent of Kansas residents below the poverty line:

13.2%

spread.

vs.

6.4%

EAST: SOCIAL EFFECTS OF POVERTY Poverty affects students at East even though overall percentage of poverty is smaller

N

*names changed to protect identity ear the end of the month in January, junior Dylan Abbott* wasn’t worrying about making plans for the WPA dance, or what his grade was on his math test. Instead, Abbott wondered if his third grade brother was going to have to sleep in a cold room on the 13 degree January night, or if his family would be evicted from their apartment in the coming weeks. As the end of the month approached and the time to pay the bills came near, his mom’s paycheck didn’t come at all.

Abbott’s mom, the single working parent for her three children was injured when an object fell on her at the custodial job she works at a local bank. With no income for an entire week, Abbott’s family lived in a state of uncertainty. They faced the reality that there was not enough money in their bank account to pay the bills that were piling up.

Abbott needed help. He had heard that there were ways school social worker Becky Wiseman and principal John McKinney could aid his family’s situation.

By the end of the week, Wiseman had set him up with district program SMSD Cares, and his rent was paid. The lights stayed on in the apartment, and his siblings didn’t have to sleep with their second-hand coats on. Everything was going to be okay. * * * Abbott is just one example of the increasing number of students at East who live near or below the poverty line. With this increase, Wiseman hopes that an awareness of the growing reality of poverty in the East area will increase among community members and students, so they can understand the social difficulties that come along with being lower-income in an area considered to be affluent.

“I think the kids that I have spoken to feel somewhat isolated at times,” Wiseman said. “I think they walk through the building and think no one else is experiencing financial issues when indeed, they truly are not alone in where they are. For example, during spring break when [these students] are surrounded by people doing fun things and going on these amazing trips, for them, there is no way that their family can afford that so they might feel isolated and alone.”

The population of East students in the

federal free and reduced lunch program are: ‘I have shirts, I have pants, I have has gone from 3.56 percent of students en- shoes, so I’m good.’ But, I’ll ask my mom if rolled in 2005, to 10.57 percent this school she needs more pants or anything. I don’t year. At the same time, there were 20 stu- want my mom to be too stressed out [about dents who are unable to pay fees at the finances.] My brother hangs out more with end of the year and were sent to collection me, and he gets my perspective and he unagencies, a number that bookkeeper Joan derstands that we are not a well-off family Burnett says is much higher than in the and sometimes we can’t get him stuff. If past.

I can get him a toy, I’ll get it for him, but For families like Abbott’s, the school sometimes if he asks I’ll have to say, ‘I can’t enrollment fees are an expense they can’t right now,’ and he’ll just say ‘don’t worry afford. Their family falls below the federal about it, I understand.’”

As the number of students in similar poverty line, and receives aid from food stamps for meals, and have completely circumstances as Abbott’s family grow, waived lunch fees at school. They live a McKinney says he and Wiseman can no lifestyle that Abbott says students at other longer help students in the same ways they high schools seem to think does not occur were able to six years ago. They can no lonat East. Abbott attends a work study pro- ger purchase backpacks out of pocket for gram in the mornings at another SMSD every student that needs one, or buy stuhigh school, and classmates have said they dents lunch when they see they can’t afford think of East students as “snobby,” and “all to eat in the cafeteria.

Instead, McKinney feels that the needs being preps.”

Abbott says that while he sees some of lower-income students are being met efpeople who fit this stereotype, it is not true fectively through the Love Fund program. for everyone, and he does not feel pres- They started the Love Fund in 2009 as sured to appear a certain way at East. How- the need for financial assistance to cover ever, he sees his sister struggling at Indian the costs of school supplies, program fees, Hills, trying to fit the “affluent” lifestyle book fees and certain activity fees grew among families at that some students have.

East.

“It’s different for me and I am really grateful Abbott says that my sister,” Abbott said. “I was many of his needs for [the Love Fund], the first one that went through have been met this, and I have always kind and it really helps a through contribuof gone through it with my lot. tions from the Love mom and I have always kind Fund from his textof known how to struggle. book fees to waivStruggling to me isn’t a big deal. But I know its different for my sister ing the costs of his course fees in English because she wants to fit in, and her wanting and his work study program. Abbott feels to fit in is expensive. But kids are cool with he was given resources through East and her; people are nice to her, and I am happy the district that, back in January he did not think was possible. for that.”

“I feel like people are shy or embarAbbott says that his mom feels bad when she can’t “spoil” his sister. But Ab- rassed when they ask for help, because bott’s mom and himself have worked for they feel like they will be looked down on the money to purchase her Sperry’s, a Vera by people who think ‘oh you can’t even do Bradley bag and an iPhone. Abbott does this for yourself.’,” Abbott said. “Some kids all that he can to help out his family, and believe people are more judgmental here, provide them with more than just what but I don’t really feel that way. I am really they need, but sometimes what they want grateful for [the Love Fund,] and it really as well. To do this, he works often, mowing helps a lot that they have the program here extra lawns to help pay for wifi, phone bills for students that need it, and there’s more kids that do [need it] than some people and rent.

“I look out for [my family] more than I think.” do for myself,” Abbott said. “My thoughts

DYLAN ABBOTT, 11

A LOOK AT POVERTY IN JOHNSON COUNTY

spread.

WRITTEN BY SOPHIE TULP

SMSD: POVERTY RATES INCREASE T

he number of students who are higher, according to Dean. However, JohnIn addition to the stretched resources, struggling financially in the dis- son County’s rate of growth of poverty is Dean says that there is a stigma attached trict is increasing at a rate that increasing and surpassing other counties to being in poverty in the Johnson County cannot be met by existing funds, according rates of growth, like Wyandotte’s. Because area. She says that all too often families to Federal Programs Coordinator for the SMSD does not receive as much federal will know about the resources the district district, Alicia Dean. funding, Dean has to reach out to commu- can provide if they need financial help, but In nine years, the number of students nity resources for much of what struggling families are hesitant in seeking it. For this, Dean wants to stress how important it is to enrolled in the district’s free and reduced families need. lunch program has increased from 17.25 “The truth is, we don’t have enough educate the community about increasing percent to 37.84 percent funds to serve the poverty, even in the suburbs.

But for now, Dean thinks the district this year. There are over students we encounThe face of homeless10,000 students districtter, sadly because is doing all that it can with its funds. The ness [and poverty] has the issue is growing,” district is working to develop collaborative wide that are near or below changed. the poverty line, and last Dean said. “When relationships with community organizayear alone 451 homeless you reach out to the tions, businesses and individuals to pool students were identified community for sup- resources to provide a support system for and assisted in the district. port you’re looking students and families in need.

In his first year as Superintendent, Dr. With district funds to supat the private sector. port these families limited, And often, we en- Jim Hinson has already established the each year Dean is having to reach out to counter the attitude of ‘what, there’s pov- Shawnee Mission Cares Fund, a fund that community resources more to meet the erty in Johnson county, I don’t think so, helps with rent, utilities and medical needs growing need for financial aid in the dis- you are kidding.’ So it takes educating [the of financially struggling students. These trict. county] to what’s really happening in our students can be referred to the program by a social worker or administrator.

Dean handles the federal and state fi- community.”

The Summer Lunch Bunch program nancial aid programs that provide services Dean connects the families with reto lower-income and homeless students sources after the families are referred to is being implemented for a second year, in elementary and secondary education. her by an administrator or counselor in the beginning this June. A hot lunch will be Dean says that the rapid increase in lower- building that knows they need assistance. served for free to anyone ages 1-18, Monday income families in the district knows no If they need family counseling, Dean has through Friday, June 2 to July 25 at various geographical boundaries, and is increasing a database of inexpensive metropolitan SMSD schools.

“I believe the district is doing the best in every school, regardless of what percep- services for that need. Dean directs the it can given the funding tions of the Johnson County area might be. families to places where challenges,” Dean said.

“The face of homelessness [and pov- they can go to get help We don’t have “We need to be creative erty] has changed,” Dean said. “It is no lon- with utilities, housing enough funds to and wise with how we ger primarily the poorly-dressed individual and even job search reserve the students work to reach the needs panhandling at the intersection or under sources. we encounter, sadly of students...If you have the bypass. The growing number of homeWhile Dean says the because the issue is been watching what is less look like your neighbors; they could be district is trying to make growing. happening in our state the family standing in front of you at the the most out of the funds with funding and what grocery checkout stand. Poverty in the sub- they have, she says there is happening at the fedurbs is real.” are still certain things eral level with funding, I The federal government requires school she is unable to provide, don’t know if we will acdistricts to provide services such as busing, especially for the homequire more funds. I think meals and clothing to homeless students, less students who may we need to be smarter with our money and provided under the McKinney-Vento law in lack any kind of transportation. the state of Kansas. However, the govern“It would be nice if we had money to improve our community collaboration.” ment does not supply the actual funds that help students get to the special events that go towards waiving fees for those students. are provided for them at the school,” Dean The funds must be set aside by the districts said. “Or, if practice events or a sport octhemselves, which Dean calls a “loss for the curs after school [we still need a way to] district,” as things like transportation can pick them up after practice or get them to get costly to provide. and from their job. If we could get more School districts in Kansas like the KCK help from the community that would be district get a larger amount of federal great...The law goes so far, but it doesn’t go money, because their poverty levels are far enough for providing funding.”

ALICIA DEAN, SMSD Federal Programs Coordinator

ALICIA DEAN, SMSD Federal Programs Coordinator

ART BY CAROLINE KOHRING

AN ECONOMIC PICTURE OF SMSD by the numbers

Rates of poverty grow while state funding remains the same

Percentage of students in SMSD high schools on free and reduced lunch plan District average: 37.9%

SME SMS SMNW SMW SMN 10.7% 21.4% 24.7% 41.6% 45.7% Normal lunch cost:

arly n e ye ohnso g a J r e n ): Av me i 012 o inc nty (2 Cou ,139 $75

Reduced lunch cost:

vs.

$2.50

$0.40

r e fo com r in n i rly ou Yea ily of f ee & fr fam D on nch: S SM ced lu u 8 red ,56 $43

inarly line e y rty sas : Kan e pove f four o m y o l i c fam for ,775 $35

Percent of Johnson County residents below the poverty line:

Percent of Kansas residents below the poverty line:

13.2%

spread.

vs.

6.4%

EAST: SOCIAL EFFECTS OF POVERTY Poverty affects students at East even though overall percentage of poverty is smaller

N

*names changed to protect identity ear the end of the month in January, junior Dylan Abbott* wasn’t worrying about making plans for the WPA dance, or what his grade was on his math test. Instead, Abbott wondered if his third grade brother was going to have to sleep in a cold room on the 13 degree January night, or if his family would be evicted from their apartment in the coming weeks. As the end of the month approached and the time to pay the bills came near, his mom’s paycheck didn’t come at all.

Abbott’s mom, the single working parent for her three children was injured when an object fell on her at the custodial job she works at a local bank. With no income for an entire week, Abbott’s family lived in a state of uncertainty. They faced the reality that there was not enough money in their bank account to pay the bills that were piling up.

Abbott needed help. He had heard that there were ways school social worker Becky Wiseman and principal John McKinney could aid his family’s situation.

By the end of the week, Wiseman had set him up with district program SMSD Cares, and his rent was paid. The lights stayed on in the apartment, and his siblings didn’t have to sleep with their second-hand coats on. Everything was going to be okay. * * * Abbott is just one example of the increasing number of students at East who live near or below the poverty line. With this increase, Wiseman hopes that an awareness of the growing reality of poverty in the East area will increase among community members and students, so they can understand the social difficulties that come along with being lower-income in an area considered to be affluent.

“I think the kids that I have spoken to feel somewhat isolated at times,” Wiseman said. “I think they walk through the building and think no one else is experiencing financial issues when indeed, they truly are not alone in where they are. For example, during spring break when [these students] are surrounded by people doing fun things and going on these amazing trips, for them, there is no way that their family can afford that so they might feel isolated and alone.”

The population of East students in the

federal free and reduced lunch program are: ‘I have shirts, I have pants, I have has gone from 3.56 percent of students en- shoes, so I’m good.’ But, I’ll ask my mom if rolled in 2005, to 10.57 percent this school she needs more pants or anything. I don’t year. At the same time, there were 20 stu- want my mom to be too stressed out [about dents who are unable to pay fees at the finances.] My brother hangs out more with end of the year and were sent to collection me, and he gets my perspective and he unagencies, a number that bookkeeper Joan derstands that we are not a well-off family Burnett says is much higher than in the and sometimes we can’t get him stuff. If past.

I can get him a toy, I’ll get it for him, but For families like Abbott’s, the school sometimes if he asks I’ll have to say, ‘I can’t enrollment fees are an expense they can’t right now,’ and he’ll just say ‘don’t worry afford. Their family falls below the federal about it, I understand.’”

As the number of students in similar poverty line, and receives aid from food stamps for meals, and have completely circumstances as Abbott’s family grow, waived lunch fees at school. They live a McKinney says he and Wiseman can no lifestyle that Abbott says students at other longer help students in the same ways they high schools seem to think does not occur were able to six years ago. They can no lonat East. Abbott attends a work study pro- ger purchase backpacks out of pocket for gram in the mornings at another SMSD every student that needs one, or buy stuhigh school, and classmates have said they dents lunch when they see they can’t afford think of East students as “snobby,” and “all to eat in the cafeteria.

Instead, McKinney feels that the needs being preps.”

Abbott says that while he sees some of lower-income students are being met efpeople who fit this stereotype, it is not true fectively through the Love Fund program. for everyone, and he does not feel pres- They started the Love Fund in 2009 as sured to appear a certain way at East. How- the need for financial assistance to cover ever, he sees his sister struggling at Indian the costs of school supplies, program fees, Hills, trying to fit the “affluent” lifestyle book fees and certain activity fees grew among families at that some students have.

East.

“It’s different for me and I am really grateful Abbott says that my sister,” Abbott said. “I was many of his needs for [the Love Fund], the first one that went through have been met this, and I have always kind and it really helps a through contribuof gone through it with my lot. tions from the Love mom and I have always kind Fund from his textof known how to struggle. book fees to waivStruggling to me isn’t a big deal. But I know its different for my sister ing the costs of his course fees in English because she wants to fit in, and her wanting and his work study program. Abbott feels to fit in is expensive. But kids are cool with he was given resources through East and her; people are nice to her, and I am happy the district that, back in January he did not think was possible. for that.”

“I feel like people are shy or embarAbbott says that his mom feels bad when she can’t “spoil” his sister. But Ab- rassed when they ask for help, because bott’s mom and himself have worked for they feel like they will be looked down on the money to purchase her Sperry’s, a Vera by people who think ‘oh you can’t even do Bradley bag and an iPhone. Abbott does this for yourself.’,” Abbott said. “Some kids all that he can to help out his family, and believe people are more judgmental here, provide them with more than just what but I don’t really feel that way. I am really they need, but sometimes what they want grateful for [the Love Fund,] and it really as well. To do this, he works often, mowing helps a lot that they have the program here extra lawns to help pay for wifi, phone bills for students that need it, and there’s more kids that do [need it] than some people and rent.

“I look out for [my family] more than I think.” do for myself,” Abbott said. “My thoughts

DYLAN ABBOTT, 11

features.

Keeping Calm

Senior Meghan Mohn doesn’t let a condition that causes her blood pressure to drop and her to faint get in the way of living her life WRITTEN BY SARAH BERGER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES WOOLDRIDGE

Blood and gore create a swirling feeling in senior Meghan Mohn’s chest. When she hears groans and screams her legs feel like they are stuffed and puffy because her blood vessels are swollen. She can’t move them. Her head feels like it’s floating and her vision gets taken over by growing black spots.

Next thing she knows, she’s on the ground.

In seventh grade, Meghan was diagnosed with neurocardiogenic syncope, also known as vasovagal syncope. It’s a condition in which blood pressure plummets after encountering sights, sounds or emotions that trigger symptoms that include fainting. For Meghan, excessive amounts of blood and gore, disturbing noises or descriptions, dehydration and nervousness all act as triggers.

A “CSI” episode in fourth grade was Meghan’s first severe experience with vasovagal. Three seconds of a dead body onscreen created major shock that controlled her brain for two weeks. Three seconds caused Meghan’s heart beat to slow down to almost zero and her body to collapse.

Vasovagal has been following Meghan ever since she was born, but her episodes didn’t become severe until fourth grade. Meghan’s fainting episodes last anywhere from two seconds to two hours.

It followed her in sixth grade at the Prairie Elementary School Carnival when she dropped to the ground in a hysterical fit. It followed her when she had to sit out in the hall as the rest of her class dissected cow eyes. It still follows her when she can’t go to scary movies with her friends on Friday nights because the images and sounds will stay in her mind.

“That can be really annoying,” Meghan said. “I’ll be trying to take a test and then it will be like, ‘Remember that one time when that horrible thing happened?’”

When those thoughts creep back into her head and Meghan is triggered, her legs feel puffy. She feels cold. Her blood stops moving through her and then she drops, down to the floor.

There’s a set routine Meghan follows when she knows she’s encountered a trigger.

She takes a drink from the fluorescent pink water bottle that never leaves her side. She puts on music to distract herself from the commotion swirling through her body. Meghan wraps herself up like a burrito with 10 of the fuzzy blue blankets from around her room to stay warm and comforted. She does anything she can to make the all-too-familiar feeling of fainting go away.

After she recovers, Meghan feels fine. All she has to do is breathe and relax for a bit and then go back to what she was doing, whether that be class or writing in her room.

Vasovagal affects about 22 percent of the world’s population. It is also hereditary and Meghan’s grandma, dad and sister all have the condition. According to her dad, Andy Mohn, Meghan’s case is the most severe in the family. While Andy has only had one severe fit in his adult life, Meghan has had

several throughout her entire life.

After Meghan first started to show symptoms, her parents took her to several psychologists and her problem was given a name tag with “OCD” written on it. Finally, after several appointments of sitting on a big brown couch answering questions about her emotions, a psychologist asked the Mohn family if they had ever taken her to a physician. To Meghan’s parents, the fainting episodes were now starting to make sense. “[Finding out what it was] was just a relief,” Lindsay Mohn, Meghan’s mom, said. “So much of a relief.”

Middle school with vasovagal was tough for Meghan. She was just diagnosed, and still didn’t understand how to steer her train of thought away from the triggers. She hadn’t yet learned how to explain the cold her body felt before she fainted. She encountered teachers that didn’t understand. Teachers wouldn’t let her go to the nurse when she needed to lie down or wouldn’t let her take a drink from her water bottle because food and drink were not allowed in the classroom.

Awkwardly stumbling her way through an explanation of vasovagal was and still is Meghan’s least favorite part of the condition. She feels embarrassed asking people if a show is safe for her to watch or fainting in front of a friend who doesn’t know about it.

But even through the embarrassment, Meghan has learned to not let her episodes or triggers get in the way of her life. She’s learned to surround herself with happiness in order to cope with her condition. Eating chocolate-covered peanuts and dancing in her room to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” help Meghan feel relief if a trigger is trying to take control of her body.

“Lots of times people are like, ‘Oh Meghan you have this condition, you’re so innocent and I have to keep you so safe!’” Meghan said. “But it’s like if I get a paper cut it’s not a big deal.”

Another form of relief for Meghan is writing.

She writes any chance she gets about anything she wants. She writes about her life, her specific experiences. Her light brown notebook with birds sewn into the front and her Google Drive account act as two sanctuaries for her thoughts and inspiration.

“When she gives me something [she has written] to read I always know it’s for a reason,” Lindsay said.

“I think she’s got a very good insight into human nature and I think she’s got a very big heart. She is able to see a lot of beauty in the world that maybe other people don’t see.”

Meghan doesn’t want to shelter herself from the world just because she’s triggered by parts of it. She still curls up on her vintage blue arm chair and plays the scary video games she loves. She controls her body and tells it not to faint when she navigates through the zombie-infested mental ward of Nightmare House, her favorite game.

Meghan knows vasovagal is always going to be a part of her life, but she also knows it will never control her. Triggers used to barge into her mind every day, and now Meghan just has episodes about every two months. She still maintains a complicated relationship with her condition, hating it at times, but overall she knows life will go on. She has learned how to coexist with vasovagal. ““[Living with vasovagal is] mostly inconvenient and awkward, which really describes me,” Meghan said. “So maybe it suits me.”

features.

Compassion

through newfound

connections ABOVE: Kylie met several young girls in Guatemala who changed her life and made her trip memorable

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KYLIE SCHULTZ

She scuffed her turquoise Birkenstocks on the steepest hill in the village street as she raced the little girl with scrawny legs to the top. Sucking in her breath, she had gotten a running start, the shoes smacking down hard on the blazing Guatemalan pavement. She didn’t even notice that her vibrant, hand-made skirt was dragging and fraying at the ends.

Never had she wanted to sprint up a hill so much in her life.

Sophomore Kylie Schultz held out her hands for a relationship that she never thought she would want.

The 7-year-old girl with shy brown eyes and a timid smile was waiting at the top as she giggled at her undeniable victory. The little Guatemalan girl with wiry arms began to sprint down again, tugging at Kylie’s wrist, clamping down on her rainbow-beaded bracelet. They stumbled down the last stretch of hill, the little game forgotten.

The girls stared at each other, one pair of eyes blue, the other a watery brown. The little Guatemalan girl spoke with her eyes, her breath still uneven, “Te amo, Kylie,” I love you.

Kylie smiled as she searched the girl’s face, wondering exactly what it was that made her want to say it back. She leaned forward and hugged her. She could no longer deny what it was that connected her to this girl: genuine affection. * * * Kylie Schultz didn’t believe in the insufferable tolerance of handling children; her ability to put up with them had been extinguished, she says, by her tantalizing experiences babysitting. The impossible circumstances of keeping a restless child pacified, calming them when they are scared and even putting up with constant disobedience has kept Schultz from ever being able to have a real relationship with children. This thought plagued her as she clambered into her aisle seat on the plane headed to Guatemala. Her worst regret was the fact that she was “fatally flawed” at the Spanish language.

“I knew about seven [Spanish words] going into the trip, and about 10 coming out,” Schultz said.

Yet, knowing this, she was still headed out of the country for the first time, on a mission trip with her youth group from Hillcrest Covenant Church. They were to spend 10 days of their spring break in various places in Guatemala teaching young children about God. Several weeks in advance, the youth group had also worked on what they were to teach the children about different school subjects, namely math, science, spelling and English.

She scolded herself mentally on the plane. She was anx-

Get to know Guatemala flag says “Freedom on Sept. 15, 1821”

Sophomore makes unexpected connection with children in Guatemala WRITTEN BY HANNAH COLEMAN

ious about the purpose she would serve on the trip, worrying she wouldn’t be able to make a connection with the children there. But as they arrived in Guatemala, looking out through the plane’s window she saw the frayed folds of the mountainside beneath her, layered and coated with clouds. And she saw that this was a heavenly place, reminding her of why she was on that plane to begin with. “[Our youth pastor, Nate] told us that we weren’t there to bring God [to Guatemala],” Schultz said. “God was already there, working. We were just there to bring even more.” * * * The bus lurched and sputtered as Schultz and her youth group wobbled into Panajachel, in Guatemala City. Through the window, the glint of a machete caught her eye. She soon realized there wasn’t just one that she was seeing, but several. Men everywhere were armed with gleaming machetes.

To Schultz’s surprise, the trees scattered across the city were swaying with hammocks of all shades and patterns of differing personalities.

After settling in and spending the night in a small hotel in Panajachel, the group traveled to visit the school full of children that were excitedly anticipating their arrival. Filled with adrenaline and doubt, Schultz stepped off the bus. Eyes shining with excitement, dozens of little heads came bobbing towards her. Overwhelmed, Schultz was shocked when it happened. A little girl ran up and jumped into her arms, giving her a tentative kiss on her cheek. Dazed, Schultz squatted down, her long skirt pooling on the pavement, and hugged her back.

“Sheily was the first girl that I met,” said Schultz. “She was the first one who taught me how much [the kids] can love you. If someone, a complete stranger [in Kansas] were to come up to you and give you a big kiss on the cheek, they would be like, ‘what the heck?’ But that’s just who [these kids in Guatemala] are.”

After the two girls met, Kylie and Sheily’s race up and down the steep hill beside the school became ritual. Through ragged breaths, the two would exchange timid words. “¿Cómo se dice?, How do you say that?” asked Schultz, pointing to the mountains.

“Montaña, mountain” said Sheily. “¿Cómo se dice?,” asked Schultz again, this time gesturing to the volcano far off behind the city.

“Volcán, volcano,” said Sheily with her watery brown eyes.

Schultz had never felt more comfortable with children in her life. Their immediate affection and love, to Schultz, was stunning. Just through running up and down a hill, exchanging hugs, and laughing through shaky Spanish, the two girls were friends instantly.

“We did the hill run a lot more times, and we are just exhausted because it was so steep, and we were sprawled out on the base of the hill,” said Schultz. “And then [Sheily] sees this little bush full of little orange flowers, and so she comes up to me and kind of pushes me over, and she and two of these other little girls sit me down and they put all of these little flowers in my hair. It was so sweet, so I didn’t take them out until bedtime.”

During the final days of the trip spent in the cramped school room filled with letters of the alphabet, and numbers on the wall, Schultz realized that she didn’t want to leave.

Since the first day when Sheily held her hand and kissed her on the cheek, Schultz couldn’t quite separate herself from that obvious connection. This time, it was something she couldn’t pull away from.

She didn’t want to go back home where the kids she babysat for wreaked havoc. Every experience with children pushed her farther away from a relationship she could never have. She wanted to stay with Sheily, and with the others she met. She wanted to stay with one of the little boys, Juan, who had carefully and meticulously strung her a multicolored beaded bracelet. She wanted to stay with Sheily to race every day on the steep hill, and she wanted a hug and ticklish whispers in her ear in Spanish. * * * Weeks later, back in Kansas, on the eve of Easter, the church is full of families and toddlers with grins the size of their faces. Their Easter egg hunt was exhilarating, and the thirst for more eggs was vigorous. The service was starting and the organ was vibrating the entire sanctuary all the way up to the high-vaulted ceiling.

The stone was rolled away.

Standing up in an aisle close to the back, Schultz was swaying and her rainbow bracelet was tied onto her wrist.

She smiled and grazed her fingers over her beads, singing to a song that had begun to outline her life after the trip. She realized that something she never thought would be brought back, had resurfaced.

He died and rose again.

4.4%

miles from KCI to Guatemala

unemployment GDP per capita

literacy rate

Spanish

national language

Guatemalans live in rural Guatemala

It’s about time we met.

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A recap of the fourth anual Middle of the Map Festival which took place April 3-5. The festival featured several different musical acts, film screenings and speakers.

Here’s a look at the highlights.

WRITTEN BY MIRANDA GIBBS

Ready to feel old and unaccomplished? This’ll definitely do the trick. Singer/songwriter Gracie Schram, a 15-year-old Leawood resident, travels back and forth to Nashville in order to work with Grammy Award winning producer Charlie Peacock (Civil Wars, Brett Dennen, Ben Rector). With a sweet but powerful voice, she was basically a slightly more country version of Ingrid Michaelson.

This Kansas City band hit the outdoor stage on April 4 to give their first performance in the U.S. in four years, and — that day was pretty freaking cold. It didn’t stop people from coming to see these headliners as they played a set filled with high-speed, energetic oldies, forever trying to convince people they’re not an emo band. Still, you can’t deny their signature melodic sound.

Picture this: a man prancing around an outdoor stage in a white unitard, joined by other figures wearing white and carrying pods with screens beaming images. Kevin Barnes, the lead singer of Of Montreal, an Georgian glam indie-rock band, is of the theatrical sort. The variety of their set ranged from electronica to funk, to pure rock. Their set was part of a day filled with over 12 hours of nonstop music.

wallflower | gracie schram

This New York Times bestselling author and artist was possibly the most interesting personable voice of the forum.

With his books, he changed people’s minds on what creativity means in the digital age. His forum, began with just one question: 10 things he wished someone had told him when he was starting out as an artist. And with it, he basically tells people that all art is theft — but remixed and transformed, and then tells them how to send it out into the world.

“Steal Like an Artist”, which was handed out free to the first 200 attendees.

The founder and owner of Baldwin Denim joined the stage with architect Matthew Hufft to give the audience a glimpse back into his humble beginnings. From his first store in Town Center Leawood that opened up almost 11 years ago, he worked to bring functionality and history to development a pair of jeans. Now with a Gap collection and the famous Baldwin KC hat, he emphasizes the importance of being in the “people business,” where it’s not only important to consider the consumer, but the talent that you surround yourself with to represent the pride of KC.

action & action | get up kids

This Oscar-nominated Belgian film follows the ups and downs in the sweeping romance of Elise, a tattoo shop owner, and Didier, the banjo player in a bluegrass band. With the odd perspective of foreigners bonding over American music and culture, paired with an out-ofthis-world soundtrack, and beautiful arthouse style, it is an absolute must-see, even if you’re not into foreign films.

Starring Robin Wright (who you should know from Princess Bride, but is also in House of Cards) along with John Hamm, Paul Giamatti and Harvey Keitel, “The Congress” pairs up existential live-action with heady animation as an out-of-work actress preserves her animated image for a future Hollywood. With an incredible cast, and a slightly startling commentary on mortality, this movie is exhilaratingly new and unusual.

Ever heard of the band The National?

This documentary, is filmed by the lead singer Matt Berninger’s loveable slacker brother. Tom Berninger, a metal-head filmmaker who still lives at home, comes on tour as a roadie, the band unaware that he planned to film the entire journey. What starts off as a typical — but the most funny and personable — rock documentary, actually turns into a touching story of the two brothers with radically different temperaments having each other’s backs in the face of both success and unfulfilled ambition.

triumph of disintegration | of montreal

101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101 1100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010 1101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010101010101010101 0101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010 Science fiction movie doesn’t live up 10001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 to the hype of the actors and 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010 falls flat 10010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010100101011010100101101010101010 due to weak plot and unbelievable 10101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110 technology 101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010 WRITTEN BY ANDREW McKITTRICK PHOTOS COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. 0110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010 ploading our brain101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 waves to the internet. Mak- out to be pretty typical and predictable. The suspense of 1010101010101010101010 1010010 ing body parts from scratch.

Both are techwhether or not Caster’s upload to the computer will be suc00100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100 nologies from Transcendence that are at least cessful isn’t much of a nail biter. They aren’t going to com101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010 somewhat believable. However when Nano- pletely kill of their largest character in the first quarter of 010110101010101010101010101010 bots started floating out of the ground and 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 controlling peo- the movie after all.

101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101 ple’s minds, the movie reached a point where it just became This movie felt overdone in some ways. With a feel that a bit absurd. This is one of the issues with “Transcendence”, was reminiscent of “Inception” and10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010 a plot that raises the 1100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 the new Warner Bros. movie featuring stars such as Johnny same questions as “Her”, it was all a bit used-up. There were 1101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010101010101010101 Depp and Morgan Freeman. Although “Transcendence” a few novel ideas looking into the future of science but that 0101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010 features some deeper questions about the concept of arti- can all be done better; just look at how “Avatar” and “Iron 10001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010 ficial intelligence (AI) and interesting eye candy, it falls flat Man” have made millions off this idea. They were both able 10010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 in the plot and reality of concepts. to1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010100101011010100101101010101010 take average storylines that have been done before but Transcendence101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 has the star power that can hang with turn them into blockbusters with eye-grabbing graphics.

10101010101010 101001000100110 just about any other film in theaters these days. Johnny These issues led to a sense of mediocrity over the en101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010 Depp plays Will Caster, a dying computer scientist that up- tirety of the film. Transcendence was just average. It may 0110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010 loads the patterns of his brain to a supercomputer in order seem like I hated it but I didn’t, it just wasn’t spectacular.

1010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010 to preserve his psyche. Morgan Freeman is his second-in- There were moments where I wanted to be pulled into the command and ends up caught between the two sides in the film. Occasionally I lost myself in the future of what the 00100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100 controversy over the future of AI. tech would be but then 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010 I was dragged back to reality. A 101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 The main premise of this movie is that as Caster spends weak plot, debatable choice in stars and unrealistic nature 010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 more time in a cyberspace, his desire for power continues of certain moments made “Transcendence” fall flat. In these 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101 to grow. Over the course of the movie, this raises questions days of summer flicks with million dollar budgets, it takes a 1100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010 over how much society wants to use AI’s. That’s one of the lot to stand out and this movie simply didn’t do that for me.

In order for this movie to be successful it needed issues with this movie, there just isn’t much there. After a 1101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010101010101010101 to differentiate itself in some way. A large twist somewhere, while, the plot felt predictable and drab.

0101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010 To me, Morgan Freeman is a pretty versatile actor. From crazy new plot line or even just something special would 10001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010 starring as Nelson Mandela in the drama “Invictus” to play- help this movie move a long ways but that special some10010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010100101011010100101101010101010 ing the quirky tech creator Lucius Fox in “Batman Begins”, thing just wasn’t there.

For your money, go out and rent the Pirates of The he can do just about anything. However when Johnny Depp 10101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110 came on the screen, all I could think of was his swashbuck- Caribbean series, it’s what you’ll be thinking about anyway.

101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010 ling pirate character that made him famous, Jack Sparrow.

0110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010 Except for a few twists and turns, Transcendence turned 1010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010 00100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100 101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010 010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101 1100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010 1101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010101010101010101 0101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010 10001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010 10010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010100101011010100101101010101010 10101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110 101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010 0110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010 1010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010 00100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100 101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010 010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101 1100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010 1101010010110101010101010101010101010 10100100010011010100101000101110010010101010011010101001010110101001011010101010101010101 0101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010 10001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010 10010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 1010010001001101010010100010111001001010101001101010100101011010100101101010101010 10101010101010 101001000100110101001010001011100100101010100110101010010101101010010110101010101010101010101010 101001000100110

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Discover food items hidden from the menu at popular restaurants

If you’re a spice enthusiast like me, you aren’t particularly satisfied with the heat of just a regular Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Chick-fil-a. But alas, there is a solution. The Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, which only exists on the secret menu, is a mouth-burning delight.

Not only do you get all of the Spicy Chicken Sandwich goodness, it is almost drowned in very spicy buffalo sauce.

I expected it to be just a Spicy Chicken Sandwich topped with buffalo sauce, but this was not the case. They actually lather on a spicy sauce on the entire sandwich. I took a huge fiery mouthful on the first bite, and learned that I must eat with caution. This definitely delivered the kick I was looking for, and made me glad for free refills.

BUFFALO CHICKEN SANDWICH

I don’t need a secret menu to find a girly drink at Starbucks. Yet somehow, possibly the girliest drink is hidden away. It is given the a mouthful of a name, the Raspberry Cheesecake Mocha Frappuccino.

As it was being made, it looked decent enough. The frappuccino turned out to be pink and frothy, topped with whipped cream. After tasting it, I can see why it’s hidden away — the people who order it must be psycho. It’s such an overpowering and confusing mix of tastes that it is hard to enjoy. Its sweet and creamy base contrasts with the strong coffee flavor. It then proceeds to shove the flavor of cheesecake down your throat. I could only get in a few sips before setting it aside. This vile concoction is not worth 5 dollars.

I’m not sure why pizzas and sandwiches are not combined more often.

It’s brilliant, but harder to make than it sounds. This is probably why Subway keeps its Pizza Sub strictly on their secret menu.

This sub is layered with tomato sauce, pepperoni, topped with cheese, then toasted. The sub offers the deliciousness of a pizza, with the portability of a sandwich. What made it taste even better was the jealous and confused looks I got from other customers when they couldn’t find the Pizza Sub on the menu.

Maybe Subway intends to improve the sandwich before they put it on the real menu. If Subway did want to improve the sandwich, I’d recommend better sauce.

Though the pepperoni and mozzarella were fine, the tomato sauce didn’t really taste like a normal pizza’s. So, through trial and error, I believe the perfect pizza sandwich is soon to come — the Pizza Sub is just a stepping stone.

PIZZA SUB

S TA R B U C K S

Those who love cheese and Chipotle: keep reading. This secret menu special is a brilliant combination of the two. The Quesarito from Chipotle is a huge upgrade from the burrito that we all love (but are getting a little bored with). Upon your stealthy request of this magical food item, the chef will take a tortilla, fill it with cheese, and gloriously melt it to gooey perfection. Then, when melted, you can fill the cheesy tortilla with all of your favorite burrito fillings. It’s basically a burrito wrapped in a quesadilla. Though some warm cheese may not sound like a big change, it makes a tremendous difference during the eating/euphoria.

However, make sure Chipotle isn’t too busy when you order the Quesarito, or you might be salivating for nothing. Since it takes extra time to make, the foodpreparers will refuse the order if the restaurant is too busy. There is no greater sin than angering the person who makes your Chipotle.

RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE MOCHA FRAPPUCCINO

S U BWAY

C H I C K- F I L- A

C H I P OT L E

QUESARITO

a&e.

Frosted Sugar cookies There’s nothing better than those springtime sugar cookies. The bright colored frosting, the light crumbly cookie and rich frosting are unbeatable. They are simple, presentable and delicious. If you’re interested in making these cookies then you have multiple options: you could whip up sugar cookie mix from scratch, or you could buy a roll of Toll House sugar cookie dough (like me). Warning on the Toll House dough: it is very, very, very addictingly good. You can put the dough into balls of any size, whether you want to make bite size or MEGA cookies, and then just bake them for however long your heart desires, or the directions desire. When they are done, let them cool, and then frost away. To decorate the cookies, I made a cream cheese frosting and then separated it out and dyed it into bright, cheerful, spring colors. Now you have your classic spring sugar cookie.

Peeps

S'Mores

Peeps S’mores: A spring twist on the famous camping treat, s’mores.

As the weather gets nicer, s’mores start coming back in style. Accordingly, I found a simple recipe with Peeps substituted for the marshmallows on Pinterest. I had never seen this idea before and thought it was adorable, especially for Easter and the springtime. Instead of putting a boring old marshmallow on a stick and roasting it, replace it with a Peep. If you can get over the fact you’re sticking a stick into a cute bunny or chick, then these are a perfect treat for you. For a rainy day, you can start up your stove top and roast them over that. Not as “campy,” but just as delicious! After you roast the marshmallows you need your other s’more must-haves, chocolate and graham crackers. Put them all together and you’re golden.

SPRING

With a new season it’s time to add new recipes that are as vibrant and fresh as springtime

SNACKS

+ recipe LEMON PUPPY CHOW

Ingredients

WRITTEN BY AIDAN EPSTEIN PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MARISA WALTON

8 c. Rice Chex cereal 1c. white chocolate chips or candy melts 1/2 c. lemon curd 1/4 c. butter 1.5 c. powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Lemon bar puppy chow is a sweet spring twist on two all time favorites; puppy chow and lemon bars. It’s a “bored on a Sunday” or “need snack to bring to school” kind of treat, because it’s quick and simple to make and addicting. It’s made with lemon curd (a lemon jelly) and white chocolate, instead of peanut butter and chocolate that normal puppy chow is made of. I found this on Pinterest earlier this month and since I had made puppy chow before, I thought making it would be doable. It totally was. Very simple steps and the few ingredients made it almost impossible for me to mess up, which is saying something. Surprisingly, my lemon bar puppy chow looked identical to the puppy chow in the Pinterest picture and it tasted just as good as it looked. Now, I have a go-to dessert for my school lunches and the best after-school snack.

Melt white chocolate, butter, and lemon curd in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.

Pour Rice Chex into a large paper bag (grocery size) and pour melted lemon mixture over cereal. Fold the bag to seal and shake to coat cereal.

Spread out on cookie sheet to cool; once completely cool, store at room temperature in airtight containers.

Add powdered sugar to paper bag and shake once more to coat.

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sports.

ATHLETE WEEK OF THE

JESSICA YOUNG

Q: What are your expectations for you and the rest of the team for the remainder of the year?

A: I really want to focus on working hard every practice and game personally and I know as a team we are looking forward to going for the league title again. And of course, state is the ultimate goal for us.

Q: With going to play hockey next year at Middleton University, what is it like playing a sport now, then knowing you’re going away to play another at the collegiate level so soon?

A: I think it motivates me even more knowing that this is my last year ever. I know that my last game this year is all I’ve got and I would love nothing more than for that last game to be the state title.

Q: What’s your favorite moment of the year so far?

A: Definitely beating South 7-0. I’ve never seen our team play better than that. And of course it’s South, so that makes the win feel even better.

Baseball

OPPONENT Olathe NW

DATE 4/28/14

LOCATION 3&2 Stadium

Softball Boys’ Golf

SM North Topeka W

Girls’ Soccer Girls’ Swimming

Olathe N

4/29/14 4/28/14 4/29/14

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SM South

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Boys’ Lacrosse

BV West

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BV Northwest

4/30/14

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4/28/14

SM East

LAX

LIVIN’ FOR After losing by a single goal to the Rockhurst Hawklets on Monday, April 14, the boys’ lacrosse team is currently 9-3 on the season. Since the loss, the team has gone undefeated. The team has beat the Blue Valley North Mustangs and Northland since the Rockhurst

game.

On Saturday, April 19, the team defeated Blue Valley North 19-1, and on Tuesday, April 22 the team defeated Northland 14-2, to improve their record to 9-3. Junior attackman John Aliber led the team with nine goals in the win against Northland. Junior attackman Nic Bailey had four goals, and junior attackman Sam Huffman and senior attackman Tommy Larson both had three goals.

If they win this weekend, the Lancers are nearly guaranteed a two seed for the Lacrosse Association of Kansas City (LAKC) tournament. The last two years the team won the LAKC championship, they have been seeded third and second, and still managed to win their third consecutive state title.

The Lancer lacrosse team has won the LAKC championship the past three seasons. Now the team is aiming for a four-peat.

When it comes to expectations for this year’s state title, junior defenseman Sam Pottenger and Bailey didn’t have much to say, besides that they intend to win a fourth consecutive championship.

“I personally guarantee we’re going to win,” Pottenger said.

Bailey adds that there’s no doubt about it.

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sports.

acrosse is aiming for their fourth consecutive state championship.

Boys’ tennis is working toward a three-peat. Girls swim a five-peat. These three spring sports teams have a history of dominance in their 6A divisions. They’ve all won state titles in the previous years, including last year. Now, these teams are looking ahead to this year’s state championships, and they feel the pressure building.

According to Athletic Director Kelli Kurle, teams that are defending state champions feel a different sense of pressure than other teams.

“I would say [for returning state championship athletes] there’s pressure because you don’t want to let your teammates down,” Kurle said. “You don’t want to be the one that would hinder your team from getting to state, so they’re trying almost harder than people that haven’t been there before.”

Senior lacrosse player Alex Mayfield, who was on last year’s state championship team, says pressure is always on athletes no matter what. However, according to Mayfield, the pressure that athletes like him and other defending state champions feel is different than the pressure felt by non-state champion athletes.

“Pressure in sports is always different for everyone, and everyone deals with pres-

sure in their own way,” Mayfield said. “Last season we felt like we had earned the right to play for the championship, but we weren’t just playing for a trophy, we were playing for last year’s seniors and our coaches and all the fans that came out. It’ll be the same this year.”

Senior swimmer Madeline Peters was part of the state champion girls’ swim team last season. Now, in her last high school swim season, she is aiming to finish strong with another state title. Peters says the topic of state comes up every single day at practice amongst the team. She also says that coach Rob Cole can predict the outcome of how the state meet will play out, which helps to know what the team needs to improve on for state.

“For our team I think we talk about [winning state this year] as motivation to work harder and drop time in our events,” Peters said. We don’t avoid talking about state. Talking about expectations and goals for state really helps our team perform better.”

Although these East teams are feeling pressure this season, they are not alone. When other schools play East’s state championship teams, they tend to

Girls’ Swim State Champs 2013 2012 2011 2010

step up their game according to Kurle.

“Other schools feel pressure to beat East teams badly, because they want to be able to say ‘I beat last years state champs,’” Kurle said. “Teams that typically haven’t been performing well will perform phenomenally against us because they want so badly to beat us.”

Mayfield says that the pressure is more on the team as a whole, rather than on individual players. He has noticed that the pressure has increased, but at the end of the day, the team who deserves it most will win the state title.

Boys’ tennis has won the state title the past two seasons. Senior Brooks Kendall, who is a two-time state champion, says he tries to take it one step at a time, and focus on the present.

“There’s some pressure because you want to do well, but I try not to think about the nerves and we just try to go out and focus every match and take it one match at a time,” Kendall said.

According to Kurle, although other teams feel pressure, it’s a different sense of pressure than the lacrosse, girls’ swim and boys’ ten-

nis teams are feeling. Kurle says there’s no doubt teams that didn’t win a state championship last season still feel a great deal of pressure. For example, Kurle says the baseball team is feeling pressure this year because the team has four players that have signed to play college baseball.

For defending state champions, the feeling of pressure is different than the pressure felt by other teams, according to Kurle.

“When you’re a defending state champion, like a lot of girls’ swimmers that were on the team last year that won state and are also on this year’s team, they know what’s expected because they’ve been there before,” Kurle said.

Mayfield says that although there’s always pressure on teams, the fact is that whichever team plays better will win the state title.

“There’s always more pressure as your team develops a tradition of winning, but that also comes from the offseason work you put in and how long you’ve been playing the game,” Mayfield said. “We all want to win as badly as the fans do, but the fact is that the pressure is on and whichever team is the most calm and collected on game day will come out on top.”

Boys’ Lax State Champs 2011 2012 2013

Boys’ Tennis State Champs 2013 PLAYING 2012 2008 2006

UNDER

PRESSURE

The boys’ lacrosse, girls’ swim and boys’ tennis teams strive to fill the shoes of their state-championship winning predecessors WRITTEN BY MICHAEL KRASKE

PHOTOS BY CALLIE MCPHAIL

sports.

Showing the World That They’ve Got Spirit Junior Alexis Welch and sophomore Lucy Tubbert will compete at Worlds, the highest competition in competitive cheerleading, for the first time this summer WRITTEN BY JULIA POE PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MADDIE SCHOEMANN

DEDICATION TO THE SPORT

Injuries are a common thing with cheerleading. Alexis has fractured her spine, torn ligaments in her ankles and has had tendinitis in her knees. And she’s not the only cheerleader to get injured.

nearly

37,000

cheerleaders

visit the emergency room each year Concussion rates raised between 1998 — 2008

26%

Cheerleading accounts for

60% — 70% of all catastrophic injuries in girls’ high school sports

INFORMATION COURTESY OF U.S. NEWS

T

o begin her Worlds routine, junior Alexis Welch is tossed 20 feet into the air. The stunt is a blur, but Alexis has her stunt memorized — she kicks out both legs, then whips her legs and arms close to her body to spin twice in the air.

The hard part is coming down, free falling out of control towards the mats. But Alexis has been with this team for 10 years.

She trusts them, and this trust keeps Alexis calm as drops. She knows that the three girls below her will catch her softly, cradle her to the ground, keep her from slamming into the mats.

But she’ll only have a half-second to breathe before she begins a set of back handsprings across the floor.

Sophomore Lucy Tubbert isn’t a flyer, and she doesn’t risk her body in basket throws or scorpion poses high on top of a pyramid of cheerleaders. Yet as a base, Lucy holds the safety of her flyer in her arms.

She has only been on her team for two months, yet she has earned the trust of every flyer at All-American Cheer and Stunts (AACS) by supporting them without wobbling, by throwing her body under them to cushion a bad fall.

Because more than anything — more than stunts or tumbling, than competition or trophies — cheer is a sport that revolves around the importance of the team. Trust means everything when Alexis is twisting through the air, or when Lucy is preparing to catch her flyer.

And trust supports the two girls and their teams when they compete at Worlds, an international invitation-only competition that decides the annual world champions in competitive cheer. Only three teams in each division at Worlds will walk away with a trophy, but the competition means more than that to Lucy and Alexis.

It’s about proving that Alexis’ team from

Kansas — not a dominate state like Texas or the 11 cheerleaders who she fondly refers to as California — can hold its own in the Large All her brothers and sisters.

Girls’ Division. Worlds is about proving that When she joined as a stand-in for an inLucy’s team of 11 cheerleaders can fill up the jured cheerleader, Lucy’s skills weren’t strong mats as well as 30. It’s about pride and enjoy- — she couldn’t tuck into a backflip after doing ing the greatest competition of the year — to- two split leaps, and she only had a half twist gether, as a team. at the end of her tumbling pass. But Lucy was Throughout Alexis’ ten year career, her good enough. Within her first week of comteam had always missed one goal — qualify- petitive cheer, she was competing in Washing for Worlds. In the eyes of her coach, Mi- ington D.C. for a Worlds qualifier. chael Whitney, this was not because of their “I was worried walking into this team, lack of talent, but because of the competitive- because there’s this whole stereotype that ness of the Large All Girls’ Division. [cheerleaders] are going to be mean or not While other Worlds categories might have want the new girl on their team,” Lucy said. up to 80 or 90 teams that qualify for Worlds, “But they were there for me the whole time, Large All Girls’ has an average of 10 com- immediately taught me the routine, and I honpetitors — meaning higher talent and higher estly feel more at home with them than I have stakes. In over 20 years, several gyms have with any other team I’ve been on before.” dominated this division at Worlds.

The day after the competition, AACS reOut of every gym in the ceived their Worlds bid. A world, only five of those month later, Lucy got her tuck gyms have ever placed in Just being there and flip. She landed her full twist. competing is already the history of Worlds.

And a month later, Lucy was a “It’s the division that a dream come true solid part of the AACS Worlds team. everyone stops what When it comes to the comthey’re doing to watch,” petition itself, both Lucy and Whitney said. “These are Alexis don’t have high expecthe best competitors at Worlds, and it’s astounding to watch and even tations. They don’t doubt their talent, but they know that the nature of their divisions makes more astounding to compete in.”

With little over a year left in her cheer ca- it difficult for anyone to place — especially reer, Alexis’ Worlds qualification came at the small gyms from Kansas.

But they are happy. A Worlds bid is a troperfect time. In their first competition of this year’s season, her team received for a partial phy in itself — a certificate that Lucy is good bid, meaning that they are qualified but have enough to be on a Level 5 cheerleading team, that Alexis is on one of the top 10 teams in to pay their way.

“I honestly don’t remember that perfor- the world.

“It’s an honor to even be invited to Worlds, mance,” Alexis said. “It was all a blur, and I just went through the motions. We had worked so especially for us,” Alexis said. “We want to hard for so long that all I had to do was relax make an impact, we want to do well and we want to place. But just being there and comand hit everything.”

Lucy isn’t the veteran that Alexis is — she peting is already a dream come true.” has only spent two months on her team at AACS — but she feels the same trust among

ALEXIS WELCH, 11

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photo essay.

PHOTO BY MCKENZIE SWANSON

t On April 22, the Shawnee Mission East Girls Swim and Dive Team honored their seniors at 2014 Senior Night, and swam against rivals Lawrence Free State. East ultimately won the meet by 36 points, adding to their currently undefeated season record.

PHOTO BY JACK STEVENS

ABOVE: Coach Rob Cole consoles Sophomore Sarah Allegri after her 50 meter freestyle race. “Rob is a great coach under pressure, he always goes into meets with a positive attitude,” Allegri said. “At the Free State meet, he was expecting me to go a certain time, and when I didn’t, he was really cool about it which made me feel a lot better about not doing well”.

PHOTO BY CALLIE MCPHAIL

ABOVE: Sophomore Maddie Mann walks with her sister, senior Annie Mann and her parents during the senior recognition ceremony. “This year has been very emotional for me because it is Annie’s last year on the team,” Mann said. “But it is definitely something to enjoy and has brought us closer together”.

PHOTO BY MCKENZIE SWANSON

ABOVE: Sophomore Maddy Roney competes against several other divers from Shawnee Mission East and Lawrence Free State during event 5 of the meet. “We have league coming up pretty soon so that is exciting,” Roney said. “I’m the last diver left trying to qualify for state. To make it, I’m working on a 2 1/2 dive and reverse 1 1/2 dive”.

PHOTO BY ANDREW MCKITTRICK

ABOVE: Senior Ashley Murrell cheers during the 200 Medley Relay. “This was an intense meet for us. We really wanted to prove to our coach that we’ve been working hard,” Murrell said. “I love cheering for my teammates because it’s a way for the person swimming to get encouraged and push harder”.

PHOTO BY CALLIE MCPHAIL

LEFT: Senior Annie Mann takes her final flip turn in the 100 Breast. “The team is doing great this year,” Mann said. “Lawrence Free State is our biggest competition for league and for state, and yesterday we beat them by 36 points”. Lawrence Free State was predicted to beat the Lancers by a close 4 points.