Issue 4

T H e H A R B IN G E R Issue 4 October 13, 2014 Shawnee Mission East Prairie Village, KS smeharbinger.net

INTRUDER

ALERT

District policies for lockdown procedures change, putting an emphasis on giving students and teachers the ability to choose a plan written by Tommy Sherk

O

n what she notices to be an unusually quiet Friday, during hall monitor duty, History teacher Vicki Helgesen turned and spoke to her student teacher.

“We’ve got a rivalry game tonight,” Helgesen said. “Kind of calm for such a big game.”

Minutes later, a pipe bomb exploded from behind a water fountain. Students and teachers alike evacuated into the cool winter day of 1993. No one was injured, but something had changed in the staff and in the student body. The notion of “it could never happen to us” was gone.

continued on PAGE 5

INSIDE:

KANSAS ELECTIONS GUIDE ALUM GIVEN SECOND CHANCE FASHION WEEK PREVIEW page 7

pages 16-17

page 24

RUNNER OVERCOMES INJURY page 27

editorial

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T E N A L P G N I K N I S R OU Demanding climate change regulation from the international community

The Earth is warming up. Sea levels are rising, weather is becoming more extreme and animal species are going extinct every day. A big cause is the greenhouse gases and carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US is responsible for 19 percent of those emissions.

We have room for improvement, but we’re not the only contributor. China produces 23 percent, while European Union produces 13 percent, according to the EPA. To try to stall and fight back against global warming, the Harbinger believes the US needs to push for a global treaty to fight climate change. A treaty that would solidify regulations and standards across the world to bring down carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

By the end of the century, lands across the world, from the Netherlands to China, that 215 million people call home now will be at or below sea level, according to weather.com. People living in cities like Boston and New Orleans in the US all the way to Guangzhou, China, Mumbai, India and Amsterdam in the Netherlands will be at serious flood risks.

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Morgan Krakow Sophie Tulp ASSISTANT EDITORS Caroline Kohring Tommy Sherk HEAD COPY EDITOR Pauline Werner ASSISTANT HEAD COPY EDITOR Hannah Coleman ART & DESIGN EDITOR Phoebe Aguiar NEWS SECTION EDITOR Sophie Storbeck NEWS PAGE DESIGNERS Will Clough Will Brownlee SPREAD EDITOR Aidan Epstein FEATURES SECTION EDITOR Hannah Coleman

FEATURES PAGE DESIGNERS Anna Dierks Caroline Heitmann Claire Pottenger COPY EDITORS Pauline Werner Sophie Tulp Morgan Krakow Hannah Coleman Tommy Sherk Audrey Danciger Caroline Kohring Sophie Storbeck Maddie Hyatt Julia Poe Susannah Mitchell Phoebe Aguiar FREELANCE PAGE DESIGNERS John Foster Maxx Lamb STAFF WRITERS Davis Finke Katharine Swindells Lauren Cole Teagan Noblit Jessica Parker Elaine Chamberlain Stella Braly

Sea levels rising won’t be the only concern if we continue in the direction we’re going. With global warming, droughts have become drier, longer and more frequent, according to the EPA. In the US, California is in its fourth year of severe drought. With the nation’s largest agricultural producer in a serious drought, global warming is bound to take it’s toll on the economy, destroying thousands of jobs and raising food prices across the nation.

Droughts in impoverished countries could have an even deadlier effect. In Somalia, a severe drought has caused thousands to starve as terrorist groups have blocked United Nations aid to the people.

The Earth is warming and it’s impossible to stop it, but not to slow it down. The goal set by the UN Summit is to only allow the temperature to rise by 2 degrees celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). If something isn’t done soon to curb emissions, the temperature and sea levels will rise and the crisis will get worse.

The US produces its share of greenhouse gases. We’re responsible for the climate change the planet is going

through right now. There are things we need to do to help curb the rising temperature. We need to regulate the amount of greenhouse gases that can be put into the air around the world and encourage investment in green technologies here in the US and in countries like China that rely heavily on coal.

But we’re not the only ones responsible. China and Europe are both spewing out these chemicals into our atmosphere too. That’s why we need a global response to this crisis.

European Union countries, according to the UN Climate Summit, have already said they’d cut their carbon emissions by 40 percent of their 1990s level. Europe’s cuts need to become the global standard by the year 2030 if the world wants any chance of keeping the temperature of rising higher than 2 degrees.

Climate change is something that will affect every person on the planet, so the entire planet should take part in fixing it. We need global standards and regulations to make every nation and country greener. This is a global issue, and we need a global solution.

THE HARBINGER STAFF Fall 2014 Audrey Danciger Kylie Schultz Celia Hack Daniel Rinner STAFF ARTIST Yashi Wang PHOTO EDITOR Annie Savage ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Hailey Hughes OPINION SECTION EDITOR Audrey Danciger OPINION PAGE WDESIGNERS Courtney McClelland Chloe Stanford Ellie Booton A&E SECTION EDITOR Audrey Danciger A&E PAGE DESIGNERS Yashi Wang Maddie Hyatt

SPORTS SECTION EDITOR Will Oakley SPORTS PAGE DESIGNERS Ellis Nepstad Michael Kraske Alex Masson

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Annika Sink Abby Hans Abby Blake Kaitlyn Stratman Haley Bell Alison Stockwell Paloma Garcia Morgan Browning Kylie Rellihan James Wooldridge Joseph Cline SMEPHOTOS Paloma Garcia EDITORIAL BOARD Sophie Tulp Morgan Krakow Pauline Werner Tommy Sherk

Caroline Kohring Hannah Coleman Julia Poe Mike Thibodeau Susannah Mitchell Phoebe Aguiar Katharine Swindells ADS MANAGER Celia Hack ONLINE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Susannah Mitchell Julia Poe ONLINE HEAD COPY EDITOR Maddie Hyatt ONLINE PHOTO EDITORS Katie Lamar Callie McPhail ONLINE CONVERGENCE EDITOR John Foster ONLINE INDEPTH NEWS SECTION EDITOR Mike Thibodeau

ONLINE NEWS BRIEFS SECTION EDITOR Will Clough ONLINE HOMEGROWN EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton ONLINE OPINION EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton ONLINE A&E EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton Online Sports Section Editors Michael Kraske Daniel Rinner VIDEO EDITOR Matthew Bruyere PODCAST & RADIO EDITOR Leah O’Connor EASTIPEDIA EDITOR Matthew Kaplan

INTERACTIVE EDITOR Mike Thibodeau HEAD WEBMASTER Jacob Milgrim APPRENTICE WEBMASTERS Katie Lamar Katie Roe LIVE BROADCAST EDITOR John Foster ASSISTANT LIVE BROADCAST EDITORS Ellis Nepstad Katie Roe MULTIMEDIA STAFF Tommy Sherk John Foster Gabe Snyder Katie Roe Sean Overton Leah O’Connor Matthew Kaplan SOCIAL MEDIA Katharine Swindells Tyler Keys

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.

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news

ELIMINATING VACCINATING Trend among parents results in reluctance to vaccinate children for flu season this year

written by Kylie Schultz

A

photo by Morgan Browning

cross America and within the walls of East, students and parents alike are boycotting vaccines. This is due to the growing idea that vaccinations cause more harm than help, and a plummeting rate in the effectiveness in flu shots.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three to four viruses are anticipated to be the most common for the upcoming flu season. These are the ones the annual flu vaccine is equipped to protect against.

Last year, the flu vaccine had an overall effectiveness of about 60 percent, because the wrong viruses were predicted. This raised skepticism among many parents. Since many people who have been vaccinated for flu season still get the influenza, ideas spread that the flu shot is hitand-miss.

Jamie Freeman, a medical assistant at Children’s Pediatrics, is completely for the flu vaccine.

Freeman observed a boost in supply for flu shots this year. The increase is possibly triggered by the amount of illnesses kids have experienced already this fall. Parents normally begin coming in to vaccinate their children towards the beginning of September.

She offers counseling to parents who believe that the health effects outweigh the risk of the flu, or others who avoid the shot due to religious reasons.

“Influenza is deadly,” Freeman said. “Most of the time, when you tell someone it’s a vaccine to prevent a deadly disease, they’ll get on board with it.”

Danielle Voorhies, parent of junior Sierra Voorhies, views this as a form of pressuring her into something she doesn’t want to do.

“The flu is one of those things which is constantly changing,” Voorhies said. “The chances that you actually might catch [the virus] and that you might have been inoculated for the same thing are far remote.”

Voorhies believes that the negative consequences for vaccinating children for flu season outweigh the positive. Her main oppositions to vaccinating her children for influenza are the numerous side effects it may include. They range anywhere from aches and pains to Guillain Barré Syndrome, which causes temporary paralysis, according to the CDC. “A couple decades ago, you went into the doctor, the doctor told you something, you said it was gospel, it was law, and you lived by it. That was it,” said Voorhies. “Now you go home and do some research. You weigh the risks, and decide for yourself.”

Freshman Willa Wimmer thinks of not vaccinating as selfish to the general public. She doesn’t believe that there’s any reason not to, as long as it doesn’t affect peoples’ health in a negative way.

“You can’t depend on other people not to have the [virus] so you don’t get it,” said Wimmer.

“Some people have the virus in them and they build immunity. Other people don’t necessarily have that immunity.”

Wimmer has an aversion to needles and nearpanic attacks preceding shots. For kids who don’t do well with shots, there is the option of a nasal spray flu vaccine instead.

Studies by the CDC show it’s more effective against fighting the influenza in minors than the actual flu shot.

The question among parents as to whether or not all of this is necessary, still persists.

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Limited Effectiveness Three viruses are selected out of dozens to be put into shots; which means not all potentially dangerous strains are eliminated

Harmful Side Effects These range anywhere from tenderness or swelling at the injection site to febrile seizures to temporary paralysis (Guillain Barré Syndrome)

Chemicals Besides the actual virus, vaccines contain a surplus of other chemicals and ingredients, which some parents may not want to inject into their children

5 news

SECURING the

SCHOOL East adopts new safety procedures in order to prepare for worst-case scenerios

”S

continued from cover

photo by Hailey Hughes

chool, which was always to me, and really still is, is “We may call a lockdown for a worst possible situation; a safe place. A haven. It just felt different [after the one of an active shooter, an active threat,” SRO Officer attack].” Helgesen said.

Boling said. “We may call a lockdown if we get a threat that East has not been unaffected by school violence. Now, says, ‘At this time there is supposed to be a bomb that goes 20 years after the bombing, the safety of students and staff off.’ We’ll call a lockdown and start scouring the building.” is still, and always will be, at risk. However, the efficiency The “code red” procedure included locking the of how East reacts to dangerous situations determines how door,turning off the lights and hiding. In the new “lockmuch damage can be done. down” procedure, each individual class must assess the To defend against shootings and other potentially situation and make a plan. This may mean blocking the dangerous situations, the district reformed some of the door with file cabinets and chairs, escaping through the procedures in response to the urges from FEMA (Federal window or fighting back against a perpetrator.

Emergency Management Agency) for schools to change

“It’s assess the situation, then decide whether you their emergency plans. After the outbreak of school shootare going to run, fight or hide,” Associate principal Britton ings in the past few years (149 since 2000), FEMA did Haney said. intensive psychological studies about on-campus shootings To make the proper assessments, East teachers had to be in order to give realistic information to schools nationwide. educated for these situations. They trained during a teacher These procedures aim to make the idea of a haven a workday. Useful information, like the predicted actions of a reality. Now, in the event of an extreme threat, there will be school shooter, has been passed from FEMA to PV Police, less play-by-play structure and more of a reliance on human East’s administration and the SRO officers. They will then instinct.

“If the best bet is you guys get in the corner, everybody New “restricted access” and “lockdown” policies have been implemented this year for the entire district. has a book or a lead pipe or a wrench. And if someone All schools in the district have the same terminology, comes through that door, you just let them have it- and which makes communication easier between schools, that’s what you’re gonna have to do.” Britton Haney the central office and the police departments. According to Associate Principal Britton Haney, the procedures were a product of new, study-based ideas regarding school safety. relay it to teachers during inservices and through informaIn past years, during lockdown, teachers would lock the tional packets. In situations where the class must make a doors and continue teaching. This has been replaced by plan quickly, this information will aid the decision making what is called a “restricted access” or “perimeter lockdown”. process. If the situation calls for it, fighting a perpetrator is When a crisis occurs, East’s School Resource officers a viable option.

(SROs), Officer Boling and Officer Mieske, will lock all of “If the best bet is you guys get in the corner, everybody the perimeter doors and will patrol the area to make sure no has a book or a lead pipe or a wrench. And if someone one comes onto the campus. comes through that door, you just let them have it- and What was once called “code red” is now “lockdown”. that’s what you’re gonna have to do.” Haney said.

Haney redicts a lockdown would be set into motion if a seriThough the plan is not “every man for himself,” it does ous threat to the student body is present. allow classes to make a wide spectrum of choices.

“It provides a lot more flexibility [than the previous strategy] for both the first responders, and also for teachers and students,” Helgesen said.

If a lockdown were to occur, multiple plans would be set in motion. Certain administrators would secure their assigned doors. The PV police would be at East in a predicted 60 seconds. The SRO officers, stationed at East, have the ultimate goal of stopping the threat at its source. Meanwhile, the students and teachers who managed to get out of the school, would group on the football field and attempt to take attendance.

On Wednesday, there will be an evacuation drill where students and teachers will meet on the football field.

Though the drill will take about an hour, Haney believes it is necessary. He believes it is the closest practical thing to a lockdown evacuation drill that can be exercised.

On days students don’t have school, Officer Boling and Officer Mieske will continue to train the staff during inservices. Teachers are then suggested to pass on information onto students.

Though Junior Paxton Pruneau feels safe at East, she is skeptical of the new lockdown procedure.

“I feel like the new procedures should be more set in stone like ‘This is what you do or don’t do’,” Pruneau said. “It could get really hectic.”

Haney stresses that in order to maintain the level of preparedness and safety in East, students and teachers have to do their part. A major issue is that students and teachers sometimes prop open doors and then leave them unattended. In the bad situation, East would prefer an aggressive perpetrator to enter through the main office.

Though school shootings almost reached 150 since 2000, East’s reformations aim to protect the student body-and allow the student body to protect themselves.

“I would rather have free will in the classroom,” Sophomore John Arnspiger said, “than be forced to sit and face potential danger.”

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news

G LO B A L

WARNING

written by Will Brownlee

The United Nation held a summit for world leaders on climate change to address and consider the continued affect of climate change throughout the world

World Leaders met on Sept. 23 at a United Nations Summit on attempted to find solutions to the issue of climate change Information courtesy of MCT Campus

he United Nations Climate Summit was recently held in New York City. There were 120 world leaders present for the conference where multiple environmental issues were discussed.

The goal of the seminar was to cut carbon emissions, build resilience and mobilize markets.

Junior Graham Murphy, an environmental advocate, was encouraged by the dialogue the conference created.

“It’s a relief that world leaders are finally deciding to come together in an attempt to remedy perhaps the biggest issue of our time.” Murphy said. “It is our responsibility as humans, having created this disaster, to fix the damage we have done.”

Murphy isn’t alone in his passion for ending the environmental crisis. At the same time as the Summit, the People’s Climate March, an eco-protest on Wall Street, attracted nearly half a million people. It sent a message to the 100-plus world leaders at the Summit to take action.

Thousands of other protests were held worldwide to raise awareness.

“There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other. And that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate,” said President Obama at the Climate Summit.

The president also said that the U.S. as one of the most powerful countries in the world and a significant consumer of fossil fuels, has to be the forerunner in the fight against climate change.

According to Murphy, a key part in the struggle against climate change is environmental consciousness. “We can’t expect people to come together to combat one of the biggest issues of our time if they are not aware of how or why they should”, Murphy said.

At East, classes like Environmental Education give students a more hands on approach that has a practical application for the current environmental crisis.

“Through Environmental Ed I’ve built an appreciation for nature,” Senior Levi Enochs said.

“I used to not care about climate change but ever since I’ve been learning about how it affects the environment and endangers so many different species including our own, I’ve become more

conscious.”

Although more people are becoming aware of environmental issues, many Americans still aren’t directly affected by climate change. However small island states such as the Marshall Islands, only 6 feet above sea level, see the detrimental effects routinely; facing rampant droughts and flooding.

One of the keynote speakers at the Climate Summit, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, is a citizen of the Marshall Islands. She recited a poem to the general assembly in the opening ceremonies. It was written from the perspective of her future self to her infant daughter it conveyed a lot of emotion.

“No one’s moving. No one’s losing their homeland. No one’s becoming a climate change refugee. We are drawing the line here,” she concluded.

Time will tell whether or not the current environmental issues will be solved. The next summit will be held in December in Lima, Peru where more agreements will be solidified.

According to Murphy however, it is an individual responsibility to make good choices that don’t harm the environment.

“Ultimately, it is up to the everyday man and woman to take it upon themselves to consume less resources, and re-purpose and recycle what they can,” Murphy said.

Murphy also believes companies and corporations should be incentivized to be more environmentally friendly.

“We need to give them a reason to care”, Murphy said. “Give benefits to the cleanest and greenest companies, and maybe even penalize those that aren’t.

You could say it’s an interference of capitalism, but in the big picture, what’s more important, the pockets of the already rich, or the long term survival of our planet?”

Murphy is relieved that world leaders are finally acting on climate change, but regardless, he believes the ultimate responsibility lies with the individual.

“The whole movement towards a greener society depends on the actions of the everyday citizen”, said Murphy.

“Their willingness to make slight changes to their lifestyle for a greater cause.”

WAYS YOU CAN

HELP THE CLIMATE Use a resuable water bottle instead of plastic bottles to limit waste to landfills and have water accessible whenever you want

Try and carpool or take public transit whenever possible to limit your carbon footprint

Switch out incandescent lightbulbs with more energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs

Recycle glass, paper, plastic and any other materials you can.

Also, find a way to compost left over food scraps.

Write emails and letters to your local, state and national elected officials about climate change

DAVIS VS. BROWNBACK

ORMAN VS. ROBERTS

Incumbent Republican challenged by Independent

Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

These elections marked the last times that the Kansas electoral college voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Since then, for the last 12 presidential elections, Kansas has voted Republican.

Nov. 4 — Election Day 2014 — could mark a shift away from this pattern. The Kansas senate seat held by Republican Pat Roberts since 1997 is being challenged by Independent candidate Greg Orman. The Democratic Party initially backed Chad Taylor. Since then, though, Taylor has withdrawn from the race, leaving voters to decide between Republican and Independent candidates.

AP Government teacher Ronald Stallard says that Taylor dropped out of the race because of pressure from his party.

He says that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was aware that they had low chances of getting a Democrat in office over a Republican in Kansas, so they nudged him out of the race in order to make room for Orman.

Orman’s campaign website advertises him as “fiscally conservative, but socially tolerant.” This means, according to Stallard, that he’s interested in shrinking both the federal government’s yearly spending deficit and its influence on personal issues like abortion and marriage equality.

What’s getting him the attention, according to Stallard, is his promise to “look at the ideas.” Instead of voting along party lines, Orman says he’s going to take his own look at the issues, and align himself with either party. Orman’s website says that his alignment with a particular party would depend on their willingness to reach common-ground solutions.

“A lot of the moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats like [Orman’s] message, so they were leaving Taylor’s campaign,” Stallard said. “[The Democratic Party] was looking for somebody who actually has a chance of winning.”

Senior Ali Dastjerdi, president of the SME Political Union, says that the DNC is invested in this election because of its broader, nationwide goals.

“The Democrats know that they can’t get a Democrat in the senate from Kansas,” Dastjerdi said. “But being able to unseat a Republican in this race is essential, for them, to maintain their majority.”

The Senate is currently controlled by the Democrats. According to Stallard, they’re worried about Republicans getting a majority in both the House and the Senate.

Since the Democrats nudged Taylor out of the election, this particular senate election is drawing attention from national news outlets like CNN and Fox. Polling data shows that Orman is ahead — CNN reported on Oct. 7 that he leads Roberts by two percent.

According to Stallard, the country is taking an interest because something’s happening in Kansas that doesn’t usually happen — the Republican Party is threatened in a state where they usually aren’t.

Ultimately, Stallard says that such a large-scale extrapolation — that the Kansas senate election alone will decide whether or not the Republicans will gain a majority in the Senate -- is inaccurate. Close elections going on in states like Louisiana and Michigan will make the same impact, he says.

“It matters on so many different things, there are a lot of states out there that have close races,” Stallard said. “The senate is either going to get stuff done of they’re not. Congress in Washington is so dysfunctional anyway, they’re going to do what they do.”

7 news

Governor’s race heats up as current KS governor Republican Sam Brownback is challenged by Democrat Paul Davis

written by Pauline Werner

GUBERNATORIAL 46 45 44 43 42 41

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July

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Sept.

BROWNBACK DAVIS

Davis gained an advantage in July as Brownback’s lead steadily decreased

THE SENATE ROBERTS ORMAN 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39

38 Sept. 22 Sept. 29 Oct. 9 Recent polling data shows that Orman has a slight lead above Roberts

When then-Senator Sam Brownback took democratic governor Kathleen Sebelius’ place in Topeka, he was elected by a margin of 63 percent.

He ran on principles of fiscal and social conservatism. In office, he signed three anti-abortion bills, enacted cuts to education funding that were declared unconstitutional and lowered income taxes in an effort to alleviate Kansans’ economic hardships.

On Nov. 4, Paul Davis, Democratic leader of the Kansas House of Representatives, will contest his reelection. And, as of Oct. 1, Davis leads his opponent by 3 percent in a poll run by the Huffington Post.

According to AP Government teacher Ronald Stallard, Davis’ lead is mostly attributed to Brownback’s unpopularity.

Since his election by a margin of 63 percent in 2010, the New York Times reported that in 2014, he has an approval rating in the negatives.

“If you look at what has happened in the economy, the tax cuts that he put into place have not stimulated the growth they said it would,” Stallard said.

Senior Ali Dastjerdi, president of the SME Political Union, says that Davis’ lead in the polls isn’t because there are now more Democrats in Kansas. Though he’s running as a Democrat, he opposes Brownback’s solidly conservative policies, which makes him appealing to moderates from both parties.

Davis first ran for public office in 2003, after working as a lawyer in Lawrence in his own firm. According to his website, he ran out of concern for Kansas’ public education system, when its budget was slashed as a part of Brownback’s fiscal reform agenda.

“In one sense, it’s a question of school funding,” Dastjerdi said. “Without a doubt, our district has been hit because of Brownback’s educational policy. Davis’ platform increases education funding, so that would immediately impact East.”

To show his own ideas to help lift Kansas out of economic recession, Davis points to his own efforts to stimulate job growth -- a plan for economic investment in transportation. Davis expects this investment to result in over 175,000 jobs as a result of his “bipartisan coalition.” In 2013, he worked on a bipartisan budget that reduced government spending by $1.2 billion and avoided raising property taxes without making any cuts to public schools.

If Davis is elected, he will preside over two Republicancontrolled legislative houses. According to Stallard, its unlikely that his situation will result in the same congressional gridlock President Obama faces in Washington. Davis would be a Democrat in Kansas, a state that is largely made up of Republicans, and would have no choice when it comes to working with his Republican colleagues.

“He can’t go in with this massive liberal agenda, because he knows it’s not going to happen,” Stallard said. “If you get a Democrat into office, a strong one, you have to be able to compromise.”

REAL CLEAR POLITICS AVERAGE:

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statistics courtesy of RealClearPolitics.com

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news

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school, local and worldwide news broken down written by Alex Masson

First SHARE Senior Service Day Shawnee Mission East, in partnership with SHARE, will be hosting the Senior Service Day this year for the first time.

Senior Service day is on Oct 15 and gives students a chance to give back to their communities before they venture off from the grounds of Shawnee Mission East.

These community service hours will range from activities such as helping feed the hungry, assist the undeserved, entertain the elderly and support charitable agencies who can benefit from extra helping hands.

“We want to give every student the chance to serve their community once before they graduate,”according to the East web page, “We know it only takes one day of service to be hooked for life.”

The program is backed by SHARE, the second largest student led community group in the country. They work to give back to the community when they can, while working towards making a better environment for students.

College Clinic on Wednesday The Shawnee Mission School District will be hosting the 52nd annual College Clinic at Shawnee Mission East on Wednesday, the clinic will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 after school.

The clinic gives an opportunity to SMSD students to get in contact with colleges face-to-face. The clinic this year will host more than 200 colleges, ranging from local colleges to colleges like UCLA or Oregon.

“I think the college clinic is a great way for students to get one on one time with the colleges,” junior Henry Churchill said, “It’s a great way to get your name out there and a good way to discover colleges that you never knew existed.”

The clinic will feature a cleaner way to get information to the colleges. Before students arrive at the college clinic, they must fill out an electronic application with all the information that the colleges need. In years past, colleges were slowed down by students writing illegibly.

The new way of broadcasting information is made by a company called College Fair Automation, and has already been successful in multiple college fairs.

Photos of the Week left

High School Protests in Denver In Golden, Colorado students and teachers alike have been protesting the reform of local school district’s Advanced Placement U.S. History Class curriculum.

While school districts like the Shawnee Mission School District and the Blue Valley district have refined their respective curriculum in years past with no murmurs to be heard from either the parents or students, the Jackson County School District in Colorado is under fire for the goal of their refinements being that students would be taught “benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights,” while avoiding lessons that condoned “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law,” according to a New York Times article.

After two weeks of anger from the Jackson County School District parents, students, and teachers the school board finally gave way and backed off from the proposal, while the school board did vote 3-2 on creating a curriculum review board that was to include teachers, parents and students alike.

While the bludgeoned proposal calmed a few of the irate faculty and students, hundreds more lined the streets inside the school district in order to criticize those in charge of the movement for refinements to the learning system. Parents and students voiced their reasons for having the three newly elected school board members to resign immediately.

The school board no longer denies the fact that the community is involved in their choices of teachings the students, and have begun meetings in order to meet with the protesters to work towards a compromise or just deleting the proposal altogether.

photo by Haley Bell

Margo Hellman takes a bite out of a donuts at Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Senior Service Projects After the Harvest Hillcrest Transitional Services, working on housing Happy Bottoms and Blessings Abound Thrift Store KC Community Kitchen and ReStart

above left

photo by

Allison Stockwell

Sophomore Morgan Biles plays the violin at an orchestra concert

above

photo by

Katie Lamar

East defeats Lawrence Free State 42-14 on Friday

entertaining and helping the ederly Brighton Gardens Crossroads Hospice

more than 150

gleaning fruits and greens

25 providing food for the hungry

20 15 7

working with patients nearing the end of their lives

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opinion

In Recovery Following periods of self-starvation and self-hate, recovery from disordered eating is a long and difficult path, but ultimately worth it

opinion by Susannah Mitchell

photo by Abby Blake

No. No. Susannah, don’t look at your dinner. Ignore it. No. Choke down your Diet Coke and give a watery smile and act like everything is okay. The more you smile the less fake you seem and everyone will believe you and everything is fine.

Try to keep your balance and forget the pounding in your head. If you pretend the black spots in your vision don’t exist then they won’t exist, because that’s how things work.

Calm down. Breathe. Go back to your room. Try not to crumble because you actually ate food yesterday. Don’t eat any more and maybe you’ll stop aching. Maybe you won’t feel the pain from that awful day three months ago, when you looked in the mirror and decided to stop eating, because you looked fat.

Fat. The word is forever stamped onto my brain and it burns my tongue. It’s a threat as much as a punishment. I was eight when the word first hit me, a harsh slap in my face. I was standing on my grandma’s back porch, a chorus of cicadas whispering in my ear.

My brother and I were arguing, going back and forth, trying to one-up each other with our most scathing insults.

“Yeah, well you’re stupid!”

“Yeah, well you’re dumb!”

A pause.

“Yeah, well you’re fat!”

We both went silent. My brother blanched. His words settled between us, an ocean of hurt.

This was different from our usual fights. We could use as many petty insults as we wanted. But “stupid” and “dumb” are harmless. “Fat” is a kind of venom you can’t suck out of the veins. It stays. It circulates.

I’ve always been the fat kid. The fat friend. The fat girl. The desire to lose weight gnawed at me for years, a fire fed by self-doubt. Hiding behind my towel while my friends showed off their new bikinis at the pool. Covering my arms with heavy sweaters in 100 degree heat. Shopping for larges while my friends happily purchased smalls. I was ashamed.

Halfway through my sophomore year, I started my diet. I wanted to be healthier, have more confidence. I was eating 1200 calories a day, the bare minimum amount of calories still considered healthy. I did pilates, I started jogging. I was doing everything right, but everything was going so slowly. Then I had an idea.

A fire lit in my head: starvation.

The process was gradual. Each day I reduced and restricted everything I ate, and within a month I’d perfected my method. Throwing out my lunch when I got to school. Heading straight to my bed when I got home to ignore the hunger pains. Ignoring every urge I had to shove something, anything, in my mouth and swallow it down.

Within two months, I was down to 200 calories a day.

Skinnier, prettier, thinner. As much as fat was a threat, thin was a promise. I would spend hours each day looking at pictures of food I could never eat.

Fudge brownies, peanut butter and jelly, barbecue ribs. The pictures and words satisfied me the way I wouldn’t let eating actual food.

Food meant eating and eating meant calories and calories meant fat. Strawberries were 53 calories. Almond milk was 30. Spinach was 7. Meals and snacks were just clusters of them. Everything I ate added up in continually disappointing equations where the sums kept getting lower.

The effects weren’t immediately visible. The weeks slipped away as I was slicing off more and more calories. My bone-white complexion paled further; my nails were grotesque shades of yellow and blue. Seventy degrees felt like 50 and standing up felt like free-falling. My body was disintegrating and nothing but a sick glow shone from its ruins. I knew I was slowly killing myself, but at least I’d die thin.

What I had wasn’t just a disease. It was an addiction, a competition. I was competing with myself and there couldn’t be a winner. * * * One day in April, I finally lost. In a trance, I tiptoed past my dad’s room to the kitchen. As soon as I found the jar, I began shoving sweet, sticky Jif peanut butter into my face. It was the first time I’d eaten protein in over a month, and it was the best thing I’d ever eaten.

When I was done binging I stumbled back to my room, bloated and miserable. I curled into the darkness and began sobbing. I felt like a whale and I wanted to die. I’d lost control, and deep down, I knew I could never get it back.

That’s the thing about rules. You set them, you follow them, but inevitably they’ll be broken.

And when I broke my own rules I shattered myself.

It was then that I began to realize that the emptiness in my stomach also left me empty as a person. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cracked a joke or read a book. As much of a cliché as it is, I was what I ate. And I was nothing.

After that initial binge, I spent the next year and a half trying to put myself back together. I realized that I couldn’t go on without eating. My body would eventually give out, even though my mind already had. I couldn’t let that happen. Slowly, I started eating and trying to love myself again.

Recovery isn’t easy. It’s really damn hard. It feels like trying to tear down a brick wall with your bare hands. You slump down, bloody and scathed and defeated. You wished you’d never tried. But I had to, for myself.

I hated every second of it. I still do.

And even now, I can’t really remember those months. Years. They writhe and twist in my mind, inscrutable and punctuated only by binges and bitter successes.

But each day I had, still have, a decision to make.

I could choose to be happy. I could choose to feel again. I could choose to recover, or I could choose to die.

In the end, I choose life.

I

’m in the backseat of my Grandma’s car. We’re pulled into the AMC Theatre parking lot, about to go inside when it happens.

I can’t hold back so it all comes flying upwards. an opinion of Morgan Krakow Puke piles up on the seats, on the seat belts and spills over the cup holders. It’s in my lace-topped socks.

It squeaks around my mary-jane sneakers. The stench rises in the June heat. Macaroni noodles, in regurgitated form, seep into the khaki floor liners.

I can feel the perplexed stare of my grandma and my brother. They aren’t disgusted. But their faces show shock and a tinge of anger that only makes me feel worse.

I want to apologize, or at least explain, but I don’t have the words. My seven-year-old self won’t have the words for an entire decade.

I had become Champion Puker Number One. I was like a comic book character, except my super power was resurrecting my breakfast from its digestive grave. Mortifying, trust me. In the sink at school. In front of my parent’s friends in downtown Chicago. In a bathroom stall at Sweet Tomatoes on 79th and State Line. Name a place in the Johnson County area. I’ve probably blown chunks there.

I have anxiety.

It took me sixteen years and four months to say it out loud. Thankfully my vomiting stopped in fourth grade. But the anxiety kept showing up, never really leaving me alone.

the

I can’t go a day without feeling the black tar of anxiety that starts in the pit of my stomach. And hard as I try, it engulfs me. I am weak to it. I cannot prevent it.

The triggers are everywhere. * * * Nine years later and I still hadn’t found the words.

A sorry excuse for a sophomore year chemistry equation is scratched out in black ink before me.

This won’t raise your C before the end of the semester.

Aggressively I punch a final attempt into my calculator.

Still wrong.

Colleges don’t like slackers.

My eyes try to shut. It’s already midnight. And I’m failing. At everything.

Without warning, the thought bubbles up.

What’s the point?

My life is caving inwards and I don’t even realize it.

A thought crosses my mind. At first it feels innocent, so I entertain the idea. In all honesty, what is the point of all this? All these equations, all these headaches? No, my mind stretches further, what’s the point of all of this? I don’t sleep.

I hardly eat. I cry in front of my classmates. My friends have dissipated. Nothing is easy anymore. It all takes exhaustive effort. Can’t I just stop it all?

These thoughts are like a ghost whispering debilitating words, holding me back. I will study and study, but when I get handed a fresh Scantron all my brain can do is go white with worry, unable to process.

I have paralyzed myself.

I’ve always worried about my grades, but it hasn’t kept me up at night the way it does now. I’ve always had moments of panic, but they’ve never lasted weeks. Stress is supposed to propel me forwards, so why do I feel like it’s pulling me back? * * * July, the summer before junior year.

Midnight hangs around me. I’m a shadow beneath the full moon. A few yards away Grant, Adam, SaraRose and Max Ricochet laughter as they plan our sleeping arrangements. Desert stars form a halo of light around me. It’s our final night in the Israeli wilderness. We’re almost finished hiking from the Mediterranean to the Galilee. Good spirits are as plentiful as the bugs that buzz around my head or the specks of dirt on my shins and knees.

For one week we’ve scaled mountainsides. We’ve navigated ancient caves. We’ve slept on mats--happily. For one week we didn’t have to be ourselves.

So, for one week I didn’t worry.

Fallof Fear Acknowledging anxiety and learning how to deal with it

opinion

11

It was the longest I have gone without the oppressive stomach cramps. Without the severe pounding in my temples. Without a clenched jaw.

In my hands I hold a quivering iPhone 5. I’ve borrowed it from the only girl with an unlimited data plan.

A prickle of goosebumps rise up my arms when I visualize all the dark moments. They were for this, I tell myself.

All of the half-moons beneath my eyes. The panic attacks.

Constantly refilling the coffee pot.

And now I can view my Advanced Placement test scores.

I can find myself. I can validate every tear. After this number, after I know this score, I can close last year’s chapter.

I’m sure I did well.

I plug in my username and password.

It was an easy class.

I hug my orange pullover closer to my body and refresh the page.

At least a three.

I squeeze my eyes shut and when I open them, the oxygen escapes me. Every last molecule of air is gone. I can’t breathe. I blindly wander back to the campsite.

I failed.

On a scale of one-to-five, I got a one.

I stumble backwards. I sit down at the campsite. I tell them my score. Their faces are illuminated by a crackling fire and I can’t believe I’m telling them. They hardly know me.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I would bet it’s a mistake.”

“You shouldn’t think twice about it.”

I had spent an entire of year of my life worrying about the wrong things. And it doesn’t hit me until right now. I’m on top of a mountain. The day before I had heard Syrian missile fire from across the border. I’m a Midwest kid in the Middle East, without my parents or anyone I know. Why should some score scare me so much? Why should life scare me so much? * * * June 2014 I promised myself that life would different. So I worked for it.

Every couple of steps my ankles falter, or my shoulders rip with pain. But I don’t feel it. When I run, I can’t feel anything. I’m not doing it to lose weight. I’m not doing it to gain speed. I’m running for myself. My iPod is cranked so loud I can’t hear my own breath. It’s how I cope with whatever is on my mind. But lately, I haven’t felt so bothered.

I sprint the last seven houses up my street. My legs snap like rubber bands. My breaths are painful. No part of my body is untouched by sweat. And it feels so good.

In the air conditioning of my house I hear, “Grades came, good job!” My mom hands me an opened envelope.

I tear out the piece of paper. The automated, folded up piece of paper stares back at me. Eight triangular letters slide down the page in a perfect symmetrical line. I’ve dreamt about this moment before. Straight A’s. For the first time in my entire life I’ve achieved a perfect report card. I rush to highlight it, and check to make sure it’s okay that I put it up on the refrigerator. It looks a little ridiculous as the only thing taped to our stainless steel non-magnetic fridge.

It doesn’t make sense. I thought junior year would ruin me. I thought I didn’t have a chance. I thought by letting go of my stress, I wouldn’t have any drive. I thought my anxiety was key to my grades, but it’s clear now, it was quite the opposite.

I know it will always be there. Lurking.

Waiting to pounce. Like meeting up with a long-lost enemy. But now I know I can beat it. And someday, I will.

12

photoessay

WAKING UP ON

different sides of the bed

5:45 a.m.

Connelly wakes up and heads over to Woodside Health and Tennis Club for a Spin class. “ [Working out] helps me start the day on a positive note, because I feel really good afterwards,” Connelly said. “By the time I get to school, I’m wired.” As soon as the class ends at 6:30 a.m., she drives her mom’s car home to take a quick body shower.

6:40 a.m.

Next, Connelly does her hair and make up. “I think putting on makeup is very tedious and it takes a good chunk out of my morning, but it’s worth it,” Connelly said. After putting on her makeup, she will search through her closet for an outfit to wear.

Junior cheerleader Halle Connelly and junior football player Charlie Jensen have completely different ways of getting ready for school

7:00 a.m.

First thing Jensen does is make a protein smoothie, a fast breakfast since he wakes up late. “I usually just throw stuff together in the blender,” Jensen said. “It’s usually just a way for me to get in quick breakfast that will last throughout the day, I prefer when my mom makes me eggs, though.”

7:15 a.m.

Although Jensen is halfway through his high school career, his mom still makes him lunch daily. “I don’t ask her to make my lunch, she just does it for me,” Jensen said. “She usually puts it together while I’m brushing my teeth and getting dressed.”

7:25 a.m.

7:00 a.m.

Before Connelly leaves for school, she tries to grab a bite to eat. “I always try to eat breakfast after I workout in the morning,” Connelly said. “Just a muffin or something on the go so I don’t have an empty stomach.”

photos by Annie Savage

Lastly, Jensen gathers up his clean laundry for football practice that day.

“Right before I leave for school, I stop in the laundry room and grab my clothes I need for football,” Jensen said. “It may take more time in the morning, but it is better than me rushing home after school.” He usually ends up leaving the house about 7:30 a.m. each day.

photos by Katie Lamar

opinion

13

A Different Tempo Embracing a love of classical music even it is not the usual genre of choice for a teenager

I

used to care what people thought about it. It would hurt, and I would want to hide it. Conceal any traces of it. Pretend that it didn’t belong to me. I was called dull, boring, not considered a real teenager.

People would say, “Classical music? That’s a little squarish don’t you think?”

“Aren’t you too young to be spending time with that?”

“Don’t you have any actual taste?”

Those words would burn and scar me. I wanted people to think I had good taste, to be interesting to people. For people to like what I liked. And sometimes I would tell others that I liked pop music. That I liked Katy Perry as much everyone else did. That I would dance and sing along to Beyoncé.

But it just wasn’t true. I wanted to be able to gossip about Miley Cyrus like everyone else. Frankly, I’d rather have an intellectual conversation about how Johannes Brahms manages to intertwine and switch the melodies halfway through his “Intermezzo in A Major.” It’s just the truth. And my love for classical grew and it became harder and harder to suppress. I was a sixth-grader with a love of Bach and I hated it.

So one day, I just stopped suppressing it. I tentatively let people see through the cracks in my facade and what lay beneath. People laughed at my face. Sneers, disbelief, slow nods and suppressed giggling. I experienced all of it. And it was hard. No one cared to listen to me rattle on about the intricacies of Rachmaninov’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” or Debussy’s “Deux Arabesques.”

“Shut up.”

“I don’t want to hear it right now.”

“Hannah, I don’t want to hear your stupid music today.”

I didn’t want to be ashamed of letting others know what I truly am like on the inside. That I spend most of my free time listening anywhere from Bach to French opera. That I spend up to 21 hours a week practicing piano and guitar, or that I will go sit in the stairwell of my house and play guitar because it has the best acoustics.

But that’s the way it is. Plain and simple. I’m a nerd, so what? It’s me. It wouldn’t be me without it.

To most, classical music is just noise, and that’s all. Food

opinion of Hannah Coleman for the souls of old and lonely people who sit in rocking chairs and twiddle their thumbs. Or perhaps for geniuses as they work on a cure for cancer. I’ve heard it described only as a use for elevator music, that it is just tasteless background music for old people to listen to.

Surely, not something teenagers would be into. I’ve heard all of the excuses: it’s boring, lacks energy, or the right beat, it has no lyrics, you can’t dance to it. I’ve heard it all.

I hear it close to every day. My family rolls their eyes when I find myself dancing to Bach sonatas. It can be danced to, even if it is in the most unattractive way possible.

However, like most seem to think, I wasn’t born with a love of classical music. And it wasn’t just picking up a guitar that got me started in music. Most say that when you try out an instrument it’s just “poof!” magic. You have this unbreakable bond with the instrument and you now have this shared musical soul for all of eternity. It’s romanticized all of the time. But people don’t understand how it really works, and nor did I at first.

I, like anyone else, judged people who listened to classical music. I grew up with Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and K-LOVE in the car, my mom’s soul food. It became the music I went to for every emotion. And now my three younger sisters are into Ariana Grande, and other variations of pop music. I don’t even want to discuss my 11 year old sister’s new fetish for Johnny Cash.

Getting into classical music was an intriguing process.

And it still is. When I did try listening to it, I wasn’t astounded. It took time to become fascinated.

I started playing acoustic guitar in fifth grade, intending to learn some chords, read music, be able to strum along to some of my favorite Carrie Underwood songs. It went in the opposite direction entirely. By the next year and a half, I had bought a classical guitar, and was playing Bach. How that happened is still strange, even to me.

The first song anywhere close to classical that I played on my guitar was Silent Night, a piece I wanted to learn to play during Christmas for my family. It was played in a finger style, a style where you don’t use a guitar pick, just your fingers and there is minimal strumming. It was the first taste that I got of anything even a little different from

acoustic style. It was odd, the shapes were different, my fingers plucking in complicated and intricate patterns.

I heard combinations of notes, accidentals all over the page, yet sounding so perfect together; the guitar accompanied itself. And that was what was fascinating to me, and beautiful. Something I knew that if I kept with it, I would find even more patterns, shapes and complicated sound and beat.

After my third year of playing classical guitar, I couldn’t take it, I needed something else. I felt like there was so much I was missing, different composers and sounds I wasn’t hearing. Piano was my first instinct. It had always jumped out at me as being something I would love to play. a My great grandmother played piano at Juilliard and taught students for most of her life. I couldn’t help but think about the possibilities of mastering the piano such as my great grandmother did. So I plunged into it. And by some miracle, I am at the same advanced level in both instruments.

The amazing thing about classical, is that it doesn’t run out. It would be impossible to listen to every classical piece composed in a lifetime. It just proves how much classical music is in our lives, yet it is virtually absent in teen music culture.

Yeah, people can call me a nerd if they want to. It doesn’t bother me. I used to be a person who told others they were nerds for listening to classical music, so I understand. I understand why people aren’t automatically drawn to classical music. Why a lone clarinet playing a mournful melody, or a slow violin may not elicit the same feelings as modern music today might. It’s an appreciation that has to be experienced.

Five years ago, I would ignore any semblance to classical music. But now, it’s as if it has been in my life the entire time. It fits in naturally. With the way that I think: analytically and passionately, and with the way that I live: in appreciation of everything that I hear, and in step with a constantly ticking metronome.

photos courtesy of

Ronnell Lewis

feature

15

Life Inline Senior Ronnell Lewis puts his life on hold, but keeps a passion for inline skating written by Anna Dierks

T

he gun fires. An explosion of energy and muscle and strength. Pain, pain, pain. Pain until the perfect rhythm is found, then it all comes easily. A rhythm that makes every ounce of sore muscle, financial issues and hard work worth it. Speed, dynamics, awareness. This is the world of inline skating. This was the world of senior Ronnell Lewis.

At six-years-old, Lewis received his first pair of skates.

From that point on, Lewis was addicted to the rink.

When he was there, Lewis would try to imitate the advanced skaters. They lunged, sprinted and darted past each other, dodging arms, legs and skates. Their fluidity mesmerized Lewis. In Jefferson City, Missouri, where he grew up, Lewis saw that skating could be more than a hobby. It could also be a sport, called inline skating. Inline skating, his newfound interest, featured competitors that raced on indoor or outdoor tracks on four-wheeled skates.

The sport didn’t come naturally to Lewis. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“I sucked at first,” Lewis said. “But I was so hungry to be good, to be the best.”

So he stuck with it. Eventually, he started competing with his local team, Velocity. Attending small-scale competitions every weekend and training every day after school took up almost all of his time. After a couple of months, Lewis grew to be one of the best skaters in Jefferson City, getting noticed by teams country-wide. Then, by 16, Lewis was ranked within the top six skaters in the country.

That same year, Lewis began skating with the USA World

Tour Team. Traveling to Albuquerque, New Mexico one weekend and Paris, France the next, skating was now Lewis’s life.

Competing with his new friends, the top skaters in the world, made Lewis realize how much his life had changed.

“Ronnell is a very talented skater who knows what it takes to win a race,” Brian Christie, Lewis’s skating friend said. “He’s trained with some of the best athletes of the sport, including world team members and world champions.”

At 17, Lewis faced one of his hardest decisions. After two years on the inline skating world team and a few months getting his education online, he decided it was time to drop out of skating and school entirely. Lewis committed many hours a week to skating and it became exhausting. He felt obliged to help his parents with the bills and to begin saving money for his future.

Rondle Lewis, Lewis’s father, had recently become legally handicapped due to his strenuous labor throughout his 59 years, and could no longer work in their family-owned auto shop. Lewis knew that without his help, his parents would face financial trouble.

“I would have rather him be in school, but without his help we wouldn’t have been able to pay for a lot of things,” Rondle said.

Lewis had worked in the shop with his father for many years. From changing the thermostat radiator in his old BMW to welding a new floor into a 1987 GTA Trans Am, Lewis knew just about everything there was to know.

While working came easily, being out of school was not as simple.

“It was weird not going to school every day, that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my senior year,” Lewis said. “And it actually got kind of lonely.”

For the remainder of the year, Lewis worked in the shop.

He helped support his family, but also set aside money for his future education.

This August, Lewis moved from his home in Jefferson City to an apartment in Kansas City. Lewis’s father received a computer programming job here, which meant that Lewis could finally get back to school.

Lewis is currently taking on his senior year at East. Nearly every weekend, Lewis makes the near three hour car trip back to Jefferson City, where his mother and and father still live.

Although Lewis’s family primarily lives in Jefferson City, both of his parents make trips back and forth during the week in order to see their son.

“I am really grateful to be back in school and I am trying to make the most of it,” Lewis said.

In the future, Lewis hopes to become a chiropractor, due to his respect for the chiropractors that eased his pain throughout his inline skating days. Yet, the thought of taking skating on again is very viable to the 18-year-old, because of his love for the sport and the skill he had required over the years.

Lewis is grateful to have been able to help out his parents, but he is constantly entertaining the thought of returning to the rink.

“You never know what’s going to happen in the future,” Lewis said. “But I definitely still have that passion for inline skating.”

T

FINDING FAMILY

wo years ago, 2013 East graduate Juan Ramos’ future was out of his control.

wo years ago, Juan was arrested, lost his family, and kicked out of the only place he had to live.

Now, Juan is a sophomore at Washburn University. He’s an active student on track to graduate in four years of school. He’s a student ambassador and a fraternity representative to the campus activity board.

When fall break comes, he’ll go home to Overland Park to join a family made up of people he had never met until his senior year of high school.

Two years ago, this new family gave Juan a shot at achieving what he had always strived for — a chance to create his own future. * * * In the fall of 2012, Elise White climbs the metal bleachers to join other football team parents with her husband Curt on a Friday night. As they find their seats, Elise hands out team buttons with a picture of the player to their parents.

A few games pass, and she never finds a parent to take a button for number 81, Juan Ramos.

The other parents tell her he lacks a stable support system at home, but they don’t know anything more about him.

On following Fridays, she watches to make sure Juan is still making it to the games.

Midway through the season, number 81 does not make an appearance.

Juan quit East football when he couldn’t balance his job and the team’s activities. Working for his family demanded more than Juan could give and still commit to his teammates.

“I was working way too much to even be devoted to my teammates, and I felt horrible for that,” Juan said. * * * On a cold night in February 2013, Juan clocks out of his job at Cinzetti’s before walking seven miles home in a flurry. He walks back the way he came, alone.

Juan is 19 years old. He works 30 hours every weekend to contribute $200 a month towards rent. He often cuts seventh hour to get to work earlier and earn more tips.

When Juan steps inside the apartment at 85th and Holmes, he doesn’t know that within 24 hours, an argument will break out between him and his stepmother. She will tell the police he is suicidal, and they will find Juan in the apartment complex parking lot.

Juan will run, and they will corner him and taze him, before bringing him to Truman Medical Center.

When the hospital releases Juan, he will return home to find his stepmother shoving his clothes down the stairs.

When it’s all over, he will be homeless.

For the week and a half after he was kicked out, Juan walked the halls of East without any classmates knowing what happened. No one knew that Juan only had one more week of sleeping on a friend’s couch before he would be kicked out of that apartment too.

Finally, Juan told his counselor, Laurie Carter. She was furious, not at Juan, but at a situation that hadn’t given Juan a chance to make his future. He hadn’t applied to a single college, and it was less likely than ever that he would be able to finish his senior year.

Carter thought back to football season and remembered when Elise White had come into her office, offering anything she could do to help a kid on the football team who worked too much to play. * * *

“

Juan and Elise sat in Panera on the corner of 83rd St. and Mission Road on a Friday.

That dinner was the first time they met and the first time Juan ever ate there. He ordered the first thing Elise suggested.

Juan prayed before they ate and told Elise about his life, his stepmother and his arrest.

Before Elise took Juan to work, she brought him to her family’s home. Juan followed Elise through the house, and she showed him the bedroom where he could stay.

Later that night, Elise picked Juan up from work and dropped him off at the apartment where he had slept since the night of his arrest.

Elise came back at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday to take Juan to work.

Two days later, Juan ate dinner with Curt, Charley and Elise in their home.

Before the meal began, Juan said a prayer to himself with the understanding that Elise’s family doesn’t usually pray before meals.

Elise noticed his quiet act, and everyone followed his prayer before they began their first meal together.

After dinner, Elise took Juan back to the apartment. He cried as he stepped out of the car.

“I’m not jealous, but I hope Charley realizes how lucky he is to have a family that loves him and a roof over his head,” Juan said.

Juan decided to move in with Elise, her husband Curt, and Charley. It was his only option, but he was still unsure of his new home.

“Slowly but surely, I learned to trust [Elise],”

17

East community gives alum a second chance at his future

Juan said. “I couldn’t sleep because I had no idea what was going to happen, what the next morning was going to bring.”

In the early hours of the morning one day, Elise left her bedroom and walked through the hallway, barely lit as the sun rose. She went to shut the door to the bedroom where Juan sleeps, and looked inside. Juan’s possessions have been put in the room’s drawers as she insisted, but Juan was sleeping on top of the covers, leaving the bed made.

Elise shut the door which Juan always used to leave open and made sure that when Juan went to bed the next night, he made himself at home.

“I woke up to a feeling that I was unfamiliar with, and that was a family with love, a family ready to accept me.” Juan said.

Juan had been given a place to sleep, but he was not prepared for the future. Most of his classmates already knew what university they would attend in less than six months. Elise didn’t even know if Juan would be accepted to schools.

Elise and Juan visited local colleges and spoke with the Johnson County Community College track coach. After the coach saw Juan run during his senior season at East, Juan received a full scholarship offer.

A scholarship alone couldn’t guarantee success. When Juan took an English placement test for JCCC, he only qualified to enroll in the equivalent of a high school English course. After a few weeks with a tutor, Juan retook the test and earned a spot in the most difficult English course a beginning freshman can take at JCCC. Through federal grants and anonymous donations, Juan has been able to transfer to Washburn University’s criminal justice program. After his own encounter with the police, he sees criminal justice as a way to help people struggling as he was.

“I’ll be in a position where after people have given to me, I want to be able to give back,” Juan said.

I woke up to a feeling that I was unfamiliar with, and that was a family with love, a family ready to accept me.

-JUAN RAMOS

spread

“

16 spread

written by Daniel Rinner

above The White family had portraits taken in June 2014.

“Juan is now, and always will be, a part of our family,” Elise White said. photos by Kathy Disney and Kdog Photographers

I think that, for humans, in order to truly see the light, you have to have been in the dark. If you don’t know what failure is like then how the hell do you know the difference between succeeding and failing?

JUAN RAMOS

T

FINDING FAMILY

wo years ago, 2013 East graduate Juan Ramos’ future was out of his control.

wo years ago, Juan was arrested, lost his family, and kicked out of the only place he had to live.

Now, Juan is a sophomore at Washburn University. He’s an active student on track to graduate in four years of school. He’s a student ambassador and a fraternity representative to the campus activity board.

When fall break comes, he’ll go home to Overland Park to join a family made up of people he had never met until his senior year of high school.

Two years ago, this new family gave Juan a shot at achieving what he had always strived for — a chance to create his own future. * * * In the fall of 2012, Elise White climbs the metal bleachers to join other football team parents with her husband Curt on a Friday night. As they find their seats, Elise hands out team buttons with a picture of the player to their parents.

A few games pass, and she never finds a parent to take a button for number 81, Juan Ramos.

The other parents tell her he lacks a stable support system at home, but they don’t know anything more about him.

On following Fridays, she watches to make sure Juan is still making it to the games.

Midway through the season, number 81 does not make an appearance.

Juan quit East football when he couldn’t balance his job and the team’s activities. Working for his family demanded more than Juan could give and still commit to his teammates.

“I was working way too much to even be devoted to my teammates, and I felt horrible for that,” Juan said. * * * On a cold night in February 2013, Juan clocks out of his job at Cinzetti’s before walking seven miles home in a flurry. He walks back the way he came, alone.

Juan is 19 years old. He works 30 hours every weekend to contribute $200 a month towards rent. He often cuts seventh hour to get to work earlier and earn more tips.

When Juan steps inside the apartment at 85th and Holmes, he doesn’t know that within 24 hours, an argument will break out between him and his stepmother. She will tell the police he is suicidal, and they will find Juan in the apartment complex parking lot.

Juan will run, and they will corner him and taze him, before bringing him to Truman Medical Center.

When the hospital releases Juan, he will return home to find his stepmother shoving his clothes down the stairs.

When it’s all over, he will be homeless.

For the week and a half after he was kicked out, Juan walked the halls of East without any classmates knowing what happened. No one knew that Juan only had one more week of sleeping on a friend’s couch before he would be kicked out of that apartment too.

Finally, Juan told his counselor, Laurie Carter. She was furious, not at Juan, but at a situation that hadn’t given Juan a chance to make his future. He hadn’t applied to a single college, and it was less likely than ever that he would be able to finish his senior year.

Carter thought back to football season and remembered when Elise White had come into her office, offering anything she could do to help a kid on the football team who worked too much to play. * * *

“

Juan and Elise sat in Panera on the corner of 83rd St. and Mission Road on a Friday.

That dinner was the first time they met and the first time Juan ever ate there. He ordered the first thing Elise suggested.

Juan prayed before they ate and told Elise about his life, his stepmother and his arrest.

Before Elise took Juan to work, she brought him to her family’s home. Juan followed Elise through the house, and she showed him the bedroom where he could stay.

Later that night, Elise picked Juan up from work and dropped him off at the apartment where he had slept since the night of his arrest.

Elise came back at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday to take Juan to work.

Two days later, Juan ate dinner with Curt, Charley and Elise in their home.

Before the meal began, Juan said a prayer to himself with the understanding that Elise’s family doesn’t usually pray before meals.

Elise noticed his quiet act, and everyone followed his prayer before they began their first meal together.

After dinner, Elise took Juan back to the apartment. He cried as he stepped out of the car.

“I’m not jealous, but I hope Charley realizes how lucky he is to have a family that loves him and a roof over his head,” Juan said.

Juan decided to move in with Elise, her husband Curt, and Charley. It was his only option, but he was still unsure of his new home.

“Slowly but surely, I learned to trust [Elise],”

17

East community gives alum a second chance at his future

Juan said. “I couldn’t sleep because I had no idea what was going to happen, what the next morning was going to bring.”

In the early hours of the morning one day, Elise left her bedroom and walked through the hallway, barely lit as the sun rose. She went to shut the door to the bedroom where Juan sleeps, and looked inside. Juan’s possessions have been put in the room’s drawers as she insisted, but Juan was sleeping on top of the covers, leaving the bed made.

Elise shut the door which Juan always used to leave open and made sure that when Juan went to bed the next night, he made himself at home.

“I woke up to a feeling that I was unfamiliar with, and that was a family with love, a family ready to accept me.” Juan said.

Juan had been given a place to sleep, but he was not prepared for the future. Most of his classmates already knew what university they would attend in less than six months. Elise didn’t even know if Juan would be accepted to schools.

Elise and Juan visited local colleges and spoke with the Johnson County Community College track coach. After the coach saw Juan run during his senior season at East, Juan received a full scholarship offer.

A scholarship alone couldn’t guarantee success. When Juan took an English placement test for JCCC, he only qualified to enroll in the equivalent of a high school English course. After a few weeks with a tutor, Juan retook the test and earned a spot in the most difficult English course a beginning freshman can take at JCCC. Through federal grants and anonymous donations, Juan has been able to transfer to Washburn University’s criminal justice program. After his own encounter with the police, he sees criminal justice as a way to help people struggling as he was.

“I’ll be in a position where after people have given to me, I want to be able to give back,” Juan said.

I woke up to a feeling that I was unfamiliar with, and that was a family with love, a family ready to accept me.

-JUAN RAMOS

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“

16 spread

written by Daniel Rinner

above The White family had portraits taken in June 2014.

“Juan is now, and always will be, a part of our family,” Elise White said. photos by Kathy Disney and Kdog Photographers

I think that, for humans, in order to truly see the light, you have to have been in the dark. If you don’t know what failure is like then how the hell do you know the difference between succeeding and failing?

JUAN RAMOS

BACK IN THE DAY

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18

A glimpse into four teachers highschool experiences written by Will Clough

W

e spend 35 hours a week with our teachers. They are with us nearly every day of the week and often know us better than we think. But sometimes, we forget how little we know about them.

It’s easy to forget that it was your third hour English teacher who was the lead singer in the most popular band in school. We never stop to think that they might have had it just as rough as we do, and that maybe they are real human beings, just like we are.

Each teacher at East has a different story that highlights their experiences and explains who they are today. These stories are the things that made them unique back when they were teenagers and that still help to define them today. Whether it was playing on the school

Mrs. Beachy-Langdon Fluorescent lights and white-tiled hallways. Blue door frames and an endless row of locker banks. It’s nothing new for English teacher Laura Beachy Langdon. Beachy Langdon has been walking these hallways for years and has come to call them home. It was the fall of 1991 when she nervously walked into East her freshman year. Almost 25 years later, Beachy Langdon walks into that same building every day, but now feels a little more confident and a little more at home.

Beachy Langdon looks down the hallways of East and remembers everything great: the years spent helping out with school fundraisers, or the memories made on the girls’ golf team. Most importantly, she remembers the choir.

“Senior year I was in Chamber Singers, which was probably the best thing – well not probably, I would say almost certainly the best activity I did in all of high school,” Beachy Langdon said.

She was involved in choir all four years at East, and made Chamber singers her senior year. For Beachy Langdon, Chambers was an opportunity to step out of her comfort zone and experience a different group of people. She normally considered herself a “goodie goodie” and a hard-working student, but when it came to Chambers, she got to be one of the “cool kids.”

“In Chambers, there was all sorts of people that I would not normally choose as friends because frankly it was just a really different crowd, but every time we were in class or every time we got together outside of school, we got along – it was a family,” Beachy Langdon said.

Beachy Langdon still frequents the East choir concerts and carries those fond memories with her. The Christmas lights strung up in her classroom add something unique and show how she truly finds this place to be home. She laughs as she flips through the purple 1995 Hauberk and comes across the picture where she is standing in the front left corner – her usual spot. Beachy Langdon can still point out her picture in this year’s copy of the yearbook, but now she is standing in a different spot, and is happy to be a part of it.

basketball team, or simply spending time with friends, each of our teachers has their own story to tell. A story that sounds similar to one that we are all know too well - our own.

Just like us, our teachers can remember cramming for the big math test, or staying up all night to wait for the new big movie to come out. They know which teachers they liked and which ones they hated, and most importantly, they know what their passions were.

Every one of us loves to do something different, and teachers are no exception. They worked hard, but also enjoyed the time they had and appreciated their high school experience.

Ms. Schnakenberg

Life was just a glance at the schedule: A volleyball game tonight, two essays to write and a fundraiser to organize. That was high school for art teacher Jodie Schnakenberg. Walk into room 205 today and you’ll find “Schnaks” in her element: there’s some funky music playing in the background and her bright blue hair is swishing back and forth. But she had a different style during high school. In a small town in Minnesota, Schnakenberg was a hardworking student, who rarely had time to sit back and relax. She juggled three sports, played in a band and was involved in several extracurricular activities, all while trying to maintain a 4.0 GPA. “You know, I was a super-duper freakout overachiever.”

Schnakenberg said. “That was kinda scary, looking back on it.”

She was a competitive student and always wanted to be her best; this meant always being ready to take on another activity and invest herself into something new. Needless to say, Schnakenberg felt overwhelmed.

“I was so done with school I could not express it in words,” Schnakenberg said. “And I think it was because I was an overachiever. I was burnt out.”

After working tirelessly throughout her high school and college years, Schnakenberg was ready for a shift in perspective. Endless nights worrying about her GPA had taken a toll. She needed a chance to breathe. But after taking a small break, she found herself back in the very place that had given her so much stress: she knew a teaching degree was what she needed.

“I did massage therapy for like eight years, and I was trying to find my way through my life and then I decided ‘man I gotta go back and do this,’” Schnakenberg said.

High school was the place where she had been the happiest.

Even though Schnakenberg felt like there was never enough time in the day, she doesn’t remember school being a bad thing.

Each meeting she went to or game she played in was just another way to experience something new and do something she really enjoyed. She didn’t mind spending hours after school because she knew how to make them enjoyable.

“I loved high school. I thought my high school experience was something that I never look back and never have mixed feelings or bad feelings about,” Schnakenberg said After taking a small break to figure herself out, she found herself back in the place she loved, but this time playing a different role. It was somewhere where she could be surrounded by people she understood and loved to work with. It was somewhere where she really knew how to enjoy herself.

Mr. Klein It was the little things that made high school what it was for social studies teacher Steve Klein. Hanging out with a few friends or playing a quick pickup game after school; that’s all it took for him to appreciate his high school experience. A former student at Shawnee Mission South, Klein remembers his high school experience as being a great opportunity to spend time with friends and to figure out his interests and passions.

One of the best places he could do this was in his front yard.

Klein appreciated being a teenager and to be surrounded by such good friends in his neighborhood.

He was able to enjoy himself and can still remember putting on special events in his driveway each year.

“We would get groups of two-on-two tournaments and we donated the proceeds, and so I hosted a big tournament with my friends for that purpose,” Klein said.

He played on the school basketball team and coached another high school team his senior year in addition to playing with his friends outside. For Klein, the sport was a great outlet to share something he enjoyed with the people he enjoyed.

“I connected with people that I am still friends with to this day through meeting them in experiences like basketball,” Klein said.

Basketball was something that Klein always enjoyed, and the hoop outside of his house was the perfect place to play. The neighborhood was always full of kids who were willing to join a game, and Klein was happy to have them over.

“I spent a lot of time with friends, and specifically with neighbors,” Klein said. “My house was always the gathering place for neighborhood basketball.”

But high school wasn’t just spent shooting hoops in the driveway. Klein was also busy working and trying to do well in school. He loved taking social studies classes and always made sure to work hard on his grades. He looks back on high school and remembers what a good time it was to work hard, but never forgot to have a good time with friends doing what he loved.

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19

CONFORMITY Through

COMMUNITY Juniors in the International Baccalaureate program excel despite being younger than their classmates

Get to know the Girls

Facts about Hannah and Xinyi

Xinyi He In January 2005, six-year-old Xinyi He and her mother, Zhaohui Liao, convinced the principal of a Wyandotte elementary school to put Xinyi in first grade. The family had just moved from China, and Xinyi had turned six only two months before, on October 27.

All the principal asked was for Xinyi to write American numerals up to ten. Since Xinyi spoke hardly any English, her mother translated the instructions to her in Chinese. Xinyi could write to ten, and therefore went to first grade.

Even though the cutoff in Xinyi’s hometown of Changsha was the same as in Kansas, Xinyi had been in first grade in the fall of 2004.

“She was not six-years-old yet at that time, but I was thinking, I need to let her learn some basic knowledge of Chinese language, have kind of a foundation before we came to America,” Liao said.

The He family originally moved to Wyandotte so Xinyi’s father could find new opportunities as a medical researcher. Starting school in the middle of the year, Xinyi was enrolled in the English as a Second Language (ESL) class.

“When we first moved here, her English was very, very limited. [She] only knew a few words, like, hello, thank you, bye-bye, sorry, something like that,” Liao said. “At that time I was very wor-

ried whether she could get adjusted to the new culture, the new way of life here.”

However, Xinyi adjusted quickly. After three months in ESL, she was able to get by with one-on-one English instruction by her teacher.

Just before Xinyi’s third grade year, the family moved to the Shawnee Mission School District.

Xinyi attended Westwood View Elementary through sixth grade, and then when the family moved to another area of the district, she ended up at Mission Valley Middle School for seventh.

After Mission Valley closed, she went to Indian Hills and then continued to East for freshman year.

Now a junior at East, the only issue Xinyi has with her age is her inability to drive herself places.

“My parents work full time, unfortunately,” Xinyi said. “So they can’t give me a ride all the time and I feel bad asking my friends to drive me around.”

Still, she thinks her school career has been successful, overall. She is an International Baccalaureate student and an all-state flute player.

“I feel like I’m proactive,” Xinyi said. “I feel like I’ve done a lot.”

She sees both her age and the transition in a positive light. For example, she is consider-

ing taking a gap year, and if she decided to, she wouldn’t then be old for a college freshman. She thinks the move to the U.S. is a good thing as well, since she didn’t have many friends at her school in China.

“If I had stayed in China, I would have been one of the people that you just do not want to talk to, and that only have ‘friends’ because I scared them into being my lackeys,” she said.

“I feel like [moving] has made me a more open person, and a lot nicer.”

Although the move was somewhat challenging for Xinyi’s parents, having left their roots and extended family behind in China, Liao thinks the move was good for Xinyi.

“We were kind of surprised how well and how quickly she went through the transition period,” she said. “I mean, for kids it’s always easier, you know, for adults it’s a little bit more difficult.”

Looking at her whole life, Xinyi and her parents are satisfied with her accomplishments.

Xinyi mostly credits her parents with helping her, and in the end says age, in any area of a person’s life, is not a huge factor.

“I feel like as long as you have someone there to guide you, no matter how young you are, I think you can succeed.”

Hannah Carter It’s not common knowledge that junior Hannah Carter is 15, which means many of her classmates are a year older than she is. She didn’t skip a grade or break the rules — she just went to kindergarten in another country.

Carter was born in November 1998, in St. Andrews, Jamaica. Her mother wanted her to have the best educational experience possible, so she put her in school as early as possible — four going on five. After moving to America, Carter was always several months to a year younger than the rest of her classmates.

After being urged to move to Kansas City by family members, Carter and her mom finally came in 2008, in time for Carter to start fifth grade. They found an apartment that happened to be in the Shawnee Mission School District, where Carter went to elementary and middle school.

Once she hit high school, she took whatever hon-

ors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses she could during her freshman and sophomore year.

“I tried AP, and I don’t want to say it was easy, but I just wanted to try something different,” Carter said.

Even though Carter is one of the youngest students in her grade, she has succeeded just as much as, if not more than, her older classmates.

She is enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and involved in band and French Honor Society as well.

Carter’s teachers appreciate her success, especially when they consider her age.

“I had no idea that [she was] the young one in [her] class,” assistant band director Melissa Athon said. “In her performance at school, I don’t think [her age] makes any difference.”

Although many aspects of Carter’s life have changed since moving, the biggest changes being

the weather and the food, she feels well-adjusted as a student and in life in general.

“I didn’t really have a lot of problems [with the transition] because I wanted to move, I like moving from places to places, so I wasn’t upset about it and kind of excited,” Carter said. “[And] I don’t think [age] has affected me that much because half the time [people] don’t really know; a bunch of people in my history class just found out, they were like, ‘You’re 15? Why are you in this grade?’”

This type of question is something Carter gets a lot, but by now she has gotten used to it. She doesn’t mind being younger than the rest of her grade.

“They do say age is but a number, so if you’re determined to do something you should be able to do it,” Carter said. “Just work as hard as you can.”

Hannah Carter In Jamaica, the schools had virtually no technology, such as projectors.

The climate change from Jamaica to the U.S. was a shock for Hannah. To her, the cold climate was one of the hardest parts of her move.

Xinyi He Chinese students had to wear red scarves called a Hong Long Jin because of the Communist government in China.

In first grade, Xinyi practiced recitations and simple algebra in China.

elping

onduras

Arriving at school at 7:10 a.m., sophomore Natalie Kidwell walks into the over-air-conditioned band room, and is awoken by a gust of Arctic air. She grabs her flute, and puts her gold and plaid rainbow backpack into her band locker. She is taken aback by the smell of gasoline, pine trees, astroturf and concrete coming from her locker.

The smell is coming from her marching shoes. Her turquoise, white, concrete-stained Nike’s.

It was the summer of 2013 Kidwell was bringing another bag of cement to the cement mixer for the bleachers of the Casa Hogar soccer field in Honduras when she tripped and dropped the bag.

There was a dust bowl-esque storm of cement powder. It created a mushroom cloud that she was caught in the center of. She had the taste stuck in her mouth for hours after-

feature

Natalie Kidwell learns gratitude while volunteering in Central America

21

written by Maxx Lamb

wards. It made her wonder why she was in Honduras covered in cement.

It was through a friend at St. Michael’s church that she heard of Casa Hogar and about the Latin American Missionary and Bible Institute (LAMB). The LAMB Institute in Honduras protects, helps and empowers people suffering extreme poverty, abuse and exploitation in Honduras. It provides financial resources and extends opportunities for churches and individuals to be a part of it, and make a difference.

Kidwell takes advantage of the LAMB Institute’s opportunities, and goes to Honduras every year to help Honduran children who have been dropped off at the children’s home known as Casa Hogar. * * * “It had been raining [the first day] of my first year,” Kidwell said. “So it was all muddy and the vans could only drive up to the gates. My first impression of this place was walking up a mountain of gravel after being on a plane all day. I was thinking, because I’m not a very in-shape person, ‘Maybe this was the wrong choice.

Maybe I’m not in shape enough to be here doing this.’” Initially, Kidwell had wanted to go to Haiti, and was disappointed at the news that she was going to Honduras. Once she got to know the children at Casa Hogar, she was hooked.

After her second year there, the children had woven themselves into her dreams: “There was this little kid that he got shot in the street, and somehow in dream land I managed to conjure an ambulance for him (which would not have been a real option), and then the ambulance came and i got in with him. He held my hand and started to tell me all about how he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up and how [the ambulance] was so cool, and then he kind of got weaker and then started praying for me. The entire dream was in english except for the last bit, [when] the little boy said, “Los hijos de honduras necesitan tu.” (The children above below of Honduras need you) And then he Sophomore Natalie Kidwell The finished product of the died.” is with “little Alex Edwardo,” labor of Kidwell’s group from Kidwell was distressed and concerned as she is building small dwell- the LAMB Institute.Soccer is ings from palm tree branches an integral part of Honduran after the dream: “I actually thought it for the children of Casa culture, and three of the Casa was real for a few minutes. I checked Hogar in which to play in Hogar children have already facebook like 300,000 times just to make celebration of the Honduran been scouted for the national sure everyone was okay.”

Independence Day. Honduran soccer team.

Kidwell’s heart is in Honduras with the children at Casa Hogar.

Casa means “house,” and hogar means “home.” Casa Hogar is not just a house and a home to children living there; it’s a community.

The meaning of the name says volumes about what it is: a large commune where children whose mothers, for whatever reason, are incapable of caring for them, as is the case with “Little Alex E.,” the child with whom Kidwell bonded photos courtesy of Natalie Kidwell with the most.

“Little Alex loves Spider-Man,”

Kidwell said. “Spider-Man is his bae. He colored a picture of Spider-Man, and it was fabulous. He’s six, super mischievous and is usually the one who starts the things [the kids] get in trouble for like running around taking [and putting on] somebody’s sunglasses or hiding someone’s shoes, but he looks so cute and innocent, and is the youngest in his building, so he can get away with everything!”

Alex E.’s mischievous, but kind-hearted nature immediately attracted Kidwell, and she developed a maternal and nurturing relationship with him.

Each of the volunteers has one or more of the kids that they bond with more than the others, and they work with the children to complete projects to make life easier such as building a fence along the edge of the soccer field, located on the precipice of a mountain.

Kidwell feels as though the volunteers’ presence helps the kids more than the actual projects.

“We took all the mattresses off the beds so that we could repaint them,” said Kidwell, “We put all the mattresses on the floor and every single little boy was coming inside to change out of their uniforms into their play shoes and Alex E. started [the mattress mayhem].”

Alex E. had a look in his eyes that said “Mattresses? On the floor? Let’s… Let’s jump on them!”

Immediately every little boy in the building was leaping from one mattress to the next. In this scene of mattress mayhem, they were happy.

While many of the moments with younger children were spent laughing and playing, Kidwell had the opportunity to interact more seriously with some of the older children.

Kidwell recalls a moment after she had been playing for three hours, and she laid down in a grassy field and “Big Alex,” a 15 year-old who is currently attending the police academy in Honduras in order to fight gang violence.

“It’s so pretty here, Kidwell said. “I wish I lived here.”

“Sure we live in a beautiful place,” Alex replied. “but it’s so violent.”

Kidwell recalls the passion with which Alex told her his plans to change Honduras and make it a better place. It put her at ease. * * * The past two years, Kidwell’s group has brought coloring books, Play-Doh and large Lego blocks Honduras with them in order to give them to the children at Casa Hogar.

“It’s really cool to see something you’re not using really be appreciated,” Kidwell’s mother, Mary Kidwell said, “that would’ve just sat on the shelf in the Salvation Army store and then end up in somebody’s basement otherwise.”

The children have so little that when Kidwell’s group brings Lego blocks and PlayDoh, it means the world to them. That’s why Kidwell’s group brought pounds of coloring

books, extra clothes and shoes: in order to leave them there. The kids keep their only possessions in between their mattresses and bed frames. Five bed frames had soccer cleats tied to them. A few had coloring books.

Alex E. had Spider-Man toys and a little plastic heart on his bed frame.

“The day I left Honduras the first year it was pouring rain.” Kidwell said. “I remember because everyone was saying, ‘Honduras is crying because you’re leaving!’ and I was very sad to leave. I miss them every day.” Alex E. gave Kidwell one of his few possessions: his plastic heart.

She is constantly reminded of Honduras.

Even the little things, like seeing a Jarritos soda brings her back to Honduras.

Kidwell recalls this summer when the kids were walking out of the house with a cup of water but pretending to be severely dehydrated wailing, “Emily, Emily! Agua, agua!”

The younger children can’t pronounce Natalie, so they call her Emily, and she responds, “You’re water is right there,” and Alex E. says with outstretched arms, “No, agua!”

“Emily” always gave him her water. He drank it all and walked away with a smirk. * * * Since Kidwell has come back to the United States, she doesn’t feel at home. At six a.m., getting up for a band practice, her mother asked her how she was adjusting back to America, and Kidwell was deeply upset and screamed at her mother about how Americans misunderstand culture and values, and that there is no culture in America.

Her real home is in Casa Hogar.

After she graduates high school, Kidwell is going to intern for the Lamb Institute at Casa Hogar so that she can visit the casa in her hogar for up to two months that summer as opposed to a week normally. Once the transition house from Casa Hogar to the outside world is built, Kidwell intends to work in Casa Hogar: “I’d help them find jobs and integrate themselves into the world.”

She cares about the people of Honduras deeply, and wants to help them especially by acting as the mother figure that they never had. * * * It stank. It reeked of gasoline, pine trees, astroturf and the taste of concrete. She looked down and saw her turquoise and white shoes that she’s worn to Honduras the past two years. They were disgusting.

She put them on, went down to the football field and she marched in step with everyone else.

Kidwell is always marching. Making her way to Honduras one step at a time, she’s constantly reminded of her goal by the bracelet on her wrist, her “mochila” on her back and the plastic heart that Little Alex E. gave her every time she opens her Vera Bradley pencil bag. Casa Hogar is waiting, and in the meantime, Kidwell will continue marching towards her home.

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a&e

Run

written by Caroline Heitmann photos courtesy of The Bison Run

Kansas City is the place to be if you want to tackle a new run. With local races every weekend, there’s no way you can’t find the perfect competition for you. Here’s a preview of some interesting races coming up soon.

The Bison 50 If you’re looking for a challenge, the third annual Bison 50 is the race to do. It’s a whopping 50 miles, all the way from Topeka to Lawrence. Feeling intimidated? Don’t worry, you don’t have to do it by yourself.

The Bison 50’s participants can be on a team of up to ten people, each person tackling a leg, which is roughly three to six miles each. Or you do it by yourself. However, the cost does go up for each runner joining a team.

Cameron Aly, who works with Race Day Events, the group in charge of the run, believes it is the team aspect that makes this race unique.

“There’s really not that many team relays in the Midwest, specifically Kansas or Missouri,” Aly said, “So, just the fact that you can participate with other people provides you with the unique experience.”

The Bison 50 also benefits Shriners Hospital for Children, a network of 22 hospitals focused on helping children throughout their various illnesses, including those with neuromusculoskeletal conditions, burn injuries and other special healthcare needs.

All runners receive a Bison 50 tech t-shirt, post race dinner, two drinks, access to free race photos and more.

Just in case you think this is easy, remember- this run is equivalent to 200 laps around the track. But it won’t be bad. Right?

right Runners cross the finish line as they complete the Bison 50

The

Zombie Frenzy If you like the blood and gore of zombies, or maybe you just like the feeling of being chased for several miles, then the Zombie Frenzy 5K is perfect for you.

Each runner receives a flag football belt and several flags, which represent lives, at the start of the race. Every five to ten minutes, a group of runners will set off, followed by the pack of zombie volunteers a few minutes later. Some zombies chase, while others hide and jump out an unsuspecting racers. Then, the zombies try to steal away flags/ lives.

Centurion Events, the company in charge, benefits the charity Gospel for Asia by donating a portion of the proceeds.

“Typically we give about 15-20 percent of each of our profits from each runner to an organization called Gospel for Asia that does a lot of work in South and Central Asia,” said Craig Alsup, who works with Centurion Events.

Runners receive a Zombie Frenzy t-shirt, a “swag bag”, which includes items such as other event informational flyers, protein bars and soap, makeup and supplement samples, and more.

Not feeling particularly inclined to run the 3.1 miles?

Be a zombie. Zombies receive free realistic makeup at the site from professional makeup artists and the satisfaction of terrifying people all day all for a cheaper price than the runners.

The OVERRUN Ovarian Cancer The OVERRUN Ovarian Cancer is your typical neighborhood 5K. It’s a great run to sign up for because it benefits a wonderful cause, and it’s also local, so you know you’ll see someone you know there.

Kelly Cannova, an East parent, started the run three years ago after the sudden diagnosis of her mother with ovarian cancer. After initial treatment began, Cannova soon discovered there was a significant lack of funding for this cancer.

“My mom was diagnosed in December of 2011 with ovarian cancer,” Cannova said. “And the first OVERRUN was run to get money for research because ovarian cancer research [money] is much needed.”

In 2012, Susan G. Komen for the Cure invested $58 million for breast cancer research, spending almost $1.5 billion since 1982. However, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund has only made $57 million in its 16 years of existence. Compared to other cancer research funds, ovarian cancer has not raised that much.

Proceeds go to Ovarian Cancer Research at the University of Kansas Cancer Center, so you know whether you run, walk or volunteer, your time is going to a great cause.

Race Stats: A breakdown of the runs The Bison 50

The Zombie Run

The OVERRUN

Length: 3 miles

Length: 1 or 3 miles

Length: 3.10 miles Date- 10.26.2014 Fee- Solo: $100 Early Registration, 2 Person Teams: $150 Early Registration, Location-Garry Gribble’s in Topeka, KS

Date- October 18th, 2014 Fee- $30 to run, $20 for zombie Location- STOCKSDALE PARK

901 S. La Frenz

Liberty, Missouri 64068

Date- 11.2.2014 Fee- 5K Individual- $30.00.

1 Mile Individual- $25.00.

Location- The Blue Valley Recreation Complex

NEW TAKE OLD TOPIC

a&e

23

“The Maze Runner” proves to be a refreshing take on the typical dystopian movie written by Sophie Storbeck photo courtesy of MCT Campus

I

’ve seen worlds in movies where children are forced to kill each other for entertainment, where society is separated into five factions and where memories of the past are hidden from the public. Dystopian movies and books are big in today’s entertainment, especially for teenagers. A lot of them have similar plots involving underdogs and defeating corruption, as well as similar characters and conflicts, but “The Maze Runner” sets itself apart.

The fast-paced sci-fi movie starts with Thomas (Dylan O’brien) waking up in a dark underground lift. He sees flashes of blue and hears familiar voices from his past. It felt like I was reliving pieces of Thomas’s memories with him and trying, yet failing, to make sense out of them. He can’t remember a thing. Suddenly the lift begins to slow down and light fills the tunnel. His eyes adjust. He’s in a field. Faces peer down at him. All male. They ask him his name, but he doesn’t remember. They say it will come back to him.

“It’s the one thing they let us keep,” one of the boys said.

Every month the lift brings another person, or Glader, to the field also known as the Glade. The Glade is surrounded by tall, grey walls that form a square. There’s an opening in the walls that leads to a maze. No one’s allowed to go into the maze, except for the runners who leave the Glade everyday to

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try to find a way out. They’ve been searching for three years, but they still don’t know why they’re in the maze or who put them there.

The maze is home to disgusting half-mechanical, halfflesh giant spiders called Grievers that lurk around the maze at night. Before Thomas arrived they only stung or killed runners who were left inside after the mazed sealed itself shut at sundown. But after Thomas spends a night in the maze and comes out unscathed the next morning, things begin to change. The creepy spider creatures start stinging people during the day which makes the Gladers go crazy to the point where they’re chasing each other through the woods.

One night the maze doors don’t close. The evil spiders swarm the Glade, kidnapping and killing Gladers. The survivors realize that they have to find a way out -- soon or they along with the Glade will be demolished by the Grievers.

Although O’brien was fit for his role, Thomas wasn’t unique for a main character. He was brave to the point of stupidity and he was curious, which I’ll admit was necessary for the plot. Not to mention, he was smart and selfless. I find these traits repeated in many main characters in the young adult (YA) genre in movies and books such as Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen and Tris Prior. But unlike the typical hero,

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Thomas’s motives weren’t clear to me and I mean this in a good way. I couldn’t tell why he did what he did and in doing so he had a mysterious aspect to him.

I’m grateful that the movie broke the stereotype that the YA dystopian genre requires an annoying love triangle even when it does nothing to further the plot. “The Maze Runner” goes even further —there’s only one main female character, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), who showed up in the Glade with a note claiming that she’d be the last Glader ever.

The last twenty minutes of “The Maze Runner”, however, confused me. There were three major plot twists that were hard for me to sort out. I understood what they were trying to get across the movie in general, but the details were fuzzy.

I had trouble keeping track of who was dead and why the Gladers were in the maze. Also, I had trouble separating the “good guys” from the “bad guys.” But I think the sequel set to premiere September 2015 will clear up things that “The Maze Runner” left hanging.

Overall, “The Maze Runner” was a refreshing take on a dystopian movie. It had the fundamentals -- fast-paced fight scenes, dramatic looks into the distance and unexpected twists -- while steering away from the cliches too many YA series fall prey to.

OSCAR WORTHY

24

nyc

alt-copy

FASHION WEEK written by Sean Overton

Nasty Gal UNIF Vapor Platforms $122

unique innovative If you have a more urban or grunge style DKNY is the designer to draw inspiration from. This collection contains a lot of geometric patterns and bright colors. To achieve this look, you can find colorful tunics that are full of patterns, or even stylish T-Shirt dresses, which can be found at Urban Outfitters.

The other look that DKNY showcased at the fashion week shows were long circle skirts.

Last season, circle skirts made their debut back on the

runway. Now they are back, but instead of above the knee-line, the hemline ends around the ankles. Since this look has been done before, items like this can be found at a thrift store.

The last look you’ll want to steal is the 3-inch platform sandals. These can be made really funky with holographic straps or classier going the all-black route. You can find sandals like DKNY’s at Nasty Gal or Unif.

lyze the looks from different shows, pick out which designs are trending and look for common colors, hem lines, etc. Then commercial brands will take the designs that reappear through the shows and recreate them in their brand’s style. Things such as longer skirts, red colors, and platform shoes, for example. You can see aspects of these designs in the clothes at places like H&M, Urban Outfitters and Gap. Every year there are a few successful stand-out designers, which results in many commercial brands that replicate these styles. This year, the three that received the best reviews were Alexander Wang, DKNY and Elizabeth And James. These three designers are very different, and provide inspiration for three unique girl’s styles at East.

Mimic these shorts H&M Pins and Needles Pin Up Short $59

classic composed Elizabeth And James isn’t what you’ll see me wearing in the halls, but I appreciate their posh look. The designs are clean cut, classic and even preppy. They stick to natural colors like beige, black and white.

This could work for many girls who like to be well put together, yet not too “out there.”

To get the Elizabeth and James look you will want high waisted, wellfit shorts. The fabric is silk, making them chic. You can dress the shorts up

with a button down or pair them with the cropped loose sweater. The pullover is a sort of salt and pepper pattern and has a deeper neckline, showing skin-- but not too much. You can find items like these at J-Crew.

To complete this look you can easily pair the shorts and pullover with strappy flat sandals, black sunglasses and a black backpack. Once it’s all put together a fun, well-dressed look will definitely be achieved.

ALEXANDER WANG

Get these shoes

ELIZABETH & JAMES

DKNY

September marked the start of New York Fashion Week. From Sept. 4-11, Fashion Week creates excitement for fall, making September and October two of the biggest fashion months of the year. After the New York shows, London, Milan, and Paris follow. These shows predict which designers’ looks will be trendy -- creating outfits for people all over the world Most East students don’t spend their money at Bergdorfs, or Chanel. We go to thrift stores, local retail or any store with reasonable prices. You may be wondering how these high fashion shows affect what you wear. Trust me -- they do.

Fashion forecasters work to predict, predicting trends for each season. They ana-

Find these pants Top Shop Cigarette Trousers $44

edgy sophisticated The Alexander Wang look is more suitable for someone with a classic, yet modern style. Someone who kills it in a headto-toe black outfit. The Wang girl is businesslike, yet knows how to have a good time.

In Wang’s Spring 2015 collection there were beautiful highwaisted pants, perfect for business, paired with a unique crop top that keeps the look edgy.

Wang’s color scheme usually sticks to a black and white aesthetic, but mixes it up with unique dresses in abstract patterns and colors.

If you want to rock this look, you can find high waisted black trou-

sers at topshop.com.

You’ll want to look for all black, with a cut just above the ankles. These pants are slim fit and will give you a classy appearance, while showing of your bod. Pair these pants with a halter-crop, which is a mix of a halter top and a crop top.

The tops pattern is very funky, yet kept classy with a nice fabric, and black and white colors.

Complete the outfit with a simple black clutch, and strappy black, one-inch, platform sandals. To dress this look up, you can pair it with a classic black blazer, then take it off for a more edgy look.

sports

25

TENNIS Girls’ Varsity Tennis looks to improve in the closing stretch of their season with the addition of two freshmen written by Morgan Krakow

Stephanie Wilcox

It was crushing. When only four of six possible girls qualified for spots at State last year, the girl’s tennis team looked to next season. Even with their first place win at the State Championship, they knew they could qualify more girls for the tournament. It was the second doubles team that didn’t make it past regionals. Their region would always be a hard one to qualify girls, according to head tennis coach Sue Chipman.

“They call it the “Mini State” because nobody outside the region gets any more than fifth place.”

Chipman said. “The whole region gets first second third and fourth [at State].”

So this season, the team welcomed two new freshmen, Sarah Wilcox and Larkin McLiney. Sarah plays singles and McLiney is part of the team’s number two doubles team. Chipman hopes that with those additions these fifth and sixth spots at the State competition will materialize.

“They’ve blended well and have become an integral part of our team.” Chipman said.

According to Sarah, the transition onto the team wasn’t hard, especially with her sister, senior Stephanie Wilcox, competing on number one-ranked doubles team.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it,” Sarah said. “But the team is really welcoming.”

This welcoming attitude took some planning from older girls like Stephanie. According to Stephanie, before they were competing as individuals, but they needed to work as a team. The second dou-

photos by Katie Lamar

ble’s team missed the mark and this year they won’t let that happen.

“When I was a freshman sometimes it was like [everyone was] trying to get you to do the best at State but it’s really a team effort.” Stephanie said.

“So, when we play with the number two doubles team [at practice] we won’t be just focusing on ourselves, we’ll give each other pointers and really try to make it team-oriented.”

Stephanie said that even with this team spirit the season and competition are just as stiff, leaving much up to the unknown. The Cao sisters of Shawnee Mission West, who in the past played singles, have teamed up this year to create a fearsome doubles team.

“They’ve defeated our number ones twice and so I would imagine that they’ll probably win State and hopefully we’ll come behind them.” Chipman said.

In addition, Blue Valley Northwest has offered intense competition for the girls. However, Chipman said that they’ve won their usual tournaments this year and haven’t had too many other setbacks.

For Stephanie, the newfound sportsmanship and teamwork has made her senior season even better.

The best moments haven’t been her winning record, but the the times the entire team has gotten to bond a whole.

“The team dinners are all really fun.” Stephanie said. “We don’t see all of JV a lot so we get to hang out with everyone [there].”

Elizabeth Barnickel

RUNNING with the

sports

27

TOP DOGS

written by Julia Poe

photos by Hailey Hughes

Maddie Willson comes back from an injury last season even stronger than before

I

n the midst of an eight-mile route, junior Maddie Willson runs in the middle of the boys’ varsity cross country team. She’s flanked by 10 boys. Several tower almost six inches over her.

“Okay boys, time to pick up the pace!” one of them shouts, and the group of runners accelerates, almost to a race-pace.

Maddie glances around, confused, then grins as she sees the cause for the change in tempo — a group of girls running by. Once Maddie and the runners pull out of sight of the girls, they relax back to their conversation pace.

It’s an everyday part of running with the boys’ varsity team.

Maddie runs with these boys to push herself. As the seventh best runner in the state, Maddie needs the push — she is constantly striving to improve, to shave seconds from her time.

This is her year. Maddie is the fastest runner at East, a school record holder, ranked second in the league. She’s on track to place in the top five runners at state.

Almost a year ago — hunched over a pair of crutches, her leg bound in a cast — Maddie never would have imagined being here. *** Slow. She was running so slow.

That’s all sophomore Maddie could focus on. She didn’t feel pain — not yet — but she could feel the drag in her legs as she pushed up the hill at Rim Rock farm.

All season, she had fought through pain. And now, at the league championship meet, Maddie’s body was falling apart.

She kept her body moving, all the way into the final downhill, across the finish line. Maddie finally felt the pain — slicing her knee, shooting up her thigh. Her head swam.

“I can’t walk,” Maddie thought. Then she repeated it out loud. “I can’t walk.”

Then she collapsed.

She hardly remembers the stranger who carried her back to the East tent. She remembers trying not to cry as her mom drove her to doctor after doctor, as they saw the first x-ray revealing the hair-line fracture in her right knee, as they fitted a cast onto her leg.

For the next week, Maddie attended every cross country practice, even though she couldn’t run. She checked in with the trainer, then slowly maneuvered down the stairs to the track on her crutches.

“I needed to be with them,” Maddie said. “I wanted to still feel like I was part of the team, like I wasn’t forgotten. I’d sit with them stretching for maybe 20 minutes, but once they started running, they were gone, and I couldn’t go with them.

It was hard.”

The day of regionals was Maddie’s hardest day. The girls’ team hadn’t advanced to state in 10 years.

And then they came in second. The entire team exploded, cheering and hugging each other, already looking forward to the state championship.

Maddie leaned on her crutches, watching from the side.

She tried to smile.

That day, Maddie made a decision. As soon as the cast was re-

moved, she would run again. She would make her way back to league. And she would win.

To keep in shape, Maddie rode an exercise bike in her cast every day until she was cleared for physical activity. When the cast was removed, she started running again.

“At first, everything felt weird, like I wasn’t running in my own body,” Maddie said. “I was going terribly slow — at around a nine-minute mile pace — and I hated it. But slowly, I felt that speed come back, and I knew that I could get better, better than I had even started at.”

By the time Maddie reached summer break, something felt whole, more complete than it had been before she collapsed in pain at Rim Rock.

At first, Maddie ran on her own. But after a few weeks, Maddie needed a push. She started tagging along with the varsity boys, running half a block behind them to avoid annoying them. She wasn’t part of their pack, but their faster pace pushed Maddie’s endurance and made her a stronger runner.

“When she came back in the summer, it’s like a light had been switched on inside of [Maddie],” head cross country coach Tricia Beaham said. “She was running faster, her stride was better, but most importantly she seemed determined to push herself beyond her abilities on a day-to-day basis.”

At the beginning of the school year, Maddie’s stride was more natural. After two weeks of running with the girls, Tricia asked her to start running with the boys again.

“She was coming back from runs, and she wasn’t even out of breath,” Tricia said. “Everything just seemed effortless for her, and I knew she needed something to keep it fresh, to keep challenging her so that she would grow.

Although Maddie and her coaches knew that she was faster, the real test was the first meet of the season. Maddie followed a new strategy, not forcing herself to lead the pack at the start and instead passing each person in front of her.

At the end of the race, Maddie stumbled from the finish line and glanced at her time.

14:58.

She had broken 15 minutes. She was running at a state pace.

“I could hardly believe it was me running that race,” Maddie said. “I just kept thinking how it didn’t feel like me, how it couldn’t have been me running that race.”

As Maddie accepted her 11th place medal after the race, she scanned the faces around her. She was already thinking about her next race. She watched the girls who beat her, memorizing their faces so that she could pace herself with them in the next race.

Next Saturday, Maddie will return to Rim Rock for the league championships. It’s been a full year since her injury.

She hasn’t had a moment of pain since.

This year, Maddie won’t be on the sidelines. This year, she will be the star.

“I firmly believe that she will place in the top five runners at state,” Tricia said. “Sometimes, you get a setback, and it teaches you to appreciate what you love, and to fight for it.

Maddie is fighting out there, and she’s not going to give up.”

28 sports

Junior varsity soccer coach brings new discipline to team written by Sophie Tulp

I

“ better not beat you guys,” Junior Varsity soccer coach Britt Sherer yells, sprinting past the boys hustling to keep up. Their paces quicken immediately. “If I do, it’s extra sprints for everyone!” She laughs as their faces switch from exhaustion to determination.

There are only three women that coach boys soccer in the Sunflower League, and Sherer is one of them. But, she doesn’t let that status make a difference in how she coaches.

As a former varsity player, captain and state-winning athlete at East from 1999-2002, as well as having played at Baker University, Sherer has extensive knowledge of the game. She uses that, and her involvement in the Lancer community, to guide her team through their last games of a successful 7-2 season.

“At first it was a little weird because I’ve never had a girl coach before,” sophomore Joe McGuire said. “But she’s a really good coach. Some of the guys didn’t have respect for her, they didn’t listen to her as much, but we all learned that she knows what she’s doing. When she plays with us she schools [beats] half the team.”

Sherer plays with the team at practices, unless she has her nine-month-old, Joey, in tow. But, when she can, Sherer warms up with them, sprints with them and tries her hardest to beat them in scrimmages. To the team, she’s just another player on the field -- and a good one. But come game time, she can only advise from the sidelines.

At their game on Oct. 7, Sherer motivated the boys in the pre-game huddle, with the speech they have come to expect. “Remember

guys: Play simple. Play smart. Play with passion.” This is Sherer’s coaching philosophy, and she repeats it to the boys before every game. If they put in those three things, she will be satisfied regardless of the outcome.

“You don’t have to be the best team, but you need to be passionate,” Sherer said. “If you are passionate about the game, good things can happen. Play smart, knock the ball around, you play simple with one-two touches, and if you play with some passion, you are going to have some fun.”

The boys run to the field after the huddle, and Sherer instructs from the sidelines: “Come on guys, step up, step to the ball!” she yells. She watches the boys for a few more seconds, then bends down to check Joey strapped to the front-carrier on her chest.

Sherer often brings Joey to the games when she coaches. Parents call her the nickname “supermom,” and most referees find it hilarious. She moves in and out of coachmode and mom-mode as she pays attention to her soccer boys and her little boy.

“I think other team players at first might see me on the sideline with Joey in tow and think: ‘this team has a female coach and she’s carrying around her baby, how serious can they be?,” Sherer said. “But when the boys show their talent and hear me coaching, they most likely change their opinion. When I have Joey with me I do love on him and snuggle him during the game, but I also cover his little ears if I need to yell across the field at a player.”

The boys love playing with baby Joey when she brings him along to practice. Last year’s team even nicknamed him “Black Dragon.” McGuire, sharing the name Joe, gifted Sherer and baby Joey an old wooden

puzzle that belonged to him as a child.

Being a coach, a mom and a female on coaching staff are three things Sherer has learned to juggle. Even though she has to wait for the “all-clear” from head coach Jamie Kelly to enter the locker room, or remind the boys to keep some of their conversations gender appropriate, Sherer doesn’t think any of this affects the way her team interacts. If anything, both she and the team agree that all of those factors have helped bring them together as a unit.

The coaches, like the players, do not treat her any differently. Coach Kelly and assistant varsity coach Brent Williams agree that even though up until this year Sherer has been the only female on coaching staff, they have always seen her as an equal, an experienced player, a friend and a colleague.

They have a joking relationship, that Kelly calls a “family.” Standing in between Kelly and Williams, Sherer bends down to tie her cleats. Williams jokingly pushes her over, and Sherer dramatizes the scene, rolling in the grass before popping up and sprinting on the field to begin practice with JV. These are the typical interactions the coaches shares.

“It doesn’t make any difference,” Kelly said. “Back when I was playing, typically it was boys coach boys and girls coach girls.

Now, gender makes no difference. We mess around and it’s a family atmosphere. The boys they see the coaches interacting and getting along and they understand we all respect each other.”

photos by James Wooldridge

ON THE FIELD

IMPACT

sports

Meet the Trainer

29

Meghan Burki is adjusting to her new position as sports trainer.

above Burki laughs with senior Will Amrein

above Burki helps senior Sam Williams bandange his wrist before football practice

above Burki helps bandage an ankle

written by Ellis Nepstad photos by Callie McPhail

Meghan Burki strolls into her work office, the kind of office like when you tell them their season is over, and then being able where there aren’t many papers to file. Instead there are injuries to work with them and get them back on the field, and get them to treat, and athletes to prep for their games. For a long time back to what they love to do.” now, Burki has loved being part of a team, and now she is part of Junior Cross country runner Sam McDonald went to Burki every athletic team at East. seeking help for a hip injury that had been bothering him.

This year, East welcomed Burki from the University of Kan“[When I went to the trainer], she showed me how to propersas (KU) Medical Center as the new athletic trainer. Burki fin- ly roll out [my hip],” junior cross country runner Sam McDonald ished college in 2008, since then she has been an athletic train- said. “And she also gave me ice for my hip.” er.

Burki arrives around 11:00 a.m. long before practices start, so Burki was sent to East as a part of the partnership between she can treat any players that come in with a problem, and she the Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) and the medicine stays until all of the practices and games are over. department at KU. Because of the Burki will go to all the games she can, partnership, all of the high schools however if there are two events at the “I can’t imagine leaving athletics, I can’t in the SMSD received a new trainer. same time, Burki will go to one. East will “Because KU is the new training imagine working at a desk all day sorting coordinate with KU, who will send anothgroup that we are with,” Assistant papers and that type of stuff,” Burki said. er trainer to the other game.

Athletic Director Gail O’Grady said, “I hope [Burki] stays on for a while, “I first met Meghan right around because she really has gotten along with when school was starting.” our coaches,” O’Grady said.

When Burki was in high school, she played soccer, and volBurki loves her job at East so far, and she hopes to stay an leyball. When she attended Kansas State University (KSU), she athletic trainer where ever she can, and for as long as she can. participated in the rowing team for two years, and this is where “I can’t imagine leaving athletics,” Burki said. “I can’t imagshe saw what athletic trainers do. Burki initially attended KSU ine working at a desk all day sorting papers and that type of in the pre-veterinary program. By her junior year, Burki dropped stuff, so I definitely want to be involved in some way shape or the pre-veterinary program, and was enrolled in the athletic form. Thats the cool part about athletic training, there are so training program. many different places to be and to work.”

“I love still being a part of a team,” Burki said, “being able to hang out with these kids and being involved in their life. Another really cool part is being with someone at their lowest point,

A Close Up of Meghan Burki 40%

40% of all sports related injuries occur in children age 5 - 14.

62%

62% of sports injuries occur during practice.

Former soccer, rowing and volleyball team member Attended KSU Worked in veterinary clinic during high school

Information courtesy of stopsportsinjuries.org

photo by Ali Lee

A ROADMAP TO ISSUE 4 // OCTOBER 13, 2014

BREAKDOWN NEWS

4

THE VACCINATION DEBATE A trend in anti-vaccination increases among parents

SPORTS

27

RUNNING TO THE TOP

Junior cross country runner Maddie Willson practices with boys’ Varsity, to improve her time as she trains to make state

7

29

A look at the upcomming November election candidates

Get to know the new athletic trainer, Meghan Burki

ELECTION PREVIEW

OPINION

10

MEET THE TRAINER

FEATURE

IN RECOVERY

Dealing with an addictive eating disorder, staffer Susannah Mitchell learns strength

13

MUSICAL MINDSET

Staffer Hannah Coleman plays classical music, even it is not the usual genre of choice for a teenager

A&E

23

TRENDING: FASHION WEEK Staffer Sean Overton shows you how to achieve runway fashuon on a dime.

24

A’MAZE’ING FLICK

New movie, The Maze Runner, proves to be a refreshing take on the usual dystopic setting

16-17

FINDING FAMILY

The East community gives 2013 East graduate, Juan Ramos, a second chance at his future, after struggling through a life of obstacles

sports

RACING

I

TIME

AGAINST

t’s 7 a.m. on a Tuesday in mid June. The varsity boys’ cross country team is meeting up at the East parking lot for summer practice. They are waiting for the familiar gold Toyota Camry to show up.

“There’s still time to hide!” someone says.

“If we get on the run now, we can avoid him.

But they’re just joking. They know varsity cross country alumnus Jack McDonald will help them. What they don’t know, at this point in the summer, is that they will be the top ranked Kansas 6A cross country team with four runners in the top 20 within the next three months.

Making it to State seemed like the right goal back in June, having missed it by two points last season. But now, they aren’t just looking to qualify anymore, they’re looking to win.

Minutes later, the gold four-door rolls into the parking lot.

“If we saw his car, and him hop out and start jogging over, we knew we were in trouble,” junior John Arnspiger said.

Over the summer, McDonald decided to continue his running career through college.

After contacting the KU coaches, he was granted a 14 day tryout before school started, so he needed to train.

As he was training over the summer, he realized what skills it took to be a good runner, and brought those back to the East team. He came to East two times a week during summer practice to help them prepare for the upcoming season.

“I left the team as a team captain and I really just wanted to continue being a role model and help them get to that next level,” McDonald said. “I really wanted to see them succeed and become a team that could compete for a state title.”

Every day he showed up, McDonald would push them. He pushed them beyond their limits. While the runners thought they could only run a 6:50 mile pace, McDonald kept them running at a 6:30 pace, then lower, and then even lower. At the end of the summer, they were running below a 6 minute pace.

Most of the time, however, seniors Will

Moore and Peter Moriarty would take the lead.

Moore and Moriarty later became team captains.

“Will Moore and I have a really solid balance. We got pretty lucky,” Moriarty said.

“We’ve known each other for a really long time from running and school so we’re able to work together really well.”

Last year, summer running was a ‘come when you can’ practice, but this year it was taken much more seriously to make them better.

According to junior Lance Meng, it was a strict Monday through Friday practice. To improve even more, the team ventured out to Colorado to train their lungs with the high altitude.

“Summer running with Jack McDonald is what made us as good as we are,” Moore said.

“We’ve had some good workouts once the season has been going, but nothing has really come close to what we did over the summer.”

When some of the runners started to fall behind pace on the streets, McDonald yelled back at them to keep up. Sometimes, according to McDonald, this involved forming a circle around the person falling back so he physically could not fall behind. And sometimes, this involved lying to them about the pace they were actually running.

“I think once I got through to them that running low 6, upper 5:50 pace is doable, they started to do that on their own, all the time,” McDonald said.

In the beginning of the summer, the team was running around 20 miles per week. They continuously added more mileage throughout the summer until they were averaging 35 to 40.

The week before school started, the team ran a 50 mile week.

Then, at the end of the summer, they ran a 5k. They wanted to test their performance, so Coach Tricia Beaham found a 5k, called the 811 Run, and signed them all up. According to Meng, the Shawnee Mission Park course was hilly and extremely difficult. When the times came in, the boys were upset. They hadn’t run very well. Varsity teams shouldn’t be running an 18 or 19 minute 5k.

“We had been training extremely hard,”

31

written by John Foster

BOYS VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY HAS PREPARED FOR THE SEASON WITH A FIRST PLACE STATE FINISH AS THEIR GOAL

photos by Haley Bell

FINISHING FASTER

Meng said. “I was just thinking back to summer running and [wondering] if it really helped. It was tough for a little bit, thinking about all the mornings we came [to East] and [whether] it helped at all, but it did help.”

A LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCES IN Five weeks later, things changed. The season started picking up. The team ran the first RACE TIMES FROM LAST SEASON meet of the season, the Greg Wilson Classic, a competitive race because it includes schools that East wouldn’t typically run against. Teams like Rockhurst and St. Thomas Aquinas that are not in the Kansas 6A class.

10 THIS SEASON VS The results were shocking. Instead of running 18’s and 19’s, the team was back to 16’s and JOHN ARNSPIGER LAST SEASON 13 17’s. They were running times close to the end of last season, when they were getting personal records.

10 THIS SEASON “The training from over the summer is VS showing already,” Meng said. “That’s definitely the biggest thing we’ve done, just the intensity LAST SEASON 03 WILL MOORE with it.”

This season, the boys have been running some of the fastest times in the state. On Oct. 70 THIS SEASON 4 in the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival, ArnVS spiger broke the school record in a 5k with a LAST SEASON 02 JACK YOUNG time of 16:15, “One of the things that Will Moore and I want to leave as our mark on East cross coun50 THIS SEASON try is to instill a culture of success,” Moriarty VS said. “This year we’re really competitive and we have a solid shot at winning state.”

LAST SEASON 30 LANCE MENG For now, the team is focusing on improving, and working towards their new goal. They want to bring back the first place trophy.

77 THIS SEASON “By the end of the season, the ultimate goal VS is to make it to State,” Arnspiger said. “I would just be happy if everyone ran their best they GEORGE MILLER LAST SEASON 19 had to offer at Regionals and just really put it all out there.”

To qualify for State, the team must be one 90 THIS SEASON of the top three finishers in the Regional race.

VS Seven runners from each team compete.

12 MICK WIGGINS “Right now, we’re taking each race one at LAST SEASON a time, trying to do what the coaches are telling us to do -- sleeping, hydrating and eating 50 THIS SEASON right,” Meng said. “Hopefully we can get the VS right recipe for Regionals, and make it State with that.”

LAST SEASON 36

16:15.

16:25.

16:38.

17:13.

16:41.

17:39.

16:49.

17:03.

17:11.

17:39.

17:21.

19:46.

17:26.

PETER MORIARTY

18:12.

32

photoessay

photo by James Wooldridge

photo by Hailey Hughes

right Junior Henry Sniezek plays as the “Golden Snitch” in the game. The goal was to be the first team to grab the Snitch off his back. Sniezek had to run away from the players in order to make the task more difficult.

Coalition put on their first Quidditch tournament at Franklin Park on Oct. 5.

The cost was $25 to enter a team made up of eight or more people. Seniors Emma Matthews and Carolyn Wassmer came up with the idea.

“We wanted to do some type of tournament because they usually bring in so much money,” Matthews said. “A lot of teams dropped out last minute but future tournaments will be a lot more successful.”

About $600 was raised, and all the proceeds went to the Sao Sary Foundation to help build wells in Cambodia.

QUIDDITCH for a

CAUSE

above Teacher and Coalition sponsor David Muhammad brings his five-monthold baby, Aria, to the tournament. “Unlike other groups that I sponsor, I am very passionate about Coalition. Whatever the kids come up with is very inspiring,” Muhammad said. “[Sao Sary] isn’t a big organization so we know that whatever we do for them will be very appreciated.”

photo by Annika Sink above Senior Jeff Larrabee runs the Quaffle down the field during the championship game.

“Since I found out that morning I was going to be on a team, I wasn’t able to get a sense of what it was going to be like at all,” Larrabee said. “The main surprises were how you could use the broom as a weapon and how aggressive it was.” left

photo by James Wooldridge

Senior Will Amrein fights to get to the Quaffle before an opposing player. “Towards the end of the game it turned into a blood bath,” Amrein said. “I would just run towards people screaming and they would turn around and run the other way. It was a great tactic”.