Issue 4 from the 2013-2014 Harbinger by The Harbinger

AN EVOLVING DISCUSSION

New science standards adopted in June once again spark debate over how Kansas public schools should address the theory of evolution in the clasroom

STORY ON PAGE 4

ART BY SARAH COOK

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MCKENZIE SWANSON

PAGES 12-13

NOAH MARSH ANTIQUES PAGE 17

DIY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES the harbinger.

Shawnee Mission East l 7500 Mission Road, PV KS, 66208 l October 21, 2013 l Issue 4 l www.smeharbinger.net

editorial.

EDITORIAL BOARD VOTES

MISGUIDED FAME

The public should pay less attention to the poor behavior of celebrities

At the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus captured the eyes of the world by running around in latex underwear, grinding on teddy bears and twerking on Robin Thicke. The next morning, her performance was the top story on CNN and she received close to one million likes on her Instagrams from that night, all for a performance that was off-pitch and obscene. These days, it seems as if our society cares more about celebrities’ actions rather than the message they are sending through these actions. That is why the Harbinger believes celebrities should be conscious of how they portray themselves in the media, and as a society we should not give attention to this behavior. We need to put down our phones and close our tabloids. We need to give people like Amanda Bynes their privacy, and focus on news that might actually matter. Instead of reading about how Kim Kardashian is losing her baby weight, students should spend more time educating themselves on what the government shutdown is, or what affordable health care means for us. Whether these celebrities realize it or not, high school students are now exposed to their every move through outlets like Twitter and Instagram, and their behavior does affect us. According to a study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, teens spend around seven and a half hours a day consuming different media outlets that are bombarding us with the every move of the rich and famous. In addition, according to the Consumer Magazine Advertising Source popular tabloids, like the National Enquirer, are selling on average five million copies a week.

Other large, reputable news sources such as NBC and the Huffington Post are also catching onto this Hollywood obsession. On any given day of the week, one of the top stories on CNN will be about some celebrity either cancelling their tour or behaving badly. The Huffington Post also has a whole celebrity section devoted to covering all aspects of celebrity life. The fact that we are now consuming entertainment news more than ever makes a star’s public image critical. Last month, Jaden Smith tweeted, “If Everybody In The World Dropped Out Of School We Would Have A Much More Intelligent Society.” Last week, Justin Bieber was pictured on Instagram smoking marijuana for the second or third time. Rihanna Instagrams a new picture of herself half-naked almost every day. Like all human beings, celebrities should be held responsible for their actions and the messages they send out. Starlets should not be out racking up multiple DUIs, and as a society we should not be plastering them on the covers of glossy magazines. In the media, celebrities are portrayed with desirable characteristics such as talent, wealth and beauty. It is hu-

EDITORIAL CARTOON:

ABSENT

man nature for us to want those qualities for ourselves, as well. Should we really be striving to be obscene like Miley Cyrus or as insolent as Justin Bieber? Do we need to care about the every moves of washed up celebrities like Charlie Sheen or Chris Brown? It’s almost like training a dog, let’s reinforce positive celebrity behavior rather than negative. Let’s pay more attention to the humanitarian actions of Bono and Angelina Jolie, rather than the clubbing antics of Paris Hilton. If stars see a change in our attitudes, then they will shift their attitudes as well to stay in the public eye. If we can stop caring about celebrities who aren’t making real contributions to society, then maybe they can stop caring about what over-the-top stunt they will have to pull next to gain our attention. We can become more informed and well-rounded citizens, and Miley Cyrus will put some clothes on. Everybody wins.

THE HARBINGER STAFF 2013-2014 Co-Editors-In-Chief Andrew McKittrick Katie Knight Assistant Editors Morgan Krakow Sophie Tulp Head Copy Editor Sarah Berger Assistant Head Copy Editor Pauline Werner Art & Design Editor Miranda Gibbs News Section Editor Greta Nepstad News Page Designers Mike Thibodeau Spread Editors Phoebe Aguiar Caroline Kohring Features Section Editor Maddie Hise Features Page Designers Sydney Lowe Claire Whittaker Pauline Werner Copy Editors Mike Thibodeau Clara Ma Andrew McKittrick Will Oakley Morgan Krakow

ART BY TOMMY SHERK

AGAINST

6 4

FOR

Sarah Berger Sophie Tulp Katie Knight Morgan Twibell Pauline Werner Caroline Kohring Julia Poe

Staff Writers Maddison Hyatt Ellis Nepstad Michael Kraske Hannah Coleman Lauren Brown

Freelance Page Designers Georgia DuBois Megan McAlister Staff Photographers Kathryn Jones Neely Atha Callie McPhail Kylie Rellihan Annika Sink Taylor Anderson Katie Lamar Paloma Garcia Tessa Polaschek Abby Hans Scotty Burford

Photo Editors McKenzie Swanson Maddie Schoemann Editorial Board Andrew McKittrick Assistant Photo Editors Katie Knight AnnaMarie Oakley Morgan Krakow Annie Savage Sarah Berger Will Oakley Opinion Section Editor Morgan Twibell Morgan Twibell Sophie Tulp Julia Poe Opinion Page Designer Grace Heitmann Nellie Whittaker Mike Thibodeau Pauline Werner A&E Section Editor Leah Pack Online Editors-in-Chief Grace Heitmann A&E Page Designer Julia Poe Audrey Danciger Head Copy Editor Sports Section Editor Susannah Mitchell Will Oakley Assistant Head Copy Editor Sports Page Designers Clara Ma Tommy Sherk John Foster

Online Photo Editor Marisa Walton

Head Webmaster Jack Stevens

Assistant Photo Editors Hailey Hughes Meghan Shirling

Assistant Webmasters Jacob Milgrim Matthew Bruyere

News Editor Nellie Whitaker Homegrown Editor Maxx Lamb Opinion Editor Claire Sullivan A&E Editor Audrey Danciger Sports Section Editor John Foster Assistant Sports Editors Ellis Nepstad Will Oakley

Live Broadcast Editors Jack Stevens Andrew McKittrick Anchors Sydney Lowe Will Oakley Maddie Hise Multimedia Staff Jack Stevens Sophie Mitchell Matthew Bruyere Annie Foster

Video Editors Sophie Mitchell Annie Foster

Staff Artists Michael Berkbuegler Sarah Cook

Podcast and Radio Editor Leah O’Connor

Social Media Jacob Milgrim

Eastipedia Editor Maxx Lamb

Adviser Dow Tate

Interacive Editors Will Oakley Mike Thibodeau Matthew Bruyere

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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Juniors at East start the new photography club

This year, the first ever photography club in the Shawnee Mission School District was started at East. Through studying different techniques and collaborating on projects, juniors Chloie Costello and Kendall Dunn hope that club members can learn about and enjoy photography. “Me, as a co-founder, I don’t know anything about photography,” Dunn said. “So it was just fun to dive in headfirst with everyone and learn a new thing, and experience something that maybe they wouldn’t have had an opportunity to learn about before.” Prior to transferring to East, Costello was involved in a photography club at Notre Dame de Sion. Costello and Dunn began organizing the club before the end of summer by contacting potential members, getting in touch with the club’s sponsor, Mr. Finkleston, and filling out the necessary forms. Around 25 people attended Photography Club’s first meeting on Oct. 7, and Costello and Dunn used the first meeting as a way to gauge what everyone wanted from the club. Eventually, it was decided that the club would be used as a way to learn about different aspects of photography as well as a means of collaborating on photography-based projects. Each meeting, members will be learning about different types of photography techniques and styles, such as journalistic photography, portrait shooting and aperture. In terms of collaboration, when a member is working on a project, they have the option of bringing the project to Photography Club for criticism and help. Photography Club meets every other Monday in Mr. Finkleston’s room, 214.

(l o c a l n e w s

Académie Lafayette prepares to open up its third school

The Kansas City, Mo. charter school Académie Lafayette has begun the process of opening a new high school. Lafayette, which currently has two locations on Oak and Cherry Street, is a French immersion school that teaches grades K-8. Typically, Lafayette graduates go on to attend schools such as St. Teresa’s Academy, Rockhurst High School, Lincoln College Preparatory and Shawnee Mission East. The Director of Communications for Académie Lafayette, Katie Hendrickson, stated that parents of Lafayette students have been requesting a high school for several years. The original founders of the charter school originally envisioned a high school in 1999, but the Académie Lafayette board has only recently started meeting and planning for the new school. The target date for the high school to open is August 2015. Currently, Hendrickson projects 75-90 students will be enrolled in the freshman class. As students progress through Académie Lafayette, they learn almost entirely in French. The new school would be for grades 9-12, and rather than teaching students solely in French, classes at the high school would be taught in English (except for foreign language classes) through the International Baccalaureate curriculum. This year, nine students from Académie Lafayette attend East, even though East is not a Kansas City, Mo. school. “I think that an Académie Lafayette high school is a great idea,” freshman and former Académie Lafayette student Portia Renée said. “[But] I think it’s in the greater interest of the school to first focus on improving...the primary Oak Street campus.”

ART BY MICHAEL BERKBUEGLER and GRETA NEPSTAD

some information on past government shutdowns

SHUTDOWNS

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Ford} 1 shutdown

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Carter}5 shutdowns

Reagan} 8 shutdowns

H.W. Bush}1 shutdown Clinton} 2 shutdowns

Obama} 1 shutdown

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WRITTEN BY SUSANNAH MITCHELL

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news.

The national government shutdown due to disputes over health care

Since Congress failed to agree on and pass a budget by Oct. 1, the United States government was shut down. The longer a shutdown continues, the impact of the shutdown becomes greater and greater on the economy and government services. The fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30, and by the end of each fiscal year, Congress must pass the fiscal Federal Budget. This budget funds the government, and without it, the government has very little money to function and must shut down. House Republicans and Senate Democrats could not agree on a budget due to differing opinions about the Affordable Care Act. Due to Congress’ inability to make a decision, most functions of the government came to a standstill. Due to the lack of funding, many national parks, zoos and museums shut down. Although military workers are still getting paid, around 800,000 federal employees went on furlough, which means they took a temporary leave without pay until the government shutdown is over. However, workers who are deemed “essential personnel,” such as doctors, scientists and safety inspectors would continue working, but without pay. East parent Donna Martin works for the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), and is in charge of managing a grant called the Community Transformation Grant (CTG) in Jackson County, Mo. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has to monitor the activities that MARC undertakes with CTG funds, and the government shutdown closed the CDC. “Luckily, I work with an organization that has funds to carry my position through for a while,” Martin said on day 15 of the shutdown. “But I suppose at a certain point, if Congress cannot come to a resolution on the budget issue, that luck may run out and I may be in the same boat as my federal counter parts.”

of the shutdowns were concerning the validity of abortion

128 days

Not including the current shutdown, only four of the past shutdowns have been resolved through compromising

total days the government has and been shut down counting in history

days

the longest shutdown, Dec. 15, 1995 through Jan. 6, 1996

news.

AN EVOLVING DISCUSSION

As Kansas adopts the Next Generation Science Standards for public schools, they face opposition over their teaching of evolution

WRITTEN BY SOPHIE TULP

For the fifth time since 1999, the Kansas Board of Education is faced with questions on how evolution should be taught in public schools. The discussion stems from a lawsuit filed by an organization, Citizens for Objective Public Education that advocates neutrality in public schools. The suit filed against the board of education on Sept. 26 opposes the science standards adopted in June. According to some local educators, while the continuous debate is important in deciding who gets to influence teaching standards, it has little impact on students. “It does raise an important issue over who gets to decide what we teach in the classroom,” biology teacher Kim VanNice said. “It reminds people that there are people trying to keep their own [views] the central [views]. But it is not affecting the students much because teachers aren’t letting it, we are still following what the state tells us to teach...we understand how important it is to the whole basic scheme of human biology.” Deputy Commissioner of Kansas Education Brad Neuenswander said the new Next Generation Science Standards are a set of basic expectations for what skills students in grades K-12 should be able to demonstrate by the end of the school year for a variety of science concepts. The standards were adopted due to a policy that calls for the Board of Education to revise their education standards for public schools every seven years, not only in science, but other subjects as well. Biology teachers Jennifer Davis and VanNice acknowledge during class discussions that other ideas exist. But, they focus on evolution as a scientific theory with research to back it up, and emphasize the fact that science and religion cannot be compared. Similar to their views, part of the standards for the topic of evolution state: “students who demonstrate understanding can…communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence,” according to the NGSS website. This standard faces opposition from COPE, whose members believe that the NGSS promote a non-religious worldview, therefore violating neutrality in the classroom and the First Amendment rights of students. COPE declined to comment directly, but in an email statement President Robert Lattimer wrote that the organization believes the NGSS evoke atheistic and materialistic responses, and according to 2000their com-

plaint, use “deceptive methods” to get their view across. “Generally COPE seeks to educate about the religious rights of parents, students and taxpayers in public education,” Lattimer stated about the organization’s intentions. “Parents have the right to direct the religious education of the child, not the school...The First Amendment essentially requires that public schools be religiously neutral.” According to Lattimer, the stance the standards take on evolution can provoke personal questions from students such as “Where did I come from,” “What is the nature of life,” and “How should I live morally and ethically.” That can, in turn, be met with inappropriate responses from teachers. Senior Emily Dodd learned about evolution freshman year in Biology I, and again as a junior in Biology II AP. Having grown up in a Christian family, she remembers discussing the matter of evolution after class with her friends, and feeling as if teachers and peers “looked down upon” her belief in creationism. Creationism is the belief that the universe and all living organisms were generated through acts of divine creation. Creationists believe that God created the world in seven days in the timeline set out in the Bible, which is why some believe evolution goes against their religious beliefs. Similar to the argument made by COPE, Dodd believes her differing views on evolution were met with responses from teachers that were not necessarily ideal. “I think it is okay that teachers teach [evolution] because it is a theory; they are informing us on what is going on in the science world and it is important,” Dodd said. “But...what I have a problem with is that teachers sometimes say things like ‘this is the only way the earth was formed’...I think they sometimes act like it has been proven a lot more than it has been.” Neuenswander, however, does not believe the standards will lead to the disproving of these views, and assures that the standards are not facing any immediate changes. He said that legal documents like a lawsuit take time, and will not affect the science stan-

dards or teachings on evolution in the near future. “They believe that the standards will lead to the teaching of certain religious thinking which we don’t believe is in [the standards],” Neuenswander said. “We have science consultants and people looking over it. [The lawsuit] does not change anything at this point in time.” The standards took effect this school year, with the goal of moving towards real world application of concepts rather than a straight memorization of facts, Neuenswander said. But teachers fear that the issues with evolution will overshadow the benefits the standards bring to science education. Biology I teacher Jennifer Davis says that at the Biology I level, the concept of origin of life hardly comes up at all. Origin of life is the question of where humans come from, which is what COPE argues provokes responses that are not religiously neutral. While this concept is more prevalent at higher biology levels, Davis says her students are rarely faced with questions of origin. “[Evolution] is always going to be an issue no matter what,” Davis said. “People aren’t looking at the big picture, [the] positives of what the kids going to get out of it, but hang up on words that have nothing to do with the actual content.” Both VanNice and Davis say that the issue of evolution will most likely continue to be a disputed topic, because there are differing interpretations of what the theory of evolution states. “We are promoting science education, and evolution is always considered a controversial topic because people either don’t understand it and they think it is in conflict with religion, but it’s really not,” VanNice said “We always talk about the natural world and what we can support with evidence. If we start talking about supernatural phenomenon there’s not science to back it up.”

2013 2007 2005

EVOLUTIONARY

REFORMS

2001

1999

The Kansas Board of Education ruled the teaching of evolution was permitted but not mandatory, and would not appear on standardized tests.

The board overturned the 1999 decision and again made teaching evolution mandatory, ruling it would reappear on standardized tests.

The Kansas Board of Education recieved national attention when it allowed the idea of intelligent design to be taught in the classroom alongside teachings of evolution.

information courtesy of foxnews.com, cnn.com and ljworld.com

The board voted in a 6-4 ruling to overturn the 2005 standards which allowed intelligent design to be taught in addition to evolution.

The board adopted the Next Generation Science Standards, sparking a lawsuit from a group for objective public education, who disagreed with the stance on evolution.

DECA PROGRAM STRIVES TO AID YOUNGER STUDENTS WRITTEN BYSYDNEY LOWE A new DECA project based on tutoring and community outreach was started at East this year; it is something that gets kids that aren’t part of DECA or the marketing classes involved in the project, and helps the community. Seniors Alex Maday, Claire Gilman and Maddie Hise have teamed up with SHARE to start a project they hope will continue on into the future, called School Buddies. School Buddies is a program where every

Thursday, 10 East students go to Comanche Elementary, who’s students eventually feed into Shawnee Mission West, during seminar and work with the kids on reading, math, spelling or anything else the students are struggling with. “I think it’s a great way to help out people who are in our community and a great way to give back,” senior Faith Connelly said. Former East administrator Steve Loe is now the principal at Comanche, and felt that with

THE

MEMBERS Alex Maday Annie Kuklenski Calen Byrd

STUDENTS

news.

Students develop project to aid Shawnee Mission School District Youth

the larger class sizes they were dealing with, his students needed more specialized attention than they were getting. “Mr. Loe brought this up to [Principal] McKinney, who then went and talked to Pat and Leslie, the SHARE leaders about it.” Senior Alex Maday said. “The seven SHARE executives decided that it was too big of a project to take on since we already were doing a lot, so we decided to take it on as our DECA project for the year.”

Carolyn Wassamer Claire Gilman Mackenzie Sweat Drew Harding Emma Handy

PILOT NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM TO COME TO EAST

Since this is the first year, Maday, Hise and Gilman are trying to continue to improve the program so that it can become a SHARE project after this year. “I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like at first and wasn’t sure if I would be any good with the kids,” junior Sam Pottenger said, “but once I was in the classroom and got comfortable, it was a lot more fun than I expected.”

Emmy Privitera Faith Connelly Grace Satterlee Jessica Young Joe Libeer Katie Tetrick Clark Doerr

Maddie Hise Sam Pottenger Sara Benson Will Mitchell SUBS Morgan Twibell Frank Esberg

East plans to install new vending machines, in accordance with recent legislations

WRITTEN BY CLAIRE WHITTAKER PHOTOS BY NEELY ATHA

Vending machines stocked with Cliff Bars, Naked Juice, Popchips and yogurt will be in East’s hallways the week of Oct. 28. The new machines will contain healthier options than the current ones and will replace all existing machines except for the soda machine in the teachers lounge. Each vending machine will be somewhat specialized; for example, the one outside the gym will have Muscle Milk, protein bars and sports drinks. The company providing East with healthy vending is Helping Unite Mankind And Nutrition (HUMAN) Healthy Vending. The owners of the franchise, Molly Morrison and Reggie Britt, are both locals to the Kansas City area. The company’s mission is to make healthy food more convenient than junk food. “So much of what you have on the go is bad for you,” Morrison said. “You have fast

THE

MAKING change

As HUMAN vending machines are implemented, snacking options will change

Lay’s potato chip

food or vending machines which are usually just junk. These are 100 percent healthy, organic products.” East contacted HUMAN Healthy Vending after researching healthy vending options. They decided on the company for the benefit of them being local to get products replaced faster than the previous company. “With our previous vending company we would run out of things and we would call to replace them and they wouldn’t show up,” Principal John McKinney said. “These folks, because they live in town, said ‘call us and we will come over’, so it’s just that local business owner [that we like].” In June, the USDA passed the Smart Snacks in School legislation. It will require all schools to provide healthy snacks starting July 1, 2014. The guidelines limit the amount of fat, sodium, calories and sugar in items

sold in vending machines and says items must be whole grain. East is taking part in a pilot program HUMAN is doing with the new machines in a few local schools to help them comply with the legislation the USDA passed. According to Principal John McKinney the machines will be beneficial to the school, by offering 25 percent of the gross profit back to the school. McKinney also expects profits to increase because of the increase in percent of sales given back to the school (versus the previous company). Unlike the current vending machines, students will be able to buy from these machines all day long. “I will like them because it’ll give us nice, healthy snacking options during the school day,” sophomore Katie Vahle said. Students will be able to sample products during lunch on Oct. 23 to help the company

candy TO

CLIF pop chip

candy bar TO cliff bar

determine which items students will buy the most of. The machines are computerized to ensure nothing expired is sold, and they alert the company when anything is running low. The machines have an elevator system instead of the traditional coils to prevent anything in glass bottles like the Izzes from breaking. They also take credit cards. Prices of items are expected to be fairly similar to the current vending machines’ prices of about $1 or $2. Specialty items such as Naked Juice, high-end protein bars and Muscle Milk may be closer to $3. “We looked at the food in our vending machines and decided we could do better,” Principal McKinney said. “We researched our options and it brought us right back home to Molly.”

sweet tea TO Izzie

ART BY GEORGIA DUBOIS

opinion. 90’s romantic comedies - they’re embarrassing, corny and a great guilty pleasure with unexpected “life lessons”

OPINION BY MIRANDA GIBBS

I like to think I’m not a vapid, sappy teenage girl. But hey, everyone has their gap in judgement, and mine just happens to be sappy rom-coms from the life and times of late 1990s high schoolers. Take me back to simpler times, with angsty teenagers trying to find love, but lack technology—with the exception of Cher and her super computer. With boys sporting “Dawson’s Creek” haircuts listening to the Top 40s from 20 years ago on their Walkman. Take me back, and I am unabashedly, inexplicably happy. Maybe you don’t know what movies I’m talking about: “Clueless,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “She’s All That,” “Never Been Kissed.” Get the picture here? Now, I know what you’re thinking: Miranda, just move back 10 years. An

ART BY MORGAN TWIBELL

obsession with 1980’s rom-coms is not nearly as embarrassing. “The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles;” John Hughes and Molly Ringwald were undoubtedly a hard act to follow. But consider this: how many times can you watch Drew Barrymore wait on that baseball field for her first love? Or Heath Ledger serenade Julia Stiles on the bleachers of Padua High School? Or Alicia Silverstone whine out, “As if!” to her band of wannabe followers? The answer is an infinite amount of times. Well, at least for me it is. Normally I like to think I have good taste in movies. I like to think that I’m more of the type of girl that would run out to see the new Wes Anderson or Spike Jonze movie rather than the new Katherine Heigl monstrosity. My love for 90s and all its movies comes in

bursts. Without warning I find myself sitting on my couch with a bowl of popcorn in front of me, marathoning every mushy movie made between the years of 1995 and 1999, without the slightest clue as to how I got there. Or who made the popcorn. But there’s a part of me that really does not care. Because in their own way, 90s rom-coms really are decent movies. And let me tell you why. Being a high school student is a funny thing. At least in when it comes to 90s teeny-boppers, it gives you a very nice perspective, because -- and I think everyone in the “Glee”-era can agree -- no one can ever quite portray high school correctly. And in the case of the late 90s, I guarantee you, the absurdity follows a strict set of guidelines: The popular boy makes a bet with his friends to get with a specific girl chosen especially for him. He pursues the girl, and she begins to trust him, but everything goes horribly wrong at the school dance/party they attend together. If he’s the good guy, the boy makes a grand gesture to win the girl back; if not, the boy gets punched in the face before the nice guy comes in and sweeps the girl off her feet. The end. It’s routinely hyperbolic. In its own way, it’s comforting and always funny. And if there’s one thing that I’ve learned from all of my movie watching: Makeovers. Change. Everything. Plus, there’s that one girl who always just gets it. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a true version of her in real life. Just pieces of her. She’s had some sort of existential crisis, usually due to the fact that her mother is not around for whatever reason, and has come down with a nasty case of “who am I?” High school, am I right? I love that girl. I feel like we’re kindred spirits. I, too, enjoy listening to angry-girl music

90’s

Easy Bake Oven: $35$85

GRAB

BAG

Four popular toys from the 90’s and how much they cost now

while reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Julia Stiles, you just get me. In all seriousness, one of the great things about these movies are the women. Romantic comedies are getting worse and worse these days, and do you know why? Because the women have stopped standing up for themselves. Welcome to the age where romantic comedies are marketed to a modern, male-dominated society. Where the comedy in romantic-comedy is lazy, raunchy and downright misogynistic. Nineties men, however, deserve a shout-out for all the wonderful things they do. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, no one pulls off the awkward phase of hormone-impaired adolescence like you do. Paul Rudd, your smile makes the weird, creepy and socially incestuous relationship with your teenage stepsister moderately less disturbing. Michael Vartan, you win the game of life with your face and your ability to speak fluent French. Freddie Prinze Jr…good effort, kid. Can we also acknowledge the high level of intelligence that is standard in these 90s teenage heart-throb movies? I mean, while they are “Just Another High School Movie” and all that, they’re also insightful caricatures; two of them are modernizations of a classic novel/play: think “Clueless” as Jane Austen’s “Emma”; “10 Things I Hate About You” as William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”. That’s got to count for something right? Substance, people, is all I ask of my movies. And though it’s not delivered in maybe the most sophisticated of manners, I deny the idea that my 90s rom-coms are vapid and shallow. Sappy, however, is unavoidable in this case. So feel free to judge me all you want. Do you think that will make me stop watching? Ugh, as if!

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Tamagotchi: $10

Furby: $50-$60

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opinion.

TAKING A

LEAP FAITH OF

Staffer reflects on her religious conversion

AN OPINION OF PHOEBE AGUIAR PHOTO BY ANNIE SAVAGE “Does someone want to share their feelings about the sermon?” my youth pastor asks my small group. Nothing. I feel nothing. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to make a connection between the word of God and my life. There is nothing there; this isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. I’m 16, I can think for myself. I should understand; I should be able to connect, but I can’t. This left me confused about what I believed and who I was. Village Presbyterian Church, Sunday school, youth groups, clubs, mission trips, bible studies and retreats: I’ve been attending all of these since I can remember, looking for Jesus. I never found Him. Instead I found myself uncomfortable, unable to answer any questions. I would simply sit in silence. The obligation to be a strong and devout Christian came from everyone around me. My family, my friends and the leaders in the religious groups I was part of are confident in what they believe in and I thought that if I had that conviction, I would find out who I am. Hearing about how people found Jesus and magically everything would be perfect. I wanted that, because all of these doubts about who I was and what I believed would finally be answered. I wasn’t one of those people. These were some of the nicest and easiest people to talk to about anything, except my faith. As bad as I wanted to believe, I had too many questions and I couldn’t put all of my trust into one idea. It wasn’t logical to do

that. Why should I put everything into something that may or may not exist? This irrational idea hit me hardest when I couldn’t pray for my prematurely born baby cousin, to live. My family’s prayers weren’t going to save her, the doctors were. God wasn’t, either. A prayer won’t keep her breathing, but a ventilator would. I didn’t understand how the rest of my family could be so trusting. It has taken me 16 years to come to terms with the fact that Christianity wasn’t right for me and I was fighting to be a person I wasn’t. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t just lying to myself, but to everyone around me. • • • I got away from all of religion for the summer when I lived in rural Northern Peru as part of the Amigos de Las Americas. There were no obligations to go to church or talk about scripture with anyone. I also started to see who I was and what I really wanted in life and what to put my beliefs in. Arriving at the conclusion that it was time to stop pretending to be a Christian. I didn’t know who to talk to about this change. My mom went to church every Sunday, my dad was involved in my religious life and all my friends were Christian or Jewish. I was stuck between Christianity and atheism; I wasn’t either but I didn’t know what I was. The idea of a strict organized religion which ostracized others who didn’t believe or conform to their principals made my skin crawl. On the other hand, I believe that there is some kind of higher power and people could believe whatever they wanted. Stuck in this gray area, I began to look at other options. Buddhism began to look like a more attractive religion. It wasn’t about believing that one thing was right, but about living your life based on principles that would make you a more admirable person, not a just a “true believer.” I didn’t tell anyone. I was too afraid of being judged. I couldn’t find the words that would articulate my reasoning for my

Buddhist Eightfold Path 1 3

Right understanding

Understanding that the Four Noble Truths are noble and true.

Right speech

Avoiding slander, gossip, lying, and all forms of untrue and abusive speech.

2 4

break from Christianity and this potential conversion. I kept it to myself. I lied to my parents when I went to meet with the leader of a temple in Kansas City to discuss a potential switch. I went to this complete stranger because I did not trust anyone in my life to not judge my choice I began going to meditations; I made up excuses and said I was out studying. I couldn’t bring myself to face the other people. I wanted them to understand why I’m not a Christian anymore. I couldn’t find the words, neither could I find the strength to be different and be

open about it. Pushing Christianity for such a long time had been all about fitting in, and now I am choosing to stand out. Keeping all of this to myself was not just about the fear of judgement, but the my uncertainty about my beliefs. With Buddhism I’ve found a place that balances what I believe in and what I value, but I am still not sure. I still don’t know what I’m doing. I do know now that whether I’m Buddhist or nothing at all, I closer to knowing the person I am because this choice to no longer be Christian.

The Dharma wheel is used to represent the Eightfold path. Each spoke stands for an element of the path

Right thought

Determining and resolving to practice Buddhist faith.

Right conduct

Adhering to the idea of nonviolence (ahimsa), as well as refraining from any form of stealing or sexual impropriety.

Right means of making a living

Right mindfulness

Not slaughtering animals or working at jobs that force you to violate others.

Having a clear sense of one’s mental state and bodily health and feelings.

Right mental attitude or effort

Avoiding negative thoughts and emotions, such as anger and jealousy.

Right concentration:

Using meditation to reach the highest level of enlightenment.

Information from www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-eightfold-path-of-buddhism.html

the life of a

partial

a few

Audrey eats them before XC meets for energy boosts

KALE

QUINOA It is a great source of protein since she doesn’t eat meat

Another ALMONDS great source of protein and healthy fats

BRUSSEL SPROUTS

opinion.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KATIE LAMAR AN OPINION OF AUDREY DANCIGER

Upon hearing the word ‘vegan’, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s tree-hugging hippies with grass in their hair who never bathe. Maybe it’s PETA protesters holding signs and screaming about animal cruelty with faces as red as the tomatoes they munch on. If either of these images popped into your head, then don’t worry, you’re not alone. Not eating meat seems almost like a foreign concept to a majority of Americans, not to mention Kansas Citians, who reside in the barbecue capital of the world. Giving up eggs and Kale is eaten dairy almost seems unfathomable. on a daily Yes, my carnivorous friends, I was just like basis. It is you once. I mean really, who would give up her favorite a Double Winstead with cheese and a vanilla vegetable. Skyscraper willingly? Apparently, I would. Yes, I am a self-proclaimed partial-vegan, which means different things for different people. A full-on vegan doesn’t eat or wear anything that came from or was made by harming an animal. Personally, though, as a partial-vegan I don’t eat meat or dairy, I’ll wear leather if it’s a gift, and I’m getting better about checking labels to see if products were tested on animals. It all started with Netflix, where I stumbled These notupon TED Talks and decided to watch the nuso-popular trition series. vegetables Each of the videos talked about something are rich in different, whether it be how to make the pervitamin C fect hamburger down to a science, that some and fiber kids in England can’t identify a potato from a tomato, or the environment. It turns out that those cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets we crave have a bigger impact on the environment than we may know. According to the U.N., meat and dairy products require more resources and cause higher emissions of greenhouse gases than their plant-based alternatives. Also, more than half of the world’s crops are grown to

vegan staples: BANANAS

Junior practices a mostly animal product-free diet in hopes of protecting the environment

feed animals. This means that we are using substantially larger amounts of water, energy and land to feed livestock than we would trying to grow crops. The world we live in does not have enough land or water to sustain this style of life. Not to mention that with all the methane (20 times more potent than CO2) produced by livestock, which accounts for 37 percent of greenhouse gases, our ozone layer is diminishing day by day. The reason these numbers are so big is because there is such a huge demand for animal-based products in today’s society. “Well that’s easy,” I thought to myself, “Decrease demand, decrease the numbers.” So I decided to take on being a vegetarian and slowly work my way towards a vegan diet. I started giving up only meat; not even fish were an exception. Then went dairy. No more chocolate milk, mozzarella or greek yogurt. Really, not as tough as you’d think. There are a variety of great dairy alternatives out there like almond milk and soy cheese (I know it sounds gross, but it tastes just like the real thing). Then came eggs, which to be honest, were never really a big part of my diet in the first place. Alone, these foods were easy to give up. I never had any sudden desires to slurp down a glass of ice cold milk or munch on a turkey sandwich, and I still don’t. Mix a couple of these key ingredients together though, and that’s where you have my downfall. Cookies and cupcakes are loaded with eggs, butter and milk, and if you know me at all, you know I love to not just bake, but eat my creations as well. How could I possibly give that up? And then I realized that I don’t have to. Adopting a vegan lifestyle is about decreasing pain, whether it be for the animals that are being slaughtered to feed us, or those who don’t have enough to eat because more grain and crops are going to the animals instead of them. Depriving myself of eating something I love doesn’t sound like decreasing pain, even

if my “pain” is on a much smaller scale. So I’ve learned that it’s perfectly fine to make some exceptions. I still drink whey protein shakes after cross country practice and I’ll still grab an ice cream cone if a friend invites me out. I try not to eat baked goods as much as possible, but if I’m dying for a sugar cookie, I’ll indulge. Personally, giving all these foods up isn’t too hard though. For someone who already loves leafy greens, it wasn’t hard to transition to a diet mostly made of fruits and vegetables. Of course there is my parents concern that I’m not meeting all my daily dietary needs. But you don’t have to eat a 10 oz. steak every day to get your daily recommended amount of protein. Quinoa, tofu, and nuts are also great sources, and they’re 100 percent vegan. Obviously this lifestyle isn’t for everyone, I mean, not everyone looks at kale with wide eyes and a drooling mouth like I do. And, while I encourage everyone to try an animal product free diet, I know that’s unrealistic. We’re just accustomed to getting hot dogs at baseball games and having a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of our apple pie. It’s the American way. So if chowing down on a rack of ribs from Oklahoma Joe’s makes you happy, then by all means, dig in. But if you’re up for a challenge, and want to help the planet stick around for a little longer, there are a number of ways you and your diet can help. Even going vegetarian for one day of the week helps tremendously. According to Living Green Magazine, if every American dropped one serving of chicken per week from their diet, it would save the same amount of CO2 emissions as taking 500,000 cars off the road. Being a partial-vegan is a personal choice and I won’t try to shove my beliefs down your throat if you don’t write me off as a tree-hugging, animal-loving lunatic. I just want this world to last a little longer and I’m willing to change my diet to do so.

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Top Five spread.

NOAH TALKS ABOUT HIS FIVE FAVORITE ANTIQUES AND WHY HE LIKES EACH OF THEM

1957 Keystone 8 mm Projector $30 at Hickory Dickory When Noah bought the projector, he discovered there was film already inside from the 1957 World Fair in Brussels. This was the first World Fair after World War II.

1960s Old Spice Body Powder $8 at Liberty Bell Not many antiques are very manly, but Noah likes this body powder because Old Spice is considered masculine.

1920s Art Deco Penny Scale $150 at Architectural Savage Noah likes that this scale uses pennies, because it shows how old it is since it comes from a time when pennies were actually useful.

1980s Polaroid Land Camera $15 at Liberty Bell Noah’s dad’s friends owned this kind of camera, which is cool to Noah because it shows that the 1980s marks a generational gap.

1960s Zenith Radio $28 at an estate sale Like many of his other antiques, Noah likes this radio because it works. But to him, it’s weird listening to Kanye West on it, instead of artists like Frank Sinatra.

Old

Soul

IGHT Y KATIE KN WRITTEN B OAKLEY ANNAMARIE PHOTOS BY

unior Noah Marsh is a skinny 17-year-old clad in a gray American Eagle sweater. He weaves his way through a diverse crowd: young 20-somethings in beanies and skinny jeans, smoking cigarettes; confused-looking couples with brand new babies; artistic people with thin-wired glasses and fancy coffees. He is on yet another antiquing mission. He paces through the hallways of Good Juju, a brightlycolored antique shop found in the heart of the West Bottoms. The shelves are lined with brittle, handpainted tea cups and old-fashioned soda bottles from the 50s, still filled to the brim. He makes his way past the wall of cream 1960s refrigerators and turns the corner when he sees it: a spotless, smoky gray portable Westinghouse TV from the 1960s. Noah slowly picks up the 30-lb. television, examining every detail. “I can’t believe it still has the original cord,” he says with fascination. Wide-eyed, Noah sets down the TV and pulls out his iPhone. He does some quick research using his Google app to assure that the $40 price tag is fair. After finding similar items sold for similar prices, he is assured. He returns to the TV, picks it up by the handle, and makes his way to the register. The TV is his newest addition to his collection of more than 30 antiques. * * * Noah has always been one for collecting. Money, acorns, snowglobes, Pokemon cards. But it wasn’t until his parents dragged him down to the West Bottoms for a shopping trip his freshman year that his eyes were opened to all of the antiquing possibilities. For Noah, antiquing runs in the family. His grandparents own an antique shop near their home in Maryland, and Noah’s father, Kevin, grew up around antiques. However, Kevin says that he nev-

UING DS ENJOYMENT IN ANTIQ FIN SH AR M AH NO OR JUNI AGER DESPITE BEING A TEEN

e r felt that he influenced Noah in a way that would make him get into the hobby. Somehow, he picked it up on his own. “I don’t think I ever did anything that would overtly make him want to [antique],” Kevin said. “Maybe it’s a genetic flaw or something.” Even though Noah is a part of varsity tennis, has a full AP course load and is an active StuCo member, he is glad to have found something to keep himself even busier. Since that summer before his sophomore year when he started antiquing, Noah has seized every opportunity he can to immerse himself in the antiquing culture. Every first weekend of the month when the West Bottoms opens their antique sales he makes the 20-minute drive to scope out the latest merchandise. Whenever he drives past a garage sale or an estate sale he makes sure to stop by for 20 to 30 minutes. If he’s ever curious about an item, he spends time researching on Craigslist and through Google searches. “I feel like everyone should have a hobby, and mine’s just antiquing,” Noah said. “I like to just constantly be doing something.” Even though none of Noah’s friends or family really expected Noah to pick up antiquing as a hobby, none of them were all that surprised when they found out he’d become obsessed. Between Noah’s quirky personality and obsession with trinkets, antiquing seemed appropriate. “I was just like, ‘that is so typical of Noah Marsh to like antiquing’,” Noah’s friend and fellow antiquer Emma Matthews said. “It didn’t surprise me at all.” Although Noah has admitted that he would go to the West Bottoms alone if nobody else could join him, almost every time he has gone down he has brought friends with him. “It always seems like he’s escorting people around,” Kevin said. “He’d much rather do that with a friend or some girls. Of the four, five or six times he’s [gone to the West Bottoms] I think he’s taken his [guy] buddies down once, and other than that it’s been these girls that wanna go and have him show them around. So that works out pretty good for a kid his age.” Matthews, being one of the girls who frequently makes the antiquing trips alongside Noah, has had quite a bit of experience in the antiquing world since going to the West Bottoms each month. “[The first time Noah took me antiquing] I was just like, ‘I feel so cultured right now’,” Matthews said. “I would never think to go antiquing. Seeing all the old stuff, it made me kind of wish that right now, in this time, we had cool little gadgets like that.” While most of his girl friends are more focused on finding antiques like old picture frames that pertain to their Pinterest projects, Noah always keeps an eye out for things he considers more “manly”. “A pocket watch is the epitome of classy men jewelry,” Noah said. “Men can’t really have many things besides maybe sunglasses, a wristwatch and other things.” Besides classic menswear pieces like cufflinks and

watches, Noah’s other favorite type of antique is old electronics. From cameras to projectors to radios, Noah loves thinking about how people did things that most of us can accomplish by pulling out our smart phones nowadays. “I think part of him likes things that are not digital like so many things are now,” Kevin said. “I think that’s why he’s fascinated by record players and radios, because all the music now is MP3s and iPods, and I think he likes the fact that there used to be just manufactured, cool-looking devices that did all the things that are digital now.” According to Noah’s mother, Shelly, another contributing factor to Noah’s fascination with old mechanical devices is his affinity towards math and science. “His mind works in a fashion that is very scientific and mathematical, and he likes to think about how [the electronics] work,” Shelly said. “And I think it also interests him to take it apart and see what’s going on inside.” If nothing else, Noah says one benefit antiquing has given him is the art of starting conversations. Whenever he meets new people and the situation is uncomfortable, the first thing he’ll do is start talking about his hobby. “At cotillion dances when I first meet someone from Shawnee Mission South or North or something, I’ll shake their hand and be like ‘I’m Noah Marsh, I’m a junior at East, and I collect antiques.’” Noah said. “And the often response to that is ‘oh...so do my grandparents!’” Shelly says that while most teenagers might take offence to things like the ‘grandparents’ comment, Noah has mastered the art of selfdeprecating humor. He acknowledges that finding a 17-year-old who antiques for fun isn’t typical, and some people find it weird. Ultimately, Noah couldn’t care less about what those other people think. “[Noah] is very confident,” Shelly said. “He doesn’t really think too much about what other people think about him. He just really is kind of putting himself out there and letting him be which is pretty cool for someone of that age.” According to Noah’s parents, his work ethic is yet another element of his personality that makes him such a good fit for antiquing. Whenever he buys antiques that require a little restoration, there’s no room for laziness. “[Noah] is very focused,” Kevin said. “When he decides he’s interested in something whether it’s tennis, whether it’s antiques, whether it’s making wooden bow ties, he becomes very focused on making sure that he does the best he can.” Between his drivenness, his commitment and his passion, Shelly and Kevin both admit to having a son with an old soul. If anything, they think that makes Noah that much greater. “Most people who meet him will say ‘he’s kind of an old man stuck in a kid’s body’,” Shelly said. “He just really thinks differently than most kids and I think that’s the part that makes him most interesting.”

spread.

Top Five spread.

NOAH TALKS ABOUT HIS FIVE FAVORITE ANTIQUES AND WHY HE LIKES EACH OF THEM

1960s Old Spice Body Powder $8 at Liberty Bell Not many antiques are very manly, but Noah likes this body powder because Old Spice is considered masculine.

1920s Art Deco Penny Scale $150 at Architectural Savage Noah likes that this scale uses pennies, because it shows how old it is since it comes from a time when pennies were actually useful.

1980s Polaroid Land Camera $15 at Liberty Bell Noah’s dad’s friends owned this kind of camera, which is cool to Noah because it shows that the 1980s marks a generational gap.

Old

Soul

IGHT Y KATIE KN WRITTEN B OAKLEY ANNAMARIE PHOTOS BY

UING DS ENJOYMENT IN ANTIQ FIN SH AR M AH NO OR JUNI AGER DESPITE BEING A TEEN

spread.

features.

Below: (from left) Kent Gasaway, Marta Canzobre, Peter Kuchar, Rhonda Gasaway and Grant Gasaway stand in the Gasaway’s backyard.

A New Chapter

The Gasaway family takes in two foreign exchange students for the 2013-2014 school year WRITTEN BY MORGAN KRAKOW It’s a typical Sunday afternoon at the Gasaway’s home. Laughter rings throughout the brightly-lit kitchen. An electric mixer whirs as Rhonda Gasaway spoons chocolate chip cookie dough out onto a metal pan. Her grin is wide as she looks over the room. Conversation bounces from person to person. Foreignsounding accents and discussions about travel and studyabroad programs flow from the center counter top to the kitchen table. A boy perches on the counter and a girl stands, pink iPhone in hand, working with a friend to finish a Spanish project. But they aren’t the Gasaway’s biological children. Marta Canzobre and Peter Kuchar are foreign exchange students that the Gasaways agreed to take into their home for ten months. A friend of Rhonda’s, Anita Sass, stands next to Kuchar, asking him if he’s homesick. She rephrases the question to see if he knows what it means in his native tongue, Slovak, spoken in his hometown of Kosice, Slovakia. She jokes with Canzobre that she probably doesn’t need to be working on Spanish, seeing as Canzobre is from Galicia, Spain. It’s all part of the loud and welcoming demeanor of the Gasaway household. * * * In late July, Rhonda saw a Facebook post that sparked an idea; taking in students from abroad. Anita Sass is a local program coordinator for the Council On Education Exchange, or CIEE. In her Facebook post, she wrote that she still needed host families for students coming in early August. Inspired in part by their daughter and 2013 East graduate Lacey’s experience as a foreign exchange student in Italy during the fall term last year, Rhonda and her husband, Kent Gasaway, decided to apply. In the few short weeks between July and August, a lot was up in the air. At first, the Gasaways weren’t sure if they were going to even be picked to host a student, let alone host two of them. But when they found out that both exchange students would be staying with them, things were rapidly set in motion; the process was almost frantic. It included short email correspondence with Kuchar and Canzobre’s parents and hurried communications between Kent, Rhonda and the Shawnee Mission School District. They had to enroll and pick classes, all before the first day of school, which was merely weeks away. “It was exciting,” Rhonda said. “It was like you’re waiting for your new baby to come.” Their son senior Grant Gasaway, the youngest of four and the last to be living at home, was astonished at the idea of taking in not one, but two foreign exchange students during his senior year. “I was really surprised,” Grant said, “I was like, ‘whoa,’ that’s pretty big.” But he warmed up to it pretty quickly. He said that while Lacey was away, it was boring and there wasn’t very much going on. “Now it’s crazy,” Grant said, “There’s always tons of people here.” Grant, Kuchar and Canzobre don’t just live together,

they also hang out in the same group of friends and were even in the same homecoming group. * * * Back in the Gasaway home, Rhonda and Kent sit next to each other in their grand dining room. Rhonda wears a magenta athletic top and tennis skirt, while Kent sports jeans and baseball cap. They talk about why they appreciate Kuchar’s sense of humor; it’s dry, witty and unexpected. Kent likes that Kuchar can make something as simple as someone from CIEE coming over once a month to check on their living conditions. Kent began to laugh, recalling how Kuchar notified them about the first scheduled checkup. “He said, ‘Yeah the guy is coming to make sure I don’t live in the dog house,” Kent said. Back in September, all of the foreign exchange students and their host families met in Lawrence. “They were supposed to prepare a dish from their country, so Marta and I prepared a couple of dishes, but Kuchar never did,” Rhonda called upward to Kuchar, who was sitting in his room and listening to them. “I didn’t know!” He said curtly, in typical teenage fashion from above, to a round of hearty laughter from Kent and Rhonda.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PALOMA GARCIA Meanwhile, Canzobre leans against the kitchen counter and talks in excited and accented English. Kent and Rhonda instantly loved her bubbly personality, but were worried because originally, her English scores were much lower than Kuchar’s. They tried to learn bits and pieces of Spanish before she came. Their worries diminished quickly after meeting her and witnessing her ever-positive glow and her immediate and obvious efforts to better her English. “She has come a long ways,” Rhonda said. “She’s so sweet and, I mean, she became part of the family right away.” Rhonda says that Kuchar and Canzobre aren’t visitors or guests; they’re a part of the family. Upon the mention of them leaving, Rhonda’s eyes brim with tears, acknowledging that she hasn’t given their exit much thought. “Right now we’re so busy that we don’t think about it,” Rhonda said, “I think it’s going to be hard for me.” Kent echoed the feeling, having experienced it with his three other daughters before. “It’ll be just like the other kids,” Kent said, “It will be tough losing them.”

Where are They From? The Gasaway family took in two foreign exchange students, one from Spain and one from Slovakia

Peter Kuchar

from Kosice, Slovakia What he misses most: his friends His favorite part of living here: the parties

Marta Canzobre

from Galicia, Spain What she misses most: her twin sister Her favorite part of living here: everything

Maggie Andriani

After four periods, senior Julia Seiden leaves school for the day. In an attempt to make use of her time and begin deciding what she wants to focus on in college, Seiden decided to skip out on the extra electives her senior year. Depending on cian’s assistants at the day, she may be going to shadow a physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner or work KU Med, to experience what it would be like to at the daycare at Village Church. “I kind of wanted to explore and see actually have a specialized what I wanted to do because now when medical career. She spends her other days you apply to colleges, you have to know what you’re doing before you working at the village church actually get there,” Seiden said. “I daycare. Seiden has worked at knew I wanted to do something the daycare since sophomore year. medical, I just didn’t know Between managing up to 15 toddlers at the daycare to contacting medical what.” Typically, Seiden will professionals, Seiden has gained real world spend one day a week experience. “From the daycare and shadowing I have shadowing. As a shadow, gained a lot of responsibility and organizaSeiden follows around a professional in tion,” Seiden said. “It’s a really cool life exa specific medi- perience where I feel like I’m more prepared for the real world than cal field, such I would have been if I year. Leading up to the as physididn’t do it.” choice, the instructors watch students during class and ask them to perform in some company ballets such as the “Nutcracker”. They evaluate how the dancers work with the company members and how they From making homehandle yourself. made dog toys in sixth “I didn’t think I would grade to shadowing vetget student apprentice erinarians once a week, for a really long time, but senior Alex Stonebarger East students take time of course I always wanthas always had a passion ed to work for it,” Andrioff school to participate for animals. According to ani said. “It’s a pretty huge Stonebarger, the pressures in activities thing to get because you are of junior year brought a lot of pretty much doubling your anxiety into her life. In order dance schedule, which to help relieve her anxiety, she is already about 25 decided to leave school early hours a week.” her senior year to intern at

JuliaSeiden

features.

caretaker

ballerina

Dancing more hours than the average student spends at school, senior Maggie Andriani has taken on the role of student apprentice at Kansas City Ballet. As the student apprentice, Andriani takes part in all company classes and performances on top of her regular ballet school classes with her age group. Everyday she wakes up, goes to dance classes with the company, attends school for the last three hours and then goes back to dance. “I definitely feel really disconnected from the school this year so I have been trying to go to football games to make up for it,” Andriani said. “I definitely miss out on a lot, but it’s worth it. It’s what I deSince midcided to do.” dle school, senior Andriani was chosen to be Brooks Kendall has student apprentice the sumbeen leaving school early mer going into junior year. to play tennis at Kansas City This position is highly United Tennis on the Plaza. When competitive and senior Olivia Sneed moved here at the only one perstart of freshmen year, she joined Kendall son, if any, training there. Both Kendall and Sneed play is picked about four and a half hours of tennis a day when each they aren’t in season at East. “Even if [practicing] hasn’t really helped skill wise, which I hope it has, it has helped knowing that you put the work in and you have a shot with a lot of players if they are a little bit better than you,” Kendall said. “It helps for the confidence part.” Each day Kendall and Sneed leave school in time to arrive at tennis around 2:00 p.m. They begin with a warm up and will work one on one with a coach or with another player for the first hour and a half. At 4:00 p.m. the rest of the players join them for a

Full-Time Lancer, Part-Time Student3

Alex Stonebarger

volunteersomething I love has been really

the Humane Society as big group practice. the adoption coordiDuring that practice they will nator. warm up, drill, play points and finish “Just being with a run. Many of Kendall and Sneed’s around aniweekends, especially in the summer, are mals and spent traveling around the country for tennis doing tournaments. “I feel like I miss out on stuff all the time because I feel like so many people go after school and on weekends to [hang out] but I’ve just never really been able to do it,” Sneed said. “I’m fine with sacrificing that.” Although Kendall and Sneed have had to make sacrifices play tennis, they are hoping that their time spent playing in high school will allow them to continue playing in college. Right now they are in the midst of searching for a school to play at. Sneed is considering Ohio State, TCU and Georgia Tech. Kendall’s number one option is University of Oregon, but he is also looking at University of Iowa and Washington University.

Brooks Kendall tennis

PHOTOS BY KYLIE RELLIHAN

Olivia Sneed tennis

WRITTEN BY LEAH PACK

helpful with my anxiety,” Stonebarger said. “Petting dogs is proven to raise dopamine levels in the human and dog.” Stonebarger leaves school every day after third hour and heads to the Humane Society to start her internship. Each day she begins by weighing, medicating and taking any dogs that need it to the vet. She spends the rest of her time training aggressive or shy dogs, looking over potential adopters and other miscellaneous jobs. Once a week, Stonebarger gets to shadow a vet. “My favorite part is definitely seeing the transformation the animals go through from the beginning,” Stonebarger said. “They come in usually underweight and timid or aggressive... they grow and learn to trust people over time. After seeto ing how much they’ve been through it makes it easier for me to learn to trust people as well.”

a&e. Lancer Voice

What do you think about Taco Republic?

TRY TAKE OUT

DINE ‘N DASH

“They had sopapillas that we got for dessert, and we ended up getting two baskets because they were so good.” Senior Sydeney Crawford

or years, I have looked out the car window at an old worn down gas station while waiting for the light on 47th street to turn green. For years, the attraction at the four way intersection was the world-famous Oklahoma Joe’s barbecue. Now, at the corner of 47th and Mission Road, Taco Republic has the spotlight. When I arrived at Taco Republic, the first thing I noticed was the atmosphere. The whole area has been transformed from a dismal building to a colorful, vibrant restaurant. On almost every ledge sits a small, abstract sheet metal sculpture of different animals such as armadillos and pigs, and off to the side they have a corn hole toss set up. You can make the decision to eat outside on sturdy wooden picnic table, or inside the redone gas station on modern, low chairs. I decided to eat inside. When the brisk time of year to put on jackets comes around, they hang a see-through tarp with neon blue outline over part of the outside area. Inside the tarp they have a heater to keep the area warm in those cold times. When sitting down at the modern four-person table, I glanced at the menu and saw a wide variety of tacos from beef to veggie. All the tacos that the Republic offers are “street” tacos which are served on white corn tortillas. If you’re not much of a taco fan then I would suggest not visiting Taco Republic, because they don’t offer many other options. Another side note is that they do not offer Coke products, so if you’re a fan of Coke or Sprite be warned. Looking at the menu I decided to order the traditional guacamole. Shortly after, a huge mound of guac appeared with a big basket of chips. I tried the soothing, well-blended avocado and it was quite mild, and addictive. The chips were fairly salty, but they tasted good. After finishing the guacamole, I decided it was taco time. I ordered two different types of tacos: one being

“The tacos and salsa was really good. I like the way they set it up. It’s really cute and fun!” Junior Morgan Clausen

CULINARY GENIUS

WORTH A VISIT “The tacos are amazing despite how small they are, and you should get complimentary chips which are delicious.” Sophomore Jake Marsh

the Old School, and the other was the Tinga. The Old School was a beef taco, with many toppings including pico de gallo. It turned out to be quite mild and greasy. When I bit into the taco a few drops of grease came out, overall the Old school was very good. The Tinga taco that I decided to try was a wonderful chicken-filled decision, and in my opinion better than the Old School. When I bit into the corn tortilla filled with chickeny goodness, I instantly wanted more. The chicken was well cooked and moist, and the combination of all the toppings went well together. For dessert they only offered two items. One is a Churro, and the other is called Canela Bunuelos. The Canela Bunuelos is a mexican caramel, called anise, and topped with powdered sugar. Unfortunately, I was too full from my guac and tacos that I didn’t get a opportunity to try either option. Both looked good: the churro was big and the anise caramel looked silky brown. Customer service is a big part of success, and Taco Republic will be very successful. When I asked for more chips, they would be there within 30 seconds. The waitress I had was very nice and made me feel like the top priority, she kept checking in frequently and she was quick. After I ate, I got a chance to look around at the new area. The food is made in an assembly line, and you can watch from the side and see a empty corn tortilla gradually fill up until it is a full, good-looking taco. The entire restaurant was full, however I didn’t have to wait when I went. One of the only flaws that I noticed was the parking lot. It is very small, and often full. The busy intersection at 47th and Mission now has two restaurants competing against each other. Now when I’m stopped at a red light on 47th, I won’t be looking at the out of the door line at Oklahoma Joe’s; I will be looking at the eye catching neon colors of Taco Republic.

“They had a really good selection of tacos. I got two different tacos and they were both awesome.” Senior Jessica Young

TacoswithTaste Local restaurant provides a new twist on tacos

WRITTEN BY ELLIS NEPSTAD PHOTOS BY ABBY HANS

The owners of Taco

Taco Republic’s Republic also own local sister restaurants restaurants BRGR, Urban Table, and Gram & Dun.

BRGR has two locations. One in Power and Light District and one in Corinth Square. The restaurant offers classic American food like cheese burgers and milkshakes. Urban Table is located in Corinth Square, and is open for breakfast., lunch and dinner. Urban Table URBAN TABLE offers unique entrees and small FOOD. WINE. SOCIAL. dishes made with seasonal orgranic ingredients. They also have a happy hour special . Gram & Dun, located on the Plaza offers am interesting take on classic dishes. The restaurant has a large patio and is open for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Gram & Dun features a happy hour special as too.

diy

HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

WRITTEN BY GEORGIA DUBOIS ART BY AUDREY DANCIGER

the the

Couture Costume

For some, the holiday is a time to show their true couture creativity. East fashion blogger Gaby Azorsky uses the holiday to make a one-of-a-kind fashion statement. Taking her inspiration from Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” music video, Azorsky will mimic celeb’s iconic style. The video features Cyrus clad in a white crop-top with leggings and metallic heels. The look is only complete with red lipstick, chains and of a course, her notorious grilled grin. For her representation, Azorsky plans to use her own lipstick and crop top, find a pair of white leggings, and wear her hair in two buns. Her true D.I.Y. mentality comes in handy with accessories she plans to buy a foam finger, spray paint it white, and attach red fingernails to accurately and entirely depict Cyrus’ image. “Other people are going to be dressed as Miley Cyrus, but as a joke — I’m serious,” Azorsky said.

the

Childhood Character While some students vie for more modern costume ideas, others take their inspiration from it’s truest creative form – childhood. Junior Natasha Kiel plans to spend her Halloween channeling her inner-mermaid as Ariel, from Disney’s “the Little Mermaid”. “She’s my favorite Disney princess,” says Kiel. “I grew up with that movie and when I was a kid I always wanted to be a mermaid.” Just as Ariel loves to share that she has whozits and whatzits galore, Kiel is thankful that she already has everything she could need for her costume. She plans on wearing green jeggings, a purple swimsuit top under a lace shirt, and temporarily dye her hair the famous red. She also has starfish jewelry she may use, and is contemplating the use of mermaid-esque makeup. “Hopefully people will think it’s a creative interpretation.” Kiel said.

a&e. Halloween is a holiday renowned for its ghoulish decorations, delicious candy, rewarding trick-or-treating and, of course, the fantastic costumes that you can only wear one day a year. For many students, the choice in costume is a highly prioritized decision. While rummaging through the racks at your local Costume City or Target is a common practice, some teens stray from the standard process, resorting instead to devising costumes of their own design. From freshmen to seniors, East’s students have upheld their reputation of some very creative costumes, and this year’s sure to please. Here’s a sneak preview into some of your peer’s creative costumes for the upcoming celebration:

Comic Relief

Halloween is one of the few times of the year where no outfit is off-limits. Junior Jordan Ovitt plans to use this unspoken rule to her advantage as her and her friends go as the “Workaholics” gang for the coming holiday. “It’s creative, unique, unexpected and comical, which is all you can really want out of a costume,” said Ovitt. Button-downs, boxer shorts and name tags delineating each member’s respective character are the elements to pulling off the MTV show-inspired look. Ovitt is taking on Blake, the loveable, blissfully ignorant character notorious for his mane of curly red hair. “It’s kind of a given that Blake and I have similar hair, so that’ll be pretty easy with the fro-fro,” Ovitt said. “They probably won’t understand it, but that’s what makes it fun, I think. It just makes it interesting. You gotta put a little spice into it. It’ll probably grab their attention.”

The Costumes of of Halloweens Past Check out these diy costumes that Lancers wore last year for Halloween.

For girls:

Rosie the Riveter

“I wore black jeans with a blue denim shirt and tied a red bandana in my hair. I thought it would be cute and people would recognize what I was.” -junior Lauren Hunter

the

Storybook Costume

Sporting the garb of the title character, senior James Fink draws his inspiration from the timeless game book, “Where’s Waldo”. What makes his costume especially unique is how fewer people have been going as book characters in recent years. “I wish more people went as fictional story characters.” Said Fink. But his costume, with it’s bright colors and coordination are sure to stand out in the crowd. Overall plans for the ensemble are simple: A matching sweater and hat are enough to bring the costume to life, and Fink’s own glasses add the finishing touch. Conveying the character shouldn’t be an issue for Fink, since he already bears a resemblance “I’ve been told I look like him before,” said Fink, whose Waldo-like build and hairstyle undeniably aid his costume execution.

For boys: a Wizard

“I went through a bunch of old stuff in my basement and found a hat and a cape and thought ‘What a great costume.”

-junior Jeffrey Larrabee

Unisex:

Wilson from “Cast Away” “I love the movie ‘Cast Away’ and I watch it a lot with my family. I also like to get outside the normal cowgirl or typical nurse costume. I wore an oversized white tshirt and painted the classic face of Wilson on it.” -junior Kate Mitchell

a&e.

WELCOME

A LOOK AT THEMES

TO THE

STUDENT SECTION

While these two themes are used on separate occasions these two often overlapped. Students wear anything red, white and blue or with a camouflage pattern. American flags are brought to games as well as worn on clothing. A few students even wear full camouflage hunting outfits like Ghillie suits.

A look inside the new and improved AMERICA/CAMO SME sports student section

(INSIDE THE CHEER)

It begins with all of the student section sitting and then sporadically students begin to jump up and then sit back down. The amount of people jumping and the frequency increases one of the leaders, either Haverty or Anderson yell “DING!” The whole student section jumps up.

PARTING THE RED SEA Haverty and Anderson run back and forth with flags so that the section does the wave. Then at the end the section splits into two sections.

Seniors Luke Haverty and Jay Anderson have grand plans for the student section. They want to make the East student section into the Arrowhead Stadium of 6A football and basketball. They lead all the cheers, help administration and pep club pick themes

MEET THE LEADERS

POPCORN

ART BY MIRANDA GIBBS

The classic East theme, were students wear the preppiest clothes possible. Girls usually wear Lilly Pulitzer dresses, head to toe JCrew, pearls and bows. Boys wear khakis, blazers, button downs, polos, seersucker and bowties.

The theme for the Shawnee Mission South game was fiesta. This theme incorporates a hispanic feel with students wearing ponchos, sombreros, mustaches, bringing Mexico flags and maracas. So many students dressed up that US Toy was sold out of ponchos.

WRITTEN BY PHOEBE AGUIAR

SEC GAMEDAY

FIESTA

CHEERS

JAY & LUKE

and get the student population excited for games. “Jay’s and my goal is to build up the student section full of energy and excitement,” Haverty said. “We are hoping this school spirit is passed down from class to class.” With Haverty and Anderson leading the student section, other teams have been forced to call timeouts because of noise level of the East students. They look up cheers online or create their own to get the whole student section as involved as possible. “I think a lot more people are involved, and I’m really excited to see how basketball season will be,” Anderson said.

4 AT THE END EVERYONE GOES CRAZY AND JUST CHEERS ON THEIR OWN

SENIOR LUKE HAVERTY SITS ON SENIOR JAY ANDERSON’S SHOULDERS

PHOTO BY ANNE MARIE OAKLEY

AND LEADS THE STUDENT SECTION IN A SIMULATION OF A ROLLER COASTER RIDE.

IMITATING GOING UP AND DOWN HILLS AND AROUND CURVES, STUDENTS WAVE THEIR HANDS IN THE AIR AND SCREAM.

Tune into smeharbinger.net October 25, 2013 7:00 p.m.

As the Lancers take on the SM West Vikings

sports.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK SPORT

Q: How did the team do at Regionals? A: We did pretty good. We won but none of us shot what we wanted to, so this week we have been working really hard to figure out the kinks and stuff so that hopefully we play well on monday.

OPPONENT SM West

SM North Boys’ Soccer Olathe NW Regionals STATE Girls’ Golf

LOCATION DATE 10/25/13 SM South 11/1/13 SM North 10/21/13 SM Complex 10/29/13 TBD 10/21/13 Buffalo Dunes

Girls’ Tennis STATE

10/18/13 Maize HS

Football

Q: How did you do at regionals? I placed second but the competition wasn’t that strong. If it was with Olathe Northwest, I probably wouldn’t have done that well but I just didn’t play as well as I wanted to. Q: What is the team doing to prepare for state? A: Individually we have all been working on certain things but as a team we have practice today and tomorrow to just get in the groove of things again because we haven’t had that many practices in the past few weeks.

Volleyball Cross-Country

10/20/13 BV West 10/26/13 Topeka Expo 10/26/13 Lone Elm Park

Substate State Regionals

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Q: What are your goals for state? A: Obviously as a team we want to win and I would like to place in the top 10. So just better than last year.

SOPHIE WETZLER

PHOTO BY MARISA WALTON WRITTEN BY MICHAEL KRASKE

BOY’S SOCCER

The boy’s soccer team, made up of ten seniors, had a bit of a rough start. The team started off with a record of 5-4-1. Holding this record, a meeting was held hosted by the team captains for all of the players. “They said we have the talent and skills to get far in the playoffs this year,” junior defender Elliott Renft said. “They also said we are a lot better than we have been playing and that we need to come together.” Since the meeting, the team has gone 4-0, improving to a record of 9-4-1. According to junior goalie Michael Moedritzer, the team’s drive and passion to win, along with their overall play increased after the meeting. “Our goal this season is to become state champions, and to host a regional,” said Moedritzer. A regional is a pre state tournament, and only the top four teams get to host one. According to Renft, they have had their biggest wins against Blue Valley Northwest and Olathe South. According to Renft, the team is playing for Tyler Rathbun. The season was dedicated to Rathbun as well. On Tyler Rathbun night at their game against SM North, Rathbun’s jersey was retired and given to his parents. Some players have written the number 14 (Rathbun’s number) on their cleats, and made armbands for him. “[His death] has motivated us to play harder and do well this season for Tyler,” Renft said. “We play every game like it’s our last.”

EAST FOOTBALL LANCERS 10 17

FREE STATE FIREBIRDS

SOCCER

EAST LANCERS

OLATHE SOUTH FALCONS

PHOTO BY ANNAMARIE OAKLEY INSTAGRAM OF THE WEEK frankesberg

TWEET OF THE WEEK @smesoccercoach

Great Team Win over a very good OS team, 2-1 with 10 seconds left in Double OT! Thank you fans they braved the cold #NoDoubt #99:50 #TEAM 6

38 likes

RETWEETS

16 FAVORITES

Thanks for the help tonight guys! #riptr #ripboom

EAST TENNIS LANCERS 1st

REGIONALS

GOLF

EAST LANCERS

1st

REGIONALS

sports.

MARY BOOTON

Sophomore Mary Booton felt something solid slam into her left eye, and hit the floor hard. Stunned, she looked up to see her teammates huddled around her. She had been celebrating with the rest of her team after scoring a point in their volleyball game against SM North, but the mood shifted drastically within seconds. Senior Savannah Bellem had been pumping her arms in the air in celebration when her hand came into contact with Booton’s head. “I kind of blacked out,” Booton said. “I was shocked at first. I remember lying on the floor and eventually I got up to sit on the

bench. It was a bad ga me.” Booton received a minor concussion that kept her off the court for a week. At first, Booton had no motivation. She stayed home from school for two days and suffered from constant headaches and fatigue. After eight days, her symptoms became manageable and Booton began to go on daily one-mile runs and exercises that consisted of weighted lunges and jump training. “It wasn’t too bad,” Booton said. “I just got a little beat up. Really, I just wanted to get back to the team.”

WILL JAGGERS

It was the JV football team’s first game of the season when sophomore Will Jaggers suffered a coracoid fracture. Jaggers, who plays left guard, fell on his arm during the second half of the game against Leavenworth and fractured a small bone in his right shoulder. “I felt a crack in my shoulder,” Jaggers said. “I tried to shake it off. I told myself I was okay and that I could play and so I did. But I found out later

that it was much more than that.” When Jaggers went to the doctor the next day, they told him that he had a coracoid fracture, which is when the joints are dislocated. As a result, Jaggers had to wear a brace that attached his right bicep to his side and his wrist to the front of his body. Jaggers spent the practices filming the offense, running water out to the player and catching the footballs for the field kicker. Though he was able to re-

E F I L D E R U J THE IN

move the brace last week, he still wears it in his sleep. Jaggers now stretches his shoulder in order to reduce swelling, and will be able to play in the playoffs in November. “The hardest part about being injured is knowing that I’m missing most of the season,” Jaggers said. “Now I’m just going to focus on playing hard.”

A look at four athletes who have had to deal with injuries this fall sports season. WRITTEN BY GRETA NEPSTAD

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TAYLOR ANDERSON

MICK WIGGINS

Freshman Mick Wiggins had every intention of running with the varsity boys cross country team in the Topeka Invitational. He had finished in the top 10 during time trials and ran with the varsity team in the meet the week before. He was in the middle of his premeet warm ups with the rest of the team when he felt excruciating pain in his right heel. “Something just clicked,” Wiggins said. “It was clear I couldn’t run; I could hardly walk.” Frustrated, Wiggins walked off the starting line and threw his spikes on the ground. Two minutes later, the gun went off and the meet began, leaving him on the sidelines. The following week, Wiggins went to

practice three times, but w a s only able to do the warm up run before dropping out. Finally, on Thursday, he and his dad went to a walk-in clinic in Prairie Village. After getting an x-ray of his foot, they told him he had fractured a bone from striking the ground with his heel, rather than his forefoot. Within the hour, his foot was in a cast. This past week was his last week with the cast. Now he must wear a boot for three more weeks and undergo physical therapy. “I’m definitely looking forward to running three more years,” Wiggins said. “I might even do track in the spring.”

MADI LAGE

Senior Madi Lage has successfully done a punch front -- a stunt that requires a gymnast to do a front flip while tucking his or her legs up to the chest -- numerous times. But it was on Sept. 12, during a meet in Lawrence, when her right foot missed the floor and her entire body weight slammed into her right leg, forcing her into a squat and straining her knee. “I just thought ‘Oh God, could this end the year?’,” Lage said. “It didn’t really start hurting, though, until I got off the floor and the adrenaline left my body.” The tendons in Lage’s knee were in-

flamed and slightly out of place. To recover, Lage iced her knee and wore her brace, which she still does today. Her injury kept her out of events that strained her knee, such as tumbling, for a little over a week. During the Lancer Day parade, Lage hurt her wrist while tumbling down Mission with the rest of the gymnastic team. “Gymnastics is almost a daily injury,” Lage said. “But I just tell myself that I have to keep working and no matter how much it hurts it’ll be worth it when [a] competition comes.”

WRITTEN BY JOHN FOSTER

It’s 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning — race day. Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ is blasted through the speakers in junior Sydney Bahr’s car — an abrupt wake up call to the fellow C-teamers, junior Kate Mitchell and senior Sara Benson. As the girls sing along at the top of their lungs, senior Hayden Wylie is just waking up. He is in a bad mood this early in the morning, and he can hardly get out of bed. As he makes his way up to school for the bus ride to Haskell, he blasts his pump-up gangster rap jam, Maad City. On the bus, the “scandal squad” sits next each other. Benson, Bahr and Mitchell created this squad which consists of the girl runners at the bottom of the C-team. Mitchell and Benson sit together directly across from senior Neely Atha and Bahr. On the bus behind the girls, Wylie and the majority of the guy runners fall asleep on the bus. The scandal squad knows that they will not make Varsity or JV — they enjoy being on C-Team because it doesn’t have as much pressure on them as varsity does. During a race, they even tried to make friends with the tractor driver, who is required to follow the last person in the race. The driver declined. “We can joke around and laugh at ourselves during cross country because everyone knows that we’re bad,” Mitchell said. “You just kind of have to laugh and go along with it.” Because the girls are at the bottom of the list, they joke around with other runners about how they finish at the end of the pack. During Mitchell’s freshman year, her parents made bets behind her back about how long it would take her to quit. “They knew I hated running, but I had to do it,” Mitchell said. “I don’t like to quit, I like to follow through with things I do.” When the bus arrives at Haskell, the team tent is set up and the majority of the team snuggles together on top of the tarp in the cold weather. As it gets closer to the race

time, the C-Team jogs the course for their warm up. Following that, stretching takes place in a group circle. After their pre-meet stretching, the girls line up in the starting box, and they run out for the traditional huddle. As they group together with all their hands in the middle, Benson leads the chant, “Good, better, best! Never let it rest! Till your good is your better and your better is your best!” The starter of the race stands out away from the box. With a red flag in one hand and a gun in the other, he moves his arms steadily upwards until they reach the top, where he shoots the gun to start the race. “During the race we like to wog,” Mitchell said. “Wogging is a mixture between a walk and a jog, and we never walk in a race.” Benson, Mitchell and Bahr run every race with each other and plan to have each foot cross the finish line at the exact same time. “Running alongside my friends Kate Mitchell and Sara Benson really makes me push myself and keep up the good work,” Bahr said. As some of the girls are starting to finish their 4k, Wylie knows the start of his race is nearing. Before each race, Wylie prays and takes three ibuprofen to make the race easier. After that, he makes his way to the starting box. The boys begin their warm-up, running out 20 yards with an acceleration, and doing high-knee skips back. As they are finishing the drills, they run out for a team huddle. Everyone makes a hook shape with their hand, and the boys chants “Ru-fi-o! Ru-fi-o! Ru! Fi! Ooooh!” The upperclassmen explain that, even though the race won’t be fun, it will be over in less than 30 minutes, as well as giving some pointers about where they need to jump over a ditch. Following the huddle, the C-team does butt-kicks back to the box, ready to start the race. “Right before the guy shoots the gun, I’m normally pretty nervous,”

sports.

Wylie said. “After that, I get going and set a good pace to finish the race with.” Upon finishing the race, Wylie can tell if he had a good or a bad race. “If it’s a good race then I throw up because that means I gave it my all,” Wylie said. “If I still have energy I don’t feel too good about it because I could have used that in the middle of the race to catch someone or go faster.” To the C-team, cross country is not just about running. It’s also about the team dinners on Friday nights, the Quick Trip runs after practice and the pre-meet horse runs before the meets. Since cross country is the largest team sport at East, with 156 runners, many friendships are made with each other. “When you are running cross country, you can be as competitive or not competitive as you want to,” athletic secretary Gayle O’Grady said. The cross country team has five practices a week, in addition to a meet on Saturday. Usually, C-team cross country runners run the same route as varsity. Although they are not as fast-paced as the varsity athletes, they still have fun being a part of the team. Bahr looks forward to cross country practice because she can run with her friends. “You don’t have to be the best at something, you just have to have fun,” Benson said. “C-team athletes run with a smile on their faces instead of a pained look that varsity has.” To Wylie, it’s also a good way to connect the upperclassmen with the lowerclassmen. Many of the runners join their freshman year because it’s a good way to stay in shape, but call it quits within the year. “If you do something long enough you just don’t want to quit,” Wylie said. “I figured I might as well finish up all four years with cross country.”

THEC TEAM

A LOOK INTO THE LIVES OF FOUR C-TEAM CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS

TRACKING THE COURSE

A LOOK INTO THE RACE DAY RITUALS FOR C-TEAM RUNNERS

THE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

HAYDEN WYLIE: Granola bar or banana

SARA BENSON: Nature Valley

Granola Bar

KATE MITCHELL: No breakfast for fear of vomiting SYDNEY BAHR: Egg sandwich and grapes

BUMPIN TO THE BEAT

HAYDEN WYLIE: Rap music/ Jack Johnson

SARA BENSON: Sings songs such as ‘Roar’ by Katy Perry KATE MITCHELL: Sings songs to herself such as “Call me Maybe” SYDNEY BAHR: Too distracted PHOTO BY TESSA POLASCHEK

by bus-buddy (Kate) for music